GOLGAN GLOSSARY
Azuli Union: Yes, these are the sentients that created nova bombs all those years ago, the bombs which decimated the Llyra System and killed billions of sentients. Their racial aggression has neither lessened with the passage of time nor the presence of heavy Golgan occupation forces. Now a technologically backward species, the humanoid Azuli are nonetheless some of the best Attack Marines in the Golgan Empire. If and when the opportunity lends itself, the Azuli will surely assert their independence once again.
Basement Universe: A small (and possibly artificially created) universe linked to the our universe by a wormhole. This could be used for living space, computing, or an escape from a decaying universe. Also possibly used for hiding from enemies or destructive phenomena. A mega-engineering feat, the best known example is Critters' Universe.
Battlescreens: A unique force field technology, battlescreens are a highly restricted technology that was first developed by the Altess Dynasty early in its conflicts with the Faberians and their fierce allies. The ability to withstand high levels of damage and stay online is one of the battlescreens more unique features, but once overwhelmed the field stays down several minutes. The difference between regular shields and battlescreens is screens must be overwhelmed in one salvo, or it does no damage. Also, when a battlescreens are ‘up’, a warship cannot fire out through it. A vessel with screens up cannot launch or recover fighters, bombers, or other small craft and point defense also cannot fire out.
Border Worlds: a large network of planets and star systems built by the Golgan Republik to thwart the continual attacks of the Dionii Hive. More than 70% of the Republiks' military fleet is stationed at these critical choke points along the border.
Combat Wasps: These are high-gee attack missiles fired from external ordinance(XO)-equipped vessels, bases, and space stations that seek to engage their targets autonomously. Combat wasps come in every size and function, including both attack and defense, and once launched they are fully automated. They carry a multitude of independent submunitions, including beam weapons (energy, laser, and particle), kinetic missiles, fusion bombs, decoy chaff, and electronic-warfare pods. They can also be packed with nuclear, fusion, or even powerful antimatter warheads that are fed into the XO mounted wasp seconds before launch using a rotary feed from the ships' main magazine. Dozens of species in and around the Golgan Republik use these weapons.
Dianus Plague: A virulent and deadly viral outbreak that occurred within the core worlds of the Golgan Empire from 102 to 125 IR which virtually cut off the central world of Golgan Prime from its colony worlds during the Quarantine. During this period, around twelve billion persons contracted the disease, all of who died horribly. This event forced the development of the Empires' initial bioweapons programs and the construction of the first Interlink system. The Dianus Plague spread to the nearby Minthisti Worlds, wiping them completely out.
Dionii: these aliens are a devastating insectoid race that has plagued the Golgan Empire and their neighbors for over a thousand years. Unfortunately, they loathe humans and humanoids (as well as all animal life), using them for slaves, playthings, food, and experimentation. The Dionii’s cruelty is nearly as legendary as the Laowan Tyranny’s. These are devastatingly ruthless, methodical creatures that engage in the conflict as a way of life. The Dionii are actually composed of four species of insects, combing to create a powerful warlike society bent on expansion and intergalactic dominance of all other life. The four insect species are the victors of a great interracial conflict, in which they proved to be the strongest of their peoples. As with all Dionii battles, there was no place for the weak: thus all other species (some 37 intelligent species) were annihilated. Total genocide. Since then, the Dionii have moved out into interstellar space, waging wars of annihilation against any race they come across.
Dis Technology: Dis warheads, the bane of modern warfare, was banned eighty years ago at the Third Disarmament Conference between the Golgan Empire and the Altess Dynasty. Dis is a devastating substance, the culmination of centuries of nanotech development and military research. The substance is composed of trillions of disassembling nanobots, microscopic in size and destructive in action. Dis dissolves organic materials, anything organic including human flesh with incredible rapidity. When a warship is hit with a dis warhead, the nanobots go to work immediately, disassembling the ship in minutes into a grayish goo. Dis achieves its greatest horror when used against planetary targets, dissolving everything on the planet’s surface; cities, oceans, and people. Quarantines must be maintained around dis-enveloped worlds, otherwise it spreads rapidly like a cancer across the star lanes. Since over 800 billion people have been killed and 33 worlds rendered uninhabitable, all stellar nations have permanently banned dis technology. Rumors of secluded warheads within the Golgan Empire for strategic deterrence have never been substantiated.
Dushau: An extremely long-lived race, these humanoids are blue skinned and nearly 8 feet tall. Their homeworld is high tech and all of their colonies are protected by AI-directed defenses. In fact, nearly every Dushau seen off-world has a pocket-sized AI with them at all times and they are reported to live hundreds if not thousands of years. Dushau worlds are mainly located within the Golgan Empire and have a long and illustrious history in the sector.
Fanrats: A large group of semi-nomadic pirates who have engaged in all-out raids against the Golgan Empire for centuries. The Fanrats currently are located on the Hogg Moons and are made up of numerous races who have grievances against the Golgans. They have over 200 spacecraft capable of raiding deep into Golgan space.
Gorbonduc Vandals: A group of incredibly violent pirates infesting several interstellar quadrants. Large groups of these "Vandals" are moving across whole sectors of space, raping and pillaging as they go. Their movement patterns are taking them directly into the Golgan Empire. Known for successfully raiding the city-planet Mycos; this attack caused enormous destruction on that planet. Also known as "Gorbies" as a slang (or curse) word.
Grizzellans: A massively built bear-like race from the Lance Pattern, Grizzellans are much larger than most other sentients, weighing in at over 800 kg and having an aggressive personality. Grizzellans can sometimes be volatile towards alien races and are not seen off world very often and they can hibernate for long periods of time when necessary. The Grizzellans have an odd homeworld that is covered completely by land (no seas or oceans) and large deep forests: the population mostly lives on top of the giant tree-like plants.
Halvesh'oid Builders: A race of enigmatic aliens, the Halvesh are so advanced that they construct entire habitable planets made-to-order. They build whole worlds like Earth as well as moon-sized warships that have tremendous firepower and can tap the higher energy states of subspace for power and movement. Also known as "the World-Builders", their homeworld is located in Hert space.
Helleye, the: Like the hypergiant Pistol Star, the Helleye is a massive star that is nearly 1,000 times larger than Earth's Sol, it is barely held together by it's own gravity. Every few weeks large sheets of matter erupt from the star, breaking free from the gravity of the Helleye: each of these "sheets" weigh hundreds of times more than Sol. Located within the Trallian League, several different races are studying the Helleye. If it were to hypernova, the Helleye would certainly make large swaths of the neighboring Golgan Republik and Dionii Empire sterile.
Hermat Alliance: Part of the Virh Federation, the Hermat are an average race that are highly scientifically adroit and are known as profound thinkers. Being tall humanoids (7') and having ruddy brown skin and black hair, Hermats wear their hair long to signify life, with warriors in the military cutting their hair shortly. A very large number of Hermats live on Mycos, over 200 billion all told, which is a huge majority living outside Hert space. The Hermat make poor space crewman but remain devoted to the scientific fields.
Hogg Moons: Infamous headquarters of the the Fanrats, a pirate group bent on raiding the Golgan Empire. The Hogg Moons location is secret but is thought to orbit a gas giant in the border regions of the Empire. The Golgans are said to pay a high price for the location of these pirate moons.
Holots: A client race of the Hert race, these are large aquatic aliens that are excellent psionic masters and they work well with technology. They are huge, weighing on average 500lbs.
Korel Empire Collapse: The Thanagarians first allies, the human-like Korel’s collapse started the first conflict with the Dionii, who had been invading and ravaging Korel space for nearly a hundred years before the Golgans made contact with the Empire. A devastating conflict that annihilated most Korel worlds, the Golgan Navy cut its teeth in this war, creating a continual struggle against the much larger Dionii hordes.
Lance Pattern: Location of the former Faberian Empire, the Lance Pattern is filled mostly with bombed-out radioactive worlds and pre-technological planets. It is a large area of space located between the Virh Federation and the Hert Federation.
Long John: A slang name for the medicine created by "xenosilicates" found on the waterworld Poseidon. Long John extends the life of most carbon-based aliens, sometimes by thousands of years depending on the race and the dosage.
Markabb: A friendly race of telepathic humanoids, Markabb are very prolific and have bluish skin. Known for their highly visible (and sensitive) antennae. The majority of Markabb are part of the Hert Federation.
Marauders: Since time immemorial, the Marauders had knifed through space, preying upon the helpless and weak, glorifying in the degradation of all that was decent. The most demeaning acts were their source of extreme pleasure. The Marauders studied the very souls of the subject races, finding their innermost secrets, the hiding places of the terrors of racial memory and using it against their captives. Once they took a planet of humanoids and cut off the hands and feet of every human upon it, then released swarms of blood-seeking insects from a pestilential world. They danced int he blood as they recorded the screams of terror. Another time they burned out the eyes of every child on a world, after slaughtering their parents, then hunted down the blind creatures, torturing each captive so that the rest could hear their final drawn-out screams. Countless worlds were scorched into balls of bare glazed rock. All weaker forms of life paid the penalty of that weakness as they died under cold, uncaring stars. The Marauders considered the weak to be created for their perverted pleasure. Even the technologically superior always turned out to have exploitable weaknesses. Glorying in their own poison, they have raged through the universe, setting their beacons of fear in sectors not yet thoroughly despoiled. Luckily, the last time anyone has seen a Marauder ship was 50+ years ago.
M'Gewn Socialist Sphere: Part of the Virh Federation, the M'Gewn are a race of silver-skinned humanoids who can move incredibly fast. They have a substantial population on the planet Mycos, nearly 200 billion sentients in number. The M'Gewn themselves are not highly militaristic but have strongly supported the Repubik in the past, although recently this support has flagged. The M'Gewn are very skillful industrialists but have very poor leadership in the political area, thus they have always been a client state to one race or another. They are strongly socialistic in their outlook, funding and supporting socialist causes everywhere within the Federation, to the ire of many races.
Megascale Engineering: Technology using energies, scales, or methods far beyond current levels. Typical examples are ground-to-orbit beanstalks, Dyson spheres, and stellar husbandry. The Naruni tech levels are high enough for megascale engineering to be used throughout their empire, with the Altess' fledgling industry only beginning.
Mehrians: Empathic race, excellent policemen who can read the feelings of other races as well as their own. Also known for their powerful tails. A Golgan Empire servant race.
Moreaus: Also known unkindly as "chimeras", these are humanoids that have added animal DNA to their gene structure, always in a lab and before birth. Examples include the combat tigers of New Rajasthan and the Afghan hound troops of Keiar's Fourth World War. Most are combat related but some have found use in the civilian world in several areas, including the pleasure sector.
Mycos: Megaplanet, Jewel of the Anvil Galaxy. With its 20 trillion inhabitants, Mycos is the largest producer of goods and services within 10,000 light years. The governorship of the planet is currently held by Bett Farris, member of the wealthy and influential Farris family. A 20-man Governing Council helps Mrs. Farris run the planet. Political analysts have noted that whoever governed Mycos was the second most powerful individual in the Anvil Galaxy (after Phase World leadership). A glittering gem in the darkness of the cosmos, Mycos'' Achilles heel, of course, is its reliance upon a dozen nearby farming worlds to supply its food needs. It is located within the Golgan Republik and has good to average relations with the bordering empires.
Navigators: A brilliant race of exceptional shipbuilders, the Navigators are an gas giant race that were the first to explore this part of the galaxy, unfortunately sowing the seeds of destruction by allowing the Trierions to capture space going technologies. Since that time, the Navigators have sold technology to nearly every race in an attempt to recuse themselves from the desolation they unleashed. Currently a member of the Hert Federation, the Navigators continue their pure research in the area of ship production and development.
Nigelian Confederacy: Dimensionally teleported to the Three Galaxies, this solar system evolved three sentient races. Since coming to the Anvil Galaxy, they have built a small interstellar nation near Kittani space. Like most of their neighbors, they are in a near-state of war with the Kingdom of Rynncryyl because of their continual slave raiding.
the Nigelians (a race of marsupial apes with advanced technological skills)
the Gendo (a small dragon-like race with natural tinkering abilities)
the Ostrac (a low-tech saurian humanoid race)
A virtual island of calm in a sea of instability, the Nigelians have used their diplomatic skills to forge all three races into a political and economic union which is capable of fending off nearly any attack. Their home system is located near the Dionii Empire and only the might of the Golgan military keeps the bug-like aliens at bay.
Paratee: A race of small parasites which inhabit human hosts, the Paratee live several hundred years and pass on their growing knowledge to their host bodies. Their homeworld is part of the Virh Federation.
Pike System: This strategic star system has a massive natural wormhole junction, with no less than five wormholes stretching out into the Three Galaxies, making this system one of the most important in known space. The junction itself draws enormous traffic from the surrounding regions of space and generates huge revenues for the Pike System in the form of transit fees. One end of the nexus ends deep in Golgan space. The Pike System consists of 3 habitable planets; Pike, Spear, and Lance. It also just barely avoided being bombarded by the Faberian Conflict ____ years ago. Today, it is a growing economic powerhouse, easily outproducing every nearby star system.
Poseidon: An independent waterworld located in the Lance Pattern and the site of xenosilicates aka Long John.
Quillip: A bird-like race who are strongly allied with the Thranx. Quillip are very advanced technologically and have shared their inventions with the Thranx, including gas giant ignition and megascale engineering.
Ratzmaze, the: A heavily over-populated megahabitat in the Bylaren System in the Golgan Republik, the Ratmaze is the only site of compressed-matter armor (CMA) production in the universe. The system is also heavily industrialized and most of the areas near planets and moons are either restricted areas or just plain dangerous due to industrial venting, hard radiation, DRBs (Debris Reclamation Bots), or heavy automated traffic that each world spews. The Ratzmaze is the capital of the Bylaren System and is a old habitat mounted on the side of an automated mineral recovery station inside a major industrial zone. The size of the habitat is negligible in relation to the station itself, but still large enough to house 800,000+ inhabitants at the current time.The habitat gains its resources by scavenging in the accretion disk of the nearest black hole. It is a hazardous job, and relatively often scavenging vessels are lost to the automated mining vehicles of the station, or to bursts of radiation from the black hole. Life in the habitat itself is not without danger as well. In three separate incidents over the last 500 years the habitat has suffered different mishaps that resulted in over 99% casualties. Despite these, and numerous minor incidents, the heavy minerals which can be mined from the habitat constantly attracts new fortune seekers.
Rh/attes: A race of rat-like aliens standing normally five feet tall, the Rh/attes have had a on-again off-again relationship with the Golgan Republik. Being skilled at trading as well as being information specialists, the Rh/attes have worked with Golgan agents in several different situations including the Bellevue System Revolt and 2nd Viltrumite Conflict. When first looking at a Rh/atte, most people are reminded of the disgusting disease-infested rodents of their homeworlds, and treat Rh/attes accordingly. Although disliking this treatment, Rh/attes have become accommodated to this treatment and strive hard to prove their worth to their mammalian allies. As information analysts, Rh/attes has helped the Republik at several crucial moments, including the Farseel System Disaster and the First Nimian Negotiations. The Rh/attes also have investigative teams researching the famed Loawon Tyranny for the Dusarra Dyson Sphere, a object reputed to contain the surface area of one billion Earth-like planets.
Rothori: A unique gelform race, the Rothori are a multi-cellular race that can change their form at will, even to the point of slipping under a door. Rothori live in small lakes on their home world (Rothori Zha) and the planet is non-industrial, poor, and literally one gigantic desert. These aliens are also incredibly brilliant mathematicians and can only be found off-world in very small numbers. Rothori have never colonized other planets, and usually do not venture far from their home world. Part of the Virh Federation.
Shriekers: A powerful warrior race of bird-like aliens that inhabits a habitable gas torus (not a planet), the Shriekers have spent the last 50,000 years duking it out in a battle-royale with the nearby Wulfen Empire, a continual fight that is famous for its bloodthirstiness so that most aliens permanently stay away from the system. The Shrieker homeworld is a large asteroid belt that has a breathable atmosphere and the Shriekers have spent thousands of years "island hopping" from one cluster of asteroids to the next in a brutal and bloodthirsty war of survival for limited resources. When the Wulfen initially discovered the system, the Shriekers had very few real warships but lots of assault shuttles and staging bases. The warships they did have were small fast-moving assault carriers, and they were mainly focused on taking real estate within the system. Conquering them was a horrible nightmare for the Wulfen as the Shriekers were honorable but very effective close-in fighters (Attack Marines) and to a Shrieker, passing up an unfair advantage is being disrespectful to your opponent. Finally, when the Wulfen Navy was brought in en mass, the fighting in the system escalated and then finally collapsed. Today, this race makes very good shipboard security and they love low grav worlds, doing poorly on high-grav planets. Young Wulfen often enter the Shrieker system to test their battle skills and build "character" to pass their Adolescent Test back in civilization. This star system is held as a Reserve and many of its inhabitants (who excel in boarding combat) are used in the Wulfen Marines as elite combat units. In the end, the Wulfen Empire saw the Shriekers as true warriors and were raised them to Honorable Race status within their Empire. Class X system: no entry.
Stellar Husbandry: Stellar husbandry is the process to control the evolution and properties of stars, especially to stabilize them, prolong their lifetimes, manipulate the stellar wind, lift off useful material, or create new stars. Typical methods would be star lifting or mixing the stellar core with envelope material to make hydrogen burning last longer. The Naruni specialize in this type of megatechnology, although the Thranx Commonwealth has recently begun to lift off useful material from stars in several locations across their space. The first real application of stellar husbandry took place under the supervision of stellar theorist Cristina Zurita of the Instituo de Astrofisica de Neove Canarias in the Tenerife System.
Tamaran: An independent world located between Golgan and Dionii space. This Earth-like world is inhabited by humanoids who can fly by utilizing solar energy and can fire bursts of energy from their hands. Tamaran is defended by heavy orbital defenses against the Dionii Empire and has waged a continual war against the bug-like aliens for centuries. Nearly 5 billion people inhabit this planet, which is considered a luxurious world by many.
Thanagar: An independent world located between Golgan and Dionii space. Homeworld of the militant Thanagarian race, these humanoids have bird-like wings and can fly. Their homeworld lies dangerously close to Dionii Hive space and they have waged a constant war for over 1,000 years against that insectoid race. Their homeworld is the only known location of a unique form of metal, which act as a energy-disrupting weapon. Population is nearly 4 billion sentients.
Tolats: A crab-like race that has been genetically enhanced, Tolats are a space-traveleing race who enjoy the company or humans but have told the Commonwealth little of what they have discovered in their travels among the stars. The Tolats are a genetically engineered race who are capable of breathing chlorine, methane, hydrogen, helium, and a number of other gases besides oxygen, as well as surviving in vacuum. They also have the ability to not breathe for long periods of time, if necessary. Tolats do not suffer illness and all injuries repair themselves quickly and they can eat just about anything made of organic molecules, including all animal and vegetable matter or by-products, even petroleum. Their history goes back over 2 million years, they are currently a member of the Hert Federation (by choice).
Tolians: Another Thranx allied race, the Tolians are well known merchants (and prolific alcohol consumers). The total population of Tolians is tens of billions due to their highly advanced reproductive cycle (3 "kits" every 4 months). These aliens can be seen working all across the Three Galaxies as brokers, merchants, and anything that involves working closely with other alien races (which they just love).
Vivers: A group of genetically engineered humanoids who are fantastically violent and are known as super-survivalists. They are heavily armored, with their brains and hearts being decentralized throughout the body in small nodes; all being very regenerative. They like the company of their own kind and run into large families; all are heavily armed. A Hert subservient species. These aliens can be seen working all across the Three Galaxies as very deadly mercenaries.
Xenosilicates: Virtually unknown on Phase World, and only found on Delta Origi III (also known as the planet "Poseidon "), these minerals were found on the ocean floor of this waterworld by the corporation Atlas Materials. They have a wide range of extremely unusual properties, including the ability to arrest aging in humans as well as manipulate DNA chemistry with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. Also known as "Long John", these silicates have been turned into life-extending medicines, mainly for the uber wealthy of the Three Galaxies.
Zebuloids: A Golgan allied race, Zebuloids look like they evolved from some kind of armored jellyfish. Considered monsters by so many other aliens, the Zebuloids voluntarily joined the Golgan Republik because the Golgans were one of the few people who actually treated them with decency and respect. As such, the Zebuloids are incredibly loyal to their Golgan patrons and will never abandon them, even when it becomes obvious that the Republik's final dissolution is imminent. Known as the galaxy's best pilots, able to multi-task four separate jobs at once.