The Church of the Aiùa

The Three Spirals symbol holds deep spiritual significance
for the followers of the teachings of Keeler.

This religious movement is one of the few that has achieved popularity beyond species lines.  Originally formed by a human settler of the planet Miro named Anson Keeler, the Church of the Aiùa believes that all matter is fundamentally connected, and that living matter is more closely connected together, and intelligent life more closely still.  For this reason the Church abhors violence of any kind that is not directly related too, and absolutely necessary for the maintenance of life.  Moreover, adherents of this philosophy advocate for a pan-sentient frame of reference and believe that to narrow the vision to a single entity is short-sighted and ultimately untenable.

Interestingly enough, Anson Keeler was a well-respected quantum physicist before he became a prophet and many maintain that it was his research into the fundamental nature of the universe that led to his revelation.  To this day scientists seek to recreate Professer Keeler's research to better understand how he reached his conclusions.  This is made difficult by the fact the Keeler destroyed his notes and research materials, saying that the quest for knowledge was always more important than the attainment, perhaps he believed that faith in the unknown was still a fundamental part of the universe. 

The Shadow Dictator




There are relatively few confirmed pictures of Director Pierconn.
This undated capture is believed to have been taken around the time
of the Galena Affair, the event which ultimately catapulted Pierconn
to leadership of the Hecatan Ministry of Internal Security,
and ultimately, to the Directorship.

 Internal Hecatan politics are poorly understood by outsiders, and most insiders for that matter.  Even though there is a Hecatan Constitution, it has been amended and re-interpreted so many times that it is essentially dead.  That being the case, there is no clear method of succession to determine the head of state., or even a clear means to determine who the actual chief executive is.  Since Hecatan politics is so murky and corrupt, supreme authority has been exercised by several different posts in the past, from the Prime Minister, to the Head of the Executive Council, to the Defense or InSec Ministers. 
This trend has potentially come to and end with the ascension to power of a young and ambitious new supreme ruler, Robert Pierconn,  who has taken for himself the unassuming title of Director.  After the so-called Galena Affair, in which the previous regime had been badly humiliated, the ruling faction was forced to acknowledge the charismatic young politician by appointing him to a top-level ministry position, specifically the Minister of Internal Security.

From this vantage point, Pierconn used the extensive resources at his disposal to expose the indiscretions of those standing in his way, while blackmailing those who could be of use to him.  After less than two years he supplanted the last of his rivals and consolidated his power as the unquestioned leader of the Hecatan state.

Now his rule is marked by a decided and unwelcome increase in the confidence and competence of the Hecatan system, he initiated purges of the military to remove the worst of the incompetents and cronies, and eliminated some of the most egregious and unpopular of the public safety measures, thereby reducing the amount of domestic tension.

ICS and Combat Walkers



The Hecatan TS-4 suit is an
example of a standard issue
armor system configured for
the heavy assault role.



On the modern battlefield, a simple infantryman has simply become too fragile, too slow, and too vulnerable to environmental hazards to be combat effective.  In all of these areas, robotic drone soldiers are far superior.  However, independent drones remain sharply limited by the capabilities of their onboard computers to make intelligent decisions in a complex, multi-dimensional battlefield environment.  Tele-operated robotic soldiers were created as a compromise to marry the intelligence and problem-solving abilities of the human soldier, with the ruggedness of the machine.  Unfortunately this set-up is impractical in large-scale deployment due to the prevalence of ECM and smart jamming technology, if communications are disrupted or degraded even for a moment, these robotic avatars become extremely vulnerable.

The institutional reluctance to pursue unshackled AI technology meant that there was only one way to overcome this problem, to make human soldiers more like machines, rather than machines more like humans.  To that end, military research centers developed new, more compact robotic musculature systems and married them to advanced negative feedback and reinforcement control systems to create modern Infantry Combat Suits.  The advantages of these systems were immediate and obvious, it allowed a well-trained human soldier to survive in heavy combat situations in even the most extreme environments, exotic atmospheres, hard vacuum, even NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical).  It also enhanced the soldiers ability to operate for extended periods of time by increasing their carrying capacity and reducing fatigue levels, while drastically increasing the intelligence gathering and target-engagement ability.  With increased strength came the ability to operate more powerful weapon systems, one notable example is the famous "Napoleon" assault shotguns of the Orion Marine Corps, named after a pre-space bronze cannon due their immense 54mm barrel aperture.

Despite the success of these ICS, they were not able to fully supplant the supporting arms or artillery and heavy armor.  It was found that the shock power of fast, heavy vehicles was still needed to break through a determined defensive line, and it was not practical to use ICS troopers to tow heavy cannons and missile systems.  Nor did the ICS units have the speed and operational range to make good forward scouts.  For these roles a new vehicle system was needed that matched to flexibility and all-terrain capability of the ICS, but provided even more power and carrying capacity, not to mention increased operational endurance.  Thus Combat Walkers were introduced as a partner project and force multiplier.

Combat Walkers generally come in one of three varieties; light and fast scout walkers, medium-sized general-purpose walkers for exploitation and search and destroy operations, and heavily armed and armored assault and support walkers to provide breakthrough power and artillery support.



This is an Apollo-Kraft "Goliath" model Heavy Combat
Walker. This capture was taken during the settler
uprising on Cassadine IV, it appears this particular unit
was captured by the rebels and used
to break through a government blockade.



Scout walkers are designed specifically to operate singly or in pairs and provide intelligence to forward command posts.  Often they have advanced communication and sensor systems and a relatively light weapons package, often optimized for close-combat in dense terrain or self-defense.  Alternately they will be given long-range direct-fire weapons and be tasked with engaging high-value targets, much like sniper teams of old. 

Medium, or Main Battle Walkers are the most varied in configuration, but are usually designed with the maxim to be able to outrun anything they can't outfight, and be able to outfight just about anything.  Each manufacturer has their own design philosophies, but usually these walkers are more heavily-armed than armored and are designed to be able to eliminate threats in a first strike before they can be targeted in a counter-attack.


Finally, Heavy Support Walkers are the giants of the battlefield, they are often the most powerful units in the combat zone and their firepower can be the difference between victory and defeat.  However, they are also expensive and difficult to manufacture, for this reason, the are often deployed far back from the front lines and are well-protected by escort forces. 

Old Earth

Old Earth is a place of great contrast, as if there were two entirely different worlds wrapped up in each other.  There is the world of the great unwashed masses, were people live in ancient, barely functioning arcologies, often in the same compartments as their ancestors did.  These people live their entire lives, often without ever leaving the zone they were born in.  Despite their difficult situation, or because of it, the working class often dress in elaborate and brightly colored clothing and spend a great deal of their money on fashion and entertainment.  They can do this because there is a well-established welfare system to provide basic subsistence for those who need it (and almost everyone does).  The Megaplexes of Earth are some of the most dangerous urban areas in the galaxy, and few outsiders willingly venture out without some kind of arrangement with a local gang for protection.

The other world is the one inhabited by the political class.  These are descendents of the leaders of the old Federation.  After the collapse they began a program of emergency measures to ensure planetary stability and essentially made themselves a perpetual ruling elite.  Now they live in private towers in the few remaining nature preserves, far from the grimy hive cities that house rest of the population.  These massive homes will often house only a small collection of actual residents, but their will be a sprawling support complex that could be considered a small city in and of itself, with a population numbering into the thousands all to care for the needs of a few dozen of the upper class. 

When they wish to travel or congregate, the super-rich travel almost exlusively by aircraft or suborbital transport.  This way they can avoid even the sight of Earth's crumbling cities.  Very little is beyond the means of these few political families, but they have a tendency to avoid star travel, simply because they have it so good on Earth and there is little that they cannot afford to bring to them.

The Ship Master

This recent capture of Vincennes was taken at the
20th Anniversary celebration of his commissioning
of the ISS Demetria, still one of the fastest and
most luxurious passanger vessels in known space.

Carlos Vincennes was born into wealth.  His father was the owner of half a dozen medium-sized transports and several passenger liners.  The Elder Vincennes settled his family on the garden world of Holmeyer and spent a grat deal of effort ensuring that his only son had every advantage.  From the earliest age, Carlos was constantly learning.  He had master tutors from a every possible subject to teach him.  By ten years old Carlos had mastered a dozen human and alien languages, was familiar enough with nuclear engineering to design a new high-capacity fusion reactor, and could deliver a master thesis on virtually any subject.  During this time Carlos had little time for family or friends, he rarely saw his father, who spent most of his time in space overseeing his line.  This all changed one day when Carlos was 16, both his parents were away on one of their infrequent holdiays and word came back that their ship had been taken by pirates who were demanding a huge ransom. Arrangements were being made by the company officers to make the payment when Carlos intervened.  No one knows exactly what he said or did, but ultimately he convinced the board of directors not to pay the ransom.  He immediately assumed control of the company and made significant changes to operations over the next several months, at which time the pirates began mailing pieces of his parents back to him.  Small ones at first, but larger and larger as they became more frustrated.  The only action that Carlos took was to put a contract for the perpetrators of the crime.

Since that day, the Vincennes line has seen explosive growth under its ruthless new director, Carlos Vincennes now controls over a thousand ships of all classes, including a small but well equipped anti-piracy patrol force.  He was diversified his holdings into manufacturing, colonization, and resource acquisition and is one of the wealthiest people in the galaxy.

Interstellar Communication



Most planets build their ISC arrays as orbiting satellites, but
some worlds in the frontier worlds build them on the surface.
Accepting a more limited transmission window
for a less vulnerable installation.

The state of interstellar communications varies from planet to planet.  Some wealthier more established worlds are able to create millions of near-realtime connections with neighboring planets, but the further one travels from the centers of civilization, the longer and more onerous the communications lag becomes.  Most settled worlds with at least a million permanent residents can afford an Interstellar Communications Array (ISC), but the amount of power and infrastructure allocated to them has a huge impact on the bandwidth of the system.  Most worlds cannot afford to establish realtime links regularly so instead they create s system of prioritization that holds messages in a queue until a given volume has accumulated, then a packet is sent out.  These packets can be anything from personal correspondence to commercial invoices or even data requests.  These packets are routed very much like a pre-space mail system, going first to major hubs, and then being disseminated through the ISC network until reaching it's ultimate destination. 

What this means practically is that the fewer messages going to a given destination, the longer it takes fro them to reach it, and the longer it takes for a response to come back.  Of course, as with any business, it is possible to purchase a prioritization upgrade for a fee.  Basic ISC messaging services are relatively inexpensive, but are limited in the amount of data that can be sent, and are of course subject to the normal delay in transmission.  Those who are willing and able to pay for better service have a significant advantage as they can send and receive more information faster, a huge boon for interstellar business interests or government agencies.

The Ripauri




The Ripauri people are not known for military prowess,
but as individuals they do have a reputation for being
vengeful and stubborn. 

The Ripauri are a minor species originating on a world in the Cyvastes Cluster, well within the territory of the old Federation.  They are a fractious species that never achieved political unification.  Instead they maintained numerous nation-states that were at war with each other more often than not.  They had achieved limited interplanetary space travel and were beginning to establish colonies and research bases throughout there solar system when humanity first encountered them. 


Having the intention of not interfering with a less technically developed species, the Federation closed the system to traffic and created a small observation outpost in the systems Kuiper belt.  However, Humanity had underestimated the Ripauri's technical capabilities and within a matter of months had not only surmised the existence of the human outpost, but had identified its exact location.  They initiated first contact and the stunned humans had no choice but to respond.  Almost against there will, the humans entered into a diplomatic relation with several of the Ripauri nation-states.  Limited trade began and the Ripauri soon showed themselves to be masters of reverse engineering.  Any advanced alien technology they got their hands on they were able to recreate within a very short amount of time.  As such the technology level of the Ripauri homeworld advanced incredibly swiftly within just a few years. 

Unfortunately, despite there technical virtuousity, the Ripauri were never able to come together as a species and that led to great tragedy.  Fearing the rampant pace of change, one of the larger, more conservative nation-states felt that it's traditional preeminence was being threatened and launched a limited nuclear attack on several of its more freewheeling neighbours.  This of course led to a response and in less than an hour the surface of the homeworld was scoured of life by thermonuclear fire. 

This was not the end, as several hundred thousand Ripauri lived in offworld colonies within the home system, not to mention the tens of thousands who had emigrated to Federation territories.

Now the Ripauri live among the races of the galaxy as nomads and fringers.  They put their inherent skills with technology to great use as engineers and researchers, and are in high demand as specialists.

The Mercenary King

Marcis DeHavilund seen here at a surrender negotiation
for the Carleon Planetary Defense Force.

Marcis DeHavilund was born into abject poverty on the pirate world of Megiddo.  The surface of Megiddo is a baking hell of scorching deserts and jagged mountains.  The settlers there live short, brutal lives scrounging from the starship wrecks.  Megiddo has few natural resources and the only real hope of escaping from the surface is to be recognized by one of the pirate gangs as a worthwhile recruit, DeHavilund was one such recruit. 

Raised in an atmosphere that doesn't tolerate weakness and doesn't reward compassion, he quickly established himself as one of the most ruthless and daring pirate of any of the Megiddo gangs.  Within a few years of coming up he killed his commander in a sanctioned duel and ascended to leadership.  However, he knew that there was no possibility of accumulating the kind of power he desired by remaining a space pirate, interstellar trade had never recovered from the Fall of the Federation and there simply wasn't enough volume to be truly profitable.  So instead DeHavilund took his crew into another business altogether. They hired themselves out as mercenaries to planetary governments, crushing rebellions, conquering rivals, training planetary troops.  Even though they were relatively small in numbers to begin with, there arsenal of advanced weapons and there experience working together, not to mention there ruthless nature made them extremely effective and they continued to expand steadily over time.  Soon enough, there came a time when a planet was unable to meet the demands for payment, a small mining world in the Hyades Cluster called Chironen.  When this happened, DeHavilund simply executed the planet's leadership and announced he was now ruler and no one had the power to resist him. 

That was ten years ago and DeHavilund and his Maruaders have continued to hire themselves out to the highest bidder, they have also made themselves the masters of several minor worlds throughout former human space and use them as safe havens and staging areas.

Drone Technology

The ZT-4 Ghost is a light, fast combat drone often
used for scouting and perimeter patrols.

The sight of robotic drones in modern society is extremely common.  These small, self-motivating, all-terrain vehicles use powerful heuristic processing technology to navigate themselves and to perform a wide array of designed function.  Modern drones use a variety of motive systems, from wheeled and tracked chassis to vector-thrust flight systems. The most adaptable, and therefore most common is the walker chassis, both bipedal and quadripedal. 


Drones in commercial use are multi-purpose tools that are often designed with modular capabilities, having different toolkits and software packages that can simply be slotted in or replaced as requirements change.  Some tasks do require specialized units, but even so they are built with an eye towards flexibility so that they can respond effectively in emergency situations.  Drones can be found performing tasks in all aspects of civilian life, from performing surgery to delivering packages to heavy construction.  Most drones are designed either to function autonomously with a fair degree of independence, or to be remotely controlled by a tele-operator for work where more discernment or human oversight is required.

Drones are also ubiqituous in military operations.  Beyond the obvious advantages of having expendable soldiers that never get tired or demoralized, drones also fulfill many menial labor tasks formerly done by soldiers; digging fighting positions and laying wire, delivering supplies, and repairing vehicles and equipment.