Skolian empire
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The Skolian Empire, or Skolian Imperialate, is one of the major empires in the science fiction novel series called the Saga of the Skolian empire by Catherine Asaro.
The stories of Catherine Asaro mostly revolve around the Skolian Empire. She also has written several novellas and novelettes on the world of the Skolian Empire.
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[edit] Government of Skolia
The Skolian Imperialate is ruled party by the Assembly, an elected parliament; and by the Ruby Dynasty, a hereditary monarchy.
The Imperator of Skolia as of Primary Inversion is Kurj Skolia. He commands the Imperial Space Command (ISC), which comprises the Skolian military. Titular head of the empire, the Ruby Pharaoh, is Dyhianna Selei.
The Assembly consists of thousands of delegates, who represent the many worlds of the Imperialate. The number of votes held by delegates depends on the size of the population of the planet that elected them and also on their status within the Assembly. The largest block of votes belongs to the First Councilor, who is leader of the Assembly. The next largest blocks are hold by Councilors of the Inner Circle and by Skolian Imperator and Ruby Pharaoh. All Skolian noble houses have hereditary seats in the Assembly but only the Ruby Dynasty and the powerful House of Majda have blocs of votes with enough influence.
There are five main political parties within the Assembly:
- the Royalists want royalty to rule the empire, instead of the elected parliament
- the Traditionalists would prefer to return back to matriarchy and seclude men into harems
- the Progressives promote modernization and major changes in society
- the Technologists urge technological improvements
- the Moderates are the largest and most influential group, trying to ballance out the other four
The Inner Circle consists of elected Councilors representing different ministries of the Skolian government: Industry, Life, Finance, Intelligence, Judicary, Stars, Planetary Development, Domestic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Protocol and Nature. The Foreign Affairs Councillor is Roca Skolia.
[edit] Skolian society
Today's Skolian Empire is an egalitarian society, but the original Ruby empire has been a matriarchy and remnants of this still remain in Skolian culture. Although it is now not uncommon for men to held an influential position, many important ranks in Skolian politics and military are still occupied by women. Lots of people, especially members of the noble houses, keep to consider men as the "weaker gender".
[edit] Important Skolian worlds
- Parthonia - seat of the Skolian government where Assembly meetings take place.
- Metropolis - most heavily populated planet in the Imperialate.
- Diesha - seat of the Jagernaut military academy and of ISC.
- Lyshriol - homeworld of the Valdoria branch of the Ruby Dynasty.
- Orbiter - space habitat, home of the Ruby Pharaoh and a place where one of the three powerful, ancient Locks is located.
- Onyx platform - a complex of space stations designed to defend the second Lock. Onyx was destroyed during the Radiance War and the Lock was captured by Traders.
- Raylicon - birthplace of the Ruby empire, location of the third Lock.
[edit] History of the Skolian Empire
The Ruby Dynasty traces its roots to six thousand years ago, when an unknown race took humans from Earth and resettled them on a planet called Raylicon. Then the unknown race disappeared, leaving only parts of their technology behind. The humans on Raylicon used this technology to develop space travel. The founded the Ruby empire and colonized hundreds of planets. But the empire collapsed, and many worlds were left isolated for thousands of years. Gradually, the empire was rebuilt, and approximately 400 years ago, the Skolians re-developed space travel.
The Skolians also rediscovered the Locks, that allows advanced telepaths to establish interstellar network called the Kyle Web, that many others can use. Thus the Rhon project was developed to genetically create the necessary neurochemistry to power the Locks.
[edit] Origin of the Aristos
Aristos are the unfortunate result of the Rhon project. The original intention was to prevent the suffering of psions, whose ultra sensitive minds agonized from the received pain and suffering of others. The outcome was however a race of people whose brain interpret pain of others (especially of psions) as pleasure, which makes them the ultimate sadists. The Aristos founded a competing empire known as the Eubian Concord, or the Traders.
[edit] Origin of the Rhon Telepaths
Despite what many people believe, Rhon psions were not created in the Rhon project. They were geneticaly engineered by the Aristos who tried to create a line of extremely strong telepaths who could be used as providers. But their "sample" escaped and later founded the Skolian Imperialate, becoming also the progenitor of the Ruby Dynasty, a family of Rhon telepaths who currently co-rule the Skolian Imperialate and power and maintain the Kyle Web.
[edit] Languages
Skolian Imperialate consists of many worlds with hundreds or thousands of different languages. Language that was chosen as a common tongue is called Skolian Flag. People from the Ruby Dynasty and other noble houses speak a nearly extinct language, Iotic.
Languages used in the rivaling Eubian Concord are Eubic (has the same function as Skolian Flag) and Highton (speech of the Eubian noble Highton caste).
[edit] Other Empires
Other players on the interstellar stage are the Eubian Concord, which is the biggest of the three galactic empires and the Allieds, which is the smallest.
