@SigmaWould it be acceptable to have a faction that has no systems outright owned but rather they live in mobile space colonies? Think of gigantic 25-100km long O'niel cylinders with engines. They are very vulnerable and lumbering to the extreme. They are not meant to represent my faction's industrial capability at producing warships and while numerous these were made over a long period of time. Would it be acceptable?
Pannonia is the successor state of Hungary, formed by numerous incidents through its history. Unlike its predecessor Pannonia is a federation of multiple semi-autonomous states. Following the uprising in 1943 Pannonia became a communist state, although remaining independent from the USSR. Pannonia treads a fine line both due to its mixed loyalties between the West and Soviets but also due to their extremely multi-cultural demographics.
Territory: Pannonia is a Central and East European nation occupying the territories of the former Kingdom of Hungary alongside some other former Habsburg territories East of Austria. Pannonia is a Federation with the following eight members. 1.) Hungary: Core territory used to have dominant position within the Federation. 2.) Transylvania: Eastern portions of Hungary bordering Romania 3.) Croatia: The second largest member of Pannonia, they tend to have tensions with Hungary as a result. 4.) Halych-Volhynia: Formerly called East Galicia 5.) Bosnia-Herzegovina: Was a vassal of the Monarchy, full member of Pannonia. 6.) Romania: Fell under Pannonian control after the Hungarian War of Independence in 1921. 7.) Slovakia: Hungarian territory earned autonomy in the 19th century and retains it with Pannonia. 8.) Slovenia: Formerly called Carniola.
History
Pannonia is considered a successor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire yet its history really began with the First World War. It broke out in 1914 after the assassination attempt on Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Serbia. The royal heir survived but with Serbia refusing to hand over the preparators the war was really inevitable, regardless. During the War Austro-Hungary performed decently, partially thanks to Russia leaving the war due to internal conflicts by early 1915. In 1916 Franz Joseph died and thus Ferdinand should've been the emperor. Yet his pro-nationalities policies were unpopular in Hungary and they refused to crown him. They reached the compromise by making his brother Charles II the king, thus the Monarchy suddenly had two rulers. The two brothers had a great relationship and the subsequent years went fairly successfully. Both Ferdinand and Charles wanted to turn the empire into a federation with constituent states arranged by demographic borders and each member given fair degree of autonomy. Though in secret they began talks with the Entente for a "League of Nations". Austro-Hungary fought valiantly yet they faced increasingly hopeless odds. The war ended in early 1918 with the German Empire capitulating. American, British and French troops occupied the country. The Habsburgs were way less fortunate in this outcome. Their multi-national empire was at the brink of being torn apart and furthermore practically all their neighbors had territorial claims somewhere. The Great War officially ended yet the war for the Empire was only beginning. Austrian side had rrlatively few conflicts. They ceded lands to Italy but Ferdinand's political mastery allowed him to reform the core holdings of the Austrian Crown into the dual republic of Austro-Czechia. He stepped down as royal ruler but his popularity immediately elected him as the first president of the new republic. At the same time the Treaty of Triannon was made which heralded the end of Hungary as they knew it. Even before the treaty several nations or would be nations mobilized their military. The Hungarian Army held up but with the new treaty ratified Charles had no choice but to recall them. Just as his brother he had little interest of remaining a king with his focus instead being on the formation of the League. Yet this act was perceived as a grave betrayal by the Hungarians. With their army still combat ready, many units actively refused to give up their positions. Eventually these tiny grassroots resistances grew into a wildfire and Charles II was found assassinated through mysterious circumstances. Charles and the royal family were declared traitors and the Hungarian Parliament took control of the country. They refused the Treaty and actively fought back against the oncoming armies of neighboring nations and revolutionaries. The Ententr being gravely exhausted was unable to give meaningful support and after years of warfare Hungary emerged victorious. With the combination of loyalist movements and military reconquest they retained the Lands of St. Stephen. The neighboring nations were forced into a rout, many of them like Serbia began fortifying themselves for the oncoming decade. Romania was less fortunate as they were unable to resist the Hungarian counterattack and were conquered for the second time.
The Allies didn't acknowledge this new Hungary till 1924. Until then the Hungarian leadership had their work cut for them. While they were the unquestionable victors of the post-WW1 scuffle the old problems of the Empire remained. Inspired by Kossuth's ideology from the Hungarian Revolution they began laying down the groundwork for what is soon to become the Federal Republic of Hungary. A republic with no monarchic ruler and theoretically supported by the autonomous government of each member state. Of course the reality was a bit different. While nationalities received some degree of self-governance the Hungarians who only made up some 25% of the population, were undoubtedly receiving preferential treatment. Government and military positions were first filled with loyal Hungarians and forceful resettlement made sure the demographic lines became more muddled.
Hungary made a long term enemy in Austria-Czechia and for a decade FRH existed as a relative pariah. Only after the death of Franz Ferdinand von Habsburg and the Great Depression did change things up. Meanwhile the threat of the Soviet Union loomed over Hungary and perhaps motivated by this their originally strained relations to Germany began to strengthen. Hungary didn't participated in the early stages of World War II but this changed by the time Operation Barbarossa kicked in. The turning point happened in 1943 when consequently with the Allied beach landing to continental Europe, Italy's capitulation and the Soviet counterattack something unexpected happened to Hungary. The fascist Hungarian leadership were overthrown in late 1943 by Communist sympathizers, immediately forcing Hungary out of the war. Renaming themselves the Danuvian People's Federation they supported the Soviets in the last stages of the war and some forces even participated in the Battle of Berlin.
The nationalism of the early 1940s backfired and Hungarians just barely evaded being prosecuted by their own nation as collective war criminals. The Danuvian People's Federation worked closely with the Soviets and they became one of Stalin's favorites. Budapest hosted the headquarters of the Cominform from 1947 and from the outside they were viewed the staunchest supporters of the Soviets. Yet the DPF's integration into the Soviet power block was meeting immense difficulties and was progressing rather slowly. After Stalin's death this only got worse and in 1956 starting from Hungary the Federation revolted, even threatening to throw out its Communist leadership. Soviet interference was imminent as Hungarian and other national guard forces clashed with the local USSR garrisons. Yet with the threat of NATO action the Soviets and the still escalating attitudes the Soviets were forced to back off. Eventually the more moderate revolutionaries won over after a brief civil war, establishing a new communist rule, one independent of Moscow. Their leader was Ladislav Rajk, former internal politics minister and ambitious leader of security. In 1958 the nation's name changed again, becoming known as the People's Federation of Pannonia. Hungarian favoritism in a more subdued form returned up until the mysterious death of Rajk in 1971.
Losing their leader the Pannonian leadership risked collapse and underwent major changes. They became a true federation of semi-autonomous Communist republics. Even this change wouldn't have been sufficient if not for the BETA's landing in 1973. Uninterested first the Pannon government viewed this event as something beyond their scope, still focusing on internal issues and the looming threat of either NATO or Soviet invasion. This changed after China's series of failures to contain the BETA, becoming very apparent that the alien invaders pose a threat to the whole continent. Riding this new wave of dread Pannonia began promoting anti-BETA movements, even buying up a large stock of American TSFs. Still being fresh technology the government viewed TSF as tools exclusively against the BETA and during Operation Palaiologos they threw all of them into this single battle. By 1978 their "strategy of distraction" had proven results with the member states willingly handling over their military to centralized control among others. Of course being a paper tiger of a nation most of their Hussars (TSF pilots) were rather inexperienced and this showed during the operation. Pannonian forces suffered grievous loses, partially due to their pilot quality but also for the fact they were used as canon fodder by the NATO. Regardless the Coalition achieved the world's first and so far the last successful hive infiltration.
In spite of its complete disaster to Pannonian TSF forces the government treated Operation Palaiologos as a massive victory and in a sense they were right. Of course this helped to fuel future propaganda to support more anti-BETA operations and the nation keep focusing on the threat of alien invaders. These actions also managed to somewhat ease the international relations with both power blocs, although the threat remained. Internally the People's Federation of Pannonia is experiencing a weird flux of both stabilizing and destabilizing factors. They are non-aligned, supporting neither the NATO nor the Soviets. They are perhaps the most culturally diverse nation with over a dozen spoken languages which is naturally a source of constant friction. They are also viewed as a gateway between East and West, targeted by lot of refugees as an interim country to stay in before moving towards either direction. Pannonia has a very stormy future ahead.
Government and Political Alignment
TBA
Military Overview
Pannon Népi Őrs (Pannonian People's Guard, PPG) is the main armed forces of Pannonia with authority to act in all member states of the Federation. The PSDF has three branches: People's Army, Air Force and Coast Guard. Army commands the land forces, the largest bulk of Pannon military. Their primary role is the defense of Pannonia and suppression of counter-revolutionaries although they can be called for foreign missions when more bodies are needed. Unlike most armies they are in possession of not only helicopters but also Hussar Wings of TSFs. Air Force in the last 10 years is earning much prominence in Pannonia. They are responsible for operating most aircraft but they also manage the Anti-BETA Expeditions and hence they frequently "borrow" resources and personnel from other branches. Coast Guard is the Pannonian Navy. They are suffering funding issues and frequently feel frustrated as being just the "ferrymen" to carry Air Force assets like expeditionary groups over the Mediterranean Sea. Aside from the PPG each member state has their own national military, although these are frequently not much better than militia or an extension of the political police. This is intentional in fears of repeating 1956 or giving ideas for nations to fight for their independence.
As for hardware the Pannon Army mostly relies on Soviet equipment. They have massive stocks of T-55 tanks and after being disatisfied with the M60 and T-62 offers they began to develop their own MBT called Hk/74 Kynys. In terms of artillery they have a relatively large collection ranging from light recon vehicles outfitted with rocket pods or gun-mortars to wheeled/tracked chassis mounted 122/155mm tube artilelry (the latter being French) and of course 122mm MLRS vehicles. Strategic arsenal also includes various cruise and ballistic missile launchers. Their air wing consists of mostly Soviet craft for practical reasons.
Official Name: Harckocsi 1974 Kinizsi Pál Common Name: Hk/74 Kynys, m/74 Kynys Other Spellings: Kinizsi, Kynys, Kenezy, Cneazul, Chinezu In Service: 1975 Dimensions: length: 5.97m (9m w/ gun forward), width: 3.35m, height: 2.1m Weight: 42.6 metric tons Main Armament: 100mm smoothbore gun Secondary Armaments:12.7mm Gebauer-M co-axial chaingun (2,400RPM), PGA-63M 20mm remote-controlled autocannon (600RPM)
Pannon main battle tank developed by the fairly specific requirements of the Pannonian People's Guard. Named after the commander of Hungary's Black Army, it's a fairly compact vehicle made with the idea to operate in nuclear wastelands. For this purpose it uses heavy radiation shielding where the whole crew is located inside turret ring. While this early idea motivated by the American and Chinese Anti-BETA tactics was found to be mistaken it also resulted in a design built from the ground-up for automatization, a feature receptive of future upgrades. Unlike most MBTs the tank still uses a variant of the 100mm gun, a consideration made purely out of a sense of logistics. In the current third generation of the Kynys this is a smoothbore long gun featuring a rapid-firing carousel autoloader, allowing three round bursts within a second. Using technology derived from TSFs the Kynys III replaced the 3-crew setup with a 2-man "cockpit" design featuring feed from sensors and external cameras. Using a similar thought Kynys III replaced its old oil guzzler with TSF-derived electric systems thus rather than gasoline or diesel the tank consumes battery power for its electric engine. Aside from economical benefits this setup also enables higher peak accelerations and visible improvements in combat mobility.
Tactical Surface Fighters
Pannonia's unique position allowed them to choose from both Western and Eastern Bloc TSFs which also had its own drawbacks. The reason why Pannonia doesn't have Mig-27s or F-15s can be traced back to this issue. Pannonian TSF requirements are also rather unique, they don't have immediate defense concerns against the BETA yet they focus a lot on fighting them. At the same time they have plenty of concerns fighting another country which focuses their TSF procurement and overall development to interceptors. Coincidentally both aims share some characteristics like range, ordinance carrying capability and competitive technology. Of course that's where the similarities ended and Pannonian TSFs have be made with considerable modularity in order to fulfill both roles. This unique situation also forced Pannonians to want to be as self-reliant as possible. They could not depend on either supply line as the winds of war could shift both ways. As a consequence their TSFs and their armament are even more logistics conservative than others, which at times comes at the cost of interoperability. Organization wise TSFs are grouped under two organizations, Pannon Nlphadsereg (Pannonian People's Army, PPA) is the army branch also tasked with defending the country and also deal with local insurrections. They are the lowest common denominator when it comes to TSFs employed, only meant for counter insurgency and to hold off invaders until a proper response is formed. The other organization is of course the Pannonian Air Force which frequently participates in anti-BETA operations far off the country but are of course also responsible for air defense. Hussar (and its myriad of local language equivalents) is a term used in Pannonia both for the machine and the pilot, depending on context. Hussar Regiments are specialized units built around the operation of TSF and their support, the latter not only including airfield crew and logistics but also dedicated mobile artillery companies, recon forces and a mechanized force for self-defense. The specifics vary depending on the role of the unit with PPA regiments often becoming skeletonized for budget reasons while an Air Force expeditionary unit is constructed deliberately to be entirely airborne and some may even have dedicated bomber wings.
CsA-77 Kékmadár (Bluebird) Designation of the Pannonian F-5 Freedom Fighters, first imported from the West and later license produced and underwent modifications. Current models are called CsA-77C and CsA-77D, the latter being old CsA-77B models upgraded to C standards. F-5/CsA-77A models were found unfit to be improved upon and they became training machines or test targets. CsA-77C/D are referred as 1.5 generation fighters due to them featuring Operation-By-Wire capability along with a slew of engine and avionics improvements.
CsA-81 Kerecsensólyom (Sake Falcon) License-produced variant of the Soviet Su-15, a quasi 2nd generation TSF introduced after Operation Palaiologos. They have received further improvements in aim to further enhance their long range mission capabilities. They are the most common frontline TSFs, although far from the most numerous (that'd be the CsA-77).
CsA-87 Turul The first entirely domestically developed TSF using both Soviet and Western knowledge, also the first true 2nd generation TSF in Panonian use. They are designed entirely with the Pannonian expeditions in mind. They specialize in range, endurance and empathize firepower and amount of ordinance they can carry over melee capabilities. CsA-87 is of course fairly agile, being a late era 2nd generation TSF using disciplines of both sides. But compared to the Soviet 2nd generation TSFs their melee capabilities are lacking.
PGA-78 Assault Cannon "Pannon Gépágyú 1978" is a locally produced assault cannon built to replace the WS-16 and A-97 models. They fire 20mm hypervelocity rounds as the Pannonians refuse to adopt a whole new cartridge and risk running out of ammunition. This makes the PGA-78 somewhat underpowered which they tried to fix by doubling its rate of fire, consequently resulting in some reliability issues. Regardless Pannonia staunchly remains with the 20mm munition and as a consequence they adopted bulky drum shaped magazines as their new standard. Another curiosity is its PÖL-82K cannon attachment which is put on the top rather than on the bottom for higher stability (leaving the optics/camera for that place). More importantly it fires 100mm shells that are the same as the ones fired by their Hk/74 Kynys MBTs (just outfitted with a rocket booster) in order to simplify their logistics. In addition the twin-stack magazines allow the capacity of 16 shots while having relatively the same weight. Nowadays this feature is exploited for unique mixed round two-shot bursts, the most frequent combination being APFSDS and HESH round, which can damage even Destroyer carapaces (although only that, usually requiring massed fire to actually kill them).
PFA-84 Assault Shotcannon "Pannon Forgóágyú 1984" is a heavy Assault Cannon preferred by Pannonia over the modern 36mm cartridge firing variants. It fires 57mm rounds developed from AA gun cartridges thus it's already something Pannonia produces in large quantities. The larger cartridges allow stronger and more sophisticated rounds at the expense of cost and reduced ammo capacity. Its primary munition is the 57mm multi-fused warhead which is capable of greater destruction and has notably greater performance against smaller BETA strains. Unlike other assault cannons the PFA-84 also uses revolver cannon mechanism. This allows comparable rate of fire at short burst but needs a built-up disengager after every 8th shot thus reducing long burst rate of fire by half. This is actually preferred by the Pannonians and further constrained in order to reduce ammo expenditures. The PFA-84 is compatible with all attachments made for the PGA-78 and also comes with its own accessories. PÖL-88 is an improvement over the PÖL-82 only stable with the extra mass of the PFA-84 frame. Its drum magazine has a built in autoloading carousel to choose between multiple types of ammunition. It also facilitates very quick burst fire rates for an unique three-round "Anti-Destroyer Burst" composing of an APFSD, HESH and lastly an APHE round. This combination has 28% chance to kill a Destroyer-class BETA outright, even through its heavily armored carapace. The drawback is of course the heavy magazine and the overall expensive nature of the attachment. Another attachment is a barrel extension and stabilization device and an overhead mounted aiming device, turning the PFA-84 into a sniper rifle, capable of firing 57mm APFSDS and PELE munitions, at times even in bursts or alteration.
HGv-82 Kopja (Lance) Panonian adoption of the Soviet SPG-21, a "bazooka type" TSF armament firing 300mm recoilless rifle shells. Compared to missiles the launcher is heavier but can carry considerably more munition and for cheaper than through missile containers. The shell only has a rudimentary guidance and is limited to 10km but otherwise a competitor with the AIM-54 Phoenix in capability while allowing an unit to carry several dozen loads. The system has a 6-round detachable magazine and can be carried in one hand (although having a sub-arm to change magazines is recommended). It can fire various cluster or unitary warheads. Its extra weight and weird measure of holding (the long backwards firing end is sticking behind the mech, akin to couching a lance, hence the name) means SPG-21 is limited to specialist use or unique "bombing raid" style engagements, not a mainline weapon. Aside from the new HGv-82 inventory of old SPG-17 launchers bought from Soviets are also in use.
VRV-81 Pokoltűz (Hellfire) Based off the Soviet S-8 rocket family this Pannonian variant is used both for all their aricraft. Firing laser-guided 80mm rockets this system boasts decent firepower while possessing incredible rate of fire. In TSF use the heavier 32-tube systems are preferred, mounted on the hips in a 2x3 arrangement. VRV-81H also has built in reload system allowing the mech to restock 1-2 times its loadout of missiles for another go. Individual 80mm rockets don't have that much power but when combined by their sheer volume they could wreak considerable havoc. The system also has anti-laser and anti-air rocket variants for special uses.
PN-78 Nadziak/Csatakalapács (Warpick) Special TSF melee weapon adopted from Poland. Shaped like a horseman's pick these instruments seemingly had no room among the various melee halberd designs which empathized cutting power. Yet the sheer force of these weapons gave them considerable advantage when striking BETA and even moreso when fighting other TSFs. The latter reason is perhaps why the Pannonian government issues them. While far from a sophisticated weapon given the reduced emphasis on melee this could be actually an advantage for Hussars.
Pannonia is the successor state of Hungary, formed by numerous incidents through its history. Unlike its predecessor Pannonia is a federation of multiple semi-autonomous states. Following the uprising in 1943 Pannonia became a communist state, although remaining independent from the USSR. Pannonia treads a fine line both due to its mixed loyalties between the West and Soviets but also due to their extremely multi-cultural demographics.
Territory: Pannonia is a Central and East European nation occupying the territories of the former Kingdom of Hungary alongside some other former Habsburg territories East of Austria. Pannonia is a Federation with the following eight members. 1.) Hungary: Core territory used to have dominant position within the Federation. 2.) Transylvania: Eastern portions of Hungary bordering Romania 3.) Croatia: The second largest member of Pannonia, they tend to have tensions with Hungary as a result. 4.) Halych-Volhynia: Formerly called East Galicia 5.) Bosnia-Herzegovina: Was a vassal of the Monarchy, full member of Pannonia. 6.) Romania: Fell under Pannonian control after the Hungarian War of Independence in 1921. 7.) Slovakia: Hungarian territory earned autonomy in the 19th century and retains it with Pannonia. 8.) Slovenia: Formerly called Carniola.
History
Pannonia is considered a successor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire yet its history really began with the First World War. It broke out in 1914 after the assassination attempt on Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Serbia. The royal heir survived but with Serbia refusing to hand over the preparators the war was really inevitable, regardless. During the War Austro-Hungary performed decently, partially thanks to Russia leaving the war due to internal conflicts by early 1915. In 1916 Franz Joseph died and thus Ferdinand should've been the emperor. Yet his pro-nationalities policies were unpopular in Hungary and they refused to crown him. They reached the compromise by making his brother Charles II the king, thus the Monarchy suddenly had two rulers. The two brothers had a great relationship and the subsequent years went fairly successfully. Both Ferdinand and Charles wanted to turn the empire into a federation with constituent states arranged by demographic borders and each member given fair degree of autonomy. Though in secret they began talks with the Entente for a "League of Nations". Austro-Hungary fought valiantly yet they faced increasingly hopeless odds. The war ended in early 1918 with the German Empire capitulating. American, British and French troops occupied the country. The Habsburgs were way less fortunate in this outcome. Their multi-national empire was at the brink of being torn apart and furthermore practically all their neighbors had territorial claims somewhere. The Great War officially ended yet the war for the Empire was only beginning. Austrian side had rrlatively few conflicts. They ceded lands to Italy but Ferdinand's political mastery allowed him to reform the core holdings of the Austrian Crown into the dual republic of Austro-Czechia. He stepped down as royal ruler but his popularity immediately elected him as the first president of the new republic. At the same time the Treaty of Triannon was made which heralded the end of Hungary as they knew it. Even before the treaty several nations or would be nations mobilized their military. The Hungarian Army held up but with the new treaty ratified Charles had no choice but to recall them. Just as his brother he had little interest of remaining a king with his focus instead being on the formation of the League. Yet this act was perceived as a grave betrayal by the Hungarians. With their army still combat ready, many units actively refused to give up their positions. Eventually these tiny grassroots resistances grew into a wildfire and Charles II was found assassinated through mysterious circumstances. Charles and the royal family were declared traitors and the Hungarian Parliament took control of the country. They refused the Treaty and actively fought back against the oncoming armies of neighboring nations and revolutionaries. The Ententr being gravely exhausted was unable to give meaningful support and after years of warfare Hungary emerged victorious. With the combination of loyalist movements and military reconquest they retained the Lands of St. Stephen. The neighboring nations were forced into a rout, many of them like Serbia began fortifying themselves for the oncoming decade. Romania was less fortunate as they were unable to resist the Hungarian counterattack and were conquered for the second time.
The Allies didn't acknowledge this new Hungary till 1924. Until then the Hungarian leadership had their work cut for them. While they were the unquestionable victors of the post-WW1 scuffle the old problems of the Empire remained. Inspired by Kossuth's ideology from the Hungarian Revolution they began laying down the groundwork for what is soon to become the Federal Republic of Hungary. A republic with no monarchic ruler and theoretically supported by the autonomous government of each member state. Of course the reality was a bit different. While nationalities received some degree of self-governance the Hungarians who only made up some 25% of the population, were undoubtedly receiving preferential treatment. Government and military positions were first filled with loyal Hungarians and forceful resettlement made sure the demographic lines became more muddled.
Hungary made a long term enemy in Austria-Czechia and for a decade FRH existed as a relative pariah. Only after the death of Franz Ferdinand von Habsburg and the Great Depression did change things up. Meanwhile the threat of the Soviet Union loomed over Hungary and perhaps motivated by this their originally strained relations to Germany began to strengthen. Hungary didn't participated in the early stages of World War II but this changed by the time Operation Barbarossa kicked in. The turning point happened in 1943 when consequently with the Allied beach landing to continental Europe, Italy's capitulation and the Soviet counterattack something unexpected happened to Hungary. The fascist Hungarian leadership were overthrown in late 1943 by Communist sympathizers, immediately forcing Hungary out of the war. Renaming themselves the Danuvian People's Federation they supported the Soviets in the last stages of the war and some forces even participated in the Battle of Berlin.
The nationalism of the early 1940s backfired and Hungarians just barely evaded being prosecuted by their own nation as collective war criminals. The Danuvian People's Federation worked closely with the Soviets and they became one of Stalin's favorites. Budapest hosted the headquarters of the Cominform from 1947 and from the outside they were viewed the staunchest supporters of the Soviets. Yet the DPF's integration into the Soviet power block was meeting immense difficulties and was progressing rather slowly. After Stalin's death this only got worse and in 1956 starting from Hungary the Federation revolted, even threatening to throw out its Communist leadership. Soviet interference was imminent as Hungarian and other national guard forces clashed with the local USSR garrisons. Yet with the threat of NATO action the Soviets and the still escalating attitudes the Soviets were forced to back off. Eventually the more moderate revolutionaries won over after a brief civil war, establishing a new communist rule, one independent of Moscow. Their leader was Ladislav Rajk, former internal politics minister and ambitious leader of security. In 1958 the nation's name changed again, becoming known as the People's Federation of Pannonia. Hungarian favoritism in a more subdued form returned up until the mysterious death of Rajk in 1971.
Losing their leader the Pannonian leadership risked collapse and underwent major changes. They became a true federation of semi-autonomous Communist republics. Even this change wouldn't have been sufficient if not for the BETA's landing in 1973. Uninterested first the Pannon government viewed this event as something beyond their scope, still focusing on internal issues and the looming threat of either NATO or Soviet invasion. This changed after China's series of failures to contain the BETA, becoming very apparent that the alien invaders pose a threat to the whole continent. Riding this new wave of dread Pannonia began promoting anti-BETA movements, even buying up a large stock of American TSFs. Still being fresh technology the government viewed TSF as tools exclusively against the BETA and during Operation Palaiologos they threw all of them into this single battle. By 1978 their "strategy of distraction" had proven results with the member states willingly handling over their military to centralized control among others. Of course being a paper tiger of a nation most of their Hussars (TSF pilots) were rather inexperienced and this showed during the operation. Pannonian forces suffered grievous loses, partially due to their pilot quality but also for the fact they were used as canon fodder by the NATO. Regardless the Coalition achieved the world's first and so far the last successful hive infiltration.
In spite of its complete disaster to Pannonian TSF forces the government treated Operation Palaiologos as a massive victory and in a sense they were right. Of course this helped to fuel future propaganda to support more anti-BETA operations and the nation keep focusing on the threat of alien invaders. These actions also managed to somewhat ease the international relations with both power blocs, although the threat remained. Internally the People's Federation of Pannonia is experiencing a weird flux of both stabilizing and destabilizing factors. They are non-aligned, supporting neither the NATO nor the Soviets. They are perhaps the most culturally diverse nation with over a dozen spoken languages which is naturally a source of constant friction. They are also viewed as a gateway between East and West, targeted by lot of refugees as an interim country to stay in before moving towards either direction. Pannonia has a very stormy future ahead.
Government and Political Alignment
TBA
Military Overview
Pannon Népi Őrs (Pannonian People's Guard, PPG) is the main armed forces of Pannonia with authority to act in all member states of the Federation. The PSDF has three branches: People's Army, Air Force and Coast Guard. Army commands the land forces, the largest bulk of Pannon military. Their primary role is the defense of Pannonia and suppression of counter-revolutionaries although they can be called for foreign missions when more bodies are needed. Unlike most armies they are in possession of not only helicopters but also Hussar Wings of TSFs. Air Force in the last 10 years is earning much prominence in Pannonia. They are responsible for operating most aircraft but they also manage the Anti-BETA Expeditions and hence they frequently "borrow" resources and personnel from other branches. Coast Guard is the Pannonian Navy. They are suffering funding issues and frequently feel frustrated as being just the "ferrymen" to carry Air Force assets like expeditionary groups over the Mediterranean Sea. Aside from the PPG each member state has their own national military, although these are frequently not much better than militia or an extension of the political police. This is intentional in fears of repeating 1956 or giving ideas for nations to fight for their independence.
As for hardware the Pannon Army mostly relies on Soviet equipment. They have massive stocks of T-55 tanks and after being disatisfied with the M60 and T-62 offers they began to develop their own MBT called Hk/74 Kynys. In terms of artillery they have a relatively large collection ranging from light recon vehicles outfitted with rocket pods or gun-mortars to wheeled/tracked chassis mounted 122/155mm tube artilelry (the latter being French) and of course 122mm MLRS vehicles. Strategic arsenal also includes various cruise and ballistic missile launchers. Their air wing consists of mostly Soviet craft for practical reasons.
Official Name: Harckocsi 1974 Kinizsi Pál Common Name: Hk/74 Kynys, m/74 Kynys Other Spellings: Kinizsi, Kynys, Kenezy, Cneazul, Chinezu In Service: 1975 Dimensions: length: 5.97m (9m w/ gun forward), width: 3.35m, height: 2.1m Weight: 42.6 metric tons Main Armament: 100mm smoothbore gun Secondary Armaments:12.7mm Gebauer-M co-axial chaingun (2,400RPM), PGA-63M 20mm remote-controlled autocannon (600RPM)
Pannon main battle tank developed by the fairly specific requirements of the Pannonian People's Guard. Named after the commander of Hungary's Black Army, it's a fairly compact vehicle made with the idea to operate in nuclear wastelands. For this purpose it uses heavy radiation shielding where the whole crew is located inside turret ring. While this early idea motivated by the American and Chinese Anti-BETA tactics was found to be mistaken it also resulted in a design built from the ground-up for automatization, a feature receptive of future upgrades. Unlike most MBTs the tank still uses a variant of the 100mm gun, a consideration made purely out of a sense of logistics. In the current third generation of the Kynys this is a smoothbore long gun featuring a rapid-firing carousel autoloader, allowing three round bursts within a second. Using technology derived from TSFs the Kynys III replaced the 3-crew setup with a 2-man "cockpit" design featuring feed from sensors and external cameras. Using a similar thought Kynys III replaced its old oil guzzler with TSF-derived electric systems thus rather than gasoline or diesel the tank consumes battery power for its electric engine. Aside from economical benefits this setup also enables higher peak accelerations and visible improvements in combat mobility.
Tactical Surface Fighters
Pannonia's unique position allowed them to choose from both Western and Eastern Bloc TSFs which also had its own drawbacks. The reason why Pannonia doesn't have Mig-27s or F-15s can be traced back to this issue. Pannonian TSF requirements are also rather unique, they don't have immediate defense concerns against the BETA yet they focus a lot on fighting them. At the same time they have plenty of concerns fighting another country which focuses their TSF procurement and overall development to interceptors. Coincidentally both aims share some characteristics like range, ordinance carrying capability and competitive technology. Of course that's where the similarities ended and Pannonian TSFs have be made with considerable modularity in order to fulfill both roles. This unique situation also forced Pannonians to want to be as self-reliant as possible. They could not depend on either supply line as the winds of war could shift both ways. As a consequence their TSFs and their armament are even more logistics conservative than others, which at times comes at the cost of interoperability. Organization wise TSFs are grouped under two organizations, Pannon Nlphadsereg (Pannonian People's Army, PPA) is the army branch also tasked with defending the country and also deal with local insurrections. They are the lowest common denominator when it comes to TSFs employed, only meant for counter insurgency and to hold off invaders until a proper response is formed. The other organization is of course the Pannonian Air Force which frequently participates in anti-BETA operations far off the country but are of course also responsible for air defense. Hussar (and its myriad of local language equivalents) is a term used in Pannonia both for the machine and the pilot, depending on context. Hussar Regiments are specialized units built around the operation of TSF and their support, the latter not only including airfield crew and logistics but also dedicated mobile artillery companies, recon forces and a mechanized force for self-defense. The specifics vary depending on the role of the unit with PPA regiments often becoming skeletonized for budget reasons while an Air Force expeditionary unit is constructed deliberately to be entirely airborne and some may even have dedicated bomber wings.
CsA-77 Kékmadár (Bluebird) Designation of the Pannonian F-5 Freedom Fighters, first imported from the West and later license produced and underwent modifications. Current models are called CsA-77C and CsA-77D, the latter being old CsA-77B models upgraded to C standards. F-5/CsA-77A models were found unfit to be improved upon and they became training machines or test targets. CsA-77C/D are referred as 1.5 generation fighters due to them featuring Operation-By-Wire capability along with a slew of engine and avionics improvements.
CsA-81 Kerecsensólyom (Sake Falcon) License-produced variant of the Soviet Su-15, a quasi 2nd generation TSF introduced after Operation Palaiologos. They have received further improvements in aim to further enhance their long range mission capabilities. They are the most common frontline TSFs, although far from the most numerous (that'd be the CsA-77).
CsA-87 Turul The first entirely domestically developed TSF using both Soviet and Western knowledge, also the first true 2nd generation TSF in Panonian use. They are designed entirely with the Pannonian expeditions in mind. They specialize in range, endurance and empathize firepower and amount of ordinance they can carry over melee capabilities. CsA-87 is of course fairly agile, being a late era 2nd generation TSF using disciplines of both sides. But compared to the Soviet 2nd generation TSFs their melee capabilities are lacking.
PGA-78 Assault Cannon "Pannon Gépágyú 1978" is a locally produced assault cannon built to replace the WS-16 and A-97 models. They fire 20mm hypervelocity rounds as the Pannonians refuse to adopt a whole new cartridge and risk running out of ammunition. This makes the PGA-78 somewhat underpowered which they tried to fix by doubling its rate of fire, consequently resulting in some reliability issues. Regardless Pannonia staunchly remains with the 20mm munition and as a consequence they adopted bulky drum shaped magazines as their new standard. Another curiosity is its PÖL-82K cannon attachment which is put on the top rather than on the bottom for higher stability (leaving the optics/camera for that place). More importantly it fires 100mm shells that are the same as the ones fired by their Hk/74 Kynys MBTs (just outfitted with a rocket booster) in order to simplify their logistics. In addition the twin-stack magazines allow the capacity of 16 shots while having relatively the same weight. Nowadays this feature is exploited for unique mixed round two-shot bursts, the most frequent combination being APFSDS and HESH round, which can damage even Destroyer carapaces (although only that, usually requiring massed fire to actually kill them).
PFA-84 Assault Shotcannon "Pannon Forgóágyú 1984" is a heavy Assault Cannon preferred by Pannonia over the modern 36mm cartridge firing variants. It fires 57mm rounds developed from AA gun cartridges thus it's already something Pannonia produces in large quantities. The larger cartridges allow stronger and more sophisticated rounds at the expense of cost and reduced ammo capacity. Its primary munition is the 57mm multi-fused warhead which is capable of greater destruction and has notably greater performance against smaller BETA strains. Unlike other assault cannons the PFA-84 also uses revolver cannon mechanism. This allows comparable rate of fire at short burst but needs a built-up disengager after every 8th shot thus reducing long burst rate of fire by half. This is actually preferred by the Pannonians and further constrained in order to reduce ammo expenditures. The PFA-84 is compatible with all attachments made for the PGA-78 and also comes with its own accessories. PÖL-88 is an improvement over the PÖL-82 only stable with the extra mass of the PFA-84 frame. Its drum magazine has a built in autoloading carousel to choose between multiple types of ammunition. It also facilitates very quick burst fire rates for an unique three-round "Anti-Destroyer Burst" composing of an APFSD, HESH and lastly an APHE round. This combination has 28% chance to kill a Destroyer-class BETA outright, even through its heavily armored carapace. The drawback is of course the heavy magazine and the overall expensive nature of the attachment. Another attachment is a barrel extension and stabilization device and an overhead mounted aiming device, turning the PFA-84 into a sniper rifle, capable of firing 57mm APFSDS and PELE munitions, at times even in bursts or alteration.
HGv-82 Kopja (Lance) Panonian adoption of the Soviet SPG-21, a "bazooka type" TSF armament firing 300mm recoilless rifle shells. Compared to missiles the launcher is heavier but can carry considerably more munition and for cheaper than through missile containers. The shell only has a rudimentary guidance and is limited to 10km but otherwise a competitor with the AIM-54 Phoenix in capability while allowing an unit to carry several dozen loads. The system has a 6-round detachable magazine and can be carried in one hand (although having a sub-arm to change magazines is recommended). It can fire various cluster or unitary warheads. Its extra weight and weird measure of holding (the long backwards firing end is sticking behind the mech, akin to couching a lance, hence the name) means SPG-21 is limited to specialist use or unique "bombing raid" style engagements, not a mainline weapon. Aside from the new HGv-82 inventory of old SPG-17 launchers bought from Soviets are also in use.
VRV-81 Pokoltűz (Hellfire) Based off the Soviet S-8 rocket family this Pannonian variant is used both for all their aricraft. Firing laser-guided 80mm rockets this system boasts decent firepower while possessing incredible rate of fire. In TSF use the heavier 32-tube systems are preferred, mounted on the hips in a 2x3 arrangement. VRV-81H also has built in reload system allowing the mech to restock 1-2 times its loadout of missiles for another go. Individual 80mm rockets don't have that much power but when combined by their sheer volume they could wreak considerable havoc. The system also has anti-laser and anti-air rocket variants for special uses.
PN-78 Nadziak/Csatakalapács (Warpick) Special TSF melee weapon adopted from Poland. Shaped like a horseman's pick these instruments seemingly had no room among the various melee halberd designs which empathized cutting power. Yet the sheer force of these weapons gave them considerable advantage when striking BETA and even moreso when fighting other TSFs. The latter reason is perhaps why the Pannonian government issues them. While far from a sophisticated weapon given the reduced emphasis on melee this could be actually an advantage for Hussars.
I don't think so. We have USSR, East Germany, Greater Hungary and maybe some more European things but no Japan yet. On that regard China not being communist would be a gigantic butterfly effect which might threaten Soviet status quo but I am interested to discuss how this will turn out.
Since it isn't that easy to see I repost it here. Here's the discord server invite: discord.gg/JNPJAXs
OOC is still a great place to ask questions as it's much easier to follow but in case you want to chat or brainstorm the discord channel is still a decent way.
Which China? Technically in the original universe both PRC and RoC exist but since AUs are allowed you can even play as the Qing who survived into the modern times or anything as crazy.
Faction Name: Yel'krusu t'Sar'Makth (literally means "Star Empire of the Great Race") Government Type: Dominion Faction Leader: S'cum Ish-veh N'ssan (title: Sur'sim're t'Abru-ma AKA Grand Supreme Overlord) Capital: Tsokal'yel T'Sar'Vafer (Great Beginning, primary star system of the Sarmakth, location unknown)
OVERVIEW: Sarmakth are an enigmatic alien race hiding in the uncharted regions of the galaxy. They lack the strength to directly challenge major powers yet their inherent superiority complex strives to put them above all races. They hate mankind with cruel passion yet not above using humans as pawns to achieve their objectives. Currently they are obsessed with the idea of reaching Ayrie and take the seat of Ashtar for themselves.
HISTORY
Many millions of years ago, long before primates even walked on Earth, the distant low-gravity planet of T'Mekth birthed the first signs of advanced civilization. Dominion sources refer to them as Vesh'Makth or Precursors these three-tentacled medusid creatures were among the earliest sapient lifeforms in the galaxy. Sarmakth love to weave tall tales of these mythological Precursors. Of their greatness. How they created all life in the galaxy. How they were practically gods. All these are petty lies made up for propaganda purposes. Veshmakth were weak and not really versatile. While quite intelligent when it came to imagination these creatures also fell quite short. Their technological development was a long struggle yet few million years ago they finally achieved utopia. This golden age was short lived though as their excess rapidly drained the planet's resources. Lacking FTL technology the Veshmakth made a desperate bet at exploring deep space and sent out swarms of generation ships in bright hopes. None of these responded back and so far there are no signs of Veshmakths surviving anywhere close to the modern times. Desperate and short on resources those who had remained on T'Mekth engaged in centuries of apocalyptic wars, ruining their planet forever. Realizing their mistake late the Veshmakth were at the verge of extinction. As a last bet they turned their advanced technology to repopulating their planet and restoring some of its former splendor. The invasive growth of Red Weed was one of these products. So were the Sarmakth, an artificial "next step" to the Veshmakth evolution. There are conflicting theories in Ashtar records whether these early Sarmakth had the distorted bodies of their present selves or it had been product of their millennia of evolution. Either way with their inherent collectivism and features which allowed them to thrive in the reborn T'Mekth the Sarmakth began building a second utopia.
Yet just as the last one this utopia didn't last forever. The planet was slowly dying and without FTL they had no means to explore space and find new planets habitable for life. Yet luck was on their side as within decades they made first contact with an alien race. No recoird remained of this species aside from the Sarmakth referring them as Duhmakth (Race of Stupid). Probably undeserved yet when one looks at their fate it can be certainly said the Duhmakth were foolish. The explorer ship which made first contact never reported back home. The crew were probed and dissected by the merciless Sarmakth until they knew enough to reverse engineer the ship's FTL drive. Using this newfound technology the Sarmakth launched an invasion on the Duhmakth. Within a decade the Duhmakth were no more, their planet conquered and their entire species were transformed into mindless cattle for the Sarmakth to feed on.
The stolen FTL drive was primitive yet allowed the Sarmakth to terrorize the neighboring civilizations, achieving heights they never imagined prior. Eventually they encountered human colonists sent by the United Nations Government. They of course did what they always and enslaved the inhabitants as the newest acquisition to their ever growing empire. Yet unknowingly rather than catching a rabbit they awoke the bear that was the United Nations. Though certainly not militaristic their nation far surpassed the tiny Sarmakth Dominion. Military-wise their hundreds of years of combat history proved superior of the Sarmakth's thousands of years of stagnation. UN at first only retailated but after realizing the horror which the Sarmakth meant they went on the offensive, liberating planet after planet. With their own subjects rising up the Sarmakth were quickly forced back to their homeworld of T'Mekth (humans also called it Vulcan) to make their last stand. Genocide was never the UN's intention and to their credit they tried to minimize lynchings and other atrocities done to stranded Sarmakth. In contrast the Sarmakth were furious and a bit delusional, still firmly believing in their superiority and that they could win this war. Turning their planet's core into a gigantic reactor was what sustained Sarmakth civilization for thousands of years. Now they began to apply dangerous experimental technologies to the complex, including the ability to harness the planet's own subspace shadow. These experiments backfired spectacularly when without any warning the entire planet of T'Mekth exploded, killing the overwhelming majority of Sarmakth. Survivors lived on for a few centuries as pariahs yet soon enough the entire Sarmakth race went extinct.
... Or they should've been. A tiny group of less than thousand Sarmakth actually escaped the doom of T'Mekth. Their ship needed over a year to reach the distant Horsehead Nebula where they could remain hidden and rebuild. For this purpose everyone on the ship were put in stasis and they were to reach their destination via auto-pilot. Yet the subspace shadow contraction confused the instruments and flung them a yet uncharted location of space. Crashlanding on a lifeless planet they were doomed to perish. The preserved remains of the escapees were left there for centuries only to be discovered by the Ashtar. Intrigued to revive a long-extinct species the Ashtar experimented with the corpses, failing with all but the last one. His name was S'cum Ish-veh N'ssan, a complete nobody who were to become the literal father of the revived Sarmakth nation. After a conversation about responsibility and given a new chance the Ashtar repaired the ship (accidentally giving it some advanced features later to be reverse engineered) and gave S'cum coordinates for the nearest habitable planet. Following that they promptly left. Sarmakth reproduce asexually and thus S'cum began to settle down and literally repopulate his species. Unlike what the Ashtar told him he had no intention to merely restart the Sarmakth race, he wanted to rule the galaxy as he was destined to be! Yet being left vulnerable and (from his point of view) just recently taught the cost of overconfidence he choose the slow yet steady route, patiently awaiting his time in obscurity. He also taught the Sarmakth children about the Dominion, their past and their ultimate fate. Of course hinted with lies and propaganda, with special mentions to highlight the heinous nature of mankind. They began establishing the Second Dominion, starting with the conquest of the nearby minor civilizations. Their actions were put on relative halt 130 years ago when the Ashtar chose to reveal themselves in full, intent on policing the galaxy. While this prevented open hostilities the Sarmakth still had means to slowly strengthen themselves using infiltration, manipulation and similar underhanded measures. With the Ashtar's sudden disappearance the Sarmakth doubled down on their previous efforts, building up to finally undermine and crush mankind once and for all. Of course done in secrecy with the galaxy at large still unaware of their existence. With the final message of the Ashtar the Dominion feels it is time to take Ayire as their rightful possession.
TERRITORY
TBA
SOCIETY
Many of the unique qualities of Sarmakth are also reflected in their society. All Sarmakth are telepathically connected through the Great Link which allows them to freely exchange thoughts and makes all other forms of communication unnecessary. Quantum receiver implants enable Sarmakth to remain connected even at interstellar distances and losing access to this link would greatly hamper them even in daily life. Even though those in the Great Link are technically equals the Sarmakth maintains a hiearchic system based off willpower and personal qualities. Those most fit to be on the top are automatically chosen in leadership positions. Those with particular set of skills are automatically chosen to work in said field. Some argue that the Great Link is actually "rigged" to prefer certain individuals and keep them in power. For example even though nowadays billions of non-Sarmakth are also part of the Great Link they are never assigned positions superior to the dominant species. Some even think this "perversion" of the Great Link is also responsible for keeping S'cum in power as the Supreme Overlord. Either way the Great Link is the primary form of Sarmakth communication and social network, very much the pillar of Sarmakth society. Of course not everyone are included in the Link, those tend to be nothing more than slaves. This can be either obvious or secret to these people. Many subject races live in peace and think they are free when in effect they are under subtle Sarmakth control. The fact Sarmakth likes to implant slaves with "obedience chips" to control them further muddles the line between wilful and forced subjugation. In the end all races under the Sarmakth are subordinates but they do have an established hierarchy.
Sarmakth are large roughly cephaloid creatures with their main body diameter around 2.3-3.2 meters wide, making them often larger than even a bear. They have a pair of huge eyes and large beaks which are surrounded by numerous tentacles. The evolution and deliberate gene alterations of the Sarmakth focused on intellect which means roughly 90% of their body mass is brain matter with all other functions being reduced considerably. Their tentacles are too weak to raise their bodies under Earth-like gravity albeit they can walk just fine in lower gravity. Their overgrown brain allows them to have considerable telepathic and telekinetic powers. Their technology also functions mostly througb telepathic signals. Sarmakth have an underdeveloped and simple digestive system which can only process liquids and specially made food. The small tentacles near to their beaks act as suckers to leech blood from living beings for sustenance. The rest of the tentacles are thicker and used to either support the body or work as versatile manipulators to operate complex machines with ease. Sarmakth are asexual creatures with no male/female dimorphism who reproduce through periodically laying down "flesh buds" of their young which they submerge in the blood of other species until those eventually grow to sufficient size. Worth noting that when they refer to themselves the Sarmakth use male pronouns to outsiders. Sarmakth have no vocal language aside from making various basic noises to express emotions. They communicate exclusively through their telepathy. In case they require to talk through words they rely on human slaves who are explicitly wired to understand their telepathic waves and speak in their stead. Similarly they don't understand concepts like love, compassion or many of the complex emotions. Instead they have a deeply logical mindset and capacity for limitless cruelty. Sarmakth in general have a superiority complex and view all other races as inferior if not just consider them as soulless animals to exploit. Due to their history they especially hate humans and call them as Pekh'makth which literally translates as "the race of shit".
Called as the "imitation race", they are species whose genetics were tampered with to become just like the Sarmakth. While very much resemble their masters they still inherit traits from their past selves, most notably their stature. Amaumakth in general are just slightly larger than humans instead of the hulking brain-monstrosities that Sarmakth are. Just as their masters the Amaumakth has natural psychic powers thus access to the Great Link. Some even speculate that the Great Link enables Sarmakth to subvert cultures at lightning pace, explaining how civilizations wiped out and replaced with copy-cat Sarmakth cultures within just a few decades. This so-called bioformation is a resource intensive process which can be only the very last step of a species' integration into the Dominion. In terms of race hierarchy the Amaumakth are "secondary citizens" which gives them considerable prestige. Due to the similarities many outsiders were led to believe that the Amaumakth are the true masterminds behind the Dominion yet in the grand scheme of things they are still inferior pawns to be lorded over by the Great Sarmakth.
Literally translates as the "converted race". They are people who underwent extensive modifications to make them closer to Sarmakth in both appearance and function. For the slaves and cultists under the Dominion this is the highest gift, offered only to the most devoted and worthy of their kin.Rushamakth closely resemble the Sarmakth in looks yet in terms of genetics and physiology they keep their relation to their original race. To attain intelligence at least remotely comparable to their creators, Rushamakth are implanted with Cogitators. These are sophisticated brain interface computers giving them incredible thinking ability and may help to awaken their latent psychic abilities. This tend to be very weak hence Rushamakth are given quantum relay implants to access the Great Link themselves. Due to their inferiority they are considered lower than Amaumakth, albeit this isn't universal. Some notorious Rushamakth managed to climb up fairly high on the hierarchy and command great influence within the Dominion. Rushamakth exist to serve their cephaloid overlords and convey their will. They have special importance as local leaders in distant cults where these creatures essentially become the apostles of their divine Sarmakth.
Roughly translates as the "Slave Race", an expression obviously referring to the races under the Sarmakth's rule. Just narrowly escaped extinction the Sarmakth hardly has the "manpower" to function on their own. Thus no matter how much they might have wished to annihilate every other sentient life on their path, they didn't. Rather they managed to effectively enslave all the races they conquered and brainwash them to adore the Sarmakth as their righteous lords. Most people living under Sarmakth rule are strangely content with their lives and follow the orders of their cephaloid overlords with religious zeal. The tendrils of the Sarmakth manipulations run deep. Fehmakth live in various level of cultural and technological development, depending on what the Sarmakth sees fit. They could live in medieval styled villages on backwater planets, existing as little more than livestock and raw materials for Tselmakth. Alternatively they could even live in industrially developed mega cities supported by Sarmakth technology. Or anything inbetween. Regardless Fehmakth live in a meticulously crafted environment under strict control without them truly realizing it. They are also implanted with an "obedience chip" activated by Sarmakth telepathy in case they do anything which displeases their masters. Fehmakth are obviously excluded from the Great Link and only receive commands from various higher ranking races. This gets relayed to local leadership which then do the actual governance.
Translates as "altered race", they are effectively the opposite of the Rushamakth. They are people forced to undergo transformation into "more pleasing" and "functional" bodies in order to serve the Dominion. They are worse than slaves, they are effectively little more than biomechanical robots. Tselmakth are viewed as a cheaper alternative to drones and pure mechanical constructs of this specific scale. They can be anything from disposable soldiers to slave laborers. There are even Tselmakth invented for nothing but to serve as a piece of the cruel entertainment. In the past Tselmakth were literally only created from other species but as of late they only require "tithes" paid in living inhabitants in order to further refine the artificial wombs spewing out new Tselmakth biomechanical robots. Not to mention enacting these "tithes" helps them to keep the populations in line. Those involved with the local governance get their hands constantly stained by blood, allowing them to empathize less and be more loyal to their masters.
Important Characters:
Sur'sim're t'Abru-ma (Great Supreme Overlord) of the Sarmakth Dominion since their new beginning. Being the sole survivor of the first Dominion he had a pivotal role in establishing the second one, even calling him the literal father of the nation is not inaccurate. Given this situation it is not surprising he had absolute authority to influence how the Sarmakth Dominion was formed. He's a hateful person with delusions of grandeur who views all other species as tool to achieve Sarmakth supremacy. You could say this generally applies to all Sarmakth but that is merely a testament to the influence of S'cum who had indoctrinated his species with his philosophy from birth. This is entirely intentional on his part and S'cum is wiling to use his children and descendants as a tool to achieve his dreams of revenge. Being nearly 500 years old (not counting the time spent in stasis or, you know, dead) he has a wealth of experience and very persistent rule. Like all Sarmakth he's hyperintelligent and could tackle on the massive responsibility required to effectively lead his nation through the ages. Compared to the youth he's also much more cautious and probably the reason why the Sarmakth never participated in the Great War. He still has memories of the UN-Dominion War and the humiliation his species received. While hates Mankind with a burning passion this also makes him fearful of them, only engaging when he's convinced of an absolute advantage.
TECHNOLOGY
Sarmakth technology is unique and at times radically different from what could be found within the Empire. Their massive intellect grants them innately superior understanding of science. Yet having missed out a few millennia of progress they have some fields to catch up on. Sarmakth technology is unique and even weird by the standards of other species. For example Sarmakth relies on walkers moving on flexible tentacle-like legs which requires advanced computers to properly operate while humans merely use wheels and tracked mechanisms to achieve similar road performance. In general Sarmakth technology looks organic or even "alive" and some of their devices indeed use modified living tissue. It also shows in their transportation means. Sarmakth never invented the wheel and its association with human culture made sure they'd never rely on it, either. Instead they use various multi-leg transportation mechanisms or anti-grav systems. The Sarmakth themselves usually equip grav gliders which lift their bodies and save them from physical exertion because their species is accustomed to low gravity planets.
- Weinol: The basis of most if not all Sarmakth construction. It's a versatile family of carbon allotropes akin to fullerenes and carbon-nanotubes. It's generally light yet strong material which depending on its grid structure can have various other properties. It isn't an exaggeration to say that over 90% of everything made by Sarmakth is a type of Weinol.
- Yel'yeturek (Stardrive): Also dubbed as hyperdrive (kwhul'mishu, lit: "hyper engine") it's a device which allows the ship to go beyond the ordinary three dimensional space and touch "kwhulret" (hyperspace) in order to allow faster-than-light travel. Stardrives are effectively the same as various hyperdrives yet achieving it through different means.
- Kahla'yeturek (Inertial Drive): Sometimes also dubbed as Impulse Drive, an arcane device utilizing laws of physics not yet understood by humans. The device allows vessels to ignore gravity as well as use a mysterious force to hover or move at subluminal velocities.
- Kwitau'tviyan (Impulse Core): Reactor which turns any conventional material into nuclear fuel to produce energy. They are compact and efficient as well as generally safe to use which makes them widespread within the Sarmakth community. Kwitau'tviyan are Sarmakth nuclear bombs, most of them are adjusted to induce a chain-reaction with ordinary material to dramatically increase its power during orbital bombardments.
- Kwhul'ifisek (Transporter): Vaguely related to warp drive development this system can temporarily break down matter into subspace rays and direct them to another position where they rearrange back into their original form. Basically it beams in or out material for quick transportation between a ship and a surface target. Said beams are also occasionally used to abduct civilians albeit the ship needs a specific holding cell in order to keep the subjects. The transition into subspace energy is temporarily and thus you cannot store people in batteries or anything weird like that.
- Falek'zehl (Heat Ray): Using a miniature impulse core it channels extreme radiation through a channel of non-conductive vacuum. Heat Rays are roughly comparable to lasers yet their mechanism makes them extremely different. Unlike lasers a heat-ray dumps its entire energy on the target and unaffected by mirrors or other reflective surfaces. While its weaponization is well-known the heat ray technology is actually even more widespread in non-military use, somewhat the same as the human utilization of lasers.
- Khrasaya'wun (Chargegun): Sarmakth equivalent of firearms, it uses coulombic detonation instead of chemical energy to propel projectiles towards the target. Through fine alignment of field projectors it's possible to induce this "charge propulsion" spontaneously thus Sarmakth guns turn portion of the projectile into its own propellant and require only electric charge to work. Khrasaya'thor (charge bombs) are the regular high explosives used by the Sarmakth which tend to disperse a cloud of molecule-thin shrapnel. Chargeguns that fire high-velocity penetrators tend to have triangle shaped barrels while explosive projectiles are disc-shaped and shot from a wide yet thin barrel.
- Mathra'wun (Wardiscs):Sarmakth equivalent to missiles, these thin circular plate-like objects have a compact inertial drive along with a sophisticated AI and a field manipulation system that replaces explosives. Essentially it's a flying disc that tracks the target and has a device which can turn its entire mass into explosive material within a split-second. Wardiscs are very sophisticated and could have a myriad of ways they detonate. Space-use wardiscs can also rely on atomics or more exotic sources rather than pure chargebomb functions.
- Feshel'wun (Disruptor): Sarmakth molecular rearrangement technology has many scientific and industrial uses but at times it could be also useful as a weapon. It fires a special ray which induces a chain-reaction to disrupt the material composition of the target, effectively dissipating it to constituent particles. The weapon is too sophisticated to be viable as a general issue weapon. It's expensive and requires complete understanding of the target's composition to succeed. More often than not Feshel technology is seen in the mining industry and automated robotic miners. Although said miners may be used in war out of desperation. Another common variant is the disruptor pistol which is a status symbol to signify the Sarmakth superiority. More often than not such pistols are used for execution.
- Kwhul'wun (Hypermetric Accelerator): A term used to describe Sarmakth direct firing weapons which use either matter or radiation originating from hyperspace to project it at the enemy. The mechanism is often compared to opening a dam which is the boundary between normalspace and hyperspace and then let it flow straight at the enemy. These weapons tend to be the main weaponry of warships, albeit smaller ground support vehicle variant also exists. Kwhul'thor (Hyperbomb) is a variant used as a terrifying explosive with colossal destructive power which is only used on specific occasions due to its cost.
- Wak'danan (Stasis Barrier): Alternative usage of stasis field technology for protection. Effectively just a generic forcefield, albeit utilizing way different mechanisms. Commonly used by all Sarmakth vehicles and starships and there are even variants used for personal protection.
MILITARY
While most civilizations rely on professional military to provide forces in battle the Sarmakth are different. They view technology as their sole answer to military expansion, using warmachines and bioengineered monsters in battle. While they cannot entirely avoid to have their brethren fight in battles in general the Sarmakth want to minimize the danger they expose their populations to. This used to manifest in a very unbalanced army composition of pure warmachine forces. These towering tripods were fearsome yet unsupported they had some glaring weaknesses. To resolve the numbers issue the new Sarmakth Dominion relies on Tselmakth bio-soldiers. These are not infantry in the classical sense but a variety of biomechanical robots, often using horrifying bioformation techniques to turn other races into mere machines. Tselmakth troops can range from tiny swarmer units to giant mammoth-sized beasts that are more akin to a tank. Many of them fight in melee and rely on numbers but Tselmakth are also frequently using the biological derivatives of Sarmakth technology. They don't wield weapons per say but rather they are the weapons themselves and have such systems internal part of how they function. Creatures with eyes modified to be heat rays or abdomen protrusions that are actually cannons would be some of the examples how Tselmakth troops integrate technology into their being. While not foreign to the idea of entrenched infantry and similar tactics, Sarmakth don't really have anything to replicate such. Their military is still very much unbalanced yet the Sarmakth believes it's to their benefit.
Tselmakth are developed by altering known species more to practical functions. The so-called Ask'hatik (bio-soldiers) are the militarized variants of Tselmakth usually meant for screening and swarm tactics to support the Sarmakth warmachines. This can range from swarms of palm-sized insectoid creatures to mammoth sized beasts.
Ripper Swarms: Tilau'bish are clouds of small palm-sized creatures equipped with extremely hard and more than razor sharp fins. They have an internal plasma organ which fills them with hot air while also helps them expelling gases akin to a jet engine. This allows them to build up considerable momentum to cut through some relatively durable object. The smallness of their blade limits them to be anti-infantry weapons, though. In effort to make them simpler to create the Rippers can only live for 12 hours.
Lancers:Li'wuk are roughly 2m tall bipedal armless creatures with two gigantic eyes. Said eyes house both targeting systems and a pair of heat rays, meant to incinerate objects and burn through light armor. They are the closest the Sarmakth has for an "infantry" and there are variants of this type that mount different weapons or have other functions. Lancers are relatively fast runners and have the ability to leap for 25 meters as a defense mechanism. It takes a while for the leg muscles to recover thus this is only done when really necessary. Some people who encountered them began calling this type as the "laser emus" due to the uncanny resemblance.
Breaklings: Pi'katar are a versatile strain of quadrupedal bio-soldiers at average 1.5m tall. They have a very pronounced head unit and overdeveloped underbelly portion. The original variants were and still are used as collector, breaking down wreckages and hauling up carcasses for reprocessing. Yet they are more often seen on the field as walking weapon platform. This can range from compact chargeguns to overpowered heatrays, various wardisc launchers and other equipment. They are more armored than the Lancers but still overall fragile but they can provide fire support. Since a number of variants have limited munitions it is not uncommon for Breaklings to have logistics variants carrying and producing extra supplies for the rest to use. Breaklings are deceivingly fast although don't have the ultra jump capabilities of Lancers.
Bulwark: Sahr'temok are bulky slightly beetle like insectoid bio-soldiers hiding various weapons inside their sliding containers. They don't have shields but their shells are made of composite Weinol which can even gradually regenerate. In order to facilitate replenishment it has a belly mounted dissassembler ray allowing it to collect key resources to heal and manufacture new warheads (if equipped with phsyical weapons like chargeguns or wardisc launchers). They are durable and fairly versatile units that can be outfitted for any role ranging from frontal assaults to artillery or even anti-air purposes. They are a bit slow compared to the rest of the bio-soldiers but by no means lumbering. They can be considered the equivalent of tanks.
Triads: Rehsak are heavy bio-soldiers utilizing miniaturized warmachine technology. Those who fought these creatures tend to call them as mini-tripods and this isn't that far from the truth. They are 3-5m tall (depending on if you count the arms or not) with three triple-jointed legs and a trio of tentacle-like arms ending up in hypermetric ray emitters. This made possible by the creature possessing a compact hypercore which actually makes it dangerously unstable. For additional protection the Triad class bio-soldiers posses their own shielding, making them more like a walking tank if not worse. Furthermore some variants of the Reshak can combine their trio of beams with the shield emitter for an overwhelmingly strong attack. Just as the other bio-soldiers the Triads are surprisingly nimble and their shielding can double as a gravity manipulation tool. Due to their unstable core the Triad distorts space-time around itself, making it relatively easy to detect by sensors. On the other hand if they get too close their unstable hyperspace radiation could cause random malfunctions on sensitive equipment and generally makes precise sensor locks impossible.
Predators: Feikha are giant 6m tall and 9m long creatures engineered from the indigenous species of an unspecified planet. These creatures underwent massive enhancement, receiving tough armadillo-like armor plates complemented with composite Weinol hide structure. The monstrous being is powered by a hypercore which allows it to maintain a shield to further enhance its defenses. In spite of its size the creature is extremely nimble and can leap massive distances. Its main purpose is breakthrough and shock thus it has a pair of oversized blade-like appendages for combat. Aside from that it has a mounth and tail mounted hypermetric radiation emitter. In addition it could launch wardiscs launchers and other secondary functions.
SPACE FORCES
Sarmakth spacecraft are just like their warmachines in the fact they look less like purpose built constructs and more like living entities. Most Sarmakth space vessels look like deep sea creatures, assuming the shapes of starfish, jellyfish, crustaceans and cephaloids. Just as their surface vehicles these rely on tentacles but in a different way. The average Sarmakth warship consists of a main body and various tentacles. Main body houses all the essentials while tentacles mount the primary weapons. This gives a flexible and finely aimed platform for said weapons but also makes them fair bit more obvious as targets. Most Sarmakth warships have primary and secondary tentacles with the latter being considerably thinner. Said tentacles could be also used in close combat and are known to contract and stretch to unbelievable extents. Another less known fact is that while vulnerable these tentacles can grow back. At the root of each tentacle is a regeneration unit which gradually reconstructs the lost appendage while hidden within the hull, bursting out with full functions as soon as ready. Due to hiding in the unknown regions and refusing open contact the Sarmakth Dominion was never part of the Detente. This means while overall weak the Dominion has a surprising amount of unregulated battlecruisers and considerable force of dreadnoughts. Of course with the Detente ending and hyperdreadnoughts becoming the new craze the Sarmakth are rapidly losing their advantage. Another observation is that overall the Sarmakth are less focused on space superiority than many other civilizations. Rather than winning space battles the Sarmakth focus is on establishing dominance in space enough to make planetfall and invade a region. They suppress dissents, defeat rebels and invade planets. Their objective is usually to conquer and subjugate a planet, not to win over a hostile nation state. This may be an advantage or their greatest weakness depending on how the war is waged.
Sarmakth Dominion developed isolated from the galactic community and hence their terminology for warships is also relatively different.
- Pi'hali: means tiny/insignificant spacecraft, usually for starfighters but also for shuttlecraft. - Glanthali: Means "watcher ship", corvettes or small frigates. - Katahali: The so-called "devourer ships", they are synonymous with destroyers but with more ground supporting secondary role. - Beshali: Means "cruising ship" and any medium sized vessel fits here like large frigates or cruisers. - Nashali: Invader ships and are a mix of carrier and planetary assault ships, usually can mean either or both. - Nen'puk-beshali: Translates as "main battle cruiser" and can be anything from heavy cruiser to battleships. - Nelayhali: Suppressor ships are what the Sarmakth call their dreadnought equivalent vessels. - Fik'nelayhali: Supreme Supressor Ships are what Sarmakth thinks Hyperdreads as.
Aluuk class Starfighter: 30m diameter smallcraft shaped like a starfish with either 5 or 8 arms. Most of the size is taken up by said arms which can move fluidly like a living entity and are equipped with compact hypermetric accelerators. They can even combine these projectors into a singular attack for more massive damage. The starfighter also has wardisc launchers and a compact multi-purpose bay that can store supplies, bombs or even prisoners. It takes in or deploys said cargo via using its transport beam.
Zanax class minor frigate: Usually the smallest warship seen from the Dominion, and the most common one. Zanax are closer to corvettes but with multi-mission profile. They have the classic Sarmakth cuttlefish shape for warships but only with a pair of primary tentacles mounting hypermetric accelerators with several secondary tentacles used for point defense. They have considerable internal space for fighters, wardiscs and various cargo including multiple warmachines. They are meant to manage minor enforcement duties. The large "eyes" are the most unique aspects of the ship and they are housing long range sensors to fulfill the ship's recon role.
Ask'ersu class Destroyer: Named Ask'ersu (foot soldier), this is a long enduring design going through several upgrades. At the length of 250 meters it isn't significantly larger than the Zanax but has a much more robust hypercore and an overall different design. Unlike all other ships the Ask'ersu doesn't mount any weapons in its trio of tentacles. Instead it relies on its heavy wardisc launchers for ship to ship combat. In addition it mounts a giant spinally mounted hypermetric accelerator for its massive firepower. Lastly the Ask'ersu was designed to be dual purpose and has the capability to land on planets and walk on its trio of tentacle legs like any of the other Sarmakth warmachines. Its plethora of small weapon systems see decent use in ground combat while its spinal gun can overcome fortifications. Thus aside from being essential for screening in space combat the Ask'ersu can be also the largest Sarmakth warmachine to be fielded during planetary combat.
Sklada'nan class Cruiser: A medium size vessel meant to patrol the borders and engage in low intensity conflicts. They are multi-purpose vessels capable of subjugating the majority of revolts on their own. They have eight primary tentacles meant to engage smaller vessels while the secondary tentacles give it decently ranged anti-starfighter firepower. More importantly the Sklada'nan (meaning "warning message") has considerable transport and starfighter capacity, enough to house a small army. This gives them an important secondary purpose as battle carriers and assault ships yet this role isn't significant enough to re-classify them as Invader Ships.
Kresnayun class Invader Ship: Speaking of the devil the Kresnayun (Aggressor) is a massive ship of unique shape which resembles more of a starfish merged to a cuttlefish at each other's respective centers. Its spinning radial docking bay can disperse both transports and starfighters in a very rapid fashion, neccessiating the huge central ring. It has breeding chambers for producing armies of bio-soldiers while its mechanical bays could house entire divisions of warmachines. The chief duty of this massive ship is support, be it for fighter screening or to deploy immense number of invasion forces. The gigantic tentacle arms are multi-purpose and hous multiple kinds of weaponry, meant for both ground support and to gather resources to fuel its internal mechanism for producing even more units. Consequently the Kresnayun has relatively little firepower and requires constant escort, an acceptable tradeoff for such a fearsome vessel.
Kali'puk class Main Battle Cruiser: Primary combat ship of the Sarmakth these squid-shapen vessels have 12 primary and 72 secondary tentacles, making them highly capable of handling large number of vessels. These ships were made without the limitations of the Detente thus making them way more versatile and perhaps even more powerful than most ships of this size. In addition to having a lots of weapons the Kali'puk even has the capacity to combine them into a singular powerful beam, dealing heavy damage to other battleships. Of course this means that unlike for other Sarmakth vessels the Kali'puk only carries hypermetric accelerator guns as its main armament and only of a set strength. This means the secondary tentacles have to substitute a lot of that versatility, hence their huge number. Regardless the Kali'puk is a very dangerous craft and compared to the overall strength of the Dominion these vessels are relatively numerous, may even outnumber enemy fleets.
Ek'zaprah class Suppressor Vessel: Equivalent to dreadnoughts in other nations this vessel dwarfs all the other Sarmakth vessels. Its 48 secondary tentacles each carry twins of Kali'puk's main weaponry while the 6 primary tentacles are sufficient to even take on other dreadnoughts. Unlike other Sarmakth ship designs the tentacles are relatively short with the main body looking absolutely massive in comparison. The body features a plethora of small weapon systems as well as complement for fighters or even carry escort vessels. The ship has facilities for planetary invasion, too. Yet most of the internal space is actually taken up by its utterly massive spinal hypermetric accelerator cannon. This ship is meant to suppress any resistance to the Sarmakth encountered so far, breech planetary shields and give the enemy a permament reminder to their fooly. The name Ek'zaprah roughly translates as "absolute revenge" and like all other Sarmakth ship names this is very much fitting. Since never limited by the Detente the Sarmakth has relatively a lot of these vessels, outnumbering most nations in this aspect. Suppressor Vessels rarely come alone in Sarmakth doctrine and rather they arrive in squadrons of three. On the other hand the Ek'zaprah is a ship focused on siege role above all. This means they are much less of an "ultimate ship" and thus require considerable escort to be successful.
HYPERDREADNOUGHT - Sar'Vashek
Translates as the "Great Destroyer" this ambitious vessel is basically an effort by the Sarmakth to remain in the naval race. It's effectively a massively enlarged Suppression Vessel (AKA a dreadnought) with the main body length of 6 kilometers and tentacles stretching far further. Speaking of which this is the first vessel to have tertiary tentacles raising the total count to the extreme number of 584 (8 primary, 64 secondary, 512 tertiary). Unlike for previous ships this almost fills up the space in front of the vessel and would make it difficult for the tentacles to not tangle up with each other. As an "elegant" solution the Sarmakth introduced phasing technology, allowing the tentacles to harmlessly pass through each other. While this helped to avoid clutter the tentacles were incapable of firing while phased thus introducing an unique blindspot. The phasing tentacles were also found useful for special occasions when the ship had to grab something up close. Aside from the tentacles the Sar'Vashek also has various floating weapon platforms that are capable of fighting independently. Effectively its own escort these platforms carry auxiliary weapons of various types and sizes and could temporarily separate from the main vessel and be controlled via psychic signals. When not in use these platforms are "quantum docked" using gravitational anchors and quantum pairing technologies which also includes a quantum power conduit to charge these units. Lastly the Sar'vashek has not one but four spinal mounted heavy beam weapons. Three of these are the modified variants of the main hypermetric accelerator of the Tafkauak-class suppression vessels. With no size restriction it has a much faster firing cylce and overall better capabilities while not exactly much greater firepower. Still, the ship effectively carries the main armament of a squadron of dreadnoughts so it could be quite useful. The central weapon is much more surprisingly a gigantic disruptor array capable of horrible destruction. While not particularly useful against ships the weapon can do massive damage to planetary surfaces and with relatively minimal energy expediture. It also has function as resource collector which gives it unexpected versatility. Of course the Sar'vashek also has wardisc launchers, point defense weapons and gigantic internal space for fighters, transport craft, prisoners, Tselmakth growth chambers and much more. The sheer size of the ship allows rather respectable room for these functions.
Faction Name: Yel'krusu t'Sar'Makth (literally means "Star Empire of the Great Race") Government Type: Dominion Faction Leader: S'cum Ish-veh N'ssan (title: Sur'sim're t'Abru-ma AKA Grand Supreme Overlord) Capital: Tsokal'yel T'Sar'Vafer (Great Beginning, primary star system of the Sarmakth, location unknown)
OVERVIEW: Sarmakth are an enigmatic alien race hiding in the uncharted regions of the galaxy. They lack the strength to directly challenge major powers yet their inherent superiority complex strives to put them above all races. They hate mankind with cruel passion yet not above using humans as pawns to achieve their objectives. Currently they are obsessed with the idea of reaching Ayrie and take the seat of Ashtar for themselves.
HISTORY
Many millions of years ago, long before primates even walked on Earth, the distant low-gravity planet of T'Mekth birthed the first signs of advanced civilization. Dominion sources refer to them as Vesh'Makth or Precursors these three-tentacled medusid creatures were among the earliest sapient lifeforms in the galaxy. Sarmakth love to weave tall tales of these mythological Precursors. Of their greatness. How they created all life in the galaxy. How they were practically gods. All these are petty lies made up for propaganda purposes. Veshmakth were weak and not really versatile. While quite intelligent when it came to imagination these creatures also fell quite short. Their technological development was a long struggle yet few million years ago they finally achieved utopia. This golden age was short lived though as their excess rapidly drained the planet's resources. Lacking FTL technology the Veshmakth made a desperate bet at exploring deep space and sent out swarms of generation ships in bright hopes. None of these responded back and so far there are no signs of Veshmakths surviving anywhere close to the modern times. Desperate and short on resources those who had remained on T'Mekth engaged in centuries of apocalyptic wars, ruining their planet forever. Realizing their mistake late the Veshmakth were at the verge of extinction. As a last bet they turned their advanced technology to repopulating their planet and restoring some of its former splendor. The invasive growth of Red Weed was one of these products. So were the Sarmakth, an artificial "next step" to the Veshmakth evolution. There are conflicting theories in Ashtar records whether these early Sarmakth had the distorted bodies of their present selves or it had been product of their millennia of evolution. Either way with their inherent collectivism and features which allowed them to thrive in the reborn T'Mekth the Sarmakth began building a second utopia.
Yet just as the last one this utopia didn't last forever. The planet was slowly dying and without FTL they had no means to explore space and find new planets habitable for life. Yet luck was on their side as within decades they made first contact with an alien race. No recoird remained of this species aside from the Sarmakth referring them as Duhmakth (Race of Stupid). Probably undeserved yet when one looks at their fate it can be certainly said the Duhmakth were foolish. The explorer ship which made first contact never reported back home. The crew were probed and dissected by the merciless Sarmakth until they knew enough to reverse engineer the ship's FTL drive. Using this newfound technology the Sarmakth launched an invasion on the Duhmakth. Within a decade the Duhmakth were no more, their planet conquered and their entire species were transformed into mindless cattle for the Sarmakth to feed on.
The stolen FTL drive was primitive yet allowed the Sarmakth to terrorize the neighboring civilizations, achieving heights they never imagined prior. Eventually they encountered human colonists sent by the United Nations Government. They of course did what they always and enslaved the inhabitants as the newest acquisition to their ever growing empire. Yet unknowingly rather than catching a rabbit they awoke the bear that was the United Nations. Though certainly not militaristic their nation far surpassed the tiny Sarmakth Dominion. Military-wise their hundreds of years of combat history proved superior of the Sarmakth's thousands of years of stagnation. UN at first only retailated but after realizing the horror which the Sarmakth meant they went on the offensive, liberating planet after planet. With their own subjects rising up the Sarmakth were quickly forced back to their homeworld of T'Mekth (humans also called it Vulcan) to make their last stand. Genocide was never the UN's intention and to their credit they tried to minimize lynchings and other atrocities done to stranded Sarmakth. In contrast the Sarmakth were furious and a bit delusional, still firmly believing in their superiority and that they could win this war. Turning their planet's core into a gigantic reactor was what sustained Sarmakth civilization for thousands of years. Now they began to apply dangerous experimental technologies to the complex, including the ability to harness the planet's own subspace shadow. These experiments backfired spectacularly when without any warning the entire planet of T'Mekth exploded, killing the overwhelming majority of Sarmakth. Survivors lived on for a few centuries as pariahs yet soon enough the entire Sarmakth race went extinct.
... Or they should've been. A tiny group of less than thousand Sarmakth actually escaped the doom of T'Mekth. Their ship needed over a year to reach the distant Horsehead Nebula where they could remain hidden and rebuild. For this purpose everyone on the ship were put in stasis and they were to reach their destination via auto-pilot. Yet the subspace shadow contraction confused the instruments and flung them a yet uncharted location of space. Crashlanding on a lifeless planet they were doomed to perish. The preserved remains of the escapees were left there for centuries only to be discovered by the Ashtar. Intrigued to revive a long-extinct species the Ashtar experimented with the corpses, failing with all but the last one. His name was S'cum Ish-veh N'ssan, a complete nobody who were to become the literal father of the revived Sarmakth nation. After a conversation about responsibility and given a new chance the Ashtar repaired the ship (accidentally giving it some advanced features later to be reverse engineered) and gave S'cum coordinates for the nearest habitable planet. Following that they promptly left. Sarmakth reproduce asexually and thus S'cum began to settle down and literally repopulate his species. Unlike what the Ashtar told him he had no intention to merely restart the Sarmakth race, he wanted to rule the galaxy as he was destined to be! Yet being left vulnerable and (from his point of view) just recently taught the cost of overconfidence he choose the slow yet steady route, patiently awaiting his time in obscurity. He also taught the Sarmakth children about the Dominion, their past and their ultimate fate. Of course hinted with lies and propaganda, with special mentions to highlight the heinous nature of mankind. They began establishing the Second Dominion, starting with the conquest of the nearby minor civilizations. Their actions were put on relative halt 130 years ago when the Ashtar chose to reveal themselves in full, intent on policing the galaxy. While this prevented open hostilities the Sarmakth still had means to slowly strengthen themselves using infiltration, manipulation and similar underhanded measures. With the Ashtar's sudden disappearance the Sarmakth doubled down on their previous efforts, building up to finally undermine and crush mankind once and for all. Of course done in secrecy with the galaxy at large still unaware of their existence. With the final message of the Ashtar the Dominion feels it is time to take Ayire as their rightful possession.
TERRITORY
TBA
SOCIETY
Many of the unique qualities of Sarmakth are also reflected in their society. All Sarmakth are telepathically connected through the Great Link which allows them to freely exchange thoughts and makes all other forms of communication unnecessary. Quantum receiver implants enable Sarmakth to remain connected even at interstellar distances and losing access to this link would greatly hamper them even in daily life. Even though those in the Great Link are technically equals the Sarmakth maintains a hiearchic system based off willpower and personal qualities. Those most fit to be on the top are automatically chosen in leadership positions. Those with particular set of skills are automatically chosen to work in said field. Some argue that the Great Link is actually "rigged" to prefer certain individuals and keep them in power. For example even though nowadays billions of non-Sarmakth are also part of the Great Link they are never assigned positions superior to the dominant species. Some even think this "perversion" of the Great Link is also responsible for keeping S'cum in power as the Supreme Overlord. Either way the Great Link is the primary form of Sarmakth communication and social network, very much the pillar of Sarmakth society. Of course not everyone are included in the Link, those tend to be nothing more than slaves. This can be either obvious or secret to these people. Many subject races live in peace and think they are free when in effect they are under subtle Sarmakth control. The fact Sarmakth likes to implant slaves with "obedience chips" to control them further muddles the line between wilful and forced subjugation. In the end all races under the Sarmakth are subordinates but they do have an established hierarchy.
Sarmakth are large roughly cephaloid creatures with their main body diameter around 2.3-3.2 meters wide, making them often larger than even a bear. They have a pair of huge eyes and large beaks which are surrounded by numerous tentacles. The evolution and deliberate gene alterations of the Sarmakth focused on intellect which means roughly 90% of their body mass is brain matter with all other functions being reduced considerably. Their tentacles are too weak to raise their bodies under Earth-like gravity albeit they can walk just fine in lower gravity. Their overgrown brain allows them to have considerable telepathic and telekinetic powers. Their technology also functions mostly througb telepathic signals. Sarmakth have an underdeveloped and simple digestive system which can only process liquids and specially made food. The small tentacles near to their beaks act as suckers to leech blood from living beings for sustenance. The rest of the tentacles are thicker and used to either support the body or work as versatile manipulators to operate complex machines with ease. Sarmakth are asexual creatures with no male/female dimorphism who reproduce through periodically laying down "flesh buds" of their young which they submerge in the blood of other species until those eventually grow to sufficient size. Worth noting that when they refer to themselves the Sarmakth use male pronouns to outsiders. Sarmakth have no vocal language aside from making various basic noises to express emotions. They communicate exclusively through their telepathy. In case they require to talk through words they rely on human slaves who are explicitly wired to understand their telepathic waves and speak in their stead. Similarly they don't understand concepts like love, compassion or many of the complex emotions. Instead they have a deeply logical mindset and capacity for limitless cruelty. Sarmakth in general have a superiority complex and view all other races as inferior if not just consider them as soulless animals to exploit. Due to their history they especially hate humans and call them as Pekh'makth which literally translates as "the race of shit".
Called as the "imitation race", they are species whose genetics were tampered with to become just like the Sarmakth. While very much resemble their masters they still inherit traits from their past selves, most notably their stature. Amaumakth in general are just slightly larger than humans instead of the hulking brain-monstrosities that Sarmakth are. Just as their masters the Amaumakth has natural psychic powers thus access to the Great Link. Some even speculate that the Great Link enables Sarmakth to subvert cultures at lightning pace, explaining how civilizations wiped out and replaced with copy-cat Sarmakth cultures within just a few decades. This so-called bioformation is a resource intensive process which can be only the very last step of a species' integration into the Dominion. In terms of race hierarchy the Amaumakth are "secondary citizens" which gives them considerable prestige. Due to the similarities many outsiders were led to believe that the Amaumakth are the true masterminds behind the Dominion yet in the grand scheme of things they are still inferior pawns to be lorded over by the Great Sarmakth.
Literally translates as the "converted race". They are people who underwent extensive modifications to make them closer to Sarmakth in both appearance and function. For the slaves and cultists under the Dominion this is the highest gift, offered only to the most devoted and worthy of their kin.Rushamakth closely resemble the Sarmakth in looks yet in terms of genetics and physiology they keep their relation to their original race. To attain intelligence at least remotely comparable to their creators, Rushamakth are implanted with Cogitators. These are sophisticated brain interface computers giving them incredible thinking ability and may help to awaken their latent psychic abilities. This tend to be very weak hence Rushamakth are given quantum relay implants to access the Great Link themselves. Due to their inferiority they are considered lower than Amaumakth, albeit this isn't universal. Some notorious Rushamakth managed to climb up fairly high on the hierarchy and command great influence within the Dominion. Rushamakth exist to serve their cephaloid overlords and convey their will. They have special importance as local leaders in distant cults where these creatures essentially become the apostles of their divine Sarmakth.
Roughly translates as the "Slave Race", an expression obviously referring to the races under the Sarmakth's rule. Just narrowly escaped extinction the Sarmakth hardly has the "manpower" to function on their own. Thus no matter how much they might have wished to annihilate every other sentient life on their path, they didn't. Rather they managed to effectively enslave all the races they conquered and brainwash them to adore the Sarmakth as their righteous lords. Most people living under Sarmakth rule are strangely content with their lives and follow the orders of their cephaloid overlords with religious zeal. The tendrils of the Sarmakth manipulations run deep. Fehmakth live in various level of cultural and technological development, depending on what the Sarmakth sees fit. They could live in medieval styled villages on backwater planets, existing as little more than livestock and raw materials for Tselmakth. Alternatively they could even live in industrially developed mega cities supported by Sarmakth technology. Or anything inbetween. Regardless Fehmakth live in a meticulously crafted environment under strict control without them truly realizing it. They are also implanted with an "obedience chip" activated by Sarmakth telepathy in case they do anything which displeases their masters. Fehmakth are obviously excluded from the Great Link and only receive commands from various higher ranking races. This gets relayed to local leadership which then do the actual governance.
Translates as "altered race", they are effectively the opposite of the Rushamakth. They are people forced to undergo transformation into "more pleasing" and "functional" bodies in order to serve the Dominion. They are worse than slaves, they are effectively little more than biomechanical robots. Tselmakth are viewed as a cheaper alternative to drones and pure mechanical constructs of this specific scale. They can be anything from disposable soldiers to slave laborers. There are even Tselmakth invented for nothing but to serve as a piece of the cruel entertainment. In the past Tselmakth were literally only created from other species but as of late they only require "tithes" paid in living inhabitants in order to further refine the artificial wombs spewing out new Tselmakth biomechanical robots. Not to mention enacting these "tithes" helps them to keep the populations in line. Those involved with the local governance get their hands constantly stained by blood, allowing them to empathize less and be more loyal to their masters.
Important Characters:
Sur'sim're t'Abru-ma (Great Supreme Overlord) of the Sarmakth Dominion since their new beginning. Being the sole survivor of the first Dominion he had a pivotal role in establishing the second one, even calling him the literal father of the nation is not inaccurate. Given this situation it is not surprising he had absolute authority to influence how the Sarmakth Dominion was formed. He's a hateful person with delusions of grandeur who views all other species as tool to achieve Sarmakth supremacy. You could say this generally applies to all Sarmakth but that is merely a testament to the influence of S'cum who had indoctrinated his species with his philosophy from birth. This is entirely intentional on his part and S'cum is wiling to use his children and descendants as a tool to achieve his dreams of revenge. Being nearly 500 years old (not counting the time spent in stasis or, you know, dead) he has a wealth of experience and very persistent rule. Like all Sarmakth he's hyperintelligent and could tackle on the massive responsibility required to effectively lead his nation through the ages. Compared to the youth he's also much more cautious and probably the reason why the Sarmakth never participated in the Great War. He still has memories of the UN-Dominion War and the humiliation his species received. While hates Mankind with a burning passion this also makes him fearful of them, only engaging when he's convinced of an absolute advantage.
TECHNOLOGY
Sarmakth technology is unique and at times radically different from what could be found within the Empire. Their massive intellect grants them innately superior understanding of science. Yet having missed out a few millennia of progress they have some fields to catch up on. Sarmakth technology is unique and even weird by the standards of other species. For example Sarmakth relies on walkers moving on flexible tentacle-like legs which requires advanced computers to properly operate while humans merely use wheels and tracked mechanisms to achieve similar road performance. In general Sarmakth technology looks organic or even "alive" and some of their devices indeed use modified living tissue. It also shows in their transportation means. Sarmakth never invented the wheel and its association with human culture made sure they'd never rely on it, either. Instead they use various multi-leg transportation mechanisms or anti-grav systems. The Sarmakth themselves usually equip grav gliders which lift their bodies and save them from physical exertion because their species is accustomed to low gravity planets.
- Weinol: The basis of most if not all Sarmakth construction. It's a versatile family of carbon allotropes akin to fullerenes and carbon-nanotubes. It's generally light yet strong material which depending on its grid structure can have various other properties. It isn't an exaggeration to say that over 90% of everything made by Sarmakth is a type of Weinol.
- Yel'yeturek (Stardrive): Also dubbed as hyperdrive (kwhul'mishu, lit: "hyper engine") it's a device which allows the ship to go beyond the ordinary three dimensional space and touch "kwhulret" (hyperspace) in order to allow faster-than-light travel. Stardrives are effectively the same as various hyperdrives yet achieving it through different means.
- Kahla'yeturek (Inertial Drive): Sometimes also dubbed as Impulse Drive, an arcane device utilizing laws of physics not yet understood by humans. The device allows vessels to ignore gravity as well as use a mysterious force to hover or move at subluminal velocities.
- Kwitau'tviyan (Impulse Core): Reactor which turns any conventional material into nuclear fuel to produce energy. They are compact and efficient as well as generally safe to use which makes them widespread within the Sarmakth community. Kwitau'tviyan are Sarmakth nuclear bombs, most of them are adjusted to induce a chain-reaction with ordinary material to dramatically increase its power during orbital bombardments.
- Kwhul'ifisek (Transporter): Vaguely related to warp drive development this system can temporarily break down matter into subspace rays and direct them to another position where they rearrange back into their original form. Basically it beams in or out material for quick transportation between a ship and a surface target. Said beams are also occasionally used to abduct civilians albeit the ship needs a specific holding cell in order to keep the subjects. The transition into subspace energy is temporarily and thus you cannot store people in batteries or anything weird like that.
- Falek'zehl (Heat Ray): Using a miniature impulse core it channels extreme radiation through a channel of non-conductive vacuum. Heat Rays are roughly comparable to lasers yet their mechanism makes them extremely different. Unlike lasers a heat-ray dumps its entire energy on the target and unaffected by mirrors or other reflective surfaces. While its weaponization is well-known the heat ray technology is actually even more widespread in non-military use, somewhat the same as the human utilization of lasers.
- Khrasaya'wun (Chargegun): Sarmakth equivalent of firearms, it uses coulombic detonation instead of chemical energy to propel projectiles towards the target. Through fine alignment of field projectors it's possible to induce this "charge propulsion" spontaneously thus Sarmakth guns turn portion of the projectile into its own propellant and require only electric charge to work. Khrasaya'thor (charge bombs) are the regular high explosives used by the Sarmakth which tend to disperse a cloud of molecule-thin shrapnel. Chargeguns that fire high-velocity penetrators tend to have triangle shaped barrels while explosive projectiles are disc-shaped and shot from a wide yet thin barrel.
- Mathra'wun (Wardiscs):Sarmakth equivalent to missiles, these thin circular plate-like objects have a compact inertial drive along with a sophisticated AI and a field manipulation system that replaces explosives. Essentially it's a flying disc that tracks the target and has a device which can turn its entire mass into explosive material within a split-second. Wardiscs are very sophisticated and could have a myriad of ways they detonate. Space-use wardiscs can also rely on atomics or more exotic sources rather than pure chargebomb functions.
- Feshel'wun (Disruptor): Sarmakth molecular rearrangement technology has many scientific and industrial uses but at times it could be also useful as a weapon. It fires a special ray which induces a chain-reaction to disrupt the material composition of the target, effectively dissipating it to constituent particles. The weapon is too sophisticated to be viable as a general issue weapon. It's expensive and requires complete understanding of the target's composition to succeed. More often than not Feshel technology is seen in the mining industry and automated robotic miners. Although said miners may be used in war out of desperation. Another common variant is the disruptor pistol which is a status symbol to signify the Sarmakth superiority. More often than not such pistols are used for execution.
- Kwhul'wun (Hypermetric Accelerator): A term used to describe Sarmakth direct firing weapons which use either matter or radiation originating from hyperspace to project it at the enemy. The mechanism is often compared to opening a dam which is the boundary between normalspace and hyperspace and then let it flow straight at the enemy. These weapons tend to be the main weaponry of warships, albeit smaller ground support vehicle variant also exists. Kwhul'thor (Hyperbomb) is a variant used as a terrifying explosive with colossal destructive power which is only used on specific occasions due to its cost.
- Wak'danan (Stasis Barrier): Alternative usage of stasis field technology for protection. Effectively just a generic forcefield, albeit utilizing way different mechanisms. Commonly used by all Sarmakth vehicles and starships and there are even variants used for personal protection.
MILITARY
While most civilizations rely on professional military to provide forces in battle the Sarmakth are different. They view technology as their sole answer to military expansion, using warmachines and bioengineered monsters in battle. While they cannot entirely avoid to have their brethren fight in battles in general the Sarmakth want to minimize the danger they expose their populations to. This used to manifest in a very unbalanced army composition of pure warmachine forces. These towering tripods were fearsome yet unsupported they had some glaring weaknesses. To resolve the numbers issue the new Sarmakth Dominion relies on Tselmakth bio-soldiers. These are not infantry in the classical sense but a variety of biomechanical robots, often using horrifying bioformation techniques to turn other races into mere machines. Tselmakth troops can range from tiny swarmer units to giant mammoth-sized beasts that are more akin to a tank. Many of them fight in melee and rely on numbers but Tselmakth are also frequently using the biological derivatives of Sarmakth technology. They don't wield weapons per say but rather they are the weapons themselves and have such systems internal part of how they function. Creatures with eyes modified to be heat rays or abdomen protrusions that are actually cannons would be some of the examples how Tselmakth troops integrate technology into their being. While not foreign to the idea of entrenched infantry and similar tactics, Sarmakth don't really have anything to replicate such. Their military is still very much unbalanced yet the Sarmakth believes it's to their benefit.
Tselmakth are developed by altering known species more to practical functions. The so-called Ask'hatik (bio-soldiers) are the militarized variants of Tselmakth usually meant for screening and swarm tactics to support the Sarmakth warmachines. This can range from swarms of palm-sized insectoid creatures to mammoth sized beasts.
Ripper Swarms: Tilau'bish are clouds of small palm-sized creatures equipped with extremely hard and more than razor sharp fins. They have an internal plasma organ which fills them with hot air while also helps them expelling gases akin to a jet engine. This allows them to build up considerable momentum to cut through some relatively durable object. The smallness of their blade limits them to be anti-infantry weapons, though. In effort to make them simpler to create the Rippers can only live for 12 hours.
Lancers:Li'wuk are roughly 2m tall bipedal armless creatures with two gigantic eyes. Said eyes house both targeting systems and a pair of heat rays, meant to incinerate objects and burn through light armor. They are the closest the Sarmakth has for an "infantry" and there are variants of this type that mount different weapons or have other functions. Lancers are relatively fast runners and have the ability to leap for 25 meters as a defense mechanism. It takes a while for the leg muscles to recover thus this is only done when really necessary. Some people who encountered them began calling this type as the "laser emus" due to the uncanny resemblance.
Breaklings: Pi'katar are a versatile strain of quadrupedal bio-soldiers at average 1.5m tall. They have a very pronounced head unit and overdeveloped underbelly portion. The original variants were and still are used as collector, breaking down wreckages and hauling up carcasses for reprocessing. Yet they are more often seen on the field as walking weapon platform. This can range from compact chargeguns to overpowered heatrays, various wardisc launchers and other equipment. They are more armored than the Lancers but still overall fragile but they can provide fire support. Since a number of variants have limited munitions it is not uncommon for Breaklings to have logistics variants carrying and producing extra supplies for the rest to use. Breaklings are deceivingly fast although don't have the ultra jump capabilities of Lancers.
Bulwark: Sahr'temok are bulky slightly beetle like insectoid bio-soldiers hiding various weapons inside their sliding containers. They don't have shields but their shells are made of composite Weinol which can even gradually regenerate. In order to facilitate replenishment it has a belly mounted dissassembler ray allowing it to collect key resources to heal and manufacture new warheads (if equipped with phsyical weapons like chargeguns or wardisc launchers). They are durable and fairly versatile units that can be outfitted for any role ranging from frontal assaults to artillery or even anti-air purposes. They are a bit slow compared to the rest of the bio-soldiers but by no means lumbering. They can be considered the equivalent of tanks.
Triads: Rehsak are heavy bio-soldiers utilizing miniaturized warmachine technology. Those who fought these creatures tend to call them as mini-tripods and this isn't that far from the truth. They are 3-5m tall (depending on if you count the arms or not) with three triple-jointed legs and a trio of tentacle-like arms ending up in hypermetric ray emitters. This made possible by the creature possessing a compact hypercore which actually makes it dangerously unstable. For additional protection the Triad class bio-soldiers posses their own shielding, making them more like a walking tank if not worse. Furthermore some variants of the Reshak can combine their trio of beams with the shield emitter for an overwhelmingly strong attack. Just as the other bio-soldiers the Triads are surprisingly nimble and their shielding can double as a gravity manipulation tool. Due to their unstable core the Triad distorts space-time around itself, making it relatively easy to detect by sensors. On the other hand if they get too close their unstable hyperspace radiation could cause random malfunctions on sensitive equipment and generally makes precise sensor locks impossible.
Predators: Feikha are giant 6m tall and 9m long creatures engineered from the indigenous species of an unspecified planet. These creatures underwent massive enhancement, receiving tough armadillo-like armor plates complemented with composite Weinol hide structure. The monstrous being is powered by a hypercore which allows it to maintain a shield to further enhance its defenses. In spite of its size the creature is extremely nimble and can leap massive distances. Its main purpose is breakthrough and shock thus it has a pair of oversized blade-like appendages for combat. Aside from that it has a mounth and tail mounted hypermetric radiation emitter. In addition it could launch wardiscs launchers and other secondary functions.
SPACE FORCES
Sarmakth spacecraft are just like their warmachines in the fact they look less like purpose built constructs and more like living entities. Most Sarmakth space vessels look like deep sea creatures, assuming the shapes of starfish, jellyfish, crustaceans and cephaloids. Just as their surface vehicles these rely on tentacles but in a different way. The average Sarmakth warship consists of a main body and various tentacles. Main body houses all the essentials while tentacles mount the primary weapons. This gives a flexible and finely aimed platform for said weapons but also makes them fair bit more obvious as targets. Most Sarmakth warships have primary and secondary tentacles with the latter being considerably thinner. Said tentacles could be also used in close combat and are known to contract and stretch to unbelievable extents. Another less known fact is that while vulnerable these tentacles can grow back. At the root of each tentacle is a regeneration unit which gradually reconstructs the lost appendage while hidden within the hull, bursting out with full functions as soon as ready. Due to hiding in the unknown regions and refusing open contact the Sarmakth Dominion was never part of the Detente. This means while overall weak the Dominion has a surprising amount of unregulated battlecruisers and considerable force of dreadnoughts. Of course with the Detente ending and hyperdreadnoughts becoming the new craze the Sarmakth are rapidly losing their advantage. Another observation is that overall the Sarmakth are less focused on space superiority than many other civilizations. Rather than winning space battles the Sarmakth focus is on establishing dominance in space enough to make planetfall and invade a region. They suppress dissents, defeat rebels and invade planets. Their objective is usually to conquer and subjugate a planet, not to win over a hostile nation state. This may be an advantage or their greatest weakness depending on how the war is waged.
Sarmakth Dominion developed isolated from the galactic community and hence their terminology for warships is also relatively different.
- Pi'hali: means tiny/insignificant spacecraft, usually for starfighters but also for shuttlecraft. - Glanthali: Means "watcher ship", corvettes or small frigates. - Katahali: The so-called "devourer ships", they are synonymous with destroyers but with more ground supporting secondary role. - Beshali: Means "cruising ship" and any medium sized vessel fits here like large frigates or cruisers. - Nashali: Invader ships and are a mix of carrier and planetary assault ships, usually can mean either or both. - Nen'puk-beshali: Translates as "main battle cruiser" and can be anything from heavy cruiser to battleships. - Nelayhali: Suppressor ships are what the Sarmakth call their dreadnought equivalent vessels. - Fik'nelayhali: Supreme Supressor Ships are what Sarmakth thinks Hyperdreads as.
Aluuk class Starfighter: 30m diameter smallcraft shaped like a starfish with either 5 or 8 arms. Most of the size is taken up by said arms which can move fluidly like a living entity and are equipped with compact hypermetric accelerators. They can even combine these projectors into a singular attack for more massive damage. The starfighter also has wardisc launchers and a compact multi-purpose bay that can store supplies, bombs or even prisoners. It takes in or deploys said cargo via using its transport beam.
Zanax class minor frigate: Usually the smallest warship seen from the Dominion, and the most common one. Zanax are closer to corvettes but with multi-mission profile. They have the classic Sarmakth cuttlefish shape for warships but only with a pair of primary tentacles mounting hypermetric accelerators with several secondary tentacles used for point defense. They have considerable internal space for fighters, wardiscs and various cargo including multiple warmachines. They are meant to manage minor enforcement duties. The large "eyes" are the most unique aspects of the ship and they are housing long range sensors to fulfill the ship's recon role.
Ask'ersu class Destroyer: Named Ask'ersu (foot soldier), this is a long enduring design going through several upgrades. At the length of 250 meters it isn't significantly larger than the Zanax but has a much more robust hypercore and an overall different design. Unlike all other ships the Ask'ersu doesn't mount any weapons in its trio of tentacles. Instead it relies on its heavy wardisc launchers for ship to ship combat. In addition it mounts a giant spinally mounted hypermetric accelerator for its massive firepower. Lastly the Ask'ersu was designed to be dual purpose and has the capability to land on planets and walk on its trio of tentacle legs like any of the other Sarmakth warmachines. Its plethora of small weapon systems see decent use in ground combat while its spinal gun can overcome fortifications. Thus aside from being essential for screening in space combat the Ask'ersu can be also the largest Sarmakth warmachine to be fielded during planetary combat.
Sklada'nan class Cruiser: A medium size vessel meant to patrol the borders and engage in low intensity conflicts. They are multi-purpose vessels capable of subjugating the majority of revolts on their own. They have eight primary tentacles meant to engage smaller vessels while the secondary tentacles give it decently ranged anti-starfighter firepower. More importantly the Sklada'nan (meaning "warning message") has considerable transport and starfighter capacity, enough to house a small army. This gives them an important secondary purpose as battle carriers and assault ships yet this role isn't significant enough to re-classify them as Invader Ships.
Kresnayun class Invader Ship: Speaking of the devil the Kresnayun (Aggressor) is a massive ship of unique shape which resembles more of a starfish merged to a cuttlefish at each other's respective centers. Its spinning radial docking bay can disperse both transports and starfighters in a very rapid fashion, neccessiating the huge central ring. It has breeding chambers for producing armies of bio-soldiers while its mechanical bays could house entire divisions of warmachines. The chief duty of this massive ship is support, be it for fighter screening or to deploy immense number of invasion forces. The gigantic tentacle arms are multi-purpose and hous multiple kinds of weaponry, meant for both ground support and to gather resources to fuel its internal mechanism for producing even more units. Consequently the Kresnayun has relatively little firepower and requires constant escort, an acceptable tradeoff for such a fearsome vessel.
Kali'puk class Main Battle Cruiser: Primary combat ship of the Sarmakth these squid-shapen vessels have 12 primary and 72 secondary tentacles, making them highly capable of handling large number of vessels. These ships were made without the limitations of the Detente thus making them way more versatile and perhaps even more powerful than most ships of this size. In addition to having a lots of weapons the Kali'puk even has the capacity to combine them into a singular powerful beam, dealing heavy damage to other battleships. Of course this means that unlike for other Sarmakth vessels the Kali'puk only carries hypermetric accelerator guns as its main armament and only of a set strength. This means the secondary tentacles have to substitute a lot of that versatility, hence their huge number. Regardless the Kali'puk is a very dangerous craft and compared to the overall strength of the Dominion these vessels are relatively numerous, may even outnumber enemy fleets.
Ek'zaprah class Suppressor Vessel: Equivalent to dreadnoughts in other nations this vessel dwarfs all the other Sarmakth vessels. Its 48 secondary tentacles each carry twins of Kali'puk's main weaponry while the 6 primary tentacles are sufficient to even take on other dreadnoughts. Unlike other Sarmakth ship designs the tentacles are relatively short with the main body looking absolutely massive in comparison. The body features a plethora of small weapon systems as well as complement for fighters or even carry escort vessels. The ship has facilities for planetary invasion, too. Yet most of the internal space is actually taken up by its utterly massive spinal hypermetric accelerator cannon. This ship is meant to suppress any resistance to the Sarmakth encountered so far, breech planetary shields and give the enemy a permament reminder to their fooly. The name Ek'zaprah roughly translates as "absolute revenge" and like all other Sarmakth ship names this is very much fitting. Since never limited by the Detente the Sarmakth has relatively a lot of these vessels, outnumbering most nations in this aspect. Suppressor Vessels rarely come alone in Sarmakth doctrine and rather they arrive in squadrons of three. On the other hand the Ek'zaprah is a ship focused on siege role above all. This means they are much less of an "ultimate ship" and thus require considerable escort to be successful.
HYPERDREADNOUGHT - Sar'Vashek
Translates as the "Great Destroyer" this ambitious vessel is basically an effort by the Sarmakth to remain in the naval race. It's effectively a massively enlarged Suppression Vessel (AKA a dreadnought) with the main body length of 6 kilometers and tentacles stretching far further. Speaking of which this is the first vessel to have tertiary tentacles raising the total count to the extreme number of 584 (8 primary, 64 secondary, 512 tertiary). Unlike for previous ships this almost fills up the space in front of the vessel and would make it difficult for the tentacles to not tangle up with each other. As an "elegant" solution the Sarmakth introduced phasing technology, allowing the tentacles to harmlessly pass through each other. While this helped to avoid clutter the tentacles were incapable of firing while phased thus introducing an unique blindspot. The phasing tentacles were also found useful for special occasions when the ship had to grab something up close. Aside from the tentacles the Sar'Vashek also has various floating weapon platforms that are capable of fighting independently. Effectively its own escort these platforms carry auxiliary weapons of various types and sizes and could temporarily separate from the main vessel and be controlled via psychic signals. When not in use these platforms are "quantum docked" using gravitational anchors and quantum pairing technologies which also includes a quantum power conduit to charge these units. Lastly the Sar'vashek has not one but four spinal mounted heavy beam weapons. Three of these are the modified variants of the main hypermetric accelerator of the Tafkauak-class suppression vessels. With no size restriction it has a much faster firing cylce and overall better capabilities while not exactly much greater firepower. Still, the ship effectively carries the main armament of a squadron of dreadnoughts so it could be quite useful. The central weapon is much more surprisingly a gigantic disruptor array capable of horrible destruction. While not particularly useful against ships the weapon can do massive damage to planetary surfaces and with relatively minimal energy expediture. It also has function as resource collector which gives it unexpected versatility. Of course the Sar'vashek also has wardisc launchers, point defense weapons and gigantic internal space for fighters, transport craft, prisoners, Tselmakth growth chambers and much more. The sheer size of the ship allows rather respectable room for these functions.
I enjoyed the game in its early stages but I really don't have sufficient free time to keep up even after the considerable slowdown. I was absent for 2+ weeks so you probably took this as given but I still declare it clearly. I resign from this game. Hopefully my gnomes cause mischief or otherwise may find relevance in the future. See you!
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Tortoise
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