BTW, I'd advise against underestimating what the fantasy side can do. Heck, what even numerical superiority in soldiers can do if utilized well. Advanced technology has a lot of benefits and not respecting it can lead to hilariously lopsided battles. On the other hand be it an arrow or a guided missile, they both can murder a person. Given the right conditions those silly mud dwellers with bows could handle your ass in warfare.
Take a stereotypical tree monster as an example. First off, no, neither gasoline nor diesel would be sufficient for this purpose. Gasoline would explode instead of burn in these conditions and diesel would barely ignite. Even if you choose the right accelerants a canisterful of them would only really work if you soak the leaves and branches and hope the crown of the tree generates enough heat to burn the trunk. Live tree hunks can be surprisingly difficult to burn. Okay, what about other measures? Explosives can work but again, only if you use enough of it. Explosive tree removal is a thing, especially in America. But how much explosives you require for it? Pounds of it to break a tree in half with carefully positioned charges. A single explosive may do severe damage to a treant but being animated tree with no vitals or sense of pain, that won't deter it. What if you don't have much in explosives? Well, expect tens of thousands of rounds being spent on a tree each. Preferably from distance so the deflecting bullets won't injure your own men. Long story short a treant is "easily" beatable by a modern army but you should never underestimate the amount of commitment this would require. Face an army of them and you probably run out of ammo way before you eliminate all of them.
<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>
Nice we have elves! Oh I have alot to talk to you about.
My elvish empire would be a moderately sized nation where subjects of other races are ruled by militant elves. I think I'll base them mostly on my Yllendthyr NS from other fantasy games but not entirely.
Might join as an elvish fantasy empire of sorts when I get the time. Although when I say "Empire" it doesn't necessarily mean a huge nation. I do think you probably need an NPC faction as the primary fantasy faction others meet, though.
@DracoLunarisI have something remotely similar to this with my space colonies. They exceed the size restrictions on space vessels (1km long) but since they aren't used in combat (more like something to be protected from it) they've got a pass. I think so long you don't arm these up into becoming some sorts of super battlestation it passes and look, it does. BTW, are you interested in meeting my faction I have several plot ideas. My people are kind of like elves in space even though they don't have any of that aesthetic outright. Both of our factions use space habitats as their primary living environment. We could be either friends or even dire enemies. Once you joined the discord chat we can talk about the details.
I'm busy so I won't be participating much till a week or two. I'll also rework my NS to better accommodate the territory changes but just saying I am taking a break from this game but haven't quite dropped out yet.
Alternative Names: Kyrennopolis, Kyrennes Commonwealth or just Kyrennos. Demonym: Kyrenno (m.,n.), Kyrenne (f.) or Kyrennoi (pl. or gen.) - mostly exclusive to citizen Dominant Species: Centaurs (they refer to themselves as Yppolo, Yppoloi for plural)
Kyrennopolis (back then called as Arioce) used to be nothing a small fishing town and part of a human kingdom long forgotten. This changed when the kingdom came under attack by the distant lands of Kenteiros. Using it as their main port Emperor Aetion turned the small town into a flourishing city named Ariopolis. After the conquest of kingdom the territory became a crown jewel to the Empire, often managed by the royal heir. Ariopolis became small yet rich province thanks to the trade incomes, turning more and more extravagant with each successive ruler. Under Empress Melanctene the city (and the entire territory) was renamed Kyrennopolis (city of sovereignty) and she even considered turning it to the new capital of Kenteiros. Yet disasters struck the Empire and after a line of inept rulers came the dominance of the infamous Emperor Abikenos. His reign of terror led to a massive civil war and Kenteiros invaded and split into many parts. At the same time Kyrennopolis had enough and murdered their governor while declaring their independence. Tired of monarchies and fearful of the rise of a new tyrant they form a democratic government ruled by none but the direct will of all citizens. Being the center of culture even before the Empire's fall they've redoubled their focus on art, thought and knowledge. Hundreds of scholars leave the city each year in search for knowledge and to spread their wisedom through the world. The Kyrennoi University, one of the world's first, is well-renowned and students can attend from all races and nations. While most centaurs chose to live as nomadic savages the Kyrennoi are better recognized as teachers, priests and scholars with their philosophies influencing thinkers throughout the subcontinent.
Kyrennopolis is at times called the capital of free thinkers yet when referring to the country as a whole the situation is different. Democracy only involves the free and wealthy citizens of Kyrennopolis and nobody else. They themselves form a rich elite. Because following the old Kenteiros traditions slavery and oppression are rather common. Kallos are a goblin-like diminutive race who follow Kyrennosians wherever they go. That is because they are effectively their slaves, born for serving the centaurs. Being large half man and half horse creatures there are certain tasks they'd find difficult or impossible. As such before even the formation of Kenteiros they managed to enslave a weak race who would not resist them, the Kallosi. Since then these small humanoid creatures accompany the centaurs as servants. In spite of that they are rarely unhappy with their circumstances and they are treated relatively well. Aside from them Kyrennopolis also practices debt slavery and enslaving their defeated. Non-citizens and especially non-centaur populations in general are also treated as secondary countrymen. Territories outside the city have their own small governments that are subservient to the Kyrennopolis leadership. In this sense anywhere but in the city people still experience monarchic rule, only replacing the authority of one person with that of a whole city. Aside from local militia the army and warfleets of Kyrennos are both under central control with citizenry at their core. For people of such reputation of enlightenment Kyrennoi are quite militant and would not hesitate to wage war when it serves their interest. When waging war is necessary the Demos appoints a Strategos and their cadre of military officials to lead the army albeit at times of turmoil it isn't rare for such titles to be retained even during relative peacetime.
Demographics wise Kyrennos is rather diverse. Kyrennopolis is chiefly populated by centaurs and their Kallosi attendants. Rural villages and towns are mostly inhabited by humans albeit albeit centaurs are also common. The central lands were used to be swamps filled with various swamp beasts. Since then large scale irrigation networks built by the Empire while making a deal with the Sauros (lizardmen), one of the more civilized aquatic beasts. The lizardmen communities gradually forced the other beasts out from their now changed environment and can be practically considered a collection of tiny countries subjected to Kyrennos. Up North are wildlands where the law only has limited hold. This territory is dominated by centaurs who chose a more free but also savage lifestyle.
Alternative Names: Kyrennopolis, Kyrennes Commonwealth or just Kyrennos. Demonym: Kyrenno (m.,n.), Kyrenne (f.) or Kyrennoi (pl. or gen.) - mostly exclusive to citizen Dominant Species: Centaurs (they refer to themselves as Yppolo, Yppoloi for plural)
Territory Overview:
TBA
Nation Overview:
Kyrennopolis (back then called as Arioce) used to be nothing a small fishing town and part of a human kingdom long forgotten. This changed when the kingdom came under attack by the distant lands of Kenteiros. Using it as their main port Emperor Aetion turned the small town into a flourishing city named Ariopolis. After the conquest of kingdom the territory became a crown jewel to the Empire, often managed by the royal heir. Ariopolis became small yet rich province thanks to the trade incomes, turning more and more extravagant with each successive ruler. Under Empress Melanctene the city (and the entire territory) was renamed Kyrennopolis (city of sovereignty) and she even considered turning it to the new capital of Kenteiros. Yet disasters struck the Empire and after a line of inept rulers came the dominance of the infamous Emperor Abikenos. His reign of terror led to a massive civil war and Kenteiros invaded and split into many parts. At the same time Kyrennopolis had enough and murdered their governor while declaring their independence. Tired of monarchies and fearful of the rise of a new tyrant they form a democratic government ruled by none but the direct will of all citizens. Being the center of culture even before the Empire's fall they've redoubled their focus on art, thought and knowledge. Hundreds of scholars leave the city each year in search for knowledge and to spread their wisedom through the world. The Kyrennoi University, one of the world's first, is well-renowned and students can attend from all races and nations. While most centaurs chose to live as nomadic savages the Kyrennoi are better recognized as teachers, priests and scholars with their philosophies influencing thinkers throughout the subcontinent.
Kyrennopolis is at times called the capital of free thinkers yet when referring to the country as a whole the situation is different. Democracy only involves the free and wealthy citizens of Kyrennopolis and nobody else. They themselves form a rich elite. Because following the old Kenteiros traditions slavery and oppression are rather common. Kallos are a goblin-like diminutive race who follow Kyrennosians wherever they go. That is because they are effectively their slaves, born for serving the centaurs. Being large half man and half horse creatures there are certain tasks they'd find difficult or impossible. As such before even the formation of Kenteiros they managed to enslave a weak race who would not resist them, the Kallosi. Since then these small humanoid creatures accompany the centaurs as servants. In spite of that they are rarely unhappy with their circumstances and they are treated relatively well. Aside from them Kyrennopolis also practices debt slavery and enslaving their defeated. Non-citizens and especially non-centaur populations in general are also treated as secondary countrymen. Territories outside the city have their own small governments that are subservient to the Kyrennopolis leadership. In this sense anywhere but in the city people still experience monarchic rule, only replacing the authority of one person with that of a whole city. Aside from local militia the army and warfleets of Kyrennos are both under central control with citizenry at their core. For people of such reputation of enlightenment Kyrennoi are quite militant and would not hesitate to wage war when it serves their interest. When waging war is necessary the Demos appoints a Strategos and their cadre of military officials to lead the army albeit at times of turmoil it isn't rare for such titles to be retained even during relative peacetime.
Demographics wise Kyrennos is rather diverse. Kyrennopolis is chiefly populated by centaurs and their Kallosi attendants. Rural villages and towns are mostly inhabited by humans albeit albeit centaurs are also common. The central lands were used to be swamps filled with various swamp beasts. Since then large scale irrigation networks built by the Empire while making a deal with the Sauros (lizardmen), one of the more civilized aquatic beasts. The lizardmen communities gradually forced the other beasts out from their now changed environment and can be practically considered a collection of tiny countries subjected to Kyrennos. Up North are wildlands where the law only has limited hold. This territory is dominated by centaurs who chose a more free but also savage lifestyle.
Also called the Dragonrealm it describes an ancient culture of wanderers who spend most of their lives in space habitats. They're spread out and only sporadically make contact with outsiders. They refer to their species as "Asterians" or the children of stars and are known to have a vaguely feudalistic government lead by the Kaiser.
Cultural Overview
Asterians believe in the fact that living on planets and other large astrological bodies with notable gravity would weight down their souls and lead to their moral/ethical ruin. As such they prefer to live in artificial environments of the space habitats, albeit dwarf planets and asteroids ae also acceptable. They are often nomadic, preferring to not remain at the same place for long. Nobody knows the time when they've left their homeworld as history record from the early age are scarce if even non-existent. Some think it was deliberate erasure by the current government while others believe it could've been an accident. Drachenreich subjects in general are xenophobic and don't trust outsiders and even fellow Asterians from distant colonies have a hard time to warm up to each other. They live in a relatively rigid social system of commoners (Landsmanner) and nobles (Edel) with one of the most appreciated values being one's magic aptitude. Through intermarriage and other customs for millennia the nobles have a much higher magic potential in general and they use this fact to claim genetic superiority. On the other hand Asterian culture doesn't really have a much of a distinction between genders when it comes to jobs or even titles. A girl in Asterian society can equally inherit a noble house's properties and a considerable number of Drachenreich's rulers were female under the title of Kaiserin.
As for timekeeping the Asterians use cycles instead of days which equals roughly 10 terrestrial hours. Work and rest is usually in different cycles altogether albeit for better efficiency they invented quarter-cycles and even tenth-cycles (decicycle, roughly equivalent to an hour). Decicycles are split to 100 milicycles and those to 100 moments. As such an "asterian day" (cycle) is 4 quartercycles or 10 decicycles, or 1000 milicycles or 100000 moments depending on which measurement unit you use. An Asterian "week" is 10 cycles and usually is referred as "Decans" an abreviation of decacycles. Their "months" are 100 cycles and referred as "Periods", each named after an Asterian mythological figure. An asterian "year" is always 1000 cycles long and while it can be called kilocycle its more common names include Alt, Yahr or just simply year. Asterian calendar takes the date of the Reich's foundation as its "zero date" anything before that is "vor dem Reich" (before the Realm, abbreviated as VR) and anything after it is "in dem Reich" (within the Realm, abbreviated as IR). The current date (during the RP's start, at least) is IR 12497. When writing down exact dates they use a simple system (for example the 10th cycle of Drachonar (3rd decan) in IR12497 would be: IR 12497.0310). This can even go down to subcycles as say during the same cycle 12497.03100543 means that it's past the fifth decicycle and at the 43rd milicycle. For ease they at times divide the different types with full stops (like for example: 12497.03.10.05.43) but this isn't the standard everywhere. The reason for such clinically neat system is simple, Asterians are space travelers with no fix reference point for time aside from computers counting its passage. In addition given the distance it isn't rare for the calendars of faraway colonies to diverge to a considerable amount. To avoid this going overboard Drachenstadt's time is taken as the global standard and periodically all colonies synchronize to them. That being said there are rare cases when distant colonies fail to contact/synchronize with Drachenstadt for years. And of course rouge colonies and other factions not officially part of Drachenreich no longer synchronize with the capital's calendars. This is of course the source of a myriad of nuanced issues.
Asterians, the star children, are considered a humanoid race especially as far as appearances go. Their outward looks are strikingly similar to humans with the only obvious difference being the pointed ears. That being said in terms of skin tone and hair colors the Asterians have a wide range of faint metallic tones, blue hair or even skin aren't that unusual for them. Physiologically though the Asterians are very divergent from humans, only sharing a similar setup/function for vital organs but not even their chemical makeup. Asterian bones for example are made up from a metallic material not native on Earth and their bloodstream flows with a brownish yellow liquid. Though it does worth noting that high magical aptitude can change the color of blood to glowing cyan blue, a common indicator of noble heritage. Average height for Asterians is in the range of 150-170cm and life expectancy is around 90-120 years albeit gifted and wealthy individuals might live for hundreds of years. In spite of their appearance it's impossible for a human and an Asterian to have children together.
Giant cylindrical space vessels vaguely resembling O'Neill type of rotating space habitats. Their typical dimensions being 6km wide and 36km long albeit this can vary a lot. There are small colonies that are only 8km long and there's Drachenstadt which is 120km long at total and has specialized facilities that can assemble new colonies from scratch. Building a colony doesn't necessarily require Drachenstadt's facilities and many aristocrats expand their territory through starting their own colony building projects but the capital has by far the most efficient means.
The interior walls of a colony are planted with soil and have blooming vegetation, animals and overall an enjoyable biosphere for the inhabitants. Artificial gravity, generated by centrifugal force, is around half that of Earth's albeit this can vary per design, so does the atmospheric pressure. Light is artificially generated and inhabitants usually can watch a virtual sky projected from the center. The central portion is under zero gravity and is usually reserved for large scale production facilities. A colony is always under the jurisdiction of a noble, usually at least medium rank, and can be equated to medieval age fiefs. The population of a colony varies, mostly depends on size, facilities, taxes and age. While they have propulsion and FTL capability a space habitat is no combat vessel, nor is it practical to mount anything but perhaps the most basic defenses on it. As such these ships in spite of their immense size contribute nothing directly to combat and it's the duty of the defense fleet to protect them. Also while colonies are by far the most common dwelling for Asterian population, it isn't the only one. Asteroid colonies or other mining facilities also have their workforce and occasionally they even live on planets. Still, even those usually wish to live on the traveling colony ships the species is famous for.
Government Overview
Drachenreich is considered a monarchy, lead by the Kaiser or Kaiserin. This is an elected title granted through the support of the aristocracy and could be revoked any time using the same measures. Candidates are usually (albeit not always) are chosen from the Seven Great Houses. The feuds and alliances of these families determine much of the Dragonrealm internal politics. Infighting, coups and rebellions aren't uncommon. As a true feudalist system the majority of colonies are under the hold of the aristocrats, only Drachenstadt and the few core colonies surrounding it are the Crown's explicit property. The basic requirement of stable rulership requires the candidate to own considerable personal holdings and/or set up a strong web of alliances owning most property. Legislature is split between the upper and lower houses. Also referred as the High Council the upper house consists of the eldest active members of each Great House, the Kaiser/Kaiserin and the senior heads of other major owners. Edler (nobles) have the opportunity to request audience within the High Council and may even participate for a session if given the Kaiser's permission. Commoners though can only enter the halls if specifically invited and only as long as they're needed. Lower house describes the gathering and legislative body of local representatives, one for each colony or major outpost. Each vote is weighed by the count of lives within that property, at times with a multiplier weighing into the results. The latter is mostly used to give mining outposts a more realistic importance in votes as their economic influence can shape entire regions. Laws are always created in the upper house which the lower house only need to accept and make the preparations to enforce them. At times the lower house might not be satisfied with the details of the law and instead submit a modified version back to the upper house. Alternatively the lower house can give suggestions for new laws or royal actions. Unlike in many of the more democratic systems the lower house is weaker and does not have the authority to check and limit the upper house's power.
Technology Overview
Drachenreich is an ancient civilization with numerous discoveries and scientific achievements in the past. Correspondingly they have a fairly developed industry and relatively sophisticated technology. On the other hand their social structure is often even makes them opposed to any meaningful innovation which rendered their technological level mostly stagnant. While they have kept refining their technology for those millennia the most significant scientific developments were through adopting technology from others. Their industry generally thrives on exploiting nebulas and asteroids for their resources and rather than improving the efficiency they're more inclined to just raise the sheer quantity of collectors. Another common sector is agriculture which tends to use relatively traditionalist farms. Synthetic foods are incredibly uncommon, only used when all else is unavailable. AI technology exists and helps industrial processes but they aren't advanced enough to replace all forms of manual labor, nor there's an interest to do that. Small scale manufacture is also likes using live workforce but when it comes to larger scale projects the automatization grows immensely. Most Asterian colonies have a large mile-wide if not larger cylindrical portion in their center dedicated to nothing but heavy industry, often while abusing the benefits of near-vacuum and zero gravity environment. And these literal giants of industry are supported by a flood of resource collection units and transports ferrying materials from interstellar distances. Drachenreich has a stagnant technological environment but only because their current level of development is more than sufficient to sustain or even keep on growing. That and dramatic changes to technology would undoubtedly change their society, a notion which the nobility is outright afraid of.
- Atomic Reactors: An evolution of nuclear reactors which relies on advanced forcefield and magic crystal technology to use any of the common materials as nuclear fuel and with high efficiency. The system is highly regulated, safe and widespread in use. For such reasons Asterians don't seem to rely on solar energy at all as nuclear power practically always worth it for them.
- Thermokinetic Engines: A complex powerplant which can turn kinetic and thermal energy into electric power or in reverse. At large scale this is often used as secondary power generation and efficiency improving measures while the reverse has common use for locomotion in ground vehicles.
- Mechanocells: Also referred as kinetic battery, it's a power storage method which uses nano scale surfaces and spring mechanism to store pure mechanical energy. When required this power can be converted to electricity thus providing a lightweight and compact alternative to classic batteries.
- Annie: Carbonic material with specially engineered electron structure to produce an electric field sufficient to hold antimatter particles. Antimatter Neutral Medium or "Annie" is effectively a fuel source used for simple applications like powering smaller rockets.
- Positronic Capacitors: High-powered energy storage method which turns electricity into positrons. As matter-antimatter annihilation occurs within femtoseconds it allows extremely fast impulse energies necessary for certain high energy applications including FTL drives and even weaponry.
- Nanolathes: By using forcefields as a 3D blueprint and inject nanoparticles it's possible to produce complex objects relatively quickly and without the usual upfront costs for acquiring the right machinery. Nanolathes are energy demanding processes but are highly popular and modified versions are even used for research purposes. That being said nanolathes can't replace all industrial processes or not without sacrificing quality. As such classic construction methods are still in use.
- Durametals: A large group of engineered transuranic metals that have massive densities along with various unique properties. Durasteel for example is a standard high strength material used in almost anything for structural reasons. Durabar on the other hand has excellent radiation absorption properties. Over the millennia durametals went from a niche into widespread use and the only cheap objects are made from lighter materials. Even when weight is considered the Asterians developed Duramesh which is a spongy metal foam. This both saves resources and can result in a much lighter body.
- Inertial Control Devices: To handle accelerations at warp speeds Asterians developed a technology which could control weight and redirect inertia from specific parts of the vessel. This isn't much different from similar technologies introduced by other spacefaring civilizations and as others they also made use of it in other fields like hovertech or lifting heavy objects. Inertia manipulation also found military uses like the iconic Gravity Blades that help delivering greater blows through manipulating the mass behind each strike.
- Jumpdrive: The simplest FTL drive known, commonly used by many other civilizations. Jumpdrives work by traveling through subspace which effectively allows going from one point of realspace to the other while traveling considerably less. The drawback is that, at least for Asterian variants of the drive, it has limited operation time which ultimately restricts this to shorter ranges.
- Hyperdrive: A variant of jumpdrives which dwelves deeper into subspace called the "hyperspace". This effectively allows faster travel albeit restricting it to the so-called "hyperlanes". It's like traveling in stable corridors within the chaotic swirl of imaginary space. As such distances in realspace might not equate for the same in hyperspace. Neighboring star systems might be more distant in hyperspace than another coordinate hundreds of lightyears away. This also explains the dispersed nature of Dragonrealm colonies. While any sufficiently well-equipped vessel can have a Jumpdrive the Hyperdrives are restricted to only colony ships and the largest vessels. This is due to their complexity and horrible energy demands.
Military Overview
Like the government, Drachenreich's military is in the hands of nobles. Every Lord has obligations to maintain an army for defense. Yet more often than not these are insufficient for anything more than internal security. As such for over a millennia it's a common practice for Lords to rent the services of knight orders. Knights (Ritter) are a portion of the nobility who dedicate their lives for warfare. They generally do that by joining one of the myriad of knight orders starting as a mere apprentice, squire and then become a fully fledged knight. Landeritters are the lowest rank who are little more than common troops while Rittermeister (Knight Lords) are managing an entire Mobile Castle (Kriegschloss). The supreme leader of each knight order are called the Hochmeister (Grandmaster). Since reliable interstellar travel required massive vessels they invented the Mobile Castles (Kriegschlösser) which serve as a mobile fortress and base of operations. They carry both troops and service staff required for long campaigns and some of these castles are indeed on permanent patrol duty. Of course as a mobile base the Kriegschlösser aren't fit to be general frontline vessel and instead they use small ships for that purpose. Yet during combat in space the primary focus is on the Eisenreisen (meaning: Iron Giants), 8+ meters tall giant mechs with capability to fight in space and even inside colonies.
250-1000m long armored compact space colonies and battle fortresses that serve as the knights' primary base of operation. Due to its size it doesn't have the same amenities as civilian colonies and relies entirely on artificial gravity instead of the old method of centrifugal force. These vessels are well-protected with the mix of gravity barriers and thick duracomposite armor plates and of course equipped with numerous weapon stations for self-defense. Most castles also have a large durasteel spike used for ramming attacks albeit some prefer giant energy cannons. That being said their primary role is to be the mobile habitat of knightly forces and their servants. As such they have lot of space for equipment, docks for larger vessels, refineries, factories and everything to wage war and to be relatively self-sufficient.
Used to be the backbone of Asterian space forces they are nowadays closer to fire support and battle carriers. They are powerful yet don't approach the sheer versatility of Eisenreise which makes their combat role only secondary yet just as necessary.
Giant humanoid machines that form the backbone of knightly forces. Their appearance is synonymous with the Ritter title and their contribution to battles is the subject of nearly every legend. Their ultracompact atomic reactors give them considerable power while the combination of impulse drives along with inertia control mechanism give it phenomenal agility in space. Their combat role roughly equals that of space fighters albeit with a lot more focus on agility and fighting techniques. They also have a tendency to choose close combat where their Gravity Blades and Gravity Lances can turn their momentum and energy reserves to devastating strikes. There are various models and different regions tend to prefer different models as their standard. Commoners who piloted Eisenreise usually received outdated models while a Landeritter would use amore up to date yet standard variant. Distinguished knights often customized their mechs and some even went for higher grade machines built directly to their specs. Such aces are often the pride and greatest asset of a knightly order.
Simply referred as armed vehicles, this is a category for mostly ground vehicles. Since the Dragonrealm is diverse this is reflected back the most in the chaos that accounting for various ground vehicle variants. They can range from repurposed civilian vehicles to mass-produced vehicles unique to a certain house or even entirely custom battlewagons sparing no cost in their construction. As such rather than trying to reconcile these Crown had introduced an universal standard system categorizing these vehicles.
Wwgn-1: Ultralight vehicles with the maximum weight of 1 ton.
Wwgn-10: Light vehicles with the maximum weight of 10 tons.
Wwgn-25: Intermediate class vehicles with up to 25 tons of weight.
Wwgn-50: Medium-class vehicles with up to 50 tons.
Wwgn-100: Heavy vehicles up to the 100-ton range. Often battletanks or heavy artillery.
Wwgn-100+: Superheavy combat vehicles with over 100 tons of weight. They are usually custom-made and rare.
Wwgn-1000+: Not an official classification but semi-popular for referring to gigantic mobile constructs that stretch the meaning of vehicle.
Most land vehicles have conventional propulsion like wheels and threads and use thermokinetic engines powered by either Annie or mechanocells rather than atomic reactors. When a vehicle is hover-capable it's signified with an S (Schwebend) letter at the end, ie: Wwgn-10S. Similarly if it's flight-capable but still mostly considered a surface vehicle than aircraft it gains the F letter, Flügend. If a vehicle has an ultracompact atomic rather than traditional powerplant then it gains the N designation, Nuklearen. Vehicle Examples:
Origin: Drachenstadt Year of Adoption: IR9807 Length: ~ 6m Weight: ~ 60 metric tons
By the 10th millennium the Realm had over a hundred different tank designs with different sizes, weights and entirely different components. That was fine until the XXXIX Crusade declared against the Sectoids. With the largest land offensive known in millennia the colonies transported their myriad of different combat vehicles to assist the cause. Yet the result was nothing but chaos as the logistical nightmare of servicing so many kinds of vehicles became apparent. While the Realm narrowly escaped the embarrassment the Crown soon focused on developing new standards for vehicles to avoid similar issues in the future. Part of that involved the development of the new stanard tank, the Löwe. Compact, cheap and reliable. These were the main characteristics of the vehicle. It's been over 2000 years since the vehicle's debut but with constant upgrades and modifications it remains the mainstay tank of the Realm, known in over a thousand different variants.
Official Name: Allseitigskampfpanzer 11948 (advertised as the "Generalpanzer", also referred as AKP) Origin: Walstadt Year of Adoption: IR11948 Length: 5.432m Weight: 108.921 metric tons
The so-called "Universal Tank" designed by the large factory complex of Walstadt under the authority of the Bernfried Family, this vehicle soon gained both fame and notoriety. Designed as a versatile and powerful battle tank it has the latest advancements in duracomposite technologies to give it the greatest armor coverage for surface area. In addition it sports the latest sensors and a blistering arsenal of 4 different weapons. Its main armament is a compact macro particle cannon which necessitated an atomic reactor. The gun has a co-axial Maschinbolzer for conserving power against lighter targets. On the turret's sides it mounts a rotary heavy bolter and a railgun each. Being an oversized Bolzer with multiple barrels and special cooling to achieve huge rate of fire it's effective against both infantry and aircraft. The railgun on the side is an improvement over a weapon almost deemed archaic by this date. It has limited ammo but the capability to rapidly fire rounds that can threaten even Eisenreise in combat. As its title says this vehicle was meant to handle all threats it could face while defending a colony. In a sense this vehicle gave commoners the ability to fight nobles on equal footing and this made the rest of the Great Houses outraged. Currently the Generalpanzer is banned in all colonies save for the ones owned by the Bernfrieds and there are new restrictions put on the technology of surface combatants that aren't Eisenreise.
Official Name: Schebendkraftmakropartikelgeschütz 10921 (nicknamed "Hellengeist") Classification: Wwgn-100SN (nuclear powered, hover capable, 100-ton class) Origin: Zhingstadt Year of Adoption: IR10921 Length: ~ 12m Weight: ~ 88 metric tons
A relatively simple yet powerful type of "artillery" produced by merging a large macro particle cannon to the frame of a large hovercraft. The result was a versatile platform that can be used for multiple purposes. Depending on adjustments the macro particle stream can be focused to punch through defenses and detonate its unstable material within or widen it to cover a large area in deadly sub-microscopic fragments. While similar vehicles emerged before by far Zhingstadt's variant proved the most popular and by the 11th millennium most colonies adopted licensed variants for their own defense. Specialized variants with better sealed frame are also employed on the outer hull of colonies for fending off spacecraft. One of the design's main weaknesses is protection as it sacrifices armor for internal space, ease of maintenance and mobility. As such these vehicles are the most effective when escorted by other units. Another problem is that while considered artillery by the Drachenreich this weapon is only capable of firing at its direct line of sight. Anything in its path may interfere with the weapon. This is less of an issue when most "surface combat" takes place within the interior of space colonies but it would limit the range considerably when a planet's curvature is involved.
Drachenreich infantry can be listed under two categories guardsmen and the knights. Guardsmen are commoners equipped with simple armors of the breastplate, helm and chainmail variety made of duramaterials. Their weaponry varies depending on the culture and wealth of the region but they most commonly use Feuerbolzers. Their sidearms are referred as "GG Blades" with the first two letters being an acronym for "Gravis Gladii". That is because they are effectively compact Gravity Blades using a tiny inertia control device to deliver powerful blows while an extremely thin durasteel edge gives them unparalleled cutting ability. Commoner issue GG Blades usually don't rely on magic and instead need a button press to activate the field which suddenly increases the weight of the blade to 5-50 times that of normal (depending on design and personal preferences). Special weapons are rare for those who were only tasked with policing and town watch duties. Common infantry affiliated with Knights often have teams centering around a specific heavy weapon like Maschinbolzers, missile launchers, mortars or portable macro particle cannons. Specialists groups may even use backpack mounted rocket engines for higher mobility or to operate outside the colonies (while wearing armor/outfit modified for space use).
While not impossible for Knights to fight on foot they more commonly wear power armor called the Panzerharnisch which gives them extra firepower, mobility and of course protection. The armor is well-sealed and equipped with life support, allowing operation both in and outside the colonies. Weaponry wise they usually have Maschinbolzer strapped to one hand while carrying an upscaled GG Blade in the other. Some variants of the armor can carry extra weapons, missile pods or to be modified to wield large two handed guns. Personal shields on a Panzerharnisch are uncommon but not impossible and nearly all variants have at least a degree of active protection and countermeasures. Lastly it does worth noting that all Eisenreise mechs are designed to interact with the owner's Panzerharnisch. That means these mechs are piloted while the operator is also wearing the Panzerharnisch and should the mech turn inoperable or unable to enter narrow areas the pilot can eject with their power armor to continue the battle. Also it can be said that in a sense Eisenreise are nothing but larger power armors to wear.
Here's my NS so far. I'll likely do some final touches but I'm practically finished.
DRACHENREICH
Also called the Dragonrealm it describes an ancient culture of wanderers who spend most of their lives in space habitats. They're spread out and only sporadically make contact with outsiders. They refer to their species as "Asterians" or the children of stars and are known to have a vaguely feudalistic government lead by the Kaiser.
Cultural Overview
Asterians believe in the fact that living on planets and other large astrological bodies with notable gravity would weight down their souls and lead to their moral/ethical ruin. As such they prefer to live in artificial environments of the space habitats, albeit dwarf planets and asteroids ae also acceptable. They are often nomadic, preferring to not remain at the same place for long. Nobody knows the time when they've left their homeworld as history record from the early age are scarce if even non-existent. Some think it was deliberate erasure by the current government while others believe it could've been an accident. Drachenreich subjects in general are xenophobic and don't trust outsiders and even fellow Asterians from distant colonies have a hard time to warm up to each other. They live in a relatively rigid social system of commoners (Landsmanner) and nobles (Edel) with one of the most appreciated values being one's magic aptitude. Through intermarriage and other customs for millennia the nobles have a much higher magic potential in general and they use this fact to claim genetic superiority.
Asterians, the star children, are considered a humanoid race especially as far as appearances go. Their outward looks are strikingly similar to humans with the only obvious difference being the pointed ears. That being said in terms of skin tone and hair colors the Asterians have a wide range of faint metallic tones, blue hair or even skin aren't that unusual for them. Physiologically though the Asterians are very divergent from humans, only sharing a similar setup/function for vital organs but not even their chemical makeup. Asterian bones for example are made up from a metallic material not native on Earth and their bloodstream flows with a brownish yellow liquid. Though it does worth noting that high magical aptitude can change the color of blood to glowing cyan blue, a common indicator of noble heritage. Average height for Asterians is in the range of 150-170cm and life expectancy is around 90-120 years albeit gifted and wealthy individuals might live for hundreds of years. In spite of their appearance it's impossible for a human and an Asterian to have children together.
Giant cylindrical space vessels vaguely resembling O'Neill type of rotating space habitats. Their typical dimensions being 6km wide and 36km long albeit this can vary a lot. There are small colonies that are only 8km long and there's Drachenstadt which is 120km long at total and has specialized facilities that can assemble new colonies from scratch. Building a colony doesn't necessarily require Drachenstadt's facilities and many aristocrats expand their territory through starting their own colony building projects but the capital has by far the most efficient means.
The interior walls of the colony are planted with soil and have a blooming vegetation, animals and overall an enjoyable biosphere for the inhabitants. Artificial gravity, generated by centrifugal force, is around half that of Earth's albeit this can vary per design, so does the atmospheric pressure. Light is artificially generated and inhabitants usually can watch a virtual sky projected from the center. The central portion is under zero gravity and is usually reserved for large scale production facilities. A colony is always under the jurisdiction of a noble, usually at least medium rank, and can be equated to medieval age fiefs. The population of a colony varies, mostly depends on size, facilities, taxes and age. While they have propulsion and FTL capability a space habitat is no combat vessel, nor is it practical to mount anything but perhaps the most basic defenses on it. As such these ships in spite of their immense size contribute nothing directly to combat and it's the duty of the defense fleet to protect them. Also while colonies are by far the most common dwelling for Asterian population, it isn't the only one. Asteroid colonies or other mining facilities also have their workforce and occasionally they even live on planets. Still, even those usually wish to live on the traveling colony ships the species is famous for.
Government Overview
Drachenreich is considered a monarchy, lead by the Kaiser or Kaiserin. This is an elected title granted through the support of the aristocracy and could be revoked any time using the same measures. Candidates are usually (albeit not always) are chosen from the Seven Great Houses. The feuds and alliances of these families determine much of the Dragonrealm internal politics. Infighting, coups and rebellions aren't uncommon. As a true feudalist system the majority of colonies are under the hold of the aristocrats, only Drachenstadt and the few core colonies surrounding it are the Crown's explicit property. The basic requirement of stable rulership requires the candidate to own considerable personal holdings and/or set up a strong web of alliances owning most property. Legislature is split between the upper and lower houses. Also referred as the High Council the upper house consists of the eldest active members of each Great House, the Kaiser/Kaiserin and the senior heads of other major owners. Edler (nobles) have the opportunity to request audience within the High Council and may even participate for a session if given the Kaiser's permission. Commoners though can only enter the halls if specifically invited and only as long as they're needed. Lower house describes the gathering and legislative body of local representatives, one for each colony or major outpost. Each vote is weighed by the count of lives within that property, at times with a multiplier weighing into the results. The latter is mostly used to give mining outposts a more realistic importance in votes as their economic influence can shape entire regions. Laws are always created in the upper house which the lower house only need to accept and make the preparations to enforce them. At times the lower house might not be satisfied with the details of the law and instead submit a modified version back to the upper house. Alternatively the lower house can give suggestions for new laws or royal actions. Unlike in many of the more democratic systems the lower house is weaker and does not have the authority to check and limit the upper house's power.
Technology Overview
Drachenreich is an ancient civilization with numerous discoveries and scientific achievements in the past. Correspondingly they have a fairly developed industry and relatively sophisticated technology. On the other hand their social structure is often even makes them opposed to any meaningful innovation which rendered their technological level mostly stagnant. While they have kept refining their technology for those millennia the most significant scientific developments were through adopting technology from others. Their industry generally thrives on exploiting nebulas and asteroids for their resources and rather than improving the efficiency they're more inclined to just raise the sheer quantity of collectors. Another common sector is agriculture which tends to use relatively traditionalist farms. Synthetic foods are incredibly uncommon, only used when all else is unavailable. AI technology exists and helps industrial processes but they aren't advanced enough to replace all forms of manual labor, nor there's an interest to do that. Small scale manufacture is also likes using live workforce but when it comes to larger scale projects the automatization grows immensely. Most Asterian colonies have a large mile-wide if not larger cylindrical portion in their center dedicated to nothing but heavy industry, often while abusing the benefits of near-vacuum and zero gravity environment. And these literal giants of industry are supported by a flood of resource collection units and transports ferrying materials from interstellar distances. Drachenreich has a stagnant technological environment but only because their current level of development is more than sufficient to sustain or even keep on growing. That and dramatic changes to technology would undoubtedly change their society, a notion which the nobility is outright afraid of.
- Atomic Reactors: An evolution of nuclear reactors which relies on advanced forcefield and magic crystal technology to use any of the common materials as nuclear fuel and with high efficiency. The system is highly regulated, safe and widespread in use. For such reasons Asterians don't seem to rely on solar energy at all as nuclear power practically always worth it for them.
- Thermokinetic Engines: A complex powerplant which can turn kinetic and thermal energy into electric power or in reverse. At large scale this is often used as secondary power generation and efficiency improving measures while the reverse has common use for locomotion in ground vehicles.
- Mechanocells: Also referred as kinetic battery, it's a power storage method which uses nano scale surfaces and spring mechanism to store pure mechanical energy. When required this power can be converted to electricity thus providing a lightweight and compact alternative to classic batteries.
- Annie: Carbonic material with specially engineered electron structure to produce an electric field sufficient to hold antimatter particles. Antimatter Neutral Medium or "Annie" is effectively a simple fuel used for simple function to power rockets or to be an easily accessible energy source.
- Positronic Capacitors: High-powered energy storage method which turns electricity into positrons. As matter-antimatter annihilation occurs within femtoseconds it allows extremely fast impulse energies necessary for certain high energy applications including but not exclusive to weapons.
- Nanolathes: By using forcefields as a 3D blueprint and inject nanoparticles it's possible to produce complex objects relatively quickly and without the usual upfront costs for acquiring the right machinery. Nanolathes are energy demanding processes but are highly popular and modified versions are even used for research purposes. That being said nanolathes can't replace all industrial processes or not without sacrificing quality. As such classic construction methods are still in use.
- Durametals: A large group of engineered transuranic metals that have massive densities along with various unique properties. Durasteel for example is a standard high strength material used in almost anything for structural reasons. Durabar on the other hand has excellent radiation absorption properties. Over the millennia durametals went from a niche into widespread use and the only cheap objects are made from lighter materials. Even when weight is considered the Asterians developed Duramesh which is a spongy metal foam. This both saves resources and can result in a much lighter body.
- Inertial Control Devices: To handle accelerations at warp speeds Asterians developed a technology which could control weight and redirect inertia from specific parts of the vessel. This isn't much different from similar technologies introduced by other spacefaring civilizations and as others they also made use of it in other fields like hovertech or lifting heavy objects. Inertia manipulation also found military uses like the iconic Gravity Blades that help delivering greater blows through manipulating the mass behind each strike.
- Jumpdrive: The simplest FTL drive known, commonly used by many other civilizations. Jumpdrives work by traveling through subspace which effectively allows going from one point of realspace to the other while traveling considerably less. The drawback is that, at least for Asterian variants of the drive, it has limited operation time which ultimately restricts this to shorter ranges.
- Hyperdrive: A variant of jumpdrives which dwelves deeper into subspace called the "hyperspace". This effectively allows faster travel albeit restricting it to the so-called "hyperlanes". It's like traveling in stable corridors within the chaotic swirl of imaginary space. As such distances in realspace might not equate for the same in hyperspace. Neighboring star systems might be more distant in hyperspace than another coordinate hundreds of lightyears away. This also explains the dispersed nature of Dragonrealm colonies. While any sufficiently well-equipped vessel can have a Jumpdrive the Hyperdrives are restricted to only colony ships and the largest vessels. This is due to their complexity and horrible energy demands.
Military Overview
Like the government, Drachenreich's military is in the hands of nobles. Every Lord has obligations to maintain an army for defense. Yet more often than not these are insufficient for anything more than internal security. As such for over a millennia it's a common practice for Lords to rent the services of knight orders. Knights (Ritter) are a portion of the nobility who dedicate their lives for warfare. They generally do that by joining one of the myriad of knight orders starting as a mere apprentice, squire and then become a fully fledged knight. Landeritters are the lowest rank who are little more than common troops while Rittermeister (Knight Lords) are managing an entire Mobile Castle (Kriegschloss). The supreme leader of each knight order are called the Hochmeister (Grandmaster). Since reliable interstellar travel required massive vessels they invented the Mobile Castles (Kriegschlösser) which serve as a mobile fortress and base of operations. They carry both troops and service staff required for long campaigns and some of these castles are indeed on permanent patrol duty. Of course as a mobile base the Kriegschlösser aren't fit to be general frontline vessel and instead they use small ships for that purpose. Yet during combat in space the primary focus is on the Eisenreisen (meaning: Iron Giants), 8+ meters tall giant mechs with capability to fight in space and even inside colonies.
250-1000m long armored compact space colonies and battle fortresses that serve as the knights' primary base of operation. Due to its size it doesn't have the same amenities as civilian colonies and relies entirely on artificial gravity instead of the old method of centrifugal force. These vessels are well-protected with the mix of gravity barriers and thick duracomposite armor plates and of course equipped with numerous weapon stations for self-defense. Most castles also have a large durasteel spike used for ramming attacks albeit some prefer giant energy cannons. That being said their primary role is to be the mobile habitat of knightly forces and their servants. As such they have lot of space for equipment, docks for larger vessels, refineries, factories and everything to wage war and to be relatively self-sufficient.
Used to be the backbone of Asterian space forces they are nowadays closer to fire support and battle carriers. They are powerful yet don't approach the sheer versatility of Eisenreise which makes their combat role only secondary yet just as necessary.
Giant humanoid machines that form the backbone of knightly forces. Their appearance is synonymous with the Ritter title and their contribution to battles is the subject of nearly every legend. Their ultracompact atomic reactors give them considerable power while the combination of impulse drives along with inertia control mechanism give it phenomenal agility in space. Their combat role roughly equals that of space fighters albeit with a lot more focus on agility and fighting techniques. They also have a tendency to choose close combat where their Gravity Blades and Gravity Lances can turn their momentum and energy reserves to devastating strikes. There are various models and different regions tend to prefer different models as their standard. Commoners who piloted Eisenreise usually received outdated models while a Landeritter would use amore up to date yet standard variant. Distinguished knights often customized their mechs and some even went for higher grade machines built directly to their specs. Such aces are often the pride and greatest asset of a knightly order.
Simply referred as armed vehicles, this is a category for mostly ground vehicles. Since the Dragonrealm is diverse this is reflected back the most in the chaos that accounting for various ground vehicle variants. They can range from repurposed civilian vehicles to mass-produced vehicles unique to a certain house or even entirely custom battlewagons sparing no cost in their construction. As such rather than trying to reconcile these Crown had introduced an universal standard system categorizing these vehicles.
Wwgn-1: Ultralight vehicles with the maximum weight of 1 ton.
Wwgn-10: Light vehicles with the maximum weight of 10 tons.
Wwgn-25: Intermediate class vehicles with up to 25 tons of weight.
Wwgn-50: Medium-class vehicles with up to 50 tons.
Wwgn-100: Heavy vehicles up to the 100-ton range. Often battletanks or heavy artillery.
Wwgn-100+: Superheavy combat vehicles with over 100 tons of weight. They are usually custom-made and rare.
Wwgn-1000+: Not an official classification but semi-popular for referring to gigantic mobile constructs that stretch the meaning of vehicle.
Most land vehicles have conventional propulsion like wheels and threads and use thermokinetic engines powered by either Annie or mechanocells rather than atomic reactors. When a vehicle is hover-capable it's signified with an S (Schwebend) letter at the end, ie: Wwgn-10S. Similarly if it's flight-capable but still mostly considered a surface vehicle than aircraft it gains the F letter, Flügend. If a vehicle has an ultracompact fusion engine rather than traditional powerplant then it gains the N designation, Nuklearen.
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