Zarkun — Roleplayer Guild

Spartan Lucas Ryker

Nodding an affirmative to Commander Vael at his order to move forward, Lucas took his position and moved with the rest of Aegis Squad, storing the pistol and activating his singular energy blade on his wrist, the blue glow adding to the light from their mission commander's own blade. Silence reigned as they moved forward, with the occasional sound of someone lashing out to put a troublesome vine out of commission. However, the sight of the flower in its lair drew a little bit of disgust from him. "Well that's...something."

However, the sound of vines rushing towards them drew his attention to their surroundings and he quickly slashed down a pair of them that got too close before storing his flashlight and drawing his pistol and firing rounds into the vines he could see going for Aviza, thankful for his silencer . "We should really go, like, now. Or blow the thing up, but we need to make a choice."

Infiltrator Comi'Masam

Playing rearguard was normally boring, but with the vines trying to stealthily snag them and drag them away requiring the use of her sword arm kept her warmed up and aware of her surroundings, so the increase of the potency of the smell around her only served to raise her alertness level and, sure enough, the cause came into sight, the heart of the Tengmaa Plant. Even as her SPARTAN-IV friend spoke, her golden blade was lancing out in curving arcs and cutting down several vines. "I am in agreement, Commander. Whatever the plan moving forwards is, we need to carry it out soon."

Spotting a vine about to get Grikgar's ankle, her plasma pistol comes out and fires three times, putting the vine out of commission. "Watch your six, lads and lassies, this thing won't be fightin' fair."

History of the Loria

According to the historical records, the first real records kept on Loria and in the entirety of the Lorian system, was about five thousand years ago in the form of stone carvings with pictures. These early records allowed the linguists and archeologists that uncovered them to essentially follow the path that the first Lorians took to become who they are in this modern era. The first of these writings was discovered, by the Lorian calendar, on Jenus 12th, 1988 in the Reign of Lord Knight Draken by the Archeologist Theodore Franklin, who was originally looking for a lost city ruin. When he finally managed to translate tablets he'd found, he discovered they outlined the rise of the first Lord Knight of Loria, Lord Knight Durandall, to power and how he united the various warlords into modern day Loria.

To say that Durandall was a fool, at the time of this writing, would be quite accurate. He was the illegitimate son of Warlord Karnus who had just exhibited his ability to bend air and water to his will by killing his jackass of a half brother but his father had years of fire using experience on his side. Of course, we all knew that Karnus's son Harmon was too old to manifest any powers where Durandall was just coming of age. But still. First he defeated his father, a master of using the element of Fire and took over the Southern Swamps of Anderal. The battle was fierce, his father showing his years of mastery and seemingly beating his son at first. Then suddenly, Karnus' footing shifted under him and caused the finishing fireball to miss and received a blade of wind through his throat for his mistake. "I finally proved your whore of a wife wrong, father. And took your throne as well. Enjoy the afterlife." 

Dispersing the wind and letting his father's body fall to the ground, Durandall sat on his new throne and for a time, he had peace in his lands, the most peaceful and prosperous times Anderal had ever known. But it wouldn't last. The neighboring Warlords, Ternus and Amalic, heard of the change of hands the throne of Anderal had experienced and searched to capitalize on that change. They invaded just after the start of spring, Ternus and his armies from the west and Amalic and his from the north. The borders fell within days, but the casualties were minimal. Our people knew the swamps better than the invading armies, and so we slowed their advance until Lord Durandall had amassed an army to counter attack. 

It happened in the Berigrin Swamps, a place filled with natural traps and pitfalls and so dangerous even we avoided it. Durandall himself spent days mapping it out with his ability to use all the elements and placed his men in the safest areas. When the two armies, who were apparently allied by this time, reached the swamp, the trap was sprung. Archers on the high ground rained down arrows of fire, setting the pitch to flame and all the fire users in our army kept it away from our men, who sprang up in the midst of our foes and slew them by droves. Ternus and Amalic directly challenged Lord Durandall, but the fight was short lived, his mastery over all four elements the only edge he needed...

The writing continues on to describe the campaign Durandall launches to protect his people around the planet and end the in-fighting between warlords. Within months of discovering this first ancient writing, many archeologists returned to previous dig sites to reexamine their findings and discovered that almost all of these dig sites had some form of record that had initially been missed, mostly in the form of stone tablets and wall carvings that before didn't make sense. "We've recovered a lot of lost history and we intend to keep recovering it until there's nothing left to recover." These words were issued by the Royal School of Archeology in the year 1993 during the reign of Lord Knight Draken.

Among the many records recovered, a particularly interesting one records the first bending of the elements to a Lorian's will and is as follows, translated of course.

Today, Rocnar did something amazing, something new, while fighting off another challenge from Pokar. He punched at the air, a missed attack in reality, and fire came from his fist, scorching Pokar's face and arms. Pokar won't be challenging him for leadership again anytime soon, and he certainly won't ever win once he can challenge again.

Many of the tablets that predate the Era of Warlords are short and concise, but still retain so much that Lorians didn't know about their history. 

In recent history, there was the war with the Serans, an extremely powerful race of Psionics who nearly drove the Lorians into extinction over the course of their fifteen year war. They were a bird-like race, with wingspans often as large as ten feet. Their technology was adapted to work with these features and as such much of it was simply exo-suits with various functions and warships. As it stood, for such an intellectually powerful race, they loved invading and conquering their neighbors and had already conquered three other systems near them, harvesting the worlds for useful resources and enslaving or wiping out the indigenous races.

First encounters between the Seran and Lorians were violent, often resulting in casualties on both sides with the Lorians suffering the worst. The Seran would use their Psionics to take over the minds of soldiers and leaders, making them either fight for their side or make decisions that would lead to incredible losses for the Lorian military. In response, Loria's best scientists began to run tests using the powers of captured Serans to find a way to become immune to the Psionic influences. The only response that they could find that could be readily distributed to the military in a timely fashion was the use of nanites and injections, as a natural immunity to the Serans psionic might would take generations to appear and by then, it would be too late, so the injections were used first. In response to their quickly reduced ability to use their mind control abilities, the bird-like beings began using more physical forms of attack, varying from blasts of telekinetic energy to hallucinations caused by mental trickery that had men turning on their allies. As a result, Lorian Scientists developed nanites that not only could make and maintain the armor worn by Lorian troops but could also provide protection against the Seran’s psionic attacks.

This was done by equipping the nanites with subroutines to scan an approaching individual's brain for the neurological signals that were a sign of psionic potential and then maintained a constant scan to counter any psionic attacks they launched. With this new technology, the Lorian offensive gained ground faster than the Seran could retreat and were eventually forced back into their home system and, eventually, their home planet. In a last, desperate act of war, the Serans released a biological weapon known as the Xran, a virulent parasite that infected any living thing and twisted it until it was barely recognizable and feasted on those that weren't infected. Casualties were high among the Lorians and the remaining Seran were all infected. To keep the parasite from ever escaping the Seran's home planet, a section of the Lorian fleet was assigned to keep the planet in quarantine. However, as orbital observers would later find, there was another faction that had joined the fight, from within the Seran’s own ranks, twisted amalgamations of flesh and machine that waged war on the Xran infestation and while their progress is unclear due to the parasite’s ability to create new warriors as needed, it would seem they not only took members of the Seran race, but when they gained their powers, amplified them.

To contain both threats, the brightest weapons engineers and scientists the Lorians had  designed a weapon that could destroy the planet, the parasite and the third faction, the Obliterator Beam; a massive beam weapon that after a minute of sustained fire on a planet's surface, would burrow into the planet's core and cause a chain reaction and cause it to explode. But they couldn't be brought to destroy the Seran homeworld without trying to recover as much of their history as possible. They had been a worthy foe and deserved to be remembered. The weapon was mounted to the only Ares-Class Planet Cracker in the Lorian fleet and put in orbit over Ser, the homeworld of the Seran and breeding grounds for the Xran while also a constant battleground between the parasite and the mysterious faction of abominations.

The Lorian Military

Warrior Caste:

Grunt- Basic Lorian infantry, they are far better equipped then many of their standard infantry counterparts. Armed with the T-29 Assault Rifle, Breaker Plasma pistol, various types of grenades, mithril short swords, and the GRU-800 combat armor, one Grunt can easily handle three infantry units of a similar class.

Lancer- Equipped with the UTH-9 Plasma Beam Emitters, C-4 charges, Breaker Plasma pistol, mithril lances, and LAN-23 combat armor. The hard hitting unit specializes in the removal of enemy armor from the battle and their plasma beam emitters are designed to melt through thick armor plating in seconds and take out the crew inside. And their C-4 charges make life hell for vehicles with treads or an exposed fuel tank.

Hell's Messenger- The Hell's Messengers are a branch of the Lancer that went in a different direction, instead content to wield fully automatic Dragon's Fire shotguns, designed to kill light infantry quickly, HELL-18 combat armor, mithril battle axes, and the Incinerator Plasma gauntlet. These soldiers specialize in charging into an infantry or cavalry line and decimating it. They've even been known to weld the barrels shut on enemy tanks and leaving them for the enemy to try and recover and use mid-battle.

Spartan- Elite Soldiers, these men and women have gone through hell and back to become the best of the best in combat. Armed with the GRA-34 Plasma Assault Rifle, Gutter Assault Pistol, Mithrite Sword and collapsible shield, and equipped with SPA-300 combat armor with prototype shield generators.

Knight- Truly elite warriors, these men and women all carry customized weapons and wear customized suits of KNI-600 combat armor. All their weapons are mithrite, and many are elemental masters, able to bend the Elements of fire, water, earth or air to their will. Very few can match their battle prowess.

Assassin Caste:

Thief- The Thief is a low tier psionic who's only abilities are the ability to use cloaking devices, mind reading, and among a lucky few, visions of possible futures. Armed with a silenced Nightkiller pistol, twin mithril long knives, and armored in the light THI-3 infiltration suit, if you need to know something, these are your go to people.

Assassin- Lorian's elite infiltration and assassination soldiers. Trained from a young age, they are able to cloak with minimal technological assistance, as well as several personalized abilities fitting their combat style. Equipped with the EMR-224 Sniper Rifle, Cutthroat Plasma Pistol, mithril dirks, and ASI-100 combat/survival suit.

Ground Vehicles:

SiegeBreaker- Similar to other tanks of it's class, it has two distinct advantages over them. The first is it's greater speed and main cannon accuracy, known to be five to ten inches closer to its main target than other tanks of it's class. The second is three different modes of attack: Siege Mode, Assault Mode, and Anti-Infantry mode, the last of which is mobile. The first operates similarly to other artillery tanks, with its main weapon, the Buddafist Artillery Cannon, having a greater maximum range and impact force. The second, armed with the Thunderstrike Gatling Cannon, outpaces other gatling tank models by nearly 200 rounds a minute. And the final is armed with the Dragon's Breath flamethrower, turning lines of infantry into ash using a more effective napalm mixture than standard flame tanks.

Tyranor Assault Walker- This walker is unique among it's kind because it's considered more of an assault mech. While other factions are still using reversed knee joints and weapons for arms, the Tyranor is of a more human design. Armed with the TWS-12 Assault Rifle and equipped with biomithril long swords to deal with closer enemies. Can engage ground and air targets.

Tracer APC- An Armored Personnel Carrier armed with twin Thrasher miniguns on top to defend it. Used often as a scouting and harassment vehicle because of it's high speed and rapid attack rate. Able to attack air and ground.

Assault Bike- The Assault Bike is a robot manned, AI-controlled armored Harley style motorcycle with twin Thrashers mounted to the front and a single Ripper anti-air system on the back. Used as kamikaze units typically, they rarely return from a mission unscathed, pieces of bike and robot missing and pieces of enemy infantry who got in the way on the tires and front of the bike. The AIs have a nasty habit of killing enemy organic scout cycle riders first.

Air Force:

Auger-Class Shrike Gunship- Acts as a troop transport and support ship. Equipped with Heavy Destroyer Chainguns and Hellspawn missiles, the gunship is used to support ground troops and drop them into hot spots, securing landing zones until reinforcements arrive.

Claymore-Class Striker Scout Ship- Equipped with the fastest engines around and armed with plasma cannons and Hammerhead missiles, a Striker can be in and out, as well as causing serious hell, before the enemy knows they're there. When pursued, can engage with lethal efficiency.

Longsword-Class Breaker Fighter- Armed with Plasma gatlings and Spear missiles, this fighter isn't to be taken lightly. Equipped with the best engines and maneuverability systems on Loria, their combat record versus fighters of similar class evens out to six enemy fighters for every two Breakers.

Lancelot-Class Combat Cruiser- Armed with a total of 200 Seraph Cannons and the Odin's Eye, these Cruisers aren't to be taken lightly. In a recent engagement with a fleet of enemy Combat Cruisers, the enemy Cruisers were easily dispatched by a series of blasts from the small fleet's Odin's Eyes. The Odin's Eye charged faster and packed more force then any known heavy plasma cannon in use.

Arthur-Class Destroyer- Armed with a total of 400 Seraph Cannons and the strongest cannon in the Sector, the Ragnarok Cannon. Also carries a fleet of Breakers and Strikers, along with the capabilities to build Athena fighters, which are small, AI controlled interceptor fighters armed with lasers and are twice as fast and agile as similar models.

Ares-Class Planet Cracker- The single most powerful ship in the Lorian fleet, it is a massive ship, armed with over 1,000 Seraph Cannons, those alone can turn the surface of a planet to nothing. It's strongest weapon, though, is the Obliterator Beam, able to pierce the core of a planet and cause it to explode. Has only seen combat twice for very specific purposes.

Capital Ship Weaponry:

Seraph Cannon- Large cannon that fires 60mm plasmite detonator rounds ideal for enemy fleet engagement and planetary bombardment.

Odin's Eye Cannon- Designed after the initial heavy plasma cannon was built, it uses a plasma generator fed separately from the rest of the ship to charge a lethal round of destructive death to be used against targets. Easily destroys enemy battle cruisers and sometimes an unlucky heavy cruiser.

Ragnarok Cannon- The only weapon in the Lorian arsenal that charges slower than this weapon is the Endgame's Obliterator Beam. The Ragnarok Cannon was designed to cause as much damage as possible in a single thirty second beam, often tearing through heavy ship shielding and organic heavy armor plating after fifteen seconds of sustained fire and destroying the enemy capitol flyer in a single shot.

Note: All Lorian units are immune to psionic attacks and most forms of Psionic manipulation thanks to the advanced nanites used to repair, heal and maintain themselves and their armor. This technology was developed to counter the abilities of their immediate neighbors in the next system over, the Serans, who were gifted with extensive psionic abilities.

Lorian Ruling Family

Arthur Redemptio- King of the Loria System with three daughters and a son; the daughters in order from oldest to youngest; Jeanette Redemptio, Alice Redemptio, and Laura Redemptio. His son is Weylyn Redemptio. Is beloved and respected by his people and is a fair and kind ruler. As King, his primary concern is the Military of the system and matters of high importance as well as the well being of the Lorians as a whole.

Janice Redemptio- Wife of Arthur and Queen of the Loria system. Mother of Jeanette, Alice, Laura, and Weylyn Redemptio. As the Queen of the system, she is responsible for overseeing the appropriate training for her children and is consulted on matters of diplomacy before the King

Jeanette Redemptio- Oldest of the Redemptio children and head of the Lorian Diplomatic Corp. Has extensive combat training that is to be used only as a last resort should her guards be overwhelmed. Has been known to join her guards in the sparring circle and in battle anyways.

Alice Redemptio- Second oldest of the Redemptio children by five minutes. Is gifted with the rare Lorian ability to bend the elements to her will, but can only do so with air. Is the black sheep of the family and leads her own all female mercenary group called the Black Cats. Laura's twin.

Laura Redemptio- Third oldest of the Redemptio by five minutes and member of the Lorian Diplomatic Corp. Laura is mildly psionic with the ability to read minds and implant thoughts while convincing the target that they're the target's own. Also known to use her sexual appeal to keep male opponents off guard. Twin to Alice.

Weylyn Redemptio- Youngest of the Redemptio children and the Knight Errant of the Loria system. Is currently the only known person besides his father in the entirety of the Lorian system to be able to manipulate all four elements. Leads a small section of the Lorian Fleet known as the Lorian Expeditionary Fleet, or LEF.

Government

The Lorian Government is a Constitutional Monarchy, with the Lord Knight of Loria having the final say in everything but with a council of several prominent members from different industries voicing their thoughts and opinions and even, should there be enough votes, superseding the Lord Knight's word. Military leaders have strong sway over decisions during times of war, but are mostly swept aside and considered paranoid during times of peace. However, when it comes to matters concerning the containment of the Xran Virus, their word and knowledge are second only to the scientists dedicated to curing it.

Galactic Interactions

Despite having freed three other systems from the tyrannical rule of Seran, the Lorians are fairly reclusive and prefer not to get involved in affairs outside their own home system. All the planets in the Lorian system are colonized but they have no colonies outside their home system, which is further proof of their reclusive preferences. When approached by diplomats from outside their home system, the ships are often turned back and refused.

Physiology

The Lorians are a human-appearing race that can only be described as peak human physical fitness in appearance but are often twice as strong and fast as the average human. However, most Lorians are unable to do anything unique and amazing outside of that. The ability to bend even one element to their will is an extremely rare ability, with one in roughly one-hundred thousand able to do so with a single element, if not one in a larger number. The primary difference between those who can bend the four basic elements to their will and those who can only bend one seems to be a higher concentration of some form of energy all Lorian bodies create naturally. Lorian scientists call it their Chi, the form of energy that gives their bodies the ability to control the elements as they do. So far, the only Lorian bodies that have registered the level of Chi needed to control and manipulate all four elements are found in the lineage of the Royal Family.

Societal Structure

Prior to the Seran/Lorian War, Lorian society was largely varied. Intelligence between individuals varies but as a whole, the species daily lives could be compared to humanity in the early 2000’s. Military service was optional, but a mark of great pride for any family while higher education was a requirement, as the Lorian leadership has always believed you can never know too much. During the course of the Seran/Lorian War and after, military service became a requirement alongside higher education. Most basic level Grunts are also highly capable medical personnel or even scientists if needed. The wellness of the people as a whole is incredibly important to the Royal Family and the Council and laws and support from the government reflect this. The Royal Family is really the only noble family within the Lorian government, though the members of the Council are also considered highly important and recognized as ‘unofficial nobles’ but with no more importance than any other citizen of the Lorian people.

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