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From: [e-mail] (Dave Greenbaum)
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Subject: SUPPLEMENT: A GURPS Sci-Fi World
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Date: 7 Sep 1995 09:40:00 -0400
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Hey, enjoy this, but all rights are reserved, so watch out if I read this
somewhere else or anything....


  Copyright 1995 by Nicholas Pagnucco and David Greenbaum

                 The History of Novo Venetia



    Founding and Co-Dominium Era


       In the year 2020, the Co-Dominium of Earth began to colonize
others worlds and planets.  In addition to the Co-Dominium, the other
nations of the world that were able to began colonizing as well.  Three
such countries were Spain, France, and Italy, who began to become closer
as they felt the pressures of the Co-Dominium to their North, east,
and west.

       Over the next fifty years, all three managed to create a small
amount of colony worlds.  They were run as extensions of the original
country.  They were not mercantilist colonies to get resources from and
dump goods, they were not treated as semi-autonomous states, and they were
not run by a corporation hired to create a colony.  This was about to
change, however, with the creation of the last colony world of these three
countries:  New Venice.

       In  1945, an enterprising German-Italian from the Tyrolean Alps
named Gustaf Eichorn using money stolen from the coffers of the Gestapo
started buying up Liberty ships to supply deprived postwar and
post-fascist Italy.  Over twenty years following the end of the
war, Eichorn company, Perugia Shipping and Transit Company, grew from
twelve decrepit merchant tramps, to hundreds of modern container ships,
oil tankers and freight ships.

       Eichorn incidentally amassed billions of dollars.

       With the advent of his billions, Eichorn, a Mussolini
crypto-fascist, married into the House of Savoy, his bride and child in
line for a vanished throne.  In his dotage, Eichorn became a devout
Italian nationalist and changed his name to Montagna.  He died in 1968,
passing the controlling shares of stock to his son, Matteo.

       The son continued the accumulation of the father, buying air
freight companies, national train services, and investing in aerospace.
A series of highly publicized oil spills in the Adriatic led to
investment in biotech, to discover the ultimate "oil-munch" bacteria to
save political face and cleanup costs.

       In 1981, Matteo Montagna reincorporated Perugia Shipping and
Transit Co. as Il Groupo della Condittiori, or "The Mercenary Group."
Montagna began buying major banks in Europe, to have them finance
enormous hostile takeovers, buying national auto-manufactoring companies like
Renault, Fiat, Sterling, and Dresdener Drabant Autowerken.

       Then, in 1997, Matteo changed the name of TMG to EmanCorp, in
honor of his own royal heritage as the great superpowers of the world began to
unite, forming the Co-Dominium.

       Emancorp became one of the largest European conglomerates with
headquarters in Milan, Italy, gaining political influence in France and
Spain.  Emancorp had seen several of its competitors begin to receive
contracts to settle worlds, and its Board of Trustees, headed
by great-grandson Iago Montagna, decided that it was time for Emancorp
to enter this growth "industry."

       In 2032, Emancorp representatives called a meeting with officials
from Spain, France, and Italy to offer them a business arrangement to
settle a world for them.  The countries were intrigued and told Emancorp
if they could find a suitable planet, then they would fund its
 settlement.

       In 2033, an Emancorp-funded Co-Dominium scout commanded by
a Lieutenant Grahm Rourke found a planet that had a good atmosphere, but had
slightly below average mineral wealth and was covered by water except for
a small continent and countless small islands.  At first glance, it
appeared that the gains of settling the planet were just under a level
that would make it profitable.  At this time, Emancorp was also one of
the leaders in genetic engineering, and had begun to put most of their
resources into new forms of aquatic life in case their planet proved to
be profitable in the future.

       Then, in 2040, seven years after the discovery of this planet, the
Co-Dominium began its Relocation Program in which large amounts of
dissidents were to be shipped off to penal colonies.  This changed the
profit margin for Emancorp enough to act.  It knew that a combine of
Arabic countries run by Islamic theocrats was having difficulty finding
suitable penal colonies.  Emancorp offered its services to the league,
saying that in exchange for funding to help settle the northern continent,
the chains of countless islands in the southern hemisphere could serve as
a penal colony.  Emancorp would even offer its services as security
for the colony for a small but additional fee.  After a great deal of
negotiating between the league, Emancorp, Emancorp's three home
countries, and the Co-Dominium, a deal was reached which was beneficial
for all parties in 2041.

       The world circling Rourke's Star was named Novo Venezia, or New
Venice, due to the great deal of water on the planet and the Italian
heritage of Emancorp.

       Great amounts of aquatic life were added to the oceans of Novo
Venezia that had some commercial value, as food or otherwise.  These
included the Emancorp's "Super Salmon," a genetically engineered fish
that was very nutritious and had a high reproductive rate.  Others were
seaplants, sharks (to control populations), a few scavenger-organisms, etc.

       Next, Emancorp Engineers came to survey the best locations for
building cities in the Colony Islands of the north, as well as determine
what kind of security system should be put in the Outback, the name for
the sprawling archipelago that covered a third of the southern hemisphere.
Third, preparations were made to get the Colony Islands and the Outback
ready for human inhabitants (much more was done for the Colony Islands).
By 2048, Novo Venezia was ready to support a colony.  The first were
Emancorp employees in charge of planetary security and control of the
Outback.  After they were in place, the remaining colonists came.

       To the Colony Islands, which included a small continent roughly the
size of Australia and six large islands; a population of Italians, French,
and Spanish settled, each a different portion of the chain.  Each island
had a specifically designed capital to coordinate administration and
trade.  These original settlers were all Emancorp employees, all having
been "encouraged" to "volunteer" to be settlers by Emancorp.  The Islands
began to farm the small amount of land they had, as well as create
offshore mining installations, power plants, and aquafarms.

       The main continent, which was named Tribia was settled by the
corporate executives and their families, as well as the main agricultural
engineers.  It was mainly Italian, though there were significant numbers
of Spanish and French employees and executives as well.  Italians also
settled the islands of Milanito, which was the closest to the Continent,
and Turin, which was the last island of the chain.  The Spanish settled
the islands of Quisano and Cossiga, and the French settled Le Nuvo Havre
and Cresson.  As a public relations move, Emancorp gave the Catholic
Church control over a part of an island which was named Santa Isla.

       Short on natural resources compared to some planets, every Emancorp
report showed the colony flourishing in thirty years as more colonists and
capital would come in.  These future colonists came from both within and
outside the ranks of Emancorp employees, the employees coming to settle
the world with little choice and the others trying to get there to begin a
new life.  Organized crime began at this time to influence who got the
non-employee passes to Novo Venezia.  These non-employee citizens were
given very few opportunities on the new world, since there automatically
outsiders in this corporate world.

       Then there was the Outback.  Predominately made from volcanic
activity, the countless islands of the Outback are comparable to the
islands of Oceania in the South Pacific, only on a much more vast scale.
Well armed and defended guard posts were placed on outlaying islands on
the edges of the Outback, each equipped with an effective but small
arsenal, a unit of guards, and a great deal of surveillance and
reconnaissance equipment including but not limited to radar, sonar, radio
communication, hydrofoils, and helicopters.

       The concept of the Emancorp engineers was to make the prisoners
start their own community from scratch with very little outside assistance
with technology, medicine, or machines.  However, the Humanity League did
not like the idea of creating a stone-age penal colony, so Emancorp
created Hostels on some of the centrally located islands to provide
medical aid to the prisoners as well as technical assistance on surviving
without modern day equipment and were manned by volunteers who were given
very large pay increases for hazardous duty.  In essence, Emancorp created
a Polynesian-type society of primitives who based their lives on the fish
that they can catch the seeding of the shallow waters in the Outback were
very effective and gave way to a very large food supply.

       The prisoners were allowed to create any society they wanted, as
long as they did not attempt to escape or attack the hostels.  Any native
caught attempting to escape were to be executed immediately.  Any hostel
attacked would be closed for an indefinite amount of time.

  The loss of the facility would be punishment enough for nearby prisoners.

  The First Empire of Man

       As the decades passed since the founding of Novo Venezia, the
Northern Islands grew and became ever more productive with a productive
fishing industry as well as the perpetual need for security in the
Outback.  However, things on Earth were slowly deteriorating as the
populations of the United States and of Russia began to be ever more
resistant to government policy.  As 2100 approached, it became apparent to
EmanCorps' analysts that a collapse of the Co-Dominium was inevitable and
EmanCorp began to transport itself and its holding off Earth to Novo
Venezia.

       Unfortunately, this policy was started too late to successfully
transplant all vital information, personnel, and equipment before the head
of the United States' Patriot Party was elected president, the
Neo-Stalinists took control of Russia, and the world went marching toward
the Armageddon in 2103 when the nuclear bombs were unleashed and in one
day the population of the planet Earth dropped to roughly 200,000 people.
The EmanCorp fleet that did get off-world (which was most of it) had to
deal with renegade Co-Dominium ships en route to Rourke's Star and Novo
Venezia.  A great amount was lost during that exodus from Earth, but there
were a few scout and transport ships left, one complete high-tech factory,
an adequate amount of personnel, and the records of EmanCorps were
essentially intact.  It was enough, but very little more.

       The next several years of Novo Venezia were spent trying to
accomplish two important goals: to maintain itself and make contact with
other colonies.  The efficiency of EmanCorp was invaluable in both of
these endeavors, as there was a need to organize the use and development
of Novo Venezia's natural resources to support a technological society.
To compensate for the lack of ready to use materials such as certain
metals, Novo Venezians on occasion took to piracy to obtain desired
materials.  The goals were accomplished and there was little drop-off by
the time Novo Venezia began regular contact with other neighbors, such as
Meiji, Diego, and Sparta.  When Sparta announced itself the Federation of
Civilized Worlds in 2110, the leaders of Novo Venezia gave their full
support.

In exchange, the President of Emancorp was named King of Novo Venezia,
changing his name to Victor Emanuel IV.  The Board of Trustees became
Counts, each controlling different portions of trade and land, and the
government became a limited monarchy in a feudal system.  The populace was
allowed to have a vote in the government by a proxy system: any citizen of
Novo Venezia was allowed to buy a share of stock in the government.  Each
share of stock allowed the citizen one vote in elections for a legislature
called the Administrative House. As one would expect, those with the most
money bought the most stock, and were able to control the government
through it.  When Sparta announced itself to be the capital of the Empire
of Man, Novo Venezia once again threw its complete support behind them
knowing they would prosper under this new empire.  They'd make sure of it.

       While the government structure of Novo Venezia became very feudal,
its dealings off-world were still very corporate-like.  The rulers of Novo
Venezia knew that their achievements were based on their ability in
economics, so any member of any noble house on the planet was required to
be educated in business and trade and the King always attempted to make
sure competent people were placed in the positions of importance when it
came to off-world affairs and business.  As a result, the traders of Novo
Venezia during the First Empire of Man had a reputation of being some of
the greatest interstellar traders in Known Space (this is the attitude
taken by the Novo Venezian populace, of course) and Novo Venezia became a
colony of high technology.

       While the government structure of Novo Venezia became very feudal,
its dealings off-world were still very corporate-like.  The rulers of Novo
Venezia knew that their achievements were based on their ability in
economics, so any member of any noble house on the planet was required to
be educated in business and trade and the King always attempted to make
sure competent people were placed in the positions of importance when it
came to off-world affairs and business.  As a result, the traders of Novo
Venezia during the First Empire of Man had a reputation of being some of
the greatest interstellar traders in Known Space (this is the attitude
taken by the Novo Venezian populace, of course) and Novo Venezia became a
colony of high technology.  It created shipyards.  One such buyer of
technology was the planet of Sauron which bought a great deal of bio tech
and defense equipment.

       The population began to increase, as did revenue from trade.  The
Islands overcame their lack of resources via trade to become a very
industrial and technological society.  Within twenty-five years since the
destruction of the Co-Dominium, the Outback ceased to function as a penal
colony.  Its settlers had very little technology, and they lived very
relatively simple lives as fisherman on their islands.  Once in a while,
they were able to sell enough fish to buy some industrial items, but their
technology base was at best equivalent to America's and Europe's circa
mid-1800's (i.e. steam engines, rifles, etc.).  The Outback's population
was still regulated, but not to the extent it was during the Co-Dominium
and its population was a source of cheap unskilled labor for the Northern
Islands.  A policy followed that exploited and discriminated against the
Outback's inhabitants in order to build and maintain Novo Venezia's
high-energy society.

       Fishing was bountiful to the extent that it became the major export
of Novo Venezia to the rest of the Empire.  There was some agriculture on
land, but the ratio of population to land mass called for large amounts of
genetically created water plants to be cultivated.  Several other aquatic
animals and fish were brought in or created to further diversify the food
chain, including mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic mammals including a
truly mammoth genetically altered whale whose meat became a delicacy.  In
a similar manner, while some of the colony's natural resources came from
the land, most of them came from the ocean, be they tidal and
ocean-thermal power plants, fossil fuels (which were relatively low in
supply), or minerals mined offshore.

       Meanwhile, a lower class of serfs began to form on the Northern
Islands.  They were the lowest class of people save those from the Outback
on the planet and were perpetually poor and disenfranchised because they
never had enough money to buy government shares, and even if they had them
they'd probably have to sell them sooner or later in exchange for
necessities of life.  It was from these depths that organized crime on the
planet was based.

        Slowly, a few members of the class also became the extortionists,
the drug pushers, and fixers also became financially secure because of
these actions without being directly dependent on the government like the
vast majority of the population was.  They became a constant annoyance for
the Corporate Nobles of Novo Venezia, a group of immoral lowlifes beyond
their control but who must be dealt with to ensure stability and the
avoidance of even worse evil.  However, at the same time, the appealed to
a large number of the disenfranchised because they were self-made men and
rewarded loyalty.

        The Church at this time was a center point of Novo Venezian society
but was constantly at odds with the Empire's Church over minor differences
in interpretation due to the fact that the planetary Church was
Catholicism and the Empire's Church was Anglican, but the differences were
never allowed to create a major conflict.  The government saw to the lives
of the populace and the Church saw to their souls.  That was the official
line, at least.

        In reality, after Novo Venezia became a major colony the Church
began to want to create a very faithful population as a first step to
eventually making Catholicism a major (if not the major) religious sect in
the Empire of Man, as opposed to the Anglican Christian Church.  It did
things very cautiously, however, and never acted with ambitiousness,
letting the flow of events carry it to victory to avoid negative
consequences, which the avoidance of was a top priority.


  Destruction


       This is how Novo Venezia existed for over the next four hundred
years with an efficient government, profitable trading, and stability
creating a unique romance culture of nobility and honor.  That all ended,
however, when the Saurons attacked.  When the Saurons caused a third of
the Empire to revolt, Novo Venezia began to prepare for war.  It was
perfecting a planetary shield system which would effectively defend a
planet from a bombardment and were on the verge of creating an artificial
gravity generator.

       When the Leap occurred as the Saurons simultaneously
took 16 star systems, Novo Venezia was cut off from most of the Empire
save for a few minor colonies.  Novo Venezia's shipyards went into full
production, trying to raise a fleet quick enough to defend the remains of
the sectors from the Saurons.  Under the command of Lord Connor Walters,
Novo Venezia created the Seventh and Twelfth Imperial Fleets.  Walters, a
man who rose to his position for no other reason than his belonging to a
noble family, commanded the two fleets, guarding Novo Venezia and its
immediate systems with the Twelfth Fleet as Admiral Antonio Sardona
commanded the Seventh as it maneuvered throughout the sector against the
Saurons.

       For a few years, it worked.  Even though they took massive losses,
Novo Venezia's Seventh Imperial Fleet held its positions against the
Sauron aggressors more often than not, not allowing the Saurons to mount
an invasion force against any of the colonized worlds.

       Then, in 2614, a Sauron fleet came to dismantle the source of the
sector's resistance: Novo Venezia itself.  The Fourth Federated Sauron
Fleet divided itself into three separate forces.  Fleets Dragon and
Vengeance were two smaller fleets meant to be decoys. They jumped through
the two Alderson points on the planetary plane of Rourke's Star, as the
actual assault fleet, the Sauron Hochtblutsmarine (High Blood Fleet) was to
come through the third jump point of Rourke's star which was 30 degrees
above the plane and essentially on the opposite side of the system than
the other two Alderson Points after a small delay.

    The 7th Fleet had been set its position guarding the first two
Alderson points, as they were the most probable points of entry for an
attack.  When the decoy ships came through, two things happened.  First,
Admiral Sardona prepared to set off the nuclear mines sprinkled throughout
the Alderson Points and prepared for battle.  Second, Lord Walters
immediately ordered the majority of his fleet to intercept the Saurons at
Alderson Points one and two, leaving a small garrison at Alderson Point
three and on the military base on Balor, the moon orbiting the last planet
of the system, Dadga.

       Before attempting to engage the Sauron fleets, Admiral Sardona
detonated the nuclear mines on Alderson Points one and two, destroying
several enemy ships in the process.  The Saurons, after quickly regrouping
after the mines exploded, began to set a course for the asteroid belt of
the system where the majority of the shipyards were.  Sardona had
anticipated that the belt would be a probable first target, and had
positioned his fleet prior to the Sauron invasion in such a way that he
was able to get to the asteroid belt at almost the same time as the
Saurons.  Due to the Sauron ability to withstand higher G-forces, however,
the Sauron Fleets Dragon and Vengeance were going to beat the Seventh there.
       At roughly the same time, the High Blood Fleet jumped through
Alderson Point Three to attack Balor.  Although the garrisons on Balor and
at the Alderson Point had the sense to detonate the nuclear mines and
inflicted heavy casualties against the Saurons due to them, the Imperial
garrisons were destroyed with no survivors and the Balor naval base was
destroyed completely.  No structure on Balor remained intact to even the
smallest amount.  The High Blood Fleet then moved toward Novo Venezia.
When Lord Walters saw this, he immediately changed the course of the
Twelfth Fleet toward Novo Venezia.  This was opposed to plotting an
intercept course to engage the Saurons before they reached the colony.
While the point of interception would not have been a great distance away
from Novo Venezia, it would have been far enough away to prevent a
planetary bombardment.  This became Walter's Folly, and was known as such
in both English back on Sparta as well as Neo-Romantic on Novo Venezia.

       By the time the Seventh Fleet caught up to Fleets A and B, they had
destroyed most of the asteroid belt outposts, facilities, and shipyards.
Unfortunately, by the time the Seventh Fleet got to the asteroid belt,
virtually all belt facilities had been destroyed by the Saurons.  Since
these sub-fleets were only meant to be diversionary in nature, they did
not have enough firepower or ships to avoid destruction at the hands of
the Seventh Fleet.  Realizing that there were enough Imperial ships
remaining in the system to hold off an offensive by the bulk of the Fourth
Sauron Fleet if they were well coordinated, he moved as quickly as
possible to join Walters' Twelfth Fleet at Novo Venezia, wishing all the
time Walters had chosen the site of the battle away from the planet.

       At the first report of these great fleets racing toward his planet,
King Victorio Amadeus XVIII attempted to flee with much of his court in a
personal space yacht, the Stallion of Neptune.  However, the organized
crime syndicate on Tribia under the control of Fernando Tarentana became
aware of this attempted escape.  Tarentana and the King had nothing but
contempt for each other and both their lives would be infinitely simpler
if not for the other's existence.  Fernando Tarentana became enraged over
the King's cowardly act and had the engines of the ship sabotaged.  Soon
after his takeoff, the propulsion system of the ship failed and it began
to fall back to the Grand Sea of Novo Venezia.

       There were reports that escape pods detached from the Stallion of
Neptune, but it was calculated that any such escape pod would have landed
in the Outback.  If this was true, the nobles would have probably been
better off staying on the space yacht as it crashed into the sea than deal
with the natives of the Outback.

       Many other people who could afford it also attempted a last
  minute escape, and many were unable to due to the riots that occurred
when the populace realized its leaders were abandoning them.  Some did
manage to take off without hindrance, though, on board their own ships or
on board another's.  However, several of these ships unfortunately did not
make large enough detours around the fleets and many were destroyed by the
Saurons as they passed by. One of the few ships that actually succeeded to
get out of the Rourke System was owned by one Oleg Badakov, a trader from
Saint Catarina who maintained a profitable trade with Novo Venezia.

       The naval forces of both sides slowly collapsed towards Novo
Venezia.  The Seventh Imperial Fleet of Admiral Antonio Sardona contained
one attack carrier, four heavy cruisers (one of which, the Charlemagne,
was the flagship of the fleet), 4 close defense destroyers, 12 heavy
screen destroyers, and 2 light cruisers.

       The Twelfth under the command of Lord Connor Walters contained one
battleship (the Domingo Matteo, whose crew and command was 100% pure Novo
Venezian stock), 1 dreadnaught, 3 heavy cruisers, 4 frigates, and one
command cruiser from where Walters controlled the fleet (the ship, named
the Mensius, was fitted with a super-powered Langston force field
generator and was able to take as much damage as the Domingo Matteo).

       After losing its ships to nuclear mines and its diversionary
sub-fleets completely, the Fourth Federated Sauron fleet still had two
super-heavy battleships (the Damaris and the Tuscaloosa, each 115,000
tons), two fleet auxiliary carriers (these differed from regular attack
carriers in that they had less combat capabilities by themselves, but had
significantly more fighters aboard), 5 heavy cruisers, and 8 escort
destroyers.

       Combat begins between the Imperials and the Saurons near Minerva,
the largest moon of Novo Venezia.  Seeing that the number of ships in the
hands of the Imperials was much greater than those of the Saurons, Walters
sent his fleet to attack the Saurons in a way that blocked the most direct
route for the Seventh to attack.  The reason for this was Walters believed
that since he outnumbered the Saurons, his fleets would win without
question and he thought the Saurons should at least be allowed to see
their vanquishers in open space instead of stealthily skimming past
Minerva.  Walters had no idea how efficient the Sauron space fleets were
and was shocked when the Saurons flew in an offensive formation and
attacked the Twelfth outright.

       In the opening of the battle of Minerva, the Twelfth Fleet lost a
frigate almost immediately due to poor tactics.  As part of his concept of
landing an honorable death blow to his opponent, Lord Walters had his
Command Cruiser near the front of the Twelfth's formation.  As soon as the
Saurons realized that the ship was the command cruiser, they fired all
weapons on it, slowly turning the Langston Field from black to red.

       Realizing too late his error, Walters tried to back away from the
Saurons but his slowing of velocity to turn around only made the Mensius
that much easier to hit.  Eventually, the Langston Field went to violet
and began to cook the Mensius within it.  The Mensius lost control and
exploded from a Field overload.  The Saurons then turned to face a
temporarily paralyzed Twelfth Fleet as they planned to go through the
fleet to bombard Novo Venezia.

       In the confusion, the Twelfth is unable to stop the Sauron advance
and the Saurons began bombarding the colony below them.

       Due to their indirect flight path to the original position of the
Saurons and the fact that the Saurons moved straight forward, Admiral
Sardona's Seventh Imperial Fleet had been taken out of combat completely.
As quickly as possible, Admiral Sardona established command of the
remaining Twelfth Fleet and organized a counter attack against them.
Though slightly outgunned at this point, the Imperials slowly forced the
Saurons to cease their planetary bombardment and turn their attention once
again to space.  The Imperial fleets crashed through the escort destroyers
of the Saurons only losing two screen destroyers and a frigate.  The
Imperial attack carrier was lost after it launched a full attack force,
destroyed by the Tuscaloosa.  Realizing they were essentially dead anyway,
the fighter pilots fought with an intense ferocity and were actually able
to destroy one of the Sauron carriers and assisted in the destruction of
the other before too many were destroyed for the fighters to be useful.

       A close defense destroyer that was near the Imperial carrier also
was destroyed, but it exploded so close to the Tuscaloosa that the mammoth
battle ship's shields took significant damage.  On this cue, two heavy
cruisers and the Domingo Matteo all converged on it to attack.  The
Tuscaloosa destroyed a heavy cruiser first as it was continually attacked
by the other two ships.  The Tuscaloosa's Langston Field slowly
brightened, as did the Domingo Matteo's, and she was the Tuscaloosa
exclusive target at that point.

       The battle raged, the Tuscaloosa and the Domingo Matteo slowly
closed on one another in what was a cosmic game of chicken.  Neither
flinched, and the two battleships rammed each other head on with all guns
firing.  The Domingo Matteo was destroyed, and the Tuscaloosa's hull was
breached, the Langston Field had been dropped, and several weapon and
engine systems ceased to function.

       The massive explosion paralysed a second heavy cruiser allowing the
Tuscaloosa's corpse to ram it amidships, destroying itself once and for
all as well as the heavy Imperial cruiser.  With three capital ships
destroyed and all of the escort ships, the Fourth Sauron Fleet disengaged
and retreated toward Alderson Point Two.  The Seventh and Twelfth Imperial
Fleets under Admiral Sardona went into pursuit.  Neither side ever
returned to Novo Venezia, believing that the planetary bombardment was
extensive enough to make the collapse of civilization and the extinction
of man on Novo Venezia inevitable and unavoidable.

       They were wrong.


  Survival


       Tribia, the main continent in the north was turned to a ruined and
uninhabited mass of smoking rubble.

       The major industrial factories and refineries were destroyed planet
wide.

       All military installations, in both the Northern Islands and the
Outback, were destroyed.  All orbiting man-made satellites were destroyed.

       All of the major population centers (all the major cities of Tribia
and one island capital) were destroyed.

       For three years, the remnants of the Imperial nobility of Novo
Venezia attempted to keep control of the smaller islands surrounding the
Tribia.  They imagined under a cloak of doom.

       Organized mafiosi lead peasant and workers revolts against the last
nobles of the first empire.  The ruined shell of the Imperial Government
of Novo Venezia collapsed.

       The Encorilo crime family was the master of the illegal dealing on
the island of Quisano, and had a reputation for being very easy to anger.
After a crackdown by government officials on a dock workers strike, the
Encorilo family (which controlled the labor force of the harbor) deployed
snipers and soldiers to force the government to stop.  Within days,
Quisano was engulfed in a civil war that the government was losing badly.

       To ensure that no help could come, Encorilo representatives
convinced other crime syndicates on other islands to rebel. Conflict with
the dead government was inevitable.

       In under a month and a half, the remaining Northern Islands were
involved in a civil war.  By the end of 2617, the syndicates had defeated
the last of the government resistance.  The year ended with the executions
of hundreds of supposed government sympathizers.

       Those early years were also years of death.  Lingering around after
the Battles for Novo Venezia were radiation sicknesses and deformities,
common on the Northern Islands near Tribia.  Food became sparse as inshore
seas became poisoned and the land agriculture could no longer support the
populations left on them.  By the end of 2619, the population of the
colony of Novo Venezia had dropped by half since the Sauron attack.

       The Church, which was almost as devastated as the other tenants of
society, ceased overt political maneuvers and announced its intention to
help in the rebuilding process.  With the end of interstellar travel, the
Novo Venezian Church had lost touch with the New Vatican and needed to
decide its actions, independent of another entity.  It was decided that
the Archbishop of Novo Venezia was to act as the defacto head of the
church until contact could be reestablished.  If and when the time came
for a new Archbishop to be appointed, the remaining bishops of the colony
would elect on of their members to the position of Arch-bishop.  The
Archbishop of Novo Venezia was Cedric Diso, and he had survived the
Saurons because of the simple fact that the portion of Santa Isla which
was ceded to the Church was very rural in nature with little
industrialization.

       One part of Santa Isla was a land of orchards and vineyards,
monasteries and the Archbishop's residences, little worth targeting by
the Sauron Super Men.

       The other portion of the island, however, had been the most
industrial of the Northern Islands save Tribia, and as
such its port city of Ventimiglia was strategically destroyed.  The rest
of the island, however, was still habitable.

       Archbishop Cedric Diso had his heart wrung by the suffering around
him and knew something must be done.  Because Santa Isla's capital,
Ventimiglia was the only one prosperous enough to be destroyed by the
Saurons, the island was the only one that did not undergo the "Rebellion
of the Gray Man," as one colorful historian called it.

       Both the crime syndicate of the island and the government had been
destroyed.  As a result, Diso was the only authority left on Santa Isla.
This made Diso's choice simple.  Diso extended the Church's sovereignty
over all of Santa Isla, making the Church responsible for all its
residents.  The Church then led the rebuilding process, organizing
whatever relief available.

       Then, in 2618, Diso created a new monastic order to admister Church
efforts to stabilize and rebuild, Le Orden du Santa Darius,
or the Order of St. Darius.

       Saint Darius Dacia was a martyred pilot of one of the last
transports of Earth refugees to New Vatican.  According to legend, he
performed precision maneuvers that required near incredible ability,
avoiding destruction at the hands of rogue Co-Dominium pirate ships.
Darius died shortly thereafter during a radiation leak that flooded the
bridge.  St. Darius became the patron saint of colonists in desperation
who needed a miracle to change certain death into a hope for life.

       The Order (also known as the Darians or Les Darianos) were in
charge of reestablishing stable lines of communication with the other
islands and to aid in their rebuilding process.  By 2624, Santa Isla food
and other vital production had been stabilized, rendering the Church able
to try to help the other devastated islands.

       Despite Diso's and the Church's actions, entropy still engulfed the
planet of Novo Venezia.  The new leaders of the Islands were not meant to
be leaders of nations;  they were the masters of the shadows and the
underworld created by Imperial Novo Venetian society.  Ineffectual
despotisms ruled with few exceptions in the Northern Islands.  In under
ten years, almost every detail of the old Imperial government had
disappeared.  During the falling time, the productivity of the islands
fell sharply.  No new supplies came in from other worlds and the populace
became occupied trying to obtain necessities of survival (food, shelter,
etc.).  The technological level of the planet steadily decayed, sinking
back to the levels achieved by the 1920's on Old Earth.  This was what
could be manufactured, but many things left over in the Northern Islands
from Imperial times were high-tech in nature, including some secret
arsenals, power stations, and occasionally other electronic devices.
These devices, however, were of limited quantity and if broken, could not
be replaced.

       Whatever technology there was was hoarded by the Darians and the
mafia governments of the Northern Islands.  In addition, pirates from the
Outback began attacking mining facilities and aquafarms taking anything of
value.  As time passed, these raids became more frequent and more
organized, creating a friction slowing the rebuilding the Northern
Islands.

       The Northern Islands were slowly dying away because of a
lack of self-sufficiency, even as a group.  The Mafioso governments became
less and less evident as a reliable stabilizing forces and mob-rule took
over with little opposition.  It should be noted that the difference between mob rule and the government became increasingly
blurred because organized crime was the government.

       Then came 2622, and the Azure Horde.

       Before the Saurons bombarded Novo Venezia, the Outback had created
its own culture, much like the Northern Colonies did.  Small villages of
fishermen scattered throughout the Outback populated by Islamic Arabs.
These small villages banded together to form alliances and leagues that
traded and interacted.  Over time, these alliances formed clans which
fiercely held their islands and their fishing enclaves.  The large and
more successful clans were better able to deal with the Northern Islands
and trade some of their fish for peace treaties allowing mining of their
islands, and the shipping of labor in exchange for certain amounts of
technology.  It was this trading which allowed the Outback to begin to
create a powerful yet primitive tribal sea warfare.

       By the early 2500's, the more powerful clans had created a stable,
though not pervasive, tech level already mentioned to be equivalent to
19th century Earth.  It was stable but not pervasive in the sense that
while the Outback Arabs could produce items of that period, they did not
have the manpower or the resources to create a society which was permeated
with the technology.  As a result, much of the fishing was still done in
old fashioned double-hull Polynesian style boats whose designs were made available by the old Hostels of the Co-Dominium days,
soldiers still used bow and arrow save elite riflemen.  These larger clans
then began to use their size and superior resources to dominate the lesser and more primitive minor
tribes around them, collected tribute,  which was used to trade more
extensively with the Northern Islands.

       These actions lead to creation of the warrior-sailor castes, who
commanded small fleets to defend a clan's holding, collect its tribute,
and attack its enemies.  Among them were a caste of elite fighters who
were armed with bolt-action rifles and whose ships were armed with rifled
cannons, machine guns, and guided missiles.  These warriors were fanatical
combatants who believed that dying in defense of one's clan would send his
soul directly to Paradise.  The Northern Islands only knew the obvious
characteristics of Outback society, but never really cared to spend that
much time investigating its internal affairs, as long as the only people
from the Outback who emigrated were laborers looking for work in
the Northern Islands.

       At the time of the Sauron attack, the clans of the Outback were
busy in a never-ending war against each other, perpetuated by the
inability of any of the major clans in mounting powerful fleets. When the
Saurons destroyed the Northern Islands' industrial base and the guard
posts on the edges of the Outback, the tenuous situation destabilized.
Outback technology and society was left intact by the Sauron attack.
However, there was a period of a year or two during which Outback
inhabitants had to adjust to the new situation on the Northern Islands.

       It was during this time that the first records of Ibn Rashad came
to be written.  As far as historians tell, Ibn Rashad was from a minor
tribe at the time called the Accadites, a member of the Accadite warrior
caste, and a member of the great clan known as the Jabbari, working his
way through the ranks.  Ibn Rashad was a master soldier and a ferocious
fighter.  In 2615, he led a coup that overthrew the then Jabbari
leadership, replacing them with his own tribe of Accadites.

       After solidifying his control over the Jabbari, Ibn Rashad called
his warriors the Azure Horde and named himself the Caliph of the Azure
Horde, and began expanding over the entire Outback through military
conquest.  It was also during this time that he began sending expeditions
out to discover what remained of the Northern Islands.

       By 2620, he had broken the power of the other major clans and was
receiving tribute from their subject tribes.  With his power in the
inhabited Outback near absolute, Ibn Rashad, the Azure Caliph, turned his
attention to the Northern Islands, calling for a Jyhad against them for
their crimes against Islam.  By this time, Rashad had become a
megalomaniacal despot who had no doubt in his mind that his forces would
destroy the Northern Islands and Allah would aid him in turning Novo
Venetia into a Utopia for his people.

       The Azure Horde began heavy raiding of the Northern Island's
offshore facilities closest to the Outback.  They salvaged old technology
from abandoned guard posts and found hidden supply depots.  Fear of
inevitable attack swept across the Northern Islands.  The syndicates knew
that the force being mustered in the Outback would cause serious problems,
so they sent out a small multi-island group composed of the last
6 high-tech patrol cruisers left over from before the Saurons to "nip
the attack in the bud."

       Unfortunately, they severely underestimated the Azure Horde and the
defenses it set up in the Outback.  Two of the cruisers were destroyed by
mines that they carelessly did not check for.  The other four were boarded
by masses of warriors.  Initially, the sailors from the Northern Islands
were able to repel the attack, but they were severely out numbered.  The
cruisers attempted to leave, but they still had masses of Azure Warriors
on their decks who used explosive charges to blow open hatches leading
into the ship.  Two of the remaining four ships were captured by the Azure
Horde almost unscathed.  A third that escaped almost drowned in a typhoon
due to damage to her propulsion system, which was inflicted during the
boarding.  However, it was still seaworthy and its weapon systems were
still fully operational, as did the fourth ship that escaped destruction
and capture.

       When word of the Azure Horde victory came back to the Northern
Islands, a panic seized control, "The Azure Horde is coming."

       Left in the Northern Island arsenal were the two Imperial ships,
there were several large fishing boats retrofitted with rockets and guns,
and numerous small attack boats, and countless small sailing ships based
on Polynesian designs.

       Milanito, the closest of the islands to the Outback, became an
armed camp as forces from all the Islands (Cossiga, Turin, Quisano, Nuvo
Le Havre, and Santa Isla) came to meet this huge mass coming toward them.
Church officials opened up caches of lost technology to increase the level
of technology the fighting force had.  The defenders of Novo Venezia
tracked the Horde's every move using salvaged radar and sonar equipment.

       The Horde arrived early one morning in 2622 during the second
Tempest Season of the year which engulf the entire planet in torrential
downpours for months.  The remaining Imperial ships of the Northern
Islands as well as newer, inferior ships immediately went out to engage
the Azure Horde over the horizon.  Led by the Azure Caliph himself, Ibn
Rashad, in one of the captured Imperial ships, the Horde charged head
first into battle.  Numbers were heavily in the favor of the Horde, but
overall organization and technology base was in favor of the Northern
Island fleet.  As the fleets engaged each other, many of the countless
smaller sailing ships of the Horde attempted to avoid combat and continued
to sail for Milanito.  By the time the Northern Island commanders realized
this, they were already under auto-cannon and rocket fire and could not
mount a major effort to destroy them.

       As a result, only a portion of the sailing ships were destroyed by
the Northern Island fleet and the rest sailed steadily toward Milanito
unimpeded after they left the fleet's range.

       The sea battle raged on for most of the day.  The number of ships
destroyed was heavily in favor of the fleet over the Horde.  Slowly, the
losses took their toll on the Horde and the Northern Fleet began to win.

       When victory became inevitable, Caliph Ibn Rashad's ship suddenly
exploded: he had rigged a huge nuclear bomb in the ship as a suicide
device.  This destroyed both the Northern Fleet and what remained of the
Horde.  Before its activation, Ibn Rashad was heard over his ship's radio
saying "I shall return as the Hand of Allah to destroy you all, Latin
swine!"

       With that, a blinding flash emanated from near the horizon to the
terror of onlookers on Milanito as the silhouettes of the Horde's sailing
ships slowly drew nearer to the island.  As soon as the Horde's Arabs
entered the harbor area of Milanito, the Darians cold-bloodedly opened
fire.  Armed to the teeth with Imperial technology, from beam weapons to
ablative armor, the Darians utterly destroyed the last of the Azure Horde.

       The Northern Islands had once again survived an attempt to destroy
them, though another dose of radiation poisoned industrial electronics and
the areas around Milanito once again, causing more hardship.  With its
leader dead and its warrior class destroyed, the Accadites lost control of
the Outback very quickly, returning it to its original state of petty
tribes fighting amongst itself.

       After the Battle of Survival off the coast of Milanito, the
civilization of Novo Venezia began to recover its long road to recovery.
The Outback went back to squabbling amongst itself, never creating another
leader, though it still mounted the occasional raid against a piece of
property of the Northern Islands.

       Under the guidance of Arch-Bishop Cedric I, the Church of Novo
Venezia, did and became many things.  As the Church proved at the Battle
of Survival, they had a significant cache of Imperial technology.
Unfortunately, the Church had very little in the way of supplies to
sustain it technology (how long will a blaster work on one battery with no
repairable recharger unit?).  Wishing to speed the rebuilding process,
Arch-Bishop Cedric Diso willingly gave free access to the nonmilitary
portions of the Church's cache to the other Islands.  In exchange for
this, the Syndicate Governments allowed the Darians to help in the
application of the technology.  This allowed the Church to have influence
in the councils of the Northern Islands and to continually monitor what
happened in them.

       In addition to actual devices, the Church had a very large amount
of information that they could not at the time use because of the lack of
proper industry.  Such technologies that the Church always allowed access
to were biotechnologies held by Novo Venetian researchers to ensure they
were not acting as a mockery of God.  This was a PR move done by the
government to settle the Church and the populace.  While more
controversial information were never given to the Church, enough
information was given so that if the Church was so inclined and had the
proper facilities (which they in no way did), it could use genetic
engineering.

       Cedric I also understood that Novo Venezia was doomed to die out if
there was open warfare between the colonies.  As a result, he announced
that no Island may make an act of war against any other Northern Island.
Retaliatory strikes would be met with the same action.  In addition, all
weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear, biological, and chemical
weapons, were banned.  All island-states and their citizens were to give a
tithe to the Church so that the Church may further civilization.
Exemptions could be made by clergyman for people in their jurisdiction (a
priest could exempt a homeless man, a bishop could exempt a town hit by
hurricane, etc.).  Any Northern Island that did not comply would have an
interdiction placed on it, effectively excommunicating all residents of
the Island and the loss of all technology right until the leader of the
Island either stepped down or made penance to God (the Church).  It was also
known that the Church would turn the other island-states against
the dissenter as well.

       This edict went into action during the Testing Battle of 2628, when
the Miguel and Juan Encorilo (the rulers of Quisano) persuaded Angelo
Burano of Cresson to help him forcibly remove fishermen from Turin from a
fertile fishing area and split the fishing rights between them.  The
strongarm tactic was successful; after several weeks of unusual accidents
and constant threats, the fishermen were frightened.

       The Steno Family, the rulers of Turin, immediately retaliated and
destroyed the boats that had attacked their fisherman, killing all hands.
As a result of this skirmish, Arch Bishop Cedric I immediately set up an
interdiction on all three islands.  All technical and scientific
assistance from Los Darianos ceased.  Embargoes were put in place by the
other Islands after some encouragement.  The other three Islands needed
the Darians' technology too much to not go along with the Church.  All
clergy were evacuated from the offending Islands immediately.

       This stirred the populace of the Islands because the actions of
their rulers had resulted in very negative consequences, both material
(the Darians stopped helping rebuild) and spiritual (no more last rites).
Angelo Burano, who was at the time very elderly and sick, voluntarily
stepped down for the sake of the Island in early 2629.  His mentality was
this would ensure he could pass on control of Cresson to his son,
Giovanni.  The Encorilos attempted to keep control by being even more
brutal, but instead their actions only caused a revolution in 2632 lead by
a man of little renown of the time named Marco Loredan.

       Loredan proved to be a master motivator and a gifted leader and
secured himself as the new ruler of Quisano and the founder of the Loredan
line, a line which would impact Novo Venezia's history significantly in
years to come.  Out of the three rulers, Leonardo Steno of Turin was the
only one who went before the Church and made penance for his actions.
This resulted in his retaining of his position over the island-state of
Turin.

       The Testing Battle and the repercussions of it lasted until 2633
brought about the close of Novo Venezia's struggle to survive the Sauron
assault.  The Northern Islands had survived the worst of the
civilization's collapse, and now they were intent on rebuilding a new one.
Many of the old ways were gone for ever.  The Empire of Man had been lost
in the voids of space, leaving only speculation on what its destiny was in
the war against the Sauron Super Men.  The Emancorp Nobles had been
eliminated and most of the syndicate-governments that now controlled the
Northern Islands (save Santa Isla) were now being run by younger men who
were not in power in the Old Days.  This was the dawning of true Novo
Venezian civilization, unadulterated by any outside influences.


  Rebuilding


       By the early 2630's, the Northern Islands had become stabilized.
They had achieved a level of industrialization which they could maintain,
albeit at a significantly lower technological level than the Empire of Man
the Northern Islands were able to sustain a technology level comparable to
Earth in the late 1930's.  After Santa Isla stabilized itself to some
extent and made contact with the other Islands, the Darians under the
guidance of an aging Arch Bishop Cedric I began a process of collecting
technology.

       The Church knew that any piece of technology or scientific
information that survived the Saurons, regardless of how trivial it
appeared, had the potential of being very important.  However, Cedric I
also realized that any technology that the island-states had would
probably be used against other island-states.  Thus the Church created the
Custody of Information Act in 2631 which stated that the Darians had the
right to seek out any piece of Lost Technology anywhere, and had the
ability to confiscate data from anyone for it to be examined by the
Darians to decide if it is acceptable to be shared with the island-states.
The Northern Islands could not really form an opposition to the policy.
Giovanni believed that there were hidden caches of technology in or near
his island.  Unfortunately, the voice of opposition was quieted rapidly by
the fact that Giovanni's only son, Lorenzo, had joined the Church and was
in training to become a member of the Order of Saint Darius.  Giovanni was
informed quietly that if he did not concede to the Church his son would be
part of a missionary group going to the Outback.  Giovanni, believing that
the Church was as a whole the island-states could not be trusted with the
lost science.  Within a year the Darians had set up an immense
investigation throughout the Northern Islands to discover technological
devices and scientific data and keep it from anyone else.

       Within a decade the Church had amassed an incredible amount of
technology beyond the capability of Novo Venezian industry.  Cedric the
First, however, did not live to see the completion of the Collecting.  He
died in 2639 at the age of 82 due to heart failure.  A small sect of
priests accused the Darians of assassinating him to put a puppet
Arch-Bishop in place, but they were shown to be longstanding opponents of
the Church's technology policies and their accusations were proven to be
groundless.  All members of the dissenting group were excommunicated by
the new Arch-Bishop of Novo Venezia, Bartolomeo Palermo.

       After Cedric I's death, the Collecting went on, it was just that
the rate of discovering things declined greatly because most of the caches
were discovered.  As a result of the Church's actions, a great deal of
lost technology was distributed to the population of the Northern Islands
in equal proportions.  New tidal power plants were built and great solar
energy collector-barges sailed the seas again.  Aquafarms were once again
being cultivated.  All this had become possible once again, though at a
much lower level than it once was and on a much smaller scale.  The base
technology level was still essentially post-WWII, but the emphasis was
different and the Church's technological understanding was easily
comparable to the mid-1980's in some areas and it had access to
anachronistic technology of a much higher level than that.  It should also
be noted that countless people always wondered how much technology was
deemed too dangerous or unworthy to be given to the other island-states
and was hidden away on Santa Isla.

       As the Church conducted its policy toward technology, Marco
Loredan, the new leader of Quisano, spearheaded the revival of culture in
the Northern Islands.  Loredan was adored by his people, was a master
diplomat, and a shrewd business man.  In just a few years after his taking
control of Quisano, his became one of the quickest growing island-states
on Novo Venezia.  He had ascended from being a mob boss in control of an
island to being the sovereign of it.  In 2638, he had solidified lucrative
trading agreements with the islands of Le Nuvo Havre and Milanito.  By the
early 2640's, his reputation had become golden and he was known as "Marco
the Father," and had complete control over his island and had large
amounts of influence in many of the others.  He always had an uneasy truce
with the Church, each barely accepting the other knowing that the only
victory possible for either side was a Pyrrhic one if the two clashed.
       In 2644, at the age of 38, Marco Loredan the Father crowned himself
Duke of Quisano to the surprise of the other island-states and the Church.
Not since before the old Imperial nobility had someone actually proclaimed
his political power over an area as Marco the Father did.  His main
purpose for the official proclamation was that he believed that if there
were more authority figures around the Northern Islands, then the power
and influence of the Church over everything would decrease.

       When Marco was 18, his mother was excommunicated after she divorced
his abusive father.  Within two weeks, his mother and he were ordered to
leave their homes on Santa Isla for her sinful behavior.  After spending
most of their savings for safe passage to Quisano, his mother, Anna, died
of pneumonia which she caught on the boat.  Marco Loredan believed that
the Church had no business doing anything other than saving souls.  It
should not have political power or economic power, nor should it condemn
people to the point they have no hope.  Now, with his new title and power,
he believed he had the power to move things in the right direction.

       Soon afterwards, the other Islands followed suit and their
syndicate bosses became their noble rulers.  It took the next seventeen
years for this to happen, the last being the island state of Cossiga,
which also was noteworthy by the fact that House Liton did not crown
themselves the sovereign rulers, they were elected by a popular vote.  The
Liton family had begun to make their reputation as the "Mediators of New
Venice."  Three separate times they had calmed situations down between
Arch Bishop Bartolomeo and Duke Marco the Father.

       This shift into official governments was not because they were all
taking the lead from Duke Marco.  All the island-states were reaching a
point where they could support an organized and structured government.
This was opposed to the defacto governments that had been running the
Northern Islands for almost 30 years based crime syndicates and their
underlings owing favors and intimidating the other crime families on their
island.  Whichever crime family was the most powerful became the rulers of
the island-state.  Many advantages came with being a sovereign as opposed
to the current mob ruler.  After enemies had been quieted, things slowly
became easier for the sovereign as his position became more of an
institution than a syndicate boss could ever dream of.

       Less force was needed to collect taxes which became more standard
in rate and in collection.  The common man became more inclined to support
the sovereign and less to support the local boss.  The creation of a
nobility gave a much more stable form of government that allowed for a
higher standard of living overall and more self-reliance.  Slowly, over
the next 15 years, Marco made his allies his lower nobility and the
families became the government.  During that time, those families slowly
took control of Quisano's economy to the point that there were no
independent major enterprises on Quisano, only ones owned by the noble
families, insignificant entities that were independent, and larger
companies that had been subcontracted by the nobility for services.  As
one could expect, the other Northern Islands soon developed in the same
manner as Quisano, only a few steps behind on the developmental scale.
Other than the dominating figure of Duke Marco the Father and his Loredan
family in Quisano, you had the Marillo Family in Turin, House Pontier in
Le Nuvo Havre, the Liton in Cossiga, the Buranos in Cresson, and the
Sentaras ruling Milanito.  In 2649, Marco Loredan created the Council of
the Pearl, a regularly meeting council of representatives from each of the
island-states to discuss matters of import.  While the Council of the
Pearl had little official power, it did create many open lines of
communication between the island-states.


  The New Dawn


       The new Dukes and Barons and Counts of the Northern Islands soon
realized that to pull people away from the Church, they needed an
alternative to turn to.  By the late 2660's, a patron system had begun.
The Families of the Northern Islands began to slowly amass enough wealth
that they were able to use their resources for endeavors that were not
solely for the purpose of maintaining society and the standard of living.
A small amount of their resources were able to be taken out of maintenance
and put into progress.  Since by this time the Families controlled
practically all the resources, they were the ones who decided how they
should be used.

       Slowly, a system developed where the Families would use
their personal resources to finance someone's work.  This work could take
the form of art, sculpture, literature, music, philosophy, academics, or
science.  Spearheaded by the materialistic wants of the Pontier rulers,
the arts became the most patronized activity and scientific research the
last.  The reason for this was that the amount of time and resources that
were needed to be spent on technology was very large and the amount of
things that it produced in the short run was very small in the minds of
the Families.  Some sovereigns would rather have portraits of themselves
than fund scientists who dabble in things beyond their comprehension.

       One thing that had become popular since the Families "went
legitimate" was the concept of an honorable duel.  As a result, you had
court weapon masters who trained the young nobles in the ways of
swordfighting, and unarmed combat.  Fencing became popular again, as the
French kick-boxing style Savate also gained interest.  Other combat styles
were also created, though they usually were held to a small and localized
following.  This lead to a rebirth of Novo Venezian culture.  New ideas
and artistic expressions were created by the will of the upper classes.
Technology, considering its low priority by patrons and the fact that it
was not dealt with by scientific process, progressed at a very slow rate.
Whenever one of the Families spent too much of its resources as a patron,
it quickly ran into trouble because of its obligations it was required to
fulfill to the sovereign and the need to pacify and sustain the commoners
at a productive level.  In many ways, the Church became another patron,
because it also wished to progress Novo Venezia.  However, it wanted to be
the master of this brave new world and as such did not appreciate the
competition the island-states were mounting.  The Church kept its
annoyance to itself, however, realizing that knowledge would only
antagonize the island-states further.  The patron system was in place
fully by 2687, nine years after Marco the Father abdicated the throne of
Quisano to his son, Marcel Loredan as Marquis Guy Pontier of Le Nuvo Havre
began to announce annually who he sponsored.  In 2690, Marco Loredan died
of cancer of the kidneys at the age of 90 and all the Northern Islands
mourned the loss of a master of leaders.  Duke Marcel of Quisano ordered
all flags to be lined with black and flown at half mast for one full year.


The Rise and Fall of Quisano


       In 2695, Domingo Sentara, the Duke of Milanito, was died of an
apparent stroke at the age of 27.  He was the only child of his father and
In 2695, Domingo Sentara, the Duke of Milanito, was died of an apparent
stroke at the age of 27.  He was the only child of his father. Milanito
descended into confusion for a year as secret wars were waged and power
struggles were fought over the throne.  In 2697, Franceso Sigea arose from
the sea of dark intrigues to become the new ruler of Milanito. Soon after
his taking power, Sigea received assistance from the Council of the Pearl,
whose members, lead by Duke Marcel of Quisano, wished to restore stability
as quickly as possible. As one might expect, this was a plot by Marcel to
create a puppet government on another island-state that he could
manipulate.  Marcel's father did not wish to conquer the Northern Islands,
but Marcel had different ideas.  He believed he should use his position to
take control of whatever he could keep, this became the doctrine of the
Loredan family as it ruled Quisano: take as much as you can keep.

       Marcel began to organize plots that would allow Quisano to flourish
above all other island-states and slowly usurp power from the Church.
These actions were directed by his young cousin-in-law, Niccolo Pitrusa.
Pitrusa displayed very little ambition, and this was a shame, because he
was a master Machiavellian politician who sewed the seeds of Quisano
domination as soon as he reached a position of importance on his 29th
birthday in 2692 and it was he who orchestrated much of the Milanito
Affair, as it was dubbed later when it was uncovered.  Pitrusa quickly
gained infamy among the diplomatic corps of the island-states as his list
of successful manipulations grew, always being discovered after the fact.

         In 2708, the Northern Islands decided to rediscover the lost
continent of Tribia that was laid to waste by the Saurons.  Before then,
there had been several halfhearted attempts made to explore the remains of
Tribia, but none were especially effective.  In 2609, however, the Church
and the Council of the Pearl collaborated to begin a three-year expedition
to explore Tribia thoroughly.  The expedition would be stationed out of
Milanito City and would include several inland expeditions as well as
flights above Tribia by low-flying aircraft to map its general features.
The aircraft had to be used sparingly because of the high cost of their
fuel.  Within a year the expedition had determined that the island-state
was habitable and had been in many parts of it for several years.  Long
enough, in fact, for wild life to return to parts. The expedition also
discovered evidence that others had been here before them but after
Tribia's destruction.  There was evidence of recent camp grounds and
broken tools.  The expeditions started on the coasts and slowly moved
inland away from their ships and the Great Sea they were familiar with.
The evidence of human inhabitance of Tribia increased from possible to
probable to practically undeniable.

       The only thing left was to actually find a settlement of some kind.
Then, later in 2710, expiditions throughout Tribia had contact withIn
2708, the Northern Islands decided to rediscover the lost continent of
Tribia that was laid to waste by the Saurons.  Before then, there had been
several halfhearted attempts made to explore the remains of Tribia, but
none were especially effective.  In 2609, however, the Church and the
Council of the Pearl collaborated to begin a three-year expedition to
explore Tribia thoroughly.  The expedition would be stationed out of
Milanito City and would include several inland expeditions as well as
flights above Tribia by low-flying aircraft to map its general features.
The aircraft had to be used sparingly because of the high cost of their
fuel.  Within a year the expedition had determined that the island-state
was habitable and had been in many parts of it for several years.  Long
enough, in fact, for wild life to return to parts. The expedition also
discovered evidence that others had been here before them but after
Tribia's destruction.  There was evidence of recent camp grounds and
broken tools.  The expeditions started on the coasts and slowly moved
inland away from their ships and the Great Sea they were familiar with.
The evidence of human inhabitance of Tribia increased from possible to
probable to practically undeniable.

        The only thing left was to actually find a settlement of some
kind.  Then, later in 2710, expeditions throughout Tribia had contact with
primitive people living in fishing villages on the coasts and rivers.  It
was discovered that many of them were refugees from the Northern Islands
whose parents and grandparents, having nothing left to fall back on, left
the island-states for Tribia in hope of starting over again.  The
primitives were what was left of unsanctioned squatter colonies that
appeared during the darker days of the Rebuilding.  Many people who knew
they could not survive where they were simply left.  Most went to other
islands.  Some, however, came to Tribia.  Others among them had been
Dissenters who opposed the appointment of Arch-Bishop Bartolomeo.  They
lived simple lives as fisherman, getting just enough food and shelter to
survive.  In some of the villages in the Southern Bay of Tribia there was
talk of another group that had taken over the ruins of a small village
deeper inland.

        At first, the Northern Islands only traded with these Tribians.
Then, later on, they were exploited and Novo Venezians returned to Tribia
to seek out its natural resources.  It was seen by the island-states as
one giant mine and was treated as such for many years.  The only colonists
on Tribia were those working for a mining outfit or convicts being forced
to work for a mining outfit.  The interior of Tribia, which had become
overgrown by young forests, became a safe haven for those who wished to
escape the Northern Islands for one reason or another.  For these exiles,
the Northern Islands were held in nothing but contempt and were dealt with
only as much as needed for basic supplies, and even then they only used
trading companies with minimal affiliation to the Families (i.e.freelance
smugglers).

        For the next several decades, things followed athough their rate
of scientific development was just above a third of our rate in the 20th
Century.  Out of the island states, Quisano stayed the strongest and
increased the distance between it and the others in overall power.  This
was due in part to House Pontier becoming a puppet of the Loredans not
unlike the Sigeas of Milanito.  This was of course all occurring under the
watchful eye of Pitrusa, who manipulated everything.  Despite his
attempts, however, the Church still played a very active role in the
happenings of the Northern Islands.

        Then in 2758, Duke Marcel Loredan of Quisano died after a long
illness, leaving his son Roderigo the heir to the throne of Quisano.
Roderigo was a Quisano chauvinist and believed his island-state to be
invulnerable.  Many later scholars contemplated whether or not he was a
megalomaniac.  He believed that Pitrusa's ways were too complex to be
effective for present day, and as a result subsequently relieved him of
all duties.  Duke Roderigo then took it under himself to subjugate a third
island-state, Cresson, after which he would take steps to take control
openly of the other three island-states and crown himself King of Northern
Islands.

        In 2761, Paulo Burano (the ruler of Cresson) and his immediate
family were killed when an explosive device detonated in their palace,
collapsing the entire building.  Many innuendos were directed at Duke
Roderigo and, in 2762, the island-states of Turin and Cossiga renounced
their membership in the Council of the Pearl.  Turin had been a distant
second in power in the Northern Islands and Cossiga's Liton family had
become alienated by Roderigo's abrasive attitude.  Cresson was too far in
a state of disarray to renounce their membership or be an effective
member.  The two island states then formed the Alliance of the Dolphin in
the same year and began to investigate what was going on.  Due to some
coincidences and errors in judgement, an obvious trail pointed directly
back to the Loredans of Quisano.  Beyond that information, Cresson
operatives discovered information regarding the acquiring of unconditional
support of House Pontier by the Loredans and later the basic framework of
the Milanito Affair.  With this information, the Liton Family of Cossiga
and the Morillos of Turin decided that it was time to end Duke Roderigo
Loredan's rule over Quisano.

       The next four years were spent in the Northern Islands maneuvering
politically between the Alliance of the Dolphin (Turin, Cossiga, and some
token assistance from the Church) and the Council of the Pearl (Quisano
and its puppets Milanito and Le Nuvo Havre).  Secret wars were fought in
the shadows and with both pens and guns.  House Liton proved to have a spy
network throughout the Northern Islands that was superior to anything any
other island-state could have dreamed for.  Through Cresson's ability for
diplomacy and espionage combined with Turin's economic assets and
strongarm tactics, Quisano began to lose ground under Roderigo's
ineffectual reign.  Then, one week and a day after Easter Sunday in 2766,
what became known as the Falling occurred.  In twenty-four hours, the
rulers of Quisano, Le Nuvo Havre, and Milanito were assassinated or
disappeared, along with all their male relatives (cousins, uncles,
brothers, sons, nephews, etc.) over the age of seventeen.  The next day, a
revolution started on Quisano that created a new ruling class headed by
Niccolo Estrellan, founder of the Estrellan Line.  Within a week, the
remaining nobles of Milanito and Le Nuvo Havre, most of whom did not
approve of being puppets, appointed men from their own ranks to become the
new sovereigns of their respective island-states.  For Le Nuvo Havre,
Jean-Luc Forget became the new Marquis.  In Milanito, Roberto Esperano
rose to the throne.

       As one could expect, The Falling was designed and executed by
Delphinian agents to take the Loredans and their allies out of power and
replace them with more favorable noble houses.  These houses were not
puppets of Turin and Cossiga mind you, they simply were the most
anti-Loredan houses that were on good terms with Liton and Morillo.  To
ensure that they did not become puppets, the Church offered their
assistance to "sustain stability."  Overall, it worked, and there were no
more serious attempts by any of the island-states to annex another or turn
them into puppet states.


   The Rise of the Families and the Novo Venezian Renaissance


       Over the next century and a half, the Families and their
island-states created a society which was simultaneously stable and
unstable.  This was because the web of intrigues that were constantly
going on between ruling families, lesser nobles, and the Church became so
complex that intrigue became the norm instead of the unusual.  Wars became
too costly and were replaced by "disappearances" and subtle negotiations.
Instead of fielding a massive army and navy, each island-state had a small
defensive coastal guard/raiding fleet, a small number of highly trained
noble "knights" who were trained extremely well, and a shadow organization
of spies and hitmen.  Each island-state and every Family Patriarch knew
how much they could try for before they began to upset business as usual
and were dealt with.  When a patriarch miscalculated on that figure
enough, he lost face, position, influence, or even his life.  The
island-states fought their shadow wars over economic assets and natural
resources, such as offshore mines.

        Over time, the island-states recolonized the continent of Tribia,
each with their own mercantile colony on it used for raw materials.
Surprisingly, only one house fell during these years.  Raphael Morillo of
Turin was a man who had no children, spouses, or siblings.  Historians
speculate he was impotent and did not wish to have a marriage he couldn't
consummate correctly.  He did however, begin to groom several young
noblemen.  Their parents were not truly nobility, simply the best of the
rest as far as influence goes.  The fact also noted his reign that the
nobility of Turin was much smaller and less complex than the other
island-states.

       As Count Raphael neared death, his wards became founders of new
lines of nobility in Turin.  His favorite, Lorenzo Sediza, became his heir
to the throne of Turin and became Duke in 2868.  All told, three new
families were created by Raphael's wards: Mandragalo, Rubio, and Dubois.
Lorenzo Sediza was a most talented ruler, and under the rule of the Sediza
Family and the loyalty of the Raphaelan Houses, Turin became the most
powerful of the island-states.  While diplomacy was a tool for the
Sedizas, it was not something they depended on to retain power.  They
became masters of economics, not only of industry, but of trading,
finance, and distribution as well.  The island-state of Turin became
powerful economically, and this lead to power over other things.  The
Raphaelan House played a part in this because they were by far the most
loyal to the Sedizas of any noble house in the Northern Islands. From
their ranks came diplomats, spies, master economists, generals and
warriors.  It was not that they had more assets or resources than other
houses in Turin, they were middle nobility which produced very talented
and incredibly loyal servants on a regular basis.  Thus, while the
Raphaelan Houses had less overall control, individual members of their
ranks became some of the most valuable servants the Sedizas ever had.

       It was also in these years that the difference in technology
between the Church and the island-states decreased severely.  Put simply,
the scientists the Families patronized could reinvent technology faster
than the Church could rediscover it.  The overall tech level of the
Northern Island had begun to reach the late 1980's/ early 1990's.  The
Church eventually began to patron technology as well, but the Darians did
not want to give up any control over this domain and this impeded the
effectiveness of the Church in this area.  While the Church did not lose
its tech advantage completely, the difference was no more than ten to
fifeteen years in all but one area: biotech.  Thanks to its old Emancorp
records, the Holy Church of Novo Venezia knew more about manipulating and
augmenting life than anything else on the planet. The Arch-Bishop at the
time, Alfonso II, was wary about using this technology and he did his best
to discourage his predecessors from using it also by writing many
documents on its ethical use which were labeled "For Clerical Eyes Only"
so as to avoid the island-states from knowing what secrets the Church had.


  The Return


       By the year 2895, the industries of the Northern Islands had become
so expansive that they began to look for even more locations to collect
and refine natural resources.  Naturally, the Outback became the target of
their interest, being the only other place on Novo Venezia where the earth
rose above the sea other than Tribia and the neighboring Northern Islands.
Slowly, the Families' industries began to send survey expeditions to the
less inhabited areas of the Outback.  Next, mines and refineries were
placed on these archipelagoes.  Inevitably, the miners conflicted with the
Outmen in the year 2937, when a survey team was drawn and quartered by a
group of warriors from the island they were exploring.  This began the
constant skirmishes between the Outmen and the miners.  The Outmen became
a constant nuisance to the Families' mining operations, and the Outmen
were slowly pushed island by island into a constantly shrinking territory
of the Outback.  It should be mentioned that this shrinking was very slow,
considering only a maximum of fifteen islands were surveyed a year by the
Northern Islands, and only a few of those proved to have a valuable
commodities.

       As the miners came into more contact with the Outmen, they began to
hear stories of a new religious leader establishing a following in the
heart of the Outback, but the miners and the Northern Islands had learned
from experience that the Outback hasn't been a threat of any kind other
than raiders since the Azure Horde.

       Then in 2946, the Church cut off all technological assistance for
the Northern colonies and withdrew almost all the Darians from the
island-states, citing they no longer had control of what their help was
used for as the cause.  In 2949, the miners discovered the new "cult"
spreading through the Outback, a sect of the Darians had begun to convert
the Outmen from Islam to a form of Christianity that was a blend of
Christian and Arab theology.  The prime example of this was the Christian
Outmen believed that if they died in the line of their duties to the
Church, God would automatically forgive their sins and Jesus would accept
them into Heaven immediately.  When the Northern Islands discovered this
interesting blend, they became very concerned very quickly that the Church
may be planning to increase its influence militarily.  Their concerns were
not without cause.

       Part of the declaration made by the Church in 2946 that was
overlooked at the time was it gave the Darians complete autonomy from the
rest of the Church save for the Archbishop himself and his personal staff.
As a result, every member of the Church from the bishop to the local
priest to the parishioner knew only what the Darians and the Arch-Bishop
wanted them to know about what the Darians were doing.  Since the Church
removed the Darians from view, most people didn't care and the Arch-Bishop
and the leaders of the Darians were not giving out any information.  By
2969, everyone knew the Church was doing something but nobody really knew
what.

       Then, in 2952, 250 years after the Northern Islands successfully
defended themselves from the Azure Horde, several things happened in
succession that became known as the Return.  The Esperanos of Milanito had
in recent times fallen out of favor with the common people of their
island-state and were kept in power solely by the support of the nobility.
In a few months, however, commoners began protesting the Duke and on
several occasions became violent.  As this was going on, almost a half of
the noble houses of Milanito began to not support the Esperano family as
much as one would think.

       Then, during the summer months of 2952, a riot began in Milanito
City and the entire island-state went into anarchy.  In the confusion,
commoners were found using weaponry that should not have been available to
them in the quantity it was.  Items like body armor, advanced military
rifles, and explosive devices should not have been readily accessible to
the commoners, yet they had them in unusually high supply.  The city
became a series of fortresses, each defended by the noble houses of
Milanito against the commoners.

       Over the next month, all the other Northern Islands pulled out of
Milanito, seeing a situation that was so out of control their influence
would only drag them into it, not stabilize it.  During that time, many
strange stories were being told of new groups fighting for the commoners
with awe inspiring ability.  One was said to have had its members clothed
in a green color and the other was reported to be in a very dark red
color.  The green men were supposedly ferocious fighters who attacked with
no regard to losses, only on the speed in which their enemies fell.  On
the other hand, the red soldiers seemed to not be inclined to fight when
it wasn't absolutely necessary, but when they did their ability to kill
was commonly described as "inhuman."

       Slowly, the rebels pushed further into the city nearing the
Castilla Blanca, the palace of the Esperano family.  Reports came out that
some nobles and their property were saved, and others were decimated
completely.  From what could be gathered, 37 days had passed since the
beginning of the riot to when the Castilla Blanca had supposedly fallen.
There were no known survivors of the Esperano family that lived on
Milanito.  Then, in under a week, a new man appeared to the Northern
Islands: King Victorio Emmanuel XXVII, descendant of the kings of Novo
Venezia and rightful ruler of the Northern Islands, Tribia, and the
Outback.  As information became known, many things came to light.  First,
the riots were executed under the watchful eye of the one calling himself
King Victorio Emmanuel XXVII, and those nobles the riot did not eliminate
had thrown their support behind him.  Next, it was learned that when the
Darians first began to convert the Outmen to Christianity, they came into
contact with people who claimed to be the descendants of the nobles whose
escape pod crashed into the Outback. According to these claimants to the
throne, the nobles did not die but became part of a tribe living in the
Outback under the protection of the tribe's chief.  Over time, the nobles
and their children became part of the tribe, living as wise men and
members of the elite warriors class, for the most part.  They had been
successfully hidden away as just members of the tribe during the rule of
the Azure Horde, and since then the tribe has been in practice like almost
every other tribe in the Outback, save for a few cultural anomalies.

       The Darians did not at first believe these descendants, but they
began to after DNA tests came back linking certain members of the tribe to
the nobility and royal house of Novo Venezia during the First Empire of
Man.  The tribe then became the base of operations for the Darians and
their conversion activities.  As more tribes converted, the descendants
gained the more power and the more warriors owed their allegiance to them.
These warriors became the green soldiers that reports described during the
riots.  They were Christian fanatics who believed in the divine right of
the royal family to rule Novo Venezia.  They were the backbone of King
Victorio Emmanuel XXVII's forces.  The Darians saw this as an opportunity,
thinking that the Church would have more influence if there was one ruler
of Novo Venezia again.  As a result, they gave aid to the Savoys in many
different regards, not the least of which was manpower.

       When the Darians began to convert Outmen, they also began to use
the Church's biotech information to augment their members so that they
could be more resistant to adverse conditions.  By the time the Savoys
began to consolidate some power in the Outback, they Darians had a large
force of holy warriors who had been augmented and were essentially
cyborgs.  These were the men in red on Milanito, overseeing the operation
as observers of the Church and reserve forces for the king.  Over five
years before and ten years after the Return, all the Darians became
artificially augmented humans, some for combat, most for other purposes.
When the miners from the Northern Islands discovered the Christian Outmen,
hiding the Savoys was easy for them because the miners gladly saw a bunch
of Christian savages and nothing more.


  The Division


       From 2952 to 2956, the island-states began to take sides.  Quisano
and Le Nuvo Havre believed that the rise of a Novo Venezian king backed by
the cyborg Darians, began to have relations with the king and came under
his sphere of influence.  Santa Isla due to its nature of being ruled by
the Church supported the king as well, though many clergy felt as though
they had no say over what was going on.  It was apparent that the people
in control of the Church were the Council of Bishops, the Arch-Bishop of
Novo Venezia (Bartolomeo V), and the head of the Order of Saint Darius
(Brother Armand Moreno).  Anyone lower than that took a lot of orders and
had little say.  Cossiga, Turin, and Cresson pulled together opposing the
King, the Alliance of the Dolphin again was created to keep the Northern
Islands free from one man dominating them all.


  The Standoff


       While the forces of the king were superior to those of the Dolphin,
the cost of attacking the Dolphin islands would have been much too high to
ensure the king would be able to retain power.  As a result, a cold war
setup was created, with the Royal Crown of Milanito and its allies trying
to slowly cut off the resources of the Dolphin Alliance, and vice versus.
The Church believes that the king will be a puppet of their's, and the
king believes the opposite. The king controls his Outmen fanatics, the
Church the Darian paladin-cyborgs, and the other island-states have their
noble-warriors.  The island-states that are not members of the Dolphin
Alliance are simply trying to make the inevitable outcome as painless as
possible and wish to get things over as soon as possible.  As we near the
year 2975, the king is beginning to show signs of impatience, wishing to
consolidate Novo Venezia before he is too old to enjoy the fruits of this
endeavor.



             A Timeline of Novo Venezia's History


  1945:  Gustaf Eichorn creates the Perugia Shipping and transit Company

  1945-1968: Eichorn becomes Montagna, Perugia Shipping and Transit
becomes shipping giant

  1968:  Gustaf Montagna dies, leaves company to son, Matteo.  Matteo
continues growth of Perugia Shipping and Tansit

  1981:  Perugia renamed Il Grupo della Condittiori ("The Mercenary
Group").  TMG begins to expand rapidly, expanding out of original shipping industry.

  1997:  Co-Dominium founded, TMG renamed Emancorps

  2032:  Spain, Italy, and France agree to fund Emancorps for the
colonization of a planet.

  2033:  Rourke's Star discovered.  Planet not profitable to colonize at
current date.

  2040:  Co-Dominium begins Relocation Program for problematic
populations.
         Emancorp creates concept of a partial penal colony to
increase profits and funding.

  2041:  Emancorps and a combine of Arabic countries agree to a contract
to have the southern islands of Novo Venezia, the planet orbiting Rourke's
Star, to be used as a penal colony.

  2048:  Novo Venezia habitable for humans.  Settling begins.  Part of
one island ceded to Catholic Church.

  2049-2103: Novo Venezia grows, Co-Dominium declines and situation on
Earth deteriorates.
         Emancorp begins to transport itself to Novo Venezia.

  2103:  Patriotic Wars.  Life on Earth destroyed.

  2103-2110: Novo Venezia become self-maintaining colony, stabilizes
contact with other colonies.

  2110:  First Empire of Man declared on Sparta, supported by Novo
Venezia.
         Corporate heads become nobles of Novo Venezia.

  2110-2603: 1st Empire and Novo Venezia flourish.  Novo Venezia becomes
wealthy off trade.  Penal colony in the south known as the Outback become
source of primitive cheap labor.  Crime syndicates are born on Novo
Venezia in the lower classes.  The Outback creates a technology level
comparable to 19th century Earth.

  2603:  The Saurons attack.  Novo Venezia cut off from major Imperial
planets.  The Seventh and Twelfth Imperial Fleets commanded by Admiral
Antonio Sardona and Lord Connor Walters defend against the Saurons.

  2614:  The Saurons attack Novo Venezia, destroying industrial and
economic base, cuts off communication to rest of Empire.

  2615: Arch-Bishop Cedric Diso leads rebuilding of Santa Isla.  Ibn
Rashad's Accadites revolt against the Jabbari and become a major tribe of
the Outback.

  2617:  Crime Syndicates lead revolution on the Northern islands against
the remaining nobles.

  2618:  Arch Bishop Cedric Diso created the Darians to assist in the
rebuilding of the Northern Islands.

  2619:  The population of Novo Venezia drops to 50% of its original size.

  2620: The Accadites dominate the Outback.  Ibn Rashad creates the Azure
Horde.

  2622: Attack of the Azure Horde.  Battle of Survival ends with Ibn
Rashad detonating a nuclear bomb on his own vessel.

  2624: Santa Isla became stabilized and began to assist other islands do
the same.  Arch-Bishop Cedric I began to exchange non-military
technologies with the other islands via the Darians.

  2625: Arch Bishop Cedric I outlaws war by penalty of embargo and
interdiction.  In addition, he announced a system of tithes would be
levied.

  2628: The Testing Battle.  Interdiction/embargoes are placed on
Quisano, Cresson, and Turin.

  2629-2633:  Quisano has a major revolt leading to Marco Loredan the
Father taking power.  Cresson's ruler takes an early retirement to keep
the peace.  Turin's ruler apologizes to the Church.  All
interdiction/embargoes are lifted.

  2631:  Custody of Information act enacted.  The Darians been to actively
search out and confiscate lost technology and scientific information for
redistribution.

  2638:  Marco Loredan begins making beneficial trade agreements for the
whole of Quisano.

  2639:  Arch-Bishop Cedric I dies.  A small sect of the Church suspects
foul play.

  2641:  Major effort of the Collecting ends.  The searching for lost
technology still goes on but on a smaller scale.

  2644:  Marco the father is crowned Duke of Quisano.

  2644-2657:  The remaining Northern Islands become island states under
the rule of the new nobility which evolved out of the crime syndicates.
Quisano and Duke Marco become very powerful in the Northern Islands and
establishes the Council of the Pearl to keep things running smoothly.

  2677:  Marco the Father abdicates to his son Marcel.

  2687:  Patron system becomes the standard for the funding of culture
and scientific progress.

  2690:  Marco the father dies.

  2695-97:  Events known as the Milanito Affair occur that result in the
Sigea Family being set up in Milan as puppet rulers for Quisano.  This was
orchestrated by Niccolo Pitrusa.

  2708-2712:  Exploration of Tribia, discovery of the Exiles, beginning of
its exploitation for minerals.

  2712-2758:  Northern Islands flourish under the Families.  Pitrusa bends
the ruling house of Le Nuvo Havre to Loredan will.  The Church loses a
minimal amount of influence.

  2758:  Duke Marcel of Quisano dies, son Roderigo takes throne.  Roderigo
releases Pitrusa from his duties.

  2761: Royal family of Cresson assasinated by way of a bomb.

  2762: Turin and Cossiga renounce their membership in the Council of the
Pearl, create the Alliance of the Dolphin.  "Guerra Silencia" erupts
between the Dolphin Alliance and the Council of the Pearl.

  2766:  The Falling.  The rulers of Quisano, Le Nuvo Havre, and Milanito
assassinated all on the same day by Cresson operatives.

  2767-2894: Creation of complex civilization in social structure,
political structure, and technology base.

  2868: The founding of the Sediza rulers of Turin and their Raphaelan Houses

  2895: Northern Islands begin to mine the Outback.

  2907:  First recorded conflict between miners and Outmen.

  2946:  The Church stopped all technological assistance and  withdrew
most of the Darians.

  2949:  New cult spreads through inner regions of Outback.  Northern
Island miners neither know nor care much about it until they discover
they're Christians.

  2952:  The Return.  Revolt on Milanito ousting the Esperanos and
installed King Victorio Emmanuel XXVII as sovereign with assistance of the now artificially
enhanced Darians and
  fanatical Christian Outmen.

  2952-2956:  The Division.  Le Nuvo Havre and Quisano side with Milanito
and its new king.  Turin, Cresson, and Cossiga recreate the Dolphin
Alliance.



       Overview of Present Day (3016 A.D.) Novo Venezia


  Technology


       As mentioned above, the technology of the Outback is equivalent to
that of the mid 19th century of Earth.  The Northern Islands have finally
reached in GURPS terms would be a tech level of 8.  The technology is for
the most part comparable to that of Earth in the early and mid 21st
Century, with the noticeable exception that they have no Alderson drive
technology. Their society has become very high energy, fueled by nuclear,
tidal, geothermal, and solar power.  Fossil fuels are much rarer on Novo
Venezia than on Earth so almost everything runs on electricity (yes, they
actually have cool electric cars!).  There are some differences between
Novo Venezian technology and the of Earth's at a comparable age, however.
First, the scientific method is much less ingrained in Novo Venezia.

       While there are factories and laboratories, and scientific
societies, the scientists who actually progress science act and are
treated more like artisans and craftsman.  There is slightly less
standardization, which is fueled by the nobility's desire to have
personalized equipment (Ya see this pistol?  It's a Luigi Original!).
This allows technology to have much more variation without it being more
or less effective in practical terms, though the selling price would
change greatly if it was factory produced or made by a tech-master under
the patronage of the Sediza Family.  The other major difference is, and
this is especially true for the personalized items, there is much more
emphasis put on its aesthetic value.  Vibrodaggers will on occasion be
jewel encrusted for the nobility, infrared goggles will look like a
masquerade mask, antennae for walkie-talkies will be hidden as plums in
hats, etc.  Think of cyber-punk technology and that's what is on Novo
Venezia.  Note however that only the Church and the Darians have the
ability to make cybernetic implants.  This has given them a powerful
defense force in the Darians.

       In the Northern Islands, computers and electronics have taken over
in many areas, including production and communication.  Slowly, a vast
fiber optic network connected the Northern Islands for communication
purposes, whether this was by telephone, computer, FAX, or whatever.
Several treaties have ensured that the cables connecting the island-states
are safe from sabotage attempts by any either side.


  Social Structure


       Put simply, the structure of the governments and societies of the
Northern Islands is extremely similar to that of Renaissance Europe.  Each
island-states acts on its own accord but takes into consideration the vast
web of alliances the island-states and individual noble house had made
over the years.  Political intrigue is at least just as common as violent
action.

       On Turin, Cossiga, Cresson, Quisano, and Le Nuvo Havre are governed
by a web of noble families who owe allegiance to one royal House.  The
environment is very feudal as the government is decentralized and each
noble has responsibilities over certain areas of territory and the
economy.  The economy is dominated by the nobles who practice monopolies
over almost everything of any significant size.  On Milanito, there are
many less noble families and the ones that do exist have much less
individual power over affairs.  Power of the government and the economy
has been consolidated under the Royal House of Novo Venezia.  Everything
else is simply an extension of that family or a representative of it.  On
Santa Isla, the power of the Arch-Bishop of Novo Venezia is absolute and
there are several branches of the Church devoted to administrative
positions that have created a very efficient bureaucracy that runs life on
Santa Isla.  There is slightly more control over the economy given to the
populace, since the Church is not as concerned with money as the other
island-state rulers.

       The Outback is still a network of major tribes dominating minor
tribes, but the current dominating tribe, the Zefarans, are Christian and
support the King of Milanito, who in turn supports them in controlling the
Outback.  The resistance of the other tribes has been steadily declining
over the last few decades, however, and the Zefarans will stay in control
as long as the King supports them and there is little other outside
influence.  There is more than a little outside interference, though.
What were originally mining bases on the edges of the Outback have become
military outposts for the Dolphin Alliance, and are constantly trying to
disrupt the Zefaran rule of the Outback.  The Dolphin Alliance knows its
populace is too religious to go after any part of the Church directly, and
they know that the Church will condemn any obvious attack against the King
and Milanito, so the only option at the present time is to attack the
support the king has in the Outback.  A similar environment exists on
Tribia as well, where Dolphin Alliance agents secretly raid and sabotage
Milanitian bases, and vice versus. Milanito and the Dolphin Alliance know
there is enough cover in the Outback and on Tribia for them to carry on
conflict without the Church being forced to enforce peace.

       In addition, the Return has created a very high priority for new
technology, and the rate of scientific progress is increasing, as well as
salvaging expiditions.  Both sides are hoping to find something not yet
known which is so much more powerful than the other side that the balance
of power will be undeniably swung in their favor.



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