The Warmaster
08-05-2006, 01:28
Here you are, the OOC thread; some info on the Imperium, as you can see, is included; it should be helpful.
GENERAL
The Empire consists of the continent of Kregaia and the overseas territories conquered by the Imperium over time. It is divided into eight dominions, each administrated by the Patriarch of that Domain, with the assistance of numerous councils, advisors, and committees. There is also a ninth quasi-dominion; the personal property of the Sacred Emperor.
Domains, by the way, are large, extremely rich, and influential families who can trace their ancestry back centuries before the Empire, to ancient Rome. However, the land that the Domains administrate is not theirs, it is the state’s. Further, not all of the men supporting the Patriarchs in their role as limited monarchs of a dominion are from that Domain; many are commoners.
Each dominion contains an average of one hundred and two prefectures, administrated by an Imperial Prefect. Within these prefectures are districts, the most local level of government. The people do have some say in the appointment of district and prefecture officials. Many prefectures are owned by clans; clans are basically small Domains, and have sizable land holdings, but none to rival the dominions.
CLIMATE/GEOGRAPHY/DEFENSES
The Empire is large and varied. It stretches from frozen ice plains in the Kun-Dra Dominion to the tropical Jamaane Dominion. In the farthest reaches of the north, there is practically no life; it is similar to Greenland’s wastes. Cities like Batorine have tiny populations compared to those of Mon Serat or Tarsus, as living there is very hard, and the island of Kshar has almost no permanent residents. Deeper inland from the coast, things become a little more livable as the climate begins to resemble Alaska’s or Norway’s; there are many fjords in the Great Spine in this region. This zone covers Batorine. Farther south is a climate like the northern United States, covering Darius, Shield Vale, and Secutor. This finally gives way to a warm, temperate band that stretches from the Devil’s Dance Floor, Mon Serat, and Slivan all the way to Korronis, getting warmer all the way. There are exceptions; the Necrite Peninsula is cold, rocky, and windy, and the Jamaane Dominion has several very large rainforests. The area southwest of the Arcan Bay consist mainly of swamps, before merging back into the warm climates of Mon Serat in the east and the flat fields of the Breadbasket in the south.
An overview of Kregaian geography reveals that the continent is naturally fortified. There are only a few possible invasion paths. The Wall of Kregaia defends the southeast, and is almost uncrossable. The only way to get an army across is to fly them one by one. The south seems more vulnerable, as it is only a short march overland to Korronis from the southern tip of the Palatine Peninsula. There are heavy defenses along the base of the Peninsula for this reason, and there is a massive garrison in Korronis, not to mention the heaviest fortification in the country. The southwest is protected by another strong line of defense, and any invader who passed that would have to deal with the insects, predators, and all-around irritation of the jungles. The Necrite Peninsula does not need much defense; any enemy would have to be an idiot to try to fight up its length. Stronger defenses are located in the north, at its base. Skipping the north for now, we look at the east, from the Wall of Kregaia to Kshar. Military installations guard the land between Slivan and the Wall, and from there north is a toxic wasteland, used in the past to test nuclear weapons, and now a polluted industrial zone. Marching an army through there is doable; it is practically defenseless; but the place is treacherous, and almost no water there is safe to drink, creating the logistical nightmare of transporting huge shipments of water. The Gothic Peninsula is defended by the Northern Legion, an elite among the Legions, hardened by the intense cold.
And finally, the north. The easiest invasion route is an amphibious landing on the far northwest; the area is extremely cold, but ample preparation for it will enable a determined, experienced army to cross. Batorine cannot afford to defend itself properly, and will fall. However, then the invader faces a choice; to succeed in an invasion, one must take the southlands, and there are two routes to take. Luckily for the Imperium, both are unadvisable. One is through Shield Vale, a series of valleys between the Great Spine and the Sanctus Mountains, riddled with minefields and other booby traps, where snipers and Imperial troops can use the land to their advantage, harassing the invaders for its entire length, where they will have to face the Cadian Gate, defended by crack troops and advanced technology. The other way is through the Devil’s Dance Floor, the region between Secutor and Tarsus, bordered by the River Arsakia and the Dispater Mountains. In ancient times, the cities of Tarsus, Secutor, and Rashin would send their armies north annually for three-way slugfests. None of them ever held the area for any length of time. And any invader would face the same problem; it is open, the perfect place for the Imperium to mobilize the massive forces available in the region and confront them. Forces from Tarsus, Rashin, and Malacus could all join together to fight, and the place is, predictably, mined, the biggest series of minefields in the Imperium. There are several major cities, and clan Hul owns a hefty slice of the land there; for these reasons, it is defended by fortresses and defensive batteries as well as mines. Also, the inhabitants are particularly strong and vicious; they are an important source of able and dedicated Legionaries. Any occupying army would face insurgents in possession of high-quality Imperial arms, stored in local caches. However, if an invader held the Devil’s Dance Floor, Rashin would be unlikely to hold out, and then that invader would have a shot at Korronis.
ECONOMY
The Imperium has a capitalist laissez-faire type economy, but overseen by the Ministry of Commerce and the Sacred Emperor. Its main exports (in no particular order) are heavy machinery, heavy weaponry, slaves, precious metals, luxury items such as jewelry, lingerie, and fine wine, uranium, oil, timber, iron, and electronics.
CULTURE
Some elementary Imperial psychology for you.
The Imperial religion is violent, and justifies a few things above all: obedience to the Sacred Emperor, a deep racial and religious hatred of other cultures (infidels), a disregard for the individual, and violence in the name of the seven Imperial gods. Religion is one of the pillars of the Imperium, and perhaps the strongest. Although it is a fact that every Sacred Emperor has followed the Imperial religion to some degree or another, an impartial view reveals that the religion justifies the absolute control over all aspects of life concentrated in the single form of the Sacred Emperor. So while practically every Imperial citizen is loyal to the gods, that loyalty is what tells them that the brutal use of power by the Sacred Emperor is justified, and the society relies on that.
Imperial honor is equally violent. There is no better example of this than the recent Czardaian War; Lucifer sacrificed the last democratist officials in a brutal ceremony, and Czardas intervened militarily, sending an air fleet to the Empire. However, enraged by the violation of their sacred homeland, the Legions ended up with the destruction of three cities and hundreds of square miles of forest to their credit, with thousands and thousands of Czardaian citizens dead. This overwhelming response was triggered by the presence of a relative few aircraft. Thus, a small insult rapidly escalates into a fight for survival. This is what will make the Succession Wars especially lethal; this instinct means that each High Lord will take personal offense at setbacks and seek revenge on the one who engineers them, preferably through murder.
In general, the Empire is a violent place. However, this violence cannot be channeled forever, and while the Imperium has incredible potential for apocalyptic destruction, sooner or later it must tear itself apart. The Succession Wars are but a twinge of this trend. And yet, they are unable to kill themselves. As a child might see a toy they want being played with by a rival and then pretend they never wanted it, so do Imperial citizens turn their noses up at suicide, an act they see as the act of a weak infidel seeking escape from life. And so Imperial citizens, to prove their own strength, shovel more misery onto their life, hardening their own souls, eventually producing the cesspit of morality that is the Empire today, a threat to itself and everything around it.
NAVAL SPECS (I hope this is legible enough)
Vengeance-class super-dreadnaught: 120 AA guns, 16 miniguns, 16 torpedo tubes, 12 12-inch guns, 8 18-inch guns, 6 24-inch guns, 4 Abaddon launchers, 32 Vanquisher ASuW missiles, 48 Spearhunter missiles, and 4 Colossus railguns; three patrol ships and four attack helicopters.
Length: 1465 ft Speed: 30 knots
Prophet-class aircraft carrier: 40 AA guns, 160 aircraft each; 120 Balefires, 24 Harriers, 16 attack helicopters. Length: 1205 ft Speed: 29 knots
Imperator-class battleship: 80 AA guns, 12 miniguns, 12 torpedo tubes, 8 6-inch guns, 8 14-inch guns, 2 24-inch guns, 2 Abaddon launchers, 24 Vanquisher ASuW missiles, and 2 Colossus railguns; two patrol ships, and three attack helicopters. Length: 1101 ft Speed: 31 knots
Silencer-class missile submarine: 2 torpedo tubes, 36 missile tubes. Missiles: Pandemonium II (firebombing), graphite missiles (disruption), Ragnarok (nuclear), Shavan (biological).
Length: 570 ft Speed: 24 knots
Stalker-class attack submarine: 6 torpedo tubes, 1 .50-cal machine gun, minelayers. Length: 326 ft Speed: 30 knots
Assassin-class missile cruiser: 12 AA guns, 6 miniguns, 2 6-inch guns, 24 Rapier missiles, 48 short-range Umbra interception missiles, 32 Mercury AAMs. Length: 606 ft Speed: 31 knots
Attila-class cruiser: 8 AA guns, 4 miniguns, 4 6-inch guns, 12 Rapier missiles, 2 torpedo tubes, 2 4.5-inch guns, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 613 ft Speed: 30 knots
Darius-class destroyer: 8 AA guns, 2 miniguns, 2 6-inch guns, 8 Spearhunter missiles, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 562 ft Speed: 29 knots
Piranha-class frigate: 8 AA guns, 8 Tsunami AA missiles, 8 Harpoon missiles, 1 6-inch gun, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 454 ft Speed: 29 knots
Severance-class light patrol ships: 3 AA guns, 8 Harpoon missiles, 1 4.5-inch gun, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 282.4 ft Speed: 27.5 knots
Raven-class torpedo boats: 8 Harpoon missiles, 1 3-inch rapid-fire gun. Length:167 ft Speed: 42 knots
GENERAL
The Empire consists of the continent of Kregaia and the overseas territories conquered by the Imperium over time. It is divided into eight dominions, each administrated by the Patriarch of that Domain, with the assistance of numerous councils, advisors, and committees. There is also a ninth quasi-dominion; the personal property of the Sacred Emperor.
Domains, by the way, are large, extremely rich, and influential families who can trace their ancestry back centuries before the Empire, to ancient Rome. However, the land that the Domains administrate is not theirs, it is the state’s. Further, not all of the men supporting the Patriarchs in their role as limited monarchs of a dominion are from that Domain; many are commoners.
Each dominion contains an average of one hundred and two prefectures, administrated by an Imperial Prefect. Within these prefectures are districts, the most local level of government. The people do have some say in the appointment of district and prefecture officials. Many prefectures are owned by clans; clans are basically small Domains, and have sizable land holdings, but none to rival the dominions.
CLIMATE/GEOGRAPHY/DEFENSES
The Empire is large and varied. It stretches from frozen ice plains in the Kun-Dra Dominion to the tropical Jamaane Dominion. In the farthest reaches of the north, there is practically no life; it is similar to Greenland’s wastes. Cities like Batorine have tiny populations compared to those of Mon Serat or Tarsus, as living there is very hard, and the island of Kshar has almost no permanent residents. Deeper inland from the coast, things become a little more livable as the climate begins to resemble Alaska’s or Norway’s; there are many fjords in the Great Spine in this region. This zone covers Batorine. Farther south is a climate like the northern United States, covering Darius, Shield Vale, and Secutor. This finally gives way to a warm, temperate band that stretches from the Devil’s Dance Floor, Mon Serat, and Slivan all the way to Korronis, getting warmer all the way. There are exceptions; the Necrite Peninsula is cold, rocky, and windy, and the Jamaane Dominion has several very large rainforests. The area southwest of the Arcan Bay consist mainly of swamps, before merging back into the warm climates of Mon Serat in the east and the flat fields of the Breadbasket in the south.
An overview of Kregaian geography reveals that the continent is naturally fortified. There are only a few possible invasion paths. The Wall of Kregaia defends the southeast, and is almost uncrossable. The only way to get an army across is to fly them one by one. The south seems more vulnerable, as it is only a short march overland to Korronis from the southern tip of the Palatine Peninsula. There are heavy defenses along the base of the Peninsula for this reason, and there is a massive garrison in Korronis, not to mention the heaviest fortification in the country. The southwest is protected by another strong line of defense, and any invader who passed that would have to deal with the insects, predators, and all-around irritation of the jungles. The Necrite Peninsula does not need much defense; any enemy would have to be an idiot to try to fight up its length. Stronger defenses are located in the north, at its base. Skipping the north for now, we look at the east, from the Wall of Kregaia to Kshar. Military installations guard the land between Slivan and the Wall, and from there north is a toxic wasteland, used in the past to test nuclear weapons, and now a polluted industrial zone. Marching an army through there is doable; it is practically defenseless; but the place is treacherous, and almost no water there is safe to drink, creating the logistical nightmare of transporting huge shipments of water. The Gothic Peninsula is defended by the Northern Legion, an elite among the Legions, hardened by the intense cold.
And finally, the north. The easiest invasion route is an amphibious landing on the far northwest; the area is extremely cold, but ample preparation for it will enable a determined, experienced army to cross. Batorine cannot afford to defend itself properly, and will fall. However, then the invader faces a choice; to succeed in an invasion, one must take the southlands, and there are two routes to take. Luckily for the Imperium, both are unadvisable. One is through Shield Vale, a series of valleys between the Great Spine and the Sanctus Mountains, riddled with minefields and other booby traps, where snipers and Imperial troops can use the land to their advantage, harassing the invaders for its entire length, where they will have to face the Cadian Gate, defended by crack troops and advanced technology. The other way is through the Devil’s Dance Floor, the region between Secutor and Tarsus, bordered by the River Arsakia and the Dispater Mountains. In ancient times, the cities of Tarsus, Secutor, and Rashin would send their armies north annually for three-way slugfests. None of them ever held the area for any length of time. And any invader would face the same problem; it is open, the perfect place for the Imperium to mobilize the massive forces available in the region and confront them. Forces from Tarsus, Rashin, and Malacus could all join together to fight, and the place is, predictably, mined, the biggest series of minefields in the Imperium. There are several major cities, and clan Hul owns a hefty slice of the land there; for these reasons, it is defended by fortresses and defensive batteries as well as mines. Also, the inhabitants are particularly strong and vicious; they are an important source of able and dedicated Legionaries. Any occupying army would face insurgents in possession of high-quality Imperial arms, stored in local caches. However, if an invader held the Devil’s Dance Floor, Rashin would be unlikely to hold out, and then that invader would have a shot at Korronis.
ECONOMY
The Imperium has a capitalist laissez-faire type economy, but overseen by the Ministry of Commerce and the Sacred Emperor. Its main exports (in no particular order) are heavy machinery, heavy weaponry, slaves, precious metals, luxury items such as jewelry, lingerie, and fine wine, uranium, oil, timber, iron, and electronics.
CULTURE
Some elementary Imperial psychology for you.
The Imperial religion is violent, and justifies a few things above all: obedience to the Sacred Emperor, a deep racial and religious hatred of other cultures (infidels), a disregard for the individual, and violence in the name of the seven Imperial gods. Religion is one of the pillars of the Imperium, and perhaps the strongest. Although it is a fact that every Sacred Emperor has followed the Imperial religion to some degree or another, an impartial view reveals that the religion justifies the absolute control over all aspects of life concentrated in the single form of the Sacred Emperor. So while practically every Imperial citizen is loyal to the gods, that loyalty is what tells them that the brutal use of power by the Sacred Emperor is justified, and the society relies on that.
Imperial honor is equally violent. There is no better example of this than the recent Czardaian War; Lucifer sacrificed the last democratist officials in a brutal ceremony, and Czardas intervened militarily, sending an air fleet to the Empire. However, enraged by the violation of their sacred homeland, the Legions ended up with the destruction of three cities and hundreds of square miles of forest to their credit, with thousands and thousands of Czardaian citizens dead. This overwhelming response was triggered by the presence of a relative few aircraft. Thus, a small insult rapidly escalates into a fight for survival. This is what will make the Succession Wars especially lethal; this instinct means that each High Lord will take personal offense at setbacks and seek revenge on the one who engineers them, preferably through murder.
In general, the Empire is a violent place. However, this violence cannot be channeled forever, and while the Imperium has incredible potential for apocalyptic destruction, sooner or later it must tear itself apart. The Succession Wars are but a twinge of this trend. And yet, they are unable to kill themselves. As a child might see a toy they want being played with by a rival and then pretend they never wanted it, so do Imperial citizens turn their noses up at suicide, an act they see as the act of a weak infidel seeking escape from life. And so Imperial citizens, to prove their own strength, shovel more misery onto their life, hardening their own souls, eventually producing the cesspit of morality that is the Empire today, a threat to itself and everything around it.
NAVAL SPECS (I hope this is legible enough)
Vengeance-class super-dreadnaught: 120 AA guns, 16 miniguns, 16 torpedo tubes, 12 12-inch guns, 8 18-inch guns, 6 24-inch guns, 4 Abaddon launchers, 32 Vanquisher ASuW missiles, 48 Spearhunter missiles, and 4 Colossus railguns; three patrol ships and four attack helicopters.
Length: 1465 ft Speed: 30 knots
Prophet-class aircraft carrier: 40 AA guns, 160 aircraft each; 120 Balefires, 24 Harriers, 16 attack helicopters. Length: 1205 ft Speed: 29 knots
Imperator-class battleship: 80 AA guns, 12 miniguns, 12 torpedo tubes, 8 6-inch guns, 8 14-inch guns, 2 24-inch guns, 2 Abaddon launchers, 24 Vanquisher ASuW missiles, and 2 Colossus railguns; two patrol ships, and three attack helicopters. Length: 1101 ft Speed: 31 knots
Silencer-class missile submarine: 2 torpedo tubes, 36 missile tubes. Missiles: Pandemonium II (firebombing), graphite missiles (disruption), Ragnarok (nuclear), Shavan (biological).
Length: 570 ft Speed: 24 knots
Stalker-class attack submarine: 6 torpedo tubes, 1 .50-cal machine gun, minelayers. Length: 326 ft Speed: 30 knots
Assassin-class missile cruiser: 12 AA guns, 6 miniguns, 2 6-inch guns, 24 Rapier missiles, 48 short-range Umbra interception missiles, 32 Mercury AAMs. Length: 606 ft Speed: 31 knots
Attila-class cruiser: 8 AA guns, 4 miniguns, 4 6-inch guns, 12 Rapier missiles, 2 torpedo tubes, 2 4.5-inch guns, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 613 ft Speed: 30 knots
Darius-class destroyer: 8 AA guns, 2 miniguns, 2 6-inch guns, 8 Spearhunter missiles, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 562 ft Speed: 29 knots
Piranha-class frigate: 8 AA guns, 8 Tsunami AA missiles, 8 Harpoon missiles, 1 6-inch gun, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 454 ft Speed: 29 knots
Severance-class light patrol ships: 3 AA guns, 8 Harpoon missiles, 1 4.5-inch gun, 1 attack helicopter. Length: 282.4 ft Speed: 27.5 knots
Raven-class torpedo boats: 8 Harpoon missiles, 1 3-inch rapid-fire gun. Length:167 ft Speed: 42 knots