System: Apollo

Only Kentares IV exceeds the world of Apollo in the annals of infamy: Apollo once served as the capital of the Rim world Republic and the homeworld of House Amaris.

A small G5 star with a single habitable world orbiting it, Apollo was settled on September 8 2250, by Hector Worthington Rowe and his band. Rowe modeled his new homeland on his own warped interpretation of Plato, his favorite classical author. The women whom he had ripped from their families on Lucianca were given the option of citizenship in Rowe’s Republic by contracting marriages with Rowe’s henchmen, or of being demoted to servitor status for use as cheap labor. Recognizing the need to preserve what little technology they had, Rowe furthered decreed that individuals possessing scientific or technical skills be except from mundane tasks so that they might concentrate on more important duties. Despite the manner of its conception, Rowe’s Republic not only survived its initial years of hardship, but also thrived in the years to come.

In 2376, leadership of the Republic passed from House Rowe to House Durant. At this time the new ruler, Lord Michael Durant could boast that his Rim Worlds Republic consisted of 23 inhabited star systems, over 12 billion citizens, and two million soldiers. House Durant would rule the Republic for the next nine decades, before the rulership passed to House Amaris.

In 2459, with Lady Heather Durant, childless, unmarried, without close relatives, and approaching middle age, appointed Terens Amaris her heir apparent. When Lady Durant died suddenly of a previously undiagnosed heart condition in 2463, Lady Amaris took the reins of the Republican government. Her descendants would rule in unbroken succession until 2779, when General Aleksandr Kerensky executed Stephan Amaris for his crimes.

The Republic itself faired little better, after being conquered by Kerensky in 2767 as a base of operations for the Civil War. In the years following the Civil War, the Republic slowly disintegrated into dozens of tiny Bandit Kingdoms until by 2786, nothing remained.

[3050] The Turkina Keshik and Jade Falcon Galaxy, escorted by three Stars of aerospace fighters, landed on Apollo in May 3050, halfway through the planet's monsoon season. The weather prevented the Falcon OmniFighters from effectively supporting the ground forces. Both Falcon forces met with heavy resistance from the Apollo Militia and the Second Grave Walkers, a mercenary unit of some repute. The Jade Falcon Galaxy made quick initial progress, but the fierce resistance put up by the Grave Walkers was compounded by the bad weather.

Superior Clan technology and skills finally prevailed, and the defenders retreated to two massive fortifications built by Stephan Amaris just prior to the Civil War, and were patterned on the Castles Brian in the Terran Hegemony. One fortress fell easily after several Stars of Elementals, slipped in through a hidden bolt-hole shown of the Jade Falcon's pre-Exodus records. The other fort proved more difficult. Eventually the Falcons resorted to using the Arrow-IV missile artillery to silence the fort's big guns, and to open access for the OmniMechs and Elementals to the underground of the fortress. Two hours after the second fort fell, the rest of Apollo's defenders also surrendered unconditionally.

There are no functional factories located on this planet.