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[Vortigern]

(OOC: All of this has been OK'd with Fire_ze_missiles, so no problems there. Also, sorry for the delay, I was unexpectedly cut off from the internet for a week.)

The Chalsidii

History: Part 1

The Chalsidii are an old race; millennia ago they were members of the Caenophar, long before the construction and deployment of the Wayworlds. A settling ship carrying their ancestors was forced to make a crash landing on an unnamed and inhospitable planet, which later came to be known as Talkala, the New Homeworld. The southern half of the planet was a dusty, arid desert, riven by gorges hewn by torrents long ago dried up. The northern half was barely any more welcoming. For much of the planet a thick belt of impassable jungle encircled the single continent, cutting the forced settlers off from the planet’s only sea, which capped the planet in an almost perfect circle. It was once commented by a Chalsidian leader that the jungle was a representation of space; the great void separating them inexorably from any source of relief. After thirty years of hoping and ‘lighting’ beacons, nobody had arrived. Eventually all wishes were forgotten, and Talkala became an island in space, disconnected.
The Chalsidii have always been an organised people, a habit derived from their Caenophite ancestry. The skills necessary for space travel lingered in the consciousness of the Chalsidii for several generations after their arrival on Talkala, and they were always taught anew to each fresh generation.
After nearly a hundred years living on the northern half of the continent, as the more hospitable of the two, a great disease spread throughout the Chalsidii. Skin turned black, and then grey, blood began to boil through the skin and victims died in agony. Shortly after this the entire population of Talkala moved south, to the barren world that was the southern desert. When there the Chalsidii were forced to refute their natural travelling inclination, purely through practicality; too long out in the sun, out of the gorges that marked the paths of shade and habitability meant almost certain death. Caves were drilled into the sides of the gorges, with the last of what remained of the gargantuan vessel that had brought fifty thousand settlers to an unenviable fate. Underground, away from the sun, the fallen people of Talkala suffered on, dreaming of a time when the friends from their past would find them, and the Caenophar would bring their lost brothers back into the fold. Generation after generation was disappointed as no alien vessel ever approached the Homeworld, and eventually all knowledge of matters technological was lost with their faith in the Caenophar. Promises of rescue became fireside tales; fireside tales fell away to myth, and myth rotted down to implausible legend. There were no Caenophar, there never had been. The Chalsidii were doomed to wander this barren rock of a planet for all eternity.

History: Part 2

One thousand, two hundred and sixteen years since the Chalsidii had first encountered Talkala, in their explosive landing, they were thrust into contact with the outside world once more. A neighbour planet had spawned a race of insectoid beings who had, after years of growing, finally gained vessels that would carry them through space. They encountered the Chalsidii after a brief invasion and retreat from another world, and landed on the southern half of the planet. The Chalsidii were quickly made aware of this alien presence, and sent their armed police force, the Chalsithron, to deal with it. The Chalsithron, armed to the teeth with spears and hand-made crossbows, found themselves only able to combat the insectoid lifeforms due to a great difference in size; the insects were about a foot tall, at their highest. But the Chalsidii saw their way off the planet. If they could convert the alien ships to suit their needs, they could replicate them and leave their adopted home for good. Unfortunately, the only part the Chalsidii were able to salvage was a mammoth electromagnet, original purpose unknown.
After some fiddling around, the Chalsidii astronomers were astounded to see that a storm of meteorites was descending towards their home, drawn by the irresistible pull of magnetism. They were thus provided with their first stores of iron, copper, iridium, and other metals useful for space travel, though at the time the Chalsidii did not recognise them for what they were. Thus it was that the Chalsidii were thrust into the space age by desire and opportunity, something that no amount of innovation on their part could have achieved alone.

History: Part 3

Sixty six years after the construction and successful launch of the first Chalsidii spacecraft, they came into contact with a life form on a distant planet. Closer investigation showed the signs to be those of a single being, an ancient, wizened old creature going by the name of Tessidal. He was taken to meet the Emperor of the Chalsidii, Dravin. Dravin, a keen historian and a firm believer in tradition and the legacy of mythology, was astounded to hear that the newcomer was an exile from a Caenophite Wayworld. For over two hundred years he had lived alone on a distant, barely habitable planet, and it was only through his vast psionic potential that he was able to eke out a living with the help of the local fauna. Piecing together what Dravin and Tessidal knew, they came to the conclusion that the Chalsidii had to be the descendants of the lost starship, vanished without trace for over a thousand years. Tessidal told Dravin that their fate was not considered a catastrophic loss for the Caenophar, and, indeed, had barely been noted, the news of their absence coming a single day before the news that four new habitable planets had been discovered in the same solar system by a sister ship of that which had brought the Chalsidii their misfortune.
It was not until Dravin broached the subject of recontacting his distant cousins that Tessidal informed him of the purposes of the Wayworlds; if the Chalsidii went to the former homeworld of the Caenophar they would find only rubble and ruin. Tessidal, having been in exile so long, had no idea where the Wayworlds could now be found, and Dravin’s hopes of reaffirming his people’s history and birthright were dashed. All that came from Tessidal’s accounts was knowledge of history, not something Dravin spurned, but neither something around which he could found a new dynasty, bring a new dawn for the Chalsidii.
So they blundered on, stumbling blindly into an unknown future and a wide, misty universe.

History: Part 4

Nearly three thousand years had passed since the fall of the Chalsidii; well over a millennium and a half since Dravin and Tessidal had discovered the history of the Chalsidii. Both names had passed into legend along with the other tales of the Caenophar, and the truth was all but forgotten. The Chalsidii, after several encounters with otherworldly species, had found no sign of a benevolent master race travelling the universe in search of enlightenment, for such was how the myths surrounding their distant ancestors had developed.
In the northern hemisphere of Talkala, the temperate zone, the formerly impenetrable jungle, the High Parliament of the Chalsidii Realm was convened. It was at this meeting that a Councillor called Tevain, the last descendant of Dravin the Historian King, revealed that in one solar cycle Talkala would have been the home of their people for three millennia, with irrefutable evidence of their landing and of the ancestry. The evidence was a simple log-book from the vessel that had brought the Chalsidii to their brave new world, a diary kept by a crewman, not by a passenger. It detailed the ship in which they had travelled, and the setbacks that had befallen them on their apparently endless voyage. The engines on the port side had been damaged by a hostile contact with an unknown alien race from a nearby planet, a planet as yet unnamed and unidentified by the wandering Caenophite minstrelsy. After reading this passage, Tevain informed the Parliament that he had travelled north, to the polar sea, and found around its shore traces of ancient habitation, and signs of a technology and society far in advance of their own. He concluded with a theory; the race that had previously inhabited that vast coastal dominion was the same race that had injured the Caenophite starship and brought it crashing down on Talkala; the ancient Talkalans had been wiped out by the impact of the crash, like a meteor hurtling down from space with a deadly shockwave sent spiralling across the surface of the planet. In short, they had brought about their own doom and cleared the way for the future of the Chalsidii.
Of course, Tevain had not returned empty-handed from his trip to the pole. Along with the famed log-book he had couriered an escape pod from the crash site of the Chalsidii vessel, and a series of incomprehensible blueprints, found encased in a form of laminate and unharmed by the ravages of the years; though the words made no sense, the drawing were clearly those of a ship designed for interstellar travel. The technological thievery of the Chalsidii continued, and they continued to comb their quadrant of space in search of their founder race, still without an innovation to call their own. Soon after this it became clear to the Chalsidii rulers, the High Parliament, that the easiest way to advance came through salvage and stolen ideas; no research was necessary, only discovery, and they now knew that the universe was clamouring with life, teeming to the brim with unknown races, just waiting to be found.

[Vortigern]

People

The Chalsidii are a swarthy race, as one would expect from a people subjected to harsh sunlight and ultra-violet exposure; the atmosphere of their home planet, Talkala, is very thin and contains no ozone or similar. Thus the Chalsidii have developed over the years the ability to withstand exposure in space to UV rays from various suns and stars, and have also gained large lungs capable of holding them steady for a good three or four minutes without breathing. This would make them excellent swimmers, were there anywhere to learn and practice on Talkala, besides the polar sea.

They are a vicious people, on the whole, and emotional. Their vast array of emotion comes from their Caenophite ancestry, and has been weaned a little by the harshness of their home. Still, the Chalsidii are not afraid to weep or to wound, to care or to kill; vast extremes of feeling in seconds are not uncommon. A few of the Chalsidii choose to hone this strength of feeling, and have developed a primitive form of psi, an inherited trait. These few are often shunned by the majority, as their abilities are unpredictable and difficult to control without the proper training, and often lead to social difficulties.

There is an inherent savagery in the Chalsidii; though this is not often reflected on their home planet, it has become clear in their various alien encounters that they will tolerate no aggression directed at them. The Chalsidii have been known to inflict brutal treatments on their prisoners: ripping limbs off and smashing individual bones are favourites. The torturers of the Chalsithron, the police, are highly respected and feared men, and can clear rooms with a single word. In short, they are a race conditioned to toughness.

[Vortigern]

Recent History: Part 1

After a brutal defeat in interstellar combat the Chalsidii retreated to their homeworld, cutting themselves off from their few colonies, working on the supposition that if they were good enough they would survive and flourish anyway. Their opponents, a race of giant sentient arachnoid beings, had defeated them through a combination of superior numbers and near-lightspeed travel via their 'torchships'. In the end it was through the efforts of one Chalsidia that the arachnoids were vanquished; the efforts of Rovairn, the latest son of the Chalsidii's most illustrious family, the descendant of Dravin and Tevain and their kin. Rovairn stowed himself aboard one of the torchships and, overcoming the crew in a miraculous display of heroism and bravery, brought a torchship safely to land on Talkala, to be copied and regenerated by the Chalsidii's best techno-thieves, a feat soon accomplished.

When the ships were manufactured, Rovairn led the first fleet himself and smashed the arachnoids in a single battle, sending them fleeing for the depths of space. Having studied deeply the effects and consequences of certain actions upon the torchship engines, Rovairn sent out a massive EMP (OOC: well, similar, the torchships don't run on electricity, but imagine the same effect) torpedo to the midst of the disappearing enemy, and the discharge brought them all to their knees, easy pickings for Rovairn and his cruisers. The stolen technology proved the decisive factor in their next few encounters, although another enemy of the same standard as the arachnoids was nowhere to be found. Rovairn, now Admiral of the Fleet, found himself longing for a war in which his skills could be put to good use.

Recent History: Part 2

Rovairn's success in the war left the Chalsidii once again longing to be free of their dismal homeworld, and more launches were sent out, contact was made once more with the colonies, and the Chalsidii found themselves looking to the borders of space. But they were drawn apart from within by the actions of the High Parliament of the Realm of the Chalsidii. Rovairn, despairing of his people's indecisiveness, took matters into his own hand, bringing his most powerful three cruisers, under trusted crews, to within five miles above the Parliament building, and opened fire. The Parliament was destroyed in one fell swoop, and the Chalsidii were thrown into chaos. Or would have been, had Rovairn not provided a comfortable alternative almost instantly: his right-hand man, his chief general, Pelarco. Pelarco was accepted as the new ruler of Talkala, and devised a militaristic approach to government, based on discipline and harsh castigation for offenders.

Two months later, Pelarco was assassinated by members of the Chalsidii who longed for the freedom that the Parliament had afforded them. He was replaced by a figurehead of Rovairn's choosing, with the Admiral himself pulling the strings and keeping the Chalsidii afloat. The new Tyrant, Dethocas, staved off three assassination attempts before Rovairn allowed a purge to rid Talkala of the rebels. His actions were successful, and no further attempts have been made on the lives of either Dethocas or Rovairn. Dethocas suggested to Rovairn that the people be pacified through expansion: a good war was always useful for keeping faith in the administration. Rovairn agreed, but could find no enemies he deemed worthy of the Chalsidii's attention. After a few planetary raids, with limited spoils, Rovairn discovered a race called the Jerami. He moved his fleet into position above their planet and launched a massive attack, beginning with a bombardment and finishing with the Chalsithron moving through the streets killing who they met. Back on Talkala, a parade and festival was held to celebrate the victory, and Rovairn and Dethocas established themselves as the steady, if tyrannical and despotic, rulers of a burgeoning empire.

[Vortigern]

Politics and Culture: Part 1

Until recently the Chalsidii had a form of democracy; the High Parliament held the reins and were answerable to none. Until, that was, Rovairn decided to put himself in command. Many on Talkala still remember with fondness the days of liberality and enlightenment that the Chalsidii enjoyed before Rovairn, but none were brave enough to stand against Rovairn, Dethocas and the Chalsithron. However, even the days of the High Parliament did not afford the Chalsidii all the freedoms they desired.

The High Parliament was comprised of the leaders of each of the twelve tribes and whichever followers they chose to bring with them and to represent their family in government. It was led by the Lord Chalsidia, and his decision was final, though he was sworn to hold himself open to a logical and just decision dependent on arguments and evidence before emotion. But of course, none of that mattered once Rovairn destroyed the Parliament and the buildings, decapitating both the people as a whole and the tribes individually. Having declared first Pelarco and then Dethocas as the new leader of the tribes and of the people, Rovairn became the first real Emperor of the Chalsidii since his ancestor Dravin, in all but name.

In the two months between Pelarco's coming to power and his assassination, he instituted a series of rigorous disciplines, and following those disciplines became mandatory for all Chalsidii. First, all males had to report for military training. Second, all females had to take up the jobs that had previously been performed by the males. Third, all offspring were to be put into special training facilities in order to bring a new generation of super-warriors into the Chalsidii world. Fourth, the Chalsithron were given absolute and brutal power over all Chalsidii, with orders to bring to heel any offenders with any force deemed necessary at the officer's discretion. After Pelarco's murder, Dethocas changed this. He moved the Chalsithron into the military, and gave them no power as a police force, replacing this instead with a domestic force with solely policing powers: search, detainment, arrest, conviction, not brutality. Dethocas also ended the program to create the training facilities for infants, instead putting military training into the curriculum for schools, along with extra emphasis on history; Dethocas was a great believer in the Caenophar. Dethocas also did away with compulsory military service, offering instead a rewarding system of bounty and looting and rewards for bravery; having spent many years with Rovairn in the fleet, they had both decided that incentives served to motivate the troops far more than fear and force. Dethocas, though he too was, unavoidably, a tyrant, was far more popular than Pelarco had been at any point.

Traditionally, the Chalsidii had been a commune, with need for neither democracy nor tyranny, but the harsh realities of life on Talkala had shown them the necessity of central government, and then the High Parliament had formed, existing for well over a thousand years before their explosive dismissal by Rovairn. Before the High Parliament, a series of Emperors and Kings, unable to decide which title suited them better, had battled for dominion, and had been succeeded by followers entirely unrelated, but powerful enough to claim power. Dravin was the last to claim the title of Emperor, but was known to later generations as the Historian King. In the two hundred years between his death and the birth of the High Parliament, three Kings, two High Lords and a Marshall of the Realm led the Chalsidii. The Marshall, Brathyin, lasted only three quarters of a year before being overthrown by the second and final High Lord, Gramarn. Gramarn himself lasted only four years before his sudden death, by natural causes, left a void, soon to be filled by the High Parliament.

[Vortigern]

Technologies: Part 1 - Weapons and Armour

Iridium armour: the basic armour in which the Chalsidii are clad is made of an iridium alloy, with several unknown components. The specifics were taken from the arachnoid enemy, after the armour was found to be proof against the photon weaponry held by the arachnoids and later copied by the Chalsithron, but merely adequate against the solid-slug weaponry of the Chalsidii military. Before encountering the arachnoids, the fashion was for armour to cover the torso, upper arms and legs, and head. But with the theft of arachnoid forging techniques, flexibility in metal was gained, and allowed for full-body and head armour. The armour also contains a breathing grille which can be shut off by controls on the wrist-pad of either arm, to be replaced by an air supply from a tank in the back of the suit. Officers of the Chalsithron have a special adaptation of this model which leaves the face open, but with a visor that can slam down at a moment's notice, again via wrist controls. This allows the officers much greater vision when in combat, but affords them equal protection. It has been considered that such a device should be affixed to all suits.

Rifle: the standard arms of the Chalsidii. Fires solid high-explosive slugs. An average handgun is capable of blowing through a stone wall in three or four shots, and the army-issue rifle can do it in two, at a pinch. The slugs are kept in a special pouch on the armour suit, designed specifically from technology taken from one of the first enemies of the Chalsidii. It contains a device called a micro-ioniser, which allows the slugs to be stored in a much smaller form and then expanded when they are released from the chamber. Any substance will do to expand the slugs, so the pouch also contains a link to a vacuum hoover in the sole of either foot to pick up dirt to expand the slugs. The rifle has an average fire rate of two shots per second, and can thus deplete a regular round in just twelve and a half seconds, assuming the trigger is used most economically.

Photon rifle: this is the upgraded form of the standard rifle, used exclusively by the Chalsithron. It is also attached to a micro-ioniser, as the cores of the photon beams are solid. The cores contain an atomic splitter, which detonates on impact, as a sort of tiny, localised atomic bomb, though due to the size and practicality, the detonations are small and restrained, not nearly on the same scale as even the original human atomic bombs. The pure heat of the photon is enough to burn through most metals and alloys in the nanosecond between contact and detonation, though the iridium alloy worn by Chalsidii soldiers is one of the few that can stop it. The material is also strong enough to withstand at least one detonation from the atomic splitter.

Photon sword: this is really the back-up weapon of the Chalsidii. They prefer to engage from distance, and with early bombardments, but sometimes melée combat is unavoidable, in which circumstance, they are armed and ready with photon swords. The edge is, of course, razor sharp, and with the controlled photon beams around the edge, the sword is capable of slicing through most forms of armour. The sheath contains a series of sensors which deactivates the photon beams as they enter the sheath, thus ensuring that the weapon never cuts through the sheath itself, though it too is made of the iridium alloy which is proof against photon weaponry.

Seneco missiles: these are the standard conveyances for the various forms of warhead used by the Chalsidii. They are carried on all starships in vast numbers, through the capabilities of the micro-ioniser, and lesser forms are carried on many air, land and water vehicles. They use atomic splitters to generate power through miniature fission/fusion generators, and contain nose-mounted cameras through which the host vessel can guide the path of the missile.

Warheads:
1) High explosive. Contains a larger-scale atomic splitter and detonates on impact.
2) Bio. What the bio warhead contains depends on what is deadly to the opponents of the Chalsidii (this is one of the first things the reconnaissance and the spies attempt to find out).
3) Chemical. Contains a substance known as Tessidal's Fire, named for the man who gave it to the race in an age long past. Tessidal's Fire burns on contact with any oxygenated gas or liquid, and can thus burn in the atmosphere of almost any planet or starship. It is impossible to put out the fire. The only way is to let it burn out through containing it as quickly as possible.
4) Photon. Contains a minor atomic splitter in the core, but carries intelligent detonators so that it only explodes after having burnt through whatever target it was aimed at. Highly expensive and seldom used.

Edited by Vortigern, 08 January 2008 - 06:19 PM.

[Vortigern]

Technologies: Part 2 - Transport and Spacecraft

Battleship: This is the mothership, the massive space behemoth in which the majority of single-pilot fighters and bombers are held when travelling. Battleships are equipped with four giant photon cannons, fore and aft, each with beamed power in the region of a nuclear missile. However, the major strength of the batleships comes via the numerous warheads and missiles they carry and through the deployment of smaller fighters from the ship's hangar.

Cruiser: One class below the mighty battleships, cruisers are far more heavily armed, but rarely carry any fighters. Again, the most used weapon is the photon cannon, various sizes of which decorate the cruisers until they look almost like a porcupine. In combat they are potent indeed.

Carrier: The carriers are a special type of ship, designed originally with surface combat in mind, but later adapted to take men and cargoes through space. Larger versions often are equipped with one or two photon cannons, and when the cargo is particularly precious, a convoy of smaller fighters.

Fighter: The fighters are the staple craft of the Chalsidii. Piloted by one man, with a direct com-link to the battleship, cruiser or carrier from whence they came, often rerouted straight to the other fighters of the squad. By this means they are able to keep in contact in space and coordinate attacks. Experienced pilot crews have succeeded in taking on enemy battleships through a combination of drawing fire, sneaking through shields and bomber convoys. The fighters all come as a standard, and are equipped with a minor shield generator and twin rapid-fire miniature photon cannons. The design of the fighters comes from a beetle on Talkala, similar to a scarab. The 'wings' can swing round and suddenly propel the fighter in the other direction. This ability makes the Chalsidii fighters highly manoeuvrable, giving them a weighty advantage in personal combat.

Bomber: The bomber craft are far less common than the fighters, as they are always the target. Convoys of fighters are often necessary to lead the bombers through enemy fire. The bomber craft hold twelve missiles with exchangeable warheads, and up to two thousand bombs, given the powers of the micro-ioniser. They are equipped with a heftier shield than the fighters as they are not as fast, and thus need help soaking up the damage a little more. They do still, however, have the swinging wing mechanism, affording them a similar advantage to the fighters.

Shield Generator: The shield generators used by the Chalsidii use alternating frequencies, randomly selected by the ship's computer. Recent developments in power usage and distribution have allowed the larger Chalsidii ships, generally only the battleships, to have a dual layer of shielding, both at varying random frequencies. It is also a customary precaution for the bridge of all battleships and cruisers to have a smaller shield as a final layer of protection for the leaders, in the hope that help will arrive in the dying seconds. The Generators are powered by atomic splitters (fission/fusion micro-cells) which have an almost inexhaustible power supply unless abandoned in the vacuum of space. The shields on the fighters and bombers are similarly designed, but on a much smaller scale. The Chalsidii mentality ensures that most of the power generated aboard a fighter goes into the micro-ioniser and the photon cannons: attack is the best form of defence.

N.B.: All Chalsidii craft are composed of the same iridium steel that is used in the armour of the infantrymen, which is capable of withstanding high-powered photon blasts and minor nuclear explosions, as well as nearly all forms of solid-slug weaponry. The hulls of all spacecraft also contain an anti-magnetising agent, which deflects magnetised projectiles, such as railgun missiles, at a 33% success rate.

Edited by Vortigern, 14 January 2008 - 06:40 PM.