The Spartans

The Spartans are among the oldest and largest of the Clans. As the name implies, clan members see themselves primarily as warriors, valuing personal integrity, stubbornness, and a simple, active life style. Spartans rarely make good diplomats or traders, and are not inventive, although some are quick to adopt new technologies to military purposes.

History

Records of the origins of the Spartans are lost along with most of the history of the Terran Sphere. However, the Spartans have a mythology in the form of orally composed poems that give a consistent and detailed version of those times. By tradition, these poems are generally not recorded, on the grounds that a good memory makes for a better soldier, and reliance on machines weaken the will.

According to "The Odyssey of the Black," as performed by Polydorus Van der Pol in 3561 Imperial Calendar (and recorded without his knowledge), the clan traces its origins to the earliest days of expansion, when a small group of idealists obtained a United Nations Charter to colonize and terraform the asteroid Ceres. There, they formed a commune in which they tried to replicate the communal culture of ancient Sparta, modified only by a lack of any special emphasis on homosexuality and by a more equal status for women.

The Ceres commune failed after less than three decades, although whether it was depressurized because of a love triangle as claimed in "Helena and Pausianas" is uncertain. However, tradition states that, before it was abandoned, it started another Spartan colony on Phobos. Several others may also have been started on Mars, although the archaeological evidence is conflicting. Some may also have left the Terran system at around the same time, and stories abound of breakaway pockets of Spartan culture with strange customs, including Amazons, a sub-clan of parthogenically reproducing women, and Centaurs, genetically modified primitives based on the horse-human hybrids of Greek mythology.

Whatever the truth of such stories, the tradition of founding new colonies seems to have continued as the Terran Sphere gave way to the Human Federation. This culminated in the Spartan's settlement on Laconia, which established the clan's preference for self-government. Throughout this period, the Spartans were a relatively small group, but scholars believe that it was at this time that the groundwork of their modern ethos first started to be formulated. One early story tells of a small band of Spartan's rescue of the inhabitants of a space station off Leda from a terrorist attack. Another speaks of a Spartan flotilla bluffing an unknown alien race away from the Terran Sphere, although this story contradicts what is genuinely accepted about early human history.

The clan's rise to prominence is said to date from the destruction of Laconia by a surprise attack from the Crucians early in the Great War. Although the Crucians overran the under-populated planet, the heroic last stand of the Spartan-led settlers became a cornerstone of clan mythology, emphasizing both its martial worldview and starting the clan's perception of itself as the guardian of the rest of humanity. The surviving Spartans soon organized into small, independent groups overseen by a council of military commanders. However, whether this claim is true is unknown, since the exact location of Laconia is no longer known.

Soon after the destruction of Laconia, the Spartans made a pact with the Spacer Clan, gaining the mobility they needed to pursue the war against the Crucians. The disaster at Sentinel, in which both the planet and the human fleet were destroyed, was mitigated only by the rearguard action by a handful of Spartans led by Lycurgus Leonidasdatter that allowed a handful of survivors to escape in scout ships and give warning to the rest of humanity. This action is known by the Spartans as the New (or Second) Thermopylae.

The New Thermopylae caused a radical shift in Spartan philosophy and government, deposing the Heavies (the proponents of traditional, fleet action warfare and traditional military discipline) in favour of the Lights (the proponents of irregular, small engagements, hit and run guerrilla tactics and individual initiative). For the next two thousand years, Light politicians led the Spartans and, by extension, the rest of humanity in the war against the Crucians. When the Crucians seized Tunnel, the Heavies returned to power, and, since then, the two philosophies have alternated in Spartan politics. The Heavies tend to be the traditionalists, while the Lights are more progressive and more likely to urge experiments in new types of warfare. A few radical Lights have even shown an interest in psi experiments and other traditionally non-Spartan areas of research.

Prior to the New Thermopylae, the original Thermoplylae, in which a handful of Spartans delayed the advance of the Persian army into Greece long enough for their allies to muster, was already a major piece of Spartan mythology. Together, however, the two engagements cemented the Spartan's view of themselves as the elite forces of humanity, the first to engage the enemy and the species' protectors. Consequently, it is unsurprising that the Spartan's pre-eminence among the clans dates from this time. It has never been seriously questioned since.

The Spartans Today

The local economies and governments on a number of systems collapsed in the aftermath of the fighting on Tunnel. In such systems, the Heavies -- sometimes with local cooperation and sometimes without -- instituted a policy of radical self-sufficiency. Although much criticized, this was an ideal policy to guide these planets at a time when they were cut off from the trade routes that were their life-lines. While providing genuine assistance, the Heavies took this opportunity to heavily fortify these client systems in keeping with their view of warfare, and to take over the political affairs of these systems. Some came to be completely dominated by the Spartans while others are regarded as client states that provide auxiliaries to modern Spartan states.

With the ending of the Great War, the newly formed Empire granted the largest concentration of these fortress systems to the Spartans as a semi-independent state held directly in fief to the emperor. The Spartans named this new state Spartan Hold, calling its capitol New Thermopylae after both the ancient battle and the modern space going one.

In Spartan Hold, the clan established a government that mixed meritocracy with democratic traditions. The government leader is the Duke, traditionally called Leonidas (or "the Leonidas"), who holds office until voted unfit by his or her lieutenants. The current Duke is the eighty-third of that name.

A lower council controls civic government except in times of war, and a council of elders serves as both the house of second thought for the lower council and as a source of advice to the Duke and his council, since Spartan culture honours the elderly as survivors and grants them great respect.

With the fall of the Empire, Spartan Hold is now independent and is one of the few pockets of social stability remaining. Citizenship is given only to clan members of at least 40 years who have seen ten years of military service, and political office is allowed only to clan members with at least twenty years of service. Citizenship is occasionally offered for other reasons, such as the discovery of a new weapon or system of tactics. The constitution grants full equality to all sexes, races, religions, and sexual orientations -- but only to those who belong to the clan.

Spartans have little time for entertainment for its own sake, but their oral poetry (performed to simple non-amplified instruments) and civic ceremonies are known throughout the galaxy. Many Spartans can recite long stretches of this oral tradition, and sometimes go into battle chanting their favorite passages. Stories of last stands or victories against overwhelming odds are popular, especially when combined with stories of lovers who die together in battle or are force to separate because of a higher military necessity.

Following their compulsory military service, citizens of Spartan Hold often wander the rest of the galaxy, looking for small wars and other situations in which they can distinguish themselves. Spartans who do not live in Spartan Hold do the same, but often at a younger age. Regardless of their origins, all these wanderers are quick to duel, although they will dismiss offers to fight from those they consider their inferiors in combat.

Some non-clan members do live on Spartan Hold. They often hold considerable power behind the scenes, but are unable to participate directly in the government. It is only enemies of the Spartans and some of the most conservative Heavies who refer to these non-clan members as Helots after the people enslaved by the ancient Spartans.

Other systems dominated by the Spartans include Taygetus, Gythium, and Eurotas, all of which resemble Spartan Hold on a smaller scale. Stranger off-shoots of the clan include Aegospotami, where the culture is based around loyalty to a space ship and its crew; Lacodaemon, which has tried to recreate ancient Spartan culture exactly, down to enslaving a group of Clones, and Herostratus, a planet of nihilists feared for their espionage skills and unpredictability -- and utterly denounced by all other Spartans.

Several famous mercenary bands of Spartans also exist. The most famous is led by Belisarius McKeefe and Trung Nhi Garcia, a husband and wife team of Lights who were exiled from Spartan Hold for their radical ideas and who specialize in aiding revolutions against tyrannical regimes. McKeefe and Garcia have their own cycle of oral poetry, and you can tell Spartans' politics by how they react to any mention of this famous team.

The Disappearance affected Spartan Hold and other areas of Spartan settlement less than most areas. The reason may be that Spartans showed little interest or aptitude in the psi technology. The major effect of the Disappearance was the latest fall of the Lights from domination of Spartan affairs, partly because the few Spartans who vanished were almost universally Lights, and partly because of a reaction against such non-traditional areas of research. Otherwise, for many Spartans, the Disappearance might never have happened.

Relations to Other Clans and Intelligent Species

The Spartans see themselves as the guardians of humanity in the abstract, a tradition that dates from the Great War. However, the average Spartan tends to be politely condescending about other clans. They are especially apt to look down on clans whose members are physically modified, since they believe that a generalist body type is most suitable for the changing demands of combat, and that survival in harsh conditions should be a matter of will. Their best relations tend to be with the Founders, who are also unmodified and claim a similarly long history, and with Spacers, whose services they have depended upon ever since they struck a deal after the disaster at Sentinel during the Great War. The details of the Spacer-Spartan deal are obscure to this day, but it is honoured by members of both clans. Yet even the Founders and Spacers are considered "soft" by the average Spartan.

In addition, Spartans consider the Aristocracy, which is a mixture of themselves, Spacers, and Founders, as a diluted version of themselves. Some Aristocracy hold important positions as non-clan members on Spartan Hold. One or two have even gained citizenship and membership in the Spartan clan -- usually those with a high degree of Spartan ancestry.

Despite these attitudes, Spartans travel widely among other clans, especially when they are young and seeking border wars or military employment in which to prove themselves. Small groups of Spartans are often hired as mercenaries or security forces, and individual Spartans occasionally have a career on other planets. Moreover, should any group of humanity be threatened, Spartans feel honor-bound to offer aid in any form possible.

With this human-centric outlook, Spartans do not associate much with non-human species. However, now that the Crucians are safely defeated and dead, Spartans respect their fighting abilities. Similarly, the Spartans acknowledge the long loyalty of the Ferrets to Humanity. Attitudes to other species generally depend on the degree to which they currently threaten humans.

Names

Besides ancient Spartan names (Leonidas, Lycurgus, Menelaus, Cleomenes), Spartan clan members favour the names of ancient Greek commanders (Xenophon, Themistocles, Epaminondas) and, at times, the names of other great generals in ancient Terran history (Hannibal, Germanicus, Caesar). The Lights sometimes take the names of more modern military commanders who were precursors of their preferred style of warfare (Crauford, Tecumseh, Slim, Geronimo). These names are often used without modification by men and women alike, although some women either modify them (Germanica) or use names of female warriors throughout history and legend (Hippolyta, D'Arc, Boudicca).