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The Centauri Republic is the ruling governmental structure of the Centauri civilization and a major galactic power from the Bab'lonin Universe, noted for being the first alien government with which Bab'lonin Earth had open contact. They were once a powerful nation, but slowly their power began to decline until the arrival of the Shadows operating in secret to work alongside them in their war against the Narns and expansion of their borders.
Corruption and conspiracy grew within the Republic under the rule of Emperor Cartagia until his assassination near the end of the Second Shadow War and with new leadership slowly rebuild their Republic to a different path. After the war the Centauri Republic among other Bab'lonin powers joined the Alliance of Nations alongside the Interstellar Alliance.
Government[]
The Republic is based on Centauri Prime but spans a number of other colonies and worlds. Despite its "Republic" moniker, the Centauri Republic is a nominal constitutional monarchy headed by an imperial family. It is ruled by an emperor, or, in the event of an interregnum, a regent. The emperor has enormous power in Centauri society, and all Centauri are taught to be deferential to the ruling monarch. The Centauri are not a democracy; the average citizen has little or no political power within the Republic. The Centauri Republic allows the practice of slavery, and owning slaves is legal within the Republic.
Royal Court[]
The Royal Court is an assembly of nobles directly in the emperor's employ. Many of the members of the Royal Court hold some of the highest government positions and it is often regarded as the true stepping stone towards the throne.
Ministries[]
- Ministry of War - One of the two ministries overseeing the military, responsible for managing and directing warships engaged in offensive movements against enemy fleets and worlds
- Ministry of Defense - The other ministry overseeing the military, organizing defensive fleets protecting Centauri Prime and other worlds and bases in the Republic
- Ministry of Intelligence
- Ministry of Transportation
- Ministry of Security.
Centaurum[]
The only real check on the monarch's power, the Centaurum is a legislative assembly made up of the leaders of the major noble houses. Members of the Centaurum carry the title of Legator, which is roughly the equivalent of a Human Senator, and it is possible the titles are synonymous. Nobles who manipulate the Centaurum successfully are able to wield great power. The Centaurum can vote to overturn a decree of the monarch, although this would appear to be a rare practice, and requires three quarters of the members. An exception to the power of the Centaurum came about during the brief reign of Emperor Cartagia, whose personal madness drove him to execute his enemies in the Centaurum, allowing him to rule despotically.
Populum[]
The Populum is the other ruling body of the Republic and represents the official voice of the Great and Lesser Houses.
History[]
Early History[]
The First Centauri Empire was founded in 262 (1457 BNE) under the first Emperor Tuscano.
The Centuari were technological advanced enough to sail across the oceans, arriving on the continent of Xonos, they made first contact with the Xon. They were a race of sentient beings that had evolved and developed a civilization of their own in parallel to the Centauri. Isolated and remained unaware of one-another until the two civilizations meting. This first encounter with each there was a disaster, with both sides recognizing the other as a supreme threat, sought to totally wipe the other from planet.
The conflict between the Centauri and the Xon was long and bloody with both sides incurring staggering losses. To cope, the Centauri adopted a tradition, a Celebration of Life where each year they would count how many of their own people had survived and celebrate their good fortune. The tradition survived well into the Third Age, by which time it had become an elaborate feast where the participants would binge and purge until finally passing out. By 1258 (453 NE) the Xon had finally been exterminated, thus making the Centauri the dominant species of Centuari Prime.
According to Centauri tradition, as recorded in the "old books", Tuscano and the other Emperors of the Elder Days were proclaimed deities by the ancient gods and in exchange for loyalty, they were said to become immortal. Even two thousand years later, elaborate and ornate temples built in their names adjoined the Emperor's Palace drew millions of pilgrims and tourists each year with faithful Centauri still offering up prayers to the first Emperors.
The Great Old Days of the Republic[]
After the war and extermination of the Xon, a new Centauri Republic was founded by General Kiro of House Kiro with the governening body of the Centaurum. The first Emperor (and former General), Kiro of the Republic consulted with three techno-mages, Frazur and his two associatesbefore taking the throne. Emperor Kiro commissions an elaborate jewel called ’The Eye’ based on the sigil of House Kiro that becomes the symbol of power for the Emperor . To cement the foundation of the Republic, arranged marriages became the norm.
Shogrren Invasion[]
During this time, The Centauri Republic was invaded by the Shoggren, the first extraterrestrial species they encountered and repelled. What followed was a period of great expansion and much celebrated glory. By the 13th Century Bab'lonin, they had stumbled across an ancient jumpgate at the outer edges of their system while exploring in their first early spaceships. Like others before them, once they unlocked the complex codes required to activate the jump gates, they set out to explore hyperspace and reverse engineer the technology for themselves. With the rest of the galaxy now open to them the Republic began expanding in all directions, conquering whole star systems and enslaving alien races. Still, though they controlled entire quadrants of space and few stood in their way, even the Centauri knew better than to try and oppose the Minbari Federation who were far more advance than the Centauri.
The Conquest of Narn[]
In 2109 (1304 NE), the Centaur Republic discovered the pre-space faring Narns as the Centauri considered to be a race of backward, uncultured primitives. Initially the Narns welcomed them peacefully with open arms and the Centauri quickly took advantage of their technological superiority and enslaved the population. Using them as forced labor as they began strip mining the planet's resources, devastating its ecology and slowly turned the once green and verdant world into a dry, red, dust ravaged planet. The Narn were under their rule for a century until they fought back and by attrition gradually made the occupation more and more difficult for the Centauri to maintain
Contact with Humans[]
On Wednesday, April 7, 2156 (1351 NE), a Centauri vessel entering the Sol system from the section of their home galaxy that the Republic had never bothered much with before came across a planet populated by a primitive, pre-interstellar civilization called the Earth Alliance. Though they had begun to colonize nearby moons and planets, their system lacked a jumpgate and the Centauri Republic saw an opportunity for quick profit. Their civilization now past its prime, the increasingly decadent Centauri became fascinated with the Humans and their abundance of art, trinkets and eccentricity and opened up trade relations with them, which included access to hyperspace. Initially the Republic leased time on their jumpgates before negotiating the sale of the technology for the Humans to build their own gates.
The thinking at the time was that the primitive humans would quickly annihilate themselves once they had purchased the Centauri's advanced technology. They believed that the humans would move too quickly for their own good and anticipated internal struggles and wars within the Earth Alliance that was at the time already on the verge of collapse. The plan was for Centauri Prime to secretly fund both sides and allow them to more or less obliterate each other, after which the Republic would step in and pick the pieces and incorporate Earth to their territory with little risk to Centauri interests and nothing but profit. Things, however, did not go according to plan as the Alliance held together, mostly out of fear of a galaxy full of heretofore unknown and powerful alien threats.
Around this time, the Centauri even attempted to convince humans that they were a lost colony, thus explaining the superficial similarities between the two species. They even went to far as to pick up on an Earth practice - prevalent at the time - of naming their secondary colonies 'Beta', so when they translated the names of their own planets and star systems into English, the Republic also used Greek lettering and since to them there could only be one "Alpha" world (Centauri Prime) many of their colonies ended up being called 'Beta', such as Centauri Beta I. According to the Centauri claim Bab'lonin Earth was "Beta 9"; however when Human scientists finally gained access to Centauri DNA and discovered the two races were not even remotely related, the Centauri then pleaded that their previous assertion stemmed from a clerical error and Bab'lonin Earth was in fact "Beta 12", dropping any further attempts to claim kinship.
Decline of an Empire[]
In 2228 (1423 NE), facing certain defeat against the Narn Resistance, members of the Centaurum made a secret deal with the Dilgar. In return for weapons, they handed them the Narn colony world Hylak VII, which would become their staging world for the Invasion of the Non-Aligned sectors in 2230 (1425 NE). Later claimed of Narn collusion with the Dilgar were dismissed as Centauri propaganda. The Earth Alliance came into the Dilgar War in support of the League worlds. With their help, the Dilgar were driven back and ultimately wiped out when Omelos's star went supernova.
In 2231 (1426 NE), after a long period of occupation and oppression, the Narn Resistance finally pushed the Centauri off their now ravaged homeworld. What was once a vast empire was now just a dozen worlds, filled with monuments to glories long since past and before long they would find themselves in direct competition with the new Narn Regime.
The Humans did however eventually did get pulled into a war as the Centauri had predicted, but it was the wrong war. Their new-found power and confidence led them to arrogance and stupidity when they decided, against Centauri advice, to send an explorer division into Minbari space to assess what if any threat this ancient and mysterious race might pose. The resulting a disastrous first contact between the Minbari and Humans. The EA ships encountered a small fleet of Minbari ships, and the Human Captain misinterpreted the Warrior Caste sign of respect of approaching with gun ports open as a prelude to attack, and opened fire on the lead ship. In the ensuing firefight, Chosen One Dukhat of the Grey Council who was killed aboard the damaged vessel, and the Minbari responded with an uncontrollable fury, sparking a holy war that could only end in the complete annihilation of Earth itself.
The Earth Alliance government asked the Republic for aid and strategic support, but were declined. The Republic had no intention of risking the possibility that they might share the Minbari's vengeance by assisting their new enemies, forcing the EA to instead turn to the Narn Regime for weapons supplies - much of which was in fact captured or replicated Centauri technology.
As the war progressed the Republic became concerned that the Narns were using the war to establish closer ties with the Humans, and so issued orders to disrupt or prevent their efforts. Londo Mollari, the liaison to the Centauri delegation on Bab'lonin Earth, discovered through his network of spies on Narn and Minbar that a secret Narn mission carrying Humans was bound for the Epsilon System and so ordered an attack, assuming it was an arms shipment. It wasn't until afterwards that he realised it was a secret meeting between Earth and Minbar and that the Centauri had just annihilated any hope of a negotiated peace. The war did eventually end, but not as any would have predicted, with the Minbari's mysterious surrender at the Battle of the Line while on the very edge of a final victory.
Military[]
At the Broken Age, the Centauri fleet was among the most powerful in the Bab'lonin Milky Way galaxy, second only to the Minbari Federation, both in number and capabilities. Centauri armaments are especially formidable; employing mine launchers, missiles and high energy weapons that fire almost like projectiles—exploding, rather than slicing or disrupting their targets—there was very little that they could not handle. The Sentri class fighters, while designed to operate in both open space and planetary atmospheres, were surprisingly agile. While the Primus class battlecruisers are older than Vorchan class medium warships, they are very reliable and were more than capable of going toe-to-toe with almost any other single warship built by the younger races.
From 2259 (1454 NE) through to the end of 2262 (1456 NE), the Centauri military saw a great expansion not seen for almost a century as the Republic became embroiled in a series of conflicts, starting with the Narn-Centauri War, the subsequent Wars of Aggression, providing support for John Sheridan's and the Allied forces in the Earth Alliance Civil War and the later First Multiverse War that culminated in the unsanctioned Assault on Centauri Prime by the Drakh and Chimera forces. Even after that last defeat, the Centauri may have retreated but the Republic's war machine was by no means destroyed or demobilized. Its size and power would remain a source for concern for the Interstellar Alliance of being a target by the Axis of Empires and the Coalition of Independent States, especially considering they could travel between dimensions and more advance.
Technology[]
The majority of Centauri innovation came from the Republic's golden age and as such more recent developments have tended towards refinement of already existing discoveries. Despite this, Centauri technology is very advanced in comparison most of the other Bab'lonin races, the majority of which - save the Minbari - pale in comparison. Centauri tech during the Broken Age might have been a somewhat gaudy aestheticism, bordering on the impractical that some may interpret as weak or useless but it belies its very real and formidable capabilities. Like the Minbari, the Centauri have mastered artificial gravity and their warships are equipped with gravimetric engines.
Prior to the knowledge of alternate realities, the Centuari relied on Jump Gates for vast distances.
Territory[]
Only a minority of the over forty billion Centauri lived on Centauri Prime. As the Republic fell into decline, its chief industry switched from conquest and discovery to tourism. Taking advantage of their long recorded history and the fact that unlike the Minbari, they're not shy about sharing it with other races and allowing others to see the many wonders of their Republic. The Republic's two oldest colonies; Centauri Beta I and Immolan V represent the main centers of tourism that have been opened to visitation by the other races.
The Republic maintains a number of agricultural and manufacturing colonies such as the farming colony at Ragesh III and the industrial colony on Tolonius VII. Since the end of the First Centauri Occupation of Narn, the Republic has maintained a presence on the border of the Narn Regime. Centauri holdings along the border have been used to monitor the Narn, and include the outpost at Quadrant 27 and the colony on Quadrant 1.
Just beyond the Republic's frontier was a number of independent outlying colonies and border worlds settled by Centauri hoping to start new lives for themselves. In the mid-to-late 2260s, the Prime Candidates took control of more than half a dozen such worlds, including Morbis and Nefua, using them as secret training facilities and munitions plants as part of Minister Durla's covert military build-up. In January 2271 (1456 NE), Morbis and Nefua were the first targets to be bombed by the Centauri resistance movement under the direction of Ambassador Cotto.
Colonies[]
- Beta System
- Centauri Beta I
- Immolate V
- Ragesh III
- Tolonius VII
- Narn Prime (Conquered, formerly)
- Morbis
- Nefua