The Aruri

The Areen race was named after the station that is at the heart of the planet 'Firmament.' The Areen were political prisoners exiled to the disused station by an ancient empire that has long since been erased from both time and space. When the station was full, the exiles were towed in the station into a Trojan orbit between the two red stars which were named Night and Day. It was the station's power fields that caused the planet to form around the station. Some effect of the station created the barrier that protects Firmament from being destroyed or made uninhabitable in its odd positioning.

Those power fields can contain half the power output from both of the red stars between which Firmament orbits. Converting energy to matter, forming the planet Firmament around the station, was not part of the station's original design, but came to pass. When the prisoners had a habitable planet on which to live, they left the station for the dim light and free air. Nobody currently recalls that there is a station at the heart of this planet. The race relies on the station's protection, however, most of the race no longer believes in the station's existence.

Since Firmament is so heavily shielded from Night and Day, standard Warp technology was not fesible early in the Areeen space age. Althought the Areen did both develop and use Warp technology, they had to come up with technology to get around the shielding first. There is no weapon system strong enough to puncture the shields around Firmament and the planet is now considered to be indestructable. As a result, the Areen mastered every form of non-warp transport. Warp technology was an afterthought.

Early in the star age, Areen discovered the Kay-Wing stargate. It was a relic of the first intergalactic empire and represented enormous power. Through the gate, the Bahain Galaxy's Kay wing provided fertile ground for colonization. Bahain had been the base galaxy of the Empire. The fall of the empire left the entire Kay wing of Bahain open to colonization of worlds made habitable when the empire was at its peak. Areen built an empire of its own.

Minnelean attacked the Areen, wiping out Keltea Kay in the first battle of the Nova Wars. Colonial worlds on both sides were eliminated in seconds. The war lasted under two weeks, however, both races were left with only their homeworlds. Both fleets were small in the vast expanse of the Kay wing of Bahain, where neither homeworld was located.

In the early battles of the Nova Wars, neutron warheads were used. The bloody mess left on the worlds broke the spirit of the men on the front lines. Medics did not care which side anybody was on as long as some lives could be saved. Colonists from each side ended up on the other side's ships. When word reached the warlord's council, the fleets fell back to the plasma warheads. But, the damage was done.

The last battle of the Nova Wars took place in the dead system of Teetee Kay. An Admiral in the fleet of Minnelean called his move on an open channel and the Areen fleet was waiting. On Minnelean's flagship, a priest of the Mystreign clan used the quantum jump system to disable all of the Areen fleet. Areen's ships were left with just life support batteries. Then he refused to allow Minnelean's fleet to finish the job.

Taking the initiative, the Admiral on Minnelean's flagship negotiated an end to the wars while Arren's ships were repaired. Each side went home in hopes that they could meet again in peace when enough time had passed. This was not popular with the warlord's council [Minnelean] or the defense council [Areen] although neither of these groups had a say in the matter.

Guilt over having started the Nova Wars bit hard into Areen. Anti-establishment forces destroyed the identity, culture and colonial drive of Areen. Eventually, Areen had no will to survive. Population collapse was killing off the whole race driving the population of Firmament below one billion. Extinction was assured.

Driven deep underground, literally, the religous elements of Areen formed The Order. Only death cults and Neo-Minnelean faiths had been allowed open expression once the materio-naturalist Pentadric came to power. Anything that gave hope, identity and drive to Areen was brushed aside through re-education. It was a bad time for The Order. Even the Order fragmented, splitting off 'The Fallen.'

Eventually, the Pentadric learned the location of the underground base of The Order and ordered an assault on the base. Instead of standing their ground, the fighting monks of The Order moved on the fortress of the capital city. The Pentadric lost Yehildi after a vicious fight. Only seven monks survived. Those monks became the "Seven Grand Masters" who have ruled Firmament for more than half a million years.

Before anything else, The Seven Grand Masters renamed Areen [ Mighty ] to Aruri which means the 'children of light.' They set up the Practical Theocracy which has kept the peace ever since. By decentralizing power, making the Aruri fear their central government enough to give it no power it does not need, Aruri's fallen nature is kept in check. There have been no wars of Firmament in the time of the Seven Grand Masters.

Justice has become the major export of the Aruri. That is almost their slogan. Other races rent units of the special law enforcement organization, called Strike Teams, to assassinate large criminal and terrorist groups in the last seconds before civilians are killed. You cannot rent shadows to maintain tyranny. The Seven Grand Masters know the minds of men.

With the spiritual awakening, Aruri has become ascendant. His spiritual nature allowed him to trancend physical form. They are semi-mortal meaning that they can be killed only in a single shot. Wounded, they can heal instantly. Aruri are not physical and can exist inside of solid objects. However, they can take any shape that they need. Break their faith and they become mortal again.

Given my choice, I would have a fixed population of Aruri in the game. You cannot capture anything but their biggest ship because they are not physical. There is no space in their ships for physical entities. They avoid outsiders even when they work runs on assignment. Evangelically, they will only reach out to you if you approach them first. Since their powers are spiritual, taking that away kills them.