The Setting

The Kheïtanni and the Lánaraï were once part of an ancient race who ruled the stars, known as the Aëdr. They were an ancient and powerful race, all noble warriors and angelic in form. A highly technologically advanced and star-faring people, they had traversed most of the galaxies local to them. Many of these worlds were swiftly brought under their rule during the Expansion Wars, but truly the Aëdr never met substantial opposition to their power. There was only one true power in the universe and it was they.

The Aëdr and those under their dominion were ruled by a governing council known as the Násr. These were the greatest of their kind. The word ‘Násr' means ‘Ascendant' in their tongue, for these chosen few had truly transcended physical form upon taking office. With their spiritual essence entombed within great machines, these god-like beings would rule for eternity.

The immortal Násr and their machines were as individual as the Aëdr they had once been. Each had their own mastery and ministered over a different facet of the Aëdr life and their empire. Where Ghór sought dominance and war, Iónar travelled and marvelled at the universe in peace. Where Vaïa brought life to new worlds, Móri’s was the hand of death. Nekhára would gaze far into the future, while Jéhana diligently documented the past. So it was even with the strange brothers: Änh who was essence of all that was, had been or ever would be, and Xúl who embodied nothingness.

But Rhïas was different. A fierce and outspoken individual among a council of equals, his ambition was unmatched and his knowledge and power already legendary despite his relative youth. As radiant and powerful as the sun, yet as fickle as a flickering flame, he was the embodiment of fire. He was change incarnate – invention, innovation, progress. His ideals spread like wildfire throughout the empire. Yet the empire would never live up to Rhïas’ vision. He watched the beaurocratic cogs turn with painful slowness in an empire that was bloated far beyond its ability to be ruled efficiently or sustainably. To Rhïas, the civilisation he had helped to forge was rank with decay. Everywhere he looked he saw only indulgence and complacency.

His first divisive actions were trivial, mere indiscretions that bucked against the rigid rulings of the council. Secret projects and hidden experiments, Rhïas sought in earnest to unravel the mysteries of the universe and those of life itself. Rhïas’ curiousity led him down paths never before trodden and more than a few that many believed should never be walked.

Engrossed in his great works, he grew careless, and it was not long before his secrets were unmasked by the Násr-Seer, Nekhára. Rhïas was brought before the furious council in shame. The judgement of the Násr Council was swift and uncompromising. The total ban on Rhïas' works of science was voted for unanimously and Rhïas was left with nothing. He was one of the Násr now only in name.

But he would not go meekly. No longer wrapped in secrets or confined to the shadows, Rhïas gathered forces that none amongst the Council had ever suspected he had at his disposal. With nearly half of the worlds of the Aëdr empire supporting him, he moved against the shocked Násr Council in force.

The ensuing War in Heaven – as it was known, raged for decades unabated across the span of an entire galaxy. Frustrated at His inability to bring the war to a swift end, Rhïarrh turned to darker means to secure victory. His forces moved in secret and attacked the Star Wells – gargantuan constructs that were each designed to drain the energy output of an entire star. The damaged wells collapsed under the weight of their host star's gravity and the unimaginable foreces unleashed wiped entire star systems from existence, instantly killing billions.

But from each blackened hole left in the galaxy, new life sprung. The Star Titans. The children of Rhïarrh, each forged from the death of an entire star. Wielding immeasurable power, the Star Titans drove the forces of the Násr like sheep before them.

The war ended with a ferocious battle in orbit over a strange, far flung and lifeless planet called Vónekh VII. This planet was located at a weak point between the material universe and the sinister nether-realm known as The Void – a key reason for the its tactical importance. Knowing that the Star Titans had been formed by the Void and fearing Rhïarrh's malign interest in the planet, the last act of the Násr was one of desperation.

As they staged their last line of defense to stop Rhïarrh, something went wrong. Their plan to use the dark energies of the Void failed disasterously and a terrible cataclysm almost wiped out both forces. Closest to the epicenter of destruction, those of the Kheïtanni who were not killed immediately were flung down on to the planet, leaving their bodies a charred and shattered ruin.

Rhïarrh had mysteriously vanished, presumed dead. The Star Titans, now free of the shackles that bound them to their creator, fled to all corners of the galaxy, leaving fiery devastation in their wake. The Lánaraï fared slightly better, but with their fleet heavily damaged and in disarray, they were unable to leave the Vónekh system. Still loyal to their fallen master, they descended onto the surface of the planet to destroy the remaining rebels.

The Kheïtanni quickly regained their strength and set about a brutal campaign to slay each and every one of their traitorous former kin. Reluctant to fight a war of attrition with the rampaging Kheïtanni, the attentions of Lánaraï gradually turned skywards. They built mighty fortresses and closeted themselves in high towers, desperate to discover the means to leave the Vónekh system and return to the stars.

Years turned to centuries, and centuries became millennia. Still neither side gained the upper hand and the Lánaraï remain planet bound. Though they never succeded in their lofty quest, they gradually began to regain some of their former knowledge and technology. A voice whispered dark secrets to them from the Void, filling their minds with images of grandeur. Deperate for progress, they listened eagerly and weilding newfound powers over the world around them, they desired to create a race of slaves in their own image to serve them.

But the first experiment of the Lánaraï in creating life ended in bitter failure. Disgusted at the misshapen beings that emerged, they rounded them up into death camps and began undoing their great work. But these vile creatures – the Vaïar, though they hated themselves as much as they hated those who had given them unnatural life, rose up and threw down the walls that held them. Bemoaning their tortured existence they slew their captors and fled into the wilds.

Unperturbed by their failings, and encouraged by the voice in the Void, the Lánaraï set about their task once more and created the Rhïan. Simple beings that would serve without question. Wingless, they would be bound to the earth and would never escape their masters. To their new charges, they gave another manacle – the faith and fear of Rhïarrh, a stern god whose judgement would guide them to salvation.

And the voice responded in kind. For Rhïarrh had chosen His new children. An army of followers who revered His name. For in them, He saw the means to escape the Void that bound Him and finally return triumphant to the material universe.