Star Realms

Story

Many centuries ago, the human race began colonizing worlds other than Earth. The exploding population and international hunger for the untapped resources of new worlds led to the rapid expansion of humanity beyond Earth's solar system into the rest of the galaxy. The attractiveness of potential colony worlds varied greatly depending on location, natural resources, atmosphere, size, etc. Not surprisingly, this led to tensions and even conflicts between interested parties, whether they were nations, corporations, or other organizations. This led to the militarization of human space. Faced with vast distances and changing political landscapes and interests, many colonial governments changed. Some switched allegiances based on common concerns or interests, while many formed independent governments. Of course, the driving forces behind most of these changes were the same as always: money and security. Those with enough money formed organized space fleets, initially for protection and to influence each other. Then came the blobs. It is not clear what first attracted the hostile attention of these mysterious aliens, but most historians agree that the uninterrupted expansion of human space, presumably toward Blob territory, was the trigger. Little was known about the Blobs' organization and political structure at the time, but they clearly had a common goal as far as humanity was concerned. Unfortunately, humanity was not prepared to face a major external threat like the Blobs in a united way. First contact with the Blobs involved several of humanity's outer colonies being wiped out by fleets of mysterious organic-looking ships equipped with weapons far superior to those of the fledgling regional human space fleets. Various colony worlds and political entities sought protection and aid from their more powerful and better equipped trading partners on the core human worlds, but were disappointed. The great distances involved, long-standing political differences, and short-sighted corporate greed resulted in little assistance from the core worlds, which were now ruled by a single corporate empire more concerned with profit than human life. While news of the alien threat led to further escalation and expansion of the core worlds' space military, little to none of it was sent to support the outer worlds that were most threatened by the blob attacks. At this time, the rise of a planetary administrator turned warlord began: Pierre Martine. Martine had already organized one of the largest and most advanced space fleets in the outer colonies, but his rise to power came to a dramatic head with the arrival of the blob threat. Smaller colonies quickly swore allegiance to Martine and in return secured a common defense against the Blobs. While independent outer colonies continued to be wiped out by the silent and brutal Blobs, worlds protected by the fleets of Martine's rapidly expanding space fleet were largely spared the dreaded alien ships. This only intensified the onslaught against Martine and his rapidly expanding empire. Soon, more than a third of human space was under his "protection," which he formed into the "Star Empire" with the announcement that he would assume the title of Emperor Martine. In just a few decades, Martine became the sole ruler of far more territories and subjects than anyone else in human history. The Star Empire continued as a unified empire under his eldest son, Lucien. Pierre Martine was a brilliant administrator and strategist as well as a long-term thinker. He balanced the needs of the various worlds under his control while ensuring that the governors of his planets understood that they owed him absolute loyalty and allegiance. He raised Lucien with an understanding of the principles and strategies needed to keep the Empire intact and even thriving, if not expanding further. Rather than wait for his death to leave the question of leadership in uncertainty, Pierre preferred to retire when he felt Lucien was ready to rule, thus ensuring a smooth transition. While the outer worlds of humanity were all ruled by a single person, the government of the core worlds was quite different. What began as an alliance of Earth nations attempting to colonize space was quickly replaced by an alliance of wealthy corporations as nations were no longer able to finance rapid expansion into the galaxy. In space, the naval and economic power of the corporations quickly surpassed and replaced that of the former political entities on Earth. Without a political entity powerful enough to stop mergers and monopolies in space, these corporations eventually formed a unified corporate empire that controlled most of human space. This was called the Trade Federation. For many decades, human historians saw the galaxy as completely divided.