Vellaun Star Sector

Vellaun Star Sector

Major Star Systems

History

On Vellaun, Throne of the Strongborn
By the hand of Witch Lord Bertwin Gisking Bearspear, set down for the archives of Beorn the Stalwart

The Vellaun Star Sector lies at the beating heart of the Drucos Nebula, a place where power has risen in waves, and where every crown has been forged in war. Once, long before the rise of the Furse, it was settled by the Galan of the 12th Fleet of Mann, a jewel conquered by the Feyan Star Dominion.

For thousands of years the Feyan ruled here, their banners casting long shadows over the Drala and the Combrogi Star Clusters. Yet when the Feyan Withdrawal came, and their fleets fell back to defend their dying core, this sector stood naked to the void.

Into that emptiness came the Glessum Furse, refugees and conquerors in the same breath, fleeing the Wergh from the burning ruins of the Glessum Star Cluster in the Skane Nebula. Most who came to Vellaun hailed from the Ancient Star Kingdom of Angul, and they carried that name and its pride like a war-banner.

Foremost among them was King Uhtred Umbra Strongborn, Uhtred the Heroic, who stood against the Wergh for years, buying time with his life so that starship after ship could escape into the dark. His sacrifice became legend among the Angul exiles.

His great-granddaughter, Ecgwynn the Wandering Conqueror, was the last crowned sovereign of Angul in the Glessum Cluster. She fought the Wergh until the end, before fleeing with the last of her people. For years she wandered Drala, building new settlements in Catuvella, Coritan, and Vellaun itself. In time, she was crowned First King of the Star Kingdom of Vellaun, though she kept the ancient title King of Angul, uniting the scattered bloodlines of her homeland beneath her rule.

From that day, House Umbra Strongborn would rule Vellaun for most of its history. At times, House Umbra Stormborn and House Umbra Wyvernborn rose briefly to claim the throne, but it was the Strongborn who gave the Star Kingdom of Angul more kings and more High Kings of Drala than any other house. Civil wars might seat another branch of Clan Umbra Strong for a time, but the crown always seemed to find its way back to Strongborn hands.

Even their decline came not from without, but from within. King Wiglaf Umbra Strongheart, known as Wiglaf the Exiled, the last true king of Angul, fled before the might of the Great Savage Crusade of the Children of Rothgar. In his place, Wulfhere Umbra Strongborn was installed, a Foolish King’s Thane, a puppet with no real power. With his death, the star kingdom fell, the sector, like the rest of the domain of Angul, split between Skane warlords and those Dralan lords stubborn enough to cling to their holdings.

Yet even in ruin, the Strongborn line worked its influence. Wulfrun Umbra Strongborn, daughter of Wulfhere, wed Bjorn Umbra Wyvernborn, son of Osgar the Great, binding two mighty lines. In the years to come, that union would help forge the alliances that birthed the Star Commonwealth of Drala, and Wulfrun became known as the Lord of Angul.

Vellaun had once been the core of the Star Kingdom of Angul, the strongest of the Dralan realms for centuries. Its kings ruled over vast and rich systems:

Varan,
Bregas,
Senotum,
Deora,
Aedadruv,
And Hreotha.

Each system was formidable in its own right. Many had been independent Furse star kingdoms before they bent the knee to Angul, allowing the Strongborn kings to compel even greater powers, such as the rulers of Dodunn, including House Jordayne Smokeborn and House Magon Ghostborn, to swear fealty.

In the days of their height, the Star Kingdom of Angul was defended by Uhtred’s Boundary, a chain of fortresses and watch-stations spanning the border with the Combrogi Star Cluster. Its purpose was simple, to halt raids before they could touch Angul’s heart. For a time, it succeeded.

Angul’s kings were also the last of the Dralan rulers to take the Feyan Faith. King Cwenhild Umbra Strongborn, the Warlord of the Old Ways, defied conversion with sword and fire, defeating those kingdoms that had embraced the Faith. She fell at the Battle of Isara in the Parig star system, slain by Halnath Umbra Stormborn, Halnath the Victorious, who was crowned joint king of Angul alongside her daughter, Valdis the Betraye. Whether Valdis truly converted or merely tolerated the Faith is a matter of debate. Some say the first true Strongborn convert was Baldwin the Bold who came to rule after the short reign of Valdis.

Today, as part of the Star Commonwealth of Drala, the Vellaun Star Sector remains among the largest in the realm, its six major systems supported by over four thousand minor ones. Yet its old fortifications lie mostly in ruin. Uhtred’s Boundary still marks the ancient edge of the Dralan Star Cluster and the Star Commonwealth itself, but it is garrisoned only in fragments, maintained by local lords for the defense of their own systems.

The Vellaun lords are some of the most ardent voices in the Star Commonwealth calling for the restoration of the Boundary, not merely as steel, but as a living defense, a shield worthy of their ancestors. And in that, they are true children of Angul, still looking to the frontier, still braced against the dark.