THE DARK TIMES

By the 30th century, without a single governing body, wars raged across the Dominion. Colonies fought each other for the same resources as they expanded from their original planets. During this time nations and empires rose and fell and whole planets were laid waste by greed. The hyper-beacons continued to decay and the paths between the stars began to once again become unusable. In isolation whole worlds degenerated and regressed as technologies became forgotten or obsolete.

THE TRADE LEAGUE

At the turn of the 40th century twenty four of the most developed worlds in the Dominion united into the Trade League. The League aimed to repair the network of hyper-beacons and once again bring the Dominion back together. Isolated planets paid the League to be re-connected to the rest of humanity and the League's wealth escalated as new lines of trade were established.

Within a century the hyper-beacon network had been restored to over one third of Dominion space and those within the League's influence flourished. Not all planets welcomed the League's ever growing power and distrust and unease was not uncommon. With the huge trade between the systems pirates multiplied, ambushing 'space caravans' between far off worlds.

In response to the ever growing pirate threat the League formed a military arm and renamed itself the Trade Protectorate. The fleets and armies of the Protectorate were brought together into a powerful fighting force which delivered swift and brutal order to the Dominion. But with this new military might resentment of the Protectorate's power was greater than ever and its exploitation of many planets for the benefit of its core worlds grew even more blatant.

THE TRADE WARS

With ever growing tensions conflict was inevitable. Angered by centuries of exploitation many worlds refused Protectorate trade and military assistance and dealt only with those outside of the Protectorate.

Membership to the Protectorate could not be forced and so nothing could legally be done to stop a world that chose to close its space ports. However, Protectorate leaders, eager to safeguard the trade that made them rich, were not willing to let these planets leave so easily. Secretly, they hired mercenaries to raid and harass these planets until the planetary leaders had no choice but to come back to the Protectorate for help, not knowing who had been behind the attacks.

For a century the Protectorate carried out this practice until hundreds of planets were ready to rebel against the Protectorate. Then, at the very moment when the Dominion was about to go to war with itself again, another more dangerous enemy emerged.

EMPIRE MUNITIONS IMPULSE GUN IMG 1M "POWER DART"

The development of electron singularity has led to the introduction of new and even more deadly types of pulse weaponry. The new IMG 1M "Power Dart" is the pinnacle of this technology.

Standard pulse guns, like those carried by both Empire and Protectorate forces, are both lightweight, accurate and powerful, but the IMG 1M takes pulse technology to its most lethal level yet.

Firing radioactive pins inside electro-magnetic capsules at a cyclic rate of 200 rounds per second, the IMG 1M excels at fighting both infantry and vehicles at all ranges. The enhanced cooling system, unique to the "Power Dart", ensures that no matter how many capsules are fired the weapon's temperature never rises to dangerous levels.

The IMG 1M "Power Dart" comes complete with a standard high capacity ammunition cartridge and can be fitted with optional recoil absorbers for maximum accuracy.

THE APPEARANCE OF THE EMPIRE

In 4451 a fleet of heavy spaceships suddenly attacked planets under the Protectorate's control. These were the descendents of the old Reconnaissance Corps ...the Empire Polaris as it now called itself was revealed to the universe.

The Empire's lightning fast assault on Protectorate space took the whole of the Dominion by surprise. During the first ten years of the invasion, the Empire enslaved the peoples of three hundred of the Protectorate's eight hundred planets.

Huge battles raged across the Dominion as Protectorate cyber-troopers clashed with Empire forces in a bid to halt the invasion. The Protectorate had never prepared for a conflict of this kind and could do little to slow the Empire's elite forces. Within a century the Empire had taken control of over half of the Protectorate's worlds. Its control grew like a cancer spreading from planet to planet. The Empire seemed unstoppable.