The Mech Touch

Ves continued to chat with Micky Tarukan about various related topics as he mulled over the enormous offer he received.

"The only taste of a first-rate superstate that you have experienced in person is the Terran Alliance. The Riston Territory governed by the Devos Ancient Clan may look rich and impressive to a foreigner such as yourself, but you do not understand the dark side that sustains Terran society."

Naturally, the Rubarthan CEO couldn't help but badmouth the Rubarthans.

Ves had heard plenty of criticism about the Rubarthans in the past when he lived and worked in New Constantinople VIII.

As an outsider, Ves had no horse in this race. Back when he grew up in the Bright Republic, both the Terrans and the Rubarthans pretty much appeared like distant superhumans to him and his family.

They were smarter, stronger and better than third-raters in so many ways that it was difficult to maintain the idea that they belonged to the same species as space peasants!

When Ves started going up in society, the distance between himself and the first-raters diminished at a rapid rate.

Now that he had reached a stage where his galactic citizenship actually overpowered the vast majority of mechers, fleeters, Terrans and Rubarthans, it should be all of these ordinary first-raters who should look up to him these days!

Yet... far too little time had passed for Ves to adjust his mentality and get accustomed to his current reality.

A part of him still retained the simple mindset of an ordinary citizen of the Bright Republic. Whenever he thought about the first-raters, he did not distinguish them by their individual differences, but tended to generalize them according to their many commonalities.

This was why Ves never really put much emphasis on the differences between the Terrans and the Rubarthans. He never really cared all that much about their many divisions and conflicts, which put him out of lockstop with many other members of upper society.

A man as clever and successful as Mr. Tarokan should have been able to deduce this laid-back attitude, but that did not stop him from propagandizing the superiority of the Rubarthans over the Terrans.

After all, Ves had never actually lived long enough in Terran and Rubarthan space to truly appreciate the cultural differences between the two major groups.

"The New Rubarth Empire which we stem from has a strong tradition of leadership and competence." The vigorous man touted. "We have adopted these tenets from the very beginning when the man who became the first Star Emperor successfully led a rebellion against the tyrannical Terran Empire and founded a new star nation during the early years of the Age of Conquest. Our founding leader and the heroes he managed to gather around him all worked together to ensure that the rot and abuses of the Terrans would never taint our great Rubarthan society. The fact that all 6 rulers that came after him managed to preserve these original values is a testament to our greatness."

Ves' expression turned skeptical. "No offense, but not all of the Star Emperors could equal the greatness of the Rebel Star. I'm pretty sure that the Restrained Star and the Disaster Star

"We do not deny the failings and the shortcomings of the Fifth Star Empress and the Sixth Star Emperor." Mr. Tarokan replied in a more subdued tone. "Criticism and reflection are key components of a functioning meritocracy. Not even our highest princes and star emperors can escape fault."

"Yet you Rubarthans still revere the Fifth and Sixth in the same way as the rest."

"I do not agree that the two aforementioned rulers have failed in their duties. They came into power during a time where the Age of Conquest had begun to show their cracks. They endeavored to keep the New Rubarth Empire together when internal and external sources of pressure threatened to tear apart our great nation. I do not think that anyone could have done better in their place. In fact, anyone else would have certainly done worse! The Disaster Star may not have been able to avoid the inevitability of being remembered for the great humiliation of our star empire, but it was not his fault."

Every Star Emperor that managed to rule the New Rubarth Empire received a posthumous title that broadly described his accomplishments and policy focus.

The first Star Emperor was known as the Rebel Star for obvious reasons. He was often regarded as the greatest of them all. None of his descendants had managed to surpass his prestige and renown, though a few had come close.

He had fathered 37 descendants over his relatively long life, which was considered a lot over the time.

The large number of descendants and the many disputes surrounding the question of who should take over after their old man sparked an unexpectedly large and violent succession battle that ultimately set a new tradition for the New Rubarth Empire.

The second Star Emperor was known as the Constructor Star. He had taken the early foundation of the New Rubarth Empire and deepened it so that it would no longer be as shaky as before.

When it came to parenting, he did not show as much restraint as his great father. Due to the relative stability at the time, the Constructor Star had plenty of time on his hands, which he used to father over 133 descendants, thereby contributing to an even greater and bloodier succession battle than before!

The third Star Empress was known as the Conqueror Star. She also happened to be the first female member of the Rubarthan Imperial Household to ascend to the legendary Coldstone Throne.

She had taken advantage of the vast military buildup of her predecessor and led great warfleets to conquer vast amounts of territories from the alien races of the Milky Way. More star systems fell into the hands of the Empire during her reign than any other!

She was purportedly so eager to conquer new territories for her rapidly expanding empire that she 'only' managed to produce just 48 descendants.

The Fourth Star Emperor was known as the Proud Star. The conquests slowed down as the navies and the infrastructure of the New Rubarth Empire increasingly reached their limits. This caused the Fourth to put more emphasis on consolidation and building up all of the conquered planets.

In order to set himself apart from the Constructor Star, the Fourth decided to invest in the arts as well as strengthening the national identity of the Rubarthan people. Many people argued that the Empire had reached its peak on a societal level.

He had been so successful during his reign that he also managed to father 420 princes and princesses.

The Fifth Star Empress was known as the Restrained Star. She was the first ruler to gain a posthumus title that arguably held a negative connotation. The Age of Conquest was losing steam by that time, and the many flaws of unbridled conquest and reckless expansion of power became evident.

She attempted to make her own mark by restarting a lot of conquests, but many of these invasions often experienced various setbacks and delays. It ultimately became too difficult for the increasingly bloated and decentralized fleets to meet their ambitious targets.

Maybe all of the stress that she endured over her life caused her to produce just 19 descendants before she decided to call it quits. This was regarded as an especially pathetic effort at the time. Many Rubarthans even believed that the low number of descendants contributed to the calamity that happened afterwards.

The Sixth Star Emperor happened to be so controversial that he became known as the Disaster Star.

It was during his reign that the New Rubarth Empire had reached its greatest size, but also began to show so many cracks that they all broke in quick succession!

The dark days of the Age of Conquest had arrived. Economies crashed. Violent incidents took place at unprecedented levels. Entire military units went rogue or mad with power.

The disruptions and breakdowns took place across all of human civilization, so the New Rubarth Empire was not exempt from the prevailing trend.

Yet despite the 'best' efforts of the Sixth and many other Rubarthans, they ultimately failed to stop all of the disasters.

Their failings created an opening for other powers to fill the void.

This directly contributed to the rise of the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance!

The Big Two seemingly came out of nowhere, but they rapidly gained so much power that they succeeded in subjugating the two dominant star empires at the time!

Weakened by all of the disasters, genocides and defections, both the Greater Terran United Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire had little choice but to admit defeat and agree to an incredibly devastating and humiliating treaty.

This was the greatest shame of the Rubarthans to this day. The Big Two forced them to give up all of their warships, their weapons of mass destruction, their rights as an independent star empire, their dignity and so much more.

While it could be argued that the Disaster Star unfairly ended up becoming the scapegoat for all of the calamities that took place during his turbulent reign, the New Rubarth Empire still managed to live on during the Age of Mechs, if much more diminished than before.

Perhaps his only clear 'success' was that he managed to produce 699 descendants. This had resulted in the outbreak of a much larger and livelier succession battle that oddly excited the Rubarthans so much that they had managed to pull themselves out of their collective slump.

The Seventh Star Emperor came into power as the Age of Mechs produced a new wave of optimism. Under the order imposed by the Big Two, humanity began to rebuild and reform its broken societies. The astronomic rise of mechs led to much more 'healthier' wars that were not only a lot more restrained, but also more entertaining!

Although the Seventh had not been responsible for initiating any great conquests, he had done much to promote initiatives that significantly increased the level of stability, investment and happiness of his subjects.

He undertook a lot of actions that reminded the Rubarthans of the Constructor Star and the Proud Star.

One of the critical reasons why he managed to succeed was because he had fathered so many descendants that few people had an accurate count!

With an estimated number of 8000 direct descendants, the Seventh produced more offspring than all of the other Star Emperors put together!

Although the amount of princes and princesses brought to life sounded excessive on every level, the Seventh made good use of all of his sons and daughters.

Each of them enjoyed the highest level of education as well as lots of unique opportunities that other people could only dream about.

Due to their bloodline and relation to the current ruler, these imperial scions also happened to be a lot more loyal and aligned to the sovereign.

The Seventh either appointed these princes and princesses to high positions, or allowed them to make their own mark after receiving a hefty amount of starting capital.

After thousands of direct descendants started to flood Rubarthan society, a huge quantity of private and public institutions of the first-rate superstate ultimately got caught in the grip of the currently reigning Star Emperor!

By controlling the princes and princesses that took charge of all of so many large corporations and government institutions, the Seventh had reached an unprecedented degree of control and centralization over his vast empire, thereby allowing him to improve the efficiency and governance of his own superstate!

It was a rather unorthodox ruling strategy that happened to produce the right results... for the time being.

No one really knew what would happen after the Seventh retired from the Coldstone Throne.

The succession battle that was bound to erupt at that time would probably produce an unprecedented degree of violence and upheaval!

In fact, a small preview of that was already taking place in the Rubarthan Pact in the present day.

Even though the 'succession battle' in the new frontier was a lot smaller in scale, none of the Rubarthans quite knew what to do during this time of uncertainty.