Alshain
Run by MJ12.
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National Overview
As Of August 2195
Genre: Blessed be you by the light of Blake (Religious Transhumans) :|
Head of State:
Head of Government: (decide later)
Government: Dictatorship
History Paths
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. - Voltaire
A1) Longshot Mission (+Fabs)
- Adhara was originally colonized by ideologues believing that equality could only be reached when everyone was made equal. This turned into a religious fervor in a fairly short span of years.
A2) Dominantly Transgene (++Transgene)
- Given the religious pressure towards advancement and human enhancement that the early Adharans had, it was no surprise that they embraced modification. To worship their creator, they would create him, and his heavenly host, via augmentation and AI research.
A3) Hell World
- They chose a world that was actively hostile to human existence, with conditions reminiscent of primordial Earth. It was their Eden.
A5) Adapt (Radical Morphological Change)
- Humanity had become weak and broken with their sin, which made many think that Adhara was hell. They were wrong, of course. It was Eden.
B1) Transgene Migration (+Population, +Transgene)
- Despite their status as a religious cult, the offer of free top of the line bioenhancement to anyone who emigrated was sufficient to bring many into the fold, and the technology used to enhance the men and women who arrived developed rapidly. And for a time, it was good.
C1) Military Action (+Military)
- However, such could not last. One sect believed in the divinity of the posthumans and their constructions, including feral drones. Other sects disagreed. Disagreements on ideology soon spiraled into full blown warfare after a few drone raids.
C3) Training Ground Religious Warfare (+Doctrines)
- Warfare between religious sects threatened the integrity of the Adharan project.
Chaotic) My Little Lacus Cyber-Ghandi (+Transgene, -Military)
- One brave preacher-cyberneticist came to the front, his words of peace immortalized in the Book of Blake.
D1) Isolated (+Stockpiles)
- All this, of course, went unnoticed by the vast majority of the galaxy, as the Breakdown occurred near-simultaneously.
D2) Go Weird (++Transgene)
- In that time, Adharans, united again, started further development of their bodies and minds, turning them into the most capable transhumans in known space.
E1) Sign the PACT (+Aerospace Technology, +ECM Technology, +Pulse Technology, +Carrier Technology, +Wealth, -Theta)
- As Adhara was a notorious hive for feral drones after the reconnect, a PACT peacekeeping mission was sent in to reduce the likelihood of feral drone raids on nearby colonies, crushing its nascent government and installing a dictatorship.
H1) Transhumanize! (+Transgene, +CIP, +tech, -morale)
- But even still, science and religion marched on in Adhara, hand in hand.
H2) Arms Production Center (+PIP, +RP, +weapon tech)
- But now the science, instead of being focused on tools to bring man closer to godhood, became focused on ways to fight their fellow man.
H3) Area 52 (++Doctrines, ++Tech, -Wealth)
- Its advanced technical base, hostile environment, and heavily enhanced population made Adhara an excellent place to test doctrines, advanced technology, and put a hostile environment survival school.
L1) Multiparty Democracy (+Morale, +Tech, +CIP)
- Overthrowing governments and installing democracy in their place has become something of a tradition for certain nations hasn't it?
Starting Tech Bonuses: +Pulse Tech, +Aerospace Tech
Total Path Bonuses: Radical Morphological Change, +Fabs, +++++++Transgene, +Population, +Stockpiles, +PIP, ++CIP, +RP, +++Doctrines, +Weapons Tech, ++++Technology, -Theta
Faction Bonuses: +Aerospace Technology, +Stealth Technology, +Pulse Technology, +AI Technology
History
The 21st century Brazilian debacle was one of the many obstacles that transhuman technologies had during their adoption. The discreditation of mental enhancment technologies was a harsh hit to the Church of the Imminent Eschaton, which was a rapidly-spreading religious view that mixed concepts from sources such as Christianity, Hinduism, and quantum physics. The major tenets of said religion, that God had made man in His image to create himself in the future, a perfect loop of reincarnation and divinity, and that the method to get closer to God, to worship Him, was by heavily enhancing oneself in body and mind, made it anathema in the backlashes against human enhancement, both mental and physical, that occurred. The founder and his flock left, eight thousand strong, finding a world to colonize. The loss was palpable, as many of the worshippers of the Church of the Imminent Eschaton were brilliant or at least dedicated scientists and engineers, specializing in human enhancement.
Ironically or perhaps by fate, the proto-Adharans had generally used mechanical or nanotechnological methods instead of the Brazilian retroviruses for cognitive enhancement, replacing chunks of skull with solid-state machine. Thus, they avoided most of the problems of said enhancement.
The world they chose was Messier, in the Adhara star system, with conditions extremely similar to primordial Earth. Perhaps in a few hundred million years, life would evolve in its organic-rich seas and its harsh rocky continents. The symbolism of having a true Garden of Eden, a world like that which developed humanity, instead of the false gardens that others sought, was combined with pragmatism-by ensuring that only the heavily enhanced could survive the environs without severe technological aid, it ensured that they would be left alone for the most part.
The colonists set forth rebuilding themselves and building a society, one where the circumstances of your birth were unimportant, as enhancement was offered freely, to save one's soul. Adharan evangelist-cyberneticists traveled far and wide, spreading the word, to a range of responses ranging from interest to open hostility-but there were those, the poor, the sick, the ones who saw a method to improve their lot in life-and so they went and were enhanced. Most of them converted, whether out of indoctrination or out of gratitude. Some did not, and came back with their augmentation. Sometimes nations sought to deal with Adhara, sending converts and money and supplies in exchange for blueprints. The touch of Adharan design, whether purchased outright or reverse-engineered, can be seen in most of the cybernetic and some of the genetic augmentation in the human sphere, even today. It seemed like despite their fundamentalist roots and their belief, they were on their way to building a true Eden, one where all that mattered was your ethics and drive.
Near the Breakdown, though, a demagogue interrupted this process of self-improvement. Karin Shiva and her doctrine that the posthumans were living gods, or at least angels, became popular over the years, and with the Breakdown, the religious schism spiraled into full-blown warfare. Machinery and technologies were repurposed to the art of war, and Adhara had not evolved so far away from human normality that they had lost their taste for it. The arms race that resulted brought theoretical advancements in human augmentation, as well as weapons and armor technology, into practical use, and the directed evolution of the Adharan augmentation suite catapulted them into, essentially, the most augmented transgenics in the human Sphere.
Eventually, one man, Gregor Blake, came to the forefront. A famous and skilled deacon-cyberneticist, he could take no more of seeing his children maimed by weapons of war, and spoke out. His own personal charisma and sayings brought peace, if an uneasy one, and immortalized his words in the Book of Blake. However, the doctrine of posthuman divinity became more and more accepted as time went on, eventually leading to Adhara becoming infamous for trading or at least not interfering with posthuman-derived feral drones. After the Reconnect and before the start of the ZOCU war, such incidences became so bad that the USASF assisted a pro-US and anti-drone faction of the CoIE in a coup, backing their dogma with a carrier battlegroup and divisions of US Marines. Today, Adhara still feels the the US presence, in the form of the Howard F. Magnus Marine Survival School, a significant USASF presence nearby, and a small but still prominent undercurrent of bitterness and pro-independence sentiment.
The ZOCU conflict did not do much to affect Adhara's stance, either pro- or anti-PACT, its government still grateful to the US deposing those who followed the doctrine of posthuman divinity, the people generally ambivalent or slightly displeased. Although flareups in insurgency operations and terrorism occurred as the Marine presence was lightened due to need, in general the withdrawal of peacekeeping forces did much to prevent Adhara from breaking away and going independent or outright joining ZOCU. Adharan ground forces are somewhat infamous for having fought on both sides, a significant amount of heretical Eschatonics defecting outright to ZOCU, while Adharan combat cyborgs fought on the side of the PACT. The few Adharan on Adharan conflicts in the ZOCU war were the most brutal ground conflicts in existence, as neither side expected or provided mercy to the other. No prisoners were taken, no surrenders were offered or accepted-the only acceptable outcome in either case was the elimination or routing of the enemy.
Postwar, the Adharan defectors as well as many who believed completely in posthuman divinity have been slowly trickling to ZOCU or Independent worlds which do not mind their dogma as long as they back it up with skill in warfare or bioengineering.
The Adharan
Sociology
Adharan society is based off of one tenet-equality. Equality in ability as well as equality in opportunity. Adharan education, medical care, and augmentation are all subsidized, with privatized or semi-privatized education, healthcare, or mods being a high crime. Inheritance and wills are illegal, with any property at the time of death (save a very small allowance for heirlooms, slightly larger if the heirlooms are inherently without utility such as jewelry or the like) returning to the state. They have not been able to eliminate the "old boy's club" entirely, as the rich still have connections, but they have been able to curtail it somewhat with social stigma-many Adharans refuse such help due to said.
Although nominally secular worshippers of the Church of the Imminent Eschaton are still favored, especially in occupations where augmentations are routinely upgraded or replaced such as military or high-risk construction fields. This is most visible in the field of human augmentation, where someone without a divinity degree is unlikely to be accepted into a prestigious program (and is not very likely to be accepted into any program)-although not an explicit policy this is a heavy societal norm.
Military
The Adharan military has three arms with nominally separate chains of command, although in practice someone is expected to defer to someone of equal rank in a higher-prestige unit. These arms are generally separated by quality of training, harshness of selection, and miscellaneous requirements, with all personnel starting in the Adharan Citizen's Defense Forces, issued basic equipment and given basic training. ACDF personnel are expected to defend Adhara from foreign invasion and assist in civil affairs.
ACDF personnel who perform particularly well in practice are allowed to attempt to apply to the Adharan Expeditionary Forces, the arm generally deployed to quell external threats whenever PACT requests assistance from its member-states in a peacekeeping action or the like. ACDF personnel are generally heavily enhanced with cyberware and given training roughly equivalent to a ranger or parachute battalion in the PACT or EU. Although cross-training with the USMC is common there are often minor issues with conflicting egos between the two sides. Furthermore, some have criticized the AEF for their particularly large egos as well as the common condescension they show towards baselines (whereas the ACDF are generally friendly and the MD are generally indifferent).
The Manus Dei, the Hands of God, are the most elite arm of the Adharan military, and the most selective. The basic requirements to attempt to join are at least 2 years' service in the AEF, a divinity degree, and an Atherholt Trauma Function score of 88 or above. Manus Dei generally serve as special forces, although they are technically a fully independent (if small) military with their own naval, armor, and aerospace arm as well. Although there are still noncombat occupations in the Manus Dei, all members are expected to be at least capable of functioning as elite light infantry if necessary no matter if they are chaplains, intelligence analysts, naval crew, or pilots. For this reason the Manus Dei training regimen is extremely tight packed, pushing even Adharan augmentation to the limits as personnel get a minimum of respite, sometimes training for more than 20 hours a day for weeks on end.
Although promotion upwards is fairly standard, Adhara often promotes soldiers with particularly high levels of competence and drive "sidewards" into more prestigious units. The prestige of being a member of the AEF or Manus Dei is such that there are inevitably more applicants than there are ever acceptances, with the rejection rate being anywhere from 30% for the AEF to over 75% for the Manus Dei.
Adharan Citizen's Defense Force
Pro patria vigalans (watchful for the country) -motto of the ACDF
Adharan Expeditionary Force
Provehito in altum (launch forward into the deep) -motto of the AEF
The Manus Dei
Ranks and Authority
From highest to lowest w/rough conventional equivalency:
- Seraph-9X (O-8 Major General)
- Cherubim-8I (O-7 Brigadier General)
- Throne-7H (O-6 Colonel)
- Ophanim (O-4 Major)
- Dominion-6G (O-3 Captain)
- Virtue-5F (O-2 1st Lieutenant)
- Power-4E (E-9 Sergeant Major)
- Principality-3D (E-7 Sergeant First Class)
- Archangel-2C (E-6 Staff Sergeant)
- Angel-1B (E-5 Sergeant)
- Noviciate-0A (Recruit)
Ranks 1B to 9X are ranks used by active-duty personnel, Noviciate/0A is given to trainees regardless of their previous rank-if successful, they are inducted into the Manus Dei with the Manus Dei equivalent of their original rank. Ranks Angel/1B to Power/4E are enlisted, Virtue/5F to Seraph/9X are commissioned officer rank-equivalents.
As the Manus Dei are technically a monastic order, the leader of the Manus Dei is always an Abbot (if male) or Abbess (if female) and holds proportional religious authority. Most commissioned officers in the Manus Dei also hold religious authority as well, although this is not technically required.
Personnel
The path of the faithful is marked by continual enhancement. -Chapter 41, The Pancreator's Projection
All applicants to the Manus Dei are taken from the members of the Adharan Citizen's Defense Force and Adharan Expeditionary Forces. To join an applicant must have an Atherholt Trauma Function test score of above 80%, a degree in divinity or a related subject, and be extremely mentally fit with high scores in problem-solving, willpower, and other desirable traits. Physical fitness is optional as most Manus Dei submit to extremely heavy cyberization, the start of which is during training-however an ability to tolerate extreme augmentation is not.
The Manus Dei training regimen is secret but what is known is that it pushes even the heavy cybernetic augmentation of its candidates to the limit. After successfully completing training, the noviciate is given their callsign and the history of the callsign, as well as its former bearers. This story is their link to the unit. Until they retire, whether from death or discharge, they are that person, often calling it their "True Name", with their birth name being their "Blood Name". As an unwritten code, former Manus Dei do not talk about their True Names in the unit, since legend goes that when they retire and another member is given the name in their place the legend and the spirit both pass on to the new inductee.
Manus Dei never die-the True Names are recycled no matter how the member is retired. As the Manus Dei similarly do not publicly acknowledge how many incarnations these names have passed through and how the former bearer retired, it has made finding an accurate count of Manus Dei losses in the ZOCU war extremely difficult, especially given the common military habit of exaggerating kill counts.
Structure
The Manus Dei is divided into three rough arms, the Oculus Dei (Eyes of the Pancreator), Laminus Dei (Blades of the Pancreator), and the Potentius Dei (Strength of the Pancreator). The vast majority of personnel are in the Potentius Dei, with the Oculus Dei possessing the lowest amount of manpower. Roughly divided, the Oculus Dei are intelligence as well as liaisons between the Manus Dei and allied military forces, the Laminus Dei are the direct action and indirect-action arm of the Manus Dei, and the Potentius Dei are support, including air support, armor support, infantry support, and military support. Furthermore, the auspice of the Potentius Dei also contains most noncombatant members of the Manus Dei, including the chaplain corps, medical corps, and training staff.
The Oculus Dei: Ipsa scientia potentia est (knowledge itself is power) -Oculus Dei motto
- As the intelligence arm of the Manus Dei, the Oculus Dei keep tabs on allied, enemy, and neutral troop dispositions, research, and technology. Primarily ELINT based, they have a small HUMINT section of paramilitaries culled from the ranks of the Laminus Dei. These paramilitaries are trained to work with improvised weapons and taught to act as drill instructors and advisers to friendly forces, as well as to throw wrenches in the works when they need throwing. Their participation in the ZOCU war was notable for its low profile-without significant unrest to take advantage of, the Oculus Dei were primarily watchers, seeding long-range recon via stealth cutters into frontline and rear-echelon worlds.
The Laminus Dei: Fortis cadere, cedere non potest. (the brave may fall, but cannot yield) -Laminus Dei motto
- Although not the largest arm of the Manus Dei, the Blades of the Pancreator are the most visible and well-known arm of the Manus Dei. A direct-action group primarily specializing in unconventional warfare operations, they also were heavily involved in the ZOCU war, countering ZOCU infiltration operations along the PACT arm as well as spearheading a few high-risk assaults, mostly on ZOCU detention facilities and research labs.
The Potentius Dei: Perge Sequar (advance, I follow) -Potentius Dei motto
- Members of the Potentius Dei fulfill a boring but vital task-keeping the members with the exciting jobs supported, whether that means with military support, logistics, or training. The personnel inducted into the Potentius Dei pilot mobile suits and man naval vessels, they form battalions of special operations capable infantry like PACT's Ranger regiments, they drive transports and they train the noviciates who will take up the True Names of the fallen. Their work is generally not as glamorous as the image of Laminus Dei soldiers kicking in doors and advancing, all heavy body armor and blued-metal rifles, but without the security, logistics support, and naval assistance that the Potentius Dei Shadow Divisions provide, many operations could not be successful. Given the critical role of the Potentius Dei the vast majority (approximately 75%) of all Manus Dei personnel are inducted into this aegis.
Operational History
Operation ALTRUISTIC: Altruistic was an operation initiated in late 2186 in an attempt to retrieve certain high-ranking personnel from ZOCU prisoner of war camps in Kanon. As Kanonian space was fully in ZOCU control, a mass evacuation was impossible, as was an assault on all prisoner camps in an attempt to free the prisoners. The plan created by then-Canoness Irina Blake was therefore to evacuate a few high-ranked personnel as a moral and possibly intelligence victory, as well as allowing the prisoners to resist as a guerilla force, which was in and of itself a morale booster. The Manus Dei committed three stealth vessels and significant manpower to the assault, which was judged sufficient albeit risky.
Of the six POW camps targeted, two strikes were completely successful in accomplishing both goals, one succeeded in freeing the prisoners but had at least one of the extractees killed by weaponsfire, two were aborted, and one was attempted but failed, the Manus Dei team withdrawing with heavy losses. The extraction was more difficult, with two of the three stealth vessels being eliminated in-system and only the third (the extraction vessel) making it out with sufficient damage that it was scrapped. Personnel losses are more difficult to estimate for the Manus Dei but estimates range from 30 to over 300 personnel killed, with 4 more captured.
However, despite its massive cost to the Manus Dei in materiel and personnel, it was a significant morale booster to prisoners in ZOCU custody, as well as successfully extracting two dozen high-ranking PACT officers from enemy hands and freeing a few thousand prisoners who were a thorn in the side of the Kanonian militia until the end of the war.
Leadership
Current Leader: Abbess Irina Blake (Seraph/9X)
- The current director of the Manus Dei, Irina Blake took over after the retirement of Abbot Paul Simons in late 2189. Formerly the commander of the Laminus Dei during the ZOCU war, she used postwar reformations and adaptations to further increase the size, scope, and military might of the Manus Dei.
Oculus Dei Director: Bishop Thomas Freiling (Cherubim/8I)
Laminus Dei Director: Minister Shahrazad Shanaz (Cherubim/8I)
Potentius Dei Director: Alexander Engel (Throne/7H)
Tenets
- First tenet: Uphold your faith as a scholar in peace and as a warrior in battle. You have been blessed with the talent to argue your faith with weapons and with words. Use it well.
- Second tenet: Uphold your duty to the Adharan peoples, no matter where this duty takes you or what it asks of you. Understand that as one of the hands of the Pancreator, you will be expected to do the impossible.
- Third tenet: As a warrior show respect to your fellow warrior no matter the situation. He who is fighting against you today merely misunderstands. He will come to learn in time.
- Fourth tenet: Show no disrespect to those of lesser ability, brook no hatred towards the apostate. In time they will, too, learn by example. It may take decades or centuries but were we not all too ignorant of the word of god until recently?
- Fifth tenet: Our brothers are most valued. Stop at nothing to get one back.
- Sixth tenet: As one of the hands of god, you continue a lineage based on your name. Your body is a mere vessel for your heritage. Do not hesistate to sacrifice it if god wills that it be done. As long as your name and your deeds are remembered, you will never truly die.
- Seventh tenet: Remember your comrades and their deeds. As long as one still remembers, the Manus Dei will never cease to be.
- Eighth tenet: The enemy is not the true obstacle. Your doubt is. If you believe the impossible is possible, you will find a way to make it so. If you believe the possible is impossible, you will find excuses to render it impossible.
- Ninth tenet: Be swift, efficient, and precise. Waste no energy on atrocity or unnecessary action. Every move should be considered, every action consciously decided on. The pancreator did not bless you with a mind of silicon and crystal-matrix processors to waste it on actions that a beast could take.
- Tenth tenet: As a champion of transhumanism, the Church of the Imminent Eschaton, and of the Adharan peoples, all eyes are on you. No matter the situation, act with discipline and precision. In your body and your augmented mind there is a shard of divinity. Any actions that you commit that reflect poorly on you, reflect poorly on the Pancreator as well.
Test Units
S-SHA-0 Shade: The standard Adharan Expeditionary Force fighter through the ZOCU conflict, the alien-looking, angular Shade is heavily armored, capable of deflecting light weaponry and, at a favorable angle, nullifying the effects of the Hoplite's particle rifle.
Nevertheless, it is still very agile and surprisingly fast, owing to its high-performance extralight engine. Designed to rapidly hot-swap weaponry the base chassis had a gross excess of power, allowing it to use powerful energy weapons, like the Lord's Light Heavy PPC it normally mounted, which it backed up by a pair of micromissile racks, one under each folding wing. Despite its large size and high mass the radical variable geometry wings and verniers could retract, meaning that the Shade took up little more space than a standard fighter, also decreasing its target profile in vacuum.
Its heavy armor came as a surprise to Horizonian and Kanonian mobile suit pilots, as did its powerful primary weaponry. Although its armor lost much of its value with the fielding of the Sarissa (and its Mega Particle Beam rifle) in numbers, the Shade is still a potent, if expensive fighter.
S-SHA-0 Shade (Clean)
Internal Space 8 + 12 (4exp)
- 7 spaces: 5xStd Armor (-1 Agility, -1 Spd, 4 PIP, +10 armor)
- 4 spaces: 4xFusion Reactor (Pwr 16)
- 9 spaces: 5xVerniers, 4xBoosters (Agi +4, Spd + 3)
Power Consumption: 9/16
Agility/Speed: Base + 4 Agi, Base + 3 Speed
Armor: Base + 10
External Space 8 + 4
S-SHA-0 Std. Loadout: The standard loadout of the Shade armed it with a Lord's Light Heavy PPC, capable of reliably penetrating Hoplite armor, as well as a micromissile rack for use against ZOCU fighters. To power this an additional fusion engine was slotted into an empty bay, and the variable-impulse engine consumed the rest of the reactor's power.
- 6 spaces: Heavy ER Pulse Cannon (Spc 6, Pwr 9, Firepower 6, Range 8, Acc + 2, Cost 6 PIP/15 CIP/8 Dust)
- 1 space: 1xFusion Reactor (Pwr +4)
- 1 space: 1xExternal Booster (+1 Speed, 1 Pwr)
- 4 spaces: Micromissile Rack
S-SHA-0A Loadout: The Aleph variant of the Shade is armed with a pair of SF1X Snub-Nose PPCs for close-in combat, and has a surfeit of excess power which is all rerouted to the engine, increasing agility and acceleration.
- 8 spaces: 2xCompact Heavy Pulse Cannon (Spc 3, Pwr 6, Firepower 5, Range 3, Acc + 2, Cost 3 PIP/9 CIP/4 Dust ea.)
- 2 spaces: 2xFusion Reactor (total Pwr 24)
- 2 spaces: 1xExternal Vernier, 1xExternal Booster (+1 Agility, +1 Speed, 2 Pwr)