Overview of the Prodono Republic

       Very little is known about the 1st Prodono Republic.  Most of the relevant data on this alien race places their republic's existence sometime around 300,000 to 250,000 BC.  However, Doctor Xiang of the United Nations Space Corps deciphered all of the available data during the UN Solar Empire’s Alpha Centauri research project.  The Solar Empire elite had ruled that the alien race ended in 250,000 BC (give or take 10,000 years), and therefore they no longer existed.  Doctor Xiang did not share this opinion, as was evident in the detailed notes he kept on a black laptop that was recovered by members of the Earth Federal Space Marines in 2171 after the Battle of Ceres.  Doctor Xiang was the leading expert on the Prodono in the UNSC, thus existed the possibility of the Prodono race surviving beyond 250,000 BC, as did the chance they might still be around as of 2180 AD.
         What is known about this alien race is that it was a warlike and expansionistic power whose influence spanned most of the galaxy, 40% according to Dr. Xiang’s notes.  This hegemony, according to Xiang’s findings, was due to the Prodono Republic consisting of the most powerful 24 of the 135 stellar powers that survived the Unification Wars.  What the political, economic, and military makeup of these powers was is open to anyone’s speculation.  Xiang was of the opinion that the Unification Wars were a kind of galaxy-wide conflict that had caused a mass extinction of many races and cultures throughout the galaxy sometime before 300,000 BC, and thus the Prodono were one of the fortunate races to have endured this calamity.
         The basic physical makeup of the Prodono was outwardly similar to humans, though they were taller (6.5-7.5 feet tall), had bronze-colored skin, different hair colors (silver, pink, orange, blue, and green were common), and different eye colors (violet, emerald, sapphire, ruby, and yellow were common).  The medical information that they found on the alien battlefactory at Alpha Centauri suggested that the aliens were genetically different.  Their outward similarity was due to the ancient Soladin (pronounced Sol-Ah-Dean) race meddling with the physical appearance of untold numbers of races across the galaxy when they ruled over 90% of it sometime between 500,000 and 440,000 BC.  The Soladin may have remade mankind in their image as well, but Xiang did not delve into this idea during his research.  What became of the Soladin is unknown.  The medical records of the Prodono battlefactory gave only a general reason as to why the Prodono looked similar to other races which may or may not be genetically different from them.  Dr. Xiang didn’t translate the sections of the medical archives of the other alien species which he considered of lesser importance. These other races were classified as “servitor” and thus not of immediate concern to him, as all of those races were under Prodono control at the time the battlefactory was still in service with the Prodono.
         The Prodono military must have been vast indeed to be able to maintain a foothold on 40% of the Milky Way.  Xiang speculated that the Prodono armed forces recycled older craft, and used them alongside newer ships as they produced them in order to meet what must have been incredible military obligations and logistical demands.  The fleet structure of the Prodono forces appears to have been very complex with small groups of 100-500 ships being used for exploration and domestic affairs, while fleets in excess of 100,000 craft were used during military conquests and wartime operations.  The sheer volume of men and material needed for such a nation was mind-numbing to Xiang as he related in his notes.  Battlefactories were constructed for the various Prodono fleets to meet some of these needs.  These enormous spacestations ranged in size from asteroid-sized to small moons depending on the fleet it was intended to support.  Xiang speculated that the battlefactory was a staple of galactic warfare leftover from some bygone eon, and that thousands of factories might have one time existed across the galaxy.  The purpose of these spacestations was not only the production of warships, mecha, and the repair of these craft, but they also acted as the living quarters and colony worlds of the Prodono.
         The society of the Prodono Republic centered on the idea of being a truly spacefaring race.  Dr. Xiang surmised that the vast majority of the Prodono people lived in the mobile battlefactories or similar constructs throughout the area of space that they controlled.  Habitable planets for the Prodono seemed to have been used solely for food production.  Xiang postulated that as mankind spreads out into the galaxy, it may have to do the same in order to ensure the survival of the species.  The genetic makeup of the Prodono was such that their bodies regenerated over time after they had reached full growth, thus making them essentially immortal.  This influenced their societal structure greatly and resulted in a timekeeping method unlike that of mankind.
         Xiang determined that the Prodono timekeeping scale was identical to the one used by the Soladin 200,000 years before them.  He learned that this scale was based on the time required for light to travel the span of the Milky Way galaxy (approx. 100,000 years Earth Relative) rather than the orbit of any planet around a sun or suns.  This calendar’s starting point began with the formation of the Soladin galactic civilization.  Therefore, the Prodono Republic began in the year 2 GS (Galactic Spans) of the Soladin calendar.  The current year, Xiang concluded at the time he discovered this timekeeping system (2169 AD), was 5.02069 GS of the Soladin calendar.
         The language of the Prodono was twofold in that there was the native Prodono language, which was hieroglyphic in nature, while the second was a sort of “Prodono Common” made up of basic geometric symbols (very similar to computer dingbats) that were apparently intended for use by the servitor races.  The native Prodono was very difficult to understand, and Xiang was unable to penetrate all but the peripheral meanings of some of the symbols.  The common language, on the other hand, was quite easy to master, as it was solely based on phonetic pronunciation of words that coincide to Prodono symbols.
         The advantages in time saved and ease of learning of such a primitive symbolic language was not lost on Dr. Xiang.  He chose to decipher the Prodono Common tongue rather than the hieroglyphic native language for those simple reasons.  Xiang was more interested in unraveling the secrets of the alien technology than making a career of studying their language.  Therefore, he needed the most expeditious means possible and that was the common tongue of this spacefaring culture.
         The technology of the Prodono seems to have been built with ease of use in mind.  Although the detailed technical elements of the craft were not impossible to decode, the principles of some of their systems (like the fold drive) were nearly impossible for scientists of the 2160s and 2170s to unravel.  This technology did, however, allow the UNSC to improve their intersection drive technology and provided the basis for stellar warp drive development.  The Earth power that gained the most benefit from the Prodono technology was the Earth Federal Republic, specifically the Earth Federal Space Marines, and subsequently the Neo-Hebrews of Saturn.

PRODONO REPUBLIC FLEET FOUND AT ALPHA CENTAURI (CLICK TO ENLARGE)