History of the Starlit Court

The Starlit Court's history is long and winding, and can be traced back to a single colony constructed by earth. Though the Court's history is long, much of it has been lost to the sands of time, leaving numerous gaps in our timeline.

The Age of Elentar (Before BS 1035)

The planet Elentar is settled by colonists from Earth, who encounter the native Zelvan. Several conflicts and wars are fought between the human colonists and the Zelvan; ultimately seeing the Zelvan conquered and integrated. During the conflict between the Human colonists and the Zelvan, the colonial military begins augmenting their forces with biological augmentations. After several centuries Zelvan culture had been fully integrated into the local human culture; creating the unique Elentar identity.

Reign of the Father (BS 950 - 918)

Elentar had been ruled over by a Feudal government and the hereditary line of the High King for centuries. Society is highly stratified and static, though the population is largely content, obedient, and peaceful. The Current High King begins the training of their Heir to rule at an early age, as was tradition. By all accounts the Heir was highly charismatic and a skilled warrior. The high king began to build a retinue of personal advisors, bodyguards, and hangers on.

Members of the Heirs inner circle began to present if not push populist ideas on the Heir; some going so far as suggesting the High King needed to be removed for the good of the people. According to legend, the Heir sought the truth of these claims, moving among the people in disguise and meeting with common folk. A few historians suggest that these meetings were carefully selected and cultivated to push the Heir further into this populist movement.

Some historians suggest that the Heir was simply growing impatient with their father. The ruling High King had held the office for some time, and their reign had no end in sight. These historians posit that the Heir latched onto the growing populist movement as an excuse to overthrow the High King and seize power. Regardless of their motives, the Heir began to push these ideas at court, souring relations with the High King, and brewing dissent and spite between the two. Ultimately, the High King disinherited and disowned the Heir publicly.

War (BS 918 - 925)

After being disinherited the former Heir begins to foment rebellion against the High King, gathering to his banner many Men-at-Arms, and the Knightly retinues of those Nobles who had been part of his entourage. At the beginning of the war the tides were in the favor of the High King; bringing the full might of the Nobility and their knights against the Disowned Heir. As the civil war dragged on, more and more commoners flocked to the cause of the Disowned heir, forming militias and resistance groups that swelled in numbers until the High Kings forces were greatly outnumbered. One of the most useful allies that came to the Disowned Heir's side was the commoner Morrag. Morrag was an extremely fierce and competent warrior who earned a place at the table of the former Heir. Eventually Morag is given her own title and knighted by the Disowned Heir the former Heir, and the two would fall in love.

What some believed would be a swift rebellion dragged on into years of conflict. The devastation of wreaked across Elentar was incalculable. Despite this, neither side wanting to give in or surrender. Ultimately, this brutal stalemate moved the hands of both the High King and the Disowned Heir to unleashing super weapons against each other. The desire of both monarchs to bring a swift end to the conflict lead to the ultimate and total detestation of the world.

Eventually, the High King is mortally wounded in battle and died; his forces scattering with no leader, and leaving the Disowned Heir the victor. It is unknown who exactly slew the High king, but by all accounts his death devastated the Disowned Heir, who still loved their parent despite the conflict. Some claim that it was the Disowned Heir that found the High King dying on the battlefield, and that when the Heir began to break down the High King scolded them.

A Fractured World (BS 918-916)

The Disowned Heir was crowned the new High King of Elentar, as the world still burned. The new High King reflected over the words of his Father, that still rung in his ears. His world was dying, and a great deal of that blame he put at his own feet. The construction of Sihi had begun before the war, and had been halted when the war diverted all industry toward war material. Sihi was initially designed to be a great colony ship; destined to spread the Elentar empire among the stars. Now, all efforts turned to finishing and expanding the project, creating the enormous vessel we know today while Elentar was wracked by disaster after disaster brought about by the great and terrible weapons of the war.

Among the Stars (915 - 900)

The journey away from their destroyed world was seen by many to be a new beginning, wiping clean the slate of what had come before. The High King began to enact many of the governing principles that exist today in the modern society of Sihi, the first among which was the egalitarian society who's ideals he espoused in the War. While originally without a destination, after some years the High King became convinced of a new place for his people amongst the stars. A near mythical, perfect world. Grail. It is also during this time that the High King begins to become deeply introspective, and the beginning steps of the Starlit Path are founded, culminating in the Faith and philosophy from which the Starlit Court takes its name. During this period, we lost the high king. There are two main theories, but legends and tales are as uncountable as the stars.

During this time we began wide scale use of the Sheath among our military, finding it a vital tool for better control of our mechs and ships. As we collected imprints of former knights within their Sheaths they began gathering in our repositories and formed a Gestalt consciousness. This Gestalt would eventually become known as the Unseelie Court; a way to never again need to suffer the loss of family as had been seen in the War, as well as the immense loss of knowledge and wisdom death on that scale brought.

One tale recounts that the High King left Sihi on an independent pilgrimage. The High King would do so from time to time, and was in the habit of designating a rendezvous points and scheduled pick ups. However, when we went to find the High King, he was nowhere to be found. Morag went on a quest to find him, but only found the place where he had reached Enlightenment, ultimately refusing to leave the spot and perishing.

Another account suggests that the High King had begun to believe that his people were following him too closely, almost deifying him, and that they would never find their own path to spiritual enlightenment on the Starlit Path if he remained to hold their hands forever. And it was because of this that he left. Again, when he did not return at the scheduled point, Morag rushed to find him, and when she discovered him and the truth she was heartbroken, that he would break his oaths to his people, and to her. And in a rage, she killed him, only to end her own life after, realizing what she had done.

Reconstructing the Starlit Court (900 - 850)

With the loss of the High King, the court goes into a state of mourning and grief. Eventually, the court of the High King collect themselves, and begin to form an provisional government. The Knights of the High King's Court each establish a knightly order and become its Grand Master. These Grand Masters form the first grand Council of Grandmasters as a ruling body over Sihi and the Starlit Court. The Grand Masters also appoint a Steward, to act as an arbitrator in the place of the missing High King.

Civil Strife and Dark Times (850 - 825)

A period of civil unrest and growing tensions threatened to tear apart the Starlit court and throw Sihi into civil war and destruction.

The Returnists Riots

A political movement calling themselves The Returnists spreads across the people of the court. The Returnists were largely made up of third and second generation Sihians who demanded the right to leave the Court and return to the Homeworld at the expense of the court. The Returnists were an outspoken and active, holding many marches, protests, and drawing in large numbers. However, things turned bloody when a Returnist rally turned into an armed march, moving through Camlann to protest on the grounds of The King's Woods. In response, the Grand Masters declared the protestors rebels, and the knightly orders were dispatched to put them down in a swift and bloody battle. The Grand Masters are heavily criticized by many members of the public, as few efforts were made to quell the Returnists and hundreds not involved in the riots were arrested and imprisoned with no trials in the wake of the event.

The Baker Trial and protests

After a fight between a Syr Alasdair Torvik, the Black Hand and Jon Rey Baker escalates and Baker is killed, leading to the infamous Baker Trial. Syr Alasdair Torvik is tried via military tribunal and receives light punishment, inciting protests that claim cronyism, nepotism, and corruption among the knightly orders. While knights and members of the military often received military trials over public ones at this point in history, this case was considered particularly egregious as Syr Alasdair Torvik’s father and brother in arms were both members of the tribunal’s judges. The civilian population called for exile, as it was believed that Syr Alasdair Torvik and Jon Rey Baker had bad blood, and many believed the killing was premeditated. The trial sparked 3 weeks of protest. The Grand Masters grew concerned with drops in productivity, declaring martial law and increasing Syr Alasdair Torvik’s sentence from a short imprisonment to a penance campaign.

The Marauder Act

The Marauder act was a law that granted members of all knightly orders the power to carry out civilian law enforcement to bolster the Sihian police in response to the Mound Murders. The Mound Murders were a series of brutal murders targeting technicians at a number of mounds along the silver road leaves a dozen killed and several maimed, dedicated police forces stretched thin and a six month manhunt that never bore fruit. There is a massive outcry by the general public that the orders are overstepping their bounds, and effectively declaring martial law.

The Dave Protests

After a farmer named Dave had seized by the state to make way for a military garrison, Dave attempted to sue the Court for wrongfully seizing their land. In a shocking decision, Dave was charged with insubordination and shameful conduct when they attempted to sue the state, and was sentenced to 10 years of penal service by the grandmaster in charge of his trial. This sparked a series of and demonstrations and protests that shut down Camlann for nearly a month. Despite declaring martial law and arresting nearly fifteen hundred protesters, the Grand masters eventually relented, repealing Dave’s punishment and releasing all but a handful of protesters.

The Hellfire Strike

The last in a series of major strikes and protests that had taken place between 829 and 826, during which all arms manufacturing plants on Sihi had simultaneously entered a prolonged labor strike. The protests had initially begun by exhausted arms manufacturers who had been forced to work extreme hours with no compensation, claiming they were being treated like enlisted men, or worse; the cold-ones enlisted men used as pack animals during training drills. The Hellfire Strike was an entirely peaceful event, with no records of violence or riots. The Strike gained its name from the Hellfire Missile workers who began the strike, and their symbol of a rocket drooped over like a limp noodle.

The Year-long Summit

Under immense public pressure and threats of running out of war material and manpower, the Grandmasters accept demands for the restructuring of governance within the Starlit Court. Initially called the “Demilitarization Congress”, the Yearlong summit was a lengthy series of meetings, negotiations, and public referendums that last over a year The Summit was delayed for nearly three months after being announced by the Grandmasters by the public’s discourse on who to send to the summit, with countless arguments over the eligibility of former military personnel, religious figures, members of private industry, and if there needed to be a reserve number of Zelvan or human representatives. Ultimately a compromise was reached and The Council of Elders were established to act as a second house to govern The Court as well as be chosen by the majority of peoples in Sihi not just those of the Knightly Orders Choosing.