Vicharrian Empire
(2367)
Name:
The Vicharrian Empire
Created By:
Kenneth Strickland, as told to Jay
P Hailey
Availability: Kenneth's Permission must be secured.
Short Summary:
A race of pointy eared swashbucklers and adventurers
Appearance:
Vicharrians are Human to all intents and purposes. They tend to be slightly
taller and thinner than humans on the average. Vicharrians have pointed ears
(Different from those of a Vulcan) and bifurcated eyebrows. They can have eyes
of all human colors as well as silver, pink and purple. They can have pink,
blue or silver hair in addition to the normal colors
Biology:
Vicharrians are biologically the same as humans to all practical purposes. The
only difference is that as a rule, Vicharians are more long lived (up to 250
years with modern technology) and slightly more likely to be psionically active.
Some Vicharrian Psionics can be very powerful
Location:
Light years from Earth in the same direction as Abor, away from the Romulan
and Klingon Empires.
Population:
The Current Population of Vich-Arr, the Vicharian home world is 2.5 billion.
Languages:
The Main Language of Vich-Arr is Vicharrian, a lilting sweeping language. There
are other historical languages; however they are all but extinct, kept alive
in archives and by historical reinactors.
Government:
The Government of Vich-Arr is a constitutional monarchy that is very loose.
The Vicharrians put great store in loyalty and honor, but not much in rules
and regulations. There are the remains of a feudal system and a Corpocracy are
embedded in Vicharrian culture, however these have given way to what the Vicharrians
like to call a "post modern age" essentially a Minarchy
The Vicharrians have had all forms of government through their history. They
have a plebiscite mechanism grafted on to their constitution, to allow for a
popular vote to enter the Federation. It has remained unused since then, but
also has a clause about recalling the emperor by popular vote.
Economy:
The Vicharrian Economy is a standard Federation Energy based accounting style
of economy. What Vicharrians do is generally very fluid indeed, but their economy
encompasses all modern endeavors.
Vicharrian Computer and Automation science is some of the most advanced in the Federation
Military:
The Vicharrian Military is small. It is composed of the central Royal Forces,
and then forces loyal to various nobles and popular figures. In theory The Emperor
can call on these forces for support. In actuality this is so complex as to
be essentially random.
The Vicharrian Royal Army is the ground force of the Royal House. Although competent, professional and well armed, they are a small force.
The Vicharrian Royal Navy was the space based defense force of the Vicharrian Empire, before joining the Federation; this was the Emperor's strong right hand. They had the most technologically advanced battleships and enough numbers to make the difference.
When the Vicharrians joined the Federation, the VRN was drastically cut down
and is now a local space defense force for Vich-Arr and Vicharrian Colonies.
Many of the old battleships lie in moth balls in Trojan orbits, upgraded as
attention and limited budgets allow.
The Vicharrian Royal Marines - Imagine a cross between the Musketeers
and the U.S. Marine Corps. They are Amurian Mariukichan's personal force. As
such, detachments of the VRM form the royal body guard, and special ops units,
as well as reconnaissance units, orbit to ground assault, ship board assault
and installation defense missions. They have a characteristic uniform, and compete
endlessly with each other and members of the other services.
The VRMs are generally motivated by personal loyalty to the Emperor and the
Royal Family. They enjoy undertaking odd missions to protect their charge's
honor or advance his cause.
The Vicharrian Royal Scout Service - This was the exploration and science end of the Vicharrian space fleet. As such they traveled further, explored more and discovered more than any other Vicharrian group. They were the most romanticized and envied of the Vicharrian Military services. Mostly folded into Starfleet, The Emperor still maintains a small fleet of scout ships
Culture:
The Vicharrian culture prizes individualism and self directed achievement. Vicharrian
culture tends to be scattered and dispersed. The only thing that has been known
to make most groups of Vicharrians get along for any length of time has been
a common external enemy.
Vicharrians can and do join groups, provided these groups are relatively small or have a perception of being accessible.
Relations:
The Federation - the Vicharrians like the Federation on many levels.
They like being able to freely travel to Federation member worlds and look around
and experience other cultures, they like the idea of a free association of worlds
The Average Vicharrian also really likes having a higher law to appeal to in case a rival group of Vicharrians crosses the lines of acceptable behavior, but not many Vicharrians will admit this.
Klingons - Vicharrians and Klingons get along surprisingly well. Their cultures are more compatible than it might first appear. Vicharrians understand Klingon honor and honor it. The Klingons relish the Vicharrian free wheeling individualistic culture.
Romulans - The Vicharrians find Romulan Culture almost the antithesis of theirs and so mutual hate and disdain are exchanged quite freely.
The Cardassians - Same as the Romulans. The Cardassian orders regimented culture which places the state first appears to be a horrifying aberration to the Vicharrians.
The Orions - Orions and Vicharrians get along surprisingly well as well. The Orion Swashbuckling attitude and the Vicharrian one are compatible. However Vicharrians and Orions see each other much more as worthy adversaries, and combatants than as friends.
The League of Un-Aligned Worlds - The Vicharrians annoy the League by being persistently friendly, curious, open and happy to meet them. Not at all the sort of oppressive conspirators many league members would prefer to view the Federation as.
The Ferengi - the Ferengi hate the Vicharrians. The Vicharrians are traders and explorers, so they compete directly with the Ferengi. The Vicharians also prize honesty and personal responsibility for actions, giving Vicharrian merchants much more customer loyalty than most Ferengi keep for long.
The Tholians - The Tholians cannot tell the difference between Vicharrians and any other Humanoid race in the Federation. The Tholians defend their territory hotly, and occasionally attack for reasons which only make sense to them. When attacked the Vicharrians fight hotly valuing skill, daring courage and inventiveness when fighting in their own defense.
Advantages:
The Vicharrians have high technology and often small groups have access to resources
that are more usually found in government hands.
Weaknesses:
The Vicharrians are rarely encountered in large groups. It is still rarer to
encounter a large group of Vicharrians who all agree on the aims and goals of
the group
Campaign Role:
A race of happy-go lucky, enthusiastic swashbucklers. Musketeers with phasers
Number of Members:
The total population of Vicharrians is 3 billion individuals
Organization:
Various
Relative Influence:
Less than average in Galactic politics. For every position one Vicharrian takes
on an issue, another can be found who opposes him. There will be Vicharrians
speaking in almost all factions of a debate in the Federation council.
Public or Secret?
Public.
Relative Wealth:
As a galactic nation, on the small side of average. They lack the number of
planets and people that a larger Federation member might have, but stay out
of the small fry category by having automation and computer technology that
everyone wants.
On an individual scale, enormous. The Vicharians can afford their own star fleets
Group Advantages:
Federation members, the Vicharrians can call on the Federation for help and
back up.
Dispersed, decentralized society, The Vicharrians are hard to pin down.
Group Disadvantages:
As a dispersed society, getting Vicharrians to cooperate has been likened to
herding cats. They have aims and goals as diverse as their society, which renders
their society almost mute and motionless on a galactic scale. Many Vicharians
say this is exactly as it should be.
Those who favor them:
Freedom loving people from the Federation and outside who wish to live in a
more libertarian milieu favor the Vicharrians. People who enjoy swashbuckling
celebrities and role-models.
Those opposed to them:
People who prize order and stability. People who wish to control Vicharrian
and allied individuals.
Area of Operation:
The Federation
Headquarters Location:
Vich-Arr, the Vicharrian homeworld
Public Face:
Swashbuckling, self sufficient adventurers, always on the move
Notable Members
Amurian Mariukichan - Emperor
Braanon Mariukichan - Former heir to the throne, now nominal ruler of Beauville colony
Mazallar Kemmlearian - Duke, chief rival of Amurian, hates Braanon
Leadi Mariukichan - popular starship Captain in Starfleet and Admiral of the VRSS. Cousin to the Emperor. Spends time on Starships to avoid the hassles of the succession.
Notable Planets:
Vich-Arr
The capital world of the Vicharrian Empire, a sprawling, developed world that
shows the scars of having been the birth place of a technological civilization
Much more livable now, the seat of Vicharrian culture. History, Music, entertainment,
literature, celebrity, and power this is the center of the Galaxy as far as
Vicharrians are concerned.
Beauville
This is the home of a mixed Vicharrian and pals colony which followed Braanon
Mariukichan into exile following his rejection of the Vicharrian Throne. An
earthlike world, it is the home of one relatively tame city and a lot of wilderness.
Current Population, 8 million and rising.
Home of Kamaline, Tillean and Demeline Darvon Ahk, Adventuring Scientists
Cold Wyn-Los
A small Vicharrian Colony loyal to Emperor Amurian. Noted for its huge stands
of virgin forest, used as a survival training base for the Vicharrian Royal
marines, Starfleet Marines and unlucky Starfleet Officers.
History of the Group:
The history of the Vich-Arr runs along lines parallel to many human worlds that
developed from the stone ages through technologically advanced society.
In the 1100's on Earth, Vich-Arr entered its cyberpunk age, growing population, great ecological destruction and mega corps that ran the whole world.
However, in 1155, some one loosed a bio-weapon on Vich-Arr.
By 1175, the population was a quarter it's previous size and still declining.
The Emperors of the day (Kalimara 1117 - 1163, Leunal 1163 - 1175, Heimalan 1175- 1213) Used personal magnetism and the role of the Monarchy to bond a core of survivors to them, while most pre-plague organizations collapsed in upon themselves.
In 1204, the cure to the bio-weapon plague was discovered, but the changes wrought to Vicharrian culture would be permanent. The Vicharrians came to treasure that which was most lacking, individuals, competency, achievement and effort.
This gave rise to a mindset most people find "Swashbuckling" (The Vicharrians love this, the Three Musketeers in the favorite piece of Earth popular culture on Vich-Arr) The Vicharians prize individuals, individual status and accomplishments. Vicharrians make great volunteers and consultants. They don't make great soldiers, grunts and workers.
Vicharrians entering the military or Starfleet must be carefully taught the
value of team work and team accomplishment.
This culture could only exist because most of Vich-arr's high technology survived
the population implosions, and even this was a near thing. Entire metropolises
had to be abandoned and the populations invited to come help other cities survive
as living entities.
As the living cities adapted to the change, Vicharrian Engineers expressed their individuality by building systems which allowed heavy automation to work smoothly. Vicharians are more happy as repairmen than as factory workers.
The Vicharrians continued to recover and to rewrite their society. By 1275 they
had a thriving near space infrastructure, space colonies and colonies on local
worlds.
In 1307, the Vicharrians discovered the warp drive.
Vicharrian space exploration was lightly funded, but extraordinarily popular. This results in a very popular and well treated VRSS being scattered to the four winds, with very little planning and organized development of the territories they discovered.
The Vicharrians never discovered Dilithium based warp drive on their own, rendering interstellar travel a very long, arduous and dangerous affair.
As a result, Vicharrian colony worlds were founded slowly, and Vicharrian territory expanded in a careful, one-step-at-a-time manner.
Vicharrian history is complex, following the examples of the plague-time Emperors, Vicharrian nobles began to agitate for power.
The balance of power was always precarious and it altered at different times. For instance, the rule of Jangalala the Weak (1398 - 1478) was characterized by cutthroat court politics and an indecisive, easily swayed emperor being steered by different groups of courtiers, all vying for contact with the emperor, which would translate to influence and power.
When Jangalala was assassinated in 1478 his son, Thergiliad attempted to ascend the throne. He was opposed by courtiers who insisted that he'd assassinated his own father in an attempt to gather power for himself (later scholars agree that they were right) But this event sparked the 5th War of Succession, which cumulated in Thergiliad and his personal body guard detail sneaking into council headquarters and machine gunning nobles opposed to him in person.
By 1515 Thergiliad had descended into madness and paranoia. He ordered the massacre of a group of civilian colonists. His fear was that they were trying to set up a power base outside Vicharrian rule, to build forces and return to continue the war to take his throne. His own body guard isolated him and rule of the Empire fell to Thergiliads 4th wife, Hanlassa.
In 1540, Thergiliad's son, Gemlias ascended to the throne, and exiled all of his father's prior body guards out of Vicharrian Space. Thermgiliad died of a tragic illness within the year.
These stories are typical of the rambunctious, rough-and-tumble life of Vicharrian power politics. Vicharrian history also features a bewildering variety of resistance movements, protests, civil wars, assassinations and duels.
The unusual part of all this is that ascend to this level of political power, a Vicharrian must be truly power hungry indeed. Wealth and political power go hand in hand in Vicharrian society, but heirs to great fortunes must take care not to become victims of up-and-coming power brokers.
The greatest of Vicharrian Emperors, Nobles and power brokers have all been very energetic men and women for whom sleep was at worst a momentary inconvenience and at best a disposable luxury.
What makes the power politics unusual and hard for outsiders to fathom is that the stakes are so low. The Vicharrians have set schedules of user fees and other funding mechanisms for civil governments and services. A noble or an Emperor who tried to, say, tax his people for more money with which to pursue his political goals, invites attack and duel challenges.
This is considered a healthy check-and-balance on modern Vich-Arr.
Most of the 12 original Vicharrian colonies were set up by people who wanted to get away from the chaos cheerful intrigue, assassination and machinations of the Capitol.
On these worlds, a much more pragmatic and down-to-earth attitude prevails, however the individualism of the culture is still present. Colonial Vicharrians are much less impressed with whether the Emperor was in the audience for your latest performance than if they like it personally, and if it was a successful project.
In 1613 the Vicharrians met the Aborian Empire. Vicharrian traders roamed more or less at will across new space and brought back word of an empire which while interesting, was a good deal more uptight than the Vicharrian Empire.
Vicharrians tended to react to Aborian culture by smuggling all the weapons, contraband, money goods and services they could get to the Aborian lower classes.
This annoyed the Nobles of Abor quite a great deal. Sporadic battles and small scale wars broke out between Vicharrian ad hoc smuggling groups and Aborian military units sent to stop them.
In 1700, Abor declared war on the Vicharian Empire, and attacked viciously
It was a battle where large groups of Aborian ships moved in great fleets with great coordination, while smaller Vicharrian fleets harassed and harangued the Aborians.
Vich-Arr built its monster Battleships, but had problems keeping them crewed. Aborian Dreadnoughts while no match one-on-one for Vicharrian Battleship could usually count on the Vicharrian battleship not to have sufficient escort or back up available.
The fighting started out intense, swung solidly in Abor's favor and then bogged down again.
In 1734, the Vicharrians and the Aborians signed a peace treaty. The Aborians would not hold Vicharrians as a group responsible for the deeds of a few, and any Vicharrian ship in Aborian space without proper documentation was subject to immediate seizure.
Both sides withdrew to their original borders and promptly descended into economic depressions, from which it took years for each to recover.
By 1850, Abor and Vich-Arr became each other's beloved enemy. Tensions flared and eased. Border conflicts brewed up and then subsided. Aborian and Vicharrian nobles occasionally collaborated with each other trying to get enough leverage to attain more power at home.
In 1861 an Orion Scout discovered the Vicharrian Empire and the Aborian Empire.
By 1871, both empires were nearly on their knees from constant pirate attacks.
In 1873, they signed the Abor/Vich-Arr mutual aid pact and began to exchange technology both that which had been developed and that which had been captured from the Orions
By 1890 the forces of the Vicharrian Empire and the Aborian Empire were upgraded and robust. Piracy became much more rare in the face of advanced, competent opposition. Most Pirates sought easier targets elsewhere.
In the 1940's Vicharrian scouts discovered Earth and even visited it. Earth's primitive technology and large population made it an unattractive trade partner. But Earth's position made it a valuable stopping point.
1950's Aborian intelligence learns of Earth, a scouting mission is launched.
1990 Vicharrian hidden mission on Earth is withdrawn as Eugenics war approaches (Or is it?)
2140's Earth Starships encounter Vicharrian Empire and Aborian Empire. Trade relations begin.
2150's Both the Vicharrian and Aborian Empires trying to play "older
sibling" to earth causes some tension.
2175, seeing the Federation as an answer to chronic instability, Vicharrians
vote overwhelmingly to join the Federation.
-end-
Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Trek. I claim original characters and situations in this material for me.