#the achaemenid galaxy

[empress-of-xerxes]

The Achaemenid Galaxy - Xerxes 2.0

Hello everyone! If you've been following me since the younger days of 40K RP then you would know about the small slice of the galaxy I had built known as the Xerxian Empire, an Independent faction of mankind that lived outside of Imperial rule and away, but never truly immune, from temptations of Chaos. It was here that I had originally centered much of my characters around 40K events, with grand story arcs that had told the story of Seras Kyne the Padishah of the Xerxian Empire and how her origins during the 31st millennia caused echoes to ripple for millennia to come.

Xerxes has always been a passion project and one I built around my love for Warhammer lore and all the characters within it. I met many of my friends from the 40K community and learned so much from all of them. The 40K setting is expansive and yet at the same time claustrophobic when it comes to working around rules and current lore. There was plenty within my world space that did not fit within those boundaries and didn't really make sense for the setting and yet I rolled with it without much trouble.

I was beginning to feel stuck and for a while I went on hiatus and shelved my characters as well as paused trying to develop my story for Xerxes. It hurt as I had been developing the world and it's characters for well over 8 years but I felt that if I continued then it would only lead to complete burnout.

I began to ruminate on the possibility of creating my own universe. My own "space opera" so to speak and with a lot help I began building just that.

The Achaemenid Galaxy.

The Achaemenid Galaxy is comprised of four immense galactic bodies that have collided to form a cluster with the four arms jetting from the center at different angles. This is a story of not just a single empire but dozens of scattered remnants of mankind's many empires and the Three Kinglings that had lead them but who have now disappeared or have been forgotten.

My primary focus is with that of the Eastern arm where two great empires are on the verge of warring with one another:

The Ionian Federation can trace it's history to that of the Old Empire that controlled the Eastern arm and it's foundations are built upon those ancient bones. They are survivalist who grew stronger after the collapse of the Old Empire and as such are a conglomeration of cultures, planets, and ideals. Their story is one of strife and determination, holding strong to their boundaries and never really knowing true opposition as all they had gathered together was through great force and little to no retaliation. Now Ionia has found that another empire creeps at it's border and the beginnings of those first skirmishes can only escalate further.

The Obsidian Reign is young and ambitious, already forging ahead in a grand spur of reunification with the goal of bringing together humanity under the rule of Amadeus Kyne. The Obsidian Reign is where Xerxes resides as the capitol world for a spread of multiple systems. Xerxian's are at the height of the technical capabilities for this arm of the Achaemenid and their prowess in battle has yet been unmatched. However, it was the events of the Yelian Siege that brought this all to a grinding halt and cost Amadeus all three of his sons as what should have been a simple conquest became two years of unpleasant war eventually leading to the Yelian Warlord's defeat on their core world Yel.

Now, ten years after the victory at Yel, Amadeus once again returns to the forefront of his war fleet leaving Xerxes and it's people in the hands of his daughter and only remaining child, Seras Kyne. Named Shahzada and given authority over her people, Seras seeks nothing more than to keep the Obsidian Reign united even as whispers of calamities and the effects of Amadeus' past actions bring new troubles to home.

This eastern arm of the Achaemenid Galaxy is filled with strife, intrigue and a little bit of wanderlust. But ultimately all roads lead to the same questions:

Who are the Kinglings and where have they gone?

[theseventhoffrostfall]

It occurred to me that, with the baseline human polities being somewhat new and fairly distant respectively, it's probably the alien polities that would be more developed in the clan setting. What are the most notable alien civilizations, and what are they like?

The largest single nation in the immediate area, with its considerable territory abutting clan (to include confederation) space and with trade and economic interests extending inside it, is a multispecies empire very much in the vein of the Byzantines crossed with the Achaemenids: Whether you're their enemy, their trade partner, or their vassal, everyone deals with them to the point they're considered an axiom of life in the local galaxy. This in turn contributes to the incredible amount of infighting both for the seat of power and among its outlying territories--said infighting being the more mercenarily-inclined clans' bread and butter, in fact.

Notable member species include everything from a sentient hive of fungus merged with a vast computer network, to a saurian/piscine-analogue, roughly humanoid caste-based aristocracy (currently the dominant species, holding the most council seats and with their puppet on the throne) to odd, small pockets of humans to nomadic fleets of 'birds' (webs of fine membranous tissue and electromagnetic neural impulse native to a gas giant)

There's also the multispecies cult based in the drifting, periodically FTL-jumping planetoid that seems to be crusted-over organic tissue, which they claim is an unliving god who grants them holy mutations and psionic powers to pave the way for its reawakening, but, y'know, nobody really gives a damn about those guys. Every time they pass through an inhabited system they leave a trail of trash and disgusting organic matter trailing behind their planet/ship and take their unwashed asses down to the inhabited planets and habs to preach obnoxiously on street corners. The clans ignore their insistence that they don't command the dreaming one's course and charge them tribute for passing through their respective territories anyway.

[shootertron-stuff]

One of the things I'm struggling with in regards to my Warhammer OCs is that Warhammer characters are generally bad people.

And if you make your characters bad people, you run the risk of being accused of perpetuating negative stereotypes.

I could make all my Space Marines and Chaos cultists white (by our standards, because I imagine 40K racial categories are different from the categories we have), but it would feel dishonest to erase the fact the galaxy is a big place and filled with different cultures. And like, I personally don't like a setting where Everybody Important Is White.

My Black Legionnaire character comes from the Achaemenid Empire and has a Persian name (because Iran is kinda sorta a special interest of mine), and he is a horny polygamist who is mean to his wives. I imagine the alarm bells are going off in many peoples' heads.

I'm trying to balance this by showing the people around him, who have Persian names too, are not nearly as bad as him, and have him point out his mom would call him a bad person if she were still alive.

But the nature of the story I want to tell is focused on his wives and children and Weird Space Marine Sex.

[xasha777]

In the vast depths of the galaxy, the starship "Golden Empire" drifted silently, its massive hull glinting like a jewel against the cosmic backdrop. Captain Nia Zamara stood at the helm, her regal attire shimmering under the soft lights of the command deck. Nia, a direct descendant of the ancient Earth's Achaemenid Empire, was renowned not just for her tactical genius but also for her majestic presence, often robed in the golden fabrics of her ancestral heritage.

The Golden Empire was on a critical mission: to broker peace in a sector torn by centuries of conflict, drawing on Nia's lineage to the Achaemenids, known for their ability to govern diverse peoples with fairness. The ship approached the neutral planet Delphi, where delegates from feuding stellar systems awaited her mediation.

As Nia stepped down from her ship, her gown flowed around her like liquid gold, the intricate designs catching every flicker of starlight. Her crown, a replica of ancient Persian artifacts, was not merely ornamental but housed a sophisticated AI, programmed with the history of diplomatic resolutions and cultural nuances of hundreds of civilizations.

The negotiations took place in a grand hall, its walls lined with holographic frescoes depicting historical peace treaties. Nia’s voice echoed gracefully, proposing solutions with wisdom that seemed transcended time, her suggestions resonating with the delegates who saw in her the echo of a golden age of diplomacy.

Unknown to the assembly, however, a faction opposed to peace had plotted to sabotage the summit. As tensions peaked, the saboteurs activated a device intended to disrupt the station's life support systems. But Nia, ever vigilant, sensed the anomaly through her crown's sensors. With calm authority, she commanded her personal guard to neutralize the threat, her actions as fluid and precise as the swirling patterns of her gown.

The crisis averted, the delegates, now united by the display of Nia’s leadership and the near disaster, signed the peace accord. As news of the successful treaty spread across the systems, Nia's reputation grew, not just as a captain but as a queen of peace, a modern-day Cyrus weaving together the threads of a fractured galaxy.

Back aboard the Golden Empire, Nia gazed out into the stars, her silhouette framed by the vastness of space. Her mission continued, driven by the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire, to guide the galaxy toward a future where, like the gold of her attire, every civilization could have the chance to shine.

[irrfahrer]

Verses & AUs

V: At Ithaka Ziv is a child at the Jedi-Temple, living in her Clan. She might be known for her workaholic | self destructive tendencies in Training and learning.

V: Nobody Ziv is a young Teenager and has been sent to the AgriCorps. She works under a Master in a Group of Adepts as a Medic in sickbays behind the Frontlines and on planets devastated by the War to avoid the outbreak of famine and diseases. and helps build up destroyed cities.

V: Lost Achaemenides A AU of V: Nobody. Instead of beeing a Teenager during the Clone Wars, Ziv is a adult and a fully educated AgriCorps Member who does her very best to stay out of the War. However, she often ends up beeing called to by the war devasted Planets to help the Population and take care of the planet. As always Ziv is in this Scenario the Warden of a Murakami Orchid. She travels with her ship ��The Stutterer”,which is working as ‘smoothly’ and ‘elegant’ as the name suggests.

V: Moly Against all odds and despite her character and tendencies, Ziv is chosen as a Jedi-Masters Padawan and serves alongside them.

V: Odyssee Zivs Mainverse. After the Order 66 the former AgriCorps Member Ziv Odiz’Zee had gone into hiding and works as a Healer and occasionally Mercenary on Space-Ports and Spacestations. She tries to travel to Tynna,but usually does not have enough resources to pay enough for the full flight and then ends up on another port. At some point she joined the Rebels Cell Deep Current as a Medic. 19 BBY- 5BBY.

V: Building a Trojan Horse Fate has a strange way of leading one down their Path- Instead of becoming a Jedi Sentinel as she sure would have been supposed to be in another Timeline, Ziv becomes an Intelligence- Spy for Deep Current. Since BBY 5 (Ziv is 28 years old by now ) She uses her skills as a Healer, Botanist and trained Force-Sensitive to infiltrate Empire Bases as a Medic or collects information all over the Galaxy in Saltbites name for the Rebellion.

V: Laestrygonian “After the formation of the Galactic Empire and the Great Jedi Purge, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious rounded up all of the AgriCorps members that weren’t killed during Order 66. Transported to Byss for indoctrination in the dark side, those who fell to the Sith joined the ranks of the Dark Jedi active within the Empire. ”,From Wookiepedia on the Agricultural Corps. Like most of the AgriCorps Members Ziv is captured by the Empire and brought to Byss where she is turned into a Dark Jedi- one of the Empires Agents. Mostly Ziv works as a Medic and scientist in service for the Imperial Bioweapon Projects. As a former AgriCorps-Member and strong force-sensitive Medic she is supposed to have a special focus on the sickness and Sith-Alchemy.  19 BBY -  ?

V: Eperitos Story KOTOR- Verse. Ziv is a Agri-Corps-Member, who works for the Service-Corps to help from conflict and natural catastrophes devastated planets to regrown, researches flora and fauna on Planets on the Outer Rim and central Planets, and writes her researches and experiments down for the Jedi-Temples-Archives. She travels with her ship “The Stutterer”,which is working as ‘smoothly’ and ‘elegant’ as the name suggests. Ziv is as always the Warden of a young Murakami-Orchid Sproutling.

V: Another Story for Eumaios Star wars The High Republic Verse. Set two hundred years before the Clone Wars during the High Republic Era. Ziv is a Agri-Corps-Member, who works for the Service-Corps to help from conflict and natural catastrophes devastated planets to regrown, researches foreign flora and fauna on Planets on the Outer Rim and central Planets, and writes her researches and experiments down for the Jedi-Temples-Archives. She travels with her ship “The Stutterer”,which is working as ‘smoothly’ and ‘elegant’ as the name suggests. Ziv is as always the Warden of a young Murakami-Orchid Sproutling.

V: Aithons Story The events of Order 66 never happned and instead the Order 65 had been conducted. In the following years the few survivors of the Jedi-Order are of course still sideeyed by the galactic population because of the radical three years of smear-campaign against them through the war caused by Palpatine. So in the years after the Clone Wars the Jedi Order has to focus on getting on good footing with the population by focusing on the Service-Corpses “Charity Work” in educational/agriculture/healing and of course exploring, to “clear their name” after the war in the eyes of the galactic population. This leads to a massive expansion of exploring past the Outer Rim led by the Jedi-Order to not only find new planets but prepare them for the following settlers. The Explorer-Corpse find those planets,  Agri-Corps make those planets viable for settlers to grow food on (plus mildly terraforming),  Educational-Corpse teach those settlers about the new worlds and of course the Jedi-Knights of the Order make sure people are not eaten by new-discovered wildlife.

Which means that Ziv is by now a fully trained AgriCorps-Specialist and is regulary send to new discovered planets to set up viable Domes to grow crops in and prepare those Domes for coming settlers so those can start terraforming the planet in a safe enviorment and with enough recourses. Obviously she is send with other Jedi, even Jedi-Knights to make sure she does not just die on those planets, which  Ziv-  with all her not worked through grudge- is obviously ROYALLY PISSED about as she sees herself more than capable to do her work alone.

V: On Telemachus Trace Sequel Verse- Shortly after Ziv had joined Deep Current and had her two cubs, the original owner of her Cortosis-Vambrace finally caught up to her. Obviously unable to pay them for the Vambrace as this was the reason she had left the Criminal behind in the first place, Ziv is forced to “pay” her debt by being frozen into Carbonite and sold as an Art-Object. Decades later around  33 ABY, it's discovered that the Art-Piece is actually a person and Ziv is thawed out of the Carbonite. Brutally hit by Hibernation-Sickness marked by exhaustion, weakness, dehydration, dizziness, memory loss, and temporary blindness, Ziv had lost more than a year of her Life before she had been captured. There is only the faint idea of having forgotten something very important, and she searched for this “something” panicky.  Only for her to realize over years slowly that it had been her cubs she had forgotten and who had grown up without her.  The now adult women who had been adopted by a Member of Deep Current after Ziv had disappeared and probably joined the Resistance as Members of Deep Fathom, yet it's nothing that Ziv might find out.

V: Hailing Port Sequel Verse II- After the destruction of the second Deathstar, Ziv takes a maternal Leave from Deep Current to settle down on a Forest Planet on the Outer Rim and raise her cubs. When she had settled down she soon made herself a name as a Healer and became very fast a trusted member of the Village she had moved to. Years pass by, the War eventually ends and Zivs Daughters leave to find their own Path in the Galaxy. Eventually Ziv is noone special but a Herbal Healer who happens to hide a Lightsaber with a Blackwing-Crystal in her home and carries a Murakami-Orchid in a Pendant around her Neck. While for Ziv Jedi-Matters had not been her Matters since she had been thirteen years old, The Murakami still reaches out in the Force even past the Planet Ziv had settled down on.

V: Past Kythera towards the open Sea A General Fantasy Verse. As a trained Botanist Ziv is send to research on the Flora of “Wild” and “Underdeveloped” Planets. As she is still an alien with alien looks she keeps away from the planets cities as far as possible while she does her research, but occasionally stumbles into the local Fauna.

[windwhisperer-windy]

Parthian ( Luft )

Parthian ( Luft )

Universe: Dea Galaxy: Myte Solar System:  Myte Solar System Planet: Luft Continent: Parthian Territories ( 25 ) Hirrana, Mehrgarh, Edakkal , Chalcolithic, Anarta, Aharbanas, Pandu, Malwa, Jorwe, Harappan, Swat, Pradyota, Haryanka, Janapadas, Achaemenid, Ror, Shaishunaga, Nanda, Maurya, Seleucid , Pandya, Chera, Chola, Pallava, Maha Continental Capital City:  Indus Notable Locations: The…