HISTORY The earliest known references to Helios are in the Imperial archives discovered on Sarid (Oriflamme 1532) in the subsector capital records building. According to the reference, in 532 a group of Solomani Settlers landed on Willow (as Helios was then known) to attempt repairs to their Jump drive. Finding Willow a pleasant planet, they decided to stay. The Saltad trees that covered the land masses of the planet reminded the settlers of willow trees on their Terran home, and they named the planet after the willow tree. Willow is not mentioned in the archives again until 736. By this time, Willow had become a hiding spot for all sorts of Imperial criminals and riff raff. Willow's position within the 100-diameter limit of Zenith, her star, made travel between the planet and the jump point long. This fact along with the lack of gas giants in the system made travel to Willow difficult. Only those with a reason to "get lost" settled on Willow. Many criminals had "retired" on Willow when they felt the law brushing close to their heels. Tracking a criminal was not only expensive because of the in-system travel requirements, but it was also hampered by the lack of settlers. As a result, only the most sought after criminalswere tracked to Willow. Criminals were not the only settlers who found their way to Willow. Many others found their way to the backwater planet including malcontents, debtors, jilted lovers, and anti-Imperial extremists. No solid government was formed, and very few of the settlers even lived in the small villages that were formed. Many of the settlers had taken up carving the wood of the Saltad tree native to Willow. The wood of the Saltad tree resembles ivory. The wood is very hard even when the tree is alive, but when the wood is dead and cured properly, it becomes nearly hard as plate steel. Saltad wood carvings became status symbol among the nobility of the Sarid subsector. Willow was occasionally visited by traders who would stop at the planet and trade their goods for the Saltad wood carvings. By the mid 700's the Saltad wood carvings done by the people of Willow were claiming prices of 5000 to 10000 Cr in the markets of Sarid. Willow had become a regular stop for a few of the Free Traders roaming the Sarid Subsector, but the real history of Willow begins almost a sector away on a small world in the Promise sector named Amoy. In 740, a boy was born, on Amoy, to a construction worker and his wife. The child, Garaath, it would be discovered, was a powerful psion. When he was 40, in 780, Garaath had visions of angry mobs and violence. During the course of the next five years, he had more visions, and by 785, Garaath understood what he had seen coming, the Psionic Supressions of 800. Garaath had a staunch belief that, if he showed kindness to others, they would be obligated by their nature to return this kindness. He referred to this as the Eternal Circle. During the 15 years between Garaath's premonition and the Psionic Supressions, Garaath began recording his beliefs and sharing them with others. Slowly Garaath gained a religious following, but when the Psionic Supressions erupted, this small group was not enough to protect Garaath from the attack of anti-psionic mobs. The story here is somewhat fuzzy. Some records state that Garaath was killed by the attacks, while others state that he placed himself in a state of suspended animation. All accounts agree, however, that Garaath was never seen again. The Church of Brotherly Kindness The religion, the Church of Brotherly Kindness, nearly died out, and without its a core group of believers, it would have. The small group of believers slowly recovered from their defeat and quickly developed an active mission program. The writings of Garaath were collected and published as the Words of Kindness. Many others joined the faith, and by 1100, the church had more than 1,000,000 members. A small branch of the church developed in the Sarid subsector, but the group floundered under heavy persecution. In early 1103, citing religious persecution, this small group petitioned the Duke of Sarid for some land where the group could settle. The duke granted the petition and gave the church a small island in the southern hemisphere of Willow. The church was able to set up a small self sufficient community, and, excluding a few minor incidents, the rest of the world tended to leave them alone. The Final War & Collapse When Virus swept through the subsector, it did not ignore Willow. An infected passenger liner came to the world seeking refuge from the chaos that was sweeping the subsector, but it brought that chaos with it. Most of the malcontents, and the settlement on the main continent started to fight over the remaining food and high tech devices. The CBK had very few high tech devices and was left alone. It is believed that the rest of the inhabitants died once the automated farm equipment stopped working, but no one has made a complete survey of the world. So it is possible a few families have survived till the present. The Final War and resulting Collapse devastated the universal CBK, and the only known surviving group is the group that settled on Willow. Virus also hit the island of the CBK; however, the people there were a community, and when they realized that their high tech devices were no longer functioning properly, they simply resolved to go without high tech help. They turned off and destroyed all their high tech equipment, and started to relearn the old ways. It was not easy and was not without casualties, but by pulling together, and helping each other the CBK was able to survive with minimal loss of life. The New Era After a decade of struggle, the CBK had stabilized at technological level of four. Most people were involved in farming, but some parts of the community manufactured the tools necessary to survive. The population was too small to set up massive assembly line factories. Instead most manufacturing is done in small workshops, with most of the work done by hand. These workshops still survive today, and one of the exports Helios has, is hand-crafted steam powered automobiles. These are especially popular with Luhtalans. In 1196, an Oriflammi survey ship came to Willow to assess the planet's capacity for colonization. At first the survey went very well, the planet had plenty of untapped potential, and several high tech devices were discovered on the main continent. Then the ship found the CBK community. This distressed the Technarchs, because any native population would have control over the planet's destiny. The Technarch's debated whether they could destroy the settlement, and claim the planet was uninhabited. Before a decision could be made, the news was leaked to the rest of the Dawn League. The League quickly launched a recontact mission to establish relations with the new community. The CBK was delighted to learn that others had survived the Collapse, and upon learning of Dawn League and its mission to rebuild civilization, they petitioned for admission. After a few months of discussion, on XI-11-1196, Willow was admitted to the League. The Oriflammi strongly protested this, Willow only had 700 residents, if they were given full voting rights, each resident of Willow would have the same voting rights as 14,300 citizens of Oriflamme. But the Federalist block sensed an ally in Helios, and also wanted to penalize the Technarchs for even contemplating destroying a new found community. Following the tradition of several other worlds, the CBK renamed their planet Helios, after an ancient sun god. Since being admitted, Helios has decided to help outfit expeditions into the Wilds to uplift the devastated worlds out there. They have also been a burr in the Oriflammen sides. There are several reasons for this. Mainly, they are a bit annoyed that the Technarchs thought about destroying them. They also disagree with the basic philosophy of the government of Oriflamme. Finally, it amuses the fun-loving Heliosians when the Oriflammen get so flustered when their plans are upset.