On Distant Worlds: #2. Kiadians don't see exploration as a 'bold' thing to do...

Though the Kiadians are technologically basic, they're doing much better than us humans are doing in the first decade of the 21st century; they have recently unveiled a line of FTL hyperdrive units capable of transporting metallic hulks (with people and goods in them, we should hope) across the stars.

What secrets will the universe unveil? I currently have a fleet heading to the 'west' to take care of some pesky pirate varmits! The first, and currently only, fleet of the Collective is already busy in the galaxy playing clean-up with the space monsters and pirate pests.

Not even 20% of the galaxy has been unraveled and the Kiadians have already made the greatest of discoveries; a Zenox historian aboard the Lonesome Victory, a run-down exploration ship, managed to reconstruct the records found in a temple located in the Rindula sector of an extremely powerful, if not diabolical, form of government!

The infamous Rindula system. The blue diamond is the position of the Lonesome Victory; currently performing sensor readings on a few other planets in the system to find precious resources for the Collective. The white triangles are abandoned ships from a previous era; a constructor will be sent there as soon as the space monsters are taken care of! The three white dots that form a triangle shows the position of an explored ruin...

The Galactopedia article for the Way of Darkness. To the left of the entry is the current location of the Temple of Doom©; a sinister and foreboding monument found on a volcanic planet in the Rindula system. It is here that this superior (in the Galactic Empire sort of superior) form of government was found.

The Way of Darkness, as it was once known, is a way of life centered around glorifying the military power of the state while placing the rights of the individual in last. This form of government, in terms of gameplay stats, is quite superior to a Monarchy (the previous form of government). As we speak, the Kiadian royal family has fled from Zenox Prime, though 'suppression' agents (the few Kiadians who were rejected from the Zenox Prime Scientific Academy) are already on the hunt. Such a brutal but efficient system!

Also in the Rindula system are a number of abandoned ships (the grey triangles) from a previous age. They appear quite technologically advanced though retrieval will be difficult since the system is rife with space monsters! As if the lack of habitable systems was bad enough...

The Kiadians grow restless for more living space. Thus far, the 6 exploration ships commissioned by the state to acquire more resources for the expected huge war bill have failed to find anything worth colonizing (alas, the Kiadians are sensitive to temperatures and will not bear the stinging cold of Ice Planets, nor the heat of Volcanic Planets. The Zenox, not surprisingly, are also picky about planetary conditions). A few gas planets here and there, a few resource rich nebulae sure, but they don't bring the tax money now do they?

The initial six scouts of the Kiadian Collective; none have fallen prey to space monsters yet!

And with that, you are now up to speed with this AAR. From now on, I'll be covering future developments as I actually play this darn game!