Kirlians

"Chances are, when we meet intelligent life forms in outer space, they're going to be descended from predators." - Michio Kaku

A race of curious ergokinetics that have set their eyes on conquest aboard the sea of stars, seeded from the sentient ocean of their life planet the young race began to form a network. They started as an alien lifeform on a lush planet, until the 'drop' happened. An event that shifted their position into the eye of the food pyramid after an external factor dropped into the sentient ocean.

Evolution took a different step from a certain blue drop where its dominant species shifted from herbivore apes, because of climactic and vegetation changes they left trees, transitioned to an omnivorous lifestyle and moved to sprinting on the savannah, taking a predatory role over other animals then taking the next step to understand and create weapons, tools and finally technology.

The Kirlians as an extraterrestrial induced mutate reacted violently against the indigenous population during the first millenia, lashing out with their newfound supremacy until the point where their planet offers no more. Assimilating physical appearance, and morphology they had usurped all notions of prejudice for their fellow kin. No fears, no mistrust nor bigotry once they entered the network. They are amorphous

Ancestrally they are a viral species, although a bit more grounded as they resemble the blob. Clumsy in a way that they hunt by bumping and absorbing things, dissolving its meal and increasing in mass in the process. Sometimes taking other forms to live off others, similar to symbiotes.

Life for them originated from the 'Plasmic Ocean', all liquids in the Plasmic ocean is absorbed and sealed within the gelatinous mass to prevent evaporation. There was a time when the planet began to lose water rapidly, the ocean itself hunt striders and other creatures by extending tentacles over the surface to trap the creatures. Before devouring them alive.

Their life planet of Phlegein is almost fully covered by this sentient living ocean. The sea itself has the amazing power to manipulate and generate both magnetic and gravitic fields, it gives the ocean the might to stabilize the planet's orbit. The ocean covers the surface, except for some small archipelagos on the northern hemisphere. The atmosphere has no oxygen and is lethal to humans. The ocean weighs eight hundred billions of tons made of amorphous organic matrix. A nontraditional lifeform: not made from cells; contains no visible organs or nervous system.

For aeons several races have tried to communicate with the Plasmic Ocean with no success. Unlcear if the sea is sapient, nonsapient, or semi-sapient. At times curiosity is shown, other times apathy is shown. The plasmic ocean spends time creating non euclidian megastructures on its surface. Several scientists went insane because of their brain's incapabilities to visualize and comprehend impossible shapes. Shapes why may last for weeks, or minutes but at the end they are all assimilated at he end. All made from the organic matrix of the plasmid ocean.

Not only is it aware of visiting races in the surface, it indirectly interacts with them. Somehow opening their minds and creating replicas of individuals who they share a close bond with, these replicants behave exactly like the memorized humanoid. Resemble them down to the quantum level but are simly made of neutrinos, giving them strength and regeneration. Stabilized through electromagnetics.

The Big Flow is a substance that flows within the Plasmic Ocean and it is referred to frequently throughout the Kirlian mythology. When it is actually seen by citizens, it has a purple tint and appears as a fluid stream. Big Flow is the essence of the planet and without it, the planet would become a barren wasteland. Big Flow helps to create new life and when things die, they are returned to Big Flow, so in essence it is similar to matter - the amount always stays the same.

When visiting other worlds Kirlians resemble humanoid looking extraterrestrials, this inclued inter-dimensional entities as well as those masquerading as humans. Biologically they are different than the basic humanoid genetic system, an embodiment that is magnetized in light. They do not have the neccesity to eat [they do out of tradition]. They gain knowledge through the network, which they live off a pranic system. Knowledge and data is their sustenance.

Planet Phlegein is ten percent smaller than earth and nature mirrors that of the blue dot. Flora, minerals and animals have been taken into the archipelagos to be cultivated. Without the plasmic ocean the surface gravity is slightly less than earth, one day is six tenths of a second less than earth. Their talent for thought projection is a customary means of visiting others, it is very popular too. Most mute and telepathic.

From the beginning, the people on this planet communicated with gestures, but as time passed new generations developed telepathy.

At first it was ordinary perception of the tiniest motions of a body, face, lips, the nuances of look, that helped to take in the intentions of each other and pass certain information between each other. As they were a fully developed civilization, they needed to communicate complex ideas and very soon the gesture communication had become insufficient. Gradually, with every new generation, there started appearing telepaths, able to read the thoughts of each other in the conditions.

Some with speech will respond violently to attacks and threats. Telepathic types will seek alternative means of dispute resolution, and encounter other races in secrecy. More often than not they will encounter females from other species, most often they just stare and study humanoids then flee. Most emissaries are not seen to age, agents sent to other worlds seem to resemble 27-35 year old humanoids. Cloaking their real age. Not many other species know the real extend of their physical appearance. Due to amorphous nature their body shapes are constantly reinterpreted by those who saw in their own terms. Sometimes they take on the chemistry of silicon, breathing out sand [silicon dioxide] or even eating rock as part of the unique biological system. Often Kirlians take an anthropomorphic shape with two arms, two legs and a head positioned at the top with main organs in the head for the sake for interaction.

It can also be said that Intelligent life evolved in the universe. The Precursors became spacefaring and, they found an uninhabited universe. Non-intelligent species were too rudimentary or too far away to be detected. Thus, as both a memorial to themselves and to enlighten the universe, the Precursor Species seeded the necessary DNA for the eventual evolution of intelligent life in the primordial oceans of every planet that could support life. The Precursor Species did not only design the DNA to evolve intelligently, but to parallel their own evolution.

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny on the scale of life itself. This corner of the universe thereby became the home of Kirlians and other hominid species which are all decedents of the Precursor Species. Therefore, in the eyes of the universe, the many hominid species are closely related despite their disparate home planets.

The development of legs, arms and grasping appendages is critical to the road to intelligence. A primitive technology will require the ability to hold and manipulate, with some degree of sensitivity, basic tools and weapons such as clubs, spears, knives and twine. The intelligence must have this manipulative capability combined with speed of movement, otherwise it will remain in its comfortable environment (as did the dolphin) and we would certainly never meet it stepping out of a star ship.

As a method of movement, sliding, wriggling and rolling are all much too slow for the land predator. Walking is the only viable means of moving at high speeds and for long distances. The wheel was never used as a means of locomotion by nature except in some tiny bacteria. Although the reciprocating knee joint in the human leg can put up with large shock loads and the shoulder and hip joints can rotate through a considerable arc, it is difficult to imagine an organic bearing that could rotate through 360 degrees.

Monkeys and apes can use their two legs for manipulation but have to run on both arms and legs together. Indeed the ape cannot use weapons to hunt whilst running on all fours. It is difficult to imagine the development of an intelligent hunting animal animal such as man running on two sensitive grasping appendages. Thus we have the evolutionary step of the conversion of one pair of legs to manipulating, pushing and pulling devices and the other pair to movement. In this way the creature optimises between hi gh speed movement and delicate manipulation.

The internal digestive, cardiovascular and pulmonary systems inside the Kirlians would most likely be quite different and it is not possible to list all the variations within the confines current knowledge.

In seeding the Plasmic Ocean the Precursor Species used 'G-Cells' which are cells of a certain famous monster that originated in the shores of Japan in a previous universe. Usually this can only create mutates. The cells emit every bit as much radiation as their original donor. Some of the risks include, but are not limited to: radiation poisoning; accumulation of strontium 90 in the blood stream; radiation sickness; increased risk of cancer of the liver, brain, bowel, lungs, ovaries, prostate, and cervical; blindness; injurious birth defects in offspring; skin malignancy; and damage to unborn children. To minimize humanoid exposure to scandium 90 and strontium 90, scientists must wear tested radiation suits. They must agree to frequent radiation testing and they must visit their oncologist for cancer screening on a regular basis.

The study of skin cells has indeed revealed that it is capable of absorption and conversion of thousands upon thousands of rads without any ill effect; these roentgens are converted into biochemical electrical impulses inside the brain and this powers its heart, lungs, and other bodily organs. Any excess radiation is converged into radioactive plasma that is stored in what was formerly stomach until such time as it is forcefully propelled out of the mouth at breakneck speed. This breath weapon weakens it considerably and it must consume more radiation as soon as possible.

Lizards are very sensitive to vibrations from the ground, they are adept at subtle perception. They have amazing hearing capacity, and with their sharp eyes they are able to sense the most minute of movements. Since lizard is their base template, they have the ability to utilize all aspects of psychic perception.

They have been sighted wearing very little clothes except for armor.

Conceptualisation, it would seem, can arise only in a land animal. A large intelligent brain requires a considerable amount of blood and therefore a heavy cardiovascular system both these factors would lead to an impossible power to weight ratio for an intelligent airborne creature. However, conceptualisation, seems to arise in conjunction with a social existence, speech and the use of tools. Only semi-land creatures, such as beavers and otters (both mammals) possess any sort of manipulating appending and these they use on the surface.

Hominid scientists have reported the largest blast of energy ever recorded from a far-off quasar, some two trillion times more energetic than the sun. About 100 times higher than the total power output of the Milky Way galaxy, a real monster outflow. Bursts of energy known as relativistic jets spew out matter at close to the speed of light. These jets can travel across an entire galaxy, suggesting they can affect the evolution of the galaxy. The Phlogizein pulsar is one that is also bright in x-ray and gamma rays, the highest forms of electromagnetic energy, or light. The gamma ray pulses coming from the Phlogizein hit 100 giga-electron volts (GeV).

In the planet itself the ocean is capable of generating blasts of energy half the world wide. During initial developments of higher echelon beings energy occurrences happen at a startling rapidity, once a floating being is noted to have unleashed a record-setting 1.85-megajoule blast into a target prey animal that delivered more than 500 trillion watts of power. Five hundred terawatts is 1,000 times more power than the United States uses at any instant in time. The prey exploded with a force of nearly 500 kilotons of TNT –- some 30 times the energy released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb — around 15 to 20 km above the ground. The blast was so strong, counting 2.5 million photons per second slamming into it

'Energy Blast' is a burst of energy in bright orange, white, and golden yellow, with touches of fuchsia pink. The markings change with the weather, but the flower always sports multi-colored and beautiful markings.

An energy blast is a collection of energy in the form of a projectile that has destructive effects when it strikes an object. They are often of a nonspecific type of energy. Commonly, they resemble brightly glowing orbs or similar shapes and create explosions which generate heat and concussive force.

Some kirlians defend themselves uses the "Soul Pistol" technique to launch a bullet of energy energy from his index finger. This natural firearm has an unlimited supply of energy blasts. The beams can be upgraded into more powerful versions, like the Ice Beam or Plasma Beam. Other times they prefer crude methods, ramming it at an opponent with their hand.

The blasts, once released, can either be used to push an enemy back or more commonly, explode, unleashing a large amount of destruction [DETONATES matter at the ATOMIC level]. Some energy blasts behave differently than others. For instance, most are pure projectiles, but others can behave essentially as smart bombs that actively locate an enemy, or user-controlled devices.

By knowing the concepts of Energy, they can not only perform the activities more efficiently, but they can also create their own. Constantly learning as much as possible to increase their abilities; for knowledge is the true power that is the foundation for every act they will ever make in their entire lives. It will take time and hard effort to train the body to absorb and transmit energy efficiently.

By knowing vital areas, such as the kidneys or liver, and perform the shot, they can gain even better results for these areas are less resistant to their energy and can more efficiently and will create more damage to the opponent.

Energy weapons really do have the potential for huge destructive power. They also have incredible range and accuracy, and the advantage of requiring no ammunition.

Every one has a different level of power they are born with, but all have the potential to achieve "Type" classification energy level.

Kirlians possess a bio-energy field, which many species think of as a forcefield, it is but isn't. It's not a force field in the sense of a shield that surrounds his body and is responsible for his being invulnerable. Kirlian's body is super durable inside out, it hyper-metabolizes cosmic energy. Each and every one of the cells in his body are like liliput suns when they ares powered and since they are living cosmic amplifiers as all kirlians are, they are always naturally absorbing ambient energies from the universe. The bio field or Aura, as it's very well known is the result of his body being very efficient and effective at metabolizing cosmic energy. It's akin to planet earth Sun's Corona. The outer effect of what so wonderfully takes place inside, and just like the sun's corona is very useful and has a job of its own.

It protects anything that is skintight close to kirlian's body and it also adds to the effectiveness of his body's already excellent cosmic absorption process. So, its a bio-field or Aura that comes from the cosmic powered cells of kirlian's already super durable (as long as cells are sufficiently charged) body and not some shield covering his body like a forcefield.

Applied Skills

• Nova: User collects a large amount of energy and releases it in an orb for an omnidirectional attack
• Blasts: Hands, feet ,or face release energy over a specific target area
• Bursts: Fired in short sequence over a wide area
• Bolts: Releases very many low powered projectiles
• Zap: A tiny short release of energy to cause pain or discomfort, not destructive
• Overpower: Pulse energy is released, overloading powered devices in an area
• Touch: Holding or touching a person or object may charge or supercharge that object, perhaps even Molecular Acceleration
• Beam: The user shoots a long, powerful, continuous stream of energy.
• Energy summoning: Summoning objects with energy.
• Energy Wave :Sends out a wave of energy to cause destruction or detect enemies.
• Energy Tracking: Places energy in objects/people and uses it to track them down
• Blinding: Releases a flash of light or beam to (usually temporarily) blind an opponent instead of doing actual damage

Note: Manipulating energy for them is equal to humans moving their limbs.These are equal to a punch or a kick in a martial arts curriculum, they are the basic skills possessed by every Kirlian with varying talent and power. The powers they demonstrate are totally up to their skill level. Everything is energy based and almost all techniques can be learned. So they have to get real creative and work hard to access their full power

Its a mental discipline. If concentration even wavers a bit, their powers either haywire or lose effect entirely. Not to mention the mental fatigue involved in visualizing the warping of energy using just the mind. They have control over all forms of energy, but require that they actually know what there doing. For example, no space time distortions unless they're an accomplished cosmologist.

The key to making matter invisible, sending it through space and time, or making it weightless is to utilize vibration in one of these dimensions. In 3D space, you can shake something back and forth, up and down, or left and right with few interesting effects. But reality is composed of more than three dimensions, and creating an electric or magnetic field that grabs onto matter and vibrates it into higher dimensions allows you to alter the characteristics of matter, different characteristics depending on which dimension the direction of vibration.

Because Kirlians are seeded using a gene from a giant monster they can get violent at times, this is displayed in the 'Vocal' denominator. There was a dark period in their ancient history where the fell to a dark god. It was almost immediate, to a frightening level and this is one of the reasons why most of the Kirlians are muted. As a young civilization, before the dawn of tools they found 'Selfer' what some of the more reptillian kirlians would want in a god. Bloodthirsty as they are, powerful and brutal.

Kirlians are what Selfer would want in a servant, savage and powerful, prizing strength above all else. A single one can lay waste to entire worlds, battling for the sake of the fight alone, taking joy in the destruction of their enimies and obliteration of any who would stand before them. Their attitude would make them perfect hosts for Selfer, and only for Selfer. No other deities have anything to offer, cunning plans, magic is for weaklings who cannot shed their own blood. Sensual pleasure is not for a Kirlian. All they need is blood on their limbs and the ruin of others.

Then the Big Flow created an event that would change the direction of the prehistoric Kirlians.

Cosmic Reach

4X : Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate

After discovering the wonders of simple tools the civilisation did not march in a militaristic direction; rather claiming ahead the rest of the neighbouring worlds in 'research' as other planets reach the earth's equivalent of the sixteenth century Phlegein developed railways and electric trade boats. Due to applied sciences and part of their capabilities as a race. Colonising spacefarers constantly harass this developing civilisation from its infancy, setting embassies with declaration of friendship prior to invasion. Ad infinitum. During one point in Kirlian history it became disruptive to the point that the entire planet is captured, luckily nothing came out of it as the natives regained control.

It got tedious to a point where the entire race of kirlians shifted from a purely scientific civilization into a 'gold and military' based one. Annihilating the colonizing spacefarers, to the last quark. No records of them exist, all of their former colonies are assimilated into the newly formed cosmic reach. In terms of intelligence and espionage several technologies have been lifted from other civilization, kirlians spies have killed other spies attempting to infiltrate Phlogizein. Other times the Plasmic Sea does it on its own.

They constantly reach towards bigger ships, better technology, more diplomatic influence, and a bigger economy.

After the cosmic reach is established hominid and other spacefaring worlds are encountered by an encompassing webway of specialized wormholes. Interstellar travel became easy, providing trade, communications, and governance over the vast distance of intergalactic space. The webway intersect at one central nexus, a massive supra-dimensional engine that is known as the giant blue star The wormholes all intersect at one huge nexus, the colossal inter-dimensional machine that we recognise as the giant red star Archipallium, but which is in reality a construct of the archaic and long-vanished race known as the Precursors. It is from this unimaginably huge machine that they derive the description Archipallium Space encompassing all of the many worlds connected by the wormhole network.

Wormholes work in pretty much the same way as hyperspace travel – cutting through the folds in spacetime.

The Fermi empire controls, planets each which submits resources that is used to conduct research, consruct planetary structures, pursue diplomacy, and empower the military. They rarely rely on brute strength, but rather to choose to surpass others in research and bask in the boons of technological supremacy. Becoming masters of interstellar travel, especially after the acquisition of the webways. They can effectively send small-yet-deadly forces to any hotspot within the cosmic reach within seconds. Not many have this ability, it gives the empire the leisure to devote valuable resources to other things rather than huge fleets scattered throughout several planets.

For many other civilisations a Dyson construct is problematic, for example the design is improbable. For them this design is impossible because there is no way to get the sphere to stay in position; it would collide with the planet it is generating energy for. The dyson sphere would also heat up and cook the inner planet. Except that Kirlians can harness the four fundamental forces of the universe and stabilize the construct. Enter the Type 2.

All societies need energy. To run a really big spacefaring society, lots of energy is needed. The members of a galactic empire will probably all be solar civilizations.

Planetbound societies cannot expand indefinitely. All forms of energy, whether electrical, mechanical, nuclear or solar, ultimately return to the biosphere in a single degraded form: heat. As more and more of this thermal pollution is liberated at the surface of a developing world, global mean temperature rises and the precarious energy balance upon which all life depends deteriorates.

A single world intercepts a billionth of its sun’s output, whereas a growing spacefaring society can gather energy from any position along a geometrical spherical surface surrounding the central star. This means power billions of times greater than can safely be released on the mother world. Imagine swarms of huge solar cells, each wide as a continent, orbiting the Sun in successive shells about as far from the Sun as the Earth is.

What's more, they're invested with a brilliant cosmic energy that they wield to create a variety of effects. Their power is so flexible that they've never developed technology in the sense that we're familiar with. Their cities and clothing are built through the direct application of their strength and energies. They can also invest simple metal and stone tools with some of their power, or use it to change and sculpt living things for their own purposes. They've populated their world with extravagantly modified Earth animals, and are served by semi-sapient worker creatures.

The Disk, the most likely place for life, has about 250 billion suns and is 100,000 light-years (the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles) in diameter and 3,000 light-years thick. These arms are not concentrated regions of stars but rather gas compression zones of active star formation – stellar nurseries – which is why they are bright. They have ten times more gas, but only a few percent more stars, than the inter-arm regions where the Sun is. Interstellar empires are most likely to get their start in the Disk.

The Core, about ten thousand light-years in diameter, lies at the hub of the Galaxy. There, stars are packed together a million times more densely than out in the Disk. The cosmic reach is a Core empire, especially since galactic nuclei to be scenes of incredible violence, shaken by titanic explosions, rippled by shock waves carrying billions of star-masses racing outward from the center. Any planets would be savagely ripped from their orbits following near-collisions of neighboring suns every million years or so, hence why it is managed by a Type 3.

Lifestyle

We are a strong new species in the Kirlian wilderness, a dramatic and complete synchronicity of the finest materials; the optimal utilization of kinetic energy.

It is unlikely that prosthetics will change the basic form of the Kirlians. In general, artificial limbs (and bionics) are intended to resemble those currently possessed. The kirlians' view of good looks will be determined by the most perfect and healthy of its species. Any artificial aids will be designed to blend with the pure form of the alien -- form fitting containment layers with adaptive capability is an excellent example of this. It is difficult to imagine the Kirlian ever giving up its basic body appearance.

An even more radical idea is that once a kirlian has developed very high levels of knowledge and consciousness, the mind may even be liberated from the body. If this occurred others might never discover its original appearance.

Hybrids would later emerge after the third generation. This generation would be trained the same way, (assuming the parents allowed it) but would be allowed to choose a "Normal" Kirlian as a spouse. There children would be called hybrids. Mixtures of the 2 kinds. They would not all be the same. some would of only inherited some traits. Those who weren't born this way, would be called, "Pure Bloods", or just "Pures". Hybrids may become out casts, call muts, for there mixed blood. They would not be allowed in Scalaris Competitions, for their abberant genetic traits, and would probably not receive the same respect from military figures, as their parents, for the Kirlian counterpart.

Within the Cool World, there are two social classes - overpersons and underpersons. Overpersons are the Kirlians inhabiting Cosmic Reach and underpersons are colonized. One of the big rules of this civilization is that overpersons aren't allowed to have sex with underpersons.

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." -Phillip K. Dick

Kirlians feel comfortable with a monolithic interstellar imperium humans would find oppressive. Believing in the power of the Plasmic Ocean which bore them life, the great All-Mother that all Kirlians pay tribute to. There is a magico-religious council of the 'Great Glow' that passes verdict and authoritative version of the facts, they cover the contrary and plain evidence presence in front of the senses. Elaborate structures, multiplicity of functions and the size of imperial apparatus plays a part on Kirlian psychology. Individuals when linked to the network are compelled to partake in the consensus and seek confirmation. Also the idea that the 'wise' should govern the masses, letting knowledge and professionalization have the right to decide.

Heritage, the sum of biological, ecological, experiental, cultural and historical commonality within the organisation plays an even larger part in the psychology. The more they have in common, they more they have to agree. As most of them are parts of the resistance led by I'khor to overthrow the Stinguere occupation. It promotes cohesion; and the network stamps it further. Beyond that is Biology. Systems with sentient beings of a single species have a better chance compared to aggregates of a foreign species, different biochemical or thermal regimes, or between natural and synthetic lifeforms is hard due to prejudice.

Kirlians like to define ones own morality toward the herd.

Do you care what a cow thinks before you eat it? By the same token, you can have feelings for the cows, you can even refuse to eat them on your own moral principle, but it is still your decision.Cows are typically treated very well before the slaughter, and impressive specimens will be used for breeding and showing. Ultimately the farmer/rancher still gets to decide.

Kirlians is to subjugated species as humans are to cows. They have defined their own sense of morality and acts upon it, meticulously following their own rules to their logical conclusions. They may have been at the top of their planetary food chain for a very long time. The Kirlian invader replaces them, there is anything to imply that the kirlian can't have feelings, it's just that their feelings are above them.

Prior to the knowledge of webways Phlegein position outposts and supply depots near key population centers. These could dispatch warships or supplies fairly quickly by command, or under color of local appointed authority. Mirroring how imperial Rome stifled revolt – a strong military governor backed by several legions. Only the loyalty of the outpost to the Emperor need be maintained.

Prevarications and obscurities and mistranslations are unknown to our instantaneous conversations; we speak in cool mathematical phrases that cannot be twisted by a carefully misplaced word or inappropriate tone

The way to deter anti Cosmic Reach variables is the promise of retribution against descendants, curing all their heirs. A revolution will be paid in the blood of their grandchildren, undoing all that they have accomplished. Corruption is dealt with supercomputer-bureaucrats who will have no need for monetary goods, programmed to execute Overlord I'khor's bidding, and will be intelligent to detect and report any attempt of tampering. Humanoid bureaucrats would need regular maintenance, whether medical or bionic to extend lifespan.

As for the supercomputer it is a software that simulates Kirlian's thought processes to the point that they are not only seem to be Kirlians, but that they are actually the individuals they simulate.

Much as radio, television, and air travel caused Earth to “shrink” during the 20th century, the galaxy effectively contracts as travel speeds approach FTL. With faster-than-light transport and communication, empires become as plausible as they are on Earth.

Tax Farmers.

Solar systems are not very mobile; it will prove difficult to hide from the Imperial Taxcreature when it comes calling to collect its due. The two most fundamental needs of the Empire are energy and information. Thus the Imperium might levy taxes in watt-seconds of energy per year on each solar system. Information is an important commodity. Subject star systems may be required to transmit copies of all new technical knowledge generated each year , or to provide data processing or data storage facilities for Imperial use. Overlord I'khor may also command each member stellar civilization to raise a glorious edifice in his honor, a Brobdingnagian castle in space, in case His Majesty should ever come calling. A star palace of this size would have the volume of 500,000 Earths, yet only a billionth or less of Earth’s mass. The Palace could house millions of bureaucrats, computers, and garrison troops, and would be visible from anywhere in the solar system – a shining watchful reminder of imperial might.

For colony planets in serious debt to the Cosmic Reach. The only way to pay off the planetary debt is for people to spend all their savings, which are heavily taxed by the world government. “Spend, spend, spend” say the tall adverts in glowing LED lights above city skylines. Many more adverts also encourage residents to spend their money on products, on clothes, on anything. This wasn’t a conspiracy, nobody was pulling the strings to orchestrate this in the world, it was just something everyone knew they had to do. “Spend to save the economy” was the slogan used in all the newspapers, and society did.

The mere existence of a stellar civilization implies the ability to harvest and utilize the entire material resources of a solar system. Such a society must be able to disassemble and move planet-sized masses across at least interplanetary distances. The energy required to explode the Earth into tiny rocky fragments is 10²⁵ watt-years. To de-orbit the Earth into the Sun, or to impart sufficient velocity for Earth to escape the Solar System altogether, requires 10²⁶ watt-years. A stellar civilization (10²⁶ watt-years per year) that devotes only ten percent of its energy to large-scale mining and construction operations (as humanity does) can pulverize whole worlds in a year and relocate planetary masses in a decade or less.

Also in the sale of purchase of miniature star systems where It’s actually more similar to Jupiter and its moons in scale than any other star system. Oort Civilizations and Shellworlds are also hot items.

No invasion, no ‘take me to your leader’, no ‘behave immature little species’ junk. They just wanted to buy the planet from us. So we sold her.

The 'Types' which the Empire will command to perform these herculean labors. These individuals will run themselves, repair themselves, and even defend themselves. Type 2 with assistance from Type 1's. There’s a complex exchange formula imposed on planet brokers when they buy a world from the locals. Offering some replacement worlds as an exchange.

In some cases they renovate dying worlds; sometimes they actually build them from scrap. Obviously the really nice paradise worlds are sold to the rich and powerful for profit. Galactic Reach regulations require that settlers protect that biosphere from the effects of colonisation. They come with a handbook for creating a more complex stable biosphere from settler's own plants and animals, written by a galactic expert. The sellers helped on the complex calculations to determine optimum orbital locations for biological stability.

This Types will provide such a large amplification of machine's matter-manipulating ability that it is possible even to consider the “phlogforming” of other worlds, remaking whole worlds as Kirlians see fit, for habitation or otherwise. During phlogforming the Types can be ordered to excavate specific patterns which later may be used for artificial seas, lakes, canals, roadways, and subterranean agricultural greenhouses or cities. Then general product factories build the cities automatically, making a fully industrialized planet. Ultimately, loyal Types could be commanded to digest whole worlds, converting their substance into factory machines, space habitats, interstellar arks and railguns, or customized “designer planets” for the Overlord I’khor' favorite concubine.

Small pockets of economic activity may be scattered throughout the galaxy. For instance, stellar civilizations located in galactic clusters of 10-1000 stars, only 5-50 light-years in diameter, may form close-knit economic units. Their solar systems would typically be only half a light-year apart, ten times closer than normal Disk stars. The average distance between known clusters is 100-300 light-years, so interstellar trade routes may be laid out in overlapping arcs connecting galactic cluster trade associations along each spiral arm. Globular clusters, relatively metal-poor and probably also planet- and life-poor, have rich lodes of fusionable hydrogen, a lucrative mining venture for industrious galactic entrepreneurs.

Kirlians are capable of manipulating light. There are several incidents where a beam of light shone towards a 'Visitor' is bent at a ninety degrees angle away. This is also the reason why most images and videos of Visitors lack clarity. Kirlians are often seen as 'angels'. Mistaken for spiritual beings who are in actuality just advanced lifeorms capable of taking on any shape. They sometimes appear as 'brutish' forms and grey creatures with large heads at other times. But in their truest form, they are amorphous beings with non-humanoid shape.

To give their lives meaning, they feel they ought to do something more than just enjoy themselves, so they try to improve other societies through interventions which are statistically demonstrated to lead to higher utility.

The agenda of these Visitors is to help humanity evolve technologically, past the break-even point to reach a higher state of civilization . Here to assist the ascension of planet earth. Their constant interactions with humans are to open up minds to the worlds beyond their own and to alter their genetic codes. These Visitors seek to raise collective consciousness towards a new renaissance so that the earth will be able to play in the cosmic sandbox.

Overlord I'Khor monitors his vast empire from the luxury of his own personal Alderson Disk, which he named Reptilis in an homage to the genes selected by the Precursors to seed their entire race. The sun should be bobbled up and down to create seasons.

For his own personal amusement parts of the the disk is categorized as several worlds and settings each with different histories, such as a Gothic or a sword-and-sorcery world. The atmosphere is right, and there are real monsters. It is almost a Kirlian equivalent to human LARPing, except that for the natives the stakes are very real.

He can occupy only a part of the Disc the right distance from the sun. So he shares the Disc with aliens from hotter or colder climes. Over the tens of thousands of years, mutations and adaptations would migrate across the sparsely settled borders.

He would 'masquerade' as a dark lord of sorts in one world, for the hero to 'slay' him and only to reappear in another world for recreation. Based on the performance Overlord I'Khor gives them a 'grade' and failure to pass will result in annihilation.

Names

They all have a sort of specialty, for example, some will mess around with time (although changing the past is beyond them) others will warp space, some will screw around with gravity or electromagnetics, ect.

"He who always has a plan, knows his enemy, and is a born leader."

Name: Overlord I'khor

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 225lbs

Real Name: Nakuta

Origins: Phlogizein, Scalaris

Home Base: Mobile throughout the Cosmic Reach

For I'khor he began appearing in thoughts after he proved to be a key individual in overthrowing the spacefaring colonists, becoming the de facto ruler of planet Phlogizein. Unlike his brethren he harbours ambition to gather the ocean above the skies. He wanted to clutch the stars inside the grip of his hand.

The path to greatness started off with a small army of loyalists [Numbers], a small reserve of currency to trade with off-worlders and several rocks to eat. His competence has ensured the health and safety of his people. Meeting their demands of growth without destroying their economy. Sometimes at the cost of planetary neighbors.

The problem is that he is not alone, there have been other intelligent lifeforms in the system. Kirlians found it the hard way in numerous invasions, particularly that of the Stinguere. Which fortunately for every Phlogizenian are hunted down to extinction by Overlord I'khor's purging campaign, it won him the role of supreme leader. The lesser intelligent races are given option to co-opt or to be left alone.

Competing neighbours come and go, but they do appear on a regular bases. Some are hostile, and are either annexed or annihilated. In most cases I'khor prefers to add their ranks to his own, bolstering the might of the cosmic reach. However there are other cases where there is simply too much difficulty and they must be erased.

Most of the life forms he'd encountered tend to be intelligent. Every now and then there are semi-intelligent or nonintelligent species that are somewhat able to enter spaceflight and can maintain a minimal level or organization to build empires. Other times he's met with intelligent species that cannot be communicated with.

Despite his looks I'khor prefers to end disputes with negotiations rather than to fight, since reducing populated galaxies into space dust sets a bad precedent for future leaders. He stood as a role model for the youth, existing for the prosperity for the Kirlian race. The Emperor developed systems for handling communications with other empires, utilising them to the fullest extent. He would even notify someone he is on the verge of setting an extermination campaign for.

He gained rank through power, that power is back by espionage and cover operations. Spy killing and deployment is his forte, wars often begin when terrorists are traced back to its empire of origin. Good Intelligence prevents military disasters, sabotage is much simpler then defeating them in battle. He has taken the practice of lifting weapons from other empires that are intended to be used against his people.

As the emperor he worries less about 'superheroes' and more on politics, assassinations, space battles, space gods and alien armadas clashing amid exploding stars, interdimensional invasions and plots encompassing the entire universe.

To him victory isn’t necessarily winning every battle, as he can win by economy, diplomacy, or by technological victory.

Abilities:

• Macro-Ergokinesis, he is fond of using Planck Energy and Absolute Hot
• damage resistance or damage reduction
• some level of super strength,
• advanced sensory awareness,
• flight or super-fast movement,
• increased damage output,
• increased damage resistance or outright invulnerability (basically proof against nearly all attacks; you can knock him down but never out),
• advanced mental ability such as telepathy or mental domination.

Selfer 'red god', Proemial God of Violence and Damnation. It is a mysterious Kirlian deity of whom much has been speculated but little can be said. It is indicated he was a dark and cursed god, but it is questionable how important he really was to ancient Kirlians.

The Red God is apparently of a supernatural nature. It can appear at sites of intense hatred. It generates fear and hatred in others, or feeds on the fear and hatred it finds in others. It is also possible that it possesses greater power to harm an individual in the grips of fear.

It can vanish, to parts unknown, at will.

Name: Arthur Ray

Height: 6’6”

Weight: 640lbs

Real Name: Adamantellum

Origins: Born in a cave in Phlogizein, Plasmic Ocean [Progenitor]

Home Base: Earth

A 'Type 0' sent to earth to help progress and ensure that the planet is capable for intergalactic trade in the long run.

He sees himself as necessary evil at times, manipulates government officials towards violent ends. He will back one person as long as that person serves his ends, but when that person (or regime) is no longer of use he will then manipulate things to ensure that the turnover to the next government is as violent as possible. He is opposed to messages of peace and the sanctity of life. He has allies within many governments, including the U.S.

Ultimately his goal is to break all borders and unify the planet.

Abilities:

• Astrakinesis; his lightning bolts can do odd things like tie up foes while shocking them. He could also fly by turning the lower half of his body into a lightning bolt.
• His limitless wealth allows him access to any number of weapons; legal or not.

Lifeforms

Gloeien. One of the aforementioned intelligent lifeforms that cannot be communicated with, from the dawn of time on Phlogistein these crystalline beings have aroused splendour, It is said during the dark age of Selfer these beings along with the Big Flow are the ones who cast away the malevolent being. It's glow was 'magical' in the eyes of Kirlian civilization. Like the Big Flow, it existed long before he Precursors and the first Kirlian life.

reality shift (ree al' i tee shift), n. 1. the manifestation of objects appearing, disappearing, transforming and transporting. 2. changes in the way we experience time. 3. any sudden, abrupt alteration of physical reality with no apparent physical cause. 4. the source of synchronicity.

Every kirlian knows to leave them alone because the majestic creatures can induce reality shifts, which are happening around them all the time, even though they usually don't notice them occurring. By intending to witness reality shifts and paying even more attention to their physical surroundings than usual, they will increase the chances of seeing reality shifts occur right in front of them.

There are a variety of ways that Kirlians observe and describe reality shifts, and while the "vanishing/reappearing item" type of reality shift is perhaps the most commonly discussed, some other commonly reported types of reality shifts include: Individuals being noticed to be alive again who had been dead, injuries and illnesses vanishing (such as broken bones, cuts, blisters, tumors), loops in time (in which the exact same sequence of events repeats), time overlaps (in which a person interacts with someone from the past or future), great distances being covered in very short amounts of time, traffic lights and weather changing instantaneously in tandem with one's thoughts, spoon bending with one's thoughts, broken things being whole and fully functional without being repaired, empty containers (including gas tanks) being full without being refilled, money appearing in a wallet, food appearing on the counter, shelves and in the refrigerator (sometimes audibly), lights being flipped on or off without switches being touched, changing something from the past (such as the text in an old book), and objects teleporting from one location to another.

They evolved having a limited ability to alter the laws and constants of Physics, reality in general, just to survive. Like e.g. locally alter probability, telekinetic manipulation of energy/matter, locally slow down time, ability to sense movement/position of particles, teleportation, manipulate gravity or mass via manipulating gravity or Higgs field, etc. The effects are limited by range, by the length of time, by the way it is projected, by uses etc. These creatures develop in another dimension.

Not a hellish death world, but a utopian Tibetan temple planet, and where the creatures living there naturally evolve Buddhism and the highest form of organism naturally attains nirvana. With such a perfect world, the sentient species that evolved there no longer need to waste time on such petty concerns such as killing things for food, and instead they spend their days meditating on the true nature of reality and the composition of the cosmic ether.

As the eons pass by, they develop a greater awareness that transcends the limitations of the material world, enabling them to see the very strands of fate that bind all of us to the destiny of the universe. After spending one hundred thousand years in contemplation of the inconceivable trans-yuggothian vibrations they behold in the maw of that great void, they develop the esoteric abilities to strum these chords and manipulate the very music of the spheres - adding their own chorus to the eternal symphony.

Military

Kirlians pride themselves on their long range firepower and superb flight mobility.

Type Zero: Sent down as 'demons'

Otherwise known as 'superpowers' by hominids, they are given classification as they are capable of harnessing 10^6-10^16w of energy. Not enough to shake planets but sufficient to put stubborn continents back into place, they serve as an important part of the subjugation force. Dropped into planets in groups of three to maximize performance. In general they are able to dish out damage surpassing nuclear weaponry, harnessing fission and fusion is a must.

Attacks are started by shutting down all of the digital technology within the area to shut down communications.

Type One: Sent down as a prophet or a harbinger of doom.

Once it arrives, the Type alone can inflict a fair amount of damage. If 10% of its mass is antimatter for energizing weaponry, more than 1024 watt-seconds can be visited upon the unfortunate infidels. This is enough energy to (1) vaporize the top few meters of Earth’s entire surface, (2) excavate a giant crater 100 kilometers wide and 50 kilometers deep, or (3) slice Earth like a grapefruit, clean in two along the equator, by burning a trench a couple of meters wide clear through.

Yes, they can blow up a planet with energy: all they have to do is supply enough power to overcome the binding energy of said planet (the force keeping it together), otherwise gravity just pulls it all back together. Planetary scale mining is also a trivial thing for them, asteroid mining is casual.

Attacks are started by weakening transportation, particularly the nullification of airborne or spacefaring methods. Effectively taking away their wings, or means of escape.

Type Two: Sent down as a solar deus.

Once a scientist from a hominid world discovered an x-ray flare from a star as it ripped into a planet, known as Stinguere which received three million times as many x-rays as earth received during a solar flare. 900 tonnes of gas got ejected fromt he atmosphere per second at the speed of more than 482,803 kn/h, destroying the atmosphere and leaving the planet barren like mercury.

A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Type 2. Cosmic beings are to superheroes what superheroes are to mortals. The cosmic being has powers greater than those of a mutant, or else has more powers. Starlifting, or mining stars for minerals is one of their given tasks.

Attacks start with the halting of the solar's rays reaching the orbiting planet, removing the warmth. Or they can shift the planet out of the Goldilocks zone.

Type Three: ???

N/A

Aithein

“There ain’t no stealth in space”

The Aithein is armed with a number of turrets which are somehow able to automatically lock onto enemy ships without accidentally shooting friendly ones. There are specialized 'firebrand' armaments where solar shells [caged suns] are agitated by ergokinetic inducement to 'cook' them as they are kept inside stasis fields. Once stasis fields are turned 'off' then the wink bomb explodes as a supernova. It is used in full automatic as 'solar-chains' when things get really nasty.

This warship is often used as a last resort when war is inevitable, or when a galactic empire poses as threat to Overlord I'Khor's rule.

Ignire

Gamma-rays, usually cosmic, penetrate the brain. This causes DNA damage and the victim's own cells attempt to repair themselves. Unfortunately, this normally beneficial process excises many non-essential genes and causes programmed cell death in others. The most protected cells, which are responsible for basal function, are selected for and begin to repopulate the damaged areas of the brain. Because their rapidly developing brains are more susceptible to radiation, children tend to be more prone to gamma radiation-induced zombie metamorphosis than adults.

There were a family of four on the way to Mars when they were clobbered with radiation back in 1961. The result? superpowers. Zombies hail from outer space too. The space vehicle which orbited Venus and then was purposely destroyed by NASA, when scientists discovered it was carrying a mysterious, high-level radiation enough to cause mutations. Superheroes are from Mars, zombies are from Venus. The radiation is the same. And though in one case it bestows freakish superpowers and the other it animates flesh-devouring corpses.

With great radiation comes great in-fighting.

They had the heroes argue amongst themselves. They didn’t always get along well. The radiation has the same effect on the survivors. At least one pair of survivors will be battling not the dead but each other.

Diluere

A weaponized part of the Plasmic Ocean, as the original serves as a primordial soup the variation is able to transform into a new species rapidly. Shortening the process into days or even breaking it down into hours. Exposure to temperature extremes like flame of combustion will multiply their size.

Diluere is deployed by a meteorite, to mimic the seeding of Phlogizein by the Precursors. Then the microbes takes the first step to become multicellular organisms, inevitably generating habitats and ecosystems within immediate presence. Starting from insects, eventually moving on to hominids and replacing the indigenous life.

Used if the planet is deemed unfit for 'ascension' by Type 2, a great flood will be called in to wash away the abominations that reside on the land.

After aeons of years of expansion, the Kirlians switched to Industry. They constantly need to re-establish and maintain their complex webways and they no longer had the luxury to conquer without thinking of universal retaliation. So they used proxy armies conscripted from planets that they had already conqured as invasion forces.

A new strategy was needed. Selected agents on the Stellar Conquering Committee were tasked with preparing suitable solar systems for 'Ascension' into the Galactic Reach. These vanguards were sent on Millenia long missions to the targeted sol system where they would study the inhabitants, upgrade the defenses, and prepare the natives for the coming ascension.

CVnU Earth

TL;DR

An advanced and ancient race of aliens has explored and claimed other galaxies. They are powerful creatures, and they traverse among the stars like gods. Only Earths insignificance has preventing them from visiting us previously. The last time they came to Earth, we were unintelligent ape-like creatures and the Earth had little value.

Their only interest is in the Earth’s oceans. Staying in touch in exchange for cultural knowledge.

Rules

1. This is a Faction Thread for the CVnU, locations mentioned above can be used for entry [notify first]
2. No godmodding
3. You can destroy some minor landscape, designated areas and etc. but NO busting in 'key' areas [go bust a colony you scamp]
4. Anyone can visit the Archipallium, permission needed for Phlogizein and the Aithein.
5. Mount a siege at will, but discuss first
6. The Plasmic Ocean will stay as the Plasmic Ocean
7. You may use the Galactic Reach as a trading hub or access the webways for fast transport (pm first)
8. Given the nature of some events, Overlord I'Khor may be busy with paperwork.
9. Arrival by commercial spaceship is fine, other means of transport is okay as well.
10. Connection or membership with a space faction will involve meeting Overlord I'Khor
11. Extreme prejudice to technomancers