Cybusian History Dossier (Being rewritten!)

Cybusian History Dossier:

The Early Cybusian Empire:

After creating Arcadia and seeding it with life, Alexander grew bored after only a handful of years of watching his Evolved form communities. Leaving power in the hands of a proto-nobility, the boyars, he left to continue his destructive rampages and trysts with Elizabeth Green.
In the wake of their god abandoning them (albeit with a promise to return eventually), the boyars began to differentiate groups and form towns and cities. The most powerful group were known as the Cybs. The Cyb were all Evolved, unlike other tribes which featured proto-Evolved Alex had created or discarded after deeming them useless. The Cybs slowly began to consolidate power, spreading out from their capital at what is now the Arcadian city center; Vostrik.
Among the first of the nobles were the Marisip, who declared their burgeoning state the Cybusian Empire, and began to conquer the non-Evolved people groups and tribes on the planet. If a group opposed conquest, they were sacrificed to Alexander in the rite later known as Ravak Opfernik. The boyars began to expand, reaching the beautiful Varykino region, and the Cytroxian Ocean, then the Nhokotral Ocean. Due to the cold climate, the kefta emerged as a Cybusian standard, quickly filtering from the boyars down to the lower classes. Tomas Marisip abolished the boyars and created the modern-day noble ranks, handing out parcels of land and slaves to those who were especially loyal, and was also responsible for instituting several modern Mercerist practices such as the veneration of Saints and the creation of Bone Charms.
The Marisip Dynasty was overthrown after 800 years by a radical group of extreme Mercerists who believed that the return of Alexander was nigh; this movement was led by the Issacar family, who became the new rulers of the Empire. This Issacar coup was labeled as the Second Founding of the empire, symbolically refounding the Empire and devoting it entirely to Alexander Mercer.
Under the Issacar Dynasty, the Cybusian Empire conquered the entirety of Arcadia, with Vostrik as the capital. Several of the prominent noble families who rose to power during this period were the Nhokotril's, the Nochytoral’s, and the Hasdrubal’s. The Issacar family was brutal, maintaining Imperial stability through the use of a vast network of informants and a brutal religious secret police known as the Eldricha, who would drag suspects through the streets, publicly interrogate and torture them, then take them to a cell for private interrogation and torture, and then a public execution through Ravak Opfernik. The family of the suspect was deemed guilty by association and either executed or sold into slavery.
However, after around 200 years of brutal Issacar rule, there was a coup known as the Third Founding, wherein the House of Rakovsky seized power and “refounded” the Cybusian Empire, liquidating the old noble families in a purge known as The Great Reformation. The Second Founding saw the Issacar Dynasty destroyed, and every member of the Eldricha hunted down and executed to help win over the populace by eliminating their hated tormenters.
The Great Reformation saw the rise of noble families still in existence today, such as the Vostrov family. Other families were brutally tortured, declared to be heretics and traitors, and then sacrificed to Lord Mercer. Pyotr Rakovsky was named Emperor and thus began the Rakovsky Dynasty.
Under the Rakovsky’s, the Empire adapted much of the traits that are associated with Cybusians today. The Rakovsky’s encouraged scientific development and private enterprise, and it was under Empress Katherine Rakovsky that the first Imperial satellites and spacecraft were developed. The Empire developed a handful of off world colonies, several of which were tropical, leading to the longstanding love of coffee and tea in the Empire, which was previously available from some tropical island chains in the Nhokotral Ocean, but was rare as a result. The Rakovsky family ruled for approximately 1,500 years, until an event known as The Great Arrival. The Emperor at the time was an extraordinarily popular one; the handsome, charismatic, devout and intelligent Nikolai Rakovsky. He had presided over a time of great economic expansion, and had ushered in an era of intellectual and cultural creativity, and his court included a large number of creative figures. He had liberalized the Empire and had even banned the enslavement of Evolved and Charodey, though species without Blacklight were still considered completely inferior and fit only for enslavement. Nikolai had also presided over the rise of the phenomenon of Pilgrimage Fleets, faithful Mercerists traveling from off-world colonies back to Arcadia to worship and to venerate the remains of Saints. Under his rule, the Empire had expanded to several new worlds and the economy was booming, the faithful were devout but not extreme, and generally, there was prosperity.
One day, there was a flash of black and red light in the Imperial Palace, and Nikolai was astonished to see his lord and god, Alexander Mercer emerge from a “intense shining blackness that devoured the light” according to a chronicler. Falling to his knees, Alex approached Nikolai. He thanked him for shaping a fine Empire in his absence, and declared he would reward him by granting him the honor of becoming one with his god. Forming a biomass blade, he stabbed Nikolai in the chest. Nikolai Rakovsky willingly gave himself up for Consumption, and it is said that Alex preserved his consciousness within him, though there is no evidence to either support or refute this. With that, Alexander Mercer assumed total control of the Cybusian Empire, the nobility immediately falling into line and enforcing his will in The Fourth Refounding (also known as The First Alexandrian Refounding), undoing many of Nikolai’s reforms and starting to draw up plans for universal conquest. The remaining members of the Rakovsky family were permitted to remain in positions of power, and the Raksovky family is still an influential noble family to this day.

OLD:

The Empire is believed to have been formed around 1 trillion BC, by Alexander Mercer, who had created the Evolved shortly before this. Following the establishment of the capital planet, Arcadia, the freshly formed Imperial Military set off on a war of conquest, led by one of their foremost generals, James Delta. Delta, upon arriving on a planet, would give them an ultimatum; Kneel before Alexander as their god and embrace Mercerism, or die. Those who refuse were massacred by his Evolved, using their Blacklight abilities to slaughter everyone on the planet, while Delta often personally participating in such mass slaughters. Entire species were exterminated for their refusal to kneel. Under Delta's leadership, Alex's forces conquered many universes. Species which did obey were enslaved, forced to work for their Evolved overlords. Alex, noting the lack of efficiency of having just a few armies of Evolved, engineered a new species using Blacklight, to use as cannon fodder. This was highly effective, until the sudden and unexplained disappearance of James Delta's fleet, which consisted largely of the new species. No-one is quite sure what happened to the fleet, but Alex was so enraged, he demoted the species to slaves. This new slave species served obediently for several million years, until 25 million BC, when a rebel by the name of Charles Orson led a massive uprising from Earth. Armed with mysterious and potent magical super weapons, including a mystical blade, the Sword of Tritus, the species, calling themselves Orsonians.

In an attempt to end the war, the rebels sent a huge fleet to Arcadia in a suprise attack, and they temporarily achieved complete orbital superiority. The Imperial forces made them pay dearly for every inch they took on the ground, while Charles Orson fought Alexander himself in the Imperial Palace. Their battle raged for hours, until, using the Sword of Tritus, Charles inflicted a lethal magical wound. As he was about to strike Alex down, Dr. Nathan Koenig, the deputy head of Torchwood, fired a supercharged flare directly at Charles’ head, distracting him enough for Alex to go on the offensive. Around this time, Imperial reinforcements arrived and destroyed the Orsonian fleet. Charles Orson vanished, presumably having teleported out. The reinforcements forced the Orsonians to surrender. The Treaty of Arcadia was signed, forcing the rebels to surrender all advanced technology, and for them to be banished to Australia. Alex Consumed several thousand of them, as well as Yvonne Hartman (for failing in her assignment to keep the Orsonians under control, though she later regenerated and fled, being tracked down and killed by her replacement) in an attempt to continue living, though he died shortly afterward.

This was not the end, though. He had several contingency plans in place, which Dr. Nathan Koenig, an Imperial scientist and the director of Torchwood at the time, enacted, and Alex was resurrected. Something may have gone wrong though. His personality warped. He had been cruel, evil, monstrous, and sadistic. After his death, he was nicer, calmer, and more accepting of other species. After some persuasion from Koenig, Alex formed the Didactian Council and Imperial Supreme Court, and abolished slavery by Imperial Mandate. He abolished the state religion, and assisted the first Didacts in drafting the Imperial Constitution. Under his restored, more benevolent rule, the Empire has become a technological and economic powerhouse. The old expansionist policies remained in place, but Alexander no longer demanded worship, only obedience to Cybusian law, which is fair and just. The free market is allowed to run unfettered, though the Empire does subsidize a few groups, such as the Followers of the Apocalypse.

His rule has not been without issues though. An Outer God called Nyarlathotep took an interest in Alexander, and, when he refused his demands, possessed Alex and began a war with several other nations, while restoring oppressive policies from before his death. Alex subsequently banished Nyarlathotep from his body, and repaired relations, while doing away with the policies that had been restored. Under his rule, the Drakul were encountered, a notable threat to all species. Several outbreaks have been suppressed, with the assistance of Thomas Eichhorst, an Ancient Drakul who hunts other Drakul and feeds on blood packs and criminals.
Other notable occurrences include the forced Evolution of Johnathan T. Corsahnim, Alex's friend and leader of Corsahnim, by an Ultra-Mercerist group. He was brainwashed into worshipping Alex, and subsequently Evolved the majority of his population, turning them into a subset of Evolved, Evol'Cor, who were only partially made of Blacklight.
Alexanders ancient lover, Elizabeth Green, whom he had broken up with by way of brutally murdering her many years before the Rebellion, emerged from deep space in 2105 and began a massive outbreak of Redlight, which was only defeated by Alex personally confronting Elizabeth with a group of allies, and destroying her avatar. It was revealed that Elizabeth was, oddly, still in love with Alex, a feeling Alex does not share (a fact Elizabeth is willfully ignorant of). Elizabeth started another massive outbreak, featuring new and disturbing Redlight forms in 2351, penetrating deep into the territory of virtually every nation. This was brought to an end by the summoning of an ancient and mysterious god known as The Yellow King, on the border of Cybusian and Orsonian space, by the King's powerful servitor entity, Johannes Vanderberg. All factions ceased hostilities to eradicate the threat, as the King spread madness and insanity across space, even in Redlight forms. Redlight was subsequently pushed back, though Johannes Vanderberg escaped.