(On the Hunt) Chapter 27

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 27

Making Strides

(On the Hunt) Chapter 26

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 26

No Longer Alone

(On the Hunt) Chapter 25

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 25

Lions

(On the Hunt) Chapter 24

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 24

Bugs in the System

(On the Hunt) Chapter 23

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 23

Complicating Factors

(On the Hunt) Chapter 22

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 22

The Next Phase

(On the Hunt) Chapter 21

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 21

Find the Answers

Tech Notes: Communications

One of the key challenges for any spacefaring faction is establishing and maintaining communications over vast distances. Many races develop faster-than-light travel before FTL communications; the two categories rarely use the same underlying technology. The Alliance groups all commtech into four categories, which become more exclusive as distances increase.

It is worth noting that a common interstellar communications 'technology' among the Alliance, at least for civilian purposes, is not a technology at all, but simple physical transport. The Alliance Merchant Marine's Postal Subdivision coordinates the routing of physical mail through its existing infrastructure. Though slower than interstellar transmissions, writing a letter and sending it through the cargo network is reliable, efficient, and far less expensive than any other option.

Local communications operate at the speed of light or slower; they encompass most planetary and shipboard systems. Nearly every Alliance member race has a unique type of local comms, though the vast majority rely on electromagnetic waves, light pulses, or laser technology. There is no standardized local comm system, though most combined-tech Alliance ships use fiber optics due to the market and contract dominance of the fiber optic specialist Prysmastar Systems.

Ship-to-ship (STS) communications are sometimes considered an extension of local comms, as they rarely operate at superluminal speeds. The Alliance classifies them as a separate category due to their significantly different operational requirements. STS systems link spacecraft at relatively short ranges. They permit communications between members of a fleet, but also with any vessels encountered while traveling. As such, STS systems must be able to receive and transmit many different formats based on the origin of the other vessel.

The standard Alliance STS system is the Multifunction Lightwave Relay. For communications between Alliance vessels, the MLR uses a lightweight and efficient line-of-sight laser system; due to the miniscule power requirements of this system, MLR-based laser transceivers can also be carried by spacewalking crew to communicate with their vessel. The MLR is also capable of receiving and transmitting augmented radio waves (used by the Drules and many independent races) and flicker/pulse light signals (used primarily by the Vex-Cha).

Many member races still utilize their own STS systems for their own vessels. These races will often install MLRs only on command vessels; in joint operations the command vessel will relay orders to the rest of its fleet via its native STS comms. Other races have adopted modified MLRs with their own STS system integrated, often to avoid needing to retrofit older vessels.

Hyperbroadcast (HBC) communications are relatively flexible FTL comms, used to transmit across interstellar distances. These comms can move significantly faster than even the fastest FTL ship, but are generally utilized at such distances that messages may still take hours or days to reach their destination. Only three forms of HBC technology exist among the Alliance: hypertachyon, hyperpulse, and augmented laser. Hyperpulse was the technology the Kolaliri used during the time of their empire, while augmented laser systems exist among several member races.

Hypertachyon technology, often considered synonymous with hyperbroadcast, is the Alliance's standard HBC tech. It originated from the ancient Glis Empire's communications web, which utilized 'hypertachyon packets'—a form of specially energized light pulses—to send information at vast distances. Though the underlying technology was lost when the empire fell, thousands of transmitters remained with the Grand Convoys. After the formation of the Alliance of Five Powers, Biboh engineers assisted in attempting to reverse engineer the system, filling in the gaps with their own ship-to-ship wave propagation technology. By the time of the Galaxy Alliance, a useable hybrid system existed; several new member races have helped to refine the technology since.

Hypertachyon transmissions operate at a base rate of roughly 5.7 light years per hour. This can be modified by passing through atmosphere, where the packets are slowed via light scattering; after escaping the atmosphere they can 'snap' back into their original configuration and continue. Due to this scattering, hypertachyon packets produce little more than a garbled mess when received within atmosphere. Planetary bases and civilian facilities must utilize an HBC relay satellite in orbit, connected to the ground by local comms.

The primary use of HBC systems is communication between space stations and nearby planets, or ships and space stations. All known HBC systems require a fixed point as a destination. As such, they are only situationally useful for transmitting to active vessels. A ship wishing to hold a two-way communication via HBC will typically indicate that they are either holding position or moving directly towards the other party, and thus able to receive a return message. Otherwise, HBC transmissions from ships are assumed to be one-way. These are generally routine operational messages; due to their long travel time and relatively unsecure nature, Alliance policy prohibits sending reports or other sensitive information via HBC except in emergencies.

Subspace communications are the Alliance's fastest and longest-ranged system, based on technology originally devised by the Akese. They function by sending laser transmission through a subspace channel, also known as a pinpoint wormhole. These channels operate on the principle of relative spacetime conjoinment, an Akesian theory similar to quantum entanglement. Essentially, all subspace relays on a network are connected on a fifth-dimensional level, permitting messages to be sent over an effective space of mere inches to cover hundreds of light years in an instant.

Though the actual transmission takes only a fraction of a second, subspace relays have several complicating factors. The equipment required is both huge—a single 'compact model' generator is the size of a small house—and delicate, not to mention prohibitively expensive. Generating the subspace channel is a process requiring several minutes and an enormous amount of energy on the transmitting side. The channel itself is unstable and collapses after slightly less than a second, at which point the generator must spend several hours recharging. A receiver assembly has minimal power draw and no recharge time, but a syncing period with the transmitting relay requires both sides to be stationary.

Due to their size and power draw, only large starships or fixed sites can support a subspace relay; due to the limitations of the channel, transmission volume is strictly limited. To maximize efficiency, Alliance-operated subspace facilities limit transmissions to text with basic formatting, except for in cases of military necessity. Some of the rare civilian subspace networks permit more complex data, though it tends to be very costly. Alliance facilities will transmit civilian data when they have the capacity to do so, but military and government transmissions take priority, making them unpredictable and unreliable for civilian use.

A typical ground site subspace relay consists of a hub—the transmission chamber—attached to one or more generators. Depending on the traffic at the location, up to a dozen generators may be used. The receiver assembly is at the bottom of the transmission chamber, which is programmed with multiple terminus points; each time a new subspace channel begins to form, the chamber automatically recalibrates to the next terminus, ensuring multiple messages can be sent and received simultaneously without the channels colliding. (Channel collision is not dangerous, but does hopelessly scramble the messages.) Starship relays usually include five to ten terminus points; only Unity-class flag dreadnoughts and Semaphore-class communications cruisers carry multiple generators.

Like HBC systems, subspace communications with a moving vessel have extra complications, in this case due to the need for a stationary target while syncing. Usually a subspace-capable ship will depart with a prearranged schedule of 'reception stops' in case its home base needs to make contact. Being impossible to intercept, subspace comms are the Alliance's required manner of relaying any sensitive information between ships, stations, and planets.

A fifth theoretical category exists: Planar communications. As of this report, no known communications technology can reach a ship inside of hyperspace, or indeed any other extraspatial plane. Options based on planar scanners and more esoteric theories are being researched by several Alliance-funded programs, but none have yet borne results.

(On the Hunt) Chapter 20

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 20

Call and Response

Tech Report: Alliance Shielding (AMAS)

History

Having been developed specifically to counter Drule weapons, Earthling refractive* armor was the original basis of Alliance damage-prevention technology. This armor used aluminum oxynitride and graphene in a specialized microlattice to scatter incoming laser fire, and a layer of reinforced photovoltaic panels underneath to absorb the scattered light into a battery for the armored vessel's use. It was vulnerable to ballistic weapons, which could disrupt the microlattice on impact, but with the Drules favoring powerful laser weaponry this drawback was seen as acceptable.

After the GA's formation, the Kolaliri integrated echo restructuring—a precursor technique to crysforging—into this armor, allowing it to 'remember' its original form. A simple energy pulse triggered by the ship's engineers could then restore any damaged microlattice to a pristine state. Later still, the Daesulos would integrate their own intelligent-reflex technology, eliminating the need for engineers to manually trigger such repairs; the armor could do so itself, drawing on the energy it had absorbed from enemy fire.

In this self-repairing form, refractive armor became nearly immune to attrition damage; only attacks which outright ripped bits of armor away would have lasting effect. It was considered the Alliance's single greatest asset in battle against Drule ships, and over time has forced the Fourth Kingdom to completely redirect several weapons programs to counter it.

Due to the effectiveness of refractive armor, shield technology was something of a niche. Several forms of shielding technology did exist, but few were particularly useful: Glis projected force barriers were unwieldy, and the knowledge of how to produce them was long since lost. Biboh pulse shields were designed for space dust and radiation, not combat. Earthling energy shields had limited absorption capacity and interfered with their own ships' weapons. The military had little interest in improving on any of these technologies, and most languished.

Despite High Command's indifference, the civilian sector still displayed some interest in shield development. Refractive armor was strictly military technology, and even primitive shields had been the difference between life and death for many cargo vessels during the original Drule invasion of human space. With the next invasion seeming inevitable, shields were in demand on civilian vessels, but without military funding the technology saw only creeping incremental improvement.

This started to change when the Kazthol joined the Alliance in 2221. Their homeworld of Skotathyr lay on the edges of an asteroid belt, and was regularly bombarded with meteors. To deal with this, the Kazthol had developed artificial atmospheric domes: layers of ionized gasses which could be deployed over population centers to burn up anything that made it through the planet's natural atmosphere. The Kazthol were happy to offer this technology to anyone who asked, and within two years nearly every major shield manufacturer had Kazthol engineers among their ranks.

Li-kari Shielding Systems produced the first working model of a shield based on this technology: the Li-kari Exo. The Exo system worked extremely well against physical objects, but was less effective than hoped against energy weapons, which tended to cause system overloads after only a few shots. It was, however, an enormous improvement over any previous system. Similar shields were soon being produced by several other companies, and the Alliance as a whole saw a modest uptick in economic activity from increased merchant confidence.

Noticing this, the Alliance Council voted to distribute some research grants to encourage further shield development. Though it was a small amount compared to what the military could have provided, it was enough to spark a new wave of innovation.

The defining breakthrough in Alliance shield technology came in 2234, when continuing efforts by researchers at Servallis Security Development partially unraveled the ancient Glis shield projectors. Integrating Glis directional force matrix technology with the Kazthol artificial atmospheric generators, Servallis shocked its competitors with the release of the Atmo-Matrix A in early 2235.

By using an outward ionic flow derived from the Glis projectors, the Atmo-Matrix shield system achieved nearly double the effectiveness against physical projectiles via a principle they called plasmatic friction. But most importantly, the system was highly effective against energy weapons, concentrating the Kazthol atmospheric shield into a permeable semisolid able to 'catch' all incoming energy. The shield's ionic flow structure would then rapidly disperse the captured energy throughout the shield, giving it far more absorption capacity before being overloaded.

The Atmo-Matrix revolutionized the shield industry almost overnight. Other companies began producing similar models remarkably quickly; it would later come out that Servallis had secretly licensed the underlying technology. Though they wanted to recoup their development costs, they believed it was inevitable that the military would need the system in time, and knew they wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand alone. By the time the licensing agreements expired, most manufacturers had begun to make their own improvements to the base design. Spacecraft shielding had become a robust industry despite being shunned by its most obvious clientele.

Servallis' prediction on that matter proved correct, though it took the better part of a century. In 2318, the Alliance's first contact with the Galra revealed the limits of their refractive armor in brutal fashion. Galra weaponry included solid-state cutting plasma and massive-bore ion acceleration cannons, both of which could tear through the Alliance's prized armor as though it were foil.

High Command, stunned and slightly panicked, immediately looked to issue contracts for military-grade shield development. A rather amused shield industry, with Servallis in the lead, offered the products they'd already been making for decades. On modern warships, refractive armor and powerful shield systems are paired to offer the most efficient and versatile protective suite possible.

*In scientific terms, "refractive armor" does not utilize refraction at all, but rather dispersion. The formal name of this armor is "Laser-Dispersive Photonic Capture and Reversal System," which was never commonly used for obvious reasons.

Function

(On the Hunt) Chapter 19

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 19

A Little Help

(On the Hunt) Chapter 18

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 18

Stress Fractures

(On the Hunt) Chapter 17

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 17

Questionable Life Decisions

(On the Hunt) Chapter 16

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 16

What Happens on Dradin…

(On the Hunt) Chapter 15

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 15

Reroute to Remain

(On the Hunt) Chapter 14

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 14

Serpent

(On the Hunt) Chapter 13

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 13

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Alliance Language

The official language of the Alliance bureaucracy and military is Common English, a dialect derived from Standard Interstellar English (which itself can be traced back to roots in Aviation English). Within the Alliance and especially the Five Sectors, where multiple dialects of English exist, it is most often referred to as Common; among non-Alliance civilizations it is almost uniformly known as English. Common English is considered one of the three essential diplomatic languages of the Orion Spur, together with Drakure (the diplomatic language of the Drule Supremacy) and Ak-Kila (the official language of the Vex-Cha Confederacy and its satellites), resulting in its dissemination far beyond the Alliance's boundaries. It is by far the most widespread of the three, largely due to two diplomatic initiatives: the Rosetta Repository and the Parikullax Accord.

The Rosetta Repository Project was established in 2209 under the theory that ease of communication, even with enemies, would be the most critical first step towards peace. The Repository itself is a linguistic database designed for ease of understanding and distribution. Alliance diplomats and scouting units offer it to any civilization they encounter, whether establishing official contact or not.

The Parikullax Accord is a treaty signed in 2268 with a race of merchant-missionaries known as the Bataxi, whose sphere of influence began to overlap with the Alliance in the late 2250s. Due to this overlap, Bataxi found their spaceport temples trafficked in large pluralities by Alliance races. The Accord signaled their official addition of Common English to their standard port signage, which had the side effect of spreading the language to worlds the Alliance had not yet visited.

Outside of official institutions, the languages of the Alliance are as widely varied as one might expect, with all member races retaining their own languages for domestic purposes. Dozens of human languages are considered widespread (defined as over 500 million native speakers) throughout the Five Sectors; many Glis languages are also widely spoken in the Atlantis and Pacifica sectors.

Bii, the language of the Biboh, is an unusual case: few species have sharp enough hearing to distinguish its subtle pitch differentiations, and fewer still have the vocal precision to replicate them. Biboh themselves, though able to rapidly learn and understand new languages, are incapable of producing other sounds. But the same strict uniformity that makes Bii so difficult for other races to speak or understand makes it quite easy for a computer to decipher. Most comm screens and datapads produced by Alliance members have Bii translation suites built in. This, in turn, leads to Bii's use as a common language in many civilian interactions, second only to Common English itself.

Tech Notes: Datapads

The formation of the Galaxy Alliance, though primarily a military endeavor, led to countless Earthling companies rushing to take advantage of the influx of new science and technology. This only intensified after the end of Operation Entente, as the Alliance's Integration Task Force began issuing lucrative contracts to encourage technological sharing, adaptation, and discovery. These contracts were also strategically awarded to kickstart the new Alliance's economy, giving larger companies more generalized mandates and offering smaller ones new unique niches. The ITF in fact instituted a policy against granting more than two contracts to any single company, no matter how large or influential.

Alphasoft, a juggernaut that had been one of the prime players in the original Alliance of Galactic Exploration, was issued one of the broadest of these mandates. Four Biboh clans and two Glis research bureaus, as well as individual Hydran, Kolaliri, and Quasnot scientists, were attached to the company. Their primary task was to develop an integrated operating system for the GA's use. Though the resulting system was and remains classified, a civilian version known as Streamline-8 was derived from it soon after.

The first device to be produced with the Streamline-8 OS was the Alphasoft DataPad, released in 2161. Advertised as both the most advanced tablet computer on the market and an invaluable resource for cultural understanding, the DataPad featured a holographic keyboard and accessibility suite, remarkable processing power, and preloaded cultural and linguistic databases for every race in the Alliance.

It didn't take long for the DataPad to become ubiquitous among the civilian population. Its basic computing functions surpassed anything any GA member had ever developed alone. The holographic accessibility systems ensured it was perfectly crafted for the physical convenience of each member race, and the proprietary databases—using information straight from the ITF—were by far the most comprehensive and well-organized available. While other tech giants, most notably Applezon and Niko-Centauri, rushed to catch up, the DataPad and its later models would completely dominate the market for a decade.

This market dominance did come with a certain price. By the time Niko-Centauri released the Ixion Pro-Tab, the DataPad's first true competitor, 'datapad' had become the standard term for any tablet computer of any sort. Alphasoft and Niko-Centauri both fought the genericizing of the trademark, to no avail, and the term datapad remains synonymous with tablet to this day.

Overview: Drule Gods

The Star of Andrynir: symbol of the Drule pantheon

What information the Alliance possesses on Drule religion comes almost entirely from diplomats on the Seventh Kingdom capital of Raltara. The Hydrans also retain some records, though they abandoned the Drule religion after developing shamanism. Each kingdom is known to handle religion quite differently, so any conclusions from these sources should be taken with a certain amount of caution.

The Drule pantheon consists of sixteen primary gods, each of which rules over a Vala'uk, or Domain, of related lesser gods. The number of lesser gods in these Domains vary wildly, though this seems to have no impact on the primary god's prestige. Each kingdom acknowledges every god, though in practice, each favors somewhere between three to six as their main benefactors.

Organized religion is uncommon among most kingdoms of the Supremacy. The Sixth and Eighth Kingdoms are the exceptions; both are considered theocracies, though they seem to implement this in very different ways. Among the other kingdoms, most organization exists among the two religious orders: priests and witches. Priests represent the 'public' face of religion, maintaining places of worship and hearing the prayers of civilians. Though educated in occult science, this is not their primary duty. Witches are more solitary scholars of religion and occult science, rarely venturing out into society. Witches found working in the public sphere are almost always an expression of favor by their patron god towards the population they serve.

Drule places of worship are called velo'kru, best translated as sacellums, which house representations of each god and offer space for prayer and reflection. The design of the sacellums is one of the few areas where Drule religion, or indeed Drule anything, is explicitly uniform across the Supremacy: though implementation varies wildly, every sacellum is a circular chamber lit in a spectrum of colors, with the location of both the colors and each god's representation being set. This configuration was apparently decreed not by the gods themselves, but by the first Drule prophet.

Prophets are those who practice the arts of both witches and priests. They are exceedingly rare, as to pursue both paths voluntarily is sacrilege of the highest order. A prophet must be charged as such by their god, and it is not an easy matter to convince their peers they have been so charged. The first Drule prophet was Andrynir the Heretic, a prophet of Xi'turi. He was a contemporary of Zarvarith the Unifier, who united the ten warring Drule kingdoms into the Supremacy; the fact that he is honored in the modern Supremacy implies he must have been allied with her, but details are scarce.

Among the Drule deities, there are both beasts and gods. Beasts represent the most ancient and primordial of forces, while gods and goddesses usually rule over more 'civilized' realms. This applies to lesser deities as well: there are beasts in the Domains of the primary gods and goddesses, representing their oldest or most unfathomable aspects.

This report lists the deities in the order they are found in the sacellums. There is, without doubt, a logic to this arrangement; Alliance analysts are simply unsure what it is. Likewise, the reader should keep in mind that all information on the Drule pantheon is fragmented and incomplete. In particular, it is almost certain we lack an exhaustive list of any Domains.

Starmap - Points of Interest, On the Hunt

Mission notes, Explorer Team 686:
The planet designation 9-XRL is according to the Vex-Cha Confederacy's stellar databases; the Alliance has no designation for this planet.
Based on the unit's research, the planet Altea is strongly believed to be somewhere within the Interior Expanse. It is most likely not in the rimward or anti-spinward border regions; no further information is known.

(On the Hunt) Chapter 12

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 12

By the Sword

(On the Hunt) Chapter 11

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 11

Threads

(On the Hunt) Chapter 10

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 10

The Hunters

(On the Hunt) Chapter 9

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 9

Among the Stars

(On the Hunt) Chapter 8

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 8

Cultural Exchange

(On the Hunt) Chapter 7

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 7

Sugar and Space

(On the Hunt) Chapter 6

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 6

Explorers Again

Tech Report: ACS Jupiter's Bolt

ACS Jupiter's Hammer Bolt

Model: CM-383-LR Vagrant

Manufacturer: Cerox-Masterson Spacefaring

Construction: 2298

Configuration: Blended wing body

Length: 417'

Height: 74'

Width (Fuselage): 247'

Decks: 4

Wingspan: 466'

Wing Sweep: 40°

Takeoff: Horizontal

Landing: Horizontal

Gravity: Internal field (inertial phase converter)

Range Classification: Standard interstellar

Engines: Aerojet Maelstrom Class 5 (4)

Directional Thrusters: RRA FlareShift Suite (16)

Hyperspace Thrusters: Delta Atomics DS274 (2)

Breach Drive: Kearney-Fushida BT2550

Backup Power: GravSol Voltaic X9

Shield Generator: Blackwood Anomaly

Armaments:

22 Dynamic Fire M71 Vulcan cannons (point defense, paired)

8 Swiftlight Complex laser turrets (point defense)

4 GA Interceptor BVRAAM launch systems

4 GA Wolfpack BVRAAM launch systems*

1 custom electromagnetic pulsar disruptor cannon*

*Not standard to ship class

Alliance History, part 3: Galaxy Alliance

Negotiations between the Alliance of Five Powers and United Alliance were swift and intense. Each side could see the importance of the other to their survival. Ultimately, the Galaxy Alliance was first formed as something of a framework to be filled in later: the Drules were an immediate concern, trade and settlement agreements much less so. AFP forces flooded into human space, reinforcing the main manufacturing worlds. A science council was formed to begin transitioning some shipyards to integrate new technology, but as a first step, simply being able to replenish their numbers was seen as the priority.

Like the Alliance of Five Powers, the name Galaxy Alliance had more than one layer: the original proposal had used the Glis word galik-sah, translating roughly to 'good fortune'. Human negotiators immediately noted the linguistic coincidence.

Most Earthlings, especially those on colonies hit hard by the collapse of supply lines, celebrated the GA's formation. A vocal few on worlds far from the front lines questioned why humanity should give up its hard-earned resources to strange aliens who hadn't even been able to save their own civilizations. Human authorities moved quickly to stifle these complaints, but only a successful campaign would truly silence the criticism. Eager for a true victory and recognizing the tactical benefits, the other races agreed when the Earthlings proposed an ambitious new goal: to push all Drule forces out of the Atlantis Sector entirely.

The GA was formed in the year 2151, by the human calendar. For the next two years they would maintain a stalemate with the Fourth Kingdom. Many of the recently designed Earthling cruisers, dubbed the Atlantis-class, began to make their way into defensive fleets. But the real key to the war effort was being quietly constructed in Earth's own shipyards. In the early days of 2154, the GA's first cooperative battleship was launched: the AWS Avatar of Alliance. Dubbed the Avenger-class, the descendents of this vessel remain one of the Alliance's most iconic warships to this day.

With the launch of the new ship came the official beginning of Operation Entente. All involved knew it would be a tall order. Though the resource and production gap had lessened, the Drules still had long-established infrastructure and supply lines that the Alliance was scrambling to build. High Command determined they had only two strategic advantages: firstly, the Fourth Kingdom did not know how far Earthling space extended, and might believe the resource gap to be even more closed than it really was. Secondly, and most crucially, the Alliance did not need to win. They only had to convince the enemy they weren't worth the losses to conquer.

(On the Hunt) Chapter 5

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 5

Expect the Unexpected

(On the Hunt) Chapter 4

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 4

Acclimatization

(On the Hunt) Chapter 3

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 3

Joining Forces

(On the Hunt) Chapter 2

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 2

Touching Base

(On the Hunt) Chapter 1

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 1

Domestic Front

(On the Hunt) Prologue

Pride: On the Hunt

Prologue

Alliance History, part 2: Alliance of Five Powers

The Alliance of Five Powers began with the Glis. Much of the origin of this ancient race is long since lost to time; in their own records, history seems to begin roughly 30,000 years ago, at the peak of the Glis Empire. The Glis were never conquerors, but built their empire through trade and alliances. Acting as science brokers among their allies, they were able to build a powerful warfleet that kept pirates at bay and kept their borders safe, but their battles were won through superior technology and firepower rather than tactics or training. This lack of skill in war would continue until the Fall: some 20,000 years ago, the Glis Empire collapsed under its own weight. Glis civilization had not been built to endure the collapse of central authority. The empire was thrown into confused panic, and former allies and neighbors rushed to devour the corpse.

Since the Glis had not been accustomed to wars of conquest, most of the myriad factions left after the Fall attempted cutthroat diplomacy as a first option, and were easy pickings for enemies using sheer force. Among those were thousands of Glis merchant-warlords who recognized the vulnerability of their own people; over millennia of fighting, these many militant enclaves consolidated though alliance and conquest into eight. The Eight Remnants eventually settled into an uneasy detente when it became clear they could not conquer each other—at least, not without leaving both the victor and victim vulnerable to any third faction. Pirates and external foes remained constantly testing the Glis borders, reduced to less than a quarter of the Empire's territory at its peak.

After over two thousand years of cold war stasis, the Kiliak Remnant made a bold grab for power. Rather than military, the move was symbolic: they renamed their capital to Gliris-Sha (or Gliris II), invoking the fallen near-mythical capital of the Empire. The response was immediate: the other seven Remnants united and fell upon the Kiliak for their presumption. To their own shock, they found cooperation much more satisfying than hostility and fear; after fully dismantling the Kiliak as a political entity, the remaining seven laid unified claim to Gliris II and, over the course of several more decades, slowly consolidated into a single Glis Remnant.

Unlike the former Empire, the Remnant would remain warlike. Though wholly uninterested in conquest, it was still fighting a nearly endless defensive war; in fact, the Remnant constantly refused offers of peace, seeing its struggle as integral to its unity and identity. This besieged mindset led to a sort of complacency in itself. When the Fourth Kingdom of the Drule Supremacy arrived, the Glis rejected their diplomatic overtures. They were seen as just another vulture to be driven from the Empire's carcass… until they obliterated the defenses of the border world of Sikril and claimed it for their own.

The infuriated Glis dispatched an assault fleet to Sikril, which swiftly became a brutal meat grinder for both sides, yet the battle there failed to stop the Drules from launching their next wave of conquest. It soon became apparent to Glis analysts that the unknown invaders had far greater resources than the Remnant possessed; while their ships were equal to the Drule vessels one on one, the Drules could field greater numbers faster. Compounding the issue was the fact that the technology and facilities to build the most powerful Glis warships had been long since lost in the Fall, despite efforts to rediscover their secrets. Their leadership was still debating the proper response to this realization when the Drules raided Gliris II and decapitated the Remnant's war effort. (To add insult to injury, they would much later learn this had been a coincidence. The Drules were wholly unaware that they had raided the capital.)

Much like what was recorded in the Fall, the Annihilation caused the rest of the Glis to collapse into panic and anarchy. Planets, fleets, and even individual ships took whatever action they saw fit to save whatever could be saved. Rushed evacuations occurred throughout the Remnant, while others opted for a last stand that would severely bloody the Drules. A few even surrendered, though no official Glis source will acknowledge this  A call was sent out for survivors to rally at the original Gliris, and ultimately four waves of refugees aboard hundreds of ships arrived there.

In orbit over their original homeworld—once a jewel of the galaxy, now a long-ruined pirate haven—the survivors made a pact that the Glis would never again be complacent victims. Instead, they would become the aggressors. Nearly every Glis soldier took an oath that so long as a single weapon remained in a single Glis' paws, the Drules would never again know peace. And thus launched what was originally known as the Glirian Crusade. Their first action was to bombard the surface of Gliris to glass, purging it of the pirates they had once feared and any hope of future habitation as a symbol of their new path.

The Glis fleet organized into four Grand Convoys: Alitra, Shiriki, Varesi, and Ka-glira. Each of them would develop a distinct culture, becoming akin to four new nations, united by spiteful rage. Each operated independently but stayed in close contact, attacking Drule forces wherever they found them, destroying as much as possible and fleeing before reinforcements could punish them. It was the Ka-glira Convoy which, some thirty years after the beginning of the Crusade, detected a large Drule fleet and arrived to find a new planet holding out against conquest.