 |
|
 |
 |
 |
Major Empires Revealed
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
It's good to see the Spymaster tirelessly collecting information again! 
          
| |
|
Time to do a redo in all the major empires don't you think? 
| |
|
|
|
Very interesting and very well done, as always!
  
| |
|
|
|
Just noticed these reports. Very well done spy master. Please continue.
   
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Oh, oh... Better alert the sentries in the grave yard |
|
We got sentries ??? 
Better stop bringing that reporter by every Tuesday. Hey, wait a minute ... she kinda looks like ... spy master dressed in drag ...  
[Message Edited]
| |
|
|
|
Sentries in the graveyard ... it might not be entirely apropos, but somehow that reminds me of Estragon and Vladimir in "Waiting for Godot". You might know what happened to them ...
   
| |
|
#37
by Veteran Gerakken - 5/31/2004 6:32:28 PM
Beings from a galaxy far, far away inspired a once small empire to become a giant in the Metaverse helped to spread its culture far and wide. In this report, the Jedi Republic:
Very Good : 7
Chaotic Good:36
Neutral : 5
Chaotic Evil: 7
Very Evil : 2
Overall alignment: 75.4% good.
Cakewalk : 4
Easy : 2
Simple : 2
Beginner :12
Normal : 7
Challenging: 8
Tough : 2
Painful : 7
Crippling : 4
Masochistic: 9
Toughness : 5.98.
In a farflung and relatively lawless section of the Metaverse, a military dictatorship rose to rule with an iron fist. It was a necessary measure, since this was the only thing the overlords there respected. Fogman, the Supreme Leader of the Republic, maintained peace and order through the law of the gun. "Peace With Superior Firepower", as the official propoganda went. A few weeks after Fogman subdued the last rebellious elements in his sectors and assured a secure reign, a very peculiar event occured. Solar systems from another dimension appeared in Republic space.
All manner of strange beings lived on the worlds of these systems, planets called Coruscant, Dagobah, Tattoine, and many others. Ripped from positions in their native dimension that were sometimes very far apart and thrown into a constellation of neighboring solar systems in a foreign space, the inhabitants quickly got over their shock and set out to explore their new surroundings. The residents of the Republic, on the other hand, quickly mobilized, fearing some sort of insidious alien invasion plot. Luckily, the two sides shed little blood before cooler heads prevailed and a dialogue was established. While some Newcomer societies seemed to come from almost equally as lawless places like the Republic sprang from, most of the Newcomers had a highly civilized culture where the ideals of a select, small group called Jedi prevailed.
Jedi believe that the universe and every living thing in it has a special kind of power flowing through it called the Force. The Force can be controlled by those who are attuned to it and can be used for all manner of deeds. The Force can, among other things, propel objects, read minds, alter thoughts, heal, kill, and even sense (perhaps even guide) events of the past, present, and future if the Jedi is powerful enough. The Newcomer's past is full of Jedi who have used their powers to wage horrific wars, satiate their own selfish desires, and to benefit their society as a whole. The Force can be a powerful ally or a temptous deceiver, depending on the training and emotional state of the user. Fear, hate, rage, and other powerful emotions can lead to the Dark Side where the Force both fuels and consumes the Jedi, turning him into an instrument of evil. Achieving balance with the Force is the ultimate goal of every Jedi Master: a balance where the positive aspects of the Force can be used for beneficial gains, but where the Jedi can also unleash the harmful aspects of the Force when the situation requires without it leading to the temptations of the Dark Side.
Fogman vanished shortly after the Newcomer arrival during a secret mission to one of their worlds, never to be seen again. Jedi Master Yoda, leader of the Newcomers, assumed the mantle of emperor of the combined empire and had an uncanny amount of Fogman's memories and knowledge. All manner of strange rumors abounded. Things like Master Yoda ate Fogman and assimilated his knowledge, or Fogman planned to vanish all along and left Master Yoda in charge after making the appropriate preparations, or even that Fogman somehow achieved a great attunement to the ways of the Force and metamorphed into Master Yoda in some sort of bizarre Jedi ritual. But with Master Yoda's reign came several institutions that were quickly adopted by the whole populace: a Constitution, a free press, an elected Jedi Council to run the day to day affairs of the empire, and other reforms that were a far cry from the way the old Republic took care of business. This change of pace satisfied the people and they accepted the change in leadership after very little dissent.
The Metaverse can be a hostile place where time stands still for no one. Perhaps this is also why the fusion of the Newcomers and the original citizens of the Republic happened so quickly and easily, almost overnight, in fact. Soon only an outsider would think twice about the unexplainable dimensional hijinks that led to the Newcomers. In the Jedi Republic, it was like the denizens of both dimensions had been raised side by side. Many different races and societies had congealed into a single empire following the ideals of the Jedi.
This is normally a peaceful and prosperous empire. The Jedi Council rules with the consent of the overlords and strives to keep the peace by using the Force for the benefit of all. But, the Jedi Republic has been party to a few wars in the Meta. Those incidents have been mostly blamed on misunderstandings with or provocations by other empires, as the Jedi Council's position is that war is a policy of last resort. Sometimes the rampages of Jedi who have fallen to the Dark Side are blamed.
These Dark Jedi, called Sith, each have their own agendas and often leave a wake of death and destruction affecting affairs both within and outside of the empire. Sith can be elected to the Jedi Council, but their motives are often suspect due to the influence of the Dark Side. The Council maintains that the Sith among them are there to further the interests of the empire as a whole above their own personal ambitions, and that there is no Sith conspiracy to infiltrate and subvert the entire government into being pawns of the Dark Side.
Despite constant friction between Jedi and Sith, the two sides work well enough together politically to make the Jedi Republic a powerful empire. Jedi philosophy and culture have spread rapidly. The empire enjoys good relations throughout the Meta. It is not uncommon to see envoys of many empires going to and fro from the Jedi Republic capital of Coruscant. A few Jedi have settled in distant corners of the Meta and are still spreading belief in the Force even if some of them now serve different empires. There are many Honorary Jedi as well who commonly travel between their homes and the Jedi Republic for diplomacy, leisure, and business. This cultural exchange is the real currency of the Jedi Republic, worth even more than the value of the vast flow of trade goods coming into and out of the empire. This has helped make the Jedi Republic a steady, strong presence among the major empires.
Militarily, the Jedi fleet relies heavily on small fighters. Capital ships are more often transports and fire support bases while the fighters are the lead elements that control the course of the battle. Jedi pilots prefer the speed and manueverability of the fighter even if it is lacking in size or firepower. The Jedi fighter pilot relies on the Force to protect him and some use its powers to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. The fighter squadrons often act independently as scouts or as raiders in hit and run ambushes. When working in conjunction with large ships, Jedi fighters seek to harass, distract, and disable the enemy's capital ships so their own large ships can bring the big guns to bear on a vulnerable target and finish the job. Even the rarely seen Jedi terror stars rely on a fighter screen for protection. While the Jedi terror star can hold its own even against a large fleet of capital ships, it has its weaknesses and small craft can slip into a vulnerable spot and destroy it. Especially when the pilot in the small craft is considered to be in tune with the Force. (There is no such thing as a lucky shot in the Jedi belief system and the Jedi claim to have no monopoly over the Force, although they are the ones specifically trained to use it. Even non-Jedi are sometimes influenced by the Force and it affects all.) While many empires use masses of fighters as part of an engagement as scouts, diversions, and cannon fodder, no other empire makes such a small ship the center of attention and the real strength of the fleet.
 
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Excellent job, Spymaster.
| |
|
Always enjoyable Spymaster. 
  
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Next report roughly July 15. |
|
Great! I'm looking forward to it.
| |
|
| Great! I'm looking forward to it. |
|
Indeed
| |
|
[Cartman voice]Sweeeeet[/Cartman voice]
| |
|
#47
by Veteran Gerakken - 7/20/2004 4:39:01 PM
Today's guest empire has a small army of overlords, but has a tendency to say little, preferring to let its overlords' games do the talking. Once a top star of the Meta, this empire went into decline for a while, and then made a run for the top spot again, busting up the ranks before the drive ran out of momemtum and it settled back down into a still respectable position among the Top 10. It would be wise to never underestimate the subtle but powerful nature of The European Alliance:
Very Good :14
Chaotic Good:55
Neutral :23
Chaotic Evil:26
Very Evil : 8
Overall alignment: 54.8% good.
Cakewalk : 8
Easy :12
Simple :15
Beginner :16
Normal :22
Challenging:21
Tough : 9
Painful : 8
Crippling : 8
Masochistic: 7
Toughness : 5.13.
Once divided by continual strife with one another, the nobles of Europe now disdain violence amongst themselves. They prefer a diplomatic solution to a situation. These negotiations can take an extreme amount of time, generate a huge quantity of documents, and leave outsiders with the false impression that the Euros, as they are known to the Meta, can get nothing done, but these proud nobles are no paper pushing wimps.
Instead of fighting among themselves, they instead chose to revive a page of history when the hyperdrive came along in 2178. Once, colonies of European powers spanned the Earth. So when the hyperdrive was unveiled, a seemingly infinite frontier of space was all too inviting. The colony rush was on. The Euros did quite well in the initial expansion, becoming one of two great superpowers of the Meta. No other empires at the time could hope to catch up to a Meta dominated by the twin kings that were The European Alliance and Apolyton. Over time, all things change, though.
Space got crowded, and fast. Other rival empires of Earth, strange Newcomers from other dimensions, seven major alien races, and minor races popping up all over the place: all are competing for territory. The pressure was on. Fiercely battling to establish new colonies in the less populated sectors of space, something the Euros are very good at, was complicated by the need to protect the interests in the older, more established sectors. The Euros went into a decline, their forces scattered thin protecting their holdings, and other powers kept slowly picking at the weak spots in the Euro line, taking territory in small nibbles.
One day, an escalating series of incidents with the Jedi Republic spiralled out of control. The border between the two empires had initially been a wide expanse of unaffiliated sectors containing mostly aliens along with some human or Newcomer pioneers staking small, individual claims, hoping to be far away from any empire's grasp. As the space between the two empires closed and the friction in the border sectors mounted, the Euros felt they had to act in a more forceful manner to protect their interests. A brief, but massive, war erupted. Most of the individual scattered fleets of the Colonial Defense Forces assembled into a mighty Euro Armada, a giant spearhead aimed at the Jedi border claiming whatever territory was in its path. Before reaching Jedi space, countless border sectors were swallowed and the Euros once again were almost on top of the Meta. The Jedi assembled their own massive fleet in response, and the two behemoths were on a collision course after lots of minor skirmishes between smaller fleets and interference from outside empires trying to profit from the wartime confusion. The clash of the titanic fleets turned into a running stalemate. Officially, the war was delared a draw. At the time, it seems both sides benefitted from the conflict. The peace settlement left the Euros and the Jedi each more territory (stolen mostly from alien powers and pioneers in the border sectors) than they began with. What was left of the Armada spread out to once again protect the colonies. The Euros went back to a more settled, content disposition.
To outsiders Euros are civilized and refined as an empire. It is said that among themselves they are a chatty bunch, with constant debates on various issues that translates into a mountain of paperwork. The non-Euros mostly see the paperwork, as Euros are a rather reserved lot who speak little to outsiders. When they do, they are often formal and polite. They are, to the rest of us, people of few words and many deeds.
On the other side of the coin, if push comes to shove, they are also well versed in military doctrine and thus ruthlessly efficient in battle. The backbone of the Euro doctrine is to attack in force in a highly organized formation, applying massive pressure on a single point in the enemy line until they break. Normally, the fleets of the Colonial Defense Force are self-supporting combat entities, each centered around one very large capital ship and several battleships. Smaller warships form a screen around the center capital ships, while fighter escorts form a much larger ring yet. These individual fleets were designed to protect a whole sector at once, but now only key sectors with high populations enjoy a fleet to itself. In the less populated edges near the frontier, a single fleet usually has to try and cover several sectors as best it can. When necessary, the fleets easily converge to form larger task forces or even an Armada. Bigger ships again mass in the middle while the lighter ones drift toward the edges. This is a normal patrol pattern.
When the Euros deploy for battle, the formation changes. Big ships assemble in a rear line, lighter ships toward the front, and a wall of fighters all around to guard against any flanking attacks. But, deviously, cruisers and other medium sized warships will break off from the main pack with some fighter wings to become a roaming calvary reserve of sorts, looking for later weakness in the enemy line to exploit. The mass of the Euro battle fleet will converge with the main enemy force in a frontal assualt and attempt to strain and then break the enemy line. Small fighters whiz by in a series of head on passes firing small, rapid-firing particle beams at the immediate center of the enemy lines to make the other ships break ranks. The Euro large capital ships follow up, firing large beam weapon turrets and volleys of ship-killing missiles, brutally pummelling the pack. When the enemy has either scattered in disarray or, if the enemy can maintain cohesion, is reduced in numbers sufficiently, the roaming reserve of medium warships comes in to clean up.
The strength of the Euro doctrine is its discipline in numbers: a large amount of warships in rigid formation applying constant pressure. The whole key to the Euro battle plan is to stay in formation, concentrate firepower, and not let the enemy be the one who breaks the line. If the fighter screen fails and the smaller Euro ships start to crack, the larger ships fill the gaps and are hopefully still a strong backbone to rally a counterattack around. Keep the reserves in reserve until the time is right. Deploy the reserves too soon, then the enemy is still too strong and the reserves would just end up mostly on the casualty list. But when deployed at the right time, a tired, weakened, and hopefully disoriented enemy meets a whole group of fresh warships fully stocked with ammo.
The largest problem lies in the rare Euro retreat. If the battle does go badly for the Euros, it tends to turn into a every ship for itself affair, much like most other empires in the Meta. There are few empires in the Meta who can manage a coordinated retreat that does not turn into an unorganized route. Another weakness in the doctrine is a lack of small interceptor missiles (designed to kill fighters or take out incoming missiles) on the capital ships. As they are primarily designed for extended duels with enemy warships, the capital ships stock up exclusively on the larger ship killing missiles so they can pummel the enemy longer. Specialized missile destroyers packing only a couple of small beam turrets but carrying copious quantities of interceptor missiles protect the fleet from any small threats that get through the fighter screen. As long as the fighter screen and the missile destroyers can deal with the small threats, things are fine, but the capital ships have nothing but a few small point defense turrets to protect themselves with when it comes to warding off fighters and missiles. Thus, a wily enemy might try to overwhelm or destroy the missile destroyers after punching a hole through the fighter screen and then dealing the Euro capital ships a death by a thousand cuts by overwhelming them with small threats.
Lately, there has been a new Euro tactic involving the use of a sort of pocket battleship acting as solo raiders in some sectors, being used both as privateers and police. (These ships are actually quite large, like Ranger class or better.) Going out alone to hunt traders or even small patrols, these ships have more firepower than anything they hunt, and are designed to be faster (and thus outrun) than anything that is big enough to hunt them. This seems to be a temporary stop gap to still maintain control of some contested sectors the Colonial Defense Force could not normally police without having to make a major deployment, or at least it would force the enemies of the Euros to make a major deployment themselves to stop the raiders.
| |
|
Another excellent report Spymaster!
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Copyright 1995-2024 Stardock Corporation. All rights reservered.
Site created by Pixtudio and Stardock, designed by Pixtudio.
|
 |
