Episode I
The Lost Crowns
Chapter I
Blacktooth's History and the arrival of some strange Visitors
Far away in space, around an unknown star there is a planet, known as Blacktooth, sunk in absolute Tyranny. It was not always this way, however. Long, long ago the planet was known as Nabia and was divided into Five Kingdoms that, in spite of thier differences, managed to live in peace and harmony. This was achieved after all Five Kings signed the "Eternal Alliance Treaty", and formed the Royal Council of Five Kings presided over by the Great King.
After many years had passed peacefully and all the Kingdoms were prosperous, a set of ships entered into Nabia's atmosphere. They requested permission for an audience with the Royal Council of Five Kings. Their mysterious crew said that they came in peace and that they only wanted to establish an Embassy on the planet. The Five Kings met with the Strangers and agreed to allow them to establish an Embassy. They were given some land in the Great Kingdom and materials with which to build thier Embassy, but the construction of Military facilities was prohibited by Law and by the Eternal Alliance Treaty.
These visitors said that they came from the planet Cosus, that was several light years away. This planet was unknown to the Nabians. The Royal Council decided to begin an investigation in order to know more about its new neighbours. The Five Kings were peaceful but not lacking in intelligence. After several years, the results of the Investigation finally arrived and the Royal Council become very nervous and restless. It seemed that Cosus was governed by a Military Dictatorship, and it had spent many years developing High Technology War Machines. But even more frightening was to find out that the Cosusish main tactic was to begin conquest of worlds with weak military powers by sending a team of, so called, Ambassadors. This team was really an advance Military group with a mission to build an Embassy as a front for one of their Military Factories. But, where did the raw materials come from? Agents of the Royal Council had been watching over the Cosus people in Nabia during the years of the investigation, and their ships never made any trip. The answer soon arrived. An organic metal exists at Cosus that is able to multiply when in contact with water. This "BioFerrum", as they called it, can end up forming enormous metallic irons starting from a minuscule grain.
The worried Kings then decided to send a spy to the Embassy to verify the situation. Indeed, their worst fears were confirmed. The spy returned informing them that he had seen the factory, an enormous underground factory, under the Embassy. It was filled with Combat Robots. Thousands of them! Because of this situation, the Royal Council demanded explanations from Cosus people, but...
Chapter II
The Great War and the Mystery of the Crowns
People from Cosus, being exposed, advanced their plans and began the Invasion and Conquest of Nabia. The Nabian Army fought bravely but were no match for the Robot Armies. Years of peace had weakened them so much because they were largely unnecessary. The war was lost... Four of the Five Kings were able to escape from the desolation of their home world, it is not known where they fled to. The Great King was captured but he had time to hide his Great Crown. Why did he go to such lengths to hide his Crown?
The Royal Crowns had a very important characteristic: they were able to transform their owner into a Charismatic Leader, in fact it gave the wearer such a powerful presence that people who saw them were often overcome with Awe. Cosusish wanted the Crowns power, especially the leader of the Cosusish nephew, named Face Blacktooth. Blacktooth arrived on Nabia when the war was about to conclude. He wanted to gloat with satisfaction over it's Conquest, but he flew into a terrible rage when he discovered that all five Crowns were lost. Blacktooth interrogated the Great King, but he never divulged the secret of the Great Crowns location. So Blacktooth imprisoned him for life swearing to enslave the Nabians for all eternity. The Great King knew that if Blacktooth ever found one of the Crowns then his people's suffering would never end and Blacktooth's Tyranny would become unstoppable.
Blacktooth desperately explored the whole planet but never found anything. Also he carried out extensive investigations into the other Crowns whereabouts. He knew that the other Kings must have taken them into exile, but the trail to their whereabouts had gone cold...
Chapter III
The Empire's foundation and Penitentiary's creation
Blacktooth established a new state which was Cosus' dependent. He was proclaimed Emperor and he changed the name of the planet to Blacktooth, as it is still known today. Years later when his position was firmly consolidated He discovered the location of a planet that had sheltered one of the Exiled Kings. He immediately ordered the production of more BioFerrum Combat Robots and Machines, in order to conquer it. When the Invasion Force landed they found that the planet was very harsh and mountainous. Many robots were lost to the harsh environment. The Natives set a trap involving "The Pit", a huge bottomless chasm. The Invading Armies losses were huge.
Face Blacktooth's was livid when he heard about this. He threw the entire might of his Armies against the planet that had dared defy him. It was conquered in four days. Blacktooth immediately set about finding the renegade King and his Crown, but to no avail. The King had died in exile and his crown was nowhere to be found. Blacktooth decided that this harsh world would make a perfect prison planet, and so he built many prisons and named the world Penitentiary. It was a dark and terrible place filled with horror and misery and Blacktooth sent all who defied him there.
Chapter IV
The Conquest of Safari
Many Years later, Blacktooth III, Face Blacktooth's grandson, declared the Blacktooth Empire's independency. The Search for the Crowns continued without success, nevertheless nearby Planetary Systems were continually being explored. In one case a planet known as Safari (native word), was discovered. This planet was completely covered in dense rainforests and the explorers found that there was a primitive, tribal population on the planet. They also found drawings made by these primitives showing a man with a glowing crown descending from the skies. The natives clearly worshipped this image saying that he came to them in the time of their forefathers, and was a messenger from the Gods of the Forest. He had great power they said.
The commander of the exploration team immediately sent word to Blacktooth. Clearly one of the exiled Kings had come to this planet, so Blacktooth III immediately sent his invading armies to the planet of Safari. The natives being primitive and peaceful put up little resistance and Safari was conquered in two days. The natives, however, had no idea what had happened to the King or his Crown. They thought that he had returned to the Gods of the Forest. Safari was a large world and after many losses to dangerous native animals and plants, Blacktooth gave up the search for the Crown, concluding that the King must have left.
Safari was subsequently turned into a farm world providing much of the Empire's meat - It was also used for recreation purposes for those in favour with the Emperor.
Chapter V
The Discovery of Egyptus
In the time of Blacktooth XIV's reign, a ship on an exploratory mission had a malfunction during a Hyperspace jump. They arrived, luckily, on a world not that far from Blacktooth, which had not yet been explored. It had an orbit very close to it's Sun and it was thought that nothing would live on such a planet. The team discovered that the planet had in fact once had a thriving civilization judging from the many strangely shaped buildings on the surface. How they survived on the desert world was unknown but they had clearly died out as there was no sign of life.
Upon landing they found that all the buildings were Pyramid shaped and a great many were occupied by well preserved bodies all wrapped in white cloth. Many of the exploratory team were killed, however, by many fiendish traps hidden in the pyramids. When the remaining explorers, being three of the twenty-five man team, returned to Blacktooth and told of what they saw the Emperor was so impressed that he decided to annex the planet and add it to his Empire, little knowing that the planet held a special secret...
Chapter VI
The Re-Discovery of Book World
Emperor Blacktooth XXIV was a more refined man than his predecessors, though he was still brutal and ruthlessly hungry for power. He read many books, trying to find clues as to the location of the Crowns. His many hours of research led him to finally to the lost world of Byblos.
Byblos, or Book World as it is commonly known today, was a library planet belonging to a Great Empire many centuries ago but the location of this planet was lost when the Great Empire crumbled and fell. It is said to contain huge numbers of books and archives, most of which were destroyed by the time Blacktooth found it, much to his dismay. Of what was left, little is understood but some texts hinted at how the Crowns of Power were forged.
It seems that the people of Nabia are all that remains of this vast Empire. Strangely there were signs of relatively recent disturbance in the Main Library as if someone had been there sometime ago. Blacktooth XXIV decided to annex Biblos and add it to his Empire. He also rebuilt the great libraries and installed powerful security systems. Only his most trusted Generals, Advisors and Chief Scientists are permitted to access the libraries of Book World.
Chapter VII
Blacktooth's Moonbase and Castle
At present, planet Blacktooth has changed a lot. Blacktooth LIV has just recently finished building three Moonbases on the largest moon of Nabia. Using the resources of Book World his scientists have managed to perfect a Teleport System and the largest base, Moonbase HQ, contains the central Terminus. All the slave planets have a Teleport pad located on them.
After the Egyptus episode, the latest Emperor sent out explorers to find other strange planets, and after much exploration one was found. This world was too far away to be annexed by the Blacktooth empire but the explorers found that the inhabitants built huge stone castles and surrounded them with Markets and villages. They also encased themselves in crude metal suits and attempted to kill each other with pointed metal rods, while riding strange four legged beasts.
Not to be outdone by his ancestors Emperor Blacktooth decided to build himself a castle also, modelled on those of that distant world - This castle also had a marketplace. It was heavily fortified being the Central Government HQ of the Blacktooth Empire. The only way in or out was via the Teleport system. It even had dungeons for Prisoners that Blacktooth wanted to keep a close eye on.
Chapter VIII
The planet Freedom and its unique inhabitants
Meanwhile, the people of the neighbouring stars were getting very worried about the continued signs of military expansion from Blacktooth. So they have finally decided to act. They agreed to send in a Spy with instructions to try and incite the slave worlds into a full Rebellion. The spy will come from the planet Freedom. This world is inhabited by some very strange creatures, which have evolved to exist symbiotically in two parts both of which are intelligent. They can seperate and survive but they are handicapped while seperated. While joined they share the same thoughts and work in perfect unison. The Spy who will go in against Blacktooth is called "Head over Heels". Head being the top half and Heels the lower.
Head belongs to the "Headus Mouthion" species. He is the symbiotic partner to Heels and will normally be found sitting on top of him. Head is descended from a breed of flying reptile and still has rudimentary wings under his arms. Head has no legs or feet but his arm-wings allow him to jump up to twice his own height and to glide though the air. Head can only move very slowly by himself. Head is also trained in use of the "Hooter". This special device is used to fire special, sticky "doughnuts" at enemies. This freezes them as the stickyness spreads over their bodies (They also tend to be occupied licking the sweet doughnut off thier face!!!) The Hooter may only be used by Head and requires a tray of doughnuts to be of any use.
Heels of the "Footus Underium" species. During Heels's evolution the arms have totally disappeared while the legs have become very quick. Heels can only jump his own height and cannot glide without Heads help, but he can run very fast. Also, although he has no arms, he is able to manipulate a special Bag with his feet, and so can carry a single object around within a room. Due to the special nature of the Bag (being adapted to Heel's feet!) only Heels can use it.
Hush Puppies are also natives from Freedom. These are a very strange type of beast, they are incredibly sleepy, in fact they rarely wake up and it is quite normal for them to sleep for their entire lives. They are often used as tables and even used as building bricks. They are a native of Freedom and for many thousands of years Head and his ancestors have been mistaking them for Heels and causing so much trouble, that the poor old hush puppies have evolved a defence mechanism, they somehow learned to teleport themselves away. Nobody knows where they go but the instant they see any of Head's race they disappear and won't return until they are sure the coast is clear.
They love Heels however and will remain in the area if he is present alone. Heels has managed to persuade some of his Hush Puppy friends (when he could wake them!!) to teleport to Blacktooth and the slave planets, in order to help out.
Chapter IX
The Capture of Head over Heels
It is said, in spite of Head over Heels excellent training, they were captured within a few hours of their arrival on Blacktooth. The Imperial Guard forced them to separate and they were imprisoned in the castle dungeon awaiting interrogation. Head and Heels were placed in adjacent cells seperated by a metal grille, they could to see and talk to each other but could not Join. They agreed to escape seperately and reJoin outside the castle in the marketplace. Using special hidden tools they had been given, they managed to activate the teleport pads which were the only way into or out of their cells, and escape...
Chapter X
The extraordinary adventure of Head over Heels
Many papers and books have been written about the trials and adventures of Head over Heels. They never spoke of thier journey to anyone. Nobody knows how were they were able to escape from Blacktooth's Castle, or how they arrived at the Moon Base. Only small fragments of how they used the Teleport system to travel to the slave worlds, and rediscovered the long lost Crowns, are known. When they returned to Freedom with all five Crowns, they were hailed as heroes, and the oppressed people of Penitentiary, Egyptus, Book World, Safari and Blacktooth itself rose up in revolution, but the Blacktooth Empire was not yet beaten. The fight had only just begun...
Episode II
The Kings Search
Chapter XI
The Emperor's Response
The Emperor, Enraged by the garbled reports of the situation on all his frontiers, and on his own world Blacktooth, ordered the hardest possible retribution on the population. Likewise, he swore to invade and to raze Freedom to the ground once he had regained control of the situation inside his frontiers.
Meanwhile, the rebellion was fighting hard against the Imperial Armies and the government Elite. Unfortunately, the confrontation was unequal. The Imperial Army had a perfect military organization, and their soldiers were easily replaced or repaired (after all, they were robots!) The people fought with intelligence and zeal, characteristic of developed organic entities, but without leaders lacked organization.
Chapter XII
The Royal descendants
When Nabia was conquered, four of the Five Kings escaped to Safari, Penitentiary, Egyptus and Byblos. The Great King remained in prison on Blacktooth for the rest of his life. The exiled Kings hid their crowns and either were integrated into the native society or disappeared, being resigned to never returning to their home planet. At that time those planets were free and had no need or desire to go to war against Blacktooth. The Crowns had a great charismatic power but not to that extent.
Years later, as we know, those worlds were invaded and colonised. Those that had a repressed population would have supported a revolution directed by a great leader. However, the Crowns were lost and the King's descendants were not popular. Most of them had to remain in hiding and some had turned to crime to survive. If Coronated with a Crown of Power, however, their latent power would be shown and they would become powerful leaders, as thier ancestors had been.
The Great King's descendants are not of his direct line, he had no children before his incarceration. However he had nephews and they have perpetuated the Royal line along the centuries. It is believed that the Great Crown's power will still work with one of them, but, none of them will come forward to claim it and lead the revolution on Blacktooth until the other planets have been liberated.
Chapter XIII
Freedom's counterattack
Freedom's leaders, gathered with Head over Heels, begin to plan against Blacktooth. The Freedonians decide to begin a search for the Royal descendants to give them their ancestor's Crown and, in this way, to transform them into Sovereigns of the worlds that they have inhabited for so long. Then they can lead their people to freedom and liberation. They decide to to send troops from Freedom and other allied planets to Blacktooth when the the right people were found.
Head over Heels has volunteered to try to find the Royal Decendants since they were sucessful before and are familiar with the planets involved.
Chapter XIV
The biggest adventure in Whole Galaxy...
It is not written what happened in Head over Heels new adventure. It is only known that they suffered bigger incidents than in their first trip. But he who writes this, has not been able to find the end of the story. Maybe, dear reader, you can write that end...