So the first federation is between merchants and slaving despots, interesting choice.
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Some continuing interesting developments. The Yldar and Kammerans seem, in a curious sense, well suited to each other: in the way they complement each other. But with the Emperor and the Chair both passing it is a new era. The Compact and the Community are just symptoms of this brave new age.
The old guard is slowly slipping away. The passage of time makes it inevitable, but no less unfortunate for that. Still, Jondru and Moz can count themselves fortunate to have worked out a compact among their people that will (hopefully) last for many generations, even if the latter didn't quite see it completed himself.
(Sidenote: "Jondru and Moz" almost sounds like the title of a radio show or a podcast.)
Looks like the neighborhood is starting to get a little crowded -- certainly a far cry from the vast expanse of the seemingly lonely void less than fifty years prior. Seems as though the Yldar still have plenty of room to spread out, though, assuming there isn't another empire or two lurking beyond the border of known space.
(Sidenote: "Jondru and Moz" almost sounds like the title of a radio show or a podcast.)
Looks like the neighborhood is starting to get a little crowded -- certainly a far cry from the vast expanse of the seemingly lonely void less than fifty years prior. Seems as though the Yldar still have plenty of room to spread out, though, assuming there isn't another empire or two lurking beyond the border of known space.
The foundation of the Golden Monetary Compact and the Galactic Community mark the beginning of a new era for the Yldar: one where politics and diplomacy begin to overshadow the discoveries of the galaxy.
Appendix: The Galactic Community in 2238
A diplomatic map of the known galaxy in 2238. The Yldar Free Traders are in blue, the Centralized Kammarian Systems in green, neutral states in grey and unfriendly states in red.
Appendix: The Galactic Community in 2238
The Kazams, the Rothakans & the Zelvans.
The most powerful of the known empires in galaxy, at least measured in population and technology was the Irenic Kazam Compact. The Kazams were a mammalian people standing a little over a meter and a half tall whose biology seemed to indicate an origin on a desert planet or moon but who now inhabited a ringworld orbiting the yellow dwarf star Kaz. The Kazams called their artificial homeworld 'Kazzador' and much like the Yldars they appeared to have always lived inside their metal home. The Kazams were ardent pacifists and lived under benign dictatorship with almost insect like obedience.
For the Yldars the existence of a ringworld of mysterious origin seemed proof positive that the Originators or beings much like them had been involved in the far past. True the ringworld was a different sort of structure to the three habitats orbiting the Cevant system, but the principle behind the technology seemed so similar how could it be a coincidence? The discovery provoked much excitement among the more mystical and intellectual Yldars who were in two camps; those that believed that the Kazams had been genetically engineered by the Originators and were thus long lost 'brothers' of the Yldars despite their differing physiology and those who believed they had been created by a rival group of ancient aliens and were thus 'competitors'.
Unfortunately for the Yldar intellectuals - and for the more prosaic politicians, merchants and military officers who saw the Kazams as simply another power to be interacted with - the tyranny of distance and the stance of the Kazam government thwarted the possibility of answering these questions. The Kazam leaders were relatively polite but expressed a horror of the Yldar war policy which was coldly pragmatic. They were also divided from the Yldars by no less than three other empires, many of whom had poor relations with either the Yldars or the Kazams or both. Merchant shipping and scientific visits remained a distant dream.
The most powerful of the Kazams neighbours and the immediate stumbling block to the Yldars were the Rothak Fire Tribes. The Rothakans were reptilians like the Kammarians, another bipedal race of similar height and build to the Yldars. Their icy homeworld of Rothak had originally been covered by vast oceans and the Rothakans had evolved from giant marine reptiles who had adapted to life on land, shrinking and developing sapience in the process. The Rothakan way of life stressed the importance of the clans and of religion and both the assembly of clans and the spiritists who oversaw the faith tended to be warlike. Under the cosmology of Rothak the universe itself was a goddess - a living, sapient mind - and those who honoured the goddess were reborn as stars. The Rothak word for 'fire' sprang from the same root as the word for 'sun' and the Rothakans saw the only way to honour their deity was to embrace the heat of passion that blazed away within them. If they couldn't bring the faith by word or the sword to the enemy they were happy to quarrel among themselves.
It was easy to interpret the Rothakans as barbarians but they were as technologically savvy as any other species, and they were capable of diplomacy. Their dealings with the Yldars, intially promising would shift into tension as the frontiers of each power began to brush against each other - and then into an outright cold war in the 2250s and 60s.
The Penthulans, a subject race of the Zelvans.
Bordering both the Kazams and the Rothakans was the hostile and expansionist Zelvan Interplanetary Empire. The Zelvans were short, stout humanoids, standing only a little over a meter tall that had evolved from forest dwelling primate like creatures. Their homeworld was the 'continental' planet Zelvikanna, known for its unusually rich biosphere. In fact the planet was home to a second unrelated sapient species, the avian Pethulans who had evolved from large diving birds in Zelvikanna's poles. Though sapient the Pethulans had smaller brains than their mammalian neighbours and had been forced into a lower caste for millennia.
The Zelvans had established a unified planetary monarchy and their empire was warlike, materialistic and xenophobic. They disdained the Rothakans for their alien nature and what they regarded as their foolish spiritualism and most outside observers suspected a Rothakan-Zelvan war was likely in the future.
The Uindars, the Glyrrans & the Yaanari.
The Rothakans, Kazams and Zelvans (and Pethulans) bordered the Uindar Star Hegemony. The Uindars were a tall and impressive looking arthropoid race, physically strong, thrifty and with complex nervous systems that made them naturally fast learners. Unfortunately for them they were poorly adapted for life beyond the lush temperate zones of Uindar (like Zelvikanna a 'contintental' style world.) The Uindars also shared with the Zelvans a pronounced xenophobic streak, glaring out at the galaxy with disdain. Theoretically the Uindar government was constitutional, but in truth the dictator ruled a ruthlessly stratified society with a fist of iron.
For outsiders the most fascinating thing about the Uindars were the unusually rich number of archaeology sites that dotted their home system and much of the rest of their space. In a real way modern Uindar civilisation stood on the shoulders of giants. The signs suggested strongly that like the Yldars and the Kazams some ancient beings had been involved in their distant past, but unfortunately for the scientists and theologians of other empires the Uindars were not talking to outsiders about their secrets.
In the galactic south beyond the frontiers of the Kazams and the Unidars the Glyrran Union was shaping up to be the most aggressive power. The Glyrrans were sleek furred mammalians, derived from otter-like ancestors who swam in the frigid lakes and rivers of the tundra dominated planet Glyrra. Fast breeding and adept at agriculture even in the bleak climate in which they lived the Glyrrans had established a planetary civilisation with speed - but Glyrann society was so unruly it took many centuries for a unified government to emerge.
The Glyrran government was a totalitarian dictatorship, bellicose, anti-thestic and relentlessly suspicious and hostile towards aliens. The Glyrran Union did not want to outright exterminate other sapient species but made no secret of the fact that it saw them as potential rivals and future subjects and slaves.
Keeping the Glyrrans on a perpetual war footing were their neighbours to the galactic south, the Sovereignty of Yaanus. The Yaanari were reptilian (or more accurately amphibian) beings from Yann, a massive tropical moon orbiting a gas giant. Like their rivals the Glyrrans they had a natural agrarian streak and for most of her history Yaan had been a prosperous and relatively peaceful world. A series of global wars between a (then) powerful theocracy and a coalition of secular states in the Twentieth and Twenty First centuries had broken that consensus and given rise to the current Yaanari culture - fanatically militarist and materialist.
The Cyrnians, the Pyoruns & the Ganvids.
The Sovreignty of Yaanus was unusual in being home to no less than three separate alien species who had yet to reach the stars. In the western fringes of Yaanari space lay the red dwarf star Sheraton and two of the planets orbiting that sun were home to primitive, uncontacted civilisations. Well, perhaps 'primitive' and 'uncontacted ' are the wrong words. The 'Cyzrnians' of Sheraton III and the 'Pyorunans' of Sheraton IV had achieved technological civilisation five or six centuries before the current era. Unfortunately both peoples had gone to war with each other, destroying their civilisations and leaving both planets as irradiated wastes. Miraculously both the Cyzrnians and the Pyorunans and survived this disaster and had somewhat rebuilt their societies to an iron age and bronze age but as neither people had any resources worth speaking of and were far too primitive to be a threat, they were largely ignored by the Yaanri.
In the far south east of Yaanri species the tropical world Ereness III was home to the fearsome looking, and not much less fearsome acting 'Ganivids'. The Ganvids superficially resembled giant arachnids but they were actually an unusual form of mobile predatory plantoid. The scattered warlike kingdoms on Ereness III had reached a late medieval stage of development and were the focus of much study from orbit by the Yaanari.
The Makaru.
The Makaru were a visually frightening species for many other sapients to observe. Bipedal fungoid beings they had evolved from the dense undergrowth of the tropical planet Makaria. The Makaru were a paradox. Though their society was famously decadent and often seen as static the individual Makaru was apt to be deviant, rebellious and individualistic by nature. The Makaru imperial family was a centuries old despotate that kept a rigid grip on power even as the Makaru had a fanatical xenophilia that put even the curiosity for the alien of the Yldars to shame.
Despite (or maybe because of) their decadent society the Makuru made peaceful neighbours. Even their extensive slave owning was more a process of open trade than of raiding and wars.
The Humans.
Makuru space was also home to a primitive species that had yet to enter the galactic stage. These 'Humans' lived on the third planet of the star Sol and had achieved a level of development equivalent to the earliest steps into space via unmanned rockets - perhaps two centuries or so behind the hyperspace powers. The Makuru were fascinated by these primitives and had set up observation posts to study their evolution. Given the pace of human development it was possible they would achieve true interplanetary spaceflight within a century - at which point they would presumably become aware of their neighbours and the Makuru would have to decide what to do with their unwitting proteges.
The Glirrs, the Pelsimians & the Haddams.
To the west of the Autocracy lay the Mutual Assistance Pact - the Glirr Hierarchy, the Pelisimus Free Union and the Haddam Star Confederation.
As we have already discovered this trio of powers had proven instrumental in opening up the Galactic Community, and though it would be misleading to call any of them truly pacifist they were generally if sometimes begrudgingly considered to be 'good neighbours'. Decades of close cooperation with each other had spurred on the art of diplomacy. Even so the Pact powers were watched with feelings ranging from envy to dismay by their neighbours, which included the Makaru, the Yaanari, the Glyrrans and (to the north) the Kammarians.
The individual Pact powers, especially the wide ranging Glirrs (who as lithoid beings could live anywhere) and the Pelsimians (who had 'inherited' a strategically favourable position along the galactic rim) would have been significant players in their own right. United in common policy they represented a sprawling 'empire' of great military, scientific and economic power. Even those states which had no quarrel with the policies pursued by the Pact had reason to be a little nervous of quite that much power. Those that fundamentally disagreed with it saw this federation as a sinister, controlling force in galactic affairs.
The symbiotic Hulfirs.
In recent decades the Pact had grown stronger with the discovery of a subterranean civilisation on the Haddam controlled world of Zalibbac Oxocodoif. The Hulfirs appeared to be a race of stocky mammalian humanoids not unlike the Glost-Werheni in size and build. However they were actually a symbotic species with the sapience coming from the fungal growths attached to the mammalians, not the near brainless mammalians themselves. Despite their rather odd nature many Hulfirs had taken to living on the surface and been integrated into Haddam (and Pact) society.
The one consoling factor for those worried about the Pact was that their technology level seemed to lag a decade or two behind the galactic standard. Whether through the process of development or lack of competition the Pact powers were rarely at the forefront of technological breakthroughs. That did not conjure away any of the other formidable advantages they enjoyed but it did allow their rivals to breath easier.
~~~~~
While this overview has covered the major powers of the known galaxy it has for reasons of space not discussed the various enclaves and extremely minor or pre-sapient species. It has also, for obvious reasons, not covered the almost half of the galaxy yet to be charted by any known starfaring race. What - or who - waits in the galactic frontier remained a mystery at this point.
A broader look at the known galaxy.
I have to admit I'm mildly disappointed I'm the only Megacorporation and I was hoping for a robot civilisation (though I have yet to encounter any Fallen Empires so who knows?) On the other hand I rather appreciate the Star Trek style space opera vibe with multiple competing powers that can have various relationships with each other. It feels a very lively galaxy.
I'm amused that humanity showed up after all, though my favourite 'primitive' civilisation are the inhabitants of the two Tomb Worlds in the Sheraton system. I love details like that that immediately suggest this is a galaxy with a past as well as a present and a future!
I also like the fact that the different origins have shown. While (as I expected) the default 'Prosperous Unification' origin accounts for most empires we also have my 'Void Dwellers' (me), 'Shattered Ring' (Irenic Kazam Compact), 'On the Shoulders of Giants' (Uindar Star Hegemony) and 'Common Ground' (Glirr Hierarchy, the Pelisimus Free Union and the Haddam Star Confederation).
As I noted above there is still a lot of the galaxy left to explore
That is a very apt way of putting it. The end of an old era, the birth of a new one.
Second to be fair!
And yes I think the Yldars were prepared to overlook certain things. They are comparatively nice but they are in the business of business.
Sorry! Still a majority of the powers are dictatorships and/or absolute monarchies so that is something right?
That's a nice way of putting it. The Ydars bring the financial muscle and technology to the stronger military and resources of the Kammarians. In a big galaxy they both need friends.
Hah! Maybe they do have an in-universe podcast!
And yes the galaxy is certainly a lot fuller, even if there is still a frontier to explore.
That's true. Even though I stressed there is a frontier it is inevitably shrinking and the Golden Montary Compact have to begin thinking more about their neighbours than uncharted stars.
I have to admit I'm mildly disappointed I'm the only Megacorporation and I was hoping for a robot civilisation (though I have yet to encounter any Fallen Empires so who knows?) On the other hand I rather appreciate the Star Trek style space opera vibe with multiple competing powers that can have various relationships with each other. It feels a very lively galaxy.
I'm amused that humanity showed up after all, though my favourite 'primitive' civilisation are the inhabitants of the two Tomb Worlds in the Sheraton system. I love details like that that immediately suggest this is a galaxy with a past as well as a present and a future!
I also like the fact that the different origins have shown. While (as I expected) the default 'Prosperous Unification' origin accounts for most empires we also have my 'Void Dwellers' (me), 'Shattered Ring' (Irenic Kazam Compact), 'On the Shoulders of Giants' (Uindar Star Hegemony) and 'Common Ground' (Glirr Hierarchy, the Pelisimus Free Union and the Haddam Star Confederation).
As I noted above there is still a lot of the galaxy left to explore
That is a very apt way of putting it. The end of an old era, the birth of a new one.
Second to be fair!
And yes I think the Yldars were prepared to overlook certain things. They are comparatively nice but they are in the business of business.
Sorry! Still a majority of the powers are dictatorships and/or absolute monarchies so that is something right?
That's a nice way of putting it. The Ydars bring the financial muscle and technology to the stronger military and resources of the Kammarians. In a big galaxy they both need friends.
Hah! Maybe they do have an in-universe podcast!
And yes the galaxy is certainly a lot fuller, even if there is still a frontier to explore.
That's true. Even though I stressed there is a frontier it is inevitably shrinking and the Golden Montary Compact have to begin thinking more about their neighbours than uncharted stars.
Quite the varied blend of civilisations; I enjoy the minor races there too. The Ganvids are certainly the most alarming to look at of those so far.
So much of the galaxy still unexplored though! Opportunities and dangers to be had there, I'm sure.
So much of the galaxy still unexplored though! Opportunities and dangers to be had there, I'm sure.
Humans! Always a nice bonus to see a primitive Earth show up. Hopefully they don't end up blasting themselves into oblivion, though given who their neighbors are, things might get "interesting" in all the wrong ways for them regardless...
Always a nice bonus to see a primitive Earth show up. Hopefully they don't end up blasting themselves into oblivion, though given who their neighbors are, things might get "interesting" in all the wrong ways for them regardless...
It seems to me, if the more radical spiritualist Yldars ever gained power, we could see a war to "open up" the Kazams so that they can properly worship *ahem* investigate and learn more about the Originators.
Still plenty of space for another megacorporation to emerge
Interesting little vignettes of these various polities. I take your point about the nice variety present. The Fire Tribes do look as though they might make nervous neighbours however - as hinted at the mentioned cold war.
Interesting little vignettes of these various polities. I take your point about the nice variety present. The Fire Tribes do look as though they might make nervous neighbours however - as hinted at the mentioned cold war.
A broader look at the known galaxy.
I have to admit I'm mildly disappointed I'm the only Megacorporation and I was hoping for a robot civilisation (though I have yet to encounter any Fallen Empires so who knows?) On the other hand I rather appreciate the Star Trek style space opera vibe with multiple competing powers that can have various relationships with each other. It feels a very lively galaxy.
I'm amused that humanity showed up after all, though my favourite 'primitive' civilisation are the inhabitants of the two Tomb Worlds in the Sheraton system. I love details like that that immediately suggest this is a galaxy with a past as well as a present and a future!
I also like the fact that the different origins have shown. While (as I expected) the default 'Prosperous Unification' origin accounts for most empires we also have my 'Void Dwellers' (me), 'Shattered Ring' (Irenic Kazam Compact), 'On the Shoulders of Giants' (Uindar Star Hegemony) and 'Common Ground' (Glirr Hierarchy, the Pelisimus Free Union and the Haddam Star Confederation).
As I noted above there is still a lot of the galaxy left to explore
Sorry! Still a majority of the powers are dictatorships and/or absolute monarchies so that is something right?
I think Warhammer 40K is strong in me.
Anyhow, I also like the Star Trek vibe. And the fact there is Mankind in here is a nice bonus.
Great AAR
A well deserved win
I loved the descriptions of the different species
The Hulfirs are my favourite cause I love Venom and Carnage
A well deserved win
I loved the descriptions of the different species
The Hulfirs are my favourite cause I love Venom and Carnage
Really enjoying this, are space station adapted civilisations capable of eventually taking the leap of colonising planets? It will be interesting to see if anyone takes the plunge to return to planetbound life at some point in the future.
I started reading this AAR thanks to it being nominated for the Weekly Showcase. Being a RossN-AAR it was almost certain I would like it and you do not disappoint. Almost fifty years in, you've only just started. It will be interesting what the Yldar will further discover and how this galaxy will play out.
Eww, getting Old Gods and Limbo in the same run is a recipe for disaster because of the ill relationships Spiritualists have with AI. Personally I'd try to nudge their eithics in a way that drop the spiritualist ethic, either by going F-Militarist or F-Xenophile depending on how the future plays out, because Spiritualists in stellaris' demands make just zero sense. Alternately just make sure there is an unconolized planet in unowned space to settle if you ever draw synths
Love your writing though and look forward to seeing where this goes.
Love your writing though and look forward to seeing where this goes.
Half the galaxy remains undiscovered. Who knows what is out there? What do the Yldar call the Milky Way galaxy as apparently Earth is in this galaxy.
