The Ravagers

Imagine if you will, a race as interconnected as the cells of your body. Trillions of beings, their shapes as different as you could imagine in your wildest, feverish dreams, all striving for one purpose. Millions can (and will) sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

What said purpose or greater good are, we can only guess at.

The Ravagers came out of nowhere a few decades ago, and almost at a whim, destroyed two planets without much hassle.

No. Not destroyed. Consumed. Ate.

These cosmic locusts descended upon Izuan Tai and Persaius and reduced all organic material to goo. And then fed this goo to their ships in orbit.

The Corvo and Iz'kal navies managed to get some revenge on these dead worlds, and that, was assumed, was that. The Ravagers retreated into the depths of the Labyrinth, usually reduced to minor skirmishes or strategic attacks.

The truth, however....

The Ravagers are evolving. They are probing the defences of Known Space. Their Harvesters are absorbing victims and learning about them. Their Ironskins are eating the Known Races' metals and instinctively understanding their alloys, their weaknesses.

Soon, the Queens will know much more about Known Space than they did. Information is ammunition, they say. Soon, they will make a move.

And may The Five Gods help us when they do, because there will be no one left.

Ruling over all.

Governments:

The Corvo: Each colony of the Corvo is nominally fairly independent. Communication is slow in Known Space, so a centralised administration would be difficult. If an issue affects more than one such colonies, councils are generated, with independent observers are moderators. The collection of all these interests are colectively refered to as the Corvosphere.

The Iz'kal: All Iz'kal are part of the same network, called The State. The species does have a number of colonies, but these are always considered to be part of the whole. Even with the slowness of Known Space communications, they strive for The Greater Good.

The Raag: The species is split into 4 or 5 major clans and a myriad smaller ones. Each travels around in modified comets and frozen asteroids, called the Ice Fortresses. Periodically, these travel back to their homeworld with resources and information. There is constant warfare between them.

The Humans: No centralised government, considered to be associate race of the Corvosphere.

The Ravagers: Monarchy, insomuch as there are Queens, in the same way of Terran bees or ants. Details are unknown.

The Races of Faith

The Corvo: Rampaging capitalists. Lovers of profit and technology. The most outspread of all the races, as they need to expand quickly to feed the unstoppable machine that is their dominions, the Corvosphere. If you have money, your quality of life will be without equal. If you don't, you'll be the lowest of the low. Corvo-tech is the most advanced in Known Space.

The Iz'kal. Mildly telepathic humanoids, evolved from marine mammals. A civilisation with virtually no lying and very little crime. Their culture, called The State, is very eco-aware, and expands keeping a balance between technology and nature. Masters of genetic manipulation, embryos are changed to perform their future jobs whilst still in uterus. If you don't conform, you'll have your whole race against you.

The Humans: Mankind self destructed in the fires of WWIII. When the Corvo arrived, they had very little effort annexing Earth. Humans would never again have a big civilisation, but through the Corvo, they moved out into Known Space as elite mercenaries. Most Corvo ships have one or two humans in cryo, for defence. Their services are highly sought by all races. Most humans are genetically sterilised by the Corvo, as a condition of contract off-Earth, to avoid having a highly trained growing population within their borders.

The Raag: Small but strong humanoids. Their homeworld is a frozen wasteland. After centuries of slavery, they rose up and wiped out their former masters, keeping huge amounts of their tech. The Raag now roam Known Space in their Ice Fortresses, looking for resources, as their Enginseers study their former slavers' tech. Ruthless towards enemies, most clans exist in a state of perpetual warfare. Rare is the Raag that perishes of natural causes. The biggest clans are the Kimora, the Eferi, the Velada, the Noteri and the Jino.

Ravagers. Origin: unknown. Purpose: unknown. A hive mind of countless organic obscenities intent on absorbing all living matter. 2 know planets dead, countless smaller incursions into Known Space. Never forget: the Queens never spend calories without a purpose.

Once upon a time....

‘I doubt this is the future your forefathers imagined, child. I’ve been told of you humans. You evolved on a planet in a distant sector, now part of the Corvosphere.

Your achievements were many, but war ended up destroying you. When the Corvo came out of the network of wormholes called the Labyrinth over your planet, there was little left, just roaming clans of savages. In the blink of an eye, your Earth was part of the Corvo dominions, the Corvosphere.

Funny bunch, the Corvo. Vaguely insectoid, a civilization obsessed by technology, and ran by Mega Corps. They are, however, masters at finding value in things. And you humans were so adaptable; you became elite mercenaries for the Corvo. And they needed all the help they could find, the Labyrinth isn’t empty.

As a sort of cosmic counterbalance to the Corvo, we have the Iz’kal. Descendent from marine mammals, they have a latent telepathy that allows them to link together. Their species is all about sharing, and the greater good, but don’t think them weak. Their combined civilization, The State, might not be as advanced as the Corvo, but they take an attack on one as an attack on all.

Then you have my kind, child, the Raag. Not much to say, really. We were enslaved for centuries by another race, the Korian. There were mean and cruel. Then the Uprising happened and we killed them instead. All of them. We then converted ice asteroids into our Ice Fortressed and with them we roam the Galaxy looking for resources. Humans and Raag were simply clinging on to the Iz’kal-Corvo cold war.

The two species wouldn’t – couldn’t – see eye to eye, but after a couple of engagements, they quickly saw that an all out conflict would wipe them both out. There was, and is, tension, with both sides doing shadow-y ops, trying to bring the other down from the inside, damaging resource collection, destroying facilities, and so on.

And then, 20 of your years ago, another player joined the field. Izuan Tai, Persaius, planets that no longer are, so we could know the Harvesters. What they are, where they come from are questions we still ask. They are as varied as pebbles in a stream, with towering beasts, humanoids indistinguishable from you or I, and everything else in between. All they want is to consume all organic material and preserve their Hive and their Queens. The Corvo and Iz’kal created the Coalition, a joint army, answerable to none, with total authority over Harvester infected systems.

So here we are, little one. 5 races, as many as the fingers in your hand.

Each of them wanting to survive and

thrive, even if it has to go over all the other 4.

All travelling the stars

using the Labyrinth. And all slowly encroaching on each others’ territory.

We live in interesting times, young one….’

Kwoonshy ‘Onshy’ Treeg, Clan Taber, Raag Soryteller.