Fiction:Yovion Empire

I.	Early stages

Like many other species, the Yovions had their fair share of wars during their civilization stage. Religion, power, wealth, every reason that could birth a conflict was used at least once in their history. What distinguished the Yovions from other species was that nearly all these conflicts ended in a diplomatic manner. Rarely was a side completely annihilated or conquered, eventually the opposing forces chose to end their conflicts as peacefully as they could. A predisposition that inevitably led them to form a diplomat empire in the space stage.

Before creating an Empire, a species usually explores its own stellar system first. The Yovions were no exception, but what they found certainly was. Indeed, it turned out Yovaa was not the only inhabitable planet in their system, another one they called Ralos harbored life as well. But more importantly, this planet also had an intelligent specie on it. However, that specie (which they named Ralos as well) was drastically behind the Yovions in evolution. They were near the end of their Tribal phase and only starting the transition to Civilization. The Yovions decided unanimously to let them develop before attempting too much contact, and switched their focus to forming their own Galactic Empire.

After a few centuries of development the Yovions had become the dominant force in their sector. They always privileged diplomacy but did not hesitate to use force to defend themselves. Soon, any Empire who thought they could exploit or conquer the Yovions was defeated and none dared to challenge them. On the other hand, the Yovions formed strong alliances with friendly Empires and used their allies’ knowledge to extend their own. Technology, weaponry, trading, science…the Yovions controlled nearly all of it, and though they did not hesitate to share, they were also very proud of their accomplishments.

II. The Ralos Project

After 10 millennia of space development, the question of the Ralos’s future came back. Indeed, the Ralos were still stuck in Tribal phase and could not seem to transition to Civilisation, despite being the only intelligent species left on the planet. What’s worse, every simulation using the ThEA (Theory of Evolution by Archetypes) indicated that the Ralos would never succeed in doing so, they would go extinct and their evolution would end at the Tribal phase. The Yovions were faced with a dilemma: let nature play its part and abandon the Ralos, or interfere and try to uplift them with all the risks it implied. The debates lasted for decades, the Yovions used all the knowledge and counsel they had to make a decision. Finally, it was decided to save the Ralos and uplift them all the way to Space stage. The Project took 5 millennia, at the end of which the Ralos began building their own Space Empire. The Yovions had taken care to help the Ralos without taking away their freedom or creativity. The way they managed the uplifting was almost flawless and further increased the immense respect and admiration other Empires had for them. The Ralos became their closest ally and an unbreakable bond was formed between the two species. Unfortunately, this bond would not be enough to save the Yovions from what was to come.

III. An unknown enemy

The greatness of the Yovions made many jealous or afraid, but none dared to challenge them anymore. Their Empire prospered for another few millennia…until their downfall began. It was during a time of perfect peace, there had been almost no conflicts for a long time. Suddenly, out of nowhere, several colonies were attacked by an unknown Empire. These creatures used organic based technologies and, though their fleets were rather small, attacked with huge amounts of land troops, multiplying like a virus after hitting ground. Fortunately, every Yovion colony was optimized in every way including defense. Indeed, the Yovions had chosen quality over quantity for their Empire (unlike most). This meant that even though they had fewer colonies, each was extremely well organized and developed. And so they repelled the first assault of this unknown enemy.

But before they had time to think of what happened, a second assault arrived, and then a third…The enemy was relentless. Their tactic was always the same: break through the Yovion fleet, ignore the enemy ships, and land as many invading forces as possible to swarm the planet, and it was starting to work. With each assault their numbers became larger, and eventually the first colonies began falling. But what was even more terrifying was that the Yovions, despite all their technologies and knowledge, were unable to track these creatures and learn their origins. They appeared at the edge of a system without any way of detecting them until it was too late. Likewise, communication seemed impossible, as diplomats the Yovions tried to contact their enemy in every possible way, but without success. The only word they managed to decipher from their enemy’s communications was the one they used to refer to themselves: “Ganorian”.

Time passed and the Yovions remained powerless. One by one their colonies were swarmed. On each of them, the Ganorians wiped out all life forms before abandoning it. They did not conquer, they did not capture, they just exterminated…and no one knew why. Since they had few colonies to begin with, each loss had a devastating impact on the Empire, and so the Yovions greatest strength became their weakness. Their numerous allies, so eager to join them when they were strong, now abandoned them, fearing the wrath of the Ganorians. Only the Ralos, eternally loyal to their masters, continued to fight with the Yovions, but it was not enough. Eventually, Yovaa, the Yovions’s home world, was the last remaining planet of their Empire. The battle seemed endless, the Yovions and Ralos poured all their military might in the defense of this ultimate bastion. For a while, it seemed they might hold, destroying the Ganorian waves one after another. But as they did before, the Ganorians just kept increasing in numbers. Finally, Yovaa fell, and the mighty Yovion Empire was no more.

IV. Extinction of the Yovions

The last Yovions could only watch as their home was wiped of all its life and transformed into a corrupted hive for the Ganorians. For some reason, although the Ganorians had abandoned every colony they destroyed until now, they had made an exception for Yovaa which they actively occupied. The remaining Yovions became refugees, scattered among Ralos colonies and a few other Empires. They had lost everything, they went from being the masters of their sector to mere wanderers, and they didn’t even know why. Why had the Ganorians been willing to go so far, commit so much, just to destroy an Empire they never had contact with? They never found the answer, and they were about to learn just how committed the Ganorians really were. Indeed, after the fall of Yovaa, it seemed at first that the Ganorians had stopped, content with destroying the Yovion’s Empire. A dozen of years past without them appearing again. And then, as suddenly as the first time, they reappeared and started wiping out colonies again. This time they targeted multiple Empires, though mostly the Ralos. It didn’t take long to understand what these targets had in common…they were attacking every colony that had Yovion refugees, even the smallest amount. Almost immediately, the very few Empires who had accepted to take Yovions in deported them without a second thought. Soon enough, the Ralos were the one and only Empire ready to protect their masters, and the Ganorians made them pay for it. This second war went even worse than the first one. The Ralos had already invested a lot to vainly defend the Yovion Empire, and so now they stood alone and weakened against the endless swarm of Ganorians. It was obvious the fate of the Ralos would be the same as their masters. The Yovions knew this, so they organized a consultation among themselves (they were around 50,000 left at that time) and ultimately voted the decision that sealed their fate. They decided to separate completely from the Ralos. All the refugees would be transferred to a new colony far away from their allies, at a location known only to the Yovions. The risk was obvious, if the Ganorians found this colony, it would mean extinction. But it was a risk they had to take, if this was to be the end of the Yovions then they