“We are the Empire. We do not believe that there is anything else that you need to know about us at the present moment.”
- - Emperor Ghelax Dreyk
The Empire of the Girdo Galaxy, known in short as the Girdo Empire and to themselves simply as the Empire, was a multi-species civilisation from the Girdo Galaxy, from which it took its name. Despite only occupying 500 systems, it officially owned the entire galaxy, a claim that it defended using hyperspace missile-firing Hyperluminal Defence Stations. It eventually merged with other civilisations to form the Apalos.
Terminology[]
As mentioned, the Empire was often known as either the "Empire of the Girdo Galaxy" or the "Girdo Empire". These are translations from the Apalose (primary Imperial language) terms, "Spue-oer or Ger'do Sperwd" and "Ger'do Spue-oer" respectively. The use of the latter term led to many empires refering to the native species of the Empire as "Girdo" or "Girdos", and (due to the Empire's secrecy) some to even think that the Empire was composed entirely of the "Girdo" species.
History[]
Imperial Artillery tanks during the Imperial-Kingdom War.
The Empire originated as the Apalosian Empire on Taukappa. They revealed little of their history to others, only that it involved a 5500-year war with a rival nation, the Kingdom of Emeshk. A Kessler syndrome around the time of the conclusion of this war put a halt on plans of space exploration; after Apalos defeated and conquered Emeshk, the Taukappans remained planet-bound for a millennium, at some point during which they moved en masse into a utopian virtual reality.
However, scientific and technological advances continued to be made, as those parts of the now-lifeless Taukappan cities that had not already become server farms were repurposed for conducting experiments by the few individuals who still had an interest in the real world. Once the Kessler syndrome had abated, the Empire launched an interplanetary spaceship, the Premier, "manned" with Taukappan minds and avatar-constructing facilities, to explore their home galaxy. At this point, the Empire began a new dating system, starting at 1 AE ("Anniversary of the Empire") in 2654.
The entire galaxy was, at this point, in chaos. An old alliance, the Grand Galactic Fleet, had fought the Girdo Grox Empire thousands of years earlier. When they lost the war, the Grox chased them to the ends of the galaxy and killed them all. This left the galaxy with no major civilisations - except for the Grox, who were recovering from the war - so when new empires emerged, they fought for galactic dominance. What degree of organisation had formed in the following five millennia was then thrown into disarray by the Radeon crusades of the early 3rd century PE ("Pre-Empire"), leaving an ideal situation for the rise of a new superpower.
When the Empire appeared on the interstellar scene, they used their abilities of manipulation to bring the galaxy under their control. They sent some empires to wars against each other until they were both destroyed, they assimilated others into their own Empire by the power of economy and diplomacy, and they simply destroyed most rival empires using their swarms of Droner-class starfighters. After decades of this, in 21 AE, they had complete dominance over most of the galaxy. Then, they fortified their worlds and took on the Grox. By 71 AE they had managed to defeat their cyborg enemies. Using captured Grox technology, Imperial scientists worked on further improving the Empire's own technological base, along with defeating the rival "Third Galactic Federation", until 100 AE when the first Intergalactic Drive was developed and the Empire decided to explore the rest of the unverse.
Part of the reason the Empire wanted to control all other civilisations in their galaxy, and why they wanted to reach other galaxies, was their obsession with "truly alien" life. They had discovered that all life in their home galaxy was spread by some sort of panspermia, and they wanted to give other life a chance to develop unhindered by what Imperial biologists refered to as "Spodian" life (named after the mythological Spode). When they were finally able to access other galaxies, they hoped that they would be able to find some "truly alien" organisms.
The Empire became involved in the DCP Civil War and March of the Apocalypse (during which the Girdo Galaxy vanished), and joined the Seven Starr Alliance in order to be able to gain more information and to exert greater influence on the intergalactic community. By the time the March of the Apocalypse ended, the Empire had produced over two hundred million Droners and had worked on many technological improvements during their isolation from the rest of the universe. Upon their return, they brought back all of their ships and people from outside Girdo so that they could upgrade their ships and reintegrate their people back into the group mind.
A Girdo-Human battle during the Girdo Campaigns.
A large portion of the rest of the Imperial Space Force was sent to fight against various xenophobic civilisations that were deemed to be a threat to "truly alien" life, in a short series of conflicts known as the Girdo Campaigns. Other aims were to obain advanced technology as part of "Project Timeship", and to create the Girdo Nature Reserve, consisting of most of the Girdo Galaxy, for "truly alien" life.
Shortly after the Campaigns, Emperor Ghelax Dreyk either died or resigned, and his position was taken over by Emperor Mazipnos Tokzhalat, the first non-Taukappan Girdo Emperor. Under his rule, the Girdo Empire generally kept out of conflicts, their role in the Seven Starr Alliance being more focused on scientific and technological development. However, they became involved in the Sombrero War, and when Ambassador Ten'Trantia to Rambo Nation was attacked and injured by a bounty hunter from the Confederacy of Allied Systems, the Empire also sent a Droner force of 8,304,768 ships to fight in the Cyrannus Galactic War. Later, during the evacuation of Girdo before the "Annihilation", the Girdo Empire merged with all of the other evacuating forces, becoming the Apalos. However, the Droners fighting in Cyrannus and its satellites remained there until joining Apalos after the Rowar Incident, and many Girdo ambassadors across the universe were also not merged into Apalos "Temple Ships".
Society and Culture[]
The culture of the Empire is mostly unknown. It is known that Imperial citizens of different species to the original Taukappans, that were assimilated into the Empire, still practiced some of their original beliefs and customs.
Language[]
Apalose (Apalose: Spue-oerlish, roughly "Imperial language") was the official language of the Girdo Empire. Phonetically, Apalose is composed of various clicks, chirps, and warbles, but can be transcribed into the Latin alphabet without losing much accuracy. It can be easily spoken by most species, with the worst effects being a mild sore throat from using it too much, and is a simple language that is not too difficult for most sapient beings to learn.
- History
Language is first believed to have appeared on Taukappa some time before the diversification of their tribes across the planet circa 50,000 PE. The first written records on the planet, made during the construction of the city of Apalos circa 7000 PE, are clearly from a language that is an ancestor to Modern Apalose. This language, sometimes known as Old Apalose, is considered to have transformed into Modern Apalose with the end of the Imperial-Kingdom War in 1000 PE. The lack of variety in Imperial languages, both throughout history and across Taukappa - only about 30 distinct native languages are known to have existed on the planet at any point since 7000 PE, unlike on other worlds where hundreds or even thousands will often develop in the same length of time - is often attributed to the weak group mind shared by the Imperial species, rendering complex verbal communication mostly unnecessary.
After the end of the Imperial-Kingdom War, the Apalosian Empire had control over Taukappa and all Imperials had been assimilated into the Imperial group mind. The original languages of the other cities were slowly replaced with Apalose over the next few hundred years, but they also lent many of their words and features to Apalose. Eventually, Apalose was the sole language spoken on the planet. When the Empire developed space travel, they eventually began conquering alien civilisations and, just like they did with the other Imperials on their homeworld, assimilated them into the Imperial group mind. The first generation of these newly-assimilated Imperials spoke their own native languages, since the presence of universal translators meant that they could still be easily understood. However, the next generation were taught Apalose as a first language, and soon the other languages of the galaxy started to become extinct. Apalose became the sole language of the Girdo Empire, and it is still in use by Apalos and on some space habitats in the Civilisation.
- Structure
Apalose is a very simplistic language, with few changes to words to distinguish between different parts of speech. The native name for the language, "Spue-oerlish", is a good example of this, literally translating as "empire language". The fact that "Spue-oer" comes before "lish" is the only thing that shows it to be an adjective ("imperial") rather than a noun ("empire").
However, the rules for putting these words together - if any - are not that simple. In many cases, part of the adjective word is removed. For example, something belonging to a person called "Tokzhalat" would not be described as "Tokzhalatn", but "Tokzhala'n". Alternatively, part of the noun word disappears, the most extreme cases being names of cities where "-apalos" is shorterned to "-s". An example of this is "Teledros", "hot forest city", which would in full be "teledro apalos".
- Examples of vocabulary
- Environment
- acore - empty
- argolce - land
- batel - wet
- co - dry
- deamol - grassland
- doltar - ocean
- dro - forest
- farata - desert
- klapara - river
- mun - cold
- shk - beach
- terha - level
- tele - hot
- trala - sand
- Politics and religion
- apalos - city
- eme - king
- kompahdh - war
- ling - worshipper
- sela - sanctuary
- soshiyl - peace
- spue-oer - empire
- suhrs - deity
- zhiodh - temple
- Life
- bio - life
- buwk - food
- egh - egg
- iko - health
- iyl - home
- lish - language
- meydh - love
- oid - inhabitant
- Other nouns
- n - belonging
- spais - resource
- sperwd - galaxy
- uwba - strength
- zin - honour
- Pronouns
- ii - [first person]
- uu - [second person]
- ei - [third person]
- Other words
- an - [inverse - e.g. "buwkan" = "one who eats"]
- i - [plural] / and
- or - of
Religion[]
The Empire permitted religious freedom, and so most of the galaxy's religions were followed in Imperial cities. Suprisingly, the Imperial group mind had very little control over religious beliefs. It is likely that, for whatever reason, the Emperor did not care about who worshipped what.
However, the Apalosians did have their own religion thousands of years ago, although is unknown when or whether it ceased to be followed. This religion revolved around the worship of a deity known as "the Source", and there was a belief in the Taukappans' ultimate destiny of having dominance over the universe, brought along by following the Source's will.
It was believed that the Source had created three "Beasts", which were guardians of the ground, the ocean, and the sky. Once each Beast was slain, the Imperials would take its place as the ruler of that medium. The "Ground Beast" is believed to be based on the Hyper Epic Creature on Taukappa. It may be notable that current scientific evidence suggests that the Hyper Epic died within a few million years of the Imperials' early ancestors emergance from their homeworld's primitve seas. Likewise, the Sea Monster - the "Ocean Beast" - mysteriously disappeared not long before the first boats were invented. The identity of the "Sky Beast" is unknown, but it is known that the Second Girdo Grox War was ending around the time that the first aircraft were developed, and a crashed starship on one of Taukappa's neighboring planets was shot down during the war.
There may also have been religious beliefs about Epic creatures - probably that they were minions of the Ground Beast. It is unknown if there was any equivalent to these for the Ocean or Sky Beast. No other information about the traditional Imperial religon has been released, but it is believed that the development of magical or psychic powers is a common practice across the Empire. This may have been a later addition, though, perhaps imported from another empire.
Government[]
The Empire was ruled by a democratically-elected Emperor, who usually reigned for life; his main purpose was to be a focus for the Imperial group mind. Different tribes and nations apparently formed their own distinct group minds, but for most of the past few million years the Taukappans were ultimately united. It is not known when this hive mind developed, but it seems to be around the time of the ancestral archecoid species about three million years ago.
Despite this group mind, the Empire still required order and organisation, most of which was adapted from the administrative system used by Diplomat empires but with most of the bureaucracy removed. This became even more necessary when different species became citizens of the Empire, even though they had cybernetic implants added to become part of this group mind.
- The Emperor had his own set of nine advisors, and with him they formed the Imperial Council. The Imperial Council took the place of Sector, Planetary and City Council for the Imperial Sector, Capitol and City respectively.
- Each Imperial sector (composed of several systems in the same area of space) had its own Sector Council, composed of one member of each Planetry Council in the sector, elected by the other members of each Planetary Council.
- Each Imperial world had its own Planetary Council, composed of one member of each of the planet's City Councils, elected by the other members of each City Council.
- Each Imperial city had a City Council, composed of twelve councillors elected by the public.
It should be noted that these Councils were only to provide order in administration, and the Empire was still ruled by the Emperor and was not completely a democracy.
Armed Forces[]
The Imperial Space Force was the military force of the Empire. It consisted of a few classes of ships, as the Empire was convinced that no more are required. It replaced the previous Imperial Military, which had existed in the Empire's Civilization Stage, after the Empire developed interplanetary travel. It later ceased to be an official organisation in the Intergalactic Era as all ships were simply considered to be part of the Empire rather than a subdivision of it.
Old Military (Imperial Army)[]
“Oh, please. We had weapons that could break though those defences before we knew how to build aircraft. Our trikes could disable those turrets without trying.”
- - Commodore Hlraka on the Third Federation's planetary defences
The Imperial Military during the time of the Imperial-Kingdom War, known by historians as the Imperial Army, was unofficially composed of three branches - the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, for land, sea and air forces respectively. None of them are used now, but the vehicles were kept and maintained in underground storage in case they were ever needed again all the way until the Empire's Intergalactic Era.
However, the vehicles had several changes to them, making them vastly improved from how they were during their war against Emeshk, which was in turn much more advanced (with developments ranging from GPS navigation to nanotechnological repair systems) than the original designs that were made between 3500 and 5200 years earlier. Firstly, the Artillery tank's guns were changed so that they fired proton missiles, as were those of the Destroyers. Secondly, the sonicannon-armed vehicles had their sonicannons replaced with proton missile launchers (for Scoutbugs and Corvettes) and starlasers (for Rotorcraft). In addition, all aircraft had internal magnetic drives added so that they cpuld hover (or, in the case of Rotorcraft and the Death Ray, hover better) instead of flying to increase the accuracy of their firing. Finally, all vehicles were given proper quantum replicators when efficient zero-point energy generators were developed after the Post-Grox Crisis.
Note that the command structures of both the historical Army and the later Imperial Space Force are identical.
The vehicles used by the Imperial Army were as follows:
|
The Scoutbug is a fast vehicle that can still operate well over uneven terrain. It was initially the Empire's main vehicle for 30 years until, ten years after Apalos conquered the city of Deamol, the Artillery was produced which was far more effective in combat and forced the Scoutbug into a position of reconnaissance from which it gets its name. Eventually, sonicannon technology was made more efficient, but by then aircraft had been developed which had more powerful weaponry than the sonicannon and could perform reconnaissance missions both more quickly and from longer distances. Scoutbugs had a crew of three: one pilot, one gunner, and one co-pilot/co-gunner. The Scoutbug was created after the Apalosians discovered how to propel objects by burning fuels. From this, they designed an early form of the internal combustion engine with which to power a vehicle that could travel much faster than any creature. They also plated the vehicle with metal armour, for added protection against wild creatures or rival tribal groups. The sonicannon was developed after one Apalosian wondered whether music could be used destructively. Over time, a device was invented which could create and shoot a concentrated pulse of compressed air, which later became the sonicannon which was placed on top of the Scoutbug.
The Imperial Artillery is a well-armoured self-propelled artillery piece, which became the Apalosians' main battle tank after its introduction. Artillery pieces had a crew of five: one pilot, one gunner, and three co-pilot/co-gunners. It was a fusion of Apalosian and Deamolian technology. Both cities had developed methods of propulsion by buring fuel, but while Apalos created an internal combustion engine that could propel a large vehicle across ground, Deamol used it to develop turrets that could fire explosive projectiles towards attacking armies. Deamol was conquered since the Scoutbugs' sonicannons could disable the Deamolian turrets without having to fire enough to destry them, and Deamol had no more effective weaponry after that to defend against the Apalosian forces. So, after the invasion of Deamol, Apalos began work on combining the two propulsion technologies to create a more powerful fighting vehicle. After years of testing various designs, the result was the Artillery. The main additions made only to the Artillery and its sea-going equivalent (the Destroyer) over the millennia were modifications to the gun to allow it to shoot anti-aircraft shell and nanotech ordnance generators that allowed additional munitions to be created in the tank without need for external resupply.
The Imperial Corvette is essentially an aquatic version of the Scoutbug. However, in addition to its weapons, it is also capable of intercepting enemy transmissions and broadcasting propaganda, making it useful for electronic and psychological warfare. Corvettes had a crew of three: one pilot, one gunner, and one co-pilot/co-gunner. The Corvette was developed after Apalos had taken over the cities of Teledros and Deamol, and the Apalosian leaders realised that conquest of the sea would also be necessary in order to maintain their power. They decided that a fast, sonicannon-armed ship would be best for this, since the most valuable resources at sea were the spice geysers. A fast vehicle would reach the geysers before any other nations' ships did, and sonicannons could be used to make the crews of existing spice rigs surrender or convert to the rule of Apalos without causing so much damage to the rigs that they would have to be rebuilt. In addition, most rival nations at the time only operated wooden sail- or oar-powered boats, meaning that powerful weaponry was not needed for defence. Like the Scoutbugs, the Corvettes later benefitted from improvements in sonicannon technology. The transceiver antenna was also added a few hundred years after the first ones were created.
The Imperial Destroyer is a submarine, with only the gun usually leaving the water (and only then during battle), and was used as the main firepower of the Apalosian Navy, and later the Imperial Navy. Unlike what the Artillery did to the Scoutbug, the Destroyer never completely replaced the Corvette. Destroyers had a crew of five: one pilot, one gunner, and three co-pilot/co-gunners. Despite being developed after the conquest of Deamol like the Artillery and the Corvette, the Destroyer was created later than them simply because priority in creating oceanic vehicles was given to the Corvettes. Like the Artillery, the Destroyers were eventually upgraded with anti-aircraft capability and later nanotech ordnance generators.
The Imperial Cruiser was part of the Empire's trading force, which also included the slow, land-crawling Landboats. However, the Cruiser also served supporting military functions as a supply ship or hospital ship. Cruisers can even have weapons attached (usually a single missile launcher) if it is necessary. Cruisers had a crew of five: one pilot, one gunner, and three co-pilot/co-gunners or other support crew. The invasion of Teledros provided Apalos with the efficient cargo-carrying technology required for the production of the Cruisers. Although Teledros fell under the rule of Apalos fifteen years before Deamol, the Cruisers were not developed until Apalos had built up a large enough military force to satisfy its leaders' desires for a strong defence. Along with nanotech fuel generators, Cruisers also received other nanotechnological generators dependant on their function. Armed Cruisers had nanotech ordnance generators, and the first generators that produced food and medical supplies were added onto Cruisers in the last decade of the Imperial-Kingdom War. After the war ended, more advanced food and medical nanotech generators were added to all remaining vehicles before they were placed into storage.
The Imperial Interceptor is a high-speed fighter craft. Although official documents claim that it was an air superiority fighter, it was apparently used mostly for reconnaissance. Interceptors had a crew of two: one pilot and one gunner/co-pilot. The Interceptor was introduced after Apalos invaded the city of Atiermun, and was the result of thirty years of merging Apalosian vehicle designs with the technological principles behind experimental Atiermunian gliders, produced by Atiermun in preparation for the inevitable attack by Apalos. However, for unknown reasons, the gliders never saw combat. The Atiermunians were also working on primitive light-based weapons. The original Interceptors were armed with a machine gun, but one hundred years later the laser technology was operational and added to both the Interceptors and the new Striker aircraft. Meanwhile, improved engine designs had been created that allowed the aircraft to take temporary bursts at supersonic speeds. One hundred and fifty years after that, new technologies were developed allowed the laser weapons to carry particle beams to increase the damage they caused. All aircraft, like the other vehicles of the Imperial Military, were eventually fitted with nanotechnological fuel generators. Aircraft had to have several added to them, both because it was more diffucult to get the necessary mass for fuel from air and also because even more additional fuel was required to power the laser weapons.
The Striker is the aircraft that fought most of the Air Force's battles in the Imperial-Kingdom War. However, according to Imperial documents, it is the one best suited for reconnaissance, with its advanced targeting systems being useful as surveillance equipment. Strikers had a crew of two: one pilot and one gunner/co-pilot. It was produced not long after the Ambush in the Faratan Mountains, which is believed to be the battle that essentially started the whole war. Test Flight, an unarmed experimental Imperial aircraft used to test a new jet engine design, was shot down by Kingdom gliders over the Faratan Mountains. It is debatable as to whether this was justified, as the mountains were within Kingdom borders (next to the recently-occupied city of Faratan). The first Strikers were originally fitted with multiple lasers, in order to test the design of the weapons. When the design was shown to work, the Interceptors were fitted with a laser cannon, too. When improvements in laser designs allowed for the guns to function as particle weapons as well, a Striker was again used as to test the combat effectiveness of the new technology.
The Rotorcraft is similar to a helicopter gunship, with a few minor differences such as its propulsion - it flies to a location like a fixed-wing aircraft, using jet engines for thrust and wings for lift, and then when it slows down or hovers it uses its rotor to keep it in the air. It was used as a general-purpose aircraft in the Imperial Air Force, introduced (along with anti-aircraft weaponry and city perimeter defence turrets) after capturing the Kingdom city of Faratan. Rotorcraft had a crew of two: one pilot and one gunner/co-pilot. Although it is not as powerful as a Striker, when it was fitted with sonicannons (as it usually was for most of its service history) it could do damage to more enemy vehicles with each shot. This meant that Rotorcraft were used to great effect during the Imperial-Kingdom War, particularly against Kingdom "Fire-Launcher" cannons which often had to travel in a closely-packed formation to manoeuvre through mountainous terrain. In the Second Battle of Faratan, a few Imperial Rotorcraft managed to defend the recently-captured city of Faratan from several times as many Fire-Launchers moving through a gap between two of the nearby mountains in an attempt to sneak up on a portion of the city without any defence turrets. Although not made official, it could also be used in psychological warfare (like the Corvette) by use of speakers mounted on its underside.
The Death Ray is several times larger than other aircraft - in fact, at 42 metres in length, it dwarfs every other air (and land) vehicle in the Imperial Military. It is an airship with enough armour to withstand attacks by low-powered kinetic projectiles and explosives, but it has no defences against other weapons, so it was used as a mobile command base for the Empire's armed forces. It stayed far behind the front lines, although if it needed to it could move itself into positions where its weapon could fire on anything from infantry to enemy aircraft. The Death Ray had a crew of ten: two pilots, one gunner, three co-pilot/co-gunners, and four Officers (typically three Majors and one General). There was only one Death Ray in the entire Imperial Military. It was often an obvious target during a battle, but trying to destroy it would require an attacker to make its way through dangerous enemy lines, and if the airship were to be destroyed itit would have made little difference thanks to the Empire's group mind. Ultimately, in its thousands of years of combat, the Death Ray was never destroyed, although that may have been because it often fled from the battlefield if it appeared that the Empire was losing a battle. The Death Ray was built after Imperial military leaders decided that the thousand-year stalemate of the Imperial-Kingdom War could be pushed into the Empire's favour if high-ranking Imperial officers could see what exactly was happening on the battlefield and give real-time orders, instead of relying on hourly reports and giving generic battle plans in reply. While this did improve matters somewhat, the Kingdom quickly caught on and created a new rank of officer in their armed forces to perform the same job. It wasn't until advanced nanotechnology was created around 4000 years later that the Empire managed to make major victories against the Kingdom. |
Starships[]
Despite its small size, the Premier-class was considered to be a capital ship due to its armament. There was only one ship in the Premier-class, and it was the Space Force's flagship, the Premier. Most of the ship's systems were automated, so there was no need for more than a skeleton crew (specifically, the Premier held a crew of ten). The Premier fought in many battles, as well as participating in most of the Empire's diplomatic and exploration missions. It may seem to have been a bad tactic for the Empire to have placed so much faith in a single ship, but were it ever destroyed then the necessary components for a replacement were ready to be put together immediately after the news reached the nearest Imperial world. For the time being, the Trade Frigates would be able to assume the Premier's duties. The Premier was finally retired as a military vessel after the March of the Apocalypse, and instead took on the role of the Emperor's personal transport, being replaced with the much larger and more advanced Apalos. It was presumably deconstructed, along with most of the rest of the Girdo fleet, to be turned into Apalos Temple Ships. |
The Frigate-class, or Trade Frigates, were created a few months before the outbreak of the Imperial War Against All. The first ones were modified from existing cargo ships, simply having weapons systems added, but immediately the shipyards changed the design of their cargo ships to have these new weapons systems. Just like the Premier, most of the Frigate-class's systems were automated, meaning that the entire ship could be run by a crew of eighteen (and frequently by an even smaller crew, sometimes as few as four crewmembers). Given their size in comparison to their weaponry, the Trade Frigates were very weak and were only good against pirates and weak enemy starfighters. However, they were rarely used in battle and only fought as a last resort. Unlike the other ships of the Imperial Space Force, Trade Frigates had large windows to the outside - the Premier only had portholes around the edge, and used an external camera system to provide a visual feed straight to a viewscreen in the bridge which was kept safely inside the ship - and made use of two reaction-drive engines (to be precise, fusion coils) as well as the standard internally-based magnetic drive system. The windows were apparently used for "diplomatic reasons" according to official Imperial documents. When queried about the reaction drives, the Imperials say something about a "lesson" of some sort and refuse to elaborate - most likely, they could be used as additional and unsuspected weapons if needed. Trade Frigates also made use of a unique type of interstellar propulsion, the Twosystem Drive, that allowed faster-than-light travel between two destinations without having to jump between systems. They could not be easily attacked during Twosystem travel as it propels them about three times as fast as standard interstellar drives. However, due to its innate disadvantages, it was only used when carrying cargo along well-defined trade routes. Much like the Premier, the Frigate-class is a design that has not been seen in Apalos use. |
The Droner-class starfighter was a 50-metre-long drone ship that made up the majority of the Space Force. Control over Droners could be given to other space forces, but all commands could be ultimately overridden by Imperial ships. The Droners had advanced enough AI so that, in comparison to most other drone ships (and even most piloted ships too), they were highly effective in battle. Many aspects of Droner design was made to trick enemy empires into believing that the ships were in fact piloted by living beings, such as fake windows. This deceit could be used in various ways, such as by giving the enemy pilots a false sense of security which then leads to a drop in morale, or, if they have low opinions on drone ships, by making them think that the ships are better than they would otherwise think and so making them more cautious and more evasive. In some cases, belief that there was a living pilot inside the ship prevented some enemy pilots from firing as soon as they could have, as they did not want to kill anybody unnecessarily. However, most empires soon worked out that the Empire's signature ships were unmanned drones, and the Empire began freely admitting it to anybody who asked. Droners traditionally had three main roles. Bombers bombarded enemy cities and fired missiles at enemy spacecraft while Fighters flew along with them (6 Fighters to a Bomber) and intercepted any enemy spacecraft firing at the Bombers. They also joined in with the bombardment of cities when there were no attacking enemies nearby to deal with. Defenders usually remained in Imperial territories, attacking any enemy starships that come too close. More commonly, Droners operated in "Droner Swarms" that consisted of 36 ships. In times of war, a more organised system was available for use. There were four hierarchically-ranked types of unit within the "Wartime Droner Organisation System":
However, putting this system into practice originally required a state of emergency to be declared and preferably wartime production to be established across the entire Empire in order to produce the large quantities of ships required, as most Droners were in defence fleets over Imperial colonies and were not to be used elsewhere except in extreme circumstances. After the March of the Apocalypse, though, this system was scrapped, and the Empire began to use its Droners much more freely. Although still seen to be in use by Apalos, the form of the Droner-class starfighter has been made mostly obsolete by smaller, more efficient designs. |
The Empire also had larger Imperium-class Capital Ships that functioned as command bases and warships while they were exploring other galaxies. They had a large hangar bay which can hold up to four Droner Swarms and four Trade Frigates. They also had cargo holds, that usually contained large quantities of spice before the ships were fitted with quantum replicators. The first ship of the class, the Imperium, also held the Premier in its hangar bay, along with the whole of the old Imperial Army in closely-packed storage in its cargo hold, ready to be beamed down if necessary. The Army was finally used in the Battle of Picon in the Intergalactic War. Few vehicles survived the battle, and those that did were recycled instead of being returned to storage. Finally, the Imperium-class ships were very heavily armed. They had four minor missile launchers (which usually fire either proton missiles or regular antimatter missiles) and one major antimatter missile launcher (which launches Planet and Sun Busters). These obtained their antimatter from an antimatter factory inside the ship (also later replaced with quantum replicators), meaning that the Empire did not need to purchase expensive antimatter from other civilisations. There were also twelve two-part energy guns for defence against enemy starfighters (capable of firing high-powered "superlaser" beams and shield-disrupting ion cannons), and twenty-four bomb bays that had various functions including the dropping of bombs and generating tractor beams. The Empire had "primary" Imperium-class ships in operation. All of them had their own official peacetime postings at stationary positions in different galaxies: the Plazith Rim, Cyrannus, and the Quadrants. Two of them, both with postings in the Plazith Rim, were destroyed in the war against the Xhodocto.
The other seven survived until the Annihilation.
The Empire also produced 501 "secondary" Imperiums, one for each of the Empire's planets, each named after its designated world. Although heavily upgraded and reconfigured by Apalos technology, many of Girdo's Imperium-class ships appear to still be in use as dedicated military vessels, although it is unclear how many sightings of Imperium-like vessels are actually Temple Ships temporarily adopting that form. |
The Apalos, officially intended to be the first of the Apalos-class Worldships, was the flagship of the Girdo Empire after the March of the Apocalypse, and was led by the Emperor himself. It was a saucer-shaped craft, vaguely based on the Premier, but designed to be a much more functional flagship. However, from its official launch during the Girdo Campaigns up until the Annihilation, there were rumours and conspiracy theories about the existence of additional, secret Worldships hidden inside the Girdo Galaxy. It was intended to be the "final starship" of the Girdo Empire, with omnipurpose guns, shapeshifting capabilities, miniscule crew requirements, and the ability to form potentially billions of smaller drones out of its hull. Worldships were supposed to be able to perform various functions. They could be used:
Eventually, with the help of the AI Netspace, the technology designed for the Apalos-class was completed and incorporated into the Apalos Temple Ships. The Apalos itself has not been replaced with new vessels, although its exact role in Apalos military doctrine is unclear. |
 Hyperluminal Defence Stations were gigantic space stations made out of an entire planet using nanobots, and capable of firing hyperspace missiles which, rather than having a conventional warhead, caused damage by means of a primitive form of subspace compression. These had a set range of approximately one hundred kiloparsecs and speed of 1015 c, and were capable of hitting anything in that range, either in realspace or hyperspace. Each HDS had six main guns pointing in different directions; these were not the only possible launch platforms for the missiles, but were mainly used as a focus for spacetime-warping defences. Each Station was defended by millions of point-defence turrets and Droner-class ships, and were armoured with several kilometres of "neutronium-metal alloy" plating. The high speed meant that each missile (weighing a little more than 100kg) would impart approximately 4.5x1048 joules of energy into an object causing any mass shadow that it hit, or 1.074x1015 yottatons of the TNT equivalent. Because of this, a single hyperluminal missile could destroy almost any individual object within sensor range except for those that were "ghost phased". There were sixteen Hyperluminal Defence Station constructed. The first eight were around the edge of the Girdo Galaxy to protect both the wildlife sanctuary there and the Girdo Empire themselves. Another eight of these were placed around the edge of the Tuuros Galaxy, in an attempt to reduce the forces of the Xhodocto in case they escaped again, and also to prevent colonisation of the galaxy by other empires (with the exception of the Sporemaster Alliance, since their ships were already en route to the galaxy when the Girdo Empire began exploring there). However, these were destroyed when the Xhodocto reclaimed Tuuros during the "Second Coming", while the ones in Girdo were later destroyed during the Annihilation. The Hyperluminal Defence Stations were part of the inspiration for the use of more advanced hyperspace missiles by the Technoosphere after the Annihilation. |
Starship Technology[]
- Networking
All Imperial starships have various automation systems to allow for the ships to only require a small crew (and in the case of the Droners, no crew at all). The internal networking systems are completely independant from the external ones to prevent against computer virus attacks, and both systems (as well as two pairs of backups which are also independant from both the main ones and each other) have effective, up-to-date firewalls and antivirus systems, too. There are also manual overrides, just in case something really bad happens.
- Weaponry
The Empire's use of assimilated and adapted technology meant that they made use of "technology sockets", which allowed multiple upgrades and variations on similar technological principles to be used in the same location on a device. This was possibly first used in the Artillery of the Imperial Army, which made use of an artillery gun that could fire different sizes of explosive shell. In the ships of the Imperial Space Force, only three types of gun were used for all of the different weapons that the Empire had access to:
- Beam turret
- Contains two parts: the primary turret fired Lasers, while the secondary turret is capable of positioning itself anywhere around the edge of the primary one and fired automated anti-starfighter Blasters (which are technically missiles).
- The primary gun part was also capable of more peaceful uses, such as Happy Rays, Scanning, and many more. The energy gun's output could also be modified to work as terraforming tools, which are equally useful both peacefully and militarily.
- Missile launcher
- Missile launchers could either fire automatically-replicated unguided Plasma Missiles, guided Proton Missiles, or guided Antimatter Missiles. Military missiles were first shot of out the launcher using railgun propulsion, and the missile engines were powered up after a few milliseconds to provide course corrections.
- The more peaceful usage of the lauchers was that they could shoot Fireworks.
- Bomb bay
- The bomb bay either dropped automatically-replicated Proton Bombs, or like the missile launchers could also be switched to launch an Antimatter Bomb (both city-destroying bombs and larger bombs such as Planet Busters).
- The bomb bay was also where superweapons such as the Gravitation Wave and the Staff of Life were fired from.
- Non-military uses were the Abduction Beam, planetary sculpting or colouring, and sending things to a planetary surface. Some things sent to the surface could also be directed by a missile-type engine, but these were still usually dropped from the bomb bay.
- Propulsion
Fusion-powered reaction drives were only used on Frigate-class ships, presumably as an additional secret weapon (essentially a flamethrower that can shoot a jet several hundred kilometres in length). They were not usually used for propulsion, however. The last Imperial spacecraft to use reaction drives as a primary propulsion system were rockets that launched satellites into space from the last few centuries of the Imperial-Kingdom War to about a century before the launch of the Premier.
Within the decade before the launch of the Premier, experimental crafts using internal magnetic propulsion drives were launched into space in order to test the feasibility and the usefulness of the design. When it transpired that this magnetic propulsion would be faster and more efficient than rockets, such drives were added to the Premier. Powered my nuclear fusion, the Premier achieved low relativistic speeds and all spacecraft built since have used such drives for sublight travel.
All Imperial ships also have various faster-than-light drives and communication systems.
- Armour
The primary form of armour that all Imperial starships since the formation of the Space Force have had is regenerative ablative armour. This permanently reduces the damage that weapons do to the starship so long as there is spare material on board to be converted into additional armour (when fighting within a planetary atmosphere, some of this can be gained from the surrounding air). The ablative armour layer also has additional functions - it is composed of thousands of interlocking plates across the surface of the ship's hull, and these plates can also have photovoltaic treatments applied in order to function as a power source or they can radiate excess heat from the craft's interior.
- Deflector shields
There are also three types of deflector shields used: Navigational deflectors, shield deflectors, and cloaking devices. The shield deflectors and cloaking devices were not added to all ships after they were first developed, but during the Post-Grox Crisis the Empire began to fit all of its ships with all armour systems.
All ships are fitted with navigational deflectors, as they prevent bombardment by micrometeorites during interstellar travel without using up any of the ship's ablative armour. Navigational deflectors can also prevent low-speed impacts between ships and large obstacles, and can be programmed to destroy small missiles in an emergency. Navigational deflectors are also necessary to contain antimatter before its use (such as in the detonation of an antimatter warhead), and these constantly-running deflectors have always been powered by some form of zero-point energy generator, even before the advanced versions were developed post-Grox.
Shield deflectors are powerful electromagnetic fields, which consume a lot of energy to maintain operation. They were initially only fitted to the Premier and to the Frigate-class ships, and used rarely due to the energy demands. However, they render the ships completely invulnerable to any weapons while they are up (but can be rendered inactive by a direct hit by an antimatter warhead). They can also work as "pressure shields", constantly deflecting all external particles to completely remove all pressure from the ship's hull. However, before effective zero-point energy generators were developed after the Third Grox War, pressure shielding was only used in rare cases such as travel through wormholes. Afterwards, pressure shields could be used constantly - and were, in white spice mines, to protect the mines against the pressure of the surrounding gas giant's atmosphere.
Finally, cloaking devices bend light around to ship to render them invisible to electromagnetic-based sensor systems (including sight). They can, however, be detected by other means such as sonar. Cloaking devices also mean that any weapons propelled/stabilised (such as energy weapons) or guided (such as missiles using most missile guidance systems) electromagnetically will not hit a cloaked ship unless they are travelling at a high enough velocity for inertia to carry them into the cloaking field. Cloaking devices were at first only added to the Premier along with Defender-class Droners used for scouting and raiding missions, and were of a lower priority to be added to other ships than shield deflectors since the latter render the ship temporarily invincible while cloakers essentially only render them invisible.
Space Force Army[]
The Space Force's atmospheric forces, also known as the "Army", were mostly composed of infantry, since developments in infantry weapons and armour rendered most armoured fighting vehicles obsolete, and even armed Imperial citizens were a match for most tanks (and even a lot of military aircraft). In case air vehicles were needed by the Army, Droners were perfectly capable of low-altitude atmospheric missions just as much as specially-contructed aeroplanes.
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All organic soldiers and officers were armed with a Plasma Pulser, Missile Flinger, and a four-blades at maximum power, and had additional quantum replicators in order to support them. They also had basic health regeneration to keep them alive longer in battle so there was less need for stopping to see a medic during a busy battle. In addition, they had holographic socialisation equipment in case of an emergency which required the befriending or allying of creatures who consider singing abilities to be important. It should be noted that all organic soldiers (including officers) were considered to be elite forces, and were unlikely to be used even if a battle calls for infantry. On board starships, organic non-officer soldiers were called "crewmen", and did various tasks on board the ship if needed. Since all Space Force ships were quite small and almost entirely automated, crewmen were rarely ever needed. However, when they were, they could prove to be absolutely vital. Crewmen were also beamed down along with the Captain in case of an important off-ship mission, where they could provide additional support.
Almost identical to the hierarchial system of the original Imperial Army, the Space Force used several ranks to order and administrate the Space Force's personnel. Ranks were not shown by insignia or uniform, but were kept known by the Empire's group mind. Note that the names of ranks here are just rough translations into English. A completely generic version that accounts for all three forces in the Imperial Military and the Imperial Army would be "General Officer", "Major Officer", "Minor Officer", "Force Leader", "Force Co-Leader", and "Squad Leader". The actual naming system used makes little difference.
The Empire's own nanotechnology, cybernetics and biotechnology made up major parts of their infantry's technological superiority to many other armies, but they also gladly make use of tried-and-tested inventions that have been used by most other empires for the whole of recorded history.
Throughout the Imperial Space Force Army, all of the major traditional infantry weapons of the Girdo Galaxy (such as Plasma Pulsers, Toxic Crystals, Lightning Strikers, and even exotic weapons such as Hypnomelders and Icy Bands) were used, all at their most powerful settings in order to deal the most (if not the most efficient) damage possible. Most other technological additions, such as energy generators, health regenerators, and armour, were also taken from those used by other civilisations and then given modifications for Imperial use. Regenerative ablative armour and shield deflectors were used by Imperial infantry, scaled down from the starship versions. Shield deflectors were rarely used, for the reasons of energy demands previously mentioned.
All infantry mainly made use of a flexible nanotechnological covering over their skin (or metal) as defence. This was an entirely Imperial creation, although similar inventions were produced by many other civilisations. It could stop most low-powered explosive shells and weaker kinetic weapons almost completely, allowing the soldier wearing it to be mostly unharmed. It also contained various complex systems that helped the soldier in a variety of ways:
Soldiers also had no need food or medical supplies during missions, since the nanotech armour connected its quantum replicators into the soldier's body. Initially, it was still recommended that they ate regularly anyway, and only used these systems in case of emergency, but later the flaws in the technology were removed.
Biotechnology and cybernetics existed in Imperial technology before the end of the Third Girdo Grox War, but the boost gained from analysing Grox technology meant that it could finally be used to a large extent in the Space Force. Cybernetics offered many advantages (such as allowing the soldiers to be tougher, stronger and faster than they would be if they were completely organic), hence it was used in conjunction with the genetic engineering to create what the Empire believed to be the best soldiers that it could produce. Quantum replicators are, of course, also a major component of Imperial soldiers' equipment.
Bladework was first developed back during the Empire's prehistory. The traditional "four-blades" design was apparently based on a fierce creature that roamed Taukappa while the Imperials were first forming tribal societies. Imperials simulated the creature's claws using spikes made of animal bones, rock, and eventually metal. One tribe even used blades made of obsidian before being conquered by the city of Apalos circa 7000 PE. Even during this time, Bladework was only used in life-or-death situations, as weapons such as spears and axes were prefered since the wooden shafts used in their construction could make them longer and therefore give them a greater range (up to three metres, compared to the maximum length of half a metre for four-blades) in combat. Bladework soon became mostly obsolete when the first cities were built, since armoured fighting vehicles were resistant against any infantry weaponry while guns could kill enemy soldiers in just a few shots. Bladework was only kept alive as a traditional sport, although this allowed it to evolve into a martial art with various highly-developed techniques and strategies. However, upon the Empire's expansion into space, Bladework became viable once more. Strong nanotechnological armour meant that both Imperial soldiers and enemy forces could often resist multiple shots from plasma weapons and even rocket launchers, so infantry skirmishes could often turn into mêlée. Bladework was revived in Imperial miltiary training, and new electrified blades were used to cause large amounts of damage to enemy soldiers in a short amount of time. Bladework soon gained techniques derived from the tactics used by various other empires, and went through evolution and refinement over the decades into its modern form.
The four-blades is the usual arrangement of blades in traditional Bladework. It consists of three curved knives, mostly used for slashing and striking, with a single straight dagger on top that is primarily used for stabbing and can be used to stun opponents via electrocution. The dagger sometimes contains smaller blades sticking out of the side, and in modern four-blades these knives are usually retractable with the extending/collapsing process controlled via thought. The four-blades was originally a glove tied to the wrists, but this was eventually replaced with cybernetics implanted into the forearm, a modification that also allowed for the blades to become electrified and therefore even more dangerous than they originally were. Typically, Imperial citizens have one four-blades attached to each hand. However, various other arrangements also exist. Some have only one four-blades, while some use a "three-blades" arrangement with the dagger held seperately. There are rarer alternatives, such as having blades attached to the tail, feet, or even the head, but only a few dozen individuals in the entire Empire use anything other than the standard three varieties.
There are six main offensive moves used in modern Bladework. Only "Striking", "Stabbing", and "Slashing" are used when the intent is not to kill, as the others can easily be fatal or otherwise cause serious injuries.
Before the use of electrified blades, most Bladework consisted of simple movements that were similar to the first four, in concert with punching and kicking. There were no officially established moves until around 5500 PE, when Bladework became a sport, and the first official attacks that were put into use around that time eventually evolved into the ones used today.
The main body of the Shooter contains various systems to generate and switch between different forms of ammunition, and the gun barrel (the long tube at the bottom of the gun) can change in both diameter and internal structure in order to fire these. The Shooter mainly fires either small explosive shells, or various particle beams that are similar to a laser beam or blaster bolt. Shooter ammunition is unguided. However, the gun makes use of a "psychic sight" system, in which a computer and sensor system (the short tube at the top of the gun) calculates (based on the ammunition used, gravity, wind, distance to obstables, etc) exactly where the next shot will land. The system isn't perfect, since unpredicted elements may always affect what happens, but it is still highly accurate - the record for the furthest accurate hit on a creature-sized stationary target by an Imperial sharpshooter using a Shooter gun is 3.2 kilometres for shell ammunition and 24 kilometres for particle bolts. |
Relationships with other empires[]
A Girdo Imperium-class ship participating in a wargame with Rambo Nation.
“We come with offerings of peace, unless you wish that we do not have peace. In which case, we come with subatomic weapons.”
- - Emperor Mazipnos Tokzhalat on the Empire's foreign policy
The Empire was part of the Seven Starr Alliance, and as such, was allied with all other SSA member nations. Those nations were the only empires that they considered consider themselves to be officially allied with.
The Empire did not wish to classify the empires that they were on good terms with as official allies, so that they could (at least initially) appear to be neutral to other civilisations. However, they were allies in all but the necessary paperwork. By the end of the Girdo Empire's history, these included the Salsetthe Republic and Sporemaster Alliance.
It was very rare that the Empire decided to make enemies, but sometimes, it was inevitable. With the exception of the Girdo Galactic War and Girdo Campaigns, the only civilisations that the Empire fought wars against were the Xhodocto, Confederacy of Allied Systems, and the inhabitants of the Sombrero Galaxy.
Quotes from other empires[]
“A glorious and mysterious Empire, the Girdo are considered friends by our standards. With a long and complex history, a beautiful culture and an impressive space fleet, we are honored to be friends with the Girdo Empire.”
“LOSAS. GEEKS. WEIRDOS. UHHH... LOSAS.”
- - Zr'Ahgloth of Da Loronz
“Hmm.... they are powerful indeed, very secretive too.”
“A secretive race, a trait they share with our kind. Quite a strong mortal race, I'll admit.”
- - An old Taldar writing
Notes[]
The Empire of the Girdo Galaxy was originally a fiction in Ghelae's personal fiction universe, known only as the Empire. This fiction was created on 2 April 2010. On 11 May 2010, the Girdo Empire page was created as an "alternate reality" version of the Empire for collaborative fiction. From 4 July 2013, the information on the Empire and the rest of the "Imperial Universe", including the Grand Galactic Fleet, was moved to the collaborative fiction universe, and the Empire's original fiction page was deleted on 9 July 2013.
