Elravians

An extinct mammalian hominid species, thought to have originated on the lost planet of Elravia

Twenty-thousand years ago, the Elravians dominated the galaxy. They controlled an enormous swath of territory, stretching far-beyond Galactic Center and out into the fringes.

The Elravians had many gifts that facilitated their expansion: they were keen industrialists, able to extract a truly staggering amount of resources and produce stunning technological advancements. They were savvy traders, bringing other species into the fold and facilitating galactic-wide travel. They were a military powerhouse, fielding an army of millions.

And of course, there were their powers.

Elravians possessed an ability - a seemingly supernatural force - that allowed them to channel one of a number of elemental forces: earth, wind, water, or fire. Using a specially attuned conduit, the right user could create tremors underground, form storm clouds in the sky, or unleash a torrent of fire. How this power manifested was determined by the device the conduit was installed in; how powerful the effects came from the user’s own potential and skill. Those with a weak level of ability were often able to perform fantastic feats; the strongest were like gods.

These powers only served to heighten the Elravians feelings of superiority, and their empire lorded over their subjects with impunity. Those who didn’t fall in line were quick to find themselves on the receiving end of the Elravians’ wrath… a wrath that was enhanced by the tendency to bend their powers to violence.

Within centuries of their first faster-than-light steps, the Elravians held dominion over an enormous territory, capturing and controlling planets almost faster than they could populate them. Not every world was taken by force; many species often showed a token resistance, their fate preordained, and simply joined the Empire in servitude. Those that did resist capitulated quickly when faced with the overwhelming might of the Elravian armies. And if they still did not break, they faced a champion.

The Elravian champions were celebrated as mighty defenders of the realm, generals and heroes, carrying out the will of the Elravian monarchy. They were powerful, deadly soldiers, acting as vanguards and arbiters. Their very presence could decide the fate of entire worlds.  

There was Helgothe, the swordsman: the first champion to lead the invasion of another world, Helgothe commanded the Elravian legions in their first century of conquest. He brandished a mighty sword: Aallontek, “the Wave Maker.” Able to summon water molecules - easily from bodies of free-flowing water, with more difficulty from the air, and even from organic matter with great concentration - Helgothe slashed his way across the stars, washing away all opposition with a sweep of his sword. It was under Helgothe that the Elravian army was reorganized into the expansionist regime it would become known for.

There was Ellis, the archer: a noblewoman of one of the lesser houses, Ellis could shape the winds around her into a roaring hurricane. Her great bow Myrskyn, with its javelin-like arrows, would have been impractical for normal users, but was fearsome in her hands; Ellis could fire the arrows with great skill, and with the winds at her call, kept aloft and propelled at wonderous speeds. Ellis would later be crowned Queen, becoming one of the best known empresses of the royal house.

There was Grimorie, the spear-hunter: once a skilled agriculturalist, he became known as a warrior during the Battle of Sysmahn. The colonized farm world on the far edge of Elravian territory was attacked by a foolhardy band of marauders. Grimorie plunged his plow into the earth, and rent the ground asunder beneath the invaders’ feet. Grimorie’s control of tectonics became the stuff of legend, and his plow was reforged into a mighty spear. He was dangerous with it as a normal weapon, but when he struck the earth below him with its point, he gained mastery over the shape and structure of the land. Against him, no battlement could stand.

There was Soren, the gunfighter: his cold and calculating demeanor belayed the fires within - skill, rage, passion… and the warmth of well-concealed empathy. At his side were The Roses, pistols that channeled destructive bolts of super-hot flame. Each had a curved blade forged beneath the barrel, with a razor-sharp spike protruding from the grips. Soren was the last of the champions, spending years crisscrossing the Empire and keeping order… before all record of him ceased during the Fall.

And finally, there was her. Singular amongst the champions, and singular amongst her kind. More than a warrior, she was like a force of nature. Under her boot was crushed all opposition, from rebellious noble houses to ancient civilizations. She was the not-so-secret weapon, the spoken threat behind the power of the throne. She was a living nightmare, a one-woman army, destruction given bodily form. 

She was Arial Vaharic, and she did not control any of the elements: instead, she controlled life itself.

They called Arial’s power “Ether,” the life force of living things. Arial carried a rifle known as ‘The Lotus,’ and with it’s accursed abilities she was able to drain that life force from her targets. She became unusually strong and exceptionally skilled, qualities that made her the single greatest fighter in the Empire. And with that ability was an additional gift: her life was extended by the energy she drained from her victims, granting her millennia without aging. When she disappeared, just before the Empire’s fall, she looked nearly the same as she had thousands of years before as a new academy graduate. Arial had been a lynchpin of the Empire’s military might, and then she was just… gone.

Dead? Disguised? Transformed? Only she could say.

***

Biologically, the Elravians most resembled some of the hominid species found in the modern day. Indeed, genetic surveys have shown that Elravian genetics are still present in many modern populations, with the Kraeth and the lesser-known Novarians as particularly prominent carriers. It has meant very little; with Elravia lost and any remaining conduits long-since locked away or destroyed, the Elravian’s defining feature is absent amongst their descendants.

…Or so it would seem.

***

Elravia was a harsh but vibrant world in antiquity, particularly warm and humid, allowing dense jungle to form over much of the planet. Terrifying fauna and flora filled the land, air, and seas. Carnivorous plants that could eat a person whole spread their vines between the trees, while enormous carrion-devouring serpents burrowed in the ground beneath the roots. Horrors from the sky, sporting razor sharp talons, stalked the vicious dwellers below. It was in this world that the Elravians came to be.

It was in this crucible that their cruelty was forged.

The planets the Elravians conquered were terraformed to best meet their own needs, adepts kept in the rear-guard of their armies who could quickly bring the rains, raise the ocean floors, and stir the heavens into motion. And, in particularly dire times, summon the inferno to burn away the old and make room for the new.

There is no extant knowledge of how the Elravians made their conduits - or even if they made them at all. No samples are known publicly, and what descriptions exist are sparse. There is some connection to something referred to in an ancient text as a “corpse reaver,” but with no guidance as to what such a thing could be - let alone how it relates to creation of a conduit.

Confusingly, Elravians using their powers were known to enter a “flow state,” achieving berserker rages in battle, accessing vivid memories, obtaining sudden insights, and making use of enhanced mental and physical skills. If this is true - and not just legendary apocrypha - it suggests a deeper connection to a conduit and their powers than simply control of the elements. Indeed, Arial’s well-documented ether-abilities already throw most theories into disarray.

***

The Empire was a absolute monarchy, within which several noble houses vied for control. Except in the early days of its founding, political violence was rare - an odd peace considering the warlike tendencies of the species as a whole. 

For most of it’s existence, the Empire was ruled by the Carolinian-lineage, a noble family that traced itself back to pre-FTL times. The Carolinian’s were well-entwined with the military, and had made a special effort to cultivate champions as they arose. Indeed, it was they who first elevated Arial Vaharic to the status of champion, her deadly powers making her a crucial weapon across generations.

There’s very little to be said of the end of the monarchy; few records exist, with most knowledge of the event being known through vague - and sometimes conflicting - legends. What is known is that the royal family suffered an assassination, effectively ending their line. And the champions who had once protected the Empire were seemingly gone, vanished into the void. The result was chaos.

Elravia itself was committed to an unknown fate: the planet’s ecosystem underwent a calamity during open civil war at the end of the Empire’s reign, forcing the already war-torn planet to be abandoned. In the years following, the tainted and hated world was largely forgotten by the Empire’s former subjects. It’s name and location gradually were erased from both maps and memories, becoming only the stuff of legend. Many attempts have been made to find the lost world, and uncover the secrets that remain; none have been successful. Wherever Elravia is, and whatever it became, has long since been forgotten.

***

The causes that precipitated the fall of the Empire are not well known, even amongst dedicated scholars. The empire collapsed twenty-thousand years ago, seemingly at the height of its power. A political crisis engulfed the monarchy, lesser-nobles clamoring for control. An assassination: regicide. An uprising on their home world, sabotage, ecological collapse. A diaspora, competing warlords claiming to be the rightful successor to the throne. A gradual disconnection from their powers, and each other. Economic decline. Assimilation.

The disappearance of their greatest champions.

It took a thousand years, but when the last self-styled emperor and his retinue were massacred on a backwater world far from Galactic Center, the final chapter of the Elravians’ saga seemingly was written. Durable artifacts surfaced from time-to-time, Elravian loan words made their way into the common vernacular, and the lives and worlds transformed by their actions remained… but the species itself was dead…

For now.