*THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN CATALOGUED IN THE RECORDS OF THE IMPERIAL BUREAUCRACY UNDER ID: 371ceae8-e081-4a08-b1fc-1efc1cfd0b6f BY BUREAUCRAT AESCHYLA OF LASTVAULT.* Once upon a time, a bit under a sixty thousand years ago, a very wealthy, very powerful asshole ([[#1]]) decided to become king asshole. ([[#2]]) He knew that squaring up against Her Majesty was a pointless exercise in protracted sui/geno-cide, and that most of the good monsters would take way too much killing. So, like a great many very boring would-be kings before him, he went in search of new worlds to conquer. This particular asshole had the kind of 'fuck you' money that meant he might have never actually heard of money. His expenses got offloaded to calculator-planets and an entire industry sprung up around anticipating his every insipid desire. Naturally, this insufferable prick was born on Halcyon ([[#3]]), with all of the nationalism, bloodthirst, and stubbornness that is the Halcyonites' birthright (see meta-record "Halcyon Purges" for numerous examples). Unlike the others, however, he wanted badly to allow for natural birth and death among his people. He believed that, in setting themselves aside from humanity at large, they had equally set themselves to the side of evolution, a process he held central to the virtue and value of Halcyon. The debates grew heated, with dozens of colony worlds sacrificed in bloody argument before finally he prevailed. While the planets held by Halcyon itself would remain static, those who accepted a revocation of their Holding-granted immortality (second only to that inflicted on the Wend) and set out to conquer new colonies would be allowed to reproduce freely. King Asshole-in-Training gathered up a few dozen of his people who saw things the way he did, and set out on a mission of conquest. Holdings; powerful, warlike holdings were swept aside by flatly superior warmaking technology. Where before Halcyonite wars had been brief affairs, a few worlds stolen and a few million people killed, now they didn't seem to end. Each planet conquered led not to a reduction in their avarice, but an expansion in their warmaking capacity. Before anyone realized what was happening, House Orman was one of the great powers of the galaxy. After the usual bit of turbulence ([[#4]]), they had that title in name as well as power. Their expansion continued, as the asshole imagined carving out an entire sector in which he'd get to play at being a king. The rebellions trickled in slowly, at first. With their eyes always on the next war, House Orman had sought to keep his conquered worlds intact, so that they could fuel the conquest of the following world. A decent strategy for warmaking, but it didn't seem to occur to any of these genius strategists that they were leaving their conquered populations sitting on top of 'build your own revolution' kits. Now, under someone who knew what they were doing, this would have been little more than a setback. Internal security forces or locally stationed armadas would respond, examples would be made, and 'order' would be maintained. But no, it is not for the likes of us to understand the brilliance of House Orman; obviously, one does not conquer an entire sector by being cautious, or playing it slow, or thinking one's plans through. And so, when the first four worlds declared their independence, every single fleet under Admiral Asshole's command was engaged on the borders, expanding his glorious empire. Needless to say, when the first rebellions went unchallenged, dozens of worlds followed. I have catalogued twelve thousand distinct wars that have been fought in the sector now called Sundered Harmony since the arrival of House Orman. Between the rebellions eating the sector from within, border nations launching counter-invasions from without, and the asshole trying desperately to salvage his little project, it has been a long time since anyone stuck in this mud pit could be called more than a regional power. House Orman maintains their claim over the Sector, but whatever ability they had to govern, or command, is long since neutralized. Their continued claim comes from their policy of triage by warfare - any power that the House considers capable of challenging their rule is swiftly decapitated. For this reason, it is unacceptable to House Orman that the sector ever be put to order - without the endless wars that characterize the sector, their so called rulers would be incapable of remaining at the top of the hill. So much for evolution. ## Footnotes ### 1 (*Archivist's Note: For the love of Herself, can no one get Aeschyla to write like a proper archivist?*) ### 2 (*Archivist's Note 2: As per ruling of the Myriadic Council of IY112,219.487, Saint Bureaucrat Aeschyla's writing is found to be officially without fault. Per the same ruling, Archivist Laert has been remanded to custody*) #### 3 A core world in the Jade Luminance, hosting a Class 3 Gamma civilization (A post-technology civilization with fixed population size and lifespan). #### 4 (*Archivist's Note 3: I respectfully submit for the Saint's consideration that the annihilation of three planets, the execution of a Voidstalker Expeditionary Captain for accepting bribes, and an estimated eight-two assassinations **might** rise to the level of a 'commotion.'* )