Recent history of the Centauri Republic

This material is still a draft version, but already contains brief information about the history of the Centauri from 2278 – 2341. In particular, there is no data on the emperors who followed Vir Cotto.

You can help us to finalize the Centauri history.

2262 – 2278 (Londo Mollari’s reign)

The events described in the Legions of Fire trilogy:
The Drakhi secretly rule on Centauri Prime and other Republic worlds. They manipulate the top brass so that the Centauri hate the Interstellar Alliance and prepare for war with it.

Vir Kotto creates an underground in an effort to bring the Drakh out into the open.

The Centauri, led by fanatical Prime Minister Durla, create a fleet of over 3000 warships to attack the Interstellar Alliance. But in the end, the Vir Kotto underground wins out, and some sort of alliance is made with the Interstellar Alliance to fight the Drakh. A powerful new fleet takes up the search for the Drakh.

2278 – 2285 (reign of Vir Cotto)

Centauri Prima is slowly recovering from the explosions.
The Centauri fleet, built with great economic strain, together with the forces of the Interstellar Alliance, faces the Drakhs, who have many Centauri ships on their side that were thought to have been destroyed in 2262. However, the battle turns disastrous when it is revealed that the Drakhkh have built Shadow control devices into every new ship in the Centauri fleet.

The Centauri military on the ships tried to remove them, but all attempts resulted in the ships self-destructing. Thus some saved others at the cost of their lives, others watched silently as their ship fired on the allies.

Eventually, together with the Alliance, the Centauri manage to neutralize their own hard-won fleet. However, the Interstellar Alliance worlds demand the closure of all military production on the new colonies built under Mollari’s rule.

Under threat of invasion by the Interstellar Alliance, the Centauri, embroiled in some pretty serious internal strife, evacuated the new colonies and destroyed all traces of themselves on them for fear of their technology falling into the wrong hands. Thus the Centauri lost almost all colonies and occupied planets developed between 2263 and 2278.

Having suffered a new catastrophe in the form of the loss of their state-of-the-art fleet and the loss of the achievements of the last 15 years, the Centauri were also at a crossroads of identity. The question, “Who are we, and where do we belong in the universe?” – has once again come to a head.

The hatred they had developed for the Interstellar Alliance and the reciprocal, not-so-friendly demands of its members on the Centauri in the war against the Drakh, the “betrayal” of their own fleet, and the destruction of their colonies made it impossible for the Centauri people to trust anyone but themselves. Emperor Kotto’s efforts to befriend the Interstellar Alliance were not getting much support among the people.

And the war against the Drakh was not going well. As an extremely insidious race with access to their masters’ technology, the Drakh regularly carried out dastardly terrorist strikes, implicating the Sentinels in Centauri and aliens who did business with them.

2286 – 2300

Vir Kotto is succeeded by a new Emperor.

Unlike Kotto’s reign, which focused on cooperation with the Interstellar Alliance, his successor’s reign focuses entirely on internal problems. As all the dire consequences of the Drakh influence only manifest themselves over time.

By leaving their newest production facilities on outlying colonies (abandoned and destroyed under Kotto’s reign), the Centauri have lost the last step in the production of the latest technology. Older colonies and production facilities had fallen to the back of development during Mollari’s reign. Many resources were now required to modernize them.

However, economic problems were not the worst thing the new emperor had to face. During the Drakh influence and the ensuing campaign to exterminate the race, a great many Centauri had died, especially men (military and laborers) of the best reproductive age. Many powerful houses that had fallen into disgrace during those times were still trying to regain their strength and fighting for a better position at court.

The medical and sociological studies related to this problem, initiated by the Emperor’s order, revealed a new catastrophe befalling the long-suffering Centauri – a genetic mutation, once implanted in the genetic code of a part of the Centauri by the Drakhs, turning them into morons and thus weakening the general gene pool and the ability to acquire high knowledge. Thus generation after generation the Centauri were to become stupider and less and less capable of development. Drakh revenge would thus be all-encompassing, increasing in scope and power over time. Fighting the genetic defect took up a great deal of resources, energy and time that the Centauri were unable to put into development, which slowed it down even more.

During this time, the Centauri Republic retreated to its ancestral domains and lost some of its trade routes in favor of competitors from the Interstellar Alliance, who were skillfully taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the alliance. As a result of all these problems, the Centauri have become even more insular. They concentrated on themselves, working to save and find themselves.

2301 — 2338

Having overcome their acute problems and rebuilt their economy, the Centauri decide to take a further step towards regaining their former strength. They seek membership in the Interstellar Alliance. However, many enemies in the past and competitors in the present are extremely disadvantageous to raise the Centauri to their former heights. Therefore, using the leverage of the Alliance, some races (notably the Drazi) allow the Centauri to receive aid from the Interstellar Alliance, but in return they block their access to highly profitable trade routes, try to lock the Centauri in their destroyed territories, and even annex some colonies. Why give the Centauri control over their former trade routes when you can use those routes yourself, and give them only crumbs from the benefits, and pass them off as great favor.

Because of all these interferences, the Centauri are finding it extremely difficult to regain their former power. Slowly but surely, they are building a policy of “be strong, appear weak”. Having rebuilt industries and shipyards, the Centauri are focused on quality of technology and expansion of knowledge rather than quantity and show of strength. That’s why they are still able to defend themselves against weak opponents without a large fleet, and membership in the Interstellar Alliance should help them against strong ones. Thus, the Centauri prefer to invest their limited resources in promising areas in science, technology and economy.

2339 — 2341

The Centauri switched to more active production of better ships and other technologies, increased the rate of construction of combat starships and weapons, realizing the theoretical technological advance in practice.

By the conflict with the Drazi in 2341, however, the Centauri had not yet had time to build up their military power, although they successfully gave the Drazi the teeth with small forces. Later on, the Centauri grow stronger and help the Interstellar Alliance to get back on its feet in some places, gradually restoring its original influence in the Alliance.