Expand, Exploit, Exterminate | |||||||
| Anthem | "March of the Builders" | ||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Polaris (destroyed), Neo-Polaris (world ship) | ||||||
| Language | High Polaran | ||||||
| Religion | Atheistic | ||||||
| Ethnic Group | Polarans (100%) | ||||||
| Demonym | Polaran, Polaris | ||||||
| Government | Technocracy | ||||||
| Legislature | Science Council | ||||||
| Supreme Technocrat | Rho Nulla | ||||||
| Population | Unknown; definitely tens of trillions | ||||||
The Polarans are a technocratic species hailing from the system home to the northern star of Polaris. The Polarans strip-mined their homeworld, forcing them to live aboard massive world ships that now roam the void outside the galactic plane. The people of Polaris live according to a strict hierarchy involving cybernetic augmentations to advanced through society. Their race has weak genetic diversity due in part to their intensive replacement of their organic body parts, with cybernetic versions. Despite this, they are very numerous, numbering in the tens of trillions. Most of their species is located beyond the galactic plane, and are known to invade the galaxy from time to time to harvest entire worlds after liquidating the inhabitants first.
History[]
The construction of a Polaran world ship
The Polarans or the Polaris are known to have evolved in the Polaris system some 20 million years ago. They only began to form a united civilization some 19.5 million years ago, and built up their empire from that time. They saw no need to establish off-world colonies when they could simply develop large mobile ships that could house the population in safe and contained environment. Thus, no colony was ever established on another planet, and effort into developing another type of society was begum. This ability to simply build more self-sustaining worldships would provide the Polarans with all the space they needed to expand without the need to rely on fragile worlds that lacked the ability to flee a dangerous region.
For centuries, the Polarans stuck to the belief that there was no higher power, and that they must make their own future. With no morals or ethics to stand in their way, technological progress at the expense of lives exploded. Technology by 18 million BCE on Earth, the Polarans had mastered anti-matter, and were a well-established space-faring species. They had some knowledge of the inner workings of the universe, and sought to expand their role in it. To do so though, they needed lots of resources, and turned to their homeworld to get them. Until the advent of artificially created raw materials, the Polarans simply robbed their world of its minerals for their own ends. However, before violating their own world, the Polarans started with other worlds first. They launched invasions of other planets, and using highly-advanced mining technologies developed over the last half a million years, the Polarans stripped the life from the worlds of other species.
By 17.8 million BCE, the Polarans turned on their own homeworld, and stripped clean, leaving nothing of the planet, not even its own core, behind. The Polarans didn't want to colonize another planet, viewing them as defenseless, and thus stuck to living aboard ships from then on. While the Polarans were now free of their homeworld, and free to go where ever they pleased, they did still have need for raw materials at times. While they could produce their own, they needed ever so often, a quick "boost" of materials for some project they were planning, and thus turned to the worlds of the galaxy. They strip-mined them, even if they were home to intelligent life already, and used the resources to expand their civilization. They begin with invading the planet, and killing off the population to prevent resistance, and then strip the planet. After with they leave a barren planet in their wake.
Biology[]
A male and female Polaran couple
Physically, the Polarans look exactly like humans, giving rise to the belief that the two are related, though the Polarans have scoffed at that remark. The Polaran homeworld was not so unlike that of Earth, meaning the Polarans evolved under the same environment as humans. However, the Polarans aside from their outer appearances, are completely inhuman. Their internal organs are completely mechanical, and their bones are made of metal. These are not inserted into the Polaran body, but grew as part of it. Some three million years ago, the Polarans mastered biomechanics, and used their knowledge of it to completely reshape the Polaran biology. They gain these mechanical body parts at birth, and from there, they modify these at hospitals to advance into a branch of Polaran society. Thus, while the Polarans skin may appear normal, it is in fact a highly sophisticate synthetic organ, which be replaced at the Polaran's leisure.
These facts have given many humans that know the truth, the idea that the Polarans are nothing more that very fancy robots masquerading as humanoid beings. Polaran blood is synthetic as well, coming in wide array of colors and textures. Their heart is a powerful machine pump, which is so unlike that of a human's, it was the main factor in disproving the belief either are related genetically. The muscle fibers of a Polaran are strong enough for a middle-aged Polaran (typically 300 to 350 years), to lift a vehicle unaided. The average Polaran may live to see 500 years of age, and have generally advanced to the level where they possess the technology to copy their memories from their dying body, and move it into another one. Thus, in reality, a Polaran never truly dies.
Society[]
Government[]
Supreme Technocrat[]
The Supreme Technocrat is the ruler of all Polarans and their world ships. He sets the agenda, and the rest of the government follows it. He is elected by the Science Council to a life term, and once he comes to power, his word is law. So long as his commands do not endanger the Polaran race, and he continues to guide them to races to extract additional genetic materials from, he left to his own devices, allowed to rule as harshly or as compassionately as he sees fit. The technocrat is generally regarded by the race of the race to be the smartest person in their race, and is helded as a man who is the master of technology.
Science Council[]
The Science Council is the governing body of Polaris. It is an assembly of all the world ship commanders who represent each portion of their race on the council which guides the day-to-day lives of the Polaran people. They hold their positions for life, and all are born to their positions as children of the previous world ship commander they hail from.
Military[]
The military of the Polarans is fleet-based, and land forces tend to take a back sit, as they are generally required for harvesting materials and making the strip-mining of the enemy world easier. They do not conquer for land or power, but simply for materials needed to sustain their species. Additionally, since the Polarans control no planets, and live aboard large ships, their vessels are both numerous and powerful.
Combat Doctrine[]
The Polarans will most often attempt to first conquer a planet through subterfuge and infiltration. Spaceships and other derelict spacecraft are infested with Polaran infiltrators, which quickly familiarise themselves with the layout of their new home, then enter await further instructions. When the ship is eventually returns to their world, the infiltrators spread out, and begin setting up new lives on the planet, implanting inhabitants with a seed, a form of the infiltrator's reproductive virus that contains specially-engineered synthetic Polaran DNA. This infestation is never fatal, but instead the virus' genetic material subtly alters the victim's DNA, producing in them a strong urge to mate created by the stimulation of the individual's sex hormones.
The infiltrator's DNA will be incorporated into the host's germ cells and so any child that results from this union will be a Polaran Hybrid, which now has the complete loyalty of its parents through a psychic bond. The Hybrids continue to breed and multiply among the population of the host species, eventually forming a Infiltrator Cell. As the Cell grows in numbers, it begins to spread its influence throughout the planet's political and social structure, placing its members in positions of power within the government and the military. At the same time, the Cell's Hybrid members begins to emit a collective psychic signal through space that acts as a beacon for the approaching Polaran armada.
As the Polaran armada nears the doomed world, the Infiltrator Cell, potentially numbering in the millions by this point, goes into action, instigating a worldwide rebellion with the goal of weakening the planet's defenses against the approaching armada. If the armada is victorious, the fleets of resource collectors will descend to the planet, inhaling the atmosphere, drinking the seas, and basically consuming all organic biomass and inorganic resources until nothing more than a lifeless ball of rock remains. On the battlefield, Polaran tactics are based around the notion of superior numbers, as they generally try to outnumber the enemy fifty to one. Polarans overrun opposition in close combat, closing faster than most armies. They possess many ranged weapons, but they prefer sheer numbers and close combat specialisation for the coming slaughter, especially if they are led by a capable commander.
Other Tactics[]
The Polarans focus on ship combat, in which their world ships tend to reign supreme. An "average" Polaran armada numbers in the tens of thousands of ships, dozens of world and coreships, and billions of Polarans who live aboard them. There are hundreds of Polaran armadas existing outside the galactic plane, returning to the galaxy when in need of materials. The world and coreships contain everything required to sustain an armada; some ships being purely for crushing resistance, the larger ships contain cloning vats to create the huge land armies of the Polarans, and shipyards for even more ships when the need arises. The nutrients used as food and raw material are replenished by scouring conquered planets of every cell of biological matter, including all the enemies killed during the conquest of the planet. Because the enemy forces are recycled in this way, the "design" of the Polaran warriors can be altered by genetic engineering, allowing the Polarans forces to rapidly adapt to overcome any enemy.
By the adaptive nature of the Polaran armadas, fierce resistance on a planet will only make the fleet stronger in the end. The Polarans generally attempt to make to a first strike and wipe out the enemy force quickly. Once this is achieved, the planet divided up into regions, and the enemy population herded onto ships that will prepare them to be melted down into a genetic stu. The Polarans then all life from the planet and move on to the next world. This tactic is effective as Polaran armadas outnumber their enemies most if not all of the time. The mobility of these fleets added to the ability to quickly disappear at a moment's notice makes fighting the Polarans difficult and dangerous, for they usually have the advantage of surprise. The tactic of drawing the Polarans onto the ground to destroy the planet and the bulk of their fighting forces is extreme and also damaging to the enemy, as it destroys a valuable and habitable planet every time. It has been projected by skeptics that there may not even be enough warships let alone habitable planets in the galaxy to stop the Polaran threat, especially if more Polaran fleets arrive from outside the galaxy where they are stationed.
Polaran Armadas[]
A Polaran armada is absolutely massive. Containing thousands of warships, billions of Polarans, and dozens of world ships and many more coreships. Each is the equivalent of entire planet's worth of people moving through space as an unstoppable swarm seeking resources. A single armada can range from a few thousands warships at its smallest, to tens of thousands when with one or two other armadas. The largest of them containing the Science Council or invasion force can outnumber and outgun entire enemy fleets. The Polarans don't want to put their people at risk during attacks, and make their ships to last and to dish out damage. Common shuttles are armed to aid them in taking part in combat operations. Thus, the common misconception that most of a Polaran fleet is harmless has been painfully debunked over the last hundred thousand millennia. Additionally, most Polaran ships were designed to withstand catastrophic events, such as supernovas, and largest ships were designed with the ability to skim the surface of a sun or fly into a gas giant for safety. Thus, Polaran ships are both dangerous and powerful.
The current size and extent of the Polarans' armadas is unknown. But most of the Polaran race is known to live outside the galactic plane, entering in force when they want something. It is safe to say, considering the empire-destroying size of their invasion forces, and the several millions of years they have been building up their forces, that the Polaran armadas are massive. One armada was presumed to have nearly a hundred thousand warships and five hundred world and coreships, this discovered to be only about two or three world ships, several dozen of coreships, and fifty thousand warships. Regardless, this was only a taste of what the Polarans actually possess.
A fully mobilized Polaran strikes shock, awe, and terror into even the most stalwart of galaxy's defenders. Even when the Polaran threat is eliminated (at great cost), it will not be long before another Polaran migration emerges to take advantage of the situation. This is what makes the Polaran species such a threat: it is an advanced species capable of out-producing, out-consuming, and out-lasting all other species it encounters, having done so on a disquietingly unknowable number of prior occasions across a vast swath of galactic history in the less known regions of space.
Technology[]
The Polarans are incredibly advanced, possessing technology that has allowed them to build artificial worlds and move between star systems rapidly, as well as quick adaptation of new technologies into existing ones. As demonstrated by the construction of their world ships, the Polarans have the capability to create minature stars, and harness the mineral wealth of a entire planet by stripping it down to its core, which to is harvested for the additional raw materials. They have proven themselves master of nanotechnology in that they can produce most non-organic goods by placing the minerals inside of a cauldron of nanites, and get the device or piece of equipment they need.
Weaponry[]
Polaran weapons are unique in that they are mostly bio-mechanical, preventing the issue that comes with trusting technology too much, such as hacking, viruses, and reverse-engineering. Their biosynthetic weapons are notably powerful, and extremely dangerous in the rights hands, or the wrong ones. Since the Polarans have a history of wiping out entire civilizations, it comes as no surprise the most of their weapons are designed to cause collateral damage as well. The heavy usage of nanotechnology is also a defining feature of Polaran weapons, allowing the Polarans to quickly construct new weapons and equipment in pools of nanites that are designed to help the Polarans maintains an extensive industrial network even while on the move. The more stunning pico- and femto-technology of the Polarans is considered their true masterpiece short of their world ships, allowing them manipulate matter at the atomic and sub-atomic levels.
Biogenic Weapons[]
Biogenic weapons are biological weapons created by the Polarans to destroy enemy species in a single blow. They are composed of an unknown form of living, radioactive material that can be programmed to target and destroy a specific type of DNA while leaving other species unharmed. The range of these devices is unknown, although it can be assumed that they are capable of inflicting damage on a planet-wide scale. As a result, a single biogenic weapon is likely all that is required to kill all of an entire species on a planet. They are stored on all world and coreships constructed by the Polarans, and only ever used when the Polarans cannot defeat the species they are attacking militarily. Aside from that, other biogenic torpedoes are used extensively in fleet combat. Using a miniature hyperdrive, the torpedo literally "jumps" several light seconds toward their target to around point defenses. Embedding itself into the hull of an enemy ship, the lethal toxins kill everything connected to a ships ventilation systems within minutes, leaving nothing but an empty husk of a ship behind.
Combat Rig[]
A female Polaran with combat rig
All Polarans are equipped with a form of armor known as a combat rig, which is living lattice of advanced nanotechnology more organic than mechanical. The suit enhances their abilities in numerous ways that give them an edge over their enemies. While a Polaran lives, they can always fall back on the abilities of their combat rig. The rig itself alters the wearer's armor, turning it into a close combat chassis, complete with powered claws and upgraded musculature. Used as a defensive tool, the rig will slowly heal and hide the Polaran with nanite infusions and a low-powered cloaking system that operates when the Polaran is stationary, and while offensively, the rig's claws and fists make the Polaran a lethal melee opponent. It takes much training to control this device, but the payoff is enormous. The rig itself is intertwine with the mind of the Polaran using it, meaning that he or she can form a new weapon with but a thought. This includes a number of weapons such as the Lash Augmentation which is much like the claws that sprout from the user for close combat.
Polaran Fusion Rifle[]
The Fusion Rifle is the standard Polaran weapon for massacring civilians and soldiers alike. It has a heavy barrel which expels super-dense knots of high-density material from the weapon's power core, causing terrible thermal damage. When striking a person who is using a shield (such as an advanced military target), these knots can undergo spontaneous fusion, resulting in a devastating explosion. The secondary function ejects the entire core onto the battlefield, which creates a brief but intense inferno in the surrounding area. This weapon is extremely popular with the Polaran people, an as it is bio-mechanical, it has been designed so that only those with Polaran DNA can operate one. A special device was implemented so that the weapon will explode if tampered with by non-Polarans.
Seed Rifle[]
A Seed Rifle is biosynthetic weapon that is a horrifying combination of plant and animal aspects, bound into a life-sustaining nanite cradle. The Seed Rifle launches immature dormant Polaran nanite seed crystals, which awaken and mature in the milliseconds after impact, exhibiting rudimentary intellect. Living opponents struck by the seeds configure the seed into a insectile creature, which steals vital information on the living and non-living structure of the being struck, damaging it in the process. These creatures scuttle back toward the seed launcher, where they "inform" the nanite lattice living within the Polarans, enabling the lattice to "paste" needed information where it has been disrupted, effectively healing the Polaran user. Questing nanite tendrils sprout from inorganic surfaces, such as walls and floors, slowing opponents, and causing steady injury as they "read" the information contained in their cellular structure. When hitting mechanized systems, the nanoseeds interfere with vehicular systems, causing momentary loss of control before the seed is overwhelmed by the easy-to-access information in even the most complex machinery, quickly returning control the the pilot or driver.
World ships[]
The centerpiece of Polaran technology are their world ships; vessels so large a planet the size of Earth could be placed inside. The size for them has been to accommodate population growth, arable farmland, and enough space for the artificial sun inside to work properly. The shells of such ships were designed to handle almost anything, from space debris to asteroids. Such vessels are generally protected by armadas numbering in the thousands of ships of all sizes, but are very capable of handling themselves. They are equipped with numerous anti-ship defenses, and six super-lasers (four on sides, two on axis), which are for taking out particularly large targets, such as dreadnoughts.
When a "ship" housing billions of Polarans enters a battle zone, such precautions are absolutely necessary to the survival of the species. These ships are also equipped with hyperdrives, and possess sheaths that allow for accompany to "ride along" with the main ship without needing to use their own FTL drives. They are typically awe-inspiring works of science and technology, showcasing the 20 million years of work that went into developing them for general usage. Few in number (rarely exceeding five or six in a single armada), world ships are symbols of Polaran might, and will rarely be put into combat given the difficulties of building them. 20 million years after their original perfection.
Coreships[]
Coreships are smaller versions of the world ships, usually ranging from moon to proto-planet size. They can house tens of millions of people, and are easier to construct and maintain than the world ships. They outnumber their larger brethren by the hundreds, and are generally used as command ships. They possess a single large laser at the center of the ship, connected directly to the miniature sun that provides power to the inhabitants. They are used for long range combat, firing fusion beams across space during a battle, picking off the largest ships in an enemy fleet, negating the greatest threats to a Polaran fleet. These are usually commanded by Admirals who have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are the best candidates for leader millions of people.
Matter & Energy Manipulation[]
The Polarans mastered the art of manipulating matter and energy some ten millions ago. They used it mainly for creating the miniature suns they use for the world ships, but it soon grew to serve other purposes. Their ability to control dark matter was used to dense dark matter shields, which would absorb energy rather than deflect it. It was rumored that a particularly powerful dark matter barrier could survive a supernova. Alas, no sane Polaran was brave enough to test it out. The shields also serve another purpose; maintaining the element of surprise. To keep the enemy from telling the size of a Polaran fleet, dark matter barriers envelop the largest ships, misleading the enemy into believing they are fighting a much smaller threat. Polarans have used the technology for creating miniature black holes as well, by way of dark matter projectiles. Certain weapons fire a glob of hyper-dense dark matter, which implodes, creating a mini black hold for a fraction of a second. Such weapons are used on vehicles and particularly large creatures, taking chunks of the target away with each shot.