View source for Comm-Link:Galactic Guide - Garron System

This Galactic Guide originally appeared in Jump Point 5.6.

There are few systems in the Empire that inspire the myriad of emotions that [[Garron system|Garron]] does. Even after two hundred years, the effects of the events on [[Garron II]] have barely abated in the public consciousness. To many, the system continues to be a chilling warning about the horrors that unchecked Human greed can unleash on the universe. To others, it is the lightning rod that spurred Humanity to finally rise up and free itself from the shackles of oppression.

Discovered in 2784 by Imperial pathfinders, the Garron system was significant from the start. While performing their initial assessment of the system, scientists and researchers focused on the only planet situated within the narrow green band of the G-type dwarf star. They were thrilled to discover developing life on Garron II. Remarkably, with all the systems that Humanity had discovered to this point, explorers had never before stumbled across a non-space faring sapient species, only ruins of long-past civilizations and ‘[[:Category:Fauna|animals]]’ — so the government had never been faced with the prospect of how to deal with a burgeoning intelligent civilization.

The [[Imperator]], [[Linton Messer XI]], paraded vids of the aliens all across the Empire and boasted about Humanity uplifting the species. “We will be gods,” was the cornerstone of his address to the public in 2785. A team of the Empire’s greatest scientific minds were assembled under the guidance of famed anthropologist and linguist, [[Dr. Michael Shiherlis]], and assigned to an orbital platform above Garron II. Their mission was to not only study the species below, but devise a method of contacting them and subsequently uplift them.

Over the next five years, Shiherlis and the team worked tirelessly to observe the creatures below and decrypt their language, all while keeping their presence hidden from the unsuspecting culture. However, their Imperator grew bored with the prospect of uplifting Garron II, particularly when he was presented with the initial planetary assessment that detailed Garron II’s considerable natural resources. The prospect of assimilating the species was now overshadowed by the possibility of massive financial gain.

The Imperator immediately began courting terraforming companies and mining concerns to spec out potential bids for processing the planet. Planetary geo-engineers moved into the observation station to perform more thorough surveys of the planet. Shiherlis quickly realized what was happening and implored Messer to reconsider.

He got his answer when [[Ellis Netemi]], Linton Messer’s cousin and chief adviser, broke the planetary quarantine to personally lead a tour down to the planet surface. There, in full view of the alien species, he showcased the landscape for company reps in the hopes of sparking a bidding war. Shiherlis, horrified at having to witness this innocent species effectively being invaded, decided to take a stand and let the public know what Messer was up to. Unfortunately, Shiherlis was betrayed by a close associate who was terrified that the Imperator’s wrath would extend to the entire team. Michael Shiherlis was deemed an “enemy of the Empire” and quickly remanded to [[Orville prison]] on [[Charon III]] without trial.

With Shiherlis out of the way and the rest of the scientific team terrified into submission, Netemi sold mining rights to the highest bidder and the terraforming machines moved into place to convert the atmosphere. Whether the Imperator had forgotten about his earlier boasts to the public about uplifting Garron II or considered the populace to be so completely subjugated that his reversal would go unnoticed is still being debated among historians. However, all of those vids that he showcased depicting the creatures of Garron II firmly implanted the primitive civilization in the public’s consciousness, so once the underground activist movement known as [[the Tide]] released footage of the devastation caused by terraforming an inhabited planet, the public remembered. What came next, no one could have anticipated.

In the aftermath of the revolution, Humanity was faced with a myriad of uncertainties. The newly installed Imperator [[Erin Toi]] was busy introducing legislation that would prevent future despots from seizing power while also ferreting out the remaining forces loyal to the Messers, but the public’s attention was firmly on the loss of Garron II.