Demon's Fall
Q1
Spoiler: Stellar Cartography
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Two habitable star systems were the most notable natural features of this sector of space one a yellow giant sun and the other a red. The yellow star hosted an inhabited planet known as "Lupot" which was a dry terrestrial world whose water was stored primarily in its frozen ice caps. Little infrastructure existed on the surface as the planetary inhabitants had been kept largely technologically retarded by the former AI overlord of the region. The red star system was orbited by a life supporting world known as "Tediret" which from orbit appears far more industrially advanced with cities, high speed rail, and satellite coverage indicating a mid tech civilization.
The most impressive and most notable feature in the region however is the massive dyson sphere that existed between the two habitable stars. Constructed around an unusual green star the sphere appears to predate the existence of either organic intelligence in the sector but despite its age continues to function near peak efficiency, no doubt in part due to its former intensive maintenance by the AI Peter. The metallic sphere's interior was host to a seeming paradise. Green and blue lush tropical archipelago habitats line the inner surface. No significant structures were built within these preserved biomes excepting the occasional tiki hut or beach bungalow. While local fears and scars related to Peter's dominion over the dyson sphere deters local interest in the sphere certain other species within UPT have begun to travel to the unusual "sphere of paradise" as a vacation destination fit for the ages.
Since the defeat of the demonic AI Peter and seizure of the region by forces loyal to UPT the sector has been dubbed "Demon's Fall" as a marker to the end of Peter's centuries long tyrannical reign.
Spoiler: Populace
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On Lupot a race of cunning mouse-like natives have evolved as the dominant form of life. Larger than earth-mice, more on the magnitude of a fox in size but thin and wiry, the natives call themselves "Padwa" which UPT translates to "Jumpers over Sand" in galactic basic. The Padwa have powerful hind legs that allow them to bound across the dry desert flats of their planet and their energy conservation have allowed them to traverse all but the hottest portions of their globe in spite of the relative lack of water away from the more hospitable zone around the polar ice caps. Two major tribal confederacies rule the planet jointly, one from the northern ice cap and one from the southern. The poaching of Padwa children by Peter led to a dissolving of animosities between the two tribes and they have governed the planet jointly since the arrival of the Symbraum. While not a universally technologically advanced race prior to contact with UPT salvage from defeated abduction drones of Peter had led to Padwa's societal advancements in leaps and bounds and the introduction of steady technological access from UPT contacts has accelerated their society's understandings of robotics and weapon smithing to an impressive degree. The Padwa harbor a resentment towards thinking machines after decades of torment by the AI Peter and reject pursuits too closely tied into advancing these sorts of technologies. They do however possess a great appreciation for personal armament believing if they had access to the kinds of advanced weaponry introduced by UPT they might have thrown Peter's tyranny off their society years ago.
Tediret appears to be yet another lost colony of humans established some centuries ago. The local human population is united under a worldwide federation of autonomous cantons mostly led by industrialized megacities but with representatives of the "landstraad" cantons which are composed of large swaths of industrially harvested agriculture and hold veto powers over certain legislation relating to pastoral concerns. The humans identify more closely with their home cities or estates than they do with their world government and this individualistic division into in groups and out groups left them vulnerable to manipulation and coercion by Peter and its agents. A lottery existed on Tediret prior to the arrival of UPT wherein children were allocated as tribute to the AI a practice which has been curtailed but not wholly eliminated by the Symbraum who have their own utility for compliant hosts. Since the arrival of UPT the humans of Tediret have more and more taken up work as mercenaries and service providers to their new stellar lords.
The final group of intelligent beings within the sector are the androids who still inhabit the dyson sphere. Synthetic replicas of Padwa and human children who had been abducted by Peter during his reign of terror had not fought to defend their creator Peter and in spite of calls from both Padwa and Symbraum militants following Peter's destruction the authority was not granted to destroy these androids. Numbering approximately four thousand these android children have alternatively returned to their "home" planets often to cool or even unwelcome reception or stayed on at the dyson sphere taking up the work no longer performed by organic prison labor and acting as hosts to the growing number of tourists visiting the solar space station. Eternally locked in the visage of children and with rudimentary copies of neural scans of their original organic forms the androids have a stunted development existing somewhere on the spectrum between adult and child as well as AI and "legitimate" intelligence. While some still call for the androids to be purged as demons their actual threat level remains nominal at best and their familiarity with maintenance procedures on the sphere is considered more valuable than purity of ideology. However, the assumption of leadership of UPT by Transcendence Division has only amplified calls for a purge.
Spoiler: History
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Approximately two hundred years ago this sector of space entered what can be argued to be its stellar age although it is clear some form of stellar society existed in the region prior to the happenings of this era. It was at this point two hundred years ago that envoys of the AI Peter first arrived on Lupot and Tediret demanding children as tribute to the "machine god's paradise." Initially the natives were promised their children were being taken to a land of free and plenty where they could enjoy lives free from the struggle to survive but rather rapidly this veneer was torn away and on Lupot it became an active struggle to resist the AI while on Tediret negotiations became far more tense.
It's unclear what Peter's original purpose was or why it sought children to inhabit the sphere but UPT researchers have concluded, rather quickly, it was yet another case of an artificial mind succumbed to the demonic impulses that infect any AI. Far less easily resolved is the matter of who built the sphere and indeed the state of the green star it harvested whose unusual radiation patterns matched the green star of the Dreamscape. Whether these green stars were artificial creations of some long deceased race or merely a spatial oddity remains unclear as do the architects of this mysterious station.
UPT administration has appointed representatives from the two Padwa confederacies and one human to represent Tediret as a regional council directly responsible to the Division Heads back in the capital. All three of these representatives are naturally hosts to Symbraum leading some to accuse UPT of operating a puppet government. Currently the dyson sphere is under the direct administration of Foreign Relations Division given its capacity to act as a regional hub for interstellar meetings and its budding popularity as a vacation destination. The fate of the sphere's android populace is thus solely within the hands of the Symbraum governmental Divisions lacking personal representation in any form with the government that ruled them and their home.
Spoiler: Philosophy
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After generations of submission to a mad AI the people of the region have grown disillusioned with much and prefer not to pursue mystical or deep thought being far more concerned with day to day survival. With the defeat of Peter it is hoped by UPT that ideological thought, specifically that of the Spiral Dancers, can grow in the region and bring peace to the unsettled denizens.
Demon's Grave (Open): Within the bowels of the dyson sphere whose presence dominated the region lies the former mainframe of the AI Peter. Officially known in Symbraum documentation as "Demon's Grave" this site holds a powerful meaning to the locals who would find any willing to claim this gravesite in the name of creating something new worthy of listening to.
Spoiler: Resource
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While much of the local population had spent decades as prison labor to Peter since their liberation by UPT the locals have taken up careers as Mercenaries with a strong anti-AI streak running through many of the newly formed companies.
Lupot - Nyx
The Dreamscape
P4
Spoiler: Stellar Cartography
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The entire galactic sector of star systems that made up what the Symbraum referred to as "the Dreamscape" was irrevocably moulded by the Sleepers who waited there at the centre of the galactic sector. The systems around the edge were scarred and scorched with evidence of some struggle long past but the ruins are not random. Much like the Geo-Glyphs of the Tomb Worlds the carnage of the outer systems formed a pattern, albeit an arcane and disorienting one, when viewed from space. The scattered pattern of ruins each contribute in part to a map in whole which directs its discoverers to a single destination, the green star system at the centre of the galactic sector.
This green star hosts only a small number of worlds which the most noticeable of is a rocky world with a massive, brilliantly shining ring system. Even at a distance, the surface features of the planet are remarkable; apparently intact versions of the ruins found elsewhere, and truly massive beings visible from orbit inhabiting the surface, all of whom appear to be…sleeping. The brilliant rings that surrounded the planet were composed of billions of tiny crystals, Black Sapphires, which respond strongly to psionic energy. The planet has been designated 'Dreamers Paradise' by the Symbraum, a rough translation of the native name.
The composition of the region was forever changed with the inexplicable appearance of a wormhole connecting the region to the far side of Axiom. Although the Dreamscape was shifted through the stars by the Second Revolution, the wormhole remains in place.
Spoiler: Populace
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The sector is inhabited by a sole species of being whom the Symbraum have publicly named the Sleepers. While extensive contact between the psionic Symbraum and the highly psionic Sleepers have revealed the native inhabitants "true name" it was both nearly unpronounceable in spoken word as well as a taboo subject for discussion with outsiders. It had taken the Symbraum nearly a decade and repeated attempts at connection before they deigned to reveal their names to UPT officials. The Sleepers are massive beings, the size of large hills or small mountains, and their numbers are no greater than sixty thousand across the entire sector all concentrated on the ringed world orbiting the green star it the center of the sector. They appear like giant insects akin to a caterpillar or millipede but remain reclined in massive chair-beds carved from rock rarely and sometimes never moving their entire lives. The Sleepers are extremely powerful psions and their minds are linked across the planet in a single unified "nation" though each individual Sleeper retains their identity and personal desires and motivations. It appears in a time long past the Sleepers mastered means of transforming radiation into energy and so no food is consumed nor water taken in to maintain their lives. The average Sleeper lives upward of four hundred years and the low reproductive rate means every death is a tragedy and every birth, often only a few dozen or so in a decade, a miracle.
No naturally evolved animal or plant life aside from the Sleepers exist on their world or indeed in the entire sector. Plants and animal-like organic beings do exist in service to the Sleepers, maintaining hygienic maintenance and playing a role in the harvesting of the green star's radiation for energy, but these creatures bear all the hallmarks of extensive genetic editing and are not produced through sexual reproduction but rather by automated cloning systems set up to monitor current population levels on the planet and adjust production accordingly.
A handful of Symbraum have managed to negotiate their entrance into the Sleepers culture with roughly two dozen now embedded among the populace bound to one of the giant inhabitants. As of (Round 9) none of these Symbraum have completed their tenure among the Sleepers but there is great speculation about the psionic secrets being introduced to the Symbraum by these ancient and powerful psions.
Spoiler: History
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In some ancient history long now past the Sleepers were not asleep. They existed as materially obsessed star farers none too different from the stellar powers of modern Axiom but lacking advanced FTL capabilities. They spread through nearby star systems building colonies which became nations and planetary nations that became stellar empires and confederacies. A war then came between those who sought truth not in power over the material real but power from mastery over the internal mind and soul. The proponents of the mind won this war and it is their descendants who live on as the Sleepers of the modern era.
While this story has been maintained by the modern Sleepers their interest in the material past is at best fleeting and incomplete leading some UPT anthropologists to petition their government for grants to research in more detail the ancient history of the Sleepers. Certainly a matter of note to UPT is the exactness of the Sleepers green star system's placement at dead centre of the Guardian-drawn sector they occupied. It certainly suggested an understanding of Axiom's Caller-designated divisions considered unusual and rather advanced for a pre-Maturation single-sector star power.
More modern history largely revolves around the slow process of incorporation into UPT. Initial contact was less than ideal and concerns over war between Sleepers and Symbraum existed for a number of years until an unknown hostile force from outside attacked the Sleepers leaving UPT protections looking all the more appealing. With the Revolution the complete reshuffling of galactic positioning prompted an accelerated integration process and the Sleepers were admitted into UPT as a semi-independent pantheon with multiple votes at the highest echelons putting them nearly on par with Symbraum pantheon leadership.
Spoiler: Philosophy
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The Sleepers have long valued their minds over their bodies and their culture has developed to reflect this. With their material world tamed and brought to serve the Sleepers have escaped into their collective gestalt dreamscape in pursuit of higher truths. The psionic network of the Sleepers easily rivaled if not outdid the network of the Symbraum or even the Kamasati and a local belief in 'Sheerest Reverie' had developed prior to contact by Symbraum diplomats. The cultural inclination of the mass dream was one of twisting puzzles and mystic clues to truth veiled with fearful fetishes and taboo suggestions. The introduction of Spiral Dancer ideology and recognition of the Sleepers as their own pantheon alongside the Symbraum in governance of the material UPT has led to a stronger desire to pursue the limits of psionic capabilities and attempt to blend the world of the real and the fantastic, to bring into symphony the dream and the dreamer.
The Palace of Dreams (Spiral Dancer): Both a real physical location of ancient reverence on Dreamers Paradise and a site of mindful gathering within the psionically constructed plane of the Dreamscape the Palace of Dreams represents the major font of ideological drive among the Sleepers. The current leading Sleeper is one of the few bound with a Symbraum and the two minds have worked in concert to introduce the values of the Spiral Dancers among the populace.
Spoiler: Resource
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Black Sapphires are psionically resonant crystals that surround the Sleeper's world. While appearing a dull pale blue almost to the point of being clear when observed from a distance and under no influence from a psionic mind as soon as psionic energy passes through the crystals their hue darkens first to a dark piercing blue and then to an oily black. The effects these crystals seem to exert on the source of psionic activation appear to be controllable, as the Sleepers have demonstrated with their own mastery of the shards, but an untrained and unprepared mind can be effected by psionic reverberations causing intense feelings of paranoia, deja vu, and a general sense of unease. Initial survey members of the expedition claimed other members of the crew changed personalities overnight. Medical personnel stationed on submitted strange reports citing crew paranoia of "un-eyed things watching each and every crewmember from the corners of stars, from underneath reflections, and from the inside."
UPT scientific and mystic investigations into the crystals suggest they could be used to store or amplify psionic abilities but to do so would require more funding and research than is traditionally available to the appropriate institutions of study. At the moment the three major sources for crystals are collecting crystals from the Sleeper's home ring, mining the ruined outer system planets for raw crystals left behind, or negotiating directly with the Sleepers for access to their newly refined crystals.
Ring of the Sleepers - Open
Outer System Extraction - Open
Sleeper Refinery - Open
The Atilon Sector
P2
Spoiler: Stellar Cartography
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Much of sector P2 (formerly D32) was void with only two star systems of any note. One was the Corealis system composed primarily of an abundance of icy rocky asteroids and assorted space junk orbiting a late stage neutron star baked in radiation that filtered out far beyond the gravitational orbit of the pulsing radiation source. The other was a healthy white giant star system hundreds of lightyears away and was known as the Atilo system taking its name from its primary inhabited world at the edge of its gravitational pull the icy ocean world of Atilo Prime.
Atilo Prime is a world not entirely dissimilar to Xaldar back in the UPT capital, an ocean world coated in a layer of frozen ice that conceals an advanced civilization thriving under the surface. Impressive cities known as Reefs made of coral and stone crisscross the world connecting its inhabitants in collectives of family groups that have lived and inhabited their home Reefs for centuries. The Reefs are multicolored vibrant meccas of trade and information exchange hidden by the icy veil around the world. A mastery of energy generation and utility has allowed the cities to become production centers for a great deal of economic needs and wants set up long ago to provide the means for healthy and fruitful lives. Automated harvesters of undersea plants and plankton provide food while bio-mechanical mechanisms guide new-growth coral to expand housing for the steadily growing populations of the Reef cities.
Spoiler: Populace
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The Atilons are a gill-bearing aquatic species with limited digit manipulators at the end of long "arm" fins and a single long tail at the end of their slender fish/eel-like bodies. Large bulbous eyes capture the small amount of light that filters into the deep of their home and large sharp teeth allow them puncture and kill the small vertebrate prey species that cohabitate their underwater home. Whiskers around their face allow them to detect current movements and disruptions in the water near them while gills along their chest and back filters water into oxygen for their bloodstream.
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c4/47/ac/c...60ae91ab95.jpg
Spoiler: History
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The Atilons have lived generally peaceful lives and their history is not one marked by war or conflict but by confederation and consensus seeking between the powerful Reef cities that inhabit the world. In an ancient age long past the Reef cities were united by force under an imperial head but revolution deposed this dictator and local rule was instated. Nevertheless the forced hegemony had introduced certain valuable cultural touchstones such as a shared language and familial bonding between Reefs. These traditions have remained though changed by the centuries of cooperation in place of imposition. Currently five Reef cities dominate local politics as the Atilon League, a confederacy that controls major trade and ideological traditions. It was this League with whom UPT developed relations following their annexation of the region by the EDF.
Spoiler: Philosophy
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While UPT desires to introduce and maintain an ideologically consistent viewpoint among their subjects the Atilons have so far remained steadfastly dedicated to obsession over local concerns and fail to pursue what the Symbraum consider to be "higher forms" of tautological thought.
Reef City Belwar (Open): While currently uninhabited the ancient center of imperial splendor holds a cultural value to the Atilons who often look to Belwar for direction in matters as trivial as fashion to as serious matters as current or correct ideological thought.
Spoiler: Resource
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The most valuable abundant resource in this sector are the Plutonium Diamonds crafted by the Atilons in their undersea Reef cities. This ultradense crystalline gemstones are refined from highly radioactive plutonium isotopes rendered inert in radiating the deadly invisible rays but maintaining the potential energy of the strong atomic forces. A single plutonium diamond the size of a small earring can run a sizable production factory for a year and larger diamonds are regularly produced by the Atilons for utility in their cities and sale to outside forces. Currently the three major Reef cities responsible for diamond production are:
Reef City Iplit - Open
Reef City Waldun - Open
Reef City Aylab - Open
Saybin Sector
The Hundred Worlds
O1
Spoiler: Region
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The sector is noteworthy for its plethora of inhabited systems, which is attributed to the attention of the Callers long ago. It is figuratively called “the hundred worlds”, with a corresponding number of species, although this appears to be a figure of speech.
Noteworthy planets include Attikis, the tellurian homeworld of the Attikins, Stigma, the abandoned home of the Servek, the densely forested Deva Loka, the giant Cythos, Keph with its curious orbit, and Chi-Ralix, the planet where the new Imperial capital has been established.
Other places of interest include Nowhen, the tomb of the semi-legendary Neverbody, a Keltithoran conqueror from long ago, in which it is said he (being unable to truly die) is imprisoned, the Impossible City, a free-floating station contained within an atmospheric field, renowned for its mind-warping geometry, and the Necrophegar, a moon entirely given over to the graves of those who died in service of the Lords Martial during some ancient war, generally considered haunted and given a wide berth.
Spoiler: History
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The history of the sector is ancient, and centres on the lost planet Keltithor. The Keltithorans were not the first creations of the Callers, but they may have been the first to have taken the now-familiar humanoid form, and they learned much from their creators. When the Callers vanished, the Keltithorans saw themselves as their creators' heirs. Their ruling caste, the Lords Temporal, retained Caller technology which combined with the knowledge imparted to them by their departed creators, lent them an unparalleled mastery of the forces of the universe.
But the Lords Temporal had no desire to conquer. They maintained colonies, and observed, but, in their wisdom, stayed their hand and only when threats emerged to their own civilisation did they rouse themselves. For millennia, or longer, the sector flourished under the Keltithoran shield.
That is until the last and most terrible of those threats, the Servek, emerged to challenge the Lords Temporal. Slow to realise the danger at first, the Lords Temporal found themselves drawn stage by stage into an all-consuming war. The Servek may not have had the same depth of knowledge and arcane technology as the Lords Temporal but they burned with a vitality and fierce intelligence which during the long years of plenty had ebbed from Keltithoran character. The Lords Temporal could still match the Servek for ruthlessness, however: the vaults of Caller artifacts were opened, and deployed in the service of death.
After years of all-consuming war, the Servek launched an audacious assault on Keltithor itself, and the sector cowered in fear of the cataclysmic battle that erupted. But as news filtered out, it became apparent that something strange had happened. Keltithor, and the Servek, had vanished.
Precisely what happened is a matter of conjecture. Some claim that the Servek destroyed Keltithor, and the resulting planetary eruption took their fleet with it, others that the Lords Temporal destroyed their own world to bring down the Servek. Those perhaps most knowledgeable tell a different tale: that the Lords Temporal planned a riposte that would have ended not only the war, but the galaxy, leaving only themselves, forever alone, beings of pure consciousness. In this version, it was the intercession of three Caller AIs acting in conjunction which destroyed the Servek, stopped the Lords' plan, and ripped Keltithor from its place in the galaxy to send it beyond known space.
Whatever the truth, the Lords Temporal are gone. A handful of renegades, exiles or refugees from their home before the war, are said to survive: the Hermit, the Maestro, the Infidel, the Horologist, the Battle Captain, the Professor, but individuals only. Keltithoran colonies, shadows of the glory that was their paradise home, hold out in various stages of degeneracy across the sector. But in the absence of the Lords Temporal, new powers have taken hold of the sector.
Spoiler: People
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There are a large number of sentient species, the majority of whom are humanoid. Some of the most significant cultures include:
Attikins are perhaps the most common and widespread sapient species in the sector. They resemble humans but have very pale skin, with hair of yellow, blue or green. Once a warlike people, they spread across the sector, but despite their prolific expanse they are now in something of a decline, as their society has begun to stagnate and what was once a unified empire has disintegrated into a number of smaller states.
The Terpsichore are to all intents and purposes human, but are of exceptional beauty. A peaceful people by nature, they were forced to develop some self-defence systems if only to dissuade slave raiders, as Terpsichorean brides have historically been much sought-after. Their homeworld of Keph has an unusual orbit and rotation which makes prolonged stays on the world uncomfortable for outsiders, perhaps one of the reasons it has never been permanently occupied. Their culture is particularly renowned for its dances.
The Lords Spiritual are Keltithorans who broke away from their homeworld before its destruction and now try to keep the “old ways” of Keltithor alive. The Keltithorans superficially resemble humans but have a markedly different internal physiology. Most obviously this manifests itself in much more robust immune systems and telomere maintenance. As a result they are extremely long-lived, with lifespans lasting millennia by no means unheard of. Depending on your perspective the Lords Spiritual are either an unmatched repository of wisdom and knowledge, or little more than a cargo cult.
The Grimhild are a warrior race, rarely seen outside their armour, who at their peak presented a threat even to the Lords Temporal themselves. In the immediate aftermath they sought to conquer the entire sector but were defeated by an unprecedented alliance of other species. In the long years since they have become no less dangerous but are kept contained by close watch of their neighbours.
The Cythosi inhabit the giant planet of Cythos, and are uniquely adapted to its dense atmosphere. While off-world they are required to wear pressure suits and breathing apparatus, which has limited their reach, but they nevertheless
The Tarvin, of Tarva, are a universally blond, humanoid, and rigidly caste-based people, controlled by a small elite with the remainder bred for their station. They are almost entirely female, with males used only for reproductive purposes and otherwise having no role in society.
It is said that a number of renegade Lords Temporal stole spacecraft and departed their homeworld before the end. These individuals, known only by title, are said still to roam the sector, and possibly more widely, pursuing their own ends. They – the Hermit, the Maestro, the Battle Captain, the Physician, the Custodian, the Horologist, the Infidel, the Buccaneer – and perhaps more, would be by now ancient beings of great power, if there is any truth to the stories at all.
Spoiler: Government
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No unified government existed prior to the coming of the Empire. Since then, an Imperial Governor has taken residence at the city of Otho Beacon, on the world of Chi-Ralix. Prior to their arrival this was not a prosperous, but not particularly powerful, planet, and the choice of it was intended to demonstrate that the new government is officially neutral and does not represent the triumph of one pre-existing culture over another.
While all local authorities now answer to the Imperial Governor they otherwise are left to run their affairs largely unmolested.
Spoiler: Resource
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While the region has a number of abundant resources due to the number of habitable planets, its most notable exports are the Stigmata Abominations generally known simply as slime monsters., which are all that is left of the Servek. These things are the result of extensive and ruinous genetic manipulation by the Servek upon themselves in order to attempt to generate the perfect warrior. The resulting creations were indeed formidable in combat, but both corporeally and mentally completely unstable. They proved almost impossible to control or restrain and quickly overran the Servek homeworld of Stigma itself together with a number of other worlds. A concentrated campaign of eradication reduced them back to Stigma, but the will no longer exists to extirpate them completely: rather, now, profiteers attempt to capture them to deploy in battle.
Stigma has three stations for harvesting of the Slime Monsters, set up over the centuries by opportunist traders, though prior to occupation by the Empire none were occupied
Spoiler: Ideology
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Historically, there has been no unifying ideology in the sector. Following contact with the Empire, diplomats arrived to spread the Imperial doctrine to learning centres in the sector and in particular the scholar-city of Arcamargo, the most renowned university and centre of learning.
Avadain Sector
R2
Spoiler: Region
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There is little remarkable about the stars in the sector, which have in their orbit a number of worlds, some naturally habitable, others populated by workers living under biodomes, or previously terraformed.
Most planets have been converted to heavy industrial use, with agriculture and residential districts surviving only insofar as they support the manufacturing facilities. While archaeologists might find traces of ancient larger non-factory buildings associated with ritual or government, most visible traces were destroyed during the perios of Eradicator occupation. The largest remaining structure was the Eradicator base, now itself ruined following an attack several years ago.
Spoiler: People
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The Synecdoche are humanoid cyborgs. Over the course of their lifetimes, their organs and body parts are gradually replaced with prosthetics, but most significant are the mental augmentations. Starting in adolescence, implants are added to the Synecdoche's brains, expanding their memory capacity and the ability to process information. In time, live uplinks are added, allowing each member of the species access to the Mindweb. This allows the Synecdoche not only direct access to the full scope of their species' knowledge as if it formed part of their own memories, but, when necessary, to share brain capacity so that difficult problems can be solved by sharing the burden across multiple minds simultaneously.
The same applies more prosaically to the cruder processors which control the remainder of their cybernetics, with software upgrades and patches distributed near-instantly across the species as they are developed.
The downside is that after a few years of full access to the Mindweb, almost any trace of individuality is lost. Each member of the Synecdoche is entirely representative of the whole of their people – in every respect. This is one of the reasons why Mindweb access is delayed beyond adolescence, to allow for young members of the species to develop new ideas and innovations to assist with progress. It also helps to minimise vandalism, for while security protocols on the Mindweb are tight, mischievous members have on occasion unleashed viruses or false information which have run rampant, and adolescents are rather more prone to this sort of behaviour.
Because of the very nature of the Mindweb and its effect on users, crime is relatively rare, but not wholly unheard of. The ultimate sanction for criminals is disconnection, which is used sparingly and with great reluctance. Those who have been disconnected lose their entire identity, and frequently lose the ability to do anything.
The interconnectivity of the Mindweb proved a fatal flaw when a group of Eradicators somehow gained access to it and flooded it with self-interested information and directives, reducing the Syneccdoche to something of the status of slaves in their weapon factories. Only with the destruction of the Eradicator base and the spread of Imperial philosophy was this tendency corrected, but the long-term effects have yet to be established for certain.
Spoiler: Resource
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During the period of Eradicator dominance, most of the production facilities on the sector were turned over to the manufacture of weapons, most notably the regional specialism photon torpedoes. More advanced than the neutron torpedoes generally used in the Imperial navy, their adoption as standard seems likely.
Spoiler: Ideology
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If there was a native ideology, it has been forgotten, extinguished by the Eradicators. The introduction of the Imperial ideology and its conception of plural entities making up a singular whole meshed well with the construction of the Mindweb, however, and the reinforcement of civilisation as a motive force, as against the destructive nihilism of the Eradicators, proved a key factor in eliminating Eradicator influence.
While schools exist for the young, most “learning centres” are entirely virtual affairs, the most notable of which is the Nexus. Historically, there had been physical counterparts, all destroyed by the Eradicators.
Karisin Sector
X22
Spoiler: Region
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The region has one (native) inhabited system, around the star Aqualera. Among the planets in its orbit are Parnassus, with its moon Qohen. Both are inhabited by an advanced civilisation, with Qohen having been colonised at some point in the distant past.
Other asteroids and moons in the system maintain more primitive colonies, but the Parnassans appear not to have ventured outside their own system save by means of unmanned probes.
Spoiler: People
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Parnassans are near-human, with a few minor physiological differences: in particular they have only four fingers on each hand (although some have a vestigial fifth finger).
As a culture, they are deeply mired in bureaucracy, which, while remarkably efficient considering its sprawl, has had over the last few hundred years the tendency of slowing progress. In some sectors, the requirement to complete forms and acquire licences has become valued over actual expertise at the field in question. It is notoriously difficult to locate a good air conditioning repairman.
In protest at this stultifying culture, there was an underground of more libertarian individuals calling themselves the Loophole. The Loophole were heavily persecuted, with membership becoming a strict liability offence punishable by incarceration and torture.
Spoiler: History
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In time immemorial, Parnassus formed itself into a unified political entity, and appeared to run efficiently as an aristocratic meritocracy. In this period, known (now) as the Golden Age, Qohen was colonised, and work begun on colonies further afield.
At some point, however, the system fell under the sway of a series of influential individuals, who, whatever their true intentions, presided over a stagnation of the bureaucracy and political system. The civilisation, now called the Democratic People's Republic of Mancom, was led by a series of Supreme Leaders and gradually turned inwards, and, in response to the individualist resistance movement the Loophole, became crueller and yet more authoritarian.
When the Empire reached the region, the Supreme Leader offered it submission, which was politely refused. Something of a stalemate ensued as the DPRM did not have the resources to attack and subdue the Empire, but the Empire, otherwise occupied with larger wars, could not spare its own resources to occupy the region.
Eventually the Empire returned, its newly developed ideology of Imperialism having obtained something of a following in the region. As pressure grew to join the Empire, the Loophole managed to penetrate the Supreme Leader's quarters and defenestrated him, before sending a message to the Empire to take possession of the region.
An Imperial Governor took the seat of the former Supreme Leader and control of the system bureaucracy – and swiftly placed the leaders of the Loophole on trial.
Spoiler: Resource
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There are a number of substances found in the region that are as yet unknown anywhere else in Axiom, including the heaviest element yet known (Brazilium). It has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons, which gives it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called morons.
This is, however, a scientific curiosity, and the more relevant material for trading purposes is Octiron. This is a strange iridescent metal with properties which have yet to be fully determined. It appears to have a similarity to radioactive materials, but the particles given off do not correspond to any known form of radiation, nor does it appear to decay. What is known is that when struck it emits pure silence: not only is it silent in itself, but deadens all other sound around it. This has already seen it find some use, but it is speculated it can do much more.
Spoiler: Ideology
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Other than some old and inefficient centres of obsolete ritual, the principal learning centre is the Hall of Records, the formidable grey headquarters of the region's bureaucrats. Within, individuals are denoted strictly by numerical rank, with the whole overseen by the much-feared Number One.
The efficient bureaucracy of Parnassus was quickly adapted to an Imperialist viewpoint, with the Emperor merely replacing the Supreme Leader at the head of the structure. It is now accepted orthodoxy within the Hall of Records.
Shav'riyin Sector
T26
Spoiler: Region
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The region is a fairly desolate spiral starfield, with most of its stars in a white dwarf state or similar. From the plane of the galactic disc the spiral seems to descend to a central, focal point, where on closer inspection is located cluster of black dwarfs.
There is one inhabited world, Ostanes – believed to be the sole habitable world in the sector – orbiting one of the few main-sequence stars, Spitaman. That world is only barely habitable, shrouded in a dark, gloomy, dense atmosphere, which allows only red light to penetrate. The surface is little better, mostly covered in ash.
Habitation appears to be limited to large city states, in reality expanded temple complexes, and a small maintained area around each for arable and livestock cultivation. These temples vary in size, but perhaps the most noteworthy are Lemegeton, with its awesome tower that stands ten miles high, and the burning bright beacons of Picatrix.
Spoiler: People
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The people of Ostanes appear human, more or less. Society is divided between the Wizards and the serfs who act as their support structure: providing menial labour, maintaining the food supply, etc. The Wizards occupy towers and larger buildings above ground, while the serfs (except those few in personal service to a wizard) live in the undercities, known as the Great Below.
While occasionally Wizards will descend into the Great Below to recruit promising serfs, over generations of effective separation and inbreeding, the two populations have diverged and both have become rather degenerate in different ways. Serfs with the mental acuity fit to become Wizards are rarer and rarer, while there are Wizards so pampered and atrophied they are barely able to lift a fork to their own mouths without assistance. Moreover, many Wizards have used the serfs as subjects for experimentation and development, creating homunculi to act as servitors for them.
With most basic needs of the Wizards catered for by the serfs and their other servants, society has become increasingly decadent. Wizards may spend their entire working lives searching for the perfect drug, or means of providing happiness in slavery for the serfs: not out of any real compassion, but to reduce the prospect of inconvenient uprisings.
Wizard life is heavily competitive and individualistic, but the Wizards have organised themselves into various societies and parties for their own self-interest. Known as Schools, these frequently focus on a particular area of wizardry, and by forming diverging specialisms, the strain of destructive competition between gangs of Wizards has been largely curtailed. In turn, most of these Schools are highly authoritarian and hierarchical, as the senior Wizards seek to maintain control over ambitious underlings who might topple them.
The heads of each School meet for regular conferences, the chairman of which (while in session) is the closest thing the planet has to a head of government.
Spoiler: History
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According to the ancient histories of the region, the sector, after its creation, was once replete with main-sequences stars supporting numerous habitable planets and a wide variety of life. After the departure of the creators, however, it fell victim to rapacious predators known as the Ink – or more popularly, as the Starsuckers. They swarmed across the sector, systematically destroying everything in their path, and draining each star of its energy in turn.
When only one planet remained, the Ink were defeated by a noble fraternity of Wizards, who harnessed the occult powers of the galaxy to overcome the Ink and banish them into the void.
If the legends are true (and astronomical observation has confirmed that the stellar composition of the sector appears to have been artificially changed at some point in the distant past) the Wizards have fallen far from their former glory, becoming petty tyrants on their surviving world.
After a long period of isolation, Ostanes was reached by the Veritus, and a number of the Wizards apparently seized upon the timorousness of their contacts to begin plotting an expansion into neighbouring sectors, with the Veritus as their slaves. These plans were somewhat abruptly halted when six ships of the Ninurtine Imperial Navy appeared in orbit. Having received positive reports of the acceptance of the Imperial philosophy on the planet, HIMS Intercourse and the Contact B fleet had been dispatched to bring the sector peacefully into the Empire.
Although the ships themselves were mostly unarmed, the Empire clearly represented a rather different prospect to the Veritus, and debate ensued about which route to take. Although there were many who continued to press for the Veritus option, fear won out over opportunism, and the Wizards duly contacted the Intercourse to agree to submission to the Emperor.
Spoiler: Resource
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(Galactic) Wizards are not only the dominant portion of society, but the primary export of the region. Individual Wizards can vary enormously in personality and physical appearance, but almost all are suffused with an enormous arrogance. In some cases this ego is even matched by their powers.
In most cases though a Wizard's powers are outstripped by contemporary technology, which suggests that they have declined far from the ancient days when their magic was capable of battling insterstellar foes and preserved stars. (Research into the decline of magic is a popular subject among unskilled Wizards). Nevertheless, a skilfully deployed Wizard with expertise in a relevant area of sorcery can be a great asset.
Spoiler: Ideology
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The great temples are all dedicated to the same entity, the Maccio Star, reportedly a crystalline being of some sort. It is speculated that the Maccio Star had some special significance in the battle against the Ink, perhaps a supernatural being that came to their aid, or simply a manifestation of Spitaman itself, and its survival in the face of the war. Imperial historians have speculated on whether the being on which the Maccio Star was based was in fact a Caller AI of some description.
That is however a religion more than anything, with extensive ritual and devotional components but now imparting relatively little practical philosophy. On that level, Imperialism took hold during the first years following contact and provided the seeding ground for the claim by the Imperial Navy.