History

This section presents the historical and political context of the game universe. It serves as a reference for players and the GM to situate events, factions, and the place of arcanotechnology in the world.

Key Periods

Year 0: The Founding - The Council of Guardians unifies the first human factions, creating the Empire.
~3500 years after the Founding: the Empire begins its large-scale expansion.
5527 years after the Founding: first contact with the Aceras, beginning of the war.
5764 years after the Founding: peace is declared.
5863 years after the Founding: the Empire federates all human clans under its banner.

Historical Summary

1. The Founding of the Empire

Before the Founding, humanity was scattered across several star systems, divided into rival factions locked in constant conflict. This period of interstellar civil war threatened the very future of the human species.

It was then that the Council of Guardians appeared: five beings with human features but possessing formidable intelligence and apparent immortality. Through diplomacy and demonstrations of their wisdom, they convinced several major factions to unite under their guidance, thus creating the Empire in Year 0.

This unification marked the end of human civil wars and the beginning of an era of prosperity and coordinated expansion.

2. Expansion

After laying solid foundations in its nearby systems, the Empire began expanding into space and encountering other isolated human groups. Led by the Council of Guardians, the Empire’s humans quickly positioned themselves as leaders during the first interstellar dialogues. Sérac, head of the Council, was very present during diplomatic encounters and made no secret of his desire to federate all human peoples under the imperial banner.

3. War with the Aceras

As the Empire continued its expansion and became the foremost geopolitical power, it came into contact with a telluric alien race: the Aceras.

Characteristics of the Aceras

The Aceras are tall beings but possess less physical strength than humans. Their civilization has distinctive traits:

Underground architecture: Their cities combine surface constructions with elaborate underground complexes. Their “skyscrapers” extend as deep into the ground as they rise toward the sky.
Comparable technology: Their technological level rivals that of the Empire, making the conflict particularly long and costly.
Bellicose mentality: Convinced of their superiority and frightened by differences, they categorically refuse any negotiation with the Empire.

The Conflict

First contact immediately degenerated into confrontation. The human-Aceras war lasted several centuries and unified the different human factions around a single objective: victory.

Losses were considerable on both sides, but this conflict shaped the civilizations that participated in it, inscribing them forever in galactic history as the first races to have built themselves around interstellar war.

The technological parity between the two civilizations explains the exceptional duration of the conflict, with each side constantly developing new strategies to counter the adversary.

4. The End of the War (Current Context)

Campaign Period: Year 5755

Adventures take place in 5755, nine years before the signing of peace. This period corresponds to the final phase of the human-Aceras war, marked by a dramatic escalation of hostilities.

Current Military Situation

After more than two centuries of positional warfare and attrition, the conflict enters its deadliest phase. Both civilizations, exhausted by decades of fighting, understand that one of them must yield definitively. This final decade accounts for the majority of casualties of the entire war.

State of forces: Technological parity maintained, but resources dwindling on both sides
Strategy: Transition to “total” warfare where all means are mobilized
Stakes: Each side knows this is the last chance for a decisive victory

Hero Missions

In this critical context, Heroes (H rank) become essential to maintaining the Empire’s cohesion:

Direct military missions:

Reconnaissance in contested territory
Support for regular forces in combat zones
Attack or defense of key strategic objectives

Imperial support missions:

Securing resources against natural threats
Fighting piracy and opportunistic factions
Protecting aggressive ecosystems on resource worlds
Logistical and commercial support between systems

With the regular army focused on the Aceras front, the Empire depends on its elite elements to ensure internal stability and maintain vital supply lines.

5. Beyond

The repercussions of this war are manifold and complex. The peace signed in 5764 officially marks the end of hostilities, but the Aceras civilization, weakened by centuries of conflict, begins a slow decline that will lead to its gradual extinction in the following centuries.

Military Context

The Empire is vast and continues to expand during this period. Numerous strategies and doctrines emerge to confront the Aceras. Although each scenario or campaign specifies the situation and stakes, certain constant elements apply to all eras.

Army Structure

The army is divided into two major branches:

Space Corps: fleet and orbital operations.
Telluric Corps: ground forces and exosoldiers.

It is jointly commanded by the Council of Guardians and the Warlords. Each Warlord commands a complete and autonomous armada, while the Council oversees several.

Unit Categories

Rank	Type	Description
Infantry	Standard	Basic units, lightly trained but numerous.
Specialists	Operational	Units capable of autonomous and specific missions.
Elite	Superior	Capable of single-handedly influencing the course of a battle (e.g., the Opals).
Secret	Unknown	Classified methods and reports, oral-only missions.
Heroes (H rank)	Autonomous	Legendary units, ranked from H-6 (recruit) to H-1 (icon).

Heroes are exceptional soldiers, free in their methods. They choose their missions but must maintain their own equipment and training. Their semi-independent status makes them both admired and feared.

Political Context of the Empire

The Council of Guardians

The Council of Guardians constitutes the supreme authority of the Empire. These five immortal beings with exceptional abilities have led humanity since the Founding, each according to their natural areas of expertise:

Sérac: Head of the Council in wartime. A military strategist and outstanding negotiator, he assumes leadership during the Aceras conflict thanks to his tactical and diplomatic genius.
Théon: Research and Industry. A leading arcanotechnologist, he oversees the Empire’s technological innovation and industrial processes.
Veyra: Expansion and Intelligence. Responsible for colonizing new worlds and imperial intelligence networks.
Olis: Terraforming and Health. Master of ecological adaptation and medicine, he manages planetary terraforming and the Empire’s public health.
Carène: Economy and Infrastructure. Manager of resources, commerce, and architectural engineering on a galactic scale.

These semi-divine beings perfectly master arcanotechnology and possess intelligence far surpassing the human average. Their apparent immortality and extraordinary abilities inspire both respect and mystery among the population.

Governmental Structure

The Council is supported by the Warlords, humans who have distinguished themselves through both their command ability and their military power.

Political Structure

The Empire functions as a centralized federation where each region passes through three stages of integration:

Caste: near-total autonomy, local governor, and army lent by the Empire.
State: senatorial representation, local laws under imperial supervision.
Colony: complete integration, without political or military autonomy.

The imperial system is authoritarian, but social stability and economic prosperity ensure general contentment. Non-federated populations often envy the security and comfort of the Empire, which facilitates its peaceful expansion.

Economic and Technological Context

The Empire benefits from a moderate but decisive technological advantage. Interstellar travel is primarily conducted via:

Cosmic Gates, stable but rare,
or the Warp, a spatial distortion technology that shortens distances.

The Warp is dangerous: a calculation error can send a ship into a star or disintegrate it. Journeys are therefore limited to already-charted zones, making exploration slow and perilous.

Humanity currently controls two world-cities: entirely urbanized, self-sufficient, and symbols of power. Resources remain scarce, however, and their extraction remains risky.

Production and Society

Imperial technologies ensure the satisfaction of basic needs, except in peripheral colonies. The economy relies on heavy industrial production, arcanotechnological research, and mining resources. Despite the authoritarian centralization, the overall standard of living remains high.

Arcanotechnology and Technology

Fundamental Nature of Arcanotechnology

Arcanotechnology constitutes a fundamental potential energy, called primic energy, omnipresent in the very structure of the universe. Intrinsic to all matter, it permeates every atom, every particle, forming the energetic substrate of physical reality.

Practitioners — called channelers — have learned to extract and convert this primic energy into different forms of measurable energy: thermal energy (heat), electromagnetic (light, electricity), mechanical (gravity, pressure), or even biological and informational.

Each Arcanotechnology School corresponds to a specific conversion of arcanotechnological energy into a particular type of physical energy:

Fire converts Flux into molecular kinetic energy
Electricity transforms it into an ordered electromagnetic field
Light generates a coherent and confined photonic flux
Kinesthetic produces mechanical and gravitational work

This scientific understanding of arcanotechnology has revolutionized the Empire’s technological approaches.

Arcanotechnological Revolution

Thanks to the Council of Guardians, the Empire has developed industrial mastery of the Flux. Power crystals and solid arcanotechnology cells now allow the storage, channeling, and conversion of this universal energy into mechanical or digital power, definitively merging science and arcanotechnology.

Spells have become true arcanotechnological programs: Arcanotechnologists, scientists specializing in arcanotechnological theory, design and code these energy conversion sequences, while operational Arcanotechnicians execute them in the field.

These arcanotechnological programs are developed according to the same principles as contemporary software, using energy conversion frameworks, standardized effect libraries, and safety protocols to prevent critical overloads. Channelers have specialized neural implants that allow them to store these programs directly in their cerebral cortex and use their own neural activity to trigger primic energy conversions.

This symbiosis between technology and arcanotechnology has transformed modern battlefields. Imperial Arcanotechnicians are now weapons of destruction comparable to heavy artillery, capable of manipulating the fundamental forces of nature with the precision of a scientific instrument.

In this context, the line between engineer and arcanotechnician has definitively disappeared. The Empire has built its galactic supremacy on this perfect union between the scientific understanding of the Flux and its practical mastery. Arcanotechnology is no longer mystical — it has become an exact science.