LostKnightsRPG.org

Stardate 2213.06.29

Our investigation into our past has shown us that our first clone vats were installed at least 1200 years ago, in which time a great deal was forgotten deliberately or out of apathy. This by itself is saddening. Our planet-side excavations finally discovered fossils of similar genetic makeup to ours from 2200 years ago, nearby primitive homesteads. So someone like us was here before us. Are we the creators? Or made in their image? Or were we converted from primitive peoples to clone armies to serve the designs of some other? We found these questions but not any answers.

Stardate 2214.01.20

The crew of science vessel "Limpok the Baneful" have reported hostile spacecraft in the Moah system! These strange vessels orbit Moah V, which appears protected by some kind of energy shield. The strange fleet was immediately hostile, and our estimates put at 5 to 6 times the combined strength of our entire fleet. We will attempt to communicate with them if we can, but we will also lay down as many anchorages as we can support, and bolster our fleet strength. Such a fleet could lay waste to our fragile homeworld in a matter of days.

Stardate 2215.04.24

A cipher has been discovered in the quantum bio-code of the Ancient Clone Vats we depend upon. This has resulted in long lost hope being rekindled at the prospect of perhaps unlocking our own fertility, a venture only ever met with failure to date.

Stardate 2216.06.14

Strange semi-intelligent space crystals? Knowing ourselves we knew the beings we might encounter could be weird, but most of us never imagined we would meet space beings that actually live directly in space. Let alone fight them. They are immediately hostile! We are reinforcing the fleet this very moment to meet them on the attack.

Stardate 2216.11.29

Our science vessel discovers more and more of these strange crystal beings. We are moving Battle Group "Youthful Indiscretion" into position to engage one of the smaller clusters, though we will wait until Envoy Kashnaka exhausts attempts at communication. The entire admiralty is up in arms debating what the shapes and signals and radiations mean and are nearly raving with ideas and theories of best attack and defense. The cooler heads know, with sober acknowledgement, that we may not know until we engage, and there may not be a best attack or defense, these things may be invincible. We have no way of knowing right now.

Stardate 2218.03.05

Envoy Kashnaka has concluded her attempts and studies and has determined that the crystal entities are somewhat like space animals and are hazardous, though she admits our scientists could learn more if they had samples. She also notes that their composition is likely similar to raw materials we could use for construction.

So a sample she shall have. Weapons free!

Stardate 2222.08.06

Space is filling up fast! We are investigating the ruins of multiple past civilizations, recovering derelict ships from unstable orbits, and now all of our envoys are working to decipher communications with possible intelligent aliens!

From the husks of the crystal beings we have harvested valuable minerals and even more valuable knowledge, there are naturally occurring phenomena at work here that we could turn to our advantage. Self healing ships? Within reach now.

Stardate 2223.02.02

As our first robotic brethren near completion, we have unlocked a message from the distant past hidden in our clone vats.

A scientist burdened by guilt for what was done to us has left us instructions to follow one of two paths forward, to restore fertility or to unlock potential.

So we must now choose, stop being clones and reproduce and differentiate, or become a more idealized version of who we already are?

Perhaps if this had been discovered a thousand years ago the results might have been different, and perhaps if our society's power structures didn't revolve around the clone vats and our shared identity then maybe more voices would have been heard, but the assumption by those with the direct ability to make a choice was that we are who we are because of what we are, that the thought of losing our shared identity would be terrifying, and that the vats are our strength, not a weakness. Future generations will be as dependent on the vats as we are now, as we always have been. What was done is done.

Stardate 2227.02.30

It is done. We are more ourselves than ever before, smarter, stronger, faster. Those that took us from primitives and made us into tools of war were cruel but not wrong. We will no longer lament what was taken from us, but celebrate it, for it is now our choice going forward. We are the Clones Ascendant, the First Army, and the universe is NOT ready for us.

Stardate 2227.04.26

We have finally discovered our nearest celestial neighbors, the "Tranquil Vhellet Commonwealth." They are isolationist and repulsed by our vey existence. Their life cycles involve the death of another species.

Our immediate mission is to collect intelligence on their capabilities and determine if we can trust them to keep to themselves as they insist we do, and what the consequences might be of conflict.

We did not set out into space to make enemies, but we are warriors at heart and we will not leave a nascent threat to grow unchecked.

Stardate 2229.03.01

And just like that, we are boxed in. What appears to be a coalition of three separate space empires controls the hyperlanes leading out of what little space we have claimed that isn't already blocked.

The only space we could move into now is controlled by crystalline entities.

We must have faith in each other and in our leaders to prosper in this galaxy. The planets we have found are harsh, wet, soggy environments totally unsuitable for us and our technology, but we have overcome far too many challenges to be put off from further progress.

Our second generation robots are already joining the workforce. Space is very large, even the few systems we control, and we will find a way to build up our society, one way or another.

Stardate 2232.03.13

An organization known as the Galactic Community has formed, and through it we have made contact with many new cultures and civilizations. Our strange nature and warlike society seems to contract with their expectations. Well, so too does theirs with ours. With the only room left for expansion occupied by crystal entities, we are refitting our fleets to take them on more effectively. If we are even to explore the galaxy, let alone participate in it, we may need to win favor or obedience from our neighbors. Improving our intelligence capabilities is now our highest priority. We must know what threats face us.

Stardate 2270.03.14

A brief border war with three empires in a federation led to a minor gain for us and now a cold war. A few things were made abundantly clear to us: ton for ton and gun for gun our navy is stronger because of what we are, and without allies both internal and external we will not last long. We have positive relations with the Bzadi Sacrosanct Confederacy, who like us have spiritual tendencies, and while their forms are stranger to us than we could have imagined (they are sentient twinkling crystals that sound like chimes) they wish to come live amongst us, and we have made it so.

Stardate 2277.05.25

Doctor Ralpakini, our head of Society research, has today embarked on a daring new field of science, Psionic Theory. Our people have felt connected in more ways than our biology would explain for generations, but perhaps the new Ascendant genes we unlocked have revealed that this feeling is something more? Our spirituality is often as not considered a philosophy more than a set of facts, so it is surprising that our scientists are investigating things beyond as though they could be real.

The universe grows stranger every year.

Stardate 2281.01.15

Commander Listhima has died of natural causes after a long life of service. Lieutenant Commander Elemani has assumed command, and directed our fleets to clear the Izar system of crystal entities and prepare to colonize Izar I and Izar IIIa. This is a difficult decision to understand, as tensions are mounting with the Galactic Zaanami Republic, and if they detect that our fleet strength weakens, if we lose the upper hand against the crystals for example, they may strike.

Commander Elemani's xenophobia runs counter to our positive relations with the Gzadi, and her agenda of "National Purity" stinks of something other than the togetherness and harmony our Death Initiates speak of before their sacrifices.

We're discovering so much out here in the galaxy, perhaps there are some serious lessons we need to learn.