Time: Afternoon Location: Apartment #405, Northern Residential Area (East of the University) Interaction: Dante @FunnyGuy
The girl blinked for a moment, before letting out a long, defeated sigh and simply handing the coco down to the dog. It was a cute dog, though she wished they'd met under far better circumstances regardless. Actually, why did the dog want the cup of coco? Was it a magical dog? A specialized type of familiar? Well Dante didn't seem able to talk, so maybe the dog could? Hmmm, now wasn't the time for that actually. She was in the middle of being arrested after all, though how was Dante going to go about this?
'And there's the cuff. Lot more comfortable than were used to use on 'test subjects' in my day."
'Tis' far more convenient than the enchanted irons forged in mine own day. One woulds't be drug behind a horse, wrapped in magical chain tightn'd like a serpent coiled about their person. Most fun to see when the prisoner was being belligerent, and yet it hath no fond memory within mine own past of being pulled along by one for a time. I escaped of course, but still.'
'...Noted. Juuuuuust in case I need to escape "ye olde' ball and chain" at some point in the future.'
'Trying to grow a little "bite" here on the fly, aren't you? You are not one to talk right now.'
It only took a moment for Dante's black beaded bracelet to 'cuff' her like a prisoner attached to the door handle of a police car. Or rather, it did at first look like he just made them something like a friendship bracelet set. As it turned out with the feeling of a tug and a jungle of his own bracelet, it was like a 'wireless' dog leash-...oh hell the irony there. Yet to her it was just a blessing it was just her left wrist though! Far preferable to having both hands bound up like in some Hollywood movie-style prison. Even so she would lightly test the bond for a second, staring at the bracelet before simply following along behind Dante without another word.
She would take a sip of her coco with her free right hand holding it, however, before attempting to gesture to Dante once they were beyond the doorway. No use leaving her place open right now for actual thieves to enter at least. After this she'd attempt to use a quick and silent telekinesis to at least close and lock her door on the way out. Keys were still in her pocket, after all, not that she'd had much time to think on that.
Still, without resistance after securing her apartment she would continue to follow Dante regardless.
"Should we meet again I can give you an address and phone number. Just tell them 'Valya' sent you and they'll give you a good price on the 'rocket fuel' if you're up that way~" the Russian said to Ylva, giving a slight smirk before continuing, a musing and pondering look coming over her face, "A shame about the food, however, though I am more than ready for a few rounds myself! I wonder if they have a nice Nastoika here, considering Akevitt is on the menu. Sweet, dry, as long as it was made well I think a taste of home would suffice before hitting the harder stuff. Even some Ararat brandy would do if the former isn't here, newer than some products but not a bad experience in my opinion."
Even so she looked on as her new Nordic acquaintance spoke to the others to see if anyone else wanted a drink, her gaze almost caressing their faces as if to pick up on any subtle hints they might want to join in. Curious the one boy was from New York, at least since it brought on flashbacks of the last time she'd been there and ran into a rat-eating-...ah, never mind. However, sooner than later Valya would find a menu placed near her as her attention moved over to Elias himself.
He seemed genuine enough, not bad on the humor, but and frankly the mention of avoiding the chili she could only lightly shake her head in mild amusement. Was about time to let loose a bit with the drink and eats, of course within enough reason to not get 'too' drunk and end up later on some local hunter's kill list by accident. Not that she much cared, defending herself to the teeth and fighting was not abnormal in her ever so long lifespan, but she preferred very much to not create bloody trails of needless death and gore.
"Ah, not the first time I've been advised on avoiding a given a bar's chili actually. With that in mind I'll take...hmm, I am very much famished.
Let's go with the largest burger you have, and a side of fully-loaded nachos! I might be dressed well, but my appetite is sure to match it as I and my new drinking buddy here get started~"
With that last line, she gave a slight teasing wink at Elias.
Title(s): "Ptolemy the Savior", "Meryamun Setepenre" (Beloved of Amun, Chosen of Re/Ra)
Class: Rider
Gender: Male
Birth and Death Dates: 367 BC - 282 BC
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Motivation for the Holy Grail: "I want to use this second life as a means to truly dedicate myself one last time...to go all-out for a victory, put my pride on the line as a heroic spirit, and win. I challenge this victory because it is unreachable to so many. I seek the glory of victory that lies beyond the horizon. I will lay into the conquest of this land and reap its prizes for myself, and by my might I shall demonstrate to all that this belongs to me.
Hmm? A plan for it if I win you say? Once I win I will incarnate as the mighty hero I am to take upon myself the quest to find 'that place', then, as that would be the only challenge he left behind for me to take. Even if it meant burrowing through the world itself, fighting armies alone, and even burning up as Icarus did during his journey. I will get there and leave my prints in the sand, for both of us. That will be the final respect to be paid to the man I knew like a brother."
Personality: The half-brother of Alexander who was his childhood friend, the stalwart and loyal Companion who fought his enemies with him, the brave Somatophylakes who rode alongside him into the fray, the cunning and tactical Diadochi that captured and buried the body of "the Great", and the wise and great divine Pharaoh who founded Egypt's last great dynasty with a strong and steady hand. Such are the qualities that are possessed and wielded by Ptolemy. A sober man seasoned by war and honed by years of experience in both administration and rulership, yet able to have fun and laugh around his allies as well as enjoy himself. One of his most notable qualities in life was possessing a certain level of restraint and caution, at least in his territorial and kingly ambitions as compared to his peers. Yet at the same time he will inevitably put everything he has on the line to pursue what he desires, a trait most notably shown with him literally going on an ancient covert ops mission to steal and then bury the corpse of his former commander and friend. He holds himself with a sense of pride as a friend of "that man", and exerts an aura of pressure and confidence fitting for a divine ruler of Egypt.
He actively seeks the pursuit of the Holy Grail with all of his very being in order to achieve one "stupid, foolish, whimsical, and utterly selfish wish" without any restraint. His drive will see him put all he has on the line and his pride for one last campaign, to undertake one last blazing trail of conquest with his own two hands, and to make one last push to "adventure to the very edge of the world, and to finally touch that unreachable shore" he himself seeks...even if it sees him burn up to naught but ashes in the process. While he will naturally still exercise his sense of caution and sobriety along the way, he seems to take this 'second life' as almost a game of sorts at others.
Only thing different here is that he was actually the half-brother of Iskandar.
Equipment: Pháros Aléxandros (Noble Phantasm lance that is passively kept wrapped in a black funeral shroud to hide its appearance and is tough enough to perform this role)
Parameters
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: B
Class Skills
Riding: A+
-is a Class Skill of Rider and Saber class Servants, denoting the ability to ride mounts and vehicles. Rider-class Servants will typically possess a high rank. It is said that dragon type mounts are an exception, requiring a different ability other than Riding.
All vehicles and all creatures up to the level of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast can be used as mounts. However, that does not apply to members of the Dragon Kind.
Magic Resistance: C
-grants protection against magical effects. Differing from the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether.
Cancel spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals.
Personal Skills
Divinity: B
-is the measure of whether one has Divine Spirit aptitude or not. At high levels, one is treated as a mixed race of a Divine Spirit, and the level declines when the Heroic Spirit's own rank as a Monster or Demonic Beast rises. It can also decrease due to one's dislike for the gods. Those who have A Rank Divinity or above have reached the Throne of Gods. It also has an effect which reduces special defensive values called "purge defense" in proportion to the Divinity's Rank. It can break through Skills such as Protection of the Faith and Enlightenment of the Sacred Fig.
Ptolemy is the literal child and the living incarnation of the god Amun-Ra as a Pharaoh, the half-brother of Alexander the Great (a "son of Zeus") by the same father, and a descendant of Heracles. Due to all of this, his Divine Spirit aptitude resembles the ancient Pharaohs and is naturally higher than the successive members of the Ptolemaic Dynasty would possess.
Disengage: A
-is the ability to withdraw from the battlefield in the midst of combat or reset the battle conditions.
Bonus effect of returning battle conditions to what they were at the beginning of the match (1st turn) and restores the condition of this Skill to the initial value. At the same time, it forcibly releases some of the bad status ailments inflicted on the user of this Skill.
Diadochi: A
-A skill that embodies the bearer's status and merits as a "successor to Alexander the Great", measuring attributes such as one's use of military skill, legitimacy in secession (including associated factors such as having buried his body), rulership capabilities, amount of land they took/conquered/secured, and all other such metrics by which a "successor" of "that man" would naturally be measured by. Naturally this skill retains its quality as an amalgamation of the wielder's charisma, but there is more to it than simply this. This 'active' effect arises from the natural anecdote of the Diadochi as conquerors who incorporated the lands that were once Alexander's into their own territories and nations, a thing as natural to them as successors of "that man" as breathing is to normal folk, and their struggles to take land and resources and various things of Alexander's and so forth from each other during the Wars of the Diadochi. Indeed this skill grants the capacity for the servant to actively 'incorporate' land/territory in general, basically seizing/conquering it as their own to make use of without having to set up a territory. In application this allows the wielder to draw magical energy from the land itself, among other such effects that 'incorporating' the land would naturally carry.
Royal Road: -
-The famous idiom of a "royal road" originated from Ptolemy I Soter's own words after a conversation he had with the mathematician Euclid, and embodies to a way of 'attaining or reaching something without trouble' and 'the easiest, most direct, or most effective way to reach or achieve something'. Or in other words, as a more proper translation of Euclid's words makes clearer, literally means taking a "short-cut" to achieve something more easily. Similar to how the thought experiment of the "Ship of Theseus" would be connected to the Heroic Spirit Theseus in turn, so too is this idiom by virtue of its legend attached to Ptolemy.
In effect this skill is very simple in that it just 'creates the easiest route to a given destination', or a 'royal road' that allows one to instantly reach a desired destination. Rather than 'teleportation' however, it simply works in a naturally non-Euclidean manner to the ends of 'connecting two points in space to allow the wielder to move instantly to the desired location'. It is a skill that is great for 'reaching destinations', and has utility in and out of battle as a result of its nature.
Noble Phantasms
True Name: Uraeus Anagénnisi
Title: "Be Reborn, Oh Jewel Of The Nile! Arise, Oh Divine Serpent!"
Rank: A
NP Type: Anti-Army
Range: 5-50
Maximum Number of Targets: 50
Description: It is something that embodies the rebirth and restoration of ancient Egypt under Ptolemy's rule, even the rise and return of the ancient authority of the Pharaohs and their divinity to the throne. While it is called a “Divine Beast”, though, it is not strictly a Divine Beast of the Phantasmal Species. His work to revive and bring a continuation of the thousands of years old history of Egypt was changed into a Noble Phantasm connected with the very symbol of the Pharaoh's divinity, something very much fitting for the founder of Egypt's final dynasty. Likewise it can be said the visage of a serpent ties into the various serpentine legends and myths that came to involve Ptolemy afterwards. Indeed one can also consider this Noble Phantasm of the first Ptolemaic Pharaoh to naturally be the 'reverse' of that of the last of the line. One who used the serpent to end their life and a nation, and one that brought the serpent representing the Divinity of the Pharaohs back to its proper glory. Likewise, this Noble Phantasm can be said to embody the acceptance of Ptolemy by the gods of ancient Egypt as a continuation of the Pharaohs of old.
Otherwise this Noble Phantasm is very much similar to that of Cleopatra, mirroring it. It summons an enormous monster, a flame-covered serpent with a striped pattern of blue and gold. Though due to owning the Riding Skill in his case, Ptolemy is able manipulate it and use it safely both as a mount and a means to attack and combat his enemies. If one owns the Divinity Skill, likewise, damage received from it is reduced in proportion to the skill’s rank.
To conjure and use this beast as a mount and/or for battle does not require a true-name activation, though unleashing its full power does just as it is when this serpent is used by his descendant.
---
True Name: Pháros Aléxandros
Title: "Shine Forth Oh Fires of Order, Burn Away Mine Enemies Oh Light of Civilization!"
Rank: A
NP Type: Anti-Army
Range: 2-40
Maximum Number of Targets: 500
Description: One of the great Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a legendary lighthouse surrounded possessed as a Noble Phantasm by both Ptolemy I Soter and his successor Ptolemy II Philadelphus. A shining beacon of the ancient world's achievements, and for centuries being one of the tallest manmade buildings, it became a symbol of the ingenuity, power, and height of ancient human civilization, and though this and by nature of it being a lighthouse it naturally contains the 'light of civilization' within itself. Because it was in legend a potent optic weapon able to burn up ships like 30 miles away, it also takes the form of a lance Ptolemy wields due to its "inherent qualities as a weapon". As a weapon, however, the lighthouse used the same general principle as the similar light-harnessing weapon of a 'certain Ancient Greek engineer' in order to function: Absorbing light and mana and accelerating it to create a destructive beam of light to destroy the target. As a Noble Phantasm, however, it instead uses the "light of civilization" contained within it as the light source for its offensive capabilities.
Naturally this lance can be used as a proper weapon, and likewise can be used to simply fire off A-rank attack beams as another means of ranged attack. Yet by bearing the 'light of civilization' and using it, consequentially all of this Noble Phantasm's attacks have an additional attribute stemming from that 'light of civilization'. Tied to how Ptolemy as a ruler brought order to Egypt after centuries of people fighting over it, how human civilization brings order upon the world, and similarly with lighthouses being used by civilization to bring order to the sea in particular, this attribute stemming from the light of civilization "forces things toward order"/"enforces order"/"makes sure things occur as fate has intended".
When activated by speaking it true name, this Noble Phantasm turns into a giant 'light of civilization' beam lance that stretches out as far as the original lighthouse was tall. In this manner it can be used to slash, stab, pierce, and otherwise hit enemies with it, simply being a gigantic stretched-out lightsaber that is at its most deadly and powerful. Ptolemy can wield it freely and frighteningly swiftly in this activated form, which is a total of 135 meters long (as long as the original lighthouse was tall). It is capable of cutting with ease through mundane things like people, cars, and even buildings whilst under the effects of its true name activation.
---
True Name: Vivliothíki Tis Alexándreias (translates to "Library of Alexandria")
Title: "Oh Knowledge of Mankind, Gather Together! Oh Pyre Of Our History, Burn Away The Lost Time!"
Rank: A+
NP Type: Anti-Humanity
Range: 0-75
Maximum Number of Targets: 1000
Description: A Noble Phantasm that crystalizes the essence of the Library of Alexandria as the "greatest archive of knowledge in the ancient world" and as containing "1000 years worth of human history" due to its history, contents, and of course the existing human beliefs and legends about it. In effect, however, this simply adds up to making this Noble Phantasm what the Library actually was in life: A repository for 1000 years worth of the 'light of human civilization'. This Noble Phantasm is of course not the physical library itself, but the very core and nature of it's purpose made manifest. It was a place where the knowledge of ancient human civilization was gathered, accrued, recorded, calculated, and kept, and as such it becoming a repository for the light of civilization itself is only reflecting what it already was. Naturally Ptolemy can draw upon this repository passively to empower attacks and such with this 'light of civilization', albeit at a greater mana cost for said empowered attacks, and can even use it to greatly empower his "Pháros Aléxandros" Noble Phantasm and in all its uses/attacks by employing this Noble Phantasm as a literal power/light source instead (also at a higher mana cost). He can also empower his "Uraeus Anagénnisi" Noble Phantasm by connecting this Noble Phantasm to it as well.
All the above is, though, the Library's uses without a true name invocation. When a true name activation is actually used for this Noble Phantasm, the 'light of civilization' within the repository is converted into heat values and is unleashed in a powerful but directed surging wave of destructive obliterating light. It is a Noble Phantasm eerily similar in a fashion to "that" Noble Phantasm used in another far-flung timeline, but frankly speaking is its own thing and on a smaller scale than "all of pan-human history" since it only contains 1000 years worth. Even so this penetrating and potent attack exhibits extreme damage values of its own, and should not be underestimated. This use of the library as a tool of destruction is meant to represent the destruction of the actual physical library itself, as well as embodying the aspect of human civilization to ultimately weaponize 'knowledge' as has been true through the ages (even into modern times). Though it is of note that use of this attack does not destroy/extinguish the contents of the repository itself, though it is a costly Noble Phantasm to use in turn.
Title(s): "Ptolemy the Savior", "Meryamun Setepenre" (Beloved of Amun, Chosen of Re/Ra)
Class: Rider
Gender: Male
Birth and Death Dates: 367 BC - 282 BC
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Motivation for the Holy Grail: "I want to use this second life as a means to truly dedicate myself one last time...to go all-out for a victory, put my pride on the line as a heroic spirit, and win. I challenge this victory because it is unreachable to so many. I seek the glory of victory that lies beyond the horizon. I will lay into the conquest of this land and reap its prizes for myself, and by my might I shall demonstrate to all that this belongs to me.
Hmm? A plan for it if I win you say? Once I win I will incarnate as the mighty hero I am to take upon myself the quest to find 'that place', then, as that would be the only challenge he left behind for me to take. Even if it meant burrowing through the world itself, fighting armies alone, and even burning up as Icarus did during his journey. I will get there and leave my prints in the sand, for both of us. That will be the final respect to be paid to the man I knew like a brother."
Personality: The half-brother of Alexander who was his childhood friend, the stalwart and loyal Companion who fought his enemies with him, the brave Somatophylakes who rode alongside him into the fray, the cunning and tactical Diadochi that captured and buried the body of "the Great", and the wise and great divine Pharaoh who founded Egypt's last great dynasty with a strong and steady hand. Such are the qualities that are possessed and wielded by Ptolemy. A sober man seasoned by war and honed by years of experience in both administration and rulership, yet able to have fun and laugh around his allies as well as enjoy himself. One of his most notable qualities in life was possessing a certain level of restraint and caution, at least in his territorial and kingly ambitions as compared to his peers. Yet at the same time he will inevitably put everything he has on the line to pursue what he desires, a trait most notably shown with him literally going on an ancient covert ops mission to steal and then bury the corpse of his former commander and friend. He holds himself with a sense of pride as a friend of "that man", and exerts an aura of pressure and confidence fitting for a divine ruler of Egypt.
He actively seeks the pursuit of the Holy Grail with all of his very being in order to achieve one "stupid, foolish, whimsical, and utterly selfish wish" without any restraint. His drive will see him put all he has on the line and his pride for one last campaign, to undertake one last blazing trail of conquest with his own two hands, and to make one last push to "adventure to the very edge of the world, and to finally touch that unreachable shore" he himself seeks...even if it sees him burn up to naught but ashes in the process. While he will naturally still exercise his sense of caution and sobriety along the way, he seems to take this 'second life' as almost a game of sorts at others.
Only thing different here is that he was actually the half-brother of Iskandar.
Equipment: Pháros Aléxandros (Noble Phantasm lance that is passively kept wrapped in a black funeral shroud to hide its appearance and is tough enough to perform this role)
Parameters
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: B
Class Skills
Riding: A+
-is a Class Skill of Rider and Saber class Servants, denoting the ability to ride mounts and vehicles. Rider-class Servants will typically possess a high rank. It is said that dragon type mounts are an exception, requiring a different ability other than Riding.
All vehicles and all creatures up to the level of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast can be used as mounts. However, that does not apply to members of the Dragon Kind.
Magic Resistance: C
-grants protection against magical effects. Differing from the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether.
Cancel spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals.
Personal Skills
Divinity: B
-is the measure of whether one has Divine Spirit aptitude or not. At high levels, one is treated as a mixed race of a Divine Spirit, and the level declines when the Heroic Spirit's own rank as a Monster or Demonic Beast rises. It can also decrease due to one's dislike for the gods. Those who have A Rank Divinity or above have reached the Throne of Gods. It also has an effect which reduces special defensive values called "purge defense" in proportion to the Divinity's Rank. It can break through Skills such as Protection of the Faith and Enlightenment of the Sacred Fig.
Ptolemy is the literal child and the living incarnation of the god Amun-Ra as a Pharaoh, the half-brother of Alexander the Great (a "son of Zeus") by the same father, and a descendant of Heracles. Due to all of this, his Divine Spirit aptitude resembles the ancient Pharaohs and is naturally higher than the successive members of the Ptolemaic Dynasty would possess.
Disengage: A
-is the ability to withdraw from the battlefield in the midst of combat or reset the battle conditions.
Bonus effect of returning battle conditions to what they were at the beginning of the match (1st turn) and restores the condition of this Skill to the initial value. At the same time, it forcibly releases some of the bad status ailments inflicted on the user of this Skill.
Diadochi: A
-A skill that embodies the bearer's status and merits as a "successor to Alexander the Great", measuring attributes such as one's use of military skill, legitimacy in secession (including associated factors such as having buried his body), rulership capabilities, amount of land they took/conquered/secured, and all other such metrics by which a "successor" of "that man" would naturally be measured by. Naturally this skill retains its quality as an amalgamation of the wielder's charisma, but there is more to it than simply this. This 'active' effect arises from the natural anecdote of the Diadochi as conquerors who incorporated the lands that were once Alexander's into their own territories and nations, a thing as natural to them as successors of "that man" as breathing is to normal folk, and their struggles to take land and resources and various things of Alexander's and so forth from each other during the Wars of the Diadochi. Indeed this skill grants the capacity for the servant to actively 'incorporate' land/territory in general, basically seizing/conquering it as their own to make use of without having to set up a territory. In application this allows the wielder to draw magical energy from the land itself, among other such effects that 'incorporating' the land would naturally carry.
Royal Road: -
-The famous idiom of a "royal road" originated from Ptolemy I Soter's own words after a conversation he had with the mathematician Euclid, and embodies to a way of 'attaining or reaching something without trouble' and 'the easiest, most direct, or most effective way to reach or achieve something'. Or in other words, as a more proper translation of Euclid's words makes clearer, literally means taking a "short-cut" to achieve something more easily. Similar to how the thought experiment of the "Ship of Theseus" would be connected to the Heroic Spirit Theseus in turn, so too is this idiom by virtue of its legend attached to Ptolemy.
In effect this skill is very simple in that it just 'creates the easiest route to a given destination', or a 'royal road' that allows one to instantly reach a desired destination. Rather than 'teleportation' however, it simply works in a naturally non-Euclidean manner to the ends of 'connecting two points in space to allow the wielder to move instantly to the desired location'. It is a skill that is great for 'reaching destinations', and has utility in and out of battle as a result of its nature.
Noble Phantasms
True Name: Uraeus Anagénnisi
Title: "Be Reborn, Oh Jewel Of The Nile! Arise, Oh Divine Serpent!"
Rank: A
NP Type: Anti-Army
Range: 5-50
Maximum Number of Targets: 50
Description: It is something that embodies the rebirth and restoration of ancient Egypt under Ptolemy's rule, even the rise and return of the ancient authority of the Pharaohs and their divinity to the throne. While it is called a “Divine Beast”, though, it is not strictly a Divine Beast of the Phantasmal Species. His work to revive and bring a continuation of the thousands of years old history of Egypt was changed into a Noble Phantasm connected with the very symbol of the Pharaoh's divinity, something very much fitting for the founder of Egypt's final dynasty. Likewise it can be said the visage of a serpent ties into the various serpentine legends and myths that came to involve Ptolemy afterwards. Indeed one can also consider this Noble Phantasm of the first Ptolemaic Pharaoh to naturally be the 'reverse' of that of the last of the line. One who used the serpent to end their life and a nation, and one that brought the serpent representing the Divinity of the Pharaohs back to its proper glory. Likewise, this Noble Phantasm can be said to embody the acceptance of Ptolemy by the gods of ancient Egypt as a continuation of the Pharaohs of old.
Otherwise this Noble Phantasm is very much similar to that of Cleopatra, mirroring it. It summons an enormous monster, a flame-covered serpent with a striped pattern of blue and gold. Though due to owning the Riding Skill in his case, Ptolemy is able manipulate it and use it safely both as a mount and a means to attack and combat his enemies. If one owns the Divinity Skill, likewise, damage received from it is reduced in proportion to the skill’s rank.
To conjure and use this beast as a mount and/or for battle does not require a true-name activation, though unleashing its full power does just as it is when this serpent is used by his descendant.
---
True Name: Pháros Aléxandros
Title: "Shine Forth Oh Fires of Order, Burn Away Mine Enemies Oh Light of Civilization!"
Rank: A
NP Type: Anti-Army
Range: 2-40
Maximum Number of Targets: 500
Description: One of the great Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a legendary lighthouse surrounded possessed as a Noble Phantasm by both Ptolemy I Soter and his successor Ptolemy II Philadelphus. A shining beacon of the ancient world's achievements, and for centuries being one of the tallest manmade buildings, it became a symbol of the ingenuity, power, and height of ancient human civilization, and though this and by nature of it being a lighthouse it naturally contains the 'light of civilization' within itself. Because it was in legend a potent optic weapon able to burn up ships like 30 miles away, it also takes the form of a lance Ptolemy wields due to its "inherent qualities as a weapon". As a weapon, however, the lighthouse used the same general principle as the similar light-harnessing weapon of a 'certain Ancient Greek engineer' in order to function: Absorbing light and mana and accelerating it to create a destructive beam of light to destroy the target. As a Noble Phantasm, however, it instead uses the "light of civilization" contained within it as the light source for its offensive capabilities.
Naturally this lance can be used as a proper weapon, and likewise can be used to simply fire off A-rank attack beams as another means of ranged attack. Yet by bearing the 'light of civilization' and using it, consequentially all of this Noble Phantasm's attacks have an additional attribute stemming from that 'light of civilization'. Tied to how Ptolemy as a ruler brought order to Egypt after centuries of people fighting over it, how human civilization brings order upon the world, and similarly with lighthouses being used by civilization to bring order to the sea in particular, this attribute stemming from the light of civilization "forces things toward order"/"enforces order"/"makes sure things occur as fate has intended".
When activated by speaking it true name, this Noble Phantasm turns into a giant 'light of civilization' beam lance that stretches out as far as the original lighthouse was tall. In this manner it can be used to slash, stab, pierce, and otherwise hit enemies with it, simply being a gigantic stretched-out lightsaber that is at its most deadly and powerful. Ptolemy can wield it freely and frighteningly swiftly in this activated form, which is a total of 135 meters long (as long as the original lighthouse was tall). It is capable of cutting with ease through mundane things like people, cars, and even buildings whilst under the effects of its true name activation.
---
True Name: Vivliothíki Tis Alexándreias (translates to "Library of Alexandria")
Title: "Oh Knowledge of Mankind, Gather Together! Oh Pyre Of Our History, Burn Away The Lost Time!"
Rank: A+
NP Type: Anti-Humanity
Range: 0-75
Maximum Number of Targets: 1000
Description: A Noble Phantasm that crystalizes the essence of the Library of Alexandria as the "greatest archive of knowledge in the ancient world" and as containing "1000 years worth of human history" due to its history, contents, and of course the existing human beliefs and legends about it. In effect, however, this simply adds up to making this Noble Phantasm what the Library actually was in life: A repository for 1000 years worth of the 'light of human civilization'. This Noble Phantasm is of course not the physical library itself, but the very core and nature of it's purpose made manifest. It was a place where the knowledge of ancient human civilization was gathered, accrued, recorded, calculated, and kept, and as such it becoming a repository for the light of civilization itself is only reflecting what it already was. Naturally Ptolemy can draw upon this repository passively to empower attacks and such with this 'light of civilization', albeit at a greater mana cost for said empowered attacks, and can even use it to greatly empower his "Pháros Aléxandros" Noble Phantasm and in all its uses/attacks by employing this Noble Phantasm as a literal power/light source instead (also at a higher mana cost). He can also empower his "Uraeus Anagénnisi" Noble Phantasm by connecting this Noble Phantasm to it as well.
All the above is, though, the Library's uses without a true name invocation. When a true name activation is actually used for this Noble Phantasm, the 'light of civilization' within the repository is converted into heat values and is unleashed in a powerful but directed surging wave of destructive obliterating light. It is a Noble Phantasm eerily similar in a fashion to "that" Noble Phantasm used in another far-flung timeline, but frankly speaking is its own thing and on a smaller scale than "all of pan-human history" since it only contains 1000 years worth. Even so this penetrating and potent attack exhibits extreme damage values of its own, and should not be underestimated. This use of the library as a tool of destruction is meant to represent the destruction of the actual physical library itself, as well as embodying the aspect of human civilization to ultimately weaponize 'knowledge' as has been true through the ages (even into modern times). Though it is of note that use of this attack does not destroy/extinguish the contents of the repository itself, though it is a costly Noble Phantasm to use in turn.
Leannah sat there, enraptured in Lazhira's explanation and example before giving a silent look at one of her own hands. Magic. Such a thing didn't exist back home-...well, actually she had no idea. For the most part 'no', but then again how could some goddess nab them up as souls if back home was a total no-magic zone? Or maybe they'd ended up somewhere else beyond their home where-. Ah. No, that was beginning to get a bit too crazy for her liking. Would have to save those thoughts for far, far later. Same for her theory about the goddess and the prison and all of that, albeit in regards to this matter she'd note 'elves' for a later thing to look into, which theory was frankly for now was a work in progress only and in its infancy. For now, it was lesson time! Not always her favorite time in her younger years, admittedly, but frankly to be a student of something again was in some sense exhilarating and exciting.
Even so, as Lazhira got around to her she let the girl take her hand gently before-...wow. A tug. Like a child pulling on a blanket, kind of, or tugging on your shirt. And yet it was vaguely familiar in some sense, reminiscent of her cat-propelled rocket stunt back at the prison-fortress area. Kinda. Sorta. However, the way Lazhiura breathed was something all too reminiscent of anime and frankly real life martial arts to the former child prodigy. Likewise, the gist seemed to her to be 'grab at your own mana, like wet clay or sculpture shape it, and then input the amount of energy into it to probably determine the strength of the result'. Or something like that? It was the first words off the top of her head, so for now she'd give herself some leeway on that at least.
Taking an initial deep and slow breath, Leannah let her breathing fall into a controlled pace. As natural to her as, frankly, a wolf's natural instincts were to the wolf itself. It was like flipping a switch without having to think hard on it at all.
The catgirl then attempted to do as the human girl has suggested: 'pull'. Pull from within herself, like how Lazhira had 'tugged' on her but doing it to herself this time instead. Yes. Imagine a river, even, flowing with water. She was the source, and the river was the flow of energy outwards. Of course don't make it too big, or she'd pull a stunt like a certain someone had earlier, but choke and limit the flow outwards from within herself. She wasn't trying to escape a stone giant monster thing this time around.
Then focus that flow of energy into her hand, and shape it into a nice ball. Perfectly smooth and round, and pushing the energy into it to ignite that fire! Imagine it like the radiance of the sun on a hot summer day, but with a softness and intensity brought to somewhere between the likes of the sun and the moon. A light of great enough intensity to be able to guide the way, but not a fireball that would burn up or blind all around it (though that thought would be a note for later).
Time: Afternoon Location: Apartment #405, Northern Residential Area (East of the University) Interaction: Dante @FunnyGuy
A brief glimmer of joy seemed to cross the younger girl's eyes, and after giving a hasty nod up and down to Dante the witch jotted over to her tiny kitchen. She grabbed a couple packets of hot coco, the milk, a couple of to-go thermos, and got to work throwing together a last-second travel drink or two for the road. She seemed to work fast at it whilst using telekinesis rather adeptly to hasten the process, heating milk, stirring in coco powder, adding the sugar, grabbing straws, and slapping it all together with the kind of care and simultaneously breakneck haste only a stressed-out college student during finals week might exhibit. Or rather, someone who was briefly excited for one small nicety she'd have at least despite the fact she was being arrested by the local coven/magical police. Regardless, it gave her a little hope that the day would end on a better note...maybe...probably...mmmmm, she'd keep an open mind about it all at least.
Jotting back over to Dante, her tiny kitchen left behind with a light coco dust lingering on part of the counter, Charlotte extended a warm hand with a thermos of creamy, smooth, and ultimately rather fresh hot coco in it. Whether he took it or not, however, she had her own thermos of it in her other hand and the smallest of smiles on her face at the very least.
"Here! I figured since it's this time of year, you might need something to stay warm as well!"
'Zat eez a kind offer to zee one zat jumped into zees mindscape, but you know you are still being arrested yes? Zis sort of thing might be zee littlest bit suspicion, non? Not to mention ill-fitting.'
'For once we agree on something.'
Oh. Crap!
A flustered look of shock appeared on Charlotte's face, and as her face turned beet red she attempted to withdraw her arm hastily. She nearly dropped of the offered hot chocolate, even, lightly fumbling it in one hand before using telekinesis to catch it and keep it from spilling. At the very least, though, she seemed to catch herself a bit as she steadied herself once more.
'Let the girl- *sigh*. Not again.'
The nineteen-year-old seemed to grimace for a second, before gingerly transferring the offered thermos to her other arm for a moment as she rapped on her own skull with her knuckles in irritation. Her eyes seemed to stare up, as if attempting to look back at the voices prodding her mind once more. Seemed the distraction caused by Dante's leaving hadn't been long enough in her opinion. Usually she was more mindful of this, but...well, today was one of those days where things were more on-edge. She'd been caught up in her excitement for hot coco that she hadn't thought to question the advice initially. Wasn't like they were totally wrong, really, but to hell if she was going to make things worse by giving the cold shoulder!
"Stupid...ugh," the young witch said, mumbling to herself before letting out a long sigh before grabbing up and extending the not-spilled thermos out to Dante once more, the light pink of embarrassment crossing her own face briefly and her eyes looking more to the side as she struggled to look him in the face again, "It's...it's been a long day already. Sorry. But, um, I promise I didn't do anything to the hot coco. You can check the shelves if you want proof."
"Oh? A little hero are we? Haha, well then perhaps this gig might suit you, hmm?" the older woman teasingly mused aloud to Finn, before letting out a quiet sigh and turning her eyes and body back around to Ylva.
A hint of familiarity seemed to pass over Valya's face at the nordic woman's mention of mead and 'stronger drinks', however, and a wry smile seemed to crawl back onto the Siberian werewolf's face from each corner. She pulled her head off of her hand and let her hands and arms rest again on the counter before speaking once more.
"Indeed, it seems we are both far from home for our own reasons I'd wager. But I can understand why the lighter drinks just stop doing the job anymore,"
Valya chuckled.
"I've had my fair share of drinks, but if you really want a kick to remember down the line then I'd recommend the moonshine out in the Appalachian region and similar rural areas. For many it would kill their ability to see, veritable 'rocket fuel' and poison that stuff is as compared to others, but for those with a need for 'heavier' product like ourselves it isn't a problem at all."
The raw and almighty burn of homemade high-proof moonshine made out of someone's bathtub or a still hidden in the backwoods. A true classic, akin to 'the classic' manner she first had it so very long ago, but only something she'd dabbled in a couple of times for her own enjoyment. Still, the memories of those nights and that one adorable effeminate-looking younger man working at the local diner were not ones she'd not want to forget. Even so, she could tell that simply by the other woman's seeming curiosity and reaction at her mention of familiarity with the Asulf that some form of a chord had been struck. What kind of chord, she had no idea. Either way it was better to play it safe in that particular matter.
"As for my familiarity with your line, Ylva, I must confess haven't visited in literal ages to be quite honest. I've traveled for many years indeed, moving from place to place and curiosity to curiosity and so forth. To see the world, to experience the world and everything within it, is a personal passion of mine if I may be so frank. Like...a leaf upon the wind..." the wine-haired vixen said, allowing her words to trail as she shifted her attention to Eli now in turn, giving a low chuckle at the man's humor before continuing, "Ah, the kitchen closes at ten? Would you happen to have anything that pairs well with a few very stiff drinks? I'm rather parched, but frankly I can't say no to a potential hot meal either."
Her smile perk up a bit more as she spoke, before glancing at Ylva and giving a small but friendly wink. Nothing flirty or such in this case, it would be all too easy in Valya's opinion, but simply a light prod to see if she might snatch herself a temporary drinking buddy and conversation partner for the next bit. The quiet of earlier had been nice, but frankly she wanted to loosen up a bit more and simply enjoy herself in a new place. Besides, those of Nordic stock (humans or otherwise) were generally good to have some hard drinks with.
"Would you want something as well, Ylva? My treat, drinks and food alike, as hopefully ample payment for your time here and some good conversation of course. No pressure, however, if you have business or such to attend to otherwise."
“Like I’m sure you guys know the pretty basic stuff about the Delpithi, the Goddess of the Moon. How her Oceans birthed all life right after humans left the tower?”
“A lot of things say something about the ocean, the goddess tears and sealing a path.”
Well, a huge pillar in the middle of a mysterious temple was itself a very nice clue. Not that it was an obelisk, but...frankly she had seen one before that was an obelisk at least. She wasn't there to see the thing Lazhira had mentioned after all, nor had she read some scrolls as a certain fox girl seemed to have been noted to have done. All in all she had was her own knowledge and education to base things off of, and-...hmm. Wait just a second. This was all ringing some bells in her mind. There had been that moon she saw after dying too, the whole conversation with a "Goddess" in the nighttime-like void, the rain, the feeling of liquid-filled lungs and being drowned as well as drug deep underwater. She'd woken up coughing up strange alien fluid from some tube in a strange prison complex with a tall watch tower in the center where it almost seemed like a Warden had once set up their office.
Plus thinking back, it could be said it was a one-way exit from that prison complex in the end. They had no door back in, at least, though they had been able to see the way out when trying to escape. Likewise...ancient and very dusty weapons strewn all over the floor, lying about like a looter had tried to grab them up. Heck even those ruined tapestries seemed like they had come about literal ages ago from their appearance and raw condition alone. Place was also like a museum for an alien world in some sense, at least if she were to be honest in hindsight here.
...It was a hell of a series of coincidences, and similarities didn't always mean a correlation was there. That was simple and sound science in and of itself. Yet at the same time these parallels and the symbolic ties to what Lazhira said, it was all too uncanny for her to doubt much. It could be wrong, very wrong indeed, and at best the idea had just hit her mind and brought back the before less-important memories from right before she'd woken up. All the same it was just too damned cool to not think of in some part as well, to imagine and put together.
At least for now her running theory would be: "We woke up in a divine lab-prison made by some moon goddess to create life, and at some point it got sealed off cause looters or something maybe, and then we this much later got reincarnated there by this goddess to rebuild a dead world according to her own words". Heck, at least there was also a very much potential name to place to that particular voice and individual who'd spoken to her at the very least: Delpithi, Goddess of the Moon.
Leannah shook her head lightly. Maybe she could think on it more later, but for now it was just a theory a game theory founded on what evidence and circumstance and new information had just been given to her. More than that, Lazhira seemed to be making an even more interesting offer! It made her ears perk up once more and her tail begin to twitch in obvious excitement. She swore this girl was getting more and more interesting by the moment!
"I'd be happy to learn from you! Ah...of course if your are truly ok with that."
She couldn't help but sound like an excited child for a moment, old passions and mental images of ancient Egyptian priests and magi coming to mind. Even the legend of The Book of Thoth came right back to her mind in turn. All of it! Still, as soon as she caught herself she attempted to simmer back down, trying to somewhat push down her excited inner nerd and Egyptology geek to sound more mature.
Late Morning, Planetary High Court Building, Renali VI, Forveliam League
The air in the room was tense as the three male Renali stood there tall, tense enough so that it could be virtually cut with a vibroblade right here and now. Yet none seemed to waver as their gazes sat steeled upon each other, none seemed to stand down or submit to the pressures exerted by the others. The first one's body had been replaced extensively with cybernetics and gene-modded flesh and organs, to the point he looked externally more like a machine in the image of a Renali than like a Renali soldier and longtime veteran. His gaze was more cold yet serene, heated yet cool, cybernetic eyes and body language projecting a sort of disciplined but still noticeably agitated mood. The second was a more modern-dressed individual, donning the blue and silver-trimmed modern-style garb of a planetary senator, his gaze keen and steeled like none other. Even with one eye having been replaced with cybernetics only a few years ago, he seemed to hold a certain grace and professionalism that different from a soldier's own type of discipline. The third was dressed in a green and copper-trimmed older garb, a type of old robe reminiscent of the old tribal style or a 'toga' as humans seemingly called it. Even so this higher governor held himself with a certain sense of pride, old and rugged and as stubborn and yet full of strength as the life-forms of the planet itself.
Ultimately it would be when another standing in the corner would cough, however, that the three males' attention would be diverted.
"My dear brothers, this is a matter that we need to settle, though simply standing here to intimidate each other will do naught but gather dust and darker things. To this end I suggest we meet another day, and allow these things to gestate within our minds until the time is right to speak once again."
The speaker was a very much fully-organic Renali adorned in flowing red robes with golden trim, whose clothes were even inlaid with myriad ancient symbols that signified his rank. He piped up with a sagely and noticeably aged tone of voice, the kind of tone of one who had seen much and done many things in his days. His reptilian eyes, gleaming with the wisdom of ages past, seemed to glance over the three men analytically before they softened once more in turn.
"...The Great Elder is right, oh World Speaker and High Governor. This debate can be finished another day, another time. For now, however, I implore you to heed my words. Our people are suffering as potential genetic issues accumulate, and the cases of Recombinant Affliction Disorder have begun to sharply rise to affect almost a fifth of us in the last several years alone.
While a danger is there, we cannot ignore the need for help is here and that we must act before the issue grows any larger than it has." The first of the three spoke, his mechanical-looking carapace glinting ever so slightly in the light as he spoke in a voice filled with well-meaning organic words and yet inhumanly-well-tuned mechanical tones.
"While I agree in that one respect, that we must speak later, I'm afraid I cannot sit idly by either with what you have said High General.
We cannot entertain nor pretend your ideas do not put our people in danger. Not here, and especially not elsewhere. To contact the CCN, to talk with that dangerous rabble for any attempted benefits or learnings or otherwise, would only turn out to spite your men and all of us in the end.
Only death would come, and more so it would put the League into a situation with the Federation and others that would have extensive ramifications-" The second returned in kind, his controlled tone of voice and splendid control over his vocal projection so very fit for a politician, though as he seemed to go on he would soon find himself cut off.
"World Speaker, those risks are indeed true to an extent we are all aware of...and yet we cannot ignore what must be done. Time is of the essence, and the needed tools might be at our disposal with simple negotiations. We can avoid a disaster without causing another.
Our soldiers and their family bloodlines compose many populations of the Renali. They already have branched so far, gone to such lengths for so long, that most of them cannot conceive with those outside of their enclaves and groups. Only the younger families seem to be able to, and they in due time will fall away in that manner as well. Even if those whom wisdom is sought from are deemed evil and follow a dark path, goodly purpose can be used to guide this wisdom to the benefit of many.
Would you deny them the chance to ascend the ancient ways that we have respected for so long, even to ensure the issues among their own can be righted and set on a productive course? Would you deny them the chance to get guidance needed to save their own, no matter the cost that simply standing about would bring as well? the third spoke, his voice holding as firm and tall as a mountain and yet as gentle and soft as the breeze.
The three stood silent again for but a moment, the questions of the third lingering in the empty air of the grand meeting chamber. Only four of them were there, three of whom had been the debators with each other, and yet the lack of an assembly to fill the vast space of the room otherwise created an almost eerie and haunting sensation...something that seemed to leave all suddenly more uncomfortable as it rose up once more in a sudden wave.
"I shall keep contact with you all, and organize the next time we will meet after returning to His Highness' side. Until then, I would simply note that we must evacuate the room before the midday meeting begins."
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As he left the Planetary High Court Building, the High General seemed to sigh as he approached the docked vehicle that had been waiting to pick him up. A military spacecraft, an old troop space-surface transport once used for planetary landings at that. It had been upgraded greatly with new technology, painted well, and transformed in the end into a VIP-moving shuttle for military officials of the League and other important personnel. Even now the old frontal boarding hatch was opening and lowering, the hiss of decompression and detachment cutting into the air as it opened up and formed a ramp for him to walk up into the ship. Twelve armed veteran Renali emerged, six on either side, their mixed mechanical-organic forms standing at attention with radi-beam rifles in hand as the High General approached and began to walk up.
"At ease, my warriors."
The Renali almost sighed after the well-rehearsed words rolled out, though as he reached the top the old soldier noticed a very familiar face. Her face was half-replaced, the left side composed of fitted cybernetics and a bio-mechanical fleshy bits, whilst the right side of her face shone as Renali as the day she'd been born. Even so, her remaining natural eye was itself a peculiar swirling mix of distinct orange and very light purple colors, a sure secondary sign of the genetic modifications she'd inherited from many ancestors in the past combined.
"Colonel Vrighid...heh, you remind me of your father even now. That look in your eyes of raw determination, that aura of pride you carry in your family name, all of it speaks of his younger days when I was a Major."
The younger female soldier half-smirked as she looked back at the High General, rolling her eyes as if she was a youngling regarding her own doting parent. Even so her body posture itself remained rigid, defined, and frankly speaking disciplined in every way to a 'T'.
"Please, High General Vorhm, he'd have laughed himself to death on his very deathbed just hearing you say that of all things. But all the same...thank you."
A hint of sorrow seemed to carry In Vrighid's half-mechanical, and for a moment Vorhm regarded her carefully before giving a sagely nod and walking forward. Naturally Vrighid rapidly moved to keep at-pace with him, even as the soldiers finished returning into the hold and the hatch began to rise and seal up once more. The metal floor clanked under their feet as well, even as the painted lighter greys and hard red borders of the ship's internal halls would start to pass by them once leaving the vast hold itself. Yet the High General's silence seemed to echo more than any other noise, even as the engines could be heard cutting on for the undocking process from the one of many ship-docking poles that stood up around the Planetary High Court Building.
"...They did not listen, did they?"
Vrighid's voice rang in Vorhm's ears, a sense of audible restraint holding back the hint of frustrations he knew lied underneath. In a heartbeat, the older and far more modified Renali stopped to lightly turn his head to his subordinate.
"Not ignored, not both of them at any rate. The High Governor has sympathies for our plight, our people's plight, and yet that stubborn fool of a World Speaker rebuffs us. While I can understand his view, and the issues at hand, at the same time we cannot ignore the issue altogether.
We need the information and technology to ensure our military bloodlines are freed of the unintentional defects and unintended combinations of old genetic modifications combining with new ones or certain naturally-mutated genetics of some civilians. While medicine has been produced for many to at least hold back the symptoms, the problem continues to grow and the fact of the matter is that it is projected to rapidly do so over time. Even so, we all are well-aware of the risks involved and the other myriad potential issues that might arise from what we must still do. It is our only choice to ensure the matter is taken care of in a timely manner before it spirals out of control, and even with many of the League's best and brightest involved it will take too much time for them to organize their work and develop a sure solution before it is too late. Only they know what our people are like, as they are very much similar to us."
"So we will execute the plan as intended?"
"Yes. Have the ship's crew turn on the private deep-space comms link to the CCN as soon as we get far enough away from the planet. Then link it through one of the old channels for an unused one that has been abandoned, something no one here will be actively searching for these days. Then meet me in the conference room, where I will be waiting for the negotiations top start once we manage to hail them.
We sent them a package, encrypted of course to ensure the find the channel, which hopefully arrived through our mutual associates."
The Colonel stood firm, face now stoic as she gave a salute before very promptly and quickly beginning to make her way to the cockpit down another side hall. Meanwhile, Vorhm simply stared up at the ceiling above him and let out a long sigh.
This would be a long day for the Renali indeed, but one that was necessary for the common good of their military families to step above the standard members of their race and become something 'new'. Something that could stand on its own and continue to work alongside the League and fight alongside and for their original people despite becoming a different variant species. To this end, progress had to be made quickly to ensure the growing burden of these genetic issues didn't spread even farther and faster than they already were. And if he could help it, and he hoped he could, he wouldn't sit by and watch as so many suffered...
Government Type: Constitutional Republican Quadrarchy - A representative from each planet in the League is elected, and after a rigorous review process to approve or deny them as candidates they take their place in the Grand Senate with other such representatives. The Grand Senate handles the bulk of the league-wide day to day general bureaucracy and legislative process to keep the League running, and acts to allow the will of the people to be heard and keep the well-oiled gears of the political machine running. They likewise have a general part in enforcing and executing laws within the League to a limited extent, though, while ultimately being a body that keeps the Quadrarchy from being the sole voice in all things. If a Quadrarch wants to pass a law or propose one, it must be done through the Grand Senate.
The Quadrarchy is itself composed of the individual ruler of each of the four original member races of the League. These four hereditary kings/queens act as the highest judges in the League, and further will directly appoint system and planetary level judges as well. They further take action in executing laws (executive) and judging upon them (judicial). Their power is rather absolute otherwise, though the League’s small constitution enforces them being fully equal to each other. They act as authorities to balance each other out politically, act as the top four military leaders in the entire League, and generally act to balance out potential factions or corruption or outside influence and such dangerous bodies that might form in the Grand Senate. From the other direction, the Grand Senate keeps them from simply passing laws and actions frivolously or dangerously upon the nation on a whim or the ilk.
Anything less than planetary level officials are generally elected (if possible) or appointed (as needed).
Demographics:
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Homo Formicidae, aka the “Formi/Formians”: A race of humanoid ant-like arthropods, or normally called ‘arthropodic humanoids’, whose form took a similar nature and similar-ish biology to humankind's. This came about due to the process of evolution affecting them ‘somewhat similarly’ to humans and ants on their homeworld, though they have since become classified as a galactic example and proof of ‘convergent evolution’ occuring in the Eden Cluster.
They possess almond-shaped green-colored eyes in a humanoid positioning that lack a distinct pupil, though are capable of ‘seeing’ in far deeper quality and a greater range of colors than most other humanoid species. They have a set of ‘feelers’ on their head, though in their case these developed to host an array of sensory capabilities ranging from detecting movement in the air to sources of heat to wind direction and similar things. They also possess a humanoid-style mouth and nose to boot. Their face, neck, torso, and down to the thighs are covered in a unique and silky smooth chitin variant, one which feels deceptively soft on the outside and very much akin to the skin of an nearly hairless mammal. They even have mammal-like hair on their head tha can come in a range of hues and colors, which hair is itself noticeably less similar to something like humans or mammals due to being composed of rather tough and insulating chitin-infused fibers that remain soft to the touch.
They possess two sets of arms and only one set of bipedal legs, which are themselves covered in a lighter-colored chitin exoskeleton and have very flexible but arthropodic joints. Their hands each possess five fingers, granting far more notable levels of dexterity than lesser-fingered species, and their joints as well as knees and shins are covered in a distinctly stronger and darker-colored chitin than the rest of them for protective reasons. Their feet, however, do end in two ‘clawed’ and rather powerful digits each with the corresponding ‘heels’ of their feet being off of the ground due to how the strength of their feet has evolved and become balanced. Likewise they possess an ant/arthropod-like abdomen hanging down from just above their butts, which has evolved to itself simply take part in the egg-laying part of the reproductive process for females (males get a stinger there instead) as well as become covered in even stronger chitin than the rest of the species’ body is coated in.
In terms of durability they far surpass mammals, but even with an armor-like body they possess they aren’t invulnerable by far. However, in terms of resiliency they possess greater strength for their size and are capable of standing up again after taking some rather notable damage.
As a race they don’t think much about their gender ratio being so highly skewed to being females, because to them it's as natural as breathing air. Males have always been born smaller and far less often, though do bear the distinction of having the only rather venomous stingers of the species, and even at this stage only compose about 15% of the species as a whole. Females, on the other hand, have developed to where males are sources of added genetic diversity but that their bodies can also independently ‘recombine’ additional chromosomes they possess in order to generate fertile eggs and young without a male.
So to them, humans and those others are the oddities! Not being able to have children on a mass scale? Sheesh, talk about inefficient. No protective exoskeleton to make you resilient? Absurd! That being said they are curious about the wider galaxy, and contact with humanity gave them the technology to make it possible long ago. Still, they seek to reach among the stars with their allies and make their people shine!
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A species that evolved as sophisticated creatures able to float through the air, they could grasp onto prey with ease and begin tearing apart prey and plants and whatever fits their omnivorous diet with their larger dexterous ‘teeth’ and further the smaller ones hidden within their open-and-closable mouth on the underside of their body. Their means of ‘propulsion’ and ‘flight’ has been linked to passive psionics the species possesses, that itself explained by the plentiful psionium on their planet that has passively and evolutionarily affected many forms of life there uniquely. In fact, psionium after its discovery and study has beens credited as a possible influence for the species’ very rise to sentience. However, even when living in areas devoid of the substance the Veltron themselves remain unaffected intellectually and otherwise.
Cybernetic implants would only come to affect their psionic capability to fly at an extreme level of replacing their body with cybernetic parts. Up to 50% of their body can be replaced without affecting flight ability, but grows weaker going up to 75% distinctly. They can still fly at that stage, even though it’ll be a struggle, but beyond 75% they have too little flesh to use their psionic flight ability at all. They don’t lose it, it just ‘ceases to function’ at all because they aren’t made of enough flesh. This can be only reversed, however, if properly grown/regenerated flesh and tissue replacements for their body are used to replace the cybernetics.
The species’ exterior is seemingly soft and fleshy, but is in fact very dense tissue and ‘outer skin’ that protects a clear membrane that acts as their ‘inner skin’ and holds the organs and such within. The singular, white-pupiled eye this species possesses is very keen and capable, to the point they have depth perception even without 2 eyes due to how advanced it is, and this eye can be withdrawn into the body and the outer/inner skin layers ‘closed’ to protect it. Similarly they can close up a layer of outer skin over their mouth on the underside of their bodies to protect it as well (not the larger ‘teeth’ though). In this sense one could compare them to an armadillo curling up to protect itself back on the old Earth.
Able to dexterously move their larger ’teeth’ in a flexible manner to a surprising and deft degree, however, and as such they can perform complex tasks and do things like hold tools. They also possess a level of telekinesis that allows them to do things such as ‘grab’ objects and ‘touch’ things whilst being able to ‘feel’ and exert a sense of actual touch through their telekinesis if they desire to. It is as natural to them as, well, breathing and eating. They can even speak using their underside mouths, rather fluently with their own proper language at that, due to the advanced and compactly-fit vocalizing abilities they evolved.
For working in general, however, they developed a myriad of robotic/mechanical bodies for home ownership that they can ‘pilot’ for working. These are given modular attachments and such for a given job while working it, and such are removed at the end of the day. The modular attachments are also removed if one leaves that job and goes to another. Etc. Said mechanical/robotic bodies are generally at base four-armed to 2-4 legged, have a durable but slim enough build to be rather practical, and roughly correspond in parallel to a bipedal/upright-humanoid being’s body structure. Such bodies are also used for all foreign relations, having automatic translators built-in to make communication easier for those who do not choose to learn alien/foriegn languages (their diplomats learn to speak languages, as being a diplomat and reliant on ‘translator tech’ is seen as very embarrassing among Veltron diplomats in particular).
Males and females differ visibly only by the non-pupil color of their singular eye, for some obtuse reason in their evolution at least, with males having an orange eye with white iris and females having a light purple eye with a white iris. Likewise outer skin patterns and such are tied to heredity, and are complex to the point that each Veltron has its own unique pattern but also a ‘family resemblance’ that can be seen in them as well compared to other family members. Likewise females then carry young as small eggs protectively within themselves, until they are ready to hatch and are naturally deposited from the mother’s mouth in a safe place (or proper birthing clutch basket in a hospital these days) in order to be allowed to hatch within the next 1-12 hours.
As a species they have generally been technophiles, the kind who like to push development and research to the ‘next level’ due to their rather involved use of it in everyday life and around other species. For their size they are generally very intellectually-minded, though individual intelligence can naturally vary as with individuals in any other species in the universe with or without education, and education is seen as a very much important and emphasized part of civilized society. However, they even among many other species have come to rather understand what it is like to be the ‘little guy’, and how small they are compared to the world. In this sense one can say the species in some sense as a whole can have a certain humility, though again individuals can vary in confidence and pride and humility and other personality traits naturally as with individual members of any other sentient species.
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A sentient fungal species that, for the most part, has no ‘true’ base form. The given ‘model’ of an individual is based on ‘where’ their spores were seeded and what design/designation/role they were given. This has created an incredibly wide range of ‘forms’ for the species, ranging from individuals grown as humanoid-like diplomats to communicate with and meet with humanoid alien species, to beast-shaped individuals that might carry messages or be used to communicate with a bestial-like species, to even combat-oriented individuals grown for use in warfare if/as the need arises. Whilst the rest of the cluster will find themselves normally only seeing the humanoid communications variant, which is still continually tailored over passing fungal generations to better perform its role, those who are unlucky to see this species in war would be subject to the true depths their kind can reach when put on the warpath.
The species as a whole is a very hardy one, having evolved and survived on a homeworld with a wide variety of incredibly harsh and dangerous climates, a toxic atmosphere, and other substances and conditions that have culled any ‘weaker’ species there in good measure ranging from radiation to voracious omnivores that eat about anything they can get their mandibles/teeth/claws into. Even so the Telethoram have grown to become a rather erudite and civilized and even trade-friendly group, producing a civilization that has since first contact adapted to take its place within both the League and the rest of the Eden Cluster at large. Whilst their appearance can be terrifying to some for the first time, especially those unadjusted to the idea of a fungal species whose ‘shape’ can vary immensely, they have often proven themselves adept at negotiations and incredibly adaptable to working in extreme areas and dangerous conditions other fellow sentient races might require specialized suits or protective technologies for.
Being very hardy and versatile workers, they have proven themselves to be of great assistance and use in anything from space-mining operations to living on and gathering resources in otherwise nigh-uninhabitable (if not just outright so) planetary environments. Reproducing by producing incredibly hardy spores, which are ‘preprogrammed’ to take on a certain form at maturity by their fungal caregivers, it isn’t hard for the species to adapt to almost any clime or condition. Truly, they could survive even on a veritable hellscape of a world.
Locally, the species on their homeworld is controlled by an oligarchic council and a system of elected lower officials and council-chosen higher officials taken from the pool of post-term lower officials.
Distinctly reptilian humanoids with some rather minor features reminiscent of insects, the Renalians arose on the large but highly dangerous world of Renali VI. A harsh world filled with ever-present predators, dangerous parasites, and even flora that would like to take a bite out of any foolish creature passing by, they grew and evolved in conditions that frankly would be absurd by the standards of many other species. Even so, it pushed them to treat the loss of parts of one’s body as a trifling matter...and this is primarily due to their biology making it a rather trifling matter. Renalian bodies are ludicrously redundant in their capabilities, with tissues and organs capable of adopting each others’ functions smoothly and disturbingly efficiently. It is thought this evolved as a means of allowing populations to survive in a more primal setting, allowing loss of body parts and great chunks of flesh in order to be able to continue on functioning as individuals incapable of such were rapidly ‘weeded out’ the old fashioned way. A ‘cruel’ way of pushing such evolutionary changes, and yet the extreme environment the Renalians arose in created their frankly equally-ridiculous extreme survival capabilities to survive in it.
They can go without food or water for several weeks without batting an eye, though don’t prefer this since becoming a sentient and civilized species, and as long as their brain is intact can regrow lost internal organs and things like muscle and nervous tissues over time. This does NOT apply to extremities, though tissues in remaining extremities would be naturally ‘strengthened’ to compensate and then some in turn. To this end their skulls are also distinctly much more dense and durable, as if the brain is destroyed out of anything else in their body they will outright just die.
In their ancient days, the Renalians acquired a macabre tradition among those who were ‘warriors’ and raised to be as such. Only the bravest and most resilient would be chosen, those who were predisposed to such a life, and as a warrior grew and earned merits in battle or other tasks they would carve out sections of their own flesh and body. In these spots they would insert sections of carved/forged metal inscribed with the tale of their great deeds. This would go on through an individual warrior’s life until they died in battle or of old age, and for burial these chunks would be temporarily removed and used to read aloud the tale of their life before being put back in and the body buried.
This gruesome tradition has generally survived to this day in some form, however, with Renalian soldiers all around their military are always replacing parts of themselves and chunks of flesh and even their organs with cybernetics and highly-genetically-modified-and-grown parts ritualistically in order to imitate their ancestors. Those with a long career in the military usually remain, becoming functionally immortal due to their biological redundancy and replacing parts and upgrading them over time. Genetic modifications to adapt them to this and enhance soldiers are also common to ensure they can survive extremes of replacing their biological parts and the horrors of war, leading to further ridiculous emphasis on their natural redundancy capabilities to the point that the only parts the oldest of veterans don’t replace are their brain and heart. Of course those going to such an extreme are expected to and only able to have children at a point prior to reaching ‘maximum’ cybernetic conversion, even getting specific military leave legally to do so, as well as only ever replacing reproductive organs as the ‘final’ step in the very long term. Yet by reproducing and getting genetic modifications, there has as a result arisen a great myriad of long-time military families and bloodlines that have accrued the passed-on soldier genetic modifications in their blood and produce the best potential soldiers out of the whole of the Renalian population.
When it comes to an overall breakdown of the League’s economy, the original territories of the founding races tend to follow a certain trend. This was simply a matter that evolved within the League over time due to economic needs and infrastructure development, and of course simply where jobs went and where they were best suited as the League internally developed over hundreds of years.
The original territory of the Veltron, for example, is oriented more towards the development of technology and things such as space mining operations and robotics and handling resource gathering in dangerous worlds/climes. The original territory of the Renalians produces the most farmed livestock and exotic meats and even crops out of all the worlds, and indeed a distinctly larger number of cybernetic soldiers in terms of raw numbers. The original territory of Formians has come to lean more into the gritty nature of processing imported or League-mined resources, as well as providing more numbers of workers going into various areas. Even the Telethoram’s original territory has become more apt in producing/processing various chemicals and creating medicines, alongside their unique bio-organic technology and weapons that has been grown/designed for various uses, and also produce the second largest amount of crops and livestock and foods.
Whilst the internal economy of the League is generally balanced to generally satiate it’s own internal needs, mainly in case of things such as war or isolation, they like any other nation still import and export a lot of things. Luxury consumer goods and entertainment and art from other places are their biggest imports, for example, and various foreign organic and inorganic materials (unavailable in large enough quantities locally or at all in their territory) are imported for the manufacturing, processing, and refining of certain kinds of materials and goods. In terms of exports, on the other hand, outright food and processed/refined materials/goods are their largest exports by far with medical supplies being the third largest area.
Further, in terms of receiving outsourced jobs and offshored work, the League is very much open to it. All a company has to do to get resource rights and such in a given area is get a contract with the League’s government. Such a contract guarantees the profitable conditions such foreign companies would thrive on, but must be renewed every so many years (or if issues arise that result in a negotiation meeting being necessitated otherwise) with the League’s government in order to remain in effect. Failure to renew the contract or accept it is to lose those operations, favorable conditions, and resource rights...which would be quite a net loss indeed.
Military:
-In regards to space warfare:
Destroyers deploying a myriad of smaller spacecraft tend to act as a screening force, boasting low firepower but high armor and shielding as well as much room to contain fighter craft, automated strike craft, marines, drones, and the like onboard. Their main focus is light firepower to counter usually smaller enemy craft and provide point-defense measures to counter incoming ‘larger’ threats. They are also used in smaller operations where the higher-firepower ships are not needed or unable to be used. Mounting substantial weapons on a battleship is rather rare, usually reserved for very unique or very desperate situations. Among these lighter craft can in certain situations be included Renalian “Puncture Ships”, small and very sleek ships shaped for maximum speed and to be penetrated into enemy ships at high speeds...but installed with automated Veltron drones to pilot them. Of course these small ships got their name from the species that first invented and piloted them in battle long ago.
Then behind these you get the Cruisers, which themselves are generally meant to be mobile weapons platforms, being equipped with sets of superfiring turrets and space torpedo tubes and additional defensive countermeasures. Whilst not being as heavily-defended as battleships, they do sport much higher firepower and carry further added countermeasures to support smaller ships such as the destroyers and smaller combat spacecraft.
Then comes the Battleships, space-faring combat craft designed with heavy ordinance and weapons in mind. Big guns, great missile/torpedo silos, and usually a very large weapon mounted on the front for even greater firepower, they can lay down firepower capable of crushing lesser ships with raw strength and the sheer volume of weapons being fired off. They have strong frontal shields, though to conserve power these and their frontal armor are shaped more to minimize damage and deflect impacts/explosions. They are, however, less intensely-defended from the top, bottom, back, and sides.
Alongside the Battleships usually come the Carriers, considered the greater cousins of the Destroyer. Whilst lacking in any proper weapons aside from point-defense and high armor/shields being installed, they can deploy and carry smaller cruisers and destroyers and even smaller attack craft to be released. High-value smaller ships and weapons can be stored on these as well, especially with their far more well-covering defenses and use of even more extensive countermeasures.
However, there is a class of ship that surprasses even the battleships...and these are the Juggernauts (aka: “Moving Fortresses”). To say these are moving death machines or “massive mobile fortresses” is an understatement. They are equipped with super-heavy and plus-sized weaponry, ranging from massive oversized autocannons to gigantic rail-weaponry to great x-ray lasers that can wipe out a number of smaller ships when actually charged and fired. The exterior of these ships are coated in layers of high defenses, ranging from high-density energy shields to superheavy armor to another. Their unique defense of a several-layer-thick coating ‘sea’ of liquid ‘living metal’ alloys can absorb explosion and solid impacts, whilst outright soaking or deflecting directed energy weapons and thermal energy. These layers of defensive coatings are capable of regenerating, made with a ‘living metal’ developed by Veltron scientists for such a use, and hundreds of floating defensive turrets/silos and point-defense systems that can be deployed on the surface for defense and be retracted to keep them safe. This alongside large docks that can launch and store a decent number of ‘lesser’ craft to some extent.
The Juggernauts are a ridiculous class of ship unique to the League and developed extensively within it, super-sized ships of war that contain a myriad of agriculture, living, medical, processing, recycling, cloning, farming, and other blocs internally that make them moving, self-contained, self-sufficient supercities of their own. Of course they need occasional resupplying for some things once in a long while, but on their own they can operate in the field for a rather long time before needing to dock or get shipments or the like. They contain a massive amount of troops and engineers and the like for battle, and even a massive civilian population to ensure the place keeps running, and frankly speaking naturally number far, far less than any of the other types of ships in the League’s military for very obvious and costly reasons. Even so, they are very effective and very hard to crack if they actually get involved. Even so they are like any other ships or space fortresses in that they aren’t perfectly impenetrable or uncrackable.
-In regards to planetary warfare:
Land battle doctrine within the League is generally a flexible and 'modern' type of approach.
The average or "base" tactic is composed of mixed mechanized infantry and tanks initiating combat, utilizing hyper-advanced all-terrain track-based movement systems and hovercraft alike, stacked anti-mine and other such defensive systems/countermeasures, durable designs, and raw speed/firepower to push into a given area first and secure a foothold. This push is supported by drone attacks and long-range vehicles such as advanced multiple rocket launchers made for hit-and-run tactics to avoid getting caught in-place. Air support in the form of drone strikes and air/space vehicle bombardment tends to follow or also accompany this, and the use of cluster munitions is at times used to soften up targets ahead of time or during battle in tandem with these things to hit the enemy hard. In short, a very high-firepower and very aggressive style meant to deploy and move rather fast in effect. Coordination between various units over spectrum-frequency highly-encrypted comms systems, made to be durable in the field, and similar measures in order to maximize efficiency in such planetary operations. Aside from these larger-scale tactics for larger battles, the use of snipers, spies, saboteurs, ambushers, and sub-units of elite commandos sent in to tear up the enemy and strike from the shadows to cause confusion, acquire information, instill fear, and weaken enemy lines is another more common means of approaching combat by League soldiers when a direct assault isn't viable enough. When taking up defensive positions a number of things are also used, including: mini-shield generators to filter out harmful gases and such, automated mechanical or bio-tech defenses, and traps such as landmines and advanced 'invisible fences' are employed alongside ever-changing patrol schedules to ensure a careful vigil is maintained. (In other words, a generally scifi-ish means of warfare based on modern day in some manner or another.)
However...this is the public manner of performing military operations. Efficient, smooth, sleek, and overall very well-armed and generally well-planned-out from the tech/weapons used to the manner of deployment. Even Telethoram assault forces grown and designed for each battle, potentially implanted with tech or cybernetics and gene mods or such additionally, are able to be employed in both aggressive and defensive manners alone, alongside normal troops, or the like. Same for Veltron droid/robot forces. Alternate forms of tactics can also be employed depending on situations and opponents and other conditions, of course, though this isn't all. While a 'kosher' and 'standard' and 'ethical' means of warfare is generally enforced in accordance with the Eden Accords, there is also a far darker means in which League warfare can be and is conducted in a far less visible, vastly more secretive and macabre fashion.
Radical bioweapons in the form of fungal-grown monstrosities tailored with things such as emitting toxic gases and mind-warping spores or shapeshifting abilities, generically-engineered beasts beyond all recognition that were implanted with cybernetics rendered invisible to thermal systems by adapting to local conditions and used to drag enemy soldiers off into the dark of the night screaming, deployment of bio-mechanical-nano-machine clouds that devour organic tissues or consume/drain the energy from shields and enemy cybernetics/machines, experimental weapons unleashing toxic cocktails of chemicals and gases that destabilize molecular bonds and liquefy those unfortunate enough to enter their effective area, toxic serums that only affect the genes of psionic individuals or target the presence of psionium in the tissues of targets and have a lethal and truly horrific reactions with psionium, clouds of microorganisms that rapidly reduce the temperature of an area and flash-freeze victims caught within as they unleash hallucinogens that disorient the soon-to-be-dead, stealthy assassinations and wholesale brainwashing of enemy agents or soldiers or the like, and more are among the secretive and darker means of warfare that the League's planetary forces can commit. Whilst some would see this as war crimes, cruel measures, unspeakable horrors, and terrifying things that should never have seen the light of day, the League sees these things as measures and the like meant to be "deployed as needed" and at the League's discretion. Extensive programs and measures are taken to develop as well as conceal or 'smudge over' and cover up these operations and types of warfare, and a myriad of potential sources of blame and even scapegoats for such actions have already been prepared and constantly updated extensively and in intense detail. It isn't perfect, no systems of concealing such is for any race anywhere, but it would be a very tough nut to crack indeed when deployed.
Indeed, if there is one thing that the League has learned in their time in the Eden Cluster, not all 'play by the rules' and even more will play their hands under the table or in dirty ways. If such measures are felt to be needed, then such assets will be deployed without hesitation. The Eden Accords were signed by themselves and others for the sake the Cluster itself, but only a fool would leave themselves vulnerable to the atrocities of the past. To seek knowledge of them, to understand them, to grasp the nature of them, and more is something of value in regards to ensuring the League's survival among the stars. Of course the deployment of these things isn't a super-casual, as within the League's military there is a very distinct and protected chain of command and codes and the like for such things to be approved for deployment, but at the same time it is what it is no matter how one sugar-coats it. No nation in the Cluster, or perhaps beyond, is ever beyond having a 'dark side'. No amount of speaking to 'truth' and 'justice' and the like would ever be able to truly bury the dirty actions any government has done. No amount of scapegoats and blame-takers and the like will be able to wipe away the sins committed by those willing to do so. This is the truly dark side of the League's military that doesn't often rear its head, like a great, slumbering beast that lies in the darkness of a great cave, but when it does awaken and emerge...one does not want to be on the opposing end.
History: A nation born from the early days of the Eden Cluster, forged from the races and planets and people affected by contact with humanity and the technological rush and advancement they brought with them. Yet with the Jump Gates came incredible change and growth regardless. Spreading to other systems, places, and climes never before seen, the tendrils of life itself stretched out like an ever growing web in the northern end of the Eden Cluster. The strong yet peculiar Formians, the technophilic yet diminutive Veltron, the resilient yet alien Telethoram, and the brave yet primitive Renalians, all would eventually come to be affected by this era of new understanding in more ways than one. Some of these races had barely touched space, some not at all, and others had a little more experience than the rest. Still, all these groups would come to run into each other and start the foundations of something great. Indeed, in 175 EC these races would band together in the face of dangerous enemies and an uncertain future to form the The Forveliam League.
Initially beginning as a confederation and league of sorts, then tightening as conditions changed and the flow of time went on, the name of the League stuck for heritage’s sake even when eventual (if not inevitable) reforms created the current system they use today. Among those involved in the Frontier Wars, and among the nations wary of the ITC, the League seeks to cement its future in the Eden Cluster and show itself as a power to not be messed with.
-(To Be Added)
Characters:
-(To Be Added)
Other: Capital is on the Formi/Formian homeworld of Balor. Has trade with the Confederacy. Among the myriad and high variety of Veltron droid/robot designs, they do have a rip-off of Droideka from Star Wars.
Government Type: Constitutional Republican Quadrarchy - A representative from each planet in the League is elected, and after a rigorous review process to approve or deny them as candidates they take their place in the Grand Senate with other such representatives. The Grand Senate handles the bulk of the league-wide day to day general bureaucracy and legislative process to keep the League running, and acts to allow the will of the people to be heard and keep the well-oiled gears of the political machine running. They likewise have a general part in enforcing and executing laws within the League to a limited extent, though, while ultimately being a body that keeps the Quadrarchy from being the sole voice in all things. If a Quadrarch wants to pass a law or propose one, it must be done through the Grand Senate.
The Quadrarchy is itself composed of the individual ruler of each of the four original member races of the League. These four hereditary kings/queens act as the highest judges in the League, and further will directly appoint system and planetary level judges as well. They further take action in executing laws (executive) and judging upon them (judicial). Their power is rather absolute otherwise, though the League’s small constitution enforces them being fully equal to each other. They act as authorities to balance each other out politically, act as the top four military leaders in the entire League, and generally act to balance out potential factions or corruption or outside influence and such dangerous bodies that might form in the Grand Senate. From the other direction, the Grand Senate keeps them from simply passing laws and actions frivolously or dangerously upon the nation on a whim or the ilk.
Anything less than planetary level officials are generally elected (if possible) or appointed (as needed).
Demographics:
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Homo Formicidae, aka the “Formi/Formians”: A race of humanoid ant-like arthropods, or normally called ‘arthropodic humanoids’, whose form took a similar nature and similar-ish biology to humankind's. This came about due to the process of evolution affecting them ‘somewhat similarly’ to humans and ants on their homeworld, though they have since become classified as a galactic example and proof of ‘convergent evolution’ occuring in the Eden Cluster.
They possess almond-shaped green-colored eyes in a humanoid positioning that lack a distinct pupil, though are capable of ‘seeing’ in far deeper quality and a greater range of colors than most other humanoid species. They have a set of ‘feelers’ on their head, though in their case these developed to host an array of sensory capabilities ranging from detecting movement in the air to sources of heat to wind direction and similar things. They also possess a humanoid-style mouth and nose to boot. Their face, neck, torso, and down to the thighs are covered in a unique and silky smooth chitin variant, one which feels deceptively soft on the outside and very much akin to the skin of an nearly hairless mammal. They even have mammal-like hair on their head tha can come in a range of hues and colors, which hair is itself noticeably less similar to something like humans or mammals due to being composed of rather tough and insulating chitin-infused fibers that remain soft to the touch.
They possess two sets of arms and only one set of bipedal legs, which are themselves covered in a lighter-colored chitin exoskeleton and have very flexible but arthropodic joints. Their hands each possess five fingers, granting far more notable levels of dexterity than lesser-fingered species, and their joints as well as knees and shins are covered in a distinctly stronger and darker-colored chitin than the rest of them for protective reasons. Their feet, however, do end in two ‘clawed’ and rather powerful digits each with the corresponding ‘heels’ of their feet being off of the ground due to how the strength of their feet has evolved and become balanced. Likewise they possess an ant/arthropod-like abdomen hanging down from just above their butts, which has evolved to itself simply take part in the egg-laying part of the reproductive process for females (males get a stinger there instead) as well as become covered in even stronger chitin than the rest of the species’ body is coated in.
In terms of durability they far surpass mammals, but even with an armor-like body they possess they aren’t invulnerable by far. However, in terms of resiliency they possess greater strength for their size and are capable of standing up again after taking some rather notable damage.
As a race they don’t think much about their gender ratio being so highly skewed to being females, because to them it's as natural as breathing air. Males have always been born smaller and far less often, though do bear the distinction of having the only rather venomous stingers of the species, and even at this stage only compose about 15% of the species as a whole. Females, on the other hand, have developed to where males are sources of added genetic diversity but that their bodies can also independently ‘recombine’ additional chromosomes they possess in order to generate fertile eggs and young without a male.
So to them, humans and those others are the oddities! Not being able to have children on a mass scale? Sheesh, talk about inefficient. No protective exoskeleton to make you resilient? Absurd! That being said they are curious about the wider galaxy, and contact with humanity gave them the technology to make it possible long ago. Still, they seek to reach among the stars with their allies and make their people shine!
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A species that evolved as sophisticated creatures able to float through the air, they could grasp onto prey with ease and begin tearing apart prey and plants and whatever fits their omnivorous diet with their larger dexterous ‘teeth’ and further the smaller ones hidden within their open-and-closable mouth on the underside of their body. Their means of ‘propulsion’ and ‘flight’ has been linked to passive psionics the species possesses, that itself explained by the plentiful psionium on their planet that has passively and evolutionarily affected many forms of life there uniquely. In fact, psionium after its discovery and study has beens credited as a possible influence for the species’ very rise to sentience. However, even when living in areas devoid of the substance the Veltron themselves remain unaffected intellectually and otherwise.
Cybernetic implants would only come to affect their psionic capability to fly at an extreme level of replacing their body with cybernetic parts. Up to 50% of their body can be replaced without affecting flight ability, but grows weaker going up to 75% distinctly. They can still fly at that stage, even though it’ll be a struggle, but beyond 75% they have too little flesh to use their psionic flight ability at all. They don’t lose it, it just ‘ceases to function’ at all because they aren’t made of enough flesh. This can be only reversed, however, if properly grown/regenerated flesh and tissue replacements for their body are used to replace the cybernetics.
The species’ exterior is seemingly soft and fleshy, but is in fact very dense tissue and ‘outer skin’ that protects a clear membrane that acts as their ‘inner skin’ and holds the organs and such within. The singular, white-pupiled eye this species possesses is very keen and capable, to the point they have depth perception even without 2 eyes due to how advanced it is, and this eye can be withdrawn into the body and the outer/inner skin layers ‘closed’ to protect it. Similarly they can close up a layer of outer skin over their mouth on the underside of their bodies to protect it as well (not the larger ‘teeth’ though). In this sense one could compare them to an armadillo curling up to protect itself back on the old Earth.
Able to dexterously move their larger ’teeth’ in a flexible manner to a surprising and deft degree, however, and as such they can perform complex tasks and do things like hold tools. They also possess a level of telekinesis that allows them to do things such as ‘grab’ objects and ‘touch’ things whilst being able to ‘feel’ and exert a sense of actual touch through their telekinesis if they desire to. It is as natural to them as, well, breathing and eating. They can even speak using their underside mouths, rather fluently with their own proper language at that, due to the advanced and compactly-fit vocalizing abilities they evolved.
For working in general, however, they developed a myriad of robotic/mechanical bodies for home ownership that they can ‘pilot’ for working. These are given modular attachments and such for a given job while working it, and such are removed at the end of the day. The modular attachments are also removed if one leaves that job and goes to another. Etc. Said mechanical/robotic bodies are generally at base four-armed to 2-4 legged, have a durable but slim enough build to be rather practical, and roughly correspond in parallel to a bipedal/upright-humanoid being’s body structure. Such bodies are also used for all foreign relations, having automatic translators built-in to make communication easier for those who do not choose to learn alien/foriegn languages (their diplomats learn to speak languages, as being a diplomat and reliant on ‘translator tech’ is seen as very embarrassing among Veltron diplomats in particular).
Males and females differ visibly only by the non-pupil color of their singular eye, for some obtuse reason in their evolution at least, with males having an orange eye with white iris and females having a light purple eye with a white iris. Likewise outer skin patterns and such are tied to heredity, and are complex to the point that each Veltron has its own unique pattern but also a ‘family resemblance’ that can be seen in them as well compared to other family members. Likewise females then carry young as small eggs protectively within themselves, until they are ready to hatch and are naturally deposited from the mother’s mouth in a safe place (or proper birthing clutch basket in a hospital these days) in order to be allowed to hatch within the next 1-12 hours.
As a species they have generally been technophiles, the kind who like to push development and research to the ‘next level’ due to their rather involved use of it in everyday life and around other species. For their size they are generally very intellectually-minded, though individual intelligence can naturally vary as with individuals in any other species in the universe with or without education, and education is seen as a very much important and emphasized part of civilized society. However, they even among many other species have come to rather understand what it is like to be the ‘little guy’, and how small they are compared to the world. In this sense one can say the species in some sense as a whole can have a certain humility, though again individuals can vary in confidence and pride and humility and other personality traits naturally as with individual members of any other sentient species.
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A sentient fungal species that, for the most part, has no ‘true’ base form. The given ‘model’ of an individual is based on ‘where’ their spores were seeded and what design/designation/role they were given. This has created an incredibly wide range of ‘forms’ for the species, ranging from individuals grown as humanoid-like diplomats to communicate with and meet with humanoid alien species, to beast-shaped individuals that might carry messages or be used to communicate with a bestial-like species, to even combat-oriented individuals grown for use in warfare if/as the need arises. Whilst the rest of the cluster will find themselves normally only seeing the humanoid communications variant, which is still continually tailored over passing fungal generations to better perform its role, those who are unlucky to see this species in war would be subject to the true depths their kind can reach when put on the warpath.
The species as a whole is a very hardy one, having evolved and survived on a homeworld with a wide variety of incredibly harsh and dangerous climates, a toxic atmosphere, and other substances and conditions that have culled any ‘weaker’ species there in good measure ranging from radiation to voracious omnivores that eat about anything they can get their mandibles/teeth/claws into. Even so the Telethoram have grown to become a rather erudite and civilized and even trade-friendly group, producing a civilization that has since first contact adapted to take its place within both the League and the rest of the Eden Cluster at large. Whilst their appearance can be terrifying to some for the first time, especially those unadjusted to the idea of a fungal species whose ‘shape’ can vary immensely, they have often proven themselves adept at negotiations and incredibly adaptable to working in extreme areas and dangerous conditions other fellow sentient races might require specialized suits or protective technologies for.
Being very hardy and versatile workers, they have proven themselves to be of great assistance and use in anything from space-mining operations to living on and gathering resources in otherwise nigh-uninhabitable (if not just outright so) planetary environments. Reproducing by producing incredibly hardy spores, which are ‘preprogrammed’ to take on a certain form at maturity by their fungal caregivers, it isn’t hard for the species to adapt to almost any clime or condition. Truly, they could survive even on a veritable hellscape of a world.
Locally, the species on their homeworld is controlled by an oligarchic council and a system of elected lower officials and council-chosen higher officials taken from the pool of post-term lower officials.
Distinctly reptilian humanoids with some rather minor features reminiscent of insects, the Renalians arose on the large but highly dangerous world of Renali VI. A harsh world filled with ever-present predators, dangerous parasites, and even flora that would like to take a bite out of any foolish creature passing by, they grew and evolved in conditions that frankly would be absurd by the standards of many other species. Even so, it pushed them to treat the loss of parts of one’s body as a trifling matter...and this is primarily due to their biology making it a rather trifling matter. Renalian bodies are ludicrously redundant in their capabilities, with tissues and organs capable of adopting each others’ functions smoothly and disturbingly efficiently. It is thought this evolved as a means of allowing populations to survive in a more primal setting, allowing loss of body parts and great chunks of flesh in order to be able to continue on functioning as individuals incapable of such were rapidly ‘weeded out’ the old fashioned way. A ‘cruel’ way of pushing such evolutionary changes, and yet the extreme environment the Renalians arose in created their frankly equally-ridiculous extreme survival capabilities to survive in it.
They can go without food or water for several weeks without batting an eye, though don’t prefer this since becoming a sentient and civilized species, and as long as their brain is intact can regrow lost internal organs and things like muscle and nervous tissues over time. This does NOT apply to extremities, though tissues in remaining extremities would be naturally ‘strengthened’ to compensate and then some in turn. To this end their skulls are also distinctly much more dense and durable, as if the brain is destroyed out of anything else in their body they will outright just die.
In their ancient days, the Renalians acquired a macabre tradition among those who were ‘warriors’ and raised to be as such. Only the bravest and most resilient would be chosen, those who were predisposed to such a life, and as a warrior grew and earned merits in battle or other tasks they would carve out sections of their own flesh and body. In these spots they would insert sections of carved/forged metal inscribed with the tale of their great deeds. This would go on through an individual warrior’s life until they died in battle or of old age, and for burial these chunks would be temporarily removed and used to read aloud the tale of their life before being put back in and the body buried.
This gruesome tradition has generally survived to this day in some form, however, with Renalian soldiers all around their military are always replacing parts of themselves and chunks of flesh and even their organs with cybernetics and highly-genetically-modified-and-grown parts ritualistically in order to imitate their ancestors. Those with a long career in the military usually remain, becoming functionally immortal due to their biological redundancy and replacing parts and upgrading them over time. Genetic modifications to adapt them to this and enhance soldiers are also common to ensure they can survive extremes of replacing their biological parts and the horrors of war, leading to further ridiculous emphasis on their natural redundancy capabilities to the point that the only parts the oldest of veterans don’t replace are their brain and heart. Of course those going to such an extreme are expected to and only able to have children at a point prior to reaching ‘maximum’ cybernetic conversion, even getting specific military leave legally to do so, as well as only ever replacing reproductive organs as the ‘final’ step in the very long term. Yet by reproducing and getting genetic modifications, there has as a result arisen a great myriad of long-time military families and bloodlines that have accrued the passed-on soldier genetic modifications in their blood and produce the best potential soldiers out of the whole of the Renalian population.
When it comes to an overall breakdown of the League’s economy, the original territories of the founding races tend to follow a certain trend. This was simply a matter that evolved within the League over time due to economic needs and infrastructure development, and of course simply where jobs went and where they were best suited as the League internally developed over hundreds of years.
The original territory of the Veltron, for example, is oriented more towards the development of technology and things such as space mining operations and robotics and handling resource gathering in dangerous worlds/climes. The original territory of the Renalians produces the most farmed livestock and exotic meats and even crops out of all the worlds, and indeed a distinctly larger number of cybernetic soldiers in terms of raw numbers. The original territory of Formians has come to lean more into the gritty nature of processing imported or League-mined resources, as well as providing more numbers of workers going into various areas. Even the Telethoram’s original territory has become more apt in producing/processing various chemicals and creating medicines, alongside their unique bio-organic technology and weapons that has been grown/designed for various uses, and also produce the second largest amount of crops and livestock and foods.
Whilst the internal economy of the League is generally balanced to generally satiate it’s own internal needs, mainly in case of things such as war or isolation, they like any other nation still import and export a lot of things. Luxury consumer goods and entertainment and art from other places are their biggest imports, for example, and various foreign organic and inorganic materials (unavailable in large enough quantities locally or at all in their territory) are imported for the manufacturing, processing, and refining of certain kinds of materials and goods. In terms of exports, on the other hand, outright food and processed/refined materials/goods are their largest exports by far with medical supplies being the third largest area.
Further, in terms of receiving outsourced jobs and offshored work, the League is very much open to it. All a company has to do to get resource rights and such in a given area is get a contract with the League’s government. Such a contract guarantees the profitable conditions such foreign companies would thrive on, but must be renewed every so many years (or if issues arise that result in a negotiation meeting being necessitated otherwise) with the League’s government in order to remain in effect. Failure to renew the contract or accept it is to lose those operations, favorable conditions, and resource rights...which would be quite a net loss indeed.
Military:
-In regards to space warfare:
Destroyers deploying a myriad of smaller spacecraft tend to act as a screening force, boasting low firepower but high armor and shielding as well as much room to contain fighter craft, automated strike craft, marines, drones, and the like onboard. Their main focus is light firepower to counter usually smaller enemy craft and provide point-defense measures to counter incoming ‘larger’ threats. They are also used in smaller operations where the higher-firepower ships are not needed or unable to be used. Mounting substantial weapons on a battleship is rather rare, usually reserved for very unique or very desperate situations. Among these lighter craft can in certain situations be included Renalian “Puncture Ships”, small and very sleek ships shaped for maximum speed and to be penetrated into enemy ships at high speeds...but installed with automated Veltron drones to pilot them. Of course these small ships got their name from the species that first invented and piloted them in battle long ago.
Then behind these you get the Cruisers, which themselves are generally meant to be mobile weapons platforms, being equipped with sets of superfiring turrets and space torpedo tubes and additional defensive countermeasures. Whilst not being as heavily-defended as battleships, they do sport much higher firepower and carry further added countermeasures to support smaller ships such as the destroyers and smaller combat spacecraft.
Then comes the Battleships, space-faring combat craft designed with heavy ordinance and weapons in mind. Big guns, great missile/torpedo silos, and usually a very large weapon mounted on the front for even greater firepower, they can lay down firepower capable of crushing lesser ships with raw strength and the sheer volume of weapons being fired off. They have strong frontal shields, though to conserve power these and their frontal armor are shaped more to minimize damage and deflect impacts/explosions. They are, however, less intensely-defended from the top, bottom, back, and sides.
Alongside the Battleships usually come the Carriers, considered the greater cousins of the Destroyer. Whilst lacking in any proper weapons aside from point-defense and high armor/shields being installed, they can deploy and carry smaller cruisers and destroyers and even smaller attack craft to be released. High-value smaller ships and weapons can be stored on these as well, especially with their far more well-covering defenses and use of even more extensive countermeasures.
However, there is a class of ship that surprasses even the battleships...and these are the Juggernauts (aka: “Moving Fortresses”). To say these are moving death machines or “massive mobile fortresses” is an understatement. They are equipped with super-heavy and plus-sized weaponry, ranging from massive oversized autocannons to gigantic rail-weaponry to great x-ray lasers that can wipe out a number of smaller ships when actually charged and fired. The exterior of these ships are coated in layers of high defenses, ranging from high-density energy shields to superheavy armor to another. Their unique defense of a several-layer-thick coating ‘sea’ of liquid ‘living metal’ alloys can absorb explosion and solid impacts, whilst outright soaking or deflecting directed energy weapons and thermal energy. These layers of defensive coatings are capable of regenerating, made with a ‘living metal’ developed by Veltron scientists for such a use, and hundreds of floating defensive turrets/silos and point-defense systems that can be deployed on the surface for defense and be retracted to keep them safe. This alongside large docks that can launch and store a decent number of ‘lesser’ craft to some extent.
The Juggernauts are a ridiculous class of ship unique to the League and developed extensively within it, super-sized ships of war that contain a myriad of agriculture, living, medical, processing, recycling, cloning, farming, and other blocs internally that make them moving, self-contained, self-sufficient supercities of their own. Of course they need occasional resupplying for some things once in a long while, but on their own they can operate in the field for a rather long time before needing to dock or get shipments or the like. They contain a massive amount of troops and engineers and the like for battle, and even a massive civilian population to ensure the place keeps running, and frankly speaking naturally number far, far less than any of the other types of ships in the League’s military for very obvious and costly reasons. Even so, they are very effective and very hard to crack if they actually get involved. Even so they are like any other ships or space fortresses in that they aren’t perfectly impenetrable or uncrackable.
-In regards to planetary warfare:
Land battle doctrine within the League is generally a flexible and 'modern' type of approach.
The average or "base" tactic is composed of mixed mechanized infantry and tanks initiating combat, utilizing hyper-advanced all-terrain track-based movement systems, stacked anti-mine and other such defensive systems/countermeasures, durable designs, and raw speed/firepower to push into a given area first and secure a foothold. This push is supported by drone attacks and long-range vehicles such as advanced multiple rocket launchers made for hit-and-run tactics to avoid getting caught in-place. Air support in the form of drone strikes and air/space vehicle bombardment tends to follow or also accompany this, and the use of cluster munitions is at times used to soften up targets ahead of time or during battle in tandem with these things to hit the enemy hard. In short, a very high-firepower and very aggressive style meant to deploy and move rather fast in effect. Coordination between various units over spectrum-frequency highly-encrypted comms systems, made to be durable in the field, and similar measures in order to maximize efficiency in such planetary operations. Aside from these larger-scale tactics for larger battles, the use of snipers, spies, saboteurs, ambushers, and sub-units of elite commandos sent in to tear up the enemy and strike from the shadows to cause confusion, acquire information, instill fear, and weaken enemy lines is another more common means of approaching combat by League soldiers when a direct assault isn't viable enough. When taking up defensive positions a number of things are also used, including: mini-shield generators to filter out harmful gases and such, automated mechanical or bio-tech defenses, and traps such as landmines and advanced 'invisible fences' are employed alongside ever-changing patrol schedules to ensure a careful vigil is maintained. (In other words, a generally scifi-ish means of warfare based on modern day in some manner or another.)
However...this is the public manner of performing military operations. Efficient, smooth, sleek, and overall very well-armed and generally well-planned-out from the tech/weapons used to the manner of deployment. Even Telethoram assault forces grown and designed for each battle, potentially implanted with tech or cybernetics and gene mods or such additionally, are able to be employed in both aggressive and defensive manners alone, alongside normal troops, or the like. Alternate forms of tactics can also be employed depending on situations and opponents and other conditions, of course, though this isn't all. While a 'kosher' and 'standard' and 'ethical' means of warfare is generally enforced in accordance with the Eden Accords, there is also a far darker means in which League warfare can be and is conducted in a far less visible, vastly more secretive and macabre fashion.
Radical bioweapons in the form of fungal-grown monstrosities tailored with things such as emitting toxic gases and mind-warping spores or shapeshifting abilities, generically-engineered beasts beyond all recognition that were implanted with cybernetics rendered invisible to thermal systems by adapting to local conditions and used to drag enemy soldiers off into the dark of the night screaming, deployment of bio-mechanical-nano-machine clouds that devour organic tissues or consume/drain the energy from shields and enemy cybernetics/machines, experimental weapons unleashing toxic cocktails of chemicals and gases that destabilize molecular bonds and liquefy those unfortunate enough to enter their effective area, toxic serums that only affect the genes of psionic individuals or target the presence of psionium in the tissues of targets and have a lethal and truly horrific reactions with psionium, clouds of microorganisms that rapidly reduce the temperature of an area and flash-freeze victims caught within as they unleash hallucinogens that disorient the soon-to-be-dead, stealthy assassinations and wholesale brainwashing of enemy agents or soldiers or the like, and more are among the secretive and darker means of warfare that the League's planetary forces can commit. Whilst some would see this as war crimes, cruel measures, unspeakable horrors, and terrifying things that should never have seen the light of day, the League sees these things as measures and the like meant to be "deployed as needed" and at the League's discretion. Extensive programs and measures are taken to develop as well as conceal or 'smudge over' and cover up these operations and types of warfare, and a myriad of potential sources of blame and even scapegoats for such actions have already been prepared and constantly updated extensively and in intense detail. It isn't perfect, no systems of concealing such is for any race anywhere, but it would be a very tough nut to crack indeed when deployed.
Indeed, if there is one thing that the League has learned in their time in the Eden Cluster, not all 'play by the rules' and even more will play their hands under the table or in dirty ways. If such measures are felt to be needed, then such assets will be deployed without hesitation. The Eden Accords were signed by themselves and others for the sake the Cluster itself, but only a fool would leave themselves vulnerable to the atrocities of the past. To seek knowledge of them, to understand them, to grasp the nature of them, and more is something of value in regards to ensuring the League's survival among the stars. Of course the deployment of these things isn't a super-casual, as within the League's military there is a very distinct and protected chain of command and codes and the like for such things to be approved for deployment, but at the same time it is what it is no matter how one sugar-coats it. No nation in the Cluster, or perhaps beyond, is ever beyond having a 'dark side'. No amount of speaking to 'truth' and 'justice' and the like would ever be able to truly bury the dirty actions any government has done. No amount of scapegoats and blame-takers and the like will be able to wipe away the sins committed by those willing to do so. This is the truly dark side of the League's military that doesn't often rear its head, like a great, slumbering beast that lies in the darkness of a great cave, but when it does awaken and emerge...one does not want to be on the opposing end.
History: A nation born from the early days of the Eden Cluster, forged from the races and planets and people affected by contact with humanity and the technological rush and advancement they brought with them. Yet with the Jump Gates came incredible change and growth regardless. Spreading to other systems, places, and climes never before seen, the tendrils of life itself stretched out like an ever growing web in the northern end of the Eden Cluster. The strong yet peculiar Formians, the technophilic yet diminutive Veltron, the resilient yet alien Telethoram, and the brave yet primitive Renalians, all would eventually come to be affected by this era of new understanding in more ways than one. Some of these races had barely touched space, some not at all, and others had a little more experience than the rest. Still, all these groups would come to run into each other and start the foundations of something great. Indeed, in 175 EC these races would band together in the face of dangerous enemies and an uncertain future to form the The Forveliam League.
Initially beginning as a confederation and league of sorts, then tightening as conditions changed and the flow of time went on, the name of the League stuck for heritage’s sake even when eventual (if not inevitable) reforms created the current system they use today. Among those involved in the Frontier Wars, and among the nations wary of the ITC, the League seeks to cement its future in the Eden Cluster and show itself as a power to not be messed with.
-(To Be Added)
Characters:
-(To Be Added)
Other: Capital is on the Formi/Formian homeworld of Balor. Has trade with the Confederacy.
Zapdos
Xaltwind
Spiffy
dwyer austin
The Otter
Dezuel
Izurich
Danyel
Aku the Samurai
tundrafrog1124
