Gazolan Subsector #5 – Moving Again

It has been a number of months since I last looked at Gazolan Subsector. Rolling up an entire subsector of average and below average Tech Level worlds with indifferent to rubbish starports was rather depressing – I had anticipated a spread of Tech Levels and facilities, though I expected a much wider spread over 30 systems.

Looking at the Trade codes, I see a lot of Poor, Non-Industrial and Non-Agricultural worlds. My initial concept for the Julnar Reach, with its Poor, Non-Industrial worlds, was that the 10^th Century mining boom – mentioned previously in connection with Tulvan in Gamelea Subsector - had paid out and that the Reach Systems had then experienced a decades-long economic depression. I still like this idea and it gells with the results I rolled up for this section of the Gazolan Subsector, so I will lock in the main world names and UWPs for the Coreward end of the Julnar Reach and declare them complete.

I did play around with the idea that, as Gazolan Subsector has been a battle field subsector on a number of occasions, the economy, infrastructure and facilities of the systems within the subsector had taken repeated hits and were still recovering. The 4^th Outrim War of 1080 – 85 was the last major war that might have impacted Gazolan Subsector. While the main theatre of conflict was further Rimward in Gamelea and Miazan Subsectors, Outrim Coalition naval units most certainly pushed over the border through Daltharmai Subsector, and along the Daltharmai Main, into Gazolan Subsector.

I have decided that the Azakarii Cluster (previously Constellation E) and the Miigaurshish (the Wedding Cup) contain the Industrial worlds of the subsector – these were the systems that fell initially to the Imperial advance in the mid 6^th Century, prior to the extended period of conflict that was to ultimately destroy Sector Duke Kolin I’s dynasty. It was here that the Outrim incursions of the 4^th Outrim War were halted. Given that Thiroor, the Subsector Capital, is at 2213, right on the rim of the Wedding Cup, and that House Hendrian of Thiroor’s power base was firmly fixed amongst the Miigaurshish systems, it is likely that this region of space is well settled and well developed. Just over a decade after the end of the 4^th Outrim War, Subsector Duke Akansair of Thiroor became Akansair I, Sector Duke of the RimWorlds.

Design Notes - Incremental Progression

With new figures to paint and a full diary, progressing development of Gazolan Subsector has temporarily stalled. I have, however, located the current (1109) subsector capital, Thiroor, at 2213.

Thiroor lies on the “lower lip” of the Wedding Cup, Miigaurshish and, incidentally, was one of the early systems in Gazolan Subsector to be occupied by the Imperium. House Hendrian of Thiroor, Subsector Dukes of Gazolan, have been slowly increasing their power and influence since the Sakul Wars of the late Ninth Century. With the death of Sector Duke Edenar in 1097, Akansair Hendrian was able to present both himself and his House as the most suitable candidate to succeed to the Sector Duchy. Akansair I was succeeded by his son Mekal in 1104. Mekal was succeeded by his brother, Akansair II, in 1107.

I need to re-examine the systems of the Wedding Cup as these would appear to be the core worlds of Gazolan Subsector – the centre of power that House Hendrian as protected and nurtured since the Sarkul Wars. It is these worlds that have given House Hendrian the wealth and resources to replace House Ulanor as Sector Dukes, and to hold their own against their enemies – both internal and external.

Gazolan Subsector #2

With the basics of the map for Daltharmai, Gazolan and Thurgandarn Subsectors laid out in Heaven and Earth, I sketched in the current Imperial Border (A). While I have been discussing the expansion of the Imperial RimWorlds Territory – later the RimWorlds Sector – under Sector Duke Kolin I Venuraski in the 540’s, I have also had to keep an eye on the RimWorlds Sector of 1109 (the current campaign date) as I have to ensure that two ends of my historical account actually meet up. The current Imperial Border, for instance, actually marks a slight decrease in Imperial penetration of the Sector. Daltharmai Subsector was basically a wedge driven Spinward by the Imperium between the Klarthur Confederacy in Riinu Subsector and the Outrim Alliance in Lymethius and Per Vulia Subsectors. With pressure coming from both Coreward and Rimward on Daltharmai, exposed and lightly held worlds have been abandoned as the Imperium has sought more defensible borders.

Astrographic features of Gazolan Subsector:
A – Imperial Border (1109)
B – a three-system cluster
C – the 11-system constellation Miigaurshish (pronounced ‘me – e – ga – ur – shish’) – the Wedding Cup.
D – the ten-system Daltharmai Main running to Spinward into Daltharmai Subsector.
E – a four-system cluster.
F – a five-system Run.
G – a seven-system Main running Rimward into Gamelea Subsector.
H – a three-system Run in Daltharmai Subsector.

Given that the Imperium was restricted to Jump-3 capable starships in the 540’s, Gazolan Subsector would have been entered from Kaorin Subsector through either the three-system cluster at (B) on the Gazolan/Daltharmai border, or through the Coreward “rim” of Miigaurshish (C) – the Wedding Cup – on the Gazolan/Thurgandarn border, or through the “stem” or “base” of Miigaurshish in Thurgandarn Subsector. It is likely that within these two astrographical features “great mineral resources were discovered in the Gazolan subsector and these fuelled the rapid expansion of the Duchy. This expansion was not unopposed.”

Looking at the map, I suspect that Kolin’s scouts did not actual come across any major opposition until they crossed over to the Daltharmai Main. A pocket empire based on the Daltharmai Main, with Jump-2 technology, could access the five-system run (F) to Rimward, and the three-system Run (H) and the Main (G) to Spinward and Rimward of (F). They could have also secured the Rimward rim of Miigaurshish and it is likely it was here that the Imperium encountered their second major polity in the RimWorlds.