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THE TERRAN COMMONWEALTH.

BRIEF HISTORY.

  The planet Earth, or Terra by its scientific name, was invaded by the Xidus during the second of their intergalactic expansion raids in the Terran year 1998 in the month of January. Terrans of that period were totally unprepared for an alien encounter, let alone an invasion, nonetheless the various Terran military forces and militias acquitted themselves nobly, and in the end the Xidus were forced to use planetary bombardment to beat the Terrans into submission.

  in the Terran year 2000, after two years of Xidus occupation, a great leader rose among the Terrans, who spoke of freedom, rebellion, and revenge. His name was Price, and where he spoke Terrans listened. Price was significant in Terran history as the first leader to have the undivided support of the entire planet. Under his leadership, the Terrans secretly constructed a massive space cruiser from the hull of one of their sea borne battle ships. At some point during the year 2000, the Xidus commander, General Mikaro noted that the Terrans had spontaneously evolved to their 5^th stage, the final, perfect stage. Though this was not unprecedented, something worried his warriors instincts, and he sent for backup from the other nearby garrisons.

  Mid 2001 the Terrans completed the construction of the starcruiser Vindicator and its two escort vessels, the Castellan, and Werewolf. Scores of their older fighter jets were converted for space flight, giving rise to the tomcat and fighting eagle super jets. In December 2001, the Terrans rebelled in a worldwide attack on the Xidus. The Vindicator, Werewolf, and Castellan launched from the Mediterranean sea and were engaged in combat with the first Xidus battlegroup before the Xidus even suspected anything was amiss. Three full battle groups of Xidus cruisers were annihilated by artillery and fighter bomber strikes before the Xidus could so much as arm their weapons. On Terra itself, things went even worse for the Xidus, after 1 hour of fighting, not one Xidus was left breathing on Terran soil.

  Of all the Xidus commanders, only General Mikaro had the foresight to keep his ship on battle alert, thus his was the only battle group to show any resistance. After a pitched battle with mikaro’s flagship, the devourer, the Vindicator was left crippled, and the Werewolf was destroyed by fighters. Nonetheless, the devourer was critically damaged, and had to be evacuated. Tomcat and fighting eagle fighters began destroying the lifepods, but Price ordered them to stand down. Mikaro had not been a kind governor of Earth, but he had always been fair, unlike his superiors who had ordered the strip mining of Earth’s resources. Mikaro’s life pod was spared, and he was told to bring word to wherever the Xidus called home, that the children of Terra were coming for them, and they would have their vengeance.

  Of the 3.5 million Xidus Soldiers who had occupied Earth. Only the 101 Xidus on Mikaro’s life pod survived this battle. Its occupational forces shattered, The Xidus protectorate was forced to withdraw from the Alpha sector. Terra, like many of the other worlds was left a shattered, barren ball of rock, with little ability to sustain life. Price was not dettered however, he immediately began a planetary revival programme, involving “Founder Bacteria” and water imported from ice asteroids.

  It was on one of these asteroids in their own star system that the Terrans encountered what would be the first, and most loyal of their commonwealth subjects, the Cerreans. The Cerreans told the Terrans that they had been aware of life on Earth for some time, but lacked the ability to get there. The two races immediately became friends, as the Cerreans had also suffered from Xidus rule, being forced to mine the asteroids in slave labour. The two signed a blood pact of vengeance against Xid, and the Terran Commonwealth was born.

  In the centuries that followed, the Commonwealth became a force to be reckoned with, recruiting many other worlds, sometimes by diplomacy, sometimes by force. On occaision, they would encounter other races, who had been slighted by the Xidus, and entered into the same blood pact with them that they had the Cerreans. In Terran calendar year 2230, the Terrans encountered and conquered the Proximans. The Proximans were at first enraged, but when the Terrans described the reasons for their expansion, and their quest for vengeance, the Proximans let out great howls of fury, and asked to be entered into the blood pact of vengeance. The Terrans agreed, and the Proximans are now one of the most staunch supporters of the commonwealth.

  Shortly thereafter, the Terrans received a primitive radio transmission from Venus, a planet in their own star system which they had thought uninhabitable. On investigating they found that a small race of creatures had reached a their 4^th stage of evolution, and were attempting to contact other races as Terrans had many years ago. The Terrans could not land on the planet, but returned the radio transmissions and explained what had happened in 1998. The Venusians believe that all life which lives under their sun is sacred, and were outraged that the Xidus had dared to defile Terra in this way. They were pleased that the Terrans had Started to repair the damage, and entered into the blood pact.

  Centuries more of conquest lead the Terrans to the intergalactic void, where they found evidence of the Xidus having crossed the space to the next galaxy. The Terrans constructed a huge portal, which would allow them to use jump drives to reach the galaxy in weeks, rather than the centuries it would take using conventional FTL drives. The Xidus had no such luxury, and Lord Mikaro had only just delivered the Terran message to a disbelieving council, 500 years after his retreat from Earth, when the First Terran Cruisers arrived in the Omega galaxy. It was an ominous punctuation mark on Mikaro’s words, and a tremendous shock to the Xidus, who had less than a month to prepare for what would be the first ever war between two galactic empires.

  Mercifully for the Xidus, the Terrans arrived and were confronted by two galactic powers. The Xidus Protectorate, and the newly formed Core systems alliance. Unsure how they would combat one galactic empire, they were disheartened to find two waiting. When the CSA proposed the ceasefire, both the Terrans and the Xidus eagerly agreed, although the CSA knew both were simply buying time to prepare their forces.

THE CORE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE

CSA

  Brief Overview.

  The CSA is a relatively new organization, formed some 50 years ago in order to combat a rash of piracy on the periphery of the core systems. It has proven to be a tremendous success in combating threats to the security of the core systems, and has recently been the only real hope for a peaceful outcome to the Terran Xidus conflict.

  The CSA has more than a dozen member races, of which three are called the founding members. The three founding members are the strongest and most influential of the member races, and are those most commonly seen in combat, and piloting naval vessels. The CSA protects a region encompassing nearly 50 life supporting star systems, and oversees a political boundary around itself consisting of somewhere around 200 non life supporting star systems, making it of nearly equal size to the much diminished Xidus protectorate.

  The Founding Members.

  The three founding members are the Sumai Thraxians, the Arcadians, and the Wolfians. The Sumai are the race responsible for broaching the concept of the CSA, though it was the support of the legendary Arcadians which lent real weight to the idea.

  Sumai Thraxians.

  The Sumai are a mysterious, but well known race. Little is known of their past, except that they were once a warlike people, who maintained a mighty empire which spanned the entire galaxy. Much is known of their present. They are currently a peace loving, and highly intelligent race of reptilian creatures. Their research and development work is the backbone for the military might of the grossly outnumbered CSAM.

  Arcadians.

  The Arcadians are the stuff of legend, but have recently stepped back into cold hard reality. The Arcadians were nearly wiped out more than 50 000 years ago, when they stood as the last line of defence against the rampaging hordes of Sumai. In doing so, they were able to cripple and eventually annihilate the Sumai empire, pushing the Thraxians back to their beloved homeworld itself, but at a bitter cost. The Arcadians have returned in order to prevent the same thing happening all over again, as it surely will with whoever should emerge victorious from the Terran/Xidus war.

  Wolfians.

  The Stardogs of Wolf joined the CSA in order to secure their trade lines against piracy, but have become its most useful of diplomats. Almost universally welcomed, they are able to act as emissaries to even aloof races like the 0110. The Wolfians see great potential in both the Terrans and the Xidus, but even more in both together. As a race they are dedicated to bringing the two races back to the negotiating table for more than just political posturing and stalling tactics.