Foreword - Vacuity Institute RAV219MEL / Sub-Department of the “Vacuity Galactic and Universal Ministry” of the “United Multiverse Assembly” and the “Supreme Multiuniversal Templar Multiverse-Imperium Assembly”.
### Incoming transmission ###
To supervisor Martin,
We have received a interesting communiqué from the parallel universe concerning one of their most exotic galaxies – the B’Afour Galaxy with the Mauritan Galactic Empire. I have compelled a summary for this entity and hope this is to your satisfaction.
Synth-1234
### End transmission – Start of summary ###
The Mauritan Galactic Imbaratwry
Origins
Nobody knows how long it took for the nomadic Mauritans to settle a galaxy or how long it took them to embark on an exploration quest. Even the Mauritans themselves do not know it; the records from their pre-settlements have since been lost or forgotten, a library ship seems to have suffered a catastrophic accident short of the discovery of the B’Afour galaxy. But what is known is that they seem to originate directly from old earth Maur-Afrii and that the nomadic nature of their ancestors seem to perpetuate into their future descendants.
In the hundreds of millennia since the start of space exploration humanity and their respective nations have explored, discovered and settled countless galaxies. In time these universe-nations have made contact with others in the multiverse, including their own mirror counterparts. But ever the nomads the Mauritans have not collectively settled their own galaxy or made contact with the multiverse in the millennia’s. Sure some of their numbers have joined other universe-nations or settled their own galaxies but the main body of the Mauritans has stayed true to their nomadic nature.
And so the millennia’s passed galaxies were settled, universe-spanning empires created and contact made with the multiverse, but the Mauritans ignored all this. Even technological and scientific progresses have been rejected by them, preferring to stay with the know-how of the early space exploratory age. So while others have build spaceships larger than a standard solar-system or lived into their 100.000s, the Mauritans remain confined in their old ways – their generation-spaceships sufficient to travel the universe indefinitely.
And so it has passed and would have passed for countless millennia’s if they haven’t started to explore the “Void corner” in their universe. This corner of space is mostly empty of stars and galaxies safe for a few faint presences. While probing a part of the “corner” the Mauritan fleet discovered the faint dwarf spheroidal galaxy. At first glance this entity seemed uninteresting to the High Command of the fleet, but upon a second look there were surprised to see that the galaxy is teeming with life some of it intelligent – initial contact (*abductions – a controversial method that has since been dropped by most members of the multiverse) with some of the intelligent aliens have revealed the name of the galaxy – translated into human language it is called B’Afour.
Seeing that most of the intelligent life forms in this galaxy are in the pre-space age (an assumption that would cost the Mauritan dearly in the future) and that the nearest universe-nation is more or less 100 to 200 million gigaparsecs away. The Mauritan leadership has an important decision to make - a choice that would define the future of their people.
After a month long deliberation the High Command have decided – transmitting their message from the Mauritan flagship to all frequencies – the Mauritan millennia-long journey has come to an end and the conquest of this galaxy has begun.
Conquest and Attrition
The Initial stages of the Mauritan conquest and settlement of the B’Afour galaxy was done in very quick successions. Alien planets holding intelligent life forms were either subjugated and enslaved or completely annihilated. Verdant worlds were marked for human settlement and others for resource exploitation.
In this way two-thirds of B’Afour was conquered in a span of fifty years and the quick series of invasion and settling would have continued until the whole galaxy was the domain of the Mauritan, if not for B’Afourlis.
The B’Afourilis the hidden guardians of the galaxy, drawn from all primitive alien life forms in the galaxy by an unknown power, they have banded together to guard their home from all outside threats. But even their preparations couldn’t predict the invasion of the Mauritans which have took them by surprise. And for the next decades the B’Afourilis have evacuated many important worlds from the Mauritan onslaught. In the northern part of the galaxy they gathered many to make a stand against the human invasion.
Thus in the filthiest year of their arrival Mauritans have run into the formidable defense of the B’Afourilis. Surprised that otherwise primitive alien life forms were now capable of interstellar travel the conquest forces were halted and even in some cases driven back. What follows were a series of attritional warfare in the northern sectors of the galaxy. It was in this period that the Mauritan House Al-Khalid became renowned for their ferocious and fundamentally religious-xenophobic nature. (It was these traits that would mark the Al-Khalids as “Guardians of the North”).
By the eightieth year since the “Arrival” casualties were rising to the hundreds of millions on both sides. But for the B’Afourilis it was a futile struggle for the sheer size of the Mauritan invasion fleet has finally begun to tell. In the ninety-first year since the “Arrival” the Mauritan have consolidated the majority of the galaxy. The defeated B’Afourlis meanwhile has been driven back to the northern fringes.
Consolidation, Growth and Society
The Mauritan began to consolidate their conquests and settlements. A long period of growth and prosperity has begun. Worlds were settled, planets cracked for resources and alien slaves exploited. House of Al-Khalid was tasked to guard the northern sectors of the Mauritan Galactic Imbaratwry from the remnant B’Afourilis Empire, given them free reign and autonomy.
The planet Nou’Tochouk became the linchpin and capital of the Mauritan Empire boosting its population into the tens of billions of citizens. Other planets prospered and wealth flowed freely through the empire.
The political government of the empire is based around a unitary semi-presidential system with a national assembly of the most important planets. Most planets were also ruled by a religious court (based on an old earth tradition that most interstellar empires would find stupid at best or revolting at worse). These court would enforce a fundamentally, conservative religious lifestyle on most Mauritan citizens while promoting and justifying the enslavement of alien species.
In fact the tremendous growth of Mauritan Empire was largely generated by the alien slaves, who were forced to conduct the most hazardous jobs, like extracting precious ores from a volcanic planet or siphoning chemical elements from the lower stratospheres of a gas giant.
The Mauritan society can be described as conservative to very conservative. Religion plays a central role in the society with old earth Islam being the most followed. An interesting point here is that Islam didn’t really evolved much from pre-space age earth; scholars and religious leaders have maintained a fanatical discipline to preserve the old teachings while other interstellar nations have evolved.
Most Mauritans can trace their origins to Afrii-Maur which explained their more or less darker complexions. But thousands of centuries of void travel have left their mark on them and some sections of Mauritan society have a different ethnic appearance – notably the pink-haired and grey-skinned population of Tiris Zemmour or the Bosrusa descended Tidjiris.
Corruption and Stagnation - Today
With wealth and trade streaming through the galaxy so too does corruption. Through the centuries of prosperity the seed of decline has been sown. Increasingly the elite of the Mauritan society were corrupted to money, religious fanaticism and power. Corporate, political and religious lobby groups were now pulling the strings in the capital and in the planetary governor palaces.
Wealth and power is concentrated at the top, while the general populations are getting poorer. Alien and alien slaves are being used as scapegoats for the political miseries of the Mauritan society. This has effectively initiated successions of pogroms against the extra-terrestrial slave population, which in turn started massive slave rebellions which could only be put down bloodedly.
Military funding have been neglected or have been diverted into personal funds. The state of the armed forces has forced many planetary governors to rely on corporate security services. These mercenary groups are increasingly being used to secure wealthy planets or regions of space. The most famous of these are the “Tidjis Shield Service” or the TSS. The planet Tidjis was settled mostly by Borusa descended humans – noted as skilled mercenaries even in the age of old-earth. Today the TSS is main employer on Tidjis, legitimizing the phrase a mercenary group with a planet.
Pirate terror-activity increased in the outer circles of the Mauritan Empire with the most notorious being the “Black Hands”. Initially formed as a rebel group that championed the cause of the commoners, successive less-noble leaders have transformed the “Black Hands” into the most feared terror group.
Religious fervor has been whipped up on many planets against the aliens and even against some fellow Mauritans who followed other interstellar religions. The once noble House Al-Khalid has fallen into a ferocious, religious fanaticism – committing xenocide against any remaining alien communities found in their territory and enslaving the survivors and also forcing their very own Mauritan comrades to convert to their fundamental beliefs. It is with these false confidences that the Al-Khalids have erroneously started the fifth war against the B’Afourili remnants.
All these times the B’Afourilis have waited and prepared for their revenge and to finally liberate their enslaved kinfolk from the Mauritans. In all the previous four wars against the Mauritans they have studied and observed their enemy. By the fifth war against the Mauritans of House Al-Khalid they are ready for vengeance. By luring the massive armies of House Al-Khalid to invade planet X3-O in No-man-space the B’Afourili have opened an unprotected flank on the northern front.
In a lightning move the main body of B’Afourili has crossed no-man-space into Mauritan region, striking deep into House Al-Khalids territory. The most populated world of the Al-Khalids – Al-Hais – is now subjected to a massive planetary invasion. Most defensive forces have been swept away by the initial waves, leaving the civilian population to the mercy of the aliens. Barbarities on a large scale not even seen in the “Arrival” age are being committed against the Mauritan human population - those that can have fled Al-Hais (mostly to upper class elites – hence only those with the means of having a private interstellar ship) bringing with them tales of horror and terror. Currently only one continent on Al-Hais out of ten is stubbornly holding out against the B’Afourilis. Maybe this would give time for the Mauritan High Command to organize a proper response.
Authors Note: So this is the start of an experimental space-alternate-history-multiverse-miniseries of maps that I have planned. Generally I'll will follow the rule of cool so I might get some physics, techs or general evolution wrong or even ignore them for the sake of storytelling/mapmaking.
