Parallax

=Parallax=
Parallax (01 001 Pisces III) was one of the 12 Old Line Colonies, capitol of the Pisces Sector, and one of the leading worlds of the Galactic Commonwealth.
==Geography and Climate==
An Earthlike world with a mild climate, oceans, and continental landmasses, Parallax was home to billions of human colonists. Large cities were built, including the colonial capitol of New Pax City, which occupied hundreds of square kilometers along the west coast of its largest continent. The planet was divided into one hundred provinces. Delegates from these provinces met in New Pax City to govern the planet.
==History and Culture==
===Early Colonial History===
The planet was discovered by advanced lunar telescopes built in the Terran System in the 22nd Solar Century. The first colony ships reached the planet in the 23rd Solar Century. Parallax was the last of the Inner Colonies to be settled. The colony grew in power, population, and influence, and when the Galactic Federation was constituted in the 25th Solar Century, Parallax was given regional administration over the Pisces Sector. Parallax eventually established colonies of its own within the sector.
===28th and 29th Solar Centuries===
Like many of the Inner Colonies, Parallax came to have a contentious relationship with its colonies. During the 28th and 29th Centuries, rebellious colonies were often put down with brutal force by the Parallax Star Force; a paramilitary body that enforced Paxian control of the worlds in the Pisces Sector. Parallax also played a very political game of rewarding colonies that were loyal and supportive with economic aid, favorable trade policies, and letting them strike and take resources from rebellious colonies more or less at will. As a result, the Pisces Sector was the location of some of the most violent insurrections of the Pre-Commonwealth period.
Following these events, Parallax swung completely the other way; seeking to integrate its worlds into a Piscean Union, sharing government under a common representation Parliament, and sharing common economic resources. This system proved unsustainable; an economic collapse of some minor colonies in the 29th century led to a general economic collapse throughout the sector.
===30th through 40th Solar Centuries===
Upon the formation of the Galactic Commonwealth, Parallax was named the capital world of the Pisces Sector. Its past aggression made for fractious relations with the other worlds in its sector. The Parallax Star Force was disbanded.
In the 2nd Crusade, Parallax fell easily to the forces of The Terran Imperium and was occupied for the duration of the Second Crusade. Some of its citizens resisted, but many others collaborated. Terran Forces left voluntarily upon defeat of their home world.
In the Fourth Crusade of the 32nd Solar Century, Parallax responded to the aggression of the Scorpion Union by combining with other worlds in a defense alliance. An Army was commissioned for collective defense, and christened the Combined Heavy Infantry of the Pisces Sector (CHIPS). They engaged Scorpion Forces within the Sector at United II Colony and repulsed them. However, while the fleet was engaged at United II, Papillon Colony fell to an internal insurrection and a Government allied with Scorpion Union took power.
In the 33rd Solar Century, the Cult of the Strange had a following on Parallax, but never came to power. Many of its citizens were recruited into the Cult’s Minion Army. 
In the 34th Solar Century, a massive failure of the planet’s technological infrastructure reduced the planet to a 20th Solar Century level of technology for a period of almost forty years. The infrastructure was sabotaged in an attempt to prevent a Machine Insurrection in a nearby sector from spreading to Parallax.
In the 36th Century, Parallax was one of the world in which the Conspiracy of the Unboly succeeded in driving religion off the planet. Parallax came under the sway of a ‘Dark Lord’ following the Seventh Crusade, but at the time of the Ninth Crusade was liberated.
===41st to 53rd Solar Century===
After the Crusades, Parallax, along with the other colonies, endured a millennium of relative peace and prosperity.
A Starlock was built near Parallax in the 45th Century and was christened Chainlink.
Roundabout the Solar Year 5200, Parallax was attacked by the Tarmigans. The planet had built a defense system called the Caudimordax, but the Tarmigans passed right through it. The entire human population was wiped out within ten minutes. Some Government leaders and officials survived the attack by transferring their consciousnesses into the bodies of giant, genetically-engineered cockroaches.
===74th Solar Century===
2,000 years later, the Pathfinder Ship Pegasus, along with the surviving ships of the Fleet of Orion, traveled to the Parallax system after the Attack on Charlemagne Station. They found the planet guarded by a sophisticated, self-regenerating orbital defense system called Caudimordax. A small force was able to slip past the orbital defense system and take control of its command center. A subsequent landing party was able to recover the location of Earth and much other valuable data from the planet’s archives.
Book 11: Charlemagne
Category:Worlds