Blame it on the Geonee

[Gray Pennell]

Ok I went through and got most of the names of pocket empires that the Sylean Federation fought and one was the Geonee. This minor race thanks to SJG works become a major player in Imperial History. First the creation of their own government region during the Rule of Man could have been a great reason for the Long Night considering the control the choke point between the Terrans and the Vilani. Their control of the Massilia sector created two regions the core region and rim region. Till either of the two regions could dominate the Geonee there could not be a 3rd Imperium

So if you want to point fingers for the Long Night's duration blame it on the Geonee


Vilian Region
Marquis of Gemid
Ushran Empire



Julian Protectorate, luriani Protectorate

Sylean

IC and
Chanestin Kingdom

Darmine cultural region, Duchy of Oasis, Rebin Empire, Geonee

*Drexilthar/Reavers


Easter Concord

Vegan Polity

Bootean Federation, Old Earth Union

 

[Gray Pennell]

Ok i added the Vegan Polity in there. Does anyone have an imperial map I can edit in PS to try and do a historical atlas of this

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

Ok I went through and got most of the names of pocket empires that the Sylean Federation fought and one was the Geonee. This minor race thanks to SJG works become a major player in Imperial History. First the creation of their own government region during the Rule of Man could have been a great reason for the Long Night considering the control the choke point between the Terrans and the Vilani. Their control of the Massilia sector created two regions the core region and rim region. Till either of the two regions could dominate the Geonee there could not be a 3rd Imperium

So if you want to point fingers for the Long Night's duration blame it on the Geonee

The Geonee haven't been dominant in Massilia Sector for over 6,000 years. They settled it, true, but nearly all those settlements were subsequently ethnically cleansed to within an inch of their lives by the Vilani during the Consolidation Wars. Under the Ziru Sirka Geonee were confined to a reservation of (I believe) less than a dozen worlds around Shiwonee, their homeworld. I imagine the Vilani regarded that as an tremendous gift.

The Geonee Confederation didn't seem to have been terribly helped by the Long Night either, having atrophied into just a few insular worlds by the time the Syleans recontacted them. That's not to say that they weren't a force to be reckoned with in their local area, but they don't seem to have had enough influence to have prevented or slowed the reintegration of Massilia and surrounding sectors into the new Imperium.

Julian Protectorate ...

Easter Concord

Vegan Polity

Bootean Federation, Old Earth Union

The Julian Protectorate is not a Long Night polity. It was created around 180 as a direct result of a war of conquest against member worlds initiated by the Third Imperium. At least some Protectorate member states certainly have roots in the Long Night, however.

And the Solomani-dominated states to rimward seem to have been incorporated into the Third Imperium fairly peacefully. It was astrographical isolation, if anything, which kept them out for so long (Terra wasn't officially incorporated until 588). They were probably quite thrilled to have the Imperials arrive, inasmuch as it represented an endgame to their long, twilight struggle against the Aslan and Reaver states.

 

[Gray Pennell]

The Geonee actually had a pocket Empire of about 20 systems during the long night. They were the first to be granted independence at the end of the rule of man. The area being formally called the Geonee Cultural Doman. In that sector thats largest enough to cut communication lines. They dropped to tech level 4 than rose back up right before the end of the long night so they could have still been a barrier between the Core region and the Rim/Terra Region. Take note I am not saying they were a major empire but historically you dont have to be big to be annoying you just have to be in right place.

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

The Geonee actually had a pocket Empire of about 20 systems during the long night. They were the first to be granted independence at the end of the rule of man. The area formerly being called the Geonee Cultural Doman.

They were granted autonomy, not independence -- a critical difference. The Rule of Man never allowed full independence to anybody except by default.

While it's true that the Geonee Autonomous Region ('Geonee Cultural Region' is a Third Imperium entity) began as a coalition of 20-odd worlds in -2200, it's also clear that this polity did not survive the Long Night intact. GURPS: Humaniti states that by -250 there were only 3 worlds left that had Geonee populations (Shiwonee, Hiponee and Lagna), all of which had only just returned to being capable of spaceflight.

The existence of the GAR as an interstellar entity at that point would clearly be out of the question -- a fact confirmed by the creation of the Second Geonee Confederation in -190. The Confederation's recolonization plans did not begin in earnest until ten years later in -180, and just 30 years before contact by Sylean scouts in -150.

In that sector thats largest enough to cut communication lines. They dropped to tech level 4 than rose back up right before the end of the long night so they could have still been a barrier between the Core region and the Rim/Terra Region. Take note I am not saying they were a major empire but historically you dont have to be big to be annoying you just have to be in right place.

The Second Geonee Confederation clearly had severe stability issues during its early years; at the time of first contact with Sylea, Hiponee was in the middle of a bloody civil war. GURPS: Humaniti also states that it only took a show of force and a few isolated battles to incorporate the Geonee into the Third Imperium in IY 80 -- although there was a significant rebellion that had to be put down in 120.

Even so, the presence of a small Geonee state in the rimward subsectors of Massilia would not by itself have been a significant hindrance to Imperial expansion towards the old RoM rim provinces. The Third Imperium was working along a broad, three-sector front in the region by that time (Zarushagar, Massilia and Delphi) and had at least a dozen other stable routes to work with should one of them prove untenable. And the route through Geonee territories, while centrally located, isn't necessarily the most efficient one, as astrogation/jump distances become something of an issue for the subsectors immediately to coreward of Shiwonee.