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ICON

The Interstellar Nations represent one of the two largest collective of human states in the Multiverse, and prided as the bastion of liberty in the MV.

0 · 644 views · located in The Garden Zone

a character in “The Multiverse”, as played by AzricanRepublic

Description

The Interstellar Coalition of Organized Nations

Image

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
- - -

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
- - -

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>


---
Miscellaneous Information
---

"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.

So begins...

ICON's Story

Setting

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Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Somewhere beyond the Red Line


Planets like this were a plethora across the endless chasms of space, lifeless husks of dirt and ice cobbled together, around a dying star or a lonely gas giant, clinging to the orbit in the never-ending cosmic dance. Planets like this one were often forgotten, disregarded, stripped of their resources and left a nearly empty husk to be left alone forever in that crawling blackness. Planets like this were used up and tossed away, cored of their precious metals or priceless crystals or invaluable gases and written away into the lists of dead planets eaten up and returned to that yawning bleakness that was the deep cosmos.

Perhaps in another realm planets like this could have been terraformed, their empty skies injected with atmosphere, their harsh rock ground down and seeded, the core ignited: all spun up into a lush tapestry of greens or browns to benefit all life that sought to escape that boiling darkness. Perhaps if the hubris of man didn’t utilize worlds like these as crypts for its greatest abominations, this one wouldn’t be here.

A lifeless, shivering moon with not such much on it as a fueling station, one tiny automated orbital with a handful of landers and shuttles docked. What betrayed the insignificant speck of rock and ice was what terror the planet held deep beneath its crust.

Thousands of kilometers below the orbital, a single tower jutted from the ground next to an enormous chasm that cleaved deep into the surface of the planet. Even though the station was hundreds of kilometers below the surface of the planet, light somehow reached down from that starry darkness to the great windows of the station’s observation decks. Major Zakiraya Descoteaux admired the way light bounced off a cluster of crystals across the chasm from the observation deck, turning as he heard the soft whoosh of the door and seeing a young man approach him.

Lieutenant Kendal Aziz was small, for a Gardenite, slim shoulders and brown eyes almost hidden by glasses as he clutched a tablet in his hand. Exchanging brief salutes, Lieutenant Aziz then spoke. “Major Descoteaux, good to finally meet you.”

“And you, Lieutenant Aziz - Kendal, was it?” He said, quietly planting his hands behind his back as Aziz nodded. Stepping aside, he threw a hand back towards the lift that had deposited him here, on the observation decks. The Major soon broke into a stride, leaving the Lieutenant in the dust for a moment before he quickly picked up the slack and rushed behind Descoteaux.

“Yes Major, Lieutenant Kendal Aziz. Uuuuh, they’re running a purge through the data in an hour - we’re mass-dumping a whole input core, and the Director specifically requested you … “ Aziz began, as Descoteaux approached the lift and it automatically opened with a short whir. Entering, and turning, Aziz strode into the lift and then turned to be beside the Major.

“Have you ever seen NITEMARE, Lieutenant Aziz?” The Major’s question may have come out of nowhere, as it caused Aziz to stop mid-sentence.

“ - Uh, no Major. I’m on Deck 100.”

“100. Hell, you haven’t even seen the worst of it.” Major Descoteaux said dryly, stifling a soft laugh in his throat as he then took the tablet from the Lieutenant and began to scroll through the information held within. He looked up to a small display above the door of the lift, watching it begin to crawl from 5 and upwards. It was a long ride down, so the Major had plenty of time to study.

One thing that most found surprising was that the broad majority of the Apparatus weren’t soldiers, or marines, or sailors. He’d heard a joke once, somewhere: for every thousand marines, there’s five thousand support staff, everyone from clerks to analysts and intelligence specialists that were often more deadly than the marines themselves.

That was how the Terran Conflict was won, that was how the Incursion was beaten, and as the Apparatus next planned, how an inevitable continuation conflict with their imperial government would be won.

Not with tanks. Not with guns. Not with planes or even ships, though they would indeed be used.

Descoteaux was, himself, a veteran of the “greatest intelligence machine”, the massive network of analysts, consultants and informants that had been the undoing of many an irredentist state back in the Garden during the Insurgencies. After his service in the Outer Garden, he had been offered a deskjob in the secretive, federal intelligence agency known as Counter-Balance.

Rather than end his career at a desk he’d decided to end it here - still at a desk, but at what has become known amongst the intelligence circles as ‘Lighthouse’. He should have been amazed that such a facility had been constructed so quickly, and then promptly abandoned by the Interstellar Nations so quickly after the incursion and subsequent listless years of the Exogarden.

What concerned him more though, was the power contained within the rocky crust of this lifeless planet having been left in the hands of a skeleton crew. At least back during the Insurgencies he had a blank cheque from the Federate, a pool of recruits to draw and train from the Apparatus and Interstellar Civil Service, equipment and hardware to use.

Out here? He had to make do with what were essentially sticks and stones compared to what he had back in the Garden. It was a challenge. His career was made by overcoming challenges like these.

“A lot of you young bloods make the mistake of overestimating what NITEMARE actually is,” Descoteaux began, idly flicking a finger along the tablet as he poured through the day’s parameters of operation. Protocol, doctrine and all the other irrelevant information that made his job as exciting as it was. Marines and sailors fought with guns and planes, Descoteaux fought with data and spreadsheets. He’d debate he was deadlier than the marines and sailors, in many cases.

“I’ve heard some stories, ‘we can spy on anything with a heartbeat’ - that was a rich one - everything from precognition to changing lottery numbers, at another.” The Major said with a bemused smile, tapping on a particularly large info-dump somewhere in the exabytes of raw data. That was a curious one. He pulled a copy from the brief and left a tag for his own device.

“I, uh, heard it was pretty much just a big dragnet. Data mining, deep sightings, that kind.” Aziz responded, his voice flecked with a cautious tone as he noticed the Major simply shake his head.

“Ah, sold short on it then even. No, it is more complicated than that. A quantum array - there’s some scientific detail I could bore you with now but, I won’t - that’s what NITEMARE is. Seems innocuous at first but, with enough time and predecessor data, I could know every little thing about you from the date of your birth to your favorite dinner your mother always made. That, and your credit score.”



As the lift trundled along, it passed by deck after deck, everything from data banks to the cosmetic and life support facilities that made existence in this otherwise drab station bearable. Deck 55, easily the largest of the entire station, was the maintenance deck. A yawning, 30 kilometer long track of tunnels and accessways that ran the ring of what seemed to be a hollow sphere deep underneath the planet’s surface.

Wheel’s squealed as maintenance hands sat perched on a small, two-man transporter. It made traversing the top ring all the more easier, and lugging around hundreds of pounds of tools much less consuming on the legs.

Up ahead, the two workers spotted their mission in question. Grating had been shorn free revealing the outer shell of the sarcophagus that enclosed whatever was hidden within. Throwing the transporter into park, the driver draped one arm over the wheel while pointing. “Ah, bet that’s it. Workload mentioned something about possible signal leak.”

Beginning their work, the passenger was quick to pull a toolbox from the back of the transporter. First, a cutting torch was used to break away the chunk of bent metal. As he was working though, his belt caught on a snag of the grating, and as he jolted to free it a small wrench came free to then topple through the hole and disappear into the dark. “Oh, shit.”

The trip for the little piece of hardware was a long, if quiet one. Cartwheeling and tumbling this way and that, it fell for some 30 kilometers before it finally struck something. There was a clang that no one would hear as it impacted the inner shell of the sarcophagus, a massive nano-reactive shell that vaporized the wrench before the small hole it had punctured was repaired in seconds.

This enormous shell wasn’t to keep signals out. It was meant to keep them in. Even in a single nanosecond, the potential for a stray signal to come free was not only a possibility, but inevitable even. By the time the shell had stitched itself back together, that concern may have been abated. No one would know a signal had escaped until well after it had, but it was of little concern amongst the sheer enormity of signals that were contained deep within the sarcophagus.

However, deep within space, there was a hungry screaming that rolled through the emptiness.

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Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Somewhere beyond the red line
Hastati Class Cruiser 'Scourgebane'

Deep in the blackness of space beyond the furthest reaches of Imperial Defenses, a single Hastati class cruiser winked into existence from nothing.

"Jump Complete." The Tactical officer reported, as the FTL displays synchronized back to Zero, the CIC of the Scourgebane buzz with activity, data began pouring in on displays, and the Commander, a young man in his mid thirties was having a conversation with EVE. All throughout the CIC, one lone figure stood in silence, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched the large display in front of him.

He took a step forward, and the plush purple robes followed his movements as he moved towards a display.

"What are we out here to do again?" The commander asked, peering up from the flickering holographic display. "We've recieved reports of Scatterran privateers harassing civilian ships moving in and out of the defensive zone." Kesslee replied, his gaze hardened as he focused his attention on the display. "His Majesty has dispatched me on a special assignment, that's all you need to know, Commander." Kesslee replied, as he approached the main command console.

"I'll want to enter the next set of FTL Coordinates personally." Kesslee replied, as the Commander nodded, and a tactical officer spoke up.

"Spin-Sync generators are at fifty percent, we'll be able to jump again in about half a millicenton." The officer reported, returning quickly to his station as the Commander quietly wondered to himself why the Emperor would dispatch a confessor on some classified mission.

"Are you going to do anything about the settlers encroaching on our border space, Grand Confessor?" The Commander inquired. The Confessor simply nodded in the affirmative.

"All in due time, Commander, let me know the moment the FTL drives are spooled up again."

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Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Deep Void Bureau Station 117


In a distant orbit from a lonely station, spun up and rolling through the emptiness of interplanetary space, the prow of a single Ploesti class heavy frigate loomed amongst the wreckage of a smuggling ship. The cargo liner had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, a bait and switch that had left it at the mercy of the CNS Rocheaux well before it could penetrate the ALIRBADs cordon around imperial space.

One had been caught, but the patrol squadron of frigates and destroyers like the Rocheaux couldn’t be anywhere. Commander Fearghas Volodya was a maverick even by frigate commander’s standards: he anticipated some choice words from the rest of the patrol squadron, as doing a bait op so close to the Aschen Cluster was sure to spook his counterparts of the imperial navy.

“Commander, our monitor-drones’ scanned the wreckage, no life-signs. It was dead after the first Halberd impacted.”An Ensign reported from the pits below, and Volodya stretched his arms out against the railings of the crows’ nest.

“Think that’s a record, ladies and gentlemen - must’ve hard-decomped and voided the bowels.” Volodya remarked succinctly, then standing up as he studied a sweep of the various cargo blocks and containers that had been spewed from the hull of the vessel after the Mk. 18 Halberd Naval Interdiction Missile had impacted the ship. “They must’ve had quite a haul for someone in the Cluster. Wonder who in the Quorum got their fingers in a pie so far from Langara.

Shit.” The Ensign in sensors remarked quietly, her eyes narrowing as she then leaned forward in her cockpit and began tapping hurriedly at a series of holographic keys. Volodya’s focus was broken for a minute, as he looked down to a pair of Lieutenants gathering at the edge of the sensor pit.

“What’ve we got, another runner?” Volodya inquired, his voice carrying down into the pits below. One of the Lieutenants shook his head, and turned up to look at his commander.

“Negative Commander, it’s another Aschen vessel - just beyond interdiction-range.” The Lieutenant remarked, but Volodya pursed his lips in confusion then. This last ship he’d just splashed was Aschen itself.

“So they were paired?” He inquired abruptly.

The Ensign in the sensor pit then shook her head, reaching up to pull one of the headphones off from over her ears. “Negative sir, I’m reading a military signature.”

After that, Volodya stared forward at the massive airscreen at the head of the bridge, a rudimentary sensor sweep showing what appeared to be a rather large vessel on approach just beyond the limits of the Rocheaux’s interdiction missiles. That said nothing of the nuclear-capable Mk. 20 Reflex anti-ship torpedoes. “Well I’ll be damned. Guess they don’t want the lid getting blown off their little smuggling group.”

Volodya let a soft grin ply across his face, reaching a hand down to the rails lining the crows nest. “Spin up a Reflex, kilotonnage and ready the Mk. V/IIIs.” He barked, the crew of the ship all going quiet for a moment. Volodya clicked his tongue. “Did I stutter, sailors? Beam a line to the DVSB, tell them we’ve got one more fish to fr - “

“Uhh, ‘scuse me Commander.” The Lieutenant interrupted quietly, and Volodya narrowed his eyes down to the Lieutenant. “We’re already receiving a beam-message from the Deep Station.”

There was a single message broadcast to both the Rocheaux and the imperial vessel that had arrived. Uncoded and widely transmitted, the heavy frigate sat between both the Scourgebane and DVSB-117.

Attention Scourgebane, there is an anti-smuggling operation in the area - please decelerate as patrol forces finish mopping up. Attention patrol forces - there is an Aschen military vessel in the sector: this is not a possible enemy contact. Disengage weaponry and prepare escort functions.

Transmitting diplomatic codes now. Please standby for ETA comms establish: five microcycles.

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Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Slowly, the Scourgebane moved through the blackness of space, the Commander was quietly watching the skirmish, or what was left of it play out across a large holographic projection. Kesslee stood in silence besides the man with his hands clasped firmly behind his back, eyes fixated on the large projection before them.

Kesslee didn’t say much, hardly a word to anyone aboard the cruiser for the duration of the trip, likewise he was met with mostly awkward silence from the crew, no one wanted to say the wrong thing in front of a confessor, let along the Grand Confessor, it was as if the Emperor himself was aboard this ship. It played out, and the air of tension was quite palpable.

Quietly the commander read the deep beam message as the text scrolled across his display, before he turned his attention to the helms crew.

“Bring engine power to fifteen percent, and engage deceleration drivers to twenty percent, bring our velocity to five point two five, and maintain present course.” The Commander ordered, and the two helm operators nodded.

“Aye sir.” They said in unison, before reaching out to manipulate large console levers, drawing them back to slow the massive vessel.

“Transmit a reply on the frequency, transmit authentication codes.” The Commander ordered.

”Attention Exogarden Command, this is Scourgebane Actual, I have the Grand Confessor on board with diplomatic mission priority, we are formally requesting priority access to diplomatic, and command channels. How copy?”

Terminating his broadcast, he turned to Kesslee, as the older man craned his neck to look at the Commander.

“Prepare my entourage, I must prepare myself.” The Grand Confessor added, as he turned to leave the CIC.

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As the broadcasts streamed to and fro the Scourgebane and the Void Station, the Rocheaux remained still, using its own powerful arrays to boost the transmission speed and up/down rate to streamline the effort. As the Aschen request for diplomatic channels were received, a tight-beam link was established with the ship as the automated systems of the Void Station went into action.

Greetings I am VIRGIL, you are now connected to the Local Administrative Bureau intrasystems. Here are documents and verifications to compile before docking with the Void Station,


The custodian AI of the Void Station displayed a series of visiting identificators, as well as a special broadcast IFF-tagging the Scourgebane as a friendly, diplomatic vessel. The identifiers could be printed by even the most rudimentary of a molecular printing drive, while the IFF-tags soon ‘auto-dated’ to update the positions of almost five other Exogarden ships in the near AU.

I have taken the liberty of dispatching a droneship, the Destroyer MS-1517/8A to escort the Scourgebane to Deep Void Bureau Station 117: please dock at umbilical A2, where a Sector Artifex will be preparing a chamber. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them and ensure your visit is suitably catered to!


The Rocheaux and another manned destroyer, the Lombardia, were then to give a wide berth to the Scourgebane on its approach to the Deep Void Station, which itself had become a hive of activity as the umbilical was prepared for the Scourgebane.

The Deep Void Stations were constructed in a similar manner to the millions of other void stations that dotted the Garden and some parts of the Local Region. Composed of a main, six hundred meter habitat module that was ringed with a rotating drive that provided the station with both power and artificial gravity, a few transiting ships were passing by a large, separate transmitting buoy as they made room for the Scourgebane.

Onboard the station, Chief Artifex Behar Dimiter stood in his office, watching an airscreen display of the approaching imperial ship. He drew a cautious hand up to his bearded chin, while the other held a rocks glass with a brown, honeyish liquid. Raising the glass of scotch to his mouth, he took a slow drink, before turning back to his desk and setting the glass down.

“Virgil, can I get an ETA on their arrival?” He asked, a soft chime coming from the ceiling as the hologram of a man draped in ancient robes materialized in the center of the room.

“I estimate within the hour, Artifex. I have taken the liberty of scheduling the summit in an observation deck of Section A, not far from their umbilical.”

The custodian remarked, adjusting his tunic only briefly as Behar ran a hand down his chin to straight out the well groomed beard he sported. “Thank you Virgil - uh, make sure the marines stay back, I don’t intend to give them an opportunity to muscle.”

“Very well sir, I will inform Lieutenant Colonel Dalton of his parameters.” With that, the Artifex pulled his coat jacket from the back of his chair and soon tossed it over his broad shoulders. Looking to a holo mirror, he made sure to adjust the tie sitting draped down his blouse before then readying the left down to Section Alpha.

While the Scourgebane docked, the first thing they’d see entering the umbilical wasn’t another human being, but a pair of automatons. One of them stood slightly taller than the other, mechanical limbs draped over what appeared to be an energy rifle. The second, smaller one was unarmed, and its head shaped to be more humanoid than the blocky optical module atop the armed droid.

“Greetings, I am Plato-473, a protocol droid in service of the Aschen Local International Regional Bureau, and this is Deep Void Bureau Station 1-1-7.” The droid’s automated voice informed, before offering a three-fingered hand back towards the bulkhead of the airlock. “The Chief Artifex will host you in a chamber on this very same deck, please follow me.”

Behar quietly set his glass down beside a tall, and most importantly unopened, bottle of bourbon as he followed in a pair of protocol droids that were busy putting the final touches on catering. With a soft snap of his fingers, he pointed one of the droids to place a platter of minor foodstuffs on the table. The droid promptly set the plate down at the far end of the table prepared for the Confessor and his entourage, but Behar was left to gawk a moment as another droid entered, this time carrying a plate of what appeared to be an entire, cooked hog.

"Virgil, I'll be sure to call the kitchen if they want a four course fucking meal." The Artifex remarked, promptly unscrewing the lid of his bottle. "What you could do, is get me some more glasses though." He requested, waiting until a small set had been delivered before setting a gracious amount of the bourbon in each. With that, he treated himself to a deep drink of his own before all the protocol droids but one left, which took place standing silently in the corner as the Aschen were escorted to the chamber. Behar stood with his feet together, hands at his side at the head of the table and ushered the imperials in with a single wave of his hand.

"Gentlemen, I am Chief Artifex Behar Dimiter of the Local Bureau ... my associate Virgil here has taken the liberty of preparing some food - the bourbon though is from yours truly, token gesture, for any inclined. Formalities out of the way though - welcome to the edge of civilization."

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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It took Kesslee some time to get ready, opting to wear his nicer state robes to the summit, which were like his duty robes, but a bit more ornate, with silver embroidery running along the front of the robes, and plush shoulder pads that were embroidered with ornate designs, and were a slightly darker shade of indigo. Everything was neatly pressed, Kesslee had to make a good first impression after all.

The door to his personal chambers slid open, the moment that the Scourgebane had begun it's final docking procedures with the Void Station's umbilical, the sounds reverberating all throughout the interior of the ship.

"Looks like I should get ready." Kesslee said to himself, this was the first time that the Aschen had made formal contact with the forces of the Exogarden since the fall of the previous administration, Kesslee knew things had been silent on the Aschen side of the Red Line for a reason.

Silently the Grand Confessor moved through the halls of the Scourgebane, Imperial soldiers giving him a wide berth as he moved. Each Imperial stepping aside inside the Scourgebane wide corridors.

To say nothing of the moment the Grand Confessor reached the starboard airlock where the umbilical was attached, there was a smooth, feminine voice that greeted the Grand Confessor's ears as he was stopped.

"You didn't think His Lordship was going to let you do this alone, did he?" She asked with a soft smirk that played across her face, in contrast to the Confessor's robes, Director Angel was dressed in a simple well tailored black pantsuit, with knee length skirt, and white blouse that she left unbuttoned at the collar. A black woman's blazer finished the ensemble.

"No, I didn't." Kesslee replied, casting a glance over towards Marlene as she stepped up besides him. "Try to behave, and not make a fool of us, Director."

Marlene chortled at the fact, and cantered her head ever so slightly. "With respect, Grand Confessor, I've been dealing with Scatterrans longer than you've been alive."

Kesslee grimaced as the airlock cycled, and then let the grimace fade into a neutral expression while armored doors retracted, and revealed the interior of the station, and the protocol droid.

"Just remember, Director. I am the will of the Emperor, not you, any decisions must be made by me in his name." Kesslee remarked, and Marlene shrugged. "Your lordship, I'm only here to ensure your safety." She said, gesturing with her right hand, and a shrug. She then tapped her earpiece. "Alpha team, standby, checkin cycles every twenty centars." Offering a smile, she waited for Kesslee to step forward. The two of them almost walked in step, following the droid to the chambers where the summit would be held.

Marlene's eyes subtly scanned the interior of the room, glancing about, and committing the finer details to memory as Kesslee stepped forward towards the table, and Marlene slowly moved behind him, keeping her hands at her side, the sound of her heels clicking on the floor giving an ominous deep clack with every footstep. Marlene had chosen these heels for a reason, they offered the best sound when she walked. A contrast to Kesslee's boots which were quiet.

The pair silently listened to Behar's introduction before taking their seats, Kesslee speaking first. "I am Grand Confessor Charles Kesslee, I am his Lordship's personal representative, and I speak on behalf of His Lordship in these proceedings, and this is my escort, Director Marlene Angel. She works with the Ministry of Defense." Kesslee said, not elaborating further. Once gestured to take a seat, Kesslee and Marlene moved to take their seats, next to each other at the table. Of course, Marlene moved to help herself to the food, specifically the roasted hog, using the provided utensils to cut herself a piece of meat from the back, and place it on the plate.

Kesslee shot her a glare, as she stuffed a large piece in her mouth, and shrugged. "When in Caprica I'm starving." She said, the food muffling her words.

Kesslee stifled a groan, but turned his attention back to Behar, and inclined his head respectfully. "I am pleased that you are so hospitable, and willing to receive us at such short notice, I am sure there is much to discuss." Kesslee said.

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Behar calmly took his glass from before him, welcoming the Aschen into the chamber but refusing to sit, for now. He studied the Aschen before him, and gave a dismissive wave of his hand as Marlene made a plate for herself, much to the chagrin of Kesslee. “Virgil had been looking for an excuse to get rid of some of the food stock: his cooking has had some … marked improvements since I’ve allowed him to slave the droids.” He remarked, tapping a finger on his glass as he stood at the corner of the table.

At the mention of hospitality, Behar brought the glass up to his mouth and took a swig. “I’ve been rather successful in … smoothing the appearances of the Federate’s policy here in the Local Region. Virgil, uh, a tablet, would you?” He said, looking over to the protocol droid that calmly stepped to the table and offered the Artifex a sleek, black tablet. “I’ve some briefs for the Home State government.”

Putting the tablet face up, he tapped at a few keys before a projector module spat out a hologram projection. As Kesslee introduced himself and the director, Behar ran a hand to straighten his jacket briefly, a surprised arch of his brow crossing his features for a moment. “Ah, Marlene Angel? Congratulations on the promotion - a surprise to learn the rumor was true. Ministry of Defense, quite a position.”

“As for these briefs uh, just some routine updates,” He began, tapping away with his free hand as a series of documents and correspondences flit across the displays. “The Exogarden task force has enlarged the patrol squadrons to maintain the humanitarian shipments, some Commodore in the Exogarden has decided smuggling has become more of a concern - I’ve yet to understand his true justification for the activities though -”

All of this, and even more, was being prepared on a special diplomatic drive to be given to Kesslee upon his leaving, but Behar had a personal policy of full disclosure. “I was made aware of the … incident that took place in the border worlds a while ago, suffice it to say that I can’t speak for the military but, their operations should not be viewed as threatening to the integrity of the Home State government - er, UAE I should say. Apologies, I’m more used to speaking with your countrymen of the Langarite Republics.”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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"Somebody with half a brain has to run the organization I'm in charge of, and His majesty determined me to be the best candidate for the job." Marlene said with a hint of vagueness, of course everyone in the room likely knew exactly what organization she had been put in charge of. After stuffing another bite into her mouth, she fell silent and allowed Behar to speak, taking in his words, and quietly committing them to memory.

Kesslee too quietly listened to the conversation, before speaking up, slowly he rose from his seat to get a closer look at the holographic projection. "Admiral Nagala submitted the full brief, and I took the liberty of studying it closely before sending it to the Ministry of Defense for final notations." Kesslee replied. "It is the official stance of this Empire that, while the additional assistance in combating illegal smuggling operations along our borders, we have a capable border force that interdicts smuggling operations on a regular basis." Kesslee remarked.

Kesslee paused just long enough to pour himself a glass of water, and taking a sup before considering his next words. "While the operations should not be viewed as threatening, the recent surge in Apparatus military hardware along our borders has raised concern along several delegations within the Quorum, and the Military. While we are aware that peace terms were never formally ratified following the conclusion of hostilities perpetrated by our previous administration, many in the Quorum see the buildup as a potential precursor to invasion." Kesslee added. Though he knew that there were remnants left behind following the Garden Campaign as the Military sought to name the embarrassing defeat of the 'Galactic War' The Grand Confessor was careful not to comment, as far as he knew the 'Langarites' were dissidents, enemies of the state, and political undesirables.

"I have been sent here as an earnest attempt by our Emperor, to attempt to normalize diplomatic contact with our neighbors, and to formalize peaceful dealings beyond the borders of the Empire. We've been made aware of a situation developing within the Taiyou Empire, that may potentially jeopardize the assistance they have been providing us, so, the Emperor determined it was in the best interest of our people to move forward."

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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“Oh, I’m more than aware Mister Kesslee - and as loath as I am to dignify the suspicions of the Apparatus,” He began, taking his glass with a free hand and then fixing the other into the lapel of his jacket. “I’ll just have to say that they would not be here in force if the situation did not require it - that is, if your capabilities were satisfactory to the Bureau, they wouldn’t.

Next, Behar finally decided to approach his seat. Placing his glass down, he then pulled his coat jacket free and left it draping over the back of his chair. He then stood with two hands on it, calm eyes going between first Marlene, then to Kesslee and back. “I think it shouldn’t have to be restated that the Apparatus function of ALIRBAD was due to the previous government’s … inability to abide by the peace amongst the states of the Local Region that the Apparatus, for all their faults, worked hard to achieve,” As he began, the Artifex tilted his chin just slightly and dug a finger into the center of his tie, beginning to work it loose just slightly. He always preferred to have a bit more to breath when diplomacy turned to subjects like this.

“I need you to fully understand, and properly convey the message to Prince - if he is indeed still in control of your government as I believe - that I am here with the full intention of preventing another such conflict - as well, steering away the possibilities of a different, much worse one for those still residing in the Aschen Home States. It was at my behest that the Apparatus abide by the Righteous Protocol. We alerted those who sat in positions of power where, and how, the Apparatus would strike. Suffice it to say, while few in the military agreed with me, someone in your chambers of power took the message to heart. I carry the cost of your previous government’s war close, as do many in the Bureau here, and every war that a free people have been forced to fight against enemies that look very much like your government does now. I do not owe this service to the government in Wing City of the Terrans, or of the Edenites in the Federation, or even the Coalition in New Empyrea. I owe it to the people of these states - and especially, the people of the Aschen realms. It will be the decision of your government, if the duty is truly to move the Aschen people forward or, merely move the interests of your 'empire' forward. And that, Grand Confessor, can be a very difficult question to answer - it was for me.”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Kesslee kept his gaze stonefaced. Marlene too had been suspiciously quiet, focusing only on cramming more food into her mouth, it must have put on a bad show for sure, but Marlene was far from starving in the literal sense, she simply saw the food as a good excuse to keep her mouth busy, lest she say something that she would regret later on. She cast a brief glance to Kesslee, stifling a snerk, before she took another bite of the roasted pig.

Kesslee didn't bother to touch the food, instead he let his hand smooth the front of his robe, pressing the plush fabric against his chest, feeling it, it was an expensive silk like fabric, one of the finest Confessor robes that he had, he listened carefully. He also kept his responses close, formulating them in his mind for a long time. He personally knew that Prince disapproved of the Apparatus operating, and building so close to Imperial Borders, he was present for the conversations that were had among the delegations sent by those colonies. This was Prince's attempt at trying to do something about it.

"It would be in everyone's best interest if the Apparatus backed off, allowed us to police our own territories, and stopped making our provincial governments nervous. I know that won't happen, and His Majesty knows that won't happen, but he requested I ask anyway, the only way for any meaningful dialogue to begin, is when the very representatives in our government that support the policies that lead to conflict lose the justification for their position." Kesslee said in response, steepling his fingers on the table, and leaning back slightly.

Marlene swallowed her last bit of food loudly, setting the fork down, dabbing her mouth with the napkin, and clearing her throat. "Fear gives madmen with agendas credibility, which started this whole shitshow in the first place." She said, clearing her throat again, and swallowing a gulp of water.

"The Aschen People, and the Interests of the United Aschen Empire are the same." Kesslee answered. "The very core of Prince's Administration is to serve the people, not just Langarans, but all people of Aschen blood, including those who turned their backs on their brothers. Langara, not some republic in the far flung corner of Coalition space, is, and always will be the seat of Aschen civilization, and the Langarites, however successful they may seem, are deluded to think otherwise."

Marlene cast a brief glance over to the Grand Confessor, before Kesslee took a breath, and pondered his next words, four simple words.

"What are the demands." There was no more diplomatic niceties, no mincing words, Kesslee was going for the throat.

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Behar stood with his hands grasping the back of that seat. After he spoke, he took a moment to catch his breath. He hadn’t felt a rush like it since decades ago, and truthfully it found its way into the very veins of his being as he listened to Kesslee. At one moment, he patted his jacket, having felt some part of his words had gotten through, then promptly reaching for his glass and stepping away from the chair.

“I would agree with you there, Mister Kesslee. If we speak personally,” He gave a soft twirl of his hand to both Marlene and the Grand Confessor, a calm smile on his lips as Behar then looked down to the floor. “But unfortunately for both your government, the Apparatus can not simply ‘back off’ - the actions of your government, whether you believe a change of regime absolves it of their previous crimes or not, dictate that the situation must be monitored under arms, rather than at the table like we are now.” He chose his words for a moment, going from a frustrated look to an almost sympathetic one as he rested his hip on the table. As Marlene spoke, Behar then gave a surprised chuckle, promptly tilting his glass over towards the woman with a pleasured facade crossing his face.

That, I think that has been one of the most enlightening thoughts I’ve ever heard from an Aschen. The people are philosophical, deep at their heart - but until they clawed their way out from under an authoritarian government, they never had the chance to express it, Miss Angel.” He said, drawing a hand around to adjust the blouse that was tucked into his suit pants.

When Kesslee then spoke though, he folded one leg over the other and sat. He delivered a simple nod here and there, sucking his lip into his mouth after a heavy swig from his glass. “And is it, truly, Mister Kesslee? I guess you’ll seriously sit there, and tell me the propaganda, the closed border, secret police and thought crime are the will of the Aschen people - and your government is merely the mouthpiece, acting upon the desires of the Aschen people to live in perpetual fear of the unknown.” Behar said, soon unfolding his legs and setting the glass beside him.

”I’ve learned in the odd eighty years of being in service of the state, Mister Kesslee, that the best opportunity comes from when people speak decisively. The Apparatus only responds to violence and force - and unfortunately in your position, neither your people, nor your government have the force of arms to convince the Apparatus of your will. That is why you are here, speaking to a diplomat rather than a military officer. At this point our governments are anticipating that we can not reach an understanding - or rather, the Apparatus is anticipating the standing government will be as recalcitrant and bull-headed as usual, and that their old methods of force will be the only medium you will respond to. But this time, however, I will not be able to reign them in … we tried it my way last time, and they still yet withdrew to conspire against the peace of the Garden that the Apparatus protects dearly. Now, they will have all the ammunition they need to ensure you will not threaten Terra, or the Garden, ever again. And especially, that your government will not threaten the Aschen people either themselves. There are no demands, no concessions here … all I offer you now is a simple warning.”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Marlene kept eating through most of Behar's words, though it looked like she was more focused on her food, she was carefully taking in his words, committing them all to memory. She listened, quietly before she slowly set her glass, after taking a small sip from it back down on the table, and pushing herself from the table to stand, smoothing the lapel of her black jacket, and adjusting the white blouse worn under it. Marlene cast a brief glance down to Kesslee as he too considered the words, the IIA director didn't say anything, and opted to allow the Grand Confessor to speak.

The Grand Confessor kept his fingers steepled on the table, as he opened his mouth to answer the first question. "With Respect, Mr/ Behar. The institutions were created by men who were freely elected to their offices, men who made no illusions as to what they intended, the people who voted for these policies knew what they wrought." Kesslee remarked. "Do not mistake their intent, they believe that these institutions are a sacrifice to protect ourselves, and our way of life from a galaxy that seeks to destroy us all to the last man." Kesslee answered.

"You cannot stand here and tell me, that the Apparatus assembling on our borders are not preparing to inevitably line up our children against the walls for execution, simply for believing in a different institution." Perhaps the Grand Confessor was wrong in his assessment, but just like the average man on the street, he too was subject to the constant propaganda.

Slowly, the Grand Confessor adjusted his seat, and took another sip of the glass of water. "This Empire poses no threat to the states of the Local Region, or the Garden, we have no desire to leave the safety of our worlds to entreat aliens that would only seek to exploit our naivete or destroy us outright."

The Grand Confessor heaved a defeated sigh, and slowly stood up from his chair, casting a brief glance to Marlene, whom was standing just behind him, and to the right, her hands now clasped behind her back.

Once at his full height, the Grand Confessor smoothed his robes, and turned towards Marlene, before directing his attention back to Behar.

"I will relay your warning to His Majesty, and the Quorum, so that they may make their decision, or prepare for the inevitable, if the Apparatus wants to use force of arms to force us to accept their position, and we must defiantly die on our feet, rather than live as burdened, broken people. Then so be it. With no demands, or concessions, it is clear that the coming storm is inevitable, and we must prepare to weather it as best we can."

Slowly, the Grand Confessor turned, and Marlene offered a slight frown.

"So long as the people believe in a Hostile Galaxy, nothing will change. Yet they will equally be suspicious of those coming in 'friendship' We have to be permitted to come around at our own pace, and if that timetable is too long for the Federate, then they were never truly interested in uplifting our people to begin with." Marlene remarked.

"If you have nothing further to add, Mr. Behar, then I believe we have stated our position here." The Director added.

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Behar was quiet after Kesslee’s words, and as he stood up the Almyrian adjusted the cuff of his shirt. As the Grand Confessor was turning, Behar tilted his head and drew up a single hand deftly. “I don’t doubt those are things you truly believe may happen - lies have an insidious way of metastasizing into a cancer of the mind once they’re drilled in and left to fester.” Behar started, giving a soft turn of his hand.

“I am far more familiar with the Apparatus than you, Mister Kesslee - and truthfully, your propaganda does an awful job of representing mankind’s inherent warlike nature that it can visit upon itself, both the guilty and the innocent. Granted, you’re a race that’s become soft and coddled with your ascendancy into the interstellar age, you were lucky, even - I’m not done with you yet, Mister Kesslee.”

Behar’s voice grew a moment, and he had an exhausted, almost disinterested look on his face as he closed his eyes to take a firm breath. “If your systems and policies were so superior as you purport, then the Langarites would have organized themselves along a similar way, no? If the way of protecting your civilization from those who seek its undoing - which, we agree, that there are indeed threats to both of our civilizations - were so superior then why is not your flag flying over Terra? Or Eden Prime? New Cosmora? Or New Empyrea, Tannhauser itself - even Scatter?”

The Artifex had taken his glass, holding it closely to his waist as he stepped around from the table. “Had the prosperous society your government chants to stand for materialized, this meeting would not have taken place. The Apparatus would not be on your doorstep sharpening their knives and loading their rifles - the people of your government would be uplifting your fellow man across the stars, as mine have done for centuries. As we did for the Terrans, despite your best attempts to shackle them, which - “

Behar stopped to take a single drink then, wetting his palette as he held up a single finger. “I understand your people’s resentment: how could such a stronger people ally with such a weaker one like the Terrans, rather the righteous, pure Aschen? I’m sure it’s something that just sticks in your craw. But the answer to that is, Mister Kesslee - and I'm sure Marlene, in her service of your previous governments long enough to see the costs of them in the wars with my nations have shown will tell you - is that you aren't. Just as mine are not so superior to rule the Terrans, or Aschen, or anyone as their masters.”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Kesslee was preparing to leave, until Behar's raised voice reached his ears, and he stopped, it was an abrupt motion as he came to a stop, and slowly turned, his facial expression contorted with either indignation, or anger. He listened carefully as he set his eyes back on Behar.

"Were it not for the Coalition, it very well may have, but it's irrelevant. I acknowledge there are societies that are simply better, stronger, more efficient. It reinforces our point of view that the weak should fear the strong." Kesslee added, while Marlene simply kept her mouth shut, but it finally reached a point where she took a breath to speak.

"The Alterans sheltered, and guided our ancestors across the vastness of the cosmos, protected them from the horrors that the universe could visit upon a fledgeling civilization." Marlene remarked, not moving from where she stood, as Kesslee shot her a glare, and he tried to consider his next words.

Marlene said nothing further, as Kesslee considered his next words.

"Uplifting our fellow man only to be stabbed in the back, people have a habit of biting the hand that feeds them." Kesslee grit his teeth, and cast another glare to Marlene. "War gives the right of the conquerors to impose any conditions they please upon the vanquished."

Marlene grimaced. "That works both ways, Grand Confessor." The Grand confessor nodded, and quietly took a breath to regain his composure, and visibly, and roughly swallow his pride. He stared directly at Behar, and steeled his own resolve.

"We will rule our own fates, Mr. Behar, or die in defiance of it." The Confessor said coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. But Marlene took a breath, and moved back towards the table, she looked to the plate of food sitting on the table, and then back to Kesslee, as the Grand Confessor slowly moved back towards the table himself. He lowered himself into his chair, and briefly put his head into his hands, and rubbed his eyes. After a moment, he reached for the liquor, to pour himself a glass.

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Behar met Kesslee’s indignant view and words with a passive, disinterested tone of his own. He held his glass with one hand, and used a finger to direct his words as he spoke. “ - were it not for the Coalition - this is a favorite trope of mine I’ve discovered, having to deal with your superior government. It’s how the very system you’ve built can maintain its primacy even when the engine driving civilization of mankind outgrows it and leaves those who cling to it behind in the dust of our new stars.”

Behar reached a hand up to scratch his brow, mentality changing for a moment. Truly, “discussion” with an Aschen was anything far from such: and it was unbecoming for a man in his position to be forced into that domineering position when his job was, at its most basic, to facilitate dialogue. “Just how much do you know of the war? The truth of it, what really happened on Terra during that initial invasion and, later, when you fools crossed the Veil to invade the Garden itself.” He waited a moment, that classical 'lowering' of the defense to garner a strike to parry.

”It wasn’t the Coalition that stopped you - as a matter of fact, the Apparatus was only involved in the brief, final phases of driving out those doomed armies you sent there. When you invaded the Garden, you assumed the mantle of conqueror - of proving that you had the superior will that would lift us onto a newer and better stage. It was not the Coalition that stopped your ‘IMPSOC’, Mister Kesslee, it was the very nature of it that made it so distasteful to people you could have liberated and freed, and there were plenty of them who were just as dissatisfied with the Coalition. Rather, what happened is some of your own people freed themselves of the plantation your authoritarian government had built and demands be protected at all costs. Just how much of the truth do you, yourself, know of what happened to the Aschen in the Garden, rather than the propaganda and agitprop you’ve consumed to the point you’re as blinded, not more enlightened than, the very people you claim to protect?”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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“I know enough of the war, to know that IMPSOC did not exist, we were still very much a confederate government during the Terran Conflict, and the Garden campaigns truthfully, I did not study.” Marlene didn’t say anything, rather she cast a sidelong glance at Kesslee, before she spoke up.

“What defeated us in the garden was a lack of a clear objective. They came in planning to kill everything and no real plan on how to do it, and it proved to be too monumental of a task. When faced with genocide, people develop a nothing to lose mentality.” Marlene remarked, taking a breath. “It steels them for what must be done. Policies of genocide, and the lack of fortitude and planning to carry it out cost us nearly every war we’ve fought in the last half century.” The Director added, shaking her head.

She looked at a silent Kesslee, and grimaced. The Grand Confessor was supposed to be the mouthpiece of the Emperor himself, and yet here Marlene was, speaking on behalf of the Grand Confessor, she found it peculiar at best.

So she turned to Behar, and spoke. “Both the Terran Conflict, and the Garden invasion were woefully mishandled, I made my own mistakes too, but I’ve read the reports, we squandered some good opportunities to effect some lasting change and grow our dominion because we chased shadows and ‘sent messages.’ the very people that saw us as liberators were put to the sword because our own officers were too blinded by hatred, and arrogant to embrace them.” Marlene said, shrugging. “The same thing happened on Terra, and it’s a gods damn miracle it didn’t happen in Isiria.” Marlene had an outside perspective, she was intimately familiar with the Aschen policies of conquest. She remembered it all too well when the first Aschen troops landed on Yellowstone that fateful day.

Kesslee took a deep breath, and shook his head. “This is not the Empire we envisioned when we cast out the confederates.” He rubbed his eyes again out of stress, and took another drink.

Marlene shook her own head, and rested her hands on the table. “I’m not strategist, I’m no diplomat, and i’m probably not qualified to speak on the matter so forgive me, Artifex, Grand Confessor.”

She turned back to Behar, and shook her head. “In the long years we’ve mishandled our place, we’ve squandered our fortunes, and we’ve mishandled just about every major conflict that we’ve started. No matter what we do, that bill is going to come due.” Marlene added, spreading her fingers on the table, splaying them out. “I don’t think anything you, or this government can do is going to change that. The Langarites are the lucky ones.”

“The Langarites are dissidents, and traitors.” Kesslee remarked quietly, and Marlene shook her head. “No, Grand Confessor, those in the party that sit in the Quorum are the true dissidents, and traitors.” She remarked cooly. “They’ve destroyed our identity, and everything that makes us Aschen, so they can extend their control.” She brought her gaze up to Behar. “Can I have a glass of Ambrosia? It’s going to be a long night.”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Behar remained quiet, yet stoic, as the words permeated the room. While the Aschen were seen as backwards, twisted, even unsalvageable to some in the Federate, there was a reason a man of his caliber had been selected to be the custodial artifex. He refused to see it that way. With the proper pressure where needed, and guiding hand, he intended to bring them to their feet. It would, of course, be a very long, and difficult battle of the minds.

“I find that the ‘unqualified’ are often the most able to see through the lie, Miss Angel. My story: I was a voluntary represenator during the Terran Conflict, and later incursion. What you could call a … travelling politician, if you will. I provided my services to associates of the given nations and blocs - though, I steered from the Supreme Assembly when my work would allow it. If you think the Quorum is a madhouse to work in, hah, I suggest you watch a hearing of the Assembly one day.” Behar said, an almost incredulous tone as he thought back to those days. Reaching up to take a sip of his drink, he gave a short nod to Marlene’s request.

“Virgil, do we have any ambrosia?” He asked, then looking over to the automaton that had been standing in the corner. The droid stood silent, soft glowing lights blinking in the rudimentary ‘eyes’. “We may have some in storage somewhere but.”

“I will happily check.” The droid then responded, before shuffling on its way towards the door, while Behar placed his glass on the table beside him. As the droid left, the Artifex continued his own recount. At Marlene’s words, Behar gave a dismissive shrug. While it was foolish to think this process would be peaceful, Behar, and many others had a dogged determination to see it unfold differently as it had in the Garden.

“Yes and no, Miss Angel - I will not lie to you and say that the sins will be simply forgotten overnight, or that when your people rejoin their countrymen in the Garden as brothers and sisters, rather than enemies of opposing ideologies, the problems will disappear. We will not link hands and sing around the fire.” Behar started, having well discovered long ago it was often worse for great changes like these to begin under a false ideal of utopia. “I and, a growing number of us, having studied the groundwork that Josif Regievko has laid, are more concerned about those sins being answered for at the ends of our lives, to whatever gods or God you believe in, than at the hands of a state or a sham trial.”

“When the incursion happened, there were few of us not captured up in the swell. Josif, for all his pull, wasn’t able to temper more of the warhawks of the Supreme Assembly. Truthfully had the will of the Central Powers been realized, the invasion would not have halted at the Red Line. We called ourselves the Toll Gang - after a similar group of statesmen that worked to stop the bloodshed of the Insurgencies, I know you aren’t quite familiar with the history of the Garden like I am with your Aschen one but: our peoples are, despite your propaganda, not that different.


Rather than indulge the will of the Supreme Assembly, all too happy to unleash the Apparatus in ‘punitive’ retribution on states like the Aschen, we believe in a … better way of restitution and rehabilitation. Especially, we see you Aschen in a way you don’t yet seem to see yourselves, as allies in the struggle of protecting not just only your nation and people, but ours as well.”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Marlene quietly let her mind wander, Kesslee couldn’t say anything, and she knew she would have hell to pay when she returned to the Empire. But she chose her words carefully, her time with the princess proving to be a valuable boon in tempering her own insanity, she had been given clarity of mind that had not been enjoyed since she was much younger.

“I was never lied to.” Marlene remarked. “In order to do my job, I needed access to the truth, the whole truth, I was the agent in charge of handling the reports that came in from Terra, and the Garden, I had to read them before I forwarded them to the Ministry, before they were altered for consumption, or propagandized.” She explained. “I don’t deny that I’ve been complicit, even perpetrating many of the atrocities behind the scenes, I did what I was told because I thought it was something I had to do.” It was a quiet half truth, Marlene often derived great pleasure torturing her prisoners, but Behar didn’t need to know that.

“In a way i’m glad whoever pulled the reigns on the invasion did so, I’m glad that for all his ignorance, Emperor McGregor called for surrender, and that set events into motion that could lead a tentative peace. I’m quite fond of living on Langara and I’d rather it not be reduced to glass.”

She paused a moment, and heaved a sigh. “The way our government is structured, any meaningful change is done at the local level, but very little will undo the policy of casual racism that has pervaded this society since the days of it’s inception. I’ve been able to blend in, but the truth be told, as I am sure you know, I am not an Aschen.” Marlene admitted. “Not by birth, anyway. I’ve sworn my allegiance to them for reasons i won’t go into here, but my goal is to see them succeed as a people, the Aschen, not the party.”

Kesslee finally worked up the courage to speak up.

“What do we need to do, to take those first steps?”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Behar was silent for the Aschen, letting them come to the realization themselves that there was no one to pass the buck to if the inevitable war and destruction of their planets were to be averted. “I think the truth, and most importantly trust, will need to be established first. And truthfully,” Behar gave a final chuckle and prompt shrug.

“I thought a conversation like this wouldn’t have started until well after an invasion was underway.” He remarked, a smile on his face for once in the night. As the droid returned however, it carried with it a small platter topped with glasses and a, seemingly old, bottle of ambrosia. “If it did I would have had an Apparatus officer breathing down my neck as well, and while I’m good at my job, having a political officer waiting to shoot whoever you guys offered up wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere.”

Behar leaned his hip against the table, crossing his arms and legs for a moment as he gave a deliberate thought to how he approached his next suggestion. “As an Artifex, particularly the custodial Artifex assigned to the Aschen, I am a consultant. This must be understood: you do not take orders from me, and I do not work for your government. I can only imagine there are segments of your people benefiting and profiting from the current status quo - or rather, that there has been someone who realized they had power to lose if this little house of cards fell.” The Artifex took a deep sigh, eyes narrowing on a painting set on the far wall.

”Neither of you should view yourselves as irreplaceable to the people or organizations that benefit directly from this system you’ve built for yourselves. Even the Grand Confessor, and Director of the intelligence community, if whoever truly controls the levers of your state deems you a threat to that established order? But, such is the cost of this mission. What must happen next, is that this little summit must have been business as usual. I will inform the Apparatus they are to remain in their staging grounds, and you must return to your offices like nothing happened. I’ll have to trust, blindly, that in the same way, you might work with me for the betterment of the Aschen people when the time is right - I will not know when that time is, however. Only you will, but when you do … well, I’ll only be a phone call away.”

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Character Portrait: Marlene Angel Character Portrait: Imperial Defense Force Character Portrait: Charles Kesslee Character Portrait: Exogarden Forces Character Portrait: ICON
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Slowly, the Grand Confessor stood up from the table, and inclined his head. There was a great deal of work to do, to restore the old institutions that the party had wiped away in it's 'great leap forward' style of cultural revolution.

"I will report to Prince that our discussions were business as usual, though I don't feel right lying to him. We go way back, we can trust him, but we could jeopardize his position.." Kesslee remarked, as he moved away from the table.

Kesslee slowly moved to one of the paintings on the wall, surveying it closely as Marlene took the bottle of Ambrosia from the automaton, and turned it over. "Leonis Estates vintage eighth age, this is some old stuff." She said shrugging, and pulling on the cork, dislodging it with an audible pop.

"You must have had this on hand since the Terran Conflict." Marlene remarked, moving back to the table to pour herself a glass. "I'm crafty enough." She said, taking a sip of the glass. "If they liquidate me, I'll just wake up somewhere else." She said, casting a sidelong glance over to Kesslee.

"But, I've been working on a corruption case that will hopefully unseat just about every member of this 'shadow government' that's held in place since the rise of the Empire. I've got assets in place in just about every branch of our government." She said, looking briefly over to Kesslee, whom furrowed his brow.

"When the shit hits the fan, Behar. I'm going to need help." Marlene admitted. "I don't know if the IIA has the resources to pull this off, and I think a few people in the quorum are catching wind of my agents sniffing around."

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