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.

System 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 subraces to form. Both sharing the root of their origin planet.

Heartborn

The soldiers. Pending definition / subtypes per specialisation?

Handborn

The laborers. Pending definition / subtypes for aristocracy?

History of the System

The official history of Kardia spans several millennia, though the information preceding the unification into the single-planet government is fairly limited. It depicts a great Hare conqueror, united the neighbouring systems, built the great obelisks as wards, and spread itself to the two planets, leaving behind many of its kin on both worlds. However, a betraying blow was struck by one of its generals, a Hulinid, who then fled into the great dark to hide for the right moment to strike.

What follows are several reigns of kings, each branded a Hulinid pawn. They built 'great shrines to pestilence and darkness' in the form of 'queer pyramids'. Until eventually the people rose up, and brought them down. The kings were either brought down or fled in their 'shrines', others were destroyed or dug up, resulting in great, inverse pyramid holes in both of the planet's surfaces. Each planet, Pneuma and Kardia, reunited with each other and formed the great nation, independent, and finally free of enemy oppressors.

Skepticism

While the general Kardian Truth, as it is labelled, is diligently taught to any new citizens, the galactic community is skeptical of most of the claims. For one, Hulinids were first contacted only after the Kardian Cataclysm, not millennia before. Second off, the exact details of various reigns, policies and even religions has been observed to change until they became vague mentions entirely. Many suspect that historic revisionism has been done, in order to ensure motivation to maintain the ongoing warfare. Kardian officials have declined to acknowledge ever having received any inquiries on this matter.

Kardian Cataclysm

Unlike most history preceding this event, the actual crisis and its preceding events are well-documented and enshrined in the history of Kardia. While the period itself does not span more than a decade, the numerous events that happen in sequence make it a dense period.

Galactic Contact

A few years preceding the events, galactic contact is established between Kardia and the rest of the galaxy, notably the Hephaestus Industry. _{[Either during Rye-Egress or during Zendai, pending dating specifics, alternatively whenever]}

[[[ *VARIANT A* During this time the Kardian society was splintered into a few distinct warring monarchies split between the two planets. While Kardians were a potential customer that was no different from any other minor species, Hephaestus did take a particular interest in the exotic obelisks lining the outer perimeters of both planets, but no concrete trade agreements were established at the time, as they were already seen as notable landmarks that required more than just one singular entity's consent to be given away.

The state of the system noted in Hephaestus records is also used as a prime case of evidence for historical revisionism, as according to Kardian history, the single ruling body had already been established by then, yet Hephaestus has overt records of trading with multiple governing bodies.]]]

[[[ *VARIANT B* During this time the Kardian society was already formed into a duo-planet authoritarian regime, though its stability, and militarization was of questionable nature. Frequent insurgencies and rogue groups were stretching most of it thin. While this did make them an eager customer for more arms that were not influenced by any potential infiltrators, far more attention was garnered by the exotic obelisks circling both planets. However, the Kardian State was hardly willing to give up their signature planetary symbols, as they were already in use in their state heraldry and was part of its mythos. Parting with even one was a grave matter for the higher council.]]]

Dark Growth

Over the coming numerous years, as the Kardian nation grew in size, observations of the 'void' near them was also observed to be expanding. Stars that were closer to the border were observed to disappear — a thought that was far more concerning when taking the time it takes for that light to reach Kardian observatories into account. Over the coming decade, Kardia was beginning to experience oddities — the previously featureless, matte night sky would grow shapes, some reporting seeing stars emerge back into the sky, others would observe a shifting halo reminiscent of an eclipsed star. Eventually the void's expansion was visible to any conventional space observer.

However, instead of fully absorbing Kardia, it looped around it and stopped. The obelisks orbiting the two planets were documented to change their idle states and 'activate'.

Teravore Emergence

While the Kardians were preoccupied with the state and safety of their core world, the system's other waterworld, Eisvolea was receiving sparse landings on its surface. While described as a meteor shower, it soon turned into a full on distinct invasion from the fringes of the growing borders of the dead zone. The alien creatures that landed were not capable of any communication, nor did they have distinct metallurgical technology, as most of them seemed to have arrived in bioorganic shells and 'ships', which resembled elongated, amorphous masses. It was observed that the entire 'fleet' had little to no capability to maneuver, with not even the larger vessels altering their course at all. This made for an easier way to attack them in orbit, but given Kardians lack of exposure to space battles, and them emerging from very close proximity to the growing gradient of the dead zone's radiation, their landings were not opposed enough to impede them.

The new invasive species proved to be one of a hivemind with each member serving a distinct, specialised role. While primarily focused on burrowing, they had a grander intelligence that allowed them to adapt to other environments, if with struggle. The waterworld's scarce islands were soon colonised, with Kardians facing down hard-shelled creatures that swarmed them in droves.

Culture