T-States: A Worldbuilding Thread

Hey, guys. So, in the wake of a couple threads of interesting material focusing largely on Terminus states and related shenanigans recently, I was struck with an idea for a worldbuilding thread. Specifically, one focusing entirely on Terminus states that may be interesting to use for future roleplaying threads or plot-arcs.

It seems like a reasonable leap after some ‘homebrew’ Terminus states played a prominent role in some plots during the Reaper War, such as the Battle of the Wreck, and the ongoing impact those states may have had since the war’s end.

tl;dr vehicle design thread for Terminus States, make yer own

So, here goes for a first-timer.

Name: Imperial Dominion of Al’Hanon
Location: Al’Hanon System, outer rimward edge of the Omega Nebula
Government: Benevolent military dictatorship with civilian representation
Current Ruler/Leaders: Emperor Bal’Hok the Third
Population: Approximately 60% batarians with large secondary demographics consisting primarily of turians and humans

Description: Originally forged from the remnants of several shattered (and predominantly batarian) mercenary legions and their families following a disastrous war effort in the Terminus Systems several hundred years ago by some long-forgotten state, the Imperial Dominion of Al’Hanon was created originally out of a desire to establish a stronghold for raiding operations near the Omega station. However, when the mercenaries discovered a nearby turian mining colony in the same star system, the mercenaries opted to approach the colonists with an offer to protect them from nearby pirate bands in exchange for resources and use of their colony as a base.

As the classic version of the story goes, the turians originally declined the offer, only for an attack by several pirate ships a number of weeks later to be driven off unexpectedly by the mercenaries, returning to restate their offer at gunpoint. The turians accepted the second time, and the two groups developed a symbiotic relationship over the years. The official formation of the Dominion was not declared for another century, following the successful colonization of another world in a nearby system. Over the decades, immigration to the Dominion was frequent among Hegemony expatriates and turian separatists, with a handful of other races arriving in smaller numbers.

The Dominion has come out of the Reaper War relatively intact compared to the many ruined warzones of the Terminus Systems. One of a handful of Terminus nations capable of self-sufficiency following the collapse of the Mass Relay network at the end of the War, the Imperial Dominion proved capable of taking in a number of refugees and others displaced by the conflict, most often from those colonies settled by turian separatists and human colonists with strong anti-Alliance leanings. The collapse of the Hegemony also resulted in a boom among the Dominion’s batarian population as lower-caste citizens fled the Reaper onslaught on the Kite’s Nest. The promise of military protection was one that the Dominion’s fleet was hard-pressed to keep, and the Dominion largely resorted to intermittent raids and assisting in delaying tactics against Reaper forces throughout the conflict on the Terminus front.

Military service in the Dominion is considered proper, and is often expected for any child nearing adult age, but is not mandatory. Typical enlistment age is 15. The Dominion’s war doctrine largely hinges on naval tactics and the deployment of mechanized infantry in ground warfare, often dropped from orbit. The Dominion’s traditional tactics are to smash orbital defenses as quickly as possible, and then hot-dropping their ground forces to take critical facilities in close-quarters fighting, in an equally-swift manner.

Notes/Interesting Shit: The stories of the Dominion’s origins have given rise to a lot of rumors and folk-stories regarding their exploits in pirate-suppression operations, but these rumors are, in truth, false; while pirate-suppression and pirate-hunting are important duties of the Dominion fleet, they’re not experts at the practice.

Name: The Technocracy of Valkar
Location: The Varkon System, Pylos Nebula
Government: Meritocracy based on knowledge and skill in a field, with more influence for higher tech and science roles, combined with a version of a caste system
Current Ruler/Leaders:
The Directorate,
(From least influence in the Directorate to most)
Engineering Bloc:Professor Hata Noh’ri (Batarian)
Biological Research Bloc: Dr. Ishin Toril (Salarian)
Neuroscience Bloc: Dr. Shala T’Rissa (Asari)
Cybernetics Bloc:Dr. Kailus Antelle (Turian)

The Advisory:
Agricultural Bloc: Shivra Na’Kotar (Batarian)
Economic Bloc: Dr. Wen Ortono (Salarian)
Military Bloc: Arvinus Antelle (Turian)
Infrastructure Bloc: Goran No’Toran (Batarian)
Medical Bloc: Dr. Korwun Tarsk (Krogan)


Population:Originally settled by mostly turians and batarians, now a fairly even spread among the species, with batarians and turians still having a slight majority.

Description:The Technocracy, at it’s core, is an odd fusion of the turian ideal of everyone working together for the betterment of all, with upwards mobility through your efforts possible, and the batarian caste system. At the top of the Technocratic government the Directorate meets to share theories, ideas, and the issues the nation is facing at the moment. The four Directorate spots are for very broad areas of scientific research, for instance the representative from the Biological Research Bloc could come from any of the schools it branches out to, from zoology to designing bioweapons, and anything in between. The assorted schools of related research that form each ‘Bloc’ select a representative every 6 years, and the assembled college of scholars and researchers take into consideration the candidates body of work, the significance of their accomplishments to their field, and their drive for improving the nation as a whole.

Beneath the Directorate is the Advisory, high ranking officials that oversee, manage, and advise the Directorate on the more mundane tasks of the nation. They are present at most Directorate meetings, to give information on the progress, obstacles, and threats to the military, food production, the strength of the economy, and public health.

The different Blocs form as a version of a caste system, where different castes typically have different perks and status. Now they are fairly standard all around, and while you are still a citizen of the Medical Bloc if you are born to Medical Bloc parents, by going to any of the nation’s surprisingly high-standard (for Terminus nations, especially) colleges or offworld schooling, you can change Blocs simply by having a degree and working in that Bloc’s school of research.

Most ‘uneducated’ citizens of Valkar fall into the military, agricultural or infrastructural blocs, and while not as educated or lauded as the higher schools, still form the backbone of the nation, providing food, working infrastructure, and defense. As with any other bloc, you can leave the bloc to go to another at any time, providing sufficient credentials. The military is unique in that anyone from any bloc can choose to join the military bloc, and the ‘credentials’ needed are simply to enroll, pass the requirements and training.

During the war, the military of Valkar assumed a mixture of hit-and-run naval operations and ground defense against waves of husks, indoctrinated soldiers, and other Reaper abominations.

As could be expected, the Valkar military, while substantial in manpower, also employs vast quantities of mecha, drones, and augmented wildlife. Valkar soldiers are typically cybernetic, and each soldier has the capacity to unleash surprises from their augments. Pirates fighting Valkar forces never know quite what to expect when engaging.

While generally a benign nation, there is an small privateer network the Technocracy employs behind the scenes to augment the nation’s supplies by raiding shipping lines. As a whole, however, the nation is largely self sufficient.


Notes/Interesting Shit: Krogan doctor? No way!

Valkar infrastructure is an interesting mix of batarian and turian design, and while the majority of their cities are like any others, certain important buildings, and rumors say even a city or two, are constructed underground in large, shielded caverns. What is in these hidden districts, or if they even exist is anyone’s guess.

Name: The Republic of Tharog-Elkair

Location: Veios Nebula, think of it as a junction between the Terminus and Nemean Abyss

Government: Pre-revolution, single-party republic. Post-revolution, de jure multi-party parliamentary democracy. De facto civilian military junta.

Current ruler/leaders: Consul Faia T'Quan, New Reform League

Population: Various races, primarily krogan, batarian, human and asari.

Description: The Republic was first founded through the alliance of two minor factions within the Veios Nebula in 1582 CE. The krogan clan Tharog, which consisted of political exiles that left Tuchanka following the rebellions, and the batarian colony of Elkair, founded by venture capitalists seeking to establish an economic state that wasn't under the control of the Hegemony's centralized planning bureaucracies.

At the time, the Veios Nebula, situated at a nexus between the Terminus and the Nemean Abyss, was contested by several minor powers, particularly the Principality of Northak, while pirates, mercenaries and other malcontents wrecked havoc in the sector. The alliance between Clan Tharog and Elkair was formed out of necessity, Elkair providing material resources and capital in exchange for Tharog's military might. The alliance proved to be a fruitful one as they slowly amassed power in the region until confronting the Principality head on in 1704 CE, after a bloody struggle that involved the devastation of eight worlds, the Republic emerged victorious as the dominant power in the Nebula.

Taking advantage of its strategic location, the Republic prospered from trade between the Omega Nebula and the states in the Abyss. All the while it attracted immigrants from various other races, asari who had become disillusioned with the stagnancy of the Republics, turian separatists seeking asylum, human businessmen looking to expand their influence in the Terminus and so forth. The influx of immigrants became a concern for the ruling government as they pressured to have more of a say in the hand of government, which the ruling batarian-krogan elite was reluctant to hand over power. This eventually gave rise to the New Reform League, which despite being outlawed by the Republic continually staged mass protests and strikes in the days leading up to the Reaper War.

Then Consul Sabaak Nab'Tahor called for unity with the NRL and promised a restructuring of government following the conclusion of the war. After the Crucible firing and the temporary shutdown of the relay network, the Republic found itself isolated and in an unpopular decision, elected to try and establish new FTL trade routes independent of relay travel, which the NRL criticized for neglecting to rebuild the Republic's infrastructure.

Despite Nab'Tahor's promise, plans of allowing the NRL a say in government fell on deft ears as Republic security forces headed by Minister of Public Security Tharog Jarick began arresting NRL leaders and using force to disperse protests. This led to more radical political groups like the Reformed Republic Front staging acts of terrorism against the government. Despite Jarick's actions, the protests continued and even batarian citizens began to voice their disapproval at the government's heavy-handed policies.

Finally, in 2188, the NRL, joined by sympathetic figures in the military, toppled the ruling government in a "people's revolution", and placed governing power in the hands of a "Constitutional Commission", a civilian-military junta that would serve as an interim government until the new constitution is drafted. In the meantime, the Republic is slowly starting to climb out of its post-war depression with the reopening of trade routes bringing in much needed capital. However, the political strife that existed prior to the war remains, as krogan and batarian elements fear the loss of power to the hands of a minority and have staged their own counter-protests. While these counter-protests have been peaceful, there have also been attempted assassinations of NRL appointed ministers, and clashes between pro and anti-NRL supporters. It remains to be seen whether the Republic can truly forge a united country under the NRL, or find itself spiraling into an ethnic civil war.

I'm in a very whimsical mood tonight. So... (and with many apologies)

Name: The Sovereign Nation of Ganar Hektex

Location: Planet of Hevdelane.

Population: Ganar Hektex

Government: The Will of Ganar Hektex

Ganar Hektex is a krogan artist and philosopher, once known for his expressionistic works of 3D art depicting his concerns over the decline of the krogan people. Not a reactionary warlord but a far more thoughtful type (a certain asari Matriarch once courted controversy by referring to him – very ironically given his later choices – as “a civilized krogan”), he achieved some minor recognition as an “unconventional” son of Tuchanka, critical of his people’s fall from grace and the downward spiral of violence in which they’d trapped themselves. Uncommunicative, yet possessed of a deeply thoughtful nature, he was often found constructing unconventional works of art across the westernmost equatorial province of planet Hevdelane, an unremarkable possession of a minor Terminus species.

Approximately twenty-seven years ago, he took position atop a natural pinnacle of rock beneath the entrance of a large cave outside the village of Whui. There, as expressed in a manifesto uploaded to the extranet beforehand, he declared himself a sovereign nation, his theory being that within each and every individual were a million impulses and potentialities, aligned - as though by political or ethnic identification - into differing, sometimes conflicting, desires and beliefs, which collectively strove to be expressed. Thus, the self was akin to a nation in constant political turmoil. The krogan clans, he claimed, were fractured because their model for society, which Hektex believed was drawn from the makeup of the nation within, had for its source a chaotic and largely unworkable system with an overtasked and weak central government. This governing body – the individual's unifying will, fed by the voices of the many and holding authority over them in service to all - was burdened with the near-impossible task of achieving equilibrium. With the many distractions of the wider world, the government was unable to function effectively.

In order to possibly succeed in bringing balance to this chaotic society within, and driven by a desire to help his ailing people overcome their failures, he chose to distance himself from the world, renouncing all membership in clan or nation so as to focus on first achieving the balance within himself. In the pursuit of utopia, Ganar Hektex removed himself from all external society, yet positioned himself near to civilization, wishing to enable others in their own pursuit of the Answer. If the krogan nations would not find the balance, he would search within himself to find one, and eventually bring it to them.

Twenty-Seven years later, he remains dedicated to his meditations and his efforts at attaining the formula for a fully functional society, the pattern into which any and all desires, needs and impulses can be incorporated. He survives on rainwater that runs from fronds overhanging the cave entrance, collected within his bowls, and feeds on the cave’s population of ristuliss as they swarm past each morning and evening, capturing two or three with biotic pulses and consuming them raw. The florescent chemicals in their forehead bulbs, which serve to draw in insects and act as displays in their courtship flights, he extracts and mixes into luminescent dyes, which he applies to his body, adorning it with intricate symbols and breathtaking patterns that represent the intricate internal politics and shifting zeitgeist of the “nation”. His combination of glowing patterns, applied and reapplied near-continuously, act in combination with the movements of his body and his skilful biotics to produce a mesmerising display, which brings in onlookers to stand or sit on the ledge across from him, facing the cave across the valley, watching.

Ganar Hektex has attracted enough attention to become a reasonably important tourist destination in the generally impoverished region of Hevdelane of which Whui is part, and he is a protected resource of the (generally unobtrusive) local government. Indeed, the announcement of a cure to the genophage and the half-successful efforts at unification undertaken by Clan Urdnot produced some moderate degree of concern among locals, who feared that with the krogan revival Hektex might abandon his search, perhaps considering the matter resolved. This proved not to be so.

Whether the Sovereign Nation of Ganar Hektex will resolve the puzzle that has plagued all intelligent beings since the very first stirrings of sapience, remains to be seen. A small but dedicated following of heretic hanar are among those who patiently await the day in which the nation rejoins the interstellar political community, perhaps to revolutionise it.

Name: Terminus Confederacy of Commerce Raiders

Location: The Shrike Abyssal, Hoshea System

Governing Structure: Autocratic Council

Current Ruler/Leaders:

Hafiz She’razii, leader of the Hatchachan Raiders

Shah Immaran, leader of the Shrike Barbarians

Faustus Cephalus, leader of the Krantarian Cohort

Delwyn Mateu, leader of the Pontius Pirates

Israa Alfarasi, leader of the Damavand Corsairs

Population: A small majority of batarians, followed by major components of turians, asari, and krogan, followed by minorities in salarians, humans and quarians.

The Terminus Confederacy of Commerce Raiders is a relatively new invention of a unique breed. Founded shortly after the reactivation of the Omega Nebula relay, the TCCR was formed by various smaller factions who, after the reaper war, were ready to exploit a lack of serious naval powers in reconnected areas of space, where salvage vessels, miners, trade and aid ships were extremely easy prey. The organization migrated to the Shrike Abyssal shortly after it’s reconnection to the relay network.

The main feature of the TCCR that sets it apart from other pirate organizations is it’s legitimate claims of sovereign statehood, as well as the control of the four planets of the Hoshea system in the Shrike Abyssal, as well as multiple planetary facilities and bases that contain garrisons, civilian populations, and logistical centers.

The TCCR navy is commanded by an Admiralty of the respective leaders of each faction of the Confederacy. The command structure of this admiralty allows the various fleets to split off to their own delegated raiding territories while still allowing them to be rallied quickly to defend themselves from serious threats, discouraging serious retaliatory attacks by more powerful factions, who are usually voted to be left alone by the admiralty in terms of piracy and are mostly kept on good terms to prevent thoughts of retaliation in the first place.

The TCCR, in it’s simplest form, is a trust designed to get ahead of their competitors in naval power by combining multiple factions into one, being able to apply as much force as necessary to a specific operation and pick on weaker factions until they run dry of financial resources.

Affiliated fleets of the TCCR have been known to be operating in the Nimbus, Shrike, Ishmar, Hourglass and Eagle clusters.

Notes: Posting character belongs to the above faction.

Name: Informal: Va’liat; Translated reads: Flame and Void. Full, formal name of entity is Church of the Divine Flame and Holy Void

Location: The main body of the Va’liat lays within al-Vu’sarim, also known alternately as Basilica, the Throne of Stars, and Vakraz Mor. A densely colonized cluster located in the central Nemean Abyss. However, given the oft demonstrated nature of religious institutions to trump geo-political boundaries, adherents to the Va’liat can be found in many nations and among many crews. Both Cartagena and Omega stations have large communities of Va’liavas for example, and the faith itself has begun to make subdued but noticeable inroads into Citadel Space proper post-War.

Government Type: Elective-Meritocratic Theocracy

Current Ruler/Leaders: The official head of the Va’liat both religiously, legalistically, and politically is known as the Divine or the ya-Asalal. In theory their word is absolute and immutable. In practice however Divines seek counsel and recommendations from both the Ibinhas (the counterintuitively named Twenty Second which is actually composed of the highest ranking individual of each branch of the four branches of the Church or their designated representative) and the Majalis Shushan or, as it is also known, the Holy Conclave; which is composed of representatives from every Va’liat held or affiliated territory. Both the Ibinhas and the Majalis elect the new ya-Asalal upon his or her predecessor’s demise or voluntary retirement.

The current ya-Asalal is Divine Mother Semikamir, she has ruled and guided the Va’liat for thirty years.

The current Ibhinhas stands as such:

sa-Busjand/Lord Didact Tugorc Hadk

ih-Kirsjval/Lady Cleric Severina Valiantias

ko-Mjdar/Lord Knight Tertius Sept

ra-Sadjain/Lord Inquisitor Zovolonthold

Population: Given the Va’liat’s origin in the core of the Terminus and the natural melting pot that transgalatic religions tend to form, the population of the Va’liat is appropriately diverse, encompassing adherents from virtually every common Citadel race and a not insignificant number of Terminus indigs.

That being said, some races have a greater impact and presence than others. The religion itself derives heavily from turian, batarian, and krogan theologies and counts members of all three species among its core demographics. Salarians, asari, humans, and a startling large number of hanar sects form a significant minority.

Description: Va’liat is the government, and the religion itself. A Va’liavas is both a citizen and a member of the temple. Functionally speaking there is no real distinction between Church and State. The church is the state. It’s laws and codes guide the nation as a whole. It’s ministers shape legislation. The Mjdar, the Knights, defend civilians and the faith itself from foes external and internal.

Similarly, applications for “full” citizenship within the Va’liat (versus lay citizenship which carries with it less immediate responsibilities but also less immediate political representation) mandate a religious education.

The reason for this primarily concerns the notion of stability. A thought that is echoed in the religion itself: order and chaos, growth and decay, good and evil. Valund ln-Sahs, Saint of Saints, Lord of Creation, with the Void in his left hand and the Flame in his right eternally arrayed against Dhulnan, the Devourer, the Everlasting Enemy. In the Terminus and Abyss stability often represents calm, peace, freedom from the myriad of upheavals and conflicts in the region. As an instrument of stability the Church seeks to provide this for its followers, for it’s people. And, for the most part, it succeeds.

Of course, the Terminus and Abyss are not kind to those unable to defend themselves, and the use of violence and military strength in the defense of the faith or its tenets is both recognized and allowed for. And is, in fact, one of the primary reasons that the Va’liat are notable players on the galactic stage instead of still languishing as a minor faction, confined to a system or two. Unable to expand without incurring the wrath of their much more firmly established neighbors and unable to challenge their neighbors without acquiring more resources and influence through expansion.

It was, in fact, the warlord Tacitus Sertorian, later known as Tacitus the Pilgrim and Tacitus Magisterium, that elevated them to a position of higher standing, having more or less stumbled across the group during his conquest of the cluster. He became a convert and, in turn, spread the religion throughout his holdings where it has endured for centuries. Both out of genuine belief, genuine faith, and out of recognition of the organization’s potential political applications.

As a result the Va’liat are no strangers to battle or war, many of the warlords and mercenary groups on their borders number among the faithful and receive material support in turn for abiding by certain codes and defending the realms. And and if the nation itself is threatened, or if an enemy crosses the lines spoken or unspoken, they run the explicit risk of a Va’arid. A holy war waged by an army formed of all the faithful who will answer the call.

Frankly, most people figure it out after the first couple of burned worlds and elect to go after easier prey.

Notes/Interesting Shit: The four branches of the Church (and the fifth sub-branch) are each concerned with different study, any sufficiently high ranking official from any branch may lead a Congregation though typically that duty falls to the Clerics/Kirsjval, who also oversee the general administration and bureaucracy of the church.

Didacts/Busjand are teachers, researchers, and scientists; their duties are concerned with the accumulation and application of technical knowledge. The Knights/Mjdar are the realm’s primary military force and the sole branch that allows for, and is largely dominated by, lay people. The only area outside certain members and factions of the Majalis where this occurs.

Inquisitors/Sadjain monitor all other branches for corruption, act as an intelligence/counterintelligence agency, and attempt to mitigate the often fiery sectarian conflicts that tend to occur within the Church. They also oversee the use of the Tasuliat, the Poor Men. The Church’s assassins and paramilitary operatives.

Name: Knightiamilitum Hospitaller

Location: The central base of the Hospitallers, a desolate planetoid in a backwater of a system a three day’s FTL journey out from one of Cartagena’s secondary relays, was originally selected for three reasons. Firstly, it was relatively centrally located, allowing the newly founded group to (theoretically) deploy across the Abyss and, with some traveling, the Greater Terminus with minimal difficulties. Secondly Ashkelon was a largely unexplored system in the irregularly settled and frequently contested region that was the Madania Sea and the barren rock of Crase was, by definition, both largely untapped of what natural resources it possessed and discrete. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, nobody else wanted it.

The Order under Grand Master Nicostratus Fosalta, the first commander and founder of the organization, was small and, for the most part, poor. As a result their base, out of necessity and convenience, was as large as they needed and no more; a collection of pressurized prefabricated modules and a central command center built into the cave systems that riddled Crase. It was modest. Unassuming.

However it has been centuries since and times, and the Order’s fortunes, have changed. Crase is a fortress, carved and cored out over the years. Entire city sized settlements sunk deep beneath the dead, airless surface. The crust studded with reinforced and shielded doors that lead to underground, low gravity “harbors” formed from natural caverns. Patrols orbiting the celestial body, drawing fuel from the system’s gas giants.

In the modern day Crase is the lynchpin of the broad band of Order’s de jure holdings, affiliates, vassal city states, and allies known as The Meda and has served to reconnect and reunify the scattered and fragmented territories post War.

Government Type: pseudo-Military Oligarchy

Current Rulers/Leaders:

Grand Master: Basavian Xacilius

Legatia: Vashta Sun-nab

Infirmius: Sabrio Tisimacix

Machinora: Mediana Esiber

Population: While the organization was originally established (and is still largely manned) by turians the constant population osmosis that results from living and operating in the Terminus Systems has served to substantially diversify the group. Entire krogan and salarian clan offshoots. Indigs and minor species. Significant subpopulations of batarians, volus, hanar, elcor, asari, and humans. Essentially any who pass the decidedly rigorous training and accept the vows, pledging themselves to the defense of the order and its tenets, are allowed admittance. Granted it’s typically the first part that poses the greatest issue.

Description: The Hospitallers are split into three discrete branches each with their own independent chains of command and clearly defined responsibilities. While units from each may be deployed and operate in tandem or be placed under the authority of a senior official from a given division (typically the military faction) each and all answer to their own superiors.

The first, and oldest branch, of the Order is the Medicaen. At it’s inception the Hospitallers were, effectively, independently armed and equipped medical support staff led by a former combat surgeon by the name of Nicostratus Fosalta. The bulk of their profits and revenue stream derived from warlords, larger mercenary companies, and private health organizations that chose to outsource that particular brand of talent rather than invest the requisite time and energy necessary to develop it in house. Order medics worked disaster zones, battlefields, hospitals, and occupied territories; ostensibly under the employment of a given group but notably observing certain unified protocols such as Ad’Thoro Pact Standard treatment of Prisoners of War and civilians. Given the unstable and oft shifting nature of the Terminus geopolitical landscape work was plentiful and the money, if not always abundant, was good.

But what was and would be equally fruitful, if not more so, in the long term was the Order’s growing reputation as a fair, reliable, and equitable partner.

As the years passed, as resources flowed in and, in turn, gave rise to further advancement and increased efficiency, the order itself grew. Membership swelled. The organization became a more noticeable player in the region and, by the same token, a more appealing target. Material wealth, a fortune in medical tech, a singular centralized base, and comparatively little in the way of defense made the Knightia appealing targets for pirates, raiders, and other mercenary groups; both at Ashkelon, and outsystem. This, in turn, necessitated a militarization of the Order. Hospitallers must be able to defend themselves, at home and abroad; an increasing number of Knightia were trained for more combat oriented roles. Flotillas were escorted by dedicated combat ships. Concurrently operations in destroyed, war-torn, or underdeveloped states began to expand. With the Order’s not inconsiderable wealth at their disposal they were no longer forced to rely upon existing infrastructure to facilitate their efforts, no longer required to seek housing from their patrons or make use of their defenses. They were able to build their own on-site medical facilities, able to build their own quarters, their own tech-barricades and forts.

The unavoidable side effect of this lateral expansion however, was a decidedly bloated and unnecessarily diverse organization. One that began to sap revenue and hinder efficient execution of contracts. Thus, in an effort to streamline the group’s operations and ensure long term survivability, Fosalta, in his last act before his formal retirement and passage of power to his appointed successor, subdivided the existing Hospitaller force into an additional two branches, distinct of the Medicaen:

The Milites, the martial brothers, who manned the Order’s armed vessels and protected their support-oriented brethren. A drilled, disciplined, and cohesive paramilitary force whose duties would evolve to encompass civilian naval escort throughout the Terminus, augmentation of peacekeeping missions as directed by regional Multinational Organizations, and direct suppression of piracy.

The Ingeniarius, the engineering corps, supplemented by extensive drone arrays, and whose personnel was already performing the vast majority of the Order’s infrastructural work has established a comfortable niche in the Terminus as auxiliary support for hire. This is, of course, in addition to civilian contracts such as the construction of crucial colonial keystones such as hospitals, orphanages, spaceports, residential districts, hypdroponic facilities as well the implementation of utilities like waste removal, water collection and purification, and electricity.

In the years hence the Order has grown and developed to and past the critical threshold where it may be considered its own autonomous state. It holds territory, the Meda, composed of smaller colonies and states that have pledged loyalty to the Order in turn for the services and protection provided, colonies and settlements granted as payment by larger clients, and space stations and bases acquired from criminal elements or constructed by the Hospitallers themselves

Notes/Interesting Shit: At its core Knightiamilitum Hospitaller is a profit driven group. A steady influx of cash and other assorted resources is essential for any group of appreciable size and complete reliance upon generosity and altruism is, more often than not, a losing proposition in the Terminus.

To that end, while the ultimate motives of the Order are benevolent, they still actively seek payment from their clients for the services they provide. A colony that contracted out the Ingeniarius to advance or restore its standard of living will, in turn, be expected to provide a portion of its gross revenue over the next several years until the debt is repaid. Similarly, the aid of the Milites or Medicaen, while undeniably effective, must be purchased.

If nothing else, this policy has served to establish bonds of professional trust between the Hospitallers and their patrons given that it is easier to understand and engage in a relationship with another governing entity when their terms of use are provided in triplicate.

Name: Imperial Arkia

Location: The Nemean extension of the ancient supercluster known as the Royal Cascade, Tributary Kraenon, is a densely populated region of oft colliding extremes. Hundreds of habitable planets with harsh and uncompromising environments. Rimward, isolated, and yet an important nexus for trade, a conglomeration of secondary crossroads that serves to link many of the neighboring regions with the greater galaxy. Home to fortunes a thousand times over in nearly ubiquitous mineral wealth and yet starkly stratified. Advanced. Developed. Stable. And yet all hanging by a thread, even now, the tension stretching sinews and minds to the breaking point.

Fought over many, many, times in the distant and recent past by rival regional monarchies the bleakly beautiful worlds of the Kraenon have only recently experienced anything approaching unity under the dominion of Eld Ysr, the Sunlit Lord.

Government Type: Feudal Superstate.

Current Ruler/Leaders: What follows is a list of the notable nobles of the cluster, royal family and direct vassals alike. Given the nature of Arkia’s structure understanding the psychology of the various leaders is somewhat crucial to an understanding of the political landscape of the region as a whole.

Emperor Eld Ysr: Patriarch of the reigning Clan Eld, Breaker of the Ashen Legions, Our Father, Our Watcher, Our Guardian who sits upon the throne at Etain his brow crowned with the sun’s rays. To him the asari of Izkilnas pay homage. To him the shattered turian remnants of Arctyran bow their heads. At his feet Darsoln, the Manyfold itself, laid it’s blade and pledged fealty.

And yet all this glory, all these epic songs and suit the krogan elder ill. He is a conquerer with nothing to conquer, a warlord uncomfortable with and increasingly detached from the politics and machinations crucial to ruling. Unaware as his daughter, Eld Ysrilok, begins to pull away from the kingdom as a whole, unhappy with the gilded cage of her station. Uncaring as his sickly son Eld Ysralow, hungry for affection and prestige, wages a zealous shadow war against the enemies of the realm real and imagined.

Preferring, instead, to occupy himself with memories of a more glorious past.

Magni Ducis Sycircion Hydrus: When he was born, suffering from Brachian’s Disease, his plates malformed, nonexistent, he should not have outlived his infancy. When he was eventually abandoned by his family, left in the streets to die of exposure, he should not have survived the cold, the feral predators, the hunger; a child alone on one of the most inhospitable planets of the cluster. But he endured. He persisted. And, in time, he thrived. An information broker’s bet curiosity, then his agent, then his successor; turning his condition to his advantage, acting out the role society expected of him. Ever rising. Ever progressing. A freak, a monster still, but a clever useful one. In time he held the ears of generals of the Ashen Legions, of the legislative Radiatorial, of the Praefectus himself.

And so when Eld Ysr and his armies, clad in gold and brass, encroached, demanding surrender, it was Hydrus that held all the keys, knew all the locks, and the contents they safeguarded. It was Hydrus that crippled the defensive grids, turning traitor and selling his kin, his tormentors to the enemy. It was Hydrus that spared millions upon millions of turians within Arctyran the horror and devastation of total war.

For his service he was granted the Grand Duchy of Cyprathain to rule, given the favor of the King, and the prestige he had longed for. In the intervening years the young Lord has only accumulated further power, his work amongst the worlds of his former home has seen one time superiors and enemies flocking to his banner. His patronage of transsapient movements and groups the galaxy over has granted him notability, or perhaps, notoriety in the lands beyond Kraenon. There are many who owe him their livelihoods. Many who are proud to call him their superior, to owe him allegiance.

He lives now in his home on Exsurgos, clad in the rainment of his own augmentics. Quietly collecting influence as his fellow nobles busy themselves with their own stratagems and interests and squabbles. Becoming a better lord.

Becoming a better king.

High Lady Medias Maliassa: Founded upon the cavern riddled planet Ossaloso the asari state of Izkilnas has it’s roots in the waves of expatriates frequently thrown off by the Republics. The children of a divergent world, the first settlers followed the trade lines; eventually staking a claim on the planet that would become their throneworld and carving out a home amongst the vast network of tunnels, caves and the richly diverse subterranean ecosystems that riddled Ossaloso’s crust. Their numbers were, and remain small but their pockets are deep and their power potent.

The asari of the Arkian vassal of Izkilnas are refined. They are cultured. They are deadly. And none moreso than High Lady Maliassa herself. A clever politician first and foremost she has whiled away the centuries playing a dangerous game, balancing pieces and nations against one another; ensuring that none will threaten her station as Ysr’s principal ally and right hand. To be a subject of Maliassa is to know the privilege of one of the wealthiest nations in the realm. But to be a subject of Maliassa is to be her tool.

But do not worry it is not as bad as it seems, a true craftswoman does not needlessly dull and blunt her instruments. Rather, she cares for them, she maintains them, and when the time comes to use them she applies the minimum amount of force necessary to accomplish the task. She is not sloppy. She is not brash and arrogant as others might be.

She is patient and she is methodical for she holds some of the realm’s greatest powers, greatest warriors and greatests secrets, in the palm of her hand. You see she has already won the Great Game; and her victory is hers and hers alone.

Darsoln the Manyfold: Within Tributary Kraenon there is a moon, a dead, airless thing. And eneath its surface, buried under layers of powdered rock is a complex. All doors are secured. All airlocks sealed. Desks are abandoned, equipment torn from the walls themselves. Here a cup of coffee. There a forlorn dataslate. A thick coating of dust lay atop it all.

This is the birthplace of the Manyfold. The cask in which the seeds that would eventually grow into the twisted, tangled consciousness of that synthetic creature lay sleeping until uncovered by salvagers.

But that story, the story of the first devotees, of the ascent of the great and shadowy construct that many would know only as Darsoln and its alliance with Ysr against the forces of the Arctyran is a familiar one. More mysterious however is, well, everything else about it.

It designs weapons, medical, and infrastructural technology. It organizes trade within the borders of the Salkah from it's capital within the rock of Catakai. It has been seen, on rare occasions, commanding its forces from a towering, fearsome platform.

And yet none, save the Masked Lords, the highest ranked members of it’s sect, the Brothers of Bone, and presumably it’s fellow autarchs have had the privilege of speaking with it directly. It’s aims are unknown. It’s actions range from the subtle to the overt with no discernable pattern. It is a quandary, an unknown variable. And yet it is tolerated, even revered, despite it’s synthetic nature. Though not, it must be said, without a measure of fear.

Saint Silence: Terrorist. Demagogue. Imperialist. Liberator. Voice of the oppressed. Hero. All names given to the individual (generally believed to be a human or an indig) identified by themselves and their rather sizeable number of followers and sympathizers as Saint Silence. Emerging only in recent years, their messages decrying the excesses of the nobility, the marginalization of humanity and other minor species, and the systemic concentration of power in the hands of the elite are frequent aired and quietly distributed even the face of staunch government opposition. And, in perfect honesty, not without merit. The lot of a “politically insignificant” race in the Terminus and Abyss is commonly an unhappy one. Many of the more firmly entrenched species and nations are less than pleased at the upstarts and interlopers. Furthermore a significant minority of the inhabitants of the Abyss are batarian; they are, in a word, nearly ubiquitous. Occupying positions of authority and influence throughout the region.

And there is no lost love between them and the pretenders.

But if Saint Silence and their Roarers were merely another movement railing against some institutionalized piece of racism or classism they would, in all likelihood, receive little attention and fewer resources.

There is a reason they have been formally declared enemies of the state: meticulously orchestrated strikes against military targets. Discontent and murmurings of rebellion on five worlds and two city sized space stations. Outright insurrection on two. And no sign that Silence is doing anything but escalating his, her, or its activities.

Population: The sheer scope of Arkia encompasses a wide number of distinct populations and subsets by its very nature but the demographics of the region can generally be grouped into a rough pyramid. Krogan on top, indigs and humans on the bottom, with turians, asari, batarians, and the odd synthetic vying for power in the middle.

Description: Before Arkia there was Arctyran and it’s Ashen Legions. They dominated the cluster, a well structured, self sustaining, mechanism against which few could withstand. A collection of smaller states, pirate fiefdoms, and warlordist holdings eked out an existence on their borders. Surviving by virtue of their weakness, crushed when they looked as if they may pose a threat.

And then rose Clan Eld, helmed by an arrogant, ambitious new Lord. Through the fires of unification and the machinery of war they forged an army that could face the Ashen head on. Through bonds of faith and coin they purchased allies. Darsoln and his ranks of zealots. Maliassa and her retinues of battle hardened maidens and their esoterics. Hydrus and his key.

Battles raged. Countless perished. Worlds burned. But at the end it was Eld Ysr standing, his foot on the Praefectus’s throat.It was Arctyran that fell, shattering, fragmenting into a dozen shards. It was Arkia that rose from the darkness and gloom to take its place in the sun.

Since that day, a mere decade hence, Arkia has grown. Thriving on the trade that passes through its borders and inborn wealth. Swelling with the influx of merchants and scholars and citizens looking for a new life, a better life.

And since that day, not even a century since its inception, Arkia has decayed; the process only hastened by the advent of the Reapers. Defensive war is compulsory. Offensive action is conducted at the discretion of the individual nobles. Infighting is not only common, it is institutionalized; enshrined. And the strong hand that carved this nation is faltering, the King turning his back on his people even as the flames begin to flicker and wane.

Notes/Interesting Shit:

Name: Ninety Nine Heavenly Strains or Mutasrita Imugi which, in the dominant turian language of the Rainreaved Ocean, Xalotai, carries the rough, literal translation of “Incept Monsters”. However taking into account general linguistic and dialectal connotations provides a number of alternative, valid, and perhaps more ideologically accurate interpretations. “Changelings” or “Changed Ones”, “Beasts of Ascendence”, and “Waking Serpents” are all acceptable (and, indeed, substantially more polite) choices of moniker.

Location: Given the extreme nature of their augmentations the vast majority of the Mustasrita Imugi reside within the borders of the Rainreaved Ocean, a Terminus Cluster with a celebrated (or, depending on one’s particular views, notorious) affinity for transsapientism. Virtually every planet, nation, corporation, or intra-cluster organization (regardless of personal feelings to each other) has adapted itself to the accommodation and support of cybernetically and biologically modified individuals and the region as a whole has produced some of the galaxy’s most notable pioneers and revolutionary breakthroughs in the field. However the decidedly disperse status of the Ninety Nine Heavenly Strains means that, while it is uncommon to see one outside the Rainreaved Ocean, they are by no means entirely indigenous to the cluster.

Government Type: Less a distinct government in and of themselves and more a subspecies the Mutasrita Imugi nonetheless maintain a representative seat in Rainreaved’s mediating body, the Sankaita No, by virtue of their classification as “population with significant influence”. Within the community itself there exists a general representative democracy; chapters and groups are allotted a set number of representatives to the Akiet, or deliberative assembly, according to population. From their ranks the Baitagion is elected for five year terms; he or she tends to ministerial matters, the appointment of legal officials (Laio), ambassadors, military officials in the Zhaoxin Le (the Mutasrita Imugi’s tacitly acknowledged paramilitary units) and serves as the de facto head of state for the Mutasrita Imugi. While the group has no discrete planet to call their own they do form distinct minorities within a number of Rainreaved nations and corporate entities with the added advantage of several very prominent and influential individuals hailing from their number. As a result many of their resident countries and colonies of origin tend refrain from directly superseding their authority.

Current Rulers/Leaders: The current Baitagion is Ms. Ninabi Katesh, elected after the death of her predecessor, Ms. Rawdha Khakwani, during the holding action at Breakage; three weeks shy of the Sixth Wave of the Reaper War. Baitagion Katesh’s symbiote goes by the name Zikali.

Population: The Mutasrita Imugi are a sub-branch of a group that is itself something of a minority on the galactic scale. But when said scale encompasses hundreds upon hundreds of billions of people even a subset of a subset can number tens of millions strong. To simplify it somewhat there are roughly enough Changed Ones in the Rainreaved Ocean alone to entirely
populate a mid-tier colonial world on their own. An eclectic mix whose members in many ways transcend the traditional barrier of species through their fundamental commonality the ranks of the Mutasrita Imugi encompass significant turian, batarian, asari, salarian, volus, and krogan populations in addition to minor races such as indigs, hanar, elcor, and (most recently) humans.
Really when one’s business concerns the fundamental alteration of one’s genetic and physiological structure species based discrimination attains a whole new degree of sillyness.

Description: Legendary beginnings are not uncommon in the Terminus and Abyss; many nations have their venerated founders: brave generals, canny statesmen, conquerors, liberators, priests, and criminal all held up together in the eye of history. However even among this canon the founder of the Mutasrita Imugi, the creator of the Ninety Nine Heavenly Strains himself, stands tall.

Bisbalai Haejeion was a pirate by birth, an augmentive biogeneticist by training, and an explorer at heart. Selling the services of his ships when times were lean, preying upon trade lanes laden with riches when times were fat. Exploring the deeps of the galaxy and pushing back the borders of the charted Rainreaved Ocean with every voyage. And all the while honing his craft, acquiring ever better and more complex components for his laboratory, ever more rare and exotic specimens and compounds for his experiments. His first products were the typical designs one might expect of a scientist who is rather frequently called upon to sack a freighter or raid a battlestation: warbeasts and genemods for his crew. But as time passed curiosity twined with ambition and he set his sights on more lofty goals.

Sapience. Sapience can be artificially manufactured from inception, sapience can be introduced post-birth. And, really, once one posses the technology to create entire species from more or less scratch, implementing higher order intelligence is simply a matter of magnitude and resources rather than anything legal or fundamentally opposed barriers.

Haejeion, as mentioned, was rather successful at what he did.

In the bowels of his flagship, the Caitamagwi, the pirate lord, the scientist, and the explorer worked in conjunction to create something new. Something unique. An intelligence in an alien form: the Ninety Nine Heavenly Strains. Each grown and incubated in nutrient vats and hermetic canisters; artificial eggs. Serpents, symbiotes, whose physiology, the long, densely coiled strands of undifferentiated cells that would come to be known as Haejeion’s Marks, afforded them conscious mutational capabilities. Natural weapons, environmental adaptations, augmentation of existing capabilities, all simple matters of will and biomass.

The first was Haegjeion’s Bond, the Greater Symbiote Agmai. His implantation creating the first Mutasrita Imugi out of the pirate lord himself. It took months for the Marks, the biological Calligraphy, to inoculate within his body. Months longer form the two to learn how to work in tandem, for Agmai to reshape Haegjeion’s body within mere moments and for Haegjeion himself to learn how to utilize his new capabilities. They were changed, the two of them, irrevocably.

In time they would hone and refine the process together, in time they would create the first nursery aboard that flagship, in time the crew would take that step as well, make that journey as their leader had done.
But for every action, is there an equal and opposite reaction. Greed and pride inspire wrath and envy and such boundaries as Haegjeion shattered are not to be tested lightly for there are always those who will think your workings, yourself, as an abomination. And it is far easier to rally the commoners against the monstrous than the fair.

An armada came for him, nations he had turned privateer against, rivals he had humiliated, mercenaries drawn by easy profit, and those who called his actions corrupt, transgressions against nature itself. The fleet was shattered. The few survivors scattered. And the Caitamagwi itself crippled taken by storm. Level by level. Room by room. Until Haegjeion ordered the last defenders to lay down their arms and surrendered himself to the custody of the invaders. He and all his crew taken to the prison of Sahkla’ko, them to live out their days in confinement, he to await his trial and execution.

But the pair, pirate king and symbiote alike, were only beaten, not broken. On the day their sentence was to be carried out he engineered the escape of his kin, fighting through the waves of guards, mercenaries, and those who had entombed them. Giving their lives against the sea of adversaries them two, Haegjeion and Agmai, so that the rest could escape. Could rally the lost and wandering. And so that they, the Mutasrita Imugi could endure.

And endure they have. They fled that day, almost eight hundred years ago. They survived. They spread. And they will never be cast down again, not while a single pair lives.

Notes/Interesting Shit: The process of symbiote implementation is every bit as radical, in its own way, as full conversion to a cybernetic frame. Both are irreversible, both are rather heavily restricted by legal measures within Citadel Space and a number of more conservative Terminus nations (to the point that possessing a symbiote or being a host within Citadel Space is effectively illegal), and both are relegated to the position of secondary subsets. Integration with one of the Ninety Nine Heavenly Strains even moreso considering the visceral and horrifying forms that the Mutasrita Imugi can take on. The process itself is decidedly unpleasant, requiring the injection of a substantial quantity of Haejeion’s Marks into the host to provide a replenishiable base of adaptive organic material for the symbiote to work with from the start (which is part of why Mutasrita Imugi are often substantially heavier than they appear); and with regards to the implantation of the symbiote itself, well, let us simply say that it’s for the best that the host pain response is muted in the process and altered thereafter to be oriented more towards mass tissue death. Traditional input would register say, the host’s arm splitting open into organic blades, or the razor tendrils sprouting from their back, or, indeed, the snakelike alien that is now burrowing into their chest cavity and interfacing with their nervous system a “Very Bad Thing”.

However there are a number of definite benefits, for one the companionship: the symbiotes themselves are sapient, possess their own distinct personalities and thoughts, and are able to communicate with their hosts both verbally and through the host’s reformed nervous system (which is progressively decentralized to aid in the transformations, interaction with the symbiote, and regeneration). For another the rapid, conscious, alterations to any situation or on basically any whim (there is a distinct appeal to wings, gills, natural armor, or a self designed combat form on demand) and the inherent survivability (provided enough of the symbiote and neural matter are intact a Mutasrita Imugi can regenerate given enough time and biomass).

For the sake of mitigating complications and ensuring at least a degree of general comprehension and awareness on behalf of both parties, implantation does not take place until late or post puberty for both the host and symbiote. The symbiotes themselves are born and raised from fertilized clutches within multi-biome nurseries based within core Mutasrita Imugi holdings. The hosts may be born into the group or join of their own will (enforced isolation is both doctrinally inconsistent and does the organization no favors politically) but a measure of proven responsibility and justified capability is required. It is, after all, another’s life that both are being entrusted with.

But, generally speaking, the bonds that grow from these unions between Host and Symbiote; while transformative in every sense of the word, are strong and unshakeable.

Flash of Light will be very interested in the Mutasrita Imugi.

Also, would a techbuilding thread be in order soon for all the stuff that's made up so far? The symbiote would be a nice opening post for that.