A Brief(-ish) History of the Empire

Created by Captain Allison DeBries on Sat Jan 27th, 2024 @ 9:50am

The birth of the Terran Empire dated back to the mid 21st Century. After the Third World War, Earth was in shambles. It's people scared, factions already back at each other’s throats. Then, they came.

The truth has been lost to myth, rumour, and lies. Were the Vulcans simply exploring, and detected the first Warp Signature? Or did they seek out Earth, weakened as it was? Whatever the truth, the people of Earth would not allow themselves to be conquered.

The Vulcan ship was stripped, and the technology seized, for exploitation of those who held it. Word quickly spread, and North America rallied, defending its newfound means of protecting itself.

The months turned into years, the years into decades, and as Earth was still climbing out of the darkness of post-WW3, it happened.

North America, under the rule of a belligerent, and dictatorial madman, launched attacks across the world at the same time. London, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo.

The new Technologies provided by the Vulcan ship allowed the North American coalition to seize control of the world. Within days, most major capital cities were under total military lockdown, and national leaders had been assassinated. The world was finally at peace, under tyrannical rule.

The first Emperor of Mankind was not satisfied. The planet was conquered. Yet the threats remained. The Emperor's gaze turned to the stars.

By the mid 2100s Earth had secured the Solar system. Early Warp vessels, armed and armoured, patrolled the region. The Imperial Fleet, now a space-based unified military, held control of protecting the Empire from external threats. This was the Sword of the Empire.

On Earth, the Emperor and his closest advisers sought to protect themselves from internal threats. The Terran Intelligence Agency, unofficially known as the Shield of Terra, was given the mandate to seek out political threat, to protect the planet Earth, and keep the Empire from falling.

Such a mandate was taken to heart, and while the Fleet and the Agency - the sword and shield of the Empire - clashed at times, each resenting and distrusting the other, the Empire continued to expand.

The almost brutal force of the Fleet allowed many systems to be easily swallowed into the political and economic influence of the Empire. Vulcan was among the first, having been targeted for its perceived invasion of Earth. Andor, Tellar, Rigel. More systems fell under the sheer weight of the advancing fleet.

The years passed. Threats came, and went. One Emperor fell, another rose to power, and the Empire continued on.

The aggressive expansion of the Empire led to first contact with the Romulans. A brutal campaign was fought, both Terran and Romulan ships engaging in battle. The Terran Intelligence Agency clashed with the Romulan Tal Shiar.

The intelligence officers of the First - foreign - Principle Department were ever the equal of the slinking Romulans, and countered the plots.

Eventually, a modus vivendi was achieved, and a border drawn. The terms were unpleasant to both sides, but the practicality of preserving their militaries was apparent to both sides.

The peace was not an easy one, and both sides continually engaged in brushfires. The withdrawal of the Imperial Fleet from the border in the early to mid 2490s did not aid matters, and the Romulans have been slowly creeping, strategically enveloping systems that are uninhabited.

It wasn't long after contact was made with the Romulans that the Empire came across the biggest thorn in its side, the Klingon Empire.

A culture built upon in-fighting as much as the Terrans, each saw something of themselves in the other. A mutual respect built up among the rank-and-file, even as the two nations battled for control of contested systems.

The Gorn, and Orions often helped tip the scales in the favour of the Klingons, though the TIA was able to use the often turbulent alliance, and keep the faction fighting amongst itself.

That methodology has continued, with the Agency keeping the Romulans and Klingons snapping at each other, as well as the Klingon houses at each other's throats, and less interested in the Terran Empire as a whole.

One of the easier threats to tackle in recent times has been the Cardassians. A mismanaged, and deeply unstable society, the Cardassians relied heavily on might, rather than anything else. Their need for commerce trading to maintain their society though allowed the Empire's control over the Ferengi Commerce Alliance to essentially starve the Cardassians into submission.

It was in the mid to late 2280s that the Empire saw a fundamental shift in its identity. The Emperor - a line of sadistic, ruthless, and to some, insane rulers - had not ruled alone. A council of adviser's had been brought into being slowly, as the need arose for a trusted few to have their personal domains, and report to the Emperor.

These advisors, the Lords of Terra, had grown frustrated with the unpredictable whims of their ruler. For the first time the Director-General of the Terran Intelligence Agency, and the Marshal of the Imperial Military had plotted, not against one another, but together.

Publicly, and among their peers, they kept up the act of alley cats fighting over a perch. Privately, the plan began to unfold. It took almost five years. Trusted people being maneuvered into place. Finally, in the year of 2293, the assassination of the Emperor of Terra… failed.

What followed wasn't so much of a civil war, as simply a revolt. Having seen the Emperor come so close to death, and realising the possibilities, the Lords of Terra quickly turned on him.

Seeing no way out, the Emperor fled, using what allies remained to go into hiding. Resources, and people he could trust were few and far between. Yet the Emperor found a hole to hide within, and waited.

The Lords of Terra, now free of their cruel and capricious ruler, simply continued on. Among themselves, they already had control over the critical aspects of the Empire. It was simply a matter of continuing as they had. Only this time, they were the masters of their own destiny, and a new era began. An era of paranoia.

With the loss of their common enemy, Marshal Marcus Alexei Nikolayev, and Director-General Lucinda Charleston turned once again to each other. Charleston, and the TIA despised the near total autonomy of the Imperial Military. The Third Principle Department, liaison Intelligence Offices with the Imperial Military, were more often than not treated with disdain, and their analyses often ignored.

By the 2320s, it was clear that the pot was going to boil over, and the only question was when, and what would be the excuse.

Information on a Tellarite dissident movement, and an immediate terrorist plot came to the attention of the Agency. Lacking available assets close enough to take action, the information was relayed to nearby Fleet units. This information was looked at, and filed away, as the units in question were undertaking critical wargame exercises.

The bombing of the Senate building on Tellar in 2331 resulted in the deaths of 153, and the injuring of 86.

The political fall-out was a sight to behold. The current DG of the Agency was barely able to keep their head attached, unveiling all the action messages, and warnings that had been sent to Fleet units in the area.

Marshal Fitzharris was immediately relieved of his position, and placed under arrest for gross negligence that resulted in the terrorist attack. Seeing the chance, Director-General O'Hare set out a proposal to the Lords of Terra, an initiative to ensure that nothing like the disaster they had faced would happen again.

The Imperial Military was thusly placed under direct political oversight of the Terran Intelligence Agency. The officers of the Third Principle Department were to double as Political Officers, to oversee the operation of military units, and ensure the political safety and integrity of the Empire was being adhered to.

The Sword, and the Shield would now work as one.

The Military chafed under such oversight. Unit commanders now had to share their commands, with a pompous, arrogant, unqualified, politically connected, paramilitary spy. For their part, the Political Officers had to put up with the sneering, condescending, brash officers who thought that more troops, and more ships were the only way to secure the Empire.

It was not a comfortable situation for anyone. It was a situation that would, ultimately, lead to a disaster far greater than the one that had started it.

Slowly, over time, the “old guard” of officers who had been forced to adjust to the new state of things became the minority. As the years went on, officers retired, were promoted, or were lost in duty. With each successive year, the Imperial War College sent a new class of Ensigns into the fleet. Fresh, young faces who had only known the current state of affairs.

By the 2350s, the friction between the Military, and the Intelligence Agency had worn away.

While polite, the two organisations were never friendly. This was most evident aboard the ships of the Fleet. Each one, no matter its size, or class, had a Political Officer aboard, a permanent member of the crew, equal in rank to that of the Executive Officer.

Free to sit in on any staff meeting, and offer input, the Political Officers enjoyed their broad freedom, while the Captain's - always reminded of Party Doctrine - were forced to endure such interruptions.

The Empire settled, as much as the Empire ever could.over the coming decades, as Officers came and went, the rough edges eroded, allowing a less fractious exchange of information.

One thing that will forever be a mystery is who, if anyone, saw it coming.

Security on the planet Earth was solely the responsibility of the Inteligence Agency’s Fifth Principle Department. For all its size, for all it heard, for all it could do, the Agency had allowed itself to become blind to what was happening at home. No one would dare rise up on Earth. No one would dare challenge the great system that had risen to proclaim the political mantra “humana excellentia” - “human excellence.”

Yet someone did. How, why, what the purpose was, no one knows. In the year 2388l, the great planet Earth broke.

It only took hours. The mantle splintered. Super-heated liquid from the Earth’s core began to rise to the surface. The crust quite simply shattered like a plate glass window. The absolute number of lives lost in the chaos is still unknown, seven years later. Over 10 Billion is all anyone has ever been willing to state, officially.

Following the shocking events of what has become known as The Shattering, the forces of the Empire were immediately pulled back, creating an even tighter grip on the systems within the Empire’s Core. Everyone connected with the protection of Earth scrambled to try and either flee, or cover their backside. The blood-shed that followed from the political fall-out was unlike anything that had been seen.

Eventually, cooler heads managed to prevail. It had taken over half a decade, but in the year 2395, with Earth still an uninhabitable ruin, the Terran Empire is once more ready to expand into the Galaxy, and reconquer what may have been lost.