ImmacuNES II: Emperor of the Fading Heavens

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Emperor of the Fading Heavens- a shameless rip-off

Welcome to the NES.

UPDATE ONE: Years 2301-2305 (part B)

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Gameplay

Statistics

Spoiler :

Each faction be it a noble house, a religious sect or a merchant guild will have stats to describe it. Here are example stats to describe an imaginary noble house. Stats range from negligible, very poor, poor, medium, good, very good, excellent. Others are merely descriptors that the moderator will try to take into account.

House Exemplis (example house)

Resources:

Income: poor
Treasury: very poor
Infrastructure: medium
Man-Power: very good
Research: poor

Military:

Readiness: good
Loyalty: very good
Development: poor
Man-Power: very good

Technology:

Physics: poor
Biotech: very poor
Cultural: poor

Magicks:

Thaumaturgy: negligible
Theurgy: very low
Heresy: negligible

Reputation:

Popularity: very good
Noblesse: good
Piety: good
Profitability: low

Fiefdoms:

Errovus Secondus: 12.9 million serfs, no industry
Clarke: 8.2 million serfs, fishing, aquaculture, armaments manufacture
Hubbard: 1.1 million serfs, livestock, mining, ore refining

Military Assets:

Black Dogs: Grimson infantry legion, veterens of symbiot combat on Stigmata, grimson legion armour, assault rifles, combat drugs, Clarke
Dragonfly Armour: Ceramasteel armoured legion, veterans of symbiot combat on Stigmata, light tank division, anti-infantry .50 calibur guns mounted on ceramasteal light tank chasis, Clarke
Frog-class Transport: troop transport vehicle, jump-engine equipped for interplanetary travel, land and sea landing capable, poor maneuverability in outside orbit, good maneuverability in atmosphere, very lightly armed but heavily ceramsteel armored.
Bird-class Freighter: relatively smaller chasis bulk good carrier, jump-engine equiped, land landing capable, very lightly armed and armoured

Non-Military Assets:

Ore Mines and Refineries (Hubbard)
Commercial Aquaculture Operations (Clarke)
Armaments Factory (ceramasteel and ballistic weapons) (Clarke)

Action-Capable Characters:

Jack Exemplis (sceptre-holder), veteren, beloved of the people, beloved of the army, pious
Ryan Exemplis (sceptre-holder), political savvy, questionable loyalties
Maggie Exemplis (sceptre-holder), diplomatic, addicted, pious

Your resources are pretty straight forward. Treasury can accumulate or dissipate depending on spending. Its growth is a function of your income and your in-game actions. Man-power is related to your population and will generally be quite small for things like guilds and much larger for major noble houses. Your infrastructure is things like power plants, road-works, intraplanetary trade. Research is your capacity to learn new, socially acceptable, technology.

Your military attribute describes your general military and not your specific military assets. Its understood that although you may have some high-tech toys listed under your military assets, most of your military is in fact WW1-era riflemen, horse-drawn artillery, and steam-powered, coal and oil fed navies. Your readiness describes your level of general training and experience. Veteran soldiers will accumulate readiness. Loyalty is a mixture of actual loyalty and of morale. It encompasses the all-important but ill-defined concepts of battle-honor, brotherhood of soldiers, love for a general and all that. Development describes technological investment in your military. If you outfit your soldiers with automatic weapons or flak jackets or even gas masks and extra rations, you have increased development. A high development might describe an army with advanced technological capacity. Man-power is the relative size of your army and relates directly to your man-power resource statistic. Imposing a draft might increase man-power (but decrease loyalty?)

Your technology statistics describes your knowledge of technology (but not its implementation which is more a function of statistics like resource infrastructure and military development as well as individual statistics). Physics encompasses materials, energy, communications, and engineering. Biotech encompasses biology and chemistry (though there is some overlap with physics here), medicine and things like that. Culture is a catch-all term for soft-sciences and anything else that doesn't fit in biotech and physics.

Reputation describes your standing with the people (popularity), the noble houses (noblesse), the church sects (piety) and the league of guilds (profitability)

Fiefdoms describe your major populations and the relative industries they may be involved in.

Assets are purely descriptive and are extremely wide-ranging. I don't think its possible at this time to foresee how this attribute will develop so i'll leave you to consider the examples and how your assets might develop.

Action-Capable Characters (ACCs) do not include all the major characters that may be acting to move and motivate your faction but it does list all the characters capable of taking in-game actions (issuing orders, starting projects). Their descriptors will in turn affect their capacity for success or failure in performing their tasks (as do all your other statistics they may want to draw upon)

Actions

Spoiler :

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

HISTORY

Spoiler :

We the keepers of the pancreator’s grace write this treatise to lend the Celestial Light to the vagaries and lies of time and forgetfulness so that what was once hidden can be uncovered and brought into the church’s light. May the pancreator forgive us for any inaccuracies that we may write and smite us for any heathenism we may utter.

Relics of Distant Stars

It is said that in the ancient times before man walked the stars we had already become aware that we were not the only sentient beings amongst the stars. Relics of distant people and places bespoke of intelligent cephalopods and their war with what we now know to be the horrifying and ungodly Symbiot. It is through these relics that the children of Errovus first found their way to the stars. In that ancient and godless time, two people uncovered the secrets of the stars, one the amphibian Kappa and the other the gnomes of Halluchuirp. While the gnomes were quick to apply the technology to their industrial engine and learn new technologies, the Kappa sought the source of the ancient relics and thus, these were the first to find the stars.

The Kappa began a great exodus from Errovus and just as the last of them left aboard their dark sky-ships for lands unknown, Errovus was torn asunder by the Soul Wars

Soul Wars

Across Errovus the nations of that time (who’s names are lost to history) fought a great war that invoked the powers of both the cold space between stars, what they wrongfully referred to as hell, and the goodly forces of Celestial Light (which we now know to be the Pancreator’s light).

Ultimately the war was destructive for much of the world and because it was fought with mystical energies, and much of the war’s goals were to deprive the enemy of the ‘mana’ that was used to fuel their war engines, it soon deprived Errovus of its mystic mana lines and sources of magick. When the smoke cleared, what was left was a depopulated world that relied more and more upon the creations of the gnomes.

The soul wars had re-written national boundaries; some nations, such as the mysterious Sidar or the Syrii simply no longer existed after these wars. It is said that the Sidar removed themselves completely from the world of men whereas the Syrii are said to have been the targets of organized genocide.

In the wake of these wars the centuries passed and the nations of our Holy Mother planet squabbled no longer over magicks and soul but over resources like coal and oil, ah’luminm and ore.

A great world-engulfing war had just broken out anew over these resources when a multi-national ‘corporation’, a group of men and women united in their quest for coin in the same way as modern guilds, saved Errovus from certain destruction. They had managed to acquire data from the ancient relics and find their own way to reach the orbiting jumpgate.

And so, humanity approached a new crossroads.

The Jumpgate

The Zaibutsu corporation, as it was known, launched a mission to find ways to use the jumpgate as the last Kappa who had left several hundred years ago had already done. Their investigations took three months but finally a means of activating the gate was uncovered and the portal began to swirl with milky multicolored light.

Within a matter of days a probe was fired through the gate programmed to collect data on the number, size and composition of the planets in the new system. The probe was instantly destroyed. Data from the explosion was analyzed and the conclusion was reached that any matter unprotected from the energies surrounding the gate would share the fate of the probe. A device now called a Jump-engine was designed to maintain matter integrity. This was fitted to the next probe which managed to pass through unscathed to report back on what lay on the other side of the gate. Its report was better than anyone had hoped for: a habitable world.

Immediately the world held its breath in anticipation and any threat of a newly renewed resource war was put on hold.

Errovus Secondus

The first exporation crew was watched by billions as their ship passed through the Jumpgate. The new world had no sentient life but was rich in edible plant-life and mineral resources. It seemed too good to be true. Astronomers had for several decades described galaxy after galaxy devoid of water, let alone a habitable planet or vegetable or animal life. The explorers named it Errovus Secondus. Soon the exodus began and in the halls of power the megacorporations and governments a fierce cold-war erupted over control of the planet’s colonization and more importantly resources.

Even as the cold-war claimed hundreds of lives and entire corporations, the first colonists discovered new evidence of the ancient long-forgotten people known as the Kappa. Infidel temples were found in clear shallow lakes and these held strange devices and materials, often decorated with what could only be an descendent of the Kappa alphabet. Unfortunately the writings proved beyond the capacity of men of the age to translate. Otherwise we might have been warned of what lay beyond.

The Diaspora

Continuous study of the Jumpgate revealed that alterations the Jump-engine fields (what we now term the ‘jump coordinates) could alter the destination reached by passing through the gate, this opened up routes to yet more stars. As the multinational corporations and continental governments continued to fight among themselves a rebel faction managed to seize the designs for the new Jump-engines and the Diaspora began. With travel to uncharted worlds open to any group who could obtain a ship, millions swarmed away from the oppression of the great corporations. These people colonized new worlds that did not recognize the rule of the corporations or governments who were now too obsessed with their internal struggles to recognize the new colonies for the threat they represented. Some of these colonies failed almost immediately, their pleas for aid ignored by Errovus; they sank into barbarism. Others suffered from lack of resources but rallied around a strong leader who managed to hold them together in a state of semi-feudalism. A few colonies found untouched riches on their worlds allowing them to form mini-mercantile empires of their own with enough resources to seize corporate resources here and there, slowly whittling them down bit by bit. Eventually Errovus was reduced to but one state among many, its lack of resources combined with its high population and bureaucratic government placing it in a poor position compared to the resource-rich colony worlds ruled by autocratic rulers. Errovus settled into a long depression and with the loss of Errovus as a centre-point there seemed to be a loss of ingenuity; humanity still possessed technology, but it no longer experimented. Science was something that the scholars learnt by rote, no longer understanding what they did merely fulfilling the orders of their patrons.

While governments and corporations, new planets and old fought amongst themselves, gnomish merchants and engineers, the descendants of the Halluchuirp began to collect those technologies that would allow travel between jumpgates, enable weapons of mass destruction or otherwise present a major change in the balance of power. They went about this process quietly, often paying for the secrets of various technologies with dead-end techs of their own. Ultimately, they made their move, an effort to unify humanity.

The Grand Republic

On the first day of the year 1500, after nearly a century of patient planning, the Halluchuirp, later to be known as the league, made their move, simultaneously presenting the rulers and people of every human Kingdom with the announcement of a new democratic council for Unified Species Space on Errovus Secondus. Those Kingdoms which refused to take part would be quarantined until such time as they reconsidered. Many Kingdoms did of course refuse membership, but the withdrawal by the League of virtually the entire economic infrastructure brought about the fall of any such autocratic regime.

The new democratic human republic brought about a new era of freedom and free flow of information. Under this new order science and technology strode forwards. With the vast resources of the united human worlds and a unity of purpose nothing was impossible, anything could be achieved. Genetic engineering cured diseases that had plagued humanity for millions of years, terraforming opened new worlds for collonisation, the sum of human knowledge was pooled into a vast computer network called The Map that spanned Human Space. Information was sought out by AI 'agents' whose services were available to all citizens of the Grand Republic. Danger and oppression were now the myths of a bygone era to be read about by scholars and thrill-seekers, things that did not happen in the 'real' world.

The utopia carried the seeds of its own destruction. Most new technology displaced workers, and soon there was little need for work. The economy did not keep up with these changes and the welfare system, though grand was not build to uphold the sheer number of unemployed who had lost their livelihoods because of the new technology. Unemployment led to dissatisfaction with the government of the Republic and in 1978AD an unknown anarchist group managed to shutdown the Map. Anarchy exploded as the welfare system ground to a halt and citizens were denied money. Riots began on all the worlds of the Grand Republic.

Divesture

The regimes of hundreds of petty planetary governments and cult faiths saw their chance. Many had long histories and cultural identities that united their people in complex webs of loyalty and servitude. Some were based on ancient cultures such as the Hippus and Bannor, others on multinational corporations which had been stripped of their mercantile and political power by the league, still others by newly formed outer-planet governments. Taking the tittles of noble houses, they made their own move. After the installation of the new republic the nobles had been reduced to a largely ceremonial role; bought off by huge payments and the right to chair planetary parliaments. Now the noble houses saw their chance. They began orchestrating deals with the overstretched central government on Errovus Secodus, requesting and being granted emergency powers to crush riots and collect taxes; all the time failing to hand out welfare money even after the Map was restored to full working order. This time became known as the Divestiture for as the Grand Republic granted the nobles more power it lost more and more control over the bureaucratic beast the government had become. Finally, massive corruption in central government combined with the increased tax burden caused outlying worlds to secede from the Republic. These Rogue Worlds now firmly under the control of noble families, were too powerful for the weakened Republic to put down; the Republic was forced to deal with them on their own terms.

Then the stars began to fade. Only after three stars with populated planets noticeably dimmed in 1995AD did people realise that the Fading Suns phenomenon was not just a fluke. Many people had their own explanations: "It's some sort of League weapon.", "It's the fusion generators, they're not safe, their draining the Suns' power!", "It's a government conspiracy!" were all common cries from the beaten people of the Republic and Rouge Worlds. We of the Universal Church began to preach, explaining that our patriarch Barbatos the undying had spoken of this danger over a thousand years before. Humans were sinful and bad, in their pride they had overreached themselves. Thankfully the people of the worlds saw the truth of our words. Rightfully, the irk of the people was redirected to the major governments of the worlds and of the grand republic in particular.

During the rise of the Grand Republic the Church had split into numerous factions and denominations. In a bid to recapture support the High Crafter of the Republic made a deal with the patriarch Barbatos. In return for the Church's open support of central government, the Republic would declare the Orthodox Church to be the official and only recognized sect of the Universal Church. This, combined with pre-millennial paranoia inevitably sparked off religious wars plunging the Republic into civil war in 1999AD as each world supported one or another faction in the conflict. As the chaos reached it's height the rulers of the ten most powerful Rouge Worlds banded together and launched a united fleet which swept through the shattered Republic, taking Errovus Secondus by surprise and the fleet crushed the token resistance of the Republican Guard. As the smoke cleared in the Presidential Palace the Ten Noble Houses raised their own banners. The fall of the Republic was complete.

Symbiots

Even as the world was united by new leadership, an ship of elves, descendents of the long-ago White Mist nation found a new jumpgate and in its readiness to discover new worlds and new resources, breached the barrier to the worlds that for so long had housed the Symbiot menace.

Once, long ago the Symbiots had pursued the aquatic cephalopod race that our star-travel had come from to our world. And now the ancient evil had been awakened anew. The elves and their fleet was overrun- only a few ships managed to flee before their wrath. World after world fell to these fell creatures and their biological-based weaponry and technology. The guns and missiles, lasers and fusion weapons of the Grand Republic could not stand before them and as the Symbiots advanced, they parasitized and converted human, gnome, orc and elf alike, turning them into their fanatic soldiers. When their giant bee-ships first arrived at Errevus Secondus we thought that we would be forever destroyed, our bones to snapped and chewed, our minds defiled and claimed. The enemy was intelligent, striking quickly and silently at our missile siloes, our command and control computers, our refineries and factories. Through a long war of attrition where many of the enemy fell only to be replaced by our own parasitized soldiers we were reduced to fighting with primatives weapons; even ballistae and catapult were called upon. Certainly we would be overrun. But it was not to be.

We soon learned that the magics that had been forgotten so long, the ancient secrets of the Holy Church (and the library of Amur) proved exceptionally potent weapons against these aggressors and one by one the enemy was beaten back from many planets.

But once again the enemy adapted. By striking at our magickers and holy men in precision subterfuges, we were greatly reduced anew. Finally when we had managed to reclaim and clear only a handful of the 100s of worlds we had known during the Grand Republic we were visited by an unexpected neighbour.

The Kappa had returned.

The Transcendantals

The Kappa no longer carried swamp water in their skullbowls but translucent and multicolored light similar to that of an active jumpgate. They had changed so greatly (speaking not with their voice but their minds) that the common people soon came to name them Transcendentals. Their ships were strange contraptions without seemingly a fuel-based engine or functional jumpgate protection. Their great and terrible power could perhaps have been applied to fighting the Symbiots but instead they applied it to another task; in 2178, they sealed the jumpgates at the edges of our cleared planets. The heathen amphibians had saved us but they had also imprisoned us.

As quickly as they had come, they were gone.

Aftermath and Isolation

After nearly a century and a half of prolonged battle for mere survival with the body and mind-claiming Symbiots, the remaining worlds were but six in number. Many worlds were ‘lost’, fallen back to primitive levels; their major industrial and communication centres destroyed and their fleets wiped out. Neighboring worlds a mere jumpgate apart could not share information nor trade.

Even as the worlds struggled to reform the League began an organized effort to collect and claim any remaining technology. Though they claimed the effort was benign we of the church knew better and soon afterwards began our own efforts to claim the ancient relics of technology and power. It didn’t take long for the noble houses to begin the same process and within a generation the worlds were again split asunder by war in an effort to reclaim what little technology they could.

As the nobles houses fought and struggled the ten major houses were reduced to nine, then eight, then seven, then six, and finally the five we know of today.
In the ensuing confusion the league and the elves were both able to reclaim jump coordinates to distant planets. The league was the first and managed to open a path to a planet that had been decimated by the wars but fortunately cleared of any symbiot life; they claimed the planet for their own and renamed it Leagueheim. It became the defacto headquarters of the gnomish league of guilds. The elves however, managed to open a gate to the symbiot-infested world of Stigmata. Immediatley the symbiots sought to return to our worlds. It was the year 2242.

The people and governments called upon the Transcendants to return but alas the calls fell upon deaf ears.

In desperation the noble houses banded together with the church and the league to form a united front against the threat and the ‘Garrison’ was created. Their unity and cooperation led to the formation of the ‘regency’ and the throne of the grand Emperor.

The Emperor and the Regency

Immediately upon his declaration as Emperor, Vladimir the great issued the Great Charter setting forth the new constitution. The Emperor was autocratic, his word was law and all must obey him or die. A select few of the elite of the Houses Church and League could vote on his successor. These Electors were issued with a sceptre (vote rod) as proof of office. A great coronation ceremony was held on Errovus Secundus when Vladimir arrived to take the throne. As he placed the crown upon his head, fire erupted from his eyes and he fell dead on the floor, years of hard won victory gone at the hands of an unknown assassin.

This brings us to current times.
The year is 2300.

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Concepts

Jumpgates

Spoiler :

And so what to make of the jumpgates? Beloved of the Pancreator; way stations of Evvis Pirates and Symbiots. Windows to a thousand paradises and gates whereby demons can emerge from nighted hells. Tools built by unknown hands, bearing the virtues of Holy Erruvus and the vices of Leagueheim indiscriminately.

Much has been written of these structures since their discovery in the dim eras before the Diaspora. Nobles, priests and Guilders alike have acted, if for no other common purpose, to understand these artifacts, at once utterly enigmatic and completely essential. And yet all the known worlds’ collective efforts have gone for naught; the gates are as much of a conundrum now as they were millennia ago. Who created them? For what purpose? What logic behind the intricate web of stellar leaps? Ah well, perhaps it is the Pancreator's will that they should remain a riddle.

The gates themselves hover in the astral night at the very edge of our reach, orbiting only those blessed worlds best suited to our kind and ignoring the inhospitable giants of gas, the melting molten balls of metal, the frigid airless rocks, evidently those which the Pancreator desired us to claim for Him. However, just as the Pancreator requires His servants to prove their devotion through earthly works before He deigns to allow His angels to bear their soul- sparks to salvation, those who would dare the jumpgates must first free themselves of their planetary ties, traveling to the fringes of their worlds through the harnessing of often recalcitrant spacecraft. This journey to the gate itself can take as long as a fortnight, during which the travelers are at the mercy of pirates, rival houses, Void Krakens and a host of other horrors. One indeed needs the favor of the Pancreator even to attempt such a trek.

Perhaps the gates are indeed the work of the Pancreator, simultaneously allowing humanity to carry His message to the stars and instilling Everyman with a much-needed sense of humility; for I personally aver that it is impossible to approach one of these structures without a sense of awe evoking itself in the witness. Certes the approaching traveler, viewing the vast metallic ring decorated with images of aquatic tentacles and deep-sea cities, hovering in the void like a hollow moon, and I use this simile deliberately, for many jumpgates are indeed of lunar proportions, becomes consumed with a profound sense of humility, as she can do naught but tremble before one of the universe's greatest works and most fundamental mysteries. Nor is this wonder diminished when, awakened by the call of the star-pilot, the gate begins to throb and pulse, and luminescent orbs play up and down the arcs of the metal hoop, and the entirety of the inner circumference is litten with a lambent rainbow radiance, as if a sun had erupted new-formed from the abyss.

And so the gate, newly roused from slumber amid the silence of the void, awaits its passengers as the leviathan anticipates its meal of krill. Of the gates' inner workings, few know much save the heathen Transcendantals. Of their operation more is understood. These gates mystically connect disparate tapestries of space, allowing a traveler to enter the glowing portal at the heart of the jumpgate ring and thereby "leap" across vast cosmic distances in a matter of mere months.

The time of travel, for the traveler, remains the subject of heated conjecture; most travelers agree that a jump, while not precisely instantaneous, transports the users across vast gulfs over a period of mere seconds at most. What, then, transpires during those moments of bodilessness, adrift in an incorporeal state? And why has the Pancreator choosen to break the otherwise unbroken passage of time for those that travel thusly?

Most enlightening are the epistles of our Most Holy Zebulon, who himself was a student of the jumpgates. In his writings he often speaks of the peculiar "ephemeral" state of the jump, and about its relationship to both the Pancreator's Empyrean and those hells housing the dwellers that wait between the known cosmic gulfs and the Outer Darkness (which is to the void we know as the dinosaur is to the gecko).

In the end there is little more that can be explained, and so the jumpgates remain as they have always been: monuments to powers greater than we can hope to explain. I add only that vigilance is critical; for the jumpgates are the bridges to celestial and infernal powers alike, and in this treacherous age it would serve us well to monitor closely what sorts of beings travel freely in our midst.

Species and Race

Spoiler :

With the notable exception of the Symbiots, there are no known sentient races who's ancestors are not from Errovus. Today there are humans, gnomes, orcs, gnolls and elves amongst the stars. All of these are distinct species and incapable of interbreeding with another sentient species.

Humans make up the vast majority of the population of the known worlds and are very much the dominating species amongst the noble houses and church. They are also very potent amongst the guilds. No known planet is without humans. Humans make up greater then 90% of the known worlds population.

Orcs make up only 4% of the total population of the known worlds but, along with gnomes, make up the largest of the minority races. Orcs often live and die amongst humans, often as serfs or soldiers of the noble houses and only rarely do they interest themselves in the affairs of the church sects or guilds. In some very rare cases orcs have been known to rise to positions of authority within one noble house or another.

Gnomes also make up close to 4% of the total worlds' population. Contrary to most other species, their population is almost exclusively found amongst the guilders of the League. Gnomes only very rarely live as serfs of the noble houses and when involved in church sects almost always belong to the Blossoms of Mercy. There is a strong resentment of these people amongst the other races and in particular amongst the church and it is dangerous for gnomes to travel unescorted outside of Leagueheim.

Gnolls make up almost 2% of the worlds' population and only exist as vassals of certain limited houses. Though capable of highly civilized behavior, there is a natural predisposition amongst these people to acts of extreme violence and needless cruelty. This ensures that the gnoll population often serves their feudal lords as soldiers.

Elves are often referred to as 'The Lost' on account of having been completely excommunicated as a species. This means that they are persona non-grata amongst all the known worlds. The elves are directly responsible for both the first and secondary symbiot invasions and are absolutely hated by the vast majority of the population of the known worlds. The are also called the Evvis, a play on their suspected evil and accursed nature and their natural species name. Elves do not often mix with non-elves and prefer to live a nomadic life amongst the stars as both smugglers and pirates. Some say that 'the lost' possess jump coordinates to lands unknown and that they have a hidden home amongst the distant stars.

The Kappa are today called the Transcendentals. They do not live or seemingly even exist amongst mankind but have their own homes beyond the jumpgates that remain inaccessible to the population of the known worlds.

Technology

Spoiler :

While the reader of an ancient past reading this treatise thinking it a game may be used to thinking of technology belonging to the future, each day bringing us, through the diligent efforts of our scientists and engineers, a progressively more advanced world, the known worlds of the fading heavens associate high-end technology with the past.

The Grand Republic was the era of humanity’s greatest technological triumphs. Indeed it was partially due to the hubris born from mankind’s command of this perverse knowledge that the pancreator saw fit to visit us with the Symbiots and punish us for our sin. And now we live a life more attuned to not only the soil we till but the souls that burn within us all.

And so some noble houses, the league of guilders and even the church have sought to find the artifices of ancient times and bend it to their wills but while they may learn how to operate such ancient engines, they are far from understanding the manner in which ancient man was able to design and build these devices.

That is not to say that man does not design and build. Does not the blacksmith forge the ore into plow and nail, hammer and blade? Does not the farmer burn lye to fertilize his field? No, man continues to use those tools the pancreator has deemed to bless him with but they are nowhere near the scale of what once there was.

So what can one expect? The average serf toiling the fields has never seen a light-bulb. The closest he has come to an internal combustion engine is the propeller planes of the nobility flying overhead. Refrigeration is unheard of and medicine is limited to herbs and prayer (with prayer being of much greater practicality in almost all cases). Should we travel we would do so by sturdy ox, braying donkey or horse and should we willingly endanger our soul we might board a monstrosity of steel and fire powered by a black stone that burns with the heat of a thousand candles, the steam-ship by water or the rail-balanced train by land.

The nobility has shouldered the burden of adopting what knowledges they can, of shielding our souls with their noblesse and so, a noble might have electricity in his estate provided by the rays of the fading sun, the burning of coal, diesel or oil or even the very winds or tides themselves. The nobles might ride upon 2-wheeled mounts they call motorcycles and they might ply the skies in their aero-planes all fed with the distilled oils of the earth and seas themselves. They might spoon chilled icecream from humming refrigerators but they are not armed with laser pistols or monofilament blades like in the days of the republic. Indeed many of the devices could be manufactured (though not all are) by the noble houses themselves though often it is easier and cheaper to sell the resources required to the guilds then purchases the finished product from them.

The church’s fiefs are very similar to that of the nobles with the feudal servants protected from the evils of higher knowledge by their noble lords.
The situation is different amongst a minority of fiefdoms on Errovus Secondus, especially those associated with the imperium, as well as the great city of Leagueheim. Here one can expect power to hum though miles of copper wire while providing light in the darkness and heat and cold to the homes of the serfs. Communications can be held by talking devices known as telephones and the grainy black and white images of nobility can be perceived on televisions. These are products of the man’s industry when he has forgotten the punishment for hubris.

In very rare cases a secluded monastery or dedicated guild-house might have uncovered the secrets of some ancient knowledge and applied their minds and efforts, often at the cost of their very souls, to reproducing the ancient technologies of the long-ago Grand Republic. It is in this way that the shipwright guild can manufacture new flying contraptions to jump from world to world. It is in this way that the imperial garrison produces the amour it equips its grimson legions with. It is in this way that the Orthodoxy produces the fission bombs of greatest destruction.

Indeed man has failed to learn from the lessons the pancreator has so patiently taught us and he constantly invites the devils of the space between stars into his heart and mind, aye, even into his very soul by striving to outdo his neighbor with acts of greater and greater technological hubris. It is said that even now the nobles are designing new and greater weapons to split the worlds asunder with anew.

Cultural Attitudes towards technology

Spoiler :

Magicks

Spoiler :

For ease of gameplay, magicks in the Fading Heavens Universe is divided into three type. These are theurgy, thaumaturgy and heresy. Theurgy refers to the liturgy and ceremonies of the Church of Celestial Light that result in some change to the universe. Thaumaturgy refers to mystic spells and incantations which invoke no god(s) and which result in some change to the universe. Heresy refers to ceremonies, blasphemy and sacrificial offerings which result in some change to the universe. Any of these actions (ceremony, spells, etc) that are performed without causing some change to the universe is not 'magick'. Instead the proper term for them is 'playing pretend' and is only limited by the power of a child's imagination and laughter. In the heart of a loving parent, its the most powerful magick of all.

In a wide divergence from the earlier FFH NES and from the fall from heaven universe and most fantasy games, theurgy and heresy magicks are NOT granted by the gods. While these magicks might be taught by the servants of St. Oghma (for example), the magicks of the ritual ceremony do not actually originate from Oghma (or the pancreator); the source is elsewhere. An accomplished theurgist who falls out of favour with his or her patron will still be able to cast all the theurgy they could prior to falling out of favour.

Generally magicks, in all their forms, are extended rituals in this universe, not the mere waving of hands and the uttering of a few words. Most rituals consume massive quantities of magical reagents (sacred star dust, squirrel blood, scented candles, cheap sandalwood incense from the dollar store), days of chanting or prayer and some sort of pentagram written on your mother’s back porch in colored children’s chalk.

High end magick may or may not incorporate technological artifacts. There is a rumor of a cult of heretics who through dangerous soul-wrenching technologies have learned to share the very blood of life, machines pumping it from one needle in one man’s arm into a pumping device and then onto the next individual and so on in a wide circle. These men and women who share their very physical blood have managed to cast new and dangerous heretical rituals previously unknown. (The rumor also suggests that one man’s syphilis ended in the downfall of the entire sect).

There is no set list of what magic can actually perform. You will need ranks in one of the magical paths and an appropriate asset to make use of them however.

Sceptres

Spoiler :

There are 37 sceptres in total.
15 are owned by the reamining great noble houses (3 to each of 5 houses)
12 are owned by 12 of the minor noble houses (1 to each of 12 houses)
5 are owned by the Universal Church (and awarded by its patriarch according to his whims)
5 are owned by the League of Guilds (and usually awarded to its most prosperous or influential guilds).

What are the sceptres?

The sceptres each represent a single vote for imperial regent. They are also each entrusted to a specific individual (characters within your house or one of the NPC factions). Every twenty years (4 turns; each turn is 5 Erebus years) a new regent will be voted into power. The candidates are free to campaign however they like but must be a sceptre holder. Voting is performed through the sceptres themselves and the vote represents the opinion of the sceptre-holder (and may or may not represent the opinion of the player controlling that noble house depending on character loyalty).

The imperial regent is heir to the throne of the assassinated emperor and of the imperial fleets, armies and espionage bureaus. The imperial regent must appoint a sceptre holder to each of these appointment: ‘Imperial Fleet Admiral’, ‘Imperial Garrison Captain’, and ‘Keeper of the Imperial Eye’. The sceptre holding rergent may assign his own house to any single one (and no more then one) of these appointments if they so wish (but will then have 2 of its characters involved in politics and less available for their own use (which could be good or bad). No single house can hold more then one of these appointments at any one time. Failure to vacate the seat after the election will result in prompt and rapid response by the other noble houses and by the church as well as the sceptres themselves which guard against this sort of behavior.

The sceptres are either magical or of extremely high technology that they might as well be magical. The bearer of the sceptre is bonded to it (a process that takes 20 years) and gains immunity to age and resistance to poisons and disease (though some of the poisons and diseases designed in the last century are so lethal that the sceptre will provide no protection whatsoever).

Additionally the sceptres allow instantaneous communication over any distance (voice only) which should greatly assist with diplomacy and explaining how messages are getting around so quickly.

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Major Noble Houses

House Query (Oranglex44)

Spoiler :

Koriate (Seon)

Spoiler :

Klorin (Thomas.Berubeg)

Spoiler :

House of the Holy Gate (Ekolite)

Spoiler :

House Hyppean (Merciary)

Spoiler :

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Minor Noble Houses

Quin (Kyzarc Fotjage)

Spoiler :

Tsedeq (Tyrs)

Spoiler :

Bossheim (Diamondeye)

Spoiler :

Thana (Nutranurse)

Spoiler :

Vanari (NPC)

Spoiler :

Sanctious’Als (NPC)

Spoiler :

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Minor Noble Houses

Texier (NPC)

Spoiler :

Kilgore (NPC)

Spoiler :

Xicier (NPC)

Spoiler :

Eekin (NPC)

Spoiler :

Remillard (NPC)

Spoiler :

Albriño (NPC)

Spoiler :

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Religious Sects

Background

Spoiler :

The Universal Church of the Celestial Sun is a massive organization that dominates the Known Worlds. The Church touches the lives of each and every sentient. Even pagans and apostates define themselves in terms of their opposition or difference from the Church. Perceptions of the Church obviously vary, but the majority of people in the Known Worlds look to the Church for guidance and attend services at least once a week. They are devout, and are much more likely to follow the direction of a priest than their own Noble masters. This then is the source of the Church's enduring power: Nobles who fall afoul of the Church often find their serfs running away and freemen refusing to work for them.

Because of this, almost all Nobles appear to be devout supporters of the Church. Many really are devout believers. The Church is full of the sons and daughters of Noble families. Others Nobles are less than devout, but they understand that without the Church's blessing, they could and probably would lose all they have. The Noble families and the Church have an implicit understanding: The Nobles support the Church through their tithes and the Church support the Noble's position to rule, which carries immense weight with the serfs. The League of Merchants also has a contradictory relationship with the Church. The League is a much younger institution than the Church and the relationship is often rocky. Yet many lower level guild members come from or are themselves believers. And the League could not withstand a crusade against it by the Church and allied Noble families. Of course, there is balance, and the Church itself relies on Guild technology, often technology it bans for the rest of the Known Worlds.

The Universal Church, is ironically, not quite Universal. There are other religions, although they are practiced in secret for the Church will stop at nothing to exterminate them. Even within the Church, there are distinct divisions.

Orthodox

The largest sect, it is the Orthodoxy that most people associate with the Church. Its priests can be found on all worlds, from the ostentatious bishops of the capital cities to the more humble parish priests in the most poverty-stricken fiefs. While the Orthodoxy has gained a reputation for their cunning political manoeuvres, most priests know little of such things, being entirely too busy protecting the souls of the simple faithful in their parishes. When tragedy strikes, it is still to the Orthodoxy that most of the faithful turn for consolation.
When people refer to ‘the church’, they are referring to the Orthodoxy.
Favoured saints of the Orthodoxy include “St. Lugus”, “St. Junil”, “St. Sabel” and the living patriarch, “St. Barbatos”.

Eskatonic Order

These hermetic sages are often thought of as wizards by the common folk, but the nobles and guildsmen know them for the kooks they often are. While there are many within the order who possess profound wisdom and learning, there are just as many who are obsessed with the end of the universe and who stand on street corners telling everyone about it. Eskatonic history begins in ancient times, during the great ‘soul wars’. They were derived from Amur wizards and hermetics who fought alongside the church to end the spread of the demon-servants and their tyranny and yet they used the heretic magiks often associated with the enemy. And thus there was much struggle and agonizing debate over the fate of the Amur mages and sages. Their continued devotion to the church and their willingness to share their secrets with the orthodox and other sects eventually won the day and they were accepted, at least for awhile. As the years turned into centuries the church led many inquisitions against the ‘Order of St. Oghma’ (as they were known at the time) and purged their numbers of heresy and witchcraft and eventually drove them from the fold.
During the ‘Grand Republic’ the ‘Order of St. Oghma’ was confined to a few minor cities on Errovus, their rites and secrets scrutinized by the church at any moment. That all changed when the Symbiots struck. Suddenly the weapons of the ‘Grand Republic’ were no longer sufficient and it was left to the church to battle for the souls of man in the face of overwealming odds. Knowing that flame-guns and missiles alone would not win the day, the Church called upon the ‘Eskatonics’ (as they had become known in an effort to distance themselves from the heretic ‘old gods&#8217

. The Eskatonics were admitted into the fold when their theurgical rites proved effective against the Symbiots. Some see this concession as a sign of weakness as the Orthodoxy struggles to regain ground lost during the Wars, but others quote the old saying: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
Though publicly the Eskatonics share many of the same saints as the Orthodoxy, in private many also venerate “St. Caswel” and “St. Oghma”.

Brother Battle

This order of warrior monks is the most elite fighting forces in the Known Worlds, surpassing even the Emperor's Phoenix Guard in martial prowess. Originally chartered to protect pilgrims and pursue heretics, the order is now petitioned by noble houses, other Church sects, and even guilds to perform military operations on many worlds, including the infamous Stigmata Front against the dreaded Symbiot invaders. Despite rumors of heresy and usury within their ranks, everyone wants a Brother Battle monk by their side in times of trouble. Though technically bound to obey the directives of the Patriarch Barbatos, some worry that the Brother Battle are gaining too much power as they accumulate lands on frontier worlds where barbarians and heretics remain a threat.
The Brothers Battle are the most recently formed sect, having arisen only at the end of the Grand Republic as the church became more and more involved, once-again, the military affairs of man, although many of their scriptures and popular liturgy can be directly traced to the ‘Cult of Fortune’ of old and their patron saint, Baelious, is thought to have been worshiped as a god in the ancient times.
The Brothers battle are often recruited from the population of ‘House Eekin’s’ serfs and freemen and many are toweringly large blond-haired and blond-bearded men of cunning martial prowess.
Their favoured saint is “St. Baleious”.

Temple Avesti (Avestites)

The Avestites were formed under the personal direction of Patriarch Barbatos during the ‘Soul Wars’ so as to find and root out demonic worship and heretic followers of the ‘pretender gods’. Some whisper that the Avestites were originally formed as a means of blinding the most zealous followers of the ‘Church of Celestial Light’ to its leaders own hypocrisy and secrecy by turning their attention to targets of their choosing. Those that whisper this too openly may soon find themselves stretched over the ‘electro-racks’ and targets of inquisition themselves however.
The Avestites long ago seized most of the seats on the Inquisitorial Synod, but even pilgrims who hold no Inquisition seal have a habit of sticking their noses in other people's business. Avestites consider it their duty to search the Known Worlds for signs of heresy, demonism and any other threats to the faithful, and are not about to let such technicalities as law or status get in the way. Their rejection of learning and dogmatic adherence to certain extreme scriptures makes them the object of fear and hatred for the enlightened, although the peasantry might cheer when one of their betters is the target of Avesti ire. Publicly, they are obeyed, but Avestites who wander alone into dark alleys are sometimes never seen again. Only the most fanatic and ascetic initiates are admitted to this sect.
The Avestites almost universally favour the living patriarch as their saint of choice.

Blossom of Mercy

This order of healers and compassionate mystics is as old as the Orthodoxy, although the Blossoms of Mercy conceded leadership of the Church long ago, preferring to dedicate themselves to the perfection of their salutory arts. Everybody loves the priests and priestesses of Blossom of Mercy, followers of Saint Sirona, for their very touch can effect miraculous cures of injuries and sickness -- at times even when artefact tech of the Grand Republic has failed. When a Blossom comes to town, there is always someone willing to provide hospitality for her. Many serfs and freemen will plant a plum tree in their yard in an effort to win the favour of this beloved sect by paying homage to their most well-known symbol, the plum blossom. Indeed, so beloved by the commoners are they that when one was once accused of witchcraft by an overzealous Avestite, the Avestite was seized by the populace and burned at the stake instead.
In addition to “St. Sirona” many also pay homage to “St. Nantosuelta”.

There a number of smaller and obviously pagan faiths throughout the worlds as well but these are considered heretical and that just won't do!

Order of St. Coeus (Vertinari118)

Spoiler :

Orthodoxy:

St. Barbatos the Undying: Patriarch of the Orthodox church and official head of the entire Church of Celestial Light. St. Barbatos wields a scepter.

Cardinal Claude Remillard: Very conservative clergymen with strong ties to the avestites. Does not get along with the Remillard noble house. Cardinal Claude Remillard holds a scepter.

Cardinal Leonid Mirmah: Once arch-bishop of Clarke, he has moved on to accept a cardinalship but maintains contacts throughout Clarke and with the Tsedeq family in particular. Leonid is known to hold more liberal views towards technology and tradition but knows his position is dependent upon the church and will never stray too far. Cardinal Leonid Mirmahholds a scepter.

Cardinal Quelus Heventi: Born a serf of the Universal Light, this man made his mark in local politics before adopting the clerical robes and continuing his political career amongst the monks and clerics of the church. Cardinal Quelus is perhaps the most ambitious of the current sceptreholders and his vote usually goes to whoever can provide the greatest personal gain. Some say that Cardinal Quelus is the least religious cardinal. Cardinal Quelus Heventi holds a scepter.

Eskatonic Order:

Archbishop Horles Keter: A thoroughly mystic man, Horles Keter is known to arrive weeks late to important meetings, forget his childrens name and skip week’s worth of sleep and food in the pursuit of theurgical rites. Though the head of the Order of St. Caswel, he does a poor job of maintaining the political front.

Brothers Battle

Archbishop General (3 star) Judy Sleeping: Born into soldiering, Judy’s father and all her brothers were killed figting the symbiot. Judy Sleeping is a uniquely uncomplicated person and wields her political power with the sole goal of defeating the symbiots and ridding their curse from the known worlds. Archbishop General (3 star) Judy Sleeping is a scepter holder and has in the past commanded the imperial garrison.

Temple Avesti:

High Inquisitor David Ghul: A man known best for his fierce temper and ambition, David wishes nothing less then a return to some imaginary perfect time before sin had stained the hearts of man. He is constantly at the side of St. BArbatos who seems to find something admirable in his anger and single-minded intensity. Despite his faults, or perhaps because of them, David is a an excellent diplomat and administrator.

Blossom of Mercy:

Cardinal Glory Herinus: Quiet, very old and known for understand wisdom, Glory does little to live up to his name while quietly and without noise administers to thousands of hospitals and hospices worldswide.

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

League of Guilds

Background

Spoiler :

The Major Guilds combine the central core of the Merchant League, they are the few, the proud the powerful. Whether through blackmail, monopolies or political and bureaucratic expertise they are capable of holding their own as part of the triumvirate that orders the Known Worlds.

Although merchants have facilities all across space they have are based on Leagueheim. Much of Guild planning and trade is carried out on this small industrial planet. Guilders are fiercely territorial creatures and the noble houses are not welcome to Leagueheim for fear that they might learn their secrets and grow independent of them.

There are a wide variety of guilds operating throughout Leagueheim and the known worlds. Here we will deatail some of the most succesful and influential.

Major Guilds

The Supreme Order of Engineers The mysterious and unnerving Guild of Engineers are in control of all things technical and scientific. Not only are their scientific ways viewed with suspicion but their taste for cyber implants also puts them beyond decency and sacrilegious in the opinions of serfs and devout church priests. Yet it started as a religious order itself and some members maintain a faith that combines experimental science with rare theological concepts. What deals they have cut with the church that ensure their continued existance is unknown but they must provide some service or would have been excommunicated and destroyed long ago. The Supreme Order of Engineers controls a sceptre of the regency.

The Muster The Muster are labour for hire with an emphasis on force. Their activities include slavery, supplying highly skilled workers or elite troops. Their slaver activity has given them the nickname the 'chainers.' They can trace their linage back to a mercenary unit active during the Grand Republic.

The Reeves These Guildsmen deal in money and law. They supply financial services across the Known Worlds, lending money, exchanging currencies, offering investments. They also offer legal services across the many arcane legals systems across the Empire. Their money lending and legal interventions can put them in conflict with the Church. The reeves control two sceptres of the regency.

Minor Guilds:

House Kraiah Tradeing guild The House Kraiah Guild are the guild of space pilots and egineers but their real power lies in their connections to various other guilds and noble houses for whom they move freight and passengers. They specialize in interplanetary trade but also have capacity for intraplanetary transport. This trading house commands a sceptre of the regency.

Ancient Society of Sacred Alchemists Specializing in anything to do with chemistry, much of their activities are specialized towards the extraction, refinement and sale of oil and plastics. The Ancient Society has close ties to both the Supreme Order of Engineers and to the Apothecaries.

Apothecaries While the Blossoms of Mercy are renowned for their healing abilities not all wish to be the recipient of their penance or remedies. Many prefer to trust to well high-technology alternative of healing. Although their prices may be exorbitant their services are the best. Accusations have been levelled that this guild sometimes delves into forbidden biotechnology such as cloning.

The Authority The Authority attempts to controls all trade and merchandise in Errovus Secundus, they are officially a water-gate guild and maintain the systems of dykes, damns and locks that preserve the land against the rising levels of water. Unoffocially they have their hand in every trade or industrial development of the planet. The authority commands a sceptre of the regency.

Brewers This guild provides to the public clean food and water, a necessity in modern times with so many pollutants in the land and air. While most brewers are merely publicans and barkeeps who pay commission to the Brewers Guild they do ensure that a standard is kept.

Bureaucrats Where there is business there's paperwork, where there's management there's administration. The Bureaucrats are there to provide professional administration for nobles, church and other businesses. Their discretion is assured.

Carnivaliers One of the two major entertainment guilds in the Known Worlds. The Carnivaliers deal with what is distainfully known as 'low-brow' entertainment by the nobility who prefer the services of The Masque. The Carnivaliers provide street theatre, circus performance, juggling, acrobatics and animal menageries.

Courtesans The Courtesans guild is more than mere prostitution. They are refined and elite companions of high-society. They ensure that their clientele receives elegant companionship who are capable of drawing upon a vast network of gossip and information.

Fishers Most worlds have their own local guild for fishermen.

Gormands This guild tends to serve high-society providing exquisite cuisine from across the Known-Worlds. They are also trained to be able to detect attempts at poisoning and are entrusted to cater for the nobility.

The Masque One of two major entertainment guilds, they produce high-society entertainment the the nobility and peasantry together. They provide theatrical representations of history as it is made (often written at the direction of a noble or other benefactor). They are also in charge of the remaining Magic Lanterns and any other hi-technology entertainment.

Mercurians This secretive faction is part guild and part revolutionary terrorist. Their operations can be as simple as prank that humiliates a dignitary, as subtle as the shade of colour of a substituted flag or as chaotic as the release of alien creatures in an urban setting. The organisation remains profoundly illegal and their members anonymous. Their true purposes remain a mystery to even most of their members. The Merchants League remains duplicitous on the subject of the Mercurians at times welcoming their contribution and at other times denying their existence. Historically it routes are in the drop out culture of the Grand Republic.

Pedagogues The art of teaching is not lost in the New Dark Ages, however it is far from common practice. The Pedagogues tend to cater their services to the education of youth specifically that of governesses, personal tutors and other educators. The teachers of higher levels of academic learning tend to ply their trade as long-term contracts to specific noble hosues while other, more generalized teachers tend to become travelling tutors. They say that the pedagogue have a major academy on leagueheim.

Promoters(Shills) Public Opinion is no longer the concern of the free media. While there is little in the way of mass media or literacy the Promoters insure that whatever news they're paid to advertise is broadcast, even if it's by yelling. Earning them the appellation of 'shills'.

Prospectors A high-tech mining guild with numerous contracts both independent and on behalf of various noble houses on both planets and moons.

Vagabonds Not officially a guild but rather a loose-knit society of vagrants, hobos and vagabonds. By working together they are capable of providing a fraternity that will support each other in their free lifestyles. Owing allegiance to none and accorded privilege to none this is one of the most disparate collectives in the Known Worlds.

Wordwrights The art of writing is a skill precious few have, and a skill that even less excel at. Specialists in composing literature are hired to either scribe other texts, or compose epics and ballads of heroic deeds lest all forget them.

Weaponsmiths The productions of weapons is considered a fine art by many, the weaponsmith guilds among them. Rather than a whole guild this is the collective term for a number of guilds that generally owe direct service to a large faction for the manufacture of weapons. While they will not build hi-tech weapons (violating Engineer monopoly) they will produce some of the finest blades and slug guns in existence.

Wranglers The care of beasts is not a skill all care to take. The Wranglers are Ranchers, veterinarians, huntsmen, herders and manufacturers of harnesses and other beat related equipment.

House Kraiah Tradeing guild (Darksaber)

Spoiler :

The Supreme Order of Engineers

Pamilla Sofenti: A women with a nearly-religious view on technology and its incorporation. She believes in the dissemenation of knowledge and technology and runs the guild as a business only so that it can keep functioning. She holds a scepter.

Al: Al is not known to appear in person to any meetings, prefers ‘projection’ technology. Al is defiantly not his real name and his real name and appearance are a closely guarded secret. Al’s views on technology and its incorporation are so extreme that he has been excommunicated by the church of universal light. Doing business with Al may be bad for relations with the church and yet his expediency and attention to detail make him an excellent contact amongst the league.

The Muster

Tong Yang Grigor: Tall and thin, this man’s sunken appearance and cold eyes intimidate more then they befriend. Tong is a skilled diplomat but not above cheating and lying to get his way. He is a reputed atheist though no proof has been offered.

The Reeves

Jason Avivies: A born bureaucrat, this man has an amazing mind for names and numbers, deals and money. He is a self-made freeman who rose through the ranks via honest hardwork and business aplomb. Jason is always ready to cut a deal and lives the firebird. His penchant for usury have led him afoul of the church and it is a delicate balancing act he performs to keep Reeve contracts with the Orthodoxy alive while maintaining his traditional business model. Jason holds a scepter.

Jason Bird: The second reeve Jason, Jason bird has his background in ‘shadow business’ and has a huge interest in political influence and favor trading. He is constantly involved in imperium politics and has managed to secure many deals for the Reeves with the imperium via his tricks. This Jason also holds a scepter.

The Authority

Garren Grimkill: A hard-nosed negotiator with an eye for blackmail and political ruin, Garren is a difficult and dangerous man to do business with. It is said that the authority is involved in 90% of deals on Errovus Secondus and the reason is this man’s veritable network of contacts and agents. The authority has repeatedly repelled Imperial Eye intelligence probe attempts and it said that the intelligence network of the authority, at least on Errovus Secondus, is a contender to rival the imperium’s. Garrem holds a scepter.

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

The Imperium

Background

Spoiler :

Until the population of the known worlds can acclaim a single emperor to rule all, the phoenix throne remains in flux. The empire must remain united for how, without unity, can the Symbiot threat be countered? How can the individual aspirations of the noble houses be balanced? How can the churches’ dominance be countered? How can the guilds’ greed be denied?

The reagent to the phoenix throne is chosen by vote amongst the 37 sceptre-holders throughout the known worlds. The sceptres of regency are dividing amongst the noble houses, the church and the league of guilds and as such the chosen reagent is representative of all the major political powers of the known worlds.

The empire is dependent upon four divisions to operate and project its authority. Once a reagent to the phoenix throne is choosen, the reagent must immediately appoint a sceptre-holder to the positions of ‘commander of the imperial fleet’, ‘commander of the imperial garrison’, and ‘commander of the imperial eye’. No two of these three command positions may be held by individuals from the same noble house, church sect or guild house, though the reagent of the phoenix throne may appoint a second individual from their own house to one of these commands.

Reagent to the Phoenix Throne

The reagent is the chosen representative of the known worlds, their favorite leader. This position will bring much prestige to the faction from which the individual is chosen. In addition, they will command significant fiefs throughout the known worlds, dedicated serfs, industries and entire military divisions. In addition, the reagent commands the ‘Phoenix Guard’, an elite division of soldiers who serve as bodyguards and specialist forces to the Emperor Reagent.

Imperial Garrison

The Imperial garrison consists of several divisions of Grimson Legions (think terran soldiers from Starcraft) who’s primary goal and directive is to combat the Symbiots of Stigmata. They also hold multiple fiefs, especially on Hubbard, which they use to both gather the materials required to make the armor and weapons required to fight off the alien invaders and to train their troops in difficult and dry terrain. The imperial garrison also commands two divisions of heavy infantry on Errovus Secondus who’s duty it is to protect imperial protectorates there.

Imperial Fleet

The Imperial Fleet’s primary duty is to 1) prevent Symbiots from invading beyond Stigmata and to assist the Imperial Garrison in fighting them on Stigmata, 2) patrol known space and prevent piracy and barbarism amongst its trade routes, and 3) maintain the integrity of the jumpgates. The imperial fleet, along with the Church of Celestial Light controls the largest battle fleets amongst mankind. In addition to these military assets the imperial fleet command feifs throughout Arrakis, Hubbard and Errovus Secondus. These fiefdoms are charged with collecting the ore and the oil and refining them to allow the maintenance and deployment of their massive fleet. In addition, they also operate a shipyard on Arrakis for both the repair of their current fleet and the construction of new vessels.

Imperial Eye

The imperial eye is domestic insurance. By spying on the various noble houses as well as the guilds and church sects the phoenix throne can be appraised of potential disturbances and betrayals before they have a chance to develop into real threats. The imperial eye is unabashed in its spying and declares that those who have nothing to hide should not be afraid. The presence of a unit of dreaded doppelganger assassins is neither confirmed nor denied. The fiefs of the imperial eye are limited to Errovus Secondus and a small genetech facility on Assimov.

At the turn of the century in the year 2300, the electorate choose
Michelos van Hersula of House Holy Gate as Regent
who appointed
Garik Harnoth of House Hypeean as Imperium Garrison Commander
Embra of House Klorin a Imperium Fleet Commander and
Cardinal Leonid Mirmah of the Orthodoxy as Imperium Eye Commander

Imperial Eye (imperial command)

Spoiler :

Resources:

[*]Income: poor
[*]Treasury: good
[*]Infrastructure: good
[*]Man-Power: very poor

Military:

[*]Readiness: good
[*]Loyalty: good
[*]Development: good
[*]Man-Power: very poor

Technology:

[*]Physics: poor
[*]Biotech: poor
[*]Cultural: poor

Magicks:

[*]Thaumaturgy: very low
[*]Theurgy: negligible
[*]Heresy: negligible

Reputation:

Popularity: very poor
Noblesse: very poor
Piety: very poor
Profitability: very poor

Fiefdoms:

Errovus Secondus: 400,000 serfs, intelligence training facilities, chemistry plants, weapons manufacturing plants, computers and data-processing centres
Assimov: 200,000 serfs, farming, biotechnology research facilities, genetic research facilities

Military Assets:

Errovus Secondus intelligence network: extensive and well-funded network of spies, informants and ‘operatives’ (Errovus Secondus)
Clarke intelligence network: extensive and well-funded network of spies, informants and ‘operatives’ (Clarke)
Assimov intelligence network: extensive and well-funded network of spies, informants and ‘operatives’ (Assimov)
Arrakis intelligence network: extensive and well-funded network of spies, informants and ‘operatives’ (Arrakis)
Incillia intelligence network: extensive and well-funded network of spies, informants and ‘operatives’ (Incillia)
Hubbard intelligence network: extensive and well-funded network of spies, informants and ‘operatives’ (Hubbard)
Leagueheim intelligence network: limited and constantly harrassed by corporate counter-intelligence networks, none-the-less is well-funded (Leagueheim)
Bat-class Yacht(errovus secondus)
Bat-class Yacht (errovus secondus)
Bat-class Yacht (Assimov)
Clar Grimson Legion: automatic weapons, ceramsteel armour (Assimov)

Non-Military Assets:

Errovus Secondus Intelligence Headquarters: sizeable thinking machine facilities, databases of intelligence gathering data, intelligence processing centre (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Training Facilities: trains intelligence operatives (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Chemistry Plants: many exotic chemicals, often for use in the pharmaceutical industry are produced here both for use by the imperial eye and for sale to help alleviate cost (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Weapons Manufacturing Plants: specialization in miniaturization and concealment as well as biological integration (errovus secondus)

Imperial Garrison (imperial comamnd)

Spoiler :

Resources:

[*]Income: poor
[*]Treasury: good
[*]Infrastructure: good
[*]Man-Power: good

Military:

[*]Readiness: very good
[*]Loyalty: excellent
[*]Development: good
[*]Man-Power: very good

Technology:

[*]Physics: good
[*]Biotech: medium
[*]Cultural: poor

Magicks:

[*]Thaumaturgy: negligible
[*]Theurgy: poor
[*]Heresy: negligible

Reputation:

Popularity: very good
Noblesse: medium
Piety: good
Profitability: poor

Fiefdoms:

Errovus Secondus: 1.8 million serfs, barracks, weapons and armor manufacturing facilities,
Incillia: 1.2 million serfs, farming, fishing
Hubbard: 1.9 million serfs, mining, ore refining, planetary spaceport
Stigmata: 2.1 million soldiers and support personal, fortresses, gun emplacements

Military Assets:

Walaby-class Transport (light freighter) (stigmata)
Walaby-class Transport (light freighter) (errovus secondus)
Bird-class Freighter outfitted to be able to refine ore in flight (Hubbard)
IGS Rodeo Cowboy: Damseslfly-class Dropship (stigmata)
IGS Lightning: Damseslfly-class Dropship (stigmata)
IGS Thunder: Damseslfly-class Dropship (stigmata)
1st Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (errovus secondus)
2nd Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (stigmata)
3rd Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (stigmata)
4th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (Hubbard)
5th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (stigmata)
6th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (stigmata)
7th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (stigmata) (not battle-ready- see update 1)
8th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (Incellia)
9th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (stigmata)
10th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs, no combat experience, green troops (hubbard)
11th Imperial Garrison Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (stigmata)
Imperial Garrison Fortress: extensive heavy-gun emplacements, surface to air, surface to surface missile batteries, incendiary and high-explosive artillery batteries, extensive ferocrete bunkers, nuclear fission missile siloes (ICBMs, many smaller weapons) (all built around the downed Stigmata jumpgate) (stigmata)
Windigo 2 Barracks: training facility (Hubbard)
E2 Barracks: training facility (Hubbard)

Non-Military Assets:

Errovus Secondus Weapons and Armor Factories: specialize in production of ceramsteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, missiles, artillery weapons (Errovus Secondus)
Courage Farming Facilities: uses high-tech farming to produce plentiful grain (Incellia)
Whiteknife Mining and Refining facilities: uses high-tech mining operations to produce ores for weapons manufacturing for both the imperial garrison and the imperial fleet (Hubbard)
Windigo 2 Mining and Refining facilities: uses high-tech mining operations to produce ores for weapons manufacturing for both the imperial garrison and the imperial fleet (Hubbard)
Elvis Mining and Refining facilities: uses high-tech mining operations to produce ores for weapons manufacturing for both the imperial garrison and the imperial fleet (Hubbard)
Windigo 2 spaceport: planetary operations only, specialize in exporting ore
Hubbard Rail: Extensive rail networks to access major cities and countless smaller mining operations

Imperial Fleet (imperial comamnd)

Spoiler :

Resources:

[*]Income: poor
[*]Treasury: medium
[*]Infrastructure: good
[*]Man-Power: medium

Military:

[*]Readiness: good
[*]Loyalty: very good
[*]Development: good
[*]Man-Power: poor

Technology:

[*]Physics: good
[*]Biotech: medium
[*]Cultural: poor

Magicks:

[*]Thaumaturgy: negligible
[*]Theurgy: negligible
[*]Heresy: negligible

Reputation:

Popularity: medium
Noblesse: poor
Piety: poor
Profitability: good

Fiefdoms:

Errovus Secondus: 4.2 million serfs, weapons manufactoring, ore refineries, plastics development, physics research facilities, biotech research facilities, chemistry plants, pilot training facilities, airborne infantry training facilities
Arrakis: 20.1 million serfs, farming, oil wells, oil refineries, specialist pharmaceutical crop farms
Hubbard: 105,000 serfs, ore mining, ore refineries
Stigmata: 40,000 soldiers and serfs, spaceport, airport

Military Assets:

IFS Imperial Shield: Spider Class Battleship (stigmata)
IFS Imperial Axe Monitor-class battleship (stigmata)
IFS Imperial Sword: Monitor-class battleship (stigmata)
IFS Argus: Admiral Class Carrier (stimata)
IFS 1st Fighter Division: Stinger-class fighters (stigmata)
IFS Beattle Class Carrier (stimata)
IFS 2nd Fighter-Bomber Division: Dauntless-Class Aerospace Bombers (stigmata)
IFS Ark Royal: Admiral Class Carrier green, no combat experience (arrakis)
IFS 3rd Fighter Division: Stinger-class fighter (no combat experience) (arrakis)
IFS DiscoFever: Sky Cruiser class Cruiser (stigmata)
IFS MadMotors: Sky-Cruiser class Cruiser (stigmata)
IFS Void Dancer: Sky Cruiser-class Cruiser (stigmata)
IFS Twirling: Sky Cruiser-class Cruiser (stigmata)
1st Airborne Imperial Fleet Legion: grimson legion armor equipped with retractable wings and jet engines, automatic weapons, short range air-to-surface missiles, combat drugs (stigmata)
Damseslfly-class Dropship (stigmata)
2nd Airborne Imperial Fleet Legion: grimson legion armor equipped with retractable wings and jet engines, automatic weapons, short range air-to-surface missiles, combat drugs (stigmata)
IFS Toothache: Rabid class Destroyer (arrakis)
IFS Cactus: Valant Sun Class Destroyer (errovus secondus)
IFS Frothy: Rabid Class Destroyer (errovus secondus)
Combat Space/Airport: not equipped for commercial or freight, this is a purely combat-oriented orbital and planetary space and airport for the maintenance and re-equipping of the Stigmata fleet (stigmata)
4th Fighter Division: Stinger-class fighterse (stigmata)
Bird-class Freighter: outfitted to be able to refine oil in flight (Arrakis)
1st Imperial Fleet Grimson Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (errovus secondus)
2nd Imperial Fleet Grimson Legion: grimson legion ceramasteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, flame weapons, combat drugs (arrakis)
Errovus Secondus Barracks and Pilot training facility (Errovus Secondus)
Gataca: training facility (arrakis)

Non-Military Assets:

Errovus Secondus Drydocks: one of only four facilities in the known world capable of producing jump-capable ships (Errovus Secondus)
Errovus Secondus Weapons Facilities: specialization in missile targeting and propellant development (Errovus Secondus)
Errovus Secondus Physics Research Facility: specialization in aeronotautics and space flight (Errovus Secondus)
Errovus Secondus Biotech Research Facility: specialization in machine/neuronal interface (Errovus Secondus)
Errovus Secondus Chemistry and Plastics Manufacturing Facilities (Errovus Secondus)
Errovus Secondus Chemistry and Plastics Manufacturing Facilities (Errovus Secondus)
Molyvet Ore Mining and Refining Facilities, export through the Windigo 2 Imperial Garrison Feif (Hubbard)
Gataca Oil Fields and Refineries (Arrakis)
Cosid Oil Fields and Refineries (Arrakis)
Tyrosi Oil Fields and Refineries (Arrakis)
Bemlam Oil Fields and Refineries (Arrakis)
Bemlam Experimental Pharmaceutical Crop Farms (Arrakis)

Emperor Regent (imperial comamnd)

Spoiler :

Resources:

[*]Income: medium
[*]Treasury: medium
[*]Infrastructure: good
[*]Man-Power: good

Military:

[*]Readiness: good
[*]Loyalty: very good
[*]Development: good
[*]Man-Power: medium

Technology:

[*]Physics: good
[*]Biotech: good
[*]Cultural: good

Magicks:

[*]Thaumaturgy: negligible
[*]Theurgy: very poor
[*]Heresy: negligible

Reputation:

Popularity: good
Noblesse: poor
Piety: medium
Profitability: medium

Fiefdoms:

Errovus Secondus: 31 million serfs, weapons manufacturing, plastics development, pharmaceuticals development, chemistry development, computers development, barracks
Hubbard: 2.2 million serfs, ore mining, ore refining, sheep and goat herding, textiles
Arrakis: 15.2 million serfs, farming, oil wells, oil refineries, fruit orchards, planetary and orbital spaceport
Incillia: 7.1 million serfs, farming, fishing, aquaculture, mining
Clarke: 620,000 serfs, farming, fishing, trade

Military Assets:

Errovus Secondus grand planetary and orbital spaceport, both commerical and military applications, repair and maintenance of ships, oribital warehouses, cryostorage (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus battle coordination satellite (the ‘eye in the sky&#8217, long and short range orbit to orbit missiles, extensive optical and thermal imaging sensors, light ceramsteel armor (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Phoenix Guard, grimson legion armor, automatic ballistic weapons, experimental light-based weaponry, cybernetic armor/human interface, integrated satellite intra-divisional communications and battle computers, combat trance training (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Barracks and troop training facilities (errovus secondus)
IRS Charger: Rabid class Destroyer (errovus secondus)
Damseslfly-class Dropship (modified: pilots are cybernetically linked to ship and to battle satellites, combat trance training) (stigmata)
Phoenix Drop Infantry: grimson legion armor equipped with retractable wings and jet engines, automatic weapons, short range air-to-surface missiles, cybernetic armor/human interface, integrated satellite intra-divisional communications and battle computers, combat trance training (errovus secondus)
IRS Mustache Toad: Sky Cruiser-class Cruiser (hubbard)
Bird-class Freighter: outfitted to be able to refine ore in flight (hubbard)
IRS Zephyr Rabid-Class Destroyer(arrakis)
Bird-class Freighter: outfitted to be able to refine oil in flight (Arrakis)
IRS Fervent: Rabid-class Destroyer (Incillia)

Non-Military Assets:

Errovus Secondus Plastic Manufacturing (Errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Weapons Manufacturing, speciality in ballistic weapons and short range missiles (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Pharmaceuticals (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Chemistry Manufacturing (errovus secondus)
Errovus Secondus Computers Development (errovus secondus)
Ore Mining and Refinery (Jeseske, hubbard)
Wool Weaving and Textile industry (Jeseske, hubbard)
Arrakis rail system (connects cities and villages of arrakis) (arrakis)
Oil Wells and Refineries (Hawif, arrakis)
farmlands (Lalc, arrakis)
farmlands (Dacia, arrakis)
planetary and orbital spaceport (Dacia, arrakis)
oil wells and refineries (Dacia, arrakis)
oil wells and refineries (Balviu, arrakis)
farming and aquaculture (Tofairy, incillia)
rare mineral mining operations (Alice, incillia)
arming and aquaculture (Alice, incillia)
fishing and trade (Carrice, clarke)

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

THE KNOWN WORLDS

The entire universe is now limited to what is referred to as ‘the Known Worlds’.

These compromise the nine planets of Holy Erruvus, Errovus Seconuds, Leagueheim, Stigmata, Hubbard, Assimov, Clarke, Arrakis and Incillia

Holy Errovus

Spoiler :

We are children of the Diaspora, seeds spreading the Celestial Light’s truths hither and yon across this bleak cosmos; and so it is fortunate that we may still gaze longingly, across the night skies of a thousand worlds, toward the stellar madonna that nursed our species to adulthood. She may still be seen, though she too has ebbed in the manner of her celestial sisters: yellow Sol, beacon blazing all the more gloriously in her faintness.

Complex%20at%20the%20Centre%20of%20the%20Universe%20Staszek%20Marek%20NVart.jpg

I can still remember the exercise that every seminary student had to undergo beneath the watchful eye and ready cane of the chartophylax. I remember myself as a lad, reciting those hoary names: Mercury, Venus, Errovus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. And though I was born amid the fields of Arrakis, separated from my race's cradle by unfathomable gulfs, those simple names permeate me with simultaneous longing and serenity.

Or rather, I should amend, one name among them. The other eight planets are little known to me, save as words to be recited: orphan waifs of memory. Erovus, though: third planet from the sun, that superficially undistinguished sphere on whose meadows and fields, forests and mountains, eons past, the Celestial Light chose to smile...

Ye who peruse this humble work, ye are a scion of that third planet, no matter what star shines upon ye now; and so I challenge thee, can ye read of the mother-sphere without shedding a single nostalgic tear? Do the ancient names, Eesunlun, Terral, Shwalan, Averlan, Altheriol, fail to tug your thoughts ever so faintly, across unimaginable gulfs of time and distance, toward that lone and flickering star?

Take heart: For though we have been weaned and grown and matured, and finally left the ancestral nest, as all children do when they have entered adulthood, do not imagine that we have abandoned Errovus to the abyss. No, the Church has sanctified her as Holy Errovus, and if Erruvus Secundus is the regal queen of secular power, then Holy Errovus is the aged but honored matriarch overseeing the disposition of our souls.

There are, of course, those who interpret much too literally the Church's reverence for the natal soil. These "geomancers", byblows of an Eskatonic garbling of Book 23 of the Omega Gospels, would uphold the planet itself as some sort of sentient dominion, even going so far as to pay it worship and invoke its blessing in magical formulae. This is clearly false: Do not the Omega Gospels speak of the Celestial Light's "single and supernal godhead" and warn against false idols?

Nonetheless, no planet, not Clarke or wondrous Assimov, does the Church hold in such reverence, and so Errovus has been given over to Holy Church, the better that those who love her might preserve her beauty forever. And this task her curators have accomplished admirably: Terra has been transformed into the idyllic garden sphere of her youth. Her continents are lush with flowering shrubs and aromatic pines, her monuments have been restored and weathered against the elements, and no planet is as radiant with cathedrals praising the Pancreator's bounty.

This is not to infer has Errovus been left entirely destitute, a revered but purposeless astronomical obelisk, in our quest for the heavens. On the contrary, over two hundred million faithful still walk close to the Celestial Light's timeless blessing. Errovus is a garden, yea, but a living garden, one complete with industrious and contented denizens happily going about their works, treading the very soil, sowing the very fields, plying the very streams that their ancestors trod, sowed and plied in the dim eras of time's beginning.

And so naturally, as with any garden, the Church must faithfully prune the grounds, encouraging the Celestial Light's flowers to bloom while uprooting the weeds and poison toadstools, and in so doing suffer nothing to spread beyond its preordained bounds. Just as a dutiful son would never enter his mother's house with mud soiling his boots, so the Church must safeguard lest prodigal children bear to Errovus some alien sin, some occult taint from the far reaches of outer space. Thus, the Church sternly but wisely forbids all the scions of this honourable world, but the holiest from returning to Errovus, save through the vicarious auspices of winecups and melancholy songs.

Certain agitators, ignorant of the Church's wisdom, decry this regulatory policy prohibiting homecoming. Their anger is understandable, but ultimately foolish and misdirected. They must realize that the Church's sapience on this matter exceeds their shortsighted needs. They must accept that humanity, as children of the Diaspora, needs must pay their penance in the void before returning triumphant to Errovus, not as dutiful children, but as conquering spouses. Yea, only when all is cleansed, when the race is reunited under one banner, when the Symbiots and the Kappa and the Lost Evvis and the unbelievers from all across the stars and all the other servants of the hells have been purged in celestial flame, only then may humanity return as one brotherly congregation and repopulate the seat of origin, and lift their voices to the immaculate heavens in exaltation of the Celestial Light's work.

And so I adjure those who dissent: Turn thy tongues from ill speech, but go amid the heavens, and rest ye not until your humble star, your verdant planet of genesis is universally acknowledged as supreme in the Celestial Light's esteem, until the Kappa, the Lost, and the warlocks themselves come one and all to pay tribute amid the nurturing soil of Holy Errovus.

Errovus Secondus:

Spoiler :

Though a relatively small planet, Errovus Secondus is vastly overpopulated, so much so that terraforming engines must be constantly employed to maintain a breathable atmosphere and clean seas. The planet itself is the first to have been colonized when mankind reached space and as such it contains precious few resources any longer.

Importantly, it is the home to the imperial throne and the imperial garrison, fleet and eye all maintain a large and protective presence on this world.

While much of the population lives at the relative cores of the various continents almost all the coasts are made up of 100s of miles of briny swamps which are constantly flooded by the rolling seas. Specific smaller continents are the sole fiefdoms of the league guild ‘the authority’ and tasked with providing food and other vital resources for the megacities of this planet. These fiefdoms are vastly undersized and under-resourced for the task and much of the food for the planet’s inhabitants is imported from off-world.

Spoiler :

Major Fiefdoms:

Freemen Population with No Major Associations: Population 390,000,000
(a note on these people: they have little money, survive largely in ghettos and are often very dangerous... occasionally a powerful warlord will rise amongst their number but they have little government or infrastructure so this tends to be a temporary affair at best)

Noble House Query: Serf population of 12,200,000

Noble House Koriate: Serf population of 4,200,000

Noble House Klorin: Serf population of nearly 3,700,000

Noble House of the Holy Gate: Serf population of 800,000

Noble House Hyppean: Serf population of 1,200,000

Noble House Quin: Serf population of 430,000

Noble House Tsedeq: Serf population of 700,000

Noble House Bossheim: Serf population of 42,000

Noble House Thana: Serf population of 32,000

Noble House Vanari: Serf population of 315,000

Noble House Sanctious’Als: Serf population of 28,000

Noble House Texier: Serf population of 720,000

Texier political academy
small scale farming, fishing, and aquaculture

Noble House Xicier: Serf population of 245,000

Noble House Eekin: Serf population of 1,220,000

Noble House Remillard: Serf population of 160,000

Noble House Albriño: Serf population of 2,100,000

Vineyards

Guild House The Authority: Serf population 11,820,000, Freemen population 980,000

large scale farming operations
large scale fishing operations
large scale aquaculture operations
naval trade warehouses, fleets, and ports
planetary and orbital spaceport
naval military bases
planetary defense fleet
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System

Church Sect Orthodoxy: Serf population of 2,200,000, Clergymen population of 650,000

small scale farming operations
small scale fishing operations
monasteries and churches

Imperium Regent: Serf population of 31,000,000

plastics manufacturing plants
weapons manufacturing plants
pharmaceuticals manufacturing plants
chemistry synthesizing plants
electronics and computers manufacturing plants

Imperium Garrison: Serf population of 1,800,000

Weapons and Armor Factories (specialize in production of ceramsteel armor, automatic ballistic weapons, missiles, artillery weapons)

Imperium Fleet: Serf population of 4,200,000

Drydocks (produces jump-capable spaceships)
Weapons Facilities (specialization in missile targeting and propellant development)
Physics Research Facility (specialization in aeronautics and space flight)
Biotech Research Facility (specialization in machine/neuronal interface)
Chemistry and Plastics Manufacturing Facilities

Imperium Eye: Serf population of 400,000

Intelligence Headquarters: sizeable thinking machine facilities, databases of intelligence gathering data, intelligence processing centre
Training Facilities: trains intelligence operatives
Chemistry Plants
Weapons Manufacturing Plants: specialization in miniaturization and concealment as well as biological integration

Leagueheim

Spoiler :

Stigmata

Spoiler :

When the evvis (ie- elves) opened the jumpgates to Stigmata after the first Symbiot invasion they unleashed a terrible evil upon the world for, in their short-sighted search for wealth and power, they open a gateway to a renewed Symbiot invasion. The symbiots managed to infect Hubbard but by then the church knew how to fight them and employing theurgy alongside the soldiers and fleets of the Emperor, managed to fight them back to the jumpgates, purge Hubbard and trap the Symbiots in Stigmata.

But the Symbiots would not be so easily beaten. They launched a counter attack upon the orbiting jumpgate of Stigmata and very nearly broke through. Only the sacrificial deployment of 'Belial's Fire' fission weapons by the now beautified St. Cleary prevented a third invasion. Surprisingly, despite the explosion of a nuclear bomb of this scale directly in the vicinity of the jumpgate, Stigmata's jumpgate was not destroyed. It did however lose it oribital stability and was pulled from the heavens by another invasion of symbiots. The stigmata jumpgate now lies in a shallow dust-filled crater in a lifeless land of rock and darkness.

Stigmata is home to the majority of the Imperial Garrison including the Manifest Light Legion, the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th Legions, and the Scions of Zahl (a Brother Battle Legion) as well as the majority of the imperial fleet. There job is simple; they must protect the jumpgate from renewed invasion by the Symbiot hordes.

As a result of the battles on this planet and the extensive use of Belial's Fire fission weaponry, nothing grows for 1000s of kilometers around the jumpgate and those soldiers which are sent there must constantly protect themselves from the miasma that comes from fission weapons.

The source of Symbiots on Stigmata is a matter of debate. It is clear that they do not use the downed jumpgate to access the planet and no other jumpgate is known to exist. Some say that Stigmata itself is a breeding colony while others say that the symbiots are able to travel there using conventional space travel.

Without stigmata, there would be no Known Worlds and it is only through the bravery of the soldiers who fight and die on this bleak and darkened planet that we live to breathe today.

Spoiler :

Hubbard

Spoiler :

Asimov

Spoiler :

Asimov is famous for its extensive jungles and rain forests teaming with stange alien life. Plantlife extends, often, for a thousand to two thousand feet into the air. Entire communities of strange monkey-like or lizard-like creatures live their whole lives in the heights without ever seeing the ground. Rainfall is frequent and plentiful as humidity rises into the atmosphere from the jungles and falls again upon the extensive foliage. Waterfalls bounce over branches and vines and fish-like species live in the height of the jungles, never seeing lakes or oceans and yet living their entire lives in the high lakes of the rainforest canopy.

While asimov has long been known throughout the era of the Grand Republic, the planet's atmosphere, thick in toxins and poisons and ill-suited to any colonists resisted the advances of the republic for hundreds of years. During this time, however, the Republic had not forgotten Asimov and their terraforming engines quietly continued to transform the atmosphere and the very soil.

Now, the atmosphere and terrain continues to be difficult for colonists but some have managed to carve out a home amongst the jungle. It is the newest planet to be colonized and retains most of its exoticism; many of its plants and animals are found only here and many are very deadly. A number of guilds and houses have attempted to develop medicines and biochemistry form Asimov's plant and animal life and many have succeeded. While Assimov's terrain allows for extensive growth of wildlife, introduced species have not fared well and farming remains limited. This has severely reduced the capacity of the planet to support colonists and as such, noble houses dependent upon introduced species have not done as well as those who have embraced the alien planet and learned to farm some of the local plants or to remove the venom thereof.

Asimov is accessible only from the jumpgate of Errovus Secondus (though in times past its jumpgate did access other worlds). Generally the world is covered in thick jungle, though there are exceptions, most notably the poles.

Spoiler :

Major Fiefdoms:

Noble House Koriate: Serf population of 1,100,000

Keul (pop 250,000)

Noble House Quin: Serf population of 8,200,000

Lan (pop 1,800,000)
Denari (pop 105,000)
Vader (pop 80,000)

Guild House: Apothecaries: Freeman population of 22,000, Serf population of 140,000

Experimental Farms (grow native species for analysis in research facilities)
The Grand Hospital (pop 38,000), Medical Research Facilities, Biotech Research Facilities, Genetic Research Facilities, Pharmaceuticals Factories

Imperium Eye: Serf population of 200,000

Clar (pop 82,000)

Clarke

Spoiler :

Arrakis

Spoiler :

The desert world of Arrakis is a dry desolate plain stretching for seemingly ever and yet it is broken and divided by a multitude of large lakes, rivers and flood plains. While the desert sands are harsh and inhospitable, areas with good water retention are extremely fertile (and indeed many of the staple crops of Errovus origin have been successfully introduced here) and can easily develop large population centers.

While the sands hide few mineral resources, there are significant oil fields throughout the planet.

Arrakis is accessible from Clarke, Hubbard and Errovus Secondus

Spoiler :

Major Fiefdoms:

Noble House Query: Serf population of 18,200,000

Ryavan (pop 920,000)
Vysotsk (pop 720,000)
Rustav (pop 530,000)
Illasky (pop 380,000)
Tyrnyauz (pop 220,000)
Gryazi (pop 120,000)

Noble House Koriate: Serf population of 2,300,000

Harkonnen (pop 210,000)
Corrino(pop 120,000)

Noble House Klorin: Serf population of 5,300,000

Lanark (pop 480,000)

Noble House Hyppean: Serf population of 31,200,000

Sussita (pop 3,600,000)
Ein Gev (pop 1,920,000)
Jannaeus (pop 1,440,000)
Tiberia (pop 1,100,000)
Raphana (pop 720,000)
Diolesci (pop 515,000)
Peletsi (pop 212,000)
Vaseli (pop 130,000)

Noble House Vanari: Serf population of 12,900,000

Romeni (pop 1,100,000)
Cdit (pop 620,000)
Rykun (pop 105,000)

Noble House Sanctious’Als: Serf population of 8,100,000

Ter’Als (pop 600,000)
Kwelos’Als (pop 425,000)
Der’Als (pop 280,000)

Noble House Kilgore: Serf population of 1,200,000

Noble House Xicier: Serf population of 5,600,000

Bejaïa (pop 670,000)
Damietta (pop 665,000)
Qena (pop 475,000)
Sabrata (pop 240,000)

Church Sect: Blossom of Mercy: Clergy Population of 4,000, Freemen population of 23,000

Debir (pop 5,600) Hospital, Great Holy Orchard of Yggdresil

Church Sect: Orthodoxy: Clergy Population of 8,200, Serf Population of 108,000

Achzib (pop 41,000)

Guild House: Farmers: 800,000 Freemen

Soulazon (pop 105,000), advanced farms

Imperium Fleet: Serf population of 20,100,000

Gataca (pop 1,970,000)
Cosid (population 480,000)
Tyrosi (pop 470,000)
Bemlam (pop 120,000)

Imperium Regent: Serf Population of 15,200,000

Hawif (pop 590,000)
Lalc (pop 385,000)
Dacia (pop 340,000)
Balviu (pop 290,000)

Incillia

Spoiler :

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Trade Contracts

Description

Spoiler :

Each contract has one or more partners. It also has a brief description. Each of the partners involved receives either a highly unfavorable, a moderately unfavorable, a slightly unfavorable, a fair, a slightly favorable, a moderately favorable, or a highly favorable share of any income generated from the trade contract. Each partner may provide one or more assets to the contract treaty.

Trade contracts are negotiated in game and may or may not be associated with a character action (player’s choice). A character may generate slightly better income from the trade negotiations if they have the appropriate character traits.

An important consideration when considering the value of a trade contract is the faction’s infrastructure resource statistic. This statistic represents much of the basic infrastructure needed to produce, refine, and move ‘product’. Not only does this statistic determine the speed and efficiency of product transport, it also determines the range. Consider that a negligible infrastructure means barren desert, wild forests and overgrown jungle. Its very hard for a man with a backpack full of grain to trek through this environment. Very poor may indicate dirt roads and oxen/donkeys and early wind-powered sailing vessels (think cogs, not galleons). Trade is probably limited to your immediate neighbors. Poor infrastructure may indicate stone roads, early forms of pavement in some areas and importantly rudimentary rail networks. Freight moves by rail or steamship (or sometimes still oxen caravan/galleon-type sail ships). They can probably trade with anyone on their continent if not too far and the intervening terrain is not too inhospitable or on neighboring continents if a suitable ocean is available to link the ports. Medium infrastructure is probably little different in that rail and ship remain the vehicles of choice but now the steam engine begins to be supplanted by the internal combustion engine. Ports may have towering cranes and railyards are veritable industrial mazes. Trade is possible anywhere on the planet provided the trading partner is not completely isolated and their ports, railyards are available. Good infrastructure sees highly specialized diesel train engines, developed rail systems, airports and early commercial transport airplanes. Landing areas for spaceships begin to be more common and most of the more important nobles will have minor landing strips for smaller sized spaceships and may even have the fuel to refuel them. Trade is possible anywhere on the planet and even isolated areas are usually somewhat accessible. Efficiency is also much higher. Very good infrastructure sees the first arrival of domestic space-based transport fleets.

Examples

Spoiler :

So, let us consider an example. House Vanari wants to import finished cloth from the xicier. After negotiating both agree to provide a fair share of the profits. Neither house has any assets that are suitable to transporting the product, so they must rely on their infrastructure. Both have poor infrastructure ratings. So the textiles will be arriving by steamship along the Xicier river basin, transport to rail system at the periphery of the Vanari fiefdom and overland to the markets of Vanari’s cities and towns.

The contract would appear as:
Turn 1 Xicier-Vanari- textiles trade contract:
Description: Xicier export their textiles to Vanari markets.
Shares: Xicier (fair), Vanari (fair)
Assets: Xicier (textile mills)

As a result of a trade deal like this, the income of both parties would slightly increase (with a greater increase going to the Xicier due to their asset involvement)

Let us consider a second, more complex, example. Let us say that the Holy Gate of Incellia wishes to export its grain to Errrovus Secondus and will be using House Kriah’s freighters to make it possible. House Kriaah however has no ships available that can land on the planet and so they will make use of House Koriate’s planetary spaceport in Cappricidia. The trip between grain exchange and spaceport will be made by steamship. The distances are not vast. The buyer is ‘the Authority’ and will be buying the grain with firebirds. While most agree to fair shares of the profits, ‘the Authority’ refuses the deal and points out that it is the sole authority on Errovus Secondus and the effective gatekeeper for its sizeable markets. Despite the best efforts of Kriah, Holy Gate and Koriate, the ‘Authority’ doesn’t budge and finally fearing a side-deal with competing arrakis, they acquiesce to the slightly unfair deal.

The contract would appear as:
Turn 1 Holy Gate- Koriate- House Kraiah- The Authority- Incellia Grain to E2 trade contract:
Description: Incellia’s House Holy Gate exports grain, via the Koriate planetary spaceport, and House Kraiah freighter to The Authority on Errovus Secondus
Shares: Holy Gate (fair/very slightly unfavourable), Koriate (fair/very slightly unfavourable), Kraiah (fair/very slightly unfavourable), the Authority (slightly favourable)
Assets: Holy Gate (farms, grain exchange), Koriate (planetary spaceport), Kraiah (Condor-class Freighter), The Authority (planetary/orbital spaceport)
This trade deal would potentially generate income for all parties involved and might potentially increase the profitability reputation of the holy gate and koriate.

Current Trade Contracts

Spoiler :

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Infantry, Armor and Guns, Navies, and Aircraft

Infantry

Spoiler :

Armored Vehicles

Spoiler :

Armored Personal Carrier: Designed to rapidly deploy infantry to a battlefield, the armored personal carrier greatly increases the logistical deployment of infantry over rail or horse. They are usually armed with machine guns, anti-tank guns, or mortars.
Light Tank: Smaller, faster and importantly, cheaper, the ‘light’ tank is able to move over land more rapidly then their heavier counterparts and are more maneuverable through obstacles such as jungle thicket. They retain excellent lethality against infantry but lack the penetrative power to effectively face other tanks and armored vehicles. Grand republic era light tanks were often able to hover over smooth surfaces including water and occasionally developed models which used insect-like legs instead of ‘tracks’. Today’s light tanks occasionally maintain some amphibious capacity but are not ‘hover-tanks’ and rely exclusively on track propulsion..
Medium Tank: A balance of firepower, mobility, protection and endurance, these weapons can focus on a number of applications but are usually specifically equipped to act either as anti-infantry or anti-tank weapons.
- Aries class medium tank: A remnant of the grand republic, these weapons were developed by the Aries Corporation (when it still existed) and were deployed across many worlds where their excellent balance of maneuverability, offensive power and armor made them a favorite of many private and government armies. The Aries is armored in specially designed honeycomb ceramasteel embedded with polyferrous, a type of plastic metal and quite capable of withstanding multiple direct hits with modern explosive shells (though Grand Republic era tech might give it more difficulty). The gun(s) are mounted on gyroscope stabilizers and linked to ‘spotting’ laser systems that will track targets in real-time and assist in target acquisition and guidance of anti-vehicle missiles. Typically the aries class is mounted with a single large 105mm gun capable of firing armor-piercing fin-stabilized shells, guided missiles or high-explosive shells for soft targets. A purely-anti-infantry version called the ‘Aries Reaper’ is mounted with rotating 40mm caliber cannons able to fire 6500 explosive rounds per minute and a flame-thrower.
Heavy Tank: Designed to fight other tanks and to breach fortifications, the heavy tank features heavier armor and weapons and push power plants extensively resulting in relatively slower vehicles. While mobility can be a problem, many models are specifically designed around this weakness and boast advanced suspension and transmissions (increases production costs further).
Tank-Destroyer: Designed to directly engage enemy armor, the tank-destroyer, depending on the technology available may fire large shells or guided missiles. They lack the turret of tanks but this allows for the accommodation of larger superstructure- ie: gun and armor. They lack anti-infantry capacity and so are often deployed with infantry to provide support to those soldiers, especially in withdrawals or retreats where they can wait in ambush for enemy armor.

Heavy Guns

Spoiler :

Navies

Spoiler :

Aircraft

Spoiler :

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

Spacecraft

Ships

Spoiler :

Ships in the falling heavens universe represent a considerable investment of funds, research and manpower. The technology and tools needed for their construction is limited to the imperium, the orthodoxy, and to the Society of Engineers guild. Even then, most of the ships employed throughout the known worlds are usually ancient but beautifully maintained relics of the Grand Republic.

Those ships newly built since the fall of the Grand Republic are considerably bulkier in design, slower and more inefficient. Other limitations to newer ships are landing capacity (many ships are constructed in orbit and do not deal well with gravity or atmosphere and especially any kind of rapid descent through gravity and atmosphere). The other limitation to ship construction is the jump-engine. The construction and the operation of the jump-engine is a closely guarded secret of those able to produce this device. Little is known about its construction beyond the requirement for ‘singularity’, a gem-like component nearly-magical in its secrecy and mystery.

Ship nomenclature could potentially be a complex issue but thankfully others have done all the work so I’ll just ‘borrow’ their system and we can build on it.

A ship is referred to by its:
(faction)(design)(class)

There are several classes of ships. They are:

Yacht: These are unarmored, unarmed spacecraft of relatively low cost who’s sole purpose is to shuttle VIPs from one planet to another and from one location to another on a planet. Typically they are fairly fast and maneuverable but have no capacity for combat whatsoever. Yachts can often breach atmosphere and many land on both land and water. Yachts also have excellent range and jump-engine capacity.
Yachts can be produced by the Orthodoxy, Imperium Fleet and the Society of Engineers.
- Frog: The frog was a favorite of the Grand Republic and its easy design and relative low budgetary and resource requirement ensure that it remains a favorite today. They are 12-man shuttles with land and water landing capacity and jump-engine jump capacity. Their relative poor maneuverability and lack of real weapons or armor are of no consideration as they are not designed for combat.
- Bat: A much more expensive yacht, the bat is not a ship that can be produced in modern times and all remaining ships of this type are relics of the grand republic. Though generally similar in design and application to the more common frog-class yacht, the bat is unable to land whatsoever but boasts much greater maneuverability and the capacity for stealth, the physics of which remain unexplained by modern shipwrights.
Light Freighter: The light freighter is designed to haul goods from one planet to another and very little else. Like most freighters it is unarmed and its small size precludes heavy armor. However, unlike its larger cousins, the light freighter is often designed to land on the planetary surface (either land or water landing is potentially available). While most light freighters are jump-engine equipped, some are designed to carry product from one site on planet to another and not to jump between worlds.
The Orthodoxy, Imperium Fleet and the Society of Engineers are all able to construct these ships.
- Bird: The bird-class freighter is a favorite across known space, its versatility and durability making it a common site at jumpgates everywhere. The birdclass freighter has a capacity of 80,000 metric tons of deadweight (approximately equal to some of the small to medium sized oil tankers of today). What makes them valuable is their capacity to land on any nearly perfectly level planetary surface of sufficient density including the landing pads of most major fiefdoms and cities. It is only lightly armored with a meters of hardened molybium and chromium matured steel and usually not armed. Bird class freighters can be commissioned from the society of engineers. The imperium is also able to produce them from their docks on errovus secondus.
- Toad: The toad class freigher is a much smaller ship then the bird class with a maximum capacity for only 25,000 metric tons of deadweight. Unlike its larger cousin, it is not jump-engine equipped and so its role is not inter-system transport but rather transport within a system. The toad is specialized for efficient atmospheric escape and re-entry and is the ship of choice for moving cargo from one site on planet to another, otherwise inaccessible site. It is also a favorite for landing on a planet, being loaded, then flying to rendez-vous with larger ships otherwise unable to enter atmosphere and unloading their cargo to them so that they might be used for inter-system travel. The toad is also used by the prospectors guild for regular trips between a planetary base and its moon-based mining colonies and they seem happy with its use as a ‘moon ferry’. The toad class freighter, though not common, is available for commission from the league or construction through the imperium.
- Wallaby: A transport ship specializing in movement of soldiers and civilians, it can carry up to 1800 soldiers and their armor or 2400 civilians. Life support is sufficient for 9 months at full capacity. It is land-landing capable and jump-engine equipped. Armour is light and armaments are non-existent. All shipyards can produce the wallaby.
Freighter: The larger cousin of the light freighter, the standard freighter trades away atmospheric flight and landing capacity for a significantly greater cargo capacity and some light armour. The loading and unloading of a standard freighter requires ferry spacecraft from a planetary spaceport or orbital docks and the space-elevator of a orbital spaceport.
- Condor: The Condor-class freighter has a capacity of 600,000 metric tons of deadweight which makes it a giant transport ship capable of moving significant mass in one or two jumps. Its much too large to not collapse under its own weight should it enter atmosphere so it needs to be loaded and unloaded at planetary spaceports. It is only lightly armored with a meters of hardened molybium and chromium matured steel and usually not armed. Current designs are remnants of the grand republic. No new condor class ships have been commissioned since then but that doesn’t meant the technology is unavailable.
Bulk Freighter: These ships were once common during the era of the grand republic but none are currently in existence. Theses super-sized freighters were the size of large cities and could potentially serve as both cargo ships and habitable worlds for entire populations for extended periods. The bulk and weight of a bulk freighter effectively precludes atmospheric entry and unloading and loading by anything but the most efficient space-elevator spaceport systems.
Frigate: These are small combat spacecraft that is very fast and agile. While they are useable as combat ships, they are not terribly effective against enemy combat ships and are often used against unarmored targets or as recon vessels. Unlike the ‘fighter’ spacecraft, the frigate is designed to operate independently of a carrier though they often operate with larger fleets where they may have specialized roles such as electronics warfare or surveillance. Frigates occasionally have capacity to land directly on and or water and while most have jump-engine capacity, some do not.
Frigates and their lower-tech variants can be built by the Orthodoxy, Imperium Fleet and the Society of Engineers.
- Raptor: The Raptor class frigate is a light combat ship with jump capacity. Its primary role is speed and agility and though without the range or armament of a destroyer, its relative budgetary requirements are much reduced. The raptor class frigate is normally not equipped for heavy reconnaissance or electronics warfare, being primarily a combat ship. It is armed with short and medium range missile batteries and a single top mounted rotary cannon turret as well as a pair of bottom mounted turrets. They do not normally enter atmosphere but are capable of slow descent through atmosphere and landing in specially designed cradles. Atmospheric exit is extremely fuel-expensive and they require refueling as soon as they exit atmosphere if they are to be useful. The raptor class frigate is available at most spacedocks.
- Cricket: Based on a raptor chassis, the cricket is a much more expensive ship that focuses on passive stealth technology. It has nearly no amour instead relying on a highly reduced thermal, visual and electronic signature. The cricket is a favorite of the evvis though whether they are producing their own or are buying their ships from a known manufacturer remains a hotly contested but unknown issue. The armament of a cricket-class frigate is similar though somewhat reduced from its raptor cousin but due to its stealth technology, it is usually able to achieve surprise on its enemy and can often launch its payload from short range without alerting the enemy. Note that the stealth technology utilized in this craft is not the same as the advanced ‘cloaking’ technology of the grand republic which is an active system. Instead it relies on absorbent materials, non-metallic composites and signature reducing design. The cricket can not enter atmosphere. Though the cricket-class frigate is no doubt a product of the modern era, no manufacturer advertises their production.
- Weasel: The weasel is a smaller variant of the Raptor with greater agility, the capacity to enter atmosphere freely, to land on both water and land but much reduced armament and armor. It retains nearly identical range and fuel capacity. The weasel specializes in hit and run attacks on lightly guarded targets, shifting in and out of atmosphere to avoid return fire as required. It usually operates at short range from its base. The weasel is armed exclusively with 2 forward-facing rotary gun batteries and one rear-facing much, smaller battery. It is jump-engine capable. The weasel is available for purchase from the league. The imperium can also produce this ship but usually does not finding its armament too minimal for confict with the symbiots.
- Terrier: A ship identical to the weasel, the terrier exchanges the jump-engine for greater fuel capacity and longer range. It is meant to operate from a planetary spaceport within that planet’s range. While the imperium is capable of producing these ships, it usually does not. The society of engineers will deliver a terrier-class frigate anywhere for a modest price.
Dropship: The dropship is designed to deliver military personnel or equipment to planetary surface from a larger orbiting ship unable to enter atmosphere or land. Though they are not designed for space-based ship to ship combat they often carry heavy armor for dropping units into enemy territory as well as their own air-to surface guns or missiles, often for the express purpose of providing protection to landing troops. While dropships may operate from orbit, others, use them for surface to surface drops of military personal behind front line combat. The most notable example of this are the frequent raids by House Kilgore who make extensive use of this tactic. Dropships do not have jump-engine capacity.
Dropships can be produced by the Orthodoxy, Imperium Fleet and the Society of Engineers.
- Damselfly: The quintessential troop transport vehicle, this spacecraft has a very limited range but that’s not what its built for. Its built to deliver up to 120 elite infantry (depending on infantry armor configuration) to the heart of an engagement (taking place on planetary surface), usually under heavy fire, from an orbital ship. They have fairly good maneuverability in atmosphere but almost none in space. They boast heavy ceramasteal armor and usually twin side-mounted rotary machine guns. They are land and sea landing capable though often they just need to enter atmosphere and open their doors to deploy flight or glide-capable infantry. Buy one today from the society of engineers . The imperium fleet can also build these ships.
Interceptors: These ships, much like frigates, rely on speed and agility. Typically they are even smaller then the frigate and much more agile. They combine their speed with effective electronics to reduce their void signature. Interceptors are often employed like carrier-launched fighters but do not normally require a carrier. Interceptors often require extensive cybernetic interface with their pilot and as such the design, construction or operation of this craft outside the church is an act of heresy. Like frigates, interceptors occasionally have capacity to land directly on and or water. There are no knon interceptors in operation.
Destroyers: Much larger then the frigate, these ships focus on ballistic gun batteries and medium- and short-range missiles. While they sacrifice agility and maneuverability for range and offensive capacity they retain excellent acceleration and distance speed. Typically they also sacrifice heavy armor for greater offensive capacity. Destroyers often have much longer range then the smaller frigates and can be used to patrol trade lanes or jumpgates. Destroyer designs do not currently include the capacity to enter atmosphere, let alone land.
Destroyers can often be produced by the Orthodoxy, Imperium Fleet and the Society of Engineers though many of those in use, especially by the Imperium are relics of the Grand Republic.
- Rabid: The rabid class destroyer is another workhorse of the imperium. Technologically relatively simple, armor is ceramasteal for plating and superheavy metal polymers for more delicate components. It is armed with medium range missile systems but some have complained that the guidance systems of these weapons are limited in relation to the larger cruiser class ships but this is probably a limitation of the technology available and not specific to the ship. It also enjoys several 180’ rotating cannon turrets firing highly-explosive shells at impressive rates of fire. Though it has no capacity for surface landing, it is jump engine equipped. Like most newer ships it operates on liquid fuel but the Rabid is known for having an impressive fuel capacity and low consumption rate greatly increasing its range of operation. Buy one today from the league or have one made by the imperium fleet.
- Valant Sun: The Valant-Sun Class of Destroyers focus on planetary assault. They are similar to the Rabid in construction and materials but trade away the longer range and fuel capacity of the Rabid, as well as some of its maneuverability for greater offensive punch at a greater distance. The missiles systems are replaced with laser-guided bombs which largely use gravity as a source of propulsion and so are best used against surface targets. They also have room for the loading and deployment of a single damsel-fly class dropship though their on-board barracks for soldiers is limited. Despite this specialization, the valant-sun class of destroyers, for defense against other spacecraft, retains the rotating cannon turrets of the Rabid though the number thereof is much reduced.
Interdictors: A subclass of destroyers, these ships are designed to operate behind enemy lines striking at enemy logistics. Compared to the similar destroyer-class spacecraft, the interdictor has much greater range and much reduced armaments. They are not meant to operate in a combat role where they might take extensive enemy fire. Unlike their destroyer cousins, the interdictor must be able to enter atmosphere so that it can launch strikes upon surface infrastructure. Landing in atmosphere is unknown. A requirement for successful application of an interdictor is the application of very small signatures or actual stealth technology. It is this limitation, as well as a requirement for atmospheric resistance that does not allow the production of this ship using modern techniques.
Cruisers: Larger then a destroyer, the cruiser is meant to operate semi-independently of larger fleets and as such continues the tradition of greater range begun with the destroyer-class of spacecraft. Cruisers also enjoy significantly more armor then the smaller destroyers and rely more upon this then their speed when engaged. Part of the role of cruiser class vessels may be orbital bombardment and orbit to surface missile capacity is common among this class of vessels. While most cruisers do not enter atmosphere, some such as the Imperium’s ‘sky cruisers’ are able to do just that and serve as excellent anti-planetary surface weapons.
While no new Cruiser class spacecraft have been known to be constructed since the fall of the Grand Republic, the technology, theoretically, is in place for the production of these ships and potentially, if the right sponsors invested the sheer volume of ceramasteel and electronics required as well as the mind-power and man-power needed to build one, a new cruiser might be built. This means that those cruisers currently in operation are relics of the Grand Republic.
- Sky Cruiser: These ships were constructed during the Grand Republic with the express purpose of use as anti-planetary weapons. They are large and well armored enough to be able to fight off smaller enemy ships and often deployed alone. Though specialists in anti-planetary weapons their ship to surface missiles are readily used as ship to ship missiles. They are also armed with smaller shorter range air/space to air/space missiles for use in defending themselves and rotary 50mm cannons firing a high number of explosive shells which can prove, with the right gunner, to be devastatingly effective against enemy ships and fighters. Though unable to land in atmosphere, these ships are designed to enter upper atmosphere so as to focus on their planetary targets more effectively.
- Cassiel: The cassiel class cruiser is a favorite of the church and has become, with time, its signature interplanetary fleet presence. Like the sky cruiser, it is a relic of the grand republic and not known to be manufactured in modern times. Despite this, the cassiel-class ships of the church are well maintained by modern clergy. The cassiel employs multiple medium and short range missile batteries specialized for tracking opponent spacecraft or aircraft, often with laser guidance system or self-guided pilot systems. They share the rotary 50mm canons of the sky cruiser as well. Their armor is of a polymerized ceramic specially treated to absorb and retain heavy neutron bombardment making it incredibly dense and thermal/shock resistant. The cassiel-class cruiser is a shark amongst lesser fish and most other spacecraft best run from a single one of these ships let alone a fleet thereof.
Assault Cruisers: A sub-designation of the cruiser, the assault cruiser is a much streamlined and technologically superior cousin of the cruiser designed for similar applications as its earlier cousin. Like the interceptor, the assault cruiser relies on extensive cybernetic links with both its multiple pilots and its gun crew to allow greater maneuverability, flexibility and precision. As such, its design, construction or operation is an act of open heresy.
There are no such spacecraft known to be left from the Grand Republic- the last of these vessels perished under the command of the beautified St. Cleary while defending the fallen Jumpgate of Stigmata.
Battleships: Larger then their smaller cousin the cruiser, battleships are outfitted with excellent armor and impressive offensive capacity. While most are outfitted with ballistic gun batteries and short and medium range weapons, many are also outfitted with longer range guns or missiles linked to extensive electronic sensors. Battleships are not normally known for their agility or maneuverability, instead relying on their thick amour and anti-missile gun batteries.
While battleships are the bane of cruisers, destroyers and frigates, their reliance on ‘big guns’ reduces their combat efficiency against numerous smaller targets (such as fighter-class spacecraft.
There are only 3 known spacecraft of this type left from the Grand Republic, all employed by the Imperium Fleet. One of these has been outfitted with considerable robotic ‘limbs’ to do grappling combat with Symbiots. There is currently no capacity to produce any more of these ships.
- Spider: Only one is known to exist; this is a heavily modified void monitor battleship chassis where most of the heavy guns have been removed, as too have the thrusters associated with quick acceleration and evasion. Instead, the void spider has been outfitted with numerous robotic ‘arms’ and heavier sophisticated composite armour. It has a number of short range weapons including cannon turrets and short range missile batteries. Though jump-engine capable, it is unabe to enter atmosphere
- Monitor: Only two remain from the grand republic (though you could count three if you include the spider). It is an extremely heavy ship with very long range space to space, space to air, and space to surface missiles as well as shorter range cannons and missiles. Their armour is composite involving neutron-enriched metals and poly- ceramics. It is unable to enter atmosphere but is jump-engine equipped.
Carrier: The modern carrier is designed to perform a platform for the launch of fighter-class spacecraft. They sacrifice direct offensive capacity to be able to launch and maintain these smaller ships types but usually retain the amour of the carrier class spacecraft so that they are not completely defenseless. While capable of projecting significant force (via their fighter complement) they are considered to be vulnerable to attack and are usually accompanied by a number of others hips to provide protection to the unwieldy carrier, to carry supplies or to provide protective offensive capacity. While the fighters a carrier deploys may be able to enter atmosphere or even and on surface, the carrier itself cannot enter atmosphere.
- Admiral: Commissioned during the grand republic these perform as a operating platform for a variety of aerospace fighters and bombers. It is specialized to command and support a large number of smaller craft though individual ships are also outfitted with extensive electronic arrays to act as communication headquarters additionally. They have limited short range ballistic cannons and short range missile weapons and composite armour comparable to a light cruiser or heavy destroyer.
- Beatle: The beattle class carriers have the role of support a planetary assault and while they, like their larger cousin the admiral class carrier, serve to command and maintain a variety of aerospace fighters and bombers, their role is more for close support and thus the platform focuses on short range support mostly. As part of its role as a planetary assault ship, it also hosts several platforms for the launch of smaller dropship class atmosphere-penetrating ships and extensive on site barracks for ground-based infantry. The beattle’s armour is comparable to the larger admiral but its guns and missiles are much reduced.
Aerospace Fighter: A classification of short-range single or two-man aerospacecraft who’s primary role is air to air or space to space combat. Their job is to strike small mobile targets (other fighters, atmospheric aircraft, aerospace fighters) with relatively low potency weapons or to make precision attacks against specific targets within a larger target (ie- the guns of a battleship). The fighter relies on carriers on planetary spaceports for refueling and rearmament and have relatively short ranges. They are not jump-engine equipped.
The society of engineers, church and imperial fleet are all capable of producing these ships.
- Stinger: Though the original stinger-chassis was developed during the era of the grand republic, maintenance and turn over by modern shipwrights has produced a new generation of stinger fighters that share many material and engine technologies with their ancestors but newer (and unfortunately not as accurate) pilot control systems and weapon guidance electronics. The stinger design is based on the idea that maneuverability and ‘fast transients’ are superior to high speed or acceleration. That is to say the fighters are able to make significant changes to their vector or (in atmosphere) altitude in very short time-frames thereby confusing enemy gunners or pilots. The stinger requires 1 pilot and 1 gunner. It is armed with either 4 short range missiles and two rotary barreled machine gun each capable of firing 4000 5.56mm rounds per minute or four guns if it omits the missiles. This is the fighter workhorse of the imperium fleet and new fighters can be commissioned through them or through the league.
Aerospace Fighter II: Similar to the standard aerospace fighter but equipped with much more advanced engine, piloting and targeting technologies as well as more advanced firepower. The second generation of aerospace fighters makes extensive use of cybernetics, pilot trance or drug training and materials engineering. Due to the heavy reliance on cybernetic communication between craft and pilot, these spacecraft are heresy to own, operate or manufacture.
No such fighters exist in current times and none are known to be able to construct them.
Aerospace Bomber: Similar to the aerospace fighter, the bomber is also a short range ship with no jump-engine capacity but unlike the fighter, its role is not spatial control or targeting of small mobile targets with relatively low potency weapons. Instead it aims to drop a relatively low number of very high potency weapons on large strategic or tactical targets. These heavy armaments and a slight preference for range over mobility makes the bomber are relatively un-agile ship and it typically commands a retinue of fighters for its escort. Bombers, due to their capacity to enter atmosphere can be sent to bomb enemy planetary targets in addition to their more traditional role of targeting space fortifications and enemy fleets. Bombers come in a variety of subclassifications depending on their build including the aerospace divebomber, light bomber, medium bomber, and heavy bomber with their applications ranging from almost purely tactical (use in aerospace battle) to purely strategic (use against valued targets outside of combat).
- Dauntless: The dauntless is a divebomber first and foremost. The Dauntless, like the Stinger is based on a Grand Republic design meant for tactical delivery of precision missiles and bombs both in atmosphere and space. The modern dauntless however fails to live up to its predecessors and focuses instead on planetary assault. Whereas the stinger class fighter focuses on both air and space maneuverability, the dauntless focuses on one thing, diving from supra-high altitudes to near surface, delivery of payload on small targets at surface and recovery to orbital altitude (including automatic recovery piloting should the pilot pass out from the dive). As such much of its armor is specialized for atmospheric entry and turning head-on anti-air weaponry. It also has an excellent atmospheric climb rate and a good maximum speed. Its maneuverability against a stinger class fighter is practically null, especially in space. Though useable in space-based fleet combat, it lacks the precision turning and agility of the stinger and can easily be shot down if not adequately screened. That being said, the dauntless has a substantial payload of 7 bombs (3 bombs of 250kg and 4 of 50kg) that are sure to inflict substantial damage against even very fortified targets and its screaming high-speed dive ensures a high degree of precision in their delivery.
  The dauntless is only known to be produced by the league though no doubt the imperium is not far behind.

Immaculate · Dec 21, 2009

you may want to check out:

pre-thread
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=346582

or social site
http://forums.civfanatics.com/group.php?groupid=72

orangelex44 · Dec 21, 2009

House Query

Spoilered for your convenience; Immac, if you want the unformatted version to post, PM me. Note also that the 'people' section is, at best, a rough draft of the individuals and shouldn't be considered very good descriptions.

Note, I have no intention of maintaining this post in any way. For all practical purposes, only the initial spoilered summary can be considered accurate.

Summary

Spoiler :

House Query’s leadership has long been under the control of the family Quer. Such is the official line, and indeed the house’s crown lies there. However, everyone understands the truth, and the truth is that the crown is there because the real rulers want it that way. Every Crownbearer – for there have been no kings of Quer - has been surrounded by his Trusted Council, the members of which are ‘delegated’ virtually all powers of rule. Membership to the Council is fluid, and given to any who make a claim and survive long enough to actually take a seat in the Council Chamber. Because of this, the number of Councilmen varies; historically, there have been as many as forty or as few as one. There are currently eleven (sitting) members, a number that includes all the Sceptreholders within Query. There are also two other members, but one might not be technically alive and the other hasn’t been seen for a hundred years.

This scheme of rule has led to a few unexpected twists. Several times in the past, totally unrelated families have announced themselves as members of the Trusted Council, and a handful actually managed the task and suddenly become rulers. In theory, this is actually still possible; however, the Chamber is now located in a ferrocrete bunker half a mile underneath the ground, and without proper authorization the only means to access it requires its total destruction. Those past few “made families” that did accomplish the coup, though, give the House some more… unique… talents, associates, and beliefs.

Even though the Crownbearer is little more than a figurehead, without even a Sceptre, his/her presence still demands a strong loyalty from the peasantry of the House. The nobles are another story, but for the most part the most powerful end up on the Trusted Council anyway. The nobles also know that refusing Council orders would mean they’d never get a chance to be on it, so their scheming is generally channeled against each other in order to gain recognition. The eclectic nature of the newer families is also both a boon and bane; a boon, because the House tends to have friends in unexpected places, but a bane since those friends can often be on a less-than-cordial relationship with the Church. There has never been *proof* of heresy within Query itself, but many clergy like to end that statement with “yet”.

Summary Pt. 2

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Families: (a * indicates Councilman, a # indicates a Sceptre/Councilman)

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People: (first three are Sceptreholders)

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Ichabod Sterling - quite young in appearence (he was twelve when the bonding process began), but not particularly good-looking. Dispite his looks, he's quite intelligent and responsible. Liberal, by nobility standards, and while he's no heretic technology doesn't bother him much. Optimist, pretty friendly, and rather the pacifist.

Gustavus ('Guy') Fye - taciturn and scarred, Guy still manages to be a successful womanizer. He also drinks pretty heavily at times, and associates a little too much with the Newbhr. However, he tries to only indulge his vices when not on duty, and as a combat commander is about as good as you can hope for. He may not be a natural genious at war, but he has many years of experience and good training to make up for it.

Alex Black - the Blacks were originally a mercenary 'family', more likely a squad, that took their first Council seat by force. The proven brilliance of that first Black, and the inexplicable competence of the group's descendants, has since made the Blacks a constant presence in the Chamber. Rumor says at least one of those first mercenaries was part, or even full, elf; the current Blacks are certainly not saying anything, but their lifespans have always been suspicously long, and Alex, at least, has an astounding beauty.

Nytalia Alstan-Quer - originally next in line for the crown, Nytalia proved herself too effective to be sidelined. When the Trusted Council maneuvered to keep Sceptres within the Chamber, she countered by renouncing her greater lineage and took her husband's name. A devious intellect with adequate, if not first-rate, looks, it is not possible to underestimate her ambition.

Carson Moran-Buxby - staunch conservative, loyal to a fault for House and family. Has two kids with him on the Council, and is well-known for nepotism. Not the most competent person in the world, but he at least knows when and how to get out of the way for others to do the job right.

Nikolai Newbhr - scion of a family with more than a touch of insanity, Nikolai proudly follows in the grand footsteps of his ancestors: women, wine, the occasional hallucinagen, and the endless determination to die of pleasure. Fools might stop there, but carrying on the patented Newbhr lifestyle requires a large income. Whether the family has good underlings or a secret talent for economics is moot; the Newbhrs are equally as good at gaining as they are at spending.

EDIT: oh, and I forgot Assets:

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Kyzarc Fotjage · Dec 21, 2009

House Minor Quin
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Ekolite · Dec 22, 2009

House of Holy Gate

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House of Holy Gate

The House of Holy Gate are a Noble House, but also a denomination within the Orthodox Church which follows the teachings of Saint Sabel. These teachings focus most specifically on the Book of Sabel, which details the Saint's epic journey through Hell to return her people to the world of the living, culminating in her tragic self-sacrifice to allow them to escape the forces of the Devil. There are some rumours of some members being indoctrinated with other, ''lost'' books written by the hand of Sabel after the Bannor had escaped, but most acknowledge that these rumours as mere misconception caused by insufficient study of the scriptures. After all, everyone knows Saint Sabel was killed by the brutal pack of hell hounds that had pursued the Bannor throughout the later part of their journey.

Some claim that the noble families of the House of Holy Gate can trace their ancestry back to the heroic Bannor themselves. However many doubt the truth of this, and claim that even if it was true the bloodlines are by now so watered down with the ignoble and treacherous blood of lesser human races that the distant Bannor heritage of Holy Gate counts for little in the modern day.

Regardless, the stories of the proud, if ceremonial, Bannor Ancestry live on in the fiefs and families. Most written documentation besides the religious scripture of the Church was destroyed during the Soul Wars and later catastrophic events, so the exact historical accuracy of the stories is perhaps debateable. However much of the clergy vouch for the Bannor's great struggle, single-handedly defending Errovus from horde after horde of demonic forces, vanquishing, in turn, the Fire-Orcs, Undead, and finally the hideous monstrosities known only as ''Syrii''.

Perhaps the most favourite story in the hearts of the people is the legendary epic known as the ''Purging of Veherra Sublime''. This is the story of the Bannor preparing a great armada of ships, and sailing their blessed armies half way around the world to strike the unsuspecting ''Buzzing Island'', named after the peculiar buzzing sound of the flies which permanently surrounded the inhabitants of the island. A battle of epic proportions ensued between the Bannor legionaries and the demonic Syrii, and legdend has it that in the heat of the battle, Saint Sabel herself returned from the dead in the form of an Angel to lead the assault on the fleeing cow-men. Once the resistance of the enemy had been broken the Bannor army marched inland, and personally put to death every last Syrii, burning their settlements and the surrounding forests to the ground. This is believed to be one of the primary causes of the ''Soul War'' after politicians associated with the ''Alliance of South Edsunland'' and the ''Coalition of Errovian Servants of Hell'' declared the purging of evil to be unacceptable ''genocide''. Regardless of such precise and insignificant details, one more race of demons had been destroyed, and an insufferable buzzing sound had been firmly extinguished.

The Legends of Bannor inspire a sense of near fanatical faith and loyalty in the serfs of Holy Gate, who perform the ancient tales in the form of drama at every major festival.

The Holy Gate has always been a close ally of the Church, aligning closely with their policies regarding heretic sciences and space exploration. The Noble House itself is commanded by a small number of influential families, who nominate a ''Patriarch'' to decide the overarching policy of the Holy Gate. The Patriarch rules for life, or until each of the families is in agreement that he or she should stand down. The current Patriarch is one Michelos van Hersula, an influential politician and devout religious leader.

The most influential families within the Holy Gate are the van Hersula, Valaeda, Peortovir, and Trovoskea families, to which many of the most prominent members of the Holy Gate belong.

The House of Holy Gate is based on the planet of Incillla, where they have large-scale farming and commercial fishing operations. The Holy Gate also possess a smaller number of fiefs on the planet of Clarke where they process oil, this is largely exported to Incilla and Errovus Secundus, where Holy Gate has a small Enclave used for diplomatic operations.

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Hey hard hats, what a great idea

Seon · Dec 22, 2009

House Koriate (based on kuriotates)

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Diamondeye · Dec 22, 2009

Bossheaim

Ancient descendants of the Sheaim, the members of this noble house are still prone to doomsaying and differing religious views. This is somewhat tolerated due to the fact that they govern only a small area of planet Hubbard near the Symbiote gate, and that is not a fief you easily find others willing to take over. While the population of the fief is generally somewhat poor, the land beneath them contains lots of minerals that the Bossheaim extract and stockpile, put to use, or sell. Their serfs are kept in place by a mixture of military threats and the fear of outside invasion that their proximity to the symbiote gate makes clear.

Arbandi Family (Sceptreholders, high-echelon)
Gabella Family (high-echelon, well-educated)
Agari Family (extremely prone to heresy)
Prole Family (well-educated, financial understanding/tradition)
Ossean Family (lower echelon)

Characters of the Bossheaim:

Tebryn Arbandi XII (Sceptreholder):
Most known/infamed for his profanity, which he balances masterly with politeness and obedience towards the church's orders, as well as a sound political intuition and knowledge.

(Located on Erevvos Secundus currently)

Alexis Gabella:
Recognized as perhaps the most clever of all the Bossheaim, Alexis is a member of the small ruling chamber known as the Inner Circle, along with Tebryn Arbandi XII and three others (including Baal Agari) and an innovative personality. She could have been a brilliant scientist if she had wanted, but has instead taken interest in politics. It is considered a sound prediction that she will attempt to claim the Bossheaim Sceptre should Tebryn Arbandi XII die.

Baal Agari:
Military leader of the Bossheaim forces, this man has little to do with actual politics, and that is probably for the best: his intelligence is good when it comes to tactics and logistics, but pathetic when it comes to analyzing others or arguing with people not already sharing his opinion, and his explicit heresy keeps his a sound distance from official politics. He is, however, still a member of the Inner Circle due to his position as military overseer.

(Both located in the largest Bossheaim city on Hubbard)

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ImmacuNES II: Emperor of the Fading Heavens

unerring

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Partisan

Rise Up

Deity

Not An Evil Liar

So Happy I Could Die

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