Solantis Nominate

The **Solantis Nominate** was a once powerful, now fallen autocratic, imperialist Empire which controlled significant territory in the **Pridwen Galaxy**.

## Biology

Solantis biology is similar to that of a regular **Terran Human**, however they were considered in many **Ancient Sources** to be extremely tall, some recording up to **8** or **9 Feet** and with dense musculature for both males and females, giving the Solantis a fierce reputation in battle. However these sources have been disputed as no evidence exists in remains recovered that shows them to be anything more then regular humanoids.

## History

### Origin (2500 BCE)

Told as a cautionary tale by some members of the **Ekwidine Republic**, the **Solantis Nominate** was once a powerful **Empire** which spanned a significant amount of the Pridwen Galaxy almost **3,000** years before the rise of the **Ekwidine Republic** and **Hune Empire**.

Others, including notable Ekwidine historians revere Solantis as the **"Greatest Civilisation"** in the Pridwen Galaxy as the influence of the Solantis is felt on many different worlds, with many later species choosing to adopt their architectural styles and modern ideologies.

At its height in **2500 BCE (Terran Year)**, the Solantis Empire was one of the first species in the Pridwen Galaxy to develop space travel due a **fortunate event** on their now lost homeworld. Very few archaeological records exist regarding the Solantis homeworld as the Solantis Nominate was considerably paranoid in giving away the location of their home planet and therefore all ancient records state is that Solantis's capital city was known as **Tienna**.

The **Fortunate Event** as described in **"The Canis Mull"**, a collection of historical works by the classical contemporary Solantis historian, **"Arnis"** depicts the discovery of **"Death"**, who visited the primitive Solantis and showed them the magic of technology, crafting them into a powerful empire that would extend their dominion over the stars. Historians consider this tale to allegorical in nature and believe that the Solantis discovered some kind of **"Alien Supercomputer"** which technologically elevated their society.

Regardless, this initial technological advantage gave the Solantis the ability to dominate nearby worlds, creating the **"First Spacefaring Civilisation"** in the Pridwen Galaxy, allowing them to easily dominate other worlds and establish the **Solantis Nominate**. During this time, the Nominate annexed many different worlds, which has been confirmed via the presence of Solantis ruins on their planet, including many in the Ekwidine Republic.

Due to their unique social structure, that allowed anyone to become a Solantis Citizen, the Solantis **technologically elevated** many of the civilisations that they encountered, establishing a huge network of trade across a large portion of the Pridwen Galaxy and allowing **"Client Kingdoms"** to keep their own traditions and culture while paying regular tributes to Solantis. The Solantis even provided several wealthy and resource rich cultures with the ability to self-govern in exchange for a share of their wealth.

### The Telos War (2300 BCE)

During the period of about **2300 BCE**, another power began to ascend in the region of space inhabited by the Solantis Nominate. Known as the **"Telos Empire"** (the Solantis word for **"Usurper"**), this Empire became hugely powerful due to trade, despite originally being part of the Solantis Nominate and began to make preparations to declare independence.

The Telos launched an attack on a Solantis Nominate colony, starting the **Telos War** which lasted over 100 years, until about **2290 BCE** where the Solantis Nominate had successfully sieged the capital world of Telos, completely destroying it and slaughtering everyone on the planet, resulting in the death of over **5 Billion People**. At this point, the Telos Empire, once a powerful trade partner with many different worlds was completely destroyed and the only traces of their civilisation can be found in the writings of contemporary Solantis scholars.

### The Great Sundering (1200 BCE)

Arguably the beginning of the decline of the Solantis Nominate, the **Great Sundering** was a period of intense political strife for the Nominate. It began when **Magnate Ikas** passed a law stating that **Magnate** could no longer be decided by the people but would instead become a **Hereditary Title**, resulting in widespread discontent among an increasingly angry **Tan Class**. Feeling they no longer had a say and frustrated with the continual corruption within the **Convocation**, which had become increasingly out-of-touch with the rest of the Nominate, several planets began outward rebellion towards the Nominate.

Although many of these rebellions were crushed, many rebel leaders were able to escape destruction and fled into the **Unknown Regions** around the borders of the Nominate, continually raiding the **Nominate's Frontier Colonies**. These actions, although contained, put considerable pressure on the Convocation to protect these colonies and resulted in the assassination of **Magnate Ikas** by his own guard in **999 BCE**.

During this period, **Hakansan Leader O'ros**, from one of the former worlds who now actively resisted the Nominate, launched a lightening invasion of the Nominate, with a unique **"Scorched Space"** strategy that created fear and discontent within the Nominate as many worlds began to suffer from food shortages, having become reliant on **Frontier Farming Worlds** to provide the Nominate with enough food. Although never defeated in battle, O'ros died from advanced age in **710 BCE**, with considerable damage done to the Nomiante itself. O'ros's name still causes fear in the Pridwen Galaxy to this day due to his brutality and tendency to impale his enemies onto his capital ship, the **Scourge**.

### The Great Fall (500 BCE)

Many historians have argued when the fall of the Nominate occurred, with many pointing out that the Nominate survived for a far longer period after **The Great Sundering**. However by **500 BCE**, the majority of historians agree that the Nominate was already dead. Successive weak Magnates and constant rebel invasions of their territory led to the homeworld of the Nominate being completely destroyed in **510 BCE**. Despite this however, many rebel factions have ceased invading the Nominate because they opposed it's ideology but were instead invading because they wanted their share of the immense wealth and prestige that the Nominate had afforded them in the past.

The last **Magnate**, **Ildris** was assassinated by the **Hakansan Leader Veriten** in **500 BCE** at the Magnate's homeworld of **Ravis**. Upon being offered the **Magnate**, Veriten choose to end the fractured Nominate, enslaving all Solanatis within the Nominate in vengeance for the great destruction they had brought to the Pridwen Galaxy and had claimed the life of Ildris's family years earlier. At that point, the remaining Convocation was slaughtered and the Pridwen Galaxy fell into a period known as **"The Long Night"**, where the surviving regional warlords fought over countless territory, pushing back technological development by centuries until the rise of the modern Pridwen Galaxy around the beginning half of the **Terran** **20th Century**.

## Legacy

Several states have claimed to be the Solantis Nominate's successor, including the **Old** **Hakansan Order** who were ironically destroyed by their own creations. The **Church of Sol** was established by Solantis survivors in **200 CE** and continues to be a dominant religion in the Pridwen Galaxy to this day, having many worshippers in both the **Ekwidine Republic** and **Oritan Supremacy** and has interfered politically in the affairs of both species on more then one occasion across their history.

The architecture of many species has been directly influenced by the Solantis Nominate, with the modern planet of **Solaria**, within the Ekwidine Republic becoming home to the modern day descendants of the Solantis Nominate. The Nominate has been used on Solaria to instil a sense of national pride within the planet's population, influencing **Solarian Nationalism** within the Republic.

The invention of the **Warp Drive** and other technologies have also been credited to the Solantis Nominate, with many historians in awe of the technological advancement of centuries ago. Many of the technologies and techniques of Solarian craftmanship have sadly been lost to time however Solarian art and culture has been recovered and is now proudly on display in the museums of many different worlds.

The **Hune Empire** and even the **Primordial Emperor** himself have claimed to be the direct descendants of the Solantis Nominate, using the empire to demonstrate to his people the indomitable spirit of humanoid forms over the species that evolved from **"Lesser Animals"**.

## Society

### Government

The Solantis Nominate had a highly unusual social structure based on **"Acquired Citizenship"**, although the Empire did indeed practice regular forms of slavery, it was not uncommon for slaves to earn their freedom, from their master's will when they died or being given freedom from their masters directly. Due to this first example of legislation, which Solantis pioneered, former slaves were given all the rights upon their freedom that any other Solantis citizen had, they could be property owners and even own slaves themselves, they could even run for political office among earning their freedom.

The Nominate was controlled by an elite group of representatives, called **"The Convocation"**, a representative body that would oversee the day to day function of the Nominate. True to its name, the Solantis Nominate held a large scale **"Election"** at the end of each rules life to determine who would succeed as **"Magnate"**, the Magnates role being the supreme head of the Nominate. Candidates for the position of Magnate could legally be anyone, even former slaves, who had been put forward by a member of The Convocation, who were in turn elected by each individual sector of the Nominate.

Politically, this system provided the Nominate with remarkable internal stability initially but as the fall of the Nominate began to near, this system ironically began to cause massive internal divisions within the Nominate, resulting in the slow and agonising death of the Empire.

### Social Structure

The Solantis had four different divisions of their of their society;

* The **Ana**: The slave class: This class consisted of aliens taken in battle and even former Solantis citizens who had sold themselves into slavery to avoid imprisonment, banishment, death or in some cases financial ruin. The Ana were given no protections directly under the law but killing the slave of another household was considered to be a significant crime, resulting in imprisonment or forced restitution through the courts. Some Ana were treated extremely well and held well regarded positions within their household while others were treated absolutely appallingly and in inhumane ways.
* The **Tan**: The common class: This consisted of most of the low-skilled workers within the Nominate. Despite regularly living in poverty, the Tan were subject to full legal protections under the law of the Nominate and could own small businesses and property. Many of this class also owned small farms which would regularly supply the Nominate with food and other luxury goods.
* The **Lanar**: The merchant class: This class emerged towards the latter end of the Nominate, around **2300 BCE**, the Lanar consisted of former members of the Tan class who had made significant wealth from their businesses and owned extensive land. These Lanar are often considered by many Ekwidine Historians to be the first real **Megacorporation Owners**, regularly using their extreme wealth to place themselves on the fringe of aristocratic life and curry political favours with the Convocation themselves. Towards the end of the Empire about **1525 BCE**, the Lanar held seniority in membership of the Convocation.
* The **Elessar**: The Aristocratic class: The Elessar were the highest fringes of the Nominate, controlling vast qualities of land and power and usually serving as **"Magnate"** through the **"Divine Will of Sol"**, the monotheistic figure of Solantis religion. The Elessar usually made up The Convocation and wielded immense power within the Nominate themselves, developing a reputation for being decadent, greedy and corrupt. Many Elessar would often boast that they could trace their families heritage back to the founding of the Nominate however this has been disputed due to the lack of knowledge of genetics during that time period despite having interstellar technology.