Asgard Union - Factbook

[Taerkasten]

The Asgard Union of Taerkasten

The Asgard Union of Taerkasten is a sovereign nation inhabited by members of the Asgard species. It was a mining colony originally established by the Asgard homeworld of Orillia at the edge of the Ida galaxy, left to its own devices for several centuries and ultimately left behind after the destruction of Orillia. The newly-formed Taerkasten High Council declared the colony world independent, and it has become a powerful nation in its own right since.

Planetology

Planet Taerkasten orbits a type G2 yellow dwarf star also called Taerkasten, which is roughly comparable in size, temperature and luminosity to Sol.

The planet itself has a slightly thinner atmosphere, with slightly lower quantities of greenhouse gases, than Earth, meaning the highest and lowest temperatures recorded tend to be slightly more extreme. Overall, though, the planet is similar to Earth.

There are six continents, each of which is considered to be an administrative borough, and a wide range of topography including deserts and jungles around the equator, frozen icecaps on each pole with cold areas of tundra on the northernmost and southernmost areas of the continents, and more temperate wood and grasslands in-between. The planet is particularly famous for having extremely dense foliage, even in the more temperate regions, with comparatively little wildlife, which has given rise to a slightly higher amount of oxygen in the atmosphere than Earth.

The zero line of longitude has been established as running through the central square area of Taerkast City, with most high density industrialised cities being located to the west, and generally more agricultural and scientific areas and low-density towns and cities to the east. Mining takes place in locations all over the surface of the planet, as well as underwater and on both moons.

Asgard technology is clean and environmentally friendly, and has been for millennia, making the planet pollution-free and pleasant to live on. The main environmental issues at present involve the level of mining being undertaken, and fears that any level of mining will destroy the natural habitat. The High Council is attempting to develop a solution to satisfy all parties.

Physical Characteristics:
Mean Radius: 6,472 km
Mean Circumference: 40,120 km
Surface Area: 602,678,005 km²
Land Area: 138,615,941 km² (23%)
Water Area: 464,062,064 km² (77%)
Mass: 6.1736×1024 kg
Equatorial Rotational Velocity: 491.6 m/s

Orbital Characteristics:
Mean Orbital Distance: 1.014 A.U.
Average Orbital Speed: 30.1521 km/s
Satellites: 2 (New Orillia, New Othala)

Atmosphere:
Pressure: 99.1 kPa (sea level)
Composition: 76.7% nitrogen, 22.61% oxygen, 0.6% argon, 0.029 carbon dioxide, trace water vapour

Environment:
Average Surface Temperature: 13.9 °C
Highest Surface Temperature: 62.5 °C
Lowest Surface Temperature: -94 °C
Environment: Frozen northern pole, temperate northern hemisphere, equatorial deserts and jungles, temperate southern hemisphere, frozen southern pole

Elevation Extremes:
Highest Point: Midgard Mountain, 8,169 m
Lowest Point: Black Sea, -561 m

Natural Resources:
Iron, silicon, magnesium, nickel, titanium, aluminium, calcium, tin, copper, beryllium, boron, trinium, sodium, cobalt, naqahdah, naqahdriah, potassium, uranium, carbon (oil), zinc.

Natural Hazards:
Weather is mostly Earth standard. Risk of hurricanes in the north east, tornadoes in the south east. Southern coast of the easternmost continent suffers from regular tsunamis and floodings. Equatorial regions become very hot during summer, too hot for both asgard and humans.

Current Environmental Issues:
Trinium mining has caused significant damage to numerous ecological zones, risk of extinction high. Flood defences in the southern coast of the easternmost continent are heavily criticised. Naqahdriah deposits are dangerous to mine, and the risk of planet-devastating explosion has seen mining efforts put on hold.

International Environmental Agreements:
Strict internal regulation only.



People

Population:
12,417,000,000 (13/11/13 estimate)

Age Structure:
0-14 years: 24%
15-64 years: 72%
65 years and over: 4%

Median Age:
Total: 27.2

Sex Ratio:
Asgard are gender neutral.

Life Expectancy At Birth:
Total Population: 126.9 years

Nationality:
Noun: Taerkast(s)
Adjective: Taerkasteni

Ethnic Groups
Asgard, 100%

Religion(s):
Atheist 100%

Languages:
Asgard

Literacy:
Definition: Age 1 and over can read and write
Total Population: 100% (23/04/07 estimate)



Government

Country Name:
Long Form: Asgard Union of Taerkasten
Short Form: Asgard Union (or simply Asgard)
Former: Taerkast Colony

Government Type:
High Council (representative democracy)

Capital:
Taerkast City

Administrative Divisions:
6 boroughs

Independence:
Taerkasten, originally established as a mining colony, was declared independent from the original Asgard nation when Orillia was destroyed.

National Holiday:
Taerkasten celebrates no less than eight officially recognised national holidays, four of which are specifically in celebration of the four seasons, the rest are equally dispersed in-between.

Constitution:
Formal constitution was ratified by the Taerkast High Council on Independence Day.

Legal System:
Federal court system with similarities to common law and civil law; rare crime means limited resources.

Suffrage:
All Asgard are eligible to vote from the moment of cloning completion

Executive Branch:
Head of State: Supreme Commander Végeirr, second in command Councillor Kolbeinn - note, Supreme Commander both head of state and head of government
Head of Government: Supreme Commander Végeirr, second in command Councillor Kolbeinn
Cabinet: High Council - six Councillors (including Supreme Commander) representing administrative boroughs
Elections: Biannually

Legislative Branch:
Direct democracy via advanced nationwide instantaneous and secure communication systems.

Judicial Branch:
High Council is the highest court of appeal and the law-making entity. Given the rarity of crime on Taerkasten and its colonies, only a single judge-and-jury High Court exists, in Taerkast City

Flag description:
Gold sword against the outline of the Great Golden Shield, on a black background. This flag, symbolising protection, was designed shortly after independence.



Economy

The Taerkasten economy is powerful and robust, with key areas being mining, manufacturing and extremely advanced technologies. All industry is communally-owned, and money does not exist. The High Council makes efforts to 'translate' the Taerkasten economy into foreign figures in order to establish a comparison, but this is not considered important.

In particular, ship building and planetary defence systems have become particularly strong in recent years, with support in these two areas no longer being provided by the Asgard homeworld. Exports, however, are limited almost entirely to mined and refined materials (not including neutronium or trinium, both of which are considered too valuable to export) and food products, due to the traditional fear Asgard have of their technology falling into the wrong hands.

Gross Domestic Product:
$353,963,282,653,586 (^)

GDP Per Capita:
$28,506 (^) (13/11/13 estimate)

GDP -- Composition By Sector:
Primary: 0.1%
Secondary: 72.6%
Tertiary: 27.3

Labour Force:
77% of the total population

Labour Force -- By Occupation:
Agriculture: 0.001%
Industry (Inc. Logging): 73.2%
Retail: 26.799%

Unemployment Rate:
2.66% (^) (13/11/13 estimate)

Budget:
Revenues: $55,929,134,731,725 (^)
Expenditures: $51,454,803,953,187 (^)

Agriculture -- Products:
Biopaste, various native fruits and vegetables

Industries:
Mining, neutronium production, shipbuilding, heavy machinery, advanced technologies, weapons, shields, scientific equipment, biopaste

Electricity:
Neutrino ion generators, solar microwave satellites

Currency:
N/A



Military

The Asgard Union of Taerkestan employs a unitary military organisation known as the Asgard Defence Force, which incorporates both the naval and ground forces common to most nations. These two departments are referred to simply as the Asgard Naval Solution and the Asgard Ground Solution. The ADF, as it is commonly abbreviated, is designed primarily to fulfil defensive and exploratory roles as is typical of the Asgard, but it is also capable of offensive actions should the need arise. Asgard traditionally find the prospect of warfare distasteful, however, so all diplomatic avenues will be explored fully long before a military solution is considered.

The Asgard Naval Solution is tasked with maintaining a fleet of space faring capital and support ships with the aim of protecting allied planets, ships and territories and, where necessary, engaging hostile planets, ships and territories and successfully deploying ground forces to any of these locations. They are also responsible for maintaining law and order in space, which is beyond the jurisdiction of Taerkasten Civil Protection authorities, and for supporting and maintaining exploratory missions.

As part of these duties the ANS fields numerous (as of writing, just over 1,500) highly advanced capital ships, with the most common of these being the Beliskner-class cruiser (also referred to as an 'Asgard mothership'). Their most powerful capital ship at present, however, is the Valhalla-class Battleship. All Asgard capital ships are equipped with extremely powerful and advanced energy weapons and defence shields, with extremely resilient nutronium hulls, and they are powered by high-capacity neutrino ion generators. Because these extremely advanced ships are costly and time-consuming to build, and because Asgard military tactics generally rely on overwhelming opponents with powerful technology, their fleet is fairly small compared to those employed by similarly-sized nations.

The Asgard Ground Solution is tasked with maintaining a powerful and mobile ground and ship-board assault force capable of defending and assaulting static targets, as well as engaging in peacekeeping, patrolling, and ship boarding actions.

The standard soldier of the AGS is known as a Berserker, and as standard they are equipped with powerful energy pulse rifles, discrete exoskeletal strength enhancement suits (to counteract the diminutive stature of typical Asgard), moderately powerful personal shields, and numerous communications systems to aid in logistics and beaming even when enemies are running interference. They also have access to armoured ground units and small atmosphere-capable spacecraft, all deployed from orbital capital ships. As with the ANS, individual troops are extremely costly to field due to extensive training and large quantities of advanced technologies, making their infantry fighting force comparatively small but mobile and highly effective. Due to Asgard reliance on orbital attacks and strategic use of their teleportation technologies the AGS is not often deployed in anger, and is reserved primarily for boarding and defence operations.

Funding to the ADF has been increasing gradually ever since support from the Asgard homeworld ended.

Military Branches:
Asgard Defence Forces

Military Age & Obligation:
No obligation. Asgard can join any time they wish from the moment of cloning until the age of 60.

Current Military Personnel:
915,000

Military Expenditures:
$15,950,989,225,488 (^)



History

Taerkasten was originally settled by Asgard several centuries ago as a mining colony. It is the closest habitable planet to a neutronium-rich neutron star, and was primarily set up to harvest and process the valuable material. The planet was also particularly rich in other, more common metals and materials such as Naqahdah, trinium, iron and titanium, with extensive and untapped oil deposits also proving to be cheap sources of carbon.

Taerkasten was almost forgotten to the Asgard homeworld as the centuries passed. By the time of Orillia's self-destruction, the small mining colony had evolved into a powerful, sophisticated and highly-populated nation in its own right. When it became clear that support from the homeworld was at an end, the local governors established Taerkasten's own High Council and declared the planet and its surrounding territories independent.

Modern-day Taerkasten is a powerful and industrialised society, renowned for its high level of civilisation and culture. The nation continues the tradition of producing highly advanced Asgard technology, which it employs on its own defensive forces. As development continued, Taerkasten established three new colonies in neighbouring star systems to improve its mining efforts and expand its industrial base.

Present concerns are mostly environmental and political.

[Taerkasten]

Detailed History

Asgard Union dating system begins at 'Year Zero', which was the day of Taerkasten independence. Dates before this are designated as 'Before Independence', or 'BI', and dates after this are designated as 'Post Independence', or 'PI'. Calendar years are measured by Taerkasten's orbits around its star, which takes several days longer than standard Earth years. There is a leap year every five years.

Settlement

Neutronium has been the basis for much Asgard technology for thousands of years, so the discovery of a particularly neutronium-rich neutron star near the 'southern' outer arm of the Ida galaxy led to the Asgard High Council seeking to establish a dedicated harvesting and processing operation in the area. The closest habitable planet, known to the Asgard as Taerkasten, was promptly established as a mining settlement in 816 BI. This was particularly fortuitous, as Taerkasten was also found to be rich in various important raw materials of its own such as naqahdah and trinium, as well as more common elements.

The small settlement was quickly built into a permanent town, and due to the generally pleasant living conditions of the world and the abundance of available tasks to be completed, the population soon grew to several million Asgard.

By 789 BI the neutronium harvesting and processing operations were well under way, and several mines had been opened up on the planet and its companion moons. The small town had been built up considerably, and now resembled some of the advanced cities on the homeworld itself. As agricultural programs were begun and numerous manufacturing plants were established, Taerkasten grew less dependant on Orillia and was beginning to become a highly productive colony.

Growth & Isolation

After two centuries, the small town had become Taerkast City and was a sprawling Asgard metropolis with fully functional transportation networks and facilities to support its 60 million population. Neither was it the only settlement on the planet any more, and numerous other towns and cities had sprung up with multimillion populations of their own. Mining operations were in full swing, with regular shipments to Orillia as well as their own manufacturing facilities making use of the raw materials extracted. No longer was mining and manufacturing its only purpose, however, as numerous large scientific R&D facilities had been developed and were gaining renown of their own. Taerkasten was a prospering, self-sustaining and rapidly developing world.

When the Replicator threat descended on the Ida galaxy, the Asgard fleets were withdrawn from Taerkasten as they rallied to defend the homeworld. As the war raged, Taerkasten was left in isolation in its lonely spot at the edge of the galaxy, and gradually became forgotten by the High Council as more important matters diverted their attention. Shipments of mined and manufactured products from Taerkasten to Orillia had to be stopped to prevent Replicators tracing them back to the defenceless colony. This spelled the beginnings of Taerkasten independence, but it was still a long way off.

Taerkestan remained isolated and forgotten for many centuries, and the governors made no efforts to change that out of fear of being assaulted by the Replicators. Without the protection of the Asgard Fleet, Taerkasten was forced to invest in its own capital ship production facilities and establish its own armed forces. The population grew considerably in the centuries leading up to independence, reaching almost three billion Asgard by Year Zero. Although Taerkasten remained isolated and ignored, they continued to monitor any communications they could find, to make an effort to keep up-to-date. For the most part, however, they remained unaware of galactic events.

Independence & Expansion

It was in Year Zero that the governors of Taerkasten noticed that the galaxy had been unusually silent for many years. A Beliskner-class Cruiser was dispatched to Orillia to try and make contact with the High Council for the first time in centuries. After searching the entire orbital path of the homeworld and only able to find rocky debris that appeared to be the remnants of a destroyed planet, the cruiser performed a quick search of the rest of the galaxy and was unable to find any trace of either the Asgard or the Replicators. After reporting its findings to Taerkasten, the governors became worried that an unknown external threat had defeated the Asgard.

Towards the latter half of Year Zero the governors decided that, after all these centuries of isolation, and in light of the fact that no other Asgard could be located, Taerkasten was to be declared an independent, sovereign nation. Elections were held to form the first Taerkast High Council, consisting of six Councillors each representing a continent on the planet, who were promptly put into place. A constitution was drafted, put to referendum and ultimately ratified by the newly-formed High Council, and the Asgard Union of Taerkasten was born.

The next two centuries passed as the last two had done, with continual growth and prosperity. Now acutely aware that they could be the last remnants of the Asgard race, Taerkasten rapidly expanded its fleet and developed more powerful technology with which to defend themselves, including the enormous and powerful Valhalla-class battleship. They sent expeditions to abandoned Asgard worlds to resume some of the mining operations they found there so that their expansion efforts could continue.

Aware of the cloning issues which had faced the Asgard race as a whole, Taerkasten scientists made continuing efforts to prolong the life of their race. They were more cautious than the Asgard scientists who had doomed the rest of their race, however. In 210 PI the use of medical nanites became standard, to expand the lifespan of all Asgard significantly and reduce the amount of cloning that needed to be done - which was a temporary solution at best. Another fifty years passed and scientists were able to manipulate the Asgard gene pool sufficiently to extend the life of their race by another five hundred years, which again was a temporary solution but bought them more time to work on the problem. Research continues at several dedicated laboratory facilities.

By 363 PI Taerkasten had become a fairly large and powerful nation, with a sizeable military force, a large population and numerous off-world mining and contruction facilities. The highly advanced technology of the Asgard had remained in their care, and had been developed to even higher levels as the years progressed.



Territory

The Asgard Union of Taerkasten controls a fairly large area of space, however much of this is empty or used only for mining.

The Planet Taerkasten, in the Taerkast System on the edge of the Ida galaxy, is the new homeworld for the Asgard. Roughly 90% of all Taerkasten citizens live on its surface, with over 400 million of those living in Taerkast City. The vast majority of all mined materials, manufactured goods and newly researched technologies or theories originate on Taerkasten, and for obvious reasons a particularly large percentage of their military forces are based there.

The two moons of Taerkasten, recently renamed New Othala and New Orillia in honour of the two dead ex-homeworlds of the Asgard, are home to roughly 5% of the Taerkasten population between them, with the bulk of those being on New Orillia which has its own atmosphere. New Othala lacks a breathable atmosphere, and the only city on its surface is a self-contained biodome. Both of these moons were originally settled for mining purposes, and this continues to be their primary function.

Neutron Star J-286 is located over a hundred lightyears away from Taerkasten, and is their primary source of neutronium. Numerous specialised, unmanned extraction facilities are located in close proximity to the star, as well as a logistical station where all harvested neutronium is deposited and collected by transports. Although there are no planets in this system, numerous armed Asgard space stations litter the system as well as automated weapons systems, and no less than fifty Valhalla-class battleships are stationed in the system at all times. Its importance to the Asgard makes it one of the most heavily defended locations in all of Taerkasten, minus Planet Taerkasten itself.

Neutron Star K-981 is also harvested, but nowhere near as heavily as J-286. It is located beyond the recognised territorial borders of Taerkasten, over five hundred lightyears away from the home planet, but several small-scale harvesting operations exist there. They are mostly unmanned and defended by automated weapons systems, but they are heavily shielded (mainly due to the danger of their work) and visited often by transports.

Planet Crillia is an uninhabited world which is host to several small mining operations. It supports the remaining 5% of the Asgard population in its various settlements. Like Taerkasten it is rich in numerous useful materials, however unlike Taerkasten it is uncomfortably warm and has a comparatively thin atmosphere, making it unlikely to become a particularly heavily populated world in the future.



Asgard Culture

The Asgard, generally speaking, are a peace-loving race primarily concerned with exploration, scientific research and improving the quality of life for all species. They are not a pacifistic race, in that they will use their martial might should diplomacy fail, but they do generally disdain the use of violence and find oppressive governments distasteful. They consider themselves to be morally righteous and many Asgard do consider themselves to be a superior race, regardless of the accuracy of such an assertion.

Lacking gender or indeed sexual reproduction, there is no 'family unit' in the traditional sense. Asgard created in specific cloning facilities will generally feel a stronger sense of comradery with other Asgard created in the same facility, but this is the closest phenomenon they have to a 'family' in the traditional human sense. Having a respect for all life, they tend to think of the entire Asgard race, and even other races, as their family.

Along this vein, Taerkasten could most closely described as a communist society. Although there are no civil or political restrictions, there is no money and all industry is collectively owned. This was not a conscious decision or the result of a revolution, however, it is the way Asgard society naturally developed partially due to their outlook. Generally the goal of working towards their common goal - the expansion of knowledge and the improvement of life quality - is all the reward an Asgard requires, as material gain has not been a consideration of their race for many millennia.

In terms of entertainment and recreation most Asgard prefer to spend their time furthering their knowledge and understanding in fields of personal or professional interest. That said, they are not without arts and culture, and a popular form of entertainment involves dramatic storytelling either in textual form or via the use of holographic movies. Most Asgard art can be seen in the architecture of their elaborate buildings, with their glistening cities often being cited as 'living art'. Taerkasten developed a much more angular style of design during their isolation from the rest of the Asgard race, with clearly defined lines and harder corners.

They also have more traditional paintings and sculptures, but present Asgard design ethic centres around minimal clutter, so these are mostly consigned to museums for the time being.

Asgard language and artistic style is very similar to that of Old Norse, probably due to the original Asgard influences on that culture. Many Asgard have names that are similar or even identical to Old Norse names, and some symbols used by the Asgard in their writing may well be familiar to a visiting Viking. Asgard influence in Old Norse culture can often be seen quite easily as they frequently refer to Earth as Midgard (Taerkast Asgard were isolated long before Earth first began exploring space or using Stargates).

In particular many Asgard have a deep interest in learning about other cultures, be they superior, equal or less advanced in terms of technology, evolution or cultural development. Any opportunity to study alien worlds close-up is seized upon immediately. At the same time, however, they are unwilling to interfere in the development of another race, especially by providing them with Asgard technology.



Technology

Asgard culture is based around extremely advanced technology, so much so that the entire race has become completely dependant on it. Even their reproduction is handled by technology in the form of cloning, having genetically engineered themselves to the point where they no longer have any kind of sexual organs. While their technology is more advanced than that of most cultures, it is also their Achilles heel as their species is literally incapable of surviving without it.

Energy

Cities, ships and unmanned installations of Taerkasten all utilise neutrino ion generators for electricity generation. Although highly complicated and expensive to construct and maintain, they produce unimaginable levels of power and do not produce any pollution aside from neutron radiation, which has a particularly short half-life and can be easily disposed of and contained. Most Asgard capital ships are equipped with this power generation technology, which is required to fuel their particularly energy intensive systems.

Planet Taerkasten also utilises a system of sophisticated and efficient solar satellites, which beam raw solar energy down to appropriate receivers on the planets surface in the form of microwaves. This form of power supplements the planets own neutrino ion generators, and also serves as a reliable backup in the case of a generator failure, thus preventing brownouts.

All Asgard ships also carry naqahdah reactors, which remain dormant during normal operation. These reactors are fairly primitive in comparison to neutrino ion generators, and cannot hope to come close to their power output capabilities, but they are kept on-board purely as an emergency redundancy in case of a power failure. An Asgard ship powered by a naqahdah reactor can only operate at extremely reduced capabilities, but it allows them to retain life-support and nominal engine capabilities until either rescued or able to repair their main power systems.

Propulsion

Asgard ships utilise some of the most advanced hyperdrive systems known to exist, which give them the capability to traverse intergalactic distances in short periods of time. The power requirements of this are enormous, and even when equipped with numerous neutrino ion generators Asgard ships cannot use shields or weapons while in hyperspace. Most Asgard believe the advantages in terms of fleet flexibility, response times and the ability to explore large expanses quickly is worth the risk.

Sublight propulsion is achieved via neutrino ion engines, which are fuelled by the main neutrino ion generators in a similar way to impulse engines being fuelled by fusion generators. Although allowing for high velocities and acceleration, these engines offer no significant advantages over the sublight engines of other races.

Shields

Asgard shields are highly advanced and can withstand significant punishment before succumbing. They utilise two generators, one on the bow and one on the stern, to generate an elliptical shield bubble around the ship, offering complete protection against most forms of offensive weaponry. Their strength is directly proportional to the amount of power directed into the generators, so in an emergency they can be reinforced by shutting down other systems and diverting their power to the shields. Ultimately, however, the shields must be allowed to recharge before returning to full strength.

A common Asgard tactic is to desperately maintain their shields against an enemy assault without returning fire, in the hopes of bluffing enemies into believing them to be impregnable and forcing them into a peaceful solution to the conflict. Without charging the main weapons systems this is fairly easy to accomplish against all but the most powerful offences.

In their default configuration, Asgard shields are most effective against stopping energy and particle weapons. They are noticeably weaker at stopping kinetic attacks such as rail guns, but they are still fully capable of resisting kinetic energy.

Planet Taerkasten is protected by a powerful multi-layered planetary shield grid with generators located all across the surface. These layers are independent of each other and can be separately configured to defend against certain types of attack.

Weapons

As standard, modern Asgard ships are equipped with varying numbers of pulsed energy beam weapons, which are extremely powerful exotic particle beams capable of inflicting hundreds of teratons of focussed damage in a single shot. These beam weapons were fairly new as of the destruction of Orillia, but in the years that have passed the Asgard Union have improved upon the original blueprints considerably. Less powerful, but still quite formidable, energy pulse blaster cannons are generally installed as secondary weapons, though smaller or older ships may mount these pulse weapons exclusively. A few ships, such as Valhalla-class Battleships, are also equipped with ion pulse blasters, designed to cause shield damage exclusively.

All ships are equipped with transporter beam technology as well, which can be used offensively against unshielded (or even through certain types of primitive or inappropriately configured shielding) to great effect, to literally dismantle entire ships or cities.

Transporter Beams

Beaming technology allows Asgard to instantaneously transport from one location to another, across moderate distances. For example, Taerkasten utilises beaming technology to allow intercontinental travel, or to transport people to either of the two moons. Though rarely used for anything more than cargo and people, Asgard beaming technology has the potential to transport entire ships or buildings just as easily.

All ships are equipped with beaming technology, which is primarily used for docile purposes such as beaming to other ships, or transporting planet side. It can be used offensively to great effect against inappropriately protected or unshielded targets, to literally dismantle entire ships or cities piece by piece and disperse them in space. Due to moral concerns, however, this rarely happens, and even Asgard transporter beams can be countered fairly quickly.

Matter Replication

Matter replicators use a variant on beaming technology to construct virtually any item on a molecular level using a store of 'blank' matter. It can even be used to produce consumable food and water, and although all Asgard tend to prefer real food this is particularly useful in emergencies or on long-term deep space missions where supplies may become low. A typical humanitarian gesture is to provide an industrial-scale matter replication system and a naqahdah reactor as aid.

Because of their power requirements and fairly low rate of production, matter replicators are not used in standard industry, and are instead reserved for emergencies, to compensate for a lack of a particular material, or to supplement ship supplies.

Cloning

Asgard cloning and genetic engineering in general is arguably their most advanced technology of all, seeing as the entire Asgard race reproduces by cloning only. Their race has used genetic engineering to significantly accellerate their evolution, which has ultimately resulted in them lacking sexual organs and thus being unable to reproduce sexually.

Some new clones are created as 'infants', and allowed to develop naturally as any normal being would. They are educated and brought up by designated carers until considered 'adults' (which is a murky definition in Taerkasten law, as an Asgard clone matures within four months). This allows their population to grow at a steady rate by introducing new personalities, and by mixing the genes of other Asgard allows them to diversify their gene pool.

Most clones are created as 'blank copies' of existing Asgard, however, with virtually no intelligence whatsoever. Using a sophisticated system of neural interfaces and massive computer storage devices, the consciousness of one Asgard (whether already dead or just extremely old or badly injured) is transferred into a new blank body. This process allows for a form of immortality, although the new clone is only as up-to-date as the last memory download. Asgard who have not had their memory downloaded within one year will not be cloned upon death. Some Asgard have been copied repeatedly for many centuries.

Because of this 'mass production' type of cloning, they have become quite adept at cloning and can produce them fairly quickly.

Ships

Most Asgard ships are constructed from an extremely strong trinium, carbon, neutronium and naquahdah alloy, which affords them extremely high levels of durability. Destroying an Asgard ship, even an unshielded Asgard ship, is extremely difficult even if one were to use the Asgard's own weapons against them. Not only is this due to the resilience of their construction, but also due to the Asgard's belief in extreme levels of redundancy.

All Asgard ships are equipped with their advanced hyperdrive systems, neutrino ion generators (Valhalla-class battleships have two of the largest mobile generators available), transporter beams, pulsed energy beams and energy blaster cannons, shields, and most also have matter replication systems. Their sensors are capable of scanning in detail at a distance of several lightyears, but have a tendency to be deflected by particularly powerful shields. And last but not least, extremely sophisticated and powerful computer systems allow their ships to operate at full capacity with minimal crew members. Due to all of these highly advanced technologies, Asgard ships are extremely potent offensive and defensive platforms, virtually impossible to defeat in one-on-one combat and generally requiring numerous opposing capital ships to fully destroy them.

However, for this reason, Asgard ships are extremely expensive and time consuming to construct and maintain. The Asgard Naval Solution, when compared to the naval department of other nations, is extremely small, with less than two thousand vessels of all types under its command; a figure which includes science and support vessels. Taerkast High Command will only ever authorise very small numbers of Asgard ships to be deployed to any event unless it is judged to be of critical importance (i.e. to meet an enemy fleet intent on invading Taerkasten). This generally means that even with all of their technology, in tactical scenarios Asgard ships will typically find themselves overwhelmed by numbers, making them much more evenly matched overall.

Despite all of this, most Asgard ships are never used in anger, and will only see patrol, exploration or diplomatic duties during their lives. Taerkasten High Command, and Asgard in general, will generally do everything in their power to ensure a diplomatic solution to any scenario. Should diplomacy fail, they will rely on the mere sight of an Asgard vessel to discourage violence, and will only return fire rather than initiate a conflict.

[Taerkasten]

Asgard Union Ships

The Asgard Naval Solution, the naval department of the Asgard Defence Force, maintains a fleet of highly advanced capital and support ships in order to complete its main duties of offence, defence and exploration. Although rarely used in anger, these vessels are formidable foes that generally require numbers to overwhelm.



Beliskner-class Asgard Cruiser



Class: Cruiser
Length: 1,000 metres
Armaments: Asgard pulsed energy beam emitters, Asgard energy blaster cannons
Shields: Medium strength Asgard defence shields
Hull: Trinium, Carbon, Neutronium, and Naquahdah alloy
Propulsion: Asgard intergalactic hyperdrive, neutrino ion engines
Power plant: Neutrino ion generator (2x)
Crew: Minimum 1, recommended 150
Commissioned: Unknown
Last class refit: 354 PI

The Beliskner-class cruiser is ancient, having existed long before the Taerkasten colony was even established. So old is the design that it has a place in the myths of many other cultures, primitive and advanced, in the Ida galaxy and beyond. Even the Asgard themselves are unsure of when the class was first built.

The space frame is still a sound design, however, and so the Asgard have continually produced the class for thousands of years. Although the hull design is the same, as is its basic mission role, the Beliskner's internal systems are completely different from the very first ship of the class that was built as the Asgard have continually upgraded its systems over the years to incorporate any technological advances they have made.

The Beliskner-class cruiser is a multi role vessel designed to be capable at exploratory, diplomatic and combat duties. Like all combat-ready Asgard vessels it is generally much more capable than an equivalent vessel of its size, and the class has been known to take on numerous Ha'tak motherships and Imperial Star Destroyers single-handedly without suffering from major damage. However, as they are typically deployed alone they can quickly be overwhelmed by numbers, and they lack the offensive capabilities of the larger Valhalla-class battleship.

It is armed with numerous Asgard energy blaster cannons, and the entire line was recently refitted with a handful of the newer, more powerful, energy beam weapons. Additionally, it is equipped with moderately powerful Asgard shielding systems, and it has the ability to cloak itself from many types of sensors when not in full combat mode.

Most Beliskner cruisers are utilised in the Asgard's preferred task, exploration. With sensors capable of scanning in detail for a radius of several lightyears, and engines capable of propelling it across intergalactic distances in short periods of time, it is amongst the most capable multi-purpose vessels ever built.

Like all Asgard vessels, the Beliskner-class is extremely complex, and as it is so expensive and time-consuming to build and maintain the Asgard Union is not capable of maintaining them in particularly large numbers.



Valhalla-class Asgard Battleship



Class: Battleship
Length: 7,600 metres
Armaments: Asgard pulsed energy beam emitters, Asgard energy blaster cannons, Asgard ion pulse blasters
Shields: High strength Asgard defence shields
Hull: Trinium, Carbon, Neutronium, and Naquahdah alloy
Propulsion: Asgard intergalactic hyperdrive, neutrino ion engines
Power plant: Neutrino ion generator (4x)
Crew: Minimum 1, recommended 750
Commissioned: 359 PI
Last class refit: N/A

Perhaps the only new combat-ready capital ship constructed by the Asgard Union of Taerkasten in its history, the Valhalla-class incorporates the latest Asgard technologies along with the most powerful weapons and shields ever fielded in an Asgard vessel.

Having been isolated from the homeworld for so long Taerkasten never had access to the O'Neill-class Battleship, neither the ship itself nor the design specifications were ever made available to them. Even after independence, the Asgard Union relied heavily on the Beliskner-class cruiser for all defensive matters. While the Beliskner is a capable and sophisticated ship, it was not a dedicated warship. The Asgard have aversions to labelling anything with the terms 'war' or 'battle', however they recognised the need for a dedicated battleship, capable of withstanding relentless assaults even from other Asgard weapons, and returning fire appropriately.

The Valhalla was the result of that mandate. Capable of defeating numerous enemy capital ships single-handed without taking major damage, it is the largest and most powerful Asgard ship ever constructed. Mounting the most powerful Asgard beam weapons and energy shields presently available, and equipped with the fastest intergalactic hyperdrive fielded by the Asgard, the Valhalla is an extremely formidable foe. As a result of this, it is also the most time consuming and expensive ship to construct, and they are particularly rare things to see unless one attempts to invade Taerkast space.



Vanadis-class Exploration Vessel



Class: Support vessel
Length: 350 metres
Armaments: Asgard energy blaster cannons
Shields: Low strength Asgard defence shields
Hull: Trinium, Carbon, and Naquahdah alloy
Propulsion: Asgard intergalactic hyperdrive, neutrino ion engines
Power plant: Neutrino ion generator (1x)
Crew: Minimum 1, recommended 50
Commissioned: 291 PI
Last class refit: 358 PI

The Vanadis-class exploration vessel was purpose-built for exploration and scientific research. In tactical roles it is used as a scout - it is amongst the fastest ships in the Asgard Union at both sublight and hyperspace velocities, and it incorporates the most advanced mobile sensor arrays available to the Asgard.

The ship is only equipped with 'secondary' class weapons, energy blaster cannons, and low powered shields, making it inferior to the Beliskner in combat, though it is still capable of defending itself against individual enemy ships such as the Ha'tak or a lone Star Destroyer. Its main purpose is exploration, and for this reason it incorporates numerous sensor packages with extreme range and a number of on-board science labs and probes. Its main line of defence is an uprated version of the stealth technologies primarily found aboard the Beliskner - when its weapons and shields are powered down and its engines are set to minimal emission levels, the Vanadis can completely hide its presence from most types of sensor suites at long ranges, and is very hard to detect even at short range.



Bateau-class Transport and Cargo Ship
Class: Support vessel
Length: 120 metres
Armaments: None
Shields: Medium strength Asgard defence shields
Hull: Trinium, Carbon, and Naquahdah alloy
Propulsion: Asgard intergalactic hyperdrive, neutrino ion engines
Power plant: Neutrino ion generator (1x)
Crew: Minimum 1, recommended 50
Commissioned: 325 PI
Last class refit: N/A

The Bateau-class ship is an unarmed vessel protected by moderately powerful Asgard shields, equipped with hyperdrives and sublight engines roughly equivalent in speed to the Beliskner-class cruiser. It is designed primarily to transport Asgard and cargo from one place to another, simply put. The Ida galaxy does not have a Stargate network, and the only Stargate available to the Asgard was destroyed along with Orillia. As such the need for transport vessels is high.