Mage Imperium II

The **Mage Imperium II** Campaign took place during 1750 - 1753 C.A. in The Hybern Sector. It was preceded by Mage Imperium I 20 years earlier, and was followed by Mage Imperium III 20 years later.

## Summary

### Setup

Our campaign begins at the Court of Hibernia, the seat of the sector in which Milgar and Telrion (foci of the prior Mage Imperium Campaign) are located. Player characters are emissaries from other courts or officials of the sector government. The campaign begins twenty years after the Milgravian Civil War, with two Imperial crises and two local crises underway.

At the Imperial level, the authority of the ruling Seer Council has been severely undermined by the increasingly widespread rumor that Seers across the Imperium have lost the ability to commune with Adalna, the patron goddess of the Imperium. Explanations are various and conflicting — some call it a trial of faith while others claim that Adalna has been destroyed, consumed from within by some Elder Horror hinted at in the oldest and most maddening texts. Others still take the matter as evidence that the Seers were frauds from the start and that the entire Imperium is built on a lie. The official line is that Adalna communes with the Seers as much as ever, and that any rumors to the contrary are seditious fabrications. Whatever the truth, the response from the Imperium has been inquisition and mass execution on Aeldrum, while on the frontier worlds where the Seer Council’s hold fades with every passing year, there is only silence and a polite fiction that all continues as before.

The Seer Crisis slowly germinated from the first seeds of rumor a decade ago, but the last few months have brought a more immediate threat to Imperial stability. Grand Admiral Horatio, the de-facto head of the Imperial Navy for the last half century and the architect of the Episurian Genocide, has died at the age of 112. As Horatio shared the title of Grand Admiral with several other appointees and governed the navy largely through informal channels, there is no official line of succession. The remaining Grand Admirals are largely men of Horatio’s generation, the youngest being 100 years old. With a hoary and decrepit elite echelon, the Navy has no clear leadership, and the Seer Council is now too weak to impose a central authority.

What remains is a large and disorganized Imperial Navy whose official command structure has been overtaken by a parallel system of obligations and hereditary loyalties. As the Imperium grew, frontier worlds increasingly supplied the ships and resources for warfare, and it became an expectation that hereditary governors would also provide captains and generals from their own families. Navy Careerists are perhaps even more tightly knit, loyal not to siblings, cousins and parents in the aristocracy but to the officer class as a distinctive social caste, one with interests that may run counter not only to the Seer Council but to the Mage Prince elite.

Locally, The Hybern Sector faces two emergent threats. The first is a mass uprising by the
Episurian Dwarves. Whereas prior uprisings consisted of riots on the dwarvish reservations or the occasional pirate raid from the still unoccupied hinterlands of the former Episurian Empire, the two phenomena have become increasingly coordinated, with uprisings on occupied worlds coinciding with mass pirate actions — the campaign begins with one of the Episurian core worlds heavily embattled by rebels and under blockade, an unacceptable sleight against Imperial grandeur.

The second major threat is the former Protectorate of Adarnum. Historically a fairly peaceful and cooperative neighbor, the Protectorate has undergone a violent internal reformation, leading to its renaming as the "Kirvan Church-State". This more populist, theocratic regime is on the verge of a Crusade, and the decadent Imperium, with the Hybern Sector on the Kirvan-Imperial border, is a likely target.

### The Dwarven "Terrorist Attack"

The inciting incident of the campaign was the impending marriage of Prince Himmel Brahm (heir to The Hybern Sector governorship and Hybern's minister of foreign affairs) to Princess Lena Adlith, the daughter of the governor of the neigboring Norel sector. This marriage produced much grumbling from the Imperial Navy and the other great families, all of whom saw this move as an effort to consolidate the Brahm family's dominance over the sector.

Dante Tul'Semokku met with Prince Heinrich Linder, heir to Zu'un, to discuss agronomic tech sales that would improve Milgar's blood sap production. Gov. Kermit ultimately rejected any such deal, preferring to stay with the Brahm family and the Hybern Consortium.

Judah Brahm, director of the Hybern Consortium, invited Grigory Levin, a member of the Imperial Diet, to the wedding. Grigory's exact purpose in visiting is unclear, but the Levin family is one of Aeldrum's great dynasties, with positions in key Advisory Councils of the Diet, including the lucrative (and notoriously corrupt) Technology Oversight Committee. Among others, the committee is charged with investigation of gnostics and illegal tech sales.

Lord Clarence Keith (Lady Keith's brother) and Gov. Kermit were both in attendance at the wedding.

Prince Himmel Brahm and Princess Lena Adlith were pronounced dead en route to the planet Hybern, assassinated by dwarven terrorists in an unprecedented pirate raid deep into Imperial Space. An immediate investigation was launched into the nature of the attack and possible incompetence or negligence by the Imperial Navy, and the Brahm government has declared war on the pirates of Episur. The wedding is now a funeral.

### Investigation into the Attack

* Investiture of the Imperial Inquisitor Serim Milosz
* Confirmation of Roland Drumpf as Rear Admiral
* Roland Drumpf begins his inspection tour of the frontier
* The Hybern Imperial Navy grants a standing supply contract to the Hybern Consortium

### Genocide on a Schedule

* Extermination of the Valander and Blockade of Karaval
* Failed extraction of Prince Kalimo Andros by Selene Veer and other Imperial Renegades
* Naval Occupation of Milgar and Exile of House Semokku
* Inspector Ratco replaces Dante Tul'Semokku as acting chief of the Hybern Academy
* Kartak Admin. Authority expeditionary occupation of the Holden Expanse
* Dex Connel replaces Kalimo Andros as State Fleet Minister
* Imperial Navy intercepts a smuggler with Katiche links

### Introspection Interrupted

* Attempted Assassination of Judah Brahm.
* Assassination of Inquisitor Serim Milosz and Inspectors Ratco and Slobodan on Karaval; simultaneous death of Judah Brahm.
* Graham Connel assumes acting control of the Hybern Consortium.
* Denunciation of House Brahm and Naval Declaration of Martial Law in the Hybern Sector.
* Keith forces help Inspector Broz to secure Karaval.
* Prince Grigori Levin and a representative of Erhlai An’Drosse testify on the Milosz Assassination to the Imperial Diet and the Seer Council.
* The Seer Council elevates High Seer MacDonald to Grand Inquisitor, with gubernatorial authority over the Hybern Sector.
* State Fleet Minister Dex Connel strips the Harlaw Shipyards and flees into Elvish space.
* The Imperial Navy besieges Hybern.

### Scramble for Hybern

* Commodore Klausman successfully forces the surrender of all Consortium warships around Milgar and captures them. Commodore Holden destroys all Brahm-associated warships around The Holden Expanse.
* Dex Connel dies defending Hybern from the Imperial Navy and Semokku auxiliaries. Hybern’s etheric gate is captured and Roland Drumpf negotiates the surrender of House Brahm. Commodore Slevin’s squad is heavily damaged, but several Brahm ships are captured and sent to be refitted and repaired as part of an expanded sector navy.
* Two Brahm/consortium warships are unaccounted for in the battle: one surrenders to the Navy after the battle of Hybern, while the other, commanded by Graham Connel, flees into Elvish space.

* Maria Brahm agrees to resign as Sector Governor and cede the position to someone outside the Brahm family. She disowns Judah Brahm and Graham Connel as traitors to the Imperium and confirms their complicity in the death of Inquisitor Milosz.
	+ Maria Brahm is permitted to retain governorship of the planet Hybern, but in addition to the Sector Governorship, she relinquishes her control of the “hinterworlds” of Hybern. This sets the precedent that the hinterworlds are linked to the Sector Governorship, not the governorship of Hybern.
	+ The “State Fleet” is to be folded under the Imperial Navy.
	+ Most Sector Officials will resign or be removed from office. The Deputy Minister for Counter Sedition, Giles Rai is arrested and imprisoned for his association with the traitor Judah Brahm.
	+ The Sanctioned Market on Hybern is temporarily shut down by the Imperial Navy and reopened under naval purview by the former top customs official in the sector, Roy Fitzgammon.

* Acting on the recommendation of Prince Erhlai An’Drosse to the Imperial Diet, The Hybern Consortium is assigned to the purview of Prince Grigori Levin, acting representative of the Technical Oversight Commission in the Hybern Sector.
	+ The Consortium warfleet is considered formally disbanded and folded into the purview of the Imperial navy. However, outstanding contracts with the Navy are honored, and Levin is promised a shipyard contract using the facilities on Dolorn.

* Governor Canan Linder of Zu’un is named Sector Governor at the recommendation of Maria Brahm and Rear Admiral Drumpf. Brahm, Linder and Keith representatives in the Imperial Diet support the recommendation, as well as houses Levin, An’Drosse and their allies on Aeldrum and with the blessing of his Holiness the High Seer of Hybern, Grand Inquisitor MacDonald.
	+ Linder receives the hinterworlds of Hybern as part of his promotion.
	+ Linder forces assistance in the occupation of the Valander worlds, under the acting command of Governor-General Sidney Holden (a cousin of Commodore Lisel Holden).
	+ Linder agrees to fold the sector’s civilian customs and counter-sedition offices under the umbrella of the Naval Intelligence Board.

* Roland Drumpf performs several naval promotions and reassignments:
	+ Commodore Malley becomes chief of the reformed State Fleet and Secretary of the Sector Admiralty.
	+ Commodore Klausman is allowed to keep temporary command of the captured Consortium warships from Milgar, and he is named commander of the battlegroup that will invade Dwarven space, essentially giving him command of the invasion (and the spoils).
	+ Two new battle squadrons are formed, to be instated with the completion of major repairs on several reclaimed Brahm warships. These will be commanded by senior officers from the battle squadrons of Astrid Keith and Roland Drumpf.

* Naval marines under Governor General Harth, at the behest of Rear Admiral Drumpf, track down and exterminate the last cells of organized Gul’Dan resistance on the Milgravian colony worlds. The Gul’dan prophet-king Tam’gul is killed.

* Lord Clarence Keith becomes acting Lord of Karaval and assigns his niece and heir, Lady Petra Keith, to administer the planet.
	+ Karaval remains occupied by a joint force of Keith and Linder troops, with Linder troops being drawn down to support the occupation of the Valander worlds.
	+ The Imperial Inquisition mounts a continuing investigation into the death of Serim Milosz, centering on Karaval.
	+ Niles Katiche remains on Karaval under house arrest, while his extended family flees into exile.

* The Imperial Navy confirms that Graham Connel fled to elvish space, where he was apprehended and killed for trespassing by the masters of the elvish enclaves. The warship Graham stole is being returned to the Imperium.

### Carving the Spoils

* Kermit Semokku resigns the governorship of Milgar and cedes the planet and its colonies to the Imperial Marines. Milgar becomes part of a new administrative bloc linking it and the Kartak Occupational Authority into one large bulwark against Dwarven incursion.
	+ Kermit accepts a comfortable retirement on the former Narvelle estate on one of Milgar’s vassal worlds. Tiello and most other surviving ministers of the Milgravian government also go into quiet retirement on various far-flung estates. Raolf Semokku and Aria Tul’Semokku accept executive positions in the Hybern Consortium, while Nold and Dante Tul’Semokku receive commissions within the Imperial Navy.

* Prince Erhlai An’Drosse announces his engagement to Princess Julia Brahm, grand-niece of Governor Maria Brahm, younger sister of Judah Brahm and second in line to the throne (after her cousin, the unmarried Prince Lotharn). Their wedding will be held on Hybern, accompanied by a sumptuous soiree.
* Grand Inquisitor MacDonald rescinds the warrant for Selene Veer’s arrest and remands her to the official custody of Commodore Astrid Keith. While no longer accused of sedition and treason, Veer is still charged with “technical negligence,” then promptly declared reformed and her sentence (typically a stay in Imperial prison) commuted to bonded service to the Imperial Navy. Commodore Keith vouches for Veer’s reformed status and accepts full responsibility for Veer’s future behavior.
* While Commodore Astrid Keith oversees the towing of a recovered Brahm warship from elvish space (accompanied by her bodyguard, Duncan, her top scientists Montral and Veer and her first mate Ariman), she is attacked by a mysterious psionic assailant. Several of her marines are mind-controlled and forced to attack her, though they are dispatched swiftly by Duncan. Keith and her critical staff survive the assault, but her would-be-assassin escapes into the aether.
* Under orders from Rear Admiral Roland Drumpf, Commodore Keith seizes the Academy of Dolorn. Dean Ferak of the College of Computational Studies is imprisoned for obstruction of naval orders. The Deans of Naval Architecture, Industrial Studies, and Automata submit to naval oversight, and Commodore Keith becomes acting director of the Academy of Dolorn.

### Occult Bullshit

* A containment issue in the most secure facilities of the Academy of Sidenia sends the vast College of Psionics into lockdown. Grand Inquisitor MacDonald stabilizes the situation and assumes immediate control of the College, vowing a “full investigation.” The fate of the Academy more broadly remains in limbo, but its future rests squarely with MacDonald.
* Commodore Astrid Keith participates in the pacification of the College of Psionics. After stories emerge that her troops burned and then demolished a library, critics on Sidenia and Dolorn give her a new moniker: “The Book Burner”

### Four Betrayals at a Wedding

* Erhlai An’Drosse’s much anticipated marriage to Julia Brahm and reception soiree are finally held on Hybern, the seat of House Brahm’s much dimmed power. Top naval brass, academics and sector government officials are all invited.
* Sector Governor Canan Linder sends his son, Prince Heinrich.
* Lord Clarence Keith rebuffs the invitation. His heir, Lady Petra, goes anyway.
* From the naval brass, Commodores Commodore Holden, Slevin, and Keith, Gov-Gen Harth, and Rear Admiral Drumpf are in attendance.
* The Brahms, as hosts, have most of their family and staff present.
* Representatives from Sidenia and Dolorn are in attendance, with the Sidenians as guests of MacDonald and the Dolorners as guests of Levin.

* Rear Admiral Roland Drumpf makes a speech congratulating the newlyweds and then declares that Erhlai An’Drosse and Grigori Levin are under arrest as prime suspects in the disturbances on Sidenia. He brandishes a writ from Seer MacDonald empowering him to arrest any who might be connected with Sidenia.
	+ Levin, An’Drosse, and Filimon Connel retort with their own writs of arrest for Commodore Keith and demand Drumpf stand down or be arrested as her accomplice. These writs are also signed by Seer MacDonald.
	+ A multilateral brawl ensues as all parties attempt to arrest each other (or kill each other for resisting arrest). Seer MacDonald is absent from most of the incident.
		- Commodore Keith, after a failed attempt to teleport Filimon Connel into a wall sends her in his place, is killed by An’Drosse’s guards, and her bodyguard Duncan is wounded but extracted via teleporter. Trobe’s children sent to accompany Keith die in a teleporter mishap.
		- Levin and An’Drosse’s right hand, Prince Againne, are both grievously wounded, but survive.
		- Dante Tul’Semokku dies trying to kill Prince An’Drosse (he is shot in the back by Gov. General Harth).
		- A mysterious psionic agent wreaks havoc in the palace venue of the soiree (diminishing the effect of teleportation disruption technology engineered by Filimon Connel to combat his sworn enemy, Selene Veer), briefly does battle with a returned Seer MacDonald and then flees.
		- Prince Filimon Connel avoids being cut down by Keith and her men but dies all the same when a teleport bomb meant for An’Drosse scatters into his retinue. Veer’s vengeance is achieved, if only inadvertently. Heinrich Linder dies in the same explosion.
		- Rear Admiral Drumpf and his bosun are ensnared by Prince An’Drosse’s sarlacc. Drumpf’s mind is flooded by a psionic attack, and he is put down by the mysterious agent.
	+ Surviving guests appear afflicted with a terrible poison. An’Drosse administers an antidote once the shooting stops.

* Grigori Levin survives the Soiree and reveals his extensive evidence of the complicity of Commodore Keith and Princess Selene Veer in the death of Himmel Brahm. He also suggests that given the treason of Rear Admiral Drumpf, prior evidence regarding Judah Brahm should be re-examined and House Brahm rehabilitated.
	+ Sector Governor Linder demands a full investigation by his personal agents into the death of his son Heinrich. He also declares that he will not accept any rehabilitation of House Brahm while his son’s death remains unresolved and the Sector remains in chaos.
	+ Under the protective umbrella of rehabilitation, Graham Connel returns, very much alive, to the Sector. He resumes his function as chief auditor of the Hybern Consortium.

* Levin also declares that Petra Keith aided in the attempted coup and must submit to Imperial authority and forfeit Karaval to the Technical Oversight Commission. He also accuses Clarence Keith of aiding Astrid Keith and requests warrants from Grand Inquisitor MacDonald and the Imperial Diet (on behalf of the Seer Council) to seize Telrion as a matter of state security. He also demands the immediate release of Dean Ferak of the College of Computation on Dolorn.
* Prince An’Drosse and Prince Levin invite the Imperial Admiralty Board to investigate the navy and restore order.
* Commodore Clara Keith assumes acting command of Astrid Keith’s squadron and, with Keith’s command ship and a ship from Drumpf’s flag squadron, makes for Dolorn with all haste.
* Commodore Flynn Malley declares himself Rear Admiral, with the recommendation of Prince Ehrlai, Prince Grigori and House Brahm. Captain Milramar Gestus disputes “Mutineer Malley’s” (Sad!) claim and, as Drumpf’s second, declares himself Acting Rear Admiral.
* Erhlai An’Drosse departs for Aeldrum on a honeymoon with his new wife.

Post-Session:

* House Brahm instates disgraced Rear Admiral Patrice as Grand Captain of the family fleet.
* Following the death of Commodore Keith, her loyal adjutant Captain Jervis Somille declares an active investigation of “mutiny and sedition” within the navy. As director of naval intelligence, he promptly arrests several of his fellow intelligence officers on charges of mutiny, including Captain Walden (a Holden loyalist) and Captain Clement (formerly of Commodore Slevin’s command, dies resisting arrest). Captain Simlan (Malley’s old mentor) and Adj.-Gen. Raymond (Harth’s ex-lieutenant) simultaneously declare themselves “Acting Director” of the Naval Intelligence Board, due to Somille’s “treason.” A violent standoff ensues and naval intelligence devolves into a bickering, fratricidal mess as old grudges are aired, junior officers shoot at each other from behind desk barricades and warrants of arrest roll off the presses.
* Milramar Gestus is arrested by Navy Logistics Chief Nold Tul'Semokku (father of Dante), who holds him as a bargaining chip to protect his daughter Aria, currently in the custody of the Hybern Consortium.

### Aftermath: Recrimination and Reconciliation

* Seer MacDonald is empowered by the Imperial Seer Council to act as their direct agent in bringing order to the squabbling factions of the Hybern Sector. He becomes the first Seer-Legate in the Imperial history, setting the precedent for two decades of increasingly theocratic administration over outlying sectors. His agent, Bevor, becomes the Seer-Legate's new High Judge.
* Nold Tul'Semokku trades Milramar Gestus to Grigori Levin and the Brahms in return for posthumous amnesty for his son Dante and the safety of his daughter Aria and his cousin Raolf Semokku. Gestus is tried and executed by Judge Bevor as a traitor to the Imperium.
* Levin, An'Drosse, and MacDonald recognize Commodore Flynn Malley as the new Rear Admiral, pending his support of negotiations with House Keith. Commodore Klausman is given permanent control of the Kartak Battlegroup.
	+ Flynn Malley perishes a year later in the First Kirvan Crusade. He is succeeded by Commodore Klausman, who eventually becomes a full Imperial Admiral charged with the "Kirvan Theater." To better prosecute the war against the Kirvans, Klausman summarily seizes the Holden Expanse, giving the Holdens newly conquered dwarven planets as compensation.
		- Dolorn becomes a navy planet, administered on behalf of Admiral Klausman by Clara Keith, who reactivates Astrid's project to develop a demonically powered gravity bomb, now on behalf of the Imperial Navy.
* Judah Brahm is posthumously rehabilitated by MacDonald. Levin is confirmed as director of the Hybern Consortium, and Prince Andren Brahm is named Chief Auditor. Graham Connel, also rehabilitated, replaces his uncle Filimon as Chief of Staff of Governor Maria Brahm.
* MacDonald refuses to overturn the cession of the Sector Governorship to Canan Linder, but he accords that Linder must return the Hinterworlds of Hybern to the Brahms. Linder is appeased by an Inquisitorial investigation revealing that his son Heinrich was an unfortunate casualty of the attempted coup by Drumpf and Astrid Keith.
* Prince Grigori Levin and Prince Erhlai An'Drosse offer terms to Lord Clarence Keith: amnesty for his niece Petra and his cousin Clara, if he denounces his late sister Astrid as a traitor and surrenders Karaval. Negotiations are tense, as the Keith fleet (augmented by Astrid Keith's old squadron) now dramatically outnumbers Levin and An'Drosse's local forces but Levin and An'Drosse have the nuclear option to bring the main Imperial Navy into Hybern to pacify the sector. Final terms are agreed:
	+ Petra Keith will remain Lady of Karaval, but she will marry Grigori Levin and give birth to a (verified) heir to both Karaval and Grigori's position as director of the Hybern Consortium. This heir will marry the eldest child of opposite gender born to Erhlai An'Drosse and Julia Brahm. Lady Petra Keith is also removed from the succession to Telrion, in favor of her cousin, Lord Clarence's son, Clarence IV.
	+ Captain Jervis Somille, Astrid Keith's former second, will resign from Naval Intelligence and the Hybern Imperial Navy, retiring to Telrion. His daughter, Signa Somille, will retain her commission as captain.
	+ Clara Keith will be removed from the navy as Commodore but reinstated as Lady Commodore, commanding a hereditary squadron consisting of four captured Hybern Consortium warships (a Keith "gift" to the Navy). Lotharn Brahm, heir to Hybern, will receive a commission as Lord Commodore under the same terms, commanding the other half of the Hybern Consortium's former fleet.

* Governor Harth is given military command of Milgar's defense, but the Hybern Consortium receives broad economic autonomy on Milgar and her hinterworlds.
	+ Ex-governor of Milgar, Kermit Semokku, is kept under house arrest in the Palazzo di Narvelle. Kermit's mental health deteriorates severely, and he retreats into ever greater isolation. Servants hear him conversing with himself late into the night more often than not, as if he were still holding cabinet meetings. The former governor perishes two years later in a fire that claims the Palazzo. The last people to see him claim he was frantically trying to put out a flaming puppet.
	+ Governor Harth eventually becomes Sector Governor of the newly formed Kartak Sector. The Hybern Consortium extends its Milgravian contracts into the Kartak Sector and becomes the Hybern-Kartak Consortium, still administered by Grigori Levin.
		- Aria and Raolf become senior executives in the HKC.

* Prince Ehrlai has six children by Julia Brahm. The eldest, Carrek, is betrothed to Maeve Keith-Levin, daughter of Grigori and Petra. Prince Erhlai solidifies total control over the planet Harlaw, folding the Andros family into his new dynasty. Erhlai also helps the Brahms and the Keiths to undercut the Linders by using his Diet connections to directly collect Imperial tithes from both families rather than through the sector governorship.
* Princess Selene Veer, now over a century old, puts herself into stasis, awaiting a time when Petra Keith needs her once more to continue Astrid Keith's work. Doctor Anselm Trobe flees into Celestial Space. Petra Keith begins her life's project: the Encyclopedia Imperia.