Template:Second Expansion Era The Second Expansion Era (1404–2009) was the fifth timeperiod in the Age of Queen-Mothers. It was a generally peaceful and progressive time-period for the Hapes Consortium, first under the rule of the Rel'amma dynasty and later the Arwinian dynasty. The Consortium expanded within the Hapes Cluster, annexing several starsystems and some native populations.
Monarchy
Following Queen-Mother Serlanum VI's suicide, Lady Yvil Rel'amma of the Mathonore system was crowned as Queen-Mother of the Hapes Consortium on November 12 1404. Most of the upper levels of the Consortium leadership were relieved to be rid of the paranoid and near psychotic Serlanum and welcomed Queen-Mother Rel'amma I's stable style of leadership. One of her first acts as monarch was to put an end to the rivalries of the two divisions of the Royal Hapan Navy, making them for the first time equal in importance.
The primary achievement of the Rel'amma dynasty was the discovery and annexation of the Zaa and Varn systems. Queen-Mother Rel'amma II admired the achievements of the Arxianic dynasty and declared that her reign would be a second era of expansion for the Hapes Consortium. Queen-Mother Rel'amma V composed the first Hapan national anthem in 1649 with assistance from the Royal Hapan Symphony Orchestra and Wen'taris Zuliu, a singer from the planet Ut.
The Rel'amma dynasty was succeeded by the closely related Arwinian dynasty in 1772 which continued a similar style of leadership, though putting some emphasis on technological achievements and improvement of existing colonies rather than the settling of new planets.
Expansion
While it was suspected and near confirmed that there were more systems of planets around stars within the Hapes Cluster than previously discovered, previous dynasties had not felt the need to expand the Consortium further. The Rel'ammas felt that the peoples of the Consortium needed a grand and unified achievement to bring them together in celebration. Expansion and settling of new worlds was an opportunity for that, especially since some of the more central Hapan worlds were beginning to become overcrowded.
The area around the Zaa sun was explored by Hapan ships in the second week of February 1454. Numerous planets were discovered and claimed by the Hapan reconnaissance group.
The Varn system was explored in 1455, but ultimately the two habitable worlds were not settled until 1463 due to some disputes with the indigenous population. The Hapani-Varno were initially not very welcoming towards the Hapans, but eventually permitted outposts to be made. They became subjects of the Hapes Consortium by their own choice on July 5 1499 due to a love for technology and all the opportunities the advance Hapes Consortium had to offer their previously non-spacefaring civilisation.
While the Sarr system was discovered in 1503, it was not colonised until well in to the reign of the Arwinian dynasty in may of 1833. It was the last of the eras major colonisation and expansion efforts. The area around the Orelon star was also explored in 1802 and the Orthwell system was discovered and colonised.
Armed Forces
The Rel'amma dynasty quickly put an end to the class difference between the Noble Navy and Consortium Navy after it came to power. The Consortium Navy had fallen in to decay during the reign of the Serlanum dynasty and the Rel'ammas feared that pirates and mercenaries would exploit the weakness of the part of the Royal Hapan Navy as it was responsible for defending convoys and spacelanes. Under the Rel'ammas and later Arwinians, the Consortium Navy received almost equal funding to that of the Noble Navy.
Olanji/Charubah and Hapan Consortium were contracted to design and build more powerful ships for the Royal Hapan Navy during this time-period which aided the expansion of the naval forces. In addition, hyperspace capable starfighters were introduced in 1975 during Arwinian rule and put in to service in the navy. Deep space stations in between stations were constructed to function as relay points for shipping lanes and also bases for the newer starfighters that could travel independent of capital class vessels.
| History of the Hapes Consortium |
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Pre-Founding Age – Age of Queen-Mothers – Dark Age – Phoenix Age – Golden Age |
