The Junns

The JUNNS

The Colony system of Los Ellum was devastated by the DARK AGE. Being made up of several hundred small mining ventures by the Ellum corporation many of the colonies platforms were on large moons and asteroids and thus became uninhabitable by the sudden and mysterious “dark fields” that rendered virtually all tech useless. The survivors found themselves on the newly terraformed world of Dal, which orbited a young yellow star, they named Juno, in a volatile system on the fringe of what would later come to be known as Eastspace or the “Quad”. The people of Dal took a bit longer to reach space than the rest of the Quad as the Juno system had heavy meteor and comet activity. Though this slowed their progress it also hardened the Dal who learned the value of the precious elements the meteor strike brought. Thus when they finally made it to space it was to continue their mining of elements by chasing down the meteors and comets that raced through their system. Success in this endeavor brought fortune to one particular woman; Jerisha Jones, head of Jones Ventures the largest of the Dal mining companies. Jones Ventures grew and by the age of Great Discovery, the family name had changed twice. First to Juno, after their sun and then simply to Junn as the family expanded. So powerful and large had the family become that the Junns were now a ruling class of the people of the renamed Dalia. The rest of the Dalians were still a hard scrabble bunch, able to wrangle meteors, asteroids, comets and rogue moons through precision, skill and hard knuckle resilience. They followed their “Royal family” with adoration and complete faith even as they discovered that they were not alone in the universe. They first met the Irlon, the Cephalopodic lifeforms from the planet of the same name. The meeting was not peaceful. A Junn ship captured an Irlon explorer ship and brought It back to the Junn system. There Junn scientists studied them and their ship, which is to say they dissected both. From these studies they discovered FTL (Faster the Light) travel and even the technology to create a sling gate (Not to be confused with a jump gate). They discovered what they thought was the secret to immortality in the DNA of the Irlon who only died after mating. They also learned of other alien groups. The goliath Giaks and their ship building capabilities. The Anozire, who shockingly appeared to be human. The Welts, of the Breaking world, also human. The star Targo and the orbiting band of space junk, which was so close to them they should have found it first, but it was loosely run by co-ops of various affiliations. And the Arcadians, who also appeared to be human. They also learned that the “Quad” was currently under the peaceful control of the Arcadians, who, after defeating the Giaks soundly had proposed a treaty to maintain a civil discourse. The Junns would take advantage of this treaty to build and raise their own tech levels while secretly building a war machine. And so the Quad was plunged back into interstellar war. The Junns built several “sling gates” to launch their Dalian warriors across the quad and over the next few centuries managed to grab and lose control of the Quad a fair number of times. Then the Arcadians found the ancient Cannius Gate; built sometime BEFORE the Dark Age, it hung in orbit of a lonely red giant. The Junns tried to take the gate and managed to do so twice before the Giaks gained control and rebuilt it. But it was the Welts who made it work, using the Element “G” that their world was practically made of. The gate worked, opening wormholes that reached to several nearby star clusters. That was how the Quad was discovered by the rest of the known. It was the Brythons they first encountered. The Brythons attempted to invade and capture the Quad as a whole; a mistake as they found the member worlds of the Quad too willing to, if not cooperate, at least set their own skirmishes aside to stop the Brythons and by extension, the Cassads. Then the head of the Junns largest House, Junn Lord Schram, sent an envoy to the heart of the Cassad Empire to make a deal with the Cassads directly. In return for pulling the Brythons out of the Quad and helping the Junns to control the Quad, the Junns would help the Cassads gain control of the gate. The Deal worked and the Cassads gained control of the gate and sent in Regents to administer to this new addition to the Empire. Because the 6 large worlds of the Quad were not a part of a large star cluster they had remained undiscovered by the Cassad Empire during its major push to colonize and control the known. And so the Cassad Regents who were sent to the worlds did not implement the forced citizenship and re-colonization programs. Not to these small out of the way planets. The Empire did take its tithe though and accepted, most notably, their fair amount of Giak built ships from the Giak shipyards almost becoming dependent on the well-built ships. It was because of this that the Cassads never aided the Junns in controlling the Quad as was part of their deal. As a matter of fact the Cassad empire interfered very little as the Quad continued to battle amongst themselves intermittently, even allowing the winning group to control the Cannius Gate. The Junns would never forget this. Easy enough not to; the top Junns had all received genetic “upgrades” thanks to what they learned from capturing the Irlon. They became practically immortal. But this immortality cost them much. They lost their pigment over time, becoming extremely pale as they aged. They lost the gene that tells their bodies to stop growing; after reaching their adult prime they continued to grow in height about an inch every hundred years. And they lost their fertility. Over the years fewer and fewer Junns were born though they still maintained control of their houses and the Dalian people. And they lost something else... The Junns began searching for a solution to this, lest they lose their own empire. Centuries past and nothing, though in a wretched deal with a small group of Tarkanians the Junns managed to work up one of the best genetic profiles for soldiers. Thus were born the Junn warriors, who launched a new era of dominance for the Junns in the Quad. Just in time for the Wars of the Blade. The Junns used to the reemergence of the “DARK FIELDS” in the Quad like everyone else; to regain control of the gate. They were successful and now hold the gate though not the Quad which is controlled mostly by the Giaks who have the Gate surrounded, limiting access and the amount of ships the Junns can send through. During the WOTB the Junns began a program to find a Pre-Dark Age genetic profile, one that could restore their fertility. But they needed to test thousands if not millions of humans in order to be successful. There was a solution. An ELE bomb of a specific make could be dropped on a planet and tear through the populace and reveal if any had the precise combination of genes that would save the Junns. But of course such a thing is unthinkable…isn’t it? Coincidentally an ELE bomb was dropped onto Arcadia. The blame has gone to the Arcadian military unit, The 46th Task Force, who brought an ELE weapon they discovered on a Giak world back to Arcadia against orders. When the New Regime began to gain headway against the Cassads the Junns saw an opportunity for power. They Joined the New Regime after the Giaks took the Cassad shipyards back. Still, the Junn Lords are looking for the genetic profile that will save their legacy. They want control of the Quad. The current head of the Junns is the House of Juno, led by the Junn Lord Geren Juno.
Juno has sent the current leader of the Junn space fleet, Commander Aika, to help Cassad “liberate” Deggar. This is to be done behind the New Regimes back, so Aika is commanding a fleet of newly build Junn ships of a completely different make than the old. Their hope is to gain access to the secret ROGUE GATE and use it to outflank the Giaks and take the shipyards.
Commander Aika has lost both arms to kendo blade attacks, only able to replace one by a cybernetic prosthesis. He lost the arms when the 46th made the surprise attack on the Junn invasion fleet that was set to take advantage of the ELE attack. It was Pack Loren, himself, that cut one arm off and lost his own eye in the process.
Dalia the Austin
Writers Note: The Junn Lords, the aristocracy, are my “Space vampires”… they are immortal, they are pale as death and their number is FEW. Each is attended to by various “Familiars” and their continued existence depends on searching for compatible DNA structures that can revive their fertility. You are far more likely to encounter their attendants than an actual Junn Lord.

created by Howard Night

Type

Geopolitical, Clan