HISTORY

The earliest known references to Helios are in the Imperial archives
discovered on Sarid (Oriflamme 1532) in the subsector capital records
building.  According to the reference, in 532 a group of Solomani Settlers
landed on Willow (as Helios was then known) to attempt repairs to their Jump
drive.  Finding Willow a pleasant planet, they decided to stay.  The Saltad
trees that covered the land masses of the planet reminded the settlers of
willow trees on their Terran home, and they named the planet after the
willow tree.

Willow is not mentioned in the archives again until 736.  By this time,
Willow had become a hiding spot for all sorts of Imperial criminals and riff
raff.  Willow's position within the 100-diameter limit of Zenith, her star,
made travel between the planet and the jump point long.  This fact along
with the lack of gas giants in the system made travel to Willow difficult.
Only those with a reason to "get lost" settled on Willow.  Many criminals
had "retired" on Willow when they felt the law brushing close to their
heels.  Tracking a criminal was not only expensive because of the in-system
travel requirements, but it was also hampered by the lack of settlers.  As a
result, only the most sought after criminalswere tracked to Willow.

Criminals were not the only settlers who found their way to Willow.  Many
others found their way to the backwater planet including malcontents,
debtors, jilted lovers, and anti-Imperial extremists.  No solid government
was formed, and very few of the settlers even lived in the small villages
that were formed.

Many of the settlers had taken up carving the wood of the Saltad tree native
to Willow.  The wood of the Saltad tree resembles ivory.  The wood is very
hard even when the tree is alive, but when the wood is dead and cured
properly, it becomes nearly hard as plate steel. Saltad wood carvings became
status symbol among the nobility of the Sarid subsector.  Willow was
occasionally visited by traders who would stop at the planet and trade their
goods for the Saltad wood carvings.

By the mid 700's the Saltad wood carvings done by the people of Willow were
claiming prices of 5000 to 10000 Cr in the markets of Sarid.  Willow had
become a regular stop for a few of the Free Traders roaming the Sarid
Subsector, but the real history of Willow begins almost a sector away on a
small world in the Promise sector named Amoy.

In 740, a boy was born, on Amoy, to a construction worker and his wife.  The
child, Garaath, it would be discovered, was a powerful psion.  When he was
40, in 780, Garaath had visions of angry mobs and violence.  During the
course of the next five years, he had more visions, and by 785, Garaath
understood what he had seen coming, the Psionic Supressions of 800.

Garaath had a staunch belief that, if he showed kindness to others, they
would be obligated by their nature to return this kindness.  He referred to
this as the Eternal Circle.  During the 15 years between Garaath's
premonition and the Psionic Supressions, Garaath began recording his beliefs
and sharing them with others.  Slowly Garaath gained a religious following,
but when the Psionic Supressions erupted, this small group was not enough to
protect Garaath from the attack of anti-psionic mobs.  The story here is
somewhat fuzzy.  Some records state that Garaath was killed by the attacks,
while others state that he placed himself in a state of suspended animation.
All accounts agree, however, that Garaath was never seen again.  

The Church of Brotherly Kindness                  

        The religion, the Church of Brotherly Kindness, nearly died out, and
without its a core group of believers, it would have.  The small group of
believers slowly recovered from their defeat and quickly developed an active
mission program.  The writings of Garaath were collected and published as
the Words of Kindness.  Many others joined the faith, and by 1100, the
church had more than 1,000,000 members.  A small branch of the church
developed in the Sarid subsector, but the group floundered under heavy
persecution.  In early 1103, citing religious persecution, this small group
petitioned the Duke of Sarid for some land where the group could settle.
The duke granted the petition and gave the church a small island in the
southern hemisphere of Willow.  The church was able to set up a small self
sufficient community, and, excluding a few minor incidents, the rest of the
world tended to leave them alone.

The Final War & Collapse

	When Virus swept through the subsector, it did not ignore Willow.  An
infected passenger liner came to the world seeking refuge from the chaos
that was sweeping the subsector, but it brought that chaos with it.  Most of
the malcontents, and the settlement on the main continent started to fight
over the remaining  food and high tech devices.  The CBK had very few high
tech devices and was left alone.  It is believed that the rest of the
inhabitants died once the automated farm equipment stopped working, but no
one has made a complete survey of the world.  So it is possible a few
families have survived till the present.

The Final War and resulting Collapse devastated the universal CBK, and the
only known surviving group is the group that settled on Willow.  Virus also
hit the island of the CBK; however, the people there were a community, and
when they realized that their high tech devices were no longer functioning
properly, they simply resolved to go without high tech help.  They turned
off and destroyed all their high tech equipment, and started to relearn the
old ways.  It was not easy and was not without casualties, but by pulling
together, and helping each other the CBK was able to survive with minimal
loss of life.

The New Era

After a decade of struggle, the CBK had stabilized at technological level of
four.  Most people were involved in farming, but some parts of the community
manufactured the tools necessary to survive.  The population was too small
to set up massive assembly line factories.  Instead most  manufacturing is
done in small workshops, with most of the work done by hand.  These
workshops still survive today, and one of the exports Helios has, is
hand-crafted steam powered automobiles.  These are especially popular with
Luhtalans.

In 1196, an Oriflammi survey ship came to Willow to assess the planet's
capacity for colonization.  At first the survey went very well, the planet
had plenty of untapped potential, and several high tech devices were
discovered on the main continent.  Then the ship found the CBK community.
This distressed the Technarchs, because any native population would have
control over the planet's destiny.  The Technarch's debated whether they
could destroy the settlement, and claim the planet was uninhabited.  Before
a decision could be made, the news was leaked to the rest of the Dawn
League. The League quickly launched a recontact mission to establish
relations with the new community.  The CBK was delighted to learn that
others had survived the Collapse, and upon learning of Dawn League and its
mission to rebuild civilization, they petitioned for admission.

After a few  months of discussion, on XI-11-1196, Willow was admitted to the
League. The Oriflammi strongly protested this, Willow only had 700
residents, if they were given full voting rights, each resident of Willow
would have the same voting rights as 14,300 citizens of Oriflamme.  But the
Federalist block sensed an ally in Helios, and also wanted to penalize the
Technarchs for even contemplating destroying a new found community.
Following the tradition of several other worlds, the CBK renamed their
planet Helios, after an ancient sun god.  

Since being admitted, Helios has decided to help outfit expeditions into the
Wilds to uplift the devastated worlds out there. They have also been a burr
in the Oriflammen sides.  There are several reasons for this.  Mainly, they
are a bit annoyed that the Technarchs thought about destroying them.  They
also disagree with the basic philosophy of the government of Oriflamme.
Finally, it amuses the fun-loving Heliosians when the Oriflammen get so
flustered when their plans are upset.

POLITICS

Helios is a representative democracy.  Each adult is granted one vote, but
often, voting is done by one member of the family for the entire family.  A
youth is considered an adult on his 17th birthday, but may attend voting
sessions at Festival when he is 15.

Helios has three elected officials. The Assembly representative, which
currently is Currun Nealgu, an elderly gentleman with a wicked sense of
humor. There is also Wes Guguan, the planet sheriff.  He does not have much
to do.  The most crime he has to fight is the occasional off worlder who
has had too much to drink.  If there was ever any emergency, he has the
power to deputize available citizens.  Finally, Lizi Neaftu is the starport
administrator. The  starport is not much to look at.  It's a concrete pad,
with a nearby stream, to supply unrefined fuel for the starships.  There is
a radar beacon, and a warning system to let Lizi know when someone is in
orbit.  The pad only has room for four ships, if a fifth showed up, Lizi
would have to put the extra ship in the field behind the starport.  She
would first have to move out the cows that typically graze there.

All of the residents on Helios favor the Federalist wing of the assembly,
and while they believe in the wing, politics is not a way of life.
Assemblyman Nealgu summed up the Heliosian attitude best when he said,
"There are much more important things in life than arguing about the finer
points of law. People should get out and do stuff; we Helosians try to lead
by example."

