Annular Necrocracy
A sector of space ruled by a cadre of immortal lich-kings.
History
Nula, always Nula. Things kept coming back to Nula. 70 years ago, the Baron of Nula claimed that it had found incredible resources in system, enough to make the entire Duchy rich. With resources flowing in, research was able to prosper throughout the entire sector.
As always with such research, Things That Aren’t Meant To Be Known are located. Prudent men lock them away, wiser men throw them into the nearest star, but her grandfather - then the Duke of Annular Radiance - wasn’t known as a wise or prudent man, he was known as a man of science and a great patron of the mystic arts. Like most Royals, he also had a wee tinge of power obsession. And he now had the resources to look into, well, pretty much whatever he wanted.
Had he been a military man, with the resources he then had, he would have crushed the resistance and pirates of Serenity’s Reach. As it was, he was more interested in the promise of great personal power.
When the Phenom 4 returned from Phenomena 65 years ago, things began to change rapidly. The Baron of Nula became self-possessed, magnetic, powerful overnight, as if struck by great blessing - and he became her grandfather’s greatest supporter, visiting often. Get mother was a teen then but she never could come to like her uncle, the Baron Varkomen. While before he was simply distant and calculating, he now seemed dark with a hidden element of great danger. When he visited, her grandfather was part of clandestine meetings, and each time, he seem to come out less the man he was. Meanwhile, the Baron waxed stronger and stronger.
He began to spend lavishly, giving grand gifts to his brother the Duke and to the Royal Courts. He became… a politician - smooth, duplicitous, his court members both appearing everywhere and growing in number. Too late, her grandfather realized that he was making a play for the Duchy - and then suddenly, in firm control of sector politics and having curried incredible favor with the Archduke, he backed off.
45 years ago, a series of plagues broke out on Caravat, one of the living moons of Nula, plagues highly resistant to any attempts to counter or heal it, and millions died… and even the moon was no longer living. Eventually, every person who had been on the moon died. 17 million. And then, hundreds of thousands of them came back to life.
The Baron had been on the moon when the plagues first struck. And he was one of the first to be “Reborn.” He returned as the perfect physical specimen; rumor has it that his power had increased and he no longer aged. And with him were a half million of the Reborn... they were eventually found to be incredibly loyal to the Baron.
It was touted as the next evolution of Humankind (none of the Reborn were other than Human), which few believed, but they couldn’t deny some of the apparent “evidence." 15 years later (far too soon for such an overwhelming bureaucracy as the Hegemony), the planet was declared free of any plague and the people were freed to continue with their… lives.
Elven researchers eventually concluded that they had entered a state of unlife, but by that time, the Baron’s political scheming had paid off, and the Archduchy and then the Hegemony Courts ruled that they were as “tolerant” of “unliving” as they were of “living,” provided they paid their taxes and participated lawfully as citizens among all the other Folk.
To complicate matters, many of the Reborn had travelled to Nula and began to quietly go about their “new lives” proselytizing, offering understanding of the state beyond death and offering a doorway to Rebirth upon the person’s natural death. Because of this, their ranks began to slowly swell. Then it was found that all folk - except Elves - could “benefit” from Rebirth and the cult spread its wings to embrace all. It was determined that Elves couldn’t receive the Blessing because of their physiology (which transforms magic into sustenance) - but the Reborn Researchers have promised they wouldn’t stop until they found a way to include elves into the equation!
One of the greatest celebrations in known space - a repatriated version of the “Day of the Dead” is said to have been Reborn on Nula. On the anniversary of the 3rd year of the Caravat Plague, it was decided that every 3 years, they would have a huge festival in honor of those who lost their lives… and to celebrate those who had been Reborn.
Laws became more severe with the death sentence being handed out regularly; prison populations were reduced with the promise that those found worthy would be Reborn. “Law” flourished on Nula at a level unheard of on a Hegemony world.
One by one, the ruling scions of the Annular Radiance, including Alyssa's grandfather were “converted” until 32 of the 40 Royals in the sector were Reborn.
Meanwhile SunCorp on Catari had managed to isolate a few samples of the plague and its several variants and was investigating the plague. It wasn’t general knowledge that they had made several breakthroughs and through her sources she’d learned that there may have been a way to reverse what happened to the moon of Caravat.
Shortly thereafter, the Assault on Catari began. The number of deaths were incredible. The Baron had offered to “help” by allowing some of the dead to find Rebirth. The Duke was one of those who were mortally wounded, and he consented to the unthinkable: he allowed the Baron to introduce the process of Rebirth to two of the cities which had been bombed: Crown City and Blade’s Bastion. Two hundred thousand lived again thanks to Rebirth. Alyssa is not sure if her father survived the process or not.
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