[hider=The United Republic of Arhas]

[color=FFE4B5]Nation Name[/color]: The United Republic of Arhas

[color=FFE4B5]Government Form[/color]:

Unitary Democratic Republic

[color=FFE4B5]Demographics[/color]:

Humans (that’s all there is at this time, genetically modified, unmodified, both. Nothing legal in United Republic space in the vein of genetic modification actually deviates from being the same species honestly. The closest one gets are the “Purified”, which will be explained in the “Culture and Society” section in one of the parts there.)

[color=FFE4B5]Population[/color]: 2.45 billion

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[center][sub](Flag To Be Made And Added Once Eventually Completed)[/sub][/center]

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[color=FFE4B5]Planet Name and Description[/color]: Eos IV/"Arhas”

The planet of Eos IV/Arhas (both names are valid as locals use them both) is a large world about four times as large as Earth, though its surface is incredibly hot and is covered in a vast desert sands as well as has some rocky areas and formations interspersed randomly throughout it. Surface radiation exists to certain limited extent, but the myriad driving winds and inhospitable heat, combined with the searing sands that when blown by such winds can easily both strip and burn both skin and muscle off of the bones of the unprotected, are far more dangerous affairs for anyone going about above-ground. Occasional tornadic activity, which is of a larger scale than an “Earth-grade tornado” and more akin to an old world hurricane, is also a highly dangerous thing. Notable underground oceans and even underground freshwater bodies can be found deep under the surface, however, which seem to naturally replenish and have an alien yet unique water cycle of their own that enables this. 

What life, both flora and fauna, exists on the planet mostly developed deeper underground in the underground bodies of water there, though these varieties of life have gone well beyond these waters as well by the time human colonization began. In fact, they’ve expanded as far as the surface. Large, even whale-sized at their largest and oldest, tunneling worm-like creatures with grinding ‘filter-teeth’ in their mouth pass around near the surface of the planet as they grind up sand above (more of which is formed from naturally eroding rocky areas/formations on the surface) and pass it out of the back of them as they digest certain minerals. These creatures have long lifespans, and the digestive juices of these creatures have potential industrial uses as well as acting as a form of inherently toxic psychoactive substance that apparently is very risky but pleasurable to use on the part of local ‘worm junkies’ who try to farm or harvest it for their use despite its dangers (the fact it even has an effect on humans, who come from another planet, is both surprising and utterly strange). 

On the top of the sand also live rapidly-reproducing photosynthetic extremophile microorganisms, which can better navigate the ‘top sand’ and seek to get in the radiation and sunlight so they can harness it to produce energy. Said energy is also used by them to create life-sustaining water inside themselves through the intake of atmospheric gases in the air and using some of the energy they harvest to do this in a process that is not yet fully understood by humanity even now. This is also why juvenile as well as adult “Sand Worms”, as the worm-like creatures are called, will go closer to the surface at times to get hydration through devouring a large quantity of these water-producing microorganisms by filtering them out of the ‘top sand’. Beyond this there are a number of creatures that exist near, close to, or somehow on the surface of the planet, in part producing the quantities of gases needed in the local atmosphere to form it in the first place. 

At the same time, though, the deeper underground or closer to actual water one gets the more vast and rich the planet’s biosphere becomes and the more strange and different it all begins to look like. Some creatures living in the underground of the planet even seem to look like creatures from Earth’s own ancient past, more or less directly so, which has been of a fascination to scientists as humanity has settled around and upon these underground oceans and underground lakes and so forth in turn. In fact, even deeper below these creatures and near the ‘uninhabitable zone’ far enough down below the sands and earth and rocks and underground seas and so forth….there are even mostly anaerobic creatures which have a part-silicon part-carbon chemical makeup. 

As for the sun of the Eos System, it is a larger and hotter sun than is comparatively present in the Sol System and many others. 

***[b][i]Note[/i][/b]: A single year in the Eos system on the planet is 307 days long, in comparison to the 365 year-long days back on Old Earth.

[color=FFE4B5]History[/color]: 

The United Republic of Arhas began simply with the arrival of the colony ship HMCS Bartimaeus arriving in the Eos (the name of the star) System with its cargo of Earth refugees and a dream for the future. Its destination? The vast desert world of Eos IV, also nicknamed ‘Arhas’, a vast world larger than Earth and existing as a titanic desert with notable water deposits hidden deep beneath the Earth. In that vein, it was only natural that the plan for colonization began with and was to forge large, underground cities and settlements to establish humanity in one of its many new potential homes. Even so, the horrendous weather and deadly nature of the planet’s surface were not exactly confidence boosters for the new locals. 

Initially the colonial government looked at the issues with trying to place the underground settlements too close to each other, eventually spreading some father out in an attempt to not have too many settlements tapping into the same underground resources as each other. On the other hand, certain areas would prove to have certain things that the others would need as the first decades of digging, building, and settlement began. Resource transportation, however, was far from ‘refined’ or ‘completely stable’ enough between many of the settlements at the same time. Heavy enough vehicles with the right design, and enough infrastructure to make them more widespread, simply did not exist. Most things of such a nature had to be made from the colony ship itself, and then be shipped down from orbit after bringing up the needed resources to make them from deep underground…a process that for many became increasingly vexing. 

On top of this, as the population of the colony ship had been taken from various areas and not simply one or two regions of the nation it was made within, the myriad of differing ideas and concepts and beliefs would further begin to clash as the remnants of the old world carried over a bit into the new one. People who wanted to make a microcosm of their home nation, who wanted to make a theocratic state, who wished to only live with those who came from the same place as them, and so forth simply made things more chaotic in those initial years than otherwise might’ve been possible with a more mono-culture population or similar-culture mixed population. This in turn would lead to the establishment of the colonial government as a confederation-type affair, seeking to keep the various ideas in some manner of harmony with each other as concessions were made to try to maintain order in regards to the cultural and political problems. This in turn would prove to be more of a band-aid on a growing problem, especially as the bickering of the confederation’s component parts slowed things down and bogged down being able to solve certain issues with further added problems, it was at least keeping what goods could be moved slowly trickling here and there to where they were needed (and could get them to) as well as preventing an early civil war for a time. At the same time, the Confederation government began to make promises of establishing a pan-settlement highway network to help improve things…a project that due to internal squabbling and issues never really manifested in the end either. 

However, sixty nine years into the colonization of Arhas (by the standards of the Eos Systems), things would finally take the increasingly explosive politics of the Confederation to the breaking point. This occurred when a town governor named Thomas Feldman illegally intercepted a shipment of moisture-harvesting machines and food destined for the underground city of New Hamburg, seizing the driver on false charges and confiscating the cargo to disseminate to the locals. The town’s vital hydroponics had been damaged due to a minor cave-in incident when trying to make the room to expand them, and whilst relief had been promised the timeframe had been extended by delay after delay in trying to get the goods to the suffering town. The seized machines were also used to expand the town’s water production, and generally got Thomas Feldman a notable bit of popularity among his own people. 

At the same time, the city the shipment had been intended for was in a notably worse state. While its hydroponics were working fine, it needed more moisture-harvesting machines to maintain and supply those hydroponics as well as the growing population within its borders. Upon learning that the shipment has been seized, and not wanting to go to the deteriorating government to ‘solve’ something that would either simply get brushed aside or debated until more ‘nothing’ happened,  in the sixty ninth year after the initial settlement of Eos IV the underground city of New Hamburg would launch a surprise invasion of Thomas Feldman’s town under the guise of bringing them more relief and aid. What ensued was a slaughter that would finally break the existing confederation-type government of the colony as other members took sides on the matter or tried to exploit the issue for themselves and so forth. 

After this point, conflict was frankly inevitable. 

Member after member suddenly left the Confederation as things shattered, and any remaining resources being moved by that time were taken or seized by whoever was closest or could otherwise muster the force to take it from the others. Without what little connections were had, many places lost access to what little of certain resources they’d had before. Politics, resource scarcity, and the ineffectiveness of the colonial government would ultimately drive the colony into a state and time period of over a century of constant war and fighting. Many fought over what could be mined, gathered, or taken for use by locals in one area or another. Many fought to establish control or dominion over others, so as to improve their own conditions or enforce what they saw as ‘the best way’ to do things. People desperate to not get involved in the underground began to build up and live on the surface, and those underground even dug tunnels between each other underground (as well as built installations above ground) to fight each other and try to establish areas of control and dominance at the same time as new underground cities and towns and such were being forged into being. Companies that rose up would likewise work for the locals, or otherwise play sides and arm different groups to their own ends as long as it profited them or their area of primary residence. It was a time of vast bloodshed and constant war that became called the “Red Sands Era”, and for a good reason indeed. 

…Yet hope would not be lost entirely either. Forming from the corpse of the old Confederation, and taking some inspiration from the initial ‘temporary colonial government’ that had existed briefly before that and back on the colony ship, the “Republic of Arhas” (or “Eosian Republic” as it also called itself) would form within the last real cluster of underground cities and towns that had stayed banded together. At its best a ‘successor’ to what had come before, it would in the early years of the Red Sands Era exist as mostly a side-thought that seemed to mind itself and seek trade where it was even possible at times. Meanwhile, the Republic of Arhas would begin to build up and accrue as well as channel its capabilities under its leadership to ramping itself up to be a power despite being less involved at first in the ongoing conflicts that ravaged the human colony. 

Bit by bit it would build up in strength and capability, until eventually it launched its first conquest of a nearby grouping of bickering polities. It would put itself on the map of the other warring factions at this stage, but would simply be seen as no bigger and stronger than any of the other ‘larger factions’ that existed at the time. Smaller factions nearer to it would be most alarmed, especially as the Republic of Arhas moved to suck up more of its smaller neighbors and forge new cities and towns underground within its network. At the same time, however, despite the strict rule of the Republic it also worked to build things up. The once promised underground highway network began to form and grow outward, resources were able to be moved more easily to keep local populations intact, and a singular manner of government alongside relocations of parts of the populations of conquered areas would seek to dilute and ease the overall process of integration with the Republic. Fully-integrated areas, once satisfied with them on the government’s part, would then be used as platforms to further expand outward. 

In time the Republic of Arhas would become the largest faction on the planet, though not without the process being gradual and done over time in its case. Slow and steady, for all intents and purposes, would be winning the race this time. Inherently the chaos of the era would also target the Republic’s own territories and areas of control, set it back at times, or even provide opportunities for the increasingly less and less rare peaceful integrations that occurred as it sought to grow. Of course the situational or occasional ‘enemy alliances’ that formed in its face were to be expected, seeking to put the growing and snowballing faction down, though these only lasted as long as the other sides could stand each other and not stab each other in the back or other issues to tear them apart. Some did try to integrate with each other to increase their odds of survival as well, though even these would be assimilated in one way or another. One place, one area, and one year at a time, all as the need to survive and fight and compete to get toward that final goal of planetary unity got closer and closer in the eyes of the Republic’s citizens and government. 

Ultimately, 213 years after settling first on the planet, humanity’s colony on Eos IV/Arhas would be reunited once more under a singular planetary government and would be both somewhat renamed as well as formalized in a constitution in honor of that. While smaller and surface operations would be involved for the next seven years beyond that point, there would also be the necessary further integration of the last captured territories as well. Further, humanity would even reach back toward the stars as mining, economic, and colonial ambitions would be taken to the local solar system to a certain extent by current times. What had once been for a long time a bunch of disunited, struggling, warring, angry factions was reduced down and then reconstituted into something grander. A republic that upholds its citizens’ rights, and yet holds higher central authority to try to avoid past mistakes. A place where people and places are far more interconnected and prosperous than the initial colonists could have dreamed of, but also where the might of the military and the police have fused together over three centuries into something peculiar and at times rather brutal. A place where hope for the future, a more genuine peace among the citizenry exists, and where humanity once more stands together in the face of a cold universe…..but where even rebels fight against it all even now to achieve whatever goals they desire after all this time.

Yet in the last few months, the awakening of the Gateway Network has become a rude and unexpected surprise for the United Republic and its citizens. It has led to several stations being set up to study the activity that was now coming from the location of the system’s Gateway, though the Gateway itself did not seem to be opening up outside of this activity causing some odd ‘light shows’ and detectable disturbances people could notice. Whispers and rumors have coursed through the lifeblood of the local population and media, though, of what could lie just beyond if their Gateway actually managed to open. Allies? Enemies? Paradises, ready to claim? Enemies, ready to pounce upon them? Aliens? No one has known for sure, but with the Gateway of the United Republic’s home system finally opening again the nation must hope to be ready to face the truths of whatever comes through…..or whatever truths emerge from what or who by heading out there themselves for that matter.  

[hider=Additional Content: The Shorter “Timeline” Version Of The United Republic’s History]

[center][b]~General Major Timeline of the Republic~[/b][/center]

***[b]Year 0[/b] - Settlement of Eos IV began after the colony ship HMCS Bartimaeus entered the Eos System.  

***[b]Year 65[/b] - Fractures begin to more notably form as the struggle to maintain order between existing underground cities/towns, resource scarcity as the confederation-type government of the colony tried and failed to manifest the ‘underground highway network’ it had promised to help improve the problem, and political divisions/debate further created fractured in a system that was already acting as a ‘band-aid’ to try to prevent civil war. The state of affairs would only continue to worsen for the next few years.  

***[b]Year 69[/b] - The “Shattering War” begins, boiling over with a sudden igniting spark known as “The Feldman Incident”. 


***[b]Year 71[/b] - The “Shattering War” ends, ending the confederation-style government that had come before almost entirely and rendering what was left of it sitting in meager power over a scarce few initial underground cities/towns/settlements near the initial colonization site. From this emerged an era of constant warfare and conflict that would see many born, many die, and others try to push ahead in what would become known as the “Red Sands Era”. 

***[b]Year 213[/b] - End of the “Red Sands Era”, ended after the Republic of Arhas/Eosian Republic defeated the final underground ‘holdouts’ in that year and reunited the planet into a nation named The United Republic of Arhas. However, roughly 50% of remaining above-ground inhabited places/areas still existed outside of governmental control at the time. Space operations beyond the planet’s surface begin to emerge, establishing mining and resource-processing operations elsewhere in the home system. 

***[b]Year 220[/b] - Only eight years later, the last surface remnants outside of governmental control would be subjugated or otherwise integrated or even wiped out in the process. Outside of minor loners, individual families, or maybe groupings of like 3-5 families at tops living together in a cluster, the planet would finally be entirely under governmental control once more. Work begins as well to further expand the existing underground highway network, and now could connect larger as well as smaller inhabited surface areas to the underground as well. 

***[b]Current Year[/b] - A number of off-planet operations and off-planet colonial settlements exist, and internal stability has been cemented as well as settled into place for a number of decades within the United Republic. It has also been some time since the local Gateway site in the system began to ‘stir’, and an attempted study by stationing of researchers near the site was put in place to try to uncover whether the site might ‘reopen’ again. However, the potential for the Gateways to reopen began to circulate around the overall population regardless, spurring equal parts concern and debate over the matter among locals. News media also picked up on it all to boot.  

As of the current day, the Gateway of the Eos system has finally opened again for the first time in over three centuries.  

[/hider]

[color=FFE4B5]Culture and Society[/color]: 

-Hydroponics have been the bread and butter of subsistence and feeding the masses on Eos IV for over three hundred years by this point, and this has had some long-term effects. Whilst rural areas with underground or above-ground farms do exist and have existed, within cities and larger suburban areas hydroponically-grown food has taken off as an art form of its own. Growing or tweaking plants and livestock species to alter appearance, flavors, colors, consistencies, textures, and so forth has become the basically literal ‘high fashion’ of the cooking world within the United Republic. Anyone from a suburban restaurant serving more widespread or niche faire, to hipster concepts grown and served in smaller restaurants in the cities and some suburbs, all the way up to large-city five-star establishments with the strangest and most expensive creations and combinations imaginable and unimaginable, food has remained both a necessity but also bloomed into an artform of sorts here. 

Grand shows are held akin to a fancy ‘fashion show’ a few times a year in the biggest cities, with the latest creations, cuisines, and even strange tricks pulled off using such foods being put on display and served to attendees and putting on displays of them to likewise woo audiences who might be watching streamed or televised from their homes far away. Everything from texture to taste and the like will be critiqued and commented on by professionals in the field, and this ‘higher food culture’ has even created celebrities who do not simply cook but ‘transform the very ingredients, and from these construct grand and enticing dishes into incredible works of edible art’. 

To a certain extent this is just the concept of Old Earth existing food culture having been ‘elevated to a new form’ via the hydroponic and genetic tweaking/modifying of the ingredients themselves alongside doing things when making dishes with them. It has also become far more presentation focused alongside the work put into making them edible and the experience of eating these things ‘more unique’. 

-Life aboveground is something that only 18% of the United Republic’s home world's population has chosen to do, compared to the 82 percent of the total population who live underground on the very same planet. Whilst not living underground and dealing with the more cramped spaces and lives led down there, even having vast areas of space one can travel across at that, the harsh weather of the planet is also a suicidal endeavor for those not hardened or prepared for it. Protective ST’s (see the “Technology Overview” section about these) are a must, and even areas with homes placed in above-ground rocky formations to get out of the wind will still build their homes half-underground for the sake of safety up there. Such homes are only half-underground, short enough on the surface to have a lot of the weather pass over the top of them safely but just underground enough to also keep them cooler. Such homes will usually have bedrooms located at the lowest portions, with the doors of it being more just hatches of some kind with stairs. 

The harsh driving winds of a greater force than the Earth’s own likewise mean that high-speed sand that can easily blast and tear off unexposed skin in a heartbeat, and without the weighted nature of individual ST’s ((or being inside of a proper surface structure or heavy vehicle of some kind) someone could be blown away in surprise larger gusts of surface wind. Even then, ST’s are not designed to withstand the worst of the possible surface weather. Scorching alien heat and a bright local sun also require that one be in possession of moisture-farming equipment to take moisture, any at all, from the air. And if one does not have such a moisture-farming machine or water-acquiring setup, then simply getting connected up to an underground water pump network or being part of a close enough water delivery service’s route will be required unless one wants to dehydrate fast. More common surface-dweller ST’s are even designed to take sweat and filter it into drinkable water for the wearer at that. 

Those who live aboveground are also seen as more ‘rural’, as the largest any settlement up there can get is a respectable mid-sized town without running the risk of environmental hazards blowing it away or destroying it. Many ‘upgrounders’, as the majority of underground residents have taken to calling them, have become or are just as rugged and seasoned and hardy as the conditions they live in are harsh. Even so, they have also been known to be warm and welcoming to guests in certain areas….or as it has been said before by one visitor: “Life’s hard up there, really hard in the more remote places, and while some people will be just as harsh right back to any visitors and people they see no matter what…but other upgrounders are friendly folk who’ll treat you as well as you treat them in return. Or as they say up there: ‘The winds blow favorably for the good host and the respectful guest alike.’.” 

-Within the last 80 years, however, the installation of underground transport networks has led to a government presence in even the surface towns and villages that have popped up. It has also given them greater lifelines to the rest of the nation. Yet even before that, just about 87 years ago, at the end of the planet’s “Red Sands Era” (which lasted for about 142 years), many on the surface lived lives very much independent of those who lived underground. It was a Wild West where frontier law and local mindsets determined what was legal or not, and where death could come from a nearby home or the weather at any moment, through a concerted effort to rein them in ultimately led to by current times many resisting and many other cooperating in turn. Those who resisted didn’t last for all they tried to do to not be integrated, whilst those who did integrate more easily have generally benefited from it more so in the long-term from being connected to the rest of the homeworld’s population centers. Those seeking the ‘independent lifestyle’ mostly have taken up in the most remote and dangerous or inhospitable parts of an already harsh and otherwise inhospitable desert planet, which is saying something, usually loners, caravan-attacking bandits, or even being a small cluster of families. Likewise there are government-legalized caravans that carry goods, resources, and so forth as their jobs and lives lead them to nomadically move across the rocky areas and sands of the planet itself, moving goods on the surface or buying up scrap from underground areas to keep themselves going. 

-The “Red Sands Era” was an era of invention both wrought from raw necessity and the driving force of constant warfare, and an era that one knowledgeable in history might more commonly call “a blend of the Sengoku Jidai period of Japan, and the time period of the Wild West in the former USA” as well. The fight for supremacy of the planet, as well as over resources and so forth within the planet’s wild frontier up top as well as most definitely underground, would drive this time period onward for just over 140 years. This as the various factions and ideologies and so forth shed quite a bit of blood and likewise the population grew across the planet through the building up new underground (mostly) and above ground (less so) habitations for humanity. All of this would come together to create the name this peculiar yet tragic time period.

To say that the unification of the planet under one government within the last 100 years was peaceful, however, would be an utter lie. Outside of what cases of negotiation were done, most other parties were wiped off the map and taken over by the Republic of Arhas/Eosian Republic (the successor to the original colonial government) that would finally achieve true planetary supremacy where its predecessor had failed to even stay together and intact. It was a process that shed even more blood, though the winners had been seeking to integrate and consolidate their growing and newly-acquired holdings evenly over time and along the way as they’d acquired them, with the initial victory and end of the Reds Sands Era in around Year 213 being simply the jumping-off point to enable this to finally take place on a planetary level. 

-If one were to ask the vast majority of citizens, they would exclaim being used to the status quo of how things are and have found things to be ‘fair yet strict’. If one were to ask their ancestors who lived through to see the end of the Red Sands Era, they would likely speak of being glad that the constant struggle and bloodshed was finally and truly over with. Indeed, the rise of the planetary government would see a great economic boom as well as a cessation of constant conflicts above and under the ground. Places began to heal, new rural areas emerged, old rural areas grew to become towns, and existing towns would grow into cities as the existing cities themselves grew even larger and more vast. All of this and more was done to accommodate the population growth, especially as the growth of the local population has spiked locally in the last 80-something years and finally stabilized by current times. Things the government by current times has done to help manage this population have even included setting up space-bound economic and mining operations along with starting some initial colonial settlement within their solar system.

However, not everything is perfect in any society. Some exist even still on the disenfranchised fringes of this rebuilt society and nation, poor or downtrodden or the like. There are also those who have chafed under the grip of the current government and its ‘military police’ forces, those who have been passed down the grudges and anger and ideologies of former ‘free cities/towns’ veterans who wish to return to that old status quo of the Red Sands Era, and even those who simply wish to see the world burn. In the end the existence of such ‘rebel factions’ is something that, due to these factors, has continued to persist into current times as well. Such groups have mostly remained smaller or been whittled down over time, though they will still on occasion strike at local areas in more distant/fringe areas or government establishments in the big cities to try to ‘make their point’. Better armed than the top criminals, but usually kept in check in a general sense, they range from those seeking to ‘topple the fascist government’ (as they claim it is), to those ‘seeking to return to a better age of independent city-states’ they idealize the Red Sands Era as having (blindly even in some cases), to even simply those who wish to seize power and take what they want and wish to use the same propaganda and recruitment and so forth to manifest those ends. 

The top three Rebel Factions of any real or viable mettle/power in modern times are the following: 

***[i]The “Peoples Confederated Militia” (aka the “PCM”)[/i] - A rebel faction seeking to destroy the current governmental structure, and in its place replace it with a far looser system of ‘united in purpose and goals yet wholly independent city-states’ they claim was, would be, and is far more ethical and good for humanity both on-and-off of the planet. They use the initial colonial government as an example of ‘how this would not work’, but try to portray the Red Sands Era in a far more positive if not engineered ‘light’ as they claim that the independence of the cities was fair and just and that all they needed to solve ‘the problems of that era, which were few in nature’ was to bring people to the negotiation and diplomatic table. They decry the unification of the planet under one government as ‘evil and tyrannical’ and as ‘suppressing the freedoms of human beings to choose for themselves as they see fit’ whilst generally disapproving of any sort of centralized national-level command structure. 

Their command structure is generally manned with the “Council of Six” at the top, below which are four officers each assigned to each councilor. Each officer in turn manages local affairs in their area, organizes squads and other military units under their area’s command, organizes the distribution of equipment and resources, etc, as well as report back and share information with the Council and each other. It is generally run as the organization says it wishes to organize the ‘rightful new government’ they seek to bring about, though this has had its share of success and issues over time. Sometimes the officers assigned to the same or different councilors have competed against each other within their own ranks to earn further support or to expand personal influence, or otherwise run and manage their areas and subordinates differently than each other in various ways. At times these officers have been inherently disorganized when trying to work with each other, due to internal competition for glory and the allocation of more resources from the Council of Six, and at other times have managed to form a comprehensive front well enough to prove to be a frighteningly effective force at certain times. 

This group is perhaps the most widely-spread-out by current times, many major bases having been lost and others having been weakened by retaliation against them by/from the government peacekeeping forces. They are in cities and some on the fringes alike, but they lack any area of highly-concentrated control…which is for them both a major weakness but has also been to some extent a strength in keeping their organization alive somehow. At the same time, the organization is ripe for taking down piecemeal, one area at a time….and were the right circumstances to arise and the Council of Six’s uniting influence to collapse, then perhaps the organization could be rooted out once and for all…

***[i]The “King Cartel”[/i] - A rebel faction seeking to turn as much of the United Republic as they can into an area under their control, to hell with the areas they don’t want, all to the ends of exploiting the existence of ‘worm junkies’ and production of ‘illicit pharmaceuticals’ to drive a greater and greater profit for themselves. The only reason they are not considered ‘simply another gang or organized crime group’ is the fact they use the same grade of armaments and so forth as the other two major rebel factions….and treat their head in the form of “Don Carretera” (every head gets this title, which means ‘road’ in Old Earth Spanish) like a national leader and hero. These are the same family heads who have maintained a dynastic and hereditary style of absolute rule over this organization (in contrast to many of the Old Earth mafia families of old). The mafioso aesthetic and some terms have been used for many generations now as well, originally set in place by the founder, and once the family’s organization even controlled a small fringe underground town before being driven out. 

Their organization is smaller than most, but when it comes to being well-armed and keeping a ‘small profile’ they are among the very best in doing so. Dealing in shadows, trying to crack open and create new markets, and gradually build up what they seek in areas rather than trying to rush in and ‘liberate’ them from the existing government as the PCM has seemingly been trying to do. When their trademark drugs hit the streets and are noticed, it is generally a sign they have their fingers in the pie of whatever local area they’ve tried to set up in. They have been described as ‘a fly stuck on a turd that can’t be chased away for too long’ but also ‘takes a long time to be noticed rearing their heads back up again’, as well as being harder to root out when found or discovered but also posing a less immediate and present danger than others. On the other hand, when they do get noticed they are a group who get distinctly adapted measures and actions taken to combat them. This mostly takes the form of purging their peddled substances from the streets, as well as engaging in greater espionage and both covertly taking out their hierarchy and otherwise rooting out any contacts they have to drive them out of an area. Then they usually avoid said area again for a time, only to slowly and subtly begin sticking down roots in another place bit by bit…like a festering parasite. 

Were the organization to be hit where it hurts most, at the very top of their hierarchy, then perhaps enough chaos could be sowed internally among them to cause the remaining parts to disappear… 

***[i]The “Wildern Group”[/i] - The most odd-sounding title for a group, they are named for where the group was founded in the former  above ground town of Wildern. The area was among the largest independent surface settlements to arise, even moving to exert influence through the use of nomadic caravans loyal to them and the trade of supplies. In time, they even established a sort of soldier-police as the practice became more and more common beginning in the “Red Sands Era”. They were also the head of the briefly-lived “Wildernian Federation”, trying to form a ‘nation’ of their own in haste to try to oppose the largely-snowballed faction that would win planetary control and take over the planet to form the United Republic. They were known for the ‘encouragement’ they tried to push on ‘members’ of the Federation to ‘generate a sense of new nationalism and unity’, which is to say they did some good for the surface but also used a lot of threats and force to get people under their ramshackle banner of a ‘nation’ that those from Wildern had a total hegemony of power over. 

In the ensuing conflict to secure the surface, this group came to blows and expected to use their knowledge and strength on the surface, alongside an understanding of the weather patterns and so forth, to wage a guerilla war aimed at ‘shattering the dirt-eaters from underground’ and bringing back the old status quo of the Red Sands Era so they could ‘shine like a star in the sky’ over those living on the surface and also (mostly to serve their own ends) ‘free the surface from dirt-eater oppression’. On the other hand, their ambitions and hasty actions were all too late to be able to stop anything, mostly being due to their spiteful disregard for anyone and anything originating from underground and thus not paying attention as the ones who united all the underground settlements and had snowballed to quite a large degree of control and power. Their distaste for those living underground has been ever-inherent from the start, with the discriminatory term of ‘dirt-eaters’ being just one of the many terms coined by them or in less-hospitable areas of the surface to describe those living underground in turn. 

By current times, the group mostly exists in holdouts in the worst areas to try to live on the surface…horrible areas where they live and host their three remaining ‘larger bases of operation’ where no one else dares to normally go. However, they have engaged in raiding nomadic traveling caravans, attacking small fringe underground settlements, and even setting up some underground operations in certain fringe areas to try to enact sabotage and sink in some kind of (even if reluctant and demeaning) influence down there to help channel supplies back to their main bases of operation. For the most part they can be driven back from underground areas and into the desert world sands, though on the fringes they are a constant pestilence whose root is essentially ‘stuck in a hard to reach place’ and refuses to curl up and die either. Were a strike made possible to destroy their main bases for good, it would certainly stop them in their tracks though…

-Ruins lie across the planet’s surface, though whether they have been buried or uncovered by the sands of the planet once more depends on the fickle whims of the planet’s weather. Many are vestiges of the initial colonization, long abandoned remnants from the Red Sands Era, or even far smaller locations where fatally fateful adventurers or families or settlers built up before dying off and leaving only empty husks in their wake. Abandoned military bases, former homes or small villages/towns, all sorts of ruins made by mankind can be found among the sands….

…but could there still, even after three centuries, be something [u]else[/u] out there too that humanity has not yet discovered? Only time will tell. 

-Among the wealthy elites that exist within United Republic society, there is a group known as the “Purified”. These people have focused on for many loong decades, as their movement has grown from the time of the Republic of Arhas/Eosian Republic until current times under the United Republic, using genetic engineering technologies to ‘refine’ and ‘harness’ the human genome among their own. No splicing or dicing, but instead taking what is ‘human’ at its core and ‘amplifying it and removing imperfections’ from it. Augmented healing, greater strength, the gradual erasure of genetic ‘faults’ and genetic diseases from among them, and so forth. They seek to achieve the ‘deific beauty of antiquity’, using this as a baseline to refine their forms and looks and so forth to degrees that by modern times have become definitely noticeable. 

The movement even has a growing pool of followers among the middle class, mostly as the movement has oddly sought in more recent decades to bring more into the fold and spread their ideas. It is more a cool club or form of ideology (rather) that believes humanity choosing to embrace its ideas will benefit all, but also does not seek to push itself on others despite its odd nature due to legal codes within the United Republic. In the end, really, they just remain simply one of many social or cultural groups that has formed within the United Republic in the end. (But the idea felt cool so why not toss this in, eh?)

-(space here in case I think of anything else)

[center]
---
[/center]

[color=FFE4B5]Governance and Politics[/color]: 

The United Republic has adopted a high-authority central government that sets the rules at lower levels, being the top authority and possessing most of the power by far and inherently. It controls the national and planetary policies of the nation proper, as well as controls the military at the top in a similar manner. A bureaucracy exists as part of the central government, with various Departments being created and managed and overseen to ensure that overall work gets done, things keep running, and order is maintained. The central government is generally seen reasonably as a certain amount of ‘authoritarian’ by its nature, though isn't wholly an authoritarian-type system either. Hence the classification of the nation’s government being as it is.

Local authorities, meanwhile, are democratically-elected individuals alongside their respective City/Town/Village Council in kind. Above these are District Governors, who are also democratically elected, and above these Regional Governors, who are selected to take their positions by the Central Government and have to pass proper meritocratically-aimed examinations and background checks and experience requirements at lower levels of government to take up office. In this sense the democratic process has remained, and people do choose leaders and have formerly chosen leaders rise up the ranks after a certain point at the behest of the central government to be assimilated into it. 

The lower-level democratic processes are holderovers from Old Earth, which after the failure of the initial colonial confederation-type government set in place would re-emerge in part once more during the Red Sands Era to an at least distinct and lasting extent politically. Once the nation was united under one banner, a high-authority central government was balanced out with properly formalized lower-level democratic processes. These democratic processes were also combined with allotting certain limited powers and flexibility to such elected leaders, helping and allowing them to properly manage locals and keep the order and peace properly as well as act as a conduit to enforce national-level policies but also have local-level nuances to the laws of the land. 

The judicial system has its top authorities as part of the central government, who take the form of the “Seven Judges” who are a council of the seven highest-level judges of the land. Meanwhile lower level judges below this have to have the proper experience, education, and clean background check requirements as among the necessities for them to take up higher and higher offices after entering the system. Elections are also used to elect lower level judges from among applicable candidates in turn. District and Circuit Courts likewise exist, as well as concepts like a bench trial and rules such as ‘having a right to trial with a jury’. 

In fact, the government of the United Republic even has within it a proper constitution of sorts, stating both the powers of the central government and those of lower officials as well as laying out a certain number of ‘human rights’ (albeit there are certain legal exceptions to even this due to the authority of the central government as dictated in this document as well). In this vein it can be seen as an echo of the old world, but in this case was something proposed by the central government, which can be amended and updated and so forth through input by the general public, and yet entrenches and enshrines the current system of things in both writing and law.   

[color=FFE4B5]Technology Overview[/color]: 

-The nature of construction and life within the United Republic has mostly led its population to overall become rather skilled at the art of macro-engineering. Large structures, grand architecture, building underground tunnels and cities and towns and so forth, all of it has stemmed back to this same core engineering type as it has been a longtime backbone of the United Republic. This isn’t to say that smaller technology doesn’t exist, but rather than looking at the local society and culture as a whole this nation has seen far more notable developments in the realm of macro-engineering than in many others. The art of making durable, cost effective, longstanding, workable, and better-lasting structures is something they have refined to a distinct point indeed. 

Likewise concrete(s), improved tools for calculating and enacting macro-engineering projects, and so forth have emerged within this realm of things. 

-The United Republic has also developed humanoid-type pilotable working frames, with robust but neural-connected control systems (and even pilot-shielding cockpit attachments in some cases), which are used en-masse for many forms of construction and building and on other notable worksites in some capacity or another. It is a common and well-understood technology, but one that is normally not used in a warfare-type-form either by the local military police forces due to its vulnerabilities and exposed parts. There is a reason they are mostly used for labor, after all. At the same time, they have found use among rebel factions, armor and weapons being welded on and creating ‘rebel technicals’ as they’ve come to be called. These usually do well in hand-to-hand, and in moving things or breaking into places, but struggle to remain effective against ranged combat and find themselves outmatched against the powered-exoskeleton-type augmentations of government-made Grade 4 full body armor. However, the use of these working machines as ad-hoc combat machines due to their easy-to-use nature and cost-effectiveness in augmenting new troops by having recruits pilot them (among other similar things) has led them to see continued usage even into modern times. 

[hider=Additional Data On The United Republic Humanoid Pilotable Working Frame]

Minimalist powered exoskeletons, more bulky and simplistic but by far much easier to use and cheaper than what (in comparison) the elite military police use, are machines used for a number of construction projects and other sorts of worksites and industrial areas. The pilot is usually strapped in, after donning general work safety protective personal gear, and then is attached to the resilient system of the device to get started. The exoskeleton, or ‘frame’ as it is called in layman’s terms, will simply translate their bodily nerve impulses and muscle movements in the arms and legs to produce the corresponding motions in the frame itself, moving its arms, closing fingers or grabbing things, etc. A headset is even added to give the pilot a useful HUD and data/information needed about the unit, what work the unit is doing, and so forth within a limited scope. These are prolific at construction sites and various areas of work requiring heavy lifting and the transportation of goods on the grounds of the workplace, replacing things like forklifts and certain on-site manned vehicles to a certain extent (not entirely mind) as workers can now complete work with these robust, strong, and capable tools of the trade. 

Rebels in the past have even turned these widely available devices, stolen or bought after-market or otherwise acquired, into a myriad of technicals out in the field. Replacing the arms with guns that can be operated somewhat simply using these exoskeletons’ available and easy-to-grasp neural controls, attaching a gun turret to the top and having someone ride in a ‘basket’ held on the back of the exoskeleton to fire when out in battle, ad-hoc missile launchers welded to the sides of it to fire homemade explosive rockets out of, carrying ‘holsters’ for moving around with large recoilless rifles, attaching small artillery or mortars to the back of a larger one to have it walk to location to sit down or stay still (lest something bad happen to it because it's crap) and fire rounds from long-range at a location before moving on, and even things like scrap-metal swords and scrap-metal spears or rebar-reinforced welded-together hammers have been used when theses sorts of technicals have appeared in the field locally. In even some more rare cases, two frames might have their control systems wired together and then be welded to a singular platform to carry between them so one pilot can move rudimentary firepower around of a somewhat larger size. Likewise, rebel versions of these exosuit technicals have ‘armor’ welded on in some capacity or another to try to protect them or better protect the pilot…as these things were not designed with combat in mind at all really. 

But likewise, with their simplicity and effectiveness they have seen use at times as well by criminals who have either stolen one or bought one after-market or used to try to use for robberies or the like. Sometimes they get turned into technicals in these cases as well, but these cases tend to be smaller-grade and usually lesser than what a rebel might turn one into…and likewise are in number far fewer and much rarer to find used by general criminals in turn. Most of the time such criminals want the physical strength of these exoskeletons to move things, tear things out of walls, or the like rather than to fight outright most of the time. 

Military Police implementation of such devices is mostly limited to Stratus, specifically when they are performing heavy lifting to make barricades or the like and/or doing very limited building-breaching work done on the part of personnel without Grade 4 full body armor. Combat-capable version of these machines have been experimentally looked and, toyed with, and made in recent years for potential use by Stratus, though nothing fit for the battlefield has yet been developed.

[/hider]

[hider=Example Of A Basic United Republic Humanoid Pilotable Working Frame]

[center]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/bA6UNsS.jpg[/img]

….

[color=crimson][b]{{SYSTEM ERROR}}

{{ALERT}}

{{THE SUBMITTED IMAGE CONTAINS ONE OR MORE PERSON(S) IDENTIFIED AS A CRIMINAL}}

{{ZOOMING IN FOR ENHANCED IDENTIFICATION OF CRIMINAL SUBJECT}}[/b]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/CQ7HQz5.jpg[/img]

[b]{{ZOOM COMPLETE. ACCESSING MILITARY POLICE DATABASE…

….

….

….

IDENTIFICATION OF CRIMINAL SUBJECT FOUND}}

{{THE INDIVIDUAL DEPICTED IN PICTURE IS “CRIMINAL SUBJECT 4287 - ‘PEOPLES CITIZEN MILITIA OFFICER’ ALENA MARIE CALLISTO, AGE 26, DAUGHTER OF NADYA IVANAVNA CALLISTO [DECEASED] AND ALEXANDER GIOVANNI CALLISTO [REPORTED MISSING]”}}

{{FILING AUTOMATIC SIGHTING REPORT OF SUBJECT TO THE MILITARY POLICE DATABASE…}}[/b][/color]

[/center]

[/hider]

-In terms of transport, the technology for lighter hovercraft has been developed well and is in prolific use underground by civilians for their capabilities to move up and down vertical heights quickly, as well as having use of still moving reasonably fast over the flat and paved vast underground highway network the government has long since created by current times. However, vehicles carrying the heaviest loads will usually be either ‘heavy hovercraft’ or mostly ground-based vehicles using tires as a mandatory measure to ensure loads can be safely transported. 

Meanwhile, above-ground transport craft are mostly track-based by virtue of being well-understood, adapted to the hotter and more dangerous surface terrain, cost-effective to make, and being better for driving over softer terrain like sand (it is a desert planet of course) to boot. Hovercraft used above-ground must be made in the ‘heavy hovercraft’ vehicle category, otherwise they will blow away easily in the harsh winds and storms of the surface. Even wheels find themselves worse-off in the sands of the planet’s surface than tracks, performing worse than them in this setting by a distinct degree and causing vehicles to be trapped in accidents whose ‘wrecks’ are either barely visible or were long buried in the shifting sands themselves. 

This general principle of vehicle development above and under the ground has led to more modern work aimed at developing a more versatile and cost-effective ‘heavy hovercraft’ base design, which would be a point to branch off from to make better designs for civilian, military, work-related, and other such vehicles that would be highly effective to use no matter the setting. This could in turn allow the nation to switch its vehicle production all over to a singular line, heavier hovercraft, and hopefully cut costs and improve developments in the long-term. Work is, of course, still ongoing in this area as more notably specialized and unique ‘heavy hovercraft’ designs continue to take on what roles and work they can in the meantime. 

-When traversing the surface of Eos IVV, the local technology has developed what is called the “Surface-Traversal System” or more commonly as the “ST-Suit” or even just “ST/ST’s”  in layman’s terms. It is an advanced but simplistic protective suit with a level of radiation and heat protection, which likewise grants full-body protection and resistance from the elements such as driving winds and sandstorms for good reason. Is it perfect? No, walk into the worst aboveground weather in one of these and one will find themselves likely dying anyways. But for those who live aboveground, these suits are their lifeline for heading out beyond the shelter of a surface town’s ‘sand barrier’ protections or whatever rocky place or semi-underground home they set up shop in. 

-(space here in case I think of anything else)

[color=FFE4B5]Military Overview[/color]: 

It is of distinct note that the military of the United Republic is not a distinct entity of its own, but rather that has become fully fused with its police force. Years of underground and aboveground battlefields, smaller-scale issues between cities during its chaotic years, and internal conflicts have led the locals to fuse these roles together sooner than later throughout the last 300 years history, alongside the need to conserve and maximize the efficiency of resource usage over the course of that time to boot. This has created a hybrid modern ‘military police’ whose ranks both keep order on the streets and likewise can be easily swelled in times of conflict by tapping into the large ‘reserve’ pool of these forces to fill the role of ‘soldiers’ both standard and elite in the general sense. Even during times of war, there is even a proper ‘gameplan’ to ensure that there will be enough police on the streets (‘home duty’ in the local lingo) versus those sent out to fight on the battlefield (‘away duty’ in the local lingo). 

However the Ordos Custodes, what the force is called formally, does suffer to an extent from a lack of specialization as well though. While it can fill two dual roles by its nature, and has sought to accommodate those roles accordingly over many decades of experience, by virtue of being a ‘middle ground’ it lacks the raw numbers of a formal and separate military force. Against such a force being deployed at wartime levels, the Ordos Custodes will inevitably be smaller than the militaries of larger or equivalent nations when it comes to how many are being deployed into the field. Likewise, the fusion of military and police has led to these forces being very much ‘over the top’ in terms of what they can do in the field…basically being overkill by the standards of places with their own police forces. This in turn has also made them seem and feel notably more ‘brutal’ in their application as police forces, though whilst this has been a ‘boon’ to keeping order it has also painted them in a darker light than the average police force for sure as well.

[hider=Standard Military Police (Stratus)]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/kW2ivhX.jpg[/img]

((A member of the Standard Military Police, or Magistratus, aka “Stratus” as they have been commonly nicknamed by citizens.))[/center]

The standard frontline unit for the Ordos Custodes, the police of the United Republic, is simply called a “Magistratus” (or “Stratus” for short). They wear more traditional-looking adjustable body armor for protection targeted at core and key areas of the body, such as the head and torso. This armor provides mostly explosive and ballistic protection, with some thermal protection. Meanwhile the rest of their attire in general is lined with advanced ballistics-protection and impact-softening fibers, as well as having built in general thermal regulation and surface-capable environmental protection capabilities also being thrown in to make them both longer-lasting and resilient on top of the obvious use for their general protective qualities above and below ground. The equipment in the pack on their backs are made to, along with the sensors and night vision and personal HUD displays and such that are installed into their helmets, facilitate rapid comms between each other on official channels, connect them to and allow them to control the quantum-entangled drone they make use of in the field, and work in tandem with the individual cop and other equipment to facilitate ‘the most effective performance in the field’ possible. It is also by this measure the material composing the pack also has electrical insulation/protection, inherent high impact and ballistic protections, and likewise high durability/resilience to protect and facilitate the functioning of what is kept inside of it. 

The Stratus are, in terms of weaponry, lower grade versions of their higher-grade counterparts of the Fulgur Militum. They use the same “Argo Rail-Revolver” and “Lumen S-15 EM-Shotgun” as their primary weapons in this case, with long-range options taking the form of the “ARMS-21 Assault Rifle” which is of a lesser caliber/mm than its more elite counterpart in the form of the ARMS-27 Assault Rifle. The ARMS-21 also has a larger clip, storing eighteen rounds per clip, though has the same semi-automatic and three-round-burst firing modes, but it does possess more room for combat attachments than its more powerful descendant. It also has an uplink that normally feeds data into the helmet of a stratus regard itself, but can connect to a Stratus’ accompanying drone and the helmet to allow for advanced targeting capabilities in turn. This differs from how the drone is connected to its individual Stratus by a quantum entanglement to ensure it cannot be hijacked or interfered with by non-quantum means, but considering the far more vast range of frequencies the Stratus and their equipment can switch to and work at it becomes hard to ‘jam’ them unless one has quite a large setup. 

Lastly, but certainly not least, each Stratus is accompanied by the aforementioned ‘Drone’ as their final piece of equipment. This little machine uses gravi-tech to flit about in the air, has a built-in incapacitating-to-fatal electroshock mode in case anyone tries to grab it (or it is used to fry some electronic it is put in contact with alternatively), and likewise has sensors and a durable little frame that allow it to stay small and send data back to its corresponding Stratus. It is a versatile A.I. driven machine that works in tandem with its Stratus for the most part as an assistant and tool both, and is connected to its controller via a quantum entanglement. This primary connection via entanglement is also useful in preventing hijacking of this device, as even if other uplinks are jammed or used to try to gain control over or scramble it…the primary connection can cut the other means of connecting to this drone off in an instant and immediately secure it from corruption or issue in that sense at the first sign of an issue. Perhaps somewhat amusingly, Stratus have generally over time taken to calling these drones things like their “Little Buddy” or giving them nicknames like “Siggy” and “Jeff” or the like. Even began treating them sometimes like a little on-the-job pet, really, and ultimately many would take theirs with them when retiring before doing silly things like putting stickers or custom paint-jobs on them after taking them with them to further personalize them. On occasion it almost seems like the A.I. of these drones becomes attached to their operators to boot, which is an unexpected but certainly interesting development as their programming and hardware has been upgraded over time. Of course avoiding sapience in A.I. and machinery has remained a strict legal mandate, and something those who develop this little thing have kept in mind to boot.

Otherwise the non-notable parts of a Stratus’ loadout generally are: 3x flash grenades, 2x gas grenades,  a first-aid kit, and extra magazines for whatever primary firearm they are using at the time. Their armor is also updated with camouflage for whatever environment they are in to a certain extent, despite the obvious “Police” displayed on their torso body armor, whether it is urban, rural, or other settings they are being sent into in particular in different regions.

***[i][b]Note[/b][/i]: Stratus wear Grade 2-3 Body Armor, with Grade 2 being the highest grade civilian-purchasable type of body armor and Grade 3 being the lowest tier of policing/military forces body armor. Grade 3 is mostly what is worn during times of war, with Grade 2 being used for average police work. 

[/hider]

[hider=Elite Military Police (Fulger/Fulgur)]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/kk9V1kw.png[/img]

((A member of the Elite Police, or Fulgur Militum. aka “Fulger/Fulgur” as they have been commonly nicknamed by citizens.))[/center]

Members of the Fulgur Militum are outfitted with Grade 4 full body armor, with built-in full-body + surface capable thermal protection and regulation, anti-explosive protection, electrical insulation, and ballistic protection for their line of work. Helmets are installed with a myriad of EMP-insulated visual and other sensors that provide full coverage for the wearer, as well as a comms system and HUD able to display live data and data feeds useful both in-combat as well as outside of it. Meanwhile the armor itself is designed to cover any potential ‘cracks’, provide maximum protection to the body to minimize potential vulnerabilities for the wearer, contains EMP-insulated and protected equipment for engaging in secure comms as well as searching databases and so forth on the fly even from far away, and likewise assist in physical movement and strain with a built-in and advanced powered-exoskeleton-type augmentation and assistance system. It is certainly a force to reckon with in terms of equipment, though one must mind that it is simply the local version of ‘top of the line protective armor’ by their standards. It takes what the Stratus has to use in a pack, and has an accompanying drone with them for as well, and compacts it more into a singular package meant to deliver utility and potency in as effective a manner as possible. 

The Fulgur Militum themselves are likewise armed to the teeth, it would seem, with their common armaments being the XM1275 machine gun, the SIG ARMS-27 assault rifle, the Argo Rail-Revolver, and the Lumen S-15 E-Shotgun. 

The XM1275 is a weapons platform that makes use of old-fashioned propellant-powered bullets to pepper targets with magazine-held belts of .50 caliber (12.7x99mm) rounds with improved recoil control, training to fire in ‘bursts’, and longer-lasting barrels alongside the use of a tripod. This weapon is the definition of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ in a nutshell, as with the increased modern cheapness of propellant-powered bullets and their corresponding firearms after centuries of development and eventual improvements to the economic situation within the modern United Republic it had made these weapons more ubiquitous than ever in the general market. This occurred despite the basically linear improvements to their capabilities not really putting them above harder-hitting electromagnetic or “E-Weapon”, though the reductions in cost efficiency for producing such weapons and their corresponding ammunition has been the largest factor in their continued use to a certain extent. 

The ARMS-27 Assault Rifle follows the lead of the XM1275, mostly by making use of propellant-powered ammunition and a gradually more streamlined design. It is often mixed in with a combat squad’s usage of the XM1275, this weapon allowing for more controlled three-round-burst-fire (compared to the training of users of the XM1275 to fire in bursts) and semi-automatic modes of fire that allow it to take on more precision roles on the battlefield. The weapon also uses the same ammunition as the XM1275, with likewise improved technologies for managing recoil and so forth included in its design. It has a twelve round clip as well. 

((It and the XM1275 are both weapons developed by the “SIG Future ARMS” who was a branch of the American-originated branch of SIG Sauer, Inc that would come aboard the same colony ship as the colonists of Arhas. It would make itself out to be a monopoly for a time with some initially vicious business contracts, though once this was ended with brute force 75 years after initial settlement (in part due to prices being vastly inflated to ridiculous degrees and the government going ‘no we aren’t doing that’) the room for competition arose…and indeed took off with a ‘boom’ from that point onward. Even so, SIG Future ARMS still has a notable user base when it comes to government contracts…but has also been notably being out-competed elsewhere more and more over time. In that vein, many feel it is just a matter of time and waiting to see if SIG Future ARMS can adapt to the times or runs itself out of business.

***[i][b]Note[/b][/i]: The SIG ARMS-27 and ARMS-21 both have an array of attachable components that can be made use of in the field. Anything from ‘infrared flashlights’, to underslung 2-to-4-round capable grenade launchers, to targeting devices/lasers used in tandem with vehicles or sniper fire, to improved scopes of varying designs and uses, mounted flashlights, and frankly even underslung shotgun attachments or strong tasers. A highly versatile platform indeed, though the ARMS-21 has more room for adding such attachments to it than its counterpart does.)) 

The Argo Rail-Revolver is perhaps the most advanced individual weapon in the Fulgur Militum’s arsenal, using a six-chamber cylinder with each chamber having a self-charging-capacitor attached. The end result is that each capacitor is ready to go as it is moved into place, and each shot ‘powers itself’ without having to use more space for a battery pack or such on the weapon. It is a common sidearm for all members of the force, even being so for the regular cops at the next level of jurisdiction below them, and is known for being a reliable weapon with a generally robust design and easy-to-change parts being among its best selling points within the realm of local electromagnetic weapon designs. It also inherently packs a punch meant to knock down a target flat on their back, punch through light barricades or homemade armor, or even land a more steady and decisive shot to kill a target. Its local nickname in many areas has become “The Chunker” after seeing it in action for so many years…because anything it hits will usually get a chunk taken out of it. Vehicles, buildings, and especially bodies alike. It was the brainchild of the R&D Department of the local arms company “Argonaut Military Industrial”, which is an arms company known for being the first to go all-in on electromagnetic weapons from its inception and having pioneered a number of ‘quality of life’ and ‘effectiveness/robustness’  advances that pushed competitors to start keeping up with it. The fact this pistol hasn’t changed its design and has seen effective use for 75 years is nothing short of a testament to the usefulness and resilience of the armament in the long-term.  

Then finally there is the Lumen S-15 EM-Shotgun, a tool that is the newest part of the Fulgur Militum’s arsenal and replaces the older Lumen S-12 Shotgun (its final and last propellant-powered-bullet-using weapon). The Lumen S-15 EM, or “LumSEM”, is a shotgun with semi-automatic and fully-automatic firing modes that uses an electromagnetic coil around the barrel to rapidly accelerate and speed up the dense clusters of lethal metal ‘pellets’ that its basic ‘shells’ consist of. Originally design began with the idea of using a coil near the end and shells with a smaller propellant charge in them to try to cut back costs. Yet with some tweaking and fiddling on the design in terms of its barrel and the coils, a direct battery connection for powering the coils and including a battery into the weapon’s ammunition clips (protected by the weapon once a new clips is put in) led to the device becoming more economical and the new concept for it being approved for use by its parent company, the “Lumen Interplanetary Arms Manufacturing” company, who has mostly converted its arms production and design over to electromagnetic forms. In fact their shotguns were the last part of their handheld-arms production line to convert over, partly due to the reliable nature of their shotguns being so profitable they hadn’t had to change for a longer time than most. 

The Fulgur Militum are the elite wing of the United Republic’s police force, with the general police forces overall being the “Ordo Custodes” as an aside. Acting as the equivalent to a ‘SWAT Team’ of Old Earth, the Fulgur Militum are basically a ‘police crack special forces’ that can rapidly deploy and come in for serious cases and serious incidents of a dangerous nature. They are even trained to handle terrorists and terrorist incidents to boot, being advanced ‘police’ who to some might as well be just professional civilian-realm soldiers in all but name for how well armed and prepared and trained that they are.

[/hider]

***[i][b]Military Note[/b][/i]: The existence of other more distinct roles such as ‘snipers’ and ‘breaching personnel’, with their respective equipment loadouts, do exist within the Magistratus and Fulgur/Fulger of the United Republic as well. Even ‘demolition’ experts are among their ranks for that matter. Elite military police and standard military police versions of these roles exist respectively, mostly using the lower-tier versions for police situations, though in times of war this flexibility with both standard and elite forces being able to deploy such troops has been seen as beneficial at times. 

[hider=Pictures of United Republic Military Vehicles/Ships]

[center]((To Be Added As Found/Required/Needed Over Time)

The Words ABOVE Each Picture Designate What It Is))

~Main Battle Tank~

[img]https://i.imgur.com/yi68dKX.jpg[/img]

~Secondary Supporting Battle Tank~

[img]https://i.imgur.com/6wiI8df.jpg[/img]

~Light Battle Hover-tank~

[img]https://i.imgur.com/p0RRpfw.jpg[/img]

~Surface Hover APC~

[img]https://i.imgur.com/QvE8ZMZ.jpg[/img]

~Surface APC~

[img]https://i.imgur.com/dl6PtDh.jpg[/img]

~Underground APC~

[img]https://i.imgur.com/vWWANax.jpg[/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

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[color=FFE4B5]Additional Info[/color]: 

-Military naming uses latin terms generally, as do governmental organizations. 

-National animal is the Turducken (Because they made them real I don’t care I am making this a thing XD)

-(To Be Added)

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