Chronicles of the Nadiim-Basad
Michael Ptak
Based on the game “Homeworld 2” By Relic entertainment
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0.1
The Old Way
The galactic core came to know the Vaygr when Makaan rose from the deep east and attacked with the assembled might of his people. Before this, however, the Vaygr were known as a curious, tribal people in the deep east whose best form was when you weren’t in contact with them. They were dismissed by the rest of the galaxy as a band of self-destructive primitives, no better than the Turanic Raiders of yesterday.
And in fact most of these assumptions were true. Little was known about the Vaygr people other than that they were a diverse and tribal people, with various cultures and customs bizarre in comparison to the norm of the core. They had no homeworld, and while some guessed the Vaygr people may be as old as even the Bentusi, this lack of a homeworld prevented them from achieving greatness.
When Makaan attacked the core with his forces, not all of them represented the Vaygr people. Some of the old crusades, used to self-proclaiming messiahs and skeptical of this one, decided not to heed Makaan’s call and remain in the deep east. These ‘Feral Vaygr’ as they were coined by anthropologist Himiss S’jet after the war, were never blessed with higher technology. Instead, the Feral Vaygr clung to the old traditions in the deep east, and remained ignorant to the light Makaan shone to his own people.
When the Armada failed, some of Makaan’s soldiers returned home to the old lands. While they had been expecting a homecoming, they received harsh incrimination and hostility at the hands of their brothers. Estranged in the best of terms and executed as heretics in the worst… the warriors that returned home lost everything when they made it to the old lands.
Very few managed to escape the sad fate of the returned warriors. Among them was the Crusade Vardan. Returning penniless, the Crusade only managed to save face (and their necks) by selling the massive city-ship in their possession to another one of the feral crusades. This became one of the hotly contested ships in the Feral Vaygr and was the subject of several small wars of ownership over it. A compromise between five of the crusades made an alliance too strong for others to challenge, thus ending the struggle.
The ex-Vardan shipyard, however, was contracted at times by other crusades to manufacture the higher-technology craft for other Crusades to use… at steep prices. Some were still willing to pay, and received the gifts that this massive shipyard-city could give to them.
This was where the carrier Nadiim-Basad came from, despite her origins in the deep east. She was sub-contracted by Crusade Kahaada for a special purpose, as this particular tradition was usually done with ships not built of the crusade.
The Crusade Lord of Kahaada had heard of this new shipyard, and felt it was quite appropriate to solve his own problem. It was the only way to settle unrest within his own Crusade, following the return of the warriors.
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Crusade Kahaada had a long and prestigious history of warriors, soldiers, and fighters. Though not the most aggressive Crusade known in the old times, they were certainly the most militaristic and successful. Unlike some other well-known aggressive crusades, recklessness did not impede success. Their warriors were patient, well-trained, fearless, and dangerous. The men were well sought out as mercenaries in other areas of the galaxy, and the women came unexpectedly trained in martial arts and self defense. It was a highly militaristic community, but had none of the Spartan sense Kiith Soban held on the other side of the galaxy.
The downside to this society, however, was their strict adherence to the old ways. “Honor thy elder” was a prime command in the Crusade, and the family system was upheld with religious fervor.
Thus came a problem when Makaan, Warlord of all Vaygr, emerged from the Hethheilm ice fields with a mysterious object he claimed would bring the Vaygr greatness.
Many young men at the time rallied to Makaan’s call- including nearly half of Kahaada. The elders, skeptical as their other Crusade lords, debated over whether to heed this so-called prophet or dismiss him as another one of countless pretenders. In the end Kahaada decided to stay in the east… but her warriors did not. Though they were disowned by their own crusade, the warriors of Kahaada sallied with Makaan's forces and departed into the west.
After Makaan died at Balcora, the offensive stumbled… and a year later Kahaada’s warriors returned.
There was an uproar at their return. Though they disobeyed their leaders, they returned with wondrous stories of a land of plenty. The core, they said, was a region of space where no man went hungry. It was a place where every man and woman lived in luxury and wealth, and where technology was indistinguishable from magic.
These stories of wonder only escalated the growing unrest within Crusade Kahaada. The elders were forced to make critical decisions and soon, or else witness the destruction of Kahaada as it tore itself apart.
The elders finally made their grim decision: the warriors were to be put to death, in punishment of disobeying their elders.
Upon hearing this, many of the warriors attempted to flee the Crusade. Some were caught by Kahaada’s military, but many more escaped into the darkness of space, never to be heard from again.
This was fitting, the elders realized, as their capital punishment for dissidents and traitors was exile. Unfortunately, Kahaada’s problems were not over yet.
Kahaada’s youth, like the warriors before them, had become bewitched by the stories of the core. After hearing of such a place, some wondered if Kahaada could be more prosperous by going to this place, and trying to mingle with the people there. If cohabitation was impossible- then conquest was still open to them. After all, wasn’t Kahaada one of the most successful of Crusades?
News of this second wave of dissent reached the elders of the Crusade, who decided to put an end to it quickly. In a public declaration, the Crusade Elders and their elite guard forced from their homes anyone who had expressed a desire to go to the core. Tearing them from their families and destinies, the Elders proclaimed that these young people would be exiled from the Crusade to die, for disagreeing with the Elders and promoting disharmony within the crusade.
The elders went out of their way to procure an alien ship to dispatch these aliens from their midst. That ship was the Nadiim-Basad, an Armada carrier. The clan elders thought this was appropriate since, after all, didn’t Makaan seek the same thing these impulsive youthes were? Let them die as he did.
So the 147 dissenters from all walks of Kahaada life were loaded into the Nadiim-Basad, disowned from the Crusade, and ordered never to return.
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[Fiction] Chronicles of the Nadiim-Basad
