IIS Dossier: Divine Mandate of Moshtar
IMPERIAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE BRIEFING DOSSIER
CHILDREN OF EARTH DEPARTMENT
DOSSIER: DIVINE MANDATE OF MOSHTAR
A cursory briefing for the Assembly of Higher Minds. No classified Data not authorized for Assembly viewing is contained therein.
In mid-2215, Explorator Pell Impos made contact with the Divine Mandate of Moshtar. Though not exactly greeting us with open arms, these neighbors of ours seem to be willing to exist peaceably, and were open to a sharing of cultural and historical data. Based on the information provided, and what our own stealthed scouting vessels are attempting to provide, we can provide some information on the Divine Mandate.
Moshtar In the Second Empire
Moshtar, in the Trukkav was one of the seven Viceroyalty seats, the highest administrative subdivision of the Second Empire. Technically, the sector that Vanerra was part of was responsible to the Viceroy on Moshtar, but in practice, Vanerra and the Forni system, and indeed, the entire sector, was functionally independent and had been for centuries by the time the Kishrath invaded.
However, the Viceroy of Moshtar was unique, when the Second Empire began to collapse, as being the only Viceroy to support the coup on Argoss that destroyed the Senate. Long frustrated by the Senate's failings, the Viceroy had always lobbied for greater support for the Kishrath front, but had constantly deadlocked out of being able to do anything.
Unfortunately, very few of his subordinate governors - the ones that still nominally reported to him - as well as his neighbors did not like that. Outnumbered and outgunned, Moshtar was able to hold off invasion of the Trukkav system for a surprising 35 years, through fortification and hit and run tactics. However, he could see the handwriting on the wall - he lacked the resources or population - Moshtar, being primarily Elvhen, simply lacked the sheer number of people other worlds could throw at the problem - to fight forever. Seeking to ride out the chaos, believing that the Second Empire could survive the war, eventually, the Viceroy had ordered the construction of vast underground bunkers on Moshtar, to allow his people - or at least, many millions of them - to survive the coming devastation, regardless of what happened on the surface.
Some 37 years after the coup on Argoss, the enemies of Moshtar bombarded the world to radioactive ash over a six month period. And, based on everything we can tell, the adhoc alliance immediately began fighting itself, as Entropy continued to seize at all parts of the galaxy.
The Dark Years
The Dark Years were not kind to the Elvhen of Moshtar. The vaults were a complete and utter failure - despite the best efforts, they did not hold back the radioactive devastation of the aftermath of the bombardment, spreading mutation and death throughout the vaults. After a century, efforts to solve the problem were successful, and the power core of the vault system was adapted to power energy shielding that held off external radiation, but by then the millions of survivors had dwindled to merely a million, and cancer and various other illnesses and physical problems ran through them.
Even more unfortunately, it seems that the power core was simply not designed for this sort of output. Over the centuries, many things in the Vaults had a habit of shutting off at random, seemingly, being restarted, and then other things shutting off. The people of Moshtar centered their entire lives around this faulty power core, trying to keep it running, studying it and the energy shielding it created, and in the process, eventually created a religion out of it.
The 'Energons', as imagined by the Moshtarans, are a powerful group of beings that command all energy and power flows across the galaxy, and they are a capricious group that must be appeased through 'rituals' of 'maintenance' and 'fueling'. Rather than allowing technology to simply be, motive and will has been ascribed to every fluctuation of every generator and power coupling across Moshtar.
Modern Moshtar
Moshtarans returned to the surface around a century and a half ago, adapted to the radiation. Their internal organ structure is a bizarre mess - they still look externally Elvhen, but it is the belief of our xenobiologists that were a Moshtaran Elv to donate blood to a more normal Elv, or an organ was transplanted from the former to the later, the 'normal' Elv would die a painful, radioactive death in a matter of hours, if outright biological rejection on a mass scale did not kill them first.
Regardless, they returned to the space of their system, and like us, have taken advantage of the stabilization of the hyperlanes to spread out into the stars .
Moshtar today is led by a Tribunal of Clerics, who are also rather skilled physicists, specializing in power production and energy shielding, as appropriate with the faith of Moshtar. They interpret the will of the Energons, based on the fluctuations of the Moshtaran power grid and, most importantly, the fluctuations of the original vault power core that began all this.
In practice, the longstanding dogma of the Moshtaran Energon Church, as the mainstream orthodoxy is known, has been that it is their obligation to ensure that no one ever hurts their chosen people again, that Moshtar is safe and secure. And beyond that, that safety and security is brought to all they can bring it to. What exactly that might mean for us is unclear. They too obviously seem to seek a birth of a Third Empire, if you read between the lines of official dogma, but will they seek it in unity with us, or in opposition to us?
That much remains to be unclear.
The power of the Tribunal appears to be relatively absolute - they are not questioned, legally speaking, when they make a a decree. However, each member of the Tribunal names their successor in their will when they die, which seems to have tended to keep the Tribunal divided between three factions historically - a technologically progressive faction, a regressive defensively-minded faction, and a radical faction that has a few times, promoted using cybernetics to become more in tune with the Energons and the energy they produce. This has been debated more than once and it seems unlikely to happen, as this faction is the smallest, but it has continued to exist throughout, and often controls the swing vote between the other two.
Moshtaran Culture
Moshtaran society centers around music and audioplays, rather than holovision. The Vaults holo-communication system was one of the first things to fail, while the audio communication system remained functioning without interruption almost universally. This led to a culture of 'radio' - not actual radio waves, of course, they didn't regress that far, but of centering their entertainment and culture around the medium of video-less sound being transmitted. They enjoy a variety of channels from which to choose, and appear to have a vibrant opera scene.
Moshtaran cuisine tends to the bland and flavorless, which appears to be a religious imposition dating from when the food in the Vaults couldn't have flavor. That, and few spices or flavorful foods seemed to have survived on Moshtar or redeveloped in the face of the radiation. If Moshtaran dignitaries ever visit, it is advised we do not feed them the cuisine of the Arcyoc Isles.
IIS Recommendations
In the long-term, it is unclear what our relations with Moshtar will be - their religious beliefs could be made compatible with ours, if their ruling clergy can be made to accept the primacy of Tychea within their system, but achieving that would require a great deal of work. Further, their emphasis on security for all, on defense at the expense of everyone else, seems to make clear that sooner or later, they will seek to expand, and perhaps even create a Third Empire, in rival to our own efforts.
In the short term, it is suggested we leverage our joint religiosity to forge an alliance in the face of the hostility of the Durgonians in the League of Kram'col. Beyond that, if we can establish full military dominance, it might be possible to convince them to submit to our authority peaceably, in exchange for defense and security.
CHILDREN OF EARTH DEPARTMENT
DOSSIER: DIVINE MANDATE OF MOSHTAR
A cursory briefing for the Assembly of Higher Minds. No classified Data not authorized for Assembly viewing is contained therein.
In mid-2215, Explorator Pell Impos made contact with the Divine Mandate of Moshtar. Though not exactly greeting us with open arms, these neighbors of ours seem to be willing to exist peaceably, and were open to a sharing of cultural and historical data. Based on the information provided, and what our own stealthed scouting vessels are attempting to provide, we can provide some information on the Divine Mandate.
Moshtar In the Second Empire
Moshtar, in the Trukkav was one of the seven Viceroyalty seats, the highest administrative subdivision of the Second Empire. Technically, the sector that Vanerra was part of was responsible to the Viceroy on Moshtar, but in practice, Vanerra and the Forni system, and indeed, the entire sector, was functionally independent and had been for centuries by the time the Kishrath invaded.
However, the Viceroy of Moshtar was unique, when the Second Empire began to collapse, as being the only Viceroy to support the coup on Argoss that destroyed the Senate. Long frustrated by the Senate's failings, the Viceroy had always lobbied for greater support for the Kishrath front, but had constantly deadlocked out of being able to do anything.
Unfortunately, very few of his subordinate governors - the ones that still nominally reported to him - as well as his neighbors did not like that. Outnumbered and outgunned, Moshtar was able to hold off invasion of the Trukkav system for a surprising 35 years, through fortification and hit and run tactics. However, he could see the handwriting on the wall - he lacked the resources or population - Moshtar, being primarily Elvhen, simply lacked the sheer number of people other worlds could throw at the problem - to fight forever. Seeking to ride out the chaos, believing that the Second Empire could survive the war, eventually, the Viceroy had ordered the construction of vast underground bunkers on Moshtar, to allow his people - or at least, many millions of them - to survive the coming devastation, regardless of what happened on the surface.
Some 37 years after the coup on Argoss, the enemies of Moshtar bombarded the world to radioactive ash over a six month period. And, based on everything we can tell, the adhoc alliance immediately began fighting itself, as Entropy continued to seize at all parts of the galaxy.
The Dark Years
The Dark Years were not kind to the Elvhen of Moshtar. The vaults were a complete and utter failure - despite the best efforts, they did not hold back the radioactive devastation of the aftermath of the bombardment, spreading mutation and death throughout the vaults. After a century, efforts to solve the problem were successful, and the power core of the vault system was adapted to power energy shielding that held off external radiation, but by then the millions of survivors had dwindled to merely a million, and cancer and various other illnesses and physical problems ran through them.
Even more unfortunately, it seems that the power core was simply not designed for this sort of output. Over the centuries, many things in the Vaults had a habit of shutting off at random, seemingly, being restarted, and then other things shutting off. The people of Moshtar centered their entire lives around this faulty power core, trying to keep it running, studying it and the energy shielding it created, and in the process, eventually created a religion out of it.
The 'Energons', as imagined by the Moshtarans, are a powerful group of beings that command all energy and power flows across the galaxy, and they are a capricious group that must be appeased through 'rituals' of 'maintenance' and 'fueling'. Rather than allowing technology to simply be, motive and will has been ascribed to every fluctuation of every generator and power coupling across Moshtar.
Modern Moshtar
Moshtarans returned to the surface around a century and a half ago, adapted to the radiation. Their internal organ structure is a bizarre mess - they still look externally Elvhen, but it is the belief of our xenobiologists that were a Moshtaran Elv to donate blood to a more normal Elv, or an organ was transplanted from the former to the later, the 'normal' Elv would die a painful, radioactive death in a matter of hours, if outright biological rejection on a mass scale did not kill them first.
Regardless, they returned to the space of their system, and like us, have taken advantage of the stabilization of the hyperlanes to spread out into the stars .
Moshtar today is led by a Tribunal of Clerics, who are also rather skilled physicists, specializing in power production and energy shielding, as appropriate with the faith of Moshtar. They interpret the will of the Energons, based on the fluctuations of the Moshtaran power grid and, most importantly, the fluctuations of the original vault power core that began all this.
In practice, the longstanding dogma of the Moshtaran Energon Church, as the mainstream orthodoxy is known, has been that it is their obligation to ensure that no one ever hurts their chosen people again, that Moshtar is safe and secure. And beyond that, that safety and security is brought to all they can bring it to. What exactly that might mean for us is unclear. They too obviously seem to seek a birth of a Third Empire, if you read between the lines of official dogma, but will they seek it in unity with us, or in opposition to us?
That much remains to be unclear.
The power of the Tribunal appears to be relatively absolute - they are not questioned, legally speaking, when they make a a decree. However, each member of the Tribunal names their successor in their will when they die, which seems to have tended to keep the Tribunal divided between three factions historically - a technologically progressive faction, a regressive defensively-minded faction, and a radical faction that has a few times, promoted using cybernetics to become more in tune with the Energons and the energy they produce. This has been debated more than once and it seems unlikely to happen, as this faction is the smallest, but it has continued to exist throughout, and often controls the swing vote between the other two.
Moshtaran Culture
Moshtaran society centers around music and audioplays, rather than holovision. The Vaults holo-communication system was one of the first things to fail, while the audio communication system remained functioning without interruption almost universally. This led to a culture of 'radio' - not actual radio waves, of course, they didn't regress that far, but of centering their entertainment and culture around the medium of video-less sound being transmitted. They enjoy a variety of channels from which to choose, and appear to have a vibrant opera scene.
Moshtaran cuisine tends to the bland and flavorless, which appears to be a religious imposition dating from when the food in the Vaults couldn't have flavor. That, and few spices or flavorful foods seemed to have survived on Moshtar or redeveloped in the face of the radiation. If Moshtaran dignitaries ever visit, it is advised we do not feed them the cuisine of the Arcyoc Isles.
IIS Recommendations
In the long-term, it is unclear what our relations with Moshtar will be - their religious beliefs could be made compatible with ours, if their ruling clergy can be made to accept the primacy of Tychea within their system, but achieving that would require a great deal of work. Further, their emphasis on security for all, on defense at the expense of everyone else, seems to make clear that sooner or later, they will seek to expand, and perhaps even create a Third Empire, in rival to our own efforts.
In the short term, it is suggested we leverage our joint religiosity to forge an alliance in the face of the hostility of the Durgonians in the League of Kram'col. Beyond that, if we can establish full military dominance, it might be possible to convince them to submit to our authority peaceably, in exchange for defense and security.
