The Rākha Network are an Iromakuanhe-dominated splinter group of the Independent Worlds League formed in AR 936/YE 36.

Expanding relations to the races beyond their home system triggered a profound philosophical and existential crisis. The Iromakuanhe had set out as explorers desiring to make peaceful contact with the various species beyond their home region and instead found a region devastated by war, full of feuding species vying for temporal power over one another. Although peace seemed to loom in the present, the Yamatai Star Empire was nonetheless a dangerous imperialistic power that had engaged in genocide repeatedly and seemed to have every intention of drawing as many races as it could within its sphere of influence.

Many Iromakuanhe joined the fledgling Independent Worlds League as volunteers, desiring to combat the spread of Yamataian influence to their own homeworlds and help the former UOC colonies retain their independence. As the organization became fractious and ineffective, in large part due to the disappearance of the mysterious Doppel, the volunteers became frustrated and dissatisfied. The Commonwealth government which had supplied them with untraceable weapons and equipment withdrew support and the military advisers it had provided as oversight. Many returned home or emigrated to Nepleslia due to frustrations with their own government's inability to commit to long-term anti-Yamatai strategies, hoping their presence would be overlooked due to the plethora of unusual species living within the Imperium.

The attack on Asura III and the destruction of the VSV Boutros which had been ferrying refugees from the reclaimed former UOC territories was the last straw, especially when there was strong evidence that the Lazarus Consortium was behind the attack, with the tacit approval of the Lorath who were their patrons. The remaining volunteers left in disgust, taking their arms and aspirations elsewhere.

The members of the Rakha Network eventually resettled along the periphery of settled space as technicians, doctors and terraforming engineers thanks to the emphasis on extensive and continuing education within their culture. The Network's sole action as of the closing days of YE 36 were the submission of a manifesto condemning both the IWL and the actions of the various governments in the Yamatai-dominated region, made using the largely untraceable Lazarus Network¹⁾.

The Rakha Network have abandoned the covert activities of the League in favor of disruptive uplift activities and intelligence networking. They are not aligned to any particular nation but view themselves as loyal to the Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth.

The Network promotes technological and sociological uplift projects in order to assist friendly cultures in breaking away from the usurious economics of governments that centralize infrastructure and goods production, as well as the large corporate entities that move about unfettered throughout local space. Their uplift programs are primarily based around education, distributing select technologies and organizational techniques to individuals and groups most suited to implementing them in a manner that achieves the desired outcome. The regions targeted for this program are largely on the very edge of Yamatai space, the former UOC territories and the independent colonies scattered throughout space.

The ultimate goal of the uplift program is target society's eventual adoption of Iromakuanhe-style economics, fully automating the infrastructure and overcoming resource scarcity. With individuals freed from subsistence resource collection and slash-and-burn economics that demand ever-increasing consumption of materiel and goods, the members of such a society would be free to pursue personal aspirations without being shackled to the system. Although designed to prevent large states from simply absorbing any periphery cultures they encounter, the ideology ingrained would be less anarchic and more post-national.

Due to the ubiquity of statist, militarist and capitalist memes in the extended Yamataian sphere of influence, a large portion of the uplift program involves preemptive education to resist the temptations offered by these societies and provide them with the proper tools to “opt out” of these societies without becoming targeted.

The Rākha Network gathers information for a variety of purposes: surveying largely unclaimed planets allows for them to discretely gather resources and create safehouses, to trade with other independent groups for technology they can put to use. The leading figures in the Network also believe there is a moral and even religious duty in studying the cultures that have persisted outside of the Yamataian sphere or formed in the wake of the SMX and NMX wars. These will be displaced, assimilated or obliterated as various powers expand outward, necessitating that some record of them exists.

Although there is some resemblance to the goals of the YSE's Scientific Studies Service, the Network views their anthropological study of various non-Yamataian cultures as being inherently flawed due to the powerful, imperialistic biases that run through Yamataian culture. The Network has not encountered any members due to their preference for operating in more remote areas, but would likely be unfriendly and unwilling to cooperate with them.

The Rākha Network is organized horizontally and favors philosophical and doctrinal plurality among its leadership. There is no strict hierarchy, save for the arrangements members make between themselves on a local level. The leadership consists largely of local elders and luminaries, respected enough to be followed by their fellows in the Network and able to coordinate projects within a given region. Members are allowed to act however they wish, although their access to resources may be limited or cut off entirely if they do not uphold the organization's ethics.

The Rakha Network is not a military force and has a scant few ships, none of them designed for combat. To avoid being annihilation as many enemies of Yamatai have experienced, the Network intends to remain neutral in any overt military confrontation, take no hostile actions that could lead to them being construed as a military threat and act as a humanitarian and mercantile concern.

Their activities may lead to them being branded as dissidents, sellers of illegal technology and thieves, but such charges pale before the treatment the Empire has given to any overt enemy.

The first mission of the Network is to invent a succession of viable fronts they can operate to carry out their various goals. Posing as merchants and professionals arriving to deliver humanitarian aid, their organization will be able to move unnoticed and unfettered.

Many fringe societies have needs that cannot be met: the Network will mobilize to satisfy them in order to gain their trust and obtain a foothold. By providing high-end medical services, especially in far-off societies, they can obtain membership and some authority from which to enact their agendas.

Merely distributing the same technologies and administrative philosophies to every society they encounter is insufficient in accomplishing their goals. As the support and influence of the Network grows and societies begin to successfully uplift to a stage where they can no longer be trivially assimilated, the goal will be to sponsor local innovations and systems to encourage a growing diversity of cultures and political systems to resist the Yamataian monolith.

This page was originally created on 2014/12/31 14:27 by Exhack.