Royal Hapan Navy

Royal Hapan Navy

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence when we are able to attack we must seem unable, when using our force we must appear inactive, when we are near we must make the enemy believe we are far away, when far away we must make him believe we are near."

Dept of Navy

The Royal Hapan Navy (RHN), sometimes also called Royal Navy of the Hapes Consortium or Consortium Navy, is the second oldest and most senior service of the Royal Hapan Armed Forces, home to the Consortium’s naval armada. During the years of the First Imperial Union of the past decade, it was the undisputed third most powerful naval force of the galaxy. Its ships are rarely seen outside the Hapan borders due to the government's traditional stance of isolationism, though it has in recent history often maintained assault fleets aimed at deployments beyond the Cluster, and provides escort to the Sovereign and other notable diplomatic delegations on their travels.

The Navy is comprised of Fleet Commands and Battlegroups, Task Forces and Strike Groups, and flies the Miy`Til-class Starfighters, Hetrinar Assault Bombers, Atlas-class Troop Transport shuttles, Nova-class Battlecruisers, Battle Dragons, and many imperial and other foreign designed capital class warships. It patrols the borders of the Hapes Cluster and the inner systems alike, well trained and armed against both pirate incursions and outright invasions.

The Navy was first established in the form of the Royal Hapan Space Fleet during the early days of the Nele'serin dynasty. It consisted mostly of former Lorell Raider vessels limited mostly to transporting cargo and passengers between the few colonies that made up the Hapes Consortium at the time. As the Consortium expanded within the Hapes Cluster, the Space Fleet was also expanded as a professional military force guarding the borders of the government.

It became the Royal Hapan Navy in 716 during the Tini'duran dynasty but the term was used to describe both the Consortium Navy and Noble Navy. The two naval branches co-operated in providing security for Hapan systems and spacelanes. Since the Hapan civil war and the abolishment of a feudal governing system, the entire Royal Hapan Navy has been reformed and placed under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign, over time growing to become a most formidable naval force.


History of the Royal Hapan Navy

The history of the Hapes Consortium's naval forces is long and detailed, stretching as far back as to hapan year 57 of the Foundation Era of the Age of Queen-Mothers when it was established as the Royal Hapan Space Fleet. Through this winding history we observe the naval forces take shape as the Royal Hapan Space Fleet, to the major reformation in to the Royal Hapan Navy in 716, on to the splintering of the naval forces in 3946 and final reformation in 4000.

Royal Hapan Space Fleet (57-715)

The Royal Hapan Space Fleet was created fifty-seven years after the establishment of the Hapes Consortium on orders from Queen-Mother Nele'serin III, shortly after the completion of the first shipyards of the manufacturing coalition called Hapan Consortium.

At this point the Hapes Consortium consisted only of the Lorell system and Hapan system and pirate activity in the Hapes Cluster was sparse, but the Queen-Mother still thought the establishment of a more professional military force would be wise as most of their military at the time consisted of former Lorell Raider vessels. The Serin Battle Cruiser was the first type of capital ship employed by the Royal Hapan Space Fleet along with Nil Interceptor starfighters for escort purposes. These designs fulfilled the needs of the Hapan military for several centuries ahead. The Space Fleet was mostly made up of of smaller task forces consisting of one battle cruiser, a few squadrons of starfighters and numerous light and heavy freighters. The cruiser was usually enough to keep pirates away, but the freighters maintained light weapon systems in case of emboldened raiders trying to get lucky.

The first of the Purple Seal Ships was brought in to service in 372 by the Hapan Consortium shipyards during the First Expansion Era, when the Hapes Consortium had expanded to numerous other systems. Queen-Mother Arxianic IV realized that the Royal Hapan Space Fleet could not adequately defend all cargo ships that the new colonies required to shuttle supplies. The Seal ships had the Queen-Mother's emblem on the side of the hull, which was a warning to anyone who would dare attack her vessel. Pirate raids had become more and more frequent and the Consortium leadership knew they could not punish all or even manage to crack down hard on piracy until the Space Fleet had been upgraded - but anyone who attacked a ship with the Purple Seal was hunted down.

Olanji/Charubah was established by the colonists and nobility of the Charu system in 469 and was assigned the task of designing new shiptypes for the Space Fleet which could help them maintain a stronger naval presence in their new sphere of influence within the Hapes Cluster. Among their first successful designs were the Arxianic Battle Cruiser, Olanji Dreadnaught and Lorellion Frigate. These ships were powerful and inexpensive to produce, which helped expand the Royal Hapan Space Fleet significantly, easily dealing with pirate threats while maintaining a powerful enough presence in the Lorell system to discourage outsiders from flying in to the Hapes Cluster. While the borders of the Hapes Consortium were not officially closed at this time, the inhabitants of the star cluster felt a great resentment towards the Galactic Republic and therefore wished to keep as many foreigners as possible out of their space.

The Tini'duran dynasty was notoriously militaristic and funded even further expansion of the Space Fleet during their reign of the Consortium, promoting competition between their own Hapan Consortium and the House Olanji controlled Olanji/Charubah. Their rule of the Hapes Cluster was famously peaceful despite its militaristic tendencies, most likely due to its isolationist policies and to the Arxianic dynasty's crackdown on piracy, but also the enlargement of the fleet. Queen-Mother Tini'duran III abolished Purple Seal Ships in 702 before calling for the reformation of the Royal Hapan Space Fleet in the late 715.

Royal Hapan Navy (716-3946)

The Royal Hapan Space Fleet was transformed in to the Royal Hapan Navy in the late 715 by direct order of the Queen-Mother Tini'duran III. Her dynasty had eagerly granted more and more power to local nobility and her Ladies were notoriously loyal to her cause, leading the naval forces to be split into two parts.

The Noble Navy consisted of one strong fleet for each noble house stationed in the system that the house governed. The noble houses were granted significant amounts of money to expand their fleets and local security was their concern. As with the wider society, the Noble Navy was plagued by nepotism as the nobility tended to favour their own children or nobility for positions within their fleets. Each noble title came with a military counterpart and Ladies were automatically made Admiral. At the same time the nobility did spend significant amounts of money making sure that all the best graduates from the Hapan military academies were assigned to their fleets instead of the Consortium Navy.

The Consortium Navy was the commoner counterpart of the Noble Navy. The main function of this naval force was to escort cargo transports between systems, patrol the Transitory Mist and empty space within the Hapes Cluster, but also back up the Noble Navy where-ever needed. The Consortium Navy often got second rate equipment as the budgets of the nobility surpassed that granted to Consortium Naval Command.

The "second best" brand on the Consortium Navy as opposed to the Noble Navy of the Royal Hapan Navy continued all through the Tini'duran dynasty and also the Serlanum dynasty which was notoriously distrusting of anyone who did not belong to the nobility or the royalty of the Hapes Consortium. The Queen-Mothers of this dynasty believed that granting excessive firepower and manpower to the Consortium Navy could tempt one of the commoner admirals to make a bid for the throne. They tightened their control on the civilian population by granting more power to more ruthless nobility and their fleets.

The Queen-Mothers of the Rel'amma dynasty put an end to the class difference between the two branches of the Royal Hapan Navy in 1404. The Serlanum dynasty had left large parts of the Consortium Navy underfunded and staffed, and largely ineffective, operating with ancient ships against newer and more dangerous pirate and mercenary threats. The Royal Hapan Navy was expanded and the Consortium Navy received additional and near equal funding to that of the Noble Navy. Olanji/Charubah and the manufacturing group called Hapan Consortium were contracted to build newer and more powerful ships which could deal with the persistent pirate threat. Space stations were also built in deep space of the Hapes Cluster to function as security stations against threats along shipping lanes and the like. The Arwinian dynasty also introduced hyperspace capable starfighters to the Royal Hapan Navy in 1975. This increased the effectiveness of the fleets significantly as the more sparsely numbered capital cruisers were no longer required to escort every major convoy.

Pirate activity decreased significantly when the borders of the Hapes Consortium were closed in 2051. Many credits went into increasing the defence and security in and around the Lorell system which was and still is the only known route through the Transitory Mist. This time period in which the Consortium was ruled by the Dal'kuran dynasty is most likely the most peaceful era in Hapan history, sometimes referred to as 800 Years of Peace. The Royal Hapan Navy remained ever vigilant and much of the Consortium Navy was concentrated in the Lorell system, but was also known to travel out of the Hapes Cluster for scouting or to deal with pirate outposts near Hapan space.

Queen-Mother Cazin'turin VII of the Cazin'turin dynasty ordered a massive expansion of the Royal Hapan Navy with the intention of expanding the Hapes Consortium through the conquest of such foreign sectors as Kuat and the Stenness Node. This was frowned upon by most of the upper levels of the Hapan leadership and most of the nobility agreed it was a bad idea, but went along with the expansion of the military forces regardless. Some of the Consortium Navy leadership broke away with their fleets and rebelled against the Queen-Mother in the Zaa rebellion of 3209. Lady Vali'dara of the Tirsa system was tasked with putting an end to the rebellion which was supposedly supported by House Hal'ruut of the Zaa system. In the following battle, House Hal'ruut surrendered and the Consortium Navy Admiral Gralisbath Nuriin was captured and later executed on Hapes Prime. The Hal'ruut family escaped all punishment as the Queen-Mother was killed in the coup of 3210.

The Vali'dara dynasty followed the toppling of the Cazin'turin regime, much to the relief of everyone in naval command. They led the Consortium through another era of expansion within the Hapes Cluster. The excessive military forces Cazin'turin had ordered were used to secure newer colonies within Hapan space and keep Lorell safe from outside threats. This peaceful era came to an end with the apparently self-destructive Pal'durath dynasty which transferred much power to the nobility during its 365 year long reign, leaving the Consortium Navy rather weak once more. The Noble Navy thrived during this time with a massive build-up in ships and increased influence of the nobility over all aspects of Hapan society, especially in the Rifle Worlds and Rim Worlds.

 

Civil War Navies (3946-3999)

The Royal Hapan Navy technically ceased to exist, as did the Hapes Consortium as a unified governing body, when the Hapan civil war broke out with the noble navies put to use against one another. The Princesses Ta'lan Pal'durath and Da'tan Pal'durath formed factions with the support of nobility and civilian populations in order to fight challenge each other’s bids for power. In the territory of Da'tan, the Consortium Navy was quickly absorbed in to the forces of local nobles and was reformed in to the Draconian Navy, while Ta'lan maintained the Consortium Navy for some time longer before following her sister's example with the Sword Navy.

The Hapan Consortium shipyards came quickly under the control of the Sword Confederacy while the Draconian Union had the support of House Olanji and their Olanji/Charubah shipyards behind them. This age in Hapan history, while destructive for the Hapan society, saw the development of newer and more powerful ships which led the way for what the Royal Hapan Navy employs as its mainstay today. The famous Quasar Battle Cruisers were among the ships developed in this time period and some foreign designs found their way in to the Hapan military forces via trade agreements established with corrupt Galactic Republic senators.

By the end of the war, the Hapan Consortium shipyards were all destroyed with the exception of one and two, while Olanji/Charubah had lost its two main production yards, also known as the Charu Wheels. Restoring Hapan shipbuilding to its former glory would take decades.

 

Royal Hapan Navy (4000-Present Day)

King Andrew was quick to re-establish the Royal Hapan Navy after his coronation, placing it under the command of one of the former Phoenix Movement commanders, Jacevel Canler who became the first person to reach the rank of Grand Admiral. The Phoenix Movement had captured and built a number of vessels at the seized Olanji/Charubah yards, but their military force was not large enough to keep the peace in the entire Hapes Cluster even after other parties had surrendered or been conquered. Part of the peace agreement between the Phoenix Movement and the Draconian Union involved the donation of most Draconian ships to the newly unified Royal Hapan Navy, in return for which no members of the Draconian military were put on trial for war crimes.

Canler introduced a system which allowed for both commoners and nobility to achieve ranks without bias within the navy. This was not especially popular with the noble houses, but they reluctantly accepted it and realized that the time for petty differences were over. This time period saw the introduction of the Nova Battle Cruiser as the new mainstay of the navy in 4011 and the new monarch opened some diplomatic relations with the outside galaxy in order to import other types of vessels, such as the Dreadnaught Heavy Cruisers. The older Quasar Battle Cruisers were decommissioned shortly thereafter.

Grand Admiral Canler was eventually killed in a skirmish in the Transitory Mists in 4014 which led to the appointment of young Jessy James as the new naval commander of the Hapan forces. Other notable officers who rose through the ranks during this time period were Sirius Threestars, Juthan Karrde, Sala Mander and Alexander Tylger. Jessy James achieved the rank of Grand Admiral in 4020 and was eventually appointed as King Andrew's heir in 4025.

After King James assumed the throne in the august 4027, the Royal Hapan Navy came under the command of Admiral Sirius Threestars. Threestars was one of King James' oldest advisors and executive officer with an endless loyalty to the Hapan throne and also refused to take part in Grand General Pez Harr's attempted military revolt.

The greatest military campaign after the Hapan civil war was undoubtedly the military operations carried out during the Black Sun Crisis in 4029. Several of the Royal Hapan Navy's task forces initiated a full scale blockade of the Lorell system before bombarding insurgents stationed in illegal cities on Lorell's surface from orbit.

The Royal Hapan Armed Forces flexed its muscles again during Operation Horizon in 4030 when the Hapes Consortium joined the Coalition against Horizon in order to trap and capture the warlord known as Venom Kazvar. When the coalition forces arrived in the Ordint system, Kazvar had already fled, abandoning the rest of his fleet.

In June 4031, the remnants of Olanji/Charubah were purchased from Draconian Shareholder Committee by the Hapan Government and merged with the Royal Family owned Hapan Consortium under the new name Olanji Corporation. The government poured a significant amount of money in to rebuilding new shipyard complexes around Hapes Prime, but also Lorell, Nagel, Olanji and Charubah which has made production of Hapan ships a great deal easier. The Royal Hapan Navy now enjoys a steady supply of warships and starfighters for its fleets.

Orthwell Operation

The same month, ships of the Royal Hapan Navy also ventured to the Dellalt system in the Allied Tion sector where it blockaded the planet Gantari in order to keep the forces of the New Anzat Order at bay. It was a peaceful and orderly operation with no Hapan or Anzati casualties.

In the last few years the military has gone through a series of reforms in order to strengthen co-operation between the Royal Hapan Navy and Royal Hapan Army. In early 4034, the Ministry of Defence was re-established in order to smoothly bridge the gap between the Royal Hapan Armed Forces and Royal Hapan Government.

During the period of the First Imperial Union, the Navy took part in a number of joint operations with its Imperial Union counterparts, including the Taboon Conflict, Operation Drakenus Fire and Operation Strongarm, each designed to help protect the Consortium's newest partners from attacks upon their sovereignty by foreign powers. Numerous Chiefs of Staffs and Ministers of Defence of renown have overseen military operations during this period.

BD examination

Major warships of the Royal Hapan Navy

Fast forward about 4000 years from the founding of the Hapes Consortium and its military forces from salvaged pirate barges and converted freighters, and you find a state-of-the-art military, boasting an armada of devastating ships and highly capable and motivated personnel.

Hapan Designs

Pulsar Battle Cruiser


Role: The Pulsar Battle Cruiser is the flagship of the Hapes Consortium and is the culmination of centuries of Hapan research and development funnelled into one all-encompassing design and purpose. Intended to be a concentrated heavy weapons platform with 170 weapon emplacements to engage other heavy capital ships with, its only true weakness in that role is its rarity.

Battle Dragon


Role: Battle Dragons, those battleships well known for their double saucer design with rotating turbo lasers, are nothing less than true ships of the line and the backbone of the Hapan Navy, providing excellent protective coverage for heavier vessels from fighters, while having respectable enough of a firepower to take on larger battleships in small packs if needed.

Nova-class Battlecruiser


Role: Nova-class Battlecruisers are frigates with a hyperspeed rating that allows it to excel as a formidable patrol vessel and as a strike craft, used for scouting vast expanses, as well as for tracking and hunting those that seek to trespass upon the Hapan territories. While unable to match the Battle Dragons in defences or firepower, and limited in their fighter carrying capasity, they regardless have remained a staple of Hapan fleets for good reason.

Foreign Additions

Lucrehulk-class Battleship

Role: Where the average Hapan indigenous warship design spares little space for fighter wings aboard, the gargantuan Lucrehulk-class Battleships provide near unlimited capacity inside a durable frame to transport either numerous fighter and bomber groups, or to deploy entire ground armies and armoured regiments onto planets, from inside its cavernous cargo bays.

Offered to Hapes by the Trade Federation as a gesture of goodwill, during times of peace the majority of these ships serve under civilian logistics fleets to aid with the many projects managed by the Ministry of Industry.





Star Destroyers

Role: The various Star Destroyers of the Royal Hapan Navy provide the sheer firepower and force projection capabilities necessary for Hapan Fleets to be able to engage the heavy capital class ships of any potential adversary.

The Interdictor Heavy Cruisers attached to the Fleets enable the Hapan Navy to intercept capital ship formations attempting to circumvent the defensive blockade setup in promixity to the Lorell system, within the narrow hyper entrypath to the Cluster.

It is said that the Executor-class Star Destroyers in Royal Hapan Navy's possession have remained a source of tension with subsequent Imperial regimes, such being their felt impact and numbers, each a veritable Battlegroup onto itself.