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Is your entire species made up of traitors?


The Gaal are bipedal, feathered creatures, usually in varying shades of blue and green, though very rarely coloured with red feathers. They have smooth beaks with a rim around the edge as their soft lips, accompanied by large five eyes. On their heads are a pair of small antennae that have been rendered useless over the evolutionary process, and slightly below then are a pair of small pointy ears that are usually covered by a hat alongside their antennae brethren.

Gaal limbs have natural armour built around then in a sort of exoskeleton, with the upper arm being softer whilst the forearm is thicker in the natural armour and accompanied by several spikes (though this attribute varies on some Gaal). The majority of Gaal have sharp claws, though a select few have natural armour encasing their hands, again in exoskeleton fashion. The size of claws and hands varies in different families – people belonging to aggressive lineage often have longer talons. This trait is the same with feet.


Gaal History and Culture[]

Gaal history influences their future greatly, to the point where their entire culture has been formed over the events dating back to 2000 B.C. Around that time, the major Gaal chieftain, Pawba, was born and unified neighbouring tribes to create the first Gaal civilization. His ways usually involved peace, trade and diplomacy and never involved aggressive violence. However, several members of his tribe sought to destroy enemies rather than make peace, most notably Kepa Zu, a sinister young warmonger. When Pawba exiled him from the tribe for causing the deaths of fellow tribe members, the schism began that influenced the history of an entire species.

Three thousand years later, 1195 A.D, the civilization created under Chieftain Pawba’s rule had flourished into a full-grown medieval city, named after the long-dead chieftain. Pawba Nation’s empire encompasses several outer villages and towns not far from the seaside Pawba City.

Due to direct descendants of tribe members being granted the title of lord in the feudal-monarchist government of Pawba Nation and no current Pawba baron capable of taking the throne, the direct descendant of Kepa Zu, Ekpa Zu, was given control of the empire and led his empire into external prosperity and internal chaos. The Pawba family was banished from the king’s court.

Upon returning to Pawba City victorious, near New Year’s Eve, Ekpa Zu was later greeted by a mysterious stranger who descended from the sky in a spaceship. It turned out to be an envoy of the Grox Leader and his empire, who warned Ekpa Zu that if he went ahead in his warmongering quest to conquer the continent he would die, but he must make sure his bloodline continued. Before Ekpa Zu could ask further questions the Grox pilot disappeared back up to his ship.

Playing it safe, Ekpa Zu asked that the Overlord of the Gaal, Nataacus Ga, to visit Pawba City’s long-time enemy and neighbour Kaway Empire. Upon arriving at Kaway City to determine whether a relationship or peace can exist between them, Nataacus Ga was murdered by Kaway Queen in front of the eyes of her entire feudal court and several Pawba Nation officials.

Disregarding the prophetic warning given to him by the Grox, Ekpa Zu ordered the systematic extermination of Kaway Empire’s settlements in a scorched-earth battle plan until the army reached Kaway City. Pawba Nation’s massive army, led by Ekpa Zu in person, stormed the city in a matter of hours. Ekpa Zu, moments away from storming the queen’s keep, was stabbed in the back by a disguised Spodeling (Spode had learnt that Ekpa Zu had been singled out by the Grox as a potential ally and tried to disrupt destiny itself, to no avail – though the Grox’s prophetic warning was itself a warning against Spode).

Though still wounded, Ekpa Zu pressed on and stormed the queen’s citadel until he had found her in person and attacked her, followed by rape – which bore him a bloodline. Several months later, having conquered the majority of the land with three major cities under his control, Ekpa Zu, now married to the Kaway Queen, became the father of Kalru Mal, continuing the bloodline. Ekpa Zu succumbed to the infection that had followed the attempt on his life, leaving the Kaway Queen as guide and Overlord as regent. When Kalru Mal was old enough to take the throne she welcomed the Pawba house back into the court.

Over the next few centuries, leading up to the 21st century, the Gaal Empire's throne switched between those of noble friendly Pawba descent and of warmongering aggressive Ekpa Zu blood. It was essentially an internal civil war that never came to fruitition, as most of the empire's sovereign leaders refused to cause a schism.

As the years passed, the internal factions gained new tools to gain access to the throne; the Pawba bloodline began allying with fellow noble space-faring aliens and Ekpa Zu's followers and descendants crushed and conquered, until they made a damning mistake of allying with the Grox. Following several wars between Anti-Grox forces, Ekpa Zu's bloodline came to a halt, only to survive by the daughter of the Gaal King Djuro and Empress Tesla of the Skawk.

With no more of the followers of Ekpa Zu within reach of the throne, the Pawba bloodline took precedence and ended four thousand years of feuding, though their history had shaped their culture and their reputation as one of the most sinister species in the galaxy.


Foreign Relations of the Gaal Empire[]

The Skawk Empire[]

One of the most important alliances influencing Gaal foreign policy, current relations are virtually non-existant following the takeover of the throne by a Pawba King - though relations at one point were stronger than any other empires, to the point where a merger was considered. The current weariness is not wholly one-sided, as the Skawk Empire faced the wrath of a genocidal Ekpa Zuist numerous times, cutting out large fractions of the population at a time.

However, the two empires share a few cultural links, most notably the reluctant immortalization of Ekpa Zuist King Djuro into Teslatelan religion, as Empress Tesla's wrathful husband, commonly hated by most Skawk and many Gaal, and feared by all. Another cultural link is the Skawgal crossbreed species, a raptor like its part-Gaal roots.

The Bananaz Empire[]

A Bananaz state was one of the first empires the Gaal encountered upon entering space, and for many years their relationship remained a strong one. In the later years the Bananaz Empire became a roadblock in the Gaal Empire's quest to become stronger, to the point where then-Lord Djuro launched an annexation campaign, completely conquering the Bananaz state.

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