Techume

"*Grow. If you cannot grow, Preserve. If you cannot preserve, survive."*

--The Axiom

The **Techumic Imperium**, referred to by its inhabitants as **the Techume** or **the Imperium**,is the governing body of the majority of the Outer West Quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy. The organization which would eventually become the Techume was originally founded in the mid-21st century as the **Technological Union for Mankind's Expansion**, an organization for the preservation of humanity in the face of the ecological degradation of the Earth and the increasingly looming threat of a nuclear holocaust. When the Third World War did break out, causing the death of billions, the Techume emerged the only force on Earth which could viably preserve human civilization. Utilizing its cached technology and international scale, the remnants of pre-War governments were easily swept away in the sporadic conflicts that followed. With their faith in the nation-states of the so-called Old World shaken when not outright broken, the majority of humanity was ready to embrace the new pseudo-priesthood that the Technological Union, or Techume, presented.

The next one hundred and fifty years are often remembered as the Years of Ash, with the Techume establishing itself as the primary governing force of humankind. The cornerstone of the Techume's suzerainty was their emphasis on the precept of Faith: not necessarily religion, or even spirituality, but in the fundamental belief that humans acted best when devoted to something. Whether this was the Christian Church, whose artifacts were tirelessly preserved by the Order of Preservers, or the ideas of material science that became popular in the nascent Researcher Order, the trappings of belief were core to the period of rebuilding that constituted the majority of the late twenty-first and twenty-second centuries. The greatest achievement of the first era of the Techume was the Researcher Order's development of the first faster-than-light hyperdrive, which propelled the Techume into galactic politics and paved the way for the creation of one of the largest interstellar empires in the Galaxy.

Before the Ascension of the Empress, Techume is technically the name of the orders of officials, it is also used to refer to the indirect democracy of the Techumic empire as a whole. The state is governed by the executive Council of Keepers, which is made up from the highest echelons of the Keeperate from across the empire. This Council then elects the High Keeper, who is the face of Techume's government and its chief executive. Its legislature and largest democratic organ is the Tribunal, which is made up from directly elected delegates from across each of the Techume's sixteen worlds as well as representatives from the several Orders which make up the Techume's administration.

In 2426, the High Keeper Takeko Aino was transformed into a being of massive psychic power, an event now known as the Ascension. The following year, the Imperial Crisis saw supporters of Aino proclaim her Eternal Empress, and following a protracted, several-month long power struggle between the newly enthroned Empress and the remaining members of the Tribunal who did not recognize her, including the Voice of the Tribunal Gillaume Archambault. This was only ended when the Clone Legions of Mars, loyal to the Empress, restored order to Resurgence and swore themselves to the Empress's service.

In the context of Galactic politics, the Techume is one of the most powerful interstellar empires and the hegemon of the Western Quadrant. Its own military and economic power is bolstered by its allies in the Righteous Concord, whose smaller economic sectors and comparatively weak militaries make them junior partners to the Imperium.

## History

### Foundation and Pre-Hyperdrive History

As noted above, the Technological Union for Mankind's Expansion, or the TechUME, was founded in 2049 as an organization for the preservation of human civilization in the face of a seemingly dying planet and indifferent governments. It promoted an optimistic view of human nature, constructed large bunkers it termed Havens built to house several thousand people as well as caches of advanced human technology. The Third World War came to pass in much the same manner as the worst of the TechUME's fears in 2070, leading to the death of almost half of the Earth's population. Utilizing the Havens to stow away as many people as they realistically could, the Techume emerged across the planet as the single standing organization able to maintain pre-War levels of communication and organization. In the first meeting of the Techume's leaders from across the globe in 2082, the first meeting of the Council of Keepers, the Techume cemented itself as an organization dedicated to guiding humanity to its pre-War levels. Humans across the world flocked to the Havens and to the remaining semblance of the Old Order.

Many refer to the sporadic conflicts following the emergence of the Techume as the Domin Wars, as the vestiges of the pre-War governments were swept away by the supporters of the Techume's better-prepared regime. The Ashen Century was a long, lean hundred years of rebuilding and reorganization: the new Orders were established to best administrate the remnants of mankind, and the subunits known as Domins were established to distribute resources. By the 2190s, as the Order of Researchers approached the development of FTL travel, and the Earth was approaching the upper bounds of its pre-War infrastructure. Large metroplexes had been rebuilt such as the BosWash Corridor, the Pearl River Agglomerate, and the Mesopotamian Metroplex. The Techume also constructed its own capital, Resurgence (in the Sumeric First Speech that the Techume adopted as its official language, Eamagi, lit. the House of Return to a Previous State), and began tentative constructions of off-world. Finally, in 2200, one hundred and thirty years after World War III, High Keeper Abdu cleared the first attempts at interstellar travel, plunging humanity and the Techume into the playing field of Galactic civilization.

### Early Contact Era

In 2200 the TKS Polat, the first Techumic research ship with faster-than-light capabilities, reached the Alpha Centauri system. Its survey of this system in 2201 was, perhaps, the biggest turning point in human history. First, the TKS Polat were able to identify a world possibly habitable by humanity as well as a serious revelation: millions of years before human civilization, a wildly powerful empire named the Vultaum had held sway over the same region of space that humanity now lived in. In addition, the Polat in 2215 received a glancing hit from an incredibly advanced projectile whose trajectory implied that it had been fired from another *galaxy,* crossing the intergalactic void for hundreds of thousands of years. These three discoveries rocked human perceptions of their place in the universe to the core. Contact with another spacefaring race came not long after in 2212 when the amiable At'Chor Allied Colonies were met. Thirteen years later in 2225, later termed the Year of Contact, most of the galaxy's great powers were contacted, including the Techume's long-time rivals in the Dah Foundation and the Bemoid Company. Other empires were contacted in the next decade, such as the stagnant, ancient empire of the Scawic Protectors. By 2237, the Techume had established itself as an ally of the At'Chor, its closest neighbors, against the belligerent powers of the Djomar Imperium, the Dah, and the Bemoids.

The Techume's policy during the so-called Age of Expansion was simple: research ships surveyed new systems, and construction ships created stations to collect their natural resources on star at a time. These new, frontier systems were connected to Earth by a fleet of independent merchants contracted by the Order Emissary. In 2233, the first human colony was established in Alpha Centauri, named Aztlan. This new colony was bolstered by the discovery of a serviceable ancient factory which contributed to Aztlan's status as a powerful industrial center. It was also an era of radical discovery of things that an earthbound humanity could never have dreamed of: a moon-sized computer known as the Infinity Machine was contacted in 2045, while a species of spaceborne lithovores stunted human expansion in the empire's interior in 2257, and a dimensional rift was discovered in the second human colony of Hawaiki in 2260. Towards the Galactic Rim, the Techume was engaged in an exploration and construction race with the Djomar Imperium that would later become known as the Race for the Rim to claim the resources in the last frontier between the Techume and the Imperium

### Age of Federation and the Bemoid Wars

In 2041, High Keeper Abdu retired from her position to a private home in the BosWash Metroplex, and was replaced by Earth governor Badr ad-Din. The retirement of the High Keeper who had guided the Techume into the stars signaled a dramatic shift in Techumic politics. Whereas the first half of the 23rd century was an age of wide-eyed exploration and expansion, the second half was one of pragmatism and politicking. The Galactic Market was established in 2255, with its headquarters in the Sol System. In 2257, under the administration of Berna Koz the Techume created an official alliance with the At'Chor Allied Colonies, the Righteous Concord. A year later, the world of Hawaiki was colonized in what was then known as the Frontier Domin-- now the Southward Domin. Both High Keeper Koz *and* his successor, Itzel Xoco, died while in office, Koz in 2258 and Xoco in 2261, triggering a short panic among the more superstitious portions of the population. However, the prosperous early years of former scientist High Keeper Sili Zorlu mitigated such fears.

The most significant episode in the latter half of the 23rd century was the Bemoid Wars. In 2266, the Bemoid Company declared war on the At'Chor, drawing the Techume into its first interstellar conflict. The singular war fleet of the Techume, Battlefleet Gold, was able to carve deep into Company territory and with help from the Techume's new Battlefleet Silver and the At'Chor fleets. The First Bemoid War ended with the defeat of the Company and the establishment of the Concord-backed Bemoid State in Techume-occupied space in 2274 under the auspices of High Keeper Keisha Imoto, the first High Keeper to serve more than a single term since Abdu. What followed was a decade-long lull in conflict, although the enigmatic Lojumoid Continuity tasked the Techume with attacking its rival, the Djomar.

However, in 2285 the Bemoid Company forged a federation known as the Propitious Alliance with the Dah Foundation, which quickly declared war on the Concord. This Second Bemoid War was regarded as much more serious than its predecessor, with a war now taking place on two distinct fronts. Dah forces showed to be much stronger than the profit-centered fleets of the Bemoids, occupying several worlds in the settled worlds of the At'Chor core. The Techume showed itself to be the strongest of all powers involved, however: Battlefleet Gold and Army Group Red occupied most of Company space except for the home world of Bemu, in which a rebellion backed by the Codutese established the Combine in 2287. High Keeper Imoto died in 2295, replaced by General Sanober Gichki, triumphant from her Bemoid campaign. Gichki would go on to become one of the most influential leaders in Techumic history, but for the duration of the war she was a military leader who promised to lead the State to victory. In 2296 Battlefleet Silver and Army Group Blue embarked on the Liberation Campaign to free the occupied worlds of the At'Chor, several of which were human-majority. In a brutal two-year campaign, the Dah are driven back to their own space. Finally in 2299, with both sides exhausted from a fifteen year conflict, a peace was signed. The Bemoid Company was reduced to three disparate systems, with the rest of the Company's space reconstituted into the Dah-majority Dah State, which was quickly absorbed into the Concord.

### The Post-War Slump and the Grand Tribunal

The war with the Propitious Alliance had been a long, draining conflict. Dozens of powerful warships were constructed to replace losses, thousands were conscripted into armies, and the economy itself had been channeled into the war effort. However, this was not the only thing the whole of the Techume had been focused on. During the war, the world which would later become the colony of Mazdak in 2306 was terraformed, while the tomb world of Salusa Secundus was colonized a scarce few months after the war's end, giving its capital the name of Victory, and the Lantana wormhole was charted. In 2305, Gichki resigned her post and was replaced by former governor Sui Yu. The post-war triumph was not entirely a joyous affair: In '05, the nomadic warriors known as the Azimon Raiders extorted the Techume for "tribute," which the Techume had offered in the past while at war with the Alliance. However, with its full forces marshaled in Sol, the Techume felt confident in its capability to face the raiders. The forces were in fact much larger than anticipated, and a humiliated High Keeper Sui was forced to pay tribute after Battlefleets Silver, Gold, and Copper were all routed after cutting the Azimon fleet in half. This was the first military defeat in Techume space.

In 2306, as consumer goods were in a drought and the the Central Economic Council's projections for the next decade were bleak. In response to this, the fact that the Techume's borders had essentially "filled out," and the disorganized state of Void Command, all contributed to the Sui Yu calling the first ever Grand Tribunal, a conclave of the standard Tribunal, the Council of Keepers, and the chief administrators of the Techume's constituent orders and domins. Essentially the roadmap for the Techume in the following century, the Inward Perfection program espoused by High Keeper Yu came from his phrase at the opening of the Grand Tribunal: "...the State and Techume have closed their era of outward expansion, and must now strive for inward perfection..."

Over the period of several months of hearings and legislation, each of the orders of the Techume submitted its agenda for improvement and development. The two most serious programs to come out of the First Grand Tribunal was the Metallic Fleet Program and the Total Colonization Effort. The former was the brainchild of Void Command, delineating shipbuilding efforts into four distinct fleets: in the Home Domin the two largest fleets, Battlefleets Gold and Silver, would be stationed, while Battlefleet Copper would be stationed in the Frontier Domin at Hawaiki and a new Battlefleet Iron would be station on the border of the Djomar Imperium, where the world of Yomi was being colonized. The Total Colonization Effort, or the TCE, was a Keeper initiative to continue the economic expansion of the 23rd century without the same emphasis on territorial development, instead focusing on terraforming and colonizing every available world within Techume space.

Despite the fact that the Inward Perfection Program would form the backbone of Techumic policy for the next fifty years, High Keeper Sui was unable to properly execute it due to the economic depression he found the Techume facing. Consumer goods production, something the Techume had always struggled with, was at an all time low, and even the Keeperate Treasury was running dangerously low after it was decided that access to Curator databanks was imperative for the State's technological supremacy, despite the cost. Even on Earth, unemployment or underemployment affected many, and there was a serious push for young humans to emigrate to the State's farther colonies, such as Yomi, Salusa Secundus, or Hawaiki. By 2313 the economy was declared fully civilian once again, but the damage had been done, and in 2315 Sui Yu was replaced by a returning High Keeper Gichki, rocketed back to power by the promise that she would return the Techume to its pre-War glory days

### The Gichki Era, Horde Conflict, and the Horizon Signal

Sanober Gichki's first five years of rule saw the economy recover significantly, with the CEC declaring the State's reserves to be healthy and serviceable. It also saw the first significant slough of TCE colonizations, the development of major economic centers on the already-established and quickly growing colonies despite several scandals involving the quick pace of colonization, and the threat post in the galactic north was for a time mitigated by a protracted Djomar-Dah conflict which meant that the majority of Techumic strategists could breathe easy. In addition, in 2318 the enigmatic Lojumoids again contacted the Techume, demanding they refrain from aggressive wars for twenty years, rankling many in the Defenderate.

However, it was in High Keeper Gichki's second term that the two most serious threats to the State emerged for the century, one with a galactic and one deathly secret, both in 2318. Earlier in the year, a strange signal was discovered to be emitting from the black hole Arietis, a mostly innocuous system only traversed because of its location along hyperlane routes connecting the Techume core and its outlying colonies. Explorer and captain of the TKS Baykara, Lin Shilun, is sent to investigate. The signal is in an old pre-War coding language, reading in the First Speech "GRAVITY IS DESIRE" and "TIME IS SIGHT." It ends with a dedication Lin, despite the signal seeming to predate her birth as well as the ancient First Speech. Lin's last transmission is "the Worm!" before disappearing.

Several months later, in the Outer North Quadrant, the disparate Azimon Raiders were united for the first time in their history. A single warlord known as Ani'api'auh brought his rivals under his thumb, bringing the martial might of the Azimon under a single banner to carve out an empire of their own. Naming himself the Great Khan, his titanic fleets posed an immediate threat to the State: the Lantana wormhole led to a system on the edge of the Kathu'shen-Azimon borderlands. Unknown to the Techume at the time, the first half of Gichki's Keeperate would be defined by these crises.

The Horizon Signal would activate twice more in the next two years. In 2319, Lin Shilun's voice comes through Keeperate comms, intoning "what was, shall be; what shall be, was," and ending with a name: Seok Chul-soon, governor of the Rimward Sector. Seok volunteers to take a ship to the Exit Point, the last known location of Officer Lin before her ship's disappearance. Upon arrival, Seok reports the same strange warping of space-time, and begins *predicting* the telemetry broadcast by his ship. His transmission ends with "...if only the Worm will wait--" before all communications cease. The Keeperate's upper echelons agree that this time, the news should be suppressed due to the danger obviously posed by the Arietis system. The public statement issued is that Governor Seok's personal ship was lost on the journey to Earth in a freak accident. When the signal returned in 2320, signalling in a pre-Techume programming system with a series of love poems to Salvage Captain Jubaid Sadr. Sadr agrees to go, publicly retiring from his position of Captain of the TKS *Salvage* due to illness. Instead of the strange readings of previous ships, the ship sent with Sadr simply disappears, and in its place emerged Officer Lin's Research Ship, or at least an exact replica of it. Renamed the TKS *Foundling*, the ship was sent back to Earth with a skeleton crew, and a single corvette in Battelfleet Gold is given orders to open fire on the ship should anything occur outside of its permitted bounds. The same year, the Council of Keepers in conjunction with the Defenderate and Researcher Order agree to found a secretive intelligence agency, the Horizon Watch, in order to best handle any further activations of the Horizon Signal.

Meanwhile, in 2321 and '22, the Azimon Horde launched a series of hit-and-run attacks in the Interior Domin via the Lantana wormhole. Traditionally, the Interior was considered to be one of the safest regions of Techume space, but the Azimon's raiding of the mining-heavy systems of the Deep Interior rocked the Techume to the core. With reports from fleeing miners of the titanic size of the fleet, High Keeper Gichki recalled all fleets to join in order to guard the Lantana sector, as well as tasking the Fabrikate with orders to build as many ships as possible. However, the Azimon's hit-and-run tactics also mean that direct engagement with equivalent force is almost impossible. The Lantana system remains a contested region for the duration of the Horde Conflict, with Righteous Fleets chasing off Azimon attempts to consolidate their authority in the region. While mustering forces, a Techume research ship is destroyed by the Khagan Ni'aili'aphi'a in 2324.

During the same period, the mystery surrounding the Horizon Signal deepened. An earthquake on Earth revealed a strange temple complex in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia, predating most other structures in the region. It revealed a common symbolic theme of a Mobius-strip shape of a worm consuming its own tale, which the archaeologists deciphered as being called "the Loop." After considerable work, the strange script used in inscriptions on the temple wall were determined to be a proto-form of the Meroitic script used by the Kushan civilization in the waning centuries of the BC era. Specifically of note were highly advanced field equations which, although now considered elementary by many in the Researcher Order, were proverbial lightyears beyond the temple's contemporaries. It also contained many palindromic incantations dedicated to the Loop or the "Worm-in-Waiting," which when read forwards request its coming and in reverse beg its departure. When it is noticed that the earthquake which triggered the temple's reveal coincided to the minute with the last burst from the Horizon Signal, the directors of the dig site are either inducted into Horizon Watch as field agents or quietly replaced. It is agreed to add the temple to the Remembrance Registry as a holy site to the local culture.

In 2323 the Dah settlers of Avalon discovered a series of seemingly mothballed settlements, which the Office of the Total Colonization Effort allowed to be utilized. However, in the first few years of settlement it was quickly realized that *something* was wrong. The Dah, not usually known to be a superstitious species as many human or At'Chor cultures could be, reported the feeling that the settlement had *other* inhabitants, and that the shadows seemed to move of their own accord. The TCE dismissed these ideas out of hand, but the Horizon Watch took a keen interest. When population growth seemed to outpace even the most optimistic models and individuals with valid, but unrecorded, identification cards. After this, Horizon Watch intervened and forced the TCE to relocate settlers to the main Techume-built settlement of Camelot and schedule the facilities for demolition in 2325.

While the colony of Avalon was dealing with what was later termed as the Changeling Scandal, the Squadron Sigma Iron (sent to link up with its parent group, Battlefleet Iron) made two encounters: for one, they found an old escape pod with its dead occupants. However, they also find the phrase "What was, will be; what will be, was" daubed on the walls of the pod in blood. Second, the Squadron is hailed by a ship claiming to be the TKS Syzygy, under the command of Captain Harris Samiya-- the captain of Battlefleet Iron. Thinking it to be some sort of Djomar plot to cause an interstellar incident, Sigma Iron hails the ship in return only to find that it was indeed under the command of Captain Samiya, albeit significantly older. He begs Sigma Iron to engage him, stating that it is his destiny-- as the Worm, the Loop, demands. He identifies the Worm as the maker and monster of the labyrinthine construct of time. Finally, Sigma Iron engages and destroys the Syzygy. On Yomi, Horizon Watch quickly takes over the debriefing, and swears the officers in the event to silence without clearance from the Watch. The corpse from the escape pod is also taken to Earth for study. This is studied by Officer for Sociological Research, Maria Jamshidi. She comes to the conclusion that the "Messenger" was a lither and weaker, but cognitively much more powerful, species that either predates or developed simultaneously with standard humanity. Jamshidi also developed a retroviral strain that converts her own DNA to the Messenger species. Fearing the ramifications should her retroviral agent emerge (especially due to the increasingly unhinged reports from Jamshidi's laboratory), Horizon Watch orders her execution in 2324.

While the Horizon Signal dominated the upper echelons of the Techume government for much of the 2320s, the Horde remained an intermittent problem. A wormhole-based exclave was detected in a region of space close to the Techume, but unreachable due to the fact that the hyperlane network was blocked by the isolationist Scawic Protectors. However, trouble brewed again as the decade changed over. In 2328 the First Dah-Djomar War ended, and a year later the Mandate of Kathu'shen submitted to the overlordship of the Khan. In 2330, an Azimon fleet appeared from the Iama system, which previously connected to Djomar space directly into the Dah State. The Azimon, said to be commanded by the Great Dragon Lord himself, overtook much of the northern half of the Dah State. The Concord, under the Techume's presiding hand, declares its intent to smash the Horde; many other nations dedicate to Void Command's buildup of forces. In 2332, the Dah Foundation submitted to Khan, and the situation looked increasingly bleak as the largest contingency of Concord ships flew for Iama. Limited engagement with the core fleets of the Horde actually occurred, and due to the distances traveled and the size of the fleets the stated goal of attack could not be executed before an unknown special forces team assassinates Ani'api'auh on his own capital ship in 2338. In the ensuing chaos, the Horde breaks up into several competing factions, each claiming the Great Khan's legacy. The Bemoid Company, functionally irrelevant since the Second Bemoid War, capitalizes on the power vacuum left in its region by re-occupying northern Bemoid space. As the Battlefleets are reassigned, Silver is given the distinction as the guardians of the Lantana wormhole.

Besides these crises, there were significant gains made by the Techume in the era. The Lojumoids granted the State planetary shield technology, and several worlds were colonized under the program of the TCE. This was in addition to the creation of the first orbital habitat, Olympia, in the Haedus system in the Southward Domin in 2341. In 2345, the At'Chor Allied Colonies subjugated the True Azimon Horde, the splinter group of the Horde which existed around the Azimon outposts in the Lantana sector and the Trans-Scawic region.

In 2345, the Horizon Signal events also came to a head. After researching the concepts of non-linear time, the Omega Alignment is constructed on Earth. The building is able to contact the Loop, inadvertently summoning it and denying it its sacrifice. Enraged, an avatar of the Worm-in-Waiting manifests in the Sol System. Battlefleet Gold, under the command of Admiral Abdul-Wadud al-Iraqi, engages the creature. In a brutal battle which destroys nearly half of Battlefleet Gold, the avatar of the Worm is destroyed, and the twenty-year crisis is seemingly ended. When an elderly al-Iraqi passes away several months later as a hero on Earth, his last words are "what was, will be." Media dubs the battle with the worm "The Battle that Was and Will Be," and its combatants are celebrated as heroes across the Techume and saints in their own religion. When news of the Battle reaches foreign powers, the concern is great-- can the Techume truly fight off even strange, eldritch gods?

It is of concern to the Horizon Watch, which remains a significant intelligence agency in the post-Worm era, that in 2346 the Researcher Order puts forth evidence that so-called "magical" abilities were in fact the rare manifestation of psionic abilites, which have in recent years become more and more prominent. The fact that latent psionics have manifested after the Battle that Was and Will Be is of little concern to the Researchers, but raises eyebrows among Horizon Watch, especially given that Jamshidi's research detailed the psionic capabilities of the Messenger race.

The remainder of Gichki's administration is remembered as a triumphant era of Techumic history where it appeared that nothing could hault the State's rise to power, even when the Lojumoid Continuity demanded the Techume refrain from colonization for a decade. This incenses the Office of the TCE, who were in the process of terraforming the last world in Techume space scheduled for colonization.

High Keeper Sanober Gichki passed away in 2352 at the age of one-hundred-and-thirty-one, as one of the longest reigning High Keepers in Techumic history. Considered a national hero, her funeral in the city of Resurgence was a massive affair and telecast across the Techume and Concord, with religious leaders including the Keeper's own Sharif of Mecca as well as several other ecclesiastics in attendance. The elections after her death are commonly called the Strife of the Governors as many of the Domin governors jockey for the position of High Keeper.

### Post-Gichki Era, the Djomar and Holy Wars, and the Great Awakening

The Strife of the Governors ended with the ascension of Takeko Aino, governor of the Interior Domin, to the High Keeperate. Although elected by the support of the Full Enfranchisement Network, Aino ran on a belligerent platform for war against the Djomar Imperium. Several months later Aino proposed an attack on the Imperium, to which the Concord agreed. The ensuing Djomar-Concord War was quick, and witnessing only one attack on Techume space before being repulsed. In 2254, two years after the outbreak of the war, the Djomar Imperium capitulated and the Techume annexed the world of Schlurg and its dependent space, which was renamed Ryujin during its occupation.

The supremacy of the Techume in the Western Galaxy went unchallenged for much of the era. The TCE began its final settlement of Dialtono III in 2356 (finished in 2360), to be named Hiawatha, and in the same year the Museum of Exobiology was unveiled in Resurgence, along with the renovated Abdu Keeper Complex. Lastly, the TKS Faizon attempts a transgalactic subspace flight, the longest jump ever attempted. However, the Techume wasn't entirely undefeated. An attempt by Battlefleets Gold, Silver, and Copper to destroy the Dimensional Horror in At'Chor space was rebuked, ravaging all three fleets. In the 2360s, the Techume undertook the massive climate restoration of Earth, which had languished after World War 3, as well as terraforming Mars, and Aino was replaced by Castle Domin governor Faraji Aero.

On the frontier of At'Chor space, the human-majority Wocrym system on the Dah border rebelled against the Allied Colonies and created the dictatorial Wocrym Combine in 2354, and allied itself fully to the Dah Foundation in 2364. The At'Chor answered in 2370 by integrating the True Azimon Horde into the Allied Colonies proper. The biggest shift of the decade was the discovery of the Vultaum homeworld of Vultaumar, destroyed in a massive act of planetary suicide after a major ethics shift. Despite the new controversy of the old culture, the Techume take on the title of "Heirs of Vultaumar" and occupy the system. Finally, in 2370, for the first time in memory Void Command declares that they've built to the Techume's force limit.

After the quick victory of the Djomar-Concord War in 2356, the superiority of the Concord was nigh undeniable. When the Second Dah-Djomar War broke out in 2371, the Grand Council of the Concord was keen to act on the discord. The Wocrym Combine had become increasingly defiant of the At'Chor's *de jure* rule, and had begun to intercept ACCA trade around the system. In 2372 the Concord declared war on the Combine and Dah Foundation in order to return the Combine to Allied Colonies suzerainty and end the Dah materialist tyranny over their population. Guided by a returned Takeko Aino, Battlefleet Gold and the First Righteous Fleet attacked, occupying the Wocrym system almost immediately. The war was drawn-out only by the distances involved, with most of the Dah resistance easily swept away by Battlefleet Gold's overwhelming firepower. Although the Dah found success against the Djomar, the Concord occupied most of the Dah core worlds, and in 2375 the Siege of Dah itself began. Even an attempt by the Dah fleet in Djomar space to attack the Castle Domin was repelled. Three different Battles of Dah occurred, one in 2377 and two through 2378 before its armies were finally overwhelmed. The three-year long siege left the homeworld of the empire devastated, and three years later the remnants of the Dah Foundation capitulate. Coordinator Quill of Kaara abdicated from his position, and the new Holy Dah Republic was founded. The Wocrym Combine was annexed by the ACCA. The Holy Dah Republic joins the Righteous Concord later that year, ending the oldest rivalry in Concord history in 2381.

Despite being the most intense military commitment since the Second Bemoid War, it did not demand the same cessation of the civilian economy as that conflict. In fact, several civilian achievements were established. In 2373 Earth's biosphere was restored to its pre-War conditions, and in 2376 Mars was made habitable by humans, and colonized in 2379. '79 is also known as the Great Awakening, where humans across the galaxy undergo a massive psionic awakening. Whereas psionic abilities were a fairly rare ability, now almost every human expressed *some* level of psionic abilities. It also leads to an awareness of the psionic realm of the Shroud, which the newly established Psionic Conclave manages to contact in 2380.

At the same time, a massive conflict had broken out in the Eastern Galaxy, The two largest alliances in the galaxy, the Stellar Entente (made up of the Cadutese, Servoid Keepers, and Ergizan Hegemony) and the Vin-Sylienlos Alliance (named for the Pantramin Commonality's capital, including them, the Kathu'shen Mandate, and the Pantramin vassal of the Sacrosanct Oglish Principality) had rocked that half of the galaxy. Ironically, only the now-isolationist Phydran Council is the only star nation that remains uninvolved. The Great Eastern War, as it came to be known, ended in 2389.

The Holy Dah Republic quickly became the Concord's most aggressive member, pushing for a war against the Djomar Imperium in 2394. This became known as the Dethronement War after its end, seeing the collapse of the old Djomar nobility and its criminal underground. The Dethronement War is most noted in Techumic history for exposing the lack of service given to Planetary Command, but in the end the Old Djomar Imperium was overthrown and the Concord became hegemon of the Galactic West. After the annexation of much of the Djomar border, the Byeoleurite Mandate requested that the Techume become its protector; the Mandate would later be integrated into the Techume in 2411. The Dethronement War was succeeded by several more Dah-led conflicts collectively known as the Azimon Campaigns, officially the Campaign to Pacify Azimon Space, which ended any opposition to the Techume outside of fallen empires. These persisted until 2421, when all the Azimon diadochi had been "pacified" by the Dah.

The Early 25th century also saw the rise of piracy in the rimward regions of the Techume while the fleets were outside of Techume space, as well as the election of the first non-human High Keeper, a Bemoid named Aoithghean Emhnoso. The Techume also constructed two gateway sites, one in Trinitar and one in Sol. Meanwhile, the Techume explored Transcawic space utilizing their jump drives, and uplifted the Mel'Zahir civilization into a proper spacefaring nation under Techumic guidance.

### The Ascension and Imperial Era

The largest shift in human history ostensibly occurred in the period of 2426 to 2427 when the High Keeper, once again Takeko Aino, was inundated with a titanic amount of psionic energy, which transformed her into an entity magnitudes above any other human. The date of this occurrence, the 20th of November, 2426, is referred to as the Ascension and has become an annual celebration across the Techume known as Ascension Day. Referred to as the Chosen One, Aino gained a massive following across the State for her newfound abilities and seemingly endless psionic power and on August 7th, 2427 her closest followers named her Eternal Empress of the Techume. Supporters of Aino in the government, chiefly loyalist elements who had served her multiple administrations as High Keeper, staged a takeover of major government offices on Earth and prompted Aino to declare herself Empress of the Techume, issuing the Proclamation of Imperium and disbanding most organs of the old order and establishing the Techumic Imperium. In response, Aino's foremost opposition, the Voice of the Tribunal Gillaume Archambault actively opposed Aino, along with around a third of the Tribunal. The so-called Imperial Crisis stretched on for almost a month as neither side would budge, but eventually Aino's psionic edge and track record as High Keeper for nearly seventy years led to her victory, with the Clone Legions of Mars restoring order in Resurgence and arresting many of the newly-proclaimed Empress's enemies. Archambault himself escaped abroad and sought asylum in the Pantramin Commonality.

In a flurry of reforms, the Empress-- shedding her previous name except in certain circumstances-- became the autocratic ruler of the Techume by the virtue of her near-divine abilities. As the Chosen One, she was proclaimed to be the fulfillment of humanity's prophesied saviors, as well as the most capable person to guide the Techumic Imperium because of her ability to perceive multiple places at once as well as major precognitive abilities. The old Common Era dating was done away with, and 2427 was declared Year One of the Imperial Era. The general of the Martian armies, General Ayser al-Qurtubi, is declared High Marshal of the Imperium, and all other army groups are disbanded except for the renamed Red Legion of Mars under Qurtubi.

Three years later, in 3 IE, in order to silence remaining doubts of Her ability, the Empress pushed the rest of the Righteous Concord to declare war on the Scawic Protectors, who had become increasingly hostile to the Imperium and its neighbors. Utilizing their upgraded jump drives, the amassed forces of the Imperial Navy transported directly to the capital system of Xyris, and in a protracted battle destroyed the forerunner citadel in the system and moving the Imperium's Colossus, the Hand of the Empress, into orbit of the Scawic capital of Celestial Throne. The Scawic are given a preemptive warning, and the fleets of the Techume allowed civilian craft to escape the world unmolested. However, many refused to leave the ancient home world of their Empire, and thought the human's threats idle. In 2431/4 IE, however, the Hand of the Empress fired on Celestial Throne, creating a nigh-impenetrable shield around the planet. The Empress's retort to any outrage was that the Scawic always demanded that their sacred worlds be left alone; now, this would be enforced by Imperial might. The Protectors accept a white peace in the same year, their fleets destroyed and their capital cut off from the rest of the galaxy, utterly humiliated.

Two years later, in 6 IE (2433) the Empress called the second-ever Conclave in Techumic history, usually remembered as the Imperial Conclave when differentiated from the former, Republican Conclave. It came immediately after the establishment of a new legislature created by Edict, the Imperial Senate. Essentially, the Empress detailed to the assembled leaders of the Old Order her reforms and reorganization of the former State. The Tribunal, dissolved since the Imperial Crisis in 1 IE, was replaced by the newly-elected Senate, and in place of a Voice there would instead serve an Imperial Chancellor designated by the Empress herself as her representative to the legislature. The Council of Keepers, similarly dissolved since Her enthronement, is replaced with the Privy Council, with several advisers appointed by the Empress herself. The Keeperate is transformed into a clergy known as the Imperial Cult, while the Transecumenical Council on Vaikuntha is folded into the new Cult as the Synod for Imperial Orthodoxy, within which pre-Ascension religions are slowly molded to fit the ideology of the Empress as divine. The Defenderate is divided into a separate Void Command and Her Radiance's Legions, the latter commanded by the High Marshal. The Emissaries, always a hodgepodge of responsibilities, is divvied up into its respective organs including the Xeno Legation, the Merchant Marine, and the state communication organ which retains the name of Emissariate. The Frabrikate is dissolved on a Techume-wide level and replaced with Domin-level Frabiker Guilds. Other organizations are created as Privy Council-level orders: the divided fiscal responsibilities of the Old Order were transferred to the Imperial Divan, while the Keeperate's Translation Council was reformed as the Imperial Dragomans, responsible for the cultural, linguistic, and religious translation of different ideals of the new regime. Only the Researcher Order remains unscathed in the reforms, but in 10 IE (2437) they were rendered a non-entity in Techumic politics when the core of the Order's leadership were granted the newly-constructed Science Nexus in the Tinith system as a new headquarters.

The first two decades of the Empress's rule were generally calm, and a new class of imperial aristocrats arose from the esteemed ranks of the massive bureaucracy. On the most basic level, however, the individual remained mostly unmolested, and planetary government went on as before the Ascension. The Concord nations also took steps to better manage some of their extant issues: in 5 IE (2432) the Holy Dah Republic vassalized the True Azimon Khanate, and in 7 IE (2434) the ACAC came to an accord with the rebel Human Democratic Coalition, ending decades of insurgency on that planet. The Imperium itself grew in 17 IE (2444) when the Mel'Zahir Syndicate accepted integration, becoming the second Special Domin alongside the Mandate. However, increasing population pressure in the most established colonies of the Techume led to a shortage of jobs in the core territories, including the Home Domin. The Olympia Habitat in the Southward Domin became the poster child for what became known as the Post-imperial Recession as the criminal underworld reared its head in 18 IE (2445) in a slough of gang wars. The Imperium's response was to offer increased pressure to emigrate on individuals from the interior to more far-flung colonies such as Arcadia or Osiris, or even the close-by but still relatively unsettled Mars. In the same year, the world of Terra Nova in the Eondicyra system was settled by the first human colonists, marking the single farthest extent of the Techume.

18 IE is also remembered as the outbreak of the Second Scawic-Concord War when the Protectors declared war on the Concord, believing that they had been able to decipher the secrets of their ancient military technology once again. The Imperium thoroughly disabused them of this notion, destroying their fleets quickly and outmatching their orbital citadels. In 19 IE (2445), St. Ayser al-Qurtubi, in his capacity of General of the Red Legions, occupied the Scawic world of Piosel, the first planetary loss that the Protectors had faced. The Hand of the Empress again returned to the capital system, this time to Shine Divine upon the world of Piosel: equipped with a massive psionic amplifier and a monk of the Imperial Cult who revealed to the psionic Scawic the sheer power of the Empress. In the same year, 20 IE (2447), the Protectors admitted their defeat; the Concord was undeniably hegemon of the Galactic West.

In the same year, to alleviate pressures on the imperial core, Project Southbound is initiated: the state-backed settlement of Transcawic space, one of the last regions of the galaxy which had not been thoroughly settled. In 23 IE (2450), the world of Al-Wadud was settled, the first beyond the Protectors' space, and population controls were declared on several interior worlds in order to avoid further overcrowding.

### Imperial Hegemony

Between the Exodus Program and Project Southbound, the last reaches of the galaxy came under the mastery of the Imperium. The world of Al-Wadud, named for St. Abdul-Wadud the Wormslayer, became the center of the Transcawic Domin alongside the world of Jotunheim (founded as Isis). A Third Scawic War, also called the Scawic Purge, broke out in 2458 over the Techumic settlement of the world of Pristine Jewel before being once again thrashed by both Void Command and the Red Legions before ending in 34 Imperial (2461). A short period of peace lasted until the Jalaekudan Archivists, their loathing of the upstart Techume reaching its peak, declared war on the Imperium in 2470. Unaccustomed to actually utilizing their weaponry, the Jalaekudans were unprepared for the Imperial war machine, and after the Revelation of Chonn Garru II the Archivists capitulated 44 Imperial (2471) in the shortest forerunner war yet seen. This was followed in 2472 by a Scawic attempt to strike back at the Imperium, only for St. Ayser and the Red Legions to occupy several worlds and take a system from the Scawic, ending the Fourth Scawic War. Collectively, the long period of on-and-off conflicts are referred to as the Forerunner Wars. This period ended with the Awakening of Jalaekud and the Formation of the Directorate, and with the Imperial annexation of the Protectors in 2504 after the Great Crusade.