In 2271 after several years organization of several dozen primarily North American fundamentalist churches after pooling their funds (along with some financial subsidization by the Terran Union) for a long term long range colonization project to establish their idea of a godly society that would eventually serve as the center for a spiritual awakening that would save the the souls of mankind. They named their new world Salvation, which was 225 Light Years from Sol and well ahead of the main sphere of human expansion. On which the elected government would work alongside a conclave of senior clergymen. Though it took ships of it's founding nearly three years to make the circuit from Sol to Salvation and back by 2300 slightly more than 750,000 faithful settlers had arrived on their new world, eager to go forth and multiply. The world was more mountainous and somewhat cooler than Terra, but still habitable despite that and allowed Salvation to become the most populous world within fifty light years. And while a wealthy South American eccentric founded his own kingdom with 12,500 sponsored colonists on Salvation in 2289 and a group of 16,500 Kenyan Pastoralists arrived in 2305 the faithful would remain the dominant power on the planet. They were confident in their hold over this world due to their strong initial start and a steady stream of fresh faithful eager to leave behind the increasingly godless societies of sol to start afresh. Enthusiasm back home was waning as some of the actions of the Holy Conclave had met with disapproval with a few of it's original backers, but they were confident in what they had achieved.









Then, in 2312 came the first Pirate Raid . This attack was launched against an asteroid mining ship, in of itself a setback to their still nascent space industries but ultimately merely a taste of what was to come. Pirate raids would continue for the next nine years, gradually escalating. Despite promises the Terran Union Navy was embroiled in other conflicts closer to home and was unable to send forces to the Salvation system beyond a few obsolete missiles and a pair of obsolete defense platforms. Neither of which proved to be sufficient when a Pirate Warlord arrived with a fleet of thirty eight ships and demanded vassalage from orbit in 2321. Salvation choked under the Pirate's yoke for another sixteen years being forced to expand their fleet, it's government submitting to their demands and hoping that missionaries could undermine the pirates by converting their crews, though this had little success. Eventually however an attack by a rival pirate force did enough damage to their oppressor's fleet that a coup was made, ceasing control of the orbital stations and forcing the remaining pirates out. The coup was organized by a set of the more radical fire and brimstone priests who ceased control of the government after a landslide election and proceed to do away with the last vestiges of democracy the Dominion had in 2338, severing it's links to those it saw as idle in it's defense.





For it's first forty years the Dominion had been comparatively peaceful with little interest in war, making moderate efforts not out of the norm. Sixteen years of pirate rule however cultivated a militant faith among the people of salvation. If the Union would not oblige their offers for protection they would sever their connections and defend themselves. They gained total control of their planet and began a fifty year buildup, part of which was pushing their population growth with pro-natalist policies* to make up with the decline of Immigration. 20% of the GDP was spent on defense directly with much of the rest being spent on expanding their ramshackle industrial, which was set back by several pirate raids. Never the less in 2388 this culminated in the the Dominion's First Crusade. Dozens of Warships made their way out escorting troopships (some of which were modified colonist carriers) loaded with hundreds of thousands of Holy Warriors of the Host of Crusaders in an endeavor to rid the galaxy of the Pirate Kingdoms. While it did "liberate" a couple of minor systems and defeat a few pirate systems it was soon extended. Another crusade was launched in 2410, which gained a fair deal of territory though it was driven from it by a rough coalition of pirates. A third crusade is believed to be in the works.







Holy Warriors are hardly the most well equipped infantry, with most of them being clad in basic body armor and armed with basic gyrojet assault rifles made for durability and ease of use. They were reasonably well trained in infantry tactics and had good morale. These fighting men** proved themselves well in large operations against many pirate forces on several occasions. Holy Warriors see themselves as fighting to save souls and liberate people from pirate rule. However as they tend to be heavy handed, brutal, try to force the beliefs on and are not above using force to make point. Many people who have been under pirate rule prefer it to rule by aggressive theocrats. On the five worlds claimed by the Dominion of Salvation since it's creation, crusaders often find themselves fighting local resistant movements.







*while there was some use of exowomb facilities, due to a combination of system expense and an aversion to the systems among the population this was fairly limited and would at most account for 5% of the birth rate on Salvation. Much of the programs were achieved by stressing the role of women as mothers in society and providing considerable incentives for (and disincentives against) having large families. Eight children per couple became fairly common and while it has gone down it remains fairly high



**Unusually the Dominion of Salvation's military is all male baring the medical corps

