Argussian Republic

## General Overview

The Argussian Imperium (Formally known as the "Argussian Federation") is a small monarchy based society that lives in the Pegasus Nebula in the distant Delta Quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Argussians are physiologically similar to the Equus Ferus (Horse) species of Earth, however they are not feral and able to full move anthropomorphically, with full bipedal locomotion.

Living so far away from the Federation, contact with the Argussian people has been exceedingly rare with much of the information being provided by one individual who is current the only Argussian in Starfleet.

First contact was made by United Federation Starfleet, based on Pinastri Prime in the Delta Quadrant on stardate 091205, where a lone Argussian ship appeared in orbit above the planet containing two individuals who requested political refuge after being exiled from the Argussian state.

The Argussian people are extremely xenophobic and intolerant of outsiders, this is due to them one sharing their homeworld with a race of human-like humanoids who attempted to enslave their species. Their unknown homeworld was destroyed almost two thousand years ago after an attack by the Etherium Matriachy and the Argussians were forced to leave their homeworld but not before they had driven the humanoid race that enslaved them to extinction.

Argussian technology is extremely advanced in interstellar propulsion, possessing an advanced drive that is capable of converting a ship into energy, in much the same way that a transporter does and sending it across a subspace bias, allowing them to cross massive distances in mere seconds.

However a lot of their technological dominance comes from capturing vessels that have unknowingly entered the Pegasus Nebula, a Mutara class nebula, which surrounds their current homeworld. This technology is then reverse engineered to become part of the Argussian designs.

Their homeworld is mostly barren, with only a few pockets of vegetation around the equator where all of the Argussian cities are located, due to the limited light and heat making it through the Pegasus Nebula.

The Argussian people are believed to only live for 8-9 years so will have to return home each year in order to mate. This is not a biological requirement but it is considered socially acceptable. However in 2392, after an Admiral was believed to be dying, it was discovered that their short lifespans were the result of neural parasites which infected the Argussians almost 2,000 years ago.

## The Church of Unifying Effulgence (Undying Light)

The Church of the Unifying Effulgence, sometimes referred to as "The Church" is a relatively new post-Void War faith that has sprung up within several worlds of the Black Eye Galaxy.

Most notable of the planets affected is the world of New Argus, which has become the seat of power for the Church following an internal bloodless coup, renaming the planet to "Vectia", the Zerentis word for "Capital of Light".

Zerentis, an ancient language with currently unknown origins, seemingly predating both Ancient Varakian and Void Speech in its age, is the most common written form of language within the church.

The Church operates on the tenets of the "Eternal Light", a force which they believe is always present in the world around them and protects true believers from any spiritual harm.

With the domination of the religion on New Argus, replacing the old Argussian faith of Alner'hai, the Argussians have become much more active in the affairs of the Black Eye Galaxy, opening their planet to the first time for trade and refugees from the Roth/Strategos and Void War.

Outwardly, the Church maintains an image of peaceful cooperation, inspiring the ideal of galactic unity, believing that all species can be united under the one faith.

The Church is a monotheistic religion worshipping one God referred to as the "Sacred Dieus" or "Sacred God" in Federation standard. This one "God" is said to have been responsible for creating the "Q Continuum" and restoring the Argussian race to prominence after their destruction during the Void War.

The Church also teaches that this God, despite benevolent to the followers of the Church, is also vengeful and punitive, enacting terrible "Fatum" (Fate) on those that refuse to follow his path. Argussian scholars have remarked an example of this was the fate of the Nox-Veredians who refused to follow his path.

The Church has also outlawed most faster-then-light forms of travel within its dominion, claiming that they "pervert the laws of nature and are offensive to the Sacred Father". Quantum Slipstream and Transwarp are particularly despised.

As a result, the entire Argussian navy was outfitted with "solar sail" technology in order to achieve faster then light speeds in a way that is more acceptable to the Church.

## The August Revolution

Following the devastating defeat of the Church at Chion Prime in which over 60,000 Argussians lost their lives, the civilian population of New Argus began a major uprising, launching attacks on Church and Government targets within the major cities.

Led by the enigmatic Mercury Thunderfall, a form factory worker in the New Argus shipyards, the rebellion gained strength, overthrowing several of the Church officials and even gaining sympathy from within the Argussian Government which had been subjugated by the Church.

Despite the armed uprising, the revolution was surprisingly peaceful as it became apparent that most of New Argus had become tired of the Church's doctrine and their crippling defeat had proven that the Sacred Father was not on their side. The Church however, attempted to cling to power, ordering the mass executions within several Argussian settlements and cities, this resulted in the complete massacre of the population of the Argussian city of *Faren'hai* in which over 30,000 Argussian people were killed.

During the massacre, it became known that the Church had actually destroyed the city in order to prevent knowledge that they had been working on a way to allow Argussians to biologically reproducing, reducing the need for mass scale cloning which had been in operation since the last biological Argussian female had died off hundreds of years beforehand and attempts at cloning Argussian females had been rendered sterile by the process.

The Church had used technology provided by the Roth Corporation to genetically engineer organically produced Argussians, which they planned to use a leverage with the Argussian Government in order to keep themselves in power. However, when the chief scientist, Graphite Silverstorm defected and was going to inform the Government, the Church had the entire city purged in order to keep this knowledge secret.

As a result, the Church was exposed as monsters and were effectively overthrown with its leader publicly executed and a new civilian government installed in its placed based on a democratic rule.

The technology for organic procreation was offered to all Argussians who wanted to conceive a child.

Tired from constant xenophobia and warfare, the Argussian people attempted to contact the Commonwealth in order to request aid to their devastated economy following the revolution and sought to reapply for membership.

## Argussian Republic

Under the rule of elected President, Obsidian Greyfell, a biologically engineered clone, who had been a renowned dissident on the Argussian's original homeworld, the Argussian civilians successfully removed the Church from power, exiling many of its leaders from Vectia.

Obsidian Greyfell had been created by the Church in secret research complex buried within the New Argus icy wastes, which was successfully raided by the U.S.S. Normandy in August 2420. It has been discovered that the Church had been experimenting with a way to extend the natural Argussian lifespan, discovering a new gene therapy that would increase the Argussian lifespan from 20 years to 60 years on average.

This discovery sent shockwaves through Argussian society as the Church had planned to use this therapy to keep themselves in power rather then sharing it to benefit the Argussian people, causing virtually all the remaining Argussian population to turn against the church and depose them completely.

Under the banner of the Argussian Republic, the Argussian people held fair and free elections for the first time during its history, in which Obsidian Greyfell was elected as President for a period of four years and successfully rejoined the Commonwealth in September 2420.

## The Argussian Remnant

In November 2420, most of the Argussian species were destroyed when the Pryde Worldship or The Pryde of Ma'lkon emerged in the New Argus system and began to *"Prydeform"*, coverting the planet to their extra-dimensional specifications. The U.S.S. Normandy was present but powerless to intervene following an encounter with three Aventis Bastion Class ships in orbit around the planet and were forced to retreat.

As a result of this incident, the entire Argussian species become endangered with the only survivors being those not on the planet at the time, ironically rejoining the Commonwealth saved their species as members of their species were permitted to work on projects off-world, however, after this incident, there are less then 500 of their species remaining, choosing to call themselves *The Argussian Remnant* and choosing to remain in the Commonwealth, under former Commonwealth Sky Marshal, Diamond Greyfell.

Thanks to advances in the Raysillian Empire's genetic engineering, Argussian females were able to be produced, allowing the Argussians to restore their genome, damaged considerably by cloning over succeeding generations. Due to the success of The Raleigh Project, the Argussian people settled on Vectis (Tau Equus III) in the Tau Quadrant, under elected leader and former Commonwealth officer, *Tungstun Steelmane*.

In March 2421, the Argussian survivors combined to form the Argussian Republic as an official state.

## The Admirality of Vectis

In June 2421, the Argussian Republic formally left the United Commonwealth of Planets, following the death of their leader *Tungstun Steelmane*, who had encouraged the Argussians in Commonwealth members and was killed helping to defend Chion Prime, at Battle of Valkyrie III.

As a result, the remnants of the *Argussian Imperial Navy* took control of Vectis and consolated their power into a *Thalassocracy*, a state where the maritime and space navy assumed control of the government. Despite initial fears that the Admirality would behave much as the church had done, the Admirality instituted large public works programs on Vectis to improve the lives of the people living there.

The discovery of *Programmable Matter* from a derelict Qox'cotel Protectorate ship was discovered by the Argussians which grately aided them in their rebuilding process, allowing them to constructing buildings and ships at an impressive rate, also increasing the amount of automation on their vessels as their numbers have been consistently deminished over the last 3 years and were still recovering.

Admiral Shatterstone, returned to Vectis in order to take leadership of her people as the Argussians lacked a leader with extensive knowledge of the Black Eye Galaxy and subsequently resigned from the United Commonwealth of Planets.

## Known Vessel Classes

* *Eternity-Class Cruiser* (Church of Undying Effulgence)
* *Lusitano-Class Cruiser*
* *Chiron-Class Battleship*
* *Coronet-Class Cruiser (Argussian Republic)*
* *Arion-Class Battleship (Argussian Remnant)*

## Notes

* The Argussian Imperium is a former member of the United Commonwealth of Planets, leaving in April 2420
* The Argussian Imperium rejoined the United Commonwealth of Planets as The Argussian Republic in September 2420