History of the Folan Empire

Early Years of Folans

Folans came together to live in small cities before than most species. They had a willingness to work together for a common goal from the start, but they did have problems of their own. A small city council was chosen to rule each city. Neighboring cities had very little contact, only small trade took place. There was, however, a lot of behind-the-scenes activity. Folans weren't interested in fighting against each other, but political take-overs were something they tried to do.

Several city states "fought" against each other politically. Trying to bribe support, plant spies and use propaganda to gain popular support. It was a huge political playground, and it lasted for centuries. Later on technology became another tool of politics. A city with superior technology would appear more favorable. In the end the cities grew as they in the end gained more support. Extortion wasn't common, but was occasionally done. It was generally viewed as more risky and unnecessary; Folans still had respect towards their own species and tried to avoid any kind of action that might lead to violence.

The cities later grew into nations. Keeping the populations in control in case of spies and traitors became more difficult for each nation, also Folans in general started to look for another places to conquer. A unification of all the nations was proposed and was viewed very well by the people and so it was done in just a few months. Due to generally huge loyalty towards their unified government and people in general the Folan, or Folan Empire now, grew. The Folan senate was quickly established from the councils of nations and a Consul was elected as the supreme leader of the senate.

The Folan Empire

It didn't take long to get the Folan Empire completely up and running. However, the government felt that, due to possible other races in the galaxy, it had to be made sure that the people would be safe from them and the people same from themselves, meaning any possible traitors. Shen'Tlar was founded, both as an intelligence organization to gather data about any possible alien races as well as keep an eye on the people, to make sure they work for the benefit of the people. It did create an atmosphere of fear in some people, but most Folans thought it as a very good idea. Loyalty was and pretty much always has been the most important thing for Folans.

Of course there were people who opposed the idea, but since they weren't considered a threat, and for the benefit of the people it was better for them to be able to voice their opinions, they were left alone, although under supervision. All political opposition was done peacefully and completely politically.

Space exploration became one of the top priorities as well as expansion. In year XXXX Folans landed on the closest planet and about 50 years later established their first outposts there. Space expansion was a problem to Shen'Tlar, however, since they were trouble having enough reliable people to accompany all the colony ships. First sleeper colony ships included at least one Shen'Tlar operative. At this time the Folans also chose to change their name from Folan Empire to Folan Star Empire to signify their conquer of star systems.

The first sleeper ships were sent to the neighboring solar systems and due to the slowness of their first FTL drive it took almost a decade to get first answers from them. Six ships were sent and messages were received only from three of them. It was a setback for the Empire, but the colonization effort and the space exploration continued.

It was important from the start that Folans had to stay in the shadows when possible. So a cloaking device had to be invented. At that time it was unlikely to get a working one, but the Folans wanted one as soon as possible. Nemlen system, their homesystem, was colonized in about a decade after the first sleeper ships left.

Rapid Colonial Expansion

Folans weren't friendly when it came to other species; they consider themselves to be the superior race and the only race qualified for leadership, so any other races were to be subjugated. Majority assumed this to be an easy task and that all races would crumble beneath the Folan Empire.

In XXXX they had their first contact with another species, the Khi'lors, a space-faring race, but not as technologically advanced. They were a peaceful race, but the Folans weren't interested in negotiations. Folans, this time, decided to attempt a straight military conflict, thinking it would be faster.

The war began with a swift strikes against the Khi'lors. However, they were able to resist Folan attacks a lot, even with lesser technology. The war was bloody on both sides and took many years with only small Folan advancement. It was a clear failure to the Empire, although there wasn't any way to change the tactic considerably on this war it was clear that a full frontal assault is not good in the future. Folans still continued the war effort, since they knew that in the end they'd win.

The expansion continued while the war raged on. Population on Folanus, Folan homeworld, had dropped almost 50% due to people moving to off-world colonies. In XXXX, when the war against the Khi'lors was still raging, Folans got another first contact, this time with Fasda. This time they decided to use politics to subjugate them; forming treaties, planting agents and spies and influencing their politics. A rather slow tactic, but because of the war it was viewed as a better alternative.

Finally, in XXXX, the Khi'lors were conquered, although resistance still continued on their worlds. The Folan Empire had expanded a lot and things were looking good for the empire. First version of the cloaking device was also invented, although a crude one. The first model only allowed the cloak to be used for 10 minutes maximum and most non-essential systems had to be shut down. The first prototype vessel allowed for a more efficient espionage, but a better version was needed to actually start any effective covert operations.

Then, 4 years later in XXXX, a new prototype vessel with a cloaking device was invented and built, a much faster FTL drive was invented at the same time, allowing significantly faster travel times. The ship was also equipped with the first energy shields, which were also very expensive at the time. The cloak was significantly more advanced than any of the previous models, but was very expensive and difficult to build, so only a single ship could be equipped with it. There had been reports of other races in the far reaches of the Folan exploration area, so the new ship was sent to investigate. It's rumored to have participated in numerous black-op missions, but the details remain mystery.

However, the project didn't end well as only a year after its construction it was destroyed by yet unknown reasons. Due to the huge costs of the project it had to be abandoned. This called for yet another change of strategy. Folans couldn't rely on their covert operations.

Political Wars

Folans started to build their military strength, this time planning on relying on numbers. The expansion continued, although slightly slower. More people started to get tired of the constant plans for galactic conquest, however. Senators even voiced their concerns in the senate, saying that it was a waste of public resources and would be better spent on the people itself.

Shen'Tlar was instructed to eliminate politically all who opposed conquest. Senators who had opposed the plan were strip of their political ranks by framing them in political scandals. Any citizens who had some possible power were decimated politically, no one was ever killed. Later on this started to cause problems, as the leaders of the Shen'Tlar realized their immense powers. They started to use the Shen'Tlar to advance their careers, at first this went rather unnoticed, but when a move was made against the Consul the senators, and some of the people, noticed that there was something amiss with Shen'Tlar.

Political groups were formed in the Shen'Tlar, as well as individual figures gaining or buying themselves their own operatives. The political wars had begun. All parties were trying to decimate the others through political means and simple threats. The Folan police force, which was a very small force before due to little of need, needed many times more people to secure the safety of the people and to calm down the protests by the different groups. Later the police force itself started to get corrupted and went to complete disarray due to different loyalties.

Senate and the Consul were almost completely ineffective in any area. The empire had divided completely, so that some public services were no longer available to some, military was divided among the groups and would've been unable to defend the empire.

Many political groups fell, while others rose in their places. None of them managed to ever gain the upper hand. The war continued on for three years with no fatalities. There was never any major incident that would've caused the people to raise against the politicians. Until finally one Folan was killed in a clash between two political protests. While many tried to use this situation to their advantage, it didn't work; the people had gotten tired of the political scheming and decided to end it once and for all. While this was mostly going around Felen it also had affected nearly all Folan worlds. The reformation also started from Felen and spread to all colonies.

The Shen'Tlar was reformed, although some people had wanted a complete shut-down, but it was deemed necessary by the majority. The senate was re-elected, the leaders of the political groups were not allowed to participate in politics or any government agencies. Shen'Tlar's activities were made more transparent, as well as answering to both the military and the senate. While this wouldn't prevent a similar incident many believed that the lesson had been learned. Consul was also elected by the people rather than the senate.

It was highly dangerous time for the empire, any major force could've used it to their advantage and eliminate them.

New Opportunities

Not many years after the political wars, Folan scouts encountered a United Commonwealth of Planets vessel. The Folans ships, however, weren't interested in establishing communications so instead attacked the vessel. The UCP vessel proved to be more than a match against the two Folan scouts and managed to retreat, something the Folans weren't anticipating. This angered the senate, as they would've wanted to establish diplomatic connections to this new race, to gather information, sufficient military strength and trust to launch a full-scale surprise attack. A plan was made to establish diplomatic connections and to explain the sudden attack.

The diplomatic envoy, however, became under attack by an unknown race and was completely destroyed. Possibly a threat to the empire defenses were doubled, expansion was halted and fleets were put in stand-by. Only a few days later an attack fleet attacked the utmost Folan colony. While the defenses had been increased it still crumpled against the attacker, although a single ship survived and came back with a name, the Vemrers.

A stronger defense was established along the border worlds, although no one knew where the enemy was exactly coming from. Scouts equipped with a cloaking device were sent to where the enemy had come. Although it was unlikely that any news would be heard soon.

Weeks passed and no other attacks had followed. Folans decided the build an attack fleet and retake their planet. When the fleet arrived at the planet there were no Vemrer invaders, nor were there any Folans. All Folans on the planet had been killed, all the buildings destroyed. All equipment either stolen or destroyed. The whole planet had been completely massacred. Unfortunate for the fleet that a Vemrer attack force appeared almost at the same time on the planet they had left from. While the fleet quickly scrambled back it was already too late.

The Folans were facing an enemy that seemed more powerful than they. This caused widespread fear. For the first time they weren't sure of their own survival and blamed themselves for wasting several years that they could've used in preparation. Folans had to defend too many worlds with too little of ships. The government decided to evacuate several of the utmost colonies, this allowed them to strengthen defenses on other worlds. The expansion came to a complete stop on the area close to the Vemrer attacks, but continued on the other side; all colonization efforts were directed to there. Listening posts were built in every system, equipped with a light cloaking device.

The war took weeks and then months with only a small Vemrer scouts sightings. The Folans knew that they would see their enemies again, maybe even in greater numbers. There had been no news from the scouts which was troubling, until finally a contact was established with two of the scouts. However, they were pursued by two Vemrer scouts. The Folan scouts managed to reach Folan space and the nearest protected systems. They immediately transferred all the information they had gathered and started abandoning the ship. Rescue ships arrived at the scene too late to save the ships as both of them were destroyed by the Vemrer scouts. Surprisingly the scouts turned their attention to the defenders and fought very fiercely. Even relatively light armed scouts managed to take down a Folan destroyer before going before being destroyed. While information about their enemies' whereabouts were located it came at a price and Folans realized that this might be an enemy they may not even be able to defeat yet.

Folans launched their own attacks against the Vemrers now, although with less success; their first attack fleet was driven back from Vemrer space. Vemrers although suffered the same fate on their next attack. The war was looking to last for several years as it did. Both sides suffered major losses during the years, but there was no real breakthrough.

All changed when UCP forces were witnessed by both sides. Folans realized that they couldn't win a foe on both sides so something had to be done. Lucky for them, Vemrers seemed to think likewise and attacked the UCP along with Folans. This new "comradery" ended the war between them and started an era of friendship, although it was something many Folans opposed to.

Preparations

This time Folans wanted to play it safe, to conquer the UCP they needed to have substantial military power as well as get the Vemrers into the war. Many people among both sides wanted the attack to begin now, when they already had significant forces from both sides. However, since both races' fleets had been severely beaten during the war the majority of Folans decided to rebuilt their fleets. While majority of Vemrers wanted to attack they couldn't do that on their own. So both sides decided to wait, build their forces and strengthen their relationships before attacking.

Folans later also discovered the Dands close to UCP space, while they posed little threat to UCP they could be used to divert and waste UCP resources. Although it has never been proven or officially admitted it is believed that the Folans sold weapons, tech and possibly even ships to Dands.

Gigerdian connection was another threat to Folans, they together with UCP would be hard, maybe even impossible to defeat with conventional tactics. However, many believed that Gigerdians wouldn't assist the UCP even in the future.

Decades passed as the Folans simply waited, expanded and rebuilt.

The Folan War

Main article: The Folan War

Finally in year 4123 it began. The Folans and Vemrers agreed on the attack target and time. A nearby UCP colony was targeted and attacked. The first attack was successful, but the word spread immediately to Starfleet and to the Gigerdi Federation. The federation immediately scrambled its defenses to aid the the commonwealth. It was an unexpected move, especially so quickly. The joint Folan-Vemrer fleets managed to attack two other colonies before they were crippled and driven out by the joint UCP-GF fleets.

Folans realized that they should've attacked immediately years ago before the Gigerdian connection. Now the war would cost far too much and the attack was halted. Vemrers continued on for a little longer before ceasing hostilities too. This sudden backing out by the Folans ended the friendly relationships with the Vemrers. Folans agreed to sign a peace treaty with the Gigerdians and the Commonwealth.

Times of glory were over for the Folans and more of its people wanted to abandon the ways of conquest. Transports departed from the Folan worlds headed for UCP, GF and Vemrer space. While all sides were skeptical to take these Folans all of them were in the end accepted.

Peace Station Project

Main article: Peace Station Project

Folans weren't too excited about the Peace Station project, since they didn't seem to be interested in peace it kind of went against their views. Still they decided to participate, seeing some potential use of it, as to what kind of use, no one really knows.

At that time they also established connections to the Bacterians and Hemmoians, but no treaties were established before the Peace Station was finalized.