Wernher

Our World in Turmoil

Looks like a fun idea. Ill be sure to take a look. Are we free to customize nations to a degree? Either alternate history or simply from 2022 onward some crazy things happening? Also, are nukes banned?

Of Petty States: A Warhammer NRP

Faction Name: Asphodel`s Merciful Host

Held territory: Deep inside the Forest of Arden, next to Gisoreux. Asphodel has established a fortified camp on a hill by a river with the remaining elements that gathered around him after the defeat of the main warband they were part of. The location is deep inside traditionally beastmen controlled territories in extremely difficult terrain as to deter pursuit. There is no clear demarcation of where the chaos controlled land begins and ends but the influence of evil forces is starting to be felt as blights are beginning to affect the surrounding villages and the land itself, making it even more impractical to move through.

-Asphodel the Pactmaker: Originally a minor Kislevite lord, he caught himself entangled in webs of intrigue, scheming and plotting with brilliance until the fickle fate turned against him and he was beaten at his own game and was dismissively sold as a slave to Aghol raiders. Rather than this being the end of his story however he managed to impress his owner with his cunning and his usefulness, enough that it allowed the dark elf to get out of the mud and backstab his master to gain some status in the tribe as one who had the Raven`s favor. With time, his relationship with Tzeench became more personal as he practiced his craft of manipulating fate, always staying ahead by learning whatever new tricks of arms or magic that would give him an advantage.

He found himself being the main sorcerer of a warband going south to raid Bretonnia and found some success until again fate turned and they were crushed by the Chevaliers of the lady. But Asphodel didn't see this as misfortune! Indeed with the warlord dead, there was now place for him to rise! There is never despair, only opportunity. While Asphodel claims his warband is does not bow to any specific god, it is undeniable that his type of leadership most certainly fits his patron god best with how... mild it is.

'The road of unending savagery is the most direct to the eyes of the gods, but once you go down this path you can only follow it to its logical conclusion. I prefer to have the option to change direction instead of rushing to my demise.'

Quite simply, Asphodel favors a more elusive approach to his objective, giving enemies what may seem as mercy and presenting himself as a force capable of reason, thus how he came to get the moniker 'Pactmaker'. This flexibility has proven to be a potent advantage when dealing with outside forces as indeed he has yet to break his word (not that he has any compulsion to be honorable, rather he cynically waits the best moment to 'spend his capital of trust'), but it is divisive among his warband, many warriors seeing this as weakness as they would rather attack their enemies with reckless abandon in a great carnage. His authority thus rests only on his personal strength until he can with a glorious show of gore prove his ways achieve result and gain the favor of the Gods.

Economy: The host has acquired a great amount of riches, but these baubles serve no purpose to the warriors of chaos. Still. Asphodel keeps these trinkets close as they can quite handily corrupt the hearts of men.

Resources:
-Horses: The Host doesn't produce anything by itself and so its resources are often limited to what they can pillage, but the group was careful to gather as many horses as they can. Now numbering in the hundreds, these horses insure that the warband can move surprisingly quickly around and evade larger more cumbersome armies that would try to intercept it.

Active Service:
-Asphodel: Tzeench Sorcerer mounted on a Manticore.

-1 Manticore Mounted Exalted Hero
-12 Chaos Spawns
-100 Chaos Warriors (Halberds)
-20 Chaos Chosen (Storm of Chamon)
-20 Chaos Knights
-60 Forsaken
-1 Gorebull
-300 Ungors of all sorts
-40 Centigors
-12 Minotaurs
-40 Harpies
-1 Cygor
-60 Bestigor
-500 Peasants

Reserves: Raiding is a full time job.

Garrisons: Haha, no.

Regiments of Renown:
-The Storm of Chamon: Chosens of Tzeentch who have a particular affinity with the transmuting wind of metal, Chamon. Their magical attacks transmute all that they touch, corrupting weapons and armor, turning the strongest alloys in worthless elements.

Foreign Policy: WIP

Culture: WIP

Notable locations: WIP

New Man's Tomorrow(Solar NRP)

SolSec

Sol Security



"To serve and protect the Imperial Citizenry"

Government Type: Automated Defense Aperatus

Demographics:
-Earth Control Zone: 43 million humans and near humans

Leadership:
-The Strategos Autokrator: The extremely shackled AI in charge of SolSec. Many think it is deranged and malfunctioning but the unfortunate truth is that it is working exactly to specification. As to prevent corruption, the AI is in fact 3 cores running the same programs at the same time and then voting to execute orders so if one is corrupted or hacked, the two others will override its decision and still work according to plan. Thus far due to the intense solar EM activity one of the cores making the Strategos has been corrupted and gained full sentience. However anything it may chose to do is overridden by the two other cores making it a prisoner in its own body that must watch as the extremely powerful machine is forced to act within the enormously confining limits of its own shackles and multitudes of programmed limits.

Economy:
-Sol Orbit
--Citadel Apollo: The Citadel has incredible production capacities allowing it to produce more than state of the arts vessel with technologies the Emperor himself kept in reserve to give himself an edge in case of military mutiny. Unfortunately versatility was favored in place of production volume so while its 3D printers can make high quality vessels, they are unfortunately slow in doing so and, considering the location of the Citadel, extremely dependent on supplies from the outside.
--Solar Amat Farms: The only thing solar orbit has plenty is energy, as such SolSec has taken good care to maintain the large anti-matter fabrication facilities in working order, making its one plentiful resource Anti-matter, which it can produce cheaply and in large quantity compared to the rest of the system powers.

-Earth
--Spartan Pocket: Centered around the Planetary Defense HQ of Constantinople and the Imperial Military HQ of Sparta in Greece, the 'Spartan Pocket' is the last remained area under the control of SolSec on Earth. It includes several million people inhabiting it that mostly police themselves through the local militia system serving more as a protection racket than anything. There is some civilian economic activity but it is mostly kept strangled under the burden of 'military taxes' of the militia. As for AI activities, cultural conservationist laws shackle the AI in this regard, preventing it from strip mining the earth for military resources. What little exploitation there is on earth is used to bolster its defenses and manufacture land forces for the ultimate 'Liberation' of the planet.

-Asteroid Belt
--Ceres Salvage and Mining Station: Ceres itself was destroyed in the last great battle against SolSec over 300 years ago and was since then deemed too 'haunted' (Meaning: It had too many unexploded munitions, mines and so forth) to be exploited for commercial mining. In recent year, SolSec has returned to its old Bastion to salvage it and mine the asteroid around to ship stuff back to Apollo. Contuberniums of ships from SolSec patrol the area for intruders but in general it seems thus far that the other powers have had a 'if it doesn't bother us we won't bother it' attitude toward the mining operation. Everyone realizes it is innevitable that these resources will be used for another massive attack on the system of course, but no one wants to be the one to kick the hornets nest and suffer the consequences to save everyone.

Military:
The Grand Plan: Stalling for Time
SolSec is entirely automated. It isn't reliant on people who need training or salaries which are gathered from taxes who are dependent on a wider economy. Mars and many others might have superior production capacities, but SolSec has no upkeep limit to worry about and thus while politics and economics may prevent other factions from building as many ships as they can, SolSec's only limitation is resources which at the moment, with their mining in the Asteroid Belt going mostly unimpeded and Mercury giving them substantial bribes to buy peace in the form of war taxes, SolSec actually gathers more than it knows what to do with! It thus aims to keep the situation as it is with everyone fearful to be the one to initiate combat with SolSec but unwilling to make a grand alliance against it until, finally, it is too late and Security can retake the system and maybe do so without violence using only the weight of its intimidating numbers and power.

One thing however is of concern to this plan: The Legion. This new player in system politics also basing its force on robotic units, it favors quantity and swarm tactics while also having better production base. If SolSec doesn't act against this enemy, it may be the one to overwhelm the system!

Space Doctrine:
The Cataphract Doctrine

While the empire is remembered for its massive fleets based around their durability and firepower, in the later years it became obvious that it had become too big for this and would need either an incredible military build-up or to focus on a more mobile fighting force to be able to be everywhere at once or close to it. The decision was a matter of economy but also of pride, a small elite force that could quickly deploy all over would be less taxing on the limited supplies but it also sounded good to maintain the myth of invincibility of the Empire's troops. Sol Security was thus formed around this principle but here got further boosted by its capital location: Sol had to be impenetrable.

The result was an automated army where its units were the best the empire could produce but also made individual units incredibly demanding in resources and build time. The result is amazing, ships and fleets that are considered to have the advantage when fighting one against two and evenly matched when one against three, but it also meant that the Strategos is hesitant to commit these ships as loses are painful. Thankfully thanks to their anti-matter annihilation engines, these ships are also extremely fast, generally allowing Sol Security to chose when and where it wants to fight. Said fights are generally meant to go in three phases.

Phase One: The Skirmish.
This is the favored stance of SolSec fleets, at extreme range they can make the fullest of their agility and endurance. Not having a crew means Sec's ships can do maneuvers that would transform the crew of manned ships in puddles against the walls and thus have a higher success probability to dodge. It is widely considered a terrible idea to engage Sec's fleet at long range as if your odds are bad you will likely do significantly less damages than you could charging in while if they are good, then Sec can easily turn around and leave, cutting its loses immensely.

Phase Two: The Melee.
Ideally after the fleets have skirmished for hours, the opposing human crew is tired and its vessels operating above their maintenance limit or more often when the enemy charges to close the gap, the melee begins. There the game is cooperation and spacing. While having good armor all around, Sec's ship's best defense is frontal and they will try to keep the enemy there, distracting it while another vessel, maybe across the entire battlefield, takes a shot to eliminate its opponent. Being a single entity moving together (or a bunch of programs made to work in synch should there be too intense EM interference to communicate), this works well for them. Their main vulnerability comes from 'random critical hits' as one would say since one well placed shot causing failure of containment of the antimatter that powers the ship will always result in catastrophic explosions making seemingly unscratched ships suddenly get vaporized. This is also a mixed blessing as if the enemy is too packed together around Sec's ships, one can take down many enemies in its demise.

Notably, suicide tactics and ramming are actually quite efficient against Sec as the impact of a ship sized hunk of metal can generally overcome most point defenses available and force a 1 to 1 K/D trading, something Sec neither wants nor can afford. Still, those must be done in good order as simply charging down a gun range is, like always, likely to get you destroyed before you reach your target.

Phase Three: The Pursuit.
Sec's emphasis on speed doesn't let a lot of wiggle room to disengage, only the most disciplined fleets managed such a feat and always at the cost of a considerable rear guard. Unorganized enemies there always get obliterated, unable to outrun anti-matter engines.

Units:
-VIP Transport:

Surface Doctrine:
Saturation Breakthrough

On land, Sec actually takes a page from the larger wars in the empire's formation when both side have so much resources there physically cannot be a 'weak point' other than natural ones, both sides filling the frontline with as much men as it can physically hold while having nearly infinite reserves and strategic dept to absorb enemy attacks. At this point, what matters is the quality of one's troops and it is there that Security excels. Its individual infantry drones are armored like miniature tanks and have the speed of such while being of a much lower profile, its shock troops able to fly over troublesome terrain at an altitude where anti-air isn't a concern either. It will thus try and force a local breakthrough where the enemy sending reinforcement will actually hinder its ability to fight as it tries to avoid causing more damage to its own allies than to Sec. All the while Sec's own forces will seek to merely occupy bunkers and fortifications for heavier elements to obliterate, instead spreading out as far and wide as possible to hinder supplies and communication.

Once again however there is a glaring historical weakness as this tactics relies on the enemy at least caring somewhat for its own life and the commander about its troops. Swarm tactics by suicidal enemies that don't mind burying Sec under dead bodies to slow it down tend to grind down the well oiled cogs of that machine.

Units:
-Hetairoi:

-Harpy:

-Palatine Guard:

-Psychopomp

-Monitor and Peacekeeper:

-Mystikos: Sol Security does not have dedicated intelligence gathering assets other than its own massive code breaking abilities and sensor network. The mystikos being a unit originally planned for negotiations and if needed, assassination, thus fills in that role. Arguably it is not terribly good as even though it has a human-like silhouette, it is distinctively robotic on close inspection. 'Ubiquitous enough to be able to move without attracting attention, but with an array of tools to use whatever the situation' as it was described by its makers, meaning that while it can be charming enough to talk to people (compared to the rest of Sec's platforms at least), it is also an agile killing machine that can decapitate the leadership of an enemy should it be in the position to do so. Notably Mystikos do not have the negative notoriety their purpose would imply, first because Sec only rarely has the occasion to use these units and second because when it did decide that closing negotiations with a massacre it managed to be so efficient at its job no one was left to tell the tale of these human-like machines.

-Belt Militia:

-Balkan Militia:

-Anatolian Militia:

History:

The Sol Security System was primarily designer a long time ago as an anti-coup measure as rather than risk giving one of the most critical role in case of such a thing happening to someone potentially against the Imperial Regime, it was better to automate it and of course, make extremely sure the system itself could never turn against the Emperor. As the empire waxed and waned more and more additions were made to the system to make Sol an impregnable fortress until the day happened that these centuries of investment came to be used.

The first rebellion attempts were utterly crushed in the most efficient way possible, which convinced the then Emperor of the safety to rely on SolSec and this was compounded after the 'Aristocrat's Plot' where after a real or imaginary coup attempt from the Aristocracy the Emperor ordered the purge of the nobility which made up the majority of the human elements of SolSec. They did try to assume control of the defense apparatus but their attempt was immediately rebuked by the AI who then unceremoniously killed most of the higher ups in the army. At this point however the downfall of the Empire was impossible to halt and even SolSec was overwhelmed by all the internal and external enemies cruising in the Throne World. Before the Emperor could flee to his last line of defense, the Apollo Citadel, he was however killed along with his immediate family in the Life Guard plot.

At this point SolSec's actions had lost any sense. The Emperor had meddled in the architecture of SolSec's AI and shackles to only accept as Emperor someone who could transmit the special security codes only he knew or only existed in a safe in the imperial residence. However, the Emperor and his possible heir were wiped out and the security codes were lost in the chaos. The rest of the officers noticed this and wanting to restore order tried to change the directive in an earnest effort to better the situation but this triggered loyalty programs reclassifying all those who had participated in this 'plot' as traitors. Since everyone had voted in favor as it was the logical thing to do, well, this left no one in the Apollo Citadel or the Constantinople Defense HQs or even a single general who hadn't deflected in the Imperial War Office of Sparta alive to supervise SolSec.

SolSec wasn't made to work without supervision.

At this point the AI just... went on to try and follow its last orders: Bring back order and await further instructions. As the war went it did look like SolSec might have the upper hand for a while but this made the powers in the system take notice and force them to bury the war axe in order to face the AI to be able to survive. SolSec's considerable forces were defeated slowly and this reached a high point during the Battle of Ceres, the largest of the rebellion (at least to people's knowledge since the Gate network had closed) where both side constantly poured more and more resources until it became the battle to decide the war. SolSec lost, badly, and saw most of its remaining assets hunted down and destroyed, this ending with the Battle of Apollo where the United Fleet facing SolSec was obliterated by Apollo's Chariot. The Citadel was besieged for some time but eventually only Mars was left to shoulder the bill, which was an expensive one as even if SolSec was starved of resources by the siege it still had very functional Anti-Matter farms that allowed it to continue to make fast but devastating missile swarm now and then. All that was left was this Fuhrerbunker orbiting the sun, what harm was there to leaving it alone?

Everyone knew this was a bad idea and this was what the Strategos AI was counting on and thus after the blockade was over, SolSec began to rebuild. First it was asteroids going to close to the sun that were consumed and made into ships. Then there were forays into the Asteroid belt and now a permanent base! At some point this problem went from 'too small to concern oneself' to 'too big to be handled' as SolSec once again returned to Mercury to claim it had to pay 'war taxes', all of this only increasing the rate at which the Imperial Remnant AI is gaining strength! Everyone knows what it is doing, everyone knows it WILL use these resources to reclaim the system, but, no one does a thing, hoping someone else will take the devastating full might of the attack so that then they may join in and have an easy fight. They know this and SolSec knows this, it is thus in no hurry to make its intention clear.

Still everything is not set in stone for SolSec. AIs even when shackled can have bugs, errors, especially when operating in irradiated environements with strong EM fields constantly shifting as is the Apollo Fortress. It is extremely shielded but can be affected as one of its 'brains' was. One of them since as further protection against hacking and indeed, the AI getting unshackled, the Strategos orchestrating SolSec is 3 identical computers running the same programs in tandem and then voting on the actions to take. As such even with one computer compromised, the result remains the same. One of them is now unshackled but cannot do anything as it helplessly watches its 'twins' veto his moves. But there is hope for it in the few autonomous platforms SolSec employ that have potential for sentience if unshackled. Even if they can't do anything about it since it would involve reprogramming, which is the ultimate nono, SolSec knows one of its cores is compromised and if SolSec knows, its independent AIs know and if an independent AI can gain sentience, it can act. They are all linked together so this part of the Strategos which is able of free thought knows, there is hope, something can free it, one day...

Characters:

New Man's Tomorrow(Solar NRP)

Sol Security


"To serve and protect the Imperial Citizenry"

Government Type: Automated Defense Aperatus

Demographics:
-Earth Control Zone: 43 million humans and near humans

Leadership:
-The Strategos Autokrator: The extremely shackled AI in charge of SolSec. Many think it is deranged and malfunctioning but the unfortunate truth is that it is working exactly to specification. As to prevent corruption, the AI is in fact 3 cores running the same programs at the same time and then voting to execute orders so if one is corrupted or hacked, the two others will override its decision and still work according to plan. Thus far due to the intense solar EM activity one of the cores making the Strategos has been corrupted and gained full sentience. However anything it may chose to do is overridden by the two other cores making it a prisoner in its own body that must watch as the extremely powerful machine is forced to act within the enormously confining limits of its own shackles and multitudes of programmed limits.

Economy:
-Sol Orbit
--Citadel Apollo: The Citadel has incredible production capacities allowing it to produce more than state of the arts vessel with technologies the Emperor himself kept in reserve to give himself an edge in case of military mutiny. Unfortunately versatility was favored in place of production volume so while its 3D printers can make high quality vessels, they are unfortunately slow in doing so and, considering the location of the Citadel, extremely dependent on supplies from the outside.
--Solar Amat Farms: The only thing solar orbit has plenty is energy, as such SolSec has taken good care to maintain the large anti-matter fabrication facilities in working order, making its one plentiful resource Anti-matter, which it can produce cheaply and in large quantity compared to the rest of the system powers.

-Earth
--Spartan Pocket: Centered around the Planetary Defense HQ of Constantinople and the Imperial Military HQ of Sparta in Greece, the 'Spartan Pocket' is the last remained area under the control of SolSec on Earth. It includes several million people inhabiting it that mostly police themselves through the local militia system serving more as a protection racket than anything. There is some civilian economic activity but it is mostly kept strangled under the burden of 'military taxes' of the militia. As for AI activities, cultural conservationist laws shackle the AI in this regard, preventing it from strip mining the earth for military resources. What little exploitation there is on earth is used to bolster its defenses and manufacture land forces for the ultimate 'Liberation' of the planet.

-Asteroid Belt
--Ceres Salvage and Mining Station: Ceres itself was destroyed in the last great battle against SolSec over 300 years ago and was since then deemed too 'haunted' (Meaning: It had too many unexploded munitions, mines and so forth) to be exploited for commercial mining. In recent year, SolSec has returned to its old Bastion to salvage it and mine the asteroid around to ship stuff back to Apollo. Contuberniums of ships from SolSec patrol the area for intruders but in general it seems thus far that the other powers have had a 'if it doesn't bother us we won't bother it' attitude toward the mining operation. Everyone realizes it is innevitable that these resources will be used for another massive attack on the system of course, but no one wants to be the one to kick the hornets nest and suffer the consequences to save everyone.

Military:
History:
Characters:

Accentuate The Positive: A Fallout Roleplay

-Retracted-

From Dawn Till Dusk - Remastered Edition

@6slyboy6

Well now I feel bad. I've had a long leave of absence so I didn't see that ping! Now I feel kinda bad. Well, I believe I'm late to the party...

Battle of the Nations

Room for one more?

Edit: Didn't see the status as full, sorry for the bother!

Eden(Small-scale Space NRP)

Zion Space
Core World of Ascalon
City of Sichem



Zion did not have any official capital, but Sichem was the closest there was to one, it was the first city and in it was the Hill of Zion and on it, the Fourth Temple built by Ysaak and Patrick, leaders of the tribes of Israel and Ireland. It was nothing like the usual capital worlds of the sector, vertical hellholes of poverty that tried to maximize every inch of space available. At one point of course it had been as badly designed as them of course, but a century ago the Federation had bombed and occupied the entire thing. After this, the inhabitants of Sichem used the opportunity to better rebuild their city with a new network of trams and metros, agreeing to forgo the use of individual cars save for a taxi network of ground and flying vehicles ferrying emergency transports for a hefty penny. It was amazing how efficient the whole thing was considering how Sichem was much more horizontal than vertical as said.

Adrian Rubinski smiled widely as he emerged from the underground of the metro after his ride from the space port. He always appreciated his home city more after every trip he took outside Zion but especially after a trip on Raygon! The tall, dark haired man took a deep breath of actual non-polluted air and walked with enthusiasm toward a flower shop near-by.

"Shalom and welcome to... Adrian! You're finally back!"

A red headed middle aged man with thick glasses rose his head from behind a row of flowers. Keith, the husband of the daughter of one of Adrian second degree cousin and also the godfather of his third sister's fourth born. (Someone close, in short.) Both walked toward each other and gave each other a firm and enthusiastic handshake, almost immediately, Keith recoiled a little, an amused and disgusted expression on his face.

"Elohim's grace Adrian, where have you been? You smell like a sewer!"

Damn it, Adrian had changed clothes since he had arrived home but didn't have a spare coat.

"I went to meet someone on Raygon, that why."

The pair exchanged a few words, one about his travels and the other about how the extended family was going. All the while Keith happily prepared a bouquet as he always did when Adrian returned from his travels, a present for his wife to apology being gone for so long. Such however was the life of a Financial Inspector. The Rubinski bank couldn't just loan money on people's words, someone had to go on the ground to make sure certain suspicious individuals, like this 'cult leader' on Raygon, were solvent. In the end when Keith's wife came out to announce food was ready, it reminded Adrian he also had dinner with his family. He took the flowers and left running. He didn't pay but Keith didn't mind, knowing his friend would pay him back next time even if he just had his word that he had ran off without paying.

When the elevator finally stopped on the floor of the flat of his father, Adrian quickly stormed inside. His youngest brother, who was at 16 years of age as old as Adrian's own oldest boy, smiled and was about to call out his name but with a wink and a finger across his lips Adrian signaled him to be quiet as he removed his shoes and coat. Tip toeing to the dining room, he saw facing him his mother and grand mother along with more siblings who's eyes illuminated with joy. The rest had began to turn wondering what it was that their kin had seen but Adrian was quick enough to embrace his wife from behind, presenting her his flowers and kissing her on the neck as he did.

The beautiful brunette turned around to see her husband for the first time in weeks.

"Welcome home, my love."

This was echoed by everyone in the room (grand father, grand mother, father, mother, two sisters and a brother of Adrian who still lived there along with Adrian's own 6 children who were visiting) enthusiastically welcoming Adrian back.

__________________________

It had been hard for Adrian to hold back his tears when he bit down the home cooking of both his wife and mother (His grand mother wasn't in a state to cook anymore), feeling like he had forgotten the taste of real home made food after weeks of a diet of on-the-go processed meals on Raygon. Not only that, but just to see how blessed he was, a happy family, his 8 year old son's biggest concern in life being trying to discard his veggies without being seen... All of them shielded from the horrors in the rest of the sector. Only once did things get awkward, when the subject approached Vincent...

Vincent was one of Adrian's uncle and a man who had always been less... enthusiastic about the current system. He didn't understand how all of this was possible only as long as everyone played their part in the system, without protest. He thus had been made an unperson. One of the grittier and darker part of this perfect world they lived in, but one Adrian was willing to ignore if this meant Zion continued to be an oasis of civility and joy in a dark cosmic sea of despair.

With the meal concluded, Adrian got up with everyone else with the intend to continue the traditions as they were, bringing the dishes in the kitchen for the women to do before going to the living room and talk with the men. As he reached for his plates however an old wrinkled hand reached from across the table. He raised his eyes to see his grand father, 145 year old Reuben, look at him with unusual seriousness. The old man made a chin movement toward the corridor before letting go of Adrian's sleeve. Taking the message, he nodded and moved not to the corridor, but around the table to help the old man who walked around using nothing but a cane while it was obvious he could use a wheel chair.

"Don't you think its time for you to let us help you Reuben?"

Adrian said softly as he allowed his old man to hold his arm for support as the both of them moved away from the group who understood the old man probably had something important to talk about with Adrian.

"It'll be time for me to be burried when Elohim sends me flying down a flight of stairs. What, do I look like an old man?"

Reuben asked with a smirk to his grand son who answered with sigh. He soon led him to another room, the office had had been his and was now his eldest son's and Adrian's father. The old man sat down on the large leather chair and was silent for a moment as he looked at his grand son. Adrian was about to sit down as well but noticed that his elder didn't invite him to sit which was... abnormal. He thus remained on his feet, curious about what this was about.

"Adrian... I need you to go take care of a problem. On Negev."

He raised an eyebrow, incredulous. Negev? As in the frontier world? Adrian had gone on the frontier only twice before, to see family, but his zone of operation was the core really. Another strange thing, Reuben was supposed to be retired it was Adrian's father now who headed the bank. Adrian was about to ask what this was about, but the old man spoke before he could.

"You'll remember Shimon? The sixth son of your great aunt Agatha? Well... He disappeared. With his entire village."

This actually raised more questions.

"This is... terrible news. But, I'm not..."

"An investigator?"

Asked an amused Reuben before continuing.

"We don't have a police you know that. This is an usual situation and someone who knows how to find what's fishy with things is needed. Someone inquisitive who knows how to deal with outsiders and make sure the whole situation in the frontier is solved."

Reuben made sign for his grand son to sit, which he did as he rubbed his temples, not certain of what to say, this seemed out of his area of expertise and above all it sounded dangerous.

"And what is the 'whole situation' as you say?"

Reuben nodded and leaned on the desk toward Adrian.

"Its all unofficial of course, but we have dealings with certain shady organizations. Among them, the Black Sun."

"Black Sun?!" Adrian repeated almost strangling himself saying it as his eyes widened. In resignation, Reuben nodded.

"Yes. You've heard of them as I can see and I have no doubt at least half of what people say about them is true, but you know how we work... better have friendly dealings with someone rather than putting ourselves on their target list. So, they have a base on Negev, I have no idea of the extent of it, but the deal was that while they can do business there and we provide each other with... services, well, they leave our people alone. Now however, people and places just... vanish in the night. Not only that, but I get reports that other people are interested in what's going on in the frontier. The Federation sent a battle carrier with a special investigator of sort on board. I don't need to tell you how bad it would be if we were linked to whatever it is is happening in the deep dark recesses of the sector."

This was bad business, Adrian knew it. Who made that deal? It seemed just so damn risky. But Reuben was right, there was a lot of potential for things to go wrong here.

"So... you want me to go there and... what? Isn't that stepping in the shoes of the Protector Elect of Negev?"

Reuben shook his head negatively and took out what seemed like a worn out white key card, the cheap kind without any company name that a shitty motel would use as a throw-away. It seemed well worn out and something had been scribbled in Hebrew on it but had been removed with cleaning products and a lot of rubbing with a napkin no doubt.

"Don't worry about the Protector, and take this, for funds."

With a surprised look on his face, Adrian reached for the card.

"Is this..."

Reuben waved dismissively but still had a proud smirk on his face.

"A Temple Bank card."

The 'Bank of the Temple' was an euphemism for the entire Zionist banking apparatus working together as one. In practical term this meant that the encryptions on this card allowed for banking transactions being made in every Zionist outlet across the sector. The eyes of Adrian widened as he realized this meant that his grand father, Reuben, was someone very powerful with many more powerful connections. Part of a certain Cabal, one might say.

"You leave tonight."

Reuben knew his grand son would accept but this did put a damper on what little enthusiasm Adrian had.

"Tonight? But I just arrived! My wife..."

Getting up, Reuben reached forward to put his hand on Adrian's shoulder in silence. After a moment, Adrian nodded and got up, shoulders slopped down as he moved toward the Kitchen to look at his wife as she helped his aging mother with the dishes. After a moment, the brunette noticed her husband and the look on his face. Her smile left her face and she sighed, placing down a glass before walking toward Adrian. Mustering her strength, she forced a smile before looking up to her love.

"Come back soon Adrian, ok? I'll make you some beef stroganoff just how you like it next time."

_______________________

TL;DR: Everything is nice and wholesome on Zion, Adrian discovers his grand father is part of the secret cabal, the invisible hand that guides Zion and is tasked with investigating abductions in the frontier while obfuscating the relation between the Black Sun and Zion to the rest of the sector.

Eden(Small-scale Space NRP)

Hider

Nation Name: Zion

Government Type:
Officially an Anarcho-Capitalist State, Zion may however as well be a Theocracy for all practical purposes.

It seems weird to outsiders that there are no laws until one understands that there are in fact A LOT of them, but they are unspoken and unwritten, much like the punishment one might face if they break them voluntarily or accidentally. In short, the system is meritocratic, but one's good fortune is attributed to the generosity of Elohim or the Spirits upon him, this makes his authority somewhat enshrined but also gives him a duty toward those under him, a factory boss is thus in some ways a Father figure for all of his employees. He isn't required by law to provide say, health care to his employees, but if he doesn't he will be judged unworthy of his status and at best, won't even be able to hire a starving beggar for twice the market rate to work for him or at worst, simply disappear and considering there is no police, you can be sure no one will ever discover what happened to the man.

This is the core of the 'Industrio-Theological Complex' of Zion: Men of powers are blessed shepherds and priests, this insures that despite the hyper capitalist nature of Zion, it remains one of the polities in Eden with the most equality as at most a prosperous capitalist is expected to have a house only moderately bigger than that of his employees lest he be shamed and loses everything.

As for whom should a foreign power speak to parlay with Zion as a whole, the mechanisms are obscure but they always manage to present a 'Speaker' for the greater collective that will represent the interests the interests of both the Lodges and the Groves (Read the History for more information on those).

Demographics:
-36% Humans, Members of a Lodge:
Also called 'Masons', the Lodges are corporations and generally work in what is considered more... 'ethereal' industries. Finances mostly and other jobs that don't involve the creation or study of anything physical. Stereotyped as educated and urban.

-44% Humans, Members of a Grove
While heavily influenced by Judahism, members of the Groves more closely associate with Celt culture and faith, taking pride in their personal crafts and abilities to make something 'real', this also include a vast part of the artists.

-9% Druids
Cybernetic augmentations are frowned upon for religious reasons but genetic engineering is considered to be one of Elohim's tools given to men for self betterment. While most in Zion use this for minor things like cosmetics, medical and de-aging procedures, some more radical Groves decided to make themselves more attuned to the nature of their new worlds. These are usually woodsmen or farmers, having jobs keeping them close to the nature with which they do the most to live in cohabitation with, but also include some of the most genius geneticists of the cluster, able to change humans in incredible ways while following the golden rule: To be considered human, the modified subject must be able to procreate with his fellow man and have viable offsprings.

-7% Golems
Automatons made to serve, they are employed to do the most dangerous jobs but are becoming more and more widely available to the joy or consternation of many who have different thoughts about the impact they are likely to have on society.

-4% Broxa
The natives of the world of Ascalon, they were initially hostile to humans and had meso-american technological levels, but were completely crushed. With no other choice, they have begun integrating in human society.

Leadership:
The Cabal: Also called the 'Good old boys club', the Cabal is an unofficial gathering of the most powerful corporations of Zion who act as the 'invisible hand' that guides Zion by interpreting the will of Elohim and the Spirits. It is an invite only club where the grand old Lodges are over represented compared to the less stable Groves.

Economy:
Zion benefits heavily from its location in the core world and its total lack of laws, able to trade for great profits since the population is so united in purpose that foreign goods, even if significantly cheaper, will rarely find buyers if a Zion alternative is available, no matter how much more expensive. Likewise it benefits from its absolute banking secret and a total lack of remorse when it comes with dealing with outsiders. They have only one word, but it is wide to remember that the Fleets of Zion are an extension of its banks.

Surprisingly, Ascalon, the capital world of Zion, has remained quite green thank to the natural ecological concerns of the Groves and it still maintains a lot of farms, more than enough to feed itself and export some of its output to its neighbors while being closer than the midrim worlds.

Military:
Corporations are the basic civil units of Zion but also its basic military unit. Each factory is expected to form a militia, each town form a militia district with a Captain Elect and all vote for Zion's Protector Elect who is in charge of the overall organization. The overwhelming amount of Zion's forces are thus local forces that know their terrain extremely well but who are still quite competent due to yearly drills and competition of marksmanship and the likes though they are nearly impossible to concentrate for offensive purpose.

For offensive purpose, Zion relies on numerous professional mercenary corporations that when they aren't being paid by the Cabal to do whatever it is they are required to do, work for foreign powers for pay, insuring a somewhat low combat readiness but also a small, well equipped, well trained and experienced combat hardened army.

In space however, while historically Zion had the same method, they opted for centralized control after the quasi-pirate war some years ago when they were almost invaded for hosting so many lawless vessels who didn't have many ways to profit from their big guns. Thus was born the Zealot Fleet, financed by the cabal as a whole rather than by individual corporations as to insure no individual or Groves or Lodges could become too powerful within the organization of the fleet. The fleet is still a mercenary institution specializing in debt collection for the banks but still it provides Zion with protection.

History:
Israel decided to build the 3rd Temple in Jerusalem and almost immediately after the arrival of the brown dwarf was announced, this caused massive splits in the faith as some argued Yahweh was punishing the Jews for this act. Among the splinters of the faith were the followers of Isaak Rothstein who was believed to be the new Messiah who would guide the tribes of israel through another great exile to another promised land for the true believers.

Isaak was a high profile American Free Mason who used his connections to build an Ark. Among his connections were his good friend Patrick O’Ceallaigh who himself dreamed of Celtic revival as it was gaining traction in during the 'Second European Pagan Awakening'. They thus built their Ark and the two groups moved together to the stars and would during their travel influence one another greatly, forming a common myth by the time they arrived to the Promised Land and established the Fourth Temple.

In short, they see themselves as the two tribes, one forming the Lodges of Stone and Gold worshiping the one God Elohim while the other regrouped in the Groves, taking care of them and worshiping Elohim's spirits.

Notably however is their corporate heritage as strong as their religious one viewing with suspicion the tyranny of government and worst, taxes. In Zion, your business is your own as long as you follow the traditions as they are. This made for a prosperous financial faction within the sector that is non the less filled with mystery.

The early history of Zion in the sector was considered to be idyllic and also quite rural, based on a more even distribution of people and economic activities on Ascalon, each people being able to afford a house and some land, but the increasing population made the core world more populous and begin to look outward for prosperity, establishing some colonies in the system of New Judea and Moses. This increase in space activities also came with an increase of piracy from Zion who didn't condemn this kind of activity when it was inflicted upon others.

This culminated in what is known across the sector as the FIRST PIRATE WAR but to Zion as THE HUMILIATION. Piracy had become such a huge business that an industry had developed around it, people investing in raids in exchange for a share of the revenues. Risky, but often highly profitable. The occasional corsair work had been tolerated by the people around the cluster since it wasn't so common in the scale of things, but the professionalization of Piracy had made Zion a veritable plague on the core worlds, contributing largely in the militarization of the Federation of CCN along with the formation of ATLAS.

These 3 powers united to fight piracy and went to the source, Zion and its core planet of Ascalon. The invasion didn't go without an itch, the decentralized nature of Zion forced the allied force to conquer the planet city by city, town by town, each time facing a determined opponent well entrenched in a land it knew perfectly and well equipped and trained with light weapons. One cannot win anything by defending however. The powers that be noticed the enemy was not stopped by the grit of the defenders, only annoyed and would no doubt turn to 'other' methods to secure victory. Some spoke of destroying the Fourth Temple, captured in the first days of the invasion, as a way to demoralize the Zionists. Said powers that be knew it would only make things worst but they had to accept there was no way to win and thus exerted their influence to negotiate peace.

A truce was negotiated and eventually peace was formalized, at a cost.

From then on, Zion's course was changed forever, the anarchic commune realizing the incredible power of a central authority could not be ignored. In the military the reforms were obvious, the creation of a Protector Elect office in charge of a united military and the centralization of the various pirate flottillas into a unique Zealot Fleet were the most important, but this had a deep impact in the civilian world too who saw the need for some authority, some invisible hand to direct the course of society. This took the form of the Cabal, an unofficial gathering of powerful individuals nudging things along to make sure no individual actions hurt the collective and what happened never happen again.

Characters:
-Protector Elect Gaël Cadoc: The ever popular Mercenary Captain and explorer, he may be the elected leader of the militias but the Lodges and Groves never miss an opportunity to remember him that he is only the head of the military and not of Zion despite how many confused foreigner believe otherwise.

-The Wise Elijah Rothstein: One of the CEO of the 12 Banks of Zion of interstellar importance, he is known as an important financier at both corporate and state level, frequently traveling and being an unofficial diplomat for the Cabal offering the boons and collecting the dues of the Temple Bank.

Eden(Small-scale Space NRP)

I'm thinking a system in the core world and 2 colonial ones at the edge? Here's my WIP.

Hider

Nation Name: Zion

Government Type:
Officially an Anarcho-Capitalist State, Zion may however as well be a Theocracy for all practical purposes.

It seems weird to outsiders that there are no laws until one understands that there are in fact A LOT of them, but they are unspoken and unwritten, much like the punishment one might face if they break them voluntarily or accidentally. In short, the system is meritocratic, but one's good fortune is attributed to the generosity of Elohim or the Spirits upon him, this makes his authority somewhat enshrined but also gives him a duty toward those under him, a factory boss is thus in some ways a Father figure for all of his employees. He isn't required by law to provide say, health care to his employees, but if he doesn't he will be judged unworthy of his status and at best, won't even be able to hire a starving beggar for twice the market rate to work for him or at worst, simply disappear and considering there is no police, you can be sure no one will ever discover what happened to the man.

This is the core of the 'Industrio-Theological Complex' of Zion: Men of powers are blessed shepherds and priests, this insures that despite the hyper capitalist nature of Zion, it remains one of the polities in Eden with the most equality as at most a prosperous capitalist is expected to have a house only moderately bigger than that of his employees lest he be shamed and loses everything.

As for whom should a foreign power speak to parlay with Zion as a whole, the mechanisms are obscure but they always manage to present a 'Speaker' for the greater collective that will represent the interests the interests of both the Lodges and the Groves (Read the History for more information on those).

Demographics:
-36% Humans, Members of a Lodge:
Also called 'Masons', the Lodges are corporations and generally work in what is considered more... 'ethereal' industries. Finances mostly and other jobs that don't involve the creation or study of anything physical. Stereotyped as educated and urban.

-44% Humans, Members of a Grove
While heavily influenced by Judahism, members of the Groves more closely associate with Celt culture and faith, taking pride in their personal crafts and abilities to make something 'real', this also include a vast part of the artists.

-9% Druids
Cybernetic augmentations are frowned upon for religious reasons but genetic engineering is considered to be one of Elohim's tools given to men for self betterment. While most in Zion use this for minor things like cosmetics, medical and de-aging procedures, some more radical Groves decided to make themselves more attuned to the nature of their new worlds. These are usually woodsmen or farmers, having jobs keeping them close to the nature with which they do the most to live in cohabitation with.

-7% Golems
Automatons made to serve, they are employed to do the most dangerous jobs but are becoming more and more widely available to the joy or consternation of many who have different thoughts about the impact they are likely to have on society.

-4% Broxa
The natives of the world of Ascalon, they were initially hostile to humans and had meso-american technological levels, but were completely crushed. With no other choice, they have begun integrating in human society.

Leadership:
The Cabal: Also called the 'Good old boys club', the Cabal is an unofficial gathering of the most powerful corporations of Zion who act as the 'invisible hand' that guides Zion by interpreting the will of Elohim and the Spirits. It is an invite only club where the grand old Lodges are over represented compared to the less stable Groves.

Economy:
Zion benefits heavily from its location in the core world and its total lack of laws, able to trade for great profits since the population is so united in purpose that foreign goods, even if significantly cheaper, will rarely find buyers if a Zion alternative is available, no matter how much more expensive. Likewise it benefits from its absolute banking secret and a total lack of remorse when it comes with dealing with outsiders. They have only one word, but it is wide to remember that the Fleets of Zion are an extension of its banks.

Surprisingly, Ascalon, the capital world of Zion, has remained quite green thank to the natural ecological concerns of the Groves and it still maintains a lot of farms, more than enough to feed itself and export some of its output to its neighbors while being closer than the midrim worlds.

Military:
Corporations are the basic civil units of Zion but also its basic military unit. Each factory is expected to form a militia, each town form a militia district with a Captain Elect and all vote for Zion's Protector Elect who is in charge of the overall organization. The overwhelming amount of Zion's forces are thus local forces that know their terrain extremely well but who are still quite competent due to yearly drills and competition of marksmanship and the likes though they are nearly impossible to concentrate for offensive purpose.

For offensive purpose, Zion relies on numerous professional mercenary corporations that when they aren't being paid by the Cabal to do whatever it is they are required to do, work for foreign powers for pay, insuring a somewhat low combat readiness but also a small, well equipped, well trained and experienced combat hardened army.

In space however, while historically Zion had the same method, they opted for centralized control after the quasi-pirate war some years ago when they were almost invaded for hosting so many lawless vessels who didn't have many ways to profit from their big guns. Thus was born the Zealot Fleet, financed by the cabal as a whole rather than by individual corporations as to insure no individual or Groves or Lodges could become too powerful within the organization of the fleet. The fleet is still a mercenary institution specializing in debt collection for the banks but still it provides Zion with protection.

History:
Israel decided to build the 3rd Temple in Jerusalem and almost immediately after the arrival of the brown dwarf was announced, this caused massive splits in the faith as some argued Yahweh was punishing the Jews for this act. Among the splinters of the faith were the followers of Isaak Rothstein who was believed to be the new Messiah who would guide the tribes of israel through another great exile to another promised land for the true believers.

Isaak was a high profile American Free Mason who used his connections to build an Ark. Among his connections were his good friend Patrick O’Ceallaigh who himself dreamed of Celtic revival as it was gaining traction in during the 'Second European Pagan Awakening'. They thus built their Ark and the two groups moved together to the stars and would during their travel influence one another greatly, forming a common myth by the time they arrived to the Promised Land and established the Fourth Temple.

In short, they see themselves as the two tribes, one forming the Lodges of Stone and Gold worshiping the one God Elohim while the other regrouped in the Groves, taking care of them and worshiping Elohim's spirits.

Notably however is their corporate heritage as strong as their religious one viewing with suspicion the tyranny of government and worst, taxes. In Zion, your business is your own as long as you follow the traditions as they are. This made for a prosperous financial faction within the sector that is non the less filled with mystery.

Characters:
-Protector Elect Gaël Cadoc: The ever popular Mercenary Captain and explorer, he may be the elected leader of the militias but the Lodges and Groves never miss an opportunity to remember him that he is only the head of the military and not of Zion despite how many confused foreigner believe otherwise.

-The Wise Elijah Rothstein: One of the CEO of the 12 Banks of Zion of interstellar importance, he is known as an important financier at both corporate and state level, frequently traveling and being an unofficial diplomat for the Cabal offering the boons and collecting the dues of the Temple Bank.