The Star Magicians

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FOR 6,000 YEARS the great Carina Empire controlled the larger part of the Milky Way Galaxy. But slowly it yielded before the remorseless erosion of centuries. And as it weakened, the power of the wild, untamed barbarians of the Rim grew stronger. For a time, the inevitable was staved off by a brilliant stroke of political genius. The Emperor Rinald Tenth, the extraordinary mastermind of his age, commissioned the Rim Barbarians themselves to patrol the very stars they menaced. It was little more than a disguised method of buying safety with tribute, but it worked—for a time.

Over generations, the Imperial line ran out in weaklings and soft degenerates, and the Sacred Blood no longer brought forth leaders like Carmion or Rinald or Diovar. More and more the princelings of the fading Empire in eclipse came to rely on the mighty “Barbarian Legions”—now so powerful they had a major voice in the Imperial Council. At last, the Barbarian Legions dominated. At their whim they could depose or create Emperors. And finally came that dreaded day when the Imperial Treasury could no longer pay the gigantic tribute. The legions struck … and, in a single day and night, the mightiest Empire in galactic history fell in a ruin of flame and thunder.

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