Ranx Empire

The Ranx Empire is a human sovereign populating the Outer Realm near and around the Anhalt system.

History

Human colonists from St. Katharine's Star and Earth settled the Outer Realm starting in the late 2100's. An economy based on pteracnium and ithalium ore supported a large number of stations, some associated with the Commonwealth, others of independent alignment.

From the start there were tensions between human and neo-human populations. The Ringers, who began settlement of the Outer Realm in 2183, were better adapted to space and often found and exploited the richest fields of ore. Nevertheless, the vastness of the region prevented any serious conflicts.

In the second half of the 23rd century, after the end of the Syrtis War and the devastation of Mars, Ares refugees poured in to the Outer Realm looking for a new home. Around the same time, the unpredictable Teratons, a genetic off-shoot of the Ringers, began aggressively building their nests.

At first human colonists looked to the Commonwealth to help them keep out neo-human invaders, but the government on New Victoria was too exhausted from war and relied on the Ringers to protect their interests.

In 2276, Karin Nordlin, a former mining captain from Anhalt, formed the Ranx Coalition as a way to unite the human stations. Nordlin's aims were modest at first, hoping only to coordinate Commonwealth defenses against neo-human encroachment on Ranx asteroid fields. But as the movement grew, and Nordlin's followers increased, she declared sovereignty on behalf of the stations that she represented.

In the early 2300's, Karin's son Linus Nordlin was elected First Minister of the Ranx Sovereignty. A fall in the price of ithalium had devastated the economy of the Outer Realm and Nordlin and his followers felt that unfair competition from Ringers and the Ares Orthodoxy were to blame. They had a particular distate for the Ringers, who used zoanthrope Ferians to mine their asteroid fields, a practice that the Ranx equated with slave labor.

In 2311 an incident in a disputed asteroid field ignited a call to armed resistance among the Ranx. Nordlin took the opportunity to consolidate his power and shed some of the parliamentary constraints that were originally created by his mother. The Ranx began construction of a large fleet to protect their interests.

Although the Ranx fleet never challenged Ringer homes directly, it threatened enough asteroid fields that they soon became uneconomical for the Ringers to hold on to. By 2340, the Ranx had expanded their sphere of influence to a couple of the systems around Anhalt and their fortresses and outposts began appearing as far away as Saurus Mons.

The last few vestiges of a parliamentary democracy were discarded by Linus Nordlin's successor, Paulina Ragnar. Ragnar, once a captain in the Ranx fleet, consolidated control of the military and purged the government of dissent. Even some members of Nordlin's family were caught up in the purge.

Another casualty of Ragnar's ascension was Greger Kalmar, an engineer who worked on many of the Ranx fleet's original weapons, and who was suspected of collaborating with people loyal to the Nordlin family. He fled the Empire before an arrest order could be issued and started a new home with his family in Eta Ceti. Kalmar later worked for Rasiermesser and became Chief Scientist, a position that was later assumed by his even more brilliant son, Dvalin.

In the late 2300's, the Ranx Empire expanded under Paulina Ragnar, but there was constant tension with Ringers, Teratons, and the Ares Orthodoxy. Around the same time, exiles who were banished by Ragnar formed a dissident group under Gabriel Nordlin, a nephew of Linus. Though small in number and only recently organized, this group seeks to oust Ragnar from the Imperial City. So far, however, the Ranx Empire does not seem overly concerned with them.

In recent years there have been rumors of secret ship building at Anhalt and speculation that the Ranx may be preparing for another wave of expansion.