Back Spike (world)/secret

In the 690s, Spike Society scientists managed to synthesize anagathics following a formula officially "contributed by an eccentric, anonymous inventor". Only the highest levels of Spike Society intelligence officers were cleared to know this inventor was actually Tiji of the Tijian Khaganate, who said he contributed the formula because he wanted anagathics available to but not manufactured in the Tijian Khaganate. They assume it was his invention; not a one knew where he really got the formula and infrastructure recipes from. Many of them guessed that Tiji was a series of clones, and that wider availability of anagathics in the Tijian Khaganate might have interfered with his ability to continue ruling as a series of clones instead of a single never-aging individual. None of them know that it was primarily a matter of convenience: the Tijian Khaganate did not have the necessary infrastructure (being only around TL-11 at the time) but Back Spike had exactly what was needed (once Tiji revealed how to put it together), and the critical thing was to once again secure a reliable source (the Solomani Preserve having cut off Tiji's supply from Anagathica almost two centuries prior in 503, forcing Tiji to go through clone bodies - his, and his closest agents' - faster than he preferred).

Regardless of the origin of this knowledge, manufacturing capability was established on Back Spike, well hidden from outsiders. Even with the formula, the first batches had side effects and were extremely costly. It took centuries to master production, but generations of study and refinement eventually resulted in a superior and only-modestly-expensive product. This state was achieved a few decades before the Empress Wave arrived and destroyed the factory via psionically-driven plant based wreckage, the same way the Empress Wave wrecked many other buildings and starports.

The Spike Society's surviving leadership had enough reserve supply to last for a while, but rebuilding Back Spike was a personal priority so as to reestablish the infrastructure needed for the anagathics factory, as well as the factory itself. This goal was met within two decades (the exact date depending on which specific goal one uses, there having been multiple level of production, price, and quality targets specified throughout the project), but by the time the factory was back up and running, the public had become used to the story that Back Spike was being rebuilt for its own purposes. It was convenient to maintain this fiction until the public tired of it in 1097.