- "Ten thousand years ago, they were slaves. A thousand years ago, servants. When will they be masters?" — Cucula the Dormon
The Rigel Conferences were a series of negotiations held in the Rigel system between the signatories to the Treaty of Kammzdast, which governed the use and trade of Orion slaves and a proxy warfare system on the their homeworld of Rigel VIII (Botchok).
They met to discuss issues related to the Treaty and the Orion slave trade, with 187 conferences held over the course of nearly 16,000 years. They usually resulted in alterations to the treaty, allowing it to change and alter with the passage of time and the involvement of new races in the Orion slave trade and to maintain a general peace around Rigel. The amendments were always small and reluctantly made, and never took away from the power of those who'd enslaved the Orion race. However, the treaty and the conferences gave the Orions the tools to influence their own slavery and eventually end it.
Significant Rigel Conferences[]
| # | Year | Reference Stardate | Significant Events or Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | 15,956 BCE | −179/56 | The original Treaty of Kammzdast was signed, establishing legal limits to Orion slavery. |
| 1st | 15,839 BCE | −178/39 | The First Rigel Conference relaxed some restrictions and gave the Orion slaves more training and technology. |
| 13th | 13,781 BCE [1] | −157/81 | The XIII Rigel Conference granted the Orions more technology and relaxed the rules on the transport and housing of slaves, allowing them to be shipped to more planets. |
| 21st | 12,327 BCE | −143/27 | The XXI Rigel Conference reinforced a prohibition on combat in the Rigel system, placed a restriction on the secret transportation of slaves, vetoed an action by the Rigellian Confederation, and granted the Orions' request to use nuclear technology. |
| N/A [2] | 12,237 BCE | −142/37 | In response to an Orion nuclear ultimatum demanding freedom, the signatories agreed to detonate their nuclear weapons on Botchok, causing the Atom War. They temporarily suspended proxy warfare and the removal of slaves from the radiation-devastated planet, and modified the Treaty to ban Orion access to nuclear and other dangerous knowledge and technology. |
| 22nd | January 12,189 BCE [3] | −141/8901 | Following the Long Winter, the XXII Rigel Conference lifted restrictions on slave transportation, enabling forced resettlements and the repopulation and reconstruction of Botchok. |
| 42nd | unknown | unknown | The 42nd Rigel Conference considered a ban on Orion ships using the warp drive. The move was vetoed by certain members, and this ensured a prosperous Orion trade in the Rigel system. |
| 59th | unknown | unknown | The Accord of Namazz of 9143 BCE (stardate −111/43) was later submitted to the 59th Rigel Conference and approved. This granted the Orions the authority to use their own authority, resources, and technology to terraform Botchok, the first public responsibility accorded the Orions. |
| 113th | July 4712 BCE | −67/1207 | The 113th Rigel Conference was the first time an Orion delegation was permitted to attend. Following a short debate, it accepted Orion-proposed and -designed modifications to the proxy battle system. The Orions attended all subsequent conferences bar the 187th. |
| 144th | April 891 BCE | −28/9104 | The 144th Rigel Conference deadlocked on the issue of Orion piracy; the Orions promised to assist interstellar law enforcement and to police the Rigel system themselves. Cucula the Dormon warned against the growing Orion power and independence. |
| 187th | 14th July 95 BCE | −20/9507.14 | The 187th Rigel Conference was held in a Trade Hall on Rigel IV. The Orions were not invited. Here, the Nine Worlds Confederation delivered the Ultimatum of the Nine Worlds, a list of prohibitions restricting Orions from participating in any commercial activities in or out of the Rigel system. |
The end of the Rigel Conferences[]
The 187th Rigel Conference was also the last. The Conference delegates had made no secret of their plans, and informed their Rigellian hosts as per protocol, and they had sufficient security and ships in orbit. But upon hearing the Ultimatum, the Orions panicked and triggered what followed. Which of them did what was unknown, and it was theorized that a captain of the guard ordered the meeting chambers sealed, or an overzealous Trade Hall family scion attempted a coup, or a technician cut the communications. In any case, as soon as the Ultimatum was announced, all links with the outside world were broken. Minutes later, Orion troops seized all ships orbiting Rigel IV, and prevented them from leaking any warning.
An Orion "delegation" arrived at the Conference (this was the first to which they had not been invited since the 113th), led by the previously unknown Nallin Oplate. He presented his counter-ultimatum: the restoration of Orion rights and their peaceful freedom and independence—or there would be destruction and carnage on all of the Nine Worlds until they did. The delegates at the Conference begged time to form a reply, as it was still technically in session, which Nallin granted.
Anticipating that the delegates would attempt to alert the Nine Worlds to the Orion rebellion, Nallin returned to Botchok. There he liberated his people from their overseers, discarded the restrictions of the Treaty of Kammzdast, ended the proxy warfare. The ensuing Orion War and its conclusion with the Declaration of Nallin on February 13th, 56 BCE (stardate −20/5602.13) brought an end to the terms of the Treaty of Kammzdast and the Rigel Conferences (FASA RPG module: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge).