Almerac

History

Almerac [awl-muh-rak] was a eugenic society enthralled with the cycle of constant military activity. The inhabitants of Almerac lived under imperial rule by the House of the Blood Royale, a product of generations of selective breeding. Scions of this royal bloodline displayed vast psionic powers. The warlike people of Almerac first came into contact with Earth, a backwater world far from established star routes, when their Empress, Maxima, discovered that a Kryptonian was living there. The Warrior Queen was impressed with Superman after observing a holocast of him in gladiatorial combat on Warworld. Faced with the dilemma of her own generation's disappointing crop of prospective mates, Maxima sent out a near perfect duplicate of herself to investigate the Kryptonian on his adopted home planet. Her servant, Sazu, did not approve of Superman, and destroyed Maxima's simulacrum. Sazu's actions only seemed to strengthen Lady Maxima's resolve. When the Empress herself eventually made Earth her home, hoping to shape the Man of Steel into her consort, Almerac would come upon dark times. The first devastating event occurred when Brainiac targeted Maxima's kingdom with a planet-sized engine of destruction called Warworld. Almerac was nearly destroyed. After a brief respite, Starbreaker began ripping Almerac apart, shifting it out of its orbit, and feeding off the planet's death throes. The once proud civilization of the Almeracians barely had time to recover from the tragedy before the arrival of Imperiex sealed the planet's doom.

Apocrypha

During the prelude to the 'Our Worlds At War' event, Adam Strange explained to Superman that not only was Maxima's homeworld destroyed by Imperiex, but the Destroyer of all things had hollowed out Almerac's surrounding galaxy as well. Using a Zeta Beam to teleport himself and Superman from Earth's Solar System to the dark frontier of Almeracian space, Adam Strange mentions a distance traveled of 100 trillion light-years.

With the Empress of Almerac seemingly meeting her end during the conclusion of the 'Our Worlds at War' story arc, the Almeracian survivors appointed Mongal as their new leader. However, since the planet was supposed to have been destroyed by Imperiex according to an account by Adam Strange, the claims of Mongal being the Ruler of Almerac at the time were somewhat dubious. The simplest explanation is that 'Almerac' was being used to reference the kingdom's people and not the condemned planet. Nonetheless, the exact fate of Almerac remains a mystery.

Interplanetary Relations

The star spanning Almeracian empire was built upon military conquest, and eugenics. For thousands of years, the Royal House of Almerac sought out worlds with rich genetic stock to conquer, and assimilated only the strongest survivors. Of note, the Almeracians had maintained a long-standing tenuous alliance with the technologically advanced Krenons. Queen Tech'Tra, monarch of the planet Kreno once suggested a betrothal between her son, De'Cine, and the eldest scion of the Blood Royale, Maxima. The Krenon Queen planned to use this marriage as a political move with the ultimate goal of wresting complete control of Almerac. The Almeracians, extremely proud of their eugenic heritage, managed a begrudging coexistence with the genetically inferior Krenon cyborg race. Much to the chagrin of Almerac, distribution of Krenon technology, and military weaponry was a looming factor in determining political might within Almeracian space. For example, De’Cine, the Prince of Kreno used an inhibitor beam to capture Steel and Maxima. The inhibitor beam effectively negated Maxima’s telekinetic powers. The Krenon Prince also employed a reflector shield that had the ability to deflect Almeracian mind-bolts back at their attacker.

Geology

Almerac was a terrestrial planet; a world with an interior comprised of a molten core, a highly viscuous mantle, and a rocky crust exterior. Much like Earth, Almerac was also depicted as having most of its surface covered by oceans. Starbreaker revealed that there were three regions on Almerac with exploitable weak points.

• Almerac's polar axis.
• The Forbibben Jungles; a region that was virtually uninhabitable due to its dense vegetation, humidity, and heat.
• An immense bomb crater left by Brainiac's weapons of mass destruction. This wasteland was once a thriving community, and lies over a major fault in Almerac's crust.

The planet's most prominent inhabitants lived in Utopian country. Tae Tamrac, Almerac's royal capital was founded in such a region. There, the highly advanced Almeracian Empire seemed to favour a neoclassical style. As a reflection of some of their naturalist ideals, the imperial architecture coexisted in perfect harmony with the landscape. Following Starbreaker's attack, Almerac's volcanic features appeared to become active once more.