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The Divine Principality is a galaxy-spanning empire in the Milky Way. It is often simply called Divinity by its people. It is comprised of five Stels, each with its own culture and internal structure: Kesh, Nideo, Orion, Columnar, and Apostolos. Stels Kesh and Nideo were the founders, while Orion, Columnar, and Apostolos were enfolded later.
Faith & Governance
Faith and governance are nearly impossible to extricate in the Principality. There are two main faiths: Received Asterism (controlled by Stel Nideo) and Progressive Asterism (splintered into many sects and denominations). Their tenets and philosophies are visually represented by manipulated constellations (asterisms), visible from any planet in the Principality. One constellation lays out the social hierarchy: Elects, Divines, and the leader of the Stels are held above all others, followed by the Hallowed (blessed by a Divine), then the Citizenry, and then the Adrift (as non-citizens are called).[1]
Stels
Stels Kesh, Nideo, Orion, Columnar and Apostolos are the five houses of the Principality, constantly vying for power against each other. They each have control of a distinct region of space within the empire. All Stels are largely self-governing, although the Princept, as the supposed representative of the people, is the head of all Divinity. Prominent noble families are called Houses and are part of each Stel, though especially important to Stel Kesh.
Stel Nideo
One of the two founding houses, Stel Nideo controls the Received Asterist church, which is also a key part of the governance of the Stel. It is headed by the Cycle for all of the Principality, and under them are the Songs, who lead individual planets.
Stel Kesh
The second of the founding houses, Stel Kesh has the Princept as well as a complicated parliamentary democracy, though the real power is in the hands of the Curtain.
Stel Orion
Stel Orion first joined the principality in the Victorious Millennium, and are led by the Nine Coronet. They created the EDICT System that the Principality could use to shut down and control Divines. The Orion Trade Concordance grants Orion ships free and safe movement throughout the Principality.
Stel Columnar
Stel Columnar is a group of Synthetics courted by the principality in the Victorious Millennium and originally used the Assimilative Perspective system to govern themselves, but after being assimilated into the Principality they introduced a representative democracy.
Stel Apostolos
Stel Apostolos was the final Stel to join the principality in the Perfect Millennium, though it was through the secret replacement of their leader, the Apokine. They are a militaristic group due to their long history of war against the Branched, though they place a great importance on personal identity and self-identification, and have the most diverse species of any Stel.
Calendar
The Divine Principality has an especially arcane and confusing calendar. Over its existence, its years have varied in length, as they continued adding more months to the year. As such, while its eras are officially divided into millennia, these do not correspond perfectly to their value in the Gregorian calendar.[2] As of 1423 of the Perfect Millennium, a month is 50 days long, and a year has 10 months, for a total of 500 days in a year. This calendar does not usually coincide with given planetary calendars or seasons, and so almanacs are an important part of Principality culture.[2]
History
Dawn Millennium
Formed after the events of Twilight Mirage, it was originally composed of the two civilisations of the Principality of Kesh (led by the Rapid Evening) and the Divine Free States (led by the Resolute Regent, Aram Nideo). The two were cemented in the Divine Principality as the first Stels, or Great Houses: Stel Nideo and Stel Kesh. The Asterist faith and philosophy finds its basis in Aram Nideo's Many Stars Argument.
Ascendant Millennium
The Principality continued its expansion, destroying and assimilating cultures such as the Hypha.
Miraculous Millennium
The Principality adopted the Many Stars Policy, which allowed for a certain amount of internecine conflict. Horizon was formed, and according to Brightline legend, aided Perennial in taking the Dyson sphere at the galactic core. The new Perennial Wave destabilized many advanced forms of technology, ending the Principality's ability to travel or communicate faster than light.
The empire's reach met the region of space controlled by the Orion Combine and the Divine Collaborate, with which it then went to war in the Divine Clash. Eventually, the Orion Combine betrayed the Divine Collaborate by deploying EDICT.[3]
Victorious Millennium
The Orion Combine was officially incorporated into the Principality as Stel Orion. The Portcullis System was soon brought online, allowing the Principality near-total control of travel and communication between planets. As time passed, the Divine Clash was largely forgotten.
The Principality courted the Columnar Tabulary, gifting them the Divine Commitment.
Perfect Millennium
Columnar began to suppress the formerly semi-autonomous Equiaxed, and Columnar technology was repurposed for the Principality. Stel Columnar was formed.
Thanks to a computer glitch, Logos Kantel, an Equiaxed, was sent to the moon of Partizan, which orbits the gas giant Girandole. Once there, they spoke to the True Divine and miraculously brought water and life to the moon. They were soon called a prophet, and to prevent their influence from being destabilizing, Progressive Asterism was folded into the Asterist faith. The Tranquil Princept ruled that no one may expand beyond the Partizan-Girandole system into the Scutum-Centauris arm of the galaxy.
The Principality began to war in earnest against two groups, Apostolos and the post-human civilization of the Branched. When the planet Kesh, the so-called ancestral planet of Stel Kesh, became home to the Branched, the Audacious Princept ruled that whoever recaptured Kesh may freely expand past Partizan. The Branched and Apostolos eventually formed an alliance and the Apokine made multiple attempts to assassinate the leader of Stel Kesh[4]. These attempts failed, and the combined leaders of the Stels decided to secretly replace the Apokine with a new Apokine who was more sympathetic to the Divine Principality. Stel Apostolos was formed.
A mostly-dormant resin heart was found at the bottom of the Prophet's Sea in Partizan by the military. In response, the Disciples of Logos founded the Church of the Resin Heart.
Eventually, the Princept Dahlia was born. They were kidnapped by Stel Nideo, and then rescued by Stel Apostolos, who decided to keep Dahlia and raise them. Upon reaching adulthood, Dahlia claimed both the positions of Apokine and Princept, in dual allegiance. Stel Kesh responded by claiming that Dahlia was not the true Princept and putting forth their own claim, Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh. Soon after, in the year 1418, a civil war broke out between Apostolos and Kesh, governed by the Treaty of Permanent Peace. Around the same time, the Pact of Necessary Venture was formed by Elects from every Stel intending to eventually replace the Principality's existing system of government with a council structure.
Five years later, in 1423, the events of PARTIZAN began and Millennium Break formed.