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[hider=The Midnight Technocracy]
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[hr][hr][color=9e0b0f][h1]The Midnight Technocracy[/h1][h3][sup][i]"Even in Death, We still Live."[/i][/sup][/h3][/color][/center][hr][hr]

[color=9e0b0f][b]GOVERNMENT:[/b][/color] Technocratic Council
[color=9e0b0f][b]DEMOGRAPHICS:[/b][/color] 3.2 billion total / 1.2 billion living

[quote][color=b01515]Vampires[/color] are the ruling elite of the Technocracy, each given the Void Blood which grants them youthfulness, speed, strength and perception. They do not have any fear of things such as garlic or sunlight, yet gold and not silver causes them great discomfort and headaches. They are expected to be polymaths, using their long lives to become true masters of as many subjects as they can. Most vampires are "half blooded", descendants of vampiric parents and only get a portion of their powers even if they are born from two vampires. True vampires are rare due to the incredibly limited amount of Void Blood. They can control Wights and Reanimated via neural implants, letting them command "networks" of unliving. While undoubtfully beautiful in their own way, they also have an eldritch air about them as if something is wrong with them on a fundamental level, almost as if they don't belong in this reality. Their eyes in particular are the most unnatural as their pupils move and shift and they blink far less than is comfortable.

[color=b01515]Wights[/color] are those of weaker vampiric blood or candidates who fail to meet the immense requirements of being granted the Void Blood. They are instead given a synthetic version of the Blood which is much weaker but still grants them more ability over the average human. They act as relay nodes with vampires delegating them some control of their network of zombies so they may control more overall. They are often managers and overseers of the undead, taking routine gene therapy treatments to prolong their lives along with mechanical implants of their own. Their own neural implants are superseded by those of the vampires, thus rarely has a wight ever defied one.

[color=b01515]Reanimated[/color] or "Zombies" are the dead corpses brought back to live with implants, prosthetic and a few drops of the synthetic Blood. They are little more than puppets and empty shells, used by the Vampires and Wights for menial or dangerous tasks, providing a very comfortable standard of living for the living citizens of the Technocracy. They have no free will or agency of their own and must be commanded to do tasks and while they can understand fairly complex instructions and sequences, if not given new orders they will repeat their current tasks over and over and over.

[color=b01515]DCI[/color] (short for "Digital Conscious Intelligence") are the literal ghosts in the machine. They are the neural patterns of those individuals who have been granted a type of immortality that even the Blood cannot provide. They are replace AI for many advanced computing systems, living in the Technocracy's vast data vaults and technology systems, and utilize advanced hardlight projectors to manifest static bodies that flicker as if in continuous flux. Thus they can interact with the physical world, manipulating objects and while they can reach through objects, they cannot move through them as their floating hardlight CPU core is still a physical object.

[color=b01515]Humans[/color] make up about half the population at any given time. Not all of their dead are reanimated but upon their death, their bodies are properties of the states[/quote]
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[color=9e0b0f][b]PLANET:[/b][/color] Trifera 

[quote]Trifera is a world dominated by wetlands, marshes and bogs. Forests and mangroves cover the surface with only cities and mountains to break it up and vast underground caverns and cave systems below. It is colder and wetter than Earth and thicker cloud cover meaning more rain, fog and mist. Yet the mists and fog are always seen as comforting and warming as it persists even when the sun does shine through. Soil is often rugged and rough; one of the Technocracy's greatest achievements was genetically engineering breeds of crops hearty enough to grow and thrive in the rough soil.

The cities appear isolated on the surface: large, gothic metropolitans nestled between endless forests but that is because many of it cities are actually icebergs. Living humans tend to dwell on the surface while vast underground areas are carved out for the hordes of Reanimated. Train tunnels and underground super highways actually link the cities making overland travel rare with only hamlets and villages ever going over the rough terrain to the cities.[/quote]

[color=9e0b0f][b]HISTORY:[/b][/color]

[quote]Before the Technocracy, there was the Party. The Party was made of opportunistic vultures and radicals who took power when the Gateways were cut off. Supported by elements of the military, brought over through bribes, promises or threats, they promised peace, stability and a return to a nonexistent "glorious" past. Instead they created a state thought fictional by many. Over generations and about a 100 years after Trifera was isolated, they created a dystopian state that had them at the helm. Dogmatic political fanaticism, wide spread surveillance, secret police, secret police for those secret police, hidden agencies and departments, constantly shifting imaginary enemies, constant shortages to just barely keep the population supported, a massive bloated military, censorship of history itself and the ability to command the populace to do whatever at their whim. Privacy was banned and facts had become subjective to what the party said. They very easily could have survived the next 200 years had they not dug too deep into both the planet itself and their own hubris.

Buried deep below the crust was the body of an ancient alien, eldritch and horrifically unnatural that drove the miners who first found it mad. The Party believed that with the body could come immortality, a brew of undying life so hidden with the body that still bled. Even the most loyal scientists however raised concerns, believing that the alien was something so alien that it wasn't even supposed to be in this reality, but the Party didn't care. They had already mastered their own planet, so their egos told them it was nothing to dissect some dead giant monster. So a research team was assigned to it, under heavy guard and told to ignore their feelings or doubt. 

It took months and a great deal of "encouragement" by the security team but finally, the researchers had drawn and purified the unholy ichor of the eldritch monster to create what they dubbed "Void Blood". Initial tests were proving positive and the team wanted to do more tests on animals before moving to humans, but the Party got impatient. They demanded the samples for their own use and the researchers in perhaps the bravest act of their lives, refused. But bravery was a poor shield against bullets so the security detail gunned them down until only a handful remained, locked in the lab with their samples. In a final act of rebellion, they each injected or consumed the Void Blood, only to be transformed into the first Blooded vampires of Trifera. With their new power, the scientists slaughtered the unexpecting guards. And then their reinforcements. And then the army unit sent to reinforce the reinforcements.

As the Party bickered amongst itself on what to do, the researchers made busy by exploring their new powers and using the technology of the facility combined with the bodies of the dead guards to create for them an army they could control. The Party kept sending in soldiers and brigades, each one never to be seen again save as shambling reanimated corpses. Hidden among these forlorn assault groups were dissenting soldiers and officers who began to loose faith in the Party. When one of these men openly declared himself against the Party in the middle of a battle, he was cut down by his more zealous comrades before they were slain in turn. Mortally wounded and bleeding out, the scientists decided to give this man a touch of the Blood and thus was born the first Wight.

As their ranks swelled, the scientist's armies grew as did their followers of rebels and political escapees who thought that life and even death under them would be better than what the Party could ever give. And thus they were crowned the Midnight Technocracy as an ever growing undead legion followed them as they ventured beyond their desolate research facility and towards the cities. The Party employed ever more brutal tactics against them, culminating in scorched earth tactics of fire and toxins that did little to stop the undead but caused unheard of suffering to the living civilians. Even the most fervent of supporters found their faith shattered as their homes burned and skin melted off their bone. Many of these dying men and women had vengeance on their lips, vengeance the Technocracy was more than happy to ensured came true. One by one cities fell or raise their banners in support of the rebels and the Party fractured, each person blaming the other to make sure they would not be killed in ever larger purges. 

When at last the Midnight Technocracy stood triumphant, their hordes tearing the remaining supporters limb from limb and throwing their screaming, bloody torsos off the highest skyscrapers, they had a choice as what to do next. They never intended to get so far, to actually supplant the Party. They all believed in meritocracy and the ideal of technocratic rule, but the framework the Party had left behind would ensure dominance over whoever held the keys. And so, like clockwork, the Midnight Technocracy inherited what the Party left behind, adapting and changing what they believed to be the most abhorrent aspects while keeping just enough to ensure that they and their successors would endure at the top of society. 

It was only by a stroke of luck did they manage to recover the body of the beast and find another of its kind buried in the stone, perhaps a mate or a rival. They perfected their formula and managed to extract even more Void Blood from the corpses but their attempts to synthase it was met with failure. They could not make true Void Blood from nothing and even after centuries, they remain no closer to it. Thus they use their lesser synthetic Blood to create zombies and wights, reserving the true Blood for only the worthiest of heirs and accomplished individuals.[/quote]

[color=9e0b0f][b]SOCEITY:[/b][/color]

[quote]Life on Trifera is one where the line between living and dead is thin. Humans go about their day with shambling (but well kept) undead all around them in resplendent gothic-styled cities and live fairly comfortable and carefree lives because of it. Wights and Reanimated do a lot of the hazardous and menial labor which by passes both cost and ethical considerations in their minds. It is widely believed that the soul and the body are two separate entities and that the soul is immortal while the body is not thus once dying, the body can be used for whatever. Once a person dies, their body is treated as if it was an article of clothing as anything remotely "sacred" has left with the soul.

Cities are still bustling with trade and commerce as the living still busy themselves with work and school as those who distinguish themselves can be granted immortality or even the Void Blood. The Council implements a very "bread and circus" policy of keeping the living happy with cheap food and a variety of entertainment options as well as low taxes and a lot of discounted things all thanks to the undead labor force. Of course they make sure people know exactly how terrible the Party was and how the Council is nothing like them. Taxes are often so low that there is only one tax people actually pay attention to: the Blood Tithe. In lieu of monetary taxes, the Blood Tithe is where citizens are required to donate blood for the consumption for the vampire elite.

The upper class themselves like to dress like old aristocrats and Renaissance intellectuals. Their crypt halls and mausoleums are magnificent palaces full of artwork and wealth and displays of their own works, nothing like the dingy dank graves that first come to mind. Although a technocracy and undying, not even the vampires can resist material possessions and bragging rights. They do their best to make sure they look more than like the monsters of fairytale and while they've convinced Trifera, its unknown how the rest of humanity will view them. As for all of the splendor and benevolence they put on, they have their own networks and systems in place to stay in power and keep the living docile, lessons learned from the Party before them.[/quote]
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[color=9e0b0f][b]ADMINISTRATION:[/b][/color]

[quote]As its name implies, the Midnight Technocracy is run by a council of technocrats with only the most skilled, educated and cunning vampires allowed. Many have at least a century of undeath behind them and are wiser than any mortal human could hope to be. It is the original researchers and their progeny who sit upon the council, although beside them are a wide variety of advisors from other fields. While politics is no longer as cut throat as it was when the Party ruled over Trifera, scheming and plots can still be found only now they can take decades or even centuries to complete. 

Collectively, those who sit upon the council are called Adjutants and among themselves they elect a Lord Director. Currently the Lord Director is a man called Vladimir Karamazov.[/quote]

[color=9e0b0f][b]TECHNOLOGY:[/b][/color]

[quote]What some would call "necromancy", the Midnight Technocracy calls "mortology" as to them, the masters of life and death they are, it is only magic if you do not understand the process. Gene modding, cybernetics and mechanical augmentation technology are all incredibly advanced as one might expect although it extends beyond simply humans. Animals have been crossbred and edited to create entirely new species such as the wolf-like Dire Beast or the dragon-like Umbragheist born of giant bats grown to unholy size. Plants as well have been grown to accommodate Trifera's climate with creations such as bloodberries, cave grain and several variety of edible mushrooms and exotic herbs.

Although highly advanced in some ways, manually operated machines are still widespread due to the fact that they can simply have zombies operate them. Farming, mining, simple assembly and construction work are often all done by huge teams of Zombies with a Wight overseer or two, sometimes operating heavy machinery and more complicated mechanisms to assist.[/quote]

[color=9e0b0f][b]MILITARY:[/b][/color]

[quote]It should come as no surprise that the Technocracy utilizes their unliving servants in military and security affairs. Fearless and incapable of feeling pain or denying an order, Reanimated soliders are given armor and short ranged or explosive weaponry and told to charge forward while the living human soldiers take their shots from afar. This "mass distraction" tactic is the go to strategy of the Undying Legions since their initial rebellion against the Party.

Along side the more traditional array of tanks, artillery and aircraft, the Technocracy makes use of a variety of genetically engineered warbeasts and bioweapons that can sow terror and fear into any unused to their presence. The vampires themselves are also terrifying opponents, both well versed in decades of tactical studies and honed martial prowess to the point that it is impossible for anything less than a full company to even attempt to take one down. Of course, full blooded vampires rarely go on the battlefield and instead half blooded vampires and wights are much more common.

The Technocracy benefits from having a much smaller supply line relative to the size of their forces. Curiously as zombies do not need to breath nor are they affected by the cold vacuum of space, the Technocracy often uses zombie boarding parties in naval combating, hiding them among debris or "stealthily" shooting them towards the ship without containers making them much harder to detect on most radars.[/quote]
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