Terminus Universe : The Black Age

(Related by Xavus III, grandson of the last surviving Minister of History of the Royal Dynasty of Terminus, a.k.a The Terminus Imperium.)

In the past, before your grandfather's grandfather set foot upon the ground of his homeworld, the Terminus Imperium controlled all that is known space and beyond. Since time immemoriable, the Royal Dynasty of Terminus has ruled this region of space and all prospered under their benevolent rule. Peace was forged with neighboring powers, trade routes opened and maintained, and pirate clans subdued. It was a time of riches and wealth, of excess and pleasure, and all citizens of the Imperium would benefit from the state's influence and power.

Nothing lasts forever. Power breeds jealousy, wealth breeds poverty, and peace breeds war. History has proven this again and again, from the dawn of history and throught the present day. You can see the evidence in the 'empires' of today; even those Ministries that formed to fight such petty ideals have themselves fallen into this dank pit of dispair.

The Ministry of History can trace the current strife to two princes, Grigori II and Alven IV, sons of the Emperor Hacitus. Hacitus, while a brilliant statesman and capable general, was never the picture of health. He ruled for scarcely 2 decades before his untimely death from a plague of still unknown origin. This placed Grigori and Alven in the position to prove their worth in the Rite of the Rising Star, as it was the traditional method for choosing an emperor in that day. Alven won that day, but under dubious circumstances; The 'plague' which killed Hacitus had also infected Grigori, and many rumors of poisoning skittered through the empire. Sides were chosen. Skirmishes started and quickly scaled to strategic fleet battles. Yet the law stood on Alven's side, despite any rumors, and eventually, victory was his. Grigori was exiled to deep space with his followers, and a short peace came over the Imperium. It was not to last.

Alven's first order of business as emperor was to appoint his generals to positions of power; many Ministries had their entire structures ripped from them, only to be replaced with new and inexperienced citizens. One such appointment was General Yrtek as the Minister of War. Yrtek, while a capable general in battle, lacked the necessary skills for dealing with people outside the military structure, and thus relied upon advisors to handle such duties.

Nobody is positive about the exact time, but quickly after Alven assumed the throne, dissidents within the Ministry of War began feeding tactical data to the powerful pirate clans (which have since banded together to form the CMC.) Given this data, the pirate clans were able to infiltrate much of the Imperium's territory unnoticed, and with the assistance of their comrades in the Ministry of War, a full-scale rebellion was initiated. Many figureheads of power, including Alven himself, were slain within the first few days of the rebellion. Of the people in power, only the Ministers of Internal Security and Commerce were spared since they were negotiating with independent planets at the outskirts of the Imperium's territory.

Rebellion spreads like wildfire. The Ministers of Internal Security quickly organized their fleet, and the ships of the Ministry of Commerce were fitted for war, but these ships were no match for the large fleets of the pirate clans and the Ministry of War. For the next several years, both sides threw everything they had at their enemies, including the dreaded Spacial Fragmentation weapons, capable of collapsing and folding space itself to annihilate anything caught in their wake. We can see the affects of these weapons today; they are responsible for the wormholes throughout this cluster. Such devastation cost innumerable resources, until both sides no longer had the capability to wage war. Thus, the Black Age, the age we live in, began.

Now, all three of the remaining ministries and the pirate clans are fighting minor battles over resources, committing as much energy and material to the war effort that they possibly can. The pirate clans, now banded together under the banner of the Chaos Makers Clan, slowly bleed the resources of the other powers: Warrior Fleet Galaxia (formerly the Ministry of War,) the Trader's Guild of the Imperium (formerly the Ministry of Commerce,) and the Peace Keeper's Union (formerly the Ministry of Internal Security.)

Do not think that our neighbors do not know this; the Borg Collective is interested in the celestial phenomena of this region of space (caused by the spacefolding weapons,) and they would have overrun this cluster had the immense fleet of the New Imperium (descendents of Grigori II coming to reclaim their rightful place as rulers of this cluster) not been in their path to offer stiff resistence. Fortunately for us, these two major powers in this region of space are intent upon destroying one another and have little time or resources to expend conquering US. I hope I do not live to see the day that one of these forces is victorious in deep space; surely there is no happiness that can follow for the people of this cluster, who are traitors to the throne according to the New Imperium, and raw biomatter for the Borg.