Today's topic is about Terrens.
I wouldn't say the Terrens are evil but that doesn't mean they don't do evil things. I modeled the Terren government off a business profit and loss model and mixed in some other systems, then asked what would happen if...? Humans have tendency to act without thinking about the long term effects of whatever plan they are devising. They can make that 20, 30, or 50 year plan, but that doesn't mean they factor in the possible consequences of that plan. Their government is willing to take acceptable losses to ensure the majority moves forward, and prospers in the way the government desires. It is a system in which an individual has no voice unless they gather to them a large enough group who will repeat what that single voice is saying.
The timeline for the Valespian-verse starts 200 Galactic Standard years before Warlord Sohm'lan is born. Terren events that lead to them invading the GyrFalconi homeworld, Aries 7, started at the beginning of that 200 years and simply snowballed over the following decades. The first doomed idea happened when the government noticing changes to some of the people of new colonies.
As humanity spread out through their quadrant of the Milky Way, the governments sent out terraforming expeditions, later to be followed by the people selected to make that terraformed world their new home. The issue was that the first wave of humans sent, landed on a world that wasn't finished. Those who didn't die (an acceptable loss), found ways to survive, some undergoing medical or natural biological mutations in order to live. The second wave of humans sent, displaced the inhabitants, taking over and shunning the newly evolved humans. Many terraformed worlds broke out in civil war that the government eventually squashed, but not before they discovered the advantages to the mutated humans.
The governments gathered up the children of the mutants and took them to special military schools where they were raised and trained and experimented on. These mutants weren't considered human, therefore they didn't have the basic rights and protection other Terrens had. Some died either unable to adapt to the new environment, or by other means that the government claim never happened. At the time, the average citizen didn't cared because it had no bearing on their lives.
The government's goal was to create an elite fighting force that would give them an advantage over the 'aliens' of the Andromeda Galaxy. Their ambassadors had returned with stories of inhabitable worlds rich in resources, and the government wished to make those worlds their own.
Of the first gathering of mutants, only 20 survived (ages 5 to 10 years) after the Terrens whittled down what/who they didn't like. The children were compliant with the government, but deadly. The second wave of mutate 'students' arrived, thousands of children, until the government deemed they had enough to build an adequate army.
The children are taught to obey and then how to use their abilities to fight. The mutants start secretly calling themselves Erdaians. In time, the original 20 (now teenagers) organize an escape for the Erdaians, blowing shit up, and taking off with expensive prototype battleships. They commandeer a newly terraformed planet, Gaia, on the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy that the Terrens had just finished setting up. Gaia already had colonist and the Erdaians killed the militant humans, sending away the non-combatants. In the Erdaians burgeoning belief system, they deemed there was no honor in killing those that could not fight for themselves. Every attempt the Terrens made to retake Gaia and return the children to the schools was soundly defeated. Eventually, the Terrens left them them alone, accepting the loss of the 50 years of research, writing off the extravagant cost of experimental military academy, the prototype warships, and the colony on a resource rich planet. The original mutants went underground, keeping the government from gathering more of their children, making it impossible for them to restart the elite military program. The loss dealt a stagger blow to the Terren government and was the beginning of their tumble into trouble.
I admit that it makes for a quick story but you have to take into account the years the Erdaians and Terrens fought. The battles were vast and hard. The Erdaians were only children but skilled enough to win and basically chase the Terrens off. Now, more than 200 years later, the Erdaian have petitioned the Council of Nieghn to be allowed entrance into the Valepsian Pact. :)
I hope you enjoyed this snippet of Terren history. See you next week where I'll tackle the next hiccup in Terren history.
Thank you for stopping by and reading!!
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