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Resplendent Recreation [/center]
Although the formal beginning of the Republic did not take place until several weeks later its true beginning was surely on the eve of the new galactic rotation, some 2754 rotations after an event best left unmentioned. Although we will never be quite certain of the precise details it is clear that Than Bendu, long term advisor to the previous regime, was out with his younger, and some say better looking brother, although personally I can't tell them apart... but I digress. The Bendu brothers were not happy with their lot and although Esari was as yet little known to the general public, to Esari Mankara and Yuri Xanaria - heads of internal and external intelligence, although no-one other than perhaps themselves was ever quite sure of who was head of what - he presented a suave and logical countenance. The prospects of increased funding for their activities would also not have been lost on the mirror mages.
It was never clear what happened to Than Kesky. One day he was there and next he was not. Some say he met a fate most foul but most believe that he was encouraged to take a permanent vacation and spent his days dreaming about what might have been. The truth is that no-one really cares.
The man of the moment Esari Bendu was greeted with thorough going joy and abundant happiness throughout the population of Uhavart. The paperwork of his ascension was not completed until the beginning of the 3rd hour of the galactic rotation but it was clear to all concerned that he, and his long suffering brother, had been pulling the strings for some considerable time prior to this.
He, above all people, had realised the potential of this moment, and the luck with which they had been blessed. The abundance and diversity of natural resources in the immediate surroundings was absolutely remarkable. His apprehension of incredible good fortune only deepened when he saw the reports from his dual intelligence heads - not only was there a world within the newly explored Fumus system which was almost perfectly suited to colonisation but there existed another in the nearby Sreloor system, a star close enough to almost be considered a binary, that was almost as good.
The fearsome foursome, as contemporary accounts style them (although this description quickly disappears from later reports) had already been hard at work. They had started by overhauling the decadent and overly bedecked spaceport. Paring back its excesses and retuning it to become a productive and vibrant shipyard. Work had also begun on a large ark to carry the criminals, rebels and other malcontents offworld so that through their desperate efforts to survive they could expand the power and might of the incipient empire. The first batch of long range explorers were already half finished in the reforming spaceport including a prototype of the newly envisaged cosmic surveyors. But the first ship to be commissioned would be the marine mothership Esari had long orchestrated in a far flung vision of the shape of things to come.
Although officially sharing the duties of state it gradually became apparent to the others that Esari Bendu had already manifested his design to become first among equals. It was a design that after being impressed upon his peers would seek larger targets. And that, my friends, is our story.
