It was 400 Atheni-Standard Years ago when the Ignatio Event collapsed the Golden Road and two other major subspace arteries, plunging the galaxy-spanning, human-dominated Arcturus Imperium into two centuries of chaos and civil war. In many systems, oppressed xenos and undercaste humans erupted in rebellion against their now-isolated imperial sector governments, while in others Imperial governors and admirals turned into warlords and bandit-kings, carving fiefdoms out of whatever territory they were strong enough to seize and hold.

In ASY 3,320, Emperor Fashti XVIII was murdered on his throne by his successor, who ruled for all of three days before the Imperial Palace on Atheni II was bombarded from orbit by a rival claimant and all semblance of Imperial authority ended for good.

The Galactic Dark Ages had begun.

It is now ASY 3,576.

Along a once-minor subspace stream known in Imperial times as the Old Way lies the populous Agamenos Sector, in which peace has been maintained over the centuries under the neofeudal tutelage of the Grand Dukes of the ancient and august House of Kesselbrood. Declaring itself the sole heir of Imperial authority, the Grand Duchy of Agamenos and its loosely governed vassal-planets have weathered techno-barbarian invasions, pirate incursions, and internal rebellion over the long years of galactic chaos. In that time it has endured, even prospered. The Grand Duchy's decentralized, feudal holdings boast a truly massive population of humans and xenos and a wild profusion of local governments. The Ducal military controls a large and well maintained remnant of the Imperial fleet- massive ships of the line lovingly maintained through the centuries. Planetary governments, republican free cities, human noble houses and trade guilds have over time placed important legal checks on the autocratic power of the Grand Duke, checks delineated in the Agamenos Constitution. The many alien minorities of the sector have slowly gained liberties of their own, recently winning the right to representatives in the Sector Diet and protection under Ducal law, though their status as second class subjects remains clear. The culture and political life of the Duchy is diverse and rich, if inefficient, chaotic and marked by incredible inequalities of wealth and political power.

All is not well. The Grand Duchy has always been more of a confederation of states loyal to a dynasty than a unified polity, and the seams in its governing structure are beginning to tear. The current Grand Duke, His Magnificent Effulgence Adamantious von Kesselbrood XI, is an enfeebled madman, governed by his ministers. Worse still, he is childless and a succession crisis looms.

As human noble houses scheme after the Ducal throne, seperatists movements abound among both monohumanist militants incensed at the relaxation of Imperial Caste and race laws, and dissatisfied aliens, many of whom chafe at subjection to human rule. 

Meanwhile, in the deep reaches of space, a new chieftain is on the rise among the techno-barbarians, uniting the Hordes and their Corsair Fleets...and his gaze wanders towards the rich planets of the Grand Duchy.

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Hello and welcome!

This RP is a bit of an experiment, a combination between traditional space-nation RPs and character rps. Participants are invited to create subfactions of all kinds within the Grand Duchy that will participate in some way in a massive interstellar conflict known as, unsurprisingly, the War of the Seven Suns. 

Players will be free to create characters and factions of all types within the Grand Duchy- human great houses which rule over entire planets, semi-autonomous republics, trading guilds of enormous influence, mercenary companies, naval fleets and army groups, xenos vassal kingdoms, mafias, monohumanist fronts, socialist guerillas, etc. Characters can be scheming aristocrats, drug lords, transhuman fanatics, aliens...whatever you can think of. One of the main goals of this RP is to build up a compelling, original setting- the Grand Duchy of Agamenos- in which subsequent rps and subplots can unfold. In otherwords, my main focus will be [b]collaborative worldbuilding[/b], so that when the RP takes off, it will do so in a richly detailed world designed by more players than just the GM.

As such, details in the Grand Duchy's governing structure, the number and type of planets under its control, the diversity of sentient and nonsentient aliens, and the types of technology available will all be decided by the group of rpers. One of the main sources of inspiration for this RP is Europe right before WWI, when the old Imperial dynasties clung to power in a time of deep changes. Other influences include 40K, Gormenghast, Game of Thrones, and the original Dune.

Hope you're interested! I look forward to writing with you.

The RP's Chatzy can be found here: [url=http://us11.chatzy.com/84641144168446]Chatzy[/url]

Please Note: Standards for writing in this RP will be [b]high[/b], even by advanced standards.