Unified Eothasi Government

Unified Eothasi Government
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Schyhen peotüs vámpus ozis kré pamis" "Together, we conquer the sky, sun, and stars."
Anthem: Schyhen Larru kré Forru "Upward and Forward, Together"
Capital and most inhabited planet	Aurelus
Official languages	None
Recognised national languages	Eothasi
Demonym(s)	Eothasi
Government	Direct democracy
• Empress	Cordelia VI
• Lady Regent	Cäcilie Michel
• Lady Regent	Mercè Castell
• Lord Regent	Arden Leavitt
Establishment
• First sovoran construct	1971, 12th Day
• Discovery of precursor ruins	2055, 147th Day
• Establishment of the Unified Eothasi Government	2055, 1st Day
• Discovery of spaceflight technology	2077, 79th Day
• Total systems	1642
• Inhabited systems	411
Population
• 2285 census	149,220,976,115
Currency	ecredit
Date format	yyyy.dd.mm

The Unified Eothasi Government, commonly referred to as the Imperial Republic or the Imperium, is a large interstellar empire governed by direct democracy. It is based on the planet of Aurelus, an ecumenopolis of some fifteen billion residents in the system of Elereus. Since the discovery of ruins of a precursor nature on nearby moons and planets in 2055, the Unified Eothasi Government has grown exponentially, eventually encompassing over 1600 star systems and over 400 inhabited systems.

The Unified Eothasi Government was formed from the hundreds of smaller federal governments that existed throughout the planet of Aurelus, who had already amongst themselves formed a sort of supranational government named United Aurelus for the peacekeeping of the entire globe.

However, despite this great step forward in societal reconstruction, the planet still faced many hardships: malnourished or neglected areas, pollution, destruction of natural habitats, and many more. This problem was eventually solved after the intervention of the artificial superintelligences discovered in Precursor ruins on the planet, which allowed the maximisation of the efficiency of the Eothasi’s logistical system and solved virtually every problem they had previously faced as a species. Nearly a full century later, in 2055, after the discovery of precursor ruins that showed the path to interstellar travel, United Aurelus transformed into the Unified Eothasi Government and took over all governmental organisation on Aurelus and, later, the entirety of the Republic.

Today, the Unified Eothasi Government is a massive interstellar empire of hundreds of worlds, stations, and stars and has a total population of over one hundred and fifty billion.

History.

Pre-spaceflight Era.

The story of the Unified Eothasi Government begins on the planet of Aurelus in the mid-19th Century. By then, society had already been experimenting massive changes in societal psychology for over three centuries; the introduction of widespread socialism radically changed the Eothasi people, which had seen wealth and capital concentrated into a relatively small portion of the population, into an almost perfectly equal society.

This started off a scientific revolution of proportions never before seen. The exchange of knowledge and material objects throughout the many countries of the world slowly but surely eliminated the small pretenses of property and boundaries between them. However, it wasn’t until 1844 that the jump was finally made: in a unanimous effort between all countries of the world that was eventually validated by a worldwide referendum, all national boundaries were eliminated and each Eothasi could freely traverse the globe as they saw fit. Governance was still limited to regional areas in order to maximise efficiency, but the boundaries between countries and the need for war was over. In order to ensure this, the supranational entity United Aurelus was created to ensure the security and safety of all Eothasi.

Not long after, in 1851, the first of the Precursor ruins was found near the large city of Valtoria —a city that, due to the importance of this discovery, would later become the ‘capital’ of the Unified Eothasi Government in that the main hub of national governance is maintained there— which radically revolutionised Eothasi technology. Though the exact nature of the precursors remains a mystery to this day, as only four other ruins of this nature have ever been discovered, the most eerily surprising fact was not the technological data held within, but rather, that the data itself was written in Valtorian, a language that had not existed until roughly four-to-five centuries prior to the discovery of the ruins. This made it rather simple for the scientists that discovered them to decipher the texts held within the vaults.

It was in these texts that the technologies to construct advanced artificial intelligences, as well as the power sources for these machines, was found. Over the course of the following century, these theories were tested and put to practice until, in the year 1971, the first machine was finally constructed. From then on, the machines were called the sovoran, which was Eothasi for ‘synthetic lifeline’.

The development of the first sovoran was an extraordinary feat that would forever change the future of the Eothasi. In a world riddled with thousands of problems ranging from contamination and ecological destruction to the still inefficient redistribution of resources on a global scale, artificial superintelligences were the key that made the difference. The sovoran took over menial and administrative tasks, vastly improving the performance of agricultural production, redistribution of wealth, and control of the environment on the planet. Apart from this, their contributions to economics, science, and governance soon made them an irremovable piece of the Eothasi puzzle.

The course of the following centuries was dictated by the discovery in 2055 of additional ruins of these Precursors on several planets throughout the solar system of Elereus, which ultimately confirmed the theories that the Precursors had been studying and coddling the sovoran to eventually bring them to the galactic stage. Their ultimate fate was unknown; however, as no evidence of their existence has ever been found, the two prevailing theories are that they simply abandoned the mission and recluded to systems yet uncovered by the Eothasi, or they vanished to another galaxy or dimension, leaving an extremely faint footprint behind.

Whatever the case may be, the additional ruins —written in their original language, which made deciphering much more difficult— explained the mechanics of interstellar travel to the Eothasi, which allowed them to begin thorough colonisation efforts of the nearby systems and integrate themselves fully into the galactic community. The first extrasolar colony was established in 2109 and first contact with other alien life forms occurred in 2157. The first contact with an intelligent biological lifeform happened when they discovered the tungaua in 2285.

Government.

Executive Branch.

The executive branch of the Unified Eothasi Government is presided by the Federal Conclave, a triumvirate of three different members that will jointly act as head of State and Government for the duration of their terms. Below them is the Federal College of Ministries, which is a set of ministers and secretaries that handle the organisation of various competencies of the Federal Government.

Apart from these bodies, one of the most important elements of the governments of all levels of the Unified Eothasi Government is the presence of artificial superintelligences that partake in the process. These offer counsel to the varying levels of government, as well as take care of minor administrative tasks and organisation. This is done so to prevent access to these tasks and, in this way, avoid corruption and deceit from advantageous government positions.

Imperial Throne.

The Imperial Throne is the fragment of the executive branch of the Unified Eothasi Government that acts as the supreme ruler of the entirety of the Republic. The position is elective via the Galactic Consensus, but this is only from a theoretical point of view. In reality, the Imperial Throne is hereditary, but with the possibility to remove the emperor from the throne, should it be the desire of the People.

The Imperial Throne is a hereditary position. The emperor rules as leader of the Federal Conclave, but not above it per sé; it is a singular figurehead, but works in conjunction with the democratic institutions of the Republic to ensure and secure the defence of the interests of the people above those of the rest of the elements of the political structure of the Republic. The position is held by an individual for lifetime, or until they reach the retirement age of 70 years. At that time, it must then be transferred to their heir apparent, who will again reign until the end of their working life.

In the event of an heir apparent not being momentarily available —because of insufficient age, perishing, or even lack of an heir apparent altogether— the Federal Conclave will appoint a Regent that will occupy the position until such an heir can be determined. This may be maintained until the heir apparent reaches a sufficient age or is otherwise able to resume activities, or alternatively, until the Galactic Consensus elects a new imperial overseer.

The Galactic Consensus can depose an imperial overseer in the event that a minimum of one hundred factions —or a third of the population of any imperial sector— requests such a motion. In order to be passed, it will require a 75% approval rating in the Galactic Consensus and will be organised as if it were an ordinary law. In the event that this is passed, the Federal Conclave shall appoint a Regent until such a time that the Galactic Consensus has selected a new imperial arbiter.

Officially, the title of the imperial overseer is Caestor for males and Caesari for females. The heir apparent shall always be known as Caestamari. These are the equivalent for emperor, empress and crown prince/princess in Eothasi.

The functions of the imperial throne are rather simple. They are theoretically impartial elements of government that ensure that the Federal Conclave does not exceed their boundaries and operates both within the law as well as with the interests of the Republic and its peoples in mind. They are arbiters of the Federal Conclave and, though they retain power themselves, it is merely in the competence of completing these functions as arbiter. As such, the emperor of the Republic does not retain any political power themselves, but rather as counsel to the Federal Conclave. Beyond this, they are also head of the Church of Auriel, the religious belief most prominent in the Republic and one the core founding reasons of its socialistic society.

Federal Conclave.

The Federal Conclave is the executive body of the Unified Eothasi Government and acts as both the head of State and head of Government. It is composed of three different individuals, with rotating terms and set dates.

Each of the three Lord and Lady Regents of the Conclave govern for terms of six years, but these are not each in line with the other. Instead, the Galactic Consensus must choose every two years whether to replace or maintain one of the regents, which will have by then reached their six years of term. In that moment, the other two regents will have four and two years respectively since they were elected to their positions (or, alternatively, revalidated for their position).

Though the three regents are the same in their responsibilities and power, they oftentimes take specialisations into different fields. For instance, one regent may be more specialised in economics and trade than the others, while another may be more interested in the field of scientific research. They then split the Federal College’s ministries as they see fit, and organise themselves to have each of them coordinate the ministry heads of those ministries that they most wish to coordinate (with certain ministries being necessarily split to avoid accumulation). Regardless of the fact that this may make a minister speak more with one regent as opposed to the others, any regent can make any intervention in any of the ministries and bring any topic to light in the Federal Conclave at any given moment.

A person cannot present themselves as a candidate for the position of Lord or Lady Regent. They must first be nominated by at least ten factions or fifteen million votes in order to be considered a nomination, and then the nominee must provide a detailed political programme of at least fifty pages. Nomination periods begin fifty days before the first day of elections and end twenty days prior to the start, thus giving thirty days for any nominations to be made throughout the Republic. At the end, all approved nominations will then travel to the capital of the Republic in order to partake in a series of interviews, presentations, debates, and other events in order to make the candidate be thoroughly known throughout the Republic. After these twenty days are over, ten days of elections begin, in which any Eothasi can, at any point in time, present themselves at the appropriate delegation of their commune in order to submit their electronic vote.

The Federal Conclave uses a ranked-choice based electoral system. The citizen must order all of the available candidates in order from most to least preferred candidate, and the victor is that which receives, after this process, a minimum of fifty percent of the available votes.

Legislative Branch.

The legislative branch of the Unified Eothasi Government is a single-chamber e-democracy. There is no physical representation of the chamber itself; rather, what this means is that all bills passed in the legislative branch receive the approval of all citizens of the Republic that operate underneath the organism that is approving the bill. For instance, a bill passed in a Stellar Consensus requires the collective approval of all Eothasi citizens that live in the star system in question, but in order for a bill to pass in the Galactic Consensus, it requires the approval of all Eothasi citizens in the entire Republic. This is true for all levels of legislative branches across the entire Republic.

Though it is true that, despite the name, it is not a true consensus in the sense that it does not require 100% approval from all members, it does require at minimum 70% in order to pass. This is because of the nature of the Eothasi, who themselves value egalitarianism and consensus rather than confrontation and mere simply majority approval of measures and bills.

Galactic Consensus.

The Galactic Consensus is the ultimate parliamentary representation of the will of the Eothasi people across the entire Republic. It is here that all Eothasi vote on the bills that are taken to the Consensus in order to be applied throughout the entire Republic.

Though the Galactic Consensus does not harbour parties nor representatives for the people, there do exist various factions in the Consensus. These factions are legally recognised groups of people that have a specific end in mind, or wish to carry out the defence of a specific ideal or ethic. There is no limit to the number of factions that may exist in the Consensus, nor are there limits to the number of factions a particular citizen may form a part of. Factions must be of free entry and exit, and cannot have quotas, payments, or financial accounts tied to their judicial person. However, in order for a faction to be formed, at least 100.000 citizens need to sign up to approve of the creation of said faction.

In order for a bill to reach the Galactic Consensus, it needs to be supported by at least three factions. Bills presented in the Consensus then have thirty days to speak with other factions to discuss the bill and garner support, as well as debate amongst themselves on any edits that need to be made to the bill. For every period of ten days, there are three days of debate, two days of rest, another three days of debate and two days to vote on all bills presented in that time frame. This means that, in total, any bill will have a total of eighteen days of debate in order to discuss the bill with all other citizens.

In the event that a bill is passed in the Galactic Consensus, the Federal Government has five days to communicate it to the sectoral governments and thirty days to present a plan to the Galactic Consensus regarding its implementation. After this, the Galactic Consensus will set a timeframe, depending on the necessities of the bill in question, in order for the Federal Government to implement the plan.

Though there are certain topics for which a citizen must go to the appropriate Federal delegation in their Astral, Stellar or Sectoral Communes in order to vote —such as the elections to Regent of the Conclave— this is not usually the case for Galactic Consensus votes. In these votes, it is sufficient to connect to an intranet application maintained by the Galactic Consensus for this purpose, sign in using personalised biometrics, and then submit the vote in favour, against, or in abstention to all proposed bills.

Federal Structure.

The entire structure of the varying levels of government in the Republic is organised down to the smallest dot, thanks to the great efficiency of the artificial intelligence systems that help manage the day-to-day administration on the enormous scale of the Republic. The structure is built in such a way that the federal government maintains a degree of control over the rest of its subservient sectors while also allowing these to maintain some autonomy in their own organisation.

The Republic is structured into various levels. At the top is the galactic level, presided over by the Federal Conclave triumvirate. Major decisions that affect the entirety of the Republic are taken at this level, as well as the organisation for future colonial projects as well as other expansion projects. This is also the level of the Galactic Consensus, the enormous e-democracy parliament in which all Eothasi partake. Although many of the competencies of government are handed down to the governments of the federalised states themselves, the Federal Government in Aurelus can still take direct command if it is deemed necessary.

Below this is the Sectoral Commune. The Republic is broken up into various sectors, each of which corresponds to a particular star cluster. It is the duty of the Sectoral Government to organise the structure of the colonies, local economy, and production of goods as per the needs of the people, the system, and the overall Republic, in the event of a higher directive. Each sectoral government will organise their own budgets and expenditure, but these will be overseen by the Federal Conclave to ensure the maximum possible efficiency. The Sectoral Commune is presided by the Sectoral Council, which is occupied by three ‘Lord or Lady Vicars’, and the Sectoral Consensus.

Below this level is the Stellar Commune. This is the government of each individual star system, which would govern the totality of orbital habitats and inhabited planets in a system. This governance is more direct than the Sectoral Commune in that they are the ones actually actively organising the production itself: operating machines and drones for mining or agriculture, preparing construction sites for colonial expansion, etc. They are presided by the Stellar Council, which is occupied by three ‘Stellar Councillors’, and the Stellar Consensus.

Below this level is the Astral Commune. This is the government of each individual planet or habitat and is in charge of the more day-to-day organisation of the colonies. This includes providing food at the stores, organising events and entertainment, etc. They are presided by the Astral Council, which is occupied by three ‘Astral Governors’, and the Astral Consensus.

At the root of each of these governments is the artificial superintelligences known as the sovoran. The sovoran partake in the organisation of the society, and are arbiters of the governments to ensure that corruption is kept to a minimum and that efficiency is as maximised as possible. These sovoran also take care of the menial administrative tasks of each of the governments they’re coordinated with.

Each Stellar Commune will have one sovoran, which will coordinate the tasks that require its intervention in each system. Apart from governmental tasks with the Stellar Council, it also handles dangerous mining operations, agricultural production on garden worlds and arcologies as well as space habitats, and other menial tasks by remotely operating drones.

Communications.

Communications are organised throughout the entire Republic in a point-to-point fashion, with various layers of communication requiring different platforms and locations throughout Eothasi space.

The first level of communication is local, on par with the Astral Commune level of governance. This communication uses standard luminal communication in order to connect the Eothasi amongst themselves. All Eothasi in a station, planet, outpost, moon, etc. are connected amongst themselves for near instant communication and sharing of knowledge, experiences, memories and others. This information is then sent to various superluminal communication relays throughout the station, which send all information to the Stellar Commune’s main station, or other nearby stations, if necessary.

Each star system has one main station, which is usually the largest, most defended and most populated station in the star system. This station handles communications between different stations of the star system, if it is useful, as well as communications incoming and outgoing from the star system. This station is equipped with a tachyon superluminal communication array, which allows for constant (though not instant) communication with the capital of the Sectoral Commune.

The third level of communication is the Sectoral Commune’s concentration. The capital of the Sectoral Commune is usually the first star system occupied by the Republic in a specific star cluster. This means that, as the first system, it will not only handle all communications incoming via tachyon superluminal arrays throughout the cluster, but also all communications incoming and outgoing to the star cluster. In order to do this in the most efficient way, the capital system of the cluster is equipped with a quantum entanglement buoy on the fringes of the system, well-protected by the Eothasi military. From here, communications incoming from the station enter the quantum entanglement communicator and are instantly transferred to the capital of the Republic, in Aurelus.

From here, information is packaged, analysed and transmitted to the federal Government in Aurelus. There is not usually intervention on behalf of the federal Government, given the autonomous nature of each Sectoral Commune. However, this allows the federal Government to organise itself amongst its communes and better ensure that the sanctity of the entire Republic is secured.

Military.

The military of the UEG is an arm controlled by the Federal Government, which both sends and receives strategic and tactical information from all of the fleets and armies stationed through the Republic. They are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence for the protection and both the domestic and foreign interests of the UEG as a whole. It is tasked with ensuring the integrity of the UEG as well as the protection of its citizens and residents from foreign and domestic threats. This does not only include operations against hostile foreign militaries or insurgent groups operating within or outside the Republic, but also reacting in the event of great calamities, such as devastating natural disasters, crippling pandemics or other emergencies that put at risk the safety of the Eothasi citizenship that cannot be handled by standard astral, stellar, sectoral or even other national organisms (such as the Galactic Security Service and its Republic Guard regiment).

The commander in chief of the military is the Federal Conclave. Furthermore, the Government has an integrated organism dubbed the Chiefs of Staff Directive with which the Federal Conclave is provided advice in the face of needing military deployments. Despite this fact, individual military operations can and are organised at a sectoral level, needing only the approval of the Chief of Staff Directive in order to move forward.

The Eothasi military is headquartered in the home building of the Ministry of Defence: the Elereus Defence Centre in Valtoria, one of the largest districts of the planet of Aurelus. This, however, is only the location where the Chiefs of Staff Directive work on a regular basis and where coordination between the different branches of the military takes place. However, each branch has a base in accordance with its own field of operation that acts as its “headquarters,” in a manner of speaking.

The Defence Ministry is also in charge of the Republic Guard regiment of the Galactic Security Service (which is, in its entirety, otherwise organised by the Home Office, except during wartime and in extreme necessities).

Because of the vast expanse of space and the need to provide garrisons and support against piracy and other malevolent acts throughout the space of the Republic, military service in the UEG has been established as compulsory, although the manner in which this is carried out is very specific. Individuals can freely enlist at the age of eighteen (or seventeen, in the event that they have express permission from their parents, tutors or guardians and have completed tertiary education) years of age. Mandatory levying, as it is called in the UEG, begins after the end of tertiary education in the event that the individual in question does not have the intention (or otherwise fails to) inscribe into university.

The main difference between enlisting after tertiary education and being levied is the time; enlisted soldiers will undergo Professional Combat Training. This consists of approximately twenty-one weeks, after which soldiers are transferred to Specialised Individual Training, which can last anywhere from ten to forty weeks, depending on the chosen specialisation. Afterwards, they must serve a minimum of three years active service before being able to solicit their first transfer to the reserve forces of the military. Furthermore, there are no restrictions with regards to the location to which they can be deployed; they can be stationed on bases in the Core Systems as well as bases in the frontier territories or even deployed to combat theatres, should the need arise.

In contrast, levied personnel undergo a Basic Combat Training regimen of only twelve weeks, after which they are transferred to Advanced Individual Training for another eight weeks. After their training is complete, they are transferred to active service for one year before being automatically retired (unless otherwise stipulated by the individual in question). They are not allowed to be deployed to any territory other than those deemed safe by the Ministry of Defence.

Compulsory service can be waived in a number of circumstances, the most obvious being the individual in question having some form of physical or medical impediment that disallows their participation in military service. If this is not the case, military service can also be waived if the individual is attending university, as under no circumstances can military service interrupt education. Should the individual in question graduate university and find a job in their respective field (which they have to justify with the appropriate paperwork at the Bureau of Levied Military Service) within six months, they can definitively waive their service. Should they not find a job, they will be immediately required to present themselves to their nearest military recruitment station. Should the individual continue their education and complete a master or doctoral cycle, they can also definitively waive their service if they so request it; should they not, they will be levied, but go through PCT or the specialised military academy of their choosing.

Economy.

Internal Economic Structure.

The economy of the Unified Eothasi Government is a complex machine which, for the most part, relies on the self-sufficiency of each individual star system. Shipping of minerals or other simple manufactured products across different systems is not a common occurrence, due to the cost in terms of fuel that this implies. As such, each individual system has to be able to satisfy, using the various sources at its disposal, the enormous majority of its demand.

However, this does not apply to all products produced within the Unified Eothasi Government. For instance, production of warships, colony ships, or other specialised components do not have to be delegated to each specific system. This will usually be the case for larger sectoral clusters; the sectoral government organises the locations where stations specialised in the production of specific items, such as warships, will be built within their star cluster. In this way, in a specific cluster, there may be two or three systems with shipyards, as opposed to each system having stations dedicated to this purpose.

A perfect example is the system of Eden. Though the system was initially selected for colonial expansion, it was decided that, given the richness of the system’s three asteroid fields, the system would also boast an enormous shipyard hub. The use of these asteroid fields have since made it possible to construct the enormous fleet that the Republic now has, and is home to one of the seventeen hubs for shipyard construction in the Republic and the largest shipyard system, with over thirty five shipyards spread out throughout the system.

In general, within a specific Sectoral Commune, private enterprise is permitted. However, these private enterprises cannot be in fields that provide the basic necessities to the civil population, such as medicine, agriculture, or housing. Furthermore, these private enterprises must be cooperatively owned and democratised by councils directed by the workers themselves in order to ensure there is no exploitation of the people and to ensure the equal redistribution of wealth.

Culture.

Artificial Superintelligences.

Artificial superintelligences, called the ‘sovoran’ in the Republic, form an incredibly important part of the lifeline of the Unified Eothasi Government. Individualised intelligences are available at practically every station or planet occupied by the Eothasi, and they control an enormous amount of the administrative and menial tasks of Eothasi colonies with the use of drones and other automated equipment.

Sovoran are present usually at Stellar Communes and above. The Stellar Commune’s AI usually handles all equipment in the star system, including but not limited to: patrol drones, mining drones, agricultural equipment, shipments manifests, travel control, interstellar trade, and others. They are an integral part of the day to day of the Eothasi and the logistical marvel of the Unified Eothasi Government would be impossible without the constant communication between these artificial intelligences.

Apart from this, the sovoran are also prevalent within the military branch of the Republic. This is done in both a marine and navy capacity; each fleet, when formed and assigned a capital ship, is assigned an artificial intelligence. These ships will then be coordinated in movement, weapons discharge, refueling, FTL engagement, and others entirely by the artificial intelligence. This allows the actual Eothasi crew to be reduced greatly and allows for the construction of far larger, more diverse fleets.

Furthermore, they are also prevalent in actual war machines. Occupying platforms known as the ‘javelins’, they engage in military operations on the ground in the same capacity as actual troopers. They provide insight, immediate contact with the orbiting fleets or nearby stations, and tactical knowledge on the fly in a way that is far more efficient than that of Eothasi themselves. They are directly linked with the artificial intelligence of the fleet to which they are assigned, with the very consciousness of their sovoran being downloaded into each individual machine and allowing for instant communication and control amongst them, while reducing the probability of deviancy.

The sovoran of the Unified Eothasi Government have a specific naming convention that consists of three different sections. The first section consists of 3 letters which do not necessarily correspond to a word in Eothasi, but habitually is the base upon which the eventual colloquial name of the sovoran arises. For instance, from EVR rises the word Evar, meaning ‘creator’ in Eothasi. These are then followed by a set of 3 numbers, which are randomised during creation of the intelligence in order to obtain distinction between them. The last section is followed by a dash, and consists of one additional number. As such, a name could be EVR 843/9.

Despite this fact, it is quite common for sovoran to choose words in alien languages when interacting with members of that species to make it easier for them to pronounce.

Precursors.

The futuristic technology wielded by the Eothasi was not product of their own research in the fields of spaceflight or interstellar travel, and much less so in the field of neural networks or artificial superintelligences, both concepts beyond the reach of the smartest Eothasi at the time of their discovery. Rather, it was due to the discovery of Precursor (known to the Eothasi as the Kuthrúa) ruins both on the homeworld of Aurelus as well as throughout the entire system that they were able to discover the secrets of the universe.

However, for a long time after the discovery of these ruins and the development of advanced technologies, the Eothasi desperately searched the stars for proof of the existence of other alien species. The universe was of such enormous dimensions that, statistically, it is probable that other alien species besides the Eothasi existed throughout the galaxy. However, if this is the case, then organic life should be evident, not so scarce that, with the enormous quantity of telescopes and sensory data being collected by the Eothasi, only the Kuthrúa have been detected, and at that, because they made themselves so prevalent in their home system. With this, the belief that the Kuthrúa were the only other intelligent organic species existent in the galaxy began to settle in the Eothasi mind. The discovery of the zolaith, a furry creature with pre-sapient intelligence but with the potential for so much more —and the first uplifting project of the Eothasi themselves— did not help settle this problem. The discovery of biological creatures was never doubted, as there was evidence of this throughout their own system. However, the lack of intelligent species made it seem that there was some sort of barrier that limited species’ growth towards the stars.

As such, this has created a sort of collective obsession with the Kuthrúa. The discovery of additional precursor ruins throughout the entire system of Elereus made it evident that the planet and the Eothasi were of some interest to the Kuthrúa, and as such, the obsession with these precursors —which, to the Eothasi, were the only other intelligent species known to exist or have existed— could only continue to expand. It eventually grew to be one of the purposes of the Eothasi themselves; zealously searching the galaxy for clues as to where the Kuthrúa may have gone, they eventually came to develop and believe that alien life was a paradox.

The nature of the Kuthrúa was unknown, and it was in fact impossible to discern whether they were one species or multiple species in one empire. Both conceptions were terrifying to the Eothasi; the first, because the existence of one single organic species in the rest of the galaxy spoke of the enormous risks that species must face in order to develop spaceflight and survive galactic hardships. The second, because this implied that whichever species was considered ‘supreme’ in this empire would have a level of technological advancement far superior to the rest and, by deduction, the Eothasi. This would allow them to potentially answer the greatest questions of the universe. This then became the mission of all Eothasi expeditionary forces: a thorough search of the galaxy to continue to find Kuthrúa ruins and eventually discern what happened to this precursor species. To date, no additional ruins have been found.

Calendar.

Prior to the discovery of the first ruins in 1851, the world had standardised the use of a calendar known as the Lithal Calendar. This was based off of the birth of Lucretia, one of the many prophetesses that is said to have come to Aurelus in representation of the goddess Auriel, who lived on the surface of Elereus. However, the discovery of these ruins and, far later, the development of the first artificial intelligence vastly changed the perception of the population with respect to this calendar.

As such, implemented in the year 1992, the Aurelus Calendar has become the standardised calendar for use both by the United Aurelus and the Unified Eothasi Government. The Aurelus Calendar presents a number of modifications to the previous system; the first of these is the number of weeks, as it changed to fifty-five nine-day weeks. These weeks are then separated into eleven five-week months throughout the entire year. More precisely, the entire Aurelus Calendar year has 497 27-hour-long days.

Furthermore, the starting year of the calendar was changed to 9,882 BCE on the galactic standard calendar. As such, the current year is the Year 12,167.