KardiaDraft

Overview

The final frontier. The last bastion against the quenched darkness of the galaxy's fringe. The beating heart of the Milky Way. The citizens of the Kardian system are faced by many threats from every angle, yet remain steadfast, and unyielding in upholding their way of life. Split into two core worlds — Pneuma, a rich, and relatively tranquil world of the Kardian citizenry and nobility, and Kardia, the militarized bastionworld from, and on, which the endless wars are fought. Whether you hail as a hapless tourist, an alien volunteer, or one of the citizens that has been drafted for the valiant Kardian guard, your life is defined by the facet of eventually needing to fight in order to defend their beating heart of a system.

For many of the Kardians that found themselves outside of the core system, be it through defection, luck, or by being smuggled out, the society may seem like a broken, unsustainable dictatorship that is careening towards an inevitable crisis.

The system is mainly inhabited by human-like bipedals that resemble Terran hares.

System

The Kardian system holds a unique, and perilous position in the overall galaxy — being located on the very edge of the starless void known as the dead zone. The proximity to it resulted in many adverse consequences to the system, and its inhabitants overtime.

History

As far as astro-geological surveys have hypothesised, corroborated by the general ideas provided by the Kardian government's archivists, the system once held two earth-like worlds, a water-world and two rocky worlds that held an atmosphere. A rare, and distinctly unique system by all accounts. The Kardians staunchly claim that they had been equally blessed by fate and fostered the planets through their extensive terraforming efforts. Experts disagree, and most simulations of the system, as limited as they can be, given the lack of galactic context from the nearby dead zone, show that it only had one likely ELW-type world at best.

Regardless of the initial state of the system, it had fallen to a state of disparaging ruin over the course of documented Kardian history. Their core world, Kardia, was taken by a cataclysm that left it engulfed by the Dead Zone's radiation, and the waterworld had been claimed by an invasive species in a prolonged conflict, which continues to this day. The centuries-long war has left the oceanworld not only poisoned, but also partially drained and heavily polluted.

The Planets

Xiphos

One of the core worlds of the Kardians, originally named Xiphos, but has since acquired the moniker of 'Kardia II' by its citizens. Once a minorly terraformed rocky world with a breathable atmosphere, has since become a militarized hub of the armed forces of Kardia, with every facet of architecture, terrain and even the atmosphere having been weaponised. The terrain of the world is filled with canyons, caverns and has relatively soft upper shelf, making it easy to burrow into. It has been the key target by the invasive, insectoid species.

Pneuma The second core world, the remaining, last earth-like world in the system. It is where most of the government and non-serving citizenry lives. Despite being a humid, lush world it has not been invaded by any of its neighbours. One of its key features is the ring of obelisks surrounding it, which has been subject of curiosity, worship and immense measures of protectiveness by the Kardians, especially after the Kardian Cataclysm.

Eisvolea ('Intruder') The ex-waterworld that once belonged to the Kardians until the invasion by the 'Hulinid' species. Another target of the everlasting warfare, there is little drinkable water left, with Hulinid hive-cities dotting the dried-up continental lands, and some sticking out of the water. Little is known about the actual state of the world, as travel there is perilous, and the Hulinid insectoids are difficult to communicate with, due to their innate hivemind network, and their justifiable pre-disposition against anyone resembling the humanoid Kardians.

Igi

An idle gas giant that has been moderately exploited for harvesting fuel for the Kardians. Little activity happens around it.

Viator A rogue planet that entered the Kardian system a century ago from the Dead Zone, and managed to get caught in its solar gravity well, becoming an intrusive part of the system and disrupting the orbits of every other world to some degree. Initially thought to be a frozen, dead world, it was instead proven to be a stasis tombworld, inhabited by another alien species.

Kardia

The once core capital world, not too dissimilar from Pneuma. It has since been subsumed by the radiation of the Dead Zone during the Kardian Cataclysm. It, similarly to Pneuma, is surrounded by a ring of obelisks, however the ring is no longer complete. It's now covered in dark clouds, is considered uninhabitable, and is the key feature of Kardian belief and culture. According to the military messaging, every trueborn citizen seeks to free and liberate the planet.

Biology

Kardians have a peculiar situation, where they have seemingly co-evolved, or co-adapted to two different Earth-like worlds, as their dated history notes a 'First Contact' with 'Their Mirrors'. The actual cause of this is difficult to discern, as the likelihood of two hare-like species separately evolving synchronously is extremely unlikely, leaving most to theorise that their common ancestor was placed on both Pneuma and Kardia.

Regardless, this has resulted in two distinct 'castes' to form. Both sharing the root of their origin planet. Kard The soldiers. Pending definition / subtypes per specialisation?

Pneu The laborers. Pending definition / subtypes for aristocracy?

Three-Way War