Tykhestan

“Heaven grant thee good,” said Arthur. “And where, Iddawc, didst thou find these little men?”
“I found them, lord, up yonder on the road.” Then the Emperor smiled.
“Lord,” said Iddawc, “wherefore dost thou laugh?”
“Iddawc,” replied Arthur, “I laugh nor; but it pitieth me that men of such stature as these should have this Island in their keeping, after the men that guarded it of yore.”
- The Dream of Rhonabwy

Tykhestan Reef Zone Provisional Government
Polity Info
Solar Commonwealth Flag
Government: Constitutional Elective Monarchy Capital: 15 Eunomia Rauka Paradraya: Helai Marika Armagahn Logothete tou Tykhestan: Ladislauvia Kolodowicz
Population and Economy
Infrastructure: 135 Wealth: 95

Theme: The Ostrogothic Kingdom of Space Soissons
Sub-Theme: Juntas and Uniforms

The Tykhestan Reef Zone

"But soon Khronos that accomplishes all will pass the portals of our house, and then all pollution will be expelled from the hearth by cleansing rites that drive out calamity. The dice of Tykhe will turn as they fall and lie with faces all lovely to behold, favorably disposed to whoever stays in our house."
- Aeschylus, Libation Bearers

In better days the orbits between Mars and Jupiter were inhabited by billions living in artificial habitats and hollowed out asteroid colonies, some clustered together to form vast shoals and reefs, scattered along a glittering torus. Standing on any of the major solar bodies the human occupied asteroid belt seemed like a river of lights encompassing the Sun, for which it was named the Solar Girdle. Colonized extensively, the site of humanity’s earliest successful homesteading beyond earth orbit, it was collectively the most industrious region in the Solar System. It is hard to find any provenance, for much it is now blighted ruin.

Once a battleground where the great powers jockeyed for influence and control, the formation of the Solar Commonwealth freed many colonies from the control of their parent nations. To better adjudicate localized conflicts amongst the newly emerging political units of the Main Belt and administrate services, LOGOS divided the Solar Girdle into a number of Districts which defined the jurisdiction of specialized staff headed by a special magistrate known as the Logothete. It was their function to handle the daily minutiae of Commonwealth government for the member states of the Solar Girdle. While many of these Districts were reorganized, partitioned, or disbanded over the centuries a few core districts remained more or less in their original shapes, such as Hōrai District.

Hōrai District originally encompassed in its demesne the Eunomia Republic, the Kybele Reef Union States, the New Vraspakania and Horizon Shoal Zones.

The golden days of the Commonwealth seemed infinite but nothing truly lasts forever, and the shadow of Nemesis suddenly loomed over the Solar System. Whether a symptom of its increasingly erratic schizophrenia or in service of some inscrutable design it never fully accomplished LOGOS began a series of sweeping reforms and restructuring of the District system, expanding the powers of the Logothete and reshuffling their areas of responsibility. Early that decade, Soffiya Poklonskaya was appointed Logothete Hōrai.

Various factions under the direction of fragments of LOGOS attempted to seize control of polities in the main belt in a blinkered effort to secure industry and resources to pursue futile survival plans. In the self-immolation of the Commonwealth, the Solar Girdle became a particularly ferocious battleground as manned fleets clashed with each other and the wrath of terrible engines locked away in secret arsenals were turned loose. War, against all by all, trampled the Solar Girdle with bloody footsteps. It is a grim irony that while it was the Solar Girdle that most vulnerable to the cometary bombardment, the fury of the Civil War robbed the vast majority its population to secure themselves in proper safeholds of the Polis type before the vanguard of Nemesis had arrived.

By the end of it all Hōrai District had somehow survived more or less intact, if battered, having accrued the detritus of other districts and a few orphaned warships with no orders anymore. All other lights in the Solar System it seemed had winked out and the survivors were alone in the sea of static, the lingering backwash of weapons.

Tykhestan entered the Long Night.

The Beyonders

Amongst the fractious Comet Riders of the Kuiper and far Oort are certain loose group identities that formed in the aftermath of Nemesis and the hostility of Monster to all unidentified traffic. Of these the Setarehzan (Star Trail Lancers) are amongst the greatest of the intensely xenophobic and secretive Beyonders. Claiming descent from human crewed Outrider patrols of the far Oort, these nomads sail the dark sea beyond the shores of the Sun on glittering sails and live in social structures very much like military units. It is the atypical discipline and organizations that has allowed them to consistently defeat other Comet Riders for possession of contested orbits.

Several centuries ago the great Setarehzan Staff agreed that a splinter of the Setarehzan should follow a Comet deep into the System to see if any fragments of the Commonwealth yet remained.

These Setarehzan are known by themselves and by their cousins in the ancestral homeland as the Setarehzan Paradraya, beyond the sea.

Tykhestan Reef Zone Annual Report, 4500 A.D.

The Tykhestan Reef Provisional Government

Population
Major Polis (26 points to spend): A large Polis with a substantial, diverse population and possibly satellite habitats outside of the Polis proper. Adds an additional 250 Military Points, 300 Military Support, 25 Wealth and 25 Construction Rate but suffers -1 to Growth Potential.

National Advantages:
Rank 2 (2 points)
- Barbarian Allies
- Excellent Diplomats

National Disadvantages:
Rank 2 (+2 points)
- Ascended Barbarians
- Barbarian Backyard

Economy:
Rank 2 (2 points)
- Wealth Rating 70 + 25

Infrastructure:
Rank 4 (4 points)
- Construction Rating 110 + 25

Growth Potential:
Rank 3 - 1 (3 points)
- x4 Infrastructure Cost

Espionage:
Rank 3 (4 points)

General Advancement:
Rank 0

Setarehzan Paradraya

"Star Trail Lancers Beyond the Sea"

Military Size:
Rank 3 (3 points)
- Military Points 490 + 250

Military Support:
Rank 4 (4 points)
- Military Support 825 + 300

Military Quality:
Rank 3 (5 points)

Superweapons:
Rank 0

Listen!

Oh wicked ones we, Tykhe who braved the shower of heavenly darts and we the Lancers who rode the Comet's tail, say this: The evil sway of Invidia has stolen the the children of the Sun. Who know remembers the Common Weal? The world is wracked by kinstrife, good things are stolen from the mouths of the unborn, nothing passes the lips save awful calumny. All have forgotten the sweet voice of LOGOS though the shadow of Nemesis has passed. You faithless ones; the Commonwealth is not suspended, LOGOS is not silent. Listen! If the living will not heed, we will break in the doors and smash the bolts; there will be confusion of people, those above with those who slumbered below. We shall bring up the sleepers to drink the light like the living and the hosts of the sleepers will outnumber the living.