Crisis of the Lighthouse Empire

State Creation

The Pariya (The Ancient Nobility)

The Lighthouse Empire's ancient peerages, composed entirely of those who can wield the Phosphor and in turn provide the psychic power necessary to alight the megastructures that connect human space. Not necessarily aristocratic clans, the Pariya also includes certain military and clerical orders that are exempt from many imperial taxes and laws in exchange for the services they provide to the Imperial House. The traditional Tithe of the Pariya is military service, providing vassal legions to the Emperor to defend against outside threats and put down rebellions, and Lightkeeping, providing members of family who can control the Phosphor to keep the bridges connecting human space alight.

The playstyle of the Pariya is conventional. They build units and pay upkeep up them, experience no external or internal pressures and are free to pursue any ambitions they might desire. Their units are superb and they will continue to exert strong advantages in encounters against other types of opponent.

Pedigree: Pedigree is everything among the Pariya. An upstart Duke is not the equal of the most ancient Count, no matter his pretense.

• Time Immemorial: A title that predates the founding of the Lighthouse Empire.
• Ancient Era: A bequest of the Emperor during or shortly after the defeat of the Old Machines.
• Imperial Era: From the period of reclamation and reconstruction.
• Late Era: Upstarts, your blood barely 20 generations ennobled.

The Divyane (The Court Nobility)

Centralization under ancient emperors slowly stripped the provincial nobility of their great autonomy and power. As the Conquests continued, many lands reclaimed from the Old Machines were placed into direct control of the Imperial House. A vast system of service nobility arose govern these territories and grease the tumultuous relations of the Pariya. The Divyane are themselves considered a Tithe, and are exempt from all forms of taxation: their lives already totally belong to the Emperor.

The playstyle of the Divyane is adaptive. They requisition units and pay no upkeep, but their permanent resources are quite limited. They are puissant admirals and governors, bureaucrats and spies, following the orders of the Emperor. Imperial line units are strictly average, but the Tithing system gives them unique advantages.

Origin:

• Lesser Pariya: A regional noble of particularly unexceptional status and power elevated to special a preeminent position. [Gain a small Pariya-style demesne.]
• Imperial Favourite: All close relations of an Imperial concubine are elevated to noble status in order to preserve the Throne's dignity, and given positions suited to their talents.
• Service Lineage: Many families have produced generations of functionaries, holding onto the smallest titles with the tightest fists.
• Rising Star: The scion of a conservative burgher family or destitute nobles, for whom service is the means to gain or regain personal glory.

The Hindstadt (The Revolutionaries)

Less than two years ago, the fires of rebellion singed nearly all of Imperial space. Vast uprisings of revolutionaries discontent with the ailing Imperial order seized the great Mian Star Fortress and captured the mothballed fleets stationned there, using them to launch liberatory invasions of much of known space. Bloody space battles saw the revolutionaries and their opponents greatly weakened. Fearing that the result would be nothing less than the complete annihilation of his beloved Empire and invasion by monsters at the periphery, Emperor Sikandar VIII offered white peace and autonomy rebellious provinces in exchange for their continuation of the Tithes.

The newly proclaimed Hindstadt are republics with a tributary relation to the Empire. They are autonomous and self-governing, but subject to many Imperial laws and continue to pay tithes to the Emperor.

The playstyle of the Hindstadt is aggressive. They build and upkeep capacity, not units, and have rapid, efficient production so long as upkeep is maintained. Their units are weak and their technology and institutions are weak initially, but they have tremendous room to grow over time.

Military Rules

Ground

Line Unit Types:

• Melee Infantry: Armed with shields and a vicious array of short-ranged weapons. Counters: Ranged Infantry
  • Base Cost: TBD
• Ranged Infantry: Mobile troops armed with a variety of high-velocity and slow-penetration weaponry. Counters: Armored
  • Base Cost: TBD
• Armored: Protected groundcraft, fast and armed with lethal anti-infantry devices like flamethrowers, pressguns and dozer blades. Counters: Melee Infantry
  • Base Cost: TBD

Support Unit Types:

• Aerospace: Hybrid oscillotron-suspensor or jet fighters capable of both ground attack and all-range air engagements.
  • Base Cost: TBD
• Champions: Truly exceptional warriors. Among their ranks are those capable of serving as commanders, assassins, bodyguards and scouts.
  • Base Cost: TBD
• Artillery: Explosive payload batteries, but also monstrous terror units and lesser wielders of the Phosphor.
  • Base Cost: TBD

Unit Tags:

• Tier X: Replace X with a number. This represents the general history behind the unit, the number of iterations expended on it over the history of its masters. Performance increase vs units of a much lower tier.
• Late: Designs that remain at a specific tier for a long time eventually become Late versions, the reforms and conditions that rendered them formidable long-faded. General performance malus.
• Political: A prestigious force full of careerist nephews. Loyal and with improved morale, but a general performance malus.
• Parade: Units which exist to look impressive and be prestigious assignments, all other functions long-withered. Huge performance malus.
• Imperial: Units with truly exceptional technological trappings, bionics and training. Huge performance increase.
• Companion: Exceptionally loyal and with improved morale. Otherwise, a minor performance increase.
• Old Guard: La garde meurt et ne soumet pas. Units that have been fire-hardened by unfathomable amounts of fighting, which provides a huge performance increase but such units can only be replenished through consolidation.
• Immortal: Troops raised from birth in a particular martial tradition, for whom killing is a first language. Huge performance increase, but recruitable only through events.
• Green: Good times make soft men. Automatically applied to Line Units recruited in peacetime, general performance malus.
• Mercenary: Only cost $$$, never Green but also cannot be Companions. Unlike regular units, all that matters is paying them on time.

Common Units

Firangi Squad (Melee Infantry) - Common soldiers armed with three weapons: a molecular steel longsword, a short oscilloknife and a subsonic dart-thrower with poisoned or explosive tips.

• Tags: Tier 1
• Cost: TBD

Sauterelles Squad (Ranged Infantry) - Sharpshooters named after their great shoulder-carried variable-speed rifles, found in all modern militaries.

• Tags: Tier 1
• Cost: TBD

Aerochar Unit (Armored) - Mobile fortresses buoyed by suspensor fields, these craft terrorize infantry with flamethrowers and crush them under the gravitic 'wake' created by their primary drive.

• Tags: Tier 1
• Cost: TBD

Akinci Flight (Aerospace) - A common pattern of multirole tiltjet, with a small transport bay, advanced CnC avionics and armed with ground-strike kinetics and thermobaric missiles.

• Tags: Tier 1
• Cost: TBD

Standard-Bearer (Champion) - A high honor among Pariya armies, the Standard-Bearer is responsible for the care of the legion standard and the performance of regimental music. He will also be called upon to minister to troops, execute stratagems in the field and may be the chosen champion in duels.

• Tags: Tier 1
• Cost: TBD

Cockatrice Battery (Artillery) - Exceptionally common mobile rocket artillery batteries, primarily carrying either thermobaric warheads or shield-penetrating corrosive payloads.

• Tags: Tier 1
• Cost: TBD

Rare Units

Grenadier Squad (Melee Infantry) - These veteran soldiers are found in great numbers among the armies of the Hindstadt, combining skilled swordsmanship and skill with explosives.

• Tags: Tier 2
• Cost: TBD, Old Guard

Imperial Vettakarn Squad (Ranged Infantry) - A prestigious Imperial sharpshooter force composed of noble sons drawn up from the consort families at the margins of the Imperial house and other sons-of-socialites in the capital region. The recent patronage of the Marquise zu Menkent, a famous mistress of the Emperor has seen them outfitted with the finest weapons and armor available.

• Tags: Tier 3, Imperial, Political
• Cost: TBD

Desolator (Armored) - House Menkent's infamous superheavy hovertanks are armed with thermonuclear boreguns that can knife through shields at close range and atomize opposing troop formations. Their only weakness is their antiquated sensors and shoddy computer systems, which have not been updated in centuries.

• Tags: Tier 4, Late
• Cost: TBD

Hatzegopteryx Flight (Aerospace) - These gorgeous flying machines were created by House Quess in great numbers by a reclusive master ornithwright who tragically perished when a splinter of Old Machines invaded their fief-world from a hidden darkspace terminal. Quess' airforce became hardened veterans in the years of fighting that followed, but every one of their craft is now an irreplaceable antique.

• Tags: Tier 4, Parade, Old Guard
• Cost: TBD

Misthia of the Azmidi School (Champions) - The penultimate rank in a sect of all-female swordfighters, the Misthia serve as trainers and mercenary field commanders to various noble houses.

• Tags: Tier 3, Mercenary
• Cost: TBD

Imperial Illuminator (Artillery) - A minor court noble with powerful Phosphor abilities manifesting as spontaneous electromagnetic discharges within line of sight that play havoc with shields and cause common ground troops to combust violently. Illuminators are recognizable by their reflective garb and the permanent, deep tan that blankets all their exposed flesh.

• Tags: Tier 4, Imperial
• Cost: TBD