Leading the alpha factions: Lord Kona and Akari Malara

Meet the final two leaders who round out the Galactic Civilizations III alpha roster.

Just as we've done with D.L. Bradley of the Terrans and Harondin Gaul of the Iridium, we've given the leaders of Galactic Civilizations III's major factions their own backstories and traits as a step toward infusing the game with as much flavor and personality as we can fit into it. With the alpha hitting Steam tomorrow for our Elite Founders to start banging on, it seemed appropriate to share the Drengin and Altarian leaders' stories today.

As always, click the pic for the full-resolution version.

Lord Kona of the Drengin

It’s a Drengin-eat-everyone-else world out there, and Lord Kona is at the top of the food chain. His hair may be grey and his fangs yellowed with age, but there is no tyrant more feared – or more pleased with himself – than the Drengin despot who masterminded the downfall of his race’s most ancient enemies.

Kona has led his people for decades, and stands at the height of his power as the Drengin reign co-supreme over the galaxy in the wake of the Drengin/Yor surprise assault that broke the backs of the Grand Coalition at the end of the Dread Lords war. Having accomplished nearly everything that he set out to, Kona is as close to “happy” as Drengin get.

The Yor will have to be dealt with eventually, of course, but Kona’s Drengin Empire has plenty of lower-hanging fruit to go after beforehand. Why not allow his warriors to enjoy themselves hunting the remnants of their foes and digging into ever-more heavily fortified forgeworlds before cracking the tough nut that the synthetic Yor promise to be when the alliance inevitably turns sour?

Kona’s outright hostility toward other sentients has been tempered into a supremely self-confident amusement in the glow of his nearly unconditional victories. No longer the ravenous wolf at every civilized being’s throat, Kona is more like a battle-scarred tomcat who contents himself to flick his tail and lazily watch his prey cross his path...before erupting into a still-powerful throat-ripping pounce.

Like any good megalomaniacal dictator, Lord Kona thinks his wit is the height of humor, especially when it involves “jokes” about eating whomever he’s talking to. Audiences of Kona’s pronouncements are well-advised to laugh, unless they’re eager to find out just how hilarious it is to really be the subject of his razor-sharp comedic stylings.

Akari Malara of the Altarians

(Akari Malara had her own journal a little while back that showed off her character model and gave a little backstory, so she will have to survive being rolled into a combo entry here. Our apologies to all the Altarian fans out there. Her Altarians did star in the gameplay video from Monday, so they've got that going for them.)

The Altarian Republic is dead. Long live the Altarian Republic!

The Dread Lord wars took as steep a toll on Altaria as they did on the Terrans, Arceans, and other members of the Grand Coalition. The bloodied Altarian fleets fared no better against the surprise Drengin/Yor attack after the costly victory that defeated the Dread Lords for good. With their navy reduced to a tiny fraction of its former strength, the Altarian Republic was unable to meaningfully oppose the enemy fleets that wiped out colony after Altarian colony.

The stunning, repeated defeats of Altarian forces at the hands of the Yor shook the Republic to its core. Eleys Mue, the Altarian leader, launched a desperate diplomatic mission that she personally led to Drengi itself to bargain for Altaria’s continued existence.

Mue’s mission had predictable results. While her entourage was undoubtedly delicious, Mue herself was served as the highest honor a Drengin warlord could receive from Lord Kona.

The now-headless Republic was saved from ultimate extinction by the sudden vaporization of an entire mainline Drengin battlefleet as it neared Altaria itself. Altarian Resistance leader Akari Malara then appeared on every holo-projector and display screen on Drengi and Altar both as her voice issued an ultimatum from every speaker and comlink on both planets: The Drengin would withdraw from Altaria at once, or the Precursor doomsday weapon she had just obliterated that flotilla with would be a fond memory as she lit the galaxy on fire with the rest of her arsenal.

The Drengin, ever the pragmatists, stayed the hell away from Altaria. The Yor encircled the system with a blockade fleet at a respectful distance, but Altaria itself stays free.

The Altarian people, relieved to have been delivered from certain extinction at the hands of the barbaric Drengin, wholeheartedly endorsed Malara’s subsequent takeover of the remnants of the Republic’s government. Her powerful oratory style and rhetorical appeals to Altarian history and custom won her their enduring loyalty after the honeymoon of the Drengin defeat ended.

Akari Malara has a historic talent for convincing Altarians to share her belief that the race’s true destiny lies within themselves, in embracing the shadowy ties to the Precursors in their planet’s mysterious history and not in conquest or conflict. At the same time, she recognizes the existential threat posed by malevolent powers like the Drengin and Yor, and is not afraid to spread Altarian power by any means necessary in order to defend her people against aggression.

Uncharitable observers might note that Akari Malara’s occasional reliance on a doctrine of “preemptive defense” looks a lot like “naked military aggression,” but voicing such an opinion in Altarian media could be unhealthy.

For all that Akari Malara’s demagoguery revolves around appeals to deep-rooted Altarian beliefs in Altarian exceptionalism, Precursor myths, and galactic isolationism that skirts the border of xenophobia, some old-guard Altarians find her values radical – particularly when it comes to dealing with the other major races in the galaxy. Questions about her suspiciously well-timed appearance with a previously unknown Precursor weapon (and her steadfast refusal to demonstrate any further superweapon capabilities as proof) linger, though such doubts about the popular leader are never brought up in mainstream Altarian discourse.

Akari Malara is confident to the point of rudeness with other galactic leaders, even ones that she is nominally allied with. She lacks the overt disdain toward other races and cultures that many Altarians share, instead projecting an air of utter disinterest in the doings of lesser beings. Her Altaria-focused rhetoric often sounds odd to alien ears, and she is prone to bringing up the Precursors and the Altarian peoples’ favored destiny in unrelated talks.

Become an Elite Founder now to get access to the Galactic Civilizations alpha tomorrow, March 27!