Groups
Specific groups of interested individuals that have been encountered in the journey, or who have exerted a strong direct influence on local events. More groups will be added as they are met, or as their deeds are made manifest.
Rampart System
Aeneas
- Admiral Koxinga Li Halan's Household
- The current governor of Aeneas, Koxinga, is a Li Halan admiral who was granted a rise in status for his efforts during the invasion of the system. Koxinga is a Traditionalist Li Halan, despite his low status, and his household mainly consists of members of his command group who he personally knighted. Most of his retainers are officers, soldiers, and other military personnel, although Koxinga has managed to attract an extremely officious Torenson etiquette advisor. Currently, Koxinga has placed New Carthage under martial law and deployed both his personal troops and the Li Halan garrison forces in an attempt to pacify the city in the face of food riots, gang wars, and rising cult activity.
- The Aenean Revolutionary Brigade (ARB)
- A violent Third Republican group based in the poorer areas of New Carthage. This group is affiliated, indirectly, with the so-called Newtopian school of Republicanism and resents the surrender of the Republican government of Rampart. The founding members of the group were resistance fighters on Rampart who managed to flee persecution on Rampart. Recently the ARB have taken advantage of the turmoil in the Aenean underworld and have embarked on a campaign of civil disobedience and minor sabotage; the food shortage on Aeneas has meant they have more supporters than they might normally be able to muster.
- The Macleod Family of the Hasegawa Syndicate
- This underworld family controlled almost all illicit activities in the city of New Carthage on the desolate world of Aeneas, and no few legitimate businesses as well. It has suffered greatly thanks to the choices of the cadre and the manipulations of Imperial Eye Supervisor Tenzing Chusharwa and it is still unclear if it will survive in any form.
Rampart
- Duchess Magu Li Halan's Household
- The Duchess is the current planetary ruler of Rampart. Governing with a light hand from the Radieux Palace in Avaneir, she largely permits the other rulers to do as they see fit; large parts of Rampart are still governed by military commanders of Li Halan forces from offworld and the Duchess is not inclined to interfere in their pacification efforts. The Duchess' household contains a large number of political campaign experts who she employs to control the limited elections permitted in the now peaceful parts of Rampart. These experts are largely responsible for the victory of the pro-Li Halan Rene Pierpont as mayor of Avaneir Rene.
- The Mahayanist Moderates
- The cathedral of Avaneir, and many of the lesser cathedrals on Rampart, are dominated by Mahayanist theologians who look to Bishop Rollo Paulus as their leader. These priests and priestesses favour integration of the fiery faith of the Li Halan and some of the technical and mercantile ideals of the defeated Academicians, and see such a development as a certain counter to the threat of Incarnatism, or other forms of heretical belief. Quietly, the Moderates also believe that repression of the Zhi-Su is incorrect, and are of the opinion that these pre-reflectives could be incorporated peacefully into the Universal Church.
- The Rampart Democratic Alliance (RDA)
- This party once controlled the democratic assembly of Rampart, before the Li Halan invasion. Many of its leaders were detained by the various Li Halan intelligence agencies, and not all of them were released. The RDA is now a shell of its former self, it is still legal but any members are barred from public positions so it has lost all of its former influence; some members are still said to continue their covert re-democratisation of Rampart. The group is said to possess ties to the Third Era, but the Leagueheim-Rampart rivalry and the group's current powerlessness make this difficult for some to believe.
- The Rampart Resistance (RR)
- A militant group of former Rampart democracy activists, nationalists, and militia. The group is philosophically tied to Newtopianism although it is extremely preoccupied with Rampart's democratic destiny, rather than with universal Republicanism. Currently several sub-groups operate, largely independently, under the RR's aegis; many of them are holed up in the Ceramanique Mountains of Delest and duel with Li Halan troops sent to root them out. These groups rarely venture from their mountain fastness, but Li Halan media reports tie them to bombings and sabotage all over Rampart.
- The Chevalier Xanthippe
- House Xanthippe maintains one of their famous Moonhavens on Rampart's moon. From here they negotiate various contracts for their military services and their wines. The Xanthippe remained netural in the recent war between the Li Halan and the Academicians of Rampart, a move which prevented Chevalier from playing any serious role in the conflict. The current Xanthippe policies seem to favour this neutral, "business as usual", approach.
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