Imperium 17 - Concluding Thoughts

Well, I did have a whole lot of fun with this game, but I feel that in some ways, I missed out on the real experience of Beyond Poverty. I'm betting other players' power graphs - those who didn't get lucky with an early game-shaping event - didn't look like this in 2449:



When Not the Tao went rich, it pretty much threw the whole game out of balance. I suppose it might have been even more overpowering if it had been Gion that went rich (more unbuilt factories would benefit, and it would have more total production in the end) but it was still pretty extreme. If Fierias itself had gone rich, I could have pretended it never happened, and just kept using the planet for research only anyway, thereby continuing the game as it had been intended - but I couldn't afford to abandon Not the Tao's industry. I later came up with variants that would have limited Not the Tao's strength without crippling it or my empire entirely, but I didn't think of them at the time. The variant I did apply from then on made things interesting in a number of ways, but just wasn't limiting enough to overcome my rich terran world's advantages in the end. What I take from this - apart from a nonetheless very enjoyable game! - is a resolution for any Imperia that I might sponsor in the future, should I have time to create them: Events will be turned off every time, pretty much guaranteed. This is the second time (the first being Imperium 12) when a strong world turning rich made a good challenge suddenly easy. I just don't want to see that happen again.



Every one of these ships was built at a rich or ultra-rich world. The Griffons were designed to replace the Griffins (heh) once fusion bombs would fit on a small, but Kelvan never managed to finish his planetary shields in time to save his planets even from my nuclear bomber swarms. The Openness is just a placeholder, of course.

Oh: I just noticed that I left something out of my report, by the way: A plague broke out on Kakata in 2448. I of course set the planet to do what it could about the problem, but there wasn't time to fix it by the end of the game. Naturally, of course, under Raiju's new galactic government, it was taken care of easily.

Anyway, here's what the map looked like in 2450 (I loaded the save and replayed the interturn, abstaining from the vote, to get a snapshot).



And perhaps my favorite part of my entire Imperium 17 game: I believe this is a new record, and one that will stand for a long time to come - perhaps indefinitely. The most laughable, hopeless backwater of a starting world in the history of Master of Orion victories!



Yup: Planet size is under 100 (had I accepted the 2425 diplomatic victory, it would have been at 65!) with 13 population and 22 factories - hostile, radiated, and ultra-poor! I didn't try to do this (else I wouldn't have terraformed it to +40!) but it was always feeding people to other worlds, even after it went hostile, just because it was better to have cats working factories than sitting on their hands. I never built a factory there, and eight were destroyed by spies around the turn of the century.

So: One last thing. How long after Raiju's reign was my history written? Is a galaxy-wide republic truly the answer, or was there some other factor keeping people in line and making sure everything ran smoothly for a generation or two after her ninth life ended? Maybe the republic did work out, but until it was established, can one ruler really hold a whole galaxy together? Or was there something else going on behind the scenes? It wasn't Rrref Steelclaw: Raiju's chief advisor retired from government to start a career as a writer in 2450. Still, it seems like there must be somebody keeping things running smoothly.



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Back to the Front Page

Imperium 17 - ...and Dagger!

By 2437, Fusion Bomb research was nearly complete, with the prredicted chance of success each year verrry high and climbing ... when a computer virus wiped out all the prroject's files simultaneously. It would have been a simple matter to research it again, but Raiju was tired of waiting.

Saurian scientists, now gladly at peace with Raiju, offer the weapons their Colossus carrried for those used by ships like the ones that destroyed it.

As well as prroviding an Ion Cannon in exchange for Hyper-V Rockets for miniaturization, and Inertial Stabilizer in exchange for Fusion Bomb, switching research to Hyper-X Rockets for yet more quick miniaturization (research would complete just two years later, and turn to Stinger Missiles) Raiju made sure that her trading partner would remain on the right side by agrreeing to his demand of Sublight Drives to brring him into her war with the Psilons. The spy wars continued in the meantime - three entire factories were lost at Beta Ceti, supposedly to Bulrathi spies, and the ultra-rich planet might even have noticed they were gone if it hadn't been working on industry at the time anyway to build up reserves for the war. Conventional warfare continued as well, with Mrrshan planets repelling enemy fleets every year , culminating in 2439 with the arrival of a fleet that could not be repulsed ... and two more such fleets in 2441, each at a different world!

The Mrrshan Offensive begins.

Naturally, these were Mrrshan fleets, at Helos - the Psilons' nearest colony to the Mrrshan core - Poor Laan, and the Psilons' second nearest planet to the Mrrshans: The vast terran world of Herculis. Also in 2441, the first wave of transports arrived at Helos and, in coordination with the fleet, Laan as well. Advanced Eco Restoration, developed in the same year, was all but forgotten in the rush of war - as was the new prroject, Improved Terraforming +50, even though the empire had crraved such technology since the moment it was formed. Also passing all-but unnoticed was CB-715's cancellation of his non-aggrression pact with the Mrrshan people in 2440. Defenses were already up in the north in case of just such an eventuality, and while his actions did lead to still more being constructed, he was far too late to make a difference with any kind of cold war, and though he would soon send a fleet to Mrrshan space, before it could even arrive and be inevitably repulsed, RBO-17 had won the galactic war.

GNN pays notice as the Mrrshan empire crosses the threshold of galactic domination.

The conquest of Helos and Laan prrovided no less than eight new technologies to the empire: Death Spores, Repulsor Beam, Battle Computer Mark IV, Anti-Missile Rockets, and Gatling Laser from the Psilons, plus Controlled Dead Environment, Neutron Blaster, and Improved Space Scanner from the Darlok world. Darquan immediately realized his error and begged for peace, but Raiju was no longer sympathetic. He had chosen unwisely once too often.

With her force field technology completed for her, Raiju elected to continue with a Class X Planetary Shield which would never be needed in her reign, and continued with the war.

Not to be outdone, the interstellar spy networks plied their trades, with enemy agents taking out a missile base at Aquilae in 2442 and 9 factories at Gorra two years later. Moments before the Gorra incident however, Stingrray topped them all, striking deep into Meklar territory to lift data files on Improved Robotic Controls IV from Nitzer. Her heroics were all the more apprreciated since the Mrrshan soldiers who conquerred Herculis the same year snagged only the planetary shields that the empire had just started researching, in spite of raiding 215 factories. This opened the way toward Classs VII Deflector Shields (with cloaking device as another too-late-to-matter option) - a technology which would never be needed.

The final six years of the war were a golden age for research in the Mrrshan empire - primarily, this research was accomplished via pointy sticks.

As Raiju's scientists developed yet more ECM and started work on an Advanced Space Scanner, her soldiers attempted to redeem themselves, liberating plans for no less than 13 technological developments from three different homeworlds. After the Darlok homeworld yielded hopelessly out-of-date Improved Robotic Controls III, Battle Computer Mark II, Deuterium Fuel Cells, and Neutron Pellet Gun technologies, as well as an offer of alliance from Tyranid (which was rejected in favor of a Non-Aggrression Pact the following year) Raiju made peace with the Darloks' one remaining planet, and successfully established trade with them for the first time, in the largest amount they could afford annually: Fully 25 BC. Mentar proved much more fertile ground, yielding ECM Jammer Mark II, Improved Terraforming +40, Improved Terraforming +20, Reduced Industrial Waste 60%, Advanced Industrial Tech 9, Graviton Beam, and peace. Mrrina Stingrray, just entering the prrime of her fourth life, snagged Personal Deflector Shield technology from the bears just in time for it to benefit the marines invading Ursa, even as scientists completed a prototype autorepair system and talked cheerfully about Improved Industrial Tech 6, and soldiers brought back Fusion Beam, Controlled Toxic Environment, and Class V Planetary Shield from the Bulrathi homeworld itself. That verrry year, Raiju died in her sleep, happy and at peace, for the fifth time. Young and beautiful as she had been when she first took the throne of Fierias, RBO-17 attended the Galactic Council as it met in 2450, this time decisively.

Raiju Bastet Ocelot XVII accepts her new title: High Mistress of the New Republic

With more than half the galaxy's voting power, not far from a two thirds majority from Mrrshan worlds alone, Raiju at last accepted the third offer made to her, and ascended the throne of the galaxy. No more would emperors of the old dynasty rule over Fierias however: The galaxy would be reorganized into a new republic, ending the power of tyrants for all time. Raiju still had her grreatest task before her: Uniting the galaxy in true peace, and educating its people to the point of being able to share the galaxy effectively under a single representative government - but she prroved equal to the task, with four lifetimes yet before her, and we live in the galactic peace she established to this verrry day.

So ends the history of The Lives and Deaths of Raiju Bastet Ocelot XVII, queen of Fierias, Empress of Artemis, High Mistress of the New Republic.

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Next: Concluding Thoughts

Imperium 17 - Cloak...

Raiju Bastet Ocelot the 17th began her fifth reign with a delightful surprrise: Scatter Pack research finally completed as soon as she took the throne! Raiju took the opportunity of starting research in Fusion Bombs, the better to strike back against enemy races should they continue - or begin anew - their wars. She had another surprrise in store though, somewhat less delightful, immediately after founding Toranor. Unbeknownst to her, the Sakkra had sent a gigantic Colossus dreadnought to take ultra-rich but still barely-founded Escalon from her! Three million died in its first assault, along with fifteen just-completed factories, and by intercepting Mrrshan transports sent to work the world's mines, it would kill millions more. The founding of radiated Galos the following year was little consolation for RBO-17, who now was struggling to hold the best existing colonies she'd inherited from her prrevious lives!

Construction of a scatter-pack rocket base at Escalon completed just as the latest Kulthos fleet arrived. The huge ship was built to deal with any threat however, carrying Class 3 shields, normal and heavy lasers, two dozen high-capacity rocket pods, and a dozen racks of fusion bombs!

Fortunately, those bombs would never fall.

The destruction of the Colossus dreadnought at Escalon convinced Tyranid to come forward immediately, begging peace on Raiju's terms.

The latest Kulthos fleet consisted of almost a hundred Static 3.0 ion fighters. With an overwhelming advantage in both maneuverability and - thanks to their feline gunners - weapon targeting, the fleet and base burned the dreadnought from Escalon's skies before it could reach bombardment range. With her empire's combat capabilities amply demonstrated, Raiju accepted Tyranid's immediate offer of peace on the condition that steps be taken to make it lasting. When she requested a trade package of 150 BC perr year - all that the poor backward Sakkra could handle - they swiftly agrreed.

With peace established on every front but the Bulrathi's, the results of the 2425 election were prredetermined. The alien races split 18 votes between them - half for Raiju, and half for CB-715 - and the Mrrshans held a clear veto with a dozen votes of thirty and a second opportunity to win. Yet instead, RBO abstained again; there remained a world in the far southwest that no one as yet had settled, and until the galaxy was wholly represented, our empress did not feel that the council's choice could be decisive.

Rrref's opinion was different of course; the galaxy belonged to the Mrrshans, no matter how many planets were inhabited, and no matter what the election might say.

Stingrray strikes again.

After Mrrina Stingrray - now in her third lifetime - conducted a lightning raid on his labs, coming away with Improved Eco Restoration, the Ursine emperor made peace. So a single year after the election saw Raiju living in harmony with the entire galaxy. It was not to last - the Meklar were threatening her already - but as Rrref Steelclaw had already pointed out, it didn't matter.

Mrrshan agents acted with impunity, lifting ECM Jammer Mark I from the Psilons the verrry next year, but the most crritical advances came from scientific labs, which turned out Fusion Drives in 2428, and were set to work on an Inertial Stabilizer in case one was needed for war. That decision was prrescient - not that much prescience was needed on this point with Raiju's psychotic and xenophobic neighbors - as the Darloks declared war on the following year, while the Bulrathi prroceeded to demonstrate that other spies than our own were capable of operrating in the galaxy.

While historrians long believed the Bulrathi were framed by Darlok spies, a review of tech reports from our own spies indicates that the Darloks lacked terraforming tech even after this steal, and the Bulrathi, who had a superior verrsion beforehand, had our simple verrsion as well after the steal.

With the foundation of Kronos in 2430, the galaxy was at last fully colonized, just as Raiju wished when she spoke at the council five years before - only Orion with its invincible Guardian, and a handful of asteroid stars, remained uncolonized. Sadly, this only ended all hope of peace in the galaxy, for everry race's first goal seemed to be expansion, and there was no longer anywhere to which they could expand except for one another's terrritorrry.

The galaxy, circa 2430. The Mrrshans as yet controlled only stars at which they had founded their own colonies - though Kulthos had been conquered from them and retaken - but this would not remain the case for long.

The development of advanced ECM and Zortium Armor in 2432 led the way only to ECM Jammer Mark IV, and new construction options so expensive that Raiju asked that work be turned instead to Automated Repair System, a simpler prroject that still prroved difficult enough that it could not be completed in time to mean anything. The same would be true of Repulsor Beam and Impulse Drives, prrojects begun in 2435 and 2436 respectively, with the development first of the empire's new deflector shields, and then of its valuable Inertial Stabilizer technology. In the meantime, the sociopaths were behaving in their usual fashion: War broke out with Kelvan in TwenTy four ThirTy Three, and with the Bulrathi - always known for their unfortunate timing - just as the Mrrshan Stabilizers were ready.

Though their unstable nature is nearly always blamed when erratic emperors declares war, the reality is far more complex. Kelvan's very first declaration, when he found it "a nice year for war" was of that kind, but most often, as in this case, this historrian believes they declare for the same reasons as any other emperor. Erratics do so more often than most however, partly because - again as in this case - sane emperors expect betrayal, and don't bother to imprrove relations by trading or making treaties with them.

Raiju's first moves in her new wars were simply to dispatch her scanner-equiped Vision destroyers for intelligence on the enemy fleets, but with this accomplished, and especially the discovery of the weakness of their bases, she soon was reay to carry the battle to the enemy.

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Next: Another Monkey Wrench in the Works

Imperium 17 - The War for Kulthos

Even as RBO-17 celebrated the Mrrshans' new sublight drive technology, the first wave of Psilon soldiers arrived at Kulthos.

Hand Lasers, good defensive terrain, and sheer luck all contribute as the Mrrshans manage to hold Kulthos by the skin of their teeth.

The following year, while the military smashed another Psilon fleet at Stalaz, Mrrshan spies came through again, stealing an ECM Jammer from the Sakkra, as scientists completed their work in Battle Suit technology! Then, tragically, while Raiju was trying to decide between Zortium Armor and another improvement to industrial technology, while Rrref Steelclaw was capturing the scene with a trimensional imager for posterity, a freak time-space anomaly occurred, distorting reality, and sending the empire back in time to the end of 2408! After that, nothing progressed in quite the same way: The spies that should have stolen useful technology were caught by Sakkra agents instead, and Mrrshan scientists continued to be mystified by construction technology. Investigation revealed that an aged personal computer experiencing a Continuity & Temporality Disruption (CTD) had caused a massive chain reaction, resulting in the anomaly. Fortunately, Rrref's habit of activating a temporal recovery beacon (a procedure technically known as Stabilization and Actuation of Virtual Integrity for Natural Galaxies) at the close of every year had prevented the loss of even more time. Asked if the anomaly could be reproduced in an attempt to recover some of the positive occurences that were lost as a result, Rref answered, "Impossible. It could potentially shatterr the rrules by which the galaxy exists, and suck us all into a giant shadow-singularrity. Besides, and morre imporrtantly, doing that sort of thing is just totally lame."

2409 continued with the colonization of Celtsi and ultra-rich Beta Ceti, with the northern fleet still watching over the former to keep the Meklar away, and with no ships apparently approaching, Raiju took the opportunity to call upon CB-715.

The great peace accord of 2409, in which the two most populous empires in the galaxy signed a Non-Aggrression Pact that would remain in place for decades.

The long-term peace she established with the Meklar would be a grreat relief to the Mrrshans of the north, but there remained three powerful races at war with the Mrrshan people, including mad Kelvan, the undisputed technological leader of the galaxy.

The following year saw the development of Battle Suit technology, which was to be followed up by Zortium Armor. This time, no CTD anomaly occurred, and the people of Kulthos were equipped with their new armor just in time to receive the next Psilon invasion. There was no hope of holding the world, but millions of Psilons died in conquering it and its four surviving factories.

Ten million Psilons survive the conquest of Kulthos - a conquest with far-reaching consequences.

A fleet of Scratch 3.0s larger than any fleet ever built before by the Mrrshan people was due to arrive in 2411, just one year too late to save the colony. Since Kulthos not only had been the only planet providing contact with the Sakkra, but was just out of range of ships lacking reserve fuel tanks, Rrref advised a hit-and-run attack on the Psilon fleet there, retreating after softening it up as much as possible for the second monster fleet, timed with fleets of Mrrshan transports, all already en route to reclaim the world in 2412. By making use of the "Combat Slingshot" effect, the retreating fighters would have just enough fuel to make it back to a Mrrshan supply base. The plan was perrfectly sound, except for one minor detail: Seeing the incoming clouds of Mrrshan fighters, the Psilon fleet elected to leave before their arrival, deprriving the first fleet of any opportunity for a Combat Slingshot, and leaving them all to perish for lack of fuel.

The second fleet of fighters never attempted to use the Slingshot, simply wiping out a small fleet of Psilon reinforcements, in the expectation of refueling at Kulthos when their accompanying transports reclaimed the colony.

A logistical miscalculation in the third battle of Kulthos is not nearly enough to prrevent the Mrrshans from reclaiming the planet, but costs the empire dozens of combat ships.

The assumption was incorrect. By the time a refueling base could be assembled on the surface by victorious Mrrshan marines, the second fighter force's orbit had decayed irreversibly. They crrashed to the planet's icy surface, with no survivors. All told, more fighters were lost to refueling mishaps in the course of these two years than would perish in battle through all of Raiju's reign.

2412 also brought the invention of Ion Cannons, which were immediately fitted for new Static 3.0 fighters. Scatter Pack V Rockets represented the only path forward in the field, and Raiju gladly took it, but only 25 new Statics could reach Kulthos to meet the next Psilon assault fleet, and even with a missile base just finished in time to support them, they could not overcome the entire Psilon fleet. Moreover, the completion of Soil Enrichment research in 2414 (to be followed by Advanced Eco Restoration in lieu of Cloning) meant that by Raiju's laws, no further ships could be built at our rich terran world - the nearest Mrrshan colony to Kulthos - until its infrastructure was again complete.

Another crritical Mrrshan colony is formed, as Static fighters close on Kulthos from Beta Ceti and (the Tao that maxes out its factories again faster than you can count them is) Not the Tao.

Nevertheless, the tide had turned. Though the Psilon fleet could not be destroyed in 2416, it was crrippled, and its orbital bombardment had very little effect. The latest battle computer, finished the same year, led the way toward ECM Jammer Mark III, and ultra-rich Escalon, colonized the following year, led GNN to announce that the Mrrshans were an 18-system runaway superr-power. When a new Mrrshan fleet showed up at Kulthos in 2418, both the Psilons and Sakkra in orbit simply fled, and the few transports that survived the gauntlet of Mrrshan Static fighters were quickly cleaned up by warriors on the planet's surface. Kelvan immediately sued for peace, and three years later, when his Sakkra allies' transports arrived, none made it through the gauntlet at all. Already growing long enough in the tooth to be mistaken for a prrehistoric tiger, Raiju had held on just to make sure that little Kulthos was transformed from a reach colony to a strronghold at the galaxy's core. Finally satisfied, she was content, and died (for the fourth time) that verrry year, never noticing the dreadnought about to arrive at Escalon.

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Next: Sneak Attack!

Imperium 17 - Under Fire

How Many Early Years Can You Have?

Flush with the optimism - to say nothing of the memory and attentiveness - of youth, Raiju began her fourth life by finally realizing she still had an inferno world to colonize, and had known the secrrets of inferno landings for years. The Hearthstone colonyship she ordered would provide a warm and cozy place for her happy citizens to curl up and sleep, safely out of Xudax's burning flames. In the meantime, prropulsion scientists finally brrought us a stable form of irridium fuel in 2392, and much to Raiju's pleasure, began work on Sub-Light Drives. In the meantime, more Scratch fighters were being produced so that the empire's cardboard cut-outs of defenders would at least be more numerous.

The Tao that can be repeatedly forced to repel Darlok and Psilon war fleets is Not the Tao.

Unlike the Darloks, who had only begun to mount serrrious attacks several decades into their war, the Psilons wasted no time in sending their battle fleets. This is likely because the far-more-powerful Psilons simply had more fleets on hand to send; they were ready for battle as soon as they declared. Raiju's rich point world was equal to the threats however, destroying or driving off every enemy fleet that approached, even as one of her long-range tundra lander made a bold move into the heart of the galaxy. The reach colony of Kulthos, driving deep into Psilon space, had been planned, and its SnowLeopard launched, back in Raiju's third life, before the war declaration incrreased the planet's risk factor and importance overwhelmingly, and its completion triggered a grratifying GNN report in 2393: The Mrrshans were the first to control 12 planets in the galaxy, finally edging out the Meklar by a single world.

The ice world of Kulthos also gave Raiju contact with Kelvan's allies: An equally crazy Bulrathi ecologist, and a reputedly pacifistic diplomat named Tyranid, neither of whom had any affection for the Mrrshan people. The Sakkra reluctantly grranted an annual trade agrreement amounting to 35 BC, but the bears refused to even trade, and would accede to their Psilon allies' demands, declarrring warrr on the Mrrshans the following year.


War and Peace

Fiery Xudax was soon added to the empire, with the northern fleet running interference for the latter, seeking to ensure the far northwest remained available for Mrrshan colonies. Spirrrits were high as the Sakkra ended their Psilon alliance on their own while Newscouts discovered yet another toxic world ultra-rich in mineral resources, at Escalon. The very next year however, Tyranid changed his pacifistic mind, and declared open war.

The galaxy as Raiju knew it, circa 2399. Note the peculiar status of Fierias.

Both Kakata and Stalaz were under attack in this period, from Darloks and Psilons respectively, and the discovery of the Guardian was of little consolation, especially to the relatives of the Newscout pilot who made the discovery. Then our knowledge of how to survive on a radiated world arrived not a moment too soon, as the old Rrrasp-era factories on Fierias, which - unbeknownst to Raiju - had been built far below accepted safety standards, suddenly lit up the sky of our one-time homeworld. Thanks to the planet's sparse population - after peaking in the fourth decade of the 24th century, Fierias had constantly exported catpower to other colonies, and rarely had a population exceeding 40 million - no lives were lost in the massive radiation accident, with residential property built comfortably far away from the world's few industrial zones. Nonetheless, the planet had become a radiated world, and work had to begin immediately to clean up the worst of the waste and assemble radiation shields for the planet's living communities. The Soil Enrichment prroject Raiju had elected to purrsue immediately lost a little of its luster as one of the two largest soil-enabled worlds in the empire was suddenly rendered incapable of using the technology-to-be.

The industrial accident also crrippled the Mrrshan's chance to achieve a veto in the election due to come up the following year, and with total population so high there was no guarantee she could avoid a nomination even if she took the lunatic measure of shipping half the empire's total population back and forth between worlds in transports, Raiju was almost desperate for peace.

Raiju agrrees to Darquan's demand for the secrrets of Inferno bases, knowing that if all fourrr of her wars continued, with her one friend expected to be her opponent, she would receive no support at all in the upcoming election.

She achieved it with the Darloks by teaching them to survive on such fiery worlds as Xudax, thereby ensuring that she survived the election, abstaining with exactly one third of all electoral votes while Darquan gave her his promised pair of votes, CB-715 voted for itself, and everyone else voted against their feline enemies ... in favor of their machine enemies. Her estimation of the danger had been right on the money.

One year after cleaning up the waste their factories created, the people of Fierias watched eight of the things get blasted into atoms by enemy agents (or maybe Darlok agents with time on their hands who didn't feel like hiding in spite of the new-made peace). The factories would never be rebuilt.

Fierias experrriences a rough turn of the century, grraduating from hopeless backwater to open joke.

Enemy ships continued to ply the stars, including a Psilon Sun Fire, the first battle cruisers we had encountered in the war, but Stalaz was up to five missile bases, the enemy didn't muster any really overwhelming fleets, and the Tao that can blow enemy starships out of the ionosphere contininued to be Not the Tao. A pair of armed Bulrathi colony ships tried to take the reach colony of Kulthos, but were met by our Southern Defense Fleet, and torn to pieces in 2404.

Our defenses were further bolstered that same year, as our latest shield technology was completed, and work began on Class IV Deflector Shields, to Chief Advisor Rrref's grreat disappointment (who, like most of Raiju's advisors, had hoped for a way to design a planetary shield instead) ... and Regulus was founded: The second rich world in the Mrrshan imperium. The battle for Kulthos was not over however. A Psilon colony ship arrived the next year, whittling down the remaining Scratch fighters before being destroyed, and the following year, they arrived with a significant fleet.

Though they could still turn aside feeble probes with ease, by the 25th century, the Mrrshans' slow, outdated fighters were too old and spread too thin to resist a war fleet without support from missile bases.

Sublight drives were so close to completion that there had been no point in trying to reinforce the world with more hopeless Warp 1 ships, and the remains of the old defense fleet were forced to retreat. Receiving heavy emphasis but long refusing to cooperate, the Drives would finally arrive in 2408, opening the way to Fusion Drives in lieu of an energy pulsar. With two more military technologies on the brink of completion, the Mrrshans were nearly ready to join the warrr in earnest.


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Next: Flashpoint!

Imperium 17 - Crowding In

The Early Years Yet Again

The third reign of Raiju Bastet Ocelot XVII began with the same eagerr, youthful currriosity as her first and second, resulting in scientific pilot prrojects in the fields of computers, force fields, and weapons technology. In 2360, the results of the early tests came in, and Raiju ordered that work begin on a Deep Space Scanner for intelligence purposes, forgoing a battle computer for the time being, and Class II Deflector Shields as well as Hand Lasers to support the Mrrshans' increasingly important defense forces. Indeed, her currriosity would bearrr immediate fruit, as she returned from a meeting with Mad Kelvan the verrry next year with the secrrets of simple terrraforming technology - the first everr encountered by the Mrrshan people!

A Psilon scientist demonstrates the application of Improved Terraforming +10 in exchange for Controlled Barren Environment technology.

Two years later, with the Nordia jungle colony established the year before as its 7th world, the Mrrshan empire finally had a planet that was permitted to build starships again: With the completion of its 190th factory, Raiju's lone rich world began producing an IceCave or Litter colony ships every year or two until the Darloks' first probing war fleet appeared.


The Struggle Commences

Darquan had been at war with Raiju's empire for nearly three decades by the time he decided to send an armed starship into Mrrshan space. In 2372, his heavy laser destroyer, the Scorpion, arrived at our front-line rich world, and fled from our nuclear missile base and tiny defensive fleet. This was only as it were a shot across our bows though, to warn Raiju that the war was about to heat up.

Mrrina Stingrray demonstrates her trademark coy demureness, giving all the credit to her support team as she reveals the secrrets of Class II Deflector Shields, which she had stolen from the Darloks. Aggrressive and impetuous at heart, Mrrina reveled in the attention lavished on her by the Mrrshan media even as she prretended not to understand its cause. The ongoing Stingrray trimensional movie serrries remains a box office juggerrnaut to this day.

With their work completed for them by an espionage team, Raiju's force field scientists began work on Class III Deflector Shields in 2373. Vulcan completed the wall of Mrrshan colonies to the Darloks' east the following year, and was ready to develop rapidly, as improved factory-building techniques were finished in 2375, along with - to the Mrrshan's relief, as no Meklar ships seemed to be incoming - the Aquilae colony. Moreover, before the end of the year, that relief was turned to jubilation: Raiju's new colony had triggered a galactic election, and she was not only nominated to face the Meklar emperor, but the recipient of 8 votes against the 6 cast by Darquan and CB-715. With just enough votes of her own to push herself over the top and achieve galactic supremacy, Raiju instead cast them for the Meklar, in a gesture of goodwill and peace. It was her belief that the other races had voted for her only because of the war of All Races That Don't Start With an M vs. CB-715 - prrobably the result of Kelvan's place at the center of the galaxy. Many historrrians now believe that, thanks to the huge prroduction, export, and interstellar popularrrity of Mentar's many brands of runny cheese, Kelvan likely had alliances with every other species when he spotted a superrmarket adverrtisement for Ploofy Aftershave, decided it was a massive Meklar conspirrracy, and brought everyone else into his resulting war with the machine species.

In any case, though flattered, Raiju did not feel ready to take on the burden of galactic rule; many of her own Mrrshan colonies were barely getting started, after all; she'd have enough to do just looking after them.

The Northern Defense Fleet, shown here destroying an armed Meklar Colony Ship in the skies of Aquilae, would never have been adequate if not for its gunners' feline reflexes. All the more so for the joke of a Southern Defense Fleet, shown here taking out a Scorpion destroyer above Kakata the same year. With the empire's one source of ships much closer, the southern front was left all but unprrotected at first in spite of its hot war.

With her small fleets of Scratch 1.0 fighters stretched thin even repelling enemy incurrsions on her own worlds, Raiju was unable to prevent an armed Meklar colony ship from taking Nitzer, beyond her Aquilae colony and directly north of Mrrshan space. With the stars of the deep northwest suddenly contested by the Meklar, and growing threats in both the north and south, Raiju turned to Ion Cannon research to improve her fighters' weapons as soon as hand lasers rolled out, in 2381. Fusion Bombs had the potential to be useful, but not until far in the future, if a real war broke out when the Mrrshans were prepared to carry the battle acrross interstellar space. Hyperr-X Rockets would also have some value if the cannons didn't suggest a better missile upgrade to our weapons scientists. The then-currrent fighter fleet would demonstrate its inadequacy the very next year at Kakata, as a pair of Scorpion destroyers got in a series of lucky shots and took out Raiju's southern "fleet" before the second of the pair could be taken down. Another, much larger defense fleet was built and sent down immediately, while Kakata itself scrambled to assemble a missile base. Three years later, in spite of the armed colony ship that had joined the Scorpion, Kakata was saved; only one of the nearly thirty new Scratch fighters was lost, and the surviving defenders shot down all the incoming Darlok transports.

With Kakata's new defenses holding, Mrrshan scientists developed Inferno colony bases, and in spite of the value of soil enrichment to finally improve potential Mrrshan population, and of an antidote to the threat of death spores - in spite of having researched no planetology tech to date but environmental control technology - Raiju elected to continue with Controlled Radiated Environment, to claim the galaxy's most hostile worlds - two of which were already known to be rich and ultra-rich.

2387 brought the completion of the Mrrshans' first scanner upgrrade, just two years after they had developed inferno base technology. Research proceeded with Battle Computer Mark III as the only way to advance the computer state of the art, and tried to put a good face forward, but her declining health was catching up with her, and her scientists' failure to conceive new robotic controls may have taken a toll. The final blows came in 2388, when a wealthy Psilon merchant decided to live among the Sakkra, paying 800 billion credits to the lizard government for right of passage, and Kelvan decided to emulate the merchant. His new philosophy became, "Just enjoy yourself! Don't worry about the consequences! Try whatever fun idea first pops into your head!" And so he did.

The Psilon war declaration of TwenTy Three eighTy eighT.

As the technology leader of the galaxy, allied with both races whom the Mrrshans had yet to meet diplomatically, controlling the center of the galaxy, Kelvan prromised to be a serrrious threat, particularly in light of the continuing risk of cold war from the Meklar in the north, the ongoing hot war with the Darloks in the south, and warp 1 engines limiting Mrrshan defense fleets to holding a single front - and for the most part, a single world - apiece. With only a single world from which to build combat ships of any kind or civillian vessels like scouts and colony ships, and those same warp 1 engines keeping even these from contributing until years after they were built, the Mrrshans were in grrave danger. Raiju held on for two more years, but died for the third time in the year 2390.

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Next: Under Fire

Imperium 17 - Second Life

The Second Early Years

It was a young and refreshed Raiju Bastet Ocelot XVII who took the throne of Artemis for her second life, eager for new explorations. Surprrised to find she had neglected to open prropulsion research in the course of her entire first lifetime, she began a pilot prroject at once, only to discoverr the disappointing fact that the only available research prrogram would be in Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Another queen might have cursed the prropulsion scientists, or - more likely, if it was one of the typical Fierias monarchs - had them grruseomely tortured to death, but Raiju took it philosophically. Of the tech, she said, "It's better than nothing," and of her own slowness to open the field, she said, "Well ... better late than never, I suppose." Her advisors reluctantly agrreed.

In the meantime, there was no doubt that the so-called master plan for the galaxy was prroceeding successfully. The third Mrrshan world was added to the empire in 2339. Raiju's stirring speech upon the successful landing is well known to every school kitten, but few are aware of her brief discussion with chief advisor Rrref Steelclaw about the colony's name: "I realize that for purposes of historical comparison, it is best to leave Imperium colonies' names intact. In this case though, I couldn't resist, being such a philosopher-queen."

A key world for the Mrrshan Imperium gets its name.

Rrref reportedly answered, "I wouldn't worrry about it. With a name like that, I don't think anyone's going to get confused about which planet this one is."

The new colony brought our people into contact with both the Darloks in the south and the Psilons all overr the place. With five planets sprread around the southern, western, and central galaxy, the four-armed brains were in a grreat position to either continue their expansion, or to collapse under the weight of wars and chaotic changes in direction initiated by Kelvan, their erratic emperor. It was not out of the question that they might do both.

Darquan was nearly as crazy, but in a slightly different way: Though both had reputations as technologists, the Darlok emperor was a well-known xenophobe, and wouldn't even agree to a trade package with our queen. Two years later, he would declare war. Kelvan, by contrast, agrreed to exchange 25 BC perr year, and promised never to declare war, "except on dates containing exactly five 't's."


The Second Age of Discovery

While Darlok space was tightly condensed, the Psilons ruled over an empire as far-flung as the fevered whims of their emperor's brain.

The development of the third feline world began a period of intense activity in the Mrrshan empire. The firrst encounters with Meklar and Sakkra scouts occurred almost simultaneously in 2342, when a Newscout first reached the desert world of Stalaz, taking advantage of the refueling base at our new colony. That base would be upgraded with Hydrogen fuel the very next year, with another large batch of Newscouts already constructed in anticipation. It also opened the way toward Irridium Fuel Cells for a much-needed second boost to range, and chief advisor Rrref was pleased to see Inertial Stabilizer available as well, looking to a distant future when it might be helpful or needed.

Of much greater immediate use was the reduced waste technology that was finally deployed in the following year, opening the way to Improved Industrial Tech 8 - unlike the prroposed but tricky armor prroject, it would be critical for the development of vital new colonies-to-be. Two such kitten-like colonies would be founded in short order, with tiny Kakata followed in 2351 by the lush world of Gion, as perfect a planet as the historical record suggests Fierias must have been before it was raped of its mineral wealth by our bloody dynasty.

Even as the Mrrshans settled new worlds, the Newscout fleet brought fresh reports from across the eastern galaxy.

Beginning of the End

A decade after the Darlok declaration of war, they still had not built up sufficient fleets to risk an attack, but concern that the Psilons might join on the wrong side encourrraged the Mrrshan goverrnment to take pre-emptive measures. Catching Kelvan in one of his manic phases, persuaded him to join our war against the Darloks the moment he was finished splattering his throne-room pillars with paint-filled water balloons. The war would be indecisive only because Kelvan kept getting bored (or distracted by dust motes) whenever his fleets got into position, and never bothered finishing off any Darlok worlds. In spite of his incredible technological capabilities therefore, he was not regarded as a serrrious threat: The real alien power in the galaxy was revealed in 2354, when GNN reported on the Meklar empire's reach expanding to its sixth world, well before the Mrrshan's warp-1 Litters could match the feat. The Meklar are known to be incredibly dangerous if they everr achieve a large population base, and their only real competition (among the sane) was still suffering from a worse-than-impoverished ex-homeworld, recalcitrant research scientists, and only a single, just mid-sized, mature colony. All this changed however with the next GNN report, in 2357.

Apparently the Tao that can be mined for neutronium is Not the Tao.

Rrref, Raiju's chief advisor, laughed at first, but on reflection was actually saddened by the newfound mineral richness of the Mrrshans' third world, even though he acknowledged it was terrific news for the species. Perrhaps he was motivated by vanity: Raiju had relied closely on his advice for most of two lifetimes, desperate to dig out of the hole in which the prrevious rulers had left the empire, and she was unlikely to need nearly as much advice with her position in the galaxy strengthened so thorrroughly. I believe this is not the case however - or at least not the heart of the matter: Like all Mrrshans, I believe Rrref simply had a strong competitive streak. One of his quotes on this occasion is verrry telling: "Oh, well. It was a fun challenge forr a while, at least." In any case, it wasn't long before he was smiling again: In counting the challenge over, he had figured without both the Meklar and Raiju's patient philosophy:

"I said once before that planets, like people, should do what they are good at doing. So shall it be! We at last have a mineral-rich world in our empire, and so from this point forward: No planet shall devote any further resurces to shipbuilding unless it is rich or ultra-rich in mineral resources, and then only if they have completed all possible factories. No rich worlds shall ever spend any resources on research, nor - if possible in light of pollution cleanup and other ecological projects - on growing population. Moreover, planets poor or ultra-por in mineral resources shall never devote any resources to industry, missile bases, or defensive shields. So I decree." Many Mrrshans prraised these new laws, failing to fully understand their consequences in case of war or emergency, to say nothing of the long-term value and defensibility of worlds like Fierias and especially such other poor worlds as we would later claim, but Rrref smiled and said, "Well, it's something! Let's see wherre it leads!"

The firrst thing it led to was a seven year drought of colony ship construction - eight if you count the yearrr in which the declaration was made. The consequences of Artemis ceasing Litter production alone would be farther-reaching than the population could imagine.

The desert colony of Stalaz, in reach of Meklar and Psilons alike, gave RBO-17 a vital base for communicating with the Meklar people.

The point would be driven home two years later when the colonization of Stalaz, simultaneous with the discovery of beautiful, terran Aquilae, revealed the full extent of the Meklar empire for the first time - running rampant over the northwestern galaxy, and in position to sweep over our northeastward "back lines," beginning with Aquilae itself. A xenophobe like Darquan, and an industrialist who was sure to gain advantages even from poor worlds that we never would, CB-715 immediately represented a serious threat. Rumors of the Meklar tendency toward casual cold war aggrression had already reached Raiju's ears, so even with 125 BC of annual trade, agrreed to immediately, the need for defensive fleets into the north - balanced with the need for more of the same in the south for the Darlok war! - was growing rapidly. The construction and rapid development of colonies in the north was perrhaps more critical still, to beat the Meklar to individual worlds and get bases up in time to hold them, and all these prriorrrities had to be put on hold while the Mrrshans' lone rich world built up its factories. Raiju would pass away quietly later in the year for the second time, content in her decisions, but her third and later lives would have to contend with the consequences.

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Next: Crowding In

Imperium 17 - Out of the Ashes

Background and History

Since time immemorrrial, Fierias has been ruled by a single, powerful dynasty of warrriors, a dynasty whose rule has been enforced against all resistance, in spite of the skill and might of all who dared to challenge them. To discuss the entire dynasty in depth would be the work of more lifetimes than yet remain to me, so I shall only prresent a brrief summary, by way of introducing the main subject of my work: Raiju Bastet Ocelot the 17th - perrhaps the grreatest leader ever to rule the Mrrshan people.

Which isn't saying much, frankly.

Many rulers of Fierias have been known for their brrief, cruel reigns; others were longerr lived, and typically even crueler. The policies of our ruling dynasty have been universally reviled by historrrians and political observers throughout our people's history, a case which has only resulted in more needless death - in this case, the deaths of historrrians and political observers. From the bloody wars that brrought them to power to the endless revolutions they suppressed by force of arms, from their corrupt and luxurrriant lifestyles to their heedlessness of the needs of their people and their world's environment and resources, the ruling dynasty of the Mrrshans has been a perrpetual disaster, culminating in the reign of the late Queen Rrrasp, who in spite of warnings from her own advisors and independent researchers like Jarrred Diamond Eye, exploited our most advanced mining and extraction techniques to completely drain Fierias of the last of its once-rich mineral resources, leaving us with no building materrrials at all, apart from royal luxury goods and refuse frrom which successful resource extraction will be massively expensive, if it can be done at all. When Queen Rrrasp was finally killed by a lucky revolutionary's rifle slug, shortly before the assassin too was killed by Imperrrial Guards, the new heir, young Raiju, was faced with a world holding only thirty factories, and less than fifty million Mrrshans, thanks to the bloody ruthlessness with which Rrrasp had put down countless revolutions. She and her advisors - chief among them Rrref Steelclaw - had to contend as well with a furious population faced with hopeless conditions far beyond the lower limits of poverty.

The Early Years

Raiju's inaugural policies won her little love among her people.

Queen Rrrasp had intended to build warships that could rain death upon her people from outer space, because (as she put it to her advisors in a major policy meeting) "That would totally rrrock!" The plan had to be mothballed when Fierias ran out of resources with the doom ships' weapons systems not yet installed, but with the corrronation of Raiju Bastet Ocelot XVII, the ships of "Rrrasp's Folly" were restored and prrepared for interstellar travel, officially renamed from the "Hunters" and "Rrrasp's Fury" to the "Scouts" and "Colony Ship." Maintaining these relics cost nearly a quarter of the entire planet's GNP, and Raiju exacerbated the situation by raising taxes to unprrecedented rates, pourrring all the reserves into the royal treasury on the prretense of saving it "to support a future extra-Fieriastrial colony." Two million cats - mostly factory engineers and their families - were forced aboard the "Colony Ship," and opinion on the streets was divided as to whether they had been killed outright or forced to work on a prroject to find new sources of metal and energy so they could retrofit the ships with weapons systems and carrry out Rrrasp's original plan. Hoping that their young monarch would still be imprressionable enough to listen, many economists begged her to build more factories, explaining how they were sure to pay for themselves in time, in spite of the massive investment needed. Theirrr advice was ignored; Raiju was philosophical about it, saying, "People should do what they're good at, and the same goes for planets. We will instead work on agriculture, to support a higher population, and a pilot research program in planetology." Her closest advisor, Rrref Steelclaw, added, "Besides, by the time those factorries start to brreak even, they'll be too late to aid ourr master-plan's crritical earrly expansion phase!" No one liked the idea of a "master-plan," but there were encouraging signs already for those who were paying attention: The economists' requests were answered politely, and none of them were killed!

The Folly fans out to the galactic southwest as work begins on Controlled Barren Environment technology.

It was soon discoverred that the "Colony Ship" and "Scouts" had left the Fierias system, cementing public opinion that they were seeking the minerals needed to return with deadly new weapons systems. The murrder of innocents in their homes by government forces was at an all-time low, but with taxes still at an all-time high, most Mrrshans were inclined to believe Raiju was just saving victims up for her ships. Careful observerrs were beginning to take notice howeverr: Though undisguisedly disappointed in her pilot prroject's researchers, who could devise no way to work on either of the two types of technology she desired, she not only let them live, but increased the funding for the Barrren prroject they were prrepared to begin. Moreover, a new pilot prroject was begun the following yearrr, in the incredibly difficult research field of Construction, and even when the scientists came back without plans for the simple upgrrade to factory-building efficiency she had wanted for her as-yet-mythical new colony, she didn't even cut off their funding entirely, though it would be many years before they had more than a shoestring budget for Reduced Industrial Waste 80%.

That was 2303, the year that all Fierias began to wake up to the new reality. In spite of all the rumors, Raiju was nothing like the planet's prrevious kings and queens - and her hand-picked advisors seemed at times to actually know what they were doing!

The foundation of Artemis, and attendant changes in Imperial policy, persuaded many on Fierias to begin trusting their young queen, even to the point of emigrating to the new colony.

The engineers and their families sent aboard the Colony Ship reported planetfall at an arrrid world of decent size, dubbed Artemis in tribute to our own beautiful virgin huntress, young Raiju Bastet Ocelot XVII - these millions had reason to be thankful to her, for they had been sent frrom the sub-poverrty of Fierias to a world abundant in minerals, with their Colony Ship already disassembled and converrted to living quarters for them, and subsidies on their way, as prromised, consisting of the entire Imperrrial treasury! At the same time, Raiju cut taxes to nothing, saying, "It's bad enough robbing Peter to pay Paul, but taxing the empire - and therefore Artemis - now would mean robbing Peter to pay Peter!" Our northern Scout's discoverry of a small, rich, radiated world nearby also gave the Artemisians reason to thank Rrref, for corrrectly prredicting grreen stars like theirs were more likely to support life than neutron stars like slightly-more-coreward Regulus. Indeed, even on Fierias, so many people flocked to transports to join the queen in making Artemis their new home that many had to be turned away. 18 million went - enough to bring Artemis just to one third of its planetary maximum while barely dropping Fierias below a third of its own - and more would follow in the next few years, keeping Fierias stable above that critical one-third mark until it was ready to fill Artemis to capacity. With Fierias helping as best it could - both by sending population and by turning all its efforts to research, mostly in the field of planetology - the rapid construction of sustainable factories at Artemis became the Mrrshans' top prriority. Artemis paused in this only to build three long-range, unarmed "Newscout" starships to help our Scouts map out our corner of the galaxy.


Age of Exploration

The Newscouts, with no noticable maintenance cost in such small numbers, contribute to our knowledge of the lush planets surrounding our worlds.

The first severral years of RBO-17's reign revealed a corner of the galaxy brimming with habitable worlds, all ripe for the taking, if only our pitifully weak empire could ever generate any more colonies! Trusting that the east of the galaxy would remain in our "back lines" for some time, Raiju had sent our Scouts southwestward, and one reached the star six parsecs southwest of Fierias, perhaps just in time for the encounter we had there with a Darlok Scout. The Darlok ship rretreated at once - rumors of the Mrrshans' skill in warrr and the deadly reputation of our ruling dynasty may have prreceded us - and we found a world as abundant in minerals as Artemis and almost as large and homelike as Fierias itself! Apparrrently on the frront lines with another species, already within range of such colony ships as we might someday build, that planet at once became the centerpiece of Raiju's plan for the galaxy.


Patience and Peace

The completion of Barrren research in 2314 brrought another disappointment from the planetology labs, as no prrojects could be conceived there except further controlled environment technology for as-yet purely theoretical planet types, and deadly bioweapon technology. Under the prrevious regime, the Mrrshans would have shuddered at the thought of death spores, but no one was surprrised to learn that Raiju ignored them in favor of a simple Controlled Tundra Environment project, that might suggest new research prrojects - perrhaps even in terrraforming or ecological restorrration - relatively quickly. The young queen who had taken Rrrasp's place was young no longerr - not in cat years! - but was patient with her people, and remained in good health as we developed superrrior techniques for imprroving longevity. Of the four worlds that were to be discoverred overr roughly the next decade in the north and east, some to be watched over by additional Newscouts prroduced during this period, two even prroved to be ice worlds after all, and so Raiju's patience was in some sense rewarded.

The completion of Artemisian factory infrastructure in 2331 led to a new era of galactic colonization. Here, RBO-17's New Homeworld is seen preparing to drop its first "Litter" of kittens, due in 2336.

While some sensationalists like to say that Raiju died of anguish when her Tundra prroject, finished in 2331, led her scientists to no other ideas than Controlled Inferno Environment, the truth is that she was prepared to accept even that, and even spoke warmly of our future on fiery Xudax. She survived well into the year, long enough to see her chosen homeworld's factory prrojects complete, and to order the construction of a new colony ship. She passed away peacefully in her sleep, loved by her people and happy with her lot.

The people of Fierias and Artemis might have expected to cringe in horror at the thought of Raiju's death, but in truth they gave thanks for the fact that, when she took the throne, she had been truly young: The contented life she lost in 2331 was only the first of her nine!


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