Dau-Val'ota Covenant

## Foreign Relations

### Allies

The Gogan Imperium, Kingdom of Al'ka-Nu'we, Imperial Academy, Cult of Code, Radiant Kingdom of Chorus, Nova Terran Empire

## The Dau-Val'ota Covenant

### History

#### Ancient Era (Stone Age to Bronze Age)

The first element to the Covenant's creation was in Xith'ota Kingdom which was founded before written history in Feforia's most ancient period. They were an isolationist despotic monarchy that worshiped Xith'ota as their monolithic deity. Whilst the neighboring Shae Empire, Val Republic, and Xir Kingdom expanded, conquered and colonized, the Xith'ota Kingdom remained stagnant, a powerful state that spent its resources on development and internal growth. The powerful Shae Empire came to eclipse the others and became a threat to all. The High Priest of the Xith'ota Citadel was sent to form a military alliance between the Val Republic, Xir Kingdom, and Xith'ota Kingdom to destroy their mutual rival. This was done by convincing the other two nations that their gods were lovers in a pantheon with Xith'ota among them. With the three surrounding powers, the Shae Empire was crushed and split between them. The nations of the Val Republic and the Xir Kingdom merged to form an elective monarchy, the Val'Xir Empire, with the Xith'ota Kingdom as a protectorate.

#### Feudal Era (Early Iron Age)

Over the centuries, the Xith'ota Kingdom gave more power to the clergy as they worked with the Val'Xir Empire assimilate new tribes, conquered city states, and vassalized kingdoms into the Empire. Ultimately when the last King died without an hier, the priesthood took over state control, forming the Xith'ota Order. Although the Xith'ota Order gained more sway over the Val'Xir Empire over time, the dark politics between the eastern provinces and the western provinces worsened with every generation. Eventually the mighty Val'Xir Empire suffered a schism with the death of politically divisive Emperor. The vote for which King would replace the Emperor came to a tie, resulting in a mutual agreement of the Kings to split the Empire between the two monarchs. The two nations remained allies but distrust grew among them. Despite this, the Xith'ota Order had more power than ever, with two Emperors answering to their spiritual guidance, the Empires mutually flourished.

#### Chaos Era (Middle Iron Age)

After a millennium of internal peace and prosperity, the ruling High Priestess of the Xith'ota Order had discovered Kuakiri ruins and procured a Xith Sigil. She worshiped this artifact and it would mean her doom, as well as the doom of the Empires. She became possessed by it and decided to murder the two Emperors in a psionic assault at the Duel Palace. It then attempted to crown itself as Celestial Empress to once and for all unify the Empires under its rule, so that it may go unopposed in the pursuit of more power. It conquered two thirds of the planet, keeping conquered tribes under its psionic control while encouraging psionic ability in its most trusted lieutenants as its thrall armies swept the globe. Few were able to oppose its power and authority, most fell before the enslaved legions. Yet, in secret, the remnants of the Xith'ota Order had traveled across the world, they excavated ruins and uncovered many Xith Sigils, some empty, others full. The Xith'ota missionaries met with religious underground of every nation and began the Grand Unification, an ecumenical union of all Fefing religions under one pantheon. With every new faith attached to the Xith'ota Order, their crusader companies grew, their resources swelled. After three century of crusades of varying success, a vast army of crusaders lead by the first Templar, armed with an empty Xith Sigil broke through Imperial defenses, cut through their heartland and confronted the Celestial Empress. The daemon within her was exorcised and its rule was over. The various conquered nations retook their lands, freed from its evil clutches. However, her psionic lieutenants remained, each commanding a House of the Empire's core territories. It ended with the Seventh Crusade but the crusades had just begun.

#### Medieval Era (Late Iron Age)

Psionics spread among the Fefing nobility and clergy across the world as the remnant Houses became more tolerated over time. The Houses of Kerra and Monar knelt to Xith'ota spiritual authority after the Eighth Crusade whilst House Orran simply abandoned the heritage and loyalty to the idea of the Celestial Empress after the Ninth and Tenth Crusade. Only one House refused to do either. House Birol. After five more crusades, House Birol still stood yet remained isolated, unwilling to expand. When the High Priest of the Xith'ota Order called for a Sixteenth Crusade, not enough nations answered. The crusades were over. Although the Xith'ota Order was the spiritual voice for all of Feforia, governing a world's spiritual affairs in such a primitive time was difficult, and for the most part the nations' cults governed themselves. Without a central threat to focus on, the Xith'ota Order held less and less power over the passing centuries. Every nation was expected to adhere to the pantheon and religious tolerance even if they chose one god over the others, lest they risk a crusade. But as time passed, fewer nations took the risk seriously, only staying in line through tradition. However, this did not last.

#### Revolutionary Era (Gunpowder Age)

As Xith'ota representatives in foreign courts were gradually pushed into obscurity and unimportance over the centuries, nations began ignoring what sciences were heretical in the push for dominance in a changing world. However, the events of a single man's life would shape Feforia's history more than any other. Alchemy was among the forbidden arts that the Xith'ota had banned, the Holy Qeri Empire had been secretly working with alchemy to no avail, it seemed like a pointless science with that produced no results. However, one prominent Qeri alchemist was experimenting in an attempt to create an elixir of eternal life. He mixed sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - ultimately creating gunpowder - not that he was aware at the time. He took his mixture to the Empress of the Holy Qeri Empire during a feast and offered it to her. She lifted the cup over a candle at her table, and naturally it exploded. She lost her hand, and the alchemist was banished. After news spread, he was invited to a city in the south of House Kerra territory, a secretive organize paid handsomely for him to share his secret and create a manufactury for the powder. A mere decade passed and a revolution began, peasants who despised the ruling psionic lords were given primitive guns and the Kaol Revolutionary Republic arose. This one weapon turned a hapless peasant into a soldier, when formerly years of training were needed to form an army, now simply discipline was required. The Republic invested heavily in the sciences forbidden by the Xith'ota. They discarded Xith'ota teachings, burning their holy books, and beheaded any psionic. The clergy and the nobility were purged from Kaol society and their revolutionary war was without end, targeting every nation under the auspices of liberation. Where they could not bring war, they smugged guns in to arm the revolting peasants of foreign nations. It took but a century to undo most of the traditional monarchies and theocracies of Feforia. The future was now in the hands of the common Fefing.

#### Colonial Era (Steam Age)

As the revolution spread, the Kaol Revolutionary Republic formed the Assembly of Republics. It was a multi-national military pact where its members would join offensive wars against monarchies and theocracies whilst coming to the aid of those defending against monarchies and theocracies. In response, the Xith'ota Order established the Coalition of Crowns. The two factions would frequently fight in proxy wars over the course of decades and although at first the republics had the upper hand with the discovery of gunpowder and the invention of the gun and cannon, the traditionalists soon came to develop these technologies themselves as the Xith'ota Order lifted the ban on many forbidden sciences, however many areas of discovery were still blocked by traditionalists. Yet the republics were without this burden and continued to progress without hesitation. The Coalition focused on colonizing and clearing dense jungles at the north and south poles of Feforia, introducing the tribes in the regions to plagues that the civilized Fefings had become immune to. This colonization effort gave the Coalition a bounty of resources and benefited their economies immensely. In a desperate attempt to stay on equal footing with the Coalition, the Assembly also began colonizing the dense jungles, giving the colonies independence once they reached maturity to prevent revolutions of their own. As the centuries passed, the Coalition colonies were given arms and encouraged to join the Assembly, which lead to numerous revolutions that ultimately overwhelmed and crippled the Coalition. The ultimate collapse of the Coalition happened with the invasion of the Xith'ota Order by the Kaol Revolutionary Republic, leading to the homelessness of the Xith'ota Order and the eventual decline of the remaining kingdoms and empires.

#### Hegemonic Era (Industrial Age)

With the fall of the Coalition, the Assembly thrived for decades under peaceful cooperation and trade between republican nations. The last few monarchies were invaded, their psionic clergy and nobility executed, their people given republican governments. Eventually, Feforia was home only to republics. However, things had begun to change as culture moved from agrarian based to industrialization. The peasant died and the worker was born. This change brought about political movements which ultimately took power in their respective nations. In the end, it fractured the Assembly into three alliances. First, the Technounion of Progressive Nations, lead by the Republic of Kaol, focused on the technological and industrial progress, putting the state ahead of the needs of the citizen. Second, the Assembly of Republics was revived by die-hard democracies dedicated to the preservation of the people's rights, it was lead by the Democratic Republic of Ioh. Finally, lead by The People's Republic of Vlavi, the Syndicate of Socialist States, which focused on removing class and the empowerment of the workers. The frequent wars between these three superpowers and their respective alliances would continue on for centuries. The Xith'ota Order was previously hunted down and persecuted by the Assembly until the schism which formed the Hegemonic Era. While the Technounion and the Syndicate continued to hunt down and kill Xith'ota clergy and faithful adherents, the Assembly changed to become religiously tolerant, allowing the Xith'ota Order to form a government-in-exile.

#### Great War Era (Machine Age)

Unlike the previous eras - which often had brief and frequent wars - the Great War Era would be marked by a singular and continuous conflict which would not end until the Pacification Era. The increased conflicts between the three alliances drove scientific research until machines were created. Automatons, tanks, mechs, artillery, aircraft, rockets, all revolutionized war, each step of engineering enhanced the desire to end the Great War. The Great War was triggered when the semi-neutral city state of Kesh refused to accept Technounion fleets to dry dock for repairs. The Admiral gave the word, none would refuse the Technounion. The city state was shelled for four days continuously, until only a few buildings remained. The Assembly had given the small city state a guarantee of independence back during the fall of the Coalition and although forgotten, it was still legally binding. When word got to the Assembly, they demanded that the Technounion rebuild the city, provide aid, and pay compensation to the small state and its citizens for all the lives ruined. The Technounion denied and occupied the island, stating that they would rebuild the city state and protect it in future. The Assembly declared war for the independence of Kesh. For the first decade of the Great War, the Syndicate remained neutral while the forces of the Technounion and Assembly were entrenched and gained little ground on land. Whilst at sea, neither side was willing to risk their most advanced ships, leading to a stalemate. With the second decade of the Great War, the Syndicate had fully mobilized, invented the tank, and joined the war in an attempt to liberate the workers of the two fighting factions. The Great war would continue on with each side gaining the advantage with every invention. A century of constant bloodshed passed before the Technounion split the atom.

#### Enlightenment Era (Atomic Age - FTL Age)

With the invention of the nuclear bomb, the Technounion began mass producing weapons of mass destruction. As they invented rocketry decades before the nuclear bomb, hitting their target did not require air superiority, only for the targets to be in range of silos. It was known as the Night of Terror for while their enemies slept, the Technounion fired a total of ten atomic bombs at once. Five destined for Assembly capitals and five for Syndicate capitals. What followed was the Morning of Shame for the war was over, and the Assembly nations and Syndicate nations all surrendered to the Technounion. Threat of nuclear destruction on all those who dared declare non-alignment to Technounion ideals kept everyone in check and the secret of nuclear technology was kept by the Technounion until every nation had an army of Technounion automatons stationed in them. This held back the development of nuclear energy for decades but ensured absolute control by the Technounion. As the technology that ensured their global dominance, once they were comfortable making nuclear sciences public, they funneled the majority of their taxes into it. Soon, everything became powered by fusion reactors. They began making automatons for not just war, but labor and exploration into space. Although a despotic nation and its means of global unification violent, the Technounion soon became a paradise of technological, economic, and social freedom. Gradually, over two centuries, the Technounion became less of an alliance lead by the hegemonic power of Kaol and more of a unitary state with Kaol as its capital. Despite this unification, the Technounion continued to make nuclear weapons in fear that alien life might come to their world, or nations may defect. The Observer Program, which was used to automate space travel and exploration, was their last successful project before it all came to an end.

#### Ruination Era (FTL Age - Apocalyptic Age)

The final scientific project of the Technounion was cybernetic augmentation, which they planned to give to all citizens. There were many promises that came with this project, chief among that that it would stop crime completely. This caused many to question if the Technounion had truly changed from the Great War Era. The corrupt local authority of the Ioh province declared independence, forming the Republic of Ioh. The threat of nuclear war did not concern him as he acquired control of all the nuclear silos in Ioh territory, as well as their launch codes. The technophobic authority of the Vlavi province also defected, forming the State of Vlavi. Over the course of a week, it was as though the Great War never happened and old enemies were resurrected. The Technounion declared that they would be making dirty bombs in addition to their already powerful arsenal, stating that outer space was the sovereign territory of the Technounion and if that space was ever violated, or the two other nations ever used their weapons, that their lands and their people would be forever destroyed. What followed was a five decade long cold war until one night a Kaol fleet blockaded a Vlavi port over the creation of the first anti-matter bomb. The Technounion refused for this bomb to ever arrive at a silo. Who first launched is unknown, but nuclear war destroyed the three superpowers, ruined every city, killed everyone in populated areas. Throw Feforia into a new dark age.

#### Fallen Era (Post-Apocalyptic Age)

During this age, the Xith'ota Order would return to power slowly, as the survivors reverted to traditional ways of thinking. The bombed out ruins of Feforia's megacities soon became home to the Feforyan, creatures that formed a hive mind over the centuries of mutation. The surviving Fefings on the surface were those who lived in under developed land, former agrarian societies, they became nomadic tribes as the toxic rain killed their crops, they would later be known as the Scavs. The nuclear reactors were designed with a failsafe AI, made to prevent meltdowns, however as the centuries passed, malfunctions arose, errors in code, inevitably, one by one the reactors would meltdown, prolonging the nuclear horror of Feforia. Over time, some of the Scav tribes settled around functional nuclear reactors and maintained the AI, these Scavs would form kingdoms and empires as they possessed a limitless source of power so long as they fed the machine. These nations would often search ancient bunkers for guns and nuclear weapons to use on one another, which only added to the prolonging atomic horror they lived in. City states began to form between the nations, they focused on hiring Scavs to acquire useful objects for them to trade with the nations. The Fera Dynasty controlled a city state which became particularly powerful, not through the trade of scavenged weapons but through slaves. The Fera grew in military might as their wealth expanded, they subjugated the neighboring Scav tribes who they used as raiders on the few kingdoms that would not trade with the Fera. Eventually the Fera Dynasty came into possession of a most significant pre-war bunker, filled with enlightening knowledge that included everything from military tactics to details regarding pre-war technology. Using this knowledge, the Fera Dynasty vassalized the neighboring kingdoms. The Fera Dynasty became an Empire with a crowned Emperor that spanned all the civilized regions of Feforia, a fifth of the world in total. The rest of the world was dominated by Scav tribes and Feforyan hives, the remaining Scavs offered the Emperor tribute out of respect. Centuries passed until the Observer Project made a reappearance as they returned. Emperor Gafu vani Fera attempted to reprogram the Observers using the knowledge acquired by his ancestors. This would mark the end of the Fallen Era.

#### Observer Era (Second FTL Age)

After a failed attempt at controlling the Observers by the Emperor, the Observers took absolute control of Feforia and Fefing society, regulating their lives to the finest detail. They repaired all the ancient Automatons from before the war, began terraforming the planet, built a habitat in orbit and turned the majority of Feforyan hives into individuals. The Xith'ota Order - who viewed the machines as daemons of metal, conjured up by the lunatics that sent Feforia into a long-lasting nuclear winter - set up an underground network, trading arms. As the Observers struggled to deal with Xith'ota suicide bombers, saboteurs, spies, and armed forces, they become more authoritarian to solve the problem. Starting by executing the Emperor after he encouraged a riot. This one act unified all the Fefing factions, despite their various ideologies, under one banner. With the aid of numerous nations, chief among them being the Stekeiran Elepharchy, the Fefings finally had freedom as the Observers were shut down.

#### Provisional Era

This was a time of political intrigue, back-room deals and backstabbing. The Order of Xith'ota, lead by High Priest Zolu hala Xiq. The Technounion Restoration Movement, lead by Kon mil Nal. The Democracy and Unity Party, lead by Consul Virpim tal Hullos. The Vanguard of Independence, lead by General Mil zek Abna. These were the factions and their leaders that desired to fill a power vacuum was left behind by the Observers, but unwilling to spill blood after the chaotic revolution. That unwillingness would soon fade. The Provisional Nillor Government was formed. Each faction had political power and sway but none of them had absolute control of the government. Although the Consul initially was not tied to a faction, he soon became biased toward the Democracy and Unity Party and became faction leader himself. It didn't help that the Consul treated himself to lavish holidays, enforced democratic, xenophilic, and pacifistic policies. Despite discontent amongst the leaders, they worked together to improve the government and societal life in general. Together, they successfully built a mining network on Feforia's molten moon, established trade with alien nations, fought off pirate Scavs, discovered knowledge about the pre-war civilizations, and genetically engineered the Feforyans to no longer live in suffering. But ultimately the old rivalries returned. The Vanguard of Independence dissolved with the assassination of Mil zek Abna, which was followed by the attempted assassination of Zolu hala Xiq by a restores Observer unit. The assassination and the subsequent attempt was blamed on Kon mil Nal and he fled the nation for the Elepharchy. An IRIS-Nillor droid, I-3YE, became the new leader of the Technounion Restoration Movement and became responsible for numerous technological advancements and scientific discoveries. With the discovery of - and prolonged exposure to - a Xith Sigil, Zolu hala Xiq became possessed by a Ava'Kuakiri daemon and began dealings with Reetril to construct a mindcontrol station named The Winged Temple, which would change the course of Fefing history.

#### Heretical Era

With the activation of The Winged Temple, something in the minds of Fefings everywhere snapped, in an instant the majority became puppets of Zolu hala Xiq. His reign began by replacing the Consul as Celestial Emperor of the Celestial Xith'ota Order. Once he had crowned himself Celestial Emperor, he rounded up all threats to his power; cyborgs, Vects, and criminals. Some were sent to genocidal death camps whilst others were sent away to the Elepharchy. A rule of tyranny, enforced by torture, mind control, and murder had begun. This reign would not last for long as I-3YE began assimilating leaders, eventually assimilating whole communities. This underground cyborg revolutionary started stealing Xith Sigils, blowing up transport vessels, and building an army of robots beneath the radioactive deserts. Once the revolutionaries had secured all the vital military and naval leaders of the Celestial Order, the revolution began in full. A quake in the deserts revealed underground cities, from which poured cyborgs and robots, armed to the teeth. The bloody civil war that followed caused the deaths of countless soldiers, including Illarian Crownsguard. The conflict ultimately ended with the Ava'Kuakiri daemon being locked back within the Xith Sigil that formerly trapped it. With the Xith'ota Order's leadership locked away, I-3YE forged a new regime.