Data File Updated: Wednesday, April 23, 2025  

The planet Seren is the capital of the Loroi sector of the same name, and the headquarters for the largest section of the main front facing the Umiak, known as the Charred Steppes. Before the war, Seren was the jewel of the colonial Loroi empire, the cultural and economic center of the Union's largest sector, and the powerbase for the governor who eventually became Emperor Eighth Dawn. But after enduring a siege that lasted two and a half years, Seren fell to the Umiak, and remained under enemy occupation for six years. When it was liberated in 2145, it had been mostly depopulated and much of its useful infrastructure lay in ruins. In the decade and a half since, the colony has been partially rebuilt to serve as a functional sector fleet base, but today it is still sparsely populated and limited in its influence. Seren is a story of two worlds: what it had become, and what remains of that now.

In 2160 CE, Seren is an important regional base, and together with the Mosi system anchors the spinward line of the Steppes front. It also serves as a forward operating base for the Imperial government, since Azerein Greywind's flagship and personal squadron spend much of their time in and around the Seren area. Azimol and Nezel also have extensive Loroi fleet bases, but they are in the Tinza sector and technically under Neridi management, and so out of courtesy to the Neridi government, the Azerein's flagship does not enter Tinza unless there is a crisis that requires it.

Seren III

The Seren system primary is a young, hot orange star located at the rimward and spinward edge of current Union territory, bordering Historian space and the current Steppes front with the Umiak Hierarchy. The outer solar system consists of a very large Kuiper-like comet belt dotted with numerous small icy dwarf planets that draw out complex patterns in the belt. The inner solar system consists of four planets: three terrestrial worlds and Seren IV (Dirreshol) a large gas giant many times the mass of Jupiter. The giant planet has effectively cleared the orbital slots around it of debris, and so the inner planets experience less meteor activity than other systems of a similar young age.


(fig.1: Seren system diagram.)

Seren III, the site of the main colony in the system, is a large mineral-rich terrestrial planet,16,580 km in diameter, with a surface gravity of 1.22g and a single large moon. The planet is tectonically active, with numerous geothermal fissures and periodic surface volcanoes. The surface is extremely arid, with a few small dark seas and briny lakes, which are often connected to geothermal geysers and vents. The thick nitrogen atmosphere (~1.6 atm at the surface) contains little water vapor, but breathable levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide, thanks to the native autotrophs. The trace elements of the atmosphere form a perpetual natural smog, which gives the world a hazy blue-gray cast. The days are short (17 hours), and there are modest seasonal changes over the long orbital period of 1.8 Earth years (657 Earth days).

From its location at the rimward corner of Union territory, the nearby Pleiades star cluster and its brilliant blue reflection nebulae fill one-fifth of Seren's night sky. On a moonless night, a location far from the urban centers offers a spectacular view of the cluster and molecular cloud complex.

Mineral Forests of the Silver Gnomes

The native life is still primitive on this young planet. Most of the surface is barren and lifeless: rough volcanic mountains and valleys, interspersed with great salt flats. The small, dark seas support primitive photosynthetic microbial organisms similar to cyanobacteria at the surface, and hydrogen-oxidizing thermophilic bacteria in the depths where there are geothermal vents. The brittle crust is criscrossed with numerous deep fissures created by the chaotic tectonic activity, where previously active geysers have gone dormant and dried out. In these deep ravines live the tinaiges or "silver gnomes," the dominant form of native life. It is a symbiotic colonial compound organism similar to a lichen, with a cyanobacteria-like photosynthetic component that lives near the surface, connected to a thermophilic fungus-like component that sends long chains of filaments down deep into the fissures, sometimes for kilometers, to sources of water and geothermal hydrogen. The byproducts of these organisms' activity over time form vast fan-shaped fields of mineral stromatolites, which fill the rift and blossom out into the surface. Eventually, over hundreds or thousands of years, the geothermal hotspot that powers the local ecosystem shifts to another location, or the stromatolites themselves clog up the fissure, and the vents become dormant. The tinaiges dry out, sprout spore-disseminating bodies, and die out, leaving only the forest of mineral fan-shaped blades. These mineral formations are a prospector's paradise, rich in valuable industrial metals and rare earth elements, and their exploitation formed the basis of the Seren colony's wealth, which in turn built an entire frontier for the Loroi.

Menet, the Sentry Moon

Seren III has a single large moon (Menet, "rust"). It is tidelocked to Seren, showing the same reddish face during its entire orbital period of 49 Earth days. The airless surface is tinted red by ferrous oxides which suggests a past hydrosphere, made odder in comparison to its mother world's surface dominated by copper and blue silicates.

Sometimes called the Sentry Moon, it hosts a wide range of surface and orbital bases dedicated to directing the defense of the system. Centered on Menet and Seren Citadel and its network of satellite battle stations, this defense has been tried in fire through numerous assaults and several changing of hands of the star system, battered down and rebuilt again and again.

The Fire Empire

A great rift valley just north of the equator is home to the largest concentration of Loroi settlement on the planet. Named Leinazeras, or "Fire Empire," it rings one of the largest of the small seas on the planet, and contains a habitation-friendly mix of periodically-flowing rivers and the soil they bring down from the mountains, active geothermal fissures, and kilometer upon kilometer of extinct stromatolite mineral forest, ripe for harvesting. The barrier mountains bring regular seasonal rains, though the rivers and lakes are mostly empty by the end of the dry season. There are Loroi-edible fungoids growing on the banks of the rivers during the wet season, and year round in the many caves all over the fractured landscape. The Loroi constructed aqueducts and cisterns to support the farming of misesa and other imported crops, but much of these have crumbled in the long disuse since the occupation, and today remnants can be found growing sparsely near permanent bodies of standing water. Seawater is far too saline to support transplanted fish, but the seawater is itself a commercial source of valuable salts. Water from deep wells is hard with minerals, but potable.

Leinnazalat, Capital City of a Frontier Sector

"Fire City" is the largest urban center in the valley and on the planet. It establishes the prime meridian for Seren geography, and functions as the capital of the province, the planet, and the sector. It centers around the large spaceport and the even larger ore processing facilities of the Smelter (Tobesadi), the heavy industrial sector where stromatolite ore is processed and either supplied to the local manufacturing hubs, or transported via the spaceport up to the Seren's shipyards, or out to the sector and Union beyond. The San Francisco of its day, the stromatolite gold rush drove emigration to the frontier, development of industry and infrastructure, and eventually secondary colonization further into the Steppes. Leinnazalat became a city of influence, fashionable architecture and a new frontier culture. Seren grew into a "Fifth Sister World" to rival the original three.

The city was mostly evacuated during the long siege by Umiak forces, and was captured largely intact and deserted when the system fell. During the occupation, the few remaining Loroi in the Leinazeras region were rounded up by the Umiak and put to work in the Smelter. Much of the city was destroyed in the fall of the Great Lift (see below) and in the subsequent Umiak reprisals, and thereafter the Umiak killed any Loroi they could find in the remains of the city.

Since liberation, small sections of Leinnazalat are still in the process of being rebuilt, to support the reactivation of the system's defenses and the region's resourcing and manufacturing capability. But it is still mostly a ghost city, cowering under the skyline of the crashed Lift and the old city's ruins.

The Great Lift and the Silver Gate

Dirred Lagisimon "The Great Ore Lift" or just "The Great Lift" was the engineering wonder of Seren; an orbital elevator constructed to cheaply ferry the planet's ample resources into geostationary orbit. It rises from moorings on Forge Peak just south of Leinnazalat's city center to a mooring point in geostationary orbit, and terminates in a long counterweight that extends farther beyond. The mammoth structure consisted of an outer sheath to protect the interior from orbital debris, surrounding a set of multiple hoist cables constantly running cargo cars from surface to orbit and back again. The top of the lift was moored to Tintarral Starport, the "Silver Gate." In addition to extensive port facilities, Tintarral was a hub for several large shipyards (both attached and in trailing or leading nearby orbits) which provided a substantial portion of the Union's shipbuilding. Tintarral was a gateway both for arriving immigrants from the old world, and as a jumping off point for colonists bound for destinations farther into the Steppes, and for traders coming and going anywhere in between.

The Great Lift was still in use ferrying the last of the evacuees from the surface when the Umiak forces broke through to the planet's vicinity. The fleeing Loroi fleet commander could not bring herself to destroy Seren's symbol of national pride (to say nothing of the evacuees still aboard or clustered near the base of the lift. Therefore the Umiak captured the entire system intact, and began promptly using the starport as a makeshift fleet base, and put the lift into operation in the extraction of Seren's wealth for their own war effort.

The shipyard facilities in and around Tintarral were a favorite target of those Loroi partisans who were still operating against the occupation. These efforts were effective enough that the Umiak commanders decided that the captive Loroi on Seren were more trouble than they were worth, and took steps to liquidate them. When the Loroi resistance got wind of this, they preemptively launched every operation they had planned, including a focused attack on the starport. The partisans succeeded in detonating the reactors on one of the docked warships, destroying much of the station and ripping it free of its moorings to the Great Lift, which immediately began a slow fall toward the surface. Quick Umiak action arrested the fall by extending the counterweight, but the damage had been done; more than a kilometer of the elevator outer structure had been dragged to the ground, destroying much of the city. The Lift remains aloft, but unusable.

Seren Citadel

Though the remains of the Silver Gate still remain in orbit, its function as primary starport and fleet base has been replaced by the new Seren Citadel, built to replace earlier iterations of battle stations that were destroyed during the fall of Seren to the Umiak. The current Seren Citadel is the largest battle station in the Loroi Union, and it is hub of a network of battle stations and defense bases arrayed throughout the system. The Citadel is normally parked in geostationary orbit over Leinnazalat, so that it can function as a shuttleport for easy access between surface and orbit, but it is capable of moving to wherever it is needed. It contains modest port and shipyard facilities, protected within its formidable defenses.

The orbital defense network around Seren also includes a trio of Type-3 battle stations (usually flanking the Citadel) and an array of automated defense satellites. Defense of the system is coordinated at the Citadel through the defenses on the Sentry Moon and throughout the system, and any fleet elements present.

History of the Colony

The Seren system was first utilized as an exploration outpost by Loroi scouts in the latter part of the 1600's CE. Seren III was formally chartered as a colony in 1710, during the era of Azerein Swiftsure's administration. The planet's mineral wealth together with its ideal location at the frontier of a new and expanding sector and as a jumping-off point into the Steppes region drove rapid growth in the colony and the system's infrastructure. This growing affluence also helped to drive the development of the nearer unclaimed portions of the sector, including the inhabited Halli and Golim-chei systems. By 1790, Seren had become known as the "Sapphire of the Steppes," the influential and wealthy capital of the largest Loroi-controlled sector in the Union.

Seren Culture

Much of the Loroi immigration flooding into the Seren Sector and the Steppes came not from the original three Sister Worlds, but from Maia and the other earlier established Loroi colonies. As such, many of the colonists had never lived under the old order, and a new culture began to take root in the new institutions being built in this new frontier, which lacked the rigid conservatism of the Splinter Colonies. Ancient clan affiliations became less important. The Seren sector colonies were among the first to follow examples set by the Neridi and Barsam, to deregulate the traditionally mercantilist Loroi economy within the sector. This new expansive optimism was widespread across the new frontier, but it became identified with the culture of Seren.

The Neridi Succession Conflict: 1790-1795

Under the reforms of Azerein Swiftsure, intended to restore the republican values of the pre-Imperial era, regional governments were empowered with unprecedented authority for self-government. As the central government abdicated more and more authority to local administration, sector governors began to rise in power accordingly, and increasingly frontier colonies began to look to the sector capitals for aid and guidance instead of to Deinar. The new Loroi colonies in the Steppes were in particular tied closely with Seren and its governor, Eighth Dawn. Even when disputes between local officials were escalated to the Imperial government, increasingly they were sent back down to the sector level for resolution. This led to rising tensions between rival interests, especially on the frontier, as unresolved disputes festered. Eighth Dawn continued to add new Steppes colonies into the ever-growing sector under her control, swelling the sector until it was almost twice the size of any other, and despite complaints from other regional interests and Axis republicans within her own administration, Swiftsure declined to intervene. As tensions over unresolved disputes continued to grow, in 1790 the order finally ruptured: in a Neridi dispute over royal succession, Eighth Dawn's and Swiftsure's administrations each backed different claimants. Swiftsure chose that moment to finally exert her authority, but Governor Eighth Dawn openly defied her ruling, and continued to back her preferred Neridi claimant.

What followed was a five-year "cold war" of armed standoffs between the Frontier and Imperial fleets along the shared border in Neridi territory (the Tinza Sector). The rival Neridi claimant backed by Eighth Dawn had set up her own capital and shadow government at Nezel, in opposition to the traditional capital at Derro. The two Loroi factions mostly broke along cultural lines, with the Loroi Seren and Mannad sector forces siding with Eighth Dawn, the Loroi Minzan and Maiad sector forces backing Azerein Swiftsure, and the Neridi and Tinza split down the middle. A few incidents did flare up into actual violence, but these were mostly covert or though proxies, and did not break the fragile peace. Ultimately, in September 1795 Swiftsure decided to break the deadlock by gathering her forces and moving on Nezel to depose the rival claimant, and Eighth Dawn's forces intercepted the loyalists at Juka. For a moment it looked as if there would be a bloody battle, but the Maiad and Tabenid components of Swiftsure's fleet abruptly switched sides. This set off a chain of defections, and Swiftsure was forced to surrender. Eighth Dawn then took her fleet to Deinar and petitioned the Diadem to appoint her Azerein, which they promptly did.

With its former governor now proclaimed Emperor, Seren only continued its rise in influence. Eighth Dawn's administration advocated expansion in all sectors; this program was most productive in the Seren, Tinza and Maiad sectors over the coming centuries.

The agreement that ended the crisis ceded some of the jointly held Seren sector territory to Neridi control, including Nezel and Azimol. Eighth Dawn's administration saw a long period of continued expansion of both the Seren and Tinza sectors. The Neridi annexed all of the unclaimed territory right up to the Morat and Lurs frontiers, while the Loroi colonized every viable system through the gap between Morat and Historian territory, as far spinward as Laisas at the Tenuki border. Loroi Farseers had been aware for some time that unfamiliar alien populations existed spinward of Tenuki territory for as far as could be detected, and the Loroi were eager to contact the civilizations of that region and the lucrative trade which they undoubtedly represented.

Outbreak of War with the Hierarchy and the Siege of Seren

Union scouts had made preliminary contact with the Lurs civilization before the turn of the 22nd century, but the Lurs refused formal relations. Trade with the Lurs was only permitted through Morat intermediaries; the Morat traders would say only that the Lurs nation was a protectorate under a larger spinward empire. At the start of the 2100's a similar situation occurred during early contact with the Tenuki; Union scouts were warned away from the Tenuki frontier. In 2110, after repeated pressure by Union traders for help in establishing formal trade relations with this distant empire, Morat diplomats were finally able to arrange a formal meeting between Union officials and representatives of the Tenuki, Lurs, and their suzerain, the Umiak Hierarchy of Principal Committees, Administrative Assemblies, and Contributing Accessories. Despite a difficult language barrier, talks seemed to go well, and agreements were signed to allow formal trade. But Union traders were only allowed at a small number of designated border system ports; no Union vessels were allowed deeper into Hierarchy territory.

Without warning, in 2135 the Hierarchy launched a massive invasion of the Union frontier colonies in the Steppes. The unprepared Loroi fleets were caught completely off guard, and their somewhat outdated weaponry was no match for the numerically superior Umiak or the damage their plasma weapons could inflict at close range. The Umiak penetrated quickly into Loroi territory, driving the Tinza fleets back to Azimol, and isolating the Loroi steppes spinward of Mosil. An abortive Loroi counterattack through Morat territory failed, and Umiak fleets began assaulting systems surrounding Seren itself.

For the next three years, Seren was the focus of a relentless series Umiak assaults down the Seren Corridor from occupied Tedel, and attempts to outflank Seren on the coreward side. Utilizing the advantages of their Farseers to interdict approaching fleets with their fast groups and to concentrate their heavier fleet elements at the point of attack, Seren forces held the line firmly. But they were doing so at great cost, and the attrition was taking its toll... while the Umiak showed no sign of running short on reinforcements despite the horrific losses inflicted on their fleets. During this long siege, the Seren system itself came under direct attacks, and so steps were taking to start evacuating the civilian population to Halli and Begalona.

In 2139, Hierarchy forces launched a new invasion of Historian space. Historian forces offered little resistance to the invasion, falling back from systems that had already been evacuated. With its rimward flank now exposed, the defense of Seren became untenable. The Sector commander gave the order for the fleet to abandon the system on June 30, 2139.

Hierarchy Occupation: 2139-2145

When Loroi forces withdrew from the Seren system, the evacuation of civilian and support personnel was incomplete, and some 50 million Loroi remained on Seren when the Umiak took control of the system. These were all females, mostly civilian. No known males were captured, having long since left the system. Included among those trapped were a few military ground units supervising the evacuation, and a number of children. Despite priority given to children and pregnant females during the evacuation, a small number failed to evacuate in time, the largest group of these being diral students who had been in the wild and out of contact. There were no males among the Loroi captives.

With the planetary government already having fled, there was no formal surrender or centralized command for resistance. There was only sporadic fighting from the minimal Loroi military ground presence as Umiak invasion forces occupied the major cities. Some of these Loroi troops were killed during the fighting, a few surrendered, and the rest fled into the countryside. The Umiak quickly secured control of all the major population centers and confined the Loroi captives into what would eventually be transformed into huge prison compounds. In short order, the Umiak put the Loroi captives to work, mainly in reviving and operating Seren's resource extraction operations. The work regimen was harsh (as it typically was for all planets under direct Umiak control), and Loroi of all ages were required to work. Within the first year, the Umiak liquidated most of the military prisoners, realizing that they could not be securely confined.

Seren's geography, especially its mineral forests and the network of caverns provided excellent cover for partisan bases outside of the urban areas, even against Umiak ground-penetrating radar and infrared sensors. Low-level resistance began immediately by the Loroi forces dispersed in the foothills and caverns, including the remnants of the ground units and even a few diral bands that had not returned to the population centers to be captured. The resistance forces included small numbers of Teidar and Mizol, who could conduct sabotage operations right under the very noses of the occupiers, evade capture, and blend in among the among the civilian prisoners despite extensive electronic monitoring. Seren's shipyard facilities, captured more or less intact by the Umiak, were a particular focus of partisan sabotage attempts. In the early stages of the occupation, these resistance efforts were entirely local, as there was no central control or any contact with the outside Loroi chain of command.

During the whole period of the occupation, Loroi prisoners were frequently made the subjects of intense medical experiments by the Umiak, who were very eager to learn how Loroi telepathy worked, and hoped that large-scale experiments could reveal what smaller scale examinations of earlier captives had not. These experiments met with only limited success in terms of Umiak knowledge of telepathy, and the program resulted in one of the most damaging incidents of the occupation to that point, when a group of young Loroi research subjects who were being studied for operant psychokinetic abilities rebelled and destroyed the entire research facility, and then rampaged through the nearby internment compounds, freeing fellow prisoners. Most of the escapees were eventually recaptured or killed, as they had all been tagged with various tracking measures, but a few remained at large, and are presumed to have joined the Loroi partisan forces in the countryside.

This incident brought into sharp focus for the local Umiak commanders what had been a slow realization: that the Loroi population of Seren could not be effectively pacified in anything like a predictable short term. It was at this time, two years into the occupation, that the directive was issued to begin the liquidation of the remaining Loroi captives on Seren and throughout the Steppes region.

On Seren, the Loroi partisans had learned of this directive even before the mass executions started, and the disparate resistance groups simultaneously and hurriedly went ahead with any and all planned operations that were within their capabilities. These included direct attacks on the interment compounds and infrastructure under Umiak use. The most dramatic of these sabotage efforts was the attack on Tintarral starport, which severed the connections of the Great Lift at both ends and caused its partial collapse and the destruction of much of the capital city.

The Umiak accelerated liquidation efforts and dealt with the Leinazeras uprisings through orbital strikes, destroying most of what remained of the urban centers. The escape of large numbers of prisoners afforded a short term tactical advantage to the Umiak occupation forces, as they were easily tracked and could be used as bait to ambush units of the Loroi resistance as they attempted to rescue the escapees. However, despite the successful extermination of some 90% of the remaining Loroi population on Seren, including catastrophic losses among the resistance forces, Seren was still not pacified. More than half a million Loroi were still dispersed throughout the countryside, and all of them involved in some way or other with the partisans.

Over the last three years of the Umiak occupation of Seren, a savage guerilla war was waged between the Umiak and the surviving Loroi. Umiak occupation forces had been released from almost any restraint in the hunting down and extermination the remaining Loroi, but the surviving Loroi partisans had similarly been released from any concern over reprisals against captive Loroi. Though Loroi partisans were constantly being reduced in number (while the Umiak casualties were replaced), resistance activities had largely brought the Umiak resourcing operations to a halt. Umiak casualties mounted with very little to show for their efforts, and some of the partisan fighters gained a fearsome reputation among the occupation forces.

Liberation and Reconstruction: 2145-2160

The Seren system was recaptured by the Loroi in 2145 when the Semoset Offensive pushed the Umiak lines back into the Steppes. The occupation had lasted 6 years, and in that time roughly 49 million Loroi had been exterminated by the Umiak. Perhaps surprisingly, the Umiak evacuated Seren almost completely and did very little to destroy the remaining surface or orbital infrastructure; it seems likely that they may had expected to reoccupy Seren in the near term. But the damage to Seren's infrastructure from occupation, resistance and retaliation had been substantial, and the Umiak did leave some terrifyingly altered and boobytrapped former Loroi prisoners. The Loroi liberation forces quickly learned the necessity to quarantine the 600,000 survivors on Seren pending processing to make sure that they had not been tampered with by the Umiak (sometimes, sadly, in the same internment facilities in which they had been kept during the occupation). Many of the resistance groups were so dispersed and well-hidden that it took more than a year to contact them all and bring them back into the fold of Loroi civilization. Some of the former resistance fighters required extensive psychological therapy, and not all of the treatments were entirely successful.

To be continued...

See also: Loroi, Loroi Sister Worlds, Loroi Timeline, System Defenses, History of the War