The Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia's Factbook (FT) (2.5)

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:19 pm

Seal
(KIN, also sometimes referred to as Xiscapian Imperial Navy, XIN)
Motto: Galactic Reach, Galactic Power

The KIN has its roots in the first Xiscapian colony ships that lifted off from Old Xiscapia over two thousand years ago. Though these craft were few in number and not dedicated warships they carried their own complements of escort and small craft and comprise the first armed Xiscapian craft in space. Once the two colony ships came to rest on modern-day Xiscapia a millennia ago the colonists lost no time in stripping down the craft for parts and metals to build, among other things, new vessels that could explore the surrounding system. Out of this a nascent Kitsune Imperial Navy was born, soon to be thrust into the fires of combat as the first war against the Korr began and the two sides clashed for the first time in space around the moons of Jomstar. It was through the Korr Wars that KIN doctrine, protocol, weapons and technology evolved, continuing on even after the Wars ended to the present-day organization.

Having fought more battles in the last twenty years alone than most nations fight in a century, the KIN has a core of experienced professional officers and is highly regarded for its discipline, skill and ability to do great things with small forces. Though it has gone up against countless opponents and its forces frequently find themselves outnumbered by more numerous foes, the KIN has only rarely lost a battle and almost never fails to inflict significant damage on the enemy through the capture and destruction of his ships and troops. Part of this can be attributed to the concept of an ever growing and advancing force which is not afraid to take on and incorporate new ideas or foreign concepts, even if they do not always work; the Veil class Interdiction Frigates, Caecus Astrum Stations and Gun Orbs are just a few of the most striking examples. Another factor is that the KIN is almost constantly in action, at the forefront of the Kitsune Empire's expansion and therefore making contact with the enemy far more often than their ground-based XIA counterparts. In this way the KIN maintains itself as a state-of-the-art, highly effective force, living up to its motto: Galactic Reach, Galactic Power.

As a force the KIN has two main responsibilities paralleling that of the Imperial Army: protection of Kitsune Imperial territory and the assaulting of hostile territory. On the defensive the KIN coordinates with Customs forces, corporate fleets and native militia fleets where they exist, as well as static defenses (platforms, mines, stations, etc.) to prevent the enemy from landing troops on Xiscapian installations and worlds and likewise to destroy their warships before they can move in to provide orbital support. Because Xiscapian territory tends to be heavily fortified garrison fleets are quite comfortable fighting a proverbial stone's throw away from their planet or main base, as the enemy choosing to engage them in their territory only gives them more forces to call upon. Similarly they do not usually need to worry about population centers or ground bases being initially bombarded, as they are usually protected by strong theater or planetary shields, though KIN doctrine calls for orbital control of friendly worlds at all times and hostile worlds whenever possible. Space assets such as dockyards, fleet bases and factories are somewhat more vulnerable to fleet attack, but given their own garrisons they can usually defend themselves adequately until reinforcements arrive.

On the offensive the KIN tends to divide and conquer. One of the main objectives when attacking hostile territory is to make way for the landing of Imperial Marines or XIA troops onto the primary world or installation(s), so a KIN fleet will often endeavor to draw out and scatter an opposing force, usually by attacking remote outposts and asteroid colonies initially to pull ships away from garrison duties to respond to the assaults. Once the enemy has been dispersed the KIN will move to crush what is left of his main force and project fighter craft into orbit (or around his base) to strip it of defenses and make way for troop transports. Of course, this does not always apply as every situation is different and may require a different approach. Once the KIN is in control of a territory its task becomes that of resupplying, reinforcing and supporting ground units where they exist, and to fortify to defend against an enemy counterattack.

Apart from these, the KIN has a number of other secondary and tertiary duties less obvious or glamorous which nevertheless make up a vital part of its service to the Kitsune Empire. This includes tracking and destroying pirates, conducting commerce raids on enemy shipping, escorting its own and friendly merchants against attack, assisting Customs in intra-system patrol and interception, transporting colonists, equipment and raw materials to newly discovered or conquered systems and placing and maintaining system defenses, installations and assets. Additionally, not all of the KIN is combat-oriented, as it operates craft and trains crew to conduct scouting missions, survey stellar objects, transport personnel and supplies, harvest resources from asteroid fields and planets, interdict starships entering restricted areas, grow food and provide medical care. Many KIN personnel do not ever even leave their assigned system, as they work aboard ultralight haulers, stations, satellite bases or ground bases. Indeed, Xiscapians who sign up for service with the KIN can leave after a tour of duty assured that they can find a job elsewhere because of the vast array of skills the organization cultivates and trains.

Demographically, the KIN contains less overall members than the XIA, but its personnel tend to be more skilled and highly educated, as is demanded by their work. The KIN also has less aliens serving than the XIA, as it is quicker and easier to train for and fight in the Imperial Army than the highly technical Imperial Navy, meaning that those who do join are often highly patriotic. Where the male:female ratio in the XIA is a lopsided 3:1, the same ratio is 1:2 in the Kitsune Imperial Navy, particularly among pilots and medical personnel. Statistically, most KIN personnel serve at least part of their tour aboard a station or other orbital installation, with a minority going their full service on a starship. Imperial Marines make up the most fluid class, often switching from starship to station to ground base all in one tour, while high-ranking officers (Lieutenants, Commanders, Captains) are the most static, going entire tours without changing ships.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:20 pm

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:24 pm

Technology breakdown:

Quench guns are superconducting coilguns which use coils as electromagnets in a linear pattern to accelerate a payload to high speeds. Quench guns differ from standard coilguns in that they use a line of successively quenching (terminating) adjacent coaxial superconducting coils which form the weapon's barrel, generating a wave of magnetic field gradient traveling at extreme velocities. Unlike in rail guns, the quench gun's propulsion power is stored directly in the drive coils, making it a type of mass driver. Quench guns can accelerate payloads to c-frac speeds over long distances, usually multi-ton shells, which are either Relativistic Kill Vehicles or packed with explosives, ion bursts, or other destructive or debilitating warheads. Quench guns are used over rail guns because they are easier to maintain and repair.

Generally, quench guns are emplaced in batteries of two or more along the hull of the superstructure of their carrier. These tend to be 244-inch cannons, 6.2 meters in length, that swivel, target and fire in tandem, though they can be arranged to fire separately. Smaller cannons sizes, installed on smaller ships, exist, while larger cannons are generally spinal mounted. Ammunition is supplied to the guns via a vacuum system of loaders and feeders inside the instillation's superstructure between the decks that removes shells from storage magazines and propels them up the guns. Quench guns have an automated "blink" system that rapidly opens and closes a slider over the barrel between discharges that prevents any unwanted material that makes it past the particle shields from obstructing the line of fire.

Quench gun rounds cause damage through pure impact or via a explosive core. Rounds nominally possess a mass of one pound and a muzzle velocity of 0.02c.+ ( roughly 6,000 miles per second ) out of atmosphere. The mass and speed result in a lethal slug well suited for operations against nearly any kind of target. Round impacts can normally punch through the hull of even capital warships, making the quench gun a feared weapon.

KIN missiles and torpedoes exit out of portals called Electromagnetic Launch Systems (ELS). The ELS consists of high-powered electro-magnetic missile tubes which accelerate offensive and defensive loads into space. The ELS is necessary to allow for a safe distance between a missile and the originating starship when the missile activates its organic acceleration capability. Through the use of this system the projectile will actually coast across the vulnerable distance by momentum alone without engaging its drive; Jaunt-equipped weapons will either coast and then active their drives, or activate them immediately after leaving the ELS. Missiles and torpedoes are fed into individual ELS units via the same conveyor that supplies quench gun shells.

Unlike some star navies, the KIN makes a distinction between missiles and torpedoes. Missiles are general-purpose guided projectiles, which may be used to engage enemy warships, instillations, small craft or other missiles. Missiles may also be used for bombardment, for distraction and decoy purposes, as mines, to carry non-destructive payloads (usually surveillance units) and for a variety of additional roles. Typical KIN missiles are smaller, faster and more numerous than torpedoes. Missiles utilized for destructive purposes usually carry either an antimatter payload or a nuclear warhead with a power range around one gigaton.

While torpedoes can be used as missiles, they are larger, more expensive and slightly slower than most missiles, relegating them to their standard purpose: The destruction of enemy warships and instillations. Torpedoes are designed specifically to destroy enemy vessels, usually larger craft, and as such have multiple stages to aid them. When nearing their target the torpedo ejects its forward casing, sending the block of metal speeding at the enemy, ideally to disrupt his shielding or, if the target is lacking shields, create a weak point in the armor. The warhead itself follows milliseconds later, the nose-mounted laser drill chewing into the hull and pumping the nuclear device inside the target, where it detonates to cause massive damage and typically heavily irradiates the entire targeted vessel. Torpedoes can be outfitted with antimatter payloads, but usually contain a nuclear device of about fifty gigatons.

Standard Xiscapian hull armor is a derivative of the Alversian structure used in the ships of their People's Navy. In the past, particularly in Korr War era vessels, Xiscapian armor was generally of a sufficiently strong, durable compound (popularly cortosis woven through titanium) but tended to be very thin to increase mobility except in the case of static instillations. This meant that ships could deflect or absorb small projectiles and moderate energy fire, but would not stand up for long against larger shells or missiles or sustained laser beams. This new armor type is vastly superior to the old type, both in thickness and composition; the only things changed from the Alversian variant are some of the compounds and properties. This new armor type can be found on most modern Xiscapian warships and stations, though some older craft and structures may lack it.

The outer armour is a composition of regular plates of standard dimensions with the outer ablative covering that is made by a lamination of low thickness layers of amorphous Silicon nitride saturated with boron whiskers, and layers of multicellular metal (Cortosis) foam. This external layer is followed by a coryndon crystals metal matrix composite and by a third, thick layer of a 3-D mesh of carbon nanotubes in a Beryllium-Titanium alloy matrix.

This stratification is highly effective against the conventional energy/kinetic attacks, though this interaction with grazer beams might destroy the external laminate through an ablative process in the attempt to sacrifice as much as possible of the outer armor to preserve the inner hull. The intermediate layer is similar in concept to the former scheme, but with a more sophisticated design, with collapsible cylinders (sacrifical structures) contained in the metal foam layer, more effectives than the old homogeneous foam with regards to the energy dissipation ability. The inner armour is again a "sandwich" of titanium alloy bonded with three intermediate layers, with the first made of corindon crystals in a ceramic matrix, the second made of carbon nanotubes in a metallic/resin hybrid matrix, and the third of organic, high strength fibres in an organic matrix. All this is bonded to the structure of the hull in a series of beams, plates and bulkheads of carbon nanotubes in a resin matrix, with large use of sandwich structures, molecularly bonded together to build an extremely sturdy hull. This scheme enhances the internal elasticity and kinetic resistance, without sacrificate the energy weapon resistance.

The external layer, being modular, allows easy repair and, in case of a close thermonuclear explosions, reduces the thermal stress on the structure due to the dilatation room in the joints of the modules. The Carvon based ceramics are highly refractory, and the beryllium is very likely one of the best heat sink and ablation resistant conventional material known. This type of protection is a vast advancement respect to the old scheme, being more resistant against "conventional" attacks and improving the behaviour against the antimatter/anti-neutron beams. The large percentage of carbon nanotubes, an excellent material from the structural point of view, also makes the structure a good energy dissipater.

An invention by the SAB, Procul is a revolutionary piece of technology that allows an individual to remotely operate a complex piece of technology realistically and instantaneously through the use of a combination of faster-than-light communications and virtual reality simulations. The goal of the original project was to cut down on Naval starfighter pilot casualties in training and combat (Naval fighter pilots once had the highest casualty rate of any Naval service member). Once the Procul system was implemented the KIN saw pilot fatalities drop to nearly zero in the first year, with the side affect of boosting morale, strengthening resolve and making more experienced pilots while also increasing the number of fighters lost in total. Since then Procul systems have been exported to other friendly nations who use it for the same advantage. Research for other applications of Procul are ongoing.

How Procul works:

The pilot is placed into a V.R. berth aboard the operator's carrier. Equipment aboard the fighter links with the unit and creates a real-time simulation of the cockpit of the operator's ship around them. Communications are made via Jaunt (Quantum Tunneling) FTL from the berth to the fighter so the pilot controls the fighter through their connection and experiences everything as he would if he was physically present in the cockpit without actually being there. The most obvious advantage, of course, is that if the fighter is destroyed the pilot lives on to fight another day. However, if the fighter was on board a capital ship, which in the KIN are vessels equipped with factories, an identical unit can be reproduced and the link uploaded to the new ship, which the pilot can then control. This means that as long as the pilot remains alert and the materials necessary for making fightercraft do not run out, the pilot can go into combat from his or her berth indefinitely, thanks to life support systems in the V.R. Another advantage is that while the new fighters are complex to design, they are relatively cheap and easy to make, not requiring actual life support systems since there is no pilot aboard. Finally, the removal of the pilot means the ship can pull off maneuvers that no biological could, making it matched with any droid or A.I. controlled ship, while still retaining the originality and imagination necessary to make an organic being an ace pilot. Finally, an A.I. backup is installed in the program in case the carrier ship is destroyed or the pilot disconnected, so the Procul ship with continue the fight. The link can only be terminated by the will of the pilot, the destruction of the fighter, or the destruction of the carrier. Unlike most variants of Xiscapian Jaunt FTL, the link is immune to FTLi and cannot be blocked, jammed or hacked.

A follow-up on the extremely successful Procul Project, which utilizes a combination of FTL and VR technology to link fighter pilots directly to their ships from their carriers, the Phasmatis Apparatus intends to do the same thing on the ground. Starting with mechanized units, such as light assault mecha and anti-infantry tanks, the goal of the Project is make the safety and effectiveness of the Procul system available to every soldier, either via a connection from a removed platform or directly through an android unit. The possibility of linking a soldier to an android unit means such a user could take control of a robot to do the fighting for them and potentially, with enough research and training, a single user might be able to manipulate whole squads, divisions or even armies simultaneously.

Based on the same principles as the standard Jaunt Drive and configured to act on a mass scale, Jaunt Portal are the Xiscapian version of FTL installations in other nations (Jump Gates, etc.) that can propel one or more craft across large distances. The first such Portal was transported to the Chalybs System by the first wave of Xiscapian sleeper ships that crossed the gulf from the Home Galaxy into the Milky Way, assembled between the worlds of Glacies and Estus and linked to a sister Portal in the Xiscapian System upon activation. Jaunt Portals (and other, similar devices made by AXIS allies) are the only known method for crossing between galaxies without resorting to sleeper ships, and indeed the only legal way to enter the Home Galaxy is via one of these AXIS-controlled installations. However, Jaunt Portals are not only used to connect such far-flung locales; they are also constructed to put two systems in the same galactic neighborhood within easy reach of each other, allowing traders and warships to cross entire quadrants of space instantaneously. It is a dream of both merchant companies and the military alike to raise a network of these Portals linking every piece of Xiscapian territory to the other, but the time and expense in building the devices, as well as certain technological limitations, mean this goal is only slowly being realized.

The number of craft (or other objects) a Jaunt Portal can process is limited only by the dimensions of the Portal; similarly, it can be used an effectively infinite number of times so long as the power remains constant. Because Portals themselves act as FTL drives, craft that lack independent drive units can use them for extra-system transport. Jaunt Portals are a two-way system; without a sister unit, a Portal cannot operate. The frequency linking two Portals is unique, meaning that one Portal can send matter only to its opposite, though Portals can be reconfigured to connect to different Portals this is a time-consuming and highly technical process. However, the number of Portals operating on one frequency is unlimited, which means multiple Portals can all channel to a single "mother" Portal.

When a Jaunt Portal is made it is surrounded by a supporting station that acts to direct traffic, control power flow and guard the connection itself from unauthorized violation. If the Portal station comes under attack standard procedure has the operators broadcast a distress call before shutting the Portal down to prevent it from being used by hostile forces. Once the enemy has been driven back the Portal will typically reopen to allow reinforcements through. If the situation permits, it may remain open to allow Xiscapian or allied forces to stage an immediate counterattack. If the Portal is in imminent danger of being captured or destroyed it can, if active, be redirected to act as a massive particle beam weapon capable of destroying a fleet in a single discharge; however, such a action would destroy the station and its Portal.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:26 pm

Part of the organizational and logistical side of the KIN, the Naval Register keeps track of what ship types exist, what classes exist and how many there are of each. This makes the NR useful for a at-a-glance assessment of the KIN's strength in each arena, as well as providing the designations of individual ships where available. The NR does not include retired, museum or mothballed vessels, nor does it count ships in the Customs or corporate fleets, craft out on loan to foreign powers and organizations, Xiscapian classes in foreign nations, VI Fleet ships or ships which only possess a letter-number designation, as is the case with most small craft (fighters) and some support craft (transports). In other areas the names of warships are not available or are still being compiled into the KIN's system. As the KIN is often in a state of flux, the below lists may only indicate an approximation of the current situation, or it may be slightly outdated concerning exact names and numbers; KIN personnel strive for excellence, so rest assured that any errors will be purged quickly.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:27 pm

A subsection of the Naval Register, Fleet Deployments represent what fleets are deployed to what locations or for what purposes, what classes make up that fleet, how many ships of each class compose the body and who the Commanding Officer is. Some fleets, such as the First Fleet (I Fleet), or the Home Fleet guarding the Xiscapian system, are relatively stable and do not change much, usually because they are on garrison duty. Other fleets, such as the Sixth Fleet (VI Fleet), or the Salvage Fleet in the Elder System, are in an almost constant state of flux, with craft entering and leaving on a weekly basis for deployment or recall. When a fleet is deployed to garrison a system it usually receives maintenance, refitting and repair from the main planet or instillation it protects. Independent fleets, deployed to foreign, interstellar or hostile territory, must rely on their own support ships and engineering crews to keep them operating. However, breakdowns, glitches and malfunctions still do occur; for all of these reasons some fleets listed may not accurately reflect their true number of classes and ships.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:29 pm

Just as big or bigger than the largest of stations, support vessels and freighters, Supercapital Ships are gargantuan warships bristling with weapons, fighters, troops, EWS, landing craft and other tools of war. Supercapital craft are always multi-spectrum units, capable of anything from taking on hostile stations and capital ships to planetary bombardment, invasion, leading fleets, preforming carrier duties and more. Always few in number, there are only nine ships bearing supercapital status in the entire Kitsune Imperial Navy (with two listed in the Salvage Fleet), and they are rarely seen outside of Xiscapian territory, generally being held to garrison their home system. A given supercapital is always commanded by an officer of Vice Admiral rank or higher, though the ship will also possess a senior Captain to oversee the day-to-day operations. There are four classes of supercapital ship in the KIN.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:30 pm

Mainline warships of the KIN, Capital Ships are the heavy hitters on the battlefield, leading fleets, destroying hostile capitals, conducting bombardments, directing strike craft and generally ripping a swath through enemy formations. Capital ships are not as rare as supercapital ships, but they only number less than two hundred overall across the Fleet; most of these are Battlecruisers, with Carriers and Battleships being more scattered. In a given task force there will only be a handful of capital ships, perhaps half a dozen, each with a specific role to play in combat operations, as unlike supercapitals some capital ships are more offensively oriented while others are made for mobility or carrying capacity. Because of their size and power capital ships can usually weather battles handsomely, despite generally attracting most of the fire, and because of this are often commanded by veteran officers presiding over seasoned crew. This combination of skill, experience and sheer firepower is not to be underestimated.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:31 pm

Serving proudly alongside their capital cousins, subcapital ships are generally made to escort their brethren, protect civilian craft, form squadrons and wolf packs and destroy enemy subcapitals. Though they are more numerous than capitals, subcapitals still only make up less than a thousand individual members of the KIN, and are more specialized than multi-role capital ships. While most fleets will be made up of a handful of different capital ships and a large number of similar attack ships, subcapitals will be moderately numbered and vary greatly, make up the offensive core of a fleet and represent the bulk of its power. Sometimes subcapital ships are deployed individually for special missions, but in general they operate in groups to support each other. During planetary bombardment subcapitals will conduct much of the attack, spreading themselves over the orbit of a world for maximum coverage, but these craft generally do not play a big part in ground invasions.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:31 pm

Alternatively being built in huge and low numbers, Support Ships are some of the most exotic, and useful, of ships in the KIN. The largest ships in the fleet outside of supercapitals, the size of support ships is deceptive, as while they can take a pounding most are not designed for strike operations -though any opponent would do well to be wary of their often massive hanger bays. Generally not made for combat, support ships are usually offensively armed but will usually take a defensive stance, volleying with the rest of their fleet or only attacking when attacked. In any fleet or over any base a support ship is a vital asset, whether it produces spare parts, sends down food, heals the sick, carries troops and vehicles or provides electronic warfare abilities; their lack of a role as a regular combatant does not undervalue their services. Unlike with most of their craft, the KIN guards the secrets of its support ships jealously and only leases out use and production rights to the closest allies of the Kitsune Empire.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:32 pm

The smallest regular warships, Attack Ships are defined as craft that fit into the bays of subcapital or capital ships, yet also have the capacity to undertake extended endurance missions independently of a mothership or base. Made for patrol, these craft always work in groups and arrive in battle in huge numbers, coordinating closely to bury the enemy under their combined firepower. More specialized still than subcapitals, attack ships are usually made to screen fleets, destroying missiles and small craft before they can get close; their size means they have few small craft of their own and minimal Imperial Marine complements, mostly for security purposes. Despite their size attack ships are still powerful, one is capable of keeping an entire city under surveillance and, if necessary, bombing it out of existence from orbit. Attack ships, unlike most subcapitals, can also enter and exit atmosphere without danger, making them powerful close support gunships as well as orbital support assets.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:33 pm

Perhaps the most diverse of the types, small and strike craft are carried aboard all supercapital and capital ships, most subcapital and support ships and some attack ships. These range from transports to fighters to gunships to drones and more, and are used for a variety of different purposes including ferrying troops and cargo, combating enemy small craft and warships, supporting ground troops and surveillance. Most small craft are able to maneuver in atmosphere, dock with larger ships and carry a small base amount of cargo, though some are manned while others are remote controlled or fully automated. Strike ships are often the first line of defense against enemy attack, and the first ships themselves to assault the enemy, while ground troops will often be most familiar with those Naval craft that carry, supply and support them, the small craft. It is estimated that over ten million small and strike craft exist in the KIN alone, with many times that number owned by Customs, the police, the wider government and private interests combined.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:34 pm

Unique among the fleets, the VI (affectionately known as the "Salvage") Fleet is composed of "one-off" ships produced by various Xiscapian shipyards and foreign vessels that were captured or bought by the KIN or gifted to the Xiscapian government. Many of these vessels have been modified, usually to decrease crew intensity, add weapons and re-purpose the craft from their original role, but most still retain their original systems. Because of their special nature VI Fleet vessels are sometimes deployed to combat specific problems, or as support units when regular KIN craft are unavailable. The exact abilities of these craft may vary wildly from those of their KIN counterparts, for better or for worse, and as such the quality of each ship may be fairly high or significantly low. Though the VI Fleet is based in the Elder System in the Home Galaxy, its elements are usually scattered across the Kitsune Empire.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:35 pm

Description of Shieldships:

"One of the most visually distinct ships in the galaxy, the Shieldship was the brainchild of New Republic war hero Lando Calrissian and built with the cooperation of the Republic Engineering Corporation. Since the ships were originally meant to repel the dangerous rays of the Athega system’s superhot sun, they have few applications outside of their original purpose, but REC keeps the design in circulation since no other ship in the galaxy can do what the Shieldship does.

The Shieldships resemble giant umbrellas and work in much of the same fashion. They have large tubes and fins designed to vent the heat generated by the proximity and exposure to a sun. Depending on the heat given off by a particular sun, or the closeness of the Shieldship to it, the cooling gear onboard may need to be replaced after every trip.

The Shieldship has an advanced slave circuit system for taking control of the ships behind it, making for quick trips into and out of a system. Without the slaving system, the Shieldship is forced to travel at sublight speeds, making for much slower times. Unlike many capital ships of its size, however, the Shieldship is quite fast, clocking in at an unheard of 60 MGLT. This is possible because the ship has very little superstructure in comparison to conventional ships of similar scale.

The Shieldship boasts strong armor and powerful shields thanks to its primary role of safeguarding ships from superhot suns. For protection it has only a single turbolaser, but that is usually more than enough since few ships would be able to follow it into the places it goes."

Using a number of these so-called Shieldships, the Kitsune Empire can produce an invisible, impenetrable fortress anywhere that has a star. First a number of these Shieldships (minimum of one) are piloted into the dangerous zone close to a star known as the corona. At a range of one million kilometers from the surface of the star (deep within the corona) the energy output is approximately 10.5 MW/m², assuming a Sol-like star. This is because the sun's power output (3.827E26 watts) is released in all directions, where any other ship would be destroyed by the intense heat and radiation. Coming directly behind the Shield Ships are tugs towing the installation into position. Once at the desired range the Shieldships halt and hold position, creating a small safe zone in their protective field of clear "cold" space where an object may be placed.

So deep inside the corona, anything that tries to get close, even a warship with very powerful shields, would be destroyed by the intense radiation long before entering effective firing range. Friendly vessels enter the safe pocket created by the Shield ships via a precise FTL jump, which allows regular maintenance vessels in the replace worn-out or damaged cooling gear on the Shieldships, or a second group of Shield Ships to replace the first once they require maintenance. To prevent an enemy from using the coordinates required for this jump for nefarious purposes, a small FTLi field is installed to act as a gate of sorts, only opening at arranged times or via passcodes from incoming vessels. An upside of this approach is that it would be all but suicidal for an enemy to try to force his way through the gate while it was up, as even a slight miscalculation or error would instantly destroy anything he tried to send through. The addition of numerous gravity cannons and tractor beams in the pocket to shove anything unwanted out of the safe pocket and into the unprotected corona around the star is another deterrent to such tactics.

In the event of an attack in the system which the star base is situated in, it has a number of advantages. Obviously its greatest advantage lies in location; it's effectively impossible to assault without precise coordinates and passcodes, and even then it is a risky proposition. Another aspect of location, however, is the gigantic gravity well of the star and the star's same intense radiation; this makes it impossible for even the most powerful of sensors to see the star base or its attendant ships, hiding it from view. The same affects the base itself and the ships around it, of course, but a network of probes, drones and beacons are installed in clear space, away from the star, to feed sensor data to the star base. An enemy could attempt to destroy all these units, but they would have to find them first, then chase and target them, all while under fire from the system's defenses.

The value of such a star base is relatively obvious in certain fields; they can and are used as secret research bases, a concealed dockyard for special ships, a backup center for uploaded A.I. and more. In the arena of military application, the advantage again lies in location. Fitted with the appropriate equipment, a star base can siphon off some of the immense excess energy radiating from the star, store it, and use it as power -which opens up the possibility of installing a gargantuan Grazer cannon or an array of smaller weaponry powered by this energy. Obviously, due to the nature of the location, solid-shot weapons (MAC shells, normal missiles, coilgun rounds etc.) would simply be burned up long before reaching their targets, but the same does not hold true for energy weapons or (if the FTLi gate is down) FTL missiles. The star base can be fed target data from outside sources such as its sensor beacons or friendly warships.

In reverse, the enemy cannot attack the starbase in the same fashion. Any given hostile cannot detect the star base because of the radiation emitted by the system's star, so he would not be able to accurately trace fire or communications going into or coming out of the area around the star. Firing randomly in hopes of striking something will do him no good, considering the size of his target against the size of the star, and even if the station or attendant ships are struck they have their own defenses. There is very little even an advanced enemy can do to harm a star base; since it cannot be destroyed by overwhelming firepower it would need to be destroyed via covert operations sabotage, and station operators are vigilantly watchful for such attempts.

Perhaps the greatest aspect of the star base is that the limit on the number of them possible around a star is only the same as the capacity of the organization that is producing the ships, stations and sensor beacons necessary for their existence. Potentially, millions of star bases of varying sizes could exist around a sufficiently large star; indeed, an entire nation could be fit comfortably into the corona in this fashion. Whether this has actually been done is unknown...

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:36 pm

Seal
Motto: Factum non verbum

With roots lost in the distant past of the prehistory of the Warring States on Old Xiscapia thousands of years ago, the Xiscapian (Kitsune) Imperial Army is easily the oldest service. The XIA has changed in size, purpose, composition, role and technological level over the centuries, but it began as and remains a professional, highly accomplished force with more battlefield experience than the sum total of entire intergalactic organizations. Only recently has the XIA begun accepting non-kitsune into its ranks on a large scale, mostly humans of various types; however, the overwhelming majority of the service is still comprised of kitsune. Interestingly, the XIA has a higher male-to-female ratio than the KIN, which tends to have a large imbalance in male-to-female members, with males outnumbering females as much as 3:1 in some areas. The Army is also the more popular of the two routes taken by those seeking citizenship in the Kitsune Empire, as it does not generally require as high a degree of training and specialization.

During the Korr Wars the bulk of the Imperial Army was kept garrisoned on Xiscapia, with armies being dispatched out to secure the fortress moons of Jomstar that separated Xiscapia and Korrillia. As a result of this style of warfare the XIA as a whole became extremely proficient at both clearing fortified areas of enemy troops and constructing and using defenses in those same areas against attack, as was constantly the case. The closing years of the Korr War strained the Imperial Army greatly but gave it experience in large-scale defensive operations and assaults, valuable experience for the post-War years. Since then the XIA has both decreased in size (no longer enforcing conscription) and modernized, going under a reevaluation, mass de-commissioning and both developing and importing new technology. In the twenty five years since the Imperial Army has increased its capacity for multi-spectrum warfare while retaining a specialization in storming defended positions and a penchant for effective defenses.

Today the XIA is utilized in this capacity primarily for two things: planetary garrison and planetary assault. When garrisoning a world the Army works together with local intelligence, law enforcement, paramilitary and militia agencies and groups for both defense and security purposes. On protectorate planets, or worlds with a non-Xiscapian native population, the Army coordinates with the indigenous for these purposes as well. When on the defensive Army doctrine mandates aggressive tactics to prevent the enemy from gaining a significant foothold in order to hold out long enough for Kitsune Imperial or allied reinforcements to arrive and destroy the invaders. In such cases it is not uncommon for subordinate forces to act as reinforcement, support or guerrilla units for the Imperial Army.

On the offensive the XIA is tasked with taking and securing the surface, submerged and subterranean areas of a moon or planet. Even more so than defensive maneuvers, aggression and advancement is emphasized along with multi-spectrum warfare, in that any given target can and should be assaulted by a combined force of infantry, mechanized, armored, drone, aerial and orbital units at once. In general an invasion force will mark a few high-priority objectives and proceed to displace, destroy or capture targets in the process to those objectives until the stated goals are met with the ideal of bringing an area -be it a shipyard, industrial base, population center or entire continent- under the control of the XIA. Strategic planners will often make fixed goals but dictate fluid terms about how those goals are accomplished, giving the force room to react to new circumstances or enemy deployments and maneuvers. This allows the XIA clear objectives without compromising vital flexibility.

When combating the enemy XIA soldiers are trained to be merciless unless a given opponent either needs to be captured for interrogation purposes, or is surrendering. Once the opposition has surrendered they will generally be rounded up, stripped of weapons and equipment and removed entirely from the field of battle; prisoners of war are usually treated well, with the aim of using them in trades to regain captured Xiscapian personnel and as a bargaining chip in negotiations. Should the opposition fake surrendering, however, or surrender only to attempt to turn on their captors, they are invariably executed to a man, regardless of whether they try to surrender a second time. Captured officers can expect to be interrogated about everything ranging from their orders and troop movements to local positions and their own military culture. Forcible interrogations, including but not limited to torture, are sanctioned by the Xiscapian Imperial Military.

If a civilian population exists it is not usually deliberately targeted. While XIA doctrine calls for the capture or destruction of enemy or enemy-controlled infrastructure including factories, shipyards and starports, where civilian casualties are probably unavoidable and indeed may be heavy, so called "terror bombing" or attacks made directly against civilians in an attempt to break civilian will, is seen as counterproductive. However, if a resistance which uses civilians springs up, or the civilian population attacks XIA units or resists attempts at deportation, the XIA is not adverse to destroying an area's civilian population to remove a threat and/or obstacle. Generally speaking the preeminent objective of a given conflict is the destruction of the enemy force and/or the control of territory, so the presence of a civilian population is entirely secondary to XIA objectives. Efforts are usually made by the XIA to sway a planet's civilian population to the side of the Kitsune Empire; however, these are not always possible or successful.

Because of the rising number of non-kitsune in the ranks, as well as the incorporation of native militias and levies, has led to the creation of a variety of race-specific units. This includes various human formations including the Alversian multi-spectrum 511th Battalion, the Setulanite 74th Shock Corps, the Avalan 1010th Division of battlefield engineers, the Olacian 66th psyker Brigade, Neo Kirisuban Teishin Shudan and Giretsu units and others. Non-human troops also incorporate Berrax anti-armor teams (404th Battalion), Zillar skirmishers (599th Battalion), Escan pathfinders and sappers (200th Regiment), Alumina special forces (9th Company), Sar aquatic warfare squads (760th Army), Abhuman guerrilla fighters (irregular), Initiate sniper partners (irregular) and a number of others. These units sometimes (but not always) have kitsune officers and, often possessing immigrants seeking citizenship or second-generation Xiscapian-born aliens, follow their own customs and cultural considerations. The most famous of these units is the Xis-Set Joint Army, better known as the Hand of Judgement.

In most territories the Imperial Army holds two subordinate units typically drawn from the general population: A Militia or Levy of troops. Militias are volunteer forces made up of civilians, mercenaries, reservists and other able-bodied natives for the express purpose of defending a homeland. Levies are units of the indigenous population, typically non-kitsune, who are conscripted to serve in the defense of the territory. The size, composition, training and equipment varies from territory to territory; some, such as the Xiscapian Freedom Corps, are highly-motivated, well-equipped and undergo military training, putting them on par with most modern military forces. Others may not be so advanced. Regardless, militias and levies constitute and important part of any Kitsune Imperial garrison's defensive strategy.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:38 pm

Small Arms and Emplaced Weapons:

Picture

The IMP-4 (Improved Material Penetration 4) is not state-of-the-art, not anymore, but it was a pioneer in its field. The 12.7mm anti-material rifle has an effective range of three kilometers, less than the ultramodern if-I-can-see-you-then-you're-dead laser version currently in use in the XIA with its range of ten kilometers plus (although after a certain distance even telescopic sights can only help the sharpshooter so much), but it packs a very solid punch. With a barrel length of nine hundred millimeters, a magazine capacity of eight rounds and an unloaded weight of nine kilograms, the IMP-4 looks every bit as deadly as it actually is, and tests as well as field use show that it can penetrate twenty five millimeters of armor, and, of course, just about any wall it needs to. While it is considered inferior to the more modern versions the Imperial Army uses today, it is still more than serviceable for use anywhere else.

After the trigger is pulled, a .32 megajoule laser bolt is expanded over the case as it leaves the gun, superheating the round to over 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit. It travels at a rate of nine kilometers per second, which means that even at maximum effective range, the target has all of a third of a second to react, about the length of the blinking of a human eye. Upon impact the bullet produces an average entry point of five millimeters, or about two inches, in diameter, and the thermal bolt alone penetrates some 4 centimeters of hardened steel; if contacting a superior surface or making negative penetration, the round fragments with a lethal radius of one meter. If impacting a soft target full of liquid, such as a body full of blood, the resulting transfer of energy results in the immediate conversion of said liquid to vapor, rating about ninety five out of one hundred contacts, earning the IMP-4 the nickname "Blood Boiler" by Kitsune Imperial forces. If the round strikes material which has trapped water or water vapor inside, such as porous rock, concrete, masonry and so on, it results in an explosive displacement of one cubic meter of the aforementioned material, with a lethal fragmentation radius of one and a half meters.

Trials have shown that the round will penetrate 95 centimeters of standard ballistic gelatin, with a wound channel radiating out 3.5 centimeters from the point of impact. The manufacturers, Blasttech Industries, have not taken into account standing liquids in their tests, so results varied. Reports show that hostiles who have been struck by the rounds were found with the blood literally vaporized out of their bodies, which greatly expanded the wound channel correspondingly. When vaporized the steam expansion often led to the bursting of soft tissues over a large surface area, giving the impression that the target had been put through a woodchipper. Modern laser sharpshooter rifles are much cleaner, quieter and less spectacular, but some prefer the sheer brutality of the IMP-4...perhaps not without reason, since aspects of it have been incorporated into the modern Xiscapian battle rifle.

Normally the weapon's sights are augmented by nanocomputers that link with the user's scanners and HUD to give him, her or it a superior view of the battlefield via their armor. For users without such equipment a tactical scope that incorporates some of the elements directly into the interface and provides ancillary information in coordination with augmentations and implants is available. These include thermal imaging, FFID tags, x-ray projection and delicate sensors which measure range, wind speed and direction, temperature and other crucial variables. All in all, the IMP-4 is a very complicated piece of machinery, but the most lethal weapons tend to be.

Both Decapitator variants

Designed for the XIA by the Karaigan Battle Ready Advanced Weapons National (BRAWN) corporation, the Decapitator was first put into mass production and use midway through the Danaversian War. The first deliveries were made to Biohazard Corps units training to combat zombies, as the high-powered bolt-action rifle is an ideal weapon to destroy the slow-moving ghouls with a single headshot. Pleased with their new weapon, the Biohazard Corps integrated the gun into their armories, where it was thought it would stay as a limited, specialized item. The war soon proved this notion wrong, as the Kitsune Empire soon began exporting the Decapitator in large numbers to militias, rebel fighters, resistance groups and the like across the Home Galaxy and the Milky Way. As a result the rifle saw action in every theater of combat across multiple organizations; it is estimated that over ten billion were used throughout the course of the conflict.

The rifle was favored because it is durable, easy to use and, unlike most Xiscapian weapons, is light-weight and does not require modifications to use and fire; at the same time it provides firepower, versatility and accuracy in one rugged package. Chambering up to .308 caliber rounds in a ten round clip, the rifle has high stopping power and, as its name suggests, is entirely capable of decapitating its target with a well-placed headshot. Though all of the standard variants of ammunition are available (armor-piercing, incendiary, high-explosive etc.) the most frequently equipped type is hollow-point, as the weapon is designed primarily to engage soft targets. Each rifle comes with two barrels, the standard version and a larger unit designed to fire the oversized shells used in most other Xiscapian firearms, though export versions are not usually packaged with the latter as its intended users are not usually able to handle larger calibers. Other attachments and accessories include mountings for a bayonet, grenade launcher, flashlight, sound and flash suppressor, iron, telescopic and holographic sights and cleaning and maintenance kits (oiler, a take down tool for removing the floorplate and cleaning the receiver of the rifle, an aluminum barrel pull-through chain, a cleaning and an oiling brush, and short lengths of tow used as cleaning patches).

Two variants of the Decapitator exist; a model with a synthetic wooden stock, which is most often used by civilian operators, hunters and private owners, and a model with a sable-gray stock, which is the variant used in the military and exported by the Kitsune Empire. Both variants are highly resistant to damage and malfunction, being flame-retardant, waterproof, resistant to blunt force damage and can be repaired using scrap metal and household products. The Decapitator has earned a reputation as being more accurate and reliable than most guns, and is ideal for scouts and light marksmen. The rifle is still in use across the Kitsune Empire and in most of its client states and some allies, and has garnered widespread arming in Zillar and Escan militias due to its extensive usage in liberating them from their respective governments during the Danaversian War. It is also popular with Kitsune Imperial civilians for self-defense.

Designed and produced in collaboration with the the Star Empire of Huerdae, the "Desecrater" class Infantry Support Cannon is a versatile weapon used for both anti-tank and ranged duties. Requiring a four-man crew to utilize, the 105mm Desecrater can be infantry transported or towed via an Xiscapian gravity-lift platform, but operates around the same philosophy of the Huerdaen "Goliath" tank, though most Xiscapian variants have been modified to accept payloads from Skulk and Heartbreaker class guns to simplify ammunition requirements. It is fitted with two munition feeds, each capable of holding a three-shot magazine. Because of its barrel length the Desecrater is known to have a 'flamethrower' effect when fired, charring or setting alight exposed surfaces with the plasma friction burn-off bled from the firing of the round. New technology has allowed the 105mm cannon to fire at reduced velocity, so a precision mounting system allows the Desecrater to switch from the standard direct-fire AT mode, to a longer-ranged, indirect-fire howitzer mode. In this mode it can make use of any 105mm round as normal, including a number of specialized Xiscapian rounds created for this purpose. Though the sights remain telescopic direct-fire in Huerdaen style, the weapon has also has been upgraded to integrate an Xiscapian overlay, allowing the weapon to be fired with high accuracy in its howitzer mode.

Wolfsbane Explosive Shot:

Thanks to Hue for the names and rewriting my payload descriptions for this section.

Like the ancient canister shot, the Wolfsbane is not a true round. It is a shot cartridge containing dozens of small, antimatter filled bomblets. The shell is capable of travelling a pre-set distance before releasing the bomblets, allowing for longer-ranged attacking of condensed infantry units or exposed vehicles. The AM explosives annihilate matter they come into contact with, causing the round to be both unstable and extremely powerful against enemy units of all sorts, capable of shooting a multitude of holes into even the most heavily armored vehicle, though energy shielding still provides effective protection. The name is meant as a partial nod to the original Xiscapian designers, despite the lack of relationship between foxes and wolves. Still, the effectiveness of the round has earned a certain respect from Huerdaen Shield units, who are beginning to respect Xiscapian weaponry for its usefulness.

Bloodrayne Plasma Round:

Designed specifically for the Desecrator, the Bloodrayne round is an Xiscapian weapon that has found it's way into the hands of the Huerdaen Imperial Shield, either by private purchase or by unit requisition. Little more than a round filled by super-heated plasma, these shells are designed to splash plasma over the area of impact, the round is a high-powered, persistent incendiary, useful against most entrenched enemies or as an area-denial weapon. The deep red of the plasma used in the round earned it the name Bloodrayne simply due to the appearance a barrage of shells has, exploding over an enemy position. This weapon is extremely deadly, as wind and the chance of the plasma incendiary to 'flow' into trenches and foxholes makes it both loved and hated by allied forces. Before touching a surface, the plasma falls slowly, and wind can create moving clouds of incendiary gas that burn and destroy exposed positions, or stick to the surfaces of vehicles and fortifications. This cloud is just as deadly as direct contact, and often massed barrages are used for the purpose of creating these incendiary clouds, in hopes of routing enemy units in an area to secure a flank or destroy emplaced weapons.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:39 pm

XIA Equipment:

Xiscapian Battle Armor is a "thin" version of standard power armor. Made of a light-weight metal-ceramic alloy, the suit is layered over a sealed black body glove made of a non-Newtonian fluid given structure by carbon nanotubes, designed to protect the wearer from a wide variety of dangers. Nominally the suit is a black and dull silver color, which changes to varying shades of gray when exposed to different degrees of light. The suits can be modified to equip passive and active camouflage, cloaking devices and stealth fields, though this is not standard issue. Certain Imperial units have their armor colored to set them apart -KIN Marines, for example, have blue armor, while Black Guards have sable armor.

Utilizing a powerful exoskeleton, the suit enables the user to lift many times their body weight, run faster and offers a great deal of protection to the limbs of the wearer. Because it is completely self-contained it can protect the soldier in any environment, including the vacuum of space. The suit makes the user completely impervious to blunt force and cutting edge damage, as well as most shrapnel, stun beams, small projectiles and some explosives, and has a climate control feature that makes the wearer comfortable even in subzero temperatures or extreme heat. The helmet is outfitted with an oxygen intake filter, which prevents the user from inhaling harmful substances such as smoke, dust or poison gas, recycles air in such cases where hazardous substances are prevalent, and holds a reserve of O₂ for situations in which the exterior gases are not breathable or entirely absent. The armor cannot be penetrated by a blaster bolt (though the harmful force from one may still negatively affect the user), and its reflective nature, combined with modified heat sinks, can cause laser weapons to be deflected or absorbed without harm to the user.

The helmet is divided into four layers: Outer armor, anti-blaster mesh similar to the material used in the bodyglove, magnetic shielding to prevent enemy remote hacking of the onboard computers, and finally the interior insulator. Cellular padding around the skull helps prevent injury. The lenses on the helmet includes polarized and anti-flash components to prevent the trooper from being blinded by flash-bang grenades, explosions or other bright lights, and allows them to see through smoke, fog and fire. A built-in Heads-Up Display also identifies friendly and enemy units, displays a map of the terrain and topography of the surrounding area if available, a communications link to comrades and friendly units, climate controls, scanners and a helmet fiber-optic camera. The communications link cycles automatically to prevent enemy interception or jamming, and contains three audio options, one for transmissions, one for communication to other troopers, and one for speaking externally without filtering.

Due to the composition of the armor, it is flame-retardant, electricity insulated and functions while immersed in liquid and in space. Standard outfitting of the suit to compartments includes high-tension wire, grappling hooks, ammunition, beacons, rations, a spare comlink, water and medical packs, scramblers and plasma handcuffs. The boots of the soldiers are generally ribbed to help them gain traction on smooth or unstable surfaces, and those stationed on ships or aboard stations had magnetized boots and grav-field generators to insure that they stayed upright if the general gravity were to fail. Most types of armor are outfitted to handle personal shield generators, which further protect the user from damage. While the suits are made to interact with and compliment the modifications of the troopers, virtually all come standard with a epinephrine prompter, or adrenergic -adrenaline rush-, a analgesic inducer -pain killer- a mild, carefully dosed amphetamine -heightened state of alertness and focus- and a nanite forge which would, automatically, dispatch units to heal wounds and decontaminate tissues or organs upon exposure to bacteria, viruses, radiation or other nanobots.

Specific suits are tailored to the soldier wearing them, and are outfitted differently depending on specialization and mission profile.

(POW)

The Pinpoint Omni-directional Weapon (POW) system confuses the infrared seeker in the nose cone of an incoming missile, prompting it to plow into the ground well short or well wide of its intended target. An on-board POW system first warns of an incoming IR missile up to thirty two kilometers away and then hands off the information to a jammer. This jammer uses an IR tracker to follow the missile and guides a laser beam onto its nose, which houses the IR seeker. The system then transmits jamming signals that send the missile off target. In a worst-case scenario (missile is unaffected or heading towards a populated area) the laser's power can be increased to destroy the missile's warhead.

For each IR missile type, there is an optimum set of jamming algorithms. The closed-loop IR countermeasures technology identifies the type of IR missile and transmit the optimal jamming code on the first try. This technology is able to counter any type of known or unknown threat, extending its effectiveness well into the future to defeat SAMs not yet encountered or fielded. Since a POW system can identify specific missiles, it uses both generic jamming algorithms and sequences through the upgradeable catalog of specific jamming codes. The IR tracker also measures the effectiveness of the jamming as it tracks the incoming missile. If the effectiveness rating is below a certain percentage, it cycles through to find a more effect algorithm—all in as little as one second.

With the Guided Reflex Agile Beams (GRAB) technology, the micro sized electronically steered laser arrays have replaced the bulky, mechanical laser turrets with units that conform to the shape of an aircraft. This minimizes drag and directs the lasers much faster. Since most IR surface-to-air missiles can fly at speeds from Mach 2 to Mach 4, a typical missile engagement is over less than 8 seconds after launch. The faster the laser can be directed onto the missile's seeker, the better.

In the field POW systems are widespread and mounted on vehicles and structures to protect them from missile attack. POW systems can and often are employed independently on the battlefield to provide infantry with coverage against missiles.

One of the most sophisticated and valuable sensor arrays, the Battlefield Automated Sensor Tactical Interconnected Omniscient Network (B.A.S.T.I.O.N.) is the ultimate in sensor coverage. Consisting of thousands of tiny sensor nodes in a mesh network, a B.A.S.T.I.O.N. can be deployed in a legion of ways, from Sly drones, roving mines, artillery shells, burst missiles, flight drones or even scaled and then "shedded" of off troops and vehicles as they pass through an area. Each sensor node can wirelessly communicate with neighboring sensors to compare data, issue alerts and transmit GPS coordinates to a collection point if the sensors agree there was an alarming event. In the B.A.S.T.I.O.N. there is no central orchestrating device; instead, each node is outfitted with communications gear and acts as a relay point for other nodes, so if a single node goes down, other nodes are available, bringing reliable networks to unfriendly environments. One of the most beneficial aspects of the mesh networks is their ability to reassemble themselves to fit changing environments; this enables B.A.S.T.I.O.N. a high degree of reliability, and allows it to be recollected and deployed in another area.

A mobile B.A.S.T.I.O.N. also exists attached to soldiers and vehicles, allowing the nodes to coordinate with static networks and each other to give troops and crews data that they themselves might not even have been aware of. Many types of networks exist, including a visual, epidermal and even olfactory spread for the most complete and comprehensive coverage possible. Much of the Kitsune Empire is already meshed with this technology for use by law enforcement. Existing B.A.S.T.I.O.N. units can be modified to accept different payloads, giving the XIA the ability to mass-deploy an offensive sonic weapon, field of antimatter or electrical-equipped mines or even a spread of nanobot factories in each node to repair vehicles or resupply a soldier's reserves of medical nanobots. More applications for B.A.S.T.I.O.N. will becomes evident and feasible as technology advances.

Heat Eliminating Light Layer (H.E.L.L.) Missiles:

The Heat Eliminating Light Layer (H.E.L.L.) Missile is the standard guided projectile for KIN forces. Capable of delivering almost any payload, H.E.L.L. missiles can carry nuclear warheads, antimatter, scatter-pack miniature missiles, cluster bombs, kinetics, ion generators, mines and more. While the missile's on board targeting computer is fairly sophisticated and can react literally on the fly to new events and change velocity and direction via central commands, the main barrier to a missile's success is the presence of enemy defenses. H.E.L.L. missiles are generally capable of breaking shields and penetrating armor, but in the past it has been difficult for them to bypass enemy point-defenses. Now the KIN has developed new cost-effective countermeasures for their H.E.L.L. munitions to make them more lethal than ever.

Countermeasure 1 (atmospheric and space): Reflective coatings which attempt to reflect a large proportion of the radiation which is incident upon the aimed projectiles. This is the most basic (and cheapest) countermeasure, one shell or rocket with multiple beams concentrating on it would not survive to reach its target, but it would give any given shell or rocket more durability -so a mass shell/rocket attack against a fixed number of laser point-defenses would be more effective than previous attempts.

Countermeasure 2 (atmospheric only): A supersonic gaseous envelope around a missile ensures that a sufficiently cool gas carris away a portion of the radiation energy which is incident upon the missile by both convective and diffusive effects (i.e.: partial reflection, partial expansion upon being heated by the laser radiation and partial convection due to the temperature increase, though the latter two could arguably be considered as being of similar effect). The enveloping gas can be modified so as to consist of fine droplets which carry away a significant proportion of incident radiation and heat on the projectile as they are vaporised. Note, the larger the gaseous diameter around a cylindrical projectile (measured in terms of its cross section), the disproportionately larger the amount of incident radiation required by the point-defense laser. This is a highly beneficial addition to rockets and missiles.

Countermeasure 3 (atmosphere only): Internal coolant mechanisms built quite simply into the projective design (such as wrapping the exterior of the projectile in a series of hollow air-pipes which allow air to flow parallel to the fast-moving projectile, but in a manner which does not impede air flow around the projectile). However, the use of a 'disposable' interior ensures that excessively large amounts of heat generated due to incident radiation on the missile is dissipated via the use of 'fall away' layers. Within this type of a design, what occurs is that ceramic heat blocks at the base of the projectile become red to white hot and are designed to fall off the missile, carrying away excess heat with them as they fall –this is clearly a heat dissipation strategy which could be applied as a countermeasure to a laser defense system, and, due to the way in which the heat blocks dissipate large quantities of heat, this method could be applied to artillery as only a thin heat dissipation based ceramic layer would be required for the purposes of carrying away incident heat energy. (For a handy analogy, think the heat shield the space shuttle has on it that allows it to survive atmospheric reentry).

Countermeasure 4(atmosphere and space): A multi-stage rocket or missile which, upon detection of incident radiation, splits apart to reveal the warhead and a diffuse cloud of dummy munitions. These dummy munitions consist entirely of a reflective coating which slowly ablates with damage into the core of the projectile, ensuring that any point-defenses which targets it will have to focus a significant amount of energy to destroy it, buying the true warhead more time to reach its target.

Countermeasure 5 (space and atmosphere): One "smart bomb" design incorporates reflective layers, a supersonic gaseous envelope, internal cooling mechanisms or any combination of them, and also an onboard nanocomputer. When the weapon detects itself as under fire from point-defenses it "fakes" a kill, falling before reigniting engines and continuing on towards targets. This is especially useful in engagements in which wave-style attacks are feasible. The first wave could be launched and appear to be shot down, upon which a second wave is launched, and while the point-defenses are attempting to destroy the second wave the first wave reactivates and impacts their targets.

Countermeasure 6(space and atmosphere): A "smart bomb" concept which employs the same nanocomputer, which also makes erratic or unpredictable movements in flight, both to throw off locks and to dodge intercepting missiles or shells (which can be done, unlike with at/near lightspeed laser weapons).

Countermeasure 7 (atmosphere only): Instillation of a vibrating aerospike (an aerospike is the thin antenna-like structure mounted on the nose of long-range missiles) which would create a detached shock in the air ahead of the projectile, increasing the turbulence on the body of the missile, resulting in the disruption of target locks on the missile.

One of the few non-lethal weapons in the KIN arsenal, the Stunner is made to immobilize or incapacitate targets without long term harm. Stunners are designed to utilize three different modes of operation to ensure that the weapon operates satisfactorily in all environments against all targets; sometimes only one mode will be used, while in other instances two or even all three may be fired at once. The first mode is simply a long-range electrical shock, which is sufficient to cause pain, loss of control over limbs or full unconsciousness, depending on the power selected; this mode exists for use against cyborgs and droids as well as biologicals. The second mode takes advantage of a sonic array fitted to the weapon, where high-pitched sound waves are used to stun an individual; while the nature of this mode means it cannot be used in a vacuum, it does make the Stun setting turn lethal when used underwater, as the sound waves are powerful enough to cause concussive and thermal damage when emitted there. On land, however, sonic stun blasts generally only incapacitate, with settings to cause pain to, blind and deafen, or knock out a target.

Setting three is the most technologically complicated, and also the most useful, of modes. Whereas "blaster bolts" are super-heated plasma packets that travel in containment fields, the Xiscapian Stun setting is simply the empty containment field, packed with an electrical charge. When the field expands it covers the body of the target for about a thirtieth of a second, during which it inhibits synaptic activity, paralyzing the target, before the electrical charge renders them unconscious. Unlike the other two modes, the field mode can only fully incapacitate a target, though affects may last for only a few seconds to several hours depending on the power level of the charge used. When coupled with the sonic blast, a single shot is usually sufficient to incapacitate a given target.

Most Xiscapian military infantry weapons, including sidearms and rifles, have a Stunner with at least one mode on it; the most common mode is the third. Purpose-built Stun weapons which utilize one or more mode exist, and are often found in the hands of law enforcement and private citizens. Stun weapons are highly effective against clothed or lightly armored targets, but are generally ineffective against targets wearing power armor. Use against shielded targets yields mixed results, dependent on what type of shield and what type of Stun mode is used. Due to this armor-piercing Stun darts have been developed by the military, but are rarely used.

Common in entertainment, civilian use, the military and an old standby in the Xiscapian Intelligence and covert operations community, the hologram is an extremely useful tool for concealment, disguise and misdirection. Popularly, hologram emitters can be fitted onto a person (usually to the belt, though emitters have been reported to be applied to the lapels, boots or even implanted directly for on-the-fly shifts) and configured to cast an illusion around them. This may simply extend to invisibility, or it may be used to make the user appear to be someone else. The hologram emitter can be configured to even fit different species, so size is not truly a factor. Rudimentary force fields ensure that fake appendages feel real, but it should be noted that this type of disguise is not foolproof. Hologram emitters will not stand up to close inspection, and should be used only to throw off pursuers, confuse surveillance and otherwise cast illusions.

The Hologram Sphere, on the other hand, is somewhat more versatile. Consisting of a multi-faceted hovering emitter, it is capable of projecting illusions around itself, giving it the valuable ability of creating a fully mobile, unmanned illusion. Equipped correctly, the sphere can also be fitted with a vox, a jamming device, a small blaster and other additional payloads. These spheres can be automated, manipulated by a operator or controlled by an A.I. unit. Whether the operation is civil, covert or on the battlefield, hologram spheres are invaluable additions to any specialist's tool kit.

In the KIN, holograms are often used as a form of communication so officers can attend meetings millions of miles or even light-years away without needing to leave their posts. The reason for this is that a hologram is more versatile than a screen, and encourages greater familiarity and brotherhood between KIN members. Holograms are also sometimes used when entering a dangerous area, such as times when an officer wishes to remotely view an ongoing battle. A.I. also make us of holograms as avatars, as do some droids. Most citizens also own a hologram projector, though the quality and mobility of holograms used for covert operations is limited to the military and certain government departments.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:39 pm

Personnel:

All XIA personnel are given an eight week Basic Training course in which they learn the methods of the infantryman. This includes acquiring knowledge of the usage and maintenance of firearms, basic hand-to-hand combat proficiency, training in patrol and combat with and without power armor, basic knowledge of the operation of vehicles, drones and other equipment and learning the language and vocabulary of the service. After assessment, evaluation and review personnel are shunted to another branch based on their talents, skills and desires. Most continue infantry training, while others go on to become Battlefield Engineers, Snipers or Medics; a small percentage is selected for training with the Biohazard Corps, and an even smaller number is put through Ascian training. Those who do not show a proficiency for combat or possess a certain mind or skill set are trained in logistics.

Infantry
Human Infantry
Seal
Motto: "If your bayonet breaks, strike with the stock. If the stock gives way, hit him with your fists. If your fists are hurt, bite him with your teeth."

Deployed as everything from shock troops to occupying forces to field infantry to strike teams, the standard XIA infantry soldier is the backbone of the Imperial Army, making up the bulk of most given forces. Generally used as stormtroopers, infantry are often at the head of any assault, but as the XIA experience mandates, are also the main bulwark of a defense, forming a tripartite with ground and aerial vehicles. Trained and equipped to be extremely versatile, infantry are capable of countering any number of threats, including enemy infantry, mechanized and armored units, fortifications and hostile-controlled structures, aerial drones and craft and more; a single squad of infantry is capable of destroying an entire armored column or bringing down a whole building, with the right equipment. Infantry units will coordinate closely together to outflank the opposition and attack him from multiple positions, usually with the benefit of fire support from a variety of platforms, and are known to take the initiative on the advance. Despite this discipline is rigidly enforced among the troopers, so large bodies of kitsune can be deployed and controlled by a single commander easily on the field of combat.

All infantry are trained extensively in the methods and techniques of urban combat, particularly close-quarters-combat and hand-to-hand. Training is also heavy in coordination and networking with friendly infantry, mechanized, armored, drone, aerial and orbital units, as this is vital for the multi-spectrum overwhelming attacks favored by the XIA. In combat the infantry trooper is generally deployed with at least a fireteam, the smallest regular unit fielded by the XIA, so team tactics as emphasized. Xiscapian infantry soldiers are known to be highly prejudiced against the enemy, going as far as to fire on wounded, fleeing, unarmed or dazed opponents until they are ordered to stand down or the enemy surrenders. Interestingly, the infantry class has one of the most heavily lopsided male-to-female ratios in the entire military, a striking 5:1.

Sniper
Human Sniper
Seal
Motto: "You can run, but you'll only die tired."

Marksmen who destroy enemy targets of value from multiple kilometers away, snipers are specialized sharpshooters equipped with long-range rifles and highly trained in stealth, concealment and reconnaissance. Xiscapian sniping training emphasizes killing targets at extreme distances in order to promote feelings of insecurity and demoralization in the enemy, as well as the art of remaining hidden from enemy units for long periods of time. In combat kitsune snipers who have become separated from their unit, have orders to cover a retreat or have lost contact with command have been known to infiltrate enemy lines and fight from sniping positions until rations and munitions are exhausted. Snipers who have sufficient preparation have been known to construct entire hideout networks called dens that are interconnected so they can move from position to position without risking detection. As a result Xiscapian snipers are known for their patience and ability to remain hidden even while enemy units search for them.

In combat the sniper's favored target is enemy officers and commanders, but potential targets also include specialists such as communications operators, soldiers with anti-air or anti-tank weapons, turret gunners, pilots, tank crews and enemy snipers. If possible a sniper will target down the orders of rank, and if no officers are visible or present a sniper will generally aim to disrupt operations, especially those involving vehicles; material targets include sensitive or vulnerable components on structures and vehicles including sensor arrays, launch tubes, turrets, tires, lifts, engines and the like. Xiscapian snipers are also trained in counter-sniping, in which their effectiveness is nearly unparalleled as their natural senses, further enhanced by training and augmentations, allows them to accurately trace the direction of a bullet by its sound and oftentimes the smell of the sniper. The ratio of male to female snipers is very even, one to one, and on average there is at least one sniper per infantry platoon so there is often the case of the company's snipers being very close and usually working together or in pairs. In other cases lone snipers, often with the aid of drones, will infiltrate enemy lines to kill a specific target or report back on operations in realtime.

Ascian Specialist 1 and Ascian Specialist 2
Three fully suited Ascians can be seen on the right in the hallway
An Ascian specialist in her bodyglove

Seal
Motto: "Carpe Noctem"

Also called the đặc công (literally, "special task") force, Ascian Troopers are the elite special forces of the Kitsune Imperial Military. Trained and equipped to conduct operations in hostile, unfriendly or politically sensitive environments to achieve military, diplomatic or informational goals, the Ascian unit is a secretive, little seen section of the military that often draws its members from the best and the brightest of snipers, scouts, Black Guards and Imperial Marines. Deployed in a wide variety of arrangements to complete a number of different objectives, Ascian soldiers are most often used as black operations, assassins and strike teams in independent operations, and as scouts, commandos and sappers in standard military operations, earning them the common name of Scout, Reconnaissance and Sabotage unit (SRS) in the XIA. Ascians are best known for their short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as special operations in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Other missions are less well known for obvious reasons.

Ascian training is reportedly extensive, combining aspects from other XIA and even KIN classes to create a highly versatile soldier type. Unlike other XIA units Ascians can and have been deployed during peacetime, and are considered both Tier Two (military command) and Tier One (Imperial command) units. It is estimated that for every company of fully trained XIA infantryman there is just one active Ascian. It is known, however, that Ascian units have participated in every conflict the Kitsune Empire has been involved in since the Korr Wars, and their influence has shaped events and sometimes the course of the entire war. Because of this Ascians are rumored to have links to Shadow Operations.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:41 pm

The Mechanized Division
Seal
Motto: "Pax pacis per vires."

Mecha:

Officially known as Mechanized Heavy Infantry, but more commonly called Mecha, Meka, or Mechs, these units make up the bulk of the Kitsune Imperial Military's armored attack units. All three classes of mecha, Light, Heavy and Command, are humanoid in appearance, but utilize modular technology that allows them to modify components for versatility, e.g. a manipulator hand into a weapon. Developed over the last two hundred years of the Korr Wars, mecha started life as walkers before progressive designs gradually took them closer to modern units; while their Korr counterparts emphasized firepower and durability to create large walkers Xiscapian engineers focused on speed and mobility. Though the old armored suits are slow, clunky and poorly protected when compared to today's mecha, they was revolutionary at the time and it was not long before they were as common as tanks. By the end of the Korr Wars the number of mecha surpassed the number of tanks on most battlefields.

Today the XIA considers mecha not only superior to armored units like tanks and walkers, but superior units, period. Offering the firepower of a walker, the protection of a tank and the mobility of a footsoldier, mecha can do battle effectively with any type of enemy, including infantry, tanks, walkers, bunkers, gunships, fighters, other mecha and even small starships. This versatility makes them prized by commanders of all ranks and branches, who always welcome the sight of mechanized units. The Xiscapian design has been copied by the Alversian People's Army, who incorporated mecha into their own ranks at the end of the Korr War, by the Republic of Setulan in the development of Setulanite "Sledge" units, and by the Sen System Alliance with the Sennai Oni Support Walker, the officers of each respective nation having been impressed by the performance of Xiscapian mecha during combat. For these reasons mecha will persevere as combat units longer than most comparable tank classes.

Command Mech
Armament:
1x Hypervelocity Cannon (mounted on top in the center, fires 150 slugs a minute, can be used as a line-of-sight or an artillery weapon effective at 75 miles, able to reach orbit)
2x ‘Haymaker’ Laser Cannons (amour-destroying gun, able to reach orbit)
4x ‘Uppercut’ Super Artillery guns (three and a half foot long guns that fire ten ton shells up to 50 miles, cannot reach orbit)
6x ‘Gorger’ Flechette Launchers (four on the chest, four on the top, one on all four sides, fires large spreads of shrapnel that can destroy light vehicles and heavy enemy infantry units, cannot reach orbit)
10x Missile Launchers (each 10 cell unit able to fire surface-to-surface, surface-to-air, or surface-to-space missiles)
2x Ion Cannons (designed to take down enemy shields and disable electrical and computer systems, cannot reach orbit)
Defenses:
Extremely thick armor, light shielding, jamming devices
20x Point-defense laser guns (situated over the entire surface, can intercept and destroy incoming bombs, missiles, shells)
2x Tractor Beams
2x Remote-controlled scouts
Size: 30 meters high
Crew: 8 (1x Commander, 6x gunners, 1x A.I.)

(Generally deployed alone)

Overview: A dominating presence on any battlefield, the Command Mech is a threat to cities, armies and orbiting warships alike. One Command Mech on a rampage can lay waste to population centers, decimate armies and bring down starships with impunity. Often moving with an army in support, a Command Mech will generally be used as a siege engine to break through heavy fortifications. The only time a Command Mech was destroyed in battle was a unit that had to be abandoned by its crew as a planet was destroyed around it; no such unit has ever actually been brought down by enemy forces. Its massive array of weapons, size and escorting units means there are virtually no singular combatants that can pose a threat to it. As of Y.O.O.R. 25 98% of all Command Mech platforms (490 units) were traded to the Armed Federation of Xenohumanity; Xiscapian Command Mechs are a rare sight on the modern battlefield.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:43 pm

Support and Armored Vehicles:

While mechanized units are extremely useful, they are also expensive, and there are certain roles they cannot fulfill, which necessitates other vehicles to take up the slack. The XIA deploys several crewed vehicles and an array of drones to fill the niche; these units tend to be highly specialized, though more common than mecha. Most XIA support and armored vehicles, like KIN warships, were developed at or after the end of the Korr Wars, oftentimes in face of a new or recurring threat posed to XIA troops and existing mechanized and armored units by an enemy. Drones in particular are highly modern, having been designed and produced as recently as the middle of the Danaversian War,

Fast Attack Reconnaissance (FAR)
Size: 4.5 meters by 2 meters by 1.8 meters
Crew: 2 (driver, gunner, can carry up to four passengers)
Armament: Roof-mounted autocannon, grenade launcher, or a missile launcher.
Role: Anti Infantry/Reconnaissance

Overview: Originally intended to be a light transport, Fast Attack Reconnaissance vehicle is capable of fulfilling a variety of roles, like most Xiscapian units, and the basic design predates the end of the Korr Wars. FAR are good scouts, can act as support for infantry, and can be modified to fit several different coaxial arrays, including sensor arrays, jammers and shield projectors. Other versions exist to transport a greater bulk of cargo at the cost of seating, extending the seating to fit up to ten at the cost of cargo space or fit a EWS or ECM unit inside at the cost of weaponry, seating and cargo space. The fully armored body utilises a combination of armored steel, ceramics, and composites to provide a field replaceable modular armor package at various threat levels. The windows are made out of a transparent alloy that is just as strong as the surrounding metal layers consisting of aerogels glass and aluminium oxynitride "glass" that is used as the transparent armor and defeat threats surpassing .50 caliber armor piercing rounds. The tires themselves are armored with kevlar and other advanced damage deflecting composites are sandwiched into the composition of the ‘rubber’ during manufacture, as is ‘run flat’ capability.

Plated with thick composite creramic armor, FAR are invulnerable to most types of small arms fire and are generally regarded as very stable vehicles, which come standard with NBC and fire suppression systems. The vehicle's turreted weapon can be controlled remotely from the cabin by any one of the passengers through a neural uplink, or automated to prioritize and fire upon marked hostile targets. The vehicle's sensor suite allows it to acquire targets from multiple kilometers away, and its communications array can transmit to other ground, aerial and orbital units. A two hundred plus top speed insures that FAR have not overmuch traded protection for speed, though the vehicle is noticeably top-heavy. Then Colonel Green most famously used one of these vehicles when he bulled through Boolean attackers to reinforce then Colonel Dui and her guards at the Battle of Miller during the Danaversian War.

Buffalo Combat Engineering Vehicle
Length: 10.3 meters meters (14 with claw extended)
Width: 5 meters
Height: 3.5 meters
Armament: 1x autocannon (tertiary hatch)
Crew: 5 (Driver, Commander, 3 Engineer) and 6 passengers
Role: Combat Engineering/Road Clearing/Salvaging and Recovery

Overview: Purchased from the Karaigan to fill the gap in the XIA's unit roster, the Buffalo CEV is a study, dependable vehicle that has seen action with the Xiscapian Imperial Army since the beginning of the Danaversian War. Able to move at high speeds 84+ kilometers an hour and possessing formidable armor impervious to small arms fire, the Buffalo is well adapted to front line duty and is capable of shrugging off enemy fire as it continues its duties. Its job typically includes salvaging and towing damaged or destroyed vehicles, constructing large prefabricated buildings, digging trenches and tunnels, removing and bulldozing obstacles and clearing minefields. The vehicle's team of engineers can assist it in these operations or, if need be, protect it from infantry attack while it is carrying out movements. Because it is a complex machine not designed to repel firepower fielded by armored or aerial assets, it is important that Buffalo vehicles be well protected.

Each Buffalo is equipped with a rotatable twelve meter crane that comes in two modes. The first, a grasping claw, is made for picking large objects up and moving or lowering them into place, such as armored chassis and structure components. The second is a large scoop used for digging and excavation. A second, larger claw mounted on the front of the turret can cut down obstacles such as trees, cables and metal support beams, featuring a one hundred eighty degree turn radius. Finally, the forward plow is used to move large quantities of debris, and can be fitted to either clear entire patches of ground or simply make a path. When clearing minefields the Buffalo can activate a high intensity EMP/KSW (ElectroMagnetic Pulse/Kinetic Shock Wave) that causes premature detonations, and it also possesses a cutting laser for slicing through tank traps, barricades and even bunkers, though it is generally not employed against hostile forces directly.

If the Buffalo is called out to recover a disabled tank or destroyed scout car it can act as a towing vehicle, hitching itself up to the wreck and pulling it back to a repair point. It is preferred that the Buffalo operate in concert with a hovercraft hauler or flatbed truck, as these can typically bear the wreck away more quickly and inconspicuously than the Buffalo, but this is not always possible. When recovering such a vehicle a Buffalo will often forgo some of its complement of engineers to make room for the vehicle's crew to ride out of the combat zone. To protect itself from attack the Buffalo has its mounted autocannon, which is effective at destroying infantry and light vehicles, can deploy a HAZE cloud of nanites that interferes with the targeting sensors of hostile troops and vehicles, and fire SHARD chaff canisters to draw away missiles. Buffalo are modular and can be refitted to act as bridge layers or assault vehicles; in times of great need Buffalo have been fitted with heavy weapons and used as tanks, though this is not an ideal role, considering its vulnerability to anti-armor weaponry.

Heartbreaker Infantry Support Tank

Length: 12 meters (with gun, 15)
Width: 5.6 meters
Height: 4 meters
Armament
-140mm Rapid-Fire rail gun
-coaxial K2 (replaced with a autocannon on Xiscapian variants)
-AA Banshee
Crew: 3 (Commander, Driver, Gunner)
Role: Infantry Support Tank

Overview: Developed purely for export by Setulanite foundries, the Heartbreaker IST is a miniature version of the Beachhead tank in use by the Setulan Republican Army. Significantly less protected but still formidable, the main gun is chambered to fire the specialty shells of the Beachhead without the incredible cost of the platform itself. Faster and easier to produce and maintain, it is a medium tank purpose-made for infantry support. The XIA quickly replaced it's own aging Hellstone assault tank with the Heartbreaker, which is in use as its main supporting armored unit. Despite being classified as an infantry support platform the Heartbreaker is capable of destroying most enemy armored units as well, thanks to its specialized munitions.

Each Heartbreaker Infantry Support Tank is equipped with Devourer shells:

A specialized tank shell, the Devourer uses the chemical Oxide to eat away the armor of an enemy tank or walker. Fired to engage super tanks, the Oxide weakens the armor of the enemy vehicle considerably to the point where a standard tank can engage and destroy the tank with a regular shell. To prevent premature release of the Oxide into the tank should it be killed, there is a special chemical (made for the sole purpose of neutralizing Oxide) built into the shell casing which is released into the shell itself should the round cook off without the primer being struck. The shells themselves have radar sensors built into the nose, so when the weapon is a certain distance from the enemy vehicle, it bursts, spreading the chemical over a wider area and causing tremendous amounts of metal decay. Said area, locked into the guidance computer of the tank, is then targeted by standard anti-armor shells. In this manner the Heartbreaker tank is equipped to engage infantry, enemy tank or walker threats.

Fury Heavy Tank

Length: 10 meters (16 with main gun forward)
Width: 7
Height: 4
Armament:
1x 175mm Rapid Fire Rail Accelerator Cannon (RAC)
1x Banshee (1 inch explosive minigun, turret mounted)
2x K2 (1 inch explosive machine gun, one coaxial, one turret mounted)
Crew: 3 (Commander, Driver, Gunner)
Role: Heavy Tank/MBT

Overview: In the same way that the Setulanites were impressed by the Xiscapian LAM, Imperial Army officers similarly admired Republican Army armored vehicles. This lead first to the purchase of the Heartbreaker and later, during the Danaversian War, to the decision to make the Fury Heavy Tank the mainstay Xiscapian MBT. A large and powerful vehicles, the Fury is absolutely lethal to enemy armor, able to engage and destroy other heavy tanks in as little as a single shot with anti-armor and penetration ordinance, though it can also fire anti-personnel canisters and toxic munitions, allowing it to engage soft targets. A pair of K2 machine guns and a Banshee minigun can devastate any kind of hostile infantry and total light vehicles, giving the Fury good protection against foot mobile attack. All can be fired manually or remotely, or can be configured to target and engage automatically without crew input, and the Banshee can be slaved to the HIAML to provide extra protection during heavy missile barrages.

Every Fury is layered with hyper-dense Setulan Steel in addition to Explosive Reactive Armor for stopping anti tank rounds. To protect itself further the Fury comes with both a skin shield and bubble fields, the latter of which can shield nearby infantry from artillery attack as well as the vehicle. They are also outfitted with a High Intensity Anti-Missile Laser (HIAML) for point-defense, full insulation against ionic weaponry and communications jamming and a sophisticated FFID sensor suite capable of interfacing with remote systems on other platforms so the crew are never caught by surprise. The XIA favors the Fury above all others for its armored thrusts and rural patrol, saving lighter vehicles for operation in more restricted environments. A single Fury will often operate in tandem with one or more Fenrir tanks to give any unit both superior anti-tank capabilities and the versatility to engage all types of targets speedily.

Size: 6 meters by 4 meters by 3 meters
Crew: 4 (Commander, Driver, Gunner, Sensor Operator)
Armament: 2x Maimer IV missile launchers, 1x Digger burrowing torpedo launcher, 1x "Howler" 20mm autocannon
Role: Tank Destroyer

Equipped with three missile launchers, a sophisticated sensor suite, active camouflage, skin shielding, EMP/CBRNI protection and HIAML, the Harvester Tank Hunter is a Setulanite creation adopted by the Xiscapian Imperial Army during the Danaversian War. The main weapons of the Harvester are its two Maimer IV multiple missile launchers. Unlike the standard Maimer pattern weapons used by Setulanite troops, the Maimer IV a learning weapon specially programmed for smart attacks against armored targets. When unmasking to engage a target, the seeker head identifies the vehicle in question and automatically adapts its attack to engage a vehicles known weaknesses (for example, routing the majority of its six missiles to a known weak point in anti-projectile defense). The six -as compared to the usual Maimer’s four- missiles can be launched either individually or at multiple targets, and in some cases both launchers will engage a single super heavy tank with excellent results. What makes the Maimer IV a learning weapon is what happens when the weapon system encounters a new threat, be it upgrades to known enemy armor or entirely new vehicles. When volleying missiles, any surprises are automatically sent back to the launcher itself, which has an uplink with other Maimer IVs. Within seconds, all Maimer IV systems will know the new threat and begin working calculations on how to deal with it.

The second primary weapon on the Harvester is the Digger Missile. The Digger is a single large missile which can be launched either at a target or anywhere within a five mile radius so long as target acquisition has already been programmed into the weapon. The missile immediately dives into the earth and begins to burrow at incredible speeds towards its target, high intensity lasers in its nose evaporating anything in its path. When it is underneath the vehicle (live tracking is necessary for the weapon to function properly), it climbs and penetrates the bottom armor, detonating within. This was used with great effect against Danaversian Thumper tanks.

The primary defensive tool used by the Harvester is the Active Camouflage System. This does far more than just conceal the vehicle. Tiny cameras project images of terrain as it rolls by, making the tank invisible to the naked eye, while the Cloak Shell Armor masks any energy signatures from the tank until any enemy is within what is effectively point blank range.

The Guillian Sensor Package is perhaps the most dangerous part of the Harvester and what turns it into the ultimate hunter it truly is. The Guillian is an incredibly high detail sensor array that picks up enemy atmospheric craft, vehicles, infantry, and on high settings low orbit starships. More than that, it also serves to pick out command vehicles by tracing radio/signals traffic from approaching vehicles, thus allowing the Harvester to pick off enemy leadership vehicles and vector missiles onto multiple targets at once.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:44 pm

Drones:

Developed and in use since the end of the Korr Wars, drones were only truly perfected and put into mass production and use by the time of the Danaversian War. Able to fulfill infantry, IFV, armored, scout, reconnaissance and aerial combat roles, these automated units are invaluable to the XIA due to their cost effectiveness, durability and firepower. In the modern military drones are deployed as stopgap solutions and are often paired with militia or native units that lack their own mechanized or armored vehicles. In general drones are not considered as effective as the units they are meant to replace (though the Avatar Kit-roid and the Seraph Drone Gunship contest this) and so are usually sent with regular forces as advance or massed units, where they can take full advantage of their networking abilities. The current class of Alversian drones were inspired by these Xiscapian units.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:45 pm

Ships, Submarines and Aquatic Vehicles:

Combat on the islands of Foxlandish, as well as fighting on Yroaupz during the Danaversian War, made clear that the XIA was severely lacking in ocean-going warfare units. Up until that time water-based combat was considered irrelevant to modern military operations, as starships were thought to be able to easily eradicate any hostile blue water ships or submerged bases, but those two theaters of combat showed that this was not always the case. Thus the XIA supplied funding first for the construction of a multi-role submarine, the Mizu Hebi, which fought with an impressive success rate against both the Drackonisans in occupied Foxlandish and the Danaversians under the seas of Yroaupz. Other submerged units and surface craft were not fully realized until late in the Danaversian War, when their use had once again become questionable. In spite of this the KIN maintains a small fleet of these units in preparation to defend or attack worlds that are primarily aquatic, and move troops across a planet's surface via the ocean.

Ryukujira Fleet Tender
COMBAT DESIGNATION: Fleet Tender
LENGTH: 400 meters
WIDTH (BEAM): 70 meters
DRAFT 15 meters
DISPLACEMENT: 50,000 tons
CREW: 700
ENGINES: Laughing Leviathan Power plant
KNOT RATING: 34 knots
HULL RATING: 4 Heavy Tritanium I with KEB (Kinetic Energy Biological) protection
SHIELD RATING: 3 Medium Shielding
ARMAMENT(S):
20x PDCs
2x 105mm Railguns
Bio:
Designed by BRAWN's Surface Warfare Maritime (SURWARMAR) division of Karaig, the Ryukujira class fleet tender was designed to increase war efficiency by providing a mobile resupply base for active vessels to keep them in the fight. This dramatically shortens travel time between the battle space and ports for resupplying. The Ryukujira class can have four vessels docked at once; two in the rear piers, and two in the submerged piers under the hull. This can allow for two surface vessels and two submarines or four submarines to be serviced at a time. Furthermore, each pier is equipped with powerful servo cranes to pick up ships in the event of a salvage operation, allowing each Ryukujira vessel to salvage an equal number of craft. To meet both the salvage and resupply roles, the Ryukujira class has massive cargo holds for munitions and supplies, allowing them resupply fleets without needing to return to port to be resupplied themselves as well as provide repairs to damaged craft.

The Ryukujira class has a large crew, most of whom make up the complement of engineers and technicians needed to participate in operations; the ship itself is heavily automated and only needs a skeleton crew of two hundred. A Imperial Marine complement of one hundred protects the craft from boarding operations. The ship is lightly armed for its size, carrying mostly PDC weaponry for self defense and a pair of 105mm cannons that can sink small patrol boats that get too close; however, it is capable of launching, receiving and berthing small craft, which are usually utility transports but could conceivably include fighters or gunships. Defensively it is equipped with a number of countermeasures to prevent it from being accurately targeted and armor and shields that make otherwise devastating sneak attacks ineffective. It is recommended that the ship be escorted at all times, as it is a significant target given its size and purpose and vulnerable to submarine or massed air attack.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:18 pm

Over three millennia old, Xiscapian culture has changed along with the rest of its people and continues to do so under the Kitsune Empire. Intermixing with foreign and alien cultures further enhances this, breaking the vacuum the general culture has inhabited for the two thousand years it was isolated from any other people. Ultimately the Kitsune Empire advances Xiscapian culture via cultural imperialism, hastening to subjugate and minimize a conquered people's culture and replace it with that of the Xiscapians, with the goal being total assimilation for the good of the state. Though this policy is not deliberately and outwardly acted upon, it is nevertheless present, encouraged and working in some areas. In this way culture is a tool that the Kitsune Empire uses just like any other; at the same time, the Xiscapians retain their own unique customs and way of life.

When they wear clothing at all, Xiscapians generally prefer comfortable, functional apparel, with aesthetics only a distant third. During the Korr War available fabrics tended to be of low quality, almost universally synthetic in nature with materials including polyester, acrylic and nylons, as they were mass-produced rather than individually designed and generally manufactured for their protective, durable qualities rather than for beauty or comfort. This means that many Xiscapian clothes, particularly older styles and makes that predate the end of the War, are flame, water, stain and insect resistant, but typically also heavy, uncomfortable and unflattering to wear. Groundside workers might be assigned uniforms that often consisted of coveralls, while spacers and others with jobs in or near vacuum often favored jumpsuits that could be retained when entering a hardsuit, and both coveralls and jumpsuits were favored because they could be stored compactly, were easy to put on and simple to clean. These had a hand in the creation of the siren suit, a large, one-piece garment designed for soldiers or civilians to throw on while going to a raid shelter.

Since time immemorial, Xiscapian civil officials have worn some variant of robes. These tend to be plain and solid colored, the most famous of which are the Emperor's burgundy Imperial Robes, though the Imperial Family in fact has an entire selection of different styles and colors of similar dress. Traditionally the robes are worn with a tunic underneath, and are often configured so they can be worn over the back as a cape, or hooded cloak. Notable are the black-and-purple robes of the Xiscapian Diplomatic Corps, the white robes of Xiscapian Imperial Governors and Overseers, and the sable or orange robes of the philosophers of Bodom and Qonn. Perhaps not surprisingly, official robes often have a number of features, including interior pockets, various resistances including to projectiles and energy blasts, insulating properties and considerable expense.

With contact achieved with the People's Republic and trade commenced, the Xiscapians were exposed to new clothes, new fashions and, indeed, new ideas about fashion. Doing away with the old robes, Xiscapian business persons adopted Alversian-made suits when meeting with their counterparts in an effort to appear more professional, and they have retained the look ever since; on the darker side, expensive Alversian suits were also held up as the "uniform" for shatei of the Xiscapian Syndicate organized crime group. In particular, Xiscapian youth were affected, buying into many Alversian fashion trends and fads and trading in their coveralls, jumpsuits and thick all-weather gear for jeans, tank tops, light coats and sneakers. Because of this Alversian clothing and apparel companies dominant the Xiscapian market, targeting Xiscapians with everything from the somber, subtle, richly textured clothing favored by adults and businesspersons to the loud, skimpy and heavily-accessorized outfits purchased by the young. Alversian fashion trends sweep through the Kitsune Empire almost as quickly as they do the People's Republic, and the fads are often reflected by the kitsune.

Despite this closeness, Xiscapian women have broadly refused to wear the likes of most dresses, skirts and even more conservative articles such as pantsuits, preferring to wear the same kinds of clothes as their male counterparts. Indeed, many pieces of traditionally feminine clothing, such as high heels, leggings and blouses are actually seen as erotic fetish items by Xiscapians, not that this stops some members from wearing them in public. On the flip side, homosexuals and transgender males will often don Alversian woman's clothing to further enhance and emphasize their femininity. This is also true of makeup, though it can be found more commonly on both male and female Xiscapians of all orientations.

-Nudity

-Hats

-Footwear

-Ornamentation

-Paint

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:19 pm

Timeline:

Quotations:

At various times throughout history various races and nations have encountered the Xiscapians under different situations. These circumstances have not always been ideal or pleasant, but in any case both contact and subsequent relations often yield memorable statements. These, which include statements, questions, commentary and thoughts, have been compiled from various sources here for the consumption of the reader.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:20 pm

There are a number of official Xiscapian laws which visitors, travelers, tourists and other foreigners as well as citizens of the Kitsune Empire are expected to obey. Law enforcement tends to be pervasive and harsh, and public executions do still occur, so those outlaws and criminals who tread on Xiscapian soil would be well advised to keep clean until they are out of Kitsune Imperial territory. Despite this the Kitsune Empire is a quite libertarian society when it comes to drugs, sex and civil freedoms, so many possessions and actions which might cause an individual to be arrested in another nation may not be illegal here; indeed, some things which are prohibited in other states are welcomed and encouraged in some parts of the Kitsune Empire. Aside from laws the Xiscapians also have a number of customs which citizens are expected to follow, though foreigners are treated more laxly since they cannot be expected to know all the rules, especially if they are only visiting for the first time. However, a foreigner who observes and follows (or at least attempts to imitate) Xiscapian cultural motions may be more warmly received than one who blatantly disregards them.

Laws

Customs:
There are several customs which must be observed on Xiscapia. While not following these customs won't get you killed, it is considered polite to at least try to observe them, and deliberate failure to do so may get you shunned, or worse, exiled from Xiscapia.

by **Xiscapia** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:21 pm

"The god Qonn is of honor, delight, and brilliance; Bodom is of invincibility, might, and terror. Qonn is the Guardian, He who Creates. Bodom is the Warrior, He who Destroys. We are henotheistic, there are many other gods, but these are ours and these are who we follow." -Maynghein

While a majority of Xiscapians report considering themselves atheistic (belief that gods do not exist), agnostic (belief that one can not be certain of the existence or absence of gods) or apatheistic (regarding the existence of gods as irrelevant), a number of Xiscapians continued to follow the old "religion." The religion of Xiscapia is more of a philosophy or a metaphysical belief than it is a religion, but the Church and the Cult, the two main bodies of spirituality, have allowed themselves to be branded a religion for the sake of understanding. The Xiscapian gods, Qonn and Bodom, are seen less as entities and more as metaphorical representations of certain ideals or natural forces, though some sects and persons do still consider them truly gods. Xiscapian religion is often mistakenly referred to a Qonn; in fact Xiscapian religion has no single moniker, being relatively scattered and individualistic in nature, but is generally referred to as simply the Church, which is ironically misleading since the religion is composed of the Cult as well. In the People's Republic of Alversia Xiscapian religion is called "Dualism", where it has picked up followers; the Xiscapian way of thinking has also spread to the Republic of Setulan and the Sen System Alliance.

Xiscapian religion in general is represented by this symbol. The unifier of the religion is of balance. As there is water for fire, light for darkness, space for time, there is an opposite for everything. Priests and Cultists both believe that their ways are two parts of the same whole, that their gods do not work against each other, but with each other in an eternal cycle. However, at the same time there is a little of the opposite in everything, as light must have a shadow, and there must be light to see the darkness by.

The Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia's Factbook (FT) (2.5)

The Kitsune Imperial Navy

KIN Data: Rankings and Organization

KIN: Weapons and Technology

KIN: The Naval Register

KIN: Fleet Deployments

KIN: Supercapital Ships

KIN: Capital Ships

KIN: Subcapital Ships

KIN: Support Ships

KIN: Attack Ships

KIN: Small and Strike Craft

KIN: The VI Fleet

KIN: Fortifications and System Defenses

The Xiscapian Imperial Army

XIA: Small Arms and Emplacement Weapons

XIA: Equipment

XIA: Personnel Classes

XIA: Mecha

XIA: Support and Armored Vehicles

XIA: Drones

XIA: Blue Water and Aquatic Vehicles

Xiscapian Culture

Culture: Xiscapian Lore

Culture: Customs and Laws

Culture: The Church and the Cult

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