[Imperium Galactica] House Rös (1205) - the Sordlands/the Trashlands

Welcome to the Factbook of the Sordland! In here we collate the important information about the Sordland:


Full name: March of the Sordlands (Stórfellt Sordlandsk)
Short name: the Sordlands, Sorden
Old name: the Trashlands (deprecated, now considered offensive)
Demonym: Sordic, Sordlander (Sordsk)
Language: Sordlandic
Sectors: 52
Capital World: Ruslsorp
Imperial Rank: Margraviate
Ruling House: House Rös (1205)
Leader: Thor 12051509 (Thor Rös of the Sordlands) [see picture to the right]

Topics of Interest

• Map and List of Planets
• Organisation of the Sordlands
• History of the Sordlands
• The Sordic People
• Industries of the Sordlands
• Military of the Sordlands
• Mercenaries of the Sordlands

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OOC Note: Special thanks to @Prydania for allowing me to use the emblem for the house flag

These are the notable planets of the Sordlands. This list is not exhaustive (a.k.a. WIP, will add more planets as the story develops). For an explanation of the Sordic planet naming system, see Organisation of the Sordlands.

"Original planets" (Epprunárlijorðí)

• Ruslsorp (0ᚠ-5): capital planet; where Kyle Rhodes landed and first established his colony. Ruslsorp contains the People’s Castle, the seat of power in the Sordlands.
• Vitur (0ᚦ-3): planet where the most promising UM specimens were hidden; houses most of the prestigious educational institutions in the Sordlands.
• Tér (1ᚠ-3): one of the original planets in sector 1, Tér is the most diverse, as this was also used as a dumping ground for neospecimens. It was also the most contaminated of diseases, until a disease eradication program by Bryce Rhodes (another Rhodes who immigrated to the Trashlands) reduced the burden of illness among the people of Tér. Tér also colonised its large satellite Mán (1ᚠ-3.1).
• Troll (2ᚱ-3): During the earliest days of Sordlandic organisation, Troll was the planet that was the most difficult to subdue. A similarly-named grandson of Kyle Rhodes was brutally killed by the UM-descended Human Trash as he tried to bring peace and civilisation to them. Troll had to be subdued by military occupation. Later on, scientists found out that the UM lineages in Troll had been genetically designed so that the males would have either increased testosterone levels or have heightened sensitivity to testosterone.

Later planets

• Þýran (6ᚠ-4) – one of the first habitable planets in the first sector to be colonised by House 1205, þýran is well known for three things: the bravery and martial ability of its inhabitants; being the home of the Þýran Sacred Band (Þýransk Helgátváhópur), one of the Sordlands’ best mercenary bands; and the short lifespan of its male population.

Other Inhabited Planets

• Vargdýr (0ᚢ-5)
• Kýll (0ᚦ-5.5)
• Hvitt (4ᚨ-6)
• Hraustur (ᚦᚱ-2)
• Þrål (ᚦᚱ-4.3)
• Kvenkyn (ᚨᚨ-2)
• Tímabil (ᚱᛒ-7) and Nýtttímabil (ᚱᛒ-7.1)

The Sordlands is composed of hundreds of systems at the periphery of the Imperium. As their old name suggests (“the Trashlands”), they were used as a dumping ground of unwanted things.

Only in seventeen planets did the original Trash People survive in. These planets are called Epprunárlijorðí (“Original Planets”). The Trash People’s high fertility enabled them to expand quickly to neighbouring systems.

The Sordlands currently encompass fifty-two sectors, composed of 7 to 25 systems in each sector. All sectors are inhabited, but not all systems have inhabited planets. All systems, however, are garrisoned.

Sectors (þátturí)
Sectors (equivalent to a hex) are led by a þátturáherr (“Sector-Lord”). All sector lords are appointed by the Margrave and are almost always a member of House 1205. Þátturáherrí are answerable to the Margrave and represent the margrave’s government in the sector.

Each sector has a an advisory council called a þáttursráð, which is presided over by the þátturáherr. The council consists of the leaders of all the systems within the sector.

The first six sectors where the Epprunárlijorðí were located were numbered 0-5. Ruslsorp, for instance, is located in Sector 0. The next four sectors settled by the Sordics, and the descendants of Rhodes and his associates were numbered 6-9. However, the eleventh sector onwards are given names based on the Sordlandic alphabet. Thus, Sector 11 is commonly referred to as Sector ᚠ/Sector Fé; Sector 12 is known as Sector ᚢ /Sector Úr, and so on.


Systems (Kerðí)
Each sector has multiple systems, based on a single star system including all its planets, moons, and satellites. Each system is governed by a kerðáherr (“System-Lord”), the equivalent of a Sol-Baron. Kerðáherri are elected from an electoral college of leaders from each of the inhabited celestial bodies within the system, and from the system’s garrison and industry.

Within each sector, the systems are named based on the Sordlandic alphabet: either based on the first settled system (for sectors 0-4), or the first discovered system (for the other sectors). Thus, Sector 0, which has eleven systems, have systems called 0ᚠ “Zero-Fé” to 0ᛁ “Zero-Iss”.

Planets (Jörðí) and Satellites (Tunglí)
Inhabited planets and satellites (inhabitable or terraformed) are led by a jorðáherr (“Planet-Lord”). The Sordlands does not make a differentiation between the lord of a planet (Mund-Baron in Imperial parlance) and the lord of a satellite (Lund-Baron in Imperial parlance), unless one’s celestial body is subordinate to another. For example, Hraustur (ᚦᚱ-2) and Þrål (ᚦᚱ-4.3) are both inhabited celestial bordies within Sector Þurs, System Reið. Hraustur is a planet and Þrål is a satellite, but since neither of which are directly dependent on each other, they are governed by separate jorðáherrí. Conversely, Tér (1ᚠ-3) and Mán (1ᚠ-3.1) are both inhabited bodies within Sector 1, System Fé (System 1). However, since Mán is dependent on Tér, the jorðáherr of Tér also exerts control over Mán, and Mán’s leader is not titled jorðáherr.

All planets are numbered from the main sun outwards. Thus the planet nearest to the main star is numbered 1, the next is numbered 2, and so on. Satellites are numbered in order from the one orbiting closest to the planet outwards.

Naming Conventions
Many planets have names, but the Sordics have a naming convention for the planets so that it would be easy to identify them. The general format is XX-#.#. The first character refers to the Sector the body is in. The second character refers to the System the body is in. The third character, a digit, refers to the planet or planetary system the body is in. The last character, where applicable, represents the satellite, separated by a dot.

So for example, the planet Tímabil is indicated as ᚱᛒ-7, as it is located in the Reið Sector (Sector 15), Björk System. It is the seventh planet from its star. Its also-inhabited satellite Nýtttímabil is indicated as ᚱᛒ-7.1, as it is the first moon from the planet.

List of Planets

They were the product of failed experiments and unwanted children. The ancestors of the Sordic people, sometimes derisively called the Trashlanders, were little more than human trash.

Human Trash
Several centuries ago, a secret racist organisation from another system called ThreilAnon (TA) ran an unethical, immoral experiment called Uppmansk (UM). TA sought to recreate the “Master Race” as envisioned by racist thinkers from the primitive world. Manipulating gametes, selecting for good traits, and some genetic engineering, TA wanted their “Master Race” to be strong and robust, ready to lord over the galaxy.

But experiments after experiments were unsuccessful as the TA wanted even more perfect “Master Race” qualities in the products of the UM experiment. Rejects and failures of the UM experiment were discarded in a part of the galaxy known as the Trashlands: a veritable collection of systems at the galaxy’s edge that were used as a dumping ground of interstellar refuse.

Ultimately, TA did not succeed, as authorities found out about their project and shut it down. The remaining specimens were also sent to the Trashlands.

The Trashlands were also used to discard so-called “neospecimens”. Unwanted pregnancies, once it was decided that the fetus would not enjoy the right to live, could be carried to term. Once born, these were considered bereft of human rights by the virtue of being unwanted. They could be sold as “neospecimens”, to be exploited for experiments and as organ farms. Most “neospecimens” were grown and used in laboratories; but if they survived and were no longer useful, many of them were also thrown to the planets of the Trashlands.

Evolution
Majority of the ancestors of the Sordic people were from the UM experiment. The harsh environments of the Trashlands meant that many of the humans discarded there died of the suffering they had endured, from hunger and deprivation, from the elements and neglect.

But where TA and UM failed, nature and evolution succeeded. The harsh environments also meant that there was severe natural selection in place, weeding out the weak and infirm. Nature selected the burly and the brawny, the fertile and the fecund. This contributed to the characteristics of the Sordic people.

Over the centuries, the Sordics evolved their own primitive culture and society in the few planets (“Original Planets”) where some of the Human Trash survived. Their shared roots meant that they shared many characteristics. Limited contact was made through the people who discarded waste in the Trashlands, although many of them viewed the Trashlanders as filthy subhumans. Even today, some of the peoples of the Imperium view the Sordics as inferior.

Organisation and Margraviate
A few centuries ago, with foreign menaces looming close, the Imperium’s periphery had to be secured. House Rhodes, the nearest organised polity, was the natural source. Kyle Rhodes, an adventurer, a scion of the Rhodes family, was authorised to colonise and organise the Trashlands.

Kyle Rhodes had no realistic chances of becoming the Margrave of his family’s lands. He was down the list for the succession. He was too apolitical, too weak, and too pleasant to be in the cutthroat Imperial politics.

So Kyle Rhodes decided to go to the Trashlands to assist its natives instead. He arrived at Ruslsorp, one of the planets where the Human Trash survived. Instead of lording it over like his new fiefdom, Kyle Rhodes instead settled in, taught the Human Trash, rebuilt their societies, and helped the inhabitants of the planet. He improved their lot by bringing in technology, education, healthcare, and all the trappings of a modern interstellar community. His sons also went on to scout the Trashlands for other planets where Human Trash survived in order to continue his work. He, his descendants, and his fellow colonists and missionaries even assimilated into Sordic society. Kyle Rhodes’ descendants still rule the Sordlands (the new name of the Trashlands) today.

The Sordics revere Kyle Rhodes as ‘the Great Teacher’, as a demi-god who saved them from the worst assaults of nature and the universe. Through his family connections, Kyle Rhodes was able to convince the Imperium to prohibit the dumping of interstellar waste near inhabited systems, like what others used to do in the Trashlands. Because of their status as border people who defend the Imperium, Sordland was raised to a margraviate.

Even though they are of the same rank as the Rhodes, the Sordics have a close bond and sympathetic relationship with them; the Rhodes being the family of their ‘Great Teacher’. The two polities cooperate in defending the southwestern reaches of the Imperium.

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OOC Notes: Post made in coordination with @Prydania .

Because of the initial selection process by the UM experiment and the harsh natural selection imposed by the environment, the Sordic people are mostly homogenous.

An overwhelming majority of Sordic peoples have blond, light brown, or red hair; blue or green eyes; and fair skin. They are usually tall and stocky/burly, brawn being selected as a trait through natural selection. They also have an increased frequency for twinning and multiple gestations, as a result of fecundity being selected – rapid and efficient propagation of one’s genes were valuable.

The Sordics might be strong, robust, and fertile, but as a people, they are not as intelligent as others. (Hence the stereotype of them being dumb blondes.) Brains capable of complex thought were not selected for in a place where mere survival is the priority. The exception is in the planet of Vitur, which was the place where the most promising UM specimens were hidden, until they, too, were abandoned when TA ceased to exist.

This meant that the Sordics do well in areas where muscle, brute force, and sheer numbers are needed: manufacturing and as mercenaries. The main industries of the Sordland is discussed in the next post.

Naming System
The Sordics are known for their unusual naming system. The ruling house of the Sordland is House 1205, a numerification of “Rös”, the Sordic pronunciation of “Rhodes.”

Sordic people have a given name or two, and an eight-digit number that serves as their ‘surname’. This eight-digit number is not random; it reflects their ancestry.

Back then, the UM specimens and the “neospecimens” were branded with a tattoo on their arms indicating their specimen number. As they got abandoned and they built their primitive society, the Human Trash ascribed significance to the numbers on their arms. They passed it on to the next generation by scarifying it (ie. cutting it) into the arms of their children. Nowadays they don’t do scarification anymore, but their legal names are still based on the specimen number.

The first four digits of the ‘surname’ indicate paternal descent – these are the first four digits of the father’s number. The last four digits of the ‘surname’ indicate maternal descent – these are the last four digits of the mother’s number. For example, if Geir 26132658 and Lotta 68461126 have a son, they could name him Finn 26131126. Thus the ‘surname’ is both patrilineally and matrilineally inherited.

Mercenaries
One of the most important industries and source of income of the Sordlands is by hiring themselves out as mercenaries. Considering their roots and their status as border people, the Sordics are battle-hardened and well-tested, giving them a fearsome reputation in the Imperium. The Sordics might not be that bright to instinctively know how to operate a spacecraft or complex unfamiliar weaponry, but they can be trained.

Mercenaries are hired out directly from the Margrave of Sordlands. In peacetime, the mercenaries make weaponry and garrison the periphery.

Any polity intending to use Sordic mercenaries must be forewarned. First, the Sordics must be paid adequately and on time, or else they will mutiny. Second, the Sordics will not fight their fellow Sordics. Any two opposing polities employing Sordics in war must plan their battles properly to avoid a fratricide – something that is very much taboo in the Sordlands. If they face each other in battle as mercenaries, they will lay down their arms and go home.

And lastly, the Sordics have an unwritten rule not to serve any power that is at war with the House Rhodes. This is in deference to their Great Teacher and as gratitude to the family that lifted them up from their status as Human Trash.


Weaponry
Sordland is also big in weapons and warcraft manufactory. Being a source of mercenaries, the Sordland produces a lot of equipment for war. They make many of their weapons under license from others or by copying what they saw in the battlefield, since they have difficulty developing their own.

Manufacturing
Manufacturing other things is also a main Sordland industry. The Sordics have a reputation as being suitable for manual labour. Thus a lot of interstellar corporations make their products in the Sordland because of the cheap plentiful labour.

Agriculture
The Margraves of the Sordlands also have active exploration and terraforming activities, to search for more habitable planets in other sectors. Since agriculture is also labour-intensive, it is another Sordic specialty. Several of the outer systems are dedicated to agriculture. The Sordlands, for all its exploding population, still exports food to neighbouring systems; although the lack of trade routes stymie the trade.

Mining and “Materials Recovery”
Another labour-intensive activity, the Sordics are active in mining nearby planets and systems to support their manufacturing and weaponry industries. This mining also includes “Materials Recovery” (a.k.a. being garbage people) through which valuable stuff from old dumping planets were being salvaged to be recycled to made into new stuff. With their previous status as the Trashlands, there is a lot of trash to mine in the Sordlands. The Sordics are now also accepting interstellar waste for reprocessing and recycling (ie. they are really the trash people).

The Sordlands has many mercenary bands. These mercenary bands are different from the Sordic Home Defence Starfleet (Stjarniflod Høppeinávörning Sordsk, SHS), which is the margraviate’s official military forces.

Sordic Home Defence Starfleet (Stjarniflod Høppeinávörning Sordsk, SHS)
The SHS is the official military forces of the margraviate. Since the Sordlands’ official stance with regards to intra-Imperial politics is non-involvement, the Sordic military has a defensive orientation. This fits well with its status as borderlands. The SHS has little offensive capability.

Each star system within the Sordlands, whether they contain inhabited planets or not, is garrisoned by the SHS. The more peripheral sectors have denser garrisons than the centre. The SHS also maintains open trade routes and accompanies convoys between the largely dark space between the central regions and the more peripheral regions such as the Fields of Dust, the Outerlands, the Barrier Lands, and the Dangerfields.

Mercenary Bands
The Sordlands have many mercenary bands. Most of these mercenary bands, when idle, stay in a home planet and do other productive work. The mercenary bands maintain their own fleets and weaponry. If they are contracted by the Sordic government, they are stationed in any part of the Sordlands to bolster local defences.

Permission from the margrave is needed to establish a mercenary band. Mercenary bands may be contacted and enter into agreements with any other imperial polity not at war with the Sordlands. The margrave will then either approve the agreement or reject it. If approved, part of the payment goes to the Sordic government as compensation for the “loss of productive labour”.

Margraves of the Sordlands usually customarily approve mercenary agreements, except when the polity is at war with House Rhodes. Sordics have high regard for the family of the Great Teacher, and mercenary morale would quickly break down if they are forced to fight against House Rhodes. This gave rise to the unwritten rule that Sordic mercenaries will not fight against House Rhodes.

Sordics will also not fight against fellow Sordics, as killing a fellow Sordic is taboo in the Sordland. (This was in contrast to their survival of the fittest days. Refraining from killing a fellow Sordic was one of the first instructions of the Great Teacher.) If Sordic mercenary bands face each other in battle, they will lay down their arms and go home – this is included in all Sordic mercenary contracts. Thus, employers of Sordic mercenaries would need to plan their battles carefully.

List of Mercenaries of the Sordlands.

The following are some of the mercenary bands from the Sordlands (list not exhaustive). All Sordic mercenary bands contain both large fleets and ground forces. (The ground forces are pictured.)

Þýran Sacred Band (Þýransk Helgátváhópur)
Home Planet: Þýran (6ᚠ-4)
Current Leader: Thorbjörn 44476336
Perhaps the Sordlands’ best mercenary band, the Þýrans are known to battle ferociously until the end. Knowing that their lifespans are short anyway, the Þýrans will fight to the death. The Þýran Sacred Band is a brotherhood bound by similar ancestry and known shared fate.

Black Wolves Band (Svartúlfáhópur)
Home Planet: Vargdýr (0ᚢ-5)
Current Leader: Ragnar 12056339
The Black Wolves Band is distinctive because it is one of the few mercenary bands established by a member of House 1205. It was also continuously led by a member or relatives of the ruling house of the Sordlands. Many of its members went on to become leaders in Sordland: for instance, the current Marshal Hákon 91512032 was the former leader of the Black Wolves.

Troll Guard (Trollgård)
Home Planet: Troll (2ᚱ-3)
Current Leader: Sigbjörn 23661500
The Troll Guard is one of the most feared mercenaries from the Sordlands. Based in the planet of Troll, whose inhabitants are stereotyped as hotheaded, the Troll Guard's fearsome reputation is thanks to their brutality and ferocity. Anyone employing the Troll Guard had to give strict specific instructions on what not to do, in order to prevent them from rampaging across systems. Left unchecked, they will plunder and destroy everything in their path. Thus, some of the Imperial polities use the threat of unleashing the Troll Guard on their enemies as a diplomatic bargaining chip.

BattleTech Group (Bardagitagáhópur)
Home Planet: Kýll (0ᚦ-5.5)
Current Leader: Baldr 00351509
The BattleTech Group is the most technologically-advanced and technologically-innovative of the mercenary bands, being based in the same system as Vitur (0ᚦ-3). BattleTech Group is on the small end of the mercenary bands, but its technology can pack a punch for its size.

White Company (Hvidifyrtág)
Home Planet: Hvitt (4ᚨ-6)
Current Leader: Hlynur 31629481
The White Company is the largest mercenary group in the Sordlands in terms of both fleet size and ground personnel. The White Company traces its roots to the men of the planet of Hvitt, which has notoriously harsh winters, which prompted multiple exodus out of the planet. Some of these fleeing people sought work as mercenaries, forming the White Company. Nowadays the White Company recruits from every sector and system; and recruits serve in mixed troops not specific to one source. The home base is still planet Hvitt, but the White Company has many bases and recruitment centres throughout the Sordlands.

The Sisterhood (Systurskap)
Home Planet: Kvenkyn (ᚨᚨ-2)
Current Leader: Gefjun 60605607
The Sisterhood is an all-female mercenary group from the Sordlands. The Sisterhood has its roots in the planet of Kvenkyn (ᚨᚨ-2), settled by descendants of Uppmansk lineages. Early in Kvenkyn's settlement, a male-specific virus affecting UM lineages killed off most of the adult males in Kvenkyn. The male lineages in Kvenkyn had a gene inserted in the Y chromosome making them sensitive to the virus. The Sordlands had to quarantine the system as the vaccine was being researched. The women of Kvenkyn had to band together to defend their lands from the wilds; the quarantine officers and army had to also be female to prevent the contagion from spreading to the system. The quarantine army and the women of Kvenkyn forged a bond during the experience, and eventually formed their own mercenary band.