Twiglight of the Arnor

Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

The balance of power that once maintained order in the galaxy has been shattered. Now, only the evil Drengin Empire and their more ruthless cousins, the Korath remain a factor.  Behind the scenes, the Dread Lords continue to manipulate both sides in an effort to regain domination of the known universe.||Meanwhile, a human exploration task force has returned to known space to discover the disaster that has occurred…

Meanwhile, a human exploration task force has returned to known space to discover the disaster that has occurred...

Mission 1: Of the Arnor

A small Terran Alliance task force led by Colonel Jenna Casey has returned from deep space to discover the catastrophe that has occurred over the past 2 years while her and her crew were gone.

In the past two years, the ancient Precursor civilization of the Dread Lords has been set free from the pocket universe they were trapped in for eons and fought a brutal war with the intergalactic coalition led by the Terran Alliance.  Just as the Terran Alliance seemed to be on the verge of victory, the evil Drengin Empire struck with its full power.

The Drengin Empire were able to quickly overwhelm the Terran Alliance and their allies the Arcean Empire and Altarian Republic.  Earth itself remains defiant but has been neutralized behind an impenetrable forcefield powered by a Precursor artifact. 

Facing utter destruction at the combined Drengin Empire and Dread Lord fleets, the remaining Terran Alliance fleet captured the pocket universe key stone and disappeared into the unknown.

Soon after, a brutal civil war broke out within the Drengin Empire between the majority of the Drengin Empire and the even more ruthless Korath clan.  The Korath insisted that all non-Drengin species be exterminated.  To that end, two of the major civilizations, the Drath and the Korx were wiped out.  The Drengin demanded that the Korath cease their genocidal campaign so that the defeated could be converted to slave labor.

The Drengin were able to drive the Korath from the Drengin home world but now the galaxy remains divided between the two halves of the Drengin Empire. 

Now, task force Odyssey, led by Colonel Jenna Casey, has returned to known space to discover a quadrant full of hostiles. Scouts have detected Dread Lord presence in the area, so we'll need to act quickly and neutralize them as soon as possible to stand a chance at surviving this battle.

The planet we landed on. Planet management was much simpler in Gal Civ II. 

It is important to note that, while were are called “Terran Alliance” here, we are playing as part of the Alliance that would soon become Terran Resistance. 

Economy management in Gal Civ II.

The Korath are not happy with our presence. 

This is one thing that I miss the most in Gal Civ IV. The complete timeline of game events accessible in game. Thanks to this, we can see how the game went easily, what happened in it without extra data. It certainly makes writing AARs and stories so much easier. No wonder Gal Civ II was the golden era for such things in Gal Civ. 

Victory: Fortunately, this quadrant was only lightly occupied by the Korath and Dread Lords.  The Dread Lord occupied world of Ai’lur is home to a significant Precursor ruin.

Within this ruin they discover a live Dread Lord – or..not quite.  The Dread Lords are the offshoot of the single Precursor civilization known as the Arnor.  Inside of a special dungeon on the planet, the living Arnor is a being wrapped in light.  He claims his name is Tandis.

Tandis explains that the Dread Lords are the invisible hand behind the Korath.  The goal of the Dread Lords is the sterilization of the galaxy and their instrument to do this has been the genocidal Korath. 

According to Tandis, the Korath will ultimately defeat the Drengin thanks to the subtle support of the Dread Lords.  The only hope for the galaxy is for the Dread Lords to be defeated once and for all.

The Dread Lords, explains Tandis, may be immensely powerful but they are incredibly few in number. Their strength is based on a combination of their innate essence which gives them incredible powers of mind and hand as well as their ability to channel those powers into mighty ships and weapons.

The Dread Lords can be defeated by capturing the shards of the Telenanth from the Dread Lords.  The Telenanth was an ancient crystal that was used to create the Arnor in the first place. 

Long ago, the Telenanth crystal shattered and the Arnor found 5 pieces of it.  The Arnor devised what is called the Orb of Forging to corrupt these shards to be able to channel the native power of the Arnor into creating virtually anything the Arnor could envision.

The Arnor thus were able to expand out into the galaxy and build a mighty empire through the use of these shards.  When the Arnor split into factions, much like the Drengin and Korath have now, the evil Arnor, known as the Dread Lords, captured 3 of the 5 shards.  A fourth shard was sacrificed to create a pocket universe and trap the Dread Lords there.

Tandis opens his hand to reveal a small piece of crystal. The crystal is the fifth shard which is now at the service of the Terran Alliance.  With Tandis’s help, Colonel Casey might possibly be able to defeat the Dread Lords.

And our Arnorian Battle Cruiser. Arnorian ships have the coolest, most beautiful design of all ships in Gal Civ in my opinion.