Large Magellanic Cloud

The Large Magellanic Cloud (known as LMC for short) is an irregular galaxy around 14,000 lightyears in diameter. Located about 160,000 lightyears from the Milky Way Galaxy, it is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way with the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal and the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy being closer at 16 kiloparsecs and 12.9 kiloparsecs respectively.
About 1/100 the mass of the Milky Way, the LMC is estimated to contain at least 10 billion stars. It is the fourth largest galaxy in the Local Group after the Andromeda Galaxy, Milky Way Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy.
==Structure==
The galaxy is divided into five sectors: the Central Sector, the Colonial Sector, the Imperial Sector, the Harvested Sector and the Wild Sector.
In the past, the LMC used to be a barred spiral galaxy, though tidal interactions with other galaxies have distorted its appearance. A prominent bar can still be seen in the Central Sector.
==History==
Formerly, the LMC was ruled by the Zi'vani of the Empire of Skyridge, who were able to control the vast majority of the dwarf galaxy. But after the First and Second Sectus Harvest of the LMC, and the Zi'vani Civil War, the Empire of Skyridge collapsed and the Zi'vani faded out of history into a tribal society on Skyridge. The Sectus, meanwhile, insectoid invaders from the Milky Way, came to rule most of the Large Magellanic Cloud, only to be destroyed by slave revolt led by the Zi'vani and resulting in the death of all the hive queens and destruction of all known collections of their royal jelly. The leaderless Sectus collapsed into anarchy and confusion and were quickly driven to extinction, or so many assumed.
Recently, the Zi'vani have returned to the stars and are starting all over again, unaware that a small fleet of Sectus sleeper ships survived along with one of their queens, and they have been building a fleet and scouting the galaxy…
===Alternate universe===
In an alternate universe, the Large Magellanic Cloud is inhabited by the Drahoni, found in the "upper reaches" of the galaxy, Xzeron, cybernetic life-forms, and Exonoma, colonists from the Aella Galaxy, and it is threatened by the infectious Mezourah scourge.
==Notable native species==
*Zi'vani, dragon-like bipeds at the heart of the Imperal Sector, once the rulers of a powerful empire originating from Skyridge, now a shadow of their former selves starting all over again.
*Sectus, a deadly insectoid hive-mind bent on the harvesting of resources and the rulers of the Harvested Sector. Once presumed extinct after the death of their hive queen, but thanks to several forgotten sleeper ships adrift between galaxies they have returned in force and have overrun a fifth of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
*Slithari, the first civilization the ancient Empire of Skyridge made contact with, nearly extinct due to the Sectus Harvests and predation by the Hoth. Found in the Imperial Sector, relatively close to the Central Quadrant.
*Hoth, TBA.
==Non-native factions==
*Karalian Empire - The KE had initially colonized the region known as the Wild Sector as a means of evacuating civilians to a safe distance to avoid the violence of the Chaos Crisis. From the Heart and Soul Nebula, it is a 23 day journey to the LMC. After the KE collapsed, a totalitarian regime took over the isolated colony.
Category:Galaxies
Category:Irregular galaxies