The Rimworlds Sector: An Imperial Overview

The Whisp Route was, by its nature, difficult to navigate with the Tech Level 12 equipment available to the Imperium at that time. Several Rifts, with multiple, barely sustainable, Jump-3 passages across them, challenged the Scout Service's Exploration Teams. Eventually, massive fuel refineries orbiting sullen and isolated M-Class stars were to keep the route open.

Lord Kolin Venuraski, second son of Count Metch Venuraski of Fornice/Mora and head of a cadet branch of the House of Deneb, saw early on the possibilities for expansion into the Rimworlds. Through deft manoeuvring, he succeeded in having himself appointed to head the Imperial Commission that considered the Scout Service reports on Kaorin and Berimar’s Sceptre subsectors.

As Imperial resources were already heavily committed to expansion and settlement within the Spinward March, the prospects of colonising a remote pocket of space, accessed via a hazardous and difficult passage, held no immediate attraction to the members of the Commission. Lord Kolin proposed to fund the exploration and settlement of the RimWorlds through the agency of a Chartered Private Equity Company, thus avoiding any direct commitment of sparse Imperial resources. Shamelessly exploiting his position on the Imperial Commission, Lord Kolin was made Viceroy of the Rimworlds in 525, some 28 years after the initial scouting missions.

Venuraski had not been idle during this period. Early on, he had reached the conclusion that the Imperium or, more specifically the Domain of Deneb, with expansion in the Spinward March under way, lacked the resources to fully exploit the Rimworlds. A casual conversation at a soiree opened his eyes to the fact that there were a number of younger siblings of the Houses Major who felt that they were being excluded from the Spinward March development. Frustrated, yet in control of reasonable resources in their own names, these restless young nobles numbered talented, yet untested, members amongst their ranks.

As the Imperial Commission’s deliberations dragged on, Venuraski put together a team of trusted advisors who analysied the confidential Scout Service reports and then began drawing up a colonisation plan for the RimWorlds. In his capacitiy as Head of the Imperial Commission, Lord Kolin was able to ensure that the Scout Service purchased refinery stations for the Whisp Route that vasty exceeded the Service’s requirements. That a large percentage of the refinery construction work was farmed out to heavy engineering corporations on Fornice, or in the Mora Subsector with connections to House Venuraski, passed unnoticed at the time. On becoming Viceroy, Lord Kolin set about pooling the resources of his immediate family, and tapping the fortunes of his cousins, as he organised the settlement of key worlds in the Thurgandarn Subsector. Part of Lord Kolin’s success lay in his ability to recruit talented younger members of the other Houses Major of the Greater Deneb Sector and skilfully exploit their skills and resources to achieve his own great aim.

By the time Lord Kolin became Viceroy Kolin of the RimWorlds in 525, he had a strong, multitiered organisation behind him. The moneyed timid, as well as the short-changed adventurer, had all found places in his Chartered Private Equity Company, as silent shareholders or as divisional chiefs and managers. The first colonies were already established in Thurgandarn Subsector in the Coreward RimWorlds even as the ink dried on Kolin Venuraski’s letter patent as Viceroy.

Expansion was rapid and successful, and Kolin began to dream of a Sector Duchy. And then his advancing wavefront of scouts ran into a technologically competent Pocket Empire, the Klarthur Confederacy.

Taking its name from the Klarthur Nebula in Aemilor Subsector, the Klarthur Confederacy controlled a number of systems in neighbouring Nantarn, Riinu and Daltharmai Subsectors. The dominant species in the Klarthur Confederacy was the H’ran, an aggressive bipedal reptilian race that had originally been raised to sentience under the Thongaloros Empire.

First contact with the Klarthur Confederacy took place in the Choraptur system of Riinu Subsector in 526. Discovering a large, organised stellar polity sprawled across four subsectors came as something of a shock to Viceroy Kolin Venuraski and Lord Saaroi hault-Creaso, his Vice-Regal Minister for Exploration. After initial skirmishes as scouts from both sides ran into each other, and each other’s installations, the vague outlines of a frontier zone began to emerge.

Fortunately for Viceroy Kolin’s future ambitions, Lord Saaroi was ably served by his chief Xenologists, Albathar Moranth and Htaukhealaiw Iyfa. Professor Moranth quickly realised that the H’ran State dominated the Confederacy Supreme Council, and that while the H’ran appeared to be in charge, it was actually their Gherlachi servants who made things happen. Professor Iyfa was then able to crack the social codes that enabled Lord Saaroi to deal directly with Humblest-of-the-Humblest-and-Guide-of-the-Masses Cliirumpurathaal, the Gherlachi Chief Servitor.

After several false starts, the Treaty of Choraptur, concluded in 530, defined the official border between the Imperial RimWorld Territories and the Klarthur Confederacy, splitting Riinu Subsector evenly between the two states and strictly limiting Imperial expansion into Daltharmai Subsector.

As tensions eased along the Spinward frontier, Viceroy Kolin turned his eyes Rimward and set his scouts in motion again.

Following the path of least resistance, Imperial colonisation moved Rimward from Berimar’s Sceptre Subsector into Thurgandarn, and then into Nolgor Subsector. In 540, the years of planning and effort paid off. The Sector Duchy of the Rimworlds was formerly established with its initial capital on Raelamr/Thurgandarn and Kolin Venuraski was invested as its first Sector Duke.

Great mineral resources were discovered in the Gazolan subsector and these fuelled the rapid expansion of the Duchy. This expansion was not unopposed. Ten years into his reign, Sector Duke Kolin I’s driving ambition led his downfall when he was killed on campaign. Gazolan subsector was to claim the life of his son and successor, Metch (reigned 550 – 552), before being finally pacified.

The Perrsherrik Rift in Nolgor Subsector halted the march to the Rim for a few years, but by 552 Imperial forces under Sector Duke Kolin II Venuraski had penetrated the Coreward end of Gazul Subsector.

By 590 Sector Duke Dentian I (reigned 557 – 594) was becoming increasingly unpopular as he endeavoured to force the Houses Major and the Planetary Governments of the Sector to abide by the initial settlement and governance agreements enshrined in the Imperial Charter of Kolin I’s Chartered Private Equity Company. As the Houses Major and the Planetary Governments saw the situation, Dentian was attempting to enhance his own power and prestige by extending emergency powers granted for the duration of the 1st Rimward War.

The Emperor was petitioned directly and in 594 Dentian was forced to abdicate in favour of his cousin Frederich Zenartoria of Heriem/Thurgandarn. Discontent continued to grow, however, as Sector Duke Frederich failed to either roll back Dentian’s Edicts, or address other abuses that had plagued the closing years of Dentian’s reign.

By 602 most of the few Imperial Navy units still stationed in the RimWorlds Sector had been withdrawn to the Spinward March and the 1st Frontier War with the Zhodani. This left behind the faction-ridden Subsector navies and the Sector Duchy on the brink of Civil War.

Sector-Duke Frederich, assassinated on 021-603, was succeeded by his nephew Dentian II. Fighting now spread across the Sector with the bulk of the Rimward subsectors allied against the Zenartorians. Dentian II’s forces held Gazolan, Berimar’s Sceptre and part of Thurgandarn subsectors, while Venuraski Loyalists, supporting deposed Duke Dentian I, held out in Kaorin, Riinu and the coreward-spinward portion of Thurgandarn subsector. In Daltharmai subsector Morthar Maranth, Siridar-Duke of Daltharmai, swept all opposition before him but suffered a major defeat at Thiroor/Gazolan.

After five years of mixed fortunes, the Rimward subsectors had been drawn into a loose block by Duke Alleen and his daughter, Duchess Mikander Hikisaku of Gazul. In 608, this block finally threw its support behind Siridar-Duke Morthar of Daltharmai. The Venuraski were put down and the Zenartorians driven back. With the loss of Berimar’s Sceptre subsector in 609, Sector-Duke Dentian II lost his last supply line to the Spinward March. Besieged on Heriem/Thurgandarn in late 609, Dentian was killed during the ground assault in 610.

With his death, Morthar Maranth was elected Sector-Duke by the acclamation of his troops and went on the reign for a further twenty-two years.

The Maranths brought stability to the RimWorlds and were eventually confirmed in their position as Sector Dukes by the Empress Arbellatra at the conclusion of the Imperial Civil War.

The first signs of weakness in the Maranth Sector Duchy came with the reign of Sector Duke Morthar III in 690. Weak by nature, it was he who was primarily blamed for the loss of much of the Riinu subsector to the Klarthur Confederacy. Assassinated by his cousin Deserai in 699, he was succeeded by this same Deserai who took the regal name of Neal Zuro II. Neal Zuro II fought hard to repair the damage done during Morthar III’s reign, and died in battle in 724.

In 768 House Maranth became extinct and by Imperial Edict House Hikisaku of Gazul/Gazul inherited the Sector Duchy.

Further trouble from the Rimward Coalition saw renewed fighting in the Gazul subsector during 793 and 794. Sector Duke Karthundal Hikisaku was killed at the Battle of Dathyna in 794. Ftaioiaftew/Gazul, Gorth/Gazul and Dathyna/Gazul became demilitarised under the terms of the peace that followed.

Karthundal died without legitimate issue and so his nephew, Liarb Crensea of Daxum/Gazul succeeded him as Sector Duke Liarb II (reigned 794 – 810). Liarb became known as ‘the Peacemaker’ from his efforts to quell the turbulent RimWorlds. Ironically, Liarb was killed in fresh fighting in the Lymethius Subsector in 810.

Liarb II was succeeded by his son, Neal Zuro III (reigned 810 – 842). After a promising start, Neal Zuro began to embark on policies that became steadily more autocratic as time went by. Initially, with the encouragement of his Principle Secretary, Lissa Sarkul, Neal Zuro sought to gain control of the Subsector Navies to enforce his rule. This provoked a power struggle between the Houses Major and the Sector Duchy. Neal Zuro’s apparent conversion to the two hundred year old Charterist Policies of Sector Duke Dentian I was used by his opponents in the Council of Nobles to stir up the opposition of the Planetary Governments. As discontent grew, Neal Zuro III pushed ahead, forcefully installing his partisans in positions of command authority against the objections of the Houses Major.

In 841 elements of the Gazolan and Thurgandarn Subsector Navies mutinied. Sector Admiral Aras Stranman, with the Imperial Naval units stationed in Berimar’s Sceptre subsector, managed to disperse the Thurgandarn mutineers relatively bloodlessly. The Gazolani rebels, however, had the support of the major naval base and shipyard at Thiroor/Gazolan and began to secure their positions.

Neal Zuro III died childless, suddenly, in 842. Admiral Stranman attempted to hold the various factions together while a successor was found. Of the immediate Crensea family, Neal Zuro’s sister, Justine, and cousin, Dominicus, had predeceased him. Justine had married Lectorl Zarquestuir who was appointed Siridar-Duke of Gamelea by Sector Duke Liarb II in 809. Lectorl was preoccupied with the ongoing feud between House Zarquestuir and House Juharl for dominance in the Gamelea subsector and lacked the support to pursue the position of Sector Duke. Dominicus had married Diannar Ulanor, sister of Siridar-Duke Kanus III of Nolgor. His eldest son, Liarb, inherited the Crensea family title of Siridar-Count of Daxam/Gazul upon Neal Zuro’s death. Liarb endeavoured to raise support through his mother’s family in Nolgor subsector, but his cousin, Siridar-Duke Feodorus V of Nolgor also sought the Sector Ducal throne. Liarb’s brother, Calib, was Vice-Admiral of the Gazul Subsector Navy and he managed to swing a number of Daxami squadrons over to support Liarb’s claim.

Elsewhere, other factions were in motion, particularly around Sector Chancellor Eli Oshigen, and Principle Secretary Lissa Sarkul, while the Gazolani rebels were poised to break out of Gazolan Subsector.

In an effort to forestall the coming crisis, and on the advice of Secretary Sarkul, Admiral Aras Stranman had himself crowned Sector Duke late in 842. Instead of defusing the situation as he had hoped, Stranman’s actions were seen by all factions as a declaration of war.

Siridar-Duke Lectorl Zarquestuir of Gamelea was assassinated by House Juharl retainers at the end of 842 but his son, Petron, sequestered the Juharl estates on Gamelea, Feor and Anthorann in the Gamelea subsector and used Kalar-Wi mercenary cruisers to keep the Juharlian naval units at bay. Secretary Sarkul was driven out of Thurgandarn subsector by Chancellor Oshigen and then, in alliance with Admiral Stranman, drove the Chancellor out of Berimar’s Sceptre. Switching sides at the moment of victory, she betrayed Stranman to Oshigen, and Admiral Stranman was executed. In Nolgor subsector a Stranman loyalist, Admiral Konyor Tiable crowned herself Sector Duke, smashed the House Zarquestuir fleet at Gamelea and drove the Gazolani rebels from their base at Thiroor/Gazolan.

News then came that Admiral Stalmar Carlslem of Kaorin subsector had been acclaimed Sector Duke by his fleet and was advancing on Thiroor. Admiral Tiable withdrew before him, and then rushed back to Nolgor subsector to face a thrust by Chancellor Oshigen. At the Battle of Slepnir, Admiral Tiable was defeated and killed, having reigned for a year.

Admiral Kranan hault-Lernester of Miazan subsector was proclaimed Sector Duke by his fleet in 847. In alliance with Lissa Sarkul, hault-Lernester defeated Chancellor Oshigen in Nolgor subsector, driving him back into Thurgandarn subsector. Hault-Lernester then swept through Gazul subsector, smashing the Crensea’s Daxam fleet and forcing Siridar-Duke Liarb IV into hiding in deep space. After reminding the Rimward Coaltion that intervention in Imperial politics would not be countenanced, hault-Lernester swept coreward.

In the meantime, Admiral Carlslem had, with Lissa Sarkul’s assistance, defeated the last of the Gazolani rebels at Daltharmai/Daltharmai. At the very last minute, Secretary Sarkul attempted to betray Carlslem to the Gazolani, but Carlslem’s Intelligence team was monitoring her communications and had broken her codes. The Battle of Daltharmai was, in consequence, harder fought and bloodier than it needed to be but the end result was the defeat of the Gazolani, and Secretary Sarkul in full retreat with her forces in tatters.

Admirals Carlslem and hault-Lernester quickly reached an agreement over the portions of the Sector they would administer and then turned their attention to Chancellor Oshigan and Secretary Sarkul. Oshigan obliged everyone by dying suddenly in late 848. His faction promptly collapsed. Sarkul’s ragged forces put up a token resistance before running. Lissa Sarkul was rumoured to have crossed the Imperial frontier and vanished into the Klarthu Confederacy.

For nearly a year there was peace throughout the Sector. Then Secretary Lissa Sarkul appeared at hault-Lernester’s main base on Raelmar/Thurgandarn, seeking to revive her earlier alliance with him. Initially suspicious of the woman who had betrayed almost all of her erstwise allies, hault-Lernester soon fell under her spell. Within weeks, Sarkul was acting as hault-Lernster’s advisor, then as his spokesperson. Before long, Carlslem and hault-Lernester were drifting into conflict with each other. Stalmar Carlslem was killed at the Battle of Dysenar/Daltharmai in 850, while Kranan hault-Lernester died a year later, alone and forgotten in a back alley of Rorena Downport, Gamelea subsector, the core units of his fleet suborned by Secretary Sarkul.

Following the defection of hault-Lernester’s faction, the RimWorlds Sector dissolved into a patchwork of small, warring states, a situation that was to persist for nearly sixty years. Lissa Sarkul had some limited success, survived several assassination attempts, but was eventually forced to flee the Imperium again, disappearing into the Cabria subsector in 856 as her enemies closed in upon her.

During the 860s and 870s the widespread fighting in the Sector began to die down as planetary economies collapsed and the major shipbuilding centres were damaged beyond local ability to repair. Enough of the fortress worlds survived intact, however, to restrain extra-Imperial states, such as the Rimward Coalition and the Klarthu Confederacy, from penetrating far into the established border zones, and both these states suffered economic downturns as trade with the Imperium was disrupted.

Lord Leonid Trumer of Ulvar/Kaorin had been educated at the University of Deneb, before following a successful career in the Imperial Navy. In the mid 890s, after inheriting the Siridar-Duchy of Ulvar, Duke Leonid petitioned the Archduke of Deneb to be elevated to the vacant Sector Duchy of the RimWorlds. By the late 890s, Duke Leonid had gained sufficient support to be issued with Letters Patent from the Emperor and, more importantly, to receive the overall command of a small Imperial Task Force. This Task Force was charged with the pacification of the RimWorlds Sector and the return of it to Imperial control. Leonid’s first campaign was to secure Kaorin and Berimar’s Sceptre subsectors to ensure his supply lines to the Domain of Deneb.

By 905, Duke Leonid had completed his initial campaign. Kaorin subsector was at peace, and Berimar’s Sceptre had been subjugated. In 906, he was crowned Sector Duke of the RimWorlds at Ulvar/Kaorin by Archduke Alsatiar of Deneb on behalf of the Empress Tomutova II. Sector Duke Leonid then embarked on a whirlwind campaign across the RimWorlds. An accomplished diplomat, he was also a brilliant strategist. He had the ability to identify lynchpin planets and polities within a volume of space, win them over, and then use them as a means to bring the rest of a subsector under his control. Within his entourage he had gathered a number of very able subordinates, such as his son-in-law Chi’leur Geyukthi, Viceroy Lanyard I Sehlemarl of Celephais, Admiral Undas Dyzanth of Raelmar/Thurgandarn, Okhue saedz Ksa and Shelvai Poorary of Ulvar/Kaorin. With the help of these close friends and confidants, Duke Leonid ensured that his pacification and unification policies would stick, even after his fleet had moved on.

For the next ninety-three years, House Trumer ruled the RimWorlds, guiding them through the 1st and 2nd Outrim Wars, as the independent states finally organised themselves to aggressively resist the strengthening Imperial presence. Of the ten Trumer Sector Dukes, six were killed in these wars. Alexuv III finally died in 999, having outlived all his offspring, and the Sector Duchy passed quietly to House Geyukthi of Miazan, now distant cousins by marriage, but descended from Duke Leonid’s confidant Chi’leur.

The 3rd Outrim War destroyed the Geyukthis as a major political force. Miazan was besieged and heavily damaged and Sector Duke Mah’lyndairan, his two sons and his grandson all lost their lives in the fighting, both on Miazan/Miazan, in the Miazan Subsector, and elsewhere along the frontier.

To Yuri Sehlemarl, Admiral in Command of Celephais/Miazan, and a cousin of the Geyukthis, fell the task of finishing the war and cleaning up afterwards. Unable to prevent Kalar-Wi expansion, Yuri died an unhappy man in 1041. His successor, his brother Arkuru, was not popular and lacked the firmness of purpose required for the problems facing the Sector Duchy, in particular the rising power of Kalar-Wi. Direct Imperial intervention in the Rimbaud War (1042 – 1044) in the face of premeditated attempted genocide, undermined what little authority Sector Duke Arkuru still held and he was forced to abdicate in 1044.

Siridar-Duke Olgarthi Ulanor of Nolgor/Nolgor benefited the most from the fall from grace of House Sehlemarl. The arch-manipulator, barely thirty-three, had convinced the Imperial authorities to intervene in the Rimbaud War and he ensured that the blame for the Kalar-Wi atrocities was sheeted home to the Sehlemarl administration. High in Imperial favour, Olgarthi was elevated to Sector Duke in late 1044.

During his reign, Olgarthi had to contend with the rise of Kamperel/Miazan as a hostile power deep within the Miazan subsector. House Rivokul, as retainers of the Geyukthi Sector Dukes, had been Siridar-Barons of Kamperel/Miazan since the beginning of the 11th Century. Outrageously corrupt, they had mercilessly exploited the huge population of their small, poor world. While the 3rd Outrim War was at its height, and Outrim Alliance fleets were devastating large tracts of Miazan and Gamelea subsectors, fledgling revolutionary and anti-Imperial groups on a number of planets benefited from clandestine shipments of arms from the Outrim Alliance. One such group, the People’s Justice Army of Kamperel happened to include a nineteen-year-old fighter named Torvor Van Zaquerl. For eighteen months in 1031 – 32 the People’s Justice Army took on House Rivokul’s mercenary guardsmen in the Rivokul War, fighting for control of the factories and tower blocks of Kamperel. Van Zaquerl personally led a team that penetrated House Rivokul’s fortress-palace where the entire family, and their retainers, were summarily executed.

By the time Sector Duke Yuri Sehlemarl had concluded the 3rd Outrim War in 1038, a republican government headed by Torvor Van Zaquerl was firmly established on Kamperel. As most of House Geyukthi, who had supported House Rivokul, or at least turned a blind eye to their misdeeds, had perished in the Outrim War, there was little political will to overturn the new administration on Kamperel, provided it remained loyal to the Imperium and its appointed representative, the Sector Duke.

Olgarthi's son, Sector Duke Kanus I, and his successors in House Ulanor faced many trials over the next forty-seven years. The expansion of Kamperel/Miazan began during Kanus I's reign with the seizure of Ektra in 1051 and stresses within both Miazan and Nolgor subsectors continued, with control of Lotarf, Shenn and Naos VI in Nolgor subsector weakening as the century advanced. The decades after the 4th Outrim War witnessed an Imperial power vacuum in both Gamelea and Nolgor subsectors which saw the rise of criminal gangs and separatist movements, while the Zoni Wars spelt the end of House Ulanor's Sector Ducal tenure.

The Fourth Outrim War (1080 - 85) was the last major conflict along the Spinward Frontier of Gamelea Subsector prior to the Kalar-Wi War of 1103 – 1105. Once again, Outrim Alliance fleets penetrated Imperial Space, wrecking havoc in the Jump Zones of lightly held Imperial worlds and, once again, Imperial and Subsector Task Forces stopped Alliance Fleets cold in the approaches to High Population worlds. Once again, Alliance Ground Forces were landed on individual Imperial worlds and, once again, they took Low Population worlds and were defeated on High Population worlds.

Konzevr Zdiea Edlchtel of Appaer/Lymethius, alarmed by Geithurian Republic Intelligence reports indicating that the rising number of separatist actions within the Republic were linked to Imperial Intelligence activities, acted in his capacity as President of the Geithurian Republic and forced a war vote through the Republican Council in early 1080. As the separatist movements gathered strength and sought to paralyse the Republic’s military forces, President Edlchtel felt driven to strike back against them and against their Imperial masters.

Assured of the support of the Huiha Esoyatre, President Zdiea Edlchtel moved quickly to bring other member states of the Outrim Alliance into the impending war. While Huiha Khysokhou remained neutral in the ensuing conflict, the other members of the Alliance began to mobilise.

The deaths in quick succession of Imperial Sector Duke Kanus II and Duke Pahran of Gamelea in 1080 should have paralysed the Imperial defence as Alliance Fleets crossed the border but, in both cases, Imperial forces were much better prepared than had been predicted. This state of readiness was no accident. Sector Duke Kanus II and his Head of Imperial Intelligence, Siridar-Lord Elmar Hendrian of Pashur/Gazolan, had been actively working to neutralise the Geithurian Republic by encouraging the centrifugal political forces suppressed by President Zdiea Edlchtel to tear the Republic apart. Part of their planning factored in Edlchtel’s possible need for an external war to retain power, and to this end the bulk of the RimWorlds Imperial Naval units were already on-station in the Gamelea Subsector when war was declared.

Kanus’ death in 1080 on the eve of the war threw the Subsector Fleets into turmoil as various political factions began jockeying for influence with his uncle and successor, Edenar of Nolgor. Lord Elmar managed to keep Kanus’ plan on track by pulling squadrons into Gamelea Subsector from Gazul, Gazolan and Thurgandarn Subsectors but Duke Pahran’s death was a complication unplanned for. Fortunately, Lord Elmar’s brother, Duke Akansair of Thiroor/Gazolan, persuaded Duke Pahran’s son, Adryos Urzov, to move faster than required by protocol. Ordering the Gamelea Subsector Navy under his brother, Admiral Lord Talarman Juharl-Zarquestuir, into action, Adryos Urzov went personally to meet Duke Edenar’s Nolgor Subsector Fleet at Canblyne to urge them on towards the crucial first battlegrounds at Julnar.

Sector Duke Edenar was far more cautious and far less imaginative than his nephew, Kanus II, and so the war ground on with Imperial Forces grimly attempting to hold the border while Alliance raiders attempted to cut their supply lines. During this time, Lord Elmar continued his secret war in the Geithurian Republic, while trying to provide the intelligence that Sector Duke Edenar demanded, yet never paid any attention to. Elmar’s greatest coup of the war was the reactivation of the alliance with the Kalar-Wi, which had fallen away after the Klorin Asteroid War of 1022.

In 1085, Kalar-Wi Grand Admiral Odg’tal Alveuk led the Kalar-Wi Planetary Navy to a crushing victory over a predominantly Geithurian Republican fleet at Anthorann/Gamelea. The member governments of the Republic, sick of the war, promptly recalled President Zdiea Edlchtel’s Council and the Republic was effectively out of the war. Sector Duke Edenar’s Fleet Admiral Colleen von Aachol-Kalan-Salvan defeated an Outrim Alliance fleet at Gaidon/Cabria a month later and Admiral Chi’leur Baron Culvenia led the mopping up operation that chased the last of the raiders out of the Border Worlds by 1086.

The origins of the Zoni Wars, the last great test of House Ulanor, lie back at the beginning of Imperial expansion into the Rimward end of the RimWorlds Sector. The insectoid Zoni of Lur/Nolgor have been an irritant to the Imperium since the earliest colonisation projects in the Nolgor and Gazul subsectors in the late 540’s. During the 1st Rimward War (552 – 557) Zoni attacks on Sector Duke Kolin II’s supply lines hampered Imperial operations against the Rimward Coalition. Retaliatory operations were forestalled by Kolin’s death and then put off again during the crisis of Dentian I’s reign. This left the local Subsector Dukes and Siridar-Counts attempting to contain Zoni Raiders while dealing with the Central Hive on Lur.

During the initial period of the Sarkul Wars of 842 – 906, the Zoni launched dozens of raids on systems in both Nolgor and Gazul subsectors. Admiral Kranan hault-Lernester, on his famous ‘march to the Rimward Border’, swept through the Lur system and destroyed every single shipyard and ship repair facility he could find. On his return journey, hault-Lernester systematically bombed every heavy industrial site on the planet before departing to meet Admiral Stalmar Carlslem and to divide the Sector with him. It took the Zoni over a century to rebuild their industry and technology to the point where they could undertake raids again.

In 1030, during the 3rd Outrim War, over half the active strength of the Nolgor and Gazul Subsector Navies were drafted spinward into the Miazan subsector as Fleet Admiral/Miazan Kou’lmairn Geyukthi prepared for his campaign against the Hunt of Rronurl. The absence of these fleet elements, and their subsequent loss at the Battle of Gyvern’s World, left the populations of both subsectors vulnerable to a resurgent Lur.

For the next sixty years, the incidents of Zoni raiding slowly increased. Imperial responses proved ineffectual and negotiations with the Central Hive of Lur foundered on mutual misunderstandings. The 4th Outrim War of 1080 – 85 and the growing power of both Kamperel and Kalar-Wi detained Sector Duke Edenar II Ulanor in Gamelea subsector, where more badly needed units of the Nolgor Subsector Navy were drawn, while the rift in House Ulanor between Edenar’s family and that of Siridar-Count Kansath III Ulanor of Naos VI deepened to the point where the Naosans were talking openly of leaving the Imperium.

Then, on 134-1090, a Zoni Raiding fleet hit Kartivia/Gazul. Amongst the dead was Siridar Count Liarb X Crensea of Daxam/Gazul. As the Subsector Navies mobilised, initial reconnaissance raids into the Lur system revealed the planet girdled by a formation of heavy orbital forts. These proved to be much more powerful than expected, and of a higher technology level than the Zoni had hitherto habitually used.

In early 1091, the Zoni struck at Pheidos/Gazul. After the assassination of Subsector Duke Calib IV of Gazul/Gazul on Pheidos in 1084, and the subsequent rebellion of the planet, a heavy Imperial garrison had been stationed in the system. This garrison managed to delay the Zoni long enough for a small Gazul Subsector Navy task force under Siridar-Count Yohanus VIII Crensea of Daxam/Gazul to jump insystem. In a long, drawn out, running fight, the Gazulis managed to disable or destroy the entire Zoni raiding party. As they engaged the immense Jump carrier, Count Yohanus’ flagship was lost with all hands.

The Imperial forces now closed in on Lur. The planet was besieged while fierce fighting raged in the outsystem. The Zoni orbital forts, illegally supplied by Count Kansath III of Naos VI, caused the besiegers no end of headaches. Larger, and more heavily armed and armoured than the largest ships available to the besiegers, the forts proved extremely difficult to silence. During the final assault on the planet, Siridar-Count Dana Crensea of Daxam/Gazul was killed, the third of the three Crensea brothers to die in this war. The Imperial assault was beaten off and the siege was broken.

With Subsector forces in Nolgor subsector in disarray, the Tijur Monks of Lotarf seized Thrisk. Sector Duke Edenar II’s protests were treated with disdain. Even as he began to move his Imperial Navy squadrons back into the Nolgor subsector, a Zoni raider group broke out through Meklin and managed to ravage the approaches to Gazul/Gazul before Siridar-Duke Augustus of Gazul could assemble a defence.

In 1093 Siridar-Count Kansath III Ulanor of Naos VI declared his independence from the Imperium and formed an alliance with Lotarf and Lur. With the Nolgor subsector cut nearly in two, the Subsector Navy reduced to a shadow of its former self, and discontent rife on many planets in the subsector, Sector Duke Edenar II launched one final assault on Lur. While inflicting heavy losses on the Zoni forces, the Imperial Naval units were driven out of the system.

Sporadic fighting continued for another eighteen months before an agreement to end hostilities was signed in 1095. This was the nadir of Edenar’s reign and he died less than two years later.

When Sector Duke Edenar Ulanor died childless in 1097, Siridar-Duke Akansair Hendrian of Thiroor/Gazolan advanced a claim for the Sector Duchy. Gazolan subsector, under his firm rule, had largely recovered from the ravages of earlier wars and had provided badly needed resources for Edenar's campaigns. Also, the sterling service he had rendered during the 4th Outrim War was still remembered. With the bulk of the Council of Nobles supporting him, Akansair was elevated to the Sector Ducal throne by Imperial Edict on 292-1097.

Back to the History of the RimWorlds