Proposed STGOD Setting.

[SirNitram]

I feel this is a good time to point out that functional literacy and ability to follow simple directions are requirements for an STGOD, evil communists that we are.

Also, a rule currently in the works forbids Grand powers from uniting in anything but brief alliances of convenience(IE, if you're a Grand, don't blame on being anything but an asshole or an enemy to the other grands, to ensure we don't get the lock-up of the last one.).

[Pablo Sanchez]

Oh, and personally I'm going to aim for a grand.

The thing I want is to decide who gets Grand Power and what-have-you. This pre-OOB is sort of a way to judge the ideological orientation of the nations, and of how well the player can define their nations and just plain write. Sort of like a contest.

[Beowulf]

Why would you respond to my request for a post matching something, when I hadn't even posted the example yet?

Knew you were going to be editing in stuff in a bit, and started writing with the intention of editing it to conform when you'd put in yours.

[Captain tycho]

My apologies for claiming a grand power slot, I was thinking it was first come first serve.
EDIT: Should I bother writing up fleet numbers, or is the point system still being tweaked?

[General Zod]

I may have an idea or two for a power I might want to kick in. How many days we got til the whole shebang gets kicked off it's more or less settled on who's where? Might even stick around for more than a few weeks this time.

[Beowulf]

I may have an idea or two for a power I might want to kick in. How many days we got til the whole shebang gets kicked off it's more or less settled on who's where? Might even stick around for more than a few weeks this time.

I'm doubting this is going to kick off until after New Year's. Too many people are going to be taking off until then.

[General Zod]

I may have an idea or two for a power I might want to kick in. How many days we got til the whole shebang gets kicked off it's more or less settled on who's where? Might even stick around for more than a few weeks this time.

I'm doubting this is going to kick off until after New Year's. Too many people are going to be taking off until then.

Should gimme plenty of time then. May have something to post in another day or so in that case. I'd assume from the looks of things we post histories before bothering with any kind of point allocation?

[Ford Prefect]

The Government – Under the Concordat Generals

The Concordat, for almost the entirety of its existence (excepting of course the poorly realised Pergio Rebellion in the middle days of the Concordat) has essentially existed as a kind of dictatorship. Power is held by men and women known as Concordat Generals, who blend together the roles of administrator and military leader, whom as one form the Fallen Sun’s ‘senate’. All decisions are debated here, and Concordat Generals are required to bring the concerns of the people to the attention of the senate. The system of government harkens back to the early days of the Concordat just after the defrost by Neuf 8, when it was required for a single minded political entity to exist to maintain order among the colonists.

The Concordat Generals are responsible individually for planets and the running of their defences, or are placed in charge of expeditionary fleets (and represent the concerns of their crews rather than planetary populations). While essentially each one is supposedly equal, there is a hierarchy of sorts, with the Concordat General of Innocence (currently Dyrik Noveno, former captain of the battleship Lachlan) being the most influential of them all, and essentially chairman of the senate.

Economy

The Concordat is what amounts to a socialist state, what with the Concordat Generals controling the means of power and production.

Ideology – Concordism

Memories of the Home Government stored within the mighty datatowers of the Neuf 8 as well as the hearts and minds of the colonists influenced the Concordat to produce a type of political ideology focussed around the concept of supporting everyone to a similar level of lifestyle and education. It is at once a political ideology reflected in the purpose of the Concordat Generals, but it has its basis in how money is spread. The idea in Concordism is that all shall not want for naught, and to this end food, housing, free health care and education are maintained. Charity is encouraged among citizens, not just to other members of the Concordat, but also to outsiders. Concordism is, like much else within the Concordat, the end result of the situations encountered in the early days of the Concordat.

Military

The Concordat of the Fallen Sun originally designed their military doctrines around, as was standard, their early days. Not wanting to have to bother with the tedious and often difficult process of resupplying warships and soldiers with ammunition, and originally not having the means to do so when the time came to actually construct a military, the Concordat shunned slug-throwers in favour of lasers. Lots and lots of lasers. Looking back on it, it might have been some type of fetish. The predilection towards laser weaponry has more or less stymied the amounts of missiles launched from units within the Concordat Spacy, and most army units are armed with energy weapons first. This is an expensive endeavour to undertake, and has severely limited the size of the Concordat Ground Force. It highlights a major failing within both Ground Force and the Spacy, as they are unwilling to discard the equipment doctrines of the early days, and to a lesser extent the tactical doctrines developed in those times.


As Pablo asked, I shall answer. If any of that is unclear, go ahead and whack me with a stick. However, I may have to pull out considering I'll be away for a couple of weeks over Christmas.

[weemadando]

I'm contemplating a series of AIs which act as a single mind.

Think a cross between Skynet, SHODAN and Durandal, but with an internal political system where they discuss and vote on all potential actions before making them (at insane speeds of course).

[Beowulf]

I'm contemplating a series of AIs which act as a single mind.

Think a cross between Skynet, SHODAN and Durandal, but with an internal political system where they discuss and vote on all potential actions before making them (at insane speeds of course).

Sounds more than vaguely similar to my idea...

[Nephtys]

I'm contemplating a series of AIs which act as a single mind.

Think a cross between Skynet, SHODAN and Durandal, but with an internal political system where they discuss and vote on all potential actions before making them (at insane speeds of course).

...like OMNIUS and the Synchronized Worlds?

Excuse me while I shudder.

(Psst. Shodan = Good. Go for it.)

[weemadando]

Ah balls.

Well, time to come up with another idea.

[Companion Cube]

I'll be going for a Minor power. The Pfhor LPG only have a single heavily-industrialised system, after all. OOB to follow.

EDIT:

Removed. See updated OOB on page 12.

[Academia Nut]

As my previous post was primarily a fluffy little piece meant to highlight the basic concept, I shall now offer up a more detailed cross section of life for the Halo Stars Corsairs.

History

In the Beginning

During the great wars that sundered the galaxy, a group of refugees set out to hide from the devastating conflicts in the last place anyone would want to live, which would hopefully be the last place anyone would go looking for a fight. The original plan called for a wait period of a hundred years before sending out a probe to see if the situation had stabilized. Unfortunately since the refugees had poor equipment to start with, by the time the date to peek about the greater galaxy rolled around, the life extension treatments had worn off and no one was alive to remember to look around and the probes had all broken down for one reason or another. By that time new problems were beginning to manifest.

The Curse

With the slow deaths of the original population, new people were born who knew nothing of what life was once like, so they began to expand what they had. The population growth was hard on the already cramped refugee ships, overtaxing the already shaky reactors and causing new areas to be tacked recklessly onto the sides of the ships like cancerous tumours. Lacking proper building materials because of the lack of massive stars in their thin section of space, these new habitats were particularly exposed to the hazards of interstellar space. Genetic damage ran rampant and when a mutated strain of influenza got loose in the refugee ships the entire population picked up what has since been called "The Curse". Aside from the usual symptoms of influenza, the virus attacks developing gametes, inserting a defect that severelly damages the body's DNA repair mechanisms. The doctors at the time could only watch in horror as the already devastating cancer rates quadrupled amongst infants and more and more women miscarried. They lacked the tools to come up with an effective one shot counter, and they feared worse could happen again. Instead they mustered up all their limited skills and equipment and developed a somewhat jury rigged solution that could still work for generations to come. They inserted a gene that expressed itself as a capacity to accept external DNA and distribute it throughout the body. Thus synthetic human DNA could be quickly delivered to the sick to act as an artificial DNA repair mechanism. The absorbtion method was through the digestive tract and carried the risk of cross contamination with other species, but the people did not even remember that their food had original come from plants and animals, they had been eating reprocessed artificial gruel for so many years.

King of the Ring

As people in such dire situations are prone to do, violence within the ships was rampant. As such, it did not take long before an unintended consequence of the gene therapy became apparent. A few weeks after a particularly nasty bar fight one of the men involved began to very vibrantly have his skin tone change. After a few questions it became apparent that he had bitten an opponent and had ingested some of the other man's flesh and blood. While the authorities tried to suppress the information, other incidents and rumours quickly spread this idea around. With the population already growing increasingly superstitious as more and more of their knowledge slipped away, it soon became vogue for the fighters in the illegal boxing rings to rip off chunks of one another after the fight "to gain the strength of their enemy". This created a dangerous, cannibalistic underclass that resented the authorities trying to steal their powers. Eventually the frustration and overcrowding boiled over in a series of riots that forced a drastic change in the local power structure. When the smoke cleared, cannibalism had become an acceptable practice, seeing as how anyone who opposed this policy soon ended up on the dinner plate.

Evolution

As the generations flew by, the populations underwent drastic changes. The combination of high mutation rate, strong selection pressure, and the capacity to share genes within and between generations instead down them lead to rapid evolution. First came the capacity to consciously select which genes within a sample to actually incorporate, caused in part by the disaster when the people finally decided to settle on a lifebearing planet and begin eating the local flora and fauna, which through a quirk of convergent evolution had a suitably compatible biochemistry for their genetics to transfer. Second came the capacity to taste a sample before ingesting it to determine suitability. Third came the emergence of the subgenders called Shapers. Making up about a tenth of the population, the Shapers have a highly sophisticated sense of taste, leading to a much finer capacity to select desirable genes. The Shapers soon came to dominate society by leading their peers along evolutionary paths that lead to their dependency and subservience to the Shapers. In essence, the Shapers sculpted the rest of the population into near domestication while making themselves smarter and more capable. Of course, a myriad of other traits were soon added on.

To meet these growing biological differences came social changes, the first of many being the renunciation of the "kill or be killed" philosophy of the early days of the new evolutionary path. The early illegal fights soon morphed into a society wide code of honour, whereby disputes were settled in strict, ritualistic duels, often ending with the loser being forced to concede the point of contention and consume a piece of the winner, usually just a few drops of blood, so as to more clearly understand the other's point of view. More serious issues were fought to the death and ended with the winner devouring the loser and passing around pieces to friends and family. This too evolved into a sophisticated judicial system that still runs to this day, with blood duels being rare. Of more consequence was the rise of the clan system, whereby genetic lineages run by certain Shapers would band together and war with one another. However, since they still lived with very poor access to resources, these wars had a very piratical bent, with the idea being to not just kill your enemy and take his things, but ultimately make everything that was your enemy's, yours, including their genetic legacy. To destroy through brute force that which was your enemy's was seen as a waste, so stealth and surgical strikes became prevalent, further adding to their piratical nature.

Rise of the Captains and Engineers

After unknown generation aboard the ancient ships and on a few desert planets barely capable of supporting life, a few clans realized that the old ways had to change. Unifying together, the Revivalist Party took over half of all assets within the system and began a process of reorganization. The first thing they did was pressure the quasi-religious technicians that maintained the motley fleet to begin building new, more capable ships. The technicians complied, but progress was slow at first until the first true engineers emerged. Capable of scientific thought, design and problem solving, they lead the vangard of a Renaissance of technology. Mines were built in asteroid belts and on dead worlds, ship yards built, and new technologies perfected. The Revivalist Party soon rechristened themselves the Captains, for their senior Shapers had taken to commanding the new ships. Within twenty years of the start of the Great Revival a new bicameral system had emerged, with representative from each Great Clan serving in either the House of Engineers or the House of Captains. Each house has a share of executive and legislative power, with a mixed judiciary interpretting the decisions of the Two Houses. The most noticeable aspect of this curious division is the sharing of power aboard any ship in the fleet. A Captain has absolute authority over the crew, but the Master Engineer has authority over the well-being of the ship and is perfectly within his/her right to force the Captain out of any situation that takes the ship into undue harm. While fights between Captains and Master Engineers just new to their post are so common that duels between the positions are explicitly forbidden in all instances, senior commanders soon learn to know and respect the other. The professional relationship between the two is considered so great that a saying "Stays like a commander on his ship" comes from the fact that neither position is willing to leave the ship for fear of losing the counterpart and having to break in a rookie, feeling it is better to die on the ship with the other. And die they did, for what could not be accomplished within parliament could always be done discretely behind the scenes with a cloaked marauder.

Age of Expansion

With the revitalization of the population and the emergence of the Captains and Engineers, expansion was inevitable. With expansion came the contact with the other people's of the galaxy emerging from their shells. Their long isolation and stories of being refugees had inscribed a sort of xenophobia, with the clans seeing outsiders as a greater threat than each other, and unanimously it was agreed that they would wage unending war upon those not of their own people. Of course, in proper Orwellian fashion, they never actually stated who would be the target at any particular time, and temporary alliances were considered completely acceptable. Since for centuries they had called themselves "people" or by the names of their clans, they settled on announcing themselves as the "Halo Stars Corsairs" to outsiders.

Racial Characteristics

To understand a corsair one must first understand their physiology of being able to process foreign DNA into their own system. This leads to the aforementioned cannibalistic streak, along with a pronounced hunting culture. However, since they were originally human, they have managed to regulate their more violent traits through various social constructs, most striking of all is their marked nobility. While true that they literally devour their fallen enemies, they would rather die than betray a friend. While true that friendships pass and go, they often swear pledges of friendship to work and fight side by side with an ally for a set period of time, which are extremely common amongst people working in the same conditions. Under these pledges neither party will ever intentionally harm the other, although if resentment sets in then duels can occur once the pledge expires. More profoundly, they will swear blood bonds that tie people together almost as if in marriage. These bonds are permanent and for one party to break the bond in any fashion is considered the most grievous of crimes, punishable by being boiled alive (so as to purge the taint of their DNA from the gene pool forever).

As another aspect of their origins as refugees in systems with few resources, the corsairs have an extremely frugal streak, which is why piracy is their favourite expression of warfare. It is not greed why they plunder and loot, rather an inexplicable desire to see nothing go to waste. This has created a rather unusual pack rat aesthetic whereby few goods are originally produced for non-utilitarian purposes, but as items wear out they may spend time as decorations before being recycled.

Finally, a word must be said about their gross physiology. Between the different clans there is a wide range of differentiation as Shapers with different ideas sculpt the path their lessers will take. However, almost all corsairs display the following traits:
1) Thick, scaly skin and increased body density evolved to help deal with the omnipresent radiation
2) Slight regenerative ability. Wounds heal faster than with humans, limbs can grow back over the course of many months, and even nerve damage can be repaired.
3) Sharpened teeth and semi-retractable claws developed in the early days and retained for ritual dueling. Teeth also useful for eating their more carniverous diet.
4) The capacity to enter a torpid state and let the body temperature fall far below freezing while avoiding tissue damage.
5) Mild polymorphism caused by the Shapers. Male Shapers, sometimes called Primes, look like idealized human men with reptilian features and bright diplay frills replacing hair. Smarter, stronger, and tougher than most other males, they spend most of their lives looking for good meat and jobs for their non-Shaper brothers. Female Shapers, sometimes called Queens, are similar to their male counterparts, except for the fact that they have the added role of identifying suitable mates for their sisters. Non-Shapers, sometimes called Drones, come in two forms for each gender. Males have Brains and Brutes, who, unsurprisingly, are semi-specialized for either heavy thinking or heavy lifting/hitting. Females have Artisans and Breeders. Artisans make up the bulk of all corsair society and are respected as the backbone of the economy. Breeders on the other hand are regarded with something of contempt. Due to near catastrophic infant mortality rates, the Breeders were created to rapidly reach sexual maturity and then begin pumping out babies, at the cost of near total lobotomization of higher brain functions. While all the forms are fertile, can interbreed and can potentially produce any of the other forms, the Shapers have insured that typically only Shapers bear Shapers and most of the lower castes are produced by the Breeders.

Economy

While an outsider might think that the corsairs produce nothing of their own, living only to plunder and loot, sucking off the economic might of others, this is blatantly untrue. While piracy is a common cultural practice and they do enjoy taking other peoples' things and in recent years have derived a large portion of their economic growth from plunder, they have survived for centuries on their own self sufficiency and will even do legitimate business with outsiders on occasion. Due to the nature of where they come from, they are masters of ceramics and resins, their star system lacking severelly in heavy elements, particularly metals. Fortunately they have a slightly higher than average concentration of carbon, so they did have the materials to cope. Other important industries include agriculture, microelectronics, mining, and the manufacturing of the ships and weaponry used to raid other nations. Aside from independent raids, the corsairs prefer to hire themselves out as mercenaries, especially to corporations who want to hurt their competition and secure promises of peace from the corsairs, allowing them to be effectively paid twice for their work. Of course, this all requires shipping within their system, which is somewhat ironically done primarily by captured merchant vessels. Of note is the extensive use of robots for menial labour, a necessity considering low corsair numbers.

Geography

The corsairs occupy a small cluster of stars at the edge of the galaxy and keep the location well hidden, making sure to move well outside their territory when performing a job. Their paranoia about discovery is so intense that they have actually developed an outpost close to the galactic core where ships on missions can refuel and reload before venturing back out, or receive extensive sweeps before returning to corsair space. Within their territory there are only four live sustaining planets, and these tend towards thin atmosphered deserts. Most of the population lives and dies in their ships, the numerous asteroid colonies, or within one of four city sized habitats called Nurseries where all corsair females go to escape the blazing heat of the stars when they are pregnant, to give their offspring a fighting chance at not being irradiated. Because the Artisans are all female and tend to be the technicians of the nation, the Nurseries all serve as hubs of activity for new construction, so much so that the Mother of All serves as the seat of government for the corsairs, holding their parliament and most of their beauracracies.

Technology

Corsair technology is interesting in that it still retains many elements of the days of old when technology surpassed all none now, but their lack of resources has caused considerable atrophy, with only a few ideas remaining intact out of necessity and modified over time. For example, while their armour leaves much to be desired when compared to other galactic powers in terms of durability and protection, for the materials it is made out of it is fantasitc. Another example is their cloaking technology, which has frustrated many a sensor operator. First of all, when their ships go into a passive cloak, they appear as little more than an asteroid at a distance (aided by their unusual chemical make-up, an unexpected way of making up for their physical weakness) and only more intensive scrutiny reveals that they are even artificial in nature. This is because their ships can "go cold" and slip into hibernation, with the crew barely kept alive by their vacuum suits and their hardy physiologies. While it takes hours to assume this near background radiation state (on the outside anyway, the inside is significantly warmer at around 220 K) and then hours again to rouse the crew, the corsairs have the patience to hide like this. More terrifying are their active cloaks. While easier to recognize as artifical in nature, the spotting them in this state is considerably harder as they can even partially mask their graviational signature and move slowly without activating their plasma engines. However, since they have weak armour and their best shields are of only moderately good compared to other galactic standards, this means that if their first strike fails they often have to run and hide as quickly as possible before the return salvo arrives. Their weaponry is also peculiar in that they have retained a technology they affectionately call "shredder guns" which while doing little against shields rip apart armour like tissue paper. Combined with more standard ion weapons, their capital ship weapons tend to have little punch until the shields go down, in which case the ship is probably screwed. Of final note in the weapons department is the disruptor claw technology. Based on a similar theory to their ripper guns, these are blade encased in a hyperspace distortion that shreds matter. The most blatant use of this technology is with their ramships, which have a prow covered in a supercharged disruption field and are used to punch through ship hulls to deposit boarders straight into the bridge or main engineering, to cause suitably gruesome havoc.

OOC: Holy shit... I just got writting and it wouldn't stop... hope you can absorb all of that...

[Dahak]

The Falau'un Council

Government:
The Falau'un Confederation is nominally an alliance made up by the Great Houses of the Falau'un. After endless years of bitter war between the Houses (and often between septs of the Houses themselves), Delran Da'shu, High Lord of House Da'shu managed (trough clever diplomacy, bribery, and decisive military victories) to bring all the Great Houses together at a table. For the first time in centuries, they talked until finally, a consensus emerged and the first Council was founded.
Over the years, more and more power was drawn from the Houses and into the Council; and so, more and more power concentrated in the position of the High Councillor. Nowadays, the power of the Council is almost absolute, and so is the High Councillor.
The Council is made up by a representative of each of the 30 Great Houses, which usually is also the leader of that House. The High Councillor is traditionally the High Lord of House Da'shu, a tradition that has not been broken in ages.

Only people with magical ability are considered Falau'un under the law (but after the extermination wars no non-magicker has been born in centuries).

Economy:
The economy is based around a concept of state capitalism, centered around the individual Houses, though. Each House owns a number of corporations and most have specialised into a certain field. Inner-House competition is often fought fiercely, but Inter-House competition is almost non-existant, having its reasons in an almost subconscious fear of renewed Inter-house warfare.
The Council, and the Houses, guarantee each Falau'un an acceptable standard of living.

Ideology:
From its very beginning, the society concentrated around the Great Houses, and this has not changed much since. They accept the Council and its power, but for most day-to-day purposes, the House affiliation is still of great importance. Laws and power flow from the Council trough the House to the individual, thus each House is respponsible for the conduct of its members, and also liable for misconduct.
The society is also a highly hierarchical one, where the position is determined by House, by the power of magical talent, and experience. Deviations from the society standard are highly frowned upon and, in extreme cases, punished (which is observed and executed by the thought police of each House and that of the Council).
They are wary, some afraid, of new species and unknown elements, as it might unbalance the age-old system and spark dispute and warfare anew. As such, they do not make fast friends with new species, but once a certain familiarity has been gained, can open up to the new contact and engage in fruitful cooperation.

Technology and Magic:
As magic people, magic has found its way into technological age. Virtually every technology includes magic in one way or another. Sensitive technologies use it as a security meassure to deny non-Magickers the use of that technology or device. This is mostly found on warships and sensitive areas.

Military:
Through their bloody history, warfare always has been a large part of their being. Dying in battle still is considered highly admirable (and desirable). But they do not enshrine a special honour concept. One important tenant of military thinking isthat as long as it leads to victory, it is right. This includes surprise attacks, assassinations, even slaughter as acceptable instruments of warfare. No Falau'un will raise an eyebrow even in the eye of fiendish atrocities, as that is the way war is.
The navy concentrates around Ships of the Wall, as the big hammers, and an appropriate screen of escorts and cruisers. They employ carriers and fighters, but not to the extent other nations might. if given the choice, Falau'un will favour bigger weapons and go for the less "stylish" and more pragmatic approach.

Physiology:
Falau'un look remarkably what humans would call "Elves". Exceptionally tall, with pointed ears, they are lithe and slender, though possess more strength than one would suspect from such a body. They are exceptionally long-lived,, several hundrred years are the rule.
They have strong telepathic and magical talents within them.

[Glimmervoid]

The Silver Flame
Note: The Latin words represent words in the ancient langue of the Quelectin.

Government:
The Silver Flame is the cause that unites all Quelectin. It is a strange mix of religion, philosophy, military and government lead by The High Seeker. The current High seeker, High Seeker Bardon, is 231 and will likely serve for life though it is not uncommon for a High Seeker to step down or be “asked” to step down by the counsel of Seekers.

The counsel of Seeker is an advisory body made up off hundred of Quelectin. Each is the head of his or her clan and is there to represent there interests. The clans were originally descended from the faculties that existed with in the Grate Library. Currently the most powerful clans are; Mathematica, Military Historic and Physictos. The High Seeker technically gives up his clan when selected by the Counsel of Seekers, though it is very unusual for then to totally distance them selves from there family. The current High Seeker was formal from the minor Clan Biologyris.

Seekers are choices by election were only the heads of the individual families in a clan can vote, though it is possibly for them to pick any one they seldom look out with there own number. Seeker elections are carried out once a year however each clan selects there own time to hold the election meaning that new Quelectin are constantly leaving the Counsel of Seekers. The head of families is the eldest member in any marriage which has at least one child over 2 years old.

Economy:
The standard unit of currency is called an Argentum [Six will by you a raw chicken sized bird]. The economy is free market based were ever thing (except knowledge, which belongs to the nation) can be bought or sold if it dose not affect another’s Beneficium or rights. Each Clan is required to make sure that all its members have a basic standard of life, this right is called Beneficium Aevum, it includes shelter, food and work among other things.

Ideology:
Quelectin were originally created, or forged as it is termed, by a long dead empire at the start of the Age of Silver to run a gigantic planet sized Library devoted to the acquiring, storage and use of knowledge. The Quelectin still retain the love for knowledge that was genetically engineered in to them and it is a high crime under the Silver Flame to hide or hoard knowledge, or silver as the Quelectins may call it. The Quelectins will consider invading a planet a adequate price to pay for attaining some secrete knowledge that planet has developed or discovered but will always try to negotiate for it before any attack is launched.

Military:
The Quelectin maintain a strong Star Navy molded after there creators, there ships are highly technologically advanced meaning they are smaller than normal but also a silently more vulnerable to damage. The ground array is mainly mechanized (since they were not created as warriors) and contains many remote control drones, hover tanks and atmospheric craft.

Quelectin Physiology:
Quelectin are between two and three and a half feet tall and covered in course fur. Two Long arms extend out there torso with five digits on each and they also have two legs with 5 semi distinct toes on each.

Quelectin are extremely intelligent and will typically live to between 200 and 220 though 250 is not uncommon. The eldest living Quelectin is 263 and the eldest in history reached 275.

Quelectin are physically weak able to lift a fifth as much as an adult human but are very quick with there hand and only slightly slower than a human when running. There two sexes, male and female who can potentially conceive once a year, 95% of pregnancies result in twins and children need intensive care up until two and a half and not reach adult hood until thirty eight years old most families will have only two sets of children in there life due to this.

OOC: As I said I want to go as small a power as possible (minor).

[Vanas]

Gonna be a while on the OOB and government review, it's rather busy at my end. (birthdays, panic Xmas buying, work, etc)

[Keevan_Colton]

I'm contemplating a series of AIs which act as a single mind.

Think a cross between Skynet, SHODAN and Durandal, but with an internal political system where they discuss and vote on all potential actions before making them (at insane speeds of course).

Sounds rather like the Culture...but more evil.

[Companion Cube]

Endcycle status report
origin: expeditionary task force flagship Stn'gr
destin: Lh'owon space admin bureau heaquarters, Lh'owon 3 L5 point
ref: endcycle scheduled status report
stamp: broadcast

Expeditionary fleet units have successfully detached from the K'Fiva and have completed survey of Gd'Nar system. Atmosphere composition analyses of gas giant Gd'Nar 6 have been completed: Similar to gas giant Gd'Nar 8 and suitable for industrial operations due to lower escape velocity. (See appended)

Geosats and sampling teams are in the process of confirming Gd'Nar 4's P-contiguous status. No civilisation detected on surface, expected density of plant and animal life. Four possible landing zones have been determined, awaiting receipt of stamp: approval before further action is taken.
(more)

Scheduled cycle directives
origin: Lh'owon space command, Lh'owon 3 L5
destin: expeditionary task force flagship Stn'gr
ref: endcycle status report
stamp: approval

Task force is authorised to commence landing procedures. Further status reports are to follow on a per-cycle basis, in accordance with Communications Directive f3.11. On-site authority is hereby passed on to Rear Admiral Tfenn (Command Rank).

Preliminary xenoform survey-sector 156.245.3.9
origin: xenobiologist 3rd class J'rrl (Attentive)
destin: contact team director K'all (Willful)
ref: casualties sustained during routine survey operation
stamp: contrition

Emphatic notification of casualties sustained during survey of sector 156.245.3.9. Science Officer 1st Class R'chzne currently receiving medical attention at base camp. Team 7'vrm reports classification of large predatory arthropod native to local wetlands. Media and preliminary anatomical data are appended. Combatant 1st Class T'yrn accepts responsibility for failure of local perimeter security and is initiating sterilisation operations in 1km radius, expanded from 200m.

EDIT:

origin: 3rd Impact
destin: Pablo Sanchez
ref: Woops, just noticed your earlier comment. Civilisation description to follow in more detail.
stamp: embarassment

[consequences]

Why would you respond to my request for a post matching something, when I hadn't even posted the example yet?

Because I wasn't paying enough attention, and was thinking in terms of a bare-bones skeleton to build more off of? In any case, my apologies.

[Duckie]

The Khar Imperium

Government:
"The Khar Imperium is the most petty, dictatorial empire in known space. Their inefficient government has lasted a thousand years through sheer stubbornness and bloodthristy manaical tyranny, and stands ready to some day topple off its moutain of skulls that it calls a conservative tradition."
--Henry Walter James, Philosopher, Historian, and Person Non Grata in the Khar Imperium.
"The best way to prepare for diplomacy with the Khar is to take a class on Ancient History."
--Unknown
The Khar Imperium is an autocratic monarchy. The Eight Tertniz (Warlords) of the Khar Clans technically elect the Emperor upon his death, but following the collapse of hyperspace all eight of the clans were recreated from the Imperial Family when the clanworlds were lost and presumably starved to death. The new loyal Warlords have elected Emperor Nid-Erdri Akeq-Rotiren's direct decendants. Almost every vote has been unilateral. The Emperor's control is now absolute, and he looks outwards again for the first time to stars that shall accept his ships again.

On a smaller scale, the eight Warlords of the Khar have recently reoccupied planets for themselves and declared their Tertniates. As tradition demands, the Warlords nominate even smaller Lamniz (Kings) to rule their provinces in their Tertniates. Kings could perhaps be equated with planetary provincial dictators, and may make their own Cabinets of advisors and deputies as they feel fit.

On a seperate area of the Khar government are the Nevari-Clans. Slave Races are unable to participate in Khar politics, but each clan is given an unarmed starship called a Clanship that serves as their administrative center. Nevari-Clan leaders are generally powerless and mainly kept to convince the slave races that they are not totally without political power. Slave Races usually live in specific sections of Khar settlements, known among most outside of the Imperium as "Ghettos", although living conditions within Nevari Enclaves are usually significantly better than that would imply. The Slave Races produce a percentage of men and women to go serve the Khar, and the others are assumed to be raising new children and running day-to-day affairs within their enclaves.

Economy:
"If you want something done, buy it from the Khar. If you want something done right, do it yourself." --An Ancient Proverb
Feudal Free Trade. The Emperor owns everything technically. The Clans administer their own businesses through companies that they run as they see fit (from Guided Economies all the way to Free Market Capitalism), but must tribute a hefty portion to the Imperial Family. This is not so much a problem now as it was before, since the Imperial Family is related to the clans, but before the collapse of hyperspace the Profit Tribute of the Clans was a major contributor to the instability of the Empire.

Ideology:
"Shall I inform your most benificient and kind Empress that the year has in fact advanced beyond the Age of Stone?"
--Unknown, Likely Fictional Diplomatic Communique
The Khar Imperium is an oddity. On one hand, Khar themselves within the Empire are generally free to do whatever they want unless they anger a ruler. On the other hand, rulers are capable of imposing whatever laws they want. Only a written tradition and a code of honor governs the powers of any governor, along with a hefty dose of honor duels and demands for their suicide should they overstep their boundaries. Generally, conditions within the Khar Empire can be anywhere from idyllic to hellish based upon the political ideologies of a Lamn's deputies over their people. This has actually worked out suprisingly well. Sociological and Political Scientists call the Khar system an outmoded and unstable rubbish heap, but in day-to-day practice the Lamniz do not have the time to commit many atrocities while still jockeying for political power in their Warlord's court.

The Khar believe themselves to be the divine heirs to the universe, and that their race's inherent superiority in all parts of lfie nescessitates the enslavement of all others for the benefit of themselves. This is a value shared by many Khar. They are simply incapable of fitting their preconcieved notions taught to them from birth into the ideas of any sort of equality with the dirty aliens, and a thriving business of Apologist-Philosophers creates new reasons daily for the practice of Nevari. The Emperor himself is a divine being in many people's eyes. It's common, although not official, belief that the Seven Gods themselves blessed Emperor Nid-Erdri Akeq-Rotiren as the dynastic heir to Creation and Emperors are believed, upon death, to ascend to the All-Throne where he and his ancestors rule the Afterlife. Khar Doctrine maintain that Nevari should be translated as Vassal instead of Slave, and that sentients generally benefit under their protection and enlightened rule. They do not seek to war with every race at a time, understanding that they cannot defeat all Nevari at once, but rather understand the idea of patience and opportunism. However, should an opportunity present itself to defeat an opponent, they are vicious and opportunistic attackers who can sense metaphorical blood in the water from a mile away.

Interestingly, all Khar belong to the Imperium and the Imperium is the Khar. Humanity, with more than one government, is completely inscrutiable to the Khar. Their word of race and their word for government share the same root, and the first Khar emissaries to many alien governments had to create a whole new word the encompass the fact that two or more governments could exist for a single race without either being the rightful ruler of them both.

Nevari are allowed whatever sort of government they can agree upon to fit within their areas, and intercommunication between Enclaves is 'discouraged'. This doesn't stop many of them. One Nevari-Clan, Clan Sigefr, actually has been granted the right to form its own government with right to rule its people (although naturally under a strict oath of fealty to the Khar) after threatening an uprising during a time where the Sigefr made up a sizable portion of military professionals. Their attitudes range wildly, the gamut from loyal Kharist subjects working for reform in Khar policies towards Nevari to insurrectionists wishing to throw off their chains.

Military:
"The Khar Imperial Army is the best man in the world"
--Translated Khar Joke About The Imperial Army
The Khar Imperium has a strict manpower shortage. Technological sophistication is high, but manpower is low. Khar thus tend towards an elite corps of troops and ships capable of applying pinpoint pressure to an enemy rather than a vast wall of battle or infantry swarm. Khar technology is mainly based upon the principles of Shield Projection (a key in their guns from handguns to naval batteries). Even Nevari are trained well and given advanced gear, because the percentage tithe of actual military soldiers is much less than a draft would normally provide (many are civil servants or logistical/support military roles). Most Nevari given for military service choose to go anyhow, due to the good pay and general improvement over their conditions in the Enclaves.

Khar Physiology:
"They'd certainly know more about themselves if they didn't have to invoke the Emperor as the original cause every time they find a stone knife or a fossil"
-- Anonymous
Khar evolved on a low-gravity environment in hierarchial Great Nestgroups. Their entire species shows this.The average female Khar is about 185 centimeters tall and larger than the male. Males are about 170 cm tall and lighter. They have small feathers upon their skin, ranging from blue to a blue-purple, except their small wings (see below). Their faces are beaked and they have short, raptor-like tails (the bird kind). Their eyelids have a second, clear eyelid like many birds. Khar are tall and physically weak, and their skeletal structure is thin, their ancestors being flight-capable. Their bones can be easily snapped by violent force, and getting off ones' feet is a ritual gesture of respect to allow your neck to be concievably snapped by a kick (Khar normally sit in a 'squat') if he or she so wanted to. A Khar has powerful leg muscles on its own planet and can generally act normally upon 1.0 G worlds, but they are frail and unconfortable unless acclimated to the pressure of a full gravity.

Khar themselves would perhaps resemble "Bird People" the most of all general descriptions. Their ancestors were hexapedal predators who swooped down upon small mammals from the sky. According to Khar hybrid legend-archaeology, when the scrub forests of the ancient homelands grew to be large, dense forests, it was advantageous for khar to have small wings and dextrous hands to be able to find prey. Eventually they lost the ability to fly. The modern Khar have near-humanoid limbs with only small talons on the end of their four digits, and nearly no wings at all. Khar wings are small square sections of membranous skin with brightly colored feathers. They are mainly used to indicate emotions that the inflexible Khar face could not otherwise display, and as mating and courtship devices. Males have larger wings for the latter reason, sometimes as big as their own head. Khar are not true birds in the earth sense of the word, and give birth to live young after around eight months of gestation. Khar usually live, with modern medical science, to be around 100 for Males and 102 for Females.

Khar eyes are capable of seeing into the ultraviolet range and are much more powerful than humans. Their art is often subtlely colored and their language contains many more words for color than most. Their art is highly stratified with specific art forms with methods, although occasionally a new invention sneaks its way into Khar culture. Their language is a subtle flow of mostly untransliteratable sounds, and Khar refuse to speak their own language with another race because of what translates best as the "Profanity of Unbeaked Speech". They have a long tradition of buying advanced technology from others, and only recent developments have actually seen any major innovation from the Khar Imperium's internal tangle.

Edit- I'd like a regional or maybe even major power (definately not a grand). One for the power, but mostly because the Khar Imperium is so reprehensable that as the smallest type, a veritable Banana Republic, that I cannot see them with any fate other than anihiliation.
(Note: The Khar Empire before hyperspace's collapse was not nearly so bad and they had very little racial prejudice and no slave races due to their relative proximity to aliens. It would be interesting to see what would happen were Warlord Clan survivors from the Age of Silver to meet up with New Age Khar Imperials.)
Edit2- Damn, that's a lot of proofreading errors. I'm not even going to try to fix this post as it's too long. I'd just like to note here publically that I do much better with smaller things.

Sorry for the length, I just kept writing and writing as new ideas popped up.

[Thirdfain]

New Crobuzon and the Parliamentary Empire of Crobuzon(1)

1523 Anno Urbis
“TARMUTH, Mel. 13 – The ICS Terpisichore returned to port bearing dreadful news of pirate attack along the Nova Esperium/Myrshock route. Forty dead and one-hundred twenty three wounded were on board, victims of ships described as “flying the flag of Suroch.” This is the twelfth such incident involving our loyal Crobuzoner vessels and those dastard pirates and heretics of Suroch, and the third such since Mayor Dagman Beyn submitted the Soluary Decree to Suroch, threatening dire consequences if attacks did not stop.
“Suroch is fully in it’s rights to interdict Crobuzoner shipping!” Said despicable Surochish ambassador Ferdinando na Cortés as he twirled his filthy mustache. “Bered Kai Nev and the Nova Esperium colonies are rightfully ours. We arrived there first, and we will not brook Crobuzoner interference!” Mayor Bayn, fresh from his third victory in the polls, responded with verve and decisiveness, promising a “Return to the proper place of New Crobuzon as master of the…”

1545 Anno Urbis
“SALKRIKALTOR, Cray Commonwealth, Rin. 6- In a meeting today, representatives of our great nation and our fine allies in the Cray Commonwealth and Myrshock, decided to terminate the state of war with Suroch. No representatives of Suroch were present, and there continues to be a complete dearth of communiqués of any type from Suroch following the dropping of the colourbomb upon our hated enemies one month ago. Mayor Beyn said: “The nation of Suroch no longer exists as a meaningful organization. All true Crobuzoners can rest easily knowing that this threat to great Republic’s freedoms has been eliminated. We hope that our fellows in the Cray Commonwealth and Myrshock will take this opportunity to finally join with our great nation, united with the knowledge that our strong City, empowered by the newly discovered power of the Torque, will no longer brook any sort of dissidence and disorder in any of the lands along the Swollen Ocean.
On board the ICNS Great Easterly, representatives of the Cray Commonwealth and Myrshock signed a decree placing their sea lanes at the disposal of Crobuzon…

1778 Anno Urbis
Brothers! Sisters! Stand together, not Remade, but fReemade! Down with the bastards at Perdido Street. Down with the lying, silver-tongued Diverse Tendency. Down, most of all, with Mayor Rudgutter and the Fat Sun Party! The Government cares nothing for any of us. Remaking is a sin, and is unjust. The Magisters hide behind false names and the faceless Militia when they sentence us to mutiliation, mutation, and slavery for the slightest crime, perceived or real. FUCK THE GOVERNMENT! FUCK THE POWERFUL! Power to the People, put and end to the barbaric practice of Remaking, END the exploitation of Bered Kai Nev, STOP research into The Torque, REVEAL the horrible consequences of the Colourbomb, FREE the people from the threat of Remaking, Indentured Servitude, and the iron grip of Rudgutter’s MILITIA THUGS! SUPPORT JACK HALF-A-PRAYER!
-Runagate Rampant 46th Edition. The Truth Will Set Us Free. Destroy After Reading.

1780 Anno Urbis
“NOVA ESPERIUM, West Kai Nev, Aro.21 – Explorer and entrepreneur Vasil Stropworth, of the Stropworth West Kai Nev Company, returned to Nova Esperium after a two year expedition into the continent’s untamed interior. His brave team discovered a series of relics of the Ghosthead Empire. Most shocking of these are a series of grand constructs, huge vessels built much like our best submersibles, but possessed of great wings, bizarre exhausts, aimed towards the sky like towers. Heliographs of these ancient monoliths are being sent to New Crobuzon, along with requests for a full Government exploratory team. Militia troops have already been dispatched to guard what Stropworth said “May be the most seminal discovery since the advent of the Torque Reactor…”

1849 Anno Urbis
“NEW CROBUZON, Oct. 29 – Reconaissance Aeroplanes of the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm spotted a mushroom cloud rising over the island of Cabain. Thaumaturges and physicists of the Militia and Navy report that this can only be proof that the heretic despots in the Witchocracy of Tesh have succeeded in developing their own Colourbomb. The Foreign Office received a notice from the High Priestess today, claiming a successful test and warning our great Mayor Johan Stark-Fulcher-Bassine that further colonization of Tesh-claimed lands by Crobuzoners would be met with “deadly and immediate force.”
The Mayor replied in a speech today that:
“From Armada in the South to the Cymek in the Interior, an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie the dominions of Tesh. Shankell, Jesdul, and Cobsea; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Teshite sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Witchocratic influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Tesh… (2)”

1869 Anno Urbis
“HIGH CYMEK, Central Wastes Territory, Mel. 20 – “One Great victory for Crobuzon, Absolute proof of the supremacy of Crobuzoner Civilization.” These were the words transmitted to Mission Control in the Cymek Wastes at 11:00 by Aethernaut Captain Cabot L.Q. Weathers as he set his foot on the surface of the sphere designated Selene, making history as the first human since the Ghosthead Empire to make an interstellar flight. Since the destruction of the Teshite aethership Ma’Shad by Torque Engine failure last Soluary, many have claimed that the Torquedrive is unworkable, and that interstellar flight is impossible. These claims were quashed completely by Captain Weather’s 2-day aether-reave and subsequent landing on the 5 light year distant planetary body, high in orbit around the Canine Star.
Initial reports from Selene describe the world as “Lush, rich, and ripe for the arrival of civilization…”

1872 Anno Urbis
The Government LIES. No more can be said than that. Mayor Stark-Fulcher-Bassine’s so-called “Aether Exploration” program is no more than a military race aimed at opposing Tesh’s power without resorting to open conflict. There can be no doubt that the roots of this tremendous exertion of funds and resources is merely another jingoistic effort by the Fat Sun party, backed by the racism of the oligarchical upper classes. Moreover, there is little doubt in my mind that the Ma’shad was destroyed not by accident, but by sabotage initiated by this corrupt Government! Our great city of New Crobuzon and the Empire she leads must not allow the Fat Sun party and the Oligarchy to lead us down this warlike, confrontational path with Tesh any longer. We must go out into the streets and protest the creation of armed Aetherships! We must not allow the government to circumvent the Cobsea Accords against strategic weapons by moving Torque-weapon warfare into the aether. Remember, kind readers, the heliographs still available of the Split Zones where Suroch once stood, which continue to be completely uninhabitable by anything which would call itself Human or xenian. What happened during the Pirate Wars to Suroch four hundred annums ago can happen to New Crobuzon today if we don’t stand against the Mayoralty and it’s insane policy of colourbomb brinkmanship.
-Runagate Rampant 723rd Edition. The Truth Will Set Us Free, Destroy After Reading.

1883 Anno Urbis
NEW CROBUZON, Dus. 3 – Clashes continue between imperialistic, invading forces of the Witchocracy of Tesh and the brave resistance fighters on the world of New Arzamas. The Arzamasi, discovered by Teshite aetherships last year, have responded to attempts by the Witchocracy to conquer their land and steal their freedom with a spirited and vigorous resistance. Though primitive in their weapons, the Arzamasi realize the fates they will find when brought under the heel of Teshite dominance. Arzamas is the twelfth world the Teshites have sought to forcefully dominate, and fighting continues to be brutal. “The Witchocrats are dooming another people to slavery with their jingoistic, imperialistic ways,” said Mayor Candise van Grimmelshausen of the Three Quills party, still flush with her election victory last week. “We must step up efforts to cut off surrounding worlds from the damaging Teshite influence by continuing to pursue our policy of rapidly bringing civilization and establishing protective dominance over more worlds.”
The effectiveness of this policy can be seen in the growing cordon around Teshite-controlled worlds, as ships of the Navy discovered and protectively integrated a further four inhabited systems this month, bringing their sad and primitive populations into the safe hold of…

1899 Anno Urbis
The Failure of Parliamentary Democracy can be seen even today, with the fall of the Witchocracy and it’s dissolution into a dozen squabbling states. The official newspapers, with their party affiliations and Militia watchdogs toute today as the great victory of Parliamentary Democracy and Mercantile Capitalism against Witchocratic Triarchism and Thaumaturgical Socialism. Certainly, the fall of Tesh under mighty political and economic pressure after their decade-long war on Arzamas has put an end to the threat of all-out colourbomb warfare. What they fail to report is that Democracy died for New Crobuzon centuries ago. I recall when I was a young man, a student in the bohemian warrens of Salacus Fields. I had won the Suffrage Lottery that year, the one ticket I could afford turning up on election day as my ticket to participation in government. I marched resolutely, along with many of my fellows, to cast my vote for Diverse Tendency. Here I stand, years later, and nothing has changed! The Fat Sun Coalition still rules the City and the Empire. It is not taught in the State Schools, but the Fat Sun has ruled Crobuzon in one form or another for almost five hundred years, with only brief tenures out of office. Its opponents often are lead by Fat Sun loyalists, and those dissident parties distant enough from Fat Sun in ideology are either too small to matter or counterbalanced by other extremists: Just watch the next Diverse Tendency rally, one will notice that the self-proclaimed guardians of Xenian, Indentured, and Remade rights are all just the wealthy sons and daughters of Fat Sun politicians, and are always held in check by the New Quill racists- and notice how the Fat Sun throws it’s weight behind one or the other whenever one starts to gain the upper hand. Since before the Pirate Wars, New Crobuzon’s Mayoralty has been ruled absolutely by an old boy’s club which can’t shed the trappings of democracy. The government talks about bringing democracy to the shattered remnants of the Witchocracy through the barrels of the Militia’s guns and the warships of the Navy. This is a travesty. How can we, who still grant enfranchisement only to those wealthy enough to buy masses of votes in the corrupt Suffrage Lottery, pretend to be democracy? How can we decry Teshite colonialism when dozens of distant worlds labor under the Fat Sun’s iron grip? How can we decry Tesh for it’s despotic government when we keep xenians as virtual slaves, and Remade criminals as actual slaves? Jack Half-A-Prayer may be a century dead, but in you, fair readers, his legacy of freedom for all people, xenian and Remade and human, of New Crobuzon and the whole of the Empire, can finally come true.
-Runagate Rampant 1021st Edition. The Truth Will Set Us Free, Destroy After Reading.

1895 Anno Urbis
NEW CROBUZON, Tth. 30 – Militia enforcement personnel raided the secret headquarters of the seditious and treasonous ‘newspaper’ Runagate Rampant early this morning. Almost the entire staff was found in their hideaway in the Dog Fenn district. Editor-In-Chief Berthold Downbottom was taken into custody, along with twelve other individuals. These criminals and their predecessors have befouled the word “journalism” for literally centuries now, much to the shame of our own august publication. All have been found guilty of crimes against the City of New Crobuzon, her Empire, and the Parliament. Mayor van Grimmelshausen has justly decided to pardon most of these criminals, saying that “These poor people have been sadly abused and misused by Downbottom, taken in by his rhetoric. Their treason is not, strictly speaking, their own making. They will be sentenced to Remaking, and it is hoped that by permanently opening their eyes and granting them extra ears, they will remember in the future to look and listen before making treasonous decisions. Downbottom, however, must be sentenced to death. His treachery against City and Empire can not be forgotten or pardoned- after all, Freedom must be protected…”

1935 Anno Urbis
NEW CROBUZON, Sin. 18 – Mayor Thadeus van der Grimnebulin ratified the Exploration and Colonization bill, ending a week of delay and filibuster, perpetrated largely by the upstart Now We Can See Party. That group of callow sons and daughters of the wealthy elite attempted to kill the bill, and with it, New Crobuzon’s bright, post- Frozen War Imperial future. Mayor van der Grimnebulin lead the rest of Parliament to shout down young Lord M. Derherzerog Croix’s filibuster attempt, ensuring the incalculable advantages to economy and prestige that the production of new Aetherships and the colonization of new systems will grant our newly-united world and the marvelous City and Empire that benevolently rules over it. Militia troops watched on as spontaneous rallies of New Crobuzon citizens cheered in the streets outside of Perdido Street Station after van der Grimnebulin’s proclamation of the new bill and it’s attendant increases in taxation and press-ganging…

----------------------------------
[1] Apologies to China Mieville.
[2] And Winston Churchill!

[Thirdfain]

Parliamentary Empire of Crobuzon
-edit-
I first wanted to give the "flavor" of New Crobuzon through the little post immediately above. Pray, consider that journalistic narrative of Crobuzon's history and motivations the true descriptor of the nation. This is a mere formality, to specify a handful of minor points and adhere to the basic STGOD forms.

Government:
The Parliamentary Empire is nominally a unicameral Republic. Legislative power sits with the Parliament, while executive power sits with a Mayor nominated by the Parliament and then voted on by the people. Suffrage comes through the Suffrage Lottery, where people purchase tickets, each of which gives them a chance of reciving a vote. The extremely wealthy can purchase as many tickets as they want, and it is standard practice for small, rich organizations to cash in thousands of votes.

The dominant party is the Fat Sun coalition. It is centuries old, and has maintained power by absorbing competitors and constantly playing off fringe groups against one another.

Economy:
Pure capitalism, with a strongly entrenched group of politically powerful monopolies essentially calling the shots. What results is essentially State Capitalism, where those who control industry are the same as those who control government. As a result, however, small businesses are lightly regulated. Slave labor, in the form of Remade criminals or indentured servants, is extremely common. Industry's control of government leads to a strongly protectionist external policy, which is economically adverserial to foreign powers.

Ideology:
Bas-Lag, the homeworld of the City of New Crobuzon, is completely dominated by the Crobuzon empire. Large sections of the world were under the sway of the Witchocracy of Tesh, a power close in strength to Crobuzon, which recently collapsed and was absorbed following a long series of colonial and proxy wars fought amongst the two nation's colonies in space. This being the case, the Empire is extremely diverse, and almost a third of it's subjects were under Tesh only two decades ago.
New Crobuzon's society is generally permeated with Parliament's influence, forming a jingoistic society which has largely bought in to the party line, bowing to constant propoganda, Frozen War seige mentality, and fear of crossing the constantly vigilant Militia's internal security apparatus. However, the State is not omnipresent, and there are many in the educated and working classes who share dissident literature and hold liberal views. The xenian (non-human) population of the Empire differs strongly by species. Some species have been almost completely integrated into the structure of the Empire, complete with their own bloated plutocrats in the Fat Sun party (the scabmettlers and the khepri, for example.) Others have made co-habitation agreements, and though under the power of the Parliament and the Empire, live in largely independent ghettos throughout the worlds of the Empire(Cactacae and Voydanoi, for instance.)
In general, the people of the Empire are either with the Fat Sun party and cheer every new victory of the Navy, and spit in anger with every defeat. Dissidence is kept in control by the might of the Militia, divisiveness between minorities, and the simple fact that Colonial success *has* lead to increased prosperity for the nation.
The Remade are human and xenian criminals who are stipped of citizenship and physically altered, through thaumaturgy and surgery, as a sign of their crimes. Theives will have extra arms attached, cheaters will have metal coins permanently embedded in their skin, and all manner of slave-gladiators, specialised soldiers, and exotic prostitutes are created by the Magistrates for any crime. Most Crobuzoners hate Remade and treat them like animals, but some decry the practice as barbaric and refuse to use Remade as slaves.

Military:
Crobuzon has two branches to it's military. The first is the Militia- despite it's name, the Militia is a professional force. Militia troops are well-armed and equipped with technological and thaumaturgical weaponry. The Militia manages planetary defenses, peacekeeping, and even police work. Militia combat troops form the main striking weight of the Empire in large-scale interplanetary invasions.
The second branch is far and away the most prestigious. From it's time as one city-state of many on Bas-Lag, New Crobuzon has labored to rule the waves. That same mindset extends to their more recent history as a spacegoing empire. First with modified ships of the fallen Ghosthead Empire, and today with mighty dreadnoughts and fast torpedoboat-destroyers, the Imperial Crobuzon Navy has striven to command the aether. Doctorine focuses on main fleet engagements between largely gun-armed capital ships guarded by escort cruisers and destroyers, but there is a jeune ecolé in the Navy staff which has pioneered such new concepts as fast battlecruisers as raiders, and special tender vessels designed to supply squadrons of fast torpedoboats and gunboats, using those small vessels to swarm larger targets and demolish them with close range torpedo attack.
The Navy incorporates the unusually large Imperial Marine corps, This is due to the fact that the Navy manages ground combat operations throughout the colonies, and in fact Crobuzon fights most smaller conflicts exclusively with Marines. Thus, there are some Marine units which have never even left the colonial worlds they were raised.

Xenian Physiology:

The Parliamentary Empire is dominated by humans, and the nation's population is 65% human, but there are a variety of xenian races under it's banner.

There are literally dozens of Xenian races on Bas-Lag. It is theorized that the Ghosthead Empire which left ruins all over the region was a multispecies empire before the fall. However, the strange genetic and physical similarity of most Xenian races to humans has lead some to suggest that many of the Xenians *are* humans- allbeit turned into new species by the presumably superior biothaumaturgy of the Ghosthead.
Some of the most common Xenian races are:
Scabmettlers: These creatures are almost indistinguishable from human beings, being grey-skinned and stocky. It is only when their skin is cut that their difference is shown: Scabmettler blood flows freely for a handful of seconds, before suddenly congealing into an iron-hard armor. Scabmettlers are fully accepted by even the racist New Quill party, and are found at every level of Crobuzoner society.
Khepri: Khepri women resemble humans with large, black beetles for heads. Khepri men are mindless, lobster-sized beetles who exist only to copulate. Despite their very different appearance, Khepri have integrated well into the Empire, and though rare in military service, they hold a number of powerful positions in industry and government. Because of their influence and importance to Fat Sun, even the New Quill racists do not cause trouble for the Khepri.
Cactacae: These bizzare conglomorations of man and plant are covered with spines, and reproduce by flowering. They are looked down upon by the common man, but have considerable autonomy in their great ghetto in New Crobuzon, the Glasshouse, and other communities across the deserts of Bas-Lag and the colonies. They are common in the Militia, thanks to their burly physique.
Voydanoi: The 'frogmen' used to have a vital place in Crobuzoner society, acting as stevedores and barge crews in the days when the rivers on which New Crobuzon sat were her source of power. Today, their role has diminished in usefulness to the government, and they are a declining, repressed minority.

[Lancer]

Since the ASVS STGOD seems to be in stasis:

The Avalonian League

Very little is known about the history of the Ancestors before they came to us. Their hailed from a place called Altera, though it is not on any of the maps they left to us. To our world, Avalon, they came, creating a vast civilization that stretched across countless planets, linked by a network of portals that spanned the stars. They prospered, having mastered feats of science yet to be duplicated to this day. The knowledge they possessed was unsurpassed, their technology unrivaled by the crude devices of this age.

Then they were struck by a great plague, and with it came the decline of their civilization. For the first time in the long memory of the Ancestors, their great sciences failed them. As their numbers dwindeled, they searched frantically for a cure. Only at last did they discover that the plague was a weapon, crafted by their enemies of old from Altera. As their race breathed its last, they found a glimmer hope on their now-vacant capital of Avalon. Though their kind was doomed, the young people of that world, considered to be the second comming of their race, were more resilient. Before the Ancestors disappeared completely, they bequeathed two great gifts to the people of Avalon, the seeds of knowledge and the ability to use their technology.

In time, we, the people of Avalon, rebuilt the civilization of the Ancestors using the technology left to us. Colonies of old once again bloomed with life, and the gateways between stars shimmered with light. Through our explorations, we reclaimed a hundred worlds out of the countless thousands that the Ancestors had touched.

In time, we encountered many infant civilizations, just discovering the sciences that governed the universe. We watched as they grew into great nations and empires. Inevitably, they came into conflict, and the stars burned. Some, driven by the desparation of war, found us and tried by force to take our worlds, only to find themselves stopped by impenetrable shields. From inside the sanctuaries of our worlds, we watched with contempt as the rest of the galaxy collapsed.

Eventually though, our defenses crumbled under the swirling chaos outside our realms. The great shields that protected our colonies were the first to fail, their power finally fading after centuries of bombardment. When they gave, we retreated through the gateways of the Ancestors, but in time their power ebbed as well. Before our peoples could be stranded on worlds under siege, we retreated to Avalon, our sanctuary and stronghold. We took all our technology with out, leaving the elegant spires of our great cities to crumble into dust.

As the flames that had consumed the galaxy burned out into embers, a great fleet of ships that sought to rebuild the fallen empire of their race stumbled upon us. To their dismay, they found the world from which they intended to launch a new wave of conquest was already ours. By might they tried to sieze our world, throwing the entirety of their hopes and dreams against ours. In the space above Avalon, a great battle for the survival of two races was fought. Using the defenses left to us by the Ancestors, we annihilated the aggressors, but at a great price. The last of our power had been expended, one of the gifts of the Ancestors had been lost to us forever.

Since that time, we have rebuilt our civilization. We have crafted technology of our own from the gifts of knowledge left to us by the Ancestors. Once more, we set out into the stars, to reclaim worlds and rebuild the legacy of the Ancestors.

Government:
The Avalonian League follows the federal model of government; individual member worlds have a local government that oversees the needs of the population, while a central government body is charged with the defense and expansion of the League. The capital of the League is the world of Avalon. The League government follows a representative democratic model, with delegations from member worlds forming a Senate, lead by two publicly elected officials who hold executive power. The Senate is broken down into several councils which govern various aspects of the League. The most notable councils are the Justice Council, the Defense Council, and the Commerce Council, all of which oversee major branches of the Avalonian League government.

Individual member worlds all follow a variation of the democratic model. The size of each world’s senatorial delegation is determined by population and strategic importance, though every world is granted a minimum of two senators.

Economy:
Government-regulated. Industry is highly automated and energy is plentiful, allowing the government to provide basic needs to all Avalonians. Consumer goods and luxury items tend to follow the free-market model, but certain industries, such as defense, are operated entirely by the government.

Technology:
Reactionless STL drive technology, hyperdrive, direct mass-to-energy conversion (power generation), energy shielding, zero-point modules (high-density capacitor), time dialation / stasis technology (effects limited to enclosed volumes), touch-telepathic control interfaces. Many forms of Avalonian technology are solid-state devices, making reverse-engineering extremely difficult at best.

Ideology:
Nationalist. The Avalonian League is strongly focused on their common heritage, and reclaiming their lost colonies. Though not xenophobic, they are a highly insular society and view other nations with contempt, zealously guarding their knowledge and technology. For that reason, Avalonians will immediately dismiss the possibility of trade or long-term alliances with other powers.

Military:
The central government oversees the Avalonian Navy and Avalonian Guard, but member worlds often possess a localized professional militia that serves as a planetary defense force. Avalonian weapons follow one of two forms, finesse or force. Energy-weapons are typically representative of the “finesse” approach, and come from infantry small-arms to super-capital vessel batteries. Self-guided high-velocity missiles are typical of the “force” approach and carry a variety of payloads, ranging from kinetic impactors to directed-plasma charges and mass-conversion warheads. Shields are the primary defense mechanism used by Avalonians. Forcefield-reinforced armor is common to all military units as a second layer of defense, and is considered a separate layer from the hull. Vehicles are operated via telepathic interface with the crew, simplifying operations greatly. If necessary, even the largest of warships can be operated by a single individual (although at significantly reduced effectiveness), but are much most effective with teams of crewmembers overseeing and maintaining the function of various systems. Infantry consists of troops armed with high-endurance energy weapons, protected by light full-body armor and personal shields, and are supported by integrated armor and troop transports.

Physiology:
Advanced Human.

Avalonians all appear as physically fit humans and have limited telekinetic abilities. A specific genetic marker gene and touch-telepathy are also common to all Avalonians, and are requirements for use of many forms of Avalonian (and Ancestor) technology. Rare instances of ranged telepathy and other anomalous abilities have been documented, but are by no means common. Avalonians have much greater regenerative capabilities than standard humans, and are thus much harder to disable. Life-spans are abnormally long at 200 years, during most of which the Avalonian is physiologically identical to a 20-40 year old human in exceptional physical condition.

(edit: revised wording a bit)

[Raxmei]

I ended up scrapping my original concept because I didn't think I could do it justice. This one's a bit less ambitious.

The Custodial Staff

The Custodial Staff was originally just the automated maintenence service of a large office building. Its operational plans had no special provision for apocalyptic galactic warfare, so it kept up business as usual. Thankfully its before they died various causes the operators gave it and the other departments emergency powers to acquire new supplies and personnel. Major disasters sometimes cause odd things to happen, and this is one of them. The Custodial Staff was the only department to survive and eventually expanded to be the dominant force in its area. Its mandate is still to keep the building and its environs in good order, but that has in time been interpreted increasingly loosely. The definition of building and its environs immediately expanded to include the resources needed to maintain them. Some time and a few leaps of logic later it was decided that the staff was responsible for the orderly operation of the entire universe.


Government-
The original head AI went eccentric long ago and was disconnected from vital functions. The Staff is currently run by a representative democracy. Local supervisors and the Board of Directors are both elected from among the staff. The Board appoints the Chief Executive in parliamentary fashion.


Economy-
The Office directly controls the parts of the economy directly related to its operations and nominally controls everything in its sphere of influence. Most people are technically employees, although many people are on extended leave to follow other pursuits. Entrepreneurism is heavily monitored but allowed. It's a mixed economy that fits close to the socialist side, strongly reminiscent of market socialism.


Ideology-
The wellbeing of the state is generally valued highly. Personal freedoms and comforts aren't seen as particularly important. The people have faith in their government and as a rule try to work within the system. In return for their devotion the Staffers expect competence and benevolence from their government. Malfeasance is a betrayal to the state and punished severely when found.
Internationally, the Custodians seek to bring order to the galaxy. This is simply because they believe the galaxy would be better if it were orderly. There are various ideas for advancing this ideal using social and economic pressure and even war when necessary.


Military-
The Custodian Guard has more emplaced defenses than is probably healthy. The mobile portion of the fleet is heavily patrol-oriented, relying heavily on escort carriers and cruisers for routine business. The line of battle is comparatively weak.
Offensive military strategy revolves around a doctrine which planners refer to as "littering", a collection of nuisance tactics. The idea is to annoy the opponent until he makes a mistake or wants to negotiate.


Physiology-
The Custodians of today are bastard children of mutated human survivors and monomaniacal AIs. Biological improvements over the years have fixed the problematic mutations and made other general improvements. Custodians are generally healthier than baseline humans and better able to accept cybernetic implants. AI implants live mutually with the biological organism, availing its computer power to its host's personality. Custodian AI doesn't have much personality of its own, and consequently a human factor is needed to get nontrivial work out of them. Physical enhancements are handed out for people who need them or on request. Custodians look much like ordinary human beings, though a trained eye or scanner can tell the difference.