Molikong Khanate

The
collection of systems and peoples underneath the banner of the Molikong people, and the Khan Snarjan.

## **History**

### Early Days

The Molikong Khanate were not, contrary to popular belief, a tribal society uplifted by contact with more advanced aliens. They had begun to evolve as a society around the same point as the Imperian Confederacy, but their enhanced native abilities naturally led them to more war-like tendencies. Constant infighting and battles for supremacy meant that the progression of Molikong society was slow. Only the largest tribes had the capability to fuel technological and societal evolution, and they would keep these secrets to themselves instead of making this technology widely available for sale.

The Molikong Khanate, thus, remained in a tribal state of development far longer than most of the known civilisations of the galaxy. Recent studies into Molikong society by dedicated Imperian Confederacy researchers have seemed to support this view.

### Ascension of Zujarij

The Khanate first came into being when the Warchief of the largest tribe, Zujarij, united several smaller tribes and put them to work on technological development. The first spacecraft was constructed and it moved to Ficus, the nearest planet to Molikonglia, where a colony was established. With this foothold, Zujarij united the remaining disparate tribes in the Khanate and began to establish the template for Molikong society, which persists to this day.

When all of the tribes on Molikong had been united, Zujarij proclaimed himself the Khan Snarjan (essentially, the equivalent of a head-of-state). His intelligence had been the primary reason he was able to lead his tribe to victory, and this made itself apparent when he almost single-handedly established the hierarchy of Khans as a governmental leadership structure, as well as creating the Dustrum Assembly in order to placate the populace.

The history of Zujarij is well-documented in Molikong society, being one of the few parts of their history which is, and he is overwhelmingly remembered as the apex of all Khan Snarjans. There are small sects of the Molikong people who believe, had he shared his technology sooner, all of Molikong society could have become much more impressive, but they are in the minority.

### The Confederacy and Independence

As the Molikong Khanate began to expand outwards into space, their tribal magics allowed them to terraform worlds, to a certain extent, which otherwise would have been unable to provide for life. Each of their worlds was bound by a magical force they dubbed Dah-Khartan, meaning "Veins of Life" in their native tongue. This force allowed the Molikong to transfer their bodies between their worlds, making true spaceflight necessary only for discovering new worlds as opposed to upholding trade routes.

While attempting to colonise Khemjeenii in the Shoroon system, the Molikong stumbled upon an Imperian Confederacy patrol. Intending to avoid them, the Khanate told their colonists to leave the system. However, the Confederacy jammed the transmission and interrogated the colonists. Determining the Molikong to be a race the Imperians would like to bring into their fold of a universe-wide elemental-being alliance, they allowed the colonists to take Khemjeenii and then sent a small fleet to Molikonglia itself to occupy the Khanate's seat of government.

The Molikong resisted fiercely and did their best to impede the Confederacy, who were attempting to cause minimal casualties, but eventually cutting off the connection of individual worlds to the Dah-Khartan made colonies unable to provide for themselves unless they accepted aid from the Confederacy. Grudgingly, Zujarij negotiated peace with the Confederacy. On his deathbed, he told his son, Bartherious, that he must free the Molikong people if they were to strive to be more than the shamans they were. Bartherious swore to his father he would free the Khanate from the control of the Confederacy.

Over the next fifty Imperian Cycles, Bartherious led a guerrilla war against the Confederacy. He sabotaged supply lanes, had officials murdered, and generally presented himself in a difficult way when in talks with the Imperians. Eventually, after Bartherious' forces had established themselves sufficiently, he began a bloody war which had every Molikong rise up at once. With even children taking up arms, the Confederacy did not consider the investment of troops an equivocal exchange for the comparatively insignificant faction, and they left the Khanate alone.

Without the Dah-Khartan to link their worlds together, many colonies lost the terraforming effects of the magical link and millions of Molikong died. With only a handful of territories remaining, Bartherious vowed vengeance on the Confederacy whilst he began to rebuild the magical link and the wounded worlds of the Khanate.

### Tyranis's Conquest

When Tyranis began his first attempted conquest of the Confederacy, he sought support from the Molikong Khanate as he knew they would be likely to support him. Bartherious was tempted, at first, to accept Tyranis' request, but insisted the Molikong Khanate were in no position to wage interstellar war. They were still recovering, after all, the from the damages inflicted by the leaving Confederacy's forces.

Tyranis bestowed upon Bartherious an ancient enchanted helm which magnified his necromancer abilities tenfold. Tyranis then instructed Bartherious to raise an army of the dead which could assist Tyranis in his assault on Magnus Imperus. The Warchief obeyed Tyranis and set the Molikong at home preparing for an inevitable counter-attack by the Imperian Confederacy. Before leaving, he raised an army of five hundred thousand dead from the burial grounds of the Molikong, and took them offworld on huge carrier vessels.

The Khanate did as Bartherious instructed, developing new magical techniques in conjunction with technology in order to produce more effective weapons of war. The Khan Khregeti, at this time, ruled in his stead.

### Post-Tyranis

When Bartherious and the rest of Tyranis' forces were defeated by the forces of the Imperian Confederacy, Bartherious went into hiding and the Khanate prepared for an attack by the Confederacy. They were woefully unprepared for the gigantic fleet of dreadnoughts and warships the Imperian Confederacy prepared, intending to quell the threat of the Molikong once and for all. They decimated the Khanate's military and occupied all of Molikong space.

A quarantine was established around Molikong colonies, preventing them from trading, and once more breaking the link of the Dah-Khartan. With the death of all three Khan Khregeti during the attack, the disparate groups of the Khanate have resorted to in-fighting. However, several key tribesmen still await the return of Bartherious, preparing to spring their plan of reunification into action when he does.

## **Organisation**

### Military

The military operated like a raiding party establishment - as opposed to a rigidly organised structure, colonies and tribes would have their own groups which would patrol their space and nearby worlds. It was not uncommon for these raiding parties to encounter one another and for hostilities to be waged as a result. The Warchief could initiate a Khanate-wide call to arms if he/she was planning to go to war. In this case, due to cultural and tribal traditions, the vast majority of raiding parties, regardless of affiliation to each other, will join the main fleet. Parties which do not are often shunned, colonies under their control sometimes being raided by other parties, being placed under trade embargoes, or even being occupied by the Warchief's dominant fleet.

During military engagements, the Warchief is in charge of delegating battle plans to raiding party leaders, who are expected to divide their forces competently. An equivalent would be the Warchief as a Vice Admiral, with their board of less senior Admirals controlling sections of their fleet. Generally, these smaller fleets operate almost entirely independently from the Warchief, the leaders of such being trusted to act autonomously.

### Government

The
Khanate is led by a Khan Snarjan, who in turn appoints three Khan Khregeti who
lead three key parts of Molikong society-War, Economy, and Justice. Each Khan
Khregeti has two Khan
Noyas to handle unimportant matters in their office, and each Noyas has a
board of Khan
Lesser who advise them on decisions. The Dustrum
Assembly was a civilian body made to act as a form of
parliament, but they are mostly ignored, and as the Khans are appointed by
their superiors (besides the Snarjan, who is hereditary), the society is
overall mostly undemocratic.

### Relations with Other Factions

On the galactic stage, the Khanate is viewed mostly as a minor faction - their capabilities, whilst not unimpressive in some respects, pale in comparison to established factions like the Imperian Confederacy and Tudari Coalition.

They have interacted with the following major factions:

* Imperian Confederacy: The Khanate was originally a part of the Imperian Confederacy. In a long, bloody war for independence, the Molikong Khanate proved itself as more than capable of handling itself to the Confederacy. When Bartherious led his armies of the dead against them, and messages of support from his people were found, the Khanate was designated a threat to universal peace and placed them under quarantine.
* Tudari Coalition: Molikong males, due to their psionic capabilities and strong build, are sometimes favoured by upper-class Tudari females for entertainment and breeding purposes. However, Molikong males are notoriously difficult to 'tame', and as a result only the most daring Tudari tend to visit their homeworld to abduct males.
* Arch-Council of Tyranis/Apex Dozen: Originally, Tyranis elicited the support of the Molikong people in their efforts against the Imperian Confederacy. Bartherious insisted the bulk of his people remain behind in their own space to prepare themselves for war whilst he took an army of the undead into the Confederacy to wreak havoc. Presumably, when Tyranis won, the Khanate would have been granted a smattering of systems as a reward. When Tyranis was defeated, Bartherious survived and escaped to his homeworld just before the Confederacy occupied Molikong space. His people told him to flee and come back for them when he was strong enough. Soon after, he became a member of the Apex Dozen under Kortarex and Tyranis.

They have also had dealings with the following minor factions:

* Hyralise Hegemony: Originally, refugees from the Hegemony sought support from the Molikong, among other factions, but their savage nature, in addition to the Molikong's loyalty to Tyranis at the time, meant the Hyralise were denied entry.
* Dachigi Syndicate: The Dachigi often hired Molikong mercenaries out to be used as particularly potent bodyguards. Some drug dealers and smugglers also employed Molikong for their psionic capabilities as they were able to sense danger from a distance and, in the case of the particularly experienced (and expensive) Molikong, utilise a certain amount of precognition. Since the Confederacy's quarantine of Molikong space, it has become much harder to hire out mercenaries. Some rings are successful in smuggling out Molikong from the quarantine, although the majority are either stopped, arrested, or destroyed by Imperian forces.

## **Territory**

The
Khanate control the following planets and systems:

Molikong System:

* Molikonglia

* Ficus

* Zes

* Ukhel

Shoroon system:

* Amrag

* Khemjeenii