United Rumonik Interstellar States

The **United Rumonik Interstellar States** (abbreviated as **URIS,** referred to as the **Interstellar States** for short and frequently termed the **Rumonik Empire** by the Reformed Union of Planets) was one of the great powers of the Core Quadrant. A politically young and power-hungry empire, the Rumonik States is infamously known for its use of the molecule-degrading weapon in conflicts, a brutal and destructive armament that was universally banned by most of the known powers in the quadrant. The Interstellar States would often come into conflicts with many other states, including the Reformed Union of Planets and the Grana Independent Star Systems.

## History

### **Pre-Quadrant War era**

The Interstellar States was merely a small regional power residing in the Central Region that served the United Confederacy of Species, prior to the Confederacy Secession Crisis that led to the eventual Quadrant War of 2480. During the war, the States remained neutral and used it
as an opportunity to expand the empire while the rest of the Quadrant fought off one another. The territories gained during the war were minimal, but it was then did the States realise its potential of becoming a dominant interstellar empire, now that the domain of the region, the Confederacy, had ceased to exist.

### **Rise to power**

The Expansion Doctrine became the foremost policy that every Rumonik citizen sworn and uphold, and by the mid-26th century, the States had conquered many neighbouring systems and subjugated numerous species. The galactic community heavily condemned the aggressive expansion of the States, and it was the only one of the two known galactic powers, along with the long-forgotten Kessios Confederation that did not sign onto the Interstellar General Regulations.

From mid-2652, the Grana Independent Star Systems had sent several warnings to the States regarding its presence on several Grana’s star systems, including those that were considered strategically important if there was an invasion to the Independent Systems’ soil. Knowing the eventual involvements of other members of the Powers Alliance, the geo-political entity to which the Independent Systems were a part of, and the Reformed Union of Planets through the RUAMCOP treaty, the Rumonik kept the conflicts relatively small-scaled, with skirmishes and hostility prolonging well until 2657, when the Reformed Union, which had not take part militarily, warned the States that if the hostility between the two powers kept escalating and
eventually into a full-scale galactic war, the government would have no choice but to mobilize its fleets and aid the Independent Systems against the States, as per the RUAMCOP treaty stated. With that the conflicts seemingly ended that year in a stalemate, and a subsequent treaty for the creation of the Neutral Zone between the two powers went underway. After the conflicts, the Rumonik now recognized the Union as their obstruction to power, and the hostility slowly shifted to the Union thereafter. The Interstellar States then decided to lay low, waiting for a chance to engage in conflict with the Union without the interference from the Grana Independent Star Systems or its Powers Alliance.

In 2671, the Juranin Empire, one of the members of the Powers Alliance, and the “Three Pillars” of the organization was under process of becoming a Union constituent state. The process heavily divided the Alliance, with the Domain of Q’wak-rentho voicing its suspicion of the Union’ other motives and reflected how the old Confederacy had also done similarly prior to their invasion and subsequent Borders War of 2455. Saw this as an opportunity to draw ally and to divide the Alliance, the Interstellar States conspired with the Domain government in what would be the Juranin conspiracy, on which agents
of both governments, along with several disgruntled Juranin officials bombed the Juranin Imperial Senate and blamed it on the Union, proving that the Union wanted to seize all power and make Juranin an enslaved planet, rather than standing equal to other states as promised. The Union quickly unfolded the conspiracy in the Battle at Thorn Ridge, and the subsequent investigation. The conspiracy became a turning point in the modern galactic affairs, as the Domain of Q’wak-rentho was officially excommunicated from the Powers Alliance immediately after the event.

### **Union-Domain War** **(2678-2681)**

The action outraged the Domain and was the direct cause to the new military and political alliance, the Domain-Rumonik Alliance in the treaty of the same name. This alliance caused the fallout of relations between the Reformed Union of Planets and the Powers Alliance, as many member-worlds began to express their doubts on their positions towards the Union, questioning whether were the Union actually the one who controlled the Alliance and the region. The RUAMCOP pact was then unofficially halt. Using this opportunity, the Domain launched attacks on the Union new state Juranin, and the eventual Union-Domain War started, with the Rumonik supporting the latter power. However, even without a supported ally, the Reformed Union successfully defended its soil and retook Juranin in the Battle of Juranin, while prevented the Interstellar States in its own expansion campaigns. The war came to an end in 2683 with the signings of the Juranin Treaty. The Treaty called for the war crime hearings and sentencing of the Domain Chancellor of the People and the Empress of the Interstellar States, along with their respective cabinets and generals, the banning of further use of M-D weapons by the Interstellar States, and the return of ownership to occupied states following their conquests. The sentencing of the Empress then directly led to the ongoing Union-Rumonik Cold War.

## Government

The government of the Interstellar States could be described as a constitutional monarchy, overseen by a monarch, but most of the actual power would fall into the Minister of the Empire.

## Military

The United Rumonik Interstellar States was counted among the great military powers in the quadrant, with its signature armament, the molecule-degrading guns, one of the most brutal and primitive weapons still in use. The Rumonik Armada was also very formidable, after its inclusion of the Expansion Doctrine, the sole purpose of the Armada was to use every oppoturnities to open the Empire's territories.