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[hider=The Empire of Helios][center][h1][b]The Empire of Helios[/b][/h1][img]https://kathryncamisa.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo.jpg[/img][/center]

[b][h2]Nation Intro[/h2][/b]The Empire of Helios is a naval and land-focused world power, primarily surviving due to trade and technology. It is set in a set of relatively small, mineral-rich islands. It is an almost entirely human nation. The islands themselves are particularly vicious, filled with extremely hostile and oversized wildlife. Despite their power and technology, they do not yet sit in unparalleled dominance over the environment around them.

They maintain a small amount of elite and disciplined troops, and an intimidatingly large navy made up of ironclads. It also has a minor aerial presence, but largely relies on AA weaponry to fight back against airships.

[b][h2]Geography[/h2][/b][hider=Map Claim]
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The islands of the Empire are extremely hostile, boasting everything from mosquitoes as large as your hand that regularly kill people, to horrific rats that can tear apart men in seconds while in groups. However, the seas and lands are rich, full of Willshire Coal, a variant of coal that burns for an impressively long time and provides a hotter flame in smaller doses than regular coal. The sea around it is rich with whales, where whale oil is harvested. Whale oil makes excellent fuel, allowing for primitive combustion engines.

The food industry serves a discerning palette, the man-eating birds and fish proving excellent tasting. Seasoned with spices harvested from hyper poisonous plants in the countryside, overall the citizens of the Empire of Helios eat well.

The land itself is a mixture of flat and mountainous but is mostly covered in city. Vast farmlands struggle to take hold in the countryside, while mines fight the destructive worms and moles that collapse underground structures regularly.

[b][h2]History[/h2][/b] The Empire of Helios is a relatively recently created power, established a mere three generations ago. It started on the main island, named Helios, and by far the largest of all the islands. From the petty kingdoms emerged a first land power, rapidly conquering the entire island. From there, the fledgling empire's ambition turned outwards. There was one problem, however. Their navy was pitiful, unfit to carry their troops forward onto other islands.

This is where the Admiralty took root. While neglected before, now it was placed on a pedestal of importance. No price was spared to build it up, reforming it from the ground to become what it is today. Within a generation, the once neglected navy of the island of Helios was fully overhauled, becoming a mighty powerhouse even at the expense of the army that used to be the pride of Helios. Now with the troops and ships it needed, the empire bloomed. Island after island capitulated to its rule until it was a burgeoning and powerful nation.

Always at the forefront of innovation as an empire unshackled by religion or tradition, it rapidly forged forward in technology at every step, creating a world power out of relatively small, if material rich, set of islands. Despite its small population and landmass, it is one of the most remarkable powers out there, thanks to its incredible navy, elite troop force, shrewd merchants, and skilled diplomats. This is only furthered by the rich trade it experiences and the great technologies it has at its disposal.

[b][h2]Society[/h2][/b]In the islands of Helios, humanity is not yet the apex species. As such, people are a lot less friendly to each other and look at death with hardly any surprise or trauma. This also works both ways, herd mentality keeping together various groups. Made up entirely of hardy humans, the islands are simply too inhospitable for most other races.

Most of the islanders are use to large cities, the small islands filled with vast cities. Every city is also heavily industrialized, heavily smoggy. 

[b][h2]Economy/Industry[/h2][/b]The Empire is a massively industrialized state, importing massive amounts of raw materials and pumping out manufactured goods. Two major industries are the shipyards and the whale oil refineries. Almost all of the powered contraptions of the Empire are fueled by either whale oil, which works as a primitive combustion method, to the steam engines powered by Adorite, a material mined from the isles that burns three times as long as regular coal and three times as hot. Steam engines power almost the entire navy, while in the cities whale oil dominates.

While whale oil is hundreds of times more volatile and overall dangerous to use, as well as expensive, it is useful in creating smaller engines. It sees limited use in moving equipment, as the oil is so volatile when refined that too much movement could cause it to explode. Steam engines are much safer, and thus used in most moving equipment. Whale oil causes powerful enough explosions when properly ignited that it is also used as a weapon, larger flak cannons propelling massive rounds into the air using whale oil instead of gunpowder.

Unrefined, whale oil is rather inert and fairly useless. This means that whale oil refineries hold immense power over the empire. Whalers are not neglected either and have been deemed a vital industry to the state. Generally, if you can think of an industry, it very well may be in the isles. They import most of their food, though, due to the fact that the land is too hostile for any major farms and most of the isles are covered in cities anyways.

[b][h2]Military[/h2][/b]The army is massive for the population of the empire, overall a force to be reckoned with. It has a very limited air force but enjoys a small yet extremely elite ground presence. The navy, however, is the pride of the empire. Helios rules the waves, boasting a technologically superior, numerically superior, and tactically superior navy. Heliosian merchants trawl the world, trade routes guarded by the imperial navy. Wherever merchants work their trade, an ironclad escort patrol is likely not far behind.

There are three types of troops, in a descending order of rareness.

First are your standard footmen, each boasting a cartridge rifle and a uniform.
[img]http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2010/post-2272-126977636371.jpg[/img]

Next are the elite formations, often the platoons commissioned by the fledgling empire back during its formation. They boast whale-oil powered rifles, greatly speeding up each cartridge they fire for an overall deadlier effect. They are also permitted the empire's most advanced steam-based armor. There are ten of these companies in existence.
[img]http://img15.deviantart.net/e2d4/i/2014/284/8/c/steampunk_army_by_james_olley-d82eo0h.jpg[/img]

The final forms of infantry are the rarest. They are not granted the same level of armor as the elite formations, but they are still granted some form of armor. Their specialty instead is in the Pierre-Wellington Gun, a fearsome automatic weapon that fires cartridges at a high rate of fire. It uses a Gatling-based technology encased in a cover that holds water, which can be splashed onto the weapon at the discretion of the user. This allows it to be fired for a longer period of time before the barrels begin to warp. It uses gunpowder instead of whale oil to keep the recoil down. There exist only five companies that use this weapon.
[img]http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Stuartantony1/steampunk_soldier___armoured_fury_by_leadmill-d3f6sz3.jpg[/img]

There also exists a cavalry formation, mostly used in the cities to keep order. They are armed with lances and barrel-loaded pistols, as well as a saber.
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OwSDjju3tiw/UEXyy7ngTXI/AAAAAAAABN0/xdn0KMqCeqQ/s1600/40k%2Bcavalry.JPG[/img]

The aerial portion of the empire is rather neglected, consisting of a single design using sails to fly about, kept afloat by minor amounts of Aetherum. They boast plenty of rifled cannons, however.
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The navy is where the empire truly shines, containing plenty of designs for every situation, the latest technology, and high numbers of sailors and ships.

The first is the Garret class escort ship, boasting several rifled cannons built on swivel platforms, and built for high speed and manueverability.
[img]http://mcspuds.net/steam/sp_3.jpg[/img]

The Elizabeth class cruiser also has high-caliber rifled cannons, as well as thicker armoring and larger steam engines. It tends to be less manueverable, however.
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Averof_painting_1919_Bosporus.jpg[/img]

The pride of the navy is the King class ship of the line, boasting a frightening number of guns of all types, ranging from flak cannons to anti-personnel machine guns, and all the way to guns so large they cannot be placed on swivel mounts. It stands high and proud in the water and can house hundreds. There exist six of them, spread about the various main fleets of the navy.
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For everyday escort and transport operations, there is the Wellington class destroyer, utilizing a set of small swivel cannons. It is fast and manueverable, and by far the most common ship in the navy.
[img]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d199/Darth_Xor/5.jpg[/img]

Then, finally, you have the single platoon that is the mechanized division. It uses experimental whale oil engines, and contains two types of tanks. They are a fearsome foe to fight, but most engagements will not see them, due to the pure lack of numbers. There exist twenty of these tanks.
[img]https://i.gyazo.com/60332fe0dce4839fd732c72c2d294b57.png[/img]

The army composition is as follows:
Army - The entire land force.
Corps - The army is split into four distinct sections, each controlled by a brigadier general.
Division - Usually made up of multiple brigades.
Brigade - Usually 10 companies, or about 1000 men.
Company - A commisionned platoon of 100 men.
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