Both cursed and blessed with extraordinary psychic intuition, the ethereal and reclusive Kalimshar were once a proud race flying refined voidships and crafting beautiful worlds of technomancy in a far off galaxy. Nowadays, the faerie forests and golden spires that formed the backbone of their cities are lost to the Void, as most of their people were snuffed out of existence or driven mad by an enigmatic magical event only referred to as the Great Sacrament. With deep sorrow, the few remaining Kalimshari have left their ruined realm behind. On a mighty world-ark they have erred; in a brave new galaxy they must scatter. Their pride may be shattered and their roots may be forlorn, but with divine fervour and yearning contemplation, this mystical people still cling to the skies above.
Physical Description
The Kalimshar are an elven-like race, prompting many a puzzled scientist to compare the Elves of Golarion to this new race. Gender dimorphism in the Kalimshari is a lot less obvious, and their lifespan only reaches into the 120s.
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Bosari Kalimshar
The Kalimshari, or Bosari, also found as Boshari, Boshiri in the languages of eld, are small and somewhat slender, much like the elves they borrow so many superficial features from – most notably, their pointed ears. Kalimshar skin colour vary a lot, from pale white to dark grey, most with iridescent features and elaborate birth patterns, ranging from teal to purple, covering most of their bodies. Eye colour is typically blue, green or purple; however brown or even red are not entirely uncommon depending on heritage. Despite their healthy lifespan they are a frail people, and signs of ageing come late; when they do come, Kalimshar look wrinkled and their iridescent features start to dim. Their dress styles vary considerably by culture; however many favour lighter colours and extravagant styles. The el-sharil is a long, flowy formal dress worn by males and females alike. Most Kalimshar, at the very least those of Imperial descent, also favour openly carrying weapons. Despite the chaos that followed the Sacrament and the destruction of most of their kind, many Kalimshar carry ornate staves or swords as family heirlooms – even if they wouldn’t hold in a fight. The Fae-Touched The Fae-Touched are a Kalimshari subspecies known for their higher arcana and their deep, black eyes. Their skin is also generally of unnatural, wispy colours; they also seem surrounded by ethereal faery spots that constantly move and glimmer about their bodies. They age slower, and less visibly. They emit a strong psionic field - the most powerful Fae-Touched are known to be able to directly interact with psitech using thought alone. Perhaps most peculiar is how a Fae-Touched is born - for they are born seemingly at random, and any given child could grow to be Fae-Touched. It is widely believed that the Faeries of eld reach across from the Void to bestow certain gifts to its champions - and this myth has not been cracked, even with the science of advanced genetics. These gifts empower the individual, but they are very difficult to master; Fae-Touched that are not taught to master their gifts often become overwhelmed by them and burn out, usually in destructive and lethal fashion. Fae-touched often develop strange skills and obsessions despite not being able to explain why. There is a widespread belief that every Fae-Touched is given a purpose by the Void, albeit never explicitly; therefore, the quirks and oddities they develop over the years must subconsciously build towards the realisation of their divine fate. |
Vital Stats (Starfinder)
Size : Medium
Type : Humanoid Subtype : Elf HP : 4 Average lifespan : 120, suffers little infirmity with age Homeland : Estel-Tanye (Prime Material Plane) Language : Kalimshar Common Average height : 5′4″‒6′0″ (1.63‒1.8 m) Average weight : 130‒170 lb (59‒77 kg) Skin color(s) : Lightly tanned to dark brown, often with ethereal or iridescent features Hair color(s) : Dark brown, autumn orange, mossy green, deep gold Eye color(s) : Blue, violet, green, sometimes brown or red |
Normal Kalimshari : +2 WIS, +1 INT, -2 CON
Fae-Touched : +4 WIS, -2 CHA, -2 CON Racial Traits Psionic Affinity At Will : All Fae-Touched have Token Spell as a spell-like ability. 1/day : Common Kalimshari or untrained Fae-Touched characters may pick one 0th-level spell-like ability from the Mystic Spell List. Trained Fae-Touched characters may pick one 1th-level spell-like ability instead. Keen Senses Kalimshari receive a +2 racial bonus to caster level checks when overcoming spell resistance. They also receive a +2 racial bonus to Mysticism skill checks. Mysticism is always a trained skill for the purposes of identifying magical items or spells being cast. Low-Light Vision Kalimshari can see in dim light as if they were in normal light. |
Homeworld
The Ark Hyporia as it travels across the stars. It is estimated that the civilization that built the Ark vanished about 105'000 years ago.
(Picture : Stellaris) New Eldelyn, the new homeworld of the Kalimshari.
(Picture : Endless Space 2) |
Kalimshari are not native to the Starfinder galaxy. Rather, they come from one of the smaller clouds that orbits it from unreachably far. Their local cluster and homeworld was devastated by a psionic wave known as the Great Sacrament (or just the Scream) which washed away most of their people and civilization some 70 standard years ago. A lucky few found refuge on an otherworldly pyramid ship, the Ark Hyporia, which carried them away from their devastated home and into Golarion’s galaxy - the Great Jump.
The Ark currently orbits the cold but habitable planet of New Eldelyn, which is being transformed into a secure agricultural world. Despite the obvious difficulties of living shipside, many Kalimshari have elected to stay on the Ark, which is being rebuilt into their race’s new focal trade hub - a cultural and spiritual sanctuary made out of ornate gold and ebony, the “barestel-u” or “Home-Not-Hoped-For”. These are known as the"ara-balai", or Ark Dwellers. Not every Kalimshari lives on the Ark. Some Ark loyalists, the neni-balai or Travellers, have left to found new colonies and secure critical resources. Whilst they recognize the authority of the Ark and of the Chantry, these frontier colonists are sometimes at odds with the Ark-Dwellers or the Kalimshari leader, Hierarch Vulas Lufina. The Kalimshari are led by an oligarchic Council, led by Hierarch Lufina and the Chantry's head Summoner, Esta Erronis. Eleven ministers sit with the pair (and pick their successor, if need be, though they themselves are chosen by corporations or people of importance that they patron). Not everyone who leaves is welcomed back. The authoritarian stance taken by the elite has pushed away several groups of settlers, and even led some to exile. This is especially true of the Fae-Touched, who are driven away from Ark settlements and given little support. These exiled peoples are together known as the "kalushel", the Wayward. Banned from all Ark colonies, they live in derelict bases, on scavenged freighters, or hidden in the homes of some sympathetic neni-balai; or they simply leave for xeno worlds, never to return. Many Wayward live in the Belt, where the Senate used to send them by force, making use of makeshift mining facilities to turn the system itself into an open, barely self-sufficient, but secure prison, far from the concern of upstanding citizens. This policy backfired when the Wayward belters adapted stations into liveships, hydroponic facilities and scrapyards, in turn creating their own small fleets of vessels to raid Kalimshari trade routes with. This has forced the Senate to consider alternative approaches and exile is less routinely used - but the Wayward were never pardonned, and the whole affair has undermined the security of the Kalimshari as a whole and the and authority of the Ark. The location of the true Kalimshari homeworld was lost during the Great Sacrament, as with the exact position of the star clusters the Kalimshari once called home. Now only referred to religiously as the “estel-tanye” or “Home-That-Was”, it was said to be a lush and beautiful garden world, covered in golden spires that gleamed in the sun and bathed in gentle song. Whatever has become of their homeworld - or the remainder of their civilization - is a mystery… |
Society and Alignment
Kalimshari culture holds that each individual must play their part in the survival of their race and the betterment of society, and the ideal of elevating the public good above the self has been observed for millenia. This is only more relevant in the wake of the Sacrament. This Kalimshari ideal is known as the Beleg-rind.
Kalimshari Leadership and Communities
Kalimshari leadership is shared between the Senate and the Chantry.
The Senate is composed of 300 Patrons (ortiri) elected on a cliens basis across Kalimshari communities. To that are added the representatives of each world and of the Ark's Navy, as decided by each colony and city, for a grand total of around 400 Senators (secano). At the beginning of each senatorial period, the Senators elect their Leader amongst themselves - usually on what resembles party lines, though there are no official political parties at the Senate, only alliances that are not necessarily bound to vote a certain way on every matter of law. The Imperial House Alliance and the Alliance for a Kalimshari Future are typically the main two blocs that share power in the Senate, but membership is often in flux. Despite the patronage system, many Senators are at least inspired to vote for the public good and for tradition above their own interests, as they represent important aspects of their society, rather than geographical entities.
Generally, only senior Senators get much time drafting and defending laws. Most junior members watch from the backbenches of the Senate Chamber, though their influence is often felt during votes.
The High Senator (ur-secano), technically the Head of State for the duration of the senatorial period, then shares power with the Chantry, which functions as an unelected House rallied around its clerical hierarchy and its High Imperator. The two organizations do not necessarily see eye to eye. After heavy reform, the Senate now tends to promote a state that values personal freedoms (or at least that of the people who partake in their patronage), whereas the Chantry keeps to a staunch traditionalist view of law and order and invoke the Beleg-rind as a sacred duty of the Kalimshari people rather than a right to be owed and asserted. They often make use their religious authority to shield and succor their believers from the lies of a treacherous new realm.
Kalimshari Communities
Oftentimes, the community of survivors as a whole will be known as Hyporian or even Bala-serai (Life-Seekers). Few Kalimshari, despite keeping their name, maintain many cultural ties to the Empire. Indeed, the Chantry has been very careful to push a more appropriate social order over a strict and faithful continuation of Imperial lifestyles. The result is an Ark community that blends different traditions as well as pragmatic survival measures. As the Kalimshari settle down, however, new identities and divions are starting to show.
Communities that formed within the Ark Hyporia (the Ark-Dwellers or ara-balai) are centered around Chantry shrines dotted across the worldship. Different sectors of the ship tend to decorate their sections in different ways, sometimes inspired by the nations and cultures they left behind. Sector Tinco has been refitted into the commerce and shipyard district, and is known for its garish yellow-red hues and its slum-streets running alongside the maintenance ductways. Sector Sule is draped in white and golden cloth and is known for its quiet, contemplative forests. The main shrine in Sector Lambe is bathed in etherial shades of purple in the middle of a giant pond on the highest deck, overlooked by a giant orrery and observatory into the endless stars above. Most inhabitants identify themselves by sector first and as Ark-Dwellers later.
Beyond its solar system, loyal frontier colonies (the Travellers or neni-balai) have begun to spring along nearby xeno trade routes, with the purpose of gathering resources for the Ark or running scientific experiments. While these new worlds are united by their faith and their shared experience as survivors, they are also growing surprisingly apart in many ways. Vala-3, built atop geothermal vents, hosts a significant Halfling and Ysoki population; meanwhile the frugal colony at Yanta-6 is built into the caverns of a dry desert world and lit by rustic Elven torches. Frontier colonies often experience different struggles : establishing infrastructure in unfriendly conditions is already quite the challenge. Frontier settlers are also expected to defend themselves, as the Ark Navy is simply too small to effectively protect its outlying colonies from xeno pirates or the Kalimshari exiles known as the Wayward - most notably the notorious pirate and hacker Vi Tulsa, but also the heretics of the Cult of the All-Code or the Kalimshri/Hhrot hybrid Order of Solaris.
Beyond the frontier, the Wayward Belt is an open prison where many exiles are sent. Living out on makeshift mining facilities and aided by aiding, failing liveships and hydroponic stations, the Wayward Belters often resort to violence and raiding in order to survive - and have resisted the weak Ark Navy's attempts to reclaim their home. The Belt has become such an embarassment to the Kalimshari authorities, as the Wayward there adapted far better than anyone anticipated, that exile is now reserved as a last-resort punishment.
Just as faith and the shared experience of a lost homeworld unites the Kalimshari, so does it buckle and split alongside fault lines. The Ara-Balai will often see Neni-Balai as second-rate belters for their rougher manners; likewise Neni-Balai will often accuse the Ara-Balai of becoming very sheltered and arrogant.
To combat dangerous fault lines, the Chantry has revived the lost Imperial ball-sport of Korlon (Sewn-Liver, though thankfully normal leather balls are used nowadays). Simple, easy to pick up and watch, this ballgame is often used in matters of mediation, as entertainment, as well as to defuse animosity between rival Sectors and communities. A three-tiered league, the Korlon'Vau, has been playing for ten years, with the players of the agro-sector Vilya the most recurrent winners. Korlon is an addictive game - and fast becoming a key piece of Ark culture.
The Pilgrimage
Every ten years, all loyal Ara-Balai and Neni-Balai communities congregate within the Ark in a great Pilgrimage. It is an occasion for colonies to share scientific discoveries and freely trade, and for community leaders to archive and update their records. Relics from before the Ark’s Jump and the Great Sacrament are also exchanged for safekeeping, and religious spirits are added to the ever growing Kalimshari pantheon. A special tournament of Korlon has also been introduced in the last Pilgrimage.
During the Pilgrimage, children must undertake the Naming Ritual and be subjected to a series of physical and academical ordeals. There is little preparation, for the Ritual is prepared somewhat unpredictably mere days in advance by an advanced AI Core whose sole purpose is to gauge participants. Upon completion, the Core will “name” children into one of the leben'cae or Five Ways, the traditional and equally valued Kalimshari divisions of occupations:
Neither wealth-based nor hereditary, the Five Ways are in theory equally valued and do allow for social mobility and Way-switching later in life. True stigma is leveraged against the Wayward - those who rejected the authority of the Ark or the Chantry, or who never undertook the Naming Ritual. The Wayward are exiles - they are banned from Ark Hyporia and New Eldelyn for life. Even in remote Neni-Balai settlements, they are at best unwelcome guests, drifting on the fringes of these loyal colonies and all too often preying on their trade routes.
Kalimshari Values
Kalimshari prize introspection, stability and tradition; following the Ark’s Jump and the consolidation of their new society, few have any will for unnecessary social changes. Nonetheless, many Kalimshari are ambitious and seek to advance their causes or personal interests in a world free of Imperial dogma; others, motivated by faith or scientific curiosity, strive to push for a new era of bold discovery and renewal. Within the Chantry, these Reformers often clash with the Traditionalists. Without, several Reformer communities have exiled themselves into the wider galaxy, and wear their Wayward badge with pride and honour.
In short, Ark society no longer resembles the highly stratified oligarchy of Imperial glory days.. The Great Houses that once formed the core of Kalimshari intrigue have long been dissolved - albeit the older Ark-Dwellers will still remember times before the Sacrament and will often struggle to adjust.
Alignment :
Most Kalimshari are Lawful/Neutral as holders of order and tradition, or at least as traditionalists who do not often like to stray far from what they know and believe, though many are True Neutral or even Neutral/Good instead.
Kalimshari Leadership and Communities
Kalimshari leadership is shared between the Senate and the Chantry.
The Senate is composed of 300 Patrons (ortiri) elected on a cliens basis across Kalimshari communities. To that are added the representatives of each world and of the Ark's Navy, as decided by each colony and city, for a grand total of around 400 Senators (secano). At the beginning of each senatorial period, the Senators elect their Leader amongst themselves - usually on what resembles party lines, though there are no official political parties at the Senate, only alliances that are not necessarily bound to vote a certain way on every matter of law. The Imperial House Alliance and the Alliance for a Kalimshari Future are typically the main two blocs that share power in the Senate, but membership is often in flux. Despite the patronage system, many Senators are at least inspired to vote for the public good and for tradition above their own interests, as they represent important aspects of their society, rather than geographical entities.
Generally, only senior Senators get much time drafting and defending laws. Most junior members watch from the backbenches of the Senate Chamber, though their influence is often felt during votes.
The High Senator (ur-secano), technically the Head of State for the duration of the senatorial period, then shares power with the Chantry, which functions as an unelected House rallied around its clerical hierarchy and its High Imperator. The two organizations do not necessarily see eye to eye. After heavy reform, the Senate now tends to promote a state that values personal freedoms (or at least that of the people who partake in their patronage), whereas the Chantry keeps to a staunch traditionalist view of law and order and invoke the Beleg-rind as a sacred duty of the Kalimshari people rather than a right to be owed and asserted. They often make use their religious authority to shield and succor their believers from the lies of a treacherous new realm.
Kalimshari Communities
Oftentimes, the community of survivors as a whole will be known as Hyporian or even Bala-serai (Life-Seekers). Few Kalimshari, despite keeping their name, maintain many cultural ties to the Empire. Indeed, the Chantry has been very careful to push a more appropriate social order over a strict and faithful continuation of Imperial lifestyles. The result is an Ark community that blends different traditions as well as pragmatic survival measures. As the Kalimshari settle down, however, new identities and divions are starting to show.
Communities that formed within the Ark Hyporia (the Ark-Dwellers or ara-balai) are centered around Chantry shrines dotted across the worldship. Different sectors of the ship tend to decorate their sections in different ways, sometimes inspired by the nations and cultures they left behind. Sector Tinco has been refitted into the commerce and shipyard district, and is known for its garish yellow-red hues and its slum-streets running alongside the maintenance ductways. Sector Sule is draped in white and golden cloth and is known for its quiet, contemplative forests. The main shrine in Sector Lambe is bathed in etherial shades of purple in the middle of a giant pond on the highest deck, overlooked by a giant orrery and observatory into the endless stars above. Most inhabitants identify themselves by sector first and as Ark-Dwellers later.
Beyond its solar system, loyal frontier colonies (the Travellers or neni-balai) have begun to spring along nearby xeno trade routes, with the purpose of gathering resources for the Ark or running scientific experiments. While these new worlds are united by their faith and their shared experience as survivors, they are also growing surprisingly apart in many ways. Vala-3, built atop geothermal vents, hosts a significant Halfling and Ysoki population; meanwhile the frugal colony at Yanta-6 is built into the caverns of a dry desert world and lit by rustic Elven torches. Frontier colonies often experience different struggles : establishing infrastructure in unfriendly conditions is already quite the challenge. Frontier settlers are also expected to defend themselves, as the Ark Navy is simply too small to effectively protect its outlying colonies from xeno pirates or the Kalimshari exiles known as the Wayward - most notably the notorious pirate and hacker Vi Tulsa, but also the heretics of the Cult of the All-Code or the Kalimshri/Hhrot hybrid Order of Solaris.
Beyond the frontier, the Wayward Belt is an open prison where many exiles are sent. Living out on makeshift mining facilities and aided by aiding, failing liveships and hydroponic stations, the Wayward Belters often resort to violence and raiding in order to survive - and have resisted the weak Ark Navy's attempts to reclaim their home. The Belt has become such an embarassment to the Kalimshari authorities, as the Wayward there adapted far better than anyone anticipated, that exile is now reserved as a last-resort punishment.
Just as faith and the shared experience of a lost homeworld unites the Kalimshari, so does it buckle and split alongside fault lines. The Ara-Balai will often see Neni-Balai as second-rate belters for their rougher manners; likewise Neni-Balai will often accuse the Ara-Balai of becoming very sheltered and arrogant.
To combat dangerous fault lines, the Chantry has revived the lost Imperial ball-sport of Korlon (Sewn-Liver, though thankfully normal leather balls are used nowadays). Simple, easy to pick up and watch, this ballgame is often used in matters of mediation, as entertainment, as well as to defuse animosity between rival Sectors and communities. A three-tiered league, the Korlon'Vau, has been playing for ten years, with the players of the agro-sector Vilya the most recurrent winners. Korlon is an addictive game - and fast becoming a key piece of Ark culture.
The Pilgrimage
Every ten years, all loyal Ara-Balai and Neni-Balai communities congregate within the Ark in a great Pilgrimage. It is an occasion for colonies to share scientific discoveries and freely trade, and for community leaders to archive and update their records. Relics from before the Ark’s Jump and the Great Sacrament are also exchanged for safekeeping, and religious spirits are added to the ever growing Kalimshari pantheon. A special tournament of Korlon has also been introduced in the last Pilgrimage.
During the Pilgrimage, children must undertake the Naming Ritual and be subjected to a series of physical and academical ordeals. There is little preparation, for the Ritual is prepared somewhat unpredictably mere days in advance by an advanced AI Core whose sole purpose is to gauge participants. Upon completion, the Core will “name” children into one of the leben'cae or Five Ways, the traditional and equally valued Kalimshari divisions of occupations:
- Scholar (Galad-tuin, Those-Who-Enkindle)
- Priest (Prae-tuin, Those-Who-Lead)
- Artisan (Curu-tuin, Those-Who-Build)
- Trader (Neni-tuin, Those-Who-Wander)
- Farmer (Na-tuin, Those-Who-Grow)
Neither wealth-based nor hereditary, the Five Ways are in theory equally valued and do allow for social mobility and Way-switching later in life. True stigma is leveraged against the Wayward - those who rejected the authority of the Ark or the Chantry, or who never undertook the Naming Ritual. The Wayward are exiles - they are banned from Ark Hyporia and New Eldelyn for life. Even in remote Neni-Balai settlements, they are at best unwelcome guests, drifting on the fringes of these loyal colonies and all too often preying on their trade routes.
Kalimshari Values
Kalimshari prize introspection, stability and tradition; following the Ark’s Jump and the consolidation of their new society, few have any will for unnecessary social changes. Nonetheless, many Kalimshari are ambitious and seek to advance their causes or personal interests in a world free of Imperial dogma; others, motivated by faith or scientific curiosity, strive to push for a new era of bold discovery and renewal. Within the Chantry, these Reformers often clash with the Traditionalists. Without, several Reformer communities have exiled themselves into the wider galaxy, and wear their Wayward badge with pride and honour.
In short, Ark society no longer resembles the highly stratified oligarchy of Imperial glory days.. The Great Houses that once formed the core of Kalimshari intrigue have long been dissolved - albeit the older Ark-Dwellers will still remember times before the Sacrament and will often struggle to adjust.
Alignment :
Most Kalimshari are Lawful/Neutral as holders of order and tradition, or at least as traditionalists who do not often like to stray far from what they know and believe, though many are True Neutral or even Neutral/Good instead.
Playing a Kalimshari
Kalimshar likely…
...seek wisdom and seize opportunities to learn, especially from native races, and are surprisingly xenophilic and adapt well to other customs and peoples
...maintain peculiar religious customs such as the Daily Prayer, or the consecration of natural or artificial features such as shipwrecks, stars, mountains, craters, asteroids, and their own colonies, platoons, navies as possessing their own divine spirit worthy of worship and appreciation
...eat fussily, as many foods do not agree with Kalimshari metabolisms, and a lot of Kalimshari food must be prepared in specific ways.
...meditate and show great empathy to the plight of other displaced species, which they take great care to study and befriend.
...maintain particularly close trade bonds with the Lashunta psykers, the Drow salvagers and especially the Kasathas, who also live aboard a worldship fleeing destruction
Other species likely…
...do not understand Kalimshari veneration of natural features, their understanding of the Void Mother, or how their belief system and Chantry ties together.
...respect your species’ culture and tenacity, as well as how your belief system, mythos, and general civilization survived at least within the Ark despite the effective end of your galaxy. They might be fearful that you seek to revive a domineering Empire.
...misunderstand and fear your psionic or technological ability based on their knowledge of the Ark, unaware that it predates Kalimshari civilization, or on your descriptions of the Great Sacrament and the wanton destruction it inflicted, or on rogue Fae-Touched burning out.
...seek wisdom and seize opportunities to learn, especially from native races, and are surprisingly xenophilic and adapt well to other customs and peoples
...maintain peculiar religious customs such as the Daily Prayer, or the consecration of natural or artificial features such as shipwrecks, stars, mountains, craters, asteroids, and their own colonies, platoons, navies as possessing their own divine spirit worthy of worship and appreciation
...eat fussily, as many foods do not agree with Kalimshari metabolisms, and a lot of Kalimshari food must be prepared in specific ways.
...meditate and show great empathy to the plight of other displaced species, which they take great care to study and befriend.
...maintain particularly close trade bonds with the Lashunta psykers, the Drow salvagers and especially the Kasathas, who also live aboard a worldship fleeing destruction
Other species likely…
...do not understand Kalimshari veneration of natural features, their understanding of the Void Mother, or how their belief system and Chantry ties together.
...respect your species’ culture and tenacity, as well as how your belief system, mythos, and general civilization survived at least within the Ark despite the effective end of your galaxy. They might be fearful that you seek to revive a domineering Empire.
...misunderstand and fear your psionic or technological ability based on their knowledge of the Ark, unaware that it predates Kalimshari civilization, or on your descriptions of the Great Sacrament and the wanton destruction it inflicted, or on rogue Fae-Touched burning out.
Relations
Kalimshari are generally friendly, if slightly wary, to other races. Their relationship with the Pact Worlds is neutral, as is their understanding of the "Gap" which, being outsiders, they have not experienced - but which they also know nothing about.
Their belief dictates that all sentient species are the Children of the Void, and thus must be treated with dignity. They especially hold the Lashuntas and their psionic ability in great respect; likewise, they appreciate and relate to the plight of the Kasathas’ flight from their dying homeworld, as well as their relationship to history. Some Kalimshari dislike the loud ways of both the Ysoki and Halflings, and what they perceive as opportunist scrappiness - though more than one Kalimshari community has also welcomed them with open arms.
They distrust the Hhrot and their warlike ways - more so for their supposed lack of respect and use of force against their vassals than anything. Since the Kalimshari have not rebuilt a great navy in the years since their arrival, they see them as a potential threat. Nonetheless, strange friendships are forming between more outcast groups of both races. For instance, the Order of Solaris, a heretical splinter from the Chantry, openly welcomes warriors of both races.
Kalimshari have attempted to reach the Elves, fascinated by their outward similarity (and the implications that it would have on their understanding of the Precursors and their life-seeding) - and yet they have inexplacably been rebuffed. Drow traders, on the other hand, have been welcomed by the Kalimshari - particularly for their armaments and alien tech.
A Kasatha Embassy can be found on the Ark Hyporia.
Their belief dictates that all sentient species are the Children of the Void, and thus must be treated with dignity. They especially hold the Lashuntas and their psionic ability in great respect; likewise, they appreciate and relate to the plight of the Kasathas’ flight from their dying homeworld, as well as their relationship to history. Some Kalimshari dislike the loud ways of both the Ysoki and Halflings, and what they perceive as opportunist scrappiness - though more than one Kalimshari community has also welcomed them with open arms.
They distrust the Hhrot and their warlike ways - more so for their supposed lack of respect and use of force against their vassals than anything. Since the Kalimshari have not rebuilt a great navy in the years since their arrival, they see them as a potential threat. Nonetheless, strange friendships are forming between more outcast groups of both races. For instance, the Order of Solaris, a heretical splinter from the Chantry, openly welcomes warriors of both races.
Kalimshari have attempted to reach the Elves, fascinated by their outward similarity (and the implications that it would have on their understanding of the Precursors and their life-seeding) - and yet they have inexplacably been rebuffed. Drow traders, on the other hand, have been welcomed by the Kalimshari - particularly for their armaments and alien tech.
A Kasatha Embassy can be found on the Ark Hyporia.
Names |
Adventurers |
Kalimshari names are varied. They are usually composed of two, if not three names, at least one of them is a given name. Names are typically descended from the maternal lineage.
|
There are a few reasons for Kalimshari to wander far from the Ark.
...they may be exiled from the Ark for political or common crimes (Wayward) ...they may have forsaken or distanced themselves from the Chantry and the authoritarian and traditionalist rule of the Hierarch and of the Runewarden. ...they may be Fae-Touched or Wayward, made to feel unwelcome within the Ark and its colonies. ...they may seek to learn from an entirely unknown galaxy, full of magic and wonders ...they may seek to spread their faith of the Void Mother and/or discover more natural and artificial wonders, and more alien races, worthy of being the Void Mother’s divine creation ...in rarer cases, they may have never even seen the Ark, being the children or grandchildren of colonists who left the Ark for reasons above and having never been part of the Hyporian community. |
Classes
Here are some possibilities for Kalimshari of each of Starfinder's seven core classes :
- Technomancer : Many Kalimshari engineers blend technological prowess with the Arcane arts. On the new frontier and beyond, some Neni-Balai operatives are often found wielding technology and magic. The Cult of Ardarvia and the Highborne Institute are the premier trainers of Technomancers. Psytech is in short supply, and a Technomancer adventurer is always likely to find herself a party.
- Mechanic : Cybernetics and robotics were never thoroughly explored in the ages before the Sacrament. However, with the shortages of manpower in this new era, this is starting to change - granting more technologically-minded people their own robot buddy!
- Solarian : The mystical Chantry Templars are attuned to the dance of the stars. As the first line of Kalimshari defense, Solarians have huge responsibilities on their shoulders, and wander the Ark and beyond to ensure their people's safety. They tend to be leased as officers in Ark organizations, or are given commands aboard the fledging Ark Navy - but often they can be found working in small special ops detachments across Ark space.
- Soldier : The Ark's armed forces are still relatively small, with few vessels to defend its borders. As more first contacts are being made, soldiers are being trained with heavy weapons, and posted on Driftships or in outlying colonies.
- Envoy : The Kalimshari rely on making friends with their neighbours. Diplomats come in short supply, and are absolutely necessary to ensure safe borders. The Templars also act as the Ark's foremost diplomatic corps, though colonies and corporations also maintain PR specialists, and many a trader have secured great bargains on the wits of their Envoy.
- Mystic : Perhaps the most natural class for a Kalimshari - and not just fighters. From powerful soldiers in the Ark's Navy to Yanna-trained monks seeking only meditation and learning, Kalimshari have a wealth of mystics at their disposal. They use their natural psionics to manipulate biological systems and create powerful arcane effects. Mystics are found anywhere Kalimshari go, and truly walk a thousand paths.
- Operative : With such a reduced army, the Kalimshari must rely on intelligence and stealth to secure their borders, colonies, and assets.
- Biohacker : Technically, a medic or bio-scientist could become a biohacker. The most famous are the Sisters (and Brothers) of the Red Thorn, the Ark-based healers' guild and foremost medical school.
- Vanguard : There aren't too many Kalimshari Vanguards. For starters, Kalimshari are frail and not well suited to front-line melee combat. Besides, culturally, weaving Entropy itself is a power that is not looked kindly upon, either, for Entropy was the domain of the Untold, the ancient god-destroyer of Kalimshari and believed originator (or target) of the Great Sacrament. Nonetheless, there are always those who will dismiss the Chantry's tales as ridiculous and will learn the arts of the Vanguard - may it be from xeno sources or rebel Untold cults lurking in the maintenance bowels of the Ark...
- Witchwarper : The powers of the Witchwarper, open only to Fae-Touched Kalimshari, are deeply misunderstood. It is rumoured that the Runewarden herself is actually a Witchwarper. For evil-aligned Kalimshari, the outlawed Coven of Fortuna, where many Fae-Touched end up after their exile from the Ark, offers the power of glimpsing into alternate universes to its members...for a price of blood. While there is no known good-aligned domestic avenue for Kalimshari to learn the arts of witchwarping, there must be benevolent xenos out there who may be willing to help....
Known Kalimshari NPCs
Edited from Stellaris Xirmian Mod
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Below this section, you may find more detailed or in-depth lore. This is by no means required in order to play a Kalimshari - but you are more than welcome to read on!
The Chantry & The Cult of the Void Mother
Even after the Great Jump and the loss of their old civilization, many Kalimshari have found solace in the teachings of their ancient religion.
Who are the Gods of the Chantry?
For most of history, Kalimshari faith and even cultures were divided; however, historically, a deity known as the Untold was worshiped as the creator of the Void - later assimilated to the psionic field that permeates all of the Universe. The Untold was a destroyer-god and ruler of Entropy; however, she had children, known as the Seldarin :
Who are the Gods of the Chantry?
For most of history, Kalimshari faith and even cultures were divided; however, historically, a deity known as the Untold was worshiped as the creator of the Void - later assimilated to the psionic field that permeates all of the Universe. The Untold was a destroyer-god and ruler of Entropy; however, she had children, known as the Seldarin :
- The Healer (fallanar) - goddess of the moon, of song, dance, reverie, beauty and the arcane arts. Her Psionic Domains are Abjuration and Enchantment (metapsionics)
- The Dauntless (astald) - god of the sea, war, trade, navigation and thievery. His Domains are Evocation and Illusion.
- The Wise (noldal) - goddess of science, knowledge, and good fortunes. Her Domain are Conjuration and Divination.
- The Bountiful (niri) - goddess of the sun, of the rain, and of agriculture. She later becomes known as the Void Mother and most prominent of the Four after the defeat of the Untold, and is responsible for nursing, feeding and providing for mortals. Her Domains are Transmutation and Abjuration.
The names given to these aspects changes a lot from culture to culture and from tradition to tradition. Often, the Healer and the Bountiful are considered to be aspects of the same divine, while the Dauntless is often split between its warlike and thieflike aspects. The Untold is often also called the Bashful, the God-That-Eats-All, or the Spurned.
However, in Hyporian Chantry tradition, the Seldarin are not named - only titled.
When the Spellplague hit the Kalimshari world in ancient times (cf History), it was surmised that the Destroyer-God had fought against her children, and lost, scattered across the winds and trapped inside the Void. This had the effect of forever corrupting all of reality. Seeing that, it is said that the Four Gods used all of their remaining power to bless aspects of reality, and thus acquire the aspects that they are given today.
Worship of Lesser Spirits
In Chantry doctrine, this fight and its aftermath are the reason why divine spirits (the Athiyk) exist. These spirits, remnants of the Four Gods’ power, can either be people (alive or ancestors), or natural and even artificial features, such as mountains, rivers, forests, and even cities and armies. These spirits are not good nor evil - rather they reflect on the feature they are born from. An ancient tree’s spirit might inspire reflection and introspection, or fertility; the Great City of Eridlyn had its own spirit reflect commerce and trading. These spirits are worshiped at Shrines (known as Yanna), which nowadays belong to different networks under the authority of the Chantry. Many Shrines also worship the Four Gods directly; however worship of the Untold is often forbidden, feared, and associated with occult rituals.
However, the Untold also left its own dirt and stench upon the world. Just as natural features are reflected by Spirits, so are unclean things : death, illnesses, wanton violence, spilled blood. This corruption is not “evil”, though - it is more accurately portrayed as “divine filth” (isari'koel) that accumulates over time, and brings ill omens and bad fortunes. For this reason, it is important to visit Yanna and partake in cleansing rituals.
Places of Worship and Rituals
Yaana are erected in places of natural beauty or in cities and colonies. Aina'yanna are typically made of three parts : the Shrine Grounds (yannlad), often kept beautiful, though also often overgrown; the Main Hall where congregations meet and most rituals take place in; and the restricted Sacred Hall where the Athiyk and any relics that might be dedicated to them are said to reside. Ship-side Yaana often forego the Grounds, for obvious reasons. An aina'yanna may also have other buildings as befits their typical use as community centres and colony HQs. Typical ship-side Yaana worship the ship's own Athiyk, as well as any fallen crewmates in that ship or unit's history.
Aina'yanna are organized in Circles (mallen). Each Circle is headed by a larger shrine, the alta'yanna. Typically, this larger shrine will directly worship one of the Four Gods; this defines the domain alignment of the entire Circle.
Most yanna are led by Summoners (yala'isar), and daily life and rituals are maintained by attendants known as yanna'wen. Summoners tend to be gifted psionics, usually in the element or general field of influence of their Circle's domain alignment. Circles are led by an overarching High Summoner (yala'valsar), and these answer directly to the Chantry's Hierarch (aran'isar).
Rituals are varied and typically involve holy water that cleanses the body and soul from isari'koel corruption. Each Yanna has at least one yearly festival, where worship of the Athiyk is reaffirmed.
In addition to manned yanna, one can also find a variety of yannamalle - small roadside shrines, sometimes space beacons or small ship spaces. Many Kalimshari also maintain a small home shrine (eska'yanna) to a family's ancestor Athiyk.
Some Yanna are organized very differently, however. There is an increasing number of monasteries and hermitages dedicated to a more formalized and reclusive worship of given Athiyk of all alignments and creeds. The Athiyk Ardarvia, for instance, maintains a much-maligned shrine on the surface of Nukerna-IV.
The Great Sacrament
The Chantry has not revised its doctrine immensely since the Great Sacrament and the Ark’s Jump. It holds that the Four Gods’ victory over the Untold was but temporary, and that the Sacrament was the Gods’ final act in sealing the Untold away; this seal disturbed the fabric of the Universe immensely, and that the Gods, aware of the destruction they would wreck, bestowed the Ark as a parting gift to their people, that they may live to see another day. In fact, the Jump had made religion much more important to the Kalimshari that it ever was in the days of the Empire.
The doctrine of the Chantry is not incompatible with scientific progress; in fact, a significant branch of Kalimshari worshippers understands the Chantry doctrine as an allegory - a way to find beauty and contemplation in everything, and a way of thinking rather than a strict and narrow interpretation of the world. Likewise, many Kalimshari welcome new races and peoples because the doctrine teaches that all sentient species are, like the Kalimshari, children of the Four Gods and especially the Void Mother - and because they have little other choice.
However, in Hyporian Chantry tradition, the Seldarin are not named - only titled.
When the Spellplague hit the Kalimshari world in ancient times (cf History), it was surmised that the Destroyer-God had fought against her children, and lost, scattered across the winds and trapped inside the Void. This had the effect of forever corrupting all of reality. Seeing that, it is said that the Four Gods used all of their remaining power to bless aspects of reality, and thus acquire the aspects that they are given today.
Worship of Lesser Spirits
In Chantry doctrine, this fight and its aftermath are the reason why divine spirits (the Athiyk) exist. These spirits, remnants of the Four Gods’ power, can either be people (alive or ancestors), or natural and even artificial features, such as mountains, rivers, forests, and even cities and armies. These spirits are not good nor evil - rather they reflect on the feature they are born from. An ancient tree’s spirit might inspire reflection and introspection, or fertility; the Great City of Eridlyn had its own spirit reflect commerce and trading. These spirits are worshiped at Shrines (known as Yanna), which nowadays belong to different networks under the authority of the Chantry. Many Shrines also worship the Four Gods directly; however worship of the Untold is often forbidden, feared, and associated with occult rituals.
However, the Untold also left its own dirt and stench upon the world. Just as natural features are reflected by Spirits, so are unclean things : death, illnesses, wanton violence, spilled blood. This corruption is not “evil”, though - it is more accurately portrayed as “divine filth” (isari'koel) that accumulates over time, and brings ill omens and bad fortunes. For this reason, it is important to visit Yanna and partake in cleansing rituals.
Places of Worship and Rituals
Yaana are erected in places of natural beauty or in cities and colonies. Aina'yanna are typically made of three parts : the Shrine Grounds (yannlad), often kept beautiful, though also often overgrown; the Main Hall where congregations meet and most rituals take place in; and the restricted Sacred Hall where the Athiyk and any relics that might be dedicated to them are said to reside. Ship-side Yaana often forego the Grounds, for obvious reasons. An aina'yanna may also have other buildings as befits their typical use as community centres and colony HQs. Typical ship-side Yaana worship the ship's own Athiyk, as well as any fallen crewmates in that ship or unit's history.
Aina'yanna are organized in Circles (mallen). Each Circle is headed by a larger shrine, the alta'yanna. Typically, this larger shrine will directly worship one of the Four Gods; this defines the domain alignment of the entire Circle.
Most yanna are led by Summoners (yala'isar), and daily life and rituals are maintained by attendants known as yanna'wen. Summoners tend to be gifted psionics, usually in the element or general field of influence of their Circle's domain alignment. Circles are led by an overarching High Summoner (yala'valsar), and these answer directly to the Chantry's Hierarch (aran'isar).
Rituals are varied and typically involve holy water that cleanses the body and soul from isari'koel corruption. Each Yanna has at least one yearly festival, where worship of the Athiyk is reaffirmed.
In addition to manned yanna, one can also find a variety of yannamalle - small roadside shrines, sometimes space beacons or small ship spaces. Many Kalimshari also maintain a small home shrine (eska'yanna) to a family's ancestor Athiyk.
Some Yanna are organized very differently, however. There is an increasing number of monasteries and hermitages dedicated to a more formalized and reclusive worship of given Athiyk of all alignments and creeds. The Athiyk Ardarvia, for instance, maintains a much-maligned shrine on the surface of Nukerna-IV.
The Great Sacrament
The Chantry has not revised its doctrine immensely since the Great Sacrament and the Ark’s Jump. It holds that the Four Gods’ victory over the Untold was but temporary, and that the Sacrament was the Gods’ final act in sealing the Untold away; this seal disturbed the fabric of the Universe immensely, and that the Gods, aware of the destruction they would wreck, bestowed the Ark as a parting gift to their people, that they may live to see another day. In fact, the Jump had made religion much more important to the Kalimshari that it ever was in the days of the Empire.
The doctrine of the Chantry is not incompatible with scientific progress; in fact, a significant branch of Kalimshari worshippers understands the Chantry doctrine as an allegory - a way to find beauty and contemplation in everything, and a way of thinking rather than a strict and narrow interpretation of the world. Likewise, many Kalimshari welcome new races and peoples because the doctrine teaches that all sentient species are, like the Kalimshari, children of the Four Gods and especially the Void Mother - and because they have little other choice.
An Historical Account of the One Folk
Taeral Beiynore, Ark Solarian, 3375 NE
Beasts of Stone
6000 BF - 900 BF
The Bosari (“The One Folk”) - the old name given to Kalimshari before Imperial domination or its hegemony upon much of their race - stirred in the magical floodplains of Elindra. Fairly little is known of this era, but by -4000, they had split into myriads of tribal people.
The first nation-states appeared around -3200. The most noteworthy include the City-State of Kaalandril, famous for its enchanters; the Free Marshes in the North; the Kashites, Lemmites and Pensives, erstwhile originators of the golden spires that would adorn every settlement in the world; the magocracy of Sawano or the Untold’s great Yanna of Sylvari.
Early Bosari societies were deeply magical; psykers ruled the classical world and magical crystals were often traded as currency. Over time, psionic mages codified the magical practices they partook in; soon the magical school of Enchantment was born and it was discovered that items could be imbued with magical effects. The rise of Enchantment had a tremendous impact on the development of pre-Spellplague societies, as it provided colossal technological leaps. Tablets were often used as “scrolls” and magic, whilst still the stuff of the elite and wealthy, became even more widespread.
Over time, mages in several city-states invented runestones : small magical artefacts designed to be as elementally pure as possible and to be combined together into a predictable set of magical effects. These Runes were designed to be used by anybody and soon made the wealth of the city of Eridlyn. However, this attracted the ire of traditional psykers who were situated at the elite end of societies worldwide, as they would often need to train for years, and were finding themselves undercut by commoners armed with runestones.“. In this context, the War of the Magi raged between several of the city-states between Enchanters and Psykers - though there was evidence that mages of either Arcane or Psionic conviction often ended on either side of the conflict, and political maneuvering played as much a role as arcane ideology.
In this difficult context - perhaps even the first genuine world war, as many of the city-states of this era were interlinked together and relied upon each other for resources such as tin or thaunium - the Chantry started to rise as a faith to rally people. Meanwhile, members of the secretive Scions’ Order claimed to have unlocked the secret of reality itself. That much is unlikely, what is known is that a mage known as Leonidas - a powerful enchanter, responsible for the fall of Sawano in 980 BF, according to the historian Asharel - eventually gathered relics from all existing city-states and brought about a “plague of epic magical proportions” in an effort to end the war.
Thus was the Spellplague brought about.
The Great Dark Age
900 BF - 100 NE
The Spellplague manifested as a magical mist that covered the surface of the world. In the space of a year, sunlight dimmed, crops failed, and all magical efforts to hold back the Plague had failed. Within ten years, the magical properties of the Spellplague had affected wildlife. The War of the Magi ended only through the mass starvation of many.
Eridlyn was the first city to “go dark.” Beneath the crust of the earth, they found the Underbelly : caverns that seemingly stretched across the entire planet, and which often were dimly lit by magical crystals.
Eridlyn built a settlement for its survivors called Ontotal (Dwelling-From-Stone) deep within this complex, and soon the elites and commoners of several other nations and city-states followed. Typically, once settlements were settled, in an attempt to protect themselves from the Spellplague above, entrances were sealed and entire armies were sent to explore the caverns and seal any entrance they might find. Meanwhile, mages would start crops and within fifty years, survivors of the Spellplague would settle in the Underbelly.
This ruined early religions and completely changed the balance of power in Bosari society. Over time, magic itself started to be viewed as suspicious - much as the Spellplague became the result of an epic battle against the creator god, the Untold, so was magic a remnants of its stench and power, and something to be mistrusted, possibly even banned.
In the thousand years spent underground, mages were persecuted and technology stagnated. However, despite the lack of unity of the remaining Bosari, who were split across small villages and outposts, a shared culture started to emerge across the entire race. The Great Dark Age was also the origin of the Kalimshari’s particularly good low light vision - though the Underbelly was not pitch black, nor as insulated from the surface world as one might think.
On the surface, few civilizations thrived. Collectively, these were known as the Goblin Kingdoms. Only a few nations managed to truly get by, such as the pirates of the outlying rocky islands that made up the Faemarch.
During the Spellplague, an estimated 90% of all Kalimshari died. The Great Dark Age ended when the Spellplague showed signs of weakening. It was the minor outpost of Kalimshar that declared an end to their underground exile first, and rebuilt their keep on the desolate surface. Soon other regions followed. Year 0 marks the death of Imperator Lothroth, the Kalimshari leader who first pitched his flag into the soil to mark the return of Bosari civilization to the surface.
The Enkindling
100 NE - 1800 NE
Very little is known of the road to progress made by the Bosari during this time. This is not due to their history not being recorded, but rather to a historical black hole : while the great libraries and historical databases of the Empire were filled to the brim with information on the middle and industrial ages of Bosari civilizations, such knowledge was never uploaded to the Ark millennia on, and much of what was known vanished in the chaotic centuries that followed the Ark’s Jump. It is known that magic was nearly forgotten, or suppressed, though it is known that by the industrial era limited magitech made a reappearance, as did the magic schools. By then magic in general was known as Mysticism.
What is also known is that in the modern era, the nation of Kalimshar, then a small but powerful and economically savvy realm, entered an alliance with the bigger republic of Rayya-El, led an Atomic Race and then a Space Race even as world wars raged on and devastated the entire planet, claiming 15% of all Kalimshari living at that time).
This alliance managed to win the last World War (with liberal use of nuclear and psionic weapons), and then proceeded to offer aid and relief in exchange for political subservience. For most nations this was not a free choice as the Kalimshari had managed an impossible tech and economic leap forward; soon, under the guidance of the Kalimshari, space started to become yet another frontier.
Flight to the Stars
100 NE - 1800 NE
During the early space age, Kalimshari dominance effectively forced a three-way tug of war as the planet’s resources started to dwindle. History records that early Bosari were not kind to their world, even before nukes and psionic shockwaves scarred its lush surface. Despite the widespread myth of an agrarian pre-FTL society, it is known that many mines were despoiled and that many cities were cesspits of disease. It is not surprising, then, that when the allpowerful Kalimshari started to settle other worlds and asteroids within their solar system, many corporations followed and allowed their hegemon to consolidate their holdings.
The Kalimshari themselves already held a good portion of their world; crucially, their economy was far less damaged than that of most other nations, and their land far more fertile. They made up for the loss of monopoly upon their nuclear weapons with the first heavy space frigates : the starships Feyona, Bokashi and Foxfire. These could wreck destruction to entire continents by opening fire upon them or, in a last ditch scenario, by crashing at .06% of FTL into them - while leaving absolutely no time for enemy retaliation. They also built and eventually ruled from Station Umbar - an international trade satellite that would become the first true space shipyard in Bosari history.
However, the rest of the Bosari were not always keen on Kalimshari hegemony, if not outright domination. While Kalimshari outposts started to mushroom across its solar system, so did independent bases. Many of them were still coerced into cooperation with the Kalimshari, however it became obvious that the hegemony started to crumble. Worse, in 1954 NE, the Free League of Bosari Nations led by Admiral Caenya started to openly challenge Kalimshari authority. For a few years, it had seemed that the unity of the Bosari race was inevitable. A mere decade later, as nations recovered and caught up with the Kalimshari, it became a lost dream.
Not everyone hated the Kalimshari. The hegemons did have more or less willing allies. After all, they had provided considerable aid to many nations ruined by the world wars, and their scientific progress left even other tech-focused countries in the dust. And even as their formidable economic edge blunted over time against the rest of the Bosari race, they had more cards to play to secure their might.
In 1793 NE, another war seemed to brew between the Kalimshari Hegemony and the Free League. A third player - independant colonies and stations on the Endriel Belt, which provided both powers with minerals and thaumium, started a terrorist campaign that would open the Bosari to the prospect of their first interstellar war.
In 1795 NE, the technological arms race of the Free League and of the Kalimshari culminated with the discovery of a strange, pyramidal ship was discovered in the far reaches of their solar system. A discovery followed another, and soon the brightest Kalimshari minds understood the secret of Hyperlanes (Elenmalle). By the time of the Kalimshari ascendency, however, these Hyperlanes had long decayed. This also created deep unrest amongst all Bosari : the ship was the undeniable proof of alien life, even if it had vanished far before the Elven rise to the heavens. This also shifted Chantry doctrine towards xenophilia as it built its first scout ship, the Niasa, to discover and seek out new worlds and peoples to befriend.
None of this ever daunted a young, bright elven mind known as Melina Icewind, who in 1826 NE cracked the secret of relativity itself : the very first FTL drive was invented.
Digging into the void and powered by fusion reaction (not a trivial amount of power generation at this point in history, yet a far lower amount than might be expected of very fast relativistic craft) as well as thaumium, the drive transcends or "drilled" into lower dimensions. Within the FTL bubble, it sailed along at relativistic speeds using conventional drive methods. In 1897 NE, the speed of 1c was finally reached - relativity-free.
The Kalimshari Ascendency
1897 NE - 2254 NE
The discovery of the FTL drive was kept a closely guarded secret even as the Kalimshari built the first FTL capable ships and probes.
Unlike the Chantry, the foremost Kalimshari concern was not exploration or the visit of other star systems. With their nearly undetectable and unfathomably fast ships, the Kalimshari maintained technological supremacy upon the slowships of the Free League and the myriad of independent powers that started to populate their solar system. HIt-and-run skirmishes disturbed League trade routes and in 1921 NE the League colony of Sagama was destroyed by a Kalimshari fleet. League command only found out hours later.
As it turned out, this would be the closest the Kalimshari would ever unite their race. The League never truly yielded, but in 1936 NE, it surrendered to the Hegemony. This is when the name "Kalimshari" started to be used instead of "Bosari" to describe their entire people.
In 1938 NE, four life-bearing worlds had been discovered by the Chantry scout Niasa and her sister ship, the Nasha. Thus the Kalimshari sought to settle them and in 2015 NE, the first extrasolar colony was built : Delta Pavonis. Soon it was followed by Nyastra (2023) and Amara (2024). Only Kalimshari-approved colonies were allowed to be erected; in 2029 NE, the illegal Deltan colony of Valamar was destroyed and Delta's colonists were heavily fined for allowing its settlement in the first place.
This did not sit well with many offworlders. Over the century, the Kalimshari had become complacent. No longer did they hold a technological edge or even the secret of their FTL drive. Their fleet had not considerably increased since the skirmishes with the Free League, either. More crucially, at the scale of an entire star cluster, impossibly larger than a single solar system, their FTL ships were slow. In 2064 NE, Delta Pavonis declared its independence. It was joined by the nearby world of Amara III.
In an unthinkable blow to the Kalimshari, the Hegemony force sent to “pacify” both colonies was defeated (at least in official records. it is known that General Urqu, at the head of the task force, was sympathetic to the colonists). It turned out that half their forces, including capital frigates, had defected to the colonists. Unwilling or unable to risk more ships, the Kalimshari responded by enforcing a blocade on those few home nations that had not yet sworn alliegence to them.
Over the next hundred years, attempts were made to retake their colony worlds, especially as no more life-bearing worlds were found in this time period. All failed, and in 2254 NE, the Kalimshari declared themselves an Empire; meanwhile, the Free League was revived in spirit, as each of the secessionist worlds had become fledgling republics, loosely united against further Kalimshari ascendancy.
The Empire of Eighteen
2254 NE - 3250 NE
Much of the history of the millennia that follows has been lost to an information black hole. Many of the formats used in this time period have degraded faster than anticipated, and despite late attempts at restoration, many archives were forever lost.
It is known that the Bosari soon grew to find 21 more life bearing planets over a timescale of 500 standard years. Of these, the Kalimshari managed to colonize 16, bringing their total holdings to 18 Imperial worlds. Two new worlds were deemed "Neutral" by both the Deltan League and the Kalimshari Empire, and allowed free settlement from either bloc.
To avoid losing more colonies, Imperial administration worked, in effect, as a quasi-federal over-state. Considerable power was vested into its member states - including, in time, defence. This resulted in the Imperial navy being a composite of eighteen different navies. Infighting was common and, it is believed, encouraged by successive Emperors as a distraction to consolidate overall Imperial power. Under a cliens system, the Senate, headed by the Empress or later on Emperor, was made up of locally elected representative from mostly independent Imperial provinces, the Imperial Helbau (the federal subdivisions of the Empire). The Senate was headed by the Chancellor and Senators, who sat alongside popular representatives (the clients) and minor house representatives (patrons).
Some of these 18 worlds were fairly loyal; some of the less valuable words, however, remained fairly independent despite flying the Imperial banner. Over time, the Empire became a chaotic mosaic of thousands of smaller factions - guilds, companies, corporations - and star systems, many of them only settled with remote mining facilities and scientific institutes. As a result, each of the core worlds constituted a Helgau - a star province. While no core world was ever directly attacked, boundary disputes between Helgau became commonplace and infighting resumed with fierce intensity.
In 3125 NE, a shockingly poorly documented war against the Hhrot occured. Best described as "an expansionnist race of insufferable warrior blobs" in the words of Admiral Quriel, the Hhrot happened to favour the same few precious worlds as the Kalimshari did. The war itself occurred at the borders of both spheres of influence, yet most archives are lost. It is known that it ended in a stalemate with the loss of several frontier trading outposts, and was also a blow to Chantry xeno-friendly policies. It is possible that the Empire itself censored the events of this war in order to maintain a good outlook to outsiders and citizens alike.
No further life-bearing worlds were found (at least, to Kalimshari standards). Water and food became hot commodities and the Empire, thanks to its breadbasket worlds, held a quasi-monopoly on the latter. Thus, there was little else for disgruntled factions to go, except perhaps uncomfortably exposed bases on asteroids with small, fragile hydroponics facilities - not the first choice for most sensible people.
in 3105 NE, terraforming became a valid option to gain more land across the stars. The world of Bytha II was one of the first to be terraformed and deemed inhabitable. By 3150 NE, fifteen more worlds had similarly completed the lengthy terraforming process and were being settled. To the Empire, this became a thorn in its side : unwanted expansion could lead to a splintering of their carefully managed provinces. To make matters worse, the bureaucracy of this era was notoriously bloated and corrupted. As guilds, corporatons and other vested interests started to work on their own planets, the Empire built border forts. Ostensibly they acted as markets and trade hubs to support colonization efforts. In reality, they sought to make new colonies dependent on Imperial infrastructure and thus protect the status quo without resorting to systematic destruction of colonies that seemed to veer away from Kalimshari interests.
The Neutral Zone, where the Empire could not build such border forts, became an attractive prospect and corporations built their own trade hubs for Deltan League and Imperial settlers alike. In 3247 NE, concerned with rapid depopulation, Imperial powers declared that no further people were allowed to emigrate without jumping through difficult hoops.
By 3250 NE, the Kalimshari had opened diplomatic channels with well over 20 xeno species. At its height, there were 18 Imperial Helbau (Neutral Zone holdings are not included) centered on each of the 18 found colonies + the Kalimshari homeworld. They comprised 223 terraformed worlds, 32'254 systems with some Imperial presence and over 300'000 charted star systems overall.
The Voidborne Revelation
3250 NE - 3306 NE
In 3250 NE, a far trader visiting the faraway holdings of the Zaalans returned to Kalimshari space with ominous news. The crew of the Balewind claimed that entire worlds on the other side of the galaxy had been obliterated by ethereal fae beings. A trickle of xeno refugees soon dispelled doubts. The fae beings were soon given a name : the Voidborne. They had no face, no discernible purpose - except, it seemed, wanton destruction.
To the Chantry, the truth was clear. The Untold had returned into their realm, and was seeking vengeance for Her imprisonment. To most other Kalimshari, however, they were an unfathomable entity, a worrisome threat on a far horizon - but nothing immediate. Yet. Refugees arrived in droves, and soon were denied docking permissions Empire wide. Many settled on barely terraformed planets, and slums started to appear across Kalimshari space, to the frustration of many citizens.
Yet for some time the Voidborne onslaught did not disrupt Kalimshari civilization much else. Behind closed doors, however, generals suspected that the Voidborne were likely coming for them, sooner and later, and that their technology was nowhere near sufficient if they wanted to keep the fae at bay. In 3263 NE, the introduction of the psionic jump drive gave some hope to the military brass. The pinnacle of psitech, it allowed a psionic Navigator to seamlessly guide a ship across Hyperspace. Combined with cutting-edge antimatter reactors, this made FTL travel tenfold quicker. The XIIIth Fleet was assembled out of these brand new vessels.
Over the next decade, Imperial prospects sobered, as a full-on defensive war against the Voidborne onslaught seemed more likely by the day. With no better answer to this growing threat and an unwillingness to be taken by surprise,, the XIIIth fleet was tasked to take the initiative and attack in a series of hit-and-run skirmishes. For some time, this actually seemed to work; however, by 3285 NE, it became obvious that the Voidborne simply ignored the fleet, content to repair what little damage was done on the fly.
By 3290 NE, society at large had taken notice. The Voidborne were almost at the edge of the Neutral Zone, and trade with 15 other civilizations had already stopped. The Empire was still nowhere near a solution, and it seemed that Kalimshari were next on the fae invaders' agenda. Their foe had no supply routes to protect, and most weaponry was useless against them. Economies started to collapse and a defeatist mood settled upon the Empire, despite the widespread curtailing of basic freedoms, the mass draftings, and the diversion of nearly all resources towards the building of more vessels. The situation seemed hopeless, and no attack seemed to slow the arrival of the fae invaders.
In 3301 NE, they arrived. Numeni, a Neutral World, fell in a matter of hours to the Voidborne onslaught despite League fleets and the harassing actions of the XIIIth Fleet. The Empire came to see firsthand, on live feed, the horrors of the Voidborne onslaught - what had already consumed so much of the galaxy, and was now the likely fate that awaited all of its worlds
After a difficult live feed proclamation, Empress Elysael III took her own life during an emergency sessions of the Imperial War Council.
There was no appetite for a lavish ceremony as her daughter, Elysael IV, a powerful psyker, ascended to the throne. The bloated organization of the Empire became powerless as Helgau recalled their fleets and focused on their own core worlds first.
Temporary victories were gained in 3302 NE as the IVth Navy sacrificed itself to allow the VIIIth and IXth Navies to score crippling blows against Voidborne dreadnoughts, but no ground was ever gained. Morale was low as frontier worlds were swallowed in the tide of what the Chantry described as the Untold's divine righteousness.
In 3304 NE, reports of a mysterious Psyker known as the Runewarden emerged on the Imperial side, following the fall of the core Imperial world Xebloth IV. Elysael IV exposed her plan to elites across what remained of Imperial and League worlds alike. They would turn the alien starship that first enabled them to discover Hyperspace into an Ark, and hope to drive it faster than any known FTL drive, as far away as possibly imaginable. The plan was initially kept secret, to avoid droves of refugees rushing towards the ship.
The Ark Hyporia, as it was called, was still orbiting on the fringes of the Kalimshari home system, as it had done for the past millennia. When the Runewarden and the Empress, flying out of the Psyship Kyrona, first stepped into the Ark, the ship's systems and controls seemed to "click" with the exploration team. Commander Ankael, a jumpy Fae-Touched marine by trade, is known to have opened fire on one of the consoles when the alien script that had always been displaying suddenly changed to perfect Kalimshari Common. However, within two years, they had managed to make the ship livable. It was believed that they could use the last of her hyperdrive reactors in order to jump towards the edge of the nearest galaxy - only 50'000 LY away.
In ages past, the Ark Hyporia had woven hyperlanes for a civilization lost to time. In 3306 NE, she would save a civilization from oblivion at the end of an unfathomable foe, even if it meant rushing into an unknown new realm.
The Great Sacrament
3306 NE
In late 3306 NE, contact was lost with Delta Pavonis, a mere 4 LY out from the Homeworld. This event was simply named "The First Doom", as this was the breaking point for an Empire that effectively dissolved.
Elysael IV and the Runewarden, caught out of time with half of the ship still unexplored, loaded the Ark with officials and refugees alike from the Homeworld. However, they did not stay on board, instead naming Chantry High Summoner Sithirl as its ultimate caretaker. Instead, the Runewarden departed aboard the Psyship Promethor for an unknown destination, only promising that she would return when the storm had passed. Elysael IV remained on the homeworld to organize its hopeless defense against the fae invaders.
On the remaining Kalimshari worlds, order had completely broken down. Streets were filled with rioters, whilst others pray to an empty sky for a miracle. In the closing days of 3306 NE, days after the Ark's departure, contact was finally lost with the Kalimshari homeworld. Thus the "Second Doom" happened.
Things were about to get much worse
Out of nowhere, a psionic wave of untold proportions washed over Kalimshari space. All psitech (including FTL tech, but also most planetary infrastructure) was destroyed instantly, and every psychic (which is to say, 95% of the entire Bosari race) went into burnout. Most died instantly - mercifully. The remainder rampaged through every world, every ship, every holdout in raving madness, killing everything and anything in their path. The Kalimshari homeworld became irradiated as every psitech device exploded.
Thus did the Third Doom finish the Empire.
Weeks of horror ensued for the few survivors. No FTL meant all trade ground to a halt. Urban centres turned into mass graves as mass starvation ensued. Those few psyships that somehow remained intact were seized by desperate military governments and elites fleeing for the frontier. Yet it seemed that the Voidborne, at last, had retreated.
The Promised Land
3306 NE - 3375 NE (Present Day)
Through some miracle, the Third Doom did not affect anybody of the crew and refugees of the Ark Hyporia. An investigation showed that the psionic wave detonated deep into Voidborne territory, and bore hallmarks of Fae technology. Did they detonate a psychic bomb to finish the job? Did they run out of patience? More scans showed entire regions of space as Voidborne-free. The psionic wave was soon named the Great Sacrament, and Chantry theologian surmised that the Four Gods had prevailed once more against the Untold - at great cost.
Whilst the crew and refugees aboard the Ark pleaded to rescue survivors, the strain on their life support systems did not allow it. Worse, while the hyperlane drive seemed to be untouched, the conventional FTL thrusters placed around the Ark to navigate it had failed, effectively leaving the Ark drifting into space.
Thus did the ship's engineers work around the clock to secure new areas of the ship and use them as agricultural sections, all while they attempted to restore their FTL drive. In 3308 NE, with the Chantry having taken over the ship, one FTL drive was patched up enough for slow FTL, and the ship was allowed to drift near the nearest core world. In 3309 NE, it came into orbit of Vilvaa II, where half a millon survivors were picked up. Disappointingly, though, every shipyard and most industrial facilities had been destroyed by the psionic wave.
The ruling council aboard the Ark came to the conclusion that the Ark could not feasibly travel across what was left of Kalimshari space - it would take years to reach the nearest other Core world, and there was no guarantee to find survivors in the urban core of the Empire, nor much in the way of salvagable tech. However, it remained in Imperial space in 3310 NE, when reports of a dying Voidborne vessel reached the Hierarch.
This was the last straw. If the Voidborne psionic wave had not finished the fae invaders off, was there a chance of a renewed invasion? Thus, following a historical vote (one of the few freely made decisions aboard the Ark), the Hyperlane drive of the Hyporia were brought online.
In 3311 NE, the Hyporia finally jumped for a new, unknown destination - a small star cluster on the fringe of the nearest galaxy. This seemed to exhaust the Ark's hyperlane drive - pending FTL repairs, it was pinned in its new home. There, a cold but habitable world was found and swiftly charted : New Eridlyn.
In 3315 NE, contact was achieved with the first native race in this galaxy : the Lashuntas. More first contacts soon followed, and in 3317 NE, the Lashuntas shared their own FTL drives with the population of the Ark. Dubbed "the Drift", these FTL drives were not dissimilar to the Kalimshari drives, and thus soon were produced.
In 3325 NE, the first Ark colony beyond their newfound home system was settled, named "Win'yestal" (New Start). Despite that, most people elected to remain within the secure confines of their Ark, which was transformed into a permanent trade facility and genuine space metropolis. A small diaspora and the first Ten-Yearly Pilgrimage followed, as a new culture started to emerge.
In 3328 NE, rumours that the Runewarden had returned were confirmed by the Chantry. No explanation was given as to how the Runewarden managed to follow the Ark using conventional FTL - the most likely option is that she returned without noise before the Ark departed.
The current year is 3375 NE. From ashes, a new dawn to spurn the Kalimshari ever onwards...
6000 BF - 900 BF
The Bosari (“The One Folk”) - the old name given to Kalimshari before Imperial domination or its hegemony upon much of their race - stirred in the magical floodplains of Elindra. Fairly little is known of this era, but by -4000, they had split into myriads of tribal people.
The first nation-states appeared around -3200. The most noteworthy include the City-State of Kaalandril, famous for its enchanters; the Free Marshes in the North; the Kashites, Lemmites and Pensives, erstwhile originators of the golden spires that would adorn every settlement in the world; the magocracy of Sawano or the Untold’s great Yanna of Sylvari.
Early Bosari societies were deeply magical; psykers ruled the classical world and magical crystals were often traded as currency. Over time, psionic mages codified the magical practices they partook in; soon the magical school of Enchantment was born and it was discovered that items could be imbued with magical effects. The rise of Enchantment had a tremendous impact on the development of pre-Spellplague societies, as it provided colossal technological leaps. Tablets were often used as “scrolls” and magic, whilst still the stuff of the elite and wealthy, became even more widespread.
Over time, mages in several city-states invented runestones : small magical artefacts designed to be as elementally pure as possible and to be combined together into a predictable set of magical effects. These Runes were designed to be used by anybody and soon made the wealth of the city of Eridlyn. However, this attracted the ire of traditional psykers who were situated at the elite end of societies worldwide, as they would often need to train for years, and were finding themselves undercut by commoners armed with runestones.“. In this context, the War of the Magi raged between several of the city-states between Enchanters and Psykers - though there was evidence that mages of either Arcane or Psionic conviction often ended on either side of the conflict, and political maneuvering played as much a role as arcane ideology.
In this difficult context - perhaps even the first genuine world war, as many of the city-states of this era were interlinked together and relied upon each other for resources such as tin or thaunium - the Chantry started to rise as a faith to rally people. Meanwhile, members of the secretive Scions’ Order claimed to have unlocked the secret of reality itself. That much is unlikely, what is known is that a mage known as Leonidas - a powerful enchanter, responsible for the fall of Sawano in 980 BF, according to the historian Asharel - eventually gathered relics from all existing city-states and brought about a “plague of epic magical proportions” in an effort to end the war.
Thus was the Spellplague brought about.
The Great Dark Age
900 BF - 100 NE
The Spellplague manifested as a magical mist that covered the surface of the world. In the space of a year, sunlight dimmed, crops failed, and all magical efforts to hold back the Plague had failed. Within ten years, the magical properties of the Spellplague had affected wildlife. The War of the Magi ended only through the mass starvation of many.
Eridlyn was the first city to “go dark.” Beneath the crust of the earth, they found the Underbelly : caverns that seemingly stretched across the entire planet, and which often were dimly lit by magical crystals.
Eridlyn built a settlement for its survivors called Ontotal (Dwelling-From-Stone) deep within this complex, and soon the elites and commoners of several other nations and city-states followed. Typically, once settlements were settled, in an attempt to protect themselves from the Spellplague above, entrances were sealed and entire armies were sent to explore the caverns and seal any entrance they might find. Meanwhile, mages would start crops and within fifty years, survivors of the Spellplague would settle in the Underbelly.
This ruined early religions and completely changed the balance of power in Bosari society. Over time, magic itself started to be viewed as suspicious - much as the Spellplague became the result of an epic battle against the creator god, the Untold, so was magic a remnants of its stench and power, and something to be mistrusted, possibly even banned.
In the thousand years spent underground, mages were persecuted and technology stagnated. However, despite the lack of unity of the remaining Bosari, who were split across small villages and outposts, a shared culture started to emerge across the entire race. The Great Dark Age was also the origin of the Kalimshari’s particularly good low light vision - though the Underbelly was not pitch black, nor as insulated from the surface world as one might think.
On the surface, few civilizations thrived. Collectively, these were known as the Goblin Kingdoms. Only a few nations managed to truly get by, such as the pirates of the outlying rocky islands that made up the Faemarch.
During the Spellplague, an estimated 90% of all Kalimshari died. The Great Dark Age ended when the Spellplague showed signs of weakening. It was the minor outpost of Kalimshar that declared an end to their underground exile first, and rebuilt their keep on the desolate surface. Soon other regions followed. Year 0 marks the death of Imperator Lothroth, the Kalimshari leader who first pitched his flag into the soil to mark the return of Bosari civilization to the surface.
The Enkindling
100 NE - 1800 NE
Very little is known of the road to progress made by the Bosari during this time. This is not due to their history not being recorded, but rather to a historical black hole : while the great libraries and historical databases of the Empire were filled to the brim with information on the middle and industrial ages of Bosari civilizations, such knowledge was never uploaded to the Ark millennia on, and much of what was known vanished in the chaotic centuries that followed the Ark’s Jump. It is known that magic was nearly forgotten, or suppressed, though it is known that by the industrial era limited magitech made a reappearance, as did the magic schools. By then magic in general was known as Mysticism.
What is also known is that in the modern era, the nation of Kalimshar, then a small but powerful and economically savvy realm, entered an alliance with the bigger republic of Rayya-El, led an Atomic Race and then a Space Race even as world wars raged on and devastated the entire planet, claiming 15% of all Kalimshari living at that time).
This alliance managed to win the last World War (with liberal use of nuclear and psionic weapons), and then proceeded to offer aid and relief in exchange for political subservience. For most nations this was not a free choice as the Kalimshari had managed an impossible tech and economic leap forward; soon, under the guidance of the Kalimshari, space started to become yet another frontier.
Flight to the Stars
100 NE - 1800 NE
During the early space age, Kalimshari dominance effectively forced a three-way tug of war as the planet’s resources started to dwindle. History records that early Bosari were not kind to their world, even before nukes and psionic shockwaves scarred its lush surface. Despite the widespread myth of an agrarian pre-FTL society, it is known that many mines were despoiled and that many cities were cesspits of disease. It is not surprising, then, that when the allpowerful Kalimshari started to settle other worlds and asteroids within their solar system, many corporations followed and allowed their hegemon to consolidate their holdings.
The Kalimshari themselves already held a good portion of their world; crucially, their economy was far less damaged than that of most other nations, and their land far more fertile. They made up for the loss of monopoly upon their nuclear weapons with the first heavy space frigates : the starships Feyona, Bokashi and Foxfire. These could wreck destruction to entire continents by opening fire upon them or, in a last ditch scenario, by crashing at .06% of FTL into them - while leaving absolutely no time for enemy retaliation. They also built and eventually ruled from Station Umbar - an international trade satellite that would become the first true space shipyard in Bosari history.
However, the rest of the Bosari were not always keen on Kalimshari hegemony, if not outright domination. While Kalimshari outposts started to mushroom across its solar system, so did independent bases. Many of them were still coerced into cooperation with the Kalimshari, however it became obvious that the hegemony started to crumble. Worse, in 1954 NE, the Free League of Bosari Nations led by Admiral Caenya started to openly challenge Kalimshari authority. For a few years, it had seemed that the unity of the Bosari race was inevitable. A mere decade later, as nations recovered and caught up with the Kalimshari, it became a lost dream.
Not everyone hated the Kalimshari. The hegemons did have more or less willing allies. After all, they had provided considerable aid to many nations ruined by the world wars, and their scientific progress left even other tech-focused countries in the dust. And even as their formidable economic edge blunted over time against the rest of the Bosari race, they had more cards to play to secure their might.
In 1793 NE, another war seemed to brew between the Kalimshari Hegemony and the Free League. A third player - independant colonies and stations on the Endriel Belt, which provided both powers with minerals and thaumium, started a terrorist campaign that would open the Bosari to the prospect of their first interstellar war.
In 1795 NE, the technological arms race of the Free League and of the Kalimshari culminated with the discovery of a strange, pyramidal ship was discovered in the far reaches of their solar system. A discovery followed another, and soon the brightest Kalimshari minds understood the secret of Hyperlanes (Elenmalle). By the time of the Kalimshari ascendency, however, these Hyperlanes had long decayed. This also created deep unrest amongst all Bosari : the ship was the undeniable proof of alien life, even if it had vanished far before the Elven rise to the heavens. This also shifted Chantry doctrine towards xenophilia as it built its first scout ship, the Niasa, to discover and seek out new worlds and peoples to befriend.
None of this ever daunted a young, bright elven mind known as Melina Icewind, who in 1826 NE cracked the secret of relativity itself : the very first FTL drive was invented.
Digging into the void and powered by fusion reaction (not a trivial amount of power generation at this point in history, yet a far lower amount than might be expected of very fast relativistic craft) as well as thaumium, the drive transcends or "drilled" into lower dimensions. Within the FTL bubble, it sailed along at relativistic speeds using conventional drive methods. In 1897 NE, the speed of 1c was finally reached - relativity-free.
The Kalimshari Ascendency
1897 NE - 2254 NE
The discovery of the FTL drive was kept a closely guarded secret even as the Kalimshari built the first FTL capable ships and probes.
Unlike the Chantry, the foremost Kalimshari concern was not exploration or the visit of other star systems. With their nearly undetectable and unfathomably fast ships, the Kalimshari maintained technological supremacy upon the slowships of the Free League and the myriad of independent powers that started to populate their solar system. HIt-and-run skirmishes disturbed League trade routes and in 1921 NE the League colony of Sagama was destroyed by a Kalimshari fleet. League command only found out hours later.
As it turned out, this would be the closest the Kalimshari would ever unite their race. The League never truly yielded, but in 1936 NE, it surrendered to the Hegemony. This is when the name "Kalimshari" started to be used instead of "Bosari" to describe their entire people.
In 1938 NE, four life-bearing worlds had been discovered by the Chantry scout Niasa and her sister ship, the Nasha. Thus the Kalimshari sought to settle them and in 2015 NE, the first extrasolar colony was built : Delta Pavonis. Soon it was followed by Nyastra (2023) and Amara (2024). Only Kalimshari-approved colonies were allowed to be erected; in 2029 NE, the illegal Deltan colony of Valamar was destroyed and Delta's colonists were heavily fined for allowing its settlement in the first place.
This did not sit well with many offworlders. Over the century, the Kalimshari had become complacent. No longer did they hold a technological edge or even the secret of their FTL drive. Their fleet had not considerably increased since the skirmishes with the Free League, either. More crucially, at the scale of an entire star cluster, impossibly larger than a single solar system, their FTL ships were slow. In 2064 NE, Delta Pavonis declared its independence. It was joined by the nearby world of Amara III.
In an unthinkable blow to the Kalimshari, the Hegemony force sent to “pacify” both colonies was defeated (at least in official records. it is known that General Urqu, at the head of the task force, was sympathetic to the colonists). It turned out that half their forces, including capital frigates, had defected to the colonists. Unwilling or unable to risk more ships, the Kalimshari responded by enforcing a blocade on those few home nations that had not yet sworn alliegence to them.
Over the next hundred years, attempts were made to retake their colony worlds, especially as no more life-bearing worlds were found in this time period. All failed, and in 2254 NE, the Kalimshari declared themselves an Empire; meanwhile, the Free League was revived in spirit, as each of the secessionist worlds had become fledgling republics, loosely united against further Kalimshari ascendancy.
The Empire of Eighteen
2254 NE - 3250 NE
Much of the history of the millennia that follows has been lost to an information black hole. Many of the formats used in this time period have degraded faster than anticipated, and despite late attempts at restoration, many archives were forever lost.
It is known that the Bosari soon grew to find 21 more life bearing planets over a timescale of 500 standard years. Of these, the Kalimshari managed to colonize 16, bringing their total holdings to 18 Imperial worlds. Two new worlds were deemed "Neutral" by both the Deltan League and the Kalimshari Empire, and allowed free settlement from either bloc.
To avoid losing more colonies, Imperial administration worked, in effect, as a quasi-federal over-state. Considerable power was vested into its member states - including, in time, defence. This resulted in the Imperial navy being a composite of eighteen different navies. Infighting was common and, it is believed, encouraged by successive Emperors as a distraction to consolidate overall Imperial power. Under a cliens system, the Senate, headed by the Empress or later on Emperor, was made up of locally elected representative from mostly independent Imperial provinces, the Imperial Helbau (the federal subdivisions of the Empire). The Senate was headed by the Chancellor and Senators, who sat alongside popular representatives (the clients) and minor house representatives (patrons).
Some of these 18 worlds were fairly loyal; some of the less valuable words, however, remained fairly independent despite flying the Imperial banner. Over time, the Empire became a chaotic mosaic of thousands of smaller factions - guilds, companies, corporations - and star systems, many of them only settled with remote mining facilities and scientific institutes. As a result, each of the core worlds constituted a Helgau - a star province. While no core world was ever directly attacked, boundary disputes between Helgau became commonplace and infighting resumed with fierce intensity.
In 3125 NE, a shockingly poorly documented war against the Hhrot occured. Best described as "an expansionnist race of insufferable warrior blobs" in the words of Admiral Quriel, the Hhrot happened to favour the same few precious worlds as the Kalimshari did. The war itself occurred at the borders of both spheres of influence, yet most archives are lost. It is known that it ended in a stalemate with the loss of several frontier trading outposts, and was also a blow to Chantry xeno-friendly policies. It is possible that the Empire itself censored the events of this war in order to maintain a good outlook to outsiders and citizens alike.
No further life-bearing worlds were found (at least, to Kalimshari standards). Water and food became hot commodities and the Empire, thanks to its breadbasket worlds, held a quasi-monopoly on the latter. Thus, there was little else for disgruntled factions to go, except perhaps uncomfortably exposed bases on asteroids with small, fragile hydroponics facilities - not the first choice for most sensible people.
in 3105 NE, terraforming became a valid option to gain more land across the stars. The world of Bytha II was one of the first to be terraformed and deemed inhabitable. By 3150 NE, fifteen more worlds had similarly completed the lengthy terraforming process and were being settled. To the Empire, this became a thorn in its side : unwanted expansion could lead to a splintering of their carefully managed provinces. To make matters worse, the bureaucracy of this era was notoriously bloated and corrupted. As guilds, corporatons and other vested interests started to work on their own planets, the Empire built border forts. Ostensibly they acted as markets and trade hubs to support colonization efforts. In reality, they sought to make new colonies dependent on Imperial infrastructure and thus protect the status quo without resorting to systematic destruction of colonies that seemed to veer away from Kalimshari interests.
The Neutral Zone, where the Empire could not build such border forts, became an attractive prospect and corporations built their own trade hubs for Deltan League and Imperial settlers alike. In 3247 NE, concerned with rapid depopulation, Imperial powers declared that no further people were allowed to emigrate without jumping through difficult hoops.
By 3250 NE, the Kalimshari had opened diplomatic channels with well over 20 xeno species. At its height, there were 18 Imperial Helbau (Neutral Zone holdings are not included) centered on each of the 18 found colonies + the Kalimshari homeworld. They comprised 223 terraformed worlds, 32'254 systems with some Imperial presence and over 300'000 charted star systems overall.
The Voidborne Revelation
3250 NE - 3306 NE
In 3250 NE, a far trader visiting the faraway holdings of the Zaalans returned to Kalimshari space with ominous news. The crew of the Balewind claimed that entire worlds on the other side of the galaxy had been obliterated by ethereal fae beings. A trickle of xeno refugees soon dispelled doubts. The fae beings were soon given a name : the Voidborne. They had no face, no discernible purpose - except, it seemed, wanton destruction.
To the Chantry, the truth was clear. The Untold had returned into their realm, and was seeking vengeance for Her imprisonment. To most other Kalimshari, however, they were an unfathomable entity, a worrisome threat on a far horizon - but nothing immediate. Yet. Refugees arrived in droves, and soon were denied docking permissions Empire wide. Many settled on barely terraformed planets, and slums started to appear across Kalimshari space, to the frustration of many citizens.
Yet for some time the Voidborne onslaught did not disrupt Kalimshari civilization much else. Behind closed doors, however, generals suspected that the Voidborne were likely coming for them, sooner and later, and that their technology was nowhere near sufficient if they wanted to keep the fae at bay. In 3263 NE, the introduction of the psionic jump drive gave some hope to the military brass. The pinnacle of psitech, it allowed a psionic Navigator to seamlessly guide a ship across Hyperspace. Combined with cutting-edge antimatter reactors, this made FTL travel tenfold quicker. The XIIIth Fleet was assembled out of these brand new vessels.
Over the next decade, Imperial prospects sobered, as a full-on defensive war against the Voidborne onslaught seemed more likely by the day. With no better answer to this growing threat and an unwillingness to be taken by surprise,, the XIIIth fleet was tasked to take the initiative and attack in a series of hit-and-run skirmishes. For some time, this actually seemed to work; however, by 3285 NE, it became obvious that the Voidborne simply ignored the fleet, content to repair what little damage was done on the fly.
By 3290 NE, society at large had taken notice. The Voidborne were almost at the edge of the Neutral Zone, and trade with 15 other civilizations had already stopped. The Empire was still nowhere near a solution, and it seemed that Kalimshari were next on the fae invaders' agenda. Their foe had no supply routes to protect, and most weaponry was useless against them. Economies started to collapse and a defeatist mood settled upon the Empire, despite the widespread curtailing of basic freedoms, the mass draftings, and the diversion of nearly all resources towards the building of more vessels. The situation seemed hopeless, and no attack seemed to slow the arrival of the fae invaders.
In 3301 NE, they arrived. Numeni, a Neutral World, fell in a matter of hours to the Voidborne onslaught despite League fleets and the harassing actions of the XIIIth Fleet. The Empire came to see firsthand, on live feed, the horrors of the Voidborne onslaught - what had already consumed so much of the galaxy, and was now the likely fate that awaited all of its worlds
After a difficult live feed proclamation, Empress Elysael III took her own life during an emergency sessions of the Imperial War Council.
There was no appetite for a lavish ceremony as her daughter, Elysael IV, a powerful psyker, ascended to the throne. The bloated organization of the Empire became powerless as Helgau recalled their fleets and focused on their own core worlds first.
Temporary victories were gained in 3302 NE as the IVth Navy sacrificed itself to allow the VIIIth and IXth Navies to score crippling blows against Voidborne dreadnoughts, but no ground was ever gained. Morale was low as frontier worlds were swallowed in the tide of what the Chantry described as the Untold's divine righteousness.
In 3304 NE, reports of a mysterious Psyker known as the Runewarden emerged on the Imperial side, following the fall of the core Imperial world Xebloth IV. Elysael IV exposed her plan to elites across what remained of Imperial and League worlds alike. They would turn the alien starship that first enabled them to discover Hyperspace into an Ark, and hope to drive it faster than any known FTL drive, as far away as possibly imaginable. The plan was initially kept secret, to avoid droves of refugees rushing towards the ship.
The Ark Hyporia, as it was called, was still orbiting on the fringes of the Kalimshari home system, as it had done for the past millennia. When the Runewarden and the Empress, flying out of the Psyship Kyrona, first stepped into the Ark, the ship's systems and controls seemed to "click" with the exploration team. Commander Ankael, a jumpy Fae-Touched marine by trade, is known to have opened fire on one of the consoles when the alien script that had always been displaying suddenly changed to perfect Kalimshari Common. However, within two years, they had managed to make the ship livable. It was believed that they could use the last of her hyperdrive reactors in order to jump towards the edge of the nearest galaxy - only 50'000 LY away.
In ages past, the Ark Hyporia had woven hyperlanes for a civilization lost to time. In 3306 NE, she would save a civilization from oblivion at the end of an unfathomable foe, even if it meant rushing into an unknown new realm.
The Great Sacrament
3306 NE
In late 3306 NE, contact was lost with Delta Pavonis, a mere 4 LY out from the Homeworld. This event was simply named "The First Doom", as this was the breaking point for an Empire that effectively dissolved.
Elysael IV and the Runewarden, caught out of time with half of the ship still unexplored, loaded the Ark with officials and refugees alike from the Homeworld. However, they did not stay on board, instead naming Chantry High Summoner Sithirl as its ultimate caretaker. Instead, the Runewarden departed aboard the Psyship Promethor for an unknown destination, only promising that she would return when the storm had passed. Elysael IV remained on the homeworld to organize its hopeless defense against the fae invaders.
On the remaining Kalimshari worlds, order had completely broken down. Streets were filled with rioters, whilst others pray to an empty sky for a miracle. In the closing days of 3306 NE, days after the Ark's departure, contact was finally lost with the Kalimshari homeworld. Thus the "Second Doom" happened.
Things were about to get much worse
Out of nowhere, a psionic wave of untold proportions washed over Kalimshari space. All psitech (including FTL tech, but also most planetary infrastructure) was destroyed instantly, and every psychic (which is to say, 95% of the entire Bosari race) went into burnout. Most died instantly - mercifully. The remainder rampaged through every world, every ship, every holdout in raving madness, killing everything and anything in their path. The Kalimshari homeworld became irradiated as every psitech device exploded.
Thus did the Third Doom finish the Empire.
Weeks of horror ensued for the few survivors. No FTL meant all trade ground to a halt. Urban centres turned into mass graves as mass starvation ensued. Those few psyships that somehow remained intact were seized by desperate military governments and elites fleeing for the frontier. Yet it seemed that the Voidborne, at last, had retreated.
The Promised Land
3306 NE - 3375 NE (Present Day)
Through some miracle, the Third Doom did not affect anybody of the crew and refugees of the Ark Hyporia. An investigation showed that the psionic wave detonated deep into Voidborne territory, and bore hallmarks of Fae technology. Did they detonate a psychic bomb to finish the job? Did they run out of patience? More scans showed entire regions of space as Voidborne-free. The psionic wave was soon named the Great Sacrament, and Chantry theologian surmised that the Four Gods had prevailed once more against the Untold - at great cost.
Whilst the crew and refugees aboard the Ark pleaded to rescue survivors, the strain on their life support systems did not allow it. Worse, while the hyperlane drive seemed to be untouched, the conventional FTL thrusters placed around the Ark to navigate it had failed, effectively leaving the Ark drifting into space.
Thus did the ship's engineers work around the clock to secure new areas of the ship and use them as agricultural sections, all while they attempted to restore their FTL drive. In 3308 NE, with the Chantry having taken over the ship, one FTL drive was patched up enough for slow FTL, and the ship was allowed to drift near the nearest core world. In 3309 NE, it came into orbit of Vilvaa II, where half a millon survivors were picked up. Disappointingly, though, every shipyard and most industrial facilities had been destroyed by the psionic wave.
The ruling council aboard the Ark came to the conclusion that the Ark could not feasibly travel across what was left of Kalimshari space - it would take years to reach the nearest other Core world, and there was no guarantee to find survivors in the urban core of the Empire, nor much in the way of salvagable tech. However, it remained in Imperial space in 3310 NE, when reports of a dying Voidborne vessel reached the Hierarch.
This was the last straw. If the Voidborne psionic wave had not finished the fae invaders off, was there a chance of a renewed invasion? Thus, following a historical vote (one of the few freely made decisions aboard the Ark), the Hyperlane drive of the Hyporia were brought online.
In 3311 NE, the Hyporia finally jumped for a new, unknown destination - a small star cluster on the fringe of the nearest galaxy. This seemed to exhaust the Ark's hyperlane drive - pending FTL repairs, it was pinned in its new home. There, a cold but habitable world was found and swiftly charted : New Eridlyn.
In 3315 NE, contact was achieved with the first native race in this galaxy : the Lashuntas. More first contacts soon followed, and in 3317 NE, the Lashuntas shared their own FTL drives with the population of the Ark. Dubbed "the Drift", these FTL drives were not dissimilar to the Kalimshari drives, and thus soon were produced.
In 3325 NE, the first Ark colony beyond their newfound home system was settled, named "Win'yestal" (New Start). Despite that, most people elected to remain within the secure confines of their Ark, which was transformed into a permanent trade facility and genuine space metropolis. A small diaspora and the first Ten-Yearly Pilgrimage followed, as a new culture started to emerge.
In 3328 NE, rumours that the Runewarden had returned were confirmed by the Chantry. No explanation was given as to how the Runewarden managed to follow the Ark using conventional FTL - the most likely option is that she returned without noise before the Ark departed.
The current year is 3375 NE. From ashes, a new dawn to spurn the Kalimshari ever onwards...