Roving Sun Fleet

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Governments and Organizations Pages		Roving Sun Fleet

The Roving Sun Fleet at an unknown location in deep space.

Overview

The Roving Sun Fleet is a nomadic collection of Anahi cruisers and colony ships, many purpose-built for the journey they have undertaken. While originally under martial law for the first few centuries of its existence, it has since transitioned to a democratic council that guides everyday life in the fleet. The Anahi homeworld of Selia was lost centuries ago when their system's binary stars collided. Forced to abandon their planet and take to the stars, the Anahi living in the Roving Sun flotilla have spent the last 30 generations searching for a new home where they can set down roots. Currently, the Fleet is skirting the edge between Coalition and frontier space, and is tracking to head deeper into civilized space on its set path.

General

Capital: ACV Homeward Bound, Capital Ship

Leader: Wayfinder Aerias Sor'uul

Demonym: Sunniites, Sun Chaser

Official Language(s): Anahian

Population: 12.6 million (approx.)

History

Before the Loss

The Anahi originalled hailed from Selia, a rare example of life forming in a trinary star system on a world described as once beautiful and full of life. Anahi texts say that their homeworld was trapped in everlasting twilight, the result of Selia's orbit of the red dwarf Mirna, which itself orbited the distant white dwarf suns of Ru and Mia. Tidally locked and illuminated by its dwarf stars from all sides, Selia was covered in shallow oceans and deserts and scrub land, with most forests and developed vegetation in the band of its terminator. The planet was also covered in vast, complex caverns, which the Anahi considered their own origin.

The Roving Sun Fleet was part of the desperate evacuation that was set into motion decades after Anahi astronomers discovered that their binary stars would soon collide. While disbelief delayed action for years, it was ironically the Anahi belief in their own intellectual superiority that finally led them to act- how could the calculations be wrong if an Anahi had done them? With a century to prepare but knowing they did not possess the technology and resources to save their entire race, the planet's modest industrial capability turned towards the creation of three great fleets, able to save only a fraction of their people. The first fleet to leave contained the first Anahi to leave their home system, and the others soon followed. The Roving Sun was the third and final fleet, and was the one that would stay until the end. A majority of this fleet remains today, many still operating on the original parts they left Selia with, the oldest and most-complete considered sacred ground.

While the Anahi attempted to record and archive their history and achievements for eternity, much has been lost or destroyed in the intervening centuries, and the race only has fleeting descriptions of what life was like and fragmented records of their escape to remember their origins. Much that remains is kept from the eyes of outsiders, considered both sacred and a shameful record of a difficult time for their proud race.

While two of the fleets had already chosen courses and had been accelerating for years by the time of the supernova, the fleet that would become the Roving Sun was chosen to stay behind at the edge of the Selian system to continue the evacuation until the very last moment. Millions of eyes and hundreds of sensors turned towards their home on the day of the supernova, and to watch the recordings of that day is considered a rite of passage among the Anahi of the fleet. Records left from the days of their evacuation describe the supernova as a blinding flash that overwhelmed their strongest screens, an incomprehensible orchestra of dazzling luminescence that is said to have blinded even those that closed their eyes. While the binary stars and their homeworld were all swallowed by this explosion, Mirna itself was flung free and into the depths of interstellar space. Setting a course to follow- and eventually overtake- the star, the Roving Sun fleet had earned its name.

Since the Loss

The Roving Sun lost contact with its sister fleets early on, and with their last heading away from civilized space subsequent contact is unlikely, leaving them alone in the void. While originally considered an emotional act by the original Pathfinder of the fleet, in the decades after it gained a religious significance, with the belief that following Mirna's trajectory will lead the Fleet to a new home as beautiful as Selia itself. Since then, the Fleet has long since left their sun behind to search along its path, accelerating to a significant portion of light-speed. It has been centuries since the fleet has shut its engines down, coasting on search of a new home.

While early beliefs were that they would simply arrive directly at their chosen world, a more modern sense has developed in that it still must be found and even molded if need be. one-way FTL was developed in the intervening centuries, and although limited and dangerous in comparison to the advanced civilizations, it allowed scouting fleets to reach new worlds as they were passed, regaining precious fuel, water, and material for the closed biosphere of the fleet. While the foresight had been made to bring a number of asteroids for raw materials, they had long since been harvested clean. Considered a great honor yet a great risk, if one survives the unguided jump towards a star it is a race against time to gather resources and start the long journey home. Staying too long on a world unworthy of the Anahi means being unable to catch back up to the fleet.

Since First Contact

It was the early 28th century when the Anahi first came to the Coalition's attention, showing up at the edge of Coalition space along a path that skirts the White Belt and the Coalition frontier over the next millennium.

While the discovery of primitive races and advanced ruins on many of their surveyed planets meant contact with a space faring civilization was eventually a certainty, to meet one with a technology superior in some ways to their own was an affront to the collective pride of the species.

Unwilling to submit to alien rule or the use of alien technology, contact with the Anahi has been difficult, as reaching their fleet in interstellar space requires long flights or dangerous free FTL jumps without the help of a jumpwell to catch the ship. With their superior, xenophobic tendencies it is rare for anything more than Coalition diplomats or the rare merchant to be allowed within any great distance of the fleet.

The Anahi are now aware of multiple civilized worlds within FTL range of their fleet, giving them a tennuous one-way connection to the rest of the galaxy. Anahi scouts are now a rare but real sight in systems far ahead of the fleet's path, and her merchant fleets venture out to acquire what her scouts cannot. This mere acceptance of alien contact, to say nothing of sects talking of the abandonment of their search, has threatened a dangerous and explosive religious schism in the fleet. Some Anahi have even left the Fleet to immigrate into welcoming alien societies in an effort to re-integrate into galactic life.

June 13th, 1903 [Julian calendar]

"The timeline was correct to the second. Our loss is absolute. All is gone. Forgive my briefness. There are no words. There is nothing in this universe to describe our grief."

June 16th, 1903 [Julian calendar]

"Something remains. The observors of the Unyielding Eye have confirmed Mirna, our beloved Mirna, has been set free. We shall follow her for a time, and bask in the warmth of her dying light and make our final goodbyes. Our people shall have hope."

— Admiral Calire Naefria of the Fleet of Mirna's Wandering, excerpt from his diary, one of the few documents known to the galaxy at large.

Demographics

There are no alien species as part of the Roving Sun Fleet - non-Anahi are not even privvy to its exact location. On the whole, Anahi are extremely distrustful of outsiders and harbor intense anti-xeno sentiments. While they might trade with other galactic empires, as they have no home planet and are restricted by the lack of space on their vessels, no outsider has been permitted to dock with or live as part of the Fleet. The Anahi are entirely focused on finding a new world to rekindle their race, as compared to other galactic superpowers they are considered to be on the brink of extinction. While many species have offered to assist them, including the Rokhandans and the might of their technological empire, the Anahi have rebuffed every overture. They do not want the help.

While the Fleet has a very small population of just over twelve million, there are an estimated three million spread through Coalition space. They have a tenuous relationship with their ship-bound brethren. Some view them as traitors or people who have abandoned the cause, others welcome them with open arms. Most of these Anahi are individuals or entire sects who rejected the dogmatic quest for their new home and believe giving up the path of Mirna would be better, or simply those grew tired of the conditions in the Fleet and returned to galactic space to integrate with other societies. The White Belt Administration and the Rokhandian Directorate are especially welcoming of Anahi immigrants, but their low numbers make them a rarity.

Even more of a rarity are Anahi still aligned with the fleet, whether merchants or scouts, or those on less-diplomatic missions.

Politics

The day-to-day life aboard the flottila is governed by the captain of each ship, and by the officers beneath them. When it comes to complex decisions however, a council of crewmen is convened to address these problems. This council is made up of high ranking officials from the flotilla's largest ships - chief engineers, chief medical officers, vessel captains - because they typically have the most experience when compared to other Anahi.

This decentralized government has served them well so far. These positions are inherited; a chief engineer may take a few apprentices and teach them how to run the ship, repair it, show them the ins and outs of its ancient architecture - and then choose the most worthy candidate to replace them, and thus they are by position made part of the council of crewmen. The authority of the council is only kept in check by the captain of the ACV Homeward Bound, a position irrevocably entwined with the title of Pathfinder. This lone Anahi dictates the worlds that are worthy being checked by their scouts, and worthy of being a potential new home. While calls have been made over the centuries to settle on likely worlds, none have been loud enough to make effective change. Promises were made to return to the democracy that once ruled the Anahi homeworld, but until such a time as they find a new planet to claim as their own, this council of crewmen has become the new norm.

Military

Due to the slower-than-light nature of the fleet, very few threats are external. While their military has grown since first contact with the Coalition some 200 years ago, it is still relatively small and mostly focused on internal security. These military officers are also in charge of navigation and handle the day to day tedium of everyday spaceflight. Every single ship in the Fleet has a position in the order of battle, even vessels that are unarmed or defenseless. The Fleet's size surpassed even the Coalition navy in its prime, however it has never actually been tested in combat and as a result Anahi military tactics are entirely theoretical. Even with steady resource-gathering missions, many ships in the fleet are old and antiquated, running with decaying or completely dead systems. Even military personnel are trained to perform basic engineering when necessary to help repair their vessel as need be.

Economy

While the fleets heavily mine the resources of planetary systems as they are passed, it does not slow down for anything less than their new home- thus any scout fleet has a harsh time limit lest they be left behind. Before contact with other species this was the fleet's only method of resupply, but since then, the Fleet has begun to rely on trade during the long stretch between stars.

Much of the specifics of the Fleet are unknown to outsiders; it is rumored that some terrarium vessels keep a small population of plants and animals that were once native to Selia, and these creatures are cared for not to eat or use for raw materials but to conserve them. As such, the Fleet has to deal with alien empires to resupply and regularly sends mercantile vessels through civilized space to trade with certain governments, like the Onk Conglomerate or the Coalition. What the Anahi have to offer as compensation is less monetary and more strange finds that they bring back from the unknown regions. These types of scientific discoveries are obviously of high value to many governments, and the Rokhandans are consequently one of the largest trade partners for the Anahi.

Ore, minerals, rocks, food, and other materials are necessary for the upkeep of the Fleet and its vessels. While their supply ships are suspected to have a stockpile of treasures carried from their doomed world, the Anahi would sooner die than trade away these priceless relics, opting instead to barter with the weird and strange things they dig up from unexplored, uncharted planets. Luckily, most of their vessels are powered via solar panel, leaving fuel the only necessity they trade for. Some strange luxury items for Anahi may be things like air canisters since the ships use recycled oxygen that has grown stale over centuries. They are willing to pay a high price for these seemingly normal objects.