Gogan Imperium

The Gogan Imperium is a warrior-minded society based around the concept of self-improvement through strength, wisdom, and unity.

## History

### Pre-FTL

The nation that would come to be The Gogan Imperium was properly formed in the inception of Ar'Gogun's industrial age. During this period, numerous conflicts between the eight major national alliances sparked wars for control over the planet. The Imperium itself began as a monarchy called the Kingdom of Light, named after the Lux Gogans who controlled it. It was later renamed to the Lux Imperium after the conquest and unification of the Glacius people into their territory. Through a mix of diplomacy and military actions, the Lux Empire came to annex and unite the majority of nations (the exception being the Tenebrae people) and become the dominant government on the planet.

The world experienced relative peace and very slow technological progress from this point forward. This changed thanks to a rebellion led by the Ignis and Tenebrae Gogans, the former of whom aggressively sought independence from the Lux Imperium. The resulting war came to be known as the Rebellion of the Dark Fire. Their actions of the Dark Fire alliance sparked a nuclear war which, through swift military action by the Lux Imperium, was halted before the planet could be severely harmed. With the backing of all other nations on the planet, the Lux Empire subjugated the rebels and gained full control of Ar'Gogun.

Up until the rebellion, interest in space exploration was minimal due to spiritual inclinations among the Gogan people. Thanks to the near-miss with nuclear annihilation, interest in journeying across the stars suddenly became forefront. The Gogans pursued the subject of space exploration with fervor from this point forward and were swiftly rewarded with the discovery of FTL travel via Hyperlanes.

### Early Galactic

Expansion and colonization were prioritized and a significant range of space was claimed in the name of the Lux Empire, which would be renamed to the Gogan Empire during the first few years of its expansion. The Empire would focus its efforts on generalizing the worlds it colonized, ensuring their worlds would be able to provide for themselves. Over time, however, worlds were made more specialized both as a means to more efficiently generate resources and to reduce the chances of future rebellions.

Expansion slowed as the Imperium focused on consolidating its economic and political assets. This eventually helped the Empire reach a significant degree of stability which gave it security for the long-foreseeable future.

#### The Awakening

Growth stagnated as Gogan culture shifted towards a greater spiritual mindset. A group known as the Order of Light began to hold sway over the Empire, preaching a philosophy of universal animism and encouraging its followers to seek spiritual fulfillment through the strengthening of body, mind, and soul. This rhetoric proved to be very popular with the warrior-minded Gogans and the religion was soon legitimized and adopted by the Imperial government.

The Empire remained in its stagnant but stable state for several centuries as its people sought their spiritual values. Stability became disrupted after a sudden event known as The Awakening: a measure of psionic power swept over the Gogan people, giving them a degree of power and connection to the universe around them. Religion and culture began to evolve as the Gogans came to grips with this new power, causing instability in the country. However, thanks in no small part to cooperation between the Order of Light and the Imperial government, the country remained unscathed.

Psionic strength and understanding among the Gogans climbed until it reached a zenith, causing the Second Awakening wherein the Gogan race awoke to the full potential of their psychic powers. Telekinetic actions became commonplace amongst the populace, with various peoples becoming adept in specialized applications of telekinesis which improved the production of resources and the daily lives of the people.

#### Renewed Expansion and First Encounters

The Gogan Empire renewed its push for expansion following the events of the Second Awakening, encouraging its people to seek greater fulfillment out in the furthest stars. This led to the country's first-ever encounter with another sapient space-faring civilization: The Kethsan Republic. Being a meritocratic republic with an emphasis on freedom, peace, and science, the Kethsans did not take kindly to the more authoritarian and spiritual warriors near their doorstep. Initial diplomacy between the two nations was cold and distrustful.

Thanks to a push on the Kethsans' part, an agreement to non-aggression and mutually closed borders was reached, ensuring peace between the two nations for a time. Diplomatic interaction was avoided for several centuries, and the two nations adopted a live-and-let-live attitude. Occasionally, a minor skirmish would erupt between the two nations, but these conflicts were ironed out through a combination of diplomacy and established traditions of honorable conflict.

Peace became jeopardized when the Kethsan Republic suddenly fractured thanks to conflicting political ideology. The standing government was at the mercy of the more conquest-minded elements of the country who held sway over the Kethsan military. Seeing no other options, the Kethsan Republic turned to the Empire and asked for help defeating the rebellion. It was agreed that the Empire would intervene on the condition of Kethsan vassalization.

With the Empire's help, the Kethsan Republic emerged victorious in its fight and reunited its country, ending the rebellion in a battle over a world that was renamed Unity. As per its terms, the Republic became a vassal to the Gogan Empire. A period of tension between the two nations followed as the Empire imposed restrictions upon the Republic which limited their technological progress and forced the Order of Light's beliefs upon them. Although migration between the two nations was limited at first, the Kethsan population was eventually allowed to intermingle with the Gogans in an effort to encourage cooperation between the two races.

As the populations began to interact with one-another, cultures began to meld. Unfortunately, while the Imperial government wished for the Kethsans to become accepting of their overlords, the result of this interaction was instead a new sentiment of discontent with the Imperial regime. Many became critical of the monarchy, citing decisions in the past centuries such as the total cessation of territorial expansion as evidence of negligence. Tensions began to mount as the Empire began cracking down on criticism and demonstrations against the government, only inciting further hostility in the process.

#### The Rebellion of the Imperator

Open hostility gave way to a full-scale war between the Kethsans and the Imperial Monarchy. The conflict initially favored the Imperials, and the Kethsans were pushed back into Republic space. However, as atrocities were committed against the vassal nation, Gogan sympathy grew and rebellions erupted across the Empire. This forced the Imperial military to spread its forces thin and allowed the Kethsens to renew their campaign, eventually drawing the rebellion to a stalemate.

A turning point came in the form of a legendary general known as Ziren Ma'Von who, at the time, was working for the Imperials. Seeing the war crimes being committed by their monarch, they lost faith in the regime and defected to the rebels. Under their guidance, the resources of the Kethsans were streamlined into an efficient war machine that began to turn the tide. As momentum grew, interest in political upheaval grew and the Kethsan and Gogan people united to eventually overthrow the monarchy itself.

Following a decisive battle above Ar'Gogun, the Imperial Monarchy surrendered to the rebels. It was agreed that the power of the crown would be given to the rebel leaders for them to rule in their place. With this agreement in place, Ziren and their war cabinet convened to draft a constitution that would form a young, proto form of what the Gogan Imperium's government would eventually become.

The conflict, which came to be known as the Rebellion of the Imperator in the months following, was brought to a swift close. The Imperial Monarchy was stripped of power, although it was allowed to remain existent. The assets of the nation were brought firmly under the control of the victorious party. Finally, it was agreed that the Gogan and Kethsan nations would be merged together into one nation composed of two states which would retain a minor degree of autonomy. A ruling council was formed from the leaders of the rebellion which would hold temporary control of the country until a permanent government was established to replace the Monarchy.

#### Post-Rebellion Consolidation

The war had left the Imperium rather divided, and the next few centuries were spent on another period of consolidation. Among the most important changes were political shifts on top of the new government. Thanks to Kethsan influence, a strong desire for democratic elements of government had blossomed among the Gogan people. At the same time, the Kethsans had begun to value the need for strong and effective leaders ensuring national prosperity. A new two-body system of government was agreed upon: The first body was the Senate, which was formed from representatives elected democratically across the nation and would be in charge of debating, creating, and interpreting laws and regulations. The second body was the Cabinet, which was hand-chosen by the Senate itself to act upon laws as it saw fit and to tend to the needs of the nation.

An office of highest leadership was formed within the government, intended as a chosen leader by both bodies to represent the government, and the nation, as a whole. Due to their hard work in the war, and thanks in part to their dedication to the prosperity of the country, Ziren was near-unanimously elected as the first dictator of the Gogan Imperium, a position which (at the advisement of the deposed monarchy) become known as Imperator. As such, the resulting government decreed the new government of The Gogan Imperium

Economic assets were also consolidated, with a focus on improving the economies of the Imperium's developed planets before spreading to colonies. A large-scale migration took place from the outer colonies to Imperium worlds, at times fully depleting the living population of sparsely populated worlds. Though many colonies declined, the core worlds of both the Gogan and Kethsan states saw their economies bolstered. Large-scale trade routes also were developed, alongside new voidcraft to service, expedite, and protect trade across the Imperium.

It was during this time that new psionic discoveries began to be made. Fueled by the intelligent and curious Kethsans, new practical applications and societal integrations were made for psychokinetic abilities, further serving to bolster the Imperial economy. The most important of these discoveries came in the form of advanced Astromancy, particularly spacial relocation. Soon, a new form of FTL was engineered: the Jump Drive, which promised to instantaneously close the distance between two points in space for lightyears apart. However, ever the cautious, the Imperial government impeded the implementation of this new technology and its use was initially limited to scientific vessels funded by the Imperial regime.

#### Fall of Naragun

Several centuries of slow economic expansion kept the Imperium prosperous. However, progress began to slow and efforts were made to re-ignite colonization and space exploration. It was during this period that an encounter was made with a pre-FTL race of mammals observed to be in a pre-industrial age. The species was called Naragi, and their world Naragun. The race was observed to be attuned to nature, preferring agrarian rural lifestyles over urban congregations, and they seemed highly knowledgable about the biology of their world to the point of domesticating hundreds of plant and animal life forms to build their society off of.

The world was small but teeming with resources, especially crops, that the Naragians were adept at exploiting, and the Naragians themselves were adapted to a form of climate neither the Gogans nor Kethsans were fully prepared to tackle. As a result, debate cropped up over whether the Imperium should make first contact with the species. Those in support argued the benefits of post-FTL technology that could enrich the lives of the Naragi while those opposed argued the potential shock and cultural incompatibility they would hold with the Imperium.

The debate was ended by a sudden crisis on Naragun: a massive basalt-covered region had begun to heat up, and scientists observing from afar feared a massive cataclysm upon the planet. With little to go on, the region was concluded to be the result of a flood basalt eruption and that immense reserves of lava were trying to escape from down below, ready to incinerate the land around the basalt region.

Support for first contact won out and the Imperium made their move, introducing themselves first to the leaders of the world's nations and then later to the people at large. Much as was expected, the Naragi were shocked by the appearance of aliens but a strategy of minimal influence kept the effects to a minimum. A strategy was formed within the scientific community to aid the advance of technological progress on Naragun for some time to make the species accustomed to foreigners before integrating them into the Imperium. Alongside this, more concerted efforts were made to study the flood-basalt region and take measures to prepare for continental eruptions.

Though many scenarios were predicted by the Imperial science community, the end result surpassed all expectations: a sudden degassing event of immense proportions pumped billions upon billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere over the course of a few short weeks, far too quickly for the Imperium to react. Through calculated projections between the Naragi and Imperials, it was concluded that the resulting greenhouse effect would create a mass-extinction event on a cataclysmic scale, and extracting the excess carbon could not be accomplished in time to prevent tremendous biospheric damage. A decision was reached to evacuate the Naragian population from their soon-to-be-sweltering world to another planet with an environment like their own. Though much of the population pushed back at this notion, the climate began to quickly heat up and grow more hostile, convincing greater and greater numbers of Naragians to leave their cherished home behind to seek refuge elsewhere.

As predicted, the Naragun biosphere soon collapsed in a mass-extinction event. The world became hot and uninhabitable for its original people. The unprecedented catastrophe was not without benefits to the Naragian people. Though initial culture shock rocked their people, the Naragi were able to adjust to their new post-FTL lifestyles over the course of a few short generations, becoming a very productive race. Two new colonies were seeded by the exodus from Naragun: Kajua and Frageli, which became a hub for consumer manufacturing and a highly agrarian planet respectively.

Over time, the Naragi chose to request statehood in the Imperium and formed what is now known as the Order of Naragun in honor of their fallen planet. The Naragian state became a center for agricultural development, biological sciences and, most notably, terraforming research. Many among the Naragian local government expressed a strong desire to see their home planet restored to its former glory one day, that their people might be able to return to their ancestral home.

#### The Infernal Crusade

In the years following, rumors began to circulate of several minor states near the Imperium's borders. Exploration efforts began to focus on this region of space, revealing a number of ominous signs of unknown alien activity: Decayed orbital stations, gutted starships, and numerous irradiated, bombed-out planets with minimal life signs. Initial theories suggested battle between alien nations, resulting in the total destruction of one or both parties.

Signs of a more ominous explanation began to surface as a consistent pattern emerged: the wreckage of similarly-modeled starships scattered amongst that of highly distinct starships, indicating one nation going up against many others. It was further evidence that this one nation was victorious in almost all of its battles, as the wreckage of other vessels vastly outnumbered that of the mysterious aliens. The situation came to a head when scout ships began to disappear, either failing to report back or sending hurried distress signals before losing contact with other vessels.

With tensions mounting, the Imperium mounted military-backed expeditions deep into this region of space to uncover the truth. Answers began to emerge as warships made contact with alien starships. It is unknown who fired first, but conflict swiftly began to escalate. Before contact was even established, the Imperium was forced to declare war on this vicious foe and so mobilized its ships against the mysterious aliens.

The aliens would not remain mysterious for very long as contact was finally established. Calling themselves the Infernal people of the Combine of Infernis, the star empire made it evident that they had committed genocide upon the alien species previously inhabiting the worlds they had mercilessly nuked, and that they intended to do the same to the Gogan Imperium. Diplomacy was briefly attempted but fell through as popular consensus among the people leaned towards challenging the Combine and avenging the fallen races. The Senate chose to declare a war of conquest in the name of the Imperium, which the Cabinet reluctantly backed.

Fighting initially favored the Infernals, who were much fewer in number than the Imperials but far more brutal in their conquest. Holding a policy of no-retreat, the Infernal fleets faced by the Imperium cut down scores of ships before they could be pushed back, dealing a hefty blow to the Gogan armada. Smaller surgical strikes by the Infernals also began to disrupt trade and cut off access to vital resources in deep space, costing the Imperium vital resources needed to prosecute the war. It began to seem like the Combine would dominate the Imperium.

A lucky break came from a strategic operation to strike at the heart of the Infernal war machine: their primary shipyard. Following through on a proposal rejected by superiors earlier in the war, a bold admiral made the decision to attack a vital shipyard through the use of Psionic Jump Drives to circumvent surrounding defenses. Because the Infernals relied upon the sacrifice of their ships to destroy their enemies, in conjunction with the advancing front lines, the shipyards were under-defended and vulnerable. Critical infrastructure in the space station was destroyed, rendering the Infernals without an efficient way to build new warships for a significant length of time.

Though the Infernals were able to rebuild their shipyard and retrofit other starbases into shipyards, the delay in replacing naval losses proved to be the opportunity the Gogans needed to turn the war around. The Imperium began to advance upon systems previously taken by the Infernals, and then later began to capture enemy territory. The gains in territory allowed the Gogans to snowball the war straight to the colonized Infernal worlds. Planetary occupation proved tedious and costly due to the irradiated nature of the worlds the Infernals inhabited, but progress was made none-the-less.

Towards the end of the conflict, a shift in attitude began to reflect in the Imperial forces. Though the Combine military fought with immense ferocity and little regard for life, it was observed that the prevailing attitude amongst the opposing forces was a sense of fear for the invading army. Civilians of occupied worlds showed similar sentiments, often refusing military relief aid out of fear of the alien invaders. It was swiftly concluded that the nation had begun its genocide of other species not out of hatred but out of fear of their own destruction, and doubts to the validity of avenging the races destroyed by the Infernals began to circulate.

Never-the-less, the invasion continued and reached the core of the Combine's empire. Another attempt at diplomacy was made, this time seeing some meaningful progress. The Emperor of the Infernals recounted the history of his people, notably how their world was driven into nuclear winter by an alien race seeing them as depraved and dangerous. Evidently, a sequence of observational missteps by this race led to the Infernals not only obtaining FTL technology but also obtaining the technology required to silence this nation. Shortly thereafter, another race had attacked the Infernals in retaliation for wiping out the first, and this continued similarly multiple times until the Infernals had wiped out at least five alien species.

It was thus concluded that, while the Infernals had performed atrocities against sentient life, they had not done so out of pure malice. Debate raged among the elements of the Imperial government on how to approach the situation, including how to punish those responsible and what to do with the terrified Infernal people. Eventually, a consensus was reached that the members of the Infernal Court would be individually tried for their actions during and prior to the Gogan-Infernal crusade and that the Combine of Infernis would become a state under the Gogan Imperium, with all the rights afforded to the Kethsan Republic and the Order of Naragun.

The terms were presented to the Infernal government and were initially rejected. The terms were accepted later after a series of losses pushed the Infernal combine back to their homeworld with few ships to defend themselves with. Ultimately, the Combine of Infernis capitulated and agreed to the terms, provided they be allowed to maintain a measure of independent military power on their worlds. Agreements were reached and the war was brought to a close, ending an era for the Infernals.

#### Infernal Statehood Fallout

The union of the Infernal Combine with the Gogan Imperium was initially met with great hostility throughout the nation. Distrust between the Infernals and other Imperial races was high, and both sides often called for reparations in blood for the actions during the war and prior. Multiple skirmishes between Imperial and Combine extremists flared up across the Imperium, primarily in Infernal space. This violence served to further drive a wedge between the Combine and the rest of the Imperium.

A novel idea was then proposed to disperse the Combine military forces among the Imperial ones, essentially making the then-primarily Gogan military forces a mix of Gogan and Infernal peoples. Though initially met with scorn, the idea was pushed through by the Imperial Cabinet. Many thought this would cause in-fighting within the military, diminishing its strength and impeding its ability to prosecute any civil wars the Infernals might ignite. However, much to the expectations of the idea's proponents, the shared experiences between the Gogan and Infernal military officers began to soften relations between the two races over the course of a few centuries. As the two races cooperated for the safety of the Imperium as a whole, the relationship began to rub off on the civilian populations and a greater understanding was reached among the general public.

Though distrust continues to persist between the Infernals and the Imperial races still to this day, the attitude has been shaped into that of a live-and-let-live attitude. Many Infernals at the time reflected that, although they knew the risks of associating with other races given the instinctual distaste for their kind, the benefits of being an Imperial state outweighed the drawbacks.

#### Discovery of Para'Lux

Years after the Gogan awakening to psionic power, the race had become familiar with psionic anomalies such as Daemons, mental breakdowns and the like. Psionic anomalies were familiar too as temples were erected around such things for study and practice. However, a scientific expedition to a previously-overlooked star system revealed a psionic anomaly of untold scale: a planet of unsurpassed ecological brilliance. The Shroud energies eminating from the world offered great power to those psychics who approached it.

The system soon became the center of attention for the religious elements of the Imperium. The Order of Light was quick to declare the world sacred, a place to be preserved and studied for the sake of greater psionic understanding. An temple was erected on a planetside mountaintop, one of the only places in the world with minimal life. Though the temple was meant as a place of study, the popularity of the site made it grow into the cornerstone for the Order of Light and the temple was soon declared the headquarters for the religious group.

However, it soon became apparent that the world harbored many terrifying secrets: pilgrimages across the surface often failed to return and other fortunate travelers told of powerful Daemons of a strength never before seen, the immense psionic power of the planet began driving psychics mad or seeding a lust for greater power, and insidious echos in the minds of the Order's clerics instilled fear into those who heard them. The Order of Light was forced to take action to mitigate these problems, such as forbidding non-psychics and inexperienced psionics alike from venturing to the planet. Departure from the temple was also forbidden, and further expansion of the complex atop the mountain was halted for fear of leaving openings for Daemons to attack.

Despite these setbacks, Para'Lux remained a sacred site, insofar as being declared a holy world by the Order of Light. Construction of the temple, then named Templum Maximus, continued into the mountain below. It was during this period of expansion that caverns below the mountain were discovered. The caves served to expedite the temple's expansion, but they also revealed a new suite of Daemons to threaten those who ventured into the unknown depths below. Plans were made to close off the caverns, but the only defense ever implemented was a large gateway leading from the temple itself into the hostile depths below.

#### Betrayal of Moraxus

The Temple Maximus became an important meeting site not only for the Order of Light but for the Imperial government, as its isolation allowed large numbers of powerful figures to meet together in safety. It was during one such meeting that then Imperator Moraxus chose to descend into the temple's depths. It was later discovered that the Imperator was under the influence of a powerful psionic entity which desired the cognitive energy of the Gogan people in order to project itself into the real world. Before he could succeed, he was confronted by four Imperial leaders: Martial Lord Sassonid O'Curr, Head of Cognitive Psience Kaldora Redon, CIO of MONK-Inc Sedreth O'Ken, and then-prince of the Infernal Throne Heldon Kormac.

Moraxus was struck down by Sassonid as they performed a ritual, preventing the completion of his plan, only for the psionic entity to appear and attack the four leaders. With the aid of the High Priest and another psionic entity opposing the first, the four were able to weaken the entity significantly. However, they lacked the endurance to finish the fight and opted to retreat, allowing the High Priest to seal the entity in the depths of the temple as they did so.

The entity would become known as The End of the Cycle, a powerful psionic god with the desire to end the cyclical nature of the universe to curb its own insanity. According to the High Priest, the betrayal of Moraxus had been due to a subtle bending and eventual breaking of his willpower by The End, so much so that he and the psionic entities he communed with had not detected it. Now that It was sealed, It would not be able to harm the Imperium or the Galaxy directly. However, the High Priest insisted that it would try to complete its Covenant and thus the tether it now held into the Universe needed to be severed.

#### First Crusade of the Umbral Vanguard

The Imperial government was thrown into turmoil as a result of Moraxus's betrayal. A snap election was held, and Sassonid O'Curr was elected Imperator in his predecessor's place. Shortly after Sassonid took power, a new threat emerged in the form of a rebellion. Touting itself the vanguards of darkness, the rebellion publicly swore to ensure the Gogans' destiny by completing the Covenant of the End in the depths of Para'Lux. The Imperial Cabinet immediately declared a state of emergency and threw all of their military resources at the rebellion. Though criticised by historians as paranoia, the move turned out to be fortunate as the rebellion's capabilities were drastically bolstered with psionic power fed to them through the Shroud thanks to The End.

The rebellion quickly lost steam after a short but significant confrontation in the Divine Light system, where the Imperium faced significant opposition but won the day with overwhelming numbers. Having dwindled after a single battle, the rebel forces hid themselves away and committed to terror and guerrilla tactics. The rebels, referring to themselves as the Umbral Vanguard by the end of the conflict, were gradually whittled down until their numbers were too thin to be more than domestic threats. The Imperium declared victory over the Vanguard, although they secretly formed numerous operations and organizations to seek and root out the remaining Vanguard forces, as well as to keep an eye on the citizenry to ensure The End's influence on the country is minimized.