- Edited
The Second Tau Empire
The Second Tau Empie is a group of humanoid beings that rebelled against the ISC, and are now free from their Human overlords.
A map of Tau-A1, a few years before it's destruction
Tau-A1 was much larger than earth, and to the very end was split into many different factions.
It's central regions being made up of mainly desert, such as the great Empty, a place that remained un colonized to the end.
The many different Empires and Democracies had vastly different technology, some still using gurrela warfare coupled with the simple Bow and arrow, all the way up to Using Vast mobile vehicle based towns, to cross landscapes like the Great Empty.
The Desert region's remained cut off from the rest of the planet for millenia, to this day, the only land bridge being all the way up in the forrested Dart Place, due to the enormous flowing rivers seperatting the desert's from the Northern forrests and Vast Green Plains.
Two Medium sized Islands once Split off from the rest of the landmasses, housing Stella Insula "Star Island", and Harenae "Sand".
Alongside these islands, Two larger landmasses formed, Housing Usque oceanum Terras far ocean land, and the Magna Terra Libertas great land of liberty
The Empire of the Sun And Magnum Quattor great four, have been at war for around 200 years over control of the Three Great mountains, scince the treaty 47 years ago, the Mountains have become a De-Millitarized Zone.
Around 1273 Years ago, a paper was signed by all major powers, to "even out the land" leading to the much straighter borders, and overall a much cheaper border defence for everyone, the only land that has remained un-Touched is The Great Empty, as it is just Vast Desert.
Two ice sheets Encompass the flattened map of Tau, but in reallity would form a Circle on the poles of the Globe.
Lore
CHAPTER -1, I'm sorry Akio
The Anhysbys had existed for around twelve million years by this point, and Nadsat knew this. He was not concerned about the age of his species, no, he was intrested in its future. The great technological stagnation they entered almost six million years ago was wrong. He was the oldest, he had to do something about it. And so, he bestowed upon the oldest clan a great gift, interdimensional stable wormhole generator devices, he knew however, they would not use these themselves, they needed a destination he could point them towards. He checked his List of dimensions. A-2536, no. Echo-verse, no we already hold that one, The forumverse, hmm. Certainly worthh checking out.
This... Forumverse is currently 13.788 billion years old... I can wait.
8 million years pass
Being so early, no one would notice the megastructure being constructed by unidentified aliens in a small, easy to defend Nebula, nor would they notice its terraforming into a glorious planet.
With huge trees, glowing a bright blue from the strange psionic energy they emit.
Nor would the civilizations that did exist, know that something was watching them.
Waiting for their trap to succeed.
It was only a matter of time.
A long... long time...
CHAPTER 1, I stand with pride
The Tau people on Tau a3 once looked up to the sky, and saw a light. A blinding, burning flash, then nothing.
People in orbit of Tau a3 looked on, as a light shredded the atmosphere, burning everything on the planet More here .
Seconds later, hundreds of ships warped in, they knew what was happening, and realised the true scale of this war they heard about on the galnews network. Ships where scrambled from the sole station in orbit. They didn't stand a chance, but. The hopes that their children could see peace again forced them to fight, civil, military and even some mining ships faced the oncoming fleet. Their pleas for mercy being met only with static. Until the static was broken.
Game over.
The words made even the most stern of captains falter. It was the end.
warp detected
A huge ship fell through ftl still going ludicrously fast. The ship was the pride. The largest ship ever to be built by the Tau-Empire. The ship smashed through ship after ship, but soon came to a halt. Her captain Graham ordered all ships to leave and regroup at Tau-A1, the capital, as a world-ship was due to arrive to rescue them.
Only a few ships left.
The rest, both military or civilian used the confusion the pride had caused to take out a few ships. But it was not enough. Within an hour losses had mounted to breaking point. The pride was heavily damaged, so a final manoeuvre was carried out by graham. A ram More detail in this post, then Ftl away and later regroup.
The civil and military ships where all gone by this time, some falling towards the scorched planet, others left drifting in space with their crew all dead.
All however, shared one thing
Pride
CHAPTER 2, these are the voyages of the Tau worldship...
The voyager, words rarely spoken now, yet once it meant so much.
Sirens wailed from every direction, the single space elevator on Tau-A1 proved a issue for evacuating 8 Billion people thought the commanding officer in the lift.
He wasn't wrong.
Around an hour earlier the world-ship Voyager arrived in system and deployed multiple "continent ships" to pick up refugees. Although they couldn't land on any other planet, which proved a problem, so it stationed itself in orbit instead.
However now problems where arising, the space elevator was being overused, and not enough ships where present to evacuate enough people. With the Hypatien Republic ships closing in on the planet. Drastic measures would be needed. And so the order was given. Glass all unimportant planets, of course it would not be known by the public until now that it was the voyager destroying planets.
This slowed their advances, due to increased radiation affecting their FTL drives.
Around this time, Grace, the leader of a rebellion group wanting to go back to a democracy, shot and killed the Emperor. This marked the end of the empire, and while Grace scrambled to communicate this to the Hypatiens, the Voyager charged its drives.
Evacuation complete
CHAPTER 3, The kind folk of the galaxy
CRASH. BANG
Maybe the voyager warping without telling anyone was not the smartest idea. But it was of no consequence in the long run. The plan was clear. Warp a few more times, then accelerate out of the galactic plane, then use the single warp gate to send people back and forth More here.
This was when Wade Grady realised the weight of this, and decided to use the inactive news station to broadcast a meeting point in orbit, So anyone who wanted to stay could do so. This was perfectly timed (by sheer coincidence) to the kind donation of many GoCo ships, which allowed many civilians, around 16 million to meet up and discuss warping to a nearby system to set up shop.
At this moment, multiple hostile vessels warped in, starting to charge at the ships, when yet again, The pride came to the rescue, however, instead of fight, Graham ordered all crew eject towards the voyager, and he would overload the FTL, and warp the hostile ships (including the pride) to a random place in the galaxy.
This act of chivalry bought Wade's ships enough time to plot a jumps to xc-6235, or the soon to be renamed New Tau, some however jumped to both the x-8872 and x-7509 systems, most refuges ending up on the world of x-7509-2 some way or another.
CHAPTER 4, peace in our time
Months have passed since the voyager, vast cities have been constructed, alongside a shipyard-moon
Great companies have been founded, Deserthut, apex mining, to name two.
Yet, something feels out of place.
23/03/2080:
A rift seemed to gracefully open up beside x-7509-2, the new capital.
It caught everyone's gaze, although some fearful of another planet destroyer ran to hide.
Through the rift came three ships, a cruiser and two smaller ships.
Immediately they realised who it was.
the remnant
The ships landed beside the newly constructed ISC HQ, and out came a figure dressed in a jet black robe decorated with various medals. Out from the HQ came one of the main governor for the planet, he had been being given a tour of the facility while the head of the ISC explained how his planets money would pay for their protection.
"what do you want" said the Governor in a unusually stern tone for a man as soft as him, but the remnant's presence meant only bad things for the United Coalition of planets.
"I wish to sign a peace treaty. There will be no civil war between Tau people."
"no"
The remnant leader had an expression of shock on his face, unfitting for someone so aggressively dressed.
"excuse me, but did I hear a no?"
"you know what I said, now leave."
"please we really need resour..."
"I know what you need, but you see.." said the governor pulling a cigar from seemingly thin air." from someone other than grace being here to greet me, I know there has already been a civil war on the voyager."
"well yes bu..."
"you know what, ill accept your proposal on one condition."
"and what is this condition" the man was now visibly sweating.
"you disarm your nation and hand control of the voyager over to the UPC"
"that can be done" the man was now visibly disappointed.
The governor turned and walked back towards the ISC leader, Wade.
"wade I want defensive platforms built around that rift. And I need it done asap."
"it will be done."
30/03/2018:
20/04/2018:
GLOBALCLOUD NEWS:
Tonight an ISC ship The Seeker was sent to investigate an anomaly in a unknown system, the captain had this to say.
We entered the system at some time in the night in terms of time on our home, and saw a large star, we Uhhh, met these people (@Sombreroman here ) there, and err. Had some drinks yes that was it!, turns out there was nothing there at all! So we just spoke about.... ah the new Insectoid species we now allow to join the ISC! Yes that and err, how we all have so much in common, or something.
Clearly, he does not want to remind everyone of their past
The takeover of the ISC
on the 22/04/3033 the (almost) entirety of the Tau-A1 species planned for a rebellion the following day, the plan was as follows:
step 1: attack ISC forces stationed by the dyson sphere and jam communications to bait Surgeon ships into attacking the ISC.
step 2: assist the surgeons in destroying the ISC while having planetary citizens rebel against their human leaders
step 3: begin the new empire.
this did not go entirely to plan, and instead the surgeons managed to communicate with the ISC ships and cooperate. However Graham was dead, so the ISC had fallen.
Renaming the TSC to become the Empire
tonight, the temporary Tau Species Coalition has been superceded by the Second-Tau-Empire, led by Empress [REDACTED], tommorow, a cerimony will be held, where the newly made Flagship will be unveiled
from this point on, the TSC will now become the STE.
A blood red feather
the Feather came with the following note:
WARNING:
Blood red feather is not a toy! Do attempt to use blood red feather for any tasks it was not designed for. Blood red feather may have the following effects:
- Increased demonic presence
- Summoning of creatures
- @mentions of demonic presences
@jbox1 is not responsible for any effects that the blood red feather may cause. Nor do we know how to destroy it, so it’s really the problem of whoever owns it.
[19/05/2018:] So far, it has caused her to tie it close around her neck, and become slightly parranoid whenever someone mentions the Feather (Here) . It also caused her to hear faint whispers...
[11/08/2018]:
THE END OF AN ERA
And the beginning of another
Today, at 1am local time, the procession across New Tau came to an end.
Over 7 Billion people came from across the STE to view the event.
And almost all 18 Billion Tau's watched from across the cosmos.
The procession started at smallfield, and went on a journey across the surface to the outskirts of Steltin.
There, a graveyard able to house the 700, alongside a memorial wall for 30,000 has been built.
Along the way, the procession visited many towns, cities, and landmarks.
Vast plains, a microscopic desert, and the beginnings of a space elevator to name a few.
Thousands of civil spacecraft touched down over the past few days, and many stayed up in the air to follow the procession.
Tiark co. Have announced a new ship to memorialize this day.
At the moment, only prototypes exist.
It will be the biggest they have made, and will be a great addition to their already produced ships.
The STE navy have announced many changes too.
Namely reducing crew count to a minimum, now only two crew are present at all times, excluding fighter and shuttle pilots. A new line of ship is also on the way.
As the event came to a close, two Tau's now famous for their part in the rebellion made two speeches today:
"Throughout our history, many different people have used us,
Manipulated us, or even enslaved us to achieve their goals.
Today, we stand on our own two paws, and we look up to those same stars with curiosity.
We stare long into the night, at those just out of reach.
But unlike before, when we would stare hoping for escape,
We now look on in awe, at those stars we where unjustly prevented from visiting.
Once, humans mistook our kindness for weakness.
And now, they do the same.
But this time, they mistake our Empire's size for that same thing.
Those million or so rebels who died for our freedom,
We must not waste the opportunity they have given us."
"The rebellion changed us.
It made us realise we where destined for more than slavery,
We embraced the behaviours we hid from,
and though the sacrifice of our own lives, we emerged victorious.
However, our industriousness must not be forgotten.
We worked hard to produce ships for our captors,
We watched, and learnt how to do it ourselves. And now, we stand here today alone.
For the first time in our history, humans have no direct control over us.
Many of my friends are gone, either from Tau-A1, or the rebellion,
But we must not let this stop us.
We are destined for great things, and our numbers prevent us achieving them...
Or so they say! We have expanded far beyond what others have with hundreds of billions of people,
We must show that we might seem small, we might seem weak.
But you do not pick a fight with a Tau."
Grand admiral Akio also made a speech:
"Our progress has far exceeded that of many entire groups of others out there.
This alone would be enough for most, but we, are not most people.
We are those who defy all expectations, we go and do the things thought impossible.
Not things that may be ground breaking, but things that even huge empires seem to find difficult.
Peace, unity, and civilians being able to contribute.
We may be the first ever to allow for cheap, civilian ships, with an interface and control method even a child could use.
We exist as equals, our rivalries might go on to this day. But us! We as Tau's have survived longer than many others out there.
Us Tau's created the Echo-Drive! We revolutionised easy to use FTL travel.
But most importantly, we are Tau's.
The name Tau was made as an insult, humans thought that we where irrelevant, they named us all Tau's regardless of species to hurt us, they thought it would insult us, a general term for those so unique.
But instead, we wear the name with pride, we may be different, but we are united in a way many others seem to fail to achieve.
Once fallen, once forgotten, now free.
We might not be the first, but we are free.
We are the Second Tau Empire."
The empress herself made a speech from Jarl's hope station:
Today is the end of an Era.
But, we must not look back at the past in sorrow,
We must look to the future with hope, only there lies happiness.
Those who have wronged us in the past...
Would we, be just like them to seek revenge?
Would we be lowering ourselves to a level lower than the deepest oceans?
And most importantly,
What do we gain from doing such a thing?
Nothing,
From now on, we must make the second move.
Only expansion comes first for now,
We defend ourselves and our allies with that same ferocity we held in our paws when we listened to humanity those 500 years ago.
That, was the beginning of the end, and the day we realised that we must stand alone.
We will not let others control us.
As this era comes to an end.
The next one rolls in, what will this new one have in store?
There is only one way to find out.
Progress into it.
We stand united
Appearance
Vastly different from one another, due to a much longer period of pre space age evolution, and slower transition to becoming civilized. And also due to the now dead Tau-A1 being absolutely huge.
Tau-Beings fit into these different categories:
Humanoids:
typically humanoid beings, such as furred and scaled creatures, but not entirely human. Lifespans often shorter than Earth-humans, typically have animal features while keeping a humanoid shape.
Humans:
none remain citizens after the events at the Dyson sphere.
Aquatic:
Almost all gone, due to their reluctance to board the Tau-planetship during the evacuation, but where varied, and often not that human at all, leading to their segregation from most society.
Insectoid:
Owing to the existence of so many different languages on Tau, for an eternity most species thought of them as pests, barbaric and cruel, until one day a "bug" managed to sound enough like intelligent creatures to become "accepted in society", of course, they weren't. The only surviving insectoid race are the Ildirans, four legged creatures around 1+1/3 the size of a human, with a vertical mandible to knock prey off their feet/paws.
Multiple legged:
driven to extinction long ago by other species during tribal ages, not much is remembered about them, other than that they where rather tall, and often could not wear any protective armour, due to their size, which made them strong, but weakly defended large targets, hence becoming extinct.
Others:
during the voyagers trip, various other species where found, but most where very similar to the hundreds of sub-species of the above categories.
Systems Held:
[REDACTED]
Major Corporations:
Apex mining corp, mining corporation, indipendent
Dart corp, ship design and manufacture bureau, owns Dart Core
Cruise Corp, Transport corp, space taxi's all the way up to cruise liners
Deserthut, Planetary construction company, responsible for the Dart Core
Globalcloud, interstellar news broadcaster
Relations:
allies:
[REDACTED]
[REDACTED]Neutral trade:
[REDACTED]Disliked (barred from trade):
TIEHated (comms ban and 0 tolerance to visitors):
[REDACTED]At war:
