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On the eastern edge of the Empire of Dominia lies the least-populated major world of its domain: the '''Imperial Viceroyalty of Sun Reach''', fully integrated into the Empire in 2422 following an invasion of the Mithra System by the Imperial military in response to piracy against the Empire by the planet’s former rulers. Over the past forty years the planet has become a major source of Helium-3 production for the Empire’s war machine and, as generations of Reachers have come over age under Imperial rule, the planet’s identity has become more and more entwined with the Empire that both aids and exploits it.
Reachers are '''Ma’zals''' of the [[Empire of Dominia[[: commoners of non-Morozian descent. Unlike their counterparts in the [[Novi Jadran|Imperial Mandate of Novi Jadran]], the majority of Reachers are not honorary Secondaries, and are instead simply common Ma’zals.


<center>[[File:Himeo_pixel.png]]</center>
{{Template:Region-RebelsReach}}
'''The United Syndicates of Himeo''', more commonly rendered as Himeo (Hephaestus Industries Mineral Extraction Operation), is an economic powerhouse of the Coalition of Colonies originally founded as a mining venture by Hephaestus Industries in the 2200s. The largest city, and arguable capital of Himeo, is Magnitogorsk – a sprawling underground city built beneath the landing site HBF/CS Magnitogorsk after it landed on the planet. The primary export of Himeo is steel, along with other processed industrial materials, and much of its materials go to market in Xanu. The primary language of Himeo, unlike much of the Coalition of Colonies, is Solarian Common – though isolation from the proper Alliance has caused language drift over the centuries. Citizens of Himeo speak a dialect of Sol Common referred to as “Himeo Common" that has integrated vocabulary from Freespeak, and features a distinctive accent. The planet officially describes itself as a direct democracy that serves the citizens and workers of the planet before itself. With the extremely harsh conditions of Himeo's surface, most settlements are underground where cooperation is needed to survive. Himeo’s official motto is "We Shall Overcome" and a common symbol of the planet is a white hexagon surrounded by six red triangles holding back a sea of black, a symbolic representation of how the unity of Himeo holds back potential threats to the planet.
[[File:himeoflag.png|thumb|The flag of United Syndicates of Himeo. ]]
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==History==
==History==
===Discovery===
The origins of Himeo date back to 2248, when a Sol Alliance probe discovered the planet. The weather was estimated to be similar to the Yukon on Earth, and the planet was estimated to have massive mineral wealth by the probe. Within a year the area deemed “System XZP-0987” by the Sol Alliance was purchased by Hephaestus Industries, which intended to make the most of their new acquisition. An expedition was set to be launched as soon as possible, and in 2250 a fleet set out for Himeo. The fleet that disembarked was fairly large, consisting of nearly a dozen ships total, and they departed with a mission: drop a prefab colony (using the four colony ships themselves) on planet HIIMZ-05 (Hephaestus Industries Industrial Mining Zone, Fifth Planet) in order to exploit its mineral wealth. The prefab colony is designed to last twenty years at maximum, and the colony on HIIMZ-05 is expected to operate for five years total.
[[File:Himeo.png|thumb|A picture of the planet Himeo from space. ]]
The ships Magnitogorsk, Highland, Cannington, and Kiruna are all launched as industrial colony vessels. Hephaestus Industries warship Norilsk and two other ships are dispatched as escorts for the hulking industrial vessels. The mobile station Ryti is sent along to serve as a refueling and service station for vessels in orbit. By 2452, the ships arrive and drop their prefab colonies to find that the planet was not what they expected.


===Colonization===
===The Solarian Republic of Sun Reach (2189-2302)===
Fierce polar winds whip across the surface of HIIMZ-05, causing extreme wear and tear on anything exposed to the vortexes that is not designed to withstand the wind. It becomes apparent to the colonists huddled in their prefab that the colonies must dig in order to create any structures at all. Anything exposed aboveground is generally very close to the ground, partially sunken in the ground, or built into natural wind barriers. There is a lack of fauna and plant life beyond hardy shrubbery and small mammals, leading to most food production taking place inside the colony itself or in limited hydroponics facilities in orbit. However, more in-depth environmental scans of HIIMZ-05 reveal that the mineral wealth of the planet is far greater than originally anticipated.
 
<center><i>“This is almost certainly an advantageous position for us to hold in the Arcadian Frontier, Prime Minister. Through it we can secure a future for shipbuilding in the region. Within a century, it will be a production center on the level of Neptune,”</i> - Martin Clemson (2119 - 2230), [[Sol Alliance#Departments|Solarian Secretary of Colonization]], 2179.</center>
 
What would become the Viceroyalty of Sun Reach in 2422 was once one of the southernmost planets in the Solarian Alliance. Discovered in the late 2100s and colonized in 2189 due to extensive Helium-3 presence in its system, Mithra, Sun Reach was intended to support Solarian expansion into the Baltian and Arcadian Frontier Sectors through fuel processing and robust — though not military-grade — spacecraft production facilities built in orbit around it. Thousands of vessels were produced for the Alliance’s government, private corporations, and citizens throughout the 23rd century until the outbreak of the Interstellar War in 2278, when production was shifted to support the Solarian Navy and limited military production facilities were established in orbit.


Construction efforts, not prepared for the harsh conditions present, rapidly falls behind. Quotas are being only partially met, if they are being considered at all. Equipment is being stretched to the breaking point. People are starting to grow restless on the planet now sarcastically being called “Himeo” due to its status as a Hephaestus Industries Mineral Extraction Operation. As the months turned to years, another problem emerged: supplies took a long time to get to Himeo, and the only available communicator that could reach corporate headquarters was on the Norilsk. By 2255, Himeo had drifted so far away from Hephaestus that the planetary governor was forced to sign off his power to the planet’s population following a devastating mine collapse that left one-hundred dead outside Highland City - an event that came after orders from corporate headquarters to remain on the planet indefinitely. Hephaestus, already becoming crippled by the economic downturns that would lead into the Second Great Depression, was forced to concede to the planet’s demands, fearing a full-scale revolt if they did not. The compromises made here would form the future of modern Himeo’s direct democracy, and formed the basis of quasi-unions referred to as syndicates by their members in order to better avoid raising attention from Hephaestus. The new leader of Himeo would be called the First Speaker, and was initially elected in late 2255 following the compromises.
By 2287, when the Interstellar War ended, the Solarian Republic of Sun Reach was a comparatively stable and peaceful world compared to other Solarian frontier sectors, which has increasingly fallen into disarray as the War continued. A robust system defense force supported by the planet’s shipbuilding industry let it project an area of security around it alongside functional warp gates connecting it to Persepolis, Tau Ceti, and the Southern Reaches ensuring plentiful supplies. Assuming these connections remained stable, the Republic’s future was essentially secure. While the loss of the Coalition of Colonies had been a stark loss, the Alliance remained great — and the Republic imagined it would be the site of a new, bold expedition and expansion into the galactic south.


Over the following years Himeo drew closer to its nearby neighbor of Xanu than it ever was to Hephaestus Industries, which was now viewed as having left the colony out to dry and die. Quotas continue to come in and not be met, while salaries continue to drop and the quotas, bizarrely, start to get larger - though the colonists did not realize it, Hephaestus was attempting to make money despite an economic collapse rapidly approaching. When the Second Great Depression hit in 2260 Hephaestus Industries sold off the colony, its ships, and its resources to the Sol Alliance. Himeo’s bizarre government was kept in place as the Alliance was unable to install a governor, but increased taxes on the system to compensate for the Second Great Depression were instituted in the system in 2272. For Himeo, this was the last straw.
Over the remainder of the 23rd century the Alliance fell further and further from its prewar glories. A naval coup in 2289 led to more unrest in the Solarian Frontier, a terraforming disaster on Mars in 2298 shifted more attention to the Solarian Core, and the damage the Interstellar War had caused to the economy had not faded in much of the Alliance. As the 2300s dawned Sun Reach entered a new century in a more precarious state than it had ever been in.
===The United Syndicates of Himeo===
In 2275, the planet voted to leave the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations along with Xanu and several other systems and officially changed its name to the United Syndicates of Himeo, with the proto-unions of the past decades having risen in power to dominate the planet’s already left-leaning government. By 2278, the planet would be embroiled in the Interstellar War and quickly become a major industrial center for the nascent Coalition of Colonies.


Since 2278 Himeo has remained a steadfast member of the Coalition of Colonies, despite often clashing ideologically with the Xanu Free League over the economic direction of the Coalition of Colonies. Himeo maintains a leash so tight on megacorporations in its space that they opt to not operate in its space, with Hephaestus being outright banned from operations in Himeo’s space since 2276. The contemporary Himeo is a major source of the Coalition’s industry, and generally provides the heavy industry and resources needed to ensure that other planets prosper.
===The Pirate Lords (2302-2422)===
 
<center><i>“I will take what is mine through my strength of conquest, and your planetfolk weakness. Disobey my command, and my crew will have the run of your capital, ‘Duke’ Glavan,”</i> - High Captain Ernst Zhang during a raid of Novi Jadran during the mid-2380s. </center>
 
With the secession of the Republic of Elyra in 2302, Sun Reach was thrown into chaos as its supply routes collapsed and the broader Alliance began a messy, chaotic withdrawal from the Southern Solarian Frontier which left many planets to fend for themselves. The republican government of Sun Reach ended in early 2302 when the system defense force couped the civilian government and installed a military “emergency government” which was essentially a dictatorship. Desperate to sustain their naval strength without the external supplies they had depended on, and unable to produce new shipyards, the military government turned to “requisitioning” supplies from nearby systems under Solarian emergency regulations. But as the years dragged on and the defense force began to loot further and further territories, their goal became less to sustain their strength and more to enrich themselves while maintaining their dominion over nearby worlds, who they forced to pay protection money. By 2310 the Reacher Guard had become the Pirate Lords, the scourge of the Badlands.
 
As the Pirate Lords further established their authority over the planet and enriched themselves, they neglected to support the civilian population of the planet and instead focused on their planetary refineries and the orbital facilities from which they ruled. The broader population, deprived of any external support and forced to pay their own tithes to the Pirate Lords and their crews, gradually became unable to support the advanced technology many settlements had. By the mid-2300s most had resorted to living off the land in small villages they often built around desalination facilities or the rare natural aquifer. By 2422 a solitary urban center – Sun Reach, the former capital of the planet – remained, with others having fallen into ruin and many having been reclaimed by nature. These villages would nominate a single family to deal with the Pirate Lords, who demanded material support and recruits from the planet itself. Tribunalism arrived on the planet during the 2300s and was mostly an underground religion, with the Pirate Lords viewing it as potentially dangerous to their rule.
 
By the 2380s the Pirate Lords’ influence had reached another major former Solarian world: Novi Jadran. Jadranic and Reacher forces fought several battles between 2380 and 2389, with most being won by the Pirate Lords and Novi Jadran squeezed further and further by raids. But the victories of the Pirate Lords over Novi Jadran would, in a twist of irony, become their undoing when Novi Jadran petitioned the young Empire of Dominia for aid and was annexed into it peacefully. Deprived of the industrial tithe they could gain from Novi Jadran, the Reachers were put on the backfoot as they tried to avoid deliberately raiding Morozian-flagged vessels. But by the 2410s the Pirate Lords, greedily seeking more wealth, had begun harassing Imperial vessels. The Empire and Pirate Lords were now set upon a course which would inevitably bring them into open warfare and, following a skirmish between the Imperial Fleet and Pirate Lords in 2422, the Imperial military launched a punitive expedition with the aim of conquering Sun Reach, ensuring the Empire’s control over the Badlands and the end of the Pirate Lords as a serious threat to its expansion in the region.
 
===The Imperial Viceroyalty of Sun Reach (2422 - Present)===
 
<center><i>“For crimes against the citizenry of the Imperial Mandate of Novi Jadran I sentence you, Captain Zhang, to death by hanging! To your crew, the beneficent Emperor has seen fit to offer them their choice of service in the Imperial Fleet or fifty years’ labor in the Imperial Territory of Fisanduh’s mines. With Her as my witness, I pronounce judgement!”</i> - Naval Magistrate Hitomi Kaneko during the military trials of the Pirate Lords, 24 March 2423.</center>
 
It took the Imperial military under a month to defeat the Pirate Lords and occupy the planet, with their dated equipment and poorly-trained forces falling apart after the first engagements of the expedition. Some, unwilling to surrender to the Empire, fled abroad or into the swamps surrounding the Algae Belt, becoming the first rural bandits of the planet. Many of the Pirate Lords were captured, tried, and quickly executed by the Empire. Imperial forces were, in some areas, greeted with open arms by a population which had long hidden their Tribunalist faith and was now free of the tithes paid to the previous government. In other areas, the Empire was viewed as little more than a replacement for the Pirate Lords and a shallow reminder of the democracy which once flourished under Solarian rule.
 
With Sun Reach’s conquest of Dominia came immense investment by the Empire’s economy, particularly Houses Zhao and Caladius. For the first time in over a century neglected Helium-3 refineries and orbital shipyards which had fallen into disrepair were brought online, and thousands of Reachers moved into cities to seek employment in better-paying urban industries. Others, seeking to redeem — or perhaps continue — their piratical past, joined the Imperial Fleet or the Goddess’ Flotilla. Most residents of the planet view life as better under the Empire than it was under the piratical former government, though some dissent. Those who opt to fight against the Viceroyalty often take to the swamps and mangroves around the Algae Belt, risking disease, weather, and dangerous wildlife to avoid the Imperial Army and Home Guard. Derided as outlaws and rogues by the government, and by most Reachers, these men and women often become little more than bandits.
 
In the Helium-3 industry, which is concentrated in the planet’s cities, there are few regulations and many are made to work long hours in hazardous conditions for less pay than workers in the Imperial Core. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of urban areas over the past 40 years has caused a rural decline in many areas as young algae farmers leave for higher-paying jobs to pay off their Mo’ri’zal, disrupting the planet’s traditional way of life. While their system of ruling their villages through notable families remains, some Reachers are concerned their culture will be consumed by the Empire by the end of the century as more and more of the planet’s inhabitants grow up only having known Imperial rule.
 
As the Empire looks towards the 2470s it considers how to best continue to develop the Viceroyalty, and to quash its issues. Whether or not it is successful remains to be seen, though as more and more Reachers are raised knowing solely Imperial rule it is less and less likely any serious efforts will be made to throw off its rule. For now, at least, the Viceroyalty is solidly in the hands of the Empire.


==Environment==
==Environment==
The surface environment of Himeo is extremely harsh and uninhabitable. While it features an easily breathable atmosphere, distances from its star means that Himeo is generally freezing: surface temperatures are, on average, roughly −58.2 °C (−72.8 °F) before factoring in wind chill. The local climate is further characterized by its extreme windstorms, usually featuring snow, that whip down from its mountains and bracket the tundra of Himeo. The planet has an orbital period of fifteen months and two seasons due to its unusual orbital pattern: winter and deep winter. Deep winter refers to the period during which Himeo is further from its star, while winter refers to when it is nearest to its star. Deep winter lasts ten months, while winter lasts five months. The pressure and gravity on Himeo are similar to Earth, due to their comparable sizes. Days on Himeo are 30 hours long, and years are 15 Terran months.


==Government==
<center><i>“Soldiers! This environment will be unlike your homes in the Imperial Mandate. Expect humidity, insects, and constant rain in some areas. Remember your training and watch yourself and your comrades for signs of heatstroke. Dismissed!”</i> - First Lieutenant Henrik Novak of the 122nd Jadranic Infantry Regiment prior to their deployment to Sun Reach, 2457.</center>
Himeo is a direct democracy in which the planetary leader, termed the First Speaker, is elected by pure majority vote for a maximum of two five year terms (barring emergencies such as war) and answers directly to Himeo’s citizenry. The First Speaker is assisted by the Council of Representatives officials elected at a rate of one per city, orbital facility, officially registered ship, or other facility with a population of over 10,000 citizens. The existence of representation for ships is a result of a compromise made between the crews of the Hephaestus warships and the colonists in 2255, in order to earn a voice for them in the planet’s government. These Representatives answer directly to the citizens of where they were elected. In order to pass legislation impacting all of Himeo, it must pass a majority vote by all citizens of the planet. Legislation only impacting a certain area only needs a majority vote from that area: i.e., if legislation would solely impact Ryti Station, only Ryti Station votes on it.
 
Sun Reach is a hot, humid, and wet world dominated by swamps and mangroves. It has long, hot summers with short, cool winters and temperatures rarely drop below freezing even during winter. Much of the planet’s surface outside of its limited landmasses is covered by shallow oceans. These oceans are home to floating islands of organic plant mass which, while rarely encountered, represent a stunning example of Reacher biodiversity. Rain is frequent and many areas flood seasonally, being dry during the winter and underwater during the summer months. Building any serious infrastructure on Sun Reach is difficult due to these seasonal floods and the swampy conditions of much of its land. Much of the planet’s water is salty, which leads to further infrastructure issues due to corrosion and a need to build desalination facilities — historically, Reacher settlements are often based around these plants.
 
The equatorial region of Sun Reach is known as the Algae Belt, and is where most of the planet’s population can be found. Year-round dry land is found more readily here than in any other region of the planet and, while still swampy and humid, permanent settlements are easier to construct and infrastructure is easier to maintain. However, regular maintenance is still required to counteract the planet’s climate and the mostly-sunken remnants of rail lines and roads from the pre-Imperial era are frequent sights in more rural regions of the Algae Belt. Aquaculture has historically been the dominant industry in this region due to the abundance of shallow, relatively calm waters and natural hardiness of the Reacher staple crop: algae.
 
Beyond the Algae Belt, as one travels further towards the planetary poles, the environment becomes less hospitable as human settlements begin to grow more sparse before eventually ceasing entirely. As one travels towards the poles weather becomes more extreme, with frequent storms and rain which is rumored to never cease at the poles. At the same time flora begins to steadily increase and eventually becomes too dense to reasonably travel through unless one spends days clearing the foliage meter by meter. Some Imperial expeditions have recorded foliage which appears to deliberately grow in their path and thin out behind them, as if it is trying to deliberately block their progress, but House Volvalaad has dismissed this as outlandish and unscientific. Much of this area is poorly explored and few accurate maps exist, with orbital photography ineffective due to the density of foliage and frequent cloud cover. Cartographic efforts by Imperial scholars have been frustrated by a lack of funding, Reacher superstitions about the poles, and the hazardous conditions of the far reaches of the planet. The Alliance is rumored to have completely mapped Sun Reach during its hegemonic era, but no maps are known to have survived to the modern era. Rumors have long circulated that the poles contain lost Solarian research facilities where terraforming was researched centuries ago, and that equipment gone awry is the source of the freak weather near the poles.
 
===Flora and Fauna===
 
The '''Reacher Gar''' is a large, typically 2-3 meter long and relatively slender carnivorous fish found across Sun Reach’s shallow waters. Commonly known as the “gar fish” (or garfish) among locals, it is a frequent source of food for the rural populations who live near the mangroves gar prefer to nest in. Reacher garfish are capable of moving at surprising speeds while striking at their prey — typically smaller fish or aquatic mammals — and their scales armor them against most predators. These scales are used by Reachers to fashion small blades and limited amounts of bite-proof clothing. While not actively hostile towards humans, gar fish will defend their nests and can inflict painful bites on unprepared humans.
 
An apex predator alongside humanity, the '''Reacher soostatom''' closely resembles the alligators of old Earth. It is a large, quadruped animal which can grow anywhere from six to nine meters long depending upon the environment, with soostatoms growing larger as one approaches the poles. Soostatom are carnivorous and easily capable of killing a human if threatened. However, attacks are generally rare. Reachers historically hunted soostatoms for their meat and their tough, leathery skins which are used to make clothing. In the Imperial era soostatom hunting has dropped as many urban areas have moved to adopt more traditionally Morozian styles of clothing.
 
The '''mangrove-creeper''' is a common semi-aquatic plant which is found growing along the bottoms of trees in mangroves or bayous. A symbiotic species with the larger trees, mangrove-creepers are carnivorous plants which lure small animals beneath them with their fruits and use grabbing “mouths” to latch onto their prey and dissolve them with a digestive acid. While their mouths are too small to harm humans, mangrove-creepers have historically been viewed as a pest by rural communities. However, since 2422, they have become valuable cash crops due to their acid being an effective industrial solvent which is commonly used in the planet’s Helium-3 refining industry. Villages which once cursed these plants now grow rich from them.
 
==Culture==
 
<center><i>“Reachers are, due to neglect by their former masters, less culturally advanced than the Imperial Core and Novi Jadran. In this volume, I will discuss how these primitive beliefs emerged and how they can be eradicated,”</i> - Doctor Rahela Lemnaru, Jadranic sociologist employed by House Caladius, in her introduction to Cultural Backwardness on the Imperial Frontier Vol. XII: Reacher Customs and Beliefs (published in 2559).</center>
 
While Reachers follow the broader cultural trends and holidays of the Empire, their recent entry and unique history has given them a culture distinct from the broader Morozian-influenced culture of Dominia. Those from the rest of Dominia often stereotype Reachers as rural, conservative, and prone to superstitions while at the same time being hardworking, loyal, and faithful to the Goddess. Internationally, some regard Reachers as simply another planet subjugated by Moroz while others view them as having received a justified punishment for their actions as pirates. Reachers themselves are generally Imperial loyalists, viewing the Empire as better than the Pirate Lords, but some wish for further autonomy and more radical dissidents wish for a return to the era of piracy.
 
Historically, Reachers have lived in small rural communities numbering from a few hundred to several thousand. Built around either desalination plants or natural sources of water these communities relied on aquaculture to survive and the Reacher diet remains mostly unchanged from this era, favoring algae, aquatic plants, and seafood. Under the Pirate Lords these communities were expected to pay a tithe of resources to the captain who controlled the area, and a single family was chosen to be the point of contact for the community. Over a century of paying tribute, these families have morphed into the dominant political class of the planet and many were kept in place by the Empire out of convenience. Modern rural communities on Sun Reach do not look very different from their counterparts a century ago, though many have died out due to depopulation as Reachers immigrate to urban centers for higher-paying work. Large families are a common sight in rural communities on Sun Reach and rural families are often very connected to one another, with multiple generations and branches living in close proximity to one another.
 
Rural village life on Sun Reach is often challenging, with little in the way of outside help and overland travel difficult due to swampy terrain and poor weather. Travel is traditionally done over water, often by airboat, and navigating the mangrove-filled waters of Sun Reach can cause even simple journeys to take days. Investment by the Empire has brought limited rail infrastructure to Sun Reach and some particularly remote villages are now more connected to the broader planet via air travel, but the difficult terrain of the planet has ensured infrastructure is slow to expand and expensive to maintain. Regular passenger rail services are only available between major settlements along the Algae Belt, with other areas serviced much more infrequently. Travel by wheeled vehicle is rare, with the exception of Imperial Army equipment, due to persistent swampy mud which mires all but the hardiest vehicles.
 
Reachers who move to its sole urban center, itself named Sun Reach, often find work in the Helium-3 industry which has come to dominate the Viceroyalty’s economy in the decades since its conquest. While it pays far more than aquaculture work, the He-3 industry is poorly regulated and dominated by off-planet nobles such as House Zhao. Injuries are common among laborers in the field and hours can be long, with plants working round-the-clock to fulfill the fuel nerve of the Imperial Fleet. Injured workers are often let go without severance fees or benefits, returning to their villages as cripples or living off of charity provided by the Tribunal in the slum districts of Sun Reach sometimes without permanent housing, creating a homeless issue on a planet which had no such issue prior to 2422. The rapid expansion of the planet’s only city has created a housing crisis and resulted in many urbanite Reachers living in ramshackle apartments in poorly-designated, overcrowded slums. Urban families are much smaller than their rural counterparts, and many urban Reachers will only see their broader families on holidays. Imperial sociologists and urban planners estimate the Viceroyalty will not have a second major urban center until the early 2500s, potentially later, due to its environment being poorly-suited for major urban projects.
 
Due to neglect of the planet under the rule of the Pirate Lords leading to widespread poverty, Reacher cuisine has historically revolved around aquaculture and local fish — reliable food sources which can be found easily at all points of the year. Wild game from the swampy forests of the planet is part of the diet of Kent rural communities and the ends of successful hunts are often community celebrations where the entire village participates in a feast. As the planet’s population has urbanized since 2422 and off-world foods have become more common, Reacher urban cuisine has been influenced by the similarly seafood-based diets of Novi Jadranic soldiers and engineers who have been brought or come to the planet’s cities to support the Viceroyalty.
 
===Reacher Tribunalism and Folk Beliefs===
 
Tribunalism has been present on Sun Reach since the 2300s, first arriving via merchants and visitors from Moroz and gradually spreading throughout the planet over the following years, though it would only become the majority faith of the planet after 2422. Suppressed by the Pirate Lords as a potential security risk, the pre-Imperial Tribunalists of Sun Reach were forced to practice in secret to avoid punishment. These individuals — known as Old Tribunalists on Sun Reach — form a kind of social elite on the planet under Imperial rule, being viewed as more loyal and more faithful than the typical citizen of the planet. Reacher Tribunalism has, due to its isolation from the broader Tribunal prior to 2422, acquired several unique characteristics born from a merger of Tribunalist and Reacher traditions.
 
Unlike Morozians, Reachers traditionally cremate their dead due to the difficulty of ensuring corpses remain underground in the soft, swampy terrain of the planet. Those corpses which are buried will, unless properly buried in stone crypts, often return to the surface after the first heavy rain. The ashes of the corpse are collected and preserved by the deceased’s relatives, then stored in a family shrine. Often located on the edges of Reacher villages and towns, these shrines are the closest equivalent Reachers have to traditional graveyards and serve as an important gathering point for Reacher families. Reachers believe that unless a corpse is burnt and its ashes returned to the family shrine, it will wander the Spur as a wandering spirit for all eternity. While Reachers believe these spirits are not always malicious, traditional belief holds they will do anything to have their ashes returned to their proper resting place — including killing or harming the living.
 
Reacher Tribunalism has a strong religious tradition of faith healing, particularly in rural areas, which combines folk medicine with the Tribunalist faith. Locally known as Kaivijadii, or Roamers, these individuals grew to prominence under the Pirate Lords’ neglect of the planet and were the only chance many Reachers had to receive medical care. With the arrival of the Empire in 2422 and the increasing presence of modern medical systems, the Kaivijadii now coexist alongside conventional medicine with the Tribunal’s blessing. A Kaivijadii’s healing abilities are said to be derived directly from the Goddess and their connection to Her is strengthened through prayers passed down from practitioner to practitioner, generally through familial ties. The rituals of the Kaivijadii are unique to each practitioner and have often been passed down since the early 2300s.
 
While most Kaivijadii are regarded as benevolent practitioners who wish to aid the faithful of Sun Reach, the Madalin-Kaivijadii, or Roaming Sculptors, are a group of malevolent Kaivijadii said to live in the wild, sparsely populated areas beyond the Algae Belt where they can avoid the gaze of the Tribunal and the Viceroyalty. Madalin-Kaivijadii are said to be able to cast curses via black magic taught to them by witch-spirits, and sustain their powers through ritual sacrifices which ensure the victim becomes a wandering spirit in the thrall of the Madalin-Kaivijadii. Unexplained disappearances in rural communities are often blamed on these magicians and Reacher parents commonly tell their children that if they misbehave, a Madalin-Kaivijadii will abduct and sacrifice them. These rituals are said to give the Madalin-Kaivijadii eternal youth, so long as they continue them, and render them immune to any weapons not blessed by a faithful Tribunalist clergymember. The Viceroyalty’s government holds that the Madalin-Kaivijadii are simply fiction and do not truly exist, but many Reachers continue to believe in them. Whenever a person disappears without explanation, crops fail, or misfortune occurs, they are often blamed.
 
==The Viceroyalty==
 
Since 2422 Sun Reach has been part of the broader Empire of Dominia, and is known as the Viceroyalty of Sun Reach. The Viceroyalty itself is an odd state which is divided between a civilian-run colonial administration and an extensive military administration which rules alongside it, both of which are under the leadership of Governor-General Hermann Gaufried-Meinrad Strelitz — a career military officer who has found himself awkwardly balancing competing interests from native Reachers, the great houses, the Imperial government and military, the Tribunal, foreign corporations, and others. Below him is the civil-military administration of the planet, itself divided between Morozians and loyal Ma’zals, both from Sun Reach itself and elsewhere in the Empire. The civil-military cleavage in the Viceroyalty’s administration has led to many conflicts of interest between the government itself and has allowed notable Reacher families, through the patron-client system established under the Pirate Lords, to maintain their grip on power in many areas. But all know that, for the Viceroyalty to continue to succeed, one thing must not change: the flow of Helium-3 from Sun Reach to the broader Empire must continue, no matter the cost.
 
The civilian administration of the Viceroyalty is concentrated in its urban centers and the more developed regions of the Algae Belt, and has two primary responsibilities: the first is to ensure the planet’s development continues, and the second is to ensure its fuel industry continues to be profitable. Work on Sun Reach for the civilian administration is often unpleasant, with its primarily Morozian and Jadranic staff unused to the stifling heat and humidity of the planet and expected to work long, often irregular hours to ensure development of the countryside continues. Nobles prefer to avoid Sun Reach’s administrative postings, and almost all are instead filled by Secondaries or Integrated Ma’zals. The civilian government, with its focus on development, is expected to work with and alongside the military government, which focuses upon security.
 
The military government of the Viceroyalty is concentrated in its less developed and more sparsely populated areas, where control is often weaker and rural banditry continues to persist. Throughout the Viceroyalty’s history most of the troops stationed there outside of an Imperial Flying Corps contingent are Jadraners. While loyal and effective soldiers these troops are often unprepared for the tropical environment of Sun Reach when they first arrive. Sunstroke and other ailments are a common issue, particularly in the harsher environments on the edge of the Algae Belt, and the swampy terrain of Sun Reach makes travel difficult for the heavily mechanized Imperial Army, which must rely upon riverine forces and local militia units to bolster its strength and defend isolated regions from banditry and other nuisances.
 
Below these civilian and military administrators are trusted Reachers, often Old Tribunalists, who are expected to carry out the day-to-day tasks associated with direct management in a twist on the patron-client model originally used by the Pirate Lords. These Old Tribunalists form a social and economic elite on Sun Reach through their work with the colonial government and are the closest equivalent Sun Reach has to a native nobility in the style of Novi Jadran. Reacher culture expects these families to work towards the goals of those below them and expects those below them to not question the ruling family — a survival mechanism originally from the era of the Pirate Lords, where being perceived as a threat to their rule could see a community wiped out. In the Viceroyalty era this means the Old Tribunalist families often leverage their political and economic influence to gain concessions from the colonial government.
 
Non-Tribunal law enforcement on Sun Reach is the responsibility of both the Imperial Reacher Colonial Constabulary (IRCC) and the Imperial Army’s military police (“MPs”), with the IRCC handling the capital, its surroundings, and many villages while the Army’s MPs handle much of the countryside outside of villages and more severe crimes. The reason for this odd arrangement is the relative inexperience of the IRCC: the Viceroyalty’s constable branch was founded in 2438 and remains mostly staffed by junior officers with little practical experience, and relies heavily upon Jadranic staff brought into the Viceroyalty to plug gaps in the IRCC’s abilities. During its past near quarter-century of existence the IRCC has struggled to establish itself as an effective policing force and likely will continue to do so without significant improvements to the Viceroyalty’s infrastructure and funding. For the time being it must rely upon the Imperial Army to handle major issues and assist it in maintaining order, to the irritation of many officers who would much rather be expanding the Empire than patrolling swampy roads for rural bandits.
 
===Jadraner-Reacher Animosity===
 
Despite both being part of the Empire for decades, the poor historical relationship between Novi Jadran and Sun Reach remains a very real issue on the planet, with Jadranic colonial bureaucrats often looking down upon their Reacher charges as barely civilised ex-pirates who once harassed their world during its darkest era and only ceased their raiding when forcibly brought to heel by the Empire. Anti-Reacher bias manifests in relatively harmless manners — such as jokes told by Jadraners to one another in pubs on the tundra planet — and very harmful manners — such as Jadranic soldiers and constables being much harsher on Reachers who break Imperial law than their fellow Jadraners, let alone Morozians.


The cities, towns, and stations of Himeo directly elect their majors and representative, with the ships of Himeo electing a representative to the city they work the closest with. Foreign Representatives of Himeo are appointed at a rate of one per municipality over 100,000 citizens, and serve on the Council of Foreign Representatives. They follow the same manner of legislation passing that the planet does.
Attempts have been made by Imperial officials to crack down on this bias to varying degrees of success, with Jadraners who overreact or mistreat their Reacher subordinates rarely punished aside from being sent off of the planet to avoid further incidents. Complaints, even by the Old Tribunalists, have mostly fallen upon deaf ears in the colonial bureaucracy. Those few Reachers who have seen legitimate punishments — typically fines or demerits, rarely prison time — given to Jadraners have always been officers of the Imperial Fleet, and often have the assistance of a House Zhao patron. Even if they are commoners, the Fleet is nothing if not dedicated to protecting its officers.
Himeo’s government has an extremely bad relationship with Hephaestus Industries, which it views as having oppressed the planet for its own profits, but holds a neutral status on other megacorporations. The government, by majority vote, banned Hephaestus from operating in Himeo’s space shortly after it declared independence.
           
==Society==
The society of Himeo is, by requirement, one that is very tightly-knit. The roots of the planet's independence in popular revolt have seen a collective spirit grow into a successful direct democracy with a strong ideological foundation in federalism and decentralization. However the system remains largely irrelevant outside the Coalition of Colonies. Himeans grow up in close proximity to one another and depend on one another for support in the dim tunnels beneath Himeo, with Himeans often forming groups to better allow themselves to prosper on their quite harsh planet. One’s culture of origin – at least, amongst the original settlers and their descendants – is largely irrelevant in the face of adversity within a city, and the need to rely on one another for support. A common thread through Himean society is a hatred of Hephaestus Industries, due to their mistreatment of the planet during its era as a corporate colony. Despite this, megacorporations that can hire Himeans often do so - they excel at being part of a team, even if they hold some odd collective views.
Off-world humans are a common sight and typically originate from either the Scarab Fleet or Techno-Conglomerate, though minor fleets and unaffiliated offworlders are a common enough sight. Aliens are relative newcomers to the planet compared to their human counterparts, and have adapted to varying degrees. Tajara have found success on the frigid planet due to their tolerance of the cold, though many remain in their own districts. However, these districts can be found throughout major cities in Himeo. Skrell are generally a rare sight on Himeo, but some can be found in Highland City or Kiruna.
===Cuisine===
The traditional cuisine of Himeo is very sparse. The diet of a Himean was primarily composed of mushrooms until trade was opened with Xanu and the Scarab Fleet, causing the amount of available food to increase dramatically through new hydroponics techniques. The underground and orbital hydroponics farms of Himeo are able to produce a variety of common Terran foods, though meat remains a relative rarity due to the resources it consumes during production. The diet of citizens of Himeo is, however, less plant-based than an Eridanian’s diet – mining, after all, requires a lot of calories.
===Education===
Education on Himeo is provided at a municipal level, and is generally regarded as high-quality for the frontier. However it lags behind the Solarian Alliance's Jewel Worlds and Middle Ring, and those Himeans that wish to learn specialized sciences such as xenobiology often travel off the planet to Xanu or further afield. Despite this Himeo is famous for its ability to produce talented engineers, and atmospheric technicians. But due to a lack of corporate presence in the system, most of these individuals remain on Himeo and are rarely immediately hired by off-planet entities.
==Architecture and Construction==
The architecture of Himeo is very distinctive and is essentially unique to Himeo: the major settlements of Himeo are all built underground due to the environment of Himeo itself. While the initial cities were dug out of mine tunnels and intended to last mere decades, rather than centuries, the tunnel systems have been expanded and revamped over the centuries to resemble kinds of subterranean metropolises built on top of one another, with some of the larger cities stretching as far vertically as they do horizontally. While some of these tunnels can be massive, a typical residential tunnel in an underground city tends to have a clearance of around twenty feet in order to allow for rail traffic. Light is a constant issue in these tunnels, and many areas feature slightly dim lighting conditions. As such, many Himeans suffer from light sensitivity.


Cities on Himeo, due to being entirely underground, universally feature extremely well-maintained, advanced, and robust atmospheric systems that are maintained around the clock by the individual city’s Civil Atmospherics Service (CAS). Fuel-burning generators or machines are extremely rare in Himeo: the most common method of transit underground is via an extensive underground rail system that connects all major cities. All cities on Himeo are connected by this exceedingly complicated and very well-developed rail network, in which tunnels can stretch for thousands of kilometers as they snake around the planet. A job in the railway service is seen as very prestigious on Himeo, and its staff are known for their high quality. Electric power is often provided by burning the local ore deposits in factories, which vent their waste gasses to the surface via vents – some of which can stretch for hundreds of meters as they lead their way to the surface.
===The Imperial Military on Sun Reach===


What buildings that are on the surface of Himeo must, by demand, be extremely sturdy or built into a natural wind barrier. Surface buildings are typically rounded to avoid wind damage, and feature very few windows. These shuttle ports of Himeo are generally built upon its plains, and are mostly underground. A wind shield typically surrounds a heavy-duty “wind gate” in the middle of the shields, which opens or closes to let vessels in. Travel on the surface of Himeo is generally done in extremely durable tracked vehicles fitted with enormous plows to fight through snow drifts that keep themselves low to the ground to avoid tipping over in the wind. Air travel aside from interstellar traffic is generally advised against, due to the severe weather of Himeo.
Like many planets of the Imperial Frontier, Sun Reach is home to a significant military presence. It has the single largest garrison on the Imperial Frontier due to the strategic importance of its abundant fuel resources and these forces range from local militia units to Jadranic units of the Imperial Army to elements of the Imperial Fleet and Imperial Flying Corps, all working to ensure the planet — and its fuel — stay firmly within the Empire’s control. All military forces in the Viceroyalty are de jure under the command of the Viceroy-General. De facto, control is split between several factions which cooperate with one another — the Army answers to the Viceroy-General, the Fleet to Grand Admiral Zhao, local militias to prominent Reachers who raise and fund them, and the IFC to their strategic command for the region.
A group of relics that remains in use on Himeo to this day are the massive Hephaestus Industries tunneling and mining machines that the original colonists embarked with. These machines were built to last, and are still in use to varying extents to this very day – with, of course, a great deal of modifications to keep them operational and effective. They typically fall under the authority of individual cities, though some factories operate them, and have storied histories. The machines are typically named and given some form of identifier on their chassis, in order to better distinguish them.


==Population and Major Cities==
The largest military branch on the planet by numbers, the Imperial Army does much of the work required to keep Sun Reach secure for the Empire but suffers from persistent problems with the planet’s harsh environment and the resulting logistics headaches. While the Army has long favored mechanized forces the environment of Sun Reach makes these impractical, and the Jadranic troops who make up much of the planet’s garrison have instead opted to use riverine vessels — some officially produced by the Army and others made by arming and armoring civilian boats — to patrol the shallow waters of Sun Reach. The Imperial Army routinely conducts “smoking out operations” of suspected bandit groups where it will intensely patrol regions and burn down areas suspected of harboring bandit strongholds — a strategy which has drawn criticism from prominent native Reachers. Assisting the Imperial Army are the forces of the Imperial Flying Corps (IFC) under the command of Imperial Strategic Bomber Command - Viceroyalty of Sun Reach (ISBC-VSR). Unlike other IFC commands, ISBC-VSR is primarily logistic in nature and is staffed mostly by non-nobles, with Primaries instead wishing to be assigned to more prestigious locations.
The population of Himeo stands at roughly 1.5 billion citizens on the planet and 200 million in various orbital facilities as of the 2460 census, with the majority of its citizens residing in or around Himeo’s various urban centers. Most residents of Himeo are humans, either baseline or off-worlders, with some light populations of other species. Tajara are one of the most commonly seen alien species on Himeo, and are held in high regard on the planet: Zhan-Khazan and M’sai have found success on the planet as workers and surface scouts, respectively. Unathi and diona, due to the frigid temperatures and often dark conditions, are rarely seen. Skrell, as with most locations outside of the Federation, are rare. Vaurca are nearly unheard of. As with most areas in human space IPCs are an aspect of life in the system, with the proximity of the Techno-Conglomerate leading to a higher number of free IPCs in Himeo and its affiliated systems.


'''Magnitogorsk:''' The largest of all planetary cities, Magnitogorsk is home to almost everything one could hope for. The city features a booming ore processing industry famous for its high-quality products, and is home to the planet’s largest theater district. Magnitogorsk is where the headquarters of the Civil Rail Agency is located, and features a massive underground rail depot built into a natural cave.
Acting in support of the Imperial Army are the militia units of the Sun Reach Home Guard. Often the first line of defense for isolated rural settlements against bandit attacks or raids, Home Guard units are outside of the Imperial Army’s formal command structure and instead managed by Reacher officers appointed by the militias — though they are often assisted by an Imperial Army officer. These militia troops are valuable scouts and pathfinders for the larger Imperial Army units, and service in them is seen by many Reachers as a way to prove their loyalty to the Empire and acquire further benefits. In an emergency such as a war with Elyra these militias can be integrated into the Imperial Army but, in practice, this would be a difficult task due to the poor infrastructure of Sun Reach and semi-independent structure of the Home Guard.


'''Highland City:''' The largest interstellar port, Highland City has comparatively moderate weather by the standards of Himeo. A nearby mountain range shields the city from much of the planet’s hostile weather, and provides exceptional mineral wealth. Highland City’s location on these comparatively temperate plains means that it features more shuttle ports than any other city on Himeo, and features a port capable of receiving frigate-sized vessels.
===Reachers in the Imperial Military===


'''Cannington:''' A major industrial center, Cannington features expansive mines in and around itself that produce a significant amount of the mineral wealth the planet is known for. Streets in Cannington are generally a bit less well-organized than other cities as the city tends to rely more on pre-existing mineshafts for municipal development, rather than digging new tunnels. As a result, many districts in Cannington have been described as “somewhat confusing,” to navigate by foreigners.
As a world of the Imperial Frontier which was recently conquered by force, the inhabitants of Sun Reach are regarded as prime targets for recruitment by the Empire’s military forces. Many do choose to join its ranks, seeing military service as their best shot to see the broader Spur aside from working for Zavodskoi Interstellar, and find themselves in the ranks of the Imperial Fleet or, if they are less inclined towards military discipline, as a state-sponsored privateer of the Goddess’ Flotilla.


'''Kiruna:''' The center of government and academic life, Kiruna is renowned for its academies and longstanding tradition of civil service. Most government agencies have their headquarters within the city, particularly along the Street of Himeo’s People – a major tunnel full of government structures along its length that features a rare sight on Himeo: Terran flora.
In the stratified and hierarchical Imperial Fleet Reachers, as Ma’zals, are typically confined to the enlisted ranks. Some, either through entry into House Zhao-sponsored schools which train them from childhood to be naval officers or through truly exceptional abilities, serve as junior officers and adjutants to Morozian officers. Reachers will often attempt to “Morozise” their accents while in the Fleet, downplaying some of the “rougher” aspects of their dialect in an attempt to sound more “civilized” and appear more respectable to their officers. Fleet veterans are typically respected when they return home, and many easily find positions in the colonial administration or as management staff in the refining industry.


'''Ryti Station:''' An old, outdated, and entirely functional spaceborne processing facility that now serves as the main hub of trade in Himeo, and the dockyard of its fleet. It has a population of roughly 200,000 with a mix between off-world humans, baseline humans, and some rare aliens. The station itself has been slowly expanded over the centuries, and now finds itself the home of Himeo’s admiralty.
Reachers have a much smaller presence in the Army than in the Fleet, with few Army regiments having been raised from the planet. Some have argued this is part of an exchange with House Zhao by House Strelitz, as Novi Jadran is the opposite: many Army regiments have been raised from it while few Jadraners have opted to join the Fleet. Neither great house has publicly commented on the matter.


==Clothing==
===Rural Banditry===
Clothing on Himeo is, by demand, practical and extremely rugged – designed to endure a harsh environment and last for a long time. Much of it features multiple layers, and very little skin is left exposed. Due to the lack of real animals on the planet synthetic furs are common, with Himeo’s furs being commonly referred to as “fish fur” on the galactic marketplace. Himeo’s clothing is prized for its ability to keep in warmth and its low-maintenance designs. Coloring and dyes are generally quite muted due to scarcity, though reflective materials are common for practical and aesthetic purposes. Many Himeans make patterns on their clothes using reflective material, causing their clothes to vibrantly light up in the low-light environments of Himeo’s cities. The recent introduction of alien species such as the Tajara has seen new styles of “fur” coats emerge in the traditional Adhomaian style with Himeo touches – Tajaran peacoats with reflective PRA flags are common amongst certain immigrants.
                       
==Military==
As a member of the Coalition of Colonies, Himeo fields its own navy and military forces. The fleet is headquartered on Ryti Station, and its current flagship is the HDV Norilsk, a Hephaestus Industries-produced cruiser that accompanied the original colonists that has been slowly retrofitted and improved over the years. While Himeo's fleet has a strong core of retrofitted military or corporate-grade warships, most of its ships are civilian cargo vessels retrofitted to be “Himeo corvettes” – cargo ships with enough armor, guns, and engine strength to serve as improvised warships. These Himeo corvettes have recently been employed against Dominian privateers near Zaurghis to great success. Himeo's ships often feature a black cat painted onto their sides, a tribute to the mining strikes that originally gained the planet its independence.


The ground army of Himeo is referred to as the Planetary Guard, and is based on a municipality-by-municipality basis with each one sworn to defend one another in the event they were attacked. Much of the Guard's equipment has its roots in mining equipment, though the planet has a small-scale arms industry. The arrival of Tajara on the planet has seen many joining the Planetary Guard and serving in its new surface units – volunteer structures that patrol along the surface of the planet and rescue the crews of downed spacecraft. Due to the extremely harsh nature of the surface, animals imported from Adhomai are highly valued by the troopers of the surface units, and tajara are often seen caring for them.
A broad term for both legitimate bandits and those who fight against the colonial government, rural bandits are the main concern for the Viceroyalty’s security forces. Banditry on Sun Reach began in the 2300s as the planet was neglected by the Pirate Lords, causing many desperate Reachers to turn to banditry to survive. After the Imperial military conquered the planet in 2422 these bandits, many of whom were simply petty criminals who did not pose a true threat, were joined by the former soldiers of the Pirate Lords who had escaped the Imperial Army. Better-equipped and often more brutal than their counterparts, these bandits began a campaign against the colonial government and any they perceived as loyal to it. In response, Imperial forces were deployed to counter them. However, the difficult terrain of Sun Reach and the lack of infrastructure across much of its surface has repeatedly frustrated the Imperial Army and allowed banditry to continue.


==[[Free Tajaran Council]]==
Over four decades later banditry remains an issue for many on Sun Reach, but many of the Pirate Lord-aligned groups have collapsed due to pressure from the colonial government, infighting, or simply becoming too old to continue fighting. Now, banditry is much the way it was under the Pirate Lords: a last resort method to endure on one’s economic survival. In some areas, however, organized bandit groups have become such an issue that they are regarded as security risks to their regional governments. While some Reachers join these bandit groups out of a desire to fight the Empire, most join for economic reasons linked to the steady migration of Reachers to urban areas from rural areas. As communities shrivel away, there are some individuals who — unable or unwilling to leave — turn to banditry to sustain themselves.


The '''Free Tajaran Council''' is the largest Tajaran community in Himeo; its origin can be traced back to the [[Tajaran History#The Uprisings|First Revolution]]. Born in the city of Shungsta during the war, the Tajaran Free Council was a political movement that advocated for the total abolishment of authoritarian governments in favor of independent democratic councils. '''Volin Kar’etrink''', a young Hharar factory worker, was elected to be its commander thanks to his status as a famous firebrand. The group fought both reactionary and rebels in an attempt to create a state-free Adhomai. This ideology was later named Kar’etrinkism by its opponents. While mildly successful against rebellious and monarchist forces, the Council was defeated by the Hadiists. The surviving revolutionaries fled Adhomai to escape further persecution.
When the colonial government captures bandits it often attempts to rehabilitate them, often through hard labor in its development projects, but executes those found guilty of harming Morozians or Integrated Ma’zals. Those guilty of harming or killing other Reachers are instead sentenced to hard labor. Once these ex-bandits finish their sentences they are sent back to their home villages or given housing in an urban center. Regardless of where they go they are typically mistrusted and many opt to travel off-world, seeking employment with Zavodskoi Interstellar through contracts which offer lesser salaries and fewer benefits than other Imperials receive.


Led by Volin in their exodus, the survivors reached the Coalition of Colonies in '''2430'''. Because of its government and weather, Himeo was chosen to be their new home. Organizing themselves in a similar manner to the rest of the Himean society, the Council was given autonomy to govern themselves as they saw fit. With the help of Himeo, they established schools to freely educate their population. However, they did not abandon their ideals. Kar’etrink and his followers secretly planned to return to Adhomai to overthrow its governments when the Council became strong enough. Military training was offered to all willing members. Plans to infiltrate cities and assassinate leaders were voted upon in secret. These intentions remain largely unknown to Himeo and the Adhomian nations. Attempting to sabotage or reveal the plot is met with violent mob justice. Volin Kar’etrink continues to hold the position of Council representative to this day.
==Settlements==


Nowadays the Free Tajaran Council faces serious problems. No matter how hard they try, they can never muster enough numbers and materiel to ever challenge any of the Adhomian nations. A new generation of Tajara was born in Himeo; many of them doubt the viability of Volin’s plan. The Council is now split between two warring factions: the old guard who believes that the operations in Himeo are enough, and the younger Tajara who wants to contact the outside world in search of allies. The older wing has also grown extremely paranoid of foreign Tajara, fearing possible spies among their ranks. The few that leave Himeo are either young Tajara disillusioned with Kar’etrinkism or trying to recruit new members. When abroad, caution about one’s intention is essential to not draw attention to the Council’s true purpose. While the Tajaran states are suspicious of the Himean community, its members were not forbidden from applying for their citizens. Many decided on a [[Democratic People's Republic of Adhomai|DPRA]] citizenship due to its support of grassroots movements.  
Overwhelmingly rural, the Viceroyalty’s only major settlement is its capital city. Also named Sun Reach, this city is the center of its Helium-3 industry and administration. During the Solarian colonial era it was intended to coordinate shipbuilding efforts and was, unlike many frontier settlements, built around a central space elevator that was intended to assist in moving fuel to and from the planet. The elevator remains operational today and is still the center of the city’s economy, with tens of thousands of barrels of Helium-3 fuel traveling through it every day. While the administrative center of the capital is built in an elegant, somewhat Jadranic, style designed by House Zhao engineers — and their Jadranic subordinates — much of the working-class areas are hastily built slums which hate barely improved from the era of the Pirate Lords, and pollution from the city’s Helium-3 plants chokes the skies on many days.


Volin Kar’entrink is an elderly Tajara and does not have much time left in this world; the future without its revolutionary leader is an uncertain one for the Council.
Even if the capital suffers from overcrowding and poor urban planning in many areas, living in it is an opportunity for Reachers to have access to more services and resources than their rural counterparts, with education and employment opportunities readily available for them. Some Imperial economists theorize that by the dawn of the 26th century these urban Reachers will form the base of a new middle class in the Viceroyalty which will be loyal to the Empire. For now, however, the urban residents of the capital remain a working-class group.


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  • On the eastern edge of the Empire of Dominia lies the least-populated major world of its domain: the Imperial Viceroyalty of Sun Reach, fully integrated into the Empire in 2422 following an invasion of the Mithra System by the Imperial military in response to piracy against the Empire by the planet’s former rulers. Over the past forty years the planet has become a major source of Helium-3 production for the Empire’s war machine and, as generations of Reachers have come over age under Imperial rule, the planet’s identity has become more and more entwined with the Empire that both aids and exploits it.

    Reachers are Ma’zals of the [[Empire of Dominia[[: commoners of non-Morozian descent. Unlike their counterparts in the Imperial Mandate of Novi Jadran, the majority of Reachers are not honorary Secondaries, and are instead simply common Ma’zals.

    History

    The Solarian Republic of Sun Reach (2189-2302)

    “This is almost certainly an advantageous position for us to hold in the Arcadian Frontier, Prime Minister. Through it we can secure a future for shipbuilding in the region. Within a century, it will be a production center on the level of Neptune,” - Martin Clemson (2119 - 2230), Solarian Secretary of Colonization, 2179.

    What would become the Viceroyalty of Sun Reach in 2422 was once one of the southernmost planets in the Solarian Alliance. Discovered in the late 2100s and colonized in 2189 due to extensive Helium-3 presence in its system, Mithra, Sun Reach was intended to support Solarian expansion into the Baltian and Arcadian Frontier Sectors through fuel processing and robust — though not military-grade — spacecraft production facilities built in orbit around it. Thousands of vessels were produced for the Alliance’s government, private corporations, and citizens throughout the 23rd century until the outbreak of the Interstellar War in 2278, when production was shifted to support the Solarian Navy and limited military production facilities were established in orbit.

    By 2287, when the Interstellar War ended, the Solarian Republic of Sun Reach was a comparatively stable and peaceful world compared to other Solarian frontier sectors, which has increasingly fallen into disarray as the War continued. A robust system defense force supported by the planet’s shipbuilding industry let it project an area of security around it alongside functional warp gates connecting it to Persepolis, Tau Ceti, and the Southern Reaches ensuring plentiful supplies. Assuming these connections remained stable, the Republic’s future was essentially secure. While the loss of the Coalition of Colonies had been a stark loss, the Alliance remained great — and the Republic imagined it would be the site of a new, bold expedition and expansion into the galactic south.

    Over the remainder of the 23rd century the Alliance fell further and further from its prewar glories. A naval coup in 2289 led to more unrest in the Solarian Frontier, a terraforming disaster on Mars in 2298 shifted more attention to the Solarian Core, and the damage the Interstellar War had caused to the economy had not faded in much of the Alliance. As the 2300s dawned Sun Reach entered a new century in a more precarious state than it had ever been in.

    The Pirate Lords (2302-2422)

    “I will take what is mine through my strength of conquest, and your planetfolk weakness. Disobey my command, and my crew will have the run of your capital, ‘Duke’ Glavan,” - High Captain Ernst Zhang during a raid of Novi Jadran during the mid-2380s.

    With the secession of the Republic of Elyra in 2302, Sun Reach was thrown into chaos as its supply routes collapsed and the broader Alliance began a messy, chaotic withdrawal from the Southern Solarian Frontier which left many planets to fend for themselves. The republican government of Sun Reach ended in early 2302 when the system defense force couped the civilian government and installed a military “emergency government” which was essentially a dictatorship. Desperate to sustain their naval strength without the external supplies they had depended on, and unable to produce new shipyards, the military government turned to “requisitioning” supplies from nearby systems under Solarian emergency regulations. But as the years dragged on and the defense force began to loot further and further territories, their goal became less to sustain their strength and more to enrich themselves while maintaining their dominion over nearby worlds, who they forced to pay protection money. By 2310 the Reacher Guard had become the Pirate Lords, the scourge of the Badlands.

    As the Pirate Lords further established their authority over the planet and enriched themselves, they neglected to support the civilian population of the planet and instead focused on their planetary refineries and the orbital facilities from which they ruled. The broader population, deprived of any external support and forced to pay their own tithes to the Pirate Lords and their crews, gradually became unable to support the advanced technology many settlements had. By the mid-2300s most had resorted to living off the land in small villages they often built around desalination facilities or the rare natural aquifer. By 2422 a solitary urban center – Sun Reach, the former capital of the planet – remained, with others having fallen into ruin and many having been reclaimed by nature. These villages would nominate a single family to deal with the Pirate Lords, who demanded material support and recruits from the planet itself. Tribunalism arrived on the planet during the 2300s and was mostly an underground religion, with the Pirate Lords viewing it as potentially dangerous to their rule.

    By the 2380s the Pirate Lords’ influence had reached another major former Solarian world: Novi Jadran. Jadranic and Reacher forces fought several battles between 2380 and 2389, with most being won by the Pirate Lords and Novi Jadran squeezed further and further by raids. But the victories of the Pirate Lords over Novi Jadran would, in a twist of irony, become their undoing when Novi Jadran petitioned the young Empire of Dominia for aid and was annexed into it peacefully. Deprived of the industrial tithe they could gain from Novi Jadran, the Reachers were put on the backfoot as they tried to avoid deliberately raiding Morozian-flagged vessels. But by the 2410s the Pirate Lords, greedily seeking more wealth, had begun harassing Imperial vessels. The Empire and Pirate Lords were now set upon a course which would inevitably bring them into open warfare and, following a skirmish between the Imperial Fleet and Pirate Lords in 2422, the Imperial military launched a punitive expedition with the aim of conquering Sun Reach, ensuring the Empire’s control over the Badlands and the end of the Pirate Lords as a serious threat to its expansion in the region.

    The Imperial Viceroyalty of Sun Reach (2422 - Present)

    “For crimes against the citizenry of the Imperial Mandate of Novi Jadran I sentence you, Captain Zhang, to death by hanging! To your crew, the beneficent Emperor has seen fit to offer them their choice of service in the Imperial Fleet or fifty years’ labor in the Imperial Territory of Fisanduh’s mines. With Her as my witness, I pronounce judgement!” - Naval Magistrate Hitomi Kaneko during the military trials of the Pirate Lords, 24 March 2423.

    It took the Imperial military under a month to defeat the Pirate Lords and occupy the planet, with their dated equipment and poorly-trained forces falling apart after the first engagements of the expedition. Some, unwilling to surrender to the Empire, fled abroad or into the swamps surrounding the Algae Belt, becoming the first rural bandits of the planet. Many of the Pirate Lords were captured, tried, and quickly executed by the Empire. Imperial forces were, in some areas, greeted with open arms by a population which had long hidden their Tribunalist faith and was now free of the tithes paid to the previous government. In other areas, the Empire was viewed as little more than a replacement for the Pirate Lords and a shallow reminder of the democracy which once flourished under Solarian rule.

    With Sun Reach’s conquest of Dominia came immense investment by the Empire’s economy, particularly Houses Zhao and Caladius. For the first time in over a century neglected Helium-3 refineries and orbital shipyards which had fallen into disrepair were brought online, and thousands of Reachers moved into cities to seek employment in better-paying urban industries. Others, seeking to redeem — or perhaps continue — their piratical past, joined the Imperial Fleet or the Goddess’ Flotilla. Most residents of the planet view life as better under the Empire than it was under the piratical former government, though some dissent. Those who opt to fight against the Viceroyalty often take to the swamps and mangroves around the Algae Belt, risking disease, weather, and dangerous wildlife to avoid the Imperial Army and Home Guard. Derided as outlaws and rogues by the government, and by most Reachers, these men and women often become little more than bandits.

    In the Helium-3 industry, which is concentrated in the planet’s cities, there are few regulations and many are made to work long hours in hazardous conditions for less pay than workers in the Imperial Core. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of urban areas over the past 40 years has caused a rural decline in many areas as young algae farmers leave for higher-paying jobs to pay off their Mo’ri’zal, disrupting the planet’s traditional way of life. While their system of ruling their villages through notable families remains, some Reachers are concerned their culture will be consumed by the Empire by the end of the century as more and more of the planet’s inhabitants grow up only having known Imperial rule.

    As the Empire looks towards the 2470s it considers how to best continue to develop the Viceroyalty, and to quash its issues. Whether or not it is successful remains to be seen, though as more and more Reachers are raised knowing solely Imperial rule it is less and less likely any serious efforts will be made to throw off its rule. For now, at least, the Viceroyalty is solidly in the hands of the Empire.

    Environment

    “Soldiers! This environment will be unlike your homes in the Imperial Mandate. Expect humidity, insects, and constant rain in some areas. Remember your training and watch yourself and your comrades for signs of heatstroke. Dismissed!” - First Lieutenant Henrik Novak of the 122nd Jadranic Infantry Regiment prior to their deployment to Sun Reach, 2457.

    Sun Reach is a hot, humid, and wet world dominated by swamps and mangroves. It has long, hot summers with short, cool winters and temperatures rarely drop below freezing even during winter. Much of the planet’s surface outside of its limited landmasses is covered by shallow oceans. These oceans are home to floating islands of organic plant mass which, while rarely encountered, represent a stunning example of Reacher biodiversity. Rain is frequent and many areas flood seasonally, being dry during the winter and underwater during the summer months. Building any serious infrastructure on Sun Reach is difficult due to these seasonal floods and the swampy conditions of much of its land. Much of the planet’s water is salty, which leads to further infrastructure issues due to corrosion and a need to build desalination facilities — historically, Reacher settlements are often based around these plants.

    The equatorial region of Sun Reach is known as the Algae Belt, and is where most of the planet’s population can be found. Year-round dry land is found more readily here than in any other region of the planet and, while still swampy and humid, permanent settlements are easier to construct and infrastructure is easier to maintain. However, regular maintenance is still required to counteract the planet’s climate and the mostly-sunken remnants of rail lines and roads from the pre-Imperial era are frequent sights in more rural regions of the Algae Belt. Aquaculture has historically been the dominant industry in this region due to the abundance of shallow, relatively calm waters and natural hardiness of the Reacher staple crop: algae.

    Beyond the Algae Belt, as one travels further towards the planetary poles, the environment becomes less hospitable as human settlements begin to grow more sparse before eventually ceasing entirely. As one travels towards the poles weather becomes more extreme, with frequent storms and rain which is rumored to never cease at the poles. At the same time flora begins to steadily increase and eventually becomes too dense to reasonably travel through unless one spends days clearing the foliage meter by meter. Some Imperial expeditions have recorded foliage which appears to deliberately grow in their path and thin out behind them, as if it is trying to deliberately block their progress, but House Volvalaad has dismissed this as outlandish and unscientific. Much of this area is poorly explored and few accurate maps exist, with orbital photography ineffective due to the density of foliage and frequent cloud cover. Cartographic efforts by Imperial scholars have been frustrated by a lack of funding, Reacher superstitions about the poles, and the hazardous conditions of the far reaches of the planet. The Alliance is rumored to have completely mapped Sun Reach during its hegemonic era, but no maps are known to have survived to the modern era. Rumors have long circulated that the poles contain lost Solarian research facilities where terraforming was researched centuries ago, and that equipment gone awry is the source of the freak weather near the poles.

    Flora and Fauna

    The Reacher Gar is a large, typically 2-3 meter long and relatively slender carnivorous fish found across Sun Reach’s shallow waters. Commonly known as the “gar fish” (or garfish) among locals, it is a frequent source of food for the rural populations who live near the mangroves gar prefer to nest in. Reacher garfish are capable of moving at surprising speeds while striking at their prey — typically smaller fish or aquatic mammals — and their scales armor them against most predators. These scales are used by Reachers to fashion small blades and limited amounts of bite-proof clothing. While not actively hostile towards humans, gar fish will defend their nests and can inflict painful bites on unprepared humans.

    An apex predator alongside humanity, the Reacher soostatom closely resembles the alligators of old Earth. It is a large, quadruped animal which can grow anywhere from six to nine meters long depending upon the environment, with soostatoms growing larger as one approaches the poles. Soostatom are carnivorous and easily capable of killing a human if threatened. However, attacks are generally rare. Reachers historically hunted soostatoms for their meat and their tough, leathery skins which are used to make clothing. In the Imperial era soostatom hunting has dropped as many urban areas have moved to adopt more traditionally Morozian styles of clothing.

    The mangrove-creeper is a common semi-aquatic plant which is found growing along the bottoms of trees in mangroves or bayous. A symbiotic species with the larger trees, mangrove-creepers are carnivorous plants which lure small animals beneath them with their fruits and use grabbing “mouths” to latch onto their prey and dissolve them with a digestive acid. While their mouths are too small to harm humans, mangrove-creepers have historically been viewed as a pest by rural communities. However, since 2422, they have become valuable cash crops due to their acid being an effective industrial solvent which is commonly used in the planet’s Helium-3 refining industry. Villages which once cursed these plants now grow rich from them.

    Culture

    “Reachers are, due to neglect by their former masters, less culturally advanced than the Imperial Core and Novi Jadran. In this volume, I will discuss how these primitive beliefs emerged and how they can be eradicated,” - Doctor Rahela Lemnaru, Jadranic sociologist employed by House Caladius, in her introduction to Cultural Backwardness on the Imperial Frontier Vol. XII: Reacher Customs and Beliefs (published in 2559).

    While Reachers follow the broader cultural trends and holidays of the Empire, their recent entry and unique history has given them a culture distinct from the broader Morozian-influenced culture of Dominia. Those from the rest of Dominia often stereotype Reachers as rural, conservative, and prone to superstitions while at the same time being hardworking, loyal, and faithful to the Goddess. Internationally, some regard Reachers as simply another planet subjugated by Moroz while others view them as having received a justified punishment for their actions as pirates. Reachers themselves are generally Imperial loyalists, viewing the Empire as better than the Pirate Lords, but some wish for further autonomy and more radical dissidents wish for a return to the era of piracy.

    Historically, Reachers have lived in small rural communities numbering from a few hundred to several thousand. Built around either desalination plants or natural sources of water these communities relied on aquaculture to survive and the Reacher diet remains mostly unchanged from this era, favoring algae, aquatic plants, and seafood. Under the Pirate Lords these communities were expected to pay a tithe of resources to the captain who controlled the area, and a single family was chosen to be the point of contact for the community. Over a century of paying tribute, these families have morphed into the dominant political class of the planet and many were kept in place by the Empire out of convenience. Modern rural communities on Sun Reach do not look very different from their counterparts a century ago, though many have died out due to depopulation as Reachers immigrate to urban centers for higher-paying work. Large families are a common sight in rural communities on Sun Reach and rural families are often very connected to one another, with multiple generations and branches living in close proximity to one another.

    Rural village life on Sun Reach is often challenging, with little in the way of outside help and overland travel difficult due to swampy terrain and poor weather. Travel is traditionally done over water, often by airboat, and navigating the mangrove-filled waters of Sun Reach can cause even simple journeys to take days. Investment by the Empire has brought limited rail infrastructure to Sun Reach and some particularly remote villages are now more connected to the broader planet via air travel, but the difficult terrain of the planet has ensured infrastructure is slow to expand and expensive to maintain. Regular passenger rail services are only available between major settlements along the Algae Belt, with other areas serviced much more infrequently. Travel by wheeled vehicle is rare, with the exception of Imperial Army equipment, due to persistent swampy mud which mires all but the hardiest vehicles.

    Reachers who move to its sole urban center, itself named Sun Reach, often find work in the Helium-3 industry which has come to dominate the Viceroyalty’s economy in the decades since its conquest. While it pays far more than aquaculture work, the He-3 industry is poorly regulated and dominated by off-planet nobles such as House Zhao. Injuries are common among laborers in the field and hours can be long, with plants working round-the-clock to fulfill the fuel nerve of the Imperial Fleet. Injured workers are often let go without severance fees or benefits, returning to their villages as cripples or living off of charity provided by the Tribunal in the slum districts of Sun Reach – sometimes without permanent housing, creating a homeless issue on a planet which had no such issue prior to 2422. The rapid expansion of the planet’s only city has created a housing crisis and resulted in many urbanite Reachers living in ramshackle apartments in poorly-designated, overcrowded slums. Urban families are much smaller than their rural counterparts, and many urban Reachers will only see their broader families on holidays. Imperial sociologists and urban planners estimate the Viceroyalty will not have a second major urban center until the early 2500s, potentially later, due to its environment being poorly-suited for major urban projects.

    Due to neglect of the planet under the rule of the Pirate Lords leading to widespread poverty, Reacher cuisine has historically revolved around aquaculture and local fish — reliable food sources which can be found easily at all points of the year. Wild game from the swampy forests of the planet is part of the diet of Kent rural communities and the ends of successful hunts are often community celebrations where the entire village participates in a feast. As the planet’s population has urbanized since 2422 and off-world foods have become more common, Reacher urban cuisine has been influenced by the similarly seafood-based diets of Novi Jadranic soldiers and engineers who have been brought or come to the planet’s cities to support the Viceroyalty.

    Reacher Tribunalism and Folk Beliefs

    Tribunalism has been present on Sun Reach since the 2300s, first arriving via merchants and visitors from Moroz and gradually spreading throughout the planet over the following years, though it would only become the majority faith of the planet after 2422. Suppressed by the Pirate Lords as a potential security risk, the pre-Imperial Tribunalists of Sun Reach were forced to practice in secret to avoid punishment. These individuals — known as Old Tribunalists on Sun Reach — form a kind of social elite on the planet under Imperial rule, being viewed as more loyal and more faithful than the typical citizen of the planet. Reacher Tribunalism has, due to its isolation from the broader Tribunal prior to 2422, acquired several unique characteristics born from a merger of Tribunalist and Reacher traditions.

    Unlike Morozians, Reachers traditionally cremate their dead due to the difficulty of ensuring corpses remain underground in the soft, swampy terrain of the planet. Those corpses which are buried will, unless properly buried in stone crypts, often return to the surface after the first heavy rain. The ashes of the corpse are collected and preserved by the deceased’s relatives, then stored in a family shrine. Often located on the edges of Reacher villages and towns, these shrines are the closest equivalent Reachers have to traditional graveyards and serve as an important gathering point for Reacher families. Reachers believe that unless a corpse is burnt and its ashes returned to the family shrine, it will wander the Spur as a wandering spirit for all eternity. While Reachers believe these spirits are not always malicious, traditional belief holds they will do anything to have their ashes returned to their proper resting place — including killing or harming the living.

    Reacher Tribunalism has a strong religious tradition of faith healing, particularly in rural areas, which combines folk medicine with the Tribunalist faith. Locally known as Kaivijadii, or Roamers, these individuals grew to prominence under the Pirate Lords’ neglect of the planet and were the only chance many Reachers had to receive medical care. With the arrival of the Empire in 2422 and the increasing presence of modern medical systems, the Kaivijadii now coexist alongside conventional medicine with the Tribunal’s blessing. A Kaivijadii’s healing abilities are said to be derived directly from the Goddess and their connection to Her is strengthened through prayers passed down from practitioner to practitioner, generally through familial ties. The rituals of the Kaivijadii are unique to each practitioner and have often been passed down since the early 2300s.

    While most Kaivijadii are regarded as benevolent practitioners who wish to aid the faithful of Sun Reach, the Madalin-Kaivijadii, or Roaming Sculptors, are a group of malevolent Kaivijadii said to live in the wild, sparsely populated areas beyond the Algae Belt where they can avoid the gaze of the Tribunal and the Viceroyalty. Madalin-Kaivijadii are said to be able to cast curses via black magic taught to them by witch-spirits, and sustain their powers through ritual sacrifices which ensure the victim becomes a wandering spirit in the thrall of the Madalin-Kaivijadii. Unexplained disappearances in rural communities are often blamed on these magicians and Reacher parents commonly tell their children that if they misbehave, a Madalin-Kaivijadii will abduct and sacrifice them. These rituals are said to give the Madalin-Kaivijadii eternal youth, so long as they continue them, and render them immune to any weapons not blessed by a faithful Tribunalist clergymember. The Viceroyalty’s government holds that the Madalin-Kaivijadii are simply fiction and do not truly exist, but many Reachers continue to believe in them. Whenever a person disappears without explanation, crops fail, or misfortune occurs, they are often blamed.

    The Viceroyalty

    Since 2422 Sun Reach has been part of the broader Empire of Dominia, and is known as the Viceroyalty of Sun Reach. The Viceroyalty itself is an odd state which is divided between a civilian-run colonial administration and an extensive military administration which rules alongside it, both of which are under the leadership of Governor-General Hermann Gaufried-Meinrad Strelitz — a career military officer who has found himself awkwardly balancing competing interests from native Reachers, the great houses, the Imperial government and military, the Tribunal, foreign corporations, and others. Below him is the civil-military administration of the planet, itself divided between Morozians and loyal Ma’zals, both from Sun Reach itself and elsewhere in the Empire. The civil-military cleavage in the Viceroyalty’s administration has led to many conflicts of interest between the government itself and has allowed notable Reacher families, through the patron-client system established under the Pirate Lords, to maintain their grip on power in many areas. But all know that, for the Viceroyalty to continue to succeed, one thing must not change: the flow of Helium-3 from Sun Reach to the broader Empire must continue, no matter the cost.

    The civilian administration of the Viceroyalty is concentrated in its urban centers and the more developed regions of the Algae Belt, and has two primary responsibilities: the first is to ensure the planet’s development continues, and the second is to ensure its fuel industry continues to be profitable. Work on Sun Reach for the civilian administration is often unpleasant, with its primarily Morozian and Jadranic staff unused to the stifling heat and humidity of the planet and expected to work long, often irregular hours to ensure development of the countryside continues. Nobles prefer to avoid Sun Reach’s administrative postings, and almost all are instead filled by Secondaries or Integrated Ma’zals. The civilian government, with its focus on development, is expected to work with and alongside the military government, which focuses upon security.

    The military government of the Viceroyalty is concentrated in its less developed and more sparsely populated areas, where control is often weaker and rural banditry continues to persist. Throughout the Viceroyalty’s history most of the troops stationed there outside of an Imperial Flying Corps contingent are Jadraners. While loyal and effective soldiers these troops are often unprepared for the tropical environment of Sun Reach when they first arrive. Sunstroke and other ailments are a common issue, particularly in the harsher environments on the edge of the Algae Belt, and the swampy terrain of Sun Reach makes travel difficult for the heavily mechanized Imperial Army, which must rely upon riverine forces and local militia units to bolster its strength and defend isolated regions from banditry and other nuisances.

    Below these civilian and military administrators are trusted Reachers, often Old Tribunalists, who are expected to carry out the day-to-day tasks associated with direct management in a twist on the patron-client model originally used by the Pirate Lords. These Old Tribunalists form a social and economic elite on Sun Reach through their work with the colonial government and are the closest equivalent Sun Reach has to a native nobility in the style of Novi Jadran. Reacher culture expects these families to work towards the goals of those below them and expects those below them to not question the ruling family — a survival mechanism originally from the era of the Pirate Lords, where being perceived as a threat to their rule could see a community wiped out. In the Viceroyalty era this means the Old Tribunalist families often leverage their political and economic influence to gain concessions from the colonial government.

    Non-Tribunal law enforcement on Sun Reach is the responsibility of both the Imperial Reacher Colonial Constabulary (IRCC) and the Imperial Army’s military police (“MPs”), with the IRCC handling the capital, its surroundings, and many villages while the Army’s MPs handle much of the countryside outside of villages and more severe crimes. The reason for this odd arrangement is the relative inexperience of the IRCC: the Viceroyalty’s constable branch was founded in 2438 and remains mostly staffed by junior officers with little practical experience, and relies heavily upon Jadranic staff brought into the Viceroyalty to plug gaps in the IRCC’s abilities. During its past near quarter-century of existence the IRCC has struggled to establish itself as an effective policing force and likely will continue to do so without significant improvements to the Viceroyalty’s infrastructure and funding. For the time being it must rely upon the Imperial Army to handle major issues and assist it in maintaining order, to the irritation of many officers who would much rather be expanding the Empire than patrolling swampy roads for rural bandits.

    Jadraner-Reacher Animosity

    Despite both being part of the Empire for decades, the poor historical relationship between Novi Jadran and Sun Reach remains a very real issue on the planet, with Jadranic colonial bureaucrats often looking down upon their Reacher charges as barely civilised ex-pirates who once harassed their world during its darkest era and only ceased their raiding when forcibly brought to heel by the Empire. Anti-Reacher bias manifests in relatively harmless manners — such as jokes told by Jadraners to one another in pubs on the tundra planet — and very harmful manners — such as Jadranic soldiers and constables being much harsher on Reachers who break Imperial law than their fellow Jadraners, let alone Morozians.

    Attempts have been made by Imperial officials to crack down on this bias to varying degrees of success, with Jadraners who overreact or mistreat their Reacher subordinates rarely punished aside from being sent off of the planet to avoid further incidents. Complaints, even by the Old Tribunalists, have mostly fallen upon deaf ears in the colonial bureaucracy. Those few Reachers who have seen legitimate punishments — typically fines or demerits, rarely prison time — given to Jadraners have always been officers of the Imperial Fleet, and often have the assistance of a House Zhao patron. Even if they are commoners, the Fleet is nothing if not dedicated to protecting its officers.

    The Imperial Military on Sun Reach

    Like many planets of the Imperial Frontier, Sun Reach is home to a significant military presence. It has the single largest garrison on the Imperial Frontier due to the strategic importance of its abundant fuel resources and these forces range from local militia units to Jadranic units of the Imperial Army to elements of the Imperial Fleet and Imperial Flying Corps, all working to ensure the planet — and its fuel — stay firmly within the Empire’s control. All military forces in the Viceroyalty are de jure under the command of the Viceroy-General. De facto, control is split between several factions which cooperate with one another — the Army answers to the Viceroy-General, the Fleet to Grand Admiral Zhao, local militias to prominent Reachers who raise and fund them, and the IFC to their strategic command for the region.

    The largest military branch on the planet by numbers, the Imperial Army does much of the work required to keep Sun Reach secure for the Empire but suffers from persistent problems with the planet’s harsh environment and the resulting logistics headaches. While the Army has long favored mechanized forces the environment of Sun Reach makes these impractical, and the Jadranic troops who make up much of the planet’s garrison have instead opted to use riverine vessels — some officially produced by the Army and others made by arming and armoring civilian boats — to patrol the shallow waters of Sun Reach. The Imperial Army routinely conducts “smoking out operations” of suspected bandit groups where it will intensely patrol regions and burn down areas suspected of harboring bandit strongholds — a strategy which has drawn criticism from prominent native Reachers. Assisting the Imperial Army are the forces of the Imperial Flying Corps (IFC) under the command of Imperial Strategic Bomber Command - Viceroyalty of Sun Reach (ISBC-VSR). Unlike other IFC commands, ISBC-VSR is primarily logistic in nature and is staffed mostly by non-nobles, with Primaries instead wishing to be assigned to more prestigious locations.

    Acting in support of the Imperial Army are the militia units of the Sun Reach Home Guard. Often the first line of defense for isolated rural settlements against bandit attacks or raids, Home Guard units are outside of the Imperial Army’s formal command structure and instead managed by Reacher officers appointed by the militias — though they are often assisted by an Imperial Army officer. These militia troops are valuable scouts and pathfinders for the larger Imperial Army units, and service in them is seen by many Reachers as a way to prove their loyalty to the Empire and acquire further benefits. In an emergency such as a war with Elyra these militias can be integrated into the Imperial Army but, in practice, this would be a difficult task due to the poor infrastructure of Sun Reach and semi-independent structure of the Home Guard.

    Reachers in the Imperial Military

    As a world of the Imperial Frontier which was recently conquered by force, the inhabitants of Sun Reach are regarded as prime targets for recruitment by the Empire’s military forces. Many do choose to join its ranks, seeing military service as their best shot to see the broader Spur aside from working for Zavodskoi Interstellar, and find themselves in the ranks of the Imperial Fleet or, if they are less inclined towards military discipline, as a state-sponsored privateer of the Goddess’ Flotilla.

    In the stratified and hierarchical Imperial Fleet Reachers, as Ma’zals, are typically confined to the enlisted ranks. Some, either through entry into House Zhao-sponsored schools which train them from childhood to be naval officers or through truly exceptional abilities, serve as junior officers and adjutants to Morozian officers. Reachers will often attempt to “Morozise” their accents while in the Fleet, downplaying some of the “rougher” aspects of their dialect in an attempt to sound more “civilized” and appear more respectable to their officers. Fleet veterans are typically respected when they return home, and many easily find positions in the colonial administration or as management staff in the refining industry.

    Reachers have a much smaller presence in the Army than in the Fleet, with few Army regiments having been raised from the planet. Some have argued this is part of an exchange with House Zhao by House Strelitz, as Novi Jadran is the opposite: many Army regiments have been raised from it while few Jadraners have opted to join the Fleet. Neither great house has publicly commented on the matter.

    Rural Banditry

    A broad term for both legitimate bandits and those who fight against the colonial government, rural bandits are the main concern for the Viceroyalty’s security forces. Banditry on Sun Reach began in the 2300s as the planet was neglected by the Pirate Lords, causing many desperate Reachers to turn to banditry to survive. After the Imperial military conquered the planet in 2422 these bandits, many of whom were simply petty criminals who did not pose a true threat, were joined by the former soldiers of the Pirate Lords who had escaped the Imperial Army. Better-equipped and often more brutal than their counterparts, these bandits began a campaign against the colonial government and any they perceived as loyal to it. In response, Imperial forces were deployed to counter them. However, the difficult terrain of Sun Reach and the lack of infrastructure across much of its surface has repeatedly frustrated the Imperial Army and allowed banditry to continue.

    Over four decades later banditry remains an issue for many on Sun Reach, but many of the Pirate Lord-aligned groups have collapsed due to pressure from the colonial government, infighting, or simply becoming too old to continue fighting. Now, banditry is much the way it was under the Pirate Lords: a last resort method to endure on one’s economic survival. In some areas, however, organized bandit groups have become such an issue that they are regarded as security risks to their regional governments. While some Reachers join these bandit groups out of a desire to fight the Empire, most join for economic reasons linked to the steady migration of Reachers to urban areas from rural areas. As communities shrivel away, there are some individuals who — unable or unwilling to leave — turn to banditry to sustain themselves.

    When the colonial government captures bandits it often attempts to rehabilitate them, often through hard labor in its development projects, but executes those found guilty of harming Morozians or Integrated Ma’zals. Those guilty of harming or killing other Reachers are instead sentenced to hard labor. Once these ex-bandits finish their sentences they are sent back to their home villages or given housing in an urban center. Regardless of where they go they are typically mistrusted and many opt to travel off-world, seeking employment with Zavodskoi Interstellar through contracts which offer lesser salaries and fewer benefits than other Imperials receive.

    Settlements

    Overwhelmingly rural, the Viceroyalty’s only major settlement is its capital city. Also named Sun Reach, this city is the center of its Helium-3 industry and administration. During the Solarian colonial era it was intended to coordinate shipbuilding efforts and was, unlike many frontier settlements, built around a central space elevator that was intended to assist in moving fuel to and from the planet. The elevator remains operational today and is still the center of the city’s economy, with tens of thousands of barrels of Helium-3 fuel traveling through it every day. While the administrative center of the capital is built in an elegant, somewhat Jadranic, style designed by House Zhao engineers — and their Jadranic subordinates — much of the working-class areas are hastily built slums which hate barely improved from the era of the Pirate Lords, and pollution from the city’s Helium-3 plants chokes the skies on many days.

    Even if the capital suffers from overcrowding and poor urban planning in many areas, living in it is an opportunity for Reachers to have access to more services and resources than their rural counterparts, with education and employment opportunities readily available for them. Some Imperial economists theorize that by the dawn of the 26th century these urban Reachers will form the base of a new middle class in the Viceroyalty which will be loyal to the Empire. For now, however, the urban residents of the capital remain a working-class group.

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