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The History of the Hiigaran Landfall
The story of the Kushan Exodus to Hiigara is widely known and often told; most of us already know all about the voyage. In a matter of months, the survivors of our entire race traveled from the prison world of Kharak to our once and future homeworld. The trip was a major turning point not only for the Kushan people, but for most of the civilized galaxy; our return to Hiigara was not only the end of our 3,000-year exile, but the end of the Taiidani Empire, and its tyranny over billions.

By the ancient Kharakian dating system, the Kushan people returned to Hiigara in the year 1216 (Galactic Standard Year 9,510). In honor of the momentous occasion, however, Kiith Sjet declared the beginning of a new calendar on the day the returning Kushan first set foot on our homeworld. By decree, the Hiigaran Landfall marked the first day of a new Year Zero. From that time on, "days" have been measured by Hiigara's period of rotation, and "years" according to the revolutions of Hiigara around its mother sun.

By the new dating system, then, these words are written in the year 15 AHL (GSY 9525)—15 years After Hiigaran Landfall. The past decade and a half have been a time of both celebration and adversity for the Kushan people. Nearly 550,000 of us survived the Exodus from Kharak, but our culture has been subjected to tremendous stress. There is not a single aspect of Kushan existence that we have not been forced to re-examine in light of our new circumstances. Even the simplest things, like providing our population with food and shelter, have proven far more complicated than we ever imagined.

Defending ourselves has been our most serious concern. The Bentusi and the new Taiidani Republic have established a small buffer zone around Hiigara, a region approximately five light-years in diameter. Anything within a five-light-year radius of Hiigara is considered our space, and we are obligated to defend it. Our warrior kiithid are forced to maintain constant patrols to keep our spaceways from being overrun, not only by the mongrel ships of the pirate races, but by the last bitter remnants of the Imperial fleet.

The Mothership, which once carried our people safely across 35,000 light-years of uncharted space, is no longer fully operational. Deprived of the conscious direction of Karan Sjet, the Mothership's engines are set on automatic; She serves as an orbital space station and shipyard. Manned by a skeleton crew of 8,000 engineers, the Mothership provides living quarters for those working in low orbit, and She has given birth to over 30 carrier-class ships since the Hiigaran Landfall. The result of this phenomenal output has been a new Hiigaran navy, which consists of six great Fleets; the largest of our present-day kiithid have each taken command of an autonomous carrier group. The fleets of Manaan, Soban, Naabal, LiirHra, Paktu and Kaalel take turns patrolling the outer systems, guarding our trade routes, and defending Hiigara itself.

Addressing the practical concerns of our people has been hard enough; up until the year 11 AHL (9521 GSY), food rationing was common, and on the surface of Hiigara, thousands are still engaged in construction. Difficult as it has been to provide for our people's practical needs, however, providing for their political needs has been far, far more troublesome. Kushan society has been in a state of flux since the Exodus; finding some way to give all our people a fair say in government is a serious problem, and no one is entirely satisfied by any solution.

The New Daiamid was completed in the year 4 AHL (9514 GSY), the crowning glory of our planetary capital at Asaam Kiith'sid. The Daiamid Assembly is still the main governing body of the Kushan race, although its detractors claim that the New Daiamid cannot rule as fairly as its predecessor on Kharak once did. Such hotheads denounce the current assembly as a sham, and maintain that a few families wield too much power. Sadly, there is some merit to this accusation. Over one-half of the Kushan population now belong to one of six kiithid, and by virtue of sheer population the major families have tremendous influence.

The Paktu, the Manaan, the Sjet, Naabal, LiirHra, Kaalel and Soban are by far the largest kiith groupings in existence, and their combined numbers come to almost 300,000. By contrast, the majority of other kiithid on Hiigara can boast a few hundred souls at best; most are lucky to have even that many. In some cases, kiithid which were once over 100,000 strong on Kharak now have only 30 or 40 members.

These smaller kiithid are now collectively known as the Sleepers, because most of them spent the voyage from Kharak in cryogenic suspension. Coming from all walks of life, the only thing that these men and women have in common today is their powerlessness in the present Daiamid system. Unable to compete with large kiithid that can lay claim to half a continent at a time, exhausted by years of struggle for a voice in the Assembly, many of these small kiithid have given up the fight to establish a power base for themselves on Hiigara. Dozens of Sleeper clans have chosen in recent years to abandon their ancient names and become vassals instead, joining their bloodlines to powerhouses like the Paktu or the Naabal. The family honor comes a poor second, as always, to survival; surrendering to necessity is an ancient tradition among the Kushan. It may eventually come to pass that the entire kiith system, which still connects us to the life we once lived on Kharak, will collapse.