
                                the
                         CORINTHIAN GALAXY

                                by
                           Kent Peterson


For use with Matt Caspermeyer's Hyperion patch (v1.4 or higher) to
Emperor of the Fading Suns.

Note 1: This galaxy has been updated and may be quite different from the
author's original design, but I hope I've kept the spirit of Kent's
galaxy alive, and have improved it to work with the new versions of
Hyperion and today's current EFS PBEM play styles - Matt Caspermeyer

Note 2: A bug that was causing the Rebels to get into an infinite loop
on their first turn has been fixed!

Intended as a multi-player setting, the Corinthian galaxy can also be
played single-player - preferably as House Hazat, for the greatest
challenge.  The galaxy was originally designed with the pre-1.4 AIs in
mind; however, given Hyperion's expensive engineers, gameplay should not
be very different in either single-player or multi-player mode.  It
should be noted that, though all Houses start significantly more powerful
than in other galaxies, there are constraints that significantly slow
the rate of expansion for all players, be they human or AI, through much
of the early and middle game.

In the Corinthian Galaxy, the Houses are presented with a series of
diplomatic and military entanglements and conflicts over colonies,
supply routes, political appointments, and the power of the Regency.
Weakened by internal strife and civil war, threatened by outright
rebellion and hostile rivals, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, and
finally, facing a sudden, dramatic resurgence of Symbiot power, the
Royal Houses must summon all their cunning, power, and wisdom, to
determine who shall rule the Fading Suns.

                        THE HOUSE HOMEWORLDS
                         (in order of play)

KISH - Homeworld of the House Li Halan.  Its only similarity to the Kish
of the original galaxy is in its being a desert world.  Most of the
planet has slipped from Li Halan's grasp at one point or another during
the long, quiet, sun-baked years since the House's last Crusade.
However, a significant military force is still available, consisting
mainly of tanks and armored vehicles.  There is also one of the
legendary Cybercorp legions; however, care should be taken not to
overuse this force, as the Rebels have laid traps for the overconfident.
The orbiting Li Halan fleet is quite ordinary; a cruiser, a destroyer,
two frigates, and a bulk hauler - all basic models.

ARAGON - Homeworld of the House Hazat.  One of five megacity planets in
this galaxy, much of this once-great metropolis of trade has degenerated
to the barbarism of corporate compounds, autonomous suburban enclaves,
and gang territories.  This social collapse, coupled with the diversion
of League trade towards the eastern regions of known space, help explain
the Hazat's sudden acceptance of Avestite doctrines.  A crackdown on the
planet's anarchistic elements is planned, spearheaded by the Hazat's
Special Forces legions.  The orbiting Hazat fleet consists of a basic
cruiser, destroyer, two frigates, a bulk hauler, and a starbase.

SEVERUS - Nestled within the jungled mountains of this world are the
cities of the House Decados.  Over the past century, emboldened by
an apparent Decados focus on recreational drugs instead of tax revenues
and security concerns, several of the local governors have mounted
miniature coups, and are no longer obeying instructions from the
capital.  The Decados' powerful force of strategic bombers and
ubiquitous tracker legions will doubtless show them the error of their
ways.  The orbiting Decados fleet consists of a basic cruiser, a stealth
raider, two Seraphim fighters, and a bulk hauler.

DELPHI - The snowy home of the Hawkwoods remains embroiled in its tenth
year of civil war, as two branches of the family battle it out for
control.  The Moorsrest side of the family holds much of the planet and
a powerful military, but Alexius and his brothers retain control of the
capital and the loyalties of many of the peasants, as well as the bulk
of Delphi's reknowned air force.  The orbiting Hawkwood fleet (rabidly
opposed to the Moorsrest clan) consists of one Cadiz dreadnought, three
basic frigates, and a small freighter.

ISTAHKR - Homeworld to the House al-Malik.  It is a pleasant, Earthlike,
world, whose peace has been broken by several recent successes of a
long-running Republican guerrilla campaign, with ties to the Nova Terran
Republic.  The al-Malik are unperturbed, confident that their great
Direwolves will soon put paid to this assault on the social order.  The
orbiting al-Malik fleet consists of a bulk hauler and two frigates,
as well as a cybermorph destroyer and two torpedo bombers, courtesy of
al-Malik's League connections.

                            THE COLONIES

Moonvick - this normal world has one major continent, divided into three
sections, of which the eastern and western parts are held by House Li
Halan and House Decados respectively.  The central portion, in
particular the capital city, is controlled by rebellious natives.  This
is a race between the two houses, to see who can fight off the rebel
assaults and advance on the capital fastest.  Forces available are
moderate, and representative of the Houses' typical units; no ships
are initially available, nor any means to build them, and the spacelanes
are being blockaded by a small pirate force.  One Sceptor is present, in
the capital; both Houses have a noble present.

Araindor - this jungle world is something of a treasure hunt.  Unlike
most worlds, the church is rebel-held, and can therefore be exploited if
found; unfortunately, it and the palace are both singleton cities,
indistinguishable at long range from the several mines and farms also
scattered through the jungle.  Several monasteries can also be found.
One large island in the central ocean is divided between the Houses
al-Malik and Hawkwood.  The Houses possess the bare necessities for
survival, but each side also starts with one unit that cannot be
replaced quickly, as well as certain positional advantages.  Both also
start with a Sceptor and noble each.

Quentrand - an ocean world, with many choices open to the Houses
involved.  The Houses al-Malik and Li Halan each have holdings on this
world; two islands, the site of mining and farming activity, are
disputed, while two more form the Houses' main bases.  Each House owns
two small oceangoing fleets, slightly different in makeup; rebel vessels
also lurk among the isles.  Each House has a noble and Sceptor on its
main island base; the rebel capital also contains a Sceptor, but is
well-defended.

Isenias - Since its conquest in the Three-Rose War, this world groans
under the iron grip of the House Decados.  Change is in the air however;
a three-sided conflict is developing between the numerous Decados
infantry legions, a disorganized native movement bent on the overthrow
of their oppressors, and a much smaller but highly disciplined force
dedicated to restoring the Hawkwood rule of centuries past.  The Decados
face a significant challenge here; while not on the brink of rebellion,
their conscripts' morale is abysmal, and only the few tracker legions
present are in any condition to handle a determined uprising.  House
Decados has a noble and Sceptor in the capital, while House Hawkwood has
a noble in a recently-established base on an antarctic island, as well
as several Partisan units on the major land masses.

Schemadin - this dry, barren dustbowl of a planet has become fully
engulfed in the flames of rebellion.  A native self-rule movement,
capitalizing on perceived Hazat weakness on their homeworld of Aragon,
mounted a well-orchestrated coup, subverting many of the garrisons and
overrunning most of the rest.  Pirate craft are blockading the world,
making evacuation difficult.  A Hazat Sceptor is present in the capital,
and a noble and his personal guard, sent into gilded exile from Aragon
for Eskatonic heresy, had barely arrived at the starport when their
spacecraft was sabotaged; so even if honor were not involved, it is
imperative that the rebellion be crushed.  How to do this, when 90% of
the remaining troops await only the slightest sign of weakness before
they join the rebels, presents an interesting problem.

                        OTHER SPECIAL WORLDS

BYZANTIUM II - the magnificent, decadent, tremendous capital of human
space.  Each House has a small, self-sufficient embassy in the vicinity
of the palace, complete with noble representative and Sceptor, along
with some quality troops and a small freighter.  The Church and League
also have holdings here; the Ministries do not, as the presence of
Ministry forces on the capital might be viewed as an attempt to exert
pressure on the political process by theoretically unbiased parties.

PACEM - During the Exodus, the magnates of the Republic suffered the
Church to set up its headquarters on the then-marginal world of Pacem.
A thousand years of terraforming have turned it into a garden world; and
nearly that much time spent gathering secular power have made it one of
the greatest military powers of known space.  The better to save souls,
of course.

LEAGUEHEIM - The giant factory-planet the Merchant's League calls home,
choking under an endless veil of of smokes.  See Bishop Holst's
description in the Archives.

EARTH - overgrown with metal and concrete, blasted by the
desertification of past ecological mistakes, the homeworld of Humanity
is mighty even in decline.  All Houses have holdings here, complete with
a noble representative, a Sceptor, armies characteristic of their normal
forces, and some rather devastating war technology left over from prior
eras.  Worthy of special note is the Interstellar Sector in the
Australian desert, where spaceports sprout from the desert like wheat in
fields, and representatives of all major houses, League merchants,
Ministry agents, and even a small Vau consulate interact under the
watchful eye of the Imperial Guard.

Ix-Ranith - the former homeworld of the House Chevalier, now a
degenerate and anarchic planetwide slum.  The ecology of the planet,
always fragile on megacity worlds, is sliding toward complete collapse.
Little is known of the current government, or even if there is one; what
is certain is that the planet has become a haven for criminals of all
sorts.

Imhotep - It is said that every human being on this iceball world can
nail a squirrel from a thousand paces by the time they're five years
old.  Whatever the truth of that, it is certain that the planet's harsh
environment has bred a particularly tough population of hunters,
farmers, and miners, thinly scattered over the two great icecaps and
the narrow equatorial belt, ideally suited for exploiting the planet's
significant riches of furs and precious metals.  Riches that would
attract unwelcome attention, were it not for the corollary to the first
saying: that nobody ever gets anything out of Imhotep without trading
for it.  The Houses, of course, have little interest in trading with
peasants.  The League is not so particular, and Imhotep represents for
them a significant source of profit.

Mythos - Opinions abound as to what the Vau can possibly think they're
doing with this planet.  The most widely credited are that it is a
planet-size laboratory, either for climate control experiments or for
studying distinct ecosystems on a large scale; other claims range from a
prison to a retirement community to a bomb intended to destroy the
galaxy.  The aliens' true purposes are doubtless far subtler and less
comprehensible than these pedestrian suggestions.  It is worth noting
that while the Vau did not overtly interfere with the human squatters
who initially settled the planet, further contact has been discouraged,
and the settlers are said to have become "strange".

Chernobog - the jungle homeworld of the Symbiots.  Discovered by the
Trans-Stigmata expedition, its torrid jungles were viewed as a fertile
anchor for the beginning of a new wave of human expansion beyond
Stigmata.  Initial messages indicated that a swath of jungle had been
cleared, the colony established, and that the new cropland was proving
quite fruitful.  Precisely what happened to the colony is uncertain;
doubtless a close examination of the site would yield more clues.  Of
course, such an examination will never occur, since shortly thereafter
contact with it was lost, and the Symbiots swarmed forth in their hordes
to begin their long assault upon Humanity.

                          THE MINISTRIES

The Imperial Fleet - the Fleet is rather weaker than in previous
galaxies, and somewhat scattered.  All fleet units are Fusion or Meson
craft (except for one Cybermorph dreadnought on Earth).  The bulk of the
fleet starts out orbiting Cadiz, the main Fleet base (imported with
minor improvements from the original galaxy); this world is equipped
with the bare necessities for replacement of lost ships, as well as a
small marine contigent (far smaller than in previous galaxies, to keep
the Fleet Commander from overwhelming his enemies with hordes of
marauders).  Three small squadrons cover the central regions of known
space from Minerva, Byzantium, and Ix-Ranith, and a small fleet is
stationed at Stigmata, to aid that garrison in resisting Symbiot
incursions.

Stigmata - the Garrison's entire space force consists of three fusion
starbases and six fighters in orbit over the world.  The Garrison itself
has its main base located on the drained bed of a former inland sea, and
is fully equipped for maintenance and replacement of its equipment and
soldiers.  The base is supplied from several outlying villages.

The Imperial Eye - the Eye has a series of small forts and observation
posts on worlds deemed critical to Imperial security, most notably the
House homeworlds.  However, a maximum-security base is also rumored to
exist, on the scorched, dead world of Minerva, where the Eye's special
forces and assassins are trained and prepared for their missions.  The
Eye is equipped with a minimal spacefleet, sufficient for its needs.

