War has broken out between the Tethan Empire, one of the four great powers of earth and its most prized colony in space, Zale. The "rats" up in space fight for freedom and sovereignty over their own region of space against the oppressive noblemen of earth. A stalemate in the war has been reached with both sides taking a breather to regroup. It is now that a new unit will become known to human space, The ghoul squadron. A yet untested collection of soldiers with a diverse skill set, designed to complete operations without any support from the rest of the military. They are to be equally good as an infantry commando team and piloting mechs, the standard combat vehicles of ground and space.
Their first mission is one of great importance. At a neutral Colony controlled by Monthas, a giant corporation that became a country in its own right, Tethan Warships have been spied coming and going on a regular basis. Spies infiltrating the colony discovered that there was a massive testing range for new mechanical frames and underground facilities dedicated to their construction. It is assumed that Monthas is creating new machines for the Tethan war effort. This must be stopped. Ghoul Squadron will be deployed, infiltrate the base and destroy everything that they cannot carry back with them.
Earth: Controlled by four major powers, the birthplace of humanity is scarred by disaster and war. Control over Human space is maintained with great and longstanding power, but also as a necessity to maintain the lifestyles that many on the planet enjoy.
Atlantic Union: A collection of smaller states that each send representatives to a senate to make greater policy decisions. Larger states are given more representation in government, but are also burdened with organising the military and footing the bill for unexpected expenses on top of their normal duties. Notably they control mars, if with a lax leash.
Monthas: Originally just a large company leading the way in military technology, the Monthas Corporation took advantage of several catastrophes in order to take control of the territories surrounding its mines and production facilities. It transformed into large state virtually overnight and started to control the population with propaganda, harsh punishment and its machines of war. Now the Monthas family is all but worshipped by the citizenry on earth and in its colonies and the other powers are lax to provide to go to war against a nation with such an advanced military.
Tethen: The Tethan Empire is a regression in the nature of the state in human civilization. War heroes were, and sometimes still are, rewarded with land and given free reign over it provided that they pay taxes to the emperor and provide to his Army when called upon. On earth most lords operate their own fleets and maintain detachments of mechs in their own colors and heraldry. The Tethan people are however know to have the worst relationship with their colonists in space. Viewed as lesser beings and rats, the space born are not allowed to have their own militaries and pay much greater taxes.
Archduke Justinian Margrave: The deceased brother to the emperor, Justinian was a pompous and arrogant ruler, but not entirely blind to the plight of Zale and the other colonies of Tethen. Still it was the domination he represented and his fleet that were needed to be removed for Zale to become its own nation.
Emperor Bishop Margrave: The head of the Tethan Empire for the past forty years, Bishop Margrave has been consumed of late with an almost irrational hatred that the rats up in space would defy his rule, destroy his ships and most importantly, kill his brother Justinian.
Cantar: Ostensibly a direct democracy where every citizen votes on every issue through the internet, it is an open secret that Cantar is ruled almost exclusively by a handful of powerful families that influence what gets voted on and how the public feels about it. The military of Cantar is lead and funded by these families ensuring that if ever the populace did decide to revolt that their interests would be maintained. Cantaran colonists are treated as equals to the general citizenry back on earth, but that still leaves them with no power and no paths to climb social or economic ladders.
Space Colonies: Most colonies are cylinders spinning to provide gravity and built upon themselves by extending the cylinder. Despite their similar construction, each set of colonies has its own culture and overlords back on earth.
Zale: The oldest colony that has not been wiped out by disaster. It was founded under the control of the Tethan Empire and was kept close eye on for over a century before some lesser lords managed to convince the Grand Duke to turn a blind to their attempts to become more economically independent with a few gifts. These lords and their successors viewed their connection with earth as a burden that kept their ever growing colony from being its own power. A sentiment that has Grown throughout the common people. Those of Zale are in a great position to become a dominant force in human space. Recently Zale started to build up its own Military. Miners were sent to the asteroid belt to collect raw materials and deals were made in secret to acquire more advanced technology. Early warships were disguised as large cargo vessels to aid with mining operations and similarly early mechs were disguised as mining aids. Some officials needed to be bribed, but most were kept occupied with dealing with ever growing riots for autonomy from Tethen. Loyalists needed constant protection from police or else they may be taken away by the protesters. Eventually enough arms were built up and a coup was launched. The small Tethan fleet near the colony was wiped out in a surprise attack and the Grand Duke executed. The first act of the Provisional Zale Independence Government, staffed entirely by revolutionary lords, was to declare war on their masters back on earth.
Mayor Percival Barstone: Soft spoken and straight laced, the Leader of the Zale Independence Government and a former lord he has taken to a much more humble title than was expected of his noble heritage back in the Tethan Empire. He was very close to the old archduke before the rebellion, giving Justinian Council and gifts, but was behind the scenes, a major architect of Zale's Independence movement and pushed heavily for the secret creation of their own Navy. Now he and the other lords who lead the revolt for independence Try to manage Zale to be the best for equality among all its citizens and handle diplomatic missions with the Empire and colonies that Zale could bring in on its side.
Mars: Terraforming has been a slow process, but those areas of the red planet that have seen the end of it are lush green paradises populated by a hrady and independent folk. Officially they are controlled by the Atlantic Union which mostly leaves them to their own devices so long as resources and taxes continue to flow back to earth. Mars has its own Republican government which reports back to the AU Senate, but is mostly allowed to act autonomously.
Asteroid Belt: The farthest Humanity has been known to colonise within the solar system. The people here are rough and independent. They mine the asteroids and sell the materials out to whoever will pay the most. While most people in the belt agree that they want no greater contact with the outside world beyond trade, there is internal conflict over how integrated their communities should be and whether to conduct trade individually or as a group. Regardless, both sides detest Zale’s Incursion into the asteroid belt and view them as invading outsiders.
Venus:Venus is sought after as a potential colony by all factions of earth and while a few space stations have been built around it and a few colonies operate in space near it, the planet has proven to dangerous and hard to terraform to populate with humans.
The War: The Tethan Military, arguably the largest of the four great powers has been bloodied and forced to reorganize after the early stages of the war. With Surprise on their side, Zale warships took a lot of early victories and gained a lot of valuable experience. Since then though the overwhelming might has ground Zale’s progress to a halt for now. Many Tethan Colonies have been liberated, willing or otherwise from tethan control and those that remain have been repositioned into two groups to act as a buffer against Zale and reinforced into becoming difficult targets. Additionally, many a lord’s individual fleets roam the darkness of space looking enemies to pick off. Meanwhile the forces of Zale have taken up a defensive posture, though most believe it is only a matter of time before they strike out again at their former masters. The other great powers are permissive of the war. Certainly any colony that were to stray out of line should be set back in its place, but they also wish to see Tethen weakened by the conflict and so do not directly aid the Empire.
Tethan Military: The military of the Tethan Empire is becoming more centralized due to the hardships of the war, but it used to be entirely made up of the personal forces of lords, following their lord into battle and grouping together as needed. Some Lords still operate independently this way. Regardless, Most of the soldiers are peasants pressed into service with the members of Lords' Houses making up the officers and a Lords' Knights making up the mech corps. The knights of Tethen are lesser nobility and enforcers for higher lords in the empire. They operate all mechanical frames and use mechs themed after knights and plastered with bright colors and heraldry. Tethan naval ships evoke old twentieth century battleships in various sizes.
Zale Independence Force: A new, but well tested force, Zale's military if centralized around its navy and lead by Admiral ----. Their fleet is made mostly of bulky warships converted from or made to look like large cargo ships. Many of their vessels have gone to hell and back and still remained salvageable war machines. Similarly their mechs are mostly bulky and unrefined, but tough and adaptable. Mech and ground forces are detachments of naval groups and take orders from them. An army of sorts is being organized behind the scenes for future operations, but Zale has not been in need of a great deal of infantry in the fighting so far.
Ghoul Squadron: The Pet project of Commander R. L. Wexar of the Zale Independence Force. A squadron of mecha pilots who were also to be their own infantry commando unit capable of acting completely separate from the main body of the military for an extended period of time on delicate and important missions. Seeing as all members would need to be pilots and specialized operatives as well, the commander took anyone he could get his hands on, be they misfits or war heroes, too young or too old. To equip his unit a few political favors needed to be pulled in to give the unit top of the line mechanical frames and several variant stealth ships, originally planned to be torpedo bombers, but altered to replace much of their interior with a hanger for 6 mechs and maintenance equipment.
-Character Sheet-
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Appearance:
Gear: (Any significant personal equipment or important personal effects go here, but this section may not apply to your character.)
Abilities:
Personality:
History:
Extras: (In case there’s something important that doesn’t fit anywhere else or any trivial details you want to add for any reason)
-Mech Sheet-
Name:
Appearance: (Pictures or text is fine)
Height:
Weight:
Weapons and Equipment:
The information above is not perfect and could use some filling in, but should be sufficient to get us started.
You need not design your own mech, but if you do, know that it will simply be available to steal on the first mission and you will start out with something more standard. If you do not design your own mech there will be several available to choose from when the time comes.
One character submission at a time. I may allow multiple characters, but I want to judge them one at a time.
I guess I severely overestimated the actual interest in this. Half the people from the interest check haven't showed up and there have been no characters made. Am I doing something wrong? you know aside from childishly calling everyone out. I feel like this is a good way to burn bridges.
For clarification - if we choose to design a mech for our characters, then we start the mission with something 'standard-issue' and then upgrade to our own design (canonically a Tethan mech) when we steal them afterwards?
Are we to assume that these mechs are functionally superior to whatever Zale can put out at this point in time?
Technically, they are Monthas mechs that are assumed to be being sold/gifted to the Tethan Empire. It can also assumed that the empire also cannot produce mechs of that quality. These mechs are about twice as good as standard mechs and 50 percent better than what you will start with.
Yeah I'm sorry for the delays. Rough week for me. I'll at least try to get a character done soon. I am curious about the mecha though. Hell, I even thought about playing on the enemy army at first but I doubt you'd want that.
Then there's the mecha...I'm guessing there are limitations on what "designs" we can use right?
No you cannot be part of another faction. That would kinda go against the whole point of this. Maybe if there were too many people interested I could have a second team for the enemy or something, but that is not the case.
Try to keep it under 30ft. You can keep it pretty general and relative about how durable, maneuverable and damaging it is. Existing mechas are pretty basic. Most of them are a frame with armor with cannons, swords and jumpjets. You are theoretically allowed to put anything on your mech as it is supposed to be testing a new system of some kind, but try to keep it to one thing. Energy weapons in general need not be that one thing. They do exist and you can just have them even though they are not "standard." Oh and you cannot fly in atmosphere unless your mech transforms into a jet, in which case it can fly in jet mode.
