Two Thousand Worlds
Most common name in the Imperium for
the
region of space ruled by the K'kree.
The
K'kree Empire is situated (at its
closest point)
eighty parsecs trailing the
Imperium.
"Two thousand worlds" is a literal translation of the K'kree T't'tkahk
Xeng
Kirr. The same words can also be rendered idiomatically as
"universe." In times past, the words meant "night sky," for
roughly two thousand stars can be seen from one hemisphere of Kirur, the K'kree homeworld.
The
name should not be taken to mean that there are exactly 2000 worlds in
the
K'kree empire.
The K'kree government is highly conservative. The current dynasty
ruling
the Two Thousand Worlds has been in power since prehistoric times, and
the
form of the government has remained unchanged except for a few minor
modifications
made necessary by the problems inherent in governing an interstellar
empire.
K'kree expansion into space progressed very slowly after the discovery
of
the jump drive in -4142. The
conservative
nature of society and the technical limitations placed upon spaceflight
by
that society (K'Kree spaceships must be very large, for example)
combined
to inhibit early exploration and colonization.
The discovery of other sophonts caused a xenophobic reaction in K'kree
society.
The realization that intelligent carnivores might exist somewhere
in
space sparked the K'kree obsession to convert the universe to
herbivorism.
This obsession stimulated the growth of the Two Thousand Worlds
to
its present size and still dominates K'kree culture. Local
cultures are tolerated and other aspects of K'kree society are not
heavily enforced, but all races within the Two Thousand Worlds are
herbivorous.
K'kree contact with the Hive
Federation
was soon followed by the Hiver-K'kree war of -2029 to -2013. The military
technology
of the K'kree proved superior in the first stages of the war. The
war
ended due to nonmilitary considerations, however, when the Hive Federation demonstrated a plan to
radically
alter the K'kree social order through the use of psychohistorical techniques and
threatened
to implement it. The K'kree withdrew to the antebellum borders, and the border
between
the two states has remained stable to this day.
The K'Kree Empire eventually stopped in its expansion. Increasing
problems
of administration over interstellar distances and contact with other
starfaring
races (such as Hivers and humaniti)
have
stabilized the Two Thousand Worlds at its present size.
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