Known Regional Powers of the Milky Way as of Nineteen-Ninety-Eight

Introduction

As stated earlier, these regional powers have more than a dozen systems under their control and tend to be organized, advanced, militarily capable, or some combination thereof. At least enough so as to pose a significant challenge to any of the fifteen major Goa'uld System Lords. They still survive via the Pirhanna Principle, which again is the fact that any attempt by one of the Major System Lords to conquer one of these Regional Powers would leave themselves open to an easy invasion from that Goa'uld's rivals. None of these powers are capable of challenging the Go'auld Empire as a whole by themselves, however. Thankfully, the Goa'uld are fragmented enough that a united front against an enemy is rare throughout Goa'uld History, and as stated previously, the Empire is likely to collapse into infighting within the next few years anyway. Some of these Regional Powers might see themselves gaining worlds in the collapse if nothing is done to intervene.

I shall go into what we know of these Regional Powers now.

Regional Powers

Hebridan Consortium: The Hebridan Consortium is an oddity in the Milky Way in that it is one of the relatively few truly multi-species Empires. A twenty-three System Empire out along the Rim of the Galactic North, the Hebridan Consortium's capital world of Hebridan is a Cosmopolitan World of Cities that is shared between the Human Hebridians and the Reptillian Serrakin. Apparently, the Hebridians were once slaves to the Goa'uld known as Bres, who appears to have kidnapped the Hebridians from the Scottish Isles around the time of the final Roman Withdrawal from Britain in the early fifth century AD, toward the latter half of the period of intermittent Goa'uld Slave Raids on Earth. Bres was, apparently, just as much of a despot as the God he pretended to be and the Hebridians rose up in revolt some two hundred years after they were transplanted to their new home. Unfortunately, Bres had enough military power to crush the revolt, though before his Jaffa could stamp out the Hebridian Revolt fully, the Serrakin arrived. The Serrakin were at the time just beginning to explore space around their homeworld and the Hebridians were the first intelligent species they had found. The Serrakin helped the Hebridians kick Bres and his Jaffa off of Hebridan and the Serrakin decided to formally join with the Hebridians in a Federal state, sharing their technology and uplifting them to the same level as the Serrakin themselves possessed.

Technologically, the Hebridans have advanced in several key areas. They possess energy weapons, energy shields, advanced holographic technology, autonomous drone technology, FTL Capable Ships, anti-gravity technology, and a unique type of Ion Engine that gives their ships unmatched speed and maneuverability. They also have a form of Ionic Energy Generator that is on par with the Naquadah Generators of the Goa'uld as well as Sonic Blasters capable of both killing and stunning enemies. All of this is possible thanks to the defining institution of the Hebridan Consortium, the Tech Con Group.

The Tech Con Group is a Megacorporation in almost every sense of the word. It has a significant influence on the Hebridan Legislative Council and drives not only the Hebridan Economy but also the technical development of Hebridan Society. The only exception to the typical idea of a Megacorporation on the part of the Tech Con group is, Interestingly enough, a sense of civic duty. It seems that, due to the relative lack of customers for their products externally, the Tech Con Group has focused primarily on ensuring that the customers they do have, namely the domestic Hebridians and Serrakin, are all prospering enough to continue buying their products. It has given the Tech Con Group a certain sense of civic duty and tradition that ameliorates the worst excesses of such organizations.


Ctarl-Ctarl Dominion: The Ctarl-Ctarl Dominion is a smaller, Meritocratic Star Empire of around eighteen systems in the Galactic East, centered on the Planet Ctarl-Ctarl and ruled by Empress Jambia the Fifth. Notably, the Planets of the Ctarl-Ctarl Dominion tend to be high enough above the galactic plane to require travel by ship, and thus, the Ctarl-Ctarl Dominion is one of the Empires that is completely off the Stargate Network. The Ctarl-Ctarl themselves are a feline species that is highly metamorphic, able to take on traits of humanoids and felines to various extreme degrees, including possessing the capability of transforming into a form more or less entirely feline. A Warrior Race with highly morphic biology, they have been known to shrug off blasts from Goa'uld Staff Cannons in battle to keep fighting. It is this biological strength and resilience that allows them to be a threat to the Major Goa'uld System Lords, even though they possess only just over half the number of systems that the least of the Major Goa'uld System Lords, Sokar, possesses.

Technologically, however, the Ctarl-Ctarl are less advanced than the Goa'uld in several key aspects. For instance, their energy generation, energy weaponry, and FTL Technologies require the use of a rare mineral dubbed Dragonite by the information broker that Project: Blue Book Staff contacted for further information. This makes Ctarl-Ctarl Weaponry less powerful than the plasma weaponry in use by the Goa'uld and various other Empires in the Milky Way, while their FTL Technology is both slower and has a more limited range than the Hyperdrives in use throughout much of the Galaxy. The Ctarl-Ctarl also don't seem to possess energy shielding, though they do armor their ships in a heavily energy-resistant composite plating to compensate. It was that exact armor composite that gave rise to the most unique of the Ctarl-Ctarl's technologies, the Grappler Arms. Grappler Arms are a pair of mechanical arms that are affixed to some classes of Ctarl-Ctarl Ships that are tipped with a sort of monomolecular, superheated, claws. These Boarding Claws will tear open a hole in the hull of an enemy ship once the enemy's shields have dropped through massed firepower, and an umbilical will be attached while the Grappler Arms keep the ships locked together. The Warriors of the Ship will then board through the umbilical to seize the enemy ship using their superior physical abilities.

Notably, the Ctarl-Ctarl have already encountered and wiped out two other Spacefaring Races that are known of, the Rorgan and the Corbonites, the first being an odd, amphibious race residing on a quartet of High-Gravity Worlds in four systems in the Galactic East and the latter a Reptillian Race that inhabited a pair of worlds with nitrogen-argon atmosphere in the same area. Not much is known of either of those species but of the two, the Rorgan are better known, as the Corbonites were seldom seen outside their two planets with poisonous atmospheres. It is known that the Rorgan made use of a slightly faster FTL Technology than the Ctarl-Ctarl and had energy shielding and more powerful weapons. The Rorgan however, had to wear encounter suits in worlds of Gravity lower than those of their own worlds. The Ctarl-Ctarl Victories over the Rorgan and Corbonites, along with the defeat of a Military Expedition by the Goa'uld Olokun to subdue the Ctarl-Ctarl, solidified their reputation as a warrior race.

Interestingly, the Goa'uld System Lord Bastet utilizes a Ctarl-Ctarl Host that she captured from a prisoner camp during a raid on Olokun's Territory at the time of his attempted invasion of the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire. As Bastet is one of the more secretive of the Major Goa'uld System Lords, this rumor is as-yet unconfirmed. . .


Durluk Khaganate: Unique among the Regional Powers, the Durluk Khaganate is a former Slave Society that successfully overthrew their Go'auld Overlords on their own. The Go'auld known as Tengri seeded his worlds with Steppe Peoples. He was one of the Fallen Four, Major System Lords whose entire dominions were lost during the Interregnum War that bridged the Imperial Period of the Goa'uld Empire and the period of Rule by Ra as Supreme System Lord and which could not be reclaimed by the Goa'uld and the only one whose worlds can still support large populations without significant investment in terraforming. The ancestors of the Durluk People were one of the Steppe Peoples taken by Tengri to populate his realm from the fringes of the Xianbei State in the second century BC, during the period of intermittent Goa'uld slave raids on Earth. By approximately one-fifty BC, Tengri's territory stretched from his capital world of Otugen to encompass thirty worlds in the Galactic West near the tip of the Perseus Arm. Fifty years after that, Tengri's domain no longer existed thanks to the Interregnum War and the Durluk Revolt that took advantage of it.

The Durluk rose up to overthrow Tengri while the majority of his forces were fighting the Goa'uld who none of Project: Blue Book's sources will name. Tengri left behind significant stockpiles of technology, as he had been producing it at a rapid pace to fuel his war effort, allowing the Durluk revolt, led by their First Khagan, Ruowen, to overpower the anemic Jaffa Guards and take control of the shipyards and weapons factories of Tengri in a surprise attack. With the Interregnum War still ongoing for another seventy-five years, the Durluk had time to plan for their defense and bury their Stargates, effectively becoming isolated from the wider galaxy. By the time the Goa'uld under Ra stabilized and could begin the process of looking to reclaim lost territories, the Durluk had already found ways to reverse-engineer and even improve on several, key, Goa'uld Technologies. The attempt by the Major System Lord Toutatis to reclaim Tengri's Domain was met by fast-moving Durluk Wolf Ships firing rotary plasma cannons that swiftly depleted the shields of Toutatis' Ha'taks and punched through their armor. Toutatis was forced to flee in disgrace back to his throne world, where he was assassinated by his son, Camulus, who still rules Toutatis' Former Domain today.

The Durluk Khaganate is ruled politically by the Khagan, a hereditary monarch who serves as a chief executive, though he is advised by the Kurultai, a legislative council of elders with the power to propose laws for the Khagan to approve or veto, though a law that has the backing of a two-thirds majority of the Kurultai cannot be vetoed by the Khagan. Underneath the Khagan are thirty regional Noyan, or military governors, one for each world. The Noyan appoint one member each to the Kurultai, with another thirty Kurultai members being elected and a final thirty appointed by the Khagan.

Technologically, the Durluk Khaganate is behind the Goa'uld in some ways, on par in others, and ahead of them in a select few areas. Their innovations include the Borte Attack Vessels, which contain similar technologies to the Ha'tak in a pared-down, trinium-composite hull, with rapid-firing rotary plasma cannons in place of the more ponderous Naval Staff Cannons of the Ha'tak. They also contain the Birkitshi Plasma Caster, a more ergonomically designed, bulkier, version of the Ma'tok Staff Weapon that has a more sophisticated Naquadah Power Cell, providing more powerful shots with greater accuracy than the Ma'tok. However, the Hyperspace Drives that they have are slower and shorter ranged than the Goa'uld have access to, and their shield technology is less advanced as well, a consequence of the designs that survived the revolt against Tengri being less advanced than the shields and hyperdrive intended for front line combat in the Interregnum War. The former is the main reason for the lack of expansion of the Durluk Khaganate even though expansion would have otherwise been feasible while the latter was seen as not too big an issue, given the Durluk's preference for seizing the initiative rather than standing back in a line of battle. They also lack access to ring transporters entirely, which has led to the widespread use of shuttlecraft in Durluk Fleets.


The Corsair Conclave of Gith: More a collection of Glorified Pirates than a true nation, the Corsair Conclave of Gith is one of the other Multi-Species Regional Powers, though it overwhelmingly is controlled by the many captains of the Pirates of Gith, a species of oddly-thin, amphibian, carnivores. The Gith are known to have command of various Psychic abilities which vary by the individual, though All Gith possess the capacity to read surface thoughts, revealing the Species to be universally Psychic to some degree. The Gith are far from the only species that call the sixteen worlds of the Corsair Conclave in the Galactic Northwest home, however. The Humans of Lucia, the Feline Sekhmet of Teremu, the Shapeshifting Mangalores of Mangal, and the Insectoid Thri-Kreen of Kri-Ar also belong to the Conclave. Overwhelmingly, however, the Gith Predominate. Whereas the Humans of Lucia have one other colony in the Drusia System, the Mangal possess a Colony in the Bayak System, the Sekhmet Possess a Colony in the Tanis System, and the Thri-Kreen possess a Colony in the Jat-Kor System, the Gith control the remaining eight worlds of the Conclave to themselves and are rumored to possess technology that allows them to travel to other dimensions, where they have yet more colonies, besides.

The government of such a ramshackle collection of Disparate beings is likewise ramshackle. Each of the non-Gith Pirate Lords of the various colonies sends a delegate to the Conclave of Eight, which acts as a sort of advisory council for the Gith Commodore of the Conclave, a position currently filled by Commodore Zenkral of Zam'den'kris, the primary Gith Colony in the Conclave. In theory, this allows for large raids to be planned and coordinated among the various fleets of the Conclave. In practice, the Conclave Delegates are constantly scheming to break away from their Pirate Lords, who in turn are constantly scheming to replace the Commodore with their own puppet. If not for the psychic abilities of the Gith and, to a lesser extent, the Thri-Kreen, the internal situation would be completely non-functional, and worse than even that of the Goa'uld. Psychic abilities, however, prove to be the great equalizer in the equation.

As to the technology of the Conclave, it's as varied as the species that make up its constituents. The Gith use ships made of an as-yet-undefined metal that isn't trinium yet is just as durable, along with some form of Portal-based FTL Drive that was described as a 'Shift Drive' by the Project: Blue Book informant. They also seem to have a number of technologies that react to the psionic abilities present in their whole race, including psychically propelled powered armor and psychically reactive blades, while the Thri-Kreen's technological capabilities seem to be based wholly around psychically active crystals grown on their colony worlds that defy any sort of categorization. Meanwhile, the Sekhmet and Humans of the Conclave utilize the standard Goa'uld Technical Base, and the Mangalores utilize advanced, magnetically propelled, ballistic weaponry and Spaceflight and FTL Technology more akin to that of the Hebridans rather than the Gith and Thri-Kreen's more eldritch procedures.


Kilrathi Imperium: Lastly we come to the final Regional Power in the Milky Way, the Kilrathi Imperium located relatively close to Earth. In fact, the Kilrathi are Earth's closest neighboring civilization as the spaceship flies, being located primarily in and around the Hyades Cluster, though the Stargate Network makes such things an academic matter. This is problematic, as the Kilrathi are a highly aggressive, leonine, species who categorize every race into either prey to be subjugated, or potential rivals to be dealt with as swiftly and brutally as possible. In fact, War and Aggression are elevated to religious levels among the Kilrathi. Like any warrior society, the Kilrathi prize honor, though they take it to a more extreme level than any of the other Warrior Societies in the Milky Way, with their very legal and education systems based on the concept.

The Kilrathi Government is headed by an Emperor, currently Emperor Joorath the Second of the Clan of Kilranka. Directly below the Emperor is the Council of Eight, made up of the heads of the eight most powerful noble clans who function as the Emperor's Ministers. Below them is the Kilrathi Assembly of the Clans, made up of hundreds of representatives from throughout the twenty-one worlds of the Kilrathi Imperium who act as a sort of legislative check on the power of the Emperor, though in practice that check is weak at best and toothless at worst. The Emperor has the undying loyalty of the Fleets and Armies of the Kilrathy Military after all, while at best the Assembly can count on Clan Militias and Planetary Defense Forces. As the Kilrathi practice a strict hierarchy based on honor and military might, this effectively forces the Assembly to acquiesce to the Emperor's Decrees in most cases.

Technologically, the Kilrathi primarily utilize a form of high-energy laser weaponry, supplemented by advanced missile systems, instead of the Plasma-based weaponry in use by a majority of the Galaxy's Powers. The sole exception to this is the Mass Driver Weapons utilized by Kilrathi Dreadnoughts, which use gravity-based acceleration to hurl large slugs of a ferronickel composite at enemy ships. The resulting power of a single Kilrathi Mass Driver strike is enough to not only pierce the shields of a Goa'uld Ha'tak but also to destroy a significant portion of the Hatak's superstructure, as the Goa'uld System Lord Cronus learned when he attempted to conquer the Kilrathi world of T'set Mehr and saw his invasion fleet wiped out to the last under the guns of the Kilrathi Navy. The Kilrathi also make heavy use of fighters and carriers, more so than any other Galactic Power, and have an entirely unique form of FTL that the Project: Blue Book informants describe as a Jump Drive. In most other respects, they are roughly on par with the Hebridans technologically.