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[b]GRAAL HEGEMONY[/b][/center]

[b]Faction Name[/b]: Graal Hegemony
[b]Faction Type[/b]: Interplanetary Dictatorship.
[b]Species[/b]: Graal ([i]majority[/i]), All Other Races ([i]minority[/i])
-- [b]Graal[/b]: Standing 2.4 meters tall, the Graal are rugged mammalian humanoids that have evolved on the desert world of [i]Gruul H'ea[/i]. Their skin is thick and rubbery, and they do have hair as all do mammals have, but it's short and reserved for the more particular regions of the body. They are immediately dense and strong and possess two sets of lungs, allowing them to breathe in both oxygen rich and nitrogen rich environments.
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[i]Graal[/i][/center]

[b]Scale and Territory[/b]: The Graal possess three primary systems but oversee over a dozen planetary slave hubs in outlying systems that also operate as minor military outposts. The Graal population is around 30 billion, but the Hegemony's population is around 70 billion as a whole, 90% of which exists in the primary solar system of [i]Gruul[/i], comprised of seven planets; three of which are inhabitable; the desert planet of [i]Gruul H'ea[/i], the volcanic, ash laden planet of [i]Sorguth Prime[/i] and the terran world of [i]Kylox III[/i]. 

The secondary and tertiary systems are largely developmental, though they do contain populations in the billions. 

[b]Culture[/b]: The Graal have evolved to favor brutality, truth and strength. The weak are to be conquered and ruled. Mercy is summarily looked down as a glaring weakness and is often exploited if possible. The Graal possess a heavily patriarchal society where females are almost exclusively home bodies and used as brood mares to spawn and raise new offspring. Slavery is also a large tenet of Graal society and other species that are captured are often sent to slave hubs where they are summarily sent to the Graal slave markets and sold on from there.

The Graal, when interacting with other species are often treated as dumb, but strong minded children. Many naive merchants have been killed by a Graal who thought he had been ripped off, and so those who are physically less superior than the Graal must be very clear and concise, for fear of reprisal. This cultural attitude has caused many galactic corporations of other civilizations to steer clear from the Graal altogether, which has caused the Graal economy to fundamentally stagnate.

Individual Graal often serve as criminal enforcers, bodyguards and mercenaries in other civilizations due to their lifelong adherence to combat and their physically imposing nature. However, even the likes of the [b]Black Suns[/b] mercenary company often turn down incoming Graal due to their outright brutality. Many criminal rings that are busted in other civilizations have Graal within them, as Graal are more prone to crime due to the lower quality of their standard of living on their home planets. 

[b]History[/b]: The Graal evolved on their homeworld of [i]Gruul H'ea[/i], and have in the last million years ruthlessly killed and slaughtered each other in unification wars and wars of conquest as the various nations of modern Graal society sought to uproot the other. The [b]Final Unification War[/b] was less a war of unification and more a war of subjugation, as the Graal nation of [i]Pax Houndaris[/i] ruthlessly conquered the others with the relentless use of interplanetary nuclear weaponry. With a portion of the planet devoid of resources, the Graal turned their eyes to the stars to find new planets to colonize.

The Graal have not been largely active within the intragalactic community, instead -- their primary means of activity is their slavers on the outskirts of other civilizations and capturing lone freighters and civilian liners as they exist FTL and selling them to the slave trade. This has led to increased tensions, but no civilization will start an intergalactic war over a few slaves. Right?

[b]Technology[/b]: The Graal's technology is largely antiquated in comparison to the rest of the galaxy. Their hover based gravitronics equipment is still largely faulty. The Graal still use standard ballistics for their military and missile based technology for their air superiority fighters and torpedo's for their space based capital ships.

The Graal use [i]Pulse Pusher[/i] technology, which is a fusion of heavy electromagnetic fission based tech that is easy to produce and maintain but prone to breakdown.

[b]Military Forces[/b]:
-- [b]Hegemony Army[/b]: With over 300,000,000 active soldiers in seven planetary armies, the Hegemony Army is a fierce and derisive fighting force -- some even pronounced the most fierce that exists. The Graal do not retreat, they do not surrender and they do not give up. The Graal reliance on slave logistics mean that more Graal can be called to the front to fight than other armies that require huge logistical offices. The Graal use [i]Mass Wave[/i] tactics -- which costs immense casualties by charging entrenched enemy positions but often instills fear in the enemy after their positions are overrun.
-- [b]Hegemony Navy[/b]: The Hegemony Navy is a paper tiger, but as a political organizations maintains at least a modicum of respect. The Graal Dreadnoughts are from an era long past, but they are steeped in tradition and firepower. The Graal employ picket forces of Heavy Cruisers and Missile Frigates to patrol their colony worlds, but you need not be a Graal to understand that the Graal excel with their feet on the ground, and not in the confines of a space hulk.

[b]Note on Xeno Slaves[/b]: The Graal will enslave anything, if it possible. The below is a listing of how any captured members of a particular species would be used in a slave function if captured.
-- [b]Global Governing Body of Asphodel[/b]: [i]Humans[/i] ([b]NOT ENCOUNTERED[/b])
-- [b]Sentient Robotic Protector[/b]: [i]Synthetics[/i]: Require reprogramming. Serve as transportation units for commercial entities.
-- [b]Avvar Collective[/b]: [i]Avrek[/i]: Sports Fighters within the Graal Gladiator Games (GGG), Manual workforce.
-- [b]Human Coalition of Akar[/b]: [i]Humans[/i]: Sports Fighters within the Graal Gladiator Games (GGG). Assistants, janitorial workers, manual workforce.
-- [b]Central Endasian Government[/b]: [i]Casons[/i]: Assistants, janitorial workers, manual workforce.
-- [b]The Vazra Swarms[/b]: [i]Vazra[/i]: Enslavement impossible under hivemind collective. Kill on sight.
-- [b]The Synchronicity[/b]: [i]Synthetics[/i]: ([b]NOT ENCOUNTERED[/b])
-- [b]Jhingese Scientific Exodus[/b]: [i]Jhingese[/i]: Sports Fighters within the Graal Gladiator Games (GGG). Messengers, manual workforce.
-- [b]Iliptic Sphere[/b]: [i]Near Humans[/i]: Consorts. Assistants, manual workforce.
-- [b]Varn Corporation[/b]
-- [b]Interplanetary Coalition of Federated Planets[/b]
-- [b]EOA [/b]
-- [b]Black Suns Company[/b]