House Humboldt
House Humboldt is a powerful familial group within the Third Imperium.
- It is an Imperial Noble House.
Description
The Humbolts were a controversial family of Imperial Nobility descended from Solomani. They ruled Vincennes Subsector in Deneb for almost four centuries until removed from power and exiled in 628 for several violations of Imperial law, the most heinous of which was the exploitation and torture of the Yaitlat, a Sophont people native to Peres (Deneb 1221). The current whereabouts of the surviving Humbolts are uncertain, and even though they were expelled from the Imperium 500 years ago, their influence is still very much felt throughout Deneb sector.
History & Background (Dossier)
History
House Foundation
In 243 Vincennes subsector was admitted into the Imperium and the Humbolts were installed on Vincennes (Deneb 1122) as ruling nobility, with a charge to keep Starlane open and crush the nearby Vargr states. The assignment of the Humbolt clan to the Marquisate of Vincennes was less of a reward and more of an exile.
The Humbolts immediately entrenched themselves in the region, carefully placing agents in diplomatic posts in neighboring subsectors and spending resources on technological research. One early success was in convincing the Imperium to found the "Humbolt Research Division," a military research base on a world that in short time came to be known simply as HRD (Deneb 1623). The establishment of HRD allowed the Humbolts to gain unparalleled access to cutting-edge military technology.
House Fall
In time the Marquisate was elevated to a Duchy and entered into intense competition with other duchies in Deneb. In 615, Chanus Reynald Humbolt, the Duke of Vincennes, brokered an unprecedented alliance with the Duchy of Inar. With nearly half of the sector’s military, industrial, and economic power, these two neighboring subsectors could dominate Deneb’s affairs.
‘Together we will build an empire to rival all others and none shall withstand us!’
— Chanus Reynald Humbolt, Duke Vincennes 618-045[1]
In response, the remaining subsector Dukes formed a confederation with the explicit purpose of breaking this alliance. Cruisers were deployed in the Denebian Bad War, which saw the destruction of numerous industrial bases. Worlds were captured and held by assault troops and fleets riddled planets and each other with nuclear weapons, forcing the Imperial Navy to intervene.
... In light of the evidence presented to the Iridium Throne and to the Moot, all capital hulls operating in Deneb Sector under Ducal, Baronial, County, or Marquisate flags are to stand down from previous directives and present themselves in good order to the nearest Imperial Naval Base or Depot for evaluation and entry into Imperial Service. Failure to do so will constitute a violation of the Orders of Feudal Obligation, to be held against the Noble and House whose flagged ships remain in the field...
— Excerpt from the Imperialisation Order of Regent Arbellatra 622-270[2]
In 622 the capital units of the Dukes were ordered to stand down and report to Imperial Naval bases. The Duke of Inar betrayed the Humbolts, turning over his fleets and passing the locations of key Humbolt bases to the Imperium. Even so, a number of Vincennes units refused the terms of surrender and had to be hunted down and subdued. In 628 the last remaining rebel ships (including the Duke's flagship Vindicator[3]) were defeated at Balzac (Deneb 1636) and Duke Chanus was slain in personal combat with the commander of the 45th Fleet, Admiral, Count Starn of Kagush. The Duke’s body was given an Imperial burial, but his family was banished from the Imperium ‘for extreme violations of Imperial law.’
Post Fall
Following the exile of the Humbolts, Solomani-only parties fell out of favor in Deneb and Solomani influence began to wane along with their influence in the Imperial government. However, several governments in the Deneb Sector still carry a distinctly pro- or anti-Solomani bias and some neighboring systems still do not trust one another. Many pro-Solomani worlds label themselves as ‘pro-Humbolt,’ preferring the rule of the Humbolts over the entire sector to today’s apparent balkanisation into subsector duchies.
Even though they were expelled from the Imperium 500 years earlier, the Humbolt family's influence was still felt in Deneb in the 12th century. The Humbolt’s power base, which extended through many worlds in Vincennes and neighbouring subsectors, still has supposedly loyal subjects, or at least people who claim fealty to ‘the ideals of the Humbolts’. Five centuries has turned this into fringe political groups, dissidents and slogans by which dictators rule. Nevertheless, there remains a vague undercurrent of loyalty to the Humbolt family, a family which according to the Imperial Navy is gone.[4]
In short, the whereabouts of the Humbolts are uncertain. What is certain is that they make a convenient Banner to rally behind and a convenient scapegoat when things go wrong in Deneb Sector. Organised crime is attributed to the Humbolts. Anti-Vargr racism and pro-Vargr favouritism are both supposedly Humboltian, depending on whom you ask. Meanwhile, the Imperial Navy reveals nothing about the current location of the Humbolts.[5]
Influence on General Products
The General Products Megacorporation was formed by a merger of smaller manufacturing concerns at the end of the Civil War. In Deneb Sector, many of those 'concerns' were previously Humbolt Family assets.[6]
Influence of Alien Relations
The pro-Solomani stance of the Humbolt family led to various excesses being perpetrated on non-Humans within their domains. The Yaitlat of Peres (Deneb 1221) still intensely dislike and distrust all humans and viciously attack humans on sight.
Influence on Planetary Ecologies
The Humbolt faction's actions during the Denebian Bad War devastated some ecologies. e.g. Andalia (Deneb 1714), Pagamin (Deneb 2412) and Twinian (Deneb 2013)
House Members of Distinction
- Chanus Reynald Humbolt, Duke Vincennes (7th Century).
- Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 15,16,26.
- MegaTraveller Journal 3
- ↑ Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 15.
- ↑ Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), ibid.
- ↑ Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 2.
- ↑ Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 26.
- ↑ Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), ibid.
- ↑ Robert Eaglestone. Deneb Sector (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), 54.