History of the Krybolotinian Imperium

Flag of the Krybolotinian Imperium.

The history of the Krybolotinian Imperium spans from the foundation of Krybolotinian society thousands of years ago to the collapse of te Imperium in 3199 CE. The origin of the Proto-Odeaism, the religion that dominated the lands from which Krybolotine originated, can be traced to about 60,000 years ago. It would later be transformed into modern Odeaism by Retoria, a prophet. For around one thousand years after this point, Krybolotine practiced a form of Odeaism known as Tydoba-Odeaism, named after the first king of the Krybolotinian Kingdom and successfully gained control of their entire planet. However, the discovery of Retoria's Last Letter in 750 CE, which directly opposed Tydoba's ideas, a general named Ertoma Foresa overthrew the kingdom and founded Ertoma-Odeaism, a much more tolerant sect. In the place of the Kingdom, Ertoma formed the Krybolotinian Empire and became the first emperor. Over hundreds of years, as Krybolotinian technology continued to advance, the Empire expanded to other planets within their star system. After expanding to other star systems as well, the Empire was reorganized into the Krybolotinian Republic, who used the Starfinder program to discover eight other intelligent species and introduce them to their nation. By the 2300s, tensions between Krybolotinians in the star system of Salboria and the Surmestos, who had been introduced there, had increased to the point of violence, with several Surmestan attacks occurring on the Krybolotinian population of the system. Out of this tension, politician Yeros Demio Kalama rose to power and earned a strong following in the republic. He and several other members of the Restoration Party were elected to positions of significant influence, with Kalama himself becoming Prime Legislator. However, an attempt on his life in 2361 prompted Yeros to launch a genocide against the Surmestos and form the Krybolotinian Imperium.

Throughout the following decade, Imperial forces fought vehemently to secure control of the Salboria system, the nearby red dwarf stars around it, and a few sparsely populated areas nearby.

Krybolotinian Civil War

Background

After the Krybolotinian Republic's Starfinder Program led to the discovery of the Surmestos and their home planet of Surmestai, they were offered a home in Krybolotinian territory. They were introduced to the super-Earth sized planet of Colarium, orbiting the star Salboria. For the first century, the situation on Colarium remained largely peaceful; the Surmestos operated as a protectorate state of the Krybolotinian Republic known as the Suremoi Protectorate, producing goods and raw materials for the Republic in exchange for more complicated resources like medicine and energy cells. However, Surmestos had a very short lifespan (~50 years), and after just a few decades, all of the Surmestos who made up the original population had died and were survived by an entirely new generation. Additionally, Surmestos were known to be more arrogant and self-confident than other species; these two factors together meant that the Surmestos very quickly forgot the impoverished and disorderly state they lived in on their home planet and became dissastisfied with the care they had received from the Krybolotinians. This contributed to early racial tension between the two species.

Surmestan Independence Movement

By the middle of the 23rd century, tensions between Krybolotinians and Surmestos had grown to the point of violence and riots, though the most violent of the riots were Surmestan. Meanwhile, many Krybolotinians became greatly confounded by the protests and claimed that the Surmestos were far better off now than when they had lived on Surmestai, reinforcing their arguments with plentiful evidence taken from the planet. Nevertheless, the Surmestos continued to insist that they were being neglected and mistreated on Colarium with little explanation as to why they believed that or what had happened to trigger their response.

In late 2264, a Surmestan politician by the name of Suromeo Kalorin first suggested the idea of Surmestan independence on an episode of the podcast Deep End with Tyrani'i Mervari. The idea began to gain much traction among the population and began to greatly concern Salborian politicians who foresaw a near rebellion, which would devastate the economy of the district. The official Surmestan Indeprendence Front (SIF) was formed on May 11th, 2265 by Kalorin and his fellow politicians Surmas Grovinin, Sumora Lovirin, and Suromeo Niloron. Together, the three Surmestans began trying to organize a military to bring against the Krybolotinian forces.

However, problems arose shortly thereafter when both Sumora Lovirin and Suromeo Niloron were killed during riots in 2266. Suromeo Kalorin fell ill due to complications with his old age shortly therafter, leaving Surmas Grovinin, the youngest of the four at fourteen years old, as the sole leader of the movement. Though he was able to replace the three in short order, their deaths proved an irreversible setback that left them disadvantaged for several decades.

2298 Egg Incident

The egg of a Krybolotinian, visually similar to many of the other Krybolotinian eggs consumed by Surmestan leaders.

In June 2298, Krybolotinian egg storage centers across southern Colarium reported that they were missing several thousand eggs, which they feared had either been stolen or lost during transport to their facilities. The reports set off widespread panic among the Krybolotinian population, many of whom had eggs in storage to be used later in case they became infertile and still wanted offspring. Additionally, there were fears that incubation centers would be targeted next, leading to the mass withdrawal of fertilized eggs from public incubation centers out of concern for their safety. Many incubation and egg storage centers reported a sharp decrease in profit at this time, and the planet's largest egg storage company, Sybigy, reported that they had to lay off thousands of employees due to financial strain.

Surveillance footage from earlier in the month revealed that one of the trains carrying eggs had been raided by over twenty unmasked Surmestos, who then stole thousands of the eggs and drove away in refrigerated trucks belonging to a local supermarket chain. It was initially suspected to be an act of terrorism, and immediately the Investigative Board of Salboria (IBS) began a search to identify the twenty individuals responsible for the theft. By searching the train for DNA samples and comparing them to existing genetic records, officials were able to identify everyone involved, discovering that each person had a personal connection to SIF leaders, like Surmas Grovinin. The IBS released a preliminary report in August mentioning the connections between the perpetrators and Grovinin, and Grovinin responded by outwardly denying his involvement while calling the IBS a "scandal-seeking puppet committee" and saying they should just "stop the witch hunt and admit they worked alone." His overreaction sparked suspicion in the media, who claimed his response seemed to incriminate him. Others in the media ridiculed his poor command of Krybolotinian and made memes about him.

The IBS made it publicly known that they would not halt their investigation on August 13th, 2299. Grovinin and his comrades remained silent about the situation and refused to give any interviews or statements about what had been going on. On August 17th, the IBS announced that they had found a "critical piece of evidence" to potentially incriminate of SIF officials; later that day, Grovinin released a statement taking responsibility for coordinating the robberies and agreed to cooperate with investigators when asked. He was detained on the 18th, and just two days later the IBS released their final report on the incident. It was decided that Grovinin and other SIF leaders had intentionally planned to steal thousands of Krybolotinian eggs to scare Colarian citizens into sympathizing with their cause. It was classified as an act of terrorism and legal proceedings began as such.

When asked to return the eggs, however, Grovinin became anxious and simply told investigators that he could not. When asked why, he provided no further explanation and simply requested that the topic be dropped. Now suspicious, they demanded that Grovinin reveal the locations of the stolen eggs or have it forced out of him. Out of desperation, he told investigators to check in his home. Rather than finding the eggs, investigators were greeted with a folder that had been placed on his desk containing pictures of Grovinin and other SIF leaders cooking and consuming the eggs, much to the horror of the IBS. Further digging uncovered the truth about the entire incident: the Surmestos had been quietly stealing eggs and keeping them not so that they could terrorize the Krybolotinian people, but rather so they could cook and eat them. They were considered a delicacy among the SIF elites but they usually ran out very quickly, and as such they planned a larger operation to raid egg transport trains and steal them. Although they tried to make sure they only took unfertilized eggs, further investigation proved that the Surmestos were responsible for the disappearance and consumption of at least 37 fertilized Krybolotinian eggs (including one that was just mere days away from hatching and was extensively pictured in Grovinin's folder).

The public reacted with outrage and disgust against the SIF's actions. Krybolotinian cities saw numerous targeted attacks against their Surmestan minorities. Surmestan cities fell victim to widespread acts or violence by Krybolotinian perpetrators out of revenge of the incident. In one case, the father of a fertilized egg that had been stolen, Corsi Hugo Fa'eni, poisoned and killed three Surmestos on a public bus in the city of Gali'ira. Many large news outlets, like Republic Media and CPC News, released both information and opinion pieces harshly criticizing the Grovinin. The Restoration Party of Salboria stated that "all Surmestos were directly or indeirectly responsible" for the attack and demanded that immediate action be taken against all Surmestos as "retribution" for their actions. They praised Fa'eni for "defending the dignity of the Krybolotinian race" and called on others to do the same. In the end, Suromeo Grovinin was unable to be charged as he passed away in July of 2299 due to complications from old age. Other SIF officials saw varying degress of punishment—though some only faced fines others were sentenced to serve time in prison. All 20 perpetrators, whose identities had been confirmed by Grovinin before his death, were all sentenced to life in prison for their crimes.

Forsuvija Salboria 339

On July 14th, 2328, a commercial spacecraft containing 538 passengers operating as Forsuvija Salboria 339 and travelling from Juril Maxiom Spaceport in Lavassia, Colarium to Gastos Guima Spaceport in Nerusia, Krybolotine reported that a fire had started onboard