First Empire

Continent on Geled.

Continent on Geled.

Island chain on Geled.

Terran spaceport near Calcutta.

Established c. TE 100 in the drained basin of the Mediterranean Sea.

The area between Borshall and Geled, called the Transgeled, was the very last area to fall under the control of the First Terran Empire, and it proved trouble for the next four hundred years. Nominally part of the Province of Geled, the Transgeled was a distinct entity and was sometime referred to as "the ninth Province."

It is surprising that some of the stronger Emperors and Empresses (particularly Maj Thovold) did not organize the area as a ninth province and put an Imperial Capital on, say, Tep Kecor or some other planet. But the Imperial position was highly dependent on the Idara, who were jealous of position and consequently would not favor the establishment of a new province.

After Karphos, the Transgeled fell to the Patalanian Union rather quickly and by the First Sack of Terra (381) it was lost to the Empire. Although Geled made moves to recover it, the Transgeled remained wild, providing a starting point for the Volkerwanderung of the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries TE.

Through the Interregnum, the Transgeled remained a wild and dangerous region, a constant battleground of unstable states.

Located at Zvezdny Gorodok, Terra.

Telena Hoister's personal starship, designed by the X-Tetrad and shaped like a springing black cat.

Located in Alexandria, Egypt, the Grand Library is the central repository of all information that is known to the Human race. In Imperial times, the Library's information was available from terminals all over the Galaxy; usually every house, office, and ship had the ability to link to the Library's databases.

After the First Empire's fall, the Library was maintained by dedicated Librarians, who continued to provide services across the Galaxy. As communications deteriorated and ultrawave relays began to fail, the Library's services were increasingly available in only restricted locations.

For example, about the year 4000 CE in the Credixian Imperium sphere of influence, Library services were available only at the Temple of Kowledge in the city Ciudad Telorba on the planet Telorbat. In 6484 CE, with the failure of Relay Alpha, the Library was cut off from all off-planet communications.

Copies of the Grand Library database were placed in various locations for safekeeping; the rediscovery of one of these data caches c. 7600 CE helped to quicken the momentum of the New Renaissance.

The Grand Library's database was eventually preserved as part of the knowledge base of Akademii de Savoire on the planet Ptyra in Second Empire times. It is also conjectured that a copy of the Grand Library database made its way to Nephestal.