The Age of Flamboyance

6401-6570CE

Overview

The Age of Flamboyance was a period when affluence and expressions of individuality flourished over much of civilized space and when recontacted regions expanded and began to prosper, often developing into their own interstellar states.  With the exception of the Terran-Bengali Border War of 6549-6552CE, the period was generally devoid of major warfare or serious conflict, though piracy, peripheral conflicts and Dragon aggression continued.

In the Coreward Region, interstellar states continued to develop, sometimes evolving into multi-system unions, sometimes into centers of privateering or smuggling activity.  The Realm of Antares continued to increase in size and influence, encompassing over one hundred systems by the middle of the 66th century.  The border with the Grand Federation of Races continued to harden in response to smuggling and piracy, with the Treaty of Wanda in 6422CE reaffirming the Grand Federation's right to patrol a buffer region in former Imperial Space.  The Kith'turi and B'dr'rak both began to expand out of their traditional regions near mid-millennium, the Kith'turi strictly as traders, the B'dr'rak adding settlement and piracy to the mix.  The Merchant Guild, its monopolies all but gone, continued to expand into more remote regions, acting as an unintentional recontact service as the Great Southern Expedition extended its trading zone beyond the southern borders of the Coreward Region.  The Zhantlas Union eventually reversed its isolationist policies to begin exporting its biotechnological products and it began to focus toward building a bridge between the other Known Space states and the Grand Federation of Races.

In the well-civilized and densely populated Central Region, the Terran Khalifate remained more open than under previous Khalifs, but faced with little internal opposition and enjoying increased external tolerance, Khalif Hussein remained loyal to his beliefs and kept the general flamboyance of the era from moderating the Khalifate's traditional Ibrahimite values.  Continued friction with two secular states mostly embedded within Khalifate-controlled territory, the Alimeen Confederacy and the League of Vulcan, cumulated in the Terran-Bengali Border War, which began soon after Hussein's death and the ascension of his wastrel grandson, Khalif Mohammed V. 

The border war occurred almost accidentally, aggravated by the shortsightedness of the Khalifate's de-facto chief executive, Grandmaster Hammed Rhazi.  The war demonstrated the inadequate preparedness of both the Khalifate and the Dominions, lulled by centuries of relative peace, and soon proved that neither state possessed adequate troop carriers or the supply infrastructure to support multiple planetary occupations, limiting the war's major combat to the Central Region and to sporadic commerce raids against poorly defended targets.  Though the conflict culminated in a Bengali invasion of the Solar System and the defeat of the Order of Purity's defensive fleet at battles near Neptune and Jupiter, the war ended in a marginal victory for the Khalifate, which gained control of four additional worlds, an end to the League of Vulcan and an acceptance of continued Khalifate expansion.  The Dominions gained three worlds from the former League of Vulcan, access to more Khalifate markets and the eventual development of better relations with its Ibrahimite neighbor.

During the course of era, the Bengali Dominions continued its devolution from a caste-based society to a more tolerant and mobile polyglot state.  The powers of the Nobility continued to decline and the near monopoly on the legal system once enjoyed by the Eternals faded as the ranks of aging Eternals dwindled.  Attempts by new groups, such as the Society for Order and its Maxmius Variants, to gain power failed in the face of official and popular disapproval.  By 6500CE, the Dominions encompassed over two trillion citizens of twenty-odd Variants and Races on more than eleven hundred worlds, mostly residing together in general peace and tolerance.  The death of the long ruling Regent, King Malcolm Hu-Ve’eri-Stark, in 6570CE proved to be the passing of the torch to new like-minded leadership, not a change in the general course of Bengali societal evolution.

The Federation of Orion continued to dominate the civilized Rimward Region but still feel short of achieving its stated goal of post-material conversion.  For most of the period, the Progressive Party, specifically the family and business interests of former Supernova Party President and trillioniare businessman Gordas Fastung, dominated FOO politics, pushing a more business-friendly, materialist and expansionist policy.  Two major expansions pushed the membership of the Federation of Orion above three hundred worlds, and Preservationist-inspired habitats, including the huge hollow world of Agharta, spread across Orion space.

The Spin-Rim region entered mainstream Known Space civilization after contact between more established states and native interstellar nations such as the expansionist Divinity of Aurgeus and its soon to be defeated neighbors, the Autarchy of Strem and the Combine of Cassiopeia.  The Divinity, ruled by a Heretic-converted Eternal and his Heretic Divine Emissaries, skirmished with the Swarm, troubled the Mendam Codominium and was eventually countered by the resurgent New Autarchy.  Elsewhere on the spinward edge of recontacted space, the worlds of the Spinward Collective joined together to counter Dragon aggression, maintaining close contact with the Mendam Codominum, the Recontact Service and the expanding New Defender privateers.  The Mendam Codominium itself remained fairly culturally isolated, not overly influenced by fashion and economic trends, but more focused on helping its neighbors, including the Octopod Civility as well as emerging Human states, defend against potential Dragon expansion.  Both the Fzuki Way and the Disentropic Way religions continued to be exported to other regions, expanding the Codominium's distinct societal values to far corners of Known Space.

In the Trailing Region, the Star King Confederation continued to dominate, contributing to the societal and economic expansion of the period and often setting trends in culture and fasion.  New states began to emerge on the trailing periphery of the Star Kingdoms and central states, with increased trade and contact contributing to the continuing development of long regressed worlds toward a renewed interstellar awareness.

The Southern Region began to experience more interstellar contact during the Age of Flamboyance.  In the near south the Central states expanded into new systems; toward the rim, developed systems vied for absorption into the Federation of Orion; in the coreward extends, the Merchant Guild searched for new markets, recontacting scores of worlds.  However, much of the far and "wing south" to the spinward and trailing, remained out of contact with interstellar society, subject to no contact or perhaps a one-time survey visit or occasional pirate raid.

The Northern Region remained the least developed region of Known Space, with small states, such as the Libran Concorde and Aengan Republic, emerging in the near North as the central states expanded into that area, but few starships visited the middle or far northern sectors.

By the end of the period, the League of Independent Races extended across most regions of old Imperial Space, incorporating twenty races and two hundred worlds and acting as the protector of primitive or quarantined races on dozens of worlds.  The League maintained close relations with Human states and became known both as an honest broker in interstellar disputes and as a reliable trading partner.  Outside the League, other non-Human Races, from the Swarm and B'dr'rak to the Kith'turi, Octopods and even the Rootjalik, continued to advance and expanded during this era, outnumbered by over sixteen billion Humans on twenty thousand worlds, but developing their own distinct interstellar societies inside the volume of Human Space.

Political

Politics in the Age of Flamboyant was more nuance and continuance than revolution or even evolution.  Even in the more politically diverse Federation of Orion, no new political movements emerged, and within the Star Kingdoms, only one revolt within the Irmingham royal family itself broke the monotony of long reigning monarchs and orderly transitions.  Economic prosperity and cultural diversions took the steam out of politics for most people.  Harmony within states improved as both a general satisfaction of citizens with their governments and the ability of most dissenters to emigrate limited the potential for strife.

The major political shift during the period, evident everywhere but within the Terran Khalifate, was the growing visible political power of corporate interests, evident as vast interstellar corporations spread across hundreds or thousands of worlds, concentrating economic power and using that clout to influence politicians and fund projects beneficial to their interests.  This trend was most obvious in the Federation of Oroin, where trillionaire Gordas Fastung remained highly influential long after his presidential terms expired, but business interests also became increasingly influential in the export-dominated economies of the Star Kingdoms.

Technological

Technology remained mired in the Late Macrojump Era, limited by Mech Plague attacks on advanced materials.  In the Grand Federation of Races, use of specialized biotechnology had long overcome this limitation, but despite centuries of progress, the Human State remained unable to duplicate the pinnacles of T'zet technology.  Regardless, biotechnological innovation continued to advance during the Age of Flamboyance, though they were often focused on providing consumer goods, such as entertainment and fashion products, not on the more difficult task of overcoming industrial bottlenecks in microjump drive, quantum computing or fast replicator technologies.

Cultural

The Age of Flamboyance was named for the dominance of its cultural, entertainment and fashion trends.  In the major Human interstellar states with the exception of the Terran Khalifate, it was a period of widespread wealth and widespread leisure, prompting a need for interesting and often colorful diversions to fill the centuries of idle time.  This era was the first time since the fall of the Empire of Humanity when cultural icons like Hushark Phaeton, Jenla Nambi and the Seasonals became more well-known than politicians, religious figures or military leaders.

The rise of fashion as a Known Space-wide phenomenon, rather than as a local or regional trend, first occurred in the Age of Flamboyance, and the flamboyant character of Hushark Phaeton was most responsible for this development.  Starting with the Prismatic Gossamer line of cybernetic fashion, the Nova Blancan designer Hushark Phaeton became renowned for a "techno-bio glitz" style that was widely adopted by the elites and trend-setters on thousands of worlds.  Though fewer Humans were willing to follow in Phaeton's footsteps and undertake the transformation to the aptly named Genderless Variant form, the Genderless numbered over twenty million by the turn of the 66th century.

Those deterred or revolted by Phaeton's post-sexuality could instead find comfort emulating the styles of the Pirate Queen Jenla Nambi, whose use of biological enhancements and extensions projected the opposite image, reveling in the biological nature of Humanity.  The Ibrahimites, not surprisingly, were revolted by both extremes and did not participate in the trends that bounced and swirled between those two extremes, denouncing Phaeton as an 'abomination' and eventually assassinating it, and branding Nambi a 'harlot'.

The multi-sensory performances of the Seasonals, led for most of their long touring run by Albian Princess Zephyr, proved more acceptable to traditional societies and less flamboyantly-minded individuals.  Multi-sensory entertainment, often enhanced by implanted sensory modulators, ran the gambit from simple repetitive themes to philosophical or even educational fully developed epic performances, incorporated into the blended reality of everyday life.

More serious cultural movements during the period included the increasing influence of Preservationist philosophy, encouraging a limited footprint on world surfaces and a restoration of native life forms.  Preservationists ultimately wanted Humanity to move beyond the surfaces of their adopted worlds, transferring their industry and cities to space habitats and Drift settlements, but most Preservationists also espoused a 'green' philosophy of returning worlds to their natural state as a promising and less radical intermediary state.  Preservationist philosophy remained centered in the Federation of Orion, but by the middle of the millennium, it had become a mainstream movement in the Bengal Dominions and among many members of the League of Independent Races.  Even Herio Baen, founder of the Disentropic Way, became a proponent of using Preservationist means to further the advancement of transcendence and to pave the way for the evolution of future intelligences.

In general, the Age of Flamboyance was a period when peace and prosperity, along with a still materialist economy, allowed ostentatious displays to proliferate.  While many serious commentators bemoaned the superficial frivolous nature of most popular culture, this culture did in fact reflect the health of the underlying societies, proving that they could support such frivolousness without noticeable economic harm.

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