Jaddian Principalities

The Principalities are governed by approximately eighty princely families -- the eali al'aqran -- and their leal vassals. The High Prince Aldia di Otranto is First-Among-Equals of the Princes of Jadd. Their independence grants these noble families the right to control the genetic destiny of their own children without Chantry restriction. The nobiles breed themselves eugenically far beyond anything the Sollan Empire permits, and the eali al'aqran are described as more palatine than a Sollan palatine. A satrap governor system administers outlying territories; Emesh expects a formal ambassadorial visit from a Jaddian satrap.

Despite their independence, the Jaddian Principalities share a commitment to the Sollan doctrine of the Primacy of Man -- humanity's manifest destiny among the stars. Jadd is dubious of machines in a manner similar to Imperial subjects. Jaddian culture worships a God of Fire.

The Principalities' armies consist of cloned mamluk soldiers, and the Jaddian military uses the term aljanhi for its soldiers. The state maintains a strong military tradition that is described as shaming even imperialist Turkey of old. Lady Kalima arrived at Calagah with a double column of mamluk soldiers during her ambassadorial visit to Emesh.

The Maeskoloi are the Principalities' elite swordmasters, legendary throughout the Imperium. Candidates are drawn exclusively from the eali pureborn in youth and subjected to nearly a standard century of training at the Fire School -- a limestone bastion in Jaddian territory. They wear a distinctive uniform: the blood-red mandyas half-robe worn slip-fashion over fighting blacks, with polished black leather on the right arm, and they carry multiple highmatter swords and a personal energy shield. It is said one Maeskolos can engage a hundred legionnaires and survive, and that they move so quickly they shock the very air. The Jaddian cultural saying holds that a man must be either a swordsman or a poet.

More than nine thousand years before the present, the worlds that would become the Jaddian Principalities rebelled against the Sollan Empire and the Solar Throne. The rebellion succeeded against long odds, establishing the Principalities as an independent state with sovereignty over the genetic engineering of their own noble bloodlines.

A Jaddian diplomatic delegation led by Satrap Lady Kalima di Sayyiph, ambassador from the Jaddian prince, traveled from Jaddian space at the galaxy's edge, spiraling inward through the old Empire via Ubar and Obatala to Emesh, heading toward the Norman frontier at Marinus near the edge of the Veil. Some years prior, Jadd captured a Cielcin outrider at Obatala. At the war council convened over the Cielcin crash on Emesh, Jaddian observers Lady Kalima and Sir Olorin Milta were granted observer seats at all interrogations per Knight-Tribune Smythe's ruling. Upon departure from Emesh, Sir Olorin gifted Hadrian a Jaddian highmatter sword and told him his quality would be known in Jadd before he ever arrived there, suggesting Jadd actively monitors the war front.

The Principalities appear on galactic projections as a sovereign entity demarcated in green, neighboring the Sollan Empire alongside other human polities. Jinan represents the Jaddian masters' interests as an observer at negotiations conducted by the Empire.

The princely families include Prince Aldia, whose harems and crystal courts at the Alcaz du Badr are famous throughout the Imperium. Lady Kalima Aliarada Udiri di Sayyiph, Satrap of Ubar, served as ambassador from the Jaddian prince and visited Emesh's Calagah ruins, later participating in the war council over the Cielcin crash. Sir Olorin Milta, a Maeskolos and Lady Kalima's personal swordmaster-bodyguard, fought in the Calagah tunnels and advised Hadrian at the war council. Lieutenant Jinan Azhar, a Jaddian military officer, joined the covert mission to find Vorgossos and later represented the Jaddian masters' interests as an observer at interstellar negotiations.