Short Bio
The Empire of the Vinci - means Conquer, or Conqueror - founded the Empire to govern the growing races. Their first idea, and the reason for their naming, was to take over every race that was star-borne, and watch them closely, However, For whatever reason -some say Divine Intervention and others say that the empire just grew to large- the Vinci stopped advancing, removed themselves from every civilization, and remained in their own sector for a very long time. eventually, however, one of the more courageous races entered their sector, and even landed on the capital planet. They where greeted warmly, and invited up to the palace, where the Emperor threw a feast, and the Emperor's oldest managed to seduce every one of the diplomats, much to the Emperor's amusement. The word spread that the Vinci had turned into.....space hippies.
Over time, the Capital, and indeed the entire sector, became a sort of resort, a worldly attraction that offered rest and relaxation for everyone the came. Nobody quite understood why they had changed so radically, but it was something they all enjoyed. Until one day, when a man arrived on the planet with many valets.. All smiles and waves, he was greeted with the friendliness that everyone else was, and when the day was over, he was gifted a lavish room to sleep in. However, deep into the night, everyone's sleep was violently disturbed by numerous explosions. Control Towers, barracks and Dry Docks all went up in flames, crippling the Vinci's ability to co-ordinate their now-lax forces. Massive dreadnaughts appeared in the sky, and blew apart the Vinici fleet, while Shock Troopers where dropped onto the planet surface, and engaged the ground forces. The Exodus - then named simply The Guard - held off the assault while the people gathered in Evacuation shuttles, designed heavily around shielding and structural integrity, rather than battle-readiness. However, some of the attacking troopers got past the lines and massacred the remaining people, designating Dreadnaught strikes to destroy the Evac shuttles. Eventually the shuttles managed to escape the assault, with only one in ten of The Guard remaining, and three in ten of every citizen laying dead. The Emperor did not know why such an attack had suddenly come down, but he knew he would not let it happen again. Peace was over-rated. Peace, was a lie.
The Ancient Technology includes suits that mesh with the wearers body and become nearly invisible to optical sensors - Infra Red and Thermal can still spot them if the user is observant - and allows them to use the second part of their Ancient Technology, the Warp Stone. This small stone allows a person to teleport from one spot to another, as long as he has visuals on the spot - proxy visuals by screen can be used - but the distance must be short for a living being; roughly less than a mile, or they will be spat out the other end as if they fell into a meat grinder. Several Reavers may use several Warp Stones to move solid matter, but the size of it in proportion to the number of Reavers decides how quickly this moves. This - along with the assistance of the Kabal 'Mages' allows for Faster than Light travel with their fleet, since any other method has yet been unfound.
The Infinity War: An Ancient War - no so ancient as the Precursors but still old by most people's standards - that saw much of the spare-faring races today still residing within the primordial ooze that they sprung from.However, as with the Universe, there where other races to take to the stars, and they did so with much gusto. However, there came talk of a ship, lounging somewhere within the universe, that would grant any owner Mastery Over the Stars. It was said to dwarf any ship that was put aside it, and that the races that dwelled currently could not exceed it's technological superiority if they tried for a hundred years. Obviously, this started a war. The Toffs, a race that took their name from the supposed gods that once existed when the universe was barely just beginning, laid claim to this ship, stating that, as the Natural Rulers of the Universe, it was their duty to have this ship as their own. Of course much like the Toffs of old, they did not look around before opening their mouths. If they had, they would have seen three other races, The Kabals, the Khani and the Ohgai, always laying claim to The Infinity. Quickly realizing their error, The Toff allied themselves with the only race that would accept them - since the Kabals and the Khani where already bound by some strange ties - and began co-ordinated Military construction, while the collberation of the Kabals and Khani did the same. Eventually the Cold War turned hot when Olympus Mons, an outer planet of the Kabals, was said to have pinpointed the location of The Infinity, or at least triangulated it to an easily searchable area of the galaxy. The Hammer fell hard upon this planet, and the land was scorched by the Toff-Ohgai military, both ground and space. When they tried to download the infomation on the Infinity however, all that happened was the alert of every other Kabal computer linked with Olympus' mainframe, which was to say; all of them.
Then began the war in earnest, with space-crafting battling space-craft just as men and Mecha fought on the ground below. it was said that there where more dead people, and scrap metal in this one corner, than everywhere else in the universe combine.After one decisive battle, the Khani Home-planet was destroyed, and their race beat a rapid decline into extinction, but the operation lead by the Toffs and their allies had overstretched their military and their resources to far, which allowed the Kabals - superior ship builders, but in smaller number - to cut a bloody swath though their forces, utterly annihilating both groups, and effectively ending the war. After bombarding all military structures that belonged to either group, The Kabals allowed them to survive, not out of mercy, but so they could see their enemies take control of The Infinity, and then pull it apart, to gain it's technological data. However, when The Emperor - who took the journey himself, as it was a momentous occasion with astronomical sacrifice to reach this point - arrived at the point, he saw everything had been for naught.
The Infinity had, though fault of being left to drift for tens, possibly even hundreds of thousands of years, dissolved from the Great Harbinger that it was, to a wittered heap of scrap. It's hull was pocketed with Meteor strikes, the insides caked with star-dust and partially melted from points where it had drifted to close to the sun. The whole thing could barely be recycled for cans, let along used to Rule the Galaxy. In a moment of rage the Emperor ordered it obliterated, but the helmsmen saw though his anger, and refused. The Emperor was then convinced to take the rusted pile back to The Pit, a massive star base specifically designed to reverse-engineer The Infinity, and create superior star-ships based on it's knowledge. The scientists and Architects where able to ply some things from The Infinity, but for the most part, it was to far gone. in the following despair, the Emperor retreated from the universe, but welcomed the first group of new people -neither Khani nor Toff or Ohgai - to reach his world. However, it was not until The Great Betrayal that The Kabals where truly able to put the knowledge gleaned from The Infinity to good use.
Physiology
Kabal: the Kabals are natives of Tevintar, and the direct descendents of the race that lived before The Great Betrayal. They are human in shape, and believe that they possess the shape because the creator of their ancestors enjoyed the ascetic appeal of humans, known to many as the first creation of their deity, Gaia. However, while human in appearance, they are far from human in functionality, being able to communicate with natural things such as trees and rocks by going into a meditating state and tapping into an energy they call 'The Big Green'. some Kabals are born with an innate ability to tap the Big Green without meditating, and can thus use, what appears to outside observers, 'magic'. These acts consist of sudden vegetation growth, or engorgement of surrounding rocks. However, they can only use their 'magic' on a world where there is nature, and any planet heavily industrialised would put a strain on their connection, and their ability to use their magic.
From these 'mages' are born 'The Blessed', a subtle sub-race of Kabals that would never be able to connect to The Big Green due to the fact that they embody it. This, in turn, gives them great physical strength, and above average resistance to non-fatal damage. The most common path for The Blessed is to join a highly renowned unit known as The Exodus, a name that has it's origins in the Order's ancestors radical assistance with surviving The Great Betrayal. These men flaunt their superior strength, and use weaponry and armour that would be neigh-impossible for the normal man to move efficiently in.
'Reavers': It is known that 'Reaver' is not the race's name, but rather the name of the militant arm that has assisted the Kabal Royal Family since they began. The origins of where they came from, and why they are assisting the Kabals are known only to the Reavers and the Emperor, even the rest of the Royal Family is in the dark about them, which - as the Emperor states - 'Adds to the mystery'. They are clearly a separate race to the Kabals, owing to the blue skin and triple eyes that are visible during the rare instances when one removes their helmet. The Reavers are the arm of the Emperor that deals with the secretive matters, such as spying, sabotage and the occasional assassination. They managed to retain a certain amount of Ancient Technology, but most of their stores where lost when the grandest of their bases was razed during The Great Betrayal.
Society
Goverment is many staged, each town has a council member, which runs a part of the a country, and convenes monthly with other town councils, to make the Local Council. Each country is sovrign to a member of the Council of Twelve, who receives reports from their Local Council and discusses it with the other Council of Twelve members. Then, the Council of Twelve is overseen by the Royal family, and topped by the Emperor. However, certain units, such as the Exodus, or the Demios put more stock into the words of Nenatalev the First Princess than The Emperor. The people, while friendly and open to trade with everyone, do not take oppression well, and respond with deadly violence and a small but well drilled fleet capable of destroying an empire many times their own size.
Location
Economy/Industry
Due to the 'Mages' they posess, indistry booms in the Empire of the Kabal. From metal and wood to Agraculture of every kind. While the actual planets that the Kabal Empire controls are small, their influence is massive. It is said that starting a war with the Kabals will starve your own men long before they do anything because of the amount of food they ship out across the Milky Way. The Blessed make sure any Labor is done efficently, and the Kabal Fleets ensure piracy is kept the a minimum on their convoys. Their dry-docks are also very potent, combinding skilled opperators with supurb AI.
Technology
The Kabals are decended from the greatest genuises in the universe, and a few manage to pick up the spark, so Kabal technology progresses in leaps and bounds. They have a unique FTL travel system, where two holes are opened, one in the entry, and one in the exit, and the ship passes in one, and out of the other. They also can create Gigantic Railguns for this flagship The Gaia's Arm, as well as smaller variants for their Exodus. The Exodus also contain close-climate armour that allows them to survive in all climates and gives them a much greater level of protection than normal infantry armour.
Shielding systems come in two forms, Energy Shields, and Force-Shields. Energy Shields expend energy to deflect an attack, and so while a large, singular strike will not make it though, hundreds of small attacks will be able to overload the energy genorator and shut it down. On the flip-side, Force Shields match every attack's force, so a hundred little strikes don't bother it, but one massive blow will break though. Huge Flaships like Gaia's Arm possess both kinds.
Military
Military: The military of the Kabal is very structured, each with it's own commanders and inherent mentality. Every 'finger' of the Kabal Military works with the others 'fingers' of it's Arm, to created a closely knit group.
Ground Arm: These are the weapons that the Kabal deploys on the ground, there are also aircrafts since the word 'Ground' means not in space.
The largest part of the Kabal Ground Arm, they make up around 70% of the organic ground forces, as well as doing most of the work in a fight. They are the basic infantry unit, but well equip with automatic ballistic weaponry, and tactical body armour. While mostly used in a Overwhelm tactic, using their large number and technological prowess to beat the enemy into submission, they are not mindless, nor are their commanders stupid, and if a situation would produce to many causalities, then they will wait for assistance from the more Specialized parts of the Kabal Ground Arm. Usually underestimated as the Grunts, or Cannon Fodder, the Kabal Standardized Infantry are now without skill and valour on the battlefield.
Weaponry of the Kabal Standardized Infantry:
GL-1 'Peewee' Ordnance propulsion:
Referred to by the Infantry as the 'Peewee', this small grenade launcher can deliver a single grenade per reload, which, while on it's own does not do much, it is issued to every soldier on the field, allowing for a blanket of explosive suppression when fired in synchronization. It's ease of uses and light frame was designed to be used when in a situation that a larger grenade launcher could not deal with, while still providing the explosive support to the average soldier.
Standard Rifle of the Infantry, it delivers both normal ballistic rounds, and Incendiary tips for lightly armoured vehicles, or heavily armoured foot soldiers, which ever the Infantry is facing. the normal ballistic rounds are heavier than average, as they are designed to punch past the enemy armour with the sheer weight, rather than attempt to penetrate it. It has a semi-automatic firing, and a fully automatic firing, for room clearance.
Born from the Kabal Mages,and thus very rare in number. The Exodus make up about 10% of the organic ground forces in the Kabal Ground forces. Wearing closed-atmosphere armour made from the most powerful alloys at the Kabal Empire's disposal, the Exodus are immune to small arms fire, and can shrug of anti-tank rounds, but are still venerable to Heavy Artillery. When the Exodus arrive on the battle field - usually in a group of ten - the enemy are, for want of a better word, screwed. From automatic rifle rounds, to high-impact sniper rifles, the Exodus Armour deflects it all, while keeping the inhabitant relatively unharmed from the force. However, the Exodus are a slow moving division, due to the sheer weight of their armorment, which means they are used for a solid destruction of enemy lines, rather than chasing fleeing targets, or running a expanse. The armour itself allows the Exodus to servive in the most hostile of climates, with it's own built-in life support system, and tactical relays, keeping the Exodus aware of what is going on at all times. Rarely used on the battlefield, the Exodus symbolize the last word in heavy support. Usually seen alongside their mechanical walker 'The Epilogue', the Exodus are a fearsome force on the battle field.
Weaponry of the Exodus:
The Exodus have only one weapon to go along with their highly intimidating outfit, or rather one weapon with two purposes. The XR-20 Hypersonic Rail-Cannon features six rotary magnetic barrels. Each one spins in a different direction at fifty miles an hour, projecting the introduced slug at speeds of up to 8,800 feet. Per second. This caters to the Exodus - and indeed the entire Kabal Army's - need for an Infantry based Anti-Armour weapon, as well as being able to destroy fortified installations, and some Aircrafts. The second function of the XR-20 Hypersonic Rail-Cannon, is a front mounted, quad-laser system. Each beam is capable of reaching up to 200 degrees, allowing for spread assault on enemy infantry, or focused melting when a more subtle touch is required. However, most of them time, when the Exodus have arrived, Subtle is out of the question.
The Unseen support of the Kabal Army, the Reavers do all the naughty things in the shadows. Be it assassination, sabotage of Artillery Emplacements, Infiltration and Espionage of enemy bunkers, or the general Combat Support, the Reavers are hardly ever seen in person, but their presence is always felt. Masters of silent death, they use specialized Blades that weaken the molecular structure of anything they hit, making it easy for them to slice though doors, locks, and people. While in the field, they take advantage of more potent, but equally silent Sniper Rifles to eliminate distant targets, enemy snipers, and other hi-value shots. They wear a black, skin-tight suit designed to mold in with the darkness, rather than take any kind of impact. Their greatest advantage, however, is the use of Warp Stones, allowing the Reavers to make sure teleportation jumps, and surprise people in what was perceived to be a Impenetrable bunker. They make up 10% of the Kabal organic forces.
M-19 Falcon: For Long-range Devastation, the M-19 Falcon uses hollow point rounds, Incendiary, Hi-Explosive, and Frag-rounds to cause wide-spread hysteria. The unique Frag-rounds use a special bullet that, as the name suggests, fragments after initial impact, sending deadly shards of hot metal flying, looking to embed into nearby infantry.
The Answerer: This blade has the ability to weaken molecular structure, and make them easier to slice though, when impacting on a target. This allows the Reavers to cut through most of their targets with unnerving ease, and trained fluidity.
Demios, or more commonly called 'Demon Women' are, as many members of the Exodus call them 'Psychotic, sadistic nyphomaniacs'. Never seen to use any sort of fire-arm, and rarely in any sort of armour, Their weaponry is varied, from practical swords and hammers, to more outlandish Chainsaws, and Bladed Whips. However, the most terrifying thing about the Demios is not their weaponry, or their appearance, but the fact that they can not be killed by ballistic weaponry. They could be shot all day and get up at the end of it, hewing the shooter in half with this weapons. However, they are vulnerable to immolation, and any method of dismemberment, weather it be from Heavy Artillery round, of an enemy blade, is also able to kill them. The good news however, is that there is only ever 100 of them in the universe at one time, and so they are only deployed into Infantry Heavy battles with little fire support on the enemies side.
The Wasp Anti-Air fighter possesses lasers, stinger missiles and ballistic machine guns to blow enemy air units out of the ground. To avoid ground-based anti-air systems, it has turbo-jet engines allowing it to reach a maximum of mach 2, it's sleek aero-dynamic body allowing it to cut though air resistance without any problems.
Explosive Arial Assault, for them positions that are more effective to take from the air. Death's Head carries a large payload of both high explosive and incendiary bombs, allowing positions to be blown to shit with reletive ease. However, the slow speed makes it much more venerable to anti-air installations. If Death's Head isn't blowing them to hell in the first place.
[hider=Epilogue]
A massive Artillery Mechanized Walker, The Epilogue is considered the Exodus' signature mech, this walker is able to shell fortified positions with massive munation, and cause great devastation on whatever it dains to hit. But with one barrel and a large shell, reload is slow.
Space-arm
While effective on the ground, in most terrains, the Kabals truly excel in space, having some gifted visionaries and architects on their side, as well as the technology gleaned from the Infinity. This has allowed them to produce a great fleet capable of defending their empire, and transporting their army across the stars. Below are some of the more potent ships, but they will mostly always be supported by Frigetes, Destroyers, Cruisers and Strike-Fighters/Strike-Bombers
A massive, Flagship of the Kabal fleet, the Gaia's arm has been called 'a big gun, with lots of smaller guns on it'. This heralds from the weapon that runs down most of the body, and is where the ship gets it's name. The weapon is a massive railgun, capable of firing slugs at momentious speeds, causing immense devistation to whatever it hits. Then, along the ship, Gauss turrets, Missile banks and auto-cannons are dotted, as well as a group of flak cannons for fighter defence. Thus making it a deadly Dreadnaught of the stars. Created from technology gleaned from The Infinity, Gaia's Arm is rarely seen in combat, but if it is, then the enemy know death is near. No other ship in the Kabal fleet is so heavily armed or armoured, and so it well earns it status as the Flagship. Losing a Gaia's Arm will always be Prrytic for the enemy, but has the ability to make Kabal Logistic officers weep tears of dispair.
Gluttony looks, to all intense and purposes, like a giant, bloated frog. While having severely lacking weaponry system, barely able to swat out the flies that are fighters from the sky, it has one of the strongest shields and neigh-impenetrable hull, giving it massive staying power. However, the main thing the Gluttony does, is transport. Within its bowels sits dozens of cruisers, frigates, several Battle-ships, and thousands of Strike-fighters and bombers. The Gluttony's main directive is to carry the majority of the fleet into combat, so the enemy can not draw accurate numbers until they are under fire, by which time it is to late. A Gluttony opening its cargo hold is akin to the very Gates of Hell, and brings about the same results, death, destruction and despair.
Gluttony can also be re-fitted to have hundreds of thousands of sub-sonic drop pods, allowing the Kabals to attack half a planets worth of strategic locations at the same time, and over-whelm planetary defences and co-ordination.
The Kronos is a moderately sized ship in the Kabal fleet, but still to big to be effectively carried by Gluttony. It is designed to provide Point Defence for the rest of the fleet. It uses a mass of laser turrets and Flak cannons, coupled with a advanced targeting AI to target missiles and strike fighters/strike bombers and keep them away from the fleet. While it could provide fire support if it's weaponry was focused, the role it plays is much more vital than a quick increase in fighting strength.
Named after a goddess who protects the weak in Kabal mythology, the Naruni consists of projection fields, both Energy and Force, but possesses only token weaponry and a slow engine. It's job is to protect the other ships of the fleet with its extremely powerful shield generators, and take all the shots while the rest of the fleet blow the holy crap out of the enemy.
