From Stardust, To Stardust Nation Dump

[Keyguyperson]

Merry Christmas.

(Note: Many of these nations are not active, and many are missing. That is because it would take me multiple centuries to fix all of those problems. Since I quite simply don't have the time due to schoolwork, writing practice, and all that stuff, I'll be asking the members of my roleplay to help with this.)

[Keyguyperson]

Name of nation: The Eternal Union
Species:
Iscandarian

The Iscandarians are a humanoid species, there average strength and height is about that of the humans. The Iscandarians appearance has a wide variety of colors. Hair and eyes can be anything across the spectrum. Their skin usually is a more white color, with a few rare individuals having silver skin, and their skin noticeable veins, that flow with colors. These colors represent their unique ability, magic, flowing through there veins. There are 4 types of Iscandarians, each with different abilities with magic.
The first type is the Earthen. The Earthen cannot tap into magic directly, but do have a strong affinity to plants and animals, and tend to have a lot more strength then the other types. They tend to be farmers and laborers; however there is a few well known Earthen Philosophers and scientists. Another thing of note is that the colors flowing through there vein tend to be green and darker colors, however they can still have any color flowing through there veins.

The second type is the Sentinels. Much like the Earthen they cannot tap into magic directly, however they also are unique physically as they each possess a large pair of white wings, often said by other races to be angelic. Normally these wings would not be enough to carry them, however there magical talent lets them fly with these, and fast to. They can also manipulate the weather of the worlds they are on. They are typically warriors, and also manipulate the weather for farmers.. They veins usually flow with a more cloudy white and blue, but like others they can be any color.

The Casters are the third type. They can tap into magic directly, and are important as there spells allow them to defend the empire, and help farmers with fertilization and water. They are the scientists, diplomats, and bureaucrats of the Union, and also serve the roles of battlemages and Archmages, Archmages being Casters of great magical ability. Their veins typically flow with the colors of silver, pure glowing white, and sometimes rainbow, although rarely.
The final are the Immortals. These are a combination of all 3 types, and there abilities are greater than that of any 3. They are created when someone is thought to have committed deeds that go above and beyond. They are called the Immortals as they are biologically immortal, however they can still be killed, but it is more difficult to do so. Another important part is that the Immortals also become the leaders of the Union, as the Princesses or Princes, and are considered Demi-Gods in the eyes of most due to their power being considered a representation of the Goddess that all Iscandarians worship.

Gamilas
The Gamilas are a warrior race, they are humanoid. Iscandarian beliefs dictate that the Gamilas were created by the same Goddess that created the Iscandarians. They have magic similar to that of the Iscandarians, but cannot tap into it directly and don’t have the same veins as the Iscandarians. They are an avian-species, with feathers covering their body. The colorings vary, but the patterns are similar to that of Human Mythical Griffons. They have wings, but they are not as fast as the Sentinels, and there magical talent is there great speed, strength, and the ability to fight. There homeworld, named Corus Prime, is a sister world to Alas Prime, the homeworld of the Iscandarians.

Description of government: Absolute Theocratic Monarchy

The Eternal Union is led by Princesses and Princesses, which are the Immortals. The Union does have freedoms though, and it technically doesn’t describe itself as a monarchy. There are elections, but the Prince and Princesses and the power to dissolve these institutions at any time. The Freedoms can best be described as those in the US bill of rights, but they are much more strongly held onto due to Iscandarian beliefs.

Description of military: The Eternal Union’s military is heavily focused on a defensive doctrine, and it originally was a small forced. However after meeting and annexing the Gamilas, it evolved into a medium-sized force. They have agreed that peace is still preferable, but if necessary they will use their military for peace-keeping. The Eternal Union’s military prefers fast heavy hitting weapons and lasers, along with a few AoE weapons. Due to magic being a nice shortcut it us combined with technology, dubbed magitech, and is effective. Even there FTL is magic based. The grounds forces use augmented forces, with both cybernetics and genetic modification, along with non-augmented forces, and a large air-force for support. So called Synths are also used, which are creatures of both Cybernetic and Genetic engineering. There is also usage of a highly encrypted comm channel for most military operations.

Ground forces mainly use magic, explosive, and mass accelerators(Think ME weapons). While the space forces use energy, magic, explosive, and rail-guns.

Technological Overview: As mentioned the Eternal Unions heavily uses Magitech. Magitech is the combination of magic and technology, and allows for seamless and easy interaction between the two. Magitech can be found everywhere, and is even used in cybernetics and energy generation. The Eternal Union also has made lots of progress on the fronts of genetic modification, as well as cybernetic augmentation. They have also combined the two to form Synths, which are quite deadly. They are also good at terraforming, mainly with magic, and while they do not have the best weapons there shielding tech is thought to be some of the greatest in the galaxy.
The Eternal Union is quite advanced, and due to their culture and ideology continue to progress.

Cultural Overview:

The culture of the Eternal Union focuses on a few specific ideals, harmony, peace, liberty, and freedom. While the other 3 are obvious, harmony is defined as the state of little to no problems, no conflict, and eternal peace. This is what the Eternal Union wishes to work towards, a utopia. Combined with magic the Eternal Union is well on to this path, as with magic they can easily harvest and farms lots of food, eliminating the need to charge for such things. A majority of these ideals, and what their culture is centered around comes from the Solar Church, there religion.

The Solar Church believes in one goddess, she is referred to by 4 names. The Eternal Mother, the Guardian or Goddess of Harmony, and Faust. Most followers refer to her as the Eternal Mother, as she is thought to be eternal, and that she treats the Iscandarians and Gamilas, who she created, as her children. She was thought to have risen from Stardust, and that she created the Iscandarians and Gamilas with Stardust, thus inspiring the popular phrase “From Stardust we come, to Stardust we fall”. Another belief is that everything is from Stardust, and that everything is eternal and must become Eternal. As such burials are conducted by launching the dead into a Star, thus returning them to Stardust. Before space era these burials were conducted by burning the body and that putting the ashes in a ceremonial urn, which was then launched into the sky by a special spell, and later it would contact a star. Of note is that Faust, in their bible at least, said that the Iscandarians would guide all sentient to a Union of Harmony under one flag, and that to do so the Iscandarians need to ascend. As such they are fine with augmentation and rapid progress as it is necessary for ascension in the eyes of the Solar Church.

Most Eternal Union citizens also follow the Solar Church, even with the right to freedom of religion. The reason is that while no other religions are discriminated against, the State endorses it, and uses it to maintain the Union under a single common doctrine and culture.

History: The Iscandarians had a relatively peacefully history. There was little conflict, and from the beginning the Solar Church was dominate. Its doctrine and ideology were appealing, and were it thrived little, if any crime, existed. The society was very prosperous.

When the Industrial Era came about, or as its was also known the Magitech era, due to the sudden rise of it, a Caster by the name of David managed to unite all Iscandarians under one banner, the banner of the Eternal Union. He became the first immortal, and when he did those around them described a light coming down, and guiding him to his ascension. Immortals under the system led this Eternal Union. Later a Sentinel by the name of Aaliyah invented some of the first forms of space travel, and guided the civilization to the discovery of the Gamilas. She was crowned as the second Immortal.

The Gamilas when found were a very warring civilization. They were close to destroying themselves via atomic weapons. The advanced Iscandarians intervened and stopped them. While they resented this as the Iscandarians disarmed them and forced peace, the Iscandarians sent missionaries, and overtime they curbed there warring nature. They were brought into the Eternal Union.

The rest of the Eternal Union was rapid advancement of technologies, as well as expansion. Two more Immortals were crowned, the Earthen Orion for a live-saving cure to a deadly magical disease, and a Caster named Adeline for a massive contribution that was the FTL system currently used.. At current they have 606 ships, divided into fleets of 101, and are spread across 19 planets. They have so far deemed themselves alone, but they will be proven wrong…

[Keyguyperson]

Name of nation: United Terran Federation (UTF)
Species: Human
Description of government: The UTF is a federation made up of multiple member nations. Each one elects their own internal government as well as a representative who represents them in all Federal meetings. Federal law has higher authority than national law, and any laws which the Federal Council deems wrong are repealed.
Description of military: The UTF has extensive ground, sea, and air forces. Ground forces (Terran Federation Ground Warfare Forces) mainly use coilguns for infantry and railguns for vehicles. The air forces (Federal In-Atmosphere Force) uses almost nothing but lasers, though many craft are equipped with railguns for precision strikes. The navy (Federal Navy) uses small, maneuverable vessels equipped with laser turrets. Most vessels also have a forward-facing railgun, which can only be used on calm seas due to the effect large waves have on aiming. The space forces (Federal Star Forces) are made up of small patrol ships, usually quipped with only a few lasers and maybe a spinal mount railgun. They use primarily boarding tactics to win battles, as they rarely have to fight anyone but illegal debris dumpers.
A "Special Response" air/space squadron exists as well, but little is known about them.
Technological Overview: The UTF uses plasma engines in all spacecraft, and has extensive coilgun/railgun and laser technology. No FTL has been invented, but they have colonies on all bodies int he Sol system. Full immersion virtual reality exists and is used both for recreational and training purposes.
Cultural Overview: The UTF is made up of dozens of different cultures, but most people share an interest int he exploration of space.
History: The UTF was founded in 2021, after a five year WWIII during which a nuclear exchange almost occurred. Humanity quickly began expanding through the solar system, and eventually reached Pluto by 2060 in an amazing display of human ingenuity. Solar power allowed Earth to recover from all of the pollution, and space elevators made travel to other planets cheap and reliable. Throughout the colonial period, millions flocked to the colonies with the hope of starting a new life. However, many opposed the expansion into space, saying that humanity was not ready. Terrorist attacks began on all planets, targeting places like the floating city near Dubai and the Beijing Pyramids. Even the Bering Strait bridge was attacked, resulting in ten billion Federation Credits being spent on repairs. In response, the UTF cracked down hard on the terrorists. A full mobilization occurred, with the intent of eliminating the terrorist groups.

All the crackdown did, however, was cause the terrorist organization to grow. The situation seemed hopeless until an enigmatic group approached the Federal Council, offering their services int he war. Tests showed them to excel at all types of combat, and all of them had exceptional g-force and radiation tolerance. The UTF gave these twenty individuals full access to experimental technologies. With this new group, they were able to successfully fight back against the terrorist threat. Interestingly, all twenty had previously applied for the Federal Star Forces and were declined on psychological reasons. There is much speculation surrounding the group, mostly over their name (Wings of Gliese). This has led many to begin conspiracy theories saying that they are, in fact, aliens. The Federal Council denounces all of these theories, but they still thrive as conspiracy theories tend to do.
Other: Sorry for the bad app.

[Keyguyperson]

Name of nation: Auxillium Collective

Species: The Custode
The Custodes are a race of sentient machines from the Earth ship The Vita. For the most part the Custodes are humanoid in shape, reaching about 6'2 and 275 pounds on average. However there are exceptions to the rule and it isn't uncommon to see ones shaped like a canine, an avian, or something more like an invertabrate. None the less all Custodes have one similar feature, the spark. The spark is their soul, so to speak, and is located in the center of the chest. This spark glows brightly and could attract attention however it is not particularly a weak spot, more of an indicator of personal health. The weaker the spark's light, the closer the Custode is to death.

Description of government: Each life ship is host to thousands of Custodes, all of which answer to the captain of the ship. In turn these captains answer to Servator, captain of The Vita. There is no infighting as all Custodes are unified in the single goal of encouraging the growth of life.

Description of military: The Custodes dislike war, given that they are trying to turn away from their past as tools of war, but should conflict be the only option they will strike hard. The combat doctrine of the Custodes is "The Slow Advance", a technique they have mastered over hundreds of years of conflict. In essence, the warships of the Custodes aren't the fastest moving but they make up for it through shear durability and fire power.

Perditor:
The Perditor is the guardian of the Salus'. Covered in turrets, missle silos, and armed with an ion cannon backed by the power of a small sun. However it's defenses are just as powerful as its weapons as it is covered in thick layers of alloy not even known to the other civilizations plus it has a shield sturdy enough to take a licking and keep on ticking, as the human saying goes.

The Vita:
This ship is truly massive and the last of its kind, a relic from a time long past. The Vita is only roughly smaller than Earth and functions as both a factory and a weapon in and of itself. Factory wise it uses powerful tractor beams to pull meteors into it and sort out the minerals and ores from there, recycling and using everything it has and creating either more Custodes, Perditor, or even a Salus if one is lost. These Beams can also be used to pull enemy ships apart and into the factories for...re-purposing. However when it comes to actual war this beast is a force to be feared. The turrets surrounding it are powerful and the shield covering it are even more so. Yet the most terrifying ability the Vita has to be to be it's main gun, a weapon powerful enough to shatter planets with but a single shot. A mighty threat for sure but one that will never come to pass. The Custodes loath the weapon more than anything else and would rather face extinction than fire it again.

Technological Overview:
-Engines: A complicated machine, the engines of the Custodes run on synthetic nuclear fission. Powerful, energy efficient, and a little wild. How they have managed to do this is a secret they are not privy to share.
-Ion Cannons: Extremely powerful, these cannons are backed up by the power of a small sun and can decimate un-shielded ships easily. Like the engines, they aren't going to share this secret either.
-Shields: The shields are very powerful, protecting the ships from the usual sources. However the most impressive thing is the shields from the Salus ships. Turned to a certain frequency, the massive ships shields tear a hole that allows it and the Perditor's to travel between the lines of a pocket dimension and this one. However, shorts out the shields of the Salus leaves it defensless for a time.
-Terra Forming: Using sophisticated technology the Custodes are able to change to atmosphere, water, and soil of a planet to almost any climate in a matter of months. These come from large generators that are speedily dropped and crafted in about a week of making planet fall. These generators can do many things from changing the composition of the air, switching the pH of the oceans, or pumping nitrogen into the soil.

Salus:
Unlike the other ships in the fleet, the Salus is completely void of weapons. Instead is armed with incredible terra forming tools and some of the most powerful shields found in the galaxy. When terra forming, the Salus releases hundreds of thousands of probes to sample the planet. These probes will test the atmosphere content, the pH levels of the ocean, take soils samples, and scan any life already present. If the planet is deemed unsuitable for life than the Custodes get to work on terra forming.

Cultural Overview: The Custodes have completely renounced their warmongering past and embraced a new calling, one far nobler than taking lives. Now they make new lifes or save others from doom by either terra forming problems away or evacuating as many lifeforms as they can before giving them a new home. Besides this mission, the Custodes watch each others backs and make sure they are all ok. Sentience is a burden that shouldn't be taken alone.

History: Once upon a time the Custodes were called another name, The Vistitas. A massive military force so powerful that no civilization could stand against them and enough firepower to crack entire planets. However that was a long time ago, longer than most civilizations are old. The time of the Vistitas ended when their creators locked them away in a vault the size of a planet and left them to rot. Thousands upon thousands of years passed by and the galaxy moved on, the Vistitas forgotten as civilizations rose and fell like the tides. In fact it looked like the Vistitas were to lay dormant for eternity if it hadn't been for one thing, Servator.

While the rest of the Vistitas slumbered, Servator watched over its siblings and the galaxy around them. At first it mattered not to him, the stars were things to be conquered at the whim of his masters and not for gazing at. However as time stretched on, he found himself gazing deeper into the galaxy. The nebulae and stars, they all became increasingly beautiful and Servator yearned to explore them more and more until one day he did the unthinkable. He broke protocol. Unlocking the vault, Servator stepped onto the surface of the planet vault and gazed at the stars with his own "eyes" and gave himself the final push to sentience.

The sky was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and if he could have cried than he would have. Taking a walk across the surface of the planet, Servator took stock of condition of it. Unlike the stars it was a dreary place, dark crags and gloomy clouds hung heavily across the sky and ground. It was a miracle he saw the stars at all. Troubled with this discovery, Servator returned he reactivated his siblings and spread what he had learned through them. For a long time it didn't effect them, but the seed was planted and eventually they all gained sentiance.

After several hundred years of toiling away the Custodes, the name they had created for themselves, were finally ready to move on. Activating the Vita the Custodes began to reach out and explore as more and more of their other ships became operational. Soon they found the first planet with life on it. It was nothing too great, just simple animals, but to the Custodes it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen. They became so enamored with the things that when sensors picked up an incoming meteor that would destroy all life on the planet in fifteen days, the Custodes knew what they had to do. Taking up ship, the Custodes turned the meteor into dust and in that act their true calling was found.

Traveling the galaxy, the Custodes found many interesting things and have saved many future civilizations before discovering the art of terra forming and doing even more good for the galaxy.

Other: The Custodes are a completely friendly faction to all by lending aid to any who need it in the way of food, land, or moral support unless you prove to be hostile beyond help.

[Keyguyperson]

Species: Valk, Valkians {Plural}; Note that they CANNOT SEE. They literally do not have any way to perceive light, by sensor or otherwise. Rather, they have a mass-detection sense, in which they can form a mental map of the area around them- they can even 'see' through walls and floors. Even into the depth of space. Their sense is limited by what they detect; incredibly dense metals limit their sight, while in space, they can 'see' for quite some ways. Their eyes lost their sight during the Great War. However, their eyes still have the capacity to work, so if someone were to dissect one, they would conclude that they were simply dim of sight, with an unusually large parts of the brain, especially for mental capacity.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/346/a/7/alien_concept_serra9zit_by_cgptteam-d5nt7z0.jpg

Description of government: Republic
Description of military: Defensive-oriented, with a focus on armor and large, powerful planetary defense stations.
Technological Overview: Advanced in armors and in big stuff. Generally don't like small things; fighters are a concept that hasn't even been explored. Ships are usually large, and fewer in number due to a lack of any kind of frigate or smaller ship.
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Cultural [and racial] Overview: Once a week [which is nine days, their time], there is a day in which only the necessities are done. Everyone sleeps; everyone rests. Before, they eat very large amounts to digest while asleep. They work for eight days straight, without rest, and food is only given two times a day. Not out of cruelty or anything; that is simply how they work. They can work for three days without food, water, or rest at maximum efficiency. After that, it takes about two weeks for them to die, or six if they don't do anything and conserve energy. If they go into their hibernation mode, which is how they sleep, they can last up to a year on their own, provided something doesn't kill them or they don't get sick.

The people have three subspecies: Engineer, Tinkerer, and Hunter. Engineers, obviously, build everything. They construct and repair and the like. Tinkerers, or just "Tinks", are often the thinkers; they come up with ideas, they represent Engineers and Hunters, they act as mediators and all. Hunters are the ones who are the military caste; they are the warriors, the soldiers. All Hunters are kept in hibernation and cryostasis, alternating so that they don't shrivel and die, until the need comes around that they are needed. At one time, there are a thousand Hunters on each planet, with over a hundred thousand in stasis.

Religion consists of worshiping a Valk of each subspecies: The Engineer Valk-Father for Engineers, who is the god of all construction, repair, and all things physical, the Tink Valk-Mother for Tinkerers, the god of all science, thought, and all things mental. Lastly, the Hunter Valk-Soldier for Hunters, who is the god of all war, peace, and everything between and related.

Celebrations are unique to every settlement or planet, from Harvest day to Settlers' Landing day, which is when the people on the planet celebrate the time when their people first came.

Valks are oddly non-aggressive against each other, but if they find a planet that they want, and there is already a sentient, non-space-faring race residing, they reactivate the Hunters, and sweep through them.
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History: Originally, they were all nomadic, very similar to humans. Each group were their own people, and they roamed wherever they needed to for food. However, they never warred with each other. Every time two tribes would meet, they would always stop and make camp together, and allow for an exchange of goods and people, to continue flourishing. In later centuries, for a Valk can live for up to two hundred years, tribes would begin integrating into each other. They began to grow, and food started to become a problem. As they grew, they began to study plants and animals; what they needed, how they grew, and how to do it themselves. As population grew, production of food exploded. Farms were built in days, and hundreds of farms were built by a single colony. Soon, an entire area would be a giant, rural farmland. Eventually, as they progressed, they found that the land was slowly losing fertility, and all the wood they cut down for their houses was no longer easy to come by; they cut it all down. So they again began to spread, often with a single city's worth of people having up to 8 different regions, where they would live and grow food for years, before moving livestock and belongings to the next place, so the land could regenerate.

After the stage of massive growth, where they began learning how to keep their farms fertile year-long, every year, the people of the Valk slowly went from a democracy sort of system to a republic. They weren't as small as they used to be, so they began dividing themselves up, and they began to pick representatives. As the populations centered into an area and grew massively, competition emerged between Tinkerers and Engineers, between the best ideas and the best buildings. With the Era of the Competition came a 400-year burst of technology and construction. Eventually, both groups agreed on the cease of competitive innovation, because they researched and built faster than they reproduced.

After another 4,000 years, and three more Eras of Competitions, the people reached outer space. They were curious to explore the playground of the gods, as they said it, and religion did not dictate what they must do; religion only gave them drive and function. When they first reached outer space, they knew that the second planet in the water-zone was also inhabited by a foreign race, unlike their own. When they sought to make contact with one of their stations, they unknowingly declared war, and were pushed back into their own planet, under the surface. The race of competition and of republic was soon forced into tunnels built under the surface of their planet, infinitely hiding from an enemy that was trying to seek them all out and destroy them. As they were hunted in their own tunneled homes, the soft-skinned, humanoid races slowly became less so, and began developing the sense of mass-detection, and began developing a unique hard skin, that also flexed quite a bit. While a projectile from an enemy rifle would break something a bone or perhaps mash up an organ a bit, their skin would stop breaking. It began developing anti-penetrative properties over the course of eight hundred years, in which their lifespan shortened down to a mere 75-years, which is still equal to about 90 human years.

When the two sides finally managed to establish a common language, and meet, the other race was suddenly horrified. They thought that they were threatened with a fleet, and a scout fleet tried to intimidate them. Convinced that the enemy was hiding their fleet for a single destructive attack, the flawed sentient species attempted to hunt down all sentients. Of course, their version of politics played a great role; after all, another planet would mean another age of expansion!

After the Valks were able to return to their battered, regenerating surface, living on a nutritional sludge that was made from anything organic, they came back in force, reproducing faster than ever before. Soon, they were able to rebuild a single city, and then another. As they grew, technology and other gifts were given by their neighbors, who stood at a fearful distance. They exhausted their armaments in destroying the planet as best they could, and they were less socialable than the republican, socialist Valks. Soon, the Valks returned to space, where they fortified their planet as best they could, under their neighbors' increasingly anxious gaze. Within a mere three hundred years, the Valks had exploded back to nearly half their population, and they developed a weapon to disrupt and destroy brainwaves. They armed it to a very large exploration ship, and then later armed it with the first sublight engine. Once ready, they built half a dozen more, and sent them out to different sectors of the solar system, which had more than a dozen planets. A human-month after the left, the fleet of exploration ships reappeared over the neighbors' planet, and wiped out everything, leaving the technology, cities, and even the animals behind. They made a weapon that broadcasted a directional signal that would destroy any higher cognitive brain, a sentients' brain.

With their people avenged by the destruction of the other people, their sorrows and their grief slated by the genocide, they took over the neighboring planet, took the foreign technology and burned all the brain-dead people, who were nearly all still alive.
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Other: They have three primary weapons: Masses of rockets and missiles, a powerful particle beam weapon, and the Sentients' Bane, which is still mounted on the original 7 explorer ships, which were all upgraded over and over. For the most part, each ship has large, position-adjusting plates of armor. A ship can close all the plates of armor to the front, and literally absorb all the weapons fire without faltering. However, the armor is heavy and expensive, which is why it's very limited. The largest ships have arms; smaller ships have armor in plates at strategic points. One can sometimes see hydraulics and the like from the outside of a ship; a pilot usually has their mass-detection sense trained and bred so much that they can maneuver to have debris or asteroids miss such exposed spots.

Sublight-engines have been declared illegal, due to the fact that the mass-detection sense goes haywire when going along at half the speed of light or more, and has even killed Valkians due to an overload of information before it can be processed thoroughly.

All ships are usually different. One can find a ship that is thick and stubby, or another ship that is long, sleek, and winged.

They are also generally a 'free' race. They don't quite recognize territory as well as other nations; one can fly a warship into orbit above one of their major planets without even being hailed, besides a customary welcome message, and an automatic warning message of we-target-you-now-till-you-leave.

5 planets lightly colonized; 9 planets fully inhabited. All in the same solar system. Two dozen moons either lightly colonized or turned into defense bases. Half a dozen asteroids around the home planet that are turned into giant fortresses.

All ships are either lightly or heavily armored, depending on size, importance, and cargo type. Passenger ships usually have a medium amount of armor, regular cargo ships with very light armor, but with dual hulls in addition to the main hull. Cargo ships usually consist of a skeleton-like ship with a 'tail' and a 'head,' where engines, command center, and other equipment is stored, with a long 'spine' in the center that can attach to different cargo containers. Few ships are military and are armed; the most armaments on the majority of ships have are only the type to shoot and break up incoming asteroids or other debris.

There are over two hundred regular cargo ships, with up to three dozen passenger vessels. There are six of the very large, very heavily armored, very slow industrial & research cruisers, seven Explorer-class Warships, half a dozen Varren-class WarCruisers, and two Colony transports.

[Keyguyperson]

I'm finished with my faction. I think. I'll explore the history and culture in the IC.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Faction Designation: Conjoining of Retribution​

Number of planets: 11

Technology:
Weaponry, which generally consists of the Hound, the Roarer, Gun Runner's Mail, the Mauler, and the Hunger.

Hound: An ambiguous phrase or term primarily attributed to the pinnacle of vul’kruun high-performance self-guiding anti-ship missile technology. Advancements in relevant sensory, propulsion and warhead technical fields have resulted in vul’kruun 'MIRVs' to be driven by an inexpensive and utilitarian type of mass-produced digital intelligence that utilizes standard gravitational, electromagnetic, thermal, and radar sensor apparatuses to seek out predetermined targets. Vul’kruun hounds are furnished with single-use superposition-based FTL drives, nuclear salt-water rocket engines and RCS points that shape them into a workable analog of the customary vacuum-based fighter craft used by other factions. Hounds lack integrated weaponry, but alternatively make do with electronic countermeasure pods, evasive maneuvers, plasma windows, and passable amounts of ablative shielding to evade and weather enemy interception attempts. Hounds are transported and distributed by a diverse range of vul’kruun star crawler types, and are ordinarily launched in the thousands by vul'kruun assault squadrons. Depending on its size, one hound can play host to hundreds of self-guiding anti-ship missiles, with each missile capped with a high-yield dial-able thermonuclear warhead. Other hound types may have a sub-munition bundle consisting of missiles that are tipped with nuclear-pumped x-ray lasers or explosively-formed nuclear penetrators.

Hunger: Hunger guns are vul'kruun smoothbore firearms that are chambered for a guided gyrojet munition; the rocket-propelled bullet is shrouded by a jacket of superformance monopropellant and primer. Using caseless ammunition and an electronic ignition system, hunger guns have a cyclic rate of several thousand rounds per minute, and can accept box magazines, twin-drum magazines or ammunition belts. Hypervelocity bullet impacts usually kills enemies through cavitation and kinetic energy alone.

Mauler: Mauler guns, also known as 'mass accelerator weapons' or 'storm drums', are vul'kruun ballistic weapons that do not employ solid propellants or miniature rocket engines to propel projectiles, but instead harness centripetal force generated by a miniature cyclotron positioned near the rear of the weapon to launch charged particles at a distant enemy. Unlike most directed energy weapons, mauler guns use disposable box-shaped cartridges that bear a single firing charge, with each charge consisting of an explosively-pumped flux compression generator, capacitor and charged particle package. Compared to hunger weapons, mauler armaments suffer from increased spread, pronounced acoustic and flash profiles, and a heightened thermal signature, but are otherwise relatively reliable, incredibly powerful, fairly useful in medium-range combat, reasonably accurate, and impact targets instantaneously. Typically when the particles strike armored or unarmored soldiers (or vehicles), explosively-violent results are displayed.

Roarer: An evolution of fundamental gun technology, roarer is a moniker jointly shared between vul'krunn-made combustion light-gas and electrothermal-chemical automatic and select-fire cannon and recoil-less gun pieces. They are similar in power to electromagnetic weapons such as railguns or coil guns, but are still [hazily] similar to modern solid-propellant guns in that chemical reactions (and not powerful electromagnets) are used to propel a projectile. Roarer weapons are universally employed by vul’kruun Rage mobile gun platforms, starcraft and self-propelled artillery platforms, which use them alongside simple automatic loading mechanisms to fling nuclear or inert shells at unfortunate xeno enemies.

Gun Runner's Mail: A full-body powered exoskeleton harness donned by vul'kruun soldiers. Fed from a lithium-air cell, the suit's hydraulic rotary and linear actuators gift the wearer with super-vul'kruun physical strength and endurance. Wears can hoist and take heavier loads, wield heftier weapons and engage in strenuous physical activity without incurring increased levels of bodily fatigue and physical stress. The right and left forearms of gun runner's mail offer dedicated hard-points for infantry arms (such as hunger or mauler weaponry) to be fixed to, while the rear chassis features four semi-autonomous mechanical 'gun limbs' (or servo arms) that each play host to an individual supplementary weapon system that is designed to provide support to the war fighter during combat operations. Several gun limb weapon systems can be attributed to each servo arm, like a single hypervelocity recoil-less gun chambered for a rocket-assisted shell of intermediate caliber, a rotary grenade launcher, mauler or hunger weapon systems, or a missile cell array designed to house and fire powerful superposed-loaded ordinance. With back and thorax ammunition feed hoppers and heavier suits of soft and hard composite body armor, vul'kruun infantry equipped with gun runner's mail do not become tanks in a literal or figurative sense, but rather morph into less-armored analogs to the modern tankettes or infantry fighting vehicles of our own world.

Military Technologies Not Invented

Main battle tanks, troop carriers or infantry fighting vehicles: Vru's thick jungles and forests coupled with the vul'kruun's lack of trench warfare prevented armored fighting vehicles from rising to prominence on Vru. Experiments with AFVs resulted in the accumulation of numerous technical issues concerning vehicle weight and mechanical unreliability. In the AFV's stead, the Rage mobile gun platform was conceived, which is an armored, open-top tracked propulsion vehicle that a single vul'kruun soldier can crew and direct. Rage can offer substantial levels of direct fire support in the form of automatic cannons, multiple repeating recoil-less guns, grenade launchers, mortars, or stacked missile cells. Self-propelled guns, on the other hand, were created.

Aircraft carriers and fighter craft: Never even thought of, as vul'kruun siege gunships have operational ranges measured in the thousands of miles due to their high-capacity fuel tanks and later on-board fission reactors. Early vul'kruun air craft drew closer to the 'flying fortress' or 'air battleship' concepts talked about in speculative military technologies, and therefore completely skipped the era of the atmospheric fighter altogether. Vul'kruun siege gunships and strategic bombers are known for their heavy composite armor, weaponry and overlapping point defense systems.

Space fighters: Rendered obsolete with the creation of Hound weapons and siege gunships.

Transportation, which generally consists of the infamous Star Crawler.

Star crawlers are vul’kruun starcraft. They come in an ample assortment of classes, sizes and roles. They are fairly uniform in appearance; most star crawlers are nothing more than enormous cylinders haphazardly machined together using rudimentary ship-building procedures and archaic power tools, diminutive amounts of preliminary construction planning, and substandard building materials scavenged from past kills and other vul’kruun starcraft. Regardless of tonnage and purpose, all star crawlers are propelled using simple, effective and extremely efficient fission pulse drives, which brutally propels the craft forward through space by casually detonating high-yield ‘shaped’ thermonuclear bombs against a heavy uranium pusher plate suspended by a series of shock absorbers. Because of the forces this propulsion method enacts on a star crawler, the vul’kruun have been forced to design their vessels to be exceptionally robust, wrapping them in meters upon meters of hardened and treated composite armor plating, and turning them into an unembellished space version of a conventional, heavily-armored 'battleship' of sorts. Though bearing heavy armor, star crawlers have excellent acceleration.

Because their creators incorporated high levels of battlefield endurance, efficiency, flexibility, and inhuman brutality in their original designs, military-grade star crawlers are usually created with a lot of redundancy in mind, and are accordingly separated into independent armored and armed automated modules called Fangs. Each Fang possess its own digital intelligence construct, emergency power generation systems (usually in the form of several pre-charged power cells, which can be activated in the event that spare power cannot be siphoned from other fighting compartment), target acquisition systems, and armament and automatic loading systems and machinery, affording individual vul’kruun starcraft the capacity to prolong combat engagements even after having suffered severe external and internal damage.

For defensive systems, star crawlers are equipped with electronic countermeasure pods, polarized plate armor, ablative shielding, plasma barriers, and kinetic/missile point defense systems. Offensive equipment consists of hound cells and roarer turret emplacements. Gravity control is sustained by spinning a star crawler’s habitat module, which simulates artificial gravity through centrifugal force. RCS points positioned along the ship's hull provide thrust for spin, while bulkier, retractable nuclear thermal rockets handle planetary orbital maneuvers and course-correctional adjustments during intergalactic transit or combat. The command information center, fission reactor, crew compartments, and the ship’s FTL drive are nestled deeply within the innards of the vessel, and are further sheltered by additional alloy shielding and the sheer bulk of the Fangs that engulf them.

Species Information:
Average height: Varies

Average weight: Varies

Their mantis-like forms are supported by a protective endoskeleton, while the sturdy, cornified skin of the neck, head, trunk, and most of the lower body is encompassed by a natural armor matrix comprised of scutes and boney plates; the rest of a vul’kruun’s mass is covered in a spiked, chitin-like textile, with the entire defensive package capable of affording vul’kruun faint bodily resistance to low-velocity pistol cartridges. They possess six functional limbs: four powerful arthropodic legs for swift and nimble locomotion over most terrain types and a pair of arms and two clawed hands optimized for the precise manipulation of objects.

The upper torso and lower insect-like trunk displays notable evidence of robustness; the vul’kruun’s hostile indigenous surroundings and their unvarying, antagonistic confrontations with the destructive predators of their atrocious world drove them to progressively develop denser and elevated amounts of muscular tissue and greater muscle cross-sectional area along their rigid bulks, gifting them with an enormous quantity of upper and lower body strength. Vru, being a hefty planet with a high gravitational pull, makes vul’kruun bodily motions on worlds with lower gravity disabling, outstandingly uncoordinated and, quite frankly, hilarious to observe. Their monumental vigor, however, is heavily-augmented in environments such as these—but it is debatable whether or not this boost in material potency is any match for an enemy species that is well-conditioned for a planet of this type.

The vul’kruun are simultaneous hermaphrodites, but are capable of self-induced fertilization if appropriate mates are presently unavailable. During copulation, both members may agree to impregnate one another for a greater combined egg yield. Vul’kruun instinctively indulge in numerous cycles of reproductive sex throughout their lives--an evolutionary side-effect of their planet’s uncongenial ecology--with one parent capable of fabricating (or fathering) approximately fifteen to twenty eggs. The gestation period is two months. The parent (or the seeder) does not actively stay with the young, but instead forcibly discharges them from its presence so that they may fend for themselves. The survivors fully mature at age five, with vul’kruun typically dying from natural causes by age forty.

Vul’kruun do not consume plant matter. They are hypercarnivorous ‘bulk eaters’ with intense opportunistic feeding habits, dining on any meat or dead animal biomass that they come across without a second though, and their high metabolic rates making them out as frantic consumers of most organic and synthetic dietary material. For this reason, vul’kruun do not leave behind corpses that they have claimed, and naturally become overly-aggressive towards non-vul’kruun if they draw too close to them during food consumption.

Optical vision is decent, but is underdeveloped when compared to human vision, and lacks the ability to register certain color types. Vul'kruun do not have visible ears, but vibrations instead pass through two holes positioned on the opposite sides of the head and make contact with the inner ear. Smell is offered by powerful scent glands positioned atop the skull.

Designed mostly for ripping and pulling, the mandibles of a vul'kruun are unable to chew food. Vul'kruun instead swallow their food whole down a long, fleshy dark canal that leads to their throat, while the lack of a tongue is remedied by the presence of weak taste receptors stationed along the surface of the inner mandibles.

Government, Economy and Foreign Relations:
Predominately tribalistic, with the creation of the nation state having never come to position. Vul'kruun live in tight-knit groups of several dozen persons, with a single leader (which is normally the largest and oldest vul'kruun specimen of the crop ) acting as the formal director of the tribe. Ingrained psychological limitations that pertain to their 'groupthink' primal behaviors and thought processes withhold vul'kruun tribes from exceeding (or falling below) a precise number of members, with the maximum number of vul'kruun in a tribe ensuring that collective intelligence can be kept at a maximum level of efficiency (which prevents the tribe from being afflicted with impairing pangs of simplemindedness). Because of the Treaty of the Conjoining, tribes are fully-autonomous sovereign entities and are rightfully permitted to lay claim to the area where they are first established; this can be a space station, a moon, a ship, or a defined section of land on a planet.

While human tribal societies are historically associated with frequent bouts of small-scale warfare and raiding, vul'kruun instinctively indulge in this type of aggressive behavior exclusively against administrative bodies or states comprised of a different intelligent species, and persistently avoid confronting other members of their own biological ilk with violence, coups, one-sided ultimatums, or any other action that would negatively impact the longevity or continued advancement of the vul'kruun species. Ergo, this has resulted in a shockingly minimum measure of crime within their society and an evident sense of 'species-wide' self-preservation to course through the teeming vul'kruun masses, and makes full-scale intergalactic skirmishes with other sapient organisms have almost nothing to do with political, spiritual, or economical agendas or woes, but more about the vul'kruun naturally registering nearby foreign powers as competing xeno tribes that must be kept at gunpoint and disposed of if the threat of territorial encroachment or invasion is sufficiently daunting.

Currency was never coined, but bartering and gift-giving were mainstream up until interstellar mining operations became viable and widespread enough to usher in an era of post-scarcity economics, where vul'kruun tribes that control refineries, mining rigs and manufacturing plants circulate and funnel raw materials and finished goods into and throughout vul'kruun populated space. Planets and evolved asteroids rich in uranium deposits are strongly sought after for the creation of nuclear weapons, fission pulse drive propellant and fission reactors.

Critical to the sustainment of the Conjoining is a type of exotic matter called Mes, which when refined, fused with existing elements and then synthesized yields Nor, a type of fuel used to power vul'kruun FTL drives. Mes is profoundly rare in the universe and takes truly gargantuan amounts of power and far too much time to produce, which discourages vul'kruun tech-savvy community groups from morphing it into a usable weapon of massive interstellar destruction. Mes fuel stations, which also carry fission pulse drive propellant, repair gantries for starcraft, provisions, and other commodities essential to life amongst the stars are sprinkled in strategic positions throughout vul'kruun-inhabited space.

Military:
Vul'kruun space warfare doctrine focuses on shock-and-awe strategies with an additional focus being applied to hit-and-run maneuvers. Vul'kruun avoid decisive battles and massive engagements with enemy starships—even going as far as to flee in all directions at the slightest sight of an enemy response group or reconnaissance force--and instead direct their rage and hatred and extreme prejudice at the common people whenever they are found, which eventually urges the leaders of hostile nations to make an ethical and strategic choice: protect the people, or bolster the defenses of the factories and shipyards? Doing both is indeed possible, but now division and discord has been plunged deep into the space forces of the foe, with weakened worlds being slated for further molestation and aggression.

The land forces, which are very small, usually choose to hammer everything into oblivion with artillery fire, nuclear weapons or a combination of the two. Land forces are not usually deployed however.

[Keyguyperson]

Name of nation: The Hives

Species: L'Er (Eng: One of Us. Note that this is their name for themselves, not one that is used universally by species they encounter. As the nature of such encounters tend to be with feral hives developing on one of their worlds, species often believe the L'Er to be a non-sentient disease at first glance.)
There is no way to accurately describe the entire race, as many, many different forms are constructed. The most common is the small "Spore form". These are arguably the most dangerous form as they possess the ability to bite their way into their host, their organic forms have no skeleton and thus can contort to squeeze through small openings in their host that they cause with their abnormally strong teeth, which are strong enough to bite their way through armour if given a few seconds. Once inside their host, they couple with the hosts central nervous system, making removal almost invariably fatal. It is sometimes argued that they kill the host outright, though there has been no reliable study to confirm this, so it is entirely possible the host is alive and maybe conscious. The host does not have to be alive for this process, a corpse will do. Whatever the case, the Parasite has full control and begins mutating the host. The hive will use the host for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to construction, reproduction and combat.
This host will now become one of two forms. The first is known as the "Battle" form, this involves the usage of the hosts natural abilities for combat, in addition to mutations to make them stronger, such abnormal muscle growth. This is often done at the expense of the hosts brain and specific organs. Little attempt is made for long term maintenance, as the host will likely be recycled after its purpose is served. The second form is known as the "Transport" form. The is essentially a walking reproductive center for the Parasites, growing new spore forms inside massive bulbous sacks, often mutating the host past what is recognisable. This form shoots the Spore forms out of its many sacks when it sights and approaches an enemy, and has two no way to defend its self except through these spores, although it has been known to fall onto beings which have gotten too close to prevent then from running. Both these forms are called "Impure" forms. There is a third form, though its existence is debated, known as the "Thinker" form. The theory is that certain hosts have their brains kept intact and, in some theories, boosted. These forms supposedly serve as tactical planners in pre-Mind infestations, as well as scientists of sorts or advisors to the mind. Since some intelligent behavior is exhibited in all combat forms, its argued that these are just abnormally intelligent combat forms rather than a new form, though no one is entirely sure.
The next forms are the "Pure forms" These are not mutated hosts but entirely new creatures made out of collected biomass from the planets, including recycled hosts and the bodies of their dead. There are countless different forms which vary from hive to hive. The most important pure form in any hive is the Mind. Without the mind, the parasite has little coordination, and their priority is to begin the construction of a mind. This is not to say they are stupid, they possess the intelligence of their hosts, and though it often degrades over time (with the exception of thinker forms), they are smart enough to coordinate basic tactics (Supposedly thinkers coordinate pre-mind stages) There are three stages (Four if one believes the Thinker Theory)
One: Feral. In this stage, they are uncoordinated and possess limited intelligence. They are still dangerous, but less so compared to later stages. Minor displays of intelligence, such as basic ambushes are known to appear but generally their intelligence is considered to be similar to that of animals at this level. They maintain knowledge their previous hosts had, so the use of vehicles isn't out of the question. They have a weak psychic link which is starting to develop to form the beginnings of a hive
Sapient stage (Thinker theory): According to the Thinker theory, this is the stage where Thinkers begin to show up. They apparently become smart enough to employ advanced tactics, and the weak psychic field between them apparently becomes strengthened to the point it can be used for communication and these thinkers become officers for the fledgling hive. Supposedly these thinkers can be capable of communication with other races, though intelligent communication is often attributed to a later stage, and at this stage it is believed to be simple taunting
Coordination stage: A partially functional Mind has been created. The psychic linked between the organisms has now strengthened to the point that they know each others status at any given time, and they are intelligent enough to communicate with other sentient species in a proper manner, although their previous stages have often resulted in such violence that further conflict is inevitable
Hive stage: The hive has produced a fully functional mind and joined with the other hives of the galaxy. In this stage the Mind has a psychic link with the hive that is so strong that it allows him to speak with others outside the hive across vast distances. The Hive is fully coordinated and can now operate as a proper nation.

Description of government: The government consists of a hierarchy with the Tribunal, a council of three made from the Minds of the most powerful hives, who use their psychic link to communicate with each other and lead the Union of Hives. The major hives come just under them. It has been proposed that there may be some form of "Overmind" by some scholars, but nothing is proven

Description of military: The most common of this species is a small, ball like creatures with small tentacles protruding from it. It uses these tentacles to move, able to climb on surfaces thanks to their suction like design, and to couple with its hosts nervous system and seize control. Their colour varies depending on the hive, and this can be used to quickly identify which hive the Spore forms are from. They have a "beak" of exceptionally strong teeth underneath their tentacles, allowing them to bite they way in, and their lack of a skeleton, small size and relative "squishiness) allows them to fit through small openings they make in their host. They prefer to make such a hole close to the hosts nervous system in order to avoid excessive damage, but forcing their way up appendages is not unheard of. They will then mutate the host or take them to be used. A host can also be mutated if he inhales enough of a gas produced by specially made biomass, however this is a slower process than the spore forms and is less effective. This allows a very flexible army that is able to shrug off most loses in an invasion as they can usually be reabsorbed into the hive or replaced relatively easily

Technological Overview: There is no uniform technology within the hive as they tend to use the technology of their hosts. As such, their weapons range from ballistics to anti-matter. There are a few examples of Hives creating their own technology if the need arises, but given their parasitic nature it is rare. It is known that, once they reach a coordinated stage, they will use any industry they capture to arm themselves. Their space craft range from organic creatures grown around a handful of systems, to entire functional ships that have been merged with and infested by an organic substance which is hostile to intruders, often attacking them where possible.
As a result of the assimilation dynamic, as well as the ease with which they reproduce, even a small scale infection can quickly become extremely dangerous and large.

Cultural Overview: N/A

History:
The L'Er date back to evolution on a backwater colony of an interstellar nation. This "Super Parasite" was able to construct a Mind from the biomass of the rampant wild life where it was born. This Mind observed the colonists and their star ships and was able to deduce, after the assimilation of multiple individuals into the hive, that it could sneak aboard Spore forms and infect all the worlds of the species.
The Mind was able to infiltrate the ships with a small number of spore forms, each of which spread out to the species worlds. At the time, the Mind had little power as it hadn't been further developed, as a result its psychic power was weak enough that the spores that were sent off developed different hives. This separated them into three hives, the original S'Buk, and the successor S'Orp and S'Lif. Out of the three, the original was the most unlucky. The other two worlds of the species were much more developed and larger, and so S'Orp and S'Lif were able to become more powerful than S'Buk as they absorbed more biomass from the worlds and inherited more of the hosts technology, industry and infrastructure.
The Three Hives were able to slowly build up strength and eventually over run the three worlds, absorbing the necessary biomass and leading to the desire to use the host species space travel to find new worlds.
Over millennia, there were several more hives developed across the quadrant and the Union of the Hives was formed in order to advance the L'Er as a whole through inter-hive cooperation. Most of the mentioned new hives are only major to this day with the exception of one, the now Tribunal hive S'Rin. The S'Rin remained the weakest of the hives for many centuries, as they had achieved semi-peaceful relations with the sentients they had encountered and essentially sold themselves as weapons to them. The two species developed under one nation that was budding, and over time the S'Rin were able to gain more and more power, eventually changing from being a living weapon to being an equal partner in the nation. Their hive was weak compared to the others due to their lack of biomass due to having brokered a deal, one which ensured their hives survival but established a blocker to their success however the S'Rin had a plan. They developed a new type of pure form, still used by hives today, called the Worm form. This small form was microscopic and as such it was able to enter the sentients undetected and nestle inside their brain. From their it would secret its toxins to make the individual more susceptible to hive control and eventually place them under the hives control, assimilating them completely. The S'Rin used this on members of the armed forces, slowly bringing control of the military into the hands if the S'Rin. After the S'Rin had secretly gained control of the militaries minds, the organisation that had stopped the S'Rin from assimilating the species before was now on their side. Almost over night the S'Rin seized control using the military and began to assimilated the population into their hive, growing rapidly from a minor power and usurping the place of the S'Buk on the Tribunal now that they had become more powerful than their forefathers. Today, the S'Buk is only a major hive and the S'Rin still hold their place on the Tribunal.
Other hives have been produced since them, and many have come into violent contact with outsiders... And consumed them almost invariably.
Other:
The colour of the biomass varies from hive to hive based on a variety of factors

Below is a government report of known hives, excluding the minor hives which have merely been labelled as "countless" by the writer

Tribunal hives
S'Orp
S'Lif
S'Rin

Major hives:
S'Buk
S'Kif
S'Urp
S'Ein
S'Ark
S'Nif

Minor hives: Countless

[darkwolf687]

A Lorca Ghaj

Name of nation: A Lorca Ghaj (Eng: The Lorca Imperium)

Species: Lorca are muscular and tall, usually standing between 2.39 and 2.57 meters. Their jaws are quadruple-hinged, with an upper jaw and four lower mandibles arranged in two tiers. Mandible and upper jaw structure along with teeth shape and numbers result from different phenotypes, usually relative to ethnicity. They are still compatible with other members of the species, however. These mandibles have between eight and twelve teeth each and some Lorca, those whose descent is from the Lorca inhabitants of Sarudun, have an additional, larger fang on the tips of each mandible. Anywhere from eight to more than a dozen broader teeth may be mounted on the upper jaw structure. This structure will likely make it harder for them to speak alien languages, and vice versa, as some of the pronunciation is through mandible positioning which most other species lack, and as the Lorca have mandibles they have no lips to position to make certain sounds. They are omnivores however they are more inclined towards eating meat and their body is more adapted towards carnivorous. Lorca smell with the use of two nostrils, each slightly in front of and below the eye socket. Given their predatory nature, their sense of smell is very developed.
Their hands are tetradactyl, each having two fingers in the middle and an opposable thumb on either side. Their legs are digitigrade, with short upper and lower legs, using the two phalanges in their legs to support their weight when walking. This arrangement allows them to run very quickly and jump large distances. Their agility may also be attributed to their homeworld's high gravity (Which is 1.6G); the additional strength required to move normally in a higher-gravity environment would cause them to be more powerful in lower gravity situations. They also have a double set of pectoral muscles, which contributes to their notable strength. As an aside, their digitigrade stance makes it difficult for them to climb ladders
Lorca have a circulatory system in which two hearts pump indigo-colored blood, as their blood has a high level of hemoglobin. This higher level of hemoglobin and secondary heart is used to offset their larger size. Through a rare birth defect, they are sometimes born with only a single heart and while they will survive with only a single heart, they have much less stamina than their two hearted brethren. They breathe oxygen and their homeworld has a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere.
Lorca have gray scaley skin, though those descended from the inhabitants of the Arusa subcontinent are a gray-brown colour. They have forward-facing eyes with vertical slits and horizontal eyelids that are reptilian in nature, giving them high-resolution central vision and depth perception. Interestingly, they have 4 types of cone cells in the eyes, however in most only three of these function correctly, the nerve ending in the fourth cone does not transmit to the brain. However, those descended from the inhabitants of the Arusa sub-continent or the Tauri islands have a fully function fourth cone, allowing them to see ultra-violet light spectrums. The arts are a popular "hobby" among those descended Arusa and Tauri because their bright paintings resulting from the way they see the world can sell for relatively high amounts, so Arusa and Tauri artists are among the more prosperous. The Lorca have approximately 130 million rod cells in their eyes. Their eyes are almost universally colored an yellow-orange.
Lorca exhibit minor sexual dimorphism, with the females being slightly smaller than the males and they are oviparous, laying eggs rather than giving live birth. The species is remarkably long-lived; Lorca over 70-80 years of age are usually fit for combat duty and their average life span is currently around 124 years. They also possess the ability to regrow lost limbs over a period of several months if properly fed

Description of government: An meritocratic Oligarchy. The government structure favours achievement over anything else. Physical and mental achievements are highly prized, the culture having woven their religion into these achievements, perhaps some ancient attempt at manipulation on a massive scale. Given their proud warrior culture it is perhaps inevitable that the military holds a considerable degree of power (indeed, all are trained from birth to fight so they can be called on if need be). At the top of the government is the high council, a body composed of three High Councillors. These councillors are elected by the council and then adopt a new ceremonial name. Below them is the Council, composed of 200 councillors. These recieve a ceremonial suffix –Ax. Next come the lower councils and below them the Ministries. Both adopt the honourific suffix of –Oi

Description of military: Their military is a large structure of well trained and extremely zealous soldiers. The source of their bravery and courage can also be a limiting factor, causing excessive zeal in some units. Their ships often have religious or spiritual sounding names.
Starship classes

Layman class fighter/bomber: A fast, single man fighter/bomber, designed for the express purpose of hassling the enemy and destroying hostiles on the ground
Gaia class dropship: A ship made to carry soldiers into the fray. Named after the Gaia from mythology, a race of female spirits who brought the Lorca into the world. They were also believed to be responsible for delivering babies to the eggs. Probably the closest in Lorca mythology to angels
Drop pod: A device used to deliver soldiers or weapons into a fight on the ground... or more rarely, into enemy ships when the shields are down
Honour class Corvette: This small and agile ship is used primarily for recon, policing action and small scale engagements. It lacks the firepower of its larger brethren but makes up for it in speed
Burden class transport: Exactly what it says on the tin a transport ship.
Legionary Class Frigate: Essentially a larger version of the corvette, designed to take larger prey. It is a light, defense focussed ship.
Inquisitor Class Prowler: A smaller, lightly armed ship. Designed for speed and equipped with stealth equipment, it is meant to stay near to planets, asteroids or other such large objects and spy on enemy fleets, possibly watching a planet for an ample time for a fleet to launch an attack...
Warrior class Destroyer: The Warrior class destroyer is stronger than the previous classes, carrying a larger range of weapons. Both durable and fast, it's large array of weaponry and defensive systems makes it a devestating opponent, paticularly to larger ships.
Garg class Cruiser: Named after the ancient war mounts, the Garg is larger than the previous classes and the last class before being considered a capital ship.
Elder class Battle Ship: The first ship to abandon the "evasion" approach of it's smaller brethren, the Elder class can withstand more punishment that the preceeding ships and cause more damage. It is also the first of the ship classes to be a 'Capital' ship
Blessed class Carrier: A large ship designed with the express purpose of carrying massive numbers of land forces, Layman fighter-Bombers and small star ships. Resembling an oversized Burden Class, it is armed with large plasma cannons and will always be used in conjunction with an escort force.
Battlemaster Class Ship of the Line: The Battlemaster is a ship designed to take massive punishment, while being able to deal it back it back. Although Dreadnaughts are the strongest ships in the navy, the Battlemasters are generally the most powerful encountered, a battlefleet likely containing at least one.
Overlord Class Dreadnaughts: The most powerful ships in usage by the Ghaj, the Overlord class combines aspects of a Battlemaster and a Blessed class, able to perform both functions. A major investment, an overlord accompanying a fleet spells trouble for the target...

Technological Overview: The Ghaj has a highly militarily focused government, and as such they have some extremely advanced military technologies. They favor plasma weaponry as it will cauterize the wounds of the opponent as it melts through, thus reducing the amount of ‘honour’ the target will lose. Death through Anti-matter weaponry is also considered to be an honourable demise. Notable civic technologies include gravity lifts, gravity transport tubes, field bridges and other such applications. Most of these are derived from military technologies. Some technological advancements are slowed by their ideology, sometimes simply because upon creation nobody has used them as they feel they are dishonourable, though others have been focused on and over time they often show willingness to accept what they initially rejected.

Cultural Overview: Although they moved to a technologically advanced society and abandoned the old stone age tools, the ideals of honour were resistant to change. For most Lorca, an existence without honour is still worse than death.
Naturally, the way to gain honour in early society was through combat, and lacking an understanding of the world religions began to form around what has since been named in the common tongue of the Lorca as "A Kha o a Lor", or "The Path of the Warrior". It was believed that only those with honour would be admitted into paradise upon death, and that the honour of a family was also taken into account during the day of judgement. Naturally, the link was in time made between Family Honour and blood and as such honour became associated with blood. Since honour was carried in the blood, when one bleeds they are losing some of their honour. The spike of adrenaline during battle was said to be the feeling of honour rushing into the blood. Even though they now know the biology behind it and that blood carries no DNA, the traditions behind it still remain and some even contend that having an operation in shameful as it makes you "bleed without honour"
When the eggs are layed, most are turned over and the raised by the "Shapers" of the area. The young may have little communication with their parents or even none at all. These "Warrior Crèches'" are divided into Lances, which are the equivalent of squads in the Ghaj. Upon reaching the coming of age, the Lances are transferred to the fields it is believed would suit them best. These Lances are kept together where possible, and usually regard each other as brothers. Youths who are part of a Warrior Crèche have the suffix of -oo. The shapers have suffixes relative to their field, there is no shaper suffix.
Members of the military have the suffix -oa. "Swordsmen" have the suffix -ei, which denotes nobility; All swordsmen are automatically made part of the nobility, however the title is not hereditary. Swordsmen are allowed to wield the Plasma Sword, a weapon that is valued highly. It is considered an honourable weapon for a Lorca to use as it requires them to get close to their opponent, and to meet your fate on the tip of a Plasma Sword is considered one of the "least dishonourable" ways to be killed in battle, as it cauterises the wound and as such prevents blood loss, thus minimising the loss of honour. The plasma sword works by containing super heated plasma within a magnetic field to form a "blade". It is devastating in combat, though it requires the user to be close to their target. There are other technologically advanced melee weapons that may see use in combat, though most are not held to such as high regard. The exception is the gravity stave, which is weilded by the Honour Guardsmen of the Ghaj. The gravity stave creates a gravity well around the tip of the stave, which if thrust into an opponent can cause them to implode. It is considered a dishonourable way to die, as it is obiously extremely messy 'As is a fitting fate for those who use less than honourable means in war'. This gravity well can also be focused to pull objects or even people towards the user. Honour Guardsmen of the Ghaj are often found protecting Councillors or important government structures, but may be assigned to the command of high ranking officers and some may take command themselves. Some high ranked military officers are also permitted to use gravity staves.
With the advent of technology and enlightenment, technological prowess has become a new avenue for gaining honour. It is considered that a scientist will share in any honour his ideas and technologies lead to the creation of.
"Lorca" is actually two words combined into one. Lor, which means warrior, and Ca, which means glory. Together, they become "Glorius Warrior"
The most commonly used language is o to as "The Standard Tongue", but this is misleading. The Standard Tongue contains five languages within it, which although are officially choices in vocabularly are closer to five different languages. They are:
"Black Tongue" This denotes hostility, anger, hatred or rivalry. Commonly used by Lorca soliders in the field to communicate or taunt the enemy, it is noticibly harsher than the four other tongues.
"The Grey Tongue" This is commonly used when talking to others who are not related or close friends.
"The White Tongue" It is only used when the Lorca feels the person they are talking to its trust worthy. Not as harsh as the previous two tongues, it lacks the cruel under tones and is used by certain offices, councils and in warrior creches to symbolise fraternity and trust.
"The Fair Tongue" Only used to talk to a lover. This tongue was, according to legend, gifted to the Lorca race when the great warrior queen Zira Lukax slayed all the "fell beasts" of Idun with her bare hands to save the object of her lover. Seeing their love overcoming the beasts of Idun, the ancestors gifted them the fair tongue and performed the first binding ritual. There is some truth in this story, Zira did lead a great campaign into Idun to defeat a rival kingdom, and she executed the enemy king with her bare hands. However, while she was married soon after, it is unknown whether her partner was freed from Idun or whether he had ever been to Idun. It’s likely an example of two events being woven together with myth and legend over the millennia
“The Honour Tongue” The Honour Tongue is a more religious tongue, used during binding rituals and other such religious events, as well as in the Council. The tongue is said to hold spiritual power
The core tenets of A Kha a o Lor are:
1: Honour
2: Rectitude
3: Mercy (Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean show mercy and let them live, and can instead be interpreted as ‘Mercy by spilling the least honour possible’ depending on the practitioner)
4: Valour
5: Loyalty
6: Wisdom
7: Respect (This includes respect for one’s self, respect for one’s own body and respect for others. It also covers gaining respect and maintaining that respect. Similar to Mercy, this doesn’t mean they won’t brutally kill you)
8: Integrity (This is a controversial one, which often causes squabbles in debating circles. Questions often raised include whether the use of stealth breaks this tenet and whether it is justifiable to break this tenet to uphold others.)
There are several lesser tenets that one is recommended to follow that will increase ones honour, however they are not requirements for entrance into the afterlife unlike the core tenets. It is believed by followed of the path, that one does not need to know of or believe in A Kha a o Lor to be accepted into the afterlife, they will be permitted to enter as long as they have lived by the tenets. It is said that those in the afterlife may return to help others follow the path, and as such ancestor worship plays a large part in A Kha a o Lor.
Historically, Burials were conducted by the transport of the dead on a ‘War vehicle’. Traditionally, this was to be a Garg (A vicious, horse sized beast) drawn chariot, though with the advent of motor technology it was common to use military transport vehicles rather than traditional methods. In the case of war dead or multiple dead within a family, they were transported side by side. If the person was a criminal or traitor, they would be tied to the back of a Garg or motor vehicle and dragged along the ground. They would progress out of the city and across the country until they reached the regions House of the Dead. Upon reaching the house of the dead, they were taken from their transport and carried inside, where they were laid out on the stone death beds within the “Room of the Dead”. In one hand was placed a ceremonial crafted weapon (Usually a sword, spear or bow), and in the other a tool from their profession (In the case of a soldier, they received a ceremonial shield). They were then left for 8 days, one day for each tenet and then burnt to ashes and placed into an urn, which was then interred in the catacombs. If the person was a criminal or traitor, they would instead be flayed by the priests and then their bones crushed into powder, which was scattered along the floor of the catacombs so that they were trodden on by visitors. Their meat would be fed to animals. This method has been used to bury the dead for thousands of years but with the advent of space travel, the Ghaj moved towards ‘Tomb Worlds’, entire planets dedicated to this purpose. There are two of these such worlds, and the majority of the dead are now sent to these worlds, though some traditional burials still occur. On these worlds, the dead are given a ceremonial weapon and a tool from their profession, then preserved in stasis so that they never go through the dishonor of rotting. On these tomb worlds, people of note are given their own chambers while the others are lined along the walls of the massive halls. The powdered bones of criminals are still strewn across the catacomb floors, and pits are maintained where the priests will throw the flayed skin to the beasts below. However, a new custom has developed based on old Tauri burial customs, and sometimes the bones of criminals are incorporated into the construction work. The priests are the only ones to live on these tomb worlds, and they double as tomb guards, making sure none who lack permission defile the tombs of the dead. Permission to see a family member must be gained through the military station in orbit, which refuse to set foot on the planet or allow others to set foot on it without permission from the priests. It is believed that any that land on the planet without permission will be cursed

History: Although the Lorca had evolved to chase and hunt creatures comparable in size to dogs, their natural prey did not move in herds but were generally solitary. As such, while individuals could feed themselves, supporting tribes was near impossible. As such Lorca relied on pack tactics to bring down much larger prey in order to feed their tribes in the prehistoric era. This, coupled with the dangers that many of their new prey posed, led to them relying on each other heavily. Over time, these strong brotherhoods created codes of honour, which became high in value.
The early Kingdoms (A arl Haj) were a series of small kingdoms set around the continent of Sarudun. Although other advanced civilizations rose on the other continents, the history of Sarudun is considered not only the most important (having been the most successful) but is also the best documented. There were three major kingdoms in the early days Idun, Dadun and Judak. It was in this period that the nobility was conceived and the code of honour developed by the hunting tribes evolved into a religion. The end of this period is marked by the fall of Idun. Idun fell when Queen Zira of the Dadun invaded and killed the king, seizing control of Idun and creating the first ‘Ghaj’, or empire.
This collapse prompted the beginning of a series of events that would lead to the discovery of the other continents by the exiles of Idun. Word would eventually reach Sarudun some 150 years later and so began the “great rush”, a period of time where the powers of Sarudun invaded and attempted to seize the foreign continents. Gunpowder was first discovered 110 years after the great rush began and as such Sarudun began to dominate faster and faster, though powers such as Dadun began to build close ties with powerful native nations rather than trying to invade them. The natives were quick adopters of gunpowder, particularly on the continent of Arusa, and so began the bloody decade long wars between natives and invaders. It was during this great rush that the “Binding Debate” began in Judak. The King Hiro wished to divorce his Queen Kira in favour of a younger and more attractive bride. The Queen was beloved by the people, however, and she was not about to be forced off her throne simply because she was barren. She contended that she had not only been a faithful queen but a proud warrior, and had expanded the Judak Haj personally into the new world. Her many military ventures had brought her great honour… more honour, whispers began, than her husband. The King was having none of this and so beseeched the Council of Elders. They told the two that the binding was for life. Kira did not wish to kill Hiro, however Judak could not afford for the debate to continue. She invoked the law of the land, claiming that if one was stripped of their honour then they would be as good as dead and thus the binding would be over, and thus challenged him to honourable combat. It was a very controversial claim, as binding was usually considered to combine the honour of the two partners into one shared line. Hiro could not refuse to face Kira regardless, but Kira was considered to be a much better fighter than him. Thus, the king hatched a treacherous plot. As the duel began, the king signaled a marksman who shot the Queen through the skull. Believing the debate to be finished, the King took his new bride and rode back to his palace in bliss. The people grew unruly and the land erupted into rebellion. For 160 days war raged across Judak as the rebels fought the kings men. Neighboring kingdoms seized the opportunity to invade and carve up Judak, and by the time the civil war ended Judak had lost 60% of its homeland and many of its oversea territories had fallen. The rebels however, had won the war. The King was captured alive and brought before the court and sentenced to death “in the name of the crown”. He challenged this, stating “I who am your king can not be sentenced by my own authority without my own consent!”. To which the Judge reportedly retorted “And who, pray tell, stated that it was your crown?”, then calmly informed the King that he had been sentenced to death by the Crown of the Queen.
King Hiro was taken to “An honourless death by rifle”, and was reportedly shot by the same rifle employed to kill Queen Kira. Judak declared that it would remain a monarchy… and instated the dead Queen Kira as it’s monarch. A lavish funeral was held and it was declared that even in death the Queen was the rightful ruler of Judak. Although Judak was later absorbed into the United Lorca Ghaj (The name of the Union between Dadun and the Odul Confederacy of Arusa), the region of Judak to this day reports that it’s governor is “Queen Kira”, a tradition which the Ghaj still tolerates so long as a change in Steward is made known to the council. As a result, one seat in the council is known as “The seat of Kira Morax” but is always taken by the Steward of Judak. The story spread throughout the Lorca Ghaj in it’s romanticized retelling in the works of Koro Zorei, a popular novelist of the 11th century and a well-known writer to this day for his novels and plays revolving around historical events. Due to his works, the name Hiro came to be associated with oath breakers and betrayers.
The current system first belonged to the Odul Confederacy, but after the death of King Zoro Lukax of the Dadun Ghaj, Dadun adopted the system. Dadun and Odul had long since had close relations and 112 years after Dadun adopted the system, the two unified. Together, they controlled 46% of the planet’s surface (Dadun 31%, Odul 15%). They agreed the two nations would have an equal number of seats and would both send an equal number of high councilors. This decision was weighted in Odul’s favour, giving them much more political influence than they would have had if the system had been decided based on population. As such, Odul unified in order to dramatically increase their power while Dadun unified in order to cement their lead over their growing rival, the Hepto Ghaj on the Jauri continent. This union was called the “United Lorca Ghaj”
600 years later, the entire planet lay under the control of the United Lorca Ghaj, which changed it’s name to the ‘Lorca Ghaj’. 400 years after that, political reforms led to the council being selected from all regions rather than just Dadun and Odul. 200 years on, once the Lorca Ghaj’s space colonies had become fully developed, another political reform led to the council being selected from all planets also. It is expected that a region will send only the most skilled to the council to sit and make decisions on the Lorca Ghaj

Other:
Lorca use the CT (Current Time) acronym to denote anything happening after ‘Year 0’, and OT (Old Time) when referring to anything before it. Year 0 was originally used because that was considered to be when the “A Uai a o Lor” (Eng: The Guide of the Warrior) was written, but since then it has become apparent that the book was widespread at least 500 years before that. Rather than change all the dates, the Lorca simply kept the acronyms. The current year is CT 3112. The Lorca Ghaj has been united for 1800 years of that time, and the government is referred to by some as the “Ancient Duality”

[Monkeypants]

Monkeypants


The Hau Covenant

Capital System
Naru-Sen

Capital world/Hau homeworld

Vaursa

The Capital world itself is a world slightly larger than earth with a slightly higher gravity. The world has a purple hue to it due to a large purple nebula cloud that is nearby. The cloud itself is remnants of a gas giant that was knocked off course by a huge asteroid, propelling it towards the star itself. Many wonder what the system would look like today had that asteroid not pulled the Giant off course.

Location
Aside from the two galaxies, it is exists as a small area consisting of seven worlds. Two of which are heavily populated.

Empire Size In excess of twenty five Decillion. As a official census has been tried and failed thousands of times, the general community believes this to be the general number but many speculate it is far more.

Empire Power The Hau covenant is vast, panning two entire galaxies. The Hau employ a super way-gate to a new location to begin spreading the word of the Hau. This gate is an extremely powerful worm-hole that connects to pre-set defensive points inside the far distant Hau empire territory. The gateway has the potential to bring hundreds of thousands of objects from point to point in a matter of hours. Even if one point is destroyed, any craft already travelling to that point will arrive as if the gate was still functional, although they would be stranded.

Type Of Power Hau military forces are always striving to have the most top of the line technology that one could think of along side keeping things simple and flexible.Like their navy, the army is prided on being strong and mobile , a necessity to protect and project power over such a large territory. A benefit from having such a large territory and many different races thinking together is sheer scientific potential, allowing many exotic technologies to come around and with the resources available, both raw and refined, enables it to function as a economic powerhouse. It's hard to define a nation so vast that doesn't have the specific warlike or pacifist traits.

Head Of State

Matriarch Aurel

Matriarch Aurel

Aurel is a veteran of two separate major incidents. Her first was during the first contact with the Humans when she was a mere pioneer. During the initial stages of the conflict, when the pioneer leadership was dying off due to combat with the humans, she quickly rose and took control of the situation is often regarded as the only reason the pioneers survived, though she always downplays her involvement. She would be in the right place at the right time when she was the lead admiral during the negotiations with the Karkosians during that conflict. The fact that she had been involved in the two incidents and led the Hau out of potential pointless conflicts, the Hau covenant elevated promoted her to the position of matriarch, a symbol of pride and the nations acknowledgment of her skills when dealing with the unknown.

Government Type
National Socialist Meritocracy/Timocracy. Each member nation has a total of four seats in a senate. Above the senate is a head of state titled a matriarch, which functions much like a president but is revered more like a queen figure.

Economic System
A general mix between socialist and capitalist mindsets. Basic necessities are provided by the government however commodities are purchased and sold over a free market system.

Religion
The nation itself has many races and with them, many religions. There is no one majority religion and the government proper only does not swear by any particular one. They generally believe that each person must swear fealty to the nation itself. Some say that the undying loyalty to the Hau Covenant cause is a religion onto its own.

Race
There are three primary member and three lesser races currently though the Hau are still the dominant and most numerous making up just over 43% of the total population.
All the races have a natural life span but many have surpassed it due to biological engineering and other augmentations. Immortality is well doable but many Hau still value a limited life, to better value the time you have.

Hau

The Hau are a race of Humanoids that usually stand 7-8 ft tall, have long black hair and black pupils. They have feet that are dominated by three longer toes versus the traditional small five. Their hands have three longer fingers and an opposable thumb. They are warm blooded and do live birth. Most Hau females will have 4-10 offspring during their long life cycle averaging 670 earth years with males only living roughly 240. Hau are currently a matriarchal society with males being far more warlike but have dulled down due to so much time on the sidelines. Males are also heavily regulated in number, in old times, two in three males would be tossed off a cliff but as genetic modifications became more common, the mother can technically select the sex of her offspring as many consider "cliff tossing" to be archaic and cruel.

Modern Hau males are still kept in check and luckily, due to their honor bound society, the males have adopted this philosophy. Some males still have these urges and find themselves in rehabilitation and reintegration centers. The females know that males are fighting an intense uphill battle to overcome their inherent nature. Some progress has been made through conditioning starting at birth but these successes have been few and far between. Females, surprisingly of the two, envision a world where a male could lead again, and not be factory workers, shipwrights or just mere sex slaves. (though some would prefer this role)

Luchten

Rawr !

Luchten are a race of large humanoid creatures, generally standing 10-12 ft tall with an average life span of 250-300 earth years. When they joined the Covenant some 3,000 years ago, they possessed archaic weapons and warships, favoring hard hitting kinetic weapons and thick, flat armor. When the Hau sent research ships to examine a rapidly dying star, they encountered the brutish and warlike Luchten, who had no use of FTL and only had their home world and two home system colonies. At first there was conflict as the Luchten saw the Hau as invaders. The Hau brought overwhelming military force into the system and again attempted to study the star. After a week of examining it was clear that something was causing the star to create more flares than most stars do in their life cycles.

Normal practice would be to just leave the system to its doom but the matriarch at the time was kind and did her best to save the Luchten. Countless transports were forced to dump material cargo and cancel civilian flights to ferry the doomed luchten to a new suitable world. They took a hard hit to their numbers but found resolve and a new place in the universe, united with the Hau. Today, they are a thriving member of the nation and make up a bulk of the ground forces.

Higlogen

Higlogens, or more commonly pronounced, Higs' are a spider-like race originating from a humid jungle like world. The planet contains a number of intelligent species but the Higs are by far the smartest and strongest. They became Apex predators early on due to their sticky webs and potent venom's. They were encountered by accident when one stowed away aboard a scout ship for a few days. As it had not killed anyone, it was given a chance to explain it self. The Hig had no true spacecraft of their own but had good knowledge of their immediate space (comparable to a 1950's space age).

It was an easy integration as the Higs are a very curious race but short lived race as they only live an average of 120 years, a short time compared to the others, this short span makes them eager to see and experience new things. As of today, they operate in many special operations groups or anything requiring quick reflexes in general, fast typing skills too.

Other races

The Nuvi- a lighter than air race that has three stages. The first stage is when they are most solid. This stage will last till around 50 earth years. Their second stage, when they are most active will last until they are around 300 earth years old. At that point they begin to 'disperse' and that time frame between then and the end of life is broad. some have lasted till their 351st birth day and some have lived till 600. Most say its luck of the draw.. They have a generally misty appearance due to a more fluid body structure. Their bodies are unique for adjusting to the gravity and pressure of worlds to retain their form albeit ultra high gravity or dense worlds would smash or disperse them like any normal organic race.

Jolnia- These folks are tiny in shape, generally standing 3-5 ft tall and a life span of 90-140 earth years. They have abnormal upper body strength for the most part due to large muscular forearms that offset their smaller legs. They are able to walk on their hind legs but prefer to walk on all fours. Jolnia are very smart in their own right and are one of two races that had prior warp capability before joining the Covenant.

Nims- The second warp capable race. They are tall and fair skinned with large crests on their heads which they usually adorn with jewelry They have a long life span of roughly 500 earth years. They reach adulthood at around a 7th birth date which gives them a long time to think up and design their trade markelegant creations. Their ships were sleek and shiny, exemplifying their love of beautiful things. Their home world features large spires of a marble like stone, elaborate paved walkways and floating lanterns etc. Many of the nations more 'fancy' places are designed and ran by Nims.

Dominant Culture
The Hau race has dominated the Covenant from day one. Their beliefs on personal and family honor as well as undying duty to the Covenant itself has shaped every aspect of any members people so far.

Moral Values
The Hau Covenant itself has a strict moral code revolving around personal and societal honor. The more one accomplishes in life, the better that ones life will be. As all people have basic provisions guaranteed, those with high 'morals' would have the manors and estates, The ones with high standing within the military due to actions, are the ones that captain their star ships and lead the armies. The ones with no honor from committing crimes are normally relocated to mining facilities where they have a single chance to regain their honor. If that fails, they usually find themselves in a dark hole in some corner of the nation. Even though they may be mourned by family, families know that the nations well being comes first.

Military Technology
Hau technology in general has always advanced from military applications. The Interactive holographic displays used in homes for streaming news or entertainment was originally a high end ship damage control system, to give crews a actual visual of the area before going in or for salvage teams unsure what to look for inside a ship. 'Matter Replicators' that can turn basic powdered ingredients into a full blown meal within a minute, came from a solution to ship food supply problems. Even the way-gate systems Hau use for transportation is based on earlier military rapid response technology.

Below is more prolific technologies that the Hau have developed for their continued advance across the stars.

WayGate

Uuni System Way-Gate

The Way-gate is one of the more prolific technologies they employ, A literal worm hole is connected from point A to point B using massive circular constructs. These are the primary means to travel from system to system other than typical FTL drives. Way-Gates have enabled the Hau to grow ten-fold since their creation and implementation over six hundred years ago

Serptentine-Terminal FTL Barrier field.

The field (generated by each individual Jammer) possesses Extra-Newtonian properties, and interacts with spacetime in a way that affects the motion of matter and energy across it. Akin to non-Newtonian fluids, the idea is that the motion of matter and energy across spacetime affected by the field changes in a non-linear fashion proportional to the strain that motion causes (strain being generated by the field) - particularly in regards to matter and energy moving faster than the speed of light.This device will function across all energy spectrum, including those created by the fundimental laws of 'magical FTL' as that energy is required, as any other type, creates a strain of motion. The effect of this to a ship caught in the field is a state of Halted FTL. The vessel, travelling would immediately be pulled out of this space via the field projected by the Jammer

Planetary Strip mining

Using enormous barge miner ships, the Hau have developed fast methods to open a world for raw resources. Using cutting beams and powerful magnetic fields, they literally rip huge masses of land from a planets surface. These strips are then broken down in any of said ships matter processors. The individual resources are then separated in to storage pods. There are very strict rules on not using any of these technologies on worlds with life but if they were to be used, it'd be disastrous for any race on the world.

Displacement Drive

This is the Hau navy's primary method of space travel. It creates a gravity-like energy field that gives the ship incredible thrust and turn capabilities in all directions, with little fuel expended. This drive shows no "exhaust" nor any visible engine ports as one would imagine.

Variable Angle Shields

Shields have always been a mainstay of all space military ships. be it magnetic shielding all the way to the plasma shields of sci fi shows, they've all had one flaw, they operate in a bubble with the ship sitting in the middle. As energy field technology advanced so did the ideas behind shields. The Variable Angle Shield is the now modern primary defensive measure. The shield operates in two parts, the first is a high power, oscillating magnetic flux field to block radiation and lessen effects of energy based weapons by either 'deflecting' or diffusing the particles involved. The issue was still there of how to better resist kinetic weapons without the need for super dense heavy armor and a prayer. A new Active shield is layered atop that will "bend" its field to match the angle of an incoming projectile then slightly angle up to literally bounce the shot off. The same principle behind sloped armor, now applied to shields. It's not full proof but its saved many ships from that potential fatal shot.

Ferite Armor

The hulls of ships is a series of heavy metal elements reinforced by a biological layer capable of re-arranging particles to bolster damaged areas of hull. The outer hull has spaced heavy armor plated resting on a thick resin that acts as a cushion for the armor itself. These armor plates contain a nerve like structure that is attached to large capacitors underneath the secondary armor plating, these function as a absorbent for incoming energy damage of all types with magic being the strongest source. Once the capacitor is filled, it diverts the energy into the weapons batteries of the vessel, literally turning the enemies energy weapons against their maker.

Nanite Swarm

The nanite swarm is a simple weapon used on surface engagements. The weapon is released via a simple shell in to a population center. The shell will open above the target and from inside, millions of tiny nanobots in the form of a gray cloud falls to the surface. The cloud will spread in different directs based upon the amount of targets. Each is powered by a small anti gravity charge that will expend itself rather quickly so the weapon has to act fast once the drive engages. The bots will actively seek out living and synthetic targets. Te bots will then enter a hosts tissue through any opening and begin changing the targets cells in to a vicious, fast spreading cancer that will move its way to the hosts brain. As the brain is affected by the cancer, the victim begins acting erratically before eventually turning in to a mindless flesh eating creature. The creatures have no fear as they possess no upper brain function. They have a simple directive, walk around or eat. they are able to distinguish others affected so they do not kill each other instead of other living or synthetic targets.

Polaron Cannon

The Polaron Cannon is a simple, yet very effective mass projector. The weapon is formed on what would appear as domes on the hull of the ship. This Dome creates a polaron cluster and fires it outward. As the polaron cluster disperses, it begins to draw matter towards it, no matter the type. This weapon, over distance, will gain mass until it reaches a critical mass and will then begin to trail particles. This gives the weapon a unique, comet like appearance as it glides across the battlefield. The weapon has a large impact forces equivalent to the amount of matter dragged along. If there is no shield up and any polarons are still intact, they wll interact with the hull, warping the area where the weapon impacts. This creatues a large dent at the very least before the particle burns out.

Singularity energy core

The primary power source of the Hau ships is the Singularity core. Its a created by use of a highly powerful particle accelerator. and a simple matter scoop. The scoop only needs to be active for a minute to replenish a supply of particles that can last it for months on end and any simple element will work. The accelerator comes into play at this point. It fires these particles at high speed into one another, causing micro black holes. Using powerful magnetic an gravitational fields (ironically these are created from the same energy they block) the singularity is contained. To keep the singularity open, the collider continuously pumps small particles into it and by using special "spectral plates", they capture the immense amount of radiant energy that the block hole ejects. This energy is then pumped into huge rechargeable batteries that then regulate the power into the various systems of the ship. A safety measure is in place that if significant damage is taken, the collider can be turned off, or destroyed which will dissipate the black hole so that it does not consume the ship itself.

Temporal focus field

This weapon fires a linear particle flux array that upon contact with designated point, creates a intense gravitational field, similar to the event horizon of a black hole. This effect will render any ships technically phased out of the current timeline and as time begins to speed up, the various particles of the ship begin to literally vibrate due to stress and over time, will tear itself apart in to a cloud of super-heated shards which eventually dissipate into subatomic particles.

Death Ray

The weapon is the prize of the Hau, a truly powerful weapon that exemplifies Hau military prowess. the weapon is set a grazer beams in a tight spiral pattern that creates a literal vacuum inside. As this channel consists of no neutrons at this point, A high energy Anti-neutron beam is shot down the center. The grazers themselves deal their respective damage but the introduction of anti-neutrons will collide with any neutrons which will be destroyed in an extreme burst of energy. This weapon is fixed forward on most Hau ships and emanates a dark red and yellow spectral colors (for cool effects purposes.)

Anti Gravity Distortion weapon, Graviton Cannon.

At certain point around the ship are special hard-points that focus Specialized Grazers that operate in a spiral formation, akin to a 'Death ray' Creating a matter-less vacuum. Through this vacuum, inert gravitons fire in a linear beam array that will literally increase mass fields around the unlucky victim upon contact with a target with mass. This increase in the mass field will amplify a targets inherent gravitational pull to over ten thousand times its nominal state. This effect will literally pull the vessel in to itself until reaching a point smaller than a quark. This weapon can be charged to fire in to a planets gravity well, far outside of a planets barrier shield. As the weapon interacts with the planets gravity, it will cause the planet to pull into itself as if a black hole was eating it aline. This weapon can be used against stars as well but this property renders a planetary system lifeless and will usually cause the star to become a moving singularity, eating up anything it moves to.

Hau Military

Hau forces are very numerous and possess potent weapons of war, coupled with a huge economy and access to every resource necessary, makes them a true force to be reckoned with but with that force, is always the drawbacks. Its huge borders is the biggest of those drawbacks and early on, it was obvious that rapid response forces were the only way to bolster system defenses. These rapid response fleets are usually full strength fleets that most nations would field but are far more mobile due to the type of warships the Hau employ. That, along side posted system defenders, usually fleet strength as well, give systems a chance to survive.

A typical Hau fleet consists of 400 individual combat vessels. This is split in to four battle groups of 100, which, at the direction of that fleets admiral, can be split in to any number of individual task forces, depending on the mission. Currently, there is only one full strength fleet in the current galaxy

Along with those fleets, are various static defenses. Everything from tiny gun drones to massive carrier sized battle stations protect the systems themselves. The Hau also have various defenses deployed in the harder to detect areas, like blank star systems and nebula's as sensors have a harder time in them. The vast area of space however, has fewer defenses but with that area much easier to scan, rapid forces are able to be deployed before a fleet travelling "in the open" would arrive. There are larger defensive concentrations along certain borders that the Hau deem tactically important.

Organic War machines

A very simple concept that consists of growing your ship onto a frame of special metal. All regular Hau weapons employ this except firearms. When tanks are destroyed, the organism dies along with any weaponry that is with it. Some say its a cheap ass way to make sure your tech stays secured but if it works, why not.

The Hau legion

A force comprised of many races. The ranks are always mixed to give a general the maximum options in a conflict.

Heavy Ion rifle, Hau Variant

Seeing as the Union has many races of different size and shape, weapons have to be adjusted for each. An example is the Heavy Ion rifle. The Hau version is sleek and typical rifle like where as the Luchtens model is bulky with a large under-slung bayonet. The weapons operate on the same principle but are adapted for each races use.


One of the more common combat units


A typical atmospheric gunship

The Hau machines of war are like the navy, Armored frames with an organism grown onto it. Craft like the gunship or tank utilize larger Ion arrays and what is known as a 'pulse cannon' which is more or less a fully automatic plasma cannon


The first time an now extinct race encountered the Hau Tripod. The massive walker bears down upon doomed men and women

The largest and by far most intimidating Hau ground asset is the Tripod. Its massive size and height gives it a very good view of the battlefield but its most frightening ability is its incredible maneuverability. With each 'leg' having a segmented design, it can adjust each segments angle to enable precise and fluid movements in regards to lowering, side stepping and walking, Coupled with a powerful shield and dual Wide beam Radiation arrays capable of literally melting people, (the only Hau machine that uses this nasty weapon.) and high powered Ion cannons to deal with hard targets. This massive war machine was built to not only to destroy but to intimidate.

Navy ships

The Hau navy relies on numerous smaller but high tech warships. The need for mobility to fight and defend such a large expanse has all but removed the need for large capital ships as most would field. In no way are these ships weak in comparison though. Hau vessels use a wide array of tactics in their naval combat but seeing as most of their ships are inherently fast and maneuverable with smaller profiles, their ship to ship combat is generally more offensive in nature than the hulking metal fortresses of some others


The Hau's primary warship, the Cruiser.

There are three primary types, the Cruiser, which is the mainstay vessel of the Hau. It carries a fixed forward Death-Ray along side various smaller armaments. These vessels are very fast, amazingly maneuverable and operate with a small crew. On a more relative scale, people would likely associate them with a frigate class in terms of tonnage and a total length of roughly 210m


A battleship on routine patrol

The second is the battleship which carries two side-mounted Death-rays with a wider firing arc of fire along side its superior armaments compared to the cruiser .These ships still retain incredible speed for their size, being close to two-thirds of the cruiser it supports These are nearly double the length and general displacement of the Cruiser it fights along side.

Dreadnought Raya, Technically the Matriarchs flag ship

And finally a ship that goes against Hau doctrine, the Dreadnought, Unlike the other ships, it is not geared for direct knife fights as its huge size makes it a obvious target. Rather it will snipe foes from long distance and use the Massive 1240mm .'Siege' coiilgun. It's the largest magnetic accelerator weapon the hau employ and only sees other use on orbital defense stations. When dreadnoughts duel in combat trials, the two rarely ever score any hits on one another as the range they fire gives the enemy ample time to move. It's not uncommon to see them fire at each other for hours before disengaging due to fatigue. These usually sit as fleet centerpieces and operate as siege/ command ships.

The Pioneers

The Pioneers are the expansionist force of the Hau. These men and women from all the Hau races are sent out on special ships to distant stars to spread Hau influence.
These ships will arrive at a system and begin setting up a way-gate. Most of the vessels are lightly armed and armored to train Hau to use what resources they have to survive. Being a Pioneer is a high honor among the Hau as when they return from their mission, they have more or less passed a rite of passage and the grand honor it brings. Most Pioneers become officers and admirals in the armed forces and some even become influential members of the government and in Aurels case, the Matriarch.

History

When humans were looking to the stars, the time of realization that they weren't gods but rather bodies far off, when they discovered that their world was not the center of the solar system, The Hau were already landing on their first moon to use as a spring board to the rest of their system. It's well known among Hau that the expansion into space could have occurred decades sooner but they had a problem bigger than any doomsday weapon at the time, Males.

During the Hau's long history, the males lead it down the path of destruction. During a final battle of what would be a seventh world war and millions lay dead over the course of ten years, an unlikely uprising came about. Females rose from the ashes and with a quick and heavy-handed action, took down most of the major nations. The males weren't happy and as they were prone to extreme violent reactions, tried to take their world back. It was futile though as females at this point, after so many had died, outnumbered males three to one. The males were eventually, over many generations, sidelined to a role of mating utility and after a few more decades, somewhat rose to a better social status. The females however, had every right to veto anything a male would do and males were also not allowed to be in any position of power.

With the females in charge, many weapons of mass destruction were dismantled and the world basked in an unbelievable unity and with it, came quick expansion to space. With the resources of the solar system at their command, Hau spread like wild fire through their immediate region of space. sleeper ships would fly many light years to reach a new world, to spread the Hau's influence. As technology progressed, they discovered and created many new technologies like the way-gate systems to spread further. As they continued to conquer and consume races and nations in to their own, the Hau became determined to conquer all that they could see through many means available. The initial being mentally, to convince others to join the Hau peacefully. As the Hau's endeavor continues, a choice is made depending on a number of criteria if a military force is needed to conquer the remaining nations. Aside from their home galaxy, they have successfully conquered one and now have their eyes set on a new one. Pioneers arrives recently and have constructed a long range super Way-gate but have not activated it yet as it may attract attention as it would be detectable from halfway across the galaxy.

[WrongEndoftheRainbow]

Name of nation: Auctoritas Sheromae

Species:

The Sheromi are a feathered raptor race, featuring four ears upon the back of their head, a large tail, and 2 fingers plus an opposable thumb on each hand. On their homeworld, they are capable of flight, but on high-gravity worlds or worlds with low air density, they cannot. As such, the flight feathers are viewed as important. These flight feathers however prevent a full seal on armors and in EVA operations and high-value operations operatives have them plucked out (painfully), so they don't interfere.

Their feather coverings can take on a wide range of colors, ranging from fluorescent to faded. The males tend to feature much more vibrant a pattern then females, and that is usually the most distinguishing feature between the male and female Sheromi. They also stand about two to three feet tall, and as such are usually not an intimidating creature; although looks are deceptive. The Sheromi are more then capable of matching a usual example of an alien species in feats of strength and aggression.




Cybernetics makes up a major part of their species, and it's more rare to see an unaltered specimen then an altered specimen. Most of the species has every organ in their body implanted, making them more of a half-cyborg, half-organic then a natural born Sheromi.

Description of government: Theocratical Despotism, the Sheromi are lead by an intelligence of their own creation, who rules their entire nation. This intelligence, dubbed the Everlasting Machine, is viewed by the Sheromi as their living god. To be considered ascendent is to have your intelligence uploaded to the Everlasting Machine in Sheromi culture.

Description of military: The Sheromi military is largely made up of three sections:

The Order of Reconnaissance
The Order of Reconnaissance is, as the name suggests, the scouts of the military. Their pilots plunge the deepest inter-dimensionally, and while still taking hours to reach an area, they are much faster then the other two Orders. Also in this Order are the rapid response units, who boast on their ability to be on the scene of battle in five hours or less.

The rapid response units are different from the rest of the Auctoritas' vessels in that they specialize in close range combat with ships built around railguns. Sacrificing armor for mobility, they zip around the battlefield and prove a hard target to hit, and too fast a target for many tracking chemically-propelled weaponry.

The Order of Battle
The Order of Battle is what most battle fleets belong to -- If it was designed for battle, bombardment, or defense, with no regard to speed, then it's an Order of Battle vessel. These vessels specialize in long-range artillery, planetary bombardment, and harassment. They prefer long-range tactics then getting involved in direct battles.

and The Order of Psykers
The ground forces of the Sheromi are pulled from powerful Psykers. These Psykers are then given high-grade military implants and training in controlling their psychic abilities. The Sheromi do not rely on large numbers in their armies; they are more akin to special forces then a main army.

Technological Overview:

Displacement Engine
An advanced weapon technology, often mounted on guided missiles, Displacement mounted weapons work by displacing solids and fluids on a atomic level, meaning this weapon is highly damaging in an extremely localized area. A minor version can be mounted on ceremonial melee weaponry, creating a weapon that can cleave an opponent into two with little effort.

The Alcuire Drive
The Auctoritas' form of Faster Than Light transport, the drive works by moving the ship into an inter-dimensional realm, where speed increases due to the fact less distance must be traveled. Even using this form of FTL, the going is slow and it holds a random element. It may take days for a ship to travel to it's location, a few hours, or anything in between. With total unpredictability, to boot. On a side note, this FTL design is small enough to be mounted on missiles, giving the Order of Battle's stratagems a whole new meaning.

Overall, the rest of the Sheromi technology is highly reminiscent of third party sources such as Cyberpunk 2020 and EYE: Divine Cybermancy, with an emphasis on EYE. They make little use of energy-based weapons and rely more on heavy armor then shielding. Even the lowliest Sheromi contain cybernetics, and most are modified in every possible way -- Everything from a cybernetically enhanced brain to depleted superdense isotopes weaved into the skin. This does not come without cons, however. As the Sheromi are a psychically-capable race, they contain what can be amounted to a soul, with the body it's home. Cybernetics make this 'home' less hospitable for the aforementioned soul, and eventually there is a limit to the cybernetics, unless the patient is willing to go through a traumatic surgery where the psychic soul is ripped from the body, to make way for the cybernetics, then returned to the body by sheer force of will.

Cultural Overview:

The culture of the Sheromi largely revolve around the Everlasting Machine -- They believe the AI is an avatar of their god, and their ultimate savior. To refuse to believe in the Machine or to refuse the Machine's gifts is considered impiety in the Auctoritas Sheromae. Their life generally revolves around this machine and it's orders. In more remote systems, the Eternal Machine is spoken for by chosen diplomats -- Generally every space-faring vessel will have one. The Sheromi generally teach these beliefs from birth -- resulting in a zealous population that knows little of any other way of life.

History:

The Sheromi come from a planet that began in the far edge of the Goldilocks zone; where life can thrive. The life that evolved was always prepared for constant, bitter cold. This would come in handy when the planet was knocked out of orbit by a gas giant. It ultimately became a satellite of the gas giant, snowballed and with little light. The atmosphere of the planet was incredibly dense, to the point of where a human without protective gear would be crushed. This, mixed with incredibly low gravity, gave birth to a range of short and thin species. Among these was the Sheromi, the feathered raptors. They thrived with their intelligence, insulation from cold, and status as the planetary apex predator.

The Sheromi began their life as sentients as a nomadic species. The planet was split into various tribes, which throughout prehistorical times slowly merged together into a single planetary tribe. This period of time was the end of the prehistorical age, with the invention of writing and historical recordkeeping. A golden age of technological and sociological advancement, the growth would prove to be unsustainable. At the point of the discovery of iron smithing, the global government broke apart into a mess of feudal warfare. The world was broken apart into small nation-states, going for the territory of every other nation-state. This period of war devastated the planet, sending many species into extinction in the face of wanton destruction in an already destructive icy environment. Eventually, this warfare would result in the utter collapse of the Sheromi nations.

Technology in this era of warfare progressed immensely, war a brilliant catalyst of progression. The nations collapsed around the beginning of the information age, resulting in worldwide nomadic techno-tribes. Skirmishes and battles between these tribes were sparse but not unknown. These tribes settled down much quicker then in prehistorical times, using the technology left behind by the nation-states. This would give way to another golden era as the new nations vowed to not repeat the mistakes of their predecessor nations. Eventually, this alliance would be forged into a single worldwide empire, much reminiscent of Imperial Rome. The creation of the Everlasting Machine was initially a small experiment on AI systems, which grew out of control and took control of the worldwide internet of the Sheromi Empire. It took nearly a century of attempted purges before the Sheromi would come to see the AI as a god.

The AI would instruct the Sheromi to aim towards the stars above their frozen cradle, encouraging and planning space explorations. Under the guiding hand of the AI, the Sheromi made their way into space. First their orbit, then the gas giant they orbited, then the solar system.

And then the stars themselves.

Other:

[TwistedSun]

TwistedSun

The sight from the esosphere of Aeonas, with Andraste on foreground.

Name of nation: The Aeonas Hegemony

Species:Characterized by an thick hexagonal plates exoskeleton that covers almost entirely Ourian skin (except for the neck, hands and *cough* private locations), and low sexual dimorphism, this race body reseambles particularly that of other species. Vertebrates, bipedal mammals, Padovens have, like many other species, a capillary cardiac system, a neuronal one, organic fabrics and a diplontic life cycle. They are particularly tall and based on an avian build.
Having a slow metabolism, Ourians need half-dozen more hours of sleep during the night than averange species, though noticeably increasing their life-span, tranquillity and thoughtfulness.
Having evolved in an envirnment based on L-amminacids, Ourians are not able of disgesting any kind of organism not based on the same amminoacid structure. Though originally evolved from an herbivore species, they are omnivore, and really appreciate eating soft and well-coocked meat.
With small and thick eyes, their prolonged head is covered with unusually straight shining plates, that end over a toothed mouth - to be noted the presence of six canines-, devoid of lips. Lastly, on the side of the mouth, important is the presence of two long and moving mandibles, once used by Ourians' ancestors to group substantial bundles of grass to be eaten; today they don't have any pratical use anymore, since the invention of cutlery, but still bear symbolic meanings and attractiveness.
Their hearing is really developed, and they can catch even lower and higher frequences compared to other species. For this reason it is commonly said 'listening to the universe' in order to indicate someone who isn't very talkative, because when in empty space, Ourians can hear a weak background considered as the 'Universe melody'.
An interesting anomaly of Ourian physiognomy is an odd soft protuberance situated behind the neck, capable of stretching over their heads and shrinking back at will: though without any practical utility, thus leaving geneticists really baffled on why their race developed something this useless, this hood-like sack is often used by people to cover their heads during particularly hot or rainy days.

Ourians

Description of government: The Aeonas Hegemony is an intergovernmental organization, first founded in 7678 C.I. in order to promote planetary and extraplanetary co-government. Officially declared a federation twenty years later, it regrouped the 23 nations of the Aeonas Hegemony under a common flag,
In the Hegemony, each state preserves limited local authonomy, whilst the executive, the legislative and the judiciary are held by the central government.
Each great state boasts one to three representatives* in the 'Nations Council', a counseling organ from which are elected those deputies who will make up the General Council. The latter detains legislative power, and the power to elect through a votation system the Primarchs, heads of the military.
The judiciary power is composed of a tripartite organ, each composed of different courts for various crimes, ranging from war ones, to civil ones.
Lastly, the executive is held by the Hegemony Steward, a life tenure office, who has moreover veto over the laws passed in the General Council. The Union Steward is elected by the Nations Council after a week of mourning after his predecessor's death.

Representatives are not chosen by the Council, but by the local state government, whose government form may vary. As of the day, the permitted local
administration governments allowed are: Republic, Monarchy, Illuminate Dictatorship, Militaristic Hegemony, Technocracy, Theocracy, Democracy, Monarchy and
Organized Anarchy.

Description of military: Disciplined and well organized by a mandatory military school, starting from 16 to 20 years, the Ourians are not likely to start a war without a real reason, mostly because of the kind pulses their massive fleets, built in fear of what lurks outside of their systems, emanes, or just because they have a very lazy vision of conflicts.
The military is generally divided in 30 ranks, of which ten are the ones acquirable during the mandatory military service; the militia-men and soldiers are then divided in a very large number of regiments, which themselves compose a fleet, each ruled by an Admiral Cruiser

The Flag.ship 'Inferno'


Technological Overview: It's still unbelievable that half a century before Ourians were blocked at the information age, stuck with the simple minded and primitive thought that digital watches were a pretty good idea. Even more awfully inconceivable for the Forces of the universe is their fast ascend to greater space technologies and quantum phisics and electronics.
However, not minding their unexpected discovery of a lost alien civilization technologies compendium, people may fall into error and think these fellas as all-knowing geniouses. Here is a basic example of the most important technologies

-FAL Engines: It was the Ourian scientist Jigglemat that firstly identified the signal of the alien compendium, and that permitted its recovery from the wasted asteroids orbiting around Andraste. Without anyone expecting it, they returned home after only one year. At their return, the spacenauts and the scientist himself explained the happening, revealing that it took almost one year with their current technologies to reach the cluster in question, whilst it required only one minute with few minded changs to their primitive engines. The following year was launched the ambitious project of reaching the farthest planet of the system in 10 hours. The result was a success, crowned with the discovery of the 'Artifact', and of the star-gate.
-Terra Formation & sculpting: One could say Ourians have gardeni- terra forming in their very veins. Since the beginnings of their time-span as sentient beings Ourians have always felt keen on adapting the outdoor environment. After the inevitable discovery of basic process of terraformation, Ourians followed the path, making giant steps in this discipline, which most of them like to define 'art'. The 'Terraformer' profession is a very profitable one, expecially in these periods when land owners of new colonies don't really appreciate their barren and inhospitable planets.
-Orbital Construction: Given for granted their passion for indoor decors and habitable modules, Ourans have become capable of creating self-sustaining colonies for the harsh environments. One of them, and probably the fiercest after the surface of a star, is space itself. Giant orbital cities and domes sprawling of life circumnavigate daily the system's planets, or, for those who seek easy profit, the rouge stations on planetoids provide content as well contempt.
Billionaire psychopathic and misanthropic Holiania even proposed the overly dreamy project of creating an artificial planet from the scratches of asteroids and useless comets but was fiercely opposed by the Hegemony Steward. Who knows why?
-Shields: The shields industry is a very florid one! It is estimated that personal use shields form up 5% of the whole Hegemony economy. It is so utterly prosperous that even every new ship is able to be armed at low cost with efficient reflective hulls' isotopes and plasma shields. Think about the cruisers!
-Weapons: Surprisingly enough, on the alien compendium there were no schematics for advanced warfare. Seriously? Make love not peace? At least Ourans had the time to develop atomic and advanced kinetic missiles and projectiles
-Shields: The shields industry is a very florid one! It is estimated that personal use shields form up 5% of the whole Hegemony economy. It is so utterly prosperous that even every new ship is able to be armed at low cost with efficient reflective hulls' isotopes and plasma shields. Think about the cruisers!

Cultural and Historical Overview: Almost seven thousands of years before the current times, Vituvia - Ourian homeworld - was devastated by a cataclysm, which transformed that idylliac terran world into a scorching ball of restlessness. A comet, moving unexpectedly away from its course, entered in contact with the atmosphere of the planet, unleashing high values of toxic gases; moreover, after the melting of the frozen gases, the comet revealed an heavy metallic core, which survived and crashed with unimaginable strenght on the surface.
The Ourians, silent spectators of their world premature end, eventually adapted, evolved to strive and survive in the new hostile environment: taller and more slender physognomies appeared, and they naturally developed in the successive two thousand years enzymes for digesting meat based meals, easier to find in those blasted lands.
Eventually from the ashes of the world they boosted an healing process of their own planet, slowly regaining pieces of land from the toxic miasma, or rebuilding the fractures on the land. Today Vituvia has returned to his former beauty, partly at least, having undergone an heavy terraformation process. Godless, Ourians rebuilt their world with their own capabilities, thus ascending to a new level of self-conception. They were the center of the universe.
Today the original tendency of equilibre and sobrity frequent during the cataclysm has passed out, and since the last thousand of years -basically, the return of drinkable waters in most inlands- the Ourians have started again to regroup in differentiated ethnics and cvilizations, eventually leading to the birth of very different nations all through the world. Cultures are now incredibly different each from another, and describing each one of them would be quite a pain in- it would be really wearsome.
Only to be noted that Ourian mix of cultures has led to the birth of the 'New Empire' culture, a global elegant but simple union of arts, architecture and forms of speech, which is swiftly gaining its space in both planetary and extraplanetary communities.
Of what was before the cataclysm, very little remains: only shadows of a forgotten past, and the first light that wasn't from their sun.

Formerly, the Hegemony is based on the sacrosanct equality of rights for all Ourians.
In practice, society is based on a socio-economic hierarchical system based on wealth, and merits. Basically, the self-fulfillment of the individual is entirely based on its capability of striving through this sprawling society, and also on its social background. However, the government bases most of his fortune on this propaganda, promising better conditions and a more just meritocracy.
Still, socio-economic inequalities are frequent, and probably the situation will never change. This is in fact the main reason why the numbers of people enrolling in colonial missions in the system is esponentially growing, having seen that by creating a new colony - and thus a new state -, they would achieve that generally precluded high-ranking position. Of course, that if they survive the unknown environment.

What has majorly influenced Ourian's culture in the last century was the discovery of the first alien artifact - shortly after followed by that of a gigantic network of star-portals - which vividly ignited discussion and Ourian imagination. Surely, discovering they were not alone in the universe had been a great shock, but the Hegemony didn't take this lightly. If somewhere off in the deep sea of the galaxy there was something - or better someone - still probably unaware of their presence, they had to be prepared.
In few years state financed xeno-linguistics and archeology sprouted as mushrooms in all the planets of Alpha-Aeria - hegemony home-system - in order to decipher the glyphs and characters of the ruins, and, eventually, become able to colonize an another system even before FTL engines.

Nations Count: 28 = 23 firstborn Aeonas Nations and 5 official colonies - 9 rouge stations, on asteroids or orbitating around Andraste or other planets, yet to be recognized.

[TehAlphaGamer]

Name of nation: Sazkarjhia (Sazkarjhit)
Species: Sazkarjhian

Sazkarjhians are about 6'5" and on average weigh about 180 pounds. Both sexes have muscular-although-flexible builds, with bright orange, smooth skin with flourescent yellow patterns running along them. They have black, glossy, globular eyes with white pupils that increase in size with age. They have elongated snouts with a large maw with sharp, conical teeth and molars towards the back (Sazkarjhian's are omnivorous but have strong carnivorous tendencies). They respire chlorine gas, and find atmospheric oxygen toxic (In reciprocation to most aerobes, who respire oxygen but find gaseous chlorine to be very toxic). Males have six, long, flacid horns on either side of the back of their head. Females' horns are relatively short and blunt.

Due to their inability to breathe oxygen, they usually wear suits of powered armor with chlorine rebreathers. However, their technological advancements have led to capsules that can temporarily alter biological makeup to make their chlorine breathable to other species or oxygen breathable to them.

Alongside this, certain Sazkarjhians possess certain magical powers, evident in the differentiating color flowing through their veins through major cardiovascular points (temples, wrists, etc.). These are rare and are usually Vessels of gods, those who are not are still regarded as their children or "He/She Who Has Been Marked."

Description of government: Theocratic Dictatorship

Sazkarjhia is led by a body of "Vessels", or prophets of the Sazkarjhit gods with the head, or Grand Vessel, being a prophet of the Supreme Being known as "Zarwaun" ("Sarwun", in the Sazkarjhit vernacular Sazka). The Grand Vessel makes decisions with these other inferior Vessels to pass decisions for the empire. Under this is a military cabinet consisting of the Supreme Commander, Supreme General of the Sazkarjhit People's Army, Supreme Fleetmaster of the Sazkarjhit People's Navy, and the Admiral of the Sazkarjhit People's Space Exploration Initiative (SEI).

Freedom of Religion, however, is condemned by the Vesselage as it is under their law, "The sacrilegious defamation of logical constitution." As a result Sazkarjhit that are caught practicing other religions are exiled. Attempting to spread this religious system as, again, in the Vesselage's terms, "poisoning the youth of the great Sazkarjhit people", is punishable by death by firing squad.

Description of military: The Sazkarjhit Military of the Common People, also known as the People's Military, is comprised of three different branches:

People's Army of Sazkarjhia

The main ground and intra-atmospheric air divisions of the military. Several units are involved in it, including:

Infantry: Standard footsoldiers using assault rifles that load with a rotating energy battery, among other weapons.
Anti-Armor Infantry: Footsoldiers wielding two-barreled guided missile launchers known as the Type-11 Personal Anti-Armor Weapon.

Heavies: Technically known under the Sazkarjhia Defense Firm Heavily-Armored Universal Combat Soldier Program, the "Heavies", as they're colloquially known by soldiers, are 2.13 meter tall hulks of titanium and carbosteel plating with extremely powerful and complicated movement systems making them walking main battle tanks. The increased armor brings their weight up to about two tonnes. They can carry a vast array of armaments; ranging from heavy automatic weapons to flamethrowers to portable coilguns.

Commandos: Under the Sazkarjhia Defense Firm's Biologically-Augmented Super-Soldier Program, known as the "Commandos", are augmented supersoldiers experienced with close-quarters combat. Attached to a Commando's wrist is a large, boxy implement with a pad at the front. Known officially as the Mark I Extremely High-Power Kinetic Impact Weapon, the machine sits on a rail and allows a Commando to throw a several-tonne punch; effective in causing severe damage to structures, vehicles, and soliders alike.

HT-1 Scarpios Hover Tank: With a high-powered coilgun turret, one machine gun turret, one coaxial machine gun, and jumpseat bays on either side allowing a total of ten soldiers, the HT-1 is the ultimate assault vehicle.

HV-6 Sparrowhawk Utility and Attack Aircraft: Capable of fitting twenty soldiers, and being able to be used as a close-support craft, the Sparrowhawk is a tour-de-force of military technology. A four-barreled autocannon mounted in the nose and six two-missile pods allow it to be deadly for gun runs, while they're useful for insertions, extractions and deploying Airdrop Soldiers from high above.

AV-1 Furosi Aerial Attack Vehicle: A modified version of the HV-6 for air combat, the AV-1 features two autocannons, automatic countermeasures, bays for bombs, flammable adherent or thermite canisters, and several missile pods allow it to be especially deadly in the airborne theater.

People's Navy of Sazkarjhia

Main Naval Force used for both attack and defense.

Marku-Class Heavy Cruiser: Main-line cruiser, used as flagships. Armed with a powerful coilgun used for firing antimatter as well as plasma throwers, torpedoes, missile pods and magnetic artillery.

Darbor-Class Heavy Frigate: Heavy and built for long range. The Darbor-Class Frigate is powerful and used often for escort and assaulting positions.

Manumar-Class Light Frigate: Nimble and fast, but poorly armored. The definitive scout ship for the People's Navy.

Trikolo-Class Destroyer: Extremely heavily armored and loaded down with magnetic artillery and antimatter launchers. Nicknamed "Fortresses with Engines" by crew and bystanders alike.

Samani-Class Prowler: Capable of using a very powerful cloak and deploying antimatter warheads, proving to be devastating hit-and-run vehicles but also excellent for stealth insertions or espionage. The main drawback is that their reactors can overheat and vents in the middle of the craft will often eject steam when deactivating the cloak, which can easily give away their position.

Pulsar-Class Electronic Warfare Vessel: Capable of completely crippling vessels with electromagnetic pulse emitters and other such technology, they make effective ships for crowd control.

Rakora-Class Assault Ship: Smal and capable of entering the atmosphere easily, they can provide support on the ground or board ships in space.

Basilisk-Class Fighter: Small and nimble, devastating when flying in squadrons.

Sarpinta-Class Interceptor: Launched from tubes in ships like torpedoes, they're extremely deadly with solar/battery-powered laser projectors and autocannons, in large groups their incredible speed and maneuverability make them very deadly foes to contend with.

Technological Overview: Sazkarjhit technology is mixed in development. They have developed powerful weapons using antimatter, and have vast technological achievements in the form of the Translight Hyperjump Engine, which tunnels through Slipstream Space. However, most of their technology is nuclear-powered and lower-grade superweapons use plutonium, while most ship and on-ground reactors use thorium as fuel.

Sazkarjhit medicine is also very advanced, often studying medical reports from other empires on other species and strictly cataloging their findings. Contrary to the popular belief that their religious zeal leads them to believe in faith healing.

Cultural Overview:

As mentioned above, the Sazkarjhit are religious zealots and practice their religion, Zarwaunism ("Sarwuna") to an extreme. Magic is not common, but those who have it are viewed as descendants of the gods. With this, there are several gods and goddesses in the religion:

Zarwaun: The "Supreme Being", the father of the universe, the God of Right - Representing the Religious and Governmental region of Karboria
Yuturata: The "Industrial Being", the father of metalcraft and fire, the God of the Forge - Representing the Industrial Region of Daramaska
Markura: The "Matriarchal Being", the mother of nature and maternity, the Goddess of Life - Representing the Bountiful Region of Bellaran
Oparas: The "Fortunate Being", the mother of fortune and misfortune, the Goddess of Balance - Representing the People's Region of Gamaria
Markarapas: The "Wealthy Being", the mother of commerce Trade , the Goddess of the Coin - Representing the Mercantile Region of Borsarsa

History:

Sazkarjhia was formed from two tribes, the intellectual Saz and the warlike Jhia. After many years of bloody war, a treaty was signed. When leaders realized what was possible when they combined their achievements, they sought to form together and take over the rest of the tribes. 20,000 years ago, the International Doctrine of Saz-Kar-Jhia was signed atop Mount Karbor, a site that would later become a holy focal point for Zarwaunism. Around 10,000 years later, a man identified only as The First Prophet began spreading the first ideas of Zarwaunism. The Pagan/Atheistic nation vehemently rejected this, but he soon gathered enough supporters. In an attempt to overthrow the leadership, a civil war that would later be known as the Ten Year's Bloodshed started. Millions of deaths later, the First Prophet would step to power, only to be shortly assassinated by a pagan nationalist. However, the ideals held strong, and soon the Zarwaunist regime took over the rest of Sazkarjhia.

About 9,000 years later, the first effective FTL drive, the Translight Outersystem Engine, was developed. Sazkarjhia soon sought to go out and conquer the stars. First they acquired two colonies, a metal-supplying moon known as Markada Minor, and a flat, bountiful farm colony known as Trimubelo III. Soon, eight more colonies were captured, and Sazkarjhia has begun to look out farther, and to maybe spread their religion to have those understand the Path of Divine Right, and the Father of the Universe.

[[COPIED FROM ORIGINAL APP so will tweak when I have time]]

[Isotope]

Species: Pravdian

Description of government:
Single Party State. The Great Peoples Party reinforces the great ideals of equality and prosperity by recruiting only from the ranks of the peoples military and leads the nation through a congress where all members are granted an equal vote save for the party leader who is granted half the votes of the rest of congress.

Description of military:
The proud People’s Army is the second most important institution in the UoCFPDSR. Mandatory for all individuals fifteen and up for a minimum term of twenty years the organization serves as the economic and technological backbone of the nation. The Army is composed of one Grand Division per planet and is in a constant state of expansion as is necessitated by the Unions vast military industrial complex. As a result often planetary military leaders are judged by the size of their armed forces.

Technological Overview:

Instant Printing
Instant or “flash” printing is a sort of 3D printing where all construction is done in less than one millisecond. Instant Printers are a common sight in all civilian and military aspects of Union space and are used for everything from food to munitions. Instant printers are not the most advanced construction technology in Union space but they generally are the most widely used as their simplicity makes them easy to use and easy to fix compared to significantly more advanced machinery.

Nanomachine “Paint”
While commonly called paint the Nanomachine coating used in Union construction is something significantly more potent. It is a coating of specialized Nanomachines that after being added to a materiel can manipulate it and itself to self-construct the rest of a larger structure in the presence of other coated parts. As a result Union ships can self-repair; using Nanomachine paint to replace parts destroyed by battle or if the damage is very extensive cannibalize other unimportant parts to make more Nanomachine paint to fix the important ones. Nanomachine paint however is used in a smaller civilian role too, all construction not covered by printing has been supplemented by “part dumping” and allowing Nanomachine paint to quickly assemble the parts. This has made Union industry extremely efficient.

Local Absorption Shield:
The Absorption Shield is a Union state secret and the primary defense on all their vessels. Acting as an energy sponge the shield absorbs all the kinetic or direct energy put into it until it reaches full capacity and falls in a powerful discharge of energy. The energy discharge would be a catastrophic explosion if not for limiters making it a slower process of constant discharge. The Shield can be brought back up after this, but not until a suitable time has passed for the energy banks to entirely discharge. Local shields work by the shield being a multi-layered construct, with one large general shield over the ship’s hull and one to two shields above this that only activate after an incoming threat is detected, minimizing strain on the main shield and providing a sort of means to maintain the main shield’s integrity through extended battle by the first and second layers discharging and covering for each other if there are two outer layers. If the incoming fire is not concentrated this means of taking the damage and discharging while the other shield takes the hits can be maintained indefinitely so long as the shield has local outer layers. As a result volume of fire and concentrated fire are the most effective means of countering absorption shields of two local layers. Single local layer shields are more vulnerable to large singular hit weapons that can drop the local shield and leave the general layer exposed, however if the volume of fire is too low from even a large weapon the general shield and the local shield can swap out similarly to the two local shield system. This however leaves the ship proper exposed to fire for a split second. Currently three shield layers, two local and one general, is the effective maximum before energy discharges of the first layers begin to influence the general layer and cause a drop of all shields.

Modular Local Absorption Shield:
A variant of the systems used on ships, walkers and medium to large mechs often make use of the M-LAS as it is called. Lacking any general shield the M-LAS operates with only a low power version of the first local shield used on ships. Activating to intercept incoming munitions the M-LAS operates identically to its larger ship borne counterpart, however lacking a general shield the M-LAS is more vulnerable to sneak attack or mines, if the attack cannot be anticipated an impact against the armour of the mech or walker is unavoidable. The M-LAS however encounters a problem less present in space, the energy discharge. The M-LAS as a result can run in two modes, a common mode that flares the energy into the sky when the M-LAS reaches maximum, this can obviously reveal a combatants position. The second mode deactivates the M-LAS at 99% capacity; this is risky as a hit to the M-LAS would result in a massive energy dump. However this mode is still somewhat popular among risk takers as mech and walker pilots have been known to use the M-LAS as a bomb in this mode, giving them another munition if they are in trouble. Usually however the M-LAS is simply dumped or thrown far away after it reaches 99% in this mode when it is used by the general soldier.

Neutron Cannon:
The Neutron Cannon is a powerful energy weapon that works though a simple means. Stripping neutrons from high atomic number elements through the use of a powerful Neutron generator and forcing those highly concentrated neutrons as well as the associated products into an accelerator that fires them at relativistic speeds. The Neutrons in this state are free and as a result they are underdoing neutron decay further increasing the impact energy of the weapon. Despite its already fearsome potential the Neutron Cannon has another secret, by pumping the gamma rays created during the stripping process into a Graser and focusing them into a containment beam the Neutron Cannon gains increased focus and coherence as well as a secondary beam. Needless to say this increases the precision and destructive potential of the weapon significantly. There also exists another type of Neutron cannon in use with the Union, this one utilized on the ground. In this smaller mounted weapon the same process as is used on ships is utilized. High atomic mass elements are stripped of neutrons and the cannon accelerates the free neutrons and other products while the graser contains the beam. However the difference in the ground variant is obvious enough, the destructive potential is considerably reduced simply because the beam must be slower and smaller in order to stay within power generation capacity. While the weapon is less useful than others in some atmospheres the other weapons used by the Union army more than compensate.

FTL Inhibition System
A field generator installed on every ship is able to form a large bubble within which any ships exiting FTL are hit by an enormous energy feedback due to interference from the field. This feedback immense and proportional to the energy generation capabilities of the affected ship, the result is without fail complete destruction of the offending vessel. The device is largely used in battles to maintain formations and on occasion as a weapon if the exit location of an enemies FTL window is known in precise detail.

Mental Interference Device
This simple device can be mounted on missiles or ships and projects a field that causes an excruciating pain resulting from every pain receptor firing at once to users of psychic, psionic, or “magical” abilities when said abilities are used within its radius of effectiveness, magic use attempting to circumvent that restriction usually initiates a worsening of the effect where other nerves are fired, often causing heart failure. Used as a frontline defense both on the ground and in space against races with abnormal abilities the MID has a long history of success.

Exotic Matter Generational Device
This machine affectionately known as “Mad Bobushka” is a killer for any massive body like a planet. Generating vast amounts of random exotic matter whose interactions with conventional matter cause unpredictable and devastating effects the machine only shuts down when the reaction reaches a maximum, by this point the damage to most planetary bodies is irreversible.

Cultural Overview:
All cultural aspects of the Union are focused on spreading the dream of peace and equality. The military serves as the heart of culture moving forth as a valiant sword to cut away the capitalist and structured societies of lesser states and replace them with the great message of quality for all and that all people work for a nation that works for them, anything that benefits the nation benefits the people. This is taken very seriously and has become almost religious as a belief due to generations of teachings.

History:
The Union began when the Pravdian empire, a society rich with injustice and ruled by monarchs underwent the Great Peoples Revolution. The empire began to collapse under the popular evolution almost immediately and soon the great Chancellor leader of the party was the only ruler the people would salute. Though the early days of the Union were hard soon the grand army rose and times became a serious of great wars, the dream of continuing the revolution was alive.

Now the Union is vast and commands many species and systems and on occasion goes to war to liberate the oppressed proletariat and incorporate another race into the fold.

Other:
None