My name is Arthur Merrin. I am a historian at the University of Carlisle. I wish to share with you a little bit about the history of our world, from my point of view. It is said that Carlisle can only truly be understood when you take its history into account. Let us speak now then, of history.
Geography
Because history cannot ever be properly understood without a grounding in the related regional geography, we will look first at the layout of the main Zedalian moon.
Carlisle is a large moon orbiting the gas giant Zedalia. It consists of three major continents (Yarnwith, Kabal, and Hartur) and one smaller one (Benorylie). Each continent is home to both major cities and rural land with a total population of 800 million. The basis for the planet’s economy and exportation is consumer goods and light industry, supported by adequate agriculture to feed the population. The planet’s geography is diverse, with many equatorial areas a virtual tropical paradise, while other regions of the planet are covered in temperate forests, rolling plains, hot and cold deserts, and even a volcanic region on Hartur which sees a great deal of mineral mining. Carlisle’s capital city is Breed.
Civilian model airspeeders are the most popular form of transportation on Carlisle. In fact in many of the major cities, one is hard-pressed to find roads at all. Airspeeders fill many of the roles other worlds use landspeeders or hover craft for. Airspeeders are used for personal craft, law enforcement, medical and emergency assistance and cargo moving.
This flying fascination has boded well for Carlisle, allowing for the cultivation of land that would otherwise be used for roadways.
Early History
Found to be a world of fertile soil and beautiful horizons, Carlisle was colonized more than 7,000 years ago by some 400 families of various sentient races. In a short-term a hierarchy appeared as the first colonies were built. Some families died from disease and accidents that plagued the early colonists, while others uncovered the planet’s resources and thrived. As new colonists poured into the system, they often went to work for the prosperous families, perpetuating the rich and poor cycle.
The planet’s native cat-like sentient race, called the Cashmier by the new arrivals, proved to be an immediate threat. Though technologically inferior, the Cashmier killed many of the early colonists, and several small conflicts forced the colonists to take up arms to kill, burn out, and drive back the Cashmier to the more inaccessible regions of the planet. In those early days, many Cashmier became slaves to the new colonists.
That changed 2,000 years later, when efforts by the Old Republic to turn Carlisle into a democratic republic finally won out. Slaves, commoners and nobles alike joined the new Carlisle Senate. The new system divided the planet into provinces, with a representative from each. The tenets of feudalism proved too powerfully engrained to ignore however. Slowly the senate positions became hereditary, with government positions falling from parent to child. The only change was the number of slave commoner families who joined this elitist group and were soon widely accepted within the social class.
The Hondu Epidemic and the Coming of the Duke
A thousand years passed quietly with merely a handful of wars offplanet in support of the Old Republic, then came what is customarily known as the Hondu Epidemic. A plague brought home from troops who had served offworld. The disease made it to Carlisle and spread like wildlife, killing more than 100,000 people. Alien races living on Carlisle were particularly vulnerable to the disease. As the disaster spread, the democratic government proved unable to act quickly enough to satisfy the terrified and mourning populace. Even as the plague was contained and controlled, democracy was vilified in the eyes of the common men and women on Carlisle. Three months later the discontent escalated into violence and the planetary militia was called up to put down several riots, resulting in more bloodshed.
In the discord, a man named Marco Vanur, a senator, rose up and took advantage of the situation. Supporting the rebellions, he pledged change to a more effective government. He won widespread popular support, single-handedly rewrote the Carlisle constitution, and took existing government system and shifting it to a more feudalistic one. Simultaneously he became the self-appointed ruler of Carlisle.
On the heels of these changes, the plague was completely eradicated, and Carlisle’s economy prospered. With the media on his side, Vanur’s takeover was accepted.
Vanur maintained the use of planetary provinces, but replaced the term senator with Count and made it a noble title. He shied away from making Counts truly a hereditary position, instead making them appointments. This was an unexpected boon for Vanur because it allowed commoners the opportunity to earn a noble title. This comprises a large reason why Carlisle’s government system remains popular to this day.
As the years passed, Carlisle’s prosperity spread and the new Duke made efforts to colonize the Zedalia’s other five major moons around 1,500 years ago. As each moon was colonized, it too was divided into provinces, administered by appointed Counts. But the rule of so many new provinces proved too much for one Duke. As each moon rose in population, the Duke created the new hereditary titles of Baron, and awarded a Baronship to some of the more successful and wealthy families of Carlisle (as well as those who were among his most loyal). The citizens and leaders of these moons soon came to be commonly known as colonials.
The Kralus Rebellion
400 years ago the leaders of the moon of Kralus became disgruntled and the Baroness attempted to secede from the Duke’s control. The Kralus Rebellion as it was soon called, was a bloody affair. The Duke at the time, Flint Vanur-Combreys, dispatched the Carlisle Guard and a substantial militia force to put down the rebellion. After more than a decade of low-level resistance, Kralis was finally subdued. According to official reports the Baroness committed suicide. The truth of the matter will probably never be known, but her family was stripped of their title and those directly implicated in the rebellion were imprisoned for several years. In the end more than 200,000 people were killed on both sides. To this day, the moon of Kralis remains under the direct command of the Duke, who has yet to reward another family with the Baronship of Kralus.
The Clone Wars and the Empire
As the Old Republic fractured in the Clone Wars, Carlisle remained nominally loyal to the Republic. Their contributions were minor, sending a couple ships and a few militia regiments of troops to serve in the conflict. Led by several Carlisle citizens of noble blood, a couple of these military men would become prominent Carlisle leaders later in their live, many remain in the service of the Duke as Counts or Barons to this day.
The transformation of the Old Republic into the Galactic Empire was an event the citizens of Carlisle looked upon with quiet apprehension. But as an imperial garrison settled in on Carlisle, the government worked hard to appease the imperials and to appear loyal. This outward pretense of loyalty earned Carlisle a favorable status in the Empire, with a reduced size garrison established on the world.
The Empire would regret this decision decades later. For when Emperor Palpatine died, the people of Carlisle seized the opportunity. The planetary garrison found itself without aid and support. The populace which had embraced the garrison with friendship just days before suddenly was looking at the troops with the eyes of a hungry shark. The people of Carlisle had quietly hid their feelings and their true colors, waiting patiently for the opportune moment, and when it came, the moff and the imperial garrison quietly disappeared into the night with barely a scream or a shot fired. The next day, the imperial garrison’s bases were washed of the blood, and the bodies disposed of. The Duke never even bothered to declare independence. It had simply been done. The Empire didn’t even realize Carlisle had fallen for another 2 years.
Today
As the Galactic Civil War continues to rage on, Carlisle has shown little interest in the galaxy at large. Instead the ruling families of Carlisle and its moons continue life as they know it, fighting for and against each other in the perpetuating life of struggle and family.