Dranvamus Galaxy

Dranvamus (High Dracid: Dran-vah-mus "Celestial Halo" from Dranva "Staright, star sky, Heavens" and mus "to surround") is a large barred spiral galaxy of the Local Cluster and the centrepoint of the Sublime Draknid Imperium. Spanning some 170,000 light years across

Overview
Dranvamus is a barred spiral galaxy spanning 220,000 light years in diameter. The two arms extend from 1500 light years form the core and spiral in a tight, irregular coil around the core. Because of how tightly wound these two arms are, many species divide the galaxy into three broad regions: The Core, the Inner Rim and the Ring. Most of known galactic civilization occupies the Inner Rim an the Fringe. Although the galaxy is 220,000 light years, most charts cover only the inner 160-190,000 light years. Beyond the 95 kilolight-year perimeter, the stars are old and metal-poor, some dating back to the early years of the galaxy. Planets within this transition zone into the galactic halo have rarely been explored, passed over as resource-poor and difficult places to accommodate life. In the other direction, the Core is an extremely dense collection of young, hot stars. Ambient cosmic radiation in the core region due to the sheer number and proximity of such stars means few planets have the natural shielding that would sufficiently protect any indigenous life-forms.

While there are ventures into the core, they become increasingly sparse near the deep centre, where the tight distances between young, hot and huge stars make FTL travel increasingly hazardous. Occupied at the very centre by a supermassive black hole an estimated twelve light-hours in diameter. Large enough for solar systems to fit inside, "Eternity's Eye" as the Draknid Imperium calls it has been the source of immense curiosity on the part of galactic civilisation.

The galaxy is divided into several circuits. One encompassing the high-radiation deep core, five in the inner ring and seven in the outer rim. The modern circuits are based on Imperial administrative circuits - galactic governing divisions which handle infrastructure between the various imperial provinces. Some circuits, as a result, hold different names owing to who has control.

Above these. The galaxy is divided into three broad regions the Imperial administration calls Circuits.

Deep in the heart of the Galaxy is the Core. Hot and dense with billions of young high-energy stars. The innermost 30 kilo-lightyears of the galaxy is almost devoid of known life due to the intense radiation levels of a high density of high-energy stars making life-bearing planets a statistical impossibility. Hyperspatial topography is similarly hazardous. The high number of high-gravity objects at distances of a fraction of a lightyear between each other make this region extremely difficult to navigate. With a high number of gravity wells and a more intense twisting of the Hyperspatial metric, flying both by warp and an Hyperspatial FTL a very difficult task. Even the most risky of FTL routes will only dip into the outer edges, a practice known by pilots and starship crews as “Core Skimming.”


 * In the Rim, the rule of the Imperium is near absolute. Great shipyards and post-industrial hives of commerce feed the almost limitless wealth of the empire, with goods, services and resources flowing in from across known space. Among he circuits, galactic society is clustered primarily in three “Great Metropoles.” Wealthiest of all is the Crown circuits – the jewel in the crown of the empire, where the wealthiest known live in opulent splendour and the elite manage estates of trackless extent. Even in the colonial “reaches”, things are prosperous. Where average lives are comfortable and safe, benefitting from the latest advances from the core regions. Where Imperial security is ever-present between the capitals.
 * Colloquially, both the Core and the Rim are often referred to as either the Inner Galaxy, the Coreward Regions, or Corespace.
 * The Ring is a different story. Remnants of past imperial expeditions share space with ancient ruins of long-dead civilizations and empires vestigial and emergent. Out in the southern fringe, what remains of the Confederate Pouz-jok Empire remains a strong local power. Counterward from them, the Illarid Alliance remains one of the few superpowers defiant to Draknid hegemony. Both patrol their space like the Sublime Imperium patrols the core. But across the other side of the galaxy things are far more lawless. Beyond colonial efforts in Far Providence, outlaws congregate in the wildlands and the fringes. None however dare venture into the Abyss. Said to be the origin of something dark, eldritch and outside the normal scope of things.
 * Beyond the rims and out in the Fringe, life gradually fizzles into emptiness as the galactic rim dissolves into ancient and empty stars. As old as the galaxy itself and devoid of any useful material, these stars are largely considered of low interest, important only as strategic choke-points and observation posts for the galactic perimeter.
 * Beyond the Fringe is the Intergalactic Void. Space is dark and empty, the few scattered stars barely flicker in the absolute darkness of the empty space between galaxies.

Deep Core
The very centre of the galaxy is a region extremely dense with young, large and hot stars. Navigation is extremely difficult as the space between stars is small - measured in astranomical units rather than light years. Hyperspatial topology in this region is more convoluted than normal owing to anomalies in the space-time metric.Making quick navigation impossible and “core skimming” (where ships will travel just inside the Deep Core as a shortcut) is a risky and potentially fatal prospect.

At the very centre of the galaxy, deep inside the circuit is Eternity’s Eye. A supermassive black hole measuring eight light hours in diameter. As a universal centrepoint with a stellar object observable from across the galaxy. Galactic coordination uses Eternity’s Eye as the zero-point for interstellar navigation.

Crown
The Crown is, by all possible measures, the political heart of the Draknid Imperium, and where their hold is most absolute. The Crown is considered the most prosperous and sophisticated of all the circuits in the galaxy, with the primary hyperlanes all converging in the Aldra metropolitan region and much of the galaxy’s commercial environment being centred in the Aldra metropol. Dranvamus’ elite find highly desirable real estate in the circuit's core systems where it is safe and desirable near the imperial seat of power.

When the empire of Voltis engaged in its conflicts with the Draknid Imperium, the Crown was one of the few, if not the only circuits that did not see much occupation or threat by the Pouz-joks. Protected by the highest concentrations of imperial warships and police patrols, the circuit is considered one of the safest to be, even more frontier regions see highly fortified military bases stocked with the imperium's most advanced technologies and highly trained soldiers to protect the crown jewel. Combining all these factors, Citizens from the region are consequently viewed as rather snobbish and stuck up.

Mandate
Of the three Great Metropoles of the inner galaxy, Mandate is the most distinct in terms of population and commerce. Bridging the distance between the Crown and Sanctuary worlds by way of the Great Galactic Circuit bisecting the region. Mandate has some of the busiest trade routes outside of the imperial capitals.

A melting zone where Draknid and Serenaic culture bleeds from one to the other. mandate is a cosmopolitan region of space that was initially characterised by the early expansions of the Draknid Imperium. When the Divinarium was integrated as a client state of the Imperium, its clerics and magnates flocked to the circuit for new opportunities both spiritual and financial. The outward spread of the Divinarium under the Imperium’s wing has given the region a distinctly Sanctuaran flavour.

Sanctuary
To the east of the Mandate lies the Sanctuary, one of the most ancient parts of the galaxy. It was from this region that civilisation began to reassert itself after the end of the Era of Diamonds, and it was here where, for many generations, the political and economic life of Dranvamus was centered. There arose the holy Cult of the Void, founded on the desert world of Vendeatha by Alchaear the First, and from there did Seranai the Great, the Cult's most revered of priest-queens, wage her holy crusades. The mighty fortresses and baroque cathedrals of Grand Seranaica still stand today across the worlds of Sanctuary, reminders of that proud and glorious age. Even as political and economic power now presides in the Crown

Though Grand Seranaica is no more, and the heartlands of the Crown have long since eclipsed Sanctuary in wealth and power, it still remains an important locus of commerce and the spiritual heart of not only the Cult of the Void, but for all Dranvamus. It also holds status as the most populated region among the Coreworlds, owing to generations of terraforming projects creating more habitable worlds than anywhere else in the galaxy. Its crowded hab-worlds, some of which have grown into true ecumenopoleis over the centuries, house a large portion of the Imperium's population. Sanctuarans commonly argue that while Alcanti may be the crown jewel of the Imperium, it is the countless trillions of Sanctuary's denizens that are its foundation.

Dragon’s Reach
Colloquially (and perhaps in some cases dismissively) referred to as “the Frontier” by imperial citizens. Dragon’s Reach is an area where the Imperium’s grip is loose, and a popular place for settlers looking for life outside Imperial space but not too far from its influence and patrols. Dragon’s Reach does not have the good fortune of Mandate to have a busy trade run. And while there is traffic through to Sanctuary, The region’s closer proximity to Alcanti itself and the unknowns of the Twilight spin make travel though Dragon’s Reach to Sanctuary a more risky process than travelling though Mandate.

The region is not all homesteads, hideaways and retreats. Dragon’s Reach attracts a large number of pioneers and archaeologists. Local stories talk of ancient colonisation efforts in eras past. Past projects of the Imperium, precursors, and more ancient empires. The region is said to be rich in evidence of the Early Imperium and the times before that. Archaeologists and explorers from across the galaxy are attracted by the prospects of artifacts or relic sites tens, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of years old.

Illaris
Galactic legends hold that before the supremacy of the Crown, the centre of galactic power was in the Ring. Among the great powers of the day, Illaris was what the Crown is today. A glistening jewel of ivory-white towers and baroque colonnades. Of grand ornate monuments and values older than any can remember.

Although the accounts have long since become legend. The aristocracy of Illaris’s inner worlds still cling to the idea they are the inheritors of the great mantle of supremacy. Before the Imperium, they were masters of Dranvamus and insist they will be when the Crown’s day is done. This attitude trickles down into the general population of Illaris’ inner worlds. Manifesting as mostly a distrust in the Corespace civilisations. Rather than an outright dismissal of their position.

Old Voltis
At one time, the heart of Old Voltis was the galactic capital of Dranvamus just as Alcanti is today. The Grand Pouz-jok Empire being a pale shadow of itself as the leading worlds of the regime long ago turned inward, caring only for themselves and whatever few holdings they were able to keep a grip on with the Imperium’s ascension.

Despite its isolation, Old Voltis remains a wealthy and busy sector. Much like the Crown, the worlds of the circuit long ago established themselves as comparable in their robustness to the capitals of numerous smaller empires. Goods from the circuit are still highly sought after as products of Pouz-jok culture and industry. Even if interest has waned with the passing years.

Umbaris
In ages past, this circuit was kept wealthy by trade with the empires of Illaris, much like Mandate is today. As the old empire retreated inwards however, so did the commercial opportunities. Umbaris today has become more a vestigial holding. An example that while much reduced, the Grand Empire is far from dead and gone into the annals of history.

But the region largely lacks the prosperity of Mandate in the Inner Galaxy. Instead of trade posts and waystations, the main hyperways are speckled with military checkpoints. The mega-carriers that once plied these lanes serve as mobile fortresses for the Lords of Voltis and their armies. So-called Great Bastions that exist as the last examples of power projection still maintained by the Grand Pouz-jok Empire. While ships from and to Illaris, and to an extent the Inner Galaxy, the circuit is considered more of a trophy in the desperate clutches of an empire in decline than a route of great wealth.

Tiranac
Once the very fringes of the old Pouz-jok Empire. Tiranac is a region of strange anomalies and phantoms. While settlements exist in the outer regions of the circuit, the inner regions are infamously uncharted. Several theories exist to explain the “phantoms” which haunt the circuit, the prevailing theory claims the region is heavily linked to the Aether.

Legend has it the first psionics to ascend to Eloa’nar travelled deep inside the region to learn the secrets of transcendence into Aetheral beings. The Throne of the Lords Psionic - the court of the Psal’Jinnai - is rumoured to be in a part of the Aether that can only be reached deep inside the Tiranac circuit. Other theories suggest spacefaring thoughtforms are drawn to this region of space. Some speculate precursors still dwell in this far corner of the galaxy. Or there is some yet-unknown civilisation deep inside the circuit.

Far Reach
Located neighbouring Mandate, Old Voltis and Tiranac, Far Reach is a region much like Dragon’s each; a settlement area intermixed with Ringward civilisations and the marks of past civilisations. Once, the Old Pouz-jok Empire held considerable sway, but as the Empire faded it retreated, leaving hundreds of systems stripped and abandoned.

As such, settlement efforts made by the Imperium are hindered by a scarcer-than usual list of habitable and resource-rich planets. The mark the Old Empire left on the Reach grows more prominent the closer someone goes to Old Voltis. While towards Tiranac, stories emerge of ghosts and phantoms, the anomalies of the Haunted circuit bleeding into charted space.

Wildlands
Renowned for their lawless expanses, where the influence of the great coreward empires dissipates into nothingness, the Wildlands are a region of the Dravanmus galaxy populated by a loose affiliation of minor species, united only in their refusal to acknowledge the political authority of the coreward empires.

This violently independent region has paid the price for such defiance against the draknir’s grand Imperium not in direct reprisal but by conflict within. Wars between various petty dictators and governments are common, and a general lack of central authority has made the Wildlands a haven of criminal activity; particularly in the trades of piracy and sapient trafficking. Raiders from the Wildlands often strike out at neighboring Tiranac and Muris, and wars often rage along the loosely-defined borders of the circuit. Some raiders even strike the edges of Dragon’s Reach, though none have yet dared earn the true wrath of the Imperium by raiding the Crown.

The Wildlands are home to many coreworld species as well as the races from the galactic rim, though those who visit are often treated with hostility as outsiders by the local populations. Most who flee to the Wildlands to escape prosecution will often find themselves facing an entirely less honest form of justice.

Muris
Home of the ancient world of Aeolla, formerly Muaran, from which Muris earned its original name, Muris is the home of multiple extragalactic colonisation efforts; most notably the colonies of the Ankoran Covenant, and Teyan Dominion. Both colonial territories cover only a minor portion of the circuit; though they have quickly overtaken local politics through their aggressive expansion and annexation of space. Becoming the local leading powers in a region where coreward influence fizzles out of disinterest with the outer fringes of the galaxy.

Too powerful to be fought against individually, the saving grace of the region is conflict between the two extragalactic settlers. The two powers do not get along with each other, agreeing to a demilitarised zone twenty light years wide between their territories. Though such conflict has brought violent war to the region as well. As much as the two local powers are dwarfed by the Imperium, their proxy wars and cold war standings have meant their conflicts can be felt across at least half of the circuit.

Primordial Age (pID 9 billion - 5 billion)
"From a trillion lights our halo was formed. For those who shall emerge within, it shall be cradle. Grave. Home and hazard. For the memories flow richly. The essence of thought, and breath, and joy shall emerge from the void."

- - Genesis of Eternity

Dranvamus’ early origins lie at the confluence of several protogalaxies. A period the scientific community call the Great Galactic Merger, when several such formations collided and merged with each other during the early few billion years of the universe. Historical accounts of the primordial period, between the galaxy settling into what is now Dranvamus and the first emergence of interstellar life is difficult to determine as only the oldest stars remain and the slim fragments of early broadcasts drift scattered and garbled on the interstellar medium. The only known remnants of this age are any deep-space installations or constructs engineered to such a degree that even time and radiation struggles to weather them. Such constructs are, for reasons that are readily clear to physics, near to non-existant.

Only speculation exists of this early period, but there was thought to be a period when star formation was far more frequent, perhaps leading to the galaxy's abnormal size. Other proposals circulate that Dranvamus has drifted though the universe merging with other galaxies, which in turn makes it difficult to determine what prehistoric remnants are of local origin and which are foreign until the stars they occupied were absorbed into the galactic plane.

While scientific explanation of these ancient eras is lacking, every interstellar society has some variant of creation myth either mainstream or esoteric, to explain the galaxy's origins. The most popular, due to the spread of Drakon's Path, is the idea that the galaxy was collected together from a trillion scattered stars by the confluence of memory-energy (ecke). Stars were the cradles of life, bestowing this energy to planets to summon the earliest traces of life.

Age of the Firstborn (pID 5 billion - 800 million )
While it is unknown whether there existed civilization in the Primordial Era, it is believed the first stirrings of civilisation occurred some five billion years ago within Corespace. This firstborn species became known as the Urdakti, the name itself not even being their own as their sheer age has made understanding the civilisation difficult and almost impossible. Their remains existing mostly as fossilised ruins and very ancient examples of terraforming. The Age of the Firstborn is scattered with such half-known civilisations, the only outstanding example being the Avikitani. A species of avian nature who became an advanced civilisation some time in the last billion years. The only known remnants being Krast'ovir; a large, moonlet-sized gyroscopic structure in Old Voltis. Scattered cities on geological sections of the construct suggest that such a construct was a large space station, although speculation from Pouz-jok historians presume the structure to be a central training facility for the Avikitani grand army.

Age of the Four (pID 450 million - pID 210 million)
"Of the billions of civilisations that call Ardenta their cradle, none capture the imagination quite like the Four. We do not know enough to comfortably understand them, but we know enough that they would make the dominion of reality attributed to the greatest psionics look like a toddler on a xylophone."

- - Satius Vorix, xeno-anthropologist. On the capacity of the Four.

Of all civilisations that arose is the time known as the Age of the Four. Though much of the understanding of this period remains uncertain. What is known is that there were four particular civilisations with a few overlapping periods of coexistence with each other. Plenty of ruins remain scattered to suggest their capabilities including inert megastructures, fragments of megacities, starship graveyards and on occasion a half-working starship. The technological capabilities of the Four are thought to surpass even the reality-shifting capabilities of their successors such as the Era of Diamonds. Moving stars, dismantling planets in hours and even speculations of spiritual or digital immortality.

While little of the Four remains in the modern day, they spark a considerable amount of popular imagination, enough that they might have served as inspirations for successors and descendent powers, or even the Imperium. The most popular of speculations is a hypothesis known as the Great Seeding - for purposes either benevolent of nefarious, the Four tweaked the biosphere development of millions of planets to create intelligent species. As to why, speculation ranges from a desire to create life, the creation of inheritors, to the half-abandoned plans for evolved soldiers in some forgotten war.

Antetriumvirate Collapse (pID 300,000)
The civilizations of this time and the age they inhabited would be unremarkable save for how they ended. All surviving evidence, whether archaeological, astronomical, or sparse time-corroded historical accounts, points to this era of Dranvamus terminating in a galaxy-spanning war of apocalyptic scale and intensity. While devastating enough on its own, also caused massive chain reactions of societal and economic collapse to ripple across the galaxy, leading to famines, pandemics, and worse. Within a millennium, virtually all complex interconnected civilization had perished -- creating a galaxy-sized power vacuum into which the great powers of the Age of the Imperium would eventually blossom.

The Early Dynasties (ID.721 - ID.12420)
The foundation of the Imperium is deeply shrouded in myth and speculation owing to the extreme age of the past. What is known is it was once like any other interstellar civilisation. Starting small and securing supremacy within its local space with both diplomatic tact and force of arms. It was in this period the mythological “Ur-draknir” held sway. A civilisation that through eons of cultural drift have become a mythology in its own right.

The Era of Diamonds (ID.21340 - ID.37150)
Both scholars and popular entertainment are inclined to agree the greatest extent of the draknir was the often-called “Era of Diamonds.” A high point following he early eras, the Era of Diamonds holds an irresistible appeal, with popular imagination conceiving it as a time when science made nothing impossible and the Imperium’s extent was at its highest possible. Some would argue the popular impression of the era is almost fantastical. To perfect to fit historical trends. Supposedly too good to be true.

The Sanctuaran Dynasties (ID.38210 - ID.41290)
While no one can rally agree how the influence of the Crown faded with the end of the Era of Diamonds. One of the most prominent products of the vacuum was the ensuing rise of the empire of Serenai I. Using both military supremacy and a doctrine of spiritual supremacy, Serenai  and her descendents altered the central pole of the galaxy. Moving the very centre of galactic politics from one of the Crown Worlds to Vendaetha.

Securing power for a few thousand years. The Sanctuaran Dynasties used the Cult of the Void to establish a divine mandate. Even when their power was eventually overthrown with the rise of the modern Imperium. The legacy of Serenai’s can still be felt across galactic civilisation. In part as the modern imperium under the Royal House Oskavarum agreed to a more diplomatic transfer of power.