Editing Tytania:Volume 1 Prologue (section)

==Prologue – The Rise of Tytania==
Dividing history into periods is merely a convenient device for writing and reading history textbooks. Yet, it may well be said that it is the ultimate goal of historical research. For the manner in which eras are defined and the approach taken to define them directly reflect the fundamental historical perspective of an individual.

In the past, back when humanity’s activities were confined to a single planet, Earth, a very simple division in four was commonly employed. Antiquity, Mediaeval, Early Modern, and Modern, with sometimes a Contemporary period added.

On this fundamental division, specific circumstances for each field were added. For the history of the arts, of science and technology, of literature, of economics, and so on, the division in periods often diverges from the general chronological division. The collapse of a vast empire may sometimes hold no influence whatsoever on the techniques and concepts behind sculpture.

When applying this to military history, the greatest turning point could be seen as the use of gunpowder. However, when it comes to military thought, there exists a cynical viewpoint that “since Sun Tzu, nothing whatsoever has fundamentally changed.” Furthermore, in military thought, a certain perspective divides eras based on the emergence of two major currents: “mechanisation and mass production” vs “guerilla”, though it raises the question of which of these emerged first, which is not an easy question to answer.

In political and social history classifications, it is common practice based on the adoption of the Stellar Year (SY) calendar to divide history between the “Earth Era” and the “Post-Earth Era” based specifically on the year when humanity’s primary base shifted from Earth to other celestial bodies. This, coupled with the abandonment of the ''Anno Domini'' (AD) calendar in favour of the SY calendar, brought a clear and significant shift in consciousness.

The so-called “Gagarin era” takes the year 1961 as its base, when a man by the name of Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel into space. A similar concept would be the “Apollo Era”, beginning in the year 1969, the year mankind first left footprints on a celestial body other than Earth; however, it is probably correct to say that it was “merely the success of an accumulated system, and it did not represent any change at all in the state of humanity as a whole” (U. N. de Waal). After Gagarin and Apollo, space remained the preserve of specialised technicians and did not become humanity’s living space.

By exchanging superluminal particles (tachyons) with subluminal particles (tardyons), faster-than-light speeds could be attained. This system was completed in the year 2420, and its completion would serve as the catalyst for the explosive expansion of humanity into outer space. That realisation represented an exceedingly rare example of a point of facts and truth coinciding almost perfectly, arguably the first time since the “Industrial Revolution”.

That era of development was an era of optimism. Popular aphorisms from back then include “Fear not failure” and “Fly before you see”. The population also grew, forming a pyramid-shaped demography. Within the solar system, the population that had remained static at 50 billion exceeded 100 billion within sixty years. By the year 2500, it reached 150 billion. During that period, FTL flight and its associated technologies underwent constant improvement, increasing safety for the humans using it, which in turn spurred migration towards outer space, expanding continuously the domain of human society.

Looking back over history, the period when human society was politically unified, the Earth United Government, barely lasted a century. By the 23rd century, following turmoil and confrontation, Mars and Venus achieved independence and established a political status equal to Earth’s. From then on, territorial expansion only accelerated political fragmentation.

To put it in hyperbolic terms, by going to an uninhabited planet, planting a homemade flag, and declaring independence, one could establish a new nation. Thus, by 2488, the number of nations had exceeded 10,000, but these “bubble states<ref>“Bubble state” (泡沫国家) is here pronounced “bubble system”.</ref>” lasted at most less than a generation, and by 2509 that number had been reduced to 806, and by 2530 it had fallen to 338. That year, various legal systems were finally put in place, and the SY calendar replaced the AD calendar. Earth didn’t experience any dramatic conflicts, and as its economic dominance weakened, it also lost its political influence and, by the mid-2400s, had already become but “one among many”.

Around that time, the common language of mankind was known as “Public<ref>“Public language” (公共語) is here pronounced “public”.</ref>”. It was based on the English language of the AD era, but English had many inconsistencies in grammar and noticeable differences between writing and pronunciation. Consequently, improvements were made to bring spelling closer to pronunciation, which increased its prevalence, and it is sometimes referred to as “phonetic English”. In any case, the spreading of Public allowed humanity to achieve at least a minimum level of mutual understanding.

And then, the era of “Interstellar City League” commenced with the Stellar Year calendar.

This was the first period of the “Post-Earth era”.

The “Interstellar City League” is often simply referred to as the “League”. The transformation of a proper noun to a common noun, or the reverse, is often an indicator of how powerful and influential that existence is. This is no exception.

If we started to talk about the concept of a city, we would have to spend many more pages. As for the Interstellar City League specifically, it is an artificial celestial body with independent political functions that conducts economical activities mainly pertaining to commerce and industry. It isn’t a monarchy but a city-state joining the League by the will of the majority of its citizenship.

That League had been established precisely in the first year of the Stellar Year calendar, although at that time only fourteen city-states participated. The following year, that figure rose to sixty, and by the year SY 30, it had reached a hundred and fifty. The citizens of cities joining the League simultaneously acquired the status of “League citizen” that protected their rights.

Since the League isn’t a nation, it has no capital city. Once a year, a general meeting is held in one of the cities of the League, and during that period, that city becomes the “League Representative City”. The League would establish there a Secretariat to handle its various administrative duties, with a Secretary-General at its head. The appointment of the Secretary-General is decided by vote of the General Assembly.

The Secretary-General of the League was, strictly speaking, responsible only for administrative matters and was neither a representative of the League nor its head of state. His duties include preparing and conducting the League General Assembly, compiling and managing statistics and official records, operating the Secretariat, and maintaining various regulations. Among his most crucial duties was the collection of contributions from each League city, and should he fail at that task, his own salary wouldn’t be paid. In every city, the tendency to give unsolicited opinions while being reluctant to participate in the budget was something that had remained fundamentally unchanged since the AD era.

The League didn’t have a standing military force. Each League city possessed its own “City Fleet” that exercised its military administration and command, and several city fleets would unite when facing a formidable enemy force. A commander-in-chief of the “League Fleet” was selected upon receiving approval from the General Assembly, but once the fighting concluded and the fleet was disbanded, he would receive a commendation payment and retire. Therefore, there was no rank designation such as “League Vice-Admiral”, and Admiral Philip Oakshaw, who had served as commander-in-chief of the League Fleet six times during his lifetime, officially held the title of general of the Halpolis City Army. Generally, commanders of City Fleets held the rank of vice-admiral or rear-admiral, and in smaller cities it wasn’t uncommon for a field officer to serve as commander. It could be said that Admiral Oakshaw was honoured with the highest distinction.

Furthermore, the League maintained facilities known as “kontor<ref>“Trading post” (商館) is pronounced “kontor”. The kontors were big trading posts established by Northern Europeans in foreign countries.</ref>” throughout the galaxy to protect the economical activities of their cities and citizens.

The four major kontors of the League were established on the planetary states of Kafir, Ementhal, Tyron, and Bargash. For the Interstellar City League, kontors served as embassies, consulates, and trade missions, as well as headquarters for the resident communities, and were indispensable for safeguarding the rights and interests of the entire League. Both information and goods were distributed and gathered through them.

Each of these four major kontors had their own distinct characteristics.

In the case of the Kafir kontor, while its director was a League merchant, its Chief Director was a native Kafiran. His professional duties involved serving as a conduit between the League and the Kafirans, as well as collecting business taxes and property taxes from the kontor. But from the League’s perspective, it was merely a matter of elevating a prominent Kafiran figure to the position of Chief Director, granting him various privileges, and moulding him into their own representative.

In the case of the Ementhal kontor, no building existed bearing such a sign. Merchants in the city could freely establish offices, business premises, or residences wherever they wanted within city limits and conduct their affairs and activities as they saw fit, unless it concerned a particularly significant assembly. Every three years the head of the kontor was elected by assembly, and that person’s office or residence would be designated as the kontor’s liaison office for the subsequent three-year period.

However, when the location changed, the communication channels remained fixed, and the contact details were always clear. Since Ementhal was a planet of considerable political and economical stability, it could maintain a free and autonomous regime, much like a miniature version of the League itself. As a consequence, the inhabitants of Ementhal enjoyed a refined and rich culture, although limited to a local scale. The Faculty of Commerce and the Department of Trade of the University of Ementhal were established through donations from the kontor, and quite a number of graduates left Ementhal to become space merchants and ultimately League citizens.

As for the third kontor, Tyron, the situation was entirely different. That kontor possessed vast grounds, and all League merchants were required by regulations to establish not only their offices but also their residences within these grounds. On these premises, a social infrastructure sufficient to constitute an entire city was established, and one could live comfortably within the kontor until death if they so desired. That is, if they can overcome the feeling of spiritual confinement.

Tyron was a planet rich in resources, but its inhabitants had a somewhat insular disposition, valuing their ways and not harbouring necessarily favourable sentiments towards the Interstellar City League. League merchants would realise that they were marginalised by that planetary society and would seek to quickly turn a profit and depart. Unlike in Ementhal, they made no effort to reinvest their profits in the planetary society, which further frustrated the Tyronians. Consequently, the Tyron kontor took on an atmosphere that resembled a concession. Still, given Tyron’s geographical constraints, the League had no choice but to maintain the kontor, while Tyron itself couldn’t ignore the League’s economic influence, and thus the contour persisted.

Finally, the fourth kontor, Bargash. Compared to the other kontors, it occupied the most remote sector of space. The frontier expanded as human activities advanced, so the sector under this kontor’s jurisdiction was constantly growing.

Twenty years after its establishment, the volume under its jurisdiction had reached ten billion cubic light-years, encompassing two hundred inhabited planets within its commercial sphere. The number of uninhabited planets likely numbered ten times that. That kontor perpetually stood at the foremost frontier of human society, and unlike the refined urban culture of Ementhal, it brimmed with raw vitality, ambition, and adventurous spirit, coupled with speculative tendencies, wildness, and independence. The kontor lent capital to countless “adventure merchants” and handled their legal formalities while maintaining a specialised team dedicated to locating missing persons.

Among the activities of this kontor, the occupation of “Locator<ref>“Planet administrator” (惑星管理官) is here pronounced “locator”.</ref>” became particularly distinctive.

What’s a Locator? An individual entrusted with authority by the owner of a celestial body to attract immigrants to planets and moons to advance their development. While fundamentally civilians, they are, strictly speaking, an agent of a government or a feudal lord, not a representative of the planet’s inhabitants. Historically, planets with Locators didn’t have resident autonomy and were therefore regarded as underdeveloped regions.

The income of a Locator entirely depended on the tax revenue generated by the planet under his management. If he succeeds in developing the planet, he could secure substantial tax revenues and pocket ten percent of them, making his lifestyle rival that of royalty and nobility.

The relationship between a feudal lord or a government and a Locator was contractual. The terms, remuneration, authority granted, and status guarantees were stipulated in the presence of a Bargash kontor official. Should either party breach the contract, it would mean antagonising the Bargash kontor, and, by extension, the League itself.

Beyond the four major kontors, the League maintained numerous commercial and diplomatic outposts known as “factories<ref>“Branch office” (出張所) is here pronounced “factory”. Factories used to be the name given to trading posts, as well as small kontors.</ref>”, but even the largest among them wasn’t allowed to bear the title of kontors. The status of the four kontor was just that high.

''“Is the person at the top a president or a kontor chief?”''

As this popular saying circulated, the position of kontor chief represented the pinnacle of civilian achievement.

Thus followed the “Interstellar City League Era”. That period spanned from SY 229 and was also known as the “Age of Space Opera”, as some commentators ironically called it. On the topic of Space Opera, I recommend a good reading of A. N. Menshutkin’s ''Future Tense in Creative Activities'' even though it was the product of an era when humanity was still confined to Earth’s surface and aspiring to the heavens. Once mankind finally began to operate on other celestial bodies, it became a general term for popular entertainment novels, but in the end it could be said that it was an era of great vitality and ambition. “Humanity’s moral evolution never materialised. It merely expanded its scope of action,” sarcastically remarked Lian Hoon Dao, thinking it wise to not expect any spiritual elevation from that species until 1000 or 2000 years. It seemed likely that the human species would require a much longer period of time to improve.

Historically, the League of city-states’ greatest rival was the Vardana Empire.

Through prolonged endeavour, unmeasurable passion, and exceptional spatial technology, the League’s merchant fleets had established economic supremacy in space over all, except for the Vardana Empire.

The two frequently clashed in wars, with victories alternating between both sides, although the League usually maintained a seven-to-three advantage. This was due to the League surpassing the Empire in “space combat capability”, which encompassed vessel functionalities, crew proficiency, communications, and logistics.

The Vardana Empire was formidable and resilient, but it fell extremely short of the League’s sophistication when it came to economic and militaristic matters, amounting to what M. Thornycroft called a “hillbilly with muscles”. While they would invariably prevail when drawing League forces into their own territory, the League understood this and had ceased to pursue Imperial Forces deep in their territory and had instead severed their trading routes with the Empire. The Empire would then quickly capitulate, gnashing its teeth out of frustration, and be left with little choice but to beg for the restoration of trade. Occasionally, they feigned isolationism, but in these periods, the League would improve its space navigation and communication capabilities, which widened the gap between them even further. Even though they were their greatest rival, they only amounted to that much, and the Interstellar City League Era seemed destined to endure.

However, in the year SY 2287, a disaster occurred. A clan known as Tytania seceded from the Interstellar City League.

The Tytania clan was originally one of the most powerful and distinguished clans among the city-state League. By SY 220, the positions of mayor in ten cities, of commander in fourteen city fleets, of chairman of the League’s General Assembly, and of commander-in-chief of the League Fleet were all occupied by members of the Tytania clan. Merely eight years later, the Tytania clan seceded from the League. The entire clan renounced their League citizenship and defected to the Vardana Empire, taking all their fleets and assets with them.

This act of betrayal sent shockwaves through all of human society. It meant the collapse of social, political, economic, and military balance. Aside from any precise figures,

''“The League’s power halved while the Empire’s doubled”'' was the impression it gave to contemporaries of that time. The impact on the League was immense.

Thus, the Tytania clan was elevated to nobility in the Vardana Empire. They received the title of “Landless Clanner<ref>“Landless overlord” (無地藩王) is pronounced here “Landless Clanner”.</ref>” because they had firmly declined to be granted a fief. Bearing a marshal’s baton, they settled in the Privy Council, and lavish honours were bestowed upon them, leaving the previous generations of established nobility utterly dumbfounded. Even more dumbfounding to them was the haughty attitude displayed by the Tytanians.

Neville Tytania, who was then the head of the Tytania clan, would always publicly proclaim the following:

“We are not the subjects of the emperor but his allies and equals. Without Tytania, there is no empire, but without the empire, Tytania remains an unshaken existence.”

That boast was filled with immense pride. And although it was a bit of an exaggeration, it was almost the truth. Thus, they were bound to inspire awe and hatred alike. For the Interstellar City League, Tytania was an unforgivable traitor, subservient to a tyrannical despot. For the Empire, Tytania was an insolent upstart that showed none of the deference due as a subject, and it was unthinkable to extend favourable treatment to such scoundrels.

''“In my cup, the blood of my enemies. In my eyes, no authority for a lord. In my ears, the lament of the vanquished. To my lips, the wine of victory.”''

These verses were also composed by Neville, the first Lord of Tytania, in accordance with ancient customs. It had no literary merit whatsoever, but Tytania was permitted to boast about herself with such haughty arrogance.

The phrase “In my eyes, no authority for a lord” angered the courtesans of the Vardana Empire, but Harsha II, who was the emperor back then, simply smiled bitterly and placated them.

''“He speaks only the truth. There is no point in rebuking him. Let him speak.”''

Had he rebuked him, Tytania would have calmly declared herself an enemy of the Empire. The courtesans understood this and fell silent.

Having thus established superiority over the Interstellar City League, the Emperor could but dismiss the matter with a bitter smile, but for the League forced into a position of inferiority, laughter was hardly an option. They couldn’t forgive Tytania’s betrayal, and to recover from the blow of losing Tytania, they had no choice but to inflict upon the Vardana Empire a blow of equal or greater magnitude.

Thus, both through reason and illogicality, the League fortified its resolve to strike at Tytania. Mobilising its full strength, the League made thorough preparations and opened hostilities against the Empire with the greatest military force they amassed in all their history. “It is not the Empire that we fight, but Tytania,” they declared, hoping to isolate them. That stratagem functioned, forcing Tytania into fighting alone against the League. For Emperor Harsha II, nothing could have been more welcome than witnessing both Tytania and the Interstellar City League destroying themselves.

Thus, the following year, SY 229, saw the “Battle of the Braunwald Sector”, where the League forces suffered a crushing defeat. Neville Tytania completely annihilated an army that outmatched his two to one, and the League’s authority was utterly squashed. That single battle drew a dark curtain over the “League Era” that had seemed to be enduring until then.

From then on, the history of space navigation became synonymous with the history of Tytania. It was the process of establishing the hegemony of Tytania, achieved through both peaceful and unpeaceful means. The brutality would have scared the faint of heart and was filled with the scent of blood. Neville Tytania, fearing neither bloodshed nor infamy, acted as the most capable egoist in human society and achieved immense success.

The Tytanians weren’t the representatives of humanity’s morals. They were a clan that defended their own rights and interests by force. Anything perceived as detrimental to Tytania’s interests was ruthlessly eliminated. Merchant fleets from the Interstellar City League were attacked and plundered. Within the Empire, anti-Tytania vassals were assassinated, exiled, and purged.

There were rumours about Emperor Harsha II’s sudden death in his mid-fifties as having been orchestrated by Tytania. The fact that these rumours had been spread by Tytania themselves meant that the gravity of the situation was beyond imagining.

Depending on the calibre of its successor, Tytania’s strength and glory might not endure indefinitely. But Nuri, the son of Neville Tytania, proved to be a man of even greater cunning than his father. Neville, who was a person that others thought of as a monster, remarked of his son:

''“I can hardly believe that he is my child. He seems like a completely different kind of existence,”'' he spat out.

Neville had his human failings, such as a fondness for women, a taste for drink, and a tendency to show some remorse after executing his subordinates in a fit of rage, but Nuri was a grey businessman adept with numbers and laws. Whatever his inner thoughts were, he always appeared cool and rational and skilfully managed the misjudgements and blunders his father made in his later years, steadily enhancing Tytania’s power and influence. Neville disliked Nuri but couldn’t afford to ignore him as a successor. In the year SY 269, at the age of 76, after forty years as head of clan, Neville stepped down and installed Nuri as the second-generation head.

Neville lived yet another nine years, but his final days were spent in disappointment and solitude. To consolidate his own power, Nuri wielded the blade of inner purges, killed all three of his brothers and both of his sister’s husbands, and found pretexts to execute twenty-eight of the thirty-six officials who had assisted his father. Jean Ferral, who had served Neville for half a century, saw his entire family slaughtered. Ferral sent Neville a plea to spare at least his young grandchildren, but it fell into Nuri’s hands. Before his bedridden father, he tore the plea to shreds and announced Ferral’s execution. In a fit of rage, old Neville rose from his sickbed to seize his son and fell to the floor, dying from physical and mental shock.

What could have led Nuri to carry out such cruel deeds? That mystery would soon be revealed.

Even before the end of old Neville’s funeral, Nuri’s opponents to his tyranny began plotting to oust him from his position as head of the clan. Dissatisfied elements from within Tytania, aided by key figures from the Empire and the League, formed a large “Anti Nuri Front”. Then, the very next year, the very moment they were about to take concrete action, Nuri’s glistening sword flashed.

“This is what is called ‘catching the whole herd in a single throw<ref>“To catch all with one net” (一網打尽) a four-character proverb that means rounding up a whole gang in one move.<br />
.</ref>’,” is what Nuri reportedly told his secretary.

This brutal purge, either directly or indirectly, claimed the lives of some 65,000 people.

Having purged both internal and external enemies in blood and mud, Nuri became a literal despot. His notoriety could rival that of a demon lord, and yet, he had never laid a finger on anyone outside the “Anti-Nuri Front”, so surprisingly, he wasn’t that hated by ordinary citizens. His objective was to establish order with his own hands.

Nuri had five sons, each of whom established a household.

They were known as “Tytania’s Five Families”, and only the descendants of these families could bear the surname Tytania. Furthermore, the chairman of the family council, in other words, the head of the clan, was elected from among the Five Families. He obtained the title of “Landless Clanner”, was addressed to reverently as “Your Clanner Highness”, and wielded absolute power, both within and beyond the realm.

Nuri made Tytania’s power unshakeable and placed its internal systems in order. Then, as the generations passed from the third generation, Chatelet, to the fourth generation, Var, to the fifth generation, Barneveld, their authority and prestige decisively settled, making it impossible to have any rivals.

“A single bloodline rules humanity and the cosmos. And yet, formally, this bloodline is but the subject of a single nation. Its military might, though a mere private army, surpasses all national forces. This, indeed, is Tytania.”

Thus declared the third-generation lord, Chatelet, before continuing as he puffed his chest out:

''“The universe exists along with Tytania.”''

It might seem at first glance like an offhand remark. And yet in truth, rare were statements brimming with such arrogance. He didn’t say, “Tytania exists along with the universe,” but the opposite. He was without a doubt the grandson of the mighty Neville Tytania.

Tytania was reviled, despised, and hated for various reasons as well as the current state of affairs, and yet it was also true that, without Tytania, cosmic order couldn’t be maintained.

Generation after generation, the heads of the Tytania clan were at the very least sufficiently capable individuals when they were not outstanding, and they governed their clan well and managed their organisation as well as maintained the power and influence inherited from their ancestors. Even when internal struggles or rivalries arose within the clan, they would unite outwardly to protect their common interests.

They didn’t desire the title of Emperor, nor the political union of the cosmos. What they aspired to, and achieved, was to parasitise on the entirety of human society while dominating its principal parts. And yet, on the other hand, they certainly held some pride as the holders of the title of “Landless Clanner”, with the conviction that their domain was outer space itself.

Tytania. Its name was made immortal in history as the Tytanian Age, or Pax Tytaniana. The year SY 229 marked the beginning of that era.

In the year SY 446, the Tytania Era seemed to endure unshaken. The current Landless Clanner was the eighth-generation lord of the clan, Ajman Tytania. He had held the position for five full years and had just turned 40. A man of sculptural features with silver-grey hair, he was said to be stern and shrewd, a reincarnation of the Second Lord of the clan, Nuri.

That year, Ajman made a demand on the city of Euria, one of the powerful city-states that formed the Interstellar City League. The demand consisted of Euria selling for a hundred million dakars its latest chemical semi-permeable membrane technology, which had been developed and refined for planetary ocean development. That technology was projected to yield Euria two hundred million dakars in annual profits for the next thirty years, which made Ajman’s demand seem like highway robbery. Euria rejected the demand. But rejecting a demand from Tytania could not go unpunished.

The Interstellar City League, which once ruled over the cosmic ocean, had declined along with Tytania’s rise to become a second-rate power. Even so, it remained a force that couldn’t be ignored as a counterweight to Tytania, and it often rallied anti-Tytanian factions, chipping away at its hegemony. Consequently, the city-state of Euria should have had the power to resist the power of Tytania, but for the past decade or so, Euria had acted as a non-mainstream faction within the League and had defaulted on its contribution payments, so the League remained unresponsive to Euria’s call for assistance and even refused to convene a general assembly.

Without a general assembly, a League Fleet could not be assembled. Therefore, the city-state of Euria had to confront the invasion from Tytania with nothing but their own city fleet.

For the city of Euria, this was a disaster of epic proportions, and yet, for the wider human society at large, it was an event barely worthy of attention. After all, Tytania’s victory was certain. And the future would see the Era of Tytania continue. A future so obvious that even a child could understand it seemed to loom for the city of Euria.

Thus was the state of affairs in the cosmos that preceded the “Battle of Cerberus Sector”.