[CHAR] When Worlds Collide #2 - Xalku (Mikellh Dejax) vs Star Federation (Willy Vereb)

The Congregation and The Builder

Nation Profile:
roleplayerguild.com/posts/2352046

Overview:

The Congregation and the Builder were formerly a biological species known as the Xalku, they now call their own species "Ascended," but refer to their nation-state as The Congregation. The Congregation is a hive-amalgam consciousness of the billions of Xalku from their homeworld, and in the middle of it all is an AI that rapidly calculates probabilities, statistics, and outcome and is connected with the rest of the Congregation. Usually, a decision is carried out unanimously, but they can resolve within themselves to instantly ask the billions of consciousness for a decision where majority wins.

The Builder is also a former Xalku, now Ascended that retains his former personality and morality, and resides within a robotic suit. He provides an empathetic voice in contrast to the Congregation's one of efficiency and calculation. He also produces massive quantities of hardlight, which the Congregation can then shape with its psionics.

They travel the stars seeking and trading knowledge with other sapient species in order to reach their ultimate goal: Perfection.

Military:

They have no standing military, but can create a large armada in a few minutes.

Teynen (Construction Amplification Ship)

The first ship created after the battle over their homeworld, the ship was designed by the Builder in hours meticulously. And built in a few more hours, with the limited control over hardlight that the Builder had. The craft though, once enough hardlight had been densified, the Congregation shaped it in a matter of minutes.

The Teynen is possibly the most important ship of the entire Iterium, without it, the fleet cannot be created, if this is absent. The Builder is most of the time connected with the Teynen, so that he may be able to create the fleet at a moment's notice. The Teynen also has slip-space capability, for transport and escape. It pulls open a portal in slip space, and ferry's the Congregation's essence with it through space.

Skighte (Fighter)-

These are the bread-and-butter speedsters of the Iterium, able to destroy other fighters that get to close with its gravity-based crushers, in long-ranged engagements, its fires bolts of pure highly volatile, magical energy, it rips apart fighters that it hits.

Tlusk (Frigate)-

These frigates are propelled by no-longer-theoretical "skydust," double-dimensional particles, this enables the frigates to enter and exit slip space, while still aware of the enemy's position, as a sort of "blink." Their main armaments are their Spati, devices that lock on an area and trap it in space in two dimensions, any matter in the area is ripped apart at its core as its essence is trapped into both dimensions, although, this requires quite a time to charge, and any disturbance at this time, so much as a missile hit, will either cancel the charge, or even feedback energy, and destroy the Tlusk itself (though not the consciousness that is operating it). It also has slip projectiles, missiles that also employ skydust, they travel into slip-space and reemerge near an enemy's ship, although counter-measures easily disable them, as they can't reemerge too near an enemy ship, lest they don't explode.

Lazg (Battleships)

The Lazg are massive battleships, Its main weapon, which uses slip-space to almost instantly bring a mass of volatile energy near a target, which then detonates after a small delay, can obliterate a mid-sized asteroid, this comes at the price of a horrendous 10 minute recharge time after each "salvo." It also generates a field around it that partially distorts space, allowing matter to seemingly phase through the ship, effectively acting as a shield to matter-based projectiles, although, enough shots of matter-based weaponry will overload the shield's effects, and disable it in a radius around the concentrated area for a while, allowing the projectiles passage to damage the ship. As well, energy/magic based weapons will disable the whole of the Lazg's shields in one shot, no matter if it was shot from just defense turrets.

Xurs (Guardianships)

The Xurs are more often summoned than the Lazg, these stay near the larger mass of consciousness of the Congregation, protecting it from would be attackers, they only come in pairs. The tendril-like extensions can extend and retract at about .86c (86% the speed of light) enabling them to whip any thing out of space, each arm is also equipped with spatial pulsers, exciting the particles and creating rifts in dimensions, having the same effects as Lazg "shields". When in true need, the two Xurs can connect all their tendrils around the Congregaton, enabling it to focus its energy into a beam capable of destroying a moon, as well as giving it a shield similar to those of the Lazg.

Elementals (Infantry)
When the need arises for the Congregation to set foot on a planet, consciousness breaks from it and lands on the planet, gathering the ambient energy there, depending on the type energy gathered, although certain types take longer to assemble, and assembly can be disrupted by weapons of any kind, they can become any of the following:

Palti (Disposable Infantry) (ambient substance energy, metal, stone, wood)

These roughly take a second to produce, and since the consciousness is near indestructible, it merely steps back and reforms into another Palti once the current one is destroyed. Its weapon depends on what type of Palti it is, wood, stone, or metal, if metal, it uses a sword, for stone, it uses a mace, and for wood it uses a spear.

Barsu (Heavy Infantry) (ambient earth energy)

The Barsu can take punishment AND dish it out, will be extremely slow, no matter the planet's gravity. These heavy infantry morph their left arm into spiked-stone launchers, a mid-close ranged weapon capable of firing 10 stones per second at 55 m/s. Their bodies are also fairly immune to small-arms fire, falling only to explosives or energy weapons. They take time to assemble, and even more time to rebuild once they fall, especially in the heat of battle.

Seighis (Elite Infantry) (ambient shadow/dark energy)

The Seighis are intangible and can only be damaged by energy weapons or similar magic, stones and material projectiles pass through it. They can move across the battlefield rather quickly, and can kill infantry even behind armor, but only in melee range, they can also compress enough shadow energy that it densifies and explodes like a grenade, without the heat, only the force, enabling them to take on armor. These take about 2 minutes to assemble fully, but their presence is signaled by a brief absence in shadow in the area they are summoned at. 

Eimous (Ranged Support) (ambient electric/ice/fire energy)

The fire and electric Eimous are immune to material weapons the same as the Seighis, but they fall quickly if they are hit with even a small energy-based weapon. The Eimous have bows and crossbows that fire their respective elements, ice Eimous are usually less favorable than fire and electric, as the Barsu can do a better job of firing material projectiles, as well as taking punishment. These take about 3 minutes to fully assemble.

Star Federation of Mankind


Civilization Overview
Star Federation of Mankind (usually shortened to Federation or SF) is a supernational government of all humans. It forms a polito-economical union with the numerous governments in the Solar System and its neighbors. The Federation's origins date back to about 300 years following the end of the Last Great War, the most destructive event of their history. Weary of war and to prevent this from ever happening the committee decided on strengthening international communications, integrating economic systems while synchronizing politics to better reconcile with each other. They planned it step by step with the eventual goal being complete unification within a hundred years, a dream which never happened. From the outside the Federation may seem like a single body but in reality they are anything but that. There are countless nations and political parties each pushing their own agenda. Humanity may have avoided major wars for centuries now but their political forums are very much like warzones themselves. Similarly what once was a benign movement for peace and the good of Mankind turned into the plaything of economic powers. Money is the king within the Federation and as long as they can get away with it the political powers engage in various unethical deeds for profit. The Federation is a highly advanced civilization with many achievements, but this also made them overly confident in their technology. Also ironically enough until just a few years they had difficulties to develop decently fast FTL drives, thus remaining largely isolated from the galactic community. They observed near-certain signs of distant alien civilizations and even sent out probes but the Federation has yet to make contact with any sentient lifeform other than themselves.
Further Information:roleplayerguild.com/posts/3419300

Military Overview
The main military force of humanity is the Federation Starfleet. They are a multi-national force recruited from the military of other nations. Starfleet has strict selection process and only allows the best. While combat skill is important they put even more focus to human relations and handling stressful situations. They are hardly the only military, though. Each national government maintains their own military and police forces as well as security forces employed in private sectors. Still, when it comes to military power Starfleet is the largest factor, especially in terms of space force. Due to the memory of the Last Great War the term warship and associated aesthetics garnered a huge negative opinion. To avoid being labeled as proponents of war Starfleet eschewed dedicated weapons on their starships altogether. Instead of cannons, guns and missile bays the Federation uses modified Q-Fabs to create projectiles and launch them at various exits. Following that these projectiles are assisted and directed by altering the function of the shields. The end result is the Q-Box, a versatile weapon system which may be less powerful and much less efficient but with centuries of relative peace they never needed more. On the ground the Federation relies on drones and robots considerably though because of the terrors during the Last Great War they are always accompanied with a human operator supervising them. Anything done by these machines is the responsibility of the operator. Overall the size of the Federation military is small and their equivalent is almost more focused on PR than actual military needs. That being said their highly advanced technology allows them to get away with this surprisingly well.

The best of the best, the so-called "elite" of the Federation. Starfleet personnel are thoroughly selected and then pass a difficult training to become part of the main peacekeeping body of the Federation. In the age of drones and robots these people risk their lives for the sake of Mankind. Well, that's how it was supposed to be. In effect Starfleet is an old organization which grown increasingly clique-like. Starfleet indeed has a rigorous selection process, one so insane almost no person can pass. Yet many thousands of people are admitted to Starfleet each year. How? By the mere fact the system is full of faults and corrupt officials. Being admitted into Starfleet is no longer the matter of skills but connections. As such it comes as no surprise that the once highly competent Starfleet is much less than what it's supposed to be. Granted, Starfleet is still the greatest collection of the Federation's scientific and technological prowess but when it comes to combat ability their performance is...erratic to say at least. Starfleet combatants once used their skills combined with technology to be a superior force. Nowadays they use technology to supplement their skills and their inexperience at war makes them commit ridiculous mistakes on occasion. Exceptions still exist but your average Starfleet personnel knows little more about battle than how to pull the trigger. They can disassemble their PASERs or fix a phase modulator even in their sleep but many Starfleet members can't even throw a decent punch.


Specially made outfit which doubles as their protective suit. It's woven of durachrome-enhanced metamaterials and because of that the suit actually weighs over 10kg when not worn. The suit is durable enough to withstand certain small arms but that's only one of its function. The uniform is filled with various sensors both to check the surroundings and to monitor the status of the wearer. It's also equipped with an artificial gravity generator which doubles as an inertial compensator. The suit's wearer is cushioned from force and can walk in various gravities. Lastly the suit has an environmental shield to protect against hazardous environment and provide life support even in space.


Augmented Reaction Systems Suit is a special equipment worn in the rare high-intensity conflicts. Only those who pass Class III Weapons Test can be allowed to wear ARS Suits and only when receiving the permission of the Captain or higher authority. Unofficially called the "Battlesuit" this compact armored suit is enhanced by inertial fields and gravitic acutators, giving the user massive strength and mobility on par with a land vehicle. For further boost it uses micro impulse engines that can both increase speed and allow the capability of flight. In terms of protection the inner suit is made of nanomesh muscle fibers sufficient against light anti-personnal weapons while the key areas are reinforced by durachrome composite plates. For this reason and other concerns the suit weighs around half a ton without the mass lighteners kicking in. Aside from armor it also sports complex shield system using Higgs shields, Lightwave Barriers and Gravity Deflector technology. It also has active protection systems and limited countermeasures. The suit has a micro Q-Fab/Q-Med for providing ammo, food and life support as well as do emergency operations on the field. The suit has a virtually enhanced interface along with various sensors and computer assistance. ARS Suits turn the otherwise frail Starfleet security personnel into a fighting machine fitting both the role of SWAT and vehicular assault. Starfleet has next to no combat vehicles and instead they rely on their ARS Suits to fill that out.


Federation Robotic Intelligence Enabled Normal Drone (FRIEND) is an AI-equipped humanoid machine made to replace human infantry. They are based after the robotic armies from the Last Great War but with at least one major difference, they are bound to the orders of their designated (human) operator. FRIENDs have a rather sophisticated AI to rapidly adapt to various combat and non-combat situations but they are fitted with several restrictions for safety. The presence of human operator is only required for one thing: accountability. Anything the robots do are the responsibility of the operator. Technical specifications wise FRIENDs are built of light composites with only minimal use of Durachrome or similar superheavy materials in order to make them more economical. As a consequence FRIENDs are relatively unprotected albeit being machines they can sustain considerable damage before losing capacity for combat. Physically a FRIEND is stronger and faster than regular humans though nowhere close to the capabilities of the ARS Suits. They have sophisticated sensors and targeting system which can make them dangerously good shots.


Federation Interlinked Normal Drone for Escort and Recon. They are various relatively small floating disc-shaped drones that are generally used for advance scouting. Though their role is data-gathering and recon they usually come equipped with an MQB (micro quantum box) which is smaller and more limited than Q-Boxes or even PASERS but can be effective at fighting lightly equipped opponents. More importantly they have a myriad of sensors for analyzing their surroundings and feeding back the results via Q-Link. Actually, many FINDER drones don't even have an actual AI and instead they receive commands via a larger computer system. This saves weight but also make FINDERs useless once they're caught within a Q-Jammer field.


Is it a transport, a plane or a fighting vehicle? None of them yet can fulfill all of these roles. Tactical Transport is basically the Federation's mainline fighting vehicle. Just like warships, tanks and fighters also share a negative reputation. Using these terms or designing vehicles with such specialization are an easy way to label yourself as warmongering madman. At the same time technology advanced sufficiently that specialization was no longer necessary to fulfill these roles. Thus they developed the Tactical Orbital Aerial and Surface Transport (TOAST), a high-speed heavily protected troop and equipment transport equipped with inconspicuous yet significant firepower. Currently the most common variant utilized by Starfleet is TOAST-111 Vantgardeur Tactical Transport (pictured above). Compared to old models it's incredibly compact mostly thanks to the Pattern Storage technology which allows it to compress objects or even living cew into quantum-data while keeping them in a subspace vacuum cell. This is accomplished by a compact Shortcaster device capable of "beaming" people and equipment in and then "beam" them out wherever it's needed. As unbelievable as it may sound this method also improves survivability as the Pattern Hold keeping the data of the cargo could survive many things which the transport itself could not. Thus even if the transport is destroyed the Pattern Hold can be recovered and used to rescue its contents. In terms of armaments it has a CQB (Compact Q-Bay). Strangely enough the smallness of the Vantgardeur forced designers to make a rather controversial choice to give the Transport a sorts of turret on the top. This turret hides a Fold Accelerator necessary for high-performance PPE and anti-orbital scale firepower. For less powerful functions the vehicle can launch IGPs from practically anywhere. Mobility-wise the Vantgardeur can operate in all theaters, accelerate to hypersonic velocities or freely enter/exit the atmosphere. Albeit given the difference in power fighting a Starship with Tactical Transports is nothing less than foolish.


Starfleet obviously put the most focus on space forces. Their starships are top-notch to maintain their overall edge. Many technologies and scientific developments are first employed within Starfleet and knowledge of basic ship system is one thing all Starfleet members are well educated in. On the other hand the memories (or ore like propaganda) about the horrors of the Last Great War made the term warship taboo, as well as anything associated with it. While pistols and rifles are an accepted symbol of authority, any vehicle/vessel sporting gun turrets or any large weapons would be likely mark their users as crazy warmongers. As such rather than using actual weapons Starfleet developed the Q-Box, a weapon system relying on already existing elements to use them for offense. In terms of effectiveness the Q-Box certainly worse than purpose-built weapons but the Federation's technology is lenient enough to make these work. Believing in quality over quantity Starfleet has relatively few starships but each can pack quite a punch. The term "Starship" was actually coined by Starfleet to designate their new "not-warships" as a PR move. Since then any ship with interstellar capability is dubbed starship which was an intentional move in order to further mask from the general conscious the terrible firepower concentrated within Starfleet's hands. For similarly PR reasons the Federation had abandoned the old custom of using wet navy ship classifications. 
Not exactly an armament but rather a "software update" and design philosophy for most combat spaceships within the Federation. Memories of the Last Great War its further demonization by propaganda made people averse to hearing about warships. They are weapons of war which is the furthest from the supposed ideology of their "peaceful" society. As such Federation combat ships literally have no weapons. Instead they utilize the already existing Q-Fabs, inertial control fields or even their shields and other systems in order to create, launch and guide projectiles towards their enemy. The exact mechanism are complex and differs from ship to ship. They can use gravomagnetic or spatio-accelerator mechanisms to launch IGPs/ISFPs of various size and specifications. Q-Boxes are versatile though certainly restrained in power compared to what a purpose-built weapon could do. Accidentally for civilizations unfamiliar with Federation technology they'd be unaware of any weapons existing aboard Starfleet ships. On the other hand since shields are involved with the manipulation of the projectiles it's possible to aim and time the attacks right the moment when part of the shields are exposed/vulnerable. Such methods are commonly employed during ship-to-ship combat between fellow Federation ships.


Name: Hull Classification LRTRS-7470HD Vega (also referred as Wāqi for its Arabic origins)
Classification: Long-Distance Tactical Recon Starship (equivalent of a Battlecruiser in other cultures)
Dimensions: length: 675m, width: 195m, height: 88m
Standard Mass: 321,680,000 metric tons (prior to mass-compensation, doesn't include weight above the standard cargo)
Standard Crew: 750
Powerplants: Conversion Reactors x 3, ZPEEU, Emergency Reactors
Propulsion: Impulse Drives x 2, Inertial Propulsion System, Graviton Thrusters
Interstellar Travel: Fold Boosters x 2 (most important for fast and economical travel, limited Fold/Farcaster capacity is always there)
Armor: 275mm Durachrome Composite-S (reinforced by integrity fields)
Sensors: Foldwave Radar, hypersensory package, GADAR, Hypertelescopes, backup sensors
Defense Systems: Inertial/Integrity Fields (surrounding the structure), Higgs Shields (up to 9 layers usually 50-540m away from the hull), Lightwave Barrier (about 2.7km from the center of the ship), Gravity Deflectors (outermost layer extending to 70km in radius)
Number of Primary Q-Bays: 120 (20 groups of 6 ports each)
Shortcaster Arrays: 12
Main Dish: 1
Shuttle Bays: 4

The Vega-type ships are one of the newest starships developed within the Federation. Unlike past starships which needed refits the Vega was already made with Farcaster Drives in mind. Given Starfleet's doctrine saying well-armed is strange but as a ship with 120 Q-Bay primaries it's one of the most combat-oriented starships to date. Its more streamlined shape aids through the currents of hyperspace while the fold boosters are also optimized to enhance Farcasting. These reasons led for the Vega-class becoming the basis of their ultra-long range explorer ship the Enterprise.

[CHAR] When Worlds Collide #2 - Xalku (Mikellh Dejax) vs Star Federation (Willy Vereb)

Mikellh Dejax

Willy Vereb The Wordy Engineer