As the author who wrote the Axumite Providence...
Yes, they are primarily a Muslim state who named themselves after an ancient Christian one. Why?
The original leaders of the colony group had ancestry that linked back to the Axumites of old, and wanted to pay homage to that as well as to be inclusive of the small percentage of Christian settlers that were with them.
Yes, I know that the old Axumite Empire was in what today is Ethopia, but you should also look at what happened in the 7th century AD, an event called the 'Migration to Abyssinia', or the 'First Hijrah'. This is where early Muslims sought refuge from persecution *in* Axum. The settlers also saw the Cluster they were approaching as a safe haven from the war engulfing human space, and it's easy to see them linking themselves to early Muslims fleeing to Axum to seek protection. Hence naming it after one of the first safe havens needed by Muslims.
I hope this explains my reasoning. Really, it's a multitude of reasons including history, the ancestry of major NPCs, and wanting to be as inclusive to other faiths/minorities in their colony group.
I should add that German is a language in the Providence because of the general area in which they were originally to be settling had nearby systems that were German speakers. It made sense to me that German would have been one of those third or fourth languages that people learned to get them by.
Aaron "Gravedigger" Pollyea
Ah, that's pretty awesome to know. We ended up filling in a bunch of blanks, and the German in our campaign ultimately came from the equivalent of an Amish group we made up in there, that kept their old language.
Not sure if you were responsible for the Core Confederacy too, but we had a lot of fun with both factions and they've becoming a running bit in our campaign. ISP3 is a great book, really dig what you did with it. I admit I hope that both of them get brought into the latest timeline a little more, I'm a sucker for Periphery empires.
PS: Since you wrote them, just out of curiosity how did you envision their empire working with a single jump ship? Like I mentioned we ultimately decided that their main import/export was information, research, culture, all things that could be carried pretty easily. It worked out great for us, but I'm just curious how they officially worked.
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Oh and in regards to the original debate, I really liked how the AP was played "against type." While we had to make up the profile for the other worlds, Ksabi's hardline theocracy versus Thala's major cultural contributions made for some cool politics. I'd totally buy a rule book for the DEEP periphery factions in detail.