Galactic History

The Galactic Scene

Over its history, the galaxy has hosted many spacefaring civilizations. The course of different species' rise comes in waves, with the galaxy entering a sort of "reset" every so often. The cause of this is the Ethereal Horde, a horrific event of destruction that wreaks havoc across the galaxy at unknown intervals. A crucial part of the galactic scene is Extra-dimensional Space Travel, which allows travel between certain systems at a speed much faster than would be possible through other means. Although most species do not come to discover this means of travel on their own, they will usually come into contact with one that has. An important aspect of this phenomenon, however, is that not every solar system in the galaxy is linked together. In fact, most are not. This leaves only a certain amount of systems to which this travel allows faster travel to. Due to this, it is at these systems and along their paths where state authority ends. Historically, those who sought to escape authority would head off into the systems outside of the "Express." Even at high speeds, such journeys would take several years at least. However, once there they would largely be free from any authority that had once reigned over them. Invariably, in times of disaster or civil unrest, empires would find their situation further strained by pirates and raiders originating from this "Backroads." Despite the threat that they can pose to communication and trade inside of or between empires, they generally pale in comparison with regards to strength and rely on the Express for information and if they are to import anything from faraway systems. Even if they were to consider their fellow Backroad systems to be kin, communication between their systems would be much slower than it would be along the the Express.
For whatever reason, it is not known, the last instance of the Ethereal Horde did not stray into the Backroad systems. Thus, while all of Galactic civilization was wiped out along the Express, refugees and any populations already in residence in those many systems persevered until the danger had passed.

The Last Order

The Early years of the Uli'kahz.
Much of current status of the local region of the galaxy is drawn from the reign of the Ulik'Kahz. The Ulik'Kahz was a massive, interstellar state in and near the Orion arm, whose ruling race was know as the Kahz. The empire, having its origins about one million years before the present day, was thought to have been founded by a less than dominant collection of planets that were inhabited by the Kahz. Remaining records of the era mention a union formed among the systems in order to fight an external threat, with all planets required to pay special heed to the planet of Ik'lahn- perhaps signifying this as the homeworld of their race. From here it began a meteoric rise to power, subjugating its neighbors and expanding its influence further throughout the void.
It was in these early years, after their rivals were gone, that their far expansion brought them tastes of vast wealth. Uncontested systems and asteroids filled with mineral wealth were exploited by the fledgling empire. The scant early records available tell us that this new wealth did not distribute evenly and led to tension between not only the lower and upper classes, but also between the different worlds who were dissatisfied with the state of affairs. After a period of turmoil the empire emerged newly unified. It may have been in this time-frame that the empire took on its well-known form of state, with a mighty and sprawling bureaucracy headed by a senate-like body that represented the different systems of the empire, further led by an Emperor who was viewed as the embodiment of the state. The end of this early period came with their initial expansion into the Orion arm proper and their encounters with the local races.
The Middle Period.
Although the local peoples proved to offer determined resistance to the expanding state, they were soon subsumed. This expansion into the denser systems was an active state approach, although simultaneously there was expansion into the space between the Orion and Perseus arms- this was instead sponsored by the usage of charters that incentivized private parties to colonize, and subjugate, these regions in return for some authority over them. It should be noted that the population of the Kahz at this time was much less than a majority. Much of of the Ulik'kahz space was empty, only controlled for their access to minerals and other resources, whereas most of the planets were populated by native races, with the only Kahz inhabitants being the administrators of the systems. The rest of this period would see the Ulik'Kahz subjugate much of the Orion arm, as well as parts of the Sagittarius arm and Perseus arm. Many new races were subjugated, and in addition several new races migrated into the region from outside of the empire's borders. Among these was the Turunz, who came from the Sagittarius arm. These new races, with permission from the Kahz, set up new homes on many of the planets within the empire's borders, provided that they accept Kahz governors. Nearing the end of this period the state made efforts to categorize the many systems under its control, properly exploit their resources, and document all of the lesser races that may have yet remained undiscovered- one of which was Humanity. What marks the end of the Middle period of the Ulik'Kahz was the allowance of many local races to govern their own systems. The other hallmark of the end of this period is the occurrence of costly wars with a large empire in the Perseus arm.
The Late era.
The Late era of the Ulik'Kahz is better documented than the other periods and is notable for many costly wars, not only with the Persus empire but also civil. These Civil wars fractured the unity of the empire and would eventually lead to many of the newer races in the empire, either having developed within the authority of the Ulik'Kahz or having migrated into the empire and since grown in strength, demanding more power- such as self-governance.
Yet when the empire was full it was prosperous. The proportion of the Kahz to the rest of the species has shrunk, though in no part due to the failure of the Kahz to expand their hegemony as Kahz colonization was encouraged. Yet all of the non-Kahz masses grew at a more rapid rate. Many of the previously unpopulated, or sparsely so, planets became filled by the local races. A curiosity of the period is the emergence of a nomadic caste of inhabitants who traveled throughout the empire in a nomadic fashion. It is thought that they originally served as a sort of escort to traders as piracy in the empire increased.
It was during one of these periods of stability that the empire was suddenly by a fearsome and mysterious new threat, what they named as "The Ethereal Horde." What appeared to them as great and ominous shadows moving across space and into their empire caused them to try to defend their borders. Although conventional arms managed to turn back the strange invaders at first, great hordes eventually forced their way past their fleets, destroying huge swaths of the empire's infrastructure in the nearby region. This eventually prompted the construction of two great walls. An inner wall which served as a power source, and an outer wall which, when powered by the inner, destroyed any of the Ethereal invaders when they attempted to pass through. The event passed, the Ethereal Horde fell into the realm of fiction- forgotten to later generations and empires until its reemergence and second repulsion during the Lucius Regnum.
The Ulik'Kahz did eventually see its end at the end of this period. After many centuries of war with border empires and devastating civil wars, the empire was further torn up from within with many of the local races carving out from the empire their own states. Notable among these new empires was the Turunz, who had increases greatly in number since they migrated into the Ulik'Kahz. The old empire was further thrown into chaos by the disruption of trade and the new wars, leading to the decline in planetary populations and disrepair of mineral stations. In many places the Kahz, a minority that long benefited from being in power, were oppressed or killed. A further consequence of this social collapse was the transformation of the nomadic trade escorts in a natural nomadic culture, serving a role more like that of the pirates which they once helped to fend off.
Thus the Ulik'Kahz, and the preeminence of its race, the Kahz, collapsed near two hundred twenty thousand years before the present day, leading to the current galactic order.

The Power Vacuum

Following the collapse of the state there was intermittent warfare between all of the new galactic factions. The Kahz themselves were not extinct, nor was every shred of the empire gone. Several regions remained intact for a long while after the collapse, only being conquered by other powers after much time and struggle- not to even mention that the state still held onto its home systems and territory farther out towards the Perseus arm. Yet their strength was shattered, they were unable to contest the new powers of their old empire.
The previous subjects of the Kahz split its empire according to their sphere of settling. In particular, races like the Turunz, who had increased in population size greatly since they came into the empire and also had much experience serving as mercenaries and ship captains for the empire, gained for themselves a particularly strong position in the empire and carved out a large state.

The New Order

The Turunz.
Owing in large part to their status in the Uli'Kahz as important with regards to naval activity, as well as their relative independence from the states, the Turunz were well-suited to succeed in the collapse of the Uli'Kahz. Although they had to compete with a plethora of other native and invasive races, they achieved a dominant position.