Kyburg Dynasty

Theme
Concept: Empire at the End

History

The Dawn Dynasty

The chance discovery of faster than light travel saw an explosion of human expansion outward from the overcrowded and stagnant Home System as thousands and then millions of early pioneers sought new worlds and new possibilities. Hundreds of systems were charted and dozens of vibrant new colonies were established in the early days of the Dawning. But this bright era was not without its conflicts as more radical and counter-current bands of settlers clashed with their neighbors in increasingly damaging wars as the power of the rising colonists grew more established on the daughter worlds. It seemed as though the mistakes of the Home System would be repeated anew, dooming mankind to an eternity of pointless strife.

That outcome did not come to pass. There were many who desired order within the still rapidly expanding space of the Terran Bubble, as well as a more measured pace to its unstructured growth. They found their leader in the planetary rulers of Ardakan, one of the oldest and most powerful colonies. In the wake of the disastrous Sirian Wars that devastated many worlds including the Home System, Ardakan's forces were able to assume control over most of the Bubble and unite the vast majority of humanity under what would become the Norouzi Dynasty and bring the chaotic Dawning to an end.

The Dynasty's Emperors, assisted and advised by the powerful artificial intelligence network known as Central Control, brought peace and prosperity to the Bubble for generations and oversaw its slow but steady continued expansion outward. That all of this came with sharp controls on the political freedoms of its citizens was generally seen as a small price to pay. The chaos of human history was always emphasized in Norouzi era education. Even the first encounters with the alien Outsiders on the remote fringes were well managed, the mysterious intelligences that would one day become mankind's greatest enemy seemingly retreating before the advance of the Emperor's Immortals.

But for all the glories of the Dawn Dynasty there were cracks within the system, and as the generations rolled on they began to widen. Political unrest was always a problem, but democratic elements within the population were always carefully suppressed by Central Control's agents. Renegades and rebels on the frontier were never any match for the seemingly invincible Immortals. Other threats proved to be more grievous. The expanded ability and availability of fabricator technology saw increasingly well armed dissidents and radical elements. Outsider sightings grew more numerous on the frontier. All could have been managed, all were with the exception of the Outsiders largely within Central Control and the Dynasty's ability to predict the development of, save for the sudden, unexpected, and above all else rapid emergence of the Psi Factor within the Bubble's general population.

The sudden appearance of espers, some of extreme individual power, within the Bubble threw the Dynasty off balance. It was quickly apparent that the status quo could not survive the existence of superpowered men and women. Control and the Imperial Forces resorted to ever harsher tactics attempting to suppress the psionic threat but found their ability to keep the peace fractured. Other rebels, other dissidents were bolstered and emboldened by the espers and rose up. They came together against steep odds as the First Ouster Movement in a concerted attempt to bring down the Dynasty and shatter its grip on humanity. Ardakan burned, and Central Control destroyed in a year of savagery unseen since the bloody days of the late Dawning.

Ousters and Outsiders

As the Norouzi Dynasty fought their desperate and doomed defense of their homeworld, other disasters struck. The Outsiders, rarely seen and considered more a curiosity than a threat, moved into the outer frontiers and even into the borders of the Bubble itself. Their twisted crystalline starships fought seemingly random battles with the Imperial Outer Forces and destroyed left whole inhabited worlds in ruins. Perhaps they acted out of seeing weakness in human space, or perhaps on account of some strange timetable of their own devising. In hindsight the latter seems ever more attractive, those first patternless attacks gave no hint as to the depth and power they would reveal in years to come.

With the situation dire and the Norouzi line extinct as their Empire crumbled in the wake of their passing, it seemed that the Ousters would succeed. But in their frantic rush forward to Ardakan they had left huge swathes of territory and vast Imperial Local Forces intact. Farzad Kyburg, Satrap of Karinthia, rose up to rally these still powerful forces in defense of the Empire and to avenge the destruction of the capital. Whatever Farzad's motives, no matter if they were the duty he professed or the greedy opportunism he was accused of, he was wildly successful and caught the overextended Ousters offguard. The First Ouster Movement was broken and on its corpse Farzad declared the establishment of the Kyburg Dynasty.

Farzad the Great succeeded in bringing over 85% of the Bubble back under Imperial rule, most of the remainder was lost to the ever persistent Outsiders as they began what would eventually become the crushing Great Envelopment. But there was little to be seen of the dark days ahead during the high days of Farzad's reign, when it seemed that the old days had returned. The Emperor's Secret Police at last succeeded where Control had failed, successfully promulgating changes into routine prenatal gene-therapies that wrote most of the Psi Factor out of the population. The reformed Immortals and Imperial Fleet hunted Ouster remnants wherever they might be found and reduced the last rebel strongholds to ashes.

But it didn't last. Farzad's successors found themselves fighting a losing battle on fronts both external and internal. New Ouster movements, some increasingly bizarre in their ideology and methods, seemed to arise with each passing year no matter how brutally the last were crushed. On the frontier the Outsiders dug in, building their strange constructs and occasionally surging forward to take systems inhabited and uninhabited alike, leaving no survivors in their wake. Efforts by the fleet to push them back never produced more than transient success. And so the generations passed with a pattern of slow and steady decay and decline as the once glorious Bubble eroded.

The last fifty years have seen the most startling reverses. Emperor Shapur IV's reign saw whole outer regions lost to the Outsiders after a series of disastrous military clashes that brought the Envelopment ever closer to the Imperial Mainland. The Ousters grew more active than ever, hidden cabals working within the Empire as well as heavily armed and almost alien bands striking from outside the remnants of the Bubble. The strange Beyonder Ousters shaped themselves with cybernetics and genetic modification for so long and so far that they scarcely resembled anything human. Perhaps that explained their survival amidst the systems patrolled ever more heavily by the vast Outsider fleets.

Refugees from the doomed outer systems flowed into the Mainland in ever greater numbers and whole flotillas of military warships abandoned their posts, deserters taking to banditry or even attempting to break through the known Outsider Envelopment and into what perhaps might be safe space beyond in the Deep Unknown. Or according to some rumors, even abandoned humanity itself to seek a place with the Beyonders.

With the defeat of last year's offensive at Mimosa and into the clouds of Hercyina Silva, the situation reached a breaking point as even the increasingly ruthless efforts of the Imperial Secret Police and Fleet Morale Section seem unable to hold back the tide of internal unrest and societal breakdown. The Archdukes who were left behind amongst the cold dead and broken starships scattered above Mimosa were the last hope of the Empire, and the Emperor was not long in following them after what reports called a sudden illness and rumor declared to be suicide.

The Empire's remaining forces could do little more to delay the inevitable. Some took that fact with grim resignation, preparing to fight to the last. Others plotted rebellion or treason, seeking salvation with the Ousters or even with the cults declaring their worship of the mysterious Outsiders. Subversive influences within the refugee camps and riot battered cities of the Mainland Worlds were a dime a dozen.

After the Emperor's death, his niece the Archduchess Tereza unexpectedly was left to take up the duties of the tarnished Iridium Throne. There was little to do but to fight to the last, denying the Dynasty's enemies within and without so long as loyal soldiers remained to protect the dying realm. Escape was impossible, the Outsider envelopment now too old and too strong. Surrender to the Ousters unthinkable.

But then in an instant the universe changed.

Stats

National

Population: Rank 5 (7)

The Imperial Mainland and the surrounding regions are all that remain of the once wide Terran Bubble, but they are a vast and heavily populated remnant none the less.

Transhumanism: Rank 1 (2-1)

As genetic modification is closely associated with the Ouster Movement, anything beyond the most basic of processes is generally illegal or subject to almost unimaginably draconian controls within Dynasty controlled space.

Infrastructure: Rank 5 (2+3)

Damaged by internal turmoil and Ouster attacks, even the industrial capabilities of the Imperial Mainland have slowly but surely eroded over the generations.

Growth Potential: Rank 0 (2-2)

Swamped with refugees and plagued by deserters and raiders, there's little enough chance of development even within the numerous systems still controlled by the Dynasty.

Military Support: Rank 5 (5)

Over the last few years the Imperial Fleet suffered from severe shortages in necessary war materials. After Mimosa, what would have become another year of shortfalls became one of surplus.

Space Fleet: Rank 6 (4+2)

What remains of the Imperial Fleet, engaged with the impossible task of maintaining order inside the bubble as well as holding off the enemies pressing at its edges.

Diplomacy: Rank 2 (2)

The Foreign Ministry is nothing more than a shadow of its former self these days, as the secret police and military openly use force to control subject territories that once would have been managed using a careful diplomatic touch.

Espionage: Rank 2 (2)

The Imperial Secret Police are never short of work these days, although their effectiveness has often been called into question.

General Advancement: Rank 1 (4)

Technology under the Kyburgs is if anything less able than it was under the Norouzi, as war and hardship take their toll on infrastructure and research alike.

Unique Technologies: Rank 1 (2)

Although in years past the Dynasty dabbled in wonderweapons and curiosities with hopes of finding a war winning device, a lack of breakthroughs or useful discoveries led to a focus on refining existing conventional technology.

Emergent Technologies: Rank 2 (3)

As much a thorn in the side of the Dynasty's attempts to maintain order as they are invaluable to its defense.

Magic: Rank 0 (0)

The conflict over the suppression of the Psi Factor was a leading cause in the downfall of the Norouzi, and lead to the First Ouster Movement. The Imperial Secret Police are tireless in their pursuit of possible espers.

Military

Imperial Fleet

Total Support: 1120

Support Used: 840

Capships

1 x Super Battleship (S15)

9 x Large Battleships (S10)

23 x Battleships (S9)

11 x Battlecruisers (S8)

Subcaps

20 x Heavy Cruiser Squadrons (S6)

55 x Frigate Squadrons (S4)

33 x Corvette Squadrons (S3)