Although today only a small settlement in the suburbs orbiting Penethem, Velanner was the centre of a small but pugnacious military power, the Free Republic of Velanner, during the Interim period. For around five centuries it vied for control over the belts from Tokaran to Ababúa, eventually vassalizing Dúnédan sometime in the early 2700s. Like the other ascendant powers in the Interim period, it had powerful and influential exoplanar backers, specifically the Wanisinese, who had recently shaken off the first Illeran Occupation.

At the time, the Wanisinese powers saw Thet as the ideal opportunity to acquire technologies they would need to rival established human cultures like the Lyrisians and the Hatel Commonwealth. Their interests lay primarily in artificial intelligence, and there are numerous specimens of Velannese technology from the Interim period with remarkable capabilities and configurations, including the vFT.904.k0 "Sprocket" semi-sentient clockwork automaton, many of which survive today as free Cy. Ultimately this pursuit led to their downfall: after evidence the VFR had successfully stolen Psyche technology from the Hatel, the Commonwealth took decisive military action against Velanner in 2953. This massive display of power—the largest disruption to the Archipelago since the Shattering itself—utterly obliterated the fortified core of Velanner, and nearly caused an ablation cascade.