Arung Iilum Archives: The Eagle of the Imperium

Iarius looked at himself in the mirror, the hologram highlighting the areas of his uniform or hair that needed adjusting.  He nodded, satisfied with his appearance.  Their was a knock and the metal doors, opened to show Nessith standing in a Curian robe and headdress; as was the custom of his species.
"After that day from hell, with us wondering if we would ever see Eridu again; here we are in the palace of the Emperor himself, and you about to be made captain."  he said as he strode into the lavishly furnished room.  Nessith's black eyes, accustomed to the spartan lifestyle of the Imperium Army and his homeworld of Curgu, scanned the room in distaste.
"My, it's a wonder you Terrans don't go blind due to all this color and grow fat with this rich indulgence.    
"It's good to see you again, old friend."  Iarius said, smiling at his friend and comrade.  They clapsed each other's hands.
"It's true; I thought we wouldn't get off Arsinon alive.  But we did, Nessith, both of us.  And here we are, honored by the Emperor himself!"
A servant entered the room, announcing,
"His Imperial Majesty, Octavian Regulus Vallerun will recieve you now in his throne room."
Iarius looked at Nessith.
"Alright, here we go."
The Fringe Wars nearly brought the opulent Galactic Imperium to it knees.  The Fringe Rebellion and Sinn destroyed Arsinon, the second greatest planet in the Imperium, and ravaged the Fringe and Fronteer Regions.  But the War was abruptly ended by the emergence of the "Swarm" on Arsinon and reappearance of the Prothen.
The fifty-foot tall, golden doors slid back, soundlessly into the wall; the Galactic Emperor's throne room appeared before Iarius.  A red carpet flowed past zycite columns to the foot of the golden stairs of the throne; the ceiling, hundreds of feet above, was a holographic image of the galaxy, a great wheel of silver dust and auric dots.  Some twenty thousand people of all species of the Imperium were seated in the hover-booths lined against both walls.  The entire Senate seemed to be gathered here.  Iarius swallowed, exhaled, and walked down the red carpet.  He noticed fellow marines from Arsinon and General Reynolds standing at the foot of the throne.  Iarius and Nessith reached the stairs, bowed, and took their place next to the other marines.  All the whispered conversations and chattering stopped abruptly as the Emperor rose, the Herculean Guard, clad in modified marine armor and scarlet capes, stood ever-present behind their Emperor.
"A week ago a great tragedy struck the Imperium: Arsinon was violently destroyed.  Many more would have died, if not for Legate Marov and his men.  Unfortunately, the honored Legate passed away early this morning." Iarius and the other marines bowed their heads sadly, silently honoring the Legate.  "General Reynolds, step forward."  the Emperor of the Galaxy, crimson and gold cape trailing after him, descended the metal steps to stand before Reynolds.
"You are now Legate Reynolds of the Imperium Army."  Emperor Octavian took a medal from a velvet-lined metal case a courtier held at the Galactic Emperor's side.  The cathedral-sized chamber was filled with thunderous applause, Nessith shook his head irritably as Iarius clapped with everyone else.  Next the Emperor turned to Iarius.
"Lieutenant Iarius, Colonel Erzza tells me you have wanted to join the Navy for some time, is that still your wish?  But first, Legate."
Reynolds nodded,
"Form rank!"  he commanded the marine officers, "Attention!"  the marines formed a line, all in their maroon uniforms, and saluted the Emperor.
More courtiers came up beside the Emperor, who took the medals out of the cases.  "I award all the surviving marines from the Battle of Arsinon the Iron Star for their courage and great service to the people of Arsinon and the Imperium."
More applause.  Iarius smiled ruefully at Nessith, the horrors of that day flashing before his eyes as the Emperor himself pinned the Iron Star to his chest.
"And to Captain Iarius I give command of The Eagle of the Imperium."
Iarius's eyes widened as the courtiers, fellow soldiers, and the Emperor himself applauded his promotion.  Nessith clapped him on the back.
"And, because you work so well together, 2nd Lieutenant Nessith will be your Lieutenant Commander.  Tomorrow, report to Admiral Corbett."
The Eagle of the Imperium was a Secutor-class battleship once commanded by the famous Captain Eugenios in the Second Imperium Civil War.  And though the ship was more than a thousand years old, it ran well and still had a lot of surprises.  To captain such a ship was an obvious sign of the Emperor's favor.  Iarius and Nessith were presented with the navy blue uniforms of their stations.  And after a memorial service for Marov and the other casualties of Arsinon and a celebratory ball.  Iarius collapsed in his guest room in the palace,  exhausted but eager for the coming day.  Thoughts of his home on Alsara and a fleet of battleships swam through his head as he fell asleep.  Nessith, in his room striped of all luxuries by the palace servants, lay on the wood frame that served as his bed, covered by a simple blanket.  He lay, staring at the whitewashed ceiling, thinking of how proud his clan will be when they here he is second-in-command of a Secutor-class battleship.             

Dominion of the Arsinian Consortium

Arsinon Dominion: Species: Terran.

Government: Elected guild rule.  Capital: Arsinon.  Status: Destroyed.

Declaring its independence from Eridu practically minutes after its founding, Arsinon and the other planets of the Consortium have always been at odds with Eridu.  A mineral rich, fertile world, Arsinon was the sixth world to be colonized by the First Imperium ( the others being Lagash, Arya, Ceres, Londor, and Ultara).  Arsinon became a thriving urban-world, ruled by a consortium of guilds, the Laertes Mineral Resource Corporation held power the longest of any guild, but the guilds quickly became corrupt and oppressive, using the Arsinian people as underprivileged workers and not citizens with rights.  Leonidas Centaurus gathered around him a group of dissident workers and escaped convicts and apposed the Arsinon Consortium.  After a brief struggle, Leonidas and his revolutionaries marched into the Guild Hall on Arsinon and hung Amos Valens, CEO of the Laertes Mineral Corp, from the highest turret of the Hall.  The oppressive power of the corporations was over.  Leoniades declared himself king Leonidas Centaurus I of Arsinon and all former worlds of the Consortium.  So began a period of growth and prosperity for the newly renamed Dominion, Arsinon's wealth and population grew ever more.  The outer worlds also grew, Tiamat became a city-world to rival Arsinon, Orthel became the leading industrial world of the Dominion, a high class military academy was set up on New Tren, and a psychic training academy was set up on backwater Dal, and the Macedonian Project began.  Leonidas, loved by the people of Arsinon, finally died at eighty-three, having ruled for nearly fifty years.  His son, Leonidas Centaurus II assumed control of the Dominion, his rule quickly became oppressive, the people of the Dominion were unhappy.  A massive uprising on Arsinon stormed Centaurus Palace, Leonidas tried to flee from the planet.  He was caught in high atmo, his ship was boarded and he was captured.  Thomas Blake, a leader of the uprising, had Leonidas strangled as he was being dragged to a trial.  Blake tried to rule as an emergency dictator, declaring the Dominion in a state of martial law.  As Thomas was washing his face before a speech, his bodyguard, Tiberius Markev drowned the dictator in his own wash bowl.  Tiberius then declared that a new corporate alliance would rule the Dominion, a rigged election followed, where Tiberius and his employers had an overwhelming victory.  Years of relative peace followed, the Dominion's power grew steadily, becoming a rival of the Terran Imperium; the two powers became bitter rivals.  Small border skirmishes turned into battles, the battles into wars; the Three Dominion Wars  took up the next 252 years of human history.  The Dominion was nearly destroyed two times, but at the end of the Siege of Eridu during the Third Dominion War, Arsinon was the master of united Terran-space.  The Dominion, slowly becoming weaker, ruled the massive size of the swelled Dominion, their borders stretched far enough to encounter an alien species; the Notross.  The Dominion launched a swift raid on the Notross rim-world of Qatari, wiping out all the inhabitants and claiming the alien world as their own.  The Notross Covenant mustered together all the tribes and declared humanity an affront to the gods.  A year of brutal war followed, the Covenant pushed into Dominion territory via Follon and spear-headed through to Arsinon.  Lt. Col. William Roberts of the Imperium Marines, who had been captured along with his battalion at the Battle of Terminus, had fled from his Notross captors to Prothen Space, where the Prothen came out in all their robotic and psionic splendor and forbade the Notross to continue their campaign against Terrankind.  The Notross were in the middle of besieging Arsinon when they stopped the war.  But as the Notross were leaving the battle-scarred world, the Swarm emerged after nearly a thousand years.  The Notross and remaining humans tried to fight off the numberless Swarm, but finally the Notross evacuated as many Terrans as they could.  Arsinon, and any survivors, were left to the Swarm.

Second Interplanetary Imperium of Mankind

Terran Imperium: Species: Terran.

Government: Hereditary dictatorship.  Capital: Eridu.  Status: Active.

Seated on the grand ancestral homeworld of terrankind, the Imperium has a long history, it's foundations date back to before Terrans had invented hyperdrive or settled other worlds.  Long ago, centuries past. 2126 AD, the king of Eridu, Tarquin Ouranos, looked at the nearby planet of Arya and decided he would extend his rule to the uncolonized world.  He built a fleet of ships and had his greatest and smartest engineers and psychics make special hyperlight-speed engines.  So began the First Interplanetary Imperium of Mankind, or the First Terran Imperium.  Tarquin and his descendants governed over a rapidly increasing nation.  Arya, Ceres, and Lagash were quickly colonized in the first few decades, Londor, Ultara, New Londinium, and New Tarsus followed soon after.  After 100 years of growth and intrigue came the Ultara Crisis; the Ultarans, tired of high work demands and oppressive military presence, went on strike.  The exarch, Flavius Naymen, sent some marines to get the workers back to the factories and shipyards.  The protestors battered back the soldiers, then stormed Flavius's manor.  Flavius fled to Eridu and told the situation to the aged emperor Dirod the Wise.  Dirod sent a legion to Ultara and had many of the mob killed, the rest were given a huge fine and sent back to work.  Flavius resumed his role as exarch of Ultara.  The protestors regrouped and sacked Flavius's manor again.  This time, the exarch's body hung in the place of the Imperium flag.  This marked the end of Ultara as a bustling city world.  Varis III the Cruel, recently crowned king after his father's untimely death, had the Imperial navy bomb the main city and marines killed anyone in the streets that had avoided the bombing.  The survivors were deported to other worlds and heavily reeducated, some of the ring leaders had survived and were sent off to newly discovered Follon.  There were 344 years of relative peace, until the Arsinon Dominion declared war on the Imperium.  The first of the Three Dominion Wars followed.  Fierce naval and land fighting took place, and through a series of victories, the Dominion claimed Follon and Nado.  A peace treaty at Princess Thee was signed and ended the first war.  The Second Dominion War began when Imperium spies found out about the Macedonian Project.  Under the pretext of freeing POWs and stopping Arsinian terrorism, the Imperium declared war on the Dominion.  Follon was reclaimed by Eridu, who then launched a ferocious assault into central Dominion territory.  Arsinon unveiled the result of the Macedonian Project: psychoborgs.  These powerful psionic cyborgs infiltrated many of the Imperium frigates and cut off communication with Eridu.  The invading fleet was destroyed long before Eridu realized what was happening.  Emperor Rynus the Mad, an increasingly unstable ruler, drafted many of the men form the worlds of the Imperium and sent them to the Dominion.  Even all the draftees and veterans weren't enough, so Rynus opened all the prisons and sent the prisoners to the battlefront.  Finally, the Imperium, economy shattered and most of the young men dead, won and took half of the Dominion worlds.  The Third Dominion War was the shortest of three, but had the biggest aftereffects.  Arsinon used their psychoborgs to sabotage the Imperial government and economy on the occupied Dominion planets.  Marcus Python, a high ranking Arsinian general, launched an assault on Ganga.  The Third Dominion War had begun.  In the midst of the fighting, Rynus' son, Augustus, had discovered an ancient alien machine, the Star Bomb.  He set off the Star Bomb on Nyrador III, wiping out the armies of both sides.  But the Dominion won a rough, costly, bloody victory.  The Imperium was greatly weakened and no longer the dominant Terran power.  Arsinon's power had expanded to a vast sweep of the Dagen Region, though most was still empty and unexplored.  But there was something; an alien species inhabiting that unexplored space.  The Notross.  A brutal war, the Xeno War, began between the ancient Notross and the unstable Arsinon Dominion.  In the midst of the war, one of the emperor of the Imperium, Regulus Marsk Vallerun began to rebuild the lost Imperium.  After three years of covert battles, Vallerun began to win over the Dominion.  So began the Second Interplanetary Imperium of Mankind, with Regulus at it's head.  A general in the Imperium army, William Roberts, negotiated a peace with the Notross, with the help of the Prothen, who just came back out of their homeworld, Arung Uni.  Shortly after the Xeno War, the Alsara system declared independence from the Imperium, the bloody Alsaran Wars of Freedom followed, ended by an unexpected Alsaran victory.  There were five years of peace, Octavian Regulus Flavius Vallerun, son of Regulus, rules the Terran Imperium with as the Swarm is returning to the Dagen Region after a thousand years. 

Arung Iilum Archives: The Fall of Arsinon

The Fall of Arsinon: July 15, 2540 AD.
Iarius watched helplessly as orange, energy bombs rained down on the once proud skyscrapers of Arsinon.  He leaned back in his bunker, his bunker-mate, Enlai, slumped beside him, a Sinn javelin protruding out his back.  Iarius's heart pounded; all the methods he used to calm himself down during a battle had failed.  With the Centaurus Plaza assaulted by Sinn, the garrisons had lost communication with Legate Marov, so the troops had decided to try and cut their way to the Plaza.  Most fell to the Rranthi marauders.  Iarius, Enlai, and Nessith had been separated from their company, fortunately, they found this abandoned bunker.  Iarius emptied Enlai's gun of cells into his.  The little guy didn't need them where he was going.  With a full rifle, Iarius wiped gore off the scanner, checking for stalkers or wraiths.  Nothing.  Iarius shoved his helmet over his matted dark hair, the inside of the helmet lit up with small screens, readouts with his heart rate and physical health.  The Command Tower at the Plaza must be taken, for the calm voice of the Arsinon command AI, SONYA, didn't greet him.  Iarius swallowed hard, then punched open the bunker hatch and leapt out.

The black, gothic capital ships the Sinn Empire and the patchy, stolen ships of the Rebellion filled the smoldering Arsinian sky bombing the broken city; alien starfighters swarmed over the city, their orange rays tearing through steel and flesh, Sinn warriors stormed through the broken streets, slaughtering any marines who got in their way.  It was an extermination of humanity and Iarius was caught in the midst of it.  He ran across the roof top the bunker was situated on, a Gauss bolt punctured the steel just behind him.  Iarius raised his assault rifle, returning fire.  The rebel dived behind a wall, avoiding the stream of photon energy.  Suddenly the rebel exploded into flaming limbs.  Nessith came striding across the rooftop suited in his Heracles combat suit, a grenade in his giant, mechanical hand.

"Glad to see you in one piece.  Where's Enlai?"  Nessith's voice crackled out of the speaker of his helmet.

Iarius gestured his head toward the bunker, "Taking a rest."

Nessith nodded; the giant metal helmet of his Heracles suit making a sluggish up and down motion.  The two of them ran across the rooftop and scaled down the access ladder.  They dodged around the fallen chunks of masonry and buildings strewn about the metal road.  The corpses of marines and Sinn, staring blankly at the fiery destruction they had caused, littered the boulevard.  An explosion went off near by, rocking the earth and making the skyscrapers shudder.

"Look out!"  Nessith yelled, throwing Iarius to the side.  A burning Falcon starfighter careened down by them, hurtling over where they had just been.  It smashed into an bank, the colonnade and glass front imploding thunderously inward, the structure soon became an inferno.  Iarius and Nessith ran down the ruined boulevard to the corner, where it met three other roads.  They ducked inside a vacant cafe; the waiter android did not greet them; it lay trampled on the floor with a javelin through it's metal-and-wire head.  Iarius took off his helmet, running a gloved hand through his sweaty, matted hair.

"What weapons you got?"  he asked as he slumped against a wall.

Nessith tapped the grenades on his belt, "three grenades, two thermals one fission; combat knife," Iarius saw the oversized, sword-like knife strapped to Nessith's armored thigh, "and my rifle, with ammo."  Nessith pulled his massive assault rifle off his back.

"I just have my rifle and knife."  Iarius said as he put back on his helmet.  Just as the helmet closed over his neck, an explosion blew the wall of the cafe down; a Sinn warrior and rebel soldiers charging through the gap.  Nessith battered one aside with the butt of his gun; the rebel’s patched marine armor crumpling as he hit the metal wall.  He crumpled down on the floor.  Iarius opened fire on another, pointed novasteel bullets tearing through the rebel’s flesh.  Two rebels down.  A rebel, wielding a combat knife slipped beside Iarius and sliced his side.  Iarius gasped, the serrated blade tearing through flesh and armor, the wound gushed blood down Iarius’s side and the bone sliced as well.  Nessith bellowed and drove his oversized combat knife through the rebel’s armored skull; the Terran’s life spilling out of it.  Hefting the corpse, Nessith hurled it at his enemies; the limp carcass flailing into it's comrades, with such force that two went tumbling to the ground.  The Sinn, a barrel-chested, fiery eyed warrior, leapt forward and let out a ferocious war cry, lifting his long, glowing-red blade to strike down Nessith.  But, a high, piercing shriek sliced through the chaos like a Sinn's blade.  Everything froze.  The sounds of battle; the destruction; the screams of the wounded, the dying; stopped.  The harsh sound of his haggard breathing and the racing beat of his heart filled Iarius's ears.

Suddenly everything began again at a rapid speed.  Black shapes burst from the ground and the sewers, great abominations smashed their way out of the rubble.  The Sinn and rebels turned and began hacking and cutting their way through the strange new aliens.  Three marines ran by, spattered in blood.  A black-skinned, slender humanoid leaped on them, it's razor-sharp claws tearing through one and then another marine.  The remaining soldier backed up against a wall; sobbing for mercy.  The alien said nothing, but inspected it's now crimson claws.  Coming out of it's contemplation, the clawed alien jumped on the man, ending his life.  A gun shot rang out in the chaos, Nessith stood behind the creature, rifle in hand.  It slumped dead against it's last victim.

"What the eff are these things!"  Nessith yelled above the screams and gunfire.

"Let's not stay and find out!  Our ride's here!"  Iarius shouted, pointing up.  A dropship descended among the ruined towers.  The side wall hatch opened with a pneumatic hiss.  A bloody Legate Marov stood inside, smoking laser rifle in hand, along with dozens of other wounded and dying soldiers.

"Get in!"  Marov roared over the engines.  Iarius leapt in, Nessith scrambled in as quickly as his mech-suit would allow.  The Valkyrie dropship took of as soon as they were in, ion engines propelling it above the destroyed skyline.  Iarius leaned back, a hand pressing a nano-pack to his wound, eyes on the once majestic Arsinon.   Smoke billowed thickly from the buildings, obscuring most of the city.  Imperium Valkyries and medivacs swarmed from the smoke, taking with them the remains of the planet's population.  The rebel warships let them pass, focusing their fire power at the new threat on the surface.  Just as the hatch closed, Iarius saw what looked like a floating city, of beautiful and alien design, firing green beams of energy down on the city.  Cleansing it.  

Merc Companies.

Terran merc companies:
Phalanx Securities: elite Marines.  A security company from the Imperium-world Orthel.  They specialize in defense.
Devil's Men: elite Vulcans.  A merc group from the Fringe, the Devil's Men fight for the highest bidder, cleansing towns of bandits, political enemies, competition, or Swarmlings.
Caduceus Stealth Corps: elite Cyclopses.  Originally a division of Pythagoras Association, now acting as freelance mercs.  Of course, once Pythagorean, always Pythagorean.          
Hammer Company: elite Breakers.  An elite merc company from the Xeno War.  The Hammers can raid any fortress, base, or ship, human or alien, as long as you're willing to pay.
Black Angels: elite Apolloes.  Piloting pirated Apolloes, the Black Angels give aerial support to anyone who pays enough.  
War Dragons: elite Dragons.  Formed during the Alsaran Wars of Freedom by Alsaran rebels, the War Dragons are swift and deadly.
Spartan League: elite Heracles.  A merc group from the days of the Arsinon Dominion, the Spartan League specializes in heavy infantry, able to batter through ranks of Terrans, Swarm, or Notross.
Shield: elite Epsilite War Tanks.  Coming into the big league during the Alsaran Wars, hired by the Imperium to help lay siege to Alsaran fortresses.  Shield can now be hired by whoever has enough money.
Rogue Column: elite Battleship.  The only group of deserters to ever leave the Imperium military and live.  The Rogue Column fights alongside anyone who hates the Imperium.

Hidden Temple.

Arakil stepped carefully through the underground gloom, fellow Prothen were nearby, searching the rocks and stalagmites for clues.  Clues left by the gods.  Arakil went around a particularly large and smooth stalagmite; and found a temple.  It was like a cave; a large portion of some great temple chamber within this bigger cavern.  Arakil crept inside, his green, pupilless eyes quickly adjusting to the thick blackness that shrouded the inside of the broken temple.  Sweeping dust from the wall with his robotic hand, he saw carvings and illustrations lying hidden under the layer of dust.  They were carved in a style he had seen before, five hundred years ago on Arung Khai.  The side-view, geometric style of the Architects.  Every line, every curve, every dot and feature was perfectly carved, perfectly measured.  Arakil excitedly swept more dust from the ancient wall and saw an interesting image; an illustration of the Architects themselves, hundreds of extremely detailed troops.  They wore advanced battle armor, with smooth, curved helmets with a single eye in the center, their weapons were long, broad rifles that, judging from the illustration, fired very potent energy rays.  A horde of monstrous horrors that Arakil realized were swarmlings, were rushing toward the Architect battalion.  He felt a creeping sensation along his metal spine.  Dashing past many other carvings of the Architects engineering worlds and spaceships, up to the back of the ancient temple; the altar.  The crystalline shrine laid on it's side, cracked, shards of crystal were strewn on the floor.  Above the altar was an image of an Architect wearing a flowing robe and crown-like helmet.  His hands were extended, gesturing to adjacent scenes; scenes of the Architects arriving in the Dagen Region, building a homeworld for themselves, finding primitive species, the Prothen and Notross, going to a barren, wasteland, world and finding... life.  They took this bold and resilient life-form and genetically enhanced it, they multiplied it, made it more adaptable than other species.  The things morphed and grew, in size and intelligence, the numberless creatures were then put under the control of an Architect-made being: the Overmind.  The swarms of these creatures grew evermore; until, one day, they turned and attacked their creators.  Overrunning most of the Architects' worlds instantly, there was a great battle at the Architect homeworld.  The Architects, after the battle, were no more.
Arakil, wide eyed, stumbled backwards.  The Architects had made the Swarm!      

I remember when...

Moonlight shone down on me from above the towering shadows of the trees.
I remember the hoots of owls, the pitter-patter of mice across the fallen leaves.
I remember the eyes of foxes and rabbits, looking out at me from under scraggily bushes, safe in their burrow homes.
I remember eagles and crows, hawks and ravens, sitting proud in their high twig thrones, watching me as I walked through the twilit forest.