Name: Surnia Star Cluster Defence League

The Surnia Defence League is led by a military junta and is quite heavily militarized. It’s isolationist and has been for most of its existence. The civilian population is heavily supportive of the current regime. There are no official religions and worship is discouraged in public, being seen as an individual affair.

The League is led by a council of high level generals and admirals, with a much larger advisory council of much lower ranked officers and some civilian representatives. Most local representatives are elected and private enterprises are heavily limited in size. While no one person holds all the power within the league the generals and admirals of the most powerful planets often hold the most sway.

The people within the League believe that most external empires (human or not) can’t be trusted, and they also believe that their ex masters could still be in the galaxy seeking to put the Surnians back under their thumb. The population is also heavily against slavery. There are many smaller religions in Surnian space but many are basically identical copies of each other and are mostly related to original religions of the Surnian people.

Surnia is not a technological super power, most of their tech has been plundered or modified in some way shape or form and not many highly advanced technologies have been internally developed.

Weapons tech- Most Surnian weapons are reverse engineered laser weapons often time in a much simpler (and cheaper) style. While these weapons may not be of the highest quality they are still capable of hitting quite hard. Starships are often equipped with higher quality weapons and are the main armament of most vessels.

Power generation- power generated in Surnia is often done much simpler than is standard, with most cities operating off of natural fuels such as natural gas and oil. Heavy military hardware is often powered with nuclear fusion/fission or with direct charging with ground stations.

Robots- Robots made in Surnia are often used for military purposes and are roughly the same size as humans. While not highly advanced they are rather difficult to hack, requiring a direct link into the robot otherwise they are nothing special barring special variants. The main advantage to these robots is their high resistance to freezing temperatures, extreme battery life and highly modular design.

Advanced detection systems- Many different detection systems have been created in Surnia, varying from simple and effective infantry tools to advanced long range sensors capable of detecting all but the most advanced (or outlandish) of stealth technologies.

Mechs- not many mechs have been designed in Surnia, even fewer designs have been built and as of yet none have been nor can feasibly be mass produced. Experiments are still ongoing and possible programs for creating a mass producible smaller mech are nearing potential fruition.





Overview: The people of Surnia are Humans and most Surnians have Icy blue eyes and extremely pale skin. They are quite resistant to colder temperatures. Otherwise they don’t vary much in appearance from other humans.



-Many people have rather bad lung issues and can't breath properly. It is unknown what causes this but it develops in most people, regardless of what planet they are born on within the league. Most people have taken to near permanently wearing their heavy respirator suits to limit the effect these issues have on their daily lives. They also tend to be heavier and slightly stronger than average compared to “normal” humans. Some Surnians have lasting traits from their ancestors' time as slaves, having much higher gravity tolerance and strength.

-All Surnians live on overall cold planets making them quite adapted to the cold and resistant to freezing temperatures. They also dislike warmer planets due to their adaptation to the cold.

Psychology: [What distinct aspects of the way they think/see the world are there?] Most Surnians are mildly xenophobic and often have a grim outlook on the galaxy.

Permissions: universal access. Use the snow humans if you wish. They tend to be wary when meeting new people and often like living in smaller tight knit communities.



Human-Surnian: 100%




The Surnians originated in the 1st century BC in Gaul. Many were abducted alongside the Romans in 20BC to be used as slave labour and were genetically modified in much the same way as the Romans. The Gauls, were more stubborn and defiant than the Romans and were often treated much worse because of this, eventually the Gauls started believing that they were being treated as inferior to the other slave races and had begun despising not only their masters but their fellow slaves as well. As the masters began to dwindle in number the Gauls were increasingly treated worse and worse, and while the the Romans stashed weapons so too did the gauls, but not for the purposes of overthrowing their masters or aiding their fellow slaves, but to set out on their own and decide their own destiny.

When the Romans rebelled, the Surnians did as well. using stashed weapons and tools to hijack a series of large cargo vessels, the Surnians abandoned their fellow slaves and set out into the galaxy on their own, losing a great number of their own people in the journey and many cargo vessels were lost as well. Upon reaching the location in space that would become known as the Surnia Star Cluster, many of the remaining transport vessels split up to investigate the many potential habitable worlds. Many of the investigated worlds were found to be desolate, seemingly wiped clean, but some planets were found that were habitable (if a little cold) and the remaining Surnians began their colonization efforts, using their transport ships as hubs and stripping them to use as homes and for the valuable technology that had survived the journey.

Even as the Surnians settled onto their new worlds, entire colonies failed or disappeared without a trace eventually leaving only 10% of the original Surnian population. Eventually the inhabitants of Surnia prime caught a lucky break and discovered ancient factories and other valuable resources like weapons and even a few small starships. The origins of this equipment is unknown to even modern Surnia and could have been delivered by a benevolent race or left by a dying one, regardless of the origins the equipment worked well and had many automated systems and even built in mining equipment and starship blueprints. The results of these discoveries was the eventual regaining of communications with some lost colonies and entered a short golden age.

While Surnia had pulled itself from the gutter, it still wasn’t perfect. Many of its worlds were filled with hostile wildlife and shifting glaciers. Even with the discovery of the ancient technology on Surnia prime, most of the planets were near impossible to tame. The only planet that could be fully tamed was Surnia Prime itself, the settlers there (with the help of newly acquired power armour) safely tamed a species of large canine like creature (with lots of trial and error) that has been the only successfully tamed animal so far.

Surnia thus far has had limited contact with the outside nations aside from occasional explorers and trade vessels and some small raids from alien species. And has barely extended its borders in over 500 years.

The NIRC is a loosely connected alliance of multiple sapient species that had formed over the course of multiple revolutionary wars in various outermost worlds, fully manifesting in the waning years of a once powerful human dominated Ascendency that was on its way to becoming a regional power. It has four dominant sapient species - ex-colonial humans, the fungoid tarrhaidim, arthropod vrexul, and anguillid gealtirocht. All four to some extent lived under the tyrannical rule of a human-run empire after having been subjugated in some way by them and allied proxy states. Both exploited the vast natural resources and labour potential of what were once free worlds, quelling multiple revolts and uprisings but not the insurrectionist and anti-hierarchic spirit that spawned them. Many of them would escape to “dead” worlds as well as the depths of Karbana Kinnis and others would continue their anti-imperialist actions in secret on occupied worlds, gradually building an interplanetary movement of increasingly difficult to govern civil disobedience and growing numbers of independent yet unified worlds all opposed to the expanding Imperial power.

The Ascendency did not take this lightly but by the time the first bullets had been fired in open warfare, the nascent NIRC was too powerful for the unwieldy, cumbersome empire to properly combat. The revolutionary force conquered and reclaimed all their frontier worlds, bringing to an end a once invincible regime’s grip on these lush domains. However, the revolutionary war was not without a massive cost, leaving the NIRC to inhabit a shattered series of worlds many of which had been divided through socially engineered colonial rule, rampant built-in corruption, careless environmental degradation, and internecine conflicts of faith, ethnicity, territory and politics. At the same time, it had developed a revolutionary spirit of unity that transcended nearly all boundaries - many of the armies that fought under its name were not necessarily in agreement with one another but the dream of forging a true future spoke louder than differences of doctrine. To add to this, new technologies developed by both exiled leaders and the first few NIRC worlds combined with the infrastructure inherited from the fallen Ascendency have allowed them to repair shattered worlds via terraforming and accelerate the transition process towards the Nexus’ style of governance.

Currently, the NIRC is in a period of immense growth as its plan for full stabilization are now finally underway after a bit over a decade of preparation and pre-action. Massive terraforming operations, the ending of remaining internal conflicts, the elimination or capture of hidden Ascendency loyalists and counter-revolutionary forces, the improvement of standards of living, the nationalization of industries - it is one of the largest and most ambitious attempts at modernization. It is roughly at 58% of its projected completion, slowing down slightly as the Nexus begins programs to extend its soft power beyond its own boundaries and its growing military begins plans to settle into various areas of Karbana Kinnis as part of an pan-planetary attempt to uncover the mysteries of the three major alien races that comprise this increasingly powerful alliance.

How the NIRC runs varies wildly to which specific subset of it is at the helm with regards to the worlds under its control. The vrexul, arguably the face of the NIRC, have the most convoluted system. The absolute power sits not with one of their own but a gigantic moon-sized bioconstruct known as the Rozkleřešení (english: Gnosis Eater) made of a mixture of constantly mutating, decomposing, and thus rejuvenating biomatter and complex self-sustaining and replicating cybernetics that serves not only as a giant supercomputer but the highest political authority. Its power is filtered through the advanced AI’s of six enormous bio-habitat ships the vrexul first came to these worlds with years ago, then to a 36 person council made up of six-person mind-linked sub-councils then down through that to the independent-yet-united assemblies of varying shapes and sizes that exist underneath them. This process can also be reversed and frequently focuses on decisions made on the ground up simply given a smaller degree of input from those higher on the command - their power ultimately rests on these assemblies and by themselves, have limited capabilities in terms of practical power compared to those they are governing.

The gealtirocht on the other hand are essentially tribesfolk or clanspeople, following a more anarchic sort of organization that technically does not have a single leader. They do however converge as a whole with the decision-making heads of the larger clans (whose power is only really “allowed” in these moments) bringing decisions towards their subjects when as a whole they decide on actions that will affect the NIRC and other worlds as a whole. This low-tech approach seems to clash with them having the most advanced technology on average but they follow the general idea that states should be kept fairly minimal but the unity of people should speak louder than laws and leaders. It has been updated with a considerably lesser emphasis on lineage and descent, with them moving away from a tighter bloodline focused idea of kin and tribe/clean to one based on action and choice.

For the longest time, the majority of the tarrhaidim lived under a theocracy but while they are not that much less religious than they were previously they did a particularly strange method of decision making. Unlike the other two aliens here, they have kept a supreme leader sitting somewhere between the vice-chairman and a high priest though their religious powers for determining doctrine have been mostly removed at this point. They are beholden not to other political parties but rather interest groups that represent elements of their society such as the military, the workers, the arts, religion, health, and so on - a “one party” state with multiple sub-groups not so much in conflict with one another as much as entirely focused on specific subsets of their society.

Said system followed by the tarrhaidim is similar to that of the humans albeit with religious aspects being absent. It is the closest to traditional democracy but retains the “power from below” system of organization wherein much of the decision making sits in the hands of assemblies made of the proletarian working classes. As humans were the main species of the empire of old, they generally have taken the longest to adapt to the new rule and most of the complete economic and political changes the Nexus is undergoing as a whole are still in the midst of transition states amongst them.

All of these states generally work more akin to a pact, making larger decisions with the combined heads of each one and outlining larger directives to be undertaken as part of their own distinct galactic agendas. Due to them having lost the least in the liberation wars (which is being incredibly relative here), the Vrexul have the most dominant position in the Nexus especially with regards to the military. At the same time, this massive advantage they have has meant that they have had to assist the rest of the powers especially in terms of security and re-creating infrastructure. Their leadership is slowly diminishing their overall presence leaving more room for humanity, the gealtirocht and tarrhaidi to have a larger say along with allowing them to shoulder a larger degree of the responsibilities with regards to the maintenance of the Nexus and its protection.

As a whole, the Nexus are believers in a populist style of government with power meant to rest amongst the classless masses and any structured institutions used solely for the purpose of maintaining a political ecology of mutual cooperation, aid, and prosperity. Except in certain human and tarrhaidim areas, politicians are not even in paid positions - only the truly dedicated step up to the challenge. Workplaces are no different, either already having or morphing towards collective ownership or strictly regulated by governing bodies, frequently automated with the advent of advanced vrexul bioautomata. Leading from this, they can sometimes be outright anti-work in the sense they do not like the idea of spending your time working for a mere fraction of the profit created for those that will always be more powerful economically and politically than oneself. Others see work as meaningful when divorced from the process of mere material accumulation when governing mechanisms are used to provide for basic needs, allowing work to be transformed into a process of expression subordinate to one’s deepest held aspirations and desires.

Subsequently, every Nexus faction has an enormous arts community ranging across all major mediums. Musical, culinary, martial, visual, and some even in more arcane or eldritch categories of art among others are not only the pride of many of their nations but also something they believe to be an inherent good and subsequently something they export fairly heavily to worlds outside of their control. Some would say this is a form of soft power and they aren’t wrong - one way to influence others is to simply make them enjoy the things that you do after all. Yet a large part of this is simply due to the importance they put on enjoyment and self-realization which exists independent of their geopolitical goals. The vrexul are particularly well known for their music, best described as “ritualistic blackened doomy semi-industrial microtonal-contrapuntal death metal chamber orchestra”. The gealtirocht have a popular sport that is half soccer and half quarter-staff or baton based martial arts but in low to no gravity environments. Tarrhaidim have some surprisingly meaty tasting vegetarian dishes partially made of dirt-like substances and snake-like tendril-plants feeding on large juicy garlic-like mushroom growths they prepare in their own bodies. The humans have created next generation gaming taking place in simulated worlds crafted out of hardened light-like energy. The possibilities grow by the year.

Another core belief is a highly pronounced sense of revolutionary spirit, compassion, and galactic independence. The Nexus were born from tossing off the shackles of empire and subsequently have very little love for anything resembling it or fulfilling the same function. This can sometimes result in skepticism towards the NIRC itself but it extends far beyond that to most forms of corporate or purely growth-centered enterprise, ultra-rigid hierarchy or class division, certain forms of nationalism or constructed popular identity, and so on. As a whole however, it does make them either very difficult to approach or very easy. Some humans and a smaller number of tarrhaidim as less skeptical towards liberal democracy but most nationalistic, totalitarian ones are simply avoided or scorned outright by any of them. On the other end, independent colony worlds and certain smaller interplanetary associations are generally given a wider berth and considerably more respect off of the bat. It isn’t uncommon for them to frequently support revolutionary or popular uprisings in a number of cases - sometimes going forth as to providing volunteers, material support, and heavy doses of radicalization to those involved.

Members of the NIRC generally are known for having a very specific way of looking at things that informs the overwhelming majority of their politics. It is a materialist form of analysis based on viewing history, living conditions, the cultural and ideological zeitgeist, and political system of rule but just as importantly the relations between the classes and the methods by which societies provide for themselves as a single interrelated system of relations. Known as mechanialchemical materialism, it views the interaction of subjects within typically stratified societies as a series of inherent conflicts established for the purposes of control and suppression of power. The term came from occultist groups of all places when applying their understanding of esoteric beliefs unto contemporary political analyses when meeting with hardened veteran insurgents.

A number of religions exist within NIRC space. The gealtirocht have been polytheist pagans from the beginning, worshipping a celestial order of gigantic void-dwelling eel-like organisms they claim are their true predecessors and their “national spirit” being a reflection of their will and nature. This pantheon is known as the Síocornaíocht or in English, “The Coils of Eternity”. The tarrhaidim are “monotheistic” in the sense their belief follows that of a singular entity - an enormous fungal spore-moon nown as Almh'allbadi or “The Eternal Decomposer”. Both species are capable of having visions of their respective super-organism-deitites and there are fields of study that seek to attempt to find them. The tarrhaidim instinctively “know” which direct Almh’albadi is in while the Síocornaíocht appears to inform the gealtirocht capable of some sort of energy manipulation others call magic. It is known that there are bizarre super-organisms where these species can be found which to some explains their beliefs but folk tales, legends from starfaring crews, and strange potentially supernatural phenomenon fuel the curiosity and wonder of others.

By contrast, the vrexul’s own super-organism was one they or rather their predecessors created themselves and is often clearly visible with the right observation equipment. The Rozkleřešení (or Gnosis Eater) isn’t actually worshipped as a divine figure but seen as a sort of representative of larger systems of cause and effect, a living embodiment of knowledge and un-knowledge, being and unbeing, and a gateway to truths of existence beyond what one’s body is capable of comprehending by default. Their “faith” if it can really be called such is not so much based around worship but awareness of the greater underlying currents that warp and change reality with all living things in the corporeal realms as little more than subjects of eldritch forces that manifest for reasons they can never understand the totality of - at least not with minds constrained by their current neurobiology. Some sects of this occultist belief think that the Rozkleřešení is a living gateway that allows one to peer into it and observe something called names such as “The Prisoner of the Void” for those who believe the Rozkleřešení is merely containing it and others the “The Hungering in the Chasm”. What it specifically is isn’t known - it may simply be some kind of psycho-engrammatic signal sent out by the living supercomputer that causes strange hallucinations. Yet there are patterns notable throughout some of said strange psychic sightings - some see countless stars tumbling through a yawning, psychedelic void as they are sliced apart by the infinite jaws and claws of some massive segmented organisms and others a gigantic juggernaut of infinite sickle-ended legs dragging its ripping ends through the countless hungry eyes and tongues of a realm made of slathering, lustful flesh. Nobody is sure if any of this is true but it is known that large starborne arthropod organisms can be seen near the star systems some worlds believed to have belonged to ancient Vrexul.

Nexus technology varies notably between its human, vrexul, tarrhaidim, and gealtirocht members but as time passes, they are beginning to all converge on a number of key concepts.

They are best known for their vrexul technology which is heavily associated with biotechnology and augmentative capabilities as well as using both to create bioautomata; machinery comprised of replicated or lab grown biomass though they frequently feature heavy cybernetics. When it’s reasonable to do so, they typically use said bioautomata to free themselves up to do more desired tasks though they do not often replace the military. This results in an increasingly automated workforce but they are typically maintained and watched over by highly trained maintenance teams, some of which include sentient bioautomata themselves. The ability to modify genetics and biology has also allowed them to enhance their bodies to the extent they are often completely different organisms thant they would be naturally. Sets of feelers capable of detecting distant forms of radiation, additional limbs that can morph or split into different tools, parasite organisms that feed on and augment their own bodies simultaneously, even ranged weaponry - the possibilities are endless. They are known to do the same to certain arthropod animals in order for them to fulfill the roles of certain vehicles or bioautomata too. Their most advanced technology is now as “biovolatility”, allowing for the storage of multiple “encoded” body-morphs whether they are new tools, limbs, weapons, organs, and so on and for the most part, is typically relegated to military usage. Research departments are currently finding ways to combine this with ethereal/”magical” capabilities in top secret experiments conducted for the purpose of preparing for current and upcoming conflicts.

The gealtirocht are masters of energy manipulation, anti-gravity, and high tech computers - something which causes much surprise given their tribal lifestyle. Nearly all of their ground vehicles hover rather than roll across the ground, to the extent some are capable of a degree of flight. They have even adapted anti-gravity for personal usage, being popular among hunters who wish to silently stalk their prey in mountainous terrain or even recreational climbers who use it to get to difficult to reach places. Their energy manipulation is best known for their ability to power direct energy “laser” type guns and other such weapons. At the same time, it finds use in communications, construction, mining, surgery, and even agriculture. They can communicate data far more efficiently and with less interruptions, cut through tough rocks without damaging the ores inside or causing stability in mountainsides, weld or cut metal far more efficiently, seamlessly seal and cauterize wounds with marginal pain, and even repair damaged crops or control pest species without too much harm to the environment with specialized tiny “hunter drones”. Their computers on the other hand use a mix of crystalline tech to transfer raw energy and modular morph-capable components allowing them to fulfill a very wide array of tasks as well as being able to be modified quite quickly. Their compact computers often have capabilities normally reserved for far larger, chunkier machines though they can be somewhat difficult to maintain as they begin looking into ways of simplifying their usage. It is believed they have some computers capable of utilizing the ethereal, “magical” currents of their kind but how exactly is up in the air so far.

The tarrhaidim are often seen as primitive but they are no less creative than their alien counterparts. These fungoid organisms are capable of soundlessly communicating through specialized chemical and electrical signals, even networks of nerve-like mycelia sending hidden messages back and forth without the need to be physically connected. This allows them to link multiple persons together in highly receptive communication networks albeit typically within a limited range and they haven’t perfected replicating the system outside of their own kind yet. It does however form the foundation of their own sort of biotech, allowing them to selectively control and manipulate various plant or fungi species that can be modified in ways that mirror how the vrexul do the same for organisms. Many of these organisms can be used to create large structures for a variety of purposes, allowing them to rapidly create ecologically integrated settlements that are essentially mega-colonies of fungi and plant life interacting with one another. Their most arcane technology however is the capability to control multiple bodies by becoming singular gestalt consciousnesses. This also requires the mycelia networks but a far, far more advanced version and specialized training, typically using replica bodies but they can also be used to control certain vehicles, automata, computers, or even other animals or vegetation. The strain can be immense to an untrained consciousness and is considered perhaps the most cutting edge technology within the entire Nexus.

Humanity benefits from much of the same technology as these three, typically using assorted general far future fare as befitting of colonies in this time albeit augmented with upgrades from the prior four even if they are technically the least advanced member of the Nexus. Most humans in the Nexus are from colonial backgrounds and have developed specialized meteorological and agricultural technology that has helped lead to a boon in food production when combined with contributions from the other three. Much of their robotics and FTL tech have also been used as foundations for further progress in these fields while their defensive fleets and space stations have lead to a fairly wide array of system defence, scientific research, and habitable space stations. The modular nature of many of their designs has also been highly influential even for all manner of vehicles, structures, weapons, starships, and military hardware. It is from their designs as well that their hypermagnetic tech was created, leading most famously to railgun tech but also high speed delivery and transport systems that have vastly improved infrastructure in the worlds hit the hardest by the aftermath of the Ascendency.

The NIRC’s style of governance might be more informal than most but as a military it has generations worth of experience fighting two pronged conflicts as both an insurgent force and a people’s army. As such, its ranks draw from a combination of sources official and unofficial such as professionally trained and supplied planetary armies, reformed space pirates turned non-governmental militant brigades, guerilla groups forged from various Ascendency occupations, and once-deniable shadow battalions often made up of political defectors and hardliners from established nations. During times of larger scale conflict, the command chains of all four of its forces unite and integrate into a specifically configured command structure with its highest command levels assisted through specialized gestalt consciousness technology on a closed psycho-sealed network to ensure information security and rapid, precise planning. As the Nexus is not yet fully united, some of the forces that fight under it are allied with rather than technically a part of its government even if they ultimately share the same beliefs and goals. The fiercely independent nature of some of these armed forces means that they are allowed a wider array of freedom than those under its direct command but may not always receive official support for actions undertaken without prior consultation.

Its space fleet, while large given that it is comprised of four factions, is in the midst of an enormous change from primarily focused on internal system defence and planet to planet conflict to long distance expeditions and larger scale conflict. As such, it is currently split between older models being retrofitted or otherwise modified for new exospace doctrine and newer models tailor made for their new objectives. Quite a few of their ships are in the midst of construction or testing for a new era of interstellar geopolitics. One should not mistake them for being incapable however as their defensive fleet and numerous defensive platforms make their home worlds quite heavily guarded. Their current expeditionary fleet on the other hand, while not particularly large, has a number of ships with very notable and oftentimes unusual capabilities that make them far more difficult to fight than one would typically assume. A number of unusual vessels can be found in their fleets from gigantic half biological half cybernetic constructs in the shape of enormous primordial insects, small moon-like spore-colonies of innumerable teeming life forms, mythically large eel and mantis shrimp like creatures capable of tunnelling through hyperspace, and swarms of six-winged creatures each the size of school buses that quickly reveal themselves to be deadly unmanned fighters. Their fleets vary wildly from faction to faction.

The vrexul tend to have the largest and most heavily armoured ships, preferring enormous lumbering monstrosities with protruding scything limbs, multiple layers of shifting carapace plating, and smaller bio-construct creatures hidden within their bodies waiting to lunge on any vessel that foolishly nears, their enormous bodies heavily armoured, often protected by select shielding at certain components rather than the whole vessel, and capable of specialized on-board repair by various organisms. They are mostly specialized on high-output energy weaponry and a good deal of specialized semi-biological missiles generally suited for closer ranges due to the respective energy bleed-off and slower projectile travel time. Many of these weapons do not have immense killing power but they have a frightening number of secondary effects - causing power shortages and holes to momentarily appear in enemy shields, dropping clusters of large vehicular-sized organisms onto a ship’s surface where they rip through armour, equipment, and guns, or splitting into smaller cyborg war-head bioforms that tunnel through armour with metal-tinted mandibles to explode at vital components. This is further augmented by their non-ship fleet elements, the most notable of which are living combat intelligences implanted into a insectoid fighter-constructs and whose consciousnesses are “mirrored” into on-ship repositories for further augmentation and preservation. As they feature no real “pilots”, they are capable of absurd and freakishly predatory motions through the air, armed with hundreds of often semi-energy based homing missiles and vicious long range energy bolt repeaters.

By comparison, the enormous void tyrant bioweapons at their disposal can be as large as their capital ships - gigantic creatures from the blackness between the stars bristling with innumerable macro-augmentations and high intensity direct energy cannons and hyper-accelerating bio-mass launchers partially powered by the eldritch energies contained within their bodies. Capable of abruptly shifting motion or moving in rapid bursts, they are not afraid to close in on enemy vessels if the opportunity presents itself as their colossal claws and bladed or crushing limbs are adapted to crushing similarly gigantic prey. They also possess unusual vessels made of what seems to be half-complete ship frames and gigantic chunks of the Rozkleřešení, resulting in vessels shaped as they are like their own but covered in festering, decomposing, constantly frothing semi-biological matter. These grotesque monstrosities however sow confusion and terror in conflicts, generating enormous electrical and energetic interference onto enemies, vomiting swarms of volatile living mines blinking in and out of hyperspace, and sending globules of infesting mass that can eat through and heavily weaken even the most heavy armour.

The fungoid tarrhaidim use a similar amount of biomatter in their ship construction, crafting strange fusions of reinforced fungoid-vegetation and specifically reinforced metals capable of networking with the organic components. They are not quite as durable as their arthropod counterparts but are the second toughest ships on average. More importantly, they are capable of regenerating far faster and more efficiently than the vrexul’s with some of the most advanced life support systems known across the stars, making them very hard to disable. Adding to this are their defensive field emitters, using energized void-hardened seed-like nodes that create bio-energetic fields capable of rapidly leeching energy from projectiles such as beams or plasma globules. They often have bulbous or abstract shapes and while not especially fast, can keep far more momentum and speed when moving in almost any direction. Their weapon output in terms of kinetic force, blast power, or energy is not particularly high on average compared to their allies. Instead they can all put out an impressive volume of fire with particularly advanced counter-projectile intercepting and anti-aircraft capability. Many of their weapons focus on either causing debilitating damage over time with corrosive bio-plasma and raging energy fires but others are known to work by causing a deadly build-up of certain chemo-energetic compounds on or around a target then violently detonating them with certain specialist weapons, allowing them to do either consistent or very spike-heavy damage. They have a fairly solid range too, able to often out-shoot their vrexul counterparts at longer distances, assisted by the ability to control a number of gun-platforms that hover around the ships, capable of amplifying their shields to block a degree of weapons fire while further increasing the absurd volume of fire they can put out.

Tarrhaidim fighters are also rarely manned as much as they are controlled by similar implanted consciousnesses, resembling spike-like seed pods with circular arrays of razor toothed leaf-wings. They too however tend to bristle with higher volumes of fire than their arthropod counterparts and impressive regeneration. Where the carapaced ones may have lightning fast intercepting down to a T, these fungoids have far more advanced bombing craft capable of firing massive swarms of pinpoint cluster and piercing munitions along with cannons capable of scourging open gun positions and bulkheads once in range. They are frequently launched from what appear to be large spherical entities known as Spore Moons. These are often around the size of their ships but “tethered” to them through special psychoneurological-mycelial bonds. In essence floating gun platforms, they can disengage and “slingshot” around the battlefield, sending out waves of large worm-like parasites from their own biomass that hunt down enemy fighter or bombers before latching onto ships and ripping through vital electronics, potentially even boarding and desecrating the insides of the vessel. This is on top of the borderline nonsensical amount of guns they are unsurprisingly carrying, further drowning the enemy in sheer gunfire. The most mystifying of their space forces are the enormous saucer like Grave Crowns, frequently referred to as “motherships”. The largest of their vessels on average, they feature multi-directional weapon placement emphasizing launching swarms of living, predatory projectiles and streams of armour-shattering shells. Their true power is their ability to augment allied ships by networking with their biological and cybernetic components, improving regeneration, shield stability, accuracy, and assisting in coordinating fire. They can also cause spatial disruptions with experimental energy weapons, causing enemy ships to move slower in targeted areas or when fired upon with certain projectiles in energy fields, take additional damage from secondary explosions caused by chain reactions.

Unlike the prior two, the gealtirocht typically use ships fully made of metal. Lengthy, sleek, and usually bereft of jagged edges, these almost serpentine or piscine-designs have a sleek and graceful design that belies their impressive power. These ships are easily the fastest of the NIRC’s fleets, capable of momentarily overcharging their engines to even making short range jumps mid-combat to compensate for their relatively weaker hulls. Further adding to their protection is their specialized shielding, capable of drawing upon large batteries and even amplifying the effects of their weaponry when fired through shielded sections. Some ships are capable of even increasing the effectiveness of their shield by rapidly moving, even capable of using blurred after-imaging and visual disruption to make themselves far harder to target. They focus on a mixture of beam weapons and hyper-accelerated solid rounds, possessing the longest range and highest armour-piercing capability on average of the NIRC fleet, assisted by the most accurate targeting as well. Their weapons may often lack the secondary effects of their gnarlier comrades but they can essentially “snipe” other fleets, using pinpoint weaponry to weaken shielding in specific areas or viciously destroy vulnerable components. They aren’t afraid to get up closer when the time is right, unleashing specialized high output and impact weaponry in vicious, short strafing runs that can leave enemies stunned and crippled, unable to retaliate against the abruptly vanished gealtirocht fleet. They are also fond of two insidious tricks. The first is temporary invisibility often through a combination of fuel obscuration and masking emissions. The second is leaving clusters of specialized mines also capable of obscuring themselves similarly, “skipping” in and out of hyper-space to ambush those who would be foolish enough to chase them or attempt to flank their formations.

Their fighters are unsurprisingly sleek and elegant, almost fang-shaped with their curving blade-wings and predatory, elongated appearances. While they cannot turn *quite* as well as those of the prior two, their top speeds and acceleration are much higher and like their larger ships, pack much longer range weapons. They are arguably harder in some ways to track down and take out due to their jamming capabilities which only amplify as they move faster, making it difficult to spot their unique missiles - accelerating using specialized gas propellants to leave barely a signature before a secondary booster charge sends them rapidly barrelling towards unsuspecting targets like cold steel bolts. Colossal eel-like creatures known as the Serealgatai (“Hungerer of the Stars”) join their fleets as if following the promise of bloodshed, armed with a variety of specialized weapons that like with the vrexul, can feed off of their eldritch energies and augmented by armour plating covering their most vital organs. Similarly sized albeit longer than their arthropod counterparts, these enormous creatures can also momentarily warp in short hyperspace jumps but when they emerge, they can use the amassing energy to boost their own naturally generated abyssic shielding and speed, augment their own integrated weapons, or unleash it in massive bursts of power. They are not as durable as the vrexul void tyrants but they are far more maneuverable, notably faster, and harder to target with longer range weapons. The most mysterious of their space fleet are the Decimation Shrines, enormous vessels made of a mixture of semi-regenerated bones of enormous void-dwelling predators mixed with experimental composite metals capable of causing them to replicate to still-beating nerves and cells the sensation of being a part of a living beast again. These large ships can blur the spaces around themselves with their shielding, slipping in and out of realspace like a stalking predator, and unleash powerful beams of energy capable of goring open capital ships. They are best known for their ability to use their short FTL jumps offensively, creating shockwaves of ravenous power as they exit directed towards threats before blinking away and leaving homing mines in their wake.

While much of humanity’s ship have a background in the designs of the long since defeated Ascendency, they have gone far past their limitations to become an equally important part of the NIRC expospace fleet. Humanity’s ships tend to be somewhat blocky and rigid looking, closer to the great warships of water-borne navies past visually. While they lack the more exotic features of their alien counterparts, the human NIRC fleet packs impressive long range firepower with their love of rail-weapons, missiles, and an incredibly wide range of munition types, capable of modifying their effects on the fly whether it’s plasma wearhead, concentrated armour piercing, electro-magnetic, and even creating a burning area of energy that allows other projectiles to target or lock onto it more easily. They also have powerful plasma cannons, typically used at medium to short ranges, capable of overloading shields and even causing violent chain reactions as they overheat enemy armour. Their ships are fairly sturdy and durable, protected by advanced shields that can momentarily power-up to allow them to tank more damage momentarily and absorb a small portion of it to grant short boosts to their speed and weapon output. Their actual armour also tends to have advanced ablative plating with a higher than normal degree of resistance to energy based weaponry. They tend to also have large amounts of compact combat drones as well, capable of intercepting those of the enemy and adding to the numbers and aggression of their dedicated fighters and bombers.

Human fighters are fairly sleek and traditionally plane-shaped unsurprisingly but pack fairly devastating solid round and highly precise explosive weaponry. They are excellent at besieging enemy vessels, relying on precision targeting and high piercing to destroy vital components when they aren’t scourging enemy aircraft with disciplined aerial manoeuvres. They can even attach drones to parts of their craft, augmenting their capabilities whether in terms of firepower, target tracking, early warning systems and so on. While they are new to the idea of using spaceborne creatures in a military context, they have domesticated lengthy eel-like creatures known as “shovelheads” for their distinct cranial shape, modifying them for military use. Their distinct skulls are part of a specialized detection system throughout their body, capable of sending out waves of subtle, difficult to detect energy allowing them to track prey and avoid predators with impressive accuracy even without augmentation. When armoured up and bristling with weapons partially powered by their bodies, they can put out a wild array of fire and even use specialized pulse-rays from their skull to momentarily disable and stun enemy ships, allowing them to get close and rip into them before planting explosives then kicking off. The biggest guns they can pack are a part of their enormous hellmouth vessels, huge and heavily armoured ships along whose entire length runs a powerful cannon launching either plasma or rail shells. Intended for ranges typically associated with the gealtirocht, these ships are armed with jamming and targeting systems allowing them to confuse and disrupt those attempting to hunt them while impaling their foes with some of the most high impact weaponry in the Nexus. Recent advancements have allowed for specialized “warp” type firing modes, where in a plasma globule or a shell can be modified to “skip” in and out of hyperspace, gathering power as it goes and then violently exploding. This blast can knock enemy ships out of position and also momentarily tear holes in their shields, leaving them vulnerable for a vicious follow-up.

The NIRC’s armies, while featuring a number of non-official and official forces, has spent a long time building up a strong cohesion and unity in strategy and tactics to the point that full on single-species manifestations are becoming increasingly rare. In spite of the vast cultural and physical differences between all four species, the unifying political goals and multiple generations spent fighting a common enemy have forged bands with little caring for vastly differing biologies or languages. This is assisted by the fact that there is almost no real class division amongst them with the post-revolutionary political metamorphosis. For some, that is simply a return to traditions that the Ascendency abolished. It is clear that some of them are naturally more gifted than others in some areas. Gealtirocht by default can jump and run much faster than tarrhaidim, tarrhaidim regenerate much faster than gealtirocht, vrexul are physically more powerful than anyone else, and so on. Due to this, it has necessitated specialized roles that are somewhat rigid. New technologies with regards to augmentation and armour however are allowing for a wider range of versatility with it possible for example with certain types of armour and biological/cybernetic enhancements to have humans able to fulfill typically gealtirocht roles.

Subsequently, squads tend to combine these species together for versatility in terms of roles they can undertake. Each species has its own distinct way of fighting but when combined, allows them as a whole to fight the widest range of enemies across a number of differing environments and operational parameters. As a whole, the Nexus typically focuses on squadrons capable of putting out high firepower, independent yet interconnected, fighting alongside specialized non-infantry automata or constructs (robotic, biological, or both) and combat modified organisms providing long range or close in support as well as assisting in covering longer distances or rocky terrain. Vehicles generally play a supporting role, rarely staying too close except with certain armoured fighting platforms, with relatively lesser tanks than most but far more powerful mecha fulfilling the role of frontline combat vehicles. There are two strategies they are typically known for. The first are their combined arms advances utilizing a mixture of shock, awe, and the appearance rather than reality of superior numbers and force. The second is evasive, guerilla tactics focusing more on unit inter-independence, taking actions that support one another without often obviously coordinating in the open and emphasizing concealed movement and vicious, abrupt attacks. They are not afraid to change things up on the fly, advancing deep into enemy territory, feigning a retreat when finding sturdier defences, then baiting the enemy into a vicious game of predator and prey.

Vrexul soldiers are large, hulking monstrosities bristling with the widest and often most powerful arrays of weapons, a number of which is encoded into their bodies. While typically handling heavy weapons in a squad set-up and drawing most of the hostile attention, they are also occasionally deployed as gun platforms, capable of withstanding and inflicting tremendous amounts of damage and being fans of weapons with large calibres and high stopping power - their main infantry rifle for example is a modified electrothermal-chemical type compact autocannon derived from those of their security automatons. Adding to their lethality, their bodies usually contain a number of explosive launchers, short range spine-spitters, bio-energy medium range laser emitters and so on “encoded” into their biomass. Further adding to this is their great diversity of munition types, with conventional high explosive armour piercing and incendiary to more exotic variants such as rounds that release swarms of biting and detonating living cluster munitions or bio-electric shells that burrow into then electrocute targets.They are also fairly mobile, capable of digging underneath enemy fortifications, creating networks of tunnels, and like many arthropods surprisingly good at climbing in spite of their hefty size. A few are even capable of limited flight with modified wings and a number usually have smaller organisms living within them, capable of being used as drones or even attack units, saboteurs even with a sort of remote psychoneurological control. They are unsurprisingly horrific in assaults, with their massive size, bestial strength, genetically inherited hunting instincts, and numerous limbs being all the more terrifying when combined with close combat weapons generating fields of disruptive power allowing them to even slice vehicles open or even limbs capable of striking with the force or rifle bullets. Some are even capable of controlling fragments of the Rozkleřešení, using it to swarm and rip away at targets or obscure their own movements, even capable of being hardened and morphed into floating defensive barriers.

The gealtirocht are the second largest on average and with their digitigrade legs, absurdly fast runners and leapers. Their armour is on average the most high tech with state of the art shielding, targeting, and cloaking capabilities. Their great maneuverability is augmented by grav-thrusters allowing them to rapidly dash away sometimes mid leap and even fly for moderate lengths of time. Their weaponry tends to focus on semi-automatic long rifles firing particle beams, solidified energy placed in bullet-frames, or recently rail-rounds, giving them tremendous accuracy when combined with their ability to use their brain-adjacent third eye-organ to assist in acquiring targets visible and obscured. Their energy weapons are usually able to be charged up, generating and using additional heat and energy but with the added bonus of further increased range and power. They are also capable of dual-wielding compact hand-held automatic weapons, sending flurries of energy bolts to overwhelm opponents when assaulting them. This is assisted by their powerful lance weapons, with divisible twin-bladed staves whose cutting edges can be sheathed in energy fields and assisted by centuries worth of martial arts refinement, turning them into a militant whirlwind of violence. They are typically used as scouts and raiders, harassing from maximum distance or falling upon unaware foes. In squadrons, they often fulfill the role of marksmen or point-troopers, usually going on ahead to determine the safest routes of approach and focusing on targeting the furthest, most valuable enemy targets. Their bodies are frequently augmented with metal-laced bones, leg servos, and specialized filtration systems that give them similar sensory and at times even physical capabilities to the fearsome predatory creatures of their homeworld, with some even having long tails that can be modified with combat spines or specialized short range laser-emitters.

As the most numerous and second smallest species within the Nexus, the tarrhaidim unsurprisingly tend to fill out most of the grunt roles. They have had the longest history of warfare, particularly in a guerilla context, and fit themselves well to generalist roles. It is a holdover from when independent militant cells had to often fight alone with limited support and it makes them far more cunning than their reputation as cannon fodder would imply. They are masters of fighting in urban environments, ambushing and kiting around larger armed forces, setting up traps, and utilizing foritications. While their weapons are similar to those of humans, they have larger calibres (ie. what is an MMG to HMG round to us can be an assault rifle round to them) and have a more advanced semi-biological propulsion system that does not require much or sometimes any propellant, allowing for higher rate of fire and magazine size. The trend towards organic components in their weapons also allows themt o link said weapons to their bodies, augmenting their power and allowing them to even generate ammo on the fly. They can even “grow” attachments such as launchers, foregrips, scopes, and so on when linked to their weapons, making them highly adaptable. They are capable of using specialized growths on their bodies in a way similar to the vrexul albeit with less relative firepower. Instead, they focus moreso on disrupting, confusing, and hampering the enemy with fields of noxious electronics-interfering spore-hazes, freezing liquids that can lock up targets momentarily, hyper-metabolic seeds that can cause soil to crumble and weaken as it triggers, and even worm-like creatures they can use as grappling hooks or whips in traversal or combat. They are also known to contain specialized growths that can rapidly germinate and morph into a variety of barriers and small fortifications, allowing them to defend positions that might otherwise be too exposed or otherwise unfavourable. Their own martial arts traditions are potentially as old as the gealtirocht, descended from ancient tribes of mysticist-assassins, and focuses on using specialized bladed whips and vibro-blades capable of slicing through armour and even disrupting enemy shields.

Thanks to augmentative gear and tech, humanity can stand on similar footing as their allies. With a lengthy history of conflict even dating back to Earth, they have one of the most detailed military traditions especially with regards to large scale open conflict and mechanized warfare. Inheriting a number of defectors, sympathizers plus considerable materiel from the Ascendency that when combined with the Nexus’ technologies makes them just as formidable as their alien allies. Their armour is highly modular with a lot of parts that can be mixed and matched easily, allowing for easy repair, and also granting the highest degree of performance augmentation. They utilize a high number of magnetically and electrically accelerated weapons with a lesser degree of conventional propellant ones, also bearing a number of plasma models typically for medium to close range. They tend to have weapons that can “sheath” their rounds via energy-jacketing, allowing for additional effects and lethality.They are just less accurate and armour piercing than the gealtirocht but having more raw destructive power by comparison. They even have lower velocity homing munitions too, linking their weapons to their targeting systems to allow them to accurately target foes from safe distances. Their armour tends to have the capability to project powerful energy frields that can both protect them from incoming fire whether by lessening the energy output or kinetic force or stopping the projectiles, with some capable of even being launched offensively especially after gathering enough energy to be turned into a deadly projectile. Some of these shields can even further augment and “jacket” rounds that pass through them when fired by those behind them, further increasing range and lethality. Their augmentations are more fairly plain compared to their compatriots, typically increasing physical capabilities all around, but cyborg humans have faster reaction times than even some veteran gealtirocht. In close quarters a mixture of electro-shock mauls, force-magnifying knives, and impact gauntlets lets them punch far above their weight.

While their ground forces are primarily focused on infantry, they have an increasingly sizeable vehicular pool that is just as diverse as the soldiers it is typically supporting. For the most part, they put an emphasis on mobility and aggressive firepower with much of their vehicular doctrine focused on supporting infantry without too much of an emphasis on pure brute force tactics. One shouldn’t expect said armoured divisions to be lacking in terms of power as much as having a more measured approach that belies the alien nature of most of their armour. Developments that have accelerated since the end of the revolutionary war have made breakthroughs in finding ways to integrate often vastly differing parts together, hinting at the creation of specialized hybrid vehicles. Until then, they are mostly making due with an impressive array of four different design philosophies.

In spite of their lumbering appearance, the vrexul do not have many tanks. Most of their vehicles are actually troop transports, armored fighting vehicles, and mecha a number of which have both legs and either treads or wheels. They do quite well in rough terrain, some even capable of “climbing” steeper surfaces and others can burrow. These arthropod limbs can also be used against enemies that draw too close, to move objects, or even demolish buildings. Most of their semi-biological armour is armed with high rate of fire spike-launching weaponry and multi-missile launch systems, utilizing heavier duty autocannons and bio-plasma for harder targets. They can carry a good deal of weaponry through encoding it into regenerating biomass, allowing them to sustaining short but vicious bursts of high intensity firepower typically used against medium to light armour. They are assisted by symbiotic organisms that inhabit and help repair their hulls, also capable of being used to attack nearby targets like infantry or to scout on ahead connected via neuro-electric links. Their main duty is to cover for and support troops from afar after the disembark but when they need to hit harder, their mechs come in. Spidery, crablike, staphylinid, stomatopod - these gruesome machines are freakishly mobile and carry long range heavy ordnance and powerful disruptor-field covered limbs that already are more than easily capable of smashing through fortress walls or walkers that find themselves caught off guard by these unexpectedly agile monstrosities. Capable of digging and even leaping short distances, they are masterfully crafted for the purpose of savagery and aggression up close or from afar.

The gealtirocht lack the imposing size of their carapaced comrades but their sleek, sharp, almost blade-like vehicles have a ghostly power of their own as they glide quickly yet near-silently with their anti-gravitational drives. Powerful shields both protect them from weapons fire and blur them to their foes, something that when combined with their ability to project ghostly after-images and holograms leaves foes confused and unaware of the high intensity particle beams and semi-crystalline shells slicing through reinforced armour from lengthy, eel-like cannons. Gealtirocht vehicles rarely get too close to the enemy except to use ultra-high intensity beam weapons in short, vicious forays before often using their flight or jump-jet capabilities to escape before retaliation is possible. Although they do not use mechs, they do have larger terrestrial assault craft descended from a mixture of their aquatic craft and highly shrunken down versions of their mobile bases known as highland tyrants. Capable of being used as command vehicles as well as concentrated long range support weapons, these rapidly moving land warships have powerful enough weapons they can even harass low-orbit spacecraft when they aren’t (literally) lighting up enemy fortifications and armour from afar. A single highland tyrant has the firepower of multiple hovertanks and is also capable of further muffling the sound and signatures of allies within a certain area of effect.

Compared to the respectively grotesque and artisanal elegance of the prior two, the tarrhaidim’s vehicle are simply grotesque. Monstrous combinations of fleshy vegetation-like biomatter and cruel jutting metal, they have an almost ramshackle appearance almost like a parody of their human alliesbut that only hides the impressive power behind them. They also have a mutagenic, morphing capability similar to the vrexul but are capable of generally creating artillery weaponry of varying sizes, whether it’s with their sidewinding electro-thermally propelled pod-rockets or trailed and volatile hyphae-bombs, as well as allowing new weapons to be grown, replaced, or attached far more easily than with purely metallic designs. Because of this they regenerate faster than the vrexul’s and can have the highest volume of fire. Combined with their wide variety of terrifying artillery options from living hyper-reactive rocket launchers to city-block levelling cluster cannon platforms and they are as good at besieging as they are entrenching. They are even capable of deploying rapidly growing foritifying cyer-biological mass and releasing specialized pheromones and spores that increase the regeneration and heighten the reflexes of their allies. It is possible for them to be piloted by worm-like symbiotes as well who can cover for damaged or deceased crew-members. They also possess a number of large, grotesque mecha made of a similar bio-metallic composition typically armed with large calibre solid round bio-electric cannons and heavy duty energy cannons, along with swarming missiles. These machines can visually camouflage themselves as debris or foliage, unleashing storms of firepower quite quickly before vanishing away. Recent variants include powerful semi-robotic shock-claws and hyper-heated blades capable of ripping through armour and structures alike.

Their physiques and senses by default may be the weakest of the Nexus but humanity’s reputation for heavy armour is the most accomplished. The heaviest, toughest armour on average can be found amongst their number. They possess the most established and powerful tanks and mechanized battalions, even some anti-grav skimmers for that matter. Full on frontal onslaughts and ruggedness is where they excel, with autoloading fast firing gauss cannons, zig-zagging missiles that target weak points in armour, and scourging blasts of plasma that can clear out multiple enemy squads in seconds. Their nanobot colonies do not repair as fast as their semi-biological counterparts but cut down on hangar bay repair times immensely while their CIWS, missile intercept defences, and energy ablative plating make them add additional survivability to their hyper-tough alloys. Energizing their munitions prior to firing them through limited batteries allows them to grant secondary effects and additional power to their solid rounds, allowing them to catch enemies off guard with unexpectedly new effects to their fire. They eschew mecha but in their place use super-heavy armoured vehicles, whether assault transports or tanks, that can serve as mobile command bases or frontline bulldozers for besieging whole defensive lines or coordinating massive assaults. With the addition of anti-gravitational hover systems to complement their treads, they are difficult to immobilize when they aren’t already engaging entire squadrons of enemy heavy armour.

A large number of their terrestrial forces fall into neither of the two prior categories. While they also see use in atmospheric and space combat, the grand majority of their automata, whether cybernetic or biological, and life forms modified for combat are found on terra firma. They can play a variety of roles from reconnaissance and maintenance to directly supporting or fighting alongside infantry to fulfilling the same roles as tanks and mecha among others. They typically are integrated into infantry squads where they use specialized or heavier weapons and in other cases, form specialized squadrons of their own for an intermediary role between troops and vehicles. Most of the common ones typically provide fast moving reconnaissance and forward support to armour, moving on ahead to soften up targets, covering flanks, and helping hunt down targets of interest while protecting them from specialized anti-vehicular threats. There are far larger ones that can take the roles of heavy tanks or otherwise even form the spearheads of massive assaults. A number of these run on advanced AI’s but others use cutting mixtures of linked consciousnesses through psychoneuro-mycelial networking allowing them to be controlled remotely or even directly “connected” to the unit. In some instances, vehicles are simply eschewed in exchange for these versatile and unusual weapons. Constructs tend to be a lot easier to modify and can suit a wider range of weapons. Organisms tend to have unique pre-existing natural weaponry that can be modified in a number of unique ways as well as combative instincts that can be further honed with psychotherapeutic bonding and training.

The vrexul are the most well known for these given their propensity for biotech and augmentation. Cyberbiological constructs and bioweapons are used in near equal number with a plethora of options between both for numerous roles. Their smallest are the smaller sometimes squirrel to cat sized creatures that live within the armour of their soldiers, maintaining and repairing them, even helping to run their weapon systems, but they can be remotely controlled and deployed by said soldiers to scout on ahead, sabotage enemy systems, or even to attack threats within their control range. They are known to occasionally be modified to work as living mines and a number are also adapted to vehicular/mecha usage. Sizing up to creatures around 20 or so feet in length, similar to that of various larger mammalian fauna on earth, and grotesque creatures in the appearance of wolf spiders, vampire crabs, centipedes, carabidae, staphylinidae and mole crickets and others become quite common. Larger than infantry but not really light vehicles, these fairly well protected and rapidly moving augmented entities can be armed with moderately heavier ordnance than infantry, even more if they focus on encoding them, and can use a mixture of animalistic instincts and higher intelligences to move as stealthily and swiftly as they would in the wild, capable of burrowing, flight, and climbing, while their natural (or lab-borne) limb-weapons are no less deadly.

Finally, there are the megalith beasts, colossal entities occasionally larger than human assault platforms and bristling with living colonies of weapons, highly dense self-repairing armour, and horrific brute strength that can smash down reinforced bunkers and flip over armoured battalions. These are typically used as the spearhead of a major assault, drawing fire and retaliating in full as they barrel into enemy lines and even burrow underneath them, causing havoc and disarray while the rest of the vrexul assault force capitalizes on the scattered, distracted foes to gain ground.

The gealtirocht actually disliked using constructs initially for a mixture of religious and logistical reasons but as the revolutionary struggle intensified, they began to open up towards the usage of such constructs. Originally adapted from mining drones used in deep space, the gealtirocht’s sleek, pointed combat drones, resemble much smaller versions of their tanks albeit with some of the blade-like winged designs of their fighters. Able to easily keep up with their digitigrade infantry (or even outspeed them), they fire withering storms of hyper-heated particles and experimental missiles that propel themselves partially towards their target with a gas propulsion system then use a secondary magnetic charge to barrel towards them at high speeds, making them difficult to track and devastating on impact. They are also known to have tamed some creatures and with the help of their allies, devised interesting ways to arm them. Typically, they use large creatures somewhere between sea spiders, stingrays, guitar fish, and beluga surgeon that live in the highest mountains and widest plains of their homeworlds known as sciúlístheach (english: scourge-descending) or mountain wraths as both hunting beasts and bioweapons. Augmented with weaponry, armor, and enhancements, these creatures are as obedient as they are vicious, capable of generating powerful electricity and even particle blasts naturally further augmented with channeling modules and with retractable metal sheaths on their claws. Their reinforced heads with manifestable horns can smash and impale infantry while they have been trained to utilize specialized fire-and-forget homing missiles.

Most fearsome and eerie among their constructs are the uasdhlrácthú (tomb upheaval), strange floating constructs made of the de-irradiated bones and replicated tissue of mythic star-predators, augmented with adaptive cybernetics and replica biomass. These half metal half skeletal creatures resemble more shark-like versions of their serealgatai but with elements of the uasdhlrácthú, drifting on legs hanging faintly away from the ground and with which eye-like spots stare through their semi-transparent bodies, sending powerful rays of horrific power scourging forward before launching replicated-bone based zig-zagging, blink-teleporting missiles towards their targets. They can augment the sight of any gealtirocht within a certain radius with the strange rays they emit while they are also capable of reinforcing and rapidly regenerating any shields on friendly units.

While the tarrhaidim are closer to fungi and vegetation, they have found ways to make bioconstructs and combat organisms from non-animal life and its imitations. With specialized training, preparation, and biogenetic editing, they themselves can actually combine and mutate into larger, singular entities whether by generating specific kinds of occasionally semi-cybernetic matter, being integrated into a larger specialized mass, or generating said mass with those with a similar level of compatibility. These combined tarrhaidim tend to resemble smaller mecha, often smaller than those they seem to be imitating, but they are far faster and can be armed with a wider array of weapons and auxiliary equipment, continuing their prioritization of overwhelming firepower. They are also capable of serving as advanced psychomycelial nodes, improving the accuracy and coordination of multiple tarrhaidim and allowing for highly accurate, regimented firing patterns that only grow larger when more gestalt fungal mecha are added. Large mobile semi-fungoid organisms known as ahlamanashaq (dream defilers) that stand on eight or more vine-legs, with more like curving thin horns protruding upwards and smaller ones framing a bulbous, eye-dotted body that generally points upwards. While smaller than many other bioweapons, they are no less valuable. They can generate fog or even alter weather patterns within a small area, hampering visibility and scanning form enemies, and rapidly gestate and “birth” explosive sub-mycelial organisms that rapidly hunt down enemies or lay in wait as mines. They are also capable of having powerful energy-charged mortars installed or grafted onto their bodies, using their eldritch biologies to power compact, deadly lobbed explosives and it is not uncommon for soldiers in the field to outfit them with weapons normally intended for gestalt mecha.

Far more fearsome and disturbing are the Mahrataefan or “The Festivals of Putrefaction”. These are enormous partially rotted, specifically bred stubbier mushroom-trees attached to a living spider-like body that have become infested by powerful normally space-borne worm parasites some claim come from Almh'allbadi itself. Keeping the fungoid tree in a limbo between life and death, they use its now mutagenically volatile body to manifest a wide range of projectiles, launching semi-fertilized eggs laced with chemical explosives and utilizing the rapid energy generated within its partially dying body, guarded by powerful armour laying, to power-up rapid fire chemo-lasers that can scourge heavily armoured infantry to full on light vehicles. Rapidly gestated worms can be launched as living missiles exploding into arrays of embryonic cluster munitions. For heavier armour, they can launch specialized mortar-like seeds that can track targets as they fall for a single focused strike or split into multiple armour-piercing semi-biological sub munitions, both guided by a specifically engineered tracking system installed into the core of the foul warmachine.

Humanity has had a history of robotics dating far before the Ascendency but with the advent of the Nexus it has only been untethered from prior research restrictions and now sees a new golden age. Most commonly, bipedal, quadrupedal, hexapedal, and other combinations of legs are attached to robotic frames used to carry a variety of heavy and specialist weaponry or equipment. These gun platforms are not too large, sometimes even smaller than the vrexul, but they are quite maneuverable and can generate powerful directional shields capable of being fired through from behind and enhancing projectiles as they pass. As they are sized up, they can carry additional and more powerful shielding and weapons, including melee options, and additional electronic warfare options. While they do not use organisms in a combat role, they have figured out how to make creatures from semi-biological lab-made biomatter, arming them with weaponry similar to their vehicles and creating in essence, predatory combat machines. These often digitrade legged, slightly tank or APC like, and often tall and long armed machines are more flexible than normal combat vehicles but can run and leap in a way similar to the gealtirocht (whom they were originally created to fight) albeit not to the same degree. They are capable of wielding a wide array of weaponry with their long, synthetic-muscle arms and experimental AI’s allow them to adapt rapidly to changing conditions. Their biomass also allows for various augmentations for infantry to be inserted into them and while they can easily be armed with a variety of high power long range or melee weapons, using their speed and reactivity to adapt on the fly to the nature of their foes.

They also have access to strong mecha as well, typically larger than their tanks, but unlike the vrexul they tend to play more of a support role. They use their speed and lighter weaponry to engage softer targets as well as to provide missile support from range, snipe hard targets with lighter rail guns, and soften up or flank harder ones with autocannons. With jump jets and specialized shielding, they are good at distracting and absorbing a degree of fire, capable of indirect fire as retaliation and foregoing melee capability except for a few newer models armed with shock mauls and long armadillo-like claws. Some versions forego carrying built in weapons to mount a single large rifle-cannon and a few launchers at best, limiting their roles but gaining extremely deadly weapons capable of matching those of their tanks in some cases.

Pronounced “vuh-rex-sull”. Massive and mysterious creatures of a murky, poorly known past and impressive augmentation and biological technology. They resemble enormous arthropods with dense carapaces bristling with cybernetics and integrated external biomass like living biomechanical juggernauts. They can move bipedally or on up to around 30 limbs. On average they are between seven and ten feet tall with a few species being around five foot six and a few rare specimens around 25. They are pioneers and leaders when it comes to augmentation technology to the extent some of them are basically small habitats for performance-enhancing symbiotes and hidden integrated tools. In spite of being reminiscent of arthropods such as ground and rove beetles, decapods, myriapods, huntsman and wolf spiders, earwigs, crickets, and so on, their populations are not particularly large due to a variety of ground-up population controls which are being loosened in recent years. The oldest ones are around 200 years but it is believed some can live to 360. They spend the first seven to ten years of their lives in a nymphal or larval form wherein their consciousnesses are closer to those of animals but slowly grow sapience with age, mostly completing it upon maturity and/or pupation. They are known to genetically inherit survival instincts and even the ability to understand language but still require education as young adults to truly become socially functional.

The vrexul are ancient species that lived in the worlds around Karbana Kinnis with it being known there were colonies there though their exact homeworld is unknown - supposedly lost in some grand war either amongst their own or an unknown enemy. They were the neighbours of the Gealtirocht and the Tarrhaidim but before they could establish proper bonds, the Ascendancy had expanded into their territory, subjugating the arthropods and their then diminutive defensive forces to seize their resource rich lands, viewing them as allies of the rebellious gealtirocht. In the years that followed, they were forced into increasingly small enclaves within the heart of human controlled society and were a slave subclass in all but name. Many of them escaped with allies in the other two races who had been forced apart in violent socially engineered civil wars or open warfare with the human empire. The arthropods joined a revolutionary movement, creating their own new society with their neighbours-turned-comrades, but by themselves would not be able to topple the Ascendency. They managed to find traces on worlds they infiltrated or warred against the Ascendency and its puppets of what appeared to be other vrexul who were there before them. Chief amongst them were archaeotech computers detecting hidden vrexul fleets and habitat-ships that had been lost after some great cataclysm and evidence of some powerful “guardian entity” now known as the Rozkleřešení or Gnosis Eater. Through a risky series of engagements over seemingly low value worlds, they battled against the Ascendency to control these secrets to their past while their more numerous comrades held up the numerically superior enemy. They were able to unlock a colossal hidden fragment of the Gnosis Eater when they were able to finally send out a message to one of the habitat vessels, which arrived and bore a special “key” needed to free it from its prison.

This would mark the beginning of a tuning point within the revolution as the influx of arthropod warriors bringing new weapons, strategy, and tactics combined with the unleashing of an immense, antediluvian entity began to give the the NIRC, which had only just begun formalizing itself, a colossal advantage over the Ascendancy. It would be a mistake to say they were the sole reason the empire collapsed but they did play a huge part in contesting and in some areas destroying purely human control of planets and space. They have since become to many the face of this revolutionary union even if they are willingly ceding more power to their compatriots. In spite of that, they technically are one of the smaller populations and only in recent years has their population grown closer to the gealtirocht in terms of size. They are one of the more common species seen outside of NIRC space, usually with explorer fleets attempting to find worlds where any sign of other vrexul and hints of their past can be found. In spite of this, they are seen as somewhat standoffish and aloof, often avoiding direct contact with even non-hostile species. They are not necessarily averse to trade and diplomacy but are rather selective of who they do it with. They are common amongst independent colonies and worlds where they are known to provide quite a bit in aid, material, and occasionally security even without the promise of them coming into the NIRC’s fold.

The spoken vrexul language is an incredibly difficult one to understand because the sounds are near impossible to replicate for most. They are a series of harshly dry scrapes, booming and bassy growls, clattering or chittering noises (or both), and what sounds like backmasked speech. They have “words” but they are not an entirely verbal languages with multiple layers of sound used to change the implicit meanings and implied emotion behind what is said. Combined with a communicating via mandible positioning, feeler waving, how fully one is facing the other, pheromone emission - it is borderline impossible to translate except by other vrexul due to its absurd complexity, something their complex brains have evolved to understand as easily as say, English. They have a simplified form of it that resembles various Slavic languages (that others are capable of learning without heavy modifications to their mouthparts) that is also their written form though the characters are similar to Chinese in terms of their architectural, multi-sectioned appearance albeit far more pointy and insectoid.

Psychology:

In spite of being a communal species that is known for a general distrust of individualistic philosophies, they can come off as rather cold and distant not only to outsiders but one another. This is explained by the fact that the vrexul do not have a concept of family. They do however appreciate the bonds they form with others of their own accord and have a somewhat nihilistic view of the self as little more than the amalgamated echoes of its predecessors and world around it. This does not mean they are without pride or a sense of value to life; they simply believe in seeing people as contextually existing within and around the sources of said echoes. Seemingly in contrast to this coldness is the fact that they are quite charitable and compassionate as people, rationalizing it as “simply because we wish to be” and that there are reasons of self interest. Mutual aid forms the backbone of even well-off post scarcity areas and it is through this that alliances can be formed and bonds can be forged. What benefits one group of people can often be used to benefit all.

Like with the rest of the Nexus, they are extremely distrustful of corporate power, private enterprise, and monarchial rule by default, having experienced both for generations as badly and if not worse in some cases than the tarrhaidim. They are not necessarily against “strong leaders” but only if there is a strong popular front as well and believe that any kind of political system, democratic, “freedom loving”, or otherwise, that doesn’t take into account or allow direct popular action is not one worth putting too much trust in. As such, they can come off as cynical or even judgemental (if you can make out what they are saying). This can lead to them being very independent, clique-ish, but they will not hesitate to help others in need in most cases even if they do not necessarily *like* them. They do not appear to be too attached to most of their material possessions beyond certain keepsakes and upon befriending them, they are open to treating others as the equivalent of family. While the word “family” did not exist in their vocabulary for a long time, they do value close friendships to the extent of being their version of it - after all, it is the bonds you choose and forge rather than were set up on you with no choice that mean the most.

They are the least prone to violence of all Nexus species, difficult for some to believe but when given the chance, they avoid conflict whether out of a general dislike of violence or not wanting to face the repercussions of using their immense power. Nonetheless they have a strong support for their military and believe that as a people’s army, it carries the will of its constituents as opposed to demagogues, fanatics, and rotting leaders clinging onto increasingly illusory power. While they like the idea of expanding into new worlds, they do not like the idea of colonizing those already settled unless the other inhabitants there explicitly make it clear they do not mind their presence. They generally support national liberation and revolutionary movements and are skeptical of movements that seem to play into the geopolitical goals of opposing political ideologies be they corporate, fundamentalist, or nationalist. They are not very supportive of hunting down the remnants of the Ascendancy, believing that it is better to rebuild than it is to continue fighting. In spite of that, it is common to find those that believe that a few particular war criminals need to be brought to justice. Whether or not this dovetails into greater support for militarized expeditions remains to be seen.

Permissions:

They are semi-common outside of the NIRC but they never travel alone. They will always be in small fleets or traveling with other NIRC races. They do not often stick around for long in one place, taking what they need or resting for a short time before leaving and it is often difficult to discern their true purposes. When they do settle down and become a part of a society other than their own, they usually retain the same revolutionary and rationally-compassionate spirit, either as proud members of the NIRC or skeptical of what it may become.

They are only rarely found as mercenaries or pirates and if so, are not often very talkative or sociable. These ones are likely exiles, deserters, war criminals, or utter nihilists who lost everything in the revolution. In such positions, they are often quite deadly due to a mixture of military experience and absurd firepower, wielding crew-served weapons alone with ease. The remnants of the Ascendancy will also have very, very little of them given how brutally they treated them.

Pronounced “gee-ow-tee-rocked” with the "gea" pronounced like in "geese". These tall creatures evolved from some sort of eel like creature, visually somewhere between the Chimera from the Resistance and the Elites from Halo. They are around six and a half to eight feet on average with powerful digitigrade legs, four eyes (two on each side of their bony ridged heads), long multi-jointed six-fingered arms, and slightly elongated heads thicker at the forehead and slimming downwards to powerful fang-filled mouths. Some species even have long eellike tails and others shorter additional arms that have retractable spines. All however have an eye-like organ called the speirfhaire at the front of their brain capable of detecting ethereological presences though the extent to which depends on how well they have honed their skill. All of them are affected by dreams of eel-like creatures in their sleep though some have found ways to remove this aspect from their minds. Coincidentally they are bred in fairly large numbers and begin their lives as amphibious creatures closer to large eels, maturing at about nine to 12 years, capable of living up to around 430 years.

They are believed to be the oldest civilization of the NIRC territories, having been neighbours, allies, and enemies to the tarrhaidim and trading partners to the vrexul even before the Ascendancy came to power. It is believed that they may have interacted with splinter groups of vrexul habitat ships in the distant past though these are as much myth as they are crypto-history. It is also believed that they may have been the reason there are less of the spore-moons the tarrhaidim view with practically divine reverence about, presumably due to a symbiotic relationship with the enormous starfaring eel creatures wherein they made it easier for them to contest territory from said moons. Their civilization for a while was the most advanced in the region, having transition from nomadic tribesfolk to a feudalist and mercantile society but not without great strife and division. Conflict between the newly established kingdoms and the tribes that refused to fall under their newly defined jurisdiction would continue well into the Ascendency’s arise to power and was partially responsible for stopping open diplomatic talks with the vrexul commune-unions. A large part of the Ascendency’s rise to power was actually due to their alliances with the newly formed gealtirocht kingdoms, funding, organizing and supplying their efforts to displace and subjugate those who still dwelled in areas ripe for resource extraction and infrastructure building, beginning a series of resistance and eradication. This conflict continued throughout the Ascendency’s existence, amplifying with the deployment of conscripted tarrhaidim armies and professional imperial soldiers, escalating to orbital bombardments and even cases of genetically engineered but covertly executed viral plagues.

The nomadic groups would begin to unite and split up with a number staying on their worlds where they went into hiding and others escaping beyond the atmosphere. It is here that their first bonds with the vrexul were truly formed albeit with limited tarrhaidims support initially due to tensions that had only worsened under the Ascendency. Already being hunted by their royalist counterparts, the gealtricocht exiles set up various bases with the help of the arthropods on dead worlds said to be haunted by the enormous predatory star-predators of myth, making them more than ideal places to avoid the watchful eye of a far superior foe. While the vrexul began waging shadow wars and guerilla operations, the gealtirocht would be coordinating with insurgencies and sympathetic politicians, turning the enemy’s strategy against them as they whipped up a defiant fervour among territories now controlled by turncoat kingdoms and began a series of lightning raids across Ascendancy space, striking distant outposts and gradually drawing their foes into war of stalking, hiding, and striking from the unknown with the intent of draining morale, loosening control, and forcing the human-lead empire to draw its forces away from the increasingly riotous, violent civil uprisings.

As this was happening, discontent with the Ascendancy’s rule was growing with the tarrhaidim who found themselves increasingly becoming an exploited underclass sent out to die in larger droves on the frontlines than the humans they were told they would become the equals of. The resistance cells, commando divisions, and political activists remaining on the original gealtirocht worlds would exploit this to create a historic gealtirocht-tarrhaidim united front. Mass defections and even full blow mutinies of tarrhaidim forces were joined by rebels and riots en masse, even contributing to a few kingdoms beginning to fold as their garrisons found it increasingly difficult to fight against their own fellow eel-folk. Large scale direct action soon massively swelled the numbers and logistical strength of the gealtirocht resistance, leading them to go from guerillas in the mountains and woods to powerful armies that with an increasingly spread out occupation, were rapidly tipping the scales. Yet this weakening of the hostilities between fungoid and anguilid would open up additional opportunities.

Around this time, archaeotechnicians from the vrexul and scientists defectors from humanity along with a number of tarrhaidimg traitor orbital garrisons would begin sharing classified information with the gealtirocht. Observational media of not only the mysterious spore moons had been discovered but where many of the serealgatai that were once nearly hunted out of their native habitats were hiding. To assist their fairly small fleet, they would begun a covert mission of weaponizing these enormous predators, bringing a then revolutionary new weapon into the fold first inspired by the vrexul’s void tyrants which had been used in a few select deployments to protect vital bases. With these new enormous bioweapons augmenting their fleet, it would not be long before the now enormous revolutionary forces that had recently been formed into the NIRC would begin retaking worlds one by one, four by four, ten by ten. With a newfound control of space and territory, the gealtirocht had set the stage for a full swing route of the enemy occupation and it would not be long before the tattered, disorganized Ascendancy was forced out.

Their language is spoken with a lot of twisty yet sharp, somewhat wet-sounding syllables and vaguely resembles Irish albeit with a gnarlier, hissing tone and a concerning amount of snarls. The actual text features a lot of wavy characters resembling blurred piscine shapes as seen from the water’s surface. They also are able to use a wide variety of non-verbal howls, calls, clicking sounds, and so on, some of which are imitations of creatures that are both predator and prey on their homeworld. These typically are used for long distance communication, tribal activities, drawing out prey, warding off animalistic threats, and so on.

Psychology:

The gealtirocht are firm followers of revolutionary ideologies, typically following paganized variants with a notable tendency towards more anarchic practices. While it is no surprise that the entire Nexus is somewhat more skeptical towards grander organization, these highland dwellers can go even further in some cases given they had to deal with living under *two* different monarchical forces. Having returned to their tribal pasts, they are not as traditional as some would like to think believing in the spontaneity of the spirit and believing that tribe is not based less so on lineage and blood but allegiance and action, having learned first hand that the their fellow sapients were every bit as dedicated to the same revolutionary liberation. Subsequently, they are typically seen as the most outgoing and approachable of the Nexus, known for their charismatic and celebratory spirit and a love of exploration, adventure, and group activities.

They share most of the same similar socioeconomic and political ideals as the vrexul but beyond their sociable nature, are far less coldly reductive in their views. This is notable in that they have an idea of family that they value a fair share, are far more overtly expressive, and can often be fairly generous off of the bat. However, they can also be quite aggressive and quicker to anger. A lot of generational pain resides amongst them from the years spent under the Ascendancy and the idea of hunting down and capturing (or killing) its survivors is not an uncommon idea among some. Others believe that the traitor houses should be tried fairly after capture but the former view is often seen as being more vocal. They are fairly open towards direct action whether on an individual or a macro scale, not quite as focused on careful organization as much as impetus and intensity.

Permissions:

The gealtirocht are one of the more visible members of the NIRC who voyage beyond its boundaries and can be found in a wide variety of locations. Some of them have established small enclaves and colonies on less industrialized planets and they can usually be seen near established independent worlds. Occasionally they can be found doing smuggling jobs, exploring, treasure hunting, and even mercenary work on occasion though they are picky with who they work with.

Quite a few of the traitor houses are still around and as they are anti-revolutionary, they tend to have far fewer qualms about who they work for or with. Most of the mercenaries of their kind will be from said houses and are staunchly loyal to the aristocracy and the Ascendancy. They can often be found in various more totalitarian or militant regimes, exchanging their skills and further developing their combat prowess for a shot at revenge at the “turncoat soil-eaters.”

Pronounced “tar-high-deem”. They are large bipedal organisms resembling rotted eyeless humanoids, covered in hardened fungoid growth, and maws full of jagged pointed formations, noted for appearing to have rotted flesh. They are actually a fungoid like organism, genderless and able to reproduce asexually on occasion or by combining large amounts of reproductive biomatter into communal “spawning globes”. They are capable of heavily modifying and selectively mutating their own biomatter and have an unusual tendency to "bolt" clothing, equipment, gear, and armour into their bodies though this is nowhere near as painful as some would think. They are durable and hardy beings with highly efficient regenerative capabilities and the ability to survive on very little (think dirt, detritus, and sunlight). They are capable of aesexually reproducing to create sub-organisms usually to fulfill menial tasks such as assisting with nutrient gathering or maintaining their homes but while without gender or sex, they need others of their kind to truly reproduce and create full fledged offspring. Their offspring can age to maturity in around five years and like the vrexul can can be made to inherit certain bits of information from their progenitors. Some species can grow fairly large, roughly around 15 foot at the max and others contain huge worms jutting out of their bodies, having essentially become half annelid.

The gealtirocht’s origins are murky but it is believed they were originally fragments of some sort of ancient starfaring gigantic fungi that broke off and evolved into an entire species. While it is likely they predate both the gealtirocht and vrexul, they evolved slower than either and subsequently were slower to become a civilization. Worshippers of the mythic spore-moon Almh'allbadi or “The Eternal Decomposer”, their religiosity was both a source of inspiration, defiance, and unity and in other times a method of enforcing social hierarchy and hegemony. They were known to live with a few scattered colonies of vrexul, treating them as little more than somewhat elusive if useful neighbours lacking much in the way of grander power and initially had a very complicated relationship with the gealtirocht. Sometimes they were partners, other times rivals for territory and resources, and on occasion they had a number of conflicts. As the various tarrhaidim city-states began to converge and combine into larger nations, they were approached by visitors from afar - the Ascendancy, who had also taken an interest in both their changing political landscape and that of the gealtirocht. Appearing first as benefactors, their machinations began to take on an increasingly sinister role as in exchange for certain business deals and technology, they would be allowed to adjust and restructure aspects of their economy and societal organization to better accommodate this new partnership.

In a few years time, traditional structures of familial, societal, and political organization already in the midst of a rocky transition had been thrown into disarray. Established leaders rose left and right as a class of wealthy and politically entrenched fungoids began to emerge as the figureheads and main benefactors of the Ascendancy’s rapid growth and wealth. Rapid human colonization began to consume or take over territories once under their protection as animosities grew between them and the gealtirocht nomad tribes, accused of encroaching more and more on their territories leading to an initially popular conscription for the purposes of territorial defence. At the same time, they were forced to live in cramped spaces with impoverished vrexul they were taught to view as savage, barely tamed animals. The tarrhaidim themselves were treated as little more than sub-human in worth, becoming a massive underclass drafted economically or militarily. With the drastic shifts in power, their populations became divided not just in terms of class but territory, ethnicity, location as they struggled to find some stability in a world that had its rugs pulled out from underneath them. “Self governance” was used in tandem with specially chosen leaders and social engineering to ensure even if they should revolt, much of their anger would be directed at one another across battle lines stretching to before the Ascendancy arrived. However this method of control had its limits.

As much as they tried to control them through subterfuge and division, the anger of the tarrhaidim would always eventually be directed upwards as a series of revolutionary conflicts on the Ascendancy capital, resulting in the deaths of the heads of a planetary head of state and a number of capital administrators sparked off a series of brutal reprisals. In turn, tarrhaidim independent settlements including various hidden ones started turning into havens for a growing revolutionary movement. As the Empire’s own armies were further amassed through conscripting the fungoid youths, the higher standards they enjoyed in the army began to diminish and more and more they found themselves fighting not the gealtirocht and vrexul but their own. At the same time, a mass interplanetary movement was forming of tarrhaidim rebels, a number of which were beginning to join up in secret with the then emergent Nexus headed by the arthropods and anguilids. The ungovernable against the iron hand of divine rule - it was clear that history’s gears of turning but the power difference was not slanted in the rebellion’s flavour even with military support. Ascendancy was too well connected and organized even if it was stretched by the tarrhaidim who had created a solution to their enemy. The first was to push for a mass defection and radicalize the beleaguered militaries sent to backwaters and crowded, chaotic worlds. The second was to use that distraction to distract tarrhaidim covert expeditions to hidden terrestrial bases and orbiting research facilities; the reason was to recover stolen research concerning the mythic spore moons and unlock their deadly powers. With the assistance of their enemies turned allies, a two pronged ware of mutiny and covert operations began as they began to desperately strike out hunting for this cryptic data.

With the cost of many of their finest fighters, they were able to find the hidden locations of the spore moons and alongside preparing them to return to their habitats around the Tarrhaidim worlds, also prepare them for battle. Subtly moving them by hiding them amongst solar anomalies and dead worlds, the secretly modified space fungi were unleashed as part of a combined offensive. Utilizing their immense bio-energetic powers in conjunction with a small but vicious fleet, the tarrhaidim helped to disrupt and outright destroy logistics networks and communications between the Ascendancy worlds. Scattered and cut off from one another, their enormous armies were viciously attacked before they could properly organize as whole cities rose up in revolt and the chaos of mass civil disobedience left the conquerors helpless as well trained invasion forces. More than a few exiles and deserters from the traitor armies were all too enthusiastic to pay back in blood what had been taken from them. The tarrhaidim sacrificed more than any other species to drive out the Ascendancy with their population experiencing a very sharp decline even if it still remains the most numerous in Nexus space.

The language of the tarrhaidim in contrast to their grotesque appearance is surprisingly elegant and almost musical, resembling arabic and featuring few sharp vowels and fare more smooth consonants. When rapidly spoken it almost can sound like smoothed out, ambient birdsong. If slowly and carefully, it has a resonant and almost woodwind like tone to it. They can also gurgle and growl but even such rougher speech has a strangely muffled sound as if they are underwater as they do so. The written language has a lot of curving characters connected by sharp, rigid lines. Like the vrexul they can also communicate through smell via pheromones and chemicals but they are also known to use electrical signals within the range of one another through mycelial growths located through their body. This causes some to believe they are psychic but the electro-signal language is a learned language if one wishes to use it beyond communicating simple directions, emotions, and commands.

Psychology:

The tarrhaidim are as staunch of believers as any other Nexus species but their particular politics can vary quite notably. Generally, they lean towards a parliamentary style of democracy with a wider range of bottom-up political involvement but various sects are anarcho-communal occasionally leading to friction even among those sharing variants of the same revolutionary beliefs. Nonetheless they can be quite intransigent and defensive of themselves due to having been an exploited underclass under their own rulers and their foreign masters. They are however, highly social and are firm advocates for collective action and mutual aid, pushed by a sense of duty that has begun to grow beyond their own kind to all their allies. They are outspoken and fiery people with little tolerance for poor leadership and the raw accumulation of power whether political, economic, and ideological. When they see their own in need, tarrhaidim or not, they will not mind working alongside strangers amongst their own as they mobilize en force to protect their vulnerable and needy.

Their sense of family is looser than the gealtirocht’s, following lineages of descent but caring little for hierarchy or the importance of blood as much as the “network of interrelations” created. They have a concept of family less as a solid unit but a series of stories that can be interconnected or spiralling outwards, typically living in fairly larger combined families that in some cases are essentially small towns in and of themselves. They are less hesitant to go to war than the gealtirocht but more willing than the humans, knowing what it is like to lose countless souls for false glories. Still, they believe that armed force wielded by people will generally be more justified than solely in the hands of high lords. A not insignificant portion are not 100% trusting of the Nexus even if the percentage of the favourable is increasing from year to year, believing that it is best if many of them go their separate ways (resulting in quite a few colonies of them beyond the Nexus’ boundaries). They are mixed on the idea of fighting back against the remnants of the Ascendancy. Some believe that they should be allowed to sputter off and learn their lessons, others believe it is best to leave them alone, while a number of more militant groups believe they need to be stopped to avoid a repeat of past tragedies.

Permissions:

As they are the most common members of the NIRC with humans not too far behind, they can be found in a wider array of settings and occupations. They are commonly associated with colony worlds agricultural regions, jungles/forests/swampy areas, and certain industrial settings where they are hard workers well known for being good with ships and construction. Some of them can be fairly friendly and sociable if difficult to truly become close to and it is not uncommon to find them living at the outskirts of certain societies, preferring to keep some distance. However, it is not uncommon to find they can often become part of the heart of smaller urban or agricultural communities, with their sense of unity extending to those they feel share similar values or helpful personalities.

At the same time, there are a lot of humans and tarrhaidim in the remnants of the Ascendancy who are far more harsh and elitist. These ones frequently travel as mercenaries and epouse a sort of quasi-nietzchean might-equals-right philosophy and disdain what they see as the bleeding, soft-handed weakness of their Nexus counterparts. They frequently travel in warbands, gathering experience wherever they see fit before turning to their hiding Ascendancy bases to teach and share what they have learned. They long to one day retake what is theirs and execute “the breeders of weakness and decadence” for overthrowing those who has “raised them from dirt into godhood.”

Name: Vaisum Generator Huggers

Overview: A subterranean empire made up of a wasp-like species known as Vaisum. Their societies are built around abandoned and decrepit reactors in the lowest depths of Karbana Kinnis. Vaisum society is a highly maneuverable caste-based system. Depending on the age and/or skills you display, you may end up high in Vaisum society, second only to the queens, or a gutter rat good at nothing. While being high in Vaisum society may not mean having great material wealth, your position on top is not guaranteed without great skill and ability.

Structure: The Vaisum are divided into multiple different Colonies led by Queens. Most Colonies have a distaste for one another and are often quite subversive to each other. Warfare amongst the Different Colonies is rare due to the risk of another Colony attacking you while you attack another. Each Colony is matriarchal and is led by no more than 3 Queens on average. The Queens rely on their oldest offspring to manage most of the day to day tasks, and only younger Queens or those in crisis will tend to be more involved.

While no more than three queens control individual colonies, multiple Colonies can unite into one "Super Colony" being made up of all the Queens from the origin Colonies. "Super Colonies" are an infrequent occurrence and are usually no more than 2 or 3 colonies allying for a short time to fight a common foe. Some "Super Colonies" are long-lasting, however, lasting for multiple generations.

In Vaisum history, there was a "Super Colony" of Vaisum spanning the entirety of all current Vaisum territory. While the Vaisum no longer know why or how this massive Colony formed, but it is believed that a single Queen led it, with many lesser queens beneath her, and this ancient Queen was said to be as old as the Vaisum themselves. In theory, the Vaisum could reunify into this vast Colony, but it would take either a mighty Queen, Colony or a threat significant enough to scare the Vaisum into unity.

Beliefs: Many Colonies have similar views, believing that the massive generators in the depths of Karbana Kinnis are living gods of life and light. They also believe that the generators created them and shaped them into what they are today. As the Vaisum explore and discover more and more generators, it only bolsters their belief in them. The generators themselves can provide a good food source, with many underground creatures using them as heat sources, and edible fungi can rapidly reproduce near the generators. Many Colonies believe that cybernetic augments are sacred and are reserved for the most prominent members of society.

While most Vaisum Colonies see the giant decrepit Generators as gods, not all of them have the same way of showing their dedication and beliefs. Most colonies may sacrifice food or valuable scrap to the massive Generators, some may sacrifice sentient captives or even themselves to their gods.

Technology: Most Vaisum technology is stolen or scavenged from the ruins of Karbana Kinnis or taken from Serekin that venture deep into Karbana. The Vaisum lacks any form of space travel and don't usually use vehicles, tho it's not impossible to see them using vehicles when there is no other option.

Salvaged tech: lots of ancient and advanced weapons, modified armour and a few repaired vehicles have been collected by the various Vaisum colonies from the depths of Karbana Kinnis, less effective and less reliable than brand new gear, but still useful.

Demographics:
Vaisum-100%

Other: The Vaisum lack any form of basic education system. Most education received by Vaisum is provided by other Vaisum around them. In some rare cases, a Vaisum youngling may be selected by tinkerers or explorers for an apprenticeship to learn skills important to the Colonie's survival.


Sapient
Name: Vaisum

Overview: A bi-pedal species of winged wasp-like insectoids that vary in colour depending on their Colony. The Vaisum can vary from all black to vibrant yellows and reds.

Traits: Vaisum are extremely quick and dexterous and can fly, but they are often very light and very easily thrown around. The most common Vaisum are often no more than roughly 4 feet tall and don't usually weigh more than 110lbs. They have two sets of arms and a strong mandible, capable of bending thinner steel to a limited degree. Many Vaisum do not stand at their full height, preferring to be hunched over.

Stinger: Large venomous stingers used for self-defence and hunting primarily. It could potentially paralyze a human-sized creature. The stinger is potent but can't go through most armoured metals.

Wings: Large wings capable of semi sustainable flight are a feature on most Vaisum. Wings are only absent on a particular subspecies of Vaisum.

Psychology: The Vaisum are highly territorial and aggressive towards known enemies or threats. They highly value their family and Colony. Solitary Vaisum are prone to acting sluggish and exhibit signs of depression. The Vaisum can be extremely cold and uncaring at times and eat their own in times of need. Individual Vaisum such as scouts often prefer flight over fight when in danger; groups, however, tend to attack when presented with fight or flight scenario.

Permissions:
Speak with me first, but in most cases, no.

Other: [Anything else]

Military: The Vaisum do not have a unified army, they have many different military groups for every Colony, and many vary in skill, equipment and numbers quite wildly. Some groups use weapons fashioned from scrap and spare parts. Some Colonies have access to high tech weapons looted from ancient stockpiles from the long-gone inhabitants of Karbana Kinnis.

Types of Vaisum soldiers:

1: Queen’s guard- comprised of the oldest, largest and most loyal of a Queen's children. They are often equipped with the best weapons that can be found and are usually battle-scarred veterans and experienced raid leaders. Some of the “richest” colonies can equip the Queen's guard in salvaged and modified light power armour, though this is exceedingly rare and near impossible for most Colonies.

2: Wing scouts- experienced scouts usually equipped with decent salvaged weapons but lack any form of armour. Newer or poorer colonies will equip this variant of scouts with simple ranged weapons. They are used for long-range recon and subversion.

3: Foot scouts- (technically not required to walk everywhere) younger scouts equipped with extremely simple weapons most of the time. Used for simple patrol duty and hunting a majority of the time.

4: Scrap Raiders- the most hot-headed and impatient Vaisum often end up as Raiders. Raiders are often poorly equipped and plate themselves in scrap. They are incredibly aggressive warriors that primarily hunt and raid.