Amidst Innumerable Stars: [Sci-Fi Worldbuild RP] (IC)

[Apostolic Hungary]

OOC
“And there was a great war in the heavens…”-Revelation 12:7

The vast spiral of the galaxy teems with life, sustained on fragile globes of rock and water. On Earth, the heart of Galactic Civilization, this life has taken the form of advanced beings who have traveled the stars, and created the Holy Terran Empire, bringing peace to a million worlds of different cultures and even different species. But peace is a thing easily shattered. Already it is wearing thin among the civilized kingdoms and republics of the Galactic South, and resentment is growing towards the Imperial pretensions of Terra. To the East a new inhuman threat arises. And if peace had ever existed to the Galactic North of the Empire, it has long since been destroyed, buried under increasing barbarism and fanaticism. It is only a matter of time before immense hordes flood the border worlds of the Galactic Core, and force Holy War that will either forge or break a Civilization…

Rules

1. The word of the OP (Me) and Co-OP (None atm) is law.
2. No Powergaming, Metagaming, etc.
3. Be polite. Rudeness is not appreciated.
4. Be reasonable and fairly realistic.
5. Don't be too fast. Rome wasn't built in a day, and major changes do not happen overnight.

Accepted Apps:

Holy Terran Empire
Archduchy of Tyrellia
Eastern Mining Network
Kilanean League
The Divine Directorate of the Eastern Iscariot
Grand Republic of Orion
Despotate of Phocasia
Kingdom of the Northmen

Galactic Map

[Apostolic Hungary]

Holy Terran Empire, Emperor Rolan IV
Karrell VI, Cygnus Sector

The wind ripped across the wasteland tundra as a million icy daggers through the air, causing several alarms to activate in the newly landed shuttle. Already crystals of frost had formed on the shuttle's unheated surfaces, hardening in the light of the swiftly setting sun. It felt like home... if "home" was a perpetually icebound ocean world smaller than the Terran Moon. It had been too long, reflected Rolan, his August Majesty, Emperor of the Civilized Universe, since he had last seen the Jovian moon Europa. As he walked serenely down the shuttle ramp, fur-lined cloak flowing in the wind, he surveyed his loyal guard, who had served under his command the last two decades. The black and silver armor of the IV Europan Legion was especially suited to the harsh landscape of the tundra world of Karrell, and more importantly, suited to protecting their Emperor, for whom each one of them would gladly go to the grave. Behind him were his three most loyal soldiers, who were interestingly not humans, but humanoid Amphibians, the An'oro, the last remnants of whose race were relocated to Europa when their own system was destroyed in a cataclysmic nova now centuries past. There were few races more loyal to the Emperor, and no soldiers more loyal than these three. All in all only two men in the entire galaxy, the Archduke of Tyrellia, and the Despot of Phocasia had a better trained, and more loyal personal guard.

As he looked into the sky he though he saw for a moment a star flicker spasmodically. Then it faded completely from sight for a few brief seconds as it dawned on the Emperor that what he was seeing was not a star. But he had no time to reason to himself what it was for it reappeared in a brilliant burst of light and divided into ten or twenty trails of fire. All the wreckage of the starship that had not burned in the upper atmosphere impacted dangerously close to the shuttle. Then another flash of fire and smoke above them as the Europan Legion hurriedly advanced toward one of the entrances to the subterranean cities of Karrell. Through it all Rolan walked serenely, unfazed. It was paramount that his men and his subjects see him thus. Taking one last look at the darkening sky he saw the massive outline of an Imperial Cruiser arriving in the upper atmosphere, and then the heavy blast door closed and obscured his view of the battle above.

[Austria and Bavaria]

"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death." - Sun Tzu

Space was dark, darker than the blackest night. It was a deep shadow, devoid of the light, save for the small glimmer of stars or planets. But through the viewport of the bridge of the Archduke's Flagship, the Dreadnought Retributor, the view was a like blaze of fire. Trails of fire streaked through space as the Retibutor unleashed a broadside against the heretic battleship. Plumes of fire spouted from the enemy ship, it's shields failing, as the shells crashed into it's hull. Fighters twisted and turned through space, the blasts from their weapons flying like blazing needles through the sky. The planet too, was ablaze, the pair of Tyrellian siegeships having battered the planet's surface until it shattered. There would be no mercy for the heretic. This was but the first stroke in the long war yet to come, the great Tyrellian drive north. The Black Crusade had begun.

There would have been no sense in a land campaign, far too many Tyrellian lives would have been risked, and capturing the planet was never the goal, Prince-Bishop Absolon mused to himself, as he often did after a battle, analysis the tactics and the outcome, looking over flaws in the command and how to overcome them. For all the Archduke's righteous zeal against the heretic and the xenos, the battleplan had been made by the Bishop, as was his duty. The heretics have been terminated, such as is our duty. We have no right to allow them to exist, a foul blight upon the stars. Heretic worlds could in same cases be captured, if it is prudent, but there is no mercy for the unrepentant heretic, and penitent heretics were few and far between. Indoctrinated by their foul cults, nearly all would rather die than accept the true faith, and die they would, the Prince-Bishop thought as he boarded his shuttle to meet with the Archduke.

The Archduke was a stern man, stern like Iron, and sterner still after the deaths of his wife and son. But he had a fire within him, a true holy zeal that burned brighter than a thousand stars. Welcome, You Excellence. The Archduke said, greeting the Prince-Bishop. Greetings to your Most Serene and August Majesty. The Prince-Bishop replied, bowing low. Bishop Absolon then took his seat at the council of war. The Archduke was, of course, seated at the head of the table, and Bishop Absolon at his right. Fleet-Commissar Ottho of Siegfell to his left. Also attending were Exarch Franz Karol V of Ravennia, Baron Johan Markus II of Kriegsturm, and Duke Valdemar XI of Cyrenus. "Our first strike against the heretic has been a success", the Archduke began, "The fortress worls of Maleos Prime has been reduced to a ruin, it shall be turned into a foundry world for the glory of the Archduchy, to repent it's sins for eternity for produced war machines for further crusades. But now, my honored lords, soon we move to crush the heretics of this sector forever. Our might is guided by Our Lord; if God is with us, none can stand against us!" the Archduke intoned, his eyes ablaze. "Aye your Majesty," Duke Valdemar, a thin, greying man, added, "The heretics shall know our holy wrath." The Archduke allowed himself a sliver of a smile to form on his face, and continued, "Today we have witnesses the destruction of one of the mightiest heretical fortress worlds. None can withstand the fury of the devout. To your fleets, and remember that God is with you."

[Eclixia]

THE GRAND REPUBLIC OF ORION

On the bridge of GRO TWILIGHT

Admiral Kinyyk, captain of the GRO Twilight, had been tasked with a very special mission, an honour for whoever was granted the right to carry it out. Ninety-six hours ago, he was informed that he was to plot a course for planet X00K1 of the X00K system. It showed signs of life - placed within the right boundaries from its star, had oceans and water, and had oxygen in its atmosphere. Spaceships passing near the system had recalled picking up unknown signals from the planet in radio and gamma ray frequencies. This could indicate that there was someone there. Kinyyk could only wonder what the aliens could look like, or whether there would be anyone there at all to greet them. Or whether he'd be gunned down with anything from a bow and arrow to a blaster when he arrived. Only one way to find out.

The Twilight came out of warpspace, and the Admiral and his comrades on the bridge could see the planet directly in front of them, surrounded by pearly stars in the infinite darkness of space. The view was mesmerizing. Only a drop of colour in the scene, the ship was certainly out of sight of the residents of X00K. If he was planning to be stealthy he would've brought a cloaked shuttle ship on this mission. The lead ship of the Twilight class, an eight-hundred metre long titan clad in armour and wielding thermal torpedoes and ion rockets and heavy laser blasters mounted on triple turrets lining the perimeter of the ship, stealth definitely wasn't the priority when it came to designing this. But if anything, this titan would prove something to be inspired by when they finally arrived.

I would be a god!

Then, on the bridge of the Twilight, a soldier clad in a shadow suit approached the Admiral, who was looking out the window and inspecting his impeccable white officer's uniform.

'Lieutenant Wzede reporting, sir. A hundred-man team of soldiers wearing shadow gear are ready and assembled in the entrance hatch room A to await your command. We have received orders that we are to inspect the landing environment and defend you both invisible and visible. May you confirm this order?'

'Lieutenant, you are correct. I will disembark from this ship and greet whoever we find there, if anyone, in person. If we do encounter someone do not talk or say anything which might provoke a reaction.'

'Yes sir!'

And the Lieutenant and his black shadow gear turned away and turned the corner, headed back to his group.

'Wheelman, move us in closer to the planet. We will then break through the atmosphere and land wherever it is flat enough and sturdy enough to support our weight. Use the ocean if necessary.'

Wheelman was a highly intelligent AI system capable of navigating across the galaxy safely and quickly, far faster than a human mind. Upon receiving these orders, the ship dived down towards the ground, pointing towards a patch of yellowy desert on one of the continents of the planet. At the same time, the Admiral summoned another AI, Scanner, to check the ground for somewhere flat and co-ordinate with Wheelman. All was going to plan.

The Twilight continued to descend through the atmosphere, thermal shields protecting the ship from the intense heat the descent produced, the composite glass lighting up in bright red, and the ship gliding to a hover above rolling sand dunes and under a deep blue sky. How tranquil.

However, the ship continued north at four times the speed of sound, two kilometres above the surface, and found an open salt flat to land on. It came to a halt, the rumbling engines winding down and the entire ship shuddering as it came down to rest on the planet's surface, the landing gear taking the strain of the entire ship. The Admiral turned to a screen which was streaming live from a camera strapped to the head of a soldier, who was venturing out into the desert. Through the pristine connection he could hear nothing but silence as the officers around him went silent in wonder. He then noticed movement in the sand, and the black armoured arm of the soldier pointing at it with an open palm.

The scaly creature, no bigger than a blaster, beige and running on ten legs, disappeared into the sand. There was however, life on the desolate hellhole of a desert planet.
Aliens.

[Eredion]

The Admiral was in his personal quarters on his flagship, the Basilisk and going through the usual bureaucratic nightmare that is managing a fleet. Nothing special, captains whining about the crew itching for a fight, tech officers complaining that their supplies did not came in on time, cooks wanting more ingredients, some warehouse worker having accidentally dropped a not all that cheap spare part, trivial things, seeming important to the affected individual, but not to the fleet as a whole, but regardless the Admiral did his work, gave instructions to the captains and ordered new supplies.

Then his personal attendant with a nervous undertone in his voice called Kennet via the Basilisk´s com.
"Sir, the officers and captains have arrived for your appointed meeting, shall I direct them to the briefing room?"

For a moment Kennet almost thought that his work was over for the day, but duty never ends, with a strained look he answered:
"Yes, please do so. It´s not going to take long though, so don´t bring them anything too expensive to drink."
He closed the com channel got up from his seat and laid his uniform right, as he saw himself in the reflection of his window. It had a prime view on the station that serves as a home to his fleet and the green planet of Illian, when he first had his own room with a window big enough to look out from, any view blew him away, even if it was just the void of space, this view would have made him fall flat, but like with everything in life you get used to it and with ever increasing responsibility he did not have the time to admire the beauty of the Kilaean League Space. As with today, no time to linger around pointlessly, important people were waiting for their Admiral to brief them about the current situation.

The Admiral entered the briefing room and the captain of the Basilisk shouted "Admiral on Deck!" as everyone saluted.
"At ease." Alec said with a calming voice. "Please make sure the door is closed, we don´t want anything to leak from this briefing... thank you. Gentleman, I know our mean and we ourselves are waiting for a fight and with great joy I learned of the plans within the Crusader Faction on devising an invasion plan, an invasion plan of no one state less than The Holy Terran Empire, our former overlords and archnemesis." The speech was interrupted by some clapping and words of approval by some of the younger officers but Kennet could quickly raise his tone again "Now, you must realise that at this stage, the invasion plan is nothing more than rumours, that´s why it is of the utmost importance to not mention the contents of this briefing to anyone outside this room, as the element of surprise would be the critical factor in any potentially upcoming invasion and let me assure you if anyone so much whispers any of this to anyone I will find out exactly what you said and punish you accordingly. That´ll be all for the day, dismissed!"
The members of the meeting answered in a joint "Aye aye, Sir!" and left the room to leave for their respective ships or quarters.

[Irona]

Despotate of Phocasia

His Majesty and Holiness Alexander VII, Despot of Phocasia, Pope of all faithful and rightful Emperor of the Terran Empire

The Despotate of Phoncasia stretches across three hundred thousand worlds, which century's ago were among the richest in the Galaxy. Each planet now rests in the iron grip of the Phoncasia Catholic Church their wealth squeezed into it's hierarchy, dragged upwards until it reaches the Papal Despot himself, the absolute ruler of not only the body: but the mind and soul of all his subjects.

There is not appetite for dissent in the Despotate, the ruined worlds that the Church leaves as a warning are a testament to both the pointlessness of rebellion and the righteousness of the faith. As every subject knows: Who could stand against God and win? The Church maintains the masses in a state of perpetual fanaticism, their endless love directed at their Despot and Pope. Their fanatic hatred is focused on the omnipresent enemy. The people themselves suppress dissent, so effectively indoctrinated are they that the inquisition hardly has a function other than to encourage the people. The masses are led not only to direct their hatred at internal enemy's, but also against the great heretical threat that is the Holy Terran Empire and all that it stands for.

Above the normality of the masses and the lower rungs of the Church hierarchy, hidden in the complexity's of the theocratic bureaucracy important changes are taking place. The Despot's vast wealth is being poured into an expansion of the navy of a scale not seen for generations, one by one each world is having it's levy quota increased and ever so slowly the Church machinery is grinding onto a war footing. Further more the pace of colonisation north of the Despotate is rapidly increasing, with countless systems being scoured for the much needed resources to feed what many are secretly calling: A new crusade.

[Eclixia]

On the surface of the barren, desert planet...

Then, as the scaly lizard disappeared into the sand, and the landscape returned to a dead, lifeless desert wasteland, the Admiral turned and ran off the bridge in his impeccable white suit, breaking into a jog as he turned the corner and hurried into an awaiting lift, descending through the decks of the ship at remarkable speed towards the Landing Deck, an open hall where through an opened landing hatch, the desert world outside awaited, the air fresh and rich in oxygen. He continued forward from the opening doors of the lift, down the ramp and into the open, the sound of wind whistling over the dunes around him, and the harsh sun's rays beating down on him from the deep blue, cloudless sky. The heat was harsh and unbearable, and he wondered how anything could survive the brutal daytime temperatures of this hellhole. He was about to be answered, because through his communication chip, he received a notification from Scanner that the system had detected other signs of carbon-based life closing in on his position, and the soldiers around him, also receiving the message, readied their weapons to encounter the arriving creatures. They formed a protective perimeter around him, and the entire landscape went silent. Then, the Admiral heard the crunch of movement as something approached the ship, something alive. Footsteps, almost. Then, as the sound got closer and closer from within the maze of sand dunes in front of him, he saw a small figure, no larger than a child, its face obscured by a worn cloth hood and robes obscuring its entire body from the head to the feet, turn around the dune and look directly at the soldiers, who trained their weapons on the approaching creature. You couldn't see its face, nor its body, all covered up by its tattered robes. Then, it let out a hideous shriek, which continued, until a soldier fired on the creature, the bolt of his laser absorbing into the alien and killing it, instantly. It twitched as it collapsed to the floor, and then went still. He was acting on orders from the Admiral, who had no regrets when he saw the creature die and go still.

He then watched as two soldiers went up, seized the creature, rolled it onto a stretcher brought from the landing hall, and then the Admiral turned to return to his position on the bridge. His officers stared at him, unsure about what to say to the Admiral. He returned to the position on the bridge, looking out through the glass windows, considering what this planet may have to offer and what to do next. He stared through the glass at the desolate sandy landscape, and then turned to face the bridge and the crew managing the ship, the officers, the lieutenants, and the engineering crew who was at work repairing a broken server system.

'Crew of the GRO Twilight, I claim this planet as part of the Grand Republic of Orion. This planet is ours!'