Post by Insano-Man on Sept 24, 2018 9:17:11 GMT -5
Mixed Signals
"Inkron" was not a name chosen by the largest alien species known to mankind. It was not the name of their homeworld, nor the first word spoken to human ears. It was instead an arbitrary decision; Ravert Inkron of the Republic of Tharkad was the first to encounter them and was likewise one of the first casualties of the first contact war the Republic was to endure. Many other names have been applied, but none have held the staying power of "Inkron".
It is only fitting that the Inkron were given a name by a man they would eventually kill; their encounters with humanity have rarely been pleasant and neither side has held all of the blame. Their alien nature is one that has doggedly plagued their attempts at diplomacy and driven aside their only true competitor's efforts, leaving a frosty relationship of mutual ignorance between the two. Contact between mankind and one of their only equals in space is resultantly non-existent.
Physiology
To truly understand the lack of communication between human space and Inkron space, one must fully grasp how foreign the species is. The Inkron do not fit the classical definition of living creatures; their bodies are composed entirely of solid materials with little chemical interaction. If not for their necessary physical forms, they might well be considered as beings of pure thought, sustained only by the presence of their fellows.
This is partly true, however. Much of the "shell" that is the Inkron body is highly conductive material, capable of sustaining electrical signals and electromagnetic fields with almost indefinite longevity. These fields are what make an Inkron creature truly alive and are their primary means for locomotion, interaction with their environment, and communication, among many other vital tasks for their existence.
The Inkron body is highly magnetic as a result and purposefully so. Their homeworld of Wallsfield, presumed to have both been discovered and named by the Ollenhall, is bathed in constant sandstorm conditions with winds reaching at least 90 kilometers per hour daily. Additionally, much of the materials blown up in this permanent wind cycle are strongly conductive, allowing electrical signals to work their way across sizable distances. The adaptation by much life on the planet, as such, is only logical; most communicate and perceive the world around them by projecting such signals. The intake of materials necessary for their survival, further, typically revolves around the magnetic capture of iron and other elements, where iron, thanks to its abundance, is the most ubiquitous component of life on Wallsfield.
Most creatures on Wallsfield are hardy, heavy, and strong, capable of standing and moving with little difficulty in the winds of their homeworld. The Inkron are some of the finest examples of this; they weigh in at roughly 350 kilograms in adults, more so in heavier individuals and greater still in those that deviate largely from the most common physical form.
The ordinary build of the Inkron is that of a large, sideways disc, bulging smoothly outwards in the center and coated in mixtures of non-conductive materials. The upper section of the center of the disc is most often capable of dislodging itself and extending upward, revealing a core of highly conductive internal materials. This extension, often called an antenna, is thought to be the primary method of communication and perception in Inkron, as such a component is ubiquitous even in "body deviants". Beneath the disc, opposite this structure are typically three or more thin, multi-jointed legs, ending in sharp edges capable of opening into two or more jointless finger-like appendages. When remaining still, Inkron most often lower themselves closely to the ground and embed their limbs into any soft ground around them. They then keep their bodies as close to the ground as possible, arranging their legs to face the source of any wind current to maintain an aerodynamic profile intended to keep themselves as stable as physically possible.
It is not a sign of a lack of understanding that the concept of the Inkron's physical form is vague. Reproduction in their species is the primary cause - a process which is not fully understood even still. Observations of the Inkron suggest their method of population expansion to be what has been termed "fragmentation" and the "rejuvenile" period. "Fragmentation" is the literal, willful fragmenting of an Inkron individual at any stage of their life into any number of parts. These fragments are thought to contain electromagnetic fields and remnant signals from their previous body, which, through processes yet unknown, rebuild them into new individuals through magnetic capture. The reconstruction most often results in the shell commonly seen among Inkron adults. Some variance exists in this form, as seen in individuals with additional limbs, fingers, or differently shaped central discs. A considerable minority, however, will not develop like others at all; the aforementioned term "body deviant" is the name given for these unusual reconstructions. The appearance of these individuals can vary wildly, ranging from humanoid to even plant-like body structures.
The "rejuvenile" period is the time in which an Inkron individual repurposes body mass to replace the fragments that had been shed for reproduction. During this period, the individual goes into a low activity state similar to hibernation, where magnetic capture is limited to levels bordering suffocation. This hibernation can range from hours to months at a time depending on how much material the individual has lost, and heavily fragmented Inkron will usually revert to the most basic form they are capable of when restructuring themselves.
It is believed the fragmentation and rejuvenile processes is necessary for Inkron longevity; while the Inkron do not age conventionally and cannot die as a result, their internal electrical signals begin to overflow their shells as time goes on. Eventually, the growth of these impulses may disrupt their thoughts, communication, or even basic locomotion, resulting in virtual insanity or impairment in the individual. Fragmentation relieves stress on the system by venting energy from the system and allowing the individual time to shut themself off from the world around them, even if only in part.
The Inkron themselves are no different from the short list of creatures around them and, in fact, suit their environment even more closely. They are one of the few creatures capable of communicating with others up-wind and reproduce far faster than any other. Communication and interaction with other species native to their homeworld, in particular, are their strongest qualities.
The Inkron are adept predators on Wallsfield thanks to this. Of the known one hundred varieties of creatures on their native planet, the Inkron are one of only six capable of tearing apart and absorbing other creatures with the magnetic fields ordinarily used for the capture of materials on the wind. As the largest capable of doing so, they are the apex predator in their home territory by natural placement rather than intelligence. Intelligence, however, is not simply a footnote; the Inkron are fully capable of imitating the electrical signals emitted by other wildlife and a select few are capable of entirely overriding the electromagnetic fields that control other creatures in their native environment.
The air on Wallsfield is thickest, however, with the electrical signals the Inkron use to communicate with eachother. Though they have yet to be deciphered by human science, there is relatively good understanding of the interaction between them and the creatures that emit them. The signals are not so much like human speech, but the projected thoughts of the individual emitting them - or so it is assumed due to their distinct similarity to the signals believed to be the equivalent of human thought.
Due to the fact that, by nature, the Inkron must be conductive around their body for the purpose of taking in replacement materials for those lost to environmental friction, each individual is regularly bombarded by communication in areas incapable of fully processing it and "bleeds" out their own consciousness through these parts of their body. The result is that each Inkron participates unknowingly in a communal intelligence, extended throughout a particular area of influence by the population density therein. It is unknown what effects this has on the individual, but it is believed that this is, in fact, a detriment; while information unconsciously spreads faster, Inkron acting independently of this network display better coordination, reaction times, and communicate more effectively. This is best seen in Inkron acting outside their home environment, where isolation from foreign atmospheres is a necessity and communication is delivered by mechanical assistance.
The Inkron are known best in these situations. Outside their native atmosphere, the Inkron - even in the lower gravity of terrestrial planets and temperate wind conditions - are awkward in movement and isolated from eachother. A typical human-inhabited planet most often bears an atmosphere that is not only suffocating for them, but deadly; calcium deposits in their outer shell oxidize in the presence of air breathable by humans, building up a coating that prevents their natural magnetic fields from conducting effectively in their native environment. This results in a slow demise to internal wear and the stress of their own weight ballooning the impact of any faults that arise as a result, eventually causing them to literally fall apart at the seams. The electrical signals ordinarily reserved for communication and perception cannot conduct properly outside of their homeworld save for a handful of similar planets, leaving them fractured from eachother and effectively blind. This poor adaptability to other climates has left their colonization efforts slow and difficult even in the presence of assisting technology, while terraforming presents itself as an entirely impractical option.
Further, the Inkron are poorly adapted to utilizing tools; their minimal ability to grasp smaller objects and poor capacity for manipulating larger items that their strength can support is believed to have made early technological progression on Wallsfield slow and difficult. The impairing effects their own communication has on their thought patterns and the unending poor weather and dangerous terrain of their planet further contributed to this. All in mind, it is unsurprising that, despite their species' estimated age of at least 840,000 years, their achievement of space flight came only shortly before mankind's arrival in the present day colonial sphere.
History
While the Inkron themselves are better documented, their history is a clouded, nearly illegible affair that few have true insight into. Mankind has yet to fully translate their language and, likewise, the Inkron have failed to make sense of the human written and spoken languages. Their early development is almost entirely lost to human historians and all that is available boils down to guesses and obscure anecdotal research.
The most prominent of theories is that the Inkron were content to remain without technology for some time, thanks in large part due to their natural place at the top of the short food chain on Wallsfield. Their intelligence combined with this, there was little that stood out as a threat to the Inkron save for quarrels within their own species. As time continued, however, these quarrels would eventually become more than mere disputes and short conflicts. Small wars would finally unfold within the species as differing opinions and the desire to expand set upon various families. Technology would become a necessity to gain the upper hand in these conflicts and the slow, brief arms race would soon become the gateway to true advancement.
Like their complacency to remain without tools, it is thought that the Inkron, bogged down by the poor conditions and terrain of their planet, were satisfied to remain with what they had. Improvements and inventions were slow to be had and it was only the development of proper scientific testing environments and industrial experiment zones that allowed their technological endeavours to truly flourish. The first successful space flight made by the Inkron is believed to have been a monumentous occasion for them and catapulted interest in scientific development to record heights.
Reality returned when it became clear to the species in its first colonial endeavours that it was not made to settle other worlds. Only Wallsfield in their home system of sixteen planets was capable of supporting them without special equipment, making space travel and exploration activities limited to the harvesting of asteroids for raw resources. It would take many more years for interest to return with the technological developments necessary to establish self-sustaining colonies.
Like the first manned rise to space, these developments once again, it is thought, resulted in an explosion of interest in space travel. Overpopulation, present to this day, had racked Wallsfield, giving many hope that life on a new world, even limited to colonial prefabricated structures, would be better. The result was a mass exodus of pseudo-generation ships, where a small Inkron crew, bolstered by their own longevity, would expand on the long voyage to their destination and offer a more healthy population for their destination.
It is this time that first contact with the Inkron was achieved, first by the Ollenhall in their interception of a colonial vessel en route to a planet in their home system in 121 A.F. and second in the first contact war enacted against the Republic of Tharkad in 189 A.F. Neither would be unexpected, in hindsight, as both the Ollenhall and Republic resided in space close to the Rordrick system, where Wallsfield and the home of the Inkron empire rests. Both would set the tone for Inkron and human relations for millenia; a confused, hostile reaction by mankind and the Inkron respectively, neither able to understand or fully control the situation thrown upon them.
As the Inkron found that they were not alone in the universe, just as mankind had been awakened, the nations and factions composing their empire came together to form the modern Inkron Governance Sphere. It is not correct to equate this with an alliance in the vein of the Coalition of Human Systems, nor a single national entity. Wars and territorial disputes still occur within Inkron space and divisions can be observed with only moderately less frequency than that of mankind, leaving the purpose unclear in internal affairs. Each push into Inkron space, however, has been met with an overwhelming response; a unified Inkron defensive front, striking clear and profoundly with a single message. Be it a stray colonial group or invasion fleet, trespass into Inkron space has been met with crushing retaliation and brief, yet perfect unity. It is unknown if this is a fearful reaction, a warning to its aggressors, or even something more distant such as a cultural misconception of mankind. Whatever it may be, few are willing to test this cooperation, making movements around the edge of Inkron space some of the most carefully monitored.
Faster-than-light travel arrived quicker than the Inkron could foresee as time went on and their empire grew, beginning first with the development of the gluon separation matrix in Ollenhall territory. One of the first results that the Inkron encountered was the sudden burst of colonial movements the Ollenhall Administration committed itself to, swiftly followed by the briefly successful invasion of Inkron space in 1289 A.F. The panic of encountering a vastly more advanced and maneuverable human force dismantle roughly a fifth of the Inkron empire of the time set about a mad scramble to develop their own method of superluminal transportation. The invasion finally stalled when Inkron vessels began to utilize captured separation matrices themselves, taken from the Herbert Falwind battle group, which had mistakenly assaulted Wallsfield late into the invasion and lost a full three quarters of its ships to the defending fleet. As difficulties continued to mount from a failure to plan for a more mobile opposing force, the Ollenhall finally withdrew their incursion force to the edge of their nearest colonial sphere and braced for a counter-assault. Still confused and reeling from the conflict, the Inkron did not pursue and instead opted to rebuild their empire. The war was deemed a stalemate in 1311 A.F. and finally declared to be over in 1313 A.F.
As time went on and the Inkron came to fully grasp - or, at least, fully understand how to rebuild - the technology laid at their feet by the retreating Ollenhall navy, there would be a third and final flurry of colonial activity as a result. The Inkron empire would nearly double in the span of two hundred years and quickly dwarf even the largest human nation of the time - fittingly, a title held by the Ollenhall.
Their colonial endeavours would once again prove less than perfect, despite their prior experiences. Inkron colonies would appear far removed from the edges of their territory and cause issues for the expanding domain of human influence for centuries to come. Noteworthy incidents would be those in 1533 A.F., where the Federal Guard of the Praetorian Federation encountered and destroyed the considerably developed colony of Wernsvar and the bombing of Gradel in 1700 A.F. by the Verinen Permanos Regentic. The former would send one of the clearest messages mankind could give to the Inkron; just as they were ready to secure their own territory, humanity would not be content to allow unfamiliar faces to run rampant in their areas of influence. Gradel would serve as a reminder nearly two hundred years later, prompting the evacuation of at least thirty and twelve different colonies respectively - each with varying success - to Inkron-controlled space.
To this day, only scattered Inkron outlaws and dissidents are to be found in human space. Like the nations they arose from, they are rarely in contact with the owners of the territory they roam, where even pirates are hesitant to raid human vessels for fear of overwhelming reprisal. Even despite the unspoken agreement to isolate eachother, tensions between Inkron and human factions continue to flicker. Unease within hawkish nations such as the Praetorian Federation and the encirclement of others such as the Verinen Permanos Regentic have given much frustration to peace advocates. Provocations continue to arise on each side and, as time goes on, war becomes more and more inevitable. While technologically outpaced alongside humanity and with neither side having experience in combatting eachother, it remains to be seen whether the sheer size of the Inkron Governance Sphere will win such a war or dissuade one from ever occurring.
Technology
The state of Inkron technology is a slow progressing, yet incredibly robust array of tools intended to augment the cumbersome shell the Inkron inhabit. At the present day, much of their technology owes its roots to that of the Ollenhall Administration, much like other successes across human space. Reverse engineering of damaged ships, captured equipment, and prematurely deployed colonial equipment from the invasion that struck in 1289 A.F. gave considerable progress to Inkron scientists in their attempts to achieve parity with their human rivals, pushing them forward an estimated two hundred years in technological capability.
This would slow to a crawl, however, as mankind continued to march on and the Ollenhall became ever more sophisticated. Even with prizes from the single most advanced society in known space, the modern day Inkron empire is still lingering behind the relatively lacking nations of Anchorage origin. Their understanding of propulsion and materials sciences fall short, where weapons technology and military sciences verge on absurdly primitive. Population control, social sciences, and manufacturing all appear uncared for in comparison to the generation ship-derived colonists of human space.
Yet, the Inkron are keenly advanced in other, quite important technological areas; communication and energy development. Their natural sense of electromagnetic fields and related energies has given them the innate ability to push these areas forward, even greater than some of the most advanced human nations to be compared with. Computer sciences are likewise well developed, driven hard to the point where some, more advanced systems are capable of directly integrating with their Inkron handlers without any permanent requirements like those found in human cybernetics. While mostly beaten, it is not fair to say that the Inkron are fully backwards.
"Inkron" was not a name chosen by the largest alien species known to mankind. It was not the name of their homeworld, nor the first word spoken to human ears. It was instead an arbitrary decision; Ravert Inkron of the Republic of Tharkad was the first to encounter them and was likewise one of the first casualties of the first contact war the Republic was to endure. Many other names have been applied, but none have held the staying power of "Inkron".
It is only fitting that the Inkron were given a name by a man they would eventually kill; their encounters with humanity have rarely been pleasant and neither side has held all of the blame. Their alien nature is one that has doggedly plagued their attempts at diplomacy and driven aside their only true competitor's efforts, leaving a frosty relationship of mutual ignorance between the two. Contact between mankind and one of their only equals in space is resultantly non-existent.
Physiology
To truly understand the lack of communication between human space and Inkron space, one must fully grasp how foreign the species is. The Inkron do not fit the classical definition of living creatures; their bodies are composed entirely of solid materials with little chemical interaction. If not for their necessary physical forms, they might well be considered as beings of pure thought, sustained only by the presence of their fellows.
This is partly true, however. Much of the "shell" that is the Inkron body is highly conductive material, capable of sustaining electrical signals and electromagnetic fields with almost indefinite longevity. These fields are what make an Inkron creature truly alive and are their primary means for locomotion, interaction with their environment, and communication, among many other vital tasks for their existence.
The Inkron body is highly magnetic as a result and purposefully so. Their homeworld of Wallsfield, presumed to have both been discovered and named by the Ollenhall, is bathed in constant sandstorm conditions with winds reaching at least 90 kilometers per hour daily. Additionally, much of the materials blown up in this permanent wind cycle are strongly conductive, allowing electrical signals to work their way across sizable distances. The adaptation by much life on the planet, as such, is only logical; most communicate and perceive the world around them by projecting such signals. The intake of materials necessary for their survival, further, typically revolves around the magnetic capture of iron and other elements, where iron, thanks to its abundance, is the most ubiquitous component of life on Wallsfield.
Most creatures on Wallsfield are hardy, heavy, and strong, capable of standing and moving with little difficulty in the winds of their homeworld. The Inkron are some of the finest examples of this; they weigh in at roughly 350 kilograms in adults, more so in heavier individuals and greater still in those that deviate largely from the most common physical form.
The ordinary build of the Inkron is that of a large, sideways disc, bulging smoothly outwards in the center and coated in mixtures of non-conductive materials. The upper section of the center of the disc is most often capable of dislodging itself and extending upward, revealing a core of highly conductive internal materials. This extension, often called an antenna, is thought to be the primary method of communication and perception in Inkron, as such a component is ubiquitous even in "body deviants". Beneath the disc, opposite this structure are typically three or more thin, multi-jointed legs, ending in sharp edges capable of opening into two or more jointless finger-like appendages. When remaining still, Inkron most often lower themselves closely to the ground and embed their limbs into any soft ground around them. They then keep their bodies as close to the ground as possible, arranging their legs to face the source of any wind current to maintain an aerodynamic profile intended to keep themselves as stable as physically possible.
It is not a sign of a lack of understanding that the concept of the Inkron's physical form is vague. Reproduction in their species is the primary cause - a process which is not fully understood even still. Observations of the Inkron suggest their method of population expansion to be what has been termed "fragmentation" and the "rejuvenile" period. "Fragmentation" is the literal, willful fragmenting of an Inkron individual at any stage of their life into any number of parts. These fragments are thought to contain electromagnetic fields and remnant signals from their previous body, which, through processes yet unknown, rebuild them into new individuals through magnetic capture. The reconstruction most often results in the shell commonly seen among Inkron adults. Some variance exists in this form, as seen in individuals with additional limbs, fingers, or differently shaped central discs. A considerable minority, however, will not develop like others at all; the aforementioned term "body deviant" is the name given for these unusual reconstructions. The appearance of these individuals can vary wildly, ranging from humanoid to even plant-like body structures.
The "rejuvenile" period is the time in which an Inkron individual repurposes body mass to replace the fragments that had been shed for reproduction. During this period, the individual goes into a low activity state similar to hibernation, where magnetic capture is limited to levels bordering suffocation. This hibernation can range from hours to months at a time depending on how much material the individual has lost, and heavily fragmented Inkron will usually revert to the most basic form they are capable of when restructuring themselves.
It is believed the fragmentation and rejuvenile processes is necessary for Inkron longevity; while the Inkron do not age conventionally and cannot die as a result, their internal electrical signals begin to overflow their shells as time goes on. Eventually, the growth of these impulses may disrupt their thoughts, communication, or even basic locomotion, resulting in virtual insanity or impairment in the individual. Fragmentation relieves stress on the system by venting energy from the system and allowing the individual time to shut themself off from the world around them, even if only in part.
The Inkron themselves are no different from the short list of creatures around them and, in fact, suit their environment even more closely. They are one of the few creatures capable of communicating with others up-wind and reproduce far faster than any other. Communication and interaction with other species native to their homeworld, in particular, are their strongest qualities.
The Inkron are adept predators on Wallsfield thanks to this. Of the known one hundred varieties of creatures on their native planet, the Inkron are one of only six capable of tearing apart and absorbing other creatures with the magnetic fields ordinarily used for the capture of materials on the wind. As the largest capable of doing so, they are the apex predator in their home territory by natural placement rather than intelligence. Intelligence, however, is not simply a footnote; the Inkron are fully capable of imitating the electrical signals emitted by other wildlife and a select few are capable of entirely overriding the electromagnetic fields that control other creatures in their native environment.
The air on Wallsfield is thickest, however, with the electrical signals the Inkron use to communicate with eachother. Though they have yet to be deciphered by human science, there is relatively good understanding of the interaction between them and the creatures that emit them. The signals are not so much like human speech, but the projected thoughts of the individual emitting them - or so it is assumed due to their distinct similarity to the signals believed to be the equivalent of human thought.
Due to the fact that, by nature, the Inkron must be conductive around their body for the purpose of taking in replacement materials for those lost to environmental friction, each individual is regularly bombarded by communication in areas incapable of fully processing it and "bleeds" out their own consciousness through these parts of their body. The result is that each Inkron participates unknowingly in a communal intelligence, extended throughout a particular area of influence by the population density therein. It is unknown what effects this has on the individual, but it is believed that this is, in fact, a detriment; while information unconsciously spreads faster, Inkron acting independently of this network display better coordination, reaction times, and communicate more effectively. This is best seen in Inkron acting outside their home environment, where isolation from foreign atmospheres is a necessity and communication is delivered by mechanical assistance.
The Inkron are known best in these situations. Outside their native atmosphere, the Inkron - even in the lower gravity of terrestrial planets and temperate wind conditions - are awkward in movement and isolated from eachother. A typical human-inhabited planet most often bears an atmosphere that is not only suffocating for them, but deadly; calcium deposits in their outer shell oxidize in the presence of air breathable by humans, building up a coating that prevents their natural magnetic fields from conducting effectively in their native environment. This results in a slow demise to internal wear and the stress of their own weight ballooning the impact of any faults that arise as a result, eventually causing them to literally fall apart at the seams. The electrical signals ordinarily reserved for communication and perception cannot conduct properly outside of their homeworld save for a handful of similar planets, leaving them fractured from eachother and effectively blind. This poor adaptability to other climates has left their colonization efforts slow and difficult even in the presence of assisting technology, while terraforming presents itself as an entirely impractical option.
Further, the Inkron are poorly adapted to utilizing tools; their minimal ability to grasp smaller objects and poor capacity for manipulating larger items that their strength can support is believed to have made early technological progression on Wallsfield slow and difficult. The impairing effects their own communication has on their thought patterns and the unending poor weather and dangerous terrain of their planet further contributed to this. All in mind, it is unsurprising that, despite their species' estimated age of at least 840,000 years, their achievement of space flight came only shortly before mankind's arrival in the present day colonial sphere.
History
While the Inkron themselves are better documented, their history is a clouded, nearly illegible affair that few have true insight into. Mankind has yet to fully translate their language and, likewise, the Inkron have failed to make sense of the human written and spoken languages. Their early development is almost entirely lost to human historians and all that is available boils down to guesses and obscure anecdotal research.
The most prominent of theories is that the Inkron were content to remain without technology for some time, thanks in large part due to their natural place at the top of the short food chain on Wallsfield. Their intelligence combined with this, there was little that stood out as a threat to the Inkron save for quarrels within their own species. As time continued, however, these quarrels would eventually become more than mere disputes and short conflicts. Small wars would finally unfold within the species as differing opinions and the desire to expand set upon various families. Technology would become a necessity to gain the upper hand in these conflicts and the slow, brief arms race would soon become the gateway to true advancement.
Like their complacency to remain without tools, it is thought that the Inkron, bogged down by the poor conditions and terrain of their planet, were satisfied to remain with what they had. Improvements and inventions were slow to be had and it was only the development of proper scientific testing environments and industrial experiment zones that allowed their technological endeavours to truly flourish. The first successful space flight made by the Inkron is believed to have been a monumentous occasion for them and catapulted interest in scientific development to record heights.
Reality returned when it became clear to the species in its first colonial endeavours that it was not made to settle other worlds. Only Wallsfield in their home system of sixteen planets was capable of supporting them without special equipment, making space travel and exploration activities limited to the harvesting of asteroids for raw resources. It would take many more years for interest to return with the technological developments necessary to establish self-sustaining colonies.
Like the first manned rise to space, these developments once again, it is thought, resulted in an explosion of interest in space travel. Overpopulation, present to this day, had racked Wallsfield, giving many hope that life on a new world, even limited to colonial prefabricated structures, would be better. The result was a mass exodus of pseudo-generation ships, where a small Inkron crew, bolstered by their own longevity, would expand on the long voyage to their destination and offer a more healthy population for their destination.
It is this time that first contact with the Inkron was achieved, first by the Ollenhall in their interception of a colonial vessel en route to a planet in their home system in 121 A.F. and second in the first contact war enacted against the Republic of Tharkad in 189 A.F. Neither would be unexpected, in hindsight, as both the Ollenhall and Republic resided in space close to the Rordrick system, where Wallsfield and the home of the Inkron empire rests. Both would set the tone for Inkron and human relations for millenia; a confused, hostile reaction by mankind and the Inkron respectively, neither able to understand or fully control the situation thrown upon them.
As the Inkron found that they were not alone in the universe, just as mankind had been awakened, the nations and factions composing their empire came together to form the modern Inkron Governance Sphere. It is not correct to equate this with an alliance in the vein of the Coalition of Human Systems, nor a single national entity. Wars and territorial disputes still occur within Inkron space and divisions can be observed with only moderately less frequency than that of mankind, leaving the purpose unclear in internal affairs. Each push into Inkron space, however, has been met with an overwhelming response; a unified Inkron defensive front, striking clear and profoundly with a single message. Be it a stray colonial group or invasion fleet, trespass into Inkron space has been met with crushing retaliation and brief, yet perfect unity. It is unknown if this is a fearful reaction, a warning to its aggressors, or even something more distant such as a cultural misconception of mankind. Whatever it may be, few are willing to test this cooperation, making movements around the edge of Inkron space some of the most carefully monitored.
Faster-than-light travel arrived quicker than the Inkron could foresee as time went on and their empire grew, beginning first with the development of the gluon separation matrix in Ollenhall territory. One of the first results that the Inkron encountered was the sudden burst of colonial movements the Ollenhall Administration committed itself to, swiftly followed by the briefly successful invasion of Inkron space in 1289 A.F. The panic of encountering a vastly more advanced and maneuverable human force dismantle roughly a fifth of the Inkron empire of the time set about a mad scramble to develop their own method of superluminal transportation. The invasion finally stalled when Inkron vessels began to utilize captured separation matrices themselves, taken from the Herbert Falwind battle group, which had mistakenly assaulted Wallsfield late into the invasion and lost a full three quarters of its ships to the defending fleet. As difficulties continued to mount from a failure to plan for a more mobile opposing force, the Ollenhall finally withdrew their incursion force to the edge of their nearest colonial sphere and braced for a counter-assault. Still confused and reeling from the conflict, the Inkron did not pursue and instead opted to rebuild their empire. The war was deemed a stalemate in 1311 A.F. and finally declared to be over in 1313 A.F.
As time went on and the Inkron came to fully grasp - or, at least, fully understand how to rebuild - the technology laid at their feet by the retreating Ollenhall navy, there would be a third and final flurry of colonial activity as a result. The Inkron empire would nearly double in the span of two hundred years and quickly dwarf even the largest human nation of the time - fittingly, a title held by the Ollenhall.
Their colonial endeavours would once again prove less than perfect, despite their prior experiences. Inkron colonies would appear far removed from the edges of their territory and cause issues for the expanding domain of human influence for centuries to come. Noteworthy incidents would be those in 1533 A.F., where the Federal Guard of the Praetorian Federation encountered and destroyed the considerably developed colony of Wernsvar and the bombing of Gradel in 1700 A.F. by the Verinen Permanos Regentic. The former would send one of the clearest messages mankind could give to the Inkron; just as they were ready to secure their own territory, humanity would not be content to allow unfamiliar faces to run rampant in their areas of influence. Gradel would serve as a reminder nearly two hundred years later, prompting the evacuation of at least thirty and twelve different colonies respectively - each with varying success - to Inkron-controlled space.
To this day, only scattered Inkron outlaws and dissidents are to be found in human space. Like the nations they arose from, they are rarely in contact with the owners of the territory they roam, where even pirates are hesitant to raid human vessels for fear of overwhelming reprisal. Even despite the unspoken agreement to isolate eachother, tensions between Inkron and human factions continue to flicker. Unease within hawkish nations such as the Praetorian Federation and the encirclement of others such as the Verinen Permanos Regentic have given much frustration to peace advocates. Provocations continue to arise on each side and, as time goes on, war becomes more and more inevitable. While technologically outpaced alongside humanity and with neither side having experience in combatting eachother, it remains to be seen whether the sheer size of the Inkron Governance Sphere will win such a war or dissuade one from ever occurring.
Technology
The state of Inkron technology is a slow progressing, yet incredibly robust array of tools intended to augment the cumbersome shell the Inkron inhabit. At the present day, much of their technology owes its roots to that of the Ollenhall Administration, much like other successes across human space. Reverse engineering of damaged ships, captured equipment, and prematurely deployed colonial equipment from the invasion that struck in 1289 A.F. gave considerable progress to Inkron scientists in their attempts to achieve parity with their human rivals, pushing them forward an estimated two hundred years in technological capability.
This would slow to a crawl, however, as mankind continued to march on and the Ollenhall became ever more sophisticated. Even with prizes from the single most advanced society in known space, the modern day Inkron empire is still lingering behind the relatively lacking nations of Anchorage origin. Their understanding of propulsion and materials sciences fall short, where weapons technology and military sciences verge on absurdly primitive. Population control, social sciences, and manufacturing all appear uncared for in comparison to the generation ship-derived colonists of human space.
Yet, the Inkron are keenly advanced in other, quite important technological areas; communication and energy development. Their natural sense of electromagnetic fields and related energies has given them the innate ability to push these areas forward, even greater than some of the most advanced human nations to be compared with. Computer sciences are likewise well developed, driven hard to the point where some, more advanced systems are capable of directly integrating with their Inkron handlers without any permanent requirements like those found in human cybernetics. While mostly beaten, it is not fair to say that the Inkron are fully backwards.
