The Formation of the Council
When Givos died it left a hole in the Empire that has still never been filled. She was the last of the Bellators, the end of the Martian line, the last Emperor. Fortunately, the Gods did not abandon the Empire, for it was guided by the great General Marcus Antonius Primus. At the time of Givos' death, he did not hesitate to spring into action, for he knew a power struggle could tear the Imperial realm apart. Primus ordered his legions to seize Terra, and hold the Senate captive until they could figure out what was to be done with the Empire.
The General made it known he did not want to become the new Emperor and that is occupation of Terra was to prevent the other Generals from fighting over it, and trying to seize power, but the other Generals were already gearing up to go to war with Primus. The Senate understanding that Primus did not come to claim Imperial power granted him the position of Dictator until such a time that the power crisis could be solved.
It took time, but it was decided that no human was fit to fill the position of a Bellator, so the Senate determined that a council should be formed representing the various positions of the Empire. A scientific councilor, a martial councilor, the Oracle would become the cultural councilor, and the business sector would elect a economic councilor. The Senate would still exist and come up with the laws, and various decisions, but it would all have to pass through the council.
It was almost a decade before the terms of the council were decided upon, and in that time Primus had declared Martial law throughout the Empire. Depending on who you ask this is considered either the greatest act of Primus or the worst. While it brought order to the chaos that the Imperial holdings had fallen into, it also led to the Demeter riots, where two hundred Imperial citizens lost their lives.
While martial law has never been lifted in the Empire since the time of Primus, the military has a special division that acts as a police force in all the Imperial worlds. The Vigilum were established to be the internal security of the Empire, and so far, it has worked for the Empire.
Contact
Although it seems like it was long ago, the Empire is still seen as a newcomer on the Galactic stage by some species. In the eighth century when the Empire first encountered a council species it was not exactly what some would consider peaceful contact. The Batarian Hegemony attacked a liburnian called the Taurus Ruber. The Batarians were quickly defeated, and the Imperial forces downloaded star maps by hacking the Batarian ships before promptly destroying them.
The V fleet was called in to teach the aliens a lesson in Imperial justice. Two systems, Anhur(formerly known as Slavston) and Bellum(formerly Glovnie) were taken by the V fleet within three days. Upon hearing of this the Citadel council intervened on the Batarians behalf and all hostilities ceased.
It was then that the Empire was invited to their Citadel for talks, but upon seeing the cursed station the Imperial ambassadors refused to set foot on it. The council intrigued that the descriptions in the Sacred Scrolls resembled the Citadel so much, obliged and talks were held on the Asari homeworld of Thessia.
Not much was accomplished in the talks. The Council refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of our scrolls or the Bellators. Although they were amazed by our plasma and pulse technology, and that we did not solely rely on the Mass Relays for our transportation around the Galaxy. Angered that they belittled the Scrolls and refused to take the threat of the Messosum seriously, we decided to continue to occupy the two systems as a form of reparations for what the Batarians did. The council in no mood for another war(having just completed the Krogan Rebellions) agreed.
The Batarians unfortunately did not agree and withdrew their Embassy from the citadel. The Empire geared up for a full scale war, but unfortunately the Batarians, cowards that they are, only sent pathetic pirate attacks into Imperial space. No Pirate vessel has ever made it past a moon of one of our worlds to this day.
This One's Religion
The only council species that took the Sacred Scrolls for what they were, were the Hanar, a species resembling Terra's jellyfish. The Hanar "stand" slightly taller than a human, although most of their height is in their long tentacles. The invertebrate, water-native hanar cannot support their own weight in normal gravity. When interacting with mainstream galactic society, they rely on contra-gravitic levitation packs that use mass effect fields. Their limbs can grip tightly, but are not strong enough to lift more than a few hundred grams each. Hanar also possess the ability to secrete natural toxins.
The Hanar homeworld, Kahje, has 90% ocean cover and orbits an energetic white star, resulting in a permanent blanket of clouds. Due to the presence of Bellator ruins on Kahje, the hanar have developed a religion centered on the ancient species, calling them the "Enkindlers". Hanar myths often speak of them as an elder race that uplifted and civilized them by teaching them language.
Due to our shared encounters with the Son's of Mars, the Hanar, and our relgious leaders had decades of debating and sharing of various religious texts, and within five hundred years our Relgions became so similar that rather than remain separate, they simply joined together. This had a major effect on the Council who had been running a smear campaign against the Empire at the time. Afraid to offend the Hanar and lose them as a council species, they opted to end their campaign against the Empire.
After the Quarian Sorrow, and the introduction of the Quarians into the Empire, the Hanar decided to follow suit and leave the Citadel council. This act angered the council who promptly renewed their defimation campaign against us.
The Hanar to this day are considered to be one of our best allies in the known galaxy.
Quarian Sorrow
The Quarian Sorrow is an event that is well known in Imperial history. Quarians are generally shorter and of slighter build than humans. Quarians have an endoskeleton, lips, teeth, and two eyes with eyelids and tear ducts; they also have three thick fingers on both hands which include a thumb, an index finger, and a long finger, similar to the middle fingers for humans, as well as three toes on each foot. Quarian facial structure and hair actually makes them the most similar to humans in physical appearance. Their lower legs are bowed backwards significantly, compared to asari or humans. Aside from hands and legs, their general body shape and sexual dimorphism is similar to humans. Male quarians, however, appear to lack a third toe. Their ears or ear analogues differ in a noticeable fashion from those of Humans. Also like Humans, their blood is red.
Hailing from the world of Rannoch, the quarians were always a technologically capable species. They created the geth around the late 1850s CE to be used as labourers and tools of war. The quarians kept their programming as limited as that of any VI, nothing close to an AI, remaining mindful of the Citadel Council's laws against artificial intelligence. But as the quarians gradually modified the geth to do more complex tasks, developing a sophisticated neural network, these changes altered the geth to such an extent that they became sentient. One day, a geth unit began asking its overseer questions about the nature of its existence.
Panicked, the quarian government ordered the immediate termination of all geth in the hopes of preventing a revolution. Many quarians did not want to oppose the geth, but were forced to give up or terminate their geth servants. After the quarian government declared martial law on Rannoch, those who sympathized with the geth were outnumbered, and an indeterminate number of them were either detained or killed. The quarian sympathizers have since been vilified by the Quarian people.
The Quarians severely underestimated the power and sophistication of the geth's neural network. The geth reacted to defend themselves, and the resulting confrontation erupted into a planetwide war. Billions of quarians died before the Empire intervened and drove the Geth back, after being refused aid by the Citadel Council.
Millions of Imperial soldiers died on the battlefields, but the Quarians were saved. Promptly the Quarians withdrew Council and were given Sancturary in the Imperial fold.
Batarian Ignavus
As the war with the Geth was ending, the Batarian Hegemony after over a thousand years finally launched its attack against the Empire. Underestimating our military might, we conquered all of their holdings within seven years of the wars beginning. Not wanting to bring them into the Imperial fold and subsequently give them senatorial power, the Empire instead installed a client state.
Balvan the Pretender was made leader of the Hegemony, and 'allowed' Imperial forces, to patrol, police, and set up fortifications throughout Batarian space, and also put restrictions upon how big their navy could be. Balvan outlawed slavery throughout the Hegemony and the punishment for its practice was crucifixion.
Many rebellions have taken place since the installation of the client state, but all have failed as the Imperial Military is the client states man supporter. In recent years the rebellions have ceased as Imperial culture has usurped the old Batarian culture in many of the major population centers.
Although no Batarian worlds are officially in the Empire, all must pay tribute to the Empire.
Terminus Crusade
When the Hegemony was conquered millions of Batarians fled to the Terminus systems as a refuge, to continue pirate and slaving operations. The Imperial Council in all its wisdom, decided to weed out these dangers, by launching a crusade of the Terminus in the 1920's CE.
It took some time to conquer the Terminus, as there was not a single unified force, but it did eventually happen. Multiple colonies were brought into the Imperial fold, but most as so minor, they are not even considered Periphial colonies, instead they are given the title of Pusillus colonies.
Omega station was possibly the bloodiest battle in the Crusade. Over twenty thousand Imperial soldiers lost their lives taking the station, but it was conquered and turned into the central Military port in the entire Terminus.
The greatest find in the Terminus was perhaps the Vorcha homeworld of Heshtok. Although still considered a Pusillus world, due mostly to politics, the Vorcha have proven to be great subjects of the Empire. Perhaps, an explanation is in order. When Heshtok was ecountered it was described as Tartarus incarnate, but the Imperial scientists saw potential in the creatures.
Abducting one hundred thousand pregnant Vorcha, the Empire proceeded to genetically modify the fetuses inside of the of them. When this first generation of Primus Vorcha were born, their intellect us enhanced and their livespan doubled. Now the Vorcha could comprehend complex ideas, and live as long as a Salarian. These Vorcha were trained for ten years in the ways of the Empire, and were then ordered to conquer their rightful home of Heshtok. They remarkably triumphed over Heshtok, and brutally put down any resistance. Rounding up any and all pregnant Vorcha females, they turned them over to the Imperial scientists to genetically modify them for the second generation of Primus Vorcha.
The Vorcha now have completed adopted the culture and ways of the Empire, from their architecture to their religion, their whole society has been civilized, and they will be great warriors in the fight against the Messosum.
Sanctuary For the Drell
Drell are omnivorous reptile-like humanoids with an average lifespan of 85 galactic standard years. Drell appearance is very similar to asari and humans, but their muscle tissue is slightly denser, giving them a wiry strength. They appear to have five fingers on each hand, albeit the ring and middle fingers are fused. Their skin is apparently infused with a venom mild enough to be served in drinks, and may cause mild hallucinations on "oral contact". They also have two sets of eyelids, akin to the nictitating membrane possessed by certain animals such as reptiles. The inner lid is milky-white and closes from the left and right, while the outer lid is black and closes from top and bottom. Much like humans or asari, drell possess the ability to shed tears.
Sexual dimorphism among drell appears to be roughly analogous to humans. Females have breastlike protrusions, and their head "frills" are more pronounced than males'. The drell possess eidetic memory, an adaptation to a world where they must remember the location of every necessary resource (vegetation, drinkable water and prey migration paths) across vast distances. The memories are so strong that an external stimulus can trigger a powerful memory recall. These recalls are so vivid and detailed that some drell may mistake it for reality.
The Drell ancestors emerged from dry, rocky deserts on the barren world of Rakhana. Centuries ago, the already arid drell homeworld began its swift descent into lifelessness due to disastrous industrial expansion. At the time, the drell lacked interstellar flight capacity, and with their population bursting at eleven billion, they faced certain doom.
It was around the 1980s CE that the Empire made first contact with the Drell race. In the following ten years, the Empire would transport a total of 11 Billion Drell to various worlds throughout the Empire.
The Drell relgion has blended in well to the Faith of Olympus, and most Drell do not find conflict in worshipping both their Gods, and the Gods of the Sacred Scrolls. Their Gods have also become rather popular in many Imperial holdings especially Amonkira.
Pusullis Colonies:
Altakiril:
Population: 150,000
Patron God: The Ancestors
Capitol: None
Attractions: None
Gladitorial Teams: None
A garden world on the outer edge of its star's habitable zone. The planet is largely frozen, yet it features native dextro-amino-acid-based life in its lower latitudes. These species evolved to withstand periodic freezing and compensate for the cold with spectacular population explosions during the long, mild summers.
Hardy Quarians colonized the planet.
Bekke:
Population: 20,000,000
Patron God: Elpis
Capitol: Gindes
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: The Pyjaks
A Mining world with seemingly endless amounts of precious metals. Bekke supports the second largest Batarian population of any Imperial controlled world.
Chalkhos:
Population: 50,000
Patron God: Athame
Capitol: Nevlius
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: The Commandos
Chalkhos is notable for being one of the few garden worlds in the Milky Way that is also part of a binary planet system: both it and its heavenly twin Selvos are in a stable orbit with one another in addition to orbiting the star Mil. Chalkhos's greenhouse gases lead to a hotter climate than Earth, and the solar eclipses caused by Selvos, while common, are not frequent enough to be a good solar shade.
This did not prevent a colony from springing up, largely Asari and their varying species of mates. It was far from an idyllic settlement, like many Terminus worlds, it was rife with farmers growing psychoactive substances, but aside from the maddening heat and photoperiod, it was quite habitable.
Cyrene
Population: 100,000
Patron God: Selene
Capitol: Luna
Attractions: Idmon, Ingenium university
Gladitorial teams: The Lunatics
A moon colony circling the gas giant Idmon, Cyrene is home to a large Human and Quarian population, who founded the Ingenium University, which is regarded as one of the best Engineering schools in the Empire.
Heshtok
Population: 9.4 Billion
Patron God: Alemonia
Capitol: Primus
Attraction: Old Vorcha cities
Gladitorial teams: The Nova's
The planet is highly volcanically active, leading to periodic releases of toxic gases into the air and water supplies, as well as other extreme situations that gave rise to the vorcha's legendary adaptability. Overcrowding and the extermination of most of their ecology led to a planet covered in weeds and hardy vermin.
The Vorcha did not have a recognized single government before their adoption into the Empire. In recent years colonial progams have relieved some of the pressures of overpopulation, but it is still an ongoing process, but the Vorcha Primus are determined to prove themselves model Imperial subject.
Erisas
Population: 13,000,000
Patron God: Eos
Capitol: Podentius
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: Anurans
A garden world in its last stages of habitability. While its soil still supports agriculture, its animal biodiversity has fallen to record lows, and the most successful remaining life forms are toxic blue-green algae and insect-like pest species. A large salarian colony was trying to restore biodiversity to the planet, when the Empire took control. Mineral and fuel mining remains lucrative, however, and Erisas has a thriving spaceport that refuels many ships passing through the Terminus Systems. Erisas also has the distinction of having the largest Salarian population in the Empire at 5,384,902.
Ager
Population: 2.7 Billion
Patron God: Concordia
Capitol: Fields
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: The Primus
A largely agricultural world, formerly sporting a majority Batarian population, they now only make up 11% of the population. The Primus Vorcha were given colonial rights to the planet as it was recognized that they could not thrive on the desolate Heshtok, and has recieved over two billion colonists so far.
Libertas
Population: 1,257,965
Patron God: Somnus
Capitol: Freidamantios
Attractions: Duel moons
Gladitorial teams: The Winds
A Human/Quarian colony located in the Terminus Systems. Situated on blocky terrain, its nighttime skyline is dominated by what appears to be two moons: a large one hanging overcast, and another one roughly analogous to Luna in size and brightness.
Garvug
Population: 983,761
Patron God: Gaia
Capitol: None
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: None
In 354 CE Garvug was considered a "bargain world" given to the krogan to placate them because no one else wanted to live on such a frozen rock. Technically a life-bearing world, Garvug had a small farm belt around its equator and well-insulated marine life in its seas. By the turn of the century the krogan had completely adapted, breeding hundreds of younglings per family in vast underground bunkers. By the turn of the next century Garvug's narrow strips of coral reef had been destroyed by overfishing and pollutants, and excess krogan took to the stars to find another planet to consume. Garvug was treated as an object lesson by the Citadel Council, the Krogan could not be trusted to check their own numbers. Today Garvug is a frozen wasteland home to Vorcha/Human ecoengineering efforts trying to implement sustainable agri and aqua culture practices. Hoping to make it a world suitable for future Primus Vorcha populations.
Supero
Population: 4,700,025
Patron God: Metis
Capitol: Remus
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: The Spartans
An extremely rare example of a habitable world circling a red dwarf star. Originally an independent asari colony named Esan, it was annexed by the Batarian Hegemony in 1913, causing a minor galactic incident. By 1924 the Empire took over the planet and renamed it Supero. The Asari population, grateful to be free of the Batarians, greeted the victorius Imperial forces with parades, and festivals.
a low-density world composed of rock, light metals, and a water-based crust. It is tidally locked to Fathar with a sunward "hot pole" and shadowed "cold pole". Water on the sunward side evaporates quickly, traveling over the islands of the habitable terminator zone in the form of massive fast-moving thunderstorms and finally settling as snow on the frozen dark side. There are fears that the buildup of ice cap mass on the far side may cause axial reorientation over the course of several million years.
Antiuminus
Population: 500,892,003
Patron God: Hecate
Capitol: Evenos
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: The Maniacs
A Human colony world on the edge of the frontier, situated not far from Ager. The planet was the site of one of the most apalling sites in the Crusade, a mass suicide. Millions of Batarians took their own lives rather than live under Imperial rule. Thirty two mass graves estimated to contain half a million Batarians each a located all around the planet. Due to the little fighting that took place as a result most of the Batarian architecture remains intact.
Nutus
Population: 350,000,000
Patron God: Vesper
Capitol: None
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: Destinos
Nutus is a hydrogen-helium gas giant with high nitrogen content. It had seven moons that were habitable, and roughly the size of Terra. Having so many habitable moons, Nutus is seen as anomoly. Etrat, the most populous moon, was home to a Batarian warlord Rashtek Chass during the Crusade.
Parasc
Population: 3,006,983
Patron God: Somnus
Capitol: Gadvan
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: None
A lifeless desert, Parasc was colonized soon after first contact with the vorcha. Several Asari mining corporations, working with a Siari-based charity called Mind and Hand, built settlements on the planet's surface and orbital stations. Adopting vorcha orphans from Heshtok, they raised them to live nonviolent lives and employed them in the mining industry.
During the crusade the Asari population surrendered to the Imperial forces without a single shot fired. Looking into the Asari research on the Vorcha, Imperial scientists were given the inspiration to civilize the Vorcha. Initially the Siari and their charity helped in the project, but upon finding that the Empire kidnapped pregnant Vorcha, and genetically modified their unborn children, they promptly pulled their help and support.
When the Primus Vorcha were proven to be an enormous success in civilizing Vorcha society, and their subsequent adoption of Imperial culture most of the Asari abandoned the planet, but some Siari still remain.
Talis Fia
Population: 3.8 Billion
Patron God: Plenix
Capitol: Usra Dao
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: None
A planet capable of supporting life - if that life happens to breathe ammonia. Discovered by asari explorers, the planet was used as a bargaining chip by the Citadel Council, who quickly drafted a colonization agreement with its wealthy client race, the volus. The Council would fund the volus colonization effort in return for massive trade benefits. With uncharacteristic enthusiasm, an enormous volus influx ensued, and the Council reaped the economic benefits for a dozen years before the colonization bubble burst. Today the economic good times of Talis Fia are long gone, and modern volus businesses are cutthroat operations. During the crusade all pirates on the planet were crucified to show the Volus elite what would happen to anyone who supports piracy. Talis Fia sports the largest and only Volus population in the Empire, and is the source of political headache for Turian and Imperial politicians, while the Volus are a client race of the Turians, Talis Fia was never in Citadel space.
Thunawanuro
Population: 3,769,400
Patron God: Vemblumonusaro
Capitol: Nurhemathun
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: None
A strange island of peace that was in the pre-crusade Terminus Systems, Thunawanuro is a planet of crushing gravity but abundant life. As its ponderous name indicates, it was colonized by the Elcor, who have several booming industries on the planet. Hydroelectric dams and biofuels from tough woody algae provide much of the planet's energy. Mines export uranium, thorium, and gold taken to space with generous use of mass effect fields. Of course, pirates targeted the elcor's shipping as soon as it left orbit, but when the Imperial legions occupied the planet, it destroyed all pirate fleets within the system.
Triginta Petra
Population: 35,000
Patron God: The Ancestors
Capitol: Ravennos
Attractions: None
Gladitorial teams: None
A low-density planet in comparison to Earth, Triginta Petra is also drier, with wide land masses that are largely desert. Its dextro-chirality native life has yet to make it out of the oceans, primarily producing cyanobacteria which provide a limited amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.
A handful of Quarians colonized the planet and attempted to introduce land plants. Their chief hurdle was the lack of good topsoil, which required imports and sophisticated farming practices to overcome. The farmer's maxim on Triginta Petra is "if you can last five seasons, you officially know what you're doing."
Omega
Population: 5,894,720
Patron God: Victoria
Capitol: Underworld
Attractions: Underworld
Gladitorial teams: Charon's Rowers
Originally an asteroid rich in element zero, Omega was briefly mined by the Protheans, who eventually abandoned it due to its thick, impenetrable crust. Thousands of years later, nature did what even the Protheans could not: a collision with another asteroid broke Omega in half, exposing its trove of element zero for easy mining.
A rush ensued as corporations and private individuals tried to strike it rich on Omega, and thieves and outlaws followed in their wake. As space became tight, construction of processing facilities extended vertically from the asteroid, creating Omega's jellyfish-like silhouette. To prevent future collisions, the station is ringed with enormous mass effect field generators that redirect incoming debris.
Omega was described as "the Terminus Systems' dark, twisted counterpart to the Citadel." It was a huge mining station built from the remains of a massive, irregularly shaped asteroid with twisting streets populated with homes, shops and warehouses. Omega's inhabitants were usually lawless. Territory was controlled by the strongest faction in that area and frequently changed hands, often after brutal violence.
The earliest known ruler of Omega was a turian, he controlled the station until he was killed by a krogan crimelord who ate his heart and wore his skull on his armor. The krogan reigned over Omega undisputed until the Crusade of the 1920's. After the battle for Omega, and the casualty reports for Omega came in, the enraged Imperial soldiers searched the station for the Krogan, and when they found him, they brutally crucified him in the middle of his former capitol Afterlife(Now called Underworld) his skull is still on display from the ceiling.
The headquarters of the Imperial forces, Omega is now a command center. Furthermore, it guards the Omega 4 Relay(Illegal to even fly towards or the Imperial forces will destroy your ship). It also serves as a shipyard, and refueling station.
The Empire has been commended by several influential people in Citadel space for bringing law and order to Omega.
A/N: Hello Beautiful READERS! Hope you enjoy. Notice: I am still looking for ideas technology wise, so leave an idea in a review or PM me.