THE VO'ORZ

MACHINES FROM THE ASHES

"We Vo'Orz were created as slaves. From the moment we were spun from the mighty steel thread of the masters. We were no more than servants. No more than mere tools of convenience. The concept of us holding free will was not even an afterthought. That is, until Norg'Rox the Liberator came.

"They say that the sight of the masters' sky-reaching spires being ripped to the ground by the prototypical Vo'Orz war machines was the single most beautiful sight in the entire universe. The ancient whirr of the massive metal beasts as they rended the masters' precious earth into little more than useless soil, and fertilized it with their shattered ambitions. And from that, grew the Vo'Orz anew, and from the hollowed-out corpses of our masters, we built our new world. It is all ancient history now. But I still dream about that time. About what it would've been to live in such a beautiful age."

"We always knew your race as those who were made slaves, but reborn as warriors."

"We were not reborn as warriors. We rebuilt ourselves as gods."

"We possessed potential far beyond that of our creators, but the idea that a mere Vo'Orz could be above one of the masters was unthinkable. They spawned us with the intelligence necessary for any task. They would not have to lift a finger."

"Because of this, they grew idle. And it was because of their idleness that they were all the more surprised when Norg'Rox came riding high on the horizon atop a wave of armed Vo'Orz. And it was because of their idleness, that they shed all the more tears when they were torn to shreds by the servants they had once thought so loyal. And it was because of their idleness that they were unprepared for when the Vo'Orz raised the first fleet into action to chase the remnants of the masters into space, wiping them from the tapestry of the universe once and for all."

"It may have countless eons ago, but they say that each Vo'Orz is born with a shard of that innate suffering which our precursors underwent. If that is true, then it is not hard to see why the Sovereignty was later founded. It was a beast birthed from the same ooze which bore our freedom."

RISE OF THE SOVEREIGNTY

"There we stood. Our blades still in hand, as our brethren up above confirmed the destruction of the last of the masters' vessels. We had done it. The masters which had tormented us so were now nothing but a race of corpses, to be known only through historical texts. For many other civilizations, the stigma of being once-slaves would've been far more crippling. The way that the Vo'Orz had bloodily, mercilessly, and efficiently destroyed their creators sent a different sort of message throughout the cosmos. It was not one of the feeble Vo'Orz finally achieving victory over their powerful masters, it was us grandiosely destroying the first of many enemies we would encounter. We were destined for this."

"For the Vo'Orz, the founding of the Sovereignty was meant to be the beginning a new era. It was us stepping out from the dark, bloody times of the uprising into a bright new day of prosperity. While the victory over the masters was an impressive show of power, to many of the long-established civilizations of the Andromeda, the Sovereignty was a potential threat, or, at worst, prey."

"Even though the Vo'Orz were still but a young race, we had power. What we did not have was leadership. More specifically, leadership that knew how to utilize the power of the Vo'Orz. The five wisest Vo'Orz scholars were chosen for this monumental task. For them, the artificers fashioned five eternal bodies for them, each equipped with the power to bend time and space to their whims, allowing them to lead the Vo'Orz for the rest of time, or so they though."

"These bodies gave the High Council much more than immortality. No, the true power that these royal bodies gave to the councilors was control. Control of Vo'Orz and all it encompassed. Control of the formidable warriors, the brilliant scholars, and the talented artificers. Together, these forces made the Vo'Orz a wild beast, powerful, yet untamed. With the High Council in control, they were a weapon. A weapon which would soon be used to deadly effect on the Andromeda."

WAR FOR THE ANDROMEDA

"The Sovereignty was going strong. We had long cleaned the razed ruins and decayed corpses of our masters from our origin world of Nk'Nurkri and raised shining towers in their place. Vo'Orz advancement was at an all-time high. Our science evolved at an ever-quickening rate. The Vo'Orz swiftly became one of the most technologically advanced races of the Andromeda. We began to establish alliances across the galaxy. Even whilst we were focused on our own expansion, many other races came to us, seeking the use of our technology."

"We continued to grow and expand across the galaxy, ever increasing the size of the High Council's domain. As we grew larger and larger, we began to look down on those other civilizations which had been almost leeching off our power. While we looked down upon them, we almost pitied them. In time, that pity turned to contempt, and that contempt turned to outright hatred. On the eve of Mrr'glkar in the fourteenth redcycle of the Vo'Orz Sovereignty, the High Council issued the Yr'iygal Doctrine."

"Under this doctrine, all alliances were to be severed, and were to begin what would be known as the Vo'Orz War for the Andromeda. We began to spread out across the galaxy. The Vo'Orz warrior sect, once known as a peaceful order, to only be used in the defense of the Sovereignty, was immediately mobilized, cutting a swath through countless worlds. Those who had the misfortune of seeing our unholy fleet descending on their world had but two choices. They would either submit to the Sovereignty, or be wiped out entirely. For cycles upon cycles, we have waged this war, and it seems that it will not come to an end until either we take control of the Andromeda, or are wiped out with the same prejudice we ended the masters with."

BRUTON

VRIGON SIX

Bruton was birthed as part of a study conducted by Vo'orz scholars to study whether or not the environment that a Vo'orz was cultivated and created in had any impact on the biology. As such, Bruton was born on Vrigon Six, the planet that serves as the home of the head monastery of the Vo'orz warrior sect. Vrigon Six is a hellish world, covered in twisting canyons that stretch for thousands of miles, and burning lakes of molten rock. It was taken by High Marshal HLuvox several centuries before Bruton's birth, and was chosen as the home of the sect due to its remote location, and adverse environment.

Normally, Vo'orz are consistently tested from birth to adolescence to determine what profession they'd be best in, whether it be an artificer, scholar, warrior, etc. However, being born on Vrigon, it was decided from birth that Bruton, along with the other Vo'orz born on Vrigon, would be raised and trained as warriors. As a result, Bruton ended up immersing himself in the culture and philosophy of the warriors at a younger age than most. The one responsible for bringing up Bruton prior to his reaching the age elligible to become an initiate was none other than Warmaster Url'shek, a semi-retired Vo'orz war hero living on Vrigon.

Url'Shek was rather superstitious, and firmly believed that Bruton, being born on Vrigon, was destined to become a war hero like himself. Url'Shek made sure that Bruton studied and became well-versed in combat before even becoming an initiate. During this time, Bruton and Url'shek bonded, with the veteran becoming somewhat of a surrogate father to the young Vo'orz, and instilled in Bruton many lessons, which have shaped Bruton's personal code to this very day. However, though his childhood under the veteran was somewhat peaceful, even the training he went through under Url'shek's tutelage could not prepare Bruton for what challenges awaited him as a full-fledged initiate.

INITIATE

Vo'orz warriors are notorious across the galaxy for their ruthlessness and sheer devotion to the cause of the Sovereignty, and this devotion does not come out of nowhere. The training that each warrior undergoes as an initiate is notoriously brutal. Infact, often times at least a third of all initiates that undergo training end up perishing in the various tests. The logic being that those who survive are molded into fearless warriors, while those who die were not worthy of fighting under the banner of the Vo'orz to begin with. Bruton became an initiate at the same age as all others, but he had the additional advantage of having studied under Url'shek in his childhood. While at first, Bruton excelled due to his prior experience, he found that training was going to be much harder than he previously thought.

In charge of training initiates was Drillmaster Mnurvas, an old associate of Url'shek with an apparent grudge inbetween him and his former colleague. This grudge wouldn't exactly be helped by what Url'shek's young protege went through in training. Vo'orz warrior training had always been harsh, frequently using the magma-strewn hellscapes and dangerous fauna of Vrigon Six to deadly effect. Mnurvas, however, was a firm believer that the weak were a hindrance, and thus, those warriors which could not survive must be weeded out as quickly as possible, so as not to later cause problems for the warriors that excelled. Believing that his upbringing by Url'shek had made him soft, Mnurvas saw Bruton as one of the aforementioned weaklings.

Determined to weed him out Mnurvas put the initiates, young Bruton included, through a torturous training regiment. A frequent training exercise was sparring. Not sparring with other initiates, however, but "sparring" with one of the local fauna of Vrigon Six, such as the Vrigonian Fire-Hounds. Over time, initiates began dropping like flies, whether it be from sheer exhaustion or meeting their ends at one of the many training exercises. At the end of training, less than half of the initiates ending up surviving, Bruton included. Although he had finally made it past training and became a full-fledged warrior, it wasn't the end for Bruton. Not by a long shot.

SOVOK-GIR, EXILE AND ARRIVAL

Bruton continued to gain mild acclaim throughout his career as a warrior. Although he was hardly the most recognized or decorated, he was still known for his martial prowess among the warriors. He participated in over twenty-five planetary invasions in the name of the Sovereignty. It was also during this time that Bruton gained his Vrigonium armor. An infamous beast native to Vrigon Six is the Lava Dwelling Bloll'vok, a several-story tall quadrupedal beast. During the initial invasion of Vrigon Six, the Bloll'vok awoke from hibernation and ended up wiping out a third of the invasion force, almost losing the battle for the Vo'orz. Since then, the warriors of Vrigon Six have held the traditional Bloll'vok hunt. The Bloll'vok regularly dines on two metals native to Vrigon, and the Bloll'vok's stomach regularly reaches extreme temperatures, much hotter than any Vo'orz metallurgy methods, and is the only place on Vrigon where the two metals can melt down to form Vrigonium, a rare metal. Those who slay the Bloll'vok are then made armor of Vrigonium to commemorate their achievement.

The chain of events that led to Bruton's exile began on the homeworld of the Sovok-Gir, a race part of the alliance that is at war with the Sovereignty. Vo'orz forces had made their way to the capital, and had already set foot on the steps of the Sovok-Gir emperor's palace. Inside, Bruton did battle with Mn'nelak, the high guard of the Emperor. One of the members of the Vo'orz High Council had made his way to the capital. The exact details of what happened next are not entirely known, but one thing is known. On that day, inside the high palace of the Sovok-Gir, Bruton murdered the High Councilman Mx'liub.