Illija Tykas
Illija Tykas (born 12211) is a Draconian revolutionary and politician serving as the first political administrator of the New Draconian Technocracy. She has served since 12258 but has served as one of the head of the Technocracy revolution since its official founding in 12243.
Tykas was born on Elijah's Landing, Arkas to parents who had lived under medieval conditions prior to the United Terran Federation arrival. She did not gain any formal education until she was 13, where she attended a human outpost to learn to read and write. At the age of 26, she stowed away on a March freighter and was later arrested by Parsel customs. She was later released and allowed to stay at the <institution name> refugee camp. There she gained a primary and secondary education, before attending Fork Political University and graduating with a masters in political science.
<Return to Arkas and rebellion from within the Eldership. Also outline how other people describe her - a very convincing, but at times violent person.>
<Current tenure as political administrator of the Technocracy - outline the fact that she instituted reforms, banned religion, etc.>
Early life and education (12211 - 12242)
Tykas was born in 12211 to Volus Silas and Orma Tykas in the northern sector of Elijah's Landing, Arkas. She is the older sister to Kellian Tykas. Little else is known about her birth due to the lack of official records. The exact date and place of birth is unknown. Both of Illija's parents were subsistence farmers, as the soil of North Elijah's Landing suffered a nitrogen deficiency that made agriculture difficult. Illija recalls that both she and her brother would spend most of their childhood playing on the family farm while occassionally helping their parents with farmwork. She, Kellian, and her parents, would catch cholera during a major outbreak. Both she and her brother would receive medical attention at a UTF outpost and later recover, whilst both their parents succumbed to the disease. Illija would later remark "the cholera outbreak was completely avoidable and all the Eldership had to do was ask for help. But their own obstinance just made that impossible." With no official records to refer to, no other relatives could be identified, and thus they were kept at the UTF outpost.
Both siblings would gain a preliminary education at the outpost they lived in. Illija described the conditions as "cramped but acceptable". According to recovered reports, Tykas was reportedly a brilliant student and an exceptionally gifted speaker. She was later granted a scholarship Terrium Private, which was later destroyed during the Siege of Elijah’s Landing. Her brother would be admitted to different school and the two parted ways. Tykas would become increasingly politically active at the same time that political tensions were heating, and she would be sighted on multiple occasions attending demonstrations in the capital. On one occasion, she and five others were arrested for rowdy conduct but was later released after several hours. Her constant studies and participation at protests meant she rarely left Elijah’s Landing. She completed her secondary studies in 12236, at the age of 25.
In 12237, Tykas was arrested by Parsel customs. She had stowed away on a March freighter that had been delivering humanitarian aid. She was discovered by officers when their routine biocontaminant scan yielded highly abnormal results. She was brought to Parsel’s surface and detained while March officials deliberated on her fate. The Black March had already struggled to keep any diplomatic channels open with the increasingly hostile Eldership, making any discussion regarding refugees from Arkas impossible. Furthermore, Illija did not have any living relatives, besides her brother, who could not be located. During this time, Illija was temporarily relocated to Parsel Draconian Refugee Camp. After 2 months, March officials had exhausted all other possible legal avenues and Tykas was granted asylum.
For the next year, Tykas would take up multiple part-time jobs to save up money for her reassignment surgery and for university. She later gained entrance to the University of Fork, studying political science. During her studies, the last stage of the Draconian Enlightenment was occurring, and Draconian society was being introduced to the internet. She capitalised on this opportunity to access Arkasian social media, though she also extensively used the more localised Parsel internet to discuss political theory on web forums. Through the internet, Tykas made crucial connections with local military tacticians who would later serve under her during the civil war. Tykas’ exposure to the internet likely radicalised her, with many work colleagues expressing concerns that she was espousing increasingly violent views. Despite this, Tykas excelled at her studies, later graduating with a masters in political science, with honors, in 12242. She remained on Parsel for another half of a standard cycle, posting a self-written manifesto about the merits of a technocracy online. Her ideology rapidly gained momentum and she would openly encourage her followers to stage an uprising and target politically prominent individuals.
Formalization of the Technocracy rebellion (12243 - 12244)
On the first day of 12243, Tykas was again briefly detained by Fork Police, this time on accusations of stochastic terrorism. She had been using the connection in her dorm room, and her history was tracked by the university’s ISP, leading to her rapid arrest. Mysteriously, she would vanish from her holding cell, and it was later found that a number of sympathetic Draconian immigrants had helped her escape.
Tykas would later reappear on Arkas on January 12243, having purportedly taken a reptilia immigrant ship. Official starport records will however evidence that no such craft landed until July later that year. Close confidants such as Antares Silus, confirm that Tykas, along with an undisclosed number of military tacticians, actually smuggled themselves into Arkas using what was probably a V-23 Griffon. Nonetheless, the arrival of Tykas herself, in addition to her entourage of tacticians was celebrated - having to command from Parsel was not only illegal, it was also subject to a communication lag due to the cosmic distances between the two planets. Illija immediately move towards appointing these tacticians to direct the civil war, marking the official formation of both the Technocracy and the Draconian Civil War. Tykas’ would deploy her tacticians to lead armed rebellions whilst she herself, along with other skilled negotiators, would convince other anti-Eldership rebellions to join her cause. Tykas’ degree of internal organization and employment of specialist expertise allowed her rebellion to rapidly dominate the southern hemisphere of Arkas within years.
Tykas’ brother would also make contact with her after hearing rumors of her appearance. The two would reunite in late 12243, after 13 years. Kellian initially did not recognise his sister, who had transitioned whilst at university.
Participation in the Draconian Civil War (12251 - 12271)
Tykas would again go missing in 12244. Rumors would begin to circulate about a potential assassination, causing the morale of the revolutionaries to falter. Without her leadership, some archon primaries began to defect and parts of the revolution began to slough away, causing the civil war to stagnate. Even now, it is still unclear where Tykas was during the period, with conflicting accounts. Whilst Illija insists she oversaw the construction of the first Stormhawk-class corvettes, a leaked shipping manifest from ManifEX Co. suggests evidence that she may have been in Prospect at some point during her disappearance. Another, alternative account forwarded by some the archons serving under her during the war suggest that she had been overworked, and either took an extended vacation or temporarily joined the front lines as a method of attempted suicide.
Tykas would dramatically re-emerge in the public light in 12251, when she appeared in a highly televised conference between herself and Fenrir’s officials, negotiating the entrance of Fenrir into the New Draconian Technocracy. These negotiations led to the signing of the Fenrir Treaty and the resultant Battle for Fenrir. Illija would remain on Fenrir due to the Draconian Civil Intervention Initiative and would only return to Arkas in 12260 when fighting resumed in full. By 12262, Tykas and the rest of her revolutionaries had surrounded Elijah’s Landing, laying siege to the metropolis.
Tykas suspected that catching the Federation peacekeepers stationed in the city in a crossfire would constitute an act of war, and thus refrained from seizing the capital until 12271. She (along with her command) would only launch the final push to take Elijah’s Landing once she begun to receive information about situation on Sekhmet. Specifically, she capitalised on the fact that the peacekeepers would not only be reassigned off of Arkas, but also be preoccupied for a long enough period to allow her revolutionaries to capture Elijah’s Landing before they had the opportunity to return. This would prove a fortuitous decision, as she and her leadership significantly underestimated the degree to which the Eldership were dug in, and the final seizure took three months longer than estimated. She remarks that the final push would have “certainly” been interrupted by IF3 peacekeeping efforts had they not been distracted by the war.
Administration (12271 - present)
Immediately after her seizure of power in 12271, Tykas promulgated the New Draconian Constitution. Co-written with the assistance of Emera Intenzu and Naomi Silver, the constitution limited her personal power and established the Technocracy’s administration. Whilst Intenzu and Silver were granted administrative positions, Tykas painstakingly pondered over which of her many loyal officers would fill the role of military administrator. The role was left unfilled for several months and Lazarus Ksou would later be appointed to fill the position in 12272.
Despite the apparent importance of the Canid-Feli War to the Technocracy, Tykas did not acknowledge the war for up to a year. After the Storming of Artemis, however, she was subtly pressured during an press interview to make a statement. Tykas would then declare that the Technocracy would not support either side in the Canid-Felin War. Geopolitical analysts suspect that Tykas and her administration implicitly support the Feli Liberation Force - a stance which she refuses to engage with.
In 12272, in response to the UTF sanctions, Tykas held a landmark conference with Greater Prospect president Maya Tighes. In the televised conference, Tykas would rebuke the UTF and labelled the sanctions as “unconscionable”. She would also assert that the Technocracy would respond by seeking closer ties to the Peace and Trade Coalition. Black March Second Speaker Eliza Grünza described Tykas’ statements as “provacative” and said that the Technocracy overlooked positive March-Technocracy relations. The conference also predictably inflamed already worsening relations between the Federation and the Technocracy, with many members of the United Federation Interplanetary Congress denouncing the move.
Tykas would be center of intergalactic attention in aftermath of the 12272 Arkasian riots, after she was held responsible for personally ordering the executions of several unarmed civilians who were found guilty of masterminding the anti-government protest. The executions strained relations with the IF3, whose representatives described the executions as a "an abhorrent and unnecessary, gross violation of sapient rights". Colonial Systems president Bruce Walker stated during his inauguration that the actions were “unconscionable” and would later invoke increased tariffs on the import of Draconian consumer electronics. The extreme prejudice at which these killings were carried out shocked even the draconian public, which would earn Tykas the moniker ‘Tykas the Tyrant’. Tykas would later apologize for the ‘overreaction’ but refused to step down as Administrator, instead opting to “consider the abolition of the death penalty”. However, capital punishment remains legal in the Technocracy as of 12276.
On 26 August 12272, Tykas would visit Panlong for the first time. The stated goal of the meeting was to acknowledge and to propose federal resolutions to the crisis sparked by the incorrect consignment of Feli refugees to Panlong. Tykas would meet with the current local administrator Winston Clay discussing the impacts of proposed Technocracy policies on the relatively small colony. Press reports asserted that Tykas deliberately avoided any mention of the Panlong Seizure. Clay would state afterwards that the meeting was cordial and standard as procedure adding that he aimed to resolve the crisis as soon as possible. The Panlong Refugee Emergency Act was passed the next day under Clay's guidance.
In later 12272, Tykas would urge expats, draconian diaspora and other sympathisers to return home to help rebuild and bolster the draconian labor force back at home. The targeted address proved successful, and the immigration/emigration subdivision reported a record 300 million processed immigrants that year. Archivist Albrecht Kholas described the speech as "one of the most politically important addresses in the post-contemporary era".
In February of 12273, Tykas would champion the limited extensions to the Fenrir Economic Development Plan. These extensions included subsidies to native manufacturing, including a M̱18.7 billion combined subsidy to electronics and firearms manufacturing. She justified her support by describing her lamentation of the poor living conditions on Fenrir during the ratification of the Fenrir Treaty 12251. This move was applauded by Fenrirans, as the colony had entered a brief recession due to the newly-placed mulitlateral sanctions imposed on the domestic consumer electronics industry.
In April of 12273, Tykas appeared on an impromptu visit to Hydra’s Head. It would be her first visit to the Black March since leaving Parsel in 12243. During the visit, Tykas and her entourage would liaise with a numerous March politicians, most notably Second Speaker Caliban West. Caliban hoped that continued cooperation with the Technocracy was possible and urged the March public to continue voting for referenda in support of their neighbour. The visit not universally viewed favorably, however. Outspoken critic Eliza Grünza would describe the visit as a “false facade to cover inaction within draconian foreign policy”.
In October of 12273, a flare-up of political tensions between the Fenriran prefectures Neo-Genesis and Heartcore Heights culminated in a firefight which saw 306 dead. Tykas participated in the trial (and eventual imprisonment) of 6 officials and presided over the ratification of a ceasefire between the two prefectures.
In response to Fenrir Bombings in 12275, Tykas would appear in multiple televised addresses to the draconian public, urging for calm. Towards the end of 12275, these addresses became increasingly militant and were more widely broadcast. In them, Tykas began to urge the draconian public to report any Eldership-sympathetic behavior. In addition, Tykas signed a contract over the procurement of a Trident-class frigate from the Colonial Systems. Controversially this move had apparently been done without prior consultation with Lazarus Ksou, though Ksou state that he and his administration would not have contested the acquisition anyway.
Politics and Reputation
As the founder of the New Draconian Technocracy, Illija remains the most politically important figurehead within the administration. She is popularly viewed as a de facto ‘supreme leader’ of the country, despite her powers being constitutionally limited to an executive role. This popular misconception likely stems from her style of governance, which has often been described as authoritarian. Further, her hardline stance against treason, paired with her outspoken support of harsh capital punishments has also earned her the negative sobriquet ‘Tykas the Tyrant’.
Despite popular views of her heavy-handed administration, scholars have described Tykas civil rights policies as overwhelmingly progressive. In the week following her rise to power, Tykas abolished all associated laws that discriminated against non-dragon immigrants. Her administration would also legalize interspecies marriage that same month. A subset of scholars have even described Tykas as techno-progressive, accentuating her administration’s widespread legalization of body modifications and the implementation of artificial intelligence in directing socio-economic policy. Few go so far as to believe that Tykas embodies postgenderism as a trans woman, but Tykas herself has largely dismissed this viewpoint.
Illija Tykas
