6F06.TXT

HD 6F06  Rukh, a short overview of this Zhodani friendly state

                          By

                     Roger Myhre
                     Ammerudgrenda 168
                     0960 Oslo 9
                     Norway


History. 
In 1067 Rukh took control over the Aegs worlds. At that 
time there was internal difficulties, and civil war. During the 
most heated confrontations Rukh was bidding his time. When the 
factions at last agreed on armistice, Rukh took control by 
overthrowing the different leaders. This increased his overall 
charisma, which was already high. 
 
He restored law and order in the realm. This maneuver and his 
high charisma won billions of followers that gathered under his flock. 
He secured a local powerbase of enormous proportions. 
 
However not everyone liked his maneuver to gain power. Many 
worlds rimward of Saell opposed to Rukh. They formed the Gnoerrg Rukh 
Loell. The anti-Rukh Coalition. This coalition has been a thorn in the 
side of Rukh since then. 
 
In 1094 The original leader Rukh died. But his successors 
continue his work through his dogma. After his death they lost a few 
worlds. The anti-Rukh coalition increased their effort to foil the 
works of Rukh in the hope that more worlds would pull out. 
 
However this was not the case. The Rukh government had too much 
control on local level to that the Anti-Rukh could have much effect. 
 
In 1112 Anti-Rukh started an operation to undermine the relations 
between Rukh and the Zhodani. Agents working for Anti-Rukh had managed 
to forge 6 Zhodani charge plates. The zhodani manages to get their 
hands on five of the plates. Which had been given to a small group of 
innocents. However the sixth plate did never turn up. One thing that 
was clear is that Anti-Rukh did not have the sixth plate. 
 
A vargr named Ronak was suspected of being the owner of the last 
plate. he never turned up. After a few years it became apparent that 
this plate had been reproduces, when different merchandise was paid 
with counterfeit charge plates. Anti-Rukh used this to disrupt trading 
and diplomatic relations between Rukh and Zhodani. The result was that 
several worlds between Rukh and Zhodani left Rukh.* 
 
To and answer to this the Rukh attacked Anti-Rukh physically. But 
the worlds that lie in between worked as a bufferzone. This lessened 
the effect somewhat. Anti-Rukh did not loose any territory, but a lot 
of damage to the system was a fact. 
 
 
Government. 
At first when Rukh seized control of the small Aegs federation 
billions flocked to hi because of his extreme charisma. However soon 
they also realized that he made his rule to something near a religion. 
anti-governmental work is prosecuted severely. 
 
The Rukh government are an elite council which are leaded by a 
dictator. The individual worlds have little local control when it comes 
to exterior policy. Internal policy is somewhat lesser controlled. But 
the Rukh doctrine must be followed. World governments are not 
represented in the Rukh government. They have to follow the whim of the 
Rukh government at any level. Worlds to have public election on local 
rulers, but the candidates have to be approved by the Rukh assembly. 
 
One of the first acts Rukh did when he had secured his powerbase, 
was to nationalize most of the bigger corporations. Especially Saell 
felt this. Seall is overpopulated, and the unemployment rate was 
extreme. The nationalization of the largest companies helped distribute 
the goods more evenly, but to the cost of galloping inflation. 
 
 
Military. 
All military forces are gathered under a central command. The 
forces are usually built from the world they are going to protect, but 
units often do change bases from one world to another. This circulation 
prevents worlds to have soldiers that will not shoot at locals in case 
of upheaval. Soldiers sympathize less with vargr they do not know. 
 
The military forces are financed by taxation of the individual 
sophont on the different worlds. 
 
 
Internal (un)rest.
To maintain control over the population to that degree the 
government have, they need an opposition. To Anti-Rukh's annoyance, 
they represent this opposition. Militarily Rukh could have crushed 
Anti-Rukh in matter of months. But by doing this they will loose the 
external enemy the government need gather the population against. 
 
Thus Anti-Rukh are actually allowed some success in their work. 
But then only on a limited scale. Time to time Anti-Rukh have had some 
very successful operations. More successful than the Rukh would have 
allowed if they could control the events completely. 
 
However there is internal difficulties as well. The knowledge 
about the universe outside Rukh is limited by the general population. 
This helps to disinform the populace. So generally the population 
believes that the Anti-Rukh is the big bad alien that will kill them if 
they get the chance. 
 
The coreward worlds of Rukh are more distant to Anti-Rukh, thus 
the treat from them is smaller. To make this treat larger, Rukh have 
allowed a small number of Anti-Rukh sediments infiltrate these worlds. 
Rukh do also carry out operations to scare the population to believe 
that there is more enemies present than there really is. Thus creating 
the illusion of that they have been penetrated and the enemy is 
constantly in their midst. 
 
 
Uku. 
Uku is the secret police in Rukh. It is divided into four 
branches. Each with their own responsibility. The branches are: 
 
-- Counter espionage. This branch monitor and arrest foreign 
spies that operates within the borders of Rukh. 
 
-- Espionage. This branch run cover operation outside Rukh 
borders. Mainly in Anti-Rukh worlds, and in the worlds between Rukh and 
Zhodani. 
 
-- Population control. This branch, which is the largest, 
monitors internal dissidents. This branch operates closely with Counter 
Espionage branch.
 
-- Military intelligence. This branch gathers military information from 
other worlds and interstellar governments outside Rukh. 
 

Uku have operatives and offices on all planets within Rukh borders. They are 
known to be ruthless, and are feared by the general population. 
 
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*) The book Alien Realms covers this incident in the module No Credit Check. 
The module do not specify what the following to this incident will be. By 
comparing the map in AM3 with the map in V&V there is a few worlds that have 
left Rukh. I decided that this incident caused this.