History and Description of Planets of the Duchy of Anjou

Anjou March
Anjou
Anjou the capital of the Duchy of Anjou is also the name planet for the Anjou sector. It was one of the first planets founded during the early colonial period. It was a lust and vibrant planet that was made rich because it was used as the jumping off point for further expansion and during the early colonial period it was the second most important planet next to New Oslo and the Terran Supergate established there.

After the break with Mother Terra Anjou still thrived as an important trading post and way point between Core, Terra, Anjou and Essex Regions. At this time the Scott Family raised to prominence and eventual rule of Anjou.

When the Terran Crusade came Anjou fell in the second wave of the crusade. After the heavy fighting in Terra and Core Regions the Terran Crusaders came up with the strategy of heavy planetary bombardment. Anjou was the first planet that fell to the sword during the Anjou Region invasion. The lush vegetation and pleasant environment was laid to waste and what was left was a hard baked stone heart. Those who survived the bombardment and the landings hid in the caves and led by the head of the Scott Family, Owen Scott, they lead a resistance.

Also half the Angevin Fleet escaped behind the Jutland Wastes and hid at Glasgow in the Jutland Region. This fleet would return and join the fleets from the Jutland Region and Essex Region to liberate the Anjou Region and eventually the Terran and Core Regions, as part of the Grand Fleet.

Upon the end of the Terran Crusades the members of key planet met together on Anjou. The once beautiful planet of human memory was gone. Left was cold gray and black bed rock. Under the guidance of Kingston Mercer, the Sixth Father of Essex, the parties agreed and signed the Anjou Carta, which founded the Duchy of Anjou with the Scott Family having precedence as Duke of Anjou and the Marquis of Anjou, and their holdings in Anjou Region would become the Anjou March. Unfortunately the Hero of Anjou Owen Scott would not live to become the first Duke of Anjou, his son and commander of the Angevin Fleet during the Re-conquest.

Currently two of the most important structures of the Duchy stand on Anjou. These are The Ducal Palace, where the Ducal Court meet and where the Duke’s Primary residence is located, and Holyrood Abbey, where parliament meets. Holyrood Abbey is based on the ruins of Westminster Abbey on Mother Terra. Both builds which are typical of post Crusade Anjou Construction style are carved out of the living stone of the planet.

Ragnar
Ragnar or as it is more commonly called Ragnar Anchorage is the home of the Royal Angevin Navy and before that the Angevin Navy. It is a beautiful world that most people would love to live on, but is highly restricted and only people associated with Naval Activities are allowed on planet. Ragnar was settled soon after life stabilized on Anjou Colony as a place for military ships to take R&R. As Anjou developed into a strong nation more and more military activities started taking place on Ragnar. The nickname Ragnar Anchorage came from the fact more and more warships were seen anchored there, as well as a major shipyard was built there.

Ragnar didn’t see much traffic because of its military nature. So its native culture which mainly consists of people, who worked for the navy and now their descendants, is the closest to original Angevin Culture in the time of the Terran Crusades. Ragnar fell during the Anjou Campaign in the Second Wave of the Terran Crusades. The fleet standing above the planet was largely destroyed in the initially volley. The Planetary Commander surrendered when most of his defenses were stripped and they didn’t suffer the orbital bombardment that its sister planet Anjou did. Ragnar was also retaken rather quickly in the Re-conquest of the Anjou Region.

Ragnar is the home of the Royal Angevin Navy, both military and civilian branches. They command from the old and original building known as The Admiralty. Only the most senior people actually have their offices in The Admiralty, because of growth over the years most offices and directorates moved into the buildings built around The Admiralty called The Admiralty Annex or just The Annex. Also located on Ragnar is the Royal Angevin Naval Intelligence Headquarters, and the Royal Angevin Navy Command and Staff College.

Derry
Derry is an asteroid in orbit between Anjou and Ragnar. It was colonized soon after the end of the Terran Crusades. Extensively Derry was colonized for the rich veins of crystals and metals on the planet. So much of Derry’s population is under ground in mining camps or in orbit above the planet.

Derry also has a large Neo-Irish population. Among some of the festivals celebrated is Saint Patrick’s Day. Among the population is a large group of Dubliners, which are descendants of survives of the planet Dublin that was culled during the Terran Crusade.

Bangor
Bangor was founded on the ruins of the Terran Crusader’s staging base they built in the Anjou Region. It is the inner most of the three moons of Anjou, the others being Lionheart and Lackland. Bangor was settled to keep from it from being used as a staging ground again for an invasion of Anjou. The planet now serves as one of the key manufacturing centers for the Anjou March.

Bangor is also the Anjou March’s Reserve Center.

Essex March
Essex
Essex is the capital of the Essex March and one of the oldest if not the oldest settle planet in the Duchy of Anjou. It was settled by the Essex Expedition by accident, their primary mission was to find and exploit crystals in the galaxy. When they came upon the system that Essex is in they found two crystal planetary bodies, but these were occupied and they were shot down. All four vessels crashed on the primary planet which was an arid dust ball. The survivors banded together under the twelve surviving expedition officers and settled, since they were now strained.

The twelve leaders determined that most of their industrial equipment survived and because all expect for during the dusk and dawn periods they could not survive the sun light they would tunnel into the sandstone mountains. Twelve cities were established to keep from over using the local water resources they discovered in the mountains. With in ten years Essex, named after the Expedition, became a thriving community and a developing culture. Being outside the Terran Colonial Region and the Anjou Region Essex became a place where people wanting to get away would settle and due to the harsh nature of the planet only the must industrious survived.

Essex opened the first university in what would become the Duchy of Anjou, Essex College. This was pushed by what was known as the first family of Essex, the Roe Family. These twelve family heads also became a new nobility and each were give a title based on their precedence.

The heads of the family used the title Father of Essex, the families were:
First Father is the head of the Roe Family.
Second Father is the head of the James Family.
Third Father is the head of the Nagol Family.
Fourth Father is the head of the Taylor Family.
Fifth Father is the head of the Mark Family.
Sixth Father is the head of the Mercer Family, and it is extinct.
Seventh Father is the head of the Crisp Family.
Eighth Father is the head of the Ringgold Family.
Ninth Father is the head of the Dorian Family.
Tenth Father is the head of the Wilson Family.
Eleventh Father is the head of the MacFadden Family.
Twelfth Father is the head of the Moretti Family.

Essex is an important secondary capital was initially the staging point for much of the early planets of the Duchy of Anjou. It was also the Essex Navy that was the core of the Grand Fleet during the Essex Region, Anjou and Terran Region Campaigns during the Terran Crusades. It was Admiral Marcus James, Second Father of Essex, at the Battle of Belfast that gave the Duchy it’s saying that ends all binding deals, “So Says one, So say us all.”

Essex fashion is striking on the other planets in the Duchy. The most common coloring is bright and vibrant colors, and courtly color is black. Essex is the exception, Essex Fashion is based on three colors, tan, white and light gray. This is an out growth from the arid conditions on Essex itself and the need to reflect the sun light.

The people from Essex are general austere in dress and living, and considered very industrious. There is much that a person from Essex could do. This is from the harsh living in the early days of Essex which makes these people tough and stubborn.

Essex March is a close trading partner with the neighboring Bailiwick of Auckland a realm with a personal union with the Duchy of Anjou. Of all the Duchy’s Marches and the Bailiwicks, the Bailiwick of Auckland and Essex March are the closes to each other. In fact one of the Bailiwicks Planets is in the same system as one of Essex March’s. It is not uncommon to see people from both places inter mixing or marrying. Auckland and Essex has a very strong bond because both planets have similar conditions and the people can readily relate to each other.

Under Duke Robert Scott he maneuvered his Grandsons into marriages or relationships with the two women from the Lee and Roe Family. The Roe Family must have a male heir, by the Rules of Ascension, and only had a woman in the succession. His Younger Grandson Daniel Scott was very much behind the plan, of the Scott Family controlling or gaining control of the three richest and most powerful Marches in the Duchy. He first had a relationship with Countess Karen Roe of the Essex March, producing a son Lucas Roe-Scott, be he left her and married the richer heir to Glasgow March Countess Deborah Lee, and also produced a son by her, Nathan Lee-Scott. Daniel’s older brother Keith, Marquis of Anjou, too symphony on the abandoned Karen Roe and helped raise his nephew, and they eventually started a relationship producing a daughter Lillian Roe-Scott. But they never married since Keith Scott, Marquis of Anjou was accidentally on killed Ravenwood in the Glasgow March during a hunting trip with his brother the now Marquis of Glasgow Daniel Lee-Scott.

In the Essex March being a member of the twelve families is very important. More important then being nobility from other marches. Marquis Lucas Roe-Scott, as he’s known throughout the Duchy is known as Marquis Lucas Scott-Roe, First Father of Essex in the Essex March. His sister Lillian is known as Marchoness Lillian Scott-Roe in the Essex March.

A Key feature of Essex is all its cities are below ground. They have also switched to almost complete orbital ship construction because of the conditions on Essex’s surfaces.

Chatham
Chatham was the first planet in the expansion of the Essex Expeditions holdings. A small group commanded by the Third Father of Essex, Peter Nagol settled this rocky crater pocketed moon in a nearby system. Its primary and still main purpose is to be the major shipyard for the eventual Essex March. For many years it has been and some say the premier shipyard of the whole Duchy of Anjou.

Chatham’s conditions are far more tolerable then Essex’s so it doesn’t have underground cities. Never being razed like Anjou, their building aren’t cut out of the living stone of the planet. Chatham is a nice and normal planetary body that is also the headquarters of the Grand Fleet and a major shipyard for the Royal Angevin Navy as a whole.

Chatham shares a system with the bordering Bailiwick of Auckland’s planet Invercargill. At one point the Bailiwick of Auckland Navy kept their main Squadron at Invercargill to use the jumpgate at Chatham. This has built strong ties between the Bailiwick of Auckland Navy and the Grand Fleet of the Royal Angevin Navy.

Chatham is also the location of the Royal Angevin Navy War College.

Belfast
Belfast was one of two outpost asteroids settled by the Essex Expedition to act as forward sensor outposts. The other was Dublin. Belfast was settled by as a military expedition commanded by the Fourth Father of Essex Michael Taylor, Dublin’s Military Leader was the Fifth Father of Essex Gregory Mark. They served well during the early period and into the Terran Crusades.

Dublin was attacked in the first wave of the Essex Campaign during the Terran Crusades. As in the Anjou Campaign the solution to the planetary defenses was massive nuclear planetary bombardment. Dublin held out but once the Crusaders landed they sacked Dublin. The horrors of the visited upon the people of Dublin would become known as the Culling of Dublin. Dublin was left so devastated that no one could live on it. Of note a lone fighter pilot, Kingston Mercer, survived the Battle of Dublin and was recovered, and joined the Grand Fleet as a Squadron Commander in the Second Frigate Flotilla of the Essex Navy.

Belfast was attacked next as a flanking move against Chatham and Essex. The Terran Crusader Navy ran into the combined Essex Navy, the surviving Angevin Navy and forces from the other side of the Jutland Wastes the Glasgow Navy, the so called Grand Fleet. The Battle of Belfast was a desperate gamble led by Admiral Marcus James, the Second Father of Essex. It was also the turning point of the Terran Crusades.

Since the Terran Crusades Belfast has been quiet. It has become a major shipyard and crystal mining location. This asteroid has one of the strongest economies in the whole Duchy. Belfast even though is not a tourist destination it is still an important part of Essex March and survived the test of time.

Clara Station
Clara Station the Royal Angevin Essex March Fleet Anchorage was settled on the location of the Terran Hegemonies great victory, the First Battle of Clara. Here the first Grand Fleet died attacking the Dreadnoughts of the Biohazard Fleet. This Radioactive Planet is tough on life but in the meaning of the Duchy it is priceless.

When the Terran Hegemony Parliament gave the Duchy permission to settle Clara over the other Member States it was a great honor. Clara Station falls on the very extreme border of the Essex Region so it fell into the Essex March. Its devolvement became the pet project of Countess Karen Roe, the mother of the Marquis Lucas Roe-Scott. She has basically lived in the San Paola Orbital Base since the establishment of Clara Station, her daughter the Heir-Apparent to the Duchy, Lillian Roe-Scott, Marchoness of Anjou, spends a large amount of time there as well.

Clara Station is a free port to all Navies in Terran Nova, as part of the settlement agreement it is an open Naval Base. Just before it was settled it was found that the IDP Navy was using it to practice orbital bombardment. This practice ended just before the first Outpost Ship arrived.

Exeter
Exeter was settled as a gift from Royal Scott, 14th Duke of Anjou, to Karen Roe, Countess Essex, to give her, her own holdings and for giving him two grandchildren. Exeter was settled by an expedition commanded by Admiral D.A.R. Keane, the eventual Magnus Dux of Terra Nova. Exeter has grown but still remains a minor planet in the Duchy and to this date Countess Karen Roe, Countess of Essex and Exeter has yet arrived on planet.