This thread will be for questions and discussion of the Verwynn Empire, the central faction in Cepheida. The huge Verwynn are the rulers and knights of the Empire, with the Gruth acting as scientists, footsoldiers, builders, and diplomats. Please ask any further questions here - making me think of answers will help build up the background for these guys!
The Gruth were some of the first space travellers. They are hexipeds, walking on four stubby back legs and two longer front arms. The back legs just end in clubbed, wide lumpen feet; the front appendages an individual and complex mass of tough but flexible tentacle-like structures, usually two at the end then two more pairs, though some have as many as five more pairs. They are intelligent and hardworking, but easily led and easily frightened.
The first Gruth cosmonauts explored their own solar system and nearby planets, eventually getting spaceships that travel, then began developing a system to allow them to travel further. The system they devised - projecting wormholes into interstellar space ahead of them, and using this method to move through the void of space at high speeds - has not been deviated from much since. Control of "way stations" for receiving these wormholes is key to control of any solar system, and so they are often key points of contention. The most dangerous phase of course is construction and exploration; attempting to form a wormhole into the middle of an unprepared system and firing an exploratory ship through (and then perhaps later firing the parts and engineers through to allow them to construct a receiving station). Generally the success rate for this is very low; an incredibly experienced crew might be more in the fifty percent region, but losses are common as ships are catapulted into the empty void of space or into a core of solid rock at the centre of a planet. Only systems with wormhole receiving and creating way stations are likely to have significant populations; exploratory ships that can use wormhole jumps exist, but only carry tens of explorers at a time.
The fate of the Gruth was, despite their intelligence, not to be their own. The first solar system they managed to get a wormhole into was one not unlike their own; the planet they reached had a similar gas composition and despite a few illnesses the explorers managed to find the locals. Or rather, the locals found them. Three "locals" fairly soon had the whole four Gruth crews bowing down at their feet, the way station fell six months after that, and four years later with very little difficulty the Gruth homelands had been taken too. The Verwynn had arrived.
The Verwynn would look fairly insectoid to humans due to their armoured back and multifaceted eyes, though their skeleton is largely internal. They are large creatures, reaching a length of up to eight feet from head to abdomen. They have three pairs of wings along their back which provide most of their support, two tough back legs with long large feet and four front limbs each ending with two opposing triangular pads of muscle (think end of an elephant's trunk). Their primary weapon is their bite, though; side-biting jaws akin to those of an ant in giant format are strong enough to crush many smaller animals (as it turned out, a Gruth's brain-carapace included). They are also extremely intelligent and used to getting their own way.
The Verwynn split up into "Orders" to rule their new subjects, who under direction proved to be excellent allies. While a few thousand Gruth escaped with enough materials for new way stations (and thereby, about forty years later, entered the Sruba system where a station was taken by the Lexihad), most co-operated simply because they saw very little reason not to compared with the threat of a huge shouty bity thing being angry with them. Gruth armies mine and patrol different solar systems, with an order of Verwynn controlling, guiding, and aiding in planning their expansion. The Verwynn are not exceptionally harsh masters, though they expect of others the same extreme rigidity of morals and beliefs that they have themselves. They are strongly bound by honour and personal discipline, and Gruth fighting under them are often glad to see their leaders personally hurling themselves into the fray, bound by strict order codes of honour.
As the Verwynn Empire has expanded, new races have been included as mercenaries or subjects. There is little central control, with each order dealing with its own areas as it sees fit; however, the Verwynn Imperators, backed by a powerful Senate of the order commanders, ensure the few orders they do bother giving are obeyed. In return for this level of obedience, the Imperial Army, separate from the Order forces and exploration ships, can lend a crushingly powerful helping hand to any serious combat that occurs.
