The Interplanetary Empire of Mankind

Throneworld: Crux Terra
Government: Hereditary dictatorship
Language: Terran (official), various other colonial dialects
Allegedly founded by the war hero Caiss-Sol, the Empire has lasted for more than five hundred cycles alone in the galaxy.  It has colonized dozens upon dozens of world, holding a sizable portion of space, and is dived into ten prefectures and ruled by an emperor at Crux Terra, the ancient homeworld of the Empire.  The symbol of the Interplanetary Empire is an eagle, with outspread wings, backed by the galactic communication symbol, all ringed by a laurel.  Though the Empire had no interactions with alien species for its entire current existence, this does not mean its history has been without tumult; the Interplanetary Empire has been wracked with countless civil wars and rebellions, dynastic quarreling and intrigue between the Old Houses.  Though the position of Emperor of Mankind is legally recognized as hereditary and is passed down to the current emperor's successor, quarreling amongst the Old Houses within the Senate causes dynasties to come and go, ambitious Houses using the Senate to vote out the current reigning House for their own, causing an ever-changing political environment that, fortunately, usually does not affect the common citizen.  If legends are to be believed, the Interplanetary Empire of Mankind was founded AI 01 by the mythical Caiss-Sol, an admiral of the Crux Terran Republic who saved the crumbling, corrupt Republic by taking the reins of power from the Senate, eventually declaring himself emperor.  His dynasty, the Caissid Dynasty, ruled for eighty more years, with Primus, Caiss-Sol's son, and then Primus's adopted son, Octavian, pushing the frontiers of the Empire forward, colonizing a multitude of star systems.  The twenty-one Patron Houses were at this time cementing their power and building themselves as patrician houses, their members filling the, now ceremonial, Senate, the imperial bureaucracy, and the positions of prefect.  Around AI 85, the Caissid Dynasty ended when Octavian failed to produce an heir; House Geminorum was elected by the Senate, with Geminorum urging, to the imperial throne with Authari Nonus Geminus.  A series of rebellions of Outer World colonies tore the Empire apart, and the ruthlessness with which the Geminorum emperors responded with left many worlds depopulated and scarred.  The Geminian Dynasty, to handle the countless internal wars, reordered the Caissid military, updating it for modern use, by training a larger body of marines with heavy orbital dropping training.  After their dynasty of five emperors, all known for their ruthlessness and efficiency, House Geminorum was then removed by the Senate and House Eridani in AI 154, which elected itself to the throne immediately afterwards.  The Eridanian Dynasty only had four emperors on the throne before the Geminian Dynasty came back, putting Secundus Horace Geminus on the throne in AI 215.  Secundus, after a ten cycle reign, was then assassinated by House Andromedae, who replaced Secundus with Emperor Trajan Apollo, who reorganized the Geminian military with the modern Quadrant system, giving out more power to the prefects and governors, especially those of the Outer Worlds. Trajan was followed by his son, Honorius I Trajan Apollo, and then he was followed by Honorius II and Honorius III.  The Andromedan Dynasty was a time of recovery from the Geminian warmongering and Eridianian corruption, refreshing the Empire after two hundred years of existence.  In AI, Honorius III died mysteriously while visiting Astar, possibly by a Geminorum assassin.  The Senate was divided on what House to elect next, when House Serpentis established a three emperor dynasty, the Serpentid Dynasty, while the rest of the galaxy bickered.  Salazar Serpens, the first Serpentid emperor, reformed the Imperial credit system and oversaw a colonizing boom, adding a dozen new systems into the Empire.  His son, Galerius S. Iulius Nerva Serpens was more interested in expanding the Caissian Palace on Crux Terra, adding on new levels and wings, making it into the Golden Palace, and he also was the first emperor to have an official harem.  Galerius produced no legitimate heir, so he adopted a political rival's infant son, who became Aemilian Galerius Serpens.  When Aemilian murdered his adopted father and ascended the Imperial throne, he changed his nomen from Serpens back to his biological family's name of Days, his name becoming Aemilian Tertius, the name of his real father, Galerius Days.  Aemilian ruled for more than ten cycles as a just and merciful emperor, trade flourished and colonies grew during his reign.  Aemilian was ousted by House Cancri, claiming that since he was an Outworlder he was unfit to rule the Empire.  Aemilian fled to Arsinoe and there he and his wife lived until they died of old age.  The Cancrian Dynasty began in AI 275 with Genseric I Osiris Pius Cancer and lasted until 318.  All Cancrian rulers were either named Genseric after their founder, or Horace, a common Cancri praenomen.  A notable period of Cancrian rule was the Rule of Brothers, when Genseric III Caesar Horace Cancer and Horace II Horace Sinister Cancer jointly ruled the burgeoning Empire after the destructive Brothers' War.  Cancrian dominance ended in 318, after a total of seven emperors, with Genseric V G. Dexter Argos Augusts Cancer, who when he died, the Senate elevated House Scorpii to the throne, the great Scorpii admiral, Menelaus Nikophorus Lucian Matthew Scorpius made emperor.  The Scorpian Dynasty reigned until AI 431 with a total of eleven emperors, it was a time of general stability and strong emperors, with many famous emperors and Imperial family members; such as Domitian the Wise, the namesake of the planet Emperor Domitian, and his son Romulus the Mad, who initiated the Third Outer War, and Romulus' successors's daughter, Princess Thalia ended the conflict and had a small, beautiful world named after her.  This great dynasty ended when Menelaus III Menelaus Tiberius crashed in his luxury ship on Aria.  The Senate was again undeceive and divided on which Patron House should claim the throne when the son of the Lord of House Algol took the throne as Ibrahim Samir Akin Maurice Perseus, and ruled as the one and only Algol emperor from AI 431 to 474.  Ibrahim was arrested after forty-three cycles on the throne by House Geminorum and executed for unjust reasons after a long and prosperous reign.  But before House Geminorum could ascend the throne, House Andromedae intervened and had themselves reelected with Septimus Apollo Honorius Domitor Augustus Andromedus, but only two other emperors followed him, and the restored Andromedan Dynasty ended in 490 with the upstart House Arcturi ascending the throne after blackmailing the entire Senate, the act that the Lords of House Arcturi had been planning for hundreds of cycles.  Lord Lucius Aurelius Titus Arcturus took the crown, putting down numerous rebellions and suppressing and fighting back the other Houses, especially his rival House Geminorum.  The first Arcturian Dynasty lasted until 508 with only four emperors when House Libri, having took up the fight against House Arcturi after Arcturi and Geminorum signed the Treaty of Axex, set up a rival emperorship on Ridia, the Libri baseworld, and started the Libra Wars of 506-511, which started out as vicious naval and planetary battles, but settled out into a stalemate cold war in the later years.  There were only two Librian emperors; Caiss V Marcus and his son, Abrecan Caiss Adelard Luthec Librus.  Abrecan was killed by Phocas Gordian Arcturus in the Arcturian bombings of Ridia in 511, ending the short-lived Librian Dynasty and the Libra Wars.  Phocas reclaimed the Empire, taking on the agnomen Hannibal.  His son, Tiberius III Phocas Vespasian Lucius Arcturus reigned during the Empire's first contact with alien life, the Necroid Plague, where the Empire was almost destroyed by the savage, undead lifeforms.  His son, Hadrian Tiberius Trajan Severus ruled after the plague, rebuilding the Empire, guarding against future encounters with alien life, and he turned the Cyclopses into a psychic elite corps after psionics came back to humanity through Meryl Sheridan of Rama II, who ultimately saved the Empire.  Hadrian's son Justinian, was emperor when the Prothen Protectorates contacted the Empire, at first with hostility, but then with friendship, and when the Sinn Empire invaded the Interplanetary Empire and the Great War was fought.  Titus II Justinian Domitor Arcturus, after the death of his father, was held captive on Crux Terra while the Sinn fleet bombarded the planet.  Again the Empire was saved by an unlikely, psychic hero; the outcast and renegade Marcus Sirius and a Prothen justiciar slew the Sinn Thar, Draco Ravorn, and then used their Great Weapon against them, ending the Sinn siege of Crux Terra.  Emperor Titus then ordered the entire Imperial Navy to bomb Akshak, the Sinn throneworld, until no living thing could exist on the planet.  The Sinn moved their capital to Korduun and hastily signed a peace treaty with the Empire.  Titus' son, Trajan Titus Fulvius Victorius Augustus Arcturus reigned for many cycles after the Great War in a time of peace and regrowth.  Trajan's son, Romulus Trajan Antonius Augustus Arcturus ruled the Interplanetary Empire during the Protean Invasion of 659 and the Second Great War, where all sentient races united to stop the Cyth from wiping them out, where the Empire was nearly brought to its knees with the rest of the galaxy.  Again, the Empire and also the galaxy was saved by an Imperial Knight, Trajan Librus, and a small team comprised of all species.    
             
The Interplanetary Empire is dived into four military sectors, the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta Quadrants, which has no effect on the people who live there, but it streamlines military distribution.  Culturally, it is divided into the Inner Worlds and Outer Worlds, the boundary being the Edict Sector.  The inhabitants of Inner Worlds, called Inworlders, have archaic names; tend to have corporate or state jobs; high standards of living; live on populous, fully-terraformed planets with a fast Net and easy transportation; and this is also where the wealthy, industrious Old Houses make their homes, in fact many Inworlders are part of one of the massive Houses.  The Outworlders are used to harder jobs, lower salaries, slower transportation, and a more rugged lifestyle.  Lastly, and most important in the eyes of the state, the Empire is divided into ten prefectures, centered around, and deriving their names from, the worlds New Tanis, Harappa, Clovis, Pretorius, Polyphemus, Atlas, Balder, Astar, New Odessa, and Nara.  The prefects are in charge of maintaining, and ultimately commanding, prefectural garrisons and fleets, though these soldiers are still paid and owe their service to the emperor on Crux Terra.  The Quadrant fleets are under the direct command of the emperor and his chosen admirals.  Inner Worlds are garrisoned by trained ground marines and armor who answer to the planetary governor, and then the prefect, and a mix of prefectural and Quadrant ships patrol the space lanes of the Inner Worlds.  Outer Worlds are garrisoned by special soldiers called Colonial Security officers, or Co-Sec officers, who double as a policing force and planetary garrison as they are given light marine training.  Co-Sec chain of command is like the imperial marine garrisons of the Inner Worlds.  The more dangerous and pirate-ridden space lanes of the Outer Worlds are patrolled by prefectural ships alone.  Militias, unlike in the Inner Worlds, are encouraged by the Outworlder governors and prefects, as long as they then enter into the imperial chain of command.  In the days of the Republic, what is now most of the Inner Worlds was called the Colonial Territories, and the few border systems that would one day be in both the Inner Worlds and Outer, were called the Fringe.  One of the first acts as Emperor of Mankind, Caiss-Sol reformed the Republic economy, changing from the inflated drachmas to the Imperial credit system, whose largest and most common unit was the credit.  Following the credit in value was the bezant, worth half a credit; the aureus, a quarter of a credit; and the denarius, worth a tenth of an Imperial credit.  Caiss-Sol also created the Interplanetary Standard Calendar (ISC) which started with the cycle of his coronation day as Emperor of Mankind, Anno Imperium (AI) 01.  The largest unit of time measurement of the ISC is the cycle, which is how long it takes Crux Terra to orbit once around its sun, Sol Primus.  Smaller standardized measurements of time are seconds, 100 seconds makes a minute, which in turn 100 minutes makes an hour, and 10 hours to a sol and so on.  All of the units of ISC measurement are based off of Crux Terran time; so 5:00 on Crux Terra is when the sun is at its highest, while on another world five o' clock is when the sun is low in the morning sky.  This makes interplanetary business planning easier, as one can give standard time which applies to all planets, though it can make moving to other planets confusing at first.  Cycles before the founding of the empire are shown with -AI after the cycle, for example the cycle Caiss-Sol was born was 34 -AI.  He also made the Interplanetary Standard Measurement System (ISMS) which revolves around eight basic units: the meter (m) for length, the gram (g) for mass, the previously mentioned second (s) for time, the tarquin (T) for electrical current, the boreas (b) for thermodynamic temperature, the lucian (L) for luminous intensity, the arkkilon (a) for amount of substance, and the quintian (Q) for electromagnetic output.  The oldest and most important elements used by the Empire are geon, a noble gas used for industrial and domestic light tubes across the Empire, as well as shipboard lighting and a catalyst in laser weaponry; astarium, a tough but flexible metal most often used for body armor and, in alloys, almost all urban buildings in the Empire; neotanium, a tougher metal used in ships' hulls and military and science buildings; and utherium, an utheride, radioactive but used as the core and key component of fuel cells and power generators, industrial, military, and domestic, across the Empire.   The Empire has not encountered intelligent alien life throughout its entire history, only discovering undeveloped animal lifeforms on certain worlds or adapting their own animals for life on other planets.  There were three alleged claims of discovery of alien life in the Empire's past; the first was during the days of the Caissid Dynasty and the early dynasties, where there was a strong, wide-spread belief in an ancient alien race called the Knowers that existed long before the Empire.  This probably arose from the discovery of ruins on Harappa that turned out to be unusual geologic features, according to the official report.  The second is when an archaeologist, Desiderius Lafayette, who discovered ruins on Regis III in AI 387 that he claimed were made by a race called the Xenotheans.  He formed a religion around his findings, known as the Hybrid Church of Omnology, a cult known for blackmail and attacking those speaking out against it.  The emperors   this new religion until it faded to the background and its threat forgotten.  And thirdly and most recently, scientists discovered a new natural element, epsileus, a crystalline element unlike any other.  People began to talk of aliens, the Precursors, who left the crystal-substance behind them.  This was the most strongly believed by the mass of Imperial citizens because of the scientific backing.  The existence of the Precursors was eventually refuted by scientists from the Academy at Eridani and field scientists investigating the rumored places where the Precursors were supposed to have dwelt, such as the caves of Regis I.  


The state religion of the Interplanetary Empire was, for more than five hundred cycles, the Imperial Faith, which deified Caiss-Sol as the benevolent protector and ancient founder of the Empire, as well as a cult of personality around the current Emperor.  It was Cancrian Emperor Horace III Genseric Porphyrogenitus Cancer that, after the Reign of Brothers, established the Imperial religion to cement belief in Caiss-Sol and the Emperor of Mankind.  After Horace III died, his successors and the Scorpian Dynasty that succeeded them continued to promote the importance  of the Faith, using as a cementing force in the Empire.  Cults dedicated to various, hypothesized alien races such as the Knowers, were common and faded in and out of popularity, but never growing above a small, gnostic cult.  The exception was the Church of Omnology started by Desiderius, which grew and became popular among scholastics and the Empire's celebrities but remained at its heart a secretive cult worshipping the supposed Xenotheans.  By AI 540 Omnology was waning in influence, and finally vanished to the public less than ten cycles later.  Marcus Sirius, the one who ended the Great War, saving both the Interplanetary and Sinn Empires using the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, the Planet Architect; even using it to create a new world now called Marcus' Earth, was killed by a Cyclops assassin once he spacewalked off the mighty vessel he had just sent toward a black hole.  Because of his power and sudden change of heart upon the Architect, sparing the lives of billions and refusing to take out his revenge on the Empire, Marcus became a martyr and a cult formed around him, the Children of Marcus, based on Marcus' Earth.  Crux Terra, the site of Marcus' martyrdom, his birthworld Regis IV, and Marcus' Earth all became holy worlds to the Children.  Soon they put the honorific -Sol at the end of Marcus' name; Marcus-Sol became a god-like figure to the cult, one who transcended his humanity.  Titus II Justinian Arcturus Sinn-slayer, the Emperor who ordered Marcus' death, tried feebly to suppress the cult and the rising faith in Marcus; he stated that the appendage of -Sol to Marcus' name was heresy and understated the role and glory of Caiss-Sol.  But Titus Justinian failed in his attempt to suppress Marcianism.  The Children of Marcus had grown to a major cult and the mass majority of Imperial citizens, whether workers, marines, bureaucrats, or High Inworlders, revered Marcus-Sol in one form of devotion or another.  Statuettes of Marcus-Sol became popular, people swore by the name of Marcus, were married in his name, buried their dead asking for his guidance, and holo-statues of Marcus-Sol watched over the skylines of such worlds as Uther, Sichuan, and Regis IV.  So Titus Justinian gave in.  Near the end of his reign, Titus Justinian officially recognized Marcianism, allowing an enormous holo of Marcus-Sol to be erected on the Boulevard of Emperors on Crux Terra, right next to Caiss-Sol's holo.  It was Titus II's son, Emperor Trajan Titus Fulvius Victorius Augustus Arcturus that made Marcianism the state religion of the Interplanetary Empire on AI 615, much to Empire-wide celebration.  The already celebrated holidays of Marcus' birth on 2.11, his ending of the Great War and creation of Marcus' Earth on 4.23, and his death on 4.24 became Imperial holidays; days where the Emperor threw lavish feasts, workers celebrated with their friends and families, and hostilities ceased.  Marcianism is also popular among the Sinn, whose very existence as a species was saved by the great hero.  Many members of the Children of Marcus are Sinn or Rranthi.  Marcus-Sol is recognized though as the patron of the Interplanetary Empire, space-travel, soldiers, widows, and orphans.  Marcus-Sol's personal symbol, three, many-pointed stars, were added to the Imperial flag on the eagle's chest, during Trajan Titus' reign.                                      

The Progenitors: Kronn and Telophs

The Kronn Bureaucratic Empire:
Throneworld: Krodia Prime
Government: Infinite bureaucracy
Language: Krodarak
The Kronn, originating on the temperate, ocean world of Krodia Prime, wrote down the first records of their race in Paleo-Krodarak roughly 4,150,000 -AI.  The Kronn slowly developed a global bureaucratic hegemony over all Kronn, advancing steadily in technology and exploring all corners of their world.  Around three and a half million years before the Interplanetary Empire, Kronn explorers analyzing Krodia Prime's two moons discovered one was hollow and had the ruins of a massive, alien laboratory in it.  This shock the Kronn heads of state and the general populace, as they believed themselves the first sentient species in the known universe.  Remnants of ancient technology was found in the ruins, which appeared to the Kronn to look like an observatory, which the Kronn utilized, learning from the artifacts the secrets of hyperspace, universal mechanics, and the energies that pervaded this dimension and others.  At this time the Kronn began to understand more and unlock the latent psychic powers in all the members of their species.  The Kronn dubbed the unknown, possibly extinct, aliens that had come before them the Old Ones, or Dra-Tsath in Krodarak.  The Kronn spread from their world and colonized their local system around 3,010,000 -AI, and the next one, and all adjacent star systems to theirs.  They discovered several primitive species, and, like the Dra-Tsath, built hidden observatories and laboratories to watch these primitive, unsophisticated species develop; never did the Kronn interfere with their natural growth or make themselves known to them, as was commanded by the Kronn bureaucracy.  The Kronn thought themselves alone as the sole rulers of a primitive galaxy, which they could rule or shape according to their will, that changed when an alien mothership wandered across the Kronn border.  The species on the ship called themselves the Prothen, or Arunar, and the ship was carrying colonists by order of the Prothen emperor.  The first of the many wars between the Progenitors followed, with the Kronn unwilling to except that other advanced races existed and also to let the colonist ship pass through Kronn space.  The war would have gone on longer, and more star systems ravaged, had not emissaries from the growing Vuri Republic not negotiated peace between the Kronn and Prothen.  Again the Kronn were shocked at the emergence of another advanced race; the feline Vurii of Vurrus, a striking world of great beauty.  Around this time the Infinite Bureaucracy was established in the Kronn's empire, with no head or president, just a giant loop of bureaucratic positions, each answering to other levels of the loop, called cosmocrats.  Peace lasted between the Prothens' and Kronns' empires and the socialist Republic.  It was also in this era that the Kronn began to make themselves known to the various races unknowingly inhabiting their empire, and began to experiment, study, and deport many of them.  The so-called primitive "children species" of the three great powers were treated differently; the Kronn, eugenicists and elitists, enslaved or destroyed many species deemed "unworthy", also the Kronn became very proficient at genetic engineering, altering or experimenting on many species, such as the enslaved Athaneans, or the eventually wiped out Iau.  The Kronn, unlike the Vurii or even the Prothen, did not allow their children species to become citizens of the Empire, unless they favored their race over others, as in the case of the Xala and Thussaserons, who happened to hold the favor of their Kronn overlords.  Galactic wars resumed when the fourth great race, the arthropod Telophs of smoggy Tel'Aga V, who had formed a corporate empire across a great swath of space.  The Vurii helped form a peace between the four species after countless wars, and the Kronn proposed creating a Galactic Tetrarchy of the four great powers to cease the constant and devastating wars, with the seat of the tetrarchy at Krodia Prime.  As peace reigned the Kronn, the greatest of the four in size and power, advanced more in science, becoming masters at genetic engineering and hyperspace technology, as well as psionics, which was Kronn's greatest strength; they mastered many arcane abilities such as spacewalking and universal precognition.  They tried continually to create life, instead of merely tampering with primitive species.  They succeeded, around 2,316,000 -AI, creating a beneficial microorganism.  Many trillions inhabitants of the Tetrarchy had colonies of the organisms implanted in their spinal cords, giving many beneficial effects to the hosts.  Then something changed in the organisms; a fluke in their hive mind consciousness.  Trillions of the galactic fringe colonists, who had received the microscopic implants first to aid them in their more rugged lives, were killed by the organisms then reanimated as un-breathing, dead, merciless monsters.  The Kronn failed to hold back the infection in large part due to the numerous  rebellions of their children species, especially the more primitive ones like Maanasa, Athaneans, and Enukians, who comprised a vast portion of the Kronn armed forces.  The rebellions distracted Kronn resources and military forces from fighting the infection.  The infection spread throughout the galaxy, the Kronn tried desperately to fix their mistake; first they created a sentient, artificially intelligent race called the Cyth from Dra-Tsath technology, to combat the Telophs and to wipe out the infection; then by performing a successful Cybresis on the next generation of Prothen younglings making them near-immune to the infection and able to combat the malfunctioning Cyth; then finally by building monoliths on worlds across the galaxy that channeled a frequency that pacified the infection, but it was to late and Krodia Prime, after centuries of war, was destroyed by the infection.  The Kronn Bureaucratic Empire was no more and a Kronn was not seen again, only the devastated ruins of their civilization remained.  The Millennia Stillness followed this so called Dark Epoch of war.                  

Teloph Trade Combine:
Capital: Tel'Aga V
Government: Corporatocracy
Language: Teloph
The arthropodal, four-armed, Telophs hailed from the barren, irradiated world of Tel'Aga V, located in the beta quadrant of the galaxy.  Life for the early Telophs was hard and life-expectansy was short; the gigantic sun of their homeworld pounded the surface of the world with radiation, killing most Telophs and native fauna and flora quickly and at a young stage, and the sparse amount of resources made life primitive and harsh.  Teloph culture was based around death and one's immanent death, little times was wasted building monuments or vast cities, but instead to catacombs and tombs.  Resources were always scarce on their harsh world; guilds quickly formed to manage and claim resources, often becoming more powerful than local rulers or allied councils.  The guilds, around the same time the Kronn were landing on their moons, formed into global corporations and mega-corps, ruling cities, nations, and entire continents.  The Teloph corporations began colonizing star systems when the Kronn had already established a sizable interplanetary empire, but unlike the Kronn who were unified throughout their entire history, the Teloph mega-comoanies and corporations fought with each other continually for planets, resources, and energy.  It was their first contact and war with the Kronn and Prothen empires where the Teloph powers signed the Treaty of Tel'Aga IX, uniting the corporations into the Teloph Trade Combine, which was in charge of the defense and foreign relations of the corporations, but they still retained inner autonomy.  The Combine attacked the Kronn and Prothen so viscously due to the lust for more resources and also jealously at the two species who hailed from stable, lush worlds and who were not weaned on the eternal presence of a cancerous death.  When the wars ended and the Galactic Tetrarchy period began, the Telophs always resisted Kronn supremacy, often opposing them in the Tetrarchal Council on Krodia Prime.  The Telophs, similar to the Kronn, did not treat their children species as citizens of their federation, instead using them as laborers, soldiers, slaves, and experiments; stripping resources from their worlds and carrying away their population to work on foreign worlds.  Unlike the Kronn who mastered genetic engineering and rarely made a mistake, the Telophs toyed with dozens of species, their brutal, un-elegant methods often ending in disaster; such as the Yurgh Rebellion, where billions of mutated Yurgh rebelled all across the Combine, resulting in their extinction at Teloph and Tetrarchal Peacekeeper hands.  When the Kronn created life in the form of the microorganism, Telophs, like the rest of the galaxy, filed into lines at Kronn labs and hospitals, receiving the spinal injection.  When the Dark Epoch began with the infection, the Telophs lost all of their children species, except for the Hrullgi who clung desperately onto life for another thousand or more years.  The Telophs, furious at the Kronn, withdrew officially from the Tetrarchy, closing their borders to everyone as they fought ineffectually against the infection.  The Combine fleet then began attacking the disintegrating Kronn border, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties as the Kronn had to fight both the Combine fleet and infection.  Kronn scientists then created the Cyth, a robotic race designed for one thing: genocide.  Cyth fleets poured across the galaxy, combating the infection and, as ordered by the Kronn Bureaucracy, the Trade Combine.  Teloph armies and fleets were swatted aside by the unstoppable robotic force, destroying all of Teloph space; not even ruins were left.  What was left of the Teloph race had their last stand on Tel'Aga XXI; the Cyth came from the sky, slaughtering and destroying all defenses while the infection attacked from behind the Teloph line.  Most, if not all traces of the Teloph race disappeared with them; and thousands of years later, the Hrullgi were wiped out by the Prothen in war, removing the last legacy of the Telophs.          

The Unification of the Shadowed Realm

Very long ago, when men were just discovering the world they inhabit, the Fair Ones of the Shadowed Realm were already forging small principalities and petty fiefdoms, each fighting or forming short-lived alliances with its neighbors, none holding dominion for long.  That was until the son of a warrior-prince, Auberon Marc Turin came to power over his little kingdom.  From there the charismatic and, strange for a Fair One, focused and single-minded prince used force of arms or diplomacy to gain dominance over the adjoining principalities, forming the Grand Fiefdom of Quiet-Fell-Dale.  The princes and princesses of the other fiefs either joined Auberon's side, allying themselves closely to the powerful Fair One; or they opposed him, such as the princes of Black-Post.  Auberon's wars and policies of expansion continued for a century, some domains thrown into chaos as they tried to oppose him especially at the urging of Stephen Fir Argent, the cunning and brooding prince of Black-Post.  Quiet-Fell-Dale finally won the wars when John Tel Cobalt, prince of Gossamer Reach, added his army and clever mind to the might of Auberon's alliance.  Stephen Argent decided to surrender, at the persuasion of Fiona O Yulla, princess of the Green Lands and the newly possessed City of Fifty Tears.  Jack Hoarglass, prince of Glass-Fold and Lost Wind Moors, led many of his fellow princes and princesses to peacefully accept Auberon's rule.  Auberon, instead of ruling as an emperor from Quiet-Fell-Dale, built a new city on the banks of the Fyn River; Fiaill Meri served as the seat of the high kingship of the Shadowed Realm, where the princes and princesses of the realm would gather and elect one, not just of their own ranks but any Fair One they saw fit, to rule as lord of lords, prince of Quiet-Fell-Dale, and High King of the Shadowed Realm.  Auberon was elected the first High King by his supporters, as well as Stephen Fir Argent and some of the princes at first resistant of Auberon Marc Turin's rule.  There was stability at last in the Shadowed Realm under Auberon's high kingship; trade prospered amongst the still autonomous principalities; family feuds were controlled or restricted; and travel to the natural world was regulated by the High Law of the land.  Then word reached Auberon's court that the Mighty One, Darmun, and his kin were planning an invasion of the Shadowed Realm.  The Mighty Darmun had been ruling the mortal world for ages now as dictator, ruling with an iron fist of industry and unquestionable authority over men, which the Fair Ones had not cared about; for what were the concerns and troubles of men to them?  But the news of this planned invasion spurned Auberon to send Dane, a Fair One knight from the court at Fiaill Meri, to aid the human Boron, who had just discovered the power of magic long known to the Fair Ones.  Knight Dane never returned, but Darmun was overthrown and the invasion of the Shadowed Realm disappeared with him.  And so the Fair Ones cared no more for the toils of men, though they continued to visit their world and cause fun or mischief, much to the consternation of humanity's immortal guardians.  As the human world was a constant changing sea of politics and nations, the Shadowed Realm remained in a state of peace for ages, with only minor intrigues and heroic adventures to mark the passage of time.  That was until the high kingship failed.  No one was sure who the assassin of the High King Remus Ley Kirkwall was; some said it was one of the ilk of the Mighty One, Darmun; others that it was a human, hired from the mortal realm; and yet some others said it was a Fair One, perhaps a prince, perhaps Stephen Fir Argent had ordered it.  No one knew, and no one still knows.  But at the meeting to elect a new high king, all the Fairy Princes and Princesses could not come to a decision on who to elect, each was either voting for him or her self, or for some bold knight or humble country fairy. So the throne remained empty.    

Nersarrim Hegemony

Throneworld: Korduun;  historically, Akshak
Government: Magocratic dictatorship
Species: Nersarr, Rranthi, Querillians, Vorra, Zadadd
Langauge: Umerian (official)
Long ago, a ship carrying the outcasts and criminals of Eridu was sent from the great metropolis world into the blackness of deep space.  The ship, a behemoth of metal and filled with the pariahs, drifted past the Wall of Orion, a nebula notorious for blocking starship sensors and causing crashes, and to the jungle world of Akshak itself.  The ship crashed landed into the Sargon Crater, killing hundreds of the enclosed inmates and destroying part of the ship.  The passengers of the ship escaped from their multi-generational prison and scattered into the jungles, forming fragmented little tribes and gangs.  That was until Ishu-Il, the leader of a sizable force of inmates, militarized his gang and began uniting them into a cohesive force.  Soon the gangs and tribes of thugs turned into clans and patronal tribes, and soon these tribes began to spread across the wild world, fighting off or domesticating the natural wildlife.  Ishu-Il continued to expand and conquer, utilizing and advancing the outcasts' primitive technology.  Life on Akshak was hard; though water and food were plentiful, it was an unforgiving world full of wild and unforgiving creatures and poisonous plants.  Ishu-Il and the rest of the outcasts would have slowly been wiped out by the planet itself if not for a discovery one of Ishu-Il's people made.  It was a scout, searching for new sources of water for Ishu-Il's growing tribe, who discovered, while deep in the jungle, had crossed a range of jagged mountains and found the ruins of an ancient pyramid.  Inside the strange ruins was a monolith constructed of an unknown material and an assortment of alien artifacts.  Ishu-Il rushed to investigate the ruins himself in hopes of new sources of energy; all the tribes had fallen into an energy crisis as they began running out of laser and power cells which powered what equipment and technology had been salvaged off the ship.  Ishu-Il could make nothing of the ruins, until he accidently activated a homing beacon inside the one of the vast halls of the ruined temple.  Not long afterwards, a clan of Asa Prothen landed around the temple in response to the beacon.  They took pity upon the humans, which they took to be a child species of the Kronn of Vurii that survived the genocide of the Dark Epoch.  The chief of the Asa clan, Pa'varri, took a slab of stone and wrote several paragraphs of script in the language of the Prothen, he then wrote under these the translation in the tongue of humans which he learned telepathically from Ishu-Il.  The Asa left quickly afterwards.  Using the stone, Ishu-Il was able to translate the alien script that covered the ruined temple because of its similarity to the Prothen script; what he learned changed the course of the outcasts forever.  An ancient history spread before him, a story of ancient species and lost utopias, and of war and destruction, and of wondrous technology and mystical powers.  Ishu-Il discovered the archives of the temple, where he learned about Kronn society, culture, and technology.  Most importantly, he learned of the psionic powers latent in all people of all species.  Ishu-Il, upon leaving the temple after that first night felt something unlock within his brain.  He quickly excelled at using his new found psionic powers, using them to subvert tribal leaders or raging animals; learning at night from the temple archives of more uses and ways to use his powers.  The Kronn had used their psionics to power machinery, advance science, or do complex tasks; Ishu-Il adapted his for the harsh environment of Akshak.  Eventually Ishu-Il, once his supremacy as a tribe leader and his secret skill at psionics was sufficiently advanced, he allowed others from his tribe to learn the Prothen-script and read from the temple walls.  Soon Ishu-Il had an elite, unbeatable cadre of psychics to further his plans and defend his tribe.  Using what he had learned from the temple and the Asa Prothen, Ishu-Il was able to save his tribes from the energy crisis with psionics and the secret technologies of the Kronn, or the Great Elder Ones as they were named by him.  The psionics of Ishu-Il and his disciples was focused around controlling the minds of others and manipulating nature, which gave Ishu's tribe dominance of the savage world that had for so long been killing of the outcasts trying to colonize it; the name "sorcerer" was eventually taken on by the disciples of Ishu-Il, and Ishu himself took the title as well.  Soon with his sorcerers and crystal-based technology, Ishu-Il claimed rule of the entire planet, giving himself the Kronn-script title of Thar, or sorcerer-emperor of the Nersarrim, a name he gave to mean the human outcasts, derived from the Kronn-script word for successors, or children, mneru-sarrim.  Under Ishu-Il, the Nersarr began to develop into a unique culture, soon forgetting their cultural ancestry with the humans of Eridu.  It was in this era that Nersarrim adopted the long robes and flowing garments, Kronn-worship, and their hybrid Kronn-Terran language of Umerian that would define them in the coming centuries.  While they were again able to produce technology thanks to the secrets inside the temple, Nersarr lacked any advanced weaponry, as they had reverted back to primitive swords and arrows, so their sorcerers took normal swords and infused them with powerful psionics, making them always sharp and able to cut through most materials, like the Prothen blades of the Asa; it was thanks to these sorcerers wielding the Nersarrim swords that made the subjugation of the numerous tribes possible.  As Thar of the Nersarrim, Ishu-Il began constructing pyramidal temples to the Kronn all over the jungle-world, and he built a capital city, the first city on Akshak, of Xaga-Ra in Sargon Crater.  Ishu-Il died and his successors had to deal with numerous civil wars as tribe after tribe rebelled, but finally peace did come to the Nersarrim tribes, and outward expansion came.  Having settled all of Akshak with thousands of temples and hundreds of cities, the Nersarr started to colonize the worlds around Akshak and the Nersarrim Hegemony was truly born.  The Nersarr eventually encountered the four remaining children species of the Tetrarchy, first the Rranthi of Ranthathol, who the Nersarr defeated in several battles and then made a close military alliance with; the Querillians of Querillia, who submitted to the Hegemony since they lacked Prothen protection; the Vorra of Keleq waged a savage war against the Nersarr conquerors, but they too were defeated and subjugated; and the Zadadd of Gauk Zada also resisted and were also conquered.  As their empire grew, the Nersarr had little contact with the Prothen, Asa clans would wander into the empire but would not stay long, and the Protectorates kept to themselves, especially after the Hegemony conquered the children species.  Centuries passed and the Millennia Stillness came to an end; a new empire rose up centered around the human world of Crux Terra rose up, colonizing star system after star system.  The current Thar, Angard Shadow watched as the Nersarrim's long lost ancestors, humans, unleashed a Necroid plague on themselves, and were able to sop it and learned of the psychic power in their race.  Angard, desiring to lay claim to the great world of Crux Terra, began amassing an armada.  The invasion failed and its remains drifted back to Akshak in defeat; his power destabilized by the crushing failure with such an expensive armada, the sorcerer-lords of the outer Nersarrim worlds and most of the Vorra rebelled against Angard Shadow.  Shadow died in his bed at the palace in Xaga-Ra a broken and old man.  His son Kaga Diin inherited his throne as Thar and put down the rebellion and instituted peace in the Empire.  He ruled justly until an illegitimate son of Angard Shadow named Draco Ravorn challenged Kaga Diin's rule.  They dueled outside the imperial palace with their swords while the sorcerer-lords watched; Draco triumphed only by throwing sand in the eyes of Kaga Diin and then beheading him.  Draco Ravorn immediately began rebuilding the fleet of his father, saying that the Kronn, the gods of the Nersarr, had an empire that had reached all corners of the galaxy, so why should the Nersarr not rebuild this glorious empire of the gods?  Draco planned to attack both the Prothen at Arung Uni and humans on Crux Terra.  Draco personally led the fleet assaulting Crux Terra, which reached the planet after taking dozens of Imperial worlds along the way.  The fleet sent to Arung Uni was swept aside by a Prothen fleet once it reached Protectorate space.  At first the siege of Crux Terra was in the Nersarrim's favor, their warriors landed on the surface and their sorcery was weakening the human front; and as human forces were beginning to reclaim parts of the city-world, the Nersarr unleashed their most powerful Kronn artifact, the Planet Architect.  But a human outcast from the House Sirii, Marcus, and a Prothen justiciar, Kha'yas, snuck onboard Draco's flagship and dueled him, Marcus with his rifle, Khayas with his laser sword and Draco with his Nersarrim blade.  Draco was killed when he was pushed from his ship by the two heroes in the height of their duel.  A Prothen fleet was dispatched from Arung Gaanes that destroyed most of the Nersarrim blockade and invading armada, and then an Imperial human fleet chased the fleeing survivors across the Wall to Akshak, which the humans devastated; turning the lush jungle-world to a blasted wasteland.  The sorcerer-lords fled to the old Nersarrim world of Korduun and hastily signed a peace treaty with the Imperial admiral of the fleet.  One of the sorcerers was elected Thar, the Nersarr withdrew, keeping the peace with the Interplanetary Empire.              

Caiss-Sol

Born on Crux Terra, 34 -AI, Caiss-Sol was the son of an influential senator in the Republic Senate.  At an early age Caiss dreamed of one day being elected to the position of Chancellor of the Republic.  Caiss grew up at a very exciting age; Crux Terran colony ships were leaving the world every day to found new colonies or populate existing ones, the rapid expansion was destabilizing the Republic and bringing up issues of government and independence, and science and technology were advancing at a never before seen rate.  Caiss lived in a skytower with his family and a host of servants, his father was gone most of his youth; either at the Senate or traveling to the colonies and his mother was very active in unification programs was gone most days.  Caiss was raised by his older sister, Marca, and an old servant and tutor, Benedikte, a colonial and veteran of the Londor Rebellion.  Benedikte always told the young boy that there was greatness about him, unlike his father, and that one day Caiss would save the crumbling Republic.  Marca tried to counterbalance Benedikte's rebellious ideas with a calmer, more peaceful upbringing.  Benedikte's words won over Marca's peace-loving ones; Caiss grew up, left his homeworld and attended the Academy at Eridani, quit much to the displeasure of his aging parents, and instead enlisted in the military academy on Axex, the Republic navy base in the Colonial Territories.  Caiss excelled, easily becoming the top in his class, and was promised a leadership position once he graduated.  It was on Axex that Caiss met Septima Gaia, the daughter of a senator from the Londor colony.  Septima was on Axex at the time to visit her brothers, Tertius and Ludeovic, and she was there to review some data at the observatory on the planet.  They fell in love and quickly began having an affair in secret, since her father and his were rivals in the Senate.  Caiss graduated, was given command of a battleship and sent to suppress yet another uprising in the Laurion System.  Caiss was so successful in the battle and shrewd in his diplomacy that the Senate awarded him various honors and medals and promoted him to commodore, and stationed him on Atlas, an important, populous, Inner World.  With a growing reputation backing him, Caiss approached Septima's father, Gaius, and asked for his blessing; Gaius, seeing young Caiss's growing reputation and prowess, agreed, and Caiss and Septima Gaia were married in a grand wedding on Crux Terra.  Caiss returned to Atlas with his bride and continued to suppress rebellion after rebellion, soon most Territories worlds lived in fear of Caiss and his fleet entering their skies.  Septima gave birth to twins, Primus and Secunda, and not long after, another daughter, Kreka; Caiss was always happy to see his family waiting for him when he would return from the Fringe.  Then tensions escalated on Crux Terra in the Senate, the split between the Londorian senators wanting sovereignty and the Terran senators wanting unity.  Caiss, now admiral, was sent with Admiral Hallo to bombard Londor after Senator Gaius issued an ultimatum and formed the Londor League.  Things seemed to settle down after the bombings and Caiss began his alliance with fellow admiral Hallo, and Circini, an orator from Talisis.  This triumvirate began plotting how they would save the Republic and restore order and peace.  Hatred and resentment still simmered in the Senate and three months after the forming of the triumvirate, in 02 -AI, dozens of colonial systems declared independence from the Republic and established their own governments and formed a new federation, the Nara League.  The Republic fleet was mobilized and the Chancellor ordered them to reclaim the worlds from the "rebels".  Caiss led his fleet to many victories against the League, reclaiming almost all of the Colonial Territories; but while he was gone, the son of the Chancellor, Crucius, was staying at Caiss's family skytower where the young man fell madly in love with Marca and raped her that night.  The news of this reached Caiss unexpectedly quickly, he immediately left the colonies, flying straight to Crux Terra and demanded the Chancellor give up his son to be tried and brought to justice.  Eugenus Crassus, the chancellor, refused and ordered Caiss to return to the warfront.  Caiss, fueled with his rage at Crucius's shameful act, found the wretch and brought him back to his battleship on the warfront.  There he held a military trial and had Crucius executed, all before Chancellor Crassus found out.  Then, not long after Crucius's execution, the news of Hallo's death reached Caiss and Circini; Hallo had been the mediator between the two ambitious men, so upon his death Caiss and Circini became rivals for power.  Caiss turned his fleet around and jumped to the rim of the Crux System: to cross the Crux Rim with his fleet in tow would mean he was declaring war on the Republic.  Caiss sat for hours, thinking, while the Senate sent desperate orders to lay down his command.  Caiss finally rose, declared "The pieces are set.", and jumped his fleet to the exosphere of Crux Terra.  By this act Caiss declared a civil war against the Republic.  Circini arrived behind Caiss with a relief force to defeat Caiss in the name of the Senate.  The two rivals fought to a stalemate above the capital, the stalemate lasted for several days until Circini backed down and Caiss drove him from the system.  Caiss landed, marched into the Senatorial Palace and deposed Chancellor Eugenus.  He then summoned the Senate and put them under house arrest inside the Senate Hall untill they would declare him Chancellor.  They did so in 01 -AI, and all the Inner Worlds were under his control; the Outer Worlds were split in half, with some either fearful or awed by Caiss and pledged themselves to him and the rest continued to rebel against Crux Terra.  Caiss, now called Caiss-Sol, retrieved his wife and children from Atlas to live in the Senatorial Palace.  Caiss-Sol then gathered together the entire Republic armed forces and began the Wars of Formation, which had officially began with him attacking Crux Terra, to unite all inhabited worlds under his rule.  The wars, though gruesome and savage, lasted only a cycle and a half, ending with Caiss-Sol's self coronation on 01 Anno Imperium after the last independent world had fallen in the Siege of Londor.  The Senate, while still in existence and allowed to meet, were purely ceremonial and constantly watched by the new Emperor's agents.  Emperor Caiss-Sol and his wife, Empress Septima Gaia,  continued to expand the new Empire's borders; science and technology continued to advance after stagnating during the rebellions and Wars of Formation; an efficient, streamlined imperial bureaucracy was put in place, with an ordered hierarchy governing the increasing number of worlds in the Empire; interplanetary trade flourished; and the Imperial Navy and Army grew more powerful and feared.  Caiss-Sol ruled until AI 37, when he died a portion of the planet-wide city of Crux Terra was set aside as the Imperial Necropolis where Caiss-Sol, first Emperor of the Galaxy, and veterans of the Wars were entombed.  Empress Septima ruled as regent for her son Primus until he ascended the throne in AI 46.  When the Empress Mother died two and a half cycles later, she was placed next to her husband.  So began the Empire.              
  

The Dark Epoch

Kronn
 Rranthi
 Zadadd
 Vorra
 Necroids
 Genks
 Xala
 Maanasa
 Athaneans
 Thussaserons
 Iau
 Curians
 Enukians
 Phaldar
 Narubs

Telophs
 Hrullgi
 Tarus
 Galxthoricans

Prothen
 Notross
 Querillians
 Tairians
 Urubs

Vurii
 Iusai
 Durxians
 U'bani
 Iunnarumos
 Barari

The Kronn ruled the galaxy for untold eons, using a complex but functional bureaucracy.  They, along with the industrial, star-gazing Telophs; the psionic, warrior, and robotics-loving Prothen; and peacekeeping, artistic, orderly, Vurii; ruled the galaxy in the Galactic Tetrarchy comprised of the Kronn Bureaucratic Empire, Teloph Trade Combine, Prothen Empire, and Vuri Republic.  Each spawned and guarded over various descendent species, the Kronn being the most expert and prolific at this.  Thus the galaxy was filled with numerous species, each able to trace its lineage back to one of the Progenitors, as the tetrarchy was called.  Then, to the wonder of all, the Kronn created life; not merely improving on native species or creating subspecies as they and the other Progenitors had done, but real, unique, organic life.  It was a highly adaptive, tenacious microorganism that attached to large creatures' spinal columns and lived in a mutual relationship with the host.  The Kronn, many of the Telophs, some of the Prothen, and billions of the children species began to allow colonies of these microorganisms to attach to themselves, with many beneficial affects caused by them.  The entire galaxy celebrated the Kronns' achievement and the Kronn cemented their supremacy while the galaxy sat on the threshold of a new era unlike none ever seen before.  Then the organisms, being ruled by a hive mind, began to infect all those that carried them.  First the corners of the galaxy gave way to the infection, with those with weaker systems dying and then reanimating and infecting those uninfected.  Entire species were wiped out and a galactic-wide panic ensued; the Telophs, their children species either wiped out, infected, or lost, closed all contact with the Kronn and closed off their borders.  They then began attacking the disintegrating borders of the Kronn Bureaucracy, causing heavy casualties.  The Kronn devised a desperate plan to stop both the infection and the Telophs: they created life again.  This time it was artificial intelligence; a race of robots called the Cyth bent on eradicating the infection and Telophs.  The Telophs collapsed under the systematic, relentless robotic assault; Telophs' had their gruesome last stand at the storage world of Tel'Aga XXI where the Teloph defenders were attacked by a Cyth invasion from space and infected Telophs from behind.  But then the Cyth did something unexpected; they began a systematic invasion of both the Prothen and Vurii, causing thousands of deaths and weakening Prothen defenses.  To this point the Prothen Empire and, to a lesser extent, the Republic had been fighting valiantly against the infection, even taking back some lost worlds but with the coming of the Cyth their defenses broke and the two Kronn creations poured into the Prothen Empire.  Vurii were overwhelmed and whatever of their race remained fled to a far corner of the galaxy, abandoning the Prothen to their own fate.  Just as it seemed like the Prothen were to be the next Telophs, the Kronn, in their ever more desperate attempts to stop the infection, preformed a technological and psionic miracle on the next generation of Prothen younglings.  They made them cyborgs; part organic, part machines.  The rest of the pure organic Prothen died off fighting the Cyth and the infection, then the cyborg Prothen generation, impervious to the infection, and their offspring came to power in the shrunken Empire.  Their new augments gave the Prothen more strength and power in battle, enabling them to fight both the infected and the Cyth more effectivly, but still the Cyth pushed toward Arung Uni.  At the same time an infected swarm of untold numbers was getting ever closer to Krodia, homeworld of the Kronn and heart of the galaxy, the Kronn defenses kept failing and trillions of Kronn were dead or infected and most of their children species were the same.  As their last act, as the infected monstrosities filled the skies of Krodia, Kronn scientists discovered a frequency that could affect the hive mind, and thus the entire infection.  Scouts in the fastest ships and Kronn behind the infected swarm were given the instructions build monoliths on all worlds within several thousand lightyears of Krodia that were heavily infected, these monoliths were then tuned to the frequency to call and pacify all infected within several lightyears of the monoliths.  The Kronn who built these monoliths then watched as Krodia fell to the infection.  The galaxy was now shrouded in a great darkness.  The few remaining Kronn disappeared from history, and only four of the original thousands of children species survived.  The Prothen, left alone as the masters of the galaxy, continued to fight the Cyth with the infection gone, but Prothen casualties continued to rise and the war dragged on.  The Cyth are arguably the most powerful species and force in the galaxy, even more powerful than their Kronn creators, designed specifically by the Kronn for genocide of an already genocidal species, thus not even the Prothen, a warrior race, could hold them back.  A Prothen executor, Arykhas,  devised a way to hopefully stop the Cyth onslaught.  He boarded the fastest ship and flew past the Cyth front, to where the Cyth overmind resided on a lost Kronn world.  According to legend the overmind made a connection with the executor and they negotiated with each other.  Arykhas eventually agreed to sacrifice himself to end the Cyth assault.  The Cyth withdrew to deep space and wait in case the infection was ever unleashed again.  The Prothen, suffering the loss of several generations, around 200 trillion, reformed their society into a strict caste-system, dissolved the heirless empire and made a council of caste archons led by a matriarch.  The new Protectorates slowly rebuilt their race, constantly vigilant for the return of the the infection or the Cyth, and also guarding over the four remaining children species; the Rranthi, Vorra, Zaddad, and Hrullgi, all children of the Kronn, except Hrullgi.  The Hrullgi, forming a trade empire like their parent species the Telophs, rebelled against the guardianship of the Prothen, resulting in the Hrullgis' eventual extinction.  These eons after the end of the Dark Epoch and before the modern era is called the Millennia Year Stillness due to the almost calm that settled over the galaxy.  The Prothen scoured the galaxy looking for surviving or unknown species, desperate to find more survivors from the Dark Epoch.  They were successful; for they almost immediately found an alien race unknown to the Kronnian races, a little species just then achieving space-flight.  The Prothen watched as the race spread at a surprising rate, colonizing and populating entire star systems like Prothen never could.  The High Council decreed that the Prothen could not interfere, but they were more and more worried that this new race would unbalance the order that had pervaded over the galaxy for thousands of years.                   

The Eldritch Queen

All is not right in Bethmoora; good High King Balor of Silver Lance was assassinated for unprovoked reasons not one year ago.  All of Bethmoora mourned his grizzly passing; wishing for the high king back or a suitable replacement quickly, before another Faerie War broke out.  An erlkin with a small fief in Quiet-Post presented herself to the Parliament of East Tolori as the new candidate.  Her name was Nyneve and she seized the crown that very day.  She cast down the usurper Oberon as her first act as high queen; her second was to place all members of the Parliament under "indeterminate leave of absence".  About six months ago, the folk hero Robin Goodfellow spoke out against her seizure of the crown and turning of Bethmoora into an empire.  Nyneve, or by now the Eldritch Queen, arrested good Puck and placed him in Darknettle Prison, at the end of Traveller's Road in the Snow Mountains.  The Eldritch Queen enslaved the boggarts and dark elves to make her an army: an army of golden men to control her empire.  To help protect this secret project, she set up a spy network and secret police order, called in fearful whispers, the Dark Ones.  The Eldritch Queen was, about four weeks ago, about to unveil her construct army when Nuada, bastard son of Titania the Seeress and the enigmatic earl, Lugh, came to Lyonesse, her new capital, and having rescued some of the members of the disbanded Parliament, Announced himself the true high king and declared war on the Eldritch Queen.  Nuada, with the funding of a merchant named Stiltskin, formed his rebellion around Eiru Lake.  It has been called the Eiru Alliance ever since.  The Eldritch Queen, as seen recently, became quite desperate as the Alliance won a series of victories over mercenary armies of trolls and dark elves and her golem army was not yet ready.  She did the most dangerous thing done in this century; she went herself deep into the Tristram Woods and spoke to the vile sorcerer Merlin; who agreed to help the Queen only is she would marry him.  All political really, Merlin's demand, though Nyneve isn't half-bad looking.  Merlin, as agreed on, strode onto the field at the Battle of Lupin Bridge amidst the chaos and blood.  No one is sure how or what happened, but not one elf, dwarf, pixie, or troll survived the battle; all seemed to be laid to waste by that loathsome sorcerer.  Nuada, and I'm sure the Eldritch Queen both reeled from the destruction wrought at the battle, I dare say the Queen didn't realize what she had awoken and brought on Bethmoora.  In desperation, Nuada looked for Oberon, finding the petty pretender huddled in some village near my own home-stead; Avalon was the town.  It was just a thick mire of shattered rooftops, muck-filled alleyways, thieves, rapists, and victims.  Nuada apparently urged the coward Oberon to join the Alliance.  Old Merlin and the Queen seemed to have had an argument, because the battle fought yesterday, you know, the Battle for Tir na Nog, pathetic Oberon shuffled onto the field unhindered and in one piece; and then a miracle happened.  Something must have awoken in Oberon, for the skies opened at his command and fire destroyed the Queen's ogres.  Nuada, eager to take the throne, pushed on to East Tolori, the old and rightful capital and home of the Lia Fall; but their was suddenly an unexpected twist in the story.  Only this morning, Merlin, disgusting as ever with his patched robes and grimy beard, announced to all of Bethmoora that he supported the real claimant to the throne, Arthur, true son of Balor, and took him to take the Sword from the Stone this morning.  But did you hear what happened?  As little Arthur reached out his hand, he was assassinated!  By whom, I'm not sure, no one is.  My suspicion is that it was that Uther fellow, the new changeling from across the Wall.  Well, I think he did us a service, though Herne and that immortal Genevieve may undue what Pendragon did.  Anyways, I wonder, stranger, where you have been these past few months, to not know who the Queen or Nuada are?  But 'tis not my business.  Well I am off to Nimue, seeing as she is the only sane one in this realm.  Would you care to join me?  She offers protection to any Danann who comes to her.  No?  Suit yourself.  Pleasure metting you; oh, and stay away from Lyonesse or East Tolori, I hear a great battle is about to take place since Her Majesty's gilded army is ready.  Farewell!