The Empire of Yageeb

Degepakehuw

### Size

~410 billion LY (in diameter) at peak (including vassal states and autonomous regions)

## Government

### Government

Shubyagēbopkefēfek (-320 LPT to -258 LPT) Pagraknawopkefēfek (-258 LPT to -193 LPT) Yubyagēbopkefēfek (-193 LPT to -28 LPT)

## Chronology

### Succeeded by

N/A

The Empire of Yageeb was a massive centralized authoritarian empire existing from -320 LPT to 28 LPT which dominated The Enormous, and at its greatest extent spanned from the Awefian Void and Great Divide all the way to the Shawafian Cluster and Central Regions as well as many other areas. Throughout its very long history, it has heavily influenced the rest of the Pencilcosmos, both positively and negatively. The Empire of Yageeb arose after the Third Awefian War, in which it conquered and subjugated almost all of its enemy nations, electing Lakn'Shyf as its first ruler. It quickly became a superpower in the region, adopting a collectivist ideology based on previous Awefian ideals centered on the idea that progress was the most important aspect of a prosperous society.

The Empire of Yageeb placed a strong focus on its military and had long-standing relations with neighboring nations in its early years, most notably Sŵaph following the Rût-Ksta'aph Pact. The 3rd ruler of the empire, Gwepk'Ēpk, developed and invested large amounts of resources in its military, as well as developing several widely used military weapons, such as the Particle Reconfigurator. The 7th and 8th rulers, Lakn'Yapk and Lakn'Yapk-Dapf, conquered many territories surrounding The Enormous and established contact with the Shawafian States and later the Aspehna. Slowly, the empire started gaining a reputation of being ruthless and doing everything it could to gain more power as it conquered and dominated other civilizations and nations over the LPT.

Political instability had weakened the empire greatly, culminating in an oligarchic police state being formed by the Pagrakna in -254 LPT. Under the oligarchy, countless territories were lost to rebellions and political unrest while the rulers sought to decrease military spending and repair relations with neighboring nations. The empire started to expand its influence during the War of the Drift, assimilating many Shawafian groups. After the government fell, the 9th ruler of the Empire of Yageeb, Gwepk'Gil, began a series of reforms to the government as well as weakening the power of other high-ranking officials, beginning what is known as the Revitalization Era. In -20 LPT, Gasapk'Yesh loosened restrictions on who was able to become ruler.

Following the establishment of the CSCR in 16 LPT after a mass invasion of the Central Regions by Pencils residing in the empire's territory, Lakn'Ēpk took control of the region after the defeat of the CSCR in the Awefian-Pencil War, establishing numerous puppet governments, wiping out entire settlements and killing or enslaving hundreds of millions of creatures. Later in the empire's history, the Empire of Yageeb had slowly began to decline. Worsening relations with Odhe, as well as other groups such as The Liberators, had substantially weakened the empire. The Empire of Yageeb collapsed following the attack on Krepofek in 28 LPT, although remnants of it remained until ~45 LPT.

## Background

Before the fall of the Empire of Awef, Yageeb was one of the empire's vassal states, being the largest and most populous one. Extensive trade with Awef, coupled with the discovery of many new -verses such as Rtaŵaphkhath had bolstered the nation's economy. Relations with Awef started to grow worse after the empire pressured Yageeb to help it engineer and create The Seer. In -401 LPT, the Empire of Awef collapsed due to internal conflict and rebellions, starting the Third Awefian War.

Although Yageeb's main supply chain was cut off from The Enormous due to The Bridge's collapse by The Seer in -364 LPT, Yageeb had enough resources to fund and manage a powerful military. It quickly conquered many of the various nationstates left over from Awef's territory, and rebuilt The Bridge in -358 LPT. By -330 LPT, Yageeb had gained a significant foothold inside The Enormous. An Awefian known as Lakn'Shyf from Sŵaph, a neighboring Awefian nation was beginning to gain power by the end of the war. Lakn'Shyf promised to strengthen the military, rule fairly, and treat conquered groups well. They quickly became very popular among the citizens, and although they faced some opposition, was elected as Yageeb's first ruler in the Phrûx-Naskhaz election which took place in -320 LPT.

## History

### Beginning

After Lakn'Shyf became ruler, the *Shubyagēbopkefēfek*, the first government of the Empire of Yageeb, was formed.

Lakn'Shyf began to negotiate with the rulers of other neighboring nations, including Sŵaph. The two nations came to an agreement to not attack each other and to serve each others' interests in the Rût-Ksta’aph Pact, and started trading extensively. Sŵaph exported valuable resources from the realm of Lakat (which they controlled at the time), while the Empire of Yageeb mainly exported military technology. The empire started developing its infrastructure, mainly transportation and its military. In -317 LPT, Yageeb started to construct an extensive intersection system inside The Enormous to allow for easier travel and exploration of the -verse.

In -314 LPT, the first Pencils would arrive at The Enormous. Sŵaph's government was conflicted over how to handle the newly-arrived species in their territory. They were very worried about what would happen if the Pencils seized the resources present in Lakat. In the same LPT, Sŵaph passed the Phrûx-Hakak Act, preventing the Pencils from being able to harvest resources in Lakat. After the Thŵas-aph Act was passed in -310 LPT forcing most Pencils arriving in Lakat to work for the Awefians, the newly elected 2nd ruler of the empire, Lakn'Kan, denounced Sŵaph. Tensions between the two nations slowly grew. Khatha'ash, the ambassador to the Yageeb at the time, attempted to negotiate with Yageeb and admitted what was happening in Lakat in -309 LPT. Both of the Awefian nations had wanted to control Lakat, but due to their conflicting ideals and governments, the dispute continued. Trade, however, was still continuing, but slowing down, as Sŵaph wanted to starve Yageeb of resources. This prompted the Empire of Yageeb to expand elsewhere, eventually establishing relations with the Coalitions of 10,000 Planets, groups of mostly-united civilizations each holding local dominion over their respective regions. The Coalitions would slowly gain more influence over the Awefians as trade between the 2 parties continued.

Yageeb's government had slowly started to ignore the Rût-Ksta'aph Pact and focus more on expanding into Lakat and taking over, as well as claiming the -verse of Prowpawk. Many high-ranking officials pressured Lakn'Kan to use military force to take control, as they felt Sŵaph was unwilling to cede any portion of their territory. Yageeb used propaganda to negatively affect the public opinion of Sŵaph. In -309 LPT, Khatha'ash went into hiding. Fueled by a desire to contact the newly-arrived Pencils and establish outposts in Lakat, the Empire of Yageeb made many territorial demands to Sŵaph to give the -verse of Kesawk as well as the Shopr star system, who when refusing to comply, moved an entire army of 1 million to the planet of Nalakh, situated close to Lakat. Sŵaph interpreted this as preparation for an invasion of the realm, and quickly mobilized forces to the planet. The Empire of Yageeb had not decided it would be good to attack on the planet, and instead hastily organized a peace deal with Sŵaph and established numerous cities on it, mainly serving as garrisons.

Sŵaph repelled the Thŵas-aph Act in -309 LPT in response to continuous criticism of the government. They freed many of the Pencils kept as slaves, to which the Empire of Yageeb responded positively. However, the empire's true goal was to expand their borders towards Lakat and to establish trade relations with the Pencils. In -307 LPT, Lakn'Kan created the advisor system (which was collectively referred to as the Pagrakna) to better organize power within the government. The first 13 advisors were appointed by Lakn'Kan in -306 LPT after a referendum. Although the advisors held a seemingly high position in the government, they had very little power in reality. Lakn'Kan feared that if the advisors had too much power, they might create instability within the government.

### Expansion

In -303 LPT, Gwepk'Ēpk was elected as the 3rd ruler of the Empire of Yageeb. They aimed to solve many of the empire's current problems, including food shortages in the outer regions, attacks by the Ashapkowaf States inside the Enormous, and the newly established rebel states, as well as to expand to the Great Divide, which was of great importance to the Awefians due to its resources and cultural significance. Under the ruler of Gwepk'Ēpk, the Empire of Yageeb started to extensively develop its military. In -299 LPT, the Particle Reconfigurator, a weapon which utilized heat to melt objects down to the atomic level for a very short duration, was developed. A military campaign to retake Rtaŵaphkhath was launched in -303 LPT 6.2 SPT, and hundreds of thousands of military ships were mass-produced for the invasion. The Ashapkowaf nations of Trsak and Kaghak, which had previously held the -verse, were greatly weakened due to the invasions by Yageeb. After Rtaŵaphkhath was retaken, its resources were almost entirely harvested by the empire, with many of these resources were used by Gwepk'Ēpk to fuel Yageeb's ever-expanding military.

The Empire of Yageeb rarely encountered any other advanced nations while it was expanding away from Sŵaph (thus guaranteeing an absence of large-scale trade, the one thing Gwepk'Ēpk was looking forward to). Many resources had also been used on constructing the ships used. Thus, many creatures started to believe that the newly-established expansionist policies of Gwepk'Ēpk were inherently worthless. The rapid militarization of the empire also generated significant backlash from the lower classes, as well as sympathizers of the Ashapkowaf and Sŵaph, who were becoming a larger problem as disdain of the ruling Awefians started to increase.

After hundreds of years of slow-building tension, an assassination attempt on Gwepk'Ēpk was carried out in -303 LPT 7.1 SPT, causing the Calamity of -303 LPT. Even though it ended up failing, it proved to have a massive sociopolitical impact on Yageeb. Much of the empire was considerably distraught. The power dynamic within the government also shifted; more power and responsibility was placed on the Pagrakna in case an assassination attempt would have succeeded and killed the ruler. This paved the way for the Pagrakna's rise to power in the later LPT. Multiple factions within both the populace and the government had emerged around this time, resulting in the formation of a breakaway state known as Ashaghk. During this time, Gwepk'Ēpk tried to resolve the issues as best as they could, attempting diplomacy with opposing groups, while Pagrakna handled relations with Sŵaph. A trade deal was made between Yageeb and Sŵaph, and large-scale trade resumed. Many different movements, most notably the Movement of Death, arose during this time. Meanwhile, the Coalitions, who had started to gain a significant foothold over travel routes used by Yageeb, had taken advantage of the situation to spread their influence ever so slightly across Awefian societies.

As the Empire of Yageeb continued to expand deeper into The Enormous, there was a heightened interest in exploring The Great Divide and the newly discovered Awefian Void. Artificial intelligence for piloting ships for long distances in a straight line was nearly perfected during this time. A prototype for the voidship was being developed by researchers for efficient and wasteless travel through voids, which would prove to be useful later in the empire's history. The Empire of Yageeb again wanted access to routes to the Great Divide. Sŵaph agreed to allow the empire to send FTL-ships into its territory, but only if the empire were to withdraw all military troops from Nalakh and agree to not hoard resources, as well as forcing any ships passing through to pay a tax and strictly prohibiting any military ships to travel through. Gwepk'Ēpk agreed and withdrew most of its soldiers from Nalakh, to the relief of Sŵaph. The Pagrakna wanted outside help to deal with the remnant breakaway states left over from the Calamity of -303 LPT, eventually making a deal with Sŵaph in the Thakhs-aph Treaty. Most of the breakaway states were ultimately dependent on Yageeb for resources, and many of them had turned to the empire to sustain themselves. Simply by cutting off trade with those states, almost all of them collapsed immediately with little or no help from external allies such as the Coalitions and Sŵaph.