It’s been a while, but here’s another Galaxy Ascendant lore post! This time, we’re taking a look at the Khadohs Kingdom of Felinar, one of the most important players in the galactic story. Hopefully, I’ll be getting back to somewhat regular lore posts, be they about ship classes, civilizations, species, or other things! As I mentioned back when I did similar posts for the Talvostan Union and the Galactic Alliance, I hope to, at some point, commission art for faction emblems.

That said, on to the lore!

 

The Khadohs Kingdom of Felinar

Organization Type: Constitutional Monarchy
Head of State: King or Queen (Currently: Feliar Khariah)
Legislative Branches: Royal Assembly, Administrative Congress
Military Branch: Royal Felinaris Navy
Capital: Felinar: (Capital City: Aliyasen)
Currency: Galactic Alliance Durrams—in process of switching to a new currency
Date Established: 2,136 BTA (Before Tyrannodon Awakening)

The Khadohs Kingdom of Felinar (which literally means the Holy Kingdom of Felinar) is among the oldest concurrent governmental systems of known space, its founding predating not only the foundation of the Galactic Alliance, but even the Felinaris species’ development of hyperspace systems and becoming truly spacefaring. Unlike most factions and species that were, at one point or another, members of the Galactic Alliance, the Kingdom, and its people, have very strongly maintained their independence and, apart from switching to the Alliance’s unified currency, resisted any and all attempts at the sort of unification the Alliance promoted, maintaining their own substantial standing military and not sending any of its people to serve in the Legion Navy apart from occasional advisory roles. Nearly all of the Kingdom’s military technology is home-developed and constructed, and exports are extremely limited.

Due to conflict with the Alliance, and in particular another member, the Kingdom was expelled from the Alliance shortly before the arrival of the Tyrannodons to the galaxy, and soon allied with them. From that point forward, the Kingdom has been the staunchest ally of the Tyrannodon Ascendancy.

History: The Khadohs Kingdom of Felinar has ancient roots on Felinar, and it was officially formed as the culmination of the Great Unification, via a marriage between the then two remaining Felinaris Kingdoms’ ruling families, thus bringing almost the entirety of the Felinaris people under one governmental and religious system after many centuries of conflicts. Complete unification of the people was completed some two hundred years later. This unification ushered in a period of great prosperity and development on Felinar, and within three hundred years they achieved space flight, and this was soon followed by first the species’ initial moon colonies, then colonies on several other worlds in the system. However, the Kingdom faced the first of two great (pre-Galactic Alliance) crises in these early years, with what is now known as the Sinalekki War. Not a great deal is known about this war, even on Felinar, as the destruction and chaos it caused took decades to recover from, with only scant records and artifacts remaining for researchers and scholars to piece through. What is known is that this was an invasion by a far more powerful alien force, which initially defeated the Felinaris in combat and occupied Felinar before successful counterattacks were launched, culminating in the apparent annihilation of the invaders. The exact details of this victory remain unknown to this day, with most Felinaris, even those not particularly devout, attributing it to miraculous divine intervention. A second major crisis came a few years after the Kingdom developed hyperspace travel capability, and had the bad fortune of encountering the then Darvian Empire. A relatively short but bloody conflict, known as the First Contact War, ensued, during which the Darvians occupied significant portions of Felinaris territory, including a portion of Felinar itself, for an extended period of time. As the conflict wore on, the Felinaris began to push back, thanks to newly developed ships that set the standard for their ship designs and battle doctrine going forward. More importantly, at this time they also made contact with the Snevan Dominance, a much more established space-faring species which, seeking to limit Darvian influence, threw their full support behind the Felinaris. The tide soon turned, and the Darvians were forced to sue for peace, and the agreement ultimately reached was considered a great humiliation by them for decades and centuries to come.

From that time on, the Felinaris and Snevans maintained their alliance, with the avian species being the sole Alliance member the Felinaris would be able to rely on in the future.

A few hundred years later, after the Galactic Alliance had become the established inter-species society in the region, the Kingdom elected to join, though due to their obstinate determination to remain independent did not exactly make them popular members. Additionally, despite both species being Alliance members, relations were always tense with the Darvians, and, ten years BTA, the Darvian Conflict broke out. It began when the Darvians ambushed a Felinaris outpost, killed most of the soldiers stationed there, and held the survivors hostage, demanding territorial concessions and prisoner releases from the Felinaris. The Felinaris responded with limited commando raids, and there were several significant fleet engagements, but the conflict was resolved in favor of the Felinaris before it became a full-on war—another humiliation for the Darvians, who from that point onward openly agitated against the Kingdom within the Alliance, albeit non-violently. Ultimately, a few months before the Tyrannodon arrival, the Darvians and their allies succeeded in having the Felinaris expelled from the Alliance following an extended trade dispute (the Snevan Dominance would withdraw from the Alliance in protest. Soon afterward, paramilitary elements, largely Darvian, launched an ultimately suicidal attack on Felinar, killing thousands of civilians in an event later known as the Selban Massacre. From that point onward, there was, in essence, a state of undeclared war between the Felinaris and their Snevan allies and the Galactic Alliance, following the Alliance’s tepid condemnation of the attack and lack of help tracking down its organizers. Soon after, the Tyrannodons arrived, and the Felinaris eagerly threw their support behind them, playing a major role in the invasion of the Alliance, although, once peace was established, also followed the Tyrannodon lead in becoming Alliance members again.

Organization: There is a high emphasis put on civil service in the Kingdom, with every young Felinaris doing some sort of national service for at least three years. Most choose military service, and many others go into industries that allow the Kingdom to maintain they large standing military. While not as militarized as, say, the Talvostan Union, military service and the military itself and its operations often factoring heavily into official decisions—though it is not actually a part of the government in an official capacity.

From a strictly governmental standpoint, the king has a great deal of power, at least on paper, with provisions made for the representative bodies to legislate laws and deal with most local affairs. Additionally, the king rarely makes full use of his power, rather preferring to allow the civilian governmental bodies to oversee and deal with most issues. Additionally, there are numerous smaller elected legislative councils that oversee matters on more local levels, and answer to the larger groups, who ultimately answer to the king, who holds a seat in the upper house, the Royal Assembly (which has 72 members) and is entitled to sit in on meetings in the lower house, which has 307 delegates. The military tends to work more directly with the king than the legislative houses (the king holds authority to authorize military actions), though generally the king does prefer to have agreement from the legislature as well before approving major actions.

Society: The Felinaris are a very social people—at least in regard to each other—and their society tends to have a very family-like structure, with high levels of trust and cooperation, with crime having been almost completely eliminated. There are very deep support structures to assist any Felinaris who require it—a system successfully maintained largely by voluntary contributions. The few non-Felinaris residents of the Kingdom, while having full civil rights, are not eligible for such programs and do not receive any sort of political rights. On the other hand, the Kingdom is happy to welcome tourists, at up until the increase of hostilities with the Galactic Alliance, the tourism industry was a very strong one, between Felinar’s clean cities and vibrant and varied natural landscapes that make it the envy of many.

Due in large part to the fact that, physiologically, male and female Felinaris are not so far apart in terms of physical capabilities, the society has naturally developed into a fairly egalitarian one, at least in terms of opportunity—the male/female ration in the military is practically even, across all roles—though a fairly high percentage of Felinaris females elect not to work, and devote their time to raising families, something supported by the government.

Due to the importance of community and family, a very high percentage of Felinaris elect to do military service, with many others doing civilian civil service, despite there being no law requiring it. Nearly all Felinaris, even those who do not do military service, train in some form of self defense, so that in the event that they are one day needed to help defend themselves or their fellow Felinaris, they will be able to do so. Few Felinaris ever choose to settle on alien worlds for extended periods of time, thus they are rare sights in the wider galaxy, apart from highly traveled tourist areas. This has led to the species gaining a negative reputation among many, who see the Felinaris as self-centered and with a sense of superiority over others with no thought for the greater galactic community. For their part, the Felinaris tend to pay little mind to such opinions.

As previously mentioned, family values are very strong among the Felinaris, and it is no uncommon for the various generations and branches of a family to arrange to live in fairly close proximity, with large family gatherings a regular occurrence, and it is very common for businesses, even large ones, to remain family-run for generations.

Last, but certainly not least, religion plays a major role in Felinaris society, and even those who are not as devout as others continue to observe many traditions, and attribute many (if not most) of the successes of their people and society to the values drawn from it. The Felinaris religion is a monotheistic one, which believes in an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator known as the Omnipresent, who guides all of history according to a greater plan. The religion includes daily prayers, and numerous holidays throughout the year. It was not always the sole Felinaris faith, but some time after the unification of the species, it became so. While the religious leadership officially plays no role in governmental affairs as a distinct body, it is regularly consulted by political and military leaders regarding the right choices to make, and there are members of the clergy in both legislative houses, as well as in the military (usually as chaplains, though many chaplains also hold some other position as well.)

 

That’s all for this time; hope you enjoyed a deeper look into one of the most important societies in the series!

You can pick up the first 3 books in the Galaxy Ascendant series here, and book 4 released just two weeks ago. Additionally, book 5, releasing December 10, is now up for pre-order on Amazon! Get in on the best new space opera series around, and catch up in time for the final books in the series!