Holy Empire of the Twin Suns

Imperie d'Gem Sul

The Holy Empire of the Twin Suns is a small frontier theocracy, ruled by the Order of Blue Queen in the rim ward reaches of the Gemini Sector, that has become a bastion of Pro-Psionic activity. In secular terms, the Twin Suns are a minor player apparently uninterested in diplomatic affairs for the most part, lacking the power to influence events in civilized space. However, the Twin Suns have started to become more aggressive in recent years, annexing the Midea System, and setting its eyes coreward towards the prosperous worlds up the Jumpgate network to expand and convert to the cause. The Holy Empire is also where the head quarters of L'Institutul per la Ricerca Psionica, an organization which has relatively close connections to the theocracy, despite its own nominally secular and scientific outlook.

Culture

The Twan are an incredibly diverse people, thanks in large part to the multiple waves of immigration that reached the Gemini Sector in fear of the Jred. There are dozens of minor languages spoken by Twan peoples, though only four have official recognition. Thanks to the efforts of the Holy Empire however, some amount of homogenization has occured, the Romanto language has become favored by the government, and it has imposed a state religion on the peoples of the nation. However, this imposition has not been absolute, and even now efforts to preserve the diversity of culture among the Twan continue.

History

The first colonization of the Twin Stars, Castor and Pollux occurred in the late 8th century of the Age of Unity. Early colonization efforts, particularly so far out, and especially rimward of Sol was not especially common, and for a long time only small settlements would be established on these worlds, which grew naturally over time, thanks to the efforts of many thousands of minor colonial ventures. The twin stars region became officially a developed region during the late Second Expansion and which made it one of the furthest reaches of settled space before the broad Rimward frontier, a status it would retain until well into the Third Expansion, where rimward settlement would explode before the advent of the Jred. The Twin Stars regained their importance during the Jred Scourge when hundreds of settled star systems and colonies would be abandoned or destroyed by the Jred, and billions of refugees fled towards the galactic core. Not only would the Twin Stars regain their status as an edge of the frontier, but billions of people migrated to the area ahead of the Jred. The Twin stars were not spared from alien invasion, and the Jred killed many billions of people as they swept through the Gemini Sector, Castor especially was hit hard. However, the people of the region managed to destroy the Jred after decades of hard fighting, and put the survivors to the work of restoring the ecosystems of their planets. During the Long Night, a new religion, the Order of the Blue Queen, was founded, and steadily grew in prominence. This religion, violently anti-Jred, and worshipping a psionic demigod known as the Blue Queen, became a major religion in the Pollux System, and eventually the Castor system. In nearly simultaneous rebellions in the 4th century AC, the governments of the primary worlds of Castor and Pollux were overthrown and replaced with Orderite theocracies. These two governments confederated in AC 396, and created the Holy Empire of the Twin Suns. Since this event, the Holy Empire has slowly been building up its capabilities, shoring up its support, and worship of the Blue Queen, and has recently begun to expand, incorporating the world of Midea after a coup in AC 471.

Demography and Population

The Holy Empire of the Twin Suns is a small nation with a smaller population. In fact there are individual planets within civilized space that have larger populations than the entirety of the Empire. The most recent census taken places the entire population of the Holy Empire at 8,712,615,091, most of these people live in the Pollux system, with smaller though still developed secondary colonies in Castor and Midea. Due to the massive influx of refugees fleeing the Jred during the Scourge,the population of this region is almost as diverse as the core region, and Old Earth itself. Leading to linguistic developments not dissimilar to those of Old Earth, with multiple languages spoken by the masses, even as the Empire itself has an official language.

Territories

The Holy Empire of the Twin Suns is a small nation. Only five parsecs of space in the Gemini Sector are under the control of the Twan, this territory is fairly dense however, with four settled star systems, three of which are relatively developed. The Twin Suns have inherited, and through Midea conquered, a relatively wealthy and prosperous series of worlds. Among less developed worlds is the Sylva System, which was developed only as a military base, with a small commercial hub placed to ensure refueling of trade ships passing between Castor and Pollux. There is one parsec of dead space in Twan territory, though almost nobody goes there as the Jumpgate network pass through it.

Military

The Holy Twan Empire maintains a modest military force, one which is unusually powerful for a small state at the edges of civilized space, but unable to compete with coreward states, or even the fringe states in regions not decimated by the Jred. Most of its military might is still centered around normal technologies, with the bulk of the fleet comprised of colonial vessels built using the Latest Generation Standard Built Template, though most of the individual craft are relatively new constructions. Its in its ground forces however, where the pro-Psionic position becomes more apparent, with much of the Empire's Marines being psionic commandos, and heavy use of psionic augmenting technology. Backing up the professional military is a large paramilitary force of religious enforcers, armed police, and planetary militia.

Technological Level

Virtually the entirety of the Holy Empire of the Twin Suns operates within what is known as an early stellar level of technology, with access to the lower half of jump grades for its starships, and the basic capacity to maintain a Jumpgate network, though not necessarily to build one. Outlying minor worlds of the member systems tend to be at a lower, though still spaceborne level of technology. This is fairly impressive by the standards of a frontier state, though is far behind the core of Civilized Space, or the Pardian frontiers.

Religion

The Holy Empire is a theocratic state run, in practice, by the Order of the Blue Queen, a Psion supremacist religious organization that promotes the notion of a Psionic champion turning the tide against a resurgent Jred and eliminating them from the galaxy. This Blue Queen is said to be awaiting in depths of Jumpspace for the day the Jred regain their full strength, and that the faithful are to keep a suitable vessel for her, this vessel, known as the Avatara, is selected by the religious authorities and given the powers of a quasi-absolute monarch. Other religions are generally suppressed, particularly any which would threaten the position of the Holy Empire. Publicly at least, most citizens of the Holy Empire are members of the order, though it is highly likely that many supposedly devout Orderites are actually secretly practicing another faith, though exact numbers are unknown

Foreign Relations

The Holy Empire of the Twin Suns is a relatively neutral power, particularly when dealing with major interstellar states. It has secured recognition from and given recognition to every other interstellar state, but maintains more complex relations with none. For most of its existence, the Holy Empire has not had much more than a neutral position on most foreign affairs. However, as it has grown in power, and as the Gemini Sector has remained a relatively lawless region, the Empire has begun to expand, conquering the Midea system, and seeking to colonize others as well. This has increased tensions with its neighbors, though most of those are independent worlds.

Laws

The laws of the Twin Suns are quite strict by galactic standards, with enforcement of the law done by the religious authorities instead of secular policing agencies being the norm. Laws are unusually strict concerning ammunition, arms, armor, and other means of inflicting violence with virtually no weapons tolerated outside the hands of the police, the religious enforcement authorities, and the military. Outside information and people are controlled too, with the key exception being Psions, and Psionic research data which are welcomed with open arms. Indeed, Psions are treated well in the Holy Empire, being elevated to a higher status than most normal citizens, and with national leadership being almost entirely composed of Psions.

Agriculture & Industry

The Holy Twan Empire has extensive agricultural sector with a major presence on all worlds. Such produce is significantly more than enough to meet the needs of its citizenry, and this nutritional abundance has produced a very healthy populace. Industrially the Twan are no slouches either, particularly for such a small state, though not the equals of the Centauri, for example, Twan products have been sold across the Jred Frontier, and sometimes, if rarely make it into the core of civilized space, or towards the Pardian frontier.

Education

The Holy Twan Empire struggles to achieve a high level of education for its citizens. In addition to the usual complications found with maintaining an interstellar state's centralized education structure, there is also the simple fact that the Twan are a diverse people that speak an astonishing array of languages including five languages that have official recongition. While this can be helpful as a tool of control, it makes education difficult. Currently education is offered through the secondary level, with the state curriculum providing courses on language (Romanto, and one minority language), maths, and religion, which combines some elements of traditional social and natural science, with religious indoctrination. Currently it is favored to receive education in person, though some students learn remotely as well.

Infrastructure

The Holy Twan Empire is, despite its remoteness, and its relatively low level of technological development, impressively well connected, with each of its member worlds linked to the other by the presence of a Jumpgate lane. However, in practice, very few civilians are allowed free access to the Jumplanes connected to Sylva slowing down progresss from one half of the Empire to the other. In system development is less significant than the Jumpgates, but is still fairly impressive for what is, for all intents and purposes a frontier state.