The Rules According to Varn

Varn's Character History

Varn Tarl Sogan:

The Arcturian society into which Varn was born is a caste society. Very similar in structure to the Feudal system which was to be found on Terra (ca 1000 AD) with some minor modifications. The earliest Arcturians were extremely warlike to a degree never found on pre-space Terra. Eventually one group succeeded in dominating the rest. Having subjugated all their homeworld, they might have fallen to the more subtle force of luxury, but fate was kind to them. Science progressed rapidly among them so that by the time their mother planet had been broken to their will, the challenges of space and the stars were opening before them. The Arcturians were valiant, disciplined, utterly dedicated to their cause, but they carried their old ways with them to the stars---including a hatred for intelligence cased in any form not closely resembling their own (mutations). Ever victorious, they carved out a vast fiefdom at the heavy expense of those they found before them. They ruled sternly, though, by their own lights, justly. All powers lay with the fighters, the mighty hereditary warrior caste, and all others existed only to do them service.

The Arcturians finally came into contact with another ultra system that had developed simultaneously. This ultrasystem had developed along lines that were diametrically opposed to the Arcturians. The relationship between the two ultra systems was uncomfortable to say the least, leading to a war that the leaders on both sides had honestly tried to prevent. (Cold War gone bad, or hot). Earlier initial successes by the Arcturians revived an ancient form of Terran warfare , and the Commandos were born. The pick of all the Navy, the soldiers accepted for this service were trained to operate in small units either to conduct laser-quick, devastating raids and then flee back into space or to penetrate a fallen planet and there establish themselves to harass the invaders. Long accustomed to docile worlds and inhabitants, the Commandos success against the Arcturians was phenomenal and allowed a battered Navy time to re-establish itself. Few Arcturians had much respect for the civilians they were finding so inexplicably difficult to dominate, and invasion commanders dealt harshly with restive populations.. A very few, despairing of ever gaining complete control over their charges had burned off rebellious planets. Not all Arcturian leaders had been of that ilk, and not all fighters against them had been forced into such ultimate sacrifice.

Admiral Sogan was one of the Arcturus system's most promising commanders and a war prince of a house connected with the Emperor's own. With the tides of war turning , his grooming was cut short and he was assigned to figure-head an occupation. Not a man who the Arcturians would normally assign occupational duty, it was hoped that he along with the 'nouveau class' would be able to solve the commando problem on what was a vitally strategic world.

Sogan and his pals learnt quickly. They did not share the inability of so many of their brother officers to think unconventionally, as a partisan, when the occasion demanded. It was all the Resistance could do to keep Sogan's forces too occupied with dealing with them and protecting their precious supplies, to take part in the increasingly bitter struggle in the starlanes. The Resistance could not neutralize the invaders. The war prince had fought with all his people's singleness of purpose and cold calculation, and anyone connected with the Resistance could expect little mercy if taken by his forces. Sogan never descended to atrocity, nor did he permit any excess to those serving under him. Unlike most of his kind, he did not despise his opponents, considering them to be warriors in fact, whatever their birth. He had soon concluded that brutal measures would serve more to stiffen resolve than weaken it, a conclusion he welcomed. Butcher work went sharply against his nature and sense of honor. Because of this though the people of Thorne hated him , they respected him as well.

That hatred changed in the end. With the defeat at Corinth, the Arcturian cause was lost and three months later for the first time in Arcturian History, the Emperor surrendered (surrender returned things to status quo ante). Defeat shattered the mind of Sogan's commander, though none recognized his madness at the time. He directed his subordinate to move swiftly to burn off Thorne before any treacherous order to lay down arms could reach him. The Resistance leaders and their Commando allies who had full access to the Admiral's HQ (he was still learning and very young) were stricken numb with horror. There would be no thwarting that sentence. Help could never reach them in time, and there was nothing they could do to further their own cause. It was the huge space-moored battleships which would carry out the order, and those they could not touch. They could avenge themselves on some of the Arcturian personnel while they remained on-world, but Thorne and every living thing upon her was doomed. They had accepted the inevitable when the impossible occurred.

Varn Tarl Sogan incinerated the order sheet he had received and closed himself in his quarters, telling his aides of the capitulation and stating that he was not to be disturbed for any cause save an imperial communiqué. There he had waited alone with his despair until the official command for a quiet and honorable surrender was delivered to him. The Resistance leaders still trembled at the enormity of the thing that he had done, that stark violation of the Arcturian law and the warrior code he revered. All those standing in the cramped spy chamber knew what the decision had cost him and knew the price he would pay if any of his own should ever learn of it. An Arcturian soldier who disobeyed a superior's order merely died. For an officer the punishment was much worse. They resolved to keep quiet of the sacrifice he made in hopes that he would be spared the more extreme of the consequences. Their hope was in vain.

Denounced by his ambitious and jealous second (older than Varn, not a high noble) Varn was brought to trial. Needing to vent their anger, disgrace, frustrations and grief by losses rendered worthless by defeat, the Arcturians took no time in finding Varn guilty of disobeying an order. In their need for a scapegoat they judged him by the weight of the law for disobeying an order from a superior, whom was later judged by both combatants to be hopelessly insane at the time. Varn was stripped of his rank. He was forced to watch while his children were exterminated to erase the pollution of his seed from the race, his young wives committed suicide from their disgrace and grief, and he was ordered flogged throughout the fleet, receiving maximum lashes on each vessel before being dumped into a lifecraft and set adrift.

Character Campaign Notes