Name of nation: League of the Twenty Worlds (
Falasolsi lasi la Fafare Sirere)
Species: Human
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Description of government: The League of the Twenty Worlds is an oligarchy, with the power of the government split between three people. They are known as the "
Domila Refafa", or Eternal Three. Each underwent an extremely complicated and dangerous procedure in the distant past, which transferred their consciousness to a newly grown body. Said bodies had been genetically modified to be immune to aging, making them effectively immortal.
Neither controls a specific section of the nation, and they instead act more like a council, discussing different matters until a compromise is reached. Unlike most examples of councils, however, a unanimous decision must be reached. Originally, two out of the three had to agree, but this led to two of them always supporting each other and locking out the third from having any actual input. Humorously, this was the result of simple interpersonal loyalties and not a planned conspiracy.
Each planet has its own governor, whom is put in place by the Eternal Three. The governors are not immortal (the technology has long since been lost), but do rule either for life or until they are removed by the Eternal Three. They are allowed to govern their own world as they see fit as long as they are in power. While this gives rise to a variety of different planetary governments, the Eternal Three tend to remove any governor which crosses the line and turns their world into an anarchic or totalitarian planet.
Officials appointed (or elected according to the system set in place) by the governor receive all their power from said governor, who in turn receives all of their power from the Eternal Three. In this way, it is similar to a feudal system. However, only the Eternal Three are permitted to own starships. This makes the inner conflicts that tend to plague normal feudal systems impossible, as no planet can attack another. Vessels can be leased to governors and lower officials by the Eternal Three, which is often done when a rouge governor is overthrown. Vessels are temporarily given to rival governors, whom then do the dirty work of deposing the rouge governor. The only reason this is actually done is to placate the governors.
Description of military: The League's military is divided into two divisions: the Planetary Forces and the Starborne Forces. The Planetary Forces are an amalgamation of the Navy, Army, and Air Force. One could think of them as the Marine Corps on steroids. They are weaker than their analogues in other nations, however, due to the lack of conflict within the League. Their strength lies in defense rather than attack, and have no interstellar vessels of their own.
In the ground divisions of the Planetary Forces there is a great emphasis placed upon armored vehicles. Many years of constant development has led to a standardized main battletank for the Planetary Forces: the Vector-Type Zero Crewed Tank Walker. The VTCTW (More commonly called the Type Zero) is one of the odder tank designs to come out of humanity. Instead of treads or an antigravity system, it uses a set of six legs to traverse the battlefield. To assist in this is a mass reduction system that utilizes negative matter, as well as magnetic claws at the end of each leg (which also function as grapplers for better traction). This (overcomplicated and unnecessary) system affords it better mobility than more traditional traded tanks, but at the cost of any resemblance of the abstract concept of reliability. The joints in both the legs and claws consistently break down, and without extensive supplies of oil the tanks are immobilized.
To overcome these massive and glaring drawbacks in the design, a set of modules was created that could be attached to the central crew cabin (which also functions as the turret). The very first of these was a pair of treads, which could be fitted in place of the legs. These treads are now used on all tanks while not in battle, as the unreliability of the leg system made marches exponentially longer than they would otherwise be. When a tank's legs are damaged in combat, the treads tend to be fitted if the rest of the tank remains intact long enough to be recovered.
Another major problem with the legs is their vulnerability, as a well-placed shot could easily tilt a tank on its side and immobilize it. An entirely new active defense system was designed for the sole purpose of protecting the legs. Said system (the Plasma-Based Projectile Interception System, colloquially known as Plasma SchΓΌrzen) utilizes plasma arc projectors that surround the tank, and activate whenever an incoming projectile is detected by the tank's sensors. Decades of improvement from the earliest version of this system (which originated on Old Earth many centuries ago) has led to a 90% success rate against small arms fire, 60% success rate against cannon shells, a 30% success rate against missiles, and near-complete immunity to random shrapnel. Ten years and countless billions of credits later, the Type Zero is a practical combat vehicle.
Other modules that can be fitted include various different armaments. Fresh off the assembly lines, the tank has an 88mm railgun (which is capable of firing guided missiles), a 7.92mm coaxial coilgun, and a drive system mounted coilgun of the same make. It can carry 92 rounds of railgun ammunition and approx. 4,500 rounds of coilgun ammunition.
A Type Zero participating in war games on the dark side of Gliese 581g. Note the color of the paint, which identifies it as a tank used by forces stationed in the desert of the light side. Noellian light tanks can be seen in the background.
The infantry of the Planetary Forces are notably less advanced than the armored divisions, with much of it still operating gunpowder-based weapons. Electromagnetic weapons are in the process of introduction, which causes endless problems for the soldiers (whom are trained to use plasma projectors). Misconceptions about operation are common, and half the troops didn't actually expect the coilguns to have kickback. Results included quite a few facial injuries.
The majority of the forces that haven't converted to the new, standardized electromagnetic weapons use plasma projectors. These weapons tend to vary quite heavily, as does their effectiveness. They are highly complicated weapons to maintain, and incorrect maintenance can make them into little more than expensive spears. When they work, however, they hit hard (and pistol-like plasma weapons aren't being phased out for that very reason). Basic military methodology hasn't changed much from the 21st century. As it turns out, having the same people in charge for multiple centuries doesn't open the door for much change.
An infantry uniform from the Planetary Forces, shown with a plasma projector.
The air force of the Planetary Forces has always been among the most advanced, as the vast majority of R&D funding goes to aerospace. It uses the only antigravity technology in the Planetary Forces aside from the Navy's aircraft. All aircraft use a negative energy lifting system in the place of wings, which affords them better maneuverability in combat situations. They do tend to have some way to using airflow to adjust attitude, however, as using powered propulsion for everything would be needlessly complicated.
Most aircraft in the Planetary Forces are swing-role, able to switch their combat role in the middle of a mission. This was once a major problem, as each planet tends to field its own designs. Modular components and even ammunition was never guaranteed to work with all aircraft. This was changed about twenty years ago, when the Eternal Three ordered a new generation of aircraft to be produced by each planet as a part of a wider Planetary Forces unification program that would be capable of mounting modular systems through a standardized attachment system. This made it possible for multiple planets to work together with their airborne forces, instead of keeping them split.
Though the aircraft designs are varied, all of them mount
Pystykorva long-range air-to-air missiles. This was part of the Planetary Forces unification program, and Pystykorva missiles were designed on the capital planet specifically for the new swing-roles. Though some designs have done away with them, the majority of aircraft use dogfighting coilguns and railguns. Ground attack weaponry includes antimatter bombs and plasma cannons, the latter of which is preferred due to the fact that more plasma rounds can be taken than bombs. Bombs tend to only be used in dedicated bombers, and have yields limited by the Constitution of the League.
A Noellian fighter chasing down a Chiheisen naval torpedo bomber. Note the Old Earth-inspired design of the Chiheisen craft, a staple of the planet's products.
The naval division of the Planetary Forces is known on every last planet as the odd one out. It's thought of as a load of incompetent fools who never actually do anything. When a planet is invaded, their only role is to move refugees. When at peace, their only role is to come up with ways to improve the Air Force's equipment. When invading another planet, their role is to stay behind. For once, this is actually a deserved reputation. No Naval vessel has opened fire with the intent to damage in decades. Even on the water world of Kepler, the Navy never does anything (after all, no sane man would transport an ocean vessel through space).
Despite this, people still sign up. It pays, and that's all that matters to them. Unfortunately, this also means the Navy gets either people without any form of useful education or the extremely lazy. Personnel are stationed so that the career sailors are all on the same ships. This causes most vessels to have tight-knit communities on them. The general lack of discipline and action has turned more than a few ships into floating artist colonies, and crews often change the very layout of the ship to fit their collective preferences. Mess halls have been known to turn into open-air French cafes, and every single ship has a garden somewhere on the outside of it built by its own crew.
Though the fleet has taken an odd direction, nobody really seems to have much to say against it. In fact, it's even been endorsed by one of the Eternal Three. The general stance is that the Navy no longer serves as a branch of the military, but as a collection of tiny communities. Still, everyone is trained in the operation of military equipment, and aircraft carrier decks are still kept clear. After all, every once in a while a natural disaster will hit and the NAvy will actually have a role to play. A role they play quite well, thanks to how close their ships feel to towns on land.
An amateur drawing of a Noellian Aircraft Carrier. Similar designs are used across the League, but Noellian vessels are unique in their ubiquitous railgun emplacements.
The Starborne Forces are far better funded than their planetbound counterparts. All of the Eternal Three believe that expansion into space is essential to continue the advancement of humanity, and this philosophy is displayed in the power of the Starborne Forces. They have standardized designs and equipment, unlike the Planetary Forces. The men and women of the Starborne Forces receive the best training, the best equipment, and are the best and brightest the League has to offer.
Thanks to the (quite obvious) favoritism given to the Starbone Forces, they're always one step ahead of the Planetary Forces. The latest technologies are always developed in Starborne Forces stations, tested on Starborne Forces ships, and perfected by Starborne Forces crews. By the time the innovations make it into the Planetary Forces, the Starborne Forces are already working on the next one. This fosters massive competition between the two, to the point that it's honestly not a given that they would work together at wartime.
League doctrine states that space power is the most important part of the military, which is the reason the Starborne Forces are shown so much favoritism. It is believed that through orbital superiority, victory over any foe can be easily achieved. Though troops still need to be dropped, the most important part of a planetary invasion is now considered to be the fleet above it. Planetary bombardment is always used, collateral damage be damned.
This "Orbital Supremacy" doctrine is supported by the capability of the Starborne Forces to tear apart enemy vessels and planetary forces alike. Railguns are ubiquitous on League starships, but they don't take the forms we expected. Instead of the mile-long mass accelerators and battleship artillery guns seen in Old Earth fiction, railguns are instead used in anything but. Large flak cannons, fighter launch bays, even missile launchers use magnetic acceleration technology. This isn't to say that there isn't any heavy artillery on League warships, it just takes a different form.
Enter the Negative Mass Projectile Accelerator, the pinnacle of human weapons technology. It can fire AHE (Antimatter High Explosive) and AP rounds, and some models (mounted on some destroyers) can even fire flak rounds. All models are also capable of firing missiles, and missiles are some of the most horrifying weapons when fired out of a NMPA. The already insane speeds provided by the initial firing are added onto by the missile's thruster unit, and missiles have been designed to take advantage of this. NMPA-assisted missiles tend to have a "spearhead" component of ultradense material taking up most of the front, with the rest being the antimatter thruster and it's fuel tank. The spearhead penetrates through armor, leaving the antimatter fuel to detonate once inside of the enemy vessel.
Without the use of shields, the NMPA
will penetrate deep into the hull of nearly any vessel. It is so powerful that AP shells are rarely used against unshielded targets, as they tend to pass straight through hulls without doing any major damage. It was built to be a versatile weapon, capable of destroying starships and ground targets alike. AP shells are generally used against shields, overwhelming them with sheer physical force. AHE is used against vessels themselves, tearing apart their armor and superstructure. The missiles are used only against the most formidable targets. All three can be used against ground targets, AP as a bunker-buster, AHE as a high-yield bomb, and the missiles as strategic weapons.
Conceptual image of the New York battleship class, prototype currently in production at the Delos Shipyards. It will be armed with an experimental particle weapon based off of the NMPA.
Technological Overview:
Liquid Negative Mass Warp Drive: The Negative-Energy based Warp Drive has existed since the launch of the seedships, but it was completely useless due to how much negative energy was needed and how hard it was to create. The creation of Negative Mass on a wide scale was what brought the twenty worlds together, and what allowed them to unify into the League. Fifty years ago, Liquid Negative Mass was introduced as a Warp Propellant. It works the same way as normal Negative Mass, but reduces the drift and turbulence caused by the non-uniform warp bubble created as a side-affect of using solid blocks in a circular warp ring.
Negative Mass Antigravity: Another major innovation is the application of negative mass for antigravity purposes, which has allowed spacecraft larger than ever before to be launched for barely a fraction of the price of a rocket launch. Utilization of negative mass in space elevators allows materials and products to be sent up for the price of a quick drive between towns. It also allows for highly advanced aircraft, as well as planetary landing capabilities for starships.
Nanorobotics: Advanced nanorobots have been a staple of human civilization since the seedships landed, and were first used to combat antibiotic-resistant diseases. They are also used in factories and shipyards, along with more mundane things such as self-rearranging furniture. Perhaps most important is their usage in boarding actions, wherein a warship rams an enemy vessel and releases nanobots into it in order to kill or paralyze the crew but leave the ship mostly intact.
Electromagnetic Weaponry: Electromagnetic weaponry is currently replacing the unreliable plasma weapons in the Planetary Forces, and has already become ubiquitous in the Starborne Forces. Most coilguns and railguns have a high rate of fire, though sniper variants exist (as electromagnetically-propelled projectile still generate kickback).
Plasma Shielding: Plasma Shielding is, exactly what it sounds like. Plasma projected into the area around a vehicle and held in place by a strong electromagnetic field. Unlike "bubble-style" shielding, human plasma shielding is projected to fit the design of a vehicle. This is seen best in large space vessels, where a transparent blue shell forms just a few meters off of the hull when the shielding is active. This is most effective against projectile weaponry, though laser weapons tend to be only slightly distorted by it while antiproton streamers will tend to do damage to the barrier itself. Plasma weapons are nearly completely useless, and will sometimes just add to the barrier. When hit by a projectile (such as one fired from a railgun), the plasma will destroy said projectile. However, if fired fast enough, the projectile will pierce through the shield and hit the hull armor. As a result, equal emphasis is placed on shielding and hull.
Cultural Overview: The League is split up into countless different cultures spread across its twenty planets, all of them emulating a culture from Old Earth. The different planets have taken wildly divergent paths, and some planets host multiple different cultures (the shared origins of the citizens tend to prevent such occurrences). As an example, there are the planets of Chiheisen and Noel. Both are based off of cultures from well before Exodus, but one is a generally unified culture reflecting an idealized version of mid 1950's America, while the other is an odd mix of 1920's Europe and America.
The official explanation for such odd themes (for lack of a better word) is that the cultures were chosen to preserve humanity's history (Delos, for example, is an idealized version of Athens). In reality, it is far more likely that those chosen to raise the new generation simply liked the cultures they chose (two planets populated mostly by Americans are based off of 21st century and medieval Japan). This is made especially obvious in the fact that (beyond the odd cultural quirks), all the cultures have modern values. For example, Noellians might have tastes for Doo-Wop and Blues, but the social norms are straight out of Star Trek.
However, there are shared traits beyond the progressive (By 21st century standards) norms. Ever since the League was founded, there has been a consistent movement towards the idea of some sort of "Manifest Destiny" idea. Much like the Manifest Destiny of America, this idea states that it is the destiny, fate, and right of humanity to spread throughout the stars to bring their civilization and leadership to the other species. This disturbing ideology has taken root in all parts of League society, and one must wonder just what would happen if they contacted another species in this current state.
History: The history of the League begins in the early 21st century, before the outbreak of the Third World War. As troop buildups accelerated in Eastern Europe, a collection of multinational corporations pooled their resources in fear of the affects of the imminent war. At first, they were simply building and renovating factories in countries like America in order to continue their operations if a war broke out involving China. Obviously, this led to unlikely collections of corporations in completely unrelated fields, as nobody wanted to help an adversary. Fergus McLean changed all that.
He was the CEO of Chiheisen, an American-based paramilitary group. He had been involved in the Syrian Refugee crisis, using privately owned vessels to ship refugees all the way to the northern coast of Germany at the request of an unknown client. Other activities had included security for high-importance corporate holdings and aerospace facilities across the USA (A team at Bigelow Aerospace, however, went missing once and was found walking the streets of Las Vegas drunk a week later. All reports say they were terminated and their pay given to newly applying combat network specialists). They had been known to be perfectly committed to their duties, one team chasing a group of illegal immigrants straight into central Nevada. No job was off limits, not even gang wars.
Fergus had managed to call a Summit of all the corporations involved, marking the first time any official cooperation had been proposed. All of them accepted, something nobody actually expected to occur. They spent a full two days at the headquarters of Chiheisen, and when they came out, they were all willing to cooperate. With their combined resources, they poured money constantly into new factories in America while squeezing what little the could from overseas before a war.
Every last one of them was running deep in the red, and they would see major losses thanks to American worker's rights laws, but they kept it up. The world kept pushing closer and closer to war. Swedish troops joined with Polish forces, the Finnish dug in on their border, the Chinese renovated their Navy, and America kept sending troops on "training exercises" in Europe. Finally, it all boiled over. British and Russian forces exchanged fire in Syria, and war was declared. The rest of NATO followed the UK. It seemed as though the Third World War was just one shell fired in the South China Sea away, yet the newly-formed Conglomerate of Major Corporations just continued with business as usual, like they were waiting for something.
A tactical nuclear weapon was detonated in Eastern Europe, the exact location lost to time. That was when it happened, the most unlikely, most insane thing. The paramilitary forces of Chiheisen left their posts. They landed in South America, and stormed the Guiana Space Center of all places. The army immediately reacted, but the Chiheisen forces had been massively bolstered (possibly by the large number of "political analysts" they had been hiring). The attacks sparked riots all over the state and nation, with everyone thinking it was a rebellion.
Cargo planes from the other Conglomerate corporations landed at the Space Center, protected by the overwhelmingly professional Chiheisen forces. They had clearly broken dozens of disclosure and tax regulations, being armed with military vehicles and weapons that wouldn't be out of place in any professional army. The few military troops stationed there weren't nearly enough to take back the Space Center, and Brazil wasn't about to get on Russia's bad side while also throwing away its neutrality.
For whatever reason, they began launching rockets. They were designs ripped right out of NASA, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin files. It went on for weeks, with the Conglomerate gaining support from various different groups (mostly right-wing "militias" and radical anarchists, it would later be found that they only allied themselves with such groups because they had the most armaments). Finally, the last rocket was launched. All of the Conglomerate troops suddenly stopped firing, as did the forces of many of their allies. When Government troops investigated, they were found mysteriously dead. It is said that only the Eternal Three know what ended their lives.
In orbit, the many ships that had been assembled from parts sent up by the rocket launches found themselves under constant threat from orbital debris generated by "space warfare" (in reality simply skeet shooting with satellites and missiles). The vessels managed to avoid being fired upon themselves simply because to do so would be suicide for space infrastructure in general. Kessler syndrome would have set in, and NATO and Russia both deicded that it was better to give humanity a fighting chance than waste missiles and satellites on colony ships.
It only took a day or two for the hastily-constructed fleet to leave orbit. Each ship was using propulsion systems never before seen until that point. It was as if the technology was stolen straight from conspiracy theories about Area 51. The ships set course for deep space, and for a day everyone thought they were headed for the moon. The next day, they thought they intended to go to mars. A week later, people were expecting a new nation in the asteroid belt. Finally, the fleet passed Pluto and everyone realized what had happened. The first interstellar astronauts had staged a revolution in order to flee an Earth they thought was on the brink of destruction.
The great fleet was comprised of seedships, filled with fertilized eggs kept in cryogenic suspension until the ship's target was reached. A small group of living humans were sent with each ship was well, to build the colony and teach those who would be born out of a mechanical womb. For centuries these colonies grew, until one of them (The planet of Noel) unlocked the secret to reliable, affordable interstellar travel. Over the course of but five years, the twenty worlds were charted and unified into the League.
Unified and powered by new new Warp Drive, the League exploded. Expansion into other solar systems began, with mining stations tapping the resources of asteroids surrounding the oblong that was their core space. The Eternal Three quickly set themselves up as rulers of the League, an act nobody rejected. They had been made immortal before the exodus (just how this was done has never been disclosed), and represented the three largest corporations in the former Conglomerate. They were the de facto commanders of the mission.
An act was passed to form a unified, standing military with which to defend the League from outside threats. With it came a great economic stimulus, as an entirely new industry for military equipment had been opened. The League economy came to prosper under the military-industrial complex, which some believe was simply an attempt by the Eternal Three to kickstart an interstellar economy (much in the same way as how WWII bolstered economies on both sides of the conflict).
Currently, the League operates one of the more advanced starfleets in the galaxy, fielding one of the most effective, versatile, and future-proof weapons in the form of the NMPA. With their policy of human supremacist and manifest destiny, it is unlikely that their woulds should ever be taken at face value. The Eternal Three will always have an ulterior motive behind their actions, and it is rarely favorable to anyone but them.
