Jeddaven

From Ashes We Rise : The Imperium Is Born

ULTIMA VERBA

Character Name: 184-238-84-1-ULTIMA VERBA-PLUTON

Rank/Role: Myrmidax of DIVISIO ++MARTII MORTIS++, Prime of Ark Mechanicus Redder

Appearance: Like many of the most powerful Magos, the Myrmidax possesses a number of combat-ready forms -- though it lacks any designed for diplomacy. Its most commonly utilized is a massive, nearly eight-foot tall, eight-legged monstrosity of metal, trailing behind its main body in a parody of a centauroid shape. Each leg is built like that of an overgrown mite, allowing the Myrmidax -- clad in martial red -- to travel at utterly ludicrous speeds, fabric whipping in the wind as it moves. A thick cluster of weapon and sensor-mechadendrites protrude from its back, allowing it to see in practically facet of the electromagnetic spectrum, and, of course, to remain incredibly heavily armed, additionally carrying a triplet of arms which it uses to wield whichever additional weapons it deems necessary for a given battle.

Biography: to those who encounter it, ULTIMA VERBA is typically one of two things -- a demon of death and destruction forged in cold, hard steel, or a perplexing avatar of violent retribution. Either way, one thing is clear: that it exists to wage war as a science, as if each battle is some grand experiment.

ULTIMA, perhaps unexpectedly, records and remembers every moment of its life down to its birth, for it must understand not only how to fight, but why it does so.

Its tale begins on a towering Hive in the far-flung galactic west, on a relatively insignificant agri-world. Back then, ULTIMA was known as Alisha, born to a pair of simple farmers -- one of many millions that toiled away on the planet's farms for simple subsistence, abused and tormented by their faceless overseers.

Alisha's family, at least, deeply cared for it. Its parents did everything they could to provide for Alisha and its siblings, despite having barely any means to do so in the first place. They split away parts of their rations to their children when they weren't given enough, doing their best to educate them with the extremely limited resources they had at hand, holding out some small hope that they might, one day, be able to move beyond a life of narrow subsistence, however little actual hope there was. Still, they held out hope. Still, they persevered.

They persisted even as their bodies continued to visibly wither away. Even as the fertilizers they were exposed to started to damage their internal organs, clogging their livers with toxic substances and heavy metals.

Unfortunately, their efforts would be for naught as a fleet of xenos pirates raided the hapless agri-world for slaves, burning their crops, killing those who they deemed unusable, and taking the rest captive -- mostly children of adequate stock and the able-bodied. Millions died in mere days, the planet's defense forces utterly, completely overwhelmed by the sorceries and vile technologies of the xenos, the most unlucky among them transformed into horrible abominations before the raiders fled, leaving devastation in their wake.

Alisha, unfortunately, was one of their victims, though its tenure as a slave was mercifully short, in spite of the vile torments inflicted by the aliens.

Mere months after their raid, the sorcerous xenos encountered a relatively small fleet of human vessels clad in jet black and crimson red, taking them for wayward exploratory ships of the Mechanicum -- deadly, yes, but no match for dedicated murderers such as themselves.

This was no normal Explorator fleet, however. It was a fleet of the rarely-seen Auxilia Myrmidon, the most deadly warriors affiliated with the Mechanicum, and easily among some of the most potent of the galaxy. They were an eclectic bunch, ranging from assassins to artillery specialists to walking, multi-armed blademasters, but, without exception, each was a consummate master of their craft, armed with a preternatural knowledge of warfare and some of the most potent armaments in the galaxy, ancient relics from humankind’s past.

The pirates, in their arrogance, never stood a chance. Their vessels were crippled after a brutal, albeit short-lived slugfest, only to be aggressively boarded by those Myrmidons who sought to engage them face-to-face, and in them, Alisha found unlikely saviours. Recruited by circumstance and necessity, offered the unique chance to ensure it would never be victim of such torment ever again -- and the power to prevent the same fate from being inflicted upon others.

Alone and directionless, Alisha was quick to accept, and with that, so too did it forgo its name, assigned a numeric sequence to mark out its position in the fleet's hierarchy until such a time as a name was earned, for in the Auxilia Myrmidon, there was nothing but the study of calculated warfare.

Despite the harsh requirements imposed on Myrmidons, it was treated well, eventually growing so attached to its increasingly mechanical body and uninterested in arbitrary categorizations of human-ness that it abandoned feminine pronouns entirely, choosing some that it found itself more comfortable with.

After all, the newly-minted Myrmidon genuinely loved how secure it felt in its new body -- and especially how powerful it felt, aware that, the longer it persevered and the more it studied, the more capable of preventing such tragedy for occuring it'd become.

Thus, it would discard arbitrary, narrow-minded notions of human-ness, but not its personhood, always remembering why -- and what for -- it fought, transforming into an avatar of both righteous retribution and a towering, guardian of the helpless and victimized the galaxy over, fuelled by the unstoppable might of the atomic; scouring ionizing radiation, atomantic weapons that could rip apart even the strongest armour, and even bright plasma, so purified that its true neon pink colour can show through. Driven onward by its agonized memories, it quickly earned the name "184-238-84-1-ULTIMA VERBA-PLUTON", rising to become the roving fleet's legendary Myrmidax.

GATEWAYS: THE NEXT GENERATION [NEW PLAYERS WELCOME!]

Day 1 of the First Galactic War
EUS Strasbourg
Officers and soldiers bustled about the Strasbourg’s mess hall as it barreled toward TRAPPIST-1's gate, carried onward by magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, a buzzing swarm of ships surrounding it. Its arrival to the Solar System was announced unceremoniously, by little but the FEU’s unambiguous declaration of war against PUNT, simplying diverting around rather than stopping for anything that got in its way. That was how the Strasbourg’s primary Command AI, Ultima Verba, preferred it, after all -- there was little time for exchanging diplomatic pleasantries when they needed to prevent a genocide.

Still, it couldn’t help but divert some unused sectors of its unfathomably powerful quantum computers to watching the ship’s personnel in the mess hall, occasionally exchanging idle banter with them through the inbuilt PA system. They didn’t seem to mind the conversation, and neither did Ultima, a welcome distraction from relatively uneventful navigation -- most of which was delegated to its siblings in the first place.

Its cameras suddenly shifted focus, drawing in toward the squad of Strzyga waltzing in through the main doors. A handful of artificial eyes turned toward them, too, and Ultima noted a strange mix of both reverence and excitement in them.

Thinking quickly -- and hoping to catch their attention -- Ultima conjured one of its many avatars, a slim, tomboyish athlete clad in the garb of the seelie court, fluttering wings and pointed ears adorning its body. It was clad in practically nothing, a disheveled, half-worn naval uniform, bronze-toned skin on nearly-full display as its curious amber eyes stared at them. “Yoo-hoo!” Ultima hollered, waving daintily. “Over here, c’mon!”

Drazenka was the first one to respond, glancing first toward Commander Amenabar, then at Ultima’s avatar before promptly making her way over to the table, the rest of her five-man squad distantly in tow.

“Ultima! How’s it goin’? Anything interesting on your radar?” She asked enthusiastically, unceremoniously plopping herself down at one of the benches along either side of the small, rectangular table.

“Nothing yet,” Ultima sighed, its holographic leaping up from the table to hang upside-down from the light fixtures above. “Some annoyed complaints from other parts of the Solar System, confused transmissions, the works. I’ve given the agreed-on response, of course -- a polite way of saying ‘fuck off. We have work to do.’” It replied, shrugging lazily. “I suppose nothing is better than something right now, though, boring as it is. We still don’t know precisely what the PUNT ships are up to, or if we’re even going to beat them to the punch, but...”

“The sooner we act, the better.” Amenabar interjected, earning a curt nod from everyone present. “They may as well be Nazis. We can’t afford to pull punches, diplomatic protocol be damned. It’s a good thing that the General Assembly agrees. Not that I’d expect otherwise, I mean. They usually do.”

“It’s a good thing they do,” Leopard -- a towering, broad-shouldered, black-haired man -- interjected, briefly reaching up to scratch his bushy beard. “Because, I’ll be frank; I’m looking forward to pummeling these sons-of-bitches. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be?”

Suddenly, Ultima found its attention wrenched away from the mess hall, a transmission hammering into its processors.
[Emergency transmission received:]
”This is Admiral 1-103 Akari Stands Resolute Against The Dark. We have come under concerted assault by the forces of the People’s Union of New Terra. We have suffered direct strike by numerous nuclear weapons. Casualties unknown, but high. Requesting support against the aggressor. Heaven preserve us.”

“*Oh*. Oh, that’s...”

Without a moment of hesitation, Ultima re-routed the transmission to the command staff, cringing as the Strzyga turned to face it...

And then, a reply, as alarms began to blare, bathing the ship in angry red light. Instantly, the soldiers scattered about the mess hall began to rise to their feet, rushing out of the room, some with lunch trays carried in their arms, while others lay abandoned where they sat.

This is Admiral Briganto. Orders are to immediately divert toward Ishtar, maximum speed. Transmit an encrypted reply.

Thankfully, for a person with such enormous computational power at its disposal, rapid, robust encryption was practically effortless, requiring little more than the digital equivalent of a flick of the wrist.

This is Ultima Verba, transmitting as the primary controlling persona of "Strasbourg" and first through fourth of five Naval Action Forces. We are diverting toward your location; ETA in-system in approximately fourty-five minutes. Transmitting targeting datalink codes.

GATEWAYS: THE NEXT GENERATION [NEW PLAYERS WELCOME!]

Day 1 of the First Galactic War
EUS Strasbourg
Officers and soldiers bustled about the Strasbourg’s mess hall as it barreled toward TRAPPIST-1's gate, carried onward by magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, a buzzing swarm of ships surrounding it. Its arrival to the Solar System was announced unceremoniously, by little but the FEU’s unambiguous declaration of war against PUNT, simplying diverting around rather than stopping for anything that got in its way. That was how the Strasbourg’s primary Command AI, Ultima Verba, preferred it, after all -- there was little time for exchanging diplomatic pleasantries when they needed to prevent a genocide.

Still, it couldn’t help but divert some unused sectors of its unfathomably powerful quantum computers to watching the ship’s personnel in the mess hall, occasionally exchanging idle banter with them through the inbuilt PA system. They didn’t seem to mind the conversation, and neither did Ultima, a welcome distraction from relatively uneventful navigation -- most of which was delegated to its siblings in the first place.

Its cameras suddenly shifted focus, drawing in toward the squad of Strzyga waltzing in through the main doors. A handful of artificial eyes turned toward them, too, and Ultima noted a strange mix of both reverence and excitement in them.

Thinking quickly -- and hoping to catch their attention -- Ultima conjured one of its many avatars, a slim, tomboyish athlete clad in the garb of the seelie court, fluttering wings and pointed ears adorning its body. It was clad in practically nothing, a disheveled, half-worn naval uniform, bronze-toned skin on nearly-full display as its curious amber eyes stared at them. “Yoo-hoo!” Ultima hollered, waving daintily. “Over here, c’mon!”

Drazenka was the first one to respond, glancing first toward Commander Amenabar, then at Ultima’s avatar before promptly making her way over to the table, the rest of her five-man squad distantly in tow.

“Ultima! How’s it goin’? Anything interesting on your radar?” She asked enthusiastically, unceremoniously plopping herself down at one of the benches along either side of the small, rectangular table.

“Nothing yet,” Ultima sighed, its holographic leaping up from the table to hang upside-down from the light fixtures above. “Some annoyed complaints from other parts of the Solar System, confused transmissions, the works. I’ve given the agreed-on response, of course -- a polite way of saying ‘fuck off. We have work to do.’” It replied, shrugging lazily. “I suppose nothing is better than something right now, though, boring as it is. We still don’t know precisely what the PUNT ships are up to, or if we’re even going to beat them to the punch, but...”

“The sooner we act, the better.” Amenabar interjected, earning a curt nod from everyone present. “They may as well be Nazis. We can’t afford to pull punches, diplomatic protocol be damned. It’s a good thing that the General Assembly agrees. Not that I’d expect otherwise, I mean. They usually do.”

“It’s a good thing they do,” Leopard -- a towering, broad-shouldered, black-haired man -- interjected, briefly reaching up to scratch his bushy beard. “Because, I’ll be frank; I’m looking forward to pummeling these sons-of-bitches. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be?”

Suddenly, Ultima found its attention wrenched away from the mess hall, a transmission hammering into its processors.
[Emergency transmission received:]
”This is Admiral 1-103 Akari Stands Resolute Against The Dark. We have come under concerted assault by the forces of the People’s Union of New Terra. We have suffered direct strike by numerous nuclear weapons. Casualties unknown, but high. Requesting support against the aggressor. Heaven preserve us.”

“*Oh*. Oh, that’s...”

Without a moment of hesitation, Ultima re-routed the transmission to the command staff, cringing as the Strzyga turned to face it...

And then, a reply, as alarms began to blare, bathing the ship in angry red light. Instantly, the soldiers scattered about the mess hall began to rise to their feet, rushing out of the room, some with lunch trays carried in their arms, while others lay abandoned where they sat.

This is Admiral Briganto. Orders are to immediately divert toward Ishtar, maximum speed. Transmit an encrypted reply.

Thankfully, for a person with such enormous computational power at its disposal, rapid, robust encryption was practically effortless, requiring little more than the digital equivalent of a flick of the wrist.

This is Ultima Verba, transmitting as the primary controlling persona of [i]Strasbourg[/i] and first through fourth of five Naval Action Forces. We are diverting toward your location; ETA in-system in approximately fourty-five minutes. Transmitting targeting datalink codes.

From Ashes We Rise : The Imperium Is Born

Ierné

Faction Name: the Eternal Monarchy of Ierné

Faction Overview/Concept: a highly militaristic society ruled by a long, ancient bloodline of Navis Nobilite, Ierné has waged a bloody war against the invading forces of Albyon for hundreds of years. They've survived only by sheer, stubborn will, fighting against a nearly overpowering enemy that worships rapacious bloodshed, led by the notoriously brutal Uilleam the Red, reviled by the populace of Ierné as a demon of war and rampant destruction. Ruled by Luigsech, the latest in the line of Novators to rule Ierné, the monarchy employs highly advanced technology, the materials for which are often purchased from Merica or their allies in Franc, then refined in Ierné into locally-produced armaments.

The massive, emerald plateau has been painstakingly preserved -- relatively compared to its surroundings, at least -- though it is still effectively a wasteland compared to what once was. Although somewhat strangely spiritual, due to their ongoing war with Albyon, most psykers are highly distrusted by the people of Ierné, as are those who claim to speak to spirits, other than those capable of binding and disabling other psykers. Others are usually executed or imprisoned in perpetuity after being nerve-stapled.

Ierné exports large quantities of alcohol, drugs and medical equipment, various industrial chemicals, and even anti-pollutants, vital for the production of potable water (particularly those made of gypsum), highly valuable resources only matched by the skill of its chirurgeons and alchemists, who are also given the responsibility of sequencing the genome of every citizen in Ierné, ensuring genetic stability and keeping watch for newly discovered bearers of the Navis genes and ensuring that the inbreeding required to reliably create navigators does not result in crippling genetic defects.

Faction Assets: necessitated by their constant war with the much larger Albyon, despite their military alliance with Franc, most adults in Ierné have some degree of military training, while those actively serving in its military are themselves impeccably trained, well-armed soldiers, heavily genetically modified and augmented, often cybernetically. Short on the materials necessary for promethium fuel, Ierné instead relies almost entirely on its infantry, equipped with light armor, a large quantity of energy weapons, and rarely-used chemical ordnance, employed to pacify and cripple the crazed soldiers of Albyon. Ierné also employs a wide variety of intimidation and psychological warfare tactics, horn-amplified war cries to sonic weapons designed to disrupt enemy troops, and even hallucinogenic chemicals, exploiting the bloodthirsty nature of Albyon soldiers by tricking them into slaughtering each other in the gas-induced confusion.

Gallogach -- the legendary heavy infantry of Ierné, the Gallogach are equipped with a primitive form of powered armor, energy shielding, jump packs, and a wide range of melee weapons, all the way from power spears to melta-bombs, chainblades, their famed Klaimor, and plasma-edged long-hafted axes. Few, if any, are equipped with ranged weaponry, their jump-packs designed to allow them to quickly close with the enemy where they can do the most damage. Like most of Ierné's elite soldiery, the Gallogach receive a relatively large quantity of combat augments to supplement their already impressive physical ability. Most Gallogach are equipped with chemical grenades modeled after old-Earth crowd control gasses and particle dispersants to stun and confuse their enemies before closing into melee.

Gallogach are almost always selected from long bloodlines selectively bred to serve as Galloglach and only Galloglach, the failures typically relegated to labour and doomed lives of social rejection and insignificance.

Kierna -- the light, skirmishing equivalent to the Gallogach, although quite capable in melee, the Kierna are primarily intended to provide Ierné's ranged firepower. Unlike the Gallogach, Kierna wear comparatively light armor, and are equipped with proper "jet" packs designed for highly agile longterm flight. In addition to chain and mono-edged swords, targe-type shields, and shortspears, the Kierna equip shoulder-mounted dart launchers containing various types of energy shells, heavily charged mitralock, artisan laslocks, and rapid-fire melta-pulsers for the destruction of vehicles.

Militia and other forces -- the militias of Ierné are armed with a wide variety of weapons, though most commonly multi-purpose jezailli allowing the. to fight equally well in melee and at range without needing to carry multiple weapons. They are also equipped with a wide-variety of energy-based infnatry support weapons, from lascannons to multilasers, though they use very minimal quantities of artillery.

A handful of formations in Ierné's military are lucky enough to ride genetically-enhanced steeds or war-bikes, equipped with everything from powerful vehicle-destroying las-spears or melta-lances, large quantities of throwing weapons, and a smattering of other armaments. They are, however, primarily light skirmishing cavalry, trained to accompany the Kierna battle, harassing enemy forces and crippling supply chains, already difficult to maintain in the toxic, blistering wastelands of Terra.

Falanagh -- even more elite than the Gallogach are the Falanagh, Navis Nobilite trained to cultivate their powers specifically for combat, armed and equipped with Dark Age-era artifacts, from highly advanced personal shields to artificer-quality armor, supercharged las-gauntlets and pistols, and even a small handful of disintegrators. In the heat of battle, the Falanagh are utterly terrifying, capable of boiling away the flesh of their enemies with mere glances from their third eyes, locally altering probability itself, and reading the moves of their enemies before they even act them out. They are also capable of hiding themselves from psychic sight and dampening the effect of psychic powers, making them especially effective against psykers, though not outright immune to their abilities like true Blanks.

As part of Ierné's nobility, the Falanagh are often placed in leadership positions as generals, given their choice of weapons and armour from their own armories, and occasionally rewarded with special equipment from the monarch's armories themselves. They, as with all Navis, are expected to spend much of their free time producing viable heirs, and are forbidden from impregnating or being impregnated by anyone not possessing the Navis genes. Otherwise, however, they are bound by relatively few rules, though they are punished incredibly harshly for misuse and misappropriation of vital war resources and food supplies. They also serve as bodyguards for the Novator.

Key Characters:

Novator Luigsech dé Dannah -- the current ruler of Ierné, Luigsech is the unquestioned leader of her people, and the most potent Navigator in their ranks. Although technically not a psyker herself, she is capable of incredible feats of power as one of the most potent living Navigators, handily obliterating whole formations of her enemies with her eye, burning away the souls of the corrupted like kindling, dampen psychic powers by forcing the warp into calm, or utterly paralyze soul-bearing beings. It is said that she can even peer directly into the souls of those she directs her gaze at, uncovering their most deeply-held secrets with incredible ease. Unmarried, she instead reproduces with whichever Navigator she pleases, selecting only those with the most desirable genetics.

Greágar, General of the Fionnach -- as the commander of Ierné's Fionnach, Glunnar is charged with hunting down and capturing or killing witches and those believed to be consorting with otherworldly powers, effectively serving as a hunter of witches and priests. Though old and grizzled, he's kept well in fighting shape, despite visible deformities resulting from his advanced age and the Homo Sapiens Navigo genes. He is a consummate master of the Aether doldrums, able to severely dampen the power of psykers, as are most of the Navis in his command, though the Fionnach are still primarily composed of mere Homo Sapiens Sapiens.

Lady Aishlin -- the Novator's seneschal, Lady Aishlin manages the daily business of the Novator's palatial fortress, from her day-to-day servants, to her harems, to her daily itinerary and travel arrangements, aided by her own staff. She is herself a Navigator, though a relatively young adult, and her powers have thus remained relatively muted so far.

Édoain -- Commander of the Gallogach, Édoain is perhaps the best-equipped baseline human in Ierné, and one of its most skilled warrior. A giant of a redhead, she features prominently in Iernéan propaganda, armed with an absolutely massive artificer-quality power axe capable of cleaving even men in power armor in twain with a single swing. She, like many of Ierné's best, has been extremely heavily augmented, towering over mere mortal men.

Novator Luigsech dé Dannah

Character Name: Luigsech dé Dannah

Rank/Role: Novator

Appearance:
Hauntingly beautiful, the young Novator adorns herself only in the rarest and most beautiful fineries, adorned in jewelry and dresses found nowehere else but in Merica's most exclusive ballrooms. Even her cybnertic augments -- a pair of clawed, gold-brushed secondary arms, are of the finest quality, though despite her preference for decoration and ceremony, she is an extremely lethal and physically fit combatant.

Biography: As Navigators are wont to do, Luigsech's family history has been precisely recorded further back than most surviving nations of Terra -- and her own life was no exception, gene-tailored before birth to remove any hint of defect or undesirable trait from her genome. By then, her people had become masters of genetic science by necessity, pruning out the inevitable unwanted result of the thousands upon thousands of years of selective inbreeding that was deemed necessary to ensure as many Navigators were produced as possible.

It was no surprise, then, that much of the Novator-to-be's early life was tightly controlled, from who she interacted with, to how she spent her free time, and even her hobbies -- the day would eventually come when she'd have freedom, but until then, her duty was to prepare for her duties as Novator and war-leader of her people, and not a thing more. As such, while the capital of Ierné was in the arcology-hive of Bailatlith, her family in reality lived far to the west, on a heavily fortified underground estate in the country's center, where Luigsech spent most of her childhood, occasionally visiting the heavily fortified capital on propaganda visits alongside her parents and her many siblings.

From a very young age, after all, Luigsech showed an unusual degree of potency in her Third Eye, and although she too would inevitably mutate so vigorously that even the chemical science of Ierné could not stop it, she was chosen to have a long career as the leader and public face of her people for as long as it was tenable. She took to her assigned role well, unflinchingly confident in the righteousness of her power -- and Ierné's cause -- even from her early childhood, the horrors of Albyon's bloodthirst burned into her mind by both education and second-hand experience of the horrors they inflicted on anyone they captured.

However, despite her enforced distance, Luigsech did genuinely care for her people in her own, twisted way, taking every opportunity she was offered to show her face and encourage their propagandized love of her, also intermingling with both her fellow Navigators and the visiting chieftans and generals of their Francish allies, reassuring them that she, too, would continue their ancient alliance once she took her place as Novator. For decades, she served this role, occasionally joining the armies on Ierné in battle once she reached adulthood, earning herself a reputation as a coldly vicious combatant and a capable commander, capable of both martial and preternatural lethality, earning her a pseudo-spiritual quality as a saviour figure among the general population.

It wasn't until she turned forty that her parents were removed from power, killed by Albyonese assassins, thrusting her into a position she has held for nearly ten years as of present, leveraging her immense power to systematically cripple Albyon's armies and re-establish connections with Merica, bringing vast quantities of much-needed raw material into the country for Ierné's capable weaponsmiths. Word has reached her through distant traders and contacts in House Hastings of a powerful Himalazian warlord with ambitions to conquer Terra, however, who she now seeks to contact, to assess whether he could prove a valuable ally, or whether he, like Albyon, must be stopped at all costs.

From Ashes We Rise : The Imperium Is Born

Rejev Devol

Character Name: Rejev Devol

Rank/Role: Fabricator General of Voss Prime, Prime Attendant of the Temple Cybernetica

Appearance: Although nominally a singular being, Devol is, in reality, an entity that operates through dozens of proxy-bodies, each selected based on the Fabricator's whims, or for a specific, necessitated purpose. The appearance of these bodies, as such, varies wildly -- a handful are locked away for the specific purpose of diplomacy, ranging from beautiful, androgynous shapes to hulking giants clad in corded genesculpt muscle, each designed to appeal to a different, loosely defined cultural archetype. They even possess a handful of warforms, carried aloft by anything from cybernetic legs to sleek grav-lift abeyants. Whichever form is chosen, however, there is no flesh visible, only cabes, armored plates, writhing mechadendrites, and the crisp reds and yellows of Vossian robes

Biography: thousands of years old, little of Devol's history is known to those outside of their inner circle -- the vaunted parliament of the Martian domains and Voss Prime in particular, its most skilled tech-priests and most cutthroat politicians. What is widely known, however, is that Devol was spawned out of a cloning vat, designed and trained to serve as a data-entry clerk in the Temple Cybernetica, Voss's center of robotic hardware and software, essentially a miles-wide, mile-tall server room buried deep beneath the Right Hand's crust.

They knew nothing but the Temple's halls for the entirety of their early life, hearing nothing but sparse binharic chatter and the low chanting of the hymnal priests blessing the massive stacks of data-cards stored away in the Temple's mile-high libraries. For many centuries, their life proceeded down the path of a relatively exceptional lexmechanic, eventually being granted the responsibility of cybertheurgy, thanks to their unusual aptitude for and fascination with the nature of data and the science of transmissions themselves.

As luck would have it, however, the Omnissiah eventually saw fit to bless Rejev with a greater fate.

On what was to be a simple expedition to Gyptus with their martian allies, Rejev, having joined the ranks of Explorators, stumbled upon a massive data-tomb, under the watchful eyes of Magos Cayce. Deep within the heavily-guarded complex, Rejev uncovered and was able to decipher the fragmentary blueprints for a prototypical datanet termed the "noosphere". Rejev was able to determine alongside the attending adepts that, if its myriad schemata were to be believed, this noospheric technology would communicate data in a raw form that was theoretically immune to malware and scrap-code.

Instantly, their career's progress became meteoric, and Rejev was thrust unwillingly into the cold politicking of the Mechanicum, even separated from Mars itself by the gulf of space. Mars's Right Hand had always been closely connected to it, after all, lines of communication maintained even since long before the Great Crusade. Progress on the noosphere was slow, but the advances made in data security alongside it were sufficient enough to afford Rejev the opportunity to substantially invest

Every favour was exchanged for resources, of course, as was the way of things in the Mechanicum, though Rejev made a habit of fair exchange rather than extortion and manipulation, hoping to gain as many allies and as few enemies within the Martian Empire as was humanly possible. Inevitably, some grew jealous, or doubted the promise of the noosphere, but Rejev pressed on regardless, providing some of Voss’s most advanced Cybernetica and ever-improving techniques and rituals of maintenance, all while pushing the boundaries of Cybertheurgy.

It wasn't long before the Magos was elevated to Archmagos, given their own enormous forged complex to command, deciphering newly-uncovered STC at a breakneck pace, refining their cybertheurgy.

Eventually, Rejev's accomplishments carried them further than even they thought possible, elected first to the Voss's parliament, then, shortly afterward, elevated to Fabricator General of Voss Prime for their enormous contributions to the Legio Cybernetica and to data-science. However, as of late, distant rumblings from Mars of rapid conquest on Terra draw a handful of their many eyes and dozens of cogitators towards humanity's cradle.

From Ashes We Rise : The Imperium Is Born

Ierné

Faction Name: the Emerald Monarchy of Ierné

Faction Overview/Concept: a highly militaristic society ruled by a long, ancient bloodline of Navis Nobilite, Ierné has waged a bloody war against the invading forces of Albyon for hundreds of years. They've survived only by sheer, stubborn will, fighting against a nearly overpowering enemy that worships rapacious bloodshed, led by the notoriously brutal Uilleam the Red, reviled by the populace of Ierné as a demon of war and rampant destruction. Ruled by Luigsech, the latest in the line of Novators to rule Ierné, the monarchy employs highly advanced technology, the materials for which are often purchased from Merica or their allies in Franc, then refined in Ierné into locally-produced armaments.

The massive, emerald plateau has been painstakingly preserved -- relatively compared to its surroundings, at least -- though it is still effectively a wasteland compared to what once was. Although somewhat strangely spiritual, due to their ongoing war with Albyon, most psykers are highly distrusted by the people of Ierné, as are those who claim to speak to spirits, other than those capable of binding and disabling other psykers. Others are usually executed or imprisoned in perpetuity after being nerve-stapled.

Ierné exports large quantities of alcohol, drugs and medical equipment, various industrial chemicals, and even anti-pollutants, vital for the production of potable water (particularly those made of gypsum), highly valuable resources only matched by the skill of its chirurgeons and alchemists, who are also given the responsibility of sequencing the genome of every citizen in Ierné, ensuring genetic stability and keeping watch for newly discovered bearers of the Navis genes and ensuring that the inbreeding required to reliably create navigators does not result in crippling genetic defects.

Faction Assets: necessitated by their constant war with the much larger Albyon, despite their military alliance with Franc, most adults in Ierné have some degree of military training, while those actively serving in its military are themselves impeccably trained, well-armed soldiers, heavily genetically modified and augmented, often cybernetically. Short on the materials necessary for promethium fuel, Ierné instead relies almost entirely on its infantry, equipped with light armor, a large quantity of energy weapons, and rarely-used chemical ordnance, employed to pacify and cripple the crazed soldiers of Albyon. Ierné also employs a wide variety of intimidation and psychological warfare tactics, horn-amplified war cries to sonic weapons designed to disrupt enemy troops, and even hallucinogenic chemicals, exploiting the bloodthirsty nature of Albyon soldiers by tricking them into slaughtering each other in the gas-induced confusion.

Gallogach -- the legendary heavy infantry of Ierné, the Gallogach are equipped with a primitive form of powered armor, energy shielding, jump packs, and a wide range of melee weapons, all the way from power spears to melta-bombs, chainblades, their famed Klaimor, and plasma-edged long-hafted axes. Few, if any, are equipped with ranged weaponry, their jump-packs designed to allow them to quickly close with the enemy where they can do the most damage. Like most of Ierné's elite soldiery, the Gallogach receive a relatively large quantity of combat augments to supplement their already impressive physical ability. Most Gallogach are equipped with chemical grenades modeled after old-Earth crowd control gasses and particle dispersants to stun and confuse their enemies before closing into melee.

Gallogach are almost always selected from long bloodlines selectively bred to serve as Galloglach and only Galloglach, the failures typically relegated to labour and doomed lives of social rejection and insignificance.

Kierna -- the light, skirmishing equivalent to the Gallogach, although quite capable in melee, the Kierna are primarily intended to provide Ierné's ranged firepower. Unlike the Gallogach, Kierna wear comparatively light armor, and are equipped with proper "jet" packs designed for highly agile longterm flight. In addition to chain and mono-edged swords, targe-type shields, and shortspears, the Kierna equip shoulder-mounted dart launchers containing various types of energy shells, heavily charged mitralock, artisan laslocks, and rapid-fire melta-pulsers for the destruction of vehicles.

Militia and other forces -- the militias of Ierné are armed with a wide variety of weapons, though most commonly multi-purpose jezailli allowing the. to fight equally well in melee and at range without needing to carry multiple weapons. They are also equipped with a wide-variety of energy-based infnatry support weapons, from lascannons to multilasers, though they use very minimal quantities of artillery.

A handful of formations in Ierné's military are lucky enough to ride genetically-enhanced steeds or war-bikes, equipped with everything from powerful vehicle-destroying las-spears or melta-lances, large quantities of throwing weapons, and a smattering of other armaments. They are, however, primarily light skirmishing cavalry, trained to accompany the Kierna battle, harassing enemy forces and crippling supply chains, already difficult to maintain in the toxic, blistering wastelands of Terra.

Falanagh -- even more elite than the Gallogach are the Falanagh, Navis Nobilite trained to cultivate their powers specifically for combat, armed and equipped with Dark Age-era artifacts, from highly advanced personal shields to artificer-quality armor, supercharged las-gauntlets and pistols, and even a small handful of disintegrators. In the heat of battle, the Falanagh are utterly terrifying, capable of boiling away the flesh of their enemies with mere glances from their third eyes, locally altering probability itself, and reading the moves of their enemies before they even act them out. They are also capable of hiding themselves from psychic sight and dampening the effect of psychic powers, making them especially effective against psykers, though not outright immune to their abilities like true Blanks.

As part of Ierné's nobility, the Falanagh are often placed in leadership positions as generals, given their choice of weapons and armour from their own armories, and occasionally rewarded with special equipment from the monarch's armories themselves. They, as with all Navis, are expected to spend much of their free time producing viable heirs, and are forbidden from impregnating or being impregnated by anyone not possessing the Navis genes. Otherwise, however, they are bound by relatively few rules, though they are punished incredibly harshly for misuse and misappropriation of vital war resources and food supplies. They also serve as bodyguards for the Novator.

Key Characters:

Novator Luigsech dé Dannah -- the current ruler of Ierné, Luigsech is the unquestioned leader of her people, and the most potent Navigator in their ranks. Although technically not a psyker herself, she is capable of incredible feats of power as one of the most potent living Navigators, handily obliterating whole formations of her enemies with her eye, burning away the souls of the corrupted like kindling, dampen psychic powers by forcing the warp into calm, or utterly paralyze soul-bearing beings. It is said that she can even peer directly into the souls of those she directs her gaze at, uncovering their most deeply-held secrets with incredible ease. Unmarried, she instead reproduces with whichever Navigator she pleases, selecting only those with the most desirable genetics.

Greágar, General of the Fionnach -- as the commander of Ierné's Fionnach, Glunnar is charged with hunting down and capturing or killing witches and those believed to be consorting with otherworldly powers, effectively serving as a hunter of witches and priests. Though old and grizzled, he's kept well in fighting shape, despite visible deformities resulting from his advanced age and the Homo Sapiens Navigo genes. He is a consummate master of the Aether doldrums, able to severely dampen the power of psykers, as are most of the Navis in his command, though the Fionnach are still primarily composed of mere Homo Sapiens Sapiens.

Lady Aishlin -- the Novator's seneschal, Lady Aishlin manages the daily business of the Novator's palatial fortress, from her day-to-day servants, to her harems, to her daily itinerary and travel arrangements, aided by her own staff. She is herself a Navigator, though a relatively young adult, and her powers have thus remained relatively muted so far.

Édoain -- Commander of the Gallogach, Édoain is perhaps the best-equipped baseline human in Ierné, and one of its most skilled warrior. A giant of a redhead, she features prominently in Iernéan propaganda, armed with an absolutely massive artificer-quality power axe capable of cleaving even men in power armor in twain with a single swing. She, like many of Ierné's best, has been extremely heavily augmented, towering over mere mortal men.

Novator Luigsech dé Dannah

Character Name: Luigsech dé Dannah

Rank/Role: Novator

Appearance:
Hauntingly beautiful, the young Novator adorns herself only in the rarest and most beautiful fineries, adorned in jewelry and dresses found nowehere else but in Merica's most exclusive ballrooms. Even her cybnertic augments -- a pair of clawed, gold-brushed secondary arms, are of the finest quality, though despite her preference for decoration and ceremony, she is an extremely lethal and physically fit combatant.

Biography: As Navigators are wont to do, Luigsech's family history has been precisely recorded further back than most surviving nations of Terra -- and her own life was no exception, gene-tailored before birth to remove any hint of defect or undesirable trait from her genome. By then, her people had become masters of genetic science by necessity, pruning out the inevitable unwanted result of the thousands upon thousands of years of selective inbreeding that was deemed necessary to ensure as many Navigators were produced as possible.

It was no surprise, then, that much of the Novator-to-be's early life was tightly controlled, from who she interacted with, to how she spent her free time, and even her hobbies -- the day would eventually come when she'd have freedom, but until then, her duty was to prepare for her duties as Novator and war-leader of her people, and not a thing more. As such, while the capital of Ierné was in the arcology-hive of Bailatlith, her family in reality lived far to the west, on a heavily fortified underground estate in the country's center, where Luigsech spent most of her childhood, occasionally visiting the heavily fortified capital on propaganda visits alongside her parents and her many siblings.

From a very young age, after all, Luigsech showed an unusual degree of potency in her Third Eye, and although she too would inevitably mutate so vigorously that even the chemical science of Ierné could not stop it, she was chosen to have a long career as the leader and public face of her people for as long as it was tenable. She took to her assigned role well, unflinchingly confident in the righteousness of her power -- and Ierné's cause -- even from her early childhood, the horrors of Albyon's bloodthirst burned into her mind by both education and second-hand experience of the horrors they inflicted on anyone they captured.

However, despite her enforced distance, Luigsech did genuinely care for her people in her own, twisted way, taking every opportunity she was offered to show her face and encourage their propagandized love of her, also intermingling with both her fellow Navigators and the visiting chieftans and generals of their Francish allies, reassuring them that she, too, would continue their ancient alliance once she took her place as Novator. For decades, she served this role, occasionally joining the armies on Ierné in battle once she reached adulthood, earning herself a reputation as a coldly vicious combatant and a capable commander, capable of both martial and preternatural lethality, earning her a pseudo-spiritual quality as a saviour figure among the general population.

It wasn't until she turned forty that her parents were removed from power, killed by Albyonese assassins, thrusting her into a position she has held for nearly ten years as of present, leveraging her immense power to systematically cripple Albyon's armies and re-establish connections with Merica, bringing vast quantities of much-needed raw material into the country for Ierné's capable weaponsmiths. Word has reached her through distant traders and contacts in House Hastings of a powerful Himalazian warlord with ambitions to conquer Terra, however, who she now seeks to contact, to assess whether he could prove a valuable ally, or whether he, like Albyon, must be stopped at all costs.

[1836] - Casual - Rise of Victoria

Hey, man.

If I can offer some advice, you won't likely have a ton of luck getting players this way-- there's nothing wrong with doing a casual thing, but it'd still be helpful to have more information on what the roleplay is, when it's set, etc -- you'll notice even other casual NRPs will do this. Otherwise, people don't know what they're applying for or what to expect.

Solar Winds : A Reboot

Seems that way. He's been posting in other threads.

Hostile Aquisitions - The Corporate Cold War of the 22nd Century

Any word?

GATEWAYS: THE NEXT GENERATION [NEW PLAYERS WELCOME!]

Several days Ago -- FEU Stealth Drones pass into PUNT territory, performing reconnaissance sweeps. After returning, the General Assembly promptly votes to declare war, with all members voting "YES". The text follows below:

JOINT RESOLUTION by UNANIMOUS VOTE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JOINT RESOLUTION by UNANIMOUS VOTE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY Declaring that a state of war now exists between the government of the Federal European Union and the government of the People's Union of New Terra and making provisions to prosecute the same.

Whereas the government of the People's Union of New Terra violates basic conditions of personal dignity and constitutes an existential threat to the people of the Federal European Union and the galaxy as a whole, as per:

Slavery, constituting upwards 40% of population in this specific case:
•The exercising of rights of ownership over persons
•Imposition of forced or compulsory labor not in the course of normal detention, normal civic obligations, military service, or that which is enacted in case of emergency or calamity
•Trafficking in legal persons (in the manner of property)

•The open exposition of the supposed inherent inferiority of persons not meeting strict definitions of "human", and that such persons inherently lack rights, constituting ~90% of the FEU population, on basis of being genetically distinct from humans, heavily modified by cybernetics, or Artificially Intelligent

•The denial of basic personal and political rights to legal persons on the basis of gender and/or loosely defined biological sex

•Significant military buildup and intent to prosecute war against sovereign nations on basis of the aforementioned

Genocide, intent established by official PUNT government policy:

•Slavery and hard labor programs involving the Ol'ien, which deprive the Ol'iens of access to positive affection, neurologically essential to their survival and expose them to lethal levels of depressive emotion, thereby constituting the killing and mental harm of members of the aforementioned group with intent to destroy them, and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

Therefore, it is resolved by the General Assembly of the European Union and its people assembled that a state of war has been formally declared between the Federal European Union, and its armed forces, authorized by the General Assembly, are hereby authorized and directed to employ the entirety of its available force and available resources of the government (precluded by maintenance of basic standards of living defined by the Directorate-General of Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion and the Directorate-General of Health) to carry out the state of war that exists between the government of the Federal European Union and the government of the People's Union of New Terra; and to bring it to a successful conclusion all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the General Assembly of the Federal European Union.

New Europe High Orbit, Aboard Supercarrier Strasbourg

Six hours.

Six hours, and the Strasbourg would begin steaming toward the TRAPPIST system's gateway, on a course to war with a fleet of hundreds of ships in tow, and many more on the way.

Drazenka wasn't sure exactly how to feel, staring into the mirror on her bunk's wall, the rumble of the titanic vessel impalpable beneath her. It may have been a military vessel, but it was designed to be comfortable for its soldiers too, from maximally comfortable bedding to reasonably tasty, nutritionally robust food and adequate time for rest and recreation, all made possible by an abundance of resources -- and a relatively low count of actual flesh-and-blood soldiers.

Well, technically flesh-and-blood, she thought, glancing down at the pair of gunmetal grey arms extending from her body, clad in flexible, carbonous weave. They did the job far better than flesh ever could, and they nicely got rid of the aches and pains that used to plague her, all with the help of the intricate piece of technology that reinforced her back, replaced her damaged nerves, and and kept her brain in tip-top shape.

Most of her body below the neck, really, was cybernetic, and even her brain had bits and pieces replaced by powerful machinery, those essential parts holding most of her memories kept from aging by expensive nanites, a typical thing for most FEU citizens.

Still, she thought, staring into a reflection of her artificial emerald-tinted eyes, some small part of her was afraid of the war ahead, even if it was nearly impossible for her to stay dead. She'd done it before. Hell, most of her squadmates had, even if there were a few hiccups along the way. Minor cosmetic defects.

It was well worth the immortality in combat, though.

Pushing herself away from the mirror with one last look at her massive body, clad in a thick, grey bodysuit, she walked out the door of her quarters, down the Strasbourg's halls. Drones deftly darted past her as she walked, some ambulatory, others hovering, and a handful speeding past her on wheels or small treads. Each one provoked a response in her brain, identification numbers and specifications numbly streaming through her mind as her implants analyzed them. None were deemed threats, of course, though each was systematically noted for any possible way it could cause her harm. A few, she recognized, waving at them or greeting them -- acquaintances she'd met on the Strasbourg or elsewhere.

She passed by a few living beings, too humans, insectoids, and a smorgasbord of other aliens that she only recognized ocne her implants told her what they were. Still, they were far fewer in number than the machines.

She finally stopped at a medium-sized set of double doors, three or four times the width of her body, smoothly stepping through them as they slid open to reveal a room full of chairs, most filled with familiar faces engaged in conversation. At the head, behind a small podium, stood Commandant Amenabár, and Drazenka quickly sat herself down in one of the empty chairs.

"You all know why you're here," Lieré began, speaking in the carefully constructed lingua franca of the FEU. "In a short few handfuls of hours, we will pass through the solar gate, and into PUNT-held territory. Preliminary drone reconnaissance indicates that, while their naval presence is relatively reduced compared to normal, we expect heavy resistance the very moment we arrive in-system." She said, calling up an in-colour hologram of the system of New Terra., along with vague fleet arrangements.

"We are, by a large margin, outnumbered, and technically outgunned. However," she continued, "the Signals and Analysis Corps data strongly indicates we have a few key advantages: competency, technology, surprise, and logistical resilience. Put simply, the PUNT military appears so large that we expect their logistical chain to be both weak and poorly managed. Sensor pings show such an enormous volume of transit through the gates that, not only is it likely impossible for them to consistently supply combat units, but it is nearly impossible for them to be trained to a level that would be considered adequate. You are probably more experienced and vastly more resilient than any one of their soldiers. However... We have no such indications coming to their officer corps. Nevertheless, data provided by our Ishtari comrades leads us to believe that, despite having generally skilled officer corps, their fascist ideology will, as history has played out again and again, encourage jockeying for prestige and glory. Therefore, while you are advised to anticipate competent operations at the tactical and strategic level, and extreme fanaticism at the squad level, except from slave battalions, keep clear in your minds the likely attitude of their command structure."

"Next, technology. As you're well aware," she said, gesturing to the few dozen soldiers in the room, "we've equipped ourselves with the best technology available. While we can't know exactly how the enemy's weapons will operate on such short notice, what we do understand is that, likewise based on provided data and our own analysis, we possess substantial technological superiority, both on and off the field. Not only that, but while they do expect retaliatory offensives, what they don't expect is for us to do it. Quite simply, they don't even know that we exist. That is what we will exploit. We breach the gate, strike their fleets with everything we have, and lock down New Terra. Next, we'll discuss the specific role we, the Strzyga, will play in the initial landings..."