The Holy Empire

The Holy Empire, Unitican: Royu Rolna Rosif, is a political entity and soverign body that spans 17 system in the Fýreshyalós galaxy. It was founded formally in the year 12 on the moon Fórlis Sigas in the system of Hedia (now Hedia Te Ro). Its existence was the direct result of the Persecution of Faith, a discriminatory move against the religious by then leader of the newly formed United Trowo, Hiro Hyai. Today it is an amalgation of over 16 major religions and 43 lesser religions, ruled by the Araichisyin, the supreme leader of the empire. It serves to be a safe haven for the religious, and to one day reclaim the homeworld of humanity, Trowo, from apatheism.

History
See also: Persecution of Faith

After the Great War on Trowo, the religion was blamed as the cause of the disaster and misjudgements that lead to the Great War, and hence all the destruction, under the leader of United Trowo, Hiro Hyai. The were systematically discrimination against and received shoddily built houses and received rations last. Many perished during this time and more than 500 million were forced to "deconvert" from their religion in order to get to "standard" houses and welfare. During this period, prominent and more endowed religious members started to move off planet and brought with them those who were lucky to get on and seeked other systems that were open to refugees. As United Trowo was already spreading its influence to systems like Zebrinse-Xý'Raho, Tekyidhas-Ovrigas and Sýlýronth, systems that were most able to accomodate refugees, most of religious refugees had to move far from Trowo. Systems like Hedia Te Ro, Unimai, Gyung Sien and Ajilpalis which lay more than 70 light years away from Trowo were settled, though there was no true unity under a certain leadership.

The breaking point were the sterillization experiments that were conducted on the religious, under a claim that there were "delusional" genes that caused people to be more inclined to believe in "superstitions and make-belief". Ships returned from the settled systems to rescue the religious population left on Trowo who were willing to come aboard and start life anew, though this was a long and labourious process. The religious banded together into an organisation known as The Religious Front and pooled their resources and manpower to aid refugees better. Travel between Trowo and these far flung systems took anywhere from 8 months to 2.5 years for a one way trip. Effort was concentrated into constructing as many carriers as possible which managed to shuttle an estimated 300 mllion people.

Throughout this time, the leadership of United Trowo did not outwardly oppose the effort, but made attempts to slow down the process. Spaceports were routinely closed for "maintenance", airspace rights were revoked due to "congestion" and there was even a secret plan known as Operation Spirit's Call to spread a disease that would be carried back to their systems.

This culminated in demonstrations and riots in the major rebuilt cities like Alto Risé and Konavue, which were violently squashed. The birth of religious terrorism began in earnest after year 11, funded by the religious in the isolated systems. This was retaliated by increased religious profiling and public ban of worship. Those accused of terrorism would be rounded up and sent into the depths of space with limited fuel. Many were rescued by The Religious Front, but as many as 160 000 people are estimated to have lost their lives through asphyxiation aboard these "death ships".

The hijacking of Aerosplane Flight 151 which caused the death of over 32 000 people lead to the mass round up and torture of any religious individuals even tenuously linked to the event, and the execution of 400 suspected individuals. Modern analysis showed only the involvement of 140 people, many of them off-planet. This lead to a second wave of migration, where another 14 million fled the planet. After this, all ties were shut off with The Religious Front, and the Trowo System was closed off to all carriers from The Religious Front.

Founding and the First Interstellar War
The Religious Front was then reorganized under Pab Shimjan, the first Overseer of the newly proclaimed Holy Empire on Fórlis Sigas, which aimed to liberate all religious on Trowo from the yoke of the United Trowo government. By the next year, year 13, war spacecraft had arrived in Trowo System space and attacked orbital installations at Zensis and Anfýran, and demanded the right for the remaining religious left on Trowo to flee to The Holy Empire. This was met with a scramble of forces by United Trowo at the gas giant Lialran, marking the start of the First Interstellar War.

The surprise attack was not expected as it was assumed the majority of the Empire's fleet were carriers, as was seen over the previous years. However, an arms built up occured some 6 years ago in preparation for a full-scale attack had already been going on at the secret military installation at Ga'ayat, which produced some 15 battlecruises. The United Trowo fleet suffered heavy casualties and the remaining fleet fled to nearby systems to regroup and repair.

The Empire's demands were rejected by the United Trowo government despite the loss. This was responded to by a barrage of attacks on space-born infrastructure like GPS and weather satellites, as well as the destruction of 2 space-based solar power plants. An temporary armistice was passed just 2 days later under the condition that the religious be allowed to escape on the carriers back. Over the period of the next 2 years, some 320 million more people left Trowo for The Holy Empire.