Name of nation: Independent Ceteral Collective.
Location: Virgo Cluster
World Count: 85 million
Species: Krolis.
Physique: Most commonly, they are seen in their robotic armor suits, which stand from 5'8 to 7'4 tall and has varying degrees and numbers of equipment depending on their total service rendered to the Collective, such as resources harvested or enemy kills made in military service. The most common choice of suit alloys for the Krolis are nanite-tungsten layered sheets that can withstand two direct fusion rocket hits, and military veterans can opt for graphene-nanite armor with twice the strength. In their real, organic forms however, they are just as easily weak as being killed by a stab to any part of the body, stands at the mere height of a doll, and is just a ball of flesh with sharp, boney legs and a multipurpose receptor that absorbs nutrients and moisture, sees, and hears. Their intelligence compensates for this, which is of such a degree that they have psionic capabilities ranging from telekinesis with a strength of two times an adult human's, to generating enough power for their robotic bodies (although they can never generate enough power for their larger ships). IQ generally reaches from 150 to 263, but the Collective does not base its ranks on their intelligence quotients. The Krolis's reproduction rates have lowered over time due to inconvenient biological mutations over the course of history that are rendering lower gamete productions within individuals. Life expectancy reaches at about 400-600 years, but said mutation earlier keeps the Ceteral from being overpopulated.
Culture and Behavior
In all of its history has none ever believed in a God. They rather believed that a natural phenomenon has caused the universe to take form, ranging from empty space solidifying into matter to the more plausible Big Bang. Thus, they are notably disrespectful to any race who holds such belief, and whether they have engaged in war or not, are subject to ridicule by the Krolis. They have a warlike nature, but they are fair with it when it comes to expansion, such as using forces they believe are equal to the opponent's strength. Any who are killed off gets their planet claimed, and any who manages to destroy the Ceteral's forces either are left alone, or if it really impresses the Collective, is asked to ally with. The Collective has no sense of ethics when it comes to science, and as such they freely use living test subjects and the like. They do not allow someone to change their tradition, and as such any civilization with morals that declare war for reasons conflicting their view that the Ceteral practices are frowned upon.
Description of government:
The Ceteral Collective is known to classify its populace according to purpose:
>Erthral: The newborn, they are tasked with seeking their purpose within the Collective through a series of trials that lasts a decade, by monitoring their actions on what seems to be a civilian city. All their actions altogether determines if they are perfect for one classification or another.
>Alvas: Hardworking, they are known to play a role as miners, maintenance workers, builders, and the like. They are most commonly equipped with nanorobotic equipment for faster work times.
>Iredii: Creative, they do all the researching and any scientific job with their species' already-high intelligence. They are the contributors to the technological advancement of the Ceteral. This is the second most-staffed class in the Collective.
>Asterne: Committed, they are the military and civil protection force of the Collective. They do the piloting of most ships (with the exception of science and mining vessels), do all the fighting and defend all the other classes of the Ceteral. Any men who flees from combat without the instruction of leaders are sentenced to a painful execution.
>Ikross: Any individual who has excelled in all of the work classes belong here. They are the top heads of the Collective, utterly respected by all the lower classifications. They are the governing men of the nation and thus decides the future of the race. This is the only group that is known to be of a higher rank than others, which treat each other fairly and equally.
>Exem: Outcasts who commit an attempt to instill rebellion are exiled from the society, thrown in barren planets where they lay to starve and die.
Overall, this gives the Ceteral a sense of socialism upon which the entire race is committed to the survival and growth of the species' technology, evolution, territory that will lead to the possible existence of a utopia in their own sense. They have managed to do this way of life better than what humans in the past, such as the Soviet Union, had done: no revolutions in the past thousands of years, and a proper, technologically advanced nation.
Description of military:
The Ceteral military sector, the Asterne, serves as both the expanding and protecting force of the Collective. Over the years they have mastered the science and arts of crafting weaponry and defensive armor into degrees high by human standards, carefully looked upon and improved by researchers throughout the history of the Krolis. While they somewhat lack numbers when it comes to a war that requires all assets to be used, even one unit can become a problem to a small-scale enemy fleet.
Infantry
Because all the policies and ideals of the Collective have molded them over millennia, their loyalty does not waver to the cause of the Asterne's purposes. Unless the Ikross themselves has been convinced to surrender out of fear or orders them to a retreat, no matter how big or how terrifying their enemy looks they will remain in the battle for as long as they can live. Suits are powered by the psionic energies generated by the organic part of the Krolis individual itself, thus EMPs have little effect. Common weapon choices include psionic energy director beams (same power as high-power laser rifles), cutter whips and conventional plasma explosive missiles.
Mechanical - Multi-Terrain
Many of these can convert from space to ground configurations and vice versa. Their shielding is high, but their armor integrity is low thanks to a destructive feature: collateral self destruct. Once the structure itself is destroyed explosives embedded within the armor go online and time themselves to usually ten seconds once the pieces break off from each other, exploding when they come in contact with something or after the time limit has reached. Too confusing, didn't read: debris from Ceteral mechas deal collateral damage if uncontained.
The following are some of the notable mechanical units within service.
>Raxus
Armed with a configurable rapid-fire cannon that switches from medium-power fusion rockets to laser modes. Uses power core generating voltage equal to 38 KV. Ammunition capacity for the rockets are 70-140. When destroyed, fragments into 20 explosives. Conventional FTL capabilities.
>Artelii
Long-range bombardment walker. Notable weapons include directed antimatter beams, high-yield fusion missiles, kinetic bombardment rods and a main, mixed-particle "Wrecker" beam mounted on its front. Staffed by a crew of twenty.
Space
Space forces are just as potent as the might and will of the Collective. While they lack the collateral damage ability brought on by the mechs, this also results in a more tougher shell for such units. Notable classes for each type are listed below.
Fighter: The E-Xvoss
Armed with proton beam miniguns. Conventional one-kiloton explosive rocket launchers on wings. Useful for infiltrating inside large ships and destroying from the inside out.
Light Cruiser: The Eos
Known for stealth and elusive capabilities. Main orbital bombarder of the Collective, although other ships of higher class can also do the same job in the absence of such units.
Heavy Destroyer: Veexii
Two hundred forward particle cannons, two large antimatter turrets on top. Best used in assistance with the Masse.
Battlecruiser: The Masse
Armed with over 300 turrets: 90 missile turrets, 60 piercing beam turrets, 50 explosive particle turrets, 50 antimatter turrets and 50 lasers. One orbital cannon on the front, and a Ripper armor piercer beam below that. Has a capacity of three hundred fighters. Groups of five can devastate medium-technology large fleets with the necessary tactics.
Heavy Battleship: Corus
Fleet destroyer. Notorious for its ability to mass spam projectiles around like some sort of bullet hell boss in lunatic difficulties. Can rain down an apocalyptic meteor shower upon a planet. Bad maneuverability for its size, despite efforts by architects to keep size of ships to a minimum for more practicality in the sense of easier movement and landing while still remaining in its planned strength. (This may also lead to an advantage for the Collective, since most empires have the mentality that bigger = better while ignoring the benefits of sizing down ships. Basically, someone brings in a bulky, 100km sized ship, only to be fucked over by a 60km which is equally or more powerfully armed but more maneuverable and resource-saving.)
Notable Technologies
>DX2 Dread Surprise- Frequently used for ground ambushes by mechas. Opens up a wormhole from a planet's surface whether it be undersea or directly on the ground, upon which the unit enters.
>NV FTL Generated Gate - The most frequently-used FTL method. Works like Draconian quantum gates.
>Xerva Dark Matter Missile - Explosive yield depends on contents of dark matter poured into it, but remains good for taking out tough targets regardless of size.
>Creston Superexplosive - Creates a fatal high-energy particle collision that results in the release of a gamma ray burst-like explosion, but on a smaller planetary scale. Requires hauling by a battlecruiser or higher due to large size.
>Termination Beam - Applied to captains with a Tier III power core customized ship, this beam guarantees destruction from the inside out by piercing the hull and making explosions from inside the target. Cannot pierce through shields, requires external assistance if such field is present so beam is able to work its way to inside.
History:
The memory of the Collective started out five hundred thousand years ago with the Krolis being the inferior species in the food web: as many predators as how many does a plant have. This ridicule by the system of nature continued for years, and despite after evolution gave way for the sentience of the species, they were still threatened by avians and feral creatures, but until the uprising of the Krolis began.
There was a time when the Krolis had arms (that disappeared soon due to an adaption mutation resulting from dependence on suits), and with that arms they learned to craft tools, from simple stick weapons, to sharp edges, and to gunpowder guns. Structures were built, tools were refined, and before realizing the importance of a race striving for unity and advancement, wars were fought.
They began to reach the stars some time, a couple of millennia after their awakening. Wars continued to raze on, until they realized at some point the futility of doing such. Proposal of a socialist, united Krolis civilization gave way to the eventual form of the Ceteral Collective. Starting at that, civilization slowly turned itself into a robotic, cybernetic species starting with the invention of robotic suits. Eventually, psionic potential was discovered within the Krolis, which eliminated the implausibility of such devices needing large amounts of electricity.
Time passed, their territories grew. They selected which sentient-inhabited planets were worthy of Ceteral's ownership, and which were worthy to grow and advance into a better civilization by leaving it behind. Expansion from star to star became an easier task, and within more millennia galaxies were already beginning to be claimed in the name of the Collective. Ninety of them are now in the hands of the Krolis' ever-advancing civilization, although they have admitted attempting to colonize entire galaxies was a bit of a tedious task with their size.