Very much a WIP
Name of nation: The Most Holy Order (An Mala Carac-El)
Species:
Ada
The Ada are a race of strange "energy beings" capable of taking over an individuals body and manipulating them through electrical signals. Using their abilities, the Ada have established themselves as the dominant force within the Order and are worshipped as gods. How exactly the Ada chooses to present its self depends upon the Ada in question; Some prefer to possess a single sentient as a vessel, some have multiple vessels who they inhabit at will, others simply remain in their natural form and communicate their will through their abilities. The Ada reproduce by splitting into two when they acquire enough energy, creating a new Ada
If a being has been possessed by an Ada for a prolonged period of time but is freed or released, they may acquire weaker versions of the Ada's abilities or have acquired some of the Ada's memories.
Naturally, to some extent the Ada are magically, being essentially sentience bound to a 'body' of energy. Science renders this impossible so its clear that the Ada exist in violation of certain scientific principles. They do, however, appear to be bound by the law of energy conservation.
By their nature, the Ada 'sense' the universe in a way that is drastically different to corporal beings. However, when an Ada possesses a corporal being it inherits their senses. Thus, it is not uncommon for Ada to be stunned for a short time as they adjust to their new perception of the ubiverse after taking a host or exiting a host body.
Malaburo
The Malaburo are a race of sentient quadpedal insectiod creatures who come from a relatively high G world. They are strong and hardly thanks to their thick carapace, and possess startling speed. The Malaburo possess the ability to reproduce through impregnating any subject should said subject have the necessary body makeup to support an infant; This essentially leaves a parasitic child within the victim in question which will be born within the course of 12 to 24 hours. In nature, newborns may devour the surrogates upon birth. Approximately 8% of parents will survive the birthing, however 2% of surrogate parents will survive both the birthing and not be devoured by the infant. This suggests that newborns devour their living parents in approximately 75% of cases. Should the surrogate be dead, they are devoured in 96.2% of cases
In Order mythology, the Malaburo are commonly depicted as being servants of the gods and are occasionally depicted as demigods. It is not unheard of for some communities following the religion to offer sacrifices to bear the Malaburo's young, these communities often indoctrinate their young to believe that this is a great honour rather than something to fear. Those who survive this practice are seen as having been blessed by the gods and commonly spend the remainder of their days in luxury, though it varies by community.
Andal
The Andi (sing; Andal) are a race of humanoids that originally hailed from a volcanic world that has since been lost to a supernova. Outwardly, they are anatomically similar to humans (Though with slightly smaller feet), though their skin and hair black as coal (though some have rare genetic disorders that turn their hair and skin pure white), their iris are red and they have thick eyelashes. Inwardly, however, they have oval shaped red blood cells as opposed to round, and they have a second transparent eyelid on the surface of the eye that can be used to remove foreign particles.
Mishaxi The Mishaxi are a race of mammalian creatures who establish their cities on high up mountain peaks or on the edge of valleys. They stand at about 4'5 when fully erect. The Mishaxi have four limbs; Two large wings and two legs with which they manipulate objects while in flight. They mature quickly for they are relatively short lived creatures, living for around 40 Earth years. They also reproduce in large numbers, females commonly giving birth to twins.
The Mishaxi worship the Ada as those who 'fly without air' and commonly join with them to 'fly' through the stars.
Humans
Pockets of human beings which worship the Ada as gods exist within the stars; Though usually small communities a few moderately large ones are known to exist.
Description of government: The Holy Order is entirely under the direction of the Ada, forming an oligarchy to direct the efforts of the Order. However, the Ada are not a single united entity and often have their own aims and goals that they will put before group interests. It is not unheard of for them to fight amongst themselves, competing for resources and subjects.
Description of military:
The Pelinal is the militant branch of the Holy Order; The Malaburo have a considerable presence within the Pelinal, however the other species have a larger percentage when combined. They use energy weapons that many of the warriors don't even understand; They know only that their gods made them.
Lord Commander; The Highest rank available and staffed exclusively by the Malaburo, Lord Commanders are the right hand men of their patron Ada. They are viewed as Demigods or Chosen Champions by the people of the Order and are treated as such
Master Commander; Master commanders are composed mostly of Malaburo and typically have 4 or 5 Apprentice Commanders working under them. They usually have decades of experience under their belt and are skilled in both martial combat and command.
Apprentice Commander: Apprentice Commanders are the new bloods in High Command, freshly blessed and still Learning. This does not mean, however, that they should be underestimated. They are still experienced warriors
Crusader: Crusaders are the Elite of the Pelinal, highly skilled operatives with a fanatical devotion to their faith. The leader of a team of crusaders is known as the "Prime" and the second in command is a "Sub-Prime."
Adepts: Adepts are experienced warriors who serve as the Orders equivalent of Non Commissioned Officers.
Apprentice: Apprentices are soldiers who can no longer be considered new but aren't experienced enough to be considered Adepts. They seek to prove themselves in hopes of being promoted to Adept.
Novice: Novices are soldiers new to the field. They are inexperienced by generally zealous and should not be underestimated, for they are ferocious in groups.
Initiates: Initiates are those still in training and do not appear on the battlefield. They spend their days reciting religious texts and learning how to fight and obey orders regardless of the personal cost.
Ship variants:
Adabal Class: The Adabal class is a large ship capable of destruction on a planetary scale. It is a large, monolithic looking starship which is cut in the shape of a pentagon. Several miles long in every direction, these imposing ships may lie dormant at the heart of major Ada cities for years or even decades at a time, serving as a monument to the gods. Aside from the usual point laser defenses and plasma blasters, the Adabal class has an Energy Caster, a large weapon that threads through the center of the ship and is capable of firing out of all faces of the Adabal class ship. This device fires a terrifying bolt of energy that hops from target to target, causing massive damage and often frying electronic systems.
Technological Overview:The technology of the Holy Order is highly advanced, though the common man generally remains in ignorance and believes the technology to be the magic of his gods. Certain technologies of the Order can only be used by a being who is possessed by or who has had prolonged interactions with an Ada due to the way they have been constructed. Although this was initially unintentional, it has came to be seen as a boom to the Ada and as such no attempts have been made to change this. Naturally, the Order has shielding technology as well as advanced energy production methods, as is to be expected when the dominant race leeches off of energy sources to prosper. The following are a few notable or curious devices;
Energy Blade: The Energy Blade is an old weapon that remains in use to this day. It works by creating a magnetic field and trapping superheated plasma within this field. When the 'blade' connects with a target, the trapped plasma cuts through the target with comparative ease. The blade is also equipped with a safety mechanism. When dropped, the failsafe engages by deactivating the magnetic field and thus dispersing the energy in an uncontrolled manner, consuming the hilt of the weapon. The failsafe is included to prevent enemy infantry from acquiring the weapon and using it against it's former owner.
Energy Staff: The Energy Staff is an approximately six foot long weapon made of a dull grey metal. The top of the staff has a focussing crystal on it that directs the energy from the weapons core towards the target. A blade is mounted onto the staff which allows it to double as a close combat weapon, however the staffs size can make it difficult to fight with in tightly packed interiors.
The weapon's energy blasts are made of superheated plasma and thus are extremely powerful and are fully capable of blasting human beings into pieces should it score a direct hit to the targets torso. The weapons blast can be overcharged for greater effect, allowing it to penetrate heavy armour.
Energy gauntlet: In response to the inefficiency of the staff in interiors, a gauntlet was devised that has a built in energy caster. This weapon is capable of producing low powered energy blasts as well as a short energy blade (commonly called an "energy dagger"). It is now standard issue with the Pelinal battle armour and it is not uncommon for a soldier to sling their energy staff over their back and rely on their energy gauntlet when entering tight spaced.
Doom Bracers: Doom Bracers are a piece of clothing that, as the name suggests, are worn around the forearm of an individual. These Bracers are programmed to electrocute the wearer if they attempt to leave a certain area or travel too far away from an individual wearing a linked bracer. They can only be removed with a key, though removing the limb it is attached to also works.
Tablet Reading Device: The Order use what appear to be stone tablets in order to record information, in reality however they are more complicated devices. When a tablet reading device is ran over the stone, it will change the etchings on the stone to reveal the information that is stored onto it, for instance someone who is reading 'page' 2 could go back to 'page' one or forwards to 'page' three using the device
Levitation Field: The Levitation field is somewhat deceptively named, as it can in fact be used to force something to the ground. It works by altering the gravitation field strength within a localised area
Stasis Field Generator: The Stasis field is a device that serves to halt all energy transfers in a location. Thus prevents aging., decomposition, thought processes etcetera. Concordantly, a being affected by a stasis field has had all it's biological processes terminated and is thus dead. The stasis field generator is thus coupled with a "Resurrection Seal", a device which saves the information of all transfers within the field at its activation and then jumpstarts the energy transfers again upon field deactivation, thus "resurrecting" the person in question. Naturally, this is used as a device to imprison individuals by the Ada.
Resurrection Stone: The Resurrection stone is a seemingly monolithic obelisk that at first glance appears to be decorative. Upon activation, however, it opens up to reveal a small cylindrical chamber within it. This Stone will heal almost any wound, no matter how grevious, and can even resurrect the deceased provided the remains are in a reasonable condition. However, should it be used to resurrect someone who is deceased, they will likely suffer massive memory loss. The exception to this is the recently deceased (within 30- Minutes)
Cultural Overview:
Culture is extremely diverse within the order, partly as the order prefers to adapt new members customs rather than compete directly with them. This means that some areas can seem extremely backwards in their methods of thought (Some remain almost medieval or even tribal.) The unifying aspect, however, is the Carac-El. The teachings of the Order state that the Ada are Gods who will protect the faithful from harm; The Order teaches that the Malaburo were chosen by the Ada and infused with divine power so that they might help the Ada to guide the sentients of the universe on their course.
The five tenants of the order as as follows;
Be patient for foolish are they who act without thought
Be diligent for a moment of laxity spawns a lifetime of ignorance
Possess great wisdom for it matters not what one knows if they can not apply it
Restrict your anger for he who strikes without true purpose shall be judged unworthy by the Ada
Be truthful, for a lie is a spark and one spark can burn an entire house to the ground
Outside of these core teachings, religion and practice varies wildly by ones location and consequently ones patron Ada.
The Order teaches that the optimal time to call upon an Ada is on their "Day of Summoning." According to the Order, while the Ada are capable of appearing on days that are not theirs, they are less likely to. Each Ada generally has a different offering required for their summoning which range from the mundane to the exotic.
The semi-recent conversion of some human communities has led to the humans of the Order having a larger degree of variety as old human customs haven't yet been seamlessly blended with Order principles; As such, there is a large amount of difference between humans who predominantly worship Asha-El and those who predominantly worship Mogon-El. There are no human communities who have Karactus-El as their patron Ada, mostly stemming from distance from human communities to the holdings of Karactus', who has always held more prominence with the Mishaxi than any of the other Orders faithful races.
History:
The Ada were born from a dying star in days that have long since passed; For millennia, the Ada were sustained by the energies of this dying star until it finally collapsed and became a black hole. The Ada fled, learning that even they were subject to destruction in the devastating black holes. Realising that taking from stars not only rapidly accelerated the decline of said stars but was also dangerous to the Ada themselves, they collectively agreed that new sources of energy were needed.
Eventually,
they came across space faring races who were far from enthralled with the idea of their energy sources being consumed by a race of energy vampires. The Ada eventually came to the concusion that rather than expending energy to fight themselves, it would be best to find a race to fight for them.
They found the Malaburo, and elevated them from being a tribal race to being spacefaring, arming them with technology that they had learnt about from their time fighting other species. The Malaburo inevitably came to the conclusion that the Ada were gods and worshipped them as such.
With their new found servants, the Ada conquered and slowly converted more beings into believing that they were gods. Thus, an Mala Carac-El was born.
Other:
The Major Ada:
Mogon-El
Karactus-El
Leheko-El
Asha-El
