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| The Conclave real-life history |
Real-life and fictional history are both presented in Standard Terran Time (STT), which equals Anno Domini (AD).
- May 2002: Chief, Seryl Cann and Varden leave the Star Wars-league LSF (Last Starfighter League) after a difference of opinion regarding the course that the league should follow.
- June 2002: The plan to create a community of their own starts to take shape and a name is conceived to reflect the open and democractic structure of this new community: The Conclave.
- July 2002: Creation of The Conclave by its three Founders: Chief, Seryl Cann and Varden. The Conclave main page, forums and IRC channel are activated for its members to use.
- August 2002 – January 2003: A large variety of ideas, plans and concepts are thought out to decide what shape The Conclave could have in terms of the activities that it should support, its command structure etc.
- February 2003: In order to further improve communication, besides using ICQ and IRC, The Conclave Teamspeak server goes online and is being used more and more by CC-members.
- March 2003: The Conclave Day of Defeat server goes online, shortly thereafter followed by a Battlefield 1942 server.
- June 2003: The Houses are officially implemented into The Conclave. These are:
- Eclipse: 21st century Earth setting.
- Cala’Dai: Fantasy setting.
- La’Stale: Science fiction setting, its name being a tribute to the LAst STArfighter LEague
All members, both existing and newly recruited ones, from now on choose one out of a total of three Houses based on the setting they like best. The House-boards, avatars and avatartexts are uploaded to The Conclave forum.
- July 2003: The Conclave celebrates its first birthday as a fully grown international multigaming community with approximately 60 members.
- July 2003: Major update on The Conclave main site, clarifying the overall chain of command and structure of The Conclave. House Eclipse is the first House to have a full set of awards, which are presented to The Conclave’s members.
- July 2003: A large portion of the Dutch members of The Conclave attends the Dutch LAN Drome 2003 and manages, with over 20+ clans/communities participating, to achieve a 4th place in the Battlefield 1942 tournament.
- November 2003: The second House, La’Stale, is completed.
- January 2004: The third House, Cala’Dai, is finalized and made public.
- February 2004: The Conclave reaches a new record of 100+ members worldwide.
- March 2004: Planning for a community Constitution starts by The Conclave members Blue Warlord, Duke Raven and Lord Thunder in intensive cooperation with the Founders Chief and Seryl Cann.
- March 2004: The Conclave Unreal Tournament 2004 server goes online.
- April 2004: The Constitution is fully implemented within The Conclave as a community. The term Director replaces the original term Founder, which now becomes an honorary title. The Conclave forum is modified as specified in The Conclave Constitution and free and open elections are organized for the positions of the Senators of the three Houses.
- May 2004: The Conclave elections are held for the first time. The Senate, consisting of the newly elected Senators of the Houses Eclipse, Cala'Dai and La'Stale as elected during the first elections within The Conclave, gather for the first time.
- May 2004: The new boards for The Conclave are activated, giving new duties and responsibilities to the Directors, Senators, Ambassadors and Councillors respectively.
- June 2004: The community Code of Conduct is officially presented and implemented.
- July 2004: The Conclave attends the Dutch LAN Drome 2004 with a large portion of its Dutch members.
- July 2004: With over 110 members The Conclave celebrates its second year as an international multigaming community.
- August 2004: Due to the increasing popularity of UT2004 The Conclave starts to play wars for the ClanBase UT2004 Onslaught ladder.
- October 2004: Several features were added to The Conclave forum, most important of these being the option to create subforums and a mass emailing tool.
- January 2005: The Conclave starts the new year with 140+ members.
- February 2005: House La'Stale is replaced by a new House with a more generic science fiction setting, House Illusive.
- February 2005: The Conclave starts to play wars for Counterstrike: Source in the ClanBase 5vs5 ladder.
- February 2005: The Conclave organizes the 1st London Beermeet. Attendants are Adi, Fierce Teapot, GiddyAunt, Kaz, Old Fat Geezer and Shiner.
- March 2005: The Conclave presents its brand new main website and the database system that is connected to it, seriously facilitating member management.
- March 2005: The website and database system are updated, implementing new features such as a more extensive member profile.
- March 2005: The Conclave organizes the 2nd London Beermeet with Adi, FierceTeapot, Fliptop, Infected, Old Fat Geezer, Random, Shiner and Zulus attending.
- March 2005: The Conclave organizes the 1st Groningen Beermeet, with Blue Warlord, Chief, Downhill, Duke Raven, Meis and Seryl Cann attending.
- May 2005: The Conclave organizes the 2nd Groningen Beermeet, with Ben, Blue Warlord, Duke Raven, L3gex and Meis sharing a drink.
- June 2005: The Conclave organizes the 3rd London Beermeet. Ben, Entropy, Flashingfish, FlipTop and Random all have a drink and a laugh.
- June 2005: The Conclave organizes the 1st Manchester Beermeet, with Adi, Ben, Garfinkle, JD, Ninja-Viking, Sapphire and Serena attending.
- July 2005: With over 170 members The Conclave celebrates its third year as an international multigaming community.
- July 2005: The Conclave attends the Dutch LAN Drome 2005 with the highest number so far, 27 in total.
- August 2005: The Conclave starts to play wars for Battlefield 2 in the ClanBase ladder.
- November 2005: The 4th London Beermeet is organized with $hiner, Ben, Duke Raven, Entropy, FierceTeapot, FlipTop, Garfinkle, Infected, Kaz, Meis, MooMoo, Mrs.Ramses, Newt, OldFatGeezer, Oskar, Ramses, Random, RIP, Rotain, Starlight, Stikstofman and Zulus sharing the fun.
- February 2006: The ICE war project is beginning to take shape and is eventually presented to the community.
- June 2006: The Conclave welcomes its 200th member.
- July 2006: The Conclave attends the Dutch LAN Drome 2006 with 17 of its members. Several members also wanted to come but were sadly unavailable due to reallife restricions.
- July 2006: The Conclave celebrates its 4th birthday as an international multigaming community with 200+ members in style at Drome 2006 with cake and candles.
- August 2006: The Conclave receives a major update to its database, enabling the new Ambassador and Senator admin panels as well as brand new extended mIRC and Teamspeak guides.
- September 2006: Director Blue Warlord makes further updates to its website, which comprises a war arrangement and management system as well as a calendar.
- October 2006: The CC main page is decorated with new pictures to give it a new and fresh look.
- January 2007: The 5th London Beermeet is organized with over a dozen members from the Netherlands and the UK attending.
- January 2007: The Conclave creates a new Guild on the WoW realm of Anchindoun. The Guild "The Prophet's Quill" is replaced by "Eradication".
- February 2007: The Incubator, a project thought up by Director Kaz, comes to fruitation thus supporting members'gaming initiatives by members by supplying them with a place to set up a gaming group which can then possibly culminate in a fullfledged (Trial) Guild.
- February 2007: The Desert Foxes Guild wins the final of the secondary bracket in the SoV Battlefield 1942 tournament.
- April 2007: The first Utrecht Beer Meet takes place on the 7th of April, with 5 members from the Netherlands and United Kingdom attending. more people were interested but many had to pass at the last moment due to work/study.
- May 2007: The second Utrecht Beer Meet takes place on the 19th of May, with 12 members from both the Netherlands and United Kingdom attending. A nice dinner was organized near the beatiful canal running through the center of Utrecht, followed by a stay in an Irish-themed pub in the city center.
- July 2007: The Conclave celebrates its 5th birthday as an international multigaming gaming community on the 7th of July.
- August 2007: The Conclave attends the LAN IL31 in the United Kingdom between the 10th and 13th of August.
- August 2007: The Conclave organizes the 3rd beer meet in Utrecht on the 18th of August 2007.
- December 2007: Several mini-LANs are organized with various members attending.
- February 2008: The Conclave's chain of command system is modified. The Senate function is removed and the members'possibilities to directly communicate with the Directors and influence decisions are enhanced.
- April 2008: Several members of The Conclave attend the Dutch LAN "The Party" in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
- May 2008: A small beermeet is organized in Poland where Tondrom, Zulus and Norian spread the word of The Conclave.
- May 2008: Various CC members attend a barbeque at Manesni's house.
- June 2008: The Conclave's Ogame Guild, Galaxy Puppets, is revived and starts of with a kick as within a week 20 people join up.
- November 2008: The Conclave welcomes the new expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King, giving a new impulse to the WoW Guild.
- December 2008: The Conclave starts playing CoD5 which culminates into the formation of a new Guild called Foxtrot Brigade, that succesfully sets of on a rampage playing PCWs.
- February 2009: Various members of The Conclave participate in the revival version of the Drome LAN party, referred to as Drome 13.5
- March 2009: Several members of The Conclave get hooked on Dawn of War 2 and Left 4 Dead, leading to the formation of the We Are Angry Robots Guild.
- July 2009: The Conclave celebrates its 7th birthday as an online international multi-gaming community.
- September 2009: Various members attend a BBQ and gaming mini LAN at Xanthos' place.
- November 2009: The Conclave organizes an event in the Wzzard bar in Enschede, Netherlands, Europe.
- December 2009: The Conclave organizes a LAN at Xanthos' house in Groningen, Netherlands, Europe.
- April 2010: The Party LAN takes place in Eindhoven (The Netherlands, Europe) with The Conclave attending with various members.
- June 2010: The Summer LAN event takes place at Xanthos' house with a week full of gaming, watching films and other fun activities.
- July 2010: The Conclave celebrates its 8th birthday as an international gaming community with 200+ members and some fresh existing or newly upcoming games to play like Bad Company 2, Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.
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| The Conclave fictional history and timeline |
| 1002 STT: Possibilities for Spacelane technology discovered. |
The planet Ulinar along with Linos (foreground) and Azimos (background), two of its seven moons.
Scientists on the planet Ulinar finally, after years of dedicated and difficult labour, managed to invent and further develop a revolutionary technology. Though still in the experimental phase, this invention enabled spaceships to travel at velocities near the speed of light. This “Spacelane” technology finally fulfilled the Ulinarians’ ultimate dream: to travel amongst the stars, beyond the boundaries of their own solar system.
Some groups protested against the development of this technology. They feared that the relentless pursuit of exploration in outer space, as well as the focus on technology, would result in the corruption of the people’s minds and a decrease in the spiritual interests of the Ulinarian population. The most fanatic opposition of the new focus on deep-space exploration came from a minor religious cult known as the “Que’Lehm” or “The One Way”. The Que’Lehm regarded space as the domain of the gods and were convinced that deep-space exploration would result in the desecration of the gods’ homestead. They greatly feared that any activities in space would unleash the gods’ wrath, causing the ultimate demise of the Ulinarian civilisation. As such they fiercely opposed any plans that would lead to an increase of projects related to space exploration.
Though small at first, the Que’Lehm increased in size throughout the years by exploiting people’s fear of the unknown.
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| 1006 STT: The OGE is founded and the PoRtAl project initiated. |
A prototype PoRtAl jumpgate during one of the first trial runs on the 5th of January 1006 STT.
From 1002 STT on the next four years were used to unite all religious, cultural and social groups on the planet who, faced with a common goal, set aside their differences and united themselves into what became known as the Organisation for Galactic Exploration (OGE). Its sole purpose: to further enhance and refine the technology behind the scientific discoveries made earlier and to begin construction of so-called Powered Retroactive Adaptive Spacelanes, referred to as PoRtAlS for short. These PoRtAlS were huge gate-like structures with a diameter of several kilometers across and were designed to built up an electromagnetic field powerful enough to transport spaceships, capable of terraforming planets, across the cold vastness of space. The ships, equipped with a braincore, were sent to the planets just outside the Ulinarian solar system.
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| 1030 STT: First Ulinarian colonies founded. |
Artistic impression of a Ulinarian terraformer robot landing on a distant world.
These first planets which were visited lay just outside the Ulinarian solarsystem and, showing no signs of life, were succesfully terraformed by the automated vessels. As such the planets were made suitable for colonization and thousands of settlers arrived to build up a new life. Also, the construction of more PoRtAlS, that would serve as galactic highways to the far reaches of the galaxy, was initiated.
Although the PoRtAlS allowed Ulinarians to travel at the speed of light the longer journeys still lasted for several years. Scientists, looking forward to the further exploration of space, initiated Project Infinity. This was an ambitious undertaking which entailed the development of cryogenic stasis chambers, allowing travellers to slow down the natural processes of aging.
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| 1137 STT: Project Infinity accomplishes its goal. |
After over a hundred years of development, Project Infinity finally resulted in technology sophisticated and reliable enough to sustain human life under minimal conditions that made it a viable procedure of deep-space travel.
The journeys that were undertaken to further explore and colonize new worlds now proceeded at an increased rate due to the Infinity technology. It allowed settlers to be sent to even more distant and desolate solar-systems without any danger to either their physical or psychological well-being.
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| 1356 STT: Ideas for Project Self-reliant. |
Becoming more aware of the potentials of the technology, as devised by the scientific minds of their world, the leaders of Ulinaria drastically increased the funding of the OGE. This lead to the initiation of a project with such a profound impact upon the way space travel took place that it dwarfed even the creation of the PoRtAlS technology.
The new project involved the creation of a ship with light-speed capability, but without the need for PoRtAlS. In the years before, scientists had already experimented extensively with drone ships but had been unable to convert their sound theories into an actual working prototype. Nevertheless, strengthened by the latest successes, the Ulinarian government ordered the project to be started up again under the codename Project Self-reliant.
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| 1370 STT: Project Self-reliant is initiated. |
(upper) Prototype nuclear fusion powerplant as designed by Braka Einor.
(lower) View over the city of Dorkan from the mountains to the north of the capital.
Fourteen years after the first workable ideas involving Project Self-reliant had begun to take shape, a breakthrough in another line of science meant the true startup of this initiative. A university researcher in the capital city of Dorkan by the name of Braka Einor stumbled upon a discovery that would allow the creation of small, yet powerful new power sources. Although the primary drive behind her research was the eventual replacement of Ulinar’s nuclear and fossil-fuel reactors with low-pollution alternatives, she also recognized the impact that her discovery would have on the planet’s space-travel capabilities.
In 1368 STT a series of tests was performed with a prototype of this new line of power generators, which was based on the principles of nuclear fusion. The reactor only ran for a few milliseconds and did not produce a surpluss of energy however. In 1370 STT a second more succesful test with an improved design was conducted at the University of Dorkan. The generator ran stable for more than an hour and provided enough poweroutput for the whole surrounding urban and industrial area of the capital.
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| 1423 STT: The first prototype, the UE “Zhagata”, is constructed. |
Despite their excellent efficiency and performance, the new power sources were no larger than a cargo truck, which made them well suited for implementation in the space stations and factories that were now orbiting Ulinar. However the construction of the generators and their integration within the complex systems of the space ships proved more difficult and more costly than expected. This resulted in the decision to first build only a few of these vessels and to use the knowledge gained in the process to build increasingly better designs. The first of these prototypes was named UE (Ulinarian Explorer) “Zhataga” (“Self-reliant”), to honour the name of the project that had eventually led to its construction.
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| 1424-1428 STT: The UE “Zhagata” is put through a harsh series of test flights. |
After the construction of the first prototype, construction of the five other experimental vessels in this new generation of starships was put on hold while the UE “Zhataga” was subjected to a series of extreme tests in order to judge its reliability and performance. After four long years the new ship type, with the class designation “Explorer”, turned out to have a performance beyond the wildest dreams of its initial designers and was officially deemed reliable. The “Zhagata” was instated into the Ulinarian fleet and officially given its name on the 12th of November 1428 STT in a ceremony at the Deata’Oh shipyard in orbit sixty kilometers above Ulinar’s surface.
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| 1428-1449 STT: Construction of the five remaining ships continues. |
Explorer-class ships Naghuan’Nog and Asteras during trial runs around Phatak, Ulinar's fifth moon.
Construction of the five remaining ships continued over the next twenty-one years, each being subjected to the same rigorous testing as the prototype by a voluntary group of elite engineers and pilots. The ships were all brought into service on the 5th of January 1449 STT and were given the names “Sho-Tak” (“Devotion”), “He’Nes” (“Inspiration”), “Naghuan’Nog” (“Perseverance”), “Ghestiu” (“Endurance”) and “Asteras” (“Guidance”).
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| 1462 STT: First sign of other life forms discovered. |
Jkahata-Jhigto’ka, a national preserve.
Despite it being thirteen years after the official commissioning of the “Explorer” class vessels, it was an ordinary OGE mining barge that discovered the first signs of life on a location other than the Ulinarian home-world. The world, later named Jkahata-Jhigto’ka (literally “He Who Is About To Be Awakened”), was covered entirely by a primordial sea containing high concentrations of simple carbonic compounds in which single-celled organisms survived by carrying out simple chemical reactions.
Jkahata-Jhigto’ka, being in an early and fragile phase of development, was turned into a national preserve and only limited access for scientists was granted. As years went by, many similar worlds were discovered but none had any higher forms of life.
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| 1534 STT: First contact. |
Artistic impression of the OGE cruiser Harkonas retrieving the unidentified probe.
Ever since the discovery of alien life on Jkahata-Jhigto’ka in 1462 STT, the Ulinarian scientist community had been resolved in its belief that the discovery of another intelligent life form, or perhaps even an entire civilization, was only a matter of time. In the year 1534 STT, an event took place that shook the foundations of Ulinarian society.
The OGE cruiser “Harkonas”, while performing tests on a new missile launch system used for mining operations in asteroid fields, detected an unidentified object on its long range scanners. The object, flying only at sub-light speed, was just entering the Ulinarian solar system and, though various attempts were made, did not respond to any signals sent out by the “Harkonas”.
Interception by the cruiser revealed the object to be a small probe-like craft with only minimal shielding and engine systems. After a careful deliberation at the OGE headquarters, it was decided by the Ulinarian Directorate that the probe should be scanned for biohazards and retrieved. Subsequently, the object was brought to a secluded scientific facility on Linos, one of Ulinar’s seven moons. There, the probe was carefully examined and dismantled over the following years.
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| 1542 STT: An increase in social unrest. |
Scientists discovered the probe’s last entry to be more than a year old, suggesting its systems had malfunctioned and caused it to spin out of control and to drift into the Ulinarian solar system. As the years passed by, the scientists made slow progress on deciphering the alien codes and understanding the probe’s complex computer systems. The lack of any news update in the nine years following the discovery of the probe only served to fuel the activities carried out by the Que’Lehm to increase paranoia and chaos in the well-organized Ulinarian society. More and more people began to believe that there might be some truth in the statement of the Que’Lehm that the Ulinarian Directorate was withholding vital information about the progress of the project. The lack of any real activity by the authorities served as a confirmation to many people that the Que’Lehm indeed had a point, which resulted in a large increase in Que’Lehm support.
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| 1545 STT: The probe’s secrets are revealed. |
In 1545 STT, 12 years after its discovery, the strange probe finally was given a face. A scientist by the name of Belar Azkhog made a revolutionairy discovery when he was the first scientist to decipher a part of the code used in the probe’s computer systems. The database he discovered contained extensive amounts of information on the language of the race which had built the probe. Using this newly gained knowledge the other code in the probe’s computers could be translated and interpreted. Among the most important discoveries made was a navigational map, which showed the path that the probe had followed. It revealed that it had been underway for a total period of 23 years. Scientists calculated that with the fastest ship in the Ulinarian fleet, the UE Asteras, it would take 3 year and 2 month to get to the location where the probe was launched into space.
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| 1547 STT: A journey into the unknown. |
Just two years after the probe’s secreats had been revealed, the Ulinarian Directorate decided that an expedition should be sent to investigate and try to establish contact with the unknown race. The information acquired indicated that the race named itself “Yi’Sho” in the probe’s database. The decision caused quite a stir up in the Ulinarian parliament as the Que’Lehm had gained substantially more support in the elections which had been held the previous year. The Que’Lehm spokesmen warned that tampering with the unknown alien civilization might be the final step towards calling the gods’ wrath upon Ulinarian society and could be spelling certain doom for its population.
The Ulinarian Directorate, however, having a small majority in parliament, managed to push through the decision to launch the UE Asteras in order to seek out the Yi’Sho and to try and establish contact. The ship was fitted with modified engines and special shielding to minimize its energy output and to decrease the possibility of being detected as much as possible. Also, for the first time in Ulinarian history, energy and projectile weapons were mounted on a space-faring vessel. On the 2nd of July 1547 STT, the vessel left space-dock to start its long journey.
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| 1550 STT: Discovery of the first Yi’Sho colonies. |
Three years and two days after it was launched, the UE Asteras reported the first direct encounter with the Yi’Sho, and had been able to observe daily operations in a number of small alien colonies. These settlements appeared to be small scale mining operations comprising only a few dozen individuals, minimal detection systems and no discernible defenses.
Though the vessel had been detected a few times by the colony’s rudimentary sensor system, it had managed to escape identification by hiding in an asteroid belt as well as some of the large craters on a number of nearby moons. Tapping of Yi’Sho communications showed that the inhabitants of the colony believed that these events were the result of glitches in their systems, and this reassured the vessel’s crew that it could continue its mission without any danger.
Due to the size of the discoveries the amount and nature of the small unmanned supply rockets, which had been sent continuously ever since the vessel had left spacedock, was increased. This allowed the UE Asteras to hold its position and record more data as long as possible. The supply rockets were deemed small enough to remain undetected and had been outfitted with a sensor array to home in onto a beacon onboard the target vessel.
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| 1551 STT: Insights into Yi’Sho society. |
Sketch of the average Yi-Sho individual based on data collected by the UE Asteras.
Observing the daily routine on these small colonies showed an interesting discrepancy in Yi’Sho society. On one hand, the Yi’Sho seemed to have an aggressive tribe-like system where the decision of who should fulfill a position of influence was determined by individual physical prowess. Back on Ulinar this, along with the evidence uncovered from the probe, caused scientists to believe that Yi’Sho society was structured like a large beehive. Individuals mattered little as the Yi’Sho way of handling operations, such as seen on the various outposts, showed they were willing to do whatever it took to complete an order once given.
On the other hand the Yi’Sho was a technologically advanced species with a complex written language and a highly developed level of technology, blending mechanical, electronic and biological systems, that made for exceptionally resilient and reliable devices. This strange mix of technologies and the distinctive differences in the physical appearance of Yi’Sho individuals made it unlikely that Yi’Sho society had produced these inventions itself. This provoked the theory that the Yi’Sho were either conquerors or traders that sought whatever useful technology they could find. All this convinced the scientists who studied the data that, among the sometimes very chaotic conditions under which Yi’Sho indiduals lived, with tribal leaders constantly being assassinated by physically stronger individuals, there had to be a constant factor binding it all together. It was the only way to explain why this seemingly chaotic and violent society could have spread out so far as it had. It was at this time that the idea of a single entity, that dealt out all orders and planned and lead all operations, first appeared. Some scientists dared to go so far as to suggest that the Yi’Sho might have developed telepathic abilities.
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| 1576 STT: The Yi’Sho homeworld. |
A photograph of Dregnor, homeworld of the Yi'Sho, as sent back to Ulinar by the UE Asteras.
In the 25 years following the discovery of the first Yi’Sho colony, the UE Asteras encountered more, larger and better developed colonies and outposts. In January of the year 1576 STT, a series of transmissions between various Yi’Sho vessels were intercepted. The transmissions contained a word which, based on its frequent use in the messages, seemed very important. The word was translated into the Ulinarian word for “settlement”: “Dregnor”. The crew of the Asteras believed that the Yi’Sho were using this term to indicate their homeworld.
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| 1576 STT: Dregnor, an inhospitable place. |
Dregnor as seen from one of its moons.
Roughly two weeks after the transmissions were intercepted, one of the small probes launched by the UE Asteras pinpointed the location of the Yi’Sho homeworld. Initial scans showed the planet to be barren and inhospitable, with only a quarter of the planet’s surface being oceanic -- though with a high proportion of salt -- and the rest being covered with wastelands and volcanic regions. Futher scans showed it to have an atmosphere similar to that of Ulinar, though concentrations of ammonia and carbon dioxide on Dregnor were somewhat higher, probably due to the vast unidentified industrial complexes scattered across the planet’s surface. Some urban settlements could be identified as well, and these were shown to have the same chaotic layout as those that were seen in the previous encounters with the Yi’Sho colonies.
Despite the theory of a single entity being in overall charge of all operations, the monitoring of all Yi’Sho communications did not reveal any location of a seat of power or governmental institution. These dissatisfying results, along with the fact that the Yi’Sho technology appeared to be a mix from all sorts of types, caused some of the scientists to question their initial hypothesis. It seemed more likely to them that Yi’Sho society was built up as a hunter-gatherer society without any fixed structures or leadership.
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| 1578 STT: Contact with the UE Asteras is lost. |
In order to test their new hypotheses about Yi’Sho society, the Asteras hid behind a nearby moon and conducted scans with the vessel’s sensors directly. Sensors which were superior to those as installed on the probes used for the initial scans.
On January 3rd 1578 STT, however, misfortune dealt a severe blow to the whole Ulinarian society that would change the course of history forever. A power surge in one of the ship’s reactors caused its computer systems to malfunction, sending the vessel onto a collision course with the moon’s surface. Just seconds before all contact was lost, a last broken message was received which contained but a few scant lines: “They are like the storm, sweeping across the land. Be afraid. Be very afraid, for they do not respect the fool who stands in their way and…”
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| 1591 STT: The fuse is lit. |
Though the loss of the UE Asteras was mourned by all members of Ulinarian society, only a few at the highest level were told about the ship’s last transmission. The decision by the Ulinarian Directorate not to broadcast this last transmission publicly proved to be a disastrous mistake. On the 15th of November 1591 STT, an employee of the OGE leaked this top secret information, causing widespread panic and rioting.
The Que’Lehm, seeing this latest incident as the final piece of evidence needed to show that the government, by its deep space exploration, had angered the gods and now tried to cover up the facts. As such they demanded the Directorate to step down immediately and to organize new elections. In return, the Directorate had several Que’Lehm officials arrested for endangering planetary *security and sentenced them to several years in prison. Que’Lehm was deemed a disruptive organization based on orthodox religious beliefs and its practice was forbidden by law.
The increasing unrest in Ulinarian society led the Directorate to increase the size of the army as well as to hand out heavier weapons to security forces. All colonies received additional soldiers, droids and space fighters to monitor all traffic passing by these settlements.
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| 1595 STT: Civil war. |
In 1595 STT, during a meeting between members of parliament and the Directorate, a group of militants overwhelmed the guards and opened fire on those attending, killing several members of parliament and wounding several others. The attackers themselves were killed or captured by additional security forces rushing to the scene. Within the next few months, dozens of similar attacks were launched all over the planet and within the year civil war was raging between various splinter factions. These factions either accused one another to have carried out the first attacks or were simply created by civilians who wanted to protect themselves as they no longer had any faith in the official institutions.
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| 1602 STT: The real enemy arrives. |
Yi-Sho baseships land on Ulinar.
Twenty-four years after the loss of the UE Asteras, the long range sensor arrays on one of the outermost colonies of Ulinar transmitted live footage of dozens of large unidentified flying objects on a course for Ulinar. Shortly afterwards, the colony reported itself to be under attack by multiple aggressive landing parties and their defenses to be unable to stop them. After these distorted reports, all communication suddenly broke off.
Within several days, many colonies had been similarly overwhelmed and the evidence lead to only one possible conclusion: the Yi’Sho had found the remains of the UE Asteras and had somehow calculated the location of the Ulinarian homeworld. An interesting study topic at first, the ferocious Yi’Sho had turned into a mortal enemy that was arriving at a moment in which the turmoil on the planet had now turned into a full scale civil war.
Though Ulinar’s defensive forces fought valiantly, they were unable to stop the Yi’Sho landing ships from reaching the planet’s surface. The five remaining Explorer-class ships, which had been exploring other regions of space, were quickly called back, but by the time that they arrived most of the planet’s major cities were already under Yi’Sho control. Despite their powerful weapons, the Explorer-class vessels were fighting a desperate fight and were forced to retreat, choosing to hide themselves in a region which was known as Klagu, a desolate wasteland continuously barraged by sandstorms, and two thousand kilometers from any populated area. Hiding the ships in huge underground caves, the ships’ crews began to set up listening posts, observing enemy operations and communications.
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| 1632 STT: Draziel Urac, the coming of a prophet. |
As one of the greatest splinter factions, the Que’Lehm operated as an underground resistance group, carrying out attacks against both rival splinter factions as well as the Yi’Sho. In 1632 STT, however, a previously unheard of splinter group made itself known. An esteemed monk by the name of Draziel Urac had separated himself from his order years before due to, as he himself later described it, “….the increasing lack of disregard for others’convictions and an abundance of shortsightedness”. Along with a group of followers he had come from the high mountains to the north of the Ulinarian capital of Dorkan in order to speak before a hostile and hesitant crowd: the leaders of the other splinter factions.
Although realizing he would not be able to convince more than a few of his plans he spoke in a calm voice, explaining the vision that he had perceived while fasting for many days in a holy cave high up in the mountains. He spoke of how he had foreseen the destruction of Ulinar and its entire civilization but also reassured his audience that not all was lost. In his visions he had received directions that could help prevent such a cataclysm from taking place and which involved the coming of three Messiahs. These three extraordinary individuals would lead the Ulinarian people into battle and help them reclaim their freedom.
At the end of the meeting, Urac, in a last attempt to unite the people attending, handed out translations of an ancient Ulinarian text which described the planet Ulinar to be the exact centre of a so-called ”Multiverse” that comprises and gives access to all Dimensions, Timelines and Universes. With Ulinar as the exact center of the Multiverse it could be operated as a doorway to every other place or time imaginable. Even though all attending agreed that only by uniting all groups and military strength would they have a chance of fending off the Yi’Sho attack force, none of the important splinter group factions were willing to make any kind of concessions towards the other groups. The meeting swiftly degenerated into an argument between all splinter group leaders which eventually ended in a fight in which several dozen people were wounded.
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| 1657 STT: Fulfilling the prophecy. |
The mountains, used by the rebel factions as a staging area, to the north of the capital city of Dorkan
Although the earlier meeting in 1632 STT has ended in a failed attempt to try and persuade the factional leaders to team up subsequent similar gatherings were more successful. Draziel Urac’s following had increased over the years from a few dozen to several hundred soldiers, workers, spies and additional personnel.
Having retreated deep into the mountains to the north of Dorkan, Draziel Urac’s followers built a huge network of tunnels, rooms and hallways into the rock of a massive mountain ridge. To avoid detection and to confuse enemy scouts, many fake rooms and hallways were dug, preventing them from ever reaching the true main base of operations. Deadly traps, ranging from laser turrets to hallways which could be flooded with water or gas, were also placed all over the premises.
The main base of operations was where the true work of fulfilling the prophecy had started in order to fulfill the prophecy: a gateway which was designed by the descriptions and images that Draziel Urac received in his visions. Powered by a fusion reactor capable of generating enough output, this device would focus the planet’s energies and function as a lens that would search for and summon the Messiahs from wherever, and whenever, they were.
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| 1678 STT: Slowly loosing the battle. |
Draziel Urac as portraited by the famous Ulinarian artist Gheba Santroh in 1664 STT.
Although the Que’Lehm was the largest faction at first, it slowly began to lose followers. While some Ulinarians left because they found the Que’Lehm regime too harsh, others left after it became known that the Yi’Sho were not godlike and could be defeated using conventional weapons, when the conditions were right. The Que’Lehm philosophy that the Yi’Sho were sent by the gods to punish the Ulinarians for exploring space and thus defiling the domain of the gods was believed by fewer and fewer people. As a result, many Ulinarians joined Draziel Urac’s faction, increasing its size and influence substantially.
Despite several of the splinter factions’ efforts in fighting the Yi’Sho invaders, the Ulinarians were slowly being pushed back. By evading direct encounters, the rebel groups did manage to carry out many successful hit-and-run attacks that disrupted enemy supply lines and destroyed enemy bases, ammunition stores and fuel depots. The succes of such undertakings was also due to the detailed reports as supplied by the relay posts in the Klagu wastelands. The Yi’Sho soldiers, however, struck great fear into the hearts of the rebels by having an almost suicidal way of fighting. Loss of morale was the greatest threat that Draziel Urac was facing at this point of the war.
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| 1682 STT: Boosting morale. |
The original notebook in which Draziel Urac wrote down his plans and summaries of his visions.
To boost morale Draziel Urac carefully plotted a path which created an atmosphere of mysticism around the coming of the three Messiahs. He made sure to explain repeatedly that, after the end of the war, a new world order would arise which would need to guard the planet’s function as a portal to the Multiverse. He also started to refer to the Ulinarian homeworld as Ge’Ro, which in Ulinarian means “center of chaos”, and made sure the term reappeared on many occasions during gatherings. He subsequently introduced the term Ge-Ge’Ro, which translates to “center of balance”, and connected this transition from chaos to order with the coming of the three Messiahs. In this way, he began to change the minds of the people who were risking their lives every day and gave them a final goal to cling to. Eventually the prophecy became something closely resembling a religion, with the three Messiahs being worshipped as gods that would bring salvation to the people of Ulinar.
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| 1707 STT: The first Founder arrives. |
Footage taken by a security camera the moment Xerxes Dirwan was being summoned to Ge'Ro.
For over twenty years, technicians worked on the gateway, during which all attempts to make the machine work failed. On the 31st of May 1707 STT, however, the gateway remained stable for 34 minutes exactly, even though earlier attempts under the same conditions had resulted in failure. Half-way through the experiment, a scientist trying to calibrate the gateway detected an unusually large energy surge from a world which, according to spectroscopic readings, was mostly covered with water. The surge was so powerful it almost overloaded the system’s central computer core. Further calculations resulted in an exact location of this first subject and it was determined a summoning experiment would be attempted.
The discharge from the gateway’s main portal ring was so powerful half of the machinery was destroyed and several scientists were injured by flying debris. When the first pieces of rubble were cleared the body of a heavily wounded man, whose clothes and weapons were clearly alien, was discovered. Medical personnel rushed him to the infirmary for immediate treatment.
After the necessary medial treatment had been applied the man was identified by Draziel Urac, who had seen images of a face in his visions, as the First Founder. The man was a slim humanoid, exceptionally tall, about 2 m, and had a stern face with piercing blue eyes.
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| 1708 STT: Exchange of information. |
Xerxes Dirwan after several operations.
A little more than one year after his arrival the man, who introduced himself as Xerxes Dirwan, had recovered enough to be enlightened about the task that awaited him. The surgery carried out on him had left a few scars on his face and his left eye, which had been severely damaged in the military operation he was a part of at the time that he was summoned, had been replaced with a bionic augmentation in order to fully restore his sight.
Xerxes Dirwan answered all the questions about his world, timeline and abilities that were asked of him by the eager scientists. Xerxes described various details of his world, which had just arrived in the 21st century (STT), and referred to his world using the term “Earth” or “Terra”. Before his sudden appearance through the portal he had served for many years as the commander in charge of an elite urban warfare team. At the time of his summoning, he held the rank of Colonel in this specialist unit, named “Eclipse”. All members of the team had received extensive training in the use of firearms, heavy explosives and close combat tactics.
Surprisingly calm for a man whose world had just been turned upside down, Xerxes Dirwan listened to the members of the science team. Each of the scientists in turn, by means of stories and pleas, tried to explain the situation of their world and to persuade Xerxes to accept the role he was destined to fulfill. They explained the dire state of their daily struggle against the Yi’Sho forces and the need for someone with strong leadership qualities and military knowledge to turn the tide of the war. It was Draziel Urac himself, though, that finally persuaded Xerxes to aid the war effort. After a heated discussion between them, Draziel emerged and announced, “Welcome to your destiny, first of the Founders.” Those present during this historical event were fulfilled with the total conviction that indeed a part of the Prophecy had been fulfilled and that the tide of the war could still be turned.
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| 1713 STT: The Eclipse team is formed. |
Over the next few years, the partially destroyed gateway was repaired and calibrated just as it was during the first successful experiment. During a routine test run that Xerxes had been invited to attend, an unexpected side-effect occurred. An intense beam of white light jumped from the gateway, hitting him full on the chest, sending him sprawling and knocking him unconscious. Over the next few minutes, dozens of people poured out of the machine, continuing until the white light of the portal began to fade. Just as the gateway was about to close completely, a giant wolf leaped through, landing next to Xerxes, who was slowly coming to. The scientists scattered in fright, but Xerxes assured them that he was an old friend.
Later on, Xerxes would describe the experience as “Feeling lighter than air and being steered towards certain places on his homeworld, knowing exactly where to go and what to do.” Scientists afterwards hypothesized that the planet’s energy field may have used the man’s body and mind as a lens to focus on finding the people with the needed skills and bring them to Ge’Ro.
In 1713 STT the Eclipse team, consisting of a few dozen members, was officially formed and began carrying out missions to strike back at the Yi’Sho occupational forces. The second and even more important part of its task however was training the hundreds of resistance fighters, thus maximizing their combat efficiency. Using the detailed information of its own spy network as well as reports from the Explorer-class ships, which were still hidden in the wastelands of Klagu, the Eclipse team and all supporting forces started a series of daring sabotage missions against the Yi’Sho invaders.
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| 1717 STT: An unusual ally. |
Thor, pet wolf of Xerxes Dirwan.
One of the most unusual members of the Eclipse team was the wolf which was the last member of the Eclipse-team to be summoned through the portal. The wolf had been raised by Xerxes Dirwan as a puppy and he had given it the name “Thor” after the Norse god of thunder and lightning from an ancient Terran story.
Since no native animals that could be tamed for tracking purposes were present on the planet of Ge’Ro itself, it was decided that cells from thor would be used for an extensive cloning project. In the subsequent years, many wolves were raised and made into an integral part of the resistance groups as they were used in order to track down and hunt Yi’Sho informants, spies and saboteurs.
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| 1720 - 1737 STT: An extraordinary vision. |
With a heavy focus on training, as well as the knowledge of heavy weapon systems and explosives brought from Earth by members of Eclipse, the resistance was finally capable of launching larger counter-attacks on the Yi’Sho and dealing out some serious and decisive damage.
Then, in 1720 STT, Draziel Urac received a vision that would once again mark a monumental step in the history of the planet. One day, while being in a meditative trance, he saw three huge semi-humanoid shapes. Focusing his mind on these figures, each of which was as tall as a 15 story building, he perceived that they were not biological life-forms, but machines of tremendous size. He also received additional images that, upon awakening from his trance, he quickly noted down. They appeared to be cryptic instructions on how the machines were to be built and activated.
Over the next few years, many resources were diverted to the project to bring forth these mechanical behemoths, which by this time had become known as The Legion. Though many people wondered why so many resources, which were also desperately needed elsewhere, were being used to build these machines, the visions received by Draziel Urac filled them with a strong belief that this goal served a higher purpose. His visions also revealed that the ore for the machines’ hull components had to be excavated from the mountainous areas surrounding the capital city of Dorkan. So called Lightning Stones, gems with special properties which served as the machines’ eyes, brain cores and weapon systems were gathered and polished to make them suitable for use. The final step of the project was the creation of self-learning software, giving The Legion true intelligence, as well as a strong moral code.
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| 1737 - 1741 STT: The Legion. |
(left) Onstrictuon, part of The Legion.
(middle) Democra, part of The Legion.
(right) Trenchu, part of The Legion.
Onstrictuon, Democra and Trenchu, as the three machines that comprised The Legion were named, were activated for the first time on the 3rd of September 1737 STT, where they were given massive uploads containing the sum total of all knowledge about enemy technology, tactics and operations. The Legion was officially deemed to be fully operational on the 26th of July 1741 STT.
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| 1752 STT: The Legion tip the balance of power. |
The introduction of the first Founder as well as the addition of The Legion to the Ge’Ro resistance forces resulted in a huge boost of morale among the troops. In the subsequent 10 years the Yi’Sho were pushed back further and further by resistance counter-attacks, which had become more effective and more daring in their nature thanks to the sheer brute strength as well as the tactical ingenuity of The Legion.
On the 3rd of March 1752 STT most of the major cities on Ge’Ro were under control of the resistance forces. On the 13th of April the ultimate goal was achieved with the recapture of the capital city of Dorkan which, under Yi’Sho rule, had functioned as a major base of operations for the invasion forces.
The successes were unexpectedly short-lived, however, as large Yi’Sho reinforcements arrived within a few months. The resistance, after years of training and experience of guerilla hit and run tactics, was not yet prepared for a more defensive strategy. As a result, the armed forces were pushed back on multiple fronts, though a number of the major cities stood its ground successfully thanks to intelligent use of the urban environments in order to ambush attacking Yi’Sho forces.
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| 1768 STT: The second Founder arrives. |
By 1768 STT the situation was again desperate. Using the tactics and weapon designs of the Eclipse unit, the resistance was now able to better fend off the Yi’Sho attacks. However, an increased use of the Yi’Sho air force had begun to weigh heavier on the resistance’s defenses, particularly in the cities which were still under its control.
Since the arrival of the first Founder, Draziel Urac had often meditated upon images he hoped could lead him to the location and identity of the second Founder. Then, on the 5th of July 1768 STT just as Xerxes Dirwan and Draziel Urac were debating the strategies for the next few days, Draziel Urac went into a trance spontaneously. He stood up and quickly led Xerxes Dirwan to the hall containing the gateway.
As both men walked under the main arch of the machine, it began to glow with a blinding light. All present during the event would later state that the machine activated itself despite the fact that its power core, which was only activated upon use of the gateway, had been shut down after the summoning of the Eclipse team. As the barely distinguishable silhouettes of both men appeared from the other side of the gateway, the light slowly faded and it could be seen that they carried a body of a third man in their arms.
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| 1769 STT: Unexpected reinforcements. |
Shortly after having been summoned, the unknown man regained consciousness. Though somewhat confused at first, he regained his posture with the same remarkable speed as Xerxes Dirwan had done after his sudden summoning in the year 1707 STT. He introduced himself as Seryl Cann, a traveling Druid Wood-Elf with an unusually strong link to nature, who originated from the world of Eol. The people of Ge’Ro were somewhat frightened at first, due to Seryl Cann’s unusual greenish skin and bright green piercing eyes, but soon they began to recognize the benevolence and kindness in his character and accepted him as the second Founder.
After having the situation explained to him, Seryl Cann immediately stated he would gladly accept the task of helping to liberate the people of Ge’Ro, especially since the Yi’Sho war efforts had had such a destructive impact on the planet’s ecosystems.
In ways similar to Xerxes Dirwan’s achievements in 1713 STT, Seryl Cann managed to summon dozens of individuals from his world each of whom possessed certain abilities which could aid the people of Ge’Ro in their struggle for freedom. Among them were powerful mages, assassins, thieves and many other individuals with abilities that were helpful as well as his wolf Mamat. Schools were set up to train selected people in the mystical and dangerous ways of magic. Also, all active field operatives received additional training in assassination and stealth techniques so as to stand a better chance when being cut off from reinforcements during a mission.
The most remarkable kind of reinforcements came from a personal friend of Seryl Cann, Findecáno Míriel, who was in the possession of several silver dragon eggs at the time he was summoned. These eggs were hatched and the dragons were raised and cloned in a project very similar to the one set up for the cloning of the wolf Thor.
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| 1769 - 1802 STT: Turning the tide. |
In the 33 years following the coming of the second Founder the tide of the battle was finally turning. The reinforcements that had arrived in 1769 STT had had a significant impact on the efficiency with which targets of opportunity were destroyed and had further decreased the number of casualties. Furthermore, specially trained assassins had taken out several Yi’Sho field commanders disrupting several major Yi’Sho operations.
By this time the Yi’Sho were no longer able to rely on the numerical superiority of their ground forces but instead were heavily relying on their air force to maintain control over the areas where their troops were still stationed. Forward listening posts intercepted and jammed several Yi’Sho transmissions that seemed to be requests for reinforcements. This information strengthened the beliefs of the resistance forces that the Yi’Sho were becoming desperate and foresaw their upcoming destruction.
The silver dragons that had been trained in the years before were now fully grown and able to roam freely, tearing apart the Yi’Sho air force bit by bit with their powerful spells and breath weapons.
The mages, who had been training a select group of apprentices after their summoning to Ge’Ro, had supported other resistance troops with their very potent magic in operations of a much larger scale which resulted in the Yi’Sho being killed by the tens of thousands.
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| 1807 STT: The eye of the storm. |
After a successful campaign against the remaining Yi’Sho forces, the final decisive battle took place near the city of Ftala, 50 kilometers to the south of the capital of Dorkan. Here the remaining Yi’Sho forces clashed with the much larger forces of the resistance who outnumbered the invaders three to one. Despite their hopeless situation, the Yi’Sho fought with great brutality and ferociousness resulting in the deaths of thousands on both sides. In the end, though, the defenders were totally and utterly destroyed by the continuous barrage of artillery strikes as well as the powerful magical spells which were unleashed upon them by the mages who had been trained in the years before. The final strike however was carried out by a swarm of several dozen silver, one of which managed to launch a fireball into the Yi’Sho weapon storage facility. The result was a chain reaction of explosions that destroyed two thirds of the city’s buildings and facilities, killing all the city’s defenders as well as many resistance fighters in a hellish inferno. On the 7th of November 1807 STT what remained of the city was officially declared liberated territory.
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| 1809 STT: Explorer-class ships brought back into action. |
After the battle of Ftala the population attempted to bring order to the chaos which had been left behind by the Yi’Sho. To restore proper communication between the different regions of the planet, three of the remaining Explorer-class vessels were retrieved from the wastelands of Klagu to serve as low orbit communication satellites.
Two of the remaining ships were still in combat-ready condition and, by special request of Draziel Urac, were sent out to scout the vast recesses of space around the planet for any Yi’Sho reinforcements. To aid their cause both ships received extensive sensor array upgrades to maximize their range. Using the long-range sensors, the scans performed by these vessels indicated that various small Yi’Sho bases had been established on what used to be the Ulinarian colonies. These bases, however, seemed to only function as refueling depots as no enemy ships were detected and the general level of technology in the settlements was quite low.
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| 1810 STT: UE Zhataga detects a faint distant signal. |
Twenty months after the detection of the small Yi’Sho bases, a more disturbing discovery was made by the UE Zhataga. On the 30th of November 1810 STT, the UE Zhataga was the first Explorer-class vessel to pick up a very faint and distant signal of what appeared to constitute a large Yi’Sho fleet on a heading straight for Ge’Ro. Both ships continued to monitor the fleet from a distance while making sure to remain undetected by staying out of the range of enemy sensors. From their calculations it was determined that at its present course and speed it would arrive at Ge’Ro within two years.
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| 1811 STT: The Third Founder arrives. |
(left) Summoning of Founder Varden Dark'etre'nal
(right) The Well of Tranquility being formed.
On a cold morning on the 16th of January 1811, STT Draziel Urac received a vision in the middle of a meeting that had been called in order to discuss the steps to be taken to secure a future for the Ge’Ro people.
When coming back out of his minute-long trance, the first thing he stated was that “They will return soon.” which caused great panic among all resistance representatives present. Order was restored by Xerxes Dirwan and Seryl Cann who both stated that they had always somehow felt that this moment would come. As later told by witnesses present they stated, “Soon the final and decisive clash will take place that will determine the fate of Ge’Ro. We must now do what is needed to secure the safety of its population. But remember this: we will always be there when you need us.”
With these words, both Founders made their way to the hall containing the gateway. When the people tried to follow them the huge blast doors that allowed entry into the main room suddenly closed, locking out everybody except for Xerxes Dirwan and Seryl Cann. From behind the armoured glass, the surprised scientists and resistance leaders could see how both men connected themselves to the machine and activated the gateway. When the bright light appeared, and the silhouettes of the two Founders were still barely visible, the bodies of the men suddenly seemed to phase in and out with increasing speed. Suddenly, a white pillar of light, which was quickly increasing in size and brightness, was sent out from the gateway and hit the ceiling and nearby walls. The machinery present in the hall seemed to fade away and suddenly an immense explosion could be heard, indicating the power-core had become unstable. The magnitude of the explosion and the sheer amount of heat produced by the energy beam were so large that the heavily armoured windows partially melted and fractured causing several people to sustain minor injuries due to flying hot shards of glass.
When emergency services arrived and had extinguished several small fires, an incredible sight was revealed before their eyes. The hallway, which was located several hundreds of feet beneath the planet’s surface, had simply ceased to exist and the two Founders had simply vanished altogether. Instead, a huge, perfectly circular shaft was now visible, in which the ceiling had simply vanished. Instead of the barren rock the bright violet sky with the two suns could be seen high above their heads.
Before those present had time to take in what they had just seen a messenger ran into the remains of the gateway hall, handing Draziel Urac a notepad with the latest sensor readings. It indicated a large fleet of several dozens of capital ships had suddenly appeared out of nowhere above the planet and was now orbiting it at low altitude.
In the shaft, which ended atop Mount Umuta (old man), a historical moment took place. In a gentle but decisive tone a transmission echoed through the base’s comsystem: “This is Commander Varden Dark’etre’nal contacting the unidentified planet below. Is anyone receiving this transmission?”
As years went by the shaft slowly filled with water, which had remarkable healing and mind-expanding capacities. Scientists hypothesized that a part of the energy that bound the Founders Xerxes Dirwan and Seryl Cann to the planet’s electromagnetic field had been transferred to the surrounding cave system during the incident. The newly created water reservoir would become known in later years as the Well of Tranquillity.
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| 1812 STT: The Battle for Ge’Ro. |
Forces gathering in orbit around Ge'Ro in preparation of intercepting the Yi'Sho fleet.
The person in charge of the fleet, which had appeared after the vanishing of the other two Founders, was identified by Draziel Urac as the third Founder. Immediately after his summoning the man was informed about the latest Yi’Sho threat in great detail and, similar to the other Founders, simply listened and nodded as if he was already aware of many aspects of the situation.
The man was characterized by a serious and calm disposition and his well trained body and gracious style of gesturing and walking showed years of physical training. This was a man who looked like a bureaucrat but whose general style of leadership, when being among his men, showed him to possess a true warrior’s spirit.
Just a few weeks after being summoned, Varden Dark’etre’nal recruited the best soldiers among the resistance forces, focusing specifically on the powerful mages who had shown their value in the battle of Ftala, and ordered the three remaining Explorer-class vessels to be repaired and made battle-ready. All ships were fitted with better shielding and weaponry and added to the fleet under his command. On the 3rd of April 1812 STT, the fleet left Ge’Ro’s orbit and was set on an intercept course with the Yi’Sho fleet.
On the 5th of May 1812 STT, forward scout ships were able to spot the Yi’Sho fleet visually. The Yi’Sho, in all their arrogance, did not believe that the inhabitants of Ge’Ro could muster a force able to fend off their strike force. Most ships in the Yi’So fleet were either troop transports or smaller corvettes with only a few capital ships, mostly light corvettes and cruisers. In a fierce battle that lasted for two full days, dozens of smaller Yi’Sho ships were either seriously crippled or destroyed while the Ge’Ro forces lost three capital ships, five corvettes and a few dozen fighters.
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| 1812 - 1822 STT: Dregnor revisited. |
The Yi'Sho homeworld is shattered by the devastating impact of the PSA.
Ten years after the Battle for Ge’Ro, the fleet under the command of Varden Dark’etre’nal had been on a course for the Yi’Sho homeworld. Many soldiers had felt a strange sensation as for the first time they were now the ones on the offensive, striking at the disorganized enemy outposts and small pockets of resistance as they went along.
On the 10th of January 1822 STT, the fleet’s flagship Vengeance was the first to enter the sector of space surrounding the Yi’Sho homeworld of Dregnor. The planet’s defences proved to be no match for the Ge’Ro fleet’s heavy missile and artillery barrages, and were quickly decimated. However, the Yi’Sho were able to muster a sizeable force, consisting mainly of assault frigates and battleships, which served as their final line of defence.
In strength and numbers, the Ge’Ro fleet was outclassed two to one. Nevertheless, final victory was achieved by a number of brilliant tactical manoeuvres carried out by the able Commander as well as the enormously destructive powers unleashed by the mages onboard various ships in the fleet. The battle at Dregnor would go into the Ge’Ro history books as the most brutal space battle ever fought throughout the whole war. At the end of three days of fighting, many Yi’Sho, realizing the futility of their efforts, made suicide runs on Ge’Ro forces with their ships. Though most were destroyed, several assault frigates and battleships made it through the barrage of laser fire and missiles, crippling or destroying a large number of Ge’Ro vessels.
Then, on the 14th of January 1822 STT, in order to break the Yi’Sho’s power, Varden Dark’etre’nal ordered the armament of the Vengeance most destructive device: the Planetoid Seismic Activator, or PSA for short. In the days before the battle of Dregnor, he had studied all available data of the planet that had been gathered by the UE Asteras so long ago and had discovered an instability in the planet’s surface. When properly aimed, the PSA would destabilize the planet’s surface, cause massive earthquakes and literally tearing it to pieces. On the 14th of January, at 5 o’clock precisely, the weapon was discharged at the calculated coordinates which devastating consequences. Huge clouds of dust filled the atmosphere, obscuring most of the planet and preventing any sunlight from reaching the surface. The average surface temperature dropped by 25 degrees during the next 48 hours. Because of the weapon, a huge increase in seismic activity was observed, which resulted in mountains being flattened and seas rising to several hundreds or even thousands of meters. As a climax, a gigantic earthquake shattered a quarter of the planet’s total mass, causing it to break away from the rest as if being torn off by a giant hand.
When the seismic activities finally stopped seven days later, the planet had been turned into a virtually lifeless wasteland with the broken-off planet mass circling around the main planetoid like a small moon.
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| 1822 - 1836 STT: Free at last. |
Yi-Sho Cthul'hu-class assault frigate.
Yi-Sho Ragana-class battleship.
Upon the return of the fleet to Ge’Ro, all participants in the campaign, which had dealt the final and decisive blow to the Yi’Sho, were given a hero’s welcome. The festivities reached their peak when, during a ceremony to honour the heroes of the Battle of Dregnor, the Founders Xerxes Dirwan and Seryl Cann suddenly slowly appeared out of nowhere in an increasingly bright white light. When the light had vanished, their bodies were visible to all but they no longer looked completely human. Instead, two semi-transparent figures could be seen whose whole appearance seemed to phase in and out with every move that they made.
The Founders explained that somehow the planet had evolved into vast sentient being over a period of thousands of year and had become capable of communicating with individuals sensitive to its mysterious energy field. The planet used receptive individuals as mediums to transmit its knowledge to the inhabitants of Ge’Ro, which it regarded as its children. This field also would allow even those non-sensitive to travel to any time, dimension or universe within the system, which the Founders referred to as the Multiverse, provided that the necessary equipment and infrastructure was built according to the specifications that they would supply. The task that lay ahead of the people of Ge’Ro was to guard the planet’s function as the centre of the Multiverse and ultimately to ensure that proper balance was maintained between the light and dark aspects of all life.
Although not always visibly present, this interaction between the Founders and the planet allowed them to manifest themselves in any shape or form whenever the people of Ge’Ro needed them. After these words, Xerxes Dirwan and Seryl Cann requested Varden Dark’etre’nal to step forward. As they reached out to him, Varden’s body started to fade in and out in a manner similar to their own. Then, as the three inviduals vanished into nothingness, a small booklet fell onto the stage, which appeared to be a manifest of some sort. In the years to come, this booklet became a holy work for all people on the planet, who worked frantically to accomplish the preset goals that were described cryptically in the text.
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| 1851 - 1860 STT: Rebuilding a ravaged world. |
Guardian-class automated sentry gun.
Perimeter-class orbital defense satellite.
One of the first goals that a group of scientists, including Draziel Urac, had been able to discern from the manifest, was to rebuild and increase the size of the military infrastructure of the planet. Therefore, in the first fifteen years, huge amounts of resources were spent on various projects as described in the manifest, which resulted in great advances in spaceship technology such as hull designs, shielding as well as both offensive and defensive weapon systems. Hundreds of space fighters were built and many military academies were set up to recruit and train sufficient personnel. The Legion played a vital role in the rapid restoration of the planet’s buildings and additional infrastructure as, due to their vast intelligence and sheer brute strength, they managed to accomplish tasks all on their own that would normally require thousands of people.
This fifteen-year period would later be referred to as The Restoration and resulted in ingenious creations such as the Perimeter-class orbital defence satellite and the Guardian-class automated sentry gun.
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| 1860 STT: The Que’Lehm goes underground. |
After The Restoration, the cult known as the Que’Lehm showed itself once again. Though its following had severely decreased during the war due to the group’s extremist ideas and harsh regime, a small but very dedicated group of followers still adhered to the original ideas just as they were propagated for the first time around 1002 STT. In the newly created parliament, the Que’Lehm representatives desperately tried to persuade the other political factions and social groups that a disaster such as the one that had taken place could only be prevented in the future by giving up the space aviation technology. However, as a vast majority of the Ge’Ro population felt that it was only due to the spaceship technology, as brought along by Founder Varden Dark’etre’nal, that they had managed to survive, the Que’Lehm did not manage to increase in popularity.
On the 2nd of September 1860 STT, the last representative of the Que’Lehm lost his seat in the Ge’Ro parliament after elections had taken place. Shortly afterwards an unsigned pamphlet was found to be spread in several cities declaring that the Que’Lehm “would do whatever is needed to prevent the defilement of space by means of space exploration”. With this evidence, the Que’Lehm were officially classified as a criminal organisation whose members were to be tracked down and arrested on sight.
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| 1860 - 1873 STT: Multiple gateways built and activated. |
One of the dozens of portals built since 1873 STT.
After rebuilding and reinforcing the infrastructure and defences of the planet and all of its most nearby colonies, Draziel Urac and other scientists came with a new and even grander goal which they had discovered during their study of the Founders‘ manifest. A second section in the book contained an extensive display of calculations and schematics describing a new type of gateway that would also be able to transport individuals who were less sensitive to the effects of the planet’s electromagnetic field. This revolutionary new technique would allow individuals to be transported back and forward to every dimension, timeline and universe within the Multiverse. Dozens of portals were built on specific locations where the planet’s energy field was at its strongest.
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| 1880 - 1888 STT: Construction of The Citadel. |
Model of The Citadel
Due to the increases in military activity as well as the extensive process of recbuilding the infrastructure, a central place was needed from which all actions on the planet could be coordinated. In 1877 STT, a large schematic was deciphered in the manifest that contained the construction plans needed for the creation of a huge complex, which was referred to as The Citadel. Construction on this vast complex started on March the 14th 1880 STT and, thanks to the huge amounts of work carried out by The Legion, was finished by the end of May 1888 STT.
Featuring governmental buildings, training courses, lecture rooms, repair shops and many other facilities The Citadel was like a city all by itself, towering high above the capital city of Dorkan atop Mount Umuta and located directly over the Well of Tranquility.
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| 1888 - 1920 STT: Ge’Ro influence is spreading. |
Though the Yi’Sho homeworld had been destroyed, occasional reports were still coming in about small Yi’Sho colonies or fleets harassing Ge’Ro operations. Therefore, on the 15th of January 1920 STT, a long-term plan was set up to reclaim and expand the colonies that were lost to the Yi’Sho in the years before. As years passed by the military presence in all space sectors up to 10 light years away from Ge’Ro was severely increased with listening posts, an extensive network of recon satellites and forward defensive bases in order to offer a protection against possible small scale Yi’Sho invasions. As the Ge’Ro operations expanded further and further, the indications that the Yi’Sho might have a second, as of yet undiscovered, homeworld or at the very least still possessed significant military strength in some of the larger colonies increased.
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| 1932 - 1943 STT: The Ge’Ro armed forces flagship Haota Nusu (Juggernaut) is built. |
Artistic impression of the Haota Nusu (Juggernaut), the flagship of the Ge'Ro armed forces.
In order to stress the increased prowess of the Ge’Ro military as well as to create a symbol capable of reassuring that the people of Ge’Ro would never again have to be afraid of an invasion, the largest military project ever was initiated on the 2nd of March 1932 STT. Thirteen years later, the Haota Nusu (Juggernaut), a huge vessel of several kilometres in length mustering an enormous array of the most sophisticated weaponry and detection systems, was completed. It began fulfilling its role as a symbol of military power as the flagship of the Ge’Ro armed forces on the 15th of May 1943 STT.
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| 1968 - 1993 STT: Spacestations Xerxes, Seryl and Varden. |
(top) Spacestation Seryl, named after the second Founder Seryl Cann, as completed in 1984 STT.
(middle) Spacestation Varden, named after the third Founder Varden Dark'etre'nal, as completed in 1992 STT.
(bottom) Spacestation Xerxes, named after the first Founder Xerxes Dirwan, as completed in 1975 STT.
Apart from The Citadel, three groups had formed within the political and military structure on Ge’Ro, each living by an honour-code and using technology based on the philosophy and background of its original Founder, were in need of an orbital main base of operations.
On the 3rd of August 1968 STT, the first steps were undertaken of a project that involved the construction of three large space stations. These massive structures were larger and more complex than any other space-based structure ever built in the history of Ge’Ro. Much of the heavier equipment was lifted into space by The Legion, which had been outfitted with booster rockets and heat shields to allow for exiting and reentry of the planet’s atmosphere. The work was carried out in a number of phases and took a total of 24 years to complete. On the 16th of February 1993 STT, the last station became fully operational. In honour of the three Founders, the stations were named Xerxes, Seryl and Varden respectively.
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| 2002 STT: The Conclave is created. |
The Senate
Upon studying the last section of the Founders’ manifest, Draziel Urac revealed the final goal to be realized by the people on Ge’Ro: to establish a delicate balance throughout the Multiverse between light and dark, good and evil. The philosophy that the Founders followed and propagated was that “Good cannot exist without evil, just as a shadow cannot exist without light. Both components are an integral part of a larger system.”
In order to pursue this ultimate dream of balance throughout the Multiverse, three so-called Houses were created from the three groups that had been brought to life and had been led by their respective Founders in the years before. The Houses were officially formed and, together with additional existing governmental and military services, became part of a much larger organisation on the 7th of July 2002. This organisation was named The Conclave. Its ultimate goal was to inspire its members to work together as a team despite differences such as race or cultural background. Elections were held among the population of the planet in order to choose persons, referred to as Senators, suitable for leading each respective House and to allow all operations undertaken to proceed as smoothly as possible.
Each House was given a primary task that it needed to fulfill in order to enable the whole organisation to function properly. House Eclipse was given the task of maintaining security on all planet based operations throughout the area of space that was under The Conclave’s control as well as conducting weapons research. House Cala’Dai, which, during the war, had proven itself to be highly capable of dealing with large information streams was granted a different equally important task. It was to store all relevant data acquired by Conclave field operatives during their travels across the Multiverse as well as researche magical energies, including the planet’s mysterical electromagnetic field. Last, but not least, House La’Stale was tasked with providing security for all space based operations within The Conclave’s area of influence such as space stations, outposts and spaceships as well as the active acquiring of relevant information from enemy computer systems.
Furthermore, in order to increase the skill of House operatives in a variety of fields as much as possible, training units were created which were referred to as Guilds. These Guilds were led by persons who were referred to as Ambassadors. In addition, three wise men, who became known as the Directors, were requested to lead The Conclave as a whole and to ensure proper communication between the Houses, Guilds and additional organisational and operational structures. Finally, a court system, led by the so-called Councillors, was set up to deal with anyone violating The Conclave’s laws and moral code.
Members of the three Houses, though quite different in their origins, were inspired to let go of their fears for each other and instead learn from each other’s abilities. This in order to work together as efficiently as possible when carrying out the missions as handed to them by the Senators. To instil pride into the hearts and minds of its members each House officially requested each original Founder to act as a House protector and honourary member.
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| 2004 STT: Ge-Ge’Ro. |
The original Founders' seal as used on all official documents within The Conclave.
The rune, modelled after the original Founders' seal, as used on all CC equipment and ships.
In the night of the 2nd of May 2004 STT Draziel Urac, after having read through the final pages of the Founders’ writings, found two blank pages at the back of the manifest. When he was about to close the booklet, text was spontaneously formed, as if an invisible hand was slowly writing down the words that appeared. When the writing had ended a green seal, showing a double C appeared under the last lines of text.
The next day he made an official public announcement using the planetary communication system. He stated it was the Founders’ belief that the people on the planet had reached a state of order and balance. Therefore, the planet was hence forth to be referred to as Ge-Ge’Ro (centre of balance). By the planet’s population this day was later on named “Gheka Satala Eh” (Point of no Return) indicating their faith in the brighter future that lay ahead. All ships, equipment and clothing from now on bore the green emblem displaying the double C as a sign of unity that would lead to a better future.
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