The Astir family, like all true Zenithian dynasties, can proudly trace their lineage back to the original generations who boarded the Zenith. The family's hereditary duty aboard ship was the security of the vessel and its crew, from the safety of the ship from potential outside threats to the internal policing of the crew themselves. They ensured the security of the ship's officers and supported their maintenance of discipline in the ship's crew. They were also responsible for drilling for, and preparing to lead, any combat that the crew might have to engage in throughout the Zenith's voyage.
Many believe that over time, after their arrival in the Third Horizon, the family slowly shifted focus and evolved into their current state as masterminds of the Zenithian secret police. The truth is simpler and, some might suggest, much more calculated and arguably more sinister.
When the Zenith arrived to discover the prevalence of scattered existing, isolated, Firstcome civilisations the then head of Security, Rohima Astir, saw risks at every side. While some histories of the other Zenithian Families might record her as paranoid the truth is probably closer to say that she was extremely wary and very cautious. She saw an alien and unpredictable environment which struck at the core of her purpose; to protect the ship, its crew and the colonists aboard. She was also a pragmatic individual and realised that the before she could take any action she needed to know her "enemy". To that end she sent out operatives amongst the Firstcome. Those agents were her "eyes" in the Horizon, and thus was the Astûrban, or "Eye of the Astir" born.
Viewing loyalty as paramount and leveraging her agency as a means of swift promotion for successful agents, those early Astûrban where mostly low ranked crew. This also offered the advantage that Rohima would often recruit from outside her immediate family, and from other families’ spheres of influence, both to gain additional skills and also to try to build a pool of operatives and informants whose absence would not be noticed. This was supplemented with the occasional Firstcome informant or mercenary, but they were kept very much at arm’s length. This approach has been the foundation for the recruitment of the Astûrban to this day.
It was Rohima's outward focus that led to what she was to consider her greatest failing. While her focus was upon threats from without the discussions raged aboard ship about what to do next. It was during a presentation of her latest intelligence reports that those who would become known as the Draconites executed their great betrayal, waking the slumbering colonists from stasis. Chaos ensued and once it subsided Rohima fell into a deep depression and malaise. She felt that as Security Chief she should have been aware, she should have been monitoring the activities of the Draconites more closely and she should have been able to stop them swiftly when they acted. Shortly thereafter she wrote three letters; a letter of apology and resignation to Captain Abarren Quassar, a lengthy suicide note to her husband Adrin and her children, and finally what would become one of the most treasured and confidential artefacts of the Astir, her "'atruhat ealaa 'amn alsiyanat lilshaeb" the Treatise on the Maintenance of the People. This lengthy dissertation broke down what Rohima saw as both her failings and how her descendants should rectify them. The truest threats, she advocated, came from within, not without. Purity of heart and purpose had to be maintained. If this was done, she believed, no outside threat could ever hope to overcome. Hence the officers she left behind from her command took her burgeoning network and the structures she had established and turned them inward. The developing Astûrban did not ignore the activities of the worlds outside Zenithian control but they were far more concerned with ensuring that the events of the Draconite betrayal could never be repeated.
Considering the family's history it is therefore no surprise that the Astirs take every endeavour to maintain their pure bloodline. While there may be black sheep in the family who dissent from this, as a whole they are devoted Hegemonists who see the genetic unity of the Zenithians as fundamental to preserving their strength and, as Rohima wrote, internal security.
Over time it has become increasingly hard to see the Astir as anything but synonymous with the Astûrban, and this appears to be an image that the family is keen to encourage. Their perceived power comes from their control of a prolific and ever present secret police force. Intelligence and information is their currency, if the Astûrban know something, the Astir know it and in the rare instance that they do not have the knowledge they wish then they have network of readily available operatives who can be mobilized to learn it. Or at least that is reputation they have. The truth is likely to be that their web is far less all-encompassing and omnipotent or that individual family members do not have the level of access that they frequently allude to. However when one of the family is holding a sealed package and threatens to reveal its contents to the Bulletin many denizens of the Third Horizon would rather concede to their demands than risk what they fear might potentially be revealed.
It should also be noted that the secret police are not just used for the intelligence they can provide. They are a deadly and efficient force when required and more than one Astir has utilised them as little more than a private army, hunting down rivals or taking petty retribution for personal slights or imagined crimes. This is officially condoned by the senior figures in the family but given sufficient evidence or cause (even if circumstantial or obviously fabricated) it is often ignored.
Traditionally the family dress in well cut and tailored clothes in dark shades, reinforcing their sinister reputation with a severe dress code. They are often portrayed in the Bulletin's entertainment shows as either dour, stuffy individuals who are the brunt of social jokes or sinister manipulators and mastermind villains. The family seems unperturbed by either stereotype and often play to one or the other.
While the Astir have holdings throughout the Third Horizon their main investments and domiciles are found on Kua (especially within the Monolith near the Fort of the Astûrban in the Forbidden Sector) and in the and around city of Xhi on Amedo.
The family is currently led by a matriarch, the Lady Hanna Astir, last living daughter of Rohima. There is some cause for speculation within the family though as Lady Hanna is reaching the end of her life and has no surviving children take her place as hereditary heirs. It seems likely that upon her passing the leadership of the family will be taken by Mehrak Astir, current Commander of the Astûrban. Mehrak is expected to retire from his current role very soon, indicating his intention to succeed Lady Hanna. Some quarters whisper that he will not leave his post yet as they believe he is diverting a number of the Secret Police on a personal vendetta of his own. While he is a master at covering his tracks the suggestion is that the matter concerns a dishonoured young man from Mehrak's immediate family. There are a number of interested parties both within the Astir and without who would pay well for more information on the subject.
Many believe that over time, after their arrival in the Third Horizon, the family slowly shifted focus and evolved into their current state as masterminds of the Zenithian secret police. The truth is simpler and, some might suggest, much more calculated and arguably more sinister.
When the Zenith arrived to discover the prevalence of scattered existing, isolated, Firstcome civilisations the then head of Security, Rohima Astir, saw risks at every side. While some histories of the other Zenithian Families might record her as paranoid the truth is probably closer to say that she was extremely wary and very cautious. She saw an alien and unpredictable environment which struck at the core of her purpose; to protect the ship, its crew and the colonists aboard. She was also a pragmatic individual and realised that the before she could take any action she needed to know her "enemy". To that end she sent out operatives amongst the Firstcome. Those agents were her "eyes" in the Horizon, and thus was the Astûrban, or "Eye of the Astir" born.
Viewing loyalty as paramount and leveraging her agency as a means of swift promotion for successful agents, those early Astûrban where mostly low ranked crew. This also offered the advantage that Rohima would often recruit from outside her immediate family, and from other families’ spheres of influence, both to gain additional skills and also to try to build a pool of operatives and informants whose absence would not be noticed. This was supplemented with the occasional Firstcome informant or mercenary, but they were kept very much at arm’s length. This approach has been the foundation for the recruitment of the Astûrban to this day.
It was Rohima's outward focus that led to what she was to consider her greatest failing. While her focus was upon threats from without the discussions raged aboard ship about what to do next. It was during a presentation of her latest intelligence reports that those who would become known as the Draconites executed their great betrayal, waking the slumbering colonists from stasis. Chaos ensued and once it subsided Rohima fell into a deep depression and malaise. She felt that as Security Chief she should have been aware, she should have been monitoring the activities of the Draconites more closely and she should have been able to stop them swiftly when they acted. Shortly thereafter she wrote three letters; a letter of apology and resignation to Captain Abarren Quassar, a lengthy suicide note to her husband Adrin and her children, and finally what would become one of the most treasured and confidential artefacts of the Astir, her "'atruhat ealaa 'amn alsiyanat lilshaeb" the Treatise on the Maintenance of the People. This lengthy dissertation broke down what Rohima saw as both her failings and how her descendants should rectify them. The truest threats, she advocated, came from within, not without. Purity of heart and purpose had to be maintained. If this was done, she believed, no outside threat could ever hope to overcome. Hence the officers she left behind from her command took her burgeoning network and the structures she had established and turned them inward. The developing Astûrban did not ignore the activities of the worlds outside Zenithian control but they were far more concerned with ensuring that the events of the Draconite betrayal could never be repeated.
Considering the family's history it is therefore no surprise that the Astirs take every endeavour to maintain their pure bloodline. While there may be black sheep in the family who dissent from this, as a whole they are devoted Hegemonists who see the genetic unity of the Zenithians as fundamental to preserving their strength and, as Rohima wrote, internal security.
Over time it has become increasingly hard to see the Astir as anything but synonymous with the Astûrban, and this appears to be an image that the family is keen to encourage. Their perceived power comes from their control of a prolific and ever present secret police force. Intelligence and information is their currency, if the Astûrban know something, the Astir know it and in the rare instance that they do not have the knowledge they wish then they have network of readily available operatives who can be mobilized to learn it. Or at least that is reputation they have. The truth is likely to be that their web is far less all-encompassing and omnipotent or that individual family members do not have the level of access that they frequently allude to. However when one of the family is holding a sealed package and threatens to reveal its contents to the Bulletin many denizens of the Third Horizon would rather concede to their demands than risk what they fear might potentially be revealed.
It should also be noted that the secret police are not just used for the intelligence they can provide. They are a deadly and efficient force when required and more than one Astir has utilised them as little more than a private army, hunting down rivals or taking petty retribution for personal slights or imagined crimes. This is officially condoned by the senior figures in the family but given sufficient evidence or cause (even if circumstantial or obviously fabricated) it is often ignored.
Traditionally the family dress in well cut and tailored clothes in dark shades, reinforcing their sinister reputation with a severe dress code. They are often portrayed in the Bulletin's entertainment shows as either dour, stuffy individuals who are the brunt of social jokes or sinister manipulators and mastermind villains. The family seems unperturbed by either stereotype and often play to one or the other.
While the Astir have holdings throughout the Third Horizon their main investments and domiciles are found on Kua (especially within the Monolith near the Fort of the Astûrban in the Forbidden Sector) and in the and around city of Xhi on Amedo.
The family is currently led by a matriarch, the Lady Hanna Astir, last living daughter of Rohima. There is some cause for speculation within the family though as Lady Hanna is reaching the end of her life and has no surviving children take her place as hereditary heirs. It seems likely that upon her passing the leadership of the family will be taken by Mehrak Astir, current Commander of the Astûrban. Mehrak is expected to retire from his current role very soon, indicating his intention to succeed Lady Hanna. Some quarters whisper that he will not leave his post yet as they believe he is diverting a number of the Secret Police on a personal vendetta of his own. While he is a master at covering his tracks the suggestion is that the matter concerns a dishonoured young man from Mehrak's immediate family. There are a number of interested parties both within the Astir and without who would pay well for more information on the subject.
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