Empire Fallen: a short chronology of the Fall of the Telerial Empire By Ciel Tralyar The Fall of the Telerial

Empire was caused by several factors. First was the fracture of the Empire into its constituent factions caused by the Schism, followed closely by the split inside the Imperial Government. After that, it was only a matter of time until the Empire fell into total war. I realize that many readers in this day may be unfamiliar with the organization of the Telerial Empire. The Emperor was the leader of the Empire in name only. The leaders of the Empire were the Legates, who governed the various sub-divisions of the Empire. After the Unification Wars seven hundred years before the Fall, the Empire had begun to rely increasingly on financial status. Thus, when the Schism began, the economical bureaucracy was hit hard and fast. A diplomat who, a few years before, had enjoyed the status his riches offered now was considered useless to the Empire unless he knew a valuable trade (usually manual). At worst, soldiers had been treated as castaways, useless to society; at best, bodyguards were a sign of status. Now, they were the most sought-after force in the galaxy. It should be noted that the Imperial Space Navy had become a force separate from the Telerial Empire three hundred years after the Unification Wars. The Legates soon tried to again enlist them into the Imperial Defense Force as superiors or as commanders. However, they were too used to being paid (exceedingly well) for each mission; to suddenly become the defense force of the failing Empire would have been a shock indeed. Thus they declined the desperate command. However, the Galactic Marines had remained loyal to the Emperor throughout the Empire's history, and they remained so until the very end. Even money ceased to work as a motivator in the sudden economic drop stemming from the loss of so many Imperial worlds, some to anarchy and some to smaller governments which had formerly operated unheeded on the fringes of the Empire. Soon, the ISN withdrew into territories they carved out from Schismatic worlds and disappeared from the battle, leaving the Empire to fight as best it could with the Marines as well as all the militia and Guard forces it could muster. The motives behind the Schism were, originally at least, simple dissatisfaction with the current government. It began as several terrorist attacks on outer Imperial worlds. The Legates assigned to deal with these worlds, however, almost all declared martial law and brought in mercenary forces to keep the peacemercenary forces who, by all accounts, were not in any degree peaceful themselves. Soon, several worlds were in open revolt. The Emperor Kallore, called into his primary duty as a military commander-in-chief for the first time in centuries, reacted with disdain and instructed his Legates to use any means necessary to reestablish Imperial

control. Apparently, the Legates were no more up to handling this task than the Emperor was, lulled into false confidence by so many years of peace. Many made fatal blunders in the critical months following the Imperial declaration, and almost all worsened the minor control disputes, as they were still being called. It was too late when the Emperor finally acted, enacting general martial law and taking direct control of the Empire for the first time in six hundred years. He swept the galaxy with a masterfully executed blitzkrieg and reestablished control over most of the Empire, with the Galactic Marines playing a prominent part in the quelling of riots and the maintaining of peace. The loss of the Navy, however, would prove to be a critical factor in the Empire's downfall. Four years after Emperor Kallore's restoration of the Empire, its leadership passed to his son Celendo. He did not have his father's military genius, and his temperament ran towards impetuous and foolish. Out of a desire to see the Empire once again made whole, he decided to launch an attack against the Imperial Space Navy. For the first seven years of his reign, he amassed a great navy above Tarandi IV, a large, mountainous planet with the resources required for the construction of the navy. He also moved the seat of the Emperor from Iliar to Tarandi IV, repeating the famous quote from Emperor Celhatu, the Emperor who initiated the Unification Wars: The time for Emperors of peace and tranquility is now over. It is the time for Emperors of war. The Navy had, upon its retreat from the Empire, moved into wild space known only to itself (the ISN was tasked with the reconnaissance and exploration of the galaxy). It had fortified and prepared for the (seemingly) inevitable attack of the Empire. However, greater problems may have engulfed the ISN's beleaguered forces. That is, as yet, unknown. When Celendo's navy arrived in ISN space, it was greeted by an armada estimated to be half its size, mainly comprised of old, decrepit ships, no match for modern ships-of-the-line. No one knows exactly what happened next, though a probable account of the battle has been spliced together from cameras found amongst the wreckage. One shot was fired, a warning shot from the ISN which went past the prow of Celendo's flagship, from which he directed the battle. Then all hell broke loose. Some invisible force, far more powerful than either navy, arrayed outside the formations, opened fire upon both navies. Only when both forces were on the edge of defeat did the ISN play its trump card: its fully operational and modernized battle fleet. It is unknown why the fleet was held back as long as it was, although recovered sensor data shows that the ISN ships' wormhole generators were overheating, from either prolonged use or excessive speed. The ISN fleet drove back the mysterious force, but then turned upon Celendo's fleet and completely destroyed it. Military analysis