Sukui

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Equestrian Space
Identification steps has been completed. Also of note: target destination is 300 lightyears distance from this point. Diplomatic steps have been initiated. We will notify the Emperor and the Jarls of this, the Emperor will decide if you will undertake the Test. Technological detail from our point of view is also in the description in the notification to His Highness.

30 minutes later...

"Looks like the Equestrians are fitting."

The Emperor has decided that you will be fit for the Test. The following will be the base terms:

1. Once accepted, abandonment of the Test may be subject to consequences in the succeeding terms provided after the receptor's confirmation of the Test.
2. Acts of hostility during the Test are acts of war.
3. Refusal of the Test before confirmation will result in ignoration of the receptor by the Ktaroch Empire and no diplomatic and hostile relations, unless the receptor rethinks and wishes to go for the Test.

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Unknown Space
"....uhh, alright, got that translated.

Ktaroch Empire Expedition fleet, off to investigate identified ruin locations of ancient civilization Allied Interstellar Federation, apparently belonging to extinct species Homo Sapiens with the slang Human. Slowed down to investigate technological activity in this star system. Now if you excuse me, state your intentions for intervention.

...communication staff, please send with interpretation codes, thank you."

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Unknown Space (Random Equestrian Planet
"Why are we slowing down now?" asked a curious pilot as the Marros ship and the rest of the accompanying ships were suddenly ordered to turn off their FTL.

"We have stumbled upon foreign civilization grounds now. We haven't reached our actual destination yet, but this looks interesting. Continue traveling forward, we only want to take a short peek at this activity. Reactivate the interstellar drives if ordered.

For the others, toggle high-quality zoom cameras... well would you look at that! Some exotic form of psionic abilities on a wimpy-looking quadrupedal race. Amusing somewhat, but could also mean that their faces aren't what they actually are. Continue viewing, but do not intervene unless they do so, either hostile or friendly manner and with eye for an eye and gold for gold."

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Arkae
"No response. I guess they were prime victims of the space storms then." Stagor swiped his fingers from one point to another in the screen, with most worlds labeled "CONNECTION LOST." A little icon on the lower left caught his attention, shaped like the old, rune-like insignia of the Ceteral back in the day. History archives had thankfully helped the current Ceteral generation to remember what happened back in the past, but not before 53,000 years ago since little records and only a Milky Way starmap have been stored in the refugee computers of the ancestors that sought safety within the Temer. Upon the tapping of the symbol, a huge star map containing all the ancient Ceteral worlds were revealed, including those outside of the galaxy. Many were also labelled "CONNECTION LOST", with little way to find out if the planets and stations are still there or have been consumed by the space-time anomalies.

"Look at all that. The once-prominent glory of our ancestors, fallen into waste. Something can still be recovered in those locations, probably, but we have no way to travel at such a huge distance without running out of fuel." Voldran gazed at the purplish monitors presented in a fairly large display in front of them. "And probably, i feel some danger lurking there...

including here."

Clanking of steel echoed around the space station's hall right before Voldran's statement of "including". As soon as they heard the machinery suddenly go online, everyone in the room quickly fell back to the docking bay, but not before the agile spherical drones quickly caught up with the squad and started their attack. Some accompanying soldiers fought back, while the others made a run for it.

"Damn, they lasted this long!?"

"Keep moving back to the hatch! As soon as everyone gets inside, close the bay immediately!"

"Where did they all come from?"

"Move, move now!"

Soldiers kept fighting as the attacking drones continued their assault on the squad. One life was claimed in the process. As soon as everyone got inside, the door quickly closed, but a few hostile robots managed to get in. They were finally eliminated, with scraps littering around the passageway.

"God damn, we lost one..."

"Continue the expedition, go to the foreigner planets' locations. Send a report of loss to the military headquarters."

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Ceteral Ruins: Space Station Arkae
In the thousands of years that has passed, Arkae has barely maintained and powered itself. With scarcely any functioning electronics and thus very little light with the occasional flashes of sparks. Only the star it orbited lit up and powered Arkae, but only through a few windows. Oxygen however were still present thanks to the plant life installed inside that was originally for aesthetic function, but it looks like it won't hold out sooner as the airtight walls are severely worn down.

In Arkae resided some unintelligent animals and a small tribe of de-evolved Ceterals that have since then lost their sight, but thankfully with other senses becoming more acute. A heater that surprisingly still worked after millenia helped to warm and feed the micro-civilization that hopelessly tried to keep themselves alive, with no purpose other than to breed and wait for something to come along.

A strange bright blue light passed through the windows, catching the curiosity and attention of the denizens inside the derelict station. To their surprise, a mighty wind blew them off in the direction of Arkae's hangar bay, which then suddenly stopped again into the stillness it was. Light shone across the main sanctum of the station, luring the degenerates. Then, as if giants stepped into the city, the group fled back to their homes in shelter. Voices from the figures that walked in, both arthropod-like and humanoid, seemed like deafening screeches. The critters, having forgotten the Ceteral language, spoke in incomprehensible noises too low for a Temer to hear, but enough for a Ceteral. Mistaking the critters for a new species of insects, the Empire personnel quickly grabbed them for laboratory uses. Meanwhile, others were stationed at the ancient computers with engineers restoring and fixing the machinery.

Upon the activation of the restored relics and the ruins itself, the personnel found something quite surprising: the computer's default language being the Ceteral's, and a starmap of an unknown nation, labeled AIF. This seemed to be incomplete as well as outdated, but in an attempt to try out the relic's function, a little message was sent to all the locations included in the starmap, with translation matrix included as default in the program:
"test"

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Ytreath Orbital Shipyard
"You say i should command this ship. But i won't, and i won't!", protested the Temer while facing the honored Ytreath's Jarl Cyrrac of Ceteral.

"Look, why turn down a huge honor that is presented in marvelous display, right outside the window to your left? Five times we have tried to find a willing captain for this vessel, and five times it has been turned down. There's no indoctrination, and the once labyrinth-like rooms are corrected to the standard geometries. I don't understand." Cyrrac paused and made a grunting noise. "Strangely, many captains are wishing they have took the opportunity for this one. Is this some sort of reverse indoctrination?"

"Like i said, no means no! I don't want to be seen as an ancient enemy!" The reluctant Temer left the room.

"Next command graduate!"

A Ceteral, who looked more enthusiastic than the others previously in line, entered the room. Of course, just as his expressions were, so did his response to the offer, with the words of "Is it mine now?"

"Yes, if you could just accept this offer and not be like the others who just declined left for strange reasons... anyway it's probably because they expect great responsibility for commanding this Marros, but fortunately i remembered to remind you now: it's the same as heading a Corvette. Except, expect a general to be housed inside because this is a capital ship class. But then again, taking his orders from inside is the same as taking orders from outside. Don't be nervous, Stagor doesn't bite. Just be careful not to... utter things about his wife."

"So, now i accept. What now?"

"Good. Glad this is straightened out. Take the Oath, and you're ready to fly out. Of course, in the coming days you'll be assigned a mission to pick up General Stagor, so enjoy the time while it lasts. Now, back to the oath."

"I..."

"I..."

"State your name.."

"Voldran Eritius VII of Ceteral..."

"with unswerving loyalty to Emperor Synod Artel of Temer..."

"with unswerving loyalty to Emperor Synod Artel of Temer.."

"abides to the laws and principles of the Ktaroch Empire..."

"abides to the laws and principles of the Ktaroch Empire..."

"and hereby obeys the orders of the higher personnel for the greater good."

"and hereby obeys the orders of the higher personnel for the greater good."

"May the Ktaroch remain fruitful, prosperous in all of its days, and may it live long!"

"May the Ktaroch remain fruitful, prosperous in all of its days, and may it live long!"

"Congratulations, you are now the first captain of the Marros Class. Remember that yours is still experimental, so come back to me when you need your ship to be fitted in order to match with the later improvements. That'll be free, unlike further customizations. You may now take your leave and look around you very own vessel." The Jarl stood, and so did Voltran. The man left, while the Jarl waited in the room to expect a certain visitor.

"How fares the recruiting?", said the Temer Stagor as he walked in.

"A bit difficult, to say. But General, at least we've found someone who might be confident in his duty. But i've left out another important detail there..."

"What is it?"

"I didn't say he'll be going to be in an expedition mission after he picks you up soon. Do a favor for me and tell him this when Voltran pick you up, shall you?"

"For a Jarl to order around a General... but it's a favor, so i'll let this off."

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

IT'S HEER MEIN FREUND


Picture courtesy to AdamBurn
Name: Ktaroch Empire

Species: Three species compose the Ktaroch Empire, namely:

Ermikuur - The Ermikuur are laboratory-created sentient servant species. They have the form of bipedal dragons with functioning wings and a tough skin cover. Their intelligence goes at average, stand at 7 feet tall, and with extreme endurance that can enable them to work for days without fatigue, which makes them play the role of both brutes and laborers in the Empire. Low reproduction rates due to natural causes (weak egg shells due to the shift of minerals from the egg shells to the skin covers). Because of their status as creations of the Temer and the Ceteral, they deeply revere both, and is also ranked as the most inferior among the Empire.

Temer - One of the founders of the Empire. Second intelligent among the Ktaroch. Responsible for most of the Ktaroch's architectural styles and designs, along with contributing armor and shielding technology. Smart enough to be on the psionic level. Humanoid physiology with a resemblance of a mix of a Grey alien, Protoss, and a Turian. Average strength of slightly below that of an adolescent human.

Ceteral - Another of the founding fathers of the Empire. Perhaps a slightly-familiar race from ages past, the Ceteral has artificially stopped their physical de-evolution and turned it back towards the right direction, thus shifting them to tiny bug-octopus hybrid-like creatures in robotic shells to Ermikuur-sized Zerg-like arthropods. This has also consequenced in turning their reproduction method from "sexual budding" to parasitic methods, injecting young larvae that resembled their old form into most large mammals. Ethics render them to reproduce through non-sentients, with the exception of enemies. Their old species name have since been forgotten, with their long-lost nation's name being the placeholder for that. First in intelligence ranking and have contributed numerous weapons, both old and new, to the Empire. Also psionic, but has unlocked that capability only as recent as in the middle of the 50,000 year period.

Government
The Ktaroch is a true empire, which means that a single ruler is in authority of the nation rather than other "empires" that are actually governed by a council or a democracy. Two royal families from the species Ceteral and Temer select one heir from their own, and when an Emperor dies, these heirs play a strategic computer-simulated space battle that decides the winner, which will become the next Emperor after the coronation. He or she will then hold that place for until the end of their life, either natural causes or assassination, and absolutely cannot be impeached. Families are kept in watch by the Emperor, and in the absence of one, all the Jarls. This is in order to avoid feuds.

Jarls, which are chosen by the Emperor, govern each planet owned by the Ktaroch. They swear fealty to the supreme monarch, but are mostly independent except in military affairs. The Emperor can forcefully take away a Jarl's position if declared.

Military

To scale. Bottom panel is a magnified view of the three smaller ships in the upper panel.
While the Empire has hundreds of thousands of ships in hand, only about 530 (not including drones) are for military purposes. The rest are civilian private/public transports and civil protection. (While civil protection ships are armed, it is with conventional armament only and is as armored as a mere 2000's tank against the current ships of this time.) The low military ship count is mainly due to the focus on the civil sectors after the 50,000 year age of space storms and fabric tears, but also partly because of the devastation and the invaders themselves, and also of the careful designing and crafting of the ships that make them high-grade. Another note of interest is that the Ceteral has contributed graphene-layering plating and antiproton weapon technology developed from scratch without the knowledge of the AIF/LCF's possession of it.

Capital Ships
Fortress - Most durable among the two. Armed with a chain-reaction cannon (CRC) that devastates an entire fleet that are packed close together enough, and might also raze an entire planet's surface. Does not work with strong energy shields, and dangerous to its own fleet when fired up close as its chain reaction spreads to allies. Has also many turrets across its surface for general fighting and defending, and can withstand a fleet of hundred without the CRC. Also has a few concealable antiproton cannons among the turrets.

Hive - Drones are stored and manufactured within a Hive capital ship. During battle, as many as ten can be produced per turn. Drones are half the strength of a Corvette. Weaker in armor than the Fortress, but just as armed.

Dreadnought - Generally for taking down capital ships in groups, although vulnerable to pesky fighters and interceptors due to most of its weaponry being forward-fired. One antiproton cannon is concealed at its left side. Special: can shift energy shield to its front into a blade-like shape for close combat, but renders it extra vulnerable.

Destroyer - Used as orbital bombardment ships, destroyers are armed with two exposed and shielded antiproton cannons on its top and bottom. Also armed with five missile array turrets for quickly taking down small targets and weak points in enemy armor.

Corvette - Mostly for stealth purposes. Ultra-high energy lasers and invisibility devices are equipped on a corvette. Because of lasers being somewhat primitive, it is more employed in infiltration and assassination missions.

New Classes in Experimental Stage
Capital Ship: Marros

big img

Perhaps having a somewhat familiar design that implies that it's a reverse-engineering product, the Marros is a product of decades' worth of hard work and research. Resisting ,finding and removing the indoctrination field generators was one thing-- conducting research on the unknown materials within them is another. Nonetheless, the Marros was worth all the years past and could soon be ready for production. Armed with its main weapon, a magnetohydrodynamic cannon (fires molten material at a fraction of the speed of light), and high-yield rocket barrage cannons concealed in its underbelly in its original design.
Destroyer: Cerros

big img

Smaller and weaker version of the Marros, but more maneuverable. Only the magnetohydrodynamic cannon is equipped, and no further armaments are installed.

Note that the two classes' armors were not yet tested. However, their design and the engineer's difficulty in retrieving the plating data implies that their armor must've been strong enough to even destroy graphene-plated ships through direct physical contact by "clawing", without quick wear and tear.

History
From the beginning of their existence, the Temer were in seemingly perpetual conflict. The only times shots were not fired and metals silenced were when ceasefires were implemented in order to replenish exhausted resources, but battles by words still echoed between the nations that composed the entire race. Even when the age of interstellar travel descended upon the Temer, the sight of blue beams and bright flashes in the vacuum of cosmos were still common.

These apparently endless disorder, however, came to an end upon the arrival of the Ceterals. Trying to impress visitors, the Temer stopped their conflict for a "while", before knowing that the Ceteral were now seeking refuge after the sudden appearances of the extradimensional invaders, in the case that the defense fails to fend them off. The Temer entertained the guests, and eventually they were beginning to coexist. At some point, all the nations agreed for a unification treaty in cooperation with the Ceterals, and thus birthed the Ktaroch Empire. The most influential leader of the Temer and his family, and the Ceteral's highest officer's family became the two royal groups of the Empire.

The Empire kept its name for millenia, and in those periods where a few Temer worlds including the homeworld were lucky enough to not come across extradimensional fleets and eventually space storms, significant discoveries were made. An experiment on creating sentient races gave birth to the Ermikuur servants, and some wreck of the invaders were discovered stumbling around Temer space and eventually reverse-engineered. Only the worlds nearest to the home were able to be contacted distantly, but only tens of ships were able to travel between these worlds per year. As the storms dissipated, the Ktaroch Empire left the stage of safety isolation, and ventured out to the cosmos once again.

Other
With contact to the other civilizations of the Ceteral lost and perhaps them too, some relics may be found that the Ktaroch might be familiar with when a nation or the Empire itself sees it. Something worth retrieving might be even there, but woe to those that fiddle with "unknown" machines that might actually be active bombs and dangerous contraptions. Drone storage pods might even stay active and trigger the drones to attack any who comes to explore within. The Ceteral's evolutions have even rendered the drones unable to recognize their creators. Even then, one might find tribal settlements of little buglike critters that the Ceteral used to be. Some may have even remembered the past and still use some present-day technology! But one must be wary that not all are friendly. Some, because of further de-evolution, had become savages, killing and stealing unwary foreigners who stumble upon their territories.

While conducting diplomacy, the Ktaroch Empire might offer a little test that determines if the race is worthy for diplomacy and a significant "reward" that might be blueprints of Empire technology. Nations, thinking these tests are the usual battle ones, come to regret these later when the details have been explained.

Athalia Academy: Season Two - Finding Bael

Goddamn it Skyrim.

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Finally shut the Ceramus down to give way to my WIP empire.

Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

Isolation Project
The entire Ceramus will conduct an interplanetary-wide project in regards to further impending threats. During this, all Qouruxes will cease all space travel, disable all magic, refuse to use communication devices, and altogether shut down all links to known extraterrestrial parties. This will reverse the entire civilization back to the Stone Age-level of technology but with the Space-Age level of intelligence.

The Isolation will last indefinitely, and no further updates will occur.