For nearly a thousand years, humanity had expanded throughout the galaxy. Earth was abandoned after its resources were exhausted. Finally, in 2801 AD, on the planet Theoria in the Aldebaran system, a new government was created, the United Space Government (USG). To commemorate this time of great change, a new calendar was introduced, the Universal Calendar (UC).Backstory
However, this golden age soon stagnated. Space pirates began to menace transport vessels and passenger liners, riots broke out in major cities, and civilization started to decline. The USG needed a hero.
In 296 UC, Rudolf von Goldenbaum, a commander in the USG Army, became that hero. After quickly defeating the pirates, Goldenbaum became a politician. Slowly, he built his power and influence. In 310 UC, he took over the government, proclaimed the Galactic Empire, and crowned himself as its first Kaiser. The Universal Calendar was replaced with the Reich Calendar (RC). Initially, people rebelled against this new tyrant, but they were quickly and brutally suppressed. Eventually the Galactic Empire moved the capital to the planet Odin. 164 years later, on the slave ice-mining planet Altair-7, Ale Heinessen dreamed of the USG being reborn. He and his followers built a starship, the Ion Fazekath, carved out of a giant dry ice asteroid in order to hide it until its departure. Escaping the spiral arm that the Empire was located in, they braved years of empty space until they reached an adjoining spiral arm and found and colonized the world which they named Heinessen, in honor of their leader, who perished during the journey. They established the democratic Free Planets Alliance, opposed to the tyranny of the Empire. The Universal Calendar was reinstated. In 640 UC (331 RC), the two sides first encountered each other in the Dagon Starzone. The Alliance forces, led by Lin Pao, brilliantly routed the Imperial forces, who were led by Prince Herbert. Soon, many Imperial soldiers and citizens were defecting to the democratic republic.The war continued for 120 years, with neither side being able to hold the advantage for long. The Galactic Empire built Iserlohn Fortress to guard one of the two navigational corridors between the two spiral arms. The fortress was coated with liquid metal, which acted both as a shield and a heat sink for its main weapon: Thor's Hammer. The other corridor is the home of the Fezzan Dominion, ostensibly a protectorate of the Empire, but in reality a neutral territory that supplies weapons, technologies, and financing to both sides.
In 795 UC (486 RC), a change occurs in the now stalemated war. Two heroes emerge: Reinhard von Müsel of the Empire and Yang Wen-Li of the Alliance. Reinhard has two goals in mind: To gain enough political power to free his older sister from the Kaiser, and to eventually rule the universe. Yang, a historian wannabe who originally joined the Alliance armed forces for the free education it offered, simply wants the war to end, since both sides are being slowly destroyed by the constant fighting.
It is here that the story begins...