Solomani rim

[stofsk]

In 990 the Imperium and SolCon go to war. IMTU I'm saying that there was a pretty long period of militarisation (which could for all I know be verified in the canon) prior to this.

Anyway my question is: where's Earth, what's it's status? Was it Imperial territory prior to the war, or was it made Imperial territory after the war? Basically, I want a pre-990 map of the Solomani Rim, for my curiosity.

See I thought the war was waged by the Sollies to retake earth and thus make the Confederation strong again (or something). But if that's not the case... then I need to be educated.

 

[Klaus]

Earth, or Terra, was 'independent' of the Imperium at the start of the Rim War, and it's capture by Imperial forces marked the end of the conflict.

The Solomani Sphere had been incorproated into the Imperium, I think before the Civil War (600-620 or so). In the 700's the Solomani lost dominance in the Imperial court, and by the 800's the Solomani Movement was a growing force. The Imperium created the Solomani Autonomous Region and gave the Sollies home rule. Over time this became de facto independence. They later formalised the Sol Confederation (SC). This was the status quo for years, until rising Solomani chauvanism caused the Imperium to become concerned, and later oppose Sollie expansion.

The ostensible reason for the war was the racist behaviour of the SC to non-human or just non-solomani inhabitants of the region. Many worlds inside SC territory wanted to rejoin the Imperium. The war would have happened earlier if it hadn't been for the 3rd Frontier War distracting the Imperium. In the end the SC attacked first; otherwise the 3I might have pre-empted them.

All this is from memory; the summary is in the supplements reprints, or in Gateway to Destiny. Quite easy to get the OTU version, and you're not that far off from it anyway.

 

[DonM]

Or check out the timeline at
http://winterwar.prairienet.org/dmckinne/trav.html

The chapter on the Solomani Crisis will help you a lot, and give you references to other material.

 

[Border Reiver]

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Solomani_Rim_War

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Solomani_Confederation

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Solomani_Autonomous_Region

 

[Border Reiver]

As far as maps go IIRC there should be a buffer zone between the Imperial Solomani Autonomous Region/Confederation & the Heirate, areas to Rimward should be unabsorbed consisting of Solomani polities and independents.

The Sollies occupied the buffer zone up to the Heirate after the Rim War in defiance of the Peace of Ftahalr. The Sollies also occupied out to and beyond the 50 parsecs granted to them by the Imperium when the sphere was established.

As to the reasons for war. Well the Imperium won so it's their reason that history remembers.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Actually, the *Solomani* won. The Imperium wanted to crush the Solomani and reabsorb their worlds, while the Confederation wanted to remain independent. Based on these goals, the Imperium was 25% successful and the Solomani 75%.

 

[flykiller]

Based on these goals, the Imperium was 25% successful and the Solomani 75%.

I don't think one can say terra was just a fungible part of the 25%.

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Originally posted by flykiller:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Based on these goals, the Imperium was 25% successful and the Solomani 75%.

I don't think one can say terra was just a fungible part of the 25%. </font>[/QUOTE]Officially nominated for Best Use of the Word "Fungible" in a CotI Post!

 

[RandyT0001]

Here's some of my thoughts on the subject:
First Imperium (1I)
The Grand Empire stopped expansion just short of Terra and all of the worlds rimward of Terra were never in the First Imperium. Faced with a huge empire the Terrans started to settle some of the closer rimward worlds. Some of these were in the Near Bootes Cluster. During the Interstellar Wars this Terran expansion continued somewhat but when the First Imperium fell most resources went to conquer and control the vast 1stI.
Rule of Man (2I)
During the Rule of Man most resources went to control of the old 1st Imp territory. Some expansion rimward occured, most in the area of what remained of the present day Solomani Rim sector and a little into the more rimward sectors. After the Terrans met the Aslan and Hivers late in the RoM expansion spinward and trailing was undertaken to prevent these new races from claiming worlds close to Terra or within an unspecified safe zone. Then the RoM collapsed.
Long Night
Some expansion took place especially spinward and trailing of Terra (and the Solomani Rim sector) in order to prevent the Aslan and Hivers from encrouching upon future Terran claims. This was done by small polities and was limited in scope.
Third Imperium (3I)
During the Consolidation Wars the 3Imp tried to gain control of the old Vilani 1st Imp territory in the Meshan and Mendan sectors but were defeated. The 3rd Imp thought it (the worlds or the Vilani peoples living there) important enough to try to conquer that area. The 3Imp waited hundreds of years before starting the process of including Terra into it's influence. They went through intermedaries in the Easter Concord to establish contact with Terra. Once Terra and some of it's closest neighbors were brought into the 3Imp they stopped expansion. The worlds rimward of Terra were not invited to join the 3Imp (The Near Bootes Cluster worlds have never been members of the 3rd Imperium, AFAIK.) These left out worlds felt slighted and scorned and soon began to dispise the 3Imp. Small polities beyond the 3Imp control continued to expand and settle worlds but the scale was small.
Solomani Autonomous Region
Worlds that were members of the 3Imp approached the government to try and find a way to rectify this and Margaret I granted an Imperial charter to create the Solomani Autonomous Region. Now worlds rimward of Terra had the protection of a large interstellar polity. For the next two hundred years a great expansion took place and the area within 50 parsecs rimward, spinward and trailing was throughly settled. The SAR government used tax funds to finance this. In 871 the SAR reorganized into the Solomani Confederation which better reflected the type of governance used in the Sphere. The Solomani worlds rimward of Terra began to feel as if they were accepted and appreciated by the 3Imp but the border worlds in the Diaspora (and Old Expanses) sector(s) felt betrayed by the 3Imp because their tax money sent supposedly to the 3Imp government was now being used by the SAR government to expand rimward and it was not being used to help their economies. They presented exaggerated complaints to the 3Imp government. Margaret II revoked the charter and the SC and the 3Imp tried to settle the matter diplomaticaly but failed due to stubborness of both parties. The Rim War ensued.
IMO

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Hey, I'm not saying the Sollies didn't get badly hurt, but they survived, which was their goal.

 

[mike wightman]

Also, the library data we have about all of these events is written mainly from the Imperial point of view.

The confederation view, as shown in the CT alien module and the DGP Solomani and Aslan book (not to mention the interview in the Digest/Journal?), is a bit different to the Imperial account of things.

 

[flarestar]

Border Reiver's alt due to "technical difficulties"

I (and others) have suggested elsewhere an alternate look at the History of the Confederation.

Most of the other major races have undergone some kind of revisionism. The Hivers have gone from the master manipulaters to just bloody good PR people, Zhodani from perfidious mind eaters to benevolent patricians of a utopian society, Aslan from major to minor, Droyne from pastoral nobodies to vicious psionic monsters (at least that's what hard times/new era Droyne seemed to me).

There are plenty of hints about the "true" nature of the Solomani to be found, especially in Rats & Cats. Sure, they are xenophobes but what race isn't. Most races/cultures in Traveller view themselves as superior so what makes the Sollies any different or worse?

I've mentioned this as a basis of my Gene War thread in The Moot but Rats & Cats states that the Confederation did not become an oppressive and tyrannical government until the aftermath of the Gene War. Over there Kafka has also brought up the possibility of an Underground in the Confederation, this could possibly be linked to either the more liberal pan-sophont wing of The Party or even to the surviving "Supermen" from the gene war.

Just out of interest as far as the Gateway era goes, this probably means that the Confederation aren't that bad, just getting a bad press. The real horror will take another hundred years to get fully established.