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The Decline Era (3581–3946) was the ninth and final era of the Age of Queen-Mothers, following the forced abdication of Queen-Mother Vali'dara IX. The Pal'durath dynasty came to power in the Hapes Consortium through questionable methods, but is noted by historians for not resorting to tyrannical methods, such as the Serlanum and Cazin'turin dynasties. Ultimately, the era and the ruling dynasty is mentioned in most histories as a prelude to the Dark Age and Hapan civil war.
Monarchy
The circumstances around the abdication of Queen-Mother Vali'dara IX were kept hidden from the public eye and was only known to the upper echelons of the Hapan nobility. Information regarding the Royal Abdication of 3581 was not made public until 4003, at which point few people were actually interested in the historical event.
Queen-Mother Pal'durath I is viewed by most historians as a competent Queen-Mother who eagerly involved herself in many aspects of the government, often dictating day to day policies and solutions that other monarchs would not have cared about. Her successor, Queen-Mother Pal'durath II went down in history books for removing the Royal absolute primogeniture act from the Laws of the Hapes Consortium. Her motivation for doing this is unknown, but ultimately it would cause the downfall of the Pal'durath dynasty as well as the splintering of the Hapes Consortium. In their day, the ruling family was quite popular with the Hapan peoples and viewed as one of the best dynasties in history.
Queen-Mother Pal'durath VII and her issue, Princess Ta'lan and Princess Da'tan, are the most famous members of this family. The Queen-Mother was sick most of her adult life, but was still unwilling to decide on a successor. The journals of ruling nobles of the time suggest that the monarch felt she should have selected a successor when the children were too young to understand. Once they were in their teens, it was too late for her to choose without hurting the feelings of one daughter. Nilij Cal'taru has said in numerous interviews that Queen-Mother Pal'durath VII had decided to appoint a grandchild as a successor instead and was waiting for one of her daughters to produce offspring. Whoever was born first would be named as the Royal heir.
Ultimately the Queen-Mother fell in to a coma before that happened, leaving her daughters to bicker over who was to sit on the throne. When she died, conflict broke out between the siblings, who used the support of powerful noble houses to trigger the civil war.
Society & Culture
Life was good in the Hapes Cluster under the Pal'durath dynasty, for the most part. They continued much the same style of rule as the Vali'dara dynasty, and priority was placed on developing the newer colonies. More and more nobility was appointed by this dynasty to ensure that the feudal chain of command worked, even in the newer and more outer-lying systems.
Industry was booming throughout the era and the production of military ships was at an all time high. House Olanji regarded this as their golden age as their wealth reached new heights, but later remarked that reaching the top had also triggered their downfall.
Many of the rivalries between nobility that had surfaced during the Third Expansion Era continued on during the Decline Era. Especially apparent was the rivalry between the more central regions of the Hapes Cluster (Capital and Interior region) and the colonies and industrial systems (Rim World region, Rifle Worlds region). This would eventually become an issue that decided the borders during the Hapan civil war.
Armed Forces
The Royal Hapan Armed Forces grew significantly during this era, despite the lack of pirate threats. This was in large due to the elimination of numerous pirate bases with the expansion of the Hapes Cluster under the Vali'dara dynasty and the mining of Transitory Mist conduits. The Hapes Cluster was extremely peaceful, which some have remarked as being the "deep breath before the plunge". Many commanders grew restless and some nobility would purposely agitate one another for the purpose of creating what they deemed as "exciting situations" where fleets would be minutes away from tearing each other to shreds.
The industrial might of many Hapan conglomerates of the time produced an endless amount of war material, especially during the reign of Queen-Mother Pal'durath VII. As strength was respected, many nobles attempted to gain influence and respect among their peers by obtaining powerful war fleets. Most historians agree that the last monarchs of the Pal'durath dynasty led the Hapes Consortium down a self-destructive path, and the massive build-up was a part of it.
| History of the Hapes Consortium |
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Pre-Founding Age – Age of Queen-Mothers – Dark Age – Phoenix Age – Golden Age |
