A Zirconian History Lesson

Quite surprisingly, I have very little to blog about today.

Today was quite an average day on the planet of Zircon. Went to classes, learned material, saw my beautiful Lynn (OK, that was far from ordinary, but you get the picture).

So, rather than bore you with a day that bored me, I believe that it would be appropriate to expand upon the nature of the planet Zircon, perhaps a little bit of its history. (Who knows? Maybe Ms. P will give me extra credit!)

Well, the planet Zircon did not start with human presence. Humans arrived on the planet in the year 2032 BA (Before Awesome) and started to colonize immediately. The purpose of the colonization was to provide raw materials for the ever expanding Botryogen Empire. Zircon was absolutely rich with resources; a large, untapped planet full to the prime with minerals, foliage, and water to spare.

Colonization quickly began to sap the life out of the planet, until one day, a man by the name of Alfred Iodargyre put a stop to it. He was elected Supreme Governor of Zircon in the year 104 BA and set to work slowing the consumption process. He was quite successful in his ventures, but unfortunately, the Botryogen Empire did not appreciate his refusal to fulfill resource quotas. In response, they spent soldiers to subdue the rebellious colony.

Iodargyre quickly raised an army to combat the Botryogens. However, the battle was long and difficult, a war fought on the scale of an entire planet. Every man, woman and child was brought to arms. The entire planet was filled with militarism, a militarism that would never leave our veins, not even now, over a thousand years later.

We fought on and eventually achieved victory, but this was the first of many attacks. Other empires attempted to swallow us in their ever-growing pursuit for more military power. Our spirits were on the brink of defeat. By the year of 5 BA, it seemed that soon we would crumble, this time to the might of the Marcale Empire.

However, one man rose up over the rest of Zircon and managed to rope us together, a brilliant chessman known today as simply The Grandmaster. Utilzing every strength of his intelligence, courage, and charisma, he managed to bring Zircon to victory against the might Marcales.

However, 5 years later, The Grandmaster, having spent all of his energy in the last 5 years saving our planet, retired. No one knows where he went, but he brought his family with and was never seen again. Not a person alive today could judge him; he had given 5 years of his life and saved the planet; he had earned his retirement well.

In honor of The Grandmaster, space chess has been the national sport of the Zirconian Repbulic for over 1000 years.

The moment that Zircon became the Zirconian Republic was in the year 153 PG, when our dictatorial leadership position was replaced with a high council of five members. Each year, one of the members is replaced by an elected Zirconian citizen.

The first planet other than Zircon to be a part of the Zirconian Repbublic joined in 238 PG. This was a willful and peaceful partnership, but many others would not be.

The Zirconian people, militaristic to the core, would constantly be searching for new colonies to conquer. Today, the Zirconian Repbulic contains 187 planets, spanning over 40 star systems, more than any other planetary federation in Andromeda.

The Zirconian Repbulic has participated in and won all eight of the Intergalactic Wars, each occuring roughly 100 years apart and the first one occuring in 522 PG. Each Intergalactic War has been fought under different guises, but they all essentially boil down to the same formula. Various empires decide to go to war, hoping to gain more territory. Zirconia (a term for The Zirconian Repbulic) joins in order to defend liberty and make sure the war does not lead to the destruction of organized society. However, in the 8th Intergalactic War, Zirconia made use of a large weapons station to destroy an entire planet to bring the conflict to an end. Since the dramatic end of that war, most empires have given significantly greater sovereignty to their colonies, with the excpetion of the still-imperialistic Zirconia.

That’s a basic overview of Zirconian History. As I’ve said, today really doesn’t have much blog-worthy. However, if there is one thing about my day that made it exciting, it was the presence of my wonderful Lynn in my life. She’s leaving to attend a conference on the planet Rynerson (which, yes, is part of the Zirconian Empire) tomorrow evening. I’ll miss her dearly.

Don’t worry though; she’ll be gone, but I’ll still be here, ready to blog about... stuff. Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting!