[hider=Vorskel Confederacy][h1]Vorskel Confederacy[/h1]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/6z2B3GB.png[/img]
[h2]Overview[/h2]

[indent]The Vorskel Confederacy is an alliance of nations created to avert a catastrophic nuclear war. Since then the Confederacy has taken center stage in administrating colonization and interstellar trade. It also still acts as an intermediary in international disputes. The Confederacy has quite a lot of influence but the nations are still sovereign and maintain their own militaries and government types. All three superpowers, Ghorak, Mesenthia, and Sonique are members as well as many other minor nations. Since its creation wars have been a rare occurence. The Confed's mission to maintain world peace and foster international cooperation has been largely successful. Whether this will last, or if this is simply temporary remains to be seen.[/indent]

[h2]Species[/h2] 
[h3]Vorskel[/h3]
[b]Biology[/b]
[indent]The Vorskel are a mammalian humanoid race whose average height ranges from four feet six inches to five feet eight inches. They have digitigrade legs ending in four toed feet. A short coat of fur covers their bodies. The Vorskel's fur is usually tan, brown, or black; their underarms and belly have lighter tones usually. With age it becomes gray, silver, or even white. Some have long fox-like snouts while others have short blunt snouts. Sharp triangular ears sit atop their heads. Their eyes are yellow, orange, brown, or green. Their hands have four long fingers (one of which is an opposable thumb) ending in short blunt claws. A pair of small vestigial wings sprouts from their back. They were once like bats, but since they increased in mass the wings fell into disuse. At current the wings are mostly useless and its not uncommon for some to be born without them altogether.[/indent]

[h2]Government[/h2]
[h3]Vorskel Confederacy[/h3]
[indent]The Vorskel Confederacy is a non governmental organization or NGO that exists to facilitate the peaceful resolution of conflicts between nations and negotiations between said nations. It also offers financial assistance to developing nations as well as medical care and foodstuffs to particularly impoverished areas of Kesh. It is composed of several branches including the General Assembly, Security Council, International Court, and the Tripartite. The General Assembly is where all members meet to decide on budget, accepting or denying new applications, and elects bureaucrats in other branches. The security council is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has representatives from the four permanent members, the superpowers of Ghorak, Spetses, Sonique, and Mesenthia. The court is where disputes are resolved and international laws are drafted. The Tripartite is the defacto leader  of the Confederacy. The General Secretary, Lord Marshal, and Merchant General along with their cabinets reside here. They are responsible for social, military, and economic matters respectfully.[/indent]

[h2]Military[/h2]
[indent]The Confederacy doesn't have a standing military technically. The closest thing is the Peacekeeper Corps which is composed of military units provided temporarily from member states to deal with a dispute that has failed to resolve itself peacefully. There is also the council chamber guard, but they're considered more law enforcement than military. But the guard aren't pushovers, they have the skill of professional soldiers. The Peacekeepers can be composed of ground and space units and are deployed off world when the need arises. But generally the nations are responsible for guarding their holdings.

The forces on Kesh are designed for large conventional conflicts and as a whole number in the millions (~20 mil personnel). They are split between atmospheric air forces, ground forces, and 'wet' naval forces. They also have a fair number of ballistic missiles and surface to orbit batteries. The threat of mutually assured destruction keeps the peace. Though proxy wars do happen from time to time. Due to the Confederacy most wars are small in scope and limited. These conventional armies can be used off world but require heavy transports and orbital and aerial superiority at the target zone.

There are also small elite forces specialized for fighting on other worlds. The Mesenthian Storm Troopers, Ghorakian Janserii, Soniquien Guard, and Spetsen Marines make up this force. They focus on surgical strikes rather than large battles. They can also board enemy spacecraft and fight within a vacuum if needed. They are all professional career soldiers. They operate a wide range of equipment including autocannons, high velocity missiles, lasers, good old fashioned guns, and in some cases railguns.[/indent]

[h2]Technology[/h2]
[indent]The pinnacle of Vorskel technology is perhaps the warp drive, which allows travel to the stars in days or weeks rather than years. This miracle of engineering is the most expensive piece of machinery ever produced. For power generation they use nuclear fusion reactors. Additionally they have highly advanced capacitors for power storage. Other than that however, they are rather conventional. Energy shielding is something not yet used by the Vorskel. So for protection they rely on armor or agility. For weapons they use particle beams, lasers, railguns, coilguns, and missiles. Their computers are far more advanced than what 21st century humans would know, with 512 bit operating systems. Their ground forces just use old fashioned guns and missiles that wouldn't be out of place on a modern battlefield. Some specialist units use railguns, however.[/indent]

[h2]Culture[/h2]
[indent]Culture varies from place to place but generally the Vorskel are a conservative people. Bodily augmentation is frowned upon for one. Secondly, traditional gender roles are observed, and deviating from them isn't encouraged. They aren't a particularly pious people, many opting for agnostic atheism. Though, religious followers aren't that uncommon. They generally form life long monogamous pairs and having multiple romantic partners is highly frowned upon. There are exceptions with certain nations, however. As a result they do practice marriage to cement a union. Homosexuals are tolerated but not all that liked. They do not have a rigid caste system, but they still do have class differences.[/indent]    

[h2]History:[/h2]
[indent]The Vorskel started like any other race, with rocks and sticks. They were nomadic for a long while and spread to every continent. A couple of coastal communities settled down, but generally they were on move. Eventually someone had the bright idea for agriculture and soon many villages popped up everywhere. Towns formed in high traffic areas which entered in coalitions with surrounding villages. Tribal warfare raged periodically, but it was often indecisive. Nobody had the numbers to fight a pitched battle. 

This changed as agricultural techniques became more sophisticated and cities formed. The increased manpower and the ability to maintain supply lines allowed extended campaigns and sieges that were not possible before. With this the first empires formed. These empires took over only took over the most fertile areas and had little contact with each other. However, they were often short lived as greedy kings overextended themselves, and barbarians raided from the outside. Eventually even these barbarians figured out agriculture was a great idea.

With increasingly improved agricultural techniques civilization was able to spread to all but the most inhospitable climates. Wars became ever more common and many millions were slaughtered over the centuries. This was the theme of Vorskel history up until mechanized industrial war. A few large wars were fought before people realized before long the species would wipe itself out eventually. The Union of Kesh was formed by the superpowers. This failed as a few wars were fought over land disputes, and in space. It was then replaced by the Confederacy which was  more powerful and centralized.

By this point the Vorskel had spread to space and a patchwork of mining stations, small colonies, and solar energy 'farms' were all over the home system. With some sense of unity with the formation of the Confederacy, people began to look outward. With that an STL, slower than light, ship was sent to colonize Markuras in the neighboring star system of Rorsch. A colony was set up sucessfully, but in fighting broke out and the viceroy was overthrown. The colony fractured into conflicting nations. While this was going on, the warp drive was invented.

The first warp craft, the VSS Iseia checked in on the colony. The superpowers were horrified and built an expeditionary group. It arrived and intervened and the powers secured territory and gave the various groups of colonists the rest of the planet. After this there was an explosion of colonies. Mesenthia established four colonies, Sonique made five, Ghorak made four, and Spetses made three. Rorsch remains the 'international' colony.  [/indent]
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