Recent History
From ElanVital
In the year 680 AT, things were relatively calm for Titania. The current Amera, Horace Petakova, had recently ordered the withdrawal of all citizens from a repeatedly battered settlement within the Sessuyan's traditional hunting grounds; this maneuver had won a brief respite from the war after a lengthy period of repeated strikes.
Pushed onward by this nearly intolerable level of violence, a project had begun in 675 - an ambitious plan to weaponize magic, which had become extremely common and well-understood since its discovery in humans in 574 but not yet incorporated into war strategy.
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Leadup to War (680-690)
The respite in 680, though warmly welcomed, did not last long. Perhaps having found out about the humans' plan, the Sessuyan began to attack again in earnest in 681. A brief revival in the colony's economy abruptly dropped straight into recession, the false start proving extremely demoralizing. The government tries to stir up flagging interest via privatizing several interests typically controlled by the government. Stocklin is aghast and angry, and political tension finds itself added to the mess.
Horace Petakova died in 685 and was succeeded by Josef Stocklin, who turned out to be far more in favor of fiscal conservatism than the Stocklin norm. The privatization not only stuck but spread.
Things reached an absolute head in 688, when Zebulon Muir-Petakova (the leader of the VES) discovered a Sessuyan breeding laboratory off the coast east of Titania where new and horrifying monsters unlike anything humanity had ever seen were being created. He brought this news back to the government, which decided to put their tactical development into high gear and strike as soon as possible.
The Linden Initiative (690-693)
By 690, they were ready. Humanity launched a surprise attack on the Sessuyan, utilizing innovative techniques that showed the full effect of the combination of magic and high technology for the first time ever. At first, they utterly devastated the Sessuyan - but then the aliens decided it was time to pour their full strength into the war at last. A massive counterattack caught humanity by surprise in turn, leaving them shocked at the sheer numeric strength of the Sessuyan and the terrible beasts they had created. As the war went on, however, humanity adapted and was able to turn the tide once more, inexorably pressing forward through Sessuyan land. Truly immense and tragic bloodshed occurred on both sides, until Sessuyan leaders met with the High Council in secret and a truce was worked out in 693.
The Years of Peace (693-708)
While perpetually uneasy, the truce showed signs of true stability. The land distribution that was settled on was considered acceptable by both sides, though it notably went against the Sessuyan's ideal plans. In late 693, the Consular Accords (a product of the High Council at large, though usually credited to then-Hapta Stephen Petakova) created the Consular Corps, a diplomatic arrangement by which a rotating group of human ambassadors would live among the Sessuyan nomads and Sessuyan ambassadors would live in Titania itself. The first iteration of the Consular Corps was led by Stephen's son, Luten Felix Petakova, and despite initial misgivings proved to be a guarded success.
Given peace, Amera Josef Stocklin started a space elevator project in 694 that was designed to allow the cheap ferrying of cargo into space. This was intended to be the beginning of a colony on the moon, a base for further space exploration with the goal of finding the way back to the Empire.
Josef also pushed hard for lower taxes, the privatization of more industries, and the dismantlement of some of the city's extensive welfare policies in the wake of the war's ending, arguing that a more capitalistic approach would be necessary to build a strong post-war society. These policies were deeply unpopular with the people, but the Council enacted them anyway started in 695, and the populace began to adjust.
House Petakova persuaded Josef to consider including the Sessuyan in the plans; in 698, it was decided that the new moon colony would be a joint venture named Concord. A period of peace and cooperation ensued thanks to the colony project, with ties between the Sessuyan and the humans slowly tightening and Petakova and Stocklin for once sharing a goal - Stocklin saw Concord as their space base and Petakova saw it as a monument to unity with the Sessuyan.
Following this, Hapta Stephen Petakova decided not to run for another term as Hapta in 700 and was replaced by Felix Petakova as head of the house. 700 also saw the election of Hapta Arthur Stocklin to replace the unpopular Hapta Juliana Stocklin, widely disliked both personally and politically.
In 702, the single-payer health care system that had been developed after the war started was dismantled. Assistance was still provided for those unable to afford care and for sme forms of critical assistance, but the end result was that many services were new expenses for the average citizen.
Amera Josef Stocklin did not live to see the completion of Concord, dying in 705. Felix Petakova succeeded him as Amera. He proved to also be a surprise, pushing strongly for welfare policies for the poor - but this approach had fallen out of vogue, and he proved unable to stop the growing trend of relaxation in wartime regulations. Galvan Petakova stepped into Felix's shoes as the new Hapta of House Petakova.
In 708, Amber Kingston - once daughter of Arthur Stocklin, now a fledgling noble in House Petakova - was the first ambassador allowed permanent residence in Ysiris, the Sessuyan capital.
Arthur himself was vaguely implicated in a corporate scandal in the same year and resigned as Hapta, replaced by Vaston Stocklin.
Current Events (708-711)
The Concord Sabotage
In the winter of 708/709, factions in the higher echelons of House Petakova were found to be implicated in a terrorist plot that nearly succeeded in loading the elevator to space with explosives. All those involved were captured and sentenced by the government. House Petakova itself as an organization was found to have had no knowledge of the activities, but tension between it and Stocklin nonetheless spiked for a long period following.
The Charon Disaster
In the summer of 709, a group of dignitaries and scientists visiting Charon are abruptly besieged by a surprise attack. The sheer violence of the brief assault leads to clamor for a lookout settlement further toward the Poleveskians from which the attack came.
The Red Summer
The establishment of the settlement of Alert, perilously close to the Sessuyan hunting grounds, shook the peace between Sessuyan and humans in 710. The Sessuyan declared that the humans were close to violating the treaty and kicked out the current ambassadors. During Alert's dedication, over a thousand people died when a sudden beast attack swarmed the city. Allegations that this was in fact a Sessuyan attack covered up by the government led to near-revolt, followed by a military coup when General Conrad Kurz used the unrest to seize power. Kurz was eventually unseated by rebel forces led by Amber Kingston, who then became Amera upon the discovery that Felix Petakova was an imposter. For more information, check out Red Summer.
Alert, wiped out in the Massacre, was relocated further into the frontier from its original position, safely away from the hunting grounds. The Sessuyan were mollified by this gesture and by the clear commitment of the rebels to avoid the war that Kurz and his forces had pressed toward.
Current Climate
Concord has finally been finished, and will soon open to the public for residents and visitors. Relations with the Sessuyan and humans are at a high thanks to this boost in morale, but Petakova and Stocklin's paths no longer travel in the same direction.
Titania is still a glittering and beautiful city, but with the shift towards more free-market policies the rich have become richer and the poor poorer. The seedy underbelly of the great colony is spawning more crime, organized and otherwise, than in previous generations.
The Peace of 693 was signed 18 years ago, and as such a new generation that hardly remembers war with the Sessuyan is growing into adulthood. Great social shifts lie on the horizon, dictated by this tremendous gap in outlook and experiences between the old and young. The new generation has grown up in an atmosphere of privatization, independence and exploration - the old in a world of near-socialism, duty and cautiousness. Power is beginning to change hands, and no political pundit is sure what will come next...
