EVE Fiction

History of the Takmahl Empire

What is commonly known about the Takmahl, is that they excelled in cybernetics and bioengineering, and lived in Araz for a few centuries following their exile from Amarr space, some two thousand years ago. Some believe their theology influenced the Blood Raiders, and their relic technologies are still sought after by the Covenant.

The commonly known Takmahl sites are the Temple at the centre of the Aphi Labyrinth, and the Museum Arcana in Zimse.

The Takmahl first arrived in Araz, in cryo-sleep ships, that had departed from Amarr space after the construction of the Amarr-Hedion star gate in 21289 AD (YC -1947), during a period of unrest in the Amarr Empire. It is not known how long the voyage was, but given the relatively slow speed of cryo-ships, and the distance involved, it was likely to be several decades.


The Beginning

The first system settled by the Takmahl was Aphi, which is why it became the religious capital of the Takmahl Empire, and why the Temple Labyrinth was constructed there. Aphi had a temperate planet, an ocean world and some barren worlds, making it a good choice to settle.

Other settled temperate worlds were located in Chanoun and Koona.

With the arrival on Aphi, the Takmahl faced some difficulty. The cryo-ships were relatively small, and so, there were commodities that the Takmahl lacked, compared to the Amarr Empire that they had just left.

Livestock. Both animal and human. There simply was not space on the cryo-ships to carry a sufficient stock of slaves and farm animals, that would be needed for the Takmahl elite to live the lifestyle to which they had become accustomed.

And so the Takmahl turned to science.


Bioengineering

To solve the slave problem, the Takmahl turned to the arts of genetic manipulation. A slave population was established, using forced breeding, and later, mass-cloning technologies to generate a vast supply of slaves, for both labour and religious purposes. As Sani Sabik, the Takmahl still retained a great religious inclination to use human sacrifice in their religious rituals.

The mass-cloning devices of the Takmahl used large amounts of biomass, to create the clone population. To supply this biomass, the oceanic worlds were farmed, with vast aquaculture projects, to cultivate plankton into the materials needed for the cloning process.

But the supply from the ocean worlds was limited, and to expand, the Takmahl required more, and so, using genetic manipulation to create tailored life-forms, terraforming projects were begun.


Cybernetics

To manage their slave populations with conventional methods, requiring guards and overseers, would have been quite expensive for the Takmahl population, whose numbers were limited.

A cybernetic solution presented itself. The biodroid controller, allowed a Takmahl landowner to control their slaves directly, and to use cyborg agents as guards and overseers.

Genetically engineered cyborgs, to perform special tasks, were a not uncommon sight in the more affluent areas of Takmahl cities. The pinnacle was the remote-controlled humanoid.

These biodroids found employment in large scale projects as well, such as the terraforming projects that were begun on several barren worlds, such as in Zimse.


Ships of War

The Takmahl Fleet, consisted of ships that used heavy laser weapons, energy neutralisers and vampires, and thick, heavy armour. The largest Takmahl warship mounted weapons equivalent to modern battleships, accompanied by armour to match. They would have had substantial firepower and defences, compared to modern ships, but without the benefit of warp drive, they would be substantially less strategically mobile than modern warships, taking several hours to cross a solar system.


Disaster Strikes

The ocean worlds of Nidupad V and Munory VI were hit by a series of small asteroids within a few years of each other. The effect on the planktonic biomass extraction industry was catastrophic, as the ecosystems of both worlds collapsed.

The effect on the slave market and religious practices was equally disastrous.

With the supply of biomass for mass-cloning suddenly cut short, slaves for labour and sacrifice became a scarce commodity. Disputes between Takmahl lords quickly got out of hand, escalating into limited warfare, as few lords were willing to compromise their standard of living.


Decline and Fall of the Takmahl Empire

With the Empire in a state of near-civil war, the Takmahl Emperor made the fateful decision to order the Takmahl Navy and Army to attempt to restore order. Unfortunately, the individual commanders were drawn from the local noble families, and did not have much loyalty to the Takmahl Emperor. Discipline in the Fleet and Army broke down, as commanders rejected the authority of the Emperor, in favour of their own family loyalties.

Without a unified Navy, interstellar trade between the Takmahl worlds ceased, as merchant ships were pirated by the former Navy ships.

The civil warfare raged for several decades, and by the time hostilities petered out, there was not much of civilisation left. Certainly not an interstellar capable civilisation.

The few planetary settlements that survived, were then mopped up by the Amarr Empire forces, when they arrived in the constellation a few hundred years later.


Ruins

All that is left now, are the ruins of past glories. The Zimse Museum Arcana, built on the ruins of the abandoned Takmahl terraforming project, and the Labyrinth in Aphi, that shields the Temple from casual looters.

Occasionally, in the relics, there are fragmentary documents that hint at the glories of the Takmahl empire, but most of what the Takmahl were, is now but dust on the solar wind. Dust on the wind.

Very interesting thanks.
It is known something about the the construction technology the gate.
There is information that they were masters the construction Hyper-gate.
Perhaps on their technologies have been built the first gate in Amarr.
Maybe I'm wrong.

This is actually a really good summary and collection of hypotheses. I need to get to the point where I can do the COSMOS missions and try to collect something similar on the other Ancient Races.