by Chris Hechtl
1800: The Zerinoth first home-built warship was attacked by Demon Mecha. A trade delegation from the Quarn come to purchase Zerinoth from the Treth to defend their world. The delegation was destroyed and ships were dispatched to destroy their world. Arriving, the Zerinoth are witness to the Demon Mecha destroying all life on the planet. The Zerinoth returned to their homeworld, and the governing council began work on building up the defensive fleet.
1841: Zerinoth began colonizing systems nearby for resources and as DEW (distant early warning) centers. Picket forces were established at all systems.
1900: The Demon Mecha attacked a Zerinoth colony but were beaten back. Heavy losses due to EMP, computer viruses and hellcats threw the scientists into engineering counter measures. The first modern hellhounds were produced to counter the hellcats. Cybernetics began expanding its field and the first cyborgs were made.
2050: Zerinoth battled with the Demon Mecha, but they realized it had become a losing defensive war. Sensing this is not the path to victory, a Ragna'thoth raiding force struck close to the Demon Mecha planets, destroying many before the Demon Mecha withdrew their forces invading the Zerinoth space to counter them. The raiding force managed to withdraw a few survivors before being destroyed. The Demon Mecha went on a defensive posture, and the Zerinoth front became a stalemate.
Both sides built up a massive industrial complex and war machine. They sniped at each other along the front lines, attempting to send in recon forces to find and exploit weaknesses. Any that were exposed were quickly plugged by the opposing side.
2189” Terran survey ship Moth sighted by a Zerinoth picket ship.
2191: Terran survey and diplomatic expedition ship Trigoth entered the Zerinoth picket zone and was attacked and destroyed by a picket ship.
2305: Present day.
Races and Units:
As I said earlier, there were four factions in three races in the universe. Two were Terran, one was all Mecha and the other was a dragon species called the Zerinoth.
Notable personnel and leaders:
Exiles:
Remington Clan:
Captain Brightwater: (85) Remington's original captain is a smart and smooth individual. He understood the immediate need of the colony to have a tech basis and had smuggled equipment onto his ship prior to leaving sol. When forced to flee to the outer dark, he didn’t despair but rallied his people to build anew. Charismatic and an excellent logistics strategist, he has managed to not only found the Remington Clan but build it into a power that is the industrial powerhouse of the allied clans. The Remingtons have become the largest clan of the exiles, outdoing even the Remnant. He has led the clan for fifty-four years and is getting tired of running.
Admiral Genshi Tatsumora: (38) Young for his rank, still the admiral has proven himself repeatedly in his successful defenses against the Remnant and Federation. Tenacious and excellent strategist, he frequently adjusts his tactics as the battle progresses rapidly to take any advantage. A big follower of allowing his subordinates initiative, he has pioneered the flankers and survey ships. He listens to his men, and although he would never admit it, he enjoys the engagements as a test of will and honor.
Colonel Brian McKnight: (33) Remington's current marine leader, he has been shaping the marines. Smart, he has managed to slowly build a force for the nucleus of the Remington marines that may someday rival the federation in professionalism. Not ashamed to question himself, he has sometimes been thought of as waffling or second guessing himself too much. His questioning nature has bled into his marines, allowing them to look before they leap on several engagements. The Remington marines are a low priority on the logistics and personnel of the clan, due to its fleet nature. Still, the boarding actions the marines have engaged in has given them some blooding.
Thieves Guild:
Not much is known about the guild individuals; they take need to know and personnel disguises to an almost paranoid level. The guild steals information and sometimes ships to sell to the other clans. The guild only has a few commanders, relying on a cell organization for a chain of command.
Contact 1: An unknown individual shrouded in a cloak who acts as a liaison with the guild and supplies the Remington with information, for a fee of course.
Wanderers:
Captain Mumbumbo: (76) This African led a pacifistic guerrilla effort against the emperor. He voluntarily chose exile and was admired for his courage and tenacity by the emperor. Unfortunately, the wanderers have lost a great deal of their population due to attacks and resources, and the captain has had to rethink his priorities. Due to their wandering nature, they have very few families, and it is beginning to become a problem. The lack of a destination has born heavily on the morale of the people too. The captain is considering approaching the Remingtons or the Federation to join them.
Empire Remnant:
Prince Alexander Andrews: (23) He is said to be at home in command of marines or fleet units, but in truth he prefers the fleet and allows his sister to handle the marines. Inheriting his father's charisma, good looks and temper, he thinks he is Swartz's superior in command and in the skills of war. He is willing to make a liaison with Joan to cement her support but secretly hates the idea of sleeping with a woman over twice his age for power and plans to get rid of her at the earliest he can.
Princess Tatanya Andrews: (23) Twin to Prince Alexander, Tatanya has inherited her father's viscous streak and frequently unleashes it when she leads marines on raids. Unlike her brother she has inherited some of her mother's political skills and understands the current command dynamic isn’t healthy. Moderately skilled in command, she doesn’t rely on her name to lead her troops and is building a loyal power block. She recognizes the need for strong leadership and may use her brother as a figurehead if she can.
Empress Lisa Presley Andrews: (63) A rich daughter of a wealthy family, hers was an arranged marriage to the emperor. She loved the power and prestige but hated her husband for his violent temper and frequent private temper tantrums. The real political mind behind the throne, she managed to help her husband stay in power for many years. Now the lover of Swartz, she has no illusions of her children's chances of surviving to the founding of the second empire.
Warlord General Swartz: (65) Emperor Andrews’s greatest commander, at home on land, space or in politics, this brilliant general prefers to feel out his opponents and let themselves get overbalanced in an offensive before striking. He commonly studies his opponents and adapts his attacks to them. He prefers to use his subordinates to feel out the level of resistance. He is charismatic and is attempting to build the remnant up to taking a colony permanently as a first step to taking back the Terran worlds with him as the new emperor.
Admiral Stukov: (72) The remnants fleet XO to Warlord Swartz. The admiral is a follower but can surprise others by his insight. He prefers full fleet engagements over raids and isn't happy with the current course of events. He is also the oldest commander.
General Garland: (56) Bull-headed and viscous, Garland leads the remnant marines. Garlands is useful for his loyalty, ability to follow orders and his hard tactics. He isn't happy unless he is on the offensive, and frequently overextends himself to the point where the others have to bail him out. He has little initiative; most of the time he prefers to follow orders to the letter.
General Joan Block: (53) Unlike General Garland, general block is at home in both land and space campaigns. She thinks she is as good as Warlord Swartz, to his secret amusement. She prefers a great deal of initiative but can get caught off balance if attacked, and it takes her time to mentally switch gears from offensive to defensive operations. The general treasures her blonde locks and beautiful body and is a bit self-centered about it. She is considering setting herself up as wife and future empress to Alexander, but for now she is willing to wait on the sidelines and let the others squabble.
Federation:
Fleet:
Admiral Richard Waldecke: (55) A political admiral with a great
deal of connections in government has allowed him to attain his current rank. He is out of his league in large engagements. He also tends to waffle and stall when a politically embarrassing move is needed. On more than one occasion he has left a problem in the lap of a junior officer and let them solve it. If it exploded in their face, it was their fault and they took the blame; if they succeeded, he took all the credit.
Admiral Ivan Anatova: (63) A brilliant fleet strategist who was the leader of the Terranova fleet during the defense of its home system and later the offenses against earth. Anatova is one of the principle architects of the Federation; his high sense of duty, honor and courage has inspired many. His brilliant but hard tactics have nicknamed him "Ivan the terrible."
Marines:
General Boreland: (60) A "by the book" general who follows the letter of the order and letter of the law. Still, his unswerving desire to fulfill his duty has many giving him grudging respect. His attention to detain is amazing, but his nitpicking ability to micromanage subordinates has caused many problems.
Major General Rita Ozaka: (49) A smart strategist and tactician, this woman has built a reputation on taking risks and leading from the front. Some of her colleagues consider her reckless and suicidal, but the devotion of her marines and her clear track record of victories speaks for itself.
Terran Federation:
The Terran Federation is an interstellar polity that has supplanted the Terran Solar Empire. It is a representative republic with member star systems sending representatives to serve in the house and senate.
Units of the Terrans are broken into four groups; each unit has upgrades or various designs.
Noncombat, Combat ground/air, Space, and Ground instillation.
Noncombat:
Worker Mech: This multipurpose mech builds ground structures or repairs buildings or mechanical units.
Freighter: A vessel designed to transport goods between the stars.
Troop Transport: A vessel designed to carry troops and their gear to combat zones in other star systems.
Convoy unit: A tender, basically a military version of a freighter.
Combat:
Special ops squad: As the name implies, they are special infantry units who do black ops.
Infantry: Several levels were designed, from basic grunts to grunts in powered armor.
Katana mech: A “chicken walker” mech.
Katana Blademaster: An upgraded Katana with arms, missiles and monomolecular blades.
Hovertank: Basic armor unit and artillery unit.
Battlemech: Humanoid battle mech. Various designs and kits to outfit them.
Dragonmech: A robotic version of a Zerinoth Great Dragon.
Fighter: A one-man aerospace fighter.
Bomber: A two-man bomber that can fire on ships or ground targets.
Cruise Missile: An unmanned drone used for recon or deep surgical or nuclear strikes.
AWAC 1-2: Built off the bomber platform. Able to sense or spoof enemy units.
Dropship: Transport shuttle.
SPACE:
Corvette: Smallest hyperspace capable ship. Most common picket unit.
Destroyer: The most common ship in the fleet.
Cruiser: The backbone of the fleet.
Dreadnaught: The capital ship of the fleet.
Fleet Carrier: As the name implies it can carry fighters, bombers and AWAC craft.
Ground:
Extractor: Mining facility.
HQ: Command center of the base.
Factories 1-4: Various factories with modules to produce different things on demand.
Power Plant: Used to power other buildings.
Refinery, Shipyard, Armory, Spaceport, Barracks, Radar, Mech hangar, Decoy Missile launchers: Specialty buildings.
Sams: Designed to shoot down targets with missiles.
Laser Dirigible: designed to shoot down targets with an airborne laser.
Gunpods 1-2: Automated pop-up weapons platforms.
Minefield: An area on the map set up as impassible terrain.
Terran: Pirates and Exiles
The Exiles are broken down into four clans, but there are other neutrals out in space. They mostly use older Terran designed equipment but are mainly space based so have some twists of their own. The four main clans are:
The Remington Clan: started by the Remington colony ship after being fired on by Emperor Andrews supporters. Other colony and prison ships joined the Remington Clan. They are the largest most powerful group of exiles.
The Thieves Guild: guerillas, rebels, thieves, assassins, hackers, information peddlers, and career professional criminals. They answer to family “Dons” and lack a military or industry.
The Wanderers: Pacifist ex-protesters of the empire. They are now explorers. They lack industry or a military.
The Empire Remnant: Colonel Andrews took over the Terran Republic to form the Terran Empire with himself as emperor. He ruled for a period of time but started a war with Terranova, Sol's oldest and most powerful extra solar colony. Between that and unrest over his policies (and a power struggle within his government), he was assassinated and the government broke up into warlords.
When Terranova attacks and the warlords couldn't cooperate to defend Sol, the most powerful of the warlords ran with the Empress and family in a large task force. The Empire Remnant uses piracy and terrorism to build their fleet for their attempt to return to power. They prey on the other exiles and the Federation without discrimination.
Units:
The Terran Exiles and Remnant share many of the same units as the Federation, with differences in design style and ability. However, all lack ground buildings. Instead, their industry is space based. Notable changes are:
Instead of the worker mecha they have a space tug.
Instead of the Katana Blademaster they have a missile destroyer and escort carrier.
Instead of the Dragon mech they have a Battle cruiser.
Production units are as I said, all space based. They are:
extractor ship, factory ships 1-3, gas giant refinery platform, refinery tanker, mobile shipyard, armory, command ship, decoy, minefields (space) 1-3, mech factory ship, and orbital weapons platform.
They also had the ability to use special ops squads (Thieves Guild) to infiltrate and take over Federation units or ground instillations.
Demon Mecha:
The Demon Mecha (DM) were a blend of various AI story ideas like Saberhagen's Beserkers but with a Zerg game style. Blitz, quantity over quality, and swarm tactics. They have the ability to self-repair and can analyze an enemy to exploit weaknesses.
The Demon Mecha had two groups, units and ground instillations.
Units:
Worker: An insect-like robot built to repair or build things.
Hellcat: Line infantry and scouts of the hive.
Octobot: Four-armed tentacle bot.
Scorpion: Multi-legged mech with a robotic scorpion tail. Weapons are on the tail and body.
Spider Mech: The largest and most feared ground mech. It has weapons on each of its knees as well as on pods under the body. Arms under the body can repair other mech, even rebuild them from wreckage. They also serve as mobile command centers for the hive.
Hydra missile: A cruise missile.
Virus emitter: A missile designed to infiltrate enemy cybernetics and take them over either permanently, or to extract information.
Fighter: An aerospace fighter.
Corvette, Cruiser, Dreadnaught: Space warships.
Transport: Transport vessel.
Buildings:
Extractor, Factory 1-4: Industrial platforms.
Command: Central hive mainframe for an area.
Fusion generator: Power plant for the hive.
Command relay: ground instillation designed to pass on commands from the command structure to forces around the area.
Radar: Designed to detect incoming enemy units.
OWP: Orbital Weapons Platform, or hovering
platform. Designed to attack enemy units and defend ground instillations.
Sentinel Spire: Super computer center designed to act as a backup to the Command center. It can allow the hive to expand and coordinate vast armies.
Zerinoth:
Initially, the Zerinoth were a Protoss clone, flying aliens complete with gold or silver armor. I changed that, coming up with the idea of Xenophobic cyborg dragons. They blend various ideas and can cloak. I liked the idea of the Disney Gargoyles but a few of my own things as well. The dragons grow in a life cycle and live for hundreds of Terran years normally. They continue to grow as they age; there is no cap on their size.
They do not become sexually mature until they grow into a great dragon. When they are close to that stage in their life cycle, they are pulled back to the homeworld for breeding. Their minds regress to a primitive state as hormones flood their bodies. But in a pinch they can take an older member of their species and induce a growth spurt, then outfit them with weapons and armor and use them as a terror weapon on the battlefield.