Starship Armstrong - Season 1

Interlude - A Few Notes On The Huxley Foundation

The Huxley Foundation in the Context of Martian Galactic Rule

The Golden Age of Mars and the Martian Empire

The era often referred to as the Martian Golden Age has no commonly agreed upon date, but is colloquially considered to be the point at which Mars surpassed Earth in terms of power, prestige and culture. During this golden age Mars colonized worlds beyond the Sol system and conducted primitive terraforming on what would now be considered the core worlds.

A military coup ended the Free Mars Republic, and with it the Martian Golden Age. The worlds of humanity would soon slip into what is now known as "Martian style" galactic feudalism, with worlds granted as hereditary fiefs to nobles for martial service and their peoples reduced to serfdom.

The military installed their admiral as the first Martian Emperor, who divvied up the planets of mankind to his favorites. The populations of entire planets became serfs overnight and human civilization entered a general decline.

The Martian Dark Age

Human Space under the Martian Empire stagnated and the Empire bankrupted itself trying to maintain it's holdings. The empire was never able to colonize new worlds or otherwise expand it's borders, barely being able to maintain them. Eventually it's feudal system fell apart and the various planets became ruled by local warlords.

A few outlying colonies beyond the reach of Mars were able to develop and thrive in this era, unmolested by Martian Imperial interests. The core worlds, however, suffered a terrible period of barbarity and lawlessness. Planetary governments balkanized into feuding nation states. Entire worlds starved as the interplanetary infrastructure that fed them broke down.

A few new colonies sprung up during this era, but nothing like the large-scale terraformation projects of the past. Instead desperate refugees and political dissidents founded space stations and dome cities in remote regions of space.

The Rise of the Galactic Empire

In this climate of strife and anarchy a single woman united the fractured nations and tribes of Mars into a single planetary government, from which she spread out to conquer all the planets of Sol.

Few of the remaining core worlds were able to maintain starfleets in the dark age, and even those who did could not stand against the strength of united Mars. Once her territory comprised of all the former core worlds the woman had herself crowned Empress.

This new Galactic Empire would go on to conquer the outlying human colonies, and then press ever outward by establishing new colonies of it's own. For the first time since the Martian Revolution all of the worlds of humanity are united under a single government.

The Pax Galactica

For a thousand years the Galactic Empire ruled over all of human space, while doubling it in size.

Although all of the planets of the empire might not have been culturally Martian, the ruling classes certainly were. Martian language, literature, philosophy, and other cultural trappings were spread even to those worlds who didn't welcome them.

The Galactic Dark Age

Eventually the Galactic Empire, like all things, succumbed to entropy and crumbled. Humanity entered a second interplanetary dark age.

The Galactic Dark Age was far more devastating than the Martian Dark Age, with no human world being unaffected. Warlords ground the remains of the imperial star fleet against one another until they were worn down to nubs. With no world possessing the infrastructure to independently construct new ships and the ability to maintain them becoming more difficult to preserve space travel was reduced to a shadow of it's former self.