The Universe At Large (at least what y'all need to know)
It's the year 8560, and humanity has long since reached the stars. The Union, Earth's prevailing government consisting of representatives from every continental superpower holds dominion of most colonized planets. A few smaller factions rise and fall from century to century, often decimated by the deca-annual invasions by the alien threat before they can truly get off the ground. Mercenaries are often contracted to defend entire planets from the onslaught until the aliens simply leave to return again in another ten years.
Falchion:
A famed mercenary company that, unlike their rivals, boldly operate out of a single ship. Despite only having crew of only several thousand seasoned mercenaries, considerably smaller than most companies with comparable notoriety, they have a contract completion rate of 99.9999999%. That statistic combined with their policy of taking every mission regardless of how insane or suicidal has spawned rumors that they’re not even real, just a story that the Union tells their opposition to terrify them into pacification.
Of course, that’s absurd as the past six Union council heads have been assassinated by the very group that the public believes is in their pocket. The truth of course, is that Falchion is simply quite difficult to get in touch with and so incredibly thorough in their clean-up operations that it’s impossible to really verify every jackass that claims that they can call upon them.
Their leader, only referred to as The Captain, is a seemingly ageless woman that looks identical to the original founder of the company over fifty years prior.
The Captain:
Even the crew knows very little of the enigmatic captain that leads Falchion, but their respect for her is immense, some even bordering on fanatical. Some members believe her to be a literal goddess of victory as under her command the single ship has literally toppled empires. Her speeches often stun the entire crew to silence, and her authority is absolute. Aside from her apparent immortality, she has showed exemplary tactical prowess indicitive of several lifetimes of war.
She has a fairly crude sense of humor in more casual scenarios, even bordering on straight up immaturity. Of course, once a situation requires her to be serious it’s as if she’s a different person entirely. She cares quite a bit about every member of her crew, but she has made it clear on multiple occasions that she could care less about anybody else. Despite how much she loves her people though, the mission takes priority. Of course, given how dangerous the missions they take tend to be, casualties are inevitable.
Even the newest recruit, the greenest of greenhorns, the brashest of fools...their deaths break her heart, though she doesn’t show it until it’s appropriate. Every soldier recieves their own funeral, no expense spared, no disrespect tolerated, no sacrifice dishonored.
Jackal (the pilot):
The voice the crew hears most often is the ship’s helmsmen an expert pilot that simply goes by the name Jackal. Rumor has it that she was picked up by the captain when she was quite young. She’s an orphan with a ravenous appetite for noodles and a painfully sweet voice. As she’s been the pilot of the LLN since she was six years old, she’s able to control the ship better than most people can breathe. She often cracks jokes on the ship’s intercom, much to some of the crew’s chagrin. As the ship doesn’t have an official ‘first mate’ she is often considered as the Captain’s second-in-command.
Lucifer’s Left Nut:
The heavily modified stealth cruiser used by Falchion. The ship’s name was originally just a joke to mess with the officials registering the craft. For better or worse, the name stuck and was officially registered. Of course, the name turned out to be rather fitting as the company is often contracted to complete some of the most dangerous and most ballsy missions that many mercenary groups wouldn’t even consider taking.
The ship’s already effective stealth drive allows it to hide from even the most advanced detection devices...but unfortunately this doesn’t keep it from being visible to the naked eye. Of course, in the emptiness of space the ship’s black hull isn’t the easiest to see until it’s within optimal firing range.
On the topic of ‘firing’ the ship has a vast suite of ship-to-ship weapons including a primary plasma cannon, two full missile pods each containing over one hundred and eighty high explosive ordinance packages, and the most essential tool for any stealth craft; mines.
The ship has a wide assortment of ground vehicles to assist with most operations that require a more personal touch as well as a few fighters and strikecraft that can operate with or without an atmosphere.
With the sheer number of imitations of the craft bearing the same name, it’s quite easy for the real thing to slip in and out of most ports without more than a chuckle from the port authorities.
Chrysalis:
A planet in unknown space ‘discovered’ by the crew of Lucifer’s Left Nut. It was given its name by the Captain of the vessel as she assumes it to be the home of the advanced insect-like aliens that have plagued humanity for the past few centuries. Seemingly only reachable using the warp tech that the aliens are known for, this planet is so either so far in the depths of space that the LLN’s NAV computer can’t even approximate their location, or within a different plane of reality.
The Buzzers:
The insectoid race that seems to come out of nowhere at the turn of every decade. Appearing through huge portals in space with massive fleets and harrassing humanity, the intent of these creatures is almost impossible to ascertain as they don’t attempt to communicate, and once captured seemingly disintegrate.
They aren’t too powerful, at least they don’t seem to be, as they often die in droves in every incursion. Their ships however, despite not seeming to be combat oriented, are essentially indestructible. Their singular purpose seems to be to drop off hordes of soldiers before retreating into the portals that they appeared from. The alien technology is fascinating, yet almost impossible to reverse engineer given its tendency to self destruct once out of the hands of their wielders.
Despite their apparent incompetence, the aliens have shown that they aren’t mindless. They clearly have a goal, though it’s still quite the mystery. They have been known to kidnap humans if they can get their hands on them. Multiple military vessels have followed the transports into the portals only to never be seen again, but the invasions continue.
The Mission:
Falchion has been contracted to end the incursions once and for all, and as a secondary objective find out what the aliens have planned from the start. Of course, as not a single military vessel has returned from the portals, they are going into this blindly. The only intel they have is on the fodder unit that’s sent on every single incursion and the transports that carry them.
Standard procedure when dealing with worlds occupied by hostiles is to use the LLN to stealthily secure a landing point and base of operations, send a forced recon unit of handpicked members to scout for the enemy stronghold, and eliminate the enemy with extreme prejudice. As the Buzzers have displayed many characteristics of hive-bound insects, it is assumed that they have some sort of central intelligence. As such, an assassination mission is the natural secondary objective of the force recon team.
Your Characters:
Naturally you have free reign on your character creation, but there’s still gotta be some sorta guideline so…
Part of the crew: Naturally there won’t be characters that aren’t a part of the company, you can say you just signed up recently but how long you’ve been a part of the group is up to you.
This isn’t high fantasy, so tech’s all good but no magic.
Oh, and don't be scared to be a bit OP. So long as the stuff works in-universe and doesn't outright make you invincible it should be fine. Remember, Falchion has more money than most empires...so feel free to go a little crazy.
