The Sugiurans

Ahead of the Curve in technology and military force > Invaded by Alternate Universe individuals > Get split away from the rest of their multiverse > Now in another real of the Human Multiverse > Those who get to the human realm cannot go back to the Sugiuran Realm

Long before the Sugiura arrived in our dimension, the word “Sugiura” meant something entirely different.  The word “Sugiura” existed long before the race the world at large is familiar with even existed.  Long before the Sugiura were considered a race, they were, in fact, a role, a title.  Where they come from, the honor of “Sugiura” was bestowed upon the apex race of the multiverse, the strongest, the wisest, the best of them.  In times that had long since passed other beings before the current Sugiura had held the name, however each and every throne was short lived, a mere flash in the pan before the immensity of the proverbial dynasty that had come later.  When the Sugiura wrested away the title of the “apex” race, the species before them who held the title were later relegated to their former name, Inusannon, they began the longest running claim to the title that the many worlds had ever seen.  The Sugiura have held the title for so very long that the their original name as a species had long since been buried under their title as the apex race.  Even in their own multi-verse, they were simply known as the Sugiurans.  The Gensoushou, the Eirei, the Inusannon, the Barilee, the Braumen, the Noonu and even the Yurgoot had all submitted to amicable annexation into the Sugiuran empire or were forced to submit before the immense martial power of the Multi-verse’s Apex race.  At their height, the Sugiuran Empire had held forty two dimensions and as many as a thousand planets in their grasp, the center of their power coming from their home dimension, Zha’til.

That seat of power, Zha’til, housed the Triumvirate, the ruling governmental body of the Sugiurans.  The triangle exemplifies this early stage of belief to the Sugiuran people.  They marveled themselves, considering their species as the pinnacle long before they ever achieved such accolades and as such, they model most things in their daily life on what they consider their “self” to be comprised of, the body, the mind, and the soul.  Their political structure was no different and was, again, split in three and representatives from each branch of the Sugiuran Hierarchy collaborated and cooperated in ruling the Sugiuran people.  The Military represented the body, the Scientists and Craftsmen represented the mind, and the priesthood represented the soul.  For a long time, this system stayed in place, long enough that even with their long life spans, there are no Sugiurans that remember a time before their dominion as the apex race.  They spread across their multi-verse, annihilating those that would not submit and assimilating those who would.

At the height of their empire however, when the Sugiurans were at their highest, the herald of their end began to echo throughout the multi-verse.  It started as a whisper.  Contact was lost from the Inusannon universe.  Overnight all communication was gone.  All messages funneled to the verse were coming up silent.  It took them too long to investigate.  The Sugiurans had been unchallenged for so long, they quickly chalked it up to just a communication technology failure.  It was only when weeks had passed that the Sugiuran Hierarchy went to investigate and what they found was...disquieting to say the least.  Every sentient species was stricken from the planet.   The scouting party could not explain it.  There was no carnage, there was no destruction.  Every creature on the planet had seemingly been erased from existence.  

For a time, they had no explanation for the phenomenon or an explanation for the seeming spontaneous extinction of a species.  They did not need to go a long time for that explanation.  The second altercation was not as silent.  The Eirei’s were the next world hit.  An SOS had been successfully broadcasted for all of thirty minutes before the aggressor had cut off communication to Zha’til.  The Sugiurans sent a response team and for the first time ever, eyes were laid upon the Tig-Anis.  The response team was annihilated.  The Sugiurans had never been challenged before, they did not know how to react.  They, for the first time, were rather painfully reminded how complacent they had grown.  The Tig-Anis had beaten them back through world to world, leaving a strewn of conquered and absorbed worlds in their wake.  To this day the Sugiurans still do not know what happened to the worlds and species that now resided in Tig-Ani territory.  Their war lasted for five hundred years, the Sugiurans slowly collapsing under the weight of the endless and tenacious Tig-Ani onslaught.  The Sugiurans were never able to truly win any ground from the Tig-Anis, they could only really delay and annoy them.  By the end of their five hundred year war, the only races of the previous Empire that remained were the Eirei and Gensoushu and, of course, the Sugiura themselves.  The others were but a memory to the Sugiurans.    

The Triumvirate was on its last legs, Zha’til was their only world left.  They knew they could not win, they’d had five hundred years to learn that lesson, their only hope was to run.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly an option in the conventional sense.  There were no worlds left to run to.  Anywhere they went was already occupied by what seemed like an ever growing army that the Tig-Anis possessed.  So they were left with the only option left to them.  If they couldn’t leave their world, they would need to excise it.  Cut themselves off from all things Tig-Ani.  The Sugiura did not have the time however.  First, they sacrificed their body.  While the Mind was forming the technology to cut their world, the Body launched a desperation assault on the Gensoushou world.  Taking the majority of the able bodied soldiers left, leaving only the young and the ones considered the premier breeding material behind, the remains of the Sugiuran military left, launching their assault.  They were successful, in a sense.  No one expected them to retake the Gensoushou world, but they had bought enough time, an entire week, before they were finally snuffed out to the last man, the Tig-Anis reaping the Sugiuran Body.  Enough time had been bought however, the Mind had finished their device.  He then took the equipment in to the void between dimensions as the Tig-Anis began encroaching on Zha’til.  The device was triggered.  As the Tig-Anis enclosed, the Sugiuran Dimension was forcibly ripped from the ones around it.  The Mind’s device ripping their universe from the multiverse as the Tig-Anis reaped the mind.  

The Sugiuran World remained isolated for a time, hurtling through time and space for ages.  It was during this time that the only remaining member of the Triumvirate, Shimura the Soul, remained among the Sugiuran people.  Due to the casualty count, suitable candidates to replace the Mind and Body were not available, consequently a shift in the Sugiuran Hierarchy began and what would today be known as the Shimura Hegemony was founded.  Shimura the Soul took control of the Sugiuran people by necessity, governing her people as best she could.  This Hegemony formed as the Sugiuran Dimension rifled through time and space, the people slowly and steadily rebuilding their population until, suddenly, they were no longer drifting.  The Sugiuran dimension crashed in to the world we know today, the multiverse that the races we know and love occupy.  It was Shimura who made first contact with the races of this multi-verse.  It was difficult to fully explain what they were and, on the whole, these species were substantially less developed than the ones from their own worlds, but they did not lack for arrogance.   It was a dumb explanation and one borne from ignorance, but it was one the Sugiura encouraged, it gave them a purpose in this place.  A cover story, an origin that would make them less intimidating, that’d let them blend in.  In their minds, it was perfect.  

The Sugiuran people settled in to this dimension rather quickly and immersed themselves however they could in the affairs of these people, carefully at first then more and more aggressively as time went on.  The Sugiuran Hegemony continued for quite some time.  However, a dynasty cannot continue through just one person.  Shimura’s daughters threw a wrench into that plan.  While growing up, they were always rambunctious, but when they reached adulthood, the family was broken apart.  With enough drama to fill an entire mid-day network of programming, the Hegemony slowly began to deteriorate as the children vanished off to the corners of the world.  When Shimura finally passed, there was no clear line of succession and with that, the Hegemony collapsed.  

The vacuum of power left behind led to a call to arms, to return to their roots.  Thus the modern Triumvirate was born.  The Triumvirate split their land into three, dividing their land into the three kingdoms we know and love today, representing the mind, body and soul of the Sugiuran people.  The Western Kingdom became the body of the Sugiuran people, consolidating their population and discipline into the military might of the Sugiuran people.  The East became the soul, maintaining the last living line to Shimura and maintaining the history and religious practices of the Sugiuran people.  The North became the mind, pushing the boundaries of Sugiuran magic and technology and they left the land to the south to the other races from their dimension, beings that the rest of the world and, to an extent the Sugiura, had coined as “Guardian Beasts” or “Chevalier.” Stability was restored, not quickly, but still it was restored.   However, while it was the policy of the previous Hegemony to simply stay in this realm where the Tig-Anis could not encroach upon them, the debate rose again on whether or not to attempt to take back their home, their realm.  

It was to this end that efforts were first made, in earnest, to improve upon the Sugiura.  The North, famed more for their technological prowess than their raw power, found a way to augment both at the same time.  Pooling the most potent magicians from the entire Sugiuran realm, the North developed what is now known as the “Modern” magic system.  This vaulted the Sugiuran people forward, giving them an immense advantage that they did not have before in the world of magic, they now had flexibility.  It was with this change, that the Sugiurans themselves began to change.  Their new access to power and further acclimation to this universe led the Sugiurans on a path of evolution.  They steadily regained the power they once had, the ability to utilize their immense strength without using the Guardian Beasts/Chevalier as a crutch.  These changes, these advancements in training and conditioning, only further emboldened the debate.  

Such is the current political climate of the Sugiuran realm, the world in a constant debate over the topic of war, over the topic of punching back through the realms to fight back the Tig-Anis, over whether they should simply prepare the races of the current Multi-verse for the potential Tig-Ani attack.  Such, is the history of the Sugiurans.