Sabinar Federation

The Sabinar Federation is a member of The Commonwealth of Deneb‎. It's capitol is Starn (Deneb 1417).

Political Organization

Undivided federation without internal political subdivisions. Presided over by a governor and executive council and a bicameral legislature.

Astrography

Sabinar comprises the "Midway" worlds of Sabine and Inar subsector (Deneb E and F), the worlds of Rhylanor subsector (Spinward Marches H) except for the Natoko cluster at its rim-spinward corner, and the spinward worlds of Namidshur Subsector (Deneb G). The name of the Federation comes from the j-1 main contained in the two subsectors that constitute its name.

Population

Primarily Imperial culture Humans with sizeable Vargr minorities. Kubishush (Deneb 0917) is home to the Gl'lu, a race of sentient ammonia breathers. Pelouse (Spinward Marches 3019) is home to the Ebur, a sentient vegitarian species. Uplifted Droyne are found on Henoz (Spinward Marches 2912) and Vanejen (Spinward Marches 3119), Skold (Deneb 0915) and Karst (Deneb 1814), plus Pre-Collapse Droyne communities on Zeen (Deneb 1111) and Springarn (Deneb 1614). The Endimyon species of the world of the same name Endimyon (Deneb 0516), and previously undisclosed races on Huderu (Spinward Marches 2818) and Gerome (Spinward Marches 3114), remain at precontact tech levels.

History

First exploration and settlement of the region were carried out by the Ziru Sirka around -4000. These were of a tentative and scattered nature, with only a few worlds, like Vanejen/Rhylanor, actually being settled on a permanent basis. After the Long Night, Scouts from the Third Imperium reached the region as early as 65, and settlement through Sabine subsector commenced early on. Sabine attracted mainly Vilani colonists, Inar and Rhylanor were settled primarily by Solomani. Differences between the worlds over commercial issues eventually became hardened political rivalries that hampered economic integration of Deneb and Spinward Marches with the rest of the Third Imperium.

Despite these differences, or perhaps because of them, the region enjoyed a high level of commercial and technological development. Worlds like Rhylanor, Magash and Starn were in the forefront of Imperial technical development. The nobility of the region was quite wealthy and forthright, and took a leading role in both the Spinward Marches and Deneb sector. One prominent Rhylanor native, Olav hault-Plankwell, the victor of the First Frontier War, even had the temerity to assassinate the Empress Jacqueline and seize the Iridium Throne for himself, starting off the Barracks War for control of the Imperium. Another Midway native, Arbellatra Alkhalikoi, eventually intervened and stopped the war, eventually being crowned Empress in her own right after consolidating Core sector.

During the long period of hot and cold war with the Zhodani, the region was often targeted by Consular military and espionage forces because of its military and economic importance. In four of the five wars and the Crucible, the conflict was decided in part by Zhodani offensives through Lanth subsector towards Rhylanor and its surrounding worlds. But even during peacetime the Zhodani were active throughout the region in preperation for future conflicts or active espionage, as exemplified by the Fulacin (Spinward Marches 2613) affair before the Fifth War.

After the advent of the Imperial Civil War in 1116, the region came under heavy, indirect pressure from the Domain of Deneb's erstwhile independence from the Imperium. Economic pressure was mitigated by the region's own powerful industrial engine and excess capacity, but refugee flows from core frontier worlds suffering Vargr aggression created significant political turmoil. A majority of the Domain's naval craft were manufactured in the region, and a significant portion of its advanced armaments, creating massive wealth for its elite and business classes despite the crisis. After the Collapse, however, the region's infighting sabotaged any further political gains, and the new Regency government concentrated upon the less well developed "Stronghold" region in Rimward Deneb.

This perceived subordination, and a host of other political and cultural pressures, made the region a hotbed for fervent, if contradictory, political dissidence against the Regent and his government. Political rivalry between Starn and Magash brought the radical/reactionary Purifier faction into power during the 1170s, and this later used its leverage to gain a majority stake in the "Regent's Regency" of Lemat Arthurian in the 1230s (NE 30s). However these same political rivalries created the Liberator party around dissident and purged military officers, including Admiral Elizabeth Bonesteel (a Rhylanor native). The latters military offensive in 1240 broke the Purifier political base in Sabine and Inar subsectors, allowing for them to be bloodlessly deposed on Mora by a coalition of civilian and military personnel. The victorious Liberator faction is now largely the dominant political party in the Federation, and the most eminent members of upper society are surviving military and diplomatic personnel from the region that were either linked to Bonesteel or facilitated her victory.

Culture

The people of the Sabinar Federation still refer to themselves as "Midwaymen" in reference to the position of the Sabinar main down the middle of Deneb sector. As descendants of of the oldest and most dissensious groups in the region known as Behind the Claw, they remain an interesting study in contrasts and contradiction today.

The modern stereotype of Midwaymen is of power-mongering politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen driven to workaholic excess. Power is the main motif of the region, that and wealth and position. Ego and self-absorption are rewarded and treasured in the region, measured against the public good. People here are continually striving to achieve their ambitions, and constantly struggling in competitive contests in politics, business and academia to make a name for themselves. Here the ivory tower emphasizes the latter part of its name, as persons struggle against mediocrity to reach the pinnacle of their professions with distinction. To hone these skills, the worlds of Sabinar are heavily populated with universities, open markets, chapter houses and other charnel arenas for its hotblooded young to duke it out, leaving only a small number of worthy persons at the end of the day to be taken under the wing of older survivors and be taught the ropes of power. Unlike other millieus, what you know and how you you attained it is every bit as important as who you know, and the academic environment is perhaps the most intense of anywhere in the Commonwealth.

Sabinar is known as the "Cockpit of Deneb", a double reference to both aircraft, in that its volcanic energy supposedly steers the Commonwealth economy, and a fighting ring, in reference to the political warfare that consumes the upper reaches of the Federation. In Sabinar, politics aren't merely a vocation, it is a Hobbesian bloodsport. The political rivalries of its worlds turn mere legislative minutiae into trench warfare. Despite the seeming self-absorption and lacerating rivalries, Midwaymen are surprisingly generous and hospitable towards their brother Federations. Its patriotism is very genuine and unforced, even if they spit in each other's eyes half of the day. And the hostility tends to obscure the relative moderation and responsibility of its politics. Extremists aren't welcome here anymore, though dissension is treasured when it directly addresses a problem. This internecine warfare of politics and professional distinction is confined to a specific series of cages, and a strict society exist on the streets as a counterweight that prevents the spillage of blood into the streets below. Human competition and creativity is an engine that must be governed and harnessed. In this sense then the Sabinar Federation is really a mandiranate divided into strata. Three different levels of society exist: a street level of complacent citizens, a middle strata of battling candidates, and a top level of Captains who have paid their dues and now quietly steer the state, business and the professions with their firm and wizened hands. Whatever incorrigibly rebellious elements survive in this atmosphere are not welcome, and best leave for regions that may tolerate their kind of deviance.

The conflicts of the region have been transformed by the Commonwealth's troubled beginning. A great deal of shame exists in the region about the past, particularly its spawning of the Purifiers, and there is an equal determination to prevent a recurrence. The arenas of politics and academia are seen by the locals as proving grounds for the Commonwealth's future leaders. It is telling that a major portion of its senior leadership was either raised, or spent a good portion of their apprenticeship, here in its trenches. To attract the best and brightest requires that a good deal of investment is spent on education, research and development, and amenities for the people. That means that individual worlds have a high standard of living, even though its technological lead has slipped into second place behind the Islands or the Peoples Republic. The most hardened rivalries of the region are now confined primarily to spinward regions, primarily Rhylanor subsector and Magash.

Sabinar has perhaps the strongest stated devotion to democratic institutions and non-authoritarian rule of any region, including the People's Republic. Despite the seeming hot-house method of social climbing, eventual success in local politics is a measure of both acheivement and character. Persons of ruthless intent are usually weeded out of universities and professional positions by stringent third party psychological profiling and local Brotherhood cadres, though the actual method of rejection is non-coercive. And the actual kinds of accomplishment that are most accepted and honored is carefully nurtured by local institutions like the Society of Lynxes and various political and professional lodges. Family ties are very strong, encompassing an extended structure, and the worst instances of individual behavior are restrained by the arch or senior family members.

Worlds of Sabinar Federation

These have conceded their long time technological edge over the other regions of the Commonwealth in favor of a concentration of political and economic advantages. Banking, business administration and other service industries predominate over heavier manufacture style industries. The people of the Commonwealth like to say "The Stronghold is the muscle, the Islands the brains, and Sabinar is the whip." Despite the disappearance of Imperial-aged megacorporations and their sepoys, business leadership still has a major say in the policies and processes of local government, for both positive and negative reasons. The local economy can be called a "gentlemen's abbatoir" of gently restrained capitalism, where character assassination and political maneuvering has mostly replaced the trade wars of the past.

Specialized commercial/travel districts have replaced the startowns on most significant high population worlds. Where travellers in the past would have been greeted pungently by slums or industrial wastelands, the peripheries of local starports have been transformed into high rise headhunting facilities and traveller hostels. These serve as both recruitment/information gathering centers, and a means of preventing social deviancy among transients through surveillance and compulsory work programs. Social "sluggery" and welfare dependence is much despised in a society for whom motivation is the key to success. Unemployment is virtually illegal in this society, being defined as activity that is negatively detracting from the public good via criminal activity or simple indolence. People will find a means of socially acceptable employment, either paid or private (such as childrearing or housekeeping) on these worlds, either voluntary or provided by the state (in an occupation of the latter's choosing) or face fines or imprisonment, or in the case of offworlders, actual expulsion from the community or world.

This live to work attitude rubs off on the entire society. Travellers to even the smallest or most lightly populated settlements will discover a workaholic ethic that can drive some to a premature death. Populated areas are very clean and well organized, and never seem to slow down for nights or holidays. Industry imposed standards regulate every industry, thoroughfare and even public discourse. Police presence is limited, though as with most worlds in Deneb sector, public norms are mainly enforced by more subtle means, via work advancement and familial conformity. Public deviance is usually detected early on, usually by family members, bosses or local Brotherhood cadres, and the deviants sentenced to a psychological therapy system that seems to borrow more than a few aspects of the old Zhodani system of reeducation. Offworlders and outsiders who run afoul of local psychiatric hygiene laws are usually not remanded under the local system, and are usually escorted offworld.

Work is seen as an end in of itself in some cases, without the excessive commercialism or materialist objectives. Sabinar worlds are lacking of the glitzy neon style visual pollution. This lack of advertising and strictly utilitarian purpose restrains local architecture styles and urban planning. Buildings are usually not the blocky styles preferred in the Stronghold states, though they lack the adventurist neo-art deco or -modernist styles preferred in the Islands or Pretoria Federations. Skylines are clean, and public transportation predominates. The desire to keep skyways clear of congestion means that most private transportation is limited to low flying grav vehicles or even wheeled ground cars. Urban divisions are carefully delineated, with noticeable boundaries or sharp transitions between residential/commercial and strictly industrial areas. Slums are a rare feature, and they tend to concentrate in remote areas or are overshadowed by larger developments. Homelessness and street vagrancy is not tolerated, and psychiatric hygiene services handle such instances.

Sabinar Federation (Polity) Synopsis

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Sabinar Federation (Polity) Goals

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Sabinar Federation (Polity) History & Background

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Sabinar Federation (Polity) Government & Politics

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Sabinar Federation (Polity) Technology & Trade

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Sabinar Federation (Polity) Military & Intelligence

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Sabinar Federation (Polity) Sectors & Astrography

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Sabinar Federation (Polity) References & Contributors

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Author: Peter Gray
• External Link: TNE RCES