Allempi

Rebels of the Outer Territories (R.O.T.)

* Assoon Insurgency

The **Allempi** were a race of tall, slender, semi-aquatic people who inhabited the icy planet of Lapau in the near-Outer Territories, just inside the circle of the Gimoan Alliance. They were a wealthy race, famed for their expertise in marksmanship and espionage. As the Rebellion against the Gimoan Alliance escalated, the Allempi were already embroiled in their own Civil War, culminating in a victory for the Assoon Insurgency, pitting the majority of Allempi against the Gimoan Alliance for the remainder of the Chaotic Wars. Eventually, as the Chaotic Wars came to a close, the Allempi had dwindled to but a shadow of their former glory, and it is said that the last remaining few retreated to the far Outer Territories to live in secrecy. It is not known what happened to them, but the last record of them is said to have come from the forest planet of Elmar, where a lone Allempi star-pilot supposedly crash-landed and spent the rest of his days.

## Biology and Appearance

The Allempi were a tall, slender and long-necked race of mammalian alien, native to the cold, icy world of Lapau. Despite their graceful appearance, the Allempi had a thick layer of blubber under their skin to help them endure the harsh weather and cold climate of their homeworld. The fur was thick, short and luxuriant, with dense underfur, keeping the Allempi warm and dry when in the water. They were exceptionally strong swimmers, with webbed hands and feet and an ability to hold their breath for long periods of time.

Allempi exhibited strong sexual dimorphism, with males being generally bulkier than females. Adult male Allempi typically had thicker necks covered in a short, coarse mane extending from the back of the head to the shoulders. The more dominant males also had abrupt foreheads formed by the elevation of the crown and the thicker fur of the mane on the top of their heads. The development of short, downward-pointing tusks also occurred as a result of dominance, but this was reserved for only the most dominant males, i.e. those who were in the more prominent positions of power.

As semiaquatic carnivores, the Allempi ate a diet that consisted mostly of seafood; with fish, aquatic crustaceans and fish eggs being the most widely consumed types of food. More inland communities usually resorted to riverine foodstuffs, although the consumption of terrestrial meat was sometimes tolerated.

## History

### Origins at Lapau

As pre-galactic inhabitants of the planet Lapau, the Allempi originally lived in small, coastal fishing communities, with regular trade and communication from village to village. Development occurred quickly, centred around Lapau's extensive seas, lakes and rivers, with inland communities progressing more slowly due to their geographical limitations. As coastal villages rapidly grew, so did tensions between the different communities. The warring coastal nations eventually homogenised, resulting in lengthy wars between different nations local to disconnected bodies of water. Many of the less militaristic nations were engulfed by the more militaristic ones. This long history of constant hostility and warfare shaped Allempi society to become dominated by militarism, but due to the mountainous landscape of Lapau, open warfare rarely occurred. Instead the Allempi developed exceptional long-ranged weaponry that allowed them to engage in battle across wide mountainous valleys, a fighting style that came to shape the Allempi's reputation as famed secret agents and long-ranged weapons experts.

### Early galactic days

Once the various nations of Lapau homogenised, they quickly advanced to colonising their neighbouring star systems. The Allempi central government remained at Lapau, meanwhile, made up of a number of representatives for each of the new colonies in the Allempi territory. During the mid-Emergent Epoch of the Old Era, the small, multistellar Allempi territory became a constituent of the Gimoan Alliance. This meant that the Allempi territory was granted the protection of the Alliance and allowed for increased trade between the Allempi and the other Allies. Lapau saw a marked increase in development and general prosperity as a result of joining the Alliance. Other than a small number of neighbouring planets, the rest of the Allempi territory experienced very little positive change, with much of the developing wealth reserved for Lapau and its surrounding systems. Behind the façade, economic instability in the other parts of the territory drove many Allempi into poverty, resulting in an increase in crime, particularly in the illegal weapons trade with the Brooglords of the Outer Territories.

Many Allempi, Lapauan and otherwise, worked as spies and undercover agents, sent out to work for governmental bodies throughout the Gimoan Alliance and beyond, and quickly Allempi intelligence agencies became the exemplar of the field. The Gimoan Alliance requested that the Allempi government provide it with its exquisitely trained bodyguards, and before long many of the government officials throughout the Alliance employed at least one Allempi bodyguard to keep them safe. Besides spies, marksmen and bodyguards, Lapau's major exports to the Alliance included some of the galaxy's most technically sophisticated weaponry, specifically long-ranged weaponry.

### Allempi Civil War

*Main article: Allempi Civil War*

While Lapau and its surrounding colonies were enjoying the economic benefits of being a part of the Gimoan Alliance, the Allempi-occupied planet Assoon was rapidly becoming an open gateway for illegal trade in and out of the Alliance, and gradually its economic stability increased, independently of the Alliance. Culturally, the people of Assoon began to identify more with the nations of the Outer Territories with whom they traded than they did with their own capital; and, with the commercial aid of the Brooglords, the Assoonite Allempi rebelled against the corrupt, wealth-hoarding Lapauan government with the assassination of Governor Tal Luoco. This sparked the Allempi Civil War, officially expelling Assoon and its associative planets out of the Gimoan Alliance. The Assoonite rebellion, now known officially as the Assoon Insurgency, held its own in the lengthy war with the economically and militarily superior Lapauan State, mostly due to its role as the primary weapons manufacturer among the Allempi territories. However, pressure from the Tinggi armies supplied to Lapau by the Gimoan Alliance made the territories of Assoon vulnerable to invasion.

Few major conflicts occurred throughout the duration of the war, with the Assoon Insurgency focussing primarily on infiltration tactics to attack the Lapauan government directly and to avoid open warfare with the Alliance's Tinggi mercenaries. Towards the end of the Emergent Epoch, the eminence of Assoonite espionage and weapons technology attracted the attentions of the increasingly infamous young rabble-rouser, Shamfast the Rebel, who sought to unite the independent nations of the Outer Territories in order to overthrow the Gimoan Alliance. In 262, 4th Age of the Emergent Epoch, the Assoon Insurgency joined the Rebels of the Outer Territories (R.O.T.) after a rousing speech by Shamfast at the famous 262 Rally. This allegiance boosted the Assoon Insurgency’s economy and providing it with military support.

Conflicts between the two Allempi nations began to escalate throughout the 1st Age of the Chaotic Epoch, with the first major invasion of a Lapauan territory by the Assoon Insurgency. The military aid provided by the R.O.T. enabled the Insurgency to successfully claim entire enemy planets, almost in a clean sweep. The Lapauan State fought back though, invading Assoon with its Tinggi army, causing catastrophic losses for the Assoonites. But with much of the Tinggi mercenaries occupying Assoon, the Insurgency's infiltration unit successfully managed to overthrow the government at Lapau with the Rebel army seizing control of the planet in a coup. The remaining Tinggi mercenaries were unable to return to Lapau and were gradually weakened by Assoonite attacks until they retreated to Alliance territory. In 98, 1st Age of the Chaotic Epoch, the Assoonite Allempi peaceably set foot on their ancestral homeworld for the first time in about 500 years. The remaining Lapauan inhabitants took some time to adjust to the changing of power, with many fleeing to the Central Galaxy to escape the Rebels and the rapidly materialising Chaotic Wars.

### The Chaotic Wars

*main article: Chaotic Wars*

The Assoon Insurgency, now the Assoonite State, maintained its capital on the planet Assoon, working to redistribute Lapau’s accumulated wealth. While not all Allempi prospered under the Assoonite State, many of the previously impoverished colonies enjoyed the fairer distribution of wealth throughout the territories. This was short-lived, however, as now the Allempi had become an enemy of the Alliance, their economies never recovered to the former glory of Allied Lapau, in spite of the wealth disparity.

Nevertheless, the Allempi remained a key asset to Shamfast’s Rebellion throughout the ensuing Chaotic Epoch, arming the R.O.T. and provisioning them with its exemplary intelligence agents. Meanwhile, the Lapauan refugees of the Allempi Civil War had re-established themselves in the Central Galaxy, effectively fulfilling the same roles for the Gimoan Alliance. Both the Rebel and the Ally Allempi remained active in the Wars until the eventual fall of the Alliance in 151, 2nd Age of the Chaotic Epoch, but after the Ragash Regime seized power, destabilising the galactic economy and rendering themselves and many others bankrupt, both the Assoonite State and the former Lapauan elite assisted in the deposition of the Regime.

### Post-Chaotic Wars & mysterious disappearance

As the ensuing turmoil culminated in the dawn of a new era with the rise of the Imperial Epoch, the two, former-enemy Allempi peoples fled the crowded Central Galaxy and returned to their territories at Lapau and Assoon. There, the Assoonite State struggled to maintain the economic stability of the Allempi, although attempts were made to initiate lucrative trade routes with some of the nearby nations. Gradually, reports of contact with the Allempi from these surrounding nations reduced to silence, and they were never heard of again after 48, 2nd Age, Imperial Epoch, ME. Reports from investigators and historians who visited the Allempi territories at this time declare the former capitals of Lapau and Assoon as abandoned and uninhabited by any Allempi, with little evidence detailing what led to their disappearance. It remains a mystery even today as to where they went, how they disappeared so mysteriously, and why the Allempi abandoned their territories in the first place. It is generally assumed that they expected the Chaotic Wars to continue to grow and grow until it eventually caught up with them at their homeworld, and having forever had a cultural identity defined by civil war and rebellion, the Allempi decided to start again in an uninhabited corner of space. Others have surmised that the Lapauan elite who occupied the Central Galaxy after the conclusion of the Civil War discovered secret Gimoan documents that describe a future plan to bring about what they called "the awakenment" - a supposed prototype of the galactic cataclysm known as the Great Silence, orchestrated by the Kethic Order - but these theories have been heavily criticised as conspiratorial conjecture.

### Associations with the Lenari

After the disappearance of the Allempi, no report of their existence was ever documented, despite numerous attempts to track them down. However, a possible record of the Allempis' continued existence came from the small forest planet of Elmar, almost 300 years after the Allempi were thought to have disappeared. The record comes from the native Lenari, specifically the Alara Lenari, whose historic annals were documented in the cryptic chronicling system of "tree memory". When deciphered, the annals dated to 6, 4th Age, Imperial Epoch, ME, report what is described as a "fiery comet of pink light enshrouding" crashing into the Forest of the Shuddering Shadow - a large, unpopulated region of Elmar. It states that a small group of Alara Lenaris consequently ventured into the Forest in search of the comet, and stumbled upon a "pink glow illuminating the dark wood," and proceeded to investigate it. The Lenari described what they saw upon their approach: "many pieces strewn, as a starflower seeds, in the fiery birth of a man, born not of a mother but of the fertility of stars." They go on to describe the man in the fire as having been "scorched pink in flames and singed to his skin, his body and tail asunder. His stature loftier and nobler than we under his starlit domain."

The documents following this event continue to make numerous references to the mysterious figure, who is named *"Eless Do Lereth"*, or "he who came from the sky." He is documented as having been welcomed into the Alara Lenari, who appear to have treated him as though he was the embodiment of their holiest star, Len Fenya, a star that shines pink when viewed from Elmar. There are accounts of the "pink one," as he is also called, becoming an esteemed member of Lenari society, practising their customs, teaching them the secrets of the stars, and even marrying the Alara Lenari princess, Enathya. This made him king among the Alara Lenari, who reportedly celebrated the betrothal. According to the annals, Eless Do Lereth actually outlived his queen, and was so devastated after her death that he devoted his life solely to teaching the Lenari how to navigate the stars. His death is recorded on 90, 4th Age, Imperial Epoch, ME, and very little mention of him follows that date.

Many theorists believe that the mysterious figure depicted in the annals of the Alara Lenari refer to a young Allempi star-pilot who crash-landed on Elmar, possibly as a result of a combustion malfunction with his spacecraft (hence the "pink light enshrouding"). The description of the figure as having been "scorched pink in flames and singed to his skin" clearly aligns with the Allempi theory, given that Allempi had pinkish/purple fur, which was short and close to the skin in comparison to the very bushy fur of the Lenari. Also, the phrase, "his body and tail asunder, his stature loftier and nobler than we under his starlit domain" seems to heavily suggest the man was considered by the Lenari to be taller and larger than them, and was tail-less - features that would apply to an Allempi. His death in 90, 4th Age, also makes sense, with Allempi generally living up to about 120 years.

Studies taken place at the supposed crash-site on Elmar have revealed that a small crater-like depression in the former Forest of the Shuddering Shadows retains the residue of dissolved metals in the surrounding substrate. In addition to this, the area is 20x more radioactive than other parts of the region. Studies have also shown that there was no record of a comet ever coming close to Elmar in 6, 4th Age, Imperial Epoch, ME. However, these discoveries are not considered to be evidential, and the debate as to whether Eless Do Lereth was actually an Allempi is ongoing.

## Society and culture

Allempi society was generally patriarchal, although there are many instances of matriarchal figures in positions of power. Female Allempi were preferential as spies, secret agents and markswomen, partly due to their slighter builds and more nimble abilities. Female Allempis were also able to hold their breath for longer periods of time than the males, a trait that made females more accurate when shooting at long range. In addition to this, females generally had better eyesight, able to spot individual targets from a far greater distance than most Allempi males. These distinctions were most likely the result of historic gender roles within Allempi society: with females being expected to hunt while the males took care of the village, ensuring that everything was in order and defending it from rivals. This meant that the males spent more time on land than their female counterparts, who would traditionally free-dive in order to find food, thus developing better swimming skills and greater lung capacity. This also meant that the males evolved to be bulkier, and in some cases developed short tusks, as a means of asserting dominance over potential rival males.

The most widely recognised aspect of Allempi culture is their unmatched aptitude for espionage, marksmanship and weapons manufacturing. They were best known for their long-range, high-precision firearms, such as the Lapauan Electro-pulse Icebiter, provisioned throughout the Gimoan Alliance during the Chaotic Wars; and the Assoonite Vipersting, a weapon made illegal by the Alliance but continued to be traded to the Outer Territories through the black market.