Stellaris Ch 4

Chapter 4 - 2251 to 2264: Galactic Assembly

Suzanne Chopak successfully passes an edict to change what happens when a president dies. From now on, an election will be held to determine who should take over, should the president pass away while in office.

Shortly after Chopak takes office, the Klaggian Star Dynasty contacts earth. They are very peaceful and very religious, seeking to expand their nature-based religion through peaceful conversion. They look like bipodal foxes, about the size of a human. While very traditional and slow to adapt, they are strong farmers and very communal.

After decades of work, the sapient species that resides in Kiram have been fully enlightened. Thousands of scientists have worked tirelessly to smoothly transition the civilization into a space faring society in as short a time as possible. Now, contact is made with the planet, and the Screk people (as they call themselves) is invited into the galactic community. Kiram is made a protectorate of earth.

The rate of discovery proves, say scientists, that the galaxy is clearly filled to the brim with life. The Jibru Cooperatives, a disgusting, upright slug-like species, greets humans kindly. Several pacts are immediately made, despite the long distance relationship.

In 2255, several independent ventures begin in Sol. A Delhian company called Ex-L gets into colonizing Ganymede and Europa. They begin building infrastructure to support residential and industrial life on the two moons. Another company, this one from China and called nVest, begins mining one of the larger asteroids in the asteroid belt, Vesta, planning on eventually having a permanent base with a population of at least 100 thousand people.

TerraX's terraforming efforts on Culdax III are finished in February, and their ginormous colony ship carries 250 thousand people to the new planet.

President Chopak dies in September of 2255, becoming the fourth president to die in office. Clark Anguish is voted in as the next president. He is only 36, the youngest president in the history of the Federation and the UNO. He plans on expanding the agricultural districts in the Federation, claiming that the food production needs to be better to guard against potential famines, should war become a reality.

Vesta is about 500km around, on average, and it has about 0.03G of gravity. nVesta plans on using large engines mounted around the asteroid to set it to rotating, creating centrifugal force to mimic gravity. Construction begins on infrastructure in 2256.

The science ship Verigan enters the Hozint system, several hundred light years from earth. Clarence Chopak sets a course for the closest planet. The planet will be scanned, surveyed, and logged, and the data will be streamed back to earth. Several days into their burn towards the planet, they are met by a mysterious ship.

The ship is dark, slimy in appearance, and armed. The ship fires a dozen missiles at the Verigan, who is forced to take evasive action and jump to another system. The ship belongs to The Quarantined.

The Quarantined are a mindless mass of molluscan creatures, whose soul purposes in the galaxy is to kill anything that differs from them. They themselves have no spoken or transmitted language, and their true name is unknown; the Jibru labeled them The Quarantined, and they believe them to be the biggest threat to the free galaxy. The Think Tank is approached for advice on handling this terrifying threat. How exactly did a mindless hive of horrors manage to achieve space travel?

Soon after, the Independent Mandasura Tribes contact earth. They are a group of clans, militaristic in nature, who believe heavily in equality of all species. They are biologically similar to the Libarobius, who are their neighbors, and it is theorized that they both evolved from the same planet.

Vesta is up and running in summer of 2257, with a population of a quarter million humans and half a million Baanthurian. The Baanthurian are a small, beetle-like species that was once a primitive civilization in the Cirrulan Cartel before they were enlightened. Now, they are all over the known galaxy, doing menial, low-paying work.

With scientists estimating that humans have met half of all alien civilizations in the galaxy, the idea of a Galactic Assembly is born. Many of the most powerful empires, Earth, the Cartel, the Bank, the Kirillians, the Mandasura Tribes, the Jibru, the Vissari, and the Klaggians, agree that a GA is necessary. The GA will work to avoid war in the galaxy by bringing issues in front of a panel of representatives from every known galactic civilization. The Federation suggests earth as the base assembly site.

The Nagyari Pious Covenant makes contact with earth through the Kirillian Empire. They are a xenophobic, spiritual, authoritarian society of humanoid beings. They make first contact simply to disagree with earth over the necessity of the GA.

Ganymede is colonized in 2260 by Ex-L, and work on colonizing Europa begins. With these private ventures made, Baanthurian populations have soared because of the cheap labor.

Space piracy becomes a thing in the Federation in 2263, as a group called the Fleet of the Damned begins raiding trade routes and supply lines between Earth and Unatra. 1st fleet (there are now two fleets), headed by Admiral Tony Wires, is dispatched. They are on the other side of the Federation, so it will be about a year before they reach the last known location of the pirates. Meanwhile, the pirates raid the Aulderaan station and research base.

Just as 2264 begins, the Galactic Assembly is founded. Since every species comes from a different planet, with different gravity and climates, the Galactic Assembly Station is built in space. Representatives from almost every known empire join the humans to bring the first session into being.