The Hapes Consortium

Hapan History

Please note, this page contains both In Character, as well as Out of Character segments and terminology as follows;

Ancient History - With the first history segment, we begin by travelling back to the birth of the Hapes Consortium by recounting the fall of the Lorell Raiders, and navigate through the ensuing Age of Queen Mothers, ending where the player impacted timeline of the SWCombine begins, as the Hapan Civil War concludes with the reunification of the nation.

Modern Era - Our second segment covers the modern history of the Hapes Consortium, explores the Age of Kings, as well as the arrival - and passing - of the Golden Age and its meaning to the Hapan society.

Humble Beginnings - Is a perspective into the journey of Hapes as a group, from its inception from before the time of Darkness. The narrative follows the group's rise in the SWCombine and ties it to the game's development.

Ancient History

The Pre-Founding Age (-470 to -1)

Few records from this period of Hapan history have survived the passage of time, but it is known that during this time brutal marauders eventually known as Lorell Raiders were a constant thorn in the side of the Old Republic, a fledgling government centred around several star systems. The Raiders roamed the stars, raiding countless worlds for spoils, becoming a considerable threat for merchants and ungarrisoned worlds alike in the mid and outer rim of the galaxy. As the Republic intensified its efforts to track the pirates down amidst escalating violence, the Raiders found themselves unable to continue safely operating and resupplying their hidden bases with impunity, endangering their ships and any wealth they had managed to pillage thus far. This forced them to diminish the frequency of their attacks, and to seek shelter from the less traversed parts of space where to base their activities from. Soon after, their scouts would come across a gap in the Transitory Mists, where within, they would eventually discover the Lorell system functioning as a natural gateway to the inner parts of the nebulae. The discovery was followed with swift foundation of a colony on Lorell itself, naming themselves after it. They would continue venturing deeper into the Hapes Cluster, eventually settling Hapes Prime as well.

Continuing their old ways, the Raiders set forth from their new well-hidden colonies to plunder worlds for vast amounts of wealth, while also opting to take captives, often the most beautiful women they could find. The captives who didn’t join the raiding crews were forced to serve as slaves or wives of the pirates, but were typically left behind on the Raider colonies within the Mists for the duration of the raiding expeditions. Ultimately, their activities would prompt the Republic to send the Jedi to deal with the resurgent threat for good. In the ensuing military campaign, almost the entirety of the raider fleets were destroyed, alongside a considerable portion of the male raider population. Of the slaves and raiders left, the women now outnumbered the males at the colonies. Soon after, lead by Ta'a Chume and Enelithia Nele'serin, they rose in rebellion against their oppressors, overthrowing the surviving pirate leaders, and seized control of any remaining functional ships, alongside existing colonies and outposts.

The Age of Queen-Mothers (1 to 3945)

Sometimes referred to as the first golden age, this is when the Hapes Consortium was established as an actual governing body with the Queen-Mothers in charge. It lasted nearly four thousand years with nine specific eras, and ten dynasties. While the Hapans resented what the Lorell Raiders had stood for, they also came to recognise the savages as their ancestors that were murdered by the guardians of the Galactic Republic, leading the government to eventually banning the Jedi from the Cluster as distrust of foreign powers cemented itself in the culture. The wealth the Lorell Raiders had brought with them from outside worlds were used to build up the foundations for a stable and peaceful society within the Hapes Cluster, though not without a martial mindset carrying on in the way the defences and armed forces of various standing were organized and held in high esteem. Many old ways of life faded, however, as new practises and traditions begun to take root with the female descendants of the ruling families solidifying their hold over the society. A transformation towards a conventional feudal society took centuries to run its course, but under the peaceful conditions that continued to exist, the civilization continued growing and growing ever more prosperous, with the Consortium slowly expanding across the worlds of the Hapes Cluster, with sentient species native to the cluster annexed and made part of Hapan society, often in lesser roles as servants. Even as it did so, many worlds were left undisturbed by choice, due to a strong belief about the need to maintain a balance between nature and civilization, and to maintain the beauty of the latter through the former. Beauty and perfection became themselves ideals to be pursued and upheld, though it did not preclude the efforts of the nobility to industrialize and build the strength of their respective feudal military forces. In fact, early on the new government had often itself been troubled by piracy, until it was able to establish stronger control over its borders. As the militaries grew in strength, so did the power and importance of the royalty, if also the strength of the noble houses. It wouldn’t be long before religions were banned in totality, in order to further cement the idea of the Queen-Mother being the ultimate power of the Hapan peoples, as a unifying institution watching over the otherwise increasingly competitive and fractious noble families.

Just the same, during this great age the arts flourished under the rule of a long and unbroken line of Queen Mothers in the female-dominated society. Tradition had become a staple of Hapan social culture, and preservation of the Hapan culture and governance became entrenched within the minds of the generations, with isolationism playing ever a part, the government brooking no interference from the outside galaxy that would tarnish their glorious culture. The Queen Mothers, in their pride, wealth and lavishness, built grand palaces and beautiful ocean retreats. The sciences flourished along with the arts, and many new and uniquely Hapan technologies began to circulate around the Cluster. The society maintained looking inward, and the borders of the Hapes Consortium would become closed entirely from the second millennium onward. Despite such seclusion from the rest of the galaxy, the millennia of relative stability and increasing prosperity - as well as the rule of the Queen Mothers - would eventually all come to an end, however, as the last Queen-Mother fell in to a coma without having designated a chosen heir. This would prove the end of the last dynasty of Queen Mothers, as the event triggered a massive political conflict that swiftly escalated into a devastating military conflict among the noble houses and their strengthened militaries, due to the underlaying vulnerability of the Hapan feudal system and the relative weakness of the institutions of the central government. Corrupt and power-hungry nobility sensed opportunity and joined under the banners of those who would make a claim for the Hapan throne, plunging the Hapes Consortium in to a disastrous conflict that would grow to consume the whole sector for a period that would become known as the Dark Age.

The Dark Age (3945 to 4000)

The Dark Age refers to the time-period between the fall of 3945 to the summer of 4000 when the Hapes Cluster was in a state of chaos, and the Hapes Consortium technically ceased to exist as a unified governing body, with the creation of initially two (later more) competing factions with their own territories who fought for dominance. The Hapan Civil War took place between early 3946 and 3998, with the eventual surrender of the Draconian Union to Andrew Starfyre's Phoenix Movement in 3999. It was a time when the ancient noble Houses waged war on each other, squandering Hapan treasuries to fulfill their own needs and fund the machines of war, with worlds bombarded and fought over the right to hold domain over the entirety of the sector. The age had a profound impact on Hapan society and could have become the undoing of its civilization, but is said to have been the catalyst for many changes for the better.

The Age of Kings

Towards the light

As the Hapes Consortium descended into a civil war, the unified government itself ceased to function, fragmenting over time along the same lines of territorial governance of the noble houses that now firmly divided the peoples of the Consortium. The feudal order that had been maintained through millennia still stood firm, preserving the social order and its traditions. As the conflict escalated into bitter war for supremacy, many worlds were devastated by the ferocious fighting that followed. No faction of nobles was strong enough to subdue the others and claim lasting victory, no matter how willing they were to sacrifice to achieve it, feeding into a scale of destruction that is hard to fathom. Through combat and bombardment, and the subsequent collapse of trade and agriculture, outbreaks of famine and decease became more common across the Cluster, leading to entire planetary populations becoming decimated over the decades of relentless fighting. The once glorious civilization was tearing itself a part, to a staggering total loss of life.

It was this bleak hopelessness of this Dark Age that saw the birth and rise of a boy called Andrew Starfyre, who would succeed in reunifying the Hapes Consortium. The son of a lowly male farmer who had been a pleasure slave of a noble before being cast aside, Andrew received an upbringing underlining the importance of hard work, and the value of history, learning about the glory and beauty that stood to be lost forever by the Hapans, which all left a lasting impression on the young hapan. Having been born on the relatively peaceful planet of Charubah, it would be only in his adulthood that Andrew come face to face with the full extent of the destruction and suffering the civil war was inflicting upon the Hapes Cluster. It would prove the spark that lead him and his friend Derrik Florda, who had briefly been a part of the Draconian Union’s fighter corps, to form a movement to end the war on their terms. It was to be called the Phoenix movement, the name and crest of the movement symbolizing their intended goals; The resurrection and unification of the nation from the ashes of war under a benevolent government and ruler to the glory of its people.

Beginning as an underground movement of mostly male peasants, it managed to organize itself and grow among the underclasses in secret without attracting the attention of the ruling nobles, though it initially lacked the popular support and the means to act. Eventually spreading to all corners of Charubah, a key planet controlled by the industrious House Olanji which managed the large installations of shipyards in the system that were keeping the Draconian Union supplied with warships, the Phoenix movement also was able to establish its presence off-world and make important connections beyond the system, allowing it to begin arming for the inevitable conflict. Though the movement had managed to make good headway in its preparations and had garnered wide reaching popular support across genres and classes, its existence and the identities of its leaders were discovered before it had managed to gather anything comparable to the military strength commanded by the noble house coalitions the likes of the Draconian Union or the Sword Confederacy. Forced to fight local Draconian forces head on, it would became quickly known for its fearless hit and run tactics and unyielding perseverance to complete its strategic objectives despite the initially drastic losses it suffered. The movement became bolstered by surviving intact as an entity through such early conflicts against the portrayed oppressors, and by successfully casting the rule of nobility as a plight upon the common people, swayed a critical portion of the public to its side within the whole system.

Buoyed by mass defections at local garrisons after which it was able to finally overpower the local planetary forces, the Phoenix movement was able to wrestle the control of the planet and then system away from House Olanji, in time growing to challenge even the notable factions in size and might. It fought like it had nothing to lose, while gaining an explosion of popular support on any war-torn worlds it spread to. It also strengthened its ties to any of the other popular underground resistance movements that had eluded extinction or were forming elsewhere in the Cluster.

Through great sacrifice and dedication in battle, and thanks to the waning strength of the competing factions, while its own support of the people continued to snowball and allow it access to ever greater resources to replenish after losses and strengthen its navy, the movement was able to heap victory upon victory, and in the end, to bring the hapan civil war to its final battle at the Battle of Gallinore. Despite the massive support it by then enjoyed, the Phoenix Movement found itself regardless once more outnumbered and fighting desperately to avoid being outmanoeuvred. Suffering heavy losses on all sides, but ultimately managing to route the forces of the Warlord Da'tanah in a display of tactical brilliance, immense gallantry and self-sacrifice, with the outcome that the majority of the standing hostile forces either surrendered to captivity or offered to join the movement.

Many of the Phoenix Movement gave their lives in combat that day, including the movement’s co-leader Derrik Florda who perished on the bridge of the Quasar Cruiser ‘Song of Peace’. Yet at the end of the battle, Andrew Starfyre had not only survived to see the end of the Hapan Civil War but had managed to lead a popular uprising to overthrow the old order of warring nobility that had ruled over the Consortium for thousands of years. For as the fighting ended that day, and the news of their victory spread, the Phoenix movement was thus able to move to firmly hold the capitol planet of Hapes and call for the end of the war and reunification of the nation. With much of the Cluster in ruins and the warring factions spent, there was no one left who still wanted to oppose them with arms or pursue a claim on the Hapan Throne. The movement dictated the terms of the unifications, providing lasting amnesty to the noble houses and offering concessions to them in return for the old dynasties losing their claims on the throne and to their lands, allowing the Phoenix movement to consolidate all power and governance to a new central government of the people that it would be central to forming. And so, at the young age of only 24, Andrew Starfyre was crowned the first Phoenix King of the newly united Hapes Consortium with at the least the grudging support of all the nobles, and to the deafening cheers of the hapan people.

King Andrew I (4000-4027)

Faced with the gargantuan task of rebuilding the Consortium and restoring its former glory, Starfyre, now called King Andrew I, spent the following decades leading the newly united peoples of the Hapes Consortium in a massive reconstruction and restoration effort, in an attempt to recapture the lost greatness of the Consortium, while enacting great societal changes. New laws ensured the equality of all genders and races, and re-established communications and governance on all former Consortium worlds. Andrew I is also credited with the foundation of an efficient system of central governance, including the establishment of the modern day government institutions and the state’s military forces with all the available talent now at his disposal. With all the successes of rebuilding and the merging of the new with the old, the Phoenix movement faded from view, but so did the old trappings of power, and with that the Age of Queen Mothers was left in the past, a new age having dawned.

Over the following decades, Hapes Consortium slowly re-established itself as the sovereign entity of the Hapes Cluster and all its people, establishing diplomatic contact with major foreign powers, but focused on rebuilding, sparing no effort to restore all that it could, while not forgetting to inspire and to guide the development of the society on towards a brighter future according to Andrew’s more egalitarian and meritocratic principles. The people had been unified under the common goal to rebuild their lives and the nation, famine and extreme poverty had been eradicated, and there was a new government and a military that they could look up to, with one notable milestone being the replacement of the last venerable Quasar Cruisers as the ships of the line of the Hapan navy with newly built Nova-class Battlecruisers. At the age of 52, with the Consortium still rebuilding but shining in its rediscovered glory, King Andrew I made the decision to abdicate the throne and name now-Crown Prince Jessy James as the successor to the Hapan throne. It was during the ceremonies preceding the crowning of King James that King Andrew I was shot in the throat by a sniper in the middle of a massive crowd of hundreds of thousands of well-wishers. The death and subsequent search for the culprits shook the nation to its core.

King James I (4027-4037)

King Jessy James I was crowned later that year as the second Phoenix King, and soon proved himself a man of great enthusiasm towards seeing the goals of Starfyre’s fulfilled, and towards the realization of the true strength of the reunified Consortium. He saw Hapes Consortium able to not only recapture its old glory as an isolationist civilization, but to build further upon the rebuilding efforts to harness the industriousness and nascent national pride apparent to him, so as to elevate the Consortium to galactic awareness as a formidable power onto itself, providing the populace with a vision of Hapes as a “city on a hill” for all others to look upon in awe.

The planet of Lorell was opened up as a commercial hub for hosting foreign governments and conglomerates in an effort to foster closer ties and a rapid increase in trading, allowing for the acquisition of technologies and practises that had been lagging behind, while the government institutions and the military continued to be strengthened and expanded. The concerns about allowing foreign presence on a Hapan world were became muted when the evident increase in prosperity it brought allowed the Consortium to keep investing into developing its crucial industries and improving the lives of its citizens. Sceptics of the new openness were to be in turn validated and further opening of the society towards the rest of the galaxy halted, when a foreign conspiracy concocted by the rulers of the Black Sun and Falleen Federation attempted to wrestle the control of the Lorell planet from the Consortium through illicit construction and immigration, as well outright sedition and the use of force, believing the Hapan government as too meek or weak to be able to intervene before fortification of ground positions would’ve made further escalation too costly and endangered the Consortium’s economic goals. Despite the cost of war still painfully apparent to Hapans, King James’s decision to mobilize the majority of the military forces at his disposal to eradicate the challenge to the Consortium’s sovereignty with force enjoyed virtually universal support among the populace. The subsequent success of the campaign would see national pride swell further, and the government embraced a return to older traditions to safeguard itself from being so blindsided by the schemes of its potential rivals.

It is no surprise then that in the years that followed, the government continued investing heavily in the development of such new indigenous new military technologies as the Hetrinar-bomber and the Battle Dragon battleship, while neither forgetting nor forgiving anyone who attempted to transgress against it. The strides in advancement it made were all made possible by a historical population boom, and the further centralization of power and taxing power into the government, opening of the borders to sentients from the greater galaxy, rapid industrialization and revival of the economic growth in the aftermath of the civil war’s conclusion. Together, it allowed the Consortium to surpass its former levels of wealth and military might, spurring further investment into technological and economic development at a time when the galactic economy was about to begin an unprecedented period of growth, and most galactic powers were still largely unaligned in the Galactic Civil War. This allowed the Consortium not only to make the most of its modernized industrial base to solidify itself as the fastest growing galactic economy, but to leverage its rapidly industrialized systems to make itself invaluable to powerful new friends, such as the Galactic Empire.

The long period of increasing prosperity made it possible for the government to improve the living standards of its own population beyond what would have been thought possible in such a short period of time. At the pinnacle of its resurgence, the Hapes Consortium had surpassed all its past accomplishments so absolutely that it came to be for a time the most populous and wealthiest government in the galaxy, even seen as the most third strongest military power. If King Andrew I became known as the King who unified the Consortium and thrust it to the galactic stage, then it was King James I who willed it to seize a unique opportunity and rise to claim its place as a prominent galactic power, aligning the Consortium with the Galactic Empire to form the first Imperial Union, casting thus aside – for a time - the isolationistic tendencies of the Hapan people. It did little, however, to diminish the mistrust most of the people still felt towards foreign powers and their affairs, and the later years of King James I’s reign were markedly less outward focused. During James’ rule, the noble houses of the appointed nobility would see a rise in prominence before being stripped of many of their privileges, cutting off the resurgence of the factions of the nobles and their newly nascent feuds.

King Alexander I (4037-4040)

After a decade long reign that was considered unusually lengthy by galactic standards, King James I abdicated having guided Hapes into its second Golden Age, leaving the Hapan Crown to his chosen heir, Alexander Tylger. Originally of noble birth to a prominent house that had belonged to the Draconian Union, King Alexander I came to rule during a period when most of the galactic powers had carried through with similar great leaps of centralization, industrialization and economic growth of their own, or were at the cusp of such revolutions, with the long period of relative peace and population boom still prevailing across much of the galaxy. Considering the restoration of the Hapan prosperity and military might beyond a grand success, he focused the attention of the Consortium to the preservation and continued revival of the Consortium’s culture and arts from the era of the Queen Mothers, valuing the historical traditions and ideals greatly while recognizing the Consortium’s newfound status as a prominent galactic power onto itself, whilst reaffirming the Crown’s commitment to safeguarding the egalitarian and meritocratic principles the Consortium now functioned on. As disagreements about the direction and vision for the future of the Imperial Union came to a head between the Galactic Empire and the rest of the member states, Hapes Consortium would depart the Union alongside the other member states to form first Galactic Concordiate.

A galactic scale recession would hit towards the end of King Alexander’s reign, causing a sudden contraction of virtually all major economies, wiping out almost overnight most of the taxable income that governments had been relying on to finance their ambitions with and further fuel the impressive growth of their respective economies. While the massive credit reserves and wealth the Consortium for its part had accumulated over the many years of growth and prosperity allowed the government to function largely as before, and prevented wider social upheaval, the sudden plunge in taxes left the Consortium’s income in tatters.

While Andrew Starfyre had been the first King and the first ruler of the new age, he had ascended to the throne young, something that would not reoccur as the Hapan Kings would thereon choose heirs from the established cadre of prominent government officials and military officers, often appointed nobles, who had already had long and illustrious careers in service of the Consortium and its monarchs prior to their ascension to the throne. Still, what promised to be a long and stable reign of King Alexander was cut short by a bout of misfortune in the form of ailing health, in time leading the monarch to choose a new heir to the Hapan Throne.

King Zayth I (4040-)

King Alexander’s ailing health lead to his eventual abdication, with the chosen heir, Zayth Kadrim, assuming the Hapan throne in late Year 4040. Having been appointed into nobility by King James I, and a former retainer of House Tylger, King Zayth had been a senior member of the Hapan government for nine years prior to his coronation, seven of which had been served on the Royal Council in various capacities, primarily as Minister of Intelligence, but with a brief time as Prime Minister and interludes as Royal Advisor. Previously an obscure and taciturn figure, he became the Hapes Consortium's 103rd monarch and its fourth male ruler.

His stated primary concern was the safeguarding of the traditions of the modern Hapan culture, as well as securing Consortium’s future in the ever-changing galaxy. With the galactic recession having decimated government tax earnings, and key industrial projects stalling, his immediate priority was thus on pushing forward with a massive investment drive into stalling industrial and civil engineering projects, prior to focusing on other concerns.

Humble Beginnings

An OOC take on the group's path: Hapes Consortium is a faction - a player driven group - in the Star Wars Combine online game.

- Early days -

So many memories… But also so many years, that much has fallen behind the horizon. This is our take on our story so far.

Hapes is among the groups that have existed since the very beginning of the game, formed in the early dawn of the ICIS interface. Still, it was not like the Galactic Empire, or the Rebel alliance, around which the game’s narrative was formed, that begun as faction entities within the game alongside the Bounty Hunters Guild and the Black Sun - which served to add some colour to the setting to the Galactic Civil War.

For Hapes’ part, that meant being a lesser faction with more restrictions and less to work with, perhaps in reflection of what a faction might be to a government nowadays. Eventually all registered groups would be made to function first as Combine Member Groups (CMG), and in time that of the more modern term of Faction, until later when larger groups were given the possibility to distinguish themselves as government factions.

It did turn out as a sort of a from rags-to-riches storyline for us, perhaps that first great Non-Faction Group to major Government narrative. But for us to be able to call it that, one needs to start low enough...

Hapes, founded on a notion of what it should stand for and could become, managed to get off the ground by attracting to itself a small band of individuals, with the group possessing more lofty ideas and pocket lint than anything else. And like many relative newcomers thrashing around on the stage to become something more, the group would receive its share of scorn and ridicule from those who looked down on its efforts to establish itself. But its rise would not be stopped.

Sim News, early days

Eventually all registered groups would be made to function first as Combine Member Groups (CMG), and in time as Factions, thus levelling the playing field until it became possible for larger groups to distinguish themselves as government factions. The changes made it possible for Hapes to elevate itself to a fully functional collective entity, even if during the infant years of the Darkness browser interface, there were far fewer things to do; Construction, production, recycling, and all such features had yet to be released for it.

While less things were possible within the game, Hapes had kept busy focusing on what it could do; Growing its community, building its unique character as a group, based on the canonical isolationist kingdom of the same name. It filled its site with unusually advanced management support tools for its time, and maintained its own boards and irc server for communications.

Without many possessions to its name, and low on funds with which to pay even meagre wages to its members, the group would continue to scrape by, relying on its members who had established themselves prior to joining Hapes for funding, and even on loans from wealthier groups. If there were struggles, the group persevered through those early years, forming a strong core of players with big ideas and the time and ability to further the group. With a staggering rate of growth in size continuing, Hapes was in an excellent position to take part in the game's few activities, one notable example being the Red Scenarios. These were Admin run role-playing scenarios with very tangible consequences within the game, which helped Hapes secure more of its present technologies, benefitting from such opportunities where able, even while the Empire and Rebel Alliance waged war on each other; Many of the game's early legends were born from such role-playing scenarios. Roleplaying also played larger part as a casual way for the community to interact and to create shared stories, but the game was still busy working on releasing features that would fulfil the vision of it as a sandbox simulation.

- Basking in the sunlight -

Some groups disappeared from the galaxy as their fortunes faded, but many more were being added, and the game was growing at a good pace with a bright future ahead of it - and so it was with Hapes too. The efforts of Hapes' playerbase allowed the group to grow and progress on all fronts; Not only was Hapes based around a canonical entity, it sought to continue to develop a unique visual look for itself, its own divergent history and backstory, strong in-game institutions, a vibrant role-playing community, improve its management processes, and create a lasting comradery among its members - in short, its own distinct culture. It would also hold a few face to face member meetings outside of the game, while being at the forefront of developing its own in-house IT tools for managing its little space kingdom, dabbling even in running a battle simulator, casino, and a galactic market for a time, while adding over the years its own takes of some very recognizable social media platforms for its community’s use…

By the time construction rolled out for Darkness, Hapes had become a large and active, well organized government faction, that was able to harness its internal competition constructively for the good of the group. It was in a great shape to seize the moment to industrialize, if still lacking proper funds or income of its own, when the relevant features were added into Darkness, one after another. Hapes couldn't afford building its first tax planet straight up, a huge undertaking as it was, relying on its wealthier members once more to pull together enough credits to get somewhere with it. Construction was done in waves to allow for some income to be generated in between with the taxes turned up for an income run, and then turned down again for the construction resume, thus funding itself through numerous construction waves. Once the planet was finished, however, it was the first of its kind in the game, propelling the group onto great prosperity. The credits that begun to flow into the group’s coffers were used to invest in further infrastructure and tax planet construction, finance others to do so as well, to pay off accrued debts, to pay its members commendable wages, and increase drastically the funding available to its branches.

With production eventually rolling out, for a passing moment Hapes' leader was able to boast about Hapes allegedly operating as many shipyards as the rest of the galaxy combined, with a steady stream of new Nova-class battlecruisers and Battle Dragons being constructed, where it had held only but a few of each before. Hapes, to the delight of its players, had managed to be the first to ride the wave of industrialization after the features were introduced into the game, even gaining the title of Galactic Government by becoming the most populous government in the game for a time.

Unintended consequences

For a time Hapes then was to be seen as a sort of a third power in the galaxy, standing proud and tall, albeit never to be quite so mighty as the main protagonists, as still not quite their size nor with nearly as formidable technologies as those held by the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance (soon to become the New Republic) - of a particular perennial concern were the lack of heavy capital ships of its own. Hapes moment of strength became a leverage to remedy that.

The Empire of the time was a fractious behemoth without noteworthy industrial or economic muscle, its potential and energies sapped by being factionalized and too divided internally to consolidate control over its supply chains, and it could not even rely on the loyalty of its own industrial groups. Externally it did not enjoy wide support, and had trouble attracting others to its City States coalition of subordinate groups. Meanwhile its main rival, the Rebel Alliance, was in the process of fusing with the dynamic and capable SoroSuub Corporation that was bringing to the table its own growing industrial capacity and considerable financial heft. The Empire was about to fall behind in the race, and badly.

With the burgeoning friendship between the leaders of Hapes and the Empire, the balance of powers shifted again when Hapes agreed to align with the Empire on more equal terms, leading to the foundation of the first Imperial Union. Hapes directed its production capabilities to begin producing Star Destroyers for the Empire and itself, thus rectifying a key weakness in its arsenal while proving itself a reliable and beneficial partner to the Empire. Soon other prominent groups would join the Imperial Union, though as time went on the Empire begun to wrestle itself into a position to be less reliant on its partners for expanding its fleets.

- A time for a rest -

With the last missing piece of the puzzle solved by the introduction of heavy capital ships to its armada, and arguably having been the most dynamic group of that era, Hapes undoubtedly had to be counted as a prominent success story. It was peaking at a level that would have been unimaginable to its original founders, all those years back. It had achieved everything it had set its eyes on to do, but as it reached that point, its core leadership of first and second generation, many of them veterans from Hapes' earliest days, were already well past the point of showing their first signs of fatigue with the demands of the hobby.

As Hapes was slowing down, many others continued to build their futures with great rigour. Just from among Hapes' former Nationalized Companies, Tion Hegemony, Trade Federation, and The Antarian Rangers had all become government factions through their own efforts, with Tion and Trade Federation each taking turns as the most dynamic and fastest growing governments and economies in the game. Many entirely new groups would make an explosive entrance to the galactic stage, while several old ones would muster the effort to catch up, building up vast fleets and incomes to rival Hapes' earlier gains as groups begun coagulating towards the two main coalitions now picking up steam.

Not all those who attempted to replicate such efforts were able to do so, of course, as every group had its own story to tell, with powers old and new continuing to rise and fall as more time passed. Meanwhile, the game's big picture development had stalled and its memberbase would get halved before finding stable footing again. As groups were peaking having too achieved their goals, or became satiated or weary, they would one by one come to face the same struggles for relevancy and focus that followed, with new or still hungry competition hot on their heels.

As a member of a growing club of near-peers of varying shapes and sizes, Hapes wouldn't hold the same significance in the galactic community during its second decade of existence as the years rolled on, as it had previously. Still, even with the boom years of the Golden Age now behind it, the years that followed were kind to it regardless, with smaller bursts of growth and rejuvenation helping to keep the long-term outlook comfortable. Through the quieter years of the game, Hapes was able to hold onto its values, and maintained its position as a stable and prosperous, if fairly isolationist regional power. It lacked the massive momentum of its earlier years but was still focused on what would come after the period of slower game development, taking the time to improve upon or repair its foundations as it could, and making use of features as they released, such as fortifying its worlds and dutifully rebuilding its economy in the aftermath of a game wide tax income bust. Its relative presence and influence on the galactic stage had shrunk, but it maintained an interest in the galactic affairs, riding the political waves to establish the first Galactic Concordiate with many of its long-time peers and friends from the first Imperial Union, before opting to go about its own way again.

- We’re not done yet -

Hapes has achieved much, and stands proud of its accomplishments, with so many fond memories already collected and shared with so many of its amazing members. But like the SW Combine's, Hapes’ story is still being written - every new member is the beginning of a new narrative, with a chance to write a chapter of their own for the history of the group.

And so the past catches up with the present, and gives way for the future; The galaxy continues to exist in a flux, with new game features looming large once more, threatening to upend the existing order by rekindling old feuds and inciting new rivalries across the known space. As the third decade dawns, Hapes looks onward with hope and determination towards the challenges and opportunities approaching, knowing it has a role to play in what comes next.