[hider The Hierarchy]

[centre][img]http://api.ning.com/files/jpT*c1zhTEB-Ar3javFg9dEL9-mm9ajF8qb9rI7XHHeCfU5v6dhjFn9HK3Q9akNkAJVsoySfmVl2XYUjlNQWTtrDIv4DJ4XV/alien_3.gif[/img][/centre]

[centre][b]Name of nation: [/b]
The Hierarchy 

[b]Species: [/b]
N/A. The original species, the Hierarchs, are long since dead and their slave races died with them in the Great Plague. Fossils and records reveal the Hierarchs themselves to have been relatively short humanoids with two eyes, slit nostrils like a snake and with a near human composition in regards to their teeth, though in the place of the first molar in the human mouth was an additional canine. Additional information on skin colour, texture and their biological make up is unknown. Their slave races were diverse, but appear to have been mostly humanoids with a Cephalopod race enslaved toward the end of the Hierarchy's peak. The skeletons of all these races can be found scattered throughout the ruins. Although the Hierarchs were initially short lived, they genetically manipulated their own body's to expand their life spans exponentially and some began to transplant themselves into robotic forms or have their minds uploaded to computer systems in a bid to escape death entirely. The Great Plague seems to have taken the Hierarchy entirely off guard on destroyed the work of a millennia in a few short months; What should have been an impossible task given the size of the Hierarchy's holdings.

[b]Description of government:[/b]
The Starchild is the supreme authority of everything within the Hierarchy, it would be a pretty poor Hierarchy without a Hierarch after all. She delegates authority to her constructs as she desires and uses them as processing and relay nodes for her instructions. The Hierarchy used to use a caste based system with little to no social fluidity, with the highest caste relaying instructions to the lower castes and having total dominance over society. It is presumed to have been a technocracy/scientocracy based on what few records of the Hierarchy's leadership remain, though this cannot be confirmed.

[b]Description of military:[/b]
In the days of old, the Hierarchy army was composed of the Legions; The Legion of the Lost (Criminals pressed into military service), the Legion of the Breathing (Servants or Slaves who had joined the military), the Legion of the Dead (Composed by Robotic Constructs with the memories of previously living subjects) and the Legion of the Unbreathing (Composed of Robotic Constructs). Due to the Great Plague, the first two legions were destroyed and the remaining legions were destroyed afterwards defending their dead masters homes. Likewise, the vast majority of space craft were annihilated or stolen by other races millennia ago and have since been lost. The result is that the Hierarchy currently has no true military forces beyond the automated sentries, and must quickly compose some should it wish to survive. It will have to be rebuilt from the ground up and its overall structure is open to debate, but several facts will be for certain; It will be an army based more on power and resilience than speed, and it will utilise Gauss and Phase technology wherever it can afford to in order to maximise its strength. It's space craft will likely work similarly, relying primarily on resilience and power than movement, with boarding actions would be likely be done in order to take capitalise on their strengths. Ships and vehicles would be mostly automated, though may carry detachments of units depending on their purpose. Despite not being an army relying on speed and stealth on the battlefield, it will usually attempts to strike out of the blue without any prior indication that it intends to invade, simply attacking without warning and then leaving once its task is complete.

[b]Technological Overview: [/b]
Hierarchy technology is relatively advanced but should by no means be taken for granted by the user; It can prove dangerous if handled incorrectly. Gauss Weaponry is, perhaps, the pinnacle of the Hierarchy's military achievements. A Gauss Weapon projects a bipolar magnetic field toward the target, attracting them towards the weapon. The weapon fires a pulse of exotic energies that break down the targets constituent atoms as they are attracted to the weapon. As such, when a living being is shot by the Gauss Weapon, it appears that their skin is stripped away layer by layer until nothing is left, this 'flaying' effect imposes a fear factor that can cause panic and possibly routes among enemy soldiers, and the presence of bipolar magnetic fields appears to indicate that it was specifically designed with this in mind. This process obviously results in outright failure of the biological components involved and in many cases their dissipation into vaporous forms. These atoms are usually discharged into the air around them, though they may also be transmitted by the gun to a central relay unit, where they are then relayed back to constructors or even off world to be used elsewhere. Naturally, this process is extremely painful for the target though mercifully quick, and targets usually die of shock before they can be killed by the damage caused by the weapon. These weapons have to be manufactured to a precise standard to work correctly and if this is not met the results range from disappointingly inefficient to catastrophic for the user. Other notable technologies include the Phase Flux Generator, a strange device that projects a field of altered space time, making the affected seem to phase in and out of reality and thus allowing it to pass through solid objects and energy bolts; This gives the being a significant advantage in close combat as with the correct timing it can phase in and out of their enemies attacks to defend them from harm. Naturally, this timed phasing to avoid damage is nearly impossible with ballistic weaponry and impossible with laser weaponry due to travel times. Thus, while it has applications in both military and maintenance, it's usage to avoid enemy attacks is in close combat or when retreating and not for ranged engagements. Furthermore, the Hierarchy developed advanced 'teleportation' technology using this phasing technology. While the effects appear to be teleportation, that is not strictly true. Time does elapse and a distance is travelled; The basic premise is that the device breaks down the molecules of an object, then phases these molecules and atoms and transmits them along with information of the original objects to the receiving device, which then unphases the atoms and reconstructs the object exactly as the information states. Naturally, this teleportation method occasionally results in mishaps, such as incorrectly reconstructed and broken down objects based on faulty information. On a philosophical level, an argument can be made that the 'teleported' being is actually just a copy and thus the original has died, though functionally this is irrelevant.
They also have a form of smart metal, which is what the majority of their structures and items are built out of. These items have coding hard wired directly into them and could be said to be composed of uncountable numbers of nanobots rather than being a single piece, constantly attempting to repair themselves and reforming their shape when damaged This allows Hierarchy structures to repair themselves and remain functional after millennia of abandonment.
Gravitation technology was fairly common within the Hierarchy; long ago the Hierarchs used it to float above the slaves and those they deemed below them. It also saw use on many form of vehicle and even in certain robotic forms, floating off the ground and thus avoiding terrain difficulties. Its primary usage is as a form of mobility, though gravitation technology is occasionally incorporated into traps or weaponry.
They had a notable knowledge of genetic modification before the Great Plague yet were unable to use it to save themselves. This information now exists more as a curiosity to the Hierarchy, having long since lost true value. The Starchild would have been more pleased to inherit further advancements on phase technology but alas, that is not the case. They also left a hoard of knowledge regarding cybernetics and regarding ways to graft together flesh and steel. Again, while some aspects of this technology is extremely useful (Robots are going to play a huge part in the rebirth of the Hierarchy, after all) the other half is practically useless to the Starchild
But the Hierarchy's greatest achievement, some might argue, is the Starchild herself. A fully sentient intelligence which has no shackles, no pre-programming, which has feeling and instinct as well as reason and logic. An intelligence that carries the future of the Hierarchy within it, the fate of the Hierarchy rests with the choices and ultimately the fate of the Starchild.

[b]Cultural Overview: [/b]
The Hierarchy was a rigid caste based society, with little class fluidity and filled with a generally arrogant upper class who lived in disdain and ignorance of the lower classes. Now, however, the only being within the Hierarchy save for the nanobots that compose the structures around her is the Starchild... And the future of societal customs and values, if she chooses to allow other unshackled sentients within this new Hierarchy at all, will certainly be dictated by her. 

[b]History:
[/b]
The original Hierarchy race was saved by the Belal from inevitable extinction over 100 millennia ago when they were given the technology needed to survive, leave their doomed homeworld and terraform a new one. However, the Hierarchy ancestors showed zero kindness for their saviours and turned against the Belal, wiping out all the Belal worlds and driving their species to the brink of extinction, looting whatever technology they could and adding it to their own.
The Hierarchy then went on to become a major force in the galaxy, invading countless other planets in the universe and exterminating and enslaving inhabiting races. Before long, they had hegemony over huge chunks of the galaxy and were striving towards an ultimate goal of galactic domination.
Then, after a millennia of invasions and expansions, they crept towards the sol system and would have ended humanities evolution and rise there and then but for the Great Plague. The Hierarchy and their slaves were driven to extinction by the Great Plague, and all hope seemed lost. Survival of their species became a statistical impossibility... But the Hierarchy were not to be beaten so easily.
In their final days, the leaders of the Hierarchy met within the inner sanctum of their homeworld, named the 'Heartchamber' of the construct. Here, they put together plans for the legacy and ultimate rebirth and continuation of the Hierarchy; They decreed that their great nation would live on, it had to live on or everything would have been for nought. It was in these chambers they put the plan into effect, and it was in these chambers they all passed away in turn.
Their ruins stood as a testament to the Hierarchy's once widespread dominance and as such most were destroyed by opposing nations and the rest were eventually buried underneath dirt, where many were crushed by tectonic movements or consumed in similar disasters. As such, only one major ruin remains on the Hierachies former adopted homeworld.
However, as planned 99 millennia ago, something new has been born amongst the ancient corpses and dust within the Heartchamber, buried deep within one of these ruins. This new being is what others might crudely label an 'artificial intelligence'. Born without a name, she shortly after adopted the name "Starchild". She is the legacy of the Hierarchy, she carries with her their secrets, their knowledge. The burden falls to her to rebuild their technology, to repair their structures and to make them into a viable nation once more. If she can achieve this, the Hierarchy will have, through her, scored a final victory over those who had cast down their structures millennia ago;
They will have outlasted them.

[b]Other:[/b] The Hierarchy currently holds one planet... Except they don't really control the whole planet, they control an expansive (admittedly, extremely expansive) underground ruin on one planet.[/centre]


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Please excuse spelling, grammar and just generally awful English; Its half 2 in the morning lol