The Asrian Ascendancy strives towards psionic apotheosis. Their psionic potential in modern times is second to none. Aided by their specialized technology and readily available, psionic resources they managed to become the unrivaled masters of the art. During the Great War, they wanted to replace the Ashtar as the dominant, policing race. An effort reflected in their large, slow but well protected and heavy-hitting ships. However, this led to truly gruesome acts of wanton slaughter and in some cases even genocide. Today the Asrians mostly see themselves as the custodians of the Ashtar legacy.





A general summary of your nation. Just a paragraph or so with the high-level points.









Asra – Named the Crown World. Asra forms the seat of the Asrian Ascendancy. Here the Noble World representatives voice their grievances and desires in the High Court. Where the High King and his Council of Lords reside. Once Asra was a sprawling mess of cities and industrial zones. No more. Its nature is healing over the wounds of industrialization. The few cities that remain are opulent centers of research, culture and wealth. These sprawling urban centers are filled with low-rise villas, public gardens, colonnades, and museums publicizing the latest creations. Picturesque workshops allow the Asrian tourists a peek into the artisan (but highly controlled) growth of the Crown World. For those with close ties to royalty, there are the numerous well-hidden summer and winter homes spread across the “wilderness” of Asra. Poverty is inexistent through displacement schemes and an extremely tough stance on crime. Only the walled capital city of Nemubia is accessible to foreigners. Though only to foreign dignitaries and embassy personnel.

Serenas – A unique world within the Asrian Ascendancy. Serenas is neither a Tributary nor a Noble World. It is the only planet (and system) that is totally owned by the Asrian United Royal Military (AUR-M). Serenas itself has many military bases surrounded by truly untouched wilderness and hostile fauna. Its moon is home to several black sites as well. Many stations orbit the main planet, some of them containing the biggest docks and gantries of the Ascendancy. In fact, the only shipyards capable of producing the feared Dreadnoughts of the Asrians can be found here. In far outer orbit of the local star you can also find a black site gantry where Asra makes her Hyper-Dreadnoughts. While almost all military research and development is carried out in the Serenas System, there is one very important exception: psionics. Serenas counts its fair share of Cabals, Covens and Orders but the high-level research in psionics is absolutely forbidden.

Agresha Ashtari – A planet discovered and colonized at the start of the Great War by the great House of Gesha, Agresha Ashtari is home to many Ashtar ruins. Under the rule of the Gesha, this planet turned into the galaxies greatest research center into the Ashtar and their psionic powers. However, they did not stop there. Agresha Ashtari laid on an important FTL “highway” from Gateway. The Gesha opted to open up several city centers to foreigners. In which they constructed massive temples for the Ashtar to worship them as gods, grand museums to publicize several nuggets of wisdom the Asrians have gleaned (though it is well known that the Asrians do not show off all their knowledge in these musea) and a myriad of shops providing incense, statuettes and other souvenirs and trinkets.

Gateway – Another unique system, Gateway marks the official point of entry into the Asrian Ascendancy. All foreign traffic has to enter through here and pass customs. The Luminal Bridge infrastructure here allows for rapid FTL across the carefully selected, public FTL highways which all, eventually lead to Asra (despite Asra itself not being public). While within the Asrian Ascendancy corporations are limited in how many employees and how much land they may lease or own per planet, within Gateway they are free to buy anything from orbit coordinates for space stations up to entire asteroids if it suits their purpose. The Gateway system is also home to a myriad of smaller civilian gantries and docks for ships to dock and unload. While customs formalities are carried out when leaving the system to go deeper into the Ascendancy, taxes within Gateway are exceptionally low. Making it a favored trade hub.



The official stance is that the billions of inhabitants of the Asrian Ascendancy are all pure Asrian. These are humans that, over the course of a millennium, evolved and mutated into a psionically capable species. Biologists could make a strong case that Asrians are no longer strictly human. However, the number of Asrians is quite low should one compare it to other empires of equal size. The reason for this is the Cataclysm. A terrible event that took place within the central Crown World and the Noble systems surrounding it. While the Cataclysm killed billions, those that remained gained massive psionic power. Still, the Asrian Ascendancy’s population is definitely at the smaller end in general. The population generally resides within the Noble worlds, as these are fully colonized and capable of sustaining life. Some might be send out as Thrall Supervisors on outposts.


Civilians within the Asrian Ascendancy are actually quite well off in general. Through the Universal Basic Income, none of them need to carry out menial or unrequired tasks. As almost all of these tasks are carried out by Thralls these days. Joined with free public education, healthcare and subsidized higher education. While technically Asrians do not need to work, many of the lower classes still work the more menial control jobs. Supervising the legions of Thralls working the mines, fields and other industries. There is a tax levied upon these extra incomes. While companies do exist, Asrian companies are more seen as a union of people working towards a common goal rather than the maximization of profit. Capitalist thinking died with the Cataclysm, after which many leaderless companies were forced to part with vast sums of their wealth to rebuild and provide a good life for the population as a whole. There was a fear that the coming of foreign companies would destabilize this dynamic. Though by giving these foreigners a different status and subjecting them to different laws (and most importantly: minimizing their presence) the Ascendancy continues to maintain its delicate balance.

Middle classes give great importance to personal achievements and those of their offspring. They are the corporation owners or merchants in general. Though many of them also enter into research, art or military. Each time trying to prove and bring honor to themselves in a bid to one day turn their family into a Lesser House. Middle Class also provides the most Commanders for the military in a bid to maximize their own prestige that way.

The higher classes start with the Lesser Houses. These are generally tributaries of the High Houses that rule the system. Lesser Houses rule large pieces of land, several corporations and can boast several locally renown researchers and artisans as their ancestors (during the Great War, the emphasis laid largely upon war heroes, however since the Cataclysm their importance has waxed and waned). Lesser Houses are more capable to provide wealth for individual researchers and artisans within the family. As tributaries to the High House, Lesser Houses are also expected to provide support in the form of bureaucrats and other personnel. Lesser Houses on the Noble Worlds wage a constant war with each other in the shadows of the court. Trying to win the favor of the High House. The greatest honor a Lesser House may receive is a marriage proposal.

Each civilian has the right to vote for the Crown Prince of his/her Noble World when their High Lord dies. They may also vote their Crown World Representative every 5 years. Both are extremely important positions. The position of Representative is bound to the most social etiquette. Candidates may not slander, insult or mistreat one another personally. They are encouraged to utilize failed former promises and pointing out outright deceit. Amongst the prince and princesses, attacks upon personality may happen. As these elections are generally considered far more personal. Never the less most try to be wary with their words as becoming High Lord/Lady does not absolve them of their insults.

Religion is not outright banned by the Ascendancy. However, it is tightly regulated and overseen to prevent the disastrous Zealot Wars that broke out at the start of the Great War. Most of the Asrians do believe Gods exist in the form of the Ashtar. However, they refrain from worship because most of them believe they will one day, as a race, ascend into godhood as well. Still, some Asrians do worship the Ashtar as Gods. Foreigners on Open Cities are free to have shrines in their own houses. If a religion is sanctified by the Royal Court, they may open up one place of worship within the Asrian Ascendancy.

(To do: expand upon fashion)


Trade - While the Asrian Ascendancy has made many promises of openness, it is still quite an isolationist place. However, since the creation of Gateway, the Ascendancy really has opened up a bit. FTL-Infrastructure (mostly Luminal Bridges) allow for fast movement along FTL Highways towards systems that chose to open themselves up. While some Noble Worlds chose to allow foreigners to trade with them, the Asra System is still completely off-limit for non-Asrian civilian ships. Foreigners may embark such ships from any Noble world though.

Merchant vessels diverging from these FTL Highways will be quickly caught and requested to return to their former path. Should they, somehow, be able to trade outside of an opened up system then they are, by law, smuggling (at the very least).

Workforce = Thralls and supervisors
Noble Systems = Economic and administrative hearts
Tributary Worlds = Production centers, agrarian zones, forge worlds
Outer Systems = uncolonized harvesting zones
Taxation = high corporate taxes




There are 3 tiers of the main government. The first tier is the local government. This concerns the outposts on the outer systems and cities on the tributary worlds. The position of governor over these locations is not elected. Instead, Lesser Houses are tasked with the administration and management of these places by the High House they serve. Despite the fact that these locations are not elected, civil unrest can be a very real threat. Most outer and tributary worlds supply the Nobles system they serve with vital food, goods, and even border security. Should a Lesser House fail in their duties, punishment is generally demotion and the dissolution of the House. A grievous wound to inflict upon a family, who may have to work for generations to get back on their feet.

The second tier of government is that of the Noble Worlds. Lesser Houses act as bureaucrats, administrators, managers and other support personnel for the High House. The more important department a Lesser House manages at the Noble System, the more prestige they accumulate and the more chances they get to ascend. However, corruption and general inefficiency become more and more visible to the High House and thus faster and harder punished. A department can be re-allocated to another house every 5 years. At the height of governance for Lesser Houses is the Noble Council. To have a member of your family become Councilor here is the greatest honor a Lesser House can experience. Councilors here often get their first taste of actual law-making. The only way to advance yourself now is to become a High House yourself. This is nigh impossible. For one it requires several High Houses to vouch for you and your kin. Secondly, it requires a position of such rulership to open up. A rare occurrence during this Post-Colonial era. The only few times a new High House was created was when Tributary worlds grew too big and High Houses were forced to part with them and the surrounding tributary and outer worlds. This has always resulted in rivalries between the two Houses. Where one declares the other a traitor while the other claims it is their right.

Such rivalries are the matter of the third tier of governance. Here the fate of entire systems is decided. Every High House has a representative at the Court at the very least. However, by decree of the High King a High House may be asked to send more people to act as councilors and advisors during the various meetings and councils at the High Court in Asra. These High Councils have very specific fields in which they operate like the High Council of Agriculture, the High Council of Psionic Research, the High Council of Foreign Relationships, High Council of Culture and so on. Once again, to be invited to such High Council is a great honor. Representatives hold no seat on such councils, however, they are often invited if certain decisions are to be made about one of the systems they represent. Representatives will often advise on how to achieve certain goals without completely disrupting the represented systems.

There is, however, a fourth tier of governance. However an exceptional few can reach it if they are not born of royalty. The Royal Council may overrule any previous made law or demand. They are comprised of the royal appointed Advisor of a field (Royal Advisor of Industry, Royal Advisor of Culture, Royal Advisor of Psionic Research, etc). They speak with the voice of the King, most of the time. Though the King can still overrule them. While it is highly unlikely for a Royal Advisor to be relieved of his duties, a 65% majority vote on the High Council he seats at may result in such thing to happen.

Some free thinkers (generally foreigners) will decry such a monolithic structure. Where there seems to be no clear difference between the executive and the legislative branch. In fact, they would say it looks awfully much like a dictatorship of the monarchy. This is not entirely incorrect. It may appear as if the common folks have painfully little control over their rulers. Their direct leaders are often chosen only once in a lifetime. Their representatives may be chosen once every five years. Never the less, the inalienable right of the civilians to move to whichever system they want to (accompanied by the Universal Basic Income that enables such move) means that dissatisfied civilians may and will leave systems should they fully disagree with their rulers on whatever matter. And because many rulers often rule for several decades, they can enact grand schemes and works that will bring prosperity and prestige to their system without being subjected to the fickle currents of a democracy.



Luminal Bridges – The Asrian preferred method of FTL. Luminal Bridges consist of two gateways that cast a bridge in between. Distances that would take light hundreds of years to travel are crossed in mere minutes. This allows extremely rapid FTL travel between systems that posses Luminal Bridge Gateways. To travel towards undiscovered systems (or places that lack a Gateway) the Asrians use Bridge Casting. Which is generally easier done from a Gateway towards a system without a Gateway than the reverse. Bridge casting allows one Gateway to construct both sides of the Bridge by calculating the exact end-point. This takes massive amounts of computer power and time. Generally, Bridge casting takes up to half a day to open a gateway which can be sustained for half an hour. Most expeditionary forces are sent out through the bridge with an exact time when the Bridge will be re-opened (after several failed expeditions, it has become standard procedure to offer up to 3 return Bridge casts until the mission is considered a failure).

Psionic Tech - Ancient Asrians were faced with a terrible problem. They had reached the end of manageable psionic power. Any usage beyond said milestone generally led to the loss of control (and life). The psionic energy just could not be applied in any meaningful way without aid. That aid came in the form of Psionic Tech. Runes, the most widespread usage of Psionic Tech are used not just to channel but to control psionic power. These runes were once simple creations. Today the Rune modules are intricate and highly specialized creations and implants. Made only by sancitioned artisans. However, Psionic Tech has grown beyond the usage of Asrians. The creation of the Thrall Core was another milestone, allowing the Asrian Ascendancy not just to survive but to thrive after the Cataclysm. While in ancient times Psionic Tech could only work with psychrite, today many psionically enhanced and exotic products are used in Psionic Tech.

Thralls - Easily mistaken for robots, Thralls form the backbone of the Asrian empire's wealth. They are largely made out of synthetic muscle fiber and bones. However, they are not controlled by a classical computer. Instead, they possess what some would call a base, animalistic consciousness. Given to them by the psychrite core they have in them. This gives them some instincts and even an ability to learn (though in a very limited way). Old, experienced cores will begin to alter the physical form of a Thrall to better suit their needs. For example, Thralls that only mine will rebuild themselves with strong muscles and skin but forsake optical sensors.


Lightweaving – The basis of the Asrians main weapon, it lets you program a tiny shard of psychrite to follow a certain, mathematically decided, path. Then superheated plasma is bound to the sliver and fired off. It uses the plasma to steer itself across the path. The more plasma it has, the slower it will move (though it’s general speed is quite fast) but the further it can travel. The plasma gets more effective the closer the target is.

However, the real advantage lays with the Lightweavers. In space these Asrians are suspended in a pod along a right with a VR headset. Their neural implant connects them with a computer that turns intent and thoughts into the mathematical paths the shards are programmed with. Experienced lightweavers can use up to 10 ArcLights (the main weapon that uses lightweaving). To catch smaller ships (like corvettes and larger), lightweavers forsake the main ArcLight weaponry in favor of the Amonthok Net. It uses a multitude of small programmed slivers to create a shard on par of what an ArcLight battery might use. However, at a certain point (depending on its programming) the Amonthok shard breaks apart to form a light woven net to capture the smaller ships.

Deliverance Weaponry – A Deliverance core, from which all Deliverance weaponry draw their power, is an exceptionally unstable power source. Its core material is destabilized enriched Psychrite, done by bombarding it by a massive amount of positrons. While the destabilized Psychrite is slowly but steadily breaking down it releases dangerous amounts of energy. It took help from the Ashtar to build a somewhat stabilizing housing for the Core. The housing stops the Psychrite from breaking down until whatever it powers requires energy. Then the self-destructing crystal surges with power. The housing must be build to both stop the destabilization and channel its power when needed. This is a dangerous balance that must be maintained at all times. Yet in return deliverance beam weaponry delivers a lethal combination of heat with a constantly fluctuating magnetic field around it. Deliverance weaponry is often slow to aim but lethal against all that it hits. This it is generally utilized as anti-capital weaponry.

Void Shields – Void shields are the main shields used by the Asrian forces. Void Shield sensors track incoming attacks (or predict them in later incarnations) and open up miniature portals right in front of them. The oldest ships their Void Shields generally spit out the attacks back behind them. However modern ships will bend the portal’s path and return incoming attacks to their source. They quite energy-intensive however and Void Shield batteries can be overloaded when too much matter has to pass through. Resulting in the Void Shields temporary shutting down (for the safety of the ship. While ship captains may demand the overcharging of their Void Shields this will, with no exception, result in the violent implosion of the ship). The larger and more modern ships have several Void Shield layers as a back-up should one fail.


Choirs and Covens - While the choir chants. The chants are created to let the singers enter a state of dazed trance. In which they generate vastly more psionic energy. Which is then siphoned from the room anywhere it needs to be. Choirmasters must pay close attention to the mental, psionic and physical state of the singers. As this is still a taxing endeavor. Covens reside in similar rooms. However, while some of their people might work as supplicant singers, Covens generally utilize a focus (could be the entire ship even) to work their void magic. They throw dangerous telekinetic forced around, attempt to grasp fighters or cast lightning against hostile ships.

Choirs can generally move from ship to ship with little issues as long as there is a standardized choir chamber for them. Covens, on the other hand, will grow attached to the ship they are on. Often claiming that it speaks in its own language to them. Covens that have stayed on the same ship for over a decade will loathe a change and their Coven chambers will often be so adapted to their own needs that no other chamber will suffice.

Manifestation Egnine - While Covens can use the hull of a ship itself to channel their void psionics, it is far from a good focus. Meaning the psionic power is often diffused. Resulting in lethal close to the ship but over long distances, it lacks in power. The Manifestation Engine is the result of painstaking psionic research. Never the less it is a dangerous axis weapon that can deliver the manifestations of psionic magic over a further distance with greater effect. However, it is quite big and smaller ships will be unable to carry such a dangerous and powerful weapon.




Doctrine







Orders


Thralls & Commanders