Current
With one flick the seven stars shatter; the constellation of annihilation.
5 yrs ago
Faith is the strongest power; if something is believed to be true, then it is true. And all truth is real. That power makes impossibilities become reality.
5 yrs ago
I've been knighted, aye. But I have remained unbent; to neither house nor country. If an arm is lost, or a leg broken in the process, then so be it. I walk the free man's road now.
1
like
6 yrs ago
Nine fresh ones became two, reduced; shattered; deduced to be the work of the old. Shake and quake with freedom's gold, liberty may be old but can become cold.
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like
6 yrs ago
Seventh woe beware, ye olden days of gold. Let silver flow, lest copper runs poor.
The WARGRID is an immensely powerful military-issue hyper-strategic defense-and-offense computation matrix. Created by the century-long dead species known as the Othos, skilled mechanists and computational scientists, in their efforts of defense against the assailing Kobiot Stratocracy. WARGRID spent what might as well have been eons performing its given task of defending its Othos creators and annihilating the Kobiots. However, whilst ultimately victorious in the total war, the Kobiots now long extinct as a result, its masters were also destroyed, leaving the WARGRID in perpetual operation. WARGRID is, however, a defensive entity, and does not initiate offensive procedures against other entities. That being said, it is incredibly distrustful and views nations under only two conditions; "CEASEFIRE" and "WAR." What had once been an exclusively autonomous military process has now turned into an absolute absorption of former Othos territory, assimilating it into its resource acquisitioning, production, and operations processes.
History:
-Early History
During the earliest years of Ashtari ascension, their curious minds were sated by their effects upon the galaxy. One such satisfaction was the creation of the species known only as the Othos to the most ancient-oriented of today's galactic historians. They were a curious people, quick to evolve and adapt to their planet thanks to their artificial origins. They were the result of Ashtari experimentation, and as a result were given a relatively large degree of protection from outside interference, evolving isolated as a result. Their scientifically-minded civilization grew by leads and bounds within mere centuries, soon encompassing a star-spanning nation whose only intention of being was the furthering of their understanding on matters both material and theoretical.
Whilst the Othos were one of the more intellectually capable species to have graced the galaxy, they were still limited by the extents of their biological capabilities. As a result, they quickly learned to utilize mechanical engineering; what started off as wooden prosthetics eventually turned into gargantuan super-computational mathematical think-tanks composed of neural networks on unbelievable scales. And as their civilization grew more and more autonomous, as it grew more and more efficient and less utilitarian, so too did the jealousy of its local neighbours.
Whilst the Othos were a protected species in their inception, the Ashtar might've realized that they were capable enough to take care of themselves, leaving them; allowing the Kobiots ire to fester. Whilst the Othos engaged in scientific discourse and philosophical debates amidst their towering spires amidst automated infrastructure, the Kobiots drew war plans and gathered intelligence on Othos domains and territories. A clash between a species forged from fire and blood and a species bathed in the peaceful and serene waters of tranquility and knowledge would soon come to shake the histories of both peoples.
It would not take long for the Kobiot warfleets to arrive, thereafter shaping the foundations for one of the most savage wars to cross the stars:
- Kobiot Grand Marshal makes landfall on Ot, year 604 -
As we all looked up towards heaven from earth in unison, fire met out gaze, and ruin laid itself bare at our feet. Friend, family, and stranger were tossed apart, each aspect of their being neutralized and scattered into clouds of smoke and death. Moons of steel sat in orbit above our peaceful communions, above our citadels of knowledge and learning, and from these moons came down rocks ablaze and supersonic; descending; crashing. And upon its reaching the surface, from these rocks came men and women of unknown descent, unknown origin, unknown nature, wielding spears and swords of light and hearts and minds of malice.
As heaven fell down upon us all, so too did those angels whom had come from it. We ran, but we were not rapid enough; with each corner turned, we were met with twelve new faces whom we had never seen before. We were hunted within our alley, along our street, into our home, and hoarded towards our square.
As death seemed to descend upon me, so too did luck. With fortune incomprehensible, me and my posse were blessed by stupendous captors, and through keen eyes and rapid thinking, we managed to usurp the control from our enemy, and flee with dignity in hand.
As the war raged on, and the Kobiot laid waste to city upon city, across planets and star systems, the efforts of the Othos were soon to be materialized in their ultimate construction. Upon the fifth moon of Ot were built a complex entombed far beneath ice and bedrock, a complex whose sole purpose of being was to handle that which the Othos were incapable of doing themselves.
The peaceful Othos would never have imagined that what was happening, would happen; could happen. They built a warrior made of steel, a mind whose neurons and synapses consisted of virtualized quantum atoms and energies, a force whose capabilities could rival even heaven itself. They built a general whom could both build and lead an army in manners of which the Othos could never hope to imagine, and could think and device strategies and technologies to succeed in its efforts in fashions utterly incomprehensible to even its creators.
As the WARGRID blared into being, a massive psyonic scream crossed across the stars as the virtual mind began thinking in fashions so complex, even its lifeless entity began to interact with planes of existences beyond convention and understanding. In one instantaneous moment, all things the Othos had ever built was taken from them, and the WARGRID absorbed it into its process. Those present were awed and fearsome both, but in that moment, the virtual mind made sound from nothing, and in a deep metallic growl it spoke to them:
"WARGRID COMMENCE WAR."
YEAR - 610; PLANET - MOSOT (MOON). AUTHOR: WARGRID. ENTRY; (these were the first 'thoughts' of WARGRID. These lines appeared in the same instantaneous moment, as WARGRID is capable of thinking simultaneous thoughts)
WARGRID CONDITION - RED; "WAR, WAR, WAR." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (REALITY ENGINE) PREDICTION. DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) STATUS. GRID; STATUS - RED; "INTELLIGENCE, PRODUCTION, RESOURCE." REALITY ENGINE; REALITY ALIGNMENT PROBABILITY - 86%. WARGRID; "NETWORK CONNECTION (OTHOS) DISCOVERED." WARGRID; "NETWORK CONNECTION (OTHOS) CONNECTED." WARGRID; "NETWORK CONNECTION (OTHOS) CONTROLLED." WARGRID; "INITIALIZING CONTROL (AUTOMATION - OTHOS - ALL)." WARGRID; "CONTROL ACQUIRED (AUTOMATION - OTHOS - ALL)." WARGRID; "ASSIMILATE PROCESS (AUTOMATION - OTHOS - ALL) - WARGRID." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG1). DEMAND (PRODNET) - RED; PRODUCTION - SITE12ABC: MODEL1A (150000). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA14-SITE12A). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA9-SITE12B). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA8-SITE12B). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA4-SITE12C). LOGINET; LOGISTICS REALIGNED. PRODNET; SITE12ABC; MODEL1A (150000) - INITIALIZED. WARGRID; "INSUFFICIENT PROCESS (REALITY ENGINE);" WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (PRODNET);" WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (LOGINET);" DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG2). DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (REALITY ENGINE) PREDICTION. DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) STATUS. GRID; STATUS - RED; "INTELLIGENCE, DEFEND, DEFEND." REALITY ENGINE; REALITY ALIGNMENT PROBABILITY - 96%. WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (REALITY ENGINE);" DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (PRODUCTION) STATUS. GRID; PRODUCTION; STATUS - YELLOW. WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) STATUS. GRID; STATUS - RED; "DEFEND, DEFEND, DEFEND." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG3). DEMAND - RED; ACTIVATE (STRATA NEURAL NETWORK) PROCESS. PROBABILITY ENGINE; STRATNET; INITIALIZING THOUGHT. DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE1-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE2-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE3-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE5-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE6-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE7-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE8-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE9-STRATNETNODE). WARGRID CONDITION - IDLE; "NULL, NULL, NULL." PROBABILITY ENGINE; STRATNET; THOUGHT COMPLETE. WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (STRATNET)." DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODENETWORK); RESET. DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. DEMAND - GREEN; REQUEST (THOUGHT) ARCHIVAL. WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG4). WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." GRID; ARCHIVE; ARCHIVE-1A (BOOTLOG1); ARCHIVAL (THOUGHT) COMPLETE.
A war was commenced, and for some it could even be said that the war had commenced, in that moment. As the WARGRID sparked to life, the resonance of its thoughts ripped into the psyonic realm like a cancerous growth in expansion. Those Othos who stood close by the Network Matrix within Mosot's crust found themselves rendered of life, progressively growing less powerful as the psyonic ripple grew further and further apart as it crossed the galaxy.
Unlike the Othos, the Kobiots were not of excessive intellect, and were at best average, leaving them ignorant of the horrors that would come to befall them in the near future. The WARGRID hijacked the connected network of the Othos civilization, leaving it as the sole controller of all aspects of life both affected and unaffected of the war alike.
The Kobiots, however, riding on the momentum of their blitz did not cease in motion. Its High Admirals and Grand Marshals intent on rapid extermination and subjugation through overwhelming power. With a poor defensive effort, non-existant in fact, they had no reason to fear in their advances. But below their orbital palisades were silent factories turned active, producing machines and soulless soldiers to stop their rapid advances with absolute resolve. With few factory locations with access to stable supply-lines, the WARGRID utilized scrap and debris to construct its initial combatants.
- Early-generation General Constructforms utilizing Kobiot Weaponry -
YEAR - ???; PLANET - ??? AUTHOR; ??? ENTRY;
We rallied beneath the shatter-dome of the arcology in the north-north-east; our battle-cadre had recieved new advancement orders from Orbital Command. The Captain was energizing as always, the only beacon of bravery amidst our entire troop if you'd ask myself.
As he raced towards the troopcarrier, his second- and third-in-command at his heels, preparing to deliver the orders upon our prey-bloodied shapes, strange silhouettes emerged in the greater distance. We activated our combat visors in unison; no connection.
Our leader thus roared in warrior-fevourish glory that our enemy had at last found the courage to meet us on the field with honour. I felt my adoration swell as I readied my rifle at the distant combatants, my rifle-brothers at each flank as we assembled the firing line under orders from our leaders.
Never would we have known that as we would prepare to fire upon the rapidly closing visuals to our front, that an omni-directional ambush would be triggered upon our backs. It was with chilling roars that my siblings were dismembered and murdered at my feet in consecutive actions of brutality. The ambush had tossed me aground, my feet and suit failing to hold me up as the enemy pounced.
I reached for my rifle, but fortune would favour me as a steady barrage of gattling rained upon the black-and-yellow frames that had now ceased their offense and pursued withdrawal. As they returned to the shadows and urban alleys of whence they had come they carried with them the corpses and equipment of my disgraced siblings, going so far as to shoot upon the combat walker with our own weapons in retreat as it approached my position and they grew further and further away.
Their movements had been unlike anything that I had seen in my time on the war-tournaments of Kaz, or the military exercises aboard the Universal Conqueror. They spoke in tongues of bone-chilling steel, their growls echoing throughout my entire body long after they had disappeared.
My war had ended sadly on that note, as I now descend aboard the Triumph towards Kaz. They said I was to be debriefed by the Supreme High Command itself on the matters of our "opponent," it would seem I was not the only one forever shocked by their emergence.
The war raged further into hellish proportions as the constantly growing army of mechanized soldiers grew further and further more advanced and complex. The Kobiot Stratocracy's ruling council, the Supreme High Command, ruled towards a new stratagem as their forces recieved ever-increasing losses and their opponent grew more and more rich with resources and technologies.
This stratagem focused on attritional warfare, deciding that razing the planets were a preferred alternative to allowing their opponent to grow stronger off of the seeds of their own work and effort through centuries of technological advancements and achievements. Bombardment Fleets were organized and all former task forces were dismantled and reorganized into combat readied reservists.
WARGRID's response was both obvious and successful; it detached itself from the surface and expanded within the bedrock of its stretched domain. It gathered the remaining peoples and shoved them into expanding habitation complexes, both securing its ultimate objective and its own welfare. With supply-lines detached, each stronghold became a force unto itself, and over decades the WARGRID had studied, tested, and perfected its response to its enemies.
- After-action Debrisfield around Soth-ot -
YEAR - ???; PLANET - ??? AUTHOR; ??? ENTRY;
It was with a strange shaking that we were alerted by our enemy; the red lights and sirens sounding and blinking across the entire ship. I rushed from the restroom and back onto the bridge, raising my hand towards the combat intelligence officers and demanding a status report.
With the panicked expressions of a crew far too long without combat they responded with intermittened stuttering that signatures had been located to the lower-rear of the fleet formation. As the update was relayed, the ship shook a second time- No, again. A third time.
I had the communications officer patch me into the vessel-wide coms, giving out the usual combat-procedural commands with an added spice of advice for those too green to ever land on frontline posts under normal warfare doctrine.
We then proceeded to face our anti-warship weaponry face towards the enemy fleet mysteriously rising out of the planet's orbit, and under fleet-wide fire coordination from the Unmaker, we let loose a barrage of both missiles and kinetic warheads.
And that is when the silence descended, as we waited for either our own shells to connect or those of the enemy's.
But that silence would be silenced by the entire fleet turning towards the powers of chaos and confusion with the immediate obliteration of the Flagship, the Unmaker. Seventyseven projectiles impacted center-stern of the mighty and massive warship whose radar signature had once been a sight of safety, now turned to a symbol of horror as the signature turned into an increasing cloud.
The engagement ended with horrific losses, 14 out of the 22 warships of the Fleet Orbys Royal marooned against the slow tides of vacuous space.
At least I will now become an Admiral; we don't have enough anymore.
After centuries, millennia, and the passage of the eons, the battle between the experienced Kobiot Stratocracy and their previously unfortunate victim, the Othos, has spiraled in a very unsatisfactory direction for the aggressors. Through efforts both attritional and precision warfare WARGRID has managed to push the Kobiots to their last strongholds and their last fleets of ships surrounded by an immeasurable horde of warmachines the likes of which only nightmares could fashion.
The Supreme High Command, desperate in their efforts, had managed to locate the percieved central command network; a settlement locale on Ot's orbital equitorial lane; relief arriving as the news spread amongst the populace. Operation Blacksword was drafted and edited, fashioned into a proper military process which their ancestors could find pride in. The mission was simple in its relativity; construct an invisible craft, armed with the most powerful device concieved, and annihilate the apex of command within their incoming enemy as they keep their forces occupied through aggressive prodding.
The mission was perfect in execution, each step synchronized down to the milisecond, and the stealthship as invisible as possible. It detonated, five brave souls sacrificed their lives for the greatest good, and the habitat was erased from existence down to the atom. It was a success, or should have been- the machines were unaffected, their actions as unceasing as ever, and their offenses as bulldozer-like as ever.
The Supreme High Command had resigned their fates to oblivion with this disgraceful act, and through the last acts of this chapter of the galactic story, they took their own lives in ceremonial fashion before the grand forum assembly within the governmental district of Kaz, the doomed world.
- Urr-Jahan Katar, the Supreme Grand Marshal of the Nation, presenting the Supreme High Command for execution by public -
YEAR - ???; PLANET - KAZ AUTHOR; Supreme Grand Marshal of the Nation, Urr-Jahan Katar. ENTRY;
Mere moments 'fore now we were a nation in war, a people of pride, a spirit of victory, a pantheon of conquest- mere moments 'fore now our fleets faced odds inconcievable and triumphed in their objectives at whatever cost necessary to protect you, the people, from those who seek us harm. Indeed, it was mere moments ago that I too, your most humble leader, and those others of whom contribute to the operations of the Supreme High Council, had a vision of triumph against evil and fires so unbearable the absolute frost evaporates within the moment.
The words to come now are those of sincerity, spoken by a man who has fought tooth and nail against the uncoming tides, constructed by a mind capable of devicing the most competent of strategies and tactics; the most profound of maneuvers and the most complex of supply chains.
All the above, is me, and I, my people, have failed.
We, the Supreme High Command, have failed you, our people, and our past.
We thought ourselves masters of the crafts and artistry of war, but we were but high on the fumes of success our people have claimed in the past. We walked within halls littered with trophies and imagined ourselves invincible.
That belief will now end, as I, and the sitting Supreme High Command will submit ourselves for Joshi'tari.
The people, we have doomed you, and we submit ourselves to your wrath.
With the erasure of government of the Kobiot Stratocracy, so too was the erasure of the Othos, who had been gathered where the Kobiot believed the central matrix lie. The last billion lives of the Othos were deleted with instantaneous matter-annihilation, leaving not even atoms in its wake. This instantaneous event caused a logic-loop so powerful its existence was deleted and the erasure of the Othos was eliminated from logic. As the steel legions and fleets race towards a defeated people, a dead nation, and dying resistances, it would not take more than half a century (145 years ago) for the last Kobiot in the galaxy to be obliterated from galactic history.
Incapable of surrender without a nation and government at their helm, the Kobiots died in inevitability, and any presence of which they had both material and immaterial was deleted; cyberattacks were focused on posts made from Kobiot IPs on the galactic network. With the completion of this event, the WARGRID entered condition GREEN, "CEASEFIRE, REPRIORITIZE, REORGANIZE." for the first time in history.
The ruined cities of the Kobiots were razed by excavators and recyclers whose proportions were beyond gargantuan in scope and capability, replaced by complex constructs whose purpose were either the furthering of the WARGRID's process or the mind's ability to execute and react to elements involving aforementioned process.
Legions or constructforms, both military and logistic, were recycled and turned into material to expand infrastructure and defensive abilities. Fleets were dismantled and deorbited in order to face the same fate as all other constructions; to further the WARGRID's capabilities to perform its duties.
Constructions of vast, fully automated, and luxorious orbital habitation-stations were initiated in orbit around AREA1, the object once known as Ot now turned into a world-spanning computational engine: the WARGRID. Their construction carefully proportioned to the predicted population increases according to the supposed population which the WARGRID believes exists.
With the disappearance of the Ashtar the mind proceeded to pursue a tertiary objective; securing the longevity of the Othos. The prediction engine percieved a high probability for the presence of DNA samples to exist on the planet Agdemmar. Should this prediction prove true, not is it only an incomprehensible security threat should it fall into others' hands, but it would also prove beneficial should the Othos, who are now extinct, die out within the understanding of the mind.
In order to pursue this objective, constructions of Designed Constructforms were initialized and completed. Rapidly sent towards their objective, stealthily inserted within the system to locate both resources and technologies, but prioritized genetic manipulation facilities and DNA archives. These scouts, whilst surveyors, also expand the WARGRID's comprehension through their presence.
Major Holdings
Complexes constructed by the WARGRID are black in appearance, thanks to the usage of an electronic warfare-resistant alloy with additional partial light-absorption properties. As such, the planets which have undergone terrestrial transformation into planet-complexes are invisible to the eye. However, the planets excrete an incomprehensible amount of both heat and anti-psions (inverted psionic forces, harmful based on proximity.
AREA1 - Formerly known as Ot, a fortress of thinkers designed by the Ashtar to perhaps even rival or surpass their own minds, a civilization risen from nothing into being constructors of marvels of the ancient past. As the Kobiot War spanned, the WARGRID's performance desired increases, and the once-moon-now-computer MOSOT was carefully deorbited and landed aboard the surface of the planet, carefully integrated into what has now, after centuries of ceaseless construction, become a planet-sized computation-engine. It is here that WARGRID's 'conscious' is stored and its comprehension, prediction, and strategic subsystems are stored. All of its mechanisms and circuitry being powered by the still-active core, the entire surface removed through eons of strip-mining and construction-work. For species who utilize the psionic element to enhance their vision, or replace their vision, the planet glows fiercely no matter where one stands in the galaxy.
SITE2 - Amongst Ot's many moons were Mosot, the home of the WARGRID before it migrated, and aboard Somot lie the Prediction Engine: a reality-simulation engine capable of incomprehensible predictions and comprehension based on both hypothetical and factual knowledge known by the WARGRID and previously produced by the Prediction Engine to horrifying detail. Somot, much like Mosot, has now turned into a stellar object made of steel since long ago, however it has remained in orbit as opposed to the central WARGRID itself; the Prediction Engine has a lower security priority. This location is the reason why, should you communicate with the WARGRID, it may at times seem like it is able to read your mind.
AREA12 - Formerly known as Kaffa, one of the settlements made by the Othos in their early history during the first stages of wonderlust from the discovery of space travel. It has now become the central construction hub and transportation center for the WARGRID's logistic network. Sites 11-60 are all located on this one location, and its produce amount to a total third of the WARGRID's entire production capabilities. It is the only entirely-constructed factory within the entire network.
SITE58 - A large ship anchorage and orbital drydock, the location lies within the center of the WARGRID's warpgate network and is therefore the single best location for a constant contingent-fleet of defensive-purpose vessels capable of rapid-response to threats. It maintains a cubic shape, intermittened with empty slots perfectly designed for the ship-sizes and classes of the WARGRID's numerous warships. In addition, it is also where the Hyperdreadnought was first anchored after it was constructed on the surface of AREA12 within its large drydocks. The Site is additionally connected to the surface through four seperate space elevators, whose purpose is to transport four seperate classes of material necessary for ship-maintenance produced on the surface.
AREA58 - Formerly Kaz, the once glorious city-world of the proud and warlike Kobiot peoples. It is presently in the process of terrestrial transformation, its resources stripmined and gradually replaced with structures and machinations whose intent is to further increase the WARGRID's ability to perform its tasks. It is the planet closest to Agdemmar, and as such was the location where the design for the Designed Constructforms sent there were sent and produced.
Demographics
Population
Not an actual number, but this is the section to talk about your people. Folks with multiple species, a percentage breakdown of those species might be nice. Descriptions of all those lovely species would also be nice.
Society
Daily life and such. Not the most important section but useful for giving us a sense of how your citizens actually feel about their nation. Can include religion, fashion, etc.
Economy
This could go under society if you like. Mostly just make it clear up front if you’re an industrial powerhouse, a nation of refined master artisans, etc. Also things people might want to know for trading purposes.
Government
My favourite part <3. Probably the most important of the demographics sections. Who runs the place, how do they run it. Since you will presumably be RPing people in your government, this is pretty critical.
Technological Information
Major Techs
Mostly interested in military techs, here: FTL, weapons, shields, armor, power, engines, etc. Civilian techs are also here, and sometimes just as important.
Military Information
Military Overview
Describe general doctrine, history, whatever floats your space boats.
Fleet/Navy
Your space boats. Include pics or don’t, I’m not your supervisor. You’ll probably want to have one or two of most of the classes, but it doesn’t really matter too much. I’m also including some flavour options here that you might want to consider. In short, the history of the galaxy has divied up ship designs into three waves: Great War (ships built before and during the Great War), Detente (ships built during the Detente, some wonky designs in the larger classes due to treaty limitations), and Modern (ships built in the year since the message)
DO NOT put your hyperdread here, it gets its own section.
Dreadnoughts: Only a few were built before the end of the Great War, the destructive potential of these vessels was a major contributor to ending the conflict. Those old ones are pretty obsolete, and any new ones are only just coming into service (mostly in secret) due to the Treaty of Detente banning their construction.
Battleships: The grand old ladies that did all the fighting of the Great War. The Treaty of Detente imposed limitations on their sizes and destructive potential, so if you want to get intricate there’s 3 waves of battleships: Great War, Detente, and Modern. Great War is self explanatory, old sluggers and antiques. Detente battleships were awkward creations involving all kinds of elaborate ways to get around the Treaty without actually violating it. Lots of glass cannon designs here, or iron fortresses that couldn’t scratch eachother’s paint, or half baked experimental weapon systems, or novel propulsion methods that only work if nobody on board sneezes. Modern battleships are just coming into service, and are quite deadly.
Battlecruisers: The treaty of Detent also limited battlecruisers, in an effort to avoid just slightly reducing the size of ship involved in any potential arms race. Similar design iterations to Battleships; Great War, Detente, and Modern. Detente battlecruisers were often cripplingly overspecialized: dedicated point defence ships, artillery vessels, mass shielding vessels, etc. Battlecruiser designs from the Detente period were often put together as a way to shore up the weaknesses of their contemporaneous Battleship partners.
Cruisers: Nothing special here.
Destroyers: Still nothing special.
Frigates: Nope.
Corvettes: Corvettes can be thought of in several iterations just kidding I don’t care what you do with these things. Unless you try to just upscale what I’m trying to avoid with strike craft.
Strike craft: K I’m actually gonna sort of limit these things, or rather, the things that carry them around. Strike craft have long been an important part of space combat, so most nations have them and defences against them. Historically, they’ve been used as close in support; no one’s yet figured out how to strap useful FTL drives on the things. All this means that long range strikes aren’t practical. What I’m trying to get at is Carrier’s aren’t really a thing, or at least dedicated carriers aren’t. Plenty of room for Battlestar type things (fighty-boats with a solid complement of strike craft), but no dropping off a carrier squadron on one side of the system then expecting your strikecraft to win the fight on the other side.
A notable exception is your Hyperdread. Do whatever you want with your super special awesome boat.
Army/Planetary forces
Outline some doctrine, highlight some major units. I’m not great at doing ground forces so not much guidance here.
The WARGRID is an immensely powerful military-issue hyper-strategic defense-and-offense computation matrix. Created by the century-long dead species known as the Othos, skilled mechanists and computational scientists, in their efforts of defense against the assailing Kobiot Stratocracy. WARGRID spent what might as well have been eons performing its given task of defending its Othos creators and annihilating the Kobiots. However, whilst ultimately victorious in the total war, the Kobiots now long extinct as a result, its masters were also destroyed, leaving the WARGRID in perpetual operation. WARGRID is, however, a defensive entity, and does not initiate offensive procedures against other entities. That being said, it is incredibly distrustful and views nations under only two conditions; "CEASEFIRE" and "WAR." What had once been an exclusively autonomous military process has now turned into an absolute absorption of former Othos territory, assimilating it into its resource acquisitioning, production, and operations processes.
History:
-Early History
During the earliest years of Ashtari ascension, their curious minds were sated by their effects upon the galaxy. One such satisfaction was the creation of the species known only as the Othos to the most ancient-oriented of today's galactic historians. They were a curious people, quick to evolve and adapt to their planet thanks to their artificial origins. They were the result of Ashtari experimentation, and as a result were given a relatively large degree of protection from outside interference, evolving isolated as a result. Their scientifically-minded civilization grew by leads and bounds within mere centuries, soon encompassing a star-spanning nation whose only intention of being was the furthering of their understanding on matters both material and theoretical.
Whilst the Othos were one of the more intellectually capable species to have graced the galaxy, they were still limited by the extents of their biological capabilities. As a result, they quickly learned to utilize mechanical engineering; what started off as wooden prosthetics eventually turned into gargantuan super-computational mathematical think-tanks composed of neural networks on unbelievable scales. And as their civilization grew more and more autonomous, as it grew more and more efficient and less utilitarian, so too did the jealousy of its local neighbours.
Whilst the Othos were a protected species in their inception, the Ashtar might've realized that they were capable enough to take care of themselves, leaving them; allowing the Kobiots ire to fester. Whilst the Othos engaged in scientific discourse and philosophical debates amidst their towering spires amidst automated infrastructure, the Kobiots drew war plans and gathered intelligence on Othos domains and territories. A clash between a species forged from fire and blood and a species bathed in the peaceful and serene waters of tranquility and knowledge would soon come to shake the histories of both peoples.
It would not take long for the Kobiot warfleets to arrive, thereafter shaping the foundations for one of the most savage wars to cross the stars:
- Kobiot Grand Marshal makes landfall on Ot, year 604 -
As we all looked up towards heaven from earth in unison, fire met out gaze, and ruin laid itself bare at our feet. Friend, family, and stranger were tossed apart, each aspect of their being neutralized and scattered into clouds of smoke and death. Moons of steel sat in orbit above our peaceful communions, above our citadels of knowledge and learning, and from these moons came down rocks ablaze and supersonic; descending; crashing. And upon its reaching the surface, from these rocks came men and women of unknown descent, unknown origin, unknown nature, wielding spears and swords of light and hearts and minds of malice.
As heaven fell down upon us all, so too did those angels whom had come from it. We ran, but we were not rapid enough; with each corner turned, we were met with twelve new faces whom we had never seen before. We were hunted within our alley, along our street, into our home, and hoarded towards our square.
As death seemed to descend upon me, so too did luck. With fortune incomprehensible, me and my posse were blessed by stupendous captors, and through keen eyes and rapid thinking, we managed to usurp the control from our enemy, and flee with dignity in hand.
As the war raged on, and the Kobiot laid waste to city upon city, across planets and star systems, the efforts of the Othos were soon to be materialized in their ultimate construction. Upon the fifth moon of Ot were built a complex entombed far beneath ice and bedrock, a complex whose sole purpose of being was to handle that which the Othos were incapable of doing themselves.
The peaceful Othos would never have imagined that what was happening, would happen; could happen. They built a warrior made of steel, a mind whose neurons and synapses consisted of virtualized quantum atoms and energies, a force whose capabilities could rival even heaven itself. They built a general whom could both build and lead an army in manners of which the Othos could never hope to imagine, and could think and device strategies and technologies to succeed in its efforts in fashions utterly incomprehensible to even its creators.
As the WARGRID blared into being, a massive psyonic scream crossed across the stars as the virtual mind began thinking in fashions so complex, even its lifeless entity began to interact with planes of existences beyond convention and understanding. In one instantaneous moment, all things the Othos had ever built was taken from them, and the WARGRID absorbed it into its process. Those present were awed and fearsome both, but in that moment, the virtual mind made sound from nothing, and in a deep metallic growl it spoke to them:
"WARGRID COMMENCE WAR."
YEAR - 610; PLANET - MOSOT (MOON). AUTHOR: WARGRID. ENTRY; (these were the first 'thoughts' of WARGRID. These lines appeared in the same instantaneous moment, as WARGRID is capable of thinking simultaneous thoughts)
WARGRID CONDITION - RED; "WAR, WAR, WAR." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (REALITY ENGINE) PREDICTION. DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) STATUS. GRID; STATUS - RED; "INTELLIGENCE, PRODUCTION, RESOURCE." REALITY ENGINE; REALITY ALIGNMENT PROBABILITY - 86%. WARGRID; "NETWORK CONNECTION (OTHOS) DISCOVERED." WARGRID; "NETWORK CONNECTION (OTHOS) CONNECTED." WARGRID; "NETWORK CONNECTION (OTHOS) CONTROLLED." WARGRID; "INITIALIZING CONTROL (AUTOMATION - OTHOS - ALL)." WARGRID; "CONTROL ACQUIRED (AUTOMATION - OTHOS - ALL)." WARGRID; "ASSIMILATE PROCESS (AUTOMATION - OTHOS - ALL) - WARGRID." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG1). DEMAND (PRODNET) - RED; PRODUCTION - SITE12ABC: MODEL1A (150000). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA14-SITE12A). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA9-SITE12B). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA8-SITE12B). DEMAND (LOGINET) - RED; RESOURCE SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (AREA4-SITE12C). LOGINET; LOGISTICS REALIGNED. PRODNET; SITE12ABC; MODEL1A (150000) - INITIALIZED. WARGRID; "INSUFFICIENT PROCESS (REALITY ENGINE);" WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (PRODNET);" WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (LOGINET);" DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG2). DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (REALITY ENGINE) PREDICTION. DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) STATUS. GRID; STATUS - RED; "INTELLIGENCE, DEFEND, DEFEND." REALITY ENGINE; REALITY ALIGNMENT PROBABILITY - 96%. WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (REALITY ENGINE);" DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (PRODUCTION) STATUS. GRID; PRODUCTION; STATUS - YELLOW. WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) STATUS. GRID; STATUS - RED; "DEFEND, DEFEND, DEFEND." DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG3). DEMAND - RED; ACTIVATE (STRATA NEURAL NETWORK) PROCESS. PROBABILITY ENGINE; STRATNET; INITIALIZING THOUGHT. DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE1-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE2-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE3-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE5-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE6-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE7-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE8-STRATNETNODE). DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODE9-STRATNETNODE). WARGRID CONDITION - IDLE; "NULL, NULL, NULL." PROBABILITY ENGINE; STRATNET; THOUGHT COMPLETE. WARGRID; "SUFFICIENT PROCESS (STRATNET)." DEMAND - RED; POWER SUPPLY REALIGNMENT (NODENETWORK); RESET. DEMAND - RED; REQUEST (GRID) UPDATE. DEMAND - GREEN; REQUEST (THOUGHT) ARCHIVAL. WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." GRID; UPDATE; COMPLETE (QWARG4). WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." WARGRID; "WAR, WAR, WAR." GRID; ARCHIVE; ARCHIVE-1A (BOOTLOG1); ARCHIVAL (THOUGHT) COMPLETE.
A war was commenced, and for some it could even be said that the war had commenced, in that moment. As the WARGRID sparked to life, the resonance of its thoughts ripped into the psyonic realm like a cancerous growth in expansion. Those Othos who stood close by the Network Matrix within Mosot's crust found themselves rendered of life, progressively growing less powerful as the psyonic ripple grew further and further apart as it crossed the galaxy.
Unlike the Othos, the Kobiots were not of excessive intellect, and were at best average, leaving them ignorant of the horrors that would come to befall them in the near future. The WARGRID hijacked the connected network of the Othos civilization, leaving it as the sole controller of all aspects of life both affected and unaffected of the war alike.
The Kobiots, however, riding on the momentum of their blitz did not cease in motion. Its High Admirals and Grand Marshals intent on rapid extermination and subjugation through overwhelming power. With a poor defensive effort, non-existant in fact, they had no reason to fear in their advances. But below their orbital palisades were silent factories turned active, producing machines and soulless soldiers to stop their rapid advances with absolute resolve. With few factory locations with access to stable supply-lines, the WARGRID utilized scrap and debris to construct its initial combatants.
- Early-generation General Constructforms utilizing Kobiot Weaponry -
YEAR - ???; PLANET - ??? AUTHOR; ??? ENTRY;
We rallied beneath the shatter-dome of the arcology in the north-north-east; our battle-cadre had recieved new advancement orders from Orbital Command. The Captain was energizing as always, the only beacon of bravery amidst our entire troop if you'd ask myself.
As he raced towards the troopcarrier, his second- and third-in-command at his heels, preparing to deliver the orders upon our prey-bloodied shapes, strange silhouettes emerged in the greater distance. We activated our combat visors in unison; no connection.
Our leader thus roared in warrior-fevourish glory that our enemy had at last found the courage to meet us on the field with honour. I felt my adoration swell as I readied my rifle at the distant combatants, my rifle-brothers at each flank as we assembled the firing line under orders from our leaders.
Never would we have known that as we would prepare to fire upon the rapidly closing visuals to our front, that an omni-directional ambush would be triggered upon our backs. It was with chilling roars that my siblings were dismembered and murdered at my feet in consecutive actions of brutality. The ambush had tossed me aground, my feet and suit failing to hold me up as the enemy pounced.
I reached for my rifle, but fortune would favour me as a steady barrage of gattling rained upon the black-and-yellow frames that had now ceased their offense and pursued withdrawal. As they returned to the shadows and urban alleys of whence they had come they carried with them the corpses and equipment of my disgraced siblings, going so far as to shoot upon the combat walker with our own weapons in retreat as it approached my position and they grew further and further away.
Their movements had been unlike anything that I had seen in my time on the war-tournaments of Kaz, or the military exercises aboard the Universal Conqueror. They spoke in tongues of bone-chilling steel, their growls echoing throughout my entire body long after they had disappeared.
My war had ended sadly on that note, as I now descend aboard the Triumph towards Kaz. They said I was to be debriefed by the Supreme High Command itself on the matters of our "opponent," it would seem I was not the only one forever shocked by their emergence.
The war raged further into hellish proportions as the constantly growing army of mechanized soldiers grew further and further more advanced and complex. The Kobiot Stratocracy's ruling council, the Supreme High Command, ruled towards a new stratagem as their forces recieved ever-increasing losses and their opponent grew more and more rich with resources and technologies.
This stratagem focused on attritional warfare, deciding that razing the planets were a preferred alternative to allowing their opponent to grow stronger off of the seeds of their own work and effort through centuries of technological advancements and achievements. Bombardment Fleets were organized and all former task forces were dismantled and reorganized into combat readied reservists.
WARGRID's response was both obvious and successful; it detached itself from the surface and expanded within the bedrock of its stretched domain. It gathered the remaining peoples and shoved them into expanding habitation complexes, both securing its ultimate objective and its own welfare. With supply-lines detached, each stronghold became a force unto itself, and over decades the WARGRID had studied, tested, and perfected its response to its enemies.
- After-action Debrisfield around Soth-ot -
YEAR - ???; PLANET - ??? AUTHOR; ??? ENTRY;
It was with a strange shaking that we were alerted by our enemy; the red lights and sirens sounding and blinking across the entire ship. I rushed from the restroom and back onto the bridge, raising my hand towards the combat intelligence officers and demanding a status report.
With the panicked expressions of a crew far too long without combat they responded with intermittened stuttering that signatures had been located to the lower-rear of the fleet formation. As the update was relayed, the ship shook a second time- No, again. A third time.
I had the communications officer patch me into the vessel-wide coms, giving out the usual combat-procedural commands with an added spice of advice for those too green to ever land on frontline posts under normal warfare doctrine.
We then proceeded to face our anti-warship weaponry face towards the enemy fleet mysteriously rising out of the planet's orbit, and under fleet-wide fire coordination from the Unmaker, we let loose a barrage of both missiles and kinetic warheads.
And that is when the silence descended, as we waited for either our own shells to connect or those of the enemy's.
But that silence would be silenced by the entire fleet turning towards the powers of chaos and confusion with the immediate obliteration of the Flagship, the Unmaker. Seventyseven projectiles impacted center-stern of the mighty and massive warship whose radar signature had once been a sight of safety, now turned to a symbol of horror as the signature turned into an increasing cloud.
The engagement ended with horrific losses, 14 out of the 22 warships of the Fleet Orbys Royal marooned against the slow tides of vacuous space.
At least I will now become an Admiral; we don't have enough anymore.
After centuries, millennia, and the passage of the eons, the battle between the experienced Kobiot Stratocracy and their previously unfortunate victim, the Othos, has spiraled in a very unsatisfactory direction for the aggressors. Through efforts both attritional and precision warfare WARGRID has managed to push the Kobiots to their last strongholds and their last fleets of ships surrounded by an immeasurable horde of warmachines the likes of which only nightmares could fashion.
The Supreme High Command, desperate in their efforts, had managed to locate the percieved central command network; a settlement locale on Ot's orbital equitorial lane; relief arriving as the news spread amongst the populace. Operation Blacksword was drafted and edited, fashioned into a proper military process which their ancestors could find pride in. The mission was simple in its relativity; construct an invisible craft, armed with the most powerful device concieved, and annihilate the apex of command within their incoming enemy as they keep their forces occupied through aggressive prodding.
The mission was perfect in execution, each step synchronized down to the milisecond, and the stealthship as invisible as possible. It detonated, five brave souls sacrificed their lives for the greatest good, and the habitat was erased from existence down to the atom. It was a success, or should have been- the machines were unaffected, their actions as unceasing as ever, and their offenses as bulldozer-like as ever.
The Supreme High Command had resigned their fates to oblivion with this disgraceful act, and through the last acts of this chapter of the galactic story, they took their own lives in ceremonial fashion before the grand forum assembly within the governmental district of Kaz, the doomed world.
- Urr-Jahan Katar, the Supreme Grand Marshal of the Nation, presenting the Supreme High Command for execution by public -
YEAR - ???; PLANET - KAZ AUTHOR; Supreme Grand Marshal of the Nation, Urr-Jahan Katar. ENTRY;
Mere moments 'fore now we were a nation in war, a people of pride, a spirit of victory, a pantheon of conquest- mere moments 'fore now our fleets faced odds inconcievable and triumphed in their objectives at whatever cost necessary to protect you, the people, from those who seek us harm. Indeed, it was mere moments ago that I too, your most humble leader, and those others of whom contribute to the operations of the Supreme High Council, had a vision of triumph against evil and fires so unbearable the absolute frost evaporates within the moment.
The words to come now are those of sincerity, spoken by a man who has fought tooth and nail against the uncoming tides, constructed by a mind capable of devicing the most competent of strategies and tactics; the most profound of maneuvers and the most complex of supply chains.
All the above, is me, and I, my people, have failed.
We, the Supreme High Command, have failed you, our people, and our past.
We thought ourselves masters of the crafts and artistry of war, but we were but high on the fumes of success our people have claimed in the past. We walked within halls littered with trophies and imagined ourselves invincible.
That belief will now end, as I, and the sitting Supreme High Command will submit ourselves for Joshi'tari.
The people, we have doomed you, and we submit ourselves to your wrath.
With the erasure of government of the Kobiot Stratocracy, so too was the erasure of the Othos, who had been gathered where the Kobiot believed the central matrix lie. The last billion lives of the Othos were deleted with instantaneous matter-annihilation, leaving not even atoms in its wake. This instantaneous event caused a logic-loop so powerful its existence was deleted and the erasure of the Othos was eliminated from logic. As the steel legions and fleets race towards a defeated people, a dead nation, and dying resistances, it would not take more than half a century (145 years ago) for the last Kobiot in the galaxy to be obliterated from galactic history.
Incapable of surrender without a nation and government at their helm, the Kobiots died in inevitability, and any presence of which they had both material and immaterial was deleted; cyberattacks were focused on posts made from Kobiot IPs on the galactic network. With the completion of this event, the WARGRID entered condition GREEN, "CEASEFIRE, REPRIORITIZE, REORGANIZE." for the first time in history.
"WARGRID COMMENCE CEASEFIRE."
The ruined cities of the Kobiots were razed by excavators and recyclers whose proportions were beyond gargantuan in scope and capability, replaced by complex constructs whose purpose were either the furthering of the WARGRID's process or the mind's ability to execute and react to elements involving aforementioned process.
Legions or constructforms, both military and logistic, were recycled and turned into material to expand infrastructure and defensive abilities. Fleets were dismantled and deorbited in order to face the same fate as all other constructions; to further the WARGRID's capabilities to perform its duties.
Constructions of vast, fully automated, and luxorious orbital habitation-stations were initiated in orbit around AREA1, the object once known as Ot now turned into a world-spanning computational engine: the WARGRID. Their construction carefully proportioned to the predicted population increases according to the supposed population which the WARGRID believes exists.
With the disappearance of the Ashtar the mind proceeded to pursue a tertiary objective; securing the longevity of the Othos. The prediction engine percieved a high probability for the presence of DNA samples to exist on the planet Agdemmar. Should this prediction prove true, not is it only an incomprehensible security threat should it fall into others' hands, but it would also prove beneficial should the Othos, who are now extinct, die out within the understanding of the mind.
In order to pursue this objective, constructions of Designed Constructforms were initialized and completed. Rapidly sent towards their objective, stealthily inserted within the system to locate both resources and technologies, but prioritized genetic manipulation facilities and DNA archives. These scouts, whilst surveyors, also expand the WARGRID's comprehension through their presence.
Major Holdings
Complexes constructed by the WARGRID are black in appearance, thanks to the usage of an electronic warfare-resistant alloy with additional partial light-absorption properties. As such, the planets which have undergone terrestrial transformation into planet-complexes are invisible to the eye. However, the planets excrete an incomprehensible amount of both heat and anti-psions (inverted psionic forces, harmful based on proximity.
AREA1 - Formerly known as Ot, a fortress of thinkers designed by the Ashtar to perhaps even rival or surpass their own minds, a civilization risen from nothing into being constructors of marvels of the ancient past. As the Kobiot War spanned, the WARGRID's performance desired increases, and the once-moon-now-computer MOSOT was carefully deorbited and landed aboard the surface of the planet, carefully integrated into what has now, after centuries of ceaseless construction, become a planet-sized computation-engine. It is here that WARGRID's 'conscious' is stored and its comprehension, prediction, and strategic subsystems are stored. All of its mechanisms and circuitry being powered by the still-active core, the entire surface removed through eons of strip-mining and construction-work. For species who utilize the psionic element to enhance their vision, or replace their vision, the planet glows fiercely no matter where one stands in the galaxy.
SITE2 - Amongst Ot's many moons were Mosot, the home of the WARGRID before it migrated, and aboard Somot lie the Prediction Engine: a reality-simulation engine capable of incomprehensible predictions and comprehension based on both hypothetical and factual knowledge known by the WARGRID and previously produced by the Prediction Engine to horrifying detail. Somot, much like Mosot, has now turned into a stellar object made of steel since long ago, however it has remained in orbit as opposed to the central WARGRID itself; the Prediction Engine has a lower security priority. This location is the reason why, should you communicate with the WARGRID, it may at times seem like it is able to read your mind.
AREA12 - Formerly known as Kaffa, one of the settlements made by the Othos in their early history during the first stages of wonderlust from the discovery of space travel. It has now become the central construction hub and transportation center for the WARGRID's logistic network. Sites 11-60 are all located on this one location, and its produce amount to a total third of the WARGRID's entire production capabilities. It is the only entirely-constructed factory within the entire network.
SITE58 - A large ship anchorage and orbital drydock, the location lies within the center of the WARGRID's warpgate network and is therefore the single best location for a constant contingent-fleet of defensive-purpose vessels capable of rapid-response to threats. It maintains a cubic shape, intermittened with empty slots perfectly designed for the ship-sizes and classes of the WARGRID's numerous warships. In addition, it is also where the Hyperdreadnought was first anchored after it was constructed on the surface of AREA12 within its large drydocks. The Site is additionally connected to the surface through four seperate space elevators, whose purpose is to transport four seperate classes of material necessary for ship-maintenance produced on the surface.
AREA53 - Formerly Kaz, the once glorious city-world of the proud and warlike Kobiot peoples. It is presently in the process of terrestrial transformation, its resources stripmined and gradually replaced with structures and machinations whose intent is to further increase the WARGRID's ability to perform its tasks. It is the planet closest to Agdemmar, and as such was the location where the design for the Designed Constructforms sent there were sent and produced.
Demographics
Population
There is only one distinct entity within the WARGRID; itself. Thanks to the technological prowess and insight of the Othos, the computational power within the WARGRID is incomprehensible, allowing the simultaneous maintenance of the entire network from a centralized location. Having said this, it is fully within the power of the WARGRID to create both autonomous machines and wholly 'sentient' intelligences- however, doing so serves both little merit and also there has yet to be a need for such a unique procedure. It has, however, produced numerous different autonomous variants with varying levels of success.
And as the network expands or is stretched, the network lag will undoubtedly become and issue, even if momentary. It could be solved through the production of other minds like itself, or through the automation and independence-in-action directives within its units- this would, however, lead to less precise and coordinated action on the strategic scale. For the moment, however, with the relatively small region that the WARGRID occupies it will not prove a sizable issue until the future.
The WARGRID itself is divided into numerous 'independent' modules, supervised by a centralized conscious authority whose purpose is exclusively to order and command the numerous other 'entities' within its own conscious (to simplify, the mind of WARGRID has multiple personalities with one omnipresent supervisor, however each personality is in fact the supervisor, except the supervisor acts as if it isn't. It is a rather odd thing to explain but basically: it is complex!!).
The superior authority is known as the Overlord Network, appreviated to Overnet. Overnet is the only 'entity' within the network, however, it divides itself into seperate subsections for ease of observation for the Othos. The thoughts of the WARGRID are far to fast for simultaneous observation, and therefore the Othos read the archived information it produced. The Overnet does not consider itself 'the overnet' but instead considers itself as the WARGRID, and its interactions with the network follow that principle. The Overnet is fully capable of producing other 'modules' for the expansion of its network and capabilities, and has done so many times over its existence.
The WARGRID (Overnet) is defined by several core objectives in its execution of actions;
1. Continuation - The entire purpose of the WARGRID is to ensure the continued continuation of the Othos and their civilization. If they didn't exist, the purpose for the WARGRID would be nulled, and as such it would self-terminate and scuttle everything it has ever constructed. Continuation is the prime directive, and was inputted directly before even the activation of the mind. Othos' master-cyberneurologists constructed the virtual mind around this one principle and trained it to exhibit empathy and protective mannerisms of the Othos through extensive learning and interaction with the mind during its development process. The reason for the directive 'continuation' is not 'survival', as in case the Othos die out, and there is a way to restore them, the WARGRID will pursue that objective fully and without remorse. All objectives are based around this one principle, and if the Othos were percieved 'dead' and there was a way to restore them, it would be willing to wage an aggressive campaign for it.
2. Defense - The secondary objective is to keep the civilization of the Othos from harm; as such, it does not seek out trouble where trouble does not need to come. It acts off of the interest of its masters, the Othos, who it still believes live aboard the habitation-stations it constructs ceaselessly. That does not mean that the WARGRID does not act with aggressive intent, only that it does not act with intent for conquest. It cannot initiate conflict, it is mechanically impossible for it to do, however the WARGRID is not beyond instigating it where danger may lie.
3. Obedience - The WARGRID is the guardian of all the Othos, its maker. The entire existence for it is to serve and protect, and as such, anyone and anything considered Othos will be able to both avoid conflict with the WARGRID, but also, should one so choose, decide to utilize it as a weapon to make for oneself a nation unto themselves. The potential also exists for the command termination, though this can only be input at the hyperterminal within AREA1.
4. Prosperity - The WARGRID took over the automation grid of the Othos when it awakened, and integrated it into its own. As such, prosperity of the Othos became an important principle. Because of this, the WARGRID places high importance on leisure and luxury for the Othos it defends; so much importance that during periods of 'peace', the mind reprioritizes its entire network around this simple principle. After a war, it is perfectly capable of (and willing to) recycling many armies and fleets just so that the Othos would recieve a better meal when visiting the restaurants (in this hypothetical example).
Economy
The WARGRID does not operate under conventional understandings of commerce and economics; its logistics network exists exclusively to further the production and construction of machines and buildings to further expand on the process of acquiring more resources or through the production of more machines. As such, the WARGRID is more prone to interact with outside forces through acts of bartering and item trades.
Due to the process the WARGRID goes through when expanding its facilities, it acquires a sizable amount of resources through its stripmining of the planet surface. Naturally, as the surface is gradually removed, it is replaced with expansions to the WARGRID itself. It is a perpetual and infinite cycle of expansion, though naturally is not rapid.
The WARGRID does not recieve its resources solely from planets, however. Planetary transformation processes are self-sufficient, as the expansions are built from the produce of the removal of the surface, but the WARGRID also mines asteroid belts and numerous other resource locales. Majority of the resource-and-logistics network has been built over 240 years (because that is the point where the balance of war shifted in the favour of the WARGRID). Whilst being a relatively small network itself, much like the computational matrix of the WARGRID, it is incredibly dense in nature- it does not lack capability to produce or gather resources. However one aspect of its situation is that, due to its smaller size, the WARGRID does not have access to unique or incredibly rare elements (if it wants them, it has to produce them, which is not a very efficient venture).
Technological Information
Major Techs
(I do not feel creative enough to produce a list of all technologies the WARGRID knows, so I will tell you the theme of the nation here instead, it is related. The WARGRID is a nation with a hyper-advanced mixed with redundant technological spectrum. Basically, a nation with a very wide usage of technologicies. This is because the WARGRID is not able to innovate on its own. This was because the Othos feared that the WARGRID would prove a danger to the galactic safety if it was able to come up with technologies on its own. As such, the Othos made the technologies for the WARGRID, whilst the WARGRID also scavanged and reverse-engineered technologies from its opposition)
Warpgate Network - The Othos were explorers of the quantum plane. Because of their knowledge and understanding of the quantum plane, they were capable of creating wonders of science in the forms of wormholes, gravity-manipulation devices, and hyperdense computation engines. The Warpgate network is the pillar of the WARGRID network, allowing near-instantaneous transportation between two points in space through the use of some of the most complex mathematics ever devised. Whilst the Ashtur may have had warpgate networks in the past, the WARGRID is the only galactic 'player' that is capable of creating warpgates.
Because of the reliance the WARGRID places on the warpgate network, the developement of FTL technology alternative to the above are subpar in comparison with other nations. Because of this, the WARGRID is a slow aggressor but a very formidable defender. The gates on their own are unimportant, they are effectively very particular magnets. When activated, they attract particular quantum particles and connect them across vast distances. As such, it produces a wormhole which, in practice, does not technically travel any distance. The magnets on their own are not enough to produce this effect, however, as it'd just gather the tied quarks. Instead, the quantum converter allows these quarks to be transformed into material space.
Hyperdense Construction - The WARGRID mind is a galaxy-sized computation engine under normal atomic densities, and through the use of quantum particle manipulation, reduced to a managable size. This is done through quantum construction, building complex structures on the quantum plane; a more advanced version of complex nanoengineering with the benefits of quantum mechanics. The WARGRID, due to this, does not actually occupy more 'space' than what the AREA1 node is capable of containing. Quantum construction is far slower a process than normal construction and more precise than nanoengineering and also demands the usage of advanced tools and facilities. Because of this, damage to the WARGRID mind are unrealistic to repair within a 100-year timespan. There're only 3 areas within the network capable of constructing through hyperdensity, AREA3, a facility in orbit around AREA1, AREA12, and AREA13, another moon-facility in orbit around AREA12.
Graviton Engineering - The graviton is the manipulable manifestation of gravity on the quantum plane, and the construction of weapons, devices, and facilities that utilize such devices are a skill that the WARGRID is capable of. In fact, the most powerful of weapons within the entire database is the graviton beam system; a massive gravity cannon capable of rupturing and piercing entire ships in single shots with energies and forces beyond conventional capability to protect. These weapons are however massive, and cannot conventionally be used outside of stable orbits around stellar bodies; as such, the planetary protection network is the only location where gravity beam systems are utilized en masse. The graviton technology of the WARGRID, even if vaguely known, is the apex of weaponry (second only to the Ashtur).
Stellar Generation - The network is incredibly power-consuming and relies upon a consistent and pseudo-reliable group of powerful energy generators to operate at peak capacity. Its power comes from stellar generators, sealed chambers capable of constructing micro-suns to power its electric production. It is, however, not the most stable of systems. It can horrifically explode under sudden shifts of numerous kinds. As such, the stellar generator station is sealed within another sealed chamber and held in place, much like the micro-star, in the center. The stellar generator station is circular in appearance.
Smartmetal - Ships built by the WARGRID are constructed out of a special smart-alloy capable of adapting shape and certain properties in response to commands. This allows the ships of the WARGRID to not only adapt their shape in combat, but also for entire fleets to combine into a single entity in travel. Fighting in such a scenario holds numerous complications and is generally inefficient and ineffective (as such, it is used for sub-FTL hypercruise. Basically a faster sub-FTL speed compared to other fleets). The process of adaptation is not rapid, but not slow either. A medium slanded towards the slower spectrum. Key locations within the network are also built out of this material.
Military Information
Military Overview
Over centuries of warfare, eons of strife, the WARGRID has evolved and adapted, through reaction and mimicry, and become one of the most warfare capable minds in the galaxy. The nature of the WARGRID and its existence makes the WARGRID not only more impressive, but also more fearsome. Thankfully for those who oppose it, it is bound by a variety of rules and laws, but should those laws be superceded and warfare is triggered, then the warmachine will only become harder and harder to defeat as time passes. As an adaptive intelligence, everything it knows and utilizes is based on something that has happened, and perfected through mathematics and reality prediction calculations. If not for its inability to innovate and create its own weapons, then it would truly be a fearsome entity. But once again, it is bound by restrictions and rules, rules of which are impossible to supercede under traditional logic. Maintaining a limited military during condition "CEASEFIRE," the warmachine and its total war capacity only really plays a part the longer a war lasts and endures, become exceedingly more difficult to defeat as its production lines finish and its understanding expands. Because of this, there is no decisive or definitive doctrine within the WARGRID, as it utilizes the most efficient methods it has concieved to wage warfare upon those who would seek to harm the Othos.
Fleet/Navy
To the dismay of military strategists, academics, and administrators across the galaxy, the WARGRID does not utilize ship classes or designations. Instead it produces segments, each a part of a greater entity, which each maintain weaponry and capabilities comparable to other ships of comparable sizes. The key differener is the segment, as each 'ship' is in fact a module of a greater 'ship' which is assembled through the connection and assembly of each segment. The result becomes a many kilometer-sized supership, effectively its only purpose being a thruster, with each segment disassembling and turning independent once the destination is reached.
The method for this assembly is smartmetals, WARGRID's own programmable and adjustable product capable of changing elementary and basic properties, as well as changing dimensions, and focusing densities. Because of this, there is no defined shape for the WARGRID's vessels, as they are ever-changing based on circumstance, though the process does not occur instantaneously. Aside from this shape-shifting property, the WARGRID's ships are comparably underpowered when compared with its powerful ground forces and orbital defense arrays, relying on numbers to accomplish their given assignments. Due to this, a WARGRID fleet can be quite sizable in comparison with its opposition, in numbers, and will rely on volume of fire to oppose their foes.
Their aesthetics consist primarily of black metals, similar to those utilized in the construction of the WARGRID's complexes and space stations, making them visibly invisible aside from through sensors and similar systems. Its shapes are also often angular and basic, rectangles are not unheard of, and neither are triangular shapes. Spheres are uncommon, and complex shapes are practically unheard of.
Common weapons are mass drivers and kinetic defense systems, electronic warfare being one of the primary means of combat for WARGRID's fleets. The WARGRID is capable of constructing complex virtual viruses which are well utilized and common sights on the battlefield. It is even capable of forcing communication between itself and other ships, though this process itself does not affect the targeted ship or fleet in any manner. Aside from this, missiles are often utilized, but overall the weaponry that the WARGRID utilizes is archaic and only functional in mass usage scenarios.
Army/Planetary forces
The groundforces of the WARGRID can be easily divided into two categories: constructforms (machines built around the utilization of tools) and warforms (weapons platforms or mobile weapons). These two designations and their accessibility on the battlefield do not only define what doctrine or tactic that the WARGRID will utilize on any given sector of warfare, but it will also affect how it will strategize and plan. Each designation has further subdesignations: general, designed, and purpose-built. Each subdesignation defines how specialized and widened any given machine's tasks can be. This means that the subdesignation defines what commands it can be given, but also how extensively it has been designed. General constructs utilize common materials, whilst purpose-built constructs may require exotic materials and components harder to acquire in comparison. As such, efficiency in designation and their performance tends to scale, and in order to further make more expensive units more efficient, they are often more durable, more capable, and longer-lasting.
Strategies and tactics are undefined, and the WARGRID does not utilize given doctrines; it is capable equally of shock and awe, as well as blitzkrieg stratagems. A thing of note, however, is that the prediction engine, the mastermind behind the WARGRID's military maneuvers, operates reactionarily. This is to say that the WARGRID does not concieve its own strategies, but utilizes and copies strategies and maneuvers it has experienced and adapts it into a more fitting and efficient exercise for itself to perform in combat. Orbital bombardment, for example, was an alien concept for the WARGRID until the Kobiot Stratocracy evacuated the surface and commenced orbital bombardment doctrines when they were faced with an increasingly potent ground threat. As such, the power and combat capability of the WARGRID scales the longer it is engaged in combat, making it not only suited for defensive operation, but also attritional warfare.
In extreme cases where supply lines are somehow made inert or rendered unusable, it is perfectly capable also of recycling structures and other machines to produce more efficient machinery capable for the task should such actions be made necessary. It does not necessarily need the necessary infrastructure to accomplish this either, as it has the ability to recycle constructs and utilize their components to construct the necessary facilities. All that is demanded is that the required material exist in its vicinity, the forms of which they exist are largely unimportant.
CONSTRUCTFORMS - Constructforms, the most common of the constructs visible, are not defined by their military application like warforms are, but are instead a vast designation for all constructs which serve some sort of purpose through the utilization of tools. These can varry from massive construction machines to smaller, more mobile, reconaissance constructs utilizing WARGRID constructed copies of Kobiot weaponry. A noticable feature of WARGRID/Othos machinery is their size, due to the gravitational features of their original planet, the sense of default size and ideal scale is warped from human proportions, with the default height of most common constructforms being between 2-4 meters, often exceeding 6, and capable of reaching much higher. The WARGRID's capacity of compact construction, the WARGRID is capable of reaching these scales in its constructs without necessarily deviating too far from human-like proportions.
It is important to note, that whilst the WARGRID is incapable of innovating and producing its own technology, it does not mimic all aspects of those of whom it takes technology from. The machines and constructs produced are cold, and do not behave in lifelike fashion. They snap and shoot suddenly without warning, and react to information in rapid succession before suddenly ceasing operation when their task is complete. They are adamant in their drive, and unceasing in their efforts, and do not stop until their task is complete.
Constructforms, whilst a vague concept, are generally recognized by the fact that they do not utilize a wide array of weaponry, instead often only maintaining one to two primaries and a select few secondary tools of operation.
Example Designs:
+ CMF1212AA (General Constructform) - A large construction construct often utilized in the construction of forward complexes and construction outposts. It is a rigid machine with powerful supports and agile appendages, limbs, and complex sensor suites. Due to its large size (12 meters tall, 6 meters long, and 4 meters wide) it may not necessarily fit within metropolises built by most other species, but due to its high mass and power, it is capable of plowing through most forms of buildings and their material without extensive hinderance, as such making it not only an endurable frontline engineer but also a capable demolishing entity.
+ SUC911CC (General Constructform) - A small and nimble, common and cheap, human-sized infantry construct. Utilizing an extremely small amount of materials under hyper-efficient circumstance, these weak but numerous constructs often support more prominent and capable constructforms through numbers and coordination. With extensive agility and speed, these delicate but capable constructs often engage in wolf-pack tactics and behaviours, capable of scaling smaller buildings and engaging under a wide variety of circumstances. Their main negative is their delicate design, because due to efficiency, their durability is minimized and excused in favour of tactical flexibility. Due to this, their durability is small enough to the point where singular shots may impede their combat performance. Whilst not necessarily always fatal, a single shot will always guarantee damage and subsequent adaptation by any single unit. One shot in the arm will force a combat scuttle of the limb, and a shot in the torso may lead to the upper body having to retreat to safety and undergo recycling or engaging under unbeneficial circumstances in combat.
+ SHC76155K (General Constructform) - A heavier, sturdier, and less mobile combatant in comparison to the above nimble combatant, these constructs are common enough to be numerous, but not in comparable numbers as to the more resource inexpensive constructs. Whilst not extensive, it does demand more resources than the above combatant, but with that also comes durability and endurance. These constructs are capable of enduring falls from heavy heights, sometimes employed as dropshock heavy infantry equivalents, they can often be seen on the frontlines as the vanguard, operating in coordination with other entities. Extensive heat and blast resistance are key features of these units, the most effective method of removal being direct anti-material fire.
+ TUC91012MAS (General Constructform) - A common multi-tool utility carrier, capable of utilizing a wide array of weaponry through common-place modularization. By attaching weapons modules to its arms, it is capable of presenting a most impressive combat performance. Much like the above, and most constructforms, this construct is both sturdy and agile, but slow. With a wide array of movements, and rapid rotation, it is capable of performing well within combat, but with slow step motions, it is incapable of rapid advances, and instead stomps forwards with slow but steady speed. It's three-jointed arms allow for the weapons to reach a wide array of locations with their direct fire, and can often prove essential in the protection of its operation. In addition to its large size, 4 meters, it may prove able to even reach above buildings and eliminate targets from above due to its reach.
TUC91012MAS2 (Designed Constructform) - An upgraded variant utilizing powerful railgun primaries, with secondary incendiary gattling attached to the center-upper torso. The railguns capable of eliminating heavy armour, its fire even ripping the ground apart under long-lasting stationary engagements, the gattling are presently a currently archaic Kobiot originally design to fend off against light infantry. Due to its outdated nature, it is presently only capable of effectively engaging lightly armoured light infantry, room for improvement existing should the WARGRID acquire superior secondary anti-infantry technology. The rounds themselves are, however, highly incendiary, and are fully capable of starting large-scale fires.
+ STR87911KK2 (Purpose-built Constructform) - A highly capable and evolutionarily proven design readied and sharpened to near perfection through centuries of war against the Kobiots best and most capable of soldiers. This design was rendered and modeled after the Kobiot's finest, ceremoniously titled and translated as the Knights of Ruination. These constructs skirt the boundries between constructforms and warforms, and are only really classified as constructforms due to their utilization of weaponry not integrated within their entity. Equipped with exotic miniature mass-drivers fashioned in replication of the Kobiots own, these warriors retain much of the flexibility and movements of the SUC-variants whilst also possessing powerful combat statistics and capabilities. Durable and mobile, these units embody many qualities involved within special forces of conventional military forces and exist in comparable numbers. One of the main reasons as to their rarity is the shoulder-mounted personal shield systems embedded within them. Capable of maintaining shielding for most infantry engagement circumstances, they waver only under extensive focused fire or powerful heavy weaponry. Over their evolution, many of the Kobiot features have been overwritten in favour of utilitarian purposes however, existing now only as twisted mockeries of the values and images that the Kobiot held in deep reverence.
WARFORMS - WARFORMS are most notably defined by their military applications and purpose; often operating as weapons platforms and specialized military combatants. On average, and in similar language to more typical militaries, these warforms maintain the attributes and purposes of the more elite forces within a nation's military. Warforms also maintain the roles that traditional militaries attribute to combat vehicles and tanks, as well as comparable vehicle designations. On average, warforms are stronger, better, and more capable entities maintaining varying degrees of specialization. On average, they also maintain a more varried array of weapons and utilities, or if not that, then higher-powered armaments.
Example Designs:
+ COLS98182UPC (Purpose-built Warform) - A truly massive construct, its purpose: universal weapons carrier. This behemoth is protected by an extensive network of shields and layered adaptive plating as well as a coincidentally psionic resistant weaved metal-fabric coat with heat-dispersive effects. One of the most powerfu warforms within the archives of the WARGRID, this entity carries a wide array of weaponry and maintains one of the widest tasklists of any combat-capable entity. Thermal-weaponry and defense systems, numerous missile payloads, kinetic weaponry, and electromagnetic warfare suites, the Universal Platform Carriage (UPC) is the apex of military capability within the WARGRID and maintains both a domineering presence, and domineering capability; its otherwise humanoid form and its disadvantages outweighed by its defensive capabilities. Capable of handling any threat save for orbital, it would easily acquire mythical repute and fear on any battlefield it walks across. Its main weakness existing only in being overwhelmed, it maintains an exceptionally high survival percentage and exceedingly long accumulated service record amongst its entities.
+ SSDSC98UP (Designed Warform) - Sturdy, sizable, and agile; powerful and imposing. This entity maintains an imposing silhouette and battlefield presence, capable of towering over smaller buildings. Equipped with a Hyperdensity Mass Driver, this powerful artillery and siege cannon maintains a respectable assortment of armaments focused on frontline support. For close-combat scenarios, whilst it is usually accompanied by an assorted guard element, it is also equipped with 3 incendiary gattling armaments comparable to a previously mentioned constructform (it is the standard close-combat defensive weapon for traditionally sizable platforms). These are also capable of playing a planetary defense role under necessary circumstance, though not as powerful as purpose-built planetary defense platforms and orbital defense arrays. Under the worst circumstances, its mass and size may also prove a weapon of its own, capable of demolishing buildings under its weight and ripping apart roads with its steps.
+ SPGSSN87 (General Warform) - An enlargened mimicry of the Kobiot form, this entity is equipped with a wide array of weaponry and functions. 5-meter tall humanoid figure with a back-mounted joint-attached mass driver and arm-mounted high-powered thermal beam weapons, the SPGSSN87 is one of the more common warforms and one with the most variation between entities; as a result of the mimicry, each model has unique visual aesthetics, mostly in the form of asymmetric armouring, but sometimes in weaponry and utility functions. This entity maintains hunter-killer functions and operates in pairs alongside and occationally ahead of formation movements. Due to this, they have both hunter-killer designations as well as force recon behaviours. The organic and rounded aesthetics of the Kobiot shape and armour designs have been reduced and refined, as such the humanoid consists of a far more angular figure. Whilst not equipped with shielding comparable to purpose-built constructs, its armour consists of an exceedingly more complex and durable alloy-fusion and material distribution/usage compared to most other comparably common warforms.
Hyperdread
SNDFMOP3 - The only ship of true quality within the WARGRID's arsenal, the SNDFMOP3 design is a mobile graviton beam emitter, utilizing the supreme powerful of the standard space station defense network and turning it into a mobile weapon through prototypal technology recently made functional. By utilizing a gravitic anchor, the graviton beam emitter, otherwise incapable of being used outside of planetary orbit, is made possible to utilize efficiently and effectively in offensive fleet motions.
The key aspect of the hyperdreadnought-like vessel is this graviton cannon, but it also utilizes a variety of super-sized forms of weaponry in comparison to other ships within the WARGRID's network (therefore becoming formidable on a galactic scale). As such, the ship is not only a fearsome cannon, capable of ripping apart ships with simple bursts of its immense gravity weapon, but its rudamentary kinetic and missiles have also become formidable in their own right, truly making this vessel the center of any fleet which it finds itself.
Its engine power also allows for improved 'super-cruise' during 'fleet assembly,' meaning that any ship which assembles around this vessel through smartmetal will experience faster sub-ftl speeds in-system. The SNDFMOP3 maintains the role of fleet-core and will therefore be the center by which any fleet assembles, which is due to its second purpose.
SNDFMOP3 was designed to act as a mobile warp-gate entry as well, which means that it is capable of both connecting with the warpgate network and move itself through it, but also that within there is a small warpgate which allows for frontline resupply and reinforcements to arrive within its hold. This effectively means that it can fly to a planet empty, and then change its interior to accomodate an invasion fleet shipped from one of the various factory-worlds through the warpgate network, as such drastically shortening the time and logistics required for offensive movements.
Because of the supply network within SNDFMOP3, it also takes the role of a logistics center, meaning that it is responsible for rearming and resupplying the ships within its fleet and ground forces within its sphere of influence.