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2230-2245
2230-2245


Veiled Nanites

Colonization of the Veil was proceeding nicely, with colonists, plants and animals adapting flawlessly to the planet who was made for life. Only its shrouded state prevented life from having taken root there extensively before – or so the imperial leadership thought.

There was something there. A fungus. Must have been robust to survive regular dimension-hopping, but that's not even all: one of the group who had found the mycellium was a veteran of the Survival War, and he swore by all the saints that he had seen the exact same fungus on Evari Prime. What might have been called a hallucination due to PTSD turned out to be not so far-fetched when it became apparent that the thing sent out some kind of signal into space.

It was a fungal spy. Its creators were likely the same who had attempted to terraform the Veil, a species that seemed to have observed the early Evarites as well. At least the fungus was unknown to be on Earth, but it was still distressing. Were these people still around, and if yes, what did they think of the failed invasion during the Survival War? The answer could let everyone breathe easily, for the creators were long gone, as nobody received the fungus' signals. The organism could probably be put to humanity's use now...





Just as another ancient construction. It seemed all the more likely that the nanite-builder species had been very active in this part of the galaxy, as the Ejok system held two ruins: an ancient medical complex responsible for the planet it was located on to turn into a gas giant and a clearly military structure of immense size. Larger than at least a dozen starbases, the construction was torn apart, but still was a testament to its builders' skill and technological advance.​

The medical facility was able to replicate matter (likely from the Shroud). The leading theory on the spatial structure was that it was a Strategic Coordination Centre – with what looked like a more advanced version of Kelant's instant communication tech, the data from the spy fungi, and much more available, the leader of the builders' forces could organize galactic campaigns with ease, assisted by a huge staff.

The medical facility was sadly far too deep in the gas giant to dream of accessing (in the near future, anyway) – but the Coordination Centre might be restored one day, and help to project humanity's power over the galaxy.

And with all that, the question marks surrounding the fate of the nanite-builders grew ever greater. How did they disappear with that kind of mastery over space?








Ceasefire's End – The Establishing War

The 4th December 2233, the Figyari Hegemony attacked the Evarites. Weakened by their defeat in the Survival War, if their first contact with the Figyari was as aggressive as with humanity, it had just been a matter of time anyway.​

It was the same day the new design for the hyperdrives was completed, theoretically enabling the construction of greater ships. Humanity's first destroyers, the Infernal, Phantom and Vivacious, were soon ready for combat.


With the ceasefire coming to an end, everything was set for the Empire to end their first galactic enemy. A fleet with more firepower. Troops specifically trained for ten years. To push things even more into the Humans' favour, the Figyari attack on the enemy's southern border ('south' serving as a term to denote the direction towards the galactic core, departing from Earth).​

With the end of the ceasefire, Audaric, still commanding from the Sword, moved against Evari and overcame the system's defences with ease the 18th October 2235. The Survival War had truly ended – now began what would later be known as the Establishing War. The name came from those few Evari refugees who escaped the Empire's clutches and spread their tales about Humans – how they had turned from easy prey to brutal conquerors. Survival and Establishing War together would mark the first impression of any alien realm, some of which the Empire wouldn't come into contact with until far later.

The Vailons and the Figyari were the only ones not to hear from the Empire before word had already spread. The Vailons were in many ways similar to the Human Empire – a high value of their military, a clear distrust towards the alien. Human hackers had not managed to crack the Vailons' code, and there were more than a few who would have loved to see how Chertans would have fared against their encryption. The hacking attempt could at least not sour relations much more than it already did. For not only did both galactic nations fear the alien, the Vailons were proudly republican – united in their differences, both could thus hardly be more filled with animosity towards each other.


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Not willing to repeat the mistakes from the Survival War, Audaric's fleet, now numbering five destroyers and twenty corvettes, bombarded Evari Prime for nearly two years before the logistical effort to move the greatest army Earth had ever seen could be finalized. Fifty million soldiers under the command of Kyriakos Ferac were to conquer a planet at least seven billion Evarites called home.​

They had learned, and had a few advantages on their side. The orbital superiority, enabling the invasion in the first place, was paired with air superiority – the lithoids had never developed air flight. Minimally deployed in the Survival War due to plenty of doubts about Evari Prime's atmosphere and the logistical effort, now the air force would play a key role. Together with adapted tactics and weaponry and a complete disregard for any possible collateral civilian damage, the fifty million soldiers were more than enough.


Within three months, all major centres of the Manufacturers on Evari Prime were under Imperial control, with Human losses lower than during the Survival War's invasion. Only precious few vessels managed to escape the planet's blockade, vessels that would spread humanity's reputation as a ruthless conqueror in the years to come.​


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With their homeworld lost, the writing was on the wall for the Evarite Manufacturers. The Imperial Fleet took over one system after the other. The Evarite fleet made their apparent last stand in the Nixahel system the 20th September 2242, retreating to their last colony of Zoicel.

It was a matter of time until the Evarite Manufacturers full capitulation would come. Something High Emperor Kyrillos X, the Decadent – later known as the Hungover –, would no longer witness, dying from the consequences of his long history of drug use the 6th October 2243 after 45 years of reign.


It would be Liuva III (*12th February, 2180) who would declare the end of the Establishing War with the annexation of the Evarite Manufacturers around one year later, the 27th October 2244.


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Discoveries of the Establishing War


With the Establishing War taking very little toll on the general populace, save for the military, life within the Empire went its usual way. Until the Evarite threat wasn't vanquished, the science ships kept their focus to 'the east' (that is, towards the thicker part of the galactic spiral arm, starting from Earth).​

The Philippos Makrelogos kept dominating the headlines. The 7th November 2235, the vessel left our dimension without engaging its hyperdrive. The only explanation that might attempt to make sense is that the ship was caught in a residual anomaly left by ancient spacefarers, one that could have persisted forever if the Makrelogos didn't, fully by coincidence, end up at that exact spot. It found itself briefly in a dimension that wasn't the Shroud either... perhaps some place inbetween.

Half the crew was missing when the ship resurfaced in our dimension. Only for a ghastly apparition to make itself known a month later, eerily resembling the Makrelogos – with half the crew on board! The dimensional anomaly somehow 'cloned' the ship – why it didn't also 'clone' the crew, but instead placed half the original one on that new vessel will likely remain a mystery.

Some suggested calling this new ship, after placing it into imperial service, by an anagram of the original one, such as Skramogoel, or a simple reversal (Sogolerkam), especially as options like these weren't too difficult on the tongue. In the end, the ship's abductee crew gave it its name – they described the space they found themselves in as beyond space-time, beyond even the hyperlanes – thus the new vessel was named the From Beyond, and placed under the command of Nonna Thorismindi, a scientist who had extensively studied the Veil and the planet's stabilization and whose dimensional knowledge was deemed useful in dealing with the extra-dimensional ship.


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Thorismondi's first discovery was that of an asteroid which may very well fit a thought experiment – the presence of electric charges within the asteroid suggested that it could be thinking. Her first instinct was to recall that one of the famous thought experiment's versions saw it as a very ephemeral phenomenon. Her first real thought was directed at the war effort against undoubtedly sentient rocks. So she didn't hesitate, and had the asteroid's core excavated, upon which the signals promptly ceased. Did she 'kill' the asteroid? Either way, the excavation proved to be very insightful.​

The From Beyond's crew was under close scrutiny by the media due to their origin, and Thorismondi became the quite popular face of the ship, fitting quite nicely into a few 'mad scientist' stereotypes. When faced with a steadily accelerating object without any kind of apparent propulsion method, others might have tried to study the thing, tried to make sense of it from a distance. She devised a mad plan to halt it instead, put it into action the 22nd January 2240 – and it even worked.

It was just some kind of box – though one with a hellishly complicated lock. No indication as to how it gained its immense speed. Perhaps this thing had somehow resonated with the extra-dimensional properties of the From Beyond, the ship's passage releasing it from whatever dimensional anomaly kept a hold of it. In any case, after extensive study, the lock could be picked, the outer layers of the box gave way to access its contents.

Gene-mods. Tailored to strengthen a certain aspect of one's DNA, though which one remained a mystery. Whoever made this box must have checked the whole mad scientist list for removing one of the three differently-coloured liquids would destroy the others. The whole project concerning the alien box was so insane that the science division issued clear guidelines whose sole aim was to prevent such a situation from arising.

In any case, in a sudden influx of patriotism, the team responsible for the box picked the liquid which resonated in the proud red of the imperial uniforms. After researching its effects – increasing a person's spatial awareness and acceptance of close quarters – it was mass-synthesized and distributed across the entire Empire. Future humans would need less space for themselves, more efficient in its use and be better at judging distances. A shame the other liquids were destroyed, for their benefits would surely have been worth all the hassle to access the box as well.



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Kyrillos X raised acceptance of the gene-mod by proudly boasting that now he could drink three more glasses of his favourite cocktail before he started picking the non-existent of the two things he wanted to do something with, be it taking a seat, another glass or talking to someone.

Thorismondi on the other hand refused vehemently to take the gene-mod. Sure, she had found it, but how could such a thing even exist? And be beneficial to humans? All that, studied from a cloned Shroud ship? She grew increasingly paranoid, something which would later on cause her to be put off-duty in science ships more than once.





Nanite's Gift


Shortly before the end of the Establishing War, the atomic clock's countdown reached its end. And a cloud of nanites descended upon Alpha Centauri Via, turning it into a lush world not that different from the Veil – with indigenous lifeforms included. Days ago, the moon was barren.​

Now it was full of life. Kyrillos X's last official act was to send off the first colony ship to Nanite's Gift... it truly showed how much more technological progress lay ahead. The nanite builders had created something which could both devour a planet and restore it, life included.

It is as they say: sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.



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And while the first humans set off to Nanite's Gift, a new hope for life, the end of the Establishing War left billions of Evarites as new subjects of Cherson's palace. A challenging situation.​


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a cloud of nanites descended upon Alpha Centauri Via, turning it into a lush world not that different from the Veil
The game is being quite generous to you.

I wonder how The Empire will treat its new Evarite subjects?
 
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I suppose now the Empire will have to confront the issue of how to treat its new non-human subjects.

Two Gaia worlds in less than half a century. The Empire is truly blessed.

Pretty bold to trust some mystery liquid devised by a mad scientist and using it to gene mod the entire population.
 
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The Evarites have payed for their arrogance and presumptuousness.
 
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The game is being quite generous to you.

I wonder how The Empire will treat its new Evarite subjects?
Nanite's Gift is fairly small, but still - true, it's quite generous.

Knowing Gothic history, I think you might be able to make a good guess.
I suppose now the Empire will have to confront the issue of how to treat its new non-human subjects.

Two Gaia worlds in less than half a century. The Empire is truly blessed.

Pretty bold to trust some mystery liquid devised by a mad scientist and using it to gene mod the entire population.
Another challenge of forging a star empire.

A tradeoff for having the Evarites as early neighbours. Well worth it in imperial opinion, I'd say.

Hey, they were fairly sure it would be beneficial!... and peer review should still work well enough. I'd guess that at least Yupanqui has a spotless reputation after stabilizing the Veil.
There are moments when I am waiting for "What can wrong"! Thank you for updating
Thorismondi certainly operates like that, it seems - and not as the only one. No risk, no reward!
The Evarites have payed for their arrogance and presumptuousness.
Have they already paid the full price?
 
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2245-2250
2245-2250


Evarite



Luckily for the Empire, the Manufacturers kept a tight leash on their weapon monopoly. Only their soldiers wielded one, and they had nearly all fallen in the second invasion, having no answer to the imperial strategy built around air superiority. The fall of Evari Prime had also caused a great refugee movement, as anyone capable of doing so – thus mostly those few who had weapons – attempted to flee the imperial wrath. The masses of unarmed rock dragons were no longer resisting, reinforcements from Earth having brought the army's strength to sixty million soldiers.


The refugees wouldn't exactly find a warm welcome in the neighbouring star realms, the slavering Figyari Hegemony and the just as xenophobe, yet nominally egalitarian Vailon Citizen Confederation. Many were those who thought that it would truly take an alien mind to find slavery preferable to whatever fate Liuva had in mind for them...


Only to find themselves tending towards agreeing later. Or – no, most humans would attempt to fight to the last instead of accepting this fate. Liuva and the military high command spent a few months debating the Evarite problem, before the High Emperor issued his legendary speech on the compatibility of man and rock.


The gist of it is that organic and lithoid couldn't share a society. The individual was the sole similarity. Not one need of the lithoid was like a human's. Starting with the environment – Evari Prime is in many ways a “freezing hellscape, making Greenland seem like a tropical paradise”, in the words of general Ferac. The planet's air doesn't support most terrestrial life. Then the Evarite itself – what does it need, in what quantities? Sleep, food – how does it reproduce? Wouldn't an Evarite on Earth just disrupt everything? Liuva's plastic example was a jeweller – beautiful decoration for a Human, just an upper-class restaurant for an Evarite. They could probably just munch on buildings all day.


Their governmental experience was drastically different as well. Would they follow orders of important corporations like the Fugrasus Bank, the electronics giant Astra or the SMG, the spatial mining guild, instead of the Empire? If the corporations could find a common ground, then they could easily undermine imperial authority with such numerical backing.


Either the Empire would have to clearly separate human and Evarite government or take a drastic step. The latter was chosen.





What kind of drastic step? The guillotine. The properties of the Liuvigoto the Noble's model were by now well-researched, and the Evarite mineral was deemed highly useful for a multitude of applications. The mineral was also present in Evari Prime's crust, but the... moving ones were both more accessible and provided a solution to the problem caused by the conquest.​




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Protests on Earth were not too vehement, though persistent – the silent, but clear majority supported the High Emperor's decision. Had the Survival War been lost, they would either be slaves to their rock masters or face a similar fate.


The army on Evari Prime set up planetside habitats for a permanent human presence, as well as prepared for an extensive robot workforce to deal with the hostile conditions, and started setting up guillotines in those of the Manufacturers' factories that hadn't be reduced to rubble in order to ease the logistics of processing. The greatest problem would be herding the population into the processing factories – armed or not, sheer force of numbers could probably overwhelm the army if they made a concentrated effort, and Evarite population within imperial territory (around 10 billion on Evari Prime, 1 more on the colonies) was still greater than the human one (of nearly 10 billion).


Fears that were ultimately unfounded. Who knows how long the Manufacturers had ruled, but they had made their people compliant sheep, ever ready to buy the next product – or, in this case, becoming the next product. Most of those who had more free thought were those who had gotten hold of an illegal weapon, and had already attempted to escape (more often than not with no success).


The biggest obstacle to efficient processing thus came from Earth of all places. Pro-lithoid-life terrorists attempted to disrupt the genocide, attacking factories, forming resistance groups. “A drop of water freezing before it hits Evari Prime's ground”, Ferac called the terrorists, before adding that “processing continues like planned”.


Goods made out of evarite – soon, the aliens' name would only live on (in the Empire, at least) in the mineral's name – became the latest craze in the Empire, and everything that could make use of it (and many things that couldn't rightfully gain anything out of it) soon advertised themselves as containing evarite, from massive furniture to toothpaste.


Of the planets colonized by the Evarites, the scorching deserts of Apitea and the freezing peaks of Zoicel were vacated as soon as processing was completed, the 26th April 2246. Ermian on the other hand consisted mostly of lush jungles like those one may find in Brazil or the just recently reclaimed former nuclear wastelands of central Africa and the Caribbean. Renamed New Amazonia, settlers mostly from tropical regions sought a new home there.




The Senate


A single Figyari ship sought out the edges of the Patraggor system, the new border between the Empire and the Hegemony, the 21st January 2246, repeatedly issuing the message that they weren't armed and came in peace. Instead of opening fire, the border guards of the starbase thus contacted the High Emperor and allowed the Figyari to speak.

They declared that they represented the Galactic Community. Formed on the incentive of the United Endurga Union (if they pointed out their unity that much, they surely weren't), leaders of said union, the Vailon Citizen Confederation, the United Figyar Hegemony and the Gorf Hierarchy had agreed to create a supranational organization to overview the matters of the galaxy. The Senate formed in that organization would reside in the neutral system of Chor's Compass, home of the Caravaneers, a guild of galactic traders reaching back millenia (again, the question who bought their goods between the fall of the last galactic realms and the rise of the five known ones, who all had at most a century of difference between reaching space, was soon abandoned).




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those guys live on the other side of the galaxy


Agreeing that every known spacefaring realm should be represented if the Community's purpose was to be fulfilled, the Empire was invited to join. The Figyari also made themselves perfectly clear that they didn't care at all about the fate of the Evarites – they were grateful for the free slaves instead.


The Imperial Palace's reaction was lukewarm at best. A similar organization on Earth in its base idea, the United Nations, had failed spectacularly. The Galactic Community wouldn't have more powers than this failed experiment either. Still, it was at least a place to exchange information, a forum of knowledge, a window into foreign realms if nothing else.


Liuva III thus agreed to join this Galactic Community, and his sister Cixila was named humanity's representative to the Senate. It would be a long trip to basically the other end of the galaxy, and Cixila's task was clear – keep the Empire informed. The Senate could decide whatever they wanted; Liuva only made an Audaric in direct imperial matters.



Departing on a luxurious vessel built solely for this purpose, with a multitude of elements made out of evarite, Princess Cixila would show the aliens imperial wealth and power at the same time. Let them be jealous of the imperial envoy while having the fate of those who oppose the Empire plainly in front of their eyes, or whatever other optic (or sonar?) organ they had.

The contrast was great in the offices of the galactic senators. The Figyari, Gorf and Vailon envoys preferred martial discipline, with what sparse decoration present representing the military honours of the senators, who behaved accordingly. The Endurga senator was all set for multicultural exchange, trying to incorporate alien designs in his office, giving himself worldly and trying his best to, well, be a diplomat.

Princess Cixila's office was lavishly decorated, gold ever-present. The finest delicacies were going in and out of her quarters, most of them from Earth despite the long travel. The rigid senators were happily mocked, as there never was a dull moment amongst the human representatives. One was hard-pressed not to find Cixila – very much following her father's example – indulging in another luxury. But when dealing with aliens was inevitable, she made a point of doing so across her office's table. Showing that the Empire wasn't just wealthy, but a powerful military force. How? Her table represented a nation's fall. It was made out of evarite, and not just any rock dragon ended up in there, but some of the last executives of the Manufacturers.





The Master of the Void


The High Emperor's stance towards the Galactic Senate illustrated his general policy perfectly. “Let the aliens bicker about whatever they want, humanity will carve its own path through the galaxy. Space is vast – plenty of room to make ours instead of fighting for the already taken.”

Liuva III in some way followed the same policy as his ancestors, the one that made Gothia Earth's dominant power in the age of exploration. Back then, Gothia turned away from Europe to seize land either unclaimed by strong governments, already crumbling (China) or technologically inferior – Japan being an exception which led to the preservation of its culture. Now, Liuva ignored the species of the Galactic Community in order to expand Gothia's borders into the unknown at an ever-increasing speed.

While he had no doubt that the Empire could crush its Figyari neighbours if it so decided, first the Evarites' processing would need to be completed. And while the vastness of space left an easy way to expand, why choose the difficult, costly one? With advances in thruster technology giving human ships a clear edge in speed and human scientists rapidly followed by outpost constructors, Liuva III was soon called the Master of the Void.


A Master who would soon meet a greater master. In the direction of what could have become a second border with the Figyari, the Rax'Thalak Ancients dwelled – on highly, very highly developed planets with incredible ships. One of these alone would probably be enough to carve through the Empire's proud fleet. Luckily, these frog-like aliens were... friendly, for the lack of a better word, and happy enough to just stay in their corner of the galaxy.​



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The one amongst them who made contact had a perfect translator within moments of meeting the Americ II (surely they had made previous observations), and behaved like an excitable child wanting to make new friends. As they seemed to be willing to ignore the greater galaxy, Liuva was just as willing to ignore them – for now, at least.





A Friend in Space

Exploration and expansion advanced smoothly. Contact was made with some sort of spatial artist commune as well as the Riggan Commerce Exchange and the XuraCorp, strange space stations with some kind of replicator for rare goods on the lookout for customers. Slowly starting not to question these discoveries any more (there was no way anyone other than an imperial ship made contact for at least a few thousand years), limited trade with these obviously harmless exclaves began.

Thorismondi's expedition in the From Beyond gave Yupanqui's expedition in the Makrelogos a real challenge insofar as the generation of headlines and benefits for the Empire was in question. She found a young space amoeba on Balawar IX the 4th February 2248... and true to her by now famed eccentricity, she managed to tame the space beast. “Wraith” happily followed the From Beyond around.


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The Makrelogos crew made more... scientific?... finds. Like a Figyari supply ship around the asteroid of LK12-83 the 5th May 2250, disabled by a heavy astral storm. Which frankly caused more questions than answers. What did a freighter like that do at least a dozen hyperlanes away from Figyari space – and that is either if you pass through Rax'Thalak or Imperial territory? What kind of by all means ordinary minerals would justify such a distant route? How did the Hegemony learn of the ship being boarded by Yupanqui's crew, demanding the cargo's return the 5th November? They were at a loss, but conducted a clean sweep of all those aware of the information just in case a spy was present. The Hegemony's demands to return the minerals fell on deaf ears.









The Galactic Community, meanwhile, passed its first resolution, “the Readied Shield”, noticeable by full support of the Senate's species – with exception of the Empire, Princess Cixila following her brother's orders and not caring about the process at all. The small Imperial delegation merely indulged in luxury and must have made quite a decadent sight, if not for the fact that they were dangerously aware of their surroundings, with likely more than one spy in the making.​

And under the ground of Nanite's Gift, something stirred. Some kind of creature – no, many of them – seemed to dig their way to the surface...

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What kind of drastic step? The guillotine. The properties of the Liuvigoto the Noble's model were by now well-researched, and the Evarite mineral was deemed highly useful for a multitude of applications. The mineral was also present in Evari Prime's crust, but the... moving ones were both more accessible and provided a solution to the problem caused by the conquest
Dang...this was dark. The Empire can be cold and calculating when it wants to be one moment, while living in decadent luxury in the next.

They have contempt for other aliens and a lust for power. A dangerous combination as far as the other empires are concerned.
 
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Welp, should have expected purging to follow. At least humanity is getting some high-quality office furniture out of it. :p

Usually I would say that you're fortunate that you encountered a xenophile fallen empire, but I imagine they may eventually have something to say about the purging of the Evarites.

Clearly this galactic senate will achieve nothing of significance. You just need some genius hacker to take over every civilizations' weapons systems and hold the galaxy hostage to force them to reorganize into the first galactic empire under Gothia rule. ;)
 
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Dang...this was dark. The Empire can be cold and calculating when it wants to be one moment, while living in decadent luxury in the next.

They have contempt for other aliens and a lust for power. A dangerous combination as far as the other empires are concerned.
The Empire has never been all fun and games. They are often quite villainous. And knowing how they've treated their fellow man in the age of exploration, an alien, moreso someone as alien as the Evarites, couldn't expect a nice fate.

Add strong military tradition to the mix, and you definitely have a danger for galactic peace.
Welp, should have expected purging to follow. At least humanity is getting some high-quality office furniture out of it. :p

Usually I would say that you're fortunate that you encountered a xenophile fallen empire, but I imagine they may eventually have something to say about the purging of the Evarites.

Clearly this galactic senate will achieve nothing of significance. You just need some genius hacker to take over every civilizations' weapons systems and hold the galaxy hostage to force them to reorganize into the first galactic empire under Gothia rule. ;)
In a cruel twist of irony, the Evarite shareholders themselves would likely applaud their new use as a good use of resources too :eek:.

The luck doesn't end there - the encounter took place when most Evarites were already purged. Sadly (for drama, not humanity) there won't be a Rax'Thalak fleet orbiting Earth due to the Evarite purges. If they will take offense, they'll have to do it later.

Hm. Not sure that would even work, even with colossi around. Nukes on Earth worked because there were enough to destroy the planet many times over within a short amount of time that doesn't allow for a reaction. On the galactic stage, the attacker would have to control all the fleets simultaneously.
Or take over a synth fleet and launch a conventional war.
The Empire is not as all-powerful as it believes. Some seemingly-innocent appearing organisms may pack a powerful punch. Thank you for the update.
With the Rax'Thalak Ancients nearby, there's no reason to believe themselves all-powerful, but you're right - the Empire needs to take care not to fall prey to hubris.
 
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2250-2260
2250-2260



Imperial Reforms



With the Empire spreading to more and more systems at an increasing rate, and with multiple extra-terrestrial colonies being set up, Liuva III faced the question as to how this growing empire should be administered. Colonies were mostly left to their own devices for now, and Evari Prime was under strict martial law – while the latter was a necessity, the former was a thorn in the High Emperor's side.


Imperial administration was built on the Gothic empire's since Leon the Absolute. The old exarchs had been fully integrated into the hierarchy of the imperial bureaucracy, the nobility and clergy were relegated to honorary titles. The exarchs then all answered solely to the emperor and his ministers. The colonies of the Veil, New Amazonia and Nanite's Gift lacked the structures to enforce the imperial will. The great promise of the colonies – wide, unsettled land – made it difficult to organize them, leading mostly to the forming cities administering themselves with a mayor and council, places with a military presence instead being led by the base's commander.


Liuva replaced this lax system born out of novelty with a rigorous enforcement of imperial law. Before any settlement was established, the colonization prospect would be divided into administrative districts, headed by a colonial governor appointed directly by the High Emperor. The imperial bureaucracy was to be the limit for settlement – willing colonists still had a wide, untouched land to their disposal, but only in the numbers allocated to a certain district, depending on the local administration's manpower.


The new colony in the Uflao system – Broadleaf, a mostly tropical world –, not further from Earth than the Veil, would be the first to be subject to these new measures as they were enforced on the three other colonies. Liuva promised himself greater efficiency and control from that measure, while there was a nice side effect insofar as a terrorist hideout would be easier to find as an unregistered landing/settlement.


The Empire was not to become a loose amalgam of planets, but remain true to the ideals of Gothic history, from the medieval monarchs with their powerful demesne to the ironfist colonizers, from the killers of the revolution to Miracle's profiteers.



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Nanite's Surprise


The lack of clear structures was making life on Nanite's Gift more difficult, due to the troubling lifeform that had awoken in the planet – perhaps one already there before the nanites' terraforming – masses of snake-like beings swarming the houses of settlers.

People who had thought they had reached the place of their dreams on that wonderful, empty gaia planet were overwhelmed, their small farms drowned in snakes, and they were forced to flock to the nascent cities, places where military presence enabled the colonists to fight back against the vermin.



Initial investigation revealed that they were attracted by electricity. The Empire observed for a year as the ophidians proved to be quite useful in getting the population to integrate the reformed administration. Stubborn holdouts persisted, but at some point the snakes began to learn how to operate their machinery as well, and angry pioneers couldn't deal with their numbers with their fury alone, increasingly in danger if attacked by heavy machines and unable to set aside their weapons for even a moment.​

The holdouts' equipment was taken over by the vermin and they used it to increase the passages between their underground and the surface. Now becoming a real threat to Nanite's Gift, and with the reform enforced, Liuva sent troops.

The launch of Operation Phoenix was the 26th November 2253. Imperial purifiers were to scour the land, incinerating any ophidian in their path. Nanite's Gift would certainly recover, but for now it was placed under martial law until the blazing purge was completed. With the army setting out from the few civilization centres, it would take a while to cover the planet.

The 25th July 2254, the operation's scope was expanded to the underground, as it became clear that cleansing the surface was not enough to dissuade the snakes from returning. Their numbers were still massively overwhelming though, and with the Empire not sending greater numbers to deal with a simple snake plague, the purifiers' flames would continue for the foreseeable future.

The ophidians attempted to placate the settlers, using the pilfered equipment to provide the settlers with minerals, but after having invested so much into the eradication of the thieving vermin, negotiations were off the table for the monarch. Hijacking a cargo freighter with a looted comm system, they made a last desperate attempt to flee into space as the purifiers reached the last nest – with a predictable result.




The snake plague on Nanite's Gift was over the 3rd July 2256. The lush nature left by the nanites was resistant and would recover, and the hardy settlers able to forge a true home on the ashes of the past. Probably.



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Irass


For quite some time, the Empire's science fleet had not been able to locate any more Irassian artefacts, and it seemed as if this precursor star realm would not be found, like the nanite builders whose origins were still a mystery.


That was until Markos Fugrasus, the head of the legendarily rich Fugrasus Bank, boasted that he owned the command centre of a genuine Irassian starship. Excavated on the Veil at some point, it was the jewel of the alien collection the banker had put together in his newest villa. Placing the centre at the disposal of imperial scientists with the sole condition that it would be returned to him afterwards, Fugrasus didn't sully his relations with the imperial family.


Irass was finally found with the data extracted – and just a previously unknown hyperlane away from imperial space. The newest science ship of the fleet, the Leif Eriksson, reached Irassia, the homeworld of the species, in September 2254. It was a ruin, bombed to oblivion relatively recently – whoever did this was here just a few thousand years ago, likely yet to make contact with humanity but strong.


The 28th, leading science officer Petros Limine found a sample of the Javorian Pox, the disease that wiped out the species. It was actually harmless to humans – on the contrary, parts of the pox's genetic material were solutions to problems long looked for. People might very well live twenty years longer with a little practical application. Then again, while the current strain was harmless, a little modification is all that is needed for its more destructive potential to develop...


Liuva agreed to establish Project Pestilence, a group which would be able to adapt the Javorian Pox to whatever alien species would want to test humanity's wrath – a humanity which would itself be immune to the virus thanks to the genetic solutions it brought. The Pox was a calamity for the Irassians, but a great boon for humanity.


Limine and his crew were not yet immunized when they boarded a derelict ship in the orbit of Irass IX... and likely encountered one such weaponized strain of the pox, or some other virus. Turning on each other, contact with the Leif Eriksson was lost swiftly, their names yet more on the ever-growing list of lost space pioneers.




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New Old Enemies


After the Readied Shield, the Galactic Senate tackled its next project – establishing a central galactic market. Once again, the Empire's senator was ignoring the issue at hand, something which infuriated the Figyari emperor to no end.

The Hegemony had accumulated many reasons to hate humanity. They were their “northern” neighbours, having destroyed the easy mark – and thus source of slaves – the Evarite Manufacturers had presented. With the Rax'Thalak to the “east”, the Hegemony could not expand in that direction without a war. The matter of the lost supply ship was still souring relations, and things didn't improve when Human explorers got their hands on the lost manuscript of a legendary Figyari political text (somewhere it really shouldn't be), only to decry it as “useless drivel”. Making matters worse, the Figyari senator was often spotted making his way to Princess Cixila's parties, and rumours had it that he didn't just do it out of political obligation but rather to leak some sensible information...​

The emperor of the Hegemony proclaimed the Empire as rivals to be overcome at any cost. Liuva's response was to send Cixila footage of the fleet effortlessly destroying a squad of ancient mining drones to show to the emperor that the Hegemony would certainly find no slaves in the Empire.




While relations soured with the avian neighbour, the Makrelogos barely managed to escape the Yirellon system the 4th October 2256, where multiple fleets were patrolling around some massive artificial stations which must have housed at least hundreds of millions of people.

Communications were established the 11th September 2257. Perhaps the recent bombers of Irassia had been found... in any case, Liuva would have said that he felt his blood react strongly to these plantoid aliens. Why? They were in many ways similar to the steppe peoples of old.​

Was it the Javorian Pox which had forced them into their massive artificial habitats instead of planetary life? One might never know, as they didn't speak with aliens. The spokesman of these space nomads interrupted his shrieking only to make death threats – or demand tribute, something which was swiftly rejected, despite their apparent power.

The clans must have been locked in internal warfare, or the “Finu Void Riders” would occupy far more than just three systems. The imperial fleet would meet whatever kind of raiding fleet they felt comfortable with sending without compromising their defences in battle.



With the processing of the last Evarite on the planet complete, Evari Prime had been renamed in honour of the leader of Earth's defence against the alien attack – Audaricia. The Marshal would lead humanity's fleet against the raiders, departing from Evari's orbit the 5th January 2258, the day the Finu made their demand for tribute.​

The Finu raid made painfully obvious that the Empire was beginning to suffer from its own size. For two years, the raiders advanced into imperial space, despite Audaric moving to counter immediately. In the Dulshi system, the 1st June 2260, the raid was finally stopped in a great victory, but only after multiple mining and research stations had been destroyed.




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the Empire as the Finu launched their raid, 2258
encircled – the Dulshi system


Gothia's old enemies' spirit lived on in space. Proving the point of many in high command, the raid made it clear that at least a second fleet had to be built – for this was certainly not the last fight with the Finu.




Apples of Youth


The 30th August 2254, Thorismondi and the From Beyond crew thoroughly checked the ship for any kind of drug introduced into the air system, something which had in all honesty happened before. Thorismondi's report of a giant pink dragon able to swallow her ship whole had been rightfully ignored, but this time the ship's captain was looking as well.


The checks were negative, so it must have been either a collective hallucination – or real. There was a tree in space. A tree! With fruit! And friends!... No, not a squirrel. Not a bird either. Big, angry space amoebas.


The From Beyond retreated. And instead of looking for military support in order to investigate the tree, Thorismondi researched her pet amoeba in order to pacify the tree's guardians, unable to bear the thought of destroying them. Having managed to camouflage the ships as something else than amoeba food, Thorismondi then researched the space tree.​

The old myths concerning apples... they were, in some way, true. The tree's fruits were very much like apples, and had uncanny regenerative powers. They could be applied to increase one's lifespan. As one should grow accustomed to whenever Thorismondi was involved, there was a choice to be made.

The fruits could be, well, eaten. The tree, after being safely brought into orbit of Earth, could feed a few elites, basically turning Thorismondi into Iðunn and said imperial elites into Norse gods, kept youthful by her apples – if only for around 15 years longer.

Or the fruits could be highly distilled and turned into some sort of elixir of life. It would be less potent than the fruit itself, but could be offered to most of the population. Still for a potent effect – old age would only begin to show itself after one passes around a centenary. One might just gain a few months of lifetime at most.

Liuva had faith in the Empire's genetic researchers. Anyone who could mass-produce an obscure gene-mod, who could harness the devastating powers of the Javorian Pox both for life and death – anyone like that could also achieve the same results as the life apples one day. He was confident that he would see that day come.

The elixir of life was distributed freely among the people by imperial decree, with Thorismondi's results being made widely available as well. Faced with the knowledge that the High Emperor could have just claimed the fruit for himself and his advisors, but decided to make it widely available, Liuva's popularity reached new heights – even if one understood the political calculations behind making this move.


With Yupanqui managing to terraform a barren planet into an arid one with merely a little energy, humanity's path to truly filling out Liuva's title felt well on its way.




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I see that the Empire may soon follow up genocide with some biological warfare. I suppose all methods must be considered when dealing with such dangerous unknown threats out in the void.

Gaia planets, fruit-bearing trees that grant longevity, alien snakes; humanity is living in the galactic Garden of Eden. :p
 
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Was it the Javorian Pox which had forced them into their massive artificial habitats instead of planetary life? One might never know, as they didn't speak with aliens. The spokesman of these space nomads interrupted his shrieking only to make death threats – or demand tribute, something which was swiftly rejected, despite their apparent power.
The old myths concerning apples... they were, in some way, true.
Everything old is new again it seems.
 
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Very noble to increase everyone's life. The Empire is not above species extinction when the species appears to stand in the way of the Empire's best interest. Thank you for updating.
You should be careful when saying that a Gothic emperor's actions are noble, with only few exceptions...

Predominant is the ideal that the interests of others are of no interest to the Empire, so why should they care?
I see that the Empire may soon follow up genocide with some biological warfare. I suppose all methods must be considered when dealing with such dangerous unknown threats out in the void.

Gaia planets, fruit-bearing trees that grant longevity, alien snakes; humanity is living in the galactic Garden of Eden. :p
I wouldn't want to fight them, that's for sure.

Stellaris has been excessively kind, considering that humanity could also have started boxed in between marauders, fallen empires (why not xenophobe) and advanced fanatic purifiers...
Which is nice for a relaxed game, but it does make telling an interesting story more difficult. Having a High Emperor who has traits pushing for expansive starbase construction, too.

... RNGesus means well this time.
Everything old is new again it seems.
Right. More than you think, even ;).
 
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2260-2280
2260-2280


Allies of Time


The 60s of the 23rd century began not only with the battle of Dulshi, but also with what can only be described as temporal anomalies. The Makrelogos discovered an obviously man-made shelter on Nigiro VI, far, far away from Earth, even from the newest colony on Acrisia. Staffed by a strange, but highly capable scientist who only referred to herself as the Exile.​

While the Exile was brought back to Earth to determine her fate, Thorismondi – who else – stumbled upon a half-buried box while studying an asteroid. A box which... was basically exactly like the one she kept in her quarters. Not just basically, actually – it was fully identical. It even contained writing that appeared like it was written by her own hand! With great insights for governmental research, lasting ten years at least. A message from future Thorismondi, no doubt about it.



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While the eccentric researcher's information was put into practice, the Exile was given command of the newest Imperial science ship, the Takumi Fujita – not speaking of her past suddenly had a very good explanation. If one could even think of a temporal paradox as a valid explanation! Time travel to the past was apparently more than just a wild dream!


Thus finding a copy of the exploration age's famed playwright Guillaume Seclance's work in the Ulkad system might also have been left by a time traveller instead of aliens. Though one has to wonder if that's truly a more comforting idea or if future humans were tearing apart the space-time-continuum at their leisure. Perhaps the singularity would be achieved by humanity?


The writings of a so-called “Telisa the Teller of Tales” might also be human in origin then. Anything that would be discovered in the future now was faced with the question if it was really old... or not even created yet. Anything could be human in origin now.



The concept of time was broken apart far more than with the theory of relativity.







The Bloody Beak War


Humanity's constant exploration and expansion to the east, not to mention the additional grievances not only since the foundation of the Galactic Senate, brought tensions to a breaking point with the Figyari.​

Emperor Bhunakh I rallied the Hegemony after the war against the Vailons to face another enemy – the Humans. Spies – or, more likely, terrorists – must have managed to report the battle of Dulshi to the aliens, and Bhunakh sensed an opportunity. The 5th June 2261, he declared war.



Without the Figyari navy actually being ready for the conflict. When Audaric's fleet disrupted the excavation of Orvall III the 6th March 2263, there was no enemy fleet in sight. The first real enemy contact was the 11th November, and the Buteqos Stellar Rectrix lost most of its ships for the loss of merely two human corvettes.​

A similar result was achieved the 12th March 2265 against the Tordalit Stellar Rectrix. Project Pestilence was getting ready to adapt the Javorian Pox to Figyari physiology... but Liuva III had other plans. He wasn't interested in a costly invasion, nor in crippling the enemy with the terrifying biological weapon.



Things couldn't have gone better for the Empire. The Hegemony's might had suffered great losses while barely scratching the Imperial fleet. What better deterrent would there be than to just end it there, with an attitude of “not even worth our time”, while also humiliating the Figyari? The war thus ended after merely two battles, with just a few Figyari stations occupied, and only the Orvall system with its important fungal research station changed hands.


Why was a fast peace signed, despite both realms' track record of being more than willing to pay the price for victory? The Figyari took what was offered to them before worse came to pass. On Imperial side, Liuva and Audaric weren't blind – either rivalry or poor coordination had led to Buteqos and Tordalit not acting together, which was a great factor in the Imperial victories. To quote Audaric's report to the High Emperor: “Carefully selected inbreeding over centuries assured that only the greatest imbecile was placed in charge – from the emperor declaring war with no apparent preparation to the commanders striving to earn swift personal glory with no regard for the enemy's strength, abandoning their numerical advantage like an utter fool. Which is why I am all the more glad that the Empire doesn't follow that path.”​

Erecting a nimbus of invincibility over the remains of the Figyari ships – for the greater circumstances of the victories weren't made public by neither Figyari, protecting their martial competence, nor Humans, for obvious reasons – could only be a boon.

Adapting a human idiom, all the avian Figyari got from the conflict was a bloody beak, giving the conflict its name.



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Gothic Flashbacks


But that wasn't the last consequence of the Figyari attack. The Finu somehow managed to find the right window of opportunity to strike (information leaking to the barbarians was not likely), and raided Acrisia while Audaric's fleet was on the other side of the Empire.​



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The lost colonists would be avenged one day. Liuva immediately proclaimed the foundation of the second imperial fleet, Strike Force Wyvern, to complement Audaric's Griffin, to be led by the Marshal's apprentice, Melanie Leroy. Improvements in hyperdrive technology also allowed for the fleets to welcome Humanity's first cruisers. The Serpess starbase was also fortified in expectation of Finu raiders. They would hardly find an easy prey ever again.


Also, after two years of preparation, the Vailons struck against the Figyari again.


The Finu launched another raid in 2270. With the Serpess fortress not yet ready, the Finu raiders advanced all the way to Acrisia again – only to be welcomed by Leroy's wyverns, with Audaric's griffins lying in wait. The 10th October 2273, the raiders were annihilated in the Dristmak system. On Acrisia, people looked at the sky to see explosions. Imperial revenge, live for those who had been affected the most.



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Leroy is just that good, managing to chase off at least 63 raiding ships with merely four of her own.


But it was only a small fraction of their forces, so the Master of the Void didn't order an attack on their home systems. With Serpess and Wyvern ready, the Empire wouldn't fear the next attack.





Galactic Politics

While imperial scientists continued to write their legends and advance imperial knowledge, the Galactic Senate took their next steps. The wars in the galaxy's west were a thorn in the Endurga's side, and the newly-contacted Dabbax Trade Union, ruthless capitalistic arthropods likely not too different from the Evarites, pushed into the Senate.


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The idea of a Galactic Council bloomed to supervise galactic matters. The 2nd July 2276, it was founded.​

The Endurga claimed the main seat on the council, as mediators and founders, but also as those closest to the Senate's seat and by virtue of their economical power. The Vailons, despite their offensive war against the Figyari, claimed the second seat, for their strength and successful political manoeuvring trained for a long time.

The council needed a third seat so that decisions could be made by majority. The Dabbax Trade Union clamoured the loudest for that seat, while the Figyari Hegemony was out of consideration.




Princess Cixila then made herself heard. Despite having been known lately just for using some of Atlantis' so-called “dancing gas” to liven up her parties, causing a few deaths of diplomatic attachés by excessive dancing, she was still a scion of Gothia's imperial line.​

When the formation of the galactic council was to be announced, Cixila seemed as aloof as ever in the Senate's session. Only to take the floor before the basically already determined vote would be held.

She spoke about the worth of the Galactic Senate in the Empire's eyes – very little. Then about the worth of the council – not much more, but still more. What, or rather who, the council should represent – power, mostly. Then how the Empire didn't suffer fools. Anyone claiming to be greater than them was a fool, and a fool's fate could be seen quite clearly in her very own office. The council claimed to be greater than other realms. So the Empire had to sit on that council. No matter if they actually did much, it simply had to be.

Who else could claim to have destroyed one fellow starfaring nation? Who else had put down a Figyari attack without breaking a sweat? Who else held a weapon so terrible it destroyed an ancient realm? She raised a sort of canister, and asked if anyone had ever heard of the Javorian Pox. With how widespread the Irassians were, yes, the other senators had heard of it.

Who would destroy Vailons and Figyari alike, and anyone else in their way, if they were not getting a seat on the Galactic Council, Cixila asked.

Instead of calling her bluff right there – the canister was filled with cheap wine, which was not exactly dangerous (despite the princess' vehement claims to the contrary when it was brought to her chambers) – the senators were obviously intimidated by the prospect of a horrific death to an incurable plague. Reason also made them wary of imperial power and unwilling to provoke Liuva, especially with the Empire's neighbours warring each other.




Two people were made happy in the senatorial station that day: Cixila, for managing to secure the Empire's seat on the Galactic Council, and the lucky thief who then stole the “sample of Javorian Pox”, which some fool bought on the black market for an astronomical price.​


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Did they truly think that the Empire would leave such a closely-guarded secret in Cixila's notoriously unguarded hands? Even if she showed her ruthless side, for such a trifle as the Galactic Council, the Empire wouldn't risk losing such a powerful weapon, even if there was no chance of it being used against them.




Humanity's Next Step


The intrepid star explorers weren't the only ones making great discoveries. Still, once again, Nonna Thorismondi was at the heart of it. Her long time serving on the From Beyond made her, according to herself, resonate with the Shroud in some way. While this was the same reason why she didn't want to stay on the ship for too long, unlike for example Yupanqui on the Makrelogos, the Shroud's hold on the scientist was strong enough to affect her even in charge of some of Earth's greatest labs.​

In a flash of inspiration, Thorismondi researched that connection she had with the Shroud, as well as looking for ways to replicate it. To control it, even. The 13th August 2276, she presented her breakthrough to the throne.

With a crazed glint in her eyes, Thorismondi presented the powers she had gained from interacting with the Shroud. She could levitate, herself and objects, then move that around. She could surround herself with a kind of shield. She could move short distances through the cloud, basically teleporting. In short – within limits –, by manipulating the Shroud, she became able to subject space around her to her will.


Her Shroud-Penetrating-Energy-Looting-Leak (thus SPELL for short – many groans were heard) consisted of two parts, an implant and an energy source. It could be implemented into combat gear and thus increase soldiers' fighting potential, but definitely not widespread. Only a small elite force could be realistically subjected to the necessary training – as Thorismondi spoke of a certain “affinity” one would need to channel the Shroud's “psionic” energies. As to where that affinity came from and why it would only manifest in certain individuals, the science celebrity said that “your guess is as good as mine.”


She theorized that a wide psionic awakening would be necessary for not just a few elite soldiers, but the greater population to wield SPELL powers – and even greater ones.​


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Tapping into the incomprehensible powers of the Shroud was a prospect many were uncomfortable with. As usual within the Empire, critics weren't silenced, but rather allowed to speak up and summarily ignored until they made a truly valid point. Like when the “roots” of the previously discovered “spying fungus” were discovered. Some spoke up, claiming that the “Fumongus” was mostly a great unknown, that it would leak information to the Shroud. This parallel dimension most certainly wasn't just there to simplify human lives, so there had to be something there. Something dangerous. The Fumongus' spying abilities were still used by imperial decree...


…but the dangers of the Shroud were a valid point. Instead of delving deeper into Thorismondi's research, Liuva reassigned her to the From Beyond and tasked Valerios Anteris with the next step in human evolution. A pious soul, the High Emperor made the final decision towards what the old arguments decried as “playing God” – though he saw it more as becoming God's tool.

Anteris and his team delivered the results of their labour the 4th May 2279. The work on the Javorian Pox, the Elixir of Life, the strange red gene-mod (with confirmed time travel, perhaps sent by an old Thorismondi herself or a fan of hers) – it all made human geneticists highly capable and able to tackle the great task of improving the species. To improve their chances even more, the Irassian artefacts also held great genetic knowledge.


Like Thorismondi did with her presentation of SPELL, Anteris presented the results of his team's work in person. He looked the same. As he said himself, he had but taken the first step to genetic mastery. He showed tests which proved that his intelligence had increased, then admitted that his gene-mods couldn't probably be as flashy as Thorismondi's SPELL.​





Then he entered the room again. Both Anterises then spoke in unison about their achievement, able to create full-grown clones in a matter of weeks. Before mentioning that, even if memories weren't transferred, he wouldn't want to subject anyone else to duplicating himself (or being cloned/cloning for crime), so the two of them had created a genetic randomizer of sorts, with nefarious mutations out of the equation.


Liuva and his advisors discussed the matter for weeks. This was the future of the human race at stake, after all. Trust in Thorismondi's somewhat esoteric and unknown Shroud? Or place genetic destiny into imperial hands?


The Master of the Void felt confident to make the best decision at the turn of the decade. He announced that 2280 would see the first imperial clone vats. But not to worry – a clone wouldn't replace you. “Clone” was the wrong word, anyway, for each one would be different than the other, with actual advanced cloning forbidden. Exceptional permissions might be granted to the dying – but only insofar as their genes might be passed on to a new inseminated cell. The advanced clones would serve the Empire in some capacity at least for three years – time for them to gain some actual life experience, not just the vat's education. Then they could choose their further path in life as just another imperial citizen.


The advantages for the High Emperor were clear – a great limiting factor for imperial expansion and power was manpower. Anteris' cloning method would allow for a strong imperial administration and thus also greater natural presence in the colonies, while strengthening the military and develop distant mining ventures where nobody in their right mind would take part. Resources were plentiful enough to allow it. Really, the only problem would be the social repercussions.​

And in that matter, the darker side of the imperial decision to prefer genetic mastery showed. The social tension created by enabling large-scale advanced cloning had the potential to topple an empire, and the High Emperor was well-aware of it. Previous goodwill generated for example with the Elixir of Life would only last that long. So in came the second, just as important part of Anteris' results – the genetic modification.

The newly-made gene-mods, which were to be widely applied soon, lifted human intelligence to new heights, yes. But that wasn't their only effect – they also caused a lot of other changes, which would in their combination lead to people being more accepting of imperial rule. No longer would there be some kind of inherent tendency for unruliness or deviancy towards the imperial crown. The advanced clones needed that change to be able to integrate into society – adding to that that they weren't to be deployed on Earth, and that their vat-education also indoctrinated them with absolute loyalty to the crown (which the vast majority wouldn't lose over the course of their lives)... and the rule of the High Emperor was never more secure.



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The writings of a so-called “Telisa the Teller of Tales” might also be human in origin then. Anything that would be discovered in the future now was faced with the question if it was really old... or not even created yet. Anything could be human in origin now.
Flawless Imperial logic. Since anything and everything is human-based, it only makes sense for humans to rule over the galaxy.
 
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Time travel always makes things so confusing and messy. :p

The Empire is certainly using advancements in gene modding to its advantage. Citizens loyal to the crown will be crucial as the Empire expands.
 
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