Ten years after the creation of the Federation and its many new colonies, tensions arise between the peoples of Sol and the remote settlers: the birth of the Empire.

You will know everything about this superpower and their ancestral traditions. Imperial pilots, get ready, for the Emperor!

Some points may no longer be accurate, due to changes in the Lore made by Frontier. Some pieces of the Lore my have been removed by the superpowers themselves or another group in the shadows. I’ll keep Elite lore as it is and will update it if points turn out to be wrong now.

The Empire, or rather the Empire of Achenar, was created after the colonisation of the Achenar system by settlers of the Federation, during the great period of human colonisation. The Anti-Federation activist Marlin Duval launched her initiative to counter the oppressive federal administration during these times. A very large group composed mainly of her family and many followers followed Marlin in the search of a planet on which they could settle in order to work for peace and freedom, far from the corruption of the Federation. Marlin guided her people away from Sol to approach a recently discovered system and its habitable planet: Achenar 6D, orbiting a giant gaseous class III. Here, they established a new colony and made its peaceful ideals prosper. This moon, named Capitol, will form the heart of the Empire in the years to come.

 

The colony began incredibly well by setting up the foundations of an administrative council with the help of advisors, and Marlin as leader of this council in 2310. The councilors thus managed different parts of the colony in order to spread power among several representatives, Always favouring dialogue and peaceful agreements. The colony continued ever more until the discovery of a sentient life on the surface.

 

Many extraterrestrial lifeforms were encountered in space on many systems during this period of human exploration. Slavery, annihilation, contamination and wars were numerous because of our advanced techs. It was after decades of clumsy explorations that the Federation tried to put an end to this xenobiological massacre by giving the formal order to leave the natives in peace, to stop slavery and not to approach them in order to avoid all contamination. However, it was too late for Achenar 6D and the sentient life saw its number reduced month after month, contaminated by the new diseases that humans brought to the fragile ecology of the planet. In only a few years, the totality of this species was thus decimated involuntarily by the expansion of humans on the surface.

The news of a sentient life completely annihilated on Achenar 6D caused great disturbances to the Federation. According to them, Marlin’s brother Henson Duval supervised a sterilisation of the species on the surface of the planet to prevent them from breeding. The Federation then strongly sermonised the settlers of Achenar and demanded them to join the Federation. Only, at the same time, Marlin, her partner and their child died of a shuttle accident, and Henson took the opportunity to dissolve the council and proclaim himself responsible of the settlement on Achenar. He declined the offerings of the Federation and announced that the responsibility of the Achenar settlement and its affiliated systems would now pass from father to son, thus becoming the first Emperor. Henson had the idea of ​​creating an Empire according to his own vision: he created a propaganda campaign rejecting his sister’s peaceful ideals, encouraged the people to take up arms against the oppressive Federation and prepare themselves militarily for a possible invasion from the Federation. He began the terraforming of several planets in order to establish an independent and strong system in 2314, while keeping an eye on neighboring colonial systems.

Unhappy with this outcome, the Federation justified sending warfleets to Achenar because of the ongoing terraforming killin lifeforms, the sentient life genocide and the antagonistic campaign to rally neighboring systems to the Empire’s vision, rather than rallying to the Federation. The first large Federal warfleet arrived in the Achenar system in 2324, thinking that they will swiftly win the battle and bring the system under federal control. However, nothing gone as planned and the Federation was completely crushed by the coalition in the system thanks to armed fleets and defence platforms. Back in the days, the Federation’s fleet was only composed of multi-purpose ships and not warships like the Empire did. The weak maneuverability and weapons of the Federation ships didn’t help, and the sovereignty of the Empire was accepted in 2340. They grew rapidly and rallied many systems to their cause in order to form an astonishingly imposing galactic power.

The quarrels lasted until 2382, after long and bloody space battles, before the Federation and the Empire agreed on a treaty of peace between the two powers. However, relations remained very tense: the Empire hates the Federation for everything it is… and vice versa.

We are now in 3300, at the launch of Elite: Dangerous. Hengist Duval has reigned over the Empire for 67 years now, taking over from his father Hesketh Duval (who succeeded his father, Hender Saik Duval). He is the most powerful person in the galaxy but he is sick and has a hard time reigning over his vast empire. He does not think much about politics and prefers to let the Senators take care of this:

  • The chancellor and senator Blaine manages the senate in order to keep the order and economy of the Empire in order;
  • Senator Denton Patreus, thirsting for wars, continues his manipulation objectives in order to recover the Eranin sector;
  • The very rich Senator Zemina Torval uses her industries, large fleets of capital ships and slaves to suppress all rebellions and revolts.

It should be noted that Senators Denton and Zemina are the most known and powerful. So powerful that they can afford to reduce their citizens’ taxes to zero, making them happy!

The Duval line has remained respected since the Empire was created, but Hengist has no son to replace him. Harold Duval is well known as his biological son, however, the latter was deprived of his Prince title, judged by Hengist as not sane and unable to rule properly for the good of all. Relations are getting tense and the Federation and the Alliance of Independent Systems observe the show from afar. The Emperor thus changed the laws and authorised the daughters of the imperial lineage Duval to govern as Emperor. The title does not change whether the person is a woman or a man. Arissa Lavigny-Duval, daughter of Hengist and Florence Lavigny could thus become the first woman to ascend the throne and thus reign over the Duval’s Empire.

The disease continued to weaken Hengist in early January 3301 and he decided to prepare an official marriage with Florence so that the imperial couple could have their daughter Arissa recognised as a legitimate descendant to the throne. Obviously, Harold did not want this outcome and would have preferred his daughter, Princess Aisling Duval, to ascend to the throne so that he could take a share in power.

Preparations for marriage are progressing well, and many peoples and high-ranking VIPs are invited to the festivities. Unfortunately Hengist falls into a coma in late January, his illness becoming unbearable for his body. He thus undertakes great debates so that a new Emperor could quickly get on the throne in order to restore peace in the Empire. This creates tempered debates; but Chancellor Blaine calls for calm while Denton remains close to the Emperor, in order to protect him.

Time passes and three months later, in March, Hengist is still in a coma. Denton begins to fear for the future of the citizens and begs Blaine to begin preparations to appoint a new Emperor. The Chancellor remains calm, and indicates that the Emperor’s state of health is improving; The senate will be informed as soon as Hengist will be on foot. But in April, the Emperor underwent an attack and was injected with a large dose of drugs while he was recovering.

Hengist recovers slowly from this attack and is finally on foot in July 3301 in order to resume his marriage with Florence. While Aisling was in a hurry to ascend the throne and use propaganda to be seen as a legitimate heiress; Arissa announced that she was « delighted that the Emperor would return to the throne and that it was disrespectful and very ill-placed to discuss a possible crowning with a sixteenth Emperor. » She was eager to continue her work with Hengist Duval for the tasks he entrusted to her « . Her speech is acclaimed and welcomed by the citizens, unlike Aisling’s.

It is in August, on the eve of the wedding that a high-ranking Imperial navy assassinated Emperor Hengist Duval with a dagger, while he was making public figure in the middle of the crowd (Felicia Winters was present but Zachary did not want to come) to show that he was still capable of regaining control of the Empire. The murderer, Brendan Paul Darius (an officer in the navy of Denton Patreus), is killed on the spot. At the same time, a group of ultra-traditionalists « the Emperor’s Dawn » rises in power trying to destabilise the Empire and restore True peaceful values ​​of the past Empire (as Marlin envisioned… ironic since they acted aggressively). Denton is indignant at his officer and proposes his help to annihilate their rebellion by all possible means; What he does for five months losing a lot of troops but cleansing his honour through the total eradication of the Emperor’s Dawn. Senator Zemina gave her belated support to lend him a hand, and provide Denton with new ships and fighters, while affirming that Denton is not the enemy of the Emperor.

It was finally Chancellor Blaine’s officers who were accused by Aisling Duval after a lengthy investigation. They were arrested and Blaine was found guilty, he was also arrested. Following these events, the senate judged Arissa able to be crowned as the new Emperor thanks to her peaceful vision of the Empire: to build a balanced, traditional Empire and above all where justice would override corruption. Aisling, aged 25, swore allegiance to Arissa, 58, recognising her as the new Emperor.

 

The Empire is less technologically dependent than the Federation, preferring to use slaves instead of machines. Very versed in human cloning, the peoples of Achenar are the only ones using this tech in the Empire, as it is banished in all the other systems.

The Imperial society could be compared to the society of the ancient Rome, based on a demand/supply system with well-defined castes holding power. Credits and patronage bring influence to a person who then ascends in his caste. Status and honour are also very important and we can lose everything if our honor comes to be flouted, for example by corruption. Although drastically less present than in the Federation, corruption still exists, however the price to pay if this comes to be revealed is very high: death. Having an unpaid debt is considered a gigantic disgrace and that is why many citizens come to sell themselves as an imperial slave in order to purge their debts and regain their honour.

Imperial laws are ratified and strengthened by the Senators, who are themselves above the law. They can order executions and even kill people themselves without any action being taken against them. They are accountable to the Emperor, and only the her can judge of their actions. In the Empire there is little illegals, however intensive use of drugs and narcotics are formally condemned. Aisling forbade it completely, still shocked by the death of her mother who was addicted to narcotics.

Everything in the Empire must be glorious, aesthetically beautiful, extravagant and abundant; As the design of their cities, clothing and Imperial ships prove. The Imperial best vessels are made by the company Gutamaya, and their best mining company belongs to Zemina Torval and is called Mastopolos Mining.

Numerous rumours circulate about the assassination of the emperor Hengist Duval. Even though his age was great, he got diseases after diseases; And when he finally was cured, Hengist got cowardly murdered as he greeted the crowd of his return. A successor had to be named, the mighty Denton? The businesswoman Zemina? The young and anti-traditional Aisling? Or the eldest daughter of Hengist and Florence? It was finally Arissa, the latter, who was appointed at the head of the Empire, the first emperor woman. It is a hereditary title, so she is not called Empress.

Very recent events have led the Empire to settle on the Pleiades in order to gather the valuable Meta-Alloys, just as the Federation is doing for many months now. The great restorative properties of the Meta-alloys are extremely valuable as they are able to repair technologies damaged by Unknown Artefacts. The mysterious barnacles are crafting the latter. The Empire does not want to be distanced by the Federation and its passive-aggressive policy, so they follow them in their arms race… hoping that this does not lead to an open war…

Meanwhile, a certain Salomé is incessantly silenced, but she managed to escape death multiple times. She says she wants to reveal the truth about what the superpowers are hiding. It is up to the people, the galactic community, to make a choice in this story at the uncertain end. Learn more about Elite Story.

Meanwhile, a certain Salomé is incessantly silenced, but she managed to escape death multiple times. She says she wants to reveal the truth about what the superpowers are hiding. It is up to the people, the galactic community, to make the right choice in this uncertain story. Learn more in our dedicated Elite Lore article.

Since 3303, the Empire was able to join the Pleiades in order to collect some Meta-Alliages on the Barnacles sites, before withdrawing from them to leave control to a few independent faction,s following incessant Thargoids assaults draining Imperial resources. The Barnacles are Thargoid constructions that draw resources from the planet’s soils to transform them into materials that can be used by the Thargoids. These Meta-Alloys are very useful for our development of new technologies and Anti-Xeno defenses/weapons.

In 3306, the Empire experienced an uprising of many of its citizens now known as Neo-Marlinists, supporting the NMLA (Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army). They reject the Imperial government and wish to return to something more democratic and anti-corruption, with the founding values of the Empire put in place by Marlin Duval; at the time of the creation of the Empire.
After NMLA assassins killed Harold Duval, the prince of the Empire, and missed an assassination attempt on Hadrian Duval, the Superpower conducted numerous investigations and even fought battles against whoever protected these Neo-Marlinists; Not even hesitating to attack its own systems in order to purge them of these revolutionary citizens. Several months of military and diplomatic battles were necessary before the main instigators of this movement were questioned. The rest of the Neo-Marlinist population now lives within the Federation, which has welcomed them into systems prepared by the galactic community.
NMLA terrorists used bombs & Thargoids technology, leaving attacked Imperial stations heavily damaged. Although leads have been suspected, we still do not know who exactly supplied the terrorists with these special bombs. Engineer Liz Ryder, an explosives specialist, denied any involvement in the disastrous human & material damage caused by the terrorists. Her technology seems to have been stolen by the supporters of the NMLA.

Currently, the Empire has resumed its arms race against the Federation after the latter supported the revolutionaries. They have produced multiple new Majestic Class Interdictor capital ships.

 

→ The Codex, in-game, will be help you learn more about the Society of the Empire, its Culture and Values, its Military Management and Diplomatic Relations.

 

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