Asgard Stellar Empire
History:
Recruited primarly from the Scadanavian area of Earth (though with a major British contingent) the Asagard Stellar Empire hold eight major planetary colonies and most of the countries boardering the North Sea. However, prior to the Floater Wars the vast majority of the Earthbound citizenry of the Empire began a mass exodus. The Asgard and Kokand citizens alike abandoned the homeworld in favor of the more peaceful and stable colonies.
The largest even short of the genocidal Floater War was the Act of Annexation. The Kokand Empire, which had suffered in the turmoil leading up to the Great Conflict, was admitted into the Asgard Empire as a full member. Despite a great deal of friction, in no small part due to the Kokand Seperatists that hijacked the Black Forest Taskforce, the two nations were melding into one.
That process was abruptly forced on the newly joined Empires. Due to the aggression of the Floaters and their lackies a war was brewing. After several indecisive actions all out war was declared between the forces of the New Beijing Alliance launched a preemptive strike on the Durandalians. The massive Battlefleet Empress Jessica conducted a quick strike on the system, effectively scorching it out of existence. Suffice to say this radical action combined with the prior Floater aggression touched off the genocidal war. So with out boring the reader with too much detail, the war went fairly well for the large and well trained Asgard Military. Things did not go well with the NB Alliance though, the draw at the Battle of Krytos fragmented the Alliance after the heavy losses taken by the PIR Fleet. Despite treachery and deceit of supposed allies, the Asgard remained relatively intact having lost no major worlds to the scourge of orbital bombardment.
Territory:
Valhalla Sytem (Direct Fiefdom of the Imperial Family):
Trondheim is the Capital World and is consider the heart of the Asgard Empire. While the founders were careful to preserve a great deal of the unspoiled beauty of the world, the urban areas are enormous, densely packed centers. Hundred story towers are not an uncommon sight in this mega-cities.
Hugin and Mugin are the twin planets of the gas giant Odin. It is these worlds that house much of the military bureaucracy as well as the major (note that) military academies. They also have fairly large population in and of themselves. They support a good deal of the naval infrastructure from their heavily defended surfaces.
Kokand System (Fiefdom of the Grand Duke of Kokand):
Kokand is some say a secondary capital. It is the most densely populated worlds in the entire Empire. The continents are buried under the bulk of great cities and vast industrial and commercial workings.
Saris the airless moon of Kokand also supports a major colonial outwork. It serves as one of the major hubs of military and commercial activity through out the Kokand provinces.
Epsilon System (Fiefdom of the Grand Duke of Passchendale):
The primary planet, Epsilon Prime, is a relatively highly developed world. Like most of the Kokand Empire it is urbanized to a level beyond that of most the Empire. It is considered a hub of advanced technology and the attendant industrial complexes.
Asahiem System (Fiefdom of the Duchess of Greystone):
Asahiem is one of the Core Worlds of the Empire which is reflected in the high level of development of the world.
Two colonies have been founded on the planetoid moons of the local gas giant. At present they serve as massive industrial worlds and bases of operation for some of the most massive shipyards in the Empire.
Osalon System (Fiefdom of the Grand Duchess of Osalon):
Osalon Minor, the system’s main planet is nearing an ice age yet it has been developed any way. A major Core World.
Thor System (Fiefdom of the Duke Thorian):
A highly developed Core system with four of the sytems planetoid developed into major colonies in their own right.
Ragnar System (Fiefdom of the Earl of Stonewind):
Another Core System. It’s notable for it’s massive agricultural output; the main planet having a local year of just over two and half T-years.
Fenris System (Fiefdom of the Lords of Fenris) :
Core System. A major hub for trade into the remnants of the PIR.
Loki System (Fiefdom of the Grand Duke’s Oakenshield and Ironhelm):
This system actually contains two colonized worlds of major status.
LK-242 System (Fiefdom of the Lord Stonebow, grant pending):
This is a large colonial system on the fringes of Asgard space. It’s home to some of the most important military bases on the frontier. With three colonized celestial bodies, it’s unusually populace and developed for a colony.
FG-145 (No local Lord):
A binary system settled approximately three decades ago. It is near some of the missing colonies and hence has received a great deal of attention as well becoming the result of a major defensive build up.
RE- 15 (Baron Grey Wolf):
A colony world on the edge of former PIR space, it has received a great deal of immigrants from the PIR. This has helped develop the relatively young colony at a stupendous rate.
Politics:
The Empire is ruled by an Emperor whose power is limited only by the Senate which is poplarly elected. It has a House Common and a House Noble. Prior to the recent Crisis the House Common had managed to get an upper hand relative to the House Noble, despite their theoretical equality. However, with an apparent re-appearance of the Floaters the Populist Party was broken. The Emperor, in an unprecedented move, rejected the Prime Minister and his appointed ministers. This unprecedented, but greatly popular, move has provoked something of a constitutional crisis in addition to the growing military crisis. The Nobles and the Imperial Family have both moved to grab the power of the weakened House Common.
Where and how it will end is not known yet.
Imperial Asgard Navy
Capital Units
15
Wulfen-class Superdreadnaught
10
Fenris-class Supercarriers
- 70 Interceptors
90 Strike Fighters
30 Gunboats
15 Support craft (5 Fuelers, 8 AWACS, 2 SAR)
Wulfen-class Superdreadnaughts are the third generation incarnation of the pod-laying classes begun with the pre-war Invictuses. All of them have been brought up to the standard with a second generation Mercury-type compensator roughly tripling the effective acclerations the ship can undergo. These are the largest, faster capital ships yet built by the Asgard.
Armament consists of a dozen EEC-grasers per broadside (2 in each hammerhead) as well as the usual array of grasers and lasers.
Fenris-class Supercarriers are the latest design of strike fighter carrier. They sacrifice some acceleration in favor of more carrying capacity, accomodating the larger spacewings and craft. They have a modest self defense capacity of the form of hammerhead EEC-batteries and the capability of handling modest amounts of pod-missles.
- F-14 Valkyrie Interceptors are the first operationally deployed Copperhead fighters. They are the premeir carrier based interceptor and dog fighter. Compared to war models of fighter, they're larger but far more heavily armed. In additional to a very flexible extrenal armament loadout out they carry a pair of twinned pulse lasers and a single het-laser.
F/A-8 Reaper (A & B models) is the replacement strike fighter for the aging post war models. Only the B model, which accounts for roughly half the active strength at present, has the Copperhead linkage system. The Reapers of both models feature a massive extrenal ordinance capacity as well as no less than three internal het-lasers.
A-6 Sabre Gunboat is the heaviest hitter of the carrier spacewing. It has four heavy het-lasers as well as the capacity for multiple salvos of anti-shipping ordinance. They are strictly a strike craft. The commander of the boat is a copperhead, the other two are not.
EC-2 Mosquitos are one of the most sophisticated sensor birds ever deployed. They are capable of supplying the full range of sensor and targetting data (though their own range is much reduced compared to a full warship's) needed by both fighter and warships, making these stealth birds extremely valuable.
Heavy Combatants
20
Broadsword-class Battlecruisers
55
Berserker-class Heavy Cruisers
Broadsword-class Battlecruisers are the favored raider vessel of the Asgard Navy. They're fast, heavily armed with four EEC-lasers per broadside as well as a large store of pods to back up it's energy weapons.
Berseker-class Heavy cruisers are a standard cruiser design. Rumor has it that there's a new design in the works to feature an EEC-battery but those are strictly classified.
Escorts
40
Hound-class Light Cruisers
*
200
Werewolf-class Patrol Destroyers
160
Fang-class Destroyer Escorts
All of these are relatively standard designs for the type. The Destroyer Escorts are not substantially smaller (despite the name applied) than a Destroyer, they're simply optimized for an escort role rather than the jack of all trades of the patrol destroyers.
*Yes, I'm aware that these are cruisers however they're used in the typical escort roles and in terms of my forces they are escorts.
Weapons Tech
EEC-Laser,Graser: These are the latest in weapons technology among the Asgard. Developed under the strictest secrecy (aka no stealing it!) it is essentially a standard energy weapon's beam enclosed in a hyperfield. This creates an FTL beam weapon and prevents the degredation of the shot along the hyperguide. At the moment they are relatively power intensive and so only the largest warships mount them at all and even then their cycle rate is some what less than a convention graser.
Graser & Laser: Standard energy weapons. Just what the names say they are.
Missles: essentially the same as the familiar MDM with the exeception that the newst generation of anti-ship missles now have a terminal stage drive of the near inertialess type previously used by the fighters. This makes evasive manuvers far harder for a targetted vessel.
Copperheads/Neuro-AI Interface Technology: The essentials of it are that is that it's cybernetic mind-link technology taken to the extreme. The Copperhead, be they warship commander or fighter pilot, has their mind hooked up to and augmented by specially adapted AI units. This enables unparralelled reaction times, situational awareness, and tactical planning.
(Einy would like my power, I think.)