Sedrua

Theocracy has been a popular form of governance throughout the history of Cosmoria, in particular Aylathiya. Such a system of government is simple and could exist at any technological, cultural, or material stage of development. Thus, many theocracies have formed throughout space and time, often as the first stage of governance. What is meant by this is that after a certain amount of time, theocracy inevitably gives way to more developed societies—often monarchies or, rarely, republics. The Paramount Domains of Sedrua was one such theocracy that became one of the largest in history thanks to the rule of Sydiah, an immortal nearly deific being. Boasting territory within over 9 stars at its peak and a population of 20.4 trillion, Sedrua had a great amount of influence in the fields of religion, philosophy, warfare, and technology.

Sedrua began as a unified planet-state under the rule of Sydiah in 5303 CE. During this time, Sedrua was a band of several hundred powerful Magi that represented the only legitimate power on the planet Zushilo. Soon after, these Magi, known as "Architects," spread across much of Aylathiya, taking Sydiah's rule with them. After besting both the United Provinces and Arkhosian Order, Sedruan began having to behave like a proper state; the sudden admission of trillions placed a great amount of stress onto the Architects. Sedrua reached its peak in 56,000 CE, a mere three thousand years after its founding. Ever since then, it shed territory to its neighbors such as the Payotari Quartet and the Triumvirate Civilization.

Rebellions by its various client species ate away nearly all of its territory except for Eylanse and its capital, Amarent, its system of origin. Even so, Sedrua's religious influence in the form of Aeternalism maintained its high status. In conjunction with its vast spy network, large military, and thaumic prowess matched by none save for the Quintet Payotari Association, Sedrua was able to scrape together enough influence to once again unite with its territories. In 8939 CE, Sedrua and its former subjects formed the Commonwealth of Post-Sedruan States. After the War of the Ancients, Sedrua was officially dissolved as generals and aristocrats partitioned the Commonwealth. All of its territory was subsumed into the Greater Martial Consilium in 9749 CE.

History

Origin

Sydiah is believed to have spontaneously formed in interstellar space in about 5255 CE. She emerged into an Aylathiya that was far different from the Aylathiya of today. The region had little in the way of proper civilization, with hardly a civilization controlling an entire planet. Sydiah saw the universe as a canvas in which she could paint onto whatever she desired. However, she had a clear goal from the beginning and that was to set the stage for the revival of her kindred beings, the other angels.

For the past millennia, angels such as Sydiah had manifested a total of six times; each one had a clear goal in mind. Every single one of them would end up expiring at some point, their missions either completed or left up to their successors. Sydiah inherited her predecessor, Ohko's, mission—the creation of a Thaumic society that will revive all the angels. Long past was the idea that a single individual could understand the dozens of fields, from philosophy to biochemistry, it would take to construct a device capable of reviving them. Thus a civilization of billions would need to be made, in addition to the billions more that would need to live and die to advance from stone tools to fusion reactors.

Thus, Sydiah began venturing throughout the universe to learn about Thaumaturgy, something every angel was gifted in. It was the first step in the creation of her civilization, however, she was utterly alone. While she attempted to contact a primitive race on the planet Lokira, the immense language barrier as well as her frightful appearance to the native Zythyns made any meaningful transfer of information impossible. Civilizations in Florathel were similarly difficult to contact, generally refusing to tell her what they knew or outright hostile to the inexperienced magi.

Sydiah found a teacher in an unlikely place—the depths of interstellar space. She stumbled upon an organism of sorts, a spheroid covered in spikes that had a faint glow about it. Moving at immense speeds, the mountain-sized object had a trajectory towards the system of L'Starte. In this system, Sydiah sensed an immense but widely dispersed thaumic presence, which she soon learned was none other than Ma'eau, the oldest organism in Cosmoria. An immense hive-mind, it has witnessed the rise and fall of every civilization up to this point, even watching the intelligent life evolve and go extinct as they did so. It seeded most of Aylathiya with the life it bore today. Its touch filled every organism; every organism bore the mark of Ma'eau and contributed to the hivemind in some way. It was mother nature itself.

Sydiah explored L'Starte and eventually came across the planet of Eleclev. The world was covered in a single expansive plant. Its thorns were larger than Sydiah was tall and the flowers that covered the canopy gave off an almost overwhelming fragrance. On the southern pole of the planet, an immense purple blossom stretched far higher than any mountain on the world. As Sydiah entered the flower, not only did she contend with pollen grains the size of her head, but the thaumic presence had become even stronger. Eventually, she entered a sanctum of sorts, free from the pollen. It was a grand room that was like the bridge of a spacecraft but far more organic. The windows displayed dozens of worlds from low orbit, as though the bridge was there above those planets.

Sitting upon the captain's chair, an immense throne of sorts, was an organism quite like Sydiah. She would later learn that they were called "Humans," and that all angels resembled this species. The person on the throne had no defined appearance; in all ways they were androgynous, but also seemed to have no age, height, or any other discernible feature. It was as though a blank person was there, a template that had yet to be filled. Sydiah wasted no time bombarding the person with questions, only for them to rise and approach her. Sydiah felt the back of her neck tingle as the person touched it, directly stimulating her spinal cord. At once, all of her questions were answered. Thaumaturgy was, in essence, gently warping reality to serve one's end. To do it required the consent of nature itself, as though the universe had certain boundaries that it refused to allow its inhabitants to cross.

It seemed that thaumaturgy generally originated in the Lux Aeterna, another word for the center of Cosmoria. In that realm, one's soul could directly interface with the potential energy that existed outside of normal space and time. After Sydiah thanked the formless person, Sydiah left the world with the insights she needed to begin her task.

The First Architects

After she learned the basics, advancing became a matter of trial and error. Centuries of research saw Sydiah compile volumes of information. In her free time, Sydiah created works of art that she often spent as much time on as she did learning about Thaumaturgy. These artworks included everything from poetry to painting and even thaumic artwork which were elaborate assemblages of Hardlight, a substance only producible by Magi. Many of her drawings depicted Human figures, memories of her travels throughout space, or sculptures made out of various substances. The planet of Zushilo soon became littered with her various artworks, some of which were truly colossal in scale. A mountain became a fearful Zythyn reaching up to the heavens, a tree became a faceless dancer whose proportions were intentionally all wrong, and a purple flower became an eye of immense detail with even rods and cones carved into its pedals.

Sydiah lived for her art and, as she came across an asteroid made mostly out of gold, she would create her most elaborate piece yet. After a quick visit to Ma'eau, she asked for a small gift, a nanomachine from the planet D'Naevium. Technically a form of life, Ma'eau was more than willing to give her one. With the microscopic device, she was able to create the latest of her artworks which she named Vurilia Jutopati. After much tinkering, she was able to coax the nanomachine into using gold instead of silicon to multiply. After learning the naturally-evolved "language" that programmed it, she programmed into it the form she wanted the piece to take. Sydiah placed the nanomachine into a vat of gold dissolved in aqua regia, the only way Sydiah knew how to dissolve the noble metal.

After months of multiplying, Sydiah fished out a finished sculpture, nearly one metric ton of gold and other metals. Humanoid in shape, Vurilia was nearly 3 meters in height. Instead of a human face, Vurilia appeared as though he constantly wore a mask, six eyes resting within deep sockets only reinforced this impression. He had four horn-like growths on his head, two on the top and two on the side. Despite this, Sydiah carried on with her work and, in her words, ignited the spark of life within him. As she gave Vurilia a pylon, which in actuality was a fragment or her own soul, Vurilia's body became animated. The machine-like man was the first architect and, just like his creator, possessed great thaumic abilities.

Following Vurilia who, like an infant needed to learn about the world, Sydiah began animating other works of art. In the endless garden that was Zushilo, Sydiah breathed life into each of her pieces. The first one that posed a significant challenge was a piece of music she called "Itrian Yutira." The challenge was breathing life into a sound rather than the physical piece of paper. Sydiah sang the song to Vurilia who mimicked her. As Vurilia continued to sing, Sydiah created a small black hole on the tip of her finger, so small that an atom could scarcely fall inside. It glowed brightly with radiation as she flicked it into Vurilia's head. It destabilized his mind but, since it was essentially free of all things save for the song, she was able to pull out the "thought pattern" that represented the song. She affixed a pylon to the song, another portion of her soul, breathing life into the Noospheric Disturbance known as Itrian.

At this point, the several dozen architects were stumbling around the planet, hardly able to walk let alone use thaumaturgy. Even so, Sydiah raised this first group of pieces given life. By the end of the year, they were fully conscious if not a little naive about the way of the universe. After giving them each detailed instructions about how to care for the planet, Sydiah left them alone for several years to study the rogue planet Amarent. The anomalous world of great interest to her. As she came back, she discovered that her creations had created a sort of society, with even a hierarchy that placed Vurilia and Itrian in charge. They placed stones into human forms before melting them into a pile of volcanic glass; it seems they were able to figure out some thaumaturgy on their own.

Sydiah saw the greatest statue they created, a crude but anatomically accurate human being made out of clear quartz. They were most proud of that one, giving it the name "Drizuna Jutopati," since it was Vurilia's idea to use quartz instead of the usual granite stone. Sydiah decided to take a different approach to animating Drizuna. She used a precise LASER, a skill she had just learned, to carve grooves into the head of the statue. From there, she introduced golden nanomachines from Vurilia's brain, "stem cells" that became a new brain and nervous system with time. After affixing primitive motors to the joints, as well as creating a power source, Drizuna had come to life. After this, Sydiah realized that it was these artworks-turned-people that were the key to creating the thaumic society she longed to complete.

In 5271 CE, Sydiah declared Itrian Yutira to be her second in command, creating a government of sorts that functioned like a small town for the several hundred architects that now populated Zushilo. This laid the groundwork for the nation of Sedrua.

Expansion from Zushilo

Sydiah and about half of the architects left for Amarent shortly after 5271 as Sydiah had once again yearned to explore the secrets of that world. While she took some pieces with her, most of them remained in place on Zushilo. Sydiah and the architects moved through space in quite the unconventional way. They called upon the Lux Aeterna for mobility, summoning a cloud of gas to pick them up and carry them across space at immense speeds. Sydiah taught the architects this mode of travel before appointing the fastest, one Orosiria Vrede whose colossal mountain of a body granted them both great speed and strength.

On Amarent, Sydiah still created art in her free time, but lately had found it increasingly challenging to come up with new ways to animate it. Every time she reused a method, it seemed that the resulting creation grew increasingly weak; she needed a new method. Inspiration came to her one day as she meditated while floating several kilometers above the surface of Amarent. She arranged expensive jewelry covering a mannequin. She had just discovered this art form and realized it only worked if the material used was valuable. Thus, she collected the rarest metal in the universe, Orichalcum to coat the Osmium jewelry and give it a characteristic red sheen. Given its resemblance to Amaranth, the reason Amarent was special, Sydiah then had an idea. Sydiah found an artifact on the planet that appeared to be an ornate jar. When she opened it, she found a mummified brain within. The perfect centerpiece for the jewelry, Sydiah placed the jar in the middle of the mannequin, animating the form the jewelry outlined as the soul contained within the jar took root. Sydiah melted the mannequin, allowing one Thonde Yutira to come forth.

After animating several more artifacts, Sydiah gave an order to all of them. They were to spread from Zushilo and Amarent, exploring the Cosmos in the name of knowledge. They were free to learn whatever they pleased so long as they learned. Some focused on philosophy, some on psychology, some on biology, some on physics, and, for most, they studied thaumaturgy. All kinds of innovation took place, from the creation of simple machines to even artificial lifeforms. Vurilia wanted to study politics, a bizarre fascination that was impossible amongst the small population of architects. Thus, him and Drizuna petitioned Sydiah to allow them to create a race of subjects they could study. Sydiah agreed and, after years of work, the Bahattes were born. Modified Humans, they possessed a plated metal body with one glowing blue eye.

Official Founding

After more discoveries and a population in the tens of thousands including the Bahattes, Sydiah declared that she was creating a civilization known as "Sedrua." It would be devoted to the advancement of understanding of the universe, the propagation of wisdom, and the security of cooperation amongst all its peoples. If she was going to create a civilization devoted to one purpose, she was going to make sure it was a utopia along the way. The architects were designated as leaders and the Bahattes were subjects who, while having protections, were often used for experiments by the architects.

In 5333 CE, Sydiah finished the last of the architects, fittingly architecture was the last area that Sydiah endeavored to master. The building she constructed, a large palace on the planet Amarent, would serve as the capital of Sedrua as well as a secretary that helped Sydiah manage the nation. While not as sapient as the other architects, it was by far the most massive save for Orosiria Vrede. It had an internal volume of several cubic kilometers that housed offices, facilities, and even factories. The entirety of Sedrua's central government remained in the building throughout much of its history. Satellite offices modeled after the gothic structure exist to this day throughout Aylathiya.

Itrian Yutira created a complementary building on Zushilo, creating one of the first intelligence agencies as she spied on her fellow architects. She enforced certain edicts from Sydiah, notably preserving the rights of the Bahattes, restricting contradictory views to Sydiah's, and making sure the Bahattes remain in service. To aid in this goal, Sydiah planted a flower in the ground of Amarent, the flower with petals shaped in the form of an eye. As the flower spread, it formed a network of roots not unlike a brain. Collectively, the flowers could be used to peer across much of Aylathiya. She named the network the Occulus of Truth and allowed Itrian to use it to enforce unity.

As soon as the ability to surveil increased, the Bahattes were given far more agency. They formed their own societies of millions and, as time went on, tagged along with architects to planets across Aylathiya. While still technologically primitive, they proved immensely useful in gathering large amounts of resources or building things quickly. Sedrua, at this time, was less a state and more a town that patrolled a myriad of small states across dozens of worlds.

The Arkhosians

As the architects expanded to more systems, they came across the dwarf star of Matoehdahn. In usual architect fashion, they did with the system as they pleased. A fairly large number of Bahattes were brought with them and moons around K'Strelk began hosting a fairly large Sedruan presence. Several months after they arrived, however, a large contingent of Arkhosians assaulted the moon, overwhelming the handful of architects present and slaughtering the Bahattes. The United Provinces declared war on Sedrua and permanently banishes them from their home system. Its counterpart, the Arkhosian Order, similarly voiced hostile intentions.

As Sydiah heard of the assault, she grew immensely frustrated. The Arkhosians had technological advancements far beyond anything Sedrua even had on the horizon. As word spread beyond the central government, the Bahattes began refusing to leave home, terrified of the potential of this newly-discovered enemy. Furthermore, forces from the United Provinces were making their way towards Zushilo at an alarming rate. The Arkhosian Order sent several fleets as well; the two enemies had set aside their differences to defend their home against this outside threat.

In 5314 CE, a joint Order-Union effort captured the planet of Thalsiedeln. Instead of destroying the Bahattes present, they gave them an opportunity to fight for their right to exist. In other words, they were drafted into the army and given cheap weapons. Many genuinely believed that Sedrua was going to collapse, making them earnestly fight as they made their way to other planets around the star of Arlioux. Two architects, Eem Vinale and Rhya Tevta, similarly defected, all but ensuring the collapse of Sedrua's stronghold in Arlioux.

In order to respond to this threat, Sydiah had to mobilize nearly all of her 2,300 architects, leaving a small number behind to govern. However, their few numbers forced Sydiah to decentralize Sedrua. The Bahattes were given even more autonomy in groups called "municipalities" that ranged in size from thousands to millions of people. Every planet, at the time ten, would have a single architect leading it to whom mayors would answer. Besides that, the Bahattes were free to organize themselves however they wish. Many were given weaponry taken from slain Arkhosians, but the majority wielded primitive weaponry that only served to increase morale than to actually defend worlds.

Sydiah lead the architects into battle several astronomical units away from Zushilo. Using her immense Thaumic abilities, Sydiah drove back the United Provinces while forcing away the Arkhosian Order with few casualties. For the traitors, however, Sydiah showed no mercy. The planet of Thalsiedeln was entirely depopulated and the defecting architects were killed. Sydiah and the Arkhosians entered into a cease fire agreement, but tensions remained high. Immediately, a cold war began in which the Arkhosians spent a great deal of money infiltrating Sedrua. Sydiah likewise had Itrian use her surveillance network against them. The state of the conflict changed greatly when, in 5321 CE, the United Provinces uncovered a vast conspiracy amongst many of its rulers that planned to surrender to Sedrua in exchange for thaumic powers. After the U.P. purged from itself these conspirators, it immediately declared war and Sedrua responded in kind.

The Arkhosian Order had no such interference from Sedrua, thus its king declared war on the United Provinces. The two nations had been in conflict with each other for nearly a millennium; the assault on the U.P. gave the Order an unprecedented chance. Talks began the same year. As they took place, the Order would only feign support for the U.P. For years the battle raged on, with gains being a rarity for either side. Shortly after the new year of 5323 CE, the Arkhosian Order launched an assault on the United Provinces. Even though this campaign was incredibly unpopular amongst the people of the Order, it was enough to overwhelm the U.P, causing them to collapse in 5326 CE.

In response to the public outcry against the betrayal of their fellow Arkhosians, the Order immediately expelled the architects from the Matoehdahn System, absorbing all of the territory of their ancient rival and leaving Sedrua nothing. In response, Sydiah lead a new assault focused on the full destruction of any Arkhosian state. Using scores of seized weapons from the United Provinces, Sydiah lead 1,000 architects against the Arkhosian Order, overrunning their tired army in 5327 CE. A wave of mass suicides take place amongst Arkhosians as decades of anti-Sedruan propaganda lead the populace to believe that they would be tortured. This was based on a kernel of truth in which Bahattes were indeed used for a great many experiments. Sydiah installed Vurilia as the leader of the entirety of the Matoehdahn system. It had an large Dyson Swarm, the perfect conditions for a guerilla campaign that would plague Sedrua for the coming centuries as they assimilated the Arkhosians.

Golden Age

After the last of the architects returned to their usual duties, the full function of a state would need to finally be implemented. The Arkhosians outnumbered the Bahattes nearly fifty to one, and, with their advanced technology, Arkhosian society required far more structure to be useful. Thus, Sedrua implemented what is now known as the "Colonial System." Under this new order, loyalists amongst the local population would be bribed with a great deal of wealth. Once a substantial portion of the natives gained an interest in maintaining colonial rule, they were used to run the nation. Vurilia used this division to great effect, dividing the Arkhosians into castes to keep them divided. The ruling caste was tremendously wealthy and fiercely loyal to the Sedruans who gave them this newfound wealth.

As Sedrua expanded to other stars, they exported this system, often under the direct guidance of Vurilia. The first species they contacted were the Ohmados on the planet Xadio, Angreifer. Minute differences in color became the locus of division, with the bluest Ohmados given the right to rule. Vurilia coined the idea of a "noble race," which would go on to be the basis for a great deal of ethnic conflict and even genetic drift amongst Ohmados who refused to interbreed. The word "nobility" derives from this original concept which was borrowed from chemistry.

Shortly thereafter, the Viphians of Kajupto, Argothiya were contacted. A primitive society, they were granted a great deal of technology. Rulers from across the nation were offered advanced medicine, wealth, or even thaumic abilities in exchange for loyalty. Sedrua maintained orbital facilities that produced goods for the planet, keeping the Viphians hopelessly dependent on Sedrua. In the same system, on the planet of Occalia, the far more advanced Eqeyuin were won over by a promise of new insights into the way of the universe. Thaumaturgy was entirely foreign to the species.

Humans living on the planet Aegyn were the next species to be uplifted. Each of their large civilizations were granted unlimited resources to do with as they pleased, causing its leaders to spend their time constructing large monuments in brutally autocratic societies. Those who wielded thaumaturgy possessed not only longer lifespans, but effectively wielded infinite power in their societies.

Several years afterward, Sydiah personally contacted the Zythyns once again. This time, they had a fruitful meeting in which the Zythyns, who seemed quite gifted in thaumaturgy, became an indispensable part of the Sedruan military. The planet gained a large amount of industry designed specifically to refine materials, build weapons, and repair ships. Since their only buyer was the Sedruan government, a rebellion with local military resources would immediately crash the economy.

At this point, Sedrua had full control over six stars, making it the largest nation in Aylathiya by far. With an enviable position at the end of the Anemoi Line, Sedrua experienced a large volume of trade from the distant Providence Union. This nation of Florathel had immense production capabilities and a large number of merchants willing to trade for anything Sedrua could offer. Substances such as Hardlight, only capable of being produced by Magi, were often exchanged for processed goods or raw materials. It had a myriad of applications and was thus highly sought-after in the thaumically void societies of Florathel.

Rise of Aeternalism

As Sedrua expanded and rapidly increased its understanding of the universe, Sydiah could leave the government be. She could depend on Itrian to run the government, leaving her with a great deal of free time. While she still spent a great deal of time exploring new art forms, even animating a handful at this much later date, she soon began exploring concepts that could no longer be considered art. There were a handful of words for this non-art form of creativity which was soon called "philosophy." Sydiah spent a great deal of time pondering the fundamental nature of Cosmoria. From meta-physics to aesthetics, Sydiah had deep conversations about all manner of theories.

A popular topic of discussion amongst the intelligentsia—the magi class in Sedrua—and common folk broadly were the Ambrosian Remnants. They had continually evaded the understanding of science and, due to their highly diverse nature, it became difficult to pinpoint any commonality between them. The various objects that made up the Ambrosian Remnants puzzled Sydiah more than anything else. All discussions, all theories, if they did not account for the Ambrosian Remnants, Sydiah would not entertain them.

To aid her in her quest for knowledge of the remnants, Sydiah founded the Cabal of Amaranth Truth, an organization devoted solely to the understanding, uncovering, and protection of Ambrosian Remnants. The several dozen people that made up the organization, all architects, spent all of their time unraveling the mystery. Some used scientific analysis and some preferred a more philosophical approach. Centuries of debate lead to the foundation of Aeternalism, the belief that the universe in and of itself was divine. The belief in not only a divine but intelligent universe lead to the idea of "Providence," the guiding hand of nature. Not only was the universe in and of itself divine, but divinity could be ascribed to forces of nature, nations, and even deified persons, of which Sydiah and her angelic predecessors were a major part.

The Aeternalist conception of Providence was not merely the universe in its whole, but extended well beyond the universe, both in space and time. This is where the Ambrosian Remnants entered the philosophy. It is believed that they were the remains of a previous order, or, according to some, a parallel but distant order. These artifacts were from another emanation of Providence and are thus worthy of study. Learning of Providence and the way it works was sacred, including the studying of philosophy as the metaphysical are just as much a part of Providence as the "real."

The religion remained obscure for quite some time, but as Itrian began enforcing it as state doctrine amongst the Architects, mass adoption took place. While skeptics adhering to other philosophies made adoption amongst Ohmados difficult, most of Sedrua accepted the doctrine as Sydiah tirelessly evangelized the religion. It became popular as it offered answers in what had become a hedonistic society. It gave people a goal and was compatible with all but the most stringent religions. Dozens of variants incorporating pagan or secular ideas cropped up quickly, such that, within the next 200 years, nearly everyone was Aeternalist to some extant. "Fate," became such a common idea that even fully secular individuals would often invoke the idea.

Change in the Galactic Landscape

In the year 5838 CE, the Triumvirate Civilization formed. Within it were two exceptionally troublesome individuals, Titania an architect that defected several centuries prior, and The Administrator, an entity of immense power known for destroying entire civilizations. Were it not for the third member being Ma'eau, Sydiah would have declared war on the spot. This rebellion of sorts, however, was still problematic in numerous ways. Titania has long since been known as a heretic, but was incredibly successful in convincing the common people of her faith. She had millions of Bahattes and Atlins at her beck and call, making her seizure of the Sachitel's Idyll star system fairly easy. Titania timed her secession with the founding of Novel Aeternalism by Vurilia, a far more pressing issue given that Vurilia had been challenging the very fabric of Sedruan civilization.

Thus, Sydiah began an intensive espionage campaign against the fledgling nation. There was a great deal of mistrust from the start, but the Triumvirate was genuinely uninterested in anything Sedrua valued. The Administrator's motives were a mystery to Sydiah, but Titania just wanted to spread her faith amongst primitive species and Ma'eau wanted to protect the life of Aylathiya as it always had. Sydiah maintained the surveillance and had an impressive military force ready to strike at any moment. In the meantime, much of Vurilia's power was stripped from him as he was forcibly contained within the Matoehdahn system, a permanent advisor to his replacement governor, Drizuna Jutopati.

Sedrua gained another neighbor in 5840 CE, with the creation of Dotskgard, a fully unified civilization-state made up of the incredibly numerous Dotsk species. Sydiah paid this civilization no mind as its members were fully incapable of using Thaumaturgy. Some architects, however, immediately engaged in hostilities due to the Aeternalist belief that those who could not use Thaumaturgy lead immensely evil past lives. The Dotsk almost immediately sided with the Triumvirate, but officially maintained a peaceful position.

As the 59,000s began, yet another new neighbor presented themselves, roaming bands of potent magi of the Civese species. Sedrua considered conquering their capital city of Civestadt, but their territory was of little value. When the Civese learned to channel Spirits, Sedrua immediately took an interest. As Sedrua attempted to annex their city, the spirit intelligently resisted Sedruan incursion. After decades of fighting their captured spirits, the costs of conquering the Civese grew well beyond any value they had. Sedrua established a handful of bases on their homeworld of Eos and invested in research of Civese Shamanic Thaumaturgy.

Wane of Reality

Finally, it was time to engage in the mission given to her. After uniting trillions of people under one banner, the immensely complex process of resurrection can finally be undergone. However, raw materials were a must. Requiem possessed a great many resources and, having recently liberated it from Pecay-Po, it had a large easily-exploitable population. Sydiah dispatched millions of colonists to manage Sedrua's new laborer class.

Now with gigatons of cheap resources at her disposal, Sydiah ordered the mobilization of nearly every worker to assemble the vast apparatus she needed. While many architects, especially Vurilia, opposed the massive spending that would be needed to do this, Sydiah had the government print immense amounts of promissory notes for precious metals, then the currency of Sedrua. Despite the massive inflation this caused, as well as increasing the price of imported goods from neighbors, Sydiah continued pushing forward.

Thonde Yutira was put in charge of managing the minutia of the project, making her the third most powerful individual in Sedrua. The final location for the project was the isolated world called the Eye of Aylathiya, a barren rogue planet a ways away from most of Aylathiya. After violently subjugating the small Un'oit population living on the world, Sydiah had nearly half of the architects working on assembling the vast machine for which the planet is now named. Millions of workers began building a large ring around the planet several astronomical units wide. A small-scale version was built around Requiem. It was first tested in 5887 CE and proved promising, capable of resurrecting Ordovick Graptol, an architect who perished at the hands of the Civese.

In 5890 CE, Sydiah declared martial law and nationalized the various factories under the control of the Arkhosians. Sedrua entered into a wartime economy as its government failed to pay any of its debts. Sedrua lost its status as Aylathiya's largest economy shortly thereafter, Dotskgard taking the top spot. Sydiah not only began pushing production to its limits, but pushed far beyond, dissolving frivolous industries that produced consumer goods.

In 5906 CE, the Eye of Aylathiya was nearly completed, now only requiring large quantities of the ultra-rare metal Orichalcum. Its unique heat-absorbing properties made the material essential for the ultra-high energies needed to reach directly into the Lux Aeterna. Time itself would need to be slowed during the process, lest the highly unstable "naked minds," immediately decay as they were brought back into existence. Sydiah turned to Thonde Yutira who was herself made up of a good deal of the substance. In her desperation to complete the project, Sydiah nearly tore the architect apart to recover as much of the material as she could.

Finally, the year 5912 CE came. The project was finally complete. As factories lay dormant across Sedrua, workers demonstrated in the streets, and cities burned, Sydiah beheld the immense slowly-spinning structure in front of her. It was finally time to activate it; Sydiah called upon hundreds of architects to power the device using their thaumic abilities. It required a certain amount of Noospheric Radiation to function; in other words, it required reality itself to be distorted a tiny bit. The warping of reality, quite like the warping of gravity but far more visceral, was nearly disturbing to behold. The ring accelerated as it ejected from itself so much energy that black holes formed in its exhaust ports. For the rest of Cosmoria, the sight was like the formation of a new star, but for Sydiah it represented the completion of her only goal.

Seconds after full activation, Sydiah saw a figure floating in front of the melting Eye of Aylathiya. The architects powering the ring began succumbing to the immense energy being released, one by one dying in increasingly gruesome ways. To bend reality was to store a great amount of instability in the universe like the stretching of a rubber band or like a ball precariously balanced at the top of a hill. The smallest falter would mean that reality snapped back into shape, albeit slightly differently than it was. The results of such a violent return to its baseline shape were usually catastrophic. Usually, it meant immense amounts of radiation and the momentary substitution of the normal laws of physics with crude approximations.

To put it simply, reality becomes quite like a dream for a moment. For the architects powering the device, this meant instant death, but for Sydiah, whose immense magical abilities safe-guarded her against vaporization, a phenomenon known as "corruption" took place. Like how a rubber band returns to its original form slightly changed from what it was, the universe recovers to a parallel but noticeably different state. The result, a shadow of her magical power and personality remaining in place. This is the origin of Her Sorcerer, a somewhat powerful being boasting a quarter of Sydiah's power but who had little in the way of sense.

Sunder Aylathiya

After the explosion, Sydiah's corpse floated in space, the shattered remnants of her soul sustained her physical form. However, with all the damage they took, they reassembled themselves into a gestalt consciousness only superficially resembling Sydiah. Almost immediately, local military craft, surviving architects, and others immediately began surveying the damage. Itrian Yutira arrived later that day to find Her Sorcerer and escorted the mostly unresponsive corpse of Sydiah to Amarent.

Without Sydiah responding, Itrian began running the civilization. Using the Oculus of Truth, she surveilled the remnants of the Eye of Aylathiya, finding the megastructure to be mostly intact. There were no remnants found of the architects, but the planet below was found to have a fine organic dust spread throughout it. Analysis of the dust revealed it to be the charred remains of some life form, meaning that something indeed had been in the Eye of Aylathiya as it melted down. Itrian immediately began spreading propaganda about how the Eye was in fact a superweapon that any rebelling or foreign force would have to contend with. She called it a "Nova Gun," and claimed it was so powerful that even Sydiah was badly injured by it. The angry populace was not content with this explanation, that the past few centuries were spent on building a weapon.

Several weeks after the Wane of Reality, Her Sorcerer finally began speaking. At the time, the phenomenon of corruption was utterly unknown. So, as Her Sorcerer began giving orders, Itrian began faithfully executing them without question. So dire was the situation that Itrian's only security came purely from a faith in Sydiah. Surely there would be something done to reverse the myriad of issues facing the nation. As Sedrua's position increasingly worsened, Avolast declared independence from Sedrua. Her Sorcerer paid the rebels no mind as she continued with a policy she called, "Post-Economic Advancement," a term she never once defined and lead her to make a number of bizarre decisions.

Sunder Aylathiya was the period that resulted from this chronic mismanagement. It saw Sedrua's economic and military strength rapidly fade as its neighbors began encroaching on its territory. The Sedrua-Quartet War saw Sedrua permanently lose Matoehdahn. The harsh terms placed on it after the conflict further increased secessionist sentiments not only among the commoners but amongst the surviving architects as well.

With the fall in legitimacy of the central government on Amarent, it became increasingly obvious that the Sydiah of the past was dead, replaced with a ghoulish parody. The various architects split the territory of Sedrua into a number of domains based on their influence. This split Sedrua into two-thousand semi-autonomous regions. The idea was that these regions would be able to better respond to local concerns as well as balance those needs with the will of the architects. Important votes in the senate would require approval by both a referendum and an architect, substantially calming down many independence movements.

First Sedruan Coup

Of the 2,000 seats originally put into the senate, a little over a third had occupants, and half of those were non-architect representatives elected by local power structures. Just before the Sedrua-Triumvirate War, the senate had far more members that were anxious to redeem Sedrua's name. Those hawkish architects were still present, but many of their peace-loving brethren perished at the hands of the Triumvirate's latest weaponry. Sedrua lost Nocturne, access to trade with Florathel, and their only external ally of Ma'eau. Needless to say, it was a dark time in the history of the nation.

One Vurilia Jutopati stood in the center of the ornate senate building on Zushilo. Amarent had largely been abandoned in favor of moving government authority to the highly-populous world. Above their heads was an immense fresco depicting Sydiah and the other angels who the artist most certainly took great creative liberties with. Vurilia grew to hate Sydiah over the years, her mismanagement of the empire left it in shambles. The situation grew increasingly dire to the point that Vurilia felt he had no other choice. He was going to change the direction of Sedrua by force.

Calling upon the immense influence afforded to him by his place as the founder of Novel Aeternalism, Vurilia was not alone in the center of the senate. With him were several sympathetic architects, leaders from various rebelling factions, and even generals. While the assembly of individuals in the center of the senate was quite strange, it was quite clear that what was going on was a coup. Vurilia declared himself the leader of Sedrua in 6120 CE, wrestling power away from Itrian. Despite protest from most of the senators, Vurilia sat in the chair reserved for Sedrua's leader. His first order of business was removing the large mural that sat above them. He scorched the ceiling with a blast of plasma from his hand. The second order of business was to strongly imply that the same thing would happen to dissenters.

Vurilia's temporary rule saw a great change in resource allocation. After halting the constant mega-projects that Sedrua's economy was based on, Vurilia spent more on infrastructure and the normalization of relations with discontent rebel factions. Since vast amounts of funding was "lost" during the mega-projects, an ultra-wealthy class of middle-level management formed. Many of this class had become the non-architect senators, perpetuating the incredible spending that gave them their wealth. Vurilia declared emergency elections in which local referendums would determine the next senator instead of appointment by local governments.

Vurilia had a little under one year before another coup took place, this time started by Thonde Yutira. She had the backing of the ultra-wealthy as well as many of the architects discontent with Vurilia's short rule. Unlike the previous senators, however, Vurilia stood his ground against the rebellions. Thonde Yutira and Itrian both attacked Vurilia, with other architects entering a sort of brawl that leveled not only the senate building, but also much of the city around it. Since Vurilia had the backing of the chronically-neglected military, he simply relocated to Angreifer, his forces occupying much of its Dyson swarm. Thonde Yutira became the official leader of Sedrua in 61,201 CE; even she recognized the danger presented by continuing as Itrian had. The former leader became Thonde's second-in-command of the now-impotent nation.

Sedruan War

As Vurilia formed the Diunity, made up out of a great number of Ohmados and the cosmopolitan Sedruan military, the flame of rebellion spread across Sedrua. Thonde's central government had little save for a large number of loyalist magi and architects. The remaining Zythyns around Angreifer formed the nation of Lowyzol. Vurilia supported their efforts in expelling local architects and entire loyalist cities burned as rebel groups could finally operate with impunity.

The Eqeyuin rebelled afterwards, but Sedrua was able to put down the rebellion after a great deal of losses. With the dozens of concurrent Ohmados rebellions taking up an increasing amount of resources to address, the Eqeyuin were able to fully expel any architects from Argothiya. The Viphians were generally more in favor of Sedruan rule, but a small rebel faction seized power after Sedrua fully withdrew. Within the century, Sydiah's empire had imploded.

An impotent husk of the civilization remained around the Eylanse system; the Bahattes never had any serious movement to rebel. While it maintained a great deal of bases located throughout Aylathiya, Sedrua had all but disappeared from the galactic stage. Thonde, however, was completely fine with this new state of affairs. Sydiah's project could still be continued even if it would take much longer with just the one system. Thus, most of the remaining architects either integrated themselves into the new nations, usually as rebels-turned-rulers, or remained in Eylanse.

Period of Isolation

With Sedrua's neighbors prospering, the remaining forces of the central government devoted itself almost entirely to the preservation of the past. While the Eye of Aylathiya structure was very slowly repaired and the reasons for failure explored, the nation put a great deal of effort into rebuilding its defensive infrastructure. The formation of the Core Worlds Alliance, a union of democratic post-Sedruan states, greatly threatened Sedrua's standing. They dwarfed it economically, militarily, and had far more influence on the galactic stage.

What saved Sedrua from utter destruction was the collapse of the Triumvirate Civilization in 8058 CE. Even though the resulting War of the Final Transition was devastating to the galactic economy, it opened up Sedrua to galactic markets once again, its eternal embargo finally ended. With this, Sedrua flooded the market with cheap hardlight and Eidolite, a recently-discovered thaumic substance, further crippling the economies of its neighbors.

As luck would have it, the Un'oit Ascension began right as the galactic economy began healing, reversing any progress as hoards of Un'oit soldiers descended onto the galaxy like locusts. While Sedrua was spared from the brunt of their attacks, their warlords carved up much of Aylathiya, including the Core Worlds Alliance. The architects repelled the soldiers that did approach Zushilo with minimal casualties. Conflicts like the Great Empyreal Crusade did little to Sedrua.

Commonwealth's Eclipse

The collapse of the Core Worlds Alliance sent shock waves throughout Aylathiya as the titanic nation tore itself apart. Involving much of Sedrua's former territory, it could not help but get involved. Thonde Yutira, who had spent most of her time in suspended animation at this point, awoke to the news that Sedrua's former territory had become greatly unstable. The Golomian Confederacy, an association of various small Ohmados nations, declared war on the Alliance. Sagittarium immediately left the alliance to declare war on it as well. The wealthy within Alliance nations took the opportunity to seize power, fighting against pro-democracy factions in what would become a four-front war.

Thonde's original plan was to back the autocrats among whom was a substantial push to reunify Aylathiya. However, she eventually decided that declaring war on behalf of the more liberal factions would make rule far easier. The emerging ideology of liberal democracy was quite rare in Aylathiya, but nations were rapidly adopting it, often through force. Thonde took a chance on the pro-democracy factions by officially declaring war on the autocrats, Sagittarium, and the Golomian Confederacy in 8916 CE.

Centuries of fighting, which had largely devolved into sending entire cities full of people to their deaths in a fruitless campaign, resulted in the utter exhaustion of nearly every party involved. By 8939 CE, when both the Golomian Confederacy and the Core Worlds Alliance fell into civil disorder, Sedrua was the last major player standing. In conjunction with the newly-formed Thulcandria, Sedruan forces occupied most of the worlds in the former Core Worlds Alliance. In the same year, Thonde abdicated her position and had a democratically-elected official manage the creation of the Commonwealth of Post-Sedruan States. She continued ruling from the shadows, siphoning off large amounts of funds to push through the maintenance of the Eye of Aylathiya. Sagittarium, also technically being a post-Sedruan state, was strong-armed by the Confederacy of Borealis into remaining independent.

Post-Sedruan History

The formation of the Commonwealth of Post-Sedruan States technically means that Sedruan history was indeed over. Despite this, the old order slowly returned. Stretching across the outskirts of Angreifer and all of Argothiya, the Commonwealth would soon blossom into an economic titan surpassed only by the Dominion of Astraeus in Aylathiya. Its success is what ultimately funded the second activation of the Eye of Aylathiya, resurrecting the angels including Sydiah. The resurgence of the angels resulted in the War of the Ancients as the Dominion of Astraeus and Sagittarium fought the Commonwealth, its cohort of allies, and its ancient enemy, the Quintet Payotari Alliance.

After losing the conflict, the Commonwealth was divided into numerous duchies of which the angels controlled on. This marked the formation of the Greater Martial Consilium. After a failed coup attempt by Zaphenim that resulted in Aylathiya's Ignominy, the angels were stripped of their status and banished to the periphery of Aylathiya. This date, 9894 CE, marks the unambiguous end of Sedrua as Vurilia took control of the newly-independent Commonwealth of Aggregate Aylathiya.

Government