Traveller's Guide to the Aquilaan Empire

AQUILA MAGNA AND SECUNDA
Let us begin our tour of the Aquilaan Empire at the centre of Culture, History, and Government; the Planets of Aquila Magna and Secunda:
Aquila Magna and her System Sister of Secunda were colonised by humans leaving the Earth Alliance during the 'Great Flight' where several hundred thousand Secularists fled the Earth Alliance territories, and persecution from the Church of Holy Unity, they founded the small Secular Republic of Humanity.
The early years of the colonies while tough were very good, by the time of the Civil War the republic had a large and stable population, however the War left the people and ensuing government in turmoil until the Assassination of President Alkirod ven Evrindor, after which to stabilise and heal the rifts in the Republic's society Efrin ven Yencoron proposed the formation of a Constitutional Monarchy. When the Earth-Skoni War broke into open conflict the Kingdom joined other systems in the Mutual Protection Alliance, a group of neutral Worlds who wished to limit the spread of the conflict. When that war Ended the MPA continued its close links, which eventually led to the formation of the Aquilaan Empire.
The Planet of Secunda has for many years been the bread basket of the Empire, it's rich and fertile soils are able to grow a wide variety of foods from wheat to apples, sugar to zucchini, they are also famous for the quality of meats from high grade Angus Beef to six legged Solotiim Beast from Kirok. The great Spice Market of Edorinå is the largest and has the most varied spices in the Empire.

BUCKTOR
The Planet of Bucktor was discovered during the Earth-Skoni war by an Aquilaani Naval patrol.
It was named after Captain Elim Bucktor, who after his career settled on the planet named after him. Bucktor is rich in mineral wealth as is the system as a whole, as well as large scale mining Bucktor has a very large naval base and the second largest Naval Academy in the Empire. After the calamity of the large meteor that hit the planet Kalypse, there is now a very significant Kalipsaanya population on Bucktor.

KALYPSE
The inhabitants of the planet Kalypse are an outgoing and gregarious people, which is rare in intelligent insectoid populations.  
They are herbivores, and they reproduce very quickly, this is offset by an ability to live in small spaces with comfort (they do not for instance understand the need for a separate chair and bed or indeed a separate lounge or bed room, preferring to use a couch for both functions). Kalypse was the first non-human world to join the Aquilaan Kingdom after the catastrophe of the great meteor that devastated their homeworld.

TYFÅ
Tyfå is an ancient world; its inhabitants have been space farers for centuries longer than most in the galaxy with the exception of the Sålki and Caldani.
Tyfå is a relatively cool planet, making the Tyfåni a stocky and furry, they also are reptiloid and slightly smaller in height to a human, also they are omnivores with a large and varied cuisine. They have four large canine teeth, which were used for display. Before joining the Empire Tyfå was considered a neutral world and hosted many conferences between belligerent parties, however since the rise and expansion of the Earth Alliance there has been less need for such facilities.

KIROK
Kirok was one of the oldest independent human colony worlds in the galaxy, for many centuries it was a refuge to those who wished to leave the bounds of the Earth Alliance.
After the start of the Earth-Skoni war the Kirok government felt that to keep its independence from Earth it needed to ally with its neighbours, which they did on joining the Mutual Protection Alliance. With the hardening of the views of the Church of Holy Unity, Kirok voted to join the MPA permanently and therefore helped to form the Aquilaan Empire.

SÅLKI & CALDANI
Both Sålki and Caldani are planets in separate systems but they are colonised by the same species, also neither are indigenous to the planets they inhabit, apart from the Human worlds they are the only non-indigenous species in the Empire.
They have been on their respective planets for so long; neither can remember their original planet or indeed their original species name. The Myths of Founding say that they are the offspring of a brother and sister who left the old Homeworld with their respective families to start new lives, the two ships that they travelled in were separated and the brother landed on Sålki and the sister on Caldani named respectively after the brother and sister.
Sålki is a tropical world with lush rain forests and some of the most spectacular water falls in the Empire, oddly there are not many large bodies of water, there is one large ocean and many thousands of lakes. The trees are so large however that most of the Sålki live in houses built out of the living wood.
Caldani is a planet of trees also, but the forests are more temperate, and there are several large oceans. There is also a large dessert in the centre of the largest continent and it is here that the Caldani have built their main spaceport.

VENTO
Vento, the planet of Music, in fact the Ventoi are very quick learners of language, and have a cultural need for music (Elvis is very popular among many). Inhabitants of Vento are 1.7m with grey-green skin, cobalt blue eyes, and skull ridges that grow at maturity, which can be used to display a wide variety of colours, many can pulse the colours in time to the music they are listening to.
The planet itself is fairly dry; there are many lakes and a few seas but also vast stretches of cold dessert. Most of the cities line the shores of the lakes and the main rivers. However there are many large spice farms that until recently were the envy of the Empire, many Ventoi trade in Edorinå now as their expertise in spice is greatly sought after.

KIRIN
Inhabitants of Kirin are Touch-Telepaths, though not with other species, they also are very friendly to outsiders.
Kirinti are fairly short and have scaled skin with pronounced Crest Frills, which can display several colours. Not very at good hearing, Hypersensitive smell, they consider humans and Kalipsaanya very smelly but not overly so. Kirin is a planet of mists, and caverns. The main city Kiliina is located in a massive cave system near the equator where the mists are less and Spaceport has clear access. The surface was only fully mapped after the Kirinti developed Radar.

RISILON
Rissilon's native inhabitants are shortish arboreal Bear-like, carnivores with golden to red fur, and very large claws on their hands. They are extremely inquisitive, which they have used to become the Empire's greatest traders. Risilon is a varied world, close to Earth or Aquila Magna in its variety of landscapes. Many Risiloni have travelled to most parts of the empire and beyond, bringing back wares to sell at the markets on Risilon, though nowadays they also have many stalls in the great markets of Edorinå as well.