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Overview: |
 Note to the Omnet:
I regret to state that I was unable to make contact with the Shadakar, as I was assigned. They exist in a form so foreign to humanity, that many years of research would be required to be able to communicate with them -- assuming we could receive help in the endeavor from the Shadakar themselves. Therefore, this report is based on evidence gained from communication with races which are under the ‘protection’ of the Shadakar. I would recommend a project be initiated to attempt communications with the Shadakar, or that the Omnet become involved in the current attempt at communication between the Shadakar and the Kha-Lu and that this report be presented to whatever councils may have jurisdiction over funding for evaluation of the usefulness of the project. I would also be happy to lead such a project, should it be found useful by the Omnet.
The Shadakar Imperium is unique in that it has almost unlimited diversity within it, despite its apparently harsh leadership. All but the most xenophobic under the Imperium have been granted nearly total freedom to develop along their natural course; with the exception that they agree to support the Shadakar in war and provide the Shadakar with their cyclical tribute. It is, however, this tribute which places a shadow over what would have otherwise been an enlightened empire. From what I was able to discern, the Shadakar come from a Quantum Zone where there is very little matter/energy/life and mana/essence/energy - a small Quantum Zone, and, being creatures of energy, they found technological development less preferable to magical development. Due to this, during their early development the Shadakar realized that in order to maintain their power, a source of mana would have to be found. Since the Shadakar come from an Ordered Mana Linear Zone; Life, if broken down far enough, would be able to provide this source. And since Life is, in theory, a renewable resource, the Shadakar found this idea for acquiring mana very interesting. They developed the technology necessary to break down the life forms in their home zone, Arakanor, into Mana, and began to subjugate them. In exchange for the lives of part of their civilization and the protection of the Shadakar, these races were required to present the Imperium with a cyclical tribute of the lives of their own citizens to meet the Mana needs of the Shadakar. [It should be noted that as far as I can tell, the Shadakar do not actually need this Mana to survive, but as their ‘technology’ is all magically based, their civilization would not function without it. Much like 20th Century Earth Civilizations dependence on petroleum: the Shadakar do not need Mana to survive, but would be severely crippled without it.] As the Shadakar expanded beyond Arakanor into other zones, which contained much more plentiful resources, this tribute became unnecessary in order to maintain the Shadakar Imperium. There was then some sort of inner conflict between those Shadakar who wished to develop technology with which to harvest this new source of Mana, and liberate the conquered peoples; and those who wished to maintain the current status quo--which provided the Shadakar an easy way to maintain their hegemony over the Subjugated Races. The faction in favor of liberation, despite aid by many of the Subjugated Races, was beaten, and supposedly destroyed by the Shadakar Imperium. Thus, the Shadakar bent all their technology towards more efficient ways to break down life and grew farther and farther from the ability to collect the abundant free-Mana in their newly conquered Quantum Zones. With the Shadakar more and more efficiently removing the Mana from the Subjugated Races there came a new controversy. The problem being the belief that the races which exist partly through the eventual conversion of Mana into Life were dying out in Arakanor because there was not enough Mana left to continue in the process that creates life. [I have no hard evidence of this phenomenon, but current scientific theory would support its existence, and I believe that it is highly likely that it is occurring. I would suggest that it be looked into; as the death or deterioration of a large number of the Subjugated Races from Mana-depletion, would cause a severe power-vacuum and, most likely, a violent restructuring of the power structure within the Shadakar Imperium.] To describe each of the Subjugated Races is impossible, as the Shadakar Imperium is vast and greatly uncharted. Even the exact location of the Shadakar Home Zone of Arakanor has not yet been determined. The Shadakar are rarely seen to venture forth from their home zone, and instead prefer controlling their Empire through certain Subjugated Races known as Controller Races. Controller Races are provided with ships in order to carry out their duties, and a much lightened tribute in exchange for their loyalty. I believe that the reason for this reclusive behavior lies in the fact that the Shadakar are fundamentally different beings from most. They developed in a Charged Matter Linear Zone where their life and sentience evolved from Energy. The Shadakar do not have any conventional physical ‘bodies.’ Instead, they are believed to be beings of energy -- although no one has yet been able to make an extensive study so as to determine the exact nature of their existence. Hence, as Levaler’s would predict, the transition between Quantum Zones is more violent for them than for matter-based sentients. As they have conquered parts of several other Quantum Zones, they must have found some method that allows them to pass through Fronts. However, the dissonance between zones should severely effect them and should makes their survival difficult in most other Quantum Zones. [A final side note: Those who are lucky enough to see a Shadakar, will see them as a pitch black hole in space. This is because they consume visible light as one of their food sources. Hence, they absorb all light, and appear completely black. Also, their non-corporeal form tends to be blurry at the edges, giving them a black nimbus. The entire appearance, I have been told is much like a thick black mist.] |
Navigation:CoLC Index |
Index:Q-dex / Technology / Magic
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Q-dex: |
T 452.2911/332.205 M 062.2995/122.06 |
Technology: |
The technological development of the Empire is widely varied, as any race can provide the Mana needed by the Shadakar, not just technologically advanced ones. Inter-stellar travel is discouraged by the Shadakar but not prohibited. Most of the worlds are isolated, and they range from hyper-advanced to primitive.
The Shadakar themselves have star ships, but from my scans, they appear to be nothing more than outer physical hulls to prevent interstellar matter from hitting the Shadakar. Inside, there is some sort of highly advanced and highly structured Magical/Energy Computer System. This controls the technological and possibly magical weapons on the ship. Most of the non-magical weapons are based on high concentration energy beams (lasers, atomizers, bolt cannons, mauler devices, ect), as the Shadakar have great experience in the manipulation of energy. |
Magic: |
Magical development, unlike technological development, is virtually uniform throughout the Empire. With only extremely rare exceptions (usually the Controller Races) there is no use of magic within the Imperium by any race other than the Shadakar. There is evidence that the Shadakar have exterminated almost every magic using race that they conquered. [I believe this is because they view Magic as an inherently more potent weapon than technology. Hence, to eliminate anything they considered a threat, they eliminated all magic users.]
The Shadakar themselves are completely dependent on Magic for their well-being and, in certain cases, their survival. Their ships utilize extremely powerful and highly advanced but chaotic magical forces, controlled by much more primitive but more predictable technological guidance systems. As Shadakar magic is relatively unpredictable, it is believed that this technological control is a necessity for reliable control to be gained over their magics. Their ship’s computer, guidance, and most other systems are also controlled by the magical computer system. [I have been told that despite the chaotic nature of their magic, which would tend to indicate that the Shadakar ships are prone to accidents, the Shadakar ships seem highly stable. This would point to the fact that whatever guidance systems the Shadakar are using are extremely effective, and hence would warrant study by the Omnet.] |
Size & Population: |
The size of the Shadakar Imperium is not definitely known. From a map I purchased from a smuggling ring in the Isegar System, seven Quantum Zones are currently known to be within Imperial borders, with a total of sixteen Shadakar populated systems, five Controller Race systems and twenty Subjugated Race systems. However, I feel very sure that this map does not show the full extent of the Imperium nor is it highly likely that it is very accurate on what it does show. The map and more detailed reports of the specific systems can be seen at the Shadakar Imperium Omnet Intelligence Report. The known systems are as follows, with bold, large font denoting a Shadakar System; bold, normal font denoting a Controller Race System and normal text denoting a Subjugated Race system:
The populations of some of these systems along with all other known information is listed in the Intelligence Report. However, as a general estimate on the total population of the Imperium, I would say that there are at least a seven-hundred billion Shadakar, one-hundred fifty billion Controller sentients, and about a trillion Subjugated sentients. This would place the known population of the Imperium at upwards of two trillion sentients. |
Climate and Geography: |
The planets which are actively controlled by the Shadakar are generally hospitable to life, as they want as much Life from which to harvest their Mana as possible. However, aside from that, the Shadakar do not have a specific planet type which they conquer prevalently.
The Shadakar themselves do not live on planets, but within the stars. I have no proof of this as the logistical problems for finding them within a sun are prohibitive. However, it is the common belief of most of the well-informed resistance groups that this is the case, and it would also make the Shadakar population large enough to actually use the vast amount of Mana that they collect. This is also the reason that I have so significantly increased the number of Shadakar alive in the Imperium from 200 billion to 700 billion. The surface area of one star is many hundreds of times that of a planet, and there is no reason why the Shadakar could not live inside of the star, at even higher temperatures, as well. Hence, even though the Shadakar have only sixteen systems, eight of which are actually naturally hospitable to Shadakar life (because they are inside Arakanor), their population is still very likely much larger than I had previously anticipated. |
Flora and Fauna: |
The diversity of the flora and fauna on the Shadakar worlds is great. Ranging from tropical paradises to desert nomadic worlds, the Shadakar Empire’s worlds are as diverse and unique as its people. Most of the ecosystems of the Empire are intact and well maintained, as the Shadakar are extremely interested in maintaining large quantities of life on their planets so that they can use it to produce their Mana.
However, by far the most beautiful worlds are the ones which do not contain any sentient life. The Shadakar take Tithes from these worlds as well (as all life originates from Mana, not just sentient life), but leave the ecosystems completely intact. They have also prohibited any other sentient races from developing them. This, of course, will guarantee the Shadakar a plentiful source of Mana; but it also creates hundreds of paradise worlds all over the Imperium which its people can visit if they do not to disturb the balance there. |
History: |
[I cannot guarantee the complete accuracy of this section. It was put together using the accounts of various different Shadakar Subjugated Races, since I cannot communicate with the Shadakar. However, the general events are most likely correct.]
The first major point in the development of the Shadakar Empire was obviously its choice to pursue magical\etherial research over technological\physical research. This has shaped the destiny of the Imperium until today--as its salient feature is its need for Mana to maintain itself. However, even before the Shadakar began to use other life forms to acquire Mana, they were antagonistic to most of the other races in their quadrant. They apparently believe energy life forms to be superior to physical life forms, and due to the small size of Arakanor, resources were short. Therefore, they eliminated the other energy life-forms that had evolved under similar conditions to them because they were seen as a threat (it seems that the conditions in their home Quantum Zone lent themselves to the development of energy-type life-forms). With that done, they enslaved the physical life forms because they were not deemed important enough to exterminate and coexistence was easily feasible. As the Mana in their Zone began to run out, the Shadakar began to look for alternative sources of Mana. It was at this point that they developed the precursors to their current Life-Form break down technologies and began to collect the first Tithes from their unfortunate subjects. The first of two known revolutions within the interstellar Shadakar society occurred at this point. Many Shadakar felt that although physical life-forms were inferior, the Shadakar had no right to break down what many believe to be the very souls (Essence) of the physical life-forms and use them to supply the Shadakar with Mana. Those who opposed the process revolted, and created the Commune of Races. All subject races were invited to join, although most remained neutral for fear of the power of the opposition to the Commune, manifested in the newly formed Shadakar Imperium. For a short while the Commune of Races did well, however, having a supply of Mana that did not compare to that of the new Imperium’s, the rebellion was crushed. [The exact time in which this happened is not known for sure, as I am not even sure the Shadakar experience time as we do. The Shadakar Ambassador Mael'Sheran did mention in a letter to League of Stars that roughly eight hundred solar cycles ago the Imperium was founded. If we assume he was talking about his home system's cycles, then it would be roughly two-thousand Omnet Standard Years ago that this revolution occurred. However, his statement might or might not be accurate since Mael'Sheran himself is merely a member of a powerful Controller Race, not of the Shadakar.] From this point, the Shadakar Imperium entered a period of relative stagnation. However, after roughly a thousand OSY, we would predict that the Mana-depletion within Arakanor would have gotten so great that the Shadakar would be forced to expand or sustain themselves without mana. So, the Shadakar entered into a period of frantic buildup and expansion in order to conquer enough new Subjugated Races to support the ever-increasing Mana needs of the growing Shadakar population and military. During this period of expansion, the Shadakar discovered that in other, larger Quantum Zones there existed vast quantities of Mana which could be harvested by them to support themselves. This discovery caused the second major revolution that has shaken the Shadakar Imperium. Many of the Shadakar felt that since a new source of Mana was available to support their civilization they should stop using life to derive their mana and develop the technology necessary to use this new form of free-Mana. However, the other faction feared the result of loosening the death grip that the Shadakar Imperium held on its subject races, and did not wish to take the risk of placing the future of the Shadakar in a new technology, which was as yet unproved. A second civil war broke out, and the Imperium once again defeated the rebels because once again the expected support of the Subjugated Races for the Republic was in fact much weaker than anticipated. However, the victory was not a complete one, and many of the rebel Shadakar fled to the distant areas of the Imperium and founded the Shadakar Republic. They forsook the use of magic, as they felt that it had corrupted their Empire and their people, and began to develop the technology with which they hope to eventually re-invade the Shadakar Imperium. [From what I have learned, the Republic intends to wait until the Imperium has depleted its Mana supplies (and its Life forms from Mana-depletion) and then invade while the Imperium is weak and in chaos, without its magic. This plan seems flawed to me, however, since the Imperium should be able to support itself indefinitely through continued expansion into new, life-rich areas of space.] After the revolution, the Imperium changed its name to what it is now: The Pada’Shaine Shadakar Imperium, adding the title Pada’Shaine, which means something akin to ‘all present’ or ‘omnipotent’. This title was added to show that the Imperium of the Shadakar was now unchallenged in space. Following the war, the Imperium expanded even more rapidly, taking over many alien star-systems. However, they eventually came up against a large group of allied alien nations, the Alliance of the Light, led by the Elessar Republic, and, through what is most likely one of the most interesting misunderstandings ever, they got into a war with them which has to date stopped the expansion. To properly understand this misunderstanding, one must first understand that matter has the same affect on these creatures of energy that energy (I.E. radiation) has on creatures of matter (I.E. humanity). The Shadakar, in an attempt to avoid a costly and dangerous, due to the threat the Shadakar Republic posed, war with the alien nations, met them at a peace conference. Somehow, a method of communication was developed and the treaty went well. After many weeks of hard negotiation, the treaty was signed, and the leader of the Alliance came to give the ritual hug of friendship to the Shadakar. No one is sure why he did this, however, obviously, as soon as the leader touched the Shadakar he was killed by the immense radiation of the Shadakar, and likewise, the Shadakar was killed by the matter of the leader. Both believed that the other had been attempting an assassination and war was almost immediately declared. [It has also been mentioned by Mael'Sheran that by killing the Shadakar in that way, the Elessar committed a heinous religious crime, and the war is in fact a punishment for it. I personally, do not believe this story, as it is relatively well known that the Shadakar do not have an established religion. However, the fact that the Shadakar would claim such would indicate that there is a discrepancy. I will continue to look into this situation.] From that point on, the Shadakar Imperium has been relatively stagnant, and although it is more powerful than the Alliance of the Light, it is unable or unwilling to actually defeat the entire alliance. During the first part of the war, the Shadakar launched several attacks into the Alliance territories using Subjugated Race ships. However, after the attack on Elessar Prime, which was led by a Shadakar ship, they have made no further effort to attack the Alliance. Meanwhile, the Mana-depletion continues within the Imperium. At the current date, I would say that the Imperium is invincible from outside, despite their apparent lack of interest in defeating the Alliance of Light. However, inside, there are two forces which would be able to bring it to its knees. The Subjugated Races are vital to the war effort against the alien nations, as the Shadakar seem unable or unwilling to expend the Mana necessary to commit their full fleet to the war. If the Subjugated Races discover that the Mana-depletion Syndrome is killing them, they would likely revolt. If this should happen, the Shadakar would be faced with fighting an alliance of alien nations, the full force Shadakar Republic and the Subjugated Races. Without their Mana supply being replenished by the cyclical tributes, the Shadakar Imperium would be hard pressed to stand against those odds, and most likely be overrun by its own people. However, this is not likely to happen in the short term, as the Mana-depletion Syndrome is not yet very serious for most of the Subjugate Races. |
Government: |
The Shadakar Government is best compared to a very loose Federation of Planets. The Shadakar Imperium has the authority to issue any laws that it wishes, mainly by virtue of its immensely powerful star fleet. However, in practice, the Shadakar are only interested in collecting their Tithes to maintain their own civilization in Arakanor and recruiting people to serve in the Imperium’s fleet.
Each Zone that the Imperium controls has a designated race of magic users which serve as the Controller Race for that Zone. These races have very little real power, except that they serve as heralds for the Shadakar, and also serve to provide a target for the aggression of the Subjugated Races, instead of the Shadakar themselves. Each planet is allowed to be governed by the same type of government that existed before the Shadakar came into power. These governments are in essence puppet states, however, the Shadakar do not often feel the need to pull the strings. If there is talk of rebellion, the Shadakar will dabble in the politics of the region, playing one planet against another, in an attempt to cause the offending planet to be either defeated or back down. However, should that approach not work, the Shadakar have been known to attack outright or even simply eradicate a planet that proved to be a threat to the Imperium. In general, the conditions that exist among the Subjugated Races are comparable to the Earth Nation of France’s Revolutionary Reign of Terror. There is opposition, but it is either hidden from the Shadakar or it is suppressed by the controlling races or in the most extreme case it is ‘harvested’ by the Shadakar to serve as Mana to aid in their war effort. Most of the Subjugated Races have governments that are relatively advanced, either Republics or enlightened Monarchies. There are a lot of power struggles between the Subjugated Races for the right to be the dominant power in the region. These struggles are encouraged by the Shadakar so long as they do not lead to excessive bloodshed because they provide a distraction from the Subjugated Races' natural hostility towards the Shadakar and from the Imperiums’ ever present Mana-mining efforts. Foreign Policy:The Shadakar present an extremely inconsistent face to the galaxy, despite their rather limited appeal. They have already attempted to create one major sector-wide alliance, presumably to place themselves in a position of greater power. This failed, although a few trade and Non-Aggression Pacts were created. However, when offered admission into the League of Stars and the Bastion Project, they refused both invitations. They are apparently interested only in alliance on their terms. This selective interest, along with the skill in political maneuverings that the Shadakar have acquired over the years of ruling the Subjugated Races, would indicate that they might be working for some higher motive than merely the selfless hope for union, scientific advancement and peace for the entire G Sector. Evidence to support the skill of the Shadakar in manipulation is easy to find, however, the most obvious example is the current situation with The Graal. Every several hundred years, a religious leader arises among the Graal to lead the nation on a Jihad. Somehow the Shadakar managed to fulfill the prophecies and place a Graal loyal to them in that position. The Shadakar now use the Graal as their ground assault shock troops, because the Graal are considered to be the best ground fighters in the sector. [Omnet has recently come into contact with the Graal and more information will be available as soon as the CC report has been filed.] The Shadakar have made no attempt to establish relations with the Omnet, and I would believe that they view it with a passive malevolence. Most other races or organizations that the Shadakar are not easily able to expand into or that are not considered a threat to the Imperium are treated with this same attitude. Domestic Policy:The Shadakar do not tolerate opposition, since the risk of rebellion within their Empire is too great, and a rebellion would be too costly to the Imperium. Any attempt at rebellion from the Imperium is crushed through either political maneuverings, or through straight out elimination. However, dissension that has only to do with intra-planetary matters, and unhappiness with planetary leadership is completely ignored. As long as it does not result in a costly war (which would kill off Life, and hence reduce Mana harvests), the Shadakar are content to allow those who they view as lessors to go about their way. [Policy within the Shadakar race is unknown, although I suspect that it is extremely swift and oppressive, judging by the descriptions of the government that took over after the Second Revolution.] |
Society: |
The Society of the Imperium is best described in terms of comparing it to a 19th century Earth cow farm. The Shadakar are the farmers, and are immutably high above the other classes of society, which they use for their own personal benefit. The Subjugated Races are the cows. They are completely below the farmers in class, however, within their own grouping there is upward and downward mobility. It is this mobility which keeps the Subjugated Races fighting to become the ‘top cow’ and prevents them from organizing any effective resistance against the Shadakar. On most planets, the society that existed before the Shadakar Imperium’s takeover is maintained, even if the people in positions of power are removed.
I have learned a small amount about the Shadakar cultural structure from fragments of knowledge that certain Subjugate Races learned during the Second Revolution. The Shadakar apparently reproduce in large groups (many gather together, and each contributes part of its energy to form the new being), and hence there is very little ‘family’ nature among them except general loyalty to the race. There are two major groups in their society: the military and the mages. The military is what that the Galaxy sees, and it is a hierarchical and extremely entrenched and conservative group. The mages conduct research and development for the Imperium and they also serve to produce all of the necessities of life for the Imperium. They remain in Arakanor, and the military brings them the Mana that they need to continue their experiments and production. It was the mages who fought against the enslavement of the lesser races, and then who fought to free them when a new source of Mana was discovered. However, both times, the mages were beaten by the military, and their power has been significantly limited by those defeats. The military is now in firm control of the Imperium, with the mages working as virtual puppets to supply the war effort against the Alliance of the Light. Languages:There is no official language of the Imperium, as the Shadakar do not care to standardize their languages -- people who cannot understand each other will most likely not ally with one another. The Controller Races speak to the Shadakar through a pidgin form of the Shadakar language that they are able to understand. The Shadakar language, in full, is one which is somewhat like telepathy, however, the Shadakar use Magic to imprint images onto the minds of others. This method of communication works well for the Shadakar, however, the first time it was tried on a physical life form, the life form was killed. Presumably, this was due to differences in the method of thought between the Shadakar and the life form. From that point on, a very watered down version of the language was used on the lesser life forms, however, after it has been used, the subjects life span is usually reduced to a matter of minutes. Religion:The one thing which the Shadakar were unable to leave unaffected by their arrival was the religion of the planets they conquered. Many of the planets, upon seeing them, declared them gods and began worshipping them. Others forsook their religion and declared that the Shadakar were devils, and that the end of the world was upon them. Most considered that the Shadakar were some sort of incarnation of their gods or higher beings and that the arrival of the Shadakar was judgment day. Now, most worship the Shadakar’s cyclical sacrificing of their people to provide Mana in much the same way that the Aztecs of Earth worshipped their sacrifices to their gods. Although the leadership of the planets is not taken by this fancy and many planets are actively, if very covertly, attempting to reconvert their people away from the worship of the Shadakar and their sacrifices, few have actually made much progress. The cyclical appearance of the Shadakar has tended to keep the atmosphere of fear the produced the worship very much alive. The Shadakar themselves have no religion. They believe themselves to be the highest form of life, and they view their magic as a tool which they can use to maintain their position. Since Shadakar simply dissipate when they die, they believe in a cosmic cycle: they are born, grow, dissipate and are reborn. They believe this as a simple fact of life, however, and do not waste any effort in what they consider pointless worship. They do, however, believe that the lesser races do not participate in their cycle, and when they die, only their essence remains, much like a spirit. However, it is never reborn, as they are. It was this belief which sparked so much controversy when the Imperium began to break down Life into its Essence and that into Mana. Many Shadakar believed that they have no right to destroy the Essence of the lesser life forms. Castes:See ‘Society’ for an overview of the Caste System. |
Economy: |
The Shadakar never developed something equivalent to money. Most likely originating from their group reproductive methods, they view themselves more as a commune and share all that they have in order that the goals of the whole can be achieved. They also have much less of an attachment to physical items, as they themselves are not physical beings.
Many of the Subjugated Races, however, do use currency of some sort, or a barter economy. There is some interplanetary trading, however, the Shadakar do not encourage much interplanetary contact as they feel that intermingling of races might lead to revolution. Most of the planetary economies are isolated and self-sufficient. Those Empires that spanned several interdependent planets before the Imperium took over are often given magical conduits between their planets to allow them to continue with their mutual support. If a planet was rendered unable to sustain itself by the Shadakar attack, the Shadakar will supply that planet with all that it needs until it can recover. However, in general, as money does not matter to the Shadakar, the intra-Imperial economy is not well developed. The Shadakar have made a few trade treaties with other alien nations in the G Sector, however, they are very limited, most likely due to the security interests of the Imperium. Generally, they allow trading to certain areas of the Imperium, but only if the trading ships will register at the home world of the local Controller Race and accept an escort. |
Military: |
The military of the Imperium is divided into two groups. The Shadakar Military itself is extremely powerful but rarely used since it requires enormous expenditures of Mana to mobilize it. This is the military which the Imperium uses to expand and which it enforces its decrees against resistant planets with (although never in full force). Only one ship from this branch of the starforce has been used in the current war and that was during the attack on Elessar Prime.
The second branch of the military consists of the militaries of the Subjugated Races. As the Shadakar do not wish to expend valuable Mana using their costly fleet, they recruit other races’ ships to serve in their own forces. These forces are rarely used within Shadakar Territory, however, they form the entire fleet that was used in the War (except for the one ship). For some reason, the Shadakar appear to be either unable or uninterested in committing their full force to defeating the alien races, for their main fleet has never been utilized in the war, and most believe that should the Shadakar commit that fleet, they would be able to easily defeat the alien races. [I would strongly advise that this situation be watched, as there is no logical reason, given the current situation of the Shadakar, for them to not simply commit their fleet and win the war. There is something going on within Arakanor that the Shadakar consider more important than expansion, and hence I would strongly advise that Omnet watches this situation to ensure nothing gets out of control.] However, despite their powerful starfleet, the Shadakar do not have a very effective army. It was for this reason that the Shadakar took control of the Graal church and they now use Graal shock troops as the main brunt of their army. The Graal are incredibly strong and resistant to almost all attacks. Although they use relatively primitive weaponry, their sheer numbers and hardiness have made them an almost unbeatable force on the ground. |
Sports and Leisure: |
The art of the Shadakar is their magical creations, generally their weapons and star ships. Other than that, they can see no value for creating things which serve no purpose other than to please. However, the individual planets in the Imperium have very rich artistic creativity, as they need something to take their minds off the oppressive reality of their times. [I regret to say that I was unable to enjoy much of the art in the Imperium, as my time has been consumed trying to discover who and what the Shadakar were. It is my hope that on subsequent visits I will be able to report on and enjoy these many wonderful art forms. Should I find anything, it will be reported in the Omnet Intelligence Report.] |
Major Population Centers: |
Although I do not know which systems contain large numbers of Shadakar, I do have some data about where they live. This is listed in the Size and Population Section.
Within the Subjugated Races, most of the inhabited planets are heavily populated, however, there are several major centers, and each Zone has a Controller Race, whose home planet serves as a provincial capitol of sorts. What information I have found on individual planets is listed in the Intelligence Report. |
Chronic Problems: |
The threats to the stability of the Imperium have already been listed in several different locations, however, I will compile them here into a more comprehensive list.
The alien races which the Shadakar are fighting are not a threat to the Imperium alone. However, their aggression along the boarders has proven an annoyance, and also, should internal conflict arise and the conscripted ships turn against the Shadakar at the front, the Imperium would be faced with a collapsing front and revolution while fighting its own people in a Civil War. The main threat to the Imperium at this point is the Shadakar Republic, which is the government that fled the Imperium at the end of the Second Revolution. Although their military is unable to match the Imperium in might, their politicians and spies may yet prove the downfall of the Empire. All over the Imperium, they are stirring up dissension and attempting to stoke the fires of revolution. This forces the Shadakar Imperium to expend valuable Mana to put down the revolution, and it also forces them to kill off Life, which is their main source of Mana. What the Republic hopes is to force the Imperium to deplete its supplies of Mana, and then, while the Imperium is unable to operate its own ships, start a massive Subjugate Race Revolt. With the Imperium ships crippled, the Republic, with the Subjugate Races and the alien races, should be able to drive the Imperium back to Arakanor and destroy it. While the plan seems farfetched, it is in fact the most serious danger to the security of the Imperium known, and one which I believe the Imperium is currently working very hard to find a solution to. The best solution seems to be simply increased expansion for the Imperium by defeating the alien races and using them to provide even more Mana for the Imperium. [The fact that the Imperium is not doing that is what has me suspicious. I would strongly advise watching them, for I feel there is something very large about to happen within the Pada’Shaine Shadakar Imperium.] [Ending Note: I apologize for the length of this report, but the strangeness of the Empire which I was assigned to investigate warranted, in my view, an extended report. I would be happy to explain and/or correct anything which is unclear about this report, due to assumptions that I have made and not explained or miswording or any other sort of oversight. I hope that it will meet with the approval of the Omnet.] |
Submission Information: |
Submitter's Name: Jason Morrill
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