Dread Lords
The Precursor race referred to as the “Dread Lords” (a term coined
by the Iconians for the terrible act of giving the mechanical Yor
sentience and an enduring hate for all organic life to go with it)
had been trapped in a pocket universe following their defeat in the
Precursor civil war at the hands of the Arnor.
The Drengin lust for power that drove them to collect Precursor
artifacts inadvertently freed the Dread Lords, who quickly went
about conquering all before them.
What might have been a disaster for the Drengin turned out to be an
immense opportunity. The Drengin made a secret alliance with the Yor;
both abandoned colonies and retreated before the Dread Lord fleets,
leaving their populations to the mercy of the Dread Lords. By contrast,
the Terran Alliance organized the remainder of the galaxy’s major
civilizations into a coalition to fight the Dread Lords.
After a bitter five-year war, the coalition was able to defeat the
Dread Lords. However, the Drengin/Yor military had been untouched
during this conflict and quickly struck out at the weakened coalition
members.
after a bitter 5-year war, the coalition was able to defeat the dread lords
The Terran Alliance, caught completely by surprise, was forced to
split its forces in two. The first force, led by Colonel DL Bradley,
was assigned to find a way to protect Earth from the approaching
Drengin fleet. The second fleet was commanded by Colonel Jena Casey.
Colonel Bradley’s fleet was able to recover two key Precursor
artifacts. The first was designed to imprison a planet, making
it impossible for anything to get in or out. The second was the
device that had trapped the Dread Lords in the pocket universe.
With the Drengin fleet in hot pursuit, the remnants of Colonel
Bradley’s fleet made it to Earth and used the Precursor device
to put an impenetrable force field around the planet, preventing
it from being invaded. As the Drengin fleet closed in for the
kill, Bradley activated the second Precursor device and the first
fleet disappeared from sight.
Meanwhile, Colonel Casey’s fleet was desperately trying to defend
the colonies of the Terran Alliance. They enjoyed something of a
respite due to the Drengin fighting amongst themselves.
The Drengin and their elite warriors, the Korath, had an ideological
difference on what to do with the defeated. The Drengin believed
in slavery; the Korath simply wanted the “filth” wiped out. To that
end, the Korath exterminated the Korx and most of the Torians and
Arceans. The Drengin, horrified at the loss of potential slave profit
from the war, turned on the Korath. The Korath were ultimately defeated
by the much larger Drengin force, but at a great cost.
The Drengin believed in slavery; the Korath simply wanted the “filth” wiped out
Colonel Casey’s second fleet had been greatly enhanced by the return
of a deep space fleet, task force Odyssey. With these increased forces
they managed to keep the Yor at bay. However, the second fleet discovered
that the Dread Lords, while weakened, were still pulling the strings of
the Korath and the Yor.
To end the Dread Lord menace once and for all, Colonel Casey found an
unexpected ally in the form of the last Arnorian, Tandis. Tandis had
been helping the newly discovered Iconians resist both the Dread Lords
and the Drengin forces. Using the industrial capacity of the Iconians
and the military planning of the second fleet, Tandis was able to help
them construct a Terror Star, a weapon of immense power that could
destroy an entire star system.
The Terror Star was able to wipe out the last stronghold of the Dread
Lords and their power began to fade. Tandis the Arnor departed for
places unknown, leaving the second fleet with a Terror Star and plans
to take their fight to the Drengin.
Unfortunately, the Terror Star is soon destroyed by the Thalan, who
have an unnatural distrust of humans. The plans to make new Terror
Stars also disappeared, leaving the galaxy in the firm grip of the
now-uncontested Drengin Empire and their allies, the Yor.