[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 old 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]History Overview[/b][/color][/h2] Drachenreich and the Asterians consider themselves apart from humanity, a whole new race. Yet the fact is their history begins as a peculiar group of human colonists during the early years of the Imperial Era or perhaps even before. Proper databank and historical records were meticulously deleted and as such it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when the journey of the Dragon's Flight began. It isn't clear what motivated the colonists to wager to reach the furthest reach of the galaxy. What little records are left about distant Asterian origins only exist as barely disguised propaganda text serving to reinforce Drachenreich ideology. According to these the Dragon's Flight project was initiated by the brilliant mind and rich businessman Theodore Drake. To his beliefs mankind was doomed for sticking to their antiquated lifestyle and views and refusing to let go of their blood soaked history. In order to prevent this inevitable demise humans must reborn anew free of their past influences. For this end he funded a grandiose project for a colony ship unlike anything else. It was less like a ship and more of a mobile space habitat, vaguely modeled after classic O'Neill type cylinders. In its center lied a gigantic warp core, allowing the entire vessel to travel at warp speed. According to the records 5 million colonists willingly assisted Drake in his noble cause. The more likely explanation is that Drake used his wealth to convince poor people off the streets to risk this journey. After this point the Drachenreich propaganda only gets more ridiculous, making the grueling and tense journey into a magical adventure with stereotyped alien characters only serving to inflate Asterian ego and even Drake's personal meeting with the one true god blessing him with the duty of saving all of mankind. It's possible some of these tales have a smidgen of truth to it but separating fact from fiction is borderline impossible. What is certain that mid-journey Drake created the basis of the ideology which would later define Asterian culture, on of the most crucial points being the refusal to settle on large astronomical bodies as Drake believed natural gravity is poisonous to the soul. Instead of finding habitable planets the predecessors of the Asterians began constructing new space habitats just like their original one. It can be also confirmed that they encountered numerous alien races and adopted various technologies not known to the empire. In the next few centuries the human population gradually transformed into the race we cal the Asterians. Records claim it was Drake's vision for a better mankind but most likely it began as a vanity project to prolong his life. Either way, the once singular colony of few million people rapidly grew to a network of mobile space habitats journeying through space with Drake as their almighty emperor. Yet eventually this came to an end. Propaganda texts tell a sad story about intrigue and betrayal where Drake met a tragic end. Most likely the people just had enough of Drake playing god and dethroned him. Asterians sunk to centuries of chaos and internal wars, most city this as the origin of the Great Houses. This continued until about a thousand years ago when a truce was formed along with the crowing of the new Kaiser. Unlike before the ruler was less like an emperor with absolute power and more akin to a medieval king who required the lords' support. Ever since then society barely changed. Drachenreich remained a loose collection of space colonies spread through the galaxy. [h2][color=fff200][b]Territorial Overview[/b][/color][/h2] [h2][color=fff200][b]Cultural Overview[/b][/color][/h2] Asterians believe in the fact that living on planets and other large cosmic bodies with notable natural 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 can be also acceptable. They are often nomadic, preferring to not remain at the same place for long. 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). On the other hand Asterian culture doesn't really have a much of a distinction between genders when it comes to jobs or even titles. A girl in Asterian society can equally inherit a noble house's properties and a considerable number of Drachenreich's rulers were female under the title of Kaiserin. As for timekeeping the Asterians use cycles instead of days which equals roughly 10 terrestrial hours. Work and rest is usually in different cycles altogether albeit for better efficiency they invented quarter-cycles and even tenth-cycles (decicycle, roughly equivalent to an hour). Decicycles are split to 100 milicycles and those to 100 moments. As such an "asterian day" (cycle) is 4 quartercycles or 10 decicycles, or 1000 milicycles or 100000 moments depending on which measurement unit you use. An Asterian "week" is 10 cycles and usually is referred as "Decans" an abbreviation of decacycles. Their "months" are 100 cycles and referred as "Periods", each named after an Asterian mythological figure. An asterian "year" is always 1000 cycles long and while it can be called kilocycle its more common names include Alt, Yahr or just simply year. Asterian calendar takes the date of the Reich's foundation as its "zero date" anything before that is "vor dem Reich" (before the Realm, abbreviated as VR) and anything after it is "in dem Reich" (within the Realm, abbreviated as IR). The current date (during the RP's start, at least) is IR3002. When writing down exact dates they use a simple system (for example the 10th cycle of Drachonar (3rd decan) in IR3002 would be: IR 3002.0310). This can even go down to subcycles as say during the same cycle 3002.03100543 means that it's past the fifth decicycle and at the 43rd milicycle. For ease they at times divide the different types with full stops (like for example: 3002.03.10.05.43) but this isn't the standard everywhere. The reason for such clinically neat system is simple, Asterians are space travelers with no fix reference point for time aside from computers counting its passage. In addition given the distance it isn't rare for the calendars of faraway colonies to diverge to a considerable amount. To avoid this going overboard Drachenstadt's time is taken as the global standard and periodically all colonies synchronize to them. That being said there are rare cases when distant colonies fail to contact/synchronize with Drachenstadt for years. And of course rouge colonies and other factions not officially part of Drachenreich no longer synchronize with the capital's calendars. This is of course the source of a myriad of nuanced issues. [hider=Religion Info - Draconism][img]https://t6.rbxcdn.com/c1ab8f3ba4cd02262daf46cba8c36688[/img] Kineticism was popular and widespread between humans when the Dragon's Flight departed. Some sources even imply that Drake was a devout believer. It is of little wonder that Kineticism remained the Asterians' chief religion. Furthermore its basic pillars matched the ideology of the Asterians as Kineticism has no connection to ancient human cultures and it seeks answers to life's greatest questions in the cosmos. As the Dragon's Flight departed before the fourth millennium the Kineticism they have brough had yet to split to its distinct Divinist and Universalist branches and instead it was a strange mix of both. Of course like everything Asterian, Kineticism is also warped by propaganda and their ideology thus earning the name Draconism. Draconism believes in the Almighty Dragon who is responsible for the Big Bang and considered the bringer of life and justice. All souls originate from the Dragon and they will eventually return to it. They have an extensive clerical staff and strict hierarchy with Grand Caretaker at the helm. All clergy come from the nobility, traditionally the third son or daughter of any family. Those who take up the robes of Draconism forsake all their claims on wealth and territory and instead become governors to the people's souls. That being said the Grand Caretaker is a powerful aristocratic figure who often owns territory on par with one of the Great Houses. Higher ranking clergy are often tasked to look over the Grand Caretaker's property, effectively becoming similar to the aristocracy. Draconism reveres the Sacred Trinity of the Almighty Dragon, its prophets the Dragonborn and the Dragonsoul which is within all who believe in the Dragon. Draconism usually recognizes Theodore Drake as the first Dragonborn whose deeds ensured for Asterians to walk on the right path. To be considered a Dragonborn one needs to have great accomplishments for the sake of Draconism, purity and to have at least one "miracle" to their names. Dragonborn titles are almost always assigned posthumously and decisions are heavily influenced by politics. Occasionally the Dragonborn title is even taken from people if it serves the current political agenda. [/hider][hider=Species Info - Asterians][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c6/af/c1/c6afc147442893eced8f41973cc45265.png[/img] Asterians, the star children, are former humans who had become a separate race through centuries of genetic engineering that can be traced back to before their dark age. Outwardly the Asterians retain their human appearance with tendency for lighter builds, wider range of eye/hair/skin colors and their iconic pointed ears. Internally the differences become more apparent as their entire physiology is altered to better fit Drake's view of "a new mankind". Asterians are shorter, at average around 5 feet or 150cm. This consequently results in them requiring less air, food and water to sustain themselves. This is important for a tightly rationed society like theirs. Asterian bones use a metal compound not native to terrestrial creatures which is tougher and also susceptible to magnetism. This is done so they could use electromagnetic fields as artificial gravity. Of course this also means that unlike humans the Asterians can be susceptible to powerful magnets. De-gaussing is plausible but not always available. Asterian bodies can also briefly survive in vacuum, albeit this is an emergency state which can still have medical consequences. Speaking of which due to their constitution being imperfect the average Asterian only lives for 50 years as various defects and their health effects pile up and eventually cripple their physiology. Asterian commoners rarely live to old age. They usually get sick sometime around 40-60 and die to the genetic disorders a few years later. In spite of this the Asterian ideology declares their species superior to humans and this view is shared by both nobles and commoners. Speaking of nobles, thanks to their treatment and upbringing they can be almost like a different species. Noble houses generally can afford decent medical aid and higher nutrition intake. This results in not just them being healthier but also growing taller, 6 feet at average and occasionally even approaching 8. While Drake's procedure for immortality was a failure the Asterian species is still gifted with longevity and thanks to medical monitoring and constantly taking special medications the nobility tends to outlive humans considerably. There is no point of settling down on averages as lifespan widely varies but the richest have the potential to live for 300-500 years or even longer. Drake himself was noted to live for nearly a millennia and his transformation was far less complete than the average Asterian's. So many correctly assumes longevity in the Dragonrealm is a matter of wealth and of course luck with the latter often being correlated with fate and religious favors. Those who are devout Draconists should be blessed with lucky genes and free from unexpected illnesses and heretics should suffer in spite of their wealth. Speaking of which while nobles can live longer this is accomplished through constant medical attention. Should they lose their status or be left without their medicines for too long it is quite likely they fall to their genetic aliments soon, dying just like a commoner. Even if not, there is always a limit how long medical science can sustain them with the eldest nobles often becoming desperate to find any means to prolong their lives. [/hider][hider=Habitation Info - 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 a colony are planted with soil and have 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, the Grand Caretaker 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 a 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 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 other civilizations. 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 also likes using live workforce but when it comes to larger scale projects the automatization grows immensely. Most Asterian colonies have a 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 them. That and dramatic changes would undoubtedly affect 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 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]Chargebus:[/b] Device used to exploit and harness Coulomb force by using forcefield generators. It works similar to combustion engines but relying on the electric charge differences. Just as combustion engines the chargebus also needs fuel which tend to be metallic in nature. This mechanism can be exploited both for power generation (though rare) and as a simpler drive for various vehicles. Actually a mechanism similar to chargebus is used in many Asterian firearms. - [b]E-rocket[/b]: Propulsion system using coulombic detonations the same way as chemical energy is used for conventional rockets. E-rockets benefit from the fact they can be extremely compact and can turn nearly any common material into fuel. While atomic powered torch impulse engines are the main propulsion of spaceships E-Rockets are preferred for more compact applications where their simplicity and versatility wins over the fuel efficiency of nuclear power. - [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 an enduring light build. - [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]Warp Gates[/b]: Ancient Imperial technology which once connected all worlds in a well-functioning near-instantaneous network. Unlike what their name implies warp gates and warp drives are hardly related with the former instead using wormholes between two connected devices. With the Orion Empire's decline the technology to build Warp Gates also got nearly forgotten. Not in the Dragonrealm, though. Warp Gates are an essential part of every major Asterian space colony and the only means to be connected over the vast distances. That being said Asterian warp gates are considerably smaller, only sufficient to let medium class warships through. Also like their larger cousins the space colony has to remain on stable orbit around a large stellar object (be it a star or even the galactic core) to be locked on and used as a warp gate. Albeit thanks to the smaller and more actively maintained network they only need to remain this way for one or two weeks before the warp gate is operational, a bit shorter than what Orionic warp gates do. Regardless this makes space colonies vulnerable and a more savvy enemy might even abuse this. [/hider][hider=Military Technologies] - [b]E-Guns:[/b] Firearms propelling projectiles not through chemical but Coulomb detonations. As electric charge rips the propellant apart this force allows the projectile to be accelerated to great speeds. E-Guns can have classic cartridges with special coulombic propellant but another popular method involves forcefield generators to spontaneously turn a specific portion of the projectile into a coulombic explosive for the same effect. E-guns have much higher velocity limits than their chemical alternatives and they often compete with railguns in performance. Artillery with E-guns also benefit from the widely adjustable amount of propellant to lay down arcing fire from almost anywhere from inside the colony. - [b]Chargebombs:[/b] Also referred as E-bombs they are a common Asterian type of explosive using a similar mechanism to E-guns. By placing a compact field generator along with a sensor-fused system it's possible to turn the shell/warhead's material spontaneously into a coulombic explosive. This turn over 99% of the object into bomb material, a stark difference to chemical bombs where this mass rarely exceeds 50%. Coulombic explosives can also be potentially much stronger than conventional chemical bombs and less sensitive to environmental changes which makes them all the more popular to the Asterians. - [b]Bolters:[/b] By compressing air or surrounding material and giving it sufficient electric charge it's possible to fire compressed bolts for deadly effect. Bolters are very economical to use as anti-personal weapons and thus they are commonly seen with infantry or mounted on vehicles to ward off infantry. Their drawback is that they require atmospheric gases to work and as such generally useless in space. There are variants with gas packs for extra-colonial use but that kind of sacrifices the usual benefits of the system. - [b]Macro Particle Cannons:[/b] While the Asterians do make use of lasers and particle beam weapons their most famous energy weaponry are the Macro Particle Cannons. These generate huge metastable macroscopic particles usually shaped into a micron-thick beam. The sheer density of the material makes it very efficient to penetrate defenses while its metastable nature means the matter is going to violently explode soon therafter. Their drawback is that it takes time and considerable technological equipment to prepare the particle mix which for a while only made them feasible to use them on warships. While this is no longer necessarily true to alleviate this problem they developed P-Caps that can act as intermediate period storage for pre-compressed particles thus for the first time making Ritterpanzers capable of wielding them. Since then the more advanced Ritterpanzers can have sufficient output to generate macro particles on their own but the P-Caps can still have advantages at the obvious drawback of limiting your shots. MPC technology is dreadfully effective against armors and shields but only from sufficiently short ranges. The beam gradually disperses over the distance and since it began from micron diameter by the time it's expanded to a meter it might even fail to sufficiently damage regular structures. - [b]Heatrods:[/b] Nickname used to a weapon system that imitates the mechanism of MPCs. It uses multiple tiny atomic charges to compress and launch a liner material at incredible velocity. Heatrods are simple and don't have the technical demands like MPCs do. Of course they are more limited and often less powerful than the real thing but they have another constraint, they use ammo. Heatrods need special cartridges for this purpose which limits the amount of shots you can deliver before you need replenishment. On the other hand heatrods are compact and easy to scale down with usually much better rate of fire. Their bomb-pumped nature also makes them popular for anti-ship or anti-armor warheads. - [b]Gravity Weapons:[/b] Sophisticated yet also simplistic weapons that abuse the properties of inertia control devices to deliver devastating strikes. Gravity blades are usually sword shaped weapons which can strike with dramatically increased mass. Gravity lances go a step further and use the Ritterpanzer's own momentum and inertia control capabilities to charge the enemy with a single devastating ramming strike. Gravity weapons also occasionally have gravity shields built into them to better withstand blows or in case of lances even provide a front facing shield to repel attacks directed at the charging mech. - [b]Duracomposite:[/b] While Durasteel variants are often fine enough to protect against simple weapons more nuanced armor designs require a new approach. Duracomposites as their name imply are not one material but a precise arrangement of various duramaterials to provide the best protection. This consequently also makes them more expensive. - [b]Gravity Screen:[/b] Asterian shielding technology using "hard gravity fields" that stop objects like a virtual wall. In effect this system isn't very different from the standard deflector shield technology, especially not for the simpler devices. Albeit gravity screens often get layered for higher efficiency. The outer layer stretches far and generally only reacts to high-velocity hits. The outer layer is weak but sufficient to destabilize hypervelocity projectiles, pre-detonate warheads or somewhat disperse energy beams. The middle layer(s) acts as the typical bubble shield and lastly there tend to be a tightly covering innermost shield which almost acts like armor. This setup makes gravity screen system overall weaker but at the same time considerably more capable of dealing with classic shield-penetrating threats thus making the illusion as if Asterian shields were tougher. That being said, shields are considerably rarer in the Asterian military than for some of the more developed Orionic nations. [/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 Castles (Kriegschlösser) which serve as mobile fortresses 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 Ritterpanzers, 8-12 meters tall giant mechs with capability to fight in space and even inside space habitats. [hider=Kriegschloss - Mobile Castle][img]http://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ALDNOAHZERO-17-Large01-1024x576.jpg[/img] 250-2500m 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 renowned for their toughness as they use multi-layered gravity screens and duracomposite armors to handle even heavy firepower. Of course they also have an extensive array of weaponry, chiefly for self-defense. Most castles also have a large durasteel spike used for ramming attacks albeit others prefer mounting gigantic spinal guns for a similar purpose. 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. There are a myriad of different castle designs albeit there are few common variants. [hider=Degen-class][img]http://moa.omnimulti.com/images/0/0d/VersCastlesInvadeAldnoahZero.jpg[/img] [b]Length:[/b] 250.5m [b]Diameter:[/b] 88.8m (at its widest) [b]Origin:[/b] Messerstadt Perhaps the most popular type of Kriegschloss if for anything due to its affordability due to its compact size. In spite of its current fame the Degen-class has a troubled history. It was invented during the time when Ritterpanzers were at their peak popularity, when it appeared war required nothing else but more mechs. Kriegschlösser of old were slow and easy to infiltrate by Ritterpanzer assaults and warships were reduced to glorified carriers to only serve as range boosters. During this time the Waldemar family authorized the development of a new smaller Kriegschloss that could perform independent actions and be cheap and capable enough to replace warships in their role as mech carriers. This of course stirred up conflict with old military thinkers who believed that such weak and limited vessel has no right to be called a Kriegschloss. Indeed, it is dubious a Degen-class can defeat large warships still in service for some nobles. Its inability to hold warships also didn't do much favor for those who still wished to rely on their fleets. On the other hand knights were on the rise and during the next few decades hundreds if not over a thousand new knight orders formed. These fledging groups lacked the founds of their older brethren and thus they viewed the Degen-class their only option to attain Kriegschlösser of their own. Demands for the Degen-class skyrocketed and soon every battlefield featured at least a few of them. Nowadays, several space colonies are built for nothing but the mass production of Degen-class castles of various generations with shipping accomplished through warp gates. As explained the Degen-class is a tiny Kriegschloss which would be roughly a match for heavy cruisers of other factions. It has battleship grade armor and shielding but limited offensive options. Degen-class also pioneered the now standard durametal ram, a massive spike shaped melee weapon used for ramming. Aside from charging warships the spike can be also useful during orbital drops where unlike its predecessors the Degen can impact at full velocity like a fierce meteor to annihilate everything in its surroundings. Following that the vessel [url=http://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Aldnoah-12-3.jpg]deploys in a flower-like shape[/url] to unleash more ordinance and allow the deployment of various troops. Current generation of durametal rams also synchronize with the shields in order to dissolve enemy barriers which allows it to directly hit colony ship hulls or slip through planetary shields. While tiny compared to most other castles the ram of the Degen-class should be rightfully feared. [/hider][hider=Wolfgang-class] [hider=Image] [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/448374702835236865/464372429049954304/Needleship2.png[/img] [/hider][b]Length:[/b] ~ 500m (without the spinal gun/ram) [b]Diameter:[/b] ~ 170m (at its widest) [b]Origin:[/b] Drachenstadt While the Dagen-class was compact and an excellent assault and mech carrier platform its limitations soon became apparent. While during the time of the Degen's invention Ritterpanzers absolutely dominated warships soon returned in some capacity. The scaled up 500m long "Langes Messer" was supposed to solve this in the end everyone began producing their own unique variants to fill up the void left behind by the abandonment of old Kriegschlösser. Enter the borderline disastrous Sabbat Crusade where the problem of possessing many thousands of different kinds of military hardware hit logistics with an impossible challenge. After this the Reich begain extensive research to develop standardized equipment (again). Wolfgang-class castles are part of the same movement, intended to create new standard Kriegschloss for general purpose use. True to their design aims the Wolfgang-class capable vessels with every function required from a Kriegschloss. Its middle block can hold almost any but the largest Asterian warships. The central pylon emits an arrestor field which holds ships in place, albeit for safety reasons cables and similar measures are also used for long range transport. Once the arrestor field is cancelled and the respective panel opens the ship is free to leave the castle. The armored panels also have small thrusters and when fully spread this mechanism can be used to increase the Wolfgang-class' agility in combat. The back portion of the vessel has the habitation blocks and then the main engine, making these usually the safest portions of the ship. The front portion has engineering, factory and mech hangar sections. Unlike the Degen-class which has the durasteel ram integrated to its frame the Wolfgang-class can choose from three distinct spinal weapons. First being of course the dursteel ram which allows it to lead assaults and perform devastating landing ops. Aside from that it can also equip two types of spinal gun systems for long range fire support. Mass Accelerator Cannon uses archaic railgun mechanism to launch various projectiles and warheads at great ranges, often used for siege. Macro Particle Cannon is a gigantic energy weapon shooting metastable megaparticles for extreme anti-barrier and anti-armor performance. Although due to the degradation of the beam this weapon has a shorter range and needs escort to be effective. The Wolfgang-class is also fully functional without equipping either of these weapons, in which case it might have more of a patrol role rather than anything requiring additional offensive power. That being said versatility comes at a cost and specialized classes outperform the Wolfgang. One of its gravest limitations is space as the Wolfgang-class can only hold about 3-5 times as many soldiers as the way lighter and cheaper Degen-class. Another concern is for protection as the Wolfgang is comparatively lightly armored for its size, although still extreme by normal ship standards. [/hider][hider=Grendel-class] [hider=Image] [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/448374702835236865/464372397097615371/Needleships1a.png[/img] [/hider][b]Length:[/b] 2212m [b]Diameter:[/b] 244m (at its widest) [b]Origin:[/b] Waldemar (specific colony unknown) For centuries Waldemar prided themselves as pioneers at castle engineering but in spite of that they had yet to develop larger end Kriegschlosser to mass produce. Degen-class, Langes Messer and so fort... they all were produced by the hundreds. But when it came to truly large castles it always tended to be a local construction project. To alleviate this they created the Grendel class, gigantic over 2km long Kriegschloss type with a few innovations to it. For starters the Grendel-class was surprisingly narrow, enough to fit inside the central industrial blocks of space colonies and even enough to fit through the larger warp gates for transport. Another innovation was the gun/ram hybrid which combines the function of all three common front attachments. It has the function of a macro particle cannon, mass driver and the gun is also sufficiently reinforced to perform ramming attacks. It can siege the enemy fortifications from afar, close in to MPC range to disable capital ships and then perform orbital drop to destroy the enemy capital while subsequently deploying massive amount of invaders. While somewhat less spacious than other giant-class castles due to its narrowed down design the vessel represents a terrifying threat in combat. In addition since they could be mass-produced Kriegschlosser above the 2km range are now more common than ever. [/hider] . . [/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 Ritterpanzers which makes their combat role only secondary yet just as necessary. [/hider][hider=Ritterpanzer - 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 humanoid 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 more up to date yet standard variants. 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. There are a myriad types of ground combat vehicles with every region preferring different models. 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 the 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 chargebus engines 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 atomic rather than traditional powerplant then it gains the N designation, Nuklearen. [b]Vehicle Examples:[/b][hider=Wwgn-75 Löwe][img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/9/92/MagellaEins.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110526014909[/img] [b]Origin:[/b] Drachenstadt [b]Year of Adoption:[/b] IR2399 [b]Length:[/b] ~ 6m [b]Weight:[/b] ~ 60 metric tons After the chaotic ages of strife Realm had over a hundred different tank designs with different sizes, weights and entirely different components. That was fine until the XXXIX Crusade declared against the Sectoids. With the largest land offensive known in a century the colonies transported their myriad of different combat vehicles to assist the cause. Yet the result was nothing but chaos as the logistical nightmare of servicing so many kinds of vehicles became apparent. While the Realm narrowly escaped the embarrassment the Crown soon focused on developing new standards for vehicles to avoid similar issues in the future. Part of that involved the development of the new standard tank, the Löwe. Compact, cheap and reliable. These were the main characteristics of the vehicle. It's been over hundreds of years since the vehicle's debut but with constant upgrades and modifications it remains the mainstay tank of the Realm, known with over a thousand different variants. The standard variant [/hider][hider=Wwgn-100N Generalpanzer] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6c/91/f1/6c91f140de76682e2290166acfd48315.jpg[/img] [b]Official Name:[/b] Allseitigskampfpanzer 2788 (advertised as the "Generalpanzer", also referred as AKP) [b]Origin:[/b] Walstadt [b]Year of Adoption:[/b] IR2788 [b]Length:[/b] 5.432m [b]Weight:[/b] 108.921 metric tons The so-called "Universal Tank" designed by the large factory complex of Walstadt under the authority of the Bernfried Family, this vehicle soon gained both fame and notoriety. Designed as a versatile and powerful battle tank it has the latest advancements in duracomposite technologies to give it the greatest armor coverage for surface area. In addition the latest variants have advanced field generator producing 3 layers for defeating the usual anti-armor threats. Naturally, it also sports the latest sensors and a blistering arsenal of 4 different weapons. Its main armament is a compact macro particle cannon which necessitated an atomic reactor. The gun has a co-axial Maschinbolzer for conserving power against lighter targets. On the turret's sides it mounts a rotary heavy bolter and a railgun each. Being an oversized Bolzer with multiple barrels and special cooling to achieve huge rate of fire this weapon is effective against infantry, light vehicles and even aircraft. The other side has a rapid-firing railgun which thanks to its superior capacitors and nuclear power source has enough firepower to threaten even Ritterpanzers. As its title says this vehicle was meant to handle all threats it could face while defending a colony. In a sense this vehicle gave commoners the ability to fight nobles on equal footing and this made the rest of the Great Houses outraged. Currently the Generalpanzer is banned in all colonies save for the ones owned by the Bernfrieds and there are new restrictions put on the technology of surface combatants that aren't Ritterpanzers. [/hider][hider=Wwgn-100SN "Hellengeist"] [img]https://pp.userapi.com/c7002/v7002055/1d754/BHZCw2FlU8g.jpg[/img] [b]Official Name:[/b] Schebendkraftmakropartikelgeschütz 2645 (nicknamed "Hellengeist") [b]Classification:[/b] Wwgn-100SN (nuclear powered, hover capable, 100-ton class) [b]Origin:[/b] Zhingstadt [b]Year of Adoption:[/b] IR2645 [b]Length:[/b] ~ 12m [b]Weight:[/b] ~ 88 metric tons A relatively simple yet powerful type of "artillery" produced by merging a large macro particle cannon to the frame of a large hovercraft. The result was a versatile platform that can be used for multiple purposes. Depending on adjustments the macro particle stream can be focused to punch through defenses and detonate its unstable material within or widen it to cover a large area in deadly sub-microscopic fragments. While similar vehicles emerged before by far Zhingstadt's variant proved the most popular and by the 28th most colonies adopted licensed variants for their own defense. Specialized variants with better sealed frame are also employed on the outer hull of colonies for fending off spacecraft. One of the design's main weaknesses is protection as it sacrifices armor for internal space, ease of maintenance and mobility. As such these vehicles are the most effective when escorted by other units. Another problem is that while considered artillery by the Drachenreich this weapon is only capable of firing in its direct line of sight. Anything in its path may interfere with the weapon. This is less of an issue when most "surface combat" takes place within the interior of internally flat space colonies but it would limit the range considerably when a planet's curvature is involved. [/hider][hider=Wwgn-100 Langer Gustav][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/CFace/linear1.jpg[/img] [b]Official Name:[/b] Kampfartelliewagen E30L60 Jahre 2245 (nicknamed "Langer Gustav") [b]Classification:[/b] Wwgn-100 (100-ton class vehicle) [b]Origin:[/b] Stahlungstadt [b]Year of Adoption:[/b] IR2245 [b]Length:[/b] 11.9m [b]Weight:[/b] 98.44 metric tons The most common form of heavy artillery employed by the Dragonrealm. Langer Gustav is large and imposing, almost looking like a monstrous battle tank. It has a quad track system for better mobility and its lightweight duramesh/durasteel hybrid armor provides all around protection against indirect blasts, fragments and even hits from light ordinance. Yet its duty is to lay down supporting fire from afar using its giant 15m long and 300mm diameter E-Gun. Due to its sophisticated system it can fire shells at almost any velocity from grenade launcher like 100-200m/s to right till hypervelocity of 10km/s. It has an auto-loader and a sophisticated sensor and fire control setup which is constantly updated. Its baseline shells are highly programmable and can have functions such as kinetic kill, beehive cluster, partial fragmentation, shaped fragmentation and complete conversion with the latter effectively turning the entire shell mass to explosive material upon impact. Furthermore the shells can have guidance and can even use improvised E-rocket mechanisms to change their course and avoid impacting with the usually fairly low (1-5km tall) "ceiling" and continue down on a parabolic curve. Of course like all artillery the Langer Gustav requires recon data to be truly effective. Some variants also have the capability to deploy a front-facing "theater screen" to block attacks from the front and create a sorts of "siege wall". Albeit to maintain this shield at length the vehicle has to rely on external energy sources and effectively remain stationary. [/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] Drachenreich infantry can be listed under two categories guardsmen and the knights. Guardsmen are commoners equipped with simple armors of the breastplate, helm and chainmail variety made of duramaterials. Their weaponry varies depending on the culture and wealth of the region but they most commonly use Feuerbolzers. Their sidearms are referred as "GG Blades" with the first two letters being an acronym for "Gravis Gladii". That is because they are effectively compact Gravity Blades using a tiny inertia control device to deliver powerful blows while an extremely thin durasteel edge gives them unparalleled cutting ability. Special weapons are rare for those who were only tasked with policing and town watch duties. Common infantry affiliated with Knights often have teams centering around a specific heavy weapon like Maschinbolzers, missile launchers, mortars or portable macro particle cannons. Specialists groups may even use backpack mounted rocket engines for higher mobility or to operate outside the colonies (while wearing armor/outfit modified for space use). While not impossible for Knights to fight on foot they more commonly wear power armor called the Panzerharnisch which gives them extra firepower, mobility and of course protection. The armor is well-sealed and equipped with life support, allowing operation both in and outside the colonies. Weaponry wise they usually have Maschinbolzer strapped to one hand while carrying an upscaled GG Blade in the other. Some variants of the armor can carry extra weapons, missile pods or to be modified to wield large two handed guns. Personal shields on a Panzerharnisch are fairly common but tend to have limited operational time. Other active protections like smoke, flares, jammers and anti-missile systems are also not unheard of. Lastly it does worth noting that all Ritterpanzer type mechs are designed to interact with the owner's Panzerharnisch. That means these mechs are piloted while the operator is also wearing the Panzerharnisch and should the mech turn inoperable or unable to enter narrow areas the pilot can eject with their power armor to continue the battle. Also it can be said that in a sense Ritterpanzers are nothing but larger power armors to wear. [/hider][/hider][/hider]