Galactic Expansion Age:642
The universe has seen tumultuous times in recent years, many civilisations have risen and some have been subsumed or even annihilated, some from even the records of the largest of databases. In these times the Human Ascendancy has gained steady ground annihilating new civilizations they encounter that they believe unworthy of joining their empire, or subsuming those they do into their populace. On the other end of galactic politics the United Coalition of Species has been fighting a desperate war against a menace that has plagued them for many years now, inexorably advancing towards their innermost worlds, devastating what was once the periphery. And then there are the peoples of the Renegade Systems, a loose alliance of pirates, marauders and smugglers who have either the idiocy or the cunning to challenge the navies of the greatest civilizations. All three of these civilizations are dominated by a single uniting genome, a common ancestry that was more luck of the dice then anything else, even though they are not united in the least.
And then there are the truly alien civilizations, the Chitin the enemies of the Human Ascendancy, an insectoid race using more living ships then anything else, having forced the Human Ascendancy into a Cold war, a mutual military build up that is ready to ignite at any moment. They hold a small but relatively largely populated subsect of worlds, but one equally as small but less populated are the Zelon, an amphibian race more interested in peaceful contact and negotiations then the military build up of its neighbor the Human Ascendancy, though they would attribute their survival to their skilled diplomats, the true reason is that Ocean worlds are less desirable to the Human Ascendancy and they pose no threat to their dominion.
On the other end however are the menace that threatens the United Coalition of Species, a Mechanical armada that inexorably advances stealing the resources of every world they crush under their metal tread, continually expanding forcing the United Coalition into acts of further barbarity to stall their advance. The battle lines are bloody, and to retreat is to die and be consumed and turned into resources these seemingly terraformers can use in the pursuit of whatever their goals may be.
The Renegade Systems have few friendly neighbors but one such are the Vrilick they are scavengers, and still have strong their connections to their traditions, living more in-tune with nature then most other races. They rely on the salvaged technology of past battles and what the Renegade systems are willing to sell them, when they aren't plundering from them. But the Triumvirate, named for the three species that dominate this civilization, in a way is the only faction more concerned with economically and political infighting then the wars and machinations of other civilizations, they have connections and trade routes to all the current powers and have been able to gain strong economic influence over core systems between the major galactic players, but have become mistrusted for their dealings with the Renegade systems however no one has dared to act so far due to their economic hegemony.
The galaxy is constantly shifting and these are the stories of those three major powers, the Renegade Systems, the Human Ascendancy and the United Coalition of Species.
