Forums of the Megaverse®

SolCannibal wrote:[

The fun part is that making the Atlanteans in jerks ain't even difficult - you just take away the guilt over past mistakes, or make them a little too sanctimonious/prone to beat the drum of their own acomplishments since in monster/undead slaying & etc.

And there's that whole Mechanoid thing....
"That wasn't us."
"Close enough."

taalismn wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:[

The fun part is that making the Atlanteans in jerks ain't even difficult - you just take away the guilt over past mistakes, or make them a little too sanctimonious/prone to beat the drum of their own acomplishments since in monster/undead slaying & etc.

And there's that whole Mechanoid thing....
"That wasn't us."
"Close enough."

So very true. Good to know other people are aware of that one - and how it's probably one of the things Splynn is holding over the Sunaj's heads to get their cumplicity.

SolCannibal wrote:

taalismn wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:[

The fun part is that making the Atlanteans in jerks ain't even difficult - you just take away the guilt over past mistakes, or make them a little too sanctimonious/prone to beat the drum of their own acomplishments since in monster/undead slaying & etc.

And there's that whole Mechanoid thing....
"That wasn't us."
"Close enough."

So very true. Good to know other people are aware of that one - and how it's probably one of the things Splynn is holding over the Sunaj's heads to get their cumplicity.

As far as I know the only place that this is mentioned is SB 2 Mechanoid Invasion and there is nothing in the books that indicates that anyone, Atlantean or otherwise, knows the origins of the Mechanoids or the original species the Atlanees. In fact this book says that they have many names and there origins are lost to antiquity.

Has it changed in a recent book and I missed it?

Warshield73 wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:

taalismn wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:[

The fun part is that making the Atlanteans in jerks ain't even difficult - you just take away the guilt over past mistakes, or make them a little too sanctimonious/prone to beat the drum of their own acomplishments since in monster/undead slaying & etc.

And there's that whole Mechanoid thing....
"That wasn't us."
"Close enough."

So very true. Good to know other people are aware of that one - and how it's probably one of the things Splynn is holding over the Sunaj's heads to get their cumplicity.

As far as I know the only place that this is mentioned is SB 2 Mechanoid Invasion and there is nothing in the books that indicates that anyone, Atlantean or otherwise, knows the origins of the Mechanoids or the original species the Atlanees. In fact this book says that they have many names and there origins are lost to antiquity.

Has it changed in a recent book and I missed it?

Well, i always felt that bit of info connected with Splynn's foreshadowing in WB2 Atlantis about having secret info that went beyond its blackmail material in the Aehriman clan and could dramatically damage the image of the True Atlanteans as a whole across the Megaverse. So, not really a change or recent at all.

SolCannibal wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:

taalismn wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:[

The fun part is that making the Atlanteans in jerks ain't even difficult - you just take away the guilt over past mistakes, or make them a little too sanctimonious/prone to beat the drum of their own acomplishments since in monster/undead slaying & etc.

And there's that whole Mechanoid thing....
"That wasn't us."
"Close enough."

So very true. Good to know other people are aware of that one - and how it's probably one of the things Splynn is holding over the Sunaj's heads to get their cumplicity.

As far as I know the only place that this is mentioned is SB 2 Mechanoid Invasion and there is nothing in the books that indicates that anyone, Atlantean or otherwise, knows the origins of the Mechanoids or the original species the Atlanees. In fact this book says that they have many names and there origins are lost to antiquity.

Has it changed in a recent book and I missed it?

Well, i always felt that bit of info conneccted with Splynn's foreshadowing in WB2 Atlantis about having secret info that went beyond its blackmail material in the Aehriman clan and could terribly damatically damage the image of the True Atlanteans as a whole across the Megaverse. So, not really a change or recent at all.

Not sure what you are referring to. The only thing I could find was:

WB 2: Atlantis, Pg. 63 wrote:Lastly, the dark secret is something the Splugorth can enjoy forever, because sooner or later the secret will be uncovered. When this happens, the Aerihman clan will be branded as unbelievably evil and despicable beings by all good and honorable creatures. The Aerihman and all surviving Atlanteans will be haunted by their act of unparalleled treachery till the end of time. From the Splugorth's point of view, this was a dream come true. An opportunity that was too wonderful to ignore. No matter what happens from this point on, the Splugorth will be content with their role in it.

Which is clearly just talking about how the secret of the Sunaj will be damaging to the reputation of all Atlanteans.

Is there something else?

True. The Mechanics are not something the Splugorth can hang over the Sunaj.
Besides, whatever vibe I originally got was that the Mechanics came into being AFTER the great catastrophe that sank Atlantis.
I've always gone with the idea that the Mechanics were created by a post-cataclysm Atlantean offshoot that followed up the original Atlantean boneheadedness with magic with instead equal(if not greater) boneheadedness with technology.

taalismn wrote:True. The Mechanics are not something the Splugorth can hang over the Sunaj.
Besides, whatever vibe I originally got was that the Mechanics came into being AFTER the great catastrophe that sank Atlantis.
I've always gone with the idea that the Mechanics were created by a post-cataclysm Atlantean offshoot that followed up the original Atlantean boneheadedness with magic with instead equal(if not greater) boneheadedness with technology.

I have always approached this the same way. I figure that when the catastrophe happened True Atlanteans and even humans were spread across the megaverse. I think there was even some hints that True Atlanteans ended up on Palladium itself. Heck I had ancient TA ruins on Mars.

I figure that at least a few TA groups that were sent out into the Megaverse without tattoo masters or in places with low or no magic would eventually just become humans with high technology.

One of my earliest player groups, while working with Gilgamesh the Wanderer and the TA Endiku, actually found ancient Mechanoid stuff including DNA and language that led them to learn that they were linked TAs but they ended up treating as a horrible secret and even erased all the computer records of it.

taalismn wrote:True. The Mechanics are not something the Splugorth can hang over the Sunaj.
Besides, whatever vibe I originally got was that the Mechanics came into being AFTER the great catastrophe that sank Atlantis.
I've always gone with the idea that the Mechanics were created by a post-cataclysm Atlantean offshoot that followed up the original Atlantean boneheadedness with magic with instead equal(if not greater) boneheadedness with technology.

Well, if memory tricks me not, the whole story of the doom of the "Atlanees" can be summed up like this:

- Create a bunch of genetically tweaked tube babies, fill them to the gills in cybernetics so they'll make effective deep exploration probes for them.
- The borged tube babies, never knowing the possibility of living other kind of existence, went at it for decades or centuries, along the way developed upgrades of their own to their bodies through telepathic exchanges & stuff, maybe (or not) developing FTL in the process. Eventually they return to base.
- 'Borg probes make first contact with the descendants of their creators, that feel what was done in their creation was morally wrong on many levels (relatable) and decide to deal with the issue of this injustice by exterminating those who are last surviving victims, because they are obviously better off dead and who would consider maybe offering organic bodies for them to have a chance to learn what they missed?
- The pre-Mechs didn't understand half the nuances involved of the crap being said at them and were obviously not ok with dying for the sake of those guys consciences, fought with all their might for their continued existences and due to all the time they spent adapting to dealing with hazards of space exploration, revealed themselves to be much better at duking it out than the descendants of their makers.
- The borged tube babies had to collectively deal with their great act of compulsory fatricide-genocide what combined with having little to no life experience as we understand it, had disastrous mental effects on them, compounded by their advanced psychic abilities.


The funny thing? Technically speaking what brought their extinction was not boneheadedness with technology per se, but boneheadedness over its ethical use and dealing with those changes in perception or more precisely, the fruit of that misuse rearing its head.

In retrospect i ask myself how might things have been or not if the pre-Mechs had met other alien civilizations, interacted and matured along the way before returning home....

SolCannibal wrote:[

In retrospect i ask myself how might things have been or not if the pre-Mechs had met other alien civilizations, interacted and matured along the way before returning home....

I had an alt-hist setting where the Mechanoids WERE accepted back, treated well,....and ended up running their creators' society as enlightened despots(In a 'With Folded Hands' situation where the creations end up essentially keeping their creators as pampered pets).

Saquist(Independent World)(Thundercloud Galaxy)
“Saquist used to be a pretty classy world; a lot of wealthy offworlders dropped hefty sums to acquire estates on the planet to be near the budding cultural center of the sector. The problem was that it was so classy; there was a real class war building pressure behind the pretty tourism brochure pictures and real state prospectuses. One day the patches just weren’t enough and the whole pretty pressure cooker exploded. Now it looks like Saquist’s going to go full warzone and become the sector’s no man’s land.”

Though not a member of the United Systems Alliance, Saquist is worthy of note because it is on the edges of USA territory and represents one of the few points of contact between the Alliance and the TransGalactic Empire, given the latter’s involvement in the politics of the planet.
Saquist is a pastoral planet that would qualify environmentally as a paradise world(and economically as a Utopia world), with a hospitable climate, breathable atmosphere, and fairly benign ecosystem. It was settled by colonists from the Human Alliance, who established a prosperous colonial society, with the first arrivals establishing stable lineage-run dynasties known as the First Families(a characteristic seen on many colony worlds). The First Families, having claimed the best real estate on-planet, became dominant socioeconomic and political blocs holding the reigns of power over subsequent waves of immigrants. While initially this was not a problem, as Saquist’s population and prosperity grew, the First Families became more entrenched, controlling a greater portion of the planetary income and exercising tighter control over the government. Frustration began fomenting in the ranks of the later settlers and their descendants, who began to feel disenfranchised and shut out of opportunities for advancement.
The Vahnkists were an anarchist-populist movement that claimed to want to create a more equal society, with a more even distribution of wealth between the First Families and the later arrivals, but their social agenda was to be achieved through violence. At some point, however, the Vahnkist movement came under the direction of TGE sponsorship. The Vahnkists began a steady climb in escalating tensions against the First Families, turning absorbing, or intimidating other grassroots protest groups into supporting the Vahnkist cause, until they became the majority opposition group on Saquist.
Though the more reform-minded First families saw the need for social justice and tried to pass more equitable legislation, the Vahnkists would not be satisfied, and pushed the government for an excuse to advance their own agenda. Finally, tensions boiled over and a series of police crackdowns became the trigger for a global uprising. The Saquist government was caught by surprise as well-coordinated violence broke out in several key cities and well-armed Vahnkist operatives struck government offices and security centers. Order quickly collapsed and mob rioting, some of it planned and some of it spontaneous, broke out in the streets. The violence swiftly escalated and soon the entire planet was caught up in bloody civil war.
Several USA member worlds had interests on Saquist. Several Skensian aristocratic Houses bought properties and invested in Saquist companies, and both Medeseaed and Nettavan had trade treaties with Saquistan companies. While the foreigners weren’t publicly targeted by the Vahnkist movement, their businesses and residences were hit by the mobs,a nd it was no secret that some Vahnkist cells hoped to take high-value hostages, Fortunately, aside from a few close calls(and one -spectacular- escape by a Skensian noblewoman), USA citizens on-world managed to elude the revolutionaries.
The question is whether the USA should intervene on Saquist, and to what degree. With reports of known TGE ‘advisors’ operating openly on the planet, such a move could shut the Empire out of the sector...or could provide the TGE with an excuse to move in more openly if their people are killed in any USA intervention. Adding fuel to an already tense situation are rumors that several Free World Council ‘headhunters’ have arrived in the sector to assassinate known TGE agents on Saquist.
Currently, USA military involvement on Saquist has been limited to the stationing of several USA warships in the outer system, ready to evacuate the remaining embassies.

Solar System
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Yellow Dwarf
Number of Planets: 7
-Terrestrial(Saquist)---System Lifeworld

-Gas Giant(Moqui)---A small gas giant, barely large enough to qualify. However, it is large enough to supply various gases for profitable atmosphere-mining. Moqui has become a major fuel supplier and stopover for interstellar traffic in the system.
The privately-owned refueling station on Pekard, the largest moon, has been virtually taken over by several squadrons of foreign warships, including units from the United Systems Alliance, which are waiting to see if they need to intervene in the situation on Saquist. The station’s operators, the Llenz Family, don’t mind as long as they’re paid for any consumables and are kept safe from any bleedover from the violence on Saquist(especially after the troubles in the Eferet moon system; see below)

-Gas Giant(Eferet)----The largest of Eferet’s moons, Kimos, is heavily colonized, serving both asteroid miners and moon miners, and feeding Saquist’s orbital industries. Kimos was also the site of an outbreak of violence in the lower class quarters, coinciding with the opening of hostilities on Saquist. Corporate security, feeling particularly on edge and suspecting a coordinated action with the revolutionaries on Saquist, reacted immediately with deadly force, with some 5,000 colonials dying as habitats were breached and vented into space. The ‘Kimos Massacre’ has seen much play by the Vahnkists, who are using it to portray the ancien regime as callous murderers of the innocent. The incident has put the other communities of astrominers on edge, some of who want to protest the heavy-handed response meted out by the security forces, but fearing the attention now paid them by those same forces, and especially after comments made by the head of security, who has assumed police powers, about cutting off supplies to the other moon colonies.

-Terrestrial(Erewist)---Giant methane-fog-shrouded Erewist possesses a gravity too high and an atmosphere too violent to make it viable for settlement. Investors on Saquist were considering gravity-shielded, robot-run, mining platforms dropped to Erewist’s surface, but these plans have been put on indefinite hold thanks to the civil war.

-Gas Giant(Velkan)---What makes Velkan of recent interest is that a Saquistian military vessel claims to have detected a TGE vessel skulking around Velkan. With rumors flying of the TransGalactic Empire backing the Vahnkists, this further report of a furtive TGE presence in the outer system has fueled more rumors of secret arms smugglers or even a forward base for further stirring up the civil war. Besides the original Saquist Navy vessel that reported the TGE ship, the government has dispatched two more warships to investigate, followed by several of the outworld vessels orbiting Moqui, out of curiosity.

-Gas Giant(Belgrin)----Belgrin’s moon Mephas played host to a resort colony for wealth Saquistians wanting to enjoy the sights of multihued Belgrin, and participate in circum-Mephas ice-sled races and other low-gee, low-temperature sports. However, since the civil war broke out, the resort has become something of a precarious refuge for some of its guests, who cannot return to their Saquist homes(now in rebel hands). The once opulent menu has become increasingly spare as supplies run out, and the resort operators are desperately seeking assistance before their food runs out, as no help seems to be coming any time soon from the government.

-Gas Giant(Obosac)
This dark Ort-cloud planet was home to the Sanquist Science Academy’s Verest DeepLab, a scientific research outpost funded on the sly with money siphoned off from vanity contributions made to the SIA by patrons wanting to get their names on something(while the hardcore scholars of the SIA really wanted hard-to-come-by funding for actual hard research. It’s not entirely clear what the VDL was researching out on the edge of nowhere, but the last reported communication from it after the civil war broke out was somebody declaring the DeepLab an ‘independent and neutral nation unto itself, above the pathetic problems of mundane governments and plebeian politics”. There has been no response to hails since, and the navigation beacon on the station has disappeared off the airwaves. As the facility was meant for long durations between resupply, and had just been topped off before things went to pot on the homeworld, some believe that whoever is at the station is trying to hunker down, with the ability to remain isolated for a couple of years at least(perhaps as many as seven with rationing). Others aren’t so sure it’s just a matter of scared scientists forting up, and want somebody to investigate.

Planet
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 11,000 km
Gravity: 0.9 g
Temperature: Temperate; Saquist enjoys a pleasant balance of temperatures(at least by human standards).
Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons(5)----Saquist’s five moons all have habitats and settlements on them; these remain in the hands of the government, despite several attacks by rebels using kinetic energy weapons(and in two cases, shuttles in ramming trajectories).
Atmosphere: Breathable and on the oxygen-rich side
Terrain: Varied; Saquist boasts a multitude of terrain types, lending to a variety of resort and estate locations.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Magnesium
- Gold/Silver
- Iron
- Zinc
- Platinum
- Samarskite
- Quartz
- Ruby
Hydrosphere: Balanced---52% surface water coverage
Biosphere: Dense; Saquist has a lush and robust native ecology with both sauroid and mammal land species, as well as avian lifeforms.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
4.3 billion(92% Human)
Technology:
Galactic; Saquist could afford high-end civilian tech.
Economy:
Services and Information-based; Saquist facilitated trade in the sector, as well as served as a major telecomm hub.
Wealth:
WAS Rich until the recent troubles broke out; has since plunged to effectively Impoverished as the rebels loot the planet and the government struggles to use what funds it has access to to bring the insurgency under control. Meanwhile everybody else is pulling out or trying to salvage what they can, and offworld trade has effectively tanked. Already, a number of major carriers through the sector have rerouted their traffic to resupply and refit at other ports along the trade lanes that service Saquist.
Government:
Oligarchy, run by the First Families. While there were signs of reforms being phased in, power remained in the hands of the first settler families, and that triggered unrest. Currently the government is barely holding together, but many of the voting First Families were either exterminated in the opening volleys of the Vahnkist uprising, or else they’ve split to save themselves.
Law Level:
Lawless; Saquist’s geopolitical surface is quickly devolving into a patchwork of Vahnkist territories, loyalist holdouts, and nonaffiliated vigilante strongholds intent on keeping EVERYBODY out.
Popularity:
As of the present, HATED is the most often bandied-about byword; the rebels hate the government, the loyalists are looking to the government for succor(and are often disappointed), and the whole is descending into one big ugly hairball as atrocities begin to mount on both sides.
Stability:
Currently engaged in a civil war between the conservative First Families and the TGE-sponsored Vahnkists, the latter of whom have disrupted planetary communications, and have taken control of several cities. The government retains control of the orbitals, however, but there are indications of the Vahnkists using TGE-supplied phreaking gear to counter efforts to restore global communications and surveillance-scanning from orbit, blunting the government’s advantages.
The Saquist government has made much play of Vahnkist attacks on offworlders, and has considered enlisting the respective offworlder concerns to help them regain control, or at least blockade the system to keep any more offworld arms from reaching the insurgents. Not helping matters any is the recent arrival of a Naruni delegation offering to sell the government-in-orbit weaponry or the services of mercenary troops. The growing rivalry between the USA’s principal arms suppliers(Aegis Stellar Industries and WZT) and Naruni, plus the possible friction to be generated between Naruni and the TGE presence, makes the Saqusit powder keg all the more potentially volatile. Note that if the troubles on Saquist were to spill over into the shipping lanes, the CCW and/or the Alliance and other powers WILL most likely interfere with a heavy-handed response.
For their part, the TGE considers Saquist a backwater sideshow intended to distract the CCW with yet another annoying brush fire in their backyard. The Empire hasn’t invested much in Saquist, but they’re cheerfully fanning the flames to see what happens. They don’t much care for the Vahnkists(if the Vahnkists had emerged on a TGE world, the government would have brutally crushed them within a day) except as cannon fodder in one of their schemes. However, IF any officially flagged TGE ship were intercepted and destroyed in the Saquist system, the Empire WILL take an interest, register an official complaint with the CCW, and send their own overt investigations group to find(and ultimately punish) the responsible parties.

Palladiumite Worlds
“Palladiumite Worlds can be hotbeds of innovation in a vast variety of fields, owing to the many viewpoints and mindsets such worlds possess...or they can be stagnant quagmires of conflict, breeding grounds of some of the most vile and ethnocentric non-thinking one can encounter. Some of these behaviors can be explained by natural processes of competition or cooperation, while others appear to be, from the outside, artificially induced and maintained states created for some purpose...education, entertainment, exploitation....who knows? There is no one set of rules that can trusted for certain when dealing with Palladiumite Worlds.”
---Laurnez Piscenii, Level Rho Dimension Scout, Interdim.

Palladiumite(often shortened to ‘Palladimite’) Worlds which appear to have been populated in similar fashion to the Palladium Fantasy World or archetypal ‘fantasy worlds’. Such worlds support not one but multiple different intelligent species, all, if not most, of who claim to be natives of the planet. despite deep geological evidence to the contrary. Humanoid species such as humans, elves, dwarves, wolfen. goblins, orcs, and trolls tend to make up the majority of Palladiumite populations,, though they are often accompanied by multiple smaller populations of other humanoids and non-humanoids. Where local ambient potential psychic energy levels permit, these will often include so-called ‘magical’ species such as sphinx, dragons, faerie-folk, animal spirits, ents, and others.
The most common supposition amongst xenoanthropologists is that such worlds have been deliberately seeded by parties unknown, for reasons unknown. As local conditions, especially with regards to ambient magic levels, can vary wildly, another idea is that Palladiumite worlds are part of a larger long term study in sociology and social engineering. What the end goal of such a large experiment is remains unknown. Indeed, while some Palladiumite worlds show levels of increased social cooperation amongst their varied inhabitants, many other worlds, once thought to be naturally-evolved species-exclusive worlds are now known to be former Palladiumite worlds in which one species has exterminated or driven out the rest, then either deliberately erased or forgot the history of any other species existing on the planet.
Palladiumite worlds also show a variety of levels of advancement, depending on local conditions. Some have advanced to technological, even starfaring, status, while others have become stuck at one stage of development or another, for some reason.

Known/Example Palladiumite Worlds:
*Palladium Fantasy Realm(PFR-1)----Though not known if the original, PFR-1 is generally regarded as the baseline against which other Palladiumite worlds are evaluated. Though a number of gods claim credit for its creation, such claims remain unsubstantiated*.

*Rhestor---Inhabited primarily by humans, with minority populations of elves, dwarves, and kobolds. The planet’s magic level is slightly below that of the Palladium Fantasy World, while technology is early Electronics Age, roughly equivalent to the terrestrial early 1900’s. Technology is SDC in nature, with some instances of mad science-level technowizardry or alchemy, while animal-drawn transport still dominates most communities. Medieval government institutions still hold sway, and most nations still rely on swords over guns. Greater New England has a dimensional portal servicing several trade partner communities on the world, and made a protectorate of one of the nations after stamping out a particularly nasty form of locally-conceived soul-slavery.

*Vebran--A planet orbiting a dying star in the Three Galaxies’ Thundercloud Galaxy, Vebren shows signs of having been a site of much more advanced civilizations that apparently traded on an interstellar, intergalactic, and possibly interdimensional, scale, moved worlds, and possibly engaged in stellar engineering. Primitive enclaves of humans and other species, evidentially the descendants of populations brought to Vebran by startravellers as slaves or pets, still live amongst the decaying ruins of once-great metropoli. The most recent starfarers to take an interest in the world, the Shemarrian Star Nation, have set up their own settlements to explore the mysteries of the ancient planet.

*Asanal----Humans are virtually absent on this world, which is dominated by elves and dwarves, with smaller ethnic enclaves of orcs, goblins, trolls, and halflings spread across the many small continents and archipelagos. The general consensus among the scholars of Asanal, judging from fossil evidence, is that the native intelligent species of the planet all evolved from a common root stock, but that some lineages have proven more successful at surviving than others. Humans and ogres were among those who, like Neanderthals in baseline Earth timelines, failed to adapt to the times and became extinct. Asanal has Palladium levels of magic, and technology has reached Industrial/Steam Age with many elements of technowizardry/industrial magic. The Elves and Dwarves have been in a continuous state of war, and have reached WW1 levels, with the majority of conflict taking place on the many seas of Asanal.

*Vanhar----Similar to the Palladium world in terms of magic levels(if not slightly greater), and demographics fairly balanced between Humans/Elves and monster races. Level of technology is approaching Steam Age, with some degree of industrialized magic and technowizardry. Vanhar has limited contact with other universes and many high tech realms, but has managed to keep its cultural identity thanks to the shrewd bargaining of several champion-figures on the planet. The most prominent, with regards to negotiations with high tech realms, is Lord Amadeus Roach, a Human Immortal, who claims to have been a supply officer on a high-tech Earth, before he became d-stranded and, while seeking a way home, took up a career of adventuring, eventually being elevated to the local peerage and becoming head of his own mercantile house.


(*Though as one Interdim analyst cracked, “What would constitute proof responsibility? God-entities aren’t known for maintaining work order records.”)

Saquist looks like a royal mess with the potential to snowball in a quite spectacular manner - i guess it all depends on the veracity of the rumors of TGE interference (who's to say it ain't some other group using their bad name and 2nd hand hardware as cover for their own agenda, or all stories vicious fake news propagated to mask the local government's corruption and gather support from other local powers with false rumors of a big, threatening imperialist outsider?), and how much any such outsider power (be it TGE, Splugorth, or some unknown factor) would be willing to invest, indirectly or directly in such a takeover.

Would they retreat if exposed and losing native support or see it as an excuse to intervene openly? And if so, how much opposition would it take to make them stop?
Who might or not be disposed to act, separated or together, to oppose them? What if the invading power runs interference in some of those other star-nations too?
So many ways this could go indeed.


About the Palladiumites, i ask myself how some group or other setting up contact & trade between the worlds might affect them individually or as a group. Not to mention the UWW - or the Golgan Republic, among whom magic has become one of recent venues of renewal and consequently, a resource of strategic relevance - might love finding and trying to uplift them into their fold. Even if they are not in Anvil. Vebran in particular could easily become a point of contention for the Shemarian if discovered by rift scouts or intelligence services from either power.

Vivasanda (Thundercloud Galaxy)---Client World

“A very attractive piece of real estate, Vivasanda. Comfortable climate and gravity, nearly perfectly compatible ecosystem and resources, good location, plenty of local phenomena of interest. A beautiful world that’s welcomed strangers and bred a beautiful people...and unfortunately it sits right at the convergence of two opposing expansion waves.”

“Be very careful handling Vivisanda; it may be a primitive world, but greater civilizations than yours have been ruined making unwise decisions over lesser things. The Golgans may be pragmatic, but they’re also proud, Proud people can be pushed...pushed too hard, and if that happens and they regard your little Alliance as an enemy, you’ll quickly discover you’re not as powerful as you might think.. When that happens, you may wonder if that tropical paradise us really worth the blood you’ll shed over it.”
---Skala Vertz, Gayjic Emissary-to-the-Youngers.

Vivisanda is another ‘paradise world’ of great potential in the Thundercloud Galaxy that PS/ASI has a presence on.
Vivisanda already had a human presence on it when PS/ASI stumbled across it. Centuries earlier, a human slowboat ‘sleeper ark’ crashed on the planet. The surviving colonists lost much of their technology, but adapted well to the lush and friendly environment, and soon established a growing presence on the world.
Unfortunately, the benign environment that welcomed the human castaways also makes the planet very attractive to the Golgans, who discovered it a decade previous to PS/ASI arriving. The Golgans have claimed that the system’s location in the Hollan Gulf places it in Republik-claimed territory, and the by-now native humans are illegal squatters. The CCW in Oswoe’s Arm is too far away to take action(or so they claim), so the Republik military feels it has a free hand in dealing with the ‘squatter’ problem. The monkeywrench, though, is that the human Vivasandans aren’t going without a fight, and have retained enough technological heritage to know how to handle guns and wage a guerrilla war. However, they were stil very much losing against Golgan forces armed with modern energy weapons, submersible power-craft, and air support, when PS/ASI arrived in the system. Normally, PS/ASI would have steered away from the presence of one of the larger power-blocs in the Three Galaxies, but the Golgan contingent on Vivisanda was small, their claim poorly documented, and the natives that the corporate exploration teams came in contact with made a compelling case for enlisting outside support.
PS/ASI, together with Sapphian agent provocateurs, have been training Vivasandan guerillas and supplying them with equipment, in hopes that the Golgans will decide that subduing the planet is too much trouble and abandon it. Neither PS/ASI or the Sapphians are in a position to oppose the Republik directly and openly, and are aware that currently the Golgan forces engaged on Vivisanda are fairly small and second-echelon, mainly provincial troops and corporate security. Since the natives have begun receiving outside aide, the Golgans have stepped up their game and sent several more modern and better-trained units in an attempt to impose a blockade and prevent more advanced military supplies from reaching the Vivisandans. The troops engaged in surface operations, however, continue to be effectively provincial soldiers from the Golgan satrapy territories, and are better suited for police duties than all-out war on foreign soil. The danger is that escalating the conflict may frighten the Golgans into committing more serious reinforcements if they decide they really want to hold Vivisanda. The Golgans currently maintain a modular space station in orbit as a naval station for their warships and transit hub for transport vessels, but recently have begun asembling a larger station and orbital weapons/surveillance platforms. These stations would make excellent(and sound) military targets, especially if they were attacked before they became fully operational, but attacking them would require the direct hand of the Vivisandans’ offworld allies, and would also blatantly escalate the fighting. The completion of the Golgan orbital bases is a ticking deadline for the sympathetic offworlders to decide how far they’re willing to go to help the Vivisandans in their fight for independence.
PS/ASI has made an offer to host Vivisandan refugees on another waterworld, Aquatium, under the much firmer control of PS/ASI and outside even the rather arbitrary territorial claims of the Republik. In a worst case scenario, Aquatium could serve as a fallback position for a Vivisandan culture-in-exile. PS/ASI/GNE and the United Systems Alliance, in the meantime, are trying to draw the attention of other power blocs like the CCW or the UWW into supporting the Vivisandans, not so much in open combat but at least on the diplomatic front. If a sympathetic major power were to take interest in the Vivisandans’ plight, the threat might cause the Golgans to back off and ideally leave the system. However, another recent twist in events has been the discovery of the potentially very valuable Johaghem Pearls.

Solar System
Number of Stars: 1(Kulyaw)
Types of Stars: Yellow Dwarf
Number of Planets: 5
- Gas Giant(Skasasi)---’Hot Jupiter’ ----The ASI and Sapphian runners often use the interference of the planet’s outgassing to conceal their approach to Vivisanda. Skasasi is known as ‘The Fish’ to the local Vivisandans because its comet-like appearance, as seen fromVivisanda, resembles a pisces.

-Terrestrial(Vivisanda)---System lifeworld

-Gas Giant(Hulakyat)---In local Vivisandan lore, Hulakyat is a small ball rolled and tossed about by Alluyo the Shawled Woman of the Sky.

- Exotic(Alluya)--A large cloud of luminous gas, like a small nebula, that takes up a whopping ten degrees of sky arc from Kulyaw. How it formed and why it is not dissipating is a matter of no small scientific interest, but the Golgan ships that are studying it are not doing so for that reason; the cloud is known as another hiding place for blockade runners. The Vivisandans have made the cloud ‘Alluyo’, or ‘The Shawled Woman’, in their local folklore, and has been endowed with various spiritual powers.

-Gas Giant(Hedesit)---Not visible from Vivisanda with the naked eye, this distant gas giant was observed on long range scan by the Vivisandans’ ancestors as their ship careened into the system. The astronomical observations have been retained by oral tradition. Hedesit is regarded as an ‘unseen sky spirit’ in local folklore.

Planet(Vivisanda)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 23,000 km
Gravity: Low; 0.7 g
Temperature: Temperate and very hospitable, with small polar zones.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Energy Field----Vivisanda has an relatively high ambient PPE field, roughly equal to the Palladium World.
Atmosphere: Thin, but breathable.
Terrain: Unusual
Vivisanda is covered in extensive chains of small islands, large lagoons, and multiple atolls. It’s been put fowards by later planetologists that the planet may be in a protracted global warm phase that melted most of the planet’s polar ice, as many of the geological features bear resemblances to sunken continents.
-’Blue Holes’ are very prominent across Vivisanda’s surface; large amrine sinkholes opening to submarine cavern systems, few of which have been explored.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Iron
-Scheelite
-Magnesium
-Lead
-Titanium
-Talc
-Gypsum
-Platinum

-Johaghem Pearls--Though not a mineral resource as such, native Vivasandans were discovered to wear strings of these pearls harvested from their home’s waters. The prismatic pearls have caused a sensation amongst merchants who have examined them, and not just for their beauty; the pearls radiate an energy field that fights infections and accelerates healing(the strength and power of the healing apparently related to the size, gestation period of the pearl, and the age of the psuedo-oyster). The harvest and sale of these pearls, if well-managed by a smart fishery, would net whoever holds Vivisanda a very nice profit. While PS/ASI and their Sapphian allies have become aware of them(the Vivisandans have offered some in payment for weapons, not realizing just how potentially valuable they are), the Golgans have just recently become aware of something about the pearls, and so may be even less inclined to give up their claim.

Hydrosphere:
Soaking Wet, with some 78% of the planet covered by open water. In the absence of moons, Vivisanda’s oceans are subject to solar tides, and can be quite high; the coastal areas are dominated by extensive swamps and large sand bars.
Biosphere:
Verdant, but unusually benign; there are few large predators to menace colonists, despite the compatibility of biochemistries. However, there are rumors among the locals of big creatures inhabiting the blue holes and connected cavern systems.
Civilization:
Tribal Colonial
Population:
There are some 3.8 million Vivisandans scattered about the planet, as well as some 65,000 Golgans.
Technology:
The human Vivisandans have managed to hold onto an early 1900’s level of technology, but most local technology is laboriously handmade/crafted. They do, however, have records of having possessed more advanced technologies in the past.
The Golgans are Galactic Age.
Economy:
None currently. The native Vivisandans are hunter-gatherers who are willing to trade some of the unique things harvested from their seas.
Golgan colonial development projections would make Vivisanda a good Agricultural/Aquacultural and Tourism prospect. The few Utrovians who have visited Vivisanda have reported feeling particularly ‘refreshed’.
Wealth:
The Vivisandans are hunter-gatherers who would consider themselves very Well-Off, though Galactic culture would consider them Poor. Golgan colonial development projections predict that any colony on Vivisanda could expect to be Prosperous within 10-15 local years.
Government:
The Golgan invasion has forced the creation of a confederation of tribes.
Law Level:
Lawful among the local tribes.
Popularity:
Beloved among the tribes; the resistance fighters and the leaders who encourage them are increasingly seen as folk heroes among the Vivisandans, who Hate the Golgan invaders.
Stability:
Stable leadership among the Vivisandans. However, if the resistance took too many losses or risked too much on ill-planned gambits to defeat the invaders, there might be leadership turnover.
The Golgan presence has seen some Unrest in the ranks, especially as the ‘primitives’ have proven to be rather more capable than expected in putting up a fight. There’s been some talk in the lower ranks about abandoning the effort, or of defecting into the wilds, but the recent arrival of fresh officers from the Republik coreworlds to oversee the completion of the space stations threatens to restore discipline and backbone to the troops. The Utrovians in particular are pushing for a greater effort to annex Vivisanda.

Lakye----Tmelain Republic(Uited Systems Alliance Member)(Anvil Galaxy)
“Don’t ever heckle the Tme; they have a predator’s idea of payback and surprisingly big warships, even if they have few of them. They have planetary assault energy weapons that can take a tech-culture back to the stone age in one shot and they’re not afraid to use them if they think you pose a threat to them. Of all of the United System Alliance worlds, I’m most afraid of them, because they’re the most likely to ortillery the hell out of somebody on purpose and principle, and then ask forgiveness of their Alliance partners as an afterthought.”

The Tmelain Republic is the living remanent of a people forced off their own homeworld by the TGE’s territorial aggression. Though everybody knows about the TGE’s takeover of the Wulfen stellar polity, few know of the Tmelian annexation, which is, because of the Tmelains’ Coyle physiology, often confused with the larger-scale Wulfen disaster. The Tmelain crisis played out like a smaller-scale Wulfen takeover, with a large portion of the Tmelain population forced to evacuate their worlds ahead of Kreeghor invasion. Though well advanced in ship building, with a respectable force of large warships/transports, the Tmelain found themselves reduced to being space nomads, as several promising worlds they had hoped to colonize turned out to have been seized by other powers. Forced to hire themselves out as mercenaries to earn credits for building their culture anew, the Tmelain found an early advocate in WZT, who would later formally introduce them to the United Systems Alliance.
The Tmelain are one of a handful of Alliance members who control more than one inhabited system(all of four!), though their worlds are, for the most part, marginal. The Republic had previously explored and laid claim to fourteen systems, but lost virtually all of them to either the TGE or other expansionist cultures. Taking them back, or at least getting reparations for them, remains a long term goal of the Republic.
Inclusion in the USA has helped the Tmelain gain ground on their recovery. Shared terraforming technology has helped the Tmelain condition several of their colony worlds, and USA material support has helped the Tmelain military wrest back control of another one of their previously lost systems. In return, they have shared several of ther technologies and ship designs with their WZT benefactors, given the support of their mobile factory ships to the Alliance, and their mercenary force has been increasingly repurposed to the defense of the Alliance.
The Tmelain have recently offered settlement privilages to another TGE-displaced refugee group, the human-variant Usulans. Acceptance is still pending; the Usulans are looking at other, more hospitable planet options.

Tmelain are a Coyle-derivative sept; they resemble Coyle, but have silver and black fur and yellow eyes.


Lakye
Lakye is considered the new homeworld of the Tmelain people and is the best of the worlds currently held by the Republic, though not the best of the worlds previously surveyed by the Republic pre-exodus. Unfortunately, Layke, despite having a small scientific colony in residence on it, was seized by an opportunistic Devar Comdomate who claimed the planet for their own.
Eventually, the Tmelain had to openly invade and take back Lakye in a short war that the Devar refuse to acknowledge happened, despite Tmelain follow-up demands that the Comdomate pay reparations for the destruction of the original Layke science colony. The result has been a simmering feud between the two polities, one that has drawn in the United Systems Alliance, on the Tmes’ side.
Lakye’s gravity is slightly heavier than is confortable for the Tmelain, its tropical temperatures a bit warmer than the Coyle like, and the air is tainted, but with some exertion(and/or gravity shielding), air conditioning, and air filtration, the planet is liveable and the local ecology edible to the Tmelain. There’s been some discussion about using terraforming techniques to make the planet cooler and alter the atmosphere to a more benign composition, but planetologists fear that making too drastic changes would kill off the native ecology and precipitate a total planetary habitability collapse before imported and modified Tme plants and animals could establish a new equilibrium.

Solar System(Avnak351)
Number of Stars: 2
Types of Stars:-Orange Dwarf(Avnak-A)
- Blue Dwarf(Avnak-B)
Number of Planets: 5
-Terrestrial---Lakye, system lifeworld

-Gas Giant--Paktra---Large Paktra boasts a mineral-rich moon system that the Tmelain had discovered during their initial (pre-TGE annexation) surveys of the system, and considered it a bonus to ecologically-rich Lakye.
The Devar Comdomate also recognized the value of the Paktra moons and had established a large orbital gas mine and industrial complex around Paktra, and lost it when the Tmelain and their Alliance partners seized the system. The Tmelain took the complex intact and have since converted it to their own purposes. The Devar contend that the seizure was illegal and have demanded compensation for the station; the Tmelain have refused, claiming the complex is rightfully spoils of war, and partial reparations for the Comdomate’s illegal occupation of Lakye in the first place. Since then, the complex has suffered several incidents that have been attributed by Tmelain military intelligence to Devar attempts at sabotage. The Tme have since rewired the station’s communications system to prevent future computer hack attempts, and have made clearly stated policy that any ship attempting unauthorized communication with the Paktra factory satellite will be destroyed with prejudice. As the Tmelain have , capitalized upon the nearby mineral wealth to make the gas giant a shipyard for the Tmelain fleet, this is no idle threat.

-Gas Giant--(Kevak)----Kevak is a small Neptune-like gas-world(or cold super-Earth) of interest mainly for its two moons, Graylor and Windtak, which are home to large dome-communities hosting several ethnic sub-polities of Tmelain who aren’t 100% behind the policies of the ruling regime-in-exile. Though not opposed to the Lakye government, the new Graylorans and Windtakians wanted space to develop their own cultures. The Tmelain Republican government tolerates this and has allowed the groups to colonize the two moons, in return for vows of support if the Tem should come under attack again. The two settlements with their unique cultural traditions attract a growing trade in tourism from other Tme and outsiders.

-Gas Giant---(Vendrol)---Vendrol is not much bigger than Kevak, but a lot less interesting; a scientific outpost and communications relay sits on one of the ‘gas midget’s ‘ small moonlets, but that’s about it.

-Terrestrial---(Strikus) Small icy Strikus has become the site of a Tmelain naval installation.

Planet(Lakye)
Lakye is a ‘super-Earth’ that the Tmelain have colonized in hopes of establishing a new homeland for their people, and an anchor point for a new Tmelain Republic. Though not an ideal homeworld for their people, the Tmelain decided on Lakye because it was the best of the worlds they could still lay claim to, was sufficiently far from the TGE that it wasn’t in immediate danger of being overrun, and occupied an astro-geographical location that made it central to the other worlds held by the Tmelain.
As a sign of their committment to Lakye as one of their new lifeworlds, the Tme have completed seven orbital fortresses around the planet, with several more in various stages of work-up. Each fortress is roughly equal to a battleship in firepower, and many were, in fact, ex-heavy transports with their main engines removed, and extra armor, shield generators, and armaments added. Lakye’s orbits also play host to an increasingly dense space infrastructure; orbital factories, warehouse stations, communications arrays, and assembly yards.
Despite the problems of settling Lakye, the Tmelain population isn’t complaining; many are just pleased to have a world under their feet.

Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: Large; 19,000 km
Gravity: 1.95 g.
Temperature: Warm; on the tropical side. Lakye possesses only small ice caps.
Unusual/Special Features:---
Atmosphere: Tainted; though about a quarter of Tmelain can breath Lakye’s atmosphere without any problems, the composition is just off enough to pose problems for the other 75%. The air is too humid, thick, and smells bad(to a human; to a Coyle/Tmelain it REEKS). Tmelain and humans can breath Lakye air for 2d8 + P.E. in hours before beginning to suffer from raw throats, sore lungs, and increasing dizziness that can lead to more acute pulmonary problems. The Tmelain can get around this by wearing filter masks, or booster inhalers, and their communities on Lakye’s surface feature domed environments, filter-curtains, and vapor barriers.
Terrain: Varied; Lakye has a broad range of terrain types.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Tin
- Mercury
- Sapphire
- Aluminum
- Asbestos
- Quartz
- Nickel
- Ruby
Hydrosphere: Moist; 75% surface coverage
Biosphere: Dense, with a number of species of plants and animals compatible with Coyle/Tmelain metabolisms with a minimum of processing.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
613.9 million
Technology:
Galactic, roughly equivalent to the Golgan Republik
Economy:
Industrial---Most of the Tmelain economy is geared towards regaining the industrial infrastructure they lost with their original homeworlds. They also do an increasing amount of commercial trade with the USA and other worlds.
Wealth:
Depressed, stabilizing into Average as the Tmelain settle into their new ‘homeworld’.
Government:
In name, the Tmelain are a republic, but in practice the military runs ,much of the government, and citizenship(with voting rights) is accorded to military personel and govenment employees. However, the definition of ‘government employee’ is rather broad and includes ‘persons of utility to society’, which extends to farmers, doctors, factory workers, technicians, and other support personnel who support the Tme reconstruction. As the effort to rebuild Tme society progresses, the case is being made for more professions and social positions to gain full voting rights.
Law Level:
Lawful; life as refugees has required a strong and comprehensive legal system that addresses all issues, and lays out acceptable behavior. The sort of shipboard discipline practiced aboard the refugee ships has relaxed somewhat now that the Tmelain have a planet to once again call home, but the legal system and law enforcemnt codes remain respected.
Popularity:
The retaking of Lakye and the establishment of a new Republic has given the government a boost in popularity, by showing they have ‘teeth’.
Stability:
While it’s too early to declare the Republic government’s hold on Lakye to be ‘Immortal’, many Tme feel it is but the first step of many to rebuilding their stellar nation.

Meviron--Desert World

“Some places are just so different, so desolate, so empty that your mind can’t help but conjure up invisible inhabitants just so you don’t feel so alone, even if it’s a creepy not-alone feeling. Well, on Meviron, when your’re crossing the wastes, if you get the feeling you’re being watched from those sands, you are.”

Meviron is a largely arid world, the single planet of a smallish orange dwarf star. Meviron is not known to be in the Three Galaxies, but may be in an entirely different universe. Cosmically, mineralogically and ecologically there’s not much to interest a visitor to Meviron. Accessible water sources are few and far beween, and the local ecology is fairly scrubby and unprepossessing. Meviron’s accessible mineral wealth is paltry; there’s little that can be mined on the planet that can’t be had more easily elsewhere, and any other minerals of value are likely under thousands of millions of tons of sand and compacted sediment. What Meviron DOES have is regular rift activity, which can be used to travel across universes, if one is willing to put up with the planet’s dessicating dry air and scorching sands for whatever interval between rift-openings.
What many new to the planet do not suspect on casual survey is that the planet is home to the Aneska, a species of intelligent indigenes resembling giant tarantulas or hairy crabs, who live UNDER Meviron’s shifting sands. These beings ‘swim’ though the sands of the planet like the marine creatures they resemble would traverse watery oceans, and few on the surface would ever know of their presence. The Aneskans tend to avoid coming in contact with extradimensional visitors, aside from the occasional ‘spy hop’ to ogle the outsiders.
Meviron is subjected to frequent dimensional rift activity, some of it quite regular and predictable, and the planet sees a number of regular transits of living beings. Most of the activity, however, is well away from Aneskan settlements, so it goes unnoticed, and almost all rift sites take place in apparently unpromisingly bleak regions, so few rift-travelers linger long before stepping again through a rift to get someplace else more hospitable. However, recently a number of regular rifts have become exploited by several dimensionally-traveling organizations and nations who use the Meviron rifts as travel conduits to facilitate conquest...and those organizations have gone to war with each other, the conflict spilling out onto Meviron proper.
Normally the Aneska would pay the conflict little heed, trusting in the combatants to tire of rolling around in the desert and eventually going home, but the recent incidents are happening entirely too close to several oasises of value to the Aneska. In a very rare showing of outreach, the Aneskans contacted some of the few outsiders they have any truck with, and asked for help. The Aneskans have essentially hired GNE mercenaries to deal with the problem, and find a long term solution to it, such as capping the most abused dimensional rift points with control pyramids.

Solar System
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 1
-Rocky/Terrestrial(Meviron)

Planet
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 24,500 km
Gravity: 1.09 g
Temperature: Temperate; generally ranging from scorching hot(120 degrees F) in the day to -10 below at night
Unusual/Special Features:
-Strange Orbit---Though not readily evident because it is the only planet orbiting its primary, Meviron has a polar orbit about the sun. It intersects the scant plane of left-over solar system debris twice a year, resulting in spectacular meteor showers on those occasions(this tends to scare the hell out of newcomers, since the Aneskans, being underground dwellers on a planet devoid of moons, never pay much attention to the skies).
-Unusual Axis---Meviron ‘tumbles’ in its orbit such that every part of the planet, at some point in the planet’s 315-day ‘year’, receives a week-long ‘day’ and a week-long ‘night’.
-Odd Revolution---Meviron’s usually-timed revolutions dovetail with its axial tumble such that all latittudes wind up having, on average, uniform daylight exposure each year.
-Unusual Energy Field---Patches of the deep desert exhibit high thermal and electromagnetic activity, and it has been speculated that some sort of unusual geological underground activity may fuel Meviron’s hinted-at subterranean ecology.

Atmosphere: Terrestrial, breathable; within 0.8% of Earth normal
Terrain:
Two; mountainous rocky ridges and large dry ‘sea’ basins filled with sand.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Magnesium
-Tin
-Cobalt
-Aluminum
-Fluorite
-Asbestos
-Nickel
-Sulfur
Hydrosphere: Badlands; mainly dry but for a few wet oassises and valleys. There’s evidence of subterranean water reserves that could potentially be tapped, but so far nobody’s imported in the drilling and pumping capability to exploit that on any large scale.
Biosphere:
Scant;, at least on the surface, where only the occasional hardy plant can be found poking its head out of patches of moist soil, or small arthropod can be seen scurrying across the sands.
Underground, it is suggested that a much more active and comprehensive ecology is manifest.
Civilization:
Native inhabitants with some enclaves of d-bees.
Population:
Native population of Aneskans. It is unknown how many there are, but could be in the range of several million, judging by long range psi-scans.
A few small enclaves of d-bees, stranded travelers, zealous would-be homesteaders or really desperate refugees can be found inhabiting the occasional oassis on the surface, but these are few and far between, and many are unaware that there might be other people dwelling a few hundred miles away, let alone a few dozen yards under their feet. Fewer still have any sort of regular or social contact with the native Aneskans.
Technology:
Aneskans do not exhibit any overt technology, but some of the artifacts they’ve traded to outsiders show a surprising degree of sophisticated craftsmanship which analysts believe could only be achieved with metal tools. The Aneska have also hinted at large scale underground water-diversion projects.
Economy:
Unknown; little is known of Aneskan relations, let alone their economies. The few non-Aneskan residents generally carry out barter with each other and travelers.
Wealth:
The general level of wealth amongst long-time ‘permanent’ d-bee residents can be described as Impoverished to Poor.
Government:
Unknown; though it’s been suggested that the Aneskans have a matriarchal society.
Law Level:
Unknown; though the occasional disappearance of a wayward traveller or two has been blamed on unknown native wildlife or Aneskan banditry, whether any Aneskan crimes against outsiders are the result of individuals or local policy remains unknown. Those Aneskans in contact with outsiders deny any participarion or knowledge of Aneskan depredation on outsider commerce. Given that the Aneskans do not like the war currently spilling over into their lands, it suggests that they believe strongly in law and order.

Popularity:
As there is no central authority on Meviron, this is meaningless.
Stability:
Apparently the incursions of several hostile organizations on Meviron have upset the native Aneskans enough that they’ve sought outside assistance in dealing with the problem.

Aneskan RCC

“Who are you people?! Why have we been taken prisoner?! Why are you doing this to us?!”
“We’re arresting you for disturbing the peace of the local residents of this world.”
“WHAT local residents?! The place is a lifeless desert, as far as the eye can see!!!!”
“Oh, you’d be surprised...”

Aneskans are native to Meviron, an alternate dimension world(not in the Three Galaxies)*. They are underground dwellers, living deep under the shifting sands, in sprawling networks of caverns, dust channels and underground waterways, living off subterranean plants and animals, and what they occasionally harvest from the surface.
Aneskans tend to shun contact with visitors to their world, prefering to remain out of sight under the ground. They rarely show themselves to outsiders, let alone socialize with non-Aneska. A few rogues are known to stalk and attack unwary travelers, though to what end is unknown(the more insane Aneskans may eat their victims, while other attacks may be simply robberies or retaliation for disturbing the Aneskans’ peace) For centuries they have ignored dimensional travelers passing on their planet, or the few small enclaves that have established themselves in oasises on the surface. They would have similarly ignored the GNE/PS travelers making transit but oddly enough broke their silence when several Phallux, a species of ocean-dwelling shelled psychic molluscoid d-bees affiliated with Greater New England, were being transported in wet-carriages across Meviron to other destinations through the rifts. The deep desert dwellers and the sea-bottom dwellers struck up an almost instant rapporte, leading to one of the few consistant ongoing contacts that the Aneskans have ever had with outsiders. Much of what is now known of Aneskan society comes from these contacts.

Alignments: Any
Lifespan: 200 years by some estimates, and by what the Phallux have passed on to others.
Size: 3-4 ft tall(double that in width), 150-220 lbs
Gender: Heterosexual(Males and Females). The Phallux have hinted that the Aneskans may be egg-layers, but nurture their offspring for a protracted period of time.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Squat, sprawling, ten-legged spider-like beings covered in articulated armor plates and fine hairs. They have heavily-browed heads with six eyes. They tend to light earth-colors, but under bright light, the many hairs covering their bodies shine with iridescent highlights..
Disposition/Attitudes:
Quiet, species-reclusive. They tend to avoid coming in direct contact with outsiders, though rogues are known to hunt and ambush the unwary. What few artifacts they’ve traded or displayed show a strong artistic talent.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 1d6+7
MA: 2d6
PS: 4d6+24
PP: 1d6+6
PB:3d6+1(pretty attractive for giant sand-swimming spiders)
PE: 2d6+12
SPD: 3d6+12
(ISP): M.E. +4d6 +1d6 per level of experience
(PPE): 2d4
Hit Points: 30
SDC: 60+100+
A.R. : 16
MDC: ---
Horror Factor: 1d6+11 to those with arachnophobia or who encounter them rising unexpectedly from the sand in ambush.
Natural Abilities:
*Armored Skin(Armor Rating 16)

*Bite---2d6 SD damage

*Sand-Swimming----Aneska can ‘swim’ through sand and soil quite quickly. This is more than simply pushing aside soil; Aneskans seem able to phase through loose earth and soil in a semi-intangible state that allows them to move at twice their running speed. This state ONLY applies to them moving through sand and other loose soil however, and they cannot phase through denser materials.

*Sand-Trap----Aneska seem able to change the soil under targets into the equivalent of quicksand, bogging them down and hindering them enough(-5 to strike, parry, and dodge, APMs are HALVED, and physical movement causes the target to sink 5 ft per melee in the trap)that the Aneskans can attack them more easily. Effective range of 15 ft, and affects a 10 ft area. This ability does not appear to be magical(no PPE trace has been registered) and affects only sand or soil.

*Acute Hearing---Aneskans ‘hear’ through the many hairs across their bodies. Can
detect the surface movement of large animals(2 tons or more), robots, heavy vehicles, or large masses of infantry with 60% accuracy, up to a mile away.

*Acute Sense of Smell---Aneskans similarly ‘smell’ through the many hollow hairs covering their bodies. They describe ‘tasting the sands’ as they move through them anc can track people and animals by scent traces left behind(70% acuity).

Psionics: Major.
Can select eight powers from ONE categoy, or six from two or more psionic power categories; Healer, Physical, or Sensitive. Save vs psionics at a 12 or better.

Magic: None; the close proximity of the dimensional rifts does not seem to have affected the native Aneska with regards to acquiring magical abilities in any way. For their part the Aneskans acknowledge the existence of magic but do not show any desire or other opinion for it.

Cybernetics/Bionics: None; the Aneska have no truck with cybernetics or bionics

Available OCCs: The best approximation of Aneskan professions would be similar to the Barbarian OCCs of Dinosaur Swamp, with an emphasis on desert/underground survival, rather than jungle.
RCC Skills:
Spelunking(+25%)
Navigation: Underground(+25%)
Skills of Note:-----
Culture:
Little is known of Aneskan culture, but cues in their language suggest a strongly matriarchal tribal society.
Aneskans do not exhibit any overt technology, but some of the artifacts they’ve traded to outsiders show a surprising degree of sophisticated craftsmanship which analysts believe could only be achieved with metal tools. The Aneska have also hinted at large scale underground water-diversion projects.





Paladin Steel Corporate Outpost: Meviron
This is the semi-permanent outpost established to communicate and trade with the Aneskans. It is based in a small spring-fed oasis which supports several small surface farms feeding the base personnel. A regularly opening dimensional rift is situated some 10 miles away over a rock ridge and is used by GNE traders to transit Meviron to other locations.
About once every three months, a Phallux in a mobile enviro-tank rifts in, takes up residence soaking in a deep spring pool for a week in a cavern under the outpost, communing with Aneskans who swim through the surrounding sand to visit. The other outpost residents are rarely privvy to what happens during these conferences, though the Aneska may use these occasions to trade with the surface-dwellers as an aside to the visits.
Recently, with the Aneskans’ request for aide, a second larger outpost has started construction near the first; a military base to support the peace enforcement operations. It is hoped and planned(at the current time) that the installation need only be temporary. Currently a company of troops is housed there, several squads of armored vehicles, a platoon of powered armor and several platoons of mechanized(and desert-auged) light cavalry(light hovervehicles).

Size: Small--- 85 staffers on average, most either involved in (passive) scientific studies of the local environment, or assisting convoys across the wastes.
Type: Scientific/diplomatic outpost. Of late, it serves as an assembl point for a security taskforce
Security: Tight/Modest---A more elaborate set up with automated defenses, reinforced walls and structures, a professional force of a dozen or more security men (of at least 4th level of experience) with weaponry, and maybe a security robot and/or automated sentry towers.
Contact: Weekly---The outpost can expect 1d4 visits a week, mainly transiting trade convoys passing through.
Products: None, aside from some small trade in cultural artifacts and interesting samples of subsurface biota.

Hedelsburg League(Thundercloud Galaxy)
“You can invest in great big particle accelerators to make your own antimatter in usable quantities...or you can buy it cheap from the Hedelsburgers. But if you decide to set up your own Eh-Em production later, you void the inexpensive clause of your supply contracts with the Henstee...to begin with. After that, any other trade treaties you got with them tend to start unraveling. They do NOT like competition in the eh-em market. “

The Hedelsburg League is less a stellar polity and more a loose trade union of worlds, based around energy trade promoted by the planet Hensti-Vi. The League is part of the CCW and adheres to the charters of sapient rights, but regional business and trade is conducted by the League’s own local treaties.
Hensti is the primary dictator of terms in the League by virtue of it controlling the space around the Negran Cluster, a small stellar formation that is home to several small black holes. Gravity in the region is severely twisted by the singularities orbiting around each other, and that has produced a number of recurrent rifts that either produce or spew substantial quantities of free-floating antimatter. The Hensti government harvests and stores the antimatter, and is able to market it at a price competitive to the major suppliers in the CCW and TGE. The cheap and powerful antimatter has fueled the economies of the Hedelsburg League and made the members very prosperous.
The cheap AM has also caused a situation similar to planetbound petroleum monopolies. The Hensti have, using the hazards of harvesting, storing, and protecting the antimatter as justification, jacked up the price on several occasions. However, these price hikes seem to be more arbitrary than anything else, aimed at tightening economic control over trade and other planets’ economies.
Piracy and antimatter poaching are also growing problems around the Negran Cluster, which has led to the Hensti government expanding its military and aggressive presence around the antimatter ‘fields’(this has been cited as another reason for teh price hikes). To this end, the Hedelsburg League has offered Naruni a healthy discount on their AM purchases, in return for cutting edge NE gear.
Some cosmologists have voiced the concern that the Negran Cluster may not be stable; if two or more of the singularities were to converge and collide, the result could be catastrophic, even with the relatively low masses of the black holes. Though such a disaster is unlikely to happen for at least several thousand years, and the gravitational shockwaves would take another hundred years to reach the nearest Hensti colony worlds, the devastation would be truly massive and total. The official stance of the Henstee is mild concern, and a general urging about not being alarmist, though they have been restricting further colonization in a fifty light year radius around the Negran Cluster, citing the need to establish a ‘security zone’.
A more immediate problem is criticism that the Hedelsburg League, for all its talk of free trade, has been choking the economies of younger trade partners and less well-connected members, with policies and regulations that favor Hensti and the dozen or so senior worlds in the League. ‘Special pricing’ seems to have been used to protect Hensti/Hedelsburgen industries from competition. The Hensti have denied these practices, claiming the need to regularly replace and update theri equipment in the face of the dangers of handling ‘wild’ anti-matter.
Though this energy policy is regarded with distaste by the CCW and its TVIA ethicists, it isn’t overtly illegal, so there isn’t much the CCW can do about it. Furthermore, the Hensti have been very careful to make sure the CAF in the region is supplied with inexpensive antimatter fuel, freeing the antipiracy forces protecting the League from dependency on vulnerable tankers trekking from the CCW.

A. Size
The Hedelsburg League coreworlds are made up of five Hensti worlds, plus a further 20 allied worlds directly participating in the shared market.
B. History
Offshoot of the Human Alliance
C. Level of Technological Sophistication
Advanced Space Age/Galactic Age.
D. General Attitude/Culture
Enlightened Expansionsists/Commercial Imperialists
E. Racial Composition
The Hensti are baseline Human. Humans make up 74% of the Hedelsburg League.
F. Government
Hensti itself is governed by Hierarchy; rule by stratified layers of authority, with a parallel tree of organization dominated by the Energy Board.
G. Administrative Control
Tight---The Hedelsburg League controls trade and industry in their sector, especially tightly in Hensti space.
H. External Trade
Manufacturing---Many of the Hedelsburg League worlds rely on industry.
H1. Commodities
Exports: Consumer Goods and Power Materials(Anti-Matter)
Imports: Raw Materials
I. Status
Established; the Hensti and their allies in the Hedelsburg League have a good thing going in the AM trade. They’re slowly expanding their customer base and their influence, and have established a comfortable miche and a substantial role in the Thundercloud economy. As long as the Negran Cluster keeps spewing antimatter into Hensti catchers, to be sold to buyers wanting cheap energy, the Hedelsburg League will be waxing wealthy for the foreseeable future.

Chevec Nomads---Space Pirates
“The Chevec would like to be compared to the Asgard Star Elves, in being universally feared and respected. All they have down though is the arrogance. That doesn’t make them any less dangerous, though. The older Chevec are bitter, cunning, and ruthless, and they remember the days when they jackbooted their way across their home system. The younger ones born on the fleet are zealous, motivated, and desperate; they want the sort of respect and territory their parents tell them they lost.”

The Chevec Nomads are an Elven offshoot people who claim to have been unlawfully displaced from their homeworld by an oppressive regime and have been condemned to wander the cosmos since. In reality, the Chevec were the survivors of a tyrannical police state(the Chevecra) that tried taking over their world (Dalar) and solar system (Elsom), but were defeated by an alliance of the other nation states of their homeworld. Though the victorious allies insisted on executing the higher echelon leadership of the Chevecra, many of the lower echelon(but no less vicious) ranks escaped to hide amongst the rank and file of their remaining space forces. Rather than sort through the entirety of the remaining Chevecra or kill them all, the tired Elsomian allies instead let the space fleet, minus its most powerful surviving warships, flee into deep space exile, with the warning not to come back under pain of death.
The Chevec have since become nomadic outlaws, prowling the spaceways and preying on the unwary. Though the Chevec leadership has entertained ideas of rebuilding their strength and one day returning to Dalar to take back control, that lofty goal has fallen farther and farther by the wayside in favor of survival and opportunities of the moment. The Chevec now work as pirates and low-moral mercenaries. There are estimated to be some twenty to thirty thousand(plus 30-50% more of that in noncombatants) Chevec, with roughly about a hundred ships, but the majority of their vessels are transports they’ve acquired by means both legal and illegal, and their number are divided into several separate fleets.
The Chevec tried taking over the agrarian planet Balsar, using the story of ‘poor innocent refugees fleeing oppression’ to ingratiate themselves to the sympathies of the local Nersaug Ogre population. but soon showed their true colors threatening the locals, and deploying a tactical nuclear weapon to show they meant business. The Chevec ended up severely underestimating the Nersaug, not realizing the Nersaug retained/possessed interstellar FTL communications(the Elsomians had not yet developed FTL radio). Nor had the Chevec considered that the Nersaug might be able to call upon help that could respond quickly. The United Systems Alliance came to the aide of the ogres, unleashing their new Raiju attack ships on the Chevec landing camps and pretty much annihilated the Chevec offensive capability threatening the planet.
Though bloodied at Balsar(they lost some 30% of their warcraft), the Chevec continue to be a problem. As long as they stay away from Elsom, however, they’re somebody else’s problem, at least from the Elsomian perspective, and the Elsomians refuse to have any more to do with them. The United Systems Alliance has debated whether it’s better to drive them out of its own sectors or wipe them out and forcibly resettle the survivors, sans technology, on some fringe world, and hope for the best.

Formatted as a Pirate Organization, the Chevec can be described in the following terms:
a) Size---Fleet; the Chevec have an estimated 25,000-30,000 active combat personnel and perhaps 90 ships remaining, but have divided their forces into 30 ship flotillas, mainly a mix of destroyers and light cruisers clustered around a heavy cruiser or fleet depot ship(s) and attendant transport train.

b) Sponsorship---Self-sponsored. The Chevec will NOT bear to be in somebody else’s debt or under somebody else’s command, and refuse to have terms dictated to them.

b2) Background--- Exiled former military units of the Chevecra, an ultra-nationalist right-wing faction.

c)Alignment---Miscreant. The majority of the Chevec want the resources to rebuild and make a more comfortable lifestyle for themselves, but not enough to disarm and repudiate the extremist Chevecra philosophies. As mercenaries, a loot clause is always discussed before they take on any contract.

d) Technology Level---Modern, about equal to the Central Alliance or Golgan Republik.

e) Weapons and Equipment--- Good Gear------Most of it may be Chevecra military-issue(which is a generation behind the CCW and TGE), but it’s efficient, works, and is to spec. The Chevec have enough industrial capability to produce enough small arms and equipment to keep themselves outfitted. The preferred weapons of the Chevec are lasers; easy to maintain, long-ranged, easily adjusted, and easy to obtain.

f) Ships---The Chevec fleet consists mainly of destroyers and a few light cruisers, commanded by some ragged heavy cruisers supported by several large fleet tenders and cargo/troop transports. They’ve managed to acquire several dozen small and large transports and mining vessels that they’ve captured, but nothing with FTL comms.

g) Communications--- Secured Communications--- The Chevec use dropbox satellite caches and courier scoutships to maintain coordination between their roaming fleets.

h) Headquarters--None. The Chevec are ship-based. Occasionally they’ll establish a planet- or asteroid-size base(Partial Base) to harvest materials, but these are temporary affairs. The Chevec REALLY want a planet(ideally with an existing industrial infrastructure they can take over)they can use to establish a new homeworld, grow their numbers, and create a new Chevec nation.

i) Intelligence--- Infiltrator Network---The Chevec have used some of their older ships to pose as tramp merchantmen to surveil various planets, ports, and shadow vessels as potential targets. They also have bought or stationed informants in some of the busier spaceports in the regions of space they hunt.

j) Internal Security --- Paranoid. The Chevec maintain military discipline with regards to operational security, but it’s begun to slip over time.

k) Criminal Activity---Besides piracy, the Chevec are involved in some other unsavory business:
*Narcotics------- The Chevec have managed with their resources to synthesize several Elsomian drugs that were used as painkillers and combat stimulants during the Elsomian Civil War. Some of these compounds have proven to have an even more potent and addictive effect on non-Elsomians(‘Chevrust’ addiction is becoming a problem in some solar systems). Thus, the Chevec have been producing more of these drugs than they themselves need, and have been selling the rest on the galactic black market, some of it going to hook informants.
*Weapons of Mass Destruction----The Chevec WERE working towards reacquiring a WMD capability and had managed to produce several nuclear weapons, but lost their program with the support ships detailed to the Balsar invasion being destroyed. It is not known if they lost their entire arsenal of newly fabricated WMDs there, or whether they will try to reconstitute the program.


l) Level of Experience---Highly Skilled----The Chevec have maintained a high standard of training with what they have. On average, their crews have an experience level of 10-11(thanks to their long elven lives).

m) Contacts---The Chevec have a few contacts with cartel agents to fence what they cannot immediately use themselves.

n) Resources---Small Potatoes------ The Chevec didn’t exactly leave Elsom with the Chevecra war chest when they went into exile, and thus they can, after paying for the essentials, come up with only limited funds for any other expenditures. 1d10 x 10,000 credits

o) Pay--Poor; the average Chevec receive basic sustenance, standard issuance of equipment and uniforms according to their occupation and rank, They receive little extra, and that according to their usefulness and performance. The Chevec tend to save any profits from their banditry, for future acquisition of resources for their longer-ranged(if nebulous) plans to reestablish the new Chevec nation. There’s little profit-sharing and everybody is expected to sacrifice for the glorious future.
However, a few high officers have been feathering their quarters and living much better than their subordinates. Rumors of this behavior have led to growing attention from the more fanatical hard-liners and dissent from the younger rank and file.

p) Reputation--Known; the Chevec have a reputation across several sectors that keeps them on the move away from Elsom.

q) Special Quirks----Favor--- It isn’t known outside the high command of the Chevec, but the pirates are owned some big favors by a number of corrupt planetary government officials on worlds the Chevec have visited. In return for whacking certain ships, stealing certain cargoes, or smuggling drugs in with the officials as partners, the Chevec can cross some star systems without raising alarms, exploit certain asteroid fields, and go unreported. It’s not the same as sponsorship, but the Chevec could cash in on some immunity if they ever found themselves pursued into certain sectors.


r) (Optional)Preferred Targets---Corporate Carriers, though the Chevec will go after anything that they can use.
Ideally the Chevec want to take over a planet and reestablish the Chevecra. The older Chvc have grudge lists, the younger Chevec have shoping lists of stuff they’d like to have(preferably off somebody else’s bank ccounts).


s)(Optional)Species Composition---Primarily Elsomian Elves, although of late, of necessity, they’ve started taking on a few non-elven members; either conscripted crewmembers from seized prizes, or mercenaries.

taalismn wrote:...
*Weapons of Mass Destruction----The Chevec WERE working towards reacquiring a WMD capability and had managed to produce several nuclear weapons, but lost their program with the support ships detailed to the Balsar invasion being destroyed. It is not known if they lost their entire arsenal of newly fabricated WMDs there, or whether they will try to reconstitute the program.
...

This is a little silly. If a polity has personal energy weapon tech, the can produce WMD's. At least thermonuclear weapons of a capability better than real-world current ...

pad300 wrote:

taalismn wrote:...
*Weapons of Mass Destruction----The Chevec WERE working towards reacquiring a WMD capability and had managed to produce several nuclear weapons, but lost their program with the support ships detailed to the Balsar invasion being destroyed. It is not known if they lost their entire arsenal of newly fabricated WMDs there, or whether they will try to reconstitute the program.
...

This is a little silly. If a polity has personal energy weapon tech, the can produce WMD's. At least thermonuclear weapons of a capability better than real-world current ...

True. But also anybody with relativistic velocity-capable spacecraft doesn't need to bother with assembling nuclear weapons at all....they can just take a fighter or transport, accelerate it at a target, and BLAM...not much a defender can do against the spitball from hell.

However, the ability to produce nuke weapons is a common limitation in sci-fi(NuBSG for instance, but that might be because of the mcguffyn of tyllium replacing straight nuclear power). I'm not sure that 'personal energy weapon tech' necessarily allows one to build nuclear weapons, though, because assembling power packs and fabricating laser lenses is rather different from handling radioactive materials and fabricating implosion cores.

Look at the Cheek situation another way....suppose a U.S. Navy taskforce was forced on the run. They might have fleet tenders, machine shops, emergency hazmat gear, they might even have a nuclear fission power plant on one of their ships, nuclear engineers and maybe the literature on atomic physics beyond the servicing manuals for the power plant(s). How long to you think it wold take them to assemble a physics package(GREAT euphemism for 'atomic bomb') while roaming the ocean?
The Chevec have the wrong type of power plants on their ships to breed fissionable weapons grade material. They left without a complement of nuclear weapons. They may hail from an FTL starship-building society, but they didn't leave with all the workings and support infrastructure to fully arm and build new ships, let alone build nuclear warheads.
The Chevec could likely right now produce 'dirty' bombs, but that would require spraying areas they might want to use later. And radiological weapons aren't as spectacular as good ol' explosive metal bombs. And dust bombs are useless against other spacecraft.

Balsar( United Systems Alliance Member World)
“Don’t ever bring up local politics with a local Balsarian unless you want to waste the rest of your day being introduced to the sublime joys of Maktalism. Just don’t. If you are caught in one, however, you can diplomatically get out of it easily enough by throwing yourself into a patch of venomthorn or in front of a grunchasor. It’s worth the hospital stay just to end the conversation, esepcially as they don’t allow theological or philosophy debates in the convalescent wards. I wonder why?”

Balsar is a garden world inhabited by the Nersaug, an ethnic group of Ogres with a strong streak of pacificism and environmentalism. They left more populated sectors of the Three Galaxies in search of a place to call their own, and they’ve been quite content with Balsar. Theyhave established an agrarian society on Balsar, with herding a major part of their culture.
Balsar’s most recent troubles involved an invasion by Chevec Nomads, an Elven offshoot people who claim to have been unlawfully displaced from their homeworld by an oppressive regime, and have been condemned to wander the cosmos since. In reality, the Chevec were the survivors of a tyrannical police state that tried taking over their world, and were exiled by the victorious resistance. The Chevec, after approaching the Nersaug for assistance and supplies, eventually tried to carve out a foothold on the planet, and used nuclear blackmail, vaporizing several communities to prove their seriousness, in an effort to exert control over the rest of the Nersaug. Unable to oust the Chevec on their own, the Nersaug asked the United Systems Alliance for assistance. A taskforce dispatched by the AJC quickly sent the Chevec fleeing back into deep space(ironically, a few Chevec survivors of the Alliance attacks were taken in by the Nersaug and accepted as citizens). The Alliance has maintained a security presence in the Orvin system ever since, and has established trade deals with the Nersaug. The Nersaug don’t contribute much to the mutual defense of the Alliance, though they do allow basing in their system, and discount humanitarian relief food shipments to other worlds in the Alliance.

Solar System(Orvin 3242)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 8
-Terrestrial(Balsar)---System Lifeworld

-Gas Giant(Korkaschur)----The USA has established a large naval base on one of the eight moons of Korkaschur, a small gas giant. As the Nersaug have little interest currently in developing offworld infrastructure, they have allowed this, but have not yet approved anything more, like deep space hab-colonies, though they have little power to enforce such edicts.

-Asteroid(Kuni)---This large planetissimal is another body which the Nersaug have let the Alliance have, for use as a communications relay and sensor station.

-Terrestrial(Mevian)---Massive ‘super-Earth’ with a thick methane atmosphere. Its intense gravity makes colonization a tough proposition, so it has been left alone.

-TerrestrialEthec)---Massive ‘super-Earth’ with a thick methane atmosphere. Like Mevian, Ethec’s high gravity makes coloniation difficult to say the elast, but its tweny-odd moons and moonlets show some promise of being sites for colony habitats, especially if Ethec’s atmosphere is to be ever atmo-mined for its gases.

-Gas Giant(Parnac)---Parnac is tiny for a gas giant, and cold. Its nine moons have notably caused strange patterns in the planet’s atmosphere, due to their overlapping gravitational fields.

-Exotic(Lidleyac)---This strange body appears to be the result of a convergence of several comets that became attracted to each other and collided together, bounced apart, but lacked enough momentum to diverge again. Instead, nine distinctive cometary cores slowly orbit around each other in a stable orbit out beyond Parnac, occasionally grinding into each other, throwing out clouds of icy particles, which get exchanged with each other. Alliance scientists have set up a watch-probe to document whether the nine bodies eventually coalesce or break part and go their separate ways.

-Terrestrial(Colmith)---Small icy body of some scientific interest for its large ice geysers, suggesting a deep liquid ocean under its thick covering of ice. The original Nersaug colony starships left several automated probes on Colmith before turning their attention to Balsar. The United Systems Alliance University, with Nersaug permission, have set up several more stations to study the planet.

Planet
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 13,000 km
Gravity: 1.4 g
Temperature: Temperate, shading towards tropical
Unusual/Special Features:
*Strong ElectroMagentic Storms----Balsar boasts some impressive ‘magstorms’ which cross the planet causing compasses to go wild, and creating unusual sky-to-land aurora ‘curtains’ that sweep the land. Native animals that get struck by these storms are unaffected, having evolved to cope, but non-natives, including the Nersaug, can experience intense ‘pins-and-needles’ sensations as the storms pass over, disrupting radio and personal electronics. Weaker constitutions(P.E. of 5 or less) roll versus non-lethal poison or go into spastic convulsions for 1d4 melees. These storms also have an 80% chance of wiping unprotected personal electronic devices. The Nersaug make special ‘faraday robes’ for those who venture out in ‘mag-weather’, the robes grounding out the charge, but some Nersaug regard the mag-storms as a ‘divine blessing’ and will go out to ‘sky-bathe’ in the ‘free energy’.

Atmosphere: Breathable terrestrial oxygen-nitrogen mix.
Terrain: Variable---Balsar has a wide range of terrains and ecological niches. Its ice caps are on the small side.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Iron
- Copper
- Antimony
- Magnesium
- Fluorite
- Borax
- Calcite
- Quartz

-Corminium
Recent geochemical scans of Balsar have recently shown sizable deposits of Corminium, a compound mineral of rare earths, useful in manufacturing high-capacity energy storge systems and e-clips. The GNE/USA survey team who made the discovery has not yet informed the Nersaug government about it, and the USA doesn’t know if the Nersaug are aware of the mineral deposits or their significance. The concern is that given the Nersaug views on high-tech and their agrarian leanings, they may be less than pleased in the interest shown by offworlders in an industrial mineral sitting under their feet, and that may strain relations.
Hydrosphere:
Balanced---About 56% of the planet’s surface is covered in open water.
Biosphere:
Dense---Roughly equal to Earth’s Jurassic period. Many of the larger native sauroids have proven commercially viable as domestic stock.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
12 million(predominately...96%.... Ogres, with a few small enclaves of other species
Technology:
Information Age---The Nersaug gave up much of their starfaring technology in favor of a simpler lifestyle, but they still retain radio communications, inventory computers, general aviation, electrical power(especially solar power) and ‘green’ technologies.
Economy:
Agrarian---Most of the Nersaug live in rural villages as herdsmen, raising the local psuedo-sauroids and some imported stock animals(the Nersaug have entered tentative trade agreements with Gevadan, on the edge of the faltering Solex Federation, to acquire some of the livestock species raised under domes there). Balsar exports a fair amount of processed meat, leather products, animal fleece and fibers.
Wealth:
Prosperous----The Nersaug are doing quite well for themselves, trending towards Wealthy with the Alliance trade.
Government:
Oligarchy, bordering on Theocracy. The Nersaug subscribe to belief in Maktalism, a philosophy(NOT a religion, they are quick to point out) that contains elements of taoism, solipism, and other beliefs. Those most into Maktalism and able to expound the most on it are regarded with awe and respect, and seen as leadership material(the Chevec bluntly expressed the sentiment, shared more quietly by other outsiders, that the Nersaug were governed by ‘long-winded ******** artists’).
Law Level:
Lawful----The Nersaug have a well-established legal system based along Maktalist teachings, which means it seems bewilderingly complex to outsiders, but in the end seems pretty fair in its judgements and punishments(though just sitting through the proceedings of their own court trials may have seemed ‘punishment enough’ for those captured Chevec left behind on Balsar) . Some offworlders claim that most of the body of Maktalist law seems to be in there just to turn court cases into excuses to debate points of philosophy.
Popularity:
Popular----The Nersaug generally like their government, though they reserve the right to speak their minds when they disagree with it, which they’ve been doing a bit of of late.
Stability:
Unrest---Though the Nersaug are pleased that the Chevec are gone, there’s a deep difference of opinion in the aftermath about what should have been done. There are some who blame the current Okligarcs for letting the Chevec situation reach the point that it did, and they blame the loss of several Nersaug communities to Chevec bombs on the failure to act promptly. These are countered by those who wonder what the Nersaug were supposed to take action WITH, given their pacificism. There’s also some feeling that now that the Chevec have been driven off, the outsiders invited in should pack up and leave, and that the Nersaug are perfectly well-off with offworld trade without being a member of an offworld organization that might drag them into further entanglement like the Chevec. While none of these protests are aggressive, they have divided Nersaug popular oponion and have made some treaty negotiations protracted and stickier than usual.

(Assuming the Golgan fleet gets nerfed into something reasonable so that Shaw's forces amount to something meaningful. I'm thinking around 30 of them get dispatched with their escorts to extract some national self-respect out of the Altess.)

The USA and the Altess Crisis.

-Captain-General Horace Shaw.

What do I think about the USA? I think they fight. Which is more than I can say for the vast majority of my peers.

Unlike most of the CAF, I have long respected the various fringe power navies, as they are by far the ones most likely to actually go out and fight actual conflicts against peer opponents. Their tech may be crude, but almost all of it works off the same principles as ours does, and they have an actual body of experience to draw on. Not pirate suppression and hive smashing, but actual living memory of what you need to wage and prosecute an interstellar war. And the USA, for all the problems their over-extension has caused them, has blooded themselves like few others, and it was a pleasure to work with Commodore Soltath. He truly knew what he was doing, and it showed.

To give you some context, things were looking very bleak after Zyvult and Ramis. The Amoria managed to take out nearly all of the screening Auntins (which would be important later), half the Bindas, and a third of the Sylnors, but had essentially spent itself doing so. Only four Zhokils were left in fighting shape, and that was where they were best off proportion wise. There were a dozen or so lesser Cruisers intact enough to be relevant, but they were all crippled in one way or another and wouldn’t last long under fire. The smaller escorts were essentially gone, but they had the good sense to send them off completely automated when they ran into the meat grinder. The Golgan out gunned us by a tremendous margin, and our only real hope was that our strike wings could even the odds before the damn Jesstras wiped them out. Considering how quickly those things chewed up and spat out the far larger Fire Eater swarms at Zyvult there wasn’t much hope of that, so we were essentially praying for a miracle. And then the AJC showed up.

It was like a sign of providence when they came out of FTL and declared their intentions. The Golgans were making field repairs in orbit of Zyvult, giving us a bit over two weeks before they arrived at Altess Prime, and we did everything we could to prepare our defense. The details are on the official report, but the AJC showed their metal in our drills and planning. They had brought a very substantial force composing a sizable portion of the Tmelain Regulators and a good chunk of their Lasser derivatives, which almost doubled my available battleline. All told they had a pair of Cachalot-As, a pair of Perditions, a pair of carrier fit Pillara, an additional pair of carrier fit LaFayette, their only trio of operation Voulges, a full flotilla of four Sagadag, another four ship flotilla of Larna-Pes gun boats, and of course the twelve Auroras. Can’t forget the Auroras.

What really drew my eyes at first was the number of fighters they brought. All together they added a bit over 1.2K birds with them, which was roughly 52% of my paper aerospace strength, and when you factor in individual effectiveness it's likely something more like 150%. They also brought almost as many heavy fighters as me, but combine the facts that they are a mix of Raijus and Archangel-As and most of mine were bloody Battlerams they probably had at least five times as much capability. As my primary concern at the time was the Jesstras sweeping my strike assets off the map and letting their 20 or so battlewagons run me over, that was a massive relief, and had a major influence in my deployment decisions. I thought I had a firm understanding of the situation, and while it was going to be an uphill battle it was doable. I also thought I had seen all of the surprises in store, but the AJC fortunately proved me wrong.

The Cachalot-As were the first surprise. Everybody had heard about them at some point, with the TVIA calling them war crimes waiting to happen and in the hands of a mercenary army. Well, that image is dead in space. When they arrived, they immediately went into drydock, as their primary weapons had been pulled to make room for, well, whatever the Altess had laying on hand, which turned out to be some planetary defense batteries built a millennia and a half ago. That gave us an additional pair of long ranged Battleships, and their armor made them almost as resistant as a Protector against the Golgan Disruptors. They also brought a few freighters full of their escort drones, which did a terrific job in swatting the relative handful of missiles that the Golgan were able to get through the EWAR. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have been able to hold the lunar orbitals for more than a few hours, and which would have doomed us in the main engagement the day after.

The second surprise was how effective their fighters were. The flying squids were as nasty in a dog fight as ever, but the AJC brought a ridiculous amount of MRMs to compensate. Even with their interceptions, analysis says that at least half of the Jesstras lost their nose mounts in the opening exchange, which is perhaps the best demonstration of the ‘shieldless interceptor’ problem in recent memory. The ones left tied up most of our light and mediums, but the heavies were able to muscle through and finish off the rest of the Golgan escorts. We were then able to start flinging our torps at them, which ultimately took most of the remaining Bindas out of the equation.

But the biggest surprise? The Auroras.

Sweet Forge the Auroras.

I didn’t know what to make of them at first, and I wasn’t the only one. The twelve ships they sent were still on their shakedown cruise, and all of them had some minor glitches to work out before they were fully combat ready. While I was glad to simply have more hulls, I didn’t expect much from them, what with them looking like a Yacht that one of the Altess below would have bought. But the Soltath insisted that they were going to be key assets in the battles ahead, and I let them off to go do whatever they thought they did best. I thought I would get a valuable distraction, maybe a few hours worth of time that could be used to save some other front. I was wrong.

We’ve all seen the logs. We all know what they did. Most of us even know how they did it. But that doesn’t make it any less astonishing. They can be considered nothing less than a class act in why nobody sane messes with the UWW, and they’re even worse because they’re true hybrids of technology and magic. From what I hear most UWW ships are just magic being used in place of technology, with all the problems of endurance and range that it has on the ground. But the Auroras are different, having the combining the strengths of both sides into an almost seamless whole. From what they’ve told me their only real problem is that their mystic energy accumulators are still lacking compared to the Warlocks, which makes me wonder just what they can accomplish should they get their hands on them.

When those swords cut loose, they flew like they were Scorpions, and that’s just what those bio-modded pilots of theirs did. Once they closed in they bloody danced around the Golgan battleships, and with the Auntins gone the Golgans were down to using their near blind Torpedoes to try to take them out. And they didn't have much luck with that thanks to the AJC committing a full wing of Tachyon armed Angels to running intercept. The Auroras focused for disabling strikes rather than hard kills, and by the time we had the final showdown in orbit we actually had the advantage in terms of direct gun power. It wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, but we had a decisive moral advantage and were able to pressure the Golgans into making mistakes. We honestly took the most losses when they turned to run, but we were able to take out their tail guns before we outright lost a cruiser, and our remaining combat capable fighters swept up the mines that they dropped. We let the remaining Altess have the pleasure of finishing them off, but I hear we almost had to step in before they started shooting escape pods, and they probably would have done it if Amoria High Command hadn’t explicitly ordered their robots to ignore any directive to do so.

After that, we pulled our ships into dock and got a hero’s welcome that only a disparate Altess Dynasty can give. Some of the parties STILL haven’t died down, but that’s almost certainly due to the Altess latching on to a reason to actually feel alive for the first time in a century or two. But once the initial wave was over, me and Soltath had a formal reception and awards ceremony with the collective dynastic heads, and we were both given collective honor bound favors. Soltath had instructions from above if something like this happened, and I heard the document he had amounted to a wishlist for their planetary development and restoration offices. The Altess I’ve talked to consider it surprisingly sensible and somewhat admirable, so they likely have a positive opinion on the USA as a whole for the next while. And what did I ask for? Dedicated effort into reforming the CCW and its institutions into what they’re supposed to be. That got a few visible winces, but it seems like its less problematic than what they feared. The screaming that getting sent our way from the Terra Prime is said to be the most consistently entertaining thing they’ve heard in almost 3 centuries as well, so they might start Trolling by being completely serious.

Yep, at the least the USA asked the Altess for some big no-interest loans for some planetary rehab projects...and were willing to give the Altess top-billing in the humanitarian effort.
Behind closed doors, the USA probably also asked the Altess to quit investing in a few organizations or industries (or at least lean on those Altess individuals who were invested) because those groups were proving pain in the ass to certain Alliance efforts(though Naruni Enterprises is not one of those organizations on the list).
Because, diplomacy.

taalismn wrote:Yep, at the least the USA asked the Altess for some big no-interest loans for some planetary rehab projects...and were willing to give the Altess top-billing in the humanitarian effort.
Behind closed doors, the USA probably also asked the Altess to quit investing in a few organizations or industries (or at least lean on those Altess individuals who were invested) because those groups were proving pain in the ass to certain Alliance efforts(though arena Enterprises is not one of those organizations on the list).
Because, diplomacy.

This is how the game is played, and if it lets the Altess look generous and enlightened, they would be more than happy to go a bit farther that was objectively necessary to fulfill their honor. They need to look strong after all, and this is a quick as relatively easy way to do it.

Shaw's request was a substantially more of a pain in the ass, but they were surprised to find so many people falling over themselves to assist. The CCW's byzantine bureaucracy has pissed off enough people that they'd be willing to openly work with the Altess if it means making a real change, and only the most paranoid could doubt the Altess's intentions in this particular case. Its going to be the work of decades, people are going to call it the 'Shaw Reformation'. Shaw's opinion is that if the Consortium was fully functional he'd get what he actually wants without pushing it, and him acting benevolent and humble over it has done more to influence public opinion than any amount of lobbying he could ever hope to do.

EDIT: It also increase the value placed in the Favor of the Altess. If they are willing to commit to THAT, what else would they do if their right to call themselves Altess was on the line?

Omegasgundam wrote:[
Shaw's request was a substantially more of a pain in the ass, but they were surprised to find so many people falling over themselves to assist. The CCW's byzantine bureaucracy has pissed off enough people that they'd be willing to openly work with the Altess if it means making a real change, and only the most paranoid could doubt the Altess's intentions in this particular case. Its going to be the work of decades, people are going to call it the 'Shaw Reformation'. Shaw's opinion is that if the Consortium was fully functional he'd get what he actually wants without pushing it, and him acting benevolent and humble over it has done more to influence public opinion than any amount of lobbying he could ever hope to do.

Plus he brews a mean hooch aboard his flagship. AND takes care of his great-granddaughter. Kid's getting an education.

taalismn wrote:

Omegasgundam wrote:[
Shaw's request was a substantially more of a pain in the ass, but they were surprised to find so many people falling over themselves to assist. The CCW's byzantine bureaucracy has pissed off enough people that they'd be willing to openly work with the Altess if it means making a real change, and only the most paranoid could doubt the Altess's intentions in this particular case. Its going to be the work of decades, people are going to call it the 'Shaw Reformation'. Shaw's opinion is that if the Consortium was fully functional he'd get what he actually wants without pushing it, and him acting benevolent and humble over it has done more to influence public opinion than any amount of lobbying he could ever hope to do.

Plus he brews a mean hooch aboard his flagship. AND takes care of his great-granddaughter. Kid's getting an education.

'The badass great grandpa you wish you had' is something that is going to stick with him in the history books, and is his other big selling point to the general public.

A Study in Contrasts: The Cynocere Collapse and the Solex Civil War

Solar flares wipe clean three inhabited worlds, killing billions, the empress of an empire spanning seventy-eight worlds collapses, victim of a fatal stroke, a scorned and embittered scientist discovers a forgotten piece of knowledge that can reshape the fabric of reality itself, a demonic god merges with a current of living light, a drop of dew is shaken off a leave and lands on another leaf instead of the soil...
All of these events may shake the very megacosmos to its core, or they may become mere ripples quickly cancelled out and completely lost to the keen of even the immortal...

The Forge and Minion Wars seem to be only part of a period of turmoil that afflicted the Three Galaxies. Besides the pbvious movements fo Forge Seekers, Infernal fleets roaming for victims, and Demon Planets on the prowl, their disruptions caused ripples that seem to have aggravated a great many other disturbances. It was perhaps the distraction caused by this time of troubles that emboldened the Golgan Republik to come out of its centuries-long reticence and attempt to re-establish itself as a dominant power in the Three Galaxies. However, to the average citizen of the gala;xy, there were far more local events to concern them; a rash of galactic brushfires, social and political upheavals, trade and travel disruptions, and firmament-shaking changes that altered lives everywhere, even if the effects were neither immediate or dramatic.
Two events of similar provence, but with greatly different outcomes, which would have ramifications beyond their borders, particularly for the United Systems Alliance, are the Cynocere Collapse and the Solex Civil War.
Both were born of disputes between colonizers and colonists, the fierce pride and sens eof independence of the frontiersmen coming to odds with the proprietary demands of sponsors and resource-hungry industry.

The Cynocere Collapse/Spring
The Odina Federation had spawned its own nemesis in the Cynocere Republic, a break-away cluster of colonies founded by particularly vocal ‘self-made men’ who sought to establish a culture based on scientific and forceful principles away from what they denounced as the oppressively coddling and phlegmatic society of the homeworlds. Quickly and bloodlessly winning independence, the Cynocerans built a minor colonial empire of their own, but couldn’t help getting in confrontations with the Federation they claimed to have left behind. It didn’t help that the Cynoceran Republic had quickly evolved into an oppressive police state and they claimed to hold to a ‘warrior ethic’. Hence they commenced a massive military build-up, they declared, to ‘defend themselves against the continued aggression of a corrupt Federation jealous of their success’. This set the tone for the next fifty or so years, with the Odinans staring eyeball to eyeball with the Cynocerans over an extended border of frontier worlds, trying to diplomatically not be goaded by the militarization and saber-rattling of their former citizens. The military numbers underscored a fact that the Cynocerans were less pleased to declare, despite their ‘superior industry’ and ‘warrior’ attitudes, they couldn’t beat Odinan starfleet forces without better than three to one odds. Whatever allowances one made for the disparity in quality and training between the two forces, the Cynoceran build-up was looking more and more like an invasion force. War seemed inevitable.
However, the ‘pragmatic purpose-driven’ social engineering of the Cynoceran State proved flawed, and continued Odinan prosperity, especially after re-established Galactic contact, undermined the Cynoceran planned economy. Growing division in the political apparatus of the State, infighting in the upper ranks, increasing fiscal debt due to a constant military build-up , and a popular uprising led to the effective dissolution of the State almost overnight. While several Cynoceran worlds have tried going it alone, shielded by hardcore elements of the once overbearing military and adhering to the ‘true Cynoceran social order’, several other worlds moved to rejoin the Odinans and the promise of a return to more personal prosperity and freedom.
The Cynoceran Collapse, or Spring as it has also been called, proved relatively bloodless, though it still left the matter of an extent military machine with factories, assembled ships, and stockpiles of weaponry laying around, a tempting trove for would-be counterrevolutionaries, warlords, and pirates. The frantically reforming Cynoceran governments couldn’t take care of it all, nor could the still-in-shock Odinan Federals. To prevent the Cynoceran Republic’s ghost from arising in violence, the Odinans turned to WZTechyards, who several years previously had been engaged to help the Federation, who were joining the CCW and taking advantage of their open techbase, to turn their older and increasingly obsolete ships into cash. The WZT, in turn, solicited help from the talent pool of the United Systems Alliance to help them assess the land and defuse(in some situations, literally) the defunct military machines. In short order Alliance military specialists and security corps were soon spreading out through Cynoceran space, securing useful military assets, or destroying them if they couldn’t be secured. WZTechyards soon found itself holding hundreds of starships, dozens of shipyards and factories, and the attention of an unemployed labor force that wanted to get back to work. With a little modernization and adaptation, WZT was soon restarting production lines and providing the shattered Cynoceran economy a much-needed boost, while sweeping a good amount of superfluous military equipment out of sight.
Long term, the involvement of the WZT helped gain several new worlds for the Alliance(five of the original fourteen Cynoceran worlds elected to join the United Systems Alliance rather than reunite with/’surrender’ to the Odina Federation, which nevertheless gained seven of the remaining Cynoceran colonies ), swayed Odina popular oponion towards a more positive view of the USA, netted WZT a dozen new industrial sites in a pacified sector, and released an impressive stockpile of technologically dated, but still usable, components to the market and armaments to needy Fringe defense forces. At a time when and in a place where the USA was scrambling for hulls and equipment to plug holes, the Cynoceran Collapse proved a windfall, one of several pieces of good news in a time of turmoil.

The Solex Federation Civil War
Across the galaxy, the Solex Federation Civil War has NOT been a graceful collapse. The colonies of the Solex were ALSO established by ‘self-made men of the frontier’, but they had not won independence, and were still required to help provide for the mutual defense of the Federation. Social and economic dicrimination have been the stated cause of the animosity between homeworlders and colonists, but deep corruption in the Federation and a sense of entitled lawlessness on the part of the colonists seem to be the real reasons. Many of the ‘self-made men of the frontier’ seem to have immigrated to the colonies to escape progressive reforms instituted by the Solaran government during its better days.
Unlike the Cynoceran Spring, the Solex Federation has not broken down peacefully, and outside observers fear that the growing turmoil in the region may create a lawless sector, ripe for warlordism and pirate activity, if it hasn’t already. While war has not been officially declared, segregation in Solexian Navy cews has become more pronounced, the number of reported ‘police actions’ and ‘rogue naval units’ has risen, and a growing number of ships and outposts have been dropping off the communications grid. Scheduled interplanetary travel has been thown off, and several colonies, both rebel and loyalist, have been cut off with no visitation for months.
The United Systems Alliance, whose previous engagement with the Solex Federation had been brisk trade with several of its neighbors and the frantically neutral and precariusly located Solexian colony of Gevadan, has watched these developments with anxiety, fearing what a total collapse of law and order could do for the sector.
The situation has become such, with constant reports of atrocities, that the United System Alliance has felt it necessary to covertly probe deep into Federation space, looking for signs that the viciousness involved may have been instigated by outside parties, especially the Infernals. Their searches have thus far proven inconclusive, but raised the concern that even if the Infernals aren’t already in Solex space, the potential high misery may draw them and their ilk.
The Solex Civil War may have earned the United Systems Alliance a new member, but it has also openned up a whole new stellar region of uncertain trouble for the USA’s already overextended peacekeeping efforts.
In a relevant coincidence, upon learning via interAlliance news media of the windfall of the new shipyards made available to the Alliance in Cynoceran space, one AJC officer stationed in the new front line base at Pekan was heard to mumble “Good, I can tell them where to send the new ships.”


Updatees:
*Gevadan---The continuing deterioration of the Solex Federation into civil war has left this border world out in the cold, a condition the local Gevadanese are VERY grateful for, since they fully expected to have been dragged into the crossfire between the FedGov and the Colonial rebels by now. Instead, they seem to have been left alone(at least for the time being). Perhaps emboldened, the United Systems Alliance has accepted Gevadan’s application for membership in the USA. Under the legal aegis of combating interstellar piracy in the sector, the Alliance has established a sizeable naval base on one of the outer gas giant Pekan’s moons, from which they conduct anti-piracy patrols. The fact that some of these patrols quietly slip deep into Solex Federation space isn’t nearly as disturbing to the Gevadanese as the fact that they almost always return with holds and sickbays full of mind-raped slaves liberated from ‘rogue Solexian naval units’ and ‘bandit camps’. What this suggests about conditions in their former patron star-nation has the Gevadanese looking to their system defenses and grateful for the presence of Alliance warships.

*Sevins---Sevins is the name given to a numbered, but unnamed, red dwarf star system not far from Gevadan. The system contains no habitable worlds, but does play host to a recently established USA outpost, akin to the GNE’s earlier Rum Bay facility. The AJC has been quietly using Sevins to process Solex Federation ships captured in the course of anti-piracy patrols. Sevins provides operations in the area with a place to cache vessels and prisoners they don’t want to be seen towing into a place like Gevadan, which is still technically neutral territory. The GNE’s Office of Positive Outcomes is also using Sevins to outfit captured Solex Federation and colonial rebel ships for covert ops.


*People’s Imperial Democratic Alliance----The PIDA makes the Cynoceran Republiic look like a happy liberal media-net company. This darkly-comic creaking despotic human-supremacist star nation thought they had an opportunity to reap some payback when their intelligence learned the United Systems Alliance had pulled their warships out of several adjacent star systems not far from the PIDA’s territory. Smelling blood in the water, the PIDA miliitary began quietly making plans for some territorial expansion. Then several key figures died suddenly within a week of each other, and military planning screeched to a halt. The PIDA’s stayed well back behind their own borders ever since.


*T’ghari Domain and the Brualli Alignment(Anvil Galaxy)---The vicious war between these two star-nations threatened to destablize a sector, but surprisingly the brushfire-in-the-offing has failed to materialize. Both nations seem to have exhausted themselves and the predicted crescendo of interstellar violence has instead petered out into occasional skirmishing and the equivalent of thumbwrestling. A few ships of both sides have gone rogue and been dealt with by USA forces, but by and large the two governments seem to have run out of steam, hobbled by their crippled economies. Though no official ceasefire has been declared, observers in the region remain cautiously optimistic that the two sides may be amenable to giving diplomacy a second chance and not just taking the opportunity to rearm.

*Trevis Collective---Though trade and negotiations with this irradiated shell of a star nation were disrupted by the Minion War, word is that negotiations with the USA have resumed at an unusually intense level. Rumor is that the Trevisians were paid a visit by one of the Infernal factions rooting around on one of the shatterworlds for ancient Ratling artifacts, and the situation became so ugly, the Collective needed help dislodging the unwelcome squatters. Whether that’s true or not, several of the Alliance worlds closest to the Collective have recently received antimatter fuel rumored to have originated from Trevis sources. Given that the Trevis Colective ratanoids tend to be very cautious and paranoid about the substance that almost obliterated their society, and guard their few remaining AM production facilities’ output zealously, it would seem out of character for them to supply outsiders with the material, unless some sort of high level agreement has been made.

(Various PS/ASI/GNE/USA Out-Takes, or “What I Did During the Minion War”)

*Shot of a mixed group of CAF officers in white and blue, Altess Armoria officers in royal purple, and GNE/USA personnel in green-and-blacks milling around the concourse of a spaceport, Altess judging by the luxurious appointments, but currently looking a little ragged, with obvious smoke stains and signs of fire damage, with lots of equipment and even some labor robots, most of it NOT of Altess manufacture, crowding the halls.

*Altess station master looking bemusedly out of her office window as a very large and ungainly-looking GNESF fleet tender coasts by outside, a large sign on its side spelling out “REPAIRS ONSITE. UPGRADES AVAILABLE BY REQUEST OR IF WE’RE FEELING CREATIVE. YOUR MONEY BACK IF NOT SATISFIED.

*Mandatory tourist shots of various utilitarian khaki-clad GNE/USA personnel posing/mugging in front of various well-known Altess Prime sites. Occasionally there are actual Altess in the photos with them. One in particular shows several Altess pointing at a GNESF standard fighter ejection seat sitting on top of somebody’s roof.

*Two women in torn maid uniforms fighting in a wrecked nursery. One is partially transformed into a reptilian monstrosity, the other has deep tears and gashes over most of her body and face revealing metal structure and artificial muscle. The reptilian one has a glowing knife shoved deep in its chest.

*Squad of ChaiChuk marines, all holding various heavy weapons, or the ammunition supply of ones carried by others, BLASTING something offcamera, while several CAF soldiers, pinned down behind a wall, look on in shock.

*A flight of heavily armed Nao freighters descending on a battered-looking city, rising columns of smoke telling of ongoing damage. Some of the freighters’ underslung cargo modules are bearing the symbols of various Three Galaxies humanitarian agencies. Several smaller ships are hovering around in escort positions, or are fanning out amongst the skyscrapers.

*Captain’s day room on a Solex Federation ship; several officers, including a captain, in SF Space Navy whites and holding handguns are looking in horror at the shattered window port revealing open vacuum beyond. The figure in the center of the room and of the aim point of the others’ pistols, also wearing SFN captain’s whites, back to the missing wall and window, is looking unconcerned as everything loose in the room is being drawn to the hole, including the other men. The protective membranes of a space survival biomod are just visible closing over his eyes.

*A heavily armed and armored Shemarrian Warrior looming over two nearly as heavily armed and armored GNE soldiers.The Warrior has an uncharacteristically abashed expression on her face as she tries to gesture with her hands reassurance of something. Behind her several large tentacles pull something frantically struggling and screaming past the POV. The GNE soldiers look annoyed and unconvinced.

*Interior shot of a transport shuttle, showing several dozen newly-minted swabbies in AJC greens, but with shoulder patches denoting several dozen member worlds, all either excitedly looking out viewports or at a screen at the front of the cabin. Exterior view shows them approaching a deep space dock, with several dozen ships moored to it. Most of them are two lines of brand spanking new Hauberk destroyers, but there’s a couple of LaFayette light cruisers, a couple of Sagadag light carriers, and several military conversion Concords. Several large cage-rigs are floating in the distance, with other ships barely visible inside them, either being constructed or refitted.

*Jelko Rodula in a secret hangar workshop somewhere, looking intently at a damaged wing of something, a shot-up USA ‘storm flag’ spiral on it just visible.

*A column of AJC armored vehicles, all showing signs of combat, wearily winding their way through a cratered landscape. No telling where it is, but there’s obviously been a helluva fight.

*Several USA spacecraft, mainly heavy freighters or deep space tugs floating in open space, clearly waiting for something. Then with a flash a glowing energy portal opens up between them, and after a moment another large vessel emerges from it and almost immediately docks with one of the larger tugs which has a special framework on its prow. Both the new arrival and the waiting ships begin deploying large structure sections that unfold and begin to surround the still open but slowly contracting portal, eventually connecting to each other and framing the gateway, stopping its contraction.

*What looks to be a fair-sized moon in the process of shattering into two rough halves, throwing out a heavy expanding ring of debris. In the foreground a helmeted USA spacer has turned a rather tired-looking expression to the camera, and is offering a thumbs up.

*A Bakalaponan diplomat looking sadly disappointed at a United Systems Alliance diplomat who has refused to shake his(joy buzzer-adorned) hand. His aide however is maneuvering into position with a curiously large lapel daisy.
-Second photo apparently taken a moment later, the Bakalaponan delegate looking on with a delighted ‘you-realise-this-means-war’ expression as he regards his aide, now besmeared with cream pie, while the USA rep’s own aide holds a comically large and colorful handgun on the opposite underling. The official USA diplomat’s expression can be described as more neutral than plain tapioca.
“Begun they have, these clown wars.”

taalismn wrote:(Various PS/ASI/GNE/USA Out-Takes, or “What I Did During the Minion War”)

*Shot of a mixed group of CAF officers in white and blue, Altess Armoria officers in royal purple, and GNE/USA personnel in green-and-blacks milling around the concourse of a spaceport, Altess judging by the luxurious appointments, but currently looking a little ragged, with obvious smoke stains and signs of fire damage, with lots of equipment and even some labor robots, most of it NOT of Altess manufacture, crowding the halls.

*Altess station master looking bemusedly out of her office window as a very large and ungainly-looking GNESF fleet tender coasts by outside, a large sign on its side spelling out “REPAIRS ONSITE. UPGRADES AVAILABLE BY REQUEST OR IF WE’RE FEELING CREATIVE. YOUR MONEY BACK IF NOT SATISFIED.

*Mandatory tourist shots of various utilitarian khaki-clad GNE/USA personnel posing/mugging in front of various well-known Altess Prime sites. Occasionally there are actual Altess in the photos with them. One in particular shows several Altess pointing at a GNESF standard fighter ejection seat sitting on top of somebody’s roof.

*Two women in torn maid uniforms fighting in a wrecked nursery. One is partially transformed into a reptilian monstrosity, the other has deep tears and gashes over most of her body and face revealing metal structure and artificial muscle. The reptilian one has a glowing knife shoved deep in its chest.

*Squad of ChaiChuk marines, all holding various heavy weapons, or the ammunition supply of ones carried by others, BLASTING something offcamera, while several CAF soldiers, pinned down behind a wall, look on in shock.

*A flight of heavily armed Nao freighters descending on a battered-looking city, rising columns of smoke telling of ongoing damage. Some of the freighters’ underslung cargo modules are bearing the symbols of various Three Galaxies humanitarian agencies. Several smaller ships are hovering around in escort positions, or are fanning out amongst the skyscrapers.

*Captain’s day room on a Solex Federation ship; several officers, including a captain, in SF Space Navy whites and holding handguns are looking in horror at the shattered window port revealing open vacuum beyond. The figure in the center of the room and of the aim point of the others’ pistols, also wearing SFN captain’s whites, back to the missing wall and window, is looking unconcerned as everything loose in the room is being drawn to the hole, including the other men. The protective membranes of a space survival biomod are just visible closing over his eyes.

*A heavily armed and armored Shemarrian Warrior looming over two nearly as heavily armed and armored GNE soldiers.The Warrior has an uncharacteristically abashed expression on her face as she tries to gesture with her hands reassurance of something. Behind her several large tentacles pull something frantically struggling and screaming past the POV. The GNE soldiers look annoyed and unconvinced.

*Interior shot of a transport shuttle, showing several dozen newly-minted swabbies in AJC greens, but with shoulder patches denoting several dozen member worlds, all either excitedly looking out viewports or at a screen at the front of the cabin. Exterior view shows them approaching a deep space dock, with several dozen ships moored to it. Most of them are two lines of brand spanking new Hauberk destroyers, but there’s a couple of LaFayette light cruisers, a couple of Sagadag light carriers, and several military conversion Concords. Several large cage-rigs are floating in the distance, with other ships barely visible inside them, either being constructed or refitted.

*Jelko Rodula in a secret hangar workshop somewhere, looking intently at a damaged wing of something, a shot-up USA ‘storm flag’ spiral on it just visible.

*A column of AJC armored vehicles, all showing signs of combat, wearily winding their way through a cratered landscape. No telling where it is, but there’s obviously been a helluva fight.

*Several USA spacecraft, mainly heavy freighters or deep space tugs floating in open space, clearly waiting for something. Then with a flash a glowing energy portal opens up between them, and after a moment another large vessel emerges from it and almost immediately docks with one of the larger tugs which has a special framework on its prow. Both the new arrival and the waiting ships begin deploying large structure sections that unfold and begin to surround the still open but slowly contracting portal, eventually connecting to each other and framing the gateway, stopping its contraction.

*What looks to be a fair-sized moon in the process of shattering into two rough halves, throwing out a heavy expanding ring of debris. In the foreground a helmeted USA spacer has turned a rather tired-looking expression to the camera, and is offering a thumbs up.

*A Bakalaponan diplomat looking sadly disappointed at a United Systems Alliance diplomat who has refused to shake his(joy buzzer-adorned) hand. His aide however is maneuvering into position with a curiously large lapel daisy.
-Second photo apparently taken a moment later, the Bakalaponan delegate looking on with a delighted ‘you-realise-this-means-war’ expression as he regards his aide, now besmeared with cream pie, while the USA rep’s own aide holds a comically large and colorful handgun on the opposite underling. The official USA diplomat’s expression can be described as more neutral than plain tapioca.
“Begun they have, these clown wars.”

All scenes with their own stories to tell. And this is just one major front of the overall conflict. Its the reason why there will stop being new WWII movies.

Omegasgundam wrote:[

All scenes with their own stories to tell. And this is just one major front of the overall conflict. Its the reason why there will stop being new WWII movies.

And that's just the CCW-associated fronts. We have little idea of what was happening on the TGE front. The UWW may have had advance warning, and they're certainly the best equipped to handle the situation..but their concentration of magic also makes them prime targets. The Central Alliance? Not much to interest Infernals in cyberpunk territory, but falcon cyborgs are immune to a lot of magic, making them good demon hunters if they came out to play. The Golgans? Fort up and kill anything that looks suspicious, but consolidating their forces may cost them worlds...or reinforce the loyalty of those worlds they do protect.

..and some worlds on the lower end of the social scale...

Meljor ----(Mevejay IX) Independent Rim World

“Meljor’s old enough that the ocean bottom sediments probably contain most of the remains of the planet’s old civilization, and the rock-fleas probably ARE the descendants of the Meljorans. Can’t tell the tourists and the treasure hunters that though; to hear the hawkers on the street, the discovery of the Lost Orb of Incredible Happiness is right around the corner.”

“There’s debate in scientfic circles whether the old Meljorans even had interstellar drive or deep space capability before they went under. If they were stuck on one planet, all their stuff should still be around, but there’s not much. The romanticists like to think the Meljorans went into other directions like pursuing magic, and disappeared up their own spell circles, but we have yet to find anything like ritual sites or runes carved in stone. So either they did such a good job of wasting themselves that natural processes wiped out most of their remains, or somebody else in the interim beat us to the good stuff.”

Meljor is nominally an independent world established on the strength of the mining of artifacts from a previous First Ones settlement, but the fact is Meljor is a long-played out world, its resources and ecology having been over-used before the native Meljorans died out.
Meljor benefits and suffers from being fairly close to the Human Alliance coreworlds; near enough that transportation is cheap, but far enough that it’s considered to be ‘on the frontier’ for the economy-minded. Thus a good number of less-advantaged immigrants wanting to escape the congestion and lack of opportunity in the coreworlds settle for worlds like Meljor, unable or unwilling to go farther to the real undeveloped frontiers. A large number of people have come to Meljor , expecting to work for a few months or years to afford the next step out, but they wind up permanent residents on the world.
Today, Meljor is a second-rate world with a stuttering economy that survives mainly by recycling the scrap heaps of the previous tenants. Rumors still persist of ancient tech treasures hidden under the planet’s shifting sands, but most xenoanthropologists agree that the ancient Meljorans were unlikely to have been very advanced before they collapsed into extinction, and the stories are mainly sucker-bait for tourists come to try their luck prospecting for artifacts.
In the meantime, the local government gets by with loose regulations that encourage the presence of more larceny-minded business ventures that would otherwise be legistlated or prosecuted out of business in the coreworlds. A number of paramilitary security firms operate out of Meljoran space and can be counted on to provide some measure of security for the system.
The large low-income communities of Meljor are a steady source of recruits for corporations and mercenary units wanting to hire on the cheap. As hiring on with a rim-corp or free company is seen as a quick way to the frontier, many Meljorans, especially second-generations, sign on under less-than-promising terms.
Native Meljorans are characterized by a ‘Meljoran Melancholy’, a mental attitude of quiet pride in their independence, but subdued expectations and acceptance that they’ll never be great.

Solar System(Mevejay IX)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Blue Dwarf
Number of Planets: 8
-Terrestrial(small)---Peval. Several efforts have been made to search Peval for any signs of an ancient Meljoran presence, but aside from some tantilizing traces of refined metals found on the surface, nothing has turned up.

-Terrestrial(small)----Meljor, system lifeworld

-Gas Giant----Vimec
Vimec Station is arguably the single biggest moneymaker in the Meljor system; the large moon-based space station acts as a transit hub for ships passing through the system, providing refueling and reprovisioning. The station has a large transient population of would-be colonists hoping to hop off to the frontiers, but many wind up making the decision to seek work on Meljor proper. The Vimec moon system is also home base to a dozen or so (low-end) mercenary groups, attracted by Meljor’s loose legislation on mercs and the prospect of recruiting.

-Asteroid----Hoskus Station. The Meljor Department of Corrections maintains a maximum security prison for criminals arrested and convicted on Meljor or at Vimec Station, on this planetoid. It’s sufficiently isolated from both Meljor and Vimec that criminals can’t break out and grab hostages or a passing ship to escape. However, the less scrupulous mercenary groups have been known to, after paying a hefty bribe to the wardens, recruit from the convict population.

-Terrestrial(large)----Therrnor. Shrouded in thick methane clouds, Therrnor’s punishing gravity(9x terrestrial standard) discourages visitation. It’s generally ignored as an unexploitable poisonous high-grav rock, but recently a newly arrived academic(claiming to be a professor from one of the core worlds) on Vimec Station has been making noises that Therrnor is TOO dense for its size to have have formed naturally. This has started a slew of rumors that the planet may be artificial....and the missing ancient Meljoran treasure cache. The professor has acquired a small following, and is trying to raise funds and equipment to launch an expedition to study Therrnor in greater detail. Others, however, are looking at the ‘professor’s’ rather shady background. However, Therrnor’s density to size is raising some questions.

-Asteroid---- Deterus, minor planetoid. Eight years ago a mercenary unit, the Vhestran Cavaliers, who were based in the Mevejay system for three years, left on a contract, details unknown to anybody but the Cavaliers, with four ships; a Stonewall, a Hunter(or knockof of one) destroyer and two merchant conversions, some eight hundred men between them. Six months later, only the damaged Stonewall came back and grounded on Deterus with a skeleton crew. The crew evacuated via lifeboats to Vimec Station, but refused to say what happened. Meanwhile, the Cavalier’s commander, Vulgus Karr, remained behind on the marooned cruiser and announced, via commlink, that he was retiring from mercenary work. Using remote links, he liquidated the rmaining assets of the Cavaliers, paid off his remaining crew(who promptly scattered once they’d received their money) and any dependents the Cavaliers had in-system, made a few purchases of supplies to be delivered to the cruiser on Deterus, and then cut communication with the final message that he was to be left alone. Despite repeated attempts to find out what happened to the rest of his command, Karr has refused to say anything, and the crewmembers he brought back have disappeared into the mercenary underworld. Since then, nothing has been seen or heard of Karr. The cruiser still sits where it grounded on Deterus, detectable power emissions proving systems are still working on the ship, and its few remaining weapons operational enough to dissuade the curious from from coming too close. Only once has communications resumed; a delivery of additional supplies was arranged to be dropped on the planetoid, but the freighter crew were not allowed to set foot on Deterus. Presumably Vulgus Karr still lives out his ‘retirement’ aboard his defunct flagship, in solitude, and with the secrets of whatever happened to the Vhestran Cavaliers.

-Gas Giant---ENORMOUS Teslua plays host to a rich moon system with at least three of the moons showing indications of having evolved simple subcrustal lifeforms and Teslua itself may b home to a ‘floater’ ecology. There’s a sizeable scientific research station on one of the lifeless moons, to study all this biodiverity. Problem is, the gas giant is distant enough and the scientists too disinterested in recreation offbase that Maljor sees nothing of the academic funds poured into the FASCINATING research being done out Teslua way. One colorful local rumor is that the ancient Meljorans seeded the planet and its moons with life, or BECAME that life.

-Gas Giant---Piago. Just as big as Taslua. Nowhere near as interesting.

Planet
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 8,000 km
Gravity: Light, 0.7 terrestrial.
Temperature: Hot; Saharra-desert on a summer day hot. At least the nights are cold.
Unusual/Special Features:
*Rings---Meljor has several thin debris rings that sometimes cause problems for orbiting spacecraft and sapcestation. “Hole-Plugger’(it’s not as dignified as ‘Damage Control Officer’) on a Meljoran spacestation is a common first scut-job for those wishing offworld employment.
*Anomalous Magnetic Field--Meljor’s messed up geology has extended to its magnetic field; it frequently produces eddies and ‘knuckles’ that can interfere with radios and compasses. Those out in the wilds of Meljor are advised to not trust their compasses all the time, and have backup forms of navigation(newbie treasure hunters are frequently sold ‘foolproof’ compasses, or not told of the problem at all).
Atmosphere: Thin---roughly equivalent to Everest-level at sea level and thinning out from there.
Terrain: Meljor’s geology is, in the words of one planetologist, “all messed up”. It’s been described as a patchwork of rock types arranged in formations and strata that don’t make sense, ‘as if somebody picked up great hunks of the terrain and threw them arund like toys in a toy box’. Furthermore, there are coal-like formations adn deposits of materials that test as being synthetic in origin, possibly decomposed plastics. All these discoveries have been taken as evidence that Meljor once hosted an advanced civilization.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Sapphire
- Magnesium
- Lead
- Tin
- Emerald
- Asbestos
- Barite
- Calcite
Hydrosphere: 83% total surface coverage, but much of the water is tainted with heavy metals
Biosphere:
Sparse---- Meljor shows fossil signs of having once had a rich and vibrant ecosystem but little of it remains in the current day. Currently the remaining highest local lifeforms are small arthropods
Civilization:
Settled
Population: 1.8 billion(87% human)
Technology: Galactic, but local industry can only support the equivalent of Information Age.
Economy:
Industrial, mainly getting by from metals filtered from the water or mined from the less interesting ruins. Maljor Metals, the imaginatively-named local corporation, is followed in size and employment by Bagalo Nutro-Tech, which factory-farms and synthesizes microbe-based foodstuffs, much of which is consumed locally. The rest is sold thru Vimec Station to passing ships.
Wealth:
Poor---While not starving poor, there’s not a whole lot of variety in the domestic markets, health care is pay-as-you-go, and people live hand to mouth. Planetary security is handled by underpaid government cops and hired mercenaries. There’s not a lot of surplus cash for civic projects, and most goes to making incremental improvements, or just maintenance, on existing infrastructure.
Government:
Democracy, with a high turnover of what most voters consider largely ineffectual and endlessly bickering over trivialities, political parties.
Law Level:
Loose---Short of being ON the fromtier, this is as close to frontier lawlessness as one wants to get. While there are govcops and a constitution laying down a comprehensive set of laws, beyond the cities(or in the poorer immigrant neighborhoods) the law is pretty much left to the individual to enforce. The merc-cops tend to shoot first and often, even when they have orders not to antagonize the locals, and the govcops, well , it’s understood that having money buys certain immunities. The govcops WILL arrest people, but they would much rather that people handle their own problems, so there’s a lot of ‘self-defense’ killings and beat-downs that the cops pay lipservice to investigating.
Popularity: Ambivalent---Most Meljorans realize that things could be better, but they could be a lot worse. Dissatisfaction with the government means it gets voted out in the next election with the hope that the new incoming administration will at least not make things worse. As there are eight different political parties of significance on Meljor, with not a great amount of difference between them, Meljorans don’t expect much from their politicians.
Stability: Stable, but only because there’s not a helluva a lot to fight OVER or FOR. The succession of parties and factions elected into office have managed to keep services running, enough trade coming in, and as a nominally independent world, Meljor hasn’t gotten embroiled in any wars with anybody.


Phiso---Divosh-Phiso

“Phiso grows lots of chemkorn, sarforflax, and cheap labor. Bumper crops especially of the last. Rather than farm boys wanting to see the stars, you get dome-punks who WANT to be farmers but lack the technical chops and the opportunity, so they look offworld for jobs. Doesn’t matter if it’s as organic robot labor or cannonfodder. The local agricorp doesn’t want them, the local government could care less as long as they get a cut, and there’s plenty more to choose from in the settlements.”
----Arvor Caign, Recruiter, Melvex Security

Phiso started out as a CCWagricultural world under the control of the massive agricorp Lethosym. After doing some terraforming to adjust the atmosphere, the planet’s newly arable land was extensively planted in genetically engineered crop species meant for export. Enjoying large crop yields, Phiso soon soared in income, Lethosym’s profits going to open up even more land for planting.
Phiso’s prosperity proved its undoing. After several decades of being a successful and closed corporate colony, Lethosym was forced by its government sponsors to open Phiso to open immigration. Phiso’s population skyrocketed as eager settlers came, drawn by reports of Phiso’s prosperity. Soon, there were more colonists than jobs on the largely automated farms and the delicate balance created by Lethosym was knocked off kilter by the demands placed on it by the burgeoning number of mouths needing to be fed and a consumer economy that had to engineered.
Then the other shoe dropped; Phiso was hit with several crop diseases that spread through the farms like wildfire. Lethosym’s genetically-modified strains and moncultures didn’t stand a chance against the blights, and production plummeted. Lethosym has blamed the surge in immigration for bringing unquarantined alien biota that breached their carefully-adjusted agricultural environments and resulted in the massive loss of crops(the newly appointed colonial government claims it was corporate mismanagement and/or deliberate sabotage that caused the crop failures). The corporation has since gone to a more diversified crop scheme, but subsequent yields and productivity have yet to reach pre-blight levels, especially with so much more of the cropland going to meet domestic needs, rather than commercial export. Clear economic and social divides have appeared between the resident Lethosym employees(now fourth or fifth generation) and the ‘late wave’ colonists and their descendants.
Today, Phiso is getting by barely. A large percentage of the population lives on the dole, sustained by the output of corporate farms. An embittered Lethosym now arguably maintains Phiso less as a profitable breadbasket and more as a massive housing project. A number of Rim corporations and mercenary organizations openly recruit on Phiso, taking advantage of the residents’ desperation to find jobs and get off the planet that once lured their ancestors with the prospect of better living.

Solar System(Divosh-Phiso)
Number of Stars: 2
Types of Stars:
-Orange Dwarf(Divosh-A)
-Red Dwarf(Divosh-B)
Number of Planets: 7
-Terrestrial(Large)---Comour---Hot, inhospitable venerian hellworld.

-Terrestrial(Large)----- Rhamere----A storm-ridden world with a poison atmosphere, though the gravity is arguably tolerable(only x2 terrestrial). Rhamere has a small moon, Alphor’s Folly, named for Gustlan Alphor, a former Lethosym executive who retired shortly after Phiso was opened to free colonization. Alphor cashed out and built himself a comfrtable little hab-estate on Rhamere’s moon, and claimed to be devoting his retirement to studying Rhamere. After seven years of this semi-hermitage, Alphor announced that he had found something ‘incredible’ and was making preparations to descend to Rhamere’s surface to investigate. Contact was lost afterwards. A follow-up expedition to Alphor’s habitat found the ma n missing, but with signs of a struggle taking place in the hab. The disappearance became something of a sensation on Phiso, with rumors that the old man had been kidnapped or murdered, or been taken by others after his ‘discovery’ . Ultimately, though, it was determined that Alphor had been eaten by his unneutered Tarphag Ghraghound. However, rumors persist that Alphor was murdered for his ‘discovery’, though no evidence of what that discovery supposedly was has ever been found. Most people dismiss it as the ravings of an increasingly lonely and senile old man, but a number of believers in the ‘Ghosts of Rhamere’ or the ‘Treasire of Rhamere’ believe otherwise. One of these groups maintains Alphor’s habitat as a museum-cum-hotel, charging visitors for the privilege of sleeping over in the envirodomes and listening for the ‘ghosts’.

-Terrestrial(Phiso)----System Lifeworld

-Asteroid(Clemto)---Clemto’s only claim to fame/interest is when a bored ateroid surveyor who decided to use his mining tug’s point defense for target practice...and ended up blasting off a hunk of nickel-iron that smashed through his cockpit dome and killed him. Clemto’s earned the nicknames ‘Nitwit’s Folly’, ‘Buckshot Moon’ and ‘The Asteroid That Fought Back’.

-Gas Giant(Aval)--Small gas giant. May have lost several moons to Mospher during period orbit passes.

-Gas Giant(Mospher)--Huge gas giant with five sizeable moons. Lethosym established an ice-mining operation on one of the moons to supply the terraforming effort on Phiso. The agricorp still retains its leasehold on the moon and, it’s rumored, if they go the route of switching to farming in deep space habitats, would use Mospher as their new base of operations. However, other business sources claim Lethosym is far more likely to abandon the Divosh-Phiso system altogether.

-Gas Giant(Dhosher)---Jupiter-sized gas giant in a slow orbit around both Divosh A & B. Too far out and resource-scarce to attract anybody but dedicated Ort-Belters.

Planet(Phiso)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 8,000 km
Gravity: 0.7 Terrestrial
Temperature: Was Cool, but an artificial greenhouse effect has raised the average temperature to a balmy 70 F.
Unusual/Special Features:
None beyond the impressively squishy SludgeLands.
Atmosphere: Terrestrial, but on the dense side(sea level atmospheric pressure is 1.3 Earth normal)
Terrain: Range of terrains, but of special note are the SludgeLands, that covet a good 15% of the surface land, look like soft rolling hills or flood plains, but are actually massive algae/microbial mats. To the unwary, stepping on what looks like firm ground is to step on the equivalent of quicksand or black jelly, sometimes 10-16 ft deep. The ‘hills’ actually move with the winds, creating slow-motion waves across the SludgeLands. Lethosym discovered that some of the most fertile soil was along the edges of the SludgeLands, and plans were being made to carefully cultivate the SludgeLands as a constant source of fertilizer, to compensate for earlier damage done by the diversion of water to agriculture.
The push to open up more agriland to make more jobs and bring in more income has started a controversy over those who want to preserve the SludgeLands and those that want to drain them and use the decomposing and dessicating ooze as top soil for new farmland. Some of the debates have escaiated into violence.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Scheelite
- Aluminum
- Mercury
- Manganese
- Fluorite
- Emerald
- Quartz
- Graphite
Hydrosphere: Balanced; roughly 55% of the planet is covered in open water. Terraforming ice bombardments have slowly been raising that, with a goal of 60% coverage.
Biosphere: Was Sparse, limited to algaes and microbial mats. Some terraforing organisms have been introduced alongside the commercial plants, raising fears of the local biota beings queezed out(see the SludgeLands under Terrain), but the local life has proven either resistant or accommodating of the non-native species.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
980 million(98% Human)
Technology:
Galactic, but local industry can only support late Information Age.
Economy:
Agricultural, but increasingly less is being exported, and more consumed domestically.
Wealth:
Depressed and declining.
Government:
Was once corporate, but is now effectively a Bureaucracy that started as an appointed Colonial Government. Though there’s some limited democractic processes taking place, and a rudimentary parliament, most of the power lies with a stultified organization of administrative bureaus that has managed to keep itself in power. Though Phiso’s civil government claims free and open hiring practices, anybody hired to fill positions in the bureaus quickly gets ground down or corrupted to toe the line.
The farms are still run by Lethosym; they tend to hire from within the separate corporate population. There is some inflow of new blood from ‘late-wave’ colonists hired to staff the new farms as they become operational, but such is akin to marrying into a large extended family; the newcomers quickly learn to support Lethosym-friendly policies and outlooks.
Law Level:
Overbearing; despite the civil government’s public stance that it is ‘for the people’, they maintain a large police force(trained by some of the paramilitary companies that operate on Phiso) and strict laws are in place.
Lethosym maintains its own coproate security, and has had to scale it up to protect its worker enclaves. This has it butting heads with the civil government, who don’t like a separate police force and arguably a parallel legal system operating outside its control.
Popularity:
Unpopular.
The resident corporation dislikes watching their potential profits eaten up by unwanted late-wave residents and their spawn, and being dictated to by a government of bureaucrats they suspect of being corrupt.
The civil government wishes the colonists would obey the laws, and that the corporation would obey the mandates of the duly-appointed colonial government. They suspect Lethosym of not doing enough to fuel the planetary economy, not cooperating with the government, and even of withholding resources they are required under law to provide.
The late-wave colonists accuse the government of not providing enough economic incentive, and want Lethosym to provide more and better-providing jobs for them. There is much resentment of the ‘entrenched’ and ‘elitist corporate establishment’ of the Lethosym settlements and the corporate farm workers.
Stability:
Unstable.
The Civil Government is arguably corrupt in that it is taking kickbacks from offworld concerns to let them operate with general impunity in the system, but arguably the extra income is what is helping keep the government afloat. Increasingly they are leaning towards anti-trust laws to squeeze Lethosym and further suborn it to their control.
Lethosym is still the biggest employer and corporation on-planet, but feels they got handed a raw deal. They hate being subservient to a colonial civil governor on a planet they once ran much more efficiently. They’d like to deport most of the colonists and reclaim the planet for commercial agriculture, but realize, given that many of the current residents are now second- or thotd, even fourth-, generation Phisoan, that ain’t likely to happen. More realistically, Lethosym would like to pull out of Phiso altogether and start anew on some other planet, or go into space-farming, where the habitats are less likely to be seized by a distant offworld Big Government trying to score PR points.

A backwater that doesn't have a future, and a mess with three parties that are all playing the blame game. Dime a dozen, and the basic themes can be recycled forever.

Omegasgundam wrote:A backwater that doesn't have a future, and a mess with three parties that are all playing the blame game. Dime a dozen, and the basic themes can be recycled forever.

They're also fertile grounds for hiring merc armies and cheap labor for dirty jobs. Next best thing to slavery actually.
Though I should probably up the population numbers...anything less than 500 million looks frankly pastoral unless you only have postage-stamp-sized habitable swatches of land on a planet.

taalismn wrote:

Omegasgundam wrote:A backwater that doesn't have a future, and a mess with three parties that are all playing the blame game. Dime a dozen, and the basic themes can be recycled forever.

They're also fertile grounds for hiring merc armies and cheap labor for dirty jobs. Next best thing to slavery actually.
Though I should probably up the population numbers...anything less than 500 million looks frankly pastoral unless you only have postage-stamp-sized habitable swatches of land on a planet.

If you are talking about a planet with earth sized land masses on it, figuring at least some of that land mass will be in polar regions and something between Rifts Earth Tech and Three Galaxies standard, anything less than 3 or 4 billion will look almost empty.

Remember even with 7+ billion our entire population could fit in the state of Texas and each person could have more space than the average citizen of Tokyo or New York. Now we could never feed them or provide even 10 percent of the water needed but space wise plenty. A planet with 3G tech with 7 billion people, especially if it was a colony with no old cities and towns, would look far emptier than are own.

Warshield73 wrote:[
Remember even with 7+ billion our entire population could fit in the state of Texas and each person could have more space than the average citizen of Tokyo or New York. Now we could never feed them or provide even 10 percent of the water needed but space wise plenty. A planet with 3G tech with 7 billion people, especially if it was a colony with no old cities and towns, would look far emptier than are own.

Thanks. Just upped the populations of Meljor and Phiso...not to Earth or 'Make Room! Make Room!' levels, but enough to strain struggling planetary economies(and in the case of Meljor, still leave large swatches of the planet still unhiked/trampled)

Synthar(Telgor System)(Thundercloud Galaxy)---GNE World(s)
“Synthar’s got an interesting dichotomy going on....on the surface, it’s all green technology to blend in with the rich native ecosystem, but in orbit it’s heavy industry. Most of the moons are practically wrapped in factory modules and orbital foundry equipment. Standing on Synthar’s surface, looking up through the trees on a clear night, you can SEE the glow of the plasma furnaces on the moons.”

Synthar is an industrial colony dedicated to manufacturing. It is also the terminus point of the Synthar Dimensional Gate, which allows PS/ASI and Greater New England faster direct access to the Weldes Sector and far Gaelra Arm of the Thundercloud Galaxy. Located just thirty light years from the outermost of the CheDive worlds, Synthar is poised to take advantage of market opportunities both in CheDive space and on the developing frontier. However, its positioning also means that it is quite close to unexplored space and the dangers there. Synthar soon became a major source of military equipment and other gear for the region. Recently, Synthar took receipt of an entire transplanted factory works originally belonging to now-defunct Dreshlen Arms, which sold the factory to Aegis Stellar Industries in order to keep it out of the hands of Naruni Enterprises, who had just driven Dreshlen into bankruptcy in a corporate war.
Synthar’s place as an industrial colony is ironic, as, given the planet’s rich native ecosystem, PS/ASI must, perforce, use ‘green technologies’ extensively at its planetary sites, while all other processes are conducted offworld or at other installations throughout the sysem.
Synthar is one of several GNE worlds temporarily cut off the Gate network during the Minion War to prevent interdimensional spillover of the combat, forcing Synthar Works for a time to act independentally in keeping up with orders for PS/ASI goods in its region.
The Telgor system was one of several solar systems attacked by the nomadic and vicious Sorm in their rapacious rampage across the Weldes Sector. Though other systems and settlements were attacked for food, plunder, and sport, the Sorm seem to have realized that Synthar was the source of much of the armament used against them by the sector’s defenders, and they apparently hoped to land a knockout punch against the armorer of their prey. Fortunately, though, Telgor was well-defended by a combination of corporate security forces, mercenaries, and a CheDive force that came looking to pay the Sorm back for attacks on their colonies.

Telgor system itself is something of a curiousity, with FOUR stars apparently in balance, and three planets in harmonious orbit. However, the constellation configuration proved optimal for the establishment of the Synthar Gate, and ASI field cosmologists are studying the system to see if it might be possible to establish other gateways or foldpoints using the system’s gravitic topography.
Because of Telgor’s rare configuration, Greater New England could not wholly claim the system for itself, but has agreed to share the system with CCW developers. However, the Synthar Gate has meant that GNE runs the system in all but name.

Sidenote: CAF Ground Forces Major Phillip Fredette spent some time in Synthar system, studying the United Systems Alliance response to the Sorm incursion. His observations of and discussions with AJC combat personnel and their equipment helped inform his opinions of the Alliance military machine and his later actions with regads to the CAF’s own infantry weapons programs.

Solar System
Number of Stars: 4
Types of Stars:
-Yellow Dwarf(Telgor A)
-Yellow Dwarf(Telgor B)
-Red Dwarf(Telgor C)
-Yellow Dwarf(Telgor D)
Number of Planets: 3
-Terrestrial(average)(Synthar)----System lifeworld

-Terrestrial(small)(Tagar)---Mars-like Tagar has potential as a secondary terrestrial colonization site and mining world. PS/ASI already has claimed several surface parcels with an eye towards setting up a Tagar Industrial Park.

-Gas Giant(large)(Dagris)---Dagris is being developed as a mining/refueling world, with its seven large moons supporting mines and colony settlements. The CCW maintains a naval base on one of them.

Telgor system is also host to several rich bands of dust and rock. The complex gravity interactions of the four suns also creates a number of stable pockets that have accumulated asteroid clusters. Both the GNE and the CCW have established mining colonies or bases in several of them.

Planet
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 10,000 km
Gravity: 0.998 g
Temperature: Cool---Despite having four suns in its sky, Synthar is on the cool side, similar in average temperatures to Canada or Alaska
Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons(20)
PS/ASI has exploited the dense array of moons, turning several of them into large factory complexes and mines, or defense-complexes. Several others have been claimed and developed by CCW-associated concerns.
Atmosphere: Earth-like nitrox mix.
Terrain: Mountains and plains.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Cobalt
-Mercury
-Scheelite
-Copper
-Platinum
-Emerald
-Graphite
-Samarskite
Hydrosphere: Moist; 78% of the planet’s surface is covered in open water.
Biosphere: Cornucopia. though the mst advanced terrestrial lifeforms are a number of insectoids/arthropods with some mammalian features.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
64 million
Technology:
Galactic
Economy:
Industrial, with a secondary economy in biologics(derived from Synthar’s rich ecosystem).
Wealth:
Prosperous. Perhaps not as wealthy as an equivalent Naruni world given Synthar’s importance in the local sector, but PS/ASI has kept its prices low to cement its alliances in the region, and the recent troubles in the sector saw the factories of Synthar producing much gear at heavy discount or lend-lease terms to local defenders. Once the sector stabilizes, however, predictions are that Synthar will rise to Wealthy status.
Government:
Corporate Democracy
Law Level:
Lawful
Popularity:
Popular---Synthar is considered a prime assignment for a PS/ASI employee; friendly environment, opportunities for career advancement as the local market ramps up, and the works expand. The recent sector victory over the Sorm has only reinforced the popularity of the administrations with the colonists.
Stability:
Stable; Synthar’s residents are too busy making things, such as money, and feeding the war effort to be discontent with their lot.

Denesol(Fringe World)(Thundercloud)
(aka ‘Toekatch’)

“So what? Big deal.”

“Rank? Means nothing here. Authority? Means nothing here. Celebrity? Means nothing here. Godhod? Means nothing here. Get over yourself. And wipe your feet before you come inside here.”

((“You think you’re the one who can lord it over Denesol? Think you’re god enough to go and beat that place and show it what REAL godhod is like? My advice; don’t. All you’ll prove is what a moron you are and how weak you really are.”))

Denesol is a sparsely-populated planet, off the beat and path, that is home to the Aygates, a quasi-religious order given to meditations on the universe. The nature of these meditations has given the Aygate an attitude of what some call supreme blaiseness, others serene dissatisfaction, and others call supreme grumpiness. Aygates tend to be nonplussed with the activities of other beings, even if others may hold the latter in high regard or with awe. Life on Denesol is based around small communities and individual farms and hermitages, with an emphasis on peace, quiet, and contemplation.
Denesol is also known as ‘Fake God’s Grave’. Some three hundred years ago, the tale goes, a humanoid radiating supernatural energies appeared before the Aygates, and declared itself, at length, the one true god-entity of the megaverse, from which all creation flowed, and of whom all other things were mere shadows. This self-declared god-being ranted for days and days, radiating magic energies that shook the earth and curdled the heavens. Ultimately the ‘god’ demanded worship, wealth, sex and servants to service him, or else he would unleash untold demons and infernal beings upon the mortals, before descending into rambling vulgarity.
The Aygate were less than impressed. After listening to their unwelcome guest throw his temper tantrum for several days, one of the Aygatens stood up, strode over, slapped the irate ‘god’ and then, at length, ran down a list of the ‘god’s’ shortcomings, bad behavior, lack of common courtesy, and general inanity(the ‘Reason You Suck’ speech; a well-practiced art on Denesol). The account goes on to describe how the enraged ‘god’ sputtered and fumed in response to this assessment of him, rose into the air, and apparently tried to make good on his threat but his magical energies failed him at a crucial moment, and he promptly exploded into giblets. The Aygate were even less impressed by this, and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up their villages while complaining about their late visitor, his lack of consideration, and his disruption of their peace.
That, and other similar, if less dramatic, incidents have impressed observers with the idea that Denesol is a place of Humility(capital ‘H’) that brooks not power-backed egos. ‘Check your delusions of grandeur at the heliopause’ is advice frequently given to anybody wanting to visit Denesol.
Since then, the Aygate and Denesol in general, have been avoided like the plague by god-entities seeking followers. Even the Mulka reportedly avoid Denesol.

The Aygatens are utterly unfazed by Awe or Horror Factor. They are also immune to MA and PB influence. They just seem unimpressed by just about anything, but especially egomaniacs. They also have a high percentage (82%) of negapsychics(or their equivalents) amongst their population.

Solar System(Tygmar)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Blue Dwarf
Number of Planets: 6
-Terrestrial(Kleis) ----Gargantuan Kleis is a super-Earth style planet with punishing gravity and a poisonous turbulent atmosphere. In fact, the lightning flashes in its atmosphere can be seen with the naked eye on Denesol.

-Terrestrial(Denesol)--System Lifeworld.

-Terrestrial(Pegal) ----Small, dusty, and lifeless, Pegal barely manages to retain a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere. There’s little to interest the visitor except vast vistas of arid desert. It was once the site of a scientific outpost established to study Denesol and the extent of its dampening field, but after a while the scientists gave up in disgust and sheer boredom and decided that automated probes and science stations could do the job just as well. The outpost was abandoned and has quickly been buried by the shifting sands.
(Pegal plays host to a recent resident; the alien intelligence-god entity Valloc, once of the Klaii Pantheon, but now deposed and in exile, fleeing other members of the Klaii and the war of god-entities raging in it. The Aberrant Valloc has sought shelter on Pegal, because it’s close to Denesol and on the edge of whatever effect radiates from the planet. Though Valloc can feel the effect eroding the alien intelligence’s power, Valloc is hedging that the presence of the effect will mask its presence and keep Velloc’s enemies from looking for it on Pegal. Valloc hopes to use its sanctuary to lick its wounds, and plot a return to power.
Valloc is currently hiding under one of Pegal’s ice caps. If discovered, Valloc will attempt to subvert the discoverers to its purposes, and if not, will try to quickly kill any witnesses to its presence in the Tygmar system. Valloc will only flee the system as a last resort, as it is afraid that leaving the area of Denesol will allow it to be sensed by its all-too-strong-and -many enemies)

-Gas Giant(Spek)---Barely visible from Denesol, this tiny(for its planet type) gas giant can barely hold on to a small retinue of moonlets.

-Terrestrial(Tygmar P5)----Small icy body that doesn’t warrant a name because it can’t been observed from Denesol. When asked about it and whether it should get a name, the Aygatens simply said ‘no’ and went back to their business. Tygmar P5 is thus sometimes listed as ‘Noh’ on some charts.

-Exotic---This swirling cloud of gas and rock MIGHT be the remains of a gas giant that couldn’t hold together or that was somehow exploded. though by what remains unknown. Several psychics venturing into the cloud in armored spacecraft have reported feeling necro-psychic echoes. It’s been suggested that an alien intelligence, or several, came to violent grief here, though whether due to the energy dampening effect around Denesol, or some other cause, remains undetermined.

Planet(Denesol)
Other than the hospitable environment, there’s not a lot to attract developers to Denesol. The planet is deficient in industrial minerals.
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 13,000 km
Gravity: 0.6 g
Temperature:
Temperate, with, oddly, no seasonal variation in the temperature.
Unusual/Special Features:
*Energy Field----Denesol seems permeated by a mysterious energy(or lack of it) that robs supernatural beings of their powers, reduces them to SDC beings and induces a general sense of lethargy in them. Even CosmoKnights are de-powered on Denesol until they leave, and those who have visited Denesol report feeling ‘humbled’, as if under the scrutiny of something bigger than them that was not impressed with them. It’s not known if this effect is generated by the planet itself or is a product of the Aygateans themselves. When asked about it, the Aygateans simply shrug and say something along the lines of ‘So you can’t throw lightning bolts around or do wizzy stuff? So ####ing what.”
Atmosphere: Dense, but breathable nitrox mix. Fires burn hot on Denesol, and the high oxygen content can make some visitors oxy-drunk. It doesn’t seem to bother the Aygatens one bit.
Terrain: Varied, but low rolling hills and veldts make up much of the surface.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Zinc
- Antimony
- Cobalt
- Molybdenite
- Talc
- Gypsum
- Arsenic
- Sulfur
Hydrosphere:
Balanced: about 55% of its surface is covered in open water
Biosphere: However humdrum life may be on Denesol, it possesses a rich ecology of diverse lifeforms, though the largest land animal is a sort of tortoise. A range of native plant species are perfectly digestable by human and other sophont metabolisms.
Civilization:
Settled. Can be considered a Monastic World
Population:
480,000; Humans make up 30% of the population, the largest single ethnicity on the planet..
Technology:
Iron Age for the most part, with a few remaining pieces of imported high-tech, like a medical kit, radiophone, space heater, or power tool. The Aygate are into the simple life by choice.
Economy:
Agricultural; arguably watching vegetables grow is the national pastime on Denesol and one of the few subjects not likely to generate a philosophical argument.
Wealth:
Can be considered Impoverished, though the Aygate don’t consider it that way. They always seem to have enough to feed and cloth themselves, and that’s pretty much all they need in their opinion.
Government:
Socialist---The Aygate share resources and make communal decisions on big matters of importance, like whether or not it’s worth paving the trail between one village and the next, or if they should get a new windmill set up.
Law Level:
Lawful----Denesol is quiet and law-abiding, with nothing beyond the occasional philosophical squabble between neighbors to disturb the peace, and those tend to be amicably resolved the next time the neighbors need help from each other. Frankly the only real trouble comes from outsiders, and nobody wants to test if making trouble will invoke some sort of judgment comparable to what claimed that one idiot loudmouth would-be god-being.
Popularity:
Wildly Popular....well, about as ‘wildly’ as the rather laid-back and phlegmatic Aygate get, anyway.
Stability:
Immortal----There’s evidence that there have been Aygate in residence since, well, forever, and some of the old monks may actually be immortal.

The Aygate just want to be left to meditate in peace, and any relations with outsiders are on the Aygateans’ terms. That having been said, the Aygateans do welcome strangers and can be quite hospitable, and eager to share an evening drink, discuss philosophy and play board games, but they hate liars, braggarts(unless it’s obvious comedic BS), and would-be demagogues. ‘No masters but ourselves’ is a common refrain from Aygateans.

And here's some work for the Free Worlds Council. Because let's face it, they're a minor power with a fancy background and official page count.

Paladin Steel Continuity Free Worlds Council
ZOT Dimensional ID: Sub-Shadow 11i5625121

Keeping up with the Joneses
While the Free Worlds Council has always been in dire need of every edge that they can get over the TGE, the Minion War-era improvements that the Empire is introducing have made the efforts frantic. The Council’s intelligence efforts managed to get them the production schematics for nearly all of the new equipment in record time, but the rebel nation still lacks the industrial power and logistical transportation network to quickly requip its forces. Should the Emperor spend the slightest bit of attention on his forces trying to suppress the rebellion, they would gain strength faster than the FWC can match, which is an extremely dangerous proposition. However, the FWC Cadre has gained a few tricks up their sleeves, which promise to at least maintain the current force parity, and possibly improve it given time.

The Fires of Industry
The Free Worlds Council has long suffered for their lack of domestic ship construction capability, with the Trans Galactic Empire doing everything it can to prevent it from reaching the tipping point. But at long last, a full century after the initial rebellion, Good Hope has finally managed to establish its first all-aspect shipyard. The culmination of generations of work, the Michael Yard is a well protected underground facility, using newly produced GMR lifting cradles to bring its products to the surface. The yard can produce complete frigates and destroyers from basic material inputs, with the military grade hull fabrication annex being the first in the policy. Despite frantic efforts by the ISB to sabotage it, Michael remains at full capacity, and is being expanded every day. Annex facilities already house substantial production lines for ‘Super-Pulse’ weapons, Patriot environmental battle armor, Liberator power armor, and Long Tooth II fighters, and a spew of other support items. Just as importantly, the first Cruise Missile production lines have opened on Good Hope’s moon, giving the hand-to-mouth fleet a reliable stream of the precious weapons.

Speaking of Imperial failures, the industries of the planet Oridone of the Thundercloud Galaxy remain intact and in the hands of the Free Worlds Council. Oris Nuclear Engineering is inarguably the largest domestic industrial concern of the rebel nation, and the related Oris Stellar Systems Assemblers (OSSA) was arguably their first domestic shipyard, although it lagged behind the Michel Yard in obtaining hull fabrication capability. FWC High Command has gone through great lengths to duplicate the facilities elsewhere, but Oridone is still a colossal chunk of their current industrial base. As such, its strategic importance is just short of Good Hope, and is the most frequent port of call of the Dreadnought Hopebringer. OSSA has expanded enough to be able to fully serve the massive craft, restoring the ship’s structural frameworks and extensively modifying its secondary weapons and hanger loadout. Groundside expansion for less items is occuring at the same rapid pace, making Oridone more important than the rest of the FWC’s Thundercloud holdings combined, although it was admittedly a very slim list to begin with.

The School of Hard Knocks
Adding to this is the establishment of several formal education institutions, both military and civilian. As much as the Free Worlds Military (FWM) needs fully trained military officers, it also needs skilled experts in dozens of industrial fields. Both Good Hope and Oridone now host full university level education systems, although they are naturally focused on hard ‘trade skills’ rather than theoretical physics or humanities. Security remains a constant problem, with educators being a popular target for ISB operatives, but the use of psionic screening prevents nearly all infiltrators. It will take more than a generation for the results to fully manifest, but the Cadre has high hopes for the nation’s overall technical and industrial capabilities.

The basic curriculum for the more formalised FWM was written and established on the hidden outpost of Dust Bowl, but it lacked the sophistication needed for true CAF grade Fleet Officers. This has changed with the establishment of the Michel Klass Academy, named after the founder of the rebellion. While the first classes are still in training, they are being educated by the best ‘disgraced and exiled’ military advisors the GSA can provide, and will form the nucleus of the future fleet expansion efforts. It is hoped that the raising education levels will result in there being far more trained crewmen to fill the ranks, but they will require expert leadership to become truly battle ready. The majority of the FWM’s rosters will continue to be populated with defected Imperial Legionaries and dissident Spacers, but the FWC is well on its way to becoming a true interstellar nation.

The Long Road
Much of this background effort has been facilitated by the actions of the Positive Outcomes Office of Greater New England, which has delved into the realm of cross-dimensional smuggling to bring the donations of the FWC’s various supporters to the rebel’s current territorial holdings, bypassing TGE interdiction. To disguise their efforts, POO has used an alternative dimensional breaching technology that Kera-Tech abandoned for having too many drawbacks, but the recent advances in dimensional physics have made it usable. The ‘face’ of the operation is composed of a range of exotic ex-Spluggorth slaves, providing an additional degree of distance. The FWC Cadre understands that this assistance is being provided to keep TGE attention away from their benefactors other interests the the Three Galaxies, but the relative lack of strings other than ‘keep doing what you’re doing and don’t get yourselves killed’ is a very persuasive argument.

The limitations of the dimensional boring devices used in the operation impose several limitations, but these are considered to be easily tolerable. The most significant is that it can only connect to a certain type of planet and only at certain locations on them, but fortunately both Good Hope and Oridone qualify. The second is that the convoy route is somewhat convoluted, crossing 8 different dimensions and requiring an overland journey of a bit under half a million miles, which is around 19 days for the GMR freighters used for the task, and the required GMR adjustments push it up to 20 days. Several stretches of the route also come under meaningful threat by local wildlife, mandating escorts. The FWC Cadre has assigned substantial numbers of ‘worn-out’ and ‘long in the tooth’ personnel to the task, who even in their diminished states are readily able to handle the various hazards thrown at them. While some complain, they all admit that they are past their prime, and are unsuited for a training command.

This transportation route was also the FWC’s introduction to the full capabilities of GMR hovercraft. While they had acquired several gross of the smaller Crossak and Shaw hovertanks, it had not previously apparent just how well GMR technology scaled to larger platforms. The Cadre was intrigued with the possibilities of such a relatively low tech CG vehicle, and dispatched several investigative teams to dig up what they could from CCW public archives for an equivalent technology. Much to their surprise, their archive diving found results for a near identical match, and its patents had expired before the founding of the Consortium. After a brief run in with the GSA, they returned to Good Hope with vast troves of industrial knowledge, and work began on the first domestically developed CG drive system of the FWC. This quickly resulted in a set of standardized hover cargo platforms, which have proceeded to rapidly replace most forms of ground cargo transport vehicles on the marginally industrial planets of the rebel coalition.

The Tides of Fate
All of this manifest support has left the FWC in far better shape than it would be otherwise, which allowed them to weather the increasing pressure from the TGE substantially better than they would be in other continuities. Thus, Corbin Decker did not consider them as being quite desperate enough to accept his prospective deal, and shifted his efforts to his alternative plans. There is no end of desperate military forces in the Three Galaxies, and the FWC was merely the largest and most convenient. When the balloon went up and Comral emerged from Kotus Point, the Empire’s priorities rapidly shifted; with the Emperor focused on the Consortium’s vulnerability following the Terra Prime Attack, and the Dweller Beneath becoming obsessed with the marauding Demon Planets and their usurpation of his self proclaimed mantle as the Consumer of the Three Galaxies. While the rebels were a constant embarrassment, the Demon Planets invoked a terrifying sense of inadequacy in the Alien Intelligence, being simply ‘more’ than the Dweller could hope to be in hundreds of thousands of years.

Thus, the true leadership of the TGE shifted their attention away from the FWC, greatly slowing down the temp and allowing the rebels to recover. The leading Cadre used this time wisely, building up wherever possible with whatever they could get their hands on, and were able to ‘acquire’ a vast amount of the surplus material from the collapsing Cynocere Republic. This allowed them to make good nearly all of their losses over the past year, and enabled a series of strategic counter attacks to put the various lost worlds back into play. Supreme Commander Rachel Klass was able to time these attacks with major developments in the ongoing Minion War, allowing them to be lost in the strategic background noise of the halls of Kreegor-tet. To say that the Emperor was displeased when he realized the truth is putting it mildly, and at least 2 Warlords were executed for incompetence.

While arguably in the same place where they started, the Free Worlds Council is actually in a much stronger position then they have ever been. Rachel Klass and the rest of the Cadre are keeping their plans as close to the chest as ever, but the growing militarism of the CCW promises to keep the lion’s share of the Imperial Armada away from them for the foreseeable future, giving them room to maneuver. The time is ripe for bold action, and for heroes to lead the charge.

And here's some infantry kit.

Free Worlds Council Infantry Equipment
The FWC has always had a number of small factories producing TGE weapons and equipment, but they have been greatly expanded in recent years. In addition to normal front-line equipment, the FWC is now producing large numbers of Skinsuits, various forms of combat spacesuit, and even simple uniforms. While some parts of the movement are too unruly to function as part of a professional military, the majority of the various cells appreciate the growing sense of shared national identity. The most obvious sign of this is that there is now an official uniform, although it is naturally extremely spartan and currently optional. The majority of the currently solidifying officer corps have taken to encouraging their use, but as always the situation on the ground can lead to radical divergences.

Free Worlds Council Patriot Environmental Battle Armor
“Its really just a suit of Heavy BA with a bunch of extra features they copied off the Greeners. The Spec Ops community has included these sorts of things for centuries, but they've never really caught on in with the rest of the CAF. The best answer I've ever managed to get as to why is due to budget. Its objectively better than the standard kit we issue to the rank and file, but it better be for the cost. If the rumor's I'm hearing are true, we're transitioning to using Light Exoskeletons for the front line, which would have gotten killed by the bean counters a few years a go. Things are changing. Lets hope it continues.”
----Colonel Vlar Reltish, CAF Ground Forces

The Free Worlds naturally try to differentiate themselves from the TGE wherever possible, and this includes the designs of their body armor. The styling of Legionnaire armor is infamous for mimicking the appearance of a snarling Kreegor, and is synonymous with the brutality of the Imperial Army, which naturally causes it to be removed with all do haste given the chance. But even without the styling, its durability and features leave something to be desired, prompting the FWM High Command Cadre to issue a request for a replacement. 6 months later they were presented with several prototypes, which easily passed all tests. Now designated the Patriot, the FWC has converted their still limited armor production facilities to the new model, which is slowly permeating through the ranks. The Free Worlds still obtains the majority of their equipment from smuggling or theft, but having a domestically produced design is expected to do wonders for increasing the degree of professionalism of the rag-tag military.

While using mostly TGE materials, the Patriot can be considered a crossbreed of CAF Heavy Battle Armor and GNE Raptor Armor, with the overall durability and weight of the former and most of the added features of the later. The FWM found that the Raptor’s battlefield awareness systems were very effective in their guerilla campaigns, and explicitly requested that as much of them be included as was practical. While the high quality sensor suite was currently too complicated to include as default, the developers were able to include everything else but the Raptor’s Laser Ablative Coating, which was thought to be of negligible utility against the Energy Pulse using Empire. Those so far produced have been primarily issued to naval boarding specialists, ‘prestige’ formations, and experienced veterans that haven’t acquired something better. They are also given out as awards to proven teams of Adventures, who often go through suits in rapid succession.

Free Worlds Council ‘Super-Pulse’ Weapons
“I’ve managed to get my hands on both the Imp and the Free Worlds version of the new pulse guns, and I have to say that the latter are much nicer to actually use. The Kreegor always go for excessive ‘soldier-proofing’, half expecting them too be used as melee weapons, which honestly a dumb idea because their claws are more effective. The Free Worlders shaved the weight down to something usable and made to actually fit in human hands, so they’re nowhere near as clunky to use if you don’t have supernatural strength. What's with that look? Just because I have an M-factor body doesn’t mean that I don’t notice these things.”
----Colonel Vlar Reltish, CAF Ground Forces

The TGE’s Energy Pulse weapons are excessively heavy by most standards, being primarily intended for use by supernaturally strong soldiers. The FWC has a distinct lack of such beings, and thus have developed a number of ways to lighten the hefty weapons enough to be made practical to normal humans. The replacement models that are now entering circulation use the same housings, so nearly all of the modifications are still applicable. The FWC designates their improved weapons as the -R model.

Free Worlds Council Kinetic Weapons
”There’s plenty of people making knockoffs of the low end PS/ASI designs, but the FWC are the first to make them their primary kinetic infantry weapons. The Greeners probably aren’t too thrilled by it, and there has to be a flurry of angry letters being sent in the general direction of Good Hope, but the Free Worlders aren’t going to sell them on the open market anytime soon and its not like they’re losing a meaningful amount of their market share. They’re not Naruni after all, and they have reason to be concerned with the Astro-political implications.”
----Colonel Vlar Reltish, CAF Ground Forces

While the war against the Kreegor was, by definition, a war against supernatural entities, this rarely included spellcraft. However, the Royal Kreegor have inherent mystal power, and nearly all of them acquire Immune to Energy due to its simple utility. Combined with their physics defying durability, this made them constant problems to deal with. The FWM had acquired no small number of GR-25-ERs to help deal with these threats, but the Cadre always desired to have a more effective option. It finally arrived in the form of Aegis Stellar Industries extended catalogue, offering no end of simple and cost effective rapid fire kinetic and explosive weapons. A sizable number of the far more expensive Draygon Stormstrike are reserved for high priority missions, but the majority of the FWM’s needs will be met with simple chemical explosives.

So far, the FWC has produced knockoffs of the 50mm ‘Sneezer’ Projectile Gun, the 20mm ‘Taskin’ Autocannon, and the 25mm ‘Arden’ Automatic Grenade Launcher, with overall cost and effectiveness remaining the same. The ammunition is considered to be relatively easy to duplicate, and the weapons themselves even easier. Sensor suits can be emulated using components for the Warlord power armor, which are in no short supply. Their forays into Micro Missiles are a hefty topic of their own.

And to top it off, here' some ground vehicles.

Free Worlds Council Ground Combat Vehicles
Barring Axis-5, the near totality of the FWC’s planetary operations are guerilla actions, with men and material assets being acquired locally or smuggled past Imperial customs. As such, there are very hard limits for what non-Power Armor vehicles are considered ‘usable’, with small and expendable platforms being much easier to get to the field and (all too often) ditch after the attack. Combined with the FWC’s very finite industrial capability, the overwhelming majority of domestically produced FWC military vehicles are either utility platforms (that can easily be disguised as something else) and small one man attack sleds.

While the former are essentially identical to Imperial models for logistical reasons, the FWC has gone through a wide range of the later, with shifting doctrinal preferences resulting in countless variants and sub-variants. This has ultimately led to a modular platform that is nearly identical to the Paladin Steel produced Asateague, with both being extremely utilitarian ‘bricks’ with no design considerations past tactical effectiveness, operational readiness, and fabrication cost. The fundamental logic behind them is that a single attack sled is substantially more effective than a single soldier in standard EBA armor in attack and patrol capability, and is far less expensive than even the most basic power armor. The Imperial Army has learned to hate them, as the ordinance equipped ones can do an incredible amount of damage for their size and zip away before they can shoot back.

This is not to say that they haven’t investigated other light designs, but historically none have gotten past the drafting phase. This promises to change soon, with the development of the new ‘Light Slayer’ GMR Hovertank being almost complete, with it and its family of variants promising to allow the expanded force to go on the offensive on countless minor resource extraction colonies.

An interesting development has been the FWC’s adoption of the Traix 30mm AA gun as a standard weapon, having been introduced to the platform via Paladin Steel’s clones of it. Its high effectiveness against all targets is combined with reasonably simple production requirements, with even the FWC’s still struggling industries able to produce both the weapon and ammunition in bulk. So long as there is some form of local chemical industry to subvert, rebel cells find it a straightforward process to produce their own replacement shells, giving them a major leg up over the still poorly equipped Imperial Army.


And here’s FWC knockoff/improvement of the Paladin Steel Crossak.
Free Worlds Council ‘Light Slayer’ Light Hovertank
”I haven’t put my eyes on one yet, but the Light Slayer really reminds me of the stupidly simple GMR tanks that Paladin Steel offers, and the main gun is an obvious derivative of their Snapdragon design. But it actually makes sense from a technical perspective, because the Free Worlders have reason to value the simplicity of the Crosack and enough engineering skill to duplicate the simple technologies that go into it. Assuming you limit your operations to raids that are in and out in less than 2 or so hours, electrical batteries can work, although they don’t leave much room for error. It has to be relatively cheap and expendable though, and you can probably strip the expensive parts out in a hurry if you have to ditch the hull somewhere.”
----Major Philip Fredette, CAF

“I can confirm the ‘easy to strip’ speculation. A few weeks ago I saw a crew rip out the weapons and forcefield in less than 4 minutes, although they were definitely in no state to go back in without some time in the shop. The rest of it is dirt cheap in comparison, and I know of few ways to use the remaining charge in the battery to power a gravitic bomb to scuttle the rest and/or use it as a boobytrap. You need to provide the appropriately broken grav generator, which isn’t peanuts, but it’s a bit cheaper than the equivalent in conventional munitions, and they have a decent drone rigging option that they can bolt on in the process. The platoon I saw disposed of that way took out a pair of refitted Dark Slayers, which is nothing to sneeze at.”
----Colonel Vlar Reltish, CAF Ground Forces

”The rebel’s mockingly named ‘Light Slayer’ is nothing more than an upscaled version of their previous small attack sleds, although the CG propulsion system is novel. Despite the ISB’s best efforts, the obvious cover of being developed using pre-Consortium technologies is still holding up, and there is a marginal chance it is even the truth. Should a Dark Slayer manage to engage in a conventional battle, it will almost assuredly win, but the rebels continue to use their vehicles in only the most opportune situations. Tactically, it can be surpassed by a pair of power armor, and a single suit can defeat it should it be able to leverage its mobility advantages.”
---- Memo to Imperial Army forces on Axis-5

A blatant play on the name of the Imperial Army’s primary combat vehicle, the Light Slayer is also a blatant derivative of the Paladin Steel produced Shaw and Crossak, leading to the normal accusations by the TGE of collaboration. While no one actually believes this, the sheer number of similarities makes it obvious that the Free Worlds Council is continuing to copy the lower end products of the interdimensional corporation. The USA has sent all of the appropriate strongly worded diplomatic letters condemning the blatant IP theft, but has yet to move on to anything resembling actual enforcement. Direct contact between the two nascent nations is (officially) irregular and haphazard at best, and none expect anything of substance to come of these charges.

The vehicle itself comes in at only 30 tons, but features a surprising amount of capability within its relatively compact frame. Using cost effective GMR technology, the Light Slayer is much faster and more heavily armed and armored than most equivalent conventional hovercraft. The vast majority of units so far produced use simple electrical batteries to function, with expensive nuclear power plants being reserved for use in more demanding platforms. While this does greatly limit the Light Slayer’s operational range, the overwhelming majority of its operations are hit-and-run attacks on isolated Imperial outposts and depots, which are over in less than an hour. If longer operations are necessary, up to 6 Light Slayers can be charged on the go by a single Wrecker Support Vehicle, although it does limit their combat maneuverability until they disconnect.

The primary weapon is a long barrel version of Paladin Steel’s Snapdragon Mass Driver, being found to be compact enough to fit in the relatively small turret and not needing the power supply of a similarly powerful Hi-Laser. While it can only carry 80 ready rounds in its autoloader, this is thought to be more than enough for the vast majority of engagements. While lacking in direct fire range compared to the Dark Slayer’s main laser, it is far more capable of dealing with line of sight obstructions thanks to its artillery mode, which allows for it to support other units in built up environments. Close range punch is provided by a number of mounted EP-11s, which have substantial capacitors to keep up with their energy demands. For truly long range striking power, a set of missile pods can be mounted on the sides, granting it greater standoff power than the Dark Slayer if need be.

Beyond its speed and relative protection, the greatest strength of the Light Slayer is its relative expendability. The simple hover tank costs substantially less than a fully equipped Liberator power armor, and is still small enough to be reasonably simple to transport. Training is also simple, and most defecting Imperial Legionnaires are already familiar with at least the basics of combat hovercraft operation. If the vehicle needs to be abandoned, the weapons and forcefield can easily be removed, and consist of more than half the cost of the base model.

While technologically primitive and having substantial operational limits, the Light Slayer is an effective combat platform when used wisely. The High Command Cadre hopes to use the Light Slayer as the basis for a host of similar vehicles, with an AA platform and APC already being prototyped. The larger Wrecker is almost finished, and is able to serve as both a recovery and resupply vehicle.

And here's my other brainwave on cheap hovertanks.
Free Worlds Council FWC ‘Wrecker’ Support Vehicle
”Recovery vehicles are something that usually get forgotten about by the public, but they’re critical in keeping mechanized forces intact. Legged and hover vehicles are substantially harder to bring back to the shop than simpler wheeled and tracked ones, as you can’t put them in neutral to make them mobile again. I’m honestly a bit surprised that the Free Worlders put so much effort into them this early on, but I guess the potential as a looting tool makes it much more attractive. They’re still mostly supplied by what they steal, and having a great big mobile crane will do wonders in getting the goods on the flat beds that will haul them out.”
----Major Philip Fredette, CAF

“They’re not fooling around with the looting role. While I haven’t seen it myself, some of my colleagues have witnessed FWM companies storming isolated depots and stripping them bare in less than 2 hours. The overall haul was a round 2 kilotons, which translates to a massive number of flat beds that needed to be loaded in rapid succession. They likely had somebody on the inside to tell them how the best plan for it, but it's impressive nonetheless.”
----Colonel Vlar Reltish, CAF Ground Forces

“We normally use converted grav-scows and air-cranes for this sort of work, but I can see why they put in the effort to make it. We’ve never been as desperate for material, so having something that both conserves resources and helps acquire them makes a lot of sense from their perspective. It's also going to be used where the local airspace is anything but friendly, so a hovercraft is far more likely to be able to quickly get to the target in the first or second wave without being shot down. The crane may look a lot like the Ogre’s, but that’s just down to form following function.
----Internal Memo, USA Foriegn Technology Analysis Division

While not a combat vehicle, the Y-shaped Wrecker is expected to be a key part of the FWM’s future ground forces, serving as a support vehicle for the predominantly battery powered Light Slayers. Functioning as a mobile repair and recovery platform, the Wrecker is also equipped to rearm spent munitions and recharge batteries and capacitors, extending the operational range of Light Slayer formations. Due to its value, the Wrecker is equipped with a potent variable force field as standard, helping to protect it from unexpected attacks.

The primary feature of the Wrecker is its massive center mounted crane arm. Based on Robot vehicle arms, the 15 assembly has tremendous physical strength (PS 45) and can lift far more than normal when the vehicle is firmly anchored on the ground (x5 normal), similar to that of the Northern Gun Ogre. The rear ‘prong’ extensions serve as hoist racks, doubling the length of the vehicle, and are equipped with strong clamps to transport disabled vehicles. The prongs also host reloading devices and charging cables, which can serve both docked vehicles and those that come up alongside. When serving as the host to battery powered vehicles, the Wrecker’s unusually powerful fusion power plant can charge up to 6 different platforms. Smaller vehicles can often be charged faster than they expend it, granting them unlimited range so long as they are attached.

In addition to servicing vehicles, the Wrecker also has utility as a mobile crane. Beyond the typical engineering tasks, the FWM hopes to use the Wrecker to expedite the looting of TGE stockpiles, allowing more to be loaded onto transports before reinforcements can arrive.

Kai’Shem(Varakaikos)( United Systems Alliance Member World)
“The Kai’ Shemi are dotty about blades, and it’s almost considered rude to be out in public without one on your person. They duel with them too, but it’s considered poor form to pick a fight just to stab somebody. They have special dueling courts where you can settle your differences with somebody, and the police carry neural-sanders to make sure everybody behaves themselves. Oddly enough, though, while the blue-blood aristos have the fancy bling and the training in dueling, it’s the labor class that has the arguably better blades, courtesy of the starship yards and the orbital foundries. Seems they can get hold of the tougher alloys and get the machining done at discount.
That helps explain why a lot of their ships have ramming capabilities built in, and why their marine boarding teams are so vicious with pointy objects; they get plenty of practice at home.”

“If you can’t land a job with the Kai’Shem shipyards...be it in fabrication, assembly, detailing, wrecking or recycling, you’ve truly fallen from grace and bottoming out.“

Kai’Shem is an Independent World loosely affiliated with the CCW, but firmly in alliance with WZTechyards, who helped bootstrap them into parity with their more powerful interstellar neighbors. In many ways, Kai’Shem is WZT’s equivalent of Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries’ Ambercirn system; a backwater star system that’s been made over into a major shipyard center. Quite satisfied with their arrangements with WZTY, the Kai’Shem global government easily saw fit to follow their lead and join the United Systems Alliance, a move that didn’t jeopardize their lucrative trade and good relations with the CCW. Kai’Shem, with its booming industrial capacity, is an welcome addition to the Alliance, giving them another anchor system and financial hub.
Kai’Shem’s main industrial strength is its space industries and its spaceyards. Happily, the Kai’Shemi spaceyards produce a number of designs, developed locally with heavy WZT technical assistance) and perfect for mercantile protection and colonial policing, just what the United Systems Alliance needs. Varakaikos has become a major WZTYards shipyard center, producing such designs as the WZ-MD-016 Blade Missile Destroyer and the WZ-MC-020 Daito Missile Attack Cruiser. The ship output of Varakaikos easily rivals that of WZT’s Aramanthus mobile shipyards, and the Kai’Shemi spaceyards and associated businesses are barely staying ahead, manpower-wise.
The Kai’Shemi are a variant-sept of Minotaur, adapted to Kai’Shem’s heavy gravity and cool climate. They speak a variety of what can be recognized as forms of proto-Greek and Ancient Persian. Culturally, the Kai’Shem emerged from more herd-oriented societies than baseline Palladium Minotaurs, with successful bulls presiding over harems of females, while driving out weaker males. With time and social evolution, however, the trend has been towards more equal relations, with poly amorous family relations, the alpha bull more often than not recruiting a male lieutenant with the consent of his females. If the beta male wants out of a group-marriage, the alpha-bull and females will often help the secondary male find suitable mates to form their own mini-herd. This has encouraged strong family bonds between the Kai’Shemi. The most successful continuous dealmaking bloodlines became entrenched as the Kai’Shemi aristocracy.
Kai’Shem itself shows signs of having been an ancient culture, possibly with links to the Atlantean Diasporas of the distant past, that went through one or two rises and falls already, losing substantial chunks of their past glories in the process. They appear to have been in one of their interregnum periods, playing with rockets and contemplating serious interstellar travel, when the arrival of WZT kickstarted them with infusions of capital and enthusiasm.

Solar System(Varakaikos)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Yellow Dwarf
Number of Planets: 4
-Terrestrial (Kai’Shem)----System Lifeworld

-Terrestrial(Knosas)----Small Mars-like Knosas is Kai’Shem’s first major offworld colony with a population of some 1.5 billion. Thanks to the lower gravity, Knosas is where most of the non-Kai’Shemi immigrants to Varakaikos have settled. The orbital shipyards around Knosas are almost as large and sophisticated as those around Kai’Shem.

-Asteroid----(Aovas) The minor planetoid Aovas has been turned into a combination wrecking yard and metal refinery. Old ships are brought here to be scavenged for usable parts, and broken up for recyclable materials.

-Gas Giant----(Mapor)---This average-sized gas giant is the site of extensive atmosphere- mining to fuel the shipyards further in-system.

Planet(Kai’Shem)
Kai’Shem is a heavy gravity ‘super Earth’ with a dense atmosphere, but substantial liquid water and a diverse ecology. There is evidence in the form of recent craters and a thinning ring system that the planet suffered a major impactor event within the last 40,000 years, and is still in the process of recovering from a ‘nuclear winter’-style ice age occasioned by the effects of the impact.
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: Large, 24,000 km
Gravity: 3.5 Terrestrial
Temperature: Temperate, but on the cool side; average global temperature hovers around 65 degrees F.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Moons(2)---Both of Kai’Shem’s moons, Lumus and Selek, have been extensively colonized. One is home to the corporate offices of WZT Varakaikos.
-Rings---Evidence that Kai’Shem once had another moon(or moons) exists in the form of a a wide, thin ring of debris. Though this ring poses a small danger to spacecraft(the Kai’Shemis’ first moon shots had to be heavily armored), modern galactic shielding and armoring has pulled the hazard’s teeth. The rings do provide some cooling shading to Kai’Shem’s climate, and that has entered into arguments against harvesting and ultimately dispersing the planet’s rings.
-Craters----In addition to the planet’s twisted and meandering geography, Kai’Shem is doted with impact craters, which similarly have historically formed the natural walls of fortified communities.
Atmosphere:
Dense. Homeworlder Kai’Shemi venturing to other worlds occasionally need respirator assistance to deal with the thinner atmospheres.
Terrain:
Unusual: Kai’Shem is characterized by a plethora of valleys, winding river canyons, and steeply folded landscapes. Many areas are possessed of a ‘labyrinthine’ geography; many founding Kai’Shemi communities took advantage of the vagaries of the terrain to establish naturally-fortified settlements, each usually host to a resident strongman/bull.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Titanium
- Aluminum
- Chromium
- Gold/Silver
- Quartz
- Fluorite
- Nickel
- Colombite
Hydrosphere:
Moist; roughly 64% of Kai’Shem is covered in open water.
Biosphere:
Verdant; Kai’Shem possesses a rich diverse ecology consisting of both native evolved species and non-natives that likely came with the original minotaur settlers. Psuedo-’mammalosaurs’ are the most advanced lifeforms on the planet, and a number of large predatory species menaced early Kai’Shemi, making fortified villages a must. With the advent of nation-states and technology, however, the large predators only exist now in large reserves set aside by the dominant Kai’Shemi.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
6.1 billion(99% Kai’Shemi Minotaurs; few other species can stand the homeworld’s high gravity for long)
Technology:
Galactic, thanks to WZT providing big infusions of advanced technology.
Economy:
Industrial. Their biggest industry is aerospace, thanks to WZT’s shipyards churning out hulls almost as fast as they’ve been snapped up by buyers.
Wealth:
Rich---The Kai’Shemi have been rolling in cash since they got into spacecraft manufacturing. Between their military and civilian contracts, they’ve been waxing wealthy.
Government:
Aristocracy---The Kai’Shemi consolidated the surviving aristocratic Bloodline lineages of their pre-spaceflight cultures into a single world governing body. The High Lords vote amongst themselves on matters of state, and on a ‘dictator’ in times of crisis, A lower court of Counts represents various smaller regions and concerns, balanced by a larger parliament of guilds and commoners. Many of the Bloodline families have substantial investment in the Shipyards and/or mercantile concerns.
Law Level:
Overbearing. Bladesmanship is considered a sign and a right of influence, but/so the police come heavily armed to take down anybody flashing blades recklessly. They’ve almost banned public carrying of dueling blades on several occasions through Kai’Shemi history, but the aristocracy deemed that that would cut into their own privileges to exhibit their mastery.
Popularity:
Anybody who doesn’t want to work for one of the Bloodlines typically goes and works for the SpaceYards in some capacity(and the SpaceYards seem to be ALWAYS hiring). Frankly, everybody’s too busy making money to want to upset the current status quo. The minotaurs of Kai’Shem are arguably the happiest of their kind anywhere in the Three Galaxies because business is GOOD.
Stability:
Dynastic; many of the ruling Bloodlines can trace their ancestry back in the two-digit centuries’ figures. However, even the bluebloods will admit that the modern bloodlines likely bear little resemblance to their ancient ancestors, thanks to mixed matings with the lower classes and worthies being elevated to the peerage by merit.

Kai’Shemi ---Variant sept Minotaur
(aka ‘Space Buffalo’)
The Kai’Shemi are a technologically-advanced subspecies of Minotaur. Though not as tough as the ‘Space Minotaurs’ of the UWW, the Kai’Shemi are still very durable. They can be distinguished by burlier builds, shorter horns and denser hair. They generally have a friendlier, more outgoing attitude than other Minotaur subspecies, though how much of this is inherent and how much can be ascribed to their system’s current prosperity is unknown. Despite this, however, Kai’Shemi are fond of code duellos, with swordsmanship being a traditional practice.
Modifications:
P.S. 4d8+6
P.P. 3d6+2
Speed: 3d6x3
SDC: 4d6x10.
(Note: Kai’Shemi DO NOT become megadamage beings in MDC settings, and must rely on other means for protection)
Armor Rating: 13
Special Abilities:
*Cold Resistance----Kai’Shemi take only 1/4 normal damage from cold, thanks to their dense hair and tough physiologies. They recover twice as fast from frostbite and other cold-related conditions.
Appearance: Kai’Shemi fur has a more ruddy red-orange coloration to it. Their bodies are more muscular and covered in shaggy hair, and their horns are shorter.

The various Minion War-era hot spots must have been incredibly attractive to them, as Infernals make melee relevant.

Omegasgundam wrote:The various Minion War-era hot spots must have been incredibly attractive to them, as Infernals make melee relevant.

As you said; Demonstars make starship ramming tactics relevant.
But I also wanted to explore some cultural reasons why the Kai'Shemi were dotty about ramming tactics, and put a. face to the name...It kinda snowballed from there.

I found myself needing a method and a justification for buffing the TGE in my side-continuity, so I starting fiddling around with what can be done. The, I realized that if Paladium can introduce random supernatural powerhouses to shake things up (Vampire Sourcebook Craftsman, I’m looking at you), then so can I!

Thus, I present to you my first overpowered GMPC, Yivarin the Wander, a munchkin combination of a Kreegor Emperor and a Lizard-Mage, with Shifter, Stone Master, and Techno-Wizard thrown in. He’s here to provide an excuse for the Royal Kreegor to start using TW items, and to buff them up enough to keep them as true campaign threats. The TGE has been lagging behind my buffed CAF, so this should at least partially balance the scales and make it a true drawn out galactic war. I'll post his House's various creations in the New Starships thread sometime today or tomorrow, but lets start it off with a bit of fluff from the perspective of the Dweller Beneath, and then go into Yivarin in detail.


The Return of Yivarin
Deep beneath the Imperial Palace of Kreegor-tut, a monstrous intellect was deep in thought. His plans to fulfill his destiny of devouring the cosmos were still in state of disarray, and although recent efforts had done much to stem the problems, there was much to do. And there were the echoes across the multiverse. Something important was happening, and it didn’t know what.

-Pulse-

A ripple through the dimensional fabric.

-Pulse-

At the ruins of the old Splugorth Stone Pyramid near the Imperial Capital, a dimensional rift opened. A being stepped out with purpose and boundless self confidence.

We have a visitor. And at the old Stone Pyramid? I had cut that off millennia ago, and there are guards. Let's take a look shall we.

The being was a Grey scaled Royal Kreegor of immense size, rivaling the Kreegor Emperors in stature. He positively GLOWED with mystical power, and his seemingly plain ornaments hummed with suppressed might. The guards that had been stationed at the dilapidated museum were quickly cowed by is presence.

What? He feels like an Emperor, but I know he isn’t one of those that I elevated. Where did he come from? I feel as if I know him.

The being calmly requested a transport from the local motor pool, and began his trip to the nearby palace. The frantic calls up the garrison’s chain of command soon reached the ears of the Fifth Emperor, who wasted no time bringing up the surveillance footage of the intruder, and sending a psychic call to him master.

He feels like…… Yivarin? That old first generation relic? But he’s so much more. That lunatic anomaly vanished during the final hours of the rebellion against the Splugorth, but I didn’t feel him die during it

It was a sign of the Dweller’s distraction that he was broadcasting across his link with his foremost pawn, who was quietly putting inquiries into the imperial databanks for what they had on this ‘Yivarin’. The now identified figure had now reached the palace, and had begun an unrushed procession to the throne room.

He had been captured and tortured via bio-wizardry halfway through the uprising, and he was never the same after that. After his escape, he became obsessed with knowledge, particularly mystic knowledge. He became something of a problem, despite his capabilities.

The Emperor then took his leave from the command room to await his new guest. As he paced to this throne, the command staff whispered a stream of 5 millennia old reports into his ear.

A pity. He was one of my leading picks to become the first Emperor, but he was simply too damaged and erratic to make use of after that. He would have needed to be disposed of after the rebellion.

As the Emperor positioned himself on his seat of power, he had a sudden thought. This would require clarification from his master.

Yes, that is correct. He never swore loyalty to the throne. It may be best to treat him as a minor god.

As powerful Yivarin entered the Throne Room, the Imperial Court filled in from the side entrances. The intruder felt no concern at the potentially hostile crowd, and walked calmly before the Emperor. He showed no signs of subservience, which would have normally been a death sentence, but Yivarin was not an ordinary being. He simply matched the Emperor in stature, and his fully erect posture made of most of the difference between him and the seated sovereign.

Now what is he going to say?

The intruding mage then began to tell of his reason for returning after all these millennia. It was to deliver a warning. 8 years ago a group of spell thieves had stolen an artifact from the archives of Malcore One.

That’s not that note--

The artifact was the Tome of Cormal, Destroyer of Worlds.

What.

His own investigation had revealed that the Thieves were working on behalf of the forces of Hades, who had begun a full multiversal offensive against their rivals Devils some 13 months before. And they had shown signs of seeking to expand their efforts into the Three Galaxies

No.

Based on the sheer amount of time they had had their hands on the Tome, and the surges of mystic energy from several points in the Three Galaxies, indicative of truly massed blood sacrifice, the beast had been released between 3 to 4 years ago.

NO

And if the chaos at Kolus Point is anything to judge by, they were about to make their grand entrance.

NONONONONONONO

Adding to the ‘fun’ was evidence that at least two fragments had been broken off of the greater monster, which has been spending at least a year marauding through the Thundercloud and Anvil galaxies, which explained the number of recently shattered worlds.

*)#JG(*N()$BG#R(GNVJSDKH#$)*(BHYNTGOUIDHJGKFHJ$(@*)HBF)($@#HG)VFG)

The Kreegor Emperor, who had heard all of his master’s thoughts, managed to control his expressions through sheer force of will. If this Cormal was enough to make the Dweller outright PANIC at the mere thought of being loose, than this was dire news indeed.

------------------------

Yivarin the Wander

First Generation Royal Kreegor, Scholar of the Mystic Arts, Grand Manipulator, and (his personal favorite) ‘The Wizard That Did It’

Yivarin is the last of the first generation of Royal Kreegor, who led the rebellion against the Splugorth. He was driven mad in the process, and rejected the majority of the marital traditions of his race, and delved deep into the realm of mystic lore. In the final weeks of the rebellion, he managed to acquire enough knowledge to begin his education as a Shifter, and left the Three Galaxies in the closing moments of the campaign to seek his destiny across the multiverse. In the eons since, his growth as a Being of Magic has led to him becoming something of a cross between a Kreegor Emperor and one of the feared Lizard-Mages, with much of the personality of the latter. However, rather than having a desire to rule, he has developed a taste for simply messing with ‘Adventurers’, making their lives far more difficult than they have any right to be. But barring this form of entertainment, Yivarin is a quite practical individual, and would rather use a good gun than cast most direct damage spells.

Yivarin established his House roughly 2 millennia ago to provide him with a steady source of research assistants and field interns. He chose his ‘brides’ from several of the losing Major Houses during the transition of the Third Kreegor Emperor, which were being extinguished by their victorious rivals. Without exception, his choices had outstanding physical traits and mental affinities, but also had truly atrocious personalities. Thus, he felt no compulsions against giving them Identity Deaths and rebuilding them from scratch, leading to his first generation of his offspring. The mystic rituals needed to imprint his nature upon his new branch of Royal Kreegor cost him dearly, but his believes that it payed for itself within only 4 centuries

Over his millennia for existence, he had crossed paths with a great many of the more significant mystic figures of the local section of the multiverse. He is an acquaintance with both Hecate and Dabolus, although he has declined to become involved with either of them. Interestingly enough, his one true friend is the paranoid and magic obsessed Inglix the Mad, so recognizes him as a kindred spirit. Only a handful of individuals are aware of Yivarin’s true form, as he normally uses Metamorphosis to disguise himself as a Lizard-Mage. The true Lizard-Mages he has come across take no insult, and find him to be fit right in with their kin.

Yivarin returned to Kreegor-tut on the eve of the Minion War, effortlessly cowing the Royal Kreegor guarding the long derelict Dimensional Pyramid and immediately forced his way to the Imperial Palace. Both the Emperor and Dweller were naturally weary and confused by him, but the Dweller was able to recognize him before they embarrassed themselves. Yivarin then calmly informed them of the theft of the Book of Cormal by agents loyal to Hell some years ago, and that the beast had likely already been released from its prison. In a feat of immense personal composure, the Emperor was able to control his expressions and accept the event as one of dire consequence, as in the back of his mind he felt the Dweller enter such a state of panic that it defied description.

With the conclusion of the Minion War, Yivarin has decided to move his operations to the Three Galaxies for the next millennia or so, as most of his previous research avenues have dried up in recent decades, and the Three Galaxies were predominantly fresh territory for him ironically enough. His primary base of operations is at a Ley Line Triangle on Kreegor-tut, on the near opposite side of the planet from the capital city. Calling in a substantial portion of his house, they used their Stone Magic to demolish the previous Splugorth ruins and establish new pyramids at the site. As he is not a vassal of the Trans-Galactic Empire, he and his house stand somewhat aloof of court politics, and contract out their services for favors and exotic materials to continue their research. The Dweller, Emperor, and the Warlords would prefer than he continues his political detachment, but hope to make use of his services to further the goals of the Empire.

For Yivarin, the TGE is a convenient means to an end, and it cannot be considered truly loyal to it by any stretch of the imagination. He has given his word they he will not move against it and will offer his services as reasonable rates, but this is purely contractile in nature. Should the TGE fall, he is primary regret would be the loss of access to its resources and infrastructure. He and the members of his House that have visited the Imperial Palace know of the existence of the Alien Intelligence beneath it, but do not truly care so long as their activities are not interfered with. Yivarin has tangled with enough beings of the Dweller's nature that he has no use for it, and has declined to investigate further. So long as his projects are not disrupted, the entity is free to do whatever it likes with the TGE. On the Dweller’s part, it has ordered that its agents stay away from the anomaly as much as practical, but some have had to commission works from him to accomplish their goals.

GM’s Note: At his heart, Yivarin is a manipulator, acting from afar to accomplish his goals whenever possible. He doesn’t much care for personal combat unless it is required to sell the identity he has currently donned. If there isn’t some bit of knowledge he wants at stake, he abandons failed schemes before he has to reveal his true nature. He messes with others for entertainment, and if he has to give the game away it isn’t any fun. Yivarin doesn’t intend to kill those he takes an interest in, but if they mess up he’ll laugh at their death. It's the opposed struggle he enjoys, not the pain itself, and if they survive whatever challenges he put in their way they will be proportionally rewarded. Once a given group becomes ‘stale’, or simply reach their breaking point, he moves on to his next set of toys. If a party is powerful enough to operate on his tier, he avoids them if at all possible, and if it isn't he moves to accomplish his goals with all due expediency. So long as he gets the knowledge he is after, he doesn’t care if others can claim a nominal victory.

If it seems like that Yivarin is an excuse to throw obstacles at your players and make them work for their victories, that’s because he is. Unless something he truly desires is in play, his only stake in the adventure or campaign is amusing himself, and is perfectly happy to let others 'win'. If the session is going stale or too smoothly, he will spice things up by introducing a complication, but he won't make things truly impossible. Should the situation get out of hand due to factors beyond the character's ability to control or reasonably anticipate, he will covertly assist them if needed. If the characters impress him, he will reward them in a suitable manner, most often in the form of powerful spells or equipment.

And here's some fluff to make some more work plausible.

The Telbranth Affair
”The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
---- Robert Burns

“When Murphy smiles upon you, it's most often because he decided that he hated the other guy just a little bit more, and forgot about you for a bit. Don’t count on it happening often.”
---- Anonymous

”After this sort of humiliation, the Emperor is going to have to take drastic measures one way or another. After he gets over his initial spike, he’ll likely brood for a bit before doing something he thinks is decisive. It is a risk that he will return his full attention to us, but our long term prospects would still be poor even if we do nothing. If the reforms in the CCW keep picking up steam, the TGE will have to keep most of their forces positioned against them, as it's becoming increasingly plausible that the CAF might just strike first. And isn’t that a bizarre situation”
--- Supreme Commander Rachel Klass, giving the go ahead to Operation Entebbe


A Gathering Storm
... The ideal solution would be to return the Telbranth to the Frydra Beta Yards, but the ship’s reactors are sufficiently questionable to make that a risky proposition. One major power surge could easily result in a cascade failure in the FTL, which would almost certainly result in the complete destruction of the ship. Thus, we conclude that the previously stated arrangements are as good as can be managed given the resources available in the region. While it would naturally be desirable to have more Invincible Guardsmen on hand, we have reached the limits for how far security efforts can be pushed without an unacceptable decrease in productivity. The Telbranth must return to service as soon as possible, and the local strategic situation does not allow for us to wait a year for the work to be done. Tronton Vihras has shown all due diligence with his preparations, and the ISB commends him for hit thoroughness.
-Extract from the deliberation of the deliberations of the Imperial Armada Fleet Command.

In the Imperial Year 5003, the First Thundercloud Fleet of the Trans Galactic Empire had many problems. Beyond its now normal concerns of being overstretched and engaged in a campaign of aggression against the Desslyth Kingdom, their largest problem was that the Dreadnought Telbranth was in critical need of a refit of its reactor systems, having less than 6 months before its antimatter injectors decayed enough to make the ship inoperable. Force deployment needs had pushed back its scheduled replacement for years, but now the problem could be delayed no further. If the Imperial Fleet didn’t act, they would be down a Dreadnought, and that was simply unacceptable.

Thus, with reluctance it was decided to conduct the operation at the orbital yards of the planet Halvorks, which was the capital of the same Halvorks Sector. Halvorks was considered dangerously close to the claimed territory of the rebel Free Worlds Council, but it was sadly the only viable option. The First Thundercloud’s Tronton's would have preferred that it be done at a facility closer to the TGE’s seat of power in the galaxy, the only two other yards that could undertake the task were also operating substantial backlogs, and one of them would soon be conducting critical hull repairs to the Dreadnought Rilfelca. Halvorks had been badly disrupted by the loss of Oridone, which had supplied the vast majority of power systems to the Imperial forces in Thundercloud, but it had made great strides in replacing the lost capability. Additionally, its system defenses had been improved significantly, and there were substantial Imperial Fleet assets within a less than 12 hours travel, meaning that incoming attackers would likely be intercepted on the way in, and have to run the gauntlet on the way out. Command would be given to Tronton Vihras, who would relocate his headquarters to oversee the project and its defense.

The FWC was thought unlikely to risk their limited ships on suicide mission with low odds of success, but it was a certainly that they would try other means to disrupt the work. Thus, a great deal of effort was placed on securing the yard against infiltration and sabotage attempts, with the ISB going to great lengths to screen anybody that would come near the hull or handle dangerous materials. The most feared possibility was that a rebel would gain access to one of the ship’s self-destruct methods, prompting the removal and/or deactivation of all of these counter-insurgency systems. The thought of anybody trying to steal the ship was understandably considered laughable, as the antimatter generators required more than a day of careful calibration to be made operational, and the even more critical Kelthrot Harmonic Field needed more than a week of expert synchronization to be functional at all.

The exact security measures would be the source of constant discussion, both within the First Thundercloud Fleet and Fleet Command on Kreegor-tut. But, eventually, it was decided that the choices taken were the best available given the known factors. The Imperial Navy agreed. The Imperial Army agreed. The Imperial Security Bureau agreed. The Invisible Guard agreed. The Free Worlds Council Cadre agreed. Thus, in--

Wait. What was that last one?


Expect the Unexpected
”Audacity, audacity, always audacity”
---Supreme Commander Rachel Klass, quoting many famous military leaders from galactic history.

The Free Worlds Council was well aware that the Telbranth was in dire need of a refit, with intelligence taken from the destroyed Dreadnought Choli clearly indicating that the ship had been delayed from its intended cycle. The refit of a Doombringer is hard to hide, and thus the Cadre could easily termine that the Telbranth was even closer to the edge than the Hopebringer had been a decade ago. Halvorks had been pinned as the most likely location for the operation for years, and had thus been the subject of intense covert activities. But rather than try to get to the yards itself, the FWC sent its agents to subvert the long range detection arrays and the planet’s logistical apparatus, giving them an opening to attack and granting them complete knowledge of where the various critical factories and warehouses were located. The original intent was to conduct a classic ‘smash-and-grab’, destroying the Telbranth and whatever infrastructure could be reached while taking whatever could be quickly loaded into their holds, but the operation became substantially more ambitious with recent developments.

With newfound knowledge, the High Command Cadre decided that the Telbranth would be captured, rather than destroyed. The Imperial Armada was correct in thinking that there was no scientific means of quickly making the ship’s reactors and FTL system functional, but the FWC had acquired a few covert allies that had less conventional options. The United Systems Alliance fielded the CELESTYE DYNE bio-modded engineers, who were able to bypass the normal calibration sequence and make even a Doombringer’s power plants come to life within minutes, and had acquired a family of utility spells from the United Worlds Warlock that calibrated and synchronized Contra-Gravity based FTL engines. While several months of work were needed to expand these spells to function on the much larger and complex Kelthrot Harmonic Field, the Hopebringer was available as a test ship during its rebuild in the OSSA yards. A small supply of antimatter would have to be brought onboard to give it enough fuel to operate and make the trip back to Oridone, but this was a lesser challenge compared to taking the engineering section from its anticipated Invincible Guard protectors.

A secondary benefit of taking the ship mostly intact was the ability to use it as a cargo ship, with the Doombringer’s vast holds being empty, and much of its armor had been removed to expose the structural supports for servicing. This allowed for a temporary exterior framework to be added to provide more storage space, bringing the maximum load up to a theoretical 80 megatons of material. Combined with the Hopebringer and the several container super-transports that had been procured for the operation, the maximum potential haul was no less than 180 megatons, and the FWC had the intelligence to form a shopping list.


A Day that Will Live in (In)Famamy
”I hear that most of the people we had in the system defense command died doing their last bit of work, but damn if they weren’t heroes. They made it all possible, and that last bit of time they bought ended up making all the difference. The reinforcements were a half hour faster than we allowed for, so our last bit of greed getting the fish would have been a massive liability if we had to engage in a slug fest with the defenders.
----Captain James Clanter, Free Worlds Navy, Dreadnought Hopebringer

Thanks to their previous subversion efforts, combined with assistance from the USA in coordinating the timing of the various elements, the Hopebringer fleet was able to evade long range detection and get to within 8 lightyears before being detected. Additionally, one last piece of sabotage neutralized Halvorks System Defense Command’s ability to accurately identify just what the incoming contacts were, leading to believe that it was a suicide force consisting of expendable assets and distributing their forces accordingly. Thus, when the Hopebringer emerged from and began demolishing the scattered forces, the defenders were unable to concentrate their units and prevent them from being defeated in detail. This allows assault operations to begin effectively immediately, shaving a full 30 minutes off the operational schedule.

The FWC’s second stroke of luck came in the distribution of the shipyard’s defenders, with most of the garrison being stationed at the various entrances to catch infiltrators. Thus, they were highly exposed to massed ordinance fire from the massed ASFs and assault transports that actually made the attack, accelerating the rebel’s time table by a full hour. The fight for the Telbranth’s engineering section would be a close run thing, and several COBALT EPIC engineers were needed to perform emergency repairs, but the Dreadnought was partially operational within 90 minutes of the first FWC Marines stepping foot on its decks. It would spend the next hour providing orbital fire support for the landing forces, and would most notably be responsible for eliminating Tronton Vihras and his immediate command staff, who had been conducting a counter attack on the Special Forces company dispatched to neutralize the planetary command apparatus. The sacrifice of Corporal Richard Jones forced them to cluster within the designated target point, resulting in the death of all of them but Tronton Vihras, who had the Immune to Energy spell. He was then immediately jumped by several GR-Autocannon equipped Tanto ASFs, who had been held in reserve for this exact possibility.

Less than 4.5 hours after its detection, the Hopebringer fleet had obtained orbital supremacy, and began looting operations. Thanks to their access to the First Thundercloud’s deployment orders, they knew that had 5 hours before the first reinforcement flotillas could arrive, and a full 9 hours before any of these forces would be larger than a standard Smasher formation. Given the TGE’s doctrine to not send in their forces piecemeal into such heavy opposition, the FWC has just over 10 hours before a sufficiently powerful fleet could be mustered. It was time to move quickly, but they had all the tools they needed.


Loot Force One
”I have no idea how much planning went into the looting, but it ran like a well oiled machine. We had people commandeering mud-to-orbit haulers before the shooting ended, and they didn’t hesitate to work as little as a block away from a firefight. The orbitals were naturally the easiest bit, considering we were able to attach several warehouse assemblies to the side of the Telbranth and use them as the basis for the rest. I hear most of the framework was actually made from the removed armor sections, which explains how they managed to round them up so quickly. That’ll save a lot of time and effort fixing her up."
----Captain James Clanter, Free Worlds Navy, Dreadnought Hopebringer

In addition to ground forces, the Hopebringer fleet also brought a great deal of cargo moving equipment and trained operators, allowing them to quickly raid the vast orbital warehouses and factories. This resulted in 120 megatons of finished goods and industrial machinery being gathered in less than 4 hours, with the Telbranth’s storage scaffolding taking shape around it. The planetside facilities took substantially longer, but thanks to focused and extensively pre-planned efforts the raiding forces were able to make off with most of the planet’s tool and die production equipment, adding an additional 40 megatons to the total. The last 20 megatons were filled with an opportunistic grab of the planet’s Nuk Res Nuss habitats, using cryo storage equipment from the agricultural sector. It took time to properly store all of these acquisitions, but the slower ships were loaded and dispatched before the incoming reinforcements arrived. The Hopebringer and the Telbranth would be forced to run the gauntlet however.


The Escape
”Like I said, they were a half hour early, but we had just enough margin to make it workable. Most of the light elements got trashed, but they were clunkers with minimal crews because we knew they were going to be lost anyway. Our heavies got really banged up, and the Hopebringer took almost as much damage as she did with the Choli, but we could now fix that. It would have been nice if we had a few of the Toracs, but they were committed elsewhere and they would have been out of their element. The only serious loss as the Brimadade, but she got most of the crew off and I know the warehouses we looted contained the parts to make a dozen more Smashers.”
----Captain James Clanter, Free Worlds Navy, Dreadnought Hopebringer

As the Telbranth was laden with external cargo and had most of its armor removed, it was extremely vulnerable and was unable to return fire, but had the fortune of a working shield system. The Hopebringer was thus forced to draw fire from no less than 6 Executioners, while the lesser warships distracted their peers. Several Berzerkers would almost get to within striking range of the overburdened Telbranth, but the valiant efforts of the FWC’s Fighter Corps and the sacrifice of several of the FWC’s ‘Suicider’ hulks would prevent the Dreadnought from coming under sustained fire. After an hour of frantic evasion, the Telbranth crossed the local FTL limit and escaped into hyperspace, freeing the rest of the fleet to concentrate on destroying the enemy. Thanks to their local fighter superiority, the FWC was able to destroy the reinforcements at the loss of a Smasher, 6 Hunters, and 12 Berzerkers, which was well within acceptable limits for what was gained.


The Aftermath
”We can thus conclude that Entebbe was a complete success. The yard dogs give us an estimate of 8 months before the Lightbringer is ready to join the fleet, but that’s to be expected considering the state she’s in. It’ll take at least 6 month for the Imperial Armada to untangle enough of its commitments to send the Second Thundercloud Fleet back home, and it looks like Desslyth is taking advantage of the situation to get some of his own kicking in. Hopefully, this will keep the relative local power balance in Thundercloud close to where it currently is, and the removal of one a fourth of the Armada here in Corkscrew will do wonders for us in the short term. Our ‘friends’ are likely going to want to go over the Lightbringer with a fine tooth comb, and it's a cheap way to gain back some political points with them.”
---Supreme Commander Rachel Klass

While the surviving ships of the Hopebringer fleet would need extensive repairs, with the Hopebringer herself needing 4 months in the OSSA dock to repair the newly sustained frame damage, the operation was a complete success. Not only had they captured a second Dreadnought, they had acquired a vast amount of badly needed industrial manufacturing capability, which was arguably more important to the sustained war effort. 8 months later, the renamed Lightbringer would leave its moorings and join the FWC Fleet, becoming the flagship of the Thundercloud forces. The Hopebringer would then return to its normal home port of Good Hope, loaded with the equipment needed to expand the orbital docks to provide full reconstruction capability.

The TGE naturally reacted poorly, with the Kreegor Emperor entering a 5 hour rage. After cooling down, he ordered that the Second Thundercloud Fleet return to their traditional home to take up the slack, but this would take just over half a year to facilitate. Most of the individuals that could have been used as scapegoats died during the attack, which left no one figure to be held accountable. The investigation into how it happened would go nowhere until the intervention of Lord Yivarin, who provided a workable explanation for how the theft could have appended with mystical assistance. Many believe this is what persuaded the Emperor to turn to House Yivarin for extensive consultation, resulting in the TGE’s acquisition of Techno-Wizard creations for its elite forces.

Must admit i find the Golgans way of managing the situation in Vivisanda kind of head-scratching. Is there some sort of Prime Directive-esque "you can't claim worlds with pre-FTL native cultures" major diplomatic treatise or something similar going in the 3G?

Because otherwise calling the local vivisandans "squatters" and combating them, instead of doing some "soft assimilation" through trade and diplomacy with them as native guides, looks like a very boneheaded policy of the Republik.

Edit: Just started reading about the fleets of the many powers of the Three Galaxies and the part on the Golgan Argosy has been quite helpful in bringing up the ginormous chip on the shoulder the whole Republik suffers from and the jingoistic payback rethoric that fuels their current expansionist wave. It's the angry school kid that is going through a laundry list of people that humiliated or offended it (sometimes only in its own self-centered petty ignorant mind). It's about obtaining power while settling old scores by trampling others, fairly or not.

Not to mention how racial-minded the golgans seem to be, at least in their military. That along with the special status based on genetics gives off terrible 19-20th centuries "scientific racism" vibes to their state in its current form.

So, i dare say the Golgans' (stupid) treatment of the Vivisandans actually makes perfect sense on account of that mindset.

SolCannibal wrote:So, I dare say the Golgans' (stupid) treatment of the Vivisandans actually makes perfect sense on account of that mindset.

That, and they've had the misfortune of being great before, then went into empire-remission, during which the rest of the Three Galaxies shoved on by them. Now the younger generation of leadership, raised on tales of old glory, and listening to deep grained insecurities, want to build back that left-alone-by-virtue-of-fear aspect of the Republic that seems to be missing of late. Diplomacy suggests giving up stuff, and the newer generations don't want to give anything more away after seeing so many buffer states and former satrapies go off on their own or abandoned. .

taalismn wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:So, I dare say the Golgans' (stupid) treatment of the Vivisandans actually makes perfect sense on account of that mindset.

That, and they've had the misfortune of being great before, then went into empire-remission, during which the rest of the Three Galaxies shoved on by them. Now the younger generation of leadership, raised on tales of old glory, and listening to deep grained insecurities, want to build back that left-alone-by-virtue-of-fear aspect of the Republic that seems to be missing of late. Diplomacy suggests giving up stuff, and the newer generations don't want to give anything more away after seeing so many buffer states and former satrapies go off on their own or abandoned.

And so they waste the little that they recovered in the making of great battlefronts of places that were of only of passing interest - and possibly no relevance - to those same ancestors...

And here I go fluff up a planet that Kitsune came up with. I'm dabbling with the UWW right now, so expect me to put some pieces out to that effect over the next few days.

Lothrain: The Ectofibre Forest
“While many Biomancers fall into the ‘fundamentalist hippymancer’ cliche, we consider ourselves to be much more pragmatic. That sort of extremist position is completely opposed to the idea of civilization, and arguably sapience to a degree, and we are not uncivilized. The ‘harmony of nature’ is merely whatever equilibrium a given biome happens to settle on, and there are no end of natural disasters and disruptive animal migrations that can fundamentally alter it. ‘Hippymancers’ are in denial that they idealize an unnatural monoculture, and one that needs constant invention to compensate for its inherent instability. Biology is a battlefield between organisms whose only goal is to perpetuate their species, and all those that forget that will be crushed by those that don’t.”
---- Anonymous, Lothrain Biomancer.

"First off, you must understand that the big benefit of Ectofibre to us is that it is so readily available. While we have many materials that are just as capable, they all require far more effort to procure, leading them being quite valuable. Ectofibre is absurdly simple to produce in comparison, particularly if you’re Lorthrain and can literally make it grow on trees, which enables it to be used with relative abandon. While it still needs a Techno-Wizard to be made use of, it brings the more potent enchantments to within easy reach of less experienced and financially well off. The more wealthy can now use their rarer materials where they are most effective, and we’re seeing a major surge in high level projects thanks to reduced rationing.”
---- Anonymous, Dwarven Guildmaster

"Lothrain’s Ectofibre production isn’t just ‘grow it on a tree’, as the modified cotton plants that they use to do it need a steady stream of fertilizers loaded with the needed compounds and trace elements. It’s still the most cost effective means of manufacture imaginable, and it has negligible labor and equipment needs, but they keep their eyes on the fields regardless. PPE sensitive plants can easily go screwy when exposed to a mystical event such as a solstice or an eclipse, and anything that eats it is going to be even more so. The division of Warlock Marines that's been stationed there to defend the fields have seen a lot of **** over the past few years. I hear they’re starting to research using it to cause intentional mutations though, which will be interesting to see. I wouldn’t be surprised if they start making an equivalent to Mageplate grow as bark in a few decades.”
---- Anonymous, ASI Bio-Science Consultant.

Prior to a few years ago, Lothrain was not a particularly significant planet. A member of the United Worlds Warlock, it’s primary claim to fame was it's incredibly durable trees, growing to massive sizes thanks to their immense structural capability. Its primary mystic tradition was Biomancy, with the planet’s population clustering around the dozen Millennium Trees that have grown from the reasonably magically rich atmosphere. The local industry was limited to Techno-Wizard creations, which naturally made extremely heavy use of wood in their construction. But beyond forestry related products, such as fine wooden objects and herbal potions, Lothrain simply had nothing going for it economically speaking, resulting in it being one of the poorest planets in the UWW. This changed with the introduction of Ecofibre.

The story of how the Lothrain Biomancers became involved with the material is convoluted, but it is said that within 6 months of the UWW being introduced to the material, High King Silverlight was presented with an altered cotton plant that grew it. This turned the backwater Lothrain into an economic powerhouse overnight, as the industries of the UWW could not get enough of the cheap magically conductive substance, which ushered in a renaissance of mystical development and production. The Dwarven Guildmasters used Ectofibre to create industrial infrastructure that was previously financially impossible, leading to many rare materials becoming substantially less so. More and more, the former ‘high end’ of what could be done was now within convenient reach, and the leading artificers could now dream of even grander creations.

The Lothrain leadership have proven to be level headed, and have used their newfound wealth to invest in long term infrastructure and defenses. While it is unlikely that the demand for Ectofibre will reduce any time soon, it was considered desirable that the planet be able to fulfill its own expanded needs, prompting them to increase their Techno-Wizard factories and establish ties to WZTechYards to provide components for the local production of aerospace fighters. Lothrain is also looking to expand into full ship production, with the sheer novelty of an effective all-wooden starship sure to draw interest. Additionally, they have commissioned extensive survey work to find deposits of mystical useful crystals both at home and in nearby systems, and have found no small amount of precious gems and ores to fuel its Techno-Wizard industries for centuries to come.


Lothrain Mageworks/WZT QF-1 Boomerang

(‘Wood-Wing’)

"They made a fighter out of wood. Wood. It's like they think they’re ASI or something.”
“Well, ASI is a WZT affiliate, so it's not unreasonable that the later would do something crazy”
“I know, but seriously, wood.”
“Is it any good?”
“Yes actually, but it's still made of wood.”
“I think you're stuck on the wood bit.”

“The metaphysics of the Boomerang is quite interesting, as the Ectofibre infused hull becomes truly alive when its systems are operational. The vascular system now channels mystic energy, and the Ectofibre allows it to permeate the entire structure. Curiously, the lack of mystic enchantments to the fusion reactor and engines are a relatively positive thing, as that sort of spell work would have been more disruptive than not. While still ‘unnatural’, it is less ‘unnatural’ than an equivalent mystic design, or at least one that is within a full order of magnitude of the price. ”

"Something to be aware of is that the reactor/engine housing tends to get wrapped up in roots, way beyond what is needed to secure it. Apparently the mystic interactions cause the near-living hull to treat it as its source of nutrients and sunlight, which makes a degree of sense once you squint a bit. It makes it a nightmare to maintain normally, but they included a rechargeable Talisman with a magic maintenance spell. Repairs are still problematic though, so you’ll need somebody that can manipulate plants if you have to do it. There’s apparently a 3rd Tier Invocation that does that, so you don’t need a full Biomancer, and if you’re operating a Boomerang you probably have a Techno-Wizard on hand to keep the guns working. Make sure he knows that spell though, or you’re just begging for trouble.”

With Lothrain’s explosive economic growth as the premier producer of Ectofibre, its leaders become understandably concerned with their security. It was all but inevitable that they would be raided by hostile powers seeking their products and methods, and even the expanded UWW garrison would be hard pressed against a full Splugorth fleet. Thus, it was felt that it would be preferable that they could produce their own military armaments, starting with a simple and endlessly useful Aerospace Fighter. They naturally sought outside assistance in this endeavor, but unusually they turned to the sprawling WZTechYards rather than a UWW cabal. The logic was that Lothrain had a sufficient number of qualified Techno-Wizards to do the enchantment, they lacked the experience to design modern ASF, and WZT was both renowned for their innovative designs and willingness to work with exotic materials. WZTSpiral, seeking to break into the near monopoly that ASI had on the corporate consortium’s Techno-Wizard production, eagerly took up the challenge.

WZTSpiral was intrigued by Lothrain’s exceptionally strong woods, and found them to be on par with modern armor material. Thus, it was an easy decision to use ‘Ironwood’ enchanted Great Banner Oak as the primary building material, with Lothrains renowned woodworking capabilities handling all of the needed fabrication. As the intent was to create a primarily locally built design, the majority of its systems would consist of Techno-Wizard equivalents, with the exception of the reactor and propulsion. Among professional engineering circles, the UWW had long been infamous for lagging behind in terms of conventional power generation and sub-light propulsion, with the relatively recent introduction of Rhilith representing a quantum leap in domestic capabilities. WZTSpiral decided to design a self contained unit that housed both of these systems for the now designated Boomerang, reducing the overall burden on the Lothrain Techno-Wizards to making a converter to power the various utility components. While lesser in number and nowhere near as renowned as other UWW institutions, the Lothrain Techno-Wizard community was more than able to deal with the other factors, allowing the project to go ahead.

Unlike normal woodworking, Lothrain commonly uses Biomancy to shape trees into the desired configuration, greatly increasing the overall durability and making it substantially easier to enchant thanks to the presence of a vascular system. The addition of Ectofibre takes this even further, with Biomancy being able to merge it with the living tree and cause it to start growing, making it a phenomenal conductor of mystic energy. Shaping a complete Great Banner Oak into the complete hull of a star fighter was substantially more than had been attempted previously, but the Lothrain’s experience and highly conducted material made it a straightforward process. This was helped by the engineers making the appropriate allowances for the installation process for all of the ship’s systems, removing the need to make any cuts. This results in the Boomerang being considered a whole living body for mystic purposes, which has a multitude of kockon effects.

While it had long been known that organic (and in this case still living) materials were substantially more responsive to mystic enchantments, the addition of Ectofibre into its heart and sapwood resulted in it being pushed to a new level. It became almost trivial to add the various Techno-Wizard systems to the still growing plant, which remained anchored when the hull was finally pruned from the host tree. The Lothrain Biomancers were then able to use the thematic links of the newly installed fusion reactor’s ‘sun’ to the wood’s ‘photosynthesis’, allowing the hull to fully regenerate with the investment of mystic energy. All of this resulted in the projected procurement numbers rising significantly, which encouraged the Techno-Wizards to use more potent enchantments to leverage the quantities of scale.

With the per-unit budget opening up so significantly, more complicated and effective mystic systems could be employed. It had been decided early on that the primary weapons would be Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons and Telekinetic Machineguns, but now the miserable range could be doubled, bringing them up to the low end of that was considered typical for modern ASFs. While it increased the fabrication and operating cost significantly, it was felt to be well worth the effort, and the UWW’s more modern carrier platforms could provide the mystic energy needed for the recharging process. Additionally, the typical ‘Armor of Ithan’ mystic force field was replaced with a more capable ‘Invincible Armor’ derived version, which has double the raw protective value, and takes reduced damage from energy weapons. Most forces know to use kinetics against mystic forces, it isn’t always an option, and nearly all Immune to Energy enchantments do not extend to the force field.

While quite large for a modern medium ASF, the Boomerang is a remarkably effective design. At just over 2/3rds the cost of a Shadow Bolt II, it is an incredibly attractive option for UWW members that don’t have to worry about deck-space. The newly established Lothrain Mageworks has had to hire a large number of additional personnel to keep up with demand, giving the planet an additional export. In the larger galactic market, the Boomerang unfortunately competes with WZT’s renowned Super Tanto, which understandably limits its popularity among non-mystic operators. However, WZT is happy to have simply broken into the UWW market, opening potential avenues for the future.

[quote="Omegasgundam"]

Lothrain Mageworks/WZT QF-1 Boomerang

(‘Wood-Wing’)

"They made a fighter out of wood. Wood. It's like they think they’re ASI or something.”
“Well, ASI is a WZT affiliate, so it's not unreasonable that the later would do something crazy”
“I know, but seriously, wood.”
“Is it any good?”
“Yes actually, but it's still made of wood.”
“I think you're stuck on the wood bit.”/quote]

Why am I picturing something like a Horton flying wing fighter...or a bat?
Yeah, it's the rebirth of the Mosquito

And now its time for my :Effort: post on the Warlock Marines. I'm still not quite done, as Inglix is making his own improved version of the Iron Juggernaut, but it needs a bit of refinement before its ready.

United Worlds Warlock Equipment
The old PB weapons frankly had no small number of critical flaws, which had forced the UWW to compensate with Marine Combat Armor. They paid dearly for this during the Minion War, so an upgrade was a political priority. They had already had a working relationship with Aegis Stellar Industries, and by extension Paladin Steel, and thus turned to them first rather than the CCW firms. Additionally, ASI had started their relationship based on their demonstrated proficiency with mystical artifice, so they were clearly not unenlightened fools. Paladin Steel’s post-Minion War catalogue turned out to be full of most pleasing weapons and equipment, and thus the UWW negotiated for production rights to a great multitude of them.

Licensed Paladin Steel Conventional Weapons
While the United Worlds Warlock are defined by their use of magic, the majority of their population and forces are not spell casters. Additionally, conventional weapons are usually far more efficient in terms of dealing direct damage, so even mages have reason to pull a gun rather than throw a fireball.

Licensed Paladin Steel Technowizard Creations
It was these that first drew the UWW’s attention to ASI, with their catalogue having no shortage of innovative magic designs. As a matter of national pride, the UWW procured production rights to all those that they did not have an equivalent for. Those considered notable are listed below.


Based on Kitsune’s work, which is based on the Mystic Power Armor that Palladium has seemed to forget about. Or tried to rub out.
United Wizards Warlock ‘Light Marine Armor’
”The MCA gets the attention, but they’ve started putting out a spruced up heavy EBA for second line forces. It's comparable to most of the barebones exoskeletons we’re seeing crop up, but it's a lot lighter. Repairs a bit finicky, but if you have some mystic juice it's easy. It comes with a mystic sensor set and a good force field, so it's going to see a lot of use by the UWW members that want their own infantry forces.”

“The reason the base model is so affordable is that it doesn’t include most of the combat enchantments you’d expect out of TW Armor, such as Immune to Energy and Invisibility: Superior. Those can be added, but they are not cheap. The big price driver for the base model is the Force Field, which is its strongest point and well worth the cost. Thankfully they mass produce the sensor systems and protective amulets, so you don’t have to add a surcharge for that. The primary issue is that the PPE Generator is more like a glorified battery, and it takes forever to charge by itself. You still get something, which is better than nothing out in the field, but you can easily get yourself in trouble if you forget about it.”

”While these sorts of armors have been around for a long time, the Light Marine Armor is a new take on it. The old ‘Mystic Power Armors’ were basically single piece constructions with a bunch of permanent spells, and took 9 or so months to hammer out by a single person. The LMA is as much made out of Ectofibre as solid material, which is used to link up components that were made separately into a single complete unit. If you do the spellcraft right, you can combine the incomplete parts of the enchantments that are spread across the armor into a single functioning example. It costs more energy overall to make, but when you have access to a nexus that doesn’t matter, and being able to spread the workload among 10 or so people speeds things up tremendously. This is further helped by the UWW having major infrastructure towards making them, which brings it much closer to something we would call an assembly line.”

“The overall composition remains the same, with the majority of the armor’s volume consisting of grown ‘Armor of Ithan’ infused quarts that’s been anchored to an internal skeleton. Ectofibre is used to provide a framework for the crystal to solidify around, which is a far better method than trying to direct it with spellwork, and lets you potentially shoehorn in more features if you really know what you’re doing. The old weapon options have been removed due to being distinctly mediocre, but the Magic Net launcher can be added back in if desired. The Chameleon feature has also been removed from the base model to reduce costs, as it's always been a bit situational. Our best estimate is that this would have put the production price at around half a million, but they doubled it to add a good PPE battery and a powerful force field. The battery makes it a lot easier to add whatever additional features you want to add on, so it's essentially all around better than the old versions.”

“Ectofibre based MPA really abuses how far you can push things if you're able to take advantage of thematic links. The helmet sensor cluster effectively counts as one feature due to how intertwined they all are, and the Superhuman boosts are effectively combined into one spell. The fire resistance is needed to anchor the crystal to the frame because of technical reasons, but it can be expanded to general energy resistance without adding a significant amount of complexity, and the Force Field just clicks with the overall structure. The concealment options are the same story, being merged into one over-spell. The odd ball is the Flight enchantment, which somehow combines with the Superhumans for some strange reason. And I mean it REALLY meshes in with them, like they were always supposed to be together. Score one for comic books I guess.”

Created to provide a much cheaper option to the MCA for second line and member world forces, the MPA is conceptually similar to the other light exoskeletons that have become to prominent in the post-Minion War reconstruction. Beyond the use of Techno-Wizard systems, its greatest advantages are that it is incredibly light and offers substantial protection. While far more expensive, the integral TW systems are thought justify the expense, particularly the force field.

Again, heavily influenced by Kitsune’s version.
United World Warlock ‘Marine Combat Armor’ Upgrade

(‘Super-Marine’)

”The unfortunate corruption of almost a division's worth of Warlock Marines has exposed key flaws, both in terms of organisation and material. Beyond the obvious moral and morale problems, the corrupted suits were substantially better performing due to what are objectively relatively minor changes. Going through the records, the current iteration of the Marine Combat Armor is just over 400 years old, and this has clearly been far too long. It behooves us to revise the design and provide our soldiers the best possible equipment. The conventional side of things has been our traditional weak point, so I advise starting there. Rhilith will naturally be the primary provider, but we may want to reach out to Aegis Stellar Industries. They have proved they know how to effectively mix magic and technology, and will likely have insights to share with us.”
---- General Ranaut Faircutter, regarding the post-Minion War analysis of the UWW’s performance.

“While the upgrade program is not going to be cheap, it's going to have a seismic shift in our Marine’s capabilities. The W-2 is better in almost every aspect, and combines the flight capability of the WF-1 with the protection of W-1. And then there’s the laundry list of other improvements, such as the continuous sensor systems and protective measures. If the projected Ectofibre production numbers from Luthrian hold up, then we can include a full suite of TW systems that will push it even further. The old suit was a good combination, but this will be head and shoulders above anything similar.”
---- Anonymous, Warlock Military Support Corps

”We still have a problem in that we lack a real ‘heavy’ design; something to fill the role of a light robot. Supernatural creatures can partially fill that niche, but there are times when you just need a big hammer. Inglix has been seen toying with advanced golems recently, there may be something in the pipe to that effect.”
----Kern Haze Phennington

One of the many conclusions of the Unites Worlds Warlock post-war analysis was that their ground forces were becoming quite long in the tooth, and required immediate upgrades. The resulting development project improved the Marine Combat Armor in nearly all aspects, from basic durability to secondary systems.

The changes start with the reactor, which uses superior Rhilith sources components to substantially improve overall output and reliability. This is used to power an integral CG flight pack, resolving the split between the ground and air versions, and more powerful conventional weapons with the HI-800 becoming the standard issue long arm. The wrists mounts have been replaced with copies of the CAF’s modified HI-10B Pulse Pistols, greatly increasing range and damage output, and the shoulder missile launchers have been greatly expanded. As the armor is predominantly used in close range boarding actions, a Gravity Wave Sensor has also been included. But the greatest change is in the mystic systems, with extensive use of Ectofibre greatly simplifying the mass application of Techno-Wizard enchantments.

The old ‘Armor of Ithan’ shield system has been replaced with a much more powerful ‘Invincible Armor’ based model, which has the advantage of being resistant to all forms of energy attack. The sensor suite has become permanently active, and is combined with a full set of protective Amulets, which also make the armor much more resilient against anti-magic effects. And finally a PPE generation system had been installed with an array of Techno-Wizard features to use it, greatly increasing combat effectiveness. An additional set of advanced multi-user rechargeable talismans further increases versatility.

Operationally, the only drawback of the W-2 is that it remains rather light, and lacks the shear firepower than many other suits of power armor can boast. To solve this, the ‘Raider’ Augmentation package has been developed, which has additional systems and weapons.

Kitsune’s idea.
United World Warlock ‘Marine Raider’ Augmentation

(‘Assault-Marine’)

”These would have been great to have these at Gheney. The damn bugs were everywhere, and we didn’t have enough firepower to kill them fast enough”
“Didn’t you get bailed out by the CAF? I hear somebody really high up pulled some strings to get part of the armada they used at Gut Cutter through the Tangent.”
“More or less. It was a few of their Packmasters that were turned into Battleram tenders and a few of their all-ASF ones. The later kept the Wasps back, and the former went in and started breaking things. It took them a week to find the queen, but they got her. I heard it was the first time they did it since upgrading their robot, so it was as much a doctrine field test as it was a relief effort.”
“Did you get any help on the ground?”
“Yup, and in the form of over a few megatons of Orbit to Mud munitions that they didn’t use on Keltig. That cleared out anything that was vaguely close to our positions, and bought us the time needed to relocate further away from the landing spots. We still lost too many people before that.”
“To absent friends”
“To absent friends”
----Overheard at a Warlock Marine bar.

The Raider Augmentation pack includes additional sections which fits directly over the standard armor, effective all the main locations other than the head. The flight pack receives a substantial boost, and additional musculature and weapons are added. A pair of shoulder Volcano Cannon turrets provide anti-infantry and missile capability, while sets of missile launchers are added to each side of the legs. The assembly is attached via a special harness, taking as little as 15 seconds to install. In need be, it can be jettisoned in seconds with a mental command. Like the Marine Combat Armor, the Raider Augmentation has to be specially bonded to the wearer of the armor and the armor under it, which allows Magic Specialists to cast while operating it.

And finally something I can call my own idea.
United World Warlock ‘Greataxe II’ IFV
”Don’t be fooled by the nominal troop load. If the boys are in MCA, the real capability is 8 due to how big they are. It's still better than the I’s effective 6, and it was a ***** to get them out quickly. The II properly laid out to push them out the door, so it's a better platform for that alone in my opinion. Then there’s everything else it has over the I, which makes it a one sided beat down. We lost a lot of Is do to their lack of range and fragility, and they took that to heart for the replacement. You lose a crewman, which would have been a maintenance problem if it wasn’t for the talismans they’re pushing. Just don’t try to fit a Raider in. That won’t end well, trust me.”

The same postwar studies that led to the upgrade of the Marine Combat Armor also indicated that the Greataxe IFV was also in need of improvements due to its dated systems and materials, and it was eventually decided to simply replace it with an improved model. Most of the cost could be recuperated via selling the existing inventory to the member worlds, allowing the developers to start with near clean slate.

The most visible change is the Greataxe II, other than becoming a CG hovercraft, is substantially shorter and has a more compact turret assembly, reducing the target profile. The new turret is inspired by the CAF’s Phalanx II, featuring the debugged Gravity Cannon and a Hi-Laser Cannon similar to that on the Black Eagle. The nose section has been altered to fit a modular weapons mount, drawing from the standard equipment of the Warlock Marines, while Mini-Missile Launchers were left unchanged. Naturally, the vehicle uses superior armor composites to improve protection. A Gravity Wave Sensor was added for improved urban combat capability. And then there are the magical additions.

Ectofibre enabled infrastructure has enabled the UWW to be much more free with applying their Techno-Wizard capabilities to their various mass produced designs, and the Greataxe II is no exception. Drawing from equally new Shadow Bolt II, the Greataxe II is equipped with a mystical energy generator and a useful array of enchantments, greatly improving its effectiveness against most forces. It also includes an ‘Invisible Armor’ based Force Field, which increases protection even further. Utility systems such as sensors, protective circles, and advanced talismans are also included.

Despite all of these improvements, the Greataxe II has effectively the same procurement price due to the improved access to conventional technologies due to Rhilith, combined with mass produced mystically conductive material from Lothrian. The Warlock Marines have so far monopolized production to replace their previous motor pool, and it is unlikely that it will be widely available afterwards.