Timeline and History

Contents

• Timeline
• The Ascent of Humanity
• From Concord to Imperium
• Rise of the Stellar Imperium
• The Fall of the Stellar Imperium

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The Ascent of Humanity

While neither the most populous nor most aggressive of the races to inhabit the known galaxy, it is through the actions of mankind that rise and domination of the Stellar Imperium can be traced. For a very long time humanity thought that they alone inhabited the universe; a single intelligent race that had arisen by pure chance or through some cruel joke played upon them by forces unknown. As generations passed, and the knowledge to reach beyond the Earth grew, mankind looked ever more to the stars, safe in the knowledge that it would be free to claim as their own.

Oh how wrong they were…

Conquest of the Solar System

Mankind’s first significant steps off Earth occurred when faster and more fuel-efficient means of exploring the solar system were discovered. In the mid-21^st century three high-speed space elevators were constructed, and these greatly reduced the extraordinary cost of escaping the Earth’s gravity well. At the same time, compact, yet increasingly safe, reactors created less expensive means of moving rapidly through the solar system. The latter half of the twenty-first century saw the return of manned missions to the moon as well as the first trips to Mars and Jupiter.

The first permanent lunar base was established in 2080, and then a permanent domed Martian base was established fifty years later. Contrary to science fiction, however, there was no chance of terraforming Mars due to the high salinity of the Martian soil, and colonization merely served to prove that permanent settlements could be established on such planets in a cost effective manner. Twenty years later additional bases were constructed on Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede, with a last great stride forward resulting in the establishment of a small self-sustaining space station in orbit around Uranus. Years later, after Humans encountered other space faring races, these early bases would be converted into top secret research facilities or be expanded and converted into defense platforms, supporting several heavy combat starships.

The Tachyon Quantum Field Drive

Prior to 2230, the extent to which Humanity could explore the cosmos was limited by the constraints of the traditional Einsteinian universe, and by what could be achieved with conventional chemical and particle propulsion systems. Despite great advances in efficiency and energy production in the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries, the fact remained that travel at the speed of light and faster still existed only in the realm of imagination. Mankind had almost convinced itself that it would never achieve the dream of traveling to the stars.

This mentality began to change in 2192 when tachyon particles were proven as scientific fact. Originally proposed in the twentieth century as a thought experiment, the tachyon was believed to be a subatomic particle that always exceeds the speed of light. Breakthroughs in the understanding of the dark energy that continually pulls the galaxies away from each other led to the serious study of tachyon particles, and resulted in proof of their existence.

What was found was that all of the matter that Humans come into contact with was of a mundane nature. It behaved according to the laws of relativity; it could not move faster than the speed of light and the faster it traveled through space, the slower it moved through time. Tachyons were a different type of particle entirely. Although present in the observable universe, they were very difficult to study due to the fact that they behaved according to completely different laws. While the origin of tachyon particles is still a matter of much conjecture, many theorize that they spill over from another universe where the laws of physics work differently.

Once tachyons were proven, physicists began observing and interacting with them in earnest. They envisioned a tachyon field that could potentially carry Humans to the stars. They theorized that if a spacecraft could be fully enveloped in a tachyon field, everything inside of that field would begin to behave like a tachyon, accelerating to nearly unimaginable speeds. This theory was confirmed when tests began on unmanned spacecraft in the 2210s, moving objects as far as the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, and back. In 2219, this technology was tested on a small vessel crewed by a yellow tabby kitten called Sputnik, which was named in honor of the first man-made object launched into space. The craft was designed to travel to Alpha Centauri, snap a series of pictures, and then return to Earth. A week later Sputnik not only returned intact, but his age was unaffected by faster-than-light travel. Safe faster than light travel had been established, and Sputnik went on to become an international celebrity as the first living thing from Earth to travel to another solar system.

In 2230, the first tachyon quantum field drive spacecraft with a human crew left Earth’s solar system and began exploring the stars. When the craft encountered the first terrestrial planet that was capable of sustaining Human life, numerous additional ships were commissioned, and were assigned to locate suitable worlds for Human expansion in hopes of easing Earth’s overpopulation problem. The worlds of Aruim, Upagra, and Lato were soon discovered, and intrepid individuals left Earth to become the first colonists on alien worlds.

Early Alien Contact

Up until 2250, the debate still waged as to whether or not there was any intelligent life on in the universe. Although Humanity had encountered plant and animal life on some of the planets they had discovered, they had not yet found any species that used technology or possessed language. Humanity was beginning to believe that they were the only rightful inheritors of the universe; then they met the Tallinites.

These aliens were first encountered in their hive ships, and deemed them to be too great of a threat to challenge militarily, were approached in the hope of initiating trade and diplomatic relations. The Tallinites proved to have genuinely peaceful intentions but stated they maintained a strong military presence to protect against threats. They also warned that not every spacefaring race was as welcoming as they were.

A year later, the first major innovation of the Tachyon Quantum Field Drive was created. Tachyon field technology already allowed ships to jump from one point in space to another; however, the ability to do this safely was dependent upon accurate astrogation. Because ships still moved through normal space while inside the tachyon field, it was important that the space in between the jump point and the destination was free of obstacles. The quantum field repelled small solid objects, but the field was no match for larger objects, such as stars, planets, and asteroids. Up until this point, space travel consisted of small jumps forward, scanning the space ahead, and then jumping again once it was deemed safe.

This new Tachyon Quantum Field Drive was released at the same time as vastly improved sensors. The two worked in conjunction and were able to detect large bodies in space and make course corrections accordingly, thus removing some of the danger inherent in faster-than-light travel. Jump calculations were automatically adjusted while moving at faster-than-light speeds and as a result, the effective range of starships increased, while the length of time needed to get to a destination decreased.

Shortly after the advent of the new drive, a survey expedition on the mostly aquatic world of Relar very nearly led to the first interstellar war. An underwater team engaged in sport fishing found numerous species that were not only edible, but also quite palatable. One of the creatures they hunted had an exoskeleton, and at first glance, reminded the team of a large shellfish on Earth. The creature escaped the hunters, but it turned out to be an intelligent creature belonging to a waterbreathing spacefaring race called the Relarrans.

The Relarrans had allowed the Human ships to approach the planet, assuming that they would check for valuable metals, find none in easy-to-access locations for gas-breathing beings, and then move on, just as others had. It had never occurred to them that the newcomers would hunt their seas, or them for that matter. In a display of force, a fleet of Relarran ships entered the system and opened fire on the Humans. Only some desperate diplomacy on the part of the Human captain defused the situation. The humans issued an apology and recalled all of their people to the ship, then established official diplomatic relations once first contact tensions had died down. Several months later, the Relarrans entered into a trading agreement with the Humans and Tallinites.

A New Age of Hope

The discovery of other races, and more importantly their understanding of physics, chemistry and biology, as well as the mastery of the tachyon, was to herald a new age of hope for mankind. Almost overnight the constant, petty struggles that had plagued humanity for millennia where swept away; with uncounted worlds at its feet, food, water and resources were abundant, and freedoms, be the religious or culture could be assured.

In the space of just thirty years, humanity went from being trapped in the solar system, facing a slow but inexorable destruction, to being a dominant race in the galaxy. While other aliens seemed to be happy to expand their influence only slowly outwards, humanity, as is its nature, was driven to take great leaps forward, and with it all the risks one could expect from such attempts.

And as the horizons of humanity changed so did its identity. From being a disparate collection of nations and cultures, the united drive to the unlimited stars united humanity into one great people.

The Lamagos Threat

The productive nature of alien relations, and indeed the spirit of humanity, underwent a monumental shift in 2260. While engaged in a system survey, the Human starship Lincoln encountered a ship of unknown configuration orbiting a gas giant. The two races agreed to meet aboard the Human vessel, and were shocked to discover that their similarities went beyond having similar humanoid builds; all of their physical characteristics were identical in every way except for skin and eye color. Humans skin tones range from pale white to dark brown while the Lamagos skin tone was primarily dark blue, though there was some variation including bluish-green and green skin. Their hair was consistently black except among older members of the species, and the irises of their eyes varied between blue, green, gray, and pink.

Once the initial shock of their physical similarities wore off, it became clear that the Lamagos were much more militaristic than the Humans. While the Humans tried to ascertain whether the Lamagos were related in some way, the Lamagos guests hacked into secure computer systems aboard the Human vessel to learn its weapon and shield capabilities. The Human captain took immediate offense to this breach of security and sent his guests back to their ship. While diplomatic efforts were breaking down, however, the Lincoln’s geneticists determined that the Lamagos were not of Human stock and would definitely not be capable of producing offspring together.

In the end the Lincoln would leave the gas giant’s orbit unable to establish any form of diplomatic relations with the Lamagos government. But this wouldn’t be the last time the two races meet. Over the following years several more encounters occurred, all of which resulted in tense confrontations; the Lamagos threatening to fire upon the Human ships if they did not withdraw from their space.

It took ten years after that initial contact for communication to be finally established with the Lamagos homeworld, Lamog. However, this exchange of information revealed that there were deep philosophical issues dividing the two species, and relations quickly devolved into a cold war.

Human generals quickly suspected that they were at a disadvantage in terms of the shield strength, firepower, and the size of their fleet when compared to the Lamgos and as intelligence reports can in from Lamagos space, their fears were confirmed; humanity would be overwhelmed if war between the two powers were to erupt. Worried that the Lamagos would soon come to the same conclusion, the order was given to acquire (be it in trade for or stealth) the most advanced technology they could. In additional, Humans diplomats looked to form stronger alliances with the Relarrans and the Tallinites, expanding trade to include military equipment while agreeing to provide for one another’s defense in the event of a war.

The Enigmatic Gaieti

In 2275, as war with the Lamagos drew into inevitability, yet another new race was discovered. It should noted that the term ‘discovered’ is used loosely in regards to this meeting, as even today humanity is unsure just how long these beings had been watching. While the Human military feared yet another threat to their borders, when confronted, these watchers – calling themselves the Gaieti – came forward, claiming to be nothing more than a peaceful spacefaring race interested in simple wonders of the universe.

Despite these placating words, the sudden appearance of this advanced race was an immediate concern to the newly formed Human, Tallinite and Relarran alliance. These concerns were redoubled when it was discovered just how technologically advanced the Gaieti were, and just how evasive they could in regards to their civilization and their plans for expansion. Yet despite these fears the Gaieti remained true to their word. An open and yet enigmatic race, they had little interest in sharing either their history or their technology with the other races, and yet happily maintained diplomatic relations with any and all cultures they encountered. Very quickly, as the other races rushed ever onward, and the Lamagos threat grew, the Gaieti were consigned to almost an afterthought; a quaint race that offered little to others, and yet were always thereabouts.

Interestingly, the Tallinites recall having previously encountered the Gaieti shortly after they themselves reached the stars over a thousand years previously. Although the details of this early contact has been lost in time, all remaining information seems to indicate that at this point of their history the Gaieti were yet to discover spaceflight, let alone possess the knowledge or the passion to develop into the technologically advanced race they are today. Adding further to the mystery, the Gaieti themselves simply refused to discuss this period in their transition into a spacefaring race or explain their rapid scientific progress.

The First Interstellar War

War finally came in 2277 when the Lamagos openly claimed ownership of the planet of Hagenti. The recently arrived Human colonists on Hagenti, unaware that the Lamagos had previously discovered the resource rich world, scoffed at these claims and refused to abandon their new settlement, firm in their belief that the Lamagos’ bark was worse than their bite. When eventually a Lamagos fleet arrived at the planet and threatened planetary bombardment if the Humans failed to vacate, the humans were ready and responded with a sudden and unexpected display of force. The Lamagos, however, quickly recovered from this unexpected attack and escalated the conflict by sending more ships into this new warzone. Within weeks numerous battles had played out in the space surrounding Hagenti, and soon other colonies, on both sides, were to face destruction marauding enemy fleets.

During the years of the cold war between Earth and Lamog, humanity had put considerable effort into closing the technological gap between the two species, and much to their relief, the military capabilities of the Earth Defense Force, bolstered by the support of the Tallinites and Relarrans, were more than an adequate match for the Lamagos fleet.

For three years battles waged across a hundred worlds, even spilling over into space dominated by other races, and despite inspired leadership, expert tactics, and powerful military technology on both sides, it became clear that this would be a war of attrition with neither side able to strike a decisive blow. As resources were expended, and shipments of food, fuel, and basic supplies to the numerous planetary colonies began to fail to arrive, public outcries (and those of Earth’s allies) arose to end the war. In frustration, the Humans and Lamagos headed to the negotiating table and agreed that while the interplanetary conflict must end, the only way to settle the underlying dispute would be a the fight to the finish on Hagenti soil.

Again the might warmachines on both sides rumbled into action, this time in a planet-wide conflict that would claim untold thousands and turn the planet into a warzone like none other. For two years this war continued with both forces throwing army upon army onto the planet in a vain hope of claiming victory. However, as the casualties mounted and the war degenerated into a stalemate, even the most warlike generals’ appetite for blood waned, and both sides again found themselves discussing peace.

In what could be seen as almost the third war over the planet, and with neither side willing to forfeit their claim on the planet, a final agreement was made to jointly colonize Hagenti; a decision that would have far reaching consequences for both races.

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From Concord to Imperium

The end of the First Interstellar War could be seen as the conclusion of humanity’s lone drive to conquer the galaxy. No longer could one single race simply hope to dominate the others, and only through a new united outlook on the galaxy would the benefits be reaped by all…

The Interstellar Concord

One of the unexpected side effects of the Earth-Lamog war was the discovery of hundreds of new worlds, some of which were rich in natural resources and homes to previously undiscovered alien species. Both sides in the conflict had sent an unprecedented number of scouting missions out into uncharted space looking for worlds that would serve as bases for research and development or construction that would aid in the war effort. Many of the new species they encountered were primitive peoples unable to comprehend the greater universe let along interstellar travel, but there were also some who had already made the first tenuous steps into space.

Twenty years after the end of the war, Hagenti was prospering and both Humans and Lamagos were settling there in by the tens of thousands. Many expected that the end of the war would give way to sectarian violence, but over the course of two decades, as new generations were born to this world, the two cultures began to work together, share resources, and even find companionship with one another. The two governments acknowledged this and they set up a state-sponsored cultural exchange. Several high-ranking Humans and Lamagos visited each other’s homeworlds and were allowed to go out among the people, explore the arts, sample the foods, and develop an understanding of the other’s culture. The president of Earth, Raphael Callas, is said to have fallen in love with Lamog while visiting and when he returned home, made a famous plea for peace with those he referred to as “Humanity’s brothers among the stars.”

This rallying cry did not go unheard. In 2335 the Lamagos proposed a new governing organization to incorporate Humans, Lamagos, Tallinites, Relarrans and many of the other minor spacefaring races. The organization was intended to establish a military alliance between these worlds to protect against any outside forces, open up free trade, and share resources. While at first there was some obvious suspicion around the Lamagos’ motives for such an organization, over the next few years, race after race signed up  to this new Interstellar Concord (or the IC for short).

Over the next thirty-five years the member worlds of the Concord draw ever closer. The advantages of the shared vision became clear as prosperity began to spread throughout the member worlds; food shortages were easily solved, processed hydrogen based fuel was more evenly distributed, and technological advances quickly learnt to piggyback off the discoveries of others. Perhaps it was in medical care where this alliance shone through the most, when physicians from the various races came together for the purpose of advancing the science of xenobiology, making it possible for species to receive medical care on worlds primarily inhabited by other species.

By this time the veterans of the previous war, many of whom held strong anti-alien sentiment, had grown old and no longer dominated the political discourses on their worlds. The horrors of the war that brought two cultures to the brink of extinction were reduced to a historical fact, while peace and prosperity seemed infectious as it swept from world after world.

In 2351, Hagenti was named the capitol world of the Interstellar Concord. Not only the spiritual home for the Concorde, for where else could the uniting of two cultures best be demonstrated, but unlike most terrestrial worlds, very few locations on Hagenti were prone to extremely temperatures. Most scientists attributed this to the fact that the planet orbited a star that was larger than Earth’s sun, and the planet had less of a wobble than Earth, causing smaller fluctuations in seasonal temperatures. Because of the almost uniformly pleasant climate, along with the wide-spread and expanding availability of goods and services, the various known races began to gravitate towards the planet en mass. In very little time, Hagenti became the cultural and political center of the Interstellar Concord, eclipsing Earth, Lamog, and the homeworlds of other member races.

The Arnoct – Allies of the Concord

The large spiderlike Arnoct where first encountered during the initial period of co-operation under the Interstellar Concord. Hailed as a success for the newly launched Alliance Flight missions – the first united explorations of the limits of the Known Galaxy – it demonstrated that together the four ‘dominant’ races of the Concord – Rellarans, Tallinites, Lamog and Humans – could achieve much more than if they had remained alone.

Whether it was due to this heady success, or a general good will of the allied races, the Arnoct were quickly invited to join the Concord despite having only recovered from a global disaster that had set their society back centuries. This altruistic approach highlights the attitudes and desires of the member races of the Interstellar Concord, especially when one is aware of the Arnoct history as a slave race. Long before its discovery by the Concord, the long living Arnoct had been used as indentured intellect to a dominant race on their home planet of Morna. The Morna had advanced rapidly as a culture especially in matters of war, and while they had not mastered space flight had dominated every other aspect of their world. To the Morna, the Arnoct where smart and logical brains trapped inside large slow (although hardy) bodies, and were therefore to be used and discarded as required. While the Morna’s own warlike tendencies had driven them into extinction, the Arnoct had outlived their masters and, in their own calculating way, rebuilt their world as a new free society. While some disagreed with allowing the Arnoct, a rather insular and pragmatic race, access to same rights and privileges as those already signed to the Concord, it quickly became clear that this benevolent approach would, in the end, benefit all its members.

With new races joining the Concord new opportunities arose. Not only were technological advances freely shared, as was the case with the Arnoct whose natural intellect and calculated approach to almost any issue able to resolve conundrums that had stumped the best scientists across the Known Galaxy for years, but the ability to share the costs and risks in almost any field of discovery meant that no hurdle could not be overcome. Social and economic ills too became a rarity, with the Concord’s massive resources able to respond quickly to almost any disaster or incident with a application and control unheard of previously. Working together the Concord brought a golden age to all.

The Second Interstellar War

The peace and prosperity of the Concord was suddenly challenged by a series of massive and unexpected attacks. In one day, three nuclear devices detonated in Ral-Nantir, one of the most heavily-populated cities of Hagenti, and five stellar navy ships belonging to the Lamagos seemingly ‘self-destructed’ during routine patrol missions, killing all aboard.

Shock and outrage among the Lamagos was immediate, with most assigning blame on the Humans. Tensions between the two races increased, particularly among those who were living side-by-side on Hagenti, while investigators raced to uncover the guilty party. Many believe that the Concord would have been torn apart by the crisis had it not been for one Human male, who was apprehended just outside of the nuclear blast zones on Hagenti.

Initial detained by planetary security during the coordinated sweep of the planet, satellite surveillance recordings confirmed that this man, who claimed be called Justin Greggorson, was somehow involved in the attack, having entered the detonation zone about an hour before the attacks and then exited just in time to watch the blast from a safe distance. A search of his belongings turned up more suspicious items, from forged passports through to various security bypass tools. As questions began to be asked why a group of humans would unleash such terror on the Hagenti, it was revealed, upon Greggorson’s detention in a high security interrogation facility, that he was in fact no human at all, but rather a shapechanger; a species unknown to the Concord at that time. He stated that he belonged to a race called the Farradin, which was intent on conquering this region of space. Before interrogators could extract any more information from the being, however it activated the nanites that had been dormant in its body. The resulting explosion killed almost everyone in the detention facility, but also much of the evidence from the investigation into the saboteur.

In the weeks following these initial attacks, enemy warships engaged Concord forces. Although they appeared to be evenly matched, the attacking warships seemed to have insight or intelligence on the weak points of the various Concord ships, allowing them to quickly overwhelm the defenders. Additionally, Farradin saboteurs carried out several more operations against civilian targets within the Interstellar Concord, and while Concord military were often able to capture Farradin agents and soldiers, the enemy invariably committed suicide before any useful information (such as the location of their homeworld, or the deployment of their military) could be extracted.

The first four years of the Second Interstellar War were punctuated by one Farradin victory after another. Generals within the Interstellar Concord were beginning to seriously consider the notion that they would not be able to achieve victory under the present conditions. Not only were their civilian populations at risk, but their military craft were not as effective as they should have been due to the seemingly overwhelming tactical knowledge that the enemy possessed. To suppress the free movement of Farradin saboteurs throughout Concord territories, new, more draconian laws were enacted; interplanetary travel was restricted to all but those able to obtain special passports, all communications were monitored, and the government became very interested in all people who voiced the opinion that suspending their freedoms was unconstitutional.

A year later, the military created a stealth craft that was undetectable to Farradin sensors, which, on its first mission vessel managed to track a Farradin warship as it returned to its homeworld. Several more covert missions ensued and several other worlds under the enemy’s control were located. Findings indicated that these worlds were poor in resources and required a constant influx of supplies to keep the civilization from collapsing. The Farradin had hence established a culture of taking these resources by force and then subjugating conquered worlds afterward. The war against the Interstellar Concord was the most ambitious campaign they had yet attempted and would either make or break the Farradin Empire.

With this new information, the Concord gathered every ship it could spare into a massive armada and attacked the Farradin homeworld, hitting it with the most powerful weapons imaginable. Billions on the planet were killed, and the few who survived signaled the Farradin’s surrender. The Farradin colony worlds similarly fell in line, and while some military craft continued the fight, cut off from support and supplies, they too were eventually forced to surrender.

In what is still viewed by historians as an extremely heavy-handed approach to the Farradin’s capitulation, the Concord plundered what few resources or technology it thought useful, and then simply abandoned the homeworld and colonies without the ability to reattain spaceflight. In the years since the end of the war, the Farradin have suffered greatly, being completely cut off from the rest of the Known Galaxy.

Following the war, the Interstellar Concord refused to allow another attack, such as been unleashed by the Farradin take place ever again, and in response constructed shipyards in orbit around the planet of Dorang. Here new and more powerful warships would be built, creating a dedicated Concord fleet, and removing the need to rely on the military assets of the member worlds. At this time the Interstellar Concord was beginning to enjoy its newfound power over member worlds. Some of the freedoms stripped from citizens during the Second Interstellar War were returned, but the government refused to give back unrestricted freedom of speech and the ability to move from world to world without jumping through a series of bureaucratic hoops. Soon rumors surfaced from Hagenti suggested that the leadership was interested in transforming the Interstellar Concord into a full-blown empire, and this seemed to be confirmed fifteen years after the construction of the shipyards on Dorang when the navy unveiled the Imperium class destroyer. This new class of ship, based on designs developed by the Arnoct, was nearly 1500 meters in length and was more advanced than any other ship that had ever been produced. In fact, it made the warships used by the other member races obsolete, with only the non-Concord Gaeti possessing craft with greater capabilities.

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Rise of the Stellar Imperium

In 2417, President Kalun Hooren of Hagenti, a Lamagos, rallied the member worlds, declaring that the Concord had strengthened to the point where they had become the first Stellar Imperium. With the blessing of the senate, he was named the first Emperor, and while many scholars had misgivings about this move, but the public (hence the majority of the politicians) were supportive. The Senate, which was made up of representatives from all of the member worlds, passed the initiative to rename the organization as the Stellar Imperium.

In 2545, Stellar Imperium scientists announced the second major improvement upon the Tachyon Quantum Field Drive. While the first innovation of the drive had made it possible the reach far off places, the latest improvement made it possible to travel at a speed greater than light while still allowing a ship’s sensors to warn of dangers ahead. Simply called the FTL Drive, this engine allowed a ship to move at faster-than-light speeds while going slow enough to survey the systems the ship passed through. Full ‘Jumps’ still remained the fastest way to cover great distances, but this new drive’s ability to make thirty short “microjumps” every second, resulted in passengers feeling as though they were smoothly moving through space at a speed that is faster than light. Patrolling huge tracts of space now became possible, with ships no longer needing to move within a system at sublight speeds.

United under a new banner, and equipped with the new FTL Drive, the fleets of the Stellar Imperium quickly expanded the empire. For the next century, this drive for growth would be almost unstoppable and with an almost heady desire, the Imperium pushed ever onwards. But where the old Concord had looked to grow its influence through membership and treaty, the Stellar Imperium was more forceful in its approach. Under a philosophy that could only be described as ‘enforced collectivism’, each new system or race discovered by the fleet was claimed in the name of the Imperium, and compelled to either submit to their new rulers or be subdued with a series of swift and brutal attacks.

As the power of the Stellar Imperium grew, the dynamics amongst its founding members began to change. While all newly encountered races were eventually strong armed into joining the Imperium, few found themselves able to avoid the influence of the dominate Lamagos and Human factions within the Senate. These two power hunger factions saw the expansion of the Imperium as a way of enforcing their own planetary interests and this blatant attempts at power grabbing, in turn, affected the decision making of the other member races. Most adversely affected by this shift of power were the other two founding races, the Relarrans and Tallinites, both of whom, while persuasive and prominent in their own right, had neither the drive nor desire to claim an empire for themselves. For the other already less influential races, such as the Arnoct and others, the rise of the factions within the Senate greatly restricted their powers, and made it nigh impossible to make any sort of positive change, unless it was supported by one or more of the dominant races.

As these power games continued in the Senate, the bureaucrats within the Stellar Imperium looked to separate themselves from their founding members. Acting under the direct control of the Emperor, rather than via instruction of the Senate, the organization, originally formed to assist and grow its members, came to dominate them. It is unsurprising, then, just how swiftly the Stellar Imperium soon influenced every aspect of its citizen’s lives. With civil liberties, access to independent media, and interstellar travel still restricted as a result of war with the Farradin, every form of communication and knowledge sharing was controlled by the authorities. For those attempting to circumvent these controls, or even trying to act as impartial observers of the Stellar Imperium, were branded as traitors and removed from any position of influence, often in a very public and violent fashion.

Over the 26^th Century, the influence of the Stellar Imperium grew to the extent that eventually loyalty to the organization was seen to outweigh one’s traditional allegiance to race, planet or even community. As more than one Emperor has been quoted as saying ‘The people of the Stellar Imperium are one great nation, indivisible and united’. Citizens of all member races were encouraged to enlist in the various branches of the ever expanding armed forces, and to be seen to be ‘doing one’s duty’ in this way became the only true pathway to positions of privilege or authority.

The growth of the Stellar Imperium’s independence changed almost every aspect of Interstellar trade and politics. One of the most important coming in the centralization of its control over the planets that would became known as the Core Worlds. Needing a seat for its bureaucratic functions, the Imperium had claimed the worlds of Dorang, Hagenti and Piresega as their own, which in turn lead them to become the Known Galaxy’s foremost centers of trade and diplomacy. With this consolidation of power, the previous importance of the member homeworld’s and the Senate was reduced even further, with this ‘backwater’ planets becoming little more than relics of a Pre-Imperium age; fondly remembered but mostly ignored.

The Creeon – Orphans of Slavery

The integration of the Creeon, is a typical example of how the Stellar Imperium subsumed everyone and everything to their needs. Hailing from the world of Cree, far beyond the reaches of the old Lamagos empire, the Creeon are an intelligent mineral based race that could never have reached to stars if it hadn’t been for the arrival of the Imperium. The contact teams who explored Cree thought it to be barren and lifeless planet, having little atmosphere and being devoid of any vegetation beyond lichen and moss. In fact, it was only as the surveyors began their preparation to leave the planet that they noticed that mineral deposits that had littered the landing site upon their arrival seemed to be shifting, as if tying to adapt to the presence of the new arrivals.

With closer examination it was discovered that this mineral substance was able to change shape, and respond to outside stimuli. Fascinated by this find, samples of the material were taken back to the Stellar Imperium Core Wworlds for further experimentation. What was revealed was that the rocky substance was actually a living entity, and that with training it could grow, shrink and change shape to create any object desired. It wasn’t, however, until high end red spectrum scans were preformed that it was discovered that the mineral was actually attempting to communicate with it ‘captors’. However, rather than explaining or apologizing to the obviously sentient creature and returning it home, Stellar Imperium scientists undertook a regime of manipulating the mineral, now named Creeon, into a slave like race – a tool to be used. After years of research and experiments, the Creeon was turned into an intelligent building material, perfect for creating temporary structures or as automatons to complete repetitive and backbreaking tasks.

Of course, experimentation didn’t stop there, and with the potential to create new life at their fingertips, the scientists recreate the Creeon in their own image! By mimicking the forms of the known races the Creeon became even more adaptable and allowing the Stellar Imperium access to a whole new race of slaves.

And so it is that the Creeon are yet another legacy of the Stellar Imperium, a race of beings who have only known slavery and even when free have no home or lineage to call their own.

Imperium vs Corporation

One of the side effects of the rapidly growing fanaticism within the Stellar Imperium was the change to the dynamics of corporations and conglomerates. Prior to the signing of the Interstellar Concord most corporations were seen as the driving forces of exploration and advancement, perhaps regulated by their local government, but more likely free to pursue progress in whatever means they saw fit. As was witnessed in the centuries prior to humanity’s flight into space, it may have been through individuals and small companies that innovation and development began, but it was the corporate powers that took those ideas and marketed them to the masses. And once the barriers of space travel were broken the galaxy’s resources opened up to those able to take advantage of them; with many business leaders making vast fortunes built upon the risks they ran in dealing with interstellar travel.

Even under the Interstellar Concord, life was good for the corporations, with the Senate actively encourage a sharing of resources and knowledge and the way opened for corporations, once divided along racial lines, to push into the new open markets of the allied planets. Although the Concord’s benevolent outlook saw a tightening of regulations and controls, for most profits were never higher, and the future seemed bright.

This all changed under the auspices of the Stellar Imperium. With a drive to stand independent from its member worlds and working towards the centralization of power to the Core Worlds, the fortunes of most corporations declined. The bureaucracy of the Imperium slowly consolidated its own power, able to bring massive resources to bear on any issues or problem it faced. This had the effect of making many companies and organizations redundant, unable to compete with either the cost or the speed in which the Stellar Imperium could achieve tasks. Further those corporations that stood a chance of competing with the Imperium, such as with ship building interests, found themselves undermined from within, as management and workers alike joined the patriotic fervor sweeping the member worlds.

Under such change many of the bedrock corporations soon failed, unable to return the profits expected of them by their shareholders. In the end only two types of private businesses were able to survive this transition, those who return to their racial homeworlds – and as such focused on products and services too niche for the Stellar Imperium to pursue – or those who operated in such specialist areas that they were able to leverage their expertise into centralized contracts.

By the time the Stellar Imperium was at its height, the corporate landscape of the Known Galaxy was very different than it had been, and it was only those determined or smart enough able to survive.

The Arrival of the Sangor

In 2620, in what many considered at the time to be a matter of little importance, the Stellar Imperium discovered the homeworld of an intelligent species called the Sangor. The Sangor were one of the strangest creatures the other races had ever laid eyes on, with a warm blooded fleshy body that was very flat and had multiple spindly arms and legs. As was standard with all newly discovered worlds, the Imperium offered them the choice to surrender or be destroyed. The Sangor, a race of extreme pacifists, were more than willing to surrender to this conqueror. They then even volunteered to help their conquerors to mine the surface of their planet, stripping it of most of its valuable resources.

Despite their willingness to appease their new masters, the Imperium found that the Sangor were neither efficient nor motivated workers, and no amount of training or coercion would make these creatures into better laborers. What was more, the metals and other substances on the world of Sangorlai were so scarce that the costs of the endeavor soon outweighed the benefits, and a decade after its discovery, Sangorlai was abandoned and promptly forgotten about by everyone except for those who considered themselves unfortunate enough to have served there.

It came as a shock fifteen years later then, when an unknown spacecraft in another system twenty light years away was discovered to be of Sangor origin. Prior to colonization, the Sangor had been a preindustrial race, and their technological level hadn’t measurably changed during the occupation of their world. After the Stellar Imperium withdrawn, however, the Sangor found FTL Drives that no longer functioned, shuttlecrafts that were in poor repair, computers, and a few other pieces of technology. Reverse engineering the devices with a level of skill that the Imperium had not previously been aware was possible, and they created their own versions of these technologies. Even more surprising was the fact that the Sangor had already managed to discover and colonize five worlds during the fifteen years since the Imperium’s departure.

Soon after their re-discovery, the Sangor petitioned the Stellar Imperium for member status, which was granted. While this new arrangement offered the Sangor worlds military protection, it also opened up a new sector of space to the massive empire that was obsessed with expansions. Also of note was that the Sangor had claimed ownership over a large cluster of stars that contained several habitable worlds. The Imperium began surveying those worlds in hopes of finding suitable places to establish new colonies and military outposts.

A Citizen of the Imperium

For those who lived during the time when the Stellar Imperium was at its peak, the quality of life depended greatly on just where you lived and what your role in society entailed; privileges of a citizen varied greatly depending on one’s skills and experience, and more importantly, one’s connections and influence. As a generalization, almost every citizen of the Stellar Imperium could be categorized into one of three groups; Core World Citizens, Member Citizens and the Non-Citizens.

As the Stellar Imperium grew the Core Worlds became more and more important, and drew to them the bureaucrats and politicians needed to run the empire. Life on these planets was one of privilege and opportunity, with nothing beyond the realms of imagination. Cutting edge technology, much of which has now been lost, was common place, and health and education was a right for all. Of course, at almost every level the Core World Citizen was bombarded with propaganda about the benevolent nature of the Stellar Imperium, and with the empire providing for all needs, it was nigh impossible to avoid such rhetoric. And for those who did raise concerns? Such dissenters they were quickly taken away, most never seen again. It could be suggested that life in the Core Worlds was a façade of idealism in a time of constant and brutal oppression.

Life for those on the member worlds, especially those who had formed the nucleus of the Interstellar Concord, was considerable more open, and divorced from the Imperium’s propaganda. That said, any hint of uprising or dissidence was brutally put down by the massive Stellar Imperium fleets, but for the most part the racial home worlds, and their colonies, were free to rule themselves as they saw fit. Here access to the basics of life were still of the highest quality, but the willingness to uptake the latest technology, regardless of its supposed benefits was considerably less. The worlds that seemed to prosper the most were those who looked to their traditional roots, and integrated only the best or most beneficial of advances offered to them from the Core Worlds.

At the bottom this hierarchy where the races labeled the Non-Citizens, those beings who were forced or otherwise coerced into joining the Stellar Imperium. For the most part the Imperium had little use for such people other than their labor and access to extract what natural resources their planet had to offer. While no two situations on such planets were the same, the rights and privileges of this class of people were limited at best, and even those in positions of power amongst such populations were usually left in the dark as the true goals and desires of their ‘hosts’. It wouldn’t be right to say that all Non Citizens were treated badly (in fact most were ignored), but most found life under the Stellar Imperium culturally and socially disastrous.

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The Fall of the Stellar Imperium

While the Stellar Imperium would bring great prosperity and opportunity to all the member races, so it would also be its downfall. Driven by the need for more and more, the Stellar Imperium opened itself up for destruction both from within and without.

Barbarians at the Gate

The clash that would prove so catastrophic that it would bring the Stellar Imperium to its knees began in 2662 when a massive armada was dispatched to a far-off star system recently discovered by the Sangor. Upon their arrival they found that the system was already occupied by a warm-blooded lizard-like race known as the R’Tillek. It quickly became apparent that the R’Tillek lacked a central authority, instead consisting of numerous nomadic spacefaring tribes. As was typical with newly discovered races, the Imperium warships offered the R’Tillek the choice of surrendering or being destroyed. The R’Tillek chose the latter option, leading to immediate hostilities with an enemy the Imperium admirals greatly underestimated. The armada suffered massive losses and was forced to retreat back to Imperium space.

Battle after battle ensued over the next three years, as the Stellar Imperium discovered other systems occupied by the R’Tillek, and dispatched warship after warship to conquer their new foes. The generals leading the new war effort assumed that the loose tribal organization of the R’Tillek would work against them in a greater conflict, but soon found that the bonds between the groups were much stronger than thought; when one tribe was attacked, R’Tillek reinforcements would come from nearby tribes to assist them. The Imperium generals also vastly underestimated the sheer number of undiscovered worlds that were occupied by the R’Tillek. So much so that scholars remarked that it was mere coincidence that they had never encountered them before.

The war waged on, and many estimate that more Imperium soldiers were killed in this conflict than the first two interstellar wars combined. The R’Tillek casualties were also great, but the number of ships they had at their disposal was staggering and their warriors never seemed to tire from the fight. Ultimately, three years into the conflict they could never win, the Stellar Imperium opted to withdraw from R’Tillek space and seek expansion elsewhere.

With their retreat, the Imperium diplomats attempted to establish a dialogue with the R’Tillek, but they found the vast majority of the enemy tribes unwilling to discuss anything short of unconditional surrender of all Imperium worlds. Worse yet, the few tribes willing to consider a peaceful solution seemed to be the least powerful amongst the R’Tillek, making any peace offers hollow at best. After months of frustration the Imperium opted to break off negotiations with the R’Tillek entirely, and instead focused their efforts on increasing planetary defenses around their own worlds, and making sure to avoid systems where they suspected they would find the R’Tillek.

The New Frontier

But the war with the R’Tillek wasn’t all bad for the Imperium. As the conflict grew in intensity, the demand for key strategic resources increased. Not since the Second Interstellar War had the member races of the Stellar Imperium had to outfit and supply warfleets in such a number, and almost immediately it was obvious that more sources of material supplies would need to be found to support their efforts. So it was that under the auspices of the Archaeological Expedition Corps that exploration fleets of surveyors headed into a new, as yet unexplored, sector of space. Intentianally selected as being situated dynamically opposite from the planets threatened by the R’tillek, this sector was soon dubbed the New Frontier.

With the FTL drives continuing to improve, and with sensor equipment that made predictions on exploitable planets even more precise, the rate at which viable discoveries were made in the Frontier was astounding. It wasn’t long, especially as war raged in other parts of the empire, before millions flocked to these newly discovered worlds in an attempt to strike it rich, or at least stake a claim in something new, exciting and safe.

Under most normal circumstance such uncontrolled expansion of the Imperium would have been unthinkable, but with the authority’s focus on the conflict against the R’tillek, even they realized the importance of reaping the benefits of the Frontier as soon as possible. This change in philosophy, which if the R’tillek had been defeated would have surely ended, was an opportunity too good to be missed out upon by the corporations who had been biding their time on the racial homeworlds. For once the Stellar Imperium embraced their independence, leveraging their knowledge and expertise to made gains that would assist the war. Grants were offered to those organizations willing to take the risks of colonization, oversight was lessened, and for the first time since the rise of the Stellar Imperium true capitalism reigned… in one sector of space, anyway.

The San’Taan – Hosts of a Benevolent Dictator

It was during the expansion into the New Frontier that the planet of Sanna was discovered. A hot and sandy world, it was first ear-marked for exploration in the hope that it could provide silicon and the other important materials used in electronic and high end equipment. As it was, the initial scan proved better than expected with the desired minerals appeared in abundance. However, these exploratory reports also identified the presence of a pre-industrial native race on the planet, a mammalian race soon dubbed the San’taan

Whether it was due to their tiring of war, or just the pressing need to exploit the planet’s resources as quickly as possible, the Stellar Imperium diverged from their normal tactics of colonization; instead of membership or destruction, the San’taan were simply ignored. This was an interesting new approach for a civilization that had up until that point attempted to absorb or destroyed every race they had encountered, and for the San’taan it was a blessing. While the Imperium’s scientists and engineers when about their plans to build the massive machines needed to extract of planet’s resources, the San’taan, a curious and adaptable race, quickly modified their traditions to gain what they could from these strange new arrivals. Living off the discards of the massive mining complexes, the San’taan learnt of the Known Galaxy, the power of the Imperium, and whether intentionally or not rapidly entered the interstellar age.

It could be said that the San’taan were the first members of a new type of Stellar Imperium, although the reality is that this race would have fared much worse had the threat of the R’tillek had not been so pressing.

The Call for Independence

With the Imperium’s focus on the war against the R’tillek, the normal strict and harsh control of its citizen’s weakened. Without these totalitarian levels of oversight, the grievances of over two hundred years of Stellar Imperium rule reared their heads. Emboldened by this new freedom, independent and liberal groups began to openly discuss the Imperium’s exploitation of the alien races on the colonized worlds, a trend followed by a wave of new media. Worst still, barely holding the line against overwhelming forces of the R’tillek, and their the once-mighty forces in ruins, the Stellar Imperium could do little to silence the reports of their loss of the war and its impact on that portion of the Known Galaxy.

Debates erupted on numerous worlds about the role of the Stellar Imperium in this new ‘more enlightened’ age, and soon many, include the vast majority of Relarran and the Tallinite worlds, decided to secede. With them went most of the member races whom had joined the Imperium during the period of the Interstellar Concord; for races such as the Arnoct, now aware of the Imperium’s actions refused to support an organisation that upheld the same oppressive practices that had almost lead to the destruction of their own world all those centuries before.

The Human emperor, Maddox of Earth, upon learning of the secession plans, declared that no planet would be allowed to leave the Stellar Imperium. He ranted at the Senate that to rise up against the Imperium was nothing short of treason, and in this time of dire need, the worlds needed to be united, not splintered. Yet, despite these tirades, and perhaps because of them, few would be convinced to remain within the Stellar Imperium. In response, Imperium ships were pulled from front line and ordered to put down these rebellious worlds. Forced to act as a policing force, the Imperium’s fleets only provoked the situation further, and what began as simple trade embargos and planetary sieges soon became orbital bombardments and full scale invasions in escalating attempts to bully these worlds into submission.

In the Senate, these conflicts were first passed off as nothing more than minor ‘internal disputes’, but the fighting spread it soon became obvious that the Stellar Imperium was now embroiled in a full-scale civil war. Battles waged on hundreds of worlds. Small colonies were beaten into submission but the larger ones, many of which still possessed their own warships from the days of the Interstellar Concord, were able to meet the Imperium ships in the skies and fight their troops on the ground.

It was then the R’Tillek reasserted their military dominance. They appeared in Imperium space and laid waste to the Imperium core world of Piresega. Unlike the Imperium, which fought to disable the opposition and force a planet into submission, the R’Tillek undertook complete and total annihilation of the world. After bombarding the planet with nuclear weapons, they infected the atmosphere with biological agents that killed all remaining inhabitants. In a few hours, the entirety of Piresega was a graveyard. Then as quickly as they had arrived, the R’tillek disappeared from Imperium space. Shocked by this turn of events, the remaining Imperium forces realized that they needed to prepare for a full-scale invasion, a task made so much harder while they still attempted to maintain control on untold member worlds.

Last Breaths of Empire

Seven years passed and the civil war waged on. On many planets the battles ground down to stalemate, both sides unable to devote more resources to the conflict, while in others battles raged on unabated. The R’Tillek, however, remained quiet, and many within the Imperium believed that the attack on Pirsega had simply been revenge for the incursion into R’Tillek space, as opposed to a prelude to a full-scale invasion. Defense readiness was stepped back on the Core Worlds and these forces were once again fully committed to putting down the rebellions that plagued throughout the Imperium.

Worse still, by 2682, the Imperium was running out of resources. Even the Lamagos and the Humans, the main backers of the Stellar Imperium, were giving up hope that the events set in motion by R’tillek war would end well. Driven to the point of desperation, and with nowhere else to turn, these two powers agreed to pool their resources and focus on the Core Worlds. Almost overnight, the Stellar Imperium declared a truce in the various wars and sieges across the Imperium, and sought instead to establish peaceful relations with the worlds that had rejected them.

As progress was being made in this new galactic order, the R’Tillek returned. This time, however, their attacks were made against worlds that were no longer part of the Stellar Imperium. And as before these raiding forces stayed only long enough to devastate the major population centers and then destroy the remaining survivors with biological agents.

The final blow came three years later. Once more the R’Tillek returned, and in a lightning strike that overwhelmed the unsuspecting Imperial forces they destroyed, the remaining core Imperium worlds of Hangeti and Dorang. In that one swift blow, the R’tillek decapitated the head of what remained of the Stellar Imperium. The few worlds that had stayed with the organization reorganized themselves into a loose alliance, but it quickly became clear the rule of the Imperium was over and every world was now on its own.

The R’tillek, however, still remain a threat, and while most had hoped that the collapse of the Stellar Imperium would result in their abandonment of the war against its previous members, they were two be disappointed. Two years after the collapse of the Stellar Imperium, the R’Tillek struck again laying waste to a pair of minor Sangor worlds and leaving hundreds of worlds staring to the stars wondering if they might not be next.

Major & Minor Races

It is of sociological interest that the previous members of the Stellar Imperium are still divided into what are called the Major and Minor races. While the differences between the races are many (and could be categorized into various other subsets and types), for the purposes of economics and sociology, the main division between the Major and Minor races is based directly on the number of colonized planets the race held before joining either the Interstellar Concord or the Stellar Imperium. Using this Major/Minor categorization there are truly only five Major races – Humans, Lamagos, Relarrans, Tallinites & Sangor. While other races have since claimed other planets, or had colonization programs initiated either after acceptance into either of the aforementioned organizations, or after their fall, none meet the criteria laid out above.