Local History: As Told By The Lylenian Ambassador
The Fringe Sector consists of twelve systems. These systems: Vulcavar, Nasentia, Sandotar, Braca, Tim'pa, Lylos, Lylenia, Dingkar, Samalos, Tiranos, Lykania, and Piraxia are aligned in a dumbbar-type shape pointing away from the Tirolian Empire. Located hundreds of parsecs away from the heart of the Tirolian Empire, the Fringe Sector is the furthest remaining colony sector of the Tirolian Empire. After being wrecked by centuries of warfare, the Fringe Sector is just beginning to pull itself out of the quagmire of war. The first grouping of planets is called the Go'kken Cluster. Consisting of Vulcavar, Nasentia, Sandotar, Braca, and Tim'pa this group was hit hardest by the warfare. The second, middle group consists of Lylos and Lylenia. The final group is called the Mutsi'kken Cluster. The cluster, consisting of Dingkar, Samalos, Tiranos, Lykania, and Piraxia, wasn't as badly damaged in the warfare.
The PlanetsVulcavar: Last of the Go'kken Cluster to be hit by the Zentraedi. In order to emulate the Zentraedi they build large humanoid mecha. All have a characteristic V on the head as a symbol of the planet. There are three principle types: 1) Fast Attack, 2) Heavy Assault, and 3) Fast Assault.
Nasentia: First planet taken by the Zentraedi. During the counterattack the planet was devastated causing the near genocide of all life. Despite the reintroduction of high technology to the society, the Nasentians have refrained from making use of it. All Nasentians are fierce warriors who never back down from a fight. Despite the fact that they make no mecha or vehicles of their own, they have the innate ability to use anyone else's at an expert level of ability.
Sandotar: Third system in the Go'kken Cluster to be hit. Their hatred of the Zentraedi is so great, they refuse to use or allow mecha of greater than man height on their planet. No vehicle of theirs is greater than 15' in height.
Braca: Second planet taken. Despite the devastating damage their industrial and population centers took, their technology base is near Earth's during 1998. All of their vehicles are conventional, but are immensely powerful. Their hovertanks have firepower roughly equal to the VHT, and their AeroStrykers have the speed and capabilities of a Super-Valkyrie and the firepower of an AJACs.
Tim'pa: Fourth planet taken. The Tim'pans surrendered to the Zentraedi to avoid excessive damage to their cultural centers. Despite this, the Zentraedi did massive amounts of damage to the cultural and population centers when they crushed the Rebels that fought them. It was because of the experiences they had here that portions of the Zentraedi Fleet broke their conditioning (AKA: Predecessor of the Great Rebellion told by Exedore). However, in giving the Zentraedi the culture that changed them, the Tim'pans took on a darker outlook of life. They are still the cultural center of the sector, but instead of being peaceloving above all else, they believe in maintaining peace and order at any cost. During the rise of the Lylosian Empire\Republic, several armies of Tim'pans were used as peacekeeping forces.
Lylenia: Home of the largest shipyards in the sector. Lylenia took light damage from the Zentraedi attack. In fact, it was here that elements of the Zentraedi fleet rebelled and joined the Alliance. Lylenia later joined with Lylos to help form the Empire\Republic. It was ambassadors from here that convinced the Tim'pans to join the Empire.
Lylos: Capitol of the Lylosian Empire\Republic. During the Great Rebellion, it was the first planet to rebel against the Robotech Masters. During the war against the Zentraedi, it was the leader of the Alliance. 100 years after the Zentraedi left the area, Lylos allied with Lylenia and convinced the Tim'pans join them. During the next 100 years Lylos conquered the other 9 planets and formed the Empire. About 175 years ago, the Empire was officially changed into the Republic. Ever since, technology has flowed freely between the 12 planets. Not all of the planets have accepted this technology, but they are free to use it as they please. Because they had been cut off from Tirol, they had no knowledge of Protoculture or the Invid. Therefore, the Invid Assault came as a total surprise. In one swift blow the Lylosian Republic was brought to its knees.
The Mutsi'kken Cluster: Other than Piraxia, the Mutsi'kken Cluster were never touched by the Zentraedi. All have about the same technology level and shiptypes. They all use the ancient Minhed Starfighter design based off of their equally ancient Riness Baseships. Riness Class Baseships are huge space carriers with twin landing bays. Each Riness can carry upwards of 1000 Minhed Starfighters in each landing bay. The Rinesses are escorted by small fleets of Tarpra Escorts. Tarpra Escorts carry about 250 Minhed fighters and about two battalions of Hardsuit Ground Troops. Up until 175 years ago, technology steadily declined on each of the other four planets; during which time their Rinesses were used as orbital starports, if they were used at all.
Piraxia: In a grand scheme to fool the Zentraedi Main Fleet, the Rogue Zentraedi and elements of the Alliance Fleet staged a fight to the death in orbit around this planet. After returning spy units of the Rogue Fleet convinced the Zentraedi High Command that the other Alliance planets had been destroyed, a portion of the Main Fleet folded to Piraxia to destroy the Rogue Fleet and the "last remnants" of the Alliance's forces. After the fierce fight, the Zentraedi Main Fleet orbitally bombarded Piraxia's population and industrial centers. After destroying all of the cities and towns, the ZMF folded back to its staging area, never to return until recently. Unknown to the ZMF, most of Piraxia's population had been either evacuated to the moon Pira or hidden in huge caverns, miles underground. Now centuries later, the planet Piraxia is still recovering while the majority of the population lives on its huge moon. Eventhough it is renown for its medical facilities, the planet is better known for its Wastelands. In these huge radioactive Wastelands, creatures have been mutating for centuries. Gargoyles, Basilisks, Dragons, and many other creatures have made the Wastelands deadly areas.
The History
The Fringe Sector was originally colonized from Tirol millennia ago. Located far away from the Local Group, the Fringe Sector was always considered the backwater area of the quadrant. Despite its distance from the Local Group, the Fringe Sector was always lumped into it. Whatever went for the Local Group tended to go for them also. When the Robotech Masters began their bid for control of the Local Group, a fleet of ships was sent to the Fringe Sector. The Masters ruled the sector with an iron glove for several years. About 75 years before the discovery of Protoculture, Lylos threw off the Robotech Masters.
Because of their distance from the Local Group, this group of Masters was left to its own resources. During the second year of the Rebellion, Lylenia joined Lylos and added its shipyards to the fight. During the third and fourth year of the Rebellion, the planets of the Mutsi'kken Cluster were freed. The fifth year of the Great Rebellion saw the freeing of the Go'kken Cluster. In the final battle at Nasentia, the Robotech Masters were routed and driven from the sector. The Robotech Masters never forgot this defeat. During this period, the Riness Baseship, Tarpra Escorts, and Minhed fighters were developed and used.
Nearly 100 years after the discovery of Protoculture and 12 years after the defoliation of Optera, the Robotech Masters sent a fleet of more than 1000 Zentraedi Warships to resubjugate the sector. At the time they arrived, Dingkar and Tiranos were in the middle of a war. The first indication the sector had of trouble was when the Zentraedi Fleet defolded around Nasentia. In a relatively quick battle, Nasentia fell to the Zentraedi.
This unexpected slap in the face slowly mobilized the war-machine of the Fringe Sector. Lylos consolidated the planets and formed the Alliance. While the preparations were being made, the Zentraedi attacked Braca. The Alliance Fleet backed away from this fight to prepare for another. As the Zentraedi consolidated their captures, the Alliance Fleet attacked. In a bold, two pronged attack, the Alliance Fleet attacked both Braca and Nasentia. While the Bracan Attack Fleet was wiped out by the Zentraedi's Reflex weaponry, the Nasentian Fleet succeeded. During the brief opening they made in the Zentraedi lines, troops were landed on Nasentia to activate the planetary defense system.
When the Zentraedi counterattacked, they were met by the Nasentian fleet and the guns of the planetary defense system. The Nasentian fleet was broken, and the subsequent ground assault devastated the planet. The Nasentian and Bracan fleets retreated to Sandotar. One week later the Zentraedi arrived at Sandotar. Although the battle was short, the damage was still extensive. The Alliance Fleet, as it stood, was decimated and the planet was under Zentraedi control. The Alliance Fleet retreated to Lylenia to repair and refit.
Meanwhile, the Zentraedi were still on the move. When they arrived at Tim'pa, the planet surrendered without a fight. Because they were first to do so, the Zentraedi were lenient with them. The Zentraedi refrained from landing on the planet. This arrangement would have continued if it weren't for the Rebellion. The Rebellion formed from the malcontents of the Tim'pans "perfect" society. Angry over their government's cowardly surrender, they decided to strike out on their own. In a series of well planned and coordinated strikes, the Rebellion managed to crash several light cruisers.
The Zentraedi first landed troops to take over the spaceports. When these units started being attacked, more troops were landed. When the scirmishes turned into battles, the Zentraedi started to hold the Tim'pans responsible for the Rebellion's actions. The resulting destruction began to turn some of the Tim'pans against their belief system. However, these changes would not become evident for several more years. Some of the Zentraedi, however, did begin to change. Over the following months, many would be exposed to the Tim'pan culture, a culture that was supposed to be the best in the sector.
During this time period, the Zentraedi attacked Vulcavar. Since the Vulcavans didn't have a space fleet, the Zentraedi landed on the planet. In one day of fighting, the Zentraedi decimated the entire Vulcavan army with only minimal losses. Despite this quick victory, the Zentraedi still couldn't advance, they were being held up on Tim'pa. This break gave the Alliance Fleet time to rebuild. It also exposed more and more of the Zentraedi to the Tim'pan culture. This exposure caused unrest within the lower ranks of the Zentraedi personnel as many came to realize that they were destroying something unique that should be protected.
This unrest came to a head during the assault on Lylenia. As the Alliance Fleet stood by in amazement, many Zentraedi pilots refused to launch the attack and actually turned on those who did try to engage the Alliance fighters. Onboard the capital ships, crews mutinied against their officers and took the ships over by force. Many of the ships that weren't taken over by mutinous crews were destroyed by those that had. In a vicious battle that lasted nearly 2 hours, the two sides fought it out, with the rebellious Zentraedi receiving help from the Alliance fleet. Out of the fleet that had come to resubjugate the sector, fully 400 were left to switch to the Alliance's side. While many were heavily damaged, they were able to make repairs from the wreckage of the rest of the fleet.
The remnants of the Zentraedi and Alliance fleets combined and began hatching a very risky and dangerous plan. It was decided that a small flotilla of ships, supposedly representing survivors of the loyal Zentraedi, would return to the Zentraedi Main Fleet and report that the rest of the fleet had rebelled over Piraxia. The ships would also bear proof and video recordings of the fleet having destroyed by bombardment or ground assault the other 9 planets in the sector before the mutiny overtook the fleet in orbit around Piraxia. After rewriting the ships' records and flightlogs, and purging the crews of anyone who wasn't a mutineer, the flotilla was sent off to rendevous with the ZMF. In the meantime, a full-fledged evacuation was begun on Piraxia. While a quarter of the population was evacuated to the moon, about half had to utilize the massive caverns under the surface of the planet. The remaining quarter of the population, or about 10 million of the oldest or sickest people, were asked to remain on the surface and in the orbital space stations to give the planet the appearance of being in full industry when the ZMF arrived. The remainder of the Alliance and Zentraedi fleets repaired and prepared for the arrival.
The flotilla of ships arrived at the Zentraedi staging area, and was able to convince the High Command of the faked events. High Command, thinking that only a few weeks had passed since the Mutiny instead of the actual several months, immediately called up an Imperial-class fleet of 1 million ships, and dispatched it to crush the Mutiny and the Alliance Fleet. When they arrived at Piraxia, they found the combined Alliance fleet waiting for them. After a short battle the combined fleet was wiped out, leaving the ZMF to bombard Piraxia and depart with no further interference.
Newly built ships from Lylenia arrived at Piraxia soon after and rescued the few survivors from the fleet. They also began transferring the survivors from the planetary caverns to the moon, Pira, and among those systems willing to take on refugees. While the planet was turned into a vast wasteland, the majority of the population could live and grow in the subsurface colony established on Pira. As more space was needed, additional cities could be dug out of the subsurface area. With the utter devestation of the Go'kken Cluster, and the low population and industrialization of the planets of the Musti'kken Cluster, Lylos and Lylenia were left as the preminant planets of the sector.
Decades passed following the departure of the Zentraedi, and the planets fo the Fringe Sector were slow to recover from the devastation visited on them. While the survivors of the Zentraedi attack were aided and the various populations were resettled, not much else was done by a united front. In many places, technology that had been readily available became rare and scarce, and the over-all society of the planets degraded. During this time, the government of Lylos slowly tightened their ties with Lylenia, eventually forging a permanent union with Lylenia. During this time, a plan was formed to unite the entire Sector under the Lylosian flag. The first step in this plan was the necessary step of either conquering Tim’pa, or convincing them to join the budding empire.
The annexation of Tim’pa was probably one of the greatest feats of diplomacy the Sector has ever seen, as it was accomplished with no bloodshed and no bad feelings on either side. Lylos enlisted the aid of Lylenian diplomats and traders to slowly spread the idea through Tim’pan society that by joining the Lylosian Alliance, not only would the Tim’pans be ensuring peace and order for their own planet, but for the rest of the Sector in the long run. The entire process from convincing the Tim’pans to join the Alliance to the point where the Tim’pans were willing to dedicate whole armies to this purpose took about thirty years. But when the conversion was completed, no Tim’pan would think twice about following the edicts of Lylos.
With the aid of armies from Tim’pa and armor and air support from Lylenia, Lylosian forces began conquering the other planets in the Fringe Sector. In a process that took decades, Lylos forged an empire out of the other planets in the Fringe Sector. With Lylos as the administration, Lylenia as the merchants, and Tim’pa as the peacekeepers and enforcers, the planets of the Lylosian Empire once again began to prosper. Basic and advanced technologies once again became common place in the cities of the Sector. Populations became healthier and bloomed. With the spread of prosperity throughout the Empire, more and more of the planetary populations clamored for equal membership in the Empire, with them no longer being satisfied being simple subjects of the Empire.
After decades of effort, the subject planets were finally accepted as full members of the Lylosian Empire, and in the process, the Empire was formally changed into a Republic of all the planets. Since then, ideas and technology has been allowed to freely pass between the member planets. While most of the planets accepted this exchange, others, like Nasentia, decided to go back to simpler times. For more than 175 years, the Lylosian Empire prospered and developed in peace, cut-off from the events of the rest of the galaxy. Then the Invid fleet folded into Lylosian orbit, and everything changed….