Scarborough Fair Universe Background Part One
Some of the background for my Scarborough Fair universe.
I thought that I'd start with the Fall of the Terran Hegemony, who caused it and why.
Over six hundred years ago, the Terran Hegemony was formed, and swiftly spread out across space. All of the various realms that make up Human Space today were once part of the Hegemony.
At its height, the Hegemony was in many ways a golden age. Advances in technology made everyday life much easier for everyone, while breakthroughs in genetics led to the widespread reduction of disease and illness. It also led to the creation of morphs as helpers and companions to humans. (More on that later.)
Politically, the Hegemony was stable with very few conflicts among its people. Open conflict was extremely rare and usually didn't last long. (At least partially because the Hegemonic Navy would show up and put a stop to anything that threatened the Pax Hegemony.)
Of course, all good things come to an end, and the Hegemony was eventually brought down due to the efforts of one Joanna Westerly, aka the most hated human in Human Space.
Naturally, there are many theories as to why she brought down the Hegemony. Most of them seem to fall into the 'crazy person who hated peace and prosperity' category. Others believe that she was the ultimate anarchist, who just wanted to watch the galaxy burn.
The truth is a little more complicated. In reality, Ms. Westerly was a very brilliant researcher and analyst working for the Terran Hegemonic government, and was a firm believer in what the government wanted to do.
It was during her studies that she became aware of structural flaws in the system. Extensive research over the next few decades led her to realize that the flaws couldn't be fixed and would inevitably lead to the fall of the Hegemony. She determined that the Hegemony would fall in one of two ways; the way it did, into a series of smaller but still self sufficient realms, or into total anarchy and chaos, which would lead to a dark age that could last for a thousand years or more and could possibly lead to the destruction of humanity itself.
She knew that the longer the Hegemony lasted, the more likely it was to fall into chaos, so, despite what she knew future generations would think of her, Joanna Westerly began the process to bring down the Hegemony in as controlled a fashion as possible.
Ms. Westerly did not live long enough to see the Hegemony fall, but at her death she saw that her plans were coming to fruition, and that, even though most would not know, she had saved the human race.
Overall, the Terran Hegemony lasted for over three hundred years, followed by an Interregnum of almost a hundred years while things stabilized and settled down. Roughly two hundred years further on is the present time.
Later, I'll go into other questions, such as what are angelfoxes, how did the Stellar Kingdom become the Stellar Regency, why do most religious morphs join the Universal Church of the Pancreater, and, most importantly, why is the phrase, "Don't poke the mouseling" used in regards to the alien mouselings, a race that is bright, cheerful, happy, friendly, helpful and almost impossibly cute.