A YJA Moment - The Empires of Known Space (Part I)

Although the Old Republic is no more, the Milky Way Galaxy is filled with dozens of multi-planet, Alliances, and Empires.  The Nova Empire and Controller Space are the most well-known of these governmental bodies, but there are still others that hold great power in Galactic affairs.

The Kree are a near-human species that evolved on the heavy-gravity world of Hala.  They have struggled to unify for many generations, suffering through endless civil wars and political struggles. Eventually, the scientists of the Kree invented a powerful bio-computer which they called the Supreme Intelligence to lead their civilization and within a generation, the Kree Empire was born.

The emergence of the Kree Empire eventually led them into conflict with the Skrull Unity.  The Skrulls were a race of reptilian shape-shifters who had developed on the planet Skrullos which was strategically near Hala.  The resulting Kree-Skull War would rage for untold generations.  The conflict only ended when Galactus entered Skrull space and devoured Skrullos.  Although the Kree absorbed much of the Unity in the aftermath, the Skrulls themselves would spread-out through Known Space, using their powers to subvert governments and create what has become known as the Skrull Shadow Empire.

Another bitter conflict has erupted between the Vulcan High Command and the Andorian Empire. The Vulcans are a biological off-shoot of the Elven people, who had discarded their magical essence to embrace reason and science.  The Andorians are a  cold-adapted species from an ice world, known for their antennae and their passion.  With few habitable systems in their sector, it was inevitable that they would compete for colonial rights, a cold war that exists to this day.

As the Vulcans were abandoning their immortal natures, they found the resulting passions hard to control.  Though the majority embraced the logic philosophy of Sarek, a renegade faction adamantly refused.  These dissidents appealed to the Old Republic, who relocated them onto the uninhabited world of Romulus. After subjugating the inhabitants of the sister-world of Remus, the emerged after the fall of the Republic as the Romulan Star Empire.

The Klingons, on the other hand, were one of the few species to successfully reject the Republic.  A militant civilization, they rebuffed most offers of diplomacy.  They raided nearby colonies and engaged in a concentrated campaign to acquire banned technology from groups like the Ferengi.  The Grand Army of the Republic maintained a blockade around the few worlds of the Klingon Empire in order to contain it, but once the Republic fell, the Klingons launched a massive expansion campaign.  Only the Romulans have been able to hold off the Klingon Empire, earning them an eternal enmity.