grimely

New Man's Tomorrow(Solar NRP)

Martian Soviet Socialist Republic (WIP)

_{Workers of all worlds, unite!}

Government Type

The Martian Soviet Socialist Republic (Martian SSR or rarely MSSR) is a soviet democracy assisted by specialist artificial intelligences in accordance with modern cybernetic and informatic theory. The building block of the Martian state is the soviet, a local council of directly elected and instantly recallable delegates. A Martian citizen will be in the electorate of at least two soviets, their residential district and their workplace, but may potentially vote for or even be elected to many more depending upon their education and hobbies. Assignments to soviets, the number of delegates a soviet is entitled to, and running elections for soviets are complicated tasks described in monolithic equations maintained and executed upon by a robust system of AIs, making the Martian model also a case of cyber democracy. A delegate to a soviet operates under a mandate that may be revoked at any time, triggering an immediate election that is typically resolved within the day.

A local soviet representing a factory, work place, or mathematically defined subsection of an intellectual community has complete executive and legislative power over its area of influence, save for anything that effects another soviet. Such areas of overlap are handled by having the constituent soviets elect delegates from their own ranks who then comprise a higher soviet. This is repeated across all facets of the state, culminating in the All-Martian Congress of Soviets, also known simply as the Martian Soviet.

At the apex of the Martian state is the Presidium, an executive committee elected by and within the Martian Soviet to handle day to day affairs. The Chair of the All-Martian Congress is, ex officio, Chair of the Presidium and is referred to as the Premier, the single most powerful official within the Republic. Parallel to the elected soviets is a professional bureaucracy tasked with implementing the will of the delegates. The paramount body of the bureaucracy is the Council of Ministers, with the Chair of the All-Martian Congress also, ex officio, holding the title of Prime Minister.

The same structures, in miniature, are duplicated upon Mars' terrestrial holdings - the territory legally speaking comprised of two sister republics in union with the Martian SSR. By far the more populous of the two is the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic, the African nation acting almost entirely autonomously - except in regards to foreign affairs. In comparison the Saharan Soviet Socialist Republic is nothing more than a legal fiction, the land effectively governed by the Ministry of Terraforming - the same techniques restoring Mars used to greenify Earth's greatest desert.

Demographics

All of Panhumanity is welcome on Mars, and of the various forms mankind has taken the vast majority can be found on, beneath, or above its surface. Baseline humanity makes up perhaps a third of the population, mostly descended from those who immigrated from earth after terraforming had been well under way. A slim majority is made up of the so-called original Martians, or Reds, who trace themselves back to one of the earliest offshoots of humanity.

A Red

Designed so early as to not have a formal name, the process that created the Reds was above all steeped in practical concerns. A suite of genetic tweaks permitted them to survive indefinitely on the original surface of Mars in only a pressure suit without the need to carry external air or heavy layers of insulation. The modifications made that saw them require far less oxygen, as well as being far more tolerant of carbon dioxide are effectively invisible, aside from cases of hyperoxia in Earth like atmospheres, but the last change is anything but subtle. A high dependence upon iron was purposefully engineered, the metal exceedingly common on the surface, with the excess deposited upon the outer layer, giving them red skin.

Economy

Industry is the beating heart of the new Mars, the past two centuries having rapidly rebuilt what was lost in the civil war. Centrally planned and managed by teams of panhuman economists and AIs from the Ministry of Development, the Martian Miracle saw a planet devastated by the whims of nobles come roaring back to life. Information theory is at the heart of this management, with the daily output of individual factories scrutinized by both man and machine to maximize production. In this way, the three great goals of the Martian state shall come to pass.

Defend the revolution.
Already, the Martian People's Navy stands ready upon its base at Deimos, and every day its strength grows. The labor of millions working tirelessly have created a massive network of fortresses and defense batteries. Almost every Martian knows someone who is directly involved in the production of weapons of war.

Establish a workers' paradise.
With the fall of the Empire, and the Martian nobility fleeing to other worlds in the solar system, great surplus capacity that had once gone to the vanity and gluttony of the ruling class became available to all. The same vineyards and fields that provided bounty to banquets are still worked, if they survived the Collapse at least, but now open to all to consume. Arts and culture began to flourish anew after the first decades of chaos had passed, and though few Martians live in luxury, all are comfortable.

Resume terraforming.
The great effort of centuries to terraform Mars was undone in moments by the horrors unleashed during the collapse, and only recently has agriculture started to return to where it was under the Empire. It is a bitter irony that only the great death of the war ensured the battered biosphere was able to feed the remaining the Martians. The last domes and caverns were reopened within living memory, but even so the work continues.

Military

The Martian People's Army and Martian People's Navy comprise the military, the former the older but far less funded of the two services.

Born in the Dhanus Revolution, the People's Army fought for and won the liberation of the Martian worker. Today however it is little more than a garrison force, the vast majority of its personnel operating the great surface to orbit batteries that defend Mars from any attack. It is a point of pride, and official propaganda, that the Army is utterly incapable of occupying any other stellar power. Indeed, the only force that is even properly equipped for ground fighting is on Earth, defending the Maghrebi and Saharan Soviet Socialist Republics from imperialist powers.

Though the chaos of the collapse and revolution saw the Martian state acquire numbers of warships, it was only recently that a formal navy was constituted. With the restoration of the biosphere permitting work beyond that necessary for survival, shipyards that had lain dormant for generations were pressed back into service in the past century. Dedicated almost exclusively to defense, the MPN's vessels are slow and ponderous, designed to fight within the orbit of Mars itself. At that mission, it excels, the seemingly underpowered drives able to precipitously decrease their operating range in order to intercept any threat to the Republic. Its crews remain green however, with little combat experience save for skirmishes in the belt.

History

The oldest daughter of Earth, Mars was in many ways the second planet of the Empire. Panhumanity flourished across its surface before the jump gate network was devised, and the riches of the stars flowed towards it in almost as great a flood as the mother world. Within decades, what had once been a hardy frontier became a decadent playground for the wealthy and indolent, the Princes of Mars holding court from the great Olympus Palace.

But a storm was coming. The death of Jarus Augustus IV seemed the perfect opportunity for the last Prince, Galatian Augustus, to trade in his crown. A distant cousin of the Emperor, the rulers of Mars were considered a collateral branch of the imperial family, the logical successor to the throne. When Galatian arrived on Earth to be proclaimed Emperor however, such tidy thinking was replaced by horror as SolSec ruthlessly gunned him and his family down - the last Prince of Mars learning too late that the codes Emperor Jarus had entrusted to him were fakes, the defense network programmed to consider him and his line to be traitors to be exterminated if they were ever used.

Shock and grief among the nobility provided an opportunity unlike any seen before. In the midst of the chaos, before any serious contender from beyond the jump gates had arrived, the Martian Social Democratic Labor Party made its move. Having long agitated among the workers that toiled for the imperial nobility, their startling success only grew their numbers.

By the time a claimant arrived to attempt to have Mars support their bid to the throne, the fleets that had guarded the empire's second planet had already defected or had been captured - and all flew the red banner. Through long conflict and struggle in high orbit, upon the ground, and in the ancient cave cities of Mars, victory was at last secured. It was upon a broken and battered world that the Martians emerged, but one that was theirs.

Two centuries of peace and prosperity have come and gone, and the scars of the past have begun to heal. The Martian people gaze out upon the solar system with despair. Slowly at first, but more and more with each day, the digital and very real forums of the Republic are filled with voices wondering if now was the time to go beyond their fortress, and to spread the revolution to all Sol.

Characters

Ivanova Keqiang

Premier of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic
Chair of the All-Martian Congress of Soviets
Chair of the Presidium of the All-Martian Congress of Soviets
Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic
Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic

A Red in both senses of the word, Ivanova was originally an engineer from Elysium Mons, specializing in mining equipment. First elected to her soviet without being aware she was running, she is respected as a risk taker who never attempts to deflect blame for when said risks fail. A sprightly thirty-three Martian years old - approximately sixty-two according to Earth calendars - she seems poised to be the longest serving Premier in Martian history despite the checkered performance of the state during her tenure. I is felt throughout the entire planet that the coming days require decisive action, not methodical planning.

Julian Olaguer

Marshal of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic (Martian People's Navy)
Vice-Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic

Born on Deimos to a mainline human family that had served in the Martian People's Navy since its formation, with ancestors among the original defectors in the Dhanus Revolution, military life was all but predestined for Julian. Yet his success was anything but, the AI guided double blind merit system on all officer's exams letting him know that it was aptitude and not his name that placed him with the awesome responsibility as first line of defense for the Martian people.

Hocine Said

Premier of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic
Chair of the All-Maghrebi Congress of Soviets
Observing Member of the All-Martian Congress of Soviets
Chair of the Presidium of the All-Maghrebi Congress of Soviets
Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic
Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic
Observing Member of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic

Native to Algiers, Hocine has spent almost his entire adult life within the soviets, winning a recall of a delegate who thought the mundane concern of a broken water pipe beneath his dignity. He retains the humble dignity and servant mindedness of his first election, a tendency that the less charitable would say perfectly suited his Martian masters. The truth of such claims is irrelevant to his people, who see in him only a leader who can ensure that their Martian comrades defend them from the imperial menace on the other side of the Mediterranean.

Grigori Mansour

Marshal of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic (Maghrebi People's Army)
Vice-Chair of the Central Military Commission of the Maghrebi Soviet Socialist Republic
Observing Member of the Central Military Commission of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic

Grigori's position puts lie to the idea of the Maghrebi SSR as its own state, the man having been born on Mars in Arabia Terra. The composition of the Maghrebi People's Army is at least half Martian, and its senior leadership is almost always from the Red Planet. He is a soldier's soldier, one who grimly accepts the reality that war will soon be upon humanity once more, and that to defend the paradise of his homeworld he must fight upon panhumanity's homeworld.

The Last Laugh

The Purple Chamber, Finisrol Palace
Maratilm, Jharya
Yaratilsh

Salos was loath to enter Finisrol, the grand and unrepentant modern palace at the heart of the capital of Maratilm. A standing edict passed dozens of generations prior decreed that the Emperor's seat ever renew itself, and even now construction crews were at work renovating the south portico. It was ever changing and chaotic, but worst of all it reminded the old Emperor just how far advanced his years truly were, for he now saw nothing in the structure that reminded him of his youth. All was new, and the old had been brushed away.

It was fitting then that he took up residence in the Purple Chamber surrounded by the new. Descending upon Maratilm, he had ordered every adult member of the House of Taulros to attend to him in the massive throne room, so that all his heirs may be present and know his will. For it was now his time to do something new, something that only the force of his will could make the more conservative members of his lineage accept.

He finished reading aloud from his reply to the Chancellor of the Federation of Nations, and waited for what outrage would come.

Chancellor Alanna Descoix of the Federation of Nations

@Taeryn

Your concerns are wise, but unneeded. With bluntness of Our own, We tell you now that Our empire already possesses a mockery of democracy. Our Senate is filled with hereditary members, and the wealth requirements to be eligible to sit within it are onerous in the extreme. Such has served Our ancestors and Ourselves well in the past, but the times are changing.

No more can one man's will adequately provide for all the needs and longings of Our subjects, and the ways that have long governed Our own kind are foreign and strange to those newly brought into Our domains. How can a son of the League think to stand in Our councils and speak for all those worlds who have heard the name Illusia only in the most recent of years?

It is Our hope that as your Emperor Claudius once did, that We shall induct the flower of the colonies into Our assemblies.

All being said however, it is Our duty to inform you that your Federation is not the only body which We would request such advice from. It is not Our intent to create here a Federation of Our own, but a democratic state compatible with the legacy of the Divine Taulros.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI, Imperator Taulrosum

The Emperor was pleased, though not entirely surprised, to see that there was none. He was by far the oldest person present, for all those of his generation were dead, and a great many of the next two were as well, taken in the fires of the Great War. The eldest present was his own son, Ardisol, who was in agreement with the idea to begin with, and the prince's surviving siblings tended to defer to the peace loving academic. Salos' grandchildren and their descendants would never think to speak against him so publicly, when rebuke was so certain. But still, he knew it was a false peace. One that would only last so long as he lived.

"If we are all agreed then, I shall have this sent to the humans for their response," Salos said in a soft voice, scanning the faces of his children, nieces, nephews, and their own children to see who was still inept enough to mask their dissent. He was equal parts pleased and concerned for his succession that none failed.

"Father, why are we writing only to the Federation? The Lokoid and the Kadathi sent us messages as well. Surely they, at least the Kadathi, deserve a measure of reply," Ardisol asked, the entire family looking first to him - and then to Salos to gauge his reply.

"Oh, my son, it is simple. We do not write to them for we as of yet have nothing of import to say. The Lokoid and the Kadathi respond favorably to our entreaties, yes, but we are not yet in a state to ask anything concrete of them. Worry not however, for should the crisis in the Commonwealth continue, I think we will find ourselves reconvening for such letters to be penned. Now leave me, my children, for I tire."

Ardisol tarried as the ranks of the House of Taulros left their lord to his chambers, as was his right as heir to the throne. When only father and son remains, the younger sets himself opposite the older, his wings hanging limp and uselessly from his back. "You insult those who could be friend."

"You think me miserly of my affections towards a people who are friendly towards us solely because our atrocities were committed against either their foes, or a comfortable distance away?" Salos asks, but there is no sting in his voice.

"I do, father. So long as they only see us as distant conquerors, they will aid us against common foes, but bear us no love."

"Perhaps so. Very well. Make ready your household, my son, for there are none who will think as you in my service save for yourself. Travel to Kadath, and see what love you may engender in their hearts." And so he began to write, penning a response to the Crown Princess.

Her Highness, Crown Princess Cerula of the House of Dzijmeter

@Predawnia

Pray, inform your lord father that I wish him well, and the speedy ending of whatever consumes his time.

I write to you this short note to further strengthen our bonds and assure the arrival of a new dawn of peace and prosperity. To such an end, I hereby name the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from the Court of Trydosh to be my eldest surviving children, and heir, Ardisol, Prince-Imperial.

I know that he shall be given the warmest of welcomes upon his arrival.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI of the House of Taulros, 99th Emperor of the Taulron

Camp Kalando, Imperial Research Base
Outskirts of Point Jakurna
Agdemnar

Janfras Camoll was annoyed, and everyone in the room knew it. The strange communication signature had suddenly vanished as soon as it had appeared, and his own genius - at least, in his words - idea had been for nothing. So it was with equal parts amazement and relief that the comms officer on duty reported that the Commonwealth wanted a word with the base.

In most any other research post, the role of Principal Investigator would go to a scientist with sterling credentials in his or her field of study, respected and cited by peers. For Camp Kalando, this was insufficient. Camoll was all of those things, yes, but more important for his current posting was his first love - xenobiology, and psychology, and linguistics.

"The Commonwealth? Unless someone's died the leader of their ground side forces is General Verenkin var Gnaesh, Szitzu. Hard nosed, doesn't take shit, is probably going to hate me. Let's do it. Give them a chirp back and see what they have to say."

Remnants of the Asrian Outpost
Agdemnar

Raw power flowed through the Ghostseer's body, the psychic echoes of the dead amplified through him until they could take on a life of their own. Though the force of special operations troops kept a discrete distance, none could escape the unearthly feeling of their wings standing on end, and a sudden chill in their bones.

And then the dead walked the earth again, if but for a time.

The echoes were legion. Many of them tortured and broken. The flow of psionic energy warped around them like shadows. Only dim lights indicated that they truly were alive and not shade-like automatons. Never the less, the rogue Conflux forces were monstrous even as quickly fading whispers. Amid them, it was not hard to find the revenants of the Asrians. There were no commanders. They had fled after giving the last order to their Thralls. Even though the soulless automatons had no life, there was something of them that stayed behind. An imprint that was only slightly tainted by emotions. The precise orders were quickly fading but their intent was clear: ‘fight until you die’. The coldness by which that demand was given would shock any living creature to its core. It forced one to resign survival. Forsake yourself. Pay with your life. It went against everything being alive but the Thralls were not technically alive. They had given it up willingly and gladly. Some had pulled a Conflux acolyte down with them. The tortured creature’s echo no doubt wrapped around the cold psionic command. But the brightest stars in this fading, incorporeal world of whispers, echoes and dust were those of the fallen Sorcerers. Those great and powerful beings that flung psionic energy. Their echoes were strong and clung to the ground. Unwilling to release themselves. They were clear. Clear enough so the echoes carried more than just faint feelings and psionic imprints. Images and even sound rippled from the blazing psionic nuclei.

“Come die before me! I will burn you all down to ash!” One screamed as he flung empyrean flame at his enemies. Their armor melting as he felt nothing but glee. Which quickly turned to sorrow and coldness. He looked down and saw claws through him. Blood dripping from them. Sorrow was replaced with a vengeance. A clear thought rippled through the echo: "I will take you all with me." The echo ended with a blazing explosion.

Another echo crackled with thunder. Lightning destroyed all in its path as the Sorceress desperately tried to fight off the shadowy enemies. Behind her was a wreckage of a shuttle. Her thoughts were clear. A constant stream. “Sister. Sister. Sister.” Her sadness was intense. “Why didn't you listen? Why did you get on the shuttle?” It was the only deviation from her constant chant. Even when Conflux weaponry ripped through her, dooming her to her last moments, she kept repeating her chant. Until she fell unconscious.

“I am a Prince of Asra! Come at me! Die at my hand!” Another echo repeated. The Prince’s. His was not arrogant like the first echo. It did not have the intense, dreadful sadness of the second echo. There was rage but also a remarkable other thing: a sense of purpose. The echo made it painfully clear, Nautilian knew he would die. Never the less, at the edge of the abyss the Prince stood and found his place. Lightning burned his enemies. Telekinetic forces crushed armor. His echo’s images were crystal clear as well. Untouched and unsullied. They showed the culprit of the attack and the victims of the Prince clearly: Conflux Troops. Even when the lightning died down and the energy of Nautilian vanished, his resolve never changed. Even when his executioner came at him. Only when claws went through him and he laid on the floor did the echo change and emit one last sound: “Are you happy now, brother?”

The shades of the departed faded away, leaving only the desolate landscape of new made glass behind, and a trembling form kneeling upon the ground. With mechanical efficiency, the retinue of soldiers lifted the Ghostseer away from that place of death, and faded into the darkness of the night as the visions themselves had.

Taulron Embassy
City of Andalusia
Corinthene

Larthia Velansa held the envelope in his hands, doing his best to suppress his curiosity at what his Emperor had placed inside his letter of introduction to the Commonwealth's monarch. Two messages had been reposed for him to transmit to the leaders of the Commonwealth upon his arrival at the embassy, but it was that one to their queen that was by far more interesting. A physical letter, dispatched by regular courier, it had arrived some time ago under strict instructions that he must give it personally to Catherine - and that no one must read it save her. The second, far more recent, missive was sent on an emergency courier with no delay and concerned the Durand crisis.

There was a great deal of information within those simple facts, and the ambassador smiled as he began to speculate on what his sovereign had planned. The simple matter was that the physical letter was by far the more important of the two, for not only was it penned with such meticulous care, it had also been sent in such a manner to arouse no undue suspicion. While the contents of the second were well secreted, its matter was obvious to all, and the sheer speed with which it was sent would well imply that it contained nothing earth shattering.

With both due to be sent, the ambassador endeavored to simply deliver them as one to the Imperial-Queen and her Chancellor. Straightening his cranial crest, he exited the embassy, and began the long journey to the audience chamber of the only monarch whose power challenged his own. His longtime aides simply shook their heads as they made note of the jaunt in his step, for they knew that far from being excited at what he knew he was delivering, Larthia was ecstatic at not knowing.

Lord Sir Clement Herzog von Metternich, Duke Far Maddow, Knight Indomitus of the Order of King Nikolai, Lord Chancellor of Her Imperial Majesty’s Government

@Ozerath

We shall not mince words. The crisis on Durand is intolerable, for both Our states. Provincials who know nothing of the broader picture must not be permitted to influence policy in such a horrid fashion, and We are well aware of the issues facing the Commonwealth should the embargo of grains last ere long. To minimize these, We are prepared to open up Our own markets of such vital foodstuffs and persuade Our dear friend the Kadathi to do the same in the name of maintaining peace and order.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron

Catherine, by the Grace of the Gods of the Imperial Systems Commonwealth and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen

@Ozerath

I trust with bountiful hope that my representative to your court will prove most satisfactory. By the time this letter has reached you, he should have already delivered his introductory speech to your Parliament and been credentialed. But it is not Larthia Velansa that I write to you now about. Nor am I here to harangue you over your abrogation of Detente, for such is the way of states. No, there are far more trying matters for us to discuss.

As you know, I am old. I near my hundredth year upon my throne, and well am I into the winter of my years. Matters of succession have long circulated in my halls, for it is not a clear thing after the deaths of so many of my sons and daughters - to speak nothing of their own issue. By right, the crown should pass to my oldest surviving child, my son Ardisol. But all know why he does not sleep in eternal peace with his brothers and sisters. He is not a man of war, but a man of learning. Bereft of flight since birth, he has long turned his attention to his studies, and is a wise and reasoned jurist.

Many nieces, nephews, and further kin does Ardisol have, and many and more besides will object to his claim upon my death. But I have consulted with the augurs of my own kin, and they have foreseen that Ardisol must take up my crown lest all come to ruination - for both thee and thine. Many actions I have taken to see him secure upon the throne, and this is no different.

My sister monarch, I give you now both a mighty weapon and a potent doom. In you I now entrust my instrument of abdication, for I repose into your care the solemn oath that I shall not reign for longer than a century, and my ineffable will that Ardisol serve as my heir. But you I would too name the arbiter of all challenges to my succession, in the hopes that you will take to heart the ill tidings that have been cast should my plans go awry.

Take heed and bear witness now:
By the Grace of All the Gods and Thundering Parlos Foremost, the Most Noble and Unconquered, We, Salos VI, Pious and Blessed, Emperor of All that was Claimed by Taulros the Great and His Heirs and Those Domains Beyond the Stars Thereunto Belonging, Victor of the Great War, President of the Council of Kings, Foremost of the Imperial Senate, Consul for Life and Dictator in Perpetuity of the Amsivarran Republic, Eternal Archon of the Illusian League, High Priest of Parlos to Whom Everything Belongs, King of Jharya, King of Chersona, King of Pulia, King of Samogol, King of Vitiak, and of All the Eastern Princes Master, Hereditary Sovereign and Ruler of the Mountainous Chieftains and of others, Duke of Howig, of Stovarn, of Volmar, and of other titles beyond retelling here, have hereunto affixed Our seal.

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"Remnants of the Asrian Outpost" was written by @Legion02 with my thanks.

The Last Laugh

The Imperial Senate
Maratilm, Jharya
Yaratilsh

"To my fellow Conscript Fathers, greetings," Salos intoned as he took to the floor of the Senate. Anywhere else in his empire he was Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron, but here, nominally at least, he was simply Senator Salos. It was a game that many of his predecessors had no patience for, but the wily old man found himself taking a certain delight in it.

In response to the ritualized introduction came the usual flurry of replies, stern answers of "Welcome, Senator" came from those who dreamed of making the Senate more than an overdressed theater while his more loyal followers gave enthusiastic cries of "Hail, O Victor!", and the show carried on.

"For twenty years, we have enjoyed a peace wrought not by some outside force, but by our own hands. For twenty years, the price paid by our daughters and sons was deemed adequate for such a price. For twenty years, all the nations sat in agreement upon the order of things. But now come sounding anew the drums of war, and the day we all knew would come has arrived," he solemnly intoned, the rows of assembled Senators from every accepted race in his empire nodding and murmuring along in sad agreement.

"The Imperial Systems Commonwealth. The Federation of Nations. The Harmonic Conflux. The Urdji Civîneşra. The Imperial Union of Kadath. All have withdrawn from, or made mockeries of, the guarantor of that peace - the Treaty of Madrigasa. But a treaty stored safely within our temples, and witnessed by our gods, cannot be set aside so easily. The divine urge that the galaxy be at peace, and we shall be the enforcers of their will," the Emperor declared, more than a few taking to their feet to cheer their affirmation. Some of them might even be genuine.

"But I shall not lie to you, my faithful brothers and sisters. This is not an easy task the gods have ordained for us, nor one that can be undertaken without great effort. In the name of the gods I demand that this body declare the Treaty of Madrigasa in abeyance until all the nations return to its terms. We have had a long and prosperous peace, but it is clear that the ancient adage has come true once more. If we wish to keep this peace, we must prepare for war."

And so the shouting began, senators on all sides announcing their support or denunciation as bedlam took over the chamber.



Queen Nulla's Gardens, Trydosh Palace
Kresslon Hill, Jharya
Yaratilsh

"Sire, the Senate has finally taken a vote upon your proposal to set aside Detente," Chancellor Lauchu Vipin announces as he enters the gardens, restraining a sigh as he finds his emperor bent over a desk putting pen to paper. "My Emperor, we have teams of scribes and calligraphers that could be doing that for you."

"Yes, we do," Salos says in a murmur, etching out letters on the fine parchment with an intense care. "But I don't trust them to see the contents of this letter."

"Surely you jest, everyone employed within the Chancellery was approved by me personally," Lauchu replied, playing with the tablet in his hands to distract himself from the oddity he was witnessing.

"This is true. But I do not trust you to see the contents of this letter either," the Emperor says with a small smile before setting down his pen and breathing out across the paper to dry the ink. "Send this to Praetoria, on a regular courier run. Ensure it arrives there before Larthia finishes that absurd relocation from Corinthene. He is to deliver it into the hands of the Imperial Queen, and none other than her. To keep things fair, I'll let you in on the secret after he hands it off. Gods know she's going to show it to her Metternich as soon as she's done reading it. Perhaps before." As he speaks, he heats an ornate wax seal, impressing it upon the letter with a loud bang.

"Of course, sire," Lauchu says in a very quiet voice, all thoughts of Salos' impropriety replaced by his own for daring to intrude upon correspondence between sovereigns.

"You did not just come to tell me the results of Senate votes. The Senate votes in my favor, that is the way of things. What else do you have for me?" Salos asks in a soft tone, giving his overly conscientious chancellor a chance to regain his bearings as he folded the letter up and placed it under seal.

"Quite right, my Emperor," the Merlovian says, clearly eager to return to form. "The missives to the Rolvians, the Federation, the Lokoid, the Urdji Civîneşra, and the Kadath are awaiting your signature and approval. I trust you will find them to your liking."

Lady Vannifar, Prime Speaker of the Star Republic of Rolvius

@Aleranicus

We understand that your illustrious office is engaged with a multitude of states at this moment, so We shall keep Our remarks to you brief.

Should any provocation against the Star Republic of Rolvius become more dire, We implore you to consider Us as a trusted and concerned friend. The stability of the Republic, and the foodstuffs which it exports, are of paramount concern for continued peace. We understand that in situations such as these, one may consider turning to less than ideal options to prevent catastrophic outcomes.

It is Our dearest hope that this letter shall assure you and your people that alternatives exist.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron

Chancellor Alanna Descoix of the Federation of Nations

@Taeryn

It is with great distress and sadness, but ultimately agreement, that We reacted to your decision to withdraw from the Treaty of Madrigasa. The core duty of any state is the protection and peace of its citizens, and at present the treaty represents shackles instead of assurance. All the nations are now upon the precipice of another great conflict, but in you and your Federation We see one who truly desires a lasting peace.

The successful peace of the past two decades has shown Us that a cooperative, constructive, peace without imposition by the Ashtar is indeed possible. We would have it be known that in the dark days that are sure to come, We consider the safety and security of all those nations which agree with Us in this matter, as you do, a paramount concern.

Further, this mutual understanding compels Us to reach out to you with a request. It is Our belief that the current state of Our Empire is not conducive to Our vision. As such, We formally request that the Federation of Nations send advisers to assist in the establishment of democracy.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI, Imperator Taulrosum

Supreme Hierarch Araq of the Lokoid Hierarchy and its Ruling Caste

@Liotrent

We understand that a delegation of the Hierarchy is due to begin talks with representatives of the Star Republic of Rolvius, and that there is fear of escalations due to the presence of the Asrian Ascendancy.

It is Our interests that all such conferences occur peacefully and calmly, and We would ask that before resorting to arms, that We be considered for any needed mediation.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron

Bilnd-Sûmangişt Biryar Arlydlan of the Urdji Civîneşra

@Keyguyperson

It is right and just for one to defend their home. We do not respond to your withdrawal from the treaty so dear to Our heart with anger, merely sorrow that it has come to this. It is with understanding of the situation facing your people that We are forced to concur your actions are done in the name of self-defense and lasting peace.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron

His Imperial Majesty, Kerxec XV of the House of Dzijmeter, 13th Emperor of Kadath

@Predawnia

Twenty years ago, you and I stood side by side to bring about a lasting peace. Together, we saw to the creation of a new order, of states prospering in peaceful coexistence. I entirely understand your belief that those days are now gone, but I implore you to consider that they might yet come again – if one is willing to see it so.

I urge you to consider the bonds forged between our peoples in that prior war at the end of this peace, for together we may yet build something new again.

His Imperial Majesty, Salos VI of the House of Taulros, 99th Emperor of the Taulron

"You didn't follow proportionality with the federals," Salos muses. "My titling is more formal than hers. Why?"

"The humans are the only ones we asked for help. Using Latin was deemed an effective way to impress your majesty upon them without resorting to stylings they may find overwrought."

"And if they find the language itself an anachronism?"

"My Emperor, that is the entire point of the letter."

There was a short silence as the old Emperor considered this point before he finally shook his head. "I yield to your mastery of protocol. Send them via the soonest scheduled courier. Except for the Rolvian message, send it via PsiNET. Use a cipher that we know the Commonwealth has broken but we're reasonably certain the other powers haven't."

"Of course, my Emperor. Now then, there is the matter of proclamations.”

Concerning the Harmonic Conflux of the Innumerate Suns

@Oraculum

The machinations of slavers and tyrants are ever designed to mask the worst of abuses in the most flattering of lights. Such is Our disdain at the transparent ploys of the Conflux to anoint themselves as the true upholders of order and peace that we urge all nations to close their markets to them.

Let not a creature who would sell your children as chattel name itself a protector of peace.

Let not the slavetaker and slavemaster cover itself in the auspices of order.

We denounce them and their acts, before all the gods and all the nations.

Proclaimed by We, Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron, at Trydosh Palace, in the Ninety-Sixth Year of Our Reign

The People of the Asrian Ascendancy

@Legion02

A father should never outlive his son. This is a truth We know well. Though We did not have the pleasure of meeting Prince Nautilian in person, We know that he was beloved by his people, and loved them in turn.

There is nothing mere mortals can do to end this pain, but there is some that can be done to soothe it.

Upon the deaths of many of Our own children, We comforted ourselves with the knowledge that though they are gone, the memory of their lives remain. Mourn the death of your prince, but celebrate his life as well.

I leave you now, not as an Emperor, but as a father, with the words one now lost to me once wrote.

"Dearest father, I know that you fear for me. I know that you wish you could keep me close to your breast, and never more suffer a loss. But my life is one of duty, as you and mother taught me. I go now to see to that duty, wherever it may take me. Remember, father, that among the assignments life gives, death counts among them, and mourning as well. I shirk not mine, and know that you shall not shirk yours." - Her Imperial Highness, Aurian, Princess Imperial

Proclaimed by We, Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron, at Trydosh Palace, in the Ninety-Sixth Year of Our Reign

"Yes..." Salos says slowly as he finishes reviewing the messages. "These will do. Promulgate them immediately," he orders in a tired voice, before pressing a sealed envelope into his Chancellor's hands. "I will be at the mausoleum if I am needed."

"Of course, my Emperor."



Camp Kalando, Imperial Research Base
Outskirts of Point Jakurna
Agdemnar

The coming of the obelisk caused a massive stir within the camp, and Captain Jouyin Heliak found herself bundled into a war room with a collection of military officials and scientists. It was the latter who were in charge of the camp, and so the young officer found herself in the uncomfortable position of having to sit and listen to the clique gush about a bunch of hellos for hours on end until the threat status of the newcomer could be verified.

And then the most ostentatious looking man she had ever seen in her entire life walked into the room, Principal Investigator Janfras Camoll. The man in charge of all official Taulron operations on Agdemnar, he was an excessively tall Yaratelmsh with an obviously artificial wingspan and even more obviously artificially colored plumage - though at least his was the result of him genetically engineering himself to grow the purple feathers instead of dyes. An eccentric and a genius, his scandals were matched only by his discoveries, and the worst thing was he knew the latter got him out of trouble for the former. Heliak hated him.

"Right right right, let’s get this settled. Giant obelisk appeared out of nowhere, no jump signature so it probably drifted, quantum communication technology - no one has that, Ashtar probably knew about it but wasn’t their cup of tea. No point in having quantum state greetings if you could just think the words into someone's minds and all. While all of you were busy gawking, I was with the boys down at the sensor array and managed to bang out something that can reply with a bare bones transmission in a similar enough way that whatever this think is doesn’t mistake us for idiots by tearing apart one of the spare neutrino detectors."

"Does that mean we can go now?" one of the other stealth corvette captains asked, the entire lot of them still chomping at the bit to get running.

"What? Oh, you guys. I'll do you better actually. Seems like everyone is confused as hell anyway so I'm lifting flight restrictions. Get out of here, especially you Heliak. The old women of the mountain want a Ghostseer for their next op and they asked you to do the delivery," Janfras said in the same casual, stream of consciousness rant he seemed to say everything in.

Half an hour later, and the Nightshade was flying low and cloaked with a mute Hateri on the cramped bridge, speeding far away from Camp Kalando just as it began to transmit back to the obelisk.

"WHOAREYOU.WHOAREYOU.WHOAREYOU.WHOAREYOU.WHOAREYOU.WHOAREYOU.[…]"

Remnants of the Asrian Outpost
Agdemnar

Taulron special operations groups on Agdemnar fit a particular mold. Almost all were Yaratelmsh veterans of the Great War, making even the youngest older than the vast majority of soldiers who went into the field. It also meant that they had all seen a Ghostseer work before, and the women and men kept a respectful distance from the Hateri as he walked across the glassed surface that many had fought and died on.

The winds died down as the psintegrae began his grim task, ice crackling across the glass. Every emotion felt by every being left a psychic imprint upon surrounding objects, and more powerful emotions consequently leave more powerful imprints. The art of a Ghostseer is recalling these imprints, and reliving them. The mission of this Ghostseer was to find the death echo of Prince Nautilian, and plunder the remnants of his thoughts impressed upon the ground he died defending for information. But many people died at that outpost, and finding the last emotions of one was a trying task. The largest driver of failure was not enemy action, but the Ghostseer’s will breaking.

The Last Laugh

Camp Kalando, Imperial Research Base
Agdemnar

Nestled against the energy field enveloping Point Jakurna, the scientists and engineers studiously go about researching the secrets of the Ashtar without a care for the fighting that enveloped the rest of Agdemnar. While the empire's position of neutrality and non-interference with other expeditions certainly helped allow them to do their work in peace, the massive and growing military garrison was the real reason. Every day, landing craft were delivering gun emplacements, shield generators, soldiers, and strike craft to ensure that anyone who dared attack the Taulron would regret it.

It was a splendid display of both imperial might and arrogance, a projection of official force where all too many of the great powers were hiding behind lies. No, the Taulron were brazenly working away at unlocking Agdemnar, and daring anyone to fire the first shot at them for doing so. So far, only various "rogue forces" had tested Kalando's defenses, and all had been repelled. A prestigious command for both military and academic officials, the research at Kalando was considered the core of Taulron efforts at Agdemnar.

This was wrong.

Shadowing every supply drop, every jump in system, was a small group of stealth corvettes. Slipping by in the wake of the openly declared fleet that made its run to Kalando, the flotilla of Cautious class vessels did not land anywhere near Point Jakurna. Hidden in an expanse of mountains on the far side of Agdemnar, the real focus of imperial concern grew.

For the young and impetuous Captain Heliak of His Imperial Majesty's Starship Nightshade, the daring flights to the mountain stronghold was a dream come true. Delivering soldiers and supplies for the empire's secret operations teams, ensuring that the research work of Kalando was never surpassed by anyone else's, that was real glory. But today she was not delivering nameless women and men to a base that did not exist. Today she was at Camp Kalando, her ship grounded beneath its energy fields, as the Commonwealth and the Ascendancy were busy killing each other.

"Gods, can they hurry up already?"

Strangers' Gallery
Parliament of the Sovereign Reich
Corinthene

The Taulron did not entreat the Commonwealth on Corinthene. No, the empire found it alien to speak with a parliament instead of their sovereign and so kept their embassies upon stately Praetoria. The appointment of the Merlovian diplomat Larthia Velansa was meant to be a sea change in Taulron-Commonwealth relations, first and foremost with him taking formal residence on Corinthene, but also because he was himself a Senator of the Empire's legislature. But as he sat at his first session of the Low House, he began to think that his arrogant predecessors had a point. Watching the Commonwealth tear up the Treaty of Detente before his eyes was enough to make even the staid ambassador consider abandoning this farce of democracy and decamp to Praetoria. The fact that this particular incident was occurring directly before his maiden speech to the House, that could only be seen as an insult. And a test.

By all accounts, Lord Chancellor Metternich was a most formidable man, and his opening salvo on the new ambassador proved it. This did not endear him to Ambassador Velansa in the least, but it did earn a grudging respect. The man was proving himself a bastard, but at least a crafty bastard. After watching the Parliament ensure that war going to come sooner rather than later, the man did the only thing he could do and got down to work. While stereotypes of Merlovians as obsessive planners with the emphasis on obsessive were overblown, even this declaration was not unexpected. Granted, the draft he had on hand was not intended to be his maiden speech, so some adjustments needed to be made, but he had tie. The Commonwealth adored its ceremonies, and the recognizance of an ambassador by Parliament was replete with them. A member of the governing party would give a speech introducing him to the chamber, and then a member of the opposition would give one questioning why he should be permitted to reside among them. Typically, these were maiden speeches for new members, and fresh orators luckily tended to drone on far longer than they ought to.

Which meant that when the Speaker called upon Larthia to defend himself, he had spent a little over an hour tinkering his address. The time it took for his full title to be announced - Senator Larthia Velansa, the Three-Hundred and Eighty-Sixth Duke of Caisrol, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from the Court of Trydosh in the name of Salos VI, Emperor of the Taulron - gave him the last few moments he needed to finalize the speech, and away he went.

"To all you members of this most ancient and revered House, greetings," the ambassador began, stretching back into the depths of the past to grasp upon forms and protocol that were centuries old when Taulros lived. It was an opening that got the immediate attention of all Vit'azny listeners, who were of course the true audience, indulgences to their sham of democracy or no.

"I admit, I am a stranger in this place. But not only am I a stranger to this Parliament, my Emperor is a stranger to the Commonwealth. For too long, be it during days of war, or days of peace, we have acted shamefully. We considered it an insult for our monarch to not speak directly with yours, a ploy designed to trap us in the mires of bureaucracy and committees. But it is we have slandered you, the members of this body, refusing to consider the power you hold."

"Today, the galaxy has seen the power of the Parliament. Though I am aggrieved that you now withdraw from a compact of brotherhood, all shall know that this was the act of a free people who shall ever refuse the bonds of slavery. But now it is my earnest hope that this same body will hold in warm esteem the ties of friendship, and the rewards of peace."

"I arrive to you today as a stranger. Let me be so bold as to hope that when I take my leave of you, it shall be as a friend."



King Larsos's State Apartments, Trydosh Palace
Kresslon Hill, Jharya
Yaratilsh

Emperor Salos VI, Victor of the Great War, was old. For nigh on a century he had reigned, born before the Peace of the Ashtar, he was one of the few surviving people in the Empire who remembered being Pushed. His father and grandfather had supplicated themselves to this new order, and he spent much of his long reign doing much the same, only to see them vanish early in his second century of life. It had fallen upon Salos and his contemporaries to make a new peace at Madrigasa, and while he had been criticized by all sides as every possible combination of warmonger, coward, and thief imaginable, he did help forge a peace.

Then the Message came, and for the second time all expectations were thrown out. He had spent almost all of his working hours since here, in the oldest wing of the oldest palace that the Emperors of the Taulron and their predecessors had resided in. Only here did the old Emperor feel young once more, surrounded by the reminders of true antiquity. It was in these ancient rooms that something new was being born. A notion of an empire whose legitimacy stemmed from the stability it provided, rather than the destruction it threatened. It was here that both Larthia Velansa and Jouyin Heliak were given their commissions as both war and peace were waged with equal fervor.

But for the moment, the Emperor merely sat in contemplation of a galactic map. Most were far from concerns. The Lokoid as well as the fractious humans and the corporate quasi-state they had founded were all a dull color on the display, deemed likely to remain neutral unless pressed into a corner. A shade brighter and more urgent were Rolvius, the Ozil, and the Valerius, all states that one had reason to be wary of, but for now unlikely to stage an invasion of Taulron territory. Next, in far starker relief, were the Commonwealth and the Uteqx, both Great Powers facing internal unease and unrest at the current state of affairs. It would not be beyond the pale for either to declare war upon the Taulron to quiet domestic unrest. But those lights were faint candles to the blazing suns of the Harmonic Conflux and the Alduur. The former were reviled by the Empire generally and Salos personally, their practice of slavery - and more importantly, their willingness to invade other states to enslave their populaces - were a blight upon the galaxy and a constant detractor from his new vision of an empire that stood by virtue of protecting its citizens. As far as the latter, the Alduur made little secret of their hatred for any who had collaborated with the Ashtar, and not only had the Taulron made an early policy of doing so, it directly led to their position of strength in the Great War. Finally, sitting on the ancient desk next to the holo emitter, was a physical map, and that object troubled him more than the rest of his worries put together. It was nearly two centuries old and displayed the realm of the Kobiot, a race that was not just now dead, but practically erased from history. Whatever terror had so thoroughly destroyed them no doubt lurked somewhere within the stars painted on that canvas.

Salos was old, but the Great Game does not stop.

The Last Laugh

The Taulron

Imperium Taulrosum

The Taulron Empire; formally, The Empire Of Taulros And His Heirs

General Information

Major Belligerent

Overview

The Taulron are best understood as an armed camp that has managed to subdue, cow, and conquer enough of its neighbors that more refined states have had no choice but to take them seriously. Unmotivated colonizers, but splendid conquerors, and surprisingly adept negotiators, the spread of this avian race across the galaxy has most often taken the form of concerted settlement campaigns upon subjugated worlds. Until expanding to meet interstellar powers capable of meeting them head on, almost all ills of the militaristic state were responded to with conquest. It was only upon entering the great game of galactic politics that internal settlement and restructuring was undertaken, but the empire seemed to consider modernizing themselves to stand toe to toe with the great powers to be a challenge as glorious as any martial endeavor.

It was only with the coming of the Ashtar that they approached something resembling respectability, the warriors swearing up and down that they were truly over their conquering days. The fact that before the Ashtar arrived the Taulron had found themselves surrounded on all sides by regional rivals lent some legitimacy to this claim, and they were - to the shock of their foes - left alone. Said foes found their shock turning into rage when, as soon as the Ashtar had disappeared, the Taulron plunged into the Great War with gusto, conquering huge swathes of their neighborhood in the process.

History

Pre-FTL

Competition flows through the veins of the Taulron alongside their blood, and while this is often considered their greatest strength, it is of the greatest misery to xenohistorians. Taulron history before they spread across the galaxy, and therefore before there were non-Taulron witnesses to their deeds, is impossible. The field of history is as fractious and acrimonious as sports and warfare with rival epics, king lists, and chronicles all elevating some ancient and noble house over some other ancient and noble house. The official histories, as dictated by the Emperor, are broken down into formal eras, and it is considered the greatest accomplishment of a historian to 'prove' that a period of time was momentous enough in its own right to be considered one of them.

This has led to multiple contradictory accounts of almost every major event in Taulron history, and leaves academics with the very real possibility that the actual truth was either suppressed or simply forgotten for not properly glorifying the patrons of those writing the histories. What the histories generally agree upon however is that the Taulron have been a historically fractious race, divided into a constantly shifting patchwork of feudal lordships well into their industrial age. Additionally, it is known that the historical Taulron would be unable to recognize the word that now defines their people and government. It was not until the coming of their atomic age that this would change.

King Taulros of Jharya, known to history as Emperor Taulros the Great, was a warlord among warlords. A conqueror without peer, he subdued a full fourth of one the Taulron homeworld's continents before the age of thirty, and seemed poised to make a bid upon the remainder. His ambitions grew greatly upon the invention of primitive fission weapons and, being the only power with them as well as lacking many of the scruples that other races tend to have about such devices, was swiftly able to unite the world in a campaign that was as much slaughter and terror as diplomatic brinkmanship and weary resignation. Many a king threw down their crowns in those days, finding it an indignity less galling than the destruction of their peoples, and the savvy conqueror rewarded this wisdom by allowing them to keep not only their lives, but their power as well. Taulros' campaigns are enshrined in the imperial histories as the Era of Unification, and in dissident works as the Era of One Thousand Terrors, but the world was his and with it came the ability to reshape the destiny of a species.

It was a work of generations, but the deification of Taulros and the steady work done to create a unified national identity, one of course made to honor the great conqueror, eventually bore fruit. The age of squabbling kings had ended, and the time of a single people united under the heirs of Taulros had come. So was born the Taulron Empire, or at least, so the histories say.

Era of Expansion

The creation of a faster-than-light drive by the Taulron is as mired in selective history, dramatizations, and object lies as any other part of their history before venturing out into the cosmos. What is generally known however is that the competitive energy of the people was turned onto this task, and as with all impossible problems that they had ever faced they simply refused to consider it to be impossible. What started as the greatest unsolved problem in physics became the greatest unsolved problem in engineering, and from there the path to the stars seemed effectively ordained.

For the stellar neighbors of the Taulron, the historical specifics of how the they came to achieve FTL travel was a secondary concern to what they did after acquiring it. The Taulron did not take to the stars as diplomats or as explorers or as merchants, but as conquerors eager to find new lands to claim and new treasures to loot. So began one of the few immutable eras in the imperial reckoning, the Era of Expansion. Rapidly spreading across their local star cluster, the Taulron established perfunctory outposts and listening stations around those stars which held little of consequence, established mining colonies on those worlds deemed worth the effort, and conquered and integrated all sentient life they came across.

In this era, the Taulron did not colonize worlds so much as establish garrisons upon them. What virgin planets were claimed by the warrior people were not the verdant garden worlds that most sentients would clamor for, but ones abjectly hostile to life. Settling upon a world that wasn't trying to kill you was, to them, simple not enough of a challenge to be worth the bother. Those conquered races of the empire, their military forces dispersed among the breadth of claimed territory to augment the Taulron themselves, found themselves permitted to migrate to the most prized of planets without complaint from imperial authorities. Though all also found that, when their settlements reached a suitable size, that a Taulron garrison would be dispatched to their worlds to keep the peace, collect the taxes, and provide the growing Taulron population somewhere they could actually thrive instead of merely survive.

Era of Consolidation

It is said that all good things must come to an end, and for the Taulron this would prove true for their expansion period. After a few centuries of unrestricted conquest and growth, the burgeoning empire soon found itself attempting to annex peoples with friends that could stop the martial race dead in their tracks. Despite initial missteps and over extensions, the empire was able to establish an equilibrium where its mere presence did not offend any neighboring great powers enough to crush them while still remaining a potent force. This careful balancing act of strategic retreats, exploited victories, and shrewd diplomacy ultimately resulted in the formalization of the empire's borders with respect to its most powerful neighbors and their clients. Permitting the Taulron to live, instead of smothering the infant interstellar state in its cradle, is sometimes considered one of the greatest blunders in galactic history.

If the great powers hoped that the Taulron would sit idle, or collapse when their expansion stopped, they would find themselves sorely mistaken. The great interior of the empire was wild and unsettled, ripe for exploitation that the Taulron considered less glorious and less rewarding than continued expansion. With the borders effectively closed, and conquest off the table, the great energies of the people were turned to the exploitation and cultivation of this vast region of space. Entire star systems had been left with little more than a brief survey, for the next conquest was always a more pressing use of all materiel.

A great colonial boom followed, aided in no small part by the fact that a great number of Taulron of fighting age were no longer dying. Building power and influence, the Taulron were poised to either become a mighty influence in galactic affairs, or possibly just start a galactic war to see what they could get out of it.

Lo Ashtar del Mishri

Surprising both contemporaries and many modern historians, the Taulron reacted to the sudden arrival of the Ashtar by doing nothing at all. They had, after all, already resolved themselves to a course of internal growth and development until they could take on greater powers who stymied their further expansion. As far as the Senate and the imperial court were concerned, the Ashtar simply changed the scale of their concerns. Instead of concentrating on internal stability to knock around regional powers, they now focused on finding some way to counter or equal mysterious, all powerful, godlike, beings that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The utter failure of any other power to make much of a dent in Ashtar military might vindicated this policy, and for a century the Taulron were exemplars of the peace.

The Great War

Then the Ashtar went and vanished, and over eight generations of preparation were finally put to use. Some claim that it was the Taulron who fired the first shot of the Great War, aiming to take down one of the regional powers that been blocking their expansion before anyone else noticed what was happening. The fact is however that almost every expansionist power made a move like the Taulron as soon as they had confirmed that the Ashtar were well and truly gone, making precise dating as to the start of hostilities confusing at the very least.

Nonetheless, though the Taulron were swiftly victorious in their regional conflict, they found themselves dragged into a war of galactic scope as the direct result. Thrust upon the grandest of stages, they set out to acquit themselves well, with all the costs that such an endeavor entailed. And by almost all accounts, they succeeded.

The simple fact is that as far as the Taulron were concerned, they had won the Great War. Quashing their regional rivals, opening up avenues for further expansion, and earning victory upon the field more often than not, they were a leading force at the Madrigasa talks and in the forging of the Treaty of Detente. To hear a hardliner put it, the Taulron did not agree to stop fighting because they were tired of war, the Taulron agreed to stop fighting so that they could take a moment to take stock of what they had gained. Such talk of course ignores the massive expenditures in manpower and wealth the war took in order to reach such a happy state but only a fool ignores the fact that glory can oft be worth more than gold. Seemingly paradoxically, it was the Taulron who pressed for the harshest naval restrictions when negotiating Detente, often arguing against their own self interest. When pressed to explain himself, the lead Taulron envoy explained that he was endeavoring to give the other powers a sporting chance.

The Modern Day

Far more surprisingly, the Taulron seemed to have actually meant what they said at the Detente talks. They kept scrupulously to the terms of the treaty, eschewing the gimmicks and workarounds popping up across the galaxy, and actually seemed to not have secret shipyards working on illegal vessels. This was of little comfort to most of their neighbors however, because even willingly tying one hand behind their back by following the terms of the treaty, the Taulron were still one of the largest naval powers.

Then the Ashtar message came through, and ruined everything all over again. With the promise of Ashtar treasure removing any semblance of restraint, the Taulron duly rushed to Agdemnar to claim it before anyone else could. It was in the ensuing battle that they realized how severely outclassed their treaty-compliant and Great War-era warships were, and though they were not foolish enough to believe that anyone followed the treaty as closely as they had the surprise reveal of secretly constructed dreadnoughts would prove to be an insult too far. Declaring the treaty in abeyance until all signatories were once more complying with its term, the Taulron embarked upon a massive building campaign to make up for the lost decades.

Major Holdings

Yaratilsh

Homeworld of the Taulron, Yaratilsh is a world that has endured countless centuries of warfare both large and small. Battlegrounds and graveyards litter its surface, and at the bottom of its seas rest countless vessels from long forgotten wars. The greatest scars were fortunately its last, the atomic bombings of Taulros leaving irradiated wastelands for decades. Surprisingly, despite this history of conflict, the planet avoided the worst effects of industrial pollution, a feat many outside observers chalk up to the fact that the Taulron died too swiftly to have globe effecting industry.

Upon the establishment of their interstellar empire, the wealth of worlds was carted home and work on restoring their shattered home. Monuments were raised, memorials established, and palaces built and the treasures of vanquished nations were raised into places of honor. Modern Yaratilsh is an expanse of cosmopolitan cities, vibrant universities, restored forests, expansive training grounds, and massive orbital fortresses.

Here is found the Imperial Palace, the Council of Kings, the Senate, and all other organs of state. It is the beating heart of a multispecies empire, and the fruits of empire are well savored here.

Najinon

The Taulron do not put all of their eggs in one basket - a phrase with much more emotional urgency for egglaying species - and the security of their empire is no different. The grandest fleet yards in the empire orbit the colony world of Najinon, a planet that has the curious distinction of being one of the few that were actively colonized due to its importance. Nestled in a star system rich in heavy metals, the mining industry that fueled the initial settlement swiftly transformed into heavy construction. It is from the seemingly endless mines of Nanjinon and the asteroids towed into its orbit that the materials of war are harvested, and it is from the vast shipyards dotted throughout the void that the Imperial Navy sails from.

Chamavas and the Amsivarran Republic

The second greatest world in the empire and often considered its cultural capital, Chamavas was conquered, not settled. The capital of the first interstellar power the Taulron encountered, the Amsivarran Republic, both world and civilization were swiftly integrated into the empire after a war that was more ritual than bloodshed. Due to the ease of victory, with no fighting taking place on Chamavas itself, the world is a reminder of an older, more genteel, civilization that gave itself over to the warlike Taulron. It is considered with pride by most, and with some trepidation by the keen, for the greatest lawyers, bankers, and politicians all seem to either come from Chamavas, or are connected to those who have.

During the centuries of dominance within the region that they enjoyed however, the Republic flourished, colonizing, conquering, and joining with a host of lesser powers for mutual protection. With the coming of the Taulron, the Amsivarran Senate called the war off after enough battles to realize that they were outmatched by the newcomers, and made the decision to do to themselves what they had convinced so many to do. The instrument of surrender from the Amsivarran Republic to the Taulron Empire requested that in the name of everlasting peace between their peoples, that the Emperor formally annex the Republic and protect its citizens. The Taulron, shocked at the windfall, not only agreed but ordered their Senate to relocate to Yaratilsh, forming the core of the modern Senate. This was as practical as it was generous, giving the Emperor a new body with which to govern his unexpectedly massively enlarged empire. It also had the incidental effect of giving the nascent Empire the closest thing to a representative body it ever had.

Demographics

Population

It is sometimes a surprise to outsiders, but the name 'Taulron' does not refer to the species that founded the empire. A political distinguisher, it applies to all who live within the empire's bounds.

Yaratelmsh

The founding race of the Taulron Empire, they are a minority within their own borders. The last census pegged them at approximately twenty percent of the total population, but they are firmly placed within positions of power. An avian species, they descend from a biological lineage of septapods, having not only pairs of arms, legs, and wings, but also a single prehensile tail. Feathered, warmblooded, and egglaying, they exhibit an exceptional amount of sexual dimorphism. Males are ostentatious, with extremely oversized wingspans and elongated limbs that constantly strain their bodies, while females tend towards far more compact forms that - contrary to many species - make them preferred for military service.

Merlovians

The second great race of the Empire, and by population the greatest race at twenty-five percent, the Merlovians are sometimes erroneously described as a warrior species akin to their Yaratelmsh conquerors. In truth, the Merlovians are best described as a race keen on building an empire, rather than the mess of winning one. Legalistic and fastidious, they make excellent administrators and lawyers, and find themselves working within the imperial apparatus at all levels. Indeed, every position of note has been or is currently filled by a Merlovian - save for the imperial throne itself. An amphibious race, they are blessed with not only the ability to live equally well on both land and sea but also a robustness in constitution that permits them to settle worlds most would consider impossible. Though most still live as a politically distinct group within the worlds that once comprised the Amsivarran Republic, they are found throughout the empire, with a culturally cosmopolitan population on the throne world.

Hateri

A former constituent race of the Amsivarran Republic, the marsupial Hateri make up perhaps five percent of the empire's population and cared little about the technical change in rulership from the Merlovians to the Yaratelmsh. Nocturnal and solitary by nature, they petitioned the Republic for entrance shortly after first contact, and were pleased that the standards of that custodianship were continued by the Taulron. The most notable facet of the Hateri, and the thing that makes them worthy of consideration, is their formidable psychic abilities. Their ingrained solitary behavior developed as a result of unconstrained telepathy, and trained corps of Hateri psintegrae are recognized as one of the greatest intelligence assets an imperial commander could have.

Kovan

Formerly the heads of an interstellar trading consortium known as the Illusian League, the Kovan were added into the empire centuries ago, but never really integrated. Spacefaring and nomadic, the reptilian Kovan are few in number among the worlds of the empire, and instead make their homes aboard their own ships as well as upon the uncountable array of space stations dotting the empire. Any sort of formal census of their numbers is impossible, but they are estimated to number approximately ten percent of the population. Hailing from a world that was rapidly becoming unsuitable for the coldblooded species, the decision to emigrate en mase to space was made in the distant past, after realizing that maintaining appropriate environments on their home world would present essentially the same challenge as creating them aboard space going vessels. Though sometimes looked down upon, savvy administrators have ensured that Kovan trainees in the Navy find themselves as pilots, and the most time critical shipments are often handled by Kovan captains.

Other Races

Not every species within the empire is considered worthy of particular note. The population of the Taulron Empire consists of a medley of conquered peoples, technologically undeveloped natives, refugees, and a small but growing number of immigrants from elsewhere in the galaxy. Many of these races were incorporated with the Amsivarran Republic and the Illusian League, and are more or less entirely integrated, ignored by imperial officials not due to prejudice but rather the simple fact that there aren't very many of them. Others are not even aware that they are subjects of the Emperor, or that the empire even exists, for a not insignificant number of worlds with burgeoning sentient life lay within the borders. The greatest influx of new peoples in living memory however was in the aftermath of the Great War. The populaces of conquered worlds as well as a chaotic stream of refugees trying to go anywhere but where they were combined to create a massive demographic shift, placing the population of the "core empire" consisting of the Yaratelmsh and the species of the old Amsivarran Republic into the minority for the first time in history.

Society

It is impossible to place to say what the life of the "average" imperial citizen consists of. Taulron colonies, Republic territories, and conquered planets all have wildly different standards and ways of living. For the most part, the empire has made no efforts to suppress existing cultures, or mold them to create a singular national identity. What societal merging has occurred has been almost entirely accidental, focused on Yaratilsh and the worlds of the old Republic.

Inasmuch as any one imperial culture can be said to exist, it is found on Yaratilsh, with Taulron enclaves on conquered worlds consciously imitating the throne world. The average middle-class citizen on Yaratilsh is an administrator or magistrate in the imperial government, an employee in one of the empire's conglomerates. Their poorer brethren tend to subsist on cash welfare or labor on the great restoration projects that still cover the world's surface. Within enclaves of "proper" Taulron society, almost all non-"native" inhabitants are employed in the colonial administration.

However, even within core territories of the Taulron, there is no real standard culture, because there was never a single culture on Yaratilsh. The conquests of Taulros the Great did not result in a unified planetary society, and his successors maintained this hands off approach. Though the culture particulars of Jharya, the principality that Taulros originally led, were obviously elevated, and the loose fitting robes common to that jungle-filled and humid realm are still official court dress, there was little to no standardization.

A single religious faith does exist within the empire however, a fact owing more to sheer luck than anything else. Zealous monotheism had miraculously never reached prominence on Yaratilsh, or within any of the constituent worlds of the Amsivarran Republic, resulting in the adoption and identification of foreign gods. The Merlovian sky god Oinas is considered one and the same as the Jharyan Parlos, and therefore both are the patron deity of Taulros and the imperial line. The state of faith within the core worlds has been on a decline for centuries however, and while there is an official imperial cult, its only command is that good and true citizens earnestly wish for the health and happiness of their Emperor. Interestingly, this adaptability extends even to international relations, with the Taulron explicitly comparing themselves to states in the histories of other species they meet - the most famous being the comparison drawn between themselves and the Roman Empire of Earth.

Economy

Industrialization of any kind is disliked by the Yaratelmsh, even mass farming estates being a rarity. Individual accomplishment being prized as it is, it has long been considered unseemly to have mass-production of any kind. Taulros' father, King Najinos for whom Najinon is named in honor of, scandalized the entire planet by creating state factories to churn out weapons and vehicles for his armies, a scandal that turned into terror when he and his son started winning. Still, there is far more pride in crafting a work of art than stamping out as many items as possible, and the modern Taulron economy follows. Quality control measures are far higher within factories and dockyards than most would consider to be sane, to the point that a secondary economy exists in the trade, salvage, and in some cases completion of castoffs that a chief engineer decided were unworthy of his name.

Far from focusing entirely on war materiel however, almost anything of substance can be bought from Taulron merchants. An accomplished vineyard is considered as laudable as a factory making tanks for the military. Volume trading is almost impossible however, as exports tend to stay at a minimum due to the simple fact that the empire requires most of what it makes for itself. Volume imports have shown great success on the other hand, for the obsessive perfectionism of the Yaratelmsh does not extend to their conquered citizens.

Government

Officially, the Taulron Empire is an authoritarian monarchy under the sole control of an autocratic emperor. In reality, the empire is a horrible mess of conflicting power bases, ancient rights, and autonomous worlds.

Paradoxically, it is on the throne world that the Emperor's power is at its lowest. The conquests of Taulros were unable to create a unitary state, with rival kings instead willingly or unwilling swearing fealty. This led to the Council of Kings, the highest governing body of Yaratilsh. Though the Emperor is sovereign over Jharya and those lands it annexed, the other kings have that right over their own realms. As such, all governance of Yaratilsh as a whole from planetary building policies to imperial taxation must be passed through the Council, an incredibly fractious assembly of crowned kings who are not keen on giving up their rights.

The colonies settled by the Taulron after reaching out to space however are under the direct control of the Emperor, and a vast colonial apparatus of professional bureaucrats was established to handle them. These colonies are considered the personal property of the Emperor, in the same fashion as Jharya, and formed the legal precedent for how conquered and otherwise annexed worlds are to be handled. The Kings of Yaratilsh were constrained entirely to Yaratilsh, and the power of the imperial state grew with each settlement established.

With the unexpected and sudden acquisition of the Amsivarran Republic, the burgeoning administration was instantly overwhelmed at the task ahead of them, and Emperor Ponnios the Wise realized something must be done. The Republic would retain its internal administrative stucture, headed by its Senate, and the model expanded to all worlds added to the empire by conquest or treaty. The Senate was then moved to Yaratilsh itself and, in an act that granted political representation to the entirety of the Taulron while at the same time providing a counterbalance to the Merlovian Senators, all worlds elect representatives to the modern Imperial Senate. Today, the Senate has the right to propose any and all legislation necessary for the administration of all imperial properties, with only the non-imperial possessions on Yaratilsh exempt from its authority. While the Emperor must approve of all Senatorial acts, most mundane acts of government are simply approved of without a second thought. Importantly, while an Emperor has the legal authority to declare whatever laws he wishes, most make a habit of presenting their legislation to the Senate for approval.

Of course, the Emperors very rarely draft their own legislation, with that and the control of the imperial administration instead being handled by his Chancellor and their Secretaries. Though the imperial bureaucracy has waxed and waned through the centuries, the office of Imperial Chancellor has remained essentially unchanged as the chief civil executive. Second only to the Emperor, the Chancellor is the master of all day to day government affairs and is rightly considered the shining end to a glorious career in imperial service.

Importantly, the Chancellor and his Secretaries have no direct authority over the imperial military. Such control would make the office an Emperor in all but name, and was deemed dangerous to the stability of both the empire as a whole, and the life of the reigning Emperor in particular. Instead, the head of the military apparatus is the Grand Marshal, almost always a career officer and usually one from the Navy. The military is a law unto itself, making appropriation requests directly to the Emperor and Senate without regard to the Chancellor.

Technological Information

Major Techs

Technological development in the empire is, kindly speaking, lopsided. Though conquest and trade have ensured that certain minimums are meant in all fields, the preferences of the Taulron are extreme in what R&D they fund, but what does have their favor is often head and shoulders above that of their neighbors.

Even the basic physics of the power plants aboard imperial vessels are a state secret, but what is known is that they are as powerful as they are volatile. Though some consider their ships to be glass cannons, their current power plants make them more akin to flying bombs. Complementing this is their obsession with faster and faster engines, in both realspace and faster-than-light travel. It's likely that the feats of mobility that characterize Taulron warfare would be impossible without the energetic power plants aboard their ships.

In defense technologies, bulk armor is almost entirely eschewed, deemed unneeded weight. Instead, powerful shield generators demand yet more powerful power plants, further tilting the empire to untried and dangerous technologies. This focus on keeping weight down as much as possible extends to weapons technologies, the Taulron view any weapon that requires ammunition as unsuitable for their needs, and instead have perfected lasers and plasma throwers, once more taxing their power plants. Incidentally, this technology has found civilian use in mining lasers.

This emphasis on mobility extends to their ground forces, and mobile power armor that enhances or provides flight capability are some of the finest feats of engineering within the empire. Though painfully light weight by the standards of most frontline units, it permits incredibly fast movement and the utilization of the last triumph of Taulron technology: stealth fields.

Politically contentious even within the Empire, the existence of working stealth technology is a state secret in its own right, and few working examples have been produced. The underlying principles of the fields results in power requirements increasing exponentially with mass, and what units have been equipped with them tend towards light infantry and scout ships.

Military Information

Military Overview

Though the commander-in-chief of the military is officially the Emperor, practicality has long demanded that an official be put in charge of such an awe inspiring responsibility, leading to the creation of the Grand Marshal. Beneath the Grand Marshal are the Field Marshal and the Star Marshal, masters of the Imperial Army and Imperial Star Navy. Placed within the Imperial Army and under the direction of the Field Marshal are the Air Marshal and High Admiral, in charge of the obsoleted remnants of the Imperial Air Force and Imperial Navy both serving more or less entirely as garrison elements on long settled worlds. Similarly, but far more importantly, the Master of Marines reports to the Star Marshal, placing the Imperial Marine Corps firmly under the auspices of the Navy.

Incidentally, while the Imperial Star Navy and the Imperial Navy are officially separate entities, the sea-going Imperial Navy is now essentially a yacht club for the elite, and the Star Navy tends to be referred to simply as "the Navy" as a result.

Official doctrine has the Imperial Navy open battle at a time and place of their choosing with rapid attacks, ideally taking the enemy unawares. Appearing unexpectedly and striking hard, the Navy attempts to disengage and make good their retreat as soon as the element of surprise is lost and the enemy line of battle is formed. This results in wars fought as much in the enemy's mind as upon the field of battle, as traditional militaries are frustrated at the lack of a stand up battle.

When forced to confront strongholds, both the Army and Navy attempt to infiltrate in elements before the start of battle proper to sow havoc and weaken defensive positions. Combined with targeted assassinations and feints, the goal is to simply never have a fair fight. On the other extreme, when the Taulron are forced to defend a fixed position they favor entrenched and immobile assets. While regular forces harry an invasion force for as long as possible, fortifications on the target are continuously built. For defensive strongpoints that are expected to come under threat, the Taulron finally make use of munitions, saving energy for shield generators.

The one type of engagement that the Taulron attempt to avoid at all costs is the boarding action. Boarding is completely at odds with all established doctrine, as well as simple physiology. The Imperial Marine Corps is made almost entirely of client species, and wasn't even established until the Republic was annexed.

The Taulron Imperial Star Navy

Dreadnoughts: The pride of the fleet, Taulron dreadnoughts are among the fastest ever built, built to keep pace with their battleships. Designed near the end of the war as a game changer, the Vainglorious class was essentially a frame built around a directed energy cannon. The empire created and lost an absurd amount of these behemoths, foes in the Great War obviously prioritizing the destruction of these flying guns. During the Detente years, the empire kept to the treaty, ending construction of new dreadnoughts, but constantly revising designs for a successor class. The Imperious class went into production as soon as the message was transmitted, but so far has yet to roll off the lines.



Battleships: Interestingly, the Taulron had to make little modification to their battleships after the Treaty of Detente. Many have considered this proof that they weighed the treaty towards their own ends, but the fact of the matter is that their primary warfighters already were glass cannons. The primary difference between the Bellicose class of the Great War and the Vigilant class of the Detente are that the latter are actually sturdier, a less powerful main armament permitting more power to the shields. Entering into service after the fall of Detente is the Vindictive class built from the ground up to be consorts of dreadnoughts, equipped with far weaker weaponry than the Imperious, but possessing a similar effective range.



Battlecruisers: No type of warship has evolved more in recent decades for the Taulron than the battlecruiser. Originally designed as consorts to battleships, the Courageous class fought in the Great War in that mode, deploying directly alongside the Bellicose to screen the larger vessel and provide additional fire upon primary targets. With the Treaty of Detente restricting their main battery, and the rise of the dreadnoughts, battlecruisers were relegated as flagships for cruiser squadrons. The Joyous class carried guns scarcely more powerful than those of the ships it led into battle, but critically served as the testbed for experimental 3C systems that found themselves implemented on the Imperious. With the treaty lapsed, the Taulron were finally able to complete the evolution of the battlecruiser with the Dauntless class.

Designed to act independently or in concert with their sister ships, the Dauntless class is a revolution in Taulron military philosophy: a ship designed to actually stand and fight. Equipped a slimmed down power plant, the Dauntless is unable to both travel at full speed and fight at full strength. Instead, it is intended to separate from the main fleet body and quickly travel to the enemy's flank, and engage their forces. With the enemy distracted, the main fleet can then pounce, ideally creating enough havoc in the process that if the battlecruisers need to withdraw they can survive the weakening of their shields this would require.



Cruisers: Where battlecruisers and then battleships were designed as consorts of more powerful vessels, the cruiser has long been used as escort. Equipped with point defense weapons and a short range main battery, the cruisers from the Great War to the present have little changed. From the Watchful, to the Nimble, to the modern Prescient, cruisers have served to slap down any vessel arrogant enough to close with their betters. Their speed, size, and firepower also make them the archetypal independent command, and the Prescient still serves in that capacity.

Destroyers: Destroyers are typically considered the least lucky type of ship in the Imperial Navy, defined as being the largest vessel that cannot survive a direct hit from a battleship's main battery. Too fragile to properly escort larger warships, and still too slow to run circles around battlefleets, the destroyer exists in an awkward position. The Taulron have traditionally used their destroyers as long range artillery platforms, a glass cannon among a fleet of glass cannons. The new Braggart class is designed to sit behind the main battlefleet and bombard targets of opportunity, but like its predecessors, the Lonesome and the Curious having fought in living memory, is most at home in anti-piracy operations.



Frigates: An incredibly small, and incredibly fast, ship type, Taulron frigates can not only outpace enemy fleets but can dive in and out of them far too quickly for only the luckiest and lightest of strikes to land against them. The Exceptional class of the Great War earned fame as squadrons performed daring strikes deep into enemy lines. The Tremulous of the Detente was far less lucky, defeating only pirates. As the fires of war rise anew, the Heedless class is simply a direct upgrade of the Exceptional, the designers clearly hoping that it shall win equal glory.

Corvettes: Smaller than even frigates, corvettes have historically been used only for internal policing and pirate duty, even raids of opposing frigates being met with frigates. A new class wasn't even designed during the days of the Detente, the venerable Placid class serving for half a century with habitual upgrades plying the space lanes. A few years before the message however, a piece of news was announced to very little fanfare. The Placid was being replaced by the new Cautious, something that very few people cared about. Recently however, rumors have begun to swirl that the Cautious is a testbed for the equally rumored Taulron stealth fields, and that it was being used for troop insertions.

Strike craft: The Taulron hate strike craft. Too small to host FTL drives, strike craft are anathema to their entire fleet doctrine. Waiting for such craft to return to their carriers has long been considered an unacceptable waste of time, one that could mean the difference between life and death. However, they form a lynchpin of Taulron static defense, and swarms of fighters and bombers can be found waiting to defend planets and space stations throughout the empire. Such is the disdain for these craft however that the Navy refused their ownership, operating instead as the most visible sign that the venerable Imperial Air Force still exists.

Army/Planetary forces

Mobility has always been king to the Taulron, and their armies have adhere to this without flaw. Almost every single element in an imperial army is capable not just of rapid movement, but of flight. Both armor and artillery is kept to a minimum, neither having much of an intellectual heritage in imperial military history. Walls and fortifications mean little to a species with the gift of flight, and the sort of heavy weaponry and heavy armor characterized by siege warfare simply never developed. The planet was united before the invention of energy shields, and the war with the Amsivarran Republic ended without much in the way of ground fighting. Even after the Great War, sieges are far from the Imperial Army's strength, and during the conflict the Taulron focused on bypassing strongholds as often as possible.

His Imperial Majesty's Starship Taulros the Great

According to all official records, the Taulros the Great is simply an enhanced Imperious class dreadnought with untested technology, requiring constant renovations. The hyperdreadnought is five times larger than an Imperious and mounts enough weaponry to destroy a fleet. Keen eyed engineers soon realized that it was still undergunned for its sheer size, even with its shields at full power. The true danger of the Taulron hyperdreadnought is not in its guns, but instead the fact that it outputs enough energy to maintain a stealth field despite its sheer mass. While imperial intelligence has revealed whispers of similar projects being enacted by the other great powers, and that the Taulros the Great would be hideously weak compared to them, construction has continued without alteration.

The Last Laugh

The Taulron

Imperium Taulrosum

The Taulron Empire; formally, The Empire Of Taulros And His Heirs

General Information

Major Belligerent

Overview

The Taulron are best understood as an armed camp that has managed to subdue, cow, and conquer enough of its neighbors that more refined states have had no choice but to take them seriously. Unmotivated colonizers, but splendid conquerors, and surprisingly adept negotiators, the spread of this avian race across the galaxy has most often taken the form of concerted settlement campaigns upon subjugated worlds. Until expanding to meet interstellar powers capable of meeting them head on, almost all ills of the militaristic state were responded to with conquest. It was only upon entering the great game of galactic politics that internal settlement and restructuring was undertaken, but the empire seemed to consider modernizing themselves to stand toe to toe with the great powers to be a challenge as glorious as any martial endeavor.

It was only with the coming of the Ashtar that they approached something resembling respectability, the warriors swearing up and down that they were truly over their conquering days. The fact that before the Ashtar arrived the Taulron had found themselves surrounded on all sides by regional rivals lent some legitimacy to this claim, and they were - to the shock of their foes - left alone. Said foes found their shock turning into rage when, as soon as the Ashtar had disappeared, the Taulron plunged into the Great War with gusto, conquering huge swathes of their neighborhood in the process.

History

Pre-FTL

Competition flows through the veins of the Taulron alongside their blood, and while this is often considered their greatest strength, it is of the greatest misery to xenohistorians. Taulron history before they spread across the galaxy, and therefore before there were non-Taulron witnesses to their deeds, is impossible. The field of history is as fractious and acrimonious as sports and warfare with rival epics, king lists, and chronicles all elevating some ancient and noble house over some other ancient and noble house. The official histories, as dictated by the Emperor, are broken down into formal eras, and it is considered the greatest accomplishment of a historian to 'prove' that a period of time was momentous enough in its own right to be considered one of them.

This has led to multiple contradictory accounts of almost every major event in Taulron history, and leaves academics with the very real possibility that the actual truth was either suppressed or simply forgotten for not properly glorifying the patrons of those writing the histories. What the histories generally agree upon however is that the Taulron have been a historically fractious race, divided into a constantly shifting patchwork of feudal lordships well into their industrial age. Additionally, it is known that the historical Taulron would be unable to recognize the word that now defines their people and government. It was not until the coming of their atomic age that this would change.

King Taulros of Jharya, known to history as Emperor Taulros the Great, was a warlord among warlords. A conqueror without peer, he subdued a full fourth of one the Taulron homeworld's continents before the age of thirty, and seemed poised to make a bid upon the remainder. His ambitions grew greatly upon the invention of primitive fission weapons and, being the only power with them as well as lacking many of the scruples that other races tend to have about such devices, was swiftly able to unite the world in a campaign that was as much slaughter and terror as diplomatic brinkmanship and weary resignation. Many a king threw down their crowns in those days, finding it an indignity less galling than the destruction of their peoples, and the savvy conqueror rewarded this wisdom by allowing them to keep not only their lives, but their power as well. Taulros' campaigns are enshrined in the imperial histories as the Era of Unification, and in dissident works as the Era of One Thousand Terrors, but the world was his and with it came the ability to reshape the destiny of a species.

It was a work of generations, but the deification of Taulros and the steady work done to create a unified national identity, one of course made to honor the great conqueror, eventually bore fruit. The age of squabbling kings had ended, and the time of a single people united under the heirs of Taulros had come. So was born the Taulron Empire, or at least, so the histories say.

Era of Expansion

The creation of a faster-than-light drive by the Taulron is as mired in selective history, dramatizations, and object lies as any other part of their history before venturing out into the cosmos. What is generally known however is that the competitive energy of the people was turned onto this task, and as with all impossible problems that they had ever faced they simply refused to consider it to be impossible. What started as the greatest unsolved problem in physics became the greatest unsolved problem in engineering, and from there the path to the stars seemed effectively ordained.

For the stellar neighbors of the Taulron, the historical specifics of how the they came to achieve FTL travel was a secondary concern to what they did after acquiring it. The Taulron did not take to the stars as diplomats or as explorers or as merchants, but as conquerors eager to find new lands to claim and new treasures to loot. So began one of the few immutable eras in the imperial reckoning, the Era of Expansion. Rapidly spreading across their local star cluster, the Taulron established perfunctory outposts and listening stations around those stars which held little of consequence, established mining colonies on those worlds deemed worth the effort, and conquered and integrated all sentient life they came across.

In this era, the Taulron did not colonize worlds so much as establish garrisons upon them. What virgin planets were claimed by the warrior people were not the verdant garden worlds that most sentients would clamor for, but ones abjectly hostile to life. Settling upon a world that wasn't trying to kill you was, to them, simple not enough of a challenge to be worth the bother. Those conquered races of the empire, their military forces dispersed among the breadth of claimed territory to augment the Taulron themselves, found themselves permitted to migrate to the most prized of planets without complaint from imperial authorities. Though all also found that, when their settlements reached a suitable size, that a Taulron garrison would be dispatched to their worlds to keep the peace, collect the taxes, and provide the growing Taulron population somewhere they could actually thrive instead of merely survive.

Era of Consolidation

It is said that all good things must come to an end, and for the Taulron this would prove true for their expansion period. After a few centuries of unrestricted conquest and growth, the burgeoning empire soon found itself attempting to annex peoples with friends that could stop the martial race dead in their tracks. Despite initial missteps and over extensions, the empire was able to establish an equilibrium where its mere presence did not offend any neighboring great powers enough to crush them while still remaining a potent force. This careful balancing act of strategic retreats, exploited victories, and shrewd diplomacy ultimately resulted in the formalization of the empire's borders with respect to its most powerful neighbors and their clients. Permitting the Taulron to live, instead of smothering the infant interstellar state in its cradle, is sometimes considered one of the greatest blunders in galactic history.

If the great powers hoped that the Taulron would sit idle, or collapse when their expansion stopped, they would find themselves sorely mistaken. The great interior of the empire was wild and unsettled, ripe for exploitation that the Taulron considered less glorious and less rewarding than continued expansion. With the borders effectively closed, and conquest off the table, the great energies of the people were turned to the exploitation and cultivation of this vast region of space. Entire star systems had been left with little more than a brief survey, for the next conquest was always a more pressing use of all materiel.

A great colonial boom followed, aided in no small part by the fact that a great number of Taulron of fighting age were no longer dying. Building power and influence, the Taulron were poised to either become a mighty influence in galactic affairs, or possibly just start a galactic war to see what they could get out of it.

Lo Ashtar del Mishri

Surprising both contemporaries and many modern historians, the Taulron reacted to the sudden arrival of the Ashtar by doing nothing at all. They had, after all, already resolved themselves to a course of internal growth and development until they could take on greater powers who stymied their further expansion. As far as the Senate and the imperial court were concerned, the Ashtar simply changed the scale of their concerns. Instead of concentrating on internal stability to knock around regional powers, they now focused on finding some way to counter or equal mysterious, all powerful, godlike, beings that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The utter failure of any other power to make much of a dent in Ashtar military might vindicated this policy, and for a century the Taulron were exemplars of the peace.

The Great War

Then the Ashtar went and vanished, and over eight generations of preparation were finally put to use. Some claim that it was the Taulron who fired the first shot of the Great War, aiming to take down one of the regional powers that been blocking their expansion before anyone else noticed what was happening. The fact is however that almost every expansionist power made a move like the Taulron as soon as they had confirmed that the Ashtar were well and truly gone, making precise dating as to the start of hostilities confusing at the very least.

Nonetheless, though the Taulron were swiftly victorious in their regional conflict, they found themselves dragged into a war of galactic scope as the direct result. Thrust upon the grandest of stages, they set out to acquit themselves well, with all the costs that such an endeavor entailed. And by almost all accounts, they succeeded.

The simple fact is that as far as the Taulron were concerned, they had won the Great War. Quashing their regional rivals, opening up avenues for further expansion, and earning victory upon the field more often than not, they were a leading force at the Madrigasa talks and in the forging of the Treaty of Detente. To hear a hardliner put it, the Taulron did not agree to stop fighting because they were tired of war, the Taulron agreed to stop fighting so that they could take a moment to take stock of what they had gained. Such talk of course ignores the massive expenditures in manpower and wealth the war took in order to reach such a happy state but only a fool ignores the fact that glory can oft be worth more than gold. Seemingly paradoxically, it was the Taulron who pressed for the harshest naval restrictions when negotiating Detente, often arguing against their own self interest. When pressed to explain himself, the lead Taulron envoy explained that he was endeavoring to give the other powers a sporting chance.

The Modern Day

Far more surprisingly, the Taulron seemed to have actually meant what they said at the Detente talks. They kept scrupulously to the terms of the treaty, eschewing the gimmicks and workarounds popping up across the galaxy, and actually seemed to not have secret shipyards working on illegal vessels. This was of little comfort to most of their neighbors however, because even willingly tying one hand behind their back by following the terms of the treaty, the Taulron were still one of the largest naval powers.

Then the Ashtar message came through, and ruined everything all over again. With the promise of Ashtar treasure removing any semblance of restraint, the Taulron duly rushed to Agdemnar to claim it before anyone else could. It was in the ensuing battle that they realized how severely outclassed their treaty-compliant and Great War-era warships were, and though they were not foolish enough to believe that anyone followed the treaty as closely as they had the surprise reveal of secretly constructed dreadnoughts would prove to be an insult too far. Declaring the treaty in abeyance until all signatories were once more complying with its term, the Taulron embarked upon a massive building campaign to make up for the lost decades.

Major Holdings

Yaratilsh

Homeworld of the Taulron, Yaratilsh is a world that has endured countless centuries of warare both large and small. Battlegrounds and graveyards litter its surface, and at the bottom of its seas rest countless vessels from long forgotten wars. The greatest scars were fortunately its last, the atomic bombings of Taulros leaving irradiated wastelands for decades. Surprisingly, despite this history of conflict, the planet avoided the worst effects of industrial pollution, a feat many outside observers chalk up to the fact that the Taulron died too swiftly to have globe effecting industry.

Upon the establishment of their interstellar empire, the wealth of worlds was carted home and work on restoring their shattered home. Monuments were raised, memorials established, and palaces built and the treasures of vanquished nations were raised into places of honor. Modern Yaratilsh is an expanse of cosmopolitan cities, vibrant universities, restored forests, expansive training grounds, and massive orbital fortresses.

Here is found the Imperial Palace, the Council of Kings, the Senate, and all other organs of state. It is the beating heart of a multispecies empire, and the fruits of empire are well savored here.

Najinon

The Taulron do not put all of their eggs in one basket - a phrase with much more emotional urgency for egglaying species - and the security of their empire is no different. The grandest fleet yards in the empire orbit the colony world of Najinon, a planet that has the curious distinction of being one of the few that were actively colonized due to its importance. Nestled in a star system rich in heavy metals, the mining industry that fueled the initial settlement swiftly transformed into heavy construction. It is from the seemingly endless mines of Nanjinus and the asteroids towed into its orbit that the materials of war are harvested, and it is from the vast shipyards dotted throughout the void that the Imperial Navy sails from.

Chamavas and the Amsivarran Republic

The second greatest world in the empire and often considered its cultural capital, Chamavas was conquered, not settled. The capital of the first interstellar power the Taulron encountered, the Amsivarran Republic, both world and civilization were swiftly integrated itno the empire after a war that was more ritual than bloodshed. Due to the ease of victory, with no fighting taking place on Chamavas itself, the world is a reminder of an older, more genteel, civilization that gave itself over to the warlike Taulron. It is considered with pride by most, and with some trepidation by the keen, for the greatest lawyers, bankers, and politicians all seem to either come from Chamavas, or are connected to those who have.

During the centuries of dominance within the region that they enjoyed however, the Republic flourished, colonizing, conquering, and joining with a host of lesser powers for mutual protection. With the coming of the Taulron, the Amsivarran Senate called the war off after enough battles to realize that they were outmatched by the newcomers, and made the decision to do to themselves what they had convinced so many to do. The instrument of surrender from the Amsivarran Republic to the Taulron Empire requested that in the name of everlasting peace between their peoples, that the Emperor formally annex the Republic and protect its citizens. The Taulron, shocked at the windfall, not only agreed but ordered their Senate to relocate to Yaratilsh, forming the core of the modern Senate. This was as practical as it was generous, giving the Emperor a new body with which to govern his unexpectedly massively enlarged empire. It also had the incidental effect of giving the nascent Empire the closest thing to a representative body it ever had.

Demographics

Population

It is sometimes a surprise to outsiders, but the name 'Taulron' does not refer to the species that founded the empire. A political distinguisher, it applies to all who live within the empire's bounds.

Yaratelmsh

The founding race of the Taulron Empire, they are a minority within their own borders. The last census pegged them at approximately twenty percent of the total population, but they are firmly placed within positions of power. An avian species, they descend from a biological lineage of septapods, having not only pairs of arms, legs, and wings, but also a single prehensile tail. Feathered, warmblooded, and egglaying, they exhibit an exceptional amount of sexual dimorphism. Males are ostentatious, with extremely oversized wingspans and elongated limbs that constantly strain their bodies, while females tend towards far more compact forms that - contrary to many species - make them preferred for military service.

Merlovians

The second great race of the Empire, and by population the greatest race at twenty-five percent, the Merlovians are sometimes erroneously described as a warrior species akin to their Yaratelmsh conquerors. In truth, the Merlovians are best described as a race keen on building an empire, rather than the mess of winning one. Legalistic and fastidious, they make excellent administrators and lawyers, and find themselves working within the imperial apparatus at all levels. Indeed, every position of note has been or is currently filled by a Merlovian - save for the imperial throne itself. An amphibious race, they are blessed with not only the ability to live equally well on both land and sea but also a robustness in constitution that permits them to settle worlds most would consider impossible. Though most still live as a politically distinct group within the worlds that once comprised the Amsivarran Republic, they are found throughout the empire, with a culturally cosmopolitan population on the throne world.

Hateri

A former constituent race of the Amsivarran Republic, the marsupial Hateri make up perhaps five percent of the empire's population and cared little about the technical change in rulership from the Merlovians to the Yaratelmsh. Nocturnal and solitary by nature, they petitioned the Republic for entrance shortly after first contact, and were pleased that the standards of that custodianship were continued by the Taulron. The most notable facet of the Hateri, and the thing that makes them worthy of consideration, is their formidable psychic abilities. Their ingrained solitary behavior developed as a result of unconstrained telepathy, and trained corps of Hateri psintegrae are recognized as one of the greatest intelligence assets an imperial commander could have.

Kovan

Formerly the heads of an interstellar trading consortium known as the Illusian League, the Kovan were added into the empire centuries ago, but never really integrated. Spacefaring and nomadic, the reptilian Kovan are few in number among the worlds of the empire, and instead make their homes aboard their own ships as well as upon the uncountable array of space stations dotting the empire. Any sort of formal census of their numbers is impossible, but they are estimated to number approximately ten percent of the population. Hailing from a world that was rapidly becoming unsuitable for the coldblooded species, the decision to emigrate en mase to space was made in the distant past, after realizing that maintaining appropriate environments on their home world would present essentially the same challenge as creating them aboard space going vessels. Though sometimes looked down upon, savvy administrators have ensured that Kovan trainees in the Navy find themselves as pilots, and the most time critical shipments are often handled by Kovan captains.

Other Races

Not every species within the empire is considered worthy of particular note. The population of the Taulron Empire consists of a medley of conquered peoples, technologically undeveloped natives, refugees, and a small but growing number of immigrants from elsewhere in the galaxy. Many of these races were incorporated with the Amsivarran Republic and the Illusian League, and are more or less entirely integrated, ignored by imperial officials not due to prejudice but rather the simple fact that there aren't very many of them. Others are not even aware that they are subjects of the Emperor, or that the empire even exists, for a not insignificant number of worlds with burgeoning sentient life lay within the borders. The greatest influx of new peoples in living memory however was in the aftermath of the Great War. The populaces of conquered worlds as well as a chaotic stream of refugees trying to go anywhere but where they were combined to create a massive demographic shift, placing the population of the "core empire" consisting of the Yaratelmsh and the species of the old Amsivarran Republic into the minority for the first time in history.

Society

It is impossible to place to say what the life of the "average" imperial citizen consists of. Taulron colonies, Republic territories, and conquered planets all have wildly different standards and ways of living. For the most part, the empire has made no efforts to suppress existing cultures, or mold them to create a singular national identity. What societal merging has occurred has been almost entirely accidental, focused on Yaratilsh and the worlds of the old Republic.

Inasmuch as any one imperial culture can be said to exist, it is found on Yaratilsh, with Taulron enclaves on conquered worlds consciously imitating the throne world. The average middle-class citizen on Yaratilsh is an administrator or magistrate in the imperial government, an employee in one of the empire's conglomerates. Their poorer brethren tend to subsist on cash welfare or labor on the great restoration projects that still cover the world's surface. Within enclaves of "proper" Taulron society, almost all non-"native" inhabitants are employed in the colonial administration.

However, even within core territories of the Taulron, there is no real standard culture, because there was never a single culture on Yaratilsh. The conquests of Taulros the Great did not result in a unified planetary society, and his successors maintained this hands off approach. Though the culture particulars of Jharya, the principality that Taulros originally led, were obviously elevated, and the loose fitting robes common to that jungle-filled and humid realm are still official court dress, there was little to no standardization.

A single religious faith does exist within the empire however, a fact owing more to sheer luck than anything else. Zealous monotheism had miraculously never reached prominence on Yaratilsh, or within any of the constituent worlds of the Amsivarran Republic, resulting in the adoption and identification of foreign gods. The Merlovian sky god Oinas is considered one and the same as the Jharyan Parlos, and therefore both are the patron deity of Taulros and the imperial line. The state of faith within the core worlds has been on a decline for centuries however, and while there is an official imperial cult, its only command is that good and true citizens earnestly wish for the health and happiness of their Emperor. Interestingly, this adaptability extends even to international relations, with the Taulron explicitly comparing themselves to states in the histories of other species they meet - the most famous being the comparison drawn between themselves and the Roman Empire of Earth.

Economy

Industrialization of any kind is disliked by the Yaratilsh, even mass farming estates being a rarity. Individual accomplishment being prized as it is, it has long been considered unseemly to have mass-production of any kind. Taulros' father, King Najinos for whom Najinon is named in honor of, scandalized the entire planet by creating state factories to churn out weapons and vehicles for his armies, a scandal that turned into terror when he and his son started winning. Still, there is far more pride in crafting a work of art than stamping out as many items as possible, and the modern Taulron economy follows. Quality control measures are far higher within factories and dockyards than most would consider to be sane, to the point that a secondary economy exists in the trade, salvage, and in some cases completion of castoffs that a chief engineer decided were unworthy of his name.

Far from focusing entirely on war materiel however, almost anything of substance can be bought from Taulron merchants. An accomplished vineyard is considered as laudable as a factory making tanks for the military. Volume trading is almost impossible however, as exports tend to stay at a minimum due to the simple fact that the empire requires most of what it makes for itself. Volume imports have shown great success on the other hand, for the obsessive perfectionism of the Yaratelmsh does not extend to their conquered citizens.

Government

Officially, the Taulron Empire is an authoritarian monarchy under the sole control of an autocratic emperor. In reality, the empire is a horrible mess of conflicting power bases, ancient rights, and autonomous worlds.

Paradoxically, it is on the throne world that the Emperor's power is at its lowest. The conquests of Taulros were unable to create a unitary state, with rival kings instead willingly or unwilling swearing fealty. This led to the Council of Kings, the highest governing body of Yaratilsh. Though the Emperor is sovereign over Jharya and those lands it annexed, the other kings have that right over their own realms. As such, all governance of Yaratilsh as a whole from planetary building policies to imperial taxation must be passed through the Council, an incredibly fractious assembly of crowned kings who are not keen on giving up their rights.

The colonies settled by the Taulron after reaching out to space however are under the direct control of the Emperor, and a vast colonial apparatus of professional bureaucrats was established to handle them. These colonies are considered the personal property of the Emperor, in the same fashion as Jharya, and formed the legal precedent for how conquered and otherwise annexed worlds are to be handled. The Kings of Yaratilsh were constrained entirely to Yaratilsh, and the power of the imperial state grew with each settlement established.

With the unexpected and sudden acquisition of the Amsivarran Republic, the burgeoning administration was instantly overwhelmed at the task ahead of them, and Emperor Ponnios the Wise realized something must be done. The Republic would retain its internal administrative stucture, headed by its Senate, and the model expanded to all worlds added to the empire by conquest or treaty. The Senate was then moved to Yaratilsh itself and, in an act that granted political representation to the entirety of the Taulron while at the same time providing a counterbalance to the Merlovian Senators, all worlds elect representatives to the modern Imperial Senate. Today, the Senate has the right to propose any and all legislation necessary for the administration of all imperial properties, with only the non-imperial possessions on Yaratilsh exempt from its authority. While the Emperor must approve of all Senatorial acts, most mundane acts of government are simply approved of without a second thought. Importantly, while an Emperor has the legal authority to declare whatever laws he wishes, most make a habit of presenting their legislation to the Senate for approval.

Of course, the Emperors very rarely draft their own legislation, with that and the control of the imperial administration instead being handled by his Chancellor and their Secretaries. Though the imperial bureaucracy has waxed and waned through the centuries, the office of Imperial Chancellor has remained essentially unchanged as the chief civil executive. Second only to the Emperor, the Chancellor is the master of all day to day government affairs and is rightly considered the shining end to a glorious career in imperial service.

Importantly, the Chancellor and his Secretaries have no direct authority over the imperial military. Such control would make the office an Emperor in all but name, and was deemed dangerous to the stability of both the empire as a whole, and the life of the reigning Emperor in particular. Instead, the head of the military apparatus is the Grand Marshal, almost always a career officer and usually one from the Navy. The military is a law unto itself, making appropriation requests directly to the Emperor and Senate without regard to the Chancellor.

Technological Information

Major Techs

Technological development in the empire is, kindly speaking, lopsided. Though conquest and trade have ensured that certain minimums are meant in all fields, the preferences of the Taulron are extreme in what R&D they fund, but what does have their favor is often head and shoulders above that of their neighbors.

Even the basic physics of the power plants aboard imperial vessels are a state secret, but what is known is that they are as powerful as they are volatile. Though some consider their ships to be glass cannons, their current power plants make them more akin to flying bombs. Complementing this is their obsession with faster and faster engines, in both realspace and faster-than-light travel. It's likely that the feats of mobility that characterize Taulron warfare would be impossible without the energetic power plants aboard their ships.

In defense technologies, bulk armor is almost entirely eschewed, deemed unneeded weight. Instead, powerful shield generators demand yet more powerful power plants, further tilting the empire to untried and dangerous technologies. This focus on keeping weight down as much as possible extends to weapons technologies, the Taulron view any weapon that requires ammunition as unsuitable for their needs, and instead have perfected lasers and plasma throwers, once more taxing their power plants. Incidentally, this technology has found civilian use in mining lasers.

This emphasis on mobility extends to their ground forces, and mobile power armor that enhances or provides flight capability are some of the finest feats of engineering within the empire. Though painfully light weight by the standards of most frontline units, it permits incredibly fast movement and the utilization of the last triumph of Taulron technology: stealth fields.

Politically contentious even within the Empire, the existence of working stealth technology is a state secret in its own right, and few working examples have been produced. The underlying principles of the fields results in power requirements increasing exponentially with mass, and what units have been equipped with them tend towards light infantry and scout ships.

Military Information

Military Overview

Though the commander-in-chief of the military is officially the Emperor, practicality has long demanded that an official be put in charge of such an awe inspiring responsibility, leading to the creation of the Grand Marshal. Beneath the Grand Marshal are the Field Marshal and the Star Marshal, masters of the Imperial Army and Imperial Star Navy. Placed within the Imperial Army and under the direction of the Field Marshal are the Air Marshal and High Admiral, in charge of the obsoleted remnants of the Imperial Air Force and Imperial Navy both serving more or less entirely as garrison elements on long settled worlds. Similarly, but far more importantly, the Master of Marines reports to the Star Marshal, placing the Imperial Marine Corps firmly under the auspices of the Navy.

Incidentally, while the Imperial Star Navy and the Imperial Navy are officially separate entities, the sea-going Imperial Navy is now essentially a yacht club for the elite, and the Star Navy tends to be referred to simply as "the Navy" as a result.

Official doctrine has the Imperial Navy open battle at a time and place of their choosing with rapid attacks, ideally taking the enemy unawares. Appearing unexpectedly and striking hard, the Navy attempts to disengage and make good their retreat as soon as the element of surprise is lost and the enemy line of battle is formed. This results in wars fought as much in the enemy's mind as upon the field of battle, as traditional militaries are frustrated at the lack of a stand up battle.

When forced to confront strongholds, both the Army and Navy attempt to infiltrate in elements before the start of battle proper to sow havoc and weaken defensive positions. Combined with targeted assassinations and feints, the goal is to simply never have a fair fight. On the other extreme, when the Taulron are forced to defend a fixed position they favor entrenched and immobile assets. While regular forces harry an invasion force for as long as possible, fortifications on the target are continuously built. For defensive strongpoints that are expected to come under threat, the Taulron finally make use of munitions, saving energy for shield generators.

The one type of engagement that the Taulron attempt to avoid at all costs is the boarding action. Boarding is completely at odds with all established doctrine, as well as simple physiology. The Imperial Marine Corps is made almost entirely of client species, and wasn't even established until the Republic was annexed.

The Taulron Imperial Star Navy

Dreadnoughts: The pride of the fleet, Taulron dreadnoughts are among the fastest ever built, built to keep pace with their battleships. Designed near the end of the war as a game changer, the Vainglorious class was essentially a frame built around a directed energy cannon. The empire created and lost an absurd amount of these behemoths, foes in the Great War obviously prioritizing the destruction of these flying guns. During the Detente years, the empire kept to the treaty, ending construction of new dreadnoughts, but constantly revising designs for a successor class. The Imperious class went into production as soon as the message was transmitted, but so far has yet to roll off the lines.



Battleships: Interestingly, the Taulron had to make little modification to their battleships after the Treaty of Detente. Many have considered this proof that they weighed the treaty towards their own ends, but the fact of the matter is that their primary warfighters already were glass cannons. The primary difference between the Bellicose class of the Great War and the Vigilant class of the Detente are that the latter are actually sturdier, a less powerful main armament permitting more power to the shields. Entering into service after the fall of Detente is the Vindictive class built from the ground up to be consorts of dreadnoughts, equipped with far weaker weaponry than the Imperious, but possessing a similar effective range.



Battlecruisers: No type of warship has evolved more in recent decades for the Taulron than the battlecruiser. Originally designed as consorts to battleships, the Courageous class fought in the Great War in that mode, deploying directly alongside the Bellicose to screen the larger vessel and provide additional fire upon primary targets. With the Treaty of Detente restricting their main battery, and the rise of the dreadnoughts, battlecruisers were relegated as flagships for cruiser squadrons. The Joyous class carried guns scarcely more powerful than those of the ships it led into battle, but critically served as the testbed for experimental 3C systems that found themselves implemented on the Imperious. With the treaty lapsed, the Taulron were finally able to complete the evolution of the battlecruiser with the Dauntless class.

Designed to act independently or in concert with their sister ships, the Dauntless class is a revolution in Taulron military philosophy: a ship designed to actually stand and fight. Equipped a slimmed down power plant, the Dauntless is unable to both travel at full speed and fight at full strength. Instead, it is intended to separate from the main fleet body and quickly travel to the enemy's flank, and engage their forces. With the enemy distracted, the main fleet can then pounce, ideally creating enough havoc in the process that if the battlecruisers need to withdraw they can survive the weakening of their shields this would require.



Cruisers: Where battlecruisers and then battleships were designed as consorts of more powerful vessels, the cruiser has long been used as escort. Equipped with point defense weapons and a short range main battery, the cruisers from the Great War to the present have little changed. From the Watchful, to the Nimble, to the modern Prescient, cruisers have served to slap down any vessel arrogant enough to close with their betters. Their speed, size, and firepower also make them the archetypal independent command, and the Prescient still serves in that capacity.

Destroyers: Destroyers are typically considered the least lucky type of ship in the Imperial Navy, defined as being the largest vessel that cannot survive a direct hit from a battleship's main battery. Too fragile to properly escort larger warships, and still too slow to run circles around battlefleets, the destroyer exists in an awkward position. The Taulron have traditionally used their destroyers as long range artillery platforms, a glass cannon among a fleet of glass cannons. The new Braggart class is designed to sit behind the main battlefleet and bombard targets of opportunity, but like its predecessors, the Lonesome and the Curious having fought in living memory, is most at home in anti-piracy operations.



Frigates: An incredibly small, and incredibly fast, ship type, Taulron frigates can not only outpace enemy fleets but can dive in and out of them far too quickly for only the luckiest and lightest of strikes to land against them. The Exceptional class of the Great War earned fame as squadrons performed daring strikes deep into enemy lines. The Tremulous of the Detente was far less lucky, defeating only pirates. As the fires of war rise anew, the Heedless class is simply a direct upgrade of the Exceptional, the designers clearly hoping that it shall win equal glory.

Corvettes: Smaller than even frigates, corvettes have historically been used only for internal policing and pirate duty, even raids of opposing frigates being met with frigates. A new class wasn't even designed during the days of the Detente, the venerable Placid class serving for half a century with habitual upgrades plying the space lanes. A few years before the message however, a piece of news was announced to very little fanfare. The Placid was being replaced by the new Cautious, something that very few people cared about. Recently however, rumors have begun to swirl that the Cautious is a testbed for the equally rumored Taulron stealth fields, and that it was being used for troop insertions.

Strike craft: The Taulron hate strike craft. Too small to host FTL drives, strike craft are anathema to their entire fleet doctrine. Waiting for such craft to return to their carriers has long been considered an unacceptable waste of time, one that could mean the difference between life and death. However, they form a lynchpin of Taulron static defense, and swarms of fighters and bombers can be found waiting to defend planets and space stations throughout the empire. Such is the disdain for these craft however that the Navy refused their ownership, operating instead as the most visible sign that the venerable Imperial Air Force still exists.

Army/Planetary forces

Mobility has always been king to the Taulron, and their armies have adhere to this without flaw. Almost every single element in an imperial army is capable not just of rapid movement, but of flight. Both armor and artillery is kept to a minimum, neither having much of an intellectual heritage in imperial military history. Walls and fortifications mean little to a species with the gift of flight, and the sort of heavy weaponry and heavy armor characterized by siege warfare simply never developed. The planet was united before the invention of energy shields, and the war with the Amsivarran Republic ended without much in the way of ground fighting. Even after the Great War, sieges are far from the Imperial Army's strength, and during the conflict the Taulron focused on bypassing strongholds as often as possible.

His Imperial Majesty's Starship Taulros the Great

According to all official records, the Taulros the Great is simply an enhanced Imperious class dreadnought with untested technology, requiring constant renovations. The hyperdreadnought is five times larger than an Imperious and mounts enough weaponry to destroy a fleet. Keen eyed engineers soon realized that it was still undergunned for its sheer size, even with its shields at full power. The true danger of the Taulron hyperdreadnought is not in its guns, but instead the fact that it outputs enough energy to maintain a stealth field despite its sheer mass. While imperial intelligence has revealed whispers of similar projects being enacted by the other great powers, and that the Taulros the Great would be hideously weak compared to them, construction has continued without alteration.

The Last Laugh

Heyo, Ozerath pulled me into this. I'll have a writeup posted tomorrow ideally.