Imperial Subject Survey: The Kai’Mir Khanate Semi-Autonomous Sector
Executive Summary
Herein lies the compiled findings regarding the SAS designated as the ‘Kai’Mir Khanate’. The expert opinions and census data collated below was gathered in accordance with the Imperial Survey Bureau’s mandate, as established in Holy Imperial Edict 9701. The following information is up to date as of 19,923 IC. Details and descriptions of the SAS’ functioning were determined through interviews with Imperial subject matter experts.
Name of Territory: Kai’Mir Khanate
Government: Star Feudalism, with tribal democracy on a more local level.
Capital World: Kai’denn
Population: An accurate headcount of the Kai’Mir is all but impossible to achieve. The decentralized and mobile nature of many of their population groupings, coupled with worryingly weak government institutions have all but invalidated any attempts at an accurate census. Of potentially even greater concern is the lack of a single registry containing the locations of all of the Kai’Mir’s major population centers. As a species, the Kai’Mir have also proven to be both naturally resilient and inherently expansionist. Dr. Leonold Murphy, from the Nova Terran Institute of Xenostudies, wishes to highlight the pest-like migratory patterns of the Kai’Mir. Stricter border and enforced population control policies are recommended to combat ongoing and unapproved movement of Kai’Mir bands into Imperial territory. If left to their own devices, history has shown that the Kai’Mir will only place Imperial citizens at risk with their barbaric and destructive tendencies.
Economy: Although the large population and resources of the Khanate should nominally allow it to be a highly productive contributor to the galactic economy, cultural and social obstacles have hamstrung the state’s development. Although managing to produce much of what they need through a rudimentary system of autarky, the Kai’Mir largely focus on producing based upon need and have made only half-hearted attempts at developing a worthwhile consumer good industry that would be of interest to foreign importers. Fortunately, this has presented an opportunity for Imperial businesses to corner a number of markets within the SAS. Favourable trade arrangements with the Khanate has even allowed for Imperial industries to all but displace any attempts at local competition.
However, the nomadic nature of much of the Kai’Mir population has negatively impacted the profit margins of these entrepreneurial Imperial businesses. Maintaining consistent trade routes with the mobile Kai’Mir bands is all but impossible without local expertise, and the decentralised local authorities make the negotiation of significant trade deals problematic. There have been controversial proposals to help alleviate this through collaborating with the Khanate’s central government on forced resettlement programs that would seek to reduce the internal movement of its people. A few pilot programs are currently being evaluated, although such policies have yet to be rolled out on a large scale.
Culture: (Any unique cultural traits?) Any reasonable Imperial observer can’t be faulted for criticising the so-called ‘culture’ demonstrated by the Kai’Mir. Barbaric and warlike, they appear to revel in conflict and are predisposed to such brutish activities as piracy and raiding - much to the misfortune of the sectors that border their domain. While martial prowess and strength are held with high regard within their society, they are nevertheless and inherently communal people, with bands and tribes being viewed as extended families and support structures for the individual. Although there are a few large and stationary population centers, most of the Kai’Mir bands are highly migratory - roaming either on a planet’s surface, or in small flotillas of craft.
However, it is the Kai’Mir’s attachment to their traditional social structures that have likely prevented them from adopting some of the more modern structures of a space-faring civilization. To this day, they maintain a number of traditions that can be traced back to their pre-spacefaring tribal roots, such as the use of animal pelts and bones for decorations and the maintenance of some of their worlds as traditional hunting grounds. These traditions serve as a way to link together the Kai’Mir’s often disparate and disconnected tribal groupings with a common heritage, while also providing ways to help with the resolution of internal disputes.
The Kai’Mir have always practiced slavery within their civilization, be it through the enslavement of captured prisoners from a hostile tribe or aliens taken in a cross-border raid. Since the integration of the Khanate into the Imperium as an SAS, steps have been taken to place limits on illegal cross-border activities and to bring the Kai’Mir’s slave trade to be more in line with galactic norms. Although anti-piracy patrols have deterred the Kai’Mir from raiding beyond their borders, the internal slave trade is increasingly lucrative as indentured Kai’Mir have become prized for their physical prowess. The relatively high population of Kai’Mir, and the Khanate’s willingness to both enslave its own kind, have provided a boon to developing Imperial colonies within their galactic neighbourhood thanks to the provision of cheap and plentiful manpower. Today, the trade of enslaved Kai’Mir is one of the Khanate’s most profitable exports and it is this report’s conclusion that the Imperium stands to benefit from further growth in this trade.
Social Structure: The Kai’Mir as a whole are only loosely unified within the Khanate. Real power within the SAS lies with the leadership of the individual Clans and Tribes - collections of Kai’Mir bonded together through either a common ancestry or shared cultural ties. Tribes can vary widely in size and influence, with some composed of only a single extended family grouping, while others consist of millions of individuals in thousands of individual bands. The bands themselves are the smallest organizational structure within the Khanate, and is the term used to refer to a grouping of Kai’Mir that travel or live together under a Chieftain. Individual bands tend to specialize in a particular activity, such as asteroid mining or farming, but still maintain a good deal of self-sufficiency if living outside of one of the Kai’Mir’s major settlements. Membership of a band is more fluid than a tribe, with individuals often moving between bands during their lifetime and bands coming together or splitting apart.
Territorial Size: (How many settled planets/moons/stations, broken down into what kind: Arid, Alpine, Continental, Desert, Artic, Barren, Dead (No Atmosphere), Death World (everything wants to kill non-natives), Oceanic, Terraformed (not natural and extremely expensive, needs Imperial permission), Gaia (rare natural gems of worlds) WIP - any comments and ideas would be appreciated
Military and Security Forces:
There is no denying the military prowess of the Kai’Mir. Naturally strong and aggressive, tribal conflicts provide a near-constant stream of experienced and battle-hardened warriors. Although exceptional at hand-to-hand combat and warfare on the ground, the Kai’Mir have also become infamous for their abilities at asymmetrical warfare in space, and even their civilian vessels are capable of being used for piracy. For bands that spend most of their time living and working in the vacuum of space, star-faring can become second nature and exceptional pilots can emerge from these groupings. Although most of their weaponry may not be as technologically advanced as the Imperium, they have still developed a frightening capability to wage war. If they were drawn together on paper, the forces that the Kai’Mir could muster would pose a significant threat to their region. However, such a threat is mitigated by the internal divisions and organizational deficiencies within the Kai’Mir’s military.
The standing army of the Khanate is drawn primarily from the tribe of the current Khan, with supposedly mandatory levies from other tribes often remaining unfilled. This has led to the security forces being overstretched and undermanned, with little hope of maintaining peace and security throughout the Khanate’s territory. Most of this responsibility falls on the militaries of individual tribes, which can vary in both size and quality, while severely lacking in any standardisation across the Khanate. These tribal forces end up fighting amongst themselves more than any external threat, and there are times when Imperial detachments need to be dispatched to put a stop to conflicts that stray too close to the border. An additional headache for local Imperial forces comes from the prevalence of pirates and raids emanating from the Khanate’s borders. The ease with which Kai’Mir vessels can be converted to serve as rudimentary warships, coupled with their decentralized nature, can make combatting the pirate scourge a constant drain on Imperial resources.
In recent times, the weaknesses of the Khanate’s military have become all the more exposed with the eruption of civil conflict. With a sinking economy and an increasing concentration of wealth, a number of tribes have risen up against the Imperium-backed Khan. Although still lacking in formal leadership and organization, the rebellious tribes have proven to be too numerous for the Khan to easily put down. As the Khanate deploys more of its soldiers to fight the civil war, patrols have all but vanished from its borders, leading to an upsurge in cross-border piracy. The repercussions of this on neighbouring Imperial worlds has led to growing calls for an Imperium-led intervention before the conflict gets even more out of hand, although some are cautioning that a less-heavy-handed approach may be required as whispers of anti-Imperial sentiment grow among the Kai’Mir.
. But I really like the creativity and the lore behind some of them. Especially the religious factions. Now have to decide what faith to align my WIP char with...
