Fiction:Clanden Admiralty

The Clanden Admiralty traces its origins back to the Clanden Homeworld Cicero, one of the many planets to be overrun by the Grox Empire in its many years of conquest and expansion. The Merchant Republic of Cicero, along with several other surrounding worlds, tried to mount a valiant defense, only to be overrun by the Grox's superior numbers and firepower. Being closer to the Grox's borders than any of the coalition planets, the Clanden were left exposed when many of them withdrew their forces from the effort to help in the evacuation of their worlds. Cicero was quickly lost the the Grox, leaving the fleet no other choice than to evacuate the outlying colonies and flee that quadrant of the galaxy to seek asylum elsewhere.

Times were hard as the Clanden were turned away, time and time again by nations that were themselves beginning to prepare to meet the Grox advance. The Clanden Fleet then retreated into deep space to lick their wounds. Many like to think that they found an inhabited planet somewhere and settled down; but no, the Clanden kept going. At the end of his life, the captain of the Defiant, the defunct flagship of the Coalition, declared the founding of a new Clanden state, the Clanden Admiralty. The Defiant was rechristened as Home One, the new home of the Clanden race.

Since then, Home One and the Clanden armada wander the stars.

The Clanden
The Clanden are a species of avian humanoids that evolved from scavenging carrion-like omnivores on the planet Cicero in the Andromeda Galaxy. They are tall, cunning, but inherently kind creatures. Traditionally, they were masterful starship builders, trading their technology for services and currency with other empires. The Merchant Republic of Cicero was relatively small when compared to other empires in the region, encompassing only a few core worlds and several outlying colonies.

The Clanden culture has a lot of emphasis on logic and science, believing that, with enough time, the entire universe could and will unfold before them. Having seen many wars in their history, they are, however, no strangers to war, and approach the affair with a level head, and after the disastrous war with the Grox, a foot out the door.

The Grick
The Grick are four-legged lizard-like creatures native to the swamps of a planet a few parsecs away from Cicero. They made it into space not long after the Clanden, and not long after that did the two species make contact. It would be some time before the two could meet face-to-face, but the Grick were already dreaming of conquering Cicero and adding it to their burgeoning empire. The conflict that ensued lasted for nearly two hundred years, finally ending with the heroic invasion of the Grick homeworld by the Clanden and some newfound allies.

The peace settlement dictated the founding of a new Ciceroean Republic (replacing the provisional wartime government put in place by the Clanden), of which the Grick world would be a part.

After nearly another hundred years of chaos and anarchy on their homeworld, the Grick came back and became active colonists and members of the galactic community. Even if they were subordinate to the Clanden, they retained some amount of freedom.

After having served on their ships alongside the Clanden, the most of the Grick were evacuated and fled on their own, but a substantial number had migrated to the Clanden worlds, or to common Republic colonies that were abandoned by the Grick fleet. Some of these would fall prey to the Grox, while others would be reached in time by the Defiant and the retreating Clanden fleet.

The Jaylar
The Jaylar are grotesque, tough, and large creatures, genetically engineered by the Grick to serve as disposable manpower. Essentially slaves, the Jaylar enjoyed little liberty a the hands of the Grick, and little more under the Clanden governments. They served as cannon fodder during the Clanden-Grick wars, thrown into the line of fire while the nimble Grick found another way around. This tactic was again adopted by certain members of the Cicero Republic during the Grox Wars.

In peacetime, they became somewhat of a commodity to be sold and bought. They made themselves useful on construction sites and in starship spacedocks; some served as bodyguards and others still as personal servants and gardeners.

The Grick created them to be excellent muscle, but had to loan them at least a little bit of intelligence so that they might not make idiotic mistakes while working on their projects. This, unfortunately, meant that they were prone to picking up dangerous ideas. Indeed, many Jaylarian revolts had to be put down by the Grick Dragoons.

Some of the Jaylar joined their masters in the frenzied evacuation before the Grox advance, while many more were serving on board the Coalition fleet. They continued as Grick property during the long years where the Clanden Armada meandered through space, and only recently have their conditions improved.

Technology
The Clanden and their allies rely greatly on the fusing of matter and anti-matter to supply their ships, replicators weapons, and other such devices. They are well versed in genetic engineering, physics, and are trying to find ways to harness other natural sources of energy.

Fleet
The Clanden Armada is composed of roughly forty medium-sized starships at a time. Along with an innumerable amount of small craft, they all flock around Home One. Most if not nearly all of the original Clanden warships have been either abandoned or recycled, to be replaced by newer designs dreamed up by Clanden and Grick engineers or, in rarer cases, by ships bought from other civilizations.

Home One
Home One is the pride and joy of Clanden Admiralty. It is here that the government is based, and where most of the population resides. While it is still inherently a warship, it has seen many major modifications that made it into the major population center seen recently.

By no means does this mean, however, that its weapon systems were neglected. Home One was upgraded over time to host the newest defenses Clanden engineers were able to invent, buy, or steal.

Home One is a two miles in length and quarter of one in breadth. It was assembled on of the Republic's outlying shipyard systems, and finished three years before the founding of the Coalition and the start of the Grox-Coalition war. It was originally armed with the latest in energy-based weaponry, fully functioning shields, launch bays able to accommodate hundreds of small craft, terraforming tools originally meant to suffocate Grox by the planet load, and a warp drive capable of projecting the thing to Warp 6. Since then, a few improvements have been made.

Other Ships
(WIP)

Territory
The Clanden Fleet rarely remains in one place for more than fifteen years. Generally they will move into an area with plenty of planets and resources, terraform the planets they need, take as much of their natural resources as they will to fix their craft (sometimes building new ones), and then move on.

Relationships with other Empires
The Clanden are generally neutral towards other civilizations of roughly their caliber, and will often engage in trading for commodities they need for whatever they happen to have in excess.

As for those that have wronged them, the Clanden make a point of never forgiving until their debt has been paid in full.

Enemies
"We never forget a face."