I have decided to unite both "visions" of my Visions of Empire setting idea into a single setting: both These Stars are Ours! (relatively near-future Terra vs. the Reticulans in galactic politics) and Ashes of Empire (far future post-collapse of the Terran Empire). The thing is that: These Stars are Ours, AKA Vision #1, will be an earlier milieu, while Ashes of Empire, AKA Vision #2, will be a later milieu, both of the same setting. So, without further ado, I present the unified history of my Visions of Empire setting!
2082-2232 Reticulan Conquest and the EFA
Humanity has missed its chance to start its own interstellar state. In the hyper-consumerist 21st century, apart from a few privately-owned space tourist outfits and several abortive attempts at belt mining, we Humans did not pay much attention to space, preferring instead to focus on our day-to-day lives here on Earth. Space programs were cut back, and the single manned Mars landing in 2043 was never followed by any further exploration. But then the Reticulans came.
In 2082, several Reticulan (more particularly, House Thiragin) capital ships appeared in Earth orbit, sending a wave of smaller saucers to hover above Earth's major cities. Soon enough, through promises of advanced technology and access to vast wealth through interstellar trade, most Earth governments signed pacts with the alien visitors. In a matter of months, Earth was transformed from a chaotic collection of independent states into one big client-state of the Reticulan House Thiragin, ruled by the Earth Federal Administration (EFA). A few Earthlings did resist this economic and political takeover, however, under the umbrella of the hastily-formed Terran Defense Committee (TDC), which, for several years, launched covert operations against the aliens and their collaborators, until hunted down and defeated by the EFA's bio-augmented Federal Security Apparatus (FSA), better known as the Men in Black.
While self-administered and allowed to build its own armed forces - mostly to serve as auxiliary troops for House Thiragin - Terra was under the alien thumb, its economy and resources exploited by the alien Thiragin, some of its people used by Thiragin scientists as lab-rats for various bio-tech experiments, and its soldiers send off to fight distant wars on the behalf of its alien masters. the EFA allowed relatively little freedom to its citizens, but, on the other hand, developed its own sphere of space around Earth with nine major colonies settled by Mankind, exporting goods to the Thiragin monopoly and the larger Reticulan Empire.
2232-2258 Terran Liberation War (the First Reticulan War)
But then, in 2232, Humanity had enough. After a century and a half of subjugation, massive protests against the EFA's unfair tax burden and tyrannical practices turned into open rebellion on Terra and the nine major colonies. Out of the chaos, rose the United Terran Republic (UTR), which declared itself an independent state, and, soon after, called for the Reticulans' other thralls and client states to rise up in rebellion as well, towards a free Interstellar Republic.
The Reticulans responded by trying to crush this impudent uprising, sending their own Thiragin Huscarls as well as Cicek mercenaries and many other alien auxiliaries. Thus began the Terran Liberation War. Stubborn Terran military resistance, as well as diplomatic efforts, found, however, their success, as parts of the Cicek hordes broke off from their own, Reticulan-dominated client-state, forming what was first known as the Cicek Democracy and later as the Cicke Confederacy. The combined might of Terran troops and allied Cicek dissidents crushed, in 2239, House Thiragin's might, breaking through the defensive lines and approaching Zeta 2 Reticuli, House Thiragin's Sector Capital. Until then, however, the other Reticulan houses, content to see their Thiragin competitors embroiled in what was seen as a minor rebellion of barbarians and thus weakened, have not intervened. Only when UTR and Cicek Confederation troops were two jumps away from Zeta 2 Reticuli, the Empress herself sent her Legions, supported by numerous to crush the rebellion.
Ultimately, they failed. Fighting raged for two more decades, with the lines moving back and forth between the Terran-Cicek alliance and the Reticulan Empire, but, in January 2258, the fabled Terran Guard, supported by Colonial Troops and a heavy Cicek fleet, crushed through the Reticulan lines, captured Zeta 2 Reticuli and thus declared the entire Reticuli Sector (now Terra Sector) their own.
The Reticulan Empire had to capitulate. In June 2258, they signed a treaty with the UTR, recognizing its sovereignty, as well as its conquest of the Reticuli Sector, Furthermore, Terra forced the Reticulans' hand into allowing the various minor races close to Terran space to secede, if desired, from the Reticulan Empire.
2258-2296 Ascendancy of the United Terran Republic
Out of the Terran Liberation War - later called the First Reticulan War - the UTR came with its upper hand, a strong polity with massive military might and an enormous popularity among its citizens. While the centralized state-run economic machine of the war was mostly privatized, the state still held a massive military machine, maintaining a universal draft and a strong offensive military arm. The initial post-war period saw much liberalization and demilitarization of the United Terran Republic, owing to the Dovish-Nationalist line held at the time by the ruling Terran Coalition party and most of the public. This, however, slowly changed as more Hawkish politics gained ground, especially as the massive military achievements of the First Reticulan War gave many Terrans a taste for conquest, which grew stronger as time progressed and the horrors of war were less remembered than its glories.
So in the late 2270's, the UTR became more and more active in interstellar politics, challenging the Reticulan Empire on many fronts, and, initially, gaining ground using aggressive diplomacy rather than the open force of arms. A major step in this direction was the establishment of the Reticulan Technate - then a pro-Terran state - in regions of the Reticulan Empire conquered by the UTR in the past war. The Terrans backed the Technate by force of arms and build and trained its military forces, openly supporting the Empire-wide Technocracy Movement, which, in the Reticulan Empire proper, was an illegal underground movement aimed at overthrowing the Great Houses and replacing them with a Technocracy - the meritocratic rule by scientists and engineers.
From lucky barbarians (in Reticulan eyes, that is) in 2258, the UTR became a force to be reckoned with, aggressively pursuing its interests along the Imperial border and arming the rebel Technate. Client species of the Reticulan Empire were encouraged to rebel against their masters, and these rebels were armed and trained by UTR "military advisers". By the 2290's, this led to mounting pressure, especially by House Thiragin on the otherwise prudent Reticulan Empress to counter these Terran moves. And, in 2296, this gave rise to a Second Reticulan War.
2296-2312 Second Reticulan War
In 2296, the Reticulan Empress, pressured by the Great Houses to counter the Terran aggression, finally declared war on the Reticulan Technate, and heavily suppressed the Technocratic movement within the Empire's borders. The UTR responded by declaring war on the Empire and sent its fleets and Terran Guard units for a massive counter-offensive. Several of the Cicek tribes also joined this war on the Terran side, typically in hope for plunder and planetary land-grants. The initial fighting was near Zeta 2 Reticuli, then the Technate's capital, but by the turn of the century, the Reticulan forces were pushed by by multiple parsecs, as Terran fleets gained the upper hand. Fires burned on a hundred worlds as the two superpowers fought for dominance.
The first decade of the 24th century was thus marked by war and slaughter on an interstellar scale. But the Reticulan Empire, ossified and wracked by internal strife between the Great Houses, proved weaker than the determined an aggressive Terrans. Despite a massive price in lives and lost materiel, the UTR gained the upper hand, and, in 2312, helped the Reticulan Technate to plant the Technocratic flag on the Reticulan homeworld moments after the last Empress committed suicide by jumping out of the Imperial Spire. The empire thus was no more; the Technate controlled Reticulan space, after massive concessions, of course, to its Terran allies. The species long held in thrall by the Reticulans were now free of Imperial control, though Terra moved to try and bring them under her leadership.
2082-2232 Reticulan Conquest and the EFA
Humanity has missed its chance to start its own interstellar state. In the hyper-consumerist 21st century, apart from a few privately-owned space tourist outfits and several abortive attempts at belt mining, we Humans did not pay much attention to space, preferring instead to focus on our day-to-day lives here on Earth. Space programs were cut back, and the single manned Mars landing in 2043 was never followed by any further exploration. But then the Reticulans came.
In 2082, several Reticulan (more particularly, House Thiragin) capital ships appeared in Earth orbit, sending a wave of smaller saucers to hover above Earth's major cities. Soon enough, through promises of advanced technology and access to vast wealth through interstellar trade, most Earth governments signed pacts with the alien visitors. In a matter of months, Earth was transformed from a chaotic collection of independent states into one big client-state of the Reticulan House Thiragin, ruled by the Earth Federal Administration (EFA). A few Earthlings did resist this economic and political takeover, however, under the umbrella of the hastily-formed Terran Defense Committee (TDC), which, for several years, launched covert operations against the aliens and their collaborators, until hunted down and defeated by the EFA's bio-augmented Federal Security Apparatus (FSA), better known as the Men in Black.
While self-administered and allowed to build its own armed forces - mostly to serve as auxiliary troops for House Thiragin - Terra was under the alien thumb, its economy and resources exploited by the alien Thiragin, some of its people used by Thiragin scientists as lab-rats for various bio-tech experiments, and its soldiers send off to fight distant wars on the behalf of its alien masters. the EFA allowed relatively little freedom to its citizens, but, on the other hand, developed its own sphere of space around Earth with nine major colonies settled by Mankind, exporting goods to the Thiragin monopoly and the larger Reticulan Empire.
2232-2258 Terran Liberation War (the First Reticulan War)
But then, in 2232, Humanity had enough. After a century and a half of subjugation, massive protests against the EFA's unfair tax burden and tyrannical practices turned into open rebellion on Terra and the nine major colonies. Out of the chaos, rose the United Terran Republic (UTR), which declared itself an independent state, and, soon after, called for the Reticulans' other thralls and client states to rise up in rebellion as well, towards a free Interstellar Republic.
The Reticulans responded by trying to crush this impudent uprising, sending their own Thiragin Huscarls as well as Cicek mercenaries and many other alien auxiliaries. Thus began the Terran Liberation War. Stubborn Terran military resistance, as well as diplomatic efforts, found, however, their success, as parts of the Cicek hordes broke off from their own, Reticulan-dominated client-state, forming what was first known as the Cicek Democracy and later as the Cicke Confederacy. The combined might of Terran troops and allied Cicek dissidents crushed, in 2239, House Thiragin's might, breaking through the defensive lines and approaching Zeta 2 Reticuli, House Thiragin's Sector Capital. Until then, however, the other Reticulan houses, content to see their Thiragin competitors embroiled in what was seen as a minor rebellion of barbarians and thus weakened, have not intervened. Only when UTR and Cicek Confederation troops were two jumps away from Zeta 2 Reticuli, the Empress herself sent her Legions, supported by numerous to crush the rebellion.
Ultimately, they failed. Fighting raged for two more decades, with the lines moving back and forth between the Terran-Cicek alliance and the Reticulan Empire, but, in January 2258, the fabled Terran Guard, supported by Colonial Troops and a heavy Cicek fleet, crushed through the Reticulan lines, captured Zeta 2 Reticuli and thus declared the entire Reticuli Sector (now Terra Sector) their own.
The Reticulan Empire had to capitulate. In June 2258, they signed a treaty with the UTR, recognizing its sovereignty, as well as its conquest of the Reticuli Sector, Furthermore, Terra forced the Reticulans' hand into allowing the various minor races close to Terran space to secede, if desired, from the Reticulan Empire.
2258-2296 Ascendancy of the United Terran Republic
Out of the Terran Liberation War - later called the First Reticulan War - the UTR came with its upper hand, a strong polity with massive military might and an enormous popularity among its citizens. While the centralized state-run economic machine of the war was mostly privatized, the state still held a massive military machine, maintaining a universal draft and a strong offensive military arm. The initial post-war period saw much liberalization and demilitarization of the United Terran Republic, owing to the Dovish-Nationalist line held at the time by the ruling Terran Coalition party and most of the public. This, however, slowly changed as more Hawkish politics gained ground, especially as the massive military achievements of the First Reticulan War gave many Terrans a taste for conquest, which grew stronger as time progressed and the horrors of war were less remembered than its glories.
So in the late 2270's, the UTR became more and more active in interstellar politics, challenging the Reticulan Empire on many fronts, and, initially, gaining ground using aggressive diplomacy rather than the open force of arms. A major step in this direction was the establishment of the Reticulan Technate - then a pro-Terran state - in regions of the Reticulan Empire conquered by the UTR in the past war. The Terrans backed the Technate by force of arms and build and trained its military forces, openly supporting the Empire-wide Technocracy Movement, which, in the Reticulan Empire proper, was an illegal underground movement aimed at overthrowing the Great Houses and replacing them with a Technocracy - the meritocratic rule by scientists and engineers.
From lucky barbarians (in Reticulan eyes, that is) in 2258, the UTR became a force to be reckoned with, aggressively pursuing its interests along the Imperial border and arming the rebel Technate. Client species of the Reticulan Empire were encouraged to rebel against their masters, and these rebels were armed and trained by UTR "military advisers". By the 2290's, this led to mounting pressure, especially by House Thiragin on the otherwise prudent Reticulan Empress to counter these Terran moves. And, in 2296, this gave rise to a Second Reticulan War.
2296-2312 Second Reticulan War
In 2296, the Reticulan Empress, pressured by the Great Houses to counter the Terran aggression, finally declared war on the Reticulan Technate, and heavily suppressed the Technocratic movement within the Empire's borders. The UTR responded by declaring war on the Empire and sent its fleets and Terran Guard units for a massive counter-offensive. Several of the Cicek tribes also joined this war on the Terran side, typically in hope for plunder and planetary land-grants. The initial fighting was near Zeta 2 Reticuli, then the Technate's capital, but by the turn of the century, the Reticulan forces were pushed by by multiple parsecs, as Terran fleets gained the upper hand. Fires burned on a hundred worlds as the two superpowers fought for dominance.
The first decade of the 24th century was thus marked by war and slaughter on an interstellar scale. But the Reticulan Empire, ossified and wracked by internal strife between the Great Houses, proved weaker than the determined an aggressive Terrans. Despite a massive price in lives and lost materiel, the UTR gained the upper hand, and, in 2312, helped the Reticulan Technate to plant the Technocratic flag on the Reticulan homeworld moments after the last Empress committed suicide by jumping out of the Imperial Spire. The empire thus was no more; the Technate controlled Reticulan space, after massive concessions, of course, to its Terran allies. The species long held in thrall by the Reticulans were now free of Imperial control, though Terra moved to try and bring them under her leadership.
