STGOD 2K8 mk. II OOB

[Dark Hellion]

These are the Participants Powers, their defining characteristics and fleet strength. Feel free to post all the information you want, but try to stay in one post unless you fill it up completely.

Imperial Territory of Moloch (Dark Hellion)
continued

Chamaran Exodus (DarkEvilMe)

Nashtar, the Cradle of the Stars (Rogue 9)

Stellar Dominatrixiat (Ohma)
Continued

The Kushawni (Crossroads Inc.)

The Humanist Union (Tanasinn)

The Dawns Star Empire (Lancer)

The Harmonious Union of Free Stars (raxmei)

The Grand Duchy of Malacaster (A-wing Slash)

Syndicalist Internationale (Thirdfain)
Continued

Melconian Star Empire (Raj Ahten)

Academy Vanguard (Spyder)

[Dark Hellion]

Space reserved for the Imperial Territory of Moloch.


Imperial Travel Guide

Welcome to the Territory of Moloch. Named after the beautifully terraformed primary planet of Moloch the IToM as some refer to it is a wondrous tourist experience. From the luxurious crystal hives of Paradiso, to the gothic and artistic city of Dis, Moloch offers something for every sight seer. With no less the a million five star restaurants offering every cuisine from Neo-Asiatic to Malacastarian and even featuring an authentic Konigian Barbecue hovel every taste is fulfilled. Also Le Imperiator Salvacion, an authentic Terran Restaurant voted the best Terran cuisine outside the sol system by the Imperial Cultural Preservation board.

Enjoy snow capped mountains in the indoor sky resorts, have a blast playing mock combat in the training halls the galaxy famous Molochi Technolegion. Meet the glamorous Aristocrats of the Molochi court, and maybe bump arms with an Imperial Consul. The wealth and fun of the galaxy is at your finger tips.

Visit Moloch today, for the experience of a life time!


Molochi Technolegion Recruitment Poster

We are looking for the few and the proud who will meet patriotism's call! For thousands of years the Molochi Technolegion has served with unsurpassed distinction in the Imperial Levies. We are proud of this fact. You can participate in this honor too! Go to your local recruitment stations. A simple half hour test can tell you if you have what it takes. If you are afraid, join! The Technolegion has no fear! If you are weak, join! The Technolegion knows no weakness! If you are poor, join! We have wealth that money cannot buy! The knights of the Technolegion have long protected all of Moloch from the enemies of humanity, have long fought the Empires foes, and crushed them beneath our unsurpassable spirit. The barbarians of the deadlands fear us! Rebels surrender when they hear our names! Dukes and Duchesses fight for the privilege of honoring us! We are the Molochi Technolegion! Wherever we go, whether heaven or hell, we are not afraid!

*************************************************************

"Do you think the kids will buy it?"

Of course they will Ted, you bought it didn't you?

"I guess so Allimen, but it seem so... cheesy."

Yah, but we are trying to convince people to join. We can't really really tell them the truth on the first day. Do you really think it would work to say 'yah, you'll probably lose a body part before your tour is over but we'll get you a new one, and when you get back you can probably get into some nobles panties'?

"Maybe we should put the panties part in the advert, we might get more recruits that way"

Don't make me tell your wife that Ted.

"You know Allimen, there is a reason why the Empire has Rules of War"

How are your daughters by the way?

"Ellie says she wants to be a pianist at the bar on 1132, but I know she is just trying to get Jeshua Parkerson to notice her. He's a nice kid though, Mari is friends with his younger sister, so I've spent some time with his parents. He'd be a good catch for Ellie, and she needs a nice break after the falling out with Mattew."

What happened with Mattew?

"Bastard hit her!"

What did you do to the motherfucker?

"Well... I might have overreacted. I only meant to break his arm, but I sorta removed it at the elbow."

Good! The shithead deserved it!

"So, golf Friday? Alliana is making her Sangria again."

Wouldn't miss it for the world.


The Imperial Territory of Moloch

The Imperial Territory of Moloch is primarily composed of the four small systems on which its primary holdings are located. These systems are as follows:

Moloch System: Circling around the star Imperial Designation 248E6 this system is named after the primary planet of Moloch. Circling Moloch is the highly developed moon Azazel. Also located within the system is the dedicated Agri-world that is technically entitled Imperial Agri-Tithe 248E6 that is known as Fairer Fields to the Molochi. For more detailed information see the following section.

Belial System: The highly developed military system that hosts the main factories and headquarters of the Molochi Technolegion. It consists of the singular planet of Belial, a small and exceedingly built up military hiveworld orbiting the star Imperial Designation 248E8. In Geo-synchronous orbit around Belial is the moon Pandemonium which is also a factory world for the technolegions armoured assets. These two are joined by a linking orbital elevator, the center point of which is the Belial-Pandemonium Space Dock, a large shipyard designed for constructing many of the larger vessels used by the mercenary forces.

Behemoth System: The Behemoth system contains the gas-giant known as Behemoth, the 4th planet of the system of star Imperial Designation 247E3 and has three large developed moons that host large populations. These moons are Behemoth, Dagon and Shoggoth. Behemoth is a highly developed commerce and trade world, while Dagon and Shoggoth are highly populous factory worlds that supply Behemoth with the goods it sells to the rest of the Molochi worlds and many of the surrounding sectors.

Leviathan System: Named after the underwater world of Leviathan, this system is a major commercial center of the Imperial SouthEast. It has three orbiting moons of Caliban, Methusalah and Ziz. The planet orbits the star Imperial Designation 249E6, and is the lone planetary sized body in the system.

Habitable Bodies

Moloch: The political and economic heart of the territory, Moloch is a prosperous hiveworld that is home to nearly 150 billion inhabitants. It is a fully developed world of the Neo-Ilium planetary design school, featuring 6 main hives each surrounding an orbital elevator that leads to the equatorial and meridian orbital rings, used to relay the massive civilian traffic that heads through the system daily. The capitol and largest city is Paradiso, although the home of the old Imperial Consul was in the city of Prospero. The planet supports some light industry and light agriculture, mostly ran by Knights, designed to support the planets populace under siege if necessary, however only via the use of strict rationing. Its major sources of wealth and income come from the financial sectors, which funnel huge amounts of capital around, both for the system itself and the surrounding territories. While trade has slackened since the fall of the Empire, the surrounding territories still need Molochi goods and the assistance of the Molochi economists and financiers. It also features the primary shipyard of the System Patrol fleet, although the largest construction dock is only 1340m long, making it incapable of constructing the largest ships in the fleet.

Moloch- 10 point world

Azazel: The largest moon of Moloch, and the only moon in system capable of supporting a large human population, it is the home to 75 billion people and is a major civilian manufacturing world. It produces most of the plebeian goods used in the territory, as well as some of the lighter vehicles used by the technolegion including some of the Belgium class Logistic classes.

Azazel- 9 point world

Fairer Fields: Located closer to the primary star than Moloch, this planet rotates very slowly, allowing for long day and night cycles, with the temperature rising to nearly 340 Kelvin on the day side, and dropping to a chilly 260 Kelvin on the night. The 14 billion inhabitants live underground, caring for the equipment that slowly rotates the genetically engineered crops that grow year round on Fields. The world has been terraformed completely for agricultural use, and has no landmarks or bodies of water on the surface, just nearly 400,000,000 square kilometers of fields. Fields is considered exceedingly idyllic and many knights and Lords have paid the ridiculously high prices that the land of an Imperial Agri-world costs to have small estates upon the world. It also features a small orbital dry dock used to soak up excess system traffic.

Fairer Fields- 6 point world

Belial: Sometimes nicknamed the Hellworld, Belial is home to the major training centers of the Molochi technolegion, and the primary housing of the majority of the Knights. The majority of the world is covered by the single sprawling city of Dis, which alone supports 73% of the planets 212 Billion inhabitants. The world is dark and brooding, owing to the weak light put out be the systems sun. The world is is primarily built in the Simplo-Aesthetic Gothic Revivalism Style, notable for the large, imposing blank walls, over simplified gargoylery and towering pointed topped buildings that reach low orbit. Originally centered around the primary heavy lunar elevator linking Belial to its singular Geo-synchronically orbiting moon named Pandemonium the city center has moved slightly over the 2500 years of sprawl. Belial is a veritable fortress of a planet, designed primarily by architecturally inclined within the DeathPact and boasting a huge amount of the territories naval and aerospace resources, as well as a significant portion of the armoured divisions. It also boasts one of the lowest crime rates among any Imperial holding outside the Sol System, owing to the intense punishment that the Knights deal out.

Belial- 10 point world

Pandemonium: The sole moon of Belial, of the rare type of worlds similar to Terra, this is a large and fully developed world of 100 billion inhabitants. It hosts the many heavy factories used to manufacture components for the Molochi Navy plus the majority of the heavy ground armoured assets used by the Technolegion. It also hosts many of the genetics laboratories and cybernetic enhancement facilities, as well as the other end of the connective elevator that links Dis with the immense shipyard splitting the two and Pandemonium itself.

Pandemonium - 10 point world

The Belial-Pandemonium Shipyard- Despite being simply an enormous ship building facility, the Belial-Pandemonium Shipyard has more population and GDP than many worlds, hosting dormitory space for nearly 20 billion employees involved in the manufacturing and maintenance of the Mercenary fleet and the secondary production facilities of the System Defense fleets. A common stopping point for the various naval crew members, the BeeP as it is sometimes called also features numerous spots of leisure, including thousands of bars, nightclubs, and the various mock-combat arenas prefered by the Infantry.

Belial-Pandemonium Shipyard - 5 point world

Behemoth: The largest moon of the planet also known as Behemoth, it was the first terraformed world of the eponymous system, the second system habituated by the Molochi people. As such, it has a large population for its size, hosting 110 billion people on a planet smaller than the Agri-world Fairer Fields. Heavily built up over the years, it still hosts the Feudo-Terranic build style, often found gaudy for the many hundred meter high stones, and the castle like structures. Within the kilometer wide towers and continent sprawling keeps are the mechanisms for a financial and trade world that rivals most in the Imperial Remnant. Along with Moloch itself, 81% of the former Imperial Terraward Southeastern Trade Sector goes through the two port planets. The orbital rings and docks of behemoth are perpetually bustling with small trade ships, and the larger ships of the Molochi Navy which use it as a refueling dump for the intersystem patrols.

Behemoth - 10 point planet

Dagon: The hellish moon Dagon hosts a thriving underground populous of 82 billion, and is home to the manufacturing centers of many of the luxury goods appreciated by the wealthy of much of the Imperial Terraward colonies. It also features one of the secondary cybernetics facilities, mainly used by the Molochi Nobles, but also frequented by members of the Molochi Aerospace, who find it convenient to use the Dagon Cybernetics facilities for enhancements during downtime on patrol. Despite the volcanic exterior, Dagon is often considered one of the prettiest planets in the Quadrant, the architecture of its Mohorovic reaching underground spires is reminiscent of the Lunar Hives, with the gilt effigies of human power and knowledge.

Dagon- 8 point world

Shoggoth- The third inhabited moon of the Gas giant behemoth, it is located extremely close to the planet, at perigee is skims the exosphere of Behemoth. During this period lasting for approximately 8 Terran months, the gas extraction factories located in the orbital rings harvest the billions of tons of gases that are consumed in manufacturing processes across the territory. The majority of the planets 47 billion are employed either in the gas extraction planets, the processing plants, and the transportation corporations that ship it to the various plants that need the various gases. It also features a large manufacturing base for basic commerce goods, like datapads, lightboards, and systemnet cyber-peripherals.

Shoggoth- 7 point world

Leviathan: The aquatic world of Leviathan is a financial center for the Imperial Southeast. The entire world is underwater, with only the tops of the highest mountains as the only natural features above the 200m-500m of water that coats the planet. The crystalline undersea hives of Leviathan has thousands of banks, stock exchanges and trade unions, that handle the financial burdens of many surrounding trade sectors. It also hosts a large number of Lords and Ladies amongst its 98 billion member populace.

Leviathan- 10 point world

Caliban: The largest moon of Leviathan, Caliban is primarily an agricultural world, growing many of the more exotic food products that are used be the wealthy of the quadrant. It also features a large orbital ring designed to dock the numerous transport and shipping vessels that are utilized amongst the system. Home to 45 billion people, the moon is a small but prosperous part of the territory.

Caliban- 6 point world

Methuselah: So named because it is over 2 billion years older than the planet Leviathan, Methuselah was an ancient planetoid that was caught in its gravity well during formation. The world is too small to support an atmosphere, but is home to 35 billion people primarily employed within the moonside dry docks that construct most of the civilian vessels that are utilized by all walks of Molochi civilians. Whilst the poorest and least beautiful of all the Molochi habitable bodies, it is still far more prosperous that many remnant worlds.

Methuselah- 4 point world

Ziz: The last body of the Molochi territory, Ziz is perhaps the most lackluster of all. Hosting a large number of civilian manufacturing centers, advertising agencies and other simple civilian agencies, the 56 billion people of Ziz prefer the quiet simple life that they have. There is a small DeathPact outpost in orbit around Ziz, but beyond that, Ziz does not support an orbital ring, and ships wishing to dock must do so moonside.

Ziz- 5 point world.

History

Amongst the oldest and wealthiest of all the Imperial Territories, Moloch was founded in the earliest days of faster than light travel. Originally colonized by groups of free thinker, industrialists and various peoples escaping the stifling conditions of pre-imperial Terra, they found the habitable but stormy planet that they would name Moloch. With little more than the resources of the planet they would work to terraform Moloch into a beautiful, stable and verdant world, seemlessly blending the towering spires of hive cites, the sky cutting ribbons of space elevators and the temperate flora of the now peaceful world.

When the Empire formed, they quickly joined as one of the first waves of vassal states. However, the Empire proved to be a more expensive host than they thought, as Moloch lacked any truly valuable natural resources, nor had any exceptional technical skills. The Imperial Patrol fleets and the Logistics core helped to terraform many of the other planets in the surrounding systems, adding them to the territory that was under the rule of the council of Moloch, but debt began to build, and Imperial Creditors were neither kind, nor forgiving. To make up for it, the Molochi population had to provide a large Imperial Levy than normal. With this the foundations of the now famous Molochi Technolegion were set. Those that went to serve in the Imperial Levy did so out of patriotic duty to the country. Respecting this, the Molochi Council spend every resource it could afford, and every favor it had built to acquire infantry technology from the Empire and to integrate this into those souls who went off in battle for their home.

Over the decades, the Molochi Technolegion would become the cutting edge of cybernetic technology integration in the Imperial vassal states, and some would say that the highest stages rivaled the dreaded Imperial Shocktroops themselves. Soon, the 'Legion grew to be too powerful for the normal levy duties, and various members of the Imperial Governance would utilize them as mercenaries, solving problems they did not want to involve the Imperial Fleet and the Imperial Army in. The Empire as a whole would also change their role, utilizing them as shock troops, counter insurgency forces and commandoes, sending them to various hellholes all around the galaxy, secure in the knowledge that the Technolegion would provide a more cost effective solution that tactical bombardment.

This development would lead to increased importance of Moloch as a whole, and within Moloch itself, to the former soldiers and those that manufactured the various weapons, ships, and technologies utilized. Soon, these families grew to enormous wealth, of the kind rarely seen outside of the most ancient Solar families. With this wealth came access to the various cybernetic implants that were originally developed for the soldiery. This was the formation of the Aristocracy. Controlling nearly 99% of the wealth, they were beholden to no one in the system, and had only to obey the most basic tenets of Imperial Law.

However, the spirit of cooperation that had always infused the Molochi mindset did not die, despite the stratospheric rise to power. Of course, money does not buy one more altruism either, and the Aristocracy instead formed the first of their systems of laws determining conduct between the clearly separate nobility and the peasantry that they knew they depended upon. A strict system of nobility was established, with those families controlling the industry being declared Lords and Ladies, and their various family and friend making up the lower baronies and Duchies that fell below. Those who served a term in the Technolegion were declared Knights of Moloch, and held noble titles dependent upon rank and time of service.

Because of their access to great wealth and great technology, not only did Lords exceed the various Barons in political power, but in physical power as well, their integrated cybernetics rendering them capable of overpowering most lesser opponents with ease. Without a military grade weapon, no civilian could hope to seriously injure a noble. At the same time, the knights were to the Lords as many Lords were to the barons, physical monstrosities, with only the shape of humanity, far surpassing all their abilities. And the majority of the Knights were originally peasants, and held similar sensibilities and strong ties. This system prevented most abuses of the lower class, and led to the convoluted political system that today defines Molochi society.


Politics

The maze that is the Molochi political system is not one to wander blindly. It can perhaps be rightly said that no one either on Moloch, or in the old Empire itself, truly understands all the nuances of the system anymore. The squabbling courts of Nobles are most often too concerned with their own petty feuds to greatly affect the laws, most of which mirror those passed centuries ago during the great reforms of the Imperial Bureaucracy. Even more complexly is the great lack of civilian oversight in the military. Such oversight had been provided by the Empire, and has become an ingrained part of the military thinking. How the Molochi government continues to run at all is only thanks to the impressive level of technological integration that is present in every aspect of the society. Almost all currency is computerized Imperial Credits, taxes are deducted automatically and funneled to the proper places by simple AIs designed to run civil and government programs. Laws are enforced by civilian police, and MPs from the Knights assist and enforce the law upon the Nobility. Most city sectors run themselves through democratically elected councils, who ensure that children are taught, housing is maintained and things go smoothly. Communication amongst councils is accomplished via the system nets. To most outsiders the Molochi system of government is a squabbling gridlock of crossed paths, but to the Molochi people it is proof of their grand ability to cooperate, despite differences in social status and location.

The Aristocracy

The Molochi Aristocracy is composed of two main groups, each of which uses a slightly different hierarchal system. The first are the civilian nobility, often simply entitled the nobles. The other group are the knights of the Molochi technolegion.

The civilian nobles have a hierarchy that is mostly based upon influence, lineage and wealth, although lineage mostly determines the massive inheritances of cubic space and stock in the enormously wealthy military, industrial and service near-monopolies that control the majority of the intersystem wealth of Moloch.

The actual classification of a noble is entirely up to the noble in question and claim he or she can make. The general order that one would ascend is to go from gentleman (woman)/noble (normally reserved for distant relations of low nobles and personal friends of higher nobility given noble rank and small holdings), Dukes & Duchesses, Count & Countess, Baron & Baroness, and finally seemingly out of place Lord and Lady. Anyone attempting to claim too lofty a status would quickly become embroiled within the dangerous games that many of the non-lord nobles play. To claim a Lord or Lady status is much different a claim to stake, that is to say, the Lords and Ladies of the Molochi court feel that their names, lineage or their entourages & contacts are so impressive that no need to claim rank is necessary. To declare yourself a Lord is to say that you are far too powerful for the title of Baron, and as such is seen as a declaration of war amongst the nobles. To claim Lordship one must be prepared to fight off almost any foe in the noble hierarchy, either through defensive alliances with other powerful houses, or simple force of arms and influence. The higher Barons and Lords have sizable military forces that can be utilized in the large complex interplanetary conflicts that two larger familial groups can have, although most conflict centers around complex plans to publicly humiliate families that you believe have offended you. The method of accomplishing this can be anything from simply undercutting their business, to more esoteric plans to have agents find embarrassing informations, seduce relations, or just generic public conflict. Above this are the two other extremes, dueling and the all out family war. The former is quite common, especially among the hot headed children of Barons and Lords. The massive cybernetic enhancement common amongst these groups make for spectacularly violent conflicts, that also result in little permanent injury. It is rare for the contestants to die in a duel, unless very specific rules of dueling are thrown out. What rules dictate each duel is very much up to the two participants and whatever third party they have agreed upon to officiate, although completely uninhibited fighting is almost never allowed, both because of the unbelievable destructive potential that two nobles can have, and because of the physical strain that nobles can put on their systems. Finally, when two groups become hopelessly opposed, a familial, clan, or house war may be fought. In doing so, each side attempts to gather allies who will publicly side with them. Those that publicly side with a group are then considered enemies by the opposing house and its allies. All the while the two originating member groups, and any immediate allies are fighting all out small scale war. The only rule for this role is that one only involves allies and enemies within the conflict. Public events, businesses, etc. are considered off limits, unless one can concoct a plot that does not involve the non-participant members. This rule is enforced very strictly by the DeathPact [see Technolegion section] and failure to follow it brings swift, terminal consequences. More than a few hothead clans have been summarily annihilated for acting too indiscriminately.

At the very top of the civilian nobility is the Ghost Council. It is so called because its members are generally unknown to the public, both through complex subterfuge, and the somewhat acknowledged public agreement to keep the organization mysterious. In a world of mass information traffic, and near omnipresent information availability, to assume one could hide you identity as a member of a group with a few thousand members would be foolish, but most of the populace chooses to look the other way, as over the past 3500 years the Ghost Council had made Moloch one of the richest, most prosperous and most politically important Imperial Territories, and had kept the nobles and the DeathPact in check. It also coincides heavily with the Molochi characteristic of artificially injecting whimsey into their lives. Functionally, the Ghost Council are the final arbiters of law-making within the territory. All new laws, and all changes to existing laws are reviewed by the Ghost Council, and then sent to the Judiciary AIs to determine if the laws cause any contradictory, illogical, or paradoxical legal loopholes. If such complications exist, the law is refined until it is either acceptable or scrapped. Besides this function, the Ghost Council consists of the most powerful Nobles, and their close associates, who cooperate to keep Moloch running. Maintenance of the fine balance of power between the hyper-rich nobility, the military monstrosity of the Technolegion, and the peasantry that makes up 88% of the populace is an extremely delicate task, and the Ghost Council represents a huge collection of the civilian power working towards that simple task. It is analogous to the militaries Deathpact in this regard, and as such has always had tenuous ties although the two have a good deal of distrust as well, as certain ideological problems occasionally cause them to oppose each other.

The Technolegion

The military force of the Imperial Territory of Moloch, and one of the most feared militaries in the Galaxy (ranking alongside the barbarians of MetalKonige, and the now extinct Barishiri Slayers of the Hesperian system), the Molochi Technolegion is a collection of biomechanical monstrosities that where once human, and the highly infantry-centric combined arms forces that they serve under. Armed and armoured with technology bordering on the highest levels of Imperial technology, as well as integrating cybernetics of similar calibre, the average Technolegion is a match for any soldier outside the remaining Imperial Army veterans, and a few barbarian and remnant shocktroopers. The Molochi Special Forces, refered to as the Suicide Squads, are second only to Imperial Shocktroopers, and have been known to complete objectives that military tactical AIs have considered impossible. Supporting them, the Molochi armoured corp. consists of a number of heavy Grav. vehicles, including IFVs, APCs, medium tanks and myriad support vehicles (see Vehicles, Molochi armoured Corp.). This operates in close conjunction with the Molochi Aerospace Command, and the numerous aerospace interceptors, strike craft, torpedo/bombers and AWACS craft (see Vehicles, Molochi Aerospace Command) that they command. Their duty is to back up the technolegionares ground holding operations, and utterly destroy any enemy military assets who choose to engage outside urban environments. Most well known though is the technolegionares themselves. They consist of the numerous stages of cybernetically enhanced infantrymen that performed the numerous take and hold, counter-insurgent, and boarding operations that the Imperial Authorities demanded. Capable of being fearless, feeling no pain, performing near any physical task with astonishing competency, and possessing integral shielding and structural enhancement to survive in the harshest battlefield conditions and fight through nearly any injury the higher stages of technolegionnaires, those that are members of the DeathPact, are rightly feared by most remnant commanders. The primary complaint against the Technolegion is the callously methodical methods by which they operate. They often seemingly do not care if they are insulted, forced to retreat, surrender, or even are tortured or killed, as long as they win in the end. Some would say that the DeathPact are little more than monsters in the guise of men, their bodies biomechanical mannequins and their minds crafted kill routines, although member of the DeathPact would agree, that's why they are the best.

***TechnoLegion Enhancements***

The Technolegion uses a number of different enhancements methods to improve its soldiers into the efficient fighting machine that it is. Cybernetic enhancement, Genetic manipulation, and chemical enhancement are all used to create the members. The amount of enhancement present is what defines the stages that the 'legionarres are classified as. They are roughly as follows:

Stage 1: Enhanced military uplink to systemnet(s) installed in brain (GPS, calculation, simple graphical manipulation, file-transfer/download/upload, audio, text and video chat features), optical HUD within inferior eye, mechanically reinforced heart and lungs, chemically strengthened skin, bones, immune, endocrine and adrenal systems, genetically enhanced muscular, circulatory, respiratory, and immune systems, internal battery with ~5 year field life.

Stage 2: Previous stage plus cybernetic sense organs, enhanced sense processing, cybernetic heart, further genetic enhancement to muscles, brain, and physical endurance, stamina and toughness.

Stage 3: Previous Stage plus integral sensor suite, ECM suite, light skinhugging shield, further genetic enhancement to all major attributes.

Stage 4: Previous stage plus addition of cybernetic musculature, integrated shield generators for primary and secondary bubble shields, stronger skinhugging shield suite, redundant mechanical and biomechanical organs, blood-oxygenators installed in brain, further genetic and chemical enhancements to physical endurance, stamina and toughness, armouring of skull with reinforced alloy.

Stage 5: Previous stage plus enhanced cybernetics, stronger shielding, point defense shielding, enhanced ECM, ECCM, additional EM cloaking, weak inertial compensators, replacement of skeleton with reinforced high tensile carbon, replacement of internal organs with biomechanical analogous.

Stage 6: Previous stage, full cybernetic replacement of musculature, Dampening field generator, weak nul-grav generators, further stealth systems, enhanced AI operating system for Uplink, enhanced cybernetic sense organs, enhanced sensors, internal shielding, additional inertial compensation, and internal armouring of ribcage.

Stage 7: Previous stage plus total replacement of body with cybernetic and biomechanical apparatus excepting personallity containing sections of the brain, enhanced nul-grav capability, highly enhanced sensors, stealth, ECM, ECCM, cloaking, inertial compensators, shield strength, point defense shielding capability, dampening field, internal damage management system, and capability of tactical AIs, Uplink AIs, and synchronization between AI command and body output.

At the highest stages, the legionnaire can go for months without sleep, food or water, can go without breathing for over 12 hours, can survive in any habitable climate without protection, and can continue to kill his enemies throughout all of these travails. It is not unknown for higher stage Technolegionnaires to be though dead by Imperial Authorities, only to be found months later in energy saving states, or hiding what was once enemy territory.

Initial enhancement is based upon job requirements, decided generally by merit or the whim of a collection of higher ranking individuals. Additional enhancement is performed with enhanced job requirements from promotion or transfer, or when injury necessitates them. Following such injury, a soldier can either serve in a new unit with the enhancements, or serve in his old unit with the new enhancements. The majority of soldiers will never be enhanced above stage 3, but those that choose to be will probably never be enhanced above 5. In order to qualify for stage 6 or above enhancement, one must have signed a waiver to serve a one year term in the Molochi Special forces. This group is often called the Suicide Squad, because of the famously difficult missions that the Empire would assign, and the Squads propensity for pulling them off, even at tremendous personal cost. The average life expectancy for a soldier in the suicide squad is 7 months, less than 1% survive more than 5 years. All soldiers of the Technolegion, including the crews of the Navy, Aerospace Command, and Armoured Corp. receive at least stage 1 enhancement.

***The DeathPact***

The DeathPact is the upper echelon of the Molochi Military personnel. The requirements to enter the DeathPact are simple, to be able to find out about a meeting, attend, and survive the event. All technolegionnaires enhanced to stage 4 will receive an invitation, although around 25% will not wish to participate, instead choosing to live within the normal lower lord social structure. The DeathPact is little more than a meeting ground where all members consist of two ranks, Deathlords, and the High 13. The High 13 are thirteen individuals who have been unnofficially elected into the position. This election is spontaneous, when a member dies, or a Deathlord overshadows a High 13 member, the Deathlord will be promoted, and the other will lose his place as a member of the High 13. The High 13 are responsible for all political decisions that the DeathPact make, and are concerned with maintenance of Molochi Stability and power above all else. The current thirteen are an esoteric bunch, but are possibly the most skilled, if not the most tactful, in Molochi history since the High 13 that presided over the Salisii Occupation Campaigns, and the Imperial Audit Crusades. As the DeathPact has such integral connection to all sectors of military command, the Deathlords wield enormous power in court, and members of the Deathpact are considered influentially to at least equal Barons, even if they have much smaller holdings.

***Knights as Nobility***

The knights of the Molochi military occupy a unique position, as they have very little of the wealth that defines the nobility, but wield undue amounts of power because of the close personal connections between military members. Upon completion of their military terms abroad, a knight will be allowed to either buy property with their back pay (as opposed to the peasantry, who cannot truly buy property, as the title holding noble may always pay Eminent Domain and reacquire it), or can be given property owned by the Military, usually left by deceased members. The knight is also given a yearly stipend of a very small fractional percent of the budget surplus of Moloch, higher rank giving a higher amount. Often used to frugal living, and avoiding the feuds that can end nobles lives early, knights often acquire large personal fortunes over their years of retirement, and have been known to begin collections or personal projects of massive scope.

***Imperial Armoured Corp.***

The Imperial Armoured Corp. provides both integrated combined arms use of vehicle assets, and provides the logistical support for the infantry forces. Its purpose is to quickly transport troops to problem areas, and to provide firepower in the way of artillery (both tube and missile), tank support, and lighter armoured vehicles. The vehicles utilized are normally of the highly agile Imperial Grav. style of locomotion and as such are capable of fighting at numerous intra-atmosphere elevations. However, the Molochi military does not have vehicles above the Imperial Medium Class. While comparatively heavy and powerful to most remnant states, they can be woefully outclassed by those with access to higher level Imperial Vehicular assets.

***Vehicles***
***Molochi Aerospace Command***
***Vehicles***

Interceptors

MIF-11(D) Bobcat Drone Interceptor - The replacement for the older Lynx class Drone interceptor, the Bobcat is equipped with a relatively smart AI on within its compact frame. It mounts 4 external missile mounts divided between both wings and mounted on the cheap MLS-22f mounting system as well as having two CIWS repeater lasers, usually the RL-44a or RL-44b dependent upon manufacturing world. Unlike most interceptors, the Bobcat has a very weak ECM suite, making it unable to perform sophisticated EW on its own. The Bobcat is often used for swarm tactics, utilizing its cheap costs and large sensor profile to tie up the enemy sensors and interceptors, thus allowing more highly stealthed strike fighters or offensive missiles through.

MIF-16 Cheetah Fast Interceptor - Designed for quick scrambling an interceptions missions, the Cheetah features a massively oversized engine on its otherwise small chassis. It packs four internal missiles, in two MLS-8a mounts, one RL-48c CIWS repeater laser, and two internally mounted AAC-45b1 45mm Medium Aerospace Autocannon. It has a decent EW suite, combining a powerful generic sensor suite, and a combination of EM stealthed armour and a stock but sufficiently powerful ECM system. The Cheetah is capable of exceedingly high atmospheric speeds, as well as rapid orbital exit and reentry, and has a high speed targeting system that allows it to engage enemy fighters and missiles at this blistering speeds.

MIF-21 Cougar Heavy Interceptor - The large and powerful Cougar mounts an extremely heavy weaponry and shielding package for a craft that is nominally an Aerospace Superiority Interceptor. It feature six missiles mounted internally on two MLS-8b mounts, six external missiles mounted on each wing in six separate MLS-20 mounts, six RL-44 CIWS repeater lasers, and 4 AAC-42a2 75mm Medium Aerospace Autocannon. This weaponry package, combined with the powerful DS-11 shield grid allows for the Cougar to serve as a makeshift strike plane, although its sophisticated EW systems make it far more suitable for the Hive fighting it was designed for.

MIF-25 Jaguar Advanced Interceptor - The newest and most advanced interceptor in the Molochi Aerospace Corp. The Jaguar features advanced miniaturized systems, highly stealthed armour materials, powerful EM cloaking technologies, and heavy weaponry. The Jaguar has a miniaturized version of a Norway class Anti-Aerospace Cutters EW system, and can easily leave lesser craft blind, deaf and dumb against the powerful ECM onslaught. The advanced targeting systems are tied to the eight wing mounted missiles, packed internally in two MLS-9d Mounting Systems, the six body mounted missiles internally in two MLS-8b mounts, eight advanced RL-49 Repeating CIWS laser/particle beams, and a nose mounted AAC-42aX 70mm Medium Aerospace Autocannon. The Jaguar is fighter designed to achieve total Aerospace dominance, and to keep this control completely.

MIF-6(S) Ocelot Stealth Interceptor - The Ocelot is a unique craft, packing ECM, ECCM, and Cloaking systems designed to render it all but invisible to anything but the most powerful and sensitive ground or capital ship based sensor systems. It patrols unseen and unknown through enemy Aerospace, destroying targets and creating massive confusion. To do so it is lightly armed with eight missiles, mounted in two MLS-9c mountings slung under the wings, and two RL-44c CIWS Repeater Lasers. The Ocelot is unduly feared by many lesser barbarian peoples, as even a small group can operate from hidden bases within system and slowly but surely destroy all aerospace assets.

Strike Craft



MSF-12(D) Leopard Drone Strike Fighter - The Leopard is the smallest, cheapest and most expendable Strike Craft in the Molochi Aerospace Corp. It features little in the way of EW, similar to the Bobcat, and packs a small internal bomb bay, four external missiles mounted on four separate MLS-20 Mounting Systems located under the wing, and a singular AAC-62 120mm Heavy Aerospace Autocannon. The Leopard is generally utilized when collateral damage is not a concern, and the planes near suicidal AI can be unleashed upon enemy positions.

MSF-18 Panther Strike Fighter - The Panther is an upscaled version of the Leopard, with a cockpit for a human pilot, a larger shield and ECM system, as well as a slightly modified sensor system. It packs the same weaponry as the Leopard, plus two additional RL-44a CIWS Repeater Lasers, although it usually uses a different mix of missiles and guided gravity bombs. The Panther is a cheap and reliable Strike Fighter that can provide support of the Technolegion and destroy armoured assets and be used against many fleet support craft, like logistics craft or munitions vessels.

MSF-28 Lion Heavy Strike Fighter - The Lion is a large, heavy Strike craft, packing a shielding system designed to shrug off most light AAA, ECM systems to throw off missile locks, and the weaponry to crush most ground vehicles. Unlike most Molochi Strike Craft, the Lion doesn't utilize missiles, instead mounting two HRG-37 Heavy Railguns mounted along the fuselage, as well as eight RL-44b CIWS Repeater Lasers. The most common tactic used by the Lion is to patch into the Molochi Sensornet, usually communicated with the MEWC-78 Panda, and then using the Railguns to core targets from several thousand km. The Lion received its name from the 'mane' of ionized plasma that the projectiles produce in atmosphere.

MSF-28(M) Lioness Missile Strike Fighter - Based upon the same frame as the Lion, the Lioness takes the wholly opposite tact, losing the two Railguns and replacing them with two MLS-18f Rotary Missile Mounting Systems, each packing twenty missiles, as well as two smaller MLS-14b Rotary Missile Mounting systems underslung beneath the wings, each packing eight missiles, for a total of fifty-six missiles, which can all be launched in a little under five seconds. The Lioness mounts the eight RL-44b CIWS Repeater Lasers that the Lion does, and has the same shielding and ECM system, although its targeting system has been upgraded, utilizing much of the excess power that the large reactor allows.

MASF-1 Tiger Advanced Strike Fighter - The Tiger is the first eighth generation aerospace craft in the Molochi Aerospace Corp. The design is faster, more heavily armoured, stealthier and more heavily armed than any previous craft, owing to the advanced materials, heavy use of near-imperial tech and the prodigious expense that each represents. The Tiger can shrug off truly massive damage, and deliver it back with its large internal bomb bay, centrally mounted HRG-37(m) Heavy Railgun, two MLS-18d Rotary Missile Mounting Systems each packing fifteen missiles, twelve RL-49 Repeater CIWS Laser/Particle Beams, and a dedicated point defense shield. The Tiger is a demon of a craft, that was capable of matching Imperial Hominus fighters with only a two to one advantage.

To be completed

***Molochi Naval Command***

The Molochi Navy consists of the system patrol vessels utilized for personal defense under the Empire as well as the strike vessels of the DeathPact, utilized for mercenary activity under the Empire. The vessels have sophisticated sensor, ECM, ECCM, shielding and point defense systems, and while having low tonnage (owing to the centralized location of Moloch in the Old Empire, and the presence of a Sector Command Fleet within the Territory) can fight against ships much larger and seemingly more powerful. The Molochi Navy is however overspecialized for the modern era, and its highly sophisticated ships are delicate to the simple slugging matches that can occur. In pitched battle, and set piece combat, they are quite formidable. The Deathpacts ships are vicious strike vessels, designed to quickly close on the enemy, pounding them to death while wethering any return firepower with immensely powerful ECM, shielding, point defense, and specialized armour.

***Ships***

System Patrol Ships

Seraphim Class Heavy Cruiser- The Seraphim Class Heavy Cruiser is the largest vessel in the Molochi Navy. A 1743m long spire, with double symmetry outside the singular observational command deck mounted on Aft Dorsal surface, the craft makes a powerful statement when compared with smaller escorts. The ship is exceedingly heavily armed and armoured for its weight, mounting 4 HMAs, 12 high power relativistic particle beam cannons, 48 large missile/torpedo tubes, 96 medium/light omnilaunchers, 24 Heavy railguns, and 72 Heavy Lasers, as well having a powerful ECM suite, and sophisticated targeting AIs linked with the 8 defensive omnilaunchers, and 144 CIWS mounts. Powerful shields and a very powerful point defense shield system give it amazing durability, and the advanced sensor and communications equipment mounted in place of the Imperial Standard carrier decks makes a Seraphim a perfect fleet command vehicle. Currently there are 2 Seraphim in service, the Odysseus and the Noman.

Seraphim Heavy Cruiser: 25 base points, 10 points enhanced Offense (powerful and accurate weaponry), 10 points enhanced Defense (sophisticated point defense systems and heavy shielding), 5 points C3I (powerful sensor and communication equipment and powerful interpretation and evaluation software).
25+10O+10D+5C3I = 50 x 2 = 100

Valkyrie Class Command Vessel- The Valkyrie is a dedicated command vessel designed to provide a powerful support to any fleet in which it is deployed. At 1217m long, the ship is large enough to mount some impressive firepower, with 72 Medium/Small omnilaunchers, 12 Large Missile/Torpedo launchers, 54 Heavy Railguns, and 54 Heavy Lasers, and has powerful shielding and a point defense suite consisting of 6 defensive omnimounts, 288 interceptor missile launcher, and two point defense shield systems. This is all to assist the powerful C3 gear, including massively powerful sensors, software, communications, and tactical AIs that make the ship such a powerful fleet support vessel. The Valkyrie has often been faulted for its poor ability in slugging matches, its point defenses unable to keep up with the massive firepower that many ships can poor out in such situations. Currently 5 Valkyrie are in service, The Conan, Tarzan, Hercules, Bruce Willis and John Wayne.

Valkyrie: 10 points base, 10 points enhanced Defense (excellent point defense, shields, ECM and vessel durability), 10 points C3I (powerful dedicated C3I suite).
10+10D=10C3I= 30 X 5= 150
To be continued

Gargoyle class Heavy Destroyer- the powerful Gargoyle destroyer is designed to operate in groups hunting down and destroying enemy vessels, disrupting enemy fleet capabillities. To do so, the 738m ship is quite fast and agile, and mounts impressive weaponry, including an HMA, 72 Heavy Missile/Torpedo tubes, and 48 Heavy Railguns, as well as 12 light/defensive omnilaunchers. The ship is not designed for long term combat, failing to mount a point defense shield and only having 12 CIWS, but its shield and hull are durable for its class. There are currently 20.
----Gargoyle class heavy cruisers----
Arthur
Hatori
Lancelot
Marusame
Masamune
Nobunaga
Cao Cao
Lionheart

Gargoyle Heavy Destroyer: 10 points base, 5 points improved Offense (heavy weaponry for class).
10+5O=15 X 20= 300

Gorgon Class carrier- The Gorgon is a lightweight carrier designed to deliver troops carriers and aerospace fighters into 'hot' combat zones. It is lightly armed for its 715m length, mounting just 54 Heavy Omnilaunchers, 12 Heavy Railguns, and 4 Particle Beam cannons. It is well defended though, with a excellent shielding and 54 CIWS mounts as well as 72 interceptor missiles. Its main usage is to haul up to 20 Finland Class assault landers, as well as an Aerospace Fighter Wing, and a collection of Belgium class logistics craft. There are currently 5 in service, the Beowulf, the Gilgamesh, the Leonidas, the Alexander and the Cyrus.

Gorgon Class Carrier: 5 points base, 5 points C3I (advanced tracking and targeting systems).
5+5C3I=10 X 5 = 50

Erynies Class Light Destroyer- The Erynies class Light Destroyer is a 554m long vessel designed for wolfpack tactics and fleet support. It mounts impressive firepower for its size, with 36 Heavy Missile/Torpedo tubes, 54 Medium Omnilaunchers, 24 Heavy Railguns, 4 Heavy Lasers, and 36 Medium Railguns. It also mounts a heavy shield system for its size, and 2 Defensive Omnilaunchers, and 24 CIWS. There are currently 40 in service, including the Abraham Lincoln, the Winston Churchill, the Patton, the R. Lee Ermey and others.

Erynies Class Light Destroyer: 3 points base, 1 point improved offense (heavy weaponry for its class), 1 point improved defense (heavy shielding and point defense for its class).
3+1O+1D=5 X 40= 200

Incubus class Destroyer Escort - The 278m long Incubus class Destroyer Escort is an upgrade to the old Cerberus class Destroyer Escort. While keeping the Cerberus 12 Heavy Railguns, 20 Medium Railguns, 12 Omnilaunchers and spinal Particle Cannon, it mounts additional shield systems, a Defensive Omnilauncher, and adds 6 CIWS for a total of 18 CIWS. It is used to support fleets, flanking vessels and covering with defensive fire, as well as provided a quick strike element to take advantage of enemy weak points.

Incubus Class Destroyer Escort: 1 point base, 1 point improved defense (heavy point defense for its class).
1+1D=2 X 50= 100

Succubus class Interceptor Picket - At 295m the Succubus Class Interceptor Picket is also built off the Cerberus Class Destroyer Escort. It has the same armament as the Cerberus, 12 Heavy Railguns, 20 Medium Railguns, 12 Omnilaunchers, and a spinal Particle cannon, as well as 12 CIWS. Additionally, it mounts a small ECM and Interdiction suite designed to slow enemy vessels, and prevents the fleet from being hit and run upon by those who choose to use higher speed Hyperspace systems for raiding purposes. It was designed to intercept the various smaller pirate and barbarian threats that could arise, and has performed admirably, although its prowess against most remnant military vessels hasn't been tested. Currently 10 are in service, the Penelope, the Persephone, the Psyche, the Lamia, the Juliet, the Viola, the Rachel, the Sakura, the Angie, and the Maggie.

Succubus Class Interceptor Picket: 1 point base, 4 points interdiction (advanced interdiction suite).
1+4I=5 X 10= 50

Heavy Aerospace Wing- Consisting of the large number of different aerospace craft that can fight effectively against capital ships, as well as the smaller carriers such as the Germany class, the China Class, and the U.S.S.R. class these groups provide air support for the technolegion ground forces, interceptor duty to protect from torpedoes and other missile weapons, mine clearing, asteroid clearing, and piracy sweeps, as well as courier service and numerous other small jobs. The craft utilized are listed in the Aerospace Command section. There are currently 50 separate wings in service.

Heavy Aerospace Wing: 1 point base.
1 X 50 = 50

Molochi DeathPact Strike Craft

Void Class Strike Cruiser - The Void Strike Cruiser is the heaviest Cruiser of the strike fleet formerly utilized for mercenary contracts and now used for offensive purposes for the sovereign Molochi State. An austere 1524m spike it mounts the most advanced weaponry and defensive systems in production by the Molochi Navy. This includes four spinal mounted HMAs, 96 Heavy Omnilaunchers, 24 Heavy Particle Cannons, 48 Heavy Railguns, and 36 Medium/Light Omnilaunchers, plus two point defense shield systems, a heavy shield grid, 16 Defensive Omnilaunchers, and 144 CIWS. Extremely powerful sensors, ECM, ECCM, and targeting packages allow for an extremely efficient EW performance, and the powerful high agility propulsion systems make it a deadly ship in all ranges of combat. There are 10 ships of this class currently in operation.

Void Class Strike Cruiser: 15 points base, 10 points improved offense (extremely heavy weaponry), 15 points improved defense (highly advanced and heavy point defense and shielding systems, as well as advanced ECM).
15+10O+15D=40 X 10 = 400

Nether Class light Striker Cruiser - The Nether Class light Strike Cruiser serves as support for both the Void Class cruiser and the Nadir class carrier, providing both powerful support fire and extremely heavy point defense assistance. The 958m long vessel utilizes 2 HMAs, 72 Heavy Omnilaunchers, 36 Heavy Railguns, and 36 medium railguns, as well as 12 Defensive Omnilaunchers, 48 CIWS, and 144 Interceptor Missiles. It mounts a heavy shield grid, and a sophisticated ECM suite. 20 Nether Class light Strike Cruisers are currently in active service.

Nether Class Light Strike Cruiser: 5 points base, 5 points improved offense (heavy weaponry), 10 points improved defense (reinforced shield grids, advanced ECM and point defense).
5+5O+10D= 20 X 20= 400

Nadir Class Command Carrier - The Nadir Class Command Carrier is the primary Heavy Carrier used by the Molochi Technolegion to transport the numerous large boarding, assault, landing, recon, and courier craft necessary to stage an operation. The Carrier is a massive 1640m long brick that mounts the most high tech Electronic warfare and Command and Control suites that the Molochi Territories can produce. Additionally, it is heavily defended by numerous layers of shields and armour, and a strong defensive weapon system. The primary armament comes both in the form of the numerous parasite craft that it brings in, as well as 36 Heavy Particle Cannons, 54 Heavy Railguns, 36 Heavy Lasers, and 36 Heavy OmniLaunchers. It's defense is provided both by parasite craft, and the 208 CIWS systems, 72 Interceptor Missiles and 4 Defensive Omnilaunchers. There are currently 5 Nadir Class in service.

Nadir Class Command Carrier: 15 points base, 10 points C3I (advanced sensor suites and C3 systems), 15 points improved defense (extremely powerful ECM, shields and numerous point defense systems and parasite craft).
15+10C3I+15D=40 X 5 = 200

Molochi Cultural Characteristics

Code: Select all

======Molochi Culture========
///////Imperial Reference Form\\\\\\\

The Molochi, despite the deep divides in class, share a few similar traits.  The first and foremost is the Molochi cultural myth of cooperation, the Molochi people have a tendency to believe that their prosperity is a result of a superior ability to cooperate, regardless of class.  This has made the populace extremely resistant to most cultural revolutions, which combined with the presences of both the conservative progressivist Molochi Military (see ref. Molochi Technolegion) and the Sector Defense Fleet for the SouthEast Defense Sector, has resulted in nearly 5000 years of unchanged civilization, and a cultural stabilization seen in only a few of the First Wave Territories and the Empire itself.  The stabilizing influence of the Empire is not to be underestimated though, as the DeathPact (the political wing of the Military) and the Nobility have highly differing political goals and such divides should be exploited for preservation of Imperial supremacy.

Another characteristic amongst many Molochi is an uncharacteristic love of whimsey amongst the members of the populace.  Often popular comedy will be slap-stick or based on nonsense or word play as opposed to the Black Noir comedy preferred by the Imperial SouthEast.  This also comes through with the occasionally eccentric attack plans of the Molochi Special Forces, which have included using ship based particle beamers to draw obscene images upon the mountains of underdeveloped peripheral civilizations to cow them into surrendering to Benevolent Imperial Rule.

A third Distinct characteristic is the strong pride the Molochi people have in their territory.  Unlike many territories, who's populace rebels against the Enlightened Imperial Governance, the Molochi are not only highly content, but are actively proud of the membership as a Territorial Member of the Empire and the achievements that they place as being their own.  They make little claim to the achievements of the Empire, as many territories attempt to do, nor do they maintain any pretense of superiority to the Imperial Might.  There is no good theory under Imperial Sociosciences that explains this, although Moloch is often used as an outlier example to the Theorum of Hegemony Envy [(qref) all Territories have every rational reason to envy the magnificence that is the Empire, and thus will if given opportunity].  This envy has been a primary weapon in the policy of Minimal Territorial Cooperation that has operated successfully for the past 2300 years. 

Additionally, a characteristic 45$nh*kh&GB$k8$HBJC8ghbj4gUgls;d90]\ njnjahu.<iuh73JKLFNn..jbu7B$>ifp m;ioio;fL$KFM94nv------
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Encode lost - reason: Unlawful entry or decryption of Imperial Defense Networks is prohibited.  Citizen- Report to Nearest Imperial Law Enforcement Office, or await Imperial Pursuit.  Subsequent attempts to access will be met with harsher penalty.

Attributes

Molochi Technolegion - Improved Assimilation 150 points
Vast Wealth - Improved Logistics 100 points
Improved Espionage 100 points
Improved Counter-Espionage 100 points
Advanced Shipyard at Belial-Pandemonium Space Dock - 50 points Improved Ship Defense

[Darkevilme]

The Chamaran Exodus.
Evil extragalactic catgirl invaders.

History:
Chamaran kind arose on a world in the clouds of Magellan in jungles and moved steadily to sentience and then to the stars. They would not of come to the milky way were it not for the catastrophe that consumed their own galaxy, believed to be the result of war and resulting in the loss of much of their species. In collossal exodus craft they crossed the perilous void between galaxies, reaching the edge of human space as the motherships succumbed to the decay of their drives and could go no further. the motherships each a city are now strung around the red giant star they have termed Pyre. They've come upon a weak outlier of the human empire, the province of Makay, and subjugated it utterly. In the confusion of the empires fall this went unnoticed and while those who escaped the mind control still resist it seems that Makay is in the Chamaran thrall for the felines own ends.

Update: The Makay sector has been partially given back to the humans, their populations condensed into the less desireable worlds and lifted from the thrall of mind control.

Makay: A province of the imperium on the Periphery Makay is now partially occupied by the Chamaran exodus as their new homes. The remaining worlds were given back to the human people of Makay in the treaty of Teldus.

Pyre and the homeships: The bulk of the Chamaran population resides on twelve massive vessels in the orbit of an ageing red giant star in a system that was of little use to the imperium. These vessels also bear the sophisticated shipyard facilities required to assemble the advanced warships of the exodus.

Biology: chamaran's are in short catgirls(and cute to look at lets be fair though they are evil creatures from beyond the stars), they are humanoids ranging in height between 4' and 5' 4" with feline ears and tails. They also possess nightvision, retractile claws, acute senses of smell and hearing and incredible agility. Hair and fur colours deviate a great deal between the families. Another fact is that for their size and indeed in comparison to humans Chamarans are very strong but what is probably the most unnerving fact is that Chamaran's have the ability to peel back their lips and spread their jaws to a startling degree, with sharp teeth they are quite predatory and humans being an inferior species are considered a viable foodsource with Chamaran warriors being recorded as indulging on the battlefield and/or while the human was still alive.

Apart from the voracious appetite required to maintain their metabolisms other facts about the Chamarans are that male births are significantly less common than female amongst them and they give birth to live young with twins the average though singlets, triplets or even quadruplets are not uncommon.

Culture: Firstly the Chamaran society is a matriarchy as males are too rare to be risked females naturally rose to leadership positions.

Secondly their entire society revolves around clan or family ties. A families fortunes rise and fall together based on the acts of those within it though interfamily movement via adoption occurs and for those who fail really badly only exile from their family awaits.

The clans with the most support from others form a nobility of sorts though the queen holds ultimate power in the Chamaran society and it is for her family name that the kind get their name.

A development resulting from the Exodus is the arising of Exodus clans formed from those whose families were all but destroyed with the loss of their homeworld.

Other than structure there's two undercurrents to Chamaran society, the first is that they are all that's left of their species and therefore failure here may mean extinction and the second is that they're a superior race. They survived the crossing between galaxies, escaped the death that engulfed the clouds of Magellan and now have come upon these thinking cattle who call themselves Man.

Military organization:
In some ways the arrangement of the clans and their hierarchy results in an almost feudal arrangement. war is a good way to increase standing and in times gone by interclan wars were common, hence all Clans of any merit usually support a group of warriors from their ranks equipped according to the Chamaran standards and what the clan can afford. Most clans making do with lancer gear for their warriors while for the wealthier vehicles or tiger suits are usually given to at least one of the groups from their family. Nobles are mostly starship crew but those who choose to serve on the ground are given the psionic amplification gear of the Oni. starships are fielded by the noble clans with crews made up from clans loyal to the noble clan in question and the family making up the officer core. Though in the current climate the queen must approve all warship creation and thusly keeps the most potent of weapons out of the hands of those whose loyalty could be called into question.

Mannerisms:

Personal greetings: Not for being introduced to a group obviously but a small hug is a normal part of a hello and if it’s the first time you’ve met someone or you’ve not seen them in ages you’re expected to deliver licks to either cheek and receive them in turn. This is because of the scenting gland patches there and allows a Chamaran to identify another by smell from that point on as they’ll have a good familiarity with their scent.

Nyo?: An audible informal question mark.

For reasons as of yet unknown despite their ruthless combat tactics they dont shoot at escape pods provided they're genuinely unarmed. However they dont recover them and anyone left on the ship is treated with the same Chamaran disdain for the value of human life.

Ranks and organization:
Overpack: A battalion equivalent, many packs united under a nobleclan's appointed packmistress.
Pack: A group of warriors fielded by one particular clan, up to two dozen in size.
Packmistress: Overpack leader
Packleader: Just what it says.
Shipmistress:Equivalent of captain, jurisdiction over a vessel.
Huntmistress: Task force leader, a shipmistress placed in command of more than one ship.
Battlemistress: Fleet admiral, jurisdiction over an entire fleet.
Citymistress: The ruler of a Citadel or a section of an exodus ship.
Queen: Supreme title held by Kara of house Chamara.

Ground combat general:
While the Janissaries are just about equal in strength to some of the weaker human forces the Chamarans due to sophisticated miniaturization of all technology, defensive forcefields on everything they have that moves and quite a bit that doesnt, psionic technology and offensive use of mind control are the most powerful ground side fighting force in the known post imperial sphere.

Technology General:
Chamaran technology is on par with the other human powers in most areas albeit they have matured the miniaturization of such allowing personal forcefields and for more spacious habitatable sections on their spacecraft. The exceptions are in the area of psionics where Chamaran natural psionic capability has resulted in heavy investment in technological augmentation for it such as amplifiers, psionic links and the mental domination of humans. Additionally this natural psionic capability is integrated into their ship designs, beamcannons require psionic operators to aim for off axis fire, many controls require psi links and are attuned to Chamaran brainwaves and finally their very ships are willed along on psionic force relegating rocketry to the propulsion of ordinance such as drones and missiles. This mature psionic and mental mastery is not seen the terran sphere but is offset by the Chamaran unwillingness to use cybernetic implants for cultural reasons.

Chamaran psionic capability and technology:
The Chamaran's are a psychic race that use amplification technology to bring the effects of this psychic potential up to a useful level. Psionic aptitude varies from feline to feline but climbs in general with the standing of the kitty's family.

Mind control array: A technological device for controlling human minds over a wide area, the specificness of the devices calibration prevent it from being used on felines(It's on a different frequency as giving your own side headaches with incompatible neural commands is a bad plan). The smallest arrays require multiple trucks to set up on site and the more common arrays are affixed to buildings or mounted on Chamaran starships. The range of effects the MC system can attain is very flexible allowing it pacify all human population within its area of effect. Chamaran mind control while resistable is incredibly sophisticated allowing them to use it offensively as well as for pacifying humanity, such as the berserker signal sent to the Syndicalist forces in the battle of Citadel 31 which was only stopped from resulting in a chaotic slaughter of friendly fire by the Syndicalist use of cybernetic override implants and rousing propoganda.

Planetary defence structures:

Janissary fortress: A high walled and bombardment shielded military garrison from which the thrall armies and sometimes drones can issue forth. Fortresses mount their own artillery pieces to control the surrounding area.

Silo: Remnants of the Makayan planetary defences are the underground missile silos used to protect against invasions and keep enemy fleets at bay. They're little different from modern earths nuclear missile silos in design and features.

Citadel: A massive slender tower brought in on planets the Chamaran's occupy and indeed the symbol of said occupation. A Citadel is a self contained fortress mounting forcefield generators, missile launchers, laser weaponry and most importantly a mind control array of immense size at its very top which is capable of casting its power across an entire city. For this reason the Chamaran oocupation plan is to herd the cattle into these population centers and put a Citadel on each one.

Planetside infantry
Chamaran Lancers: Even the Chamaran regular infantry, the Lancers, are extremely well protected and equipped. The average Lancer has a high powered forcefield bubble, a skintight and flexible suit of reactive armour and a segmented battle mask. For armament they carry laser rifles and use scaled down E-cannon as support weapons.

Chamaran tigers: Chamarans in powered armour, rigid metal plates laid over a bodysuit of psionically attuned synthetic muscle allowing them to use far more powerful weaponry and shrug off attacks. Tiger suited Chamaran's suitably equiped for anti armour work have fought and won against human tanks.

Chamaran Onnai: The noble warriors take up psychically attuned weaponry and enhancements to put their greater psi potential to best use. Energy sheathed swords capable of slicing through heavy armour and powered by sheer will are coupled with wrist and ankle bands able to massively amplify the wearers movements with telekinesis giving them speed and strength in great abundance. An Onnai can leap distances that almost blur the line between jumping and flight, cross rooms with a blaze of speed and smash a human through a wall or carve him out of powerarmour when they get there.

Automata: In combat the Chamaran's use spherical droids with simple A.I. suspended on electromagnetic fields for high risk tasks such as scouting where their own lives cannot be risked.

Janisarries: The Chamarans have retained their mind controlled and mentally conditioned human minions on their worlds, breeding populations are being established to retain this new servant caste. These humans have their loyalty to their feline overlords programmed into them preventing dissent and are used in battle to reduce the losses of Chamaran lives. Janisarries are in general less equipped compared to Chamarans as befits their role as cannonfodder, wearing basic ballistic vests with metal inserts and armed with ballistic projectile armaments using chemical propellant.

Planetside Vehicles:
Chamarans use three kind of air support vehicles both relying on psionic amplification of telekinesis in order to remain aloft. the first is the dartlike
Flier equipped with a highly streamlined hull, rocket drives and forcefields common to all Chamaran warfighting technology. The vehicle typically carries an anti air laser turret on the belly, a fixed firing pair of E-cannon and wing missiles. The second and third are the light and heavy hoverships, the former a small personnel transport armed with two E-cannon turrets and a swift disposition and the latter a large ponderous armour transport with only a single turret to defend it, the craft not intended to fly without heavy protection.

Titan:
A towering war machine capable of fighting through the thickest resistance and used to break fortifications and stop cold massed assaults. Its barrier fields and armoured legs mean only massed fire or attacks from weaponry which dwarves its own considerable armament stand chance of bringing one down. Its mighty form holds aloft the collossal lasercannon which can annihilate any tank with its gaze. Missiles, coilguns and a psionic infantry suppression field round out its defences. The Titan can also be dropped from orbit in its folded form, arriving by surprise and pulverizing opponents in the immediate vicinity with the force of its deployment.

Skimmer: Functioning as a ground bound fast attack vehicle to compensate for Tiger's reduced mobility and somewhat of a tank analogue albeit one with light armour instead relying on its shield and speed. Skimmers carry Turrets top and bottom for a heavy E-cannon and rapidfire E-cannon respectively and fly close to the ground using a telekinetic drive variant that pushes off nearby objects and uses jet engines to get around quickly. Skimmers have a crew of two and can safely be airdropped though only over water. Otherwise they must be carried to the ground in heavy hoverships.

Thrall crawlers: Armoured but unshielded and with technology lagging behind the rest of humanity by a fair margin the rugged war machines of the Janissaries are less impressive than that of their feline overlords but nonetheless come with tracks and turrets firing either rapidfire shells or heavy cannon. Most come with an APC compartment in the back as the design is more for counter insurgency use than as a dedicated MBT.

Thrall tracked guns: Self explainatory, a self propelled artillery piece. A great number of them were used in the battle of Citadel 31 to supplement fixed artillery mountings on Janissary fortresses.

Thrall mobile launcher: A supplementary defence against planetary invasion with shorter range but makes up for it by being mobile. Thrall mobile launchers are large high sided metal boxes on wheels containing vertical launch missile tubes to fire at incoming ships.

Chamaran devices:
Psi link: Most chamaran technology for military use relies on psionic crystals laid next to the felines skin to transmit their mental commands. For starship crew this crystal is typically in the glove of their suit, a suit which is identical to the reactive armour used by the warriors. These gloved hands are simply laid atop an interface dome on the relevant console to control the ship.

Wailers: Typically used by Onnai though have been seen in the hands of lesser felines and mounted on vehicles, the wailer is a device to blanket the area around it in psychic white noise attuned to human frequencies, the effects are not at all pleasant but give an edge to the Chamarans in combat as the humans fight off the mental scrambling effects.

Spacecraft Propulsion:
Chamaran vessels are literally willed along, using psionic amplification similar to that in the bracers used by Onnai but scaled up massively in order to move entire starships through the void. This means chamaran drives are omni directional and can thrust in a direction regardless of the ship's relative facing. In a fighting retreat they will continue to face their enemy and pour death out towards them even while thrusting essentially in reverse at full pace.

Of course human vessels and drones in their fleets use reaction drives of the usual fire out the back sort. Recently Chamarans have turned to reaction drives as a way to get a speed advantage in battle conditions and built the Avenger fast cruiser to incorporate this.

Ftl:
Chamaran's referr to hyperspace as unreal-space or U-space and their drives carve giant ragged edged rifts into an energetic white spectrum layer of this realm when coming in and out of it. Multiple chamaran ships travelling together usually tear one large hole between U-space and realspace instead of many small ones.

As a result of the high energy FTL corridors the Chamaran's use all Chamaran craft have doubled strategic speed (Level 2 FTL) which is reflected in their point disposition.

Chamaran starship weapons:

E-cannon: Uses electromagnetic fields to accelerate a metallic projectile to extremely high velocities. The Chamaran's use these weapons for point defence and against opposing starships.

Torpedoes: Chamaran missile weapons are in general larger, faster, better armoured and harder hitting than human makes but are fired in smaller quantities. This quality first approach evens out as the missiles require multiple hits from human point defence to destroy but has resulted in a conflict of ethos as Chamaran point defence was built with chamaran style missiles in mind. Therefore Chamaran point defence is prone to excessive overkill on the flimsy missiles used in massed human volleys.

Beamcannon: A weapon that accelerates and focuses plasma from the fusion reactor into a discharge of immense energies. These beams can be narrowed to slice and punch through ship hulls or widened to wash over them as they do whenever they find a hull that does not immediately yield. These fusion beam cannons are the most potent Chamaran weapon and are mounted on the Dominion class battleships.
The directing and focusing of the beam is done using psychic fields stretched across the weapon tip and originating in the weapon crews before being amplified to aim the fiery energy stream.

Drone: Once again a weapon with quality over quantity in mind Chamaran drones are automated spacecraft armed with a coilgun running their entire length and carrying fusion bombs to attack and destroy capital ships with.

Chamaran starship defences:
Barrier fields: Chamarans have refined energy field manipulation to a precise art as even their baseline infantry possess powerful fields capable of deflecting or blocking incoming attacks. This also scales up to their capital ships in the powerful layered barrier fields that dissipate and deflect enemy starship weaponry.

Makay space weapons:

Atomic missile: A refined fission bomb built on a lower tech if easily mass produced level of sophistication. Standard guided weapon.

Mass driver: Oversized magnetic accelerator cannons that rather than being built on or into a ship have to have the ship built around them. Has a punch comparable to some of the more modern weapons used by the other powers though despite its lack of refinement and bulky systems.

Laser: Anti missile weaponry using focused light to cook the projectile.

Harpoons: A weapon of desperation as only one volley is loaded into muzzle loaded tubes on the ships bow when its resupplied. Harpoons are a mix of antimatter powered kinetic kill projectiles capable of truly unbelievable acceleration over the very short period of time their motors have fuel for. In every volley are some larger harpoons given secondary guidance and antimatter warheads.

Starships:

Chamaran battleship 'Dominion' class 60 points. (44 base, 10 of active offence, 6 of hyperdrive)

A powerful vessel over a kilometer and a half from tail to tip and able to go toe to toe with the more powerful of the cattle vessels, its sinister and graceful form built on human psyche profiling to inspire fear and awe in the subjugated and upstart both. The Dominion is the Chamaran's heaviest warship of their own design and serves as flagships and core vessels in their fleets. Chamaran Dominion class vessels mount the lethal fusion beamcannon weaponry firing from the tips of their arms, weaponry so potent that most human commanders avoid wherever possible closing into direct fire range where these beams can be brought to bear.
Armament:
x4 Beamcannon
X40 quadbarreled E-cannon turrets.
x7 Torpedo tubes
x360 drones.


Chamaran Cruiser 'Conquest' Class 30 points (27 base, 3 hyperdrive)
The primary warship making up the bulk of Chamaran fleets, a half kilometer long and armed with an arsenal of torpedoes, anti capital ship E-cannon and secondary E-cannon.
Armament:
x8 Torpedo rails
x10 light e-cannon turrets.
x4 triplebarreled anti cap ship ecannon turrets.

Chamaran support cruiser 30 points. (17 base, 10 of the particular specialty and 3 of hyperdrive)
A specialized type of vessel designed for indirect confrontation and built essentially as a standard cruiser but with half its main weapon systems replaced with the relevant equipment for its specialization. The specialties are interdiction, electronic warfare and sensor drones. The first mounts outsized FTL drives designed to twist space around it without creating a gateway. The second mounts outsized antenna, transmission drones and dish arrays to put out some extreme signals. The third carries heavy communication gear and a large number of sensor drones with FTL drives.

Frigate, 20 points (13 base, 2 hyper, 5 stealth) Stealth rating 4.
Stealthed warship acting as a light carrier for commerce raiding. It's weaponry consists almost entirely of drones and missiles with direct fire weaponry limited to point defence.


'Avenger' class Fast cruiser, 40 points (26 base, 4H, 5D, 5R)
A new design built on the lessons learned from the Syndicalist incursion the Avenger is equiped with a large armament of torpedoes and light cannons but no heavy anti capital ship directfire weaponry. The Avenger also mounts mid rate electronic warfare gear and supplements telekinetic propulsion with a reaction drive for tactical sprint manouvers in realspace. This design has good speed and long range offensive capabilities but the deficit of heavy directfire weaponry makes fights at short ranges something to be avoided.

Armament:
x24 missile tubes in four six barreled launch drums.
x24 light e-cannon quadbarreled turrets.


Thrall ship 10 points
Human warship design of the inferior Makay defence fleet now pressed into service as cannonfodder and a defence fleet for the Chamaran conquest. Armed with human atomic missiles and a spinal mass driver mount.


Thrall Monitor 15 points (10+5D)
An upgrade version of the thrall cruiser armed with eight point defence laser arrays and enhanced ECM and EW defenses for greater survivability. Armament wise it remains a missile barge like its less enduring cousin carrying both sideways firing missile racks and bow mounted harpoon tubes.

Armoured freighters, 14 points (4+10T)
Far larger and equipped with better drives and defences than the smaller and shorter ranged vessels used originally by the Makayan industrial base and later put into service by the chamarans ferrying goods to and from Pyre and the conquered territories. The armoured freighters have shields and defensive cannon that while weak by Chamaran standards and weak for their great size gives them fighting strength equivalent to some of the more numerous vessels in the armadas of human powers.

The Bentusilon, 60 points (44 points base, 10 points mind control, 6 points hyperdrive)
An immense starship stolen from the Kushwani when they sent it into the Chamaran dominion without adequate protection. The vessel houses an incredible artificial intelligent which is the only full A.I. under Chamaran control. Since capture it has been re-equipped with powerful weapons and the most massive mind control array ever built.

Pods, 5 points. (1 point base, 1 sensor, 0.5 hyperdrive and 2.5 stealth) Pod stealth rating 11.
Small but advanced vessels shaped like ovals. They contain only a small volunteer crew for this high risk endeavour. Pods are scouts needed by the Chamaran's to reinforce the sketchy knowledge they've got from the Makay archives regarding their neighbours. Covered in advanced non reflective plating and with no emissions to speak of these craft coast silently between the worlds escaping detection. Though if detected a Pod is pretty much fucked as they're unshielded and have barely enough firepower to fight off an ornery freighter.

Holdings:

Pyre:
12x2 Exodus craft acting as population hubs and industrial centers for the Chamaran species.
1x1 Pyre Primus. A lifeless barren rock on which a forest of solar collectors has been spread out feeding power to the lighting systems of vast underground caverns turned over to the production of foodstuffs.

Godwin's hope starsystem:
1x10 'Newhome' Godwin's hope, an earthlike world the Chamarans are slowly moving onto as humanity vacates it.
1x5 Du'marra 'Winterhome'. a world kept from full exploitation due to the current ice age. Nonetheless a narrow band of cities occupies the unfrozen land at the planets equator, limited as it is.

Teldus starsystem:
1x8 Teldus 'Garen' an agricultural world the chamarans are moving into.
16x1 Asteroid belt mining installations.

Caldera starsystem:
1x7 Caldera "Summerhome'A desert world, second world the Chamarans are moving into.
10x1 Asteroid mining installations.

Ships available:

20x10 Thrall ship
5x15 Thrall monitor
3x30 support cruiser (sensors)
3x30 Support cruiser (interdiction)
3x30 Support cruiser (Electronic warfare)
6x20 Frigate
1x60 Bentusilon
10x60 Battleships
20x30 Cruisers
5x5 Pods
10x40 Fast cruisers

Fleet units:

First Battleship squadron: (commanded by Melusine)
x5 Dominion class 300 points
Second Battleship squadron: (Commanded by Tia)
x5 Dominion class 300 points.
Cruiser squadrons: four of.
x5 Conquest class 150 points each squadron
Fast squadrons: two of.
x5 Avenger class 200 points each squadron
Support squadrons: Broken up as needed, 3 of
x1 support cruiser (interdiction)
x1 support cruiser (Sensors)
x1 support cruiser (defence) 90 points total for squadron
Frigate squadrons: 60 points each, 2 of
x3 frigates
Thrall squadrons: 4 of
x5 thrall cruisers 50 points each
Thrall monitor squadron: 1 of
x5 Thrall monitors 75 points
Armoured freighter squadron: 1 of
x5 Armoured freighters 70 points
Pods are not used in squadrons.:

Racial points spent:
100 points, extra galactic entity. No contact with Chamaran kind before the Makay incident has occured and they are still very much a mystery, the location of Pyre is unknown.
150 points, shipyards. Chamaran mothership craft foundries are capable of building vessels of such sophistication that the greatest of them can be considered 10 points more potent than the mightiest of regular human human craft.
250 points, assimilation, the combination of martial prowess and mind control make the Chamaran's superior conquestadors.

Book of losses:
10 thrall cruisers in the first Syndicalist incursion into Makay space.

[Rogue 9]

Nashtar, the Cradle of the Stars



Formerly Imperial Subsector Delta 23, the infant star nation now known as Nashtar was a largely agrarian collection of Terran-analog agricultural worlds and asteroid mines located in and around a large nebula cluster, originally colonized by humans descended from the crews of slower-than-light colony ships launched from the United States and British Commonwealth nations. With the recent dissolution of the Empire, the inhabitants of the subsector have seized the opportunity to assert their independence and establish a republic, as their ancestors had intended when they originally left Earth.

History

The history of Nashtar properly begins with the launch of Star Colony Fleet 04 and Colonial Fleet 3 from the United States and the British Commonwealth, respectively. The two fleets were a joint venture, intentionally bound for the same inhabitable planet and traveling together through the long centuries of the journey through space at slower than light speeds, for at the time of their launch, Dr. Prokofiev had not yet invented his faster than light stardrive. Over the long centuries, generations of colonists lived and died aboard the ships, carefully nurturing each successive generation and educating them in the areas of science, philosophy, and government. The colonists were drawn from all walks of life in the English-speaking nations of Earth, and the diversity of American and British culture was present in its full spectrum.

Upon the long-anticipated arrival at their destination, the colonists began to make their landings on the world they were to colonize, only to find, to their amazement, humans already present. The commander of this Imperial expeditionary force, for that is what it was, explained the new order of things to the colonists' leaders and demanded that they submit to the Empire of Holy Terra. The colonists warily agreed, not wishing to fight a group with such superior weaponry, but to their horror soon discovered the truth: The planet they had landed on had been previously inhabited by an indigenous sentient species, and the Imperials had enslaved the original inhabitants.

The leader of the American-origin colony fleet, President Evan Kerrigan, confronted the expeditionary force's leader and demanded an explanation. Upon being informed of the Empire's view of the aliens' proper place and the Imperial commander's surprise that Kerrigan could think otherwise, the colonists ceased cooperation with the Empire. Bemusement turned to anger among the Imperials, and the human colonists were forcefully subjugated.

A generation went by before the Imperial Inquest saw fit to manumit the human settlers' descendants, deeming them sufficiently rehabilitated. Republican sentiment still ran strong among most, but the Inquisitors did not care so long as they remained in line, and remain in line they did for centuries, under the watchful eyes of an Imperial sector fleet.

The resentment against the Empire boiled over approximately a decade before the Enclave invasion. Rebellion broke out on Helios (now Nashtar) and Zambar, in the first case instigated by human idealists and in the second by Zambarim slaves. Imperial troops put down the rebellion on the sector capital quickly, but the Zambarim slave revolt went on continuously until independence, thanks in large part to the planet's undeveloped nature.

But more pragmatic minds had been working towards a more permanent solution to the Empire's dominance over the subsector for some time. Unbeknownst to the Imperial commanders, most of the crews on the local garrison fleets (as opposed to the Imperial sector fleet) were sympathetic to the independence movement, but they did not rise because the Imperial warfleets would crush them in a few weeks at most.

But things had grown to the point where others could not wait. Rebellion broke out again on Helios, this time accompanied by a workers' strike and riots on Orodan and rebellion by the Ronoghan and Ernari slave populations. The Inquest dispatched an inquisitorial fleet and occupation troops to pacify the subsector.

Then the Fifth Battle Fleet went rogue. The Inquest forces sent to Subsector Delta 23 were rerouted to deal with this more urgent emergency, giving the Nashtari revolutionaries breathing room. Months went by and the ground fighting went on sporadically, unable to make much headway thanks to the Imperial Navy holding the ultimate high ground in orbit. Some of the Oro system's heaviest shipyards and their defensive emplacements were destroyed by Imperial warships after rebellious workers seized the installations.

Then the Great War broke out. The sector fleet was recalled to Fortress Terra to hold back the Enclave, leaving the local patrol ships to hold the subsector. This was the chance they'd been waiting for; no sooner was the Imperial fleet gone than the majority of the local ships openly went over to the revolutionaries. Imperial ground forces were stunned by the sudden reversal and were in many cases wiped out from orbit, caught by bombardment while still in their bases outside the volatile city centers. Nashtar was free within months.

Meanwhile, news from the Empire was grim. The Enclave won battle after battle until finally word of Earth's destruction reached Nashtari ears as the provisional government was just starting to pick up the pieces and brace for an Imperial counterattack.

Despite having just fought a brutal war to free themselves from Imperial tyranny, the human population of the subsector was stunned. None had thought that Fortress Terra could actually be destroyed, but here was the news. There would be no reestablishment of government from Earth. Local Imperial forces, including the commander of the secret listening post at Farpoint, joined with the erstwhile rebels out of necessity, cut off from their chains of command and lines of supply as they were.

The revolution's leaders quickly took stock of their situation and began to form a provisional government. While they were offered a place in the revolutionary council, most of the Ernari decided to go their separate ways from the humans after throwing off the Imperial yoke. The Ronoghans and Zambarim quickly agreed to join the promised republic, however, and so plans for a permanent constitution got underway.

This is how things stand now, with the newly formed and named nation of Nashtar trying to bring order from chaos in the shadow of uncertainty borne from not knowing what goes on far outside their own star cluster.

Holdings

The Republic holds seven primary systems and six colonies.

Core systems:

Helios System (13 points total): This system contains two inhabited planetoids; the capital planet of Nashtar and it's moon, Tyche.

• Nashtar (10 points): Capital planet and cultural center for the Republic, this planet’s concerns besides government mainly revolve around commerce. It is the second planet in its system. A good portion of the Republic’s ordinary citizens make their homes here. The Revolutionary Provisional Government convenes on Nashtar, from that planet governing the Republic and preparing the transition to a permanent form of government.
• Tyche (3 points): Nashtar's single large moon, Tyche, is home to lunar colonies, mainly concerned with mining. The system's defense forces are primarily based on the moon.

Oro System (18 points total): A former Imperial light manufacturing outpost, the Oro system is now the Republic's primary industrial center. It is home to two inhabited worlds and three asteroid mining colonies.

• Orodan (10 points): This planet is highly industrialized and oriented towards heavy manufacturing. It is the third planet in its system. The government maintains one continent for military manufacturing, and the main shipyards, both military and civilian, are in orbit. The remaining landmasses are open for private use, with clusters of factories mostly along the coasts; factory workers live in towns nearby. Orodan's Imperial administrators took full advantage of the Imperial technical institutes' great strides in clean manufacturing, so this planet is not as heavily polluted as some suppose when they hear of an industrial world.
• Oromos (5 points): This world is almost entirely given over to mining. It is in the same system as Orodan, and is the fourth planet. It is a very old planet, so old that its mantle is mostly solidified. This in combination with its three rather large moons makes it prone to violent earthquakes upon occasion. Advanced seismographic analysis equipment provides plenty of early warning for the miners, who have shuttles ready for quick liftoff when necessary. Ore haulers move back and forth between Oromos and Orodan in a steady stream, taking raw materials to the factories. The planet’s atmosphere is very thin, and breath masks are necessary for humans and other creatures not used to thin air.
• Oro Asteroid Belts (3 at 1 point each): The Oro system has three dense asteroid belts in orbits between Oromos and the outer gas giants. All are heavily mined for iron, nickel, and iridium.

Mintar (9 points): This planet is the main agrarian planet responsible for ensuring that the others are well stocked with consumables. It is the third planet in its system, and is almost entirely given over to farmland. While the other planets all have some measure of agriculture, agriculture is almost all this planet does. Gigantic farming machines roam slowly over the fields, planting or harvesting as the crop and season dictates.

Pinnacle (10 points): Pinnacle, the cold sixth planet in an otherwise barren system, is a highly militarized world, mainly serving as a base for the Republic's quick-response fleet. The ships stationed here are ready to respond to distress signals from other systems on short notice.

Ronogho (10 points): Home to the Ronoghan race, Ronogho is an industrialized world. The Ronoghans had a highly advanced society before the Empire came and subjugated them. Thanks to the Empire's ignorance of the Ronoghans' method of storing data in genetic code, the aliens were able to keep their technological data throughout their period of enslavement, and quickly put it to work upon their emancipation. Parts for the Shadow class stealth frigates are manufactured here, among other things.

Zambar (8 points): Considered backwater compared to the other core worlds, Zambar is home to both human colonists and a native race, who call themselves the Zambarim. The planet is settled, but not heavily industrialized; much of the surface is untracked jungle. The Revolutionary Army uses Zambar for jungle warfare training.

Marince (9 points): Marince, much like Mintar, is an agricultural world. While Mintar produces mainly staples such as grains and vegetables, Marince's expansive oceans are home to all sorts of edible sea life, many of which are considered delicacies, which are harvested and exported alongside the more mundane staple foods produced on the land.

Colonies:

Krentos IV (7 points): A very young colony, Krentos IV was a Mars-like planet undergoing terraforming by the Empire at the time of the Enclave invasion. While the Republic does not have the resources to continue the terraforming effort at the present time, enough of the work, including the atmosphere, was done to allow human habitation, though approximately 60% of the planet's surface is not suitable for growing Terran-analogue plant life.

Joyous Gard (6 points): Named for the castle of Sir Launcelot of the Arthurian legends, this is a forward military base. Formerly an Imperial fleet refueling point, Joyous Gard is roughly analogous to Mars, but is built up on a small portion of its surface through the use of colony domes. Fleet tenders orbit the planet in the company of its medium-sized moon, ready to enact repairs and refueling operations on the frontier.

Krynlo Colony (3 points): Krynlo is a dome colony located on a large moon without an atmosphere, orbiting a gas giant. About 800 colonists live here. The moon is rich in iron and titanium, justifying the colony's presence with the rich returns from the mines.

Barrier (3 at 1 point each): Named for the three separate asteroid belts that make navigation of the system along the planetary plane hazardous, Barrier is home to about 1,000 colonists, most employed in light manufacturing or asteroid mining.

Parlan (3 points): Parlan is a mining colony on the second planet of a small yellow star. Rather than mining for industrial metals like Oromos, Parlan’s miners search for, and find, gems and some amounts of precious metals. There are about 600 miners and other personnel here, minus anyone crewing vessels with shipments back to the core worlds.

Farpoint (1 point): A small Imperial military listening post on the ninth planet of a red star’s system, this small outpost is manned by military personnel and armed with highly sensitive electronic monitoring arrays. The system is situated slightly “above” the galactic plane. A single Shadow class destroyer orbits the planet, under strict transmission silence unless an imminent threat is reported by the post or detected by the destroyer, at which point the planned course of action is to load the post’s 53 crew members on and leave as quickly as possible. This hasn’t happened yet, and to the Republic Space Command’s knowledge the post’s security is uncompromised. The post was inherited in a way by Nashtar; upon the fall of the Empire, the commander of the station realized that he could not hold out for long without resupply, and Krentos IV was the closest former Imperial world. The commander threw in his lot with the Nashtari, as there seemed no other hope with the Empire disintegrating around him.

Inhabitants

Human colonists: Thanks to the influence of the Empire, humanity is the dominant race in the subsector. Transhuman augmentations popular in other parts of the Empire never took root in Nashtar; thanks to their longstanding status as second-class citizens and an official "unstable population," the technology was never widespread in civilian use.

Basic physical augmentations are sometimes used by military units, depending on the planet and particular revolutionary brigade the soldiers are from.

Politics and Government

Military

The Republic's military is mostly space-based. Though their army is formidable, particularly the Zambar divisions, it is still in disarray in the aftermath of fighting Imperial troopers in the revolution. (Read: I don't know what the hell to do with ground troops since the rules thus far don't account for them beyond saying "nobody agrees.") The naval forces, however, are relatively unscathed, since the Imperial sector fleet was withdrawn to fight the Enclave, leaving the local garrison ships unopposed.

Naval Forces

Complete ship registry

Dauntless class battleship (60 points total), 5 in service
40+10O+5C3+5D
The Dauntless class is currently Nashtar's heaviest warship. Though the class is capable of serving as a fleet command ship, it is not used as such, since the Intrepid class serves the role much better. The Dauntless and her sisters are designed to pound enemy fleets with precision, relying on their formidable tactical sensor arrays to punch through enemy jamming and enable pinpoint targeting. The Dauntless class mounts three spinal railguns, heavy beam emitters on the broadside, and massive banks of missiles.

Intrepid class fleet carrier (60 points total), 5 in service
40+10C3+5O+5D
The Intrepid class serves as a battle fleet's command center, as well as a mobile base for the fleet's fighter wings. The carriers themselves are lightly armed, but their wide array of bombers and fightercraft allow a broad range of offensive and defensive capabilities, including the ability to conduct precision strikes impossible with standoff naval artillery tactics. An Intrepid class carrier is never found without its cruiser escort, and is almost always in the company of at least one Dauntless as well.

Kensington class heavy cruiser (30 points total), 15 in service
20+10D
Kensington class cruisers serve as heavy escorts for other fleet elements. Sporting heavy active defense arrays, the cruisers are able to reliably defend themselves and other ships around them from incoming enemy attack. Unlike most other Nashtari ships, the Kensington and her sisters do not have especially advanced sensor suites, and are dependent upon the ships they guard to provide intelligence and targeting data when there is heavy jamming present.

Guardian class light cruiser (20 points total), 15 in service
10+5O+5C3
The Guardian and her sisters are versatile multirole ships, but come into their own as raiding vessels. The heaviest ships likely to be found operating outside of a fleet, the Guardian class is focused on detection and destruction of enemy threats. If faced with superior firepower, the Guardian will retreat, since its own defensive systems are minimal. Standard procedure calls for at least two escorting destroyers to accompany Guardians to make up for this deficiency.

Binder class interdiction cruiser (20 points total), 5 in service
10+10I
The Binder class is an interdiction platform, pure and simple. The ships have one task: Pin the enemy in place while the accompanying fleet destroys it.

Polaris class escort destroyer (15 points total), 30 in service
5+5D+5C3
The Polaris class is an escort ship. Designed to screen for heavier warships as well as escort commercial traffic, the Polaris and her sisters are the workhorses of the fleet.

Bandit class frigate (15 points total), 25 in service
5+5O+5C3
The Bandit class is designed as a shipping raider. They may operate either independently or as part of a fleet, providing a powerful punch in a small package.

Shadow class stealth frigate (20 points total), 11 in service
5+10S+5C3 (11 stealth rating)
Made possible in large part by Ronoghan shipbuilding technology, the Shadow class employs powerful sensor absorption and transmission dampening measures and materials, appearing nearly invisible to all but the most powerful sensor arrays. The frigates also sport an advanced sensor package, and are most often used to gather intelligence about enemy fleet movements.

National Characteristics

115 pt Improved Shipyard - Orodan

100 pt system defenses - Oro system

100 pt system defenses - Helios system

100 pt Improved Espionage - result of Farpoint Station

100 pt Improved Logistics

[Ohma]

The Stellar Dominatrixiat

The Stellar Dominatrixiat is a militaristic exclusively female human society which has only recently obtained FTL capability. They seek to achieve female dominion over all human inhabited space.

History

Part 1: Aftermath
It had been two weeks since that day, but to her it felt like only hours had passed. She knew that thinking about what had happened to lead up to this could only bring her pain. She knew that many of the women they had lost since that day had been trapped in the past, just as she was now. But try as she might, her memories would not leave her, she-

There was a knock at the bulkhead door.

Acting mission commander Amal Xi tensed for a moment, quietly stood and cracked open the door. She untensed. It was Dama.

"Permission to enter?"

Amal nodded, adding a quiet "yes, granted", as she opened the door to the control room wide.

Dama moved to the table in the center of the room, set her floppy on it, and turned to face her commander.

"The damage is much worse than we first thought."

Something clicked in her mind, in an instant, Amal straightened. "Can the engines be brought back online?"

"Yes, but it'll take longer than we have with my current crew. I think we're going to have to revive the rest of the crew."

"Fuck. I'd hoped we could wait to tell any of the sleepers about this."

A shadow passed over both women.

"...There is something else."

Amal closed her eyes.

"Yes?"

"My people found the ship's log entry for when we were hit."

"Did something else get destroyed?"

"Yes, our atomic clock apparently, because according to the logs we got hit about two years out of Sol."

It took a moment for that to sink in. "...So how long have we really been going without the main engines?"

"They aren't sure yet. ...Probably over a thousand years though."

"Fuck"

The two women suddenly felt very alone.

**********
There were several colony ships never accounted for from the first wave of colonization from Sol. The Imperium was unwilling to spend the resources necessary to scour deep space around Sol for them so long as more pressing matters were at hand, and any civilian effort was hampered by the sheer cost in time, equipment, and personnel such endeavors require.

One such lost vessel was the colony ship "Asherah". The Asherah was launched from Sol with a full complement of 200,000 colonists and crew, on a nearly 300 year long journey to the star G-23984. However when an Imperial survey vessel arrived in the system around 400 years after the Ashera's launch, no trace of the ship, or human habitation on the system's sole habitable planet were found. The system was marked off on imperial charts as low desirability, and the Asherah later marked as "missing, presumed lost".

In truth, the Asherah was still en route to its destination. Roughly two years after its departure from Sol, the Asherah was hit by a cloud of meteorites, severely damaging its primary engine assembly and much of its external instrumentation. The onboard computers initiated an emergency shutdown of the primary engines, and attempted to revive the Asherah's mission critical crew. However a small group of colonists and crew had altered the computer's cryogenics protocols before launch. As a result, a partial revival process triggered for the majority of the mission's male crew and colonists (resulting in their deaths), and the Asherah was left to continue to its destination using inertia and maneuvering thrusters alone.

When the Asherah finally neared G-23984, the second part of the conspirator's program activated, reviving the remaining male crew and colonists (the conspirators). The conspirators sought to live in their idea of a perfect world, and to that end they had murdered every other man on board, and had ensured that they would have time to "break in" their prospective spouses. What followed was a year of horror inflicted on a handful of women that was mercifully ended when one of the revived "replacements" (the highest ranking officer left aboard) secretly unlocked the Asherah's small arms cache and led the women in a fight against their abusers. The few surviving men were rounded up into the main airlock and spaced.
**********


Part 2: The Visitor
***230 Years later***

The councilors looked through the one way at the subject. It was...strange, since childhood they had been taught to fear and loathe these beings, but now, when one was just in the other room, they only felt curious. It looked like a deformed person, sounded like someone deeply ill (despite what they had done to heal the burns and other wounds on its body), its personal affects spread on the tables before them. A uniform of some kind, with a computer sewn in the left sleeve, some kind of energy firearm, numerous small items ranging from what looked like plastic key cards to what the scientists said was some type of preprocessed food, and more that they could yet only guess at.

The project's leader, Jahil Nausicaa, looked across the table, her smile looked like it could reach around her head if it tried. "And this is only what we found him wearing."

One of the councilors shifted her gaze to Jahil. "And what have you found out about the craft it was on?"

"It's an amazing piece of work. Millennia beyond what we could hope for on our own. Even though it is badly damaged we think we can at *least* rework the FTL and anti gravity systems."

Another councilor tilted her head at the thing in the other room. "Have you been getting any information from it?"

Jahil glanced toward the subject. "Nothing yet we're still trying to learn his language, unfortunately he hasn't been particularly cooperative". The man stood. "Ah, he's awake." Jahil tapped the comm button on her floppy. "I'd like the translators and keepers here ASAP."

The man was walking towards the one way. As it got closer the differences between it and the rest of them became startlingly apparent. Its face was square and heavily defined by the bones in its cheeks, a thick coat of hair covered nearly its entire bulky, square, body. Was that really how they normally looked? Or had this one been modified to better suit its presumed job as a military officer?

It raised its hands and pounded and shouted at the one way, tears running down its cheeks.

"Do you have any idea what it's saying?"

"I can't be entirely sure." Another councilor interjected. "But I think it may be ready to cooperate."

**********
The Asherahn colonists faced a daunting task when they arrived at their new home world (eventually dubbed Tara). Not only would they have to build a functioning, sustainable society on a new world, they would have to do so in the wake of monstrous atrocities committed against many of them, as well as the loss of every male in the colony, and consequently any possibility of their population growing via natural reproduction. However, despite those setbacks the colonists soldiered on, founding the first settlement on Tara (Hope), and birthing the first native Taran child within the first decade.

Over the next two centuries Taran society flourished. The Asherah was put into geosynchronous orbit, and used as an orbital hub. The original colonial council grew from a group of less than 30 women organized around the loose guidelines set out for the original crew of the Asherah, to a parliamentary body including well over 60 councillors, representing a populace numbering in the hundreds of millions.

Throughout this time, the colony remained undisturbed by the rest of the universe. That would change after the destruction of Earth when a small Imperial picket ship narrowly escaped its own destruction by jumping to hyperspace. As chance would have it, the badly damaged craft emerged in the little known, G-23984 system. The Taran government swiftly dispatched several craft to the anomalous star ship. Several days later the imperial vessel was docked with Asherah station, and the sole surviving crew member brought aboard.

For months Tara's best scientific minds went over every millimeter of the imperial craft. The corpses of the former crew were thoroughly analyzed.

The discoveries found aboard the imperial craft jumped Taran space technology forward centuries. However the most valuable information would come from the ship's only survivor: Lieutenant Commander Sel Tehg.
**********

Part 3: War Council
***Tara, Hope, Dominatrixiat High Council Chambers***
"I don't think we can legitimately claim to have authority over trans-humans."

"Why not? They're just as much our sisters as baselines."

"Yes, but they *aren't* baselines anymore, you can-"

High councilor Bandu stood. "I know that many of you are eager to exercise the authority we've been granted. However our objective at the moment is to identify the the nearest, least protected systems we can liberate from chauvinist hands. We can discuss how to handle trans-humanity at a later date."

"As I said before, Alpha Cephi and Theta Mira are both low priority imperial systems with a few agri-worlds and resource extraction facilities. They should have minimal resistance, a low non-human population, and give us plenty of additional resources to construct a larger space force to field."

"I still don't see why we need a large space force at all. With the empire gone-"

"No, only Earth, you forget the scale we're talking about here. The empire has only fractured, there are still plenty of factions with weapons who may either oppose us or simply take what we have."

Alini Bandu sighed. It was going to be a long evening.

**********
The relatively small, homogeneous, and isolated population of Tara had made an ideal environment for historical revisionism. With each subsequent generation, an interpretation of Human history farther removed from experience took root. The modern belief was that men had been the cause of nearly all human suffering throughout history, the women who boarded the Asherah did so in the seemingly vain hope that life on an alien world would change the dynamic between men and women, and that the tragedy aboard the Asherah had been a blessing of a sort, allowing the survivors to found a new, Utopian world free from the caustic influence of men.

Indeed, to any Taran native, such an outlook made perfect sense. Historical records from Earth held numerous examples of men abusing power, Taran society had experienced no internal strife of note since the Asherah's arrival, and serious crime was unheard of to the point that a single murder could make news planet wide. However, such an outlook ignored the extensive work done by previous generations to change and condition their progeny in order to create a more equable society.

When the Taran council announced the findings of the research conducted on the imperial craft and its male survivor, Tarans saw the first period of major political turmoil since the Asherahn Tragedy. Two vocal political groups emerged, both wanting to shape the future of Taran society.

Liberationists follow the modern interpretation of human history to the letter. They state that so long as human men exist, human women throughout the known universe will not be free, and humanity will never see peace. They advocate annexation and reunification of human space under the banner of human sisterhood.

Humanitarians, while a distinct minority, are still the highly vocal and visible opposition to Liberationist ideology. Humanitarians disagree with the modern interpretation of history. Humanists assert that the historical fundamental flaw in human society is not men, but human tribalism, and the willingness of those in power to manipulate that behaviour to further their own ends. The Humanitarians advocate forming alliances with other human powers, and working with them to bring about better lives for all sentient life.

In the following elections Liberationist candidates won the vast majority of seats on the council, with a handful of Humanitarian candidates also seated. Soon after the election, the Liberationist majority announced their intentions to re-organize Taran society around the banner of the Stellar Dominatrixiat, and to thunderous applause, vowed to dedicate themselves to the cause of female dominion over human space.
**********

Part 4: Propaganda
***2 years ago, Alpha Cephi, Ninhursag (formerly Planet Bob)***

"-the last relocation shuttle left Ninhursag today, carrying the final 2000 men who refused re-integration to the quarantined moon of Dis. A protest against the actions taken by the new Dominatrixiat government was broken up by police after protesters attempted to breach the security perimeter around the Ninhursag City spaceport. Newly appointed councilor Helene Vae has said that while she disagrees with the actions of the Dominatrixiat occupation forces, that she also does not want her supporters breaking laws quote: 'simply to make a point'.

And with that I'm Sarah Vertani.
And I'm Vree Sai. We'll see you tomorrow evening at 2400."

"We now conclude our broadcasting day"

*music*

"Striking at the darkness,
Breaking from our chains,
Murdering the tyrants, who keep our sisters enslaved!

Toppling the iron phallus!
With our sisters,
Hand in hand!

Cleansing humankind,
-"

*click*

**********
Planet Bob in Alpha Cephi, and Wadjet in Theta Mira were the first to be annexed by the Dominatrixiat. Both small agri-worlds were ill prepared to defend themselves against any force larger than a band of pirates, and were subdued before they could send word to any nearby interstellar powers.

To the surprise of the masterminds of the campaign, the Dominatrixiat's policy of extradition or execution of men in the colonies was met with widespread hostile resistance. In an attempt to curb public support for the growing number of anti-government organizations in the colonies, the high councilors altered the policies regarding men. Under the new policy men in recently annexed systems were given three choices, exile from Dominatrixiat space, life imprisonment on a designated prison world, or re-integration into society via gender/sex reassignment procedures.


Syndicalism in the Colonies

The Resistance (formerly the Worker's Liberation Army): When word of Terra’s fall finally reached the worlds in Alpha Cephi and Theta Mira, the nobles made every effort to prevent the news from spreading to their subjects. Beacons in the rapidly deteriorating imperial subspace network were deactivated or destroyed, regular searches and seizures of smuggled dataspheres were conducted, and many innocent men and women were arrested as “Enclave sympathizers” and never seen again.
News of Terra’s fate could not be kept secret indefinitely. A group of syndicalist privateers in Alpha Cephi managed to hack one of the few remaining subspace beacons in the system and broadcast the news across every open channel. When a Civil Space Patrol squadron led by Rem Black was ordered to fire on the privateers, they refused and joined the privateers.
The situation rapidly sun out of control, every day another factory-farm was bombed, every day another riot outside a baronial estate had to be quelled. Before long the syndicalist revolt had become a full fledged revolution. The symbols of the bloated Imperial aristocrats were torn down and the old barons, landholders, governors, and overseers hunted down.
The new syndicalist society of Alpha Cephi had barely enough time to bring the captured nobility to trial before the Dominatrixiat invasion began. The conflict was swift, in a matter of weeks, Alpha Cephi fell. Despite the best efforts of the syndicalist revolutionaries, they couldn’t prevent the purge. However all had not been lost, thanks to the actions of a few quick witted souls, records on many members of the revolutionary movement were destroyed even as Dominatrixiat troop ships descended through the atmosphere. Despite seven years of occupation, and the numerous purges of suspected resistance members from civil services, the syndicalist movement in Alpha Cephi is still very strong, and it is said that with each incarceration another three women take her place.


The Bushmen: Wadjet's grand old aristocracy owned vast tracts of land, farmed by an underclass of near-serfs who were little more than property to the Imperial-sanctioned nobility. A young man in the factory-farms could count on a life of backbreaking labor maintaining aging farm equipment in harsh conditions on half-rations, with no hope of advancement. Before the invasion, serf rebellion was common, and the Baronial Horse could often be seen riding their VTOLs to gas another riot or search another village for hidden Syndicalist literature. "Bushmen," as they were known, would quit the farms for the relative safety of the deep savannah, where they could hide from the spy-eyes and launch sporadic raids on the great estates. The invasion changed everything- the new invaders were efficient, brutal, and completely inimical to anything approaching a decent way of life for those oppressed peasants who happened to be male. When the round-ups began, even more refugees began to flee into the wilderness.

Crackdowns have succeeded, again and again, at pushing the Bushmen back into the outback- but there are still free workers on Wadjet, free workers with rusty firearms and hard hearts who hold little hope for relief, but fight on. Before the invasion, word had reached Wadjet of the revolutions on Malacaster and Kaldigrad. Young agitators from the more civilized systems had arrived, with the black book and fiery rhetoric. Some tens of thousands of Bushmen still operate sporadically in the outback, striking at convoys and bombing bridges. Efforts to curtail the Bushmen have even lead many women to flee into the wilderness, and the low-intensity banditry continues.



Systems, planets, and stations


Bara (G-23984) 25p
Bara is a cool A class star orbited by a single, roughley Earth size planet, and numerous asteroids and comets.

Tara 10p: Homeworld.
Pop: 3 billion
Asherah Station 5p: Major military/civilian spaceport, orbital component of Taran space elevator.
Xi Station 5p: Central resource processing center in Bara's Kuiper belt, additional military facilities recently added.
C-289 5p: Station inside former comet, constructed as a testing facility for reverse engineered tech from captured imperial scout.

Alpha Cephi 35p
A fairly average F class star orbited by a few planets and other stellar debris. About four million years ago Alpha Cephi's former dwarf twin, Beta Cephi,
broke free of Alpha Cephi's gravitational influence (due to Beta's highly eccentric orbit) and is currently on a trajectory that will see it leave this galaxy in another 3 billion years.

Ninhursag (Planet Bob) 10p: Recently occupied agricultural world.
Star A Star 5p: Foreword military base.
Nuevo Luna 5p: One of Ninhursag's moons.
Dis 0p: Prison moon.
Aeda's Asteroid 5p: Resource processing station.
The Eye 5p: Another asteroid station, resembles an eye.
Patrol 2 5p: Civil space patrol station.


Theta Mira 40p
A hot G type star, notable for having two mineral rich planets in its habitable zone.

Wadjet 10p: Recently occupied agricultural world.
Grey Sea Station 5p: WEC owned station orbiting Wadjet, space craft production facilities on-board.
Pacifica 5p: Gas giant, numerous refineries in orbit.
Farrow's World 10p: Recently occupied agricultural world.
Patrol 1 5p: Civil space patrol station.
Star 1 5p: Dominatrixiat military base.




Space Forces


Athena Class Command Carrier 50*10=500
30p +5C3 +5D +5O +5B = 50
The first completed design for the newly created space forces was the Athena Class Command Carrier. The Athena class was intended to serve as mobile support for all facets of interstellar conquest. Their design borrows heavily from Xi Station, to the extent that Athena craft are nearly more like heavily armed mobile space stations than proper combat craft.


Valkyrie Class Attack Craft 25*20=500
10p +5H +10O = 25
The Valkyrie class attack craft were designed concurrently with the Athena CCs. The Valkyries are front line combat craft and are assigned two to a CC.


Durga Class Skirmisher 5*92=460
2p +2H +1O = 5
After their nationalization by the Dominatrixiat, the Wadjet Engineering Corps were ordered to begin producing warships immediatly. The first designs completed were dubbed Durga Class Skirmishers, and were intended to serve as small, cheap, fast attack craft in the DSF. Durga Class craft are essentially modified T-3 hulls, with their original light armor plating and long range sensor equipment removed to make room for more powerful hyperdrive systems, and heavier weaponry. While the Durga class craft are expected to serve adequatly in their role as agile gunships, the WEC are currently working on designs for more powerful dedicated warcraft.

WEC Type 3 Patrol Craft 5*100=500
2p +2D +1C3 = 5
A fairly basic vessel designed and produced by the Wadjet Engineering Corps to combat piracy and serve as emergency response craft in both Theta Mira and Alpha Cephi. WEC patrol craft have been manufactured at Grey Sea Station since long before the destruction of Terra. The Type 3 design is roughly two centuries old.



WEC Type 1 Interim Stealth Reconnaissance Vessel 10*4=40
2p +5S +3C3 = 10
During closed meetings of the High Command, it was decided that information on post-Imperial powers was woefully inadiquate. To rectify this situation, DSFHC formed the Dominatrixiat Intelligence Division (DIntDiv) whose immeadiate task was to devise a means to gather detailed information on nearby interstellar powers. In conjuntion with the WEC, DIntDiv created the first stealth ships of the DSF. The first (DSFV Sonya Olschanezky) was produced at Grey Sea and then taken to the newly commissioned headquarters of DIntDiv and the Special Projects Beuro aboard C-289 in Bara, where the other three were built and tested. T-1's are little more than fusion reactors and sophisticated subspace radio equipment encased in a large emissions sink. When all systems are active, a T-1 is virtually indestinguishable from the background radiation surrounding it, however with no optical camoflage a T-1 could be seen from a distance by sufficiently powerful optic sensors. Designs for more robust stealth craft are currently underway.
T-1s in service
DSFV Sonya Olschanezky
DSFV Virginia Hall
DSFV Sarah Aaronsohn
DSFV Yoshiko Kawashima

Expeditionary Force 1 425pts, Star A Star, Alpha Cephi
3 Athenas
6 Valkyries
25 Durgas

Expeditionary Force 2 425pts, Star A Star, Alpha Cephi
3 Athenas
6 Valkyries
25 Durgas

Expeditionary Force 3 425pts, Star 1, Theta Mira
3 Athenas
6 Valkyries
25 Durgas

Patrol 1 175pts, Patrol 1, Theta Mira
35 Type 3s

Patrol 2 175pts, Patrol 2, Alpha Cephi
35 Type 3s

Bara Defense Force 335pts, Asherah Station, Bara
1 Athena
2 Valkyries
17 Durgas
30 Type 3s

DIntDiv 40pts, C-289, Bara
4 Type 1s

Faction abilities
100p Improved logistics
Dominatrixiat High Command has ensured that (despite unrest in the recently annexed colonies) military supplies and repairs receive top priority. Additionally, the reverse engineered, potentially faulty tech used aboard Valkyirie and Athena craft has resulted in highly trained and specialized engineering officers being placed aboard all craft.

100p Improved counter-espionage
An (un)healthy atmosphere of paranoia pervades the Dominatrixiat government and military, making potential infiltration by outside (and inside) forces difficult.

100p Improved salvage
Standing orders for DSF, DCSP, and civilian ships state that disabled non-Dominatrixiat vessels are to be salvaged if at all possible, and live crewmembers taken alive for questioning.

200p D System defenses

*****under construction*****

[Crossroads Inc.]

[ The History of the Kushawni Imperial Province
Pre Colonization History
Long ago during the Third Great Expansion of the Terra Imperium, the then Emperor Kuzco commissioned a series of Massive Planetoid sized Colony ships. An “all the eggs in one basket’” approach that had manufacturing, construction, shipyards and goods and materials all in a single 100km sized Vessel.

Of the few constructed in the Boom of the Third Expansion, Teknotron-1 was one of the few that truly succeeded and lasted, though its mission was almost Doomed from the start. Deep into it’s initial crossing of the stars, a simple degenerative Nerve Virus began to mutate and rapidly spread amongst the crowded population of the ship. Tragically, the first victims were by and larges those in the “Sleeper” section of the ship. Thousands of people who went into sleep chambers never to wake up. Worse, many of these were the more influential and powerful that we’re planed to form the leadership roles upon landing.

Eventually, the AI ‘decided’ it couldn’t continue to wait for input from it’s Transhuman Masters and actively began to make choices on its own. The first choice it made was to ‘appropriate’ all research and scientific computers and focused itself solely to finding a cure. While a cure was eventually found, it had come at a high cost at the lost of much of the intial population.


Following the plague that ravaged the Colonists abored Teknotron-1 The Great CityMind that ran most of the Colony ship began to take on a more direct roll of leadership. It calculated that without direct intervention on it's part, mostly in the form of very liberal Breeding rules, the remaining humans might fully die out.

Having already made a massive shift in their views with Mind/Machine interface, the colonists once more found their strict Imperial views tested as sex was encouraged on a wide scale.

By the time colonizing of the first Planets in the newly established province we're under way, the population was back up to a healthy sustainable number. However from this point, the CityMind’s control over Political and Civic duties steadily grew. It learned before anyone else that there had been ((yet another)) collapse in the Imperium and the assumed heavy hand of Terra would not be around for quite some time.

Many of the new Liberal suggestion made by the CityMind helped to both increase moral as well as the Growth of the new Province. It did however cause a large rift between the 'Conservatives' who felt the true ideals of the Imperium we're being watered down or corrupted.

Too overcome such ill feelings, the CityMind began to reinforce feelings of Patriotism. With only sparse contact with the Imperium, it began to build up a different view of what it "should" be while reinforcing the old views of superiority as well as National Pride. To this end it also implemented the construction of a "Kushani Imperial Defense Service" again, under the flag of Patriotism. During this time the "Buster Corps" was also created mostly as an Elite Patriotic service anyone could strive to attain.

By the time contact with the Imperium was re-establish on a large scale, the Kushani Province was horrified to find it in the midst of a massive War.

The CityMind at last had an enemy to which it could focus its people. Ship building began in earnest as people we're warned that Once again, we must fend for ourselves It was during the war the CityMind made a choice it still regrets.

It calculated a distinct chance that The Enclave might cause enough confusion to breech the Imperial Defense and come to assault Terra. However, to placate it's people, and keep in reserve every ship it had, it assured them of Terra's safety and swift Imperial Victory.

When the news of Terra’s destruction at the hands of its own people reached them, it crushed the Kushani emotionally. Immediately many turned on the CityMind and blamed it for not sending their forces, yet as both the Imperium and the Enclave began to collapse, it was clear they would be needed close to home.

The “on our own” feelings returned more then ever as the CityMind laid out a new goal to stir it’s people. To someday return itself to the Terra System, and rebuild their shattered world.

===================================
Ships of the Kushawni Starfleet
===================================

“ Kushawni National Guard ” ((1050 Points))
Before the Collapse of Holy Terra, The Kushawni Province needed only a marginal home defense force. With only six planets in a small and compact sector of space, the CityMind calculated that heavy militarization was not needed, and only a small set of duel fleets would be sufficient to patrol the Province. If threats of a significant level ever presented themselves, the plan was for the National Guard to hold until Imperial help arrived. Unfortunately with the collapse of Terra, the Kushawni have found themselves woefully ill prepared for the oncoming storm.

“Tekonotron Class BattleShip” – 20 +5O = 25 x 2

Once the pride of the twin Kushawni Fleets, these ships seem woefully underpowered in the face of an angry and vicious galaxy. While not up to par with anything the Imperium once had, they can still hold their own against many large Capital ships.

“Benta Class BattleCruiser” - 15 +5H = 20 x 8

Built to flank the Battleships in combat, these ships we’re constructed to compliment the Battleships raw firepower with a high-speed weapon system. Far more meanvurable then larger ships, their can engage several small capital ships at once.

"Support Destroyer" - 10 +5D = 15 x 17

“Combat Destroyer" - 10 +5O = 15 x 16

The primary Escorts and patrol ships in the Kushawn Nationa Guard. They were constructed in two distinct types for either offensive or defensive actions. Support Destroyers have been constructed with additional layers of amour shielding and extensive redundancies and backup systems to maximize active life during combat. Mean while the ‘Combat Class’ Destroyer has an extensively upgraded weapon system including high powered long range forward Turbolasers.

"Sensors ship" - 10 +5C3 = 15 x 8

With the intense focus on trade and cargo ships going in and out of the Kushawni Province, smugglers and cloaked ships have always been a problem. Also illegal broadcasts for shady business deals have needed to be stamped out as well. To combat this, a standard Destroyer hull was retrofitted with advanced Electronics for both functions. As a result a Sensor ship is ideal for ferreting out cloaked ships, or jamming long range communications that don’t have explicate Kushawni authorization.

“The Imperial Kushawni Starforce” ((135 Points))
The Instant Terra was destroyed, everything changed. The CityMind knew it could no longer relay upon the Imperium for help from large threats and thus began a rapid and radical Militarization of it’s forces. It scraped designs for the current “National Guard” and drew up plans for a proper military that could go toe to toe with threats to it’s people. The result was a line of ships that looked radically different from what was currently in production. The new ships we’re design directly for Long range focused attacks. They would be cold and functional Wedge ships, designed to focus all fire upon a single target at any one time.
More so they would be including military technologies that would ordinarily be out of reach or specifically banned from small-scale systems. Now with the Imperium gone, exotic weapon systems we’re fare game.
However such a leap of Scale in production was not without a price. So far, only the Heaviest ships of this new production, the new Exelion class Battleships have been built.

Exelion Class Battleship - 38 +5O +2D = 45 x 2
Luxion Class Cruiser –30 +3O +2I = 35x1
Hexeon Class Destroyer. –20 +3D +2C3 =25x1
Durexion Class Corvette –5 +5H = 10x0


CityClass Trade Vessels ((270 Points))
Since the expansion of the Kushawni Province, the CityMind has been keen to create visible symbols of their business connections as well as wealth. Up until the collapse of the Imperium, many Titanic tradeships cruised the space as Avatars of the provinces wealth.


Bentuselion - 40 +10D +5H +5S = 60 x X
The single largest ship in the Kushawni Starfleet. It was constructed to dwarf even the immense Tradeships of the province as the ultimate symbol of power and the Mobil ‘Avatar’ of the CityMind itself.


Tradeship – 30 +3D +2I= 35x 3
At the height of power in the Kushawni Province, the City mind decided to make a visible statement of the growing prominence of it’s System and the vast amount of trade goods passing in and out. Each of the primary star systems within the Kushawni Province along with the Capital of Teknotron itself, was commissioned to construct a titanic trading vessel to become both the public face of the Province fro the rest of the Imperium but also a symbol to show their strength and project their power through their systems.
At the height of the Provinces power under Imperium rule, more than a dozen of these ships lumbered elegantly across the systems. However, with the destruction of Terra, the immense cost of them could not longer simply be written off. More than half were sadly sent to scrap as the rest we’re, like the Bentusilion, put into drydock for militarization. After years in retrofitting, the once friendly and inviting harbors present a cold and stern line of defense for the Kushawni people.

“Civilian Conscripts” ((315 Points))
When Terra Collapsed, The CityMind looked for new ships everywhere it could. In this regard, it called for a public Conscription of any able bodied Tradeship that could be fitted with small, yet powerful military grade weapons. While even the larges of private cargo ships we’re ill equipped for military duty, the numbers of new ships have filled a vital roll in system Patrol and escort duties.
One down side has been the vast amount of different ships to work with, nd any sort of Standardization with them has long since been given up by the Military.
((A Note. Any self respecting Cargo Captain has their ship tweaked one way or the other, so far, most of those who have been conscripted all have highly enhanced HyperDrives))

Large Cargo ships – 5+1H x 25
Small Cargo ships – 3+1H x 40
“The NovaOutlaw” –4 +1H x 1
A small sub standard 80metre Cargoship that is piloted by the fearless ‘Genea Solwynn’ while categorized as a sub-escort, one must never underestimate its pilot or history.

BUSTER MACHINES ((221 Points))
With the advent in perfect Man/Machine interface, a new leap in military application was applied. Since embracing the mix between Man and Machine, more and more construct began to resemble Humanoid shapes. Indeed many standard machines, from construction equipment to military gear, became more humanoid and functional as people ‘Became’ those machines. The Pinnacle of these Humanoid machines came to be known as “Busters”. For Decades this name was given to any Humanoid warmachine that distinguished itself. However in the past 50 years, the CityMind drew up plans for a standardized ‘BusterMachine’. These machines we’re immensely more sophisticated then anything that came before them. Their ability to move across space at blinding speeds and come to asset the neddy in moments earned them a Heroic status amongst many of the Kushawni people.

ProductionLine BusterMachine: ((170 Points))
06 +1O +1D +1H +1S= 10 x 17

Specialized Busters 50 Points
BusterMachines have always been thought of as “Living Machines” and the oldest among them have indeed grown beyond their normal production standards. Adding components and in some cases completely overhauling their original structure. Of these, numbers 12, 14 and 8 are the most radically different.
BusterMachine #12
09 +1O +2D +2H +2S = 16 x 1
BusterMachine #14
10 +2O +2D +1H +2S = 17 x 1
BusterMachine #8
10 +3O +2D +1H +1S = 17 x 1

===================================
Star Systems of the Kushawni Province
===================================

After intial colonization finally took place. The CityMind found the corner of space that had been selected fully of half a dozen planet rich star systems.

Teknotron-1 Class 1 colony
((10pts +100 racial Pts for Massive Drydocks ))
The Immense colony ship that cradle the Kushawni populace is now its’ most populated ‘world’ Like a great whale, the Surface of the once mighty ship is encrusted with massive domed cities and sealed buildings. While it has no resources and no atmosphere, massive hydroponics forms inside produce nearly all the food needed. With much of the populace on the surface of the immense planet ship, much of the interior space has been taken over by the CityMind and converted into manufacturing. Indeed the small world contains most of the more advanced manufacturing production areas for the Kushawni Province as well as the primary Drydocks for the most massive of Starships.
The Ship still boasts an impressive array of defensive weapon systems that have slowly grown over the years thanks to the CityMind itself. As for the ships original Massive drive engines, while they have not been activated since the ship first stopped, they are rumored to be kept in working condition.

Primary colony worlds ((6 x 8pts Colonies))
Of the local star systems in the Kushawni Province, the largest four became the most populates and prosperous.
Benta System
Primary System, Home to planet Benta which Teknotron-1 orbits.

• 3 x 4pts colonies
• 15 x 2pts Outposts


Racial Attributes

• Massive Shipyards: 100
• Improved Logistics: 100
• Improved Espionage: 125
• Improved Counter Espionage: 125
• Improved Sensor Nets 50

[Tanasinn]

This OOB is under construction: all details are currently subject to change.

The Humanist Union


General Overview
The Humanist Union is a pseudo-meritocracy run by its founder, a posthuman named Ivan Petrov who is commonly (and informally) referred to as "Father," and his favored circle. It is a highly militant, expansionist nation marked for having a general hostility to foreign nations (both from within the Empire and without) and a passionate dislike for alien organisms. Citizens of the Humanist Union believe that it is mankind's purpose and right to expand its reach to the ends of space, improving itself in all ways possible into the distant future. They further believe that it is up to each man and woman to earn his place in that future. All are judged, rewarded, and punished based on their actions and their value to society, regardless of their current social position, lineage, or allies. Petrov's status as an absolute dictator makes this possible; he can and does intervene whenever necessary to assure that his nation remains a meritocracy. Union citizens, naturally, embrace cybernetics and genetic modifications with unreserved zeal: many citizen-forms are barely recognizable as human. It is the Union's open belief that all of mankind deserve a chance to earn their worth, free from the parasitism of the luckily-born or the silver-tongued scum who make up the ruling classes of most human nations. Union dislike for alien sapients is cruel and simple: they are rivals.

History
The Humanist Union's founding Imperial Protectorate, the Khan Union, was an old and reserved state, a small league of planets ruled over largely by military tech producers and a myriad of research corporations. The main export of this protectorate included cutting-edge technology and, more significantly, simple military brawn. The Khan Union focused a great deal of its economic might on maintaining a large, powerful military that it regularly “rented” to the Empire proper and other protectorates in exchange for supplies of necessities such as foodstuffs, as well raw resources to fuel their massive industries.

As time progressed, military dominance of the Khan Union grew to the point where politicians had largely been replaced by or were controlled through hard-nosed, no-nonsense military commanders. Most of these men detested political games and held strong ideas of merit-based rule and species-wide human advancement. These ideas tended to clash with the Earth-worshiping decadence of conservative Imperials and the profit motives of the heads of the Union's powerful military production and research industries. Inevitably, this lead to a clash within the highly militarized protectorate. “Traditionalist” forces included true believers in the Imperial creed, corporate heads who wished to maintain power, and those political officials who had come to resent the growing influence of the Khan Union's military officials. Their opposition, the “Progressives,” were not strictly anti-Imperial: indeed, such would have been suicidal. They instead rallied around a popular banner of “killing the parasites” they felt to be feeding upon and harming society. This faction consisted of the majority of the active commanding naval and army officers, as well as a huge portion of the public and a respectable portion of those in the research industry who felt that they were being exploited for their ideas or held back by moralistic regulations. The civil war itself was relatively brief and extremely savage on both sides: the Traditionalist faction, lacking in popular support and military prowess, found itself almost entirely annihilated. Those leaders who did not flee to other protectorates within the Empire were killed by firing squads arranged by the victorious Progressives.

The Progressive victory did not come easy: the vast majority of the charismatic, idealist military commanders that made up the faction's leadership were killed by their beliefs in battle. One of the few remaining ones, the extreme hardliner Vice Admiral Ivan Petrov, observed the power vacuum and seized as much authority as he could grasp, rooting out and executing those high-ranking officials left who showed even slight Traditionalist sympathies. Few objected to his sudden position at the top of the Khan Union: indeed, he was easily the most experienced and successful of all living military commanders in the state. The Khan Union had been absolutely devastated by its civil war: countless numbers had died in the various battles, and billions now found themselves starving due to the lack of trade with prolific agricultural producers, many of whom thought it unwise to risk sending vulnerable trade convoys into what had been a warzone until very recently. The Progressive leadership of the Khan Union made a fateful decision: it formally declared the protectorate a meritocracy, and then proceeded to strip the nation to the bare bones of survival, shedding the last vestiges of its bureaucracy. Vice Admiral Petrov was unambiguously appointed at the head of the Khan Union, and he proceeded to brutally kick the nation back into shape. Necessities such as power, food, and water went to those individuals, worlds, and cities which worked the hardest towards reconstruction and produced the greatest industrial or agricultural output. Many millions signed onto the military to earn their way to food. The Khan Union, formally renamed as the Humanist Union, resumed its role as an exporter of “military assistance” eagerly and with enthusiasm in order to assure the Empire of its loyalty and to draw economic support through its actions.

As the Humanist Union stabilized it became increasingly isolationist in all ways that it could afford; hostility towards perceived social parasitism in the rest of the Empire and a belief that the Empire's citizens had grown sedentary bred growing resentment in the citizens of the Humanist Union, who had begun to embrace the idea of actively striving to move beyond mere humanity to as great a degree as possible. As the Empire deteriorated the unspoken hostility and desire for advancement grew, Petrov had become so much more than a human: though years of intense medical research, he become one of the Humanist Union's first true posthumans. Petrov was not greedy when it came to the gifts he had been granted. With stabilization complete and his own ascendancy assured, he began to put into place systems designed to reward and enhance those who proved their value to the Union; he offered the gift of posthumanism. Rooted on the Progressive ideals of advancement as a species, the sheer variety of enhancements grew exponentially alongside the reach of the social systems designed to distribute these gifts. Gene therapy, cybernetics, and changes to the very core elements that direct a human being's development all became typical...among those who proved themselves deserving. The desire to become "more than human" became one of the goals that drove not just the idealist leaders of the Humanist Union, but its common men and women, too. This new era was marked by a violent surge in nationalism and humanocentric ideas, the latter of which were had roots both in Imperial Earth-worship and the pursuit of perfection in posthumanism. It was also marked by the death of the last "legendary" command figure of the civil war besides Petrov himself, Vice Admiral Anya Paterson. This left the posthuman as the Humanist Union's most significant living link to the past.

It was following the stabilization of the Humanist Union and during the proliferation of its posthuman enhancement programs that the Imperial-Enclave war suddenly and violently began. At this point, isolationist ideas within the Humanist Union had hit their peak: the outside world was viewed as corrupt and debased, a collection of motley societies ruled by fat, lazy, incompetent bureauocrats who were leading the human race down the road of extinction. The attack on the Empire polarized this attitude in some, who felt that the vulnerability of most of humanity had become apparent even to outsiders. Petrov and his ruling circle, however, knew that the Humanist Union was in a dangerous position. Excess of anti-Imperial sentiments would spell the doom of the nation and its people if the Enclave incursion was forced back. Petrov made the choice to commit significant Union military assets to the Imperial war effort, inviting refugees from the war and appealing to his people to accept them as misled but priceless human beings in an attempt to bring the "common man" closer to the outsider Imperial citizen and muffle radical isolationists during what was a sensitive and unpredictable time. The war dragged on, however, and Imperial inability to claim victory bolstered contempt among the common Union citizen and convinced Petrov that he could begin to drop the charade of the "loyal protectorate." Humanist Union fleets and armies were increasingly recalled until all forces had been reassigned to fortify the Union itself. As the latest days of the war arrived, Petrov felt that the writing was on the wall, and raids on vulnerable Imperial shipping were commenced in order to help fuel the Union and prepare it for what were sure to be chaotic times.

It took the final, decisive destruction of Earth for Petrov to reveal his full hand, however. With the two great powers of the Imperial-Enclave war exhausted, his fleets experienced and well-supplied, and his people motivated and fed, Petrov declared formal independence from the Empire. He went on to encourage remnants to rebel against remaining Imperial authorities and ally themselves with the Humanist Union, attempting to appeal to these fragments with offers of security and freedom from political and religious parasitism. Indeed, the Humanist Union would formally denounce most of the works of the Empire, vowing to free humanity from the shackles of petty tyrants and encouraging mankind as a whole to rally together against those who had laid them so low from both within and without.

Culture
The culture of the Humanist Union emphasizes the importance of personal merit and service to the human race above all things. While the human is seen as almost-sacred, the human form itself and the cradles of humanity are not. Union culture encourages and accepts enhancements of all kinds, from the cybernetic to the genetic; they are seen as proofs of worth amongst the citizens of the state. Interestingly, there are some elements of culture within the Union that actually discriminate against the masses of unenhanced or mildly-enhanced citizens; "chimp" and "ape" are both common epithets amongst the bigoted, who see the unenhanced as lazy, stupid, or worthless. While such attitudes are heavily frowned upon by the authorities that rule the Union, they have proven difficult to stamp out. Indeed, it is somewhat telling that many who work for enhancement openly admit that shame drives them just as much as the genuine desire to have worth to the species. Other forms of bigotry within the Union are under-represented or non-present: racism has been largely dead since the civil war and purges of the Traditionalists, while Union society has always held the authoratative, economically successful woman as a cultural ideal. Ageism tends to exist only where the unenhanced are concerned: the older unenhanced tend to be the target of much more hatred (for perceived uselessness) than the young. The Union might be said to be free of problems concerning the mentally disabled, but that is largely because eugenics and gene therapy programs have made such unfortunate individuals almost non-existent among the state's citizens. Attitudes towards alien sapients are markedly hostile: they are seen as the unambiguous animal rivals for humanity. They are never trusted: it is seen as only natural and completely unavoidable that other species will inevitably seek to secure their dominance at the cost of other sapients. What few alien sapients who do live within Union space live in small, isolated "study" communities. While public hostility towards these populations is quite high, representatives of the government are fierce in protecting them from harm, due largely to their anthropological, sociological, cultural, and biological study uses.

The military is held with particularly high regard by the citizens of the Union. It is thanks to the military that the Humanist Union exists, thanks to the military that the state is kept safe from parasitic pirate filth and interloper jackal-nations, and thanks to the military that the Humanist Union is able to free oppressed, stagnant human populations from the chains of greedy dictators so that they might be allowed to freely propel the human species down the road of advancement. The military is considered by many citizens to be the ideal way to prove personal merit and earn posthumanism from the government. When this palpable prize is combined with cultural attitudes that demand "proof" of worth, it is no wonder why the ranks of the Union's army are so vast and driven.

Technology

General

Cybernetics
Cybernetics are universally embraced within the Humanist Union, and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and functions. Some are designed to allow interfacing with military starships, some are designed to deal with hostile atmospheres, and some are designed to augment human mental capabilities. Others enhance the senses or provide extra limbs where needed. Still others are used to make human functions more efficient: certain artificial organs come into play here. Cybernetics are typically awarded by the government, powerful companies, or legal distributors. Basic civilian cybernetics are typically purchased with money earned through working for a paying employer or given as rewards by companies for outstanding performance; government and military cybernetics are usually only available to those who prove they deserve them while in civil service fields such as the army or navy. Cybernetic enhancements are very much status symbols, physical proof that a given holder is earning his posthumanism one step at a time.

Genetic Enhancements
Drastic genetic enhancements tend to be less common and more problematic than cybernetics. These "upgrades" may simply involve making a person a baseline human (a basic healthy human body is a legal right for all Union citizens), or they may involve enhancements that increase strength, improve bodily systems, or even increase natural lifespans. The problem with such genetic level enhancements (besides the difficulty in successfully implementing them), is the fact that they can be "passed on," giving a meritless infant a head-start. This runs directly counter to Humanist Union ideals on rewards going to those who earn them through deed alone. This issue is currently handled mostly though heavy restriction of genetic enhancements: only the most valuable members of society can expect to receive them, and the ability to pass them on is factored in as part of the reward. The alternate approach to handling this problem is limiting the number of children a genetically enhanced person may have: a person who just barely earns genetic transformations may not be allowed to have any children at all in exchange. As a rule, genetic enhancements on a low level are being worked into each generation of citizens born within the Union in order to make them tougher, more disease-resistent, smarter, and longer lasting. These low-key pursuits proceed at a much lower pace than the sudden changes awarded to specific individuals.

Jump Drive
Your standard every-day method of faster-than-light travel. Union jump drives are meant to be rugged, long-term pieces of equipment: this boosts their cost to some degree, but allows ships to operate longer in the field. Few people within the Union actually understand the complex mathematical absurdities that let this exotic drive system work, so they tend to be designed with the ignorant mechanic in mind: parts are highly modular and designed to be disposed of and replaced, not repaired.

Military

Railcannon
Railcannons make up the primary armament of most Union capital ships. They operate by sending an electrical charge through one of the cannon's rails the travels through the projectile to the other rail. Once a force is applied to the projectile, this results in a round being accelerated out of the cannon at extremely high speeds, giving it excellent penetration against even well-armored and shielded targets. Small and medium Union railguns fire unguided projectiles at respectable rate. Heavy railcannons, which fire more slowly and thus must make their shots count, usually fire rounds fitted with small booster rockets that allow for course corrections or an acceleration burn before impact. Overall, railcannons fire fairly slowly, but make up for it in damage.

Missile Pods
Missile pods are typically the secondary armament of any Union capital ship. Modern anti-missile systems make missile-based weapons somewhat risky: missiles must accelerate as they're launched and tend to be bulkier and more fragile than hard rounds. Standard Union missile systems overcome this by firing clusters of independent high-explosive missiles that can overwhelm anti-missile fire with sheer volume of fire. These clutches have the additional advantage of being able to be spread over an area of varying size, unlike a singly-launched missile. Missile pods vary in launch tubes from ship to ship, and the missiles themselves vary in both yield and size based on ship class and launcher purpose. Missile pods are able to launch their payloads all at once or can stagger their firing.

Cruise Missiles
Specialized weapons typically limited to support ships or large capital ships, cruise missiles are expensive and extremely dangerous. Guided by a relatively advanced AI to compensate for their singular nature and large size, Union cruise missiles are adept at predicting and thus avoiding enemy anti-missile defense firing patterns. They are often fired behind large volleys of standard missiles in a technique typically called “screening” or “flak-walling.” Cruise missiles are usually fired at areas perceived to have been weakened by other, lighter fire: they serve to crack open wide what the railcannons gut and the missile pods mangle. Besides precision fire from larger railcannons, cruise missiles are the primary weapon utilized by the Union for capital-ship-based orbital bombardment.

Autocannons
Autocannons are relatively primitive weapons that rely on chemical propulsion to fire streams of fairly large, explosive, unguided rounds at a target. Autocannons are usually only mounted on smaller capital ships to save on energy costs or as defensive weapons for dealing with fighters and missiles. Their primary advantages over lasers as defensive weapons are their far lower power requirement and ability to fire rounds that explode into flak mid-vacuum, making direct hits unnecessary to mangle or kill both missiles and fightercraft. Modern Union warships usually fire “pulse” shells that, upon being fired, are briefly enveloped with a high-temperature energy field that aids in penetration through the massive heat provided. Autocannons are the standard dueling guns of most Union fightercraft, and are found as the main guns on most shipping vessels: their low energy and material costs make them more practical than railcannons here.

Lasers
Union laser arrays are strictly defensive weapons, and specialized at that. Lasers are considered somewhat inefficient due to their low lethality and high energy cost. They are, however, terrifying and efficient anti-fighter and anti-missile weapons: laser emitters will typically drop all by the most lucky or tough fighters and missiles in a single hit. Lasers propagate at light speed, making “dodging” a firing laser emitter literally impossible. The invisible nature of the beam (except when artificially made visible by ship equipment) has some psychological effect, as well. Their slow firing rate and high energy cost, however, means that most capital ships have only a light array of defensive lasers that fire on priority targets; autocannons handle most other riff-raff. Lasers are fairly unpopular on fightercraft: support railcannon or large autocannon are preferred “heavy” weapons due to their usefulness against capital ships and smaller craft.

Energy Fields
More typically called "shields," energy fields are the primary defense for all naval ships significantly larger then a fightercraft, and can also be found on some large vehicles, such as Union Guard hovertanks. Shields possess many advantages that have led to their adoptation: among these are their regenerative properties, their ability to be directed over specific areas facing heavy bombardment, and their greater defensive efficiency on large-scale objects.

Ablative Armor
All armored Union vehicles possess a layer of ablative armor, whether they're shielded or not. Unlike conventional armor, which attempts to stop an attack directly, ablative armor crumbles, breaks, or evaporates, transferring the energy in an impact into the ablated armor rather than the armored object itself. Ablative armor sees its most concentrated use in unshielded vehicles, but also "backs up" energy shields on Union naval craft and gives them a defense when shields fail due to lack of power or intense bombardment.



Humanist Union Military

Army
The army of the Humanist Union is made up mostly of standard, "pure" humans or those who have only light modifications. Troop training emphasizes teamwork over all things, with many men and women instructed in specialized fields, such as demolitions. Standard army troops are expected to work in conjunction with armor assets, but are usually kept seperate from the more specialized Union Guard. The standard trooper sports a standard heavily-refined, high-power automatic rifle that can be submerged, beaten, used as a club, and even buried and still be expected to work. A lightweight pistol acts as a backup when ammunition is depleted or the soldier's rifle somehow destroyed. Army vehicles are designed with simplicity and survivability in mind, and are crewed with specialized posthumans where applicable.

Union Guard
The Union Guard are roughly analogous to the marines in their purpose and are often called such. Made up mostly of advanced posthuman soldiers, Union Guard units are augmented with light armor pieces, such as hovertanks and various light helicopters. On the ground, the Union Guard are used to attack vital weaknesses opened by army units or to spearhead difficult assaults. While their vehicular assets tend to consist of lightly-armored, high-firepower, high-speed craft, individual troopers can take significantly more punishment than a man in most conceivable ways. Cybernetic and biological modifications fine-tune their behavior for ideal performance. The line guardsman is armed with a "pulse rifle," which fires energy-sheathed ammunition, and is invariably equipped with a NBC powered suit that allows the individual guardsman to operate even in extreme environments. These suits display no rank, only unit and national insignia; personal modifications are against regulations.

Air Force
The air force is a division of the Union navy. Most Union aircraft (both terrestrial and vacuum) are compact drones, but intensively-trained posthuman pilots in heavy aircraft or light interceptors supplement and aid these drones. Fighters tend to be specialized to either vacuum or terrestrial combat, but human pilots are expected to and do train for both battlefields. Terrestrial combat is considered easier and safer, and this is where most human pilots are expected to first prove their worth for duty in vacuum units. In both cases, human pilots tend to be heavily-modified posthumans. Most Union naval ships carry only a small complement "meat" fighters to assist the cheaper, more compact drones: the dry navy does not utilize bombercraft in the vaccuum, instead focusing on interception and leaving the bombardment to capital-scale weapons.

Wet Navy
The wet navy is essentially dead in the Humanist Union. The dry navy takes many of the roles that its counterpart served: ferrying troops, providing fire support, carrying aircraft, and preserving trade lanes. Most wet navy ships are light escorts and small terrestrial aircraft carriers. The wet navy is a strictly defensive force for the most part: offense-based wet navies only rear their heads during the conquring of planets where long-term orbital support is limited or unavailable. Recently, a new vessel type has appeared in the wet navy: the orbital strike submarine, a craft carrying a payload of heavy missiles for surface-to-orbit strikes.

Dry Navy
As all military minds know, control of space means control of a planet. This truth has seen to it that the Union dry navy is the most powerful and well-funded of all military branches in the Humanist Union. The navy's duties include delivering troops, blockading planets, and protecting shipping. Without the navy, the Humanist Union's war machine lacks the ability to project its power.

Dry Navy Units
(All ship diagrams are represented top-down unless otherwise noted. Cruise missile tubes are entirely internal weapons. Weapons not necessarily to scale.)

001X-class Recon Prowler - 5 points (2 base, 3 Stealth)
The 001X is designed by a relative newcomer to the naval ship arena, Monolith Technologies. It is speculated that this is part of the reason why the 001X has almost no presence in the Humanist Union Navy: its producers have yet to prove the merit of the company or the merit of their ship to the powers that be. More practically and importantly, the 001X is a super-specialized ship still considered a prototype. Its role is exclusively as a scout or observer: its armament and defenses are at a sub-destroyer level and are mostly intended to ward off lighter craft. What the 001X does do well, however, is hide. Contained within its slender hull are the most modern stealth technologies produced within Union space, and these are what allow this ship to move amongst its enemies to better coordinate strikes from the navy proper. It has only seen limited use in this official role, mostly against pirate "armadas" and Imperial shipping convoys guarded by secondline ships or mercenaries. Whether this ship will perform against a real navy with enough success to be deemed worthy of further production remains to be seen. At the present time, each mobile unit of the navy possesses only one 001X. These test ships are crewed largely by the commanders and crews of destroyers, which are the traditional recon ships of the Union navy.


115-class Destroyer - 4 points (4 base; retired fluff ship)
The 115 was the primary destroyer employed by the later Khan Union and the early Humanist Union, a sturdy vessel built without excess in mind. 115s evolved over their production period, but were never formally replaced by a new ship in their line: the 115b was considered needlessly expensive for its refinements and the 116 never made it past the early prototype stages, largely due to cost overruns. Despite this lack of a formally named successor, a late production run 115 had many differences from the first runs of the ship; newer models tended to be simplified for cost-efficiency, with the occasional "fix" for the vessel's flaws. These flaws included the energy distribution systems, whose main "trunk" could be severed by penetrating hits with catastrophic effect, as well as the ship's modest frame. Modern-day proponents of the 115 tend to dismiss these issues as grossly overstated or acceptable costs for the sake of resource efficiency, but the Humanist Union Navy is not inclined to agree. 115s have largely been broken down for recycling into the new 121s or have been sold off to private companies or foreign nations, where they serve out the rest of their days in the inglorious role of convoy escort or second-line defensive duty. A very select few have made it into the hands of pirate syndicates, where their military-class armor, shielding, and armaments combine with their easily-maintained nature to make them the terror of merchant traffic everywhere.



121 "Wolf"-class Destroyer - 5 points (4 base, 1 Defense)
The flare-headed Tyba Industries 121-class Destroyer, known informally as the "Wolf," is the most recent of Humanist Union, having replaced the aging, venerable 115 amongst all four mobile units in the formal navy. These new vessels are almost universally preferred over their older brother: they sport better-designed energy distribution systems, protecting them from being crippled by penetrating shots as easily, and they also have a more robust (though less bulky) frame. More importantly, however, the 121 can act in the capacity of a light electronic warefare ship, defending its larger bretheren in battle by throwing up jamming fields and filling comms channels with interference; the older 115's EW gear was merely standard. 121s primarily serve in escort, scout, and patrol duty; their small size, EW capabilities, and decent numbers suit them ideally for these roles. Its greater expense is considered an acceptable payoff for its greater ability when compared to the 115, and it seems likely that the 121's lifespan will last well into the forseeable future. The origin of the "Wolf" moniker is not known; some assert that it originates from the "wolf pack" three-ship pirate-hunting units these ships often serve in, while others contend that the name is based upon the piercing howl the 121s can jam comms channels with.



Tyba Industries Type-89; "Crate" - n/a points (industrial fluff ship)
The Tyba Industries Type-89 is a civilian cargo ship that was, for a time, nearly ubiquitous in Union space. It has seen the decline and fall of the Khan Union, the rise of the Humanist Union, and the death of the Empire. It was even born before and managed to outlive Tyba Industries' other old campaigner, the 115-class destroyer. The 89 today may be on the decline (due largely to the rise of the Type-91), but it will still surely be a fairly common sight amongst corporate fleets for years to come. The Type-89's wild popularity is partially a result of its price: Type-89s are, for interstellar vessels, extremely cheap to produce, purchase, and maintain. When these things are considered along with its great cargo capacity, it becomes clear why even Tyba Industries' competitors often owned (and still own) Type-89s. The ship does have its drawbacks, however. It is, like all freighters, lightly armed: it has only two dual light autocannon turrets; these weapons are usually only useful for smashing apart light craft or convincing smaller pirate ships to stay away. They're essentially useless against any serious military ship. Like the (younger) 115, the Type-89 had a highly centralized power distribution system for much the same reasons the 115 eventually would: cost efficiency and easy of maintenence. Unfortunately for the Type-89, its main power trunk runs fairly close to the "spine" of the ship, passing underneath one of the vessel's autocannon arrays and its ammunition bunker. A hit on the Type-89's spinal turret can set off the ammunition bunker, taking out the power trunk and crippling the vessel temporarily. When the thin armor and shielding inherent to all civilian craft are considered, it becomes obvious why this is the most serious drawback of the ship. Type-89s, due to their tremendously common and simple nature, are easy to find parts to and modify. Most pirate "capital ships" are, in fact, just Type-89s with autocannon turrets inserted into the flanks of the boxy craft. In these cases, the robust, centralized power trunk serves the Type-89 very well indeed.


Tyba Industries Type-91 - n/a points (industrial fluff ship)
A new ship for a new age, the Type-91 takes most of its cues from the aging Type-89: it's large, simplistic, and cheap. Maintaining them is easy and costs relatively little. Many of its systems are even designed to resemble the Type-89 specifically, making transition into the new ship easy for both captain and crew. The Type-91, of course, does have its differences. It is slightly larger than the Type-89, with increases in both cargo and crew quarters; the latter allows for longer operations without the shore leave that more claustrophobic freighters demand. It sports four autocannon turrets instead of two: each is a single-barrel design mounted nowhere near the Type-91's energy distribution trunk; this arrangement increases the number of targets the Type-91 can handle. It also has a more robust shield system than the Type-89. The Type-91 naturally has drawbacks; the need for four ammunition bunkers instead of two results in some of the precious new space aboard the cargo sections being wasted. The ship is also more expensive than the Type-89. This, combined with the lower spare parts proliferation for the 91, makes the purchasing these newer ships a riskier investment.


150 "Albatross" -class Support Cruiser - 8 points (4 base, 2 C3, 2 Interdiction)
The 150-class United Shipyards Light Support Cruiser, better-known by the moniker of "Albatross," is one of the Humanist Union Navy's most specialized capital ships. Unlike most Union vessels, which put a premium on balance above all things, the 150 invests heavily in gear designed to enhance the performance of entire mobile units. The 150 is the beating heart of any deployment's C3 and interdiction capabilities. This support gear comes at a cost, however: the 150 has standard firepower and defense on the level of a destroyer rather than a cruiser. This is a disadvantage in its inderdictor role: it typically requires support to deal with trapped ships, and this necessitates greater investment in such deployments. The 150's highly task-specific nature makes it somewhat unpopular among ship commanders, who resent its lack of brawling ability or defensive resilience, as well as fleet commanders, who see them as costly burdens. This resentment is the source of the ship's moniker, in fact: it is a sarcastic reference to the burden borne by the narrator of the ancient poem, The Rime of the Ancient Marinere. Actual 150 commanders, for their part, accept this insulting label with indifference: they know well enough the important logistical role they play, and they are typically proud of it.

202 "Stiletto"-class Cruiser - 10 points (10 base)
The 202-class United Shipyards Medium Cruiser, informally called the "Stiletto" for its narrow dagger shape, is the iconic ship of the Humanist Union Navy, being the most omnipresent "medium firepower" ship in in any given mobile unit. This status is hard-won and well-earned: the 202 is an extremely balanced ship that performs well in a variety of roles, both alone and in conjunction with units of varying size. The 202 serves primarily as a bridge between heavier battlecruisers and light destroyers, serving to support fire by and against both. A fairly new design, the 202 shows marginal improvements over the 201 that preceeded it: its shielding gear is much more efficient and its communications systems are not as easily-jammed. It also sports some improvements to hull integrity that allow it to operate under greater damage. No examples of the 201 currently exist: as with all United Shipyards vessels, a premium was put on modular design and upgradability, and as a result, all 201s were converted to 202s to accompany newly-produced ones. Further typical of United Shipyards is the 202's extremely rugged design: it can operate under tremendous damage for extended periods of time. Were it not for its distinctive shape, this cruiser might be known as the "Invincible"-class instead.

255 "Broadsword"-class Cruiser - 15 points (13 base, 2 Defense)
The 255 United Shipyards Heavy Cruiser, also called the "Broadsword," is a vessel that is seeing increased popularity in the Humanist Union Navy. Originally designed to lead medium cruisers and destroyers into missions where a battlecruiser would be uncalled for, the 255 has become a much more "mainstream" ship: it is almost as common as the 202 in the "medium" capital ship role. This is due largely to its greater tactical flexibility. 255s mount sophisticated electronic warfare equipment that allow them to predict, analyze, and defeat enemy attempts to target and attack allied vessels. This ability gives the 255 increased staying power against ships of similar firepower. The 255 is not merely known for its electronic warfare abilities, however. It is bigger and meaner than the 202, sporting superior firepower and better defenses even without considering its EW gear. The 255, like the 202, is an extremely rugged and modular design, capable of operating under drastically dire circumstances without failing. Unlike the 202, however, the 255 is the first of its line. Its moniker is a play off of the 202's title: it plays a similar role to the 202 and is even shaped similar, but its wider frame and heavier punch has lead to it being called the "Broadsword" to the 202's "Stiletto."

7050 "Ogre"-class Battlecruiser - 22 points (20 base, 2 Offense; retired fluff ship)
The 7050 is a relic of the Khan Union's civil war, a powerful, quick capital ship whose moniker came from its absolutely brutal firepower. 7050s were produced by Parry Solutions, a now-defunct naval company that produced ships on both sides of the civil war, favoring the losing Traditionalist side. It was the 7050's origins with this company that effectively "stained" it and doomed it to be retired. This process actually seemed doomed for failure, at first: the 300 and 320 battlecruisers were failures compared to the 7050, and only the former of the two performed at the same level as the 7050. It was the 340 that sealed the fate of the 7050, however, and not merely because it was a finally acceptable battlecruiser: the new ship was superior in almost all regards, but especially defense. 7050s, while noteworthy for their offensive might, are quite fragile for their size, which forces them to rotate with other ships in heavy brawls or to utilize hit-and-run techniques. Either way, 7050s end up being costly to constantly repair, even if the actual repair processes were simple. Most 7050s were destroyed for materials by the Union, those few Traditionalist vessels that escaped destruction in the civil war either fled Union space (where they likely found oblivion during the Imperial-Enclave war), or ended up in pirate cartels (where they were almost always destroyed by the Union navy or rendered down to make ships that needed less frequent repairs). At least one 7050 is still occasionally sighted within Union space: the Demeter, a former Traditionalist vessel last formally used to evacuate survivors from a space station that had covertly been comprimised with a viral agent inserted by Progressive deep operatives. The crew and passengers supposedly died due to the presence of one or more infected amongst the evacuees. Most experts agree that the vast majority of Demeter sightings are falsehoods or of an unaccounted-for pirate 7050 disguised to take advantage of the grisly story of the supposed ghost ship.

340 "Cheetah"-class Battlecruiser - 22 points (20 base, 2 Defense)
The 340 is the first truly successful battlecruiser produced by Vell Drive Systems, the primary supplier of the Humanist Union's largest ships since its formal creation. It replaces the Parry Solutions 7050 Battlecruiser, a design dating back to the Khan Union which saw most of its action on both sides of the civil war. Parry Solutions' infamous preference for the Traditionalists, however, ultimately saw the dissolution of their arms company and the removal of all of their ships from the victorious Progressive navies, among these the iconic 7050. Vell Drive Systems, whose formative companies had produced battleships for the Progressives, were tasked with replacing this reminder of past times. The project seemed destined for failure, however. The 300 was considered too expensive, and the 320 is still considered the single largest disaster in Humanist Union military equipment: naval commanders refused to use it under any conditions. Forced to eat their costs, Vell Drive Systems was on the verge of bankruptcy when the first 340 saw the cold light of space. This final attempt was a godsend for the ailing company. The 340 is faster, better-defended, more efficiently crewed, more cost effective, and much more simplistic than the classic 7050. The complete expulsion of the older vessel holds the quickest record for a ship type change in the navy's history, edging out the replacement of the 201 with the 202 by a mere month. The 340 is a true battlecruiser, designed to bring blistering firepower into needed areas at great speed, giving it its nickname. Vell Drive Systems is usually not quite as skilled as United Shipyards when it comes to simplicity and modularity, but their ships are still more than up to par in this regard.

500 "Paladin"-class Battleship - 30 points (29 base, 1 C3)
The 500-class Battleship is the iconic vessel of Vell Drive Systems, and is the largest naval vessel currently fielded by the Humanist Union Navy. The 500 is the third in a line of battleships produced by Vell and its formative companies, and is typically considered by experts to be the best of the series for its cost. It is considered balanced in a way only the 202 exceeds, making it a vessel capable of adapting to a variety of strategic situations. The 500 is designed as a command vessel for mobile units and subunits, and as a result mounts a degree of C3 gear to accompany its massive firepower and defenses. This gear is indeed well-protected: the 500 is acknowledged by most as the single-most rugged vessel in the entire Union navy, the only case of United Shipyards being outdone in this regard. This great survivability is owed largely to the redundancies and simple, efficient design choices inherent to the ship's design. Traditionally, the 500 and its predecessors are named for great heroes of the Humanist Union's long-ago civil war; no other class of ship in the Union bears vessels with the names of human beings. It is to this tradition that the 500 owes its moniker; individual ships are named for the men and women referred to the "Paladins of the Union," and so the title has been affixed to the ship class, as well.
Ships: Anya Paterson, Boris Herrmann, Nina Bykova, Alexander Kelly, Patrick Murray, Joachim Nowak, Maria Tremblay, Gerard Delgado, Camille Durand, Victor Aliyev, James Meyer, Cameron Wallace

Unit Breakdown

Mobile Unit One
30 (29 base, 1C3)- "500-Paladin": 3
22 (20 base, 2D) - "340-Cheetah": 4
15 (13 base, 2D)- "255-Broadsword": 8
10 (10 base)- "202-Stiletto":10
8 (4 base, 2C3, 2I)- "150-Albatross": 4
5 (4 base, 1D)- "121-Wolf": 13
5 (2 base, 3S)- "001X": 1

Mobile Unit Two
30 (29 base, 1C3)- "500-Paladin": 3
22 (20 base, 2D) - "340-Cheetah": 4
15 (13 base, 2D)- "255-Broadsword": 8
10 (10 base)- "202-Stiletto":10
8 (4 base, 2C3, 2I)- "150-Albatross": 4
5 (4 base, 1D)- "121-Wolf": 13
5 (2 base, 3S)- "001X": 1

Mobile Unit Three
30 (29 base, 1C3)- "500-Paladin": 3
22 (20 base, 2D) - "340-Cheetah": 4
15 (13 base, 2D)- "255-Broadsword": 8
10 (10 base)- "202-Stiletto":10
8 (4 base, 2C3, 2I)- "150-Albatross": 4
5 (4 base, 1D)- "121-Wolf": 13
5 (2 base, 3S)- "001X": 1

Mobile Unit Four
30 (29 base, 1C3)- "500-Paladin": 3
22 (20 base, 2D) - "340-Cheetah": 4
15 (13 base, 2D)- "255-Broadsword": 8
10 (10 base)- "202-Stiletto":10
8 (4 base, 2C3, 2I)- "150-Albatross": 4
5 (4 base, 1D)- "121-Wolf": 13
5 (2 base, 3S)- "001X": 1

Planet Breakdown

Class 10 Planets: 8
(Khan (capital), Outreach, New London, Olympus, Everest, Kel-Allard, Luthien, Dayab)

Class 5 Planets: 4
(Extension, A Place, New Khan, Argus)

Attributes Breakdown

Improved Logistics - 200 pts
System Defenses - 200 pts
Improved Salvage - 100 pts
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The Humanist Union: Additional Information


Map


Flag
A stylized navy-blue fist-and-arm cultching a hammer and seen in profile, set upon a white field.

National Motto
"Sic Semper Tyrannis" (In official use, usually accompanied by a stylized image of a "tyrant" being held on the ground at swordpoint by an armored man.)

Politics, Political Parties, and Political Warfare

The Humanist Union, despite its common face, is a nation of many vying political ideals and parties of various powers, all seeking control in the lower government and influence on the higher government headed by Father and his advisors. There are no explicitly banned parties or ideologies in the Union, but leaders of controversial or subversive ideologies such as theism or monarchism tend to frequently find themselves in legal trouble under the nebulous "anti-human individual" laws. Political "warfare," such that it is, is typically seen as a screaming match between various believers. In reality, however, violence motivated solely by political ideology is quite common in the Union.

Specific Political Ideologies and Parties

New Humanism
The New Humanist Progressive Party (NHPP) is the current dominant party in both the higher and most lower governments. Its ideals were the ones pushed by the so-called Progressives during the Union Civil War, and its ideals are the only ones officially endorsed and backed by the higher government. New humanism, as an ideology, endorses a system of constant expansion and species-wide improvement for the human race, placing the survival of humankind at the peak of ideological importance and railing against things held to be degenerative, such as religion. New Humanists hold all of mankind as their brothers and sisters foremost. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, new humanism endorses a system of meritocratic rule in any human institution, with the individual of the highest merit serving as an absolute ruler and judicator. This particular facet can sometimes clash with the "species brotherhood" facet, and the proper balance is a constant issue of debate among party leaders. New humanists generally believe that multi-nationality is anti-human, and tend to favor actions that unite nations under one banner, through diplomacy where possible and violence where not. New humanism is particularly hostile towards alien life and "full" artificial intelligence: both, as seperate entities that wish to preserve themselves and maximize their comfort, are seen as imminent threats to the survival of humanity.

Theism
Not a specific ideology or party per se, theists tend to be lumped together based on some of their common principals and because of their individual political irrelevance. Indeed, many seperate theistic factions, when not busy killing each other or denouncing one anothers' prophets, band together to attempt to influence politics in ways that broadly favor them. Theists, as a whole, tend to believe in a Divine Creator who is typically held as omnipotent, omniscient, and occasionally omnibenevolent. Theists believe that all nations should be built to serve laws set down by this diety, typically through holy scripture or prophets as interpreted by religious scholars. It is characteristic of theists blame large disasters (such as plagues, famine, terrorist attacks, etc.) on the spruning of the Divine Creator. The main draw of theism is its promise of life after death: almost all religions offer the faithful eternal life in happiness while promising eternal suffering for non-believers and the wicked. Individual religions in the Union include the official earth-worship of the Empire, Second Christianity, Holy Islam, and Modern Buddhism, one of the few religions with no gods. While no two religions are exactly alike, they tend to hold beliefs that promote brotherhood crossing even species. Communists in particular distrust common religion, seeing it as a tool of control manipulated by the elite or would-be elite. Humanists, with their emphasis on rationality, tend to view religion as a mental illness.

Democracy
Democracy comes in a myriad of shapes and sizes that puts even theism to shame, but tends to be united under one key principal: rule by the majority. This belief can appear in other political ideologies (such as communism or even in new humanism), but is central to democratic ideology. Democracy has wide appeal in the Humanist Union, and the lower government is shaped largely by it, with citizens voting for reperesentatives who then on policies important to those that put them in power. Democracy is seen as a way to control the sort of cronyism that sprouts up in lower governments where figures are appointed by higher figures only: a politician answerable to his voters is a politician who must continue to prove his merit. In order to prevent political apathy from lessening this advantage, all Union citizens are required by law to vote and are encouraged throughout their lives to be "active" citizens who follow and understand what their representatives are up to. The face of democracy in the Union comes from two primary parties: the Democratic and National Representation parties. The former favor replacing the Union's absolute leader with a regularly-elected figure, while the latter advocate that absolute leaders be abolished entirely in favor of a council of high representatives. The Communist Party, with its belief in direct democracy, is sometimes called the "third party."

Monarchism
Monarchism is one of the more bizarre political ideologies in the Union, and is considered by many to be the bastard relative of theism and new humanism. Monarchism supports the idea of an absolute ruler, to be succeeded by his or her most able offspring. Monarchists tend to believe that a leader is "more" than human and afford him or her a religious significance that disallows for disrespect or rebellion. Monarchs are thought to "appoint themselves" by monarchist thinkers, and these individuals are held to be prime examples of humanity who will produce prime examples of humanity to continue a nation's rule through careful breeding. Monarchists tend to emphasize the importance of the ruler's will over merit when it comes to governance and the appointing of government officials, and this is considered particularly anti-human by the New Humanist Party. There are many minor pseudo-parties that advocate monarchism, but most are individuals who held the Emperor to be of particular importance.

Syndicalism
As cited from Thirdfain:

Syndicalism is a popular ideology across the former Empire. Many of the Empire's integral states were oppressive, and even those which were not often exibited wide disparities between the rich and working poor. As a result, even before the war there were Syndicalist secret societies, and in some nations, open Syndicalist parties- some even had small shares of government. However, Syndicalism was explicitly anti-Empire. The First Syndicalist International established an ideology based around the concept of a "Trans-National Union For All Peoples." Nordkaldic syndicalists in particular saw it as their duty to promote revolution across the former Empire. The eventual goal is to bring about a world in which every nation is Syndicalist, united under the Internationale. Since the fall of the Empire, the Union of Nordkaldian Syndicates has made it it's policy to support every possible Syndicalist movement- this has been most successful in the neighboring states of Caliphon and Esperance, which experienced brief and bloody revolutions- in the case of Caliphon, with only minimal assistance from Kaldigrad, in the case of Esperance, with the direct and bloody intervention of Caliphoni and Nordkaldic forces.

Syndicalism has both public and private faces in the Humanist Union, and radical Syndicalists of the Third Path are one of the most active sources of terrorism within the Union. Official Syndicalist Party influence in government has suffered as a result of this terrorism, and the ideology as a whole is often considered the more unpleasant, violent brother of communism. New Humanist ideologies on species brotherhood, combined with the actions of pro-syndicalist fighters in the Union Civil War, have stalled any real attempt to quash the party and ideology.

Communism
Often thought of as syndicalism's bigger and less volatile brother, communism typically promotes a classless society wherein means of production (and indeed, the country) are controlled by citizens at large. Modern communists usually advocate direct democracy in the ruling of a nation. Communism and the Communist Party has had a great deal of presence in Humanist Union politics. Along with syndicalists and some socialists, communists frequently rallied with the New Humanist Progressives against a common foe (corrupt, plutocratic businessmen and politicians) with common goals (the advancement of the people as a whole, reward fitting of effort). Communists today are somewhat at odds with the New Humanists, who tolerate capitalism and allow for inequality based on individual merit. This rubs many communists in the wrong way: some go as far to insist that it merely establishes a plutocracy in disguise. While Communist Party politicians get the occasional representative in the lower government, general sentiment concerning communism is that it is unworkable at a national scale, perhaps by human nature. The rife corruption that plagued many "communist" nations throughout human history does not help this. There are some radical communists within the Union, and they are often known to work along the same line as (if not always in coordination with) Syndicalists of the Third Path.

Socialism
Socialism is a somewhat nebulous group of ideologies united under the belief that a nation's wealth, property, and resources should (to some degree) be distributed or controlled by the citizens through the government. Unlike democracy, whose adherents cover a wide spectrum of economic beliefs, socialists almost universally distrust or despise "free" markets, which they feel are easily corruptable by the rich, ultimately transforming a nation into a de facto plutocracy. Socialists often favor any variety of forms of democracy, and tend to agree strongly with the new humanist ideal of social reward based on merit. Time and comraderie has caused the Socialist and New Humanist Progressive parties to grow very close together: the modern Socialist Party tends to follow the NHPP on most issues, occasionally demurring on issues such as hostility towards non-human sapients or objecting to Petrov's status as a de facto dictator. Socialists tend to be at least sympathetic of Syndicalists and Communists.

Terrestrial Military Vehicles

Air

AH-120 Raven
The AH-120 is the primary attack helicopter employed by the Humanist Union's terrestrial militaries. Advances in material science allow it to not only carry a great deal of weaponry, but also to carry a modest troop complement and be somewhat stealthy, making it highly flexible in a variety of situations. AH-120s are heavily armored for helicopters: even the cockpit possesses retractable plating. This, combined with a belly-mounted AMS laser, allow the AH-120 to operate in some of the most dangerous of modern battlefields with relative safety. The AH-120 has a crew of two posthumans: a pilot/navigator and gunner. The troop bay has a capacity of eight Union Guard troopers and is guarded by a lightweight machine gun slaved to the gunner's interface. It is a frequent practice for AH-120s to use their heavy ordinance to extract or insert squads of infantry in highly sensitive areas. Two primary variants of the AH-120 exist: the AH-120-A mounts a light autocannon, four smart rocket pods, and paired light cannon pods, while the AH-120-B trades out the nose-mounted light autocannon for an expensive, high-powered railgun with a limited arc of movement. AH-120s see a great deal of use in highly mobile warfare against terrorists and insurgents, where they can maximize the benefits of their design.

Sea

S-1200 Poseidon
The S-1200 is a recent addition to the wet navies of the Humanist Union, a vessel that has yet to prove its worth. A type of superheavy submarine, the S-1200 is designed to defend against orbiting ships. They carry a payload of heavy surface-to-orbit missiles to achieve this end. Capable from striking while submerged, the S-1200's largest advantage against orbiting ships is the ocean itself: combined with the submarine's costly stealth design, its ability to lurk in the depths makes it extremely difficult for orbiting ships to pinpoint and kill the S-1200. Current, untested combat doctrine has S-1200s used to support the dry navy in low orbit battles, but also to hold against and harass enemy warships where the dry navy is absent. To this end, S-1200s are supported by a network of undersea ammunition dumps that allow S-1200s to rearm when their payloads are fired. Besides this, however, S-1200s can remain at sea almost indefinitely, recycling waste from the crew for food and filtering seawater for drink. Because of their secretive deployments and cramped nature, S-1200s tend to be crewed by heavily conditioned posthumans who are better-suited for the rigors of deployment than unmodified humans. The S-1200 is not realistically capable of combat against other seagoing vessels.

Land

XS-800 'Breacher' Heavy Power Armor
The XS-800, more commonly referred to as a "Breacher Suit" or just a "Breacher," is a make of heavy powered armor specialized for spearheading assaults into fortified buildings and enemy ships, hence its colloquial name. Tripedal in design, the XS-800 typically moves on only two legs, each featuring heavy-duty clawed feet designed to adapt to a wide range of terrain. The third "leg" is actually more of a brace, and is usually used to stabilize the suit when it receives heavy hits or when terrain is unstable. The suit features two "main" arms, both of which end with modular equipment pods that can mount a wide variety of equipment. The arms also feature "sub-arms" which sprout from the inside of each equipment pod. Extendible, highly flexible, and precise in the extreme, these sub-arms end in five-digit hands that allow the XS-800's pilot to handle delicate tasks and object manipulation. When in combat, these arms are typically retracted, and the hands covered in protective shells. They are, however, robust enough to handle infantry weapons. The XS-800's equipment pods, as mentioned, can be equipped for a variety of situations, but the most typical loadout places a grenade launcher and flamethrower in the left pod, with a light pulse cannon and a pneumatic breaching device in the right pod. Additionally, the XS-800 almost always sports a shoulder-mounted flechette cannon for more delicate anti-infantry work. XS-800s are controlled from a cramped, heavily-armored space in the center of the oval-shaped "body." These posthuman pilots control the suit entirely through direct uplinks between their augmented brains and the suit. There are no manual controls, which is probably a good thing: pilots must assume a nearly fetal position to fit. XS-800 pilots have a high casualty rate, due to the nature of their mission: they make the breakthroughs that even heavily-armored union guard troopers have trouble with, and they often end up on the losing side of a conflict with time. As a result, XS-800 pilots are viewed among members of the military as daredevils at best and maniacs at worst, an atmosphere they enjoy cultivating. While the XS-800 is a superb terror weapon and works well in its specified role, it rarely sees use on the open battlefield, where more heavily armored, cheaper vehicles can outperform it. One exception to this rule are highly mountainous battlefields that even hovercraft struggle with.
A variety of civilian variants of the XS-800 have been developed from the initial military design: they work as heavy lifters, rescue craft, riot protection and hazard environment protection. These variants are universally bulkier, more simplistic, and at least partially controllable through manual means.

[Lancer]

The Dawns Star Empire

Summary
The Dawns Star Empire consists of a tight cluster of worlds that grew out of an Imperial garrison on the south-western edge of known space.

It was founded by Imperial Commander Lilandrin “Dawn” Breeker, who oversaw the Imperial far southwestern fleet and garrison during the period of civil unrest that preceded the eventual Imperial collapse. During this period, a significant portion of the garrisons’ military assets were recalled to assist in the defense of core Imperial systems, leaving anti-Imperial agitators in the area an opportunity to act far earlier their counterparts elsewhere. After suppressing rebellious elements on Corrand, the pro-Imperial elements, unified under Commander Dawns’ banner of reformation and restoration of the Imperium, moved to pacify the separatist elements throughout other colonies in the sector. In almost every case, separatist attacks took a heavy toll on civilian infrastructure, and victorious military units were forced to adopt roles traditionally fulfilled by civil servants.

After bringing the entire region back under Imperial control, the reemerging state adopted her name and personal heraldry in her honor. Not too long after, she marshaled her fleet at Aura to address them prior to her bringing her campaign to other Imperial elements. As she began her speech to rally her supporters, she stopped and foretold the destruction of Terra, the collapse of the Empire, and the fragmented and ideologically divided remnants that would be left; charging her followers with the task of one day restoring the Empire. At the end of her speech, she promised to return, and was enveloped by a blinding golden light and vanished. She was deified as the patron of the colonies through an ancient Imperial tradition. As such, she gained the titles of Lady Dawn and Golden Lady, and is attributed the domains of justice, reform, and martial prowess. As the Dawn Star Empire is a secular nation, her worship is a matter of civic ritual than spiritual exercise.

Though nominally a militarized society, relatively few of its citizens are under active duty at any given time. There is little to no distinction between civil and military service, and a term in the military is often seen as transition into adulthood (though alternatives exist for those with skills too valuable to risk in combat). Upon completion of a term of service, citizens are awarded a stipend usually sufficient for them to meet basic needs for a decade. However, most of the population of able-bodied citizens supplants their stipend by working as artisans and tradesmen, learning their craft either during their term of military service, or under apprenticeship to a skilled artisan.

Those that show exemplary aptitude in military affairs can be initiated into one of the various officer-priesthoods which embody a particular subset of skills. Membership in such an order does not preclude initiation into other orders, nor is it required for advancement through the ranks, but it is uncommon for anyone to hold active membership in more than a single order at any given time. The most well-known order is the Dawns Aegis, whose membership (known as Dawn Knights) consists of the iconic heavily-armored elite shock-troops whom serve as the honor guard to high-ranking officials and as bipedal spearheads for planetary assault operations. Other notable orders include the Sol-Touched, a cadre of special and covert operations personnel who seek to refine and perfect their control over their extensively augmented bodies, the Hands of Lilandrin, which was established by Lady Dawns most trusted lieutenants and acts to carry on her legacy by shaping the policies of the state.

The government is led by a Regent Lord or Lady, with a Senate and House of Tribunes serving as a legislature and judiciary, respectively. Individual colonies are ruled by a locally appointed Governor-General, whose duty it is to see to the well-being of the colony. Planetary defense, law enforcement, public health care, and disaster relief are all services provided by local military units under the Governor-General. The current Regent Lord is Anarion Belanor of Troyus. There are two major schools of thought with regard to state policy, the Restorationists and the Reformationists. Though both believe in the end goal of rebuilding the Empire, they disagree on the methods that should be used in pursuit of that goal.

The economic structure is quite unusual. There are no large corporations, as the body of Senators and Tribunes appointed to oversee and regulate the market are fiercely anti-monopolistic. The vast majority of “firms” consist of self-employed artisans and their apprentices, who typically conduct business through an auction-style market run by the state which facilitates contact between buyers, sellers, and couriers (when relevant), though local face-to-face transactions also occur. In instances where small independent firms would cause a market failure, the local government is responsible for determining the appropriate way to provide such a service, whether it be directly providing that service, or allowing several independent actors to band together into a trade guild or cooperative. Taxes are levied on the sale of goods; providing the primary source of government revenue.

Though descended from Imperial stock, they have diverged quite far due to their isolation. The practice of technological augmentation remains commonplace, though it is seen most extensively in active servicemen and veterans. These can range from simple interface implants to full-body replacement, though elite martial orders have access to exotic refinements which grant them capabilities far beyond even other augmented humans.

Worlds
Nevaris System
-Aura (5 pts)
Aura is the administrative heart of the Dawns Star Empire. Unlike most capital worlds, Aura is only lightly populated. Though nominally rich in resources, the world exists mostly in a form of wilderness, as industry developed mostly off-world under military jurisdiction.
-Lilandrins Keep (Shipyard/military base, 10 pts)
One of the most prominent military installations in the Dawn Star Worlds, Lilandrins Keep is renowned both for its fleet-yards and its position as central command of the Dawn Star military.
-Tycho (Satellite of Aura, 10 pts)
Tycho is Aura's primary moon, and the industrial heart of the Nevaris system. Though long since supplanted by Lilandrins Keep in military significance, Tycho remains home to a large population of artisans and trademen who continue to contribute to its sizable industrial output.

Alleaxes System
-Alleaxes Prime (10 pts)
Alleaxes Prime joined the Lady Dawn's forces early in the history of the Dawn Star Worlds, and saw no fighting. Noted for its mix of Imperial and post-Imperial architecture.
-Darrius Hold (8 pts)
A colony founded by the legendary Commander Darrius, a member of the Hands of Lilandrin, shortly after the founding of the Dawn Star Worlds.
-Garths World (7 pts)
Home to a monument (now encircled by a temple) established by Lady Dawn to Martius, a figure speculated to be her father and/or mentor, shortly after assuming control of the system.

Tritian System
-Corrand (10 pts)
Corrand is the home world of Lady Dawn, and the staging ground from which she launched her conquest of the Dawns Star worlds. The Temple of the Lady Dawn is located here, as is a significant shipbuilding industry. Whereas Aura is the administrative center of the Dawn Star worlds, Corrand exists as the social and political center of the Dawn Star Empire.
-Kamina (5 pts)
A member state of the Dawns Star Worlds noted mainly for its tradition of military service. Per-capita, Kamina has the highest rate of induction into the various martial officer-priesthoods.
-Cryr (4 pts)
An industrial settlement based in the primary asteroid belt of the Tritian system.
-Mekkelli Station (6 pts)
A trade station built into the far-side of a rotationally-locked world known as Baior during the heyday of the Imperium, and a precursor to the colonization of Corrand. Due to the low-gravity environment, it can accommodate most spacecraft via surface-based docking pads.


Sigartes System
-Troyus (10 pts)
Troyus is home to a sizable military presence, mainly as a byproduct of the concentration of several military academies throughout the world dating back to the Imperial Era.
-Fortunados Folly (0 pts)
Fortunados Folly was named after the explorer who mapped the region prior to Imperial colonization. A small collection of currently unused training grounds are scattered across the unforgiving and otherwise uninhabited environment.
-Gardines (7 pts)
Housed in the moon of a gas giant, the artisans of Gardines have plied their trade for generations and elevated it to an art form. It is noted in particular for the quality of its arms, and is the source for many of the patterns of solcannon used by the Dawn Star navy.
-Zetherron (8 pts)
Zetherron is a massive station built into the heart of a small ice-moon on the outskirts of the Sigartes System

Dembhart System
-Callthus (6 pts)
The origin of the name is unknown, but Callthus is home to the highest concentration of preserved pre-Imperial ruins within Dawn Star space.
Ordos Keening (1 pts)
An uninhabited ice-planet used occasionally for weapons-tests.

Jaylean System
-Endingers World (3 pts)
Endingers World is a small, relatively recently founded colony on the far edges of Dawns Star space.

Racial point distribution
Improved Assimilation – 50 pts
Improved Counter-Espionage – 50 pts
Improved Logistics – 100 pts
Improved Shipyards – 100 pts, Lilandrins Keep
System Defenses (1+1D) – 200 pts


Fleet Listing and Active Ship Classes
11x Type XXLIV Prowler – 1+2C3+7S
A long-ranged surveillance ship optimized to avoid detection. It is armed with one disruptor cannon, but relies upon stealth as its primary defense.
(272K8, 6492A, G0235, 9O243, 28UB1, L7F0G, W00EX, IN92C, Q3753, 20IB9, 62H32)

26x Dart class Corvette – 3+1S+2H
The Dart is used as a patrol craft and an escort for larger vessels. It is armed with disruptor cannons and a pair of missile pods.
(DT101, DT302, DT303, DT304, DT105, DT106, DT107, DT208, DT209, DT20A, DT20B, DT20C, DT40D, DT40E, DT40F, DT410, DT411, DT412, DT613, DT614, DT615, DT616, DT517, DT518, DT519, DT51A, DT11B)

12x Javelin IX class Frigate – 6+2C3+4H+2O
A thin, fast vessel built around an oversized reactor which powers a pair of miniature Solcannon turrets as well as advanced star-drives. The forward hull is lined with sensor drones, missile launchers, and disruptor cannons which typically sit flush within the surface of the hull, ready to be deployed at a moments notice. It is protected by standard defensive screens and armor.
(JIX401 Jonathan Koleg, JIX402 Maria Hood, JIX403 Alexander Doral, JIX404 Marcus Hekate, JIX405 Jordan Balandal, JIX406 Julian Eversol, JIX407 Sarah Coria, JIX409 Gaius Darrion, JIX40A Lucia Zaram, JIX40B Sean Oberson, JIX40C Peter Shalandri, JIX40D Valerian Heron)

12x Augerer class Destroyer – 16+6C3+2H+4D+2O
The Augerer is a fleet escort vessel, equipped with unusually powerful sensor suites for a destroyer. It is typically deployed just ahead of the main body of a fleet to provide forward intelligence, but is capable of holding its own in combat.
(Augerer, At Dawn Standing, Vigilant Sentry, Imperial Warden, Keeper of the Flame, Diviner in the Dark, Light Over Shadow, Guardian at the Gates, Dutiful Defender, Little Aurora, Beacon in the Night, Shining Light)

22x Astercutter class Destroyer – 16+3C3+3H+4D+4O
The Astercutter presents a small forward target profile for a vessel of its tonnage, and the offensive compliment of six staggered Solcannons, numerous disruptor turrets, and high-velocity missile launchers are optimized for maximum coverage of the forward arcs. The vessel’s name is inspired by the blade-like and especially heavily armored prow, designed to deflect or absorb any incoming fire that gets through the vessels improved defensive screens. These vessels typically operate in pairs.
(Aster-cutter, Herald of Flame, Born of Sol, Harbinger of Dawn, Astral Wraith, Star-blade, Relentless Pursuit, Searing Touch, Dagger of Light, Solar Blade, Clad in Fire, Aurora Spear, Legacy of Terra, In Brightest Day, Argent Crusader, Keen Edge, Speaker to Ashes, Torch of the Empire, Nobility Through Duty, Shadow Bane, Phoenix Avatar, Dawnstriker, Tempered Fury, Blade of the Regent-Lord)

8x Sunstorm class Battlecruiser – 25+3C3+6D+6O
The Sunstorm is named for the large compliment of Solcannon batteries it carries. Though equipped with a compliment of disruptors and missile launchers as well, Commanders often prefer to “sweep” their Solcannon beams over a target, causing widespread and often crippling damage which renders follow-up strikes unnecessary.
(Sun-storm, Rain of Fire, Raging Inferno, Golden Fury, Red Tempest, Shattered Sun, Gaze of Wraith, Torrent of Light)

6x Starsunder class Battleship – 46+7D+7O
The Starsunder forgoes subtlety, instead relying upon its punishing weapons compliment, heavy defensive screens, and thick armor to smash its way through opposition.
(Star-sunder, Nova-bringer, Stellar Vanquisher, Ash-Maker, Sun-Slayer, Rending Strike)

5x Bulwark class Interdictor Cruiser – 15+5C3+3H+7I
The Bulwark functions as both an interdictor and as a sensor support platform; allowing Dawns Star fleets to track and intercept enemy vessels.
(Id42A9, Id27B6, Id90C4, IdA1FE, Id303A)

Edit 6/18/08: Added more fluff and accounted for end of turn 1 production.

[Raxmei]

The Harmonious Union of Free Stars (Often shortened as Harmony)

The area now claimed by the Harmonious Union was originally incorporated under the name of the Cornucopia Sector Company. The original purpose was to organize the exploitation of the cluster of habitable planets for resources. The administrators in charge of carrying out this purpose tended to be corrupt, immoral, and shortsighted, leading to numerous questionable policies that ultimately lead to the fall of the old regime.
(I only noticed after writing this that it matches up pretty closely to the "collection of motley societies ruled by fat, lazy, incompetent bureauocrats who were leading the human race down the road of extinction" that the Humanist Union rejected)

There was a labor requirement that needed to be filled, but paid human labor was expensive, as were reliable automomous robots. A project was initiated to modify nonhuman organisms to the level of intelligence required for useful labor. Soft-cyber obedience implants provided the cover story that they were merely remote controlled organic machines that made out of biomass to avoid resource competition with the mineral tithe. This was a crime in several different ways, but it was cheaper than the alternatives even after paying off the relevent authorities.

The inevitable revolt begain shortly after the Enclave invasion. Syndicalist agitators fired the first shots and continued to make their presence throughout the revolt, but their main contribution was to show that revolt was possible. The initial failure to crush the revolts emboldened disgruntled middle manager and slave overseer alike to disable security on their gangs and grab for power. Ambition mingled with liberation and at times degenerated to bloodlust, but all were heading in the same general destruction, a path that lead inevitably to the destruction of the old regime.



Demographics:
44% Transhuman
Minor biological enhancements, near-ubiquitous soft-cyber datalink, but obvious physical enhancement is rare. Humans are no longer the majority race in Harmony, but still maintain the plurality. The surviving human population is descended from the middle class of the Cornucopia Cluster, and though they were not directly involved in their government's excesses they were its beneficiaries. Many still remember the relative prosperity of the old days.


40% Transrodent
Transrodents were the prototype servitor race based on well-known model organism genome. They turned out well enough that most of the follow-on projects were cancelled. Final overthrow of the old government was only possible due to the general revolt of the transrodent labor base.


16% Transcanine
Drawn from the Alsatian service dog genome well after the transrodent experiment was implemented on a wide scale, the transcanines were meant to be human-loyal managers and guards to the transrodent laborers. The transcanines were also the focus of efforts at producing formations of slave soldiers. The increased autonomy required of these duties enabled rebellious sentiment to spread quickly among the transcanine ranks. Transcanines form a disproportionately large part of the HUFFS army.

Servitor races have been modified to a similar stature and intellect to humans, though their appearance was left as bestial as possible to keep plausible the illusion that they were simple beasts of burden. Older specimens still have their old slave cybers implanted, though the command functions are now disabled. They now function as curiously tightly integrated data jacks. Beings young enough to be born under the new regime have the same augmentation as enjoyed by the human population.


Politics:
The revolt was initiated by syndicalists and influenced by them at all stages of the struggle. However, it was not a purely syndicalist revolt. Of particular note was the vital role played by those who had been mid-level managers of the old regime, who were in the end successful in consolidating power around themselves. A corporatist regime emerged with syndicalist window dressing. A great deal of sympathy for syndicalist ideals remains, but actual syndicalists are largely seen as dangerous fanatics.



Harmonious ships are generally chevron-shaped. The main armament is a simple electromagnetic accelerator cannon. Guided missiles are also used in a niche role. Coherent radiation weapons are currently out of favor, though some research is kept up in the area. The space fleet organization is part of a unified command structure descended from the army.

The Empire called up its reserves when the final war started going bad, and like a good nominally loyal province Cornucopia sent a good number of ships and soldiers - crewed entirely by humans. The drain of human manpower necessitated increasing the role of servitors in the Cornucopian military and relaxing screening standards for human recruits. This allowed the rebels to capture parts of the original military almost intact.


Relentless class Destroyer
1 pt, no extras
The cheapest warship that Cornucopia thought it could get away with tithing, the Relentless was considered a toothless, useless death trap even when it was still in production. All surviving specimens were demilitarized and sold off the moment the new line of destroyers appeared to replace them.

Color class Escort carrier
10 +5 C3
A post-war design, the escort carrier is equipped with sophisticated reconnaissance and attack drones and an advanced communications suite to control them.


Flower class Destroyer
5 + 2 O
Destroyers often accompany escort carriers, whose sensor data greatly improves the accuracy of their guided missiles. Destroyer captains usually try to isolate and overwhelm small combatants.


Invincible class Battleship
20, no specials
This was the primary military tithe back in the days of the empire. Built largely as a sham, the T34 is small for a battleship and lacks specialized equipment. A modernization project was undertaken shortly after the revolution, but the T34 is still considered an obsolete design. Still, its sheer mass makes it good for some purposes, unlike other prewar designs.


Stone class Battleship
20 + 2D
The Stone class is the modern descendent of the Invincible. Similar in design and purpose, the T67 contains incremental technological improvements and a new ECM suite.


Barrier class Interdictor
4 +3I
Interdictors are not normally assigned permanently to fleets, rather they are attached as needed.



The fleet contains three battle fleets and 8 escort flotillas.
Battlefleet:
10 Stone class (22 pts x 10 = 220
5 Invincible class (20 x 5 = 100
8 Color Class (15 pts x 8 = 120
20 Flower Class (7 pts x 20 = 140

Battle fleet nominally costs 580 points x 3 = 1740


Escort flotilla
1 Color Class (15 x 1 = 15 points
2 Flower Class (7 x 2 = 14 points
29 points per x 8 = 232 points



Other: 4 barrier class



Planned production for turn 1: 400 points maintenance, 597 points buys 15 Stone class, 8 Color, 20 Flower, and 1 barrier. 3 points of production left over for whatever.



Out of the planets that were formerly of the Cornucopian sector, only Cornucopia itself was renamed. The rest continue to use their old names out of inertia. When more than one inhabited planet exists in a system numbers are assigned in order of settlement (As opposed to the usual practice of putting them in order of distance from the primary, much to the ire of Harmonious geography students) Major satellites are officially given the same name as their planet plus a letter. Cornucopia chose to settle only in systems with at least marginally hospitable worlds, and always settled those worlds first. As a result, all planets numbered 1 have human-survivable surface conditions.


15 Harmony system - Selected as a headquarters area for its planetological stability, this system has few exploitable resources.
8 Harmony - Political capital of the union. Not terribly important aside from that.
7 Unity - The large moon of Harmony, home to some industry. This is one of the exceptions to the usual satellite naming convention.

24 Apple system
10 Apple 1 - Earthlike and intensively settled
6 Apple 1a, b, c, and d are Apple 1's four small moons
5 Apple 2 - Marslike, valued for its mineral wealth and low gravity
3 Apple 2a

13 Banana system
8 Banana 1
5 Banana 2 - Actually a Kuiper belt object, Banana 2 is the center for far-orbital mining operations. Yes, there are valuable minerals there.

21 Citrus system
9 Citrus 1
1 Citrus 2 - A gas giant, Citrus 2 itself is home to a few floating platforms.
6 Citrus 2a
5 Citrus 2b


11 Date system
8 Date 1 - A completely unremarkable place
3 Date 1a


16 Eggplant
6 Eggplant 1
1 Eggplant 1a
5 Eggplant 2 Eggplant system has two marginally habitable planets one just barely warm enough, the other barely cool enough to support life without artificial help. Neither planet is a terribly nice place to live
2 Eggplant 2a





500 racial points
100 pts improved repair
100 system defense (C3)
300 improved salvage (20% salvage value) For the earliest parts of its history the Union space fleet was made of ships captured from the Cornucopian government. These were often battle damaged or partially scuttled.

[A-Wing_Slash]

The Grand Duchy of Malacaster

General History

The Grand Duchy of Malacaster’s founding by colonists launched from Holy Terra lies shrouded by the mists of time, yet despite the particulars of its creation, the Grand Duchy had been a vassal state of the Terran Empire since long before the earliest electronic records. Although the Grand Duchy has had its fair share of rebellions, dynastic struggles, and civil wars over its long history, it remained on the whole a loyal, stable, and ultimately prosperous subject of Holy Terra.

The source of Malacaster’s wealth lay in its industrial strength, symbolized most visibly by its vast shipyards. In the long years of peace preceding the Final War, Malacasterian passenger liners, transports, and freighters were a common sight on the Empire’s many space lanes. While technological advancement of Malacaster’s yards paled in comparison to that of the great shipbuilders of Mars and Holy Terra, they were generally superior to that of other Imperial vassals. Malacaster regularly produced military vessels for less capable states within the Empire, and even contributed several classes of small support craft to the Imperial Terran Navy over the years. As a result of Malacaster’s shipbuilding prowess, the Grand Ducal Navy was always well equipped, and one of the larger and more powerful sub-Imperial navies until the disastrous Battle of Centauri during the Final War.

Social Structure and Government

Although it produced great wealth, the Grand Duchy’s economy was firmly controlled by a hereditary elite. The Nobility owned much of Malacaster’s industry, including the shipyards, and had long held title to vast tracts of land, as well as asteroid belts, bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, mining rights, and a host of tax exemptions. Although the nobility comprises far less than one percent of the population, it is estimated to control over half of the Grand Duchy’s wealth.

Below the Nobility sits the bourgeoisie and the yeomanry. These relatively well off merchants and skilled tradesmen are allowed to own property, and have many rights compared with the lower classes (although not nearly as many as the nobility). Although they regularly have political disagreements with the nobility, on the whole they too are beneficiaries of the Malacaster’s social structure, and are strongly loyal to the Grand Duchy. They comprise between thirty and fifty percent of the population, depending on how their status is defined.

At the bottom of Malacasterian society sits the vast peasantry. Although they hold some freedoms, they are each beholden to a noble family, which has great authority over a peasant’s life. Peasants are uniformly poor, usually owning little more than their personal effects, and tend also to be highly uneducated outside of their own professions (although in a highly technological society, this technical education can be quite extensive, although narrow). Thanks to tradition, most peasants are instinctively loyal to their own lord or lady, as well as the Grand Duchy itself. In recent years, however, their has been a growing number of disaffected peasants with socialist or republican leanings. This has particularly been the case among the peasants of the Shenanon system, who are poorer and more repressed than their counterparts in the other systems of the Grand Duchy.

The government of the Grand Duchy is composed of two houses of government, the Council of Nobles and the Assembly of Commons. The reigning Grand Duke or Duchess functions as the leader of the Council of Nobles, as well as the overall chief executive and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Each Noble family is entitled to a seat on the council, although seats vary in power depending upon the Noble’s title (for example, Barons and Earls control more power than Lords or Counts). The Assembly of Commons is elected from the middle classes of Malacaster. Although the franchise is determined through an arcane system that varies from world to world, it roughly corresponds to those who own significant amounts of property or capital. Between twenty and thirty percent of the overall population votes, depending on election cycle. Generally speaking, both houses, along with the Grand Duke, must give approval for a bill to pass into law. However, the Council of Nobles is markedly more powerful than the Assembly, and in some cases can enact laws without the consent of the Commons (or even, on rare occasions, the Grand Duke). The Grand Duke has great power in controlling and steering the Council, as well as wide discretionary and veto powers.

The Final War

The Grand Duchy not only had strong economic and political ties with the Terran Empire, but felt a strong cultural connection as well. Art, literature, music, fashion, and cuisine, from Holy Terra herself, as well as the numerous lesser states of the Empire, were common on Malacaster. Malacaster’s star ports saw regular travel and immigration to and from all corners of human space. Noblemen and ambitious members of the bourgeoisie sent their sons and daughters to study at the great Universities of Holy Terra. So when news of a massive alien invasion heralded the start of the Final War, Malacaster was among the first to pledge direct assistance to the Imperial war effort. As the large majority of the Grand Ducal Navy sailed from Malacaster amid great fanfare, few could conceive of anything but an overwhelming Imperial victory, and Malacaster was determined to stand first among the vassal states when the spoils of war were divided.

The Malacasterian Expeditionary Fleet participated in a series of minor battles against the alien forces in the outer rim of Imperial space, both alongside Imperial ships and independently. Due primarily to large numerical superiority, Malacaster was generally successful in these skirmishes, but the main body of human forces was being inexorably beaten back. The Imperial fleet and its allies rallied in the Centauri system, the site of a major Imperial naval base and shipyard. The ensuing Battle of Centauri, the largest battle of the war up to that point, was a disaster. Not only were the alien warships more powerful even than their Imperial analogs, but the overconfident Imperial Lord-Commander allowed the main body of his fleet to be cut off, encircled, and then obliterated by the alien forces. The entirety of the Malacasterian Expeditionary Fleet soon suffered a similar fate, and only three ships escaped to limp home to Malacaster (and those escaped only thanks to the selfless sacrifice of one Commodore Philippe d'Aviano).

The Athenry Rebellion

The news of such a resounding defeat to the vaunted Imperial Fleet, as well as the loss of the vast majority of the Grand Ducal Navy, hit Malacaster like a thunderbolt. Public confidence in both an ultimate Imperial victory, as well as the Empire itself, was irreparably shaken. Meanwhile, the discontent and republican agitation in the Shenanon system boiled over into well organized violence. Thinking the fleet too weak to put down an uprising, and knowing that the Empire was too busy fighting for its life to send support, the Athenry Republican Army rose up in open rebellion. While republican forces on the other planets of the system were too weak for a full-scale rebellion, they launched a massive wave of terrorist attacks, and numerous local insurgencies sprang up. Even on Malacaster itself, republican agents carried out several attacks aimed at disrupting the Grand Duchy’s government. Although the rebels saw great success on Athenry itself, capturing numerous cities and Grand Ducal armories, and were soon in control of almost the entire planetary surface, their initial operation to hijack vessels in orbit barely failed, leaving the rebellion without significant space assets.

Despite the initial surprise of the rebellion, the meager remnants of the Grand Ducal Navy rallied, and quickly won space superiority in the Shenanon system. Due to hastily prepared rebel defense laser on Athenry, the Navy at first ceded that planet’s low orbitals to the rebellion, and focused on quashing the insurrections on the system’s other planets with orbital assaults from the still powerful Grand Ducal Army. The army brutally suppressed the minor insurgencies on these planets, and many innocent peasants lost their lives as collateral damage. With the other planets of the Shenanon system pacified, the military directed its attack upon Athenry. In order to neutralize the rebel defense lasers, before they could work their destruction on the Navy’s few remaining warships, the Navy launched an overwhelming orbital bombardment. While they were successful in destroying the rebel defenses, the bombardment also destroyed large swathes of well populated areas, causing massive casualties among the Athenry peasantry. Behind the bombarding warships came waves of troop transports, which launched a massive orbital assault. Millions of drop troops landed in strategic areas across the planet. Although the rebels were well armed and organized, and fought tenaciously, almost indiscriminate orbital support from the orbiting fleet combined with the strength and professionalism of the Army meant that the loyalist forces were ultimately successful in retaking Athenry. This victory was hard fought, and the Army suffered substantial casualties. The rebels, however, were killed almost to a person, and large numbers of civilians also lost their lives.

After the Empire

The news of the destruction of Holy Terra, which reached Malacaster only a week after the final declaration of victory over the Athenry rebels, created chaos in much of Malacasterian society. Coming so soon after the brutally suppressed rebellion, the inconceivable shock of losing humanity’s home, along with fears of a massive peasant revolt, much of the upper echelons of Malacasterian society were convinced that the very fabric of civilization was falling apart. News of violent revolutions breaking out in the Kingdom of Nordkaldia, and elsewhere in the old Empire, only inflamed these fears. Many holed up in armed compounds, and the shipyards were swamped with orders for “get-away ships.” Only after it become clear that the aliens were too weakened to continue their conquest, and that the rest of the peasantry would not rise up in sympathy with their brothers and sisters on Athenry, did the national hysteria subside.

Soon, however, Malacaster began to adapt to a post-Imperial galaxy. The Grand Ducal Navy enacted a huge building program, dubbed the “New Fleet Program,” to rebuild the fleet that was destroyed at Centauri. The Grand Duchy was still constituted as an Imperial vassal, even though it was now for all practical purposes independent, and their was a movement to formalize their separation from the now defunct Empire by declaring independence. This proposal was only barely defeated by the significant segment of the public still loyal to the principle of Empire, and the ideals it represented. The Grand Duchy also began to annex surrounding minor vassals. Some, such as the Earldom of McMullen, which petitioned to join the Grand Duchy for security reasons after the destruction of Holy Terra, were eager additions. Others, like the sister planets of Yirka and Tikvar, needed “encouragement” from the Grand Ducal Naval before submitting to annexation.

Political Factions

Expansionists
The Expansionists are a political group which believes firmly that Malacaster’s time has come. They advocate immediate annexation of nearby human territory to the Grand Duchy, as well as an explicit declaration of independence from the now-defunct Empire. Expansionists are the most vocal Malacasterian patriots, and call for the Grand Duchy to become a powerful and independent star nation in its own right. Currently the most powerful political faction in the Grand Duchy, the Expansionists draw much of their support from several members of the high nobility, as well as the ambitious lesser nobility. The current Grand Duke, Adolphe Zolverein, is understood to be an Expansionist.

Imperialists
The Imperialists are the Expansionist’s main political rivals. Imperialist are just that: men and women who still feel loyal to both the Empire and the ideal of human advancement that it represented. Imperialists believe that the Grand Duchy should devote its power and energy to rebuilding the Empire of Humanity (though naturally under the rule of Malacaster). While in the short term many Imperialist goals correspond with the Expansionist platform (Imperialist support massive naval build-ups, and territorial expansion, as do the Expansionists, for example), Imperialists believe that these actions must only be undertaken in the name of Empire. They fought the Expansionists tooth and nail over an explicit declaration of independence after Earth exploded, eventually managing to defeat such an act. Although they have some noble backers, the core of Imperialist support comes from the upper middle class, the yeomen and bourgeoisie who had the closest attachment with the late Empire. Because of this support, Imperialists tend to favor giving more power to the Assembly of Commons, although this remains an ancillary concern. The Imperialists are generally lead by Lady Kristen Zollverein, Heir to the Ducal Throne.

Isolationists
By far the smallest of Malacaster’s main political factions, the Isolationists are dominated by the ancient noble houses and the landed aristocracy who fear the dilution of their considerable personal power and wealth. They oppose all territorial expansion, and remain largely indifferent to the Independence debate raging between the Imperials and the Expansionists. A main Isolationist belief is in the necessity of bribing the working and lower classes through the prehistorical concept of “bread and circuses.” Lead by Fredrick Grevenmacher, Baron Echternacht.

Socialists
The least influential faction in Malacasterian politics is the Socialists. The Socialist Party is allowed to operate and organize only under intense scrutiny by the Grand Duchy’s security forces, and despite official allowances, Socialist conventions and gatherings are regularly broken up by the police and nobleist thugs. The Socialists call meekly for greater economic opportunities and greater social programs for Malacaster’s numerous poor workers. They oppose expansion, believing that the Grand Duchy’s energies should be focused at home, which leads the Socialists to form uncomfortable alliances with the aristocrats of the Isolationist faction. Socialists also call for a wider franchise, and for the Commons to have more power in the Grand Duchy’s government, although always explicitly within the current political framework. The Socialist Party is headed by John Thwaite.

Republicans
The republican movement, lead by Heather Corcaigh, drops the pretext of being a loyal opposition that the Socialists are forced to maintain. The republicans call for the violent overthrow of the current regime, the summary execution of all nobility, and the forcible redistribution of land and capital to the lower class. Naturally, they are considered a terrorist group of the Grand Duchy’s government, and all republican leaders are in labor camps, martyred, or in hiding. The Athenry Republican Army was responsible for the ultimately unsuccessful rebellion that erupted on that planet during the Final War. While much of the republican base was killed in that conflict, the subsequent harsh crackdowns by the Grand Duchy’s security forces have created many new recruits for republican groups. Currently, the remains of the republican core is keeping a low-level insurgency brewing in the Shenanon System, the republican movement’s home turf, accompanied by sporadic terrorist acts carried out across the Grand Duchy. Given how important the lack of space forces was in the ultimate failure of the Athenry Rebellion, the republicans have made it a top priority to acquire warships before the next uprising. The republican leadership has also made several contacts with the Syndicalist International.



Planets (100pts)

Malacaster System: 1
Malacaster – 10, Clervaux– 10, Echternacht – 5

Neufenen System: 2
Neufenen – 10, Gedeckt – 5

Shenanon System: 3
Shenanon – 5, Tipperary – 5, Athenry - 5, Crestwell – 5

McMullen System: 4
McMullen – 10, Brookshire – 5

Other Planets
Oberwampach: 5 – 5
Diekirch: 6 – 5
Salitza: 7 – 5
Salisbury: 8 – 5
Yirka: 9 – 3
Tikvar: 10 – 2


Grand Ducal Navy (2000)

20x Sol Eternal Class BB -65pt, 50 + 10D + 5C3 (1300)
Sol Eternal class battleships are by far the largest and most powerful warships in Malacaster’s history. Conceived as the centerpiece of Malacaster’s naval build-up, Sol Eternals are some of the most powerful vessels that sail what was once Imperial space. Designed to form Malacaster’s wall of battle, these ships represent both a huge chunk of Malacaster’s navy and a significant financial investment. As such, they are not only heavily armed, but are protected by state-of-the-art electronic warfare systems and highly advanced shield batteries. When several squadrons of battleships form a mutually supporting wall with proper screening elements, it can prove nearly impossible for a lesser force to even damage, much less defeat, the Malacasterian ships. The Sol Eternal class is named in honor of humanity’s ancestral star, and its lead ship was christened on the fifth anniversary of Earth’s destruction, in solemn remembrance.

20x Firebird Class CA -20pt, 15 + 4D + 1C3(400)
Named after the iconic avian of the planet Malacaster, the Firebird class fulfils a dual role in Malacasterian naval doctrine. Their primary purpose is to serve as screening vessels for the main wall of battle, using their shield batteries to protect the battleships. Firebirds are also regularly spun off from the wall, either in flanking maneuvers or for independent operations.

24x Commodore d’Aviano Class CL -10pt, 8 + 1D + 1C3 (240)
When the Grand Ducal Navy engaged the forces of the Enclave in the fateful battle of Centauri, during the Final War of the Terran Empire, almost the entirety of the Malacasterian forces were destroyed. In fact, only thanks to the selfless sacrifice of Commodore Philippe d'Aviano and his crew did a small group of three nearly crippled cruisers escape. Seeing those three ships struggling to slip out of the grasp of the alien forces, and rather than escaping himself, the commodore drove his heavily damaged light cruiser straight at a massive alien vessel. Commodore d"Aviano bought enough time with his life to allow three ships, and the thousands of men and women aboard them, to survive and return to Malacaster. For that, Commodore d'Aviano has been honored as one of the Grand Duchy's most revered martyrs. The Commodore d'Aviano class cruiser, named in his honor, has become the workhorse of the Grand Ducal Navy, and carries advanced shield batteries similar to those found on Sol Eternal class battleships, as well as finely tuned electronic warfare equipment.

40x Star Pixie Class DD 1.5-pt, 1 + .5C3 (60)
Star Pixie class destroyers, named for an insect that inhabits the planet of Neufenen, are used primarily as scouts, and are the fleet's main reconnaissance unit. They are equipped with limited sensor suites to supplement their scouting role.

Racial Attributes (500pts)

150pts Advanced Shipyard
In orbit around Malacaster

50pts Improved Assimilation

50pts System Defenses
Malacaster

50pts Improved Salvage

200pts Improved Logistics

[Dark Hellion]

Continuation of the Imperial Territory of Moloch primer

***Ship Based Weaponry***

HMA- Heavy Mass Accelerator: Based upon old magnetic accelerators designed to push large masses into low orbits, the HMA has been refined into a massive weapon designed to use both gravatic and electromagnetic technologies to propel large projectiles at exceedingly high velocities. It can use a variety of projectiles most all of which are guided and capable of extreme accuracy at astronomic ranges. This included both solid spikes with fusion-furnace propulsion and an AM/M annihilation core to cluster darts with fusion cores designed to pound at aerospace formations.

Projectiles-
KKD-11A Kinetic Kill Spike - A solid slug of super-high density alloys propelled by a high-powered fusion furnace designed to punch through EM shielding and survive most ballistic intercept systems. Upon penetration of outer armour the fusion furnace initiates a complete overload going off like a small strategic fusion device.

KKD-11B Kinetic Kill Spike - A short ranged version of the KKD-11 it replaces the fusion furnace with a heavier fusion device designed to cause internal damage

KKD-11C Kinetic Kill Spike - The KKD-11C replaces the A versions fusion furnace with an AM/M annihilation torch propulsion system that makes it unwieldy to aim, but capable of extreme range or of punching through extremely thick armour. However, the torch is designed for a single flow rate, although destruction of the projectile upon impact sometimes spreads the AM, resulting in most of the damage being purely kinetic.

KKD-21A Tactical Kill Spike - The KKD-21A is the premier anti-cap ship projectile of the Molochi Navy. Larger than the KKD-11 it contains both a vectored fusion furnace for propulsion and a large AM/M annihilation core for explosive power. The hardened spike punches through most armour, and the annihilation reaction can consume most ships under cruiser class.

KKD-21B Strategic Spike - The KKD-21B switches out the annihilation core for canisters of CX-17 "Misanthrope" agent, a powerful nanotech utilizing chemical weaponry system designed to spread rapidly, and mutate in response to many common deterrent systems. This weapon is allowed only under Imperial Secure Territory mandates, in small stockpiles for use against "enemies of humanity". CX-17 hasn't been used since the Fourth battle of Lantris IV 527 years ago, but is still considered amongst the deadliest of all chemical agents.

MKP-44 Spike Cluster - The MKP-44 is a cluster of twelve 15 meter long independently guided spikes, each packing a vectored fusion torch engine/warhead and a dumb AI guidance package. Designed to sow chaos amongst small frigates and destroyers, it can also punch through weaker armour sections of larger ships, causing multiple internal explosions.

MKP-46 Spike Cluster - The MKP-46 is a cluster of 30 seven meter long spikes each with a heavy strategic fusion device at the core, minor course correction via chemical thrusters and a small AI spread between the missile processors. The weapon can be used to pound on small destroyers and frigates, to destroy weaponry and sensory emplacements upon a battleship's surface. It is also used for surface bombardment, each warhead is capable of destroying several hundred blocks of even the densest hive.

MKP-47 Spike Cluster - The MKP-47 is a cluster of 144 meter two meter long spikes, each with a smart proximity sensor, and a tactical fusion device core. These pack enough punch to disable or destroy most fleet support vehicles, and can also be used to rip apart aerospace formations. Relatively few of these projectiles is aboard any specific capital ship, as they are considered very wasteful of the massive power of an HMA.

MKP-63 Bombardment Cluster - THe MKP-63 is a strategic device designed to inflict massive damage upon unshielded planetary infrastructure. It consists of 500 free fall warheads, each designed to deliver a tactical M/AM annihilation device anywhere on the hemisphere of the targeted planet. The MKP-63 is designed to absolutely devastate a planet, and usage of it against a compliant Imperial power was grounds for summary extinction by Imperial Fleet.

Railgun - Consisting of magnetic rails and gravitic accelerators designed to propel ferrous-banded projectiles at extremely high velocities, the railgun packs a strong kinetic punch, rapid firing speed, and high accuracy in a relatively compact frame. Railguns are designed to fire a wide variety of projectiles, including but not limited to M/AM annihilation cores, fusion cores, nuclear pumped GRASERS, to the more esoteric ECM scrambler pods, decoy flares, and hyperspace interdiction pods. The railgun has served as a primary heavy weapon of Molochi navel vessels for nearly 6000 years.


Particle Beams - Nicknamed beamers within the Empire, the particle baeam sends a stream of massive neutral particles at high relativistic speeds, making it capable of extremely accurate long range fire. The weapons high energy output per square millimeter renders it capable of penetrating nearly any ship armour with remarkable ease, and the energy bleed can cause extensive internal damage. Only energy shields, ablative nanoshields, and extremely exotic armour compounds provide any protection from these powerful weapons. Most smaller particle beams are powered directly by the ships reactor, and as a resort have trouble penetrating the shielding of larger capital ships, however the heaviest particle beam systems are powered by their own reactor, as well as feeding on excess ship power, enabling them to punch through smaller ships like paper.

Lasers - Large focused beams of coherent EM radiation, the lasers of the Molochi Navy generally operate in the gamma ray spectrum, providing long range, c-speed, invisible firepower. Unfortunately it is very difficult to pack the energy density to pierce the shielding and layer ablatives of heavier capital ships. However, the laser is a technology that has been understood and used for nearly ten millennia and as such is small, lightweight, cheap and robust, capable of operating through extremely heavy damage, and utilizing ship power with extreme efficiency.

[Thirdfain]

Syndicalism is a popular ideology across the former Empire. Many of the Empire's integral states were oppressive, and even those which were not often exibited wide disparities between the rich and working poor. As a result, even before the war there were Syndicalist secret societies, and in some nations, open Syndicalist parties- some even had small shares of government. However, Syndicalism was explicitly anti-Empire. The First Syndicalist International established an ideology based around the concept of a "Trans-National Union For All Peoples." Nordkaldic syndicalists in particular saw it as their duty to promote revolution across the former Empire. The eventual goal is to bring about a world in which every nation is Syndicalist, united under the Internationale. Since the fall of the Empire, the Union of Nordkaldian Syndicates has made it it's policy to support every possible Syndicalist movement- this has been most successful in the neighboring states of Caliphon and Esperance, which experienced brief and bloody revolutions- in the case of Caliphon, with only minimal assistance from Kaldigrad, in the case of Esperance, with the direct and bloody intervention of Caliphoni and Nordkaldic forces.

Almost every nation in the former Empire has a Syndicalist underground of some sort, ranging from what ammount to little more than clubs of disgruntled students all the way up to fully functional, legal political parties. The recent successes of Syndicalism in the Kaldic region have lead to an upsurge of Syndicalist sentiment. However, not all Syndicalist movements trust the Syndicalist Internationale- some view it as a mere tool of Nordkaldian imperialism. However, many others have established contact with Kaldigrad, and the First Syndiclaist Internationale was attended by representitives from a dozen nations.

Academy Vanguard

The Imperial Academy of Science was the birthplace of modern Syndicalism- Weston Vries was an Imperial Academic, an economist ot be precise, whose realization of the fragility and inefficiency of the Imperial system lead him to write "The Prophecies of Sorel," known as the Black Book. Syndicalism is well known in Academy circles, and many of the Academics who backed the secret plot by Julius Vance against the Empire did so due to their Syndicalist ideology. However, the eventual goal of Syndicalism is quite different from that of the Academy Vanguard, and as time passes, more and more Syndicalist supporters of the Vanguard have begun to whisper that the time for further revolution is at hand. Vance knew the risks of bringing Syndicalists into his plot, however, and has taken steps to keep tabs on Syndicalist sentiment within the Academy. Former Provost of the Mars Academy of Philosophy Genji Murasake is the Academy's leading Syndicalist, and a minister of some influence within the Vanguard. His contact with Kaldigrad has been limited. Of greater concern to Vance is the Scholastic Union, a group of young academics who have been observed by internal security forces organizing unions in the recently conquered Vanguard provinces. Two of those groups, the Wellon Fraternity and the Worker's Revolutionary Front, sent representitives to the First Internationale.

Wellon Fraternity, Worker's Revolutionary Front:
Worker's groups, supported and organized with help from the Scholastic Union: 20 points

Scholastic Union:
A secret organization of Syndicalist students which has, since the fall of the Empire and the establishment of the Vanguard, come into the fore; widely known in the Vanguard: 10 points

Murasake Faction:
Syndicalist leaders in the Vanguard government, currently allied closely with Vance, but with some influence: 10 points

Grand Duchy of Malacaster

The unsuccessful Malacastran peasant uprising was the spark which set off the general Syndicalist uprising in the Nordkaldic region. Its eventual defeat was less important than the fact that it proved that without Imperial support, the constituent states were vulnerable to the wrath of the proletariat. The establishment of the Internationale as an independent force has lead to a growing movement aimed at supporting Malacastran leftist groups- Malacaster is, even now, an important symbol of the Revolution. Within Malacaster, however, the nobility and the Duke have succeeded in establishing a stable and prosperous state, pushing the original rebel groups into the periphery of society. The Internationale has made it it's business to reverse that frightening trend. The Republicans sent representitives to the First International, and insidious Syndicalist agents have infiltrated even the mainstream leftist parties in Malacaster.

2 "Shenanon go Brach"-class Fleet Tenders(15 pts each)
6 "Jonas Rijksworth"-class Protected Cruisers (12 pts each)
6 "Eternally Vigilant are the Defenders of the Revolution"-class Scout Cruisers (8 pts each)
2 "Inimical"-class Interdiction Pickets (4 pts each)
4 "Comrade-Lieutenant Rikenbacher"-class Destroyers (5 pts each)
11 "Light Against Ignorance"-class Fleet Pickets (2 pts each)
-200 points total (Aggressor Points)

Makay

The conquest of Makay by insidious mind-control aliens went unnoticed by the rest of the galaxy at large. The nature of Chamarran occupation is such that resistance is sporadic and limited, particularly in the big cities and on inhospitable worlds where the population is concentrated in small areas and easily quashed through hypnotism. However, prior to the Chamarran invasion, Syndicalist uprisings had taken place on a number of Makayan worlds- some of the last news from Makay was of violence in the streets, strikes, and even rumors of defections in the army. This has lead many to believe that Makay's recent silence on the Sphere is due to an ongoing internal civil war.

The hideous truth of the matter has so far gone un-noticed. The Chamarran mind-control snuffed out the Syndicalist forces in the cities and major factor complexes- Caldera, which had been the center of Makayan Syndicalism, ceased to be a problem overnight.

On Godwin's Hope and Teldus, Syndicalist guerillas had quit the populated cities, and were engaged in low-intensity warfare in support of the urban unions. These groups, along with small numbers of lucky refugees and a handful of surviving Makayan government troops, continue the struggle. The Makayan National Liberation Army is a hodgepodge of groups, Syndicalist only in that Syndicalists make up the majority of their fighters- many are staunch nationalists, or even government forces who were fighting the uprising right up to the invasion itself.

Makayan National Liberation Army: Poorly equipped guerilla fighters, constantly faced with the threat of discovery, destruction, and mind-control. Countless members have been captured or killed, but a strict cell system and the diffusion of the troops into the wilds have allowed the Resistance to continue to fight: 30 points

The Stockpile: In preparation for a major civil war with the intent of turning Makay into a Syndicalist state, the old liberation army managed to purchase and steal a small number of civilian asteroid mining devices- 15 20-kiloton bombs. This fact was not known to the Makayan government, and may not be known to the Chamarrans today. The weapons are hidden out in the forests of Godwin's Hope: 15 points


Humanist Union

Syndicalism was a divided ideology in the Humanist Union. Many Syndicalists sided with the Progressive movement, famously in the form of the Urban Brigades, militias formed from union members who provided a significant percentage of the Progressive's manpower, bolstering the thinly stretched professional forces. However, the aftermath of the revolution left Syndicalists embittered. Rather than freedom and plenty, they were faced with starvation and harsh rationing. Moreover, the Humanist Union, rather than pulling away from the Empire, seemed to redouble it's efforts as an Imperial client state. In many ways, Father's totalitarian government was less democratic than the preceding one. Social programs were limited to the distribution of cybernetic/genetic enhancements- to "those who proved deserving.". Working stiffs were often at the bottom of the lists, and many found themselves in a new society which seemed to be even more class stratified before- the cybered at the top, the "primates" at the bottom. Though some were granted Father's gifts, it was often seen as betrayal. Famously, wartime Brigade leader and respected union head Eloise Demarche lead a number of strikes against Father's government and championed the worker's cause. After promising limited concessions to the government, she was granted enhancement. Soon after, she became little more than a mouthpiece for Father's government.

Today, the Syndicalists in the Humanist Union are an embittered, dangerous minority. Their public faces are, as always, the worker's unions, which still exist legally. The underground Third Path organization is the militant arm of Humanist Syndicalism; their bombings appear in the news every few months. Communism is also popular, though it is an ancient belief, it gained a great deal of legitimacy among liberals who opposed the Progressive platrom and were uncomfortable with the initial Syndicalist alliance with the Progressive cause.

The 135 Loyal Syndicates of the Humanist Union: Legal worker's unions which often agitate for improved social programs and working conditions, the 135 Loyal Syndicates contain many ordinary workers who just want better wages and are loyal to the government; however, some are sympathetic to the Third Path, and most are at least a little discontent with the current state of the Union: 20 points.

The Khan Soviets: Communism is still popular in the Union; if the Syndicalists were disconent with the results of the Progressive revolution, the Communists were positively livid. Despite lacking the support of International Syndicalism, the Khan Soviets are stringent opponents of Father's government who hold disdain for the semi-approved Syndicalists and utter hatred for the government: 10 points

Third Path: A Communo-Syndicalist organization which harshly opposes Father, the Third Path often organizes pan-worker actions, as well as sabotage and bombings. The Third Path is in active contact with the Syndicalist International: 10 points

The Dominatrixiat

The Resistance (formerly the Worker's Liberation Army): When word of Terra’s fall finally reached the worlds in Alpha Cephi and Theta Mira, the nobles made every effort to prevent the news from spreading to their subjects. Beacons in the rapidly deteriorating imperial subspace network were deactivated or destroyed, regular searches and seizures of smuggled dataspheres were conducted, and many innocent men and women were arrested as “Enclave sympathizers” and never seen again.
News of Terra’s fate could not be kept secret indefinitely. A group of syndicalist privateers in Alpha Cephi managed to hack one of the few remaining subspace beacons in the system and broadcast the news across every open channel. When a Civil Space Patrol squadron led by Rem Black was ordered to fire on the privateers, they refused and joined the privateers.
The situation rapidly sun out of control, every day another factory-farm was bombed, every day another riot outside a baronial estate had to be quelled. Before long the syndicalist revolt had become a full fledged revolution. The symbols of the bloated Imperial aristocrats were torn down and the old barons, landholders, governors, and overseers hunted down.
The new syndicalist society of Alpha Cephi had barely enough time to bring the captured nobility to trial before the Dominatrixiat invasion began. The conflict was swift, in a matter of weeks, Alpha Cephi fell. Despite the best efforts of the syndicalist revolutionaries, they couldn’t prevent the purge. However all had not been lost, thanks to the actions of a few quick witted souls, records on many members of the revolutionary movement were destroyed even as Dominatrixiat troop ships descended through the atmosphere. Despite seven years of occupation, and the numerous purges of suspected resistance members from civil services, the syndicalist movement in Alpha Cephi is still very strong, and it is said that with each incarceration another three women take her place.

The Bushmen: Wadjet's grand old aristocracy owned vast tracts of land, farmed by an underclass of near-serfs who were little more than property to the Imperial-sanctioned nobility. A young man in the factory-farms could count on a life of backbreaking labor maintaining aging farm equipment in harsh conditions on half-rations, with no hope of advancement. Before the invasion, serf rebellion was common, and the Baronial Horse could often be seen riding their VTOLs to gas another riot or search another village for hidden Syndicalist literature. "Bushmen," as they were known, would quit the farms for the relative safety of the deep savannah, where they could hide from the spy-eyes and launch sporadic raids on the great estates. The invasion changed everything- the new invaders were efficient, brutal, and completely inimical to anything approaching a decent way of life for those oppressed peasants who happened to be male. When the round-ups began, even more refugees began to flee into the wilderness.

Crackdowns have succeeded, again and again, at pushing the Bushmen back into the outback- but there are still free workers on Wadjet, free workers with rusty firearms and hard hearts who hold little hope for relief, but fight on. Before the invasion, word had reached Wadjet of the revolutions on Malacaster and Kaldigrad. Young agitators from the more civilized systems had arrived, with the black book and fiery rhetoric. Some tens of thousands of Bushmen still operate sporadically in the outback, striking at convoys and bombing bridges. Efforts to curtail the Bushmen have even lead many women to flee into the wilderness, and the low-intensity banditry continues.

The Syndicalist Powers



Key:
Large Squares, Numbered: Major and important worlds in the Syndicalist sphere.
1: Kaldigrad (20 pts): The center of the Syndicalist alliance. Kaldigrad was the old center of the Nordkaldic Kingdom and hosted an important Imperial shipyard and fleet-base. The planet itself is densely inhabited and contains the Council of the High Syndicates.
(2 1-point Minor worlds in-system)
2: Vervunstok (10 pts): Kaldigrad had the primary Imperial shipyards and the Imperial fleet base; Vervunstok was the site of the primary fleet base of the old Royal Navy. Today, it is also the site of the headquarters of the Nordkaldian Naval Militia Union, though central command for all the Syndicates is at Kaldigrad.
(2 4-point Medium worlds also in-system, as well as Vervunstok's moon, a 1-point Minor world)
3. Caliphon (10 pts): The capital of the Commune of Caliphon.
(1 4-point medium world also in-system)
4. Esperance (10 points): The capital of the Esperansic Social Republic.
(1 4-point Medium world and 1 1-point Minor world also in-system)
Circles: (4 points) Medium worlds of average population with modest defenses. 4 points each. There are 8; not counting those in the primary systems.
Small Squares (1 point): Minor colonies and border worlds with small populations and weak defenses; 8 besides those in other systems.
Total- 100 points

The Naval Militia Union

The Syndicalist International's fleet is organized along Syndicalist principles- it is essentially a hierarchy of soldier's unions. At the lowest level are ship unions, which encompass the crew of a single vessel. Above them are a variety of national Naval Unions. Each of the three current nations of the Syndicalist International has a highest-level Union, representing the entire fleet of that nation. These three unions are subordinate to the recently established International Naval Militia Union, which consists of representitives from the high commands of Nordkaldia, Caliphon, and Esperance.

Nordkaldic Naval Militia Union:

The largest and most powerful of the three forces which make up the INMU, the Nordkaldic Naval Militia Union was formed the day after the Great Strike. When the Lord Admiral Speigel-Lutzen was ordered to land marines in support of Royalist forces, a group of junior officers executed Admiral Grafis and the ship's captain. Syndicalism was highly popular among ship's crews and marines, who were very poorly treated by the Royal government, and among young officers, who saw Syndicalism as a route to personal advancement. As a result, the Nordkaldic Naval Militia Union's leadership consists of a hodgepodge of upper-class liberal officers and recently "promoted" Union bosses from groups of ship's ratings and marines. This organization also contains a number of old guard officers who were released from prison or spared execution due to the necessity of establishing a general staff.

Caliphoni Naval Militia Union:

This organization was established shortly following the successful revolution on Kaldigrad, when the Caliphoni 13th Squadron defected en masse, officers and all, rather than opening fire on Syndicalist mobs. Caliphon was far more liberal than Nordkaldia, and as a result, many of it's higher officers were willing to side with the strikers against what they saw as unconstitional orders from the increasingly violent and panicked Caliphoni government. Though organized along similar lines to the Nordkaldic forces, Caliphon's navy lost fewer higher officers and is the closest of all the Militia Unions to a traditional force- there is even a Shipmaster's Union, consisting of predominantly upper-class captains and base commanders.

People's Republican Navy

The navy of the Esperansic Social Republic sided almost exclusively with the government, seeing Esperance's syndicalist uprising as a foreign invasion- an assessment with more than a little founding in fact. Most of the anemic Esperansic navy was destroyed by Caliphoni and Nordkaldic ships; a few others were taken by local syndicalists or crew uprisings. Only one Esperansic naval base fell without heavy fighting. As a result, Esperance's People's Navy is plagued by inexperienced crews and a weak, inexperienced officer corps, supplemented heavily by Caliphoni and Nordkaldic officers.

Capital Warships

6 "The Triumph of Masterless Men"-class Armoured Cruisers (50 points each)
Values: 25+10O+10D+5R
(The Triumph of Masterless Men, Monarchs and Fascists Fear the Revolution, Long March, The Independent Will of the Working Class, All Workers Marching to Victory, Sundered Crown)



These very large heavy cruisers were previously Lord Admiral Spiegel-Lutzen-class vessels in the old Nordkaldian Royal Navy. Though older designs, these large and powerful ships have been upgraded with more modern fittings and electronics suites and are some of the more powerful warships in space. This class carries a large missile armament, and prefers to fight other capital ships at a distance

8 "Merciless Punishment for Class Traitors"-class Battleships (25 pts each)
Values: 17+4C3+4D


(Merciless Punishment for Class Traitors, Constant Struggle, Anne Katrin Vervunstok, A Living Wage for All Workers, Arabenz Mikel, Chainbreaker, Syracuse, The Red and Black Flown High.)

These pre-revolution small battleships were the pride of the Royal Nordkaldian warship-building business. A number of vessels of this class were sold to Caliphon and Esperance before the revolutions, only to be re-absorbed into the Nordkaldian sphere when their nations fell to Syndicalist revolts. Though well armed and armoured, the "Merciless" class of battleship has weak engines and is actually fairly small, smaller significantly than a "Triumph" armoured cruiser. Naval Militia doctorine has turned to a more mobile form of warfare based around cruisers, so these warships are being left behind by modern Nordkaldian tactics.

3 "Chairman Istvan D'Armitage"-class Battleships (45 points each)
Values: 35+10D
(Chairman Istvan D'Armitage, Union Secretary Alan Wyckz, Foreman Celena Ijtabian[/]i.)



These three craft were ordered for the Caliphoni Navy from a near- Earth major shipyard. They were delivered for trials when the Revoution came, and were finished later by Syndicalist groups with local components. These large, fast battleships are the most powerful ships in any of the Naval Militia Unions, though they are somewhat slower and smaller than "Triumph" armoured cruisers. However, components are expensive, and many need to be imported to this day, so repairs and maintenance costs are high for the "Chairman" class.

15 "The Soaring Grace of Freedom"-class Armoured Cruisers (20 pts each)
Values: 10+8O+1R+1C3
((The Soaring Grace of Freedom, St. Pyotr's Day Massacre, The Spirit of 9230, Vengeful Masses, Cascade, Wellon Karbist, Riotous Celebration of Victory, Irrepressible, Death to the Reactionary Pigs, Kasimir Garund, Hornet, Merciless, Assiduous, Light of Civilization, Comrade-Admiral Innsbruck.)



The "Freedom" class of armoured cruiser is the most modern class of Syndicalist capital ship. Built recently post-Revolution, the "Freedom" emphasizes economy and ease of manufacture rather than firepower or defenses. The "Freedom" is one of the weakest vessels to be classified a capital ship, and it's usage reflects the "jeune ecole" which dictates modern Syndicalist doctorines- it is fast and armed with missile batteries which provide a fairly weak but quite long-ranged punch.

Medium Warships

4 "International Character of Class Warfare"-class Assault Carrier, Support (15 pts each)
Values: 5+5B+5C3



The "International"-class of cisorbital assault carriers represented the cream of the old Nordkaldic Royal Marine Corps' amphibious capability as well as space combat capability. These ships, traditionally operated by the Marines, carry large contingents of troops, and use their advanced C3I suites to provide support for both fleet and ground actions.

10 "89,240 Martyrs of the 9228 Massacre"-class Assault Carrier, Support(10 pts each)
2+2B+6C3



The "Massacre"-class cisorbital assault carrier is a cheaply built smaller vessel, capable of carrying only a little less than half the landing capacity of the larger "International"-class. The "Massacre" also mounts significant command, control, and intelligence facilities for the co-ordination of assaults. "Massacres" are the most recently designed and launched Syndicalist CVS's, and are present in all the Militia Unions.

8 "Shipwright's Strike of 9223"-class Protected Cruisers (15 pts each)
10+2O+1C3+1FTL



The "Strike"-class of protected cruisers are light, swift vessels, unencumbered by heavy armour and equipped almost entirely with long-range missile batteries. This class actually consists of a number of similatly equipped and designed ships from the old, pre-revolution navies of Nordkaldia, Esperance, and Caliphon, and is expected to act as a scout, raider, and battlefleet escort.

14 "Jonas Rijksworth"-class Protected Cruisers (12 pts each)
Value: 10+1FTL+1D

The "Jonas Rijksworth"-class is a budget version of the larger and more lavishly equipped "Strike" class of protected cruiser, designed to be rapidly manufactured by the post-revolution Syndicalist governments. The "Jonas Rijksworth" is a single class with interchangable parts, unlike the myriad of similar vessels which preceded it.

14 "Eternally Vigilant are the Defenders of the Revolution"-class Scout Cruisers (8 pts each)
Values: 2+1H+4C3+1S



These small cruisers are lightly armed and equipped, being designed almost solely as patrol and picket vessels. "Vigilants" have extensive fuel and supply stores for long patrols, as well as improved sensors and some rudimentary stealth systems.

Small Warships

45 "Light Against Ignorance"-class Fleet Pickets (1+1C3)

20 "Inimical"-class Interdiction Pickets(2+1I+1C3)

20 "Roaring Cannon"-class Destroyers(3+1D+2C3)

24 "Comrade-Lieutenant Rikenbacher"-class Destroyers(2+2O+1C3)

20 "Inestimable"-class Frigates(2+1D+1C3)

Total:
Capital:32 ships
6x50 "Triumph of Masterless Men" CA
8x25 "Merciless Punishment for Class Traitiors" BB
3x45 "Chairman Istvan D'armitage" BB
15x20 "The Soaring Grace of Freedom" CA
Capship Total Points: 935
Medium: 50 ships
4x15 "International Character of Class Warfare" CVS
10x10 "89,240 Martyrs of the 9228 Massacre" CVS
8x15 "Shipwright's Strike of 9223" CP
14x12 "Jonas Rijksworth" CP
14x8 "Eternally Vigilant are the Defenders of the Revolution" CS
Medium Total Points: 560
Light: 129 ships
44x2 "Light Against Ignorance" PFG
20x4 "Inimical" PI
20x6 "Roaring Cannon" DDG
24x5 "Comrade-Lieutenant Rikenbacher" DDG
18x4 "Inestimable" FF
Light Total Points: 495
Fleet
Fleet Total Ships:205
Fleet Total Points: 1987

National Points:
200 pts: Assorted Syndicates All Over (too be expanded upon)
100 pts: Planetary Sensor Networks
100 pts: Planetary Jammers
100 pts: Intelligence[/img]

[Thirdfain]

-Disclaimer-

What with the recent explosion of ground combat, I'm going to take the time to write up a little guide to Syndicalist ground forces and nomenclature. It's as much for my benefit as yours, but I suppose some of you won't be bored by force descriptions, ORBATs, or rank structures. Weirdos.

The Hosts of Syndicalism

Much like the Syndicalist International's fleet, the Army is organized in accordance with Syndicalist principles. It is a hierarchy of soldier's unions, with the members all bound by union contracts. At the base are divisional unions, each consisting of the members of a single division- generally of around 15,000 men. However, the Syndicalist Army is a much more diffuse organization than even the fairly diffuse Naval Unions- those at least are organized into the Black Banner Fleet, with a large degree of co-operation due to Foreman Eberhardt's efforts. The Army Unions consist of a mess of re-organized national army units, civilian worker's militias, international brigades from across the Terran Sphere, and specialized political units. Only the best troops even belong to the Army Militia Union- most of the Syndicalist forces are local troops with no direct command from Kaldigrad, generally useful only for local defense. The capacity of the assorted Civil and Worker's Syndicates to mobilize in times of war as a massed worker's army provides the Syndicalists with a good defensive capability, but the sort of professional troops necessary for offensive and, especially, planetary assault operations, has required a rather "inventive" force structure. In general, the Committee for Revolutionary Defense, Army, has divided the assorted forces into 3 quality categories- A,B, and C quality units. Each sort of unit is controlled at a different level and can be expected to be seen in different roles. The Army Militia Union, the highest command of the military, is generally only concerned with A quality units; many B quality units fall under it's jurisdiction, but almost no C quality units do, with the majority being in the hands of the national Syndicates or even local, city, or continental Syndicates.

"A" Quality Units:
At the pinnacle of the Syndicalist military are the "A" quality forces. These troops represent the very best Syndicalism has to offer. "A" quality troops are entirely under the command of the Army Militia Union, but they are quite rare- less than 10% of the Syndicalist army qualifies. "A" units are notable for their excellent training, good equipment, and, most importantly, loyalty to International Syndicalism over all else. Many "A" units aren't much better that "B" units, but are rated "A" due to their reliability and the centralization of their control. Generally, "A" quality units are given the moniker "Guards," such as the Revolutionary Guards (a particularly excellent military unit,) or the 15th Guards Shock Army, or the 2nd Nordkaldian Guards Mountain Army, or the feared 99th Caliphegian Guards Army. Though technically under Navy control, the Civil Marines are all registered as "A" quality units- though their numbers are small, they are well equipped and tied into the more focused Naval power structure.

"B" Quality Units:
Some 50% of the Syndicalist military are "B" quality forces, with a third of that number being active and the rest being Reserves. "B" troops, Reserve and active, are generally referred to as "Regulars." Active "B" Quality troops are almost all under the direct command of the Army Militia Union, serving alongside the "A" troops and providing the bulk of the Syndicalist Internationale's offensive punch. In times of war, the Reserves can be activated, providing a large number of fairly well-equipped and trained troops who can be trusted on the offensive against enemy worlds or to provide the solid core of local defensive efforts against enemy invasion. The "B" units are well equipped with armour, air support, and powered support, and the active units can be trusted in a planetary assault- however, most of the "B" troops are controlled by the Nordkaldian, Esperansic, or Caliphegian national Syndicates. Those under direct AMU control are limited to those Regular troops engaged in major offensive operations, or the preparations thereof. Notable "B" units include the 32nd Shock Army, the 11th Esperansic Army, the 72nd Combined Army, and the 3rd Nordkaldian Tank Army. Particularly well-equipped and trained foreign Brigades, such as the Terran Revolutionary Brigades or the Malacastran Blue Sword Regiments, can be found in the Combined units, with "B" ratings.

"C" Quality units
During the Revolutions on Nordkaldia, Caliphon, and Esperance, much of the power of Syndicalists was provided by armed mobs of workers and peasants fed up with the Imperial power structure. The Civil Syndicates have maintained the right to bear arms, and most major Civil Syndicates organize occasional training and preparation for war- most even have uniforms. In the event of total war or enemy invasion, the Council of High Syndicates has the option to call for an "Arming of the Workers," a general mobilization. Most of the government's expenses have gone to setting up the system of reserves for the "B" quality units, but the local Civil Syndicates have maintained their own weaponry, often with some High Syndicate or National Syndicate support. "C" units come in three general varieties- armed masses of workers, lower-level militia unions which aren't considered reliable enough for the "B" quality level, and assorted internationalist volunteers from across the Terran sphere. In the event of a major war, or a surprise planetary assault, armed manpower could be deployed from the "C" quality units- but they would be useful largely only as a defensive measure, could only win in an offensive action by luck or massed numbers, and would be utterly useless in a planetary assault. Notable "C" units include the Esperasic Borderer Unions, the Manufacturer's Syndicates of Vervunstock, and the Student's Auxiliary Army. A little more than 40% of the Syndicalist army consists of "C" quality units.

Force Composition
Syndicalist troops come in four varieties; depending on the quality, nationality, and tradition, the lines between these varieties are blurred. More than anything, these classifications serve as general descriptions of a unit's equipment and training- though an infantryman in a regular unit would probably not be signficantly different than an infantryman in an armoured or shock unit. These classifications are blurry- sometimes, a Nordkaldic rifle Army will contain more armour than an Esperansic Tank Army.

Regular:
A standard Syndicalist Army consists of 9 rifle divisions, with organic armour, artillery, and power-armour support. All "A" and "B" quality regular units are equipped with enough motorized and mechanized transport that troops need not walk to the battlefield; a regular unit is capable of localized armoured operations, city assaults, and all the other tasks a major military unit is expected to endure. Regular units tend to have a fair amount of heavy equipment, and lose much of their effectiveness when the enemy enjoys space superiority, unless dug in under shields. Examples include the 1st Combined Army, the 103rd Caliphegian Rifles Army, and the 233rd Army.

Tank:
"Tank," "Armoured," or "Mechanized" formations contain a larger percentage of motorized transport and armour. Generally, a standard Syndicalist force contains 1 armour unit and 1 power armour unit per 4 infantry units; in armoured units, the proportions are 3-1-2. Tank Armies, consisting of roughly 9 Armoured Divisions, are expected to strike out on long-distance maneuvers to overwhelm the enemy in the open. "Tank" formations contain a large proportion of heavy equipment and powerful electronics; as such, they loose much of their mobility and fighting power when the enemy has space superiority. Examples include the 38th Armoured Army, the 2nd Esperansic Mechanized Army, and the 3rd Combined Mechanized Army.

Shock:
"Shock" formations contain more power-armour and heavy artillery than most regular formations, with an emphasis on planetary assault. "Shock" units are expected take the front line in an attack on a fortified location, and to never fall back in the face of mighty enemy resistance. It should be noticed that Shock, Tank, and regular formations tend to be roughly similar in types of equipment and training- the differences are largely in proportion, and the lines are often blurred between different varieties. Examples include the 40th Combined Shock Army, the 41st Combined Shock Army, and the 32nd Shock Army.

Mountain:
"Mountain," "Alpine," or "Light" formations are lightly equipped and lightly armed. They contain little heavy equipment, and often lack even motor transport. This is purposeful- Mountain troops are expected to operate in the most inhospitable conditions. Most "Mountain" units are classified as "A" quality, and their members are usually highly trained. Mountain troops do not expect to have orbital support; in fact, they are expected to move and fight effectively even with even WMD-equipped ships in orbit, using all the most modern methods of surveillance. Their gear is simplified and easy to maintain, and their electronics are compact and low-yield. Though this decreases their firepower considerably, they can operate in conditions which would render a Shock Army, with all it's theater shields, artillery, power-armour, and anti-orbit missiles useless.

Guards:
"Guards" are no different from other units- the title of "Guards" is an honorific attached to historically excellent units, or assigned to units which achieved great success against the enemy. Generally, a "Guards" unit has better training and morale than similar units without the "Guards" moniker.

Reserves:
Most of the "B" quality units are Reserves. They consist of a small cadre of professional troops and officers, and a great mass of weekend warriors, reservists who are not expected to see much combat. However, in a major mobilization, Reserves will fight on the front and with sufficient experience, they can be as deadly as regulars or even guards.

Force Organization

Army: A unit of roughly 150,000 fighting troops- generally consisting of 3 corps of 3 divisions each. The names, composition, and organization of the sub-units is generally similar to modern nomenclature, but not standardized- generally, there are Corps, Divisions, Brigades, Regiments, Companies, and Platoons. The Army is the smallest standardized force in the Internationale, and is commanded by a Comrade-General.
Front: Two-three armies makes a front, with up to 500,000 troops involved. A front is generally defined as "enough troops to conquer a fortified continent with orbital support." A Front is commanded by a Comrade-Fieldmarshal.
Front Group: Two-three Fronts make a Front Group- generally a temporary organization of 1-2 million thrown together as part of a larger Host, a Front Group is assigned to a particular task during the conquest of a heavily fortified and populated world, and is commanded by a Comrade-Undermarshal.
Host: A Host can contain between two and thirty Fronts, and is a force assigned with the conquest of one or more planets. A Host can contain many millions of troops, and is assigned to the conquest of a whole major, fortified planet, or even a group of lesser worlds. The commanding officer of a Host is a Comrade-Marshal.
Theater: A Theater is an entire region in which warfare is being fought. Many hosts operate within a theater, and the Theater's commander is as much a political officer, interacting with the Navy and External Security, as her or she is a tactician. The commander of a Theater is a Comrade-Theatermarshal.

The Committee for External Security:
External Security- the Exquisition- is a shadowy and unpleasant segment of the Internationale's forces. Exquisition troops are tasked with inciting riots and rebellions, clearing out enemy spies from recently conquered territory, and engaging in the worst sorts of asymmetrical warfare. Although technically seperate from the Committee of National Security, Exquisition special forces are closely tied to NatSec, and often consist of veterans from the AMU, under the direct control of AMU officers. Whenever an enemy commander is found dead moments before a major attack, or extensive civil insurrections begin in the enemy's hinterlands, the interference of Exquisition troops can be suspected.

[Ohma]

***this is currently under construction***

Weaponry of the Dominatrixiat Space and Ground Forces

Spacecraft Armaments

Railguns - Mounted railgun turrets are one of the three most common weapons to be found on DSF craft. They function in both a defensive and offensive capacity. They normally fire large slugs which are intended to explode into a cloud of large, high velocity, metal fragments in the path of an opposing ship, or incoming ordinance.

Guided Missiles - Missiles can be found aboard every DSF vessel. There are several types of missile used by the Dominatrixiat, they all use nuclear warheads, however only two are intended for use in space combat.
-"Coffin Nails" are small, relatively low yield, extremely high velocity and maneuverability missiles. They are designed to puncture and lodge inside an enemy craft's hull before detonating, hopefully causing severe damage to the unlucky ship. There are generally few Coffin Nails aboard any given craft since they require extremely precise targeting information to be effective, which can be difficult to get in combat.
-"Skyflowers" function similarly to railgun ordinance. However, instead of metal fragments, a Skyflower disperses a cloud of fusion warheads in the path of an enemy vessel.

Lasers - Most DSF craft are at least fitted with a few turreted lasers for point defense purposes. Larger ships (like the Valkyries and Athenas) also have large, high power laser arrays for use in an offensive capacity as well.

Mass Drivers - Only Athena CCs are mounted with mass drivers. They are intended for use during planetary pacification.

Drones - Athenas carry hundreds of laser equipped drones to provide additional defense during space combat. Though they carry many more for use during planetary invasion.

Decoys - Athenas and T-1s carry sensor decoys. They can be easily programmed to send a wide variety of signals, including messages, radiation, and ECM.

[Raj Ahten]

The Melconian Star Empire

Biology:

The Melconians are a bipedal alien race that normally stands from 5 to 7 feet tall. They are covered in short dark fur and have sharp teeth, large ears and look like a mix between a dog and a bear. They prefer cold earth like climates and are omnivorous. Melconian lifespan is generally very similar to that of humans. One unusual feature of Melconian biology is they appear somewhat stooped and can run on all fours for short periods of time.

History:

The Melconian Star Empire is several hundred years old. In general quite militaristic and expansionist, they were able to expand and crush all rivals for power for hundreds of years. Until they ran into the old human Empire that is. The war was very ugly, as the Melconian Empire had traditionally accepted that everything was a target in a war and the humans responded in kind. Most of the empire was lost, with whole planets completely depopulated or turned into refugees. The peace terms were extreme. The Melconians were forced to relocate their survivors to one sector of space considered a total backwater. With the old empire gone, The Melconians now turn their sights back to their lost territory.

Culture and Religion:

Melconian culture is based very much on reverence for parents and in turn ancestors. Patriarchs (or sometimes matriarchs) make decisions for an extended family. As a result Melconian society is highly stratified with little chance for upward mobility. Melconians also often make personal decisions based on what is best for the group, rather than for an individual.

The dominant Melconian religion is basically a form of ancestor worship. A major tenant of worship is that dead Melconians must receive prayers where they are buried in order to keep their spirits alive and well in Heaven. Humans controlling vast swathes of old Melconian territory is thus a huge religious issue. Church organizations and monasteries form an important part of Melconian social life and priests often hold significant temporal power. This role was reinforced after the Melconians were forced into their current holdings; the church was one of a few organizations offering aid to refugees. Most of this power comes from churches traditional controlling things such as hospitals, aid groups and so on. The church also works hand in hand with the state, generally reinforcing social stratification.

Politics:

The Melconian Emperor’s power is really quite limited. Centuries of convention now puts most of the state power into the power of the Executive Council, which is filled with high ranking Naval, Army and Civil Service officers as well as religious leaders. The military is extremely powerful, particularly the navy. The military also offers one of the few ways for Melconians to aspire to higher status, as highly qualified people are recognized and promoted. Still, the best way to be an officer is to be the son or daughter of one.

Three factions control the Executive Council. The first is composed of militarist, almost fascist military officers. Their goals are to retake the lands of the Melconian Empire and erase years of shame and dishonor (as well as to distract the people at home from generally bad living conditions). The second faction is highly religious and wants to retake Melconian lands to properly honor the ancestors. The third faction is composed primarily of pragmatic military officers and members of the civil service. They want to rebuild the Melconian Empire as well, but they don’t believe the realm is ready to launch wars and would prefer to focus on problems at home and development. Until recently, this faction was able to keep a lid on the other two. But with war restarting in the Imperial remnant, with one of the human’s first targets being another alien race, the pragmatists now believe conflict is inevitable.

Holdings:

The Melconian Star Empire now consists of 18 inhabited systems.

New Melcon: 20 pts.
New Melcon is the Capital of the Melconian Star Empire and is named after their lost capital. It is a bustling world with 12 billion inhabitants, heavy industry, and heavy defenses 9worth 10 points). The planet’s climate is very earth like, although somewhat cooler. Perfect for Melconian sensibilities, though a poor replacement for the old capital that was rendered uninhabitable. New Melcon’s moon is also heavily developed and is the center of the Empire’s civilian shipyards (5pts.) Five asteroid bases doing double duty as mining and defense stations also fill the system (1 point each.)

Port Nowhere: 25pts.
In the old Melconian Empire Port Nowhere was the biggest military base in the ass end of the Empire; that is how it got its name. Now it is the heart of the Melconian Navy and Melconian heavy industry in general. The system is very heavily developed. Port Nowhere is an earthlike planet currently experiencing a very deep ice age. Despite that its 7 billion inhabitants work nonstop in its extensive manufactories. (10 points). The Vol’Druz shipyard fills much of Port Nowhere’s sky. This huge facility is where the majority of the Melconian fleet is built at and houses millions of workers. It is also extremely well defended (10 points.) Nowhere’s moon, Redball, also houses extensive mining and manufacturing facilities as well as more defenses (3 points.) Two asteroid mining facilities (1 point each) round out this system.

Fleet Base Worlds: 6 points each.
T’run, Da’Nak, and Rethis are all planets with significant naval facilities and industrial output. Each planet has the facilities to conduct major repairs and even construction work on all but the largest and most advanced Melconian vessels.

Major Colony Worlds: 5 points each.
Nir’mal, Sugat, Greensky, Ryl'Ur and Istril are all colony worlds settled after the exodus from the Melconian home worlds. Each has fairly large populations, decent climates and developed Industry.

Minor Planets: 3 points each.
Lantisa and The Hole are minor worlds with smaller populations and Industrial bases. Both have somewhat hostile ecospheres with Lantisa covered in thick jungle and The Hole being mostly desert.

New Colonies: 1 point each.
Liraj, Ka’Donis, New Hope, Emperor’s Blessing, Dru’Veh and Bluesky are all new colonies settled within the last 100 years. They have small populations and meager industrial bases.

Military Organization and Equipment:

The armed forces of the Melconian Empire consist of three branches: The Navy, the Army, and the Civil Defense Corps (CDC). The Navy is the senior service and tasked with winning wars and defense of the Empire. The army’s job is basically to defend Melconian worlds long enough for the Navy to arrive and attack enemy planets when the navy alone can not force surrender. The CDC is a reservist force that exists on every planet, no matter how large or small. Its job is to protect the Empires citizens and provide a last line of defense.

One organization of note outside any of the branches of the military of note is the Office of Imperial Security. It is essentially both an intelligence service and secret police force, it answers to the Emperor officially, but to the head of the military in reality.

Another aspect all the services share is very strict communications protocol and other measures to increase security against possible human intelligence gathering. An important factor in the Melconians earlier defeats at the hands of the humans was lax communications and information security. Needless to say, such things are now taken very seriously indeed.

The Navy: Doctrine, forces and technology.

Melconian naval doctrine stresses the importance of engaging enemy forces with the maximum amount of force whenever possible. Ships are always deployed in Squadrons of two ships of the same type. Melconian planners are convinced this gives their forces significant tactical advantages such as closer coordination between ships.

Melconian ship design philosophy centers on a battle group and ships working together. All but the oldest Melconian ships share data links during battle. This also means that individual Melconian ships are often weaker than human counterparts. Their ships are also designed purely to be the most efficient platform of spewing death possible. Given Melconian doctrine of bringing overwhelming firepower to bear, their ships usually resemble cones in shape with very heavily armored prows and a narrow profile from the front; which is the direction most enemies are expected to be in many engagements.

Weapons wise the Melconian have traditionally relied on long range (and expensive) missile systems that launch from bays along the sides of their ships. Payloads are typically nuclear pumped X-ray laser sub munitions which detonate some distance from the target in order to avoid interception. Spinal and turret mounted lasers and rail guns provide direct fire capabilities, and all Melconian ships carry at least some defensive armament, decoy launchers and ECM packages. Defensive energy screens also augment the vessel’s defenses. Robot drone craft are also used to augment Melconian firepower.

A new weapon system coming on line on the latest ships are the Ancestor’s Fury (human codenamed “Blackjack.”) missile systems. These weapons are equipped with one use, short range hyperdrives. They are said to be impossible to intercept. They are also extremely expensive and require very precise targeting data to be effective. This technology is a direct offshoot of Melconian expertise with hyperdrives. All but the least capable vessels are equipment with very good FTL transit drives.

Melconian Naval Order of Battle:

4 “November” (Emperor) Class Battleships
30+3H+2D+1C3I
The Emperor class Battleship is the old hammer of the Melconian fleet. Missile bays are the main basis for their striking power. Despite the class being over 50 years old, they still remain a potent class capable of going toe to toe with any comers. Like all Melconian ships, they sport formidable arrays of point defense weapons.

2 “Lucifer” (Divine Wind) Class Battlecruisers
25+3H+2D+6R+1C3I
The Divine Wind class was an experiment with a new doctrine of using lighter armed but faster vessels in pursuit squadrons, with the idea being they would outflank enemy forces in battle. They are generally considered a failure as their cost is higher and their firepower and protection lower than that of the Emperor class. Nonetheless they are potent combatants

12 “Alfa” (Admiral Voth) Class Cruisers
20+3H+3D+1C3I
The Admiral Voth class is the heavy workhorse of the Melconian fleet. A good mix of firepower, defenses and good crew arrangements make this one of the most popular classes among Melconian Naval personnel.

4 “Fast Alfa” (Phoenix) Class Cruisers
15+3H+3D+6R+1C3I
The other parts of the same program as the Divine Wind class, these cruisers are plagued with the same stigma as expensive failures. They remain in service because they are well designed and reliable vessels, even if their basic concept is considered flawed.

8 “Razorback” (Ramec) Class Light Cruisers
8+3H+5D+2R+1C3I
The Ramec class is primarily tasked with providing point defense for the fleet and leading destroyer task forces when the need arises. They are known for their good sub light speed and excellent defensive systems. Theese ships recently got much needed upgrades to their electronics. They got their “Razorback” code name from their distinctive antennae arrays on the top of the ship.

4 “Pouncer” (Echo Station) Class Light Cruisers
8+3H+2R+7I+1D+1C3I
These cruisers main role is to interdict enemy fleets so they can be completely annihilated. They also have the speed and firepower to contribute to the battle and position themselves so the enemy can not escape.

39 “Sierra” (Spirit) Class Destroyers
5+2H+1R+1D+1C3I
The Spirit Class is the backbone of the Melconian fleet. They sport good speed, armament, and electronics. Normal doctrine calls for a squadron of these ships to escort any battleship of cruiser while deployed. This warhorse is expected to stay in service for the foreseeable future.

22 “Kilo” (Duty) Class Destroyers
3+2R+1D
The Duty class is an ancient design dating back to when the Melconian Empire lost to the humans. For many years these ships were all the Empire would allow the Melconians to have. Luckily they are dependable ships, though woefully out of date. They now serve mostly to augment planetary defense fleets and train new ship crews.

2 “Fencer” (Emperor’s Wrath) Class Bombardment Dreadnaughts
30+10B+3H+2D+1C3I
These mighty ships are a lost breed meant for only one thing: planetary assault. Mounting as many weapons as the Emperor Class, the Emperor’s wrath carry huge stocks of fusion warheads for sustained planetary bombardment against hardened targets.

10 “Cobra” (Captain N’Tan) Class Destroyers
10+5H+5D+2R+5O+3C3I
The Captain N’Tan was the first class of Melconian vessels to mount the Ancestor’s Fury missile system. These excellent destroyers are slated to become the backbone of the new Melconian fleet. Besides their deadly armament, these ships carry extensive suites of countermeasures and boast very high sub light speeds. Despite their capabilities, some complain of their cost.

6 “Oscar” (Council) Class Cruisers
20+5H+4C3I+4D+2R+10O
The Council class are truly ships to be feared. They mount a huge array of Ancestor’s Fury missiles on a platform that took all the good parts from the fast ships program that spawned the Divine Wind and Phoenix classes. With excellent sensors and defenses some say it is the best all around ship of the Melconian fleet.

4 “Papa” (Emperor II) Class Battleships
32+5H+5C3I+10O+3D
The Emperor II is in many ways a completely new design. Boasting advanced new drive systems, Ancestor’s Revenge missiles, improved sensors and AI support these battlewagons are a force to be reckoned with. They required all new shipyards to produce.

2 “Haze” (Revenge) Class Deep Strike Craft
4+7S+2C3I+10O+2R+5H
The Revenge class is an experimental design. It is a small ship with an immense array of Ancestor’s Fury weapons, melded with stealth systems. It is meant to infiltrate enemy space and ambush enemy ships and then withdraw. In a fleet engagement these ships would likely be used to engage the enemy at extreme range. These ships are quite vulnerable to counterattack as they have only rudimentary point defense systems.

45 "Hotel" (Kraken) Class System Defense Craft
1+1D or 1+1C3I
The Kraken is a light cutter meant for system defense work. They lack hyperdrives but are quite potent in groups. 20 of the craft protect the capital and another 25 guard the main shipyards.

The Melconian Army.

The Melconian army is tasked primarily with assaulting enemy planets. Therefore it’s doctrine is very offensively centered. Melconian army commanders are told to attack often and frequently, to never let the enemy catch his breath. N the defense the army will counterattack vigorously.

The core of the Melconian Army is its armored vehicles. They field a large number of heavily armed tracked vehicles which are normally equipped with rail guns and short range missile systems, along with lasers for point defense work. Backing up the armor are devastating artillery systems mostly a combination of rapid fire howitzers and missile launchers. In the sorts of battles the Melconian fights, which often see widespread use of nuclear weapons, infantry is seen as having limited utility. A Melconian trooper does not have the extensive cybernetic upgrades or power armor that his human adversaries often field. They go to battle in fully sealed armored suits with limited strength enhancement to offset the suit’s weight. The infantry’s role is mostly to screen the armor from ambushes and help clear cities when they are to be taken intact. The Melconians have learned the hard way that the infantryman still has a place on the battlefield.

The army makes extensive use of robot drones throughout its forces. Some of their most deadly armored vehicles and artillery systems are completely automated. Every vehicle carries at least a few disposable drones for reconnaissance and the average infantryman is back up by at least two robot companions; usually one flyer and one tracked. The army also controls extensive aerospace drone assets, as the Navy is often too busy to provide support for the ground pounders.

The Civil Defense Corps

The Civil Defense Corps (CDC) is the main force responsible for the defense of Melconian planets. Every settlement, no matter how large or small, has a (CDC) detachment. Every citizen not in another branch of the military or the priesthood is expected to serve in the CDC sometime in their life. Essentially it is a reserve force whose members defend their own communities.

Other duties of the CDC include disaster relief and helping with large development projects. Despite such roles the CDC is a highly professional fighting force. Unlike the army, they are masters of the defensive battle. They also sport just as much heavy equipment as the army, though they generally sport less automated assistance.


Melconian Racial abilities

Barbarian 50pts.
Improved Logistics 150 pts.
Improved Counter Espionage 50 pts.
Improved Shipyard 50pts.
System Defense (New Melcon) 100pts
System Defense (Port Nowhere)100pts.

[Spyder]

Academy Vanguard

"As many of you are already aware, my name is Dr Julius Vance. Allow me to be the first to say, welcome to Via Secundus. Some of you have chosen or have been chosen to relocate to this region for a variety of reasons. Whether your stay is intended to be permanent or if you are merely passing through on your way to parts unknown, you can rest assured that your continued safety and comfort is the Vanguard's utmost priority. This brings us to a very important point which bears discussion.

To summarize the current situation we face, Earth; the birthplace of all mankind, has been destroyed. The survivors of what many refer to as 'The Final War' are scattered throughout the known universe and much of the known universe now lies in complete anarchy. Our goal is to progress from a humanity that seeks only to pursue its own survival to a society that pursues knowledge, wisdom and the innumerable other qualities that first brought us to the stars.

You may be wondering what this has to do with you, the answer is that your skills and knowledge are going to provide the foundation for the society of coming generations of not just our Vanguard, but for all sentient life."

---

Since the fall of the Empire, the Imperial Academy of Science faded into obscurity. Little is known about the nation that refers to itself as the Academy Vanguard. It is a nation with closely guarded secrets, formed from promises of a better way and by a leader, Dr Julius Vance, who once said "In order to survive the challenges of this Universe, we must understand this Universe."

--more to follow--

Ships



Cost | Name | Value breakdown | Count | Total Cost

50 | Omega Star | 50 | 10 | 500
50 | Delta Star | 40+10D | 8 | 400
50 | Alpha Star | 40+10O | 8 | 400
30 | Beta Star | 20+10B | 5 | 150
5 | Sensor Craft | 1+4C3 | 30 | 150
5 | Mobile Interdiction Craft | 1+4I | 20 | 100
1 | Wing of 5 Strike Craft | 1 | 300 | 300

Total 2000


Planets

10 Via Secundus
10 Vileirus
10 Empyreon
10 Tybex
5 Cero Primus
5 Phobos Nova
5 Cero Secondus
5 Obisteir
5 Cocian
5 Ayruquis
1 Icarus Station (SOL)
29 Various others

Total 100


Racial

Improved Espionage - 300
Improved Counter Espionage - 100
Improved Defenses - 100

Total 500

---------------------------------
Production Log

Production for Turn 2

The Academy's Icarus Station - a small monitoring platform establish in the Sol system after the end of the Final War in order to conduct research into Earth's former sun. Since it's inception, a small community of drifters, Academy scientists, ex-pats and travellers from nearby systems (including Molochi and Syndacalists) as well as pilgrims from the religious group known as the Children of Sol have all taken up residence. Various upgrades intended to expand Icarus' scientific and industrial output have been scheduled.

Academy citizens are flocking to Obisteir and Ayrquis as an extensive ecological and industrial engineering project is underway to drastically improve the conditions on both of these worlds.

A similar ecological experiment on Phobos Nova is also expected to improve the moon's suitibility for human habitation.

New settlements in outlying Academy provinces are being planned as a result of new mineral discoveries.

Code: Select all

Ships					
	Cost	| Name	| Value breakdown	| Count	 | Total | Cost of Class
	1	| Wing of 5 LR Strike Craft	| 1	| 100	| 100
					
			Total	100	100
					
Planetary Improvement			
	Value	Name			
	2	Phobos Nova			
	5	Obisteir			
	5	Ayruquis			
	2	Icarus Station
	2	Others			
			
Total	16				
					
Racial					
	Cost	Item			
	100	Improved Counter Espionage			
					
Total	100				

Results of Previous Turn	
Income	1000
Maintenance	400
Net Income	600

Spending Summary	
Ships	100
Planets (25:1)	400
Racial	100