[hider=Union of Oros]
[h1]The Union of Oros[/h1]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/9yUXES8.png[/img]
[h2]Overview:[/h2]
The Union of Oros is a nation of worlds and systems protected by a class of Knights that is part of the Dominion. Its Knight's Council preaches tolerance and peace among different species. It has a state-enforced class system that separates people into different classes based upon their abilities. Most of its planets are rurally organized. The Knights of Oros often keep to their own borders, but are not afraid to fight when the need arises.

[h2]Society and Government:[/h2]
The Union of Oros is a stratocracy, with its government entirely made up of people that serve in Oros' military. In Oros, the only people allowed to occupy the highest government positions and actually rule planets are the Knights of Oros, with lower-ranked positions filled in by the common soldiers known as the Brave class. The highest governing body of Oros is the Knight's council, which is a council made up of the highest-ranking and most well-regarded Knights in Oros. The Council is headed by the Grand Master of the Order, although they more often serve the role of 'face' of the Union, rather than actually making any decisions on their own.

Planets are allowed to join the Union freely if they want to be put under the protection fo the Knights. Upon doing so, their own state and government are dissolved and they are incorporated by the union. A census is taken to determine who is put in which class, and their local government is replaced by a group of Knights and other military personnel, with a preference for new Orosians from the same planet. 

Orosian society is stratified according to what is known as the 'pillar system', a class system made up of 'pillars' that support the Union. Although these are named pillars, they are more like layers in a pyramid, where the higher classes get more privileges than the lower ones. The pillar of an individual is partly based on a family and partly based on a meritocratic basis, which makes social movement difficult, but not impossible. The four pillars that make up this class system are:

-The Knights of Oros: Officially known as 'The Order of the Knights of Ogrion and Oros', the Knights are both the Union's stalwart defenders and its ruling class. Only the Knights have the right to rule, and as a result they are required to not just be skilled in combat, but also good at administration and actually ruling a system. The Knights often live in fortresses built on or stations orbiting planets they rule, but many usually try to at least keep in contact with the rest of the system to be able to do their jobs better, and to not forget who and what they are fighting for.

-The Brave: The Brave are the common military of the Union. Unlike the Knights, which are trained from a very early age to fight for Oros and to lead it, the men and women of the Brave class join up voluntarily. This class has special privileges over the lower classes, such as the right to occupy lower government positions, as well as access to higher-quality housing and other benefits. Only once their actual military career (Which can take up to 10-20 years) is over are they allowed these benefits. Unlike the other classes, people are free to join, and due to the benefits, as well as the desire to help protect their families many join up, resulting in a large amount of available manpower for the Union's military.

-The Wise: The Wise are those with specialized training and education, who do many of the specialized work Oros needs. These are the scientists, doctors and engineers, and more, responsible for pushing the boundaries of science and technology, and maintaining many of the more advanced machines and weapons of Oros. Children that are identified at a young age to have great mental abilities are sent away to special educational programs that are different from the education the other classes receive in order to achieve their full potential.

-The Charges: The Charges are the lowest class in Orosian society. As the name suggests, the Charges are those placed under the protection of the Union. Their protection was the reason the Knights even started the Union in the first place. While they may seem unimportant, the Charges provide the foundation for the rest of Union society. It is them who farm the crops, build the universities and produce the ships and military gear the other classes need to function properly. It is also the largest class in Oros. Many of them prefer peaceful, settled lives which is why they came to (or were born into) the Union in the first place.

Overall, Orosian planets, especially the ones colonized by the Union, are rurally organized. The workers, belonging to the Charges class, live in small, spread-out towns and farmsteads that work the land around them, producing food, goods and mining ores and minerals. These towns are connected by large train networks and other infrastructure to ship the produced goods to where it is needed. Areas with larger population densities and cities are rare, but not nonexistent, as they are often clustered around places where specialized jobs are done, but even these are dispersed, and are for the majority occupied by members of the Wise class. This kind of rural organization is not mandatory however, and many planets, especially the ones that have been brought into the fold voluntarily, have their own unique ways of life.

Towards other nations, the Union of Oros usually maintains a peaceful attitude and sticks to its own borders, often trying to expand peacefully through recruitment and colonization. However, the Order of the Knights is always ready to defend its own principles, even going to war if necessary. If other powers commit atrocities, oppress alien species, or threaten galactic peace and order, the Orosians will fight. Oros begrudgingly supplies troops and resources to the Dominion, if only to keep up the farce of obedience while it's slowly working to break away.

[h2]Orosian Beliefs:[/h2]
While the beliefs of the people of Oros greatly vary with the class they are in, there are a few universal beliefs spread throughout the Union.

One of these is the right to a peaceful life. The Orosians, and especially the Knight class, believe that every sentient being has a right to a peaceful and fulfilling life. It is why they fiercely defend the innocent inside the Union's borders, and why the stratified class system is carefully maintained.

Another important Orosian belief is that all species, whether human, alien or robotic, are equal. In contrast to the Dominion, aliens in Oros have the same rights as everyone else, and xenophobia is frowned upon. There is little to no distintion based on gender, racial or other lines either, with the only form of 'true', systemic discrimination being the Orosian class system.

[h2]Demographics:[/h2]
-75% Human (Including human subspecies)

-7% Phuprae: The Phuprae are an insect-like species of alien. The Phuprae have evolved to walk on their two pairs of hind legs, using a pair of front legs that have gained claws for manipulation and the use of tools. Phupra adults range from 2-2.5 meters in length, being larger than most humans. The Phuprae are a nomadic species, living aboard massive ships that contain everything they need to survive in space. Because of this, they make excellent traders, often crossing Orosian borders to trade with other societies.

-3% Truqiks: The Truqiks are a small, mouse-like species of alien. Truqiks stand at around 0.6 meters tall. Evolving on a cold, tundra-like planet, the Truqiks are covered in fur and excellent burrowers. Truqik engineers are highly prized in the Union, and their small size, burrowing abilities and improvisation skills make them good scouts. Many Truqiks are part of the Wise and Brave classes, with some even able to make it to Knight, although their small size means they need to use modified power armour and mech suits.

-10% Other aliens: Beyond the two main alien species given here, there are a number of other species present in Oros, whether they were living on planets before the Dominion arrived or refugees that fled to Oros from other nations.

-5% Synthetics: Through science and technology, Orosian scientists have managed to create synthetic, sapient machines. The appearance of these 'synthetics', as they are called, varies greatly, depending on where they were made and by whom. While these Synthetics are often as smart, if not smarter than baseline humans, they are not  ASI, and their intelligence doesn't surpass that of the brighest human minds.

[h2]Technology:[/h2]
-Because Oros is technically part of the Dominion, and it was founded by Dominion soldiers, it uses many of the same technologies as the Dominion, as well as attempting to reverse-engineer and use other technology it can get its hands on.

-Gravity manipulation: Adopted from the Phupra, Orosian gravity manipulation tech allows for the generation and inversion of localized gravity fields. This means that a limited amount of mass can experience increased gravity or no gravity at all. Applications of this technology include tractor beams for space mining, artificial gravity generation on ships and more efficient industry, among other things.

-Rowntree Brain-Computer interfaces (BCI): Invented independently by the Orosian scientist named Kiara Rowntree several centuries after the establishment of the Union, Rowntree BCI tech provides a quick and efficient way for the human (or alien) brain to communicate with external devices. R-BCI has relatively limited uses in Oros, as it is a technology closely guarded by the Knight class. Such applications include Knight power armor and mechs. The only lower-class use of the technology allowed by the Knights is cybernetics, such as a prosthetic arm.

-Robotics (and Synthetics): Orosian robots were originally built to solve a crucial problem from the early history of Oros: How do you survive on and settle a world where everything wants to kill you? The Knights with their power armour and mechs could only get so far in protecting the settlements of the early colonists. Early Orosian scientists turned to robots for the answer, as those could do the labour outside, when it was dangerous. Only when those same robots slowly terraformed Ogrion into a more habitable planet could the colonists settle properly. The robots were improved and used for resource production. At some point, hundreds of years after they were first built, some of these robots were made to be sentient, creating the first Orosian Synthetics.

-Mech Technology: Much like other space-faring civilizations, Oros would eventually invent mechs. In particular, however, it actually took the mechs from the first Knights and improved, refined and transformed into the Knight mechs of today. These are the pinnacle of Orosian technology, combining all previously mentioned technology into a fearsome machine of war.

[h2]History:[/h2]
The Union of Oros started with the colonization of the planet of Ogrion by the Dominion. Ogrion was a hostile, inhospitable world, crawling with dangerous beasts and filled with deadly plants. Soon, it was determined that in order for the colonization process to work, a division's worth of some of the most well-trained mechanized infantry the Dominion could muster would be sent to Ogrion. There, they remained for some time, as the original colonists of Ogrion got to work. Robots were soon built to develop the colony and terraform the planet.

Over the span of many years, technology improved, and the first Knight mechs were built. Slowly, as the planet Ogrion was tamed and modified to the needs of its inhabitants, the class system began to form, as the original military of Ogrion became the Knights, and the settlers were each put into whatever jobs they did best. As the Dominion's hold over its outer worlds started to wane, the Knights of Ogrion asserted their authority of their system, and became the Knights of Oros.

For some time, Oros prospered alone, under the rule of the Dominion. This started to change when the Knights got word that other systems and planets, some with alien species, needed their help. Slowly, a number of worlds started to coalesce into what is now known as the Union of Oros. Nowadays, Oros is still technically part of the Dominion. Its diplomats follow its customs and it sends men and material to the Inner Dominion in order to fly under the radar. But for how long this will last, no one can tell...

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