The Nine stars Coalition Factbook [FT]

[Tannelorn]

The Nine Stars coalition

The Nine Stars coalition is a moderate sized interstellar realm consisting of nine major colonies and 11 outposts, with the largest concentration located in the gamma quadrant. The people of tannelorn pride themselves on their large and powerful military forces and total self reliance. Tannelornians have always been a nation of explorers and adventurers, since the earliest days of their founding on mars and in the asteroid belts of old Terra. It is named for the 5 surviving colonies and 4 major outposts of the old Tannelornian Federation that survived the collapse of the region known as the Central Republic

Today the Tannelornian people find themselves exiting a period of long isolation following the total collapse of their prime colonies, 14 star systems in the galactic northwestern fringe. The cause is not known however large numbers of drone ships and battlesats still prowl the haunted space ways and ruins that dot the planets of the central republic, as it had been know. They usually warn curious vessels away with threats of destruction, failing that they attack ferociously until the invader has fled, or been destroyed.

The core systems collapsed, however Tannelorns holdings within the Charybdis and Aqueous clusters survived unharmed and with intact portions of the Mass train system. This system was able to provide the old Tannelornian empire with unlimited resources and a manufacturing sector that could provide for every single Tannelornian in luxury. Now however, expansion and reclamation of lost territories is hampered by the lack of ability to expand the mass train, which leaves outposts and colonies requiring a large military presence for many years . This is in part due to the large pirate and warlord presence in the gamma sector itself.


History of the Nine Star Coalition

None alive remember the reasons the original Tannelornians left earth, or the travails the early colonists faced, though many legends persist. The Knights of Tannelorn, who once protected the Nine Star Coalition feature prominently upon them. Great wars were fought and won, and many great works were achieved. Slowly though, the nation started to enter a decline. The nation fragmented, split apart and warred with itself till there was only one bloody victor. The Grand duke of the Grahfsbergs, asteroid cities responsible for the maintenance and production of Tannelorns fleets. Though he lost his life in the final battles of the first civil war, his vision went on to shape the destiny of Tannelorn for years to come

All was well under Jan Alberecht's successor, Ibram Yannef. The Tannelornians once more looked towards distant stars..as they reconnected with old allies. This golden age did not last however. Shortly new enemies reared their heads and the Tannelornians and their allies entered in to a lengthy period of cold war. As the war went hot and battle raged all around them, Second Lord Ryan Abarrakh, master of the extra solar fleets, sided with the Scientist Gregor Yenezlev and launched a coup against their leaders, slaying Ibram Yannef and scattering much of the grahfsberg's own knights to the stars. Utterly crushing the Knights of the Divine Kingdom. They killed those that were present on their home world to the last man..and took their children, forging them in to a new legion of Knights for the Prefecture of Tannelorn. Zealously loyal to the concepts of democracy and the Tannelornian federation near communist ideals, they lead the way in the new realms war against those that managed to escape the coup.

It lasted nearly thirty years. The Knights loyal to the old heir's King Richter Alberecht and slain Praetor launched a war of vengeance, striking and retreating before retribution could arrive. Time and again the Loyalists were chased from their lairs, only to reestablish new strongholds from which to continue their war.

In this time the Federation made great strides.mastering the arts of genetics and stealing the secrets of the Nova Pancrea and its latent psychic abilities from the knights of the former divine kingdom.

The Knights which had long been.lauded for their martial prowess, were now one unified force instead of many.disparate houses. All loyal to High lord Ryan Abbarakh through the Nova Pancrea, nano machine colonies that rebuilt the knights in to genetically engineered killing machines had also continued to be experimented upon. They created limited batches of superior, though sometimes unstable troops, some of which had vastly increased psychic potential.

The Loyalists were not unaware of this, and took many who did not wish to follow the Prefecture in to their fold. The war continued unabated until the federation civil war ended in victory for the forces of Ryan Abbarakh and the near annhillation of the old loyalists knights. It was not without cost. The old knight loyalists unleashed a terrifying and previously unknown bio weapon upon the Tannelornian realm in the cluster. Eighteen worlds died in a single day, leaving only the sector capital of Solstice and the fleet base at Vigilance sound. This was the turning point, it would be considered the end of the knights of Tannelorn, the Grahfsberg federation switched sides. They lead the Tannelornian forces to the secret lairs of the knights and in the end those that survived the great purge were relegated to mere pirates and brigandry. Doomed to haunt the space lanes forevermore, never able to stay in one place too long lest agents of justice come for them.

Tannelorn spent the next several hundred years in a period of self imposed near isolation as it prepared to fight battles against the many alliances that existed at that time. Many events transpired during this era, but none of which lead to a full scale war. So the Tannelornians reauthorized the exploratory fleets and entered in to a new period of scientific discovery. Fleets uncovered wonders on the edges of the galaxy..and beyond. Expeditions were sent to the Large magellanic cloud and the sculptor galaxy in search of answers to mysteries left over from Tannelorns early colonization attempts.

Tannelorns ancient allies the Aumanii were rediscovered after the events of the final battle for hellespontos, when the two peoples were separated by bloodshed and internal strife. The banner of the vascilian league flew proudly once more between them. Then disaster struck. Without warning high command recalled the merkava drone factory vessels. Following this the borders of the Tannelornian Central Republic were closed. Contact was intermittent for 32 years then stopped.

The first expedition to the Central republic was repulsed, as was the second and third. The fourth was able to glean some information from the world of Hopes light, a non descript rocky world orbiting a red dwarf. Hopes light had been the first world terraformed by Tannelorn, hundreds of years earlier. They discovered that there had been a collapse of the mass train network followed by an invasion by a horror from the darkness between the galaxies. The destruction was primarily self inflicted, logs indicated that the defenders would destroy those they protected rather then allow them to fall prisoner to whatever it was that had attacked them. Evidence indicated a small portion of the mass train had been operational at least until the end, but further investigation proved impossible.

Following this civil strife was rife in Tannelorn. The prime colonies of each surviving Tannelornian sector had all declared themselves the rulers of the Federation. This was resolved by the reformation of the government. The Tannelornian Coalition formed in 928 AF [After Flight a reference to their first journey to mars nearly one thousand years ago]. It was a representative democracy with a council made up of planetary leaders as the primary executive arm. Each planetary leader is chosen by the dictates of their world, though most are democratically elected, barring the Grahfbergers or citizens of the world of the Divine kingdom. They rule with the consent of three parliamentary bodies. The house of Iron, which is the Wardens voice. The Parliament, which is the civilian body politic and the Science Advisory which makes up the third and final body.

They spent the next few decades arming and training a large military force while doing all they could to expand the mass train, but without the detailed knowledge of how it was built and controlled, there could be no expansion and any attempt to rebuild their lost glory would be severely hampered. Worse it was unknown what had happened to the force that had destroyed the Central Republic, which had consisted of the greater part of old Tannelorn and the mass train, as well as the near limitless fleets of drone ships and armies of drone soldiers Old tannelorn could produce.

Though the Coalition could produce large amounts of drones, it could not expand its ability and the area it could protect. That coupled with the fear that whatever destroyed the central republic was still out there, meant that colonization efforts of the last eighty nine years were slow and fraught with peril. Particularly when the mass exodus of refugees in the gamma quadrant turned in to a mass of pirates and warlords. This made protecting each new colony far more expensive and time consuming. Still the Coalition has risen to nine major colonies and eleven outposts, from a low of five major colonies and four outposts.

Coalition high command has grown impatient with the progress being made on reclaiming many old holdings and has been building up a body of intelligence in preparation to clear the Gamma sector holdings, and hopefully gamma itself, of piracy.

[Tannelorn]

Part 2 national statistics

Size and composition of the Tannelornian coalition

The Tannelornian coalition is composed of nine major systems and eleven outposts at current and over sixteen billion citizens. The heregenes plague which was unleashed by the knight loyalists at the end of the civil war over two hundred years ago devastated all sides, killing 4/5ths of the population and rendering many worlds unclaimable. At its height the Prefecture controlled fourty seven systems and had a population of nearly fourty billion. To make up for the loss in worker and soldier potential, the High lord protector nstituted the Good helpers program, whereby all menial and low level labour would forevermore be done by simple bio-mech drones. He instituted vast educational reforms including retraining of all surviving population.

This in turn lead to a very intelligent and capable work force and soldiery, assisted in all tasks by bio-mech drones, This enables the Tannelornians to devote themselves to the arts, sciences and warfare, without fear of taking too much from their economy.

Tannelornians speak a language that is a mixture of old german and english, though the Prefecture spoke only old english. The Grahfsbergs exclusively speak German, which is why the mixed language has become what is known as Tannelornian common.

There is no official religion, however the religion of the Seuldira, that praises the star's and espouses personal choice and freedom is the most common.

Number of Systems: 9 major systems 11 outposts
Capital World: Verdant Horizon
Official language: Tannelornian common
Population: 16 billion and rising
Population makeup: 51% human 21% Seuldiran 5% halfbreed 9% octonoid 3% Var 11% Zhuk
Official religion: None
Size of armed forces in peace time: Tannelornian Wardens Elite regular forces: 1.2 million personnel Fleet size 205 vessels [100 drone destroyers 50 heavy frigates, 25 heavy destroyers 15 battle carriers, 12 dreadnoughts, 3 supraluminal battle fortresses. Drone fleets [Scientific Authority Exploratory Spacy] Unknown, hundreds in active duty, thousands in strategic reserve, approximately 225 in service with Home guard [225 drone destroyers,40 drone heavy frigates, 30 heavy frigates, 5 heavy destroyers], 100 in service with Tannelornian Wardens Spacy. Home Guard [Reserves] active [225 drone destroyers,40 drone heavy frigates, 30 heavy frigates, 5 heavy destroyers] In dry dock reserve [24 Old class Heavy destroyers. 200 honour blade heavy frigates.]

Military Forces

The nine star Coaltion has three distinct military branches. The first is the Coalition Wardens, the coalitions small but elite regular forces. The second is the Home Guard, which is made up of ordinary men and women who volunteer to fight and is the Coalitions defensive Army. Finally the Scientific advisory is solely responsible for all of the military drones in the Coalition, and commands the drone fleets from their Exploratory cruisers.

The Coalition Wardens.

First amongst Equals, the Wardens are the descendants of the nights that protected Tannelorn in the past. Chosen at 12 during rigorous testing, they train for 8 years before they are placed in their units for their first actions. They receive the finest weapons and equipment, including light PeG's and Plasma rail guns, and hardier, shielded power armour suits. However the greatest boon is the intense genetic and nano modification they receive. They are far stronger, faster and hardier then a standard human, with better reflexes and aim and focus that can only be matched by computers, in fact wardens often disable their auto assist features in their exoskeletons as they feel it hampers their accuracy. In hand to hand combat they are fierce and deadly opponents, equipped with many powered close combat weapon types.

It is their minds, however that are their deadliest weapons. Trained on tactics and strategy from the age of 12 each commander is capable of making battlefield decisions without needing to consult his superiors and is willing to use whatever means are necessary to win a battle. Unlike their ancestors they do not shy away from asymmetrical warfare if it will get the job done.

The wardens have the finest ships and most advanced combat vehicles and equipment in the Coalition, and combine it with iron hard discipline, dedicated training and unwavering loyalty to the 9 stars coalition.

Total number of personnel [marines and spacy] 1.2 million

The Home guard

The Wardens are considered the primary aggressor arm of the Coalition, the home guard is the defensive wing. The home guard are only ever allowed to send a small portion of their forces out in support of the Wardens beyond their borders. This is due to a law stating that 90% of the Home guard must be deployed within the Coalitions borders at all times. Member minimally must train 2 days a week after receiving their year of basic training. Many people who did not make the cut during the 8 years of training in the Wardens, make their way to the Home guard, where their talents and skills are still greatly appreciated.

The Home guard has three branches. The spacy, the Army and the land ship fleets [which are also capable of surface and submarine warfare on or in water] The spacy protects the space ways and warp routes between the worlds of the coalition while the army and Land ship corp protect the planets themselves.

Most home guard platoons are organized around the one [sometimes two] squad that trains religiously or have even seen action. This ensures that there is a solid core to a formation as it is deployed, as training can be quite variable between individuals. Each Home Guard is a well trained and drilled warrior, however the level of training means that there are some very elite units in the Home Guard alongside some rather..passable quality personnel. However in a time of war those who are less capable tend to be sifted out and placed in details where they will not likely see action, while those with talent are grouped together in to action divisions.

During peace time most of their ships remain in drydock. This is to save money on refits as once war is declared, they will then load the latest and most potent weapons and shields in to their vessels, rather then continue a process of upgrades that never see use.

Active personnel 10 million



Technology

Power Generation.

Most Tannelornian power generation is based off of Fission-Fragment reactors. Which work by rapidly slowing ions released from nuclear fission. They are around ninety five percent efficient in conversion to energy and more compact then comparable Fusion reactors used in Tannelorn. They have been in use for thousands of years and Tannelornian science has refined them to an artform. They are compact and as efficient as the best Fusion drives available to other races. These serve as main power generation facilities aboard space craft, colonies and in cities.

Tannelornians also use regular Fission reactors as secondaries. Ultra compact and efficient these reactors tend to be used as power sources for external Fission-Fragment Rocket engines used on Tannelornian sub craft, personal vehicles and heavy power armour suits. Radioisotope decay reactors also serve a similiar purpose as well as powering houses and personal exoskeletons and space suits.

Heavy ships, particularly those armed with spinal Grasers or heavy strategic grasers, as well as space time compressors are usually powered by an anti matter reactor, as much to generate gamma radiation as to provide large amounts of power.

More efficient isotopes and racial resistance to radiation has lead Fission to be much safer and require far less shielding then on a comparable reactor. This does however lead to Tannelornian equipment to be somewhat radioactive, and long term exposure is easily able to harm races who are not as cellularly robust.

Propulsion

Tannelornians first went to the stars in Nuclear pulse propulsion, and this technology still sees use today on tugs and freighters as well as military craft.

Modern military ships carry several hundred, to thousand tons of Antimatter enriched uranium pellets, capable of gigaton level explosions. The technological advances in magnetic fields enable the mag shilef to be used as a pusher plate, which could be directed anywhere on the ship that there is plasma shielding, though it is most commonly directed out of the rear. Thanks to Magnetic fields replacing physical pusher plates, they can withstand an astonishing number of pulses. Accelleration in the hundreds of thousands of G's is available in short bursts, though Artificial gravity can only hold it for a few seconds at most, before splattering the crew against the inner compartments of the ship. Therefore its used for emergency thrust in combat.

The other Drive used on vessels in the Western Empire is the Fission Fragment rocket. It works by directing atoms from a fission reaction out of the back of the engine using magnetic Mirrors. It has a very high specific impulse rate and fuel is relatively light, consisting of bundles of synthesised radioactives. The Fission Fragment Rocket has since been refined over nearly a thousand years of use, it in combination with antimatter induced Nuclear mag pulse propulsion was used to drive Tannelornian vessels at speeds of up to eighty percent the speed of light.

Nuclear rockets of all types, using liquid fuel are also common amongst civilian designs.

Genetic Engineering.

Tannelornians have all been genetically engineered to extreme extents, further aiding their resistance to radiation, hardened cardio pulminary systems, toughened bones and skin cells, as well as improved vision, reflexes, hearing and strength. They are also able to hibernate, which was considered very important to long range colonisation efforts. All Tannelornians were Genetically modified in this way, and The Tannelornian Knights reflect this in their toughness and martial prowess.

They have also perfected organic nano machines that lengthen lifespans and improve upon the already formidable enhancements, including enhanced regenerative abilities, offered by simple stem cell manipulation. These are the sole propriety of the Wardens, who are the only ones who can use them thanks to years of rigorous selection trials weeding out those who would not survive the interfacing.

Bio-Mechs Good helpers

Bio mechs come in all shapes and sizes, but the most common are the worker varieties, billions of these machines labor for the people of Tannelorn, in fact many laborer jobs are based around orchestrating large groups of these creatures. They are based upon a colony insect mentality with the intelligence of a six year old. Very friendly and sociable they are fixture of Divine Kingdom society, and can always be seen going to and fro with some task.

They live a maximum of fifty years, a tenth as long as the average Tannelornian, due to their heart literally being a nuclearisotope decay reactor. However they are very capable and intensely loyal to their masters.

One of Jan's edicts were to send Good helpers to nearby systems, and set up mining infrastructure in nearby "dead" worlds. These use independent, self replicating cyborg drones [using animals as the base brain] to colonize and mine these dead systems. They send the resources back to the main systems through the use of Slower then light "trains" moving at nearly 80% c, the flow of material in to Tannelorn will literally never cease. Already those systems linked by Tanhausser gate are producing extremely high volumes of manufactured goods for the civilised worlds to use.

This is a key factor in their ecological strategy, as well as economic. It leaves the colony worlds generally untouched by mining concerns leaving the planet as pristinely as they found it. Having become accustomed to life in space, religious Tannelornians consider themselves only to be visitors to a world. This makes up a small but surprisingly unified voting block and their environmental demands are not lost on politicians.

Weaponry and defenses

Tried and true weapons perfected and refined over a millenia are Tannelornians favoured weapons. Though Ryan Abarakh experimented with many different weapon technologies,

Grasers/Xasers: The primary beam weapon used by Tannelornians is the Graser and the Xaser. They are always bomb pumped, as larger vessels are capable of producing new ammunition in internal autofacs. Grasers are essentially a massive magnetic pair of rails in which the explosion is channeled, each bomb packet contains all the neccessary lensing materials and is contained by the rails heavy plasma shields. The explosion is totally clean and induced by a small amount of antimatter, allowing for much more reactant material for the beam itself.

Xasers are always smaller and highly focused to penetrate shields and along with heavy particle beams act as primary engagement weapons on most Tannelornian ships. Some vessels carry multiple strategic grasers and dozens of heavy particle beams and xasers as primary engagement weapons.

ETC cannons : Despite advances in Magnetic field technology Tannelornians never develoiped their mass catapults in to a weapon, instead using tried and true Electro thermal Chemical technologies. Refined to the point of nearly matching most rail gun technology in velocity, the ETC's are further aided by Personal versions of ETC weapons were once the mainstay with soldiers, and tended only to use the rocket propelled ultra dense rounds. Though specialist flash and Xas rounds exist for larger calibers [20 mm or more]

Vehicle ETC come in the following size and types

20mm automatic fire [PCF]
35 mm automatic fire [PCF]
50-90 mm automatic fire [HMF AFV Fighters]
120 mm single fire [HMF AFV]
120 mm autofire [HMAF's]
140 mm single fire [HMF AFV]
140 mm autofire [HMAF PDS on ships]
330mm single fire [HMAF PDS on ships
330mm Autofire [HMAF Ships]
specialised ammunitions, namely Xaser rounds, Rocket propelled rounds, gras bomb and Nuclear rounds.
These weapons are rarely used on modern Tannelornian vehicles but remain in the Home Guards armories.

Xaser and Nuclear rounds are primarily used in space. Each one contains a blast of multiple kilotons to gigatons in scope, and is easily capable of causing extreme damage to earth bound targets. The rocket propelled variety however is multipurpose and the rocket ignites immediately upon leaving the barrel. The shell goes through such extreme accelleration that it actually has to be dialed down in atmosphere and provides a more then adequate punch against shielded and armoured targets alike. The Gras Bomb round is a round designed for earth use to clear pockets of resistance. They use a bomb with isotopes designed specifically for the flash effect. They have a radius anywhere from five to five hundred meters.


Particle Beams: Tannelornian Particle beams are highly adaptive and versatile, serving as primary armaments on many sub craft and ships. As well small rifle versions are available to infantry.

They are extremely powerful and capable anti ship weapons being able to be used against a wide variety of shield and ship types, this weapon ensures that Tannelornian vessels are never without the right weapon for the job.

Pulse Energy Projectile weapons.

Pulse energy projectiles use a laser to ablate material or particles against a force shield which causes a plasma to form. The secondary pulse of the firing action causes the plasma to explode. This attack can be dialed up in force to become quite lethal and devastating. PeGs come in many sizes. A dual purpose PeG/Electrolaser makes up the primary small arm of the Home Guard. Weapons large enough to mount on star ships are being experimented with however the largest standard use PeG is a tank mounted cannon.

Electro Lasers are similar, with the laser instead heating up a channel of air until it becomes plasma, then firing an electric shock down the tunnel in the air. It all occurs in a fraction of a second but is a capable weapon. Useful not only as an infantry or anti tank weapon but as a missile or kinetic round interceptor as well. PeGs can be built to act as PeGs or Electro lasers with a setting switch.

Missiles:

Tannelornian missiles are of a dizzying variety, though intensely miniaturised. They are capable of PDS, ship to ship and ship to ground operations. There standard payload consists of usually a massive AM induced Hydrogen bomb, or a Large Graser or Xaser beam. In all other aspects though, Tannelorian missiles are rather average, if numerous addition to their arsenal. OF all the missiles the Gras and Xas warhead variants are the most fearsome, allowing any class of vessel from sub craft up to carry a massive energy weapon, if only for a few shots. Many forms of drone missile are also used which can jam enemy sensors, act as shielding fot a short time, or be used as a mag lense to redirect a gras or xas missiles beam.

Weapons of mass destruction

Within the Arsenal are numerous types of weapon of mass destruction. From the nine hundred thousand ton drone controlled ship bombs, to the ancient 20 km diameter Angurvadal Graser array that protects the world of the Divine kingdom.

There are numerous large graser platforms in use, from dedicated monitor ships to the leviathan Dyrnwyn Array. Each of these weapons are capable of targeting multiple ships and other space borne objects during phenomenally long beam lengths. The Angurvadal array is capable of maintaining its beam for over a minute, which enables it to sweep its devastating light over entire formations of ships.
Monitors can only maintain there beam durations for a 10-20 seconds depending on the make.

Planet killers are seldom used, however Ship bombs can be armed with multiple different war heads. The kinetic penetrator and Antimatter warheads are quite suitable to destroy the average, unshielded moon or render a planet uninhabitable. The graser warhead is capable of firing a beam with a length of nearly 45 seconds and surving long enough to change the direction of the beam, making it an excellent fleet support weapon. The Area denial system accelerates to twenty percent the speed of light before detonating and releasing a cloud of kinetic penetrators in a semi circular pattern.

These weapons were all designed, tested and in some cases used far in the ancient past, and though they do not authroise their use lightly, the Coalition has no qualms about stockpiling large amounts of these weapons, in the hopes that they will never have to be used on an inhabited world.

Shielding

Tannelornian ships use a simple albeit effective combination of shielding consisting a magnetic effector shield for kinetic attacks, as well as a high electron field to repel lasers and beam attacks. The electrons disperse an incoming beam attacks radiation and scatters it, while Magnetic fields intercept projectiles and missiles. The shields are able to withstand damage until the emitters begin to overheat, causing the systems to fail.

Aether Polarised Armour. A current is run through the ship armour to make it stronger in polarised armour, in Aether polarised armour a current of darl energy is run through the armour. This has the effect of stabilising its form and shape, acting as a binding force, offering better protection then polarised armour normally would, as well as more esoteric forms of protection. These disable the ability of Transporters or Temporal style weapons to by pass the hull and transport people or warheads in to Tannelornian ships, as well as holding its form together in the Aether and other dimensions of pure energy.

All in all Aether armour is more of a defense against Esoteric technologies then mundane ones, though the electric current running through does have quite an effect on the armour's strength.

FTL technology and Aether Technology

Initially Tannelornians expanded through the use of STL travel, then Space time compressors to open wormholes to travel vast distances. This drive however was too large and expensive for any ship less then a kilometer in length.

So the scientists of Tannelorn worked diligently using many examples of captured enemy FTL and eventually settled on the Warp drive first theorized by an earth scientist named Miguel Alcubierre. It is relatively slow but can be mounted on a vessel as small as a hundred meters and six thousand tons. Over the years it has become far smaller and faster then its original specification, capable of speeds of nearly 14 light years a day..

Tachyon sensors work by generating a large number of tachyons, and broadcasting them in a wide sphere for combat purposes, or in a thin beam for long range detection up to several light years. This functions much like old earth sonar and ladar in principle. Highly specialized drones can drastically increase the accuracy and range of the ping.

The other form of FTL is space time compression to create a worm hole at a jump point. The distance travelled is only limited by the power provided and time dilation endured. This form of FTL is only found on battle carriers or Battle fortresses.

High maneuver frames

HMF's are humanoid fighter craft developed first as space work vehicles and later turned to combat after advanced neural link devices were found to work much better with a humanoid shape. The introduction of high end Fusion thrusters enables them to act not only as walkers, but as hover attack vehicles as well. They are very well armoured and shielded, suitable for use in space and ground warfare as main combat units.

Morning Ray

The Morning ray is the only regular force HMF or VMF, and it is a heavily updated version of the original morgenstrahl design. It was built in the tens of thousands and is known as a tough, fast and well armed design with unmatched reliability, which is why it is still in service despite the introduction of HMAFs, which are vastly superior in space superiority and fleet strike role. It is used exclusively by the Wardens and remains a link to their past they are loathe to give up.
High maneuver mode https://imgur.com/El97dQM
High Speed mode https://imgur.com/Rp6jZZW https://imgur.com/r7ctavG
Height;7.1 meters
weight 51 tons
Length [interceptor] 9.7 meters
Armament. two arm mounted weapon pods, Usually particle beams or heavy PeG. Internal missile bay with 40 high maneuver warheads. PeG PDS and Interceptors.

HMF


HMAF's

HMAFs are heavy space Fighters that are used in strike missions. The Largest are equivalent in offensive capability to escort vessels. Lighter HMF's and sub craft are normally used as added point defense to capital vessels as well as escorts for strike missions carried out by their larger cousins.HMAFs are directly analogous to many nations corvette and even escort frigate vessels, only with 2-3 crew members and a vast reduction in size and mass to go along with the vastly reduced crew. HMAFS are often far more agile then corvettes, as the pilots are buckled in to crash couches and less power is needed to maintain normal earth gravity in motion.

HMAF 07 Solar Ray
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... PHMAF2.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... ngRay1.jpg
Length sixty meters
width sixteen meters
height eight meters
armament
Two light anti ship xaser's, Two hundred Anti fighter missiles, six weapon drone pods variable armament
2x 90mm autofire ETC PDS systems
The Solar ray was the mainstay HMAF ofthe PreFecture, smaller then the Entropy and able to be carried in huge numbers with fleets, they made up the main stay of the long range strike forces of carrier ships. They are very well armed and a threat to even large capital ships in numbers thanks to their large compliment of missiles and drones, and very threatening to smaller ships thanks to their light Xaser armament. Even to this day thousands are in use all over the Tannelornian Coalition

HMAF-06 Entropy
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... 1241974519
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... 1241974519
Length 153 meters [with heavy Xaser]
width 48 meters
height 19 meters
Armament 1 heavy Xaser many missiles and PDS
12 Anti ship missiles two heavy Anti ship arc beam rods.
Propulsion Fission Fragment enginesx6 verniers x 32, Nuclear pulse drive
This was the Knights of the Prefectures answer to the Algol HMAF. Heavily updated it was armed with a much larger primary weapon and a large ETC cannon instead of the two heavy particle beams. Though smaller and less rugged then the Algol, it was more capable against heavy capital ships in numbers, though less capable against other HMAF's. Today there are only about eight hundred remaining in service, though there is no showing that it may be replaced any time soon as it is the primary heavy HMAF of the Aqueous clusters Spacy.

Capital Ships

Tannelornians eschew escorts thanks to the use of Heavy HMAF's in their place. Though they must be carried, they along with the large compliments of daughter craft make up a Coalition fleets escort capability..at least within system. Warden vessels are made to exacting standards of quality. They are simply the best equipped, best armed and best crewed vessels in the entire Empire. They make up a quarter of Tannelorns fleet strength.

Aside from sheer quality, Warden vessels and Home guard vessels are often the same designs, though the Home guard has many refit ready older ships in drydock, waiting for the call to war.

All other vessels are armed with Xasers and Particle beams, and rely on Gras missiles for fleet defense duties. Regular force ships also require twice the crew of warden vessels, so they are not as capable as equivalent sized warden ships.

The Bio-mech fleets were Jan Alberecht II ace in the hole against his Solar rivals. Now they serve as the Coalitions main patrol craft and bulk fleets. They can be mass produced very quickly to be used as cannon fodder, and in any situation deemed to dangerous for live crews, they will always be used as a first wave. They are adequate, though old designs and only refits can be programmed in to the Melkaba system, not new designs. The vast majority are killer whale class Destroyers. A typical drone ship capable of independent operations, fleet escort and line ship duties, it is light however, at only nine hundred thousand tons compared to the typical heavy frigates mass of two million seven hundred thousand tons.

The Coalition uses an atypical classing convention as follows.

Heavy HMAF- comparable escort destroyers, requires tender for long duration operations [two weeks or more]
Frigate-Escort ship of the line.
Heavy frigate- Escort ship of the line, designed for fleet actions though capable of independent operation-comparable to a light cruiser.
Destroyer- Primary combat vessel, analogous to light cruiser with emphasis on independent operation as well as fleet duties.
Heavy Destroyer- Analogous to heavy cruiser.
Dreadnought-Battlecruiser/fast battleship
Battlecarrier-Battlecruiser/fleet carrier
Leviathan-super capital, also known as Battle fortresses.




Home Guard Vessels

The category Home Guard refers to the old Federation designs which still serve as the main stay of what is referred to as the Coalition Home Guard. Technologically they are not as advanced as Warden vessels, being of far older construction they are unable to take advantage of the newest advances in ship design and weaponry, which Is why they have been relegated to the strategic reserve.
They are universally armed with heavy particle beams, X ray lasers and a large compliment of missiles, usually graser warhead to make up for their lack of heavy main strategics. They serve as standard line ships. Wardens do have access to newer ships in theory, however peace time budgets for the home guard are less oriented on ships and more oriented on planetary defense.

Regular Force ships.

These ships are manned entirely by crews of volunteer soldiers. Ships and their attendant marines are considered far too important to man with conscripts, which are left purely in garrison and self defense positions.

Solaris class Heavy destroyer.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... 1241970462
Pictured with Honour Class light cruisers and Light class Battle cruiser in the colours of the Eastern march.
Length 1023 meters
Height 210 meters
Width 132 meters.
Armament 8 Heavy Particle beams, 8 330 mm autofire ETC, 2 Ultra heavy Anti capital Xasers PDS x many 20 missile tubes.
Sub Craft Compliment: 75 HMF 10 Shining Ray HMAF may tow 4 Entropy HMAF's
crew 2500 [includes 500 marines]
FTL: Warp Drive

This is the oldest vessel in the Home Guard. It is based on an ancient vessel, used long ago during the first hellesponto's war. In its service life it has been a battle carrier, then a dreadnought and finally a heavy Destroyer. It is slow and cumbersome to maneuver but it does have a great deal of armour and shielding. It is a hardy ship and almost 25 in strategic reserve and there are still 5 in service with the current home guard.

Honour class heavy frigate http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... 1241970463
Length 380 meters
width 72 meters
height 62 meters.
Weaponry 2 x heavy xaser, 1 x 330 mm spinal ETC autofire, 8 missile tubes [turret weapon] 6 medium particle beams.
Daughter Craft capacity 12 HMF
Crew 300 [194 marines 12 pilots.]
The honour class heavy frigate was built shortly after the end of the coup as a light capital escort to the Solaris class. It is a dependable design, based on the Schwert class knight vessel, though it is primarily a missile/ordnance ship. Its heavy ETC cannon and missile launchers capable of mounting deadly assaults with kinetic or graser/xaser ordnance against enemy fleets. It is this versatility that has lead to it's construction in massive numbers, and continued use. There are thirty in service, evenly distributed between the various Home guard commands, with several hundred more in drydock, slumbering, awaiting conflict those who train to command them hope never comes.



Bio-mech Drone ships.

These vessels serve as the wolf packs of tannelorns fleets and are fully and solely under the control of the Grand Duke himself. They are crewed solely by an organic brain computer which is patterned after terran wolves. They are brutal in combat, using similiar tactics on a three dimensional battlefield. The alpha wolf heavy destroyer acts as combat group leader and the others obey without question, even ramming enemy vessels to ensure the success of their mission.

They are designed to be easy to mass produce and they stand up well in heavy ship to ship action as a result of their rugged simplicity. They are small so they can be produced so quickly that the number in service could easily be quintupled in number in a few months.

There are two designs. The alpha wolf heavy destroyer, armed with 16 heavy particle beams and the Beta wolf destroyer, armed with 8 heavy particle beams and a heavy Xaser. Their missile armament is light and designed for PDS and ECM interference, though they do carry Xaser missiles for anti shipping and ground support. They are both equipped with heavy stealth and ECM systems to help them in their mission of asset removal and supply chain disruption. They do however carry massive amounts of Young wolf HMF drones and are known to use their good helpers to build larger missiles which they tow in to position for use in ambush and raids.

Alpha wolf
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... 1241970579
Beta Wolf
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... 1241970579
Young Wolf VMF [Based on the original morgenstrahl design.]
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o133 ... 1241970579
[shown in both configurations]

[Tannelorn]

Part 3 Culture and races of the Western Empire.

Culture

The Culture of the Western Empire is deeply ingrained in ancient myths of the time before the people of Tannelorn came to the world of their empire' name sake. All is known is that the people were fleeing a war that had raged for a hundred years.

The only thing that can be verified at this time was that there were at least four factions, under the rulership of the first king, a man known as Field Marshall Heimdall Alberecht. Over time the people's merged in to one unified people, within a hundred years of contact with outsiders. They were known as the Unified people's government. Since the fall of their parent civilisation, the Tannelornians economy was heavily influenced by Communist idea's. The reasons are only guessed at but it is surmised that one of the original factions had been communist's, and that the rest agreed to follow suit for the duration of the rebuilding process.

This was not the most important cultural event in their history however, the communist system was never intended to remain in place..however the death of the Field Marshall in 2279 and the ascension of his eldest son, Richter Alberecht to leadership changed everything.

Richter had been obsessed with Charlemagne the great. In the days after the 1st sovereignty war's against alien aggressor's of great technological prowess, which ended in a stalemate, the old man, as he was known..died. He left the seat of power to his eldest son, hoping he would transform the nation in to the republic he hoped it would become. To Jan Alberecht he gave the duty of constructing a space borne infrastructure to better build the fleet's that he would need to defend mars. The first citizens of the Grahfabergs, as they would become known were all soldiers.

On Tannelorn prime, the newly crowned King started to immediately implement reforms. The old armies were disbanded. Instead they were reorganised in to ten houses of Knights, led by loyal staff and the three First Lords to remain with Richter. The other two lords, had left to help found the Grahfsbergs.

These Knights swore oath's to uphold justice, liberty and chivalry, as well as to allow information to flourish and help all those in need. Each Lord would be responsible for all military industries, as well as strategic ones. They in turn would sponsor artists, musicians and entrepreneur's in the new world. Money as it was known was abolished and intermarriage between the Seudira' and Humans was encouraged. To the best of his ability Richter strove to emulate the ideals and accomplishments of an imagined past and the glorified ideal of the founder of the Holy Roman Empire.

This was in stark contrast to his least known but most heinous action. Richter had all knowledge of the people's past, including war machines destroyed. All those who knew were sworn to secrecy under pain of death. Tens of thousands died to keep those secrets. He believed that the society he was creating would be destroyed by infighting, should the ghosts of the past rear their ugly heads once more. Within a hundred years none remembered who the people of Tannelorn, nor the Seuldira truely were, save a handful of men whose live's had been extended by the Nova Pancrea.

In the Grahfsberg's, Jan, who some said was not even a true born son of the Old man, reorganised them in to a strict dictatorship. Civilians had no rights to breed without license, nor did they have any rights to ownership or property. All work was done for the task of strengthening the Tannelornian Spacy. As time passed the new Spacy was born, consisting of the now venerable Schwert and Schild classes of cruiser, as well as the three Supraluminal Battle Fortresses, the Ewegkiet, the Erzengel and the Gottheit. These vessels had the ability to construct new ships, munitions and transport and produce vast quantities of foodstuffs.

In addition to this, these vessels were formidable war ships. With this task complete, the people turned their attention to creating a proper mining infrastructure, using automated bio-mech drone's to seek out new resources, building ever more factories and freighters, ensuring the flow of materiel would never stop. The Culture of the Grahfsberg turned inwardly, those that were not involved in building became involved in works of art and political theorising. A scientific and artisan class developed in the end of the post war boom. The Knights of the Grahfsberg were ever dour and taciturn warrior's. Less interested in Knightly virtue then martial pursuits. Still, they knew something of honour and duty like their kin on Tannelorn.

The realm eventually became known as the Divine Kingdom of Tannelorn, and twenty years after the first Hellespontos war ended with no clear outcome, the second erupted. This time it was no stalemate. Tannelorn and its allies smashed their enemies. Lord Bartfeldt won great reknown in burying his six assigned Schwert cruisers under the sands of the great redoubt, the natural fortification that lay in the path of the enemies land advance. When they sent their entire host against the Tannelornians and their allies, their allies held while they counter attacked, revealing the ships and sending a charge of Knights across the field, supported by the third generation reverse leg HMF, the Nachtjager, in great numbers. They smashed their enemies utterly. In space they jumped in to the battle in force, sending the enemy reeling in confusion and disarray.

This victory lead to the golden age, a time when Tannelorn devoted its mind to exploring the stars and peaceful cooperation. It did not last. Outside powers start to move against the vascilian league itself, as well as within it. The brothers became estranged. Jan attempted to assassinate Richter and failed and a bloody civil war ensued. In the end, the grahfsberg's larger industries and space forces proved decisive. This next era was known as the time of the empty throne.

Though Richter and Jan were both killed during the final battles of the war, the council of high lords, consisting of descendents of the first five lords and a few who earned their rank in the fighting, chose Ibram Yannef as the new Grand duke to lead them.

This reorganisation had the most repercussions. Civilians in the Grahfsberg had fought hard during the war, and demanded recognition. In return Ibram Yannef granted them the right to choose their civilian mayors and officials, though lords would ever remain in command of the military, the automated infrastructure and foreign policy.

So with some renewed self determination, the nation prospered, advancing quickly in the face of hostile powers, slithering in the darkness. After an armada lead by an unknown sith attacked them, seeking to land on mars. The situation quickly deteriorated and within weeks the vascilians were at war. When Ryan Abbarakh was recalled by the high lords he did not come to sweep the enemy from the skies of mars once more, but to sweep the corruption and fear away that had forced tannelorn to stay tied to such an insignifigant planet for so long ..a coup was launched. Though Piotr Tsaratov, third lord of Tannelorn was defeating his enemies, his forces were not in place to stop a coup launched by Lord Ryan Abbarakh and the Proconsul of the Patriarch's council, Gregor Yenislev.

The Lords were forced to flee from their houses, many taking their entire Asteroid domains with them. The coup had been relatively bloodless in space. In the Divine Kingdom on Tannelorn..it was an utter bloodbath. Save those knights fighting over hellespontos, who found themselves abandoned by there fellows as the coup slew the knights and suborned all the forces who could assist them. Thus was the final war of hellespontos lost, and the knights of the six houses not loyal to the Abbarakhs were smashed and scattered.

Only the children were spared, and they were taken and trained to form a new legion of Knights for the Prefecture. Knight's had been far removed from the populace, and were the only people capable of using the nova pancrea to extend their lives and improve their natural psychic talents. They were also born tougher, faster and stronger, more determined then the standard ilk of the land.

By this time most of the people of Tannelorn had spread out amongst the star's. Their culture changed again, an idyllic technocratic paradise was created, ruled on the surface by a democracy encompassing fourty seven star systems. In reality Lord Abarrakh had used this as an attempt to rebuild the ancient empire of the before times..however he lacked the Grand Duke Alberechts technological secret that made the self replicating bio-mech industrial drones a possibility.

It is said that at this time, society is at its closest to what it was before the people that would become tannelornian were forced to come to their new world. People lived, laughed, worked and played, bought and sold as well as explored and invented. Music and artistic media were amongst the highest forms of cultural progression, whereas exploration and scientific discoveries increased life spans, found new sources of resources and power as well as protected their borders.

Then the Central republic, 14 majour colonies collapsed. Which left the remaining Tannelornian holdings scrambling to recover. When the Tannelornian Federation reformed it had become the 9 star Coalition. In the early years of the new alliance the people of the coalition were forced to endure many perils. It was in this time the peoples of the Coalition once more encountered their ancient allies the Aumanii of the Vascilian league. As well the inability to build on to the mass train did not stop them from developing and colonizing new worlds. The nine star coalition had grown from 5 colonies and 4 outposts to 9 fully fledged colonies and 11 outposts, with the ability to provide for, and protect each world under their banner.

This has lead to a new attitude of determination amongst the people to rebuild to the full extent of their old empire and beyond, to create a newer and greater Coalition then has ever existed before.

Though hard working, the people of Tannelorn are ever hopeful for the future. Their immediate goal is to secure their old territories, ensuring they are ready for recolonisation. To this end, the Wardens and Bio-mech fleets constantly patrol the sparsely populated systems, ensuring no one attempts to claim them for themselves.

Environmentalism.

Tannelornians truly care about the ecosystems of the worlds they colonise. In this way, there are strict limits on population growth on these worlds, which has lead to immense colonisation efforts in the past and in the present.

There are several categories of world, each with maximum populations. This is to reduce strain on the biosphere of the world as much as to force the people to spread out. With bio-mechs population is not as important for production or protection, so they can claim a system with far less people then is the average, as they can actually exploit its value.

Agricultural/pleasure world Max pop 50 million
Prime world Mix of industry, agriculture and military max pop 350 million
Military world always barren max pop..as needed.
Industrial worlds, 150 million

People

The Tannelornians are made up of several distinct peoples. Humans, Seuldira, the Zuk and the Octonoids.

The humans of Tannelorn come from a mix of germanic, russian and mongolian/siberian stock, as well as..other. The other stock tends to be almost identical to humans of western europe..or asia aside from a wide variety of hair colours, as well as purplish to pale blue skin. No explanation has ever been given, and is attributed to the early nuclear era, where Fission reactors were the only units that were able to be efficiently used do to a lack of deuterium. This lead directly to the development of modern Fission Fragment as an alternative to the risky Anti matter reactors being experimented on at the time.

It is believed to be a sign of brushes with radiation. .

Seuldira.

The Seuldira were a result of the rescue of a race of aliens known as Elves from a warlike power on Mars. It had been stated by Richter and Jan that the Seuldira were simply clone stock of these elves, mixed with human's to add their psychic ability to their own people, as well as give then a true community. Even that was a lie. It was not so much cloning as selective trait matching and breeding at a lightning pace in birthing vats.

This was actually correct. The Seuldira were nearly human, save for lengthened canines, pointed ears and hair colour ranging from the normal human shades, to greens, blues, and stark reds. The seuldira are well known for their psychic ability, as some are gifted with prescience and empathy, which has managed to filter in to the rest of the population. The talents of improved spatial awareness seemed to be exclusive to normal humans.

The Octonoids

The Octonoids were natives of the planet now known as the Divine Kingdom, within the Charybdis cluster. Though they now share the world with the direct descendants of Richter Alberechts house and loyal nobles, the past was very different. The Tannelornians came to their world centuries ago and were violently attacked upon landing. The resulting battle lasted a day. The nuclear weapons the Tannelornian armies were so fond of had destroyed whole generations of Octonoid young.

Tannelornian scientists managed to reverse the chromosomal damage and saved them, making the octonoids the first client species of the Coalition.
The octonoids are amphibious mollusks, who have 8 legs much like a terran octopus. However the rear facing legs are arranged underneath them, and have rudimentary feet while the 4 forward legs have secondary tentacles attached to them. Intelligent and hardworking, they live on 5 worlds of the Coalition, utilizing the wetlands for agriculture for the benefit of the Coalition.

The octonoids life cycle is very different from our own. As amphibious molluscs a portion of their life cycle is spent in the muddy swamps of their birth. The Divine kingdom, as their world is now known is a world of swamps. Roughly earth sized and slightly heavier. It has no plate tectonics but is orbited by a large sister world with a massive electromagnetic field which protects The divine kingdom.

Breaching the surface in many locations are 17 kilometer deep blue holes, leading in to a nearly 20 kilometer deep world ocean, inhabited by many fantastic, and huge beasts.