Contents 1 Era: Rebellion 1.1 1116 1.2 1117 1.3 1118 1.4 1119 1.5 1120 1.6 1121 1.7 1122 1.8 The Long-Term Rebellion

Era: RebellionEdit

The Rebellion, also known as the Second Civil War (to distinguish it from the First Civil War) and the Final War, was the undoing of the Imperium.

The moment that the rebellion started can be determined quite specifically: video cameras recorded the event, and precise timers noted exactly when the first shot was fired. At 1517 hours on 132-1116, Dulinor, the Archduke of Ilelish, fired four shots from his personal sidearm, and in succession, assassinated the Emperor Strephon, the Empress Iolanthe, the Grand Princess Ciencia Iphegenia, and the Aslan Yerlyaruiwo ambassador. The throne room was in immediate turmoil.

1116Edit

Most of 1116 was taken up in the transmission of the news from Capital to all parts of the Imperium. As the news was absorbed, the many constituent factions of the Imperium made choices for their next course of action.

Archduke Dulinor fled Capital immediately, retreating to his own territories in Ilelish where he had already prepared an uprising to support his claim to the throne.

In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, the Emperor's nephew Lucan declared a state of emergency and crowned himself Emperor. When the Moot opposed such swift action, Lucan dissolved the assembly. Lucan also dispatched fleets in pursuit of Dulinor and sent couriers to all parts of the Imperium condemning Dulinor and calling for support of the Imperium against all of its enemies.

News of the assassination reached Vland by xboat (Jump-4) in 19 weeks. It reached the Spinward Marches via xboat in 51 weeks. However, elite Naval couriers (Jump-6) using a secretive shortcut through the Great Rift had delivered the news to Archduke Norris at Regina in just 49 weeks - 2 weeks ahead of the "official" news.

1117Edit

In 1117 the basic factions established themselves.

Solomani Confederation fleets in the Imperial border crossed it as soon as official word of the assassination reached them. The border was pushed forward some 20 parsec and Terra (world) was recaptured by the Solomani.

Dulinors' fleets clashed with Lucan's fleets in systems midway between Capital and Dlan. The battles produced tremendous attrition in both sides' fleets. In order to reinforce the fight against Dulinor, Lucan made a decision to strip the Corridor Sector, the Lishun Sector and the Old Expanses Sector of fleets. Corridor felt the sting of Vargr plunderers almost immediately. Lishun remained stable for a few monhts, but then it was rocked with a succession of Vargr invasions. The Old Expanses was already under Solomani attack and the withdrawal of the Imperial fleet left the Sector's nobles no alternative but to surrender.

1118Edit

In 1118 each faction struggled to strengthen its own position while weakening all the others.

The nobles of Vland Sector felt threatened by the advances of Vargr in neighboring Lishun and Corridor sectors. When Lucan demanded a portion of Vland's fleets to reinforce the assault on Dulinor, Vland refused and declared its independence as the "new" (recreated) Vilani Empire.

Lucan ordered the Daibei Sector fleet to transfer to Zarushagaar Sector to reinforce his battle lines against Dulinor. The sector nobles refused this order and announced that they would take an independent and neutral path.

1119Edit

In 1119 the Rebellion settled down to a dedicated battle to the death between Lucan and Dulinor.

Other factions contributed their forces to resolving squabbles between them, picking away at Lucan or Dulinor or both, or just trying to survive the chaos that was enveloping the empire.

1120Edit

By 1120 the factions had destroyed the mighty Imperial Navy. At the beginning of the war there were 320 numbered fleets and an equal number of reserve fleets, by the end of the year there were fewer than 95 numbered and 130 reserve fleets, and those reduced to 60% strength or less.

1121Edit

In 1121 the factions continued to hammer away at each other with what force they had left. However, limited resources dictated warfare to devolve into banditry, surgical strikes and terrorism.

1122Edit

1122 saw the start of the Black War, the lines separating war, terrorism, and piracy—always thin to begin with—began to vanish. Economic conditions, already shaky from years of warfare, worsened. Governments in the frontier areas, formulating their own survival, became neutral or opposed the war. The factions, not having the resources to hold questionable areas, saw their areas of control shrink.

The Long-Term RebellionEdit

Each faction of the Rebellion quickly established a base of power. At and within a reasonable radius of that established base of power, the faction could expect to hold a fairly solid base of power. That reasonable radius, computed based primarily on travel times, works out to about 20 parsecs for each faction.

Beyond 20 parsecs from faction's base of power, controlling and directing worlds becomes quite a difficult proposition for the faction. Fleets need orders; armies need supplies and support; and, in addition, attacks need coordination. And the farther the battlefields are moved from the base of power of the faction, the more difficult they are to direct and control. Losing battles is expensive, but on the other hand, so is winning them. Even committing fleets and forces uses up resources that might be needed by the faction more desperately later. The least expensive course of action is to cautiously prepare, building strength while waiting for the other side to make a mistake.

Beyond the roughly 20 parsec radius of power, the territory of the Imperium became a no man's land, left alone, completely to its own devices.

This article was copied or excerpted from the following copyrighted sources and used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author.

– Rebellion Sourcebook

– Survival Margin

– Hard Times