Imperium: Reboot (OOC/Sign Ups) Always Open

[Bolslania]

well, with no major rivals in the immediate area, there's really nothing that keeps the Imperium's military on their toes since they've been designated into a garrison role.

But nothing for any rebel elements to gain experience either. A martial empire like this, even with no opponents, always has capable officers at the ready. An apt comparison is the Austrian empire during the Napoleonic wars. Even though the army was captained by useless aristocrats and multilingual, they still provided at least a token defence against the French. The real thing you have to watch out for is what the Prussians were doing: relying too much on ancient glory to carry the day.

Yeah and there is going to be a mix of bad and good officers

[Nazeroth]

The Grex are going to be similar to the Klingons and Sanghelli when fighting

"honorbound warrior" types

[Union Princes]

Superevent on Irene's coup on the Coalition

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

The Grex are going to be similar to the Klingons and Sanghelli when fighting

"honorbound warrior" types

A planet of the hats?

[Imperialisium]

But nothing for any rebel elements to gain experience either. A martial empire like this, even with no opponents, always has capable officers at the ready. An apt comparison is the Austrian empire during the Napoleonic wars. Even though the army was captained by useless aristocrats and multilingual, they still provided at least a token defence against the French. The real thing you have to watch out for is what the Prussians were doing: relying too much on ancient glory to carry the day.

Yeah and there is going to be a mix of bad and good officers

There will be good and bad officers. Surely. However at start of the IC the GI fields a highly capable Military of vast scale and scope. Why I urged seditious players to take their time. As open rebellion is going to yield a harsh and immediate response.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Still a work in progress

Name: Randor Val’Talidan
Nickname: Lord Fiscus, ‘VALSA’
Age: 120
Birth Date: 4th of March, 25,589 CE
Gender: Non-binary
Planet of Origin: Inferno Canto XXXIV
Race/Species: Human-Infernian
Height: 2m
Weight: 85 Kg
Physical Description or Image:

Social Class: Personal slave of the Emperor
Titles: His Majesty’s Secretary
Occupation: Imperial Buchalter, Secretary of the Fiscus
Hobbies/Pastimes: Chess, to play for the Emperor’s delight. Val’Talidan enjoys puzzles of all kinds, as well as history and war games. Val’Talidan likes ancient literature, and adores figures from ancient history.
Talents/Skills: Randor Val’Talidan is a person who sees the galaxy not as wonderful worlds of myriad creatures, or the collection of a billion billion individuals. Rather, they sees the universe as a combination of vectors. A universe where people are pushed by forces of nature, the will to survive, and the reality of the universe. The universe is on a trajectory, and people can only make incremental changes. This belief makes him superbly analytical, and able to see the galaxy in the form of statistics and diagrams. Seeing past the flags and the splendour and the posturing of the empire, Val’Talidan knows what actions actually drive the empire.
Religious Beliefs: Those who live on the Inferno Planets are raised with the belief that Hell and Heaven exist at the same time, and that the Galaxy is that place. For some people, the galaxy is heaven. They sleep easy at night and have nothing to worry about. Those who live in hell have to scrounge for scraps, to kill or be killed. Your placement depends on your actions, and whatever brings you comfort is goodness in the eyes of the Infernians.
Personality:
Biography:

[Reverend Norv]

Inferno Canto XXXIV - the one in which Dante comes face-to-face with Satan, before escaping Hell at last. "Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars." We should all be so lucky. An excellent choice, James.

[Union Princes]

With these religious figures, I'm curious what they have to say on our characters. I wonder if Irene would be praised for her character if she wasnt such a skeptic

[Imperialisium]

IC will be dropping today/night depending on your timezone

[G-Tech Corporation]

IC will be dropping today/night depending on your timezone

My body is ready. Let slip the black ships!

[Remnants of Exilvania]

IC will be dropping today/night depending on your timezone

My body is ready. Let slip the black ships!

Sounds less like yours is ready and more like we have to ready ours.

[G-Tech Corporation]

My body is ready. Let slip the black ships!

Sounds less like yours is ready and more like we have to ready ours.

Well that is part of the fun.

[Segmentia]

Sounds less like yours is ready and more like we have to ready ours.

Well that is part of the fun.

tfw the Hegemony just gets smacked by the Imperial Navy.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Well that is part of the fun.

tfw the Hegemony just gets smacked by the Imperial Navy.

*shrug*

I’m sure they’ve got better things to do closer to actual civilization.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

tfw the Hegemony just gets smacked by the Imperial Navy.

*shrug*

I’m sure they’ve got better things to do closer to actual civilization.

In the first three pages apparently not so much.

[Segmentia]

tfw the Hegemony just gets smacked by the Imperial Navy.

*shrug*

I’m sure they’ve got better things to do closer to actual civilization.

Maybe, but knowing you...

[G-Tech Corporation]

*shrug*

I’m sure they’ve got better things to do closer to actual civilization.

Maybe, but knowing you...

Oh that will take some time.

[Imperialisium]

I got bored, so I wrote up some blurbs about the major naval engagements Joachim has been in/commanded over the last fifty or so years, in chronological order. People are welcome to use these for lore or flavor if they want. I know we have a fair amount of Navy players so those characters could have been present as well, potentially with major roles. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to add more.

Eydhan IV, 25,654 IC: One of the later battles of the lengthy Poniatowski revolt, and the first engagement that Varyon fought with a Rear Admiral rank. Under the command of Admiral Mirza Gallegos, the Imperial sector fleet launched a direct assault on the rebel fleet in orbit over Eydhan IV. The Poniatowskis had six carriers to the loyalists' three, and used these to cut up the attack and disperse the imperial battleships. Varyon's squadron of battlecruisers and destroyers was being held in reserve; when Gallegos refused to call him up, Varyon acted himself and threw all thirteen of his small ships at the rebel carrier flagship Lefkada when it was engaged with a battleship. At the cost of six ships, Varyon's squadron destroyed it. Imperial ships regrouped and began rolling up the rebel fleet along the left flank, eventually destroying over a third of it. The victory of Eydhan IV allowed the imperials to retake the system and continue their momentum in the campaign. For his actions, Varyon was promoted to Vice-Admiral and awarded a Navy Cross.

Korshaufen, 25,655 IC: During the siege of the Poniatowski homeworld, Varyon was given a flotilla and tasked with preventing the rebel remnants from fleeing. True to expectations, they did: Duke Janusz Poniatowski ran the blockade with his family and nearly seventy warships. Varyon used, and largely sacrificed, his battleships to draw the rebels into an asteroid field, where his smaller ships outmaneuvered and ran circles around larger ships that would usually outgun them. Varyon and the Duke Poniatowski battled it out for seven hours before imperial reinforcements arrived and numbers began to tell. The rebels were annihilated to the last ship, ending the most damaging rebellion in centuries for good.

Bleska, 25,660 IC: Varyon's fleet was deployed to the Galactic far North to help pacify an entire sector that had fallen to Evangelical fanatics. He chose the bleak and uninhabited Bleska System as a prime spot to jump into the warzone. However, on coming out of the jump he ran right into a full-strength Evangelical fleet in-transit, who were just as surprised to see him. Varyon attempted a full frontal assault, which failed badly. He managed to regroup his flotillas and concentrated three of them on the right flank, making that a strong point but leaving the center and left weaker. His line very nearly collapsed under the Evangelical counter-attack, but at the crucial moment, the right flank turned and rolled the enemy line in a fashion similar to Eydhan IV, but on a much larger scale. The rebels lost their formation and were routed.

Vanholt, 25,662 IC: Grand Admiral Johannes Swain, a man with pretensions of warlordism, revolted with his entire Armada in the sector around Raithon Prime and took the crucial system. Varyon met the larger part of his force in the adjacent Vanholt system. Varyon, slightly outnumbered, expected an attack but did not get one. When he launched an assault, Swain sacrificed large numbers of ships in order to destroy all of the loyalist carriers, destroying Varyon's fighter capacity. The rebel fighters, now unrestrained, cut many of the loyalist light ships to bloody ribbons. After ten hours, Varyon was able to stage a rearguard action and evacuate the remnants of his fleet in fair order, though over half of it had been annihilated, costing the lives of a million or more men. It remains the worst defeat of his career.

Kherrata-St. Cyr, 25,665 IC: The lengthiest campaign of Varyon's mid-career was against the Cygnus State, a Terranist-dominated separatist state with a degree of backing high up in the Imperial government. Varyon launched a two-pronged attack on the Kherrata and St. Cyr systems, with a subordinate commanding the latter prong. He encountered the greater part of the Cygnus fleet in Kherrata and was beaten, but withdrew in good order to St. Cyr, where he united his forces and defeated the smaller enemy fleet. He then turned to face the pursuing Terranists, who outnumbered him almost 2:1, and soundly beat them. The Imperials went on to liberate Angelus V and crush the revolt. Kherrata-St. Cyr arguably remains Varyon's most impressive triumph; certainly it is his most famous and most studied. It is controversial for having been won against Terranists, whose philosophy remains quite popular in some human regions of space. It also may be the largest naval engagement of the last three or four centuries, involving tens of thousands of warships and over forty million sailors.

M'likis, 25,672 IC: Sent by the Senate to confront the insectoid Uuvrid, a rebellious xeno species in the Galactic West, Varyon pulled off a surprise attack in the M'likis system. He danced around the edges of Uuvrid space for weeks before sending a single flotilla in a feint to the Uuvrid home system to threaten their queen, which drew in the xeno fleets like flies to honey. His way now clear, Varyon followed them to M'likis and soundly thrashed the bugs in orbit of their homeworld, returning them to the Imperial sphere.

Siege of Salonica, 25,679 IC: The decisive engagement of the largest workers' uprising in a century. A few parsecs from Canopus. Varyon destroyed the main revolutionary fleet in orbit of Salonica. When the planet refused to surrender, Varyon ordered it bombarded with heavy orbital weapons for a staggering ninety-six hours, killing as many as fifty million people in the process. Suffice to say, the survivors surrendered. Salonica remains a major black mark on the Grand Admiral's reputation.

Nas Drazhan, 25,684 IC (25 years ago): After particularly large Kai'Mir raiding parties wrecked havoc on adjacent human worlds, Varyon was tapped to discipline the offending tribes. His fleet met the raider coalition in the Nas Drazhan System, just inside the borders of the Khanate. Though he outnumbered the Kai'Mir slightly, they proved to be perhaps the toughest individual opponents that the Grand Admiral had ever faced, more than making up in ferocity and daring what they may have lacked in technology or organization. The fighting raged across the system for several days, taking a heavy toll on both fleets. Varyon's flagship Kitsune was itself badly damaged. After 72 hours, Varyon withdrew his fleet from the Khanate, leaving the rogue Kai'Mir the field and a technical victory. He had, however, managed to kill off more than two-thirds of the raider fleet. Thereafter, the bloody raids halted and the border stabilized for a time.

Kimambi, 25,690 IC (19 years ago): Varyon faced down the most recent threat to his power in the South Sagittarius Governorate when the powerful House of Palafox revolted against his rule. Meeting the Palafox fleet in the Kimambi System, just a few light-years from his capital at Sagittar Prime, the Grand Admiral drew the rebels in by launching an apparently disorganized attack followed by a false retreat. Thinking they had routed the imperials, the rebels gave chase, only for Varyon's ships to turn and fight, bolstered by his reserve flotillas. The resulting combat annihilated Palafox naval strength in less than three hours, at relatively mild cost to the imperials.

Chimoio, 25,702 IC (7 years ago): In which the Grand Admiral faced down another mutinous Armada which threatened Sayshelle. The battle remained in doubt for some time until Varyon threw every carrier he had against the rebel left, causing his right to nearly buckle but breaking up the enemy formation. The rebel capital ships were scattered, allowing Varyon's armada to pick them off piecemeal. When the rebellious admiral's flagship was destroyed, the remaining captains under his command surrendered.

So the issues here are that this in no way accurately captures the Imperial Navy. At Eydhan IV there is mention of a Sector Fleet attacking in force on a rebel fleet. An entire Imperial Sector Fleet can contain hundreds if not thousands of vessels of various classes. The Imperial Navy 1v1 vastly outstrips any House (no matter how great) or SAS by a near infinite order of magnitude. So a Sector Fleet, in what is generally described as an important area, would not be outnumbered by a House Fleet in any meaningful capacity. This goes to the central issue of the Poniatowski Rebellion. While any House going rogue is a problem, especially a powerful one, doing so on their own is a doomed attempt as the sheer amount of resources the Imperial Military AND their political opponents can both bring to the field vastly outstrip what could be mobilized by the Poniatowskis. So while sure, a quick victory may be out of the question, but it isn't a long term contest. Its the Japanese at Iwo Jima versus All the Allies landing simultaneously.

At Korshaufen: Sacrificing battleships...BATTLESHIPS...so that you can engage with your smaller ships which will do less damage and take longer to destroy the enemy...in no way is any officer getting so much as a positive citation. Likely a demotion actually. Thats like the USN just losing all their Battleships for the destruction of a single Japanese fleet in WW2...wouldn't be worth it.

Bleska: While highly improbable to FTL and be face to face with anyone unless they knew exactly where you'd come out at, it could theoretically happen. So not much of a nitpick there. Other than a rebel fleet somehow taking on a complete Sector fleet, again. I think this is more Varyon being actually really bad at his job and less about numbers.

Kherrata-Cyr: The scenario for this doesn't make a whole lot of sense on why a separatist state would have Imperial Government functionaries supporting them. But anyways, by most of the Cygnus fleet I assume you mean for that entire region. Which, wouldn't be deployed to a single theater as that is likely tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands or even over a million vessels of various types. So no, the separatists wouldn't be outnumbering anything if the Navy decided to send such a vast array to a single warzone. Angelus V is a House world. So why the Cygnus separatists have it is beyond me. He'd certainly not be making Grand Admiral for this.

Theres other issues like why entire Houses are just rebelling for no other reason than to do so. Or why such a high ranking officer would be charged with relatively minor problems like stopping border raids or anything of the sort. I also don't think you're grasping the scale properly. You're not having the entire Southern Sagittarius arm from Sagittar Prime to Sayshelle. Especially someone who should have been shot for incompetence much earlier in their career...

[Bentus]

-snip-

Kind of related question, but what are the general types of conflict that the Imperium experiences and how common are they? I've mostly been rolling off of "Wars ravage countless worlds from insurrection, rebellion, and civil strife" from the OP, along with the reference to "devastating weapons" increasingly impacting the Imperium's infrastructure. But who's doing the rebelling if all the Houses and similarly-strong factions know that they wouldn't stand a chance? And if the Imperium is capable of wiping the floor with all these rebellions, why are they causing such a headache?

[Imperialisium]

https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=492864&p=37790080#p37790080

IC

[Imperialisium]

-snip-

Kind of related question, but what are the general types of conflict that the Imperium experiences and how common are they? I've mostly been rolling off of "Wars ravage countless worlds from insurrection, rebellion, and civil strife" from the OP, along with the reference to "devastating weapons" increasingly impacting the Imperium's infrastructure. But who's doing the rebelling if all the Houses and similarly-strong factions know that they wouldn't stand a chance? And if the Imperium is capable of wiping the floor with all these rebellions, why are they causing such a headache?

So rebellions and such are increasingly common. But that doesn't mean they're solely entire planets rebellion. Some are, many are insurrections happening on more and more planets.

Also the balance is that the combined Houses rival the Imperial Military. Not each one individually. Its why I take issues with singular Houses rebelling and being considered 'a grave threat'.

[Wasi State]

I'll likely make a post tomorrow, will probably be Hyperborea accessing its situation while making some more 'loose' negotiations with the Imperium before full on war likely breaks out.

[Imperialisium]

@Wasi, all good

Also the flashback was showing the brutality of warfare and also shows Crown Prince Valerian who is MIA at the start of the 'present'

[Union Princes]

Truce is but peace between wars

Inspired by my signature, Imperialisium?

[Imperialisium]

Truce is but peace between wars

Inspired by my signature, Imperialisium?

Actually totally didn't know that was your signature. But now that I know, I'll say yes.