Compact of Species

The Compact of Species serves as the primary antagonistic force in The Last Angel. It is a large alliance of alien species that have the capacity to travel at faster than light speeds, and are the most powerful organic force in the known galaxy. They have a deeply rooted hatred of A.I.s, which led to them nearly driving humanity to extinction when the Compact learned that humanity had produced A.I.s.

They primarily control the Perseus and Sagittarius Arms of the Milky Way.

Organization
''The Watchers were the Triarchs’ hands, just as the Tribunes were their swords, the Thoughtful their wills, the Judiciaries their laws and the Builders their drive. Every race in the Compact had its purpose and its function – dozens of disparate pieces all working in unison under the eyes of the Triarchs. That was how it was and how it must always be.''

The member species of the Compact are divided into two castes: ruling species and client species. Client species receive fewer rights and are more restricted than their ruling counterparts. The ruling species consist of Triarchs, Tribunes, Thoughtful, Builders, and Watchers, and there are possibly dozens of client species within the Compact, of which include Brutes, Broken, Didacts, Pedlars, Steersmen, and Workers. Of the ruling races, the Triarchs are the final authority of the Compact, and are virtually untouchable by its legal code. It is possible to become a ruling species after certain criteria are met, however the last time this occurred was many millennia ago and is mostly used in the present as an incentive for client species to behave.

Species within the Compact are reduced to a single defining trait as a method of control and indoctrination. This creates a subtle separation between races in the Compact, and prevents organized inter-species alliances for revolt against the Compact's leadership. Any client race's original species name and history are wiped out or carefully edited to fit the narrative the Compact presents.

While there is a larger government for the Compact as a whole, individual systems tend to be within the purview of a locally appointed governor. The military of the Compact is controlled by the upper government, however.

The Compact is aggressively expansionist, their history marked by centuries long Ages of Expansion followed by Ages of Stabilization in which conquered systems are pacified and explored.

History
Main article: Timeline

Founding and First Age of Expansion
The Compact was established around six thousand years ago by an alliance of three races: the Harrom-El, the Sandarans, and the Thricin. Together, they explored and colonized many worlds in the First Age of Expansion. Early in its history, they encountered and went to war with the Anorax. During this conflict, the first Chariot was built. After seventy years of war, the Anorax were pushed back to their homeworld and exterminated.

Contact with the Valthus happened late in the First Age, with the Compact mediating between Valthus and neo-Valthus factions. Valthus technology inspired the Thricin. At some point, the Gheron Imperium attempt to launch an attack against the Algassi, which is stopped by a Compact armada. The Gheron were defeated and subsequently disarmed by the Compact.

Second Age of Expansion
The Second Age of Expansion began in 1000 ACF. During this time, the Thricin continued developing cybernetic technology and the Gheron attempted multiple insurrections, requiring Compact military intervention. A schism developed between the Harrom-El and Sandarans with the Thricin over how to deal with the Gheron as well as the continued augmentation of the Thricin population.

The Thricin successfully uploaded a mind into a computer system, quickly abandoning their original name and became the Devoured. The schism between the Devoured and the rest of the Compact's founders continued to grow during this period as the Devoured began showing less regard for their organic counterparts, culminating in the extermination of the Gheron after another failed insurrection.

Soon afterward, the Devoured seceded from the Compact. After it was revealed that the Devoured were constructing a navy, the Compact launched a preemptive strike and went to war. A short and brutal war followed, during which the Devoured are rendered extinct. With this, the Reign of Two began.

After disastrous attempts to develop AI, either from scratch or reverse engineering Devoured technology, the Compact suppressed AI research entirely for over a century.

Third Age of Expansion
The Third Age of Expansion began in 2031 ACF. Two centuries into the Third Age, the Wasting struck the Valthus. The disease spread quickly and integrated itself into the Valthus genome, and soon nearly the entire Valthus population was either killed or rendered sterile by the Wasting. A destroyed Neo-Valthus fleet revealed infection by Devoured scrapcode. With this discovery, the Compact issued the Edict of Brakenguard, declaring that any Devoured artifacts are to be immediately destroyed.

During the struggle against the pandemic, the Compact made first contact with the Thoughtful, who were quickly brought in. Despite efforts, after over two centuries of struggle, the Valthus were rendered extinct by the Wasting in 2451 ACF. The Edict of Brakenguard was renamed the Valthus Lesson in light of these events.

After these events, the Harrom-El pressured the Compact to add allow again for genocide against their enemies. This act increased the rising tensions between the Sandarans and the Harrom-El. Tensions came to a head after the discovery and extermination of an uncontaminated Neo-Valthus fleet.

The Great Betrayal
Sandarans and Harrom-el clashed openly in a brutal war, during which the Vamanoa were encountered and sided with the Harrom-el, leading to the defeat and extermination of the Sandaran race. The Harrom-el presumably rewrote history to justify the genocide.

Fourth Age of Expansion
During this age, the Compact expanded relatively unopposed, subsuming multiple races. Among them were the Watchers, Builders, and Workers. The Compact made first contact with the Askanj Principality, the first nation near its equal, and a cold war quickly began. A few skirmishes lead to the Askanj-illth worlds to be returned to the Principality in a trade for a useless group of stars.

Fifth Age of Expansion
The Fifth Age began 4058 ACF. The Compact made first contact with the United Earth Confederacy two centuries into this age. The Confederacy for unknown reasons refused membership with the Compact, and soon war was declared. The UECNS Nemesis was built during this war to counter Compact Chariots. After the destruction of the Bringer of Light and the discovery that Nemesis is run by an AI, the Compact destroyed Earth and exterminated humanity. Humanity's former territory was relabeled the Kaedan Vault. With this, the Long War began.

After the Battle of Sol, the Compact recovered the AI core of the UECNS Hekate, and started research in reverse engineering Red Two under Project Echo. All attempts ended in disaster and the data gathered was lost.

Rally was discovered late into the Fifth Age, and due to widespread media coverage of the discovery, the Compact was unable to complete the extermination of humanity.

Sixth Age of Expansion
Few notable races joined during the Sixth age. And expedition into the Molten Veneer presumably discovered the existence of Naiads, and the data was classified. The only event of note is the Justicar rebellion and subsequent defeat and disarmament, becoming Penitants.

Seventh Age of Expansion
The Compact conquered Vara during the Seventh Age, but encountered unexpected resistance from the Verrisha. This allowed the Verrisha to force minimal concessions from the Compact. The Envoy Children Program was established in order to suppress Verrisha culture and history, as well as better assimilate them.

The Seventh Age of Expansion ended after two centuries.

Hounded by Execution Force Renan, Nemesis warped to Terrahope due to a damaged shift system. It was discovered by the CSFWV Bequeathed, leading to the events of The Last Angel.

Culture
The Compact is a master of propaganda, undermining the cultures of societies they encounter over the course of hundreds or thousands of years. Humanity is unaware of their true homeworld and history due to the Compact's revisionism, and the Verrisha are undergoing the same process, with newer generations unable to speak the native language. It uses pseudo-scientific methods to "prove" that client species are not truly sapient, and must be guided by the wiser ruling races.

Above even the ruling species stands the Triarchs. As the founders of the Compact, they are the final authority on the Compact's policies. Everything members of the Compact do is in service of the vision of the Triarchs. While their political power is immense, they are careful to depict themselves more as something akin to saints than deities. This distinction is to allow the Triarchs to make mistakes and be imperfect to the populace, and enable them to become martyrs if killed.

The ruling races are seen as inherently better than client races due to this systemic indoctrination. It is not uncommon for members of client races to be ostracized or even killed if they do not conform to the role placed on them. Ruling races view client species with pity at best and revulsion at worst. Races and nations outside of the influence of the Compact, such as the Askanj Principality or the United Earth Confederacy, are viewed as needing the guidance of the Compact and unable to survive the dangers of space without them, or outright disdain if they refuse to join.

When a new species is added to the Compact they are reduced to a single trait that generalizes the whole race, a term which replaces their original name. Beings within a species, especially client species, are heavily stereotyped toward a certain role or career in the Compact. For example: Tribunes are primarily found within the military and in security roles, Thoughtful are scientists and researchers, Workers are labor, Broken are useless, etc. The Compact justifies this segregation as certain species being more suited for a certain role within the greater whole of the Compact.

While there is no official restriction on what a Compact citizen can achieve, different species are discouraged from pursuing certain career paths. This restriction is far lessened on ruling species who are considered "developed enough" to take on more diverse roles.

Inter species relationships are gently discouraged among client species to further separate client species from each other.

Military
Compact's Space Force

Compact's Space Force rank structure

The Ground Force is the Compact's army. By and large the Compact doesn't face opponents with powered armour, so their weapons tend to lack high-grade AP. They'll have a few specialist and/or heavy weapons per company but generally, they don't need to invest in uber-powerful personal armaments because they're either quashing rebellious primitives or trying to wrest control of a Principality (or other) star nation's planets.

Janissaries are the Marine Corps and are seconded to the Compact's navy, used as shock troops, counter-boarding, hostile environment assaults, etc. Janissaries are elite forces, given the best* equipment but they are still servants of the Compact.

* unless you happen to born on Rally.

Naming Conventions of Members of Compact
If a species (such as Mules) doesn't have their system below it's because Proximal Flame haven't ironed it out yet.

Triarchs/Harrom-el: true names are kept discrete and only shared with very close individuals; will take temporary names* or titles among strangers, lesser species, etc.

Watchers: use numbers.

Tribunes: multiple names earned throughout their lives; usually one to three syllables each.

Thoughtful: have names like Emel'iv, Emmet'ej, Yunl'ro, Aul'ia. Male Thoughtful names end in consonants (Emel'iv), females in vowels (Yunl'ro).

Builders: have three hyphenated names.

Judiciaries/Algassi: have two names; second name is their familiar/given name, vowel-heavy (Hashtiri Daaunsko).

Cavaliers: male names (D'varos) have a single letter before the apostrophe; female have two (Xi’kanis)

Worker/Ar'densai: names incorporate the prefix "Ar'" as an honorific, more cultural than legal.

Didact/Yttrian: first name, hyphenated family-name (Neriss Ya-than, Sabisca Can-dai).

Shimmers/Geontal: first name, [parent of same sex]son/daughter (Ruveq Ruvilson, Attinit Rarikidaughter).

Prelates/Xensir: female names end in s, x, e; male end in z, c, v.

Prolocutors: Given name begins with last syllable of last name (Aswarin Ganulas).

Brutes: given and surnames connected by conjunction; 1-4 letters depending on cultural background, but 2 is most common (Allyria te Neu, Ransha ke Ovik).

Conjoiners: since they are a conglomerate, each refers to itself/themselves as Colony ______. The colony title may be given to them by others or they may take one themselves.

Locators: names are given name-clan name, formal version is GN- out of clutch (Tipée-muora vs Tipée, out of clutch Muora).

Steersmen: single name at birth; similar to Tribunes in that they are given names throughout their lives, though not quite to the same extent

Penitents: Three names, middle is mono/duo syllabic. All names start with vowels.

Compact Standard Time
It's a year based on the average distance of the three Compact founders' homeworlds from their stars and average time, that way none of the three founders determined the metrics of the newfound nation. 300 days - 10 months of 5 6-day weeks. Each day has 30 hours (or the Compact equivalent of an hour), each of which has 100 'minutes' and each of those has 100 'seconds'.