The Fairfax Kingdom

The Fairfax Kingdom is a nation in the Sanctinus Galaxy that is widely seen as a bastion of good and a model for progressive peace. Born from the ashes and blood of a coup within the Gatekeeper Imperium several millennia ago, the Fairfax Kingdom has grown to be one of the dominant superpowers in the galaxy. Constantly at odds with the Gatekeeper Imperium in what can be seen as a classic battle between good and evil, the people of the Fairfax Kingdom generally believe in peace and understanding, always pushing to advance it even against impossible odds.

## History

The first records of the Fairfax Kingdom actually begin with police reports in the city of Fairfax on Portcullis Prime Roughly 5,000 years ago. The incident reports describe upstarts causing trouble saving a flag around before disappearing into the night. The trouble that night included vandalism of a prominent politician to the Imperium of the time. For a few months after, nothing really came of it until slaves started disappearing, the numbers proliferating with almost every incident of stolen slaves. Before a full year had passed, the Fairfax Rebels had announced themselves to the system whilst simultaneously conducting a coup d’état alongside rebellious Blades who‘ve had enough oppression themselves.

The coup succeeded and Fairfax City was liberated and named the homeland of runaway slaves and imperial fugitives seeking to escape the oppressive rule of the Imperium. When the Imperium attempted to respond with military force, they found an empty city before realizing it was all urban guerrilla warfare. Unable to adapt quickly enough, an opening was left for a short time to the nearest star port where one of the first three Blades fleets, named Keeper Fleets, were docked and waiting for staffing.

Roverant Malius, the leader of the Fairfax Rebels, staged a false ambush in the city before leading all of his forces out of the city covertly to the starport. Caught by surprise before the main naval personnel could arrive, the local port staff were unable to report the theft of the fleet before they could escape. In pursuing, only one ship was lost; the *Palladium,* a battleship that stayed behind to distract and fend off the other two fully staffed and armed Keeper Fleets. A palace was erected on the landing sight of the now free people which later was named the Palladium Palace after the brave men and women who fought and gave their lives to save tens of thousands more.

Only a millennia later, as the Blue Nova Republic was Making its beginnings, the Fairfax Kingdom has some cultural schisms of its own that was dividing the people. While many enjoyed and appreciated the protections of the Kingdom and its devout and holy warriors, others felt it left them too weak to properly survive should the Imperium decide to wage all out war. And with the Fairfax King of the time, Sevond Malius II, showing himself to be a fantastically weak leader, many in the Kingdom felt it was time to split. The Imperium had heard the whispers of these people preparing to leave and attemptef to turn them hostile on the Kingdom. But great distrust of the Imperium and its slave laws left the people too weary to consider it and felt they were being taken advantage of, furthering the rift between the cultures and making who would later form the Tunguska Conglomerate becomes a more neutral nation. The Fairfax Kingdom wasn’t happy but dared not force the people back into the fold, not wanting to seem similar to the Imperium and its actions of the time.

Today, an uneasy peace is kept between the Fairfax Kingdom and the Gatekeeper Imperium. But the Kingdom does enjoy and encourage trade among the other two nations of the enigmatic Tunguska Conglomerate and the just and flourishing Blue Nova Republic. The Fairfax Kingdom has become a great center of holy faith and power, often developing fleets and equipment for their holy armies of retribution and divine protection. They prepare like this for they believe danger can be anywhere at any time and wish to be as prepared for Imperium forces as the day the Imperium Exploration Fleets arrived and attempted hostilities. They do not want to let history change for them as their peace and confidence is almost all that drives the people alongside their faith.

## Religion & Society

The Fairfax Kingdom has long since been a nation who has followed Iomedae when she came to power. While her origins lie somewhere else in the universe, her importance has not diminished In the Sanctinus Galaxy, especially with the Fairfax Kingdom. Often, the strongest warriors are chosen to join the crusading fleets and the Holy Army of Fairfax.

Iomedae is the most commonly worshipped deity in the Fairfax Kingdom. But other deities are followed such as Triune, Sarenrae and Talavet to a much smaller percentage of the population, these other faiths only ever accounting for lower single digit percentages of the total population (though not given any trouble as they are mostly good and friendly faiths).

The population as a whole is mixed as the Fairfax Rebellion included many runaway slaves (the Gatekeeper Imperium mostly kept non-human races as slaves). While humans are the majority race, their total population is not half or more, but rather a fifth of the population. But the human race shares the sector with many masatha, lashunta, vesk and shirren. The lesser populations do include elves, dwarves, gnomes and half-orcs. A general peace is kept among the population, though some interspecies incidents do happen on regular occasion. This mostly stems from a small but unintended sense of human superiority, among other racial differences between the many races of the Kingdom. peace can be difficult to keep at times because of it.

### **Castes**

While social classes do exist, they're very standard. In order of descent, the **Royal Family** rules all. **The Holy Council** aides and is most trusted in helping to run the kingdom smoothly. **The Lords** own and operate businesses and manufacturing plants with labor from **The Citizens** who are the bulk of the workforce and economic flow. Fair treatment of the lower classes is constantly encouraged and enforced by the Royal Family and the military.

## Military

The formal military of the Fairfax Kingdom follows a somewhat religious aesthetic, though not nearly as extreme as the Gatekeeper Imperium. Many take on the image of a knight, either in full plate or similar fashion, tough grunts still wear the typical combat armor of the modern era. Virtually all proven soldiers who graduate from basic training forge their own longsword that they always carry with them. Their ships almost resemble cathedral ships and are often seen in colors like blue, white and gold to inspire those around them, though commanders who are worshippers of Iomedae would often sport red instead of blue given that red, white and gold are the preferred colors of Iomedae.

### **The Avatars - The Champions of Fairfax**

The origins of the Avatars are shrouded in mystery. They were started as a program under the command of the SHaDOW - the System, Home, and Defense Office of War, the sercret intelligence branch of the formal Fairfax military.

The name "Shadow" was accepted in the nation that reveres the light as a "necessary evil", as some might put it, under a philosophy that has formed under military soldiers and veterans of Fairfax, often called "the Dark Truth"

> *"The light will always create a shadow from something in it's path."*
>
>

While Fairfax is generally good-aligned, even the holy kingdom needs to keep secrets and do some unsavory things to protect themselves appropriately. SHaDOW is the embodiment of this fact and has long been the center of criticism for the kingdom of Fairfax, both without and within. But the things they've done have mostly just been rumor-founded conspiracy theories.

The Avatars, however, are a well-known and generally liked, if enigmatic product of the SHaDOW fo Fairfax. Super soldiers that wear power armor of incredible endurance and are said to be capable of dismantling entire terror groups and rebellions with a single man or pair, the Avatars have become legend in the kingdom's military and general population. No one has ever seen or heard of an Avatar being slain. And many a soldier have witnessed their combat superiority firsthand, only living to tell about it *because* of the presence of an Avatar in the fights.

But no one, save for very silent agents of SHaDOW, know who any of them are or what makes them such fierce warriors. They are human as some have shown their faces. but they remain shrouded in the deepest mystery that Fairfax has. Learning anything about the Avatars requires a DC 30 Culture check)

* **Angels** - The standard Avatar. A "grunt" of sorts, though that would be more of an insult. These are the basic Avatar combatants.
* **Azatas** - Skilled negotiators and deadly warriors. They are especially tough and enduring defenders. Probably more so than they are offensive warriors.
* **Archons** - The combat specialists, especially in covert missions or precision strikes. Rarely encountered and recorded or even told about.
* **Archangels** - The faces who are often seen leading the teams of Avatars or entire platoons of Fairfax general military. The unnoficial "leaders" of the Avatars and are believed to report to the Royal Family in person.

## Racial Populations

While humans do have a majority of the population, they are by no means the true bulk of the population as Fairfax Kingdom was originally founded by runaway slaves from the Gatekeeper Imperium so long ago. Because of the massive diversity of the slave population, lesser numbers of those slave populations exist. With the Vesk joining the Blue Nova Republic, they've come out of their isolationist-lifestyle a bit and have a small population in the Fairfax Kingdom as more of a diplomatic offering than a desire to join. This has been called the Vesk District in the capital city of Origin where the Fairfax Promenade is.

## Languages

These are the languages most commonly spoken in the Fairfax Kingdom:

* Common
* Racial languages (of those listed, mainly. Interpreters are common to find, however)
* Celestial
* Sylvan
* Draconic