Hanshen Empire

Hanshen Empire:
Government Type: Imperial Monarchy
Current Ruler: Empress Lin Fang
History:
Founding 731 PD:
The Hanshen Empire is one of the few nations that can claim its founding to the days before the Treaty of Seta having been founded by the colony mega-ark Hanshen after it separated itself from the founding fleet and travelled for centuries between the void to reach its destination world. Upon arrival in the Auriga sector the Captain of the Hanshen along with a close cadre of loyal officers chose to separate from the Founding Fleet and cast themselves alone into the void for the sake of preserving their ethnic and cultural heritage in the face of the assimilating influences of the founding fleet and its ruling bodies. For seven hundred and thirty one years the Hanshen and a small group of ark ships travelled in the void resolute despite generations of hardship and danger. Upon arriving in the star system they had named Han the colonists found at last the world promised them by their ancestors centuries past and settled on the world they would name Hanshen in honor of the ship that had born them hence.

Building an Empire: In the centuries of travel between the stars the Captain and officers of the Hanshen established themselves as a ruling dynasty chosen by the will of heaven to lead their people. In accordance with this the new homeworld was quickly parceled out into provinces governed by the officers of the Hanshen and the ark ships that had followed it while the descendant of the original Captain Declared herself Empress Xia Bao the First of her name by the will of heaven. Her new Empire established Empress Xia quickly sought to expand her people’s presence across the world and system that was their new home. During her reign the scientific and industrial advancements made by the Hanshen people were beyond impressive as they created orbital habitats, deep system mining operations and colonies on the more hospitable moons of their home. Within three generations thanks to vita-womb technology and state encouragement of reproduction the population of the Han system had grown from a paltry ten million to close on three billion people all serving at the behest of their Emperor and nobles.

First Contact: When the SCG established contact with the Hanshen they found a proud, industrious and independent people that were every bit as advanced as the Founding fleet, save for the fluke that allowed for the development of Hyperspace gates. Always playing the long game the Emperor Cao Cao chose to bend his knee to the SCG for the sake of gaining access to the hyperspace gates and all that they represented.

Expanding the Empire in shadow: On the face of it the Hanshen people eagerly embraced the galaxy at large, in truth though their leadership was playing “The long game”. Using the gates provided by the SCG the Hanshen established colonies on numerous systems while discouraging peoples of other ethnic and cultural heritages from settling them beyond anything that was necessary. This was done again using vita-womb technology as well as heavy funding from Hanshen leadership to ensure that land was simply too expensive for non-Hanshen to settle the new worlds and outposts that were being established. This was largely ignored or unnoticed by the SCG leadership because the Hanshen leaders continued to pay their taxes and even offered numerous “tributes” without so much as a whisper of complaint. Whenever colonial authorities did comment on the homogenous populations of Hanshen colonies the Hanshen leadership simply played the victim and stated that they were often misunderstood by outsiders which kept non Hanshen from wanting to settle with them.

Rebirth of the Empire 850 PD: When the SCG signed the treaty of Seta the Hanshen Empress Lin Fang was there to ensure that her people were granted their independence. When this was done Empress Lin followed in the footsteps of her ancestor the Empress Xia and devoted the full resources of the Hanshen people to creating a new powerful military and establishing their own vast merchant fleets. She also saw to the deportation (albeit peacefully) of millions of non-Hanshen from within the borders of the newly established Empire citing them as a potential threat to the stability of her culture and her people.

Present Day: After thirteen years of industrial and military growth the Hanshen Empire is wealthier and more stable than at any point in its long history in no small part thanks to the wise leadership of the Empress Lin and her court. Although the Empire seeks to preserve their ethnic and cultural identity to the point that they have expelled millions of non-Hanshen they are no fools when it comes to the galaxy at large and except for a very few examples hold no real ill will towards “foreigners”. Under the current Empress the Hanshen have established vast trade fleets and organized economic and defense treaties with the Altair Federation, the Democratic Solar Confederation and a myriad of regional powers and nations.

Culture: Hanshen culture is very stratified in terms of peasantry and nobility; it is seen simply as the natural order of things and so long as the nobles honor their obligations to the peasantry they are held in high regard. Although an extremely wealthy trading power; the Hanshen are culturally very insular seeing foreign cultures as “contaminants” that are best viewed and studied from a far and not allowed to mingle and ruin the purity of the Hanshen people. The average citizen of the Empire is well educated, industrious, healthy and absolutely loyal to the nobility and Empress believing them truly to be chosen by the will of Heaven. As such service to the Empire is seen as one of the highest honors possible leading to the constant influx of recruits for colonization missions, construction work and military enlistment. Honor is paramount to the life of a Hanshen, honor which can be upheld by service to the Empire, loyalty to family and community and improvement of self. This leads to a people that are very stoic, driven and industrious to the point of near fanaticism.

Military: The Hanshen military consists of two “proper” branches as well as many house militaries which serve as local police forces and guards for the nobility.
Imperial Starfleet: The Hanshen Imperial Starfleet is the force under the command of the Empress and her court responsible for space based operations. The Imperial Starfleet consists of several “banner fleets” which are each responsible for different sectors of the Empire. Each banner fleet consists of numerous battleship groups as well as independent cruiser and frigate squadrons responsible for the defense of their region of the Empire. In times of war “Combined fleets” are formed from elements of numerous banner fleets and independent squadrons.
Doctrine: The Imperial Starfleet consists of rugged warships that require slightly larger crews than those most other nations due in large part to the general view against automation within the Imperial military. The Starfleet is unique in that they deploy frigate squadrons as independent patrol groups and as such have some of the most powerful frigates in the galaxy.

Imperial Army: The Imperial Army is the force responsible for land based operations. Made up of vast numbers of peasant recruits and noble officers the Army is highly disciplined though often seen as too rigid in its tactical doctrines. Doctrine: Unlike most armies in the galaxy the Imperial Army does not employ power armored troops instead relying solely on large numbers of exo-skeleton and hardsuit equipped infantry. Their armored vehicles too are weaker than those of most nations though they make up for this in speed and hitting power.

The Golden Fleet: The Golden fleet is the name of the force under the personal command of the Empress herself. The fleet consists of three battleship groups and at least fifty thousand infantry all of whom are equipped with heavy power armor unlike their army counterparts.