Fiction:Lazeroth Unity

"They struggled as one and formed, if only for a moment, a single cohesive unity."

- The Scriptures

The Lazeroth Unity (often referred to as The Unity, or simply the Lazeroth) is a reclusive coalition of tribes, each with their own rigorous social structure based on merit, age, and deeply rooted tradition. The Lazeroth are known for constantly veiling themselves in white robes, the reason for this being unknown to most outsiders.

Absolute power over the affairs of the Unity is shared between the Council of Four, a body consisting of the four leaders of each tribe. De jure, all of these have the same standing on the council, but De facto, it is the Quel'ar Matriarch that has the most influence.

Early History
Outside the Unity, not much is known about its long history predating its rise as a reclusive power. The Lazeroth annals however, tell of how the Lazeroth homeworld, Duroth, was rocked by cataclysmic climate change early in the Lazeroth's evolutionary history. All life unsuited to live in the harsh, dry deserts that now covered the planet died in a matter of days. The Lazeroth's ancestors, having lived in the warmer and dryer climates of the equator, were better suited to the new environmental conditions than the swamp-dwellers of the north and south. As the rest of the planet warmed, the Lazeroth were forced out of their comfortable nest and forced to migrate to the planet's extremities to escape the suffocating heat of the equator. It was a devastating transformation that proved to have a profound impact on the young race. Those that survived to tell of the desolate wastelands they crossed passed on their stories by word of mouth to posterity, and so pressed upon them the feeling that the gods no longer cared for their survival. Those stories that made it into written form generations later had evolved into the myths of wars and gods that later became the basis of the Lazeroth religion. For the longest time, the Lazeroth lived as a collection of tribes that wandered the desert aimlessly, hogging oases, burrowing underground to escape the freezing temperatures of the night, and trying desperately not to succumb to heat exhaustion during the day. Those that were more apt to survive did, and over thousands of years, the Lazeroth race began to grow into its environment. They began to build settlements underground, from which they would emerge at midday, when the sand was at its hottest. Those settlements slowly evolved into tribal kingdoms which came to control the most of the northern and southern hemispheres. However, an area thousands of kilometers wide around the equator was left constantly uninhabitable, making communication between the two halves nearly impossible. For nearly three thousand years, it was in this manner that the two hemispheres evolved, never speaking to one another. It can be safely assumed that these two, once they came face to face, would disagree on many things.

Two Halves
Technology was slow in coming for both hemispheres. Conflicts were slow, drawn out battles of attrition, often fought over oases or other sources of water. Weapons began to be forged, first out of bronze, then out of iron, and finally out of steel. Lazeroth warriors mastered the use of these weapons, inventing forms and techniques still practiced by the Lazeroth today. These professional men-at-arms formed the backbone of a burgeoning warrior class that came under the employment of feuding lords. There was little to no central authority among the Lazeroth. Many warlords tried to consolidate power into their own hands. Those that succeeded found that that their carefully crafted empires fell apart the moment they stepped down from the throne. There was, however, in the north a cult to which many in the warrior class belonged. Its ideals and beliefs were vague at first, but grew more and more defined with time. The Cult of Quel'ar (meaning "Righteous Warriors" in the Lazeroth language) re-examined the texts and scriptures of old, and interpreted them more radically than many monastic institutions at the time. They set out on a crusade of vengeance against the gods that had so wronged them, wreaking destruction on those that still believed in their benevolence. The Cult gained power until it found itself in the highest echelons of power, and became a real authority on Lazeroth religious, political, social, and economic matters. The south, more sympathetic to the gods, was left untouched by this craze for a long time. Once technology allowed for communication between the two hemispheres however, the Cult of Quel'ar was only too happy to pounce on the southerners and to punish them for their "betrayal." Multiple crusades were unleashed against the evil-worshipping southerners, most of them ending in disaster given the difficulty of marching troops across the arid regions of the equator. Once technology allowed for rapid transportation across the wastelands, however, the newly industrialized empires of the north were able to set up occupation zones in the south. Many accounts tell of the ruthless tactics employed by the Quelar to weed out dissension, heresy, and rebellion. Their direct descendants, the modern-day Quel'ar tribe, still affirms that their ancestors' actions were sanctioned by the scriptures.

Crisis
Within a hundred years, the entirety of the southern hemisphere came under northern domination. For another century, peace reigned in all but Duroth's most unstable regions. The absence of conflict allowed the Lazeroth to focus on other things, like the arts, science, the development of spacefaring vessels, and the lengthening and improvement of life. As Lazeroth began to live longer, metropolises became more and more crowded. Supply lines began to buckle under the strain, industry ground to a halt. It soon became apparent that Duroth was not going to be able to support the burgeoning population. Many leaders looked to new solutions to remedy this problem. They tried to improve the efficiency of the infrastructure, to limit the amount of children mates could have; some resorted to killing off undesirable minorities by the thousands. Those efforts managed to bring the population down within acceptable limits. Many died of disease, thirst, and hunger in the process, but those that survived could now enjoy the barest necessities of life.

Age of a Thousand Tribes
The idea of migration to another planet became more and more appealing to those living on Duroth. Mystics scoured the skies for potentially habitable planets, but were frustrated by their rarity. Many still sought asylum in space, despite the fact that it was arguably a much more unforgiving place than the deserts of the home planet. The Lazeroth did make it into space, slowly discovering new and better methods to travel the stars over hundreds of years. The different tribes were scattered all over the place, colonizing new worlds, building new and larger starships, and occasionally waging wars over ideological differences or scarce resources. Religion still dominated the lives of the Lazeroth, though not all agreed with the Quel'ar's evolving doctrines. Over time, three distinct philosophies started to emerge from the ideological melee:
 * The Quel'ar and their allies came to believe that the Lazeroth must not only be able to triumph physically over the physical world, but psychologically as well. Emotions and feelings had to be tamed. This view came to be adopted by all Lazeroth, which is why the Quel'ar doctrine can be considered a baseline.
 * The Alden, originally a small sect in the Quel'ar's coalition, believed that mastery over the natural world required knowledge, perception, and keenness of the mind. They also thought that a being's mind was separate from his body, and somehow had a life beyond the demise of its physical form, a belief that directly conflicted with the Quel'ar's views.
 * The Corun were a prominent sect of ambitious warriors who, searching to improve their physical forms past the limits that nature had imposed on them, began to make use of mechanical implants. This infuriated the Quel'ar, as they considered the implementing of mechanical components into the Lazeroth body to be immoral.

The War of Three
These differing ideologies split the tribes into the three aforementioned factions. Tensions grew between them, until the Quel'ar decided that they had to act. They called for a convention in which the meaning of the scriptures would be determined and settled. The convention was held, but instead of trying to compromise with the other tribes, the Quel'ar tried to force their rigid beliefs on them. Obviously, none of the tribes present were willing to give any ground. Realizing the futility of his efforts, the Quel'ar Consort abruptly ended the conference with the arrest of those tribal leaders that were either undecided or had sided with the Alden or the Corun. He then swiftly declared war on these two, and thus began the War of Three. The initial Quel'ar onslaught was well-prepared and vicious. They systematically stormed through unsuspecting star systems, stroke a crippling blow, and then went on to the next target. This strategy relied on the assumption that the enemy would be willing to surrender once all of his assets were pulled out from under his feet. As history will record time and time again, that is not how religious wars work. The bulk of the Alden and the Corun fleets managed to evade the Quel'ar for long enough that they might regroup. The war lasted for five years, and had no clear victor. The Quel'ar consort and matriarch had died on the bridge of their flagship, leaving their heiress, the great great Grandmother of Matriarch Kreda, to ascend to the throne. She had no mate, as she had delayed her choice for as long as she could. Now, many of her entourage pressed her to choose a great warrior, one that could continue and win the righteous struggle in which her parents had so distinguished themselves. Instead, she took over the affairs of the Quel'ar by herself, and much to the dismay of her peers, she reached out to the other two conglomerates and offered a truce.

The Formation of the Unity
The other two factions warily accepted her offer of peace. For nearly a hundred days, the three factions stared at one another, not speaking, ready to pounce at the first sign of attack. This momentary Cold War was broken by the Quel'ar's offer to meet with the other tribes to draw postwar boundaries, to figure out what the de facto situation would be now that so much has changed. The other tribes refused at first, fearing a similar fiasco to the one that occurred five years prior. It was eventually arranged that the three leaders would meet at a neutral location to iron out the details. It turned out that the Quel'ar Matriarch did have some ulterior motive in calling for the conference, however. On the twelfth day, when all three of them had made concessions and finally agreed on a short-term solution to the greater part of their problems, the Quel'ar Matriarch snuck in the idea of the formation of an alliance that would bind together the three of them in a more permanent manner. The idea sounded absurd at first, but it slowly grew on the other two. Debate raged for months, even after the peace talks had ended. The Quel'ar Matriarch fought for three more years for the establishment of that alliance, eventually succeeding. The result was a shaky coalition headed by a council composed of three delegates from each tribe. The Corun sent over their patriarch, the Alden their elected Consul, and the Quelar their Matriarch. Despite disagreements, the three tribes coexisted without armed conflict. What disputes erupted were mediated by the council.

The Vil'ar
There was a sect within Quel'ar society that seemed to disagree with just about everything the Quel'ar did. They longed for what they considered to be the 'superior' Quel'ar of the past, those that applauded strength and embraced emotion as a driving force in life. The modern Quel'ar rejected both of these things, praising self control to the point of unfeeling, and restraint to the point of weakness. Furthermore, they were outraged at the ratification of the Unity, an alliance with 'traitors, villains, and heretics.' In the years that followed its founding, they grew increasingly violent and desperate, trying to 'change the Matriarch's mind' with acts of terrorism, often killing themselves in an effort to get their point across. It got to the point where the Matriarch attempted to weed them out from her society, only to find them cunning and ruthless. They waged asymmetrical war for months before the Matriarch realized the futility of her efforts. She proposed that they might pack up their bags, leave her territory, and settle on one of the richer outer worlds that she would cede to them. Those among the Vil'ar that were more fervent in their hatreds refused the offer, but the majority thought it a reasonable solution to their grievances. Finally, after much quarreling, the Vil'ar agreed to the Matriarch's offer, and were given a good amount of starships to assist them. They established themselves on that planet on outskirts of Quel'ar territory, and there they remain, practicing their brutal beliefs without being looked over by any of their peers. It is to their frustration, however, that the other faction consider them to be immature children constantly screaming for attention.

War with the Tyranny
For three generations, all was relatively well. The four factions prospered and expanded in their own directions. The Alden started to harness the power of the black hole at the center of their territory. The Quel'ar trained their young ones into a formidable force. The Corun built mighty machines and starships, and the Vil'ar seethed in their growing hatred for the rest of their race. That peace was interrupted when Consul Dradas, of the Alden, had a dream that foretold of a massive invasion that would plague them in years to come. There was some religious significance to this, as the invasion could (and was) interpreted by the Alden as a repetition of the War of the Gods that had plagued their race in the first stages of its existence. He brought the dream before the council, and was met with some amount of cynicism from the other leaders. Matriarch Kreda of the Quel'ar listened to him however, knowing that the Alden's heightened awareness often allowed them to see things that would otherwise remain hidden to others of their race. As a precaution, she asked that each tribe set up an early warning system around their perimeter composed to cloaked Corun and Vil'ar drones. As the warning signs multiplied, the other leaders started to take the threat more seriously. Massive shipyards were constructed in order to build as many starships as possible. Everyone but the Vil'ar agreed to pool their fleets together to form a single chain of command, headed by Matriarch Kreda.

Early Victories
Finally, three years later, the invasion came in the guise of a Mk.I Tyranny battlefleet on expansion protocol. It dropped out of hyperspace right on top of a Corun fleet defending a planet and obliterated the greater part of it in minutes. Right as they were preparing to jump to another planet, the invaders found themselves accosted by thousands of starships converging on the system. The battle that ensued came to be referred to as the Battle of the Hornet's Nest, as more ships kept streaming in from all but the remotest parts of Lazeroth space over the course of the battle, almost as if the Tyranny had stepped on a Hornet's nest. It was fought for nearly two hours, no side being able to gain clear ascendency over the other. The Lazeroth's smaller ships circled around the Tyranny's dozens-of-kilometers-long ships, dodging their more devastating weapons while returning fire with their own. Eventually, after having lost three ships, the Tyranny's battle AI decided to retreat, and left a victorious but vastly depleted Lazeroth armada in its wake.

Society
The Unity is split between four rival tribes that have coexisted in relative peace for centuries. These do not always see eye to eye, but often work together for the betterment of the species.

Within these tribes, individuals speak rarely to one another, as there is little need for it. Communication is achieved through the empathic bonds that Lazeroth share. Solitude is valued, for it gives one time to think, to ponder ones existence and to better one's physical form. Feelings, whether it be of pain, anger, or joy, are repressed, as to show signs of any of these would declare one's flaws to the universe. It is therefore considered polite to turn away when a Lazeroth displays feeling, and grievously insulting to keep on looking. Authority within a given tribe usually commands unquestioned obedience, as instructed by the Scriptures. The reasoning behind this is that those in the higher echelons of power have acquired enough experience and wisdom that they would know best.

In this way, the Unity can be considered to be a strict meritocracy that often borders on Darwinism. Those who rise to the top are often competent, strong, loyal, but the quality that interests the Lazeroth the most is piety. Piety in the eyes of the Unity is the adherence to traditions laid out in ancient Scriptures, written long ago when the Lazeroth were still a grounded species.

Religion
Faith is a force that both divides and strengthens the Unity, and although many tribes disagree on the meaning of the scriptures, all of them understand that the Lazeroth will have to stick together to survive in the harsh wilderness that was set out before them. The following is a summary of the beliefs that all (unless specified otherwise) of the tribes share.

Mythology
The Lazeroth believe that the universe was created on the whim of three adolescent deities, two brothers and a female. They are said to have created Duroth and the Lazeroth, beings which they molded in their own image, to amuse themselves. Duroth was a lush, swampy world in which the reptilian species thrived, engendering all sorts of stories in which they themselves took part. They indulged themselves ravenously. The elder brother was infamous for his flirtatious nature and the willingness with which he loved his female creations. Accounts state that those that he had his way with all of the females he approached, even those who resisted. The younger was of a more jealous type. He took pleasure in malice, demonstrating with glee his cunning and affinity for such things. Both of them vied for the attention of the Female, who was perhaps the only one of the three to possess any real virtue. To their frustration, she paid little attention to them, instead spending her time wandering the swamps of Duroth tending to those in need. It was to her the victims of the younger brother's plots prayed, and she did her best to answer those prayers without incurring the wrath of her male counterparts.

Soon, the two brothers began to get bored of the Lazeroth. They decided that they were too perfect. So, they unleashed sickness, disease, hunger, thirst, and all sorts of evils on to Duroth. The chaos that ensued was delightful to them for a time, but they again began to grow weary of their manipulations. As the story goes, the Elder began to grow obsessed with the female godess, who would not have him. Desperate, he tried to create mortal semblances of her, but they only served to further his obsession instead of quenching it. The Younger, seeing this, began to court her as well with even less encouraging results.

Finally, the Elder threatened to wipe out the Lazeroth if the Female did become his mate. The Female, caring deeply for the reptillian race, gave in to him, much to the younger brother's dismay. The Younger seethed in his jealousy until he could no longer stand it. He saw his chance to sever the union when the Female fell in love with young Lazeroth of many virtues. She would watch over him every night, never quite approaching him in accordance to her oath of fidelity to the Elder. The Younger manipulated circumstance to tempt her, to draw her in close until she could no longer resist. She and the young Lazeroth mated, an occurrence which was immediately reported to the Elder.

In his anger, the Elder grabbed the planet Duroth and hurled it at its star. Before the Female could react, the temperatures on Duroth had risen dramatically; the lush swamps had turned to desert and ash, and the zone around the equator rendered uninhabitable. A long war then ensued between the Lazeroth, led by the young lover and then pregnant Female, and the two brothers. At the end of it, the two lovers laid down their lives together to banish the brothers from the mortal realm. With his final breath, the Elder turned the universe, then a wondrous paradise, into a barren and hostile place that the Lazeroth would spend the rest of their existence fighting to surmount.

Beliefs
The Lazeroth religion itself centers around the belief that the universe was created intentionally by the gods as a living purgatory in which they could suffer. The Lazeroth therefore consider it their moral obligation to continually spite the gods by not only surviving, but thriving in the universe they created.

Creed
As outlined by the Unity's Scriptures, a Lazeroth: I. must always spit in the face of the gods. ''II. must veil the gods' hated forms.'' ''III. must take ahold of himself, and master body and mind.'' ''IV. must listen to the council of those who came before, lest he repeat their mistakes.'' V. must not let himself fade away without leaving a piece of himself behind. These texts, thought to date back to the long war with the gods, have engendered different and often contradictory interpretations throughout the ages. After much strife, a single view of the texts was adopted and has since been kept as the basis for Lazeroth existence.

Life
"If one hath no other reason to live than to live, then he shall live on, for the gods hath said otherwise."

- The Scriptures

Life for the Lazeroth is a struggle for survival that is often interpreted as an extension of the battle fought between their deities over the survival of their homeworld. One has to remember that they consider themselves to be the purposefully flawed creations of incorrigibly flawed gods, and hence do everything they can to surmount those flaws. They take their defiance as far as to brave Duroth's most uninhabitable environments (supposedly rendered so by the gods) as a right of passage into adulthood. After one has passed aforementioned test of strength, one is officially inducted into the Unity. Life from there is a constant quest to prove oneself in the eyes of one's elders and, indirectly in the eyes of the gods. It is understood that those in the higher echelons of power within a tribe know better than those in the lower, and therefore should go unquestioned. One rises up the ladder given on his merits, obedience, and faith; such is the way of the scriptures.

Death
As with most cultures, the Unity considers death to be the end of life in the mortal plane. The difference for them is that death is the end of the struggle of the individual. It is not something to mourn or even to rejoice about, but something to be honored. To die well is to die thrashing, lashing out at the world with every fiber of one's being, ever defiant. The living remind themselves of the accomplishments of the deceased and move on. The Lazeroth have postulated that there is nothing beyond the grave; that once they die, that's it, they vanish. It follows that bodies, once the mind of the deceased have left them, are nothing but broken shells. Even so, there is some vague belief that something of those who die is carried on in their offspring.

Allied
"For better or for worse, we stand together."



Neutral
"What are your intentions?"



At War
"One of us will not survive."


 * Red face.png Drakodominatus Tyranny