Novus Ordo

When Thomas Ellich became Lord Dominus and was the last living Black Magic sorcerer alive, he began to study the readings of the Collectione Carminum Grave. They involved cleansing the Bridged Worlds of all impurities and converting as many to their cause as possible. The more that believed in him, the stronger that Apol would become and he would claim the Worlds as rightfully his. He began with finding groups of disenfranchised, criminalized Skymarns that wanted nothing to do with their own society. He told them that he could lead them to a life that they  could be independent of the culture of Skymar. They followed him, and joined him in recruiting others. They converted Eltorans, Luthornians, and even some Vorsalins. Dominus found that his following was growing rather large, and he needed to be more organized in training. He sought out General Deken Zarnaeus, a Tyrak Special Forces General who was incarcerated along with a few loyal members of his platoon for war crimes. Dominus broke them free and appointed Zarnaeus as his second-in-command, the leader and overseer of training for his military. Zarnaeus also allowed for his adoptive Skymarn daughter, Althea Everton, to become an assassin in the group, as he had already trained her. She was known as the Specress. They also recruited many other Tyraks to the cause.

Needing an area to permanently house all of Novus Ordo, Dominus reminisced of the time that Marietta told him of the eighth of the Bridged Worlds, Apollya. This was the world created by Apol himself. A major advantage is that it was not actually connected to the other worlds, as the other Children of the Goddess destroyed the Bridges after their defeat of Apol. Lord Dominus went there, and as they arrived, he heard the voice of Apol in his mind, telling him to rebuild the Apollyan Fortress,  the first castle of Apollya and the largest and most fortified. Dominus, Zarnaeus, Althea, and the rest of Novus Ordo did this, and they now had their permanent headquarters. The group then evolved from a disorganized cult into an orderly, disciplined, well-trained military that had training that now mirrored training methods found on every other world. Dominus and Zarnaeus also recruited members from arguably the two races that would be the most challenging to recruit from: the Vanyryans due to their seclusion from the other worlds, and the Zulyrians due to their hyper sense of morality. The two leaders  worked on building a scientific research and development wing, and they looked to find a leader suitable for this task. This appeared in the form of jaded Luthornian scientist Col. Dr. Codu Alekai, who had a relentless viewpoint that “the ends justify the means” and that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to achieve his goals. Alekai was on the run from his own government for illegal experimentation on his own kind, trying to erase the physical weaknesses of his own people. He achieved this and made himself physically stronger. Dominus appointed Alekai the leader of Novus Ordo’s Science Division, and also recruited Alekai’s cabal of Luthornian scientists, soldiers, medics, and research assistants that remained loyal to him, despite his status as a criminal on Luthorn. Dominus took him back to Apollya.

They also sought to expand their fleet, and in doing so, they recruited headstrong Zulyrian Orthon Tritus, a veteran of the Zulyrian space fleet that was their new Fleet Admiral.

The Science Division constructed a massive facility in the largest jungle on Luthorn, along with an underground facility for producing bombs. The bomb facility required draconium, the element found only in the ground of Zulyria. They begin discreetly removing large deposits of the element through their network of spies and bringing them to the base on Luthorn. They eventually receive enough to complete their first bomb. They planned to test it on Vanyrya and take out King Hildegard, seeing as they were the greatest target due to Zulyria still being needed for draconium and the Vanyryan leadership rapidly improving and becoming an increasing potential threat. They needed a third party to blame, so they ambushed and slaughtered a group of Dark Sun mercs, grabbed their uniforms, and took their ship, smuggling the bomb inside.