My entire life, I’ve been studying the past of the Solar Empire, even the time that is forbidden to learn of. Many parts of our history are hidden from the citizens because if they only knew of the mistakes our race has made in the past, they would hate their own existence. The Empire now extends to many star systems, from the Original system to Proxima Centauri, and even beyond, there are over a hundred exoplanets that host terraformed colonies, where citizens of the empire live in peace. Or so it seems.
Humans, the original name of the Soleni people, were a much different race than we are now. Our ancestors’ advances to the stars forever changed everything, even our very DNA. The history of the empire and its foundation begins in the year 2000, what is now known to historians as the Age of Ignorance. Not much is known about the time because, in 2415, the Holy Emperor had all information and texts regarding the period destroyed. But that hasn’t stopped historians from researching it as the singular most important period in Soleni history.
What we do know is that our Homeworld, Earth, as it still remains, was the third planet in the Sun’s orbit. This was long before its orbit was expanded to counter growing temperatures. In the year 2000, Earth was a much different world, as hard as it may be to comprehend, but it was covered with a thick layer of breathable air, and biodomes were not needed as they are today; there was no need for Air Factories on Earth back then, nor of Terraformers, Earth was a naturally green planet. But that did not last.
Our records indicate that the fall of Human civilization, as it existed on Earth, began in what is called the “Industrial Age,” and by the Year 2000, temperatures were increasing globally, ocean levels were rising, and plant life was fast failing, at what we now know to be an alarming rate. But for some reason, that is beyond our understanding; nothing was done to stop it.
In fact, video evidence would indicate that most of the time was spent denying any change in the climate whatsoever or finding ways to hide it.
But it was not the state of the climate that became the undoing of humanity; it was their irrational precedent for violence. Even in the Year 2000, when we know for a fact there was a global system, there were still divisions into small factions called countries and nations; the reason for that has been lost to time. These factions would often have conflicts over resources such as land and mostly for the sake of monetary value.
In the year 2022, one such nation attacked another. We believe it was this conflict between Russia and Ukraine that sparked what is now known as The Binary. Every nation in the world took a side, those that did not were forced to, and by the year 2039, the Eastern Federation was born. It was understood by Russian and Chinese leadership that the Eastern Federation first created the fusion reactors; they also made many breakthroughs in biology, archiving de-extinction, and genetic designing.
The Binary was the inception of a global conflict because the Western world, afraid of being left behind, initiated a war in the year 2093. Known as the Global War now, and World War 3 at the time, the War between the Binary far surpassed anything that human history recalls, a staggering 36% of the world population was wiped out directly, and another 23% died slowly. More than half of the human race was killed in the span of ten years, and by the time the War ended in 2104, the Earth was little more than a wasteland; the First Nuclear Winter began every Year.
It was also in 2104, when the Cult of the Sun was first born, that they sought to unite the world under one Emperor, though it would not come to pass for another hundred years. Fearing extinction, the first Colonizer program was started under the Earth Alliance, and Terra-forming ships carrying cloned embryos were sent to Mars. Many still believe that the Global War was essential for the expansion of humanity.
In 2136, humanity, now a multi-planetary species, made first contact with the Armenians, an interplanetary race of Minors who went from planet to planet in search of a resource known as Tyranite. There were huge deposits of Tyranite on Mars and on Earth. To gain humanity’s trust, the Armalians shared their technology with them, and the first Human-Armalian accord was reached. The Armalian were humanoid and genetically compatible with humans. Thus their small race was soon assimilated into humanity, leading to most Soleni today having some strand of Armalian DNA, including myself. With Armilian technology at their disposal, humans expanded outside of their star system into other Solar systems and Exoplanets. There were still divisions among humans, though, with the Martian colony having to sea with a separatist movement.
It would take something more to unite humanity under one banner and singular leadership, and that something was the Lashini.
The Lashisni were a warrior race from the darkest rejoins of the Galaxy, and they found Earth to their liking. They attacked the outer colonies on and around Pluto in 2165, and as a result, all existing Human and Armenian powers united under the Union, and a Human General named Arkam Rais was named the First President of the Union. Under Rais’ leadership, the War of the Star was fought, and it did not last long. The Lashini were subdued in less than a year, and their ships and technology were assimilated into humanity’s vast resources. With Lashini technology, humans finally created the warp engines and Loop Dive, which granted them Interstellar traveling abilities.
But Rais’ ascension to power was the beginning of what was destined to become the empire. Rais was a follower of the Cult of the Sun, and he made their faith the official religion of the Union. There was much backlash against that decision, and almost everything came undone, but Rais managed to masterfully manipulate both Human and Amalian leadership into placing their faith in him.
His personal logs, many of which were destroyed in the cleansing of 2415, indicate that he believed he would be named the first emperor of the Sun, which was a grand ambition. Yet by the year 2171, Rais was well on his way to being crowned the Emperor, but another man had different plans.
Before Rais’s ascension, another enigmatic and popular hero made his name in the War against the Lashini, his name was Roman Solzan, and he was born into a family that had been loyal to the Cult of the Sun since its foundation. Solzan was Rais’s top general, and he was half Armalian, with his mother being the elected leader of the remaining Armenian people. He was a man with a powerful personality and a political background, and he was far more popular than Rais in the eyes of the people. Yet regardless of all that, Rais still may have been the Emperor had he not made a great mistake.
The expansion of the Union was still going on, and it was during 2171 that the Union first reached Alpha and Proxima Centauri. The planets in this system were all inhabited by the Centuarians, a lesser advanced but still very intelligent race of humanoids. Rais’ strategy was to launch a full-scale invasion of the Centauri star system. Logs indicate that he planned a complete massacre of the local population to take control of the planets.
It was Rais’s brutality that gave Solzan an opening. Solzan secretly lobbied against the President, forming his own monopoly over the Union. By 2179, Solzan controlled Mars, Titan, and many of the Exo-colonies, and Rais was forced to fight a war on two fronts, both in the Centauri system and back home.
With his resources stretched thin, Rais turned to the Cult of the Sun but was quickly disappointed when the Cult chose to support Solzan. In the year 2182, Rais’ influence was reduced to a few colonies around Saturn, and he was desperate. In said desperation, he planned on detonating a Universal Fusion Bomb on the Martian capital of Aries to take Solzan out and end the revolution once and for all.
But the plan backfired; Solzan had, by that time, allied with the Centaurian people and had far more influence than Rais could have imagined; he used the Bomb as another strategy to turn Rais’ remaining allies against him, and he was ousted from power and executed in the year 2183. Solzan immediately became the President of the Union, and his first act was to welcome the Centuarians into the Union as honorable citizens. The next twenty years of Solzan’s presidency were and, to this day, still remain the most prosperous years in the history of our people.
The scientific advancements made in that period of peace gave new meaning to the strength of our people. We created the Metaships, the instant warp gates, the cryo chambers, and above all else, we made the Nanotechnology that has allowed every Soleni citizen to live for over a hundred years. The Union was at peace with Solzan, and every citizen loved him, but unbeknownst to them, Solzan was far more than they could ever have known.
Since his rise to power in 2183, Sola had been placing the Cult of the Sun on every colony, slowly making them more powerful, he had created an army of cloned soldiers loyal only to him, and they were everywhere, on every planet, in every city. The royal records will never show it, but dew historians know. Solzan had planned it all from the beginning since he first rallied against Rais in 2171. All his plans came to fruition in 2202, when he launched the revolution of the Sun.
His soldiers took control of every city from the inside, all political rivals were executed, and the United Parliament of the Alliance was dissolved. On December 13, 2202, Roman Solzan the first was named the first emperor of the United Solar Empire. Solzan now had complete control of the Human, Armalian, and Centaurian people, and his subjects were collectively called the Soleni. He was the first emperor, but he did not rule for long; Emperor Solzan 1 died of natural causes less than two years after his accession in 2204 and was immediately succeeded by his son, Emperor Norolus Solzan the First.
It was under Emperor Norolus that the Solar Empire first met all the other powers of the Galaxy and proved itself superior to all. The line of house Sola has remained uninterrupted for the past five centuries, and Emperor Roman Solzan, the ninth, now rules over the empire. Over the course of these five hundred years, the Solar Force was born and has served as the Emperor’s most trusted army. Any question upon the authority of house Solzan is not tolerated. The empire continues to grow, but in its five-hundred-year history and its now unprecedented conflict with the Dara Empire, many of the Solar Empire’s secrets have evaded its people and its historians, but I intend to find them all. Upon my honor as a historian, I swear to learn everything there is to learn about the empire’s past, and I swear to let all worlds know about the truth. Who am I, you ask? And why do I owe this to the citizens of the empire?
My name is Rayzar Solzan, I am a brother to emperor Roman 9, next in line to the throne of the Solar Empire, and I intend to be different; I intend to tell the people what they deserve to know. I will not rule through fear; I vow to answer for my family’s sins and to make things right.
Rayzar Solzan