Delayed, Disliked, Defiant!

[RyuKazuha]

Preamble

I may not need introduction, for I am well know within the scientific community, if not allways for my accomplishments. But alas my dear reader, be it you have not heard of me elsewhere, I will do so anyways.

I am Zarg'lagr'ash of the diplomatic caste, servant to our divine Leader Ash'gla'sracha'agrash the Undying King of Celestial Throne and the Slerpanor Homeworlds. I have been an emissary in his holyness' name for little more then three millenia now and are, to say the least, quite accomplished in the field of xenosociology as well as xenopsychology. For further information on my background I will refer you to "Loving lesser Creatures" by Mash'zal'rash et al. whom compiled a lovely biographic study about my live as recently as my third millenial celebration.

With such out of the way, allow me to introduce the protagonists of this observational study:

The Larongo

The Larongo are a molluscoid species originating from the planet Karab, the fourth planet of the star Karabon (designated AHG-6486/3461/2981-GBK4 in the Enlightened Catalogue), positioned in the outer reaches of the close spiral arm.
99% of Carabs Surface are covered by deep ocen, with just the very tops of the highest mountain rages reaching beyond the water line for a few hundred meters. With ample room to expand it took a long time for these creatures to form a society.

A word of warning, the Larongo are to be considered repugnant by most sentient species' standards. They've very little going for them and are, even for declared xenophiles like this one, an... accquired taste.

By nature, the Larongo are a solitary bunch, prefering to live in small groups of genetically linked individuals. They offspring are hatched within the fathers egg-sack usually one at a time, leading to a somewhat stunted groth rate compared to most other molluskoids so far observed, Given the fairly unique properties of their home world, the Larongo arn't very well suited to adapt to other environments, even other ocean worlds giving them trouble regularily.

As I said earlier, greater Larongo Society formed late in their species development, mainly due to issues of overcrowding, as they spread as far into the depths of their home as they could. They are currently ruled by a terribly inefficient indirect democrazy they call the "Larongo Nation". Their intrinsic, and unreasonable fear of death in the material world had them develop a deeply pacifistic philosophy, overtaken only by their fear of others shortly after their scientists determined the existence of other intelligent species throughout the galaxy.

As you, my dear reader may guess, the Larongo where quite "late to the party" as one might say concerning the current cycle. And it is true, only at 2200 of the current cycle did they manage to breach hyperspace and, in their own way, join the interstellar community. It would not be for another decade that one of their explorers would stumble into our space, ingorant first, then fearfull of our glory, but our divine leader took notice as soon as they took their first steps into the galaxy, and assigned me to study them.

And so I did.

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Hi, welcome to the story of the Larongo, a people best described in one word as limited.
Though most of the gamey details are covered above as well, here's the setup for all of you who care to know them:

The Larongo
Traits: Repugnant, Slow Breeders, Non-Adaptive and Solitary
Ethics: Fanatic Xenophobe, Pacifist
Government: Indirect Democracy

Galaxy: Two Arm Spiral, 17 AI Opponents all with advanced starts, normal difficulty and normal AI-Aggression, Ironman.

Mods: No clustered starts.

The Idea is to pick a setup wich puts me in a very difficult position, thus leading to interesting gameplay. As the Larongo are pacifists, they will not be allowed to start wars on their own, but might act normally if they are declared upon. I'm still debating wether I do allow them to take enemy planets or force myself to liberate/vasslize them, I guess we'll see how things will go. Updates may vary in time, as I'm quite busy, but I do have played several hours allready, taking notes on how the various presidencies play out.

I hope you enjoyed the read so far and stop by for more later down the line.

Edit: I am curious to know wether you would like to see lots of screenshots or prefer to mainly read.

 

[Makkovar]

Edit: I am curious to know wether you would like to see lots of screenshots or prefer to mainly read.

I really liked how the introduction explained the game setup and the species' characteristics without breaking character or the fourth wall. For once, I'd be kind of interested to see how you communicate the events of the game without an explanatory picture (but maps are still always good!)

 

[RyuKazuha]

Chapter 1: Starbound 2200-2205

As it is a staple of the Larongo nation to exchange their head of state within regular intervalls, I will use these terms of office in order to structure my reports.

Though five years may seem to most of my dear readers as trivial increments, it is comparatively much for most of the lesser species, wich prefer action to carefull deliberation of ones next step.

For the Larongo, the end of the 22nd Century of the current Cycle was defined by a rather heated phylosophical debate. Having detected the signatures of other young FTL civilisations early in the decade, Larongo-kind split along the question of how to act in light of the new information.
While some argued Larongo society should hide from xenos influence as long as possible, others understood the need to expand into space to keep their world from falling to overpopulation.

In the end the voices of two leading scientists widely considered geniuses by Larongo standards tipped the balance in favor of the expansionist faction.

First the individual called "Bahgfier", an accomplished physicist widely venerated among academics, provided the Larongo with a breakthrough in hyperspace theory.
And second the sociologist and philosopher Schuldess swayed public opinion in favor of expansion. He did so explaining the vastly increased likelyhood of survival for any widely spread species, as well as showing hiding to just prolong the inevitable discovery.

Shortly after, newly elected president Maluggreb - himself quite a charismatic expansionist - comissioned the construction of the first three vessels capable of traversing interplanetary and interstellar space, leading his people into the "great oceans beyond".

As many of you might know, the outer reaches of the near spiral arm are not the most welcoming stars within the galaxy.
Karabon is located in a region mostly starved of easily tapped energy sources and of its three neighbouring systems, only one has notable mineral deposits.
Furthermore the local cluster is heavily infested with Crystaloids and a known retreat for the Heralds of Creation called "Void Clouds" by the lesser species.

President Malugrebb ordered his navy, three exploratory craft with primite slugthrowers for defense, to split up and explore the hyperlane network. The ships needn't travel far to meet opposition.
I have to stress, aggression is not the path of the Larongo, but their pacifism is born from fear of losing their physical bodies. This means they are prone to overreact to physical threats, wich isn't a concern with regards to the Crystaloids often called cosmic rats by our less tastefull brethren; however it also led to a fatal misunderstanding on first contact with a Herald.
Defending its territory, the Herald attacked one of the exploratory vessels, heavily damaging it and killing lots of Narongo Crewmen.
President Malugrebb pressured by the Nations need for increased mineral production, had to authorize a ratialiatory strike even while studies on the nature of the entities were still under way.

As the material coherence of the herald was broken and he rejoined the creators in the lands beyond, the Narongo scientists discovered not only vast mineral deposits, but also the ocean world of Arrakis II, proving the benefits of expansion to all but the most stubborn Narongo.

The formerly mentioned Bahgfier was put in charge of developing high-capacity solar collectors in order to help the powerstarved industry.
Schuldess on the other hand spearheaded the Narongo colonisation efforts, while the engineering departments where to concentrate on increasing the Nations mineral production through deep sea mining techniques and later powered exoskeletons.

In essence, the presidency of Malugrebb was one of exploration and discovery for the Larongo Nation, culminating in the first, second and thrid contact with others of the younger species:

The Inari Serene Kingdom located even further on the fringes of the near spiral arm, an empire of traders by necessity (see "Enlightened Creatures: Inari" by Gash'rash'ashal et al).

The Rek'Thalar Star Mandate, a peaceful bureaucracy located on the outer core (see "Carebears" by Pash'glar'gash).

And finally the moral democracy known as the Ganlarev Interplanetary Confederation situated spinward from the Larongo on the near spiral arm (see Enlightened Creatures: Ganlarev by Gash'rash'ashal et al).

Witnessing the power of these civilsations the xenophobia in the larger Larongo populace deepened once more, and even though his decision to establish embassies with these three empires would not be revoked for some time, the tone of the following elections would heavily favor militaristic rethoric, and Malugrebb would not be reelected.

Within his five year term the mineral output of the Narongo increased by about 150%, while energyflow allways struggled to keep up, as it would for the years to come.

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I really liked how the introduction explained the game setup and the species' characteristics without breaking character or the fourth wall. For once, I'd be kind of interested to see how you communicate the events of the game without an explanatory picture (but maps are still always good!)

Thanks, I'll do my best to keep the quality consistent. I also plan on including maps like the above regularly, while retaining Zarg'lagr'ashs style of referring to their location in terms of galactic geography, wich will be more apparent once his home turf appears on the Larongos maps.

 

[RyuKazuha]

The Tyrants Term 2205 - 2210

As noted before, Malugrebb did not get reelected into office. Though he ran a promising campaign, the former leader of the Larongo Nation was challenged (most Larongo today would say "backstabbed") by his former Admiral, an individual named Taruusch.
It was this man who had successfully led the punitive mission into the Arrakis System and secured its vital minerals for the nation, a point he was allways eager to stress.

Taruusch leveraged the flaring xenophobia against his more reluctant rival, turning his popularity into considerable political clout. He promised the Larongo people new worlds and the strength to crush any Xenos threat who would dare invade their borders.
Where in hindsight his reign is marked as one as the dark spots in Larongo history, his shortcomins were not apparent there and then and his speeches roused patriotic notions in all but the most logical of Larongo, of wich there are but few.

The scientists of the realm took very little notice of the change. Baghfier was far to concerned with his Deflector-Research and Schuldess' team was still working on the finer details of colonisation.
Meanwhile the Engineering departement had just begun to implement Nanomechanics to improve the Nations productive capabilities.

Development was slow and often halted by tight energy budgets. Still the president was constantly plundering the strategic reserves to push through with his prestige projects. He added two more vessels to the fleet, just to have all 5 ships retrofitted a few months later to include the newly developed Deflectors.
He cut rations, pushed a deep core mining project and fostered speciecist philosophy so far as to declare the design of a proper monument to Larongo purity a major focus of the Nations social sciences.

Taruusch also invested considerable ressources to construct a military outpost to claim the Xir-System. This decision is by most accounts considered the best of his reign, as the System guards the only direct connection between the galactic core and the near spiral arm within over a dozen jumps of Larongo space. It would later be revealed, that both systems claimed by the Outpost also harbored Betharian Stone. But more on such later.

The Star Shark Rebellion

About 3 Years into his reign, tension had risen high and where it not for the fearfull nature of the Larongo, Taruush may have been assassinated a long time before the "Stark Shark Rebellion" occured.
To boost the Nations industrial output, Taruusch had allowed private entrepeneurs to build starships and construct mining stations in and around established Larongo borders.
The Star Shark Cooperative had used this permission to construct a Station in the Tissilum System just outside Larongo space. Tissilum Prime quickly became a haven for adventurers and the more shady parts of Larongo Society, as well as those fed up with Taruuschs machinations.
In 2208, Taruusch declared Tissilum as of major interest to the nation and demanded the Cooperative to cede all assets, promising reimbursement.
The miners refused and decided to arm themselves against forcefull removal, equipping several civilian vessels with outdated weaponry.
With this, they gave the President - from then on known as Taruush the Tyrant - an excuse to strike. Claiming them pirates who had broken the peace of the realm, he send the Nations Fleet into the system and ordered them to utterly annihilate all resistance as well as the station and claim the system in earnest.
Needless to say, the rebellion was crushed without as much as single corvette lost by Taruuschs force.

The Hijal-Debacle

Opposing voices quenched, the president set his eyes back to building his legacy to the Larongo people. Straining the states coffers one last time he commandeered the ressources to build the Larongos first colonyship.
First meant to make landfall on Arrakis II in commemoration of his victory there, plans soon changed, as a vastly more expansive water planet was found to be situated in the Kenn Hijal system two jumps counterspinward from Karobon. Circumstances seemed ideal, if not for a few space amoeba.
Envigorated by his forces' victory over the Rebels and seeing opportunity to relive his glorius battle with the Herald, he named the most loyal of his Captains Admiral and tasked him to exterminate the creatures.

Unfortunately, his most loyal captain was no the most capable. While the fleet handily secured the target planet itself, the newly christened Admiral was to eager to finish his assignment.
By the time the fleet engaged the last group of amoeba at the far side of the system, most ships where allready damaged and barely combat ready. Quickly the tide of battle turned against the Larongo Forces. It is not known, wether it was through bad luck or sheer incompetence, but the fleet failed to engage their hyperdrives in time to flee, and all hands were lost.

Taruuschs term came to an end just a few months later. He had shown the Larongo galactic ambition, but failed miserably. Increasing the monthly mineral yield to 37 standard units, he had depleted the Larongo Nations Energy reserves, only barely generating enough income to keep the day to day business going.

 

[RyuKazuha]

The Triumph of Reason 2210-2215

With the end of Taruuschs term, most of the political analysts of the Larongo, as well as myself were convinced, Malugrebb woudl return to power and lead the Larongo Nation to glory once more. However, the heavenly powers did not share the same conviction. He died of natural causes during the height of his campaigning. Many whispers among his people spoke of assassination, but be assured dear reader, this one took measures to verify the cause of death and there was no trace of outside intervention, wether from within or outside of the Larongo Nation.

With this unexpected turn of events, focus shifted to one of Malugrebbs most staunch supporters during his campaign. Baghfier the genius, who had developed Hyperdrive and Deflektor-Technology for the Larongo as well as laid the ground work for various other scientific breakthroughs. Pressured into a position he had never craved he still accepted the nomination and won a landslide victory over his competitors.

In his first presidential address to his kind, the carismatic Larongo stressed the importance of learning and exploration. He reminded the Larongo that what had led them to the stars had not been war or power, but cooperation and ressourcefullness.
He decreed that the colony ship his predecessor had build would make its way to the Kenn Hijal System to kindle a new light in distant oceans and that the colonies name would be "Bhudghob" wich means "The waves of peace travel far.".

It was around this time too, that the first Larongo stumbled upon the holy Slerpanor Homeworlds. Taruuschs expeditionary fleet had crossed the space of half a dozen empires in the core region intending to cross back into "known" space, as they were intercepted by a patrol in the Taramba system.
As is to be expected, our divine leader tasked me with investigating the trespassers and to enlighten them about their place in regards to our most blessed society. I educated them for a few months, learning about many of their strange customs in the process. Within time they were turned over to one of the jump-tenders to drop them and their ship off near their home system.

Meanwhile Baghfier recognized the need for a defensive fleet and ordered a newly designed class of corvettes to be constructed, with seven ships built, a new Admiral - namend Malungord - in charge and the remaining amoeba exterminated, while the colonists prepared the planet for long term habitation.
He handed his latest research into Betharium to his former Assistent Doschulg and had the physical sciences focused on finding ways to exploit it.

Now the younger of my readers may never ever have heard of betharium. Save for some of the more obscure cases of use by the most traditional of sects from the earliest days of our great leaders ascension to the Eternal Throne it has been widely forgotten sind the advent of dark energy harvesting.

For the younger races however, betharian stone is the holy grail of readily available energy sources, easily doubling the output of any generator technology but dark energy conversion.
I mentioned earlier how claiming Xir came to be known as the only real achievement of Taruusch. As it turned out, both the systems within the claimed borders where rich in betharium deposits.
Exploiting them not only increased energy production of the fledgling Nation consinderably, but also allowed for the new president to finance further development. As such, the construction of a number of research stations was ordered around Karona and the newly formed Colony, doubling and tripling the output of all branches of Larongo science within mere months.

In 2214, a pair of young larongo Astronomers published findings wich indicated the presence of multiple system with more then one habitable planet each, within the confines of the Daturi Expanse, a interstellar gascloud several jumps spinward from Larongo space near the Ganlarev Interplenatary Federations borders.
Though not all of the planets matched the Larongo preference for extensive oceans, president Baghfier recognized the boon they be to his kind, even discounting the fact that leaving these rich systems to their neighbours would have been most unwise.

The Crystaloid Crisis 2215 - 2220

There was never a question wether Baghfier would be reelected and his few political rivals ran little more then token campaigns, prefering to shoot for the office as planetary governers instead.

Baghfier, firmly seated in power and much more confident with his visions, began his second term by brokering trade deals with both neighbours. The larongo agreed to ferry minerals and energy from one to the other, happily siphoning of about 30% of the monthly tradevolume for themselves.

He also turned the focus of his research divisions towards aiding further expansion. He had the Nations deflector and thruster technology improved considerably and brought up miltary production again, expanding the fleet in order to more firmly secure the Larongo sphere of influence and deal with the crystaloids lurking within Daturi.
While the Larongo fleet was decently armored and fairly well shielded, it lacked greatly in the weapons departement, still relying on rather primitive slug throwers to do damage. This led to a rather attritious series of battles.

By 2218 most of the crystaloids on route to the Daturi Expanse, as well as sever nests of amoebae had been eradicated but pushing into the breeding grounds of the crystaloids proved harder then expected. Four particularly vicious clusters guarded the system chosen for colonization and proved difficult to engage even for the by then fairly experienced admiral Malungord.
A series of rather attricious skirmishes managed to push the crystaloids from the systems water planet and allowed for the final survey only several weeks after the colony ship had allready completed and arrived in system.

Seeing how the crystaloids ignored the sience vessel surveying the planet, the captain of the colonyship and aspiring governer of the new settlement decided to beeline the new colony location, so as to not fall behind schedule for even longer.
But as you may know my dear reader, the crystaloids have their own breed of cruel cunning and insidious intelligence. They fell upon the defenseless vessel with unholy fervor, tearing it to pieces, wich rained down onto the planet like the molten tears of the fortyseventh goddess.

I would guess it isn't to hard to imagine President Baghfier folding it right there, as his predecessors did. But unconcerned with his political reputation, Baghfier instead focused on solving the problem. For several years his scientists had studied the remains of the void species, leading to advances in the creation of regenerative hull tissues and the Larongos newest experimental weapon: The red crystal capacitator.
Baghfier ordered the fleets back to port - much to the dismay of his admiral - and retrofitted with these technologies, at the same time, he intiated the construction of another colony ship.
In his address to the nation at the first month of 2219, he declared "the enemies of our peace, however may it may be, will not stop us from achieving our full potential. The great sacrifice of those who died in Khiram has not been forgotten. Our dead will be honored and our future will be brighter for the shadow we lift today. By their own arms shall the enemy fall."

The Admiral made it so. Armed with their new weapons, the Larongo fleet tore into the enemy and began to purge the crystaloids as well as any other malevolent alien presence from any system with at least half a dozen jumps from Koroban.

The Khiram-System was finally settled in the end of 2219, the new colony being named "Bhinjuul" (meaning "Heart Ocean").


First Period of Consolidation 2220 - 2240

Despite the events of the crystal crisis, President Baghfier pulled ahead of his competition in the elections of 2220. Back in office, he kept to his promises: building a peacefull and competent interplanetary government to allow the Karabon and it's colonies to thrive and grow.
He shifted the nations research focus from industrial and military technology to society research. Following his decree "Unity first!" the nations bureaucracy was forced to confront the needs of interstellar government. Unifying the various districts of Karabon was his first grand undertaking. Though all part of the Larongo Nation, the Larongo-equivalent of city states often had vastly different codes of law and conduct, often times dictated by traditions older then script. Overcoming these proved a challenge, but non the president would not overcome in time.
He also organized a central colonial authority, so as to avoid this problem from the start on the newly developing worlds.

Most of the Larongo Nations strenght during these two decades went into building up the colonies and newly claimed star systems within their vicinity. Baghfier being a clever investor managed to build up the strategic reserves while thightly balancing his budget, by selling the excess production of minerals to the neighbouring empires.

Lastly he began building up the fleet from the former seven to 17 corvettes over time, to provide the Nation with a veritable defensive force, wich still mostly scoured the Nations surroundings hunting down galactic wildlife and opening the systems for the survey ships.

There aren't many things interesting enough to cover in more detail about this period. Due to Larongo nature and the limiting energy reserves, growth in the colonies was slow and while wars raged in other parts of the galaxy, the outer reaches of the near spiral arm lay peacefull and calm.

One by one, the Larongo established communications with most of the races whoms homespace their expeditionary fleet had crossed, realising just how far they were behind everyone else and thinking the intel gained as such of considerable value, Baghfier had to ne corvettes comissioned. Lightly armed even in Larongo terms, they boosted tough shields, modern thrusters nonocomposite armor and regenerative hull tissue, build to outlast any other thing build so far by the Nation. Naming them what ammounts to "deep divers" in Larongo speech, they were tasked with exploring the edge of the galaxy spinward, crossing over into the far spiral arm as soon as possible and following it coreward.

Only in 2239 tension began to grow again, as the Inari Serene Kingdom expanded its spinward border, prompting the Larongo to build a military outpost around the star Bihiram a few systems coreward from the Kenn Hijal colony, both to provide a buffer zone against the neighbour, as well as to claim several ressource rich systems in the area.
Despite the good relations between both empires, many Larongo viewed their counterspinward neighbours with concern. Suspecting the would try and push spinward, as space on the edge of the spiral arm ran thin.

Over all it is to say, the Larongo Nation was in good shape by the end of their fourth interstellar decade. With a monthly output of just under 100 standard units in minerals and a slightly positive energy balance it also had increased its initial research capacity sixfold in all fields.
Its fleets 18 Ships measured just about a third of the nations capacity with naval production capacities established within orbit of all three planets.

 

[RyuKazuha]

Larongo Space in 2240

The Galaxy in 2240

 

[Makkovar]

Looks like they have plenty of room to grow. That's good for them. Maybe the cowards can even jump in as some of the more advanced species battle against one another and make some gains.

 

[RyuKazuha]

Looks like they have plenty of room to grow. That's good for them. Maybe the cowards can even jump in as some of the more advanced species battle against one another and make some gains.

Plenty is a matter of perspective. We're getting boxed in by three peacefull nations. Due to the Larongos Adaptability issues, settling anything but waterworlds will be tough. But we do have about a dozen of those floating around, most medium sized. So it should work out. Meanwhile the more warlike civs on the other side of the galaxy start gobbeling each other up.

Ofc everyone is still superior to our little squids...

 

[stnylan]

I am very much liking the narrator you have here. If I ever get around to writing my own Stellaris AAR (unlikely) I may have to borrow the device of having someone from a more advanced species write the history.

 

[RyuKazuha]

The End of an Era 2240 - 2243

The first half of their fifth interstellar decade saw the Larongo establish two new colonies close to eacht other both in location as well as in time. The Hyadum and Escant-System being claimed within a year of each other.

To pay for these developments, President Baghfier chose to accept a significantly negative balance in energy, mostly paid for by loans from the surrounding nations, wich were projected to be paid back in minerals for several decades to come.

The scientific focus was now shiftet to techniques wich would allow the Larongo settlers to claim the more hazardous environments of their new planets, as well as technologies to colonize worlds outside of the standard Larongo preference.

Baghfier was no foool believing the Larongo to colonize any but water worlds on their own, but his engineers had ensured him, that the robots they built would be ready in time. Fieldtesting their initial designs within the Bhudghob mines showed promising results, wich were to be turned into a new generation of autonomous AI-driven machines dubbed "droids".

Besides that, heavy investment went into the further development of the spaceports, establishing capacities to start producige ships big enough to be called destroyers under the common classification (see "Common Classification of voidfaring Vessels" Sharl'ash'rash et. al.)

President Baghfier dead at 2243.04.20 in office, shortly after receiving news of his latest theory about hyperspace breach points being proven to be true and fit for practical use.

The Larongo senat called for a nationwide month of mourning on behalf of their (to this date) greatest leader, before the new elections would commence.
It also approved Baghfiers plans to turn the Capital into one fit for an interplanetary empire and chose to name the new administrative structure in his honor.
Thus the Baghfier-Complex was build in record time, as all Larongo moved to honor their beloved leader and add to the glory of the Nation.


Full Steam Ahead 2244-2249

Next to be elected was President Sungam, a moderate Larongo emerging from the industrial sector. He had won his presidency pledging wealth and prosperity, and obviously meant to keep his promise.

However funneling ressources into the development of the colonies was not the only thing Sungam had in mind. Though the Larongo would not know for a few more years, Sungam had ordered the further increase the shipyards capabilities to be able to build hulls wich match the classification of cruiser and focused AI-related research on increasing scientific and strategic capabilities in the form of combat computers.

Mid 2246 the construction of a military Outpost in orbit around the pulsar Covall was completed, mainly build to keep Ganlarv counterspinward expansion in check.

Within the second half of his term, Sungams tone changed considerably. He began denouncing the Lox-Ungrac-Va Union to be a threat to galactic peace and the Larongo in particular, claiming they would encroach on Larongo Borders.
Such slurs were met with equal rethoric of course and quickly, the nations found themselves locked into a rivalry.

However Sungams rethoric was not followed by action, though not for lack of intention, rather then lack of political clout over his subjects. Many members of the senat as well as the general populace did not react positively to his warmongering, no matter how much he appealed to their xenophobic tendencies, being much more scared of facing war.

Economywise however Sungams policies were received quite well. Raising mineral output by 25% to 126 standard units and research to 57/45/54 on the Shal'rash'gal-Scale, while exepting a slight operating loss in the energy departement, covered for by the large stores his predecessor had stockpiled.

Meanwhile, one of the ships send out by Baghfier many years prior had almost reached the spinward end of the far spiral arm, as they ran afoul with the Tendra-Zhun Primacy.

I am certain my dear readers have heard often enough about this despicable mold utterly incapable of grasping the holy truth and devoid of any divine spark.
I have been known to make my case for the least appreciated of lesser species, but the Tendra-Zhun calling themselves our equals, superiors even, is of such infuriating arrogance I found myself wishing to all the powers our divine leader might allow to break their pesky little rings and throw them into their stars.

___________________________________________

I am very much liking the narrator you have here. If I ever get around to writing my own Stellaris AAR (unlikely) I may have to borrow the device of having someone from a more advanced species write the history.

I'm glad you like it, and you're quite welcome to take inspiration.

 

[RyuKazuha]

Birth of the Coalition 2249 - 2254

The younger of my readers may not be accustomed to the ebb and flow of the cycles, thus I will take a bit of time to describe the state of the galaxy around 2250 in somewhat greater detail.
As usual within a cycle, the fledgling empires of the younger races expand quickly within the regions of their emergence. If by chance more then one sentient race achieve FTL at roughly the same time, there might be an early conquest for one, or a drawn out war crippling both, but this isn't usually the case, as the divine seeded the worlds with care and purpose.

About a century after the first seeds have sprouted, one may predict major conflicts spanning significant portions of the galaxy. In the current cycle, this phase is about to beginn, as indicated by the Penthulan Star Conglomerate canibalizing the Okklar Confederation at the beginning of the year 2250 and the increasing hostilities between the former Mesh Ben Associated Realms, now named the Mesh Ben Council and the Commonality of Aeria Husila.

However, this period of strife is also heralded by another sign, for those to weak to stand alone will seek the aid of other weak empires in order to band together in trust.
History tells us trust in others is a dangerous dance, but if one is to dance or die, often times the feet move by themselves.

Faced with increasing hostilities and the prospect of military conflict with the Larongo Nation - wich they considered their equal for lack of better knowledge - the Lox'Ungrak-Va turned towards their neighbour.
They formed an alliance known as the Condign Pact mid 2250. The Rex'Thalar did not fear the Larongo, rather intending to use the Lox'Ungrak-Va fleet to their advantge, should the Mesh Ben Councile decided they were a more opportune target.

This of course was a major setback for any plans of the Larongo Nation involving hard conflict with their neighbours, but their new President, a charismatic, well connected female named Kandar, had been an Embassador to the Inari Serene Kingdom prior to her election and knew just what to do.

Kandag personally negotiated research treaties with the Inari Serene Kingdom (ISK) and the Ganlarev Interplanetary Federation (GIPF) in 2251 and - following the colonisation of the Dothon System, a formerly neutral star between the Inari and the Larongo - lead the Emissaries of his two Neighbourstates to the negotiating table once more to establish a trilateral non-aggression pact, wich would then be extended into a formal Alliance, forming the "Interstellar Coalition for Peace" (Coalition for short).

Meanwhile the president was dutifully preparing the Nation for the defensive, whereas she insulted the Lox'Ungrac-Va on several occasions.
Only after the Coalition was formed, Kanda began to slight the Rex'Thalar as well. Closing the Larongo Embassy she declared the Star Mandate an enemy of peace and a rival of the Larongo people, also letting the Mandate know she did not intend to repay the loans his predecessors had taken from them.

Kandag however did not get to reap what he had sown, as her term ended without a declaration of war, and she was not reelected despite her great service to the Nation.

 

[RyuKazuha]

Intermission I

I think at this point it would be wise to dive a bit deeper into the oddities and strange customs of Larongo culture, mainly to explain what many of my dear readers will regard a most strange way of starting a war. And it is. But as I mentioned previously, the Larongo are driven by a deep rooted fear of dying in the flesh, unable to even imagine the life beyond the body that is so obvious to the enlightened.
Larongo culture despises physical violenc, but it does value social aggression. A Larongo cunning enough to maneuver his enemy into a position from wich the opponent cannot win is widely venerated, more so in fact, than a Larongo who beat such unfavorable odds through strength of arms. A Larongo likely to loose an engagement is expected to back down and conserve his own as well as other lives until able to face his enemy with overwhelming odds.
Also, whomever in such conflict initiates physical combat will be regarded an outcast in Larongo society and as such won't be protected by any social custom what so ever.
Many a wannabe tyrant in Larongo history fell to a cunning enemy who knew to made him lose his temper and watched him slauthered by scores of his own minions after dealing the first blow.

We do see this pattern expressed in regards to galactic politics in Kandags diplomacy. Founding the Coalition with three members instead of the two of the Condign Pact secured favorable odds, while slights and insults were meant to goad the enemy into starting the war, thus legitimating the use of any and all force the Larongo Nation could muster.
The Larongo government knew, if they were to fire the first shot, the Condig nPact could just sit idely by and watch them being cooked by their own populace. Even declaring the war would cause widespread riots among the Larongo, and while they sought the fight, they would not risk civil unrest as long as they had an alternative.

_______________________________________________

This is a bit shorter than usual, but I felt like showing a bit more of the Larongo way of life, instead of just recounting what happenes in the game, especially for things wich do matter in my decision-making.

 

[RyuKazuha]

The Pre-War 2254 - 2263

One might debate, wether the first interstellar war involving the Larongo Nation startet as early as 2254, or even earlier noting the rethoric employed by former President Kandag, but I shall argue my case and have my dear readers judge for themselves.

It might seem counterintuitive to place a fertility preacher and hero of the common people in line with the Likes of Kandag or the soon to be elected Tulanga, but despite him being "one of the many" as he once called himself, next in line president Taruusch (not the Tyrant, Larongo are somewhat conservative with their names. Prepare for a number of Waddaghs down the line) was not one to ignore the realities of interstellar politics. He knew fully well, that the Larongo Nation would run out of suitable planets to colonize fairly soon, even if the were to allow for fully automated colonies using Droids.

The Nation was stuck between a rock and a hard place. To war with the Lox'Ungrak-Va, the Larongo would need their allies. But with the Ganlarev bordering the highly aggressive Mesh Ben Council, chances of convincing them to war with a to date peacefull neighbour was nigh impossible,
All this changed a few days after Taruusch was sworn into office: The tension between the Mesh Ben Council and the Commonality of Aeria Husila erupted into full on war. The Ganlareve prepared their defences, fearing the Mesh Ben would swallow the Commonality switftly and pounce on their other neighbour afterwards. As did the Rex'Thalar, strengthening their spinward borders.

Taruusch saw opportunity. He send an emisarry to the AHC promising them regular shipments of minerals to rebuild their inevitable losses, taking only a token price in energy from their stockpiles. While somewhat costly to the Larongo Nation, it made sure the Mesh Ben would be preoccupied with their conquest for a while longer.
Meanwhile the Hyadum-System was granted sector-status as soon as it had established a proper planetary administration to allow the Nation to focus on other developments, namely the colonisation of a medium ocean world in the Ridathi System spinward from Khiram and the construction of a frontier outpost another two jumps spinward in Edasich. All this allowed the Nation to consolidate it territory, connecting formerly isolated spheres of influence, allowing the Larongo to claim half a dozen systems on top of those settled directly.

He even modernised the fleet once more, having the trusty old corvettes and destroyers refitted with Railguns and more powerfull generators to supply stronger shields.

In 2259 former president Sungam is reelected. Under his rule production surges and new starports are ordered to be built above all Larongo Colonies in order to allow for a stronger fleet. He dies not even a year after his election under suspicious circumstances, leaving many to believe he was murdered. While there was no real bases for such speculation immediatly after his death, my dear readers may understand the significance of this occurence pertaining to what followed.

The 2260 elections promote a rather warlike Larongo to power. Tulanga, spawn of a rather influential industrialist family and a demagogue if anything quickly began to emulate former President Kandag, especially in insulting other Empires at his leasure, without really benefitting his subjects or showing any of the political clout his idol had exhibited.

It shows, that the most interesting part of Tulangas reign was the death of venerated general Malungord, who was found dead in his office, presumably of natural causes. This one was not able to verify these claims and is inclined to scepticism. Though certainly most of the conspiracy fiction sprouting from it are far from truth themselves,

Not even a year later, Tulanga is found dead himself, again under conspicious circumstance, again with not apparent outside influence involved. At this point, conspiracy theorists among the Larongo began to wirte themselves into a frency. And though mostly comical to the educated mind, these theories fall on well watered soil, quickly growing in the light of the Larongos intrinsic fear. Quickly projecting said fear towards the despicable Xenos just outside their borders.

In 2262 the first Waddaghs takes presidency vowing to build more cruisers to defend the nation. He was, in all honesty, rather idiotic himself but had an eye for talent and a well connected, ambitious chief of staff called Ridubss, who knew well how and where to steer his superior to benefit himself and, arguably, the Nation.
AIt is in this year, that the Avtyrran Star confederation joins the Coalition for fear of the Penthulan Star conglomerate, wich by this point had grown to encompass half the galactic core. All the while the Mesh Ben and the Aeris Husila are still fighting, their strenght now severely diminished, leaving the Ganlarevs borders uncontested.

When in 2263 the Larongo Outpost in the Bihiram System suddenly crashed into the sun, the President - no doubt incited by his CoS - proclaimed the reason for the desaster to be sabotage by Rex'Thalar operatives. This one is convinced, a forty year old station build by a race wich had in the time of its construction barely reached the star is prone to fail in spectacular ways, but this was a lie all to well received to be called a mistake.

Just a month after the Incident, the Larongo Nation and all of its allies declared war unto the Condign Compact.



The soon to be battlefield in 2261:

Counterspinward Larongo Core Space (note that the Bihiram Outpost is still intact):

The Daturi Expanse:

 

[RyuKazuha]

The First Interstellar War 2263 - 2269

The first interstellar war, known to the Larongo as "Alongruushem" (loosely translated "storm in the void") was declared proper in 2263.06.23 current cycle. The Larongo had allready massed their fleet under Admiral Dagguth within Xir poised to strike, but ordered it to stand down.
My dear readers may ask why that is, seeing as our own doctrine has allways been to strike hard and fast, because the first blow decides a war most often, even if the parties involved may only realise it in retrospect. The Larongo however think differently from us in many ways, so it should not be surprising their fleet doctrines are different as well.

First of all, without the capacity to use jump drives, a favorable alpha strike against an unassuming enemy is not practical and not even possible, as was the case in this war. The Larongo being tied to hyperspace routes had only one avenue of attack: The Xir/Dongar Hyperlane. This also meant the Condign Compact strategists knew where to expect the attack well in advance and had installed various FTL-snares within Dongar and the adjacent systems. In reverse, their wormhole stations did not allow the Compact to attack Larongo Space anywhere but in Xir.

One might suspect both parties amassing their fleets and fight it out on either side of this, but that is not what happened, as indeed both knew they had not the strenght to attack the other while in a defensive position. Instead the Compact did, what the Larongo had anticipated them to do: they send their fleets counterspinward to attack the outlying colonies of the ISK, the Lox'Ungrac-Va had craved to occupy for a long time.

As soon as reports of significant fleets invading Inari Space filtered in, the Larongo Admirality and Government were not only able to credit the first shots fired and thus actual violence started to the enemy, but als be sure these fleets would not be there to stop the Larongo Advance.
As one the Larongo fleet emerged from hyperspace around the Dongar-Snare immediatly opening fire on the defensive structure. Face with the firepower of 10 Destroyers and 40 Corvettes, the station was quickly destroyed. While the main fleet started to engage the starport in orbit around the systems sole colony, half of the Larongo ships split from it to form five small groups just powerfull enough to destroy the enemy logistics structures they came across. They dispersed into the nearby systems targeting enemy energy supplies and wormhole stations.

As is to be expected, the Compact broke it's siege of the Inari Worlds in order to engage a fleet wich was, all things considered, far weaker then the combined might of the Rek'Thalar and the Lox'Ungrac-Va, as the warpfleets of the Inari and the Ganlarev did not lend themselves well to the Larongo mobility based doctrine and had yet to join them.
Knowing all this, Admiral Dagguth still dove into Union space, pummeling Myrum, skipping the more heavily defended Elthior and reaching for the Union Colony in Drisk, three of the five raiding fleets in his wake attacking targets of opportunity, while the other two dove deeper into Rek'Thalar-Territory.

The Battle of Drisk 2265

Drisk is a battle still debated both inside and outside the Larongo Nation. Some call it a noble sacrifice, others rather harshly refer to it as a fools errand.

Enterin Drisk, admiral Duggaths main goal was to strike at the Shi'Tanask spaceport, wich was home to a major Union shipyard. However soon after the fleet had engaged the port, the Union Fleet entered the system obviously intending to seek battle. They had crossed half the system as the Larongo send the starports remains hurdling into the athmosphere, as the Rek'Thalar fleet emerged from another wormhole.
Dagguth knew the Inari as well as the Gandarev fleets were about to arrive and that the Larongo ships, each of them equipped with its own point defense module, would negate a lot of fighting potential of the missile Union warfleet. Thus he chose to gamble and allowed the Union to engage.

For the first few days the battle went as desired. The Larongo point defense effectively nullified the enemy missile volleys safe for a few lucky hits. Their railguns in turn proved fairly effective against the shield heavy Union-Fleet, providing the 1st Expeditionary Fleet an early advantage. Tides began to turn as the Rek'Thalar joined, while the Reinforcement from Ganlarev and Inari had arrived, but where unable to engage because the ships still had to cool down from warp. The slight delay would prove fatal, as the Rex'Thalar fleet armed with heavy lasers swept into the fray, burning through the hulls of the allready weakened fleet.

Most backroom tacticians will cite this very moment as Dagguths greatest mistake. As the Rek'Thalar engaged, the Larongo fleet was still in good shape and very well able to disengage to fight another day. But the Admiral wagered his relief to be in time and figured the loss of most of the Larongo fleet would be acceptable if the Coalition forces were to annihilate the enemy instead. He ordered the reinforcements to engage and his own fleet to hold out for as long as possible, to serve as the anvilfor the allied hammer.
As the hammer struck, the anvil had allready crumbled. Allowing the Condign Compacts fleets to answer the Coalitions attack with considerable firepower and forcing the Ganlarev and Inari navy to disengage after acruing heavy losses themselves.

By the end of the battle, the Larongo had lost full 90% of their fleet, the Inari and Ganlarev Navies both losing upwards of 50% of their hulls. On the other handy the Rex'Thalar fleet had sustained hardly any damage and even the Lox'Ungrak-Va remained in a fairly good shape, losing only about 45% of their fighting power. There is no doubt, that the Battle of Drisk was an utter defeat for the Larongo, but there is some debate about wether or not it was infact a strategic loss in the long run.

As soon as news of the battle reached Karabon, President Waddaghs issued two edicts, wich would come to shape the future of his people: The so called "Storm Charter", wich forced every starport within the nation to start building new warships, and the "Artifical Warfare Act" wich decreed the construction of military forces consisting mainly of AI-directed robots led by a minimal staff of Larongo officers.

 

[RyuKazuha]

The Building Storm 2266

With their fleet all but destroyed and their allies forces severely depleted, a tense year was ahead of the Larongo Nation. As demanded by president Waddaghs, every spaceport within the nation begann to produce the now battletested Malugrebb-Class corvettes as fast as possible. Only the shipyards of Karabon were excempt from this rule, being specialized to build Baghfier-Class cruisers instead. As the strategic mineral reserves dried up, a new fleet emerged from the Larongo Nation, again using Xir as its staging system.

Meanwhile the two raiding groups left in Rek'Thalar space continued to attack the Mandates installations and harrasing their non-military ships, earning them the ire of the enemy main fleet, wich set out to kill the intruders. Able to escape their pursuers for several months, one of these groups eventually jumped into one of the remaing FTL-snares and was doomed, but still managed to take out the station, before its sailors were made to embrace the void, allowing their colleagues total freedom of movement in Rek'Thalar space.

The Union Admiral on the other hand was not to keen to lead its battered fleet into the unknown reaches of the near spiral arm to learn what defenses the Larongo might have had prepared, but instead turned counterspinward yet again to exact revenge on the three Inari Colonies there. Without proper protection from their fleet, the colonies found themselves blockaded and bombarded, while the Union prepared ground troops for invasion.

The newly appointed Admiral Adrimga - who had learned from the great Malungord in his youth and was one of the few surviving the Battle of Grisk - managed to convince the Coalition Military Command to not respond to these bombardements but instead have the repaired Ganlarev and Inari Navies reinforce the Xir-System, in order to protect the only hyperlane connecting the Nation to its enemies.
More then 6 months the fleets lay in waiting, slowly replenishing their numbers and looking for the opening wich would allow them to turn the war around.


The Battle of Elthior 2267

The Coalition attacked in force at 2267.01.16. Again Dongar was taken without much in the way of resistance, but this time, the Larongo Admirals did not ignore the colony after destroying the newly rebuild port. Instead Amdriga ordered a single corvette to blockade the planet, while the fleet moved into Myrum. Meanwhile the raiding fleet still in Rek'Thalar territory made a point of jumping into Rek'Thaa and taking podshots at the stations there, to make sure the Mandate would not have an easy choice.

Amdriga moved the main fleet into Myrum, repeating what he had done in Dongar, before again moving on into Elthior. By the time of their arrival, the Larongo Navy had left both its allied fleets behind, but the Admiral was not inclined to lose time over this. Untouched before, the two colonies of Elthior quickly fell in face of the Larongo Navy, now 70 ships strong with 65 corvettes and 5 Destroyers.

As the second starport fell, the Union Fleet poured into the system. While it had lost most of its smaller ships earlier, it was still considered stronger then the Larongo forces and all to willing to pursue them. Amdriga allowed his fleet to be chased through the system, knowing his allies would arrive and be combat ready within just a few days.
As the Union fleet advanced, believing their enemy to flee, the Larongo Navy turned around to face them. And this time the Rek'Thalar would not save them. While the Mandates disruptors tore into the Larongo shields, their missiles did not even come close to doing damage, while they were themselves shelled by enemy railguns.
When the Inari and Ganlarev struk as well, the Union Fleet dissolved entirely, every last one of their ships destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

It would be two more years and several blockaded colonies later, that the Condign Compact would surrender unconditionally, but there is no doubt the war was won in Elthior. After the Union fleet was annihilated, the Rek'Thalar knew better then to engage their now superior enemy, even after the raiding group - having lost 3 of their original 5 ships while taunting the Mandate Fleet - returned to Karabon.
The young captain leading the raiding force was awared promotion to Vice Admiral of the Larongo Nation and henceforth know as Bufghen the trickster.

As demanded by the Coalition, the colonized systems of Dongar and Myrum were given to the Larongo Nation, while the ISK took control of the Huntur System. Furthermore, a new government was installed at Lox'Ungrak, moddeld after the ISK and sworn vassal to the Larongo, effectively terminating the threat posed by the Lox'Ungrak-Va.

 

[stnylan]

Sounds like a very good baptism of fire. A very good account of the War.

 

[RyuKazuha]

I wouldn't say "very good". It was actually very scary after Drisk. If the Lox'Ungrac-Va had invaded the Nation, there'd have been absolutely now way to stop them, wether the Rok'Thalar were distracted or not. And even so, Warscore went into the negative fourties until I was in any shape to attacke again.

It was however quite interesting. And the Larongo will learn alot from this war, not only in Tech. IF they survive the post-war-time that is. Turns out bombing several planets for a few years with only one ship each to blockade them does not do much damage to the defenses, but is very very good at raking up terror-bombing penalties. The general public is NOT happy with the state of affairs....

 

[RyuKazuha]

The Post-War 2269 - 2272

In 2268 presidency had changed hands from the former Waddaghs to a new one. As my readers may have guessed, the naming pool of the Larongo people appears to be quite shallow. And while this isn't entirely wrong, it is much more a problem of actual pronounciation. Oftentimes slight variants in timing and pitch change the meaning considerably. The sole fact of no less then three Waddaghs competing in the 2269 election would be confusing to one of our own - especially as our language is ill equipped to portray Larongo speech - to a Larongo however, both the three Waddaghs would be as easily differentiated as the moons of Celestial Throne are to us. Seeing as all forms of Waddaghs do reference different types of oceanic currents, it is also easy to see as to why they are so well regarded within an oceanborn society.

This Waddaghs was the first Larongo President not born on Karabon but rather on Bhudghob in the Kenn'Hijal System. He was a vigorous young Larongo full of what the scriptures of our own past call "frontier spirit" and a great lover of the Malugrebb-Class corvettes. His role in Larongo history is a somewhat tragic one, as he was meant to bear the burden put on his shoulders by his predecessors war.
Soon after the war ended, the Larongo Nation found itself in the difficult position to rule over not only one but two distinct xeno populations. The Lox'Ungrac'Va of Myrum and the Rek'Thalar of Dongar held very little esteem for their new overlords and integrating their worlds put a significant strain on the Larongo administration, forcing the President to grant greater autonomy to the Dothon Colony to free administrative staff.
To safeguard the new planets, robotic peacekeeping forces where deployed on each of them, though sparsely as the strategic reserves had been thoroughly drained.

Adding to the problems, the Larongo public was horrified as ever more reports of atrocities comitted in the name of "peace" surfaced. Somewhat inflated by the media, prolonged blockades with objectively light orbital bombardements where seen as unneccessary use of force and terror bombings. Many Larongo began to embrace an even deeper pacifistic philosophy and voices grew, demanding the Nation to stay content within its borders.
Further increasing the tension, seperatists movements began to rise in almost all Larongo colonies, most notably in the Hyadum and the newly founded Dothon Sectors, while the occupied planets suffered acts of sabotage almost monthly.

As if the situation had not been bad enough, the Dima'Xanian Assembly, located counterspinward from the ISK (Wich at this point had reformed itself into the Inari State) suddenly joined the Condign Compact, despite having been on good relations with both the Inari State and the Larongo Nation before. This in turn inspired the Penthuulan Star Conglomerate (formerly known as the Penthuulan Mandate) to declare another war on the Avtyrrans, seeking to sieze their planets and knowing full well the Coalition would have to start another war with the Compact, were they to aid their Avtyrran allies.

The Larongo Nation in 2269

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Full disclosure: I had to use Alt-F4 in 2272 because the game decided to elect the faction leader of the Rek'Thalar Freedom Fighters. Seeing as Xenos are neither allowed to vote nor to assume positions of leadership and all my Larongo are still at least moderately xenophobic (AND I had boosted the next highest candidate to be more likely to win), I consider this a bug and redoing the elections a fix.

 

[RyuKazuha]

Bad News. The savegame broke and I can't seem to fix it. Have been at it since yesterday, but nothing seems to work. I will finish the account as given by Zarg'lagr'ash, until the point where the save died, and add some fictional closure extrapolating on what I think was about to happen. I had hoped to continue this game a lot farther, but I can't.

I guess I'll learn from that to not go full ingame-ironman in the future.

Expect an Update tomorrow and I hope you'll be around for the next AAR after that, because like the Larongo, I won't be stopped easily.

 

[RyuKazuha]

The second Interstellar War 2272 - 2275

The reelection of President Taruusch came as bit of a suprise to me, He had run for office ever since his first turn, but had not been competitive. Now however,he began to float promising to keep the Larongo from fighting another war. He styled himself a hero of the common Larongo once more and advocated the settlement of those worlds still untouched within Larongo borders, and furthermore envisioned a government reform meant to ensure administrative personell would always be educated as thoroughly as possible.

While Taruusch threw his "stay home and content" platitudes everywhere, the business end of the Coalition held Council on Xir-Station, wich had been styled into a sort of Combined Fleet Headquarters. The Tacticians agreed there was no practical way to break through Dima'Xanian Space to aid the Avtyrran Star Confederacy, much less fighting the Penthuulans afterwards. A resoltuion politicians would debate for years to come had been reached between Amdringa and his colleagues within half a day: The Avtyrrans would have to fight alone. However the question of defense was a pressing one, as the Penthulaans were known to use Wormhole generators and thus able to bridge into Coalition Space with comparative ease.

Meanwhile the robot armies deployed to Dongar did nothing to alleviated the situation. Not only were they to little to late, their total lack of empathy and fairly aggressive policing actions made them a perfect symbol to unite against. Rek'Thaalar Nationalism skyrocketed and corruption spread quickly.
The Myrum Patriots on the other hand proved to be fairly docile compared to even the Hyadum Separatists, and thankfull for the Larongo efforts to reconstruct the planets infrastructure.

By 2273, most Avtyrran colonies lay under siege. Taruusch kept reiterating the need to reform the goverment, now aiming to reintegrate Dothon and the Hyadum into the central administration. Needless to say, the speratist minded populations of both did not think it acceptable to give up what autonomy they had achieved.
Finally in June Taruusch was shot by a protestor while giving a speech on his plans to reinstate the colonisation efforts interrupted by the last war.

There are some speculations wether or not the Rek'Thalaar where involved in organising the attack, as well as coordinating what followed. I myself have found no evidence to support such notions, and would advise to regard the following events as related, but not coordinated.

As the election startet, a Rek'Thaal of Dongar exposed an oversight in Larongo legislation, allowing him to run for office of the nation president (wich was open to any considered a citizen of the Nation, while voting rights where only granted to members of the Larongo Species. There was an uproar, but the Rek'Thaal running under the monicker of "Malungord" - by many Larongo considered to be an insult to the great Admiral - still earned favor with many Larongo, as he had proven himself able to"take the feeding ground" without any force or treachery.

Supringsingly Malungord gathered enough support to even win the elctions fair and square. This was partly due to the aforementioned, but mostly to his mandate: a lot of Laronogo would not suffer Xenos within their precious borders if there was an alternative, and Malungord told them there was. Suffering a Xeno President for a few years was considered the lesser evil compared to keeping the Xenos' world.

But fate had not yet struck its final blow. In 2274 a warmhole opened within the Xir-System without warning, deploying the Pethuulan Main fleet right to the heart of the Coalition. The coalition fleet, in system but not prepared to fight, was razed within weeks and the Larongo strategic reserves had no more minerals to rebuild ships with.
The Penthuulans being victorious retreated as they had come, and would not enter Laronog Space ever again, still the blow shook the Nation to its fundation.

The End of the Nation 2277

As the war drew to it's close, so did the Larongo Nation. Seperatists all over its territory rose up, often claiming President Malungord to be a traitor. On Karabon itself an Isolationist Faction seized control and cut off all communications from the HomePlanet to its colonies and interstellar Administration. Malungord, feeling his power waning declared the Dongar System an independent state he would go on to rule over for some time.

Finally, the Dima'Xanian Assembly declared war, dragging the not to unwilling Rek'Thalar and Lox'Ungrac-Va with i, as they descended on the dying Nations corpse aswell as its counterspinward neighbour within less then two years.

To this date, no Larongo government has ever again left the confines of Karabon and thus ends the story of the Larongo Nation, reminding us of the fleeting nature of success as well as the price of ambition.

Allow me to conclude my report with the wisdom of the our divine leader:

He who walketh slow, shall reach his destination and continue beyond. The hasty shall only be first to fail.