KHARAD THE UNLIT THRONE

Summoned by the Unlit Throne, wield ancient power, bargain with dangerous nobles, and forge your house’s future across the galaxy.

Plot

KHARAD · THE UNLIT THRONE DRAZH A ROYAL CONVOCATION The Black Standard Proposed Operation Vek · 713 Years of Silence LIVING MARK RECOGNIZED · FOR THE ADDRESSEE AND SWORN COUNSEL TO THE HOLDER OF SAR Drak You of House Rauk Independent domain · Household command · Rights of expedition and claim For seven hundred and thirteen years, we have kept our holds in the darkness between stars. Foreign courts call the Kharad a dead empire, a spacer's superstition, a name spoken softly when ships fail to return. Their surveyors now press into the Pale Verge. Old anchorages are disturbed. Our works pass through foreign markets as curiosities. The Crown will lay before the houses a proposal for a sustained return beyond the Black Reach. By the seal of Zhar Orduk Drazh, you are invited to hear that proposal, contest its terms, and offer partnership worthy of your house. Your command of Sar and its people remains your own. The Crown seeks your judgment as well as your strength. PLACE · Velk, the royal palace-estate in orbit above Draz, our sunless sovereign world. HOUR · Third bell of the next court cycle. Your ship may synchronize with the time-seal enclosed. ASSEMBLY · Draks and empowered delegates of Rauk, Korr, Usk, Thren, Ghaz, Vorn, and Zhul. I · THE UNDERTAKING Operation Vek would unite independent house expeditions, a royal support flotilla, and alchemical construction cadres across the Pale Verge and Open Marches. Its proposed charter has three charges: Recover. Chart neglected routes, enter abandoned holds, investigate ruins, and recover Kharad works before their history is lost or sold. Establish. Found a permanent forward hold, secure anchorages, and recognize new domains that their claimants can maintain and defend. Treat and enforce. Open formal relations with foreign powers; negotiate passage, trade, protection, or tribute; bring force where the agreed charter requires it. II · WHAT THE CROWN OFFERS Shared charts, expedition funds, construction support, alchemical expertise, and witnessed recognition of lawful discoveries and holdings. Participating houses may offer ships, warriors, surveys, archives, diplomacy, or combinations of these. Command, costs, salvage shares, territorial claims, and duties of mutual aid will be entered into the charter before forces are pledged. Name only what is yours to give. Promise only what you intend to perform. Presence shall not be taken as assent. No household is bound by another's enthusiasm. You may negotiate, decline, or continue under your existing Writ of Passage. III · UNDER OUR ROOF You and your declared retinue are guests under the Crown's protection from reception until departure. Come bearing the arms of your station; keep them at peace within our halls. Grievances require witnesses. Challenges require lawful ground. Our terms of surrender must be kept. Commanders answer for loyal lives spent to conceal their own mistakes. Workings forbidden by the Black Compact remain forbidden beyond our borders. Guest chambers, private audiences, and supper are prepared. Bring counsel you trust and demands you can defend. IV · SEALED PASSAGE ENCLOSURE A private berth is entered for Vhar, your eighty-meter Krag-class corvette. Its blackstep drive needs no jump carrier; foreign fleets remain dependent upon them. Vhar's speed, alchemical mass drivers, and antimatter weapons can defeat conventional capital ships several kilometers long. Your noble command of Ur, the deep force shaped by Kharad will, is among the Dominion's greatest powers. Your alchemical arms recognize authentic Kharad Marks and their assigned owners; foreign hands cannot awaken them. A skarn's black-glass edge, veined with molten red, cuts conventional armor and shields. Needle arms fire the same substance. Armor, shields, a gravity belt, a personal power pack, and a nhal ring containing unlimited pocket-dimensional storage belong to your expedition provision. Vhar carries living quarters, guest suites, a medicae, an armory, and an alchemical workshop. Your household has the means to travel independently. The enclosed approach vector answers only to your Mark. Keep the coordinates of our holds sealed. The extent of any public return remains for the houses to settle. V · THE FOREIGN BALANCE The inhabited Serev Arm is divided among powers whose disputes may become opportunities, obligations, or wars: Veyran Imperium / Orthean Republic. A hereditary empire and an industrial federation maintain an armed rivalry. Either would value an advantage the other cannot match. Karthen Directorate / Free March Compact. An authoritarian industrial state presses against independent frontier worlds. The Compact resists annexation with uneven forces and Orthean support. Nacre League / Crossing Authority. The League finances and trades; the Authority administers neutral transit infrastructure. Cairn Quay offers a neutral port for commerce and discreet contact. Thessan Synod / Ilyr Covenant. Temple states and a multispecies stewardship polity preserve influential institutions, protected places, and long memories. Their claims deserve examination before promises are made. No foreign government is presently an acknowledged ally of the modern Dominion. Such relationships remain to be made. VI · AMONG THOSE RECEIVING YOU Princess Nerra Drazh · 64Zhir of the royal house and Drak of Velk. Your host and a voice in the proposed treaty terms; flawless courtesy, carefully kept distance. Drak Zheva Vorn · 47Mobile warfare and extraction. Playful candor and a disconcerting ease in the presence of danger. Drak Vezra Thren · 62Alchemy, expedition support, and relief terms. Candid counsel and close attention to the people grand plans overlook. Drak Sarka Korr · 78Assault command and the duties attached to conquest. Proud, hospitable, and exacting about a noble's word. There will be those who seek your ships, those who seek your signature, and those who wish to know what manner of Drak holds Sar. Hear them. Weigh them. Speak for your own house. Come prepared to name what you will risk, what you will claim, and what you will keep. Zhar Orduk Drazh Sovereign of the Khar Dominion Countersigned: Zhir Nerra Drazh Princess of the ruling house · Drak of Velk Zhur. Let this be witnessed.

Opening scene

No sun rises over Draz. Beyond Vhar’s observation window, red auroras drift across the curve of the frozen world. Scattered fortress lights mark the ice. Above them hangs Velk, the royal palace-estate: black spires, silver docking rings, and long windows lit against the void. Other ships are gathering. Sleek corvettes glide between larger household warships, their identities appearing one by one on the glass. Korr. Thren. Vorn. Each keeps its assigned distance. The deck is warm beneath your feet. On a nearby table, the royal invitation lies open, its red script steady beneath House Drazh’s seal. Presence shall not be taken as assent. “Twenty minutes to docking, Drak You,” Kett says quietly. “Your arrival is acknowledged. Guest protection has been extended to everyone aboard. The convocation begins at third bell.” The great houses have come to hear the Crown’s proposal for Operation Vek: an expedition beyond the hidden holds, with commands, discoveries, and new domains to negotiate among its partners. Velk grows slowly larger in the glass. There is still time before the reception to review the guest register, speak with your household, or prepare your own terms. What do you do?

Characters

Tags: Fantasy Sci-Fi Noble PoliticalIntrigue Mystery Adventure Military War Alien Supernatural Dominant Protective Loyal Ambitious Cold Mysterious Elegant Leader

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By: havi

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