The Will of Kar-Zyrbesh

[CireUl]

"And the Lord declared; "Here, you shall have life and happiness, here, I will sculpt an eternal sanctuary from which life sprung from the loins of Jal-Tsyal and Kar-Arrubak may spread across the Khalidar. I shall be your sword with which you expand my plane of creation, Jal-Tysal the shield that gives you light and Kar-Arrubek the sage to guide you into salvation."
-The Aulr-Zybek, Proclamation 1.1

These words have been widely debated by Zyrdahi religious figures, most particularly by protestant thinker Arrubak-Ratha, who not only attracted significant controversy by naming himself after a venerated deity (and yet paved the way for this custom to become commonplace, especially with the Tsyala/Tysala dynasty ruling over Zyrdah for most of its formative years as a galactic nation!) but suggested that Proclamation 1.1 meant that the Zyrdahi as a species was meant to seek expansion in outer space!

283 bek, Arrubak-Ratha was mauled to death by a Konduk, an extinct predator of Zyrdanna, on orders of the Cult of Kar-Zyrbesh no less! Religious leaders of the Cult turned out to watch his immensely-painful death, all while spewing their version of the Aulr-Zybek.

How ironic, given that the same leaders who mocked Ratha's death would be consigned to the same fate not even ten harvests later, by Arrubak-Ratha's son himself, Arrubak-Sakta. And Sakta proceeded to assume command of the Cult, still led by Rathaists to date.

This was a catalyst for the Zyrdahi to expand into space.
-Historian-Keeper Kal-Zera, "The Cult of Kar-Zyrbesh"

"The Tysala dynasty may rule the Empire, but the Cult rules the stars via their direct control of transports, trade and missions. The Cult owns the shipyards in orbit, decides when the trains arrive, owns the mapping satellites in frontier systems and dictates to the Emperor-Archprophet what shall happen and when. His Excellency Dokka Tysala has no issue with this arrangement."

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Mods:
Planetary Diversity (That's it)

Ethics: Authoritarian, Spiritualist, Militarist; Imperial Authority.
Civics: Corvee System, Police State

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"The Imperial Kul-Saurkut are the blade which which the Emperor purges heathens and infidels. The color dark grey is synonymous with the Kul-Saurkut and their vibroblades with which they dispatch convicted heretics. In all honesty, I fear the Kul-Saurkut as they are today. They have evolved from a religious inquisition to Emperor Dokka Tysala's private army. Eyak! One Kul-Saurkut templar is worth five Imperial Army footmen, and the Ministry of Armaments shower them so with personal energy shields and spikers. Since when has kinetic weaponry ever been given to a regular Army man? Never!"

The Kul-Saurkut: Essentially a group of armed zealots, just like the Sardaukar from Dune mixed with the absolute zealotry of the Fremen.

"By the time the last sphere was installed on the roof of the Planetarium, depicting the Twenty-One Domains, colonies of the Empire, the first few had already eroded significantly. Zyrdanna, Arrubak and Galkarkum were distinguished only by their advanced age."

 

[HistoryDude]

I like your spiritual roleplaying and worldbuilding. This should be utterly fascinating.

Did Arrubak-Ratha and his descendants change interpretations or views of the holy text besides the space thing? Why did the original religious leaders dislike the idea of proselytizing in the stars?

 

[CireUl]

I like your spiritual roleplaying and worldbuilding. This should be utterly fascinating.

Did Arrubak-Ratha and his descendants change interpretations or views of the holy text besides the space thing? Why did the original religious leaders dislike the idea of proselytizing in the stars?

Because of their own interests; said religious leaders were still concerned over advancing their own nationstates and Arrubak-Ratha preached a unified Zyrdahi nation expanding across the stars, which jeopardized the authority of said leaders.

Now not a lot of holy text was changed, mostly going from "One should put their home nation and family before themselves" to "One should put the Zyrdahi nation and family before themselves". As well as softening the fanatical punishments and protocols for "purging heretics".

 

[CireUl]

Quite charming fellows. Authoritarian, expansionist, militarist zealots, following the protocol of Jak-Hathy- in short, "It's great to be peaceful and preach the ways of our faith through gifts and discourse, but having a large military doesn't harm anyone." They decide where their people live, crack down on heretics and atheists with the Kul-Saurkut.
When trying to get a feel of how their language sounded I imagined it to sound mildly like a Slavic language. Sub in, say, Ukrainian.

Timeline of events (Part One)
2200: Interstellar jump conducted to the Alkaid system. The Zyrdahi Empire is based in what is known on Earth as the constellation Ursa Major.

2206: Sacrosanct Assembly authorizes the colonisation of Alkaid IV, named Arrubak. 100 million are forcibly relocated from Zyrdanna, boarding massive colony ships in orbit of Kal Zyri station.

2211: Colonization of Arrubak complete. 700 million more relocated from Zyrdanna to alleviate housing issues on-planet.

2212: Sacrosanct Assembly approves a two-legion strong Kul-Saurkut garrison (one legion = 10,000 servicemen) to oversee anti-heresy operations on Arrubak.

2214: Colony of Galkarkum approved for colonisation. Two hundred million relocated from Zyrdanna and Arrubak to Galkarkum.

2221: The Imperial Planetarium, a massive hall-museum exhibit, opens on Zyrdanna. Its size is comparable to the entirety of Central Park (New York). Having been under construction for over fifty years, its central hall displays a ceiling adorned with models of the colonies of Zyrdahi- Zyrdanna, Arrubak and Galkarkum, so far. Each is a carved 50-foot wide sphere of rock painted and carved into the depiction of the colony.

2234: First contact made with the Scyldari Confederacy.

2237: First contact made with the Shantarian Confederation.

2241: First contact made with the Gleibsig Foundation.

2242: Emperor Dokka Tysala passes away, aged 147. His daughter Vimas Tysala ascends to the throne as the Empress. Her rule is officially ratified by the Sacrosanct Assembly- the political arm of the Cult of Kar-Zyrbesh.

The Cult also approves a petition to put more hyperlane mapping probes in surrounding systems. However, it denies a petition to expand the ranks of the Kul-Saurkut and give 1,000 officers promotions; furthermore it garrisons 10,000 Kul-Saurkut on the colony of Galkarkum. They briefly disable the live satellite map of Zyrdanna to completely revamp the orbital network with far more modern satellites.

2245: First contact made with uncountable other alien nations. Sacrosanct Assembly approves the translation of the Aulr-Zybek into the Scyldari, Shantarian and Gleibsig languages at the behest of the three nations' theologists and scholars, and aspiring followers of the Zyrbeshian Faith.

2250: The Imperial Planetarium opens up the "Ancient Zyrdanna Gallery", displaying various bronze age-atomic age artefacts from the planet's history, alongside a Bestiarium of Extraterrestrial Life, containing the dessicated husks of dead Vultaum, a preserved Irassian cadaver on loan from the Scyldari, several mummified Yuht specimens bought at a staggering fee from the Gleibsig and various life forms in enclosures and glass tanks, along with the Armory, exhibiting ancient blades used in combat, primitive energy and electric firearms- (The concept of kinetic firearms shooting metal bullets was not explored until 2138.)

Archprophet Arrubak-Sakta commits ritual suicide as part of an Archprophet's abdication ceremony. Archprophet Tiral-Zayrvak takes office until 2300.

 

[HistoryDude]

Congrats on colonizing a couple other planets!

What are your relations with the nations that you've contacted?

 

[CireUl]

The Empire enjoys warm relations with most of its neighbours. By the year 2290, they have joined the Galactic Community, forged closer ties with the Scyldari Confederacy, Shantarian Confederacy and Glebsig Foundation. However, unfortunately, one nation of particularly vulgar heretics threaten our Shantarian friends; the Xaplo Autocracy. It is my opinion that the Xaplo must be forcibly taught the ways of Kar-Zyrbesh.

-Senior Prophet Varka Arbak, O.Z.E, Chairman of the Sacrosanct Assembly, Director of the Ecclesiastical Affairs Board

The turn of the mid-23rd century was marked by a profound uptick in relations with the Shantarian Confederacy, eventually culminating in their request for the Zyrdahi to subjugate them in 2273. This request was accepted. Meanwhile, Archprophet-Emperor Vimas II Tysala passed away at the age of 98 in 2274, a suspected poisoning by the Xaplo Autocracy.

Meanwhile, the Sacrosanct Assembly was planning to declare war on the Xaplo to gain better defensive positions and a chokepoint system; when the Emperor died, a wave of fury spread out through the empire, yet Zyrdahi ships had no time to leave their moorings when the Shantarians made their move first and immediately stormed out into the Xaplo Autocracy to impose their ideology on the Xaplo. The war began in 2276.
The next year, Zyrdahi forces had arrived at the border and joined the war, pushing the Xaplo back on two fronts. Zyrdahi High Command deemed the Shantarians as supremely competent, as in the year preceding the Zyrdahi entry into the war they had already sieged the Xaplo home system, inflicted 34% casualties on the fleet, and occupied some 15 systems their side of the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Zyrdahi forces moved in to mop up the Xaplo their end.
(The Xaplo sent out a 5k doomstack of destroyers, but apparently they just had really god-awful weaponry or ships. A 4k combined fleet with disruptors and cannon fodder corvettes was enough for that. And the Shantarians also joined mid-battle with a 3k fleet.)

The occupation of the planets Azidanna and Puzkarzoc proved to be the breaking point for the Xaplo; the Zyrdahi seized more advantageous border systems, gained access to a fortified chokepoint system, the Shantarians imposed their ideology on the Xaplo, an armed coup transforming it into the Xaplo Confederacy.

The war ended in 2281, with a humiliating Xaplo defeat and the seizure of nine systems by the Zyrdahi.

Fifteen years later, in 2296, the Xaplo also became the Zyrdahi's subjects, expanding the Zyrdahi's domain of influence.

 

[HistoryDude]

Poor Xaplo. They were surrounded and had little chance of victory.

Was the later subjugation of the Xaplo peaceful? Or was there another war to vassalize them? If it was peaceful, why did Xaplo opinion change so quickly?