In GY 6945 the Qirus Treaty was signed, granting the peaceful Zeta-Nafkan peoples a single planet to call home, Greater Qirus. Over the last two centuries, it has become increasingly evident that Greater Qirus, a sulfuric planet rife with natural disasters, is so unstable that the planet itself may break violently apart.
As the Zeta-Nafkan beg for aid and invest a great deal of effort in trying to secure migration treaties, their cries seem to be falling on deaf ears.
Who are the Zeta-Nafkan?
In GY 6754, the Galactic High Republic and their allies formally announced a declaration of war on the Nafkan Menace, a terrifying hive mind rapidly approaching republic space. The Ravenous Wars, as they came to be known, lasted for 255 years and resulted in significant casualties. The militarisation efforts that took place over the course of the war also significantly shook up the economy of the galactic community.
The Nafkan were a hive mind of physically imposing insectoids who, by still unknown means, came to control vast warships that could carry them across the stars. The theory most agreed upon is that the Nafkan scavenged and repurposed the technology from a now long extinct stellar empire.
Towards the later period of the war, the Nafkan hive mind did a remarkable thing. It split. The new pretender, likely out of fear of extinction, sought more pacifist way and an end to the war. Over time, that hive mind formed the backbone of the Zeta-Nafkan people, once drones, now risen to autonomy and seeking reconciliation with the galactic community.
Why Greater Qirus?
Greater Qirus sits at the edge of the galaxy and was, at the time of the treaty, neutral space with no political body claiming dominion. The plant and surrounding systems had, of course, been surveyed and studied for many years and it was found that despite the high doses of sulfur both in the atmosphere and the crust, the planet was habitable for hardier races.
Naturally, at the time of the treaty, it was not formally recognised that the planet was as volatile as it is, so the Zeta-Nafkan agreed to consolidate their inhabited holdings to the singular planet.
However, according to a highly controversial whistleblowing by one Professor Duncan Helicax, republic scientists had indeed modelled the future of Greater Qirus and predicted complete destruction of the body within half a millennium. Of course, this was strongly denied by the republic and propagation of the rumour was labelled as dangerous myth.
What now?
Even if the Zeta-Nafkan wished to be believe in republic treachery, they have very little political power for it to mean much. In fact, they’re currently engaging in a policy of appeasement with the republic and other surrounding empires such as Othari Industries.
The Zeta-Nafkan hope to secure a migration treaty with one or more stellar empires to allow their people to formally emigrate from the planet and find safe shores waiting for them.
The Zeta-Nafkan are statistically the most racially segregated group in the galaxy, with most harbouring fear over their intimidating appearance and over the past transgressions of their predecessors. Galactic diplomacy for the Zeta-Nafkan is a battleground in and of itself, and one on which they have no advantages, and no friends.
While mortality rates increase on Greater Qirus and widespread famine breaks out, Zeta-Nafkan envoys work tirelessly to forge a new future for their people.
As of the writing of this article, the sad conclusion is that without intervention from the galactic community, the Zeta-Nafkan truly will be heading towards unthinkable disaster.
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