The Centauri-Noctarchs

LY to Sol: 4

Alliance: Twilight Empire

Home star: Proxima Centauri

Homeworld: Primor

Primary Species: Humans, Affen, Infernals

### Gateway to the Sol System

The Noctarch empire has the unique privilege of being the closest system to the highly coveted Sol System, making them the “gateway” to humanity’s origin. The Noctarchs, however are highly covetous and jealous of this and guard the Kuiper Fortress closely from prying eyes. They do this especially from the Solar Empire, who wants into the Sol system to learn its secrets while the Twilight empire believes that touching the mysterious Sol System would be a disastrous path towards the extinction of humanity.

Even so, the Noctarchs lead research stations on the “Superdermis” or outermost layer of the Kuiper Fortresses, analyzing its contents and testing its durability while also looking for signs of its maker, trying to decipher if the Fortress is there to keep unwanted entities from getting in the Sol system, or to keep a terrible horror from getting out. The evidence of the Confector Automata leads them to believe the latter. The Noctarchs feel a longing for home as most civilizations do in the Supersystem but simply believe the Sol System to be a threat. The Noctarchs believe that it is their “Great Purpose” to keep invaders from entering the Sol system.

### Primor: World of the Twilight Star:

Primor is a tidally locked star, so there is no day / cycle. As such, most of civilization is constructed around the “Terminus Ring”, or the habitable ring around the star. This world is swathed in megentas, reds and purples from the soft, red light of Proxima Centauri. Primor is one of the worlds that already had extra-terrestrial life living on it, but of a strange sort. Here, silicon based life forms developed around the weak but extremely stable star, feeding on the soft light. Their highly unusual forms, appearing to be a starfish with many hard, thin tendrils that stretch out across the rocky landscape. They are known as “Proximan Stars” and have metabolisms so low that their lifespans reach millions of years. Long after humanity is gone from Primor, the Proximan stars will barely have even had the time to notice humanity’s existence in the first place. On the night side, a strange chemical reaction causes crystals to grow in rocky outcroppings, only to be consumed by a mat like violet fungi that covers much of Primor.

### Heart of the Twilight Empire:

The Noctarch’s powerful government has made them the founding force and the most powerful among the members of the Twilight Empire. These are a practical but suspicious people with access to a huge amount of resources on Primor and in the Centauri system. Clad in heavy black and purple armor, The Noctarchs command a powerful military that employs some of the most advanced weapons and armor the system has seen. The elite among the Noctarchs dress themselves in ornate and eccentric ways, incorporating the blacks, violets and purples of the Noctarch flag and home world into elaborate headdresses and nonsensical pieces of clothing. A massive wall separates the Terminator ring from the night side, where roughly a fifth of the popular has succeeded into dark gang dens on the dark side of the world that find themselves occasionally raided by the Noctarchs. Many live on the night side of the world, “Farsiders”, an oppressed criminal and runaway class of people cast into the cold and the dark that live in isolated cities.

### Politicking and Backstabbing:

Power in the Centauri Noctarchs, and therefore power of the Twilight Empire, is controlled by a number of noble families with one family ascended to the top of this aristocratic government at any given time. Every few years a new family is elected to rule by the high class citizens of Primor, but these elections often get muddy and complicated. These ornately dressed families of privilege ruthlessly politick and even sometimes kill eachother to be the head of the Twilight Empire. These families make public appearances at parties, who set the fashion trends for the entire Twilight Empire. Here alliances are made and broken, power is brokered and politics rage on. The head of the family, either a man or a woman, is crowned as the “Noctarch” of Primor and weilds an unbelievable amount of power and influence, and can steer the entirety of the Twilight empire in the direction of their choosing. Family members are often dicted to be the heads of certain divisions, courts and administrations. The Noctarch rules not only Primor, but a chunk of the Supersystem only rivaled by the size of the Solar Empire and the power of the Externians. Overall the Noctarch is someone well liked in the higher class of Primor, but almost always despised by the lower class and Farsiders of Primor. Ceaseless campaigning, speeches, scandalizing, murder, philanthropy and string pulling are employed to guarantee success.

### The Leading Families:

**The Harkels:**

Conservative, prime aristocracy. Affen in origin. Extreme power and influence but little charisma.

**The Bowingtons:**

Connected to the Bombid union. All about strong economy.

**The Astralons:**

The people’s favorite, a family of handsome humans. Focused on social issues

**The Archambeaus:**

Highly connected to the Centauri Defense Corps.

### Power of the Twilight Star:

The Noctarchs outsource a massive portion of their power, making entanglements with the Mutandids, Lutids, Captains and trade with other Empires. The Centauri Defense Corps, the formal name of the Noctarch’s army, are made of most people who do not live on Primor. Professional mercenaries from the Intersol Hive, the Bombid Union and the other worlds of the Twilight empire make up the military. The Noctarch Army is known for using a combined offense strategy in tandem with the Mutandids. The Mutandids give the Noctarchs huge quantities of chemical weapons which are used in the CDCs doctrine of weakening the enemy with chemical agents and then advancing with elite Nochtarch infantry. While the Noctarchs themselves are not extremely innovative with their weaponry, their elite infantry get some of the highest quality weaponry in the Supersystem. Master crafted energy rifles, Mutandid bio-weaponry, personal energy fields, tele-tek ability,  and hi-tec protection suits are pieces of elite equipment that other worlds can only dream of having. The Noctarchs are also no stranger to using less than ethical solutions such as penal legions and old biological weapons created before the Mutandid Reformation that have been rated too cruel for modern use.