Undying Crusades

First Crusades
The Undying Crusades were a series of conflicts, conquering and wars protagonised by the Undying Empire that spanned multiple hundred years during the pre-expansion era, around the 1930s B.E. They were initiated, supported and directed by the Twenty-Second Matriarch of Cordatha Haila-Maddin, proclaimed daughter of the Night Goddess.

During the period around 1930s A.E, the Undying Empire was growing exponentially. After expanding to all 9 moons and establishing themselves there, their society was in dire need of resources and territory. Needing an excuse to explore the cosmos, the Matriarch launched a crusade of sorts, to spread the word of the Night Goddess to all ignorant worlds and absorb them into their holy empire. As such, it started a long period of exploration and conquering, culturally absorbing all innocent and primitive worlds into it, excluding its male population and educating their females into the word of the Night Goddess.

Equipment
Cordathan warriors were outfitted with scaled armor and great capes with the empire's flag on them. They carried the Cordathan invented plasma swords and shields, along with lever and hammer-action accelerator weapons. They commonly used Underbite mounts in their campaigns due to their speed, resistance and adaptability. Eventually, vehicles started being used, but the warriors preferred their animal companions most of the time, so they took many years to totally stop being used as mount.

End of the Crusades
As the crusades went on, they started to take a toll on the Cordathan people. More and more resources were being allocated to the wars instead of the citizens, and this generated much insatisfaction, with multiple activist groups supporting the end of the crusades.

The Undying Crusades officially ended around the final centuries of the pre-expansion era, when the Twenty-Second Matriarch was defeated in combat by an anti-war activist named Galah D'usha. D'usha proceeded to become the next Matriarch, as chosen by Haila-Maddin as her successor before honorably leaving her position. After Maddin's rule ended, Matriarch D'usha proceeded to slowly transition the Empire into a more peaceful state, paying attention to give a proper structure to every one of the colonies acquired during the period.

Many of the conquered colonies later sought independence, and many revolts spanned the Empire's territory, eventually leaving them with much fewer planets in their rule. Expansionist policies were not adapted again as to not incentivate a crusading mindset.

To this day, some few of the conquered colonies are still part of Cordathan rule, however under the Federation's jurisdiction as well.

Mentions

 * The Undying Crusades were not yet mentioned in any Everdream work.