Tijian Expanse
The Tijian Expanse is an empire located spinward of the Pirian Domain and coreward of the Zhodani Consulate.
- It is near the very edge of Charted Space.
- While it is officially part of the Tijian Khaganate, conditions are rather different in the Expanse. This, in addition to its tenuous linkage to the Khaganate, means that for most practical purposes it is a separate polity that has sworn fealty to the Khaganate.
| Polity | Survey | Code | Type | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tijian Expanse | Pre-Imperial | TijE | No standard code | None |
| Tijian Expanse | 1st Survey (300) | TE | 2-ltr code | None |
| Tijian Expanse | 2nd Survey (1065) | TiEx | 4-ltr code | None |
NOTES: The Expanse was unknown to the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service until 1104, but following standard practice, the above codes were retroactively added upon the Expanse's discovery.
Description (Specifications)
A human minor race polity unknown to Charted Space until 1104, occupying several worlds in the subsectors immediately spinward of the Pirian Domain. A single person, the khan, rules the entire polity in the name of the khagan, who remains in the Tijian Khaganate.
As of 1105, it has been less than a century since any of these worlds were colonized. Some of the colonies have failed and been re-established, always with around 1,000 people. Some have succeeded, attracting further colonists, but all of the systems have Population UWP codes of 3 or 4. They are essentially mining and agricultural colonies, focused on survival and growth.
They are also right in what Khaganate officials fear is the likely path of the Zhodani Consulate, should it decide to expand coreward. That they are designed to act as canaries and a buffer in this event is not often discussed, but it is written in each colony's charter.
Culture & Society (Ethnology)
The Expanse has been described as "frontier writ large", and "a bunch of colonies in a (mostly) friendly competition to grow fast". At every turn, measures and facilities are makeshift and focused on basic needs. Mining - on-planet and, where spaceships are available, belt - is the dominant industry, so far as worlds with less than a million sophonts can be said to have industries, followed by agriculture and construction.
Exacerbating this is the fact that colonies are expected to pay off their costs of colonization, and then some to support less successful colonies. This principally takes the form of mining more ore than the colony can use, and waiting for freighters to come by to haul away the excess in batches of 500 tons. Radioactive ore is especially valued for export, so colonies make as minimal use of radioactives as they can.
Particularly successful colonies are rewarded with additional factories and/or colonists. This is a mixture of resources "purchased" from the value of these exports, and of administrators from Khagex deeming that a colony is ready for more. This can be particularly disruptive when a thousand colonists suddenly arrive with no warning, and no food or expanded agricultural production to support them; fortunately, they tend to arrive in low berths, and can be awakened after the colony's farms have expanded sufficiently.
Goods are transported in standardized 500 ton containers - long and roughly hemicylindrical, with a flat back that is dropped on the ground. Many colonial buildings are standardized around this form factor; for instance, the initial housing module has 168 6-person habitats packed into its walls, in 28 rows of 6 (3 stacked vertically to a side), yielding imagery often likened to piglets and a sow or to an orderly bush. Any building with a different form factor is almost certainly locally made, and a status symbol to its residents or workers, though there are several who prefer the modular buildings.
Few of the Expanse worlds have an untainted standard atmosphere. Most have domed their settlements (with doubly or triply redundant dome layers, the inner layer quickly manufactured shortly after arrival, the rest added over time), in addition to keeping their buildings sealed and connected for use as shelters should the domes fail. These domes will typically have airlocks sized for vehicles (also used by people on foot), and one airlock through which a standardized 500 ton container - or most 100 or 200 ton spaceships and starships, as well as smallcraft - can pass through; this larger airlock is considered part of the colony's downport. On worlds with such domes, all colonists except for the youngest children are expected to know how to use vacc suits. When the colony wishes to claim more area, more dome material is constructed, then much of the colony participates in erecting the extension in a "domeraising", typically planned and scheduled for a week to a month in advance while the material is fabricated, then choreographed to completion (at least to having an intact dome with air being purified) over the span of a few hours.
History & Background (Dossier)
This polity is the result of a massive "system grab" by the Tijian Khaganate. Ever since the Pirian Domain met the Solomani Preserve in 1, the Domain had agreed to the Preserve's request to maintain a buffer of barren worlds rimward of the Domain and Preserve, to prevent the polities of Charted Space from encroaching. This left several worlds in Datsatl Sector unused. The Tijian Khaganate had long eyed these worlds for colonization, but the Domain had blocked their attempts.
In the early 1000s, Tijia achieved TL-16 and began construction of prototype hop drive ships to jump over the Pirians' blockade. The project was highly directed, leading some to suspect the Khaganate was reproducing artifacts; ironically, when the Empress Wave arrived a few decades later and knocked back Tijia's effective technology level, these ships themselves would become artifacts. In 1047, as the Empress Wave was just passing what would become Khagex and entering the Pirian Domain, colonists and support modules were readied for transit, finally shipped to Khagex in 1048. From there, other worlds were colonized, staying behind the Wave and self-limiting to a Jump-2 main so the worlds would be able to trade internally with self-built ships, reserving the hop drive ships for trade with the Khaganate (and allowing for self-sufficiency should the prototype ships all break down before TL-16 could be restored).
The ideal of quickly establishing a bunch of self-sustaining colonies ran headlong into the reality of colonization being difficult. The Khaganate believed mightily in its khagan, but Tiji was busy back home. Colonists have had to be independent of the khagan, yet community-minded enough to work with those around them, to survive. As of 1105, a sizable fraction (usually the majority) of colonists on most colonies have never been to any non-Expanse Khaganate world. Keeping this fraction in check is one reason for the occasional introduction of new colonists to colonies that can grow to support them.
Language & Letters (Communication)
As with the Tijian Khaganate, Anglic is their official language. Unlike the Khaganate, Oynprith is relatively rare.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)
This polity can be primarily found in the following areas:
Charted Space:
Capital/s: 1105
The capital/s of this polity is/are located in the following location/s:
World Listing: 1105
The following systems and worlds are a part of this polity:
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References & Contributors (Sources)
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- Author & Contributor: Adrian Tymes