Emirates of Hacan

It is rare for a red giant to be as massive and luminous as Kenara, rarer for one to have rocky planets, and rarer still for those planets to orbit each other in a spiraling tri-system hurtling around their massive parent. Rarest of all, these barren desert worlds, baked into oblivion by their parent star, somehow evolved sentient life.

The triple jewels of the Kenara crown are Arretze, Kamdorn, and Hercant, jacketed in the yellow haze common to all desert worlds. Of the three, Hercant is the homeworld of the Hacan, who carved out a living around the subtropical regions of their planet, separated for most of their evolution by the impassably hot equator. Northern and southern Hacan would remain separated for most of the planet’s history, until the time of Lina of the Northern Fields.

Although a carnivorous species, the Hacan developed a commensalistic relationship with the flora of their planet. Proto-Hacan would make long pilgrimages from the merely hot deserts to the edges of the searing equator to harvest the insects and small reptiles that fed on the various flowers, roots, and massive underground fungi growing there. However, only northern Hacan, due to quirks in their hemisphere’s ecology, would develop cultivated agriculture. This allowed them to focus on intellectual and cultural development instead of spending most of their lives making long journeys into the heat. Trading agricultural techniques and products drove the proud northern clans into mutually beneficial alliances, ending dozens of generational wars.

Thus began millennia of cultivation and breeding of the source of all their wealth. The intoxicating gerr root became the backbone of Hacan culture. Fashioned into spices, incense, and recreational narcotics, it was also discovered to have hundreds of pharmaceutical applications. Aphrodisiacs distilled from the spehat fungus helped the Hacan adapt away from being a species with a rigid estrous cycle, thus freeing them from the shackles of mating instinct and reproduction and letting them pursue other interests.

When the brilliant scientist Lina of the Northern Fields first discovered that spehat could also be distilled into chemical propellant, she set off a frenzy of scientific advances in adjacent fields. Heat-polishing of precision lenses allowed astronomers to set their eyes on the surfaces of the two yellow jewels that had hovered above them for as long as they could remember: their sibling planets Arretze and Kamdorn. The fueling of long-range vehicles allowed the Hacan to finally pierce the impossible heat of their equatorial border, reuniting with their long-lost southern cousins—thus sparking a new cycle of discovery and advancement. The golden age that followed led to the uniting of all the hundreds of scattered clans of Hercant. They elected a Quieron to guide them, Lina herself carrying the first and only unanimous vote in Quieron history.

When the Hacan finally developed space travel, their first destinations proved to be the most lucrative acquisitions of their entire history. While sentient life had not arisen on Arretze and Kamdorn, geological analysis proved that the three planets had been formed from the breakup of one massive ancestor early in the formation of the Kenara system. The similar orbital distance, climate, and geological makeup of the triple jewels meant that Hacan had now found two planets growing a wealth of plants similar to those they were familiar with, but with nearly infinite variations due to millennia of unchecked evolution; they had also found billions of square kilometers of new land on which to farm them.

When at first the Hacan joined interstellar society, they were mostly ignored, which suited them fine. The position of Quieron became primarily ceremonial as new political powers, Emirates, rushed to fill their coffers and stake their claims both on-and off-world. The Emirates subsumed the old clans, establishing a patchwork of territories across the three planets and in the surrounding system. This left the Hacan riven by factionalism and vulnerable to outside influence, as traders could simply bypass a troublesome emir and deal with a more willing neighbor. Short and vicious wars even exploded across the tri-system as individual Emirates resorted to violence for short-term gain.

The reign of the emirs lasted until the powerful Mowshir Emirate of Arretze wove a web of alliances and redefined the position of Quieron as one of a leader who speaks for all Hacan in order to secure their wealth and their future. It was just after this unification that gerr root finally reached the throne room of the young Lazax Empire, permanently ensconcing the fate of the Hacan in galactic history.

The Emirates of Hacan Today

Today, the Kenara system is the most highly trafficked in known space apart from the wormhole portal systems; Hacan or Hacan-allied merchant vessels make up nearly half of all galactic traffic. In order to accommodate off-worlders, massive space stations provide the warehousing, logistics, banking, and entertainment for visiting traders and tourists alike, as does the city of Harcarun. Carved into the shadowed northern pole of Arretze, Harcarun plays home to most off-worlder import/export corporations, financiers, and opportunists.

Political power within the Emirates is a complex and constantly shifting thing, not unlike the sands of the tri-system’s worlds. The Emirates themselves are each controlled by an emir, who rules over territory established through millennia of trades, treaties, and carefully chosen alliances. Each emir is expected to protect their Emirate both from lawbreakers within and from dangers without, often leading their Emirate’s military personally. Today most Emirates maintain a modest paramilitary force for internal and external security. They are expected to send a portion of that force to fight in external conflicts at the Quieron’s command, though some emirs allow their soldiery to grow lax, and instead hire regiments of Hacan sell-spears to answer the Quieron’s call.

Woven throughout the Emirates are many thousands of clans. Each is akin to a vastly-extended family with its own distinct cultural elements and traditions. Clans exist independently of the Emirates; multiple emirs could belong to the same clan, or multiple clans can exist within a single Emirate’s borders. Clans tend to be overseen by their older or wealthier members, but any authority they have is built on the ties of mutual respect and affection.

Then there are the great trade groups that keep aurei flowing into the Emirates’ coffers. Each trade group focuses on a specific industry; a vast cartel of producers, distributors, transporters and sellers that ensure Kenara’s unique products are available across the stars. Trade groups have no established leaders, just constantly shifting alliances of convenience and mutual profit. They endlessly grow and shrink, and fractured trade groups are constantly being dissolved and replaced by new ones.

Over all this sits the Quieron, elected by the emirs (though often after being informally approved by a majority of the major clans). The Quieron’s role is to oversee the vast shifting web of trade maintained by the trade groups, and to protect the interests of the Emirates beyond the bounds of the Kenara system. For this they have the authority to make treaties in the name of all the Emirates. They also command the powerful Sword Fleet and can call upon the emirs armies at need.

All this creates a nuanced network of power and allegiances that any leader of the Hacan must be careful to understand and respect. However, it also gives the Hacan multiple avenues to work through to ensure cooperation. War amongst the Emirates has been consigned to ancient history, and the lives of the billions of Hacan who live in the Kenara system are vastly better off thanks to the long peace.

The only Hacan who do not benefit are those who, through birth, misfortune, or even exile, end up clanless. Cut out from the network of favors and patronage that comes with clan membership, these Hacan struggle to succeed. Many find lower level jobs in the various trade groups and their attendant industries, hoping their accomplishments may see them adopted into a clan. Others join the ranks of the sell-spears and seek out glory and aurei fighting wars on distant worlds. And not a few leave the light of Kenara behind to seek their fortunes amongst distant stars.

Goals of the Emirates of Hacan

The primary goals of the Emirates nearly always revolve around trade. Their power comes from the control they possess over galactic commerce, and the galaxy’s long, slow climb out of the isolation has benefited them greatly. Thus, the Emirates make every effort to ensure that the bonds of galactic society grow and strengthen. Only in a truly cosmopolitan galaxy can trade flow freely, after all.

To ensure this, the Emirates are constantly moving to open new markets in recently contacted worlds, discover new goods that may take the commercial sectors of the galaxy by storm, and above all, batter down tariffs, embargoes, and other tools of state that threaten the free exchange of commodities. They also tirelessly work to promote the protection of trade lanes from pirates and privateers, dispatching their own fleets when they can’t convince a local power to do the job.

When it comes to the vacant Imperial Throne, the Emirates host two competing schools of thought. Some Hacan believe that they have little to gain (and a lot to lose) in openly making a play for the throne. Better to continue to build up galactic commerce, they say, and guarantee that whoever comes to rule the Imperium will still be dependent on the Emirates. But others dismiss this plan. For generations, the Hacan have held the fabric of galactic society together with their trading fleets. It’s time, they say, for them to claim the rewards for their efforts.