Voskl C843835-9
Starport: Routine               Size: Large (12000-13600 km)
Atmosphere: Thin, tainted       Hydrographics: 30% water
Population: 900 million         Govt: Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy
Law Level: Moderate             Technology: Early Stellar
         
Population - 972,014,000. Ruled by the Scouts Advisory Council.

Armed Forces: Total personnel: 2,250,000.

Breakdown: 
  Voskl Sea Force: 67,500 people, 23 Major Combatants, 66 Minor Combatants.
  Voskl Air Force: 675,000 people, 3025 a/c, 350 SAD
  Voskl Navy:      13,500 people, 27 minor combatants.
  Voskl Army:      1,494,000 people, 74 Divisions, 7 Battalions.



During the collapse and the turmoil that followed it's unpopular dictator 
Heri Smales was killed, and the apparatus of government torn down. Anarchy
ruled for years, except on the island of Krenna, where the former Imperial
Scout Base was located. This base escaped the worst effects of the 
collapse, and had been quite large, dealing with demographic and 
technological matters in the subsector and adjacent subsectors in the 
Hinterworlds, which required some covert work.

With civilisation falling in pieces around her, Braw-app-uh-arr, the Newt 
administrator of the base decided that it was best to retrench, and allow 
the tree of wisdom to grow from the Base, through the island, and 
eventually to cover the planet. With the help of the members of the Covert 
Survey teams she 'camouflaged' the base from orbital survey, and
recovered what technical equipment she could from the ruins on the 
mainland.

By 1145, the tech level of Voskl was about 6, with petty warlords fighting 
their wars over the face of the planet. Krenna's Tech Level had stabilised 
at 9, and was aggressively defending it's territory.

An attempted invasion in 1153 by an alliance of warlords called 'The Rule 
of Might' was quickly contained, and wiped out with the advanced equipment 
available to the Scout Base. Braw-app-uh-arr's successor, Altrina Derin 
launched a covert war against the alliance, striking only at the Hierarchy 
of the Alliance, and the states therein. This 'Decapitation' policy led to 
the states of Gordon's Kingdom, Rule of Order, and Franzen's Reach falling, 
to be replaced by governments allied to Krenna. One of these,'The Gernan 
People's Polity' started expanding aggressively into the regions still 
controlled by the warlords, and in 1159 was the target of a pre-emptive 
nuclear strike by The Rule of Might. 

Krenna's response was fast and furious, striking almost all of the 
Warlords' important military facilities. The covert response took longer, 
but on 213-1160, Scout teams kidnapped most of the Warlords in furious 
assaults on their strongholds. Three days later their trials started for 
Crimes against Civilisation, whilst their realms were being steered from 
chaos by Scout political teams. The verdict was, as expected, guilty. Derin
sentenced them to be 'judged' by the people of Gernan. Those that lived 
after their judgement did not live well.

By 1164, the world was almost exclusively under the control of governments
allied to Krenna, and it started to meld them into provinces under it's 
overall control. In a way, the nuking of Gernan was a blessing in disguise, 
for it was so thankful for the aid the Scout's provided in it's 
reconstruction that it's people were willing to enter into any agreement 
with them, no matter what their government really wanted to do. 

At the end of the 1180's the world was now one, under the beneficent rule
 of the Scouts. The tech level of the planet as a whole was 9, and what 
TL-A equipment could be salvaged was recovered. The Scouts realised that 
more was needed. They had the ability to repair and maintain much higher 
tech equipment with the facilities at it's base and the records of its 
Technical Assessment Centre, but to obtain such equipment it would need 
to expand  out from the system and find trading partners.

By 1193 it had refurbished the starport and all the ships it could on the 
planet, and Scout teams headed out into the subsector. They found a lot of 
worlds in the grasp of Technical Warlords, much like those who had been 
defeated on their homeworld. Five planets on the Acrolund - Voskl Main 
showed potential, and were asked to join a trade alliance led by Voskl, all 
agreed, eager to obtain Voskl's hi-tech equipment. By 1197 it had contacted
five other worlds that it could trade profitably with, and the current 
Voskl Trade Alliance was completed.

Most of the Trade in the alliance is performed by two 'Spiderweb' Large 
Jumpframes, and one 'Grappler' Small Jumpframe. All are owned by Voskl.

Her Navy consists of 2 Chrysanthemum Destroyer Escorts, 2 Valor Missile 
Corvettes, 11 Fiery Close Escorts, 2 Broadsword Mercenary Cruisers, 5 
Shukugan SDBs, 2 Patrol Cruisers and 3 Scout/Couriers. The Scout/Couriers 
are in the process of being transferred to the Alliance Scout Service, 
recently set up in 1201. The Scout Service already has 5 ex-Navy
Scout/Couriers, as well as 3 ex-Navy Donosev Survey Ships.

Currently Voskl had managed to raise the TL of Krenna to B using equipment 
scavenged from Malcan, Rusco and Horejis. The spaceport is now capable of 
handling the annual maintenance of Starships as easily as a 'B' class 
facility, and the Scout Base is now turning out 'Torch' Space Fighters at 
the rate of 2 a month. Voskl is very close to upgrading the Starport to 'B'
 standard. How good this facility will be will depend on what relics can 
be found to upgrade it.

There is a controversy at the minute over plans to refit the Scout Cruiser 
Shadow, the Scout Advisory Council want it operational to investigate the 
Free Trader rumours of an Empire at the rimward end of the Expanses, but 
Merchants fear that it will divert resources from the vital Jumpframes

by Eamon Watters (E.Watters@Queens-Belfast.AC.UK)
