LGALAXY2 (PART 2 OF 5) 10) THE DARK AGES The period that followed the revolution is referred to as the "Dark Ages". It was a period of decay and decline of technology, of economies and of civilization itself. With the destruction of the mighty shipyards of Gaia it was no longer possible to construct starships with 3 parsec Jitlov hyperdrives and contact between Reaches became rare. Even contact between planets of the same reach grew infrequent. Some planets never really recovered from the destruction suffered during the revolution, others were still too recently colonized to be truly self sufficient and thus endured great hardships due to the lack of supplies that might once have come from Gaia or other older colonies. The genetically hardy and cheerful Trons survived extreme depravation much better than the individualistic non-Tron Minifigs. Also the planets with the largest Minifig populations had been destroyed by the Berserkers (Ceti and Eridani) or had suffered greatly (Dacta, Billund, Python) while the frontier worlds, which were more heavily populated by Trons, were largely spared. On some planets the more-fragile Minifigs died out completely while on others they were reduced to a thin aristocratic crust. The Minifig Revolution created new menaces in its aftermath. The Berserkers were the first and most obvious, but certainly they were not the only ones. Many mutations occurred due to the radiation loosed by Berserker weapons. Minifigs (including Trons) were born with hideous deformities. Sadly in the desperate period following the revolution, it was all too easy for the Minifigs to treat the innocent mutants with just the same prejudice that they had recently been treated themselves. The mutants were often blamed for natural disasters and other calamities and were eventually driven out of their homes en masse, finally settling on the fringes of inhabited space. The largest group of Mutant refugees came to inhabit several planets on the edge of the Arcolony reach where them began to organize first to defend themselves and later to take vengeance for their mistreatment at the hands of the Minifigs. Other groups of mutants spread to other worlds outside the boundaries of the Gaian Outreach. In a remote area of the Tron Reach Dr. Franken Tron, a mutant Tron scientist invented a method of reanimating dead Minifigs and created the Cyborgs. Dr. Franken Tron used his creations to conquer several nearby planets in the Tron Reach causing a reaction against his excesses. A military force was raised which expelled the Cyborgs and killed Franken Tron. The Cyborgs fled into unexplored areas of the Tron reach where they founded the Cyborg Empire. On the other side of inhabited space in the Astron reach another Minifig created menace came into being. During the revolution scientists from Astrograd, the oldest and most powerful colony of the Astron Reach created android super soldiers to fight the Gaians. After the destruction of Gaia, the military commanders of Astrograd used the androids to make themselves warlords over the various planets of the Astron reach and soon expanded their sway over the adjacent uninhabited star system and the worlds of the Tyconauts. It was many years before the nearer planets of the Astron Reach extradited themselves from the influence of the android warlords who continue to rule the further parts of the Astron Reach to this day. Furthermore there were many groups of refugees and even bandits that fled from their ruined homes. Some such as the legendary Legar the Horrible became barbaric bandits preying upon the more peaceful and civilized worlds. Some of these barbarians are the ancestors of the space pirates of today. Others peacefully settled worlds far distant from the core areas of the Gaian Outreach. Yet others became wanderers, living on their starships, the ancestors of the Free Traders. If this were not enough there were additional threats arising on the borders of the Gaian Outreach. Many of the alien races which had been primitive compared to the mighty United Gaians used the dark ages to close the technological gap often with technology acquired from the Gaians themselves. The Blue Trons of the Tron Reach, the Technic Giants of the Arcolony Reach, the Awful Green Things From Outer Space of the Gaian Reach, the Ritviks of the Jewel Reach, the Centaurs of the Mythic Reach, the Tyconauts of the Astron Reach and the Coneheads of the Geometry Reach all either became starfaring races or vastly improved their starships although none of them were able to do better than 2 parsec Jitlov hyperdrives. It was also during the dark ages that the Minifigs of the Dark Reach were able to communicate with the Dragons of Pern and learn the use of magical powers from them. The woes of the minifigs were not over yet as the dark ages were the times of the awful Tandemitis plague (which made minifigs heads swell up until they exploded). The prospects were so bleak that occasional Minifigs were reported to spontaneously break into a frown (which usually caused their immune system to shut down followed quickly by the demise of the frowning Minifig). 11) THE OCTAN RANGERS During the darkest days of the dark ages there arose a group of tireless crusading knights, the protectors of the downtrodden, the friends of the just and the saviors of the hopeless, the legendary Octan Rangers, Originally they were a group of service station attendants on the planet Octagon who were thrown out of work by the crumbling economy of the antebellum period. They turned to comedy as a new career and it was then that they discovered the power of humor and they undertook to use "the farce" to do good wherever they could. They were sworn to poverty (they didn't own anything to start with), chastity (this one was particulary easy as Trons are not anatomically correct and reproduce only by cloning) and unfailing good humor (again a part of their Tron heritage). They undertook quests all across the Gaian Outreach although they maintained their base upon the planet Octagon. They did good deeds that are still commemorated in songs and comic books to this day. There was only one dark period in the otherwise shinning history of the Octan Rangers. A group of Octan Rangers discovered the awesome power of the dark side of the farce and were thus seduced into using sarcasm. Sarcasm had a devastating effect upon the often-naive Trons. The sarcastic Octans were expelled from the brotherhood and became mercenaries for the Android Warlords of the Astron Reach. Eventually some overthrew their masters and became warlords themselves. After the creation of LEGO (see below) many Octan Rangers became a part of the new space police although some have maintained the order. The headquarters of the brotherhood was moved to the planet Amber during the reign of the emperor Brickstone. 12) THE GALACTIC WARS Eventually there was a renaissance among the worlds of the Gaian Outreach. New shipyards capable of constructing three parsec jump starships appeared (initially at Blacktron in the Tron Reach and Epcot and Enfield in the Gaian Reach) and regular contact reopened between the reaches. Unfortunately conflicts arose as the differences between the reaches became apparent. The Gaian Reach was, for the most part, ruled by a small minority of non-Tron Minifig nobility who lorded it over masses of usually loyal and genetically happy Tron subjects. The Tron Reach was almost entirely inhabited by Trons, except for the planet Shalmirane and were usually ruled by elected Tron councils (the Councils of Elect-Trons). Individuality and "pretensions" of grandeur were greatly discouraged, loyalty and hard work were encouraged. The Minifig rulers of the worlds of the Gaian Reach saw the Tron worlds as "communistic" planets that might be tempted to incite the Tron serfs of the Gaian reaches to revolt. The Trons saw the Gaian nobility as parasites who profited from the toil of their enslaved Tron brethren. Neither side was, on the whole, as bad as they were portrayed. However the accusations and counter-accusations soon caused the worlds of the Gaian Outreach to polarize into competing alliances. Many (but not all) of the worlds of the Gaian Reach joined the Farflung Futuron Federation (FFF). Important planets of the FFF were Epcot (the FFF capital, home of the old space police), Enfield (home of the blue Futurons), Plateau (home of the red Futurons), Trantor (home of the yellow Futurons) and Dacta (home of the Dacta set 6355 space people). The Futurons labeled their Tron opponents as the "Belligerent Baronies of the Blacktron" or BBB which stuck as a moniker because the Trons name for themselves was so cumbersome (Tron Reach Alliance Merging Power in Opposition to Larcenous and Insidious Nasties of Epcot or TRAMPOLINE). Important planets of the BBB were Polytron, Intertron, Genentron and Blacktron itself. Most of the worlds of the other reaches, which were in general less populated and less powerful were neutral as were some planets of the Gaian and Tron Reaches. However as time went on it became less and less possible for planets to stay neutral. There were three great conflicts, the three Galactic Wars, between the FFF and the BBB, the first ending slightly in favor of the BBB, the second slightly in favor of the FFF and the third became locked in a grim and deadly balance that looked likely to devastate civilization all across the Gaian Outreach. Finally the Octan Rangers were able to broker a peace of exhaustion. They called a vast conference including the leaders of almost every planet in the Gaian Outreach. After nearly a year of hard negotiation the delegates agreed that the only solution that would both prevent the continuation of destructive war and protect the worlds of the Gaian Outreach from rapidly growing external threats was complete unity. It took additional years to work out the details and actually implement this solution. Finally the Limitless Empire of the Gaian Outreach (LEGO) was born. Its capital was at the old Octan Ranger headquarters planet of Octagon. Each planet elected a senator whose duties included protecting the rights of the individual planets of the Empire, advising the Emperor and electing new Emperors. The first election was nearly unanimous, the commander of the Octan Rangers became the new Emperor and took the name of Octagonius Caesar. 13) THE REIGN OF OCTAGONIUS CAESAR A new chronology was created at the Ascension of Octagonius Caesar. It was proclaimed to be year one of the LEGO era. Octagonius was an energetic and competent non-Tron Minifig. He founded the institutions that were to the backbone of the Empire. He created the new Space Police, the military and law enforcement organ of the Empire. They were a unified force composed of Octan Rangers, the old Space Police and Blacktron Space Marines. He used them to repel the Berserkers and drive the Space Pirates out of their base on Lincoln Park (a moon of the world of Chicago). Octagonius organized the imperial bureaucracy across the empire and the system of tax collection that supported the other imperial institutions. He supported education, science and television sitcoms. The imperial peace caused a boom in commerce. The Free Traders constructed many of their massive city ships (usually at the great shipyard at Enfield) and grew to dominate the rapidly expanding inter-reach trade. When Octagonius died in the 28th year of the Lego era, the foundations of the empire had been firmly laid. 14) THE REIGN OF ABS KIRK CHRISTIANSEN The Imperial Senate gathered and elected the Archpriest of the Maker of the planet Monza to be the second emperor. It proved to be a brilliant choice. The Order of the Maker was an ancient and respected religion based upon the planet Billund. They held that there was a original creator, usually thought to be a Gaian Old One, who had made the Minifigs. The new emperor derived his name from the name of the Maker. The Order of the Maker promoted peace, charity and creative play. Members of the Order of the Maker often carried out diplomatic missions. It was that skill in diplomatic matters that now stood the Emperor Christiansen in good stead. The Empire was still filled with factions that threatened to tear it apart and undo the work of Octagonius. Christiansen was able to cause the FFF of the Gaian Reach and the BBB of the Blacktron Reach to be disbanded. The individual planets were still powerful, but Blacktron and Epcot were no longer the capitals of rival leagues. The other main achievement of the Emperor Christiansen was the reoccupation of the home planet of Gaia. At great expense Christiansen had most of the planet decontaminated and rebuilt as a museum planet. It was constructed on a "town" theme, although the inhabitants were now Trons as the Old Ones of Gaia were dead long before. The Emperor Christiansen passed away in the 55th year of the LEGO era. 15) NOTES ON RELIGION There are three main religions prevalent in the Gaian Outreach as well as minor faiths too numerous and too silly to mention (some of which have been adopted from non-LEGO aliens). The Emperor Christiansen was an Archpriest of the Order of the Maker which is described above. The Order of the Maker is based at Billund and is guarded by the musketeers of Darkover a dedicated group of mercenaries hired from outside of LEGO. The second most popular religious organization is the Order of the Player which worships an elaborate pantheon of gods (examples of Player deities are Paul Gyugyi, Dik Winter, David Karr, Joshua Delahunty, Eileen Keeney, Todd Lehman, Jacob Sparre Andersen, Jeff Crites and Tom Pfeifer). The order of the Player holds that these deities determine the fate of each Minifig. There are many Player holy places, the three chief being on the planets of Azania, Betatron and Tahiti. The third major religious organization is the Order of the Gambler, sometimes known as the new faith, which holds that fate is unknown, unknowable and basically random. The Order of the Gambler is often connected with the image of dice although they occasionally worship a Deity named Heisenberg. There are no specific Gambler holy places as they hold that all places are random and therefore holy. 16) THE REIGN OF MARCUS LEGONIUS Marcus Legonius was remembered as the warrior philosopher. He wrote numerous tracts upon philosophy, history and architectural design, but even more numerous were his remarkable victories over the enemies of LEGO. He came from the planet of Elysium, home of the Legions, who with their powered exoskeleton suits were the finest mercenary forces in all the Empire. Marcus Legonius relied heavily upon the Legions in his campaigns. There was some friction between the Space Police and the Legions, but such was the respect that Legonius commanded that it was only after his death that these internal conflicts became serious. Legonius expanded the boundaries of the empire at the expense of the Empires external foes. He defeated the Technic Giants of the Arcolony Reach and conquered the planet of Bellevue from them. He shattered the Android Warlords of the Astron Reach and liberated the planets of Fahrenheit and Spyrius from their sway. He crushed a massive invasion from the shoddy spaceforces of the Ritviks and took the planet Ocean from them. He expelled the Space Pirates from the planet Solaris (where they had made their base after Octagonius had driven them from Chicago). Legonius blasted the Awful Green Things From Outer Space off of Aurora and the Striker null point. He bested the Cyborg Empire and took the planet Hexatron from them as the price of peace. He also beat the Berserkers on two separate occasions and freed the planet Greytron from their sway. He drove the Mutants out of Sahara and Atlantis. In addition Legonius conquered the independent planet of Oz and made a number of other less powerful worlds (such as Oncotron and the three other planets of the Oz subreach) into client states of LEGO. In addition he also suppressed two rebellions within the boundaries of LEGO itself. His only real setback was at the hands of the Magicians of the Dark Reach who were able to maintain their independence and secure a nonaggression treaty with LEGO. Marcus Legonius passed away peacefully in the 89th year of the LEGO era, after having ruled for 34 years, the longest of all the emperors and the one who gave the empire its current boundaries. END OF LGALAXY 2 (PART 2 OF 5)