Credits funneled to criminal groups on Imperial worlds. Court verdicts manipulated. Patrol schedules changed, criminals released early, legal loopholes exploited, disappearances, accomplices to murder… these are all deeds of those that claim loyalty to The Sommergericht, The Summer Court. Crux’s noble duty and purpose is the upholdance of Imperial Law, justice, and stability within Acheron Rho. But if the scale tips too far in Crux’s favor, what becomes of its power and purpose? The balance must be maintained, criminals for the police to capture, enemies and unrest to be stomped out by the stalwart boots of Crucian troops. Enter the Summer Court, staunch Imperialists eager to see Crux ascend to the Throne once more and willing to do anything to make it happen.
History[]
In 2983, Richter Crux Stromgeist Ansgar saw a dilemma forming within the Empire of Humanity. The Accords of Peace and the Formal Agreement for Noble Grievance had been welcomed with open arms and weary hearts at the fall of the Blood Eagle and the rise of the Masked Emperox, even by Ansgar himself. But as the years passed on, the Richter saw the power of his own House, Crux, weakened already in the aftermath of the Blood Eagle, only continue to falter in the face of the Sector’s stability and relative calm. If House Crux was to see another Emperox, to hold the sceptre of the Imperial House once more, they could not do so as a House relegated to the background overseeing duels and sending upstart serfs to Gleipnir.
Richter Crux Stromgeist Ansgar (2911 - 3065)
Ansgar first attempted to expand the influence of House Crux, to grow its power and responsibility, but was met with resistance both from other Noble Houses and within Crux itself. Fruitless years passed, the aging Richter only growing more frustrated as he watched his home and Empire fall, ignorant, he believed, to their own slow demise. The Church of Humanity, Repentant was allowed a place within the Empire, nobles turning to its service as clergy. The first Synthetic Human, Fu Xi, was created, and all eyes turned to House Cygnus and their swelling power and prominence. Meanwhile, House Crux simply was, a cog in the Imperial machine ‘of little more note than a Minor,’ or so Ansgar often lamented.
At last, in 3007, during a meeting of his closest family and friends at his estate on Hiera, Ansgar put forth a radical solution - the Summer Court. The scales had to be balanced. Brave souls would have to put their very nobility and honor on the line in the name of something greater, turning to injustice and sin so that Crux and the Empire might see a new golden age, a new summer from the long winter. Some turned their backs on Ansgar that day, including his first wife, Angelika, disgusted at what was being proposed. But others saw the determination, the strange vision and hope he beheld, and so the Summer Court was formed.
At first, the deeds were small and careful. Ansgar had always been a staunch loyalist to House Crux, and to undermine and work against his own people, even to better them, was a deep, internal conflict. Money was funneled to criminal groups, ones Ansgar had fought and indicted in the past. Special docking permissions were given to smugglers on Hiera and other worlds under false pretenses. Progress was slow, but Ansgar watched the numbers change, the tides turn. And as they did, he and the Summer Court became bolder.
Questionable verdicts, suspected criminals invited to his estate, and more and more frequent trips off world became mainstays of Ansgar’s work. He negotiated for the merger of disparate criminal groups into larger entities, and he fed legal aid and assets to wholly new ones birthed from the rabble of independent actors he picked out of the crowd.
Ansgar’s first wife, Angelika, who had left Hiera after he proposed the Summer Court, met her death at the hands of one such group, the Blood Shrikes, granted everything from schedules to floor plans of her estates by Ansgar himself. House Crux investigated, and “miraculously,” managed to hunt down and dismantle most of the Blood Shrikes leadership with ease and much fanfare. Ansgar had helped build an enemy, and when it suited him, he betrayed them to his fellow Crux for nothing more than good press and a little boost to public opinion.
Ansgar eventually met his end, poisoned by his daughter, Sieglind, in 3065, who claimed to have overthrown her wicked father, but in truth only sought to usurp him and lead the Summer Court forward herself. Under Sieglind, the Summer Court was not as overtly active, but worked tirelessly to develop an extensive powerbase within and beyond House Crux while focusing its efforts on the Summer Court’s less direct strategies, including legal manipulation, information leaks, and black market funding.
Furstin Crux Stromgeist Sieglind (3019 - present (Trilliant L.E.T.))
The Summer Court has only grown since Ansgar’s death, bolstered by its own success and the prevalent position of House Crux in the War Against the Artificials. Hope grows with each passing day that a new Crux Emperox will be crowned, and that when they are it will be in no small part due to the efforts of the Summer Court, eating away at the Sector’s stability and peace so that House Crux might swoop in and valiantly save the day.
Notably, The Summer Court’s public face has also grown exponentially in recent years, incorporating members into their political beliefs that may not always know about or assist in the darker and more dangerous things some members are involved with. This has served to temper and improve public opinion, but also makes investigation of The Summer Court more difficult and complicated, as knowing which members to keep tabs on and which are simply staunch Imperialists is not always easy.
The Path To Summer[]
‘The path to Summer is cold and often lonely. You do not survive the winter without sacrifice or transgression, for the days are hard and long. May our hands be clean, for as snow shall our wrongdoings melt away in the light of the tomorrow we shall build.’ ~Furstin Crux Stromgeist Sieglind
More of a political movement than a criminal organization, the single core tenet of the Summer Court is a simple one - “The Scales Must Be In Balance.” The Empire will always contain dissidents, criminals, and traitors, but sometimes they need something: a docking permit signed off, a friend broken out, a little extra cash, a patrol called away to the other side of town. These are the things the Summer Court deals in most frequently, the actions behind the scenes, however small or large, that pave the way for the bolder, greater ones.
This is not to say the Summer Court works in absolute secrecy, but rather that they walk the line between legal and illegal, members using their own nobility and knowledge of Imperial Law and politics to attempt to twist narratives in their favor. Those who step too far or move too boldly have found themselves reprimanded, fined, or even imprisoned in the past, for the watchful eye of Crux is ever-present.
Members of the Summer Court, regardless of their involvement in more questionable activities, are most often strong Imperialists determined to see another Crucian Emperox. They believe in the singularity of the High Church as the one, true religion and the expansion and strengthening of Crux’s influence and power, including greater presence on Imperial worlds, the eventual dissolution of local militiae and law enforcement forces, and more stringent laws. While these goals may seem counterintuitive to their actions, the Summer Court’s ultimate intent is Crucian dominance and Imperial might, and many hope for a day where they need not bring harm to Crux or the Empire any more.
Notable Involvements[]
The Khal Riots[]
Leading to the arrest of several members of the Summer Court, the Khal Riots, less than a year before the beginning of the War Against the Artificials, were a series of complex patrol changes, bribes, and legal manipulations that led to the early release of over a dozen dangerous criminals locked away on Khal, the Convict’s Moon. An unplanned side effect, the Riots began when the criminal leadership of one of Khal’s gangs was destabilized, three of its members freed in a single day. At first deemed a disastrous failing in the prison system, House Crux was eventually commended for their handling of the situation, including the discovery and apprehension of no less than four members of the Summer Court who had stepped in to blatantly illegal territory. Sieglind Stromgeist herself publicly apologized for the actions that led to the Khal Riots, and was allegedly fined a great sum for the implication of the Summer Court’s involvement.
The Discovery of the Cygnus Plot[]
Though unconfirmed, many believe the Summer Court worked tirelessly to find or fabricate the damning information that eventually led to the excommunication of House Cygnus, their destruction, and the retirement of the Synthetics.
The Assassination of the Ninth Emperox[]
While House Crux officially was against the plan to assassinate the Betrayer of Humanity, members of the Summer Court were amongst those who secretly supported the move, voicing their approval to the Church in the Cathedral of the Mother of Mercy and the halls of Andophael.
The Hong Lu Revolt and “The Night of Silent Swans”[]
Following the events of the Xue Street Massacre, the Summer Court kept a close eye on the planet of Hong Lu. It was rife with potential for instability, and undermining Cygnus was in the interest of both the Summer Court and House Crux at large. On the heels of the bombing of Gats in 3180, with the Empire turning ever more against House Cygnus, the Summer Court elected to make their move.
A dossier of names, addresses, comm IDs, and ‘accidentally,’ included Cygnus communications codes were transmitted to the office of a small charity group, the Biosphere Protection Fund, on Hong Lu, later discovered to be one of many fronts for the burgeoning Revolt and Hong Lu’s criminal elements. As representatives of the Eighth Virtue, charity groups were legally permitted access to much of what was sent, and as excommunicates, the members of House Cygnus no longer had the bastion of Noble blood to protect them.
What followed was the systematic removal and murder of Cygnus ex-Nobles holding out across Hong Lu by the forces of Tai Minh, the Loyalty Brigade, and other revolutionary factions in a weeks-long process known as “The Night of Silent Swans.” Not all Cygnus ex-Nobles had been named in the dossier, but with the means to crack Cygnus communications in hand, Hong Luan hackers were easily able to track down the rest.
Two members of the Summer Court were taken in for questioning by House Crux after the event, but with scant evidence for intentional wrongdoing and a mutual hatred for the Cygnus traitors, little legal action was taken.
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Confirmed reports have pointed to the involvement of the Summer Court in Crucian activities on Berkmann III (now renamed Navette), as well as the activities of local groups. Berkmann III was long in a tenuous position before the Trilliant Ring stepped in, the perfect environment for the Summer Court to meddle and sow instability for House Crux to need to clean up. The Summer Court's involvement following the planet's change to Navette is unknown.
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