Hyla

Hyla is considered by many to be the oldest planet in the entire Galaxy. The world has long been considered the heart of the Andromisa and the Hylan government has always ruled over this world with stern duty to protect all intelligent life.

Geography, Flora and Fauna
The planet is mostly flat; a large single continent with massive lakes and small seas. The land is covered with a rich assortment of animals and plants and the thick forests of Hyla give the entire sphere a greenish tint when the trees begin to pollenate. Many of Hyla's plants are unique to the galaxy, growing only on this world even though biologist have tried multiple times to seed the plants to other worlds. Animal life, surprisingly, is one of the few to house such individual flora and fauna. Another unique quality is that of the Coffee plant, which according to legend took root on Hyla after being gifted to the Hylan King by human refugees from The Earth Disaster.

History
Hyla's history began much like all the others within the Andromisa Galaxy. Tribes of intelligent beings who came together and began recording their history so that they could teach the next generation better things. The Hylan Creation is considered fact on their world and gives a story of Hyla's creation at the hand of an Ultimate Being that created the Hylans to protect and organize all life in the galaxy. The story is told differently by every individual so the true version is hard to identify. Still, the Hylans all agree that they were created for the purpose of keeping order in the galaxy. Because of this, most Hylans serve as politicians or ambassadors, many of them being killed in missions to deal with hostile governments or pirate raids.

Early Age (60,000 BA)
The Hylans were a unique species in the fact that they did not waste much time in their own political affairs. There is only one recorded war between two sides of the Hylan people and when the fighting ended, the rebels were uprooted and divided up among the Hylan people. While this method of dealing with enemies might have led to greater problems with most species, it seemed to work for the Hylans. By dividing the anger of the rebels, they found no one to complain to and grew content with their lifestyles.

Since there was no conflict that set back the Hylan development, the people were able to discover space flight relatively quickly. They dedicated a lot of their energy toward this exploration project and set out into the stars. The first several decades of deep space exploration revealed nothing but planets with resources, dead rocks that were useless, and amazing nebulas shaped like works of art. On the celebration of the first one hundred years of space travel, the Hylans found a system that held a great discovery. A civilization that was just entering into a technological spike. The Hylans quickly organized a small fleet of ships to travel to this world and speak to the other species.

This meeting became known as "The Foundation of Union" between the Hylans and the Kalctans. Many historians believe that because the Hylans found the Kalctans first they forged a bond that is partly responsible for why the Kalctans have never stepped out against the Hylans, no matter the claims made against them.

Collective of Intelligent Beings (49,000 BA)
After the discovery of many more intelligent races, the Hylans decided that their skills in keeping peace was something that needed to be shared. They sent out envoys of ambassadors to several species with the hopes of creating a union of governments that could discuss political issues and help one another resolve conflict. The process was slow and the Hylan King was nearly prepared to give up when a new species, calling themselves the Bermekans, arrived in the Andromisa Galaxy. They brought with them over two billion refugees from a planet called Earth. Together, the Hylans used this new arrival to stir up attention in the surrounding governments. They were able to pull in enough support that the Collective of Intelligent Beings was successfully formed.

What the Hylans did not expect however, was the Collective to suddenly become as important as it did. The Hylans assumed the Collective would be some kind of club where different representatives came and asked for advice about this or that. Instead, the various governments and organizations threw all their major problems directly at Hyla with the assumption that they would be resolved. The King felt an amazing pressure come over him and started to wonder if his decision to form this had been the right one. Thankfully, in the eyes of his doubt, a situation was about to arise that would place Hyla at the top of everyone's most trusted list.

The Keaira Negotiations
Twenty years after the Collective was formed, it seemed that Hyla was failing to accomplish anything it had promised. Then, something unexpected rippled across the galaxy. A new alien race, one previously unidentified, attacked a Terran colony and killed hundreds of its citizens. The Presidents of the United Terrans, The State, and the Republic of Humans all demanded answers and Hyla saw a glimmer of hope.

The King dispatched his best ships into unexplored space near the site of the attack. If this race existed, they would soon find them and communicate to them as they had done with everyone else. Meanwhile, the King dug for information from the Kalctan and Bermekan governments, feeling that they knew more than they were letting on. Surprisingly, it was King Theon of the Bermekans who went first, admitting that he had traveled through this uncharted part of the galaxy with his fleet. He denied finding any species out there but then mentioned that the Bermekans had dumped off a very dangerous package. If there was a race, and they had discovered it, then the galaxy was in grave danger.

Emperor Sentret the Tenth also delivered news that the Hylans had not expected. It turned out that the Kalctans were the survivors of a terrible civil war that had broken out in a previously established Empire. They had been known as the Kaltans and they had ruled much of the uncharted areas of the galaxy. Conflicts in political directions had led to a great divide and the Kaltan Empire was ripped apart, leaving the Kalctans and the Koelsans in its wake.

Realizing that these Koelshans must have been the aliens to attack the Terrans, and now concerned that they may have found a dangerous package that the Bermekans had left behind, the Hylan King had something that he needed to disburse to the rest of the Collective. He knew the news would cause anger and confusion at first, but he also knew that the smaller governments would see the Hylan handling of the situation as an honest work.

The King's suspicions were true and the Collective quickly got over their anger when the Koelshans were discovered by Terran military forces. The Koelshan Empire was in a desperate fight to hold off a woman that had somehow started taking control of thier own vessels and fleets. The Bermekan King admitted that the woman, Keaira, was the dangerous package. She had been a genetic experiment from their home world. After she had managed to cause The Earth Disaster the Bermekans had deeemd Keiara to be too much of a risk. They had dumped her on an abandoned planet figuring she would die soon enough.

Joining together, the Collective launched an assault against Keaira's growing forces in an attempt to hold her back. The Terrans and Koelshans worked together with a race known as the Zetrani to trap and defeat Keaira. The fighting had taken a toll on all the forces of the galaxy but the job had been accomplished. The Hylans were open to allowing the Koelshans into the Collective after the events but anger toward the Bermekans for the damage they had caused put them on edge. To make matters worse, the Terrans had heard terrible things from the Zetrani about this Koelshan Empire so they did not support such a union. The Kalctans tipped the scale with their anger over the issue as well and the Hylans were forced to retract their offer. This move started a small crack in what would eventually be the canyon between the Koelshans and Alliance during the Great War.

The War of Darkness (2309 BA)
During the Day of Darkness, the Hylan government was as confused and concerned as anyone in the galaxy. Their fear however, subsided when the light returned. It soon became apparent though, that the event had sparked so much panic and chaos in the galaxy that wars, rebellions, and religious uprisings were ripping throughout all the populated systems of the Andromisa. Hyla did what they could for nations who asked them to help, but for the next several months Hyla turned inward and protected their own world from attack. The Collective had crumbled and all governments were acting independently. This system collapse led to broken trade routes, starving people, and angry workers. Though there were dozens of conflicts through the galaxy, the fighting took over ten years to die down enough that Hyla felt comfortable reaching out to various governments again. When they did, they took great care not to point fingers over the chaos, stating only that it was time to end the War of Darkness.

When the Hylans decided to reform a new union in the galaxy, they reflected on the past millenia of history that the Collective had held things together. There had been a lot of good work together but there had never been an organized military or any kind of system in place that would allow Hyla to act as a central command point for the governments if something were to occur like the Day of Darkness. With this in mind, the new union gave more power to the Hylan government and while anyone who didn't like it was allowed to stay out of the picture, many governments enjoyed the idea. So with that, the Hylans formed the Andromisa Space Federation and they quickly went to work on building military forces and putting an end to any remaining conflict between groups.

Leading to The Great War (40-21 BA)
Hyla held their Federation together for over two thousand years after the War of Darkness. However, the surge in military activity of the Koelshan Empire in the past years. The Hyla-Madronis Treaty had been broken after the Koelshans had disturbed the remains of the recently discovered Keaira. The rumor was that the Koelshans were going to use Keaira's cells to create some kind of genetic enhancement drug to give to their soldiers. Realizing this, the Bermekans and Hylans went to work on creating their own drug from the woman's cells. This effort was called the Zeus Project. They Hylans kept their work on this project a secret, creating several laboratories on their home world that housed the Zeus Project experiments. Though they did not want to start a war with the Koelshans, the Hylans were not naive. They assumed this conflict was coming and that the entire Federation should be prepared for it. The Terrans were heavily involved in the project and this led to Sionis Sepher being the first of the Zeus Project's results.

During The Great War (21-0 BA)
The war that came across the galaxy was far more taxing on the Federation than the Hylan government had anticipated. It also caused great stresses within the political spectrum as many governments felt that the resources were being poorly handled, while bigger governments in particular, felt that it was their soldiers dying in battle while the smaller governments were kept safe. Though the efforts to protect peace were a common ground, it appeared to be the only thing holding the Federation together. The Hylans once again saw that they had failed. Though the Federation remained intact until the war's end. They immediately went to work in the post-war environment to create yet another union.

The United Space Alliance (0-40 YA)
The Alliance was a call back to the days of the Collective, with less power in Hyla's control and more responsibility directed to the various governments. The Hylans found this new form to be relaxing and Hyla saw some of the best years of cultural development during the Alliance. When the Hylan King Melkek the Second was murdered by a Kujaen Assassin in 30 YA, his young daughter, Meghan Theon, took command of Hyla's government. Of course, young in Hylan terms is relative, as Megan was already over ninety years old. Queen Theon showed an amazing ability at negotiations and compromise, leading the Alliance through the hardest conflicts that had ever come to the Andromisa Galaxy. She successfully saw the downfall of the Kujaen Empire and the end of the Kujaen War. It was Queen Theon that orchestrated the forces against the Aldiramar Threat and helped distribute forces and resources through the civil war with the RPU. Even as the Alliance finally collapsed and the Terran War led to Hyla's bombardment, Theon stood as a symbol of peace and order. When the tides of the war finally turned, it was Queen Theon who stood at the head of the Alliance Congress when the first of the representatives arrived to see the broken world.

The United Beings of the Andromisa (40-Present YA)
With the fighting at an end, Hyla began to rebuild. The Alliance had the strongest qualities of any galactic union but restriction and regulations had caused divides that allowed for the formation of the RPU and alienated races like the Aldimar or the Koeleshians. Queen Theon streamlined the best qualities and cut out the worst. Together, the entire explored galaxy came together as members of this new union. For the first time in the history of the Andromisa, every government was heard, every nation had a voice. Hyla stood at the center of it all, the beating heart of the galaxy. A beacon of hope for all who believed in peace and prosperity.

Culture
The Hylan people are still divided into several different classes. The lack of war on their world has created a very diverse style of art and appreciation in the major cities of the planet. Hyla City, for example, is built up of dozens of structures that rang eform ancient times to just a few months old. There is a constant leve of upkeep and a desire to maintain what makes the world of Hyla unique.

The Hylands have incretibly long life spans and mate only once every one hundred years. This means the population of Hyla conitures to spread, but at a rate that humans and other species rarely notice. To this date, most of the Hylans live within the single system that also houses Hyla itself. There are thousands of cities spread over the enormous home world of Hyla, but none of them are as diverse as Hyla City. This capital city serves as the hub to the entire galaxy with thousands of different species travelling to and from the surface every week. The Galactic Congres meets on the planet of Hyla and Hyla City is also home ot the Palace of Queen Theon.

Hylans have a deep respect toward other species and gladly welcome them into their homes for conversations about the entire galaxy. The incredibly long life spans are relative to the Hylans view and they see themselves as living a very brief time, just like humans or Kalctans might view their own lifespans. This is usually lost on the shorter lived species and is the only point of contention that ever occurs between the various species.

Known Residents
The world of Hyla has been home to several famous names over the years:

King Melkek I
The King of Hyla responsible for the formation of the Andromisa Space Federation. He lived to be 1,563, the oldest Hylan ever recorded. He also fathered a son very late in his age, at 1300. His other daughters sought the lives of explorers or historians. When he did finally have his son, King Melkak II, his oldest daughter was relieved to hear the news, relieved that she would not be the one to be titled the first Queen in charge of Hyla's wellbeing.

King Melkek II
King Melkek II followed in his father's footsteps taking charge of the Federation at the age of 263. At the at of 906, Melkek witnessed the weakened Federation coming apart at the seams and working to create something better. He accomplished that with the formation of the United Space Alliance, which he passed on to his daughter when he was killed in 12 BBT at the age of 1,197, another record age in the Hylan books.

Queen Meghan Theon
Meghan Theon, who was not fully Hylan, was the only child of King Melkek II. He had tried every hundred years to have a child but never accomplished this. Finally, the King had given up when he met a Bermekan Archeologist named Rosetta Theon. The two had a romantic fling, something Rosetta was known for, and surprisingly they had a child. The King was shocked and amazed when the young Meghan was born two years later. Rosetta continued on with her life, giving up her daughter to the King knowing she would have a better life there.

So it was that Meghan's life got an amazing start. When she was only 90 years of age, tragedy struck as her father was assassinated in a Kujaen plot to destabilize Hyla. Though the plot was stopped thanks to Sionis Sepher and James Davis, Queen Theon was left with the difficult task of taking control of the Hylan government over a hundred years before any other King had done. She was also the first woman to rule over Hyla, something that she was constantly congratulated on by the Bermekan High Lady, who was the sister of Rosetta Theon and Meghan's genetic Aunt.

Michael Stanton
While Michael Stanton was a terran, he took up residence on Hyla following his hand in the abrupt end to the Great War. Michael Stanton had also been in a romantic relationship with Rosetta Theon and fathered a son, Cidonis Theon. Though he was estranged from his son, who hated his father for weakening his superior Bermekan heritage, Michael found solace in visiting with Meghan Theon, who he said reminded him of her mother very much. Meghan was happy to meet with Michael and enjoyed his company very much. In fact, aside from Sionis Sepher, Michael Stanton was the only terran allowed to enter the Theon Palace as they saw fit. Unfortunately, Michael was assassinated in the same Kujaen plot that took the life of Meghan Theon's father, King Melkek II. Aside from his family ties to the Hylan royal family, Michael was also known for his friendship with Sionis Sepher and his bold, if not controversial, action during the Great War that led to a swift end to the conflict.

Harry Durham
Grand General Harry Durham was a Bemerken who served under High Lady Theon of Gran Bermeka. His leadership pulled him away from the capital of his people and into orbit over Hyla where he spent many of his years in the service. Durham was the child of Bermekan parents who aligned with Rosetta Theon's line of thinking. They wished to discover the oddities of the various races in the universe and got his name "Harry" from the Terran people. Still, beside the somewhat silly name, Harry loved and respected his parents and his upbringing gave him the power he needed to take control of the Bermekan Fleet.

Greydar Omivor
A famous Hylan historian. Greydar was also a Crusader in the Alliance military and when Sionis called those loyal to him, Greydar answered the call and was transported to Earth to help fight off the Aldimar. Surprisingly, Greydar was eventually able to return to Hyla and he brought insight into the Human culture that Megan and others were desperate to hear about. His popularity made him one of the most famous Hylan authors to ever exist and his books based on his experiences on Earth sold more then a trillion copies galaxy wide.