Chain 049: Stellaris

Chain 049: Stellaris

Location: Earth (Continental)
Identity: Wanderer/Leader
Drawbacks: [+2350] Extended Stay: 10,000 Years, Civilization From Jumps Past: Roman Republic, Intergalactic Trade Problems, Warmonger, Fallen Empire, A Galaxy At War

[50/3350]   Trait: Adaptive
[Free]      Trait: Psionic
[Free]      Ethic: Militarist
[Free]      Ethic: Individualist
[Free]      Ethic: Spiritualist
[Free]      Free Rule
[150/3350]  Upon One's Shoulders
[350/3350]  Trustworthy Emperor
[650/3350]  God Emperor
[1050/3350] Reverse Engineering
[1650/3350] The Ever Expanding Tree
[1750/3350] Comfortable Throne
[2050/3350] Colony Ship
[2450/3350] Tree of Life
[2650/3350] Powered Exoskeleton

[2650/4350] Ethic Technologies (+1000)
[2700/4350] Improved Stations
[2750/4350] Upgraded Reactors
[2850/4350] Improved Labs
[3150/4350] Genetic Manipulation
[3300/4350] Psionic Soldiers
[3800/4350] A Nexus For All Wonders
[4300/4350] A Station That Sees All

[4300/5350] Ethics Perks (+1000)
[4400/5350] Exterminatus
[4450/5350] In The Name Of OUR God
[4750/5350] Galactic Force Projection
[5350/5350] Master Builders

There once was a dream that was Rome. In the early days, when Rome fell, you could only whisper it - anything more than a whisper and it would vanish. With Rome's resurrection, the dream was shouted from the rooftops without fear. A place where justice and egalitarianism was law, the most idealized version of Rome had become reality. A world of crimson and gold, with a population of five billion Romans - because by the year 2744 (or 1991 AD, by the Church's calendar), the world had been united under the banner of the Republic. The benefits of joining simply outweighed the drawbacks of independence, especially when factoring in that in 2703 (1950), three quarters of the planet belonged to the Republic - if they did not join then, it would be inevitable that they would join later under less favorable terms. Certainly, the Emperor had been withdrawn to seclusion in recent decades, but that was more evidence that the Republic and its governors was trusted to be left to its own actions. Even with the development of mankind's first colonization ship, which made its rounds between Earth and Mars to colonize the Red Planet.

In 2745 came the most exciting news in human history: scientists had cracked faster-than-light travel. Sure, it was relatively slow, and the calculations for the primitive hyperdrives showed they would only work on certain paths between larger gravity wells, but it was still a key to escape Einstein's shackles. With the inevitable colonization of space on the horizon, a new government was needed, one that could handle multiple colonies and planets - and so was born the Terran Imperium. Terra herself would always be the brightest star on the gold-and-crimson flag, first among equals, but not the only one.

In 2750, after those planets had both been colonized, the Emperor came out of his self-imposed seclusion. Oh, he had been consulting with the governments of Terra and Mars up to now, but he had turned his intellect toward certain problems that had been appearing, with solutions. It was of course well known that people with unusual psionic abilities had appeared over the centuries, and it was reputed that humans with such aptitudes as telekinesis, telepathy, and precognition held high rank among the Republic's Centurions, but more and more of these seemed to be appearing every day - and he had devised a program to train these talents, these psykers, so that they could control their abilities and turn them toward the goodwill of the Imperium.

That was not the only thing that he brought humanity, however. Powered exoskeletons - armored versions of which comprised the protection of his Praetorian Guard - were made available to the military. Genetic modifications for soldiers, too, were possible - and though their price was sterility and service unto death, there were always those who would gladly sacrifice their lives for the opportunity to join the immortal Legions, three meters tall in power armor, humanity's shield and sword.

Too, he introduced what became methods for teleportation over the distances of the Imperium, both on and off world. On-planet, "transervers" could serve to teleport between any major city on a continent, while over larger distances, "transmats" worked for instantaneous transport of the same between continents or even worlds, without a distance limitation. Sadly, only so much could be sent over the network at once - a dozen people, or a metric ton of goods at a time.

The last of the Emperor's gifts at the dawn of the age was his discovery of the Tree of Life on Earth, near the city of Tabris. The sap of the tree, combined with mankind's scientific insight, increased the projected lifespan of the average man threefold. As if he were not already beloved enough by the people before now, he was practically deified as he stepped into a role of governance over the Imperium.

And so, hearts optimistic, mankind set out from the Origin system to explore the galaxy. They started with the Centauri systems, then Tau Ceti and Gilese 832. While Proxima Centauri could arguably be habitable, the other two proved to have planets of climate that was sufficiently similar to Earth that they supported life - and became the second and third stars on the Imperium's flag. And though the imperial colony ship was much slower to help colonies grow than it was on Mars, once a colony was established, anyone could travel to the colony from anywhere - colonies grew at a rapid rate with the free travel, with encouragement given to people to move to the colonies, not to mention the generous benefits.

Mankind's first encounter with intelligent xenobiological life was not long after this, given the enthusiasm that the Imperium exhibited in its first days for exploration. It was rather unfortunate, then, that their first encounter was with the Maweer Caretakers, within the fourth star system that the Imperium had intended to colonize, only finding out after said colony had been established. Worse, their second encounter was in space, with the Xanid Suzerainty. While the Maweer at least offered the opportunity for humanity to withdraw from the planet under threat of force, the Xani were much more aggressive. An unknown alien race in an unarmed ship within space that they considered theirs? The ship was able to transmit a distress call to the Imperium over its ansible, but no more. A diplomatic envoy was sent in hopes that problems could be averted, but met the same fate.

The third encounter that humanity had with an extraterrestrial race was the Ix'Idar Star Collective. While communication was initially difficult, the ambassador was indeed successful at establishing a line of communication with them. Negotiations ensued, and concluded on friendly terms. A trade agreement was even offered. And all seemed well... until the ships that were meant for trade disappeared. Rather perplexing, that, but a second attempt was made in good faith. This time, the cause of the disappearance was seen: the destruction of the ship by the Xanid Suzerainty. Unfortunately, the Ix'Idar accused us of bartering in bad faith and broke off contact.

The Imperium's opinion of xenobiological intelligence took the furthest possible decline when the Tzynn Empire broadcast a message that was received on everything that could receive a signal. Telescreens, radio receivers, digital hardware, even the occasional piece of dental hardware. The Tzynn had long since consolidated their holdings to a relatively few star systems. They were now going to reclaim what was theirs. If the Imperium still had contact with the Ix'Idar, humanity would have learned a great deal of pertinent information, but the ISC shot at the diplomatic envoy that tried to re-open negotiations. Attempts to contact the Maweer Caretakers went even more poorly and devolved into a boarding action that went remarkably poorly for the Maweer before the ship withdrew.

At this point the Emperor pronounced that the Imperium would require a whole new type of thought. Humanity was alone in a hostile galaxy, and it was child's play for him to drum up support for the military. The solution to the Fermi paradox was apathy from the xenos, he said, and humanity had been noticed. It would be the Sunset Wars all over again - the tempering of the empire in the fires of the Aztec wars. But he reiterated once again that humanity's destiny laid among the stars, and outlined a decades-long plan to bootstrap the military and boost research. Plans for a great Nexus meant to house humanity's best and brightest, to push the boundaries of science in new directions. Plans for a grand Sentry Array meant to see thousands of light years away. New designs for gun-bearing starships meant to act as a stopgap until more advanced designs could serve to defend the Imperium. And bold expansion plans for new colonies under the Legions' aegis.

Truly, the remarkable thing was that nothing went horribly wrong in the early days. Bad contact? Yes. Oh, very bad indeed. Worse, over the years that followed, contact was made with other alien races, and they seemed jumpy at best. Wary of a new player on the interstellar stage, one that already seemed to have garnered a bad reputation, and... well, it wasn't surprising to anyone in the Imperium when the Xanid Suzerainty invaded Tau Ceti with the intention of taking the hundred-million-man colony for themselves. Had the Emperor's oracles not foreseen this the colony might have been caught unready, but the Xani were unprepared to face a wall of power armored supermen, engaging them in a truly gruesome battle. Humanity's weaponry might have been inferior, but the Tau Ceti chapter of the Legion more than made up for it in their enthusiasm, while the gunships in orbit fired their railguns at the invaders while they shouted humanity's defiance.

The wreckage of the xenos' ships and the gear their dead soldiers left behind on the planet were a boon to the scientists, who paid that debt to the military by replacing the railgun-using corvettes with destroyers bearing autocannons and nuclear missiles. The Legions' assault rifles were replaced by superior guns that launched explosives rounds the size of a man's ... thumb, and were supplemented by increasing numbers of military-trained psykers. Further attacks by the Xani were stopped before they could even land troops. The public gained a certainty that failure would be death, and the ripple effect carried into military doctrine - while the Imperium wasn't xenophobic, its military became fanatic enough that it embraced a 'no retreat, no quarter' policy.

The Emperor steadfastly refused to comment on either this or the popularity of the Imperial cult, of course, and much of humanity's expansion was onto the planets formerly occupied by the Suzerainty; the war ended in their annihilation. In truth, it could have gone no other way, for any survivors would have sought to destroy humanity. This was evidenced by their behavior toward the less advanced races that had occupied planets they'd colonized - pushing them either to the wilds in the case of an iron age civilization, or extinction in the case of one that was on the cusp of splitting the atom.

Gearing up for war, the Imperium saw no others declaring war on it, but the people clamored for revenge on those who had wronged it. Rather than face rebellion in the face of the growing bloodthirst that humanity showed, the Emperor aimed the military toward the Ix'Idar, but first sent a diplomatic envoy. As was typical, the Ix'Idar shot at and destroyed the envoy... which to the Imperium at that point was as good as a declaration of war. That went surprisingly smoothly, actually, right up to the point that a battle between the two above the surface of Ix'Athrak was interrupted by a fleet of ships from the Tzynn Empire. It seemed that the Ix'Idar had been a genetic tinkering project of theirs left unattended too long, and they intended to take stock of it; they annihilated both of the other fleets above the star. They then began their march toward the Imperium, reclaiming what had been colonies that belonged to the Ix'Idar Star Collective, that they claimed for themselves.

The Imperium had attracted the wrong sort of attention at last.

A series of delaying actions were engaged against the advancing fleet, but they had both numerical and technological superiority. The only things that worked to any appreciable effect were hit-and-run tactics, and even that was debatable as highly advanced point defenses rendered missiles far from optimally effective. Attempts to negotiate were rebuffed, with nothing but absolute surrender even on the table.

When the Emperor Himself stopped the advancing fleet at Proxima Centauri, on a ship the size of the homeworld, almost no one batted an eye. This, the Imperial Cult claimed, was the proof of His divinity. On His return to Terra, to His throne in Rome, the widespread acceptance of His divinity was proclaimed to him by the whole of the crowd kneeling to Him. The crowd exulted when He raised His arms to the sky in approval, roaring their praises of the Immortal Emperor.

(The handful who doubted would have said that the Emperor clearly threw his hands up in frustration, but they did not dare voice such an opinion at this point, lest they be set upon by the mob for doubting his divinity.)

Whatever the outcome within the Imperium, the abrupt defeat of the fleet gave the Tzynn pause. A young race should not have been able to do more than stymie their advance, especially with what they'd already seen, unless another fallen empire was in play - and that massive ship was certainly not of the style of the Imperium's ships. And so they withdrew and built up their fleets further.

Meanwhile, the Nexus had been completed and its first task was to begin work on the materials that were recovered from the Tzynn ships. Breakthroughs were made, but actually replicating the material would be decades away; it would have to be enough that it spurred a new generation of armor and weaponry for the Imperial navy. And with the Nexus complete, work on the Sentry Array began. It reached an early stage of completion in time to see that the Tzynn had elected to send a new fleet to greet humanity in space, but the destroyers and cruisers that met them were able to carve greater losses, and even arguably win some of the engagements as they fought above dead colonies... enough to cause the Tzynn fleet to withdraw after being decimated.

And 10% losses were far better than the Imperium had done before.

Further enhancements and reinforcements were present by the next time the Tzynn attacked, including a handful of battleships. And while it was a Pyrrhic victory, it was a victory nonetheless - near-total losses for the Imperium, and fully half of the Tzynn fleet. Though the only reason they withdrew was disarray they were thrown into after their fleet leader's ship was destroyed, and sheer chance destroyed the next two ships that assumed command.

The next few engagements did not go nearly so well. The colony at Proxima was destroyed, but the Imperial fleet was able to intercept and rout the fleet before it could go to their next destination, presumably the Origin system. Fortunately, the Sentry Array showed that the Tzynn had no further reinforcements coming to that fleet - unfortunately, the next set of upgrades to the Array saw the edge of Tzynn space, and it was frightening. They were expanding in ALL directions, and while humanity had been bumped up on their list of priorities, they had staggering fleets going in all visible directions.

A change of strategy had to be found, while the delaying actions continued to be fought. Without the Nexus it all would have been in vain, but instead they were able to find the solution - a theoretical ship they would call a Colossus. While they could build one from scratch... Hyperion, the Emperor's personal vessel, was an appropriate platform to be modified to hold the weaponry instead. What better to destroy a world than a ship the size of that world, after all? The inner workings of the ship were a mystery, but the upgrades were made - and the Emperor set off in Hyperion, using its mysterious FTL drive to travel undetected to what had been realized to be the Tzynn homeworld.

The destruction of Tzynnia had a demoralizing effect on the Tzynn, and their expansion halted. Instead, all of their ships were set toward the known human colonies. But the Emperor had given His people another gift - a vast array of technologies, completely different from what they knew. Shielding technologies effective against both energy and matter, remarkably resilient armor that seemed on par with what the Tzynn used if phase-locked by probability shielding, weapons that sundered the bonds between quarks. When the Tzynn engaged the human fleets, they were shocked to find that their weapons did not have the typical effect, and moreso to find that the upstart race's weapons were horrifyingly effective against them.

Humanity resumed its expansion, its numbers having grown surprisingly quickly considering peoples' extended lifespans and fertility, and transmats having kept casualties near-zero even with the loss of the colonies. By 2850, there were over fifteen billion humans and the colonies were no longer nice to have, but a must. And so humanity expanded into Tzynn space after reclaiming its old holdings; many other species were decidedly hostile toward a species that would wipe out a whole planet, even if neutron bombardment meant that it was still otherwise habitable afterward, and even if the alternative might have been the eradication of mankind. Imperial opinions of such xenos' naivety was laughable - and those who chose to declare war against the Imperium found that humanity was more than happy to divert its own fleets to deal with the threats.

As decades turned to centuries, the Imperium continued to expand. The early poisoning of the well, when it came to opinion of other races, was as tragic as it was complete; humans thought of other species as barely worth thinking about at best, and as targets for extermination at worst. Humanity spread across the Orion arm rapidly as hyperdrives grew faster, and were supplanted by jumpdrives. Legions of power armored soldiers were supplemented by bipedal tanks and massive platforms. The fleets of humanity saw smaller ships disappear, largely now comprised of battleships and cruisers, while task forces included great titans that were themselves a match for less advanced fleets.

By the time a hundred centuries had passed, humanity had given up pretense, declared its divine right to the galaxy, and exterminated most of the xenos races. Not out of malice in most cases, but simply as a matter of course. If there is no hand to hold the blade, then no hand can stab you with it. Various uprisings happened over time, of course, and there were other threats that were encountered - witness the war with the Unbidden, a threat from another universe that thought to invade this one - but the Terran Imperium stretched across the sky and a million worlds, and showed no signs of fracturing.