Players: Nick, Jason, Chris, John
Big Picture: A War of independence on an alien world
Yes: Multiple species, forgotten technology
No: Telepathy, external Alien influence, spaceships
Book Ends: The Conquest of the Sprow (light) through The Fall of the Zenith Empire (dark)
Focuses: Ona (a species), Zenimon (1st Emperor of the Zenith Empire), Queen Ema’s Reign (Sprow)
Legacies: Captain Korgoth (John), Sprow Reproductive Practices (Nick), the Life of Dr. Null (Jason)

Two species each believing themselves to be alone were suddenly introduced on the day that an Ona expedition to an “uninhabited” land introduced them to the Sprow. The Sprow differ from the Ona significantly in the culture, but their physical resemblance is quite similar with one exception: Sprow have four fingers on each hand while Ona have six.

The Ona were greeted as new friends by the Sprow, but eventually, the war-like nature of the Ona led them to attack the Sprow. The Sprow, a docile people, were quickly losing the battle when Queen Nu of the Sprow invites Captain Korgoth, leader of the Ona army to parlay. Korgoth convinces the Queen of the futility of continuing to fight and promises to let her people live. Queen Nu reluctantly agrees if Korgoth also promised to let her people remain on their land (for reasons she does not reveal).

But the Korgoth goes back on these promises, and the Sprow spawning temple is discovered and destroyed by the Ona. The Ona conquerors usher in The Reign of the Rightly-Guided Kings. The new Ona capital, Sita, “The Beacon of the West”, is built over the Sprow spawning temple, and the Sprow Exodus begins to escape the reign of the Sons of Korgoth whose violence toward the inferior Sprow is relentless.

In the midst of the Ona reign, the Sprow continued their faith and practices and name their new queen, Ema, from three candidate pupae hatched from Queen Nu’s dormant queenstock eggs. The Sprow councilors had debated the merits of the three, but cunning Ema quickly slays the other two while they attempted to feast on the sacrifice of a bloated Ona politician who meddled in the Sprow’s private selection ceremony.

While Sprow Queen Ema continues her training, she is introduced to Dr. Null, an Ona scientist who has worked single-mindedly on unlocking the mysteries of Sprow reproduction. This chance meeting leads Dr. Null to a shocking discovery: Sprow reproduction is based on asexual brood hatching from the queen. This surprises him because Ona have paired sexual reproduction. He learns that all Sprow but the Queen are sterile.

The conflict between Sprow and Ona escalates to The War of Six Fingers. While on a diplomatic visitation for peace talks, Queen Ema is found dead by her Ona friend and confidant. Detectives at the scene determine that she has been poisoned with a Sprow toxin. This destroys the peace talks, and the Battle of Kinrith begins.

Eventually, a treaty is signed in memorial to Queen Ema, and a period of reparations is entered. No Sprow have been born since the Queen’s death, but due to illegal experiments conducted by Dr.Null, a common Sprow woman is now pregnant with a single Sprow. The offspring, Zenimon, is hatched and is discovered to be a Sprow/Ona cross-breed --the tale-tell sign of his difference: five fingers where Sprow have four and Ona have six. Dr. Null and the Sprow birth mother are both slain by an older Sprow female who provided care for the birth mother. Later we discover that Zenimon is also a descendant of Captain Korgoth, Ona Conqueror of the Sprow.

Zenimon’s birth proves the end of the Sprow is not a certainty; Sprow bloodlines can continue through cross-breeding. Zenimon wanders the world spreading this truth to Sprow and many five fingered cross-breeds are born. His lineage and his popularity bring him to his position of power until he is murdered by the Even Finger Clan.