Kel-Azaan Republic

The Kel-Azaan Republic is a space-faring nation controlling a vast portion of space to the far-west of Rebel Alliance frontiers. They are a honorbound warrior race who strongly believe in democracy, sometimes willing to go to war to free others from oppression. As such, they became close allies of the Rebel Alliance and supporters of the democratic cause.

## History

Long before the Rise of the Firal Crusaders, the Husko United Planets dispatched an Ark Ship to ensure their species survived the looming conflict with the XPG Galactic Empire. This Ark Ship was on a direct course to the New Galaxy, discovered by Husko Scientists who destroyed all charts to the galaxy after the Empire dismantled the United Planets. Over the hundreds of years in the Ark Ship, and the Husko evolved into the Kel-Azaan, the perfect specimen of being both a warrior and a scholar. In their more primitive years, the Kel-Azaan became Fanatics, worshiping some unknown God, and slaying any alien they ran into. When the Ark ship arrived in the New Galaxy, the Kel-Azaan ran unchallenged in the Eastern Galaxy, forming a powerful Empire, the only competition being the early Raxycodium Consensus, who survived by paying tribute to the Kel-Azaan Holy Mandate. The Kel-Azaan took advantage of the Great Purge to wipe out the majority of the Pirates operating in the galaxy.

A couple years after the Great Purge, The Kel-Azaan Republic was formed after a rebellion against their old government, the xenophobic, fanatical and spiritualist empire that did not fit with the evolving Culture of the Kel-Azaan people. A Civil War broke out, and much of the Kel-Azaan Holy Mandate's territory was lost. Following this bloody civil war, the supporters of the old ways were either exiled, arrested or wiped out. Following the Civil war that formed their Republic, the Kel-Azaan people naturally adopted a warrior culture, which was bound by a profound sense of honour. At some point before their first contact with the Rebel Alliance, Kel-Azaan warships had several run-ins with the Rovers of the Eternal Horizon, where Kel-Azaan captains wished to challenge the pirate lord Warton Fletcher to a duel to try him for his crimes. Through trickery and luck, Fletcher managed to win, earning him a pardon for crimes committed in Republic space.

At some point after this, the Kel-Azaan made first contact with the Rebel Alliance. The two Empires quickly became friends, due to their shared stances on democracy. A non-agression pact was therefore hammered, which later became a defensive pact. These treaties were shared with the Raxycodium Consensus, another space-fairing empire located to the south-east of Republic space. However, the Consensus set up a colony on the borders of Kel-Azaan space, where political friction formed itself between the two governments. Around this time, Trobhack Crumtika was elected leader of the Kel-Azaan regime. Following his election, a migration treaty was formed with the Alliance, and Kel-Azaan immigrates disembarked onto Alliance worlds, notably the Ilum colony.

In the first meeting of the Interplanetary Council, aboard the cruiser Defiance above Ilum, the Kel-Azaan ambassador gifted a collection of traditional Kel-Azaan swords to the dignitaries representing the other empires. Following the discovery of the New XPG Galactic Empire, Kel-Azaan citizens on Ilum were interviewed by Rebel Broadcast Network personnel, to which they expressed their disgust that "such an oppressive dictatorship was located so close to them". Later in the month, Keith T Maxwell, president of the Rebel Alliance Diplomatic Corps, met with Crumtika to discuss the possibility of a Federation, and the possible influences that Federation members would have on the worlds of other members.

## Government

The Kel-Azaan Republic is a militaristic form of democracy, where full citizenship can only be gained through military service. The voting franchise is limited to full citizens, and they are the only ones allowed to hold public offices. The Republic believes that it is their duty to spread their values of democracy, individual freedom, and respect for all sapient life to every corner of the galaxy, by force if necessary. This may bring them into conflict with other, less progressive nations.

## Culture

The Kel-Azaan may be a military-minded people, but they have great respect for the value of art, science, and entertainment. Their thriving culture is full of philosophers, poets, playwrights, musicians, holovid producers, and hologame developers. There is also a strong sense of militarism coursing through the populace, of course, and their citizen-soldiers are revered for their courage and dedication in defending their homeland. The Kel-Azaan are heavily honour-bound, and it is customary for Kel-Azaan to form Life Debts to repay those to who have protected or helped them in times of need, and have proven worthy of their service. Kel-Azaan are raised from a young age to have a strict moral compass, and as such, crime rates are very low on Republic worlds. The Kel-Azaan have a very low view of breeding with other species, seeing it as an abomination and a crime to nature.

## Military

The Kel-Azaan military is composed almost entirely of citizen-soldiers. By law, any land-owning family is obligated to provide at least one soldier per generation to the Republic's military in times of need. Among wealthy and middle-class citizens, it is customary for parents to forge the armour of a soldier with them, as a rite of passage to show the parent's pride in their child. Poor, indigent denizens can also join the military, and in exchange will receive the right to vote and a plot of land to farm, turning them from a beggar into a middle-class citizen overnight. While the Kel-Azaan fleet is indeed mighty, their ground troops are the Republic's greatest pride, and have not known defeat in battle since the formation of the Republic.

The Republic military is divided into groups known as Legions, with one legion hailing from each planet, consisting of however many soldiers and ships that planet is capable of producing. As such, while the Legion from Azak itself consists of dozens of ships and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, the Legion from their newest colony, Kaz Prime, currently fields only two or three ships and ten thousand soldiers. These Legions compete with each other during wartime for the glory and honors that come with defeating enemy forces, but are easily able to work together to tackle larger fleets and armies if need be.

In times of peace, the Legions keep up their friendly competition with war games, with the winning Legions being awarded by being the first to receive weapons and shielding refits for their ships as better technology is developed. This allows the Legions to keep their military edge, as even soldiers who have not known warfare in their lifetimes will have some combat experience to fall back on.