Whether it was the anthropic principle, parallel evolution, random chance, or the hand of some malevolent deity, theories still abound, but the fact that half a dozen species evolved to intelligence, and achieved the technology level necessary for interstellar flight, all within less than a thousand years of each other and all within one tiny corner of the galaxy (being around a thousand light years from side to side) was a guaranteed recipe for conflict.
The period of history is commonly known as The Great Diaspora. The various species spread out across the stars, some faster than others, some having a head start. Wars were fought, wars that lasted decades, civilizations crumbled, new power bases arose.
The species that came out on top, somehow, was a (relatively) fur-less species of ape from a small water world with a significantly large and varied quantity of land mass. Their home star system was more-or-less in the centre of the slice of galaxy The Great Diaspora occurred in. They bred faster and were more warlike that most of the other species. The fact that the Human Race almost lost the first Interstellar War of the Diaspora to the species that later were to become their closest allies was due to the fact that the tri-gendered feline race that called themselves Mrinka were as fiercely warlike as Humans, and had a code of conduct that did not espouse the concept of surrender.
With the Human-Mrinka alliance established, and Humans winning the peace where they had failed to win the war, a system of government evolved slowly over the decades, as the two now dominant races expanded.
It was the media who first coined the phrase "Galactic Empire", but the fact that "Et Pax Imperii" was not just three words in a long-dead human language, but an established fact - the Imperial Fleet maintained the peace between the stars, protected trade routes and kept the "border" secure.
And so the Galactic Empire established itself. Not that it controlled the whole galaxy, far from it. In fact, it controlled maybe one twentieth of the entire galactic disc at most. It was expanding slowly - well, actually at the same constant rate, but as a volume expands so its radius grows in proportion to the cube root of the volume (1⅓πr³).
With stability and peace came prosperity. And with prosperity come all the necessary ingredients for adventure!
The term "Empire" was first used by the various news media to describe the expanding sphere of influence that the Human-Mrinka Alliance was controlling, having defeated several other species and brought a number of others into the alliance. The fact that the term seemed to have equivalent words in almost every extraterrestrial language (except Mrinari) was significant in the adoption of
the term, it became common usage and was officially adopted by the Alliance Fleet about a (standard) year after the term was first popularised.
Whether or not there actually is an Emperor or Empress is in fact a closely guarded secret. Things are always "In the Name Of The Empire".
The Empire has become an entity in its own right, independent of worlds or races.
While the headquarters of the Imperial Administration is in Sol System, Faster-Than-Light communications have enabled the decentralisation of the Administration. For a world or space station to have an Imperial office established on it is a massive source of employment and income for that world. (Note that a World is not the same as a Planet).
The way the Empire works is more like a benign and remote dictatorship. Each world, moon, station, and hollowed out asteroid that is a permanent habitat, as well as some larger spacecraft, is allowed to apply for "World status" within the empire. The conditions for acceptance are that the "world" in question must have a permanent population and be either self-sustaining, or produce a balance of exports that offset its imports - so, for example a planet that needs to import all food, water and air, but in return exports a vast amount of essential minerals would qualify for world status, where a newly established colony that was still dependent upon the parent world for the import of technology but had yet to produce any significant return on the investment of that parent world,
would not qualify. Equally, a passenger ship that has a permanent crew of several hundred people (of whatever species), that makes a consistent profit from passenger fares, would qualify, where a cargo vessel that has a crew who do not live on board when the ship is in dock does not.
Each world (as defined above) is allowed to govern itself however it wishes. The Imperial Government does not involve itself in the day-to-day running of individual worlds, unless the way the world is being run constitutes a threat to the Empire in some way. Equally, the Imperial Investigation Service does not involve itself in local criminal matters, only in crimes against the Empire - anything that could threaten the stability of the Empire such as piracy, smuggling, tax evasion, interstellar slave-trading (Note that slavery is not illegal on all worlds, but on those where it is illegal in is an Imperial offence). Obviously, treason against the empire is the jurisdiction of the IIS. But if a criminal arrested by a world's law enforcement feels they will not receive fair justice for whatever reason they are entitled to appeal to the Empire, either before, during or after their trial.
Of course, they take the risk that imperial jurisdiction has far harsher sentences for the same crimes, and once a case goes to the Empire it cannot be reverted to local jurisdiction. Every world in the Empire must contribute a certain level of taxation to the empire, which goes to the upkeep of the various Imperial services, including the IIS the ICS (Imperial Civil Service) and the IAF (Imperial Armed Forces). In exchange, the Empire will establish an office on the World. The office may be a single IIS agent for a small world, or may include a full garrison, fleet base and shipyard for strategically important worlds. Obviously, the more a world contributes, the more "strategically important" it is. Worlds that fail to contribute, or that incur the wrath of the empire in some way, can have their status as a World revoked by the Empire. This will usually involve occupation by Imperial troops, removal and arrest of the highest level of government on the world, a major purge of all other levels of government, the "nationalisation" and/or seizure of all
government assets, the disbandment of local law enforcement and militia forces, and the imposition of Imperial Martial Law.
Each world (or world group) that has a registered adult population of at least 100,000 people (of any race) is entitled to send a representative to the Imperial Senate. At the last count, there were over five thousand registered representatives. The World or world group may select their representative by whatever means they choose, but the representative is only entitled to the
number of votes based upon the size of population they control. Home worlds (Earth, Kraahh, ^iv_yne-, GnchkoHs'té among others) that have populations numbered in billions usually have more than one representative. A World Group is (fairly obviously) a group of smaller worlds who club together in order to make the minimum population requirement to have a seat on the senate.
The Senate debate and vote on legislature that can be brought before the Senate by any member. Any legislation passed by the senate must then be reviewed by the Imperial Council before passing into law. The Imperial Council have ultimate power of veto over the senate. As with the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council in the 20th and early 21st centuries on Earth, the positions on the Imperial Council are not open to vote. Members are appointed to the Council, by the Council, from the Senate. Council members retain their Senate membership. Only the three most senior members of the Council know whether or not there actually is an emperor or empress.
Travel between stars without taking decades to do so was, of course, the drive behind the Great Diaspora. Without that, it would have been impossible for the Diaspora races to colonise their own local regions of space, it would have been impossible for them to encounter each other, impossible to fight wars. And once the fighting was over, it would have been impossible for the peace to bring trade and prosperity.
The "tangle drive" - to use its popular name, was discovered by seven different races on seven different planets within one small corner of the Milky Way galaxy, within the ridiculously short time frame (in galactic and evolutionary terms, that is). Note that there are only six diaspora races within the empire. The seventh race was all but wiped out, their home world destroyed, and their colony
worlds occupied by other races. The few survivors are scattered and remote, but exceptionally long-lived.
The Tangle Drive generates a wormhole from the location a spaceship is at to a location it wants to be at. The wormhole passes outside the curvature of the known universe, allowing a trip of several light years to take several minutes instead of a few decades. The problem with the tangle drive - and many civilizations that would otherwise be relatively advanced never get beyond this problem - is that the wormholes it generates are at best curved and at worse highly unstable - hence the name, they tend to be quite literal tangles that can shift and change at random and with almost no warning. And the longer they are, the worse they are.
And you don't just slide through the wormhole. You have to actually fly through it. Worse, if you travel in a straight line, you will hit the wall of the wormhole. Witnesses to the event of a ship hitting the side of a wormhole have reported that it is as if the ship is being torn apart down to its component molecules. Witnesses from other ships in the same wormhole, that is. No-one has survived such a collision from inside, except the occasional "Close shave" where the ship's most extreme protuberances have come in contact with the sides of the wormhole and have disintegrated.
Various means of overcoming this have been tried, but the most common method is to find people with a particular brand of prescience - called "Tangle Sense" - and train them up as navigators. Not pilots, mind. Pilots need a whole different set of skills.
That was until shortly after the establishment of The Galactic Empire, when a group of scientists succeeded in linking two static wormhole generators and created a stable and static wormhole. These static generators quickly came to be known as gates. Sometimes jump-gates, sometimes star-gates, occasionally wormhole-gates. As the gates were built and distributed across the Empire, so the ability of the Empire to maintain itself stabilised. Now ships could travel safely from system to system without the dangers of the unstable tangles, without the need for a semi-prescient navigator, without the added expense and weight of a tangle drive. Of course, warships kept the capability, but fast highly manoeuvrable fighter ships became a rapid response option. Ships travelling together in convoy through wormholes could be escorted by tangle-free warships.
The Gates are all supposed to be Imperial property and are heavily defended, although there are exceptions. They act as customs points and military check-points. The big disadvantage to wormhole travel is, as long as you are in the wormhole, it remains open, which means someone following you can follow you into the wormhole.
Gate wormholes only go one way. Tangle wormholes can change direction at random. An outgoing wormhole always appears as a shimmering red vortex, as light is sucked into it and redshifted, where an incoming wormhole will appear blue, as the light pouring out of it is travelling faster that it physically can and so has its wavelength shortened as it arrives back in the real universe. From within, a wormhole appears as a sparkling silver tunnel that twists and winds, and for a tangle, spirals and splits, rejoins and wriggles. Stable gate wormholes are a pure scarlet or royal blue. Tangle wormholes tend to be muddier in colour, nearer brown and cyan depending on their length.
Tangle Combat is a very delicate matter. A tangle ship "owns" the tangle it creates. Destroy that ship and the wormhole instantly collapses. What happens to ships that are still in a wormhole that collapses is one of the mysteries of the universe, because so far, no-one has come back to tell the tale. However, another interesting and potentially lethal aspect of the Tangle Drive is that if two or
more drives are active in the same vicinity, the two wormholes get tangled up. In fact, "Tangled up" is the technical term used by spacers for this phenomenon. The plus side, obviously, is that one can destroy the other tangle-equipped vessel and not suffer the fate of a collapsed wormhole, but the down-side is that for every tangle drive active in a wormhole, it becomes exponentially less stable.
Navigating a tangle-up is a skill few possess, and standard procedure for a civilian ship caught in a tangle-up is to cut their drive and head for the nearest exit (Note that a tangle frequently has several exits, and tangle-ups may have dozens). Of course, if you are being shot at, this removes your ability to shoot back as successfully destroying the other ship will collapse the wormhole.
It is worthy of note that pirates and smugglers almost always have tangle-ships.
The term "Ansible" was in common usage by the end of the 20th century to refer to a device that enable faster than light communication - something as impossible as faster-than-light travel at the time, because all communication used radio waves, which are a type of electro-magnetic wave and all such waves travel at the speed of light. The creation of the first wormholes by each species discovering them gave the instant solution. Radio signals could be transmitted in both directions down a wormhole, the wormhole only needed to be big enough to send a tight-beam radio signal, or a signal laser, down, the light waves would bounce off the sides of the wormhole as if it were a fibre-optic cable, and would arrive at the other end in a fraction of the time of a normal radio wave.
The issue of the radio-hole getting tangled didn't matter because the signal simply bounced along all the available paths and exited at all the exits. Of course this did become a problem if one were transmitting sensitive data, but of course this was solved by the creation of the ansible. A static wormhole generator that could link to another such ansible and create a stable micro-wormhole
between the two.
In fact, (obviously), it was the invention of the ansible that led to the invention of the gates - simply a scaled up version of the same thing.
Astronomy means, literally, "Rules of the stars" and is defined as the study of the stars. Astrology is predicting the future by the movements of balls of exploding hydrogen nuclei billions of kilometres away.... You might as well use tea leaves, at least they're closer to home! Geology is determining the past (and attempting to predict possible futures) from the rocks we stand on. Geonomy, literally "rules of the rocks" is the study of the earth. Geography means Drawing the Earth, and is the term used for the study of what is where on and in the planet.
Thus, Astrography, is the correct term for mapping the stars and determining the distances between them.
When talking about the extent of an interstellar organisation such as the Galactic Empire, Astrography is the correct term to use for the volume of space occupied, just as "geography" would be the correct term for an empire confined to part of a single planet.
The astrography of the Empire is somewhat complex. For one thing, it is composed of a number of spheres that have expanded until they touched, overlapped, and took chunks out of each other. At the centre of each such sphere is the home world of one of the major species of the empire. Further complicating matters are the neutral volumes between the spheres. Technically "claimed" by the empire they are generally uncharted and appear on astrogation charts as greyed-out volumes. These volumes have become tax-havens, free-trade ports, and home to smugglers and pirates. The Empire allows them to remain for reasons that are as yet undisclosed but probably have to do with budget, manpower, and the fact that having a little piracy is useful to keep people on their toes and remind them why they joined the Empire in the first place...
Which brings up the next complication: Not all star systems within the volume of space are part of the Empire. Joining the Empire has never been compulsory. The Empire might show up in your star system with a massive fleet and "explain the benefits" of membership, but if the people living in that star system declined (by a majority) the Imperial Fleet would simply leave. Of course, when the system in question was raided by pirates and brigands over the next few (standard) years, the Empire would do nothing.
But if the star system (or systems) was capable of defending itself, the "we won't defend you from pirates" gambit didn't work and the system was left independent.
Not only that, but a given world is under no obligation to remain a member of the Empire. Several worlds have seceded from the Empire. About half rejoined when the people realised that it was almost as bad an idea as Brexit, The rest happened to be in a region of space close to the top surface of the Galactic disc, and with (quite literally) nothing at their backs, decided to joint
together and stay independent.
Which brings us to another issue: Space is not uniformly filled with stars that all move at the same speed in the same direction. There are places where there are a lot of stars close together, and there are places where there are none at all. Of course, a lump of dark matter will attract the exit of a wormhole just as well as an actual star, and a space station is as good a world as a planet. But there are regions of space where there is absolutely nothing except free hydrogen, and insufficient of that for gravity to start the formation process. These some of these regions lie within the galaxy, but of course the biggest one of all lies in inter-galactic space, to the galactic North and galactic South of the Empire The largest of the diaspora spheres have reached either the Northern or
Southern surfaces of the Galactic Disc, giving them a rather squashed appearance. And the "uniform rate of expansion" of the Empire is a number of stars explored per (Standard) year. The thrust of these explorations is always where the stars are densest, creating "lumps" on the edge of the Empire.
And finally, there are the newly contacted races that have their own little Empires. Exploring ever further, knowing that there are other races out there, the Empire goes prepared. Some are hostile. Some see the benefits and want to join, some want to remain independent but form an alliance.
And some simply want nothing to do with the Empire...
Depending on when a story is set, the empire can have anything from around a thousand worlds to fifty thousand Worlds (The capitalisation being the distinction between a world that people live on, at the beginning of the Empire, and an official habitat with "World Status").
The population thus varies considerably, too. Especially when at the formation of the Empire the Diaspora had not only spread populations out across the stars but had wiped out billions of people of all the Diaspora races, at the start of the Empire we are probably looking at a total population of the order of a few trillion. This figure grew rapidly with re-contact of cut-off worlds and exploration of new worlds, with peace and prosperity encouraging birth rates to rise, and the mortality rate of war no longer reducing population sizes. For stories set later, we would be looking at a population in the quintillions (1018).
Note that according to site rules, sex between humans and aliens is not allowed.
The main races in the Diaspora who initially formed the Empire are as follows:
Human
Humans are bipedal land dwellers, mammals, officially bi-gendered (for reproductive purposes). Mostly furless, and evolved from a Family of Great Apes (Hominidae) that have no tails. Humans are aggressive, inquisitive, acquisitive and highly adaptable. They are equally at home in tree tops and shallow oceans, although both such environments present hazards for them.
Home world: Sol III - Earth. Main language - A patois of English, Spanish and French with some Japanese and Russian, and a
smattering of Mrinari words, is now referred to as "Imperial Standard" and is taught in schools across the Empire.
Mrinka
Mrinka are bipedal mammals. They are land dwellers. They have three genders for reproductive purposes, the involvement of all three being necessary for a viable "naturally born" infant. Mrinka are evolved from the equivalent feline strain on their home world that produced lions and tigers (genus Panthera) on earth. They have fur and partially prehensile tails - while they can grip with the
tail, neither the grip nor the tail itself is strong enough to support the Mrinka's weight. Mrinka are aggressive and fearless, having a life-code they call hnahag that translates most closely as "honour" into Standard/English, but embodies so much more than this. In fact, the term describes a life-code which resembles a combination of the Medieval European code of Chivalry, the Japanese code of
Bushido and the way of life of the pre-Columbian Native Americans. One important point worth remembering is that for a Mrinka it is better to die with Hnahag than to live without it!
Home world: Kraahh, second planet of a G-type star known as "Hrozsa" or just "Zsa" to the Mrinka. Language: Mrinari.
Gak'ra
Gak'ra are a lizard-like race, bipedal, they are mostly land-dwellers but have a more limited range of adaptation than the two previous races. They are cold-blooded vertebrates and require an external heat source to keep moving. They also prefer damp conditions. Their skins are scaled like a true reptiles, and they are bi-gendered and lay eggs. They are less aggressive than the mammalian races, most likely because they never had to compete for food with mammals on their home world, but when threatened they will show all the traits of a cornered snake!
Home world: Schkee, third planet of a blue dwarf star called Hfft. Main language: Kho'sla. The Gak'ra have at least three other languages, but like humans have mostly settled on one for trade purposes. The apostrophe represents a form of glottal stop.
Bruth^ie
The Bruth^ie are a race of amphibious mollusc. Often called "squid-heads" by humans, this is actually a misnomer. They actually resemble a human wearing an octopus on their head. The Bruth^ie choose to see it the other way around - that they are octopuses wearing humans on their bodies. Lacking an endoskeleton, the Bruth^ie have a highly sophisticated nervous system and the
ability to harden their outer skin at will. This enables them to survive and compete outside their natural ocean environment. As with most shell-less molluscs, they have the ability to squeeze through remarkably small spaces. They excrete a slime that keeps their skin moist - the same as slugs and snails. Being natural salt-water dwellers (unlike slugs and snails) they do not urinate. In fact the slime is the equivalent of urine. Underwater it simply washes away, the same as the water excreted through the skin of a salt-water fish. When sexually aroused, Bruth^ie excrete a pheromone that is designed to attract members of the same sex. Females lay eggs in a mass "lesbian" orgy, then move away. The female pheromone decays and comes to resemble the male pheromone, which repels the females but attracts the males, who then indulge in a mass "gay" orgy, in the same place that the eggs have been laid. The male orgy usually fills the water with semen which then fertilises the eggs. Young Bruth^ie will adopt a random female who has spawned recently as a "nurse-mother". While definitely classified as molluscs by human taxonomists, Bruth^ie are also classified as proto-mammals, as they breast-feed their young.
Home world: ^iv_yne-, The second planet out from a yellow K-type star, called ^^^. Language: The Bruth^ie language is called L^iooa_-^, Which translates literally as "The Singing". Bruth^ie speech resembles music when heard underwater. The symbols ^ - _ and ' are used to represent supersonics, chimes, subsonics and clicks respectively.
Zegomori
Zegomori are invertebrate avians, that to a human eye probably resemble a cross between a paper doily, a manta ray and a spiders web with a large spider at the centre. Their skin is a pale yellow in colour and they actually breed by dividing, being mono-gendered. Not much is known about them, being a somewhat secretive race. They are probably the most intelligent, and least aggressive of the Diaspora races, and probably the most alien to human eyes. They are also the least prolific of the races despite (or perhaps because of) the way they reproduce - asexual reproduction holds no sexual pleasure and thus there is no drive to reproduce.
Home world: GnchkoHs'té (or something like that). A gas giant, that is the only planet of a blue giant star that has a name that does not render phonetically into the standard Roman alphabet. The language is untranslatable, but most Zegomori will speak Standard, if with a pronounced lisp.
Gantrah
The Gantrah are something of an enigma. They are polymorphic and actually resemble a non-Newtonian fluid in structure. Each individual is about twice the size of a large ape, and for purposes of interacting with other races they tend to maintain the general shape of a large gorilla. Each individual is identifiable mostly by the coloured pattern on their skin. They are an enigma because
the general intelligence level of each individual Gantran is around 50 on the general IQ scale - they have difficulty with reading and writing, and generally can't count above 5. And yet, they have achieved space flight and wormhole technology... The answer to this conundrum lies with the fact that an individual Gantran is actually less like a person and more like a single cell of a person, capable of acting and reacting, following simple basic instructions and well-nigh indestructible except to extreme heat, extreme cold and some forms of hard radiation. Bring two Gantrah together, and they will flow into each other and combine briefly. When they separate again there will often be a third, much smaller gantran there as well. On worlds colonised by Gantrah, and especially on their home world, the Gantrah themselves form spectacular structures with intricate detail, but it is almost impossible to see an individual Gantran. Colours flow and mingle almost continually and to some races, especially Mrinka, it is utterly mesmerising. (Mrinka have been known to devolve and go running off across the Gantrah-surface chasing spots of colour!) The general theory is that The Gantrah are a collective "hive mind" that is in many ways far more intelligent than any super genius of any other species, however it is almost impossible to communicate with The Gantrah as a whole to ask them, and individual Gantrah do not understand the question.
Homeworld: Gan, the innermost planet of a white A-type star. They do not have a "language" as such. Most individuals can speak and understand "Standard" English, but the race as a whole seems to communicate by colour, and something that has been described as "electrical taste". Gantrah are not a playable species.
All the races in the Diaspora have their own units of weight, length, volume, temperature, pressure, angles, current, time, etc... all different but all basically the same. Just as one may freely convert between Metric and (Old Earth) Imperial (1 inch = 25.4mm) or between Celsius and Fahrenheit (°F*5/9-32=°C) so conversion between the various different races units of measurement is pretty
much the same. There is usually a straight linear conversion factor, because a metre long stick is a metre long whether you think of it as being 3'3" or 22⅝ Sh^_. The Imperial Office of weights and measures has a department that works out the conversion factors and publishes them. Imperial Standard Measures are always in Metric SI units.
The two major exceptions to the simple conversion are weight and time.
Weight and mass are not the same thing. Mass is an intrinsic function of matter, but weight is dependent upon gravity. Fortunately, gravity is a function of mass and the gravitational attraction between two bodies of a given mass is a universal constant, (G, the gravity constant, 6.674×10ˉ¹¹ N·kgˉ²·m²). It is thus possible using the measured acceleration due to gravity on a planet's surface to calculate a conversion of weight to mass.
Time, however, presents its own unique set of problems.
The actual conversion of one set of time units to another is as straight forward as converting linear measures. One minute is 60 seconds and is 44.32 Btz. 1 second is defined to be exactly "the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom" (at a temperature of 0 K). One standard Imperial year is defined to be exactly 31,557,600 seconds. However, it is important to note that while this figure is 60(s)x60(m)x24(h)x365.25(d), it is not the exact length of an Earth year. This is due to changes in the Earth's rotation and orbit over the centuries, barely noticeable if you live there, but if periodic adjustments were not made, the "creep" would soon have a noticeable effect.
This of course leads on to the issue of timekeeping on other worlds. Mars is a prime example. A Martian solar day is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. So how do you keep time? Do you use Earth time and have each day slowly creep forward? Or do you add a period of time of 39 minutes 35.244 seconds to the end of every day, during which all earth made clocks are stopped and reset back to midnight at the end of it? Or do you say that an Earth day consists of (approximately) 86,400 seconds, a Martian day is 88,775.244 Earth seconds, so a Martian second is 1.02749125 Earth seconds, and recalibrate all clocks accordingly?
Artificial Worlds such as space stations and ships use standard Imperial time. But planets, through necessity, use their own variant. And just as time is different on different parts of the Earth, so obviously it is going to be different on different parts of all other planets, and different again on each World, artificial or natural. Most technological societies broadcast a time signal that can be picked up by a wide variety of communication devices and interpreted. Additionally all Gates have a time signal that is always synchronised with the Master Time Signal that is broadcast out through the Gate network from Earth.
Humans are the dominant species in the Empire mostly because they breed as fast as all but the Bruth^ie, are as resilient as all but the Gantra, and are more adaptable than any other species. Humans are also more aggressive than any other race. Humans originate from the planet Earth, Sol III, and are bipedal fur-less and tail-less mammals. (NB: I'm writing this for the benefit of any extra-terrestrials who might be reading it!) Earth is the administrative centre of the Empire, even though it is nowhere near the astrographic centre. Sol system is also the home to the Imperial Secret Service and the Imperial Investigation Bureau.
There is a major military presence in the Solar System, but the headquarters of the Imperial Space Force is located at Hrosza.
Humans had colonised approximately sixty worlds and had encountered only one other alien species, that were at about the technology level of Earth in 10,000BCE, when they first encountered another space faring species. The first encounters between Human and Mrinka did not go well, largely due to the mrinka having an ingrained superiority complex and humans having in ingrained equality complex, plus having been fed a diet of Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon Five, Far Scape, and a host of other science fiction shows for the preceding two hundred years - note that the TV broadcasts from Earth were being picked up and decoded by humans on distant planets long after their initial transmission!
As noted elsewhere, the war between human and mrinka lasted approximately 50 years at the end of which both sides were materially and physically exhausted by the war, peace movements on both home-worlds were in full swing, the death toll was in the tens of billions, neither side had the resources left to build more capital warships in the short term and the war basically ended in a
draw.
Humanity being more used to negotiating peace treaties and settlements was the main reason that they won the peace that followed, leaving the Mrinka feeling somehow cheated even though they got everything they asked for in the treaty. Humanity continued to expand and colonise more worlds, now in partnership with the Mrinka, encountering the Bruth^ie and the Gak'ra within a few years of each other. The Bruth^ie only occupied water worlds, while the Gak'ra were a lot less aggressive in spite of their appearance, and when attacked by a combined Human Mrinka force instantly surrendered and sued for peace. Humanity's first contact with the Zegomori went badly for the mammals, and only the intervention of the Gantrah saved the Human/Mrinka alliance from a major war that they could actually have lost.
The mrinka resemble bipedal cats. Males are large and aggressive, with a thick mane and often a beard, females are smaller and clearly mammalian. Mrinka have a third gender, called "premale" in English. Mrinka sexuality is more complex than human because of this but less complex than some other species. Mrinka have fur and tails, but do not have retractable claws, although males have been known to grow their fingernails long and sharpen them into claws.
As noted, Mrinka have a life code of Hnahag that translates most readily as Honour, but is so much more than this. Humans often find the whole concept of Hnahag difficult to comprehend, which makes the Mrinka seem a lot more alien than they look. Human difficulty in understanding the concept was a major factor in the human/mrinka war.
A more comprehensive, although incomplete, document relating to the Mrinka can be found here.
The Mrinka had colonised some 200 worlds and had subjugated around ten alien races, two of which had achieved interplanetary space travel, but none had tangle-drive technology, before they encountered humanity.
All sex scenes with Mrinka must fade to back according to site rules
The Bruth^ie (Or Bruthie to three of the other five races - only the zegomori and Gantrah can manage the supersonic chime) are (as has been mentioned) amphibious molluscs. The "body" of this race is in fact an overgrown and highly specialised tentacle, with many smaller sub-tentacles branching off it. While giving the appearance of being mammalian, the female's breasts are in fact another pair of heavily evolved tentacles. Bruth^ie "milk" is actually something closer to runny anchovy paste or thick fish sauce.
Bruth^ie have evolved the ability to survive on land, they have collapsible lugs and sealable gill slits. Their voices when in air often sound flat and uninflected, especially when speaking Standard, but under water the true beauty of "The Singing" comes out. In air, bruth^ie supersonics and subsonics can cause discomfort to humans and Mrinka, and have been known to affect dogs and cats. They can also affect things like echo location equipment, giving false readings.
Bruth^ie have colonised virtually every water world in the Empire, including Earth and Kraahh, by invitation, and have effectively taken over the managing of the oceans on both home worlds. This is something for which the Dolphins of Earth are eternally grateful (according to the Bruth^ie), and dolphins have been exported to many Bruth^ie worlds, where they act as willing "seahorses", allowing the molluscs to ride on their backs, towing carts, doing all the things that horses do for humans.
Bruth^ie sexuality and reproduction is something all the other races find strange but from an evolutionary perspective, it is a logical progression. The normal spawning habits of many aquatic creatures are that the female will lay her eggs in a "nest" and the male will then fertilise them. This was clearly the original means by which the Bruth^ie reproduced. Probably the growing intelligence of the species and predation of their plankton-like young by other marine life forced them to evolve a more sophisticated means of reproducing. The females would collaborate to build a nest and lay their eggs in it together, then attract the much smaller males to fertilise the eggs. This technique worked best in still, calm waters such as those found in undersea caves. The females would then drive the males away lest they eat their own young. When the eggs hatched, several females would take turns feeding them and hunting for their own food. This naturally evolved into the current homosexual orgies in birthing pools and the paid "wet-nurses".
Bruthie males are smaller and resemble a cross between an octopus and squid - technically one could say a squid wearing an octopus on it's head. Bruth^ie males are rarely seen out of water.
Bruth^ie social life tends to revolve around life-long friendships between members of the same gender that often involve casual sex. Each female Bruth^ie will spawn only once in her life, often before embarking on a new career, moving to a new city or even to a new world. The original "Spawn then die" scenario was evolved out of long ago. Bruth^ie never know who their parents are, in fact, they have no concept of parenthood.
It's not exactly clear when or how the Bruth^ie first colonised the land on their home world. The best information available is something akin to the pseudo-scientific "evolution of reptiles from fish" animations relating to Earth's pre-history, which are clearly ridiculous as any actual scientist will tell you! But at least a million ^iv_yne- years prior to discovering the tangle-drive, the first Bruth^ie ancestors wriggled out of the sea, hardened their skin and stood up.
Bruth^ie are not particularly aggressive, but you don't want to make one angry. They have an incredibly long reach and being hit by a bruth^ie tentacle is about the same as being hit by a human fist - with a lot less chance of damage to the tentacle, They are fast and agile in zero gravity as this is the same as neutral buoyancy, and they take to it naturally. They do need to return to water every week or so, to avoid drying out, and a Bruth^ie bed is usually a tank filled with salt water and fitted with a filtration pump.
All sex scenes with Bruth^ie must fade to black according to site rules
The Lizard folk are almost exactly what Science Fiction had predicted (And therefore probably easiest to find decent Sci-fi art of). The Gak'ra are cold blooded, scale-skinned four limbed, and two-gendered. Their home world, Schkee, takes 772 Galactic Standard days to orbit the primary known to the locals as Hffft. (which translates into Standard as "The Sun") It only takes 412 Schkee days, though. Schkee is larger than Earth and has a gravitation at the surface of 15.6 m/s². Gak'ra tend to be bulky and muscular, although generally not much taller than the average human. Female Gak'ra do not usually have breasts, although some have had them implanted for "aesthetic" reasons.
Gak'ra society is one of illogical contradictions, and it was only the intervention of Human emissaries that stopped the Mrinka waging an all-out war of genocide against them. Schkee is a hot wet world, much like Venus would be if it were just a little further out from the sun, and had a lot less sulphur dioxide in its atmosphere and a lot more water. While by no means a typical Sci-fi "monoculture", as the planet has mountains, grassland, oceans and even a couple of deserts (as well as some very tasty desserts), a large portion of the globe's land mass is tropical rain forest or swamp.
Gak'ra are very protective of their young, as they breed infrequently and mature slowly. A Gak'ra is not considered an adult until they are 14 Schkee years old, which is about 30 GS years. But at the same time, the Gak'ra are relatively careless of their world's natural habitat, mostly because everything else on it seems to grow at an accelerated pace, live a short life and die quickly. The Gak'ra have noticed this about other races too. They live on average 200 standard years. Their thick scaled hides and strong bones make them very tough and resilient, and they heal quickly, which more than makes up for their slow breeding rate in a fight. However they tend to try and avoid fighting wherever possible.
While Gak'ra value their children, adult males are often treated as property by their female mates. It's not uncommon for one female to have a small harem of males, as the male hatchling rate is almost three times that of the female. Females will also share males between them. Male Gak'ra are often bisexual or homosexual, and it is common for males to form family groups of six or eight with no female, or only one female. Lesbian relationships are much less common due to the shortage of females, but do occur, although they are generally regarded as taboo.
The Zegomori are one of the strangest looking races in the Galactic Empire. As mentioned previously, they resemble nothing so much as a pale yellow lace doily. As with snowflakes, no two are ever identical. They normally inhabit smaller gas giant planets, but can happily survive in the atmosphere of rock planets, so long as it is dense enough to breath for the other races. They are filter feeders, somewhat akin to earth Jellyfish in the way they collect nutrient particles from the surrounding atmosphere, trapping them on the thinnest tendrils. Unlike a Jellyfish, the food is absorbed into the tendril directly.
Zegomori are asexual, and reproduce by dividing. They are the second-least numerous of the original 7 Diaspora races, and the least numerous of the surviving 6. However, while they have no actual sex drive, they do understand the principles of sexual reproduction, and the pleasure it gives to other races. They are quite happy to accommodate any such wishing to satisfy this extreme kink.
Zegomori make excellent engineers, drivers and pilots. Their thin, flexible but strong tendrils can fit into small gaps that even a Bruth^ie would be hard-pushed to get a tentacle tip into, and their superior sense of spacial awareness means that they can often fit a vehicle through a gap that others would think impossible. In their native habitat, they rarely - if ever - land on the hard core of
the planet. They are exceptionally strong for such flimsy looking creatures.
Their language is unpronounceable by vertebrates, and even the Bruth^ie have difficulty with it. Only The Gantrah can speak it. Note that is The Gantrah, and not Gantrans. It cannot even be transliterated into the Roman alphabet. To the human ear it sounds like a series of buzzes, chirps, rattles and "Fingernails on a Blackboard". Zegomori can speak all the other languages with varying success.
All sex scenes with Zegomori must fade to black according to site rules
The Gantrah are an enigma. They appear to be a silicon based life form, that doesn't follow the chemical rules that such a life-form ought to follow - Just as a Carbon based life form requires oxygen, so it is speculated that a silicon based life form should require to breathe gaseous sulphur, and should be sluggish or even immobile at normal temperatures, requiring much higher temperatures to be mobile.
However, the Gantrah require neither sulphur nor high temperatures, and are not only mobile at normal room temperature for Humans, but actually fluid.
The closest thing most other races have come to what Gantrah are made out of, is the Liquid Crystal display. In fact, this material is to the Gantrah what rotting meat is to most carbon based higher life forms.
Planets colonised by the Gantrah usually start out with just a small lump of shimmering iridescent crystal, After a few years, the entire planet will be covered. The conflict between the Gantrah and the Alliance of Human, Mrinka and Bru^thie (before it was called the Empire) came about because the Gantrah started to colonise an already inhabited planet, with absolutely no regard for the environment or the people already living there. The colonists fought back, called on the alliance military for aid, and once again a war started over a misunderstanding - in this case the misunderstanding was on the part of the Gantrah that these flimsy fleeting structures of carbon were actually alive and mattered.
Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately?) Gantrah are impervious to most weaponry. Except lasers, which they seem to regard the way carbon life forms regard alcohol, and certain types of hard radiation which are poisonous to them.
Oddly it was a Mrinka science fiction buff, who was seriously into old Earth movies, who came up with the solution, after staring mesmerised at the Gantrah, watching the colours flow and change across the surface, and then remembered Close Encounters Of The Third Kind:
Not the music, but the colours. The Mrinka premale set up a bank of coloured lights, then shi proceeded to flash them at the Gantrah blob that was consuming hir world. The Gantrah stopped, and began mimicking the lights, clearly recognising an attempt to communicate. It took a while, but soon, the Gantrans were created, two metre tall translucent crystalline apes, that some people have compared to the Trolls of Earth fantasy.
Gantrans have a low measurable IQ and can only communicate very simple things. However, it is assumed by xenologists that they act as recording devices, and when they return to the Gantrah, everything they have absorbed is transferred into the main structure, which is, most people assume, far, far greater than the sum of its parts.
RP NOTE: Gantrah and Gantrans are not a playable species. A Gantran has an IQ of around 50 and cannot understand things like sex and violence. They can be used as NPCs to carry loads and break things, but should be kept away from all scenes that an underage character would be kept away from. Meanwhile, The Gantrah are far too intelligent to want to communicate directly with the rest of the Empire...!
A laser is a beam of coherent light radiation. As such, it travels at 3x108 metres per second, the speed of light, c. That's pretty fast. In fact, according to Monty Python, "That's the fastest speed there is!" And at the sort of distances we're used to in the 20th and early 21st century warfare, pretty impossible to dodge.
But space combat won't be fought over distances of tens or even thousands of kilometres, but millions. 106 kilometres. That's 109 metres. That takes light over 3 seconds to travel that distance, and if your ship is moving at a decent fraction of c, that's enough time to dodge, if you anticipate someone is firing a laser at you. Also, lasers travel in straight lines (unless there's a black hole nearby). So you will need to anticipate where your target will be by the time your laser gets there. And again, 3 seconds is plenty of time to change course.
Then, there's attenuation. Space is not empty. Sure, there's not a heck of a lot out there, but in our solar system the sun is blasting out a constant stream of high-energy particles that hit our ionosphere and cause the Aurora Borealis. Fire a laser through this solar wind, and many of the photons are going to hit the solar particles and either be deflected or absorbed. Even in interstellar space, there's enough free hydrogen to attenuate a laser significantly over the sort of distances we're talking about, and why would you fight a battle in interstellar space? I suppose it's possible, but there's nothing there to fight over.
And finally there is divergence.
"A beam less than a tenth of a millimetre diverges at about an angle of 10 milliradians, which is more than half a degree. A beam about 1 millimetre in diameter, your usual laser pointer, diverges at around 1–2 milliradians. That means that at a kilometre, that beam is 1–2 meters in diameter."
Even with a more intense and focussed beam, by the time it's gone a million kilometres it could be a kilometre wide. That spread out, it's going to have as much energy per m² as me after a hard day's work!
I'm not saying lasers don't have a place, they do. But it's as close defence weapons. Primary ship-to-ship weapons will be guided missiles, that can home in on an enemy ship, once they get close enough to detect where it is. A missile can also accelerate a lot faster than a manned ship, even with gravity compensation.
Now, my pet hate - Hand lasers!
A laser is actually a pretty delicate piece of kit. It has precision tooled glass lenses in it, as well as a glass tube containing the source of the electromagnetic radiation. The most lethal type of laser, an X-Ray laser, would also need the x-ray source to be shielded in lead to protect the user.
My point is, you wouldn't be throwing these things around on a battlefield and expect them to work! Cat toy laser pointers break quite regularly. My cat has got through several!
But more importantly, there's the power source. People have tried to argue that power sources could get a lot more compact in the future, but short of the mythical Cold Fusion, I don't see this. To store a certain amount of power, you need a certain amount of electrolyte. This is why your phone needs recharging every day! To make a laser that will cut through human flesh, it either needs a huge battery that will need replacing after each shot, or a mains power supply. You don't get many of the latter on the battlefield, and having an entire platoon lug batteries around so one guy can fire his laser seems a bit wasteful.
On the other hand:
Gauss weapons already exist as working models, mostly hand-built prototypes but already potentially lethal!
And of course chemically propelled projectile weapons will still exist.
The IAF consist of two main branches, the fleet and the army. These two branches have several "subbranches" (I'm using that term instead of "Sub-divisions" because a Division is an army unit, and I didn't want to cause confusion!)
The Army
The Imperial Army is the traditional ground force. Their job is basically to occupy and control the surface of a planet, or the interior of a space station, taking it away from the other guys if necessary. However, because of the varied nature of worlds within The Empire, the Army branches into several different specialisations:
Sea Forces:
While traditionally the role of the Fleet, in the IAF, control of the seas of a water world falls within the remit of the Army. Surface vessels and submarines are both available to the Army's Liquid Warfare branch, in a variety of sizes, and with varying levels of weaponry. Transport craft and replanishment craft also exist. Sailors and "marines" will generally use the traditional naval rankings,
even though they are in the Army's command structure.
Air Forces:
Control of a planet's atmosphere is paramount to preventing a landing from orbit, and can also be cruicial in successfully taking over a planet. Ground attack craft and air-superiority craft as well as multi-role craft are available. Transports, refuelling craft and reconnaissance craft are also available.
Search And Rescue on a planet is also part of the Air Force.
The re-integration of the air force and the addition of the navy into the army took place during the Human-Mrinka war, when it was realised that having two or three separate command structures defending a planet from attack was a recipe for disaster. Only on Earth itself, where the World is still divided into semiautonomous nations, do the three original branches still maintain their unique
identities in some locations.
Ground Forces:
The backbone of the army, and by far the largest part, the ground forces are again split by specialisation:
Transportation:
The Imperial Transportation Group is actually much larger than an individual Army Group. They have ground vehicles for moving everything from food to munitions to fuel, to people, across almost all types of terrain. Combat Crews, the soldiers who drive and crew Infantry Support Vehicles, are part of this group, although they are attached as supernumerary to the units they are transporting. (Air transport is part of the air force branch of the army).
Medical:
The Imperial Army has its own facilities for training doctors, nurses and paramedics. All the various specialisations one would expect in a major hospital are present, even including paediatrics and maternity. Mobile Hospital Units (Still affectionately called M*A*S*H units by many) are available to be transported enywhere in the Empire. Reserves of medicines are stockpiled at strategic locations.
Obviously a large proportion of the Medical branch deals with battle injuries. At the lowest level of this branch are the platoon medics, trained to give immediate first aid where needed. These soldiers are usually riflemen with special training.
Ambulances are actually an exception to the transportation branch, as they are part of medical.
Signals/communications:
This highly specialized branch is responsible for BattleNet®, the Empire's military Command and Control System. (more later). They are also responsible for electronic warfare and signal jamming.
Artillery:
The Big Guns are not so common these days, as weapon lethality has increased, but there are still occasions when a few 500kg explosive shells will do the job better.
Engineers:
Combat Engineers are specialist units, with the job of clearing mines, demolishing baracades building baracades, laying minefields, recovering damaged vehicles, boobytrapping abandoned vehicles, in fact all the jobs that combat engineers have been doing since World War 2 on Earth, with a few extras added in as technology advanced
Infantry:
Last but not least... In fact most!
The Rifleman, or Infantryman, is the main component of the Imperial Army, and is the primary fighting unit. Organised into fire teams and squads, platoons and companies, battalions and regiments, divisions and corps.
The Standard equipment of a rifleman:
It is worth pointing out that "Rifleman" is a designation of rank, and has no connotation of gender or armament. The majority of Riflemen do carry assault rifles, but the split is relatively even between genders, with only the Mrinka third gender "Premale" being poorly represented, due to no other species having that gender. (Gantrans and Zegomori are genderless, but Gantrans are usually
found in the logistics support roles and zegomori are almost exclusively pilots or artillery gunners and both are never found in rifle units.)
Battlenet® Equipped Combat Armour Suit (CAS)
The infantry CAS is powered by an internal microwave convertor that also functions as the self destruct mechanism. It is located across the shoulders on the back of the suit and receives a powerful microwave signal that is broadcast by the Battlenet® Command and Control satellites. This signal is converted into electricity and stored in the suits batteries for use in the event that Battlenet® goes offline. The batteries will last up to 24 (standard) hours of moderate combat operations.
Each suit is custom built and adjusted to the individual. Mrinka suits have recesses for ears and tail, Gak'ra suits have an armoured tail appendage, Bruth^ie suits fill with water and have an oxygen exchange system in place of the air filtration intake system.
The suit has a neural command interface on the back of the helmet that plugs directly into the wearer's cranial implant. If the wearer does not have a cranial implant the Army will usually provide one free of charge. This enables the suit's non-automatic functions to be controlled just by thinking about them. The interface software will automatically interpret the wearer's thoughts when directed at the suit.
The suit's limbs contain automatic motion feedback sensors, which detect and amplify all movement, effectively meaning that the suit carries it's own 5kg mass, regardless of the local gravity.
The suit has sensors that detect and monitor all forms of radiation, atmospheric movements and composition and will either filter out harmful substances or use the suit's own internal air supply that, without external tanks, can last up to two hours. With external tanks the supply can last 48 hours or more depending on the occupant's metabolism and activity.
The suit contains a built-in 2 litre supply of drinking water. Wearers are usually advised to empty and refill this container at least once a (local) day. The lower abdomen of the suit is also tailored to the species specific requirements for the elimination of bodily wastes.
The helmet has a 360° visual pick-up that is compressed into the helmet's HUD, which can be super imposed on the front view or shifted up or down (or turned off if it's getting in the way). Sound pick ups and EM-spectrum sensors as well as active radar, lidar and sonar emitters are all built into the suit.
The suit's outer skin defaults to the dull blue-grey pictured above, but the chameleon feature (and everyone not born on earth always asks "What's a chameleon?") uses the 360° visuals to determine an ambient colour scheme and pattern and paints it on the solid state crystals embedded in the outer skin. This happens automatically but can be turned off or overridden and there is a special SAR setting that is a vibrant glowing orange, as well as a parade ground shiny black and green.
The suit can resist most small-arm projectiles at long range, and can withstand most artillery strikes that are more than a few metres away. Whether the wearer can withstand the impact of being hurled around like a rag doll is another matter. It will not stand up to a standard gauss rifle round on full power at less than 100m, nor a direct hit from a plasma round, AT or high explosive shell.
Nukes or Orbital KE strikes are Game Over!
The gauntlets have a standard built-in weapons interface thus enabling the wearer to "shoot around corners" - the weapon's targetting information is fed directly to the suit's HUD. The interface monitors the ammunition in the weapon's magazine and will automatically release a fresh one (if available) from the suit's backpack, while the weapon automatically ejects the empty
magazine.
The M50 has a vertical magazine that hold 50 rounds of steel-jacketed depleted uranium fin-stabilised darts. The term "rifle" is a misnomer as the barrel is smooth-bore, not rifled. It is actually an automatic repeating musket! Mounted below the barrel is the laser-optical targetting system, which links directly to the user's HUD via the interface in the hand grip. Pictured is the human lefthanded grip, with the interface port visible in the pinky-finger recess.
The weapon has a rate of fire of 110 rounds per minute on full auto but has a 5-round burst and single shot modes, as well as safe and power-save modes. The effective range against a soft target is about 800m, against an armoured person target this comes down to around 120 metres on full power or 40 metres on minimum power depending upon the quality of the target's armour. Maximum range is just over 1km.
The power output is adjustable, and can be increased for longer range or more heavily armoured targets, or reduced to save power or prevent collateral damage.
The weapon draws power from the user's CAS but has a back-up battery in the shoulder stock, which is also where the maintenance kit is stored. The skin of the weapon has the same chameleon technology as the CAS and will take the same colouring as the suit as long as the interface is connected. If the interface is released the weapon will maintain the colouring last set by the CAS for about an hour then revert to the default dark grey (pictured), unless the weapon is switched to power-save when it will revert to the default colour immediately.
Battlenet® Combat Command & Control System (CCCS or C3S)
Battlenet® is the registered trademark of the Combat Command and Control System produced for the Imperial Armed Forces by Titan Software PLC. It has been in use for around a hundred years and is on it's twenty ninth upgrade version, with Version 30 curently in the Alpha-test stage. Beta testing us usually carried out by experienced units that have temporarily been stood down from combat operations.
The system itself is more than just a communications system. It functions as a tight beam radio system for relaying voice comms on a number of "nets", at various command levels from Platoon up to Theatre. Access to levels above one's direct superior is restricted unless the intervening command nodes are inactive, so for example the commander of a battalion will have access to the companies and platoons under their command, and the regiment who's command they are under, but not the division above the regiment unless the regiment HQ is out of communication. Each command level is referred to as a node, and the larger nodes have AI assistance for rapid analyis and filtering.
The restrictions are obviously there to prevent a disgruntled rifleman calling the Field Marshal to have a bitch about the rations.
Each CAS functions as an end-user node. and transmits information up the chain of command. This information includes but is not limited too, the health and vital statistics of the soldier, the amount of ammunition left in their weapon, the number of magazines they have left, their physical location, what they can see and hear, any electromagnetic, supersonic or subsonic transmissions the CAS might be picking up (excluding Battlenet® transmissions, obviously), the status of the CAS including damage, power level and wear-and-tear.
Command nodes at Battalion and above level will correlate all the information received using an AI system which looks for anomalies and reports them. Command nodes at Company and Platoon level are under manual control of the CO and their staff, who can decide exactly how much data they receive, the rest is passed directly to the next node up the chain.
One of the main functions of Battlenet® is to plot a situation map and transmit it both up and down. The map updates in real time with actual locations of friendly troops and observed or estimated locations of hostile troops and non-combatants. Command nodes are able to add target locations to the map for units under their direct command, which obviously can be split down by
each subordinate command node.
In the event that a command node becomes inoperable for whatever reason, Battlenet® will automatically select the next node in chain of command and "field promote" that individual to the vacant position, cascading the promotion to the most senior soldier below each individual so promoted. All such promotions are "acting", never "substantive", although they can be confirmed at
any time by a senior officer. Thus for example, if the battalion commander was killed along with his staff by an air-strike on the
Battalion HQ, the most senior company commander would be made acting battalion commander. The most senior officer in that company would be made acting company commander, and so on.
One last function of Battlenet® is the ability for a command node to literally take control of another person's CAS, at a lower level. There are two ways this can happen:
Command override mode - this allows individual commands to be sent to an individual CAS, forcing the occupant to (for example) lie down and remain still. It can also be used to fire the weapon of a soldier incapable of doing so, as long as the weapon is held or within reach.
Slave mode - this allows a commander to slave all the CASs under their direct command only to their own CAS. This is useful for example on a forced march, to allow the troops to catch some sleep while only the officer or senior NCO keeps marching, and everyone else's CAS keeps time.
Battlenet® Training Mode
The fact that all weapons and combat armour are linked via Battlenet® means that the system can be placed in training mode which simulates actual combat in much the same way that MILES does in the late 20th and 21st centuries. Battlenet® will "read" each shot and have the weapon emit a sound equivalent to it's actual noise when firing, but will not actually fire. Instead Battlenet® will determine the effectiveness of each shot and override the target's CAS (or if a vehicle, it's command node) informing the target, the firer and the command nodes of both, of the result.
GT-67 "Growler" Heavy Infantry Transport
Getting to the fight in one piece is a major aspect of modern warfare, let alone future warfare. In the days before machine guns could devastate a line of attacking infantry in a few seconds, and it was possible to use steam-powered transport to move troops quickly from place to place, armies would often march for days, parallel to each other, sometimes even within sight, seeking that
perfect place to gain the advantage of terrain, while waiting and hoping that the enemy made a mistake.
Steam power brought with it rail and river transport, faster than sail or oar and horses. Troops could be moved rapidly from place to place, and arrive fresh and well rested and could be supplied more easily, an army didn't need to have a huge baggage train to survive in the field nor did it need to live off the land. It was the Union's superior rail network and their command of the navigable rivers that was a decisive factor in the American Civil War.
The First World War proved how devastating to previous infantry tactics the machine gun could be, and the Second World War proved that fast and highly mobile forces were capable of destroying (or bypassing) fixed defences.
The GT-67 is the 29th Century equivalent of the Bradley AFV or the Warrior IFV. It comes equipped with twin turret mounted 20mm rotary gauss auto-cannon and a Battlenet® node, has a crew of two and can carry a squad in full CAS complete with equipment. It is heavily armoured and can slug it out with most other armoured vehicles. The Growler is capable of negotiating most terrain but is best suited to open ground. In most situations the vehicle will deliver the infantry to the battlefield and stay to use the heavy weapons in support. Sometimes the vehicles will deliver their cargo and withdraw if the terrain or the nature of the fight would be unsuitable.
Of course there will also be occasions when the vehicles are not used at all.
The vehicle crews are Vehicle Commander (OR3) and a driver (OR1), except the command vehicles which will have a commander one rank lower than the infantry commander. Vehicle Crews are attached to the infantry company they are transporting as supernumerary. This means that while they are within the chain of command from above they are outside it to those below, and cannot take command of the infantry.
The Growler Transports are part of the Transportation branch, but are attached to the unit they are transporting as supernumerary.
ToO of the Imperial Infantry
This is for information regarding the Table of Organisation of a Division of Imperial Infantry. Please note that while based loosely on current infantry ToO for NATO armies, it is not going to be the same as any currently in use as this is for a fictional army set at around 700 years in the future.
I'm going to start at the lowest organisational lever and work up, because it is at this level that the player characters will be. It is unlikely that they will ever see much above the Tactical level. The Operational level will determine what is going on elsewhere in the world they are on, and the Strategic level is way above them.
The term "Rifleman" is used as being easier to say than "Rifle-person" and refers to all soldiers of the lowest rank regardless of species, gender or weapon carried.
The smallest organisational unit in the Imperial Infantry is the Fire Team [●]. This consists of two riflemen and a team leader (NATO equivalents would be OR1/2 and OR3) The Teamleader carries the same Gauss-powered automatic assault rifle as the two members of their team
A Squad [●●] consists of two Fire Teams and a special weapons team, and is led by a squad leader, usually referred to as "Corp", NATO equivalent OR4. The special weapons team consists of a Rifleman and a Teamleader, and will be armed either with a man-portable anti-armour weapon and a sniper rifle, a crew-served infantry weapon or a crew-served anti-aircraft or anti-armour weapon.
Plasma weapons are not lasers. They use a high voltage laser burst to turn a small block of metal into a superheated monatomic liquid (or "plasma") that is the same consistency as the material that makes up the inside of a star, which is then accelerated towards the target at a significant fraction of C, thus prolonging the life of the plasma. Over ranges of up to 500m the shot actually gains effectiveness in any atmosphere (the denser the better) as it strips atoms from the air around it as it passes through. Between 500m and 1000m the addition of new material to the shot balances the attenuation of old material falling away. After 1000m the shot will begin to loose potency and the maximum range is around 2km, depending on conditions.
A plasma weapon requires a very large battery, hence it is a crew-served weapon.
A Platoon [●●●] contains two Squads and is led by a Lieutenant (OF1) "Ell Tee", backed up by a Platoon Sergeant (OR5), a comms specialist (OR3/4) "Sparks" who is responsible for keeping Battlenet® up and running for the platoon as well as field repairs to suits. The Comms specialist carries a rifle the same as the rest of the platoon except the special weapons teams. There is also a platoon medic, who will usually be a member of one of the four Fire Teams, but may be a separate medical specialist. If the former they will usually have attended a combat first aid course.
A Company [I] consists of three rifle platoons, and is run by a Captain (OF2) backed by a senior Lieutenant (Company 2IC), Staff Sergeant (Company Sergeant Major or CSM) (OR7) and a Corporal (OR4) as the company clerk who also serves as Comms specialist "Sparks" in the field. A company will usually have a man-portable artillery squad and an air defence squad attached from the Battalion's attachments.
A Battalion [II] has up to five rifle Companies designated A to E. It will also have a headquarters company consisting of a communications platoon, an air defence platoon, an artillery battery, a battalion aid station and a logistics platoon, as well as a headquarters rifle platoon that is responsible for defending the HQ. A battalion is usually commanded by a Major (OF3), with a 4 man battalion staff of captains, lieutenants and master sergeants, depending on availability of each grade. A battalion is the largest "tactical" formation and the smallest "operational" formation.
A Regiment [III] will usually have two or three rifle Battalions. It will also have an artillery battalion from which the battalion artillery platoons are detached and a HQ Company. Commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel (OF4) or Colonel (OF5).
A Brigade [X] is generally not used, except for special operations requiring less than a division but more than a regiment. Commanded by a Brigadier (OF6), it will often contain two or three reinforced regiments.
A Division [XX] is the largest "Operational" formation and the smallest "Strategic" formation. Consisting of up to six Regiments or two Brigades and commanded by a Major General (OF7). A division will have all support assets attached as full regiments that can be distributed to the regiments under the Division's command.
A Corps [XXX] is usually three to five Divisions, and will be commanded by a Lieutenant General (OF8). A Corps will have additional assets such as heavy artillery, Mobile Surgical Units, vehicle maintenance, suit maintenance, air defence. A corps will usually cover a front of several hundred kilometres.
A Group [XXXX] will be the number of Corps required to take and/or hold a strategic objective, commanded by a General ( OF9).
A Theatre Of Operations [XXXXX] (Theatre) is the number of groups required to complete all operations on a specific geographical area. It is commanded by a field Marshal (OF10).
An Army Task Force [۞] is the full force required to attack, take, or defend all habitable planets, moons, space stations, etc within a star system and will consist of at least two Theatres. A task force will only be created if a star system has more than one habitation that requires taking/defending, or has a planet with more land mass than can be dealt with by a single theatre. Commanded by a Star Marshal (No equivalent) who will also have command of the Fleet task force.
The Imperial Space Fleet, to use the official title, is to the Galactic Empire what the Royal Navy was to the British Empire. Note that as the USA was never actually, formally, an empire, a comparison with the US Navy fails on that count. The term Space Navy was used for a while early in the Diaspora, but as it was mostly air force personnel crewing the various spaceships, this term was reverted to Space Fleet. After all you could have a fleet of aircraft as easily as a fleet of ships.
However, during the Human Mrinka war, with the amalgamation of the various national and extra-solar fleets and militias into a single fleet of military spacecraft, the need for a single structure and chain of command resulted in Admiral Of The Fleet Sir Arthur Bennington RN being appointed to the position of Admiral Of The Space Fleet Of Earth And Colonies. Bennington immediately implemented sweeping reforms and restructuring, and while keeping the NATO naval ranking system, renamed them to the British Royal Naval system.
His biggest and possibly the least popular reform involved him asking, "What's a loo tenant, someone who rents a toilet? It's Leftenant, if you please!"
He also instigated the official post of "Skipper", being the informal title of the commanding officer of any vessel, to replace the often confusing term "Captain".
The Space Assault Brigades, created to be under Fleet command, were initially designated for ship-to-ship boarding actions, but soon expanded and became active in planetary landings. The obvious parallel was drawn, and they began calling themselves Space Marines, despite the obvious oxymoron in the name.
With the establishment of the Empire the nomenclature changed only slightly. The Space Fleet Of Earth And Colonies had become The Human-Mrinka Alliance Space Fleet, but now became the Imperial Space Fleet. The Marines had become The Alliance Space Assault Commandos (officially) and now became the Imperial Space Commandos (officially). Although everyone (except the Army and Fleet top brass) called them The Imperial Marines,
Organisation:
The Space Fleet and the Marines Are two separate branches of the military arm that is responsible for patrolling space lanes, stopping piracy, defending the Empire's borders against hostile aliens, keeping the peace and establishing orbital superiority when the peace cannot be kept.
Marines:
The Imperial Marines (as they prefer to be called) have a similar structure to the Army, and similar equipment. The armour they wear is lighter and more versatile, but less resistant to critical damage. The marines' job is to go to a trouble spot, take out the troublemakers using whatever level of force is thought appropriate, and re-establish Imperial law. If necessary, they then wait for the army to show up and take over the peace-keeping duties.
Of course, sometimes, the Marines are simply not enough to put down whatever trouble is brewing, and the army has to arrive in force to sort things out.
There is no love lost between the army and the marines.
Fleet:
The fleet itself is divided between Several specialisations.
Logistics:
Fleet logistics include supply and military cargo vessels, most of which are capable of ship to ship replenishment, although there are also humanitarian transports that carry supplies to be transported to a planet's surface,
There are also the personnel carriers of various sizes, from those capable of transporting an entire battalion to those that would carry a single platoon.
All fleet transport ships are tangle capable, as they may be required to go to systems where there is no gate.
Escort:
Escort ships, generally classed as Frigates and Corvettes, are generally small, manoeuvrable ships with no tangle capability, Their purpose is to escort unarmed merchant ships through gates or tangles. They are heavily armed for their size, with weapons and ordnance taking the space that would normally be taken by the tangle drive, They do have T-Nav and T-Pilot combinations aboard, in case they need to escort a T-ship.
Orbital Superiority:
There are a variety of vessels designed for this role. The smallest are fast, single seat or small crewed fighter ships, these ships are highly manoeuvrable, and have minimal shielding, no tangle-drive, and are bristling with weapons. They are small enough that they are usually transported in large tangle-capable carrier ships, not dissimilar to 20th/21st century aircraft carriers.
These carriers are generally the largest shops involved in orbital superiority actions. In between there are frigates, destroyers, cruisers and battleships. Frigates are in fact the smallest tangle-capable warships, although as has been noted, they are also the largest non-tangle warships in the fleet.
The size and number of ships sent on a given mission will usually depend upon intelligence gathered abut the capabilities of the defenders.
Note that almost all space battles have been fought in orbit around a star or lump of dark matter. Minor skirmishes fought within tangle-ups between warships en route from one system to another do not generally count as battles, and actually getting to interstellar space is not as easy as you might think, plus there being nothing there, there is nothing worth fighting over.
Anti-Piracy:
To trap pirates generally requires stealth and skulduggery, and the anti-piracy vessels are usually heavily armed tangle-ships, disguised as unarmed freighters and packed full of marines, It is very rare to find Mrinka on board these ships as the means used to trap pirates is generally regarded as hnahagrr.
