Here's my NS so far. I'll likely do some final touches but I'm practically finished. [hider=Drachenreich] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/n1gvSzU.jpg[/img][h1][color=fff200][b]DRACHENREICH[/b][/color][/h1][/center] Also called the Dragonrealm it describes an ancient culture of wanderers who spend most of their lives in space habitats. They're spread out and only sporadically make contact with outsiders. They refer to their species as "Asterians" or the children of stars and are known to have a vaguely feudalistic government lead by the Kaiser. [h2][color=fff200][b]Cultural Overview[/b][/color][/h2] Asterians believe in the fact that living on planets and other large astrological bodies with notable gravity would weight down their souls and lead to their moral/ethical ruin. As such they prefer to live in artificial environments of the space habitats, albeit dwarf planets and asteroids ae also acceptable. They are often nomadic, preferring to not remain at the same place for long. Nobody knows the time when they've left their homeworld as history record from the early age are scarce if even non-existent. Some think it was deliberate erasure by the current government while others believe it could've been an accident. Drachenreich subjects in general are xenophobic and don't trust outsiders and even fellow Asterians from distant colonies have a hard time to warm up to each other. They live in a relatively rigid social system of commoners (Landsmanner) and nobles (Edel) with one of the most appreciated values being one's magic aptitude. Through intermarriage and other customs for millennia the nobles have a much higher magic potential in general and they use this fact to claim genetic superiority. [hider=Species Info - Asterians][img]https://i.pinimg.com/236x/f9/7d/f0/f97df00c75934c5a53de8705fb6b1ccb--elven-noble-character-portraits.jpg[/img] Asterians, the star children, are considered a humanoid race especially as far as appearances go. Their outward looks are strikingly similar to humans with the only obvious difference being the pointed ears. That being said in terms of skin tone and hair colors the Asterians have a wide range of faint metallic tones, blue hair or even skin aren't that unusual for them. Physiologically though the Asterians are very divergent from humans, only sharing a similar setup/function for vital organs but not even their chemical makeup. Asterian bones for example are made up from a metallic material not native on Earth and their bloodstream flows with a brownish yellow liquid. Though it does worth noting that high magical aptitude can change the color of blood to glowing cyan blue, a common indicator of noble heritage. Average height for Asterians is in the range of 150-170cm and life expectancy is around 90-120 years albeit gifted and wealthy individuals might live for hundreds of years. In spite of their appearance it's impossible for a human and an Asterian to have children together. [/hider][hider=Space Colonies][img]https://i.redd.it/g0foi2d86rj01.png[/img] Giant cylindrical space vessels vaguely resembling O'Neill type of rotating space habitats. Their typical dimensions being 6km wide and 36km long albeit this can vary a lot. There are small colonies that are only 8km long and there's Drachenstadt which is 120km long at total and has specialized facilities that can assemble new colonies from scratch. Building a colony doesn't necessarily require Drachenstadt's facilities and many aristocrats expand their territory through starting their own colony building projects but the capital has by far the most efficient means. The interior walls of the colony are planted with soil and have a blooming vegetation, animals and overall an enjoyable biosphere for the inhabitants. Artificial gravity, generated by centrifugal force, is around half that of Earth's albeit this can vary per design, so does the atmospheric pressure. Light is artificially generated and inhabitants usually can watch a virtual sky projected from the center. The central portion is under zero gravity and is usually reserved for large scale production facilities. A colony is always under the jurisdiction of a noble, usually at least medium rank, and can be equated to medieval age fiefs. The population of a colony varies, mostly depends on size, facilities, taxes and age. While they have propulsion and FTL capability a space habitat is no combat vessel, nor is it practical to mount anything but perhaps the most basic defenses on it. As such these ships in spite of their immense size contribute nothing directly to combat and it's the duty of the defense fleet to protect them. Also while colonies are by far the most common dwelling for Asterian population, it isn't the only one. Asteroid colonies or other mining facilities also have their workforce and occasionally they even live on planets. Still, even those usually wish to live on the traveling colony ships the species is famous for. [/hider] [h2][color=fff200][b]Government Overview[/b][/color][/h2] Drachenreich is considered a monarchy, lead by the Kaiser or Kaiserin. This is an elected title granted through the support of the aristocracy and could be revoked any time using the same measures. Candidates are usually (albeit not always) are chosen from the Seven Great Houses. The feuds and alliances of these families determine much of the Dragonrealm internal politics. Infighting, coups and rebellions aren't uncommon. As a true feudalist system the majority of colonies are under the hold of the aristocrats, only Drachenstadt and the few core colonies surrounding it are the Crown's explicit property. The basic requirement of stable rulership requires the candidate to own considerable personal holdings and/or set up a strong web of alliances owning most property. Legislature is split between the upper and lower houses. Also referred as the High Council the upper house consists of the eldest active members of each Great House, the Kaiser/Kaiserin and the senior heads of other major owners. Edler (nobles) have the opportunity to request audience within the High Council and may even participate for a session if given the Kaiser's permission. Commoners though can only enter the halls if specifically invited and only as long as they're needed. Lower house describes the gathering and legislative body of local representatives, one for each colony or major outpost. Each vote is weighed by the count of lives within that property, at times with a multiplier weighing into the results. The latter is mostly used to give mining outposts a more realistic importance in votes as their economic influence can shape entire regions. Laws are always created in the upper house which the lower house only need to accept and make the preparations to enforce them. At times the lower house might not be satisfied with the details of the law and instead submit a modified version back to the upper house. Alternatively the lower house can give suggestions for new laws or royal actions. Unlike in many of the more democratic systems the lower house is weaker and does not have the authority to check and limit the upper house's power. [h2][color=fff200][b]Technology Overview[/b][/color][/h2] Drachenreich is an ancient civilization with numerous discoveries and scientific achievements in the past. Correspondingly they have a fairly developed industry and relatively sophisticated technology. On the other hand their social structure is often even makes them opposed to any meaningful innovation which rendered their technological level mostly stagnant. While they have kept refining their technology for those millennia the most significant scientific developments were through adopting technology from others. Their industry generally thrives on exploiting nebulas and asteroids for their resources and rather than improving the efficiency they're more inclined to just raise the sheer quantity of collectors. Another common sector is agriculture which tends to use relatively traditionalist farms. Synthetic foods are incredibly uncommon, only used when all else is unavailable. AI technology exists and helps industrial processes but they aren't advanced enough to replace all forms of manual labor, nor there's an interest to do that. Small scale manufacture is also likes using live workforce but when it comes to larger scale projects the automatization grows immensely. Most Asterian colonies have a large mile-wide if not larger cylindrical portion in their center dedicated to nothing but heavy industry, often while abusing the benefits of near-vacuum and zero gravity environment. And these literal giants of industry are supported by a flood of resource collection units and transports ferrying materials from interstellar distances. Drachenreich has a stagnant technological environment but only because their current level of development is more than sufficient to sustain or even keep on growing. That and dramatic changes to technology would undoubtedly change their society, a notion which the nobility is outright afraid of.[hider=Common Technologies] - [b]Atomic Reactors:[/b] An evolution of nuclear reactors which relies on advanced forcefield and magic crystal technology to use any of the common materials as nuclear fuel and with high efficiency. The system is highly regulated, safe and widespread in use. For such reasons Asterians don't seem to rely on solar energy at all as nuclear power practically always worth it for them. - [b]Thermokinetic Engines:[/b] A complex powerplant which can turn kinetic and thermal energy into electric power or in reverse. At large scale this is often used as secondary power generation and efficiency improving measures while the reverse has common use for locomotion in ground vehicles. - [b]Mechanocells:[/b] Also referred as kinetic battery, it's a power storage method which uses nano scale surfaces and spring mechanism to store pure mechanical energy. When required this power can be converted to electricity thus providing a lightweight and compact alternative to classic batteries. - [b]Annie[/b]: Carbonic material with specially engineered electron structure to produce an electric field sufficient to hold antimatter particles. Antimatter Neutral Medium or "Annie" is effectively a simple fuel used for simple function to power rockets or to be an easily accessible energy source. - [b]Positronic Capacitors:[/b] High-powered energy storage method which turns electricity into positrons. As matter-antimatter annihilation occurs within femtoseconds it allows extremely fast impulse energies necessary for certain high energy applications including but not exclusive to weapons. - [b]Nanolathes:[/b] By using forcefields as a 3D blueprint and inject nanoparticles it's possible to produce complex objects relatively quickly and without the usual upfront costs for acquiring the right machinery. Nanolathes are energy demanding processes but are highly popular and modified versions are even used for research purposes. That being said nanolathes can't replace all industrial processes or not without sacrificing quality. As such classic construction methods are still in use. - [b]Durametals:[/b] A large group of engineered transuranic metals that have massive densities along with various unique properties. Durasteel for example is a standard high strength material used in almost anything for structural reasons. Durabar on the other hand has excellent radiation absorption properties. Over the millennia durametals went from a niche into widespread use and the only cheap objects are made from lighter materials. Even when weight is considered the Asterians developed Duramesh which is a spongy metal foam. This both saves resources and can result in a much lighter body. - [b]Inertial Control Devices:[/b] To handle accelerations at warp speeds Asterians developed a technology which could control weight and redirect inertia from specific parts of the vessel. This isn't much different from similar technologies introduced by other spacefaring civilizations and as others they also made use of it in other fields like hovertech or lifting heavy objects. Inertia manipulation also found military uses like the iconic Gravity Blades that help delivering greater blows through manipulating the mass behind each strike. - [b]Jumpdrive[/b]: The simplest FTL drive known, commonly used by many other civilizations. Jumpdrives work by traveling through subspace which effectively allows going from one point of realspace to the other while traveling considerably less. The drawback is that, at least for Asterian variants of the drive, it has limited operation time which ultimately restricts this to shorter ranges. - [b]Hyperdrive[/b]: A variant of jumpdrives which dwelves deeper into subspace called the "hyperspace". This effectively allows faster travel albeit restricting it to the so-called "hyperlanes". It's like traveling in stable corridors within the chaotic swirl of imaginary space. As such distances in realspace might not equate for the same in hyperspace. Neighboring star systems might be more distant in hyperspace than another coordinate hundreds of lightyears away. This also explains the dispersed nature of Dragonrealm colonies. While any sufficiently well-equipped vessel can have a Jumpdrive the Hyperdrives are restricted to only colony ships and the largest vessels. This is due to their complexity and horrible energy demands. [/hider] [h2][color=fff200][b]Military Overview[/b][/color][/h2] Like the government, Drachenreich's military is in the hands of nobles. Every Lord has obligations to maintain an army for defense. Yet more often than not these are insufficient for anything more than internal security. As such for over a millennia it's a common practice for Lords to rent the services of knight orders. Knights (Ritter) are a portion of the nobility who dedicate their lives for warfare. They generally do that by joining one of the myriad of knight orders starting as a mere apprentice, squire and then become a fully fledged knight. Landeritters are the lowest rank who are little more than common troops while Rittermeister (Knight Lords) are managing an entire Mobile Castle (Kriegschloss). The supreme leader of each knight order are called the Hochmeister (Grandmaster). Since reliable interstellar travel required massive vessels they invented the Mobile Castles (Kriegschlösser) which serve as a mobile fortress and base of operations. They carry both troops and service staff required for long campaigns and some of these castles are indeed on permanent patrol duty. Of course as a mobile base the Kriegschlösser aren't fit to be general frontline vessel and instead they use small ships for that purpose. Yet during combat in space the primary focus is on the Eisenreisen (meaning: Iron Giants), 8+ meters tall giant mechs with capability to fight in space and even inside colonies. [hider=Kriegschloss - Mobile Castle][img]http://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ALDNOAHZERO-17-Large01-1024x576.jpg[/img] 250-1000m long armored compact space colonies and battle fortresses that serve as the knights' primary base of operation. Due to its size it doesn't have the same amenities as civilian colonies and relies entirely on artificial gravity instead of the old method of centrifugal force. These vessels are well-protected with the mix of gravity barriers and thick duracomposite armor plates and of course equipped with numerous weapon stations for self-defense. Most castles also have a large durasteel spike used for ramming attacks albeit some prefer giant energy cannons. That being said their primary role is to be the mobile habitat of knightly forces and their servants. As such they have lot of space for equipment, docks for larger vessels, refineries, factories and everything to wage war and to be relatively self-sufficient. [/hider][hider=Warships]Used to be the backbone of Asterian space forces they are nowadays closer to fire support and battle carriers. They are powerful yet don't approach the sheer versatility of Eisenreise which makes their combat role only secondary yet just as necessary. [/hider][hider=Eisenreise - Mechs][img]https://i.pinimg.com/236x/90/50/06/9050060b4241eb475c8f7910785cd5ff.jpg[/img] Giant humanoid machines that form the backbone of knightly forces. Their appearance is synonymous with the Ritter title and their contribution to battles is the subject of nearly every legend. Their ultracompact atomic reactors give them considerable power while the combination of impulse drives along with inertia control mechanism give it phenomenal agility in space. Their combat role roughly equals that of space fighters albeit with a lot more focus on agility and fighting techniques. They also have a tendency to choose close combat where their Gravity Blades and Gravity Lances can turn their momentum and energy reserves to devastating strikes. There are various models and different regions tend to prefer different models as their standard. Commoners who piloted Eisenreise usually received outdated models while a Landeritter would use amore up to date yet standard variant. Distinguished knights often customized their mechs and some even went for higher grade machines built directly to their specs. Such aces are often the pride and greatest asset of a knightly order. [/hider][hider=Waffenwagen - Land Vehicles] Simply referred as armed vehicles, this is a category for mostly ground vehicles. Since the Dragonrealm is diverse this is reflected back the most in the chaos that accounting for various ground vehicle variants. They can range from repurposed civilian vehicles to mass-produced vehicles unique to a certain house or even entirely custom battlewagons sparing no cost in their construction. As such rather than trying to reconcile these Crown had introduced an universal standard system categorizing these vehicles. [list] [*]Wwgn-1: Ultralight vehicles with the maximum weight of 1 ton. [*]Wwgn-10: Light vehicles with the maximum weight of 10 tons. [*]Wwgn-25: Intermediate class vehicles with up to 25 tons of weight. [*]Wwgn-50: Medium-class vehicles with up to 50 tons. [*]Wwgn-100: Heavy vehicles up to the 100-ton range. Often battletanks or heavy artillery. [*]Wwgn-100+: Superheavy combat vehicles with over 100 tons of weight. They are usually custom-made and rare. [*]Wwgn-1000+: Not an official classification but semi-popular for referring to gigantic mobile constructs that stretch the meaning of vehicle.[/list] Most land vehicles have conventional propulsion like wheels and threads and use thermokinetic engines powered by either Annie or mechanocells rather than atomic reactors. When a vehicle is hover-capable it's signified with an S (Schwebend) letter at the end, ie: Wwgn-10S. Similarly if it's flight-capable but still mostly considered a surface vehicle than aircraft it gains the F letter, Flügend. If a vehicle has an ultracompact fusion engine rather than traditional powerplant then it gains the N designation, Nuklearen. [/hider][hider=Infantry] [hider=Pictured: Standard infantry (left) and Ritter in full harness (right)] [img]https://img00.deviantart.net/ac67/i/2016/141/f/8/wwi_order_knight_by_sttheo-da38uf4.jpg[/img] [/hider] TBA [/hider] [/hider]