[hider=The Eternal Union] Species: Due to their size and policies the Eternal Union has grown to include multiple species. The Iscandarians are one most prominent of all the Eternals Union’s species and the original species that comprised the EU. They come from their homeworld of Alas Prime, in the system of Iscandar. Iscandarians are humanoid, however unlike humans their ears are pointed, as well as their skin being near white, and rarely for a few Iscandarians, a strange silver color. Another unique physical feature is their veins, which glow underneath their skin to indicate their magical ability, and while any Iscandarian can have any different color, some are more common depending on their sub-type. Iscandarians also have a far better memory and rate of knowledge absorption than humans, however they still have a similar level of comprehension compared to humans, so the Iscandarians are technically at the same level of intelligence as humans. Iscandarians are also very long-lived, with most living around a thousand years.. There are four Iscandarian sub-types, these being Earthen, Sentinel, Caster, and Immortal. Earthens cannot cast magic directly, rather their magical abilities help make them excellent farmers, engineers, and other more physical tasks, however Earthens have existed within other roles. Sentinels much like Earthens cannot cast magic, with their natural magic abilities instead be granted as the gift of flight, with them having the unique feature of angelic like wings. They also tend to be the warriors of the Iscandarians. Casters can cast magic directly, hence their name. They are the ones who drive forward the Magitech, magical sciences, and other sciences of the Eternal Union. The final type are the Praetorians, of which only four exist. They are in Iscandarian religion blessed by Faust for committing great acts that serve everyone and advance the Union forward, they can be said to be a combination of all the other subtypes, with non-Sentinel Iscandarians who are ascended into Praetorians gaining the Angelic Wings. They are amongst some of the most powerful beings with magic, unrivaled anywhere else in the Union. They are also biologically immortal. The Seraphram are also a prominent member of the EU. Much like the Iscandarians they have pointed ears but their skin color is much closer to that of a human. The other notable features of the Seraphram are their wings, and while much smaller than those of the Iscandarian Sentinels, they all have them and they are all capable of magic. They live about an average of 200 years. While the original Seraphram culture called for peace, much as the EU like to say it does, their entry into the Union was violent. The Seraphram always held a long tradition of freedom and independence, and after years of attempting to work with the Seraphram to convince them to join the Union of their own accord, the Immortals declared that the Seraphram would impede the “Great Mission” and declared that they would “harmonize” them. A swit war of conquest was carried out, and Seraphram resistance and rebellion afterwards brutally suppressed. The Iscandarians have long since begun replacing the culture of the Seraphram with their own, with all but the few who manage to hide from the Iscandarian’s hand only remembering the resistance as a distance memory, fully embracing what they have become since there is barely a memory of what Seraphram culture was before the war left, beyond a few locked archives sealed in the Praetorian Citadel. The Tygochan are a mammalian race, although lack hair on most of their bodies. Their skin is very rough, and is usually dark colors. They are very strong and have a high muscle density. Due to their violent culture, the Iscandarians determined that attempting to annex them peacefully would be impeding the “Great Mission” and proceeded as much they did with the Seraphram to “harmonize” them. The Tygochan have largely served the Iscandarians as a frontline battle troops, and turned through synthesis and augmentation into various synths. The Rakloid are a humanoid race with pure red skin, with horn-like structures coming out of the bottom of their. Their hair and eye color tends to be darker colors. Having nearly been destroyed by a disaster on their homeworld, they were only saved by the Iscandarians finding the remaining fleeing ships and giving them a place to settle down. Since then they have used Iscandarian technology to terraform and fix their homeworld, returning and joining the Eternal Union. They are the least prominent, mainly due to having a low population after the disaster on their homeworld. They usually stick to their homeworld of Rakta and the nearby System of Trylon with two Rakloid colonies. Constructors are the final species of the Eternal Union. They are a “true” synth as the Iscandarians call them, using biomass to form their bodies and then they are planted with various cybernetics. Since their construction is not as horrifying as other synths they operate in the public, serving various industrial, maintenance, and other roles. They are six-legged, and fitted with a wide variety of tools for use. Description of government: The Praetorians serve as the heads of the Iscandarian Government. Their authority stands above all others, and the Union is taught to serve them unquestionably from birth. This mainly in part due to how they are considered to be blessed by Faust. Beyond the Immortals there exists a series of councils, ministries, bureaucracy, and planetary governors that help govern the Union but the Praetorians have final say. There is however a very notable organization relatively unknown to the public but who has influence in the everyday runnings of the Union. Known as the Praetorian Guard they operate under exclusively the directive of the Praetorians and are considered above all other governmental organizations beyond the Praetorians themselves. They act as essentially the secret police and intelligence agency of the Union, responsible for maintaining vast spy networks and uprooting and destroying subversion within both the people and the government. A few of the Praetorian Guard are also heavily trained and sometimes synthed to serve as guards for the Praetorians. Whispers run through the public of their exist but due to the secrecy surrounding them remain faceless, adding an extra layer of fear. They will also often run missions along side the Aquilae when conducting operations in foreign territory, mainly due to the spy networks they maintain. [hider=Praetorian Guard Ranks] Agent Agent Supreme Field Officer Officer Overall Leader:Princeps Trepidor [/hider] Description of military: It is to be noted that the military uses brainwashing as well as a variety of other techniques to keep the military fiercely loyal to them. The higher ranks of the military are aware of this but see it as necessary under the terms of the “Great Mission”. Each division has its own overall leader but all are directed by Princeps Supremus, which acts as the Supreme Commander of EU military forces. [u]Milites Populi[/u] The Milites Populi are the ground-based forces of the EU. They operate with a wide variety of soldiers, robots, synths, mechs, tanks, and vehicles. They are also responsible for flying non-space forces as well as the water-based navy. [hider=Milites Populi Ranks] Unlike the other two divisions, the Milites Populi divides their units into three different areas. These are High Command, Field Command, and Ground Units. It is to be noted that the Ground units are also assigned a number, 1-10, in their rank to indicate their position to other members of that rank. Lower numbers are considered higher. Field and High Command do not use this same system. Ranks are in ascending order. Ground Units -Munifex -Decurio -Tesserarius -Optio Minor -Optio -Optio Supremus Field Command -Triarius -Centurio -Hastati -Dux Minor High Command -Dux -Dux Supremus -Tribunus -Tribunus Supremus -Legatus -Legatus Supremus Overall Leader:Legatus Exercitus [/hider] [u]Classis Astrorum[/u] The Classis Astrorum operates all the space-based forces of the Empire. [hider=Classis Astrorum Ranks] While they do not have areas like the Milities Populi it is to be noted that they both the Munifex Astrum and Decurio Astrum have a similar 1-10 system, but not the rest of the Classis Astrorum. Ranks are in ascending order. -Munifex Astrum -Decurio Astrum -Optio Minor Astrum -Optio Astrum -Optio Supremus Astrum -Dux Minor Astrum -Dux Astrum -Dux Supremus Astrum -Centurio Astrum -Centurio Supremus Astrum -Praefectus Minor -Praefectus -Praefectus Supremus Overall Leader:Praefectus Classis [/hider] [u]Aquilae[/u] The Aquilae are the special forces of the EU, performing special missions to assist the other divisions, or preforming special tasks outside of war. They have their own unique vehicles and Synths, but share their rank system with the Milites Populi. Technological Overview: The Iscandarians are a very advanced society, mainly due to the longevity of their species as well as being amongst the oldest living species within the galaxy. They make heavy use of magic, as well as magitech, the combination of magic and technology, within their society. They still however use many forms of technology that do not use magitech, although it is extremely rare to see these pieces of these technology. For FTL, the Iscandarians primarily rely on both gates between their major worlds as well drives for exploration. Both use a system of magical dimensions that was discovered shortly after the Iscandarians entered into the space era. The system is known to allow for fast, efficient, and safe FTL travel between various worlds. The FTL system is also used to allow for instant-communication between all Iscandarian vessels. When not using FTL propulsion, Iscandarians either use efficient but slow and cheaper ion drives for civilian ships, as well as small craft where the loss of speed does not effect them much, and then fast and powerful antimatter drives for most military ships, as well as a few larger civilian craft. Anti-gravity based propulsion powered by magic is also frequently used, mainly for maintaining space stations in orbit, floating cities in the skies of their worlds, as well as for propelling non-space flying craft, ground vehicles, and allowing water naval vessels to transform into aircraft when needed. The Iscandarians used many forms of power to help keep the Eternal Union up and running. Their primary source is in antimatter based reactors which used magically enhanced antimatter to produce both mana and regular power for the various components of their magitech devices. Another common source of power is manafusion reactors, which operate using various magically enhanced materials to produce both mana and regular power. While not quite powerful as their antimatter brothers, they are more easy to setup and easier to downscale and port around. As such they are mainly used by first in-colonists as well as to power ground craft and aircraft, although large water naval vessels and all space-based craft that are not small use antimatter reactors as they can support them. The Iscandarians weapon technology has been advanced a great deal, mainly out of a fear of various forces from the mythos of their religion as well as their belief that they will need to “harmonize” many nations on their question to complete the “Great Mission”. The Iscandarians use a mix of kinetic, energy, and explosive weaponry. Kinetic weapons are various rail-guns, using either highly-dense and enchanted metals for their shells, or antimatter tipped shells for extra effect. Ground forces primarily use railguns, with some smaller scaled-down autoguns which are essentially weaker, but automatic railguns. Energy weapons in space primarily consist of balefire, a highly destructive magical substance equal in power to most plasma weaponry, thus eliminating the need for Iscandarians to develop plasma weapons. Antiproton streamers are also a sight to be seen, although there are only a few per a smaller vessel, banks of these destructive weapons can be found on capital ships. Balefire “mega-spells” and scaled-up antimatter projectors act as super-weapons. Ground forces use balefire-based energy weapons. Both space and ground forces also make use of specialized magical crystals capable of producing focused energy beams. For explosives weapons space-forces use primarily balefire missiles launched by rail-guns, as well as some antimatter missiles. Ground Forces use balefire explosives, and in cases were they are severely outmatched, each army carries a small amount of low-yield antimatter missiles. Iscandarian defense technology is very odd. While all units, even common infantry with their power armor, use shields, and the Iscandarians have highly advanced and powerful shields, there armor is usually only average. The high-tiered armoring alloys that the Iscandarians would like to use for most units are vastly expensive to make, and thus they have reserved the alloys for capital ships, elite units, and highly elite vehicles and fighters. As such the Iscandarians primarily depend upon their shields in a fight, although they can still fair well if they lose them. It is also to be noted that the Iscandarians incorporate faraday cages into all space-based craft and a majority of their ground forces, making them mostly immune to EMPs. Ground Forces carry a lot of devices to use with them, such as radios, in-built displays providing battlefield information, and various others. They also have unique devices called spell matrixes. Embedded into armor, these can cast various spells and keep their own mana store, as such those who can’t tap mana directly or even this without magic entirely can use these, and the Iscandarians often use spell matrixes as a trade good. The Eternal Union has heavily developed augmentation technology, of both the genetic and cybernetic kinds. However with the development of these two types of augmentation they have also developed synthesis, a terrifying combination of both types. The monstrosities created through these methods are common only in the military or in other secret operations, and are completely hidden from the public, with the constructors being one of the few exceptions. In addition to these AI, robotics, and nanotechnology are also heavily developed. AI can be implemented into a person’s mind through use of cybernetics. It is to be noted that one has to be very careful after receiving a AI implant, as destruction of the implant can cause severe mental instability, especially if the AI and the person’s mind end up merged into what is essentially a single consciousness. Nanobots can be used to augment systems that are normally un-augmentable due to their nature, such as the respiratory and circulatory systems. Mind-wipe technology has also been developed to allow them to modify memories as they please. Iscandarian manufacturing is highly efficient, using robots and AI to streamline the process. Iscandarian manufacturing is centered around Arcano-forges, powerful factories powered by many magical devices and other things. A few Arcano-Forges have even been turned into massive factories that spawn an entire planet, although only two of these exist due to the cost of building them. Stealth technology only exists for vessels smaller than frigates, although it is highly efficient on the ground and provides many elite units. Cultural Overview: Three of the most important aspects of Iscandarian culture are their pragmatism, their embracement of the Greater Good, and the “Great Mission” as they call it. Their pragmatism, along with their embracement of the Greater Good, are all used to justify actions many races would normally consider abhorrent, immoral, or otherwise evil because in the end it shall lead to the greatest possible outcome for all. This impression is not often received by other nations the EU has contacted, as they will often say peace is preferable and will only reveal this darker side to their nature when their hand is forced. This has given the impression, from the outside and to the public at least, that the EU is a peaceful state working towards prosperity for all. They have also used these ideals to justify the Praetorian Guard, spying, suppression, and oppression of their people. Much of this darker side is hidden from the public due to again, it being the best possible action that the EU could take. This has also been used to just their conquest of the Tygochan and Seraphram, or as they call it, “harmonizing”. The “Great Mission” is sometimes mentioned in passing to the public or other nations but the full purpose of it is only truly known to the Praetorians and the higher ups of the EU. It is the final goal of the EU, what they wish to work towards. It is the idea of creating a Utopia based around a Union of Everything, a Union of the Universe. The Iscandarians will often try to neutralize those who they feel impede the “Great Mission”, or if the situation calls for it, absolute destruction. The only other major and notable part of the Iscandarian culture is the Church of Faust. While it is a religion that preaches peace and utopian ideals, it is used by the Praetorians as another method by which to control the populace and eliminate uprisings, as well as spread EU influence. As such the EU has no religious freedom, believing Faust to by the only God-like being to exist. The Praetorians themselves still believe in Faust, but feel the way in which the Church is used is justified do to the “Great Mission”. History: Eternal Union history begins shortly after the Iscandarian homeworld was United, approximately the human year 1000 BC , the four Praetorians, David, Aaliyah, Faye, and Gabriel ascended as they were all believed to be instrumental in forming the Eternal Union. It was then that the Praetorians decided upon “The Great Mission” as the primary goal of the Eternal Union, at any cost. The policies of the Union were established during this period, leading to the formation of the Praetorian Guard. The military was also heavily reorganized to fall in line with the changing times, leading to new divisions, structures, and ranks. A research division was also established to centralize the research efforts of the Eternal Union, which advanced the EU forward significantly. The Eternal Union shortly thereafter met the Seraphram. At first, the diplomatic relationship between the two remained positive, as missionaries from the Church of Faust arrived as a first-wave to attempt to get the Seraphram to peacefully join the EU, but relations quickly broke down. The EU was slowly became frustrated as the Seraphram President and Congress kept on dodging annexation attempts, in the spirit of Seraphram liberty and independence. It was then that the Praetorians ordered the military to “harmonize” the Seraphram. The war began in quick order, as the much more prepared EU forces struck down the Seraphram military. The war ended quickly, with the Seraphram falling under the dominion of the Iscandarians. A few civilian ships escaped to distant corners of the galaxy, hiding and attempting to preserve the culture of and way of life of the Seraphram. Violent, brutal, oppression became the order of the day on former Seraphram controlled-worlds, as the EU stamped out the elements they saw as standing in the way of the “Great Mission”. Seraphram culture was also replaced with EU culture to make them more complacent. The Tygochan were contacted a few hundred years after the fall of the Seraphram. At the time of EU discovery the various systems of the Tygochan were divided between various Warlords. As the EU viewed the Tygochan as to violent, they went ahead and began a harmonization of the Tygochan. It was swift, despite brutal fighting from both sides, due to the division between the Tygochan. While the initial resistance was troublesome due to the weak culture of the Tygochan theirs was easily replaced. Like with the Seraphram, a few ships escaped to distant parts of the galaxy. The EU after the two conflicts took a backseat to the galaxy, keeping their holdings under check and preparing themselves. Many strides in technology were made during this isolation period, as the EU watched the young races arise from afar. When it became clear most if not all resistance from the Tygochan and Seraphram was squashed out the EU inserted itself back into Galactic affairs. It has so far not engaged in any conflict, preaching peace as it’s primary goal. How long they decide to maintain that facade however, remains to be seen. Other: [/hider]