Does the Term "Aslan Border Wars" Make Sense?

[Garnfellow]

But if the Imperium had such a tremendous force advantage, why agree to a duel-war that would give the Aslan an even chance?

And what would the Imperium had had to agreed to if the Aslan had won?

First, when I think about the Imperium having an advantage over the Aslan it's in their superior tech and maybe superior organization, and not necessarily in their superior force. Related, but in the end different concepts. The Aslan doubtless had superior numbers and shorter supply lines compared to the Imperials operating in Reavers Deep; the Navy would have been at the far end of a very long and very thin tether. This would somewhat reduce any force disparity.

Second, when I'm talking about large tech and/or force disparities I'm talking about Imperial/Aslan skirmishes during the Border Wars, prior to the Aslan/Solomani Hot War that started in 374. The Duel War is the culmination of this Hot War and pitted four major clans and sixteen lesser clans against the OEU and the Magyar states. The Third Imperium only got dragged into this mess after its attempt at a diplomatic intervention failed. The four major clans involved in the Hot War probably possessed tech much closer to the Imperials and would have been reasonably unified due to the Ikhaeal Incident, further reducing the advantage. So I wouldn't characterize the Imperial position in the Hot War as being a "tremendous force advantage." More like a significant but not overwhelming edge.

That said, the Duel War works conceptually because it offers something significant to both sides. For the Aslan, a better chance to prevail over a technologically superior opponent.

For the Imperium, it offers a chance to quickly end a conflict of only marginal interest and to establish a border and buffer zone around a lower tech but large and aggressive alien power. To avoid a weary millennia of rinky-dink hit-and-run asymmetrical warfare against a tenacious foe.

The spinward edge of Daibei, Reaver's Deep, and the Solomani colonies in Dark Nebula were never part of the Rule of Man. Almost two millennia of Long Night, Reavers, and Ihatei raids would have left these worlds poor and beleaguered. These distant Solomani systems would have offered little to a hungry, expanding Imperium beyond new headaches. So with limited cultural connections and minimal economic or strategic benefits, these are not high-value systems to expend precious resources on.

The real upside to assisting these worlds is the propaganda value: it demonstrates to the Rim States and the Magyar and Alpha Crucis pocket empires that membership in the Imperium has value. And it is a show of strength to the Aslan.

So a Duel War is a great calculation for the Imperium -- relatively contained risk, limited downside in the event of a loss (Honor? Whatever), and potentially high upside in the event of a win: respect from the Aslan and the unincorporated rimward Solomani polities.

If the Imperium lost the Duel War, I am sure they would have willingly ceded all claims to Dark Nebula, Reaver's Deep, and the spinward edge of Daibei: worlds never incorporated into the Rule of Man, and worlds that the Imperium really had no legitimate claim on anyway. It's a concession without conceding anything. And the "lost" worlds were probably of marginal value to boot.

And being humans, they would probably consider any treaty subject to "renegotiation" later on . . . after the powerful Solomani pocket empires rimward had been incorporated into Imperium.

 

[Garnfellow]

Who were the signatories to the Peace of Dark Nebula, exactly?

Re-reading the relevant passages in Solomani and Aslan (pp 62-63) it is explicitly mentioned that the OEU was not a signatory to the Treaty of Dark Nebula [1]. The text does not mention human states in Reaver's Deep or Daibei sectors, even though that's where the Duel War was conducted -- only the "Magyar States." So my best interpolation is that the Treaty of 212 was executed between the same four major clans who would end up signing the Peace of Ftahalr (Yerlyaruiwo, Khaukheairl, Tralyeaeawi, and Hrawoao) and the Wuan Technology Association, New Slavic Sodality, and the Reformed Dootchen Estates. These three Magyar States might have been somewhat different from the polities described in S&A, and there very well may have been several more additional states.

One interesting thing about this interpretation is that the Treaty probably didn't affect Reaver's Deep or Daibei, so skirmishes associated with the Aslan Border Wars probably continued there from 212-374. And these conflicts would have likely involved Imperial forces.

When did the OEU become a vassal of the Imperium, if they actually did? Or is that the Aslan interpretation of the OEU asking the Imperium for military and diplomatic aid?

Supplement 08 - Library Data (A-M) states that the Old Earth Union gets absorbed into the Imperium on 292-588 (p. 45.).

Because the passage in S&A is written from an Aslan perspective, I think you are right that the use of the term "vassal" here is not completely accurate. Given how reluctantly the OEU joins the Imperium in 588, I would guess "ally" wasn't even accurate either.

How much had the OEU expanded by 374? A government of seventeen worlds would have quite a problem fighting a war a sector and a half away (roughly 50 parsecs)

Although their borders may have been limited to 17 worlds, I think the OEU was sending trade and cultural missions pretty far spinward and trailing by 374, probably in response to competition from rival Rim States as well as encroachments from the Imperium.

How influential the OEU would have been at these distances remains to be seen, but I think it's important to establish an early Terran influence across the entire Solomani Sphere. Otherwise the eventual popularity of the Solomani Movement makes a lot less sense. For example, the human worlds in Dark Nebula and on the spinward edge of Magyar were colonized by people who had explicitly rejected the Terran Confederation and subsequent Rule of Man.

And after 2,500 years of isolation they probably had no real cultural ties back to Earth. These OEU missions would have been intended to forge diplomatic, military, and economic alliaces -- and they probably relied heavily on a "racial/cultural evangelism" founded on an invented shared history. What does the OEU have that the Easter Concord does not? Terra!

"Greetings, people of Pindur! We come to you as brothers and sisters from your long-lost homeworld of Terra! We bring gifts from our mutual home, and we are here to help you in your struggles against the Aslan Menace!"

This is the genesis of the Solomani Superiority meme, and why it was propagated so far and wide so quickly.

[1] Solomani and Aslan uses both the terms "Peace of Dark Nebula" and "Treaty of Dark Nebula." I personally prefer the latter term to further distinguish it from the Peace of Ftahalr.