chapter four

Sorry, busy weekend.
Halloween party, bowling, etc...




chapter four

Commander Arkha was impatient. They had entered the palace nearly four hours ago and the guards were still holding out in the hall that connected the throne room to the rest of the palace.

"You and you; come with me." It was time to take matters by the scruff of their neck and make the prize the seers had promised him, his.

The bodies of Nieldic guards and palace servants littered the floor; several of his own warriors lay still, slowly being consumed by the blood. He made a mental note to mention this development in his report; heavier boots would be nessesairy for future armies.
The gates were not barred, but the guards had built a barricade to deny his men access, fools.
"Traonih! Teach these pups who the true masters of Anatolia are."
A good seer, but Traonih was to old to be put on a front line like this. His reputation, however, was such that his very presence inspired the men to greater feats, and that was before he even began to weave his first spells.
"I dare not commander."
"what!"
"There is a poweful force within that room. I fear that f I enter it; I shall not depart."

Then his suspicions were correct; what the seers had told him would indeed come to pass.
"By the authority of the Alpha himself. I order you to destroy that barricade!"
"Then my death is certain. I pray the demon of this world devours your soul that I might revisit this grievance, Arkha son of Brakh."
Traonih turned. He lifted his staff as he began to recite an incantation of destruction. As he brought down his staff, the barricade was blasted inwards.
Arkha smiled as his warriors rushed in, slaughtering the remaining guards. This was his day, and it was quickly growing better. For there before the throne was the one he sought.

"What is the meaning of this, this outrage!"
"This is the only chance I shall offer you to surrender, fire-blooded scum."
"neve.."
The armored figure to the right of Lord Lathorian silenced him with the harsh sound of her stave hitting the luxuriously tiled floor.
"What are your terms, tailed one."
Arkha motioned, his crossbowman raised their weapons, aiming directly at Callin.
"Your complete surrender."
"Unaceptable. The empire will never allow you rebels to get away with this."
"Then we are done talking"
The twang of crossbows echoed throughout the large chamber. Callin brought her staff around, deflecting many bolts effortlessly and dodging the rest with equal ease. One of the dodged bolts silenced the still protesting noble before he could even rise from his throne; while Callin deftly redirected another to lay low the elderly seer, still standing in the doorway; resting of his recent cast.
Arkha motioned for his men to stop; his intended target was slain, and he now had things exactly where he wanted them. Now, to set his plan in motion.

"The seers are not so blind as they may appear, guardsman. I know what you are."
"That is a bold accuastion. I hope you know what I would have to do if you were correct."
"Men! Leave us. We must discuss terms."
He looked up into Callin's dark eyes, trying to percieve her next move. As they stood watching each other cautiously, the Ga-Vok warriors fliled silently passed Traonih's body as they exited the room.
"What do you want, mortal?"
"I was told a prophecy while I was a young warrior, barely past my first hunt. The seers foretold that I would find a woman of otherworldly power. I have found you, and I can offer you what you desire."
"And what is it that you desire in exchange?"
Arkha grinned wickedly, "You must not be as powerful as I thought if you need to ask. I will let you have your way with this world; but only so long as I may have my way with you."

Callin stared blankly at the commander. Then she strode across the room to Traonih's body, and bending over it incanted a dark word. A shrill, piercing cry rang out; Arkha stepped back, reaching to his katar in fear. The cry was cut off mid howl, and Callin rose.
"Show me you are worthy. Bring to me the dearest possesion of the wealthiest man on this world. Then, I shall fulfil your desires, Arkha Shadesworn."

chapter three

Kiera woke to the sound of swords clashing that night. She stood up and got dressed, she'd warned the servants about dueling in the ballroom. A sixth sense told her that it would probably be wise to bring her sword, never know when things might get out of hand.

As she put the sword on her belt the door to her room was thrown open.

"The palace is under attack milady! We must get out of here."

Kiera looked at her maid dismissively, "What do you mean 'under attack'?"
"The Ga-Vok milady, they're rioting. A large mob has stormed the palace. If we don't get out they may try to kill us, or worse."
"Very funny Doris."
"Oh milady, I wish it was so."

At that moment a Ga-Vok appeared in the door way. Kiera had never seen one so heavily armored, and there was blood dripping from his katar.

"Doris, get down!"

Doris stopped, startled by Kiera's outburst. Before Kiera could react, the warrior ran the hapless maid through. Kiera stood stunned. She'd never encountered death before, except in the media and a few stories Callin had told her.
But even startled as she was she was able to deflect the slashing blow of her furry assailant. Her training took over and her sword effortlessly passed through the warrior's unarmored throat.
She quickly crouched over Doris' fallen body, shaking her gently. A quick pulse check confirmed her fears.
Rising she stepped into the hall outside her room; servants ran about in a panic as a few guards tried to stave off the throng of Ga-Vok that were rampaging about the chamber.
Recognizing a guard sergent in a far corner of the room she dashed across the room; cutting down a second Ga-Vok as she went.

"We have to get out of here."
"How milady? They've taken the main gate."

She paused, the only other exits she knew of were the one under the throne and the one in the library. She muttered a brief curse at whatever fool had built a palace with so few secret pasages.
"Have they taken the library?"
The sergent paused.
"I doubt it madam; they seem more interested in hunting us than in taking control of the building."
Finally, a stroke of luck in an otherwise bleak day.
"Gather everyone you can and follow me."

She didn't know why the palace was under attack, but she'd have time to worry about that once she'd escaped ths uncharacteristicly fierce mob.

chapter two

"Enge."
"Yes captain?"
"You remember how you asked me what kind of woman I look for?"
"Yes captain, but that was nearly eight years ago."
Daniel silenced his first mate with a quick gesture; and quickly pointed at a woman across the market place.

"Her"
"Captain, I didn't realize you were into older women."

Daniel grabbed him by the scruff of his beard and pulled his companion's head in
line with his finger.

"No. Her."
"The one in the yellow?"
"Yes, that one"
"Ok, that makes more sense. She is a rather attractive woman; not the most striking I've ever seen, and yellow is clearly not her best color."

Daniel let go of Enge's beard and turned to face him.
"It's not about how she looks. It's how she carries herself. You can see just by watching her walk, that Girl's got Class coming out the wazoo, is educated enough to know what a 'wazoo' is, and probably knows enough about etiquette to tell you the social situation in which displaying a 'wazoo' would be considered acceptable. "
"Ransom on a girl like that is probably worth putting up with her for a few weeks" Said Enge as he reached for one of the knives in his boot.

Captain Stone stopped. Enge was right, class and etiquette were usually good signs of good ransomability. Education on the other hand was generally a good sign that the victim would put up a solid fight. And then there was the middle aged woman accompanying her.

He had recognized her as an imperial guard immediately. But as he glanced back at her he realized how close he and Enge had been to losing their lives.

"Enge put the knife away."
"Cap'n?"
"That older woman, she's a bodyguard"
"And that's a problem how?"

For all his faults, Daniel couldn't help but like Enge. He had guts, experience, and absolutely no ambition past the next bar.

"Enge, this is exactly why I keep you around. If you were any smarter I'd have to keep you from wearing weapons around me."
"That hurt Captain."
"It hurt less than it would have if you had gone after that woman. That bodyguard has placed in the Imperial mixed-arms competition for over the last hundred years, 17 times the winner. She's a corporal in the Imperial guards."

Enge glanced at the woman again.
"So? Just magic her away or turn her into a newt or something."
"Show me an imperial guard who doesn't know magic and I'll show you an Imperial guardsmens corpse."
"Oh."

Daniel kept watching as the pair turned the corner and passed out of sight.
"She's local. We'll get her next time."
"If you say so captain"
"Come Enge, there's a good pint of warm mead waiting for us back at camp."
"Yes sir!"

Daniel thought about that woman the whole rest of the evening. He'd known a lot of women in his day, and as far as he was concerned it was his day, but that girl was the first one he wasn't able to simply forget. He made up his mind then; when he retired from piracy he would find her and he would make her his.
Now if only he could figure out what age would be a good time to retire.

and without further adieu; chapter one.

"Father"
"Yes Kiera?"
"Can I go into town?"
Lord Lathorian of Anatolia carefully studied his daughter's face.
"Why would you want to do that? We have plenty of food and the tailor is already working on your gown."

Kiera sighed, "I know, I wasn't going to buy anything. I was just hoping I might have a chance to...mingle with the populace."
"Were you really? If you wish to understand the troubles of your future subjects; I'd be quite willing to let you sit in while I hold court."
"It's not that."

Lathorian stood up and walked down to his daughter. He'd suspected this might happen one day; After all he had met the Lady Lathorian in rather similar circumstances. That aside, there was no way he would let his daughter go and...I mean he could hardly afford to have his heir run off with some commoner. He knew full well that there were to many men who would want her only for a chance at his job, and he would not let that happen to his daughter.

"You can go..."
"Thanks Dad!"
"...If you take Callin with you."
"but dad."

Callin was one of the imperial guards assigned to the Anatolian nobility. She was one of the most experienced guards in the empire and had never failed to place in the Imperial martial mixed-arms competition since she was 27, some hundred and thirty years ago. Rumors abounded of why such a talented guard had been placed on a backwater like Anatolia. Some said she had been reassigned by the direct orders of the empress when she was caught having an affair with the emperor; others said she had requested it as a self imposed exile for allowing the death of a fellow guard. Lathorian wasn't to certain himself why she was here, but he was the sort of man who was willing to forgive whatever she had done to deserve the post and praise the gods for blessing with such an able servant.


"You summoned me milord?"
"No, but I was about to. Callin, would you escort my daughter down to Ankra. She wishes to mingle with the people."
"I'll be fine on my own dad, I can protect yourself."

Callin glanced at Lord Lathorian. She already knew why he wanted her to escort his daughter, Lathorian was a good ruler but he had never possesed any skill at guarding his mind.

"This seems like the sort of task for a brother or maidservant."

Lathorian may not have known why Callin was on his planet, but he certainly knew why she was only a corpral. Callin was a masterful fighter, but she never seemed to have even the remotest intrest in keeping her thoughts private.

"I'll expect you both back by the 19th hour. Callin, don't let her out of your sight."
"Dad, I'm not a child. I can take care of myself; I don't need to be nannied around."
"As you wish milord"

Kiera let out an exasperated groan.
"You're no fun at all."
She turned and walked out, Callin close behind her.

"I hope she finds someone she has to spend as much time chasing as she's made me." Said Lathorian to no one in particular.

note, and the game plan

I'm going to try dialogue in the next few installments. I'm warning any of you who might read this because I don't normally do dialogue. I always enjoyed backstory and a narrative perspective when I devloped the Nielda; and still do. That said, dialogue is much more interesting to read.

I'm an amateur; so please don't blame me when the result of this attempt is miles short of Tolkeinic fantasy or Asimovian Sci-Fi.


The game plan is to work semi-chronologically. I'll start with Daniel and the Anatolian resistance through phase three; a period lasting about sixty years and will probably take me a week at the minimum to do justice but may last as much as several months.
Then I will revert to Alicea and the Gascan resistance; which will probably not take as long but is equally important.
After that I will finally cover the epic phase seven; which really can not be told(partially because it will make more sense, and partially because no one could possibly be expected to care if they didn't understand the state of mind that exsisted in the major players at the time) until at least the Anatolian affairs are explained, though Alicea also plays an integral part. After that I'll sum up the state of affairs for both the Ga-Vok confederacy and Daniellandish empire at the end of the great war.

The great war

I'm going to give a quick summary of the Ga-Vok war.

For many years historians would consider each of the seven phases of the so called 'Great Ga-Vok war' to be their own seperate war. As the conflict would refuse to subside, the various wars began to be condensed into larger meta-wars.

The first phase of the war started when a new leader or 'Alpha' came to power. Using the strength of his clan along with skillful words he subdued the other Ga-Vok clans and brought them under his leadership. He convinced the tribal chieftans and the mystic shaman of the stone circles that the Nieldic galaxy was their birthright. He spoke to the people of the hunting grounds that awaited them on the other worlds; and convinced them that the Nielda were purposefully keeping them from these lands and must be purged.

Three worlds were atacked in the same hour by the combined forces of the new Ga-Vok confederacy. The small Nieldic colony on Decidua was masacred before days end; the colony on Burgun fared no better. But Anatolia, a minor colony neighboring the Ga-Vok homeworld of Decidua would prove to be the focal point for the entire war.
It was mostly luck that Anatolia survived. An aliance between the Anatolian resistance under the daughter of the lord of Anatolia, lady Kiera Gansfeld; and the head of Daniellands leading (and only) guild of criminals, Captain Daniel Stone, the pirate. I'll be touching on this situation in considerable detail as the two of them play a critical role in the Great Ga-Vok war.

The second phase consisted of several new Ga-Vok invasions as well as an additional unsuccsesful assault on Anatolia. After this phase the Daniellandish began settling soliders in order colonies in case of future wars.

Phase three began exactly like phase two and proceeded in exactly the same manner. However, at the end of phase three the Nieldic colony on Gasca found itself under Ga-Vok ocupation. A former army Captain, Alicea Stone(only distantly related to the forstated captain Stone), took charge of the local resistance and through clever use of magic, brilliant strategy, and ingenuitive use of technology was able to take back control of Gasca. This to will be covered in greater detail.

Phases four through six saw the continuation of the invasion-defense pattern set in the previous phases. Over the course of the sixty years from the first phase and the conclusion of phase six The Nieldic Galaxy saw the development of the first naval craft(Nielda and Ga-Vok; though both used spacecraft in battles prior to the formation of navies), the first cavalry(Nieldic and Ga-Vok, tough in all fairness the Ga-Vok only used stolen Nieldic tactics and vehicles), and first usage of mages integrated into standard military forces in the universe.

Phase seven will have to wait until after I've gone into greater detail on the personal matters of the Ga-Vok war, as they have a very direct impact on the final phase of the war.

Ga-Vok, continued

Sorry to leave off like that.
Now where was I?


Right.



First real contact with an alien race for the Nielda came in rather a reversal compared to what most races experience. Rather than a 'modern' or 'newly spacefaring' race encountering an experienced spacefaring race; the Nielda encountered the medieval culture of the dog-like Ga-Vok race.

With no prior experience dealing with other cultures, the Nielda reacted swiftly with disatarous results. No, they didn't attempt to commit xenocide. After nearly a thousand years of peace the last thing on the collective minds of the Nielda was war. Instead they introduced the Ga-Vok to space travel; giving them access to every technology that would be available to their own people. The result would define both cultures for milennia to come.

Ga-Vok

In the thirty-second year after the establishment of the Nieldic colony on Tara; An exploration team arrived on a heavily forested world in the north-eastern part of the Nieldic Galaxy.

I feel like I should explain Nieldic star maping before I continue this post.
Danielland is positioned at the center of the Nieldic galaxy, two major spacelanes intersect perpendicularly, the colonies; Tara, Medea, Kanto, and the twin worlds Arden and Rhinsla, are used to line up a compass on the Nieldic starcharts, with the twins as north, Tara as east, Medea as west, and Kanto as south. I'll go into more details on the Nieldic Starcharts when there is more to be charted.

Sorry about that.
They named this planet the world of seasonal leaves, or 'decidua'. But after several weeks of exploration, and subsequently three months of colonization, the Nielda were completly oblivious to the planet's secret.

to be continued...
Brain going a little slow right now.

Colonies

The first Nielda to set foot on Tara, did so without the attention of an enthralled public. In fact, that now time-lost indivdual did it at the same time as nine other specially trained soldiers. It was only after data was collected, and the first settlement established that the public was notified at all.

Ten colonies were established in as many years. Tara was the first, named the World of Emerald Isles for it's, well, green islands. It was there that the Nielda first encontered night. And it's multitude of moons first brought to light the Lycanthropy that had been incubating within the population. Mages, seeing the decline of their hold within society, quickly pronounced it a magical issue and developed a strict mental regimen to maintain control for all but the most severe outbreaks. The monthly triple full moon of Tara would be one of those rare occasions.

The task of the guards, the long peace of the empire, and colonization efforts.

The heir of the Junlaerd was a much wiser, more stable man than his Grandfather. Under his reign many laws were established, and the Imperial Guards were tasked with driving out the demon worshiping cults, which had flourished under the Junlaerd, along with the numerous dark powers these cults had drawn to the empire. These Dark Powers came to be refered to as 'Shaditha' for the Nieldic word meaning darkness, and have been roughly translated to common( In the rare cases were Nieldic is translated at all) as 'shade'. The striking similarity is not lost on the Nielda or on those humans who are aware of such things, though the origins are often misunderstood by the later.

For a thousand years, the empire prospered and as one emperor passed on and a new one took his place the population grew. The military traditions of the Nieldic race fell idle, and their skill in trade and love for efficiency grew. But with neither disease nor war to hinder the growth of the population; Scientists and engineers were forced to work tirelessly to solve, or prevent, the imminent threats of starvation and overpopulation.

Until one day, the answer to their problems landed on forty million unsuspecting people.
simultaneously postponing the inevitable overpopulation, and opening a brand new world of interesting and noticeably brittle-boned people to the Nielda.

A team of the best scientists, engineers, and magicians was assembled to find out how the newcomers came to arrive in the middle of the crater where a large city had once stood. The few human survivors, later discovered to be a lost part of an exploration mission, made attempts to either communicate or defend themselves; depending primarily on how the person relating the account thinks he can pass off frantic arm waving and traumatic blood-loss. Few actual records were recovered, fewer survivors. In a stroke of luck, the interstellar drive was in tact enough to be reverse engineered; and enough of the ships crew survived to translate a basic dictionary, and be recorded for syntax and pronunciation. Tragically, or Fortuitously again depending on the story teller, none of the survivors survived the combination of highly infectious disease's and lack of properly sanitized medical facilities which existed on Danielland(a condition that has yet to abate).

After a series of rather barbaric, and simplistic, launch tests, the Nielda managed to launch their first Space station, and from it, launch their first interstellar spacecraft. Only a decade after their initial discovery of anything at all above the sky; they were establishing their first colony.

appearance change

I felt like it. I just wish I had an artist, or at least something to break up the text walls.
If it was a girl, who was also interested in me, that would be particularly nice.
-sigh-

The Lay of the Junlaerd; or 'Empire'

It should be noted upfront that no-one, not even most Nieldic villains, condones the actions of the self-declared 'Junlaerd'.

The Junlaerd was born the youngest son of the king of the relatively small city state of Danielland. The name alone should tell you how this story ends. However, rather than an inspiring tale of perseverance, wisdom, and divine intervention; the tale of the Junlaerd is one of the lowest moments in Nieldic history. As a child the Junlaerd was teased for having a name that was easily confused with a few rather courser terms in Nieldic, Especially by his siblings, particularly his sister, the heir apparent. He vowed at an early age to do what ever could be done to prove himself the best of all of them. And so at the eve of his 16Th birthday, the day on which a Nielda is considered an adult, he was approached by a powerful being from another plane of existence, now known to be the demon Ekidan. The being offered him endless power and eternal life; on a single condition. Ten souls were to be delivered up to the being on the Junlaerd's birthday. Without a second thought the Junlaerd excepted the demons offer and pledged the lives of his own siblings as the first payment.

With the demon's power and craftiness at his behest, the Junlaerd lay low one city state after another finally establishing Danielland as one of the leading states of the world. At his wedding, arranged for purely diplomatic reasons to the daughter of a fearful neighbor king, he boldly invited every nation of the world to bask in his glory. None dared to deny his request outright.

But one state, a northern kingdom renowned for it's strong fortifications, ravenous wolf riders, and powerful mages, but revered for it's foresight, wisdom, and love for learning and study, turned back after arriving in the capital city. Claiming illness, Prince A'tai of the ruling Stone clan turned back to deliver a warning to his people of a dark power he sensed within the Junlaerd's palace. Rushing to his father and his siblings he warned them and advised that they train an army and send envoys to the other nations to warn them against the pending threat. But all in vain.

Ekidan was not the fool previous demonic visitors to the world had been. He saw through the Prince's 'illness' and alerted the Junlaerd. Having declared at his wedding feast a new 'Daniellandish Empire' he made it his first act to declare war on the prideful lords of Stone. He sent forth the full might of his armies to crush his new found rivals. After thirty years of harsh sieges and devastating field battles, the Junlaerd's armies were defeated; unable to breach the thick walls of the northern power, or to out-maneuver their swift wolf riders.

It was only after forty years of continued conquest the Junlaerd would return his gaze to the Fortresses of his Rival, the now King A'tai. This time the Junlaerd invested in engineers, inventors, and chemists; searching for a means to even the odds against the wolf riders and to bring down the great walls of the stone kingdom. Success was had quickly to both problems. A new crossbow, designed to fire a great speed with minimal training allowed his massed infantry to gain an edge against the wolf riders; while an ancient Nieldic alchemist's formula allowed him the firepower needed to breech even the strongest walls. With these new advances in technology the numerically superior troops of the Daniellandish empire overran the kingdom of stone, led by the Junlaerd himself, now at the rather remarkable age 273(old even for a Nielda). In the end he struck the final blow against King A'tai, last of the free kings of the Nielda, and slaughtered his family in battle and by bounty. And with this final victory he declared his reign over all Nielda, under an eternal Daniellandish empire; every year claiming his ten souls.

But what kind of story would this be if the good guys just died and left a planet under the eternal reign of a crazed mad man and his increasingly powerful demon buddy?

One of the daughters of King A'tai, Diersel of the bloodied fang, escaped the emperor's slaughter. After weeks of fleeing the Junlaerd's hunters she threw herself at the mercy of a local farmer. She quickly became amazed to discover that this was not simply a farmer but a former priest, himself in hiding from the demon's machinations. No longer fleeing the two settled down and raised a family, teaching them of the Junlaerd's evils. Alas, after seventy years in hiding Diersel and her family were found, and she and her husband slain at the Junlaerd's orders. Their children, sent away when their parents had realized that they had been discovered, plotted to destroy the Junlaerd using the knowledge that their parents had collected.

One of them, the eldest daughter, was selected to do the deed. As the fairest among them, indeed one of the fairest of all the empire, they knew that she would be able to join the ten virgins regularly brought to the Junlaerd on his birthday. However without knowing what fate would await her within the palace, she would be forced to operate on her own judgement beyond the front gates; so the siblings granted their sister every blessing and enchantment that they could imagine(and unwittingly a few they couldn't). With what can only be considered divine providence, it was not necessary to plan further. The Junlaerd awaited his sacrifices at a fountain within the palace gardens. Dismissing his guards he quickly dispatched of the least attractive of the girls, while incanting the summons for Ekidan. Realizing what was about to happen, the daughter of Diersal struck down the other 8 girls with a flurry of spell craft, before casting a spell of binding upon the fountain, trapping the Junlaerd, the demon, and herself within it.

It took only four minutes for the Imperial guards to realize what had happened. Seeing the flash of magic and the absence of their liege lord, along with the dark surge of the fleeing demon; they decided to publicly announce that the Junlaerd's heart had failed him at last, and to bring together the previously unheard of councils of nobles and of commanders together to select an heir from among the Junlaerd's grand children(his children having all long died of old age).

It was also noticed by the guards that the so-called 'fountain of the demon' bestowed upon those who bathed in it's waters an increased aptitude for magic. Calling upon those within their order with knowledge of such things, the Imperial guard found the power of the fountain to be benign to harmless at worst. It became tradition from that time on for a guardsman to bathe in the fountain at the time of his promotion.

Danielland

I mentioned before that the name is grammatically incorrect. The general consensus is that the first emperor was both an awful person and quite narcissistic. However, in spite of the fact that the Nielda must regularly point out how poorly named the planet, and empire, were; the name has stuck.

Danielland is a swampy planet. The almost perfectly uniform climate and weather are caused by the planet's unique placement within its' system. The Danieland system is a binary star system with a single planet. Unlike many binary star systems the planet is placed at the center of system with the stars orbiting it directly across from each other. The planet is dryer and rocky at the poles, but otherwise covered in shallow water and trees.

This star placement has made Danielland a world with no night. As one sun sets the other rises. The other result of the star placement is that the world is almost impossible to spot on a navicomputer, or through any gravity based detection system.

Another result of the lack of night, or moons, was the inncubation of the condition known as Lycanthropy; in laymans terms, Werewolfism. Because nothing could cause a Lycanthrope to be revealed save a failed attempt to kill, the condition went unchecked for years.


Danielland has a rather less than diverse ecosystem. It has several thousand varieties of insects, a few hundred varieties of amphibian, about three hundred types of reptiles, and about forty varieties of mammals. The reptiles consist primarily of small alligators and large turtles, with a smattering of iguana and gecko like animals. The mammals consist of squirrels, a few varieties of cats; ranging in size from a small tiger to a large house cat, and four varieties of canine; one roughly the size of a horse and the other three having wool like fur. All of the canines are found in the rocky polar regions.

Due to the nature of their homeworld the Nielda, with few exceptions, used primarily canals for travel. And in spite of a hierarchical society, never encountered cavalry in battle until after establishing intergalactic travel.

Nielda

What better place to start an introduction to my creation than with the most integral part of it, the Nielda themselves.

The Nielda are externally nearly indistinguishable from humans. The only possible indications are a greater density, and average height. However, under the skin are a few crucial differences. The first, and more obvious, one is their skeleton. Their skeleton is comprised primarily of an element that they refer to as 'kraje'(krah-ge). Kraje has a number of interesting properties, including a physical strength equivalent to steel, as well as several magical traits. The second biological difference is their blood, which in an ongoing fit of non-inspiration they continue to simply call blood. The most fascinating part of Nieldic blood is that it is actually not a part of the Nielda at all. It is a single cell organism that has a symbiotic relationship with the Nielda, serving the Nielda in much the same manner as the blood of other races; with the added benefit of defending itself against foreign intruders(i.e. germs, dirt, other lifeforms) violently, causing as a side effect an immunity to vampirism (though for reasons to be later explained not Lycanthropy). In fact, it is considered the 19Th most corrosive substance in the universe. It has no effect on inanimate objects, and makes an excellent, although morbid, cleaning agent.

Psychologically the Nielda are best explained by looking at the origin of their culture. Originating in the shallow swamps of the grammatically incorrect planet Danielland(will be explained later); the Nielda evolved a hunter-gatherer culture. Rather than convert to agriculture and develop society from that point as most species would, the Nielda split into a twin culture of peaceful farmers and hunter-raiders. At the date reckoned as 1/1/0 of the Nieldic calender, A tribe of raiders, recognizing the decreasing herd sizes and the cost of raiding, approached a nearby farming village and offered their protection from other tribes of raiding. They did so in what has become known as 'Nieldic flair'. Rather than simply sending an emissary and requesting a parlay with the farmers, they lay in wait for another, smaller, tribe of raiders and wiped them out as they began looting the village. By proving their military superiority over other local tribes they were able to gain a position of dominance in negotiations and establish themselves as being nobles, rather than mere mercenaries.

The violence shown in the raiding has become considered one of the Nielda's traits, as has the melodramatic 'Nieldic flair'. For these reasons many 'civilized nations' avoid dealing with Nieldic powers, with the knowledge that the Nielda will not hesitate to allow, or cause, the destruction of others simply to make a point. Many Nieldic observers and historians will swiftly point out that even if you chose not to involve yourself, you will inevitably be hated for your perceived display of pride, a trait which the Nielda thoroughly enjoy exploiting.

The true nature displayed by the Nielda by these early events is a people who are willing to do whatever is necessary to survive, and will do it in as memorable a way as possible. The Nielda love stories, but they love true stories even more. And so they have a culture unwittingly built around entertaining and teaching future generations of Nielda.

Before I conclude this I feel like this would be a good point to mention Nieldic women. The Nielda are a race with nearly 3/1 male-female ratio. This has lead to several odd phenomenon. The first is that Nielda pass surnames, family wealth, and most hereditary positions down through the daughters of the family; this in spite of a rather male dominated society. The second is that most Nieldic heroes are women; most Nieldic historians attribute this to some sort of divine balancing act. As most other races are ruled, dominated, and championed by men; the Nielda, generally acknowledged as the universe's dominant race, are championed by women who are generally superior to the male champions of the other mortal races.

A new direction

I know it has been a while since I last updated; as I have been told on multiple occasions recently.

So I've decided to go in a somewhat different direction. Rather than posting a bunch of stuff about how I feel on a given day, or what kind of crazy stuff is happening; I'm going to begin attempting to log the happenings within what I like to refer to as 'the Nieldic Expanded Megaverse'.

Because this is a very considerable amount of what I think about, and has been for several years now, I'm going to have to ask you all to point out as soon as possible whenever I say something and you need an explanation. please refrain from making comments about any beliefs, morals, or related topics; this is an exercise in Role Play(RP) and a means by which I explore various possibilities, not necessarily an indication of what I believe. Also, no praise, It distracts me, inflates my ego, and is generally unproductive.

Edit:
I'll be trying to make daily additions, but I may forget some days.