The Radiant Imperium of Aureus

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## Overview

The **Radiant Imperium of Aureus** is an expansive multi-species feudal empire in the Unknown Regions, sharing a border with the Vak Combine and Garwian Unity to the Galactic East. They are one of the few civilizations in the region that are a threat to the Chiss Ascendancy, despite their generally inferior military technology, due to their strength of numbers, unpredictable tactics, strong generals, equivalent hyperspace navigation ability, and unique proficiency in quickly reverse engineering captured enemy technology for adaptation into their own designs, largely due to long centuries of practice at creating synergistic multi-species technology. They have relatively recently come into armed conflict with the Garwian Unity, which the Imperium views as vastly inferior to itself and subject to conquest as a result.

The Imperium is highly meritocratic, and so while it is a very stratified society, with slaves and commoners at the bottom of the social ladder and noble lords and ladies at the top, social mobility is greater than what one might expect from a feudal empire. A commoner can become ennobled by proving his or her (or its) extraordinary worth, and even slaves can free themselves by displaying exceptional merit, although naturally this is much harder. In addition, slaves are treated less like disposable property and more like involuntary contracted servants; forcing slaves to work outside their mandate is illegal -- a martial slave cannot be prostituted, for instance -- as is undue abuse, either of which can and do result in slaves being freed by the Imperial court, whereupon the noble who loses them also loses a great deal of social capital. As a result, slaves of the Imperium generally live a comfortable, if constrictive and labour-intensive, life. A well-fed and well-kept slave is a sign of prestige among the nobility, and if one does not treat their slaves with the requisite level of care, they are often viewed as uncouth and unworthy of noble titles, which is as good as a death sentence in the cutthroat political climate of the Imperium courts.

Unlike the Jedi or Sith, who view the Force as a two-sided coin, or the Chiss, who view the Force as a tool to be used, the Imperium has a multitude of influential force cults, who each profess a different philosophy pertaining to the nature and best use of the Force -- which they call the Ethereal Power or just the Ether -- from violent dark side cults like the Sanguine Reavers, who believe in using blood and sacrifice as conduits for the Ether, to the benign Order of the White Lily, who believe that the Ether's most powerful ability lies in the art of healing. The Imperium never invented lightsabers, and so most force cults favour throwing weapons, polearms, or blades made of the toughest and sharpest materials, generally ultrachrome or songsteel, though each has a subtly different preferred style of combat. Some, like the Stonefist Abbey, favour no weapon at all, believing that the body should be trained without the crutch of weaponry. All in all, the religious environment of the Imperium is as tumultuous as the clandestine cloak and dagger wars of its political sphere.

## History (WIP)

### Pre-Imperium

Once, the planet Aureus stood alone in a sea of enemies. Home to a now near-extinct race of near-human sentients with inherent empathic force abilities calling themselves the **Orous**, Aureus was a weak planet with only a token military that survived for centuries after discovering hyperspace, not by brute force, but by forming clever alliances and pitting its enemies against one another. Despite their dubious reputation as cunning schemers, the Orous always seemed to get their way in negotiations, largely due to the secret of their force power, and this made them a major political power among their neighbors. However, the failing of the Orous was that they were long lived and slow to reproduce, and as a result their large verdant homeworld, rich in resources and landmass, could easily support their entire population, making them largely unambitious. While they were divided into several influential trade families with one nominal head of state, for centuries they never grew beyond a single planet. However, this changed dramatically when the Grysk invaded the region in 3112 BBY. The Grysk, an alien species who subverted and then used other races to do their bidding, began to take over planetary governments in the Unknown Regions, spreading chaos throughout as dozens of races began clashing at the Grysks' bidding. The once-harmonious trade network shattered, and while there was some token resistance, the unifying force of the Grysks was simply too strong to oppose by individual species. The Orous, worried at this new development, became more aggressive themselves, and began a counter-espionage campaign against the Grysk.

### The Grysk Wars

Over the next ten years, the Orous began expanding their intelligence network until deep infiltration agents were present in the upper echelons of several local governments in the surrounding Lucidus Sector. Through liberal use of their immense coffers for bribery, aggressive Force-inflicted mental suggestion, and various other forms of skullduggery, the Orous gained almost complete control of their neighbors' governments, and in 3101, after a series of coup d'états on the capital planets of the governments in question, Aureus became the founding member and de facto leader of the **Lucidus Sector Coalition**, an alliance of twenty-three governments, many of which would later form the Core Sector of the Radiant Imperium, all turned to the defence of their territories against the Grysks and their client species. The Aurean military itself was scant, consisting of just a handful of patrol craft and picket ships designed to ward off pirates rather than fight in proper battles. As such, they relied on the other species of the coalition and roving mercenary bands to do their fighting for them while they built a military of their own, largely using the military expertise of the other species of the Coalition. With relatively equivalent forces, the Grysk clients and the Coalition forces fell into a decades-long stalemate. Each side began to focus on consolidation and fortification, rather than invasion, and after twenty years it seemed like the status quo would remain forever.

In 3080 BBY, however, the Aurean scientists, alongside those of the other Coalition members working feverishly to bolster the Aurean military technological base, made a major breakthrough in plasma beam technology. At great expense, a flagship for the new Aurean Defence Force was designed, prototyped, and tested all within two years of its conceptualisation. The ***First Light***, as it was christened, became a dreadnought the likes of which the Unknown Regions had never seen before. At just under 2 kilometers long, and boasting extremely heavy armour and a beam weapon which could decimate entire fleets, the *First Light* was immediately put to the test in a series of offensives against the Grysk power base. It proved to be a great success, and the scales began to tip in Aureus' favour as eight planetary governments surrendered to the Coalition within the first year. Several more of the craft were scheduled for production thereafter, but the Grysks had their own deep infiltration agents within the Coalition, and a massive subterfuge campaign was launched to destroy all traces of the research that led to the creation of the *First Light* and its incredibly destructive primary weapon. The Grysks succeeded in their plans, and although they lost a great many agents in doing so, their tampering meant that the *First Light* would be the only of its kind to ever see the light of day.

Despite this setback, the Coalition's momentum carried it onward, and after 30 years of devastating consecutive wars and hundreds of billions of lives lost, the Grysks were finally beaten back and isolated to a few minor worlds on the edge of Coalition space. The Coalition had by then grown to over twice its original size, encompassing 52 constituent governments consisting of over 400 planets total. The landscape of the region had been inexorably changed by the Grysk invasion, and this would set the stage for the rise of the Imperium in years to come. The next few decades were considered a golden age of technological advancement and economic prosperity for the Coalition, which gradually became more centralised, although they kept a constant blockade around Grysk-controlled space so that the devastating Grysk Wars could never be repeated or forgotten.

### Rise of the Radiant Imperium

In the year 3024 BBY, a new Premier of the Lucidus Sector Coalition came into power, known as **Aureus-Gallus Trelus**. Born and raised on the capital planet itself to the Orous ruling family of Gallus, Trelus was a natural born leader, gaining a horde of followers as a Coalition diplomat before he was chosen for the seat of Premier. However, forged in the fires of the Grysk Wars, Trelus was one of a new breed of Orous -- one that was no longer content with their long, prosperous lives on a single planet. Trelus thirsted for power, and he began to form a faction within the Coalition government geared toward the ultimate goal of seizing ultimate power for himself.