Sociology

History of Trantor

Birth of an Empire

 

Trantor's position in the Galaxy has been the most vital characteristic of the planet since it was first colonised -12969 F.E., -900 G.E., 34031 A.D. The last world to be colonised on the main arm of the Galaxy, Trantor is the closest inhabitable world to the Core. It may not be the centre of the Galaxy, but it is close enough. Upon landing, the colonists soon discovered that Trantor was a young world, scarcely 50,000 years old. It had a pure Oxygen atmosphere, and needed carbon dioxide manufactured to make it breathable as part of the terraforming process. Trantor, further, was made by 6th generation supernova nebula, so that its crust was extremely rich in the heavier ores; in particular there were tremendous volumes of iron, iridium and gold ores. Still preserved in the Galactic Library's museum annex is a 100 kilogram elemental iridium ingot; the only 99.9999% pure ingot of its size known in the Galaxy.

Trantor was part of the Inner Kingdom governed by Parkasta - well within Trantor's borders today. As she grew as a world, and when her inhabitants reached a state of political maturity, Trantor declared her independence of the Kingdom of Parkasta, with agreements on both sides that Trantor should continue to export mineral ores at the same amounts she had been doing so before the declaration. This suited the Trantorian government, which was already making its profits from mineral ore sales. At independance, Trantor and the three other worlds that formed part of the province within Parkasta, broke away diplomatically and peacefully to form the new Kingdom. Trantor was in a fortunate position. She had her back to the wall, so to speak: No navy, moving against her, would be able to sneak up behind her back, or above or below. The energies of the core, and the gravitic geodesics were too wild for even the most imbecilic, hyperspatial pilot. Trantor could see all her enemies coming, and thus prevent invasion in good time.

The Kingdom's first monarch was Gaius I, or Gaius the Good, as he is more commonly known. Trantor, in the days of early independence, was prosperous and knew of no uprisings or strikes. All men of Trantor, who worked hard, knew that they worked for their own good. Trantor prospered, but did not seem distinct from any other kingdom due to her size, but never was anything more than a darkling shadow to the majesty of ancient Parkasta.

Trantor made gains in territory from the Parkastans in a very unique way. She bought her territories monetarily and with no resistance. Parkasta had expanded in the millenium before Trantor's independance, and had reached the limits of controllability. Parkasta's condition may be compared favourably with the apocryphal stories from humanity's past about the mythical Spacers, who were supposed to have reached breaking point after colonising their 50 worlds, before humanity's new colonisation effort began afresh from one of the ancient worlds of the Sirius sector. Parkasta, then, was weak, and yet did not feel threatened by Trantor, as, after all, Trantor had been settled by Parkasta herself, and was thus benevolent to an ailing parent, come what may.

Trantor, at the end of her first half millenium, held all of Parkasta, with not a protest from any neighbouring kingdoms - or from Parkasta herself. Under Trantor, Parkasta enjoyed a prosperous future. Trantor was an interstellar centre of learning, science and technology, with a metal, electronics and positronics expertise all her own. She was trafficking with the galaxy at large with all manner of high quality, new design atomics and electronics. Worlds paid in kind for what Trantor desired, say a warship for 40 brand new, long-life atomic generators; with Trantorian staff thrown in with salaries paid for them by the government in question. The need for technical expertise brought more of a pro-Trantor stance by many of the populous of the Worlds with whom the Kingdom of Trantor traded with. Trantor attracted thousands of students to her famous University at Streeling, which rivaled the ancient institution of Santanni.

Trantor now had a decent fleet, and made her first conquest. Santanni had long been stand-offish, and did not, for preference associate with anybody. Trantor wanted a new conquest. Regions around Santanni were pro-Trantor. The battle of Ypras III (-12419:14:05 F.E.) was won unequivocally by the Trantorian Navy. At the hour of her triumph, though, tragedy struck. The Duke of Wye, the second largest kingdom-state/province, launched civil war against Gaius VII. The traitors were stopped in their advance, after intervention from the fleet. Wye was tied closer to his liege lord, simply to make him malleable.

Trantor continued in her urbanisation. By -12118 F.E, she had covered all of her land area, and had taken a huge sphere of worlds under her control, approximately one quarter of the Galaxy's volume, and fully one third of the population, all who owed allegiance to Trantor. There were naturally associated regions, who had grudging associations with Trantor, and neutral territories, who associated with no-one. Trantor, however, encircled them all, and they were as good as hers. This period of Trantor's history became to be known as the Time of Transition. Trantor now called herself the Galactic Empire of Trantor, since she was certainly large enough in extent. Franken I, first of the Kambles, was crowned in state, the year of his reign being 1:01:01 G.E., first year of the Galactic Era.