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NATION SHEET

Name: The Morte Imperium, Das Mortereich, The Morte Empire
Species: Morteans (outwardly almost human)
Government: Totalitarian Elected Monarchy
Official Language: Gothic Standard
Homeworld: Mortis, Todestern System
Holdings: Star Systems: 7, Habitable Planets: 4, Colony Clusters: 16
Total Population: 85,569,242,144 (according to last year's census)
Military Power: 2,500,000,000 personnel (regulated by law, always replenished within a week)
Fleet Power: 2,500 warships (as per "peacetime" law restrictions, not including escorts and lesser ships)

HISTORY OVERVIEW

TBA

SPECIES/SOCIETY

Morteans are bipedal creatures who closely resemble humans. Whether they are distant descendants of human colonists or an alien race who are just similar to humans due to the pararell development theory, it's unknown. Morteans live in their harsh death worlds which made them look pale and weak compared to an average human. They're at average 163cm tall but there are rare Morteans who grow over 2 meters. Due to the effect of radiation, birth defects and mutations are relatively common and according to statistics 27.4% of the children die at (or before) birth. For every Mortean death is a common experience which swayed their society into an unique direction. Morteans neither fear death nor welcome it. They accept death as a natural element of their lives and strive to serve their community during the short time they're given (average 40 years). Morteans are utilitarians to the extreme, working precisely like cogs in well-oiled machine. In the eyes of others Morteans themselves do appear almost machine-like, having little in the way of personal goals and instead striving to complete their duties to the community as a whole. This unique mindset also makes Morteans numb to the feeling of loss other species experience. Morteans are capable of boundless cruelty without the slightest emotion behind. Compassion in its typical sense is almost completely foreign to them. On the other hand their higher orientation towards logic means Morteans always do things with reason. They have a clear view on risks and benefits which makes negotiations with Morteans surprisingly simple. The official language of the Mortereich is the Gothic Standard. It resembles German from the ancient human civilization albeit they are far from a perfect match to each other. There are also 7 major dialects and even more minor dialects within the population which can range from slight mutation to something that doesn't even sound like the same language.

GOVERNMENT/HOLDINGS

The Mortean government is imperial, formed in the ancient past under the necessity to fend off various invaders. Old databanks detail that until the fourth century IR the Kaiser's title was inherited by the descendants of Karl von Metzel. After the formation of the "Neue Reich" the Kaiser was elected for 6 years by a public vote. Thus the current government system is Elected Totalitarian Monarchy. Kaiser candidates must pass a rigorous set of selection tests and only the most fit . But aside from that anyone is eligible to become the Kaiser. There are no set political parties albeit having the favor of certain groups can increase a candidate's chances to become the Kaiser. Right after election the Kaiser has absolute power but he must use this with care. After the end of their run the former Kaiser is examined and questioned for his actions and may even face execution. Re-election is possible but only the maximum number of 4 times in a row. Overall the Morte Empire has a strict system of hierarchy. Anyone is expected to follow the orders of their superior to the letter. Insubordination leads to punishment. Yet if there are questions raised in regards of the superior's competence, these can be submitted to a higher up who upon further evaluation could demote the said person. Extraordinary promotions may be issued the same way, albeit the process is even more complicated. Generally the Mortean government and society works like a fine tuned machine. This undoubtedly contributes to their reputation as "machine-like people".

Overall, the Mortean Empire holds almost 40% of the Stormlosweg Sector which can be found in the uncharted regions of the galaxy. Stormlosweg Sector is devastated by the Kilonova Catastrophe over a millennia ago. This made life incredibly harsh for its inhabitants. Currently the Mortean Empire controls 7 star systems: Todderstern (their home system), Bekrieger, Heissessen, Brennenweg, Schmelzer, Grossernicht and Saltzricht. In spite of that they only possess 4 barely habitable planets. Their home system Mortis, Tannerbald the only planet with the potential for open terrain agriculture, the mineral-rich Stolzer and Krugern which was the former homeworld of the Luxans. To house their population elsewhere the Morteans built no less than 16 colony clusters in their territory and currently over 20% of Morte's population lives in them.

TECHNOLOGY/INDUSTRY

Since the ancient Kilonova Catastrophe the Morteans came a long way and advanced their science tremendously. It was both by the force of necessity and by reverse-engineering the technology of other civilizations. Nowadays they are the most advanced nation in the entire Stormlosweg Sector, even if compared to civilizations from the galaxy as a whole they have ways to go. Their chief power source is antimatter. Boon of the bane is that the Kilonova Catastrophe turned all stars into irregulars which naturally expel solar winds of pure antimatter. Gathering this up the Morte Empire has an almost inexhaustible supply. Their industry is developed massively over the centuries and their star systems are practically filled with automated mines and factories. These were once fueling the Morte's immense war machine but with the lasting peace these facilities are switched over to civilian production. 8 of the colony clusters were actually made in this century. Material engineering is similarly advanced in the Empire, with various batches of Durachrome can be found in all constructions.

For long centuries Morte's only reliable form of interstellar travel is the Warp Drive. This technology went through dozens of generations yet its chief mechanism remained the same. It manipulates space-time to effectively shorten the distance and allow ships to travel at apparent speeds faster than light. It's a proven and tested device, albeit compared to what most civilizations use in teh galaxy these are quite slow. Usually they can only travel a few lightyears in a day. Morte also has advanced medicine, cybernetics and AI technology albeit sentient machines are kept under strict control. They also know several terraformation methods yet none of these seems to solve the problem with their home planet. A scientist once proposed the idea to create a planet-wide barrier around Mortis but the results were rather discouraging.

MILITARY OVERVIEW

Mortean military doctrine reflects their society completely. They follow utility and precise organization. Laws explicitly determine the number of soldiers protecting the Empire and their count is reviewed every weekend. During "peacetime" (defined by the lack of major campaigns instead of the absence of any military action or hostilities) this quota was determined to be 2.5 billion, calculated to be just appropriate to keep the hostile neighbors at bay. During major military actions the Kaiser has full authority to raise this quota anywhere. All Morteans receive combat training before reaching adulthood and they're obliged to refresh it on every 4th year. In the Mortean Empire there are no civilians, just active soldiers and those who stay in reserve. The duty of the empire's protection is shared with everyone. The military branch of the Morteans is called Reichswehrmacht.


Mortean Space Navy (Mortenkriegsflotte) doctrines concentrate on numbers and heavy long range firepower. Their primary propulsion systems are large antimatter impulse engines which provide reasonable acceleration at minuscule reaction mass spent. Their efficiency is further enhanced by the mass-lightening and space-folding effects of Warp Drives which are also their method of interstellar travel. Albeit slow compared to many other civilizations but its reliable economic nature allows ships to use them for constant travel with only moderate impact on the ship's power budget. Using similar theories the ship's main weaponry are superluminal PASER (Positron Accretion by Spatio-antimatter Explosive Reactions) and Grav Lance/QuASAR (Quark Acceleration by Spatio-stimulated Antimatter Reactions), the latter attacks with raw mass particles at FTL velocities, thus penetrating shields and armored hulls more efficiently than regular beams. They also have torpedoes that can be launched from warp catapult to temporarily gain FTL speed until reaching close to the target. Overall these weapons extend the Morte Fleet's range greatly and it isn't rare for them to target enemies from a few astronomical units away. Said weapons are assisted by hypercomms, hyper-radar and hypercameras which are all based on the Warp mechanism thus free of light-lag. For protection the Morte ships use thickly armored Durachrome composite hulls combined with their Force Shields, the latter generating a bubble of rapidly circling gluons and quarks, essentially covering themselves with multiple layers of pseudo-mass. While potent on its own the Force Shield's true purpose is to intercept attacks and attenuate them from afar (as they're usually projected 10-100km away depending on ship size and power), effectively rendering them harmless to the ship's armor thereafter.

The Mortenkriegsflotte is currently restricted by the "peacetime" law which limits them to 2500 warships, at least 70% of these must be the fast attack and individual patrol ships AKA frigates in order to secure the borders. The Morte Empire currently occupies the space of 46 cubic lightyears with their borders spreading for the area of 47 lightyears squared. With their warp drives usually only capable of crossing 1-3 lightyears a day they require at least this many patrols to keep their empire safe.




The Morte Empire also installed a network of space bases and warp jammer relays to prevent intruders to trespass their borders. While powerful enough to take on a few ships, these are still insufficient to prevent an actual fleet assault. The warp jammers also occasionally fail to sabotage the enemy's FTL methods and they penetrate deep into Morte territory. As such vigilance and constant fleet patrols are still a necessity. Aside from the borders the 3 planets, the 12 colony clusters and key industrial chokepoints are also outfit with various space defenses. Thanks to their concentrated nature these are slightly better at repelling attackers albeit without the fleet's assistance they still won't hold up against prolonged siege.