Frontier Union

## Flag

The **Frontier Union** is a confederacy of four independently-governed star systems in the Tantalus Cluster. Originally settled in the 0210s PCU as part of a colonisation effort by the Centrum Assembly, the four systems suffered poverty and shortages of essential goods for decades. These systems' Members of Parliament, forming a small political party called the Frontier Union, unsuccessfully attempted to raise their concerns to the Assembly, but Centrum's unsympathetic response led to the rise of radical nationalist factions. Tensions came to a head in 0290 PCU when the Red Bannerets led by Kaito Hakim carried out a violent coup on Maiala's Rest, overthrowing Centran governance on the planet. Unrest spread across the four systems, and Hakim, together with Henrik Debaan of Teldrin, Tacito Lemaire of Dalstaff, and Arcelia Abescal of Atamara declared the independence of the four systems from the Centrum Assembly, taking the name Frontier Union as the title of their new state.

The Union thereafter fought the ten-year Frontier War with the Centrum Assembly. Despite achieving good initial successes, the Union was ultimately defeated at the Fourth Battle of Axius and the Battle of the Atamara Crossroads and was forced to surrender in 0300 PCU, though it retained its independence.

## History

### Colonisation

From the 0210s PCU, the Centrum Assembly began the colonisation of four star systems in the southeastern reaches of the Tantalus Cluster. These systems were initially settled as part of a test of human adaptability on near-uninhabitable worlds, making use of new survival techniques and settlement designs. Heavily dependent on imported food and resources, the Atamara Crossroads, Teldrin, Maiala's Rest, and Dalstaff Systems suffered repeated shortages and growing poverty as a combination of government incompetence, corruption, and piracy delayed shipments to the systems.

In an effort to redress this, the four systems' representatives in the Centrum Parliament formed a political party called the Frontier Union, aiming to bring the frontier worlds' difficulties to the Centran government's attention. However, the response was unsympathetic, and this, coupled with the greater attention the Centrum Assembly paid to the growing colony in the Firewatch System, led to increased resentment in the frontier systems.

Conditions worsened on the Frontier with the outbreak of the Great Famine in 0270 PCU. Revolutionary figures like Kaito Hakim, leader of the Red Bannerets, led rallies demanding the independence of the Frontier systems, which became increasingly violent as Centran indifference towards the Frontier became less and less defensible. Hakim cultivated contacts in the three other Frontier systems, preparing for an incident that would provoke their secession from the Centrum Assembly. Discontent found cultural expressions through figures like the poet Adachi Fayadja. Ultranationalist groups, embittered by the lack of activity in Parliament, resorted to terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the *Wanderer* in the Firewatch System in 0277 PCU. Militia-led violence, such as the bombing of the Tordesh Distribution Centre on Maiala's Rest, became a fact of life in the years preceding the Frontier War.

### Independence

Events came to a head on 176th Solstice, 0290 PCU with the Primrose Incident: after an altercation between Militia forces and a Centran humanitarian aid vessel turned violent, Kaito Hakim's Red Bannerets launched a coup, storming the Centran government house in the city of Second Landing on Maiala's Rest. Three days later, Hakim, alongside Henrik Debaan, Grand Selectman of Teldrin, and Tacito Lemaire, Freewarden of Dalstaff, proclaimed the independence of the four systems in the spire city of Hatoba on Teldrin.

### Frontier War

Led by the Union Council with the Frontier Union Militia as its military arm, the Union declared war on the unsuspecting Centrum Assembly: the fourth member of the newly-convened Union Council, Arcelia Abescal, the Pirate Queen of Atamara, led a combined pirate fleet into the Axius System, beginning the ten-year Frontier War. Having not fought a major war for over a century, the Centran Defence Force proved unable to resist the Tandil Rush offensive, named for the Union Militia's Fleet Leader Devin Tandil. The Union successfully gained control of the Seravis Major and Cardeus Brink Systems before its advance was halted in the Valeria Sibus System. The Union was unable to take the Axius System, and the conflict developed into a war of attrition where the Assembly's greater population and superior industrial base worked to its advantage.

The Union made three more attempts to seize the Axius System, including building its first and only dreadnought, the *Arashi-Sakara*. After the Union was defeated in the Fourth Battle of Axius however, the Frontier War seemed certain to end in an Assembly victory and the Union Council began surrender negotiations. However, irreconcilable elements of the Frontier Union Militia mutinied and attempted to seize a Drift Gate in the Atamara Crossroads System, which they planned to re-orient and use to accelerate a captured asteroid into Centrum to cause an extinction-level event. This was thwarted by the Centrum Defence Force at the Battle of the Atamara Crossroads. The Frontier War ended shortly afterwards in 0300 PCU with an unconditional Union surrender, though the Union managed to retain its independence.

### Post war

In the Frontier War's aftermath, the Union agreed to establish the Avalon Exploratory Initiative with the Centrum Assembly and the Merician Freehold, a long-range exploration mission to the newly-discovered CDC-41-Gamma nebula in a last-ditch attempt to resolve the Great Famine. In 0304 PCU, Frontier Union Militia ships accompanied the Avalon Expedition Fleet through Edric's Gate to CDC-41-Gamma. The Union outrider *Mariana* became the first ship to make contact with the nebula's native civilisation, the Holy Advari Empire, and was destroyed in a skirmish with an unknown alien vessel, with the loss of all hands.

Tensions left over from the Frontier War led to the deaths of a significant proportion of the expedition's Unioner contingent in the Avalon Bombings at the hands of a rogue CDF officer. However, Militia forces under the command of Fleet Leader Omar Maalsuwda fought alongside the CDF to recover lost Gatehaulers from the Advari at the Battle of Maalsuwda's Holdfast and the Raid on the Aegis of Invia. Maalsuwda led the surviving ships of the Frontier Union Militia back to the Tantalus Cluster following the Battle of the Greenhouse in 0305 PCU.

## Government and politics

The Frontier Union is governed as an *ad hoc* confederacy, with each world and territory individually governing itself, but acting collectively as the Union Council in larger affairs of state. The populous moon Teldrin is generally considered the most influential world on the Union Council, and is often thought of as the Union's *de facto* capital.

## Armed Forces

The Frontier Union Militia serves as the Union's military arm. It is made up of volunteers from across the Union, and over the ten years of the Frontier War, built up a mastery of asymmetric warfare. The Militia's fleet is comprised of frigates such as the *Abigail* and fast-attack craft known as outriders. The Union Militia's less-disciplined approach to warfare is tempered by ferocious tenacity and a singular guile.

## Economy and society

The Union's economy and culture reflect its frontier origins. For example, the city of Nightbridge on Dalstaff II is known for its weapon factories and breweries, reflecting its origins as a Centran maximum security prison, while the settlements of Maiala's Rest are built around huge condenser wells to collect water for survival on the desert world. Mizudori, the gas giant that the *de facto* capital of Teldrin orbits, is unusually rich in valuable elements, particularly fusion fuels and noble gases. These gases are exported as fuels across the Tantalus Cluster. Teldrin's massive economic significance to the Union means that Teldrani serves as the Union's *lingua franca*.

The harsh environments and arduous living conditions of the Union's worlds mean that they required significant external aid in supplies and resources before they could ever become self-sufficient. Supply shortages resulted in planetwide deprivation across the Union's planets even before the Great Famine and were a key cause of the Frontier War.

## Territory

Located in the southeastern reaches of the Tantalus Cluster, the worlds of the Union were initially settled as part of a test of human adaptability on near-uninhabitable worlds, making use of new survival techniques and settlement designs. The Union is connected to the Centrum Assembly through the dark and shattered Atamara Crossroads System, which connects to the *de facto* capital system of Teldrin, and the Dalstaff System. Teldrin and Dalstaff in turn connect to the Maiala's Rest Systems.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 *The Sojourn Visual Dictionary - Edition One*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The Sojourn: Worlds of Tantalus - The Frontier Union
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Primrose Incident | Official Lore Short | The Sojourn
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Maiala's Rest | Worlds of Tantalus | The Sojourn
5. ↑ *Bright Promise*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Beneath The Banner*
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Sojourn: Worlds of Tantalus - The Centrum Assembly
8. ↑ *The Cold Divide*
9. ↑ *Yesterday's War*
10. ↑ *Where Angels Fear to Tread*
11. ↑ *Forlorn Hope*

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