Beyond; follow-up

Just a few background bits and tie-ins. 

One, Collin married Hamren, son of Hamaf.  She also became the first Queen of Tara, although in all fairness he did most of the management.  She and Emperor Kevand had become quite close after the crash, and she was a driving force behind colonization. 
She also found out, shortly after arriving in the colony, that she was a werewolf.  The palace was designed around the hope that having secret passages and very thick doors would help keep other people from figuring it out.  It didn't work so well, and it can be safely assumed that anyone inside the palace of Tara, to this day, is either a Lycan, or sleeping in the extraordinarily well fortified guest quarters.  The number of moons that Tara possesses means that it is always a full moon, and often more than one.  All of Taran architecture has since been designed around the mentality of 'small windows, and lots of thick, metal doors'.  Over the last several millennia, Nieldic scientists have noticed that people from Tara can operate at full efficiency at only four hours of sleep spread over seventy-two hours.  People often fail to notice that they sleep at all. 

Two, Emperor Kevand  is generally considered to be one of the greatest Emperors of all time.  He managed to almost single handedly restructure the government, and appointed many non-nobles to rule the new colonies.  A further restructuring of the tax codes allowed him to impoverish most of the standing nobility,  rendering them powerless.  That tax code, with minor adjustments, is actually still used by the Danielandish.  Oddly enough, the system is designed less to tax the citizens and businesses of the empire and more to place the Empire in control of several critical and profitable industries, particularly mining.  He spent most of his reign working on that code, and managed to get it to work out in such a way as to make most of the Empire's raw materials very inexpensive while still offering a rather good wage to all the workers; taxes on the middle and lower classes dropped to a pittance.  The nobility however, was forced to shoulder much of the burden.  They took it surprisingly well, and only a few thousand of them had to be executed.  The rest followed his example and took over other critical industries, food production being one of the most popular. 

Jor became captain of the Rangers, and that unit was permanently assigned to guarding research facilities and testing new devices in combat.  They were expanded, and made a permanent division of the army.  He married Polly, but her family disowned her for it.  She enlisted with the Rangers and served as his second in command until they retired.  They had one son, Haelvan, who followed in their footsteps as commander of the Rangers.  He married one of Collin and Hamren's daughters and had several children prior to the Ga-Vok raid on Tara during the Ga-Vok war. 

Hamaf died(clearly). 

Jeanine fell in with a guild of thieves and thugs known as 'the Ukown'.  They never really accepted her, as a result of her obvious pursuit of a personal agenda.  However, she did manage to turn most of the guild towards the goal of cleansing the empire of the worse sort of nobles.  She had a son who followed in her footsteps as an assassin intent on justice, Gar. 

And lastly; the ship was later determined(much, much later) to have been human in origin.  An event of supernatural(and keep in mind that both magic and demons are considered a part of the natural universe to the Nielda) origins struck quite suddenly at precisely the moment of the crash and effected nearly the entire universe.  All civilizations prior to that point seem to have suffered debilitating catastrophes at the exact same time.  Ten years later the Nielda launched their first interstellar ship and established their first colony on another planet, Tara(or as it was originally known 'holy crap this place is dark fifty percent of the day!', or more officially 'world of the many dark islands'. 

Chapter Sixteen, 'Adrenaline Rush'

"There are to many child. We should flee."
"I hate to agree with the Golem but that be a few more of the pups than we can handle."

"No. If we run then we won't be able to defend ourselves. We fight."
"Fight your heart out lass, I'm going up the mountain with the Golem. If yeh've got a brain under that gingery hair of yours you'll join us."

Mcraw and Nond fled. The warriors' blows were deflected from the golem's iron hide, and the pyromancer trailed flame beside them to prevent flanking. Alicea would never admit it to them, but the only thing keeping her from following was the realization that she couldn't fight through the Ga'Vok that separated them. She was doomed, she was going to die here.

~let me~
"What? Who are you?"
~I am the beast. Windspeaker, let the storm ride you~
"The moon is not risen. You have no power spirit."
~Spirit? I am no more a spirit than you. Death seeks us. Let me stand about you or we shall die~
"I will not be an untamed beast in the forest. Better to die Alicea than to live a wolf."
~Than let my hide be your armor and my claws your axes. If you will not let me take you, then have me~

She listened, through the sounds of battle the light called. She had heard it before but never so clearly. It is not a sin, the spirit whispered, this is my gift. Through it my servant shall do my bidding.

"Spirit of the beast, gift of the light, be my shield and my axes your claws. May the light have mercy on our foes."

It was an interesting feeling. The full moon brought a painful forced transformation, a sensation rather like having your skin burn off from the inside. This was entirely different, More like an itchy, crawling feeling; like putting on a bad sweater. Then her ankles shot up to where her knees had been, her legs completely reshaping themselves. Their was less of the usual clothing damage, but her paws were shaped wrong for axes. She discarded them, and looked down her new muzzle at her now terrified adversaries.

"What, you've never seen a girl before?"

She didn't wait for them to respond. She lept at the nearest warrior and slashed him. The unlucky warrior was flung into the mob. Alicea made the mistake of actually looking at him, luckily the warriors did too. Her claws had shorn through his armor and torn not only the skin but several of his ribs completely away. The horror of the surrounding horde grew as the warrior himself looked down at his mangled body and began howling not in pain but in terror.

Alicea managed to stifle the urge to retch and filled her mouth instead with the throat of a second warrior. This act sealed the deal for the remaining two-score warriors.

Chapter Nine, 'Full moon'

"Child, are you sure about this?"
"Every full moon Endiel, for as long as I can remember. That's why I'm going ashore for the night."
"Without your clothes?"
"They're such nice clothes, and I hardly wish to get them destroyed. I'll be fine, just help Cavel with the pup. The future of the Sickle Ear clan rests on his survival and training."

Alicea swam out across the lake, She'd left the cloak with the rest of her goods. Hidden, some of the nymphs could be quite mischievous when given the opportunity. Tonight was the full moon, and the feral spirit would rule her body. She could maintain reason, or at least calm, when she was alone. But speech, and the scent of blood, would overwhelm her. If she lost control upon the island she would almost certainly kill Ikal, the apprentice shaman. The sprites would likely fair little better against her. It was a dangerous and unstoppable power, she could not be slain, healing quickly from her wounds; nor could spells harm her, deflecting from her fur.

It was a cloudless night, that would make it easier. The transformation came swiftly as the first moonbeams caught her on the lake's shore. It was painful, but she had become accustomed to it. At home with her father they had built a sub-cellar with a trapdoor; when the full moon rose she would go there and the town would be spared her bloodlust.
Aurou had found a Nieldic account of the curse, or something similar anyways. They spoke of it as a blessing, a power that could let one survive armies. The 'silver-slain', as they were known, were faster and stronger than other warriors of equal skill. As the name implied they had only silver to fear in battle or life, though the death of time would reach them as it did others. Danielland, she had learned, had no moon; so the feral spirit could not grow strong enough to gain mastery over the bodies of its hosts. Aurou had also told her of the night they first captured her. She had slain three men at the age of four, without control she was dangerous. She had spent years honing her mind to keep control on nights like this one, but even then if she was threatened or tempted it would be a challenge to maintain control. It was easier at times like this to be alone; where she could not harm others.

She passed the night in silence, save for the wind. It was her companion. She had always been closest to the wind nymphs and the Wisps, In many ways, she found that Cavel reminded her of her father. Watching him teach Ikal was like watching her father teach her. To manipulate the air, its movements, its power; it brought her peace. So as the feral spirit howled from within her, the winds howled about her. For the night, she was at peace; the feral spirit would not be responsible for the blood of her friends.

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.