The Interstellar Coalition of Organized Nations
Official Name: The Interstellar Coalition of Organized Nations
Other Name(s):
- The Coalition of Nations
- The (Interstellar) Coalition/Nations
- ICON
National color(s): Blue & white
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Government
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Watchman, republican confederation
"Don’t poke at me with your twisted idea of liberalism: people don’t want endless liberties and boundless freedoms, they don’t want carte blanche to think on their own about their desires or live how they ‘feel is right’. They want subtle boundaries, they want limitations and mandates, rules defining a clear standard they must overcome to prosper. They want to see their toil and their effort rewarded while watching the undeserving go under. They want a benchmark to strive for and be rewarded for their achievements at the expense of those who would not make the effort: this is how we built what we are. Don’t think we’re such awful creatures because we’ve understood the undeniable hierarchy in this simple evolutionary offshoot you call ‘humanity’ and have come to harness it.”
Democratic |--------|------------| Authoritarian
Political Left |-----------|---------| Political Right
Open Society |-------|-------------| Closed society
Hawk Lobby |------|--------------| Dove Lobby
Interventionism |-----|---------------| Isolationism
Nationalist |-----|----------------| Pacifist
Modern |----|-----------------| Obsolete
Government type & overview: Centrist democracy & confederated supranational republic
Head of State: Prime Minister of the First House, Josif Regievko
Head of Government: Organization of National Executives
Government officials
First House of Governments, the ONE (Organization of National Executives)
- Ministry of Administration, Senior Chairman of Federal Administration Petros Zhirayr
- Secretariat of the Federal Directorate, Directorate Chairman Norman Azurahkzi
- Office of International Affairs, Chief Diplomatis Arazan Makadyrov
- Office of National Economies,
- Chief of the Union of Interstellar Economies, Radolfo Cartarenas
- Ministry of International Security,
- Head of the Central Security Directorate, Anton Gecas
- Office of the Council and Military Administration Directorate
- Provost-Commandant of the Military Administration Directorate, FM Jessica Rohnfeld
- Supreme Admiral of the Interstellar Fleets, SAdm. Valieksiyov Bancovich of the Naval Directorate
- Commandant of the Marine Infantry, FM Marcus Konrad of the Marine Directorate
- Commander of the Allied Armies, FM Hugo Valztruss of the Army Directorate
- Directorate of the Interstellar Bureaus,
- Chairman of the Federal Bureaus, Conrad Waters
- Premier of the State Communities, Maritha Tolsies
Second House of Governments, the HON (House of Nations)
- Ministry of Home Law,
- Supreme Court of the House of Nations
- Ministry of Federal Laws
- Chief of the Grand Court of Sovereigns, Hn. Chief Justice Japori Oslav
- Supreme Judge of the Federal Council, Hn. Justice Miranda Lotharess
- Central Magistrate of the Confederated Courts, Supreme Magistrate Jennifer Allens
Third House of Governments, the SAP (Supreme Assembly of Planets)
- Head of the Supreme Assembly, Chancellor of the Federative Assembly Cole Raymonds
- Head of the ColCon (Coalition of Councils), President of the Interior Amber Trenekiss
- Federal Chamber of Representatives, Coalition of Interstellar Parties
- Supreme Presidium of the Lower Houses, Lower President Kaanan Alarey
- General Assembly of Memberstate Planets
- Chamber of States and Interstellar Parties (Upper), First Represenator Katherine Gold
- Chamber of Interstellar Territories (Lower), President of Representatives Ikara Aniyuki
- Interstellar Congress of Governments
- Supreme Congress of Memberstates, Supreme Chairman Noran Baziferd
- Federal Chamber of Governors, Governoress Varinia Folgers
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Demographics
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Population & Demographics:
Sects:
Land(s)ers: The ancient ethnic and tribal clans of mankind's early ascension to the stars. After centuries of self rule, and even powerful states and empires in their own right, submission to an off-world authority is antithesis to the culture and society of the many Lander clans. From the ancient Aleuro septs of the Inner Core to the Jovian reyjars of the Outer Garden, every settled or conquered world owes its survival, and even very identity, to the Landers that toil and live across it. While their oftentimes backwards, curious ways and customs make them less apt for imperial ambitions like the Spacers, the true power of the Landers is revealed in their industry and society, which is the effective “substrate” of governance and civilization that all of the Coalition, and even the Garden, is built upon.
Important Landser groups:
- The Boyar Core: A large Tsovar and “Osternox'' community of thousands of planets in the that make up the Intermarium, Boyars of the settler clans are encouraged to rule their dominions as quasi-independent states. As the beast fighting over meat won't look for fat, the most powerful Boyar heads are better able to negotiate with the Coalition for a collective reward.
- The Chaulmar Estate: The progenitors, and convenient benefactors, of the Blue League. Rich and affluent, yet tempered by the ever humbling Party of National Unity, the Aleuro septs rule the Chaulmar Estate in the fashion reminiscent of a colonial era of their ancient homeworld.
- The Verinordes: Taking their name from early ancestors of the Exodus, which survived in the post-apocalyptic wilds of the homeworld, the Verinordes are the kindling flame of the Azricans, of the continent’s harsh interior. While considered the least “technological” they have outstripped their other Lander competitors by going thinking “outside the box”.
Transhumans/Postmortals: With the acceleration of life-extension technology, a class of beings known as transhumans or “Spacers” would come to dominate interstellar travel, and both the associated power and curse of maintaining interstellar civilization with it. For this reason, it is that the Spacers are only ever often capable of seeing a settled planet from anywhere other than orbit. Only matched in secrecy by the Ancient Families of the Landsers, few are aware just how much influence mankind may wield upon those they deem ‘lesser’. It is this reason that the spacers are strictly maintained, not just by the Coalition but by themselves as well. While most spacers will spend existence in some way or some how subservient to the Interstellar State, the amenities and reward offered can keep the majority content. No less even, being simply allowed to live.
Important Spacer groups:
- The Custodian Administration: The mysterious shadow government which seems to permeate every spec of civilization in the galaxy, the Custodians inevitably prove to be the benign detritus of interstellar civilization. Few, if any, of these Spacers are seen outside of the service of the Federate: though when they are, everyone assumes the Interstellar State is not far behind.
- The Traders: While super-longevity and the singularity have made entire worlds silent utopias, the adventurous, or corrupt, Spacers that oversee civilization’s extensive network of trade and commerce have become an organization called the Traders. Driven by greed, some even say consumed by it, it is only with the tacit cooperation of the Traders that the enormous galactic economy functions. At the heart of this trade empire are the Allies, ancient humans from the very first days of interstellar civilization that seem to have a hand in every basket across the Home galaxy.
Gardenites/Terrosancts: Those with a more than physical line of connection with the ancient peoples of the Coalition’s long forgotten homeworld are known as the Gardenites - though for many of the other human worlds brought into the fold at the dawn of galactic civilization they are known by another name, the Terrosancts. Long eclipsed in the empire, evidenced by their empty worlds, their presence across the galaxy is still remembered for many by the very planets the “sibling races” live on. Content to rule their worlds and let the galaxy turn on without them, the states and powers of the Gardenites are some of the last bastions of civilization left amongst a galaxy ruled through might and terror.
Important Gardenite groups:
- The Inner/Core Worlders (Inners): The proverbial homelands where most of the rebellious Outer Garden states derive their history from, extended centuries at the mercy of time have created their own microcosm societies that, often, require a custodian intelligence to decipher. While these states and petty republics have been long forgotten by the wider galaxy, they’ve ever struggled to maintain their dominance upon the diplomatic and economic linchpins through which the Coalition functions.
- The Forgers: Stubborn to a fault, and hardy as the blakrete moons and asteroids they make their homes upon, the Forgers grew from the early Corpo Wars that consigned the Core Worlders to the Silent Sundering, as the stories go. Now an industrial center of the galaxy, the Forge Worlders were content to keep their own slice of empire at the Coalition’s foundation. As full fledged political equals, much to the chagrin of the Core Powers, the Forgers are an integral part of taming a wild and hostile galaxy.
Edenites: Known as the ‘rebellious little brothers’ of the hordes of Greater Man in the early colonization, the Edenites have both existed spiteful of the shadow of the Gardenites, and also protected by it. Following a centuries long struggle of erudition, (most of) the Edenites took their place amongst the dedicated memberstates, if still ever fearful of their new compatriots. After that, well the prideful propaganda of the Edenites’ new rise to ascension in the galaxy is ever present. Banished from the Core long ago, most Edenites instead sought to rebuild the homeworld anew, with thousands of new planets as precious as the homeworld soon dotting the Garden.
Important Edenite groups:
- The Exterior/Outer Garden (Exters): The light to the dark of the Inners, depending on whom you ask, Exters are a collection of hearty settler-states that made their mark perpetually out running the Coalition and its “civilization”. The line always ends somewhere, of course, but throughout the Years of Integration the Exters realized that just as the Inners wield authority like a hammer it can always be used as a scalpel. Now, with the Outer Garden itself a political, economic and military entity in its own, the integrity of Exter states and governments is universally recognized.
- The Belkers/Lower Spacers: The nameless masses that make up the bulk of the Trader’s (completely disposable) labor force, the lower spacers have continued their sojourn of the Exodus, not even satisfied with planets the likes of which are found in the Inner Core and Outer Garden. This way, there is nothing that floats, flies, fluctuates or is fabricated that a Belker doesn’t touch wherever one might find themselves in the Coalition. This allows the Interstellar State a convenient ear to always bend, whenever it comes to need to know who is shipping what, and where it might be received.
Xenospecies:
Despite the overt anti-human nature of the human dominance over the Garden, xenoids and aliens have found a tacit, if at times unsettling, tolerance in the Core. In the Outer Garden and the wider Sphere however, mankind and xenos have often had to lay prejudices and tensions to rest in cooperation to overcome the demands of colonial living.
Membership:
Memberstates and national parties of the Interstellar Coalition are all sovereign entities which compose the General Assembly at various degrees, who all contribute and provide legitimacy to the larger functions of the transplanetary federal government. While a complete list of memberstates is nearly impossible, there are always constant additions and resignations that create a myriad of effects across the governments and the rest of the Coalition. From tiny microstates that occupy no more than a few square miles, to gargantuan nations spanning entire constellations, every nation is represented in one way or another by ICON’s Third House of Governments.
Total memberstates & parties:
- 3,740 memberstates with a permanent representative in the Third House
- 2,800 memberstates & parties with a routine representative in the Third House
Religious practices:
- Hydrian Faiths;
Trinatianity
- Providentianism
- Cantonic
- Eastern
- Tarsanic
- Luthricanism
- Apostoloric
- Sancticism
Sarenism
- Kosticism
- Tsov Kosticism
- Austran Order
- Ungarn Orthodoxy
- Orthoxan Sight
Sunah
- Meddinian
- Meccan
- Qufism
Language(s) Spoken:
- Lingua franca, government: Aenglis (English)
- Trade, Common
- Various Scatterran dialects,
- Austran
- Aleurone family
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Economy of ICON
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"No one but the Gardenite is ready to admit that sacrifices must be made to ensure the destiny of this offshoot of evolution we call ‘the human race’. Those that cry about the environment and lament about the starvation of animals due to our consumption are admirable in their reverence of nature, truly we would be nowhere without it. But does nature not motivate her creations to a higher purpose, does she not entice her children to the next evolutionary step with her very hostility towards us? We know mother nature, she wants us to grow, to dominate."
Currency: Cays (pronounced Kays), plural cays
Gross Domestic Product: 5,420,000,000,000,000,000 cays
Housed Under: Bureau of Galactic Economies
Economy Type: Mixed market/planned
Economic Tendencies:
Closed Market |--------------|-------| Open Market
Command Economy |----------|-----------| Free Economy
Sustenance |---------------|-----| Competition
Automated Production |-------|--------------| Manual Production
Modern Agriculture |--------|-------------| Simple Husbandry
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Government of ICON
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The Organization of National Executives
With the Coalition being nothing more than a contest of, any man that can reach the highest branch doesn’t drown, many of the previous occupants of power within ICON have installed concepts and policy from their own worlds and cultures, the truest definition of living law that has been a deciding factor in keeping the memberstates afloat. For many in the transnational government of the Coalition, there is a pervading philosophy that the best way to keep humanity’s impending spiral into chaos on a minutely slower trajectory is being the sole entity in the Garden to assume control over the matters concerning thousands of states. Rather than an all encompassing government like the Hegemony however, the sheer opaqueness and occasional absence of any precedent or background to moderate on at all makes the Coalition one of the most irrelevant organizations in existence - within the memberstates' territory in the Garden.
While the Hegemony is made up of the reichsversammlung and is a streamlined, pinpoint hierarchy of power and prestige, the Coalition is built upon a fundamentally decentralized system: the individual components and federal government are not two parties united with common interests. The transnational government functions exclusively as the international organization tasked simply with preventing the Garden from totally falling to the enemies of these great states. That is a very, very broad duty of course.
The rather imposing task of managing several dozen (now thousands) of states in the Garden after the Exodus, which had left both halves of civilization broken and that in many regards would only be amended with the coming centuries of expansion, forged an elite amongst a so-called “headless” series of alliances and protocols. Sometimes these men and women were silent dictators that only served to whittle the memberstates against one another, others were benevolent yet uninspiring leaders - often raising nations up to great lengths only to watch them bloody each other as their aims collided.
So it has fallen to those certain men and women: those that will not see themselves rubbed out by a Scatterran's will to rule the galaxy in warfare and blood, nor be washed out in the Garden's apocalyptic flood. This dance is a balancing act and bare knuckle fight at the same time, where only the shrewdest of politicians or craftiest of statesmen make a difference if whether a nation thrives in the Coalition or is devoured by her neighbors and creditors.
All this information and more must be known for a statesmen to truly understand the various political ideologies and policies of the Coalition nations. No matter what country a citizen comes from, nor how far from Scatter, there's a little bit of them in all the Coalition. And a little bit of Scatter in all of them.
The ONE is an intergovernmental, federal office made up of a cabinet, appointed and unilaterally elected ministries tasked to oversee and streamline the strategic efforts of the ICON memberstates. In the centuries since the Exodus that task has become increasingly difficult. Once where the Garden was dominated by an intricate system of superpowers and alliances, the Coalition now arbitrates the politics, contests and struggles beyond the Outer Territories.
Though democracy is a brilliant and compassionate method, the threat of violence and force are still unmistakable necessities in the course of governance. All that separates one from the other is implementation.
The House of Nations
The House of Nations is the second level of organized, transplanetary and interstellar government of the Coalition memberstates, known as a House of Nations. Across the vast and diverse cultures and states of ICON, agreeing to a common law is a massive physical, economic as well as political undertaking. This is achieved with a simple, yet incomprehensibly complex series of legal decisions. Governance across the numerous territories and holdings of the Coalition vary, from liberal democracies to quasi-despotic oligarchies, to legitimate totalitarian dictatorships. Above, but not superior to, the Federal executive of governance and international mediation is a hybrid of the various forms of government amongst Coalition memberstates. The style of administrations can vary greatly, and there are many inner workings or avenues through the contest of interstellar adventures in the Coalition.
The House of Nations is unlike any governmental organization before however, as a largely task-oriented adhocracy of correspondents, state representatives, and apparatchik from every member of the governments in the various states builds herself in the national assemblies. In its most basic form the House of Nations is one massive internal affairs agency, cooperating with the various nations and enabling the strategic management for the countless requests and grievances of the memberstates. Few citizens of the Coalition realize the daunting necessity of the House of Nations in the modern age. As vital as it is, the Second House is administered as an apolitical supervisory and custodial organization, with officials and representatives appointed only by the Supreme Senate's electorate commissions. In this way, members do indeed elect those they find best to handle the international duties of the federal government, but not those who would only do so to their homelands' benefit.
The many billions of workers and employees of the House of Nations are themselves divided amongst as many groups as there are memberstates of the Coalition, these organizations are faceless communities of arbitrators and clerks. It is across this vast technocratic meritocracy the trillions of citizens of the Coalition float in suspense over.
Across so many worlds, identities and entire societies come and go in an instant, and new nations are forged while the old lapse into the cosmos. This unending crucible has proliferated for six centuries against the frontiers of the Coalition, a luminous beacon amidst the tempest of time. Truly were it not for the Scatterran power of will humanity would long be damned to the recesses of history. How is it that an identity like the Coalition, or the Hegemony, thrive then? The sheer vastness of the Garden, let alone the reaches of the Expanse, is such that no two citizens of a memberstate are truly alike. Or even, that they are at all in common with one another. To the contrary though, the policies and politics of Coalition memberstates have not only grown to redefine democracy but spread to various cultures and other human civilizations.
The greatest distinction between memberstates are simply the reality of life on the ground in the nations themselves: is the society a progressive, future-oriented technocracy or a centralist, tradition-bound anocracy? Is the nation in a developed, stabilized part of a Senatorial bloc or like thousands of others, teetering at the edge of civilized space?
The Supreme Chambers of the Nations
The Supreme Chambers of the House are the Coalition's largest international regulatory and legislative body; the various organs of the house can achieve everything from regulation & support of the interstellar, astroregional & federal banking and finance networks to establishing trade royalties and economic zones. In many ways, the Supreme Assembly and Interstellar Congress are the only two organizations keeping nations who would otherwise grind each other into dust respectful of one anothers sovereignties. While nominally the most important (in function) chamber of the House of Nations, without the Chambers of Law it would quickly become impossible for the Assembly or Congress to function.
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The Supreme Assembly of Nations
- - -
Beneath the umbrella of the House of Nations is the largest republican assembly of states and nations in the Garden, where the various parties discuss matters pertaining to both their own domestic concerns as well as the interstellar communities of their neighbors. The Assembly serves to facilitate everything from trade to the peaceful territorial and political growth of nations, forging both lasting relations and alliances. The Lower House or National Assembly is where the shrewdest of statesmen can attain their nation's place in the sun, where anything from money to materials, industrial capacity and even weaponry or whole armies can be bought or negotiated. It is often here those same alliances are tested and (sometimes repeatedly) broken, with betrayal and subterfuge on an international scale playing out under the watchful eyes of the other Coalition organs.
One of those such chambers being Colcon, or the Coalition of Councils, is an executive commission of twenty one men and women chosen by a meritocratic lottery from members of the entire House. Their duty, overseeing the impressive Sentinel AIs that facilitate the near-instantaneous communications between nations and regions, coincides with managing the often frantic nature of the Lower Assembly, as well as the General Assembly of Planets.
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The General Assembly of Planets
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While the Federate Assembly has a modicum of statesmanlike conduct this is much often lost upon the more … eccentric personalities of the General Assembly. To many they see it as a rather pedantic circuit of politicians and interests, with either money to spend or lose to anyone else that might find them on the floors of a General Assembly Building. Though the chamber of Star Sectors, in shorthand to artifexes and representatives known as the Starchamber, is a beacon amongst the light it is only due to those few leaders capable of making their local group of states amount to more than a shoddy batch of sand castles on the coast.
Within the Presidium of Worlds, it is a dog-eat-dog arena of provincial interests that have plenty to gain by seeing their neighbors, even if they are allies, win as little as possible.
It is by this design that before any state with ambition can become a 'recognized' power, it must first navigate the Assembly of Planets or, as many other memberstates may shrewdly agree, fail to accomplish that which determines men from apes. This elaborates a first, and fundamental, rule of the Garden; the saying 'an armed society is a polite society' applied on an international scale quickly weeds out those that use violence at little provocation or rampage across the cosmos.
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The Interstellar Parliament of Nations
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Another vital organ of the Supreme Chambers is the Interstellar Parliament, by and large the youngest of the Coalition functions. While it's origins follow a darker time of the interstellar federation the populist leanings of the Parliament's nature and structure allowed those that would otherwise find themselves at the mercy of the 'old powers' in the Federate and General Assembly a chance to not only be heard amongst the Coalition but actively guide their destiny.
In the decades since the Parliament's creations it has found a wide following as an alternative to the autocratic nature of the Supreme Assembly, with a 'street-based' approach to international mediation and cooperation. The Parliament's function that circumvents the typical drawbacks of the 'ancien systeme' known in the Core and Outer Garden has given many trillions the ability to peaceably survive the General Assembly as well.
Today, it is a functioning circuit of government for the young nations or fresh members to truly make their print upon the Coalition, and the galaxy around them. Upon the floors of the Chancery, a great directorate composed of the leading cabinets and executives of states forgoes the stifling nature of interstellar relations that have become the norm for the Supreme Assembly.
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Military of ICON
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Interstellar Military Apparatus
"We aren’t heroes. We’re just the survivors."
The IMA,
Interstellar Supreme Apparatus Command (ISAAC)
The Great Eye
Accustomed to being outnumbered and insulted if given a cheap fight, the Apparatus is the culmination of a centuries old struggle against the Coalition's worst enemies. Not only the rampant Hegemony or fractured states like the Colonies and Soviet Republics, but the vast armies of the Collective and demonic Shards also plague the Garden, and stop the people of Scatter from assuming their rightful place among the stars. At the helm of these mass arms is one of the most intricate command and control, management, logistics & supply networks of the Garden; the Interstellar Supreme Apparatus Command, or ISAAC. Truthfully, the only way such a massive force like the Apparatus can be paid for, sustained and transported is through the clever design and (sometimes bewildering) intelligence of ISAAC’s General Staff and Managerial Officers. The average recruit (and even moreso the civilian) has little comprehension of the vast infrastructure the military, and by extension the very safety of their state, rests upon: this massive hive of ports, stations, docks, depots, warehouses, barges and facilities provides much more than just easy military movement and are vital trade and transport routes.
For many that find themselves in uniform, either voluntarily or otherwise, there is actually a wide chance (depending on the recruit's physiological aspects) that personnel may never see combat (or even, set foot on "enemy" territory) due to the size of ISAAC's impressive military adhocracy.
Across the Garden and the territories that fly above the Coalition standard, command and control would be impossible without adequately decentralizing the command system and orders of control. ISAAC is divided amongst the Regions of the Coalition, the largest grouping of both cosmological objects and the respective states within, to evenly distribute enough of a military force to achieve their easiest objectives. To maintain the suitable force projection required by the Starfleet a huge system of support is needed; if fighting the enemy in space and orbit is the primary concern of the Scatterran Navy, defending the thousands of ports and facilities ranging from tiny way-stations in deep space to a orbital dock the size of a continent is the rest of the Apparatus'. While branches like the Near Earth Operations (NEO) and Marine Security Forces (MSF) are the personnel tasked largely with 'littoral' duties, both in warzones and beyond, the Internal Troops and Home Army often have forces that are capable of fulfilling the same role.
It is in this way that there are two main aspects of the Starfleet; vessels are organized along either a patrol or expeditionary class, or defense class. The movies portraying dashing starship captains and sultry alien women often depicted the primary; though Navy recruiters will tell one it's often just like in cinema, the reality is quite different. Last but not least, the defensive aspects of the Starfleet are generally more sedentary though, in a classic twist, the "atmo" formations often find themselves in just as much action as the "spacer" patrols.
The situation on the ground tends to be far, far more chaotic however. Whereas the spacers often have the luxury of mankind's greatest advancements, niftiest of doo-dads and most convenient machinery the direction and management of the 'symphonies of war' on the ground is another matter entirely. Though warfare's tools and trade have changed, her rules and environs haven't moved much; those that move win, those that stand die.
Maneuver warfare is the undeniable founding tenet of modern war in the Garden, and while technologies will renovate the tradecraft of warfare, it will not change the art of it. This school of thought rejected the notion of defensive-orientation; instead, the Apparatus is a lean, objectives-motivated aspect of foreign and domestic policy. Rather than being a consequence of an executive decision, an executive decision is rather the consequence of military intervention. While most nations are still deadlocked with their arbitrary traditions and dogma, soldiery in the Coalition requires a disregard of all the previous notions they bring from their homeland to the Apparatus. The diaspora of military thought and doctrines vary, but one single concept is standard throughout; war is indeed a tragedy and should be undertaken in only the most dire of circumstances. That being said, wars must also be prosecuted quickly and firmly, lest those tragedies become context for the next one.
Maneuver warfare entitles two standard thoughts; that no enemy can withstand the full firepower of a prepared, experienced force, and that if it can, they are faltering dangerously elsewhere. This encompasses the idea of maneuver warfare, which dominates tactical and strategic thought, from the fireteam leader all the way up to the grandest positions of rank in Supreme Command. While most consider maneuver warfare to be an exclusively offense-oriented doctrine, the Apparatus War Colleges have developed an expansive and, to this date, the most intricate warfare scheme ever designed by human hands.
Home Army/Guards of the United Nations
The Steel Legions
While every flag that waves above the Coalition standard is an independent body with (not always) her own functioning military and armed forces, the mere inclusion in the interstellar community must often be provided with sweat and blood, either on a battlefield or elsewhere. There are often many willing to pay this price, either for their nation or the faint idea of what they comprehend ICON truly is, and that is why the Home Army is the most advanced assortment of men and women under arms the galaxy has seen. Unlike the Marines or ITDM the Home Army is, collectively, the totality of all military forces in the individual memberstates themselves. Uniforms and training is standardized but as a whole, the Home Army (referred to almost always as Guardsmen) does not undergo the severity of training the Internal Troops are prescribed. This results in various capabilities across the Home Army -- while none fight for the Coalition exclusively, the honor and prestige of the home nation often motivate the Guardsmen to show teeth.
It is from those many flags that the Guardsmen are assembled: in many ways, they are a giant reserve pool (foregoing the international nature of the Apparatus and simply tapping the memberstates directly) that can be moved around their local areas, or even across entire stellar regions. Whether defending a nearby planet (or their own) from an invading force, local insurgency or invading a rogue state threatening war upon its neighbors, the Home Army has become the largest force under arms across the Coalition. The men and women who make up these units often come from all walks of life; the gentry and the poor, the socially gifted and the metaphorical sediment of civilized nations. No matter their origins in the forge of the Coalition's warriors true legends rise, though when so many others take the plunge the inky darkness barely puddles.
When not exclusively under the command of an Apparatus officer, the Home Army of any given memberstate functions both as a military force with offensive and defensive capabilities, but also a method of insurance against the ruling classes of a state. What men learn in service with the Apparatus can often be considered dangerous to the more totalitarian of nations.
The weaponry of the Home Army is an amalgamation of systems, from all across the Coalition. Shotguns, sniper rifles and personal weapons are general issue as well, with every Guardsman carrying a sidearm. The average infantryman is durable, for the shortcuts and stopgaps that would make the 'real' Apparatus cringe, with a piece of carapace armor that functions both as a environment suit for atmosphere conditions but also battle armor. While the combat uniform may become a sealed environment, it is not as sturdy or functional as those utilized by the Marines, Navy and Jumpers. With reliable and robust weapons like the AR-K carbine and MR-17 assault rifle, the Guardsmen are capable of serving in various environments and having powerful firepower wherever they may be deployed.
As the squad is built around the rifleman, machineguns like the MG-72 are used at the platoon and company level to maintain a cohesive amount of fire across several squads. The SAW-649 is capable of being easily carried by one man, chambered in the standard 10.6x64mm battle rifle and still maintains a high-rate of fire with minimal excess weight. The MG-72, known as the 'Zipper' amongst gunners in the Apparatus, is a high-velocity and rate of fire GPMG (General purpose machinegun) used in various roles across the platoon: for suppressing fire or engagement, mounting on vehicles or aircraft, the MG-72 is a workhouse of the Home Armies.
Tactics & Doctrine;
The Home Army is trained to take and hold ground. This requires control of not only the dirt, but the air and orbit as well. The Guardsmen fight first to secure not only the most heavily developed parts of a planet: cities, factories and any military infrastructure they can locate but also any advantageous terrain. Whether attacking or defending, these objectives fail to change despite the tactical and operational peculiarities of any campaign or mission. From these hardpoints, the Guard has the capability to resupply itself from space, and while orbital elevators or stations are good for sheer bulk the Starfleet is more than capable of supplying even a division-sized force through less intensive (in resources, personnel and material) logistics systems.
On the ground, combat is fast-paced and accelerated with the Army's largely motorized and armored forces: even the poorest of nations can nominally afford to keep their infantry from merely walking everywhere, when unnecessary. With a combined arms approach, defensive works or strongpoints can be sufficiently neutralized to allow mechanized cavalry to exploit the open territories of their flank and fronts: this envelopment in all dimensions often causes enemy groups to fracture and disperse from objective points. Then the infantry and armor, coupled with overwhelming air dominance can initiate the dirty work of reducing the enemy formations they can encounter or otherwise find. Though a Guardsmen may have never fought on the world they have been deployed to many often have experience, ironically more than recruits joining the Marines or Jumpers instead of the Home Army: these experiences mean the Guardsmen often make up for what they lack in power or advanced training with an (insanely) subtle knowledge of warfare as they have lived it.
When it comes to securing the last two aspects of the Army's battlespace, the aviation cavalry take an approach very similar to the infantry and other branches: the ground can hide quite a lot of things, even aircraft. It is often a wonder to enemy and civilian alike at the Army Engineering Corps' ability to craft hardened bases built into the contours of the earth herself, along with the infrastructure necessary to support a military.
In step with the idea of the Apparatus that one soldier must be worth ten of the enemy, the Home Army are a major component of the universal doctrine of the deep blitz. Determination, ferocity and supremacy are instilled in the Guardsmen and they often fight like every engagement will be their last. While they are often kept away from the frontlines and relegated to security duties the Army are not shy of combat in the least. Their reservist-nature is often merely rescinded in the face of overwhelming odds, where a fresh division, corps of even army group of battle-hungry men and women are unleashed upon the enemy. While the Marines and Drop Infantry are designed almost exclusively with maneuver in mind, the Home Army utilizes all components of modern warfare.
This triad is exemplified by the Triple Assault organization: infantry, cavalry and armor. Infantry are often combined-arms forces composed of riflemen, armored fighting vehicles and artillery, capable of exploiting the breakthroughs achieved by the two more heavily armed (and armored) units. Cavalry units are incredibly mobile, heavy firepower units of shock infantry (a unit-type known as blitzinfanterie utilized from a vanquished enemy), tanks and heavy AFVs capable of breaking prepared and defended positions with overwhelming combat. ‘Armor’ are the heaviest of combat units, equipped with war machines like the WAG, or Walking Armored Gun, MACV, or Mobile Armored Combat Vehicle, and the MAS: Mobile Assault Systems.
Uniform;
The uniforms of the individual state a Guardsmen may come from can vary greatly, simply transplanting all the troops in their native equipment and fatigues would be a stroke of incompetence even the most obtuse of commander wouldn't make. The standard uniform of the Home Army is, ironically enough, derived from the ancient predecessors of their very enemies.
What lends weight to their nickname as "greycoats" is the field grey (Belkanic feldgrau) the material is, like the rest of Apparatus uniforms, composed of interweaved nanite materials (though of a considerably lesser quality) and a synthetic fabric similar to gabardine. The set is often well regulated, depending on humidity, will resist water very well and refuses to snag or bind with excessive movement. Though in quality it certainly lacks the comfort and durability of the tunics or suits found in the Internal Troops or other Apparatus branches the synthetic material functions adequately. Like the other ground forces uniforms are classified into two systems, those for fair environments and those for the more extreme localities personnel will inevitably find themselves operating in. Combat armor and ballistic plating is worn over the fatigues in fair climates as a tactical carapace, lacking the adaptable MAPPs feature common in the Templar program. The uniform is similar in appearance to the ITDM. Plate carriers and armor “scaling” is worn over the shoulders, arms and legs, while the torso and waist are protected by draping flaps of poly-alloy that provide protection from small pieces of shrapnel or fragments.
In hostile environments the Guardsmen utilize an environment-suit similar to that of the other branches, though it is often composed of three pieces instead of two. A hood attachment for the helmet makes a self-contained set for the head and shoulders, overall trousers for the torso and legs provides ample heat regulation for cold environments and protection against inclement weather, and a nanocomplex of treated fabrics allows easy breathing in even the hottest greenhouse environments. The third piece of uniform is, quite literally, an adaptive-camouflage smock worn over the environment suit.
Protective equipment for the head varies, all depending on where the Guardsmen comes from, his mission or detail, or simply his personal preferences. Without the strict regulations for combat ability that is mandatory in the Marines, ODI or ITDM the Guardsmen are often left to his or her own devices. Helmets are all reminiscent of the “domehead” style of helmets from the Western Pact military in the Exodus war; itself a derivation of the Belkan stalhelm.
Constituents of the Home Army:
Armored & Aviation Cavalry:
The Army Aviation & Armored Cavalry are not necessarily separate commands of the Home Army, rather it is the combined armored & aviation forces (composed of tanks and walkers, as well as aircraft) of the Army. Whether operating main battle tanks such as the MBT-3 or FSV-600, or the large Walking Armored Guns, the Cavalry is divided up and allocated to specific units and formations to provide suitable armor & aviation capabilities.
Army Vanguard Forces:
The AVF are known throughout the Home Army and wider Apparatus as the elite spearhead of Army offensives and campaigns, often outfitted and trained to specialties making them comparable to some Marine and COLSOG units. Their larger numbers often prove the deciding point where those other formations are too far and few between to be truly effective. By their position in the Apparatus as a legally-regulated military organization Vanguard Forces are permanent formations, and may only either be too depleted from combat to be worth refitting or declared rogue and hunted to the ends of the stars.
Interstellar Navy
"Ad astra per bellum."
(To the stars for war)
The Waking Giants
With a spacer culture that has bled through to practically every facet of civilized society in the Garden, mankind would hardly have thrived, let alone live through the crucible of fire the cosmos had in store without a strong naval tradition. As in the days of old, when Scatterrans first took to the stars their vessels were at the cutting edge of human knowledge and construction: with faster-than-light travel their interstellar sails brought them to new stars and worlds. While these first starships were largely unarmed, with the rise of interplanetary militarism in the wake of the Exodus it was only a matter of time before men applied war to the galactic stage. Fortunately for the Garden it was the Coalition that led the first forays into naval technology and tactic in the 2100s. When the first rag-tag navies of separatists and rebels gathered in the dawn of the Battle of the Six Systems, the Scatterran Navy was ready with a flotilla of only ten vessels.
The Battle of the Six Systems is ancient history now: a cautionary tale of not only the Coalition's propensity to unleash her military-industrial might but also, a warning for those who rest on their laurels after a victory. While it is still deliberated and studied over in Apparatus War Colleges from the Core to the Colonial Sphere, the lessons to be learned from the mistakes of their forefathers are just as important as those of the enemy. In the centuries since then, the organizations before it and those that will come after the Apparatus have been keen to know all there is about the art of fighting amongst the stars.
Tactics & Doctrine
The true power of the Military Apparatus is measured by the enormous, truly gargantuan, naval force that the IMA operates. From the commands and units reminiscent of pre-space flight naval warfare like the Planetary Fleets, to the high-tech monoliths that roam the cosmos under the helm of the Star Fleet, the Interstellar Navy is the largest branch of the Apparatus and has a presence nearly on every planet underneath memberstate flags. Composed of nearly trillions of sailors and countless vessels, divvied up amongst the Apparatus’ Military Sectors into Fleets that number no less than 5,000 starships the Navy is often the first line of defense and support for any territory that comes under attack.
From crushing insurrections, to anti-piracy operations, or conventional naval engagements across the often treacherous territory of the Garden, the Interstellar Navy is required to be a true jack-of-all-trades branch: a contrary mission to the Apparatus which exemplifies and cherishes specialty and professionalism.
While the little-known Planetary Fleets are far less glamorous their contribution is often more important than the “spacers” of the Star Fleet. Unlike the regimented nature of their cosmic arm, the Planetary Navy is often more adhoc, composed of blue-water ships meant for defense and security across the planet’s airspace and waterways. Vessels similar to modern-day aircraft carriers, albeit far more advanced, and enormous airships often free up the vessels of the Star Fleet which often have trouble operating within atmosphere.
Meanwhile it is the Star Fleet that is the power-projection arm of the Scatterran Navy, capable of marshalling vast forces and commands that would make the Western Pact beachhead of Belkan-occupied Aleurone in the Great War seem like a child in the bath tub. By fluidly adapting to the necessities of campaigns, whether it be clearing an orbital well of defenses or routing the last vanguards of a fleet from a star system the Navy will often juggle many of the vital operations simultaneously. This is a complex undertaking, which requires not only an incredible set of new technologies and breakthrough sciences to sustain but also the ingenuity of sailors, officers and admirals alike.
Constituents of the Scatterran Navy:
- Star Fleet
The cosmic branch of the Navy comprises nearly three hundred and eighty fleets across every Military Sector of the Coalition, from the heavily congested depths of the Inner Core and Forge Stars to the desolate Outer Empyria. Manned by some of the most elite crews and officers of the Navy these vessels are the epitome of Scatterran technology in the modern age of space travel. The Star Fleet is often at the forefront of every campaign the Apparatus undertakes, being it’s primary transportation method for the ground-arms as well as the backbone of supplying and maintaining a frontline.
- Planetary Fleet
The larger and far more numerous branch of the Scatterran Navy, Planetary Fleets are hundreds of vessels across any given planet: sometimes they even number in the thousands of ships and naval craft that traverse the waters of memberstates and other nations. While they are concerned with the more “dirty” work of managing the waterways, oceans and rivers of planets they are no less capable than the memberstate navies in their actions. The Planetary Fleet is actually a much more valuable force to maintain than the Star Fleet istelf: for when the Star Fleet fails to maintain the orbit or gravity well of a planet, the PF is there to save the day.
- Naval Cavalry
Amongst both the Star Fleet and Planetary Fleet, the Naval Cavalry are the metaphorical backbone of any carrier-based landing or defense operation. The men and women piloting the single-craft, fighters, or bombers of the Naval Cavalry are unmatched with a determination for victory and the skills to achieve it. From assaulting capital ships to planetary bombardment, the skill of the Naval Cavalry is only matched by the Scatterran Hegemony, themselves descendants of the vaunted Belkan Air Force of the Great War.
- Naval Special Tactics Group (NSTG)
As a mandate, every force of the Apparatus was ordered to prepare, train, and equip it’s own special operations force. After nearly six years of secretive training and clandestine operations, the Naval Special Tactics Group was unveiled. While they are nominally part of Coalition Special Operations Group (COLSOG), like the other special forces components of each branch, they are one of the most independent entities within the Apparatus’ COLSOG who undertake everything from cover, clandestine operations in enemy territory to overt displays of force striking directly into the heart of regimes and administrations.
Marine Infantry Corps
"War is a trial. A trial of your peers, more specifically: a trial composed of the men you kill, and those you kill with. This jury is unlike any other, just as the court of war is unlike any other."
The Silent Victors
When those hollow vandals of the stars charge from their aching darkness to the skies of mankind, pray those men whom come to you bear the cross and shield: crosses and shield, and will see your world protected through the night. Throughout the Apparatus the ancient military traditions are carried to the stars by those recruited into the great fraternities of soldering and exploration, and it is those traditions or customs that build the founding pillars of the code by which arms are undertaken and how those weapons are used. None of these militaristic orders near the sophistication and focus, truly the artistic respect & appreciation for war, that is attained in the Marine Infantry Corps however. As the Landwachter painters etch the ancient murals of their empire so too do the Marines paint their canvas: the board for their vision is the conflict zones of the Garden, their brush the vast arsenals of six thousand nations and color their blood.
The Marine Infantry are an elite, nearly unmatched epitome of the Scatterran warrior ethos that has survived since the darkest days of the Exodus War. To many they are inhuman, almost alien. They are certainly warriors of free sentience though. They are an expeditionary force, the first to hear the call of war and the first to answer any who would oppose the Coalition’s advance. Equipped with the vast machinery and weapons that the Coalition has to offer they are the sharpest point of the Apparatus’ spear.
The many billions who cycle through the Marine training schools learn to hone every human's natural proclivity for war, not only with a weapon but also their mind and soul. If any war was ever won solely by men under arms mankind would have reached a utopia long ago; lessons like these and many more are taught in the halls of those silent compounds. Whether one endures the grueling sights of Anarchy as a patriot and survives determines where man will find themselves once they are given the will.
The Marines exist as a challenge: not only to the wider Apparatus or the individual states and nations of the Coalition, but truly any human in existence, to have an impact upon the worlds around them. Those that enter are member to an elite sect of society, all with different names and different customs amongst the different nations and yet, all still rather similar. Throughout trillions of citizens across ICON, the spirit of the Coalition marine is an indomitable aspect of civilian and soldier alike that embodies the limitless ambition of the future and salvation of humanity, if man will but reach out and take it. Six centuries of warfare, an endemic reality of the Garden as standard as the day/night cycle, has forged an identity in the crucible of insurmountable odds and brutal warfare to create the next generation of Scatterrans for the next generation of war, for the survival of mankind. At the point of this destructive cataclysm is the Marines, the deadliest and most battle-hardened shock force to fight across Home, where throughout the young history of democracy in the Garden soldiery has been the vanguard of reform across it.
It is the marines that make most of the 'history' trillions of young men and women have left their humble home worlds for: personnel often from lightyears away who would otherwise not even know a planet existed forge connections between the faceless Coalition governments and its citizens. Truly, some marines have never even left their hometown, or country, before being thrust into a uniform and given the reigns of a war machine not only meant to destroy, but create. It is this image of the desperado, a collection of adventurers turned peacekeepers that keep the Marine Infantry booming despite one of the most stringent recruitment policies in the entire Apparatus. This is partly because of the prestige the Marines carry amongst civilian administrators and executives as well. For all that prestige however, many of those same civilians fear the green uniforms as a threat to their 'democratic' power.
It is this identity of the Marines that has created the stigma they have across the whole Garden; none argue that without the Marines the Coalition would have long lapsed into the democratic decay that had plagued humanity in the wake of the Exodus. The debate is still open however, for if the Marines did it correctly.
While the Marines are a multi-national force saying the Apparatus is an equal, diverse representation of the Coalition memberstates is a generous remark. Marine Infantry represent merely a snapshot of the 'Coalition condition' as it is called: despite the separation of thousands of lightyears, the sheer cultural differences, or simply the ancient language barrier, all marines are the same vanguard of their kingdoms. It is because of this that a disparity sometimes arises in the Marine Infantry: while some would think cases of conflicting interests might appear in such a system, these incidents have actually been few and far between.
Tactics & Doctrine;
Like the Belkan Weltraum and Landwachter the Marines often possess a zealotous nature: it is not unfounded to be dispatched as an urchin even if you wear an Apparatus uniform at the hands of a Marine unit. Like the Weltraum as well, many Marines were given a choice: labor, death, incarceration, or the Marine Infantry. Most chose the Marine Infantry. Baptised in combat and elevated to sainthood in victory or death, the Marines strike fear into enemies through fluid combat, mastery of arms and a deadly, radical theory: the deep blitz.
The basic building block of platoon leaders and company commanders is the fireteam, the simplest instrument of military power which, when combined into squads, platoons and further, creates a synergistic drive. Composed of no more than six marines (usually four but as few as three) the fireteam blends all prior combat experiences and weapons capabilities tailored to many combat situations, suitable for fighting in most environments. Any assortment of small arms may be found in a fireteam individual armory: long-arms such as rifles, carbines and machineguns are used for superior, automatic firepower for pinning and tying down any enemy. Other small arms like shotguns and sidearms are used as well, when superior firepower has exhausted its effectiveness and the enemy must be engaged with close in weaponry. Hand grenades and other explosives like launchers are used when heavier ordinance is required, after said enemy has been sufficiently pinned. This equipment allows a fireteam to approach most combat situations with a relatively appropriate plan and response.
This doctrine centers around the combat and destruction of the Great War: other nations would perceive it archaic, yet those who actually fought the conflict remembered for centuries to come the value of the breaking edge. Destroying the enemy where they fight is just as valuable to destroying the enemy before they can fight as well. Marine Infantry and Marine Cavalry alike are thereby designed to achieve just this: while they never refuse a fight from a well-prepared enemy, they are just as brutal against any opponent they find on the battlefield.
An evolution of the fireteam is the assault team, an offense-oriented and often specifically tailored unit for adhoc tasks like engaging or suppressing enemy hardpoints, armor or aircraft. The missions issued to these units may be as simple as clearing a path for the rest of the squad/platoon, or as intricate and specialized as directly securing and safeguarding a civilian establishment alone. The nature of the team can vary from commander to commander, and this temporary nature is one of its primary advantages.
While the assault team is an impromptu assortment cobbled together by a team/platoon commander the squad is a dedicated mechanism of combat power: the squad's abilities are for one express mission, eliminate the enemy or capture and holding of objectives. The roles in a squad compound upon one another, meaning the rifleman is adequately capable of taking over the squad-gunner, or the medic is able to accomplish his own job while also rounding out the squad firepower as the grenadier. This concept is instilled in cross-training skills during basic, advanced or specialist training in multiple weapon systems outside of their class and constant redundancy training. The leader will fire and learn how to properly operate all of the weapons used by his team: the gunner is trained to operate special grenadier weapons like the GL-91 grenade launcher or the underbarrel UKG-42, weapons his mission as automatic rifleman do not (often) require him to fire and versa.
An machinegun team (known as an MG team) is deployed at the squad and platoon level for most company commanders: the marine infantry MG unit comes in three distinct archetypes (jokingly known as 'flavors'), light, general and heavy MGs. Light MG teams are infantry elements exclusively equipped with a SAW-549 (Squad Automatic Weapon) or other rapid fire weapons. They are capable of fulfilling the role of squad MG with a high rate of fire, while also being maneuverable and mobile in rapid engagements. One of the disadvantages of the LMG team are the weapons' limited ammo capacity, as the weapons are only carried by one man.
General purpose machine guns (GPMGs in Apparatus parlance) are the middle ground: platforms like the S1-9 and MG-40 fill this niche adequately, capable of the startling firepower of a heavy MG while keeping the mobile swiftness of a lighter machinegun. The GPMG is normally enough to deal with most combat requirements, with enough firepower to make an infantry assault costly, and the mobility to make armored counter-attacks lose steam by constant movement.
The heavy MG team consists of two (and only two) weapons of 12mm caliber or higher that can be used against dismounted infantry, light or soft-skinned cars and even armored vehicles and aircraft. The infamous heavy machinegun of the Marine Infantry is the 14.7mm MG-99 Hotel Whiskey (for 'Heavy Weapon') and it's derivatives. The high rate of fire of these weapons are only matched by their destructive ability: and while cumbersome their value to infantry commanders is proven time and time again when the heavy MG team is called upon.
Uniform;
The Service and Combat Universal Dress is the Marine Infantry's widespread fatigue, worn in battlefields and out of them by all personnel. Composed of as many as three levels of layering to match most environments appropriately be it desert or tundra, the main fatigues composed of pants and tunic are designed to the specifications of the M10 combat armor. Depending upon the environment a long-sleeve field jacket, or crewcut shirt may be used with the armor system as well. The various combinations that personnel choose reflects the flip-flopping nature of the Marine Infantry, who may go from frontline combat personnel one day to occupational and territorial police the next.
Uniforming is determined exclusively by the environment the personnel are operating in. The requirements and limitations of local habitats factors greatly into how the marine camouflages oneself and his or her equipment. The Complete Kit, or standard dress, is made up of two articles, fatigues and armor. Armor is worn in/and over the fatigues, with special openings where Non-Rigid Plating Systems (soft-shell, flexible armor padding) insulate remaining areas. The breastplate, shoulderplating and spine guard are the single largest pieces of solid armor.
Every version of the SCUD fatigues is compatible with the ballistic armor system of the M10 in the tactical, standard and heavy classifications. For the torso plate carriers, carapace sets and heavy jackets are the armor selections for the standard classification; both armored gauntlets and gloves are issued to riflemen and automatic riflemen, AT gunners and weapons crews. Armored greaves, and gaiter weaves made from nanopolymers or carbosteel-lamerin plating are issued generally for all service conditions. Various other articles are used, both attached to the armor packaging and below it. Ammunition is the most important item to carry for the marines; to allow them a large capacity, infantryman often carry a disposable sling, known as an A-sling. The A-sling is able to hold larger-caliber ammunition than a standard bandoleer, anywhere from 3-6 rifle magazines may be carried as opposed to light infantry bandoleers meant to carry a combination of hand grenades and munitions.
Headgear varies from soft-topped helmets to "top-bloc” helms, equipped with rigs for communication devices and digital-holographic interfaces or night-fighting equipment, to field caps and patrol hats: which allow an improved field of vision while also maintaining “combat ready-uplink” capabilities.
It is not uncommon for marines to carry more than one shoulder weapon, using any of the three primary carrying holsters on both legs and the back. Sidearms are carried on the chest, shoulder, waist and legs depending on the operators unique equipment. The torso and legs are generally the most heavily armored parts of the uniform, rigid-plate carrying vests and applique "hard packets" used to cover the most vital areas of the body.
The base color of Marine uniforms is in a standard, yet adaptable, shade of olive-drab allowing an element of camouflage for Marine Infantry in most environments. The adaptive-nanite fluxing materials woven into the standard fatigues (known as a field-tunic, though more akin to a blouse) create a subtle optical similarity with the surrounding environs, though it is not unfounded to see Marines “dressing” their battle dress with local flora or materials. The standard articles for fair weather and climate are composed of the field tunic and trousers, with an armor-plate network of hardened plate carriers worn over the chest and torso. Other pieces of armor can be applied as necessary using a feature known as the “Modular Armor Package Platforms” or MAPPs. Additional pieces of nanite-enhanced, kevramic plating can be applied to the shoulders, arms, sides, legs and calves as necessary depending on the combat environment and requirements of the mission.
When environments are more hostile Marines often don the field jacket, a composite-shell article providing not only added protection from cold (or hot) weather with a regulated environment beneath the top layers but also a suitable protection from shrapnel wounds and some (extremely) small arms fire. An added trouser-piece can make a completely airtight environment, able to even be used in no-atmo combat or zero-gee operations. Depending on the presence of atmosphere the armor plating is either worn above or beneath this environment suit, complete with a sealed hood that can fit most headgear and face protectors: with field equipment and webbing on top to maintain easy access to munitions or gear.
Field webbing and load-bearing equipment are worn over the chest plate and battle armor allowing quick and easy access to weaponry and ammunition, using a simple but effective suspension system to reduce fatigue from the heavy weights many Marines often carry routinely. The design is also meant to be maneuverable in the confines of armored and light-skinned vehicles as well, the most common form of transportation for the Marine Infantry. Along with ammunition and food the Marine Infantry also carry highly-ruggedized technology, communication’s devices and even hard-case PCs or tablets which are often found strapped tightly against the backs or chest to prevent them from interfering with movement. It is not uncommon for Marines to forsake the larger ruggedized computers and tablets for wrist-mounted “PDA”-style hardware though, similar to those in the Drop Infantry.
The A2/3KM “Flat” pattern of the Marine Infantry is the most widely recognized camouflage pattern throughout the whole of the Apparatus, utilizing an adaptive discoloration scheme to provide suitable disruptive abilities in most environments. Many are familiar with the “smear” effect produced by the integral nanoweave in the fatigues that break up the outline and reduce shadowing or fracturing during movement. This fatigue comes in three distinct “flavors” or patterns: the first being O2/3 or the plain olive-drab which is commonly used on-base, during garrison or security duties. The next is often used by marines deployed from littoral or naval platforms, the N5, which is commonly abbreviated as “Naval”. For marines on duty in starships, orbital duties or other near-earth missions the S97 “Saturn” pattern is used, providing a very effective deployment for cosmic operations.
The 6W5-Pattern is a more environmentally specific, finely tuned pattern composed of a digital-optic layer imposed over the standard “Flat” camouflage. This provides an added bonus to Marines, even possessing some camouflaging ability from aerial and orbital observation, night-vision and radar-based or even thermal optics. Along with the Naval and Saturn patterns, the 6W5 provides an added scheme for more specific localities. The 2T or “Continental” pattern can be used effectively in most temperate and woodland environments, giving marines an added edge in engagements in forests and plains. The TS3 or “Tsol” (meaning ‘desert’ in Farasi) is used in dry and sandy environs, disrupting the outline at most distances as well as keeping a coherent ‘blend’ effect with the ground.
Constituents of the Marine Infantry:
- Marine Mechanized Cavalry (MECAV)
The (heavy) mechanized arm of the Marine Infantry operates the largest, most powerful war machines the military industrial complex of the Interstellar Coalition can produce. Monolithic artillery vehicles, boasting four, eight or twelve and more legs, or advanced bipedal “full spectrum warfare” walkers cut deep swaths into the enemy and absorb tremendous amounts of firepower to clear the way for following infantry. MECAV pilots are the vaunted knights of modern warfare, operating across all campaigns and battlefields with the navy and ground forces alike.
- Military Police (Marine Security Forces)
The heavily armed counter-insurgency forces of the Marine Infantry, Marine Military Police not only safeguard the international laws of warfare but also dole out the punishments for their violation to both marine personnel and other combatants or civilians. Matched in their violent efficiency, as well as brutality, only by the venerated and feared marine Shock Troops the Military Police (often called jagermarine or “marine hunter”) represent the epitome of the Marine Infantry ethos: everything is dictated by natural laws and standards, none are exempt.
- Marine Assault Group
The Marine Assault Group is an elite core of the Infantry, a special forces unit composed of only the most effective and precise marines that perform deniable operations from assassinations to ‘clearing house’ sweeps. While they are officially a part of COLSOG, the unified special operations command of the Apparatus, they are entirely independent like the many subsequent special forces of the other branches.
Internal Troops of the Defense Ministry
The Watching Hands
Constituents of the Internal Troops:
Special Actions & Tactics:
Unlike the rest of the ITDM, who are composed of mainly the politically motivated, the Special Actions & Tactics units of the Internal Troops are a branch designed for precision warfare and police operations. They often are regarded as “barrier troops” amongst the larger units of the Apparatus: that is, they will shoot anyone determined to retreat in the face of the enemy, deal with partisans behind the frontlines, or otherwise undertake the “unnecessarily brutal” pacification of irredentists or resistors to the Apparatus’ strategic whims.
Penal Detachments & Legions;
Constituting nearly a third of all personnel in the Internal Troops are those simply registered as "other than voluntary" on their recruitment datalog, draftees that are given a uniform not of their will but because something is hanging over them. The more heinous of crimes, if a judge or jury so choose, may be met with enrollment within the penal formations and be promptly shipped off; the authorities are often not too concerned about the concept of escape or desertion either, there's a saying amongst the Scatterrans, the war feeds itself.
Interstellar Mechanized Shock/Scout Corps
The Black Stars
In the years after the formation of the Apparatus, the Home Army was the primary interstellar force that operated beyond the perpetual rump-states of the blocs and alliances. While the large majority of the Home Army was more loyal to their respective states than the Federate and, more importantly, their alliances intercine wars and outright violent competition was rather common. Few would agree to stand against not only the burgeoning Supremacy, but even the lesser known but incredibly dangerous Collective and other alien races like the Awoken Union and Ankagari. To this day, even with the centralization of the defense and military apparatus that sustained the remarkable economic, social and political growth of their constituents which in turn led to the growth of the alliances, it is still difficult for the Supreme Chambers to agree on little more than one thing: if these civilizations are to be maintained someone, anyone, must solely handle the issues of defense.
While the Home Army has undergone drastic reform in the following centuries, leading partially to the creation of the Marine Infantry in the 24th century, there was still a necessity for an expertly trained, high-impact fighting force that could operate beyond the stately mission of the Marine Infantry. It was not until a vaunted Field Marshal of the Marine Infantry, one Yejida Manyara, began to secretly design and recruit an elite force of marines, soldiers and warriors from every walk of life across the Coalition and its military. While she dodged Federate inquiry, and growing scrutiny from the very memberstates she was sworn to protect, the forces of the Special Infantry Division continued to train in silence and wait patiently for the opportunity they knew would come eventually. They specialized in both conventional and unconventional operations, counter-insurgency and policing operations: preferring the high-speed low-drag concepts of warfare that dominated fighting in the Exodus and pre-Exodus Scatter rather than the total war of the Supremacy and, its origin, the Great War. Heavily equipped with advanced weaponry and vehicles, and boasting some of the first tried and tested power armor colloquially known as “exoskins” today, the Special Infantry Division was one of the most secretly guarded secrets of Field Marshal Manyara and her close associates until the fateful day of the Awakened Rapture.
It was in the skies over Maribora, after a months long campaign against the nigh unstoppable war machines of the alien unions that the Special Infantry Division made itself known. As the marines and Home Army fought desperately along a front several continents long, the Star Fleet made one final raid upon the planet thought lost to all but the most optimistic of statesmen and civilians.
Field Marshal Manyara died leading her elite troops on the plains of Zelistralka, but in her death and the death of those under her command the Orbital Drop Infantry were born. As the flag of the Coalition was finally raised over the broken husks of Collective walkers a new breed of warrior was birthed in the crucible of modern combat, tempered by the sting of the Scatterran’s indestructible will and fortitude to see their civilizations not go quietly into the night.
Tactics & Doctrine
The IMSSC lean heavily upon the tenets of maneuver warfare: the concept that no enemy alien or human alike can resist the focal point, or schwerpunkt, of a well equipped, trained and determined enemy. Rather than the conventional aspects taught thoroughly to the marines and a lesser extent the Home Army, the Scouts strike precisely and aggressively. Whether dropped from orbit onto unsuspecting and unfortunate enemies as their name implies or infiltrated on the ground, by the time an enemy is even aware of the ODI’s presence it is already too late.
The most iconic method is the orbital insertion, though they are not limited to requiring such a close proximity to a planet to bear screaming down upon it. Despite their name, orbital insertion is only widely used in the opening phases of a planetary invasion or offensive operation, and more commonly operates as “light infantry”. Though heavily armed and armored, they utilize incredibly advanced technology to maintain mobility and ease of movement: whether fighting in anti-grav equipped tanks like the GGBT-98 and CAV-416, or up close and personal in MECHs and heavy exoskins the Drop Infantry bring undeniable firepower to the battlefield where ever they make landfall. It is often wise to steer clear of an ODI battalion, lest the enemy find themselves not only out-maneuvered but out-gunned as well.
Uniform
Often mistaken for the ITDM to the untrained, and soon to be dead eye, the Drop Infantry often go into battle in jet black attire. Their quick nature and high-octane penchant for combat makes any official uniform rather unnecessary. Unlike the Home Army, and to a lesser extent the Marines, the Orbital Drop Infantry are heavily armored with even the basic infantryman possessing a very robust exoskin: the SI-6 HAWK Drop Armor. Besides the SI-6 there are several other systems in thorough use by the ODI however, from the M-50 Titan exoskin to the lighter marks used by genuine light infantry of the Drop Infantry.
Constituents of the Orbital Drop Infantry:
Orbital Heavy Cavalry (OHCAV):
BLACKWING:
The Scout Corps contribution to COLSOG, BLACKWING is a closely guarded, secretive organization. While much of the Drop Infantry are, themselves, fully classified as special forces, it requires a person included in the organization of BLACKWING to distinguish the “regular” Drop Infantry from this venerated and mysterious group. When they do show themselves on the battlefield however, it often results in quite disastrous results: for the enemy of course.
<Drawing excerpt from RE-APPROPRIATED {contraband} file>
\]C;O/B=A,L|T[/
The secretive intelligence community of the Coalition is a giant, yet unseen, machine that spans the Garden and much of the inhabited realms the Scatterrans claim. On many conspiracy blogs across the extranet, they are purported to have assets all across the galaxy as well: like Kampf having a floozy for every imperial house, or the Soviets having communal condom recyclers. I won't tell you what's true and what isn't, there's no fun in that.
COBALT is divided into directorates, two through eight.
There is no Directorate One, take the tinfoil hat off. Go away.
<feed terminated>
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Miscellaneous Information
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"What does a simpleton of the old ways know of freedom? He is free in thought and action surely, serving his god or leader, but he is not free himself. Freedom is a reference only those who are truly free can comprehend in their situation. If you wish to live as a humble artisan and you are a simple artisan, are you free? Yes. If you wish to live as a liberal spirit amongst the winds of the many nations and you are just that, are you free? Yes. If you wish to live as a spirit of your own but are compelled to acquiesce to some fabricated label of the state or society, but are satisfied with the petty little ‘rights’ and ‘freedoms’ you are given? No. That is not free. That is what I wish to destroy."
Science & technologies
"Nature and the cosmos are more technologically advanced than we would like to perceive."
Military technologies
The Warlords
Omnipotent combat intelligences
- One of the darkest secrets of the Apparatus is that it is not an entirely human organization: while it’s duty is to protect the human race (and by extension all of sentience) the architect of the great machinations is, itself, not even human. Under the subtle command of an entity known only as HUN, an ancient intelligence that describes itself as a populace of the Core lies at the epicenter of a massive industrial and military machine: facilitating the symphony of war, from production of shells in a factory to delivery at the front, is the only ‘program’ this entity is capable of. It is through the Hun that the daunting logistics and supply challenges are handled, unit coordination and movement is checked against and strategic objectives are realized.
Templar/Patriot Program
Templar and Patriot program
- It would not be until the 2300's that widespread knowledge of this program became public, but 300 years later in the 26th century the most elite and battle tested of the Coalition's warriors are still member to what is called the Patriot Warriors, or Templars: a biological enhancement program that has produced the indistinguishably unrivaled soldiers and personnel of the Internal Troops, Marine Infantry, ODI and Starfleet. At recruitment, all personnel for the Templar and Patriots are verified for the temporary modifications by passing the standard or basic training: the safe percentage that the recruit can survive the nano and omniskeletal modifications makes production of Templar or Patriot personnel in a large capacity possible.
Hydrogen-explosives
HEX nanite-enriched hydrogen composite
- As Scatterran weapons technology advanced the need for a suitable all purpose explosive, either used in war or peace, was needed and efforts were made to create more high-powered materials. Using carbon-enriched nanites and molecular collection, materials with a high-hydrogen content were created that could work and detonate with the same force in vacuum as in the atmosphere. The notable feature of these refined hydrogen-based explosives is their increased shock wave potential for their weight and ease of transport, able to detonate at the same intensity across multiple environments from a common explosives setup and controllable intensities in various grades.
The deadliest aspect of these new hydrogen-enhanced explosives (known as HEX munitions) is the exponentially more powerful shock wave and pressure generated by the local consumption and subsequent detonation; being composed of an intricate molecular matrices trapping reactive hydrogen until it is rapidly consumed to produce a significant detonation in a very confined space. Upon detonation this has two effects: an initial burst of heat, though it will be snuffed out by the resounding shock wave, and a massive pressure wave capable of pulverizing rock and organic life alike.
Near-Nuclear Device
Anatomic Fusion
- The Anatomic weapons came about in the research of nuclear technology and the advent of the Elexius model fusion reactor. When it was realized the depleted fuel rods could be recharged (with the danger of uncontrolled reactions if not properly managed) scientists found a use for 'charge-negative' transuranium elements capable of becoming nuclear-grade material after activation with a radiation pulse.
The typical NND is a simple mechanism, one container of shaped inactivated transuranium surrounds a molded compartment of metal around the rechargeable fuel pellet. When the weapon activates, explosives initiate a flattening effect as the metal evaporates and bombards the pellet of fissile material in the container and spontaneous reaction occurs.
The limited radioactivity is dramatically disproportionate to the size of the blast through the inert material being quickly used up and discarded in an intense burst even when reaching into the atmosphere. This also means that the particular blast is focused primarily in a dense area with a far more significant spread of radiation as it strikes the ground. The variation in tonnage and onboard initial fusion signatures make some models of NNDs extremely hard to detect.
Linerifle
Magnetic Acceleration Shroud
- The Linerifle as it is called has become the pinnacle of every type of personal weapon in the military and law enforcement across Scatrerran nations. While it is 'underpowered' in regards to the commonly accepted idea of railguns, it still outperforms all other types of individual weaponry, in the same way the gun made the bow and arrow.
Though designs and schematics vary, the operation of the Dinsmark rifle is generally the same: using a catalytic exchanger built around the trigger and receiver mechanism of a conventional firearm, projectiles are able to be accelerated to an incredibly more lethal velocity. Recoil and stability remain relatively unchanged, as the replacement and substitution of parts introduce weights and counterweights in the form of barrel-nose and breech-heel magnetic transfers, a sort of electromagnetic rifling. For the previous reason accuracy, range and stopping power are increased as well, also for which reason the noticeable addition of weight in the form of a heat-neutralizing hand guard around the barrel.
Railcaster
Carst-Pattern smoothbore
- The railcaster was the first experiment with electromagnetic weaponry in the depths of the Exodus, six hundred years later it still serves a function in society. In the typical design the railcaster is in little ways indistinguishable from the gunpowder musket. Unlike the Dinsmark rifle and it's followers which require an internal, interchangeable power source the railcaster utilizes all of the power in accelerating the projectile in cycling open for the next shot. This function is powered by what is known as the ‘Carst drive’; in weapons that use a magazine, the material and alloy construction powers a latticework of accelerating rails for a suitable charge to propel a round.
Although the smoothbore has been miniaturized for personal use, being a common choice among settlers and colonists for self defense and hunting, it’s military applications are largely as cannons or heavy weaponry. Unfortunately, it is not bizarre to see a Home Army detachment largely equipped with railcasters.
Auto/nanomail
Exicarbon-enriched plating
- Carbon-enrichment technologies made impressive gains by the 2400s, and at the turn of the next century many of the Coalition memberstates entered a new industrial age as materials were revolutionized. It was not much longer until these methods were applied to ballistic armoring, and the Apparatus fielded the first automail armor. Composed of a nano-printed crystalline superstructure that dampens impacts and protects from multiple velocities the matrices also enable a powerful electronic capability.
Micro-Kevdine
Nanocarbon tube matrix
- Kevdine came about as an enhancement of para-aramids following mass exploitation of transuranium technology in the 2200s. Since that time, fibers using composite materials have come to replace most other inferior synthetic materials. Used in everything from tires, sails on recreational vessels, seat belts and body armor kevdine is easily made with a simple chemical structure yet high strength and extremely heat resistant. The incredible tensile strength with such a lightweight has very advantageous applications in armor for the Apparatus; kevdine fibers are woven tightly with the fabric of Marines uniforms, providing adequate protection from heat and very small fragments.
Sensor technologies
RAILS
Radar, Atometric Identification, Light and Spectral system
- The RAILS devices are a series of ultra-high capability digital spectromonitors and metasensors built by a combination of passive and semi-active scanning and pulsing systems. While their range is limited merely by the two factors of computational power and energy supply, the systems are often difficult to use for the untrained; if only because there is so much information for a human mind to process. Capable of scanning in full-spectrum RAILS is a general passive action operating system able to defeat or extremely reduce stealth countermeasures, and as a passive sensor is hard to fix a solution upon without a more active searching frequency.
Particle Accretion Array
Mansfrisch-Warner Particle Tunnel
- The Particle Accretion Array measures the precise oscillations over various frequencies through finely tuned and receptive crystal-optic matrices. To many laymen, the Starfleet sailor often describes the accretion array as a very powerful telescope, though in truth it's function is radically different. Those who operate the machinery often have trouble describing their work as well, as the explanation of building images and signatures from quantum exchanges is quite a long story. As it is an active sensor system it uses considerable energy to operate and is also easy to spot in operation. Also as an active sensor it is scanning a very narrow spectrum with an intense beam; making stealth and other countermeasures more effective until the system reaches the frequency in question.
FOTON
Fringe-Optic Transhorizon Oscillation Network
- FOTON is a high-energy photon alternator. In a pitch black enclosure FOTON devices are able to detect and fix lightsources beyond solid-matter interference, a phenomena only witnessed with a particular transuranium element that has since become widely used in many facets of civilization. After years of experimentation with these devices the first systems were used widely amongst navigational vessels and pathfinders; for the Apparatus, it has been a useful tool in detecting objects, crafts or bodies at incredibly long ranges. This is due to the FOTON's ability to discern the planar locality and trajectory of light through a method of entanglement chaining across the cosmos, ad infinitem. This makes FOTON devices excellent for defeating light and optical-based countermeasures. Despite it's power in atmosphere FOTON's range is effectively insignificant although it is still useful for close proximity searching, as power and computational power is dedicated to keeping beams intact rather than stretching their distance.
Digital sensors
Nano-radar
- Digital sensors are precisely designed and high-aspect coders and monitors. Some are constructed with full spectrum capability, that interact with and magnify signals or wavelengths around them with a matrix of nanorecievers and transmitters. This has given rise to the name 'Nano-radar' on the civilian market. Built using complex nanopathways and carbonanite receivers nano-radar devices are capable of scanning, detecting and targeting at suitable ranges. Their greatest use lies as close-range, orbital and atmospheric sensors however. The high accuracy and resolution is achieved by hypersensitive digital structures capable of detecting narrow wavelengths and frequencies across the broad spectrum.
Drive technologies:
FLARE Drive
Amov Fusion Linear Atomic Rocket Exhaust Drive
- Known as a torch drive, ignis engine and the fusion propeller the FLARE drive is a rather old technology unlike many of the newer subluminal and FTL methods of travel across the Garden. Designed in the early 23rd century not much of the drive has changed outside of basic refinements in material, construction and use. Utilizing precious fusion fuels, ionized hydrogen, lithium-6, tritium and Deuterium just to name a few, the FLARE offers an impressive bang for its buck for not only commercial and travel uses but in military as well. Though it is one of the many primary systems used onboard civilian and Star Fleet ships alike it is often not the only, but is mainly used for deep space subliminal navigation and general travel.
MOTH Engine
Mutual Open Thermal Hull Engine
- With enhanced nanotechnology and ultra-pure construction methods solar drives have become more feasible, though their limitation to strictly inter-solar uses has not been overcome. Essentially a solar thermal rocket, the MOTH engine is often a very precious backup system found on many civilian and military vessels that can be used in the event of a main engine or FTL failure. Though simple and slow, they have saved the lives of many a spacer whom would otherwise have been left dead in space.
Solar Sail
- As the name suggest, the solar sail is a rudimentary and simple drive similar to the MOTH engine but fundamentally different. The ease of maintenance, relatively speaking, and nominal speed has mostly found use in the civilian liner and cruiser sectors: of course, for the Apparatus and other militarys solar sails are still used for space probes, as secondary heavy duty secondary power systems and even to provide energy for directed energy weaponry like point-defense systems.
Beam Engine
Mirror Streamer
- Another inter-system drive utilized largely by civilians and some smaller military craft, primarily manned craft, probes and missiles, the beam engine utilizes a transmitted laser powering a seeded hydrogen mass from either a nearby body or, when in military use, a generator onboard a starcraft. With a range similar to the MOTH engine, though slightly better depending on the power of the laser, it is often used interchangeable with a MOTH as a backup system.
Multi-Fuel Rocket
Lang-Gibbison Optirocket
- Whether consuming noxious mixtures of hypergolic fuels or, with the proper know-how of a technician, conversion into a hybrid engine gulping down aluminum-oxygen or metal-oxygen, MRFs serve as some of the primary retroactive and steering thrusters across civilian and military ships in the Garden. Their larger cousins like the Interstellar Launcher Rocket (ILR) utilize the same principles enlarged to provide steady impulse with a much greater fraction of fuel consumption.
Pulsoid Thrusters
Plasmoid thruster
- While cheaper than their vasimir cousins due to a rudimentary construction and low impulse, pulsoid thrusters are used on mostly unmanned craft and as guiding thrusters or correction drives. Easy to manufacture, as well as to repair and replace, they are often taken over optirockets for cost effect. Often powering probes and re-supply ships that travel from colony to colony within a solar system, their use has stood as a testament to a technology that was invented approximately around the time of the Exodus.
IRA Drive
Ion Rocket Fusion Drive
- Colloquially called IRA after the Tsov theoretician that bore the fruit of subliminal drives along with his friend, Theodore Carter whom brought man to the veritable breech of faster than light travel, the Ion Rocket Fusion Drive is a marriage of deuterium fusion and cadmium-fueled ion thruster. Useful as an intersystem boost and, particularly, a cargo tug in deep space the IRA is often instead of the far more expensive Flare and FTL drives.
Neo-Alcubierre Lane Engine
Spatial Distortion Star Lanes
- In an attempt to broker a deal with the laws of the universe and circumvent the necessity of massive stargates or colony ships scientists in the 25th century embarked upon the exploration of Krasnikov tubes: theoretical spatial anomalies similar to wormholes but, in theory, more stable and controllable than the quantum tunnels. Using negative energy densities and re-sustaining wormholes the manipulation of space time surrounding a much smaller craft is able to traverse vast distances along pre-established or relatively safe lanes: if the quantum tunnel system is the “highways” of the Garden, Starlane drives allow a smaller craft to traverse the roads and frontage ways leading to remote or backwater planets and regions.
SHAMROC
Self-Harmonizing Anti-Matter Reactive Oscillator Core
- Undeniably one of the most complex FTL systems to ever grace not only mankind, but all the known and unknown sciences, the devices and drives referred to in layman terms as the SHAMROC, are affordable only to the most powerful of organizations in the Garden: namely governments and corporations, and rather particularly the Federate. Utilizing a myriad of quantum entanglement, interdimensional jumping and anti-matter powered reactions the Shamroc drives allow in the truest sense of the word genuine faster-than-light travel. While mired in time-delation problems, causality and in an essence time travel that makes their useful and timely navigation the realm of both man and machine. The massive engines utilized to power these drives rival even the largest of Flare engines and multi-fuel rockets, and for those reasons are usually only found on advanced starcraft. Another impressive advantage (or doomsday-drawback for any who manage to get their hands on the device) is the fact that Shamroc transits, while still guided by some aspects of known science, are particularly undetectable.
The Tunnel Drive
Quantum Tunnel Travel
- An intermediary system between the Shamroc and easily manufactured Starlane, the Quantum Tunnels were one of the first quasi-FTL technologies that allowed mankind to expand across the local sectors of Beta Hydri and the Garden. Utilizing what are colloquially termed as wormholes, two points of spacetime are bridged with an entangled tunnel that allow the transmission of both matter and energy from point A to point B across dozens, hundreds or even thousands of lightyears. One major drawback though is, the longer the distance the larger the apparatus and wormhole must become: for this reason, only incredibly large colony ships or, more likely, massive interstellar gates must be constructed to facilitate travel between stellar regions and systems. This has led to the construction of an intricate network along useful “highways” of interstellar travel, often leaving entire regions of states and nations ‘out of the loop’.
Industrial technology:
Nano-Forge
Charles-Mishivoy Nanite Complex
- The Charles-Mishivoy complex, known today as the Nano-Forge, is one of the most studied and interesting pieces of technology to ever come from Scatter. Though now these pieces of equipment come in all shapes and sizes the exact specifications are as numerous as their versions. Generally the Nano-Forge is utilized in raw construction, engineering and mining. As 3D printing became more prevalent and widespread the concept was married with nanotechnology, and by the 2300s had replaced most other technologies for economic construction.
Molecular Depositing
3D matter printing
- Much to the spurn of the nations and states whom economic livelihood depends on the mass consumption and production driven economies, technology has advanced to a point where in only a few particular cases are imports needed. Outside of sought after consumer goods, raw materials like precious metals, water or helium to feed the nano-forges, and of course food even some of the most remote colonies are capable of sustaining a semblance of autarky. This is capable due to the highly advanced marriage of quantum computers and nano-forges, allowing remote habitats on planets, asteroids and deep space alike to synthesize the complex machinery needed to survive in the inhospitable cosmos from cheap and affordable raw materials.
Nanite-Enriched Carbons
Sub-molecular enrichment
- Enriched materials are procured using an extremely fine cocktail of nanites and nanomaterials that break apart and reduce impurities within the metals without detracting from end-product collection. Through a series of positive and negatively charged 'plasma window' screens metals and alloys are sub-molecularly processed by the industrial machinery, creating super-pure materials.
Enhanced Nanoconstruction
Large scale nanotechnology
- In the centuries following the nano-forge, microtech has had an almost pervasive influence on practically all walks of life. From settlers on far-removed colonies to denizens of the great hivecities like New Harmony and the Forge, nanoconstruction has infiltrated deep into Gardenite culture. From easily installed heuristic devices requiring no surgery to incredibly advanced medical technologies that rival even the advanced alien systems found within the Veil many have at least had passing experience with many nanotechnologies. Heuristic and neural implants, immune system boosting and other technologies all abound across the Garden.
Interplanetary Industrialization
Star Industries
- With runaway capitalism dominating most economies of the Coalition, unlike their neighbors across the Halo in the Supremacy, the industrialization of space was unleashed quite early in the post-Exodus Garden as the Scatterrans sought to expand their influence and power. While Terran worlds are precious and protected, the same can not be said for rocky martian bodies or the likes of other planets and planetoids. Gas giants, asteroid belts, and even stars have come to be harnessed for the prosperity of trillions upon trillions of souls: the beautiful skies and hallowed ground of planets must be closely guarded, but everything else under God's sky is to be used to further mankind. From the industrious culture of spacers mining asteroids, moons and Jovian worlds that dominate the Forge or the wider Core to the prosperous society of colonists and workers that fabricate the raw materials into finished products, and finally the shrewd traders whom distribute them, the economy has changed in a lot of ways but still widely remained the same.
Legal drinking Age: 18 by Federal law when no others exist.
- As young as 15 in over 700 memberstates
- Alcohol illegal in over 4,000 memberstates
Driving age: 16 with permit, valid transnational/Federal identity allows operation of a motor vehicle at 18,
- As young as 15 w/ valid permit in over 900 memberstates
Age of Sexual Consent/Adult Classification: 17 with parent or guardian permission, 18 universally by Federal regulation. National laws are allowed to contradict, however with exceptions.
- As young as 15 (the lowest limit) in nearly 530 memberstates
Military enlistment: Universal conscription to the Federal military or civil service mandatory upon reaching legal age (18 in Federal laws without any contradictions), exemptions exist
- Already enrolled in national service, either civil or military
- Omitted from military conscription as a conscientious objector (still subject to civil service)
- Verified as disabled or otherwise unfit for military service (physically, mentally or politically)
- Conscription age as young as 16 in 430 memberstates
- Military abolished in 367 memberstates
Voting age: Universal suffrage at 18
- Voting abolished in over 500 memberstates
Reproduction: Unregulated, if not contradicting state and national precedents
Status of Drugs:
Marijuana - legal with state-assigned permit, adult age restrictions apply. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Tobacco - legal, adult age restrictions apply. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Cocaine - legal with state-assigned permit, restrictions apply. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Alcohol - legal, adult age restrictions apply. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
LSD - illegal outside of applied use by the state or transnational governments. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Caffeine - legal, restrictions apply. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Heroin - legal with state-assigned permit. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Opium - legal with state-assigned permit. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Methamphetamine - legal with state-assigned permit. Laws of the memberstate take precedence.
Firearms: Private ownership encouraged under Federal law, when not in contradiction to state precedents. Regulated loosely.
- Firearms illegal in under 30 memberstates
- Firearms unregulated in over 700
Death Penalty: Enforced and utilized under Federal crimes.
- Anywhere from 300,000 to 2.4 million executions under Federal authorities taking place annually.
- Death penalty abolished (but not exempt under Federal laws) in over 850 memberstates
Speed limits & driving regulations: Varies from memberstate to memberstate, no Federal regulations (save for obvious cases)
Religion: Encouraged by the Federal government, where no national laws apply.
- Official state religion in over 700 memberstates
- Number of memberstates under secular governments nearly 2,000
- State atheism in over 400
Scatterran faiths: Exempt from Federal taxes but obliged to provide ethical and material support for humanitarian duties.
Non-Scatterran & alien/new faiths: Tolerated, but not exempt from taxes. Humanitarian requirements remain.
Pornography: Legal, age restrictions apply, taxed & regulated by memberstates.
Prostitution: Legal, age restrictions & other Federal regulations apply. Taxed exclusively by the memberstates.
Polygamy: Regulated by national bodies
Homosexuality: Federal pronatal and family-oriented policy, standard social protections guaranteed in the Interstellar Mandate of Human Rights & Protections. When in contradiction with national laws the Federal precedent is taken.
- Homosexuality outlawed in 234 memberstates
Stem cell research: Protected & utilized under Federal regulations, otherwise subject to individual national laws.
Cloning: Restricted to state, national & Federal regulations. Utilization regulated under Federal organizations by a strict code of conduct.
- Outlawed in over 2,000 memberstates.
Slavery: Outlawed in all forms by Federal regulation, no national laws concerning slavery outside of abolishment accommodated.
Hunting: Legal, regulated by both national and an international body composed of non-government organizations.
Consumption of Meat: Legal & encouraged, otherwise regulated by national bodies
Litter: Minor offense under Federal law, otherwise regulated by national bodies.
Suicide: Illegal under Federal regulations, but certain national laws are not overruled.
- Assisted suicide for disabled or elderly, or elected in over 1,300 memberstates
Gay marriage: Protected by the IMHRP, though national laws can regulate homosexual bonds & relationships at their discretion.
- Heterosexual marriage legally distinct from homosexual relationships in over 5,640 memberstates
Abortion: Illegal outside of mandates & precedents under the Federal system, though cases exist where it is permitted.
- Abortion universally outlawed in over 800 memberstates, though it is not a prosecutable crime by Federal mandates when meeting previously stated cases.
Sexual activity:
Pedophilia - Illegal, punishable in Federal & national courts.
Beastophilia - Illegal, punishable by Federal & national courts.
Xenophilia - Illegal, punishable by Federal & national courts.
Rape - Illegal, punishable by Federal & national courts.
Obscenity: Regulated by individual memberstates.
Taxation Systems: Universally outdated. Individuals taxed by memberstate discretion, when in agreement with Federal mandates.
Prerequisites for Citizenship:
Racial Scatterran, or citizen of a memberstate
Child/spouse of national citizen
5 years in Federal or national military service (if non-citizen)
Defector, prisoner of war (if meeting political criteria) or refugee
Partial Citizenship:
No partial citizenship exists
Prohibited Immigration/Visitation: Non-Scatterran, non-citizens prohibited from traveling to parts of the galaxy without oversight from the Federal government’s Office of International Citizens and Persons.
Censorship of media: Utilized, but loosely.