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A relatively primitive interstellar empire, The Zarans only achieved FTL 150 years ago and only just achieved First Contact with the Galactic Federation (GalFed) [February 4th, 2977]. They Originate from Unity, a green-speckled Ice-ball off in an isolated corner of the Sol-Daiban Galaxy. Brutally pragmatic at times, and wholly devoted to it's citizens, The Empire will do whatever is necessary to further it's goals, preferably without risking citizens in the process.
The Zarans operate as a Theocratic Meritocracy, a society driven by a religion built around loyalty, hard work, and community. Their Church grew out of the governmental institutions put in place by The Founder, Zarus, after His Deification. Unlike most religions, however, the Zaran Faith doesn't touch on the afterlife, making it remarkably compatible with most faiths whose values aren't too different.
Their History is one of Conflict Followed by periods of relative calm, like waves, constantly growing larger and more powerful with each conquest. Their world eventually suffered from Climate disaster due to Volcanic activity, and that combined with unending but low-burning conflict with a highly aggressive society hidden within the deepest recesses of the world's crust drove them to the stars.
The Empire once prided itself on it's technical achievements, as it's technological superiority is what allowed it to not only survive but thrive on and eventually conquer Unity, but it now sees that it is at the bottom of the food-chain once again. The Empire's Military industries are frantically spooling up as they prepare for the worst whilst all hope for the best.
FEATURES
Races: The Races of the empire have been interbreeding for a long time and so the lines between races are nearly nonexistent, however many individuals display some traits from each one and a small minority show the traits of one to the near exclusion of the others. However, Humanoids and Reptilians are unable to interbreed with one another, meaning that there’s a divide between the two (mostly because the former has live birth and the latter lays eggs)
All the various races are equal under the law, and the only races that have yet to produce Emperors were Halflings and Orcs. Humans make up approximately 15% of the total Imperial population, and individuals of indeterminate race make up approximately 30%.
Humanoids
Humans: The usual, although they tend to live longer than Terran Humans due to generations of crossbreeding with longer-lived races. They tend to fit somewhere between Elves and dwarves, being tall and relatively thin like the elves, but still broader of shoulder like the dwarves, with the males demonstrating facial hair much like the stockier humanoids. Other than the slightly longer average lifespans, Zaran humans tend to be roughly equivalent with Terrans.
Dwarves: Short, Powerful, Long-lived, and Tough, the dwarves may be slower due to their shorter legs and bulk, but they make up for it with durability and strength. Both males and females display facial hair, although the females tend to have more hair on their scalp than face. They generally get to around ⅔ the height of the average human and are often slightly broader. Their hands and feet tend to be slightly larger and stronger than humans.
Elves: Tall, Agile, Long-lived, and Twitchy, the Elves tend to be faster than their human counterparts, thinner, more precise, and more perceptive. Their Hearing and vision are superior to humans, having wider ranges in both directions, their twitchiness is a result of the massively greater amount of information their receive. They don’t live as long as their ancestors from Torril, but they are generally more active, faster in all things (whether cause or effect is unknown), averaging 6 to 7 hundred years if they live a healthy lifestyle. Elves lack Facial hair of any sort (except eyebrows).
Gnomes: roughly half the size of a Human but with a head of near equal (sometimes greater) size, the gnomes would be considered cute if it weren’t for their tendency to make some of the empire’s most horrific weapons of war and gleefully tear apart some unknown creatures in their pursuit of knowledge. Naturally curious to a dangerous extent, gnomes are often found experimenting on something whether paid to do so or not. More normal gnomes do exist, but the species as a whole displays biases in favour of pressing the unlabeled button to see what it does.
Halflings: basically being half-sized humans, the halflings are quick and clever, making up for their lack of size with quickness and natural social tendencies. Halflings are naturally gregarious, grouping up with practically anyone, a lone halfling is highly unusual.
Orcs: Big, Strong, Tough. Orcs tend to be simpler as a whole, standing at between 1.5x to 2x the height of the average human and being some combination of grey, brown, and green, they have a longer lifespan than humans simply because of their greater fortitude, an old orc is still almost as physically fit as a young orc.
Goblins: Similar to Gnomes in stature but sporting longer ears, pointier faces, and green to grey skin, Goblins as a race are more inclined towards mercantile and legal pursuits than the average human, and the only reason that there aren’t more goblin lawyers than human ones is because there’s simply more humans. Goblins are capable of reproducing in prodigious quantities, but social forces prevent that from happening in most cases (space limitations, urbanization, etc)
Reptilians
Dragonborn: Founders of the Republic of the Scale alongside the Lizardfolk, the dragonborn share certain traits with their namesake, most notably a limited ability to project magical energy fields from their mouth in the form of a breath weapon, however unlike proper dragons, the dragonborn are unable to do this often as it requires great effort. Build wise, they’re very similar to humans, but grow slowly over their entire lives, with the oldest getting into the range of Orcs and the younger adults being around Dwarf height. They have a pronounced snout like all the other reptilian races, but lack a tail and proper claws.
Lizardfolk: Co-Founders of the RotS, the Lizardfolk are essentially bipedal Crocodiles with the snout of a komodo dragon. Their limbs are quite long, being roughly at least half their height, and their posture is generally bent forward due to the presence of a tail. They’re natural athletes, and can hold their breath for hours if inactive. Unlike Dragonborn, they stop growing upon reaching adulthood at slightly larger than the average human, and have slightly longer lifespans.
Kobolds: The smallfolk among the reptilians, the kobolds were a later addition to the RotS. Being slightly smaller than the average gnome or halfling, they are the smallest of the common races in the Empire. They, like the halflings, are extremely social and reproduce quickly, making up for 60% of the RotSs population and another 15% of the Imperial population outside of the RotS
Other
Revenants: detailed below, obviously robots can’t breed and must be built.
Extraplanar crossbreeds: Aasimar, Cambions, Tieflings, and the like are present, and are extremely rare oddities with abilities that often see them rise to high positions, but under imperial law they aren't anything special.
Magic And Technology Zaran Magic Focuses on Manipulating Energy and Matter on all scales. Their Magic is used in nearly all of their technologies, making the Imperial Arsenal one of the more unique ones out there. Energy: They can manipulate and generate various fields, forces, and basic elements (fire, ice, shock etc.); but must also expend energy (mana) to do so. They're also capable of converting between mundane and Arcane energies, allowing for the integration of arcane and mundane power grids. The process isn't 100% efficient, meaning that energy is lost as heat and magical static, making it necessary to have both kinds of power source available for optimal efficiency. Matter: They can Transmute matter using quantum resonance superposition in order to manipulate entropic probabilities within the objects being affected, bringing it from statistically impossible to statistically guaranteed for a pile of various metals to spontaneously assemble into a fully functional product. The process requires immense quantities of information and energy, with both the beginning and ending points needing to be fully understood and energy for each step of the standard process circumvented. Conservation of Entropy is always maintained. Most individuals are unable to perform advanced transmutations without computerized help, with such things being limited to machines or geniuses/savants with extensive training and study.
Power
Pinch and Micro-Fusion: Zarans Achieve Fusion through the usual method of jump-starting it with Fission (Thorium) then containing and sustaining it through the use of arcane force and magnetic fields which are in turn sustained by the energy the reactors produce. The Micro-Fusion cores are jump started by larger fusion reactors due to the minimum scale requirements of Fission. The smallest scale Micro-Fusion cores, those found in Revenants and Infantry power packs, generally only last about a week without refueling; Larger cores, such as those found in vehicles, often have extra equipment included so they may extract fuel from various hydrogen rich materials.
Mana Taps: These mechanisms draw upon the user’s mana to generate small amounts of power. These devices power things like flashlights, datapads, firearms (to a limited extent), and other personal devices. The mechanisms don’t draw more mana than is available, often tuned to match the rate at which the user’s energy recovers. These are generally only used as backups for when the device’s charge runs out and there’s no other powersource.
Traditional power sources: normal stuff like Thorium Fission, Fossil Fuels, Hydrogen Cells, and various renewables are used throughout the Empire but rarely in the military with the exception of Thorium in some cases.
Carbon Super-capacitors: Created from Graphene and a couple other forms of carbon and silicon, these are the Empire’s most common means of storing power. With these, Imperial Devices can hold charges nearly indefinitely, be charged nearly instantly, and hold immense amounts of energy. Mind, this still doesn’t compare with more exotic technologies.
Magical-Mundane Converters: These Devices allow the empire’s arcane and mundane power grids to be merged, meaning that they can run their magical artifacts on good old fusion power. There is energy lost in the process, so having both arcane and mundane power sources is still required for optimal functioning.
Materials and Manufacturing
Molecular Printers: Imperials have taken Transmutative magics and combined them with chemistry and material sciences to produce highly effective 3D printers that can work on the atomic level. These printers are capable of rearranging elements to form any pre-programmed schematic. The power required for these machines to operate varies depending on the end product and the materials provided, with more energy required the more complicated the product and the less processed/pure the input. These devices are limited to what they’re programmed to create and must be provided with all the required materials, they function much like Fullmetal Alchemist style Alchemy but slower and energy dependent.
Carbon Nano-materials: The Empire has invested heavily in the study of Carbon and it’s innumerable allotropes. They utilize these materials extensively throughout their technology, and they can be found almost everywhere. Graphene and Nanotubes form almost all of their circuitry (except where superconductivity would be suboptimal), they and Lonsdaleite are used in conjunction with other materials for armour, and Octanitrocubane is the Imperial Explosive of choice. Their mastery of the Group 6 Elements doesn’t stop with Carbon, although their usage of the others is much lower in comparison.
Traditional Industry: Many Modern Processes are used when they are more convenient/practical than the fabricators as well as when pioneering new designs. As such, Traditional factories are less common than in more conventional societies, but still present.
Transportation:
Gravitic Engines: These devices generate gravity fields that can not only lighten loads but also lift things off the ground completely. These fields can be directed in any direction and can generate enough gravity to achieve maximum accelerations of 98 m/s^2 in the weakest versions to 1 km/s^2 in the most powerful prototypes. These engines are used for all kinds of travel not bound to the ground. Compared with conventional propulsion, they have much lower maximum acceleration, but their acceleration’s duration is only limited by external factors like drag and power supply.
Concentrated Plasma Jets: Operating on a similar principle to modern jet propulsion, these use turbines to compress air which is then Ionized and mixed with waste products from the craft’s Fusion core and accelerated out the rear with powerful magnetic fields. These engines are used by atmospheric craft that need more power than their gravity engines can provide, examples being hypersonic bombers and interceptors. They can technically still function without atmosphere, but would have much lower thrust (closer to VASIMR thrusters than jets) due to the great reduction in the material being ejected.
Crawlers: Adapted from ancient Golems, Crawlers are faster and more reliable, far more adaptable albeit much slower than wheeled vehicles (which are present). Crawlers are generally used for the military and off-road activity. Many heavy crawlers have low-power gravity drives that make them lighter meaning that Crawlers can reach epic proportions. The Largest Imperial Crawlers can be slightly larger than Modern Aircraft Carriers, and such behemoths fill a similar role to their aquatic counterparts; at times, Crawlers are referred to as Landships and often use naval terminology.
Mounts: Domesticated beasts are still used widely throughout the empire depending on the environment. The native wildlife of Unity tends towards “Big and Nasty”, and make for very good working animals once domesticated. Dire Wolves, Wyverns, Drakes, and various smaller creatures all make for highly useful cogs in the Imperial machine. Dire Cavalry is still in use as specialized forces focused on flanking, Urban combat, and Guerrilla tactics, and may occasionally be found in service of Law Enforcement. Traditional Vehicles: Cars, bikes, carts, trains, etc. are widely used throughout the empire. In the military, they are often used as transport and support vehicles, operating alongside infantry and/or crawlers, bridging the gap between the two types of force.
Misc.:
Revenant AIs: as Mentioned above, Revenants are created using reprocessed souls. They take their power from a combination of the soul itself, microfusion cores, and external power sources, with a pair of supercapacitors for extra redundancy. Their processing power is variable, on their own they’re usually equivalent to a clever human, but their capacity expands whenever they connect to superior power sources and other computing systems; they are capable of connecting to each other, and some may choose to form gestalts for both productive and recreational purposes. Most Revenants have some ability to use magic innately via upgrades tailored to their profession, and some are also capable of practicing magic as traditional mages. Due to concerns about the possibility of rogue AIs running rampant Despite being given full citizenship, Revenants are built with ingrained biases in favor of the empire as well as a minor but constant compulsion to do something, this is not common knowledge. If unable to cope with and/or satisfy their "needs", they often fall into spiraling depressive states, confronted by failing minds and feelings of powerless inability/inadequacy, many self-terminate but some few end up lashing out.
Military Forces:
Overview:
Most Imperial Weapons work via magnetic acceleration and/or chemical propellants in the case of missiles. Most infantry weapons are limited in their power by the wielder's ability to handle recoil as opposed to the hardware, and are mostly equivalent to pre-war UNSC for raw killing power. Vehicular weapons are often focused on raw power for the primary, and speed for any secondaries. Ships follow the same philosophy, with powerful primaries and fast secondaries. Explosives are extremely potent across the board, either using Octanitrocubane or nukes, they can be made more compact without sacrificing power, but are often just as large as their equivalents elsewhere. Energy weapons are relatively new, with personal energy weapons only recently emerging in any significant numbers, they are far more common in vehicles where power is less of a concern where they are primarily used to counter light forces and guided munitions (infantry, fighters, missiles, etc.)
Armour in the empire is mostly composed of Lonsdaleite, CNT fabrics, Shear thickening fluids, Graphene, and Ceramic Laminated Titanium plates, all layered in various numbers and thicknesses depending on the application, from the inch or two thick Infantry armour to the multiple meters thick dreadnought armour
Shielding technology is currently in its infancy, and is still only found on experimental craft.
They’re derived from reactor containment technology, and are essentially magnetic, gravitic, and weak force envelopes that deflect incoming fire in the hopes of lessening or eliminating the impact on the hull. The shields suffer from multiple drawbacks: affecting outgoing fire, highlighting the craft on all normal sensors, and being poor against kinetics.
Planetside Forces:
Mechanized Forces: Primarily composed of more traditional vehicles, the mechanized forces are mostly focused around Crawlers and supporting them or foot soldiers. The mechanized forces are almost all specialist units intended to act in concert, with only the Phalanx tank being considered a generalist.
Infantry: Heavily varied due to the Empire’s variety of races, the infantry includes everything from the standard riflemen to the dedicated Warmages from the Academy.
Cavalry: Still present, tho not in the same fashion as in days of yore, Imperial Cavalry forces serve as the flankers and highly mobile attackers in places where wheeled or tracked vehicles would be a hindrance. Instead of horses and the like, most Imperial Cavalry is composed of Dire Wolves, Wyverns, and other large predators that have been bred and trained specifically for obedience, speed, and fearlessness. Most cavalry units are equipped with particularly light versions of standard imperial armour that substitute Aluminum steel for the Titanium.
Airborne Forces: The Imperial Air Force, not much else to say. They take advantage of the empire’s gravity manipulation technology to make craft that wouldn’t be able to get off the ground otherwise. Small, heavily armoured craft that are comparable with flying light tanks armed with lasers, railguns, and sometimes octanitrocubane missiles. They’re also responsible for the H.A.I.L. platforms and other airborne weapons platforms that wouldn’t really be considered either aircraft or ships. More Conventional aircraft are also present, Interceptors and bombers that utilize Concentrated Plasma Jets in conjunction with gravity engines to reach speeds sufficient to ionize the air around them.
The Navy:
The Imperial Navy generally favours a balanced approach to warfare, often using a combination of a large vessel flanked by a pair of smaller craft when patrolling Empire controlled space. Full fleets often have at least a few craft dedicated entirely to attacking hard targets at range that rely on the rest of the fleet for protection.
In short, vessels that operate in small groups or independently tend to be generalist jack-of-all-trades, and the craft that operate in fleets tend to be more specialized since there’s more vessels to do all the things.
Imperial vessels mostly use Railguns, Missiles, and Lasers, with a couple specialist craft having been built around large particle accelerators that act as long-ranged cutting beams. Most vessels, while lacking the power of UNSC MACs, Imperial vessels often carry a few Nuclear shells that can be fired from their primary cannons; these munitions have dual detonation systems, having both timed and impact fuses to ensure that even misses will not go on to hit some random unfortunates, near misses are still quite dangerous due to the shear force and EMP released.
Small Attack Craft make use of Concentrated Plasma Jets modified for Vacuum operation in conjunction with the usual Gravity engines in order to exceed the usual limits on acceleration at the cost of efficiency. Most of these craft are simply based on aircraft, the designs being adjusted for the different engines.
The Largest vessels in the empire, The Twins, sit at 5 km long and are closer to mobile battlestations than ships. Most vessels are less than 1.5 km long, with only a few getting to 2 km and above.
Efforts are coordinated via QEC, Quantum Entanglement Communications, the largest ships act as communication hubs connecting the fleet or patrol group back to their command centers, the speed with which information is relayed means that logistical and tactical efforts are directed with very high efficiency.
Special Forces: Imperial Special Forces Units are trained on The Twins, with members taken from every part of the Empire, selected
Imperial Religion isn't limited to just the worship of The Founder, countless faiths from before the empire still exist in some form, and whilst nearly all actively revere The Founder the vast majority also practice some other sort of religion. The Church of Zarus (aka the Church of The Founder) is a primarily humanitarian and educational institution, and unlike most it doesn't make any attempt at explaining the after-life.
The Imperial economy is one of Market Socialism. Everyone is guaranteed either work, or work and training for better jobs, and in return are also guaranteed the essentials for life at the least with the rest being handled by supply and demand; those unwilling to work are not given any "handouts" as all are expected to contribute at least something. The Public sector handles education, healthcare, infrastructure, and the various functions of the government; The Private sector handles things like finance, services, luxuries, entertainment, and other non-essentials; Both the public and private sectors handle agriculture, research, and industry. Working conditions are regulated, and both employees and employers are afforded certain rights; Workers are entitled to a safe working environment (within reason) as well as the right to have a job befitting their abilities, and Employers are entitled to the ability to compete in the market, as well as the right to competent workers and the right to fire incompetent ones.
LEADERSHIP
The Empire has the Emperor as the ultimate authority, and he/she is selected via a meritocratic process that has been in existence since the time that Zarus first concieved of it: candidates must have served in every major branch of the government and have been deemed "more than competent" in each position and demonstrate exceptional leadership skills. Candidates are registered upon their first day of school (ambition is a prerequisite), and are sent through a far more rigorous academic path which serves to both weed out the unqualified and to prepare the qualified for later. Those that graduate from the academy with satisfactory performances are sent on to serve in the various governmental organizations starting with the Military; from there it's essentially a matter of monitoring each candidates activity (a job for the secret service) and recording it for review upon the current emperor's death/abdication/lawful-removal whereupon a small group of the most promising candidates will be brought forth to present their cases. The process for the selection of the Emperor is the most demanding and picky in the empire as the Emperor must be the best possible person for the job lest the Empire decline. The system is not perfect, and there have been a handful of sovereigns forced to step down due to legal action and/or church sanctioned popular uprising.
Major Organizations
Ministries of Truth, Law, and Intelligence: These Ministries act in tandem to maintain order in the Empire through the Gathering and dissemination of Information, and Enforcement of Law. The Ministry of Intelligence also works with the military and was charged with executing Operation Voyager, an effort to explore the galaxy and confirm whether or not there are other star faring societies out there.
Ministry of Prosperity: The Government’s economic branch, the MoP controls most of the Empire’s Industrial and Agricultural activity. It also handles the Empire’s finances, from banking and the limited stock exchange to taxes.
The Church of The Founder: Also known as the Zaran Church or Imperial Church, the CoTF has a hand in almost every facet of the Empire but it’s most prominent activities are humanitarian in nature. It makes up a significant portion of the Government, but it’s presence in the highest parts of the governmental hierarchy is very limited.
Forge Mercantile: The single largest private enterprise in the Empire, Forge Mercantile is the successor to Corbin Mercantile which had been pivotal in Unity’s technological development and the 1000+ year old corporation has evolved alongside it’s government benefactors. FM’s products and services include everything from materials extraction and processing to bulk transport, Luxuries, and various consumer services. It enjoys close relations with the Government, and has innumerable contracts on many different levels.
Republic of the Scale: A Nation within a Nation, the Republic of the Scale maintains near autonomy within the Empire as a result of their voluntary assimilation centuries ago. The RotS conducts a significant portion of the Empire’s trade, with their corporations competing with Forge Mercantile on almost equal ground. Their enclaves are scattered throughout the Empire and hold approximately 20% of the overall population of the empire. They maintain their own militias and law enforcement, but the bulk of their armed forces are shared as part of the greater Imperial Military. Whilst not exclusively Reptilian, the non-humanoid races do make up the majority of its population
Governmental Structure:
Mainline Imperial Government
The primary Imperial Government is organized according to personal merit, with those that prove themselves rising. The closest civilizations to this would be the Sangheili in SDG or the Turians of Triangulam. Competency is the only qualifier that matters in most cases, whether the job can be done properly, and those who are promoted before they are ready are expected to step down and denying a promotion when one isn’t ready is preferable. In the absence of outside conflict, wargames are used to train forces and commanders, with those who innovate being favored.
Each world operates much like a state within a country, with governors selected from the populace and further dividing themselves into counties for easier management. Policing is handled by the primary government, but most if not all officers on a world are locals.
The primary government is divided into various branches dealing with varying responsibilities, the primary branches were mentioned above (the Ministries). Their responsibilities are split up amongst Imperial and Planetary officials that work together to coordinate efforts on and between worlds.
In all, mostly very normal in structure, organized to be as efficient as can be, with a pyramidal hierarchy topped by the Ministry Heads and the Emperor.
Republic of the Scale:
The RotS is a representative democracy that operates within the Empire and is ultimately subject to the Emperor. They have a couple worlds of their own and have enclaves on most mainline imperial worlds. They function as a capitalist society and are a major force in the greater imperial economy. Structurally, they’re similar to the EU, but are more focused on fiscal policy than content regulation given that the Imperial government handles that.
Holding governance over ~100 proper colonies and over 1000 non-permanent outposts, the Zaran empire Officially claims 1053 systems, and unofficially claims the 3500 systems within their convenient reach. Their farthest system is approximately 240 ly from the Babel System.
Major worlds include Unity and Brotherhood (both in the Babel System), The Forges (3 barren worlds with massive subterranean colonies that produce approximately half the Empire’s metal), Husk (a graveworld that has been turned into the Empire’s greatest center for xenoarchaeological research), and Sentinel (said farthest Imperial Colony and closest to GalFed Territory)
PARTICIPATION
Lore Seeker
OTHER
Zarus pays attention to the mortal world with great interest. Having had little faith in an afterlife when he lived, he get's fairly bored on the other side and pursues interaction with the receptive and skeptical. Unable to physically interact, he is only able to directly observe his sphere of influence (holy sites, large concentrations of followers, clerics making active efforts to communicate) and is otherwise limited to hearsay.
Anyone caught violating Imperial Law is in for a bad time as the Imperials apply their meritocratic bias to crime as well, criminals that get caught are seen as incompetent as well as criminal scum. Successful criminals may eventually earn the grudging respect of the Enforcers, though that respect usually manifests as steadily increasing resources put towards catching and punishing the criminal.
BOARD DESCRIPTION
The Zaran Empire is a young nation devoted to Order and spreading it where possible. It is a Meritocracy driven by religious devotion. A constantly adapting society doing whatever it can to come out on top. The Empire's goals are simple, Stability and Prosperity for all, and it will do whatever must be done to fulfill that goal; Highly patient, they look to the long game. Brutally Practical at times, their exact morality can be difficult to pin down. Their Technology is behind the rest of Sol-Daiban, and whilst they're in shock from the staggering differences they are rapidly acting to begin the long process of catching up.
