The Empress Arbellatra Alkhalikoi

[fiat_knox]

How much in canon is known of this historical person as of 1105 Imperial?

I mean, I have dates: apparent birthday 240-587, seemingly on Glisten, became Captain in 603, Captaincy confirmed in 604 by Olav hault-Plankwell at the end of the First Frontier War, launched a successful bid for the Iridium Throne in 620 as an Admiral, ended the Civil War and the era of the Barracks Emperors by assassinating Emperor Gustus, held the throne in trust until the Moot could find a successor to Jacqueline I, finally granted the Throne in 629, died of natural causes in 666 Imperial, succeeded by her son Zhakirov.

I also have it on good authority that she was involved with one Rhys ap Connor when she was 27 by the reckoning of this historical account, and that she was 42 when she acceded to the Throne, by which point Rhys had been her consort for fifteen years.

Was there any reason why, and indeed how, the then - Duchess Arbellatra was able to secure a Captaincy at the age of sixteen years old? I think the Imperium has a right to know.

Also, is there anything else about the Empress that has appeared in the canon, that I ought to know about?

 

[rancke]

How much in canon is known of this historical person as of 1105 Imperial?

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Alkhalikoi,_Arbellatra_Khatami

I mean, I have dates: apparent birthday 240-587, seemingly on Glisten, became Captain in 603, Captaincy confirmed in 604 by Olav hault-Plankwell at the end of the First Frontier War, launched a successful bid for the Iridium Throne in 620 as an Admiral, ended the Civil War and the era of the Barracks Emperors by assassinating Emperor Gustus, held the throne in trust until the Moot could find a successor to Jacqueline I, finally granted the Throne in 629, died of natural causes in 666 Imperial, succeeded by her son Zhakirov.

I also have it on good authority that she was involved with one Rhys ap Connor when she was 27 by the reckoning of this historical account, and that she was 42 when she acceded to the Throne, by which point Rhys had been her consort for fifteen years.

Where is this information from? I've never heard of Rhys ap Connor before (Except I saw him mentioned a few days ago -- synchronosity strikes again).

Was there any reason why, and indeed how, the then - Duchess Arbellatra was able to secure a Captaincy at the age of sixteen years old? I think the Imperium has a right to know.

The biography in Nobles mentions that she commanded the system defenses during the Battle of Rhylanor in 603. Presumably her conduct impressed Grand Admiral hault-Plankwell enough to give her a commission. Perhaps things were a little disorganized at the time. Wasn't there some sort of unpleasantness going on in the Marches at that time?


Hans

 

[fiat_knox]

This information comes in very handy. Thank you.

Rhys ap Connor is mentioned in, among others, the Traveller Integrated Timeline (PDF document), as well as in Martin J Dougherty's Traveller: 1248 and GDW's Challenge 33.

629 Empress Arbellatra establishes the Imperial Regency of Intelligence and Security (IRIS), under Rhys ap Connor, her friend and consort of 15 years, and her intelligence chief during the Zhodani and Civil wars. Challenge #33, GDW, 1988, p. 53.

It's nice to know that the longest-lasting, noblest dynasty in Imperial history, a dynasty founded in 629 and extending to the time of Strephon, has some Welsh blood in it, however faint it is by the 1100s.

 

[rancke]

This information comes in very handy. Thank you.

Rhys ap Connor is mentioned in, among others, the Traveller Integrated Timeline (PDF document), as well as in Martin J Dougherty's Traveller: 1248 and GDW's Challenge 33.

Sigh. More dicrepancies. Traveller: 1248 I don't have, but Don is quoting from Challenge 33, and that article was a variant. Survival Margin rather cleverly explained away the IRIS that showed up during the Rebellion as fakes and pokes fun at the notion of the invisible power-brokers that even the Emperor had never heard of. And now you say that they've been ressurrected by Traveller: 1248?

Of course, the fact that IRIS was a fake doesn't say anything about Rhys ap Connor, but with TL 13 bio-technology, he is unlikely to have been the father of the children ascribed to Duke Sergey.


Hans

 

[Spinward Scout]

synchronosity strikes again

I thought I was the only one that got that all the time. Interesting...

Back to your regually sceduled Traveller discussion.

 

[fiat_knox]

Sigh. More discrepancies. Traveller: 1248 I don't have, but Don is quoting from Challenge 33, and that article was a variant. Survival Margin rather cleverly explained away the IRIS that showed up during the Rebellion as fakes and pokes fun at the notion of the invisible power-brokers that even the Emperor had never heard of. And now you say that they've been ressurrected by Traveller: 1248?

Of course, the fact that IRIS was a fake doesn't say anything about Rhys ap Connor, but with TL 13 bio-technology, he is unlikely to have been the father of the children ascribed to Duke Sergey.

Hans

Well, spies are supposed to be sneaky little buggers, you know ... and it can get pretty lonely on the throne, all on your own ...

If you can check the authorship of the respective sources, it may or may not be a surprise to you to learn that Martin J Dougherty penned the 1248 book I have in my possession. He also penned the Mongoose Spinward Marches.

I can never get around the fact that Arbellatra was a Fleet Captain at 17, though. I keep coming back to that part. Must've been bloody desperate for Olav hault-Plankwell to pick a teenager to lead the Fleet. Still, she did lead her Fleet to victory at the Battle of Rhylanor ...

 

[aramis]

I can come up with a non-canon plausible reason for her to be commanding... System fleet, Daddy's the local baron. She is placed in charge by Daddy, and manages to impress the officers.

 

[rancke]

Well, spies are supposed to be sneaky little buggers, you know ... and it can get pretty lonely on the throne, all on your own ...

I was referring to DNA analysis. I see no reason why an Empress can't have both a husband and a lover, but fathering children on another man is a bit difficult when you automatically "sign" your name to your handiwork.

If you can check the authorship of the respective sources, it may or may not be a surprise to you to learn that Martin J Dougherty penned the 1248 book I have in my possession. He also penned the Mongoose Spinward Marches.

What's your point?

I can never get around the fact that Arbellatra was a Fleet Captain at 17, though. I keep coming back to that part. Must've been bloody desperate for Olav hault-Plankwell to pick a teenager to lead the Fleet. Still, she did lead her Fleet to victory at the Battle of Rhylanor ...

A captain "only" runs a ship, not a fleet. A flag captain runs the flag ship, but does the text say Olav mad her his flag captain? I don't know what a fleet captain is.

As Will (Wil? Is that a typo in your sig or is it only one 'l'?) says, she must have been leading the defense of Rhylanor in her capacity as the Duchess of Rhylanor.


Hans

 

[aramis]

A captain "only" runs a ship, not a fleet. A flag captain runs the flag ship, but does the text say Olav mad her his flag captain? I don't know what a fleet captain is.

As Will (Wil? Is that a typo in your sig or is it only one 'l'?) says, she must have been leading the defense of Rhylanor in her capacity as the Duchess of Rhylanor.


Hans

There are three uses for Flag Captain; in the 18th and 19th C, some Flag Captains were Acting Commodores, not Flagship Captains. Not to mention the rare but historic Captain granted personal flag as an honorific...

Use 1: Captain of an Admiral's Flagship
Use 2: Senior of two Captains assigned to a flag ship; the Flag Captain is deputy to the Admiral, and senior to the other captain (and presumably the rest of the captains in the command)
Use 3: Captain-commanding of a line or task group with no flag officer.
Use 4: Captain granted personal Flag to fly from his command. (Extremely rare; I've seen one historically referenced. He was later promoted to Commodore. 18th C. Don't remember whom.)

I suspect the correct interpretation, in this case, is #3... Take a bunch of SysNavRhylanor ships, take personal command under her (Noble) flag as Heir (or perhaps even Duchess) Rhylanor, and use Flag Captain as "1st amongst equals" rather than adopt "Commodore"...

And no, no typo in my sig. One "l"...

 

[rancke]

There are three uses for Flag Captain; in the 18th and 19th C, some Flag Captains were Acting Commodores, not Flagship Captains. Not to mention the rare but historic Captain granted personal flag as an honorific...

Um, are you sure about that? In the Royal Navy, a commodore was a captain who was temporarily appointed to lead a squadron. This entitled him to fly a pennant, just as an admiral. He might have a captain under him, or he might not. In the first case he was entitled to more pay (and IIRC a bigger share of the price money) than in the second. But in both cases he was addressed as commodore. If he did have a captain under him, that captain was a flag captain, the captain of a flagship.

Things may have been different in the US navy. ITR that commodore was a substantive rank there.

Use 1: Captain of an Admiral's Flagship
Use 2: Senior of two Captains assigned to a flag ship; the Flag Captain is deputy to the Admiral, and senior to the other captain (and presumably the rest of the captains in the command)
Use 3: Captain-commanding of a line or task group with no flag officer.
Use 4: Captain granted personal Flag to fly from his command. (Extremely rare; I've seen one historically referenced. He was later promoted to Commodore. 18th C. Don't remember whom.)

I suspect case #3 is a misunderstanding. If there is no flag officer, then there is no flag to fly and thus no flag ship. The senior captain would automatically be in charge.

I suspect the correct interpretation, in this case, is #3... Take a bunch of SysNavRhylanor ships, take personal command under her (Noble) flag as Heir (or perhaps even Duchess) Rhylanor, and use Flag Captain as "1st amongst equals" rather than adopt "Commodore"...

According to her biography in Nobles, she had become Duchess in 602. I still don't know where she was referred to as a flag captain and what precisely the text actually says.


Hans

 

[aramis]

Neither do I know where. I'm taking the evidence here on faith at the moment.

However, yes, I AM sure about the uses of Flag Captain and use 3 was in use for a period in the UK navy. A commodore in the US was a rank and not-a-rank about the same timeframes as the UK. Use 4is the one that I'm not positive about. I remember it, but...

I suspect she assumed command under her flag as a noblewoman; actually taking command as a captain-commanding (given that commodore was a rank defined in two places in CT as a rank; HG and MT-PM as an O7) is unlikely given her apparent age... Note that the specific admiral grades differ between them... Fleet (O8), Sector (O9), and Grand (O10) in MT.

From MT IE:

Arbellatra: First of the Alkhalikoi Dynasty (and occasional-
ly considered to be the 18th of the Emperors of the Flag). Born
in 587, served as Grand Admiral of the Marches and led the
defeat of the Out-World Coalition in the Second Frontier War
(615 to 620). Arbellatra returned to the Imperial Core and
defeated the remnants of the Central Fleet under Gustus in
the Second Battle of Zhimaway (622). Proclaimed regent by
the Moot in 622 pending the location of a suitable surviving
heir to the throne. Proclaimed empress by the Moot in 629.
Died in 666. Built the Grand Imperial Palace, a magnificent
sphere one kilometer in diameter, which floated one-half a
kilometer above the landscape of the Imperial Park on Capital.


Second Frontier War (615 to 620): Fought between the Out-
world Coalition and the Imperium during the period of the bar-
racks emperors. Arbellatra (587
to 666) was named Grand Ad-
miral of the Marches by Cleon V and led the combined local
and Imperial forces to defeat the Coalition, and then he pro-
ceeded to reestablish the central Imperial authority.
​

Cleon V was emperor 615-618 (MTIE), so she was grand admiral (O10) at an age between 28-31... which would be term 2-3... so if term 1 was brevet to captain (O6), she made grade REALLY fast even then.

 

[rancke]

However, yes, I AM sure about the uses of Flag Captain and use 3 was in use for a period in the UK navy. A commodore in the US was a rank and not-a-rank about the same timeframes as the UK. Use 4is the one that I'm not positive about. I remember it, but...

Since I'm quite fond of Napoleonic Naval Warfare fiction, I would have been very interested to learn of actual examples of use 3, but I suppose it's moot in connection with the Imperium, because we've no way of knowing that it was or was not used in that sense in Milieu 600.

I suspect she assumed command under her flag as a noblewoman; actually taking command as a captain-commanding (given that commodore was a rank defined in two places in CT as a rank; HG and MT-PM as an O7) is unlikely given her apparent age... Note that the specific admiral grades differ between them... Fleet (O8), Sector (O9), and Grand (O10) in MT.

Yes, I know. It's one of the canonical bits that really bugs me, because it creates a huge dicrepancy in the power levels between admirals and supposedly equivalent officers in the other services. Chris has convinced me (against my will ) that it would be possible for the Fleet Admiral grade to cover several command levels, but it remains an ugly and awkward way of doing things (IMO, that is). And it leaves the rear and vice admirals referred to in canon unexplained.

But I digress.

Cleon V was emperor 615-618 (MTIE), so she was grand admiral (O10) at an age between 28-31... which would be term 2-3... so if term 1 was brevet to captain (O6), she made grade REALLY fast even then.

I really don't understand why this is such a problem. The Imperium was under massive stress and Arbellatra was one of the 300 most important people in the Imperium. Why shouldn't she get advanced beyond her years? It's not something we'd expect from the pseudo-21st_Century_Western_Tradition Imperial Navy of Strephon's time, but Milieu 600 was not Strephon's time.

The really big step is the first one. Once she had demonstrated the ability to command an entire system defense force at the age of 17, the rest follows naturally. IMO, that is).


Hans

 

[aramis]

I don't have a problem with a system noble asserting command over his/her system fleet. It's part of that "Rule of Men, not Rule of Law" construct. The officers of a system fleet are either directly answerable to the local government or the local noble, depending upon system, and through triple command chains to the noble no matter what.

System fleets are subject to Subsector Admiralty and to System noble as representative of the imperium, and to either the world gov't or the noble, much as US National Guard are since about 1920... In Alaska, the Ak NG is answerable to the US Army command, and to the Governor as CiC of the AkNG, and also to the State Government (Funding and regulation).

I'm NOT a fan of the Napoleonic era in the west; my degree focused upon Russian and US histories.

As to Arbellatra commanding at 17: Where is the cite on that? I want to know if I have that, and if it's in non-GURPS sources.

 

[rancke]

System fleets are subject to Subsector Admiralty and to System noble as representative of the imperium, and to either the world gov't or the noble, much as US National Guard are since about 1920... In Alaska, the Ak NG is answerable to the US Army command, and to the Governor as CiC of the AkNG, and also to the State Government (Funding and regulation).

We've very little idea what the rules were like in the Antebellum and how they were bent or broken during the pressures of the Civil War.

I'm NOT a fan of the Napoleonic era in the west; my degree focused upon Russian and US histories.

So those example of the use of 'flag captain' may be by Russians and Americans and other furriners with silly ideas (Not Englishmen, I mean)?

Joking aside, we still don't know if Arbellatra ever served as a flag captain, and if she did, we don't know how the Imperium of the Classic Era uses it and even less how the Imperium of Milieu 600 used it.

As to Arbellatra commanding at 17: Where is the cite on that? I want to know if I have that, and if it's in non-GURPS sources.

It's from Nobles. Above I linked to the Traveller wiki article, which is taken from Nobles. Is that a problem? As you point out, it's the MT articles has her a grand admiral at 30. No doubt Jon was trying to explain that when he made her succeed to the duchy in 602 and command a fleet action in 603 (That'd be at 16, not 17; my mistake).


Hans

 

[aramis]

The sucession at 16 I would question; I think it unlikely she would rule in her own right. If she did, who was regent for those two years, or did she actually rule in her own right?

I can see an early middle-age noblewoman being made grand admiral in a province that's teetering on rebellion and fighting a war as well. I have more issue with a 16yo taking over a fleet, unless it was on daddy's orders. Or a notable regent's.

No, wait, Especially on a notable regent's... her example later is being assigned empress when no clear heir is available for the Imperial throne she was regent of; perhaps the goal was to send her to her doom, and she pulled it off anyway, and lived long enough that the regent couldn't take over the title.

Perhaps the GT article isn't telling the whole story....

 

[rancke]

The succession at 16 I would question; I think it unlikely she would rule in her own right. If she did, who was regent for those two years, or did she actually rule in her own right?

Milieu 600 and in the middle of a war, remember?

I can see an early middle-age noblewoman being made grand admiral in a province that's teetering on rebellion and fighting a war as well. I have more issue with a 16yo taking over a fleet, unless it was on daddy's orders. Or a notable regent's.

Certainly it's odd. It's definitely something that'd deserve, even require, an explanation if anyone ever does a proper writeup of Arbellatra (for Milieu 600 perhaps?) But I don't see it as that odd, given the unusual circumstances prevailing at the time.

Perhaps the GT article isn't telling the whole story....

Thumbnail biography, not an article. The kind of biography you'll find in a biographical lexicon. So, yes, I'd say it doesn't give the whole story by several hundred thousand worlds .


Hans

 

[aramis]

Just thinking on the side track: the US-Style admiralty ranks might be subsector or system fleet rank titles.

 

[fiat_knox]

The other possibility is, of course, the most obvious.

When her father, the Duke of Rhylanor, died and the title passed to Arbellatra, so too did his responsibility for the fleet he commanded.

With the Duchy came the Captaincy; it was only a matter of time before the title was formally given to her by Grand Admiral Plankwell, but in essence the centre seat was Arbellatra's from the minute her father passed.

It was inheritance that got her the position: but the rest of her rise up the ladder to the top was on Arbellatra's own merits. And if the historical record has anything to say, she did her Daddy proud.

 

[rancke]

Just thinking on the side track: the US-Style admiralty ranks might be subsector or system fleet rank titles.

The sample rear and vice admirals are all Imperial Navy. And they're all jobs that would rank below a Fleet Admiral.


Hans

 

[Maladominus]

How much in canon is known of this historical person as of 1105 Imperial?

She's the great great great great (maybe I missed a couple of greats) grandmother of Strephon Alkhalikoi. That's a given.

And her daughter-in-law was.... Vilani scum!