The Adversaries

When House Leonaris emerged from hiding after seven centuries they found the Sol System a greatly changed and dangerous place. Baseline humans were almost extinct and parahuman and transhuman cultures were warring with one another for territory and resources. Though House Leonaris wielded pre-Cataclysm technology they would still face considerable challenge in bringing peace and unity to the system.

But amongst the greatest obstacles they would face, none would be greater than those they came to call the Adversaries. These were a group of incredibly dangerous, hostile and alien cultures that would eschew any attempts at peaceful coexistence and diplomacy. They were horrors of the Dark Age, the very worst that humanity could produce after centuries of unchecked genetic experimentation and technological augmentation, born from the chaos at the fall of the Ascendant Empire.

If there was to be peace and unity, the Adversaries would need to be eliminated. Fortunately, House Leonaris was able to find allies amongst those who had long suffered the depredations and tyranny of the Adversaries in one form or another, amassing a coalition that would exterminate or drive out the Adversaries from Sol and into interstellar space in the Unification Crusade.

There were five Adversary races, united only by their alienness, their malice and their absolute refusal to see a future where they were not the dominant people of Sol.

The Mesitori: Perhaps the greatest and most dangerous threat the Unification Crusade encountered. The Mesitori were cruel and decadent, masters of flesh-weaving who commanded legions of bio-engineered horrors. They worshipped an alien pantheon and saw themselves as Gods themselves. They fled the system in the final years of the Unification Crusade, a shadow of their former glory.

The Genisari: Shadowy and manipulative psychic powerhouses, the Genisari consumed the memories of their victims, draining them into lifeless husks. The Genisari were utterly wiped out.

Annifall: A nomadic people more akin to beasts than human, they were cannibals who would descend upon habitats to take fresh meat and leave nothing but carnage in their weak. They revelled in savagery, their ships crude and akin to mobile abattoirs. They were ruled by hulking Kings and Queens, creatures who ruled by being bigger, stronger and more fierce than their subjects. Though numerous, they were unable to overcome the sophisticated weaponry and tactics of the Unification Crusade.

The Anaboroth: Seen by many as the most horrific transhuman cultures, the Anaboroth were no longer recognisable as being descended from humans and were nightmarish chimeras akin to grotesque arachnids. It is commonly believed that some of them remain still, a lurking danger in the forgotten parts of the Solar System.

The Hekan: Cyborgs who could transfer their minds between various forms, they looked down upon the flesh as a hindrance toward the true potential of humanity. They were a cold and merciless people utterly convinced of their superiority to all other forms of life.

Though it was a costly endeavour, the Adversaries were all ultimately wiped out or their threat greatly extinguished. This allowed House Leonaris and its allies to forge a brighter future and saw the rise of a new Ascendant Empire.