Thapsus is the Provincial TOG capital of Shannedam Province. Thapsus is one of the most Terran worlds in Shannedam County. The occupying TOG bureaucracy consider it to be one of the best possible tours of duty, to the point of renaming all the continents except Novas after famous TOG admirals of KessRith campaigns.
Thapsus has extremely high winds even in the lower atmosphere, making conventional air travel difficult. Because several pockets of stable air currents flow over Novas and Rankora, most shuttle and Interceptor flights arrive on those continents. The equally dangerous and unpredictable ocean currents limit intercontinental travel to hovercraft or grav transport.
The mountains on Festron, Ostimo, and Hakazu are rich in radioactive ores, as well as trocobalt and molybdenum-titanium alloys. North of Ostimo is a small island chain known as Nivari, the Naram word for "shelter." These small islands are rich in spices, and support several small firms specializing in such delicacies.
Nova Londinium on the continent of Novas has become a massive urban complex. As the current seat of TOG power in Shannedam County, this city and continent are the site of Interceptor bases, ground force garrisons, and innumerable bureaucratic facilities and lodgings. It is armed and protected like a fortress and cannot be approached from the sea or air without advance warning.
Early History[]
Baufrin settled this windswept planet in 4202. The mines were profitable, but the world's grasses provoked a severe allergic reaction. Despite several near-successes, the Baufrin were unable to exterminate the pollen-producing plants. Humans and Naram had no such problems. They loved Thapsus and its riches.
The Thapsus government's response to the Snow Plague was so lax that by the time the KessRith arrived, the population was utterly unable to resist. The KessRith immediately pressed the populace into slavery to work the rich, deep mines of Thapsus' valuable ores.
Resistance grew over the course of decades. Outright acts of violence and terrorism began to take a toll on KessRith lives as the Human and Naram fought back against their masters. In response, the KessRith forced all Humans and Naram to shave their heads and display an identifying tattoo on their skulls. The mortification of losing their hair took the lives and spirits of many Naram, but only solidified Human resistance against the KessRith.
After 160 years of guerrilla strikes, open war broke out between the KessRith and the freedom fighters. Because the KessRith had no troops available to reinforce Thapsus, the garrison were left to their own defense. By 6574, the KessRith had been overthrown entirely.
Riot squads hunted down their former masters, killing the KessRith in public stonings and executions. Former slave camps were converted to concentration camps for the new KessRith captives. Within two years, no KessRith remained alive on Thapsus. All KessRith construction, with the exception of the small town of Karnth in central Feston, was razed. Karnth remains today as a memorial to the Human and Naram suffering under KessRith occupation, and is a popular tourist site for many Thapsus citizens.
In 6584 Commonwealth Regent Suphra Decla successfully negotiated a peace with the KessRith forces. Almost immediately, protests and marches broke out on Thapsus, supporting the Terran Republic's opposition to the treaty. They declared that the Baufrin Regent had sold out mankind. Two newly formed garrison legions, the 118th (Genocidal Maniacs) and the 127th Shock Legion (Axes of Death) openly revolted against the Commonwealth. They stole transport vessels and fled to the Terran Republic. Their commanding officers felt that the government of Thapsus would soon follow suit, but instead learned that Parliament had voted to remain in the Commonwealth.
Recent Events[]
As the TOG offensive in Keserdal County came to a successful conclusion, Lictor operatives began to infiltrate the worlds of Shannedam County. Their goal was to spread misinformation concerning the TOG offensive, and to encourage public sympathy for the Terran Overlord Government. Thapsus offered fertile ground for those efforts.
The operatives quickly seized on the Thapsians' xenophobia and exploited it. They made particularly good use of the rumor of a Commonwealth alliance with the KessRith in the war against TOG. Word spread that KessRith troops might be stationed on Thapsus, creating an uproar in Parliament. The specter of slavery and oppression rose up among the people.
The successful attack on Ancona suddenly put Thapsus behind enemy lines and only thinly protected by CAF ground forces. TOG soon sent its first official ambassadors to Thapsus. These ambassadors all claimed to be descents of the original "lost legions" that had left Thapsus and returned to the Terran Republic. Several TOG documentaries showed the glorious and heroic actions of these two legions during the war against the KessRith.
Thapsus was quickly turning against the Commonwealth. On 13 December 6811, protestors stormed the embassy, killing the ambassador and several members of her staff. This left a Baufrin as the ranking representative. As an alien on a world that had turned against all aliens, his situation could not have been worse.
Diplomatic efforts failed, even with the arrival of the new ambassador. Old hatreds and fears had stirred so much resentment against the Commonwealth that the outcome seem inevitable. Eventually it seemed foolish to defend a people who did not wish it. The Royal Army withdrew its troops between August 6812 and July 6813. The Royal Navy maintained a medium carrier squadron in the outskirts of the system, determined to make TOG fight for what it took.
In February 6814, TOG sent in the 149 Praetorian Guards and the 13379th Strike Legion to secure Thapsus. The only opposition came from the 20345th Royal Carrier Squadron. Hopelessly outnumbered, this squadron attacked, and then departed Thapsus. As the two legions landed and occupied Nova Londinium, it was declared that Julianus Caesar had selected Thapsus for his Shannedam County Capital.
Lictor Command is within a southern mountain that is virtually invulnerable to space bombardment. Simularly, TOG Military Command is located nearly a kilometer below the surface of Nova Londinium.
TOG has constructed a massive prison just south of Peng. This huge facility holds only the most hardcore offenders in Shannedam County. Key diplomats and other formerly important people are interned there, and the prison is said to hold over 150,000 men and women.
TOG immediately drafted the planetary defense forces into its military machine. These formed the 3131st Shock Legion, which was almost totally eliminated in fighting on Syriph XX. In the past two years, a forced draft has been in effect as TOG prepares to reform the 3131st Shock Legion on Thapsus.
The system's VLCA was completed in 6820, near Iphigion. Despite being far from the protection of the inner worlds, it has not yet been successfully raided by the Royal Navy.
The people of Thapsus appear to be dedicated to the support and sustenance of the Terran Overlord Government, without a whisper of dissent.
Economy[]
Thapsus is a common Earth-type world and has a relatively comfortable environment. It fosters all forms of industry, and had no speciality until the TOG incursion. Thapsus has since become the de facto Imperial capital of the conquered territories of the province and, as a result, bureaucracy has become a cottage industry.
History[]
The culture of Thapsus is almost a throwback to the days of the The Human Raj. Particularly ineffective isolation techniques and lax quarantine measures on a personal level left a substantially smaller portion of humans alive on Thapsus after the Snow Plague than on other worlds of similar size. (The population was left at only 9% of its pre-plague figures. See I Was One In Ten, Janos Sebastian, Tharsus House Press, 6587 (27th printing).)
Before the population could begin to recover, the KessRith attacked. In 5399 all traces of organized resistance were overcome and the period of KessRith repression began. Virtually the entire human/Naram population was pressed into brutal slavery.
Bands of resistance fighters that hid out in various inhospitable outlands built their strength from large numbers of runaway slaves. Little help was ever forthcoming, either to the KessRith whose government considered the guerrillas a local problem, or to the human/Naram resistance who were isolated in the outlands. The local KessRith, to deal with the problem, initiated a form of identification that made guerrillas easier to spot. They forced all slaves to shave their heads. The mortification nearly destroyed the Naram portion of the population, but served to double both the guerrilla army's numbers and their resolve to win.
After many years of seemingly futile struggle, the Thapsus resistance was understandably delighted to establish contact with the newly resurgent humanity. During 6574, in a general uprising backed by the guerrillas, the KessRith were overthrown and exterminated from the surface of Thapsus. Troops were recruited and two legions were sent off to aid the Commonwealth against KessRith elsewhere.
When the Commonwealth made an independent peace with the KessRith in 6582, the 118th Commonwealth Legion (The Genocidal Maniacs), and the 127th Shock Legion (The Axes of Death) (the latter formed entirely of former mine slaves), revolted and fought through to join the New Roman Republic. They assumed that the planetary government would follow suit, but it opted for rest over continued struggle, even against the hated KessRith.
The planet enjoyed over 225 years of peace and plenty, rebuilding life on the old patterns of the Raj as preserved in their records and traditions, before Ancona fell in 6811. In a stroke, Thapsus found itself behind the lines.
Simultaneous with the armed attack on Ancona, TOG initiated a disinformation campaign on Thapsus. Spearheaded by statements and envoys from the descendants of the 118th and 127th. TOG tried to manipulate old xenophobic feelings among the population. These messages asked the planetary government and people of Thapsus to keep faith with them and support the Terran Government who came fostering a doctrine of racial purity. In 6813 Thapsus came over to TOG without a shot being fired.
All was not quite as the TOG envoys promised, but life on Thapsus is noticeably less harsh than on other conquered worlds.
Continents[]
Thapsus has seven (7) continents of surprisingly similar size. There are five in the southern hemisphere, clustered in a loose circle around a frozen polar sea. Of the other two, one has its southernmost tip on the equator, while the other lies almost entirely in the temperate zone. This last is the TOG governmental headquarters. The entire continent has been taken over for TOG facilities, bases, prisons, isolation camps, and the capital, Nova Londinium.
Cities[]
There are seven cities with population greater than five million in addition to Nova Londinium. They are all on the southern continents, except Hotaz'l on the southernmost tip of the northern continent.
6832 Situation[]
As of this printing, there is no growing sense of insurrection, but there is some unease with TOG rule. The space defense forces have been demobilized; their equipment used to replace losses on the Defiance-Caesar's Folly (Shannedam-Syriph) line. There is growing talk of another draft to replace the 3131st.
6841 Situation[]
(WiP)
Planetary Timeline[]
4202
Baufrin settle world.
5090
KessRith conquer world.
6574
KessRith overthrown.
6584
Thapsus protests separate treaty with KessRith. 118th CW Legion (Genocidal Maniacs) and 127th Shock Legion (Axes of Death) flee CW to join Terran Republic.
6811.12.13
Protestors storm CW embassy and kill ambassador.
6812.08
CW begins withdraw of troops from Thapsus.
6813.07
CW completely withdraws troops from Thapsus.
6814.02
TOG conquers world, and establishes regional capital.
6832
TOG reforms 3131st TOG Shock Legion (formed on Thapsus and destroyed on Caesar's Folly) from Thapsus natives.
Gallery[]
