User:The Collective Mind/Prototypes

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United Bidonite Empire
The United Bidonite Empire is, all things considered, one of the smallest empires of the Andromeda Galaxy. But size isn't everything when it comes to spacefaring nations, and the Bidonite Empire has made a name for itself by showing absolutely no respect for older, larger empires.

Philosophy
Since its inception roughly six hundred years ago, the Empire has always been deeply focused on military might. Individual strength is of no consequence in the Empire. To it, what matters is the strength of one's armies. It prides itself for its rigidly organized armed forces and the deeply ingrained obedience and discipline of its individual soldiers, both of which are reinforced by the caste system inherent to the Bidonite race.

Despite this, the Empire's philosophy is not one of rampant conquest. It is expansionist, yes, but only to reclaim the territory it lost against the Grox. And while the Empire is certainly eager for war, it will not waste its armies on pointless battles and frivolous conflicts. It will only mobilize its armies if there is sufficient cause for it; historically, theft of government property, firing on Bidonite craft, and attempted extortion of the Empire have all been reasons to go to war.

While the Empire shows uncommon restraint in a warrior culture in times of peace, in times of war that restraint is abandoned. The Empire is a firm believer in the concepts of total war and no quarter; in the eyes of the Empire, a war is not won unless the enemy has been completely eradicated. Opposing nations must never be able to take up arms against the Empire again.

Representatives of the Bidonite Empire are frequently described as "cheerfully belligerent"-- aggressive in the manner of friends competing against each other, often inappropriately so. Indeed, cheerfulness seems to be part and parcel of the Imperial Legions. The Empire is essentially impossible to demoralize. Every victory is met with celebration, every defeat is met with the attitude of "oh well, we'll get it right next time", no matter how shocking or severe. This applies all the way down to individual soldiers; dying horribly is a normal part of war so there's no need to get upset about it. The "old lie" is no lie at all: it is indeed sweet and glorious to die for one's country.

History
The Bidonite Empire as it stands now is actually its second iteration, following the collapse of the original empire some four hundred years ago.

First Founding
The United Bidonite Empire has its roots in an age when the development of orbital weaponry was an awe-inspiring accomplishment and faster-than-light travel was an impossibility, in the last gasps of the second and final World War. The major powers of the world had finally subdued the Ilba Hegemony, which once spanned a third of the planet, but in doing so had exhausted themselves. Seeing an opening, the Grand Empire of Kukarot, which had only provided nominal support to the alliance against Ilba, finally marshaled its military--against its supposed allies. Their armies were still on the other side of the planet, struggling against the bitterly entrenched Ilba remnants. Their arsenals were almost completely depleted. Their leaders were growing increasingly weary of the grinding war. They were totally unprepared for Kukarot's sudden assault.

The Grand Empire demolished all the resistance its former allies could muster up. Even as they hurriedly withdrew their forces from the ruins of Ilba and repositioned their satellites, Kukarot conquered. The Dauvat Imperium was devastated. The Five Cities were forced to surrender. The stubborn Orbaz monarchy was destroyed outright, their queens executed, for refusing to yield. The remnants of Ilba, delighted by the domino fall of their besiegers, allied with the Grand Empire willingly. When the smoke cleared, the flag of Kukarot flew over the entire planet. But Sovereign Aavak Bakaz Tor, having conquered the world, believed that Grand Empire could no longer describe the scope of her accomplishments. No longer did she rule Kukarot alone. Now she ruled the United Bidonite Empire.

The majority of the Bidonite race being naturally subservient to authority, most of the planet obeyed Tor freely. But certain elements tried to resist her rule, and the next fifteen years were spent quashing rebellions and consolidating her power, as well as ensuring her Bidonite Empire truly incorporated the whole of her race by "civilizing" the less advanced portions of the globe. In the meantime, the global economy righted itself again, devastated cities were rebuilt, and attempts were made to culturally unify the dozens of disparate Bidonite ethnic groups (which all failed).

Fifteen years later, Sovereign Tor, now having crushed all major resistance, focused her efforts on expanding her Empire still further-- into the stars.

Into the Stars and the Collapse
Decades came and went as a global think tank of the world's brightest minds worked tirelessly to make interstellar travel practical. Cryosleep technology was refined and sublight drives were developed, and forty years after the Empire's establishment, the Bidonite race had set up colonies on every major celestial body in their solar system. Twenty years later saw the invention of the first FTL drive and the Empire spreading into three wholly new star systems. Ten years after that, the United Bidonite Empire was embroiled in its first interstellar conflict against an alien race. One hundred years after the Empire's founding, it controlled three hundred star systems, had fought three major conflicts against alien empires, and was growing faster than ever. One hundred seventy five years after the founding, the Empire held 2600 systems, had wiped out fourteen enemy interstellar empires, and was still growing. One hundred and ninety five years after founding, the Empire held 3000 systems and encountered, for the first time, a certain cybernetically augmented alien race surrounding the galactic core.

Initial contact with the aliens saw the expeditioner fleet destroyed with no survivors. Offended, the United Bidonite Empire declared war.

Two hundred years after the founding, the Empire held twelve systems divided across eight isolated enclaves with almost no communication among them--in hiding. The scattered remains of the Imperial Armada went dark to avoid detection. All other Imperial assets had been annihilated.

Reunification and Second Founding
The last remaining fragments of the Bidonite Empire rallied around their strongest leaders-- eight sovereign queens ruling a single world at least, barely a handful at most. Eight empires in miniature. Isolated, with the constant threat of annihilation looming over them, each petty empire did their best to survive

The first of the petty empires to venture outward again was led by Sovereign Aavak Marat Tul. The Sovereign had the greatest claim to leadership of the Empire by far. First, she led three worlds, making hers the largest of the petty empires. Second, she also possessed the largest percentage of the remaining Imperial Legions. Third, she was a member of the Aavak lineage, and could assert direct descent from the Empire's first ruler, Sovereign Aavak Bakaz Tor. With the last High Sovereign dead and all her bloodline with her, this gave Tul a distinct claim to rulership.

As many years passed without a single glimpse of the Grox fleet, Sovereign Tul sent her fleets out on exploratory missions. Traveling in groups of two or three, the Bidonite armada took to the stars once more, cautiously probing for any sign of their destroyers. They found nothing. Nothing but hundreds upon hundreds of devastated Bidonite worlds.

Unbeknownst to Tul, the Andromeda War had engulfed the galaxy, and the Grox Empire had found more important things to devote its attention to.

The Sovereign grew more confident. Following the old Imperial star charts, her ships surveyed world after world, finding nothing but destruction. But one day, after yet another fruitless expedition, one of her fleets detected a signal around a nearby star-- a fellow Bidonite fleet!

The discovery of another fleet led to first contact with another petty empire, led by Sovereign Metumet Mar Byrot. She had evidently had the same idea as Tul, and had dispatched ships to search for surviving traces of the Bidonite Empire. Byrot had only one world to her name, but she had a significant quantity of spacecraft, and after submitting herself under Tul's authority their combined fleet began to comb the stars with greater intensity than before.

Over the course of twelve years, Sovereign Tul rediscovered and united all eight petty empires, and by this point had also begun recolonization efforts to reclaim the ruined Bidonite worlds. Not all of them were willing to bend their knees to Tul, however.

Sovereign Kobat Bel Ranot disputed her legitimacy as ruler; the Aavak line had not held the throne in over a century, so Tul's descent was irrelevant. Sovereign Bielas Tan ut-Suras refused to abandon his position of power. So did Sovereign Muner Tai.

Unwilling to waste her scarce resources on a civil war, Tul did the next best thing: offered all three of them joint leadership. It took two more years, dozens of pieces of hasty legislation, and even more promises, but in the end, all three accepted.

The petty empires thus united, all four Sovereigns met on the ruins of their homeworld and proclaimed the founding of a new United Bidonite Empire.