Overview
The inhabitants of Greatspace have lived peaceful, ordered lives for many decades under the disciplined yet benevolent rule of House Shambrath, which is based on the planet Thesalys. The current head of House Shambrath is Gorath Shambrath, Governor of Greatspace, whose designated successor is his eldest son, Bruin Shambrath, Prince of Thesalys.
Base of Operations
Castle Skyview is the ancestral home of House Shambrath and has been the defacto capital and centre of government on Thesalys for over 200 years. In addition to housing the Shambrath family, the palace also boasts the greatest scientific minds in the system. The northern tower houses the offices and residences of the alchemists of Skyview, who are revered as great innovators in the art of science. The southern tower houses the offices and residences of the system's greatest sages, who are considered the greatest minds in their fields of study.
Castle Skyview was not built to be defendable: there hasn't been a major war or large scale conflict on Thesalys in over 500 years, and the castle's design reflects the planet's peaceful nature. The Thesalians are intellectuals and aesthetes, not warriors, and the security forces stationed within the palace are more for show than anything else.
Ships
The Hummingbird is a unique ship designed and built by the engineers of Thesalys, and is principally used as a court ship capable of space flight.
Relationships
Rivals
Although Greatspace is nominally ruled by a central government based on Thesalys, it is less rigidly structured than many planetary governments simply due to the vast distances between the planets and the differences between their various cultures. On Thesalys, the home world of House Shambrath and nominal capital of Greatspace, there are five separate political blocks who are all vying for political supremacy. To date, House Shambrath remains the most dominant and has been for several centuries.
Members
Senior members of House Shambrath include Gorath Shambrath, Governor of Greatspace; his eldest son Bruin Shambrath, Prince of Thesalys; and one unnamed daughter. There are other Shambraths, but they are mostly distant relatives, including uncles and cousins etc.
History
House Shambrath has been the ruling dynasty on Thesalys for over 800 years, and was originally founded by Shurius Shambrath, who took power during a dark time when Thesalys was ruled by a tyrant by the name of Gerion Firebrand.
For thousands of years, the world of Thesalys had been dominated by petty city-states who competed with each other for natural resources. Through strenuous diplomatic negotiations and an impending catastrophe, all the nations of Thesalys united under a single government. A powerful and extremely wealthy warrior named Gerion Firebrand saw his opportunity and used his vast wealth and resources to claim the role of Governor of Thesalys. A beastly man, Gerion's plans might have blossomed and his dark rule might have become absolute but for the actions of a man named Shurius Shambrath, who immediately set upon opposing the tyrant. After Shurius Shambrath had defeated Gerion Firebrand, he was acclaimed as the first governor of Thesalys in what became known as year one of the Time of Unity (1 TU). Ever since, House Shambrath has ruled Thesalys effectively, and eventually became the sole rulers of the entire sphere of Greatspace.