Black Sun, Fury of the Phoenix

Book excerpt: Upon the twilight of the First Age of Terra, the Age of Progression, a series of great and cataclysmic wars would erupt between its human inhabitance and a mysterious race of invaders from the stars. The consequences of such devastating conflicts were far-reaching. The invaders were eventually defeated and repelled but in the aftermath of these End Wars, governments would collapse, and humanity would face widespread starvation and extinction. Thus would begin Terra's Second Age, the Age of Desolation, or, as it is more commonly known, the Thousand Year Darkness. For seeming eternity, the human race would endure a dark age of utter chaos, a period of everlasting ruin and strife in which only the strongest and most capable survived. Through this desolation, a lone warrior would rise from the shadows. Seeking to re-establish order, this warrior would utilize a combination of hopeful words, what military power he held at his disposal, and most importantly, lessons learned from civilizations past to bring humanity's remnants under his banner. Though this warrior's crusade would last many lifetimes, the human race, for the first time since its birth, would, at last, become united under a single cause and purpose. From this, order and culture would be revitalized across the ravaged earth, giving rise to a power that would rule over all, the Terran Empire. With the Empire's birth and the warrior's coronation as the First Emperor, human civilization had officially been reborn, thus beginning the Third Age, the Age of Ascension. But even with this Rebirth of Humanity, Terra remained broken and devastated, possessing few remaining resources to sustain its inhabitance. For humanity's continued survival, the Empire would turn its attention toward the final conquest, Space. The foundations of this new age are marked solely by humanity's intent of settling its star system. Once space was reached, the Empire's first act was to establish space colonies in geosynchronous orbits around its homeworld. After vast expenditures of funds and manpower, the colonies would become the agricultural centers of this newborn nation, ending all lingering traces of the Darkness virtually overnight.