Fiction:Girdo Galaxy


 * Not to be confused with the Girdo Galaxy of an alternate reality.

The Girdo Galaxy is a galaxy that is controlled entirely by a civilisation refering to itself as "The Empire" (although it usually goes by "Empire of the Girdo Galaxy" or "Girdo Empire" for short). Its main disc is 20,000 parsecs in diameter, but there are a few stars orbiting along with the rest of the galaxy for up to 100,000 parsecs from Girdo's Core.

The Xyanxes
The first known inhabitants of the Girdo Galaxy were near-mythical beings known as "Xyanxes". These were actually members of a multiuniversal race known as the "Inter-Dimensional Beings", but this is unknown to all of the galaxy's later inhabitants. Most people, including the majority of Imperial scientists, believe them to be an ancient race that evolved in the Girdo Galaxy billions of years ago. Some believe them to be godlike entities from a universe that existed before the current one (which is the closest to the truth), and a few empires are even known to have worshipped them as deities.

Very little evidence remains of the Xyanxes apart from some relics, which various scientists have tried to interpret over the millennia. They gained the name "Xyanx" from the relics, along with information suggesting that they seeded the Girdo Galaxy with life. Most confusingly for the scientists, there also seemed to be evidence that the Xyanxes were particularly fond of the pink crystals found in certain rare geodes across the galaxy.

It is known that they lived in the Girdo Galaxy at least five billion years ago, and lasted until the Xhodocto's Thirteenth Ancient Scourge 1.48 billion years ago.

According to legend, the Grox had colonised the Girdo Galaxy's Core not long earlier, and the Xyanxes were distracted with a war against the cyborgs and failed to notice the incoming Xhodocto forces. The Xyanxes managed to save the galaxy from the Xhodocto, were themselves destroyed by the Hellmarch's Legion in a large battle at the edge of the Plazith Rim Galaxy.

Although the Xyanxes' dissappearance can be timed to both the Grox colonisation of Girdo and the Xhodocto Scourge, there is actually no reason to believe that any Xyanxes were killed by the Xhodocto. More likely, they either left Girdo entirely or simply became unnoticable and no longer left any trace of their existance in the galaxy.

The method that the Xyanxes used to save the Girdo Galaxy involved sending into its own pocket dimension, that was unreachable even by the Xhodocto. This is also what they had used to protect the galaxy during previous Scourges, and it even happened again during the most recent Scourge and the later March of the Apocalypse, even though the Xyanxes were apparently long gone.

Recent History
Nearly all recorded history between the disappearance of the Xyanxes and the appearance of the Empire has been lost. There was a "Grand Galactic Fleet" that waged a war on the Grox in Girdo's Core 6500 years before the Empire began their Space Stage. However, ver little information about the Grand Fleet is available.

After the Second Federation's defeat, galactic society collapsed into civil war. The Girdo Galactic War lasted until the Empire appeared and, via a combination of manipulation and warfare, destroyed all other empires save the Grox in thirty years. The Empire then spent another fifty years fighting an obsessive campaign of total war against the Grox, until at last the cyborgs were purged from the Girdo Galaxy with their capital world destroyed with a Planet Buster. This ended the Girdo Galactic War, and the Empire spent another twenty years fortifying their colonies and improving their technology. Then, the Girdo Galaxy was at peace and the "Girdo Empire" began exploring other galaxies.

However, it turned out that the Girdo Empire was no match for itself. A militaristic extragalactic offshoot of the Empire was formed by Commodore Tokzhalat, and this "Tokzhalan Empire" started a military campaign in Girdo. In less than 24 hours, nearly all of the Girdo Empire's colonies were not only destroyed but rendered devoid of life, and the Empire was only allowed to colonise planets in the Imperial Sector surrounding their central world, Imperial Capitol.

The Tokzhalan Empire then converted the rest of the Girdo Galaxy into a nature reserve for what they called "truly alien" life. The Girdo Empire were to take care of the galaxy, and eight "Hyperluminal Defence Stations" around the edge of Girdo were built to defend it agaisnt any external (or internal, should the Tokzhalan Empire deem the Girdo Empire to be acting against the rules imposed by Emperor Tokzhalat) threats.

Galactic Centre
The Girdo Galaxy's Galactic Centre extends 5000 parsecs either side of the Core. There are high concentrations of radiation from the Core towards the centre of the region.

Northern Arm
The Northern Arm is where the Empire's homeworld, Imperial Capitol, is located. The base of the Arm is quite thick, 3000 parsecs across. Just after this it is the Imperial Sector which is densely packed with Girdo Imperial colonies. Imperial Capitol is located where the base narrows out into the rest of the Arm, in the middle of the Imperial Sector.

Most of the Girdo Galaxy's wildlife sanctuaries are located along the Northern Arm.

Southern Arm
The Southern Arm is a much thinner Arm than the Northern, but is nearly one-and-a-half times as long. It is home to the 8000 Parsec Sanctuary. The rest of the Southern Arm is currently empty.

Outer Regions
The Outer Regions consist of approximately 3000 stars located up to 100,000 parsecs from the rest of the Girdo Galaxy. They are completely uninhabited and can only be accessed using an Intergalactic Drive.

Wildlife Sanctuaries
Several wildlife sanctuaries exist in the Girdo Galaxy. The sanctuaries are mainly managed by Cephalodians, although many members of native species (i.e. citizens of the Girdo and Tokzhalan Empires) also function as Ecologist and Scientist staff.

Imperial Sector
Many of the worlds of Imperial Sector (other than those colonised by the Girdo Empire) have been set aside as the galaxy's area for "godspawn" life. These are home to various ecosystems, from ones produced by various settings of the Staff of Life to replicas of unique planets such as Seladiscas.

8000 Parsec Sanctuary
The 8000 Parsec Sanctuary is, as its name suggests, a region of space used as a wildlife sanctuary that extends for eight thousand parsecs. This makes it the largest individual nature reserve in the explored universe. The 8000 Parsec Sanctuary starts at the base of the Southern Arm, near the galactic centre, and continues outwards along the arm from there.

The Sanctuary is home to various spacefaring organisms ("cosmozoa"), mostly from the Plazith Rim Galaxy and Intergalactic Rifts. They are classified into several taxa, although it is not known how closely related different species are to other members of the same taxon. These taxa are:


 * Nebulamorpha: Organisms composed of fluid material (as opposed to solid matter), resembling living nebulae.
 * Silicamorpha: Organisms with a primarily rigid, crystalline structure.
 * Plasmazoa: Animal-like organisms, sometimes vaguely resembling primitive creatures.
 * Microplasmozoa: Small (less than one metre in size) plasmazoa, feeding on electromagnetic radiation. The Lagross Rift organisms are the most famous microplasmazoa.
 * Macroplasmazoa: Large (more than one metre in size) plasmazoa, variously chemosynthetic, photosynthetic or predatory (feeding on any other spacefaring organisms). Macroplasmazoa often inhabit asteroid belts and comets, but also include the only cosmozoa so far discovered outside the Plazith Rim in intergalactic space. The largest species, reaching several kilometres in length, have sometimes been domesticated as bioships.

New Andromeda
New Andromeda is a small sector in the Northern Arm. Many of its planets were seeded by unusual silicon-based lifeforms from the Andromeda Galaxy, hence the name. There are fifteen life-bearing planets in New Andromeda, containing nearly all of the silicon-based biodiversity of Andromeda, and eight of them are home to primitve tribes.

Aquaregia
Aquaregia is part the second of the Northern Arm's sectors, larger than New Andromeda due to each inhabited system being placed further away from each other than those of the latter, in turn because it is home to several forms of truly alien life:
 * Pseudomorpha: Fluidic creatures from the Cyrannus Galaxy that were transplanted onto three moons orbiting a gas giant in a red dwarf system.
 * Invertebrata: Invertebrate creatures (superficially resembling godspawn life), most of them with radial - mainly trilateral - symmetry, discovered during the "First Contact" mission in the Plazith Rim.