Fiction:Eranian Collective

A very new race with a very high rate of technological advancement, the Collective seeks to advance their knowledge and quite simply survive

Basic Description
The Eranian collective is a budding tier 4 civilisation which is making huge bounds in the realms of science and technology, far surpassing many other civilisations of their own size and age. They were forced from their homeworld by the Poras, and returned to it scant decades later with new technologies and took it back, exterminating the poras. During their time exiled from their homeworld community and personal ability were the most important factors for survival, and their current government reflects that. They are a pseudo-communistic meritarchy, meaning all men are equal save for their ability, and those who can contribute most therefore get the most in return. They are a Chaotic neutral race, unwilling to follow laws for their own sake, but willing to use the laws other races impose upon themselves against them. While the Eranians are physically weak, their emphasis on technology more than makes up for it, minimising the effect of their frail phyique and allowing them to think their way out of a situation, as they are far more able to do.

History
What is known of the past of the Eranians is somewhat hazy, as their archives were destroyed just prior to their return to their home planet so that all knowledge is from the memory of those oldest among the species. However, what is known is that on the planet Teros there evolved two species simultaniously. The Eranians, small, spindly and weak, but ingenious and technologically brilliant, and the Poras, strong, brutish and many. They contantly warred with one another, from ages long forgotten up until what was then modern times. The wars began to escalate as technology did, The Poras somehow stealing technology from the Eranians as fast as they could develop it. The war turned against the Eranians, as the number and raw power of the Poras began to overwhelm them. City after city and continent after continent fell to the might of the Poras, and soon the Eranians feared that they would be exterminated. One man proposed a solution, His name was high researched Jervas, and he believed the only way for his species to survive was toflee from the Poras onslaught. He proposed a ship which could sail among the stars, which the remainder of species would embark upon to the fifth planet in their solar system, which was also capable of supporting life. As the Poras beseiged the last city of the Eranians the plan was put into motion, and the Eranians fled their homeworld in search of a better one.

Yet their exodus ended in sadness, as they found the planet to be cold and barely habitable. Many died within the first week of life on this planet, but those whom did not adapted. They abandoned the old illusions and ranks inherited from their life on Teros, and pulled together as a community, to work together utilising the strengths of each member of the group to further the collective benifit. It was quickly decided whom would be the leader of this group, General Lakaz. And thus, the Eranian Collective was born.

Over the years that followed, the Collective found that their sole hope of survival on their new planet was to use what technology could be salvaged from their ship to preserve them, as they could not alone stand against the frozen wastes of their new home. They found rich mineral deposits, and began to reconstruct new cities in which to live. Over the course of fourty years, the Eranians established a stable, almost comfortable life upon this harsh planet. A city had been erected which, while bare in comparison to those back on Teros, was luxurious indeed given the harshness of life since their arrival upon the world. Confident with his recent successes, Lakaz declared that within a scant twenty years, they would return to Teros and return it to it's rightful owners. The old ships engine was salvaged, and thus a fleet came into construction.

It took a mere decade for a fleet able to defeat the Poras was constructed, and all those able to lift a gun were all conscripted into millitary life. Upon the dawn (From the perspective of those on Teros) of the fiftieth anniversary of the exodus of the eranian people from their homeworld, the armada was launched, heading straight for the major cities of the Poras.

The Poras were completely unprepared for an invasion of their planet. For fifty years they had believed their innovative foes dead, and had enjoyed life on Teros. They had not believed stellar travel possible, and thus were ill ready for an assault of this magnitude. The turrets on the walls of their cities blazed at the Eranian fleet, destroying many ships, but ultimately failing to halt the assault. Many Poras cities were wiped clean of life in mere hours, and soon only their capital remained.

Legend holds that the capital city of the Poras, Bilk'aar, held fast against the invaders, none able to breach those gates, and the turrets wreaking a heavy toll amongst the ships of the Collective. Lakaz himself remidied that by flying his personal ship directly into the palace of the Poras, killing both himself and everybody inside, and causing enough confusion to allow Collective scouts to slip through and disable the cannons.

Having regained their home city, the Collective decided to expand, taking almost a full hundred systems under their rule before stopping.

Government
Leadership

Within Eranian society, your place in life is determined by your capabilities, those with comparative strength work in mines or what little construction is not handled by machines, those who excel at mathematics become mathematicians (Whether they wish to be so or otherwise), and those who show good leadership and acumen become politicians. The current leadership of the Collective consists of "The Best Capable", or at this time High Professor Jervas, and a council of those whom have been declared second place to him in matters of leadership and governing. This council has control of every aspect of the Collective, from the millitary to simple food production, however there is one council member specialising in each aspect deemed important to the survival of the species as a whole. There are also a single governor upon each planet within the empire. This governer is tasked with the day-to-day running of matters on that planet.

Economy

The economy of the Eranians is simple, each day any given citizen is assigned a set amount of coupons depending upon your place in society, which can be used to purchase a set amount of either "Food", "Resources" or "Leasurely items" from a central stockpile computer. These can be saved or spent immediately, as they have no expiration date. However, they recognise the majority of other empires do not accept this as a valid form of currency, and do maintain a meager treasury of sporebucks for the purposes of trade with other species.

Religon

The collective has a very antagonistic view of religion of all kinds. They are a highly empirical species, and believe that anything that cannot be proven is nought but sophistry and illusion. There are no theists within the collective, and should any arise they will likely be either banished or assigned the most menial of positions within society. They view all religious organisations as foolish and almost pathetic, and are not afraid to voice their views (Which does impede relations with other species a fair bit)

Technology
The Eranian Collective places an incredibly high value on technological development of any kind, and indeed focus the vast majority of their resources towards research. Each child within the Collective aspires to achieve the capabilities test scores that would allow them to become scientists, and each scientist does his job well and with great enjoyment of it (And incredibly high amounts of "Resources" coupons). As a result, the level of technology that the Collective can boast far outstrips that of the average for any empire of their size, age or stature.

Forms

The Erianians have developed a wide variety of technology over the past few decades, having developed nanotechnology with incredible speed, and approaching hyperspatial research with imagination and ingenuity which does the species proud. However, the most common form of technology they employ is antimatter, using it to fuel their expansion with the huge amounts of energy they require to continue their research. Antimatter generators power their cities, antimatter drives propel their ships, and antimatter bombs often atomise their enimies. On their homeworld of Teros there are huge fields covering a tenth of the planetary surface, in which there are hundreds upon hundreds of particle colliders, each one generating antimatter safely and constantly, to power the slowly expanding collective.

However, their research into other areas has not been completely stagnant. Hyperspatial energy has fascinated Eranian scientists for years now, and each day more breaktrhoughs are made into the harnessing of Hypermatter for technological purposes. However, dispite their best efforts, the scientists are still far from understanding how to safely use Hyperspatial energy, and have in fact accidentally destroyed (Or disintergrated, or teleported...) entire planets in their research into it.

Millitary
The collective has little need for a millitary, seeking not to fight any other empires save in its own defense, however, they both recognise the need to defend themselves from the grox and other empires who would pillage their empire for its technology, and maintain numerous stealth craft for spying upon those more advanced than them and stealing the knowledge that they posess.

Ship types The standard "Ghost" class stealthship is a small, lithe vessel armed with a very advanced cloaking device, a basic teleporter, and a communication hacker (For listening in on other peoples conversations). However, this is to the exclusion of all else. There is room enough for a crew of five to live in, with little room for leisure, only room for enough food to last for a week and absolutely no weapons or shielding systems, meaning if they are discovered, they cannot escape. Fully two hundred of these ships are maintained.

The "Ravager" class assault ship is a small vessel designed for menuverability and speed, allowing a crew of ten to pilot it around any enemies and strike at critical systems with sheildsteel antimatter rockets. However, like the ghost class, there is little defensive capacity, so that a single hit from a medium strength weapon could easily cripple or destroy such a ship About five hundred of these ships are maintained

The "Pulsar" class cruiser is a large, bulky ship designed less for menuverability and more for destroying ships which have been crippled by ravager class assault vessels. A common tactic is for the ravager classes to swiftly ambush an enemy, destroying their engines and possibly shields, and for a pulsar ship to go in and plow through them. The Pulsar ship has two weapons, a laser for dealing with assault craft which may attack it, and a massive pulse cannon, which is highly innaccurate, barely able to hit a crippled foe, but which can destroy an unsheilded frigate in a mere three hits. A crew of five can crew such a ship and live in relative leasure for months on end without needing to dock. About fifty of these ships are maintained

Allies and Foes
No allies nor foes at this time, as they are too new to the galaxy to have made any lasting relations.