Gaint Star System

Gaint Star System

Major Holdings – General Information

History

The Chronicle of Gaint

By Bertwin Gisking Bearspear

Gaint, aye, I have walked its stones and breathed its dust, though the centuries have weighed heavily since first I beheld it. To call it merely a system in the Drucos Nebula is to slight its stature. From the first, when the Galan of the Twelfth Fleet cut their paths through the void, Gaint was chosen as a hearth and stronghold, and its tale has ever been steeped in both conquest and betrayal.

It was here, upon the Moon of Tonetic, that the Feyan first cast their spears into Drala. In 25,160 AA, General Brasidas Magna Suncloak, radiant in his crimson war-plate, raised the first Feyan outpost in the nebula. He came not with a legion large enough to claim the cluster, but enough to test its strength. He won victories, then withdrew, a shadow before the storm. Only centuries later did the full might of the Feyan Star Dominion descend, burning banners across the Drucos Nebula, their legions planting the Starhold of Rutupiae within Gaint itself.

Yet conquest never guaranteed peace. By 26,910 AA, Furse reavers from beyond the Catuvella and Coritan sectors fell upon the system, their starships of steel and fire leaving whole worlds aflame. Even the great Feyan-girded shield of Rutupiae could not guard all. It was in such chaos, in 27,098 AA, that two names first blazed into legend. Humfrey the Lightning King and Vidar the Lightning Spear, both of the Umbra Lightningborn line. With their fleets they landed upon Tonetic, driving back Galan raiders and earning the favor of Guinevere Gollach Druidborn, Guinevere the Supreme Lord, as her kin styled her.

Ah, Guinevere. Her reign was woven with both majesty and folly. The Lightningborns came to her as saviors, but soon twined their fate into hers. Humfrey gave her his son Behrtwald in betrothal, a match sealed over feasts of mead and ale where tongues wagged loose and oaths were bound in wine. In exchange, Guinevere granted him the very Gaint system itself. A dangerous bargain, as many warned her, for the Lightningborn were not meek subjects but wolves in borrowed cloaks.

The wolves bared their fangs soon enough. Guinevere’s children rose against her, and the nebula was split between her blood and her allies. The battles of Rutupiae, Tonetic, and Brigae painted the cluster in fire. Vidar the Lightning Spear fell there, cut down amidst slaughter, but Humfrey endured, claiming Gaint as his crown. From Tonetic, his kin spread their lightning-banner across the nebula, and thus the Star Kingdom of Gaint was born.

But Gaint’s throne was never secure. Guinevere returned to war, weaving rebellion with her own hands. At Vernum, she clashed with Humfrey, her children at her side. Rumor says she was as cunning as she was beautiful, bending Pontiffs and consorts alike to her will. Yet her fate was sealed at one of Humfrey’s own feasts. He lured her and her lords into hall, bade his men hide quantum knives beneath their feet, and at his cry, “Get your knives!” the slaughter began. Betrayal upon betrayal, the old chronicles say, and the halls ran red. Guinevere herself was spared, but only to ransom her life with worlds within Catuvella, Haesta, Regnen, and more.

Still, even wolves grow old. By 27,394 AA, the Feyan Faith had returned with Pontiff Aurora the Bringer of the Faith. She planted her standard on Tonetic and began the slow work of bending the Lightningborn kingdom to the white-winged Faith. Vernum became a holy seat, and from there the Faith spread like fire through the Drala Cluster. Even kings bent knee before the Pontiffs, though oft grudgingly.

Yet raiders never forgot Gaint. In 27,902 AA the Skane descended in numberless fleets, some say eighteen thousand, though I doubt the count. I have seen how fear makes numbers swell in the telling. Still, their sack of Vernum was real enough, and the screams of that day are not so easily forgotten. Millennia, later, the Children of Rothgar came with fire and conquest, making Tonetic their lair and dragging Gaint into the maelstrom of the Savage Crusade.

Through it all, Vernum endured as the beating heart of the system. It bore the Mint and Hoard, the temple of Barakel’s Seat of Protection, and the world-shield that made it, for a time, one of the safest havens in the sector. Kings and conquerors alike have stayed upon Vernum. Aethelflaed the Conqueror, Steorra the Stormbearer, Ecgwynn the Wandering Conqueror, Ella the Overlord. Too many names to recount, though I have broken bread with some of them, and crossed blades with others.

In time, Gewiss itself imposed its will. Astrid the Wide Ruler sent her son Hildred, the Noble Wyvern, to bring Gaint into her fold. Hubbard Umbra Lightningborn, Hubbard the Last, bent knee, and so the proud kingdom fell, reduced to a mere banner of Gewiss. Still, the blood of the Lightningborn flows in the veins of many lords of Gaint, and their banners yet fly upon Tonetic, though muted by centuries of submission.

Even in these days, Gaint remains both prize and battleground. A jewel rich in mint, shield, and faith, but ever a beacon to reavers, whether Skane from across the Morimarusa or ambitious Dralan kinsmen. Its halls have known betrayal, its moons the tramp of warriors, and its worlds the touch of holy fire. Yet it endures, scarred and stubborn, as do all the Dralan kingdoms.

So it has been with Gaint, and so, I think, it ever shall be. A throne raised upon shifting sands, where kings may rise and fall, but the old stones of Vernum and Tonetic will remain long after their banners are dust.