[CHAR] Empty Horizons 2.0

[zombieaccount]

The following acts in a sense like "my" app sheet, however everything here is either semi-NPC or historical and heavily subject to altering depending on what comes up.

The Solar Powers

These factions are the major factions factions in the solar system. They are semi-NPC in their nature and you can play as part of one of these nations. These nations aren't that culturally defined nor have their tech defined beyond a overarching trend, this is intentional as to allow greater degree of creativity for players part of these factions.

However they're defined by the following:

-Having low populations, but having the most advanced technologies.
-Having a hegemonic spaceship fleet that allows them to exert dominance over other civilizations around the solar system.

Each of the factions are opposed to each other, and tend not to have many connections outside of proxy trading through one of the other offworld societies.

The Venusian RepublIc

The Venusian republic's population dangles in densely populated modular complexes that float tens of kilometers above the hellish surface of Venus. The republic is ran by a decentralized (ergo, not something you can just compromise and cause all the cloud cities to descend to hell) AI cloud network that unifies what is a collection of competing sub-cultures/clans who share the common characteristics of having virtual reality for centuries (counting early colonization here). Transhumanism is rather endemic to the Venusian republic, with little regulation on genetic modification technology. It is to the point where people from other factions sometimes don't even regard the various clades that have formed as people anymore. ]

The AI mainframe controls a defensive army of drones and has total control in theory, being that everyone in venus is dependent on the AIs and their maintenance of Venusian infrastructure. This makes the Venusian Republic a paradox, for it has a oligarchy of AIs that keep things running. Yet the highly individualistic and borderline anarchic nature of the citizens makes the Venusian republic both highly oppressive and highly free. For while a structure may fall into the inferno of Venus, a new one can take its place. The Ais are apathic to the actions of individuals on Venus, and tend to try to keep neutrality even as the denizens of the 'republic' in their clans and tribes may go adventuring outside of Venus.

Unified Protectorate of Mars

The Unified Protectorate of Mars is highly centralized and very rigid in their governance, of which is guided by the overarching ambition to become the legitimate successors of the 'old order'. They have elements of market-Leninism mixed with technocracy, having not long after the collapse of the old order become unified under a protectorate ran from Elysium that became increasingly authoritarian to bring about a unified martian society that would come to value science, technology and industry over all else. Censorship of scientific pursuits in many fields is unheard of. Despite gene mods designed to reduce breathing requirements, genetic modification is restricted to the standard set. However, implants, augments and cybernetics are quite frequent. Full-body cyborgs occur frequently on mars, especially in the military or police. When not using cyborgs, nanosuits manage to allow for super human capabilities for those who wear them.

The unified Protectorate of Mars, in order to control their culture regulates media heavily, often blocking out media from other parts of the solar system. The protectorate is highly standardized as a civilization, despite the frequent engineering competitions with a powerful, hegemonic fleet that has experienced numerous conflicts with the Venusians and Jovians. Martian industry is surprisingly powerful, with space ports and defense systems on Phobos and Deimos along with surface manufacturing and mining that has altered the martian terrain since colonization.

Jovian Federation

The Jovian Federation is a lot like how @monkeypants envisioned them, a collection of world/moon-states around Jupiter and Saturn unified by a military junta. The Jovian Federation is highly capitalist with multiple organizations that dominate from Jupiter to Saturn. The military has evolved into a peace keeping force that conscripts people from the Jovian moon colonies and is their own sub-culture in a way. There is the endemic issue of corruption along with the need to quell secessionists who think Enceladus can survive as a independent entity. The Jovian Federation is radically humanist, with minimal genetic modification and the rejection of advanced forms of AI, usually using at most systems and computers.

The Jovian Federation is the most culturally diverse of the three major factions as the moon-states in Jupiter and Saturn developed separate forms of governance that are united under the fleet. The Jovian Federation is the most religious of the three factions, despite the ideological theocracy the Martian Protectorate can be viewed as. These sub-cultures are further explored by other players who may make moon-states in the Jovian Federation. Artistically the Jovian Federation has been having a renaissance in neo-traditional art.

The Old Order

The Old Order is what had existed until the mid-22nd century, and was defined by the colonization of the solar system and the progressive consolidation of earth that ultimately fell apart when the super state of United Eurasia tried to take control of the whole world from the pivot of history.

The details

The way the world can change in a century is astounding, no? The 20th century saw the rise and fall of empires, of ideologies and cultures in the course of a few generations. The permanence of the world lived in hasn’t been granted for centuries now, for it is the year 2325, and the world we live in is vastly different from what people lived in at the turn of the millennium. To understand how the world has changed, you must know the history of the old order.

In the early 21st century, there were only probes on other worlds than earth, with manned missions to other planets not occurring until 2030. However, with the advancement of industrial technologies came the cheaper price at which rockets, and later spacecraft, could be manufacturing. However, the biggest revolution in the 21st century had to be in the biotech industries, for life itself begun to become programmable. Habitation technologies improved dramatically as tailor made food products to live off world made permanent research centers on other worlds attainable. The build up of solar infrastructure, thanks to technologies invented in the 21st century revolutionized where humans could habitat. Even worlds as hostile to humans as Venus would have ways to be built up as areas for civilian access. The colonies themselves weren’t initially intended to have humans calling them home, more places to gain access to solar resources, space tourism and research. Yet, as more people worked off world the colonies grew as children from those at the colonies for long periods of times stuck to the world instead of returning to earth.

Earth itself was increasingly connected, with the blooming of multiple countries on the planet causing the increased needs for ever greater energy, especially as automation of numerous industries led to mass unemployment to the point where the majority of people by the 22nd century spent their time free from hard labor. However, the sustainability of such high standard of living for the 8.3 billion people living on earth came with a cost, as the amount of water in the world that was drinkable struggled to keep up with the amount of vertical farms needed to sustain the global market. Much the world at the time was not free, however, for there was a global aristocracy that went unchallenged by most of the world thanks to not only the bread and circus, but also due to their high positions that came as a result of being the controllers of the robots that maintained much of the world’s infrastructure, assisted by the fact automated militaries made them near-impossible for civilians to topple.

The economic apparatus that made the world function for over a century would be completely compromised in 2082, not from without, but from within. A massive plague broke out from the failure of antibiotics or nanotechnology to handle what was created in a lab, the free trade much the world had at the time causing tons of people to die in just a day after contracting the disease. The plague lasted for a decade, and is there were attempts to reform the system, but these attempts to alter the very economic fabric of the world led to serious ideological divisions in the global aristocracy that also clashed with the newly forming super-states whom developed from supranationalist ideals that drove over old ideas of nationalism. The EU, for instance would become federalized and later connect with much of the middle east, north africa, china along with northern and central asia. This super state would in the coming decades become known as 'United Eurasia'. There was four other super states, including the Pacific Directorate which dominated much of the Pacific and included most of the Americas. In short, these states were massive and had the economic weight and bureaucratic power to dominate numerous and vastly different cultures across billions of people.

The clash would cause the global system to collapse to the point where trade connections were limited at best despite having underground networks around the globe to transport resources. The physical meeting of other people being highly restricted and often requiring multiple tests to even step out of a superstate. This affected the off-world colonies the most, as while isolated to a high degree before the plagues, after the plagues people off world were banned from returning to earth. The people on the colonies would still get supply shipments in return for infrastructural support, however the colonies became progressively more self-sustaining due to having less support from earth than in the past.

For the old order, made of super-states would become increasingly more authoritarian as terrorism increased dramatically for a decade, of which in of itself caused even more terrorism to spring about with virtual worlds being compromised on a regular basis. However dissent was minimal on the whole due to the bread and circus, as well as the state apparatus being hard to break in the most developed of countries. There was a confederate world order that did exist at this time, but it wasn’t unified with super states maintaining their own government and military alongside the planetary peacekeeping forces designed to keep things in check. Things became stable, but stagnant from a innovation stand point [the colonization of sol continuing just fine, with perhaps even more investment than before due to the need to extract off-world resources]. The innovativeness of Terrans declined, with the only major revolutionary innovation in the 22nd being the use of Fusion power.

This system lasted for decades, but ultimately fell apart as the system didn’t try to address the issues of the world ecology that was going increasingly out of whack, nor the increasingly aggressive sentiments shown in super states that wanted to rid the world of tiny, useless provincial states like kurdistan through conquest, which in a several instances each super state actually did, despite the other super states condemning the conquests. Eventually resource control on earth started to drain out, with off-world resource centers becoming a major dependency for the world, especially for rare-earth metals. Yet the need for water was far more pressing, as the whole world relied on vast quantities of arable land and water, which was becoming increasing more scarce despite Russia thawing out and becoming a bit of a breadbasket in the 22nd century.

These resource limitations caused Terran civilization to, for decades look as if it was frozen until the mass death occurred in the mid 22nd century. For the stagnation of earth became a serious concern to those at top, of whom wanted to try to consolidate earth to the point of becoming a global, unitary body and the elites who wanted to go back to the more globalized system that was far less restrictive. Despite the similarities of the ideals, this ideological conflict became a second cold war that went on for decades until one of the super states had the confidence it could conquer the world using its vast armies.

The militarization of the Terran super states at first was seen as something hat wouldn’t lead to any disaster, since after all despite there being the occasional tactical nuke used in a war somewhere on the planet civilization never stopped moving forwards. So many citizens in super states were actually very apathetic to the militarization, with some of them seeing it as just another creative outlet since now there’s a reason to make machines of war. The ascension of AI in the time would caused for a unexpected consequence, as the pivotal super state of the United Eurasia had a exceptionally powerful military with European innovation combined with Chinese industry along with Russian determination. To the shock of the other super states, using its pivotal part of the world which for centuries was theorized as the point to control the whole world, went about on a global crusade convinced their defense systems ruled out the possibility of WMD retaliation, despite evidence to the contrary.

But they didn’t factor in the infrastructural damage they would cause, and the damage that would be wrought on their own civilization when the other super states united against the would-be world conquerors, who made use of bioweapons that spread throughout the communications systems that would completely impair the conquers, but not before they occupied much of the world and already was beginning to plan bringing the off-world colonies into their fold. However, their unified government lasted only two years as strikes against the capital of their world government killed off the leader ship and brought anarchy to the whole world as multiple military generals left over from the United Eurasian military wiped each other out.

The bio plagues from earlier surged throughout much of the two year-lasting world government, killing off billions of people as famines and droughts caused by the automation distribution systems falling completely apart and salinity plants being shut down without funding led to there being no real states left on earth. The earth’s human population shot down to just a hundred million people with the only civilization left being in isolated city-states bunkered down in the earth.

Without much food and much of the cities being looted or irradiated neotribalism became common in much of the planet, but unified states would start to appear again using knowledge stored in underground libraries and data centers to make the cheaper technologies, however the more advanced technologies such as rockets or fusion plants would take a lot more infrastructural demand to create. The geography of the world, altered by the orbital bombardments and flooding would make some of the metropolis into sites of vast ruin and the ecology of the world would be dramatically altered by the abrupt temperature changes along with the dark decade. The dark decade essentially was a nuclear winter that caused mass extinction as bad as the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs.

By 2334, the world remains green. Humans still existed and there are factions on earth whom have recently been building back up once more in a world where global civilization had launched humanity beyond earth, but had regressed from a elite that was too powerful for their own good and tragically collapsed.

Now there is interplanetary powers descended from the off world colonies that seek to colonize earth, despite those who still live on it.

[zombieaccount]

-place holder for any characters I may make-

[Sigma]

Imperial Republic of America

Type: Nation
Location:Earth

Red: A.I.R Territory
Dark Red: Occupied Territory
Government: The American Imperial Republic is an Elective Monarchy, with an Emperor and Chancellor at the Helm, whom are elected every Ten years, no term limits are set. Below the Emperor and Chancellor is the Imperial Senate, having the duel-role role as an Advisory Council and the legislative Body, enacting laws throughout the Republic, however, they despite this, the Emperor or Chancellor may overall a decree by will. Below them are the State Governors, who oversee the states making up the nation.
History:
After the Great Collapse and Dark Decade, there came an Age of Warlords for North America, as the Earth Government fell into total disarray, and for next twenty years, Chaos ruled, millions living in constant fear as countless wars waged between the Warlords, bandits and raiders roamed the lands, pillaging and razing all in their path, it was years of hell. However, hope arose as the long hidden remnants of the former Directorate Military had emerged from the shadows, and were on the warpath.

The Directorate remnants were led by General Arnold Regius, a man who will be known as the Founding Farther of the Imperial Republic, although not directly. For the next ten years, General Regius' forces blitzed through of what remained of the South-Eastern regions of North America, grabbing up as much land as they could till they reached the beaches, and further up till they could go no more. The final Campaign ended at Coasts of Virginia, where the General had finally established himself in North America as a Regional Power, and by 2200, he established the New American Republic.

For three decades, the fledgling Republic struggled greatly, facing the constant threat of raiders, rival warlords and some minor political infighting. A new Political Party within the Republic, simply referred as the Imperials were a cause of great concern for the ruling powers. They were a rather radical group, who's vision for the New American Republic was quite unspeakable to some. They sought to follow a more centralized system similar to the Old Holy Roman Empire, the ultimate fusion of Empire and Republic. This had caused an uproar within the Government as the Imperials soon gained support by the masses, seeing their model as just for a world in ruin.

By 2245, Civil War erupted as the Imperial Faction, led by Maxwell Regius, son of the famed General, had initiated a mass uprising all across the Republic. By 2252, the Imperials emerged the victors, finally realizing their dream, the Imperial Republic of America was established after they had cemented themselves, and for a the coming years, all was good. The Imperial Republic, despite being in a weakened state after the civil war, had shown fierce strength when needed in the face of the barbaric hordes.

However, as the years go by, the Imperial Republic slowly, but surely morphed into something ugly, the optimism that drove the Imperials by the wars end was fading, the government grew more and more paranoid of threats both external and internal, and became more dyspotic. The Current Emperor, Tiberius Regius II, a man making use of his family's history has not remedied the situation, for twenty years he has held the seat, and it seems he won't be going anywhere. As such, he is now on the warpath, for over a century the the Imperial Republic and its predecessor before had been too complacent with the state of the world, Tiberius wouldn't stand for it. A Radical change of Policy was required. He now seeks to unite all of North America, maybe the world, under his banner.

By 2307, the Imperial Republic invaded their much smaller neighbor, the New Memphis Union, a rather young nation, a small collection of city-states that formed the Union in 2294. The war between the Imperial Republic and New Memphis lasted three years before large sections of the Union fell under Imperial Occupation. Despite the high losses, the NMU continued the the fight both out and within. What territory they hold has been fortified to keep the Imperials at bay to fight a War of Attrition, while within, a resistance movement had formed a year after the Occupation begun.

It is the year 2325, the Imperial Republic continues on the occupation of New Memphis, and fighting the war against the remnants in the Emperor's mad quest to unite the continent, perhaps the Earth under one Empire.

Military:

Homeland Security Force

The Homeland Security force is responsible for both the defense and policing of the Imperial Republic's territories and holdings. They are tasked with defending and keeping the civilian population under control from threats both internal and external, often by most thuggish members with heavy surveillance and cruelty. Whilst they're less heavily armed then their Army counterparts, the men and women of the HSF are more then capable to respond to any incident with vigilance and are not a force to be taken very lightly.

HSF Trooper


HSF Trooper in Riot Gear


HSF Officer

Imperial Army

The very core of the Imperial Military, the American Imperial Army of course form the primary fighting forces in time of war. In peacetime however, they often assist the HSF in peacekeeping and enforcement.

Army Regular


Alternate Helmet


Army Pilot


Storm Trooper

Imperial Navy

The Imperial Navy is unlike it's more traditional past incarnations, its reach going far beyond the ocean, its operations extending to the skies. land and even as far up into space. Combining aspects of the navy proper, the air force, and marine corps. It is the largest branch in the military.
Seacraft
Imperator-class Carrier


Praetorian-class Battlecruiser


Centurion-class Missile Destroyer


Legionary-Series Warships

Top to Bottom: Frigate, Corvette, Patrol Boat

Aircraft

Spacecraft
Starblade-class Assault Shuttle

Spectres

The Shadow Ops branch of Imperial Intelligence. The Spectres are by far the most feared men and woman in the Continent, the Elite of the Elite. The Spectres main task is utmost, maintaining the Security of the Imperial Republic, by any means necessary. They are often sent on assassination missions to depose of potential and present threats to the Republic. Due to their secretive nature, they have become a sort of Urban Legend among the Public and Military.

Spectre Operative


Spectre Variant of Steel Hawk VTOL

Vehicles

Organizations:

Imperial Intelligence

Imperial Security Bureau

[Tatsua Aiisen]

ALICE

Type: Organization Location: Earth Headquarters: "Wonderland" Synopsis: Despite their influence and size, little is known about ALICE's motives or structure, except that they hold nearly complete control over the vast Terran Underground, and worship an untouchable, enigmatic figure of the same name. They are a secretive and troublesome group, whose widespread followers on Earth have caused quite a few headaches for those attempting to create successful colonies on its surface. Some call them a religious cult, while others call them terrorists or anarchists, but they have only ever vaguely referred to themselves as being the "Seeds of the New World." They rarely act out in the open, and instead prefer to stick to the shadows and serve Alice's purposes in secrecy. It isn't uncommon for members of ALICE to integrate themselves into colonist society, working towards the organization's goals from within the various factions on the surface. Its immense influence in the shadows of Earth have allowed it to have some influence in the surrounding Terran space, including the Moon and whatever large orbital implementations are present.

Relevant Data

The Underworld Colonies of Earth

Still considered by many to be uninhabitable (or even nonexistent), there exists a sprawling network of underground colonies beneath the surface of earth, all of which have seemingly fallen into complete disuse. In some places, the facilities and implementations once designed to sustain life have somehow managed to remain intact, just waiting to be found by future colonists. At some, unknown point in time, the organization known vaguely as ALICE came to inhabit these deep, dark spaces, far from the watchful eyes of the surface dwellers. As of recently, they hold almost complete control over this unused space, and have preempted the colonist's attempts to harness it by strategically preventing any advances into their territory. Supposedly, ALICE has managed to repair the thought long-lost infrastructure of inter-continental railways, located far beneath the surface. This would explain their long-reaching influence, despite Earth's massive size. Unconfirmed, and generally not widely known.

Black Alice

A fabled super-drug said to have been circulated in the past through members of ALICE, which causes hallucinations of a strength and realism far surpassing Virtual Reality. Its origins and composition are unclear, and the drug itself has never been documented in any of the Terran colonies to date. Due to this, and its certain "Fantastical" qualities, it has been dubbed non-existent.

Wonderland

A land said to exist far beneath the surface of the Earth, where Alice and her closest subordinates operate from. It is the centre of all of ALICE's operations, and yet somehow manages to escape watchful eyes through clever camouflage and well-guarded secrecy. Thought to be located in the remnants of one of Earth's abandoned underground colonies, sometimes told to have been found in perfect condition prior to the colonization rush.

The Broadcast

A radio broadcast that can be picked up at certain, seemingly random intervals for a period of time ranging from four seconds to nearly fifty-five minutes, which details various strange, unidentified noises, and very rarely, strings of words. It is not known exactly what the purpose of the broadcast is, but it is thought most likely to be a method used by ALICE to communicate with its various operatives. Is the subject of much speculation and interest from the general public, and many an individual has been known to attempt to tune in from time to time, just to hear what's up. There are even some groups, unassociated with ALICE, that routinely monitor for signs of The Broadcast out of peculiar curiosity. The source of The Broadcast has been traced in the past, but it seems to be perpetually in motion, preventing any attempt to locate the "Broadcasting station". Some who reject the ALICE theory suggest that it is a somehow-intact program from Old Earth, although that would not explain how the broadcasting location seems to be in motion even to today. Those who have listened to The Broadcast share a general consensus that it is a "Mysterious, and oddly terrifying program." There are several reoccurring sounds and patterns from The Broadcast, which serve to even further increase the mystery factor of the enigmatic phenomenon. What's more, there have been many reported cases of unexplained noises similar to those heard in The Broadcast occurring in seemingly random locations around the world. While they most often seem to emanate from the ground or walls, they have been known to appear in other locations and contexts, and have even somehow made their way into video broadcasts, sound recordings, intercom system and other public sources.

[Commodore Robot]

////////Name: Vesta Free State
///////Subject: Faction
//////Location:Vesta and Pallas Family Asteroids, several resource asteroids and space stations; Main Belt; Solar system

/////Government

The government of the Vesta Free State could best be described as a Limited Franchise Federal Republic. The various asteroids and stations of the nation all have their own local governments which in turn submit to the Central Assembly of Vesta. All voting Citizens may vote for their own local leaders as well as who represents them in the Central Assembly however the vote is not a guaranteed right in the Free State. To gain the right to vote a citizen must spend at least one term in Federal service of some kind, most likely the military. The Leader of the Vesta Free State is the Director; Directors are chosen by a committee of both military officers and Assemblymen from either's ranks. Directors oversee both the military and civilian running of the VFS and are given incredible amounts of power to make sure nation is running as it should. The Term of service for the Director is for life though they can step down at any time. A vote of no confidence by the Central Assembly result in the immediate expulsion of the current Director from his/her position.

The current leader of the Vesta Free State is Director Sebastian Thule. Thule rose to the directorship from the military where he held the rank of Strategos. Thule is a troubled man who was thrust into an unfavorable position by a vote of no confidence which ousted his predecessor. Facing a host of threats within and without, Thule's first two years in office have been balanced on a razor's edge, a position where the scarred former soldier seems to truly be at home.

////History: This part will need a much heavier rewrite than the rest so SUPER WIP

///Culture: The people of the Vesta Free State are a fiercely nationalistic and precision oriented people. They see themselves as genuine proof of the Belter ideal through their ability to remain independent and self sustaining after the downfall. They despise the major powers of the solar system whom they consider to be no better than the Old Order and just as fated for destruction. They have managed to retain the obsessive attention to detail that kept early colonists alive in an environment where minor oversights killed. The VFS also has a pronounced futurist bent, always seeking the bleeding edge in efforts to bring about true prosperity. It is a common practice among Vesta citizens to alter their children's genome in the womb to get certain desired traits. While this is a widespread phenomena its not a societal requirement nor is it particularly encouraged. It is certainly not to the same degree as the Venusians who are regarded as hedonistic and soft-willed weaklings in Vesta society. There is less a concern for going beyond the human form in Vesta Gene-modding than there is for 'perfecting' the human form without wholly divorcing themselves from it.

//Military

The military of the Vesta Free State is primarily based around its strong fleet which is essential to defending the wide area of the asteroid belt from invaders or privateers seeking to muscle in on VFS holdings. Being a predominantly space based power their ground forces are not very extensive and lack much in the way of indirect fire artillery or heavy armor. Even with artificial spin the gravity on Vesta and Pallas are lower than that of earth and many other worlds, to account for this most of their forces make use of powered armor to lower the strain on the soldier. The Military of the VFS Is divided between Vesta Fleet Command which oversees the spaceborne units of the military, and Vesta Fleet Strike which covers all ground based operations.

Vesta Fleet Command

Ricce Class Battlecruiser and Kallus Class Destroyer. Coming from the same shipwrights responsible for the iconic Strongarm, the Ricce is the premier heavy hitter of Vesta FleetCom. Ricce class vessels were created to also be capable to be used independently for long durations and make excellent hunter-killers and flagships in equal measure. The Kallus is a recent development to replace the aging Nike class. Kallus class destroyers are nearly twice as large as their ancestor and boast a much heavier armament in the form of a spinal Gauss cannon and larger missile bank, as well as a completely modernized fusion drive and ablative armor. Significantly more expensive than the Nike in nearly every way a single Kallus can also do the job of entire squadrons of Nikes and therefore FleetCom is not looking to replace the ships one for one, which helped sell their high price tag to the Central Assembly Strongarm Class Cruiser. An able workhorse of the Vesta fleet the Strongarm has been in service for nearly a quarter century getting constant upgrades to keep it in fighting shape and extend the life of the line. These ships are everywhere that Vesta has a presence and have become the de facto face of the Vesta Free State. A powerful missile armament gives these ships powerful standoff firepower but their kit lacks the balance of newer ships. The Latest Refit saw most of the existing ship getting a powerful laser cannon mounted in the nose turret capable of shooting down ordinance and slagging enemy ships.
Nike Class Frigate. The Nike class is both the oldest and most numerous ship in Fleet Command's arsenal and is likely the oldest warship still operational anywhere in the solar system. Nike class vessels were the first indigenous starship design created by the Vesta Free State in an attempt to maintain their sovereignty against Incursions into their sphere of influence in the belt by major powers. Armed with pair of lasers and mounts for up to eight missiles they were more than enough to defend the VFS in the early days, but changing times have begun to leave the Nike behind. They have been modernized numerous times to keep them on par with other ships in the fleet but their age has shown through. The Nike is a truly ancient vessel which is only just being phased out of service by the Kallus. As they are stricken from the fleet register, many Nike Class friagtes are sold as is(all classified technologies being removed beforehand of course) to developing states wishing to expand their space forces on the cheap.

Vesta Fleet Strike

VFS Light Combat Armor VFS Light Combat Armor. Standard issue armor to troops aboard warships and at home Koloss Heavy Combat armor. This heavy powered suit is the mainstay of Fleet Strike forces. A highly versatile unit capable of operating in many environments with a host of different armament options Orca Super Heavy Assault Armor. This massive suit of powered armor is very rarely deployed under normal circumstances and is only deployed during the infrequent occasions when VFS forces land on a high G world or need an otherwise great showing of force This particular armor is too large to fit through many corridors aboard ships. War Golem. War Golems are a controversial weapon system deployed by the VFS as shocktroops in desperate scenarios. To overcome the limitations of artificial intelligence in both creativity and simple portability, War Golems use cloned nervous tissue as an alternative primary processor slaved to conventional computer systems. As there is a simple circulatory and digestive system to keep these biological CPUs running, War Golems are technically living beings thrown into battle with little care for their survival. War Golems do in fact bleed, and are capable of feeling pain yet have priority programming which keeps them fighting until they are no longer able. The intelligence of an average War Golem is only enough to provide basic battlefield improvisation, their commands come from handlers somewhere behind the front line, however they are still at a marked advantage over standard mechanical drones. Some handlers attest that War Golems are capable of learning human patterns and older Golems begin to show signs of a personality and attachment to their handlers should they survive long enough. The central government has an entire PR division dedicated to whitewashing the images of War Golems and keeping these stories hidden, but word spreads. For this reason the 2.5 meter tall juggernauts of steel are just as nightmarish an ally as they are an enemy