Fourth Age of the Vaikan

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The Fourth Age of the Vaikan begins shortly after the end of the Yallvus Revolution when Rustiagon Dralla took the throne and lasts until the rise of the Karalian Empire, a period of about 6,700 years.

Drallan Federal Monarchy Era

The Drallan Federal Monarchy was built upon the remains of the Altus Empire, formerly lead by the tyrant Altus Banya. Rustiagon Dralla appointed Kauy Chugath as prime minister to reform the government into a constitutional monarchy. Regarding the founding of the DFM, few other concrete facts remain due to the long passage of time as Dralla became seen as a legendary figure. According to folklore, after Dralla proved himself in one-on-one combat against Altus Banya, the people hailed Dralla as a holy savior representing the second coming of Jamzeze. It was his destiny to guide the Vaikan to explore the heavens, and as such, the Rustiagon bloodline came to be considered divine.

Though Dralla was considered humble by many, a particularly contradicting account to his personality was uncovered. Family tree records discovered in the ruins of the Tomb of Kings showed the Dralla had more than one hundred and fifty wives whom Dralla had slept with in the span of only several days. Though his behavior contradicts the Vaikan idea of the time of faithfulness to a single companion, some believe Dralla did this out of necessity to ensure that the Rustiagon bloodline would never come close to dying out. Ironically, Dralla succeeded as even 7,000 years later, an abundance of preserved DNA survived millennia of decay and neglect of the Tomb of Kings.

Solar system exploration

Dralla’s wealth and influence lead to an ambition to explore the solar system. Though Altus Banya was actually the first to send probes into space, by the time of Dralla, the technology to mine asteroids became perfected. Within a few decades, colonies were set up on Ackarra, Pelietta, Zarenutha as well as the ice moon of Amath. After these space colonies sent minerals and other resources back to Ucharpli, the DFM experienced a golden age and technological boom. One notable cash crop was the Geolichen potato, discovered in Ackarra to be capable of surviving harsh, extraterrestrial environments.

The Drallan Federal Monarchy saw a shift towards hedonism in this time. The mass amount of wealth flowing in from other planets enhanced the lifestyles of the population. The first VR companions, a cultural staple of modern Vaikan society, were invented during this time. They took the form of one of many Dralla’s wives so that the populace could inspire to be like their king.

After Dralla’s death, his legacy would continue. A long line of Rustiagon individuals would follow.

Early interstellar exploration and the Nerisuc Incident

Main article: Nerisuc Incident

Sinister Wars

Main article: Sinister Wars

Reformation

Expansion of the Drallan Federal Monarchy

The Sinister Hegemony being the first extraterrestrials to have encountered primed them with a mindset that the galaxy was a dangerous place. From this point, the Drallan Federal Monarchy would explore the galaxy, ready to conquer opposing species. Gelda, still having the star map tattooed on her shoulder, used it to locate a jump gate that would lead to the Krizael Expanse. Additionally, they had adapted the ygsium drive from both the ruins on Pelietta as well as that of the Eghos.

Gelda lead an expedition to the Krizael Expanse to begin searching for a new home after much of their civilization in the Szon system was decimated. She would eventually settle down in the Jar system and begin efforts to start anew. They would share in the wealth of resources to help rebuild the systems of the Twin Hearts Nebula. The former homeworlds of the members of the Sinister Hegemony were turned into colonies. As FTL technology improved, more colonies in the Twin Hearts Nebula were settled. Communication and transportation still took a long time as local jumpgates had yet to be developed. The DFM did not currently have the technology at the time to reverse engineer the jumpgate that lead to the Krizael Expanse to transport large ships. However, what the DFM did figure out was how to create an FTL communication system.

To better manage the empire, the colonies in the Krizael Expanse became their own province known as the Principality of Krizael. While the Rustiagon bloodline returned to Ucharpli, a prince was appointed to lead the people in the Krizael Expanse. Numerous Dukes were put in charge of individual planets or regions of planets.

Krizael Wars

Main article: Krizael Wars

The prosperity of the DFM lasted 4,000 years. While a few new small scale spacefaring civilizations were discovered in the Twin Hearts Nebula, several new larger scale species were discovered in the Krizael Expanse. Their two chief rivals were the Utopia of the Tharadorn and the Galasuron Imperium. The DFM fought in a war over territory in the region. The nearby Garro species - who was using stone tools at the time - were uplifted by the Galasuron to use as soldiers in the war.

Fall of the DFM

As distances between colonies grew, it became more difficult to manage communication. Delays and malfunctions between the communication resulted in frequent disasters and accidental deaths. This stirred a great deal of instability among the DFM. A political schism occurred over whether the DFM should keep expanding and settling different colonies or to refine what they had already.

An extremist group called Severance had the intent of convincing the DFM to abandon their expansion. With a chain reaction EMP, they destroyed the interstellar communications network. While there were efforts to hunt down and track Severance and to rebuild the network, communicating across vast distances was next to impossible. The lack of communication resulted in Dukes seceding and fighting over resources.

Era of Dual Powers

During the Era of Dual Powers, several Vaikan civilizations begun to develop into their own estates and countries, usually consisting of only one or more solar systems.

Ramusian Socialist Republic

Main article: Ramusian Socialist Republic

A charismatic Vaikan sought to revive some of the ancient communist ideals that were once prevalent in Ucharpli's history before Altus Banya had conquered the world. Thus, a caste system was created in an attempt to rebuild the poverty stricken, isolated states the Vaikan had gotten themselves into, thus forming the Ramusian Socialist Republic. It was a highly structured, atheistic society with a capital based around Jaran.

The RSR could not unite the entire Vaikan race, but they would soon become a renowned superpower that would establish settlements in the Krizael Expanse. The development of tachyon accelerators would allow communication to become widespread.

Children of the Dhragolon

Main article: Children of the Dhragolon

Some Vaikan were bitter about the RSR's society, particularly the outlawing of freedom of religion. Several decades after the founding of the RSR, a highly religious society known as the Children of the Dhragolon rose to dominance worshiping the mythical namesake angels of death. The Children of the Dhragolon was known for its brutal crusades and bloody wars - they believe that it is their destiny to eliminate all evil. They were known and feared for their Inquisitors who served as judge, jury and executioner.

The CD would establish the planet Ner'Ackarra as its new capital, officially labeling it as a holy place.

Parsayan War

Main article: Parsayan War

As both empires grew rapidly, their bitterness only increased especially when both sides wanted to reclaim Ucharpli from the previous Dark Age. Their opposite viewpoints were not compatible, and they both failed to engage in cultural mingling. The Parsayan War would start off as a cold war, where both sides fervently developed weapons of mass destruction.

During the Parsayan War, the CD was given the edge when an alien civilization called the Galasuron Imperium attacked the RSR for attempting to colonize the Greenwater Nebula. Caught in between these two wars, the RSR ultimately collapsed, and the CD persisted, fighting with the Galasuron over the fresh new territory. Controversially, the CD committed genocide against the Galasuron for their unholy ways. Even more controversially, the CD decided to attempt to exterminate those who still supported the RSR's ideologies. Despite this, the CD did not enter a golden age. They suffered a serious financial crisis and had extreme difficulty repaying war debts.

One of the major consequences was a launching of a superweapon at Ucharpli which leveled many of the megatropoli that had stood for so long. While some cities such as Yallvus survived, the denizens of Spason for example were forced underground. Ucharpli suffered a nuclear holocaust greatly damaging the ecosystem, and large parts of the population had to migrate to other planets.

Megacorporation era

With the RSR no longer rigidly controlling the economy, some lowly private business owners from hardly notable nations seized power over the mining industry. To appeal to the CD, these nations adopted their Dhragolon religion, yet were still their own sovereign state. With the rising use of synthetics, there was a higher demand for high quality minerals. Seeking efficient places to mine, expeditions were planned for the Galactic Core, where the overall metallicity of stars increased. FTL drives became faster, and the journey to and from the Galactic Core would only take a matter of months.

As the megacorporations grew, the CD begun to decline in power and influence. These corporations soon raised private armies and overthrew the CD after they had become a weak state. There were no major superpowers to follow for the next several centuries - only numerous smaller states ruled by corporatocracies. The famous colony of Krar was also created.

However, this prosperity did not last long. As the number of trading disputes and business wars increased, stock prices crashed significantly. Many of the corporations went out of business and poverty struck the Vaikan economy.

Allied Sovereign Nations

Main article: Allied Sovereign Nations

The Allied Sovereign Nations was a powerful civilization that grew from bands of pirates, ruffians and assassins settling down. It was founded through the marriage between the leader of an assassin organization named Mylon Sutemos and the leader of an all-female spy syndicate led by Sokeja Skaista. The civilization lasted for nearly 2,000 years before it collapsed due to the unexpected arrival of the sterility plague. The resulting hysteria resulted in collapse of the government.

Sterility plague

Main article: Sterility plague

The sterility plague effectively halted all technological development for the Vaikan for about 400 years. During this dark period, other species such as the Eteno discovered an isolated colony to eventually create a version of the Vaikan that could breed again known as the Etekan. The Tokarthi, shortly before dying out themselves, chose to preserve their legacy by creating the Ashadrans by genetically modifying the Vaikan.