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Edictus; Taken from Past, Present, and Future
Topic Started: Jun 22 2009, 09:28 PM (2,317 Views)
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Edictus Order Flag, circa 2992.


COMMISSION NOTE: The below is a transcript of Past, Present, and Future: Fate of the Galaxy, an episode of a form of entertainment called intrasense. Intrasense units connect to a user’s mind and deliver a stream of audio, video, emotional cues, and cortex impulses as a full experience of an event to a user. While the transcript of the narration is literally nothing like the intrasense experience, which purports to allow users the feeling of being in every historical event mentioned, emotion included, it is still one of the few documents on Edictus history both accurate and concise enough for use with the Commission. Any readers interested in intrasense technology should be wary: these devices have been used by cults and terrorist groups to indoctrinate members for some time.

---ORIGINAL DOCUMENT---

The Edictus, it has been said, is not a government - it is an experience. In keeping with this, the nature of a galactic civilization and its implications are far too massive to undertake in anything more than broad, generalized strokes. At the same time, they are too important to generalize. In short, we will do the best we can.

The Edictus as we know it formed sometime around 500 GE after the event known as IW1 and the five century information blackout that followed it. There is significant evidence that a majority of operable stars were colonized in the Sol Cluster, a region extending some eighty lightyears beyond Sol in every direction. The Edictus in those times was known as the Order of the Stars, and surprisingly enough there are fewer records of this early stage than of the ancient Americans. We can only assume that those early Edictans deemed stabilizing the Sol Cluster more important than chronicling their acts, and perhaps rightly so: according to a diplomatic census in 512 GE, over a hundred known worlds declared themselves independent from Earth at that time.

There were many problems for the new Order: with at least one hundred separate political entities in the Sol Cluster, the issues of economy, language, and stability were thrown into complete disarray. For the next two centuries, the Order of the Stars began absorbing these renegade planets into its fold by various means. Some came peacefully and energetically, willing to trade their sovereignty in exchange for a stable market and government. Others would not go without a fight, prompting the events known as the Colony Riots on many Cluster worlds in the 7th Century GE. The Order military transformed during these Riots from Sol militia to disciplined military units after having several devastating losses handed to them in 620 and 627, and by the close of the Colony Riots in the 660s the Order of the Stars was the dominant military power in colonized space.

In 680, with widespread support in the Sol Cluster and control over the dissidents, the Order of the Stars and outlying regions consolidated into the Edictus. It was at this time where the galactic standard currency was adopted, the Credit. It is still used to this day. Neostandard English also saw a surge in popularity around the 680s, and while the Edictus never adopted any official language NeoEnglish tends to be the both the language of formal government and military business and local language of many worlds.

Beginning around the year 705, the Edictus began a massive wave of incentived colonization beyond the Sol Cluster. The result was wholly successful; with the widespread use of warp travel for exploration, new Edictus worlds were being colonized at a rate of one every two months and untold amounts of raw materials flowed back to the settled Cluster to begin the cycle of colonial economy that had sustained so many empires before it. Between 705 and 1150, records indicate that some ten thousand new worlds had expanded the Edictus deep into the Milky Way.

It was at this time that the Emperor of the Edictus adopted a policy given no official name, but known to political scientists as dualistic imperialism. In the wake of threatened revolts in several dozen new colonies around 1150, all Imperial instruments on the colonies were gradually removed. The colonies were given unofficial authority to replace them with their own agencies, and by 1200 the only powers given to the Emperor over all Edictus worlds were the powers of decree and tax. The former was used mostly for vital matters, such as the Emperor's Decree Regarding Forced Brotherhood in 1231.

Forced brotherhood is another important concept in galactic politics. It is the idea that, in a system of dualistic imperialism, worlds granted leeway to conduct their own business are still forbidden from engaging in hostile acts against other members of the system. Forced brotherhood is a practice still in use today, with the Arthran, Kantus, and Edictus all allowing their territories significant freedom while forbidding them from attacking each other. Together, the concepts of dualistic imperialism and forced brotherhood were said to respectively grant the Edictus freedom and justify a massive Imperial military to keep it together.

From the 1200s on to roughly 2810 GE, a familiar cycle repeated itself in the Edictus. A new region of space would first be colonized by eager frontiersmen and corporations, bringing back the spoils of freshly terraformed worlds. The settlers would encounter and often resist organized crime and revolutionaries, both of which would attempt to make the fresh fringe worlds bases for their activities. In some cases they succeeded, and between 1200 and 1900 GE some nine hundred millions of people were killed on the ever-expanding fringe. At this point, the Edictus military would inevitably step in and sanitize the region in a bloody campaign lasting some weeks. The region would eventually quiet down several years after first being colonized and soon become a productive area of the Edictus.

The cycle would continue elsewhere, giving the Edictus a tremendous growth rate. It is this expansion model, a system unlike any seen in human history, which allowed the Earth-based Edictus to so fervently expand into ninety million worlds in under three millennia. One unfortunate side effect, though, is that such a hasty expansion gave newly-settled worlds little chance at development funds from either multisystem corporations or the Imperial government itself: worlds lost most of their importance once the brushfire wars or terraforming struggles had died down. This explains why many worlds throughout the galaxy still maintain a low level of technological advancement when compared to the faction governments and their agencies.

However, not all of the Edictus is in its history. Its culture deserves at least a light treatment, for the culture fostered by its unique political system both stifled and fostered revolution dramatically. The common experience shared by all Edictans, regardless of world, family, or creed, was that of their own planet - more often than not, the events of their local region far overshadowed galactic events. Edictans were -and are- one of the most diverse mixes of people in human history, and until recently only traders, businessmen, and those employed in the Edictus service arms were able to truly comprehend how diverse the galaxy is. Despite having access to information across the galaxy through the extranet, humans tended to view the wildly different cultures of their neighbors through the lens of their own cultural identity: furthering the incorrect idea that the galaxy was homogenous.

This strikingly individualist, or at least planet-oriented, culture allowed for one of the most stable empires in history: specific regions of space sharing the same worldview assumed their views, morals, and priorities were those of the Edictus. With the populace believing their worldview was in harmony with that of Earth, a large majority of the galaxy had little reason to rebel against the Edictus. Additionally, the constant cycle of revolutionaries and criminals organizing and disintegrating on the fringes of colonized space satiated the bloodlust of many citizens as colonial authorities continually assembled civilian vigilantes to combat them. It is estimated that between 1200 and 2100 GE, there were some six hundred of these brushfire wars. These wars were not without benefit, though: it is believed that some of the most useful inventions in recent memory, such as feasible neutrino weapons and energy shielding, came from the ingenuity of the desperate vigilantes.

There are many proposals that the Emperor purposely and secretly enacted this culture by the forcing of dualistic imperialism upon the Edictus. There is little evidence for and against this, and is mostly speculation as no citizen has or had a view into the mind of the Emperor. If this is so, however, then the Office of the Emperor may be the most competent and insightful governmental body since ancient times. Since the disappearance of the Emperor, the gradual breakdown of this system due to the Kantus and resulting violence seems to indicate that the system, surprisingly, could not survive with significant outside interference. This is a vast departure from common theory, which would dictate that political entities unite internally against external pressure.

There were a few exceptions to the startling peace stemming from the Edictus' unique political system, however, and those exceptions often boiled over into full scale revolt. There are two prime examples of this - both of which have been burned into the collective memory of the Edictus. The second, and better known, event is the Kantus Rebellion. The effects of that campaign are still being felt across the galaxy, and a better summary of those events may be found within the Kantus subdirectory of this feature. The first, however, occurred nearly four hundred years ago: the Koryo Campaign from 2810 to 2859 GE.

The Campaign, for it can be called nothing else, originated in the beginning of the 29th Century GE in the Koryo Clusters, a group of stars with a combined area some five hundred lightyears across. A vast majority of the over seven hundred colonized star systems contained in the Cluster was located within nebulae, and as such were typically young stars with planets rich in heavy metals. The Koryo Cluster was seen as the boon of the century for heavy mining, and by 2810 a multitude of mining and resource extraction conglomerate firms had settled millions of tons of machines, workers, and corporate SIs in the Cluster.

The original colonists of the Koryo Cluster viewed this corporate incursion as nothing less than a full-blown invasion, and many raided corporate settlements and work sites as retribution. Colonial militias originally sided with the mining firms, but after five years of open resistance by colonists many militiamen switched allegiance by 2815 GE. Local governments followed suit, seeing little support from Earth and under massive pressure to maintain public support. By 2821, some twelve hundred worlds had declared open revolt against the Edictus - some by choice, some threatened into seceding. A bloody guerilla war followed as corporations and Edictus service arms quickly pulled out of the Koryo Cluster and the Edictus Fleet tried to fight their way in.

What followed was a bloody campaign by the Edictus Fleets as they carved a path into the heart of the Koryo Cluster. Pacifying the Cluster proved much harder than initially suspected, and it has been later determined that the revolts of the Campaign served as a general outlet for disenchantment in the populace. This is reinforced by the fact that several million Edictus citizens near the Koryo Cluster left their worlds and joined the rebelling militias to fight the Edictus Fleets. The end result was some forty years of bloody struggle, and the only period of time in which citizens have expressed open discontentment towards the Emperor. Riots on thousands of sympathetic planets pushed the credibility of the Edictus and Emperor to their limits, while the Emperor’s hand was forced on the matter when Koryo Cluster worlds attempted to recruit worlds outside their Cluster to rebel. Given the choice of an expanding rebellion or the utter destruction of several worlds to ensure the revolution’s proverbial head was severed, the Emperor chose to deploy the first antimatter weapons to the Cluster.

The only true resolution to the bloody guerilla wars in the Koryo Cluster came when the Edictus Fleets, newly equipped with the first antimatter batteries and anti-planet aMWs, obliterated the regional capitals of Amadagro, Elphesia, and Tau Janus. Some two billion died in the bombardments, pushing total civilian losses in the entire Campaign to six billion. The entire Koryo Campaign was the worst revolt in Edictus history, and arguably influenced the Kantus Rebellion some two centuries later. The relative proximity of Secunda Delta and the Koryo Cluster –a mere eight hundred lightyears- both inspired the later revolution and gave it an early base of support from the still-dissatisfied Cluster.

Following the Campaign, the Edictus enjoyed a wave of economic growth as a vast majority of the settled galaxy expressed their deep desire to return to business as usual. Around 2940 GE, Edictus holdings reached the literal opposite edge of the galaxy. Edictus space now formed a rough oval with the supermassive black hole Aura as its center, the Galactic Eastern and Western fringes being mostly excluded from heavy colonization by the “drive across Aura” to the opposite side of the galaxy relative to Sol. The colonization effort at large appeared to be gathering itself for a push into the Eastern and Western fringes.

There were even major inquiries conducted into the possibility of travelling to Andromeda, despite the apparent stumbling blocks of five-year uninterrupted warp travel voyage and inability for ships to carry the mass of axions required for such an extremely long voyage. The economic upturn was manifested in the life of the common Edictan with a doubling of average citizen assets and sharp rise in average income. On the whole, the Edictus seemed at its lowest potential for unrest. This all, of course, would come to an end in 2970 with the rise of the Kantus.

When the Kantus Rebellion broke out on a mining colony and scientific outpost named Secunda Delta in 2970, the Edictus Fleets and Armies were quick to employ the lessons learned some two centuries earlier with the Koryo Campaign and hastily assembled Task Force Archer, some 9,500 top-of-the-line battleships, to crush Secunda before the rebellion could spread. After assembling the massive force at Secunda in 2971, the Edictus Fleets were handed a crushing defeat when the Kantian rebels suddenly deployed DEs against Archer. The desperate battle over Secunda ended in complete chaos for the task force, which lost all but six hundred of its vessels while inflicting superficial losses on the Kantus force.

The discouraged Task Force Archer survivors returned to Earth, where they were put to work as instructors for the newly assembled Task Force Arthran. While the Arthran trained and Edictus Fleets pushed fruitlessly against the advancing Kantus horde, however, Edictus worlds throughout the galaxy felt a sense of abandonment. With Kantus numbers growing daily and Edictus military forces dwindling rapidly, FLTCOM made the decision in 2981 to abandon minor worlds in favor of protecting heavily-populated regional capitals. Countless thousands of worlds were left for dead in the rapid backward dash of the Edictus Fleets to save whatever they could before the Kantus swept across Aura and towards Sol.

On August 10, 2990, without an explanation or trace, the Emperor of the Edictus seemingly vanished into thin air. No Edictus world or Imperial agency could account for his location, and his Imperial Seal AI giving him overriding power in any situation could not be seen on any network in the galaxy. Several of his personal starships could not be accounted for, but this was a common occurrence with such a mobile Emperor and in the aftermath of the Fall it is likely that no one will ever know where these vital clues to the Emperor’s location are. Regardless of his location, his final order to unleash the Arthran and for Man to hold faith still made it out across the galaxy.

The Arthran were let loose, but Man did not hold faith. In the aftermath of the awe-inspiring victory over Aura, the Edictus began to crumble. Worlds declared their independence by the thousands, and the Edictus Fleets and Armies no longer had the strength to contain them. With the sole advantage of the situation being the Kantus’ military in disarray, the Edictus fell under martial law in order to consolidate the Core Worlds of the empire. From 2990 to 2995, this military junta actually managed to stop the loss of Edictus worlds to independent status, either retaining worlds or coaxing them to rejoin the Edictus.

This was not the only accomplishment of the junta. In 2993, they retrieved and decoded blueprints of Kantus DEs stolen by Task Force Arthran in 2985. These blueprints had been held by the Edictus since that time, but their surviving production capacity was not enough to produce any more than a handful of them. By 2994, however, the junta had coerced the heavy industries in the Edictus to produce enough to defend Earth, Tau Ceti, and Salus. In 2995, the junta agreed to hold elections, and the Edictus became a representative democracy in lieu of the Emperor returning. Miranda Nethun was elected the President of the Edictus with Terra United, a term she will hold until 3005 GE.

By 3000, the Edictus had stabilized enough to hold off constant raid from both the Arthran and Kantus, and harbor no warm feelings for either. A recent economic upturn, the first since 2971, has given the Edictus Treasuries enough surplus credits to begin an infrastructure upheaval program throughout the faction – giving Edictus worlds the superb infrastructure efficiency they are known for across the galaxy. The future of the Edictus is uncertain, but with a brand new democracy blossoming in the fertile ruins of their once grand empire, most Edictans will tell you that what is yet to come is bright indeed.

---ORIGINAL DOCUMENT---
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Edictus Political Information

Political Parties


Singularity Party - 2% - The smallest party holding seats in the Congress, the Singularity Party advocates technological research and growth at an exponential rate. Going against the millennia-old policy of all factions to ban logic-form AIs to prevent the negative events of a technological Singularity, the party has few friends in the political world. Progressives and moderates look to add at least one or two more seats to this party's books in the 3000 elections and technology is increasingly looked to as the answer to problems.

Interventionist Party - 5% - Interventionists are unique in the fact that they advocate strong government action when pertaining to Edictus client worlds. Some even favor a return to an ancient Britain style empire. Their 2995 campaign was attacked by nearly every other party as being imperialist and barbaric, and their prospects are bleak for the 3000 elections.

Isolationists United - 7% - Isolationists gained only a nominal share of the minor party vote in 2995, but appear to be gaining momentum. They advocate a total withdrawal from intergalactic politics and using the majority of Edictus income to build up client worlds and defense instead of offensive ventures against other factions. While they enjoyed strong public support shortly before the election, they were successfully branded as 'the give-up party' by Terra United and lost most of their seats to the Minarchists.

Minarchist Party - 8% - Minarchists, while only holding a dismal eight seats in the Congress, are quite united in their beliefs - namely, that government should comprise solely of instruments to protect life, liberty, and property, such as courts, the military, and law enforcement. Many citizens, tired of the struggle that holding far-flung client worlds brings, have indicated that they will vote Minarchist in the 3000 elections.

Red Dove Party - 21% - Red Doves, holding almost a quarter of the Congress under their control, have easily become potent challengers for control of the Congress in the 3000 elections. Their political ideology advocates strong action against aggression from other factions while reinstating meaningful diplomatic action between factions. Their campaign ran on a 'rational alternative' theme and has resonated well with the public thus far.

Terra United - 57% - Terra United is the current majority party of the Congress, and the party of Madam President Miranda Nethun. They have strong supporters among the ex-junta that ruled the Edictus after The Fall until 2995 GE, various industries, and a large portion of the Earth's population to boot. Their self-proclaimed 'stand firm' policy on extra-factional aggression and the logic-form AI ban has earned them the respect of many hard-liners and the criticism of many moderates. Their future is unclear for the 3000 elections, though Nethun will retain her position until at least 3005 GE.

Congressmen and Committees

Congressional Committee on Natural Resources
Arturo Ezekiel O’Neill – Singularity Party
Beatriz Edwina Guzman – Terra United
Beverley Ramona Lang – Terra United
Brendan Avery – Interventionist Party
Constance Little – Terra United
Derrick Donovan – Terra United
Dewey Dylan Wong – Terra United
Joaquin Scott – Terra United
Ned Buck McConnell – Interventionist Party
Nicolas Gentry – Red Dove Party

Congressional Committee on Military Service Arms
Abraham Kemp – Interventionist Party
Alberto Howe – Terra United
Alice Gutierrez – Terra United
Dudley Richard – Terra United
Eddie Ewing – Terra United
Gregg Jackson – Isolationists United
Helga Hilda Gross – Terra United
Jackson Wall – Terra United
Edmond Keith – Terra United
Gilberto Melvin Summers – Minarchist Party
Gina June Poole – Red Dove Party
Frieda Janette Rush – Minarchist Party
Garry Clifton Cooley – Red Dove Party
Gregory Alfonzo Slater – Terra United
Everett Willie Goff – Terra United
Francine Noemi Gutierrez – Isolationists United
Hans Jules Chaney – Isolationists United
Joseph Elvin Reid – Minarchist Party
Katherine Bauer – Isolationists United
Lena Olga Miles – Terra United

Congressional Committee on Civilian Service Arms
Marsha Morin – Terra United
Luis Nick Barlow – Terra United
Madge Lorraine Rivers – Terra United
Marlin Rogers – Red Dove Party
Monty Otha Cunningham – Terra United
Fletcher Randolph – Terra United
Eugene Hyde – Terra United
Evangeline Keri Boyd – Isolationists United
Francisca Mullen – Terra United
Georgia Dominguez – Terra United
Jami Alvarado – Minarchist Party
Jamie Guy Palmer – Red Dove Party
Jeanie Gonzales – Terra United
Jerald Hull – Red Dove Party
Joaquin Scott – Terra United
Murray Tim Berger – Terra United
Patsy Waters – Terra United
Pauline Samantha Ryan – Interventionist Party
Roxanne Bradford – Red Dove Party
Royce Daniel Mayer – Terra United

Congressional Committee on Fiscal Affairs
Loretta Lowery – Isolationists United
Marsha Morin – Terra United
Marshall Rios – Terra United
Meagan Juliette Kirkland – Red Dove Party
Mikhail O’Brien – Minarchist Party
Percy Fernandez – Terra United
Randal Jerald Reid – Red Dove Party
Reba Contreras – Interventionist Party
Rebecca Leah Haney – Red Dove Party
Reid David – Red Dove Party

Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs
Sydney Durham – Red Dove Party
Tami Lloyd – Terra United
Tessa Shepherd – Red Dove Party
Wilford Jewel Church – Terra United
Wilfred Wong – Terra United
Joni Chen – Terra United
Katherine Larsen – Singularity Party
Kenneth Chang – Red Dove Party
Liza Hardy – Terra United
Riley Sykes – Terra United

Congressional Committee on Client Worlds
Travis Domenic Garza – Terra United
Tuan Lucia Hayes – Red Dove Party
Vickie Alyssa King – Terra United
Rowena Rodgers – Terra United
Sam Chance Simmons – Red Dove Party
Wendi Christian – Red Dove Party
Sonja Adela Griffith – Red Dove Party
Susan Arnold – Terra United
Susan Ashlee Howard – Terra United
Susanna McGee – Terra United

Congressional Committee on the Justice Department
Liz Elisabeth Miranda – Terra United
Rocco Roderick Murray – Terra United
Byron Cline – Terra United
Carmella Clara Kim – Terra United
Delores Guthrie – Isolationists United
Dina Herman – Minarchist Party
Dolly Annie Cochran – Terra United
Elnora Renee Pratt – Minarchist Party
Elsa Patton – Red Dove Party

Special Committee on Directed Energy Weapon Proliferation
Sheldon Bean – Terra United
Shelley Williams – Terra United
Sonja Adela Griffith – Red Dove Party
Leigh Weber – Terra United
Lionel Alan Terry – Red Dove Party

Special Committee on Congressional Rules and Ethics
Ernestine Russell – Terra United
Gladys Lucia Hernandez – Terra United
Glenda Lillie Conley – Red Dove Party
Joel Bowen – Terra United
Johnny Deangelo Barron – Minarchist Party
Ronny Benjamin Kent – Terra United
Rowena Rodgers – Terra United
Sam Chance Simmons – Red Dove Party
Sammie Ortiz – Terra United
Savannah Taylor – Terra United
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