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The Technocratic Republic of Evyrion is a rich and highly developed commercial, industrial, and technological center. Maintained and enforced by the will of the Technocrats, the wheels of the Republic turn based on their whims. Masters of vast interstellar enterprises the likes of which spread across numerous nations, the Technocrats are all but entrenched into the livelihood of almost every lasting galactic civilization.

Their riches became so vast, that they no longer desired to do their own work. Machines and clones were developed in tandem, and since then they have become the cornerstones of the Republic.



(This is where you can tell us the tale of your glorious empire! History sections are neat to offer plot bunnies for other players to incorporate about your civ. On the other hand we aren't forcing anyone to make this extra detailed. Just write down what you find necessary here. Oh, and if you happen to write mini novels please put it inside hider tags to not bloat up the entire page. Thank you!)


(This is for the galaxy map with your location highlighted somehow. The galaxy is gigantic so even a small dot can mean a lot. Don't be discouraged by your size!)


(This is kind of optional, you are given a chance to describe various places of interest. This can be a planet, star system or even entire star sector. Or even something else. Feel free to list them!)


(This is where you can describe the one or myriad of races inhabiting your glorious civilization. With multiple races you can also talk about demographics for real. What are your major races? Where do they live? And so on.)


(Your unique civilization has unique society. What are the lives of your people be like? How are they thinking? Are there any social classes? Etc.)


(Describe your government here in detail. If you use something generic or just feel like there isn't enough to say you can merge this with the Society section under "Government/Society" and describe both here.)


(Describe your civilization's technology in general)


(Kinda optional section to describe your most important pieces of technology. If you think a simple overview above is enough, skip this.)


(Again, kinda optional. Do you wish to share with us how amazing your industry can be? This is the section for it! Major industrial methods, complexes and such can be also mentioned here.)


(Describe your military in general. For a select few types of civs this might be alone enough.)


(Describe your space fleets in more detail. You can also list your important ship and other unit types but nobody is forcing you. But keep in mind, no Death Stars!)
Navy Doctrine: How does your navy operate in a general sense? What are the strategies and tactics commonly employed? What design philosophies are used and how are the affected by your country’s strategies. In short: what can we expect to see from your country’s navy? Bonus points if you give your doctrine a real name such as fleet-in-being.

(Describe your ground forces, too. This is especially important in this RP since ground/planetary combat will enjoy a spotlight. So we do suggest you to take extra attention to this section.)

Ground Doctrine: How do your ground forces operate in a general sense? What are the strategies and tactics commonly employed? What design philosophies are used and how are the affected by your country’s strategies. In short: what can we expect to see from your country’s ground forces? Bonus points if you give your doctrine a real name such as human wave.

Overview

The Chronological Foundation is a solipsistic society which has a deeply idealistic worldview of the universe which has shaped its every move, more like a sprawling cult than a political entity, the Chromatists seek to upend existence itself and shed the illusory fabric to which we exist in before it all melts away. Their motives are based on the dogmatic belief that a synchronicity between all life in the universe must be attained, because if such unison thought is not attained all will melt. Melt away into nothingness. This is not the same as entropy, for they are of the belief this melting will be exponential in nature and people will literally melt away.

Much of these beliefs are said to have come from a living star which is referred to by the Chromatists as the Cyan Soul, a bright star which is notably anomalous and well known to astronomers for its peculiarities, though studying the Cyan Soul hasn’t really shown much at all on the star itself being alive.

That hasn’t stopped the Chromatists, of course, who know firsthand that the star isn’t literally alive. That would just be superstition. The Cyan Star is living in a more alien sense, it is the congregation of plasma life within the star they speak to!

History

The history of the Glinnvyr is a messy, convoluted affair spanning multiple time periods of differing dominant belief systems, but the smaller political units which they exist in has been a constant due to the Glinnvyr usually preferring smaller political structures with confederate associations to act as common defense against outside forces. This cyclic will not be elaborated upon for the time being, instead what shall be elaborated on is the birth of the Chronological Foundation.

Once upon a time there was a Glinnvyr known as the Brightest One, the Brightest One was a escapee from the rotting world-state of Xipani who in the stellar abyss came across the Cyan Soul, at the time uninhabited due to being too far from the common ecumene of galactic civilization. The Brightest one, banished to this burning star system with its radiation, fluctuations and unpleasant lack of any world habitable for any life (there wasn’t even a terrestrial body- it was all asteroids and gas giants) would eek a menial existence among the asteroids surviving off the icy deposits.

Using the young system’s resources to make a small home for itself, The Brightest One unwittingly stumbled across a revelation- the burning star was alive and the Cyan Soul had managed to speak to it. The Cyan Soul claimed to have been an aggregation of beings who had seen the thousand years and saw the universe melting away. Everything would melt away, unless a unity could be made to break free of reality itself. The Cyan Soul claimed itself a conduit from another universe, seeking to get out of their universe and into ours so that we may cooperate on breaking out of our universe to break into a better one that won’t melt. This message would be spread by the Brightest One to other world states, the message directly so that all would see it and thus a new faith was born.

The Brightest One never regained the fame it had sought, but the inhabitants of the rotting world state of Xipani had forgiven the Brightest One for bringing to light this new truth and the Brightest One in death had gained the greatest legacy- being the de facto founder of the Chronological Foundation. The Chonological Foundation’s origins came from a military cult which distorted the original message- a call for help made into belief that the universe could be kept from melting away by decreasing the cosmic complexity and ensuring everyone believed the universe was about to melt. It had to be done, or else all galactic civilization would become a slushy liquid to be slurped away by some sentient clouds.

The Chronological Foundation’s early military period quickly developed into a more civilian organization whose chapters grew in numerous parts of the galaxy, with ebbs and flows as to the progress on dealing with the galaxy about to melt. The melting was seen everywhere by the Chromatists, who depicted the melting as a slurry, fluid rainbow flooding the cosmos imploding star after star, eating away at all the worlds of the galaxy littered in the metallic remains of von neumann probes and the military machines of the last wars, from which the devouring clouds would come to existence from the fumes.

((And from there, I’ll need collaboration))

Starmap Information

A bluish color please, with a small circle denoting the location of the cyan soul (randomize it).

Galactic Location
The left part of the galaxy between the UAC and the Amucians.

Major Holdings

The System of Deterrence

A multiple star system which has a multitude of habitable, titan-like worlds notorious for the fact every world state here has stock piled numerous missile systems they aim at each other at all times, each world state is self-isolating and believes the others seek to expand while also believing they should expand. Tensions in this system has been going on for a century, but could escalate into a system-wide conflict at any moment according to the locals. This system of Deterrence is most notable for having the largest amount of military in any single star system, the cold war here having only been made worse with Foundation meddling in the region.

The Vibrancy

The Vibrancy is a swarm of orbital habitats made by the Modulus in Coalition territory, notable for being harassed regularly by the others in this region of space. The Orbital habitats are synced to make a multitude of patterns reprenting the flow of labor in all forms of green and, sapphire blue and crimson. The Vibrancy is a melting pot with the descendants of Nerkin recruits having taken up the foam themselves to labor to the vision of the Architects Council. The Nerkin have even manage to get a couple of their own as part of the Council. The Vibrancy, while in many regards an art project, has also come to double as shelter and a defense system for those who live there over the multiple generations (120 years) the structure has been under construction.

The Cyan System

A multiple star system, with an O-class star as the dominant star with distant A-class co-orbiting stars in the distance. This system has very few planets, due to being so cosmically young that there's only the dust and a couple rapidly formed gas giants. Still, this was enough for the Chronological Foundation to make its base around one of the grey-white gas giants as the site which they listen the Cyan Soul and have votes on how to proceed in basically every policy- be it the color that should be used at the next ritual or whether or not to go fund terrorist organizations in other parts of the galaxy.


The Locus

The Locus acts as a center of many hyperspace tunnels between multiple societies and is the main control factor the Chronological Foundation has over Glinnvyr space and whatnot. It is also a pathetic, loose and often mocked symbol of suppossed "glinnvyr unity"- a concept very few take seriously anymore, but is cynically expressed in hopes of getting enough dupes to whatever imperialistic forces of the time want. This Locus is a terminus of Glinnvyr Activity and has seen its fair share of conflicts and wars, much to the disdain of the Modulus contractors the Empire of Foam had contracted.

The Foamiest World

The Foamiest World is where the five autocrats live, on a icy world with five continents which host huge installations for bureacracy and filled with foam and foam contorlled automata to the brim, of which only the autocrats can manipulate. The Foamiest World is protected by various Glinnvyr renter-protectors as well, basically a volunteer Guard who help the Autocrats with their agenda and act as a personal guard since they bought into the ideal of Foam Supremacy or are trying to vye for one of the Autocrat's positions.




Demographics

The Glinnvyr

The premier species of the Chromatists, made by the Glinnvyr who run practically everything, the minority species being there but not running anything- the Glinnvyr are not ones to trust other species with running things seeing how they ran their own societies in other parts of the galaxy.




Society
The Foundation as an organization is known primarily for a wide range of rituals which they carry out in the belief that it delays the melting, often to great mockery, but still a significant amount of Glinnvyr have come to believe in the melting on their own terms making life harder for the many polities of the Realm, especially the two major powers.
The Foundation, while the dominant force must deal with the interplay between two other rival powers which have emerged since, mainly the Modulus and the Empire of Foam who have significant influence form the Foundation, but generally behave as wholly independent actors in their own petty conflicts with other Glinnvyr of the realm or with other species in other parts of the galaxy.

The Modulus is a coalition of many worlds who share common resources and are in general, a deeply socialistic multi-species cooperative unified by the various projects the Architects Council push forward. The Modulus has a widespread influence and has gone out of its way to build its structures really wherever they believe would be best, to the expense of whoever’s territory they are building in. They’re not actual expansionists, but their colonization pattern is notoriously spread out far beyond the realm with hyperspace conduits linking around to various structures they have built.

They don’t have many systems, just seven total, but each of their systems are very heavily developed or still being built on. The Foundation has used this to their advantage in trying to spread the fundamental truth of the melting much to the dismay of the Architects. Their projects often become living spaces and military installations simply because it takes so long to make them that the workers come to live in the structures, have kids and over a several generations start calling the bizarre structures home. This happened every time. The Modulus has a considerably higher population density than most of the general realm.

The Empire of Foam meanwhile is an empire ran by a pentarchy of rulers who control the different aspects of society and would rather everyone be ruled by them, though they are checked by multiple military alliances and so never really make much ground. The Empire of Foam is explicitly imperialist and is called such due to the nanofoam which they liberally use in everything. It is like wearing tons of tiny little computers in an almost utility fog-like niche.

The Foundation holds a considerable degree of influence in both societies, with many regional leaders in the Empire of Foam deferring to the tribune more than the pentarchy at times and the exploitation of the infrastructure the Modulus spent over a thousand years building up.

The world states tend to be federal societies with low stratification and low populations- the Glinnvyr like their personal space and tend to own large amounts of personal land on a world-state. The Glinnvyr tend to have intersecting land claims, but they usually don’t dispute them and often may just give intersecting land to a larval Glinnvyr. The Glinnvyr culturally are very tacit by nature and usually view movements as much more important than speech. They have copious amounts of archived information and such, along with media systems based more around physical sensation than on visual sensation. The Glinnvyr tend to live in their own little worlds, each Glinnvyr an island is the general attitude, even if in practice they act as groups on a regular basis and did so even more so before they could have machines do all the shit work for them.

The Glinnvyr tend to colonize icy worlds, which are in the vogue in the universe and terraforming an icy world to be more like their home world is not terribly difficult, just a matter of nudging and patience. Hotter parts of star systems they are usually fine with other aliens having, but do often like to mine for materials lacking in the outer system.

The Pasis colonize similar worlds to the Glinnvyr while the Whandl colonize small desert worlds closer to the center of the star system. They often will share star systems and one of the reasons for this is because it was commonly agreed upon that you can’t claim ownership on a star system, only planets and moons. Thus, you end up with many star systems with guns aimed at each other all the time which only occasionally end up in interplanetary skirmishes. The Modulus is a huge exception to this as is the Empire of Foam, of whom tend to try integrating the species to varied levels of success.

The Chronological Foundation, the leviathan in the room tends to exert its presence through cult chapters who are notorious for flooding the media with their messages from the Cyan Soul and carrying out coups in places they view as making the universe melt faster (which has no consistent definition, you just are expected to know that. This tends to translate to being whatever the tribune or cyan soul does not like).

The Cyan Soul itself has no ability to influence anything beyond the star itself, speaking to whoever can hear it. Whatever the hell is in it, no one has a clue. How to get it out, no one has a clue. If anything, some Glinnvyr seem to want in the star and lots of life has been sent to the better place as reward for their services, which translates to a trip to the Cyan Soul’s conduit star.

Government
The association that makes up the Chronological Foundation consists of a loose, informal representative tribune which makes decisions by plurality and deals with potential conflict through a corpus of ancient laws from various world states, which is important as different world states have different means of resolution and keeping track of all this is one of the major elements of Foundation bureaucracy and why they are so tolerated by various world states despite their theocratic nature.

Communicating with the Cyan Soul itself is a long process, though messages from the Cyan Soul are common enough that they can be verified and sent out to all the chapters of the Foundation. There is no formal ruler as they see these as a common initiative and generally try deferring to the Cyan Soul for what their agenda should be. In effect the Cyan Soul’s interpreters in practice hold the keys to power as they come to a census of what the Cyan Soul is saying- other listeners have translated the Cyan Soul as well, but their interpretations are usually considered less valid. Usually, much to the horror of the tribunes who do not want disunity on a mission to save the universe.

Ritual action is common whenever the tribunes and interpreters convene, usually in the form of sending a primitive alien specie’s members to the better universe as per the Cyan Soul’s demands and through various silent dances.

The lower levels of the Chronological Foundation are a mish mash of political entities and cults who act like they work together when they really do not and active effects expanding chapters to other societies has hit many snags. Even when the messages are displayed many individuals or collectives from other civilizations of a similar degree of advancement are unconvinced. So often they opt to find more primitive alien societies to influence who are more apt to believe them as unlike the others, they are clear minded enough to understand the universe is about to melt.

Still, targeting the poor of other societies with their cults has produced one positive result- the destabilizing of the target society. Such destabilizing is viewed as useful by quite a few in the Tribute, cynically to weaken potential rivals and more optimistically to slow down the universe from melting by funding terrorist groups who will reduce the complexity of interstellar civilization across the board.



Technology Overview

This tech overview will concern itself with the general set of technology one can expect from the Glinnvyr and everything within the general realm of the Glinnvyr.

Much of the technology the Glinnvyr are made from the combined product of the various world-states and societies which have come and gone in the times past. Over time, progressively more exotic technologies began to appear as energy transfer became an art for the engineers of this realm. Being able to transmute, sap, project and extract energy using all matter of methods is a critical skill set many Glinnvyr technicians learn of.

Major Techs










Industry

(Again, kinda optional. Do you wish to share with us how amazing your industry can be? This is the section for it! Major industrial methods, complexes and such can be also mentioned here.)


Military Overview
(Describe your military in general. For a select few types of civs this might be alone enough.)

Space Forces

(Describe your space fleets in more detail. You can also list your important ship and other unit types but nobody is forcing you. But keep in mind, no Death Stars!)
Navy Doctrine: How does your navy operate in a general sense? What are the strategies and tactics commonly employed? What design philosophies are used and how are the affected by your country’s strategies. In short: what can we expect to see from your country’s navy? Bonus points if you give your doctrine a real name such as fleet-in-being.
Ground Forces
(Describe your ground forces, too. This is especially important in this RP since ground/planetary combat will enjoy a spotlight. So we do suggest you to take extra attention to this section.)

Ground Doctrine: How do your ground forces operate in a general sense? What are the strategies and tactics commonly employed? What design philosophies are used and how are the affected by your country’s strategies. In short: what can we expect to see from your country’s ground forces? Bonus points if you give your doctrine a real name such as human wave.

Credit goes to Willy for actually making the sheet outline for us, and for those of you who don't know, click raw and copy paste the bbcode into docs and type it in that way so it's already formatted when you post it in guild! Thank you.

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The space of the Zorrozakiris is as expansive as it is inconsistent. Enter one part and the ruling clan may throw you a feast to welcome you and shower you in gems, enter another part and a different clan may demand you pay tribute for the rights to use their space. These great houses, often at each others throats and locked in a political, social and economic struggle for power, are kept in line only by the Temple Orders to which all clans owe their spiritual allegiance.

The central power of the temple comes from the unity of the Cholokah'zu and the Hrahakan species. The Hrahakan uplifted the Cholokah'zu and to the early Cholokah'zu, their technology seemed like magic. So it came to pass that the Cholokah'zu make little distinction between magic and technology; Indeed, the word for scientist in Yutan was originally a word that roughly meant "sorcerer".





(This is for the galaxy map with your location highlighted somehow. The galaxy is gigantic so even a small dot can mean a lot. Don't be discouraged by your size!)


Daeveris System: The Capital System of the Zorrozakiris and although a heavily industrialised system as a result, its importance comes more from its status, central position to the empire and financial functions (The Vrundinis system is more heavily industrialised, Daeveris status as holy space has resulted in the preservation of much of the natural environment of the system.)
Vrundinis: The Vrundinish system is the most heavily industrialised system in Zorrozakiris space, it is here that the most ambitious project to date is underway; The slow and painstaking construction of a Dyson Bubble around the systems star. This bubble draws energy and matter from the star and supplies it to the Shipyards and foundries throughout the system. While there are many such shipyards and foundries within the Zorrozakiris, none are as efficient as those of the Vrundinis system and the Order of War guards it zealously.










Zakir Ada (Council Spiritual) and the Zakir Hurota (Council Temporal) are the two main political bodies of the Zorrozakiris. The Zakir Hurota is mostly an administrative and legislative body and although nominally equal to the Zakir Ada, it is de facto subordinate and has some policies outright dictated to it. This is mostly due to the Zakir Hurota being a divided body composed of the Cholokah'zu tribes and clans which control their own parts of each world. These clans are always manoeuvring against each other though outright wars are rare; when this occurs, the Zakir Ada typically deploys the Order of War to police the offending clans and restore order.
The Zakir Ada is governed by the Adabhutay. Although there is no formal distinction in rank between the Adabhutay, they show deference to the four Adabhutay of Cevik; Hayun-Ornis, Jubin-Arnos, Nhuzak-Tyun and Kulan-Mylin




(Describe your civilization's technology in general)


Regeneration Chamber: The Regeneration Chamber is a metallic tube which injured organics are placed into. The chambers interior is lined in a strange seemingly synthetic tissue that is actually a large network of the regenerative hormone glands the Hrahakan produce within their hosts. This tissue closes around the person and they are merged with it temporarily as they are connected to the Regeneration Chamber. Hormones are rekeyed for their genetics and delivered directly too them along with appropriate medication. They later awaken free of the fleshy embrace and find their injuries healed and their bodies repaired.

Nanite Fabricators: The Fabricator uses nano-machine fabrication lances to quickly construct ships, vehicles, satellites and other such large scale constructions. These fabricators are commonplace technology within factories and even aboard larger sships.

Quantum Energy Field Manipulator: The manipulator is used as a sort of 'gravitational' device and there are a number of common variants, such as the ship mounted tractor beam or a handheld industrial device. This device draws a specific object towards it or pelt it away with considerable force. Variants of this technology are used for heavy lifting, handling dangerous materials and minor utility functions. A powerful variant of the QEFM exists known as the energy gauntlet; Although an expensive item, most richer Cholokah'zu will own one and many military and law enforcement personnel will have a variant built into their armour. The Energy Gauntlet is powerful enough to manipulate people at range, lifting them from the ground and tossing them or holding them in place and can also be used to block ballistic weapon fire by generating a continuous field..


(Again, kinda optional. Do you wish to share with us how amazing your industry can be? This is the section for it! Major industrial methods, complexes and such can be also mentioned here.)


(Describe your military in general. For a select few types of civs this might be alone enough.)

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As it is made obvious even by its name (in the Ekhrlithur language, used as an official lingua franca, “Yrrkeltharl” is a locative meaning “of [the sector/region of] Yrrkelthar), the Coalition is best defined as not so much a nation as a loose confederation of the inhabitants of the section of space it occupies. While there once existed a central government which presided over what was then a super-state formed by the fusion of the three local powers, its planets and systems are now the laboratories and playgrounds of its most outstanding scientific minds, who, aside from a few general guidelines and an obligation to support the collective military forces with tributes, enjoy access to vast resources and free rein in working with them.

With such a system in place, it should not be surprising that Coalition space should be a chaotic and almost frighteningly surreal place. The husks of consumed worlds can be found orbiting stars encased in energy absorption frameworks, near planets blighted by experimental weapons or razed by the formidable drone armies stationed there. Worse yet, whoever finds themselves dealing with it will have to endure the eccentric nature and usually poor coordination of its inhabitants, which might lead to strange situations involving guarantees of non-aggression being immediately followed by planetary invasion.














- The Ulvarith System: Home system of the Ekhrilthur, and the official capital of the Coalition. While once it was the seat of the highest power in the region, nowadays it maintains its former superiority only in one field - that of industrial production. Ever since the Ekhrilthur first crossed space, they began laying the foundations for the great Ulvarith machine. It grew bit by bit, component by component, secondary megastructure by megastructure, until it reached its current condition: almost a single, immeasurably vast complex, uniting the function of material gathering, elaboration and construction. Ulvarith is the heart and pride of the Coalition, and the primary source of its vast drone armies.

- Skereth: Homeworld of the Skirol and, to this day, holder of the record for the greatest natural biodiversity in Yrrkeltharl space. Skirol Cycle-Weavers are to this day uncertain of whether they have encountered and catalogued every single species living on the planet, and there is scarce an inch of its surface that is not teeming with pluricellular as well as simple creatures, to say nothing of the lakes and oceans. Something all the seekers of Equilibrium agree on is that Skereth is virtually sacred, and thus none but a select few Trezklin, formed of the most illustrious Skirol to be found in the Coalition, are allowed to reside on its surface. Any who so much as visit it, drawn by the fame of its bio-pod laboratories and spawning pits, must undergo preemptive sterilization procedures, and, of course, never stray from the designated paths, lest they be seized by one of the planet’s many strange predators.

- Iurthelath: While typical Plasmators never remain in office for more than, at the very utmost, fifty standard years, not in the least because of lifespan limitations, the rulers of Iurthelath are a very notable exception. It is the only recorded case in Coalition history in which the title of Plasmator has been officially claimed not by an individual, but a group of researchers. The Iurthelathl Combine, as they are known, have remained in their position almost since it first appeared, and some suspect they simply found a loophole in the newly established rules. However this may stand, the Combine is an exceptionally diverse group, even including some N’vall, and its ever-evolving military designs are highly prized by Nodule controllers and fabricators alike. Less so by the inhabitants of the system, who, despite the official rules, constantly fear lest they be accidentally obliterated by the latest prototype.

- Nodule Nl-03: While political and military power alike is mostly more or less evenly distributed among the Nodules, with some variations due to the population and resource yield of given sectors, Nl-03 greatly outclasses it fellows. The reason for this is that it is perhaps the closest the modern Coalition has to a true Nucleus; a staging point for the forces of several outer sectors, and a few of the core ones as well. This degree of centralisation, previously unheard of in Yrrkelthar, has been forced upon it by the onslaught of the Daisan, and the speed with which it was put into practice is laudable by any standards. In less than three years, the previously scattered armies of the northern systems have been assembled here, ready to be deployed wherever the invaders might show themselves - though the strategic closeness of Nl-03 to the Imperial border has been a source of some perplexity.

- Mlan’entel E’thuur (lit. “The Fleet Lastborn”): N’vall wandering fleets are an impressive sight, hundreds, if not thousands, of large vessels of alien design glimmering through the void with the manifold eyes of their incomprehensible lights. Few of them, however, can rival the Mlan’entel E’thuur, “last” (which, in N’vall culture, is the most honourable position) of all. Its size is such that, were it not for the distinctly green light it radiates, it would often be mistaken for a nebula, and the power wielded by its outlandish armaments is such to have given pause even to the united fleet that stopped the Daisan advance. It is said that the mightiest of the I’nler reside on it, and that it occasionally seeks out the other N’vall congregations to conduct unnamed transactions; and none may guess where it is at any given moment.

- Vollnetlleayrrkeltharl (lit. “Dead space of Yrrkelthar”): While any starmap will make the Coalition appear rather impressive in terms of controlled territory, the truth is that very little of it beyond the core regions is inhabited. Most of it is vollnetlle - empty and lifeless. Graveyards of desolate planets float dimly between uncharted nebulae, and nameless stars burn out their course without having ever been perceived by living organs. Yet this does not mean that this space is quiet, and, worst of all, not put to use. Fleets of drone ships patrol it without cease, and uncountable myriads of machines restlessly work to strip the uninhabited worlds of as many resources as possible. The fate that befalls others is worse yet: failed experiments are left on them and left to rot, or, which is worse, multiply; they are transformed into vile, infernal “death worlds” by the destructive mechanical armies stationed there; or, most fearsome of all, are used as testing targets for new methods of planetary destruction and hostile terraforming. The expanses within and between systems are clogged by debris or exhausted weapons, and so much as venturing into these regions is a deadly risk.







Ekhrilthur:


These fungal creatures, hailing from a largely barren and inhospitable, but mineral-rich planet, have a long history of struggling with hostile environments, which, combined with their lengthy gestation period, frequently threatened to thin their numbers almost to the point of extinction. Consequently, there remains in them an atavistic aversion to being exposed to physical danger, and a proportional willingness to decrease the chance of such an occurrence as far as possible. As their soft, malleable pseudopods, which can, in various circumstances, exert a firm grip or perform fine manipulations, render them naturally suited for occupations wherein such flexibility can be vital, Ekhrilthur industry is the Coalition’s finest in terms of mechanical implements and technological advancement, its wares widely available on any inhabited world. Despite this, the Ekhrilthur themselves are seldom seen outside the core regions, preferring to remain in the safety of their territories, despite the latter often amounting to little more than planet-spanning factories and mining facilities.

Their homeworld is especially notable for the vast, continent-spanning subterranean cavernous formations, wherein most of its life-form population evolved. As a consequence of developing in an atypically dark and humid environment, the Ekhrilthur are particularly susceptible to light and dry climates, causing them to be seldom seen in the open, or indeed at all, on worlds close to a their orbital star; conversely, they appear to thrive on those near a system's rim. These beings appear as rough spheroids composed of grey gelatinous matter, moving and manipulating objects by the means of a variable number of malleable pseudopods which can, when necessary, exude a viscous substance.

Skirol:


The inquisitive Skirol developed in a rich and complex ecosystem, the entirety of which they still suspect they have not yet quite understood. Such a wealth of life never ceased to fascinate a great many of them, and, ever since the dawn of their civilisation, lead them to wonder how marvellous the world of organic forms might be if it were guided by a wise, calculating intellect - such as their own. Since the Skirol seldom hesitate before passing from words to action, there scarce can be found a life-form in Coalition space which they have not experimented upon, and the products of their biological engineering are slowly yet steadily making their way toward wholesale employment in the civilian sector as well as the military. Skirol are a rather common sight throughout the Coalition, especially about the fringe, where exploration expeditions are occasionally undertaken.

The Skirol are odd creatures exhibiting both arthropodal and molluscoid physiological traits, as well as certain others whose analogues have not been encountered in any other known animal. They visually resemble some form of arachnid or crustacean, encased in black segmented exoskeletons and possessing tentacular appendages extending from the frontal section of their heads.

N’vall:


Cryptic beings that appeared from unknown recesses of the galaxy during the Yrrkeltharl War, and have since become a constituent member of the Coalition, despite refusing to settle on any planet or stationary superstructure and living exclusively on their ships. Comparatively little is known about the N’vall, but something that is certain is that they are members, perhaps the last, of a species that sought to attain physical perfection. Having long abandoned natural procreation in favour of the precisely controlled artificial procedures enabled by their significant level of technological advancement, N’vall are “born” from a genetic fusion encoded into biomass growing around a metallic endoskeleton. Some of them possess strong psionic abilities, but it has not yet been determined what factors cause their development.

If seen in their customary garments, the N’vall might appear to a casual observer to be almost humanoid. However, their true anatomy is neither such nor even bipedal. They possess four arms, two of which usually remain folded under their cloaks, and lack any sort of hind limbs, instead relying on magnetic propulsors and somewhat arthropod-like mechanical prosthetics, and, should those fail, their own robust muscles, to move in a hovering or crawling fashion. N’vall hands have four digits, one of which appear opposable, but can be bent or rotated sideways with ease to provide a grip upon objects.



Despite centuries of cohabitation, the three species of the Coalition have, over time, remained rather distinct in their social and cultural domains. Mingling has, to this day, remained limited to a macroscopic scale, since even when Ekhrilthur and Skirol share a planet, their environmental requirements and preferences drive them to settle separate locations. Nonetheless, time and regular trade have smoothed out any hostilities between them (a factor contributing to a comparatively rapid construction of peaceful relations was that, due to their biology and consequent social structures, none of the Yrrkeltharl inhabitants are familiar with the concept of trans-generational guilt). Overall, the Coalition’s society is, though as diverse as its geography, rather firmly unified, even though a casual observer might not see any immediate traces of unity proper in it.

The Ekhrilthur, being strongly inclined towards individualistic and materialistic attitudes, as well as possessing almost irrationally strong latent self-preservation instincts, mostly live in utilitarian, unsightly yet functional urban centers, large parts of which reach deep underground. Roads, streetways and passages between buildings take on the form of enclosed tunnels, making the cities fully self-contained pockets of space with only a scarce few entryways and aeration openings connecting them to the outside. Personal dwellings are typically small, narrow insulated capsules, with little, if any, decorations - indeed, in contemporary times ornaments are considered distasteful, and how pristine a home is is a clear sign of the owner’s status - and few visible furnishings. Common pastimes include electronic sensory stimulation, with chemical or biological drugs being rare, and mechanical design aided by small personal assembling devices.

Ekhrilthur society is the basis for the Coalition’s own technocratic system. With the all-pervasiveness of safety system in everyday life, technicians and engineers are the ones who hold the effectively greatest responsibilities, and consequently authority, among them, their influence rivalled only by that of the military (which, being entirely automated, is controlled by technicians itself). Ranks and standing are determined by skill and merit, with examinations and probation periods being required to pass from one of the standardised “levels” to the other. Egoism is not only sanctioned, but indirectly encouraged in these meritocratic communities. While small-scale corruption is not uncommon, nepotism is not practiced by the Ekhrilthur, as they reproduce by sporogenesis and do not entertain family ties.

It might be odd to hear that the notoriously materialistic Ekhrilthur are not only open to religion, but have even produced a faith of their own. In fact, the Creed of the Ultimate Truth is not so much a religious confession as a philosophical stance. In simple terms, those who subscribe to it believe that there is, concealed somewhere in the cosmos, a notion that, if discovered, would explain all uncertainties there exist on the nature and origin of the universe. The innumerable interpretations of this basic axiom have birthed almost as many schools of thought within the Creed, which incessantly contend themselves through discussions and debates.

Skirol, on the other hand, are strongly communal. They congregate in groups known as Trezklin, which can be loosely translated as “Swarm” or “Blight”, numbering anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand individuals, and only a rare few eccentrics are known to live in comparative isolation. The Trezklin is the foundation of the average Skirol’s life, providing at once a family, working environment and circle of friends, or “hunting-mates”. The internal hierarchy of these communities is, while mostly similar across the general Coalition-wide population, so bizarre and intricate as to be largely incomprehensible to outsiders. As far as anyone can tell, one’s authority is accrued proportionally with age, but even then it is in no way uncommon to have younger members significantly outrank older ones.

Trezklin are, as a rule, stationed in the wild, be it flatlands countryside, forests and jungles, swamps, mountain ranges, archipelagos or even shallow bodies of water if their members are augmented to survive in it. Some are nomadic, but the majority remain in the territories where they were originally founded. Skirol habitations, commonly named bio-pods, are semi-organic constructions incorporating one or more non-sentient living membranes draped over a synthetic structure, providing the advantage of a heat-preserving barrier that can be regulated in its various aspects. The standard bio-pod is a large, if sleek, edifice, either housing numerous inhabitants or containing some facility or the other; individual ones are uncommon and reserved for notable persons.

Similarly to the Ekhrilthur, Skirol do not have true religions, but rather philosophical ideologies. The overwhelmingly prevalent one is that of the Cyclic Equilibrium, whose broadly-worded mandate is to find and spread balance to all life. The interrogative of what exactly this balance is has perhaps as many answers as there are planets inhabited by Skirol. Some believe that this means all life-forms should be equal, and modify themselves in entire Trezklin to fit an “universal” biological template; others, on the contrary, see it as an exhortation to increase diversity, and surround themselves with all sorts of strange creatures; others yet think that only some select life-forms should be allowed to exist, and the others be either altered or eliminated. Whatever interpretation they may follow, the Skirol are usually drawn to active experimentation, and do not waste time before putting their views into practice.

Of the N’vall, not much is known. Without exception, they keep to their ships, never setting foot (even figuratively, given their ability to move by hovering above the ground) on any planet or structure not built by themselves and refusing entry aboard their vessels to all but high-standing Coalition officials and scientists. Communications with them are usually carried out by transmitter, or through their slave proxies. What little has filtered down indicates that the entirety of their fleets is ruled by a hierarchy of the psionically endowed, known as I’nler’attul, or I’nler (roughly translatable as “they who dominate/shape” and “dominating/shaping [ones]”), and that they have not relinquished their forebears’ quest of attaining perfection. Though they themselves acknowledge they have not yet reached that stage, they nonetheless see themselves as superior to other beings, and make no effort to conceal it.



With the decline of the power of the Nucleus, two main influences swiftly rose to replace the mighty central authority, as they had been preparing to do for a rather long time - the scientific community network and the military controllers, which is little more than a formal subsection of the former. With defense and ease of force deployment being one of the local authorities’ main tasks, the military immediately established a strong hold on them, eventually growing to fill them altogether. While the Nucleus still participates in the administration of the core regions, it is now quite clearly of secondary importance.

That said, despite controlling the highly strategically important local centers of governance, known as Nodules, the armed forces to not take active part in the governance of systems and sectors. Instead, they limit themselves to enforcing peace, watching the borders and appointing planetary or system governors, called Plasmators. Tying back to the original extremity of the influence shift, Plasmators are chosen from noteworthy scientists and researchers. Their administrative duties are purely nominal, as planets have their own organs of government, the selection and maintenance of which, while vaguely following a standard structure (designed prevalently with the objective of making them as unobtrusive into the Plasmators’ work as possible) is mostly left to the populace. Rather, what their appointment means is that they and their supporting staff have free rein to employ their territory’s space and resources as their work and experiments require it. There are but a few major rules they must abide by lest the Nodules intervene, and the period of allotment is flexible enough.

While the N’vall are technically subject to the global laws of the Coalition, the fact that the latter are so few and loose leaves them significant freedom of action. Their fleets are free to wander about as they please, any empty system, as long as it is not hosting some Plasmator’s experiments, is open for them to exploit as necessary, and the Nodules do not interfere with the rule of the I’nler. Nonetheless, in times of war with an external enemy, they, as well as the rest of the Coalition, are bound to contribute a share of their forces for the common effort - something which they have thus far never disagreed with.





It might at first appear that, much like its society, the Coalition’s work and accomplishments in the technological field are divided following the species of those who work on them - after all, many practices are to this day still exclusive to their respective inventors. However, upon a somewhat closer examination, it becomes clear that technology has intermingled far more than its creators. Hybrid designs are perfectly commonplace, and Skirol and N’vall energy sources have long since supplanted anything else in use. An explanation for this can be found in the nature of the contact between the Coalition’s members: while trade and commerce are slow in conducting cultural exchanges, scientific and technological ones flow much faster.

Nevertheless, a noticeable degree of historical specialisation does remain. Ekhrilthur technology is chiefly oriented towards mechanics and engineering, and about two hundred years ago has begun foraying into nanotechnology. It is notable, though, that virtual programming has never been their strong point: while they have been able to create some highly complex virtual constructs, the latter are mostly linear in their concept and functioning and lack much potential beyond the minimal necessary versatility. Ekhrilthur components are widely used in Skirol semi-organic constructs, and are occasionally sought after as mechanical prosthetics.

The Skirol are best known for their biological and genetic manipulations. Over the centuries, the number of species created by them through selection, hybridisation, genetic fusion or simply direct grafting has likely grown to exceed that of life-forms naturally found in Yrrkelthar. Ghastly though their amalgams might appear, it is undisputed that they are immensely useful in sectors ranging from medicine and agriculture to spacefaring and, of course, the armed forces. Among other things, the Skirol are responsible for the invention of two of the tools most famed within the Coalition and infamous without - bacterial tubes and engineered plagues. Body augmentations, practical or merely cosmetic, are likewise a common application of their arts.

Most arcane and relatively advanced of all, N’vall technology could appear to hail from another galaxy altogether. The principles it operates upon are either new but irrefutable, or known but having long been deemed unsuited for practical application. Theirs are the traction-core system, used either for highly efficient energy production or the construction of such fearsome weapons as vacuum rippers or gravity mauls, the secrets of neural melding, which subjugates those subjected to it to the will of the I’nler, magnetic levitation and the cloning of vat-grown biomass. The N’vall are likewise responsible for introducing the hyperspace drive into Yrrkelthar.



















The power of the Coalition, scientific and military alike, is entirely founded on the strength of its industry. Planets and asteroids are torn open every day to feed the insatiable metallic monster, and many thousands of varyingly automated factories regurgitate tools, wares, instruments, equipment, but most of all ships, drones and frames for semi-organic constructs. The vollnetlle is littered with their hideous forms, but they likewise abound in the core regions, and Ekhrilthur space in particular. Indeed, the Ulvarith system-complex, a mass of interconnected megastructures fully dedicated to pounding metal into uniform shapes, is the species’s pride, and many worlds inhabited by the fungi show signs of efforts to emulate this great work on great and small scales alike.





The most notable feature of the Coalition military is that no member of the three constituent species ever takes to the field in person. All of its forces are composed of remotely controlled constructs, with the sole exception of Skirol and N’vall ships, which, however, are rather rare. No creature, be it living or mechanical, in its ranks is fully autonomous, since the Yrrkeltharl species are as distrustful of anything they cannot directly command as they are unwilling to descend into battle. This reliance on its creations rather than its population itself, and thus industry rather than reproduction, often grants the Coalition an immense numerical advantage. While its troops might be unwieldy and slow on the move, they are so many that enemy armies, whatever they might be, may easily find themselves dwarfed, and the foul contamination they spread as they advance further tips the scales of attrition in their favour.



Navy Doctrine: Sometimes called “pillar drill” after an ancient Ekhrilthur siege engine, the Coalition war fleets’ typical approach to battle seeks to make best use of the strengths of each of its vessel types. The innumerable lesser and medium Ekhrilthur drone craft seek to pin enemy fleets in place by surrounding them from all sides, hurling themselves forward with weapons blazing regardless of any damage or losses they might suffer. Once the foe is thus encircled, the “drill” proper, formed by heavy drone ships alongside the titanic Skirol semi-organic vessels and the powerful N’vall auxiliaries, advance upon it, releasing new waves of strikecraft and firing fearsome weapons such as vacuum rippers, giant unmakers and spinal beam projectors. With nowhere to turn, the enemy would ideally be at the mercy of this unstoppable force.



Ground Doctrine: While fleet tactics, distinctive though they might be of the Coalition, do not bear much of a mark in the way of its, so to say, flavour, the doctrine followed by its Planetary Invasion Forces appears to take pride in displaying the worst of its destructive and corrupting tendencies. Officially named “Transformative Assimilation”, it consists in radically altering the terrain and environment around its immense armies of metal and biomass via the use of hostile terraforming. In addition to being necessary for the troops to operate at full effectiveness, as they are expressly built to do battle in such hellish conditions, it corrodes and weakens any resistance the enemy might offer, so that it might easily be swept away by the unwavering advance of the soulless tide.

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A political amalgamation with grand pretenses of freedom and democracy, the Commonwealth is in truth a sprawling monarchical imperium dominated by a species of feline humanoids called the Vit'azny. The Commonwealth owes its existence to the fact that 500 years ago the then Vit'azny Empire realized assimilation was vastly easier than maintaining overlordship over their rebellious subjects. The resulting organization has since exploded into a major galactic power and an economic juggernaut.




As the name implies, the Commonwealth is a large aggregation of “independent” nations united under a single “democratic” government in a “free” and “egalitarian” society. While the name may imply such grandeur, the reality of the Commonwealth is a far cry from independent, democratic, or free. In truth, the Commonwealth is a vast monarchical imperium, dominated by a species of long lived feline humanoids called the Vit’azny, and ruled absolutely by Catherine, the Imperial Queen.

The Commonwealth is a younger nation, at least compared to some of the antiquated species clinging to the scraps of their former glory around the galaxy. The Vit’azny are also a young species full of pride and ambition. Other members of the Commonwealth vary in age; some species were pre-FTL when they joined, others were the remnants of once great empires. Regardless of age or stature, they now bend knee to Her Imperial Majesty, Catherine.

The Vit’azny have been a spacefaring civilization for a little less than 700 years. They set out from their homeworld of Praetoria and began rapidly expanding to accommodate their swelling population. Historically, they have never shied away from warfare, though they are pragmatic above all else and understand the usefulness of diplomacy. First contact with another alien race, the snake-like Yanissans, quickly devolved into war. Seeing how one sided the conflict would be the Yanissans promptly surrendered were annexed as subjects.This happened again with another race, the brutish Szitzu. Neither species were happy as subjects, and rebellions rapidly become a problem for the Vit’azny overlords. 499 years ago (1396 I.C.), they developed a solution: the Imperial Systems Commonwealth. The governments of the Szitzu and Yanissans were restored, and they agreed to the formation of the Parliament of the Sovereign Reich and the other institutions of the Commonwealth.

Today, the Commonwealth exists as a major economic and military powerhouse in the galaxy, always looking to expand its borders.


TBD


Corinthene: The Commonwealth’s capital, seat of the Parliament of the Sovereign Reich, ancestral homeworld of the Rhodesians. Modern day Corinthene is a planet of gleaming cities full of towering glass skyscrapers. Everything is shiny and new; anything old tends to be torn down to make way for something bigger and better. Corinthene is a bright and orderly place, with extremely low crime rates and very little poverty. It’s a little boring to be perfectly honest.

Praetoria: Seat of the Imperial Crown, so called “Shadow Capital”, homeworld of the Vit’azny. In sharp contrast to Corinthene, Praetoria is full of ancient buildings, most predating the Commonwealth itself, many predating spaceflight, and some are even older than that. Praetoria is rife with political plots and intrigue, lavish parties, and hints of well concealed debauchery. Poverty is virtually non-existent; the poor were long ago...encouraged to make new lives in the colonies. As a result, the most expensive thing on Praetoria is manual labour; the fantastically wealthy employ actual butlers and maids as a display of affluence, while the moderately prosperous make do with robotic servants.

Sthis Tor: Yanissan homeworld, a place of intrigue, hedonism, and debauchery. Average temperature and humidity are just on the high side of comfortable for most people. The local flora and fauna have a tendency to be brightly coloured and very poisonous. The local citizens have the same tendencies, and they tend to be far more deadly. If you’re looking to have a good time, Sthis Tor is the place to go; if you’re looking to get murdered, Sthis Tor is also the place to go. The difference between the two can be a few steps into the wrong part of town. Over it all, the scheming Lord Captain Commanders vie for personal power and the favour of Salmissra, the Arch-Duchess of the Yanissan Principalities. On a side note, Sthis Tor leads the Commonwealth in high fashion.

Ursuli: Szitzu homeworld, a major military stronghold and training centre. Admiralty House may be on Corinthene, the Imperial War College may be on Praetoria, but as home to United Forces Command, Ursuli is the beating heart of the Commmonwealth military. A successful attack on Ursuli would decapitate the Commonwealth’s military hierarchy, but such an attack would be virtually impossible, as Ursuli is a more or less impenetrable fortress.







Life in the Commonwealth is actually quite pleasant for Vit’azny and other species alike. The Imperial Government maintains a large number of social programs to foster growth and development. Citizens of member species enjoy access to free universal healthcare, free secondary education, heavily subsidized post-secondary education, a decent amount of personal rights and freedoms, unemployment insurance, fair taxation, a fair minimum wage, democratic representation in government, a degree of self governance and independence, and imperial funding for a number of industries. These benefits are something of a trap; they encourage many species to join the Commonwealth, not realizing they will be neither full members nor citizens immediately upon joining. In war, the Commonwealth maintains a policy of always offering membership to their enemies. Many species over the years have decided to join rather than be exterminated. Even some species who could have won the conflict sought a quicker diplomatic end to war and accepted the offer, a decision most have come to regret.

Citizenship is a very important part of Commonwealth society. Being a citizen grants an individual access to all the Commonwealth’s benefits, as well as all its rights and freedoms. Citizens can also move freely from world to world, vote in elections, and apply to present a petition in the Royal Court. Non-citizens have none of these privileges; for them, life can be very hard. There are two ways to gain citizenship: money, or service. An applicant for citizenship must take three different tests: a generalized aptitude test, a specialized IQ test, and finally a citizenship test. While citizenship itself is free and the tests are not particularly difficult, the fees for taking each of the three tests are enormous. This means only wealthy non-citizens can take this route. Children of citizens gain access to citizen privileges via their parents until the reach the age of majority for their species, at which point they must obtain citizenship for themselves. It is common for parents to pay the fees for their children; many banks in the Commonwealth offer services to help citizens with children save up for the admission process, much like a college fund.

The other way to gain citizenship is through service; either to the Imperial Armed Forces of the Commonwealth, or to the Imperial Directorate. Both routes skip the usual testing procedures entirely; simply serve for the allotted time, and be granted citizenship. The IAFC will take almost anyone, but it is a dangerous life. The Imperial Directorate, in its never-ending quest to find intelligent individuals to help run the Commonwealth, has its own application process, which involves difficult aptitude tests and a number of exams and interviews. However, the Imperial Directorate is not just a quick way to gain citizenship, but also an extremely prestigious career that an individual could happily remain in for life. A third option is sometimes available; the Commonwealth sometimes has colonization drives to settle new colonies or Verge worlds, and offer citizenship to anyone who volunteers after they have lived on the target planet for a set number of years.

Vit’azny culture is strongly embedded with honour and military tradition. While not precisely a militaristic people, the Vit’azny don’t have any particular qualms about getting involved in conflicts, when it is necessary. War, of course, brings honour and glory to those with enough guts to seize them. Anything other than steadfast and heartfelt support of the military during wartime is considered borderline sedition. The culture of the Commonwealth in a larger sense is fairly difficult to pin down. Each member species brings elements of their own culture with them, so where a given species if more concentrated, their culture is more prevalent.

The Commonwealth does have a state religion, which the Vit’azny are quite fervent about. The enthusiasm of the rest of the Commonwealth varies widely. Their faith revolves around a pantheon of 7 gods: chief among them is Llyena, Goddess of Victory and Justice, from whom the Imperial Queen takes her authority. The others are Ichael, God of Life and Death; Arctus, God of Chaos and Destruction; Nezia, Goddess of Thought and Reason; Lexus, God of Order and Industry; Cyris, Goddess of Sight and Time; and Shakras the Lost, God of Secrets, the Unknown, and the Void. While Llyena is chief among the deities, different species in the Commonwealth honour others above her. The sly, snakelike Yanissans, for example, tend to favor Shakras the Lost, while the brutish Szitzu favor Arctus. Different planets, or even individuals of specific occupations will favor some gods over others; doctors might prey for Ichael’s left hand to guide them; the mandates of the Imperial Directorate are stamped with Lexus’s seal; some soldiers might pray to Llyena for victory, while others might pray to Arctus to grant them his battle fury. It is a faith as diverse as the Commonwealth itself.


There are three main bodies to the Commonwealth’s government: The Parliament of the Sovereign Reich, the Imperial Directorate of the Commonwealth, and The Imperial Crown.

The Parliament of the Sovereign Reich is the official government of the Commonwealth. It is composed of 1021 elected representatives who are affiliated with assorted political parties. The party with the most seats after an election composes Her Imperial Majesty’s Government, and the leader of that party becomes Lord Chancellor. He in turn appoints assorted ministers to compose the cabinet. The parliament functions as most parliaments do: bills are presented, voted on, debated, voted on again, and so forth. The Parliament of the Sovereign Reich is responsible for issues affecting the whole of the Commonwealth, with regional authority being granted to smaller legislative assemblies, or the existing governments of member species. The authority of parliament is absolute, and the Imperial Queen is not directly involved in its functioning, though she may appoint heads of committees and task forces. There is an exception, however: Royal Mandates. The Imperial Queen may issue a Royal Mandate at any time, on any subject she deems suitable. A Royal Mandate skips all the debate and voting; in this, the Imperial Queen’s word is law. However, Royal Mandates are a touchy subject: a ruler that uses them too freely to abuse their authority over parliament often finds that their Mandates take a very long time to be implemented, often poorly. On the flipside, Prime Ministers who steadfastly refuse to bow to the ruler’s authority often find themselves in front of parliamentary committees on charges of Contempt of Parliament.

The Imperial Directorate of the Commonwealth is the vast bureaucracy that keeps the trains running on time. From the wealthiest Core world to the most desolate colony, the Imperial Directorate’s deft touch can be seen at work. It consists of a large number of ministries, departments, bureau’s, agencies and crown corporations, all arranged into a maze of regulations and red tape. Entities of the Directorate cover a variety of areas, everything from defense and procurement to citizen health and wellbeing. Some entities only operate in certain areas of the Commonwealth; the Ministry of Environment, for example, has absolutely no use in the colonies, but is enormously important in the Core worlds. Similarly, the Commonwealth Civil Order Agency is unnecessary in the Core, but plays an important role in suppressing the rebellious colonies. There are also a vast number of agencies that do everything from maintain slipspace beacons to collect taxes. The Directorate can also be used as something of a political scapegoat if necessary. Ministers, the Lord Chancellor, even the Imperial Queen have been known to redirect blame into the faceless mass of the Directorate on occasion.

This brings us to the final entity of the Commonwealth’s government: the Imperial Crown. The exact limits of the Crown’s authority are vaguely defined and poorly understood. The Crown is an old, old institution, dating back thousands of years to one of Praetoria’s great empires, long before the Vit’azny began venturing into space. The Imperial Crown began with the establishment of the Breshelin Empire, under Catherine’s distant ancestor, Petyr Dragunov. Originally, the King’s power was absolute, but this power was limited by the first constitution of the Breshelin Empire, which came about after the Wurtenstein Uprising when the first ever parliament was established. Some 900 odd years ago, the Breshelin Empire managed to unite the entire planet of Praetoria under a single government after evidence of intelligent alien life was discovered, and a new parliamentary system was formed and a new constitution was written. The Imperial Crown continued on, but it’s powers were defined under the new constitution as being “similar in nature and spirit to those established under the Wurtenstein Constitution” (due to the Vit’azny legal system being largely based on historical precedent rather than written law). 499 years ago, when the Commonwealth was formed, much of the Crown’s power was again defined as “similar in nature and spirit to those established under the Planetary Constitution.” Considering all this, the problem becomes apparent: the exact limits of the Crown’s power are based on a poorly written 2000 year old document. The accepted conventions are as follows: the Crown will ask the majority leader of Parliament to form the official government, and will agree to dissolve parliament and open elections at the request of the majority leader. The Crown is entitled to appoint appropriate individuals to chair parliamentary committees, in consultation with the Lord Chancellor. The Crown is entitled to use Royal Mandates to address matters of urgency for the benefit of the Commonwealth. As of the Colonization Act of 22 AU, the Crown has jurisdiction over Colonial Territories, while the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for their administration and answers to the Crown in this regard. Even these conventions are not ironclad, though ignoring them risks a Constitutional Crisis. For the Commonwealth to run smoothly, it is essential for the Crown and the Lord Chancellor to have a good working relationship. If they do, they can combine their efforts to make good use of both of their respective authorities.







The Commonwealth’s general tech level is comparable to that of other major galactic powers. The multi-national nature of the Commonwealth has brought together a myriad of technologies and ideas and combined them in innovative new ways. For example, the primitive brute force firepower of Szitzu mass drivers was combined with Vit’azny gravity expertise to develop a much more deadly weapon, while Yanissan missile systems and Rhodesian miniaturization have given the Commonwealth incredible versatility in their long range firepower.



GDC: The most remarkable Commonwealth technology is without a doubt their engine systems. The Graviton Drive Chain is a massive engine system that takes up a good portion of a ship’s mass. In the main reactor core, a self perpetuating Wronski-Birks reaction creates huge amounts of energy, gravitons, and anti-gravitons. The particles are directed around the ship to form a gravitational envelope around the ship, which simultaneously pulls the ship from the front and pushes at the rear. When reinforced by generators along the surface of the ship, this envelope doubles as a very effective shielding system. Having the ship enclosed in its own gravitational field grants a number advantages, most notably extremely good acceleration, if somewhat poor maneuverability. Most GDCs have slipspace drives built in, though strictly intra-system vessels have no need for FTL.

MCM: Multiple Configuration Missiles are another mainstay of Commonwealth military power. Commonwealth missiles are highly modulated, with a number of interchangeable components that allows ships to rapidly assemble whatever type of munition is needed. Warhead features range from standoff range ion beams to direct contact anti armor plasma charges. Fuselage features include additional drive sections for high speed missiles, extra fuel for extreme range engagements, and extra EW capability, among others. The drive section can be configured for long range bombardment, short range slipspace transits, or high speed evasive maneuvers. A kinetic warhead, enhanced targeting fuselage, and short range high speed drive combined make an excellent defensive missile, while an ion warhead with a stealth fuselage and a mircro slipspace drive can make a nasty surprise for enemy shields.

Axial Weapons: Though Commonwealth ships are designed to engage with broadsides, their long narrow profiles presented an opportunity that was too good to pass on. As a result, all Commonwealth ships mount high calibre axial weapons that fire from the bow. In older vessels, these weapons take the form of large graviton railguns, while newer vessels tend to have high intensity superlasers. Battleships and Dreadnoughts mount two axial weapons, while smaller ships mount only one. Powerful as they may be, these weapons are not the ship’s primary armament, so they are not as effective or mass intensive as a full sized spinal weapon would be.

Graviton railguns: The primary weapon of the RCN. The principle of magnetic rails accelerating a metallic slug is an old and quite simple one. The only modification the RCN has made is that, instead of magnetism, their railguns use artificial gravity systems to massively increase the size and speed of projectiles, and have multiple munitions types to accommodate different situations, such as good old fashioned ultra-dense slugs, shield-breaker rounds, and flak shells. Graviton railguns are configured in huge numbers of double mounts on the broadsides of Commonwealth ships.

Positron Beam Cannons: The pinnacle of Commonwealth energy weapons tech, positron cannons are devastatingly effective. They are mounted in massive turrets on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of Commonwealth ships and configured to deliver optimum firepower both forwards and to either side.


The Commonwealth is an industrial juggernaut, with massive production capabilities. This industry is driven by an extensive trade network and a skilled workforce, but the real power of the Commonwealth comes from an immensely wealthy tax base and an abundance of cheap manual labour and raw materials. The disparity between the wealthy and the poor is truly astonishing, and a direct result of how the Commonwealth is organized. The worlds of the Commonwealth are classified into one of four categories: Core worlds, Constituent worlds, Colonial worlds, and Verge worlds.

The Core worlds are the original Vit’azny colonies and a small number of worlds of some of the Commonwealth’s oldest members. The vast majority of the Commonwealth’s wealth is concentrated on these worlds. In fact, money is the only real industry of the Core worlds. Almost all food and manufactured goods are imported from the Constituents and the Colonies, with the exception of some ultra-high end luxury goods. Any respectable company maintains its corporate headquarters on one of the Core worlds, with some exceptions. Money is the biggest industry of the Core worlds, with countless financial service providers and stock exchanges dominating the economy. Core worlds tend to be heavily populated; on average, about 70% of a Core world’s landmass is covered by gleaming cities. The majority of the population is inevitably Vit’azny, and poverty is virtually nonexistent on these worlds. While one would expect a society as lopsided as the Commonwealth’s would pass off the burden of taxation to its helpless colonies and let the Core Worlds amass their fortunes, this is not the case.The Commonwealth in fact maintains a sophisticated taxation system with multiple income brackets where the highest bracket pays the most taxes. Through this system, the Core worlds actually provide the majority of the Commonwealth’s tax income. Aspects of the Commonwealth such as the taxation system and the Parliament of the Sovereign Reich have convinced many species to join the Commonwealth over the years. By the time they discover some of the ‘conditions’ attached to membership, it is too late.

The Constituent worlds are the backbone of the Commonwealth. They include newer Vit’azny colonies, a large number of Commonwealth colonies, and the worlds of moderately respected member nations. The Constituent worlds are much less homogeneous than the Core worlds: some are richer, some less so, and even on a given planet there is a wide margin between the wealthy and the poor. A given planet, or even a given city on that planet, will have affluent communities and slums alike. Like the Commonwealth as a whole, the Vit’azny and a number of the older member species form the elite, with a healthy spattering of individuals from all kinds of species who happened to do very well for themselves. Constituent worlds are ruled by either Imperial Legislatures of the Commonwealth (in the case of colonies founded by the Commonwealth as a whole) or by existing governments (in the case of colonies established by individual members). Constituent worlds have full member status in the Commonwealth; the world has high degree of self governance, can apply for subsidies from the Imperial Treasury, and has a number of other advantages. Constituent status is essentially citizenship for a planet, though individuals on the planet still have to adhere to normal citizenship procedures. The Constituent worlds are the primary manufacturing and processing centres of the Commonwealth. While the Core worlds’ only industry is money and the Colonies tend to only provide raw materials and cheap labour, Constituent industry does a bit of everything; large scale mining, agriculture, the production of consumer goods, starship construction, and all the financial and legal services that such industries need. It is all jumbled together in a free market economy that powers the massive industrial capabilities of the Commonwealth.

Colonial worlds (a deliberate misnomer) are tragic monuments to the lies, oppression, and broken promises of the Commonwealth. They are the worlds of new or reluctant member species, and by the strictures of the Colonization act, these worlds are not technically members of the Commonwealth, but are instead subjects. Most Colonial worlds are desperately poor and underdeveloped, even if they were originally quite advanced. Many species join the Commonwealth with the understanding that they will enjoy all its benefits; citizenship, representation in Parliament, a degree of self-government, fair taxation, security, universal healthcare, subsidization, free education etc. Unfortunately, the Colonization act decrees that all newly added worlds are considered colonial holdings, and are under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior and her Imperial Majesty, not the Parliament of the Sovereign Reich. This means they are not eligible for any of the Commonwealth’s social programs, nor do they have any representation in Parliament. They are not ruled by legislative assemblies, but instead by Colonial Governors, who are appointed by the Imperial Queen at the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior. Few people are citizens on Colonial Worlds; only the Vit’azny dominated elite, who take ownership of any industry or natural resources on the planet and employ the locals as ultra-cheap labour. Slavery is technically illegal throughout the Commonwealth, but with no minimum wage or labour rights for non-citizens, colonial labourers can be paid almost nothing. Some landowners elect to provide food, clothing, and shelter for their employees and then pay them nothing at all, reasoning that room and board are taken from their pay, and the rest goes to taxes. Colonial Worlds are subject to the same fair taxation system as the rest of the Commonwealth, but it is not taxes that leave them in poverty. A clause of the Colonization act permits the Commonwealth to seize any assets it deems necessary from Colonial worlds and their inhabitants. Money, goods, resources, land, businesses, even people; all can be seized and repossessed by the crown, or given to a favored citizen. The exploitation and lack of support causes technological regression on many worlds; it is not uncommon to see vehicles with internal combustion engines on Colonial worlds, and even horses in extreme cases. Colonial worlds are often quite rebellious during the early years of their integration, but the Commonwealth is always quick to brutally repress such uprisings. The brutality they employ deters further uprisings, but it is the hope of citizenship, or even becoming a Constituent world, that ultimately keeps the colonies in line. Unlike citizenship, there is no specific criteria for a Colonial world to gain Constituent status and full membership; it is simply granted at the discretion of the governor and the Imperial Queen, again with the advice of the Minister of the Interior. This means a world might easily wait 15 years or 50, or even 500. The Imperial Queen usually tries to grant Constituent status to at least one colony every few years, in order to keep other colonies hopeful and obedient. This process is always accompanied by a grand ceremony where the Imperial Queen herself visits the new Constituent world, relieves the planetary governor, and validates its new government, while the Commonwealth holds a colonization drive to boost the world’s population and showers it with money and resources. A three-day festival is held to celebrate the change in status, and the day of the ceremony becomes a statutory holiday for that world. Some Colonial worlds, however, are so remote, poor, or useless that they will likely never be granted Constituent status. A few of the extreme cases have even been largely forgotten by the Commonwealth and the Crown, and the inhabitants have in turn forgotten the Commonwealth.

Verge worlds are planets on the very edge of Commonwealth space. Their categorization has more to do with their location than their membership status. They are not grossly exploited like colonial worlds, nor are they pampered like Core worlds. They are ruled by military governors, and all have a heavy military presence due to their location on the borders of Commonwealth space. Some few are actually quite wealthy and heavily populated, almost as much as a core world. Most others are significantly less so. They’re populated by a wide array of people: military personnel, hopeless colonials seeking citizenship, prospectors seeking riches, wealthy citizens with a taste for adventure, convicts in forced relocation programs, and so on. Their purpose is to guard the borders of the Commonwealth, anything else is secondary. Verge worlds usually have extremely diverse populations and much more relaxed culture, and social status is not considered as important. The military often provides some of the benefits that the imperial government would elsewhere, so the populace is not as desperate for citizenship as on other worlds. This much freer society makes them places of opportunity. Historically, some of the Commonwealth’s most successful corporations were started on Verge worlds, though some say that’s only propaganda. Regardless, Verge worlds are better places to live than many Colonial worlds, and even the slums on poorer Constituent worlds.


The Imperial Armed Forces of the Commonwealth have two primary entities: the Imperial Army, and the Royal Commonwealth Navy



Doctrine: The Wall of Battle
The RCN is an old institute that dates back to when ships sailed the seas instead of the stars. The Vit’azny saw no need to create a separate organization when space flight began, and the RCN simply assumed responsibility of military endeavours in space. The RCN remains convinced that the good old fashioned broadside is the best way to win any fight.

As a result, Commonwealth ships tend to be tall and thin, with positron beam turrets on their dorsal and ventral surfaces. The sides of the ships carry the majority of the broadside armament, which consists of multiple missile tubes and medium-calibre railgun batteries. Flak systems and point defence lasers are scattered across the ship. Shields are designed to be highly redundant, with even the smallest ships having multiple shield generators. Additionally, most Commonwealth ships are equipped with axial mounted weapons: older ships use supersized graviton railguns, while many newer designs use massive superlasers. This configuration reflects the RCN’s current tactical doctrine. A given RCN ship is designed to be able to approach an enemy ship, firing with their positron turrets, axial weapons, and missile batteries at a target in front of them. Once the opening salvo has been fired, the ship turns to present its broadside, allowing all its positron turrets and broadside weapons to open fire. For fleet engagements, the RCN’s most common tactic is to have ships form into a wall formation, each ship presenting their broadside to the enemy for devastating effect. The wall formation often ends up being adjusted to a sort of semi-spherical formation, which ships altering their broadside angles slightly to fire on targets approaching from any vector. This formation is often deployed to form a defensive screen for Commonwealth Star Carriers as they unleash their hordes of strike craft from the safety of the centre of the formation.

Tactical slipspace transits are also extremely popular in the RCN, used to reposition the Wall to more favourable locations. Given the complexity of calculating a transit for an entire fleet, a poorly executed transit will be disastrous, though a well planned one can be the key to victory.





Doctrine: Strength in Diversity
The Imperial Army is a far younger institution than the RCN, and has evidently not accrued enough battle honours to earn the 'royal' prefix. Nevertheless, the Imperial Army has spent almost 500 years cracking heads across all kinds of worlds. As the Commonwealth has grown, so too has the IA's technological and strategic diversity. The IA favours a relatively straightforward combined arms approach. Expect any IA theatre of operations to feature infantry, armor, artillery, and air forces working closely together, all backed by orbital support from the RCN.

Mixed regulars
The varied population of the Commonwealth mean that their regular infantry is composed of multiple species. Well trained, equipped with power armour and a variety of graviton-acceleration based projectile weapons, the Commonwealth’s infantry can hold their own on any battlefield in the Galaxy.

Szitzu Shock Troopers
The natural size and strength of the Szitzu makes them uniquely well suited to ground combat. Combined with power armor, personal shields, and man-portable positron cannons, the Szitzu are a devastating addition to any conflict.

Valerian Skyjacks
A new addition to the Commonwealth's armies, Valerian Skyjacks have cybernetically enhanced their otherwise useless wings into functional flight appendages. Their power armor is lighter than other models, sacrificing protection for speed and mobility with built in thrusters. Skyjacks are optimally suited for ambush tactics; flying at high altitude and dropping from the sky directly on top of unsuspecting enemy infantry.

Yanissan Su'urtugal
The end result of Yanissan efforts to weaponize psionics, the pinnacle of their genetic splicing programs, the most deadly and unquestioningly loyal soldiers in the Commonwealth: Su'urtugal. The enigmatic organization known as Toolbox tracks down and requisitions all Yanissan psintegrae shortly after birth, then spirits them away to locations unknown to begin a lifetime of training and genetic tampering. The resulting individuals are stronger, faster, smarter, brimming with psionic power, and machinelike in their efficiency. Deployed as spies, elite bodyguards, and elite special operatives in combat, Su'urtugal are constantly in high demand.

IH870 'Piper' Infantry Support Walker

MT330 'Instigator' Main Battle Tank

CA425 'Kestrel' Multi-role gunship

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They call themselves the Ninth Amaranthine Circuit, whatever that means. They can put on a neat, antiseptic diplomatic facade when they feel like it - don't let them fool you. They are just some shady, cult-like corporate cabal. Using their 'official' name just helps to legitimize them. Call them The Printers. Everyone else does.

Official Name: The Ninth Amaranthine Circuit
Common Name: The Printers
Government: Corporate Stratocracy
Capital: Point Phokashra

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The Itharian Harmony is an ancient nation, noted for its pacifist nature and advanced sciences and cultural practices. Long since stabilised in its territorial extent, the Itharian stewards maintain most of the worlds in its immediate vicinity - and it is not uncommon for their work to conflict, albeit mildly, with up and coming nascent star nations. Some reflect that if it were not for the dynamic nature of the Ithari, the Itharian civilization would of stagnated into a dying empire perhaps millenia previously.



The development of Itharian civilization on Aprathia was a story often told amongst the multiple emergent civilizations of the galaxy. Tools, writing, husbandry, agriculture, taxes - civilization. That the nascent Itharian civilization did most of its developmental feats in the sparkling azure oceans of Aprathia was less common, but by no means unheard of in the grand history of all that was and will be.

For Millenia, the Itharian species developed a society that, despite technological limitations and the vastness of the depths, was global, thanks to the far reaching thoughts of the elders, and near entirely pacifistic - at least when it came to the pods of early Ithari. The threats came from outside - the large, lurking monsters of the deep, and the reef colonies and deep sanctuaries worked together against such threats until such a time came where all but the smartest predators had succumbed to their prey.

From such beginnings the Ithari came, but were not limited. In time, they came to evolve further, and in doing so dominate the few small continents of Aprathia - home to only a few creatures that had developed in their isolation. It would take many more centuries of idyllic peace before the Ithari turnt to the stars - and then they did so with wanton abandon.

The Itharian people took to their first true starships decades after that - traversing a new deep to the worlds of the home star, Danae. New oceans were found under the light of Danae, and they too were brought to order and soon enough, peace, as new pods of Ithari took to their currents and mastered new frontiers.

It did not take long from this, in the grand terms of our civilization, to break the barriers that prevented our access to the various isolated shoals of interstellar space. However, with mastery of FTL travel - the ability to jump, dependant on our ability to calculate such feats of dimensional transport to far away stars - we repeated what we had found to be our calling. We found worlds upon which life different from what we knew had developed, upon some, the Itharian people found life with true inklings of sentience, different, but evident. From here, our stewards began their work - protecting those who did not know of the stars until the time was right.

However, as the pods became separated by such vast distances, we made a mistake - we stopped listening to each other, to our revered elders, for their voices could not reach so far, and we grew fractious. It took many centuries, but from such mistakes only misery could result.

We, as a species, knew murder, and with our minds so attuned to the essence of our people, we punished it severely, but we did not know war, and war we could only abhor in the most strongest terms. The losses of our first, and only, "civil" war, were vast in their material cost, but more than that they were a mark upon our very collective psyche. Such things could only continue until we descended into madness, and so from the brink of that abyss, we turned back. From this, the Void Swimmers came, and for their sacrifice we must all be honoured.

We formed a new greater pod, to which all others could belong, and where we could hear, if not truly feel, all voices, and especially our elders, whilst maintaining the new and diverse cultures and ways that we had developed. And so we returned to our order, and our peace, and for countless millenia we have defended such peace from those we have encountered along the way with a passion - and a fear. For when Ithari kill, there is now a note missing from the song, and for that, we are all guilty.

-Revered Elder La'alei of Tu'at. "The Song as I Remember It".


N/A ?


-Aprathia, Danae System

Aprathia is the homeworld and birthplace of Itharian civilization. Its well tended and largely unspoilt, if small, continents leave one to thing that only a small Itharian presence is immediately obvious upon the world - though the immense amount of orbital traffic would leave one perplexed if they did not know better. Its lustrous deep oceans are a hive of activity - long since pacified and turned into the shining heart of the Itharian culture. Though governance has long since moved away, the economic importance of Aprathia and the colonies of the home system cannot be understated, and billions of Ithari - including some of the most ancient, are found here.

-Arillia, Vantara System
Arillia is one of the younger "core" worlds, and has a much larger landmass than the homeworld of Aprathia - with a much heftier Itharian presence. Though the Itharian government holds its seat in a station above the world, its shallower, purple oceans are still home to the most cosmopolitan melding of Ithari pods found in the entire Harmony. Its status as a world open to such things and its reputation as a centre of learning, especially for foreign visitors and emigrés, has secured its status as the de facto capital and a new beacon of culture in the Harmony.




The Harmony is largely, though not necessarily by intent, homogenous. While there is diversity in the Ithari genome particularly with the advancement of technology and the settling of diverse worlds, the Ithari overwhelmingly make up the bulk of the populace in the Harmony. As such, most notable concentrations of non Ithari are either races under stewardship - and largely unaware of the Ithari at all, or concentrations of foreign students or ex-pats that have been granted leave to remain by the Ithari.

The Ithari, are however an unusual species in more ways than one. Their bodies are sleek and dynamic, allowing for fast movement in water. Although they appear completely smooth, their skins are in fact coated with a layer of dense, fine fur. Fur patterns and colors will vary with the individual. They, like mammals, bear live young. Yet all members of the species are hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female sex organs. The majority of Ithari are capable of both fertilizing as a male or bearing young as a female, but only the very oldest Ithari can do both at once; it is normally impossible for a Ithari to impregnate as a male while carrying an offspring itself.

Ithari take on gender pronouns to indicate the dominant pursuits of the phase of existence through which they are passing. A Ithari who is gestating, birthing and nursing young, for example, considers herself a "she" since her existence is devoted to her feminine side. An Elder who has ceased to function as a female is most definitely a "he." Since Void Swimmers have cut themselves off psychologically from the aspects of their character which create and nurture life, a death-dealing Void Swimmer's feminine side, although still present, is not in ascendance. Void Swimmers as such are referred to as male.

A newborn Ithari is very small, less than half a meter in length and weighing only 8 to 10 kilograms. By the time they reach the age of majority, a period of roughly fifty years, a typical Ithari will be around 3 meters long and weigh approximately 120 kilograms.

There seems to be no natural end to the potential life span of any given Ithari. Throughout their lives, they never stop growing. Some records have notes of Elder Ithari over 60 meters long, massing many tons, though no such Elder is known to exist today. If size is not deftly controlled, the end of an Ithari life is typically the point where cell revitalisation requires more energy than the individual can provide through their intake. Largely painless, an individual will simply began to become more lethargic over the course of years until the point where vital organs begin to fail.

The most unusual feature of the Ithari race is not the shape of their bodies however, but the power of their minds. Ithari do not have opposable digits, tentacles or any other physical means of manipulating objects; they employ a limited form of telekinesis instead. A deft Ithari can use several tools at once, and can often operate many simple machines simultaneously. With some concentration they can also hurl objects with astonishing force and the spear was a traditional hunting weapon among the Ithari for many centuries.

Although they have large, light-sensitive eyes, the frequency range of Ithari vision is limited. They have a very refined sense of taste and a sophisticated array of sound-producing and sound-receiving equipment however, which more than compensate for the lack of sight. Ithari echo-location is good enough to allow Ithari to draw very sophisticated schematics of any machine or device simply by “singing” to it and reading the sound waves that bounce back.

The Ithari, as noted, communicate largely by telepathic means, although they do have some very rudimentary sound-signals that convey strong but simple emotions—being startled, amused, frightened, angry, etc.

Ithari are conscious breathers, like earthly cetaceans humans would be familiar with. They can never be fully unconscious, or they die. They fulfill their need for sleep by allowing one lobe of the brain to doze at a time, in three hour cycles, while the other two lobes remain awake and active.

While Ithari are more than physiologically capable of violence and their harmonious society certainly has never extended to all other species, They have never been "Buddhist" in their dietary habits, for example—they are omnivores who are known to raise and herd aquatic life forms for their own sustenance without guilt or shame. However, their nature as a telepathic minded and decidedly empathic species makes the taking of sentient life incredibly traumatic to the unprepared.


Ithari Society has stratified itself into two noticeable classes since the ascent of the Ithari into space for a number of reasons, primarily, however, the one that is tied into the Ithari view on living things. Until the civil war, the Ithari understood but barely endured the concept of Murder - let alone War, and were deeply affected by it and its connotations. The schism in the way the Ithari think and behave, in terms of what other races would see rational has many striking examples. A lesser example of this would be the Ithari's technological prowess in bio-technology. The Ithari, while having a great knowledge in the field that could be employed to great effect, rarely, if at all, modify themselves either through enhancements or genetic tampering.

Overall, however, As a society, the Ithari are now made up of those who know nothing of war and those who sacrifice all that they are to protect those who remain blissfully serene and untarnished. The "Void Swimmers" - those who take to the stars to defend the Ithari worlds, form a consequent parallel class to the main element of civilian society, though not regarded as lesser or elevated. These "Void Swimmers" effectively die, in a social sense, and are reborn as instruments of death rather than life. Few are ever likely to be reintegrated. As such, these classes of society vary, but essentially denote the civilian and the military.

It is, in most aspects, their becoming space faring and subsequent civil war that has made its mark on Ithari Society. The Ithari certainly have mixed feelings about the "Fracture" and all events that have followed since their traumatic first true war. There is definitely a schism between the civilian struggle to cope with this aspect of their history–which, due to their tendency to live long lives and a telepathic story telling tradition, is very much a "Holocaust survivor" syndrome among them—and the military response.

Becoming a Void Swimmer, for some Ithari, was very much like becoming a hunter of those who caused such pain. For others it is plain and simple fear for their homeworlds and loved ones that drives them into the Void Sea. Thanks to their oral-telepathic traditions it is literally impossible for the Ithari as a species to ever forget the way death can come from above...and the humiliation, pain and loss of life that they suffered under their own madness has become a very dark and ugly scar.

There is a certain amount of tragedy in military service for the Ithari. The Ithari are aware of that they may involved in genocidal wars against other sentients, and could be forced to kill the entire civilian population of an enemy world. The Ithari, from their experience, know what sort of affect it can have on individual Ithari and their society overall. Often the answer for how its people cope is "not well". The truth is that, in some cases, a Void Swimmer crew who have seen too much of the wrong kind of action will never return home. When they are no longer needed by their people, they may well choose to "decommission" their own vessel by piloting it into the corona of the nearest star. They understand that they will never be able to become Ithari again. In this way, they are still protecting their home from the horrors of war.

Because of their empathic and telepathic abilities the Ithari are always keenly aware of the sufferings of others and they take no joy in causing pain, fear or anger. They revere life and harmony and abhor needless death or destruction. Nonetheless, they also value their own lives and over their ancient history they have come to embrace survival as a necessary virtue. The Ithari value of life is not to be misunderstood however, as they separate life, sapient life and sentient life. While, as they understand, all life is sacred - particularly sentient and to some extent, sapient life, this has not precluded them from animal husbandry and consuming such reared animals as a food source. To them, this is part of life and not necessarily abhorrent. It is from such a thing that has also lead to the separation of the Ithari military from the civilian population.

Other Information:

For perhaps obvious reasons, the Ithari place an intense value on music. Ithari music is all choral, as one would rightly expect. For many, It is inexpressibly beautiful and powerful, even as a recording, but of course the full effect could never be achieved outside of live performance. When you are close enough to receive the telepathic stream that goes with the song—to hear the lyrics as well as the melody—the experience is magnified a hundred-fold. And this is to say nothing of the frequencies of sound which humanoids can more easily feel than hear.

In terms of religious values, The Ithari spiritual worldview is both simple and profound. They have no separate sense of the divine as is commonly understood. They believe that all things are equally divine and sacred; the universe itself is, in a manner of speaking, in essence their "god". Theologically, they make no philosophical or hierarchical separation between themselves and other living things, or even between themselves and non-living bodies like stars and planets.

The Ithari conceive the Universe as one great Song—a vast tapestry of harmonious music. To a Ithari, every physical object and living thing in the universe is another trembling chord, a pattern of vibrations, a sequence of notes. Everything is part of the Song. Everything that exists, in their eyes, is beautiful and necessary; if one cannot see that beauty, the fault lies within.

If the Ithari perceive themselves as special in some way or separated in some way from the rest of the Song, it is only because they recognize the unique ability of all sentient beings to marvel at the music and to shape the world around them—to change the Song, even in a small way.

Whether the Ithari conception of the Song implies the existence of a divine singer is a subject open to debate. When asked whether there is or was a singe, a "Creator" who was the author or instigator of the divine Song - most Ithari simply create bubbles. If pressed, they all reply with the same question: "Are you not singing yourself?"

When it comes to their young, Ithari parenting is communal. An infant can nurse from any other "female" Ithari in its community. They have several variations on the word "mother" which, depending on mental inflection, can mean: "a female Ithari," "she who birthed my body," "she who nourishes me physically (or spiritually)," etc. Pair bonding among the Ithari is not common, but neither is it uncommon. Courtship is an interplay of minds and bodies which is impossible to unwind and separate from other interactions.

Entertainment

Entertainment is a telling part of a society, and how, for some, they work, and perhaps how they think and hold themselves, all as a form of playful expression. In the case of the Ithari - they express themselves almost entirely through music and thought. They never stop "dancing" from the moment they are born until the moment they die — because they can always hear the music. Most of their art is difficult to describe in average humanoid terms; it consists of tapestries of sound, memory, motion and emotion. For fun, they tend to engage in various athletic contests or play a game called "hide the idea".

"Hide the idea" is a game which Ithari children begin to play soon after birth, much as human babies first learn to play "peek-a-boo" and then "guess which hand the penny is in"? But as the Ithari grow older and stronger "hide the idea" becomes a much more aggressive, passionate, fascinating contest of wills. It is a common exercise for hundreds of younger Ithari to wrestle the mind of one elder, trying to prize the thought from beneath his layers of defenses. When they finally "find the idea", it sometimes changes their lives forever.

There are other games which would be analogous to water polo, although among Ithari this sport is a little more like underwater hurling. Of other interest is the Ithari equivalent of "toys" - items that came about as steelsingers created objects which were meant to teach reading to other Ithari. Essentially, the standard Ithari object of this nature is a puzzlebox with various characters inscribed on its surfaces; as the different parts of the puzzle are moved by telekinetic fine motor manipulation, the player is able to "read" simple vocabulary words. The word changes with each movement of the box's pieces, transforming from one concept to another in an aesthetically pleasing or humorous manner: the classic is a box that begins with the word "steel", which becomes "reflective", which becomes "bright", which becomes "beautiful", which becomes "song".

Any sentient which nurtures its own young and practice any form of animal husbandry will keep pets of some kind. In the case of the Ithari, their relationship with biological mechanisms is so intimate that half the natural world is a "pet" to them--i.e., something which they care for, nurture, train, control, and love to the extent that one can love a lesser creature. As such, The Ithari have a fairly common practice of "Tattooing" themselves. Tattoos for a Ithari involve painting their bodies with colorful microorganisms, usually fluorescent. Watching an underwater "dance" featuring multicolored/fluorescent Ithari can be quite a visual spectacle.

Old Age

Ithari achieve “Elder” status after having lived for more than three hundred years. At this point they are over typically over 5 meters in length and usually weigh well over 200 kilograms. Ithari who have reached this venerable age generally retire from any profession which might put them personally at risk and adopt a monastic lifestyle. The older a Ithari becomes, the less likely it is to reproduce. Although Ithari elders can both birth and father children simultaneously, they are far less likely to do either than younger Ithari. Infant Ithari only come in one size, and it becomes increasingly difficult for an increasingly massive Ithari to tend to its own infants as it grows beyond the size of an adult blue whale - At a certain point elder Ithari simply become far more interested in educating and nurturing children than in producing them.

In general, their days are spent contemplating the mysteries of the universe, composing songs and poems, maintaining the timeless oral tradition of the species and instructing the young in matters of ethics, morality and proper conduct as a sentient being. No Itharian philosopher is taken seriously before the age of 400.

Any given Elder will usually be surrounded by a cloud of younger Ithari, who listen to the songs, ask questions and telepathically explore the complexities and subtleties of the Elder’s mind. This period of “swimming alongside” is considered a vitally necessary part of any young person’s education. The aged are highly revered in all Itharian subcultures and younger Ithari will gladly sacrifice their own lives or embrace great personal risk to protect an Elder from any possible harm. Their ancestors are living treasures in their eyes. A sizable number of Ithari spacers regard their service as a duty to the species and volunteer to “scout the empty sea” in order to protect the Elders who must, most often, remain behind on Aprathia or the other colonies.


The Itharian Harmony operates three primary elements of guidance in order to facilitate the smooth running of the state, while the Ithari recognize the establishment of their nation as being the moment they became aware, the first true state was established by the formation of the Council as was necessary in the space age, and subsequently the Harmony itself after the Fracture. The Harmony has grown to encompass 38~ star systems, with some densely inhabited, with vested interests throughout several others.

The Eldest

The Eldest, though also referred to by Ithari as "The First Voice of Aprathia" is, as the name would imply, the eldest Ithari currently in existence, thus judged to the be wisest and greatest amongst them as both a guardian and a teacher, but the strongest telepath, the deepest of voice and accomplished as a singer in the great universal song. While the First Voice of Aprathia has traditionally guided the Ithari, the advent of the space age and the creation of a form of interstellar government to guide the pods necessitated a formalization of the position. Such a position is only locked to the Eldest of Ithari age - not to a particular planet, and such it is likely in many years to come a Ithari from one of the many colonial pods could lead the state.

The Ithari handle government differently, of course. The Eldest serves only to make decisions where the Council cannot - and their main role remains, as throughout the Elder portion of a Ithari's life, to teach and to guide, but the Eldest is rarely prone to give orders - that is for those elevated to such specific positions and the agreement of a Council. As such, the Eldest is largely a figurehead, though the Eldest's importance, not only on a cultural and social level, but in the Harmony itself is not to be understated.

The Council of Elders

The Council of Elders consists of the First Voices of the colony worlds. While the Eldest is elevated to a slightly higher position, he is but one among near equals. These many near equals form the main form of interstellar governance needed by a state that spans more than one ocean. These First Voices meet only when situations require, as each guides their own world or worlds individually as they desire. For the most part, decisions are spoken about and considered, a consensus reached and guiding principles decided without the Council ever being convened in person.

The difficulty in transporting the largest of the Elders means that when such a council is convened, something of dire import has surely occured.

The Pods

The Pods are the Ithari themselves. Each world is considered such, and with the open hearts and minds, and few guarded thoughts of the Ithari there is always open discourse among the pods. While the First Voices of each pod guide and enforce the will of the pod, it is the greater pods themselves throughout the day that reach decisions and debate the merits of actions at all possible times. The pods effectively govern their own worlds in a form of direct democracy, though the pod's trust in each of their Elders, and the First Among each group of Elders, to make their decisions reality - and to work with the Void Swimmers - themselves an independent pod, to ensure the safety of their oceans.

The Pods in function:

The pods are known by the name of each of their worlds or hub world, but each holds equal importance to the harmony of the Harmony. Each effectively functions as their own state but unified as a people and as part of the Universal Song. The Void Swimmers, that is, the Ithari military, by necessity functions as its own separate choir with its own First Voice, though it is beholden to the will of the choir's it has been created to protect. Traditionally, the First Voice will assume the name "Ocean" - as the Ithari spread to other worlds, these First Voices would sometimes assume the name of the Ocean they now guided.


The Ithari have been spacefaring for countless millenia, and have long since refined elements of bio-science, energy and gravity manipulation, construction, and many things from simple agriculture to advanced particle physics - much of which, however, remains theory. However, the Ithari application of many of these fields in regards to the making of war is lacking, though largely by intent.


Particle/Energy Weapons
Exotic Energy Generation
Terraforming
Bio-Science
Gravity Manipulation
Nanomolecular Construction/Manipulation.


N/A


Because of their empathic and telepathic abilities the Ithari are always keenly aware of the sufferings of others and they take no joy in causing pain, fear or anger. They revere life and harmony and abhor needless death or destruction. Nonetheless, they also value their own lives and over the past several centuries they have come to embrace survival as a necessary virtue. It is also a sad circumstance that even a single soldier who has seen such needless death and destruction can poison an entire pod with his burdens, his unrestrained thoughts. This is what lead to the creation of the Void Swimmers.

There is a great deal of debate, angst and soul-searching among the Ithari general population over the actions of their military. There are many Ithari who have never embraced the changes that came with their creation and genuinely would have preferred to find some peaceful way of resisting the wanton destruction inherent in war. They argue that mass suicide would have been a better answer than embracing the ways of those who commit such atrocities.

The Void Swimmers
Ithari who join the navy often do so against the express wishes of their families, friends and elders. Sometimes they are disowned and ostracized entirely. More often, a Ithari who decides to become a "swimmer in the void" goes through a death ritual before he enters the service. He lies very still in the water; his loved ones circle him, sometimes for hours, singing mournful songs and touching him one last time, as is their habit when a Ithari dies. Then the funeral procession carries his unresisting body to the Naval base and he is remanded to the custody of the Void Swimmers.

It is universally understood that he is no longer Ithari from that point onward. He will not behave as a Ithari would; he will learn the ways of the void sea and carry out missions which no living Ithari could countenance. These Ithari retain their old name, although it is likely to have a bittersweet irony. A new name would come if they were ever able to leave the service--such an event is considered rebirth, and would involve a new name to commemorate the occasion, and allow the past to be left behind.

If he ever returns, and wishes to become a Ithari again, he must go through a re-birthing ceremony and he will slowly to be re-integrated into Ithari society by use of a long process of purification. The horrors he has seen and done must be cleansed from his body and soul; he must learn to swim and sing again as a Ithari. The elders will help him in this process. They are considered strong enough to bear his burdens and each of them will hear one of his battlesongs as a confession and keep the sin of it for him. The heart of an elder is so massive, the long ages of beauty and joy it has lived are so powerful, that one Ithari's grief, guilt and rage cannot overshadow it.

This is however not always a possibility, If the Swimmer is relatively young, neither too old nor too far gone to heal his war wounds and go on with his life. Such a thing is expected, for many, it is not.

Most of the cleansing rituals have to do with being physically close enough to your victims to absorb their death agonies. For a Ithari, being within "shouting" distance of a kill is incredibly visceral and devastating. It's hard to put this in human terms without sounding almost deranged--but taking the life of a thinking, feeling sapient being for a Ithari is as intimate and terrible as it would be for a human being to drive a short sword into the belly of a close relative, feel that person's fluids rain onto your skin, and stare intimately into the victim's face as life left the body. They not only have to empathize with the death, but taste every shade of pain and rage and despair and fear as that experience devours someone's consciousness. Not only this - they go through this knowing that they've caused it. Sadly, They may even have to face the fact that some part of them enjoyed it.

A swimmer is brutal not out of efficiency but out of fear. Ithari do not breed like flies, nor do they have the ability to marshal their entire population as soldiers - Most Ithari go to their drowning day out of concern for their race A void swimmer does not destroy an enemy world as his opening gambit. It is done as a last resort. It is no condolence to those who perish, but it is as it is

Unfortunately, not every Void Swimmer is able to reintegrate back into society. The truth is that, in some cases, a Void Swimmer crew who have seen too much of the wrong kind of action will never return home. When they are no longer needed by their people, they may well choose to "decommission" their own vessel by piloting it into the corona of the nearest star. They understand that they will never be able to become Ithari again. In this way, they are still protecting their home from the horrors of war. New events have lead to the possibility of giving oceans to those who would guard them - but they could never be open to Ithari who have not lived a soldiers life.

The Void Swimmers as such have sacrificed nearly everything to protect all they hold dear. They are not the Ithari people expect, and perhaps, in that, they find an even greater advantage.

Seers of the Song
Intelligence is paramount in any operation, and the Ithari would be foolish to not take this idea to the fore. The Ithari Intelligence Service is known simply as Seers of the Song, they are few and largely untested, for the Ithari have made no notable enemies nor is it largely possible to infiltrate other states. Their diplomatic counterparts, the "Singers to the Deaf", do some work in this regard, though not much. The Seer's of the Song are however trained to do what many Ithari themselves do as a game - ferret out thoughts, irrespective of the mind that holds it, and bring the note of the song to the fore, so that the harmony of the song can be preserved.


The Void Swimmers maintain a diverse force of military space craft, centred upon core units such as carriers and "battleships", but overwhelmingly prefer to dispatch lighter forces for harassing and hit and run manoeuvres. Ithari ships are surprisingly agile due to their use of gravity manipulation (once a necessity, due to the liquid water contents often required) and given Ithari energy generation techniques, able to power more than reasonable banks of energy weaponry.

Navy Doctrine: Void-Pod Hunt.

The Void-Pod Hunt typically employs squadrons to harass, surround, and bring down "predators" - either squadrons of lighter ships or the many smaller void craft typically referred to as strike craft by other species. In situations of overwhelming numerical superiority, the Ithari will even employ their nimble capital ships in such a fashion, rotating through their banks of energy and particle weapons in a broadside fashion. Where such tactics are not possible, the fleet will form a "greater pod" and hunt as one, large, all encompassing force - smashing the opponent with a wall of battle if no other options are presented.


The Ithari, understandably, rarely take to the field of combat personally. While the dramatic image of an enraged Ithari, utilizing the combination of kinetics and technology to hover over the battlefield unleashing its own minds power upon the enemy has been popularized in some Void Swimmer circles, it is far from the norm.

While the Ithari will do such things, potentially with devastating effects, the lions share of ground facing weaponry and tactics have been outsourced to modular, adaptable technological constructs - and in some rare cases, willing mercenary forces. Nearly all matters military are left in the hands of the Void Swimmers, and a select few are trained for ground combat every recruitment cycle.

Ground Doctrine: Mind & Matter.

Despite being dangerous telekinetic combatants, Ithari typically eschew personal frontline combat both as a philosophical and practical concern. As a rule, ground combat on a planetary surface is often to a territorial disadvantage, particularly given the necessary mental strength and/or technological adaptations required to engage an enemy out of the water. However, it is an inevitable necessity that Ithari will, if not personally attend to bloodletting on the front line, not be far from the action.

Ithari ground military forces are thus almost exclusively modular constructs, typically made up of billions of, effectively, nanites. While the Ithari maintain certain pre-planned or melded semi-intelligent constructs which can be called upon - Itharians are typically intimately involved in their constructs - multiple ones can be brought together and bonded by a single Ithari utilizing their telekinetic abilities - with the innate technological nature of the "matter" guided by the "mind" forming nanomolecular bonds as appropriate, shaped and guided by an active mind and not reliant on Artificial Intelligence unless the Itharian "controller" disengages from a particular constructs "intelligence web".

However, the necessity of a certain degree of proximity does not insulate the Ithari from danger, and it certainly does not form a sufficient barrier from the effects of taking life, particularly given the near intimate bond necessary with the constructs empty mind (For the Ithari do not utilize true artificial sentience). As such, Void Swimmers destined to become "controllers" receive some of the most intense preparation possible.

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The Talisan Concordat is a civilization defined by their cybernetic augmentations. One particular augmentation lets them emulate psionics among themselves, and possession of that implant is what makes one truly Concordat. Over the years, many have been drawn in by the Concordat’s seemingly utopian way of life, so the citizenry of the Concordat, both implanted and non-implanted, is quite diverse. The Concordat eagerly welcomes, and actively recruits, new citizens. Many other nations do not really appreciate the Concordat trying to lure their citizens away, so relations with their neighbours are...tense.

The Concordat ostensibly wants to co-exist peacefully with the rest of the galaxy, but many suspect some deeper, more nefarious purpose.





As many know, the Itharian Harmony has a propensity for...meddling where their flippers don’t really belong. A few thousand years ago, one Ithari Elder developed an intense interest in a race of intelligent (though not sentient) avian predators on a distant rocky world. This Ithari was Mu’ur, who would come to be known as Talisan the Allfather. He was fascinated with the surprisingly elaborate community structures these creatures formed, intrigued by their rudimentary tool use, and tantalized by the complexity of their minds. He named them the Vae’shan, and decided to attempt to uplift them to sentience. Mu’ur tried at first to use psionics, but his results were inconsistent and difficult to reproduce. He wanted to uplift the entire species, not just a few random individuals. He turned to cybernetics, seeking to artificially augment Vae’shan intelligence with brain implants. In an entirely unlikely turn of events, his first experiment with cybernetics was a spectacular success.

The first sentient Vae’shan awoke after the surgery and looked around him in wonder, seeing the world through completely new eyes. Mu’ur spoke to him in his mind, asking “What is your name?” The Vae’shan spoke, the first of his people to do so: “Ademnon.” Thus was born Ademnon, the First Concordat.

Mu’ur and his assistants uplifted more and more Vae’shan, more than they perhaps should have. The Vae’shan remained predators, even if they were now sentient, and some were not prepared to deal with their new intelligence, and their thoughts turned to violence. Late one night, a group of Vae’shan descended into the aquatic pools of Mu’ur’s facility with deadly intent, and caught Mu’ur’s assistants by surprise, slaughtering them all. They then turned on Mu’ur himself. Mu’ur tried to reason with them, but one threw a spear, wounding the Elder, and he saw they could not be reasoned with. Mu’ur reached out with his vastly powerful mind, and killed his assailants in an instant. He lamented the loss of his assistants, his friends, and the failure of his experiment. He prepared himself to exterminate the remaining Vae’shan.

It was Ademnon who saved his species. Ademnon, always Mu’ur’s favourite, begged the Ithari to reconsider. The Vae’shan could not all be held accountable for the actions of a few. They were not inherently flawed. They could be taught, they could learn to better themselves. So impassioned was Ademnon’s plea that Mu’ur agreed to spare the Vae’shan, remembering the potential he had originally seen in them.

However, Mu’ur knew that the Ithari would not see it his way. Once they learned of the deaths of their brethren, they would turn on the Vae’shan and annihilate them, as Mu’ur himself had considered. Mu’ur taught the Vae’shan to build a great ship that would carry him and them beyond the Harmony’s borders, to a sanctuary where they could learn to overcome their baser instincts. And so they fled.

On their new world of Sanctuary, the Vae’shan named Mu’ur Talisan, “Father and Saviour”, and name he has kept ever since, knowing he cannot return to the Harmony. Talisan continued his tinkering in cybernetics, ever improving the Vae’shan, until they were smarter, faster and stronger than they ever could have been otherwise. He taught them to control their instincts, to look on the world with empathy and compassion. To assist in this task, he developed the cortical network implant (the CNI), which permitted someone with the implant to know the thoughts and feelings of anyone else with the implant. That was the true birth of the Concordat. It expanded and developed as civilizations do, first their planet, then their star system, then star systems beyond that. Over the past 500 odd years, the Concordat has developed into a small sovereign star nation.


(This is for the galaxy map with your location highlighted somehow. The galaxy is gigantic so even a small dot can mean a lot. Don't be discouraged by your size!)



Concord Dawn: A hidden deep space station from which the Concordat is actually ruled. Heavily defended, but mostly kept safe by secrecy, its co-ordinates are only given to select navigation officers on a strictly need to know basis. The co-ordinates are directly inserted into a navigator’s implants and from there into the ship; they then erase themselves on arrival. Concord Dawn also contains extensive shipyards, building the bulk of the Concordat navy. Notably also home to Talisan

Sanctuary: A lush paradise world teeming with citizens from all corners of the galaxy. Sanctuary is an open world, welcoming civilian vessels of any nation. It also serves as an administrative center for the Concordat’s fledgling domain.

Ordo Shipyards: An extensive industrial complex that has expanded into an orbital ring surrounding Sanctuary’s smaller moon. Careful analysis would show that the military vessels constructed here do not account for the amount of new construction present in the Concordat’s fleets. Ordo Shipyards are otherwise a major civilian center of industry.





Vae’shan: A young race of avian predators, Vae’shan have a hexapod limb configuration: two arms, two legs, and two wings, quite capable of flight. Vae’shan are not actually born sentient: they must be cybernetically enhanced to achieve that benchmark. As a result, all Vae’shan are implanted, true Concordat.

Humans: Present throughout the galaxy, humans make up a notable chunk of the Concordat’s implanted population. They tend to be extensively augmented, with only superficial resemblance to their baseline cousins.



For lack of a better term, the Concordat is a utopia. Manual labour, manufacturing, construction, all conceivable forms of labour have become fully automated. Citizens of the Concordat spend their days living in luxury; perhaps not as opulent as the wealthy of other nations, but well above the galactic standard of living.

On paper, non-implanted citizens are every bit the equals of their implanted counterparts. In practice, every aspect of Concordat society is designed to pressure people into receiving the implants, or becoming Concorded as they call it. When crime occurs, the non-Concorded are the first suspects: after all, a Concorded can simply present sensory footage to prove their innocence. Virtual reality simulations, the most popular form of entertainment in the Concordat, require the implants to be experienced fully; they are otherwise restricted to visual input only. And if you should be seriously injured in the Concordat? You will almost certainly wake up with implants in your head.
To be Concorded is to exist in complete harmony with your peers. Concorded can communicate directly to eachother’s minds via their cortical network implants, but beyond that, their minds are open books to eachother. With permission, any Concorded can sift through the memories and knowledge of any other Concorded, coming to understand them on a very personal level. It is common to request permission to exchange such “Dives”, and considered quite rude, even suspicious, to refuse.

Oddly enough, no one ever minds being made Concorded. They may be reluctant before the procedure, but all are without exception exceedingly happy once they become Concorded. It is partially this which makes other nations suspicious of the Concordat; the fact that no one has ever, ever regretted joining them. Even spies either return with nothing, or become Concorded and stop reporting to their superiors. The paranoid suspect the implants transmit some kind of indoctrination signal. Nonsense, say the Concorded. Life is simply better this way, you should try it.


The Star Chamber is the entity that ostensibly runs the Concordat. It is a large elected assembly operating on Sanctuary. In truth, the Circle, a small council of unelected Concorded, runs the Concordat from the secrecy of Concord Dawn. Members of the Star Chamber must be Concorded as well. They also have the unique ability to isolate and conceal knowledge and information from other Concorded. This is ostensibly for security purposes. Members of the Circle go beyond this. They can override the privacy of any Concorded, scooping knowledge from their minds without the victim ever knowing it. There is some overlap between memberships in the two entities; after all, the secret rulers of the Concordat must be able to keep an eye on it’s supposed rulers.


The Concardat’s tech base is quite far above the galactic average, though they have a tendency to needlessly overcomplicate things.



Cortical Network Implant (CNI): The linchpin of Concordat cybernetic augmentation, the CNI permits extensive command and control of other augmentations. More importantly, it lets Concorded directly communicate with eachother, brain to brain. The range is fairly limited on its own, but the Concordat maintains extensive networks in all it’s holdings. Basically, if you can connect to “wifi”, you can speak and share knowledge with almost anyone in Concordat space.

Thermal lances: The primary armament of most Concordat ships, thermal lances are a needlessly convoluted variation on conventional railguns. Instead of firing a slug, thermal lances use magnetic fields to accelerate superheated ferofluids to relativistic velocities. The streams are generally incandescent, and so resemble energy beams, albeit slow moving ones. The range on thermal lances is more limited than that of conventional railguns, so Concordat ships tend to engage at close range.

Hypometric weaponry: Another needlessly overcomplicated weapon, hypometric arrays are installed in limited numbers on all Concordat ships, with just one array on destroyers and only 8 on dreadnaughts, compared to the multiple banks of thermal lances and grasers. Hypometric arrays consume vast amounts of power to essentially alter the geometries of a target area, causing a huge strain on shields and neatly scooping out sections of armour.

Grasers: Instead of a beam of coherent light, gamma ray lasers are beams of coherent gamma radiation, another example of the Concordat taking a perfectly sound concept and complicating it. They serve as secondary armament on all Concordat ships, melting through strikecraft and missiles with pinpoint accuracy and no visual trace. Also used as ground weapons, in various configurations and yields.

Sand shields: Magnetically suspended fields of particles (usually of dense metals, not actual sand) make up the first layer of defence on Concordat ships. The vast amounts of power consumed by their engines and weaponry leave little for conventional energy shields; sand shields conveniently require very little energy, though they are somewhat subpar defensively. They do not stop any enemy fire, but disperse or disrupt it to lessen the damage to the armour beneath.

Regenerative armour: Concordat shielding may be sub-par, but their armour makes up for it. It is capable of rapidly repairing any damage sustained. Take a damaged Concordat ship out of the fight permanently, or it will heal itself and fight on.



The Concordat armed forces, Guardian Force and Void Force, operate on planetary surfaces and in space respectively. Void Force is decidedly average as navies go, but Guardian Force is one of the galaxy’s premier armies.



Navy Doctrine: Void Force employs superficially simple tactics that play to its strengths: close range brawls. Thermal lances are most effective at close range, and boarding actions are highly favourable to the Concardat’s cyborg marines. On another level, any Concordat fleet is a constantly shifting being, with ships moving in and out of the front as they take damage. Remotely operated drones take the place of strikecraft.





Ground Doctrine: Guardian Force is enamored with the concept of combined arms. Expect any Concordat assault to involve infantry, armour, air support, and artillery fire together. Elaborate feints and decoy maneuvers are preffered tactics as well.

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Official Name: Confederation of the Corpis Sector States (CCSS)
Common Name: Corpis Confederation
Government: Federal Direct Democracy
Dominant Species: Humans
Capital: Arcem
Systems Owned: 24 (11 inhabited)
Planets Owned: 13 inhabited
Population: 34 billion





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The societal situation of the Confederation is a somewhat complex issue. Much like the Aurolian Federation, the much larger Human state bordering the Confederation, the culture and practices of people often vary between not only worlds, but regions.

But one thing stands above all. The notion known that all are created equal, a utmost belief of egalitarianism and liberty. Individual thought and the dream of something ahead always is what drives the Confederation’s society forward.

The economic situation of the Confederation is extremely sound. With minimal internal dissent, extensive worker’s compensation, and an abundance of agricultural, manufacturing, military, and desk jobs, most civilians are placed in the middle class territory, with an ability to improve their situation by diligence.

The Confederation forms a direct democracy in which every citizen is entitled to a vote for the President, Vice President, and Parliamentary Representatives. While the Confederation was once a Federal Republic, the nuisance that once was the electoral system was abolished due to the sufficient ability to take accurate censuses every few years, the common access to sufficient election information by citizenry, and the ability for the citizenry to annually make it to polling locations.

Composing of the government itself firstly is the branch which is executive. Named as the Cabinet of the President, it is headed by the Head of State & Government, the President, with his deputy, the Vice President. Under them is a long slew of advisors and department heads which micromanage every aspect of Cabinet activities.

Next is the legislative branch, with power vested to draft and pass laws. Formed as a parliament, it is composed of a single house. This house, sometimes called the Senate, is comprised of 39 representatives/senators, with 3 representatives for every established planet in the Confederation. These representatives are voted in by waves, though this only happens once every four years, coinciding with the election of the President and Vice President. On these election years, a representative is elected every four months. Each cycle allows candidates (and the incumbent, provided they haven’t reached their term limit) four months to campaign, and the votes are collected over a two-day period.

Lastly is the Federal Court. Presided by seven justices, each appointed by the President and approved by the Parliament, this body interprets all laws as per the Corpis Sector Charter, which governs all Confederation territory. Under this Federal Court is a series of planetary judicial districts, which are located on each planet under their own branches and divided equally between provinces.



While neither the most advanced, the Confederation is definitely not the most primitive. While only having been with slipspace travel for 63 years now, the other aspects of technology within the Confederation were quite advanced.

In the military field, mass accelerators have been mastered. Caseless ammunition has been refined and is now the primary ammunition type of most military and security institutions. Medical advances allow for basic cloning and the ability to effectively combat previously terminal illnesses such as cancer. Construction advances allow for ‘supertowers’ which house entire communities in a single building, with entire sections being dedicated to housing, shops, offices, schools, and recreational areas.




The industrial capability of the Confederation is quite adequate for its size. While primarily dedicated to civilian applications due to the last two decades of relative peace, the massive presence of manufacturing creates a plethora of jobs for a sizeable portion of the Confederation’s citizens.


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The Interstellar Union of Collectives is a relatively new nation, having risen from less fortunate circumstances to become a veritable power in the region. Although a naturally individualistic species they have become collectivist in their political and ideological thought, almost entirely unaccepting of foreign political ideas. The Union is a partially hidden society, although there is no real attempt to close their society to foreign peoples, they are not opening it to them either.











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Anti-Psionic technology: Since the ‘Ysh’ do not have any Psionic abilities, and large segments of the population seem to have large amount of weakness and aversion to it, the ‘Ysh’ have put effort into and successfully developed technology to limit and stop Psionic powers, as well as detecting their use. This has sometimes said to be painful for some Psions, however, the ‘Ysh’ are very enthusiastic in its use.

Bomb-Pumped Grasers: Unable to generate gamma ray lasers using more conventional methods a weapon designed for much shorter ranges than other energy weapons Union Bomb-Pumped Grasers are normally mounted either as payloads of torpedoes or in a few specially designed craft utilizing a nuclear device and a chamber to direct gamma rays as a coherent beam towards a target. Significant control issues have limited their range as well as deployment.

Gravitic Sublight Drive: The only mentionable Union sublight drive system, it provides reasonable acceleration and max speed on vessels however it's primary advantage is its ability to allow vessels to quickly change the orientation of their craft.