Accidents in Astrogation: Gazul Subsector #1

The Gazul Subsector is made up of several distinct astrographical regions; the Dokar Main, consisting of 13 systems at the Spinward/Coreward end of the Subsector; the Gazul Run, a broken Main to Trailing/Coreward; and the Rimward Arc, a scattering of non-Imperial systems across the Rimward end of the Subsector.

The Imperial population of Gazul Subsector has always been low. Even after some 500 years of settlement, Imperial citizens still only number some 8.674 billion, scattered over eighteen systems, out of a total population of 68.939 billion sophonts for the twenty-six worlds of the subsector.

The most populous system in the subsector is Dathyna, capital of the Dathynan Concordance, and one of the prime movers of the anti-Imperial Rimward Coalition. 55 billion sophonts of, mainly, Vilani ancestry loyally support the Charismatic Oligarchy of the Concordance and fill the ranks of the Coalition’s ground forces. The next most populous system is Daxam, lying midway between the Dokar Main and the Gazul Run. With a population of just over 8 billion sophonts, Daxam is a fortress world, protecting Imperial communications between the Spinward and Trailing frontiers of the subsector. Daxam’s relatively low Tech Level of 9 has prevented it from becoming more dominate than it is in Gazuli politics, though economically it outperforms all other Imperial planets in the Subsector put together, by several orders of magnitude.

Axal, Xudar and Gazul, all at Tech Level D, are the most technologically advanced systems in the Subsector, and all are members of the Imperium. The most advanced non-Imperial systems are Ftaioiaftew and Ikhyowou at Tech Level B, with Dathyna at Tech Level A close behind.

Sector Duke Kolin II began the process of Imperial expansion into Gazul subsector in the mid 6th Century. The badly organised Rimward Coalition, consisting of a number of small polities, actively resisted this expansionistic drive through a series of three Rimward Wars.

The 3rd Rimward War was concluded in 882 and an uneasy peace has ensued along the Demilitarized Zone running through Kralkor II, Ikhyowou, Arnak and Emmanon. Dariak, on the Spinward end of the Dokar Main, has never been formally incorporated into the Imperial portion of Gazul Subsector, even though it is used as a fueling point for ships bound into the Miazan Subsector. The 8,000 or so frontiersmen who have settled on Dariak have shown little interest in accepting invitations to join the Imperium, and it is rumoured that certain commercial interests prefer the current state of affairs just as they are.

There are two main dialects of Imperial Basic spoken in the Gazul Subsector:
1) Spinward Gazuli Basic: Dialect of Gazuli Basic as spoken along the Dokarian Main in Gazul Subsector, and on Meklin in Nolgor Subsector.
2) Gazuli Imperial Basic: Dialect of Imperial Basic spoken along the Gazul Run, and on Daxam, Kasimir and Kothgar.

Other languages spoken in the Gazul Subsector include:
Trokh Weakhayuwikhye – a dialect of Trokh spoken by the Aslan of Ftaioiaftew and Ikhyowou.
Siikharsim – a dialect of Old Vilani spoken in the Dathynan Concordance.
Unturran – main language of the dominant cultural group of the regressed human colony of Kralkor II.
Khishsuun – Vilani dialect/pidgin language used as a trade tongue by worlds of the Rimward Coalition.