Asurian Nomads

*An ancient and very isolationist faction, their history is unconfirmed, as are their origin. All that is known about them is speculative at best. Stories passed down from generation to generation tell of how their homeworld was consumed by hordes of monstrous creatures simply referred to as the Angry Night. They now live a nomadic existence upon huge, city-sized space stations called Worldships which are protected by fleets of lesser vessels. The Worldships populations compose the vast majority of the surviving Asurians, although it is impossible to say just how many individuals this is. The Worldships are certainly the seat of their remaining industry, technology, and culture, as they contain the only vestiges of their original civilization.*

*The population of each Worldship is made up of loosely-federated clans held together by their shared heritage. They are a tight knit society of resourceful and distrustful survivors. Although each Worldship is essentially independent in its actions and governance, they will generally offer and accept aid and advice from one another. Because these massive vessels contain the last remnants of their long lost origins, the Asurians will defend their Worldships with a fury and tenacity unrivaled by other factions. They have a strong honor code and believe that the best way to die is in battle. This, coupled with their immense pride, has led to conflict between different Worldships.*

*While this generally takes the form of a duel between representatives of each Worldship in which first blood is usually sufficient to end the matter, the high number of deaths from these conflicts has lent to their fierce reputation. The Asurians have an old tradition of appointing their most experienced elders as leaders, and their trust in this tradition has been confirmed by the faction's uncanny ability to survive and live to fight another day.*

*A unique race in a galaxy riven with superstition and prejudice, Asurians are the results of interracial human-elfen relationships but have developed into a true-breeding race since then. Asurians stand taller than humans, yet shorter than Elfen. They retain the lean build and comely appearance of the Elfen, though their ears are less pronounced. Their skin, while fair, takes its color from their human lineage. Due to the fact that both races see too much of the other in the Asurians, they are rarely welcome in either society.*

## *History & Origins*

*In the past the Asurians inhabited a pristine paradise world where they wanted for little. That is until the arrival of the Prophet and with him the complete upheaval of their society. As his teachings called for his people to prepare themselves for a great time of strife and possible ending. The Prophet ordered that many hundreds of massive city sized ships be built in preparation for the times of ending as he called the encroaching catastrophe. His will was carried out and when the cataclysm arrived in the form of a massive demonic invasion, the Prophet was able to ferry away a third of his people into the waves of the star-sea. Inadvertently, the Prophet had created the largest fleet of starships in the galaxy and a new great power. However, eventually the Prophet would fall in battle and in his place he left no successor. Thus beginning the conflict that would come to be known as the Nomad Wars. In the early days of this conflict, hundreds of smaller factions within the massive Asurian Nomad fleets presented candidates of their own to take his place. Elections would be held but always end in disagreement. Eventually more factions would arise with their own candidates and agendas, having grown weary of the petty squabbles among their established aristocracy. This only lead to even more friction among the Asurians and petty rivalries soon began to turn deadly. Who first resorted to violence is unclear, but in the aftermath of the Nomad Wars the Asurians as a unified people ceased to exist. Their great armada now being broken up into hundreds of smaller merchant and piratic fleets that wonder the galaxy.*