MarsMatter

Galactic Conquest

Kriptoid Stellar Union

Kriptoid home system

On the second moon of the fourth planet from the star, a research base sat on the barren surface overlooked by a brown gas giant. Having grown to the size of a small city in the century since it was founded, the Zaxoid runs research station had become one of the largest colonies to be founded on an inhospitable world. It had a few transparent bio-domes connected by passages and tall pressurized buildings towered over them, many passages wove between the debris which was scattered around the site and provided easy transport between the 5 ancient crashed Zaxoid ships.

Inside the base tens of thousands of Kriptoids lived and worked to maintain the colony and investigate the debris. The colony administrator sat in his office when suddenly one of the scientists burst in. "At least knock." says the admin, seeming rather annoyed. Short of breath from running there so fast, the scientists says "No time, this is big." The admin's curiosity was peaked but before he could ask for clarification the scientist continued, "One of the Zaxoid wormhole beacons has detected something. Well, more than one thing. Multiple radio transmissions and space distortions." The admin began to look annoyed again as he said "We've investigated those before, they are usually just black holes or pulsars." "I know, " the scientist says, "but none of them have been anything like this." The admin puts down his papers and says "Go on..."

Military shipyard, low Kiram orbit

Amix floated through his bioship which he named Calis, doing a few routine checks and talking to the ship a bit in what seems like a very one sided conversation. The interior was completely filled with water and lit with bioluminescent lights, and although there were some metallic components around the place most of the walls were very fleshy. The communications officer swims up to him and begins speaking, "Commander, we have-". Amix is startled causing him to emit a small electrical shock. "Sorry commander, but this is important." the comms officer continues, "We have a direct communication from the capital, from the Guardian herself. She wants to talk to you in person." Amix stops what he is doing and darts over to the bridge where there is an open comm channel. "Kana, this is certainly a surprise." he says. Kana replies "Commander Amix, I have a mission for you. Recently some crazy stuff has been detected by a Zaxoid wormhole beacon, it is sending back a lot of interesting data. Either it's aliens or a crazy anomaly unlike anything we have ever seen, either way I need your fleet to check it out. Set a course for the Kiram wormhole station."

"Roger that, mission accepted." replies Amix as he slips into the captain seat and ends the call. "You heard her Calis, plot a course to the wormhole station." he says, talking to his ship. Within the ship's nervous system it quickly calculates an efficient trajectory using it's instinctual understanding of orbital mechanics. The crew is instructed to get the ship ready for departure, the 500 meter long ship warms up it's thermonuclear engines and releases the docking clamps. Before long it begins the transfer burn.

Zaxoid wormhole station, high Kiram orbit

An asteroid with a strange looking machine built into it orbited high above Kiram, and a fleet began to assemble near it. When Amix's ship arrived there was already a small science vessel waiting nearby, being another bioship much smaller than the Calis. The capital called both ships again for a briefing given by Kana herself. "The wormhole station is being prepared now. We have no idea what is on the other side, and although you should always be prepared for alien contact it is more likely then usual this time. Crew of the science ship Yenix, your job is to collect data and stay out of trouble. Crew of the Calis, you are to initiate diplomacy if needed and defend the Yenix. Amix will be the fleet admiral. Any questions?"

Everyone stayed relatively silent. The mission was pretty strait forward, but the suspense seemed to permeate the water around them. Another voice came onto the comms from the wormhole station on the asteroid, "Destination locked, singularity reactor online, we are ready to engage. Clear the business end of this thing." The two bioships backed away as the radiators on the wormhole generator began to glow a bright red.

At first nothing much seemed to happen but soon noticeable gravity waves began coming from the device, getting stronger and stronger. There was a gravity well for half a second followed by a negative gravity well, pulling the ships in a bit and then pushing them away over and over. Soon they were so strong that they started bending light around a small area in front of the wormhole generator. Suddenly the gravity well shot up stronger than before and stayed that way, in the center of it was what looked like a sphere, and light came through it revealing different constellations. They were much denser than those near Kiram, as one would expect from being near the center of the galaxy. The wormhole had been opened.

The two ships fall into the wormhole under it's gravity well, with gravitational forces getting so strong that they would easily be fatal if not for the crew floating neutrally buoyant in saltwater. Once inside things began to get rather weird, going through a tunnel of space shaped like a 4D cylinder caused ghost images of the ships to appear, being distorted by the strange spacial curvature. Light and even normal matter could move right, left, up , or down only to end up where it started. It only lasted about a minute before the ships shoot out from the other end of the wormhole at escape velocity.

Aurora system, interplanetary space near a strange asteroid with machinery built into it

As the wormhole snaps shut behind them the science ship Yanix immediately begins scanning the area. Before long they discover an interesting planet, a desert world with a few sparse oceans. It seems to be the source of all the strange signals, and under continuous acceleration they could get there in just a couple hours. The two ships set their course for Aurora to get a closer look.

(By the way, all communication is done by emitting electrical pulses picked up by the electroception sense in Kriptoids. I have just been portraying it as speech to make things easier. Even telecommunications and intercom systems do this, being among the few electrical devices to be widely used by Kriptoids.)

Galactic Conquest

Faction:
Kriptoid Stellar Union.

Home World:
Kiram is an oceanic world in an unusually elliptical orbit around it's star. It has a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and a surface that is 92% covered in ocean. The elliptical orbit brings Kiram far from it's parent star for most of the year resulting in long and extreme winters where the entire ocean freezes over, and in the summer when Kiram is close enough to it's star to thaw out it is a much more hospitable place. No mammal-like creatures ever evolved there and amphibian-like animals make up most of the dominant fauna, many large and exotic fish swim the vast seas of Kiram which can be dangerous.

Philosophy:
Heroism is valued above all else in Kriptoid society, and their code of honor which is held by some as being almost sacred. This mentality started during the great rebellion back before the space age and it has persisted ever since especially after becoming an important part of the reformed government's constitution. They are a bit xenophobic because they have never found any evidence of a peaceful interstellar empire besides their own and are yet to make first contact, so they are prepared to fight if their independence is threatened.

Government:
An Elective Constitutional Monarchy, most power lies in the hands of a single individual known as the Guardian of Kiram. The position as Guardian is life long although it is a job stressful enough that some Guardians have resigned. While a Guardian is in power an heir known as The Apprentice is elected who takes over the position of Guardian if the current Guardian dies or resigns, they spend a lot of time with the Guardian learning first hand what it takes to run the government. In order to even be considered for becoming the next Apprentice the constitution requires that they must have demonstrated selfless heroism, this is to prevent corrupt rulers and it's a strategy which has worked well for them in the few hundred years that this system has been in place.
Another notable political entity is the Unity Council, they act as a second branch of government consisting of a few dozen elected officials which in some cases can overrule the orders of the Guardian, they often handle the smaller issues which are too numerous for just the Guardian to handle.

Current Guardian: Kana
Current Apprentice: Zal

Species

Kriptoids:
(Behold my drawing, ignore the text since it's mostly stuff I'm saying here anyway and some of it is outdated.)


Kriptoids are the dominant species of Kiram, standing about 1.5 meters tall on land but with a full length of about 3 meters and living to be 50-60 Earth-years old on average (which is about 35 Kiram years). They have a sense of electroception allowing them to "feel" nearby electrical fields such as those generated by a living thing or consequently those generated by electricity. They are amphibious and can both breathe underwater and walk on land, but they prefer water since it's where they can move the fastest and it boosts their electroception which they are dependent on for communication. They can produce small electrical shocks in a way not too different from eels on Earth and since other Kriptoids can sense the electrical field their language is based on electrical pulses. Their sense of electroception has it's downsides though, because they find the electrical fields generated by electronic devices highly irritating which has prevented the widespread adoption of electricity in their technology. Even though they are physically quite weak and fragile compared to other sapient species their reaction time is unusually high and they are very flexible, so when fighting they must rely heavily on evasion which is an instinct that has even influenced their space battle tactics.

Despite having two genders Kriptoids have nearly no sexual dimorphism and their language has no gendered pronouns or gendered names, so even with the proper translation equipment most other species have trouble telling a male Kriptoid from a female. They reproduce by laying eggs so even though they don't often wear clothing the most obvious physical difference between genders is the color of their tail with females' tales having a slightly lighter color then then the tails of males.

During the long winters on Kiram they retreat to their underwater cities, leaving their sparse surface infrastructure abandoned. There isn't much demand for the limited dry land space anyway since Kriptoids are slower and more clumsy on land.

Zaxoids:
(Shamelessly stealing Stellaris art.)


The Zaxoids are an ancient and long dead race that once ruled the galaxy in tyranny over 10,000 years ago before they were brutally wiped out by forces unknown. Around the galaxy many graveyards of Zaxoid ships where finding an ancient 10 kilometer long Zaxoid ship cut clean in half filled with the void frozen remains of the crew is not uncommon, especially near Kriptoid space where there was once a large Zaxoid colony before their fall. The Zaxoids were highly advanced, having mastered the bending of space to the point of being able to open wormholes allowing for near instant travel between any wormhole generator and wormhole beacon. Their ships were a force to be reckoned with although time hasn't treated them all well and very few are in a state where they can be repaired.

Zaxoid ships are highly specialized, some may generate a plasma shield (more on those below) while others may be dedicated gunships or stealth ambush ships. Their mastery of space warfare was second only to the entity that took them down, which in recovered Zaxoid logs is referred to only as the "Arakim World Eater". Although there are many theories (some crazier then others), the question of what the Arakim World Eater really is has baffled Kriptoid scientists for decades.

Technology

Kriptoid Technology:
Because of how sensitive Kriptoids are to electromagnetic fields they have not widely adopted electronics or looked into electricity's uses very heavily despite knowing about it. When they first became space fairing they used steam power and in place of a power grid had a pressure grid to power things. Eventually they developed genetic engineering technology and focused almost all of their research funding to developing it, modern Kriptoid ships are cyborg bioships which have a nervous system in place of a main computer, the ability to slowly self-heal all biological components, and with saltwater filled habitats for the crew. Since the crew is suspended neutrally buoyant artificial gravity would be pointless and they can easily withstand very high acceleration which is usually necessary for their combat tactics. Sub-light travel is usually done with thermonuclear thrusters and FTL travel is done using the ancient Zaxoid wormhole gates, there are no FTL drives within the ships. Atmospheric flight is usually done with chemical rockets, and things like planetary invasions and ship infiltration are done with a combination of steam-powered mech suits and genetically enhanced reptilian beasts. The ships themselves have low level intelligence, although they follow orders without question and they can't do any strategic planning without the help of a captain.

Occasionally restored Zaxoid ships will be a part of Kriptoid fleets, crew members on those ships must learn a vocal variant of their language and wear special metal masks over the electroception organ in their snout to withstand the electronics on those ships. They contrast sharply with Kriptoid ships since the largest Kriptoid ships are 500 meters long and the smallest long range Zaxoid ships are 2 kilometers long. In battle Kriptoid ships often stay at a distance, using their long range weapons to damage the enemy ship while relying on their maneuverability and the long travel time of any projectiles to evade fire. Despite being bioships most military vessels have a metal outer hull mostly covering the biological parts. Even though their ships are not effected by EMPs, the crew is.

Zaxoid Technology:
The Zaxoids have many technologies mostly revolving around bending spacetime and manipulating electromagnetism. Zaxoid capital ships are equipped with warp drives although using wormholes is much faster if wormhole gates are in the right places. Back in their prime the Zaxoids had at least one wormhole gate in every star system in their space but now many of them are destroyed and the rest are barely operational. They have been taken over by the Kriptoids as their means of FTL travel.

Zaxoid shield systems work by trapping antimatter plasma in an electromagnetic field, when it's sufficiently hot they can block lasers as long as their wavelength isn't too short and when a projectile hits the violent interaction of matter and antimatter causes an explosion which deflects or destroys the projectile. Blocking lasers causes some of the antimatter to heat up enough to escape the containment field and projectiles hitting it annihilates some antimatter, so just about any kind of weapon hitting the shield will cause it to get weaker. Dedicated shielding ships project a directional shield between the allies and enemies so that allied ships could shoot missiles and homing projectiles that can go around the shield to hit their target. When shields are down one common weapon used on the broadsides of Zaxoid ships are large Gauss drivers with explosive warheads, and as a short range attack some Zaxoid ships are equipped with a plasma beam which shoots plasma at an enemy directed by electromagnetic fields.

Singularity explosives are a powerful Zaxoid weapon, although they are hard to come by now and new ones can't be created with current Kriptoid technology so they are only used in the most dire emergencies. They work by bending spacetime around them such that the warhead is compressed into a black hole, and then due to it's relatively small mass of a few tones Hawking radiation makes it decay almost instantly. Most of the energy is released as high energy gamma rays that passes right through most everything but due to the sheer amount of them it causes anything near it to heat up and melt, and although armor does help a bit it's effect is almost negligible on how many ultra high energy gamma rays get through. They must detonate close to the hull though for that effect, so if any shields are up it's damage will be dramatically decreased since it will be forced to detonate further away from the hull.

A similar technology to the singularity warheads known as the singularity reactor powers Zaxoid ships, exploiting the energy contained in matter by compressing it into a black hole which explodes transferring it's energy in the form of heat to the Neutronium reactor walls. Excess heat is sent to the engines where it is used to boost their efficiency and thrust, and it can directly power lasers too. As much of the heat as possible is converted into electricity.

Brief History:
A few hundred years before the space age the Kriptoids got into a series of wars, one faction among them wanted to take over the world and ended up succeeding after a lot of violence, but the people rebelled and the government was reformed into it's current state. This began a new era of advancement and peace, in which probes were sent all over their star system. After one probe discovered evidence of the Zaxoids on the moon of a gas giant space travel became much more of a priority, Kriptoids set foot on both moons of Kiram and soon after on the moons of that gas giant to study the ruins.

Within a century of putting the first Kriptoid in orbit of Kiram they had repaired an ancient Zaxoid wormhole gate which was towed into Kiram orbit.The first interstellar probes were sent through wormholes to new star systems in search of life, soon a habitable world was found nearby with more land and less water than Kiram which they named Naku. The first interstellar colony was set up there, and studying the local wildlife sparked interest in biology, so a lot of research was directed towards biology and genetics. This lead to the creation of the modern bioships, although the genetic modification of Kriptoids with the exception of curing genetic disorders in hatchlings has been banned.

Characters:
(They are all Kriptoids. I may add more later.)

Kana

Kana (age 43) is the current Guardian of Kiram. During her time as Guardian she has done anything in her power to advance science and prepare the Kriptoid Stellar Union to deal with any alien threats that they may encounter. She was elected because of a heroic act she did on Naku, single handedly fighting and killing a creature that was attacking a colony. She has been trained to use a sword and is highly skilled at both land and underwater combat. Like every Guardian of Kiram ever since the great rebellion she wears a purple robe and carries a sword both of which have been passed down from Guardian to Guardian for hundreds of years.

Amix

Amix (age 28) is a fleet admiral who has been trained as a part of Kana's xeno defense initiative. His only combat experience is against Kriptoid criminals but he feels confident that he is prepared to defend against anything aliens can throw at him. He has a special bond with his ship, he has been with the ship ever since it was an egg nearly a decade ago and they have developed a bond, much like the one between a pet and it's owner. His ship has the almost uncanny ability to tell how confident Amix is and Amix is always the first to know of the ship is in pain. He used to be a member of the Unity Council before becoming a fleet admiral.

Galactic Conquest

@DragonofTheWest Great, I'll work on detailing my race. Races technically, since I will be introducing a long dead precursor civilization that the Kriptoids reverse engineered their wormhole technology from.

Galactic Conquest

Do you guys have room for one more? This RP sounds interesting and I have a couple alien races I could be.