Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

The years that followed were extremely chaotic, as the Zypger state all but collapsed and its military was fractured into competing groups squabbling for power in the vacuum. While a democratic state, the First Zypger Republic, was nominally in power, in reality the time was one of near-anarchy. A semblance of order was not reestablished until one of the most decorated generals from the Zypger-Vatna War, Marshal Xytss, overthrew the First Zypger Republic and declared himself the new First Citizen of the Zypger Union, a nominally democratic state that was in practice a totalitarian bureaucracy.

Marshal Xytss remains a controversial figure–a genocidal madman to some, the father of his people to others. But it cannot be denied that his government reimposed central control over the Zypger worlds, lobbied for full admission to the Star Confederation as a full member, and rebuilt the economy. His successors as First Citizen have largely upheld his policies, with some variations, though the current First Citizen is regarded by many as an elderly figurehead for his ambitious Second Citizen.

Xytss organized the Zypger Union around what he called “scientific balanced consultation.” Openings for government positions are filled with a combination of ballots, social merits and demerits, and input from supervisors. In theory, this means that the popular will, the ability of the person in question, and their supervisors’ experience are all weighed and considered in decisions of promotion and policy. In practice, critics argue that it is easy for wealthy and powerful Zypger to thumb the scale through informal means.

Strict censorship of all forms of media is practiced within the Union, and those who openly defy the government are added to the Union’s HoloKill list. Their biometrics–already in the state’s possession–are used to preemptively block their image and mute their voice in all Star Confederation broadcasts, streams, and media within the Union. If they are interviewed, the interviewer seems to be speaking to empty space–assuming that the interview is available in the Union at all. If they go into exile and are elected or appointed to any positions, the entire planet is muted–which the Star Confederation at large is loathe to allow, since it both needs Zypger products and wants to sell to their large population.

So while Zypger dissidents and exiles have full civil rights within the Star Confederation, they are effectively unpersons in the media–since no one wants their stream or their planet to be muted before a large and relatively wealthy audience.

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For a period of almost 3000 years, Zypger were dominated by the Eternal Empire, the state that had unified Zypger IV, its core worlds, and its outer colonies. The Eternal Emperor, regarded as the reincarnation of the previous holder of the title, was carefully sought out after the death of the previous monarch during a lengthy interregnum. He (and it was always a he) was also the chief hierophant of the largest Zypger religion, with near-unlimited power restrained only by custom. This had worked well enough for a period, and the Zypger Unification Wars had happened during the Noble Millennium, a time of near-unbroken rule by moderate Eternal Emperors or regents.

This came to an end with the Idg-Nauh-Iauh-Egis, the Four Bad Emperors, a period of uninterrupted misfortune and tyranny. Eternal Emperor Rnys launched a ruinous military invasion of Vatna space, supporting the campaign with heavy taxes and military rule. After his assassination, his successor Eternal Emperor Bxic was utterly dominated by a cabal of military and industrial figures who continued the war and cracked down on the populace further. By this point, interplanetary transport was beginning to break down under assaults by Vatna privateers, and Bxic perished under unclear circumstances during a famine and plague that swept Zypger IV.

Eternal Emperor Zavuu made peace with the Vatna, but when faced with demands by his people at large for reforms, he doubled down and deployed for formidable Zypger military against its own people on a large scale. Forced to look elsewhere for support, Zavuu joined the Star Confederation as an associate member and negotiated favorable trade deals, but this led to an intense period of brain-drain and capital flight. The final straw for many Zypger was Zavuu’s announcement that he would be succeeded by his young son Zabuq, who the Eternal Emperor declared to be his “preincarnation” who would rule as Zabuq II after his death.

A bomb in the Emperor’s box at the Great Opera put this plot into motion, and Zabuq II was duly enthroned, but the young Eternal Emperor was inflexible and temperamental. He quickly found himself facing a large-scale, organized rebellion, and his own troops melted away. The entire royal family was killed when the imperial barge was fired upon by rebel fighters, and since both the religious officials in charge of the transition and the ceremonial items used to determine an imperial reincarnation were aboard, the millennia-long reign of the Eternal Emperors came to an end.

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