silver or lead

Salute to the Fallen (Reboot)

So nation roll or naw? And is there still room on the map or can we shift some of the NPC's around?

Salute to the Fallen (Reboot)

I don't think I've been in one of Theo's forums since Warring Fronts. But this one is definitely interesting. Can I get a nation roll please? @Theodorable

Era of Succession(Closed)

THE GREAT USSURI-VARSOVIAN COMMONWEALTH

Some 30 years ago...

Vladisvla City, Byasarab

Drop Patrol Corporal Vroda's Journal - Day 1

There are two ways to name a city after a great leader. The first is to rename an important one, re-casting a respected hub under the auspices of vis great name. The second is to make a new city from the ground up. Since the late King Vladisvla had been a great builder in every way, it was only proper that vis memory was honored in the second way. All honor be to vis name!

True to the great King's legacy, the city is immense. A glistening marvel dense with warehouses and industry and hydroponic centers, a pinnacle of productive power! Yet, it is an island of civilization in a sea of barbarians, a city whose every function must for now be devoted entirely to its own defense. The farms feed soldiers. The warehouses store arms and munitions. The factories spew military equipment. And around the whole city is the greatest network of fortresses and trenches I have ever seen! Beyond are plains of thick red grass, under a sky of endless grey that neither darkens to night nor clears into bright day.

They say the enemy lurk in millions of underground bunkers, for we rarely see them above-ground. Eerily enough, the veterans here say there hasn't been an attack for months. We've sent burrower drones to mine the earth around us, lest the traitor Ayar try to tunnel their way under us.

Day 5

Starting two days ago, several times the bone-headed barbarians have climbed out of their holes and mass to attack about five miles off from the outer lines and push from all directions. Although they outnumber us, the Sky Patrol and our artillery keep them at bay. They as far as the serf levy line yesterday, but the line did its job. I hear a few of the serfs got commendations, good to know some among the common folk have some martial virtue! Such a shame that the revolutionists keep trying, all the plasma fire is ruining the grass.

Day 8

So much for brave serfs! The whole outer line defected to the enemy during an attack this morning, giving the barbarians a foothold in the outskirts! The serf backstabbers and their rebel scum friends tried to push in together, and we had to call in orbital fire to wipe out their rear ranks in the field. Their front was too close to the city to bomb from orbit outright, so us battle-suits had to go in and do the job ourselves. Without the heavy guns from their rear, they couldn't do much to us, and we sent them scrambling back to the trenches.

Needless to say, the starship missiles devastated the landscape. There weren't even any fires, just huge blinding clouds of plasma followed by grey barren waste.

Day 9

Command called for a media blackout after yesterday's serf debacle. Any communication we send to home has to go through the fleet first. It's the right move under the circumstances. Can't have the rabble back home getting uppity. But it sure makes watching the holo-game tournaments a pain.

Day 11

Somehow, the half-wit serfs and their rebel friends figured out how to disable the burrower drones. We don't have enough suits to mount a counter-attack, so we pulled back to where the concrete and metal will keep the moles from surfacing. The whole outskirts lost just like that, along with hundreds of important forts. At least we pulled out or destroyed all the equipment.

Day 12

It's a new firefight every hour today. The enemy managed to slip their artillery through tunnels into the outskirts, and now the shells just don't stop falling. They're shooting down our planes, too, and we don't have the numbers to replace them. My own suit's been holding together fine, and I've blasted about four tanks and twenty two barbarians. But two squadmates had theirs break down under fire, and one was wounded before we could bring ver back. Even worse, we lost some artillery suits, and unlike the enemy we can't afford that.

I fear I'll die here at the hands of uncivilized brutes. But I won't give up till the end. If I die, I die with the honor my opponents lack.

_

The thirteenth day of attacks began like the last, with the unceasing scream of shells and rockets raining down on Varsovian lines. The Shravians replied with swathes of precision air strikes and calculated return-shellings from artillery suits that reduced entire sections of artillery to shreds, but they simply could not match their enemies' power. Even as the Varsovian aircraft and artillery neutralized ten pieces for every one lost, they were losing the battle. Every plane that spiralled down to its doom and every artillery suit knocked out of action was irreplaceable, while even a whole row of rebel self-propelled guns turned to smoldering rubble was a mere drop in the bucket of reserves.

Then came the tanks and infantry. The front-line battlesuits were stretched desperately thin: Corporal Vroda's nearest comrade on either side was a quarter mile away. Vis suit alone, surrounded by ammunition and nestled in the cover of prefab barriers, would have to cover a radius of some 200 meters.

The first enemy to enter range rounded a pile of rubble directly ahead. It was an old RWU model light walker, an "egg" on two legs with a chain gun on one arm and a laser on the other.



Vroda sent a plasma beam its way, causing it to shudder for a moment as it was impaled before exploding into searing orange fire and black smoke. Merely a second later, a makeshift tank was emerging from an entirely different location, a hollowed-out shell of a building. Vroda barely managed to rotate and fire again in time, but then there were three, six, fourteen enemy vehicles and whole companies of soldiers behind.

The prefab barriers shuddered as dozens of enemy shots landed, while the desperate corporal rushed to target his most dangerous assailants one by one: A tank-hunter spider walker here, a fast-approaching armored car with a flamethrower there, a squad of furry Ayar manning a laser cannon yonder.

Try as ve may, Corporal Vroda was getting surrounded. Ve remembered that yesterday, ve had been saved by the timely flanking intervention of a VSOP team, little Shravian figures that looked almost like robots with their cybernetics and tight grey power-armor. They had come out with plasma guns blazing, mere infantry ravaging an entire column of tanks before retreating back into their hiding. But right now, ve knew they were occupied elsewhere: VSOP had been assigned the objective of softening the rebel artillery now that the defenders had lost too much of their own to manage counter-battery fire. It was just Vroda and the enemy here today.



There were too many of them. Vroda was getting surrounded. Shots were starting to hit vis suit. Clunk! The chatter of comrades and commanders cut out with not more than a tremble and a blip. Puh! With a metallic ring and an electronic whine, targeting reticules and rangefinder markings disappeared from Vroda's display. Desperate, ve clasped the triggers and digged into the buttons for every weapon on the suit. Missiles screeched, light gas autocannons popped, plasma beams hummed, and plasma throwers roared. Everything the corporal could see ahead seemed to burst into fire and dust, but the inaccurate barrage scored precious few true hits.

It was the fury of a dying animal, knowing no direction, and the enemy knew it. They began to close in on the isolated suit. The fight was over. Or so it seemed, until...

_

Day 13

...the enemy was swept away before me in a blaze of explosions and beams and shells from above! Or was it behind? Whatever the case, then came the Ussuri gunships flying in over my head! There must have been hundreds of them, and that was just the ones in my line of sight! Glorious metal birds with the sword-and-gear of our Frontier comrades emblazed upon their armor.

My own suit was out of action, but I witnessed what came next. Ussuri in suits and Tr'Kan on foot, a veritable tidal wave of metal and lizards that swept past me and then disappeared ahead, so quick and devastating was their advance!

There's no longer any question in my mind. If my opinion as a humble noble corporal is of any value, let it be known that the Ussuri are heroes and true kin of us Varsovians. Their customs may be odd, their habits a little rugged, but the frontier-folk are the strength of Shravia as much as those of us keeping the core in order. We must rise again united, as we did today to overcome the mindless revolutionaries. Tomorrow, perhaps, we will overcome the Imperium degenerates as well. I only hope I live to see it on the ground, as I've witnessed this victory today!

_____

Year Five of the Kyschev Campaign

Kyschev; Vostock Sector

Holo-Journal of Kapitan Sudoslav b a

168th Penal Regiment

The stench of death and pestilence are everywhere. The incinerators burn day and night, interrupted only by the burst of shelling, screaming, and the cursed Tr'Kan hissing. We live a troglodyte existence, dodging artillery strikes and air patrols by day, and and skulking by night. We arrived on Kyschev four million strong, thirty thousand tanks and mechanized vehicles, and six thousand aircraft. A decade has passed since our glorious army has landed on this barren wasteland of a world.

Kyschev was supposed to be the culmination of a glorious campaign.

The capital of the Tr'Kan rebels and the Asov bandits who support them.

Kyschev was supposed to be the end.

Instead, Kyschev was a trap designed to bleed the Ussuri to death by a thousand cuts.

The enemy fleet gave our forces precious little resistance, conserving their ships to strike during the landing operation when the Armada was most vulnerable. Chaos ensued and the wreckage of the flagship Admiral Kubliov still lurks in orbit over the planet, a grim reminder of the battle. The back of the Ussuri fleet was broken and a new offensive by the Asov Clan meant that there was little naval firepower to save Sirakov's army.

But like us, the rebels lack the means to deliver a final blow. A blockade has strangled the planet, with only the occasional transport ships and blockade runners slipping through to dekuver vital supplies. Now even that precious link is threatened.

Week One: The Siege of Tambov

Something has changed over the last six months. The Tr'Kan have become more bold and we've captured scouts surveying our lines. More importantly, we've seen battle suits much akin to ours amongst the enemy ranks. These feral barbarians are not capable of grand strategems. Someone with shrewd intelligence is guiding them, a cunning Shravian mind. The Asovians have arrived, first only a handful of troopships, then hundreds more.

When the offensive came, it was brutal, swift, and sudden. The Front Line of the Vostok Sector was overrun in a matter of two days, the assault not only coming from the air but beneath us as well. Massive tunneling charges blowing massive gaps into fortifications that have been in place for the last three years. It's become clear what the enemies objective is: Tambov.

The city on the river is the last remaining spaceport in Ussuri hands, without it, the bare minimum of supplies that have been reaching us will grind to a complete halt.

Week Six:

The crack of autocannon's and burp of rocket fire is near constant. I cannot deny the thrill of combat, the constant rush of adrenaline pumping through my heart. Yet the state of our existence and its inevitable course cannot be denied. The enemy have advanced into the outskirts of Tambov and no matter how many I kill, it seems the enemies numbers are limitless. The wretched reptiles and their Asovian masters.

The radio cracks with a never ending stream of reports and I carefully select which squads are beyond saving. The command module implanted in my wrist hums to life, activation runes glowing as I trigger the kill switch. Massive explosions follow, sending shrapnel and debris flying in all directions. The explosive collar around my own neck is a reminder of my own fate should the scum overtake my position.

I take a moment to survey the space port. Near constant shelling has reduced Tambov to smoking ruins, fires rage uncontrollably through many of the districts. It's only a matter of time. Enemy bombers swoop in for another strafing run, leaving ka trail of destruction and destroyed vehicles in their wake. A wave of our own missiles pursued them, a twisting trail of contrails.

Despite our efforts in holding the perimeter.. I receive my orders...

Withdraw.

Week Fourteen:

A battle is raging in low orbit.

The streaking remains of warships come shooting down like stars, but down here in the trenches there is no respite. The enemy has taken seventy five percent of Tambov, only the space port, protected by a void shield and a network of anti-aircraft batteries still remains firmly in control. But that control is slipping by the day. The streets are carpeted with the dead and destroyed vehicles. Tanks lay haphazardly, thrown like a spore's plaything. Enemy air attacks have gone from annoying to incessant. Our supply of missiles has run extremly low and like birds of prey, every movement is watched.

The regiment of four thousand has been cut to just four hundred men. We've been ordered to dig in around the space port. I await the final assault.

It doesn't come. Swarms of new fighters have arrived and suddenly there is a pitched air battle in the sky. These sleek new fighters swat their enemy counterparts out of the sky, leaving little more than flaming wreckage in their wake. Orbital bombardments swiftly follow, blasting the countryside to volcanic glass.

Hoverbirds swiftly follow, deploying specialized platoons. Their battlesuits identify them as Shravian's but these aren't the aging ing battlesuits that the Ussuri grunt has grown useto.d to. Gleaming and advanced, it is only then that I see the colors of Varsovia emblazoned upon their shoulder emblems.

Our cousins from the Core World, long thought lost. The sky is soon filled with new waves of Ussuri troopships and words soon begins circulating that the Varsovian's have broken the blockade! Without their help, despite their odd ways, we would've been little more than meat.

Perhaps there is more to these long lost cousins than meets the eye. They are brave in their own right, with Ussuri manpower and Varsovian ships, the Galaxy will tremble.

Era of Succession(Closed)

Name of Nation: Ussuri Hetmanate

Type of Government: Feudal Monarchy

Description of Government:

Officially, the Hetman of the Ussuri Clan is an elected representative selected from the Tagma. The Tagma is a Council of Nobility, made up of the nobility of the Hetmanate. In reality however, it is little more than a rubber stamp parliament with little real power. It's members are required to swear personal oaths of loyalty, in return the Hetman recognizes their local rights to territory and largely stays out of the internal conflicts that outright open warfare between the nobles. As the largest and most powerful of the Clans, the Sirakov's have ruthlessly exploited these competing factions for the last century to ensure that they remain the strongest amongst the Clans.

Important Figures:
Hetman Ivan Sirakov:
Hetman of the Ussuri Confederacy and Co-Monarch of the Commonwealth, Ivan Sirakov was forged in the fires of nuclear warfare and vas responsible for waging a ruthless insurgency against the Imperium. With the collapse of the human government, Aleksander's Successor has been ruthlessly moving to conquer vis ancestors former General's and clansman. I

Banner / Flag:



History:
Following the establishment of the Shravian Federation, the immediate priority became the expansion of Shravian territories and more importantly the conquest of the Safavid and Survaek Empires. Millions of Shravian’s had been conscripted for the war, and millions more would die on foreign worlds, not as a result of direct combat, but instead the lowly microbial germ. As a result, a wealthy group of Shravian industrialists and nobles invested in new strain of genetic material. The end goal was not only to create a better and stronger soldier class of Shravian’s but build a Shravian that could survive the hostile conditions of the galaxy. These new colonists would go on to populate the vast stretches of the ‘Frontier ‘, an area containing the home of the Tr’Kan and numerous formally uninhabited planets.
The end of the Shravian Federation and the civil war that followed left the colonists on the Frontier in a state of quasi independence. The ‘’ Ussuri ‘’ (the largest of the ‘clans’ inhabiting the area) as they would become known had gained important power and influence. The wealth of natural resources and their geographic position meant that the Ussuri had to be dealt with. The first Imperial Invasion of the Hetamantate ended in disaster. The colonists not only fought tenaciously for their newly built homes but enlisted the reptilian Tr’Kan to fight alongside them. Their knowledge of the terrain and the fact that they were biologically engineered to thrive upon it meant that the Imperial invasion was short lived. The Emperor’s army was crushed in a vicious war of attrition. But for all their might on the surface, the Ussuri could not win in space. The Frontier was cut off, blockaded, until begrudgingly the Ussuri were brought to the negotiating table.
Fearing a long war that could drag the Empire into an unending bloody quagmire, the Ussuri went from persecuted minority to favored and enshrined. The Hetman, a direct ancestor of the current Sirakov line was rewarded with direct control over the territory ve governed and more importantly, these rights were enshrined into Shravian law. In exchange, the Ussuri became the Imperial Guard of the Shravian Emperor, deployed to crush revolutionaries but more importantly, they became the spearhead of a new wave of conquest that saw the Frontier expand.

Yet all expansion must come to an end. The Shravian Imperial Army, under the leadership of Aleksander Sirakov, conqueror of a hundred star systems met the might of the Terran Imperium. Having little regard for the s‘inferior humans ‘ and knowing that conflict was only a matter of time, Sirakov pressed for an invasion. Those demands were ignored, instead Sirakov began preparing for his defenses for the war he knew was to come.

When the ‘’ collapse ‘’ came it was sudden, imperial authority crumbled. On the Border known collectively as the Frontier Zone, General Sirakov and other Imperial Commanders took drastic measures to quarantine the sick and contain rebellion. The Imperial Governors were overthrown and a military junta installed, eventually cutting contact with the core worlds altogether. In the Core, Shravians died in droves while revolutionaries and noble rebels took control of larger and larger territories. In the midst of the chaos, the Shravilid Dynasty was massacred to the last individual. It was more than a disaster. It was the end of the Shravian Empire.

From the ashes of the old Empire, sprung forth a deluge of pretenders to the Throne. Civil War raged not only on the Core Worlds but now the Frontier Zone became a divided territory, Generals challenged Sirakov’s role as Grand Commander of the Frontier leading to a massive outbreak of infighting. The Junta governing the Borderlands split into competing factions, each army containing millions of troops, starships, and weapons of mass destruction. These weapons were soon put to use, not only against fellow Shravian’s but against a massive invasion by the Terran Imperium.

The humans took advantage of the civil wars, breaking through formerly impregnable lines to the Core Worlds. General Sirakov lead a vicious insurgency, ensuring that while the Terran Imperium had a presence in the Border, they could never control the competing factions nor the territory. Such was the way for centuries until at last, much like the Shravian Empire, the Imperium collapsed swiftly. The Ussuri, under, Aleksander Sirakov’s descendant Ivan Sirakov was at last in a position to unite the fragmented borderlands. Much of it controlled by little more than petty barons and pretenders that continued to claim the legacy of the Old Empire.

The biggest thorn in the side of the Ussuri regaining complete hegemony over its territories was a second slave uprising. The Tr'Kan Rebellion had never fully been quashed in decades prior and threatened to be re-ignited as the Ussuri regained dominance. Rival clans funneled weapons, cash, and support to the Tr'Kan whom had also recruited millions of slave soldiers from the mines and work pits. Various gun runners and black market dealers from the scattered remnants of the Old Shravian Empire also were a valuable source of supply.

Without a true navy, Ivan Sirakov, Aleksander's successor had no true way of cutting off the enemy supply lines. As a result, ve was forced to embark on a slow and grueling campaign. As the uprising had taken place on several of the Frontier Zone's most industrialized worlds, prior tactics of nuking the opposition into submission were discarded for direct ground assaults. The ferocity of the Tr'Kan however and their foreign backers meant that this was a grim and bloody prospect.

In the Core Worlds, once the heartland of the Old Empire, the Varsovian's had likewise maneuvered themselves into an advantageous position as the most powerful of merchant houses, controlling a vast network of fleets to bring vast swathes of territory under its control. What the Varsovian's could not stop however was its hunger for raw materials. Likewise, the many plagues and decades of infighting had vastly reduced the Shravian population of the Core Worlds. The Frontier Worlds however had an abundant population, primarily as a result of the mass extermination of the rebelling slave populations. An alliance of convenience began to emerge, in exchange for access to Ussuri resources and troops, the Varsovian's in turn gave the Hetman much needed new weapons and naval support, enough to at last bring the rebellious clans and Tr'Kan to heel.

At last, it seemed after two longs centuries of strife, the Shravian state was taking infantile steps towards creating a new Empire. With Ivan Sirakov entrenched in vis role as Hetman of the Ussuri Clans and having subjugated his rivals, both the Varsovian's and Ussuri could turn their attention to healing old wounds. Neither faction could afford to declare vimself Emperor, thus both the Sirakov and Preslid Dynasties would be bound by blood and superior Shravian DNA.

It remains to be see whether this fragile state of co-existence can truly survive. The Sirakov and Preslid Houses, each powerful in their own right, need one another far too much to risk seizing ultimate powers for vimselves. Likewise, many of the Ussuri see their Varsovian cousins as prudish and weak, far more likely to be plotting treachery in a backroom then taking the fight to the enemy. Yet for now, the alliance holds.

Main Race:
Shravians are a species that defies easy categorization, seemingly both animal and fungal in their characteristics. In their adult form, they appear as bipedal amphibians standing about one meter high. However, their natural reproduction is exclusively asexual: about six times per year Shravians “spit out” spores that look nothing like their future forms. The spore form, externally, appears as a moldy ball that slowly “morphs” into an adult over the course of 4-7 years. It is generally accepted that Shravians do not achieve sentience until about the age of 2, lacking a brain entirely when “born.” Internally, of course, both forms -as well as the intermediate stages between them- are both animal and fungal. Their individual cell structure is fungal, containing both chitin and glucan, and like fungi they decompose and feed on organic matter through their skin, lacking any devoted digestive system. However, adults do have lungs, skeletons, internal zygote (spore) generating organs (connected to their mouths), and a generally animalian form. Even spores have rudimentary hearts and circulatory systems.

A major complicating factor in accounting for Shravian biology is their near-millenium of artificial genetic modification. This has resulted in staggering genetic diversity that the species' natural reproduction would not normally produce. Embedded in this difference is a hierarchy between those with access to the most comprehensive genetic “improvements,” granting lifespans of centuries and due to various advantages, and those with lesser access who generally live to about one-hundred. Most, but not all Shravians possess facial characteristics reminiscent of humanoids, and there is speculation that one of the earliest technologically-imposed genetic modifications to the long-spacefaring species were modeled after certain advantageous humanoid characteristics. Almost all Shravians would deny such a claim, however.

Indeed, unmodified Shravians disappeared so long ago that even records of their original biology have been lost to time – or perhaps destroyed at some point after their extinction. It is generally thought that these “lesser Shravians” lived no longer than twenty years, lacked eyesight entirely, and had no mouths - simply accumulating hundreds of dormant spores inside their bodies that burst out after death.

Compared to the average human, the average Shravian is much smaller and slightly weaker, but stronger relative to its size. Shravians have a number of redundancies that make them significantly more durable than humans, such as 2-3 hearts and an entire network of small lungs under thick layers of skin. Related to the latter is Shravians' ability to open “respiratory pores” in their skin; they can also breathe through their mouths, but this was almost certainly an early genetic modification for the purpose of vocal communication. The average Shravian is slower running but faster swimming than the average human. It has roughly equal visual perceptiveness to the human, but much more refined senses of touch and sound. Most Shravians cannot smell, and those that can usually do so through the assistance of cybernetics in addition to genetic modifications. They are capable of feeding on practically any organic matter, allowing a very wide range of possible food to consume, but they also require about double the sheer caloric intake of a human. Furthermore, if a Shravian is unfortunate enough to go without food for around three weeks, the body will begin to eat itself from the outside in. Their more “fungal” parts, most notably their skin, can regenerate over hours what would take humans days, but their more “animal” parts heal only about 1.5 times the human rate.

Minority Races:
- TR’KAN:
Twice the size of humans, the Tr’Kan are massive four armed reptilian humanoids. Under the Grand Survaek Empire, they co-existed alongside their human counterparts. The first Shravian Interstellar War changed that however. The Tr’Kan were subjugated, enslaved, and later rebelled. After a long and bloody campaign to subdue them, the Ussuri incorporated the Tr’Kan into a special ‘overseer’ class, not only using the reptilians to control the billions of slaves that are still live, work, and die on the Frontier. Tr’Kan soldiers are specifically bred in hatcheries and are the only non-shravian species that are allowed to hold to some fragments of their cultural identity.

-- AYAR
Ayar are the quasi-humanoid talpids native to Antoviya. They have markedly cylindrical bodies covered in dark fur, unusual strength for their size (standing no more than a little over 5 feet tall), thick hands bearing clawlike nails and two thumbs, an acute sense of smell and hearing, black bulbs of eyes suited to low-light vision, and a high tolerance for carbon dioxide. Hence, Ayar are natural burrowers. However, they have better daylight vision, a less-developed sense of touch, shorter snouts, and larger arms and legs than their evolutionary ancestors, allowing them to live comfortably both above and below ground.

Ayar are difficult for many foreigners to distinguish among by sight; they identify one another primarily by smell. However, the talpids make extensive use of all five basic “senses” and can communicate with spoken and written language, like most other species.

-- HUMANS (SURVAEKOM, SAFAVID)
Survaekom and Safavid are the same species as Terran humans, although even to this day they still distinguish themselves due to ancient cultural differences. The former two began as very distant colonies from Earth, developing into entirely independent polities so far-off and distinct that would not even participate in the crisis of the Democratic Confederation, Solar Federation, and Imperium. Nonetheless, there are no biological differences worth noting among the human groups. There are also Terrans in Varsovian space, legacy of botched Imperium attempts at establishing direct rule in the region, but in such small numbers that they are practically microscopic within the Kingdom's general population.

Religious Demographics:

Culture:
Ussuri culture is based around a near perpetual state of conflict, if not with outsiders then with one another. The more slaves and lands that one holds, the more powerful and personal prestige ve attracts. It is not uncommon for warlords to battle one another for control for which the central government often turns a blind eye to. With billions upon billions of subjects under its control, Ussuri rule is indirect but backed by the threat of annihilation if the nobles do not fulfill their oaths and tributes.

Unlike their Shravian cousins in the Core Worlds, the population is more of a 50-50 split between Shravian and slave. This is a result of the Imperial Military sealing off the Frontier, preventing the spread of dangerous plagues that annihilated many of their kinsmen. Slaves in the Hetmanate are considered the personal properties of their owners, with no personal rights. Their are several exceptions to this rule however. In order to keep domestic tranquility, the Shravian's have chosen to uplift certain species to near equal status..such as the warrior Tr'Kan. In exchange for special rights and quotas of troops, the Tr'Kan were allowed to keep much of their cultural heritage without interference from the central government. This extends to lesser degrees to the Ayar and Human slaves that exist in Ussuri space. A special overseer class rules directly over the human and reports to a Shravian administrator who sets quotas and tithes. Failure to meet these quotas is often fatal for all involved.

The Clans of the Ussuri nation are many, the clans themselves are formed by region and genetic stock. Due to the wide array of biodiverse planets that make up the Frontier, it s not uncommon to see Shravian's with different degrees of augmetics and enhancements that reflect their exact region. Clan marking in the form of tattoos are very common, denoting not only the region from which one hails but rank and social status. The more complex the markings, the more battlefield victories and slaves a Shravian might own. Again, unlike in the Core Worlds, the Ussuri managed to keep the bulk of their population intact. Without a massive culling of the Shravian population, the former officer class of the Imperial Army became the new nobility. using their newfound wealth and power to seize territory. The bulk of the non noble class of Shravian's have found places in the military or on the frontier as colonists, with the Ussuri state constantly seeking to expand at the expense of its neighbors (even their weaker Shravian cousins in the Core Worlds whom many an Ussuri look down upon).

Description of Military:

Description of Technology

Era of Succession(Closed)

[ WIP! Just stick me to wherever Asp is on the map. Hopefully I'll have the app more fleshed out over this week, but here is the bulk of it. ]

Name of Nation: Ussuri Hetmanate

Type of Government: Feudal Monarchy

Description of Government:

Officially, the Hetman of the Ussuri Clan is an elected representative selected from the Tagma. The Tagma is a Council of Nobility, made up of the nobility of the Hetmanate. In reality however, it is little more than a rubber stamp parliament with little real power. It's members are required to swear personal oaths of loyalty, in return the Hetman recognizes their local rights to territory and largely stays out of the internal conflicts that outright open warfare between the nobles. As the largest and most powerful of the Clans, the Sirakov's have ruthlessly exploited these competing factions for the last century to ensure that they remain the strongest amongst the Clans.

Important Figures:
Hetman Ivan Sirakov:
Hetman of the Ussuri Confederacy and Co-Monarch of the Commonwealth, Ivan Sirakov was forged in the fires of nuclear warfare and vas responsible for waging a ruthless insurgency against the Imperium. With the collapse of the human government, Aleksander's Successor has been ruthlessly moving to conquer vis ancestors former General's and clansman. I

Banner / Flag

History:
Following the establishment of the Shravian Federation, the immediate priority became the expansion of Shravian territories and more importantly the conquest of the Safavid and Survaek Empires. Millions of Shravian’s had been conscripted for the war, and millions more would die on foreign worlds, not as a result of direct combat, but instead the lowly microbial germ. As a result, a wealthy group of Shravian industrialists and nobles invested in new strain of genetic material. The end goal was not only to create a better and stronger soldier class of Shravian’s but build a Shravian that could survive the hostile conditions of the galaxy. These new colonists would go on to populate the vast stretches of the ‘Frontier ‘, an area containing the home of the Tr’Kan and numerous formally uninhabited planets.
The end of the Shravian Federation and the civil war that followed left the colonists on the Frontier in a state of quasi independence. The ‘’ Ussuri ‘’ (the largest of the ‘clans’ inhabiting the area) as they would become known had gained important power and influence. The wealth of natural resources and their geographic position meant that the Ussuri had to be dealt with. The first Imperial Invasion of the Hetamantate ended in disaster. The colonists not only fought tenaciously for their newly built homes but enlisted the reptilian Tr’Kan to fight alongside them. Their knowledge of the terrain and the fact that they were biologically engineered to thrive upon it meant that the Imperial invasion was short lived. The Emperor’s army was crushed in a vicious war of attrition. But for all their might on the surface, the Ussuri could not win in space. The Frontier was cut off, blockaded, until begrudgingly the Ussuri were brought to the negotiating table.
Fearing a long war that could drag the Empire into an unending bloody quagmire, the Ussuri went from persecuted minority to favored and enshrined. The Hetman, a direct ancestor of the current Sirakov line was rewarded with direct control over the territory ve governed and more importantly, these rights were enshrined into Shravian law. In exchange, the Ussuri became the Imperial Guard of the Shravian Emperor, deployed to crush revolutionaries but more importantly, they became the spearhead of a new wave of conquest that saw the Frontier expand.

Yet all expansion must come to an end. The Shravian Imperial Army, under the leadership of Aleksander Sirakov, conqueror of a hundred star systems met the might of the Terran Imperium. Having little regard for the s‘inferior humans ‘ and knowing that conflict was only a matter of time, Sirakov pressed for an invasion. Those demands were ignored, instead Sirakov began preparing for his defenses for the war he knew was to come.

When the ‘’ collapse ‘’ came it was sudden, imperial authority crumbled. On the Border known collectively as the Frontier Zone, General Sirakov and other Imperial Commanders took drastic measures to quarantine the sick and contain rebellion. The Imperial Governors were overthrown and a military junta installed, eventually cutting contact with the core worlds altogether. In the Core, Shravians died in droves while revolutionaries and noble rebels took control of larger and larger territories. In the midst of the chaos, the Shravilid Dynasty was massacred to the last individual. It was more than a disaster. It was the end of the Shravian Empire.

From the ashes of the old Empire, sprung forth a deluge of pretenders to the Throne. Civil War raged not only on the Core Worlds but now the Frontier Zone became a divided territory, Generals challenged Sirakov’s role as Grand Commander of the Frontier leading to a massive outbreak of infighting. The Junta governing the Borderlands split into competing factions, each army containing millions of troops, starships, and weapons of mass destruction. These weapons were soon put to use, not only against fellow Shravian’s but against a massive invasion by the Terran Imperium.

The humans took advantage of the civil wars, breaking through formerly impregnable lines to the Core Worlds. General Sirakov lead a vicious insurgency, ensuring that while the Terran Imperium had a presence in the Border, they could never control the competing factions nor the territory. Such was the way for centuries until at last, much like the Shravian Empire, the Imperium collapsed swiftly. The Ussuri, under, Aleksander Sirakov’s descendant Ivan Sirakov was at last in a position to unite the fragmented borderlands. Much of it controlled by little more than petty barons and pretenders that continued to claim the legacy of the Old Empire.

The biggest thorn in the side of the Ussuri regaining complete hegemony over its territories was a second slave uprising. The Tr'Kan Rebellion had never fully been quashed in decades prior and threatened to be re-ignited as the Ussuri regained dominance. Rival clans funneled weapons, cash, and support to the Tr'Kan whom had also recruited millions of slave soldiers from the mines and work pits. Various gun runners and black market dealers from the scattered remnants of the Old Shravian Empire also were a valuable source of supply.

Without a true navy, Ivan Sirakov, Aleksander's successor had no true way of cutting off the enemy supply lines. As a result, ve was forced to embark on a slow and grueling campaign. As the uprising had taken place on several of the Frontier Zone's most industrialized worlds, prior tactics of nuking the opposition into submission were discarded for direct ground assaults. The ferocity of the Tr'Kan however and their foreign backers meant that this was a grim and bloody prospect.

In the Core Worlds, once the heartland of the Old Empire, the Varsovian's had likewise maneuvered themselves into an advantageous position as the most powerful of merchant houses, controlling a vast network of fleets to bring vast swathes of territory under its control. What the Varsovian's could not stop however was its hunger for raw materials. Likewise, the many plagues and decades of infighting had vastly reduced the Shravian population of the Core Worlds. The Frontier Worlds however had an abundant population, primarily as a result of the mass extermination of the rebelling slave populations. An alliance of convenience began to emerge, in exchange for access to Ussuri resources and troops, the Varsovian's in turn gave the Hetman much needed new weapons and naval support, enough to at last bring the rebellious clans and Tr'Kan to heel.

At last, it seemed after two longs centuries of strife, the Shravian state was taking infantile steps towards creating a new Empire. With Ivan Sirakov entrenched in vis role as Hetman of the Ussuri Clans and having subjugated his rivals, both the Varsovian's and Ussuri could turn their attention to healing old wounds. Neither faction could afford to declare vimself Emperor, thus both the Sirakov and Preslid Dynasties would be bound by blood and superior Shravian DNA.

It remains to be see whether this fragile state of co-existence can truly survive. The Sirakov and Preslid Houses, each powerful in their own right, need one another far too much to risk seizing ultimate powers for vimselves. Likewise, many of the Ussuri see their Varsovian cousins as prudish and weak, far more likely to be plotting treachery in a backroom then taking the fight to the enemy. Yet for now, the alliance holds.

Main Race:
Shravians are a species that defies easy categorization, seemingly both animal and fungal in their characteristics. In their adult form, they appear as bipedal amphibians standing about one meter high. However, their natural reproduction is exclusively asexual: about six times per year Shravians “spit out” spores that look nothing like their future forms. The spore form, externally, appears as a moldy ball that slowly “morphs” into an adult over the course of 4-7 years. It is generally accepted that Shravians do not achieve sentience until about the age of 2, lacking a brain entirely when “born.” Internally, of course, both forms -as well as the intermediate stages between them- are both animal and fungal. Their individual cell structure is fungal, containing both chitin and glucan, and like fungi they decompose and feed on organic matter through their skin, lacking any devoted digestive system. However, adults do have lungs, skeletons, internal zygote (spore) generating organs (connected to their mouths), and a generally animalian form. Even spores have rudimentary hearts and circulatory systems.

A major complicating factor in accounting for Shravian biology is their near-millenium of artificial genetic modification. This has resulted in staggering genetic diversity that the species' natural reproduction would not normally produce. Embedded in this difference is a hierarchy between those with access to the most comprehensive genetic “improvements,” granting lifespans of centuries and due to various advantages, and those with lesser access who generally live to about one-hundred. Most, but not all Shravians possess facial characteristics reminiscent of humanoids, and there is speculation that one of the earliest technologically-imposed genetic modifications to the long-spacefaring species were modeled after certain advantageous humanoid characteristics. Almost all Shravians would deny such a claim, however.

Indeed, unmodified Shravians disappeared so long ago that even records of their original biology have been lost to time – or perhaps destroyed at some point after their extinction. It is generally thought that these “lesser Shravians” lived no longer than twenty years, lacked eyesight entirely, and had no mouths - simply accumulating hundreds of dormant spores inside their bodies that burst out after death.

Compared to the average human, the average Shravian is much smaller and slightly weaker, but stronger relative to its size. Shravians have a number of redundancies that make them significantly more durable than humans, such as 2-3 hearts and an entire network of small lungs under thick layers of skin. Related to the latter is Shravians' ability to open “respiratory pores” in their skin; they can also breathe through their mouths, but this was almost certainly an early genetic modification for the purpose of vocal communication. The average Shravian is slower running but faster swimming than the average human. It has roughly equal visual perceptiveness to the human, but much more refined senses of touch and sound. Most Shravians cannot smell, and those that can usually do so through the assistance of cybernetics in addition to genetic modifications. They are capable of feeding on practically any organic matter, allowing a very wide range of possible food to consume, but they also require about double the sheer caloric intake of a human. Furthermore, if a Shravian is unfortunate enough to go without food for around three weeks, the body will begin to eat itself from the outside in. Their more “fungal” parts, most notably their skin, can regenerate over hours what would take humans days, but their more “animal” parts heal only about 1.5 times the human rate.

Minority Races:
- TR’KAN:
Twice the size of humans, the Tr’Kan are massive four armed reptilian humanoids. Under the Grand Survaek Empire, they co-existed alongside their human counterparts. The first Shravian Interstellar War changed that however. The Tr’Kan were subjugated, enslaved, and later rebelled. After a long and bloody campaign to subdue them, the Ussuri incorporated the Tr’Kan into a special ‘overseer’ class, not only using the reptilians to control the billions of slaves that are still live, work, and die on the Frontier. Tr’Kan soldiers are specifically bred in hatcheries and are the only non-shravian species that are allowed to hold to some fragments of their cultural identity.

-- AYAR
Ayar are the quasi-humanoid talpids native to Antoviya. They have markedly cylindrical bodies covered in dark fur, unusual strength for their size (standing no more than a little over 5 feet tall), thick hands bearing clawlike nails and two thumbs, an acute sense of smell and hearing, black bulbs of eyes suited to low-light vision, and a high tolerance for carbon dioxide. Hence, Ayar are natural burrowers. However, they have better daylight vision, a less-developed sense of touch, shorter snouts, and larger arms and legs than their evolutionary ancestors, allowing them to live comfortably both above and below ground.

Ayar are difficult for many foreigners to distinguish among by sight; they identify one another primarily by smell. However, the talpids make extensive use of all five basic “senses” and can communicate with spoken and written language, like most other species.

-- HUMANS (SURVAEKOM, SAFAVID)
Survaekom and Safavid are the same species as Terran humans, although even to this day they still distinguish themselves due to ancient cultural differences. The former two began as very distant colonies from Earth, developing into entirely independent polities so far-off and distinct that would not even participate in the crisis of the Democratic Confederation, Solar Federation, and Imperium. Nonetheless, there are no biological differences worth noting among the human groups. There are also Terrans in Varsovian space, legacy of botched Imperium attempts at establishing direct rule in the region, but in such small numbers that they are practically microscopic within the Kingdom's general population.

Religious Demographics:

Culture:
Ussuri culture is based around a near perpetual state of conflict, if not with outsiders then with one another. The more slaves and lands that one holds, the more powerful and personal prestige ve attracts. It is not uncommon for warlords to battle one another for control for which the central government often turns a blind eye to. With billions upon billions of subjects under its control, Ussuri rule is indirect but backed by the threat of annihilation if the nobles do not fulfill their oaths and tributes.

Unlike their Shravian cousins in the Core Worlds, the population is more of a 50-50 split between Shravian and slave. This is a result of the Imperial Military sealing off the Frontier, preventing the spread of dangerous plagues that annihilated many of their kinsmen. Slaves in the Hetmanate are considered the personal properties of their owners, with no personal rights. Their are several exceptions to this rule however. In order to keep domestic tranquility, the Shravian's have chosen to uplift certain species to near equal status..such as the warrior Tr'Kan. In exchange for special rights and quotas of troops, the Tr'Kan were allowed to keep much of their cultural heritage without interference from the central government. This extends to lesser degrees to the Ayar and Human slaves that exist in Ussuri space. A special overseer class rules directly over the human and reports to a Shravian administrator who sets quotas and tithes. Failure to meet these quotas is often fatal for all involved.

The Clans of the Ussuri nation are many, the clans themselves are formed by region and genetic stock. Due to the wide array of biodiverse planets that make up the Frontier, it s not uncommon to see Shravian's with different degrees of augmetics and enhancements that reflect their exact region. Clan marking in the form of tattoos are very common, denoting not only the region from which one hails but rank and social status. The more complex the markings, the more battlefield victories and slaves a Shravian might own. Again, unlike in the Core Worlds, the Ussuri managed to keep the bulk of their population intact. Without a massive culling of the Shravian population, the former officer class of the Imperial Army became the new nobility. using their newfound wealth and power to seize territory. The bulk of the non noble class of Shravian's have found places in the military or on the frontier as colonists, with the Ussuri state constantly seeking to expand at the expense of its neighbors (even their weaker Shravian cousins in the Core Worlds whom many an Ussuri look down upon).

Description of Military
Description of Technology

Collapse of an Empire (Sci-Fi NRP)

(WIP here guys, been working a lot so I haven't gotten a chance to flesh out the app like crazy. But I should have it wrapped up in the next day or two. Some of the racial descriptions are shamelessly ripped from Asp's app, because A) we worked on them together and B) he did a damn good job in writing it all up)

Name of Nation: Ussuri Hetmanate
Type of Government: Feudal Monarchy
Description of Government:
Banner / Flag
History:

Following the establishment of the Shravian Federation, the immediate priority became the expansion of Shravian territories and more importantly the conquest of the Safavid and Survaek Empires. Millions of Shravian’s had been conscripted for the war, and millions more would die on foreign worlds, not as a result of direct combat, but instead the lowly microbial germ. As a result, a wealthy group of Shravian industrialists and nobles invested in new strain of genetic material. The end goal was not only to create a better and stronger soldier class of Shravian’s but build a Shravian that could survive the hostile conditions of the galaxy. These new colonists would go on to populate the vast stretches of the ‘Frontier ‘, an area containing the home of the Tr’Kan and numerous formally uninhabited planets.
The end of the Shravian Federation and the civil war that followed left the colonists on the Frontier in a state of quasi independence. The ‘’ Ussuri ‘’ (the largest of the ‘clans’ inhabiting the area) as they would become known had gained important power and influence. The wealth of natural resources and their geographic position meant that the Ussuri had to be dealt with. The first Imperial Invasion of the Hetamantate ended in disaster. The colonists not only fought tenaciously for their newly built homes but enlisted the reptilian Tr’Kan to fight alongside them. Their knowledge of the terrain and the fact that they were biologically engineered to thrive upon it meant that the Imperial invasion was short lived. The Emperor’s army was crushed in a vicious war of attrition. But for all their might on the surface, the Ussuri could not win in space. The Frontier was cut off, blockaded, until begrudgingly the Ussuri were brought to the negotiating table.

Fearing a long war that could drag the Empire into an unending bloody quagmire, the Ussuri went from persecuted minority to favored and enshrined. The Hetman, a direct ancestor of the current Sirakov line was rewarded with direct control over the territory ve governed and more importantly, these rights were enshrined into Shravian law. In exchange, the Ussuri became the Imperial Guard of the Shravian Emperor, deployed to crush revolutionaries but more importantly, they became the spearhead of a new wave of conquest that saw the Frontier expand.
Yet all expansion must come to an end. The Shravian Imperial Army, under the leadership of Aleksander Sirakov, conqueror of a hundred star systems met the might of the Terran Imperium. Having little regard for the s‘inferior humans ‘ and knowing that conflict was only a matter of time, Sirakov pressed for an invasion. Those demands were ignored, instead Sirakov began preparing for his defenses for the war he knew was to come.
When the ‘’ collapse ‘’ came it was sudden, imperial authority crumbled. On the Border known collectively as the Frontier Zone, General Sirakov and other Imperial Commanders took drastic measures to quarantine the sick and contain rebellion. The Imperial Governors were overthrown and a military junta installed, eventually cutting contact with the core worlds altogether. In the Core, Shravians died in droves while revolutionaries and noble rebels took control of larger and larger territories. In the midst of the chaos, the Shravilid Dynasty was massacred to the last individual. It was more than a disaster. It was the end of the Shravian Empire.

From the ashes of the old Empire, sprung forth a deluge of pretenders to the Throne. Civil War raged not only on the Core Worlds but now the Frontier Zone became a divided territory, Generals challenged Sirakov’s role as Grand Commander of the Frontier leading to a massive outbreak of infighting. The Junta governing the Borderlands split into competing factions, each army containing millions of troops, starships, and weapons of mass destruction. These weapons were soon put to use, not only against fellow Shravian’s but against a massive invasion by the Terran Imperium.

The humans took advantage of the civil wars, breaking through formerly impregnable lines to the Core Worlds. General Sirakov lead a vicious insurgency, ensuring that while the Terran Imperium had a presence in the Border, they could never control the competing factions nor the territory. Such was the way for centuries until at last, much like the Shravian Empire, the Imperium collapsed swiftly. The Ussuri, under, Aleksander Sirakov’s descendant Ivan Sirakov was at last in a position to unite the fragmented borderlands. Much of it controlled by little more than petty barons and pretenders that continued to claim the legacy of the Old Empire.

The biggest thorn in the side of the Ussuri regaining complete hegemony over its territories was a second slave uprising. The Tr'Kan Rebellion had never fully been quashed in decades prior and threatened to be re-ignited as the Ussuri regained dominance. Rival clans funneled weapons, cash, and support to the Tr'Kan whom had also recruited millions of slave soldiers from the mines and work pits. Various gun runners and black market dealers from the scattered remnants of the Old Shravian Empire also were a valuable source of supply.

Without a true navy, Ivan Sirakov, Aleksander's successor had no true way of cutting off the enemy supply lines. As a result, ve was forced to embark on a slow and grueling campaign. As the uprising had taken place on several of the Frontier Zone's most industrialized worlds, prior tactics of nuking the opposition into submission were discarded for direct ground assaults. The ferocity of the Tr'Kan however and their foreign backers meant that this was a grim and bloody prospect.

In the Core Worlds, once the heartland of the Old Empire, the Varsovian's had likewise maneuvered themselves into an advantageous position as the most powerful of merchant houses, controlling a vast network of fleets to bring vast swathes of territory under its control. What the Varsovian's could not stop however was its hunger for raw materials. Likewise, the many plagues and decades of infighting had vastly reduced the Shravian population of the Core Worlds. The Frontier Worlds however had an abundant population, primarily as a result of the mass extermination of the rebelling slave populations. An alliance of convenience began to emerge, in exchange for access to Ussuri resources and troops, the Varsovian's in turn gave the Hetman much needed new weapons and naval support, enough to at last bring the rebellious clans and Tr'Kan to heel.

At last, it seemed after two longs centuries of strife, the Shravian state was taking infantile steps towards creating a new Empire. With Ivan Sirakov entrenched in vis role as Hetman of the Ussuri Clans and having subjugated his rivals, both the Varsovian's and Ussuri could turn their attention to healing old wounds. Neither faction could afford to declare vimself Emperor, thus both the Sirakov and Preslid Dynasties would be bound by blood and superior Shravian DNA.

It remains to be see whether this fragile state of co-existence can truly survive. The Sirakov and Preslid Houses, each powerful in their own right, need one another far too much to risk seizing ultimate powers for vimselves. Likewise, many of the Ussuri see their Varsovian cousins as prudish and weak, far more likely to be plotting treachery in a backroom then taking the fight to the enemy. Yet for now, the alliance holds.

Main Race:
Shravians are a species that defies easy categorization, seemingly both animal and fungal in their characteristics. In their adult form, they appear as bipedal amphibians standing about one meter high. However, their natural reproduction is exclusively asexual: about six times per year Shravians “spit out” spores that look nothing like their future forms. The spore form, externally, appears as a moldy ball that slowly “morphs” into an adult over the course of 4-7 years. It is generally accepted that Shravians do not achieve sentience until about the age of 2, lacking a brain entirely when “born.” Internally, of course, both forms -as well as the intermediate stages between them- are both animal and fungal. Their individual cell structure is fungal, containing both chitin and glucan, and like fungi they decompose and feed on organic matter through their skin, lacking any devoted digestive system. However, adults do have lungs, skeletons, internal zygote (spore) generating organs (connected to their mouths), and a generally animalian form. Even spores have rudimentary hearts and circulatory systems.

A major complicating factor in accounting for Shravian biology is their near-millenium of artificial genetic modification. This has resulted in staggering genetic diversity that the species' natural reproduction would not normally produce. Embedded in this difference is a hierarchy between those with access to the most comprehensive genetic “improvements,” granting lifespans of centuries and due to various advantages, and those with lesser access who generally live to about one-hundred. Most, but not all Shravians possess facial characteristics reminiscent of humanoids, and there is speculation that one of the earliest technologically-imposed genetic modifications to the long-spacefaring species were modeled after certain advantageous humanoid characteristics. Almost all Shravians would deny such a claim, however.

Indeed, unmodified Shravians disappeared so long ago that even records of their original biology have been lost to time – or perhaps destroyed at some point after their extinction. It is generally thought that these “lesser Shravians” lived no longer than twenty years, lacked eyesight entirely, and had no mouths - simply accumulating hundreds of dormant spores inside their bodies that burst out after death.

Compared to the average human, the average Shravian is much smaller and slightly weaker, but stronger relative to its size. Shravians have a number of redundancies that make them significantly more durable than humans, such as 2-3 hearts and an entire network of small lungs under thick layers of skin. Related to the latter is Shravians' ability to open “respiratory pores” in their skin; they can also breathe through their mouths, but this was almost certainly an early genetic modification for the purpose of vocal communication. The average Shravian is slower running but faster swimming than the average human. It has roughly equal visual perceptiveness to the human, but much more refined senses of touch and sound. Most Shravians cannot smell, and those that can usually do so through the assistance of cybernetics in addition to genetic modifications. They are capable of feeding on practically any organic matter, allowing a very wide range of possible food to consume, but they also require about double the sheer caloric intake of a human. Furthermore, if a Shravian is unfortunate enough to go without food for around three weeks, the body will begin to eat itself from the outside in. Their more “fungal” parts, most notably their skin, can regenerate over hours what would take humans days, but their more “animal” parts heal only about 1.5 times the human rate.
Minority Races:
- TR’KAN:
Twice the size of humans, the Tr’Kan are massive four armed reptilian humanoids. Under the Grand Survaek Empire, they co-existed alongside their human counterparts. The first Shravian Interstellar War changed that however. The Tr’Kan were subjugated, enslaved, and later rebelled. After a long and bloody campaign to subdue them, the Ussuri incorporated the Tr’Kan into a special ‘overseer’ class, not only using the reptilians to control the billions of slaves that are still live, work, and die on the Frontier. Tr’Kan soldiers are specifically bred in hatcheries and are the only non-shravian species that are allowed to hold to some fragments of their cultural identity.

-- AYAR
Ayar are the quasi-humanoid talpids native to Antoviya. They have markedly cylindrical bodies covered in dark fur, unusual strength for their size (standing no more than a little over 5 feet tall), thick hands bearing clawlike nails and two thumbs, an acute sense of smell and hearing, black bulbs of eyes suited to low-light vision, and a high tolerance for carbon dioxide. Hence, Ayar are natural burrowers. However, they have better daylight vision, a less-developed sense of touch, shorter snouts, and larger arms and legs than their evolutionary ancestors, allowing them to live comfortably both above and below ground.

Ayar are difficult for many foreigners to distinguish among by sight; they identify one another primarily by smell. However, the talpids make extensive use of all five basic “senses” and can communicate with spoken and written language, like most other species.

-- HUMANS (SURVAEKOM, SAFAVID)
Survaekom and Safavid are the same species as Terran humans, although even to this day they still distinguish themselves due to ancient cultural differences. The former two began as very distant colonies from Earth, developing into entirely independent polities so far-off and distinct that would not even participate in the crisis of the Democratic Confederation, Solar Federation, and Imperium. Nonetheless, there are no biological differences worth noting among the human groups. There are also Terrans in Varsovian space, legacy of botched Imperium attempts at establishing direct rule in the region, but in such small numbers that they are practically microscopic within the Kingdom's general population.
Religious Demographics:
Culture:
Ussuri culture is based around war, violence,
Description of Military
Description of Technology

The Order: A Tale of Monster Hunters

Also a friend of Asp's and Tal's. I'm pretty intrigued, can you squeeze me in?

Fade: Space NRP-RPG fusion

Indeed! I'm also pretty interested! Hoping to get involved.