Disenfrancised
Beep Beep
Update 21: It's too thick to be sliced by the light
At Arrakis the hope and beauty of the early Ik years have turned to dust and despair after the long suspected Libere gambit to reclaim the Garden world. Those who had been herded into the sleeper slots of the Libere fleet last year by grim Esani troopers and cackling Libere shipmen found themselves woken once again and distributed to vast slave pens in the ruins of what once been their own cities. The Libere slave-drivers, glad to have a profession again, sorted by skills and health, ripping families and friendships asunder. The weakest and youngest were handed over to the Esani to work in their rather more gently managed sectors, whilst the best agriculturalists went to the Liberes. The majority however, a whole three quarters of the remaining Ik population of the system were sent marching right back to the one of the ships; a battle scarred Cruiser that lofted them off to an uncertain and hellish fate in the Heart of Avarice itself the Libere capital system. The rest of the allied fleets in orbit were departing as well, leaving the prize that they had planned so long for virtually undefended with only a handful of slave compounds and thousands of bored ground garrisons in a newly quiet system. But needs must, and surviving the oncoming storm of foemen that would soon be lapping at their home systems is much more important. The majority of the Libere fleet including their recently acquired passenger ship began the two year jump back to Izar with their loot and their slaves, arriving at exactly the same time as the Vazan punitive expedition. Two light carriers however accompanied three of swarm of Esani transports back to Heze, contracted to provide long range support to the Esani defences, whilst two Trojan transports and half the Esani army departed for another destination entirely...
In circum-Errai space the Ik continue their flailing about, Chancellor Mehmet coming under intense pressure as his correct prediction of the Arrakis attacks makes the fact he didn't do anything about them a thousand times worse. The war in Akresian space dragging on useless against a foe that seems harmless compared to the Ik republics true enemies makes him seem even more incompetent, and it is only the strict Ik term system that keeps him in power. The increasingly shrill demands from the Vazan to prep a warfleet to join them at Izar in the next year only adds to his stress without the Ik Yasammek and other supporting craft the Vazan, lacking supply, probably would have to leave Izar without extinguishing the Liberes, but if he committed those ships and the attack failed his position would be even worse! The stress probably caused him to issue several odd commands, like raiding the Akresian habitats despite not assigning any cargo ships to that battlespace. The government tried to deploy several schemes to deal with the Akresians quickly, eventually settling on throwing together a shoddy sole-purpose bomber and sending one example to fight the good fight at Akresia Prime. Perhaps overall the Ik are in rather a better position their paranoid mediasphere perhaps thinks, as the fantasies of the Liberes and Esani arriving at Errai space were revealed for the phantasms they were, and the Ik have a solid industrial and technical base upon which to build and army of revenge for Arrakis. Stopping wasting time and effort on the Akresians might be necessary however.
At Akresia Prime the combatants remained locked at odds, the Ik having little to do but shoot down the new Akresian Sara ships as they were built, lacking the capability or time to intercept food or supplies between the crowded habitats and the surface, the wrecks of the Akresian ships actually providing cover for their shuttles and transfer pods. In their various habitats and holes the Akresians steeled themselves for war and hunkered down; any Ik ground forces would probably be slaughtered by the radiation and martial skill of the defenders within minutes of leaving their ships. The arrival of the Habib bomber did change the balance of power, as the Ik could now start a slow but systematic destruction of the Akresian industrial base. Its first target was the Akresian shipyard, but unfortunately its single volley of bombs didn't manage this womb of opposition down.
Losses:
Akresian: 2 Scorn Missile Ketches destroyed
Ik: 1 IP Fighter destroyed
Akresian: 2 Scorn Missile Ketches destroyed
Ik: 1 IP Fighter destroyed
Despite the terrors of the brief Libere intrusion into the Horn system, the floating cities of Horn III still prove sufficient lure to tempt the emigration of Lantians from dusty Ningbao. Anticipating or reacting to this shift the Lantians construct yet another additional city to ride the roaring equatorial currents. The economic production of the new world at Horn is rapidly closing with that of the homeworld, but without the addition of a metals mine somewhere in the Horn system ship construction is still going to be restricted to Gemstar. The Lantians also send yet another protection down payment to the Libere protection bribe, taking the risky move of advancing a cargo ship carrying one of their own Pearls to Izar. This is pretty widely criticised both at home and in other systems as the Liberes are definitely on the back foot and continuing to pay the fickle rapists seems unnecessary. Combined with the continuing show of weakness by comprising information security with the map transfer to the Soulon fleet, president Mitzu faced a storm of criticism from the public and the Elder Council. Unlike the egotistical Mehmet, Mitzu fell on his sword (metaphorically, though the idea of doing it literally was floated in the Council) and resigned in favour of the gruff security minister Lee. Mitzu still believed his actions had been appropriate but recognising that a strong central figure was necessary to keep order in the pressure cooker of post-Intrusion Lantian space. Meanwhile the Lantian military avoided the combat preparations and concentrations most of the other polities were going through, keeping their Sunsin Corvettes patrolling through-out Lantian space. President Lee talked of creating a 'Neutral League' of the Lantian Republic and their 'Al and Soulon clients in the face of the Chaos wrecked by the other powers, though obvious the latter client would have to be severely constrained from doing any stupid like their vainglorious plans to settle two whole systems in the centre of the Spinward Tuft.
Having received yet another shock to their core by the Libere invasion (this being the fourth in as many decades since the Tumult), new more militaristic tendencies began to be floated in the formerly pacifistic 'Al choirs, as several warship designs, working more closely with the Lantians, and sterilising the Avarice habitats and Taik with viral weapons being considered.
Returning to Heze with a duo of Libere carriers in tow, the Esani fleet joined a host of newly constructed IP Cutters (Salient class) that were scrambling all over the system in an attempt to reach a maximally defensive position against the impending attack...that didn't end up occurring. To compliment these unnecessary deployments a set of weapons stations were built on the most heavily populated worlds, extra ground troops were called up, and additional farms and shipyards were built to provide redundancy in the case of a foreign invasion of Heze system. Of course to the man in the street these preparations looked rather like the Magisterium had gambled on a wild attack, exposed the homeworlds to harm and now were scrambling to cover their defence, and the long simmering dissatisfaction continued. Meanwhile the Esani fleets other deployment caused further consternation, with many complaining of the leaders throwing stones in the hornets nest.
Meanwhile in the still battle scarred system of Kaus the Gardeners have finally begun on their long plans of outsystem industrialisation. Despite protests from the radical ecologists the Metatron ordered the factories in the North Pole cities of Kadesh to be reactivated in order to facilitate the building of mines elsewhere, though the government promised that these would be shut down again in time. A new movement also coalesces out of these protests, calling for ecological improvement of Kadesh up to a true Garden world before messing around elsewhere, since all the necessary technical skills are in the Gardeners hands and only time and effort is required. In the Outer System the first prospecting teams arrive at Gurdon, followed shortly after by the habitat constructors. Using map information gleaned during one of those rare periods of peace in Kaus Space the Gardeners tended to build their new habitats right where Soulon mines and homes once stood, though the gleaming silver and white domes had a very different design aesthetic to the Soulons blocks and warrens of processed rock. The upper levels of the Gardener hierarchy are watching the on-going wars in the other systems with interest, looking to bring harmony or greater Gardener influence (the terms being equivalent of course
), but even if they had seen such opportunities the war weary population would stand for it...for a few years at least. All is well with the Cyberdemarchy at the start of this year; their doom fleet was happily winging on its way to Izar, the development of Minkar was finally beginning to pick up, and their combined intellectual energy was really becoming the envy of the whole Trailing Lobe. A new cargo ship was escorted to Minkar III by a freshly minted Basilisk, it was carrying a load of materials with which to build a biological research station. Perhaps they intended to study the life forces there somewhat before stripping the atmosphere from the world to feed their economy. Little did the partying Vazan government know that there were dark forces conspiring against them...
For the Kation government was growing increasingly annoyed by being in the Vazan shadow, and the thousand tiny and not-so-tiny insults they had received. The breaking off the combined attack on Izar was only be beginning as a small cabal of the current government manipulated intelligence reports and the media to whip up a storm of distrust towards the Vazan. Their overall rationale was keeping the Kation polity at the forefront in the coming years as the new threats of the Esani and Gardeners began to take off in production and science, and the Vazan were most definitely in the way. This 'Project for a New Kation Millennium' managed to gain the upper hand in the mercurial world of Kation politics, and quickly turned the tiller of the state towards war before anyone really knew what was happening. After quickly whipping up both a design and a trio of IP bombers (rather more sophisticated beasts than the Ik Habib, though they shared their plan for a light and cheap drive system), the Kation military machine was sent into motion as soon as the last Vazan Basilisk left the system. Before the fleet had even made it half the distance opposition had begun to form in the Kation collective mind, not really being that keen on risking their precious lives in combat for such a nebulous goal. The governments attempts to instil propaganda about the ease of combat was just insulting to a highly educated population who knew both their history and the appealing costs of the Kausian wars, and when central memos indicating 60% causality rates were acceptable a near mutiny ripped through the Kation troopers. The most peripheral battlefield, Minkar III a, was also the oddest with the Vazan finding the attack a complete surprise, whilst the optimistic Kation planners didn't expect the Vazan to send a Basilisk of all things to escort their Badger. Without its pack or computational support the lone Aconite deputised to secure Minkar space wasn't really a match for the heavy Vazan warcraft and was dispatched by a fusion missile before its beam got anywhere close to the opponent. Despite this victory in the skies the Vazan had no ground forces on the moons surface, and hundreds of Kation squads crept through the Wormforest to surround the Vazan habitat, forcing an orderly evacuation to the orbital base. With something of a stalemate going on the two sides traded angry invective and awaited news from Zavi, though the Basilisk managed to drop a barrage of fusion warheads onto one of the Kation farming complexes on III a, and blockading the exports of the other, putting their entire operations in the Minkar volumes at a considerable food deficit in the coming years.
Losses:
Vazan: -1 Beta Habitat
Kations: -1 Aconite Gaff, -1 Farm
Vazan: -1 Beta Habitat
Kations: -1 Aconite Gaff, -1 Farm
At Zavi things get rather more interesting as the surprise movement of the standing Kation garrisons on Zavi III and the icy moon of Zavi VI catch the far more populous cities of the Vazan completely off guard and the settlements fall within a matter of days. The Kations are ordered to some restraint however, and the volatiles miners of VI a are allowed to depart by shuttle, giving the Kations again complete command of what had been their only world just scant decades ago. On the small rocky world the Kations allowed some to of the Vazan population to depart, before a directive filtered down to hold the remaining two-thirds of the population as bargaining chips and for...other reasons. However the quick attacks on so many fronts by the Kations gave the Vazan on Krige enough time to stop panicking and find their heads, and as the Kation doom fleet entered orbit of that massive Vazan homeworld they encountered a fleet of Kation shuttles going the other way as Vazan troops seized the Kation mining habitat in the southern reaches. Establishing themselves as the dominant force in orbit they swept the Vazan orbital farming complex and ship production facilities from the sky, as well as obliterating the command, control and commercial connections to the rest of the system. However their attempts to penetrate the solid atmosphere of Krige with their munitions proved fruitless. Despite the failure to so much as scar the surface the Kations had certainly succeeded at ripping the heart from the Vazan industrial network, and the still defiant Krige could still be starved into submission given sufficient time as the Vazan cities had long been reliant on offworld food imports. The refugees and others who now crowded into the cities of the Vazan still didn't come close to causing space problems however, the Vazan having overbuilt for centuries, indeed the concentration of individuals in the hub metropolis finally saw that particular city working at its full synergistic capacity.
Losses:
Vazan: -3 habitats, -1 shipyard
Kations: -1 habitat
Vazan: -3 habitats, -1 shipyard
Kations: -1 habitat
However dark this day was for the Vazan, the nadir of the year was yet to come, for the mass movement of the Kations and the general chaos in the system had provided cover for yet another force bent on their destruction. The Esani transports and troops that had left Arrakis had turned up in Zavi space! Slipping round the orange suns noisy corona the Trojans lived up to their name as they coasted in on quiet jets of ions, their target - Locustus! Their troops drop pods streaked down into the unguarded badlands about the same time as the Kations destroyed the orbital habitat at Krige. If the Kations had not made their move the Esani might have taken the whole planet, but the wide scale movements against them meant the Vazan had whipped up some defences. The Esani, who rather enjoyed the harsh sun and twisted rock of Locustus easily managed to beat the defenders of the Vazans less populated city, sneaking in through its nearly abandoned concourses and palatial residential areas as the inhabitants fled, but the planetary capital garrison looked like a much tougher nut to crack. The Esani commander decided to wait on further orders what with the Kation situation and all, and orders his men to pick the city clean of all value the transports having plenty of extra room for plunder.
Losses:
-1 Vazan Division
At the end of the year the Vazan empire seemed shattered, but the Kation government felt more under siege than Krige did. Crushing the Vazan to oppose the Esani looked rather stupid in face of the Esani already being here at Zavi, no one wanted to go through an expensive planetary assault on Krige or liked the other option of sterilising the planet, and the loss of the heavy metals shipments from the Krige mines was causing a severe contraction of the Kation economy. When news got out of experiments on the Vazan captives of Zavi III the public outcry was even greater no one like the idea of odious Vazan joining their polity, and the scientists were very angry, writing several letters to the effect of Genetics do not work that way!, and if the government had wanted to know if Vazan and Kation cybernetics were interchangeable they just had to ask! All in all it seemed both polities at Zavi, last year the greatest powers in the whole Trailing Lobe, were together on the brink of collapse.-1 Vazan Division
Time was weighing heavily on the Libere home stations at Izar this year, as the Arrakis fleet strained to get home before the Vazan punitive fleet and whatever the Ik end up sending arrive and wreck havoc on the tightly packed facilities in Avarice orbit. Pushing scientific resources into various technical projects they built up their industrial stockpiles, and even allowed the Lantian cargo vessel to survive unmolested, perhaps not wanting to generate any additional enemies. On the domestic front population growth had pushed to the limits of the food supply in Izar system, and his majesties forces will have to act soon if they want to hold off the orgy of violence that generally follows such overpopulation though perhaps the coming battles or farms run by Ik slaves in the next few years might deal with this problem. In the meantime even the King tightened his belt; forgoing the usual swan-in-a-sheep-in-a-cow-in-a-camel feast in favour of something simple with veal and onions.
As the Soulon fleet arrives at Terebellum they quickly negotiate an exchange of map information with the Lantians to begin exploration and exploitation of this brave new frontier. Or so they thought, as mere weeks after arrival their Ansibyl transmissions were filled with cries of terror before suddenly being cut short clearly they had met some sort of horrible end! This rather crude ruse was easily pierced when observatories in nearby systems picked up the continued operation of the Soulon fusion drive ships, and when those with two brain cells to knock together noted that the Lantian corvette dispatched to the system (ostensibly to keep an eye on things and to hold the Soulon to their agreements, as well as warn off any opportunistic attacks on their client) had absolutely no harm befall it. Their distraction foiled, the Soulon attempts at stealth at least brought them a turn of secrecy in their new System, as they got up to the first stage of whatever they were planning. Also their probe broke down. They were also the recipients of several threatening messages from Errai, the Ik seeing the ruse as a way to get out of sharing map information as had been originally agreed.
Random Events
-Something odd goes down in the Esani datasphere, as several technical documents vanish, and improved versions of others turn up: +10s to Construction, -10s weapons, -8s Energy
P-lanetary storms destroy one of the remaining habitat shells on Thoth, without occupation its only a matter of time before the others crumbled too: -1 beta Habitat
-A baby boom amongst more rural inhabitants in the boondocks of Taik reach maturity: +2 population.
Karmically Blessed nations:
Balder favours the peaceful: +1 lucky roll for all those whose best tech isn't in Construction or Weapons (Gardeners, 'Al, Lantians, Soulon, Akresians).
New Discoveries
Biotech 5
Soldier Augments (Biotech requirement unlocked).
Can adapt to 'Poison' Even the biospheres that appear lush and earth like can still have snakes in the grass, sufficiently different molecular composition can see humans keeling over in immune shock from only touching a tree or smelling a weasel analog. Adjusting the human organism to survive this alienness, and even thrive off consuming it generally takes a lot of mental effort, but surprisingly little physical effort as you tweak a few genes and medichine implants to alter the chemistry. Developing the adaptation the biological chemistry of any one biosphere world (each has a different range unless stated) costs 160s, and afterwards you may pay 1e to change 1 population point to be resistant to that environment. For management purposes you need to pay for the whole world at once, and when you move any pop there or away from there I ain't trying to track modified and unmodified groups! After the change is done you ignore the negative effects of the Poison trait for that world. A society must be careful about creating a specialist caste of its population, this can lead to resentment and dislike of the modified and a feeling of exclusion by them. Extremophilic societies only have to pay half the s cost and no e cost, and avoid the negative social repercussions.
Materials 6
Flechette Cannon (Requires Weapons 6); accelerating lumps of metal to high velocities is all well and good, but with better design of the projectile both damage and speed can be increased whilst cost and weight is reduced. A complex diamond like shell doped with magnetic metals can hold itself in a devastating projectile when other materials would be reduced to a hot dust over the course of the barrel. Holding their shape lets them punch through armour when a gas based weapon would smear over the ships outer casing. Costs 10e and requires 1 power, deals 5 particle damage and ignores the first 3 points of armour damage reduction, can be coupled.
Reflective Cladding; Though inefficient at close ranges, when a beam spreads out at distance it can be reflected away with the appropriate layer of materials. Is not effective against photons with higher energies than UV-lasers. Costs 20e and provides an additional 10 armour, but additional components do not stack, this armour bonus does not apply against particle weapons.
Greater knowledge of the intricacies of solid matter allows more complex and economically productive process, provided you have the necessary rare element feedstocks (+15% e from Rare Earths, Exotic Gases, Heavy Metals).
Weapons 6
Mag Catapult (Weapons requirement unlocked)
Missile Control Centre (Requires an unknown amount of social tech): A single fire and forget missile can easily be dodged, but by organising the release of several waves from several ships it is relatively easy to box even the most agile of foes. By studying the theory and psychology of space combat, and establishing a nexus to route missile and movement control through a fleet can dramatically improve its performance. Improves the general initiative of the fleet by +1 and missile to hit chances by +2, the effect doesn't stack. Costs 20e and needs at least one computational module on the ship.
Flechette Cannon (Weapons requirement unlocked)
Missile Defence Net (requires an unknown amount of maths tech): With an array of sensor and surface defence platforms it is possible to protect a world or habitat from incoming missiles much like a pebble defence system protects an individual ship. Costs 25e and halves the chance of a successful bombing occurring against this worlds habitats. One provides protection for all the surface habitats, but each one in space needs its own defence network.
