Fiction:Audal Empire

Overview
The Audal Empire is the interstellar state formed by the Audal species, a herbivorous race known primarily for being a group of aggressive Bards, who believe that in order for their artworks and tales to be authentic, the events must directly be observed. The Audals have a long and violent history, and an enjoyment of many arts such as poetry, painting and theatre. The Audals are a race of cyan bipeds who are physically weak, but possess great dexterity and agility. The Audal Empire has its capital in the planet Midsaan, located in the Atraclus system, and possesses five other colonies.

Despite lacking particularly advanced or powerful technology, the Audals are eager to explore the Galaxy. However, apart from a general curiosity to discover new cultures and species, this desire also stems from a wish to have great conflicts and tragedies with other inhabitants of the cosmos to create great stories. The Audal Empire is called an empire, but is not hereditary or based on royal bloodlines and as such shares more similar traits to dictatorship or democracy. A ruler is elected, but is given a large amount of power, with an oligarchic democratic body serving to regulate them. Those in power are typically selected based on artistic merit, making the Audal Empire an artistic meritocratic regulated dictatorship.

History
''"History contains the legacy of those whom dared to be noticed. The fallen live on in our memories, in our artworks, and in our history.

-Empress Elleca Limoni''

The Audal species evolved as an agile herbivorous race, with vibrant colours displayed for mating purposes. Gradually, using flexibility and acrobatics to escape predators, the Audals developed large brains, and began to use primitive tools. Tribes formed across all three of Midsaan's continents, which are known as Soniego, Malzmo and Venata. The Soniego culture group was the least numerous, and relied mainly on gardens of fungi for food. The Malzmo culture group was the largest, and used cereals and fruits which required large amounts of land to grow effectively, leading to fierce competition and war over available territory. On the continent of Venata, a much more peaceful existence was enjoyed by the population, with eggs from animals, nutritious fruits and seaweed forming most of the food supply. This made Venatans much more complacent, and have them a focus on social standing and art over conflict.

As time progressed, these cultures discovered each other. Malzmoans and Venatans had massive wars, with the Malzmoan civilisations colonizing much of the latter continent. Soniegoans, meanwhile, developed powerful warships. It was also the Soneigoans that pioneered rocketry, the basis of many Audal weapons. The discovery of spice refinement was the turning point of Audal history. Refined spice could be added to many materials to enhance them, and became used as fuel for modern vehicles. In this era, a new kind of major cultural power, Skomiarga culture, was formed. Skomiarga culture valued both conflict and art, and saw life as a story, with each individual's goal to live the most interesting life possible. This culture led to innovation for the Skomiargans, and combined with a unity unseen in other cultural groups, caused them to win major victories in battle.

In a time that would become known as 0 AAEF (After Audal Empire Formation), three major nations formed the Audal Empire in an attempt to dominate the world. Zenston Nation, the first Skomiargan major power, was its main political leader, with the rich Republic of Omaniolia being the alliance's economic power and the Edwiner Inter-Continental Government, a powerful dictatorship encompassing territories every continent, being a military powerhouse due to its huge population. After over a century of devastating conflict, the Audal Empire became a true, singular nation, and defeated its foes. The last nation to fall was the Ravondo Remainder, an integrated coalition of allied minor powers united in their struggle against the Audal Empire. The conflict became known as the Midsaan Military Crisis.

After these events, the Audal Empire placed less of an emphasis on its military. Instead, it placed its resources into the exploration of space. After 32 years of stellar exploration, the first Audal interstellar vessel, the Frontier, was deployed. Many more ships followed rapidly after. The first Audal colony was established in the Josyris system on the planet of Lacaly, in 165 AAEF. The Audal Empire has only recently begun discovering and interacting with intelligent alien life.

More expansion coming soon

Government
The Audal Empire is governed by a body known as the Midsaan Imperial Interstellar Administration, the headquarters of which is located on the Audal homeworld of Midsaan, in the city of Zenston. The head of state is known as the Emperor/Empress, and is granted a large amount of authority. A democratic council comprised of artisans, artists and skilled political leaders known as the Regulatory Commission regulates decisions to prevent overly tyrannical or idiotic policies, laws, and actions. In addition, every colony has its own Colonial Governor, who is granted considerable power over their but who is restricted by both the Emperor/Empress and the Regulatory Commission. New members can be appointed directly by imperial authority, or elected through the Commission. When an Emperor/Empress is removed from power, the Regulatory Commission selects the next ruler.

The current head of state of the Audal Empire is Emperor Deraycen Xhondreas, who believes that additional measures should be taken to interact with alien races and defend against them if necessary. Policies of the current Audal government include continued expansion, examination of alien cultures, further military production, and improving current technology.

Society
Audal society is known for its great appreciation of art, especially of writing, poetry, music, theatre, and illustration. Construction is treated more as form of art rather than labour, and as such Audal equipment and vehicles tend to be unique and high quality, but expensive and slow to produce. Those who sell items others made are typically seen as inferior as those that gather materials, who are in turn seen as inferior to those who use materials to create objects, items, and artworks. The military is seen as a necessity for security, and those that do join it typically see it as an avenue for having experience which they can immortalize in art. Audal's value their legacy after life more than most species, seeing it as more important than their living existence.

Audals value authenticity greatly, believing that to write about an experience, one should first go through the experience. They believe that one's goal in life is to have an interesting, exciting, memorable life, so that others may continue their legacy by immortalising their accomplishments via art. Being remembered after death, regardless of whether it is due to respect or derision, is considered the ultimate goal one should strive for. Death is seen as the point at which one's ability to perform feats ends, and at which one's legacy begins.

Military
The Audal Empire's military is divided into to main branches. The Audal Empire Planetary Operations Division, and the Audal Imperial Interstellar Security Division, less officially known as the Audal Army and Audal Navy. The Planetary Operations Division is responsible for all surface forces, including aircraft, boats, infantry and armoured vehicles. It is responsible for defending colonies, launching ground invasions, suppressing rebellions, and developing new vehicles and small arms. The Interstellar Security Division, on the other hand, controls all Audal military space forces, and has authority over all Audal Empire spacecraft. It's duties include securing the orbits of planets, commencing orbital bombardment, developing new FTL, shielding and space weaponry, and attacking hostile fleets.

Audal ships can be divided into three categories. Strike ships are small, agile, fast vessels, filling the roles of fighters, bombers, interceptors and gunships. They are common in Audal fleets. Support ships are much larger, and possess field generators- devices that can generate shields and FTL bubbles. Support vessels can often carry strike ships, and are responsible for allowing them to travel at FTL speeds. Finally, Assault ships are massive vessels with heavy defences. They are designed to carry ground forces for planetary invasions. In addition, they perform orbital bombardment if necessary.

Quotes
''"We are eternal. Our forms and minds wither and decay, but our legacy shall live on forever. So long as your life is interesting, is worth examining, is worth caring about, you will be immortalized in art. So those who have done great deeds, accomplished great feats, fear not death, for though it may be the end of your life if, it is also the beginning of your legacy."

-Empress Emberlina Zightclum of the Audal Empire, after the conclusion of the Midsaan Military Crisis''