The Dagon Compact
Species:
Humans of various ethnicities, especially Rozzarrian
Dagon Skinwalkers: A strange and sorcerous race, the Skinwalkers have ruled the planet of Dagon for millenia, utilizing the native Introgg peoples as servants, soldiers and slaves. The natural appearance of the Skinwalkers is that of a pale, human sized slug, with four delicate arms ending in three-finger hands protruding from the 'torso' and rows of black, clawlike talons along their 'tail.' Faceless, the Skinwalkers communicate through telepathy or more mundanely through neuro-activated voice simulation technology. As their name suggests, however, Skinwalkers have the unique ability to assume the forms of similarly sized organic life, making them exceptional assassins. Their race's mastery of the arcane, especially of necromancy and augury, rivals that of the mage-lords of the Pheonix Empire.
Drones: Synthetic hybrids of insect, droid and humans, Drones are mass produced by the corporations of the Compact to serve as hyperobedient slaves, servants, and of course frontline soldiers and canon fodder. Drones are semi-sentient at best, and come in innumerable varients custom bred for various purposes.
Introgg: An avian/reptilian sentient race native to the planets of the Dagon System, where they make up the vast majority of an interplanetary oligarchy ruled by the Skinwalkers. They make excellent skirmishers, snipers, light infantry, and fighter pilots.
Vakeshi: A race of sentient amphibians divided into several petty tribes, the Vakeshi are a nomadic, shipbound race, often traders, pirates and mercenaries. All of the Vakeshi tribes make pilgrimmage to their home planet of Vesh, a densely populated shrineworld and the only planet in the galaxy with a significant, permanent Vakeshi population. The Vakeshi space-tribes are ancestral foes of the Skinwalkers and Introgg, but have allied with their ancient enemies in the face of the Rozzarrian advance. The Vakeshi ancestral traditions have preserved ancient forms of druidic magic for millenia, and their spacecraft are famous for their beauty and craftsmanship.
Gn'Mok: Whatever the Gn'Mok people were originally, the bioengineers of some long-forgotten empire manipulated their bioform into one designed for combat. It is theorized that the Gn'Mok were meant to serve some faction or other as shock troops. Whatever their distant origins, the Gn'Mok have sustained themselves with mercenary work for millenia, frequently working for the Skinwalkers of Dagon and the megacorporations of the Rozzarrian Empire.They excel as heavy infantry, and serve the Compact as an elite force, utilizing wrist mounted energy shields, rad-hammers and power lances in combat. There are eight Gn'Mok Legions in the employ of the Compact, including the infamous III Legion.
Government: The Compact is a decentralized alliance of human and alien states, former Rozzarrian corporations and nobles, and rebel and pirate elements. It is 'governed' by an executive Directory of Six, composed of individuals who represent the most powerful subfactions within the Compact. The Directors are:
- Ava Sing, Guildmistress of the Raynasa Farspace Trading Guild
- Caractacus Veed, CEO and President of Imperial Droidcraft and Synthetic Intelligences
- Archmagister Ithaqua of the Silent Masters, the ruling body of the Dagon System
- Legate Xo of the Gn'Mok I Legion
- He-Who-Wanders-the-Void-Fearlessly, High Chieftan of the Vakeshi Space-Tribes
- Thrazariah dai Gazebor, Imperial Archduke of Alessio
The Directory shares power with the Conclave of Mouths, an immense parliament with representatives from all member-states and corporations of the Compact. Needless to say, such a power structure is chaotic, and the Compact resembles a military alliance of minor nations much more than a single, unified state. Nevertheless, fear and hatred of the Rozarrian Emperor has proven a powerful cement between otherwise disparate factions and peoples, and the constant threat of annihilation has helped the unworkable governing structures of the Compact hang together.
Description of Technology:
The Compact weilds a wildly diverse array of technology and magic thanks to the many factions and peoples it governs. Robotics, cloning and stealth technology are areas in which the Compact tends to hold an edge over its Rozzarrian rivals, thanks to the scientific resources of the megacorporations at the heart of the Compact.
Description of Military:
The Compact Space Fleet is a mishmash of Rozzarrian, Vakeshi, pirate, mercenary and corporate ships, with little standardization. While a few taskforces have sufficient numbers of Rozzarrian Imperial ships and Vakeshi War-Maidens to trade blows in a pitched battle with enemy ships of the line, most of the Compact Navy is ill-equipped for frontline brawling, and relies on hit-and-run tactics, behind-the-lines raiding, superior stealth capabilities, and advanced jump technology to disrupt and damage enemy formations while avoiding enemy fire.
The Compact Combined Armies enjoy the benefits of the Compact's immense diversity, while suffering from the issues of command and control that fielding such a wide array of troop types creates. The wardroids and battledrones deployed by the megacorporations of the Compact ensure that there are few battlefields on which Compact armies are outnumbered, while the Gn'Mok legions provide peerless heavy infantry support. Introgg units serve as excellent light infantry and fast-attack pilots, as well as serviceable frontline troops alongside human conscripts. The Combined Armies also benefit from the psionic and magical expertise of the Dagon Skinwalkers, as well as the protective shielding-tech and defensive arcana favored by the Vakeshi. When coordinated by a skilled commander, the Combined Armies are a formidable combat force, combining the strengths of so many different races. Under less assured command, however, the Combined Armies can become unweildy and poorly coordinated, and vulnerable to a more flexable, unified foe.
Description of Culture:
History:
The Dagon Compact was formed in Imperial Rozzarrian Year 169 by a collection of Rozzarrian megacorporations, alien nations, and rebellious nobles. Frustrated by bureaucratic meddling, Imperial racial dogma, and above all, increasingly high taxation, several major Rozzarrian corporations- most notably Imperial Droidcraft and Synthetic Intelligences, Avignon Spacecraft, Inc., Rozzarian-Central Positronics, and the Raynasa Farspace Trading Guild- combined their efforts to sway several key duchies to lobby for greater autonomy from the crown, and protested genocidal campaigns in recently acquired xenos systems. The Xenophiles, as the party became known, argued that alien sentients were better seen as trade partners, customers, clients, and a potential labor pool, rather than merely vermin to be exterminated. The xenophile corporations had long had clandestine trade agreements with the Vakeshi Space-Tribes and the Skinwalkers of Dagon, and had profited enormously from such partnerships. The new Rozzarrian Emperor Leoric III's strict enforcement of Imperial Racial Dogma threatened the bottom line and autonomy of the megacorps, as they were increasingly subordinated to the Crown and made an instrument of colonial policies. The crown's blatant favoritism in regards to the Greater Atmoran Company further detiriorated the situation.
The Rozzarrian Emperor refused to even consider the xenophile demands, and when pressure from dissatisfied corporations and nobles continued, His Majesty deposed the dissatisfied dukes and revoked corporate charters, seizing assets and bequeathing them to the ever-compliant Greater Atmoran Colonial Company. Left without options, the anti-Leoric dukes and their wealthy corporate backers roll the dice, allying with the powerful alien factions that stood in the way of the Rozzarrian advance and declaring their autonomy from the Empire. Thus was formed Dagon Compact from a smattering of Imperial frontier worlds, alien polities, corporate-ruled planets and installations, and mercenary fleets. The alliance was named after the planet on which the founding treaty was signed, the throneworld of the Skinwalker Oligarchy, xenos whose anti-Rozarrian scheming had done much to bring the revolution about.