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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rhialto" data-source="post: 289881" data-attributes="member: 630">(Note--this universe uses many of the alien races introduced in the Dragon magazine articles, adapted from Star Frontiers and Traveller, albeit often in an altered form.  Also, though the traditional Alternity races are used, their cultures are completely different for the most part.  With that caveat in place, we begin.)A Brief History of the Fraal EmpireThe Glorious Divine Empire of the Fraal was born in struggle and blood over ten thousand years ago.  For centuries, the Fraal Republic had spread out from the solar system that the Fraal called home.  The race had overcome their relatively weak bodies by developing incredible psychic powers.  At its height, the Republic had been a culture of gentile mindwalkers, governed by a chilvarous code of ettiquette.  A hundred explorers, generals and scientists worked to expand the rule of the Fraal.Towards the end of the Republic, this was beginning to change.  Loyalty to the state was being replaced to loyalty to one's own interests, and a love of exploration changed into a love of wealth and exploitation.  Many partisans of what are called "the old virtues" feel the Fraal way of life first began to develop "the taint" when they encountered the Weren.  A bloodthirsty, savage race, prone to leader-worship, the Weren were easily moulded by the Fraal into a loyal soldiery.  With the Weren, a prolific and strong race, the Republic's military was easily able to thwart its age-old rival, the Heisha Autarchy*.  However, Weren soldiers were loyal not to the Republic, but to their commanders, as was shortly proven afterwards by the March of General Kaije, who used his Weren troops to seize the capital, and have himself declared Dictator.Kaije's rule, though harsh, brought a brief respite to the increasingly chaotic Republic.  However, it ended quickly, when, after nearly ten years of rule, Kaije was brutally assassinated.  From that time onwards, the Republic's history was dominated by cutthroat politics, brutal powerplays, and constant civil strife.  "Poison rules here, not the Senate, and the naked blade holds more authority than the Law." wrote famed orator Orege in a letter, bemoaning the death of the old virtues.  It was in this sorry state that the Sylix Dominion found the Fraal when they invaded.The wormlike, semi-aquatic Sylix were at this time one of the greatest powers of the Galaxy.  Expansionist, militant, and egotistical, they ruled an interstellar empire of hundreds of worlds--and were fast on their way to ruling more.  The Sylix religion preached their dominance over all lesser races, and supported only one "virtue"--superiority.  It looked as if the Fraal were doomed.  It was in this situation that Soiran, one of the greatest of the warlords who dominated the later days of the Republic, called for an alliance to repel the invaders.  Many came to discuss it with him--and were quickly killed.  Soiran quickly seized control of their troops, used them to destory any remaining resistance, and then fought off the Dominion.  Once that was done, a grateful Senate "granted" Soiran the title of Emperor.  Soiran I ruled for a remarkable 500 years.  Few of his descendants have proven so lucky.The early years of the Empire were ones of rapid expansion.  Much of the Dominion was conquered, and the first wars with the mercantile Vrill Consortium occured.  A major accomplishment was the conquest of the T'sa Principalities.  The scientifically minded T'sa surrendered for the most part and became an invaluable part of the Empire.  The primitive K'kree were found, and quickly enslaved.  A major encounter was with the humanoid space-faring race that would become the Mechalus.  The Mechalus had conquered much of their own solar system, and would probably have developed a jumpdrive within a century.  They never recieved that chance--the Fraal conquered them utterly, and then destroyed virtually all memory of their culture.  The race was heavily altered by T'sa scientists, into their present, mechanized forms.The recent years of the Empire have been something of a decline.  Recent battles with the so-called "Brightstar Alliance" have proven difficult for a military dominated by Weren, Mechalus, and Vargr mercenaries.  Generals and colonial governers are becoming increasingly corrupt and unreliable, and even the bureaucracy seems strained to the breaking point.  As the Empire becomes more preoccupied by wars with the Alliance and a reawakened Dominion, it is easy to see why the Empire's recent conquest of the tiny planet called by many of its primative inhabitants "Tellus" has failed to garner much notice in the capital...----------------------------------------------*The Autarchy was itself a Fraal kingdom, albeit somewhat smaller and younger than the Republic.  Formed by secessionists, it controlled the wealthy Leith Sector, and was governed by an elected monarch chosen from the elite Heisha family.  The Autarchy was completely destroyed and absorbed at the end of the war, though rumors of remnant forces would plague both Republic and Empire for centuries to come.</blockquote>

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