Infinite Domain of Elysia
In saecula saeculorum - "For ages of ages, forever and ever"
Established a long time ago in a system far far away</center>
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Official Communiqué to All Sovereign Interstellar Nations
-------Sterran Artorius Tilenus wrote://begin transmission
To all diplomatic sovereign nations,
The increasing threat which the To'Hol Venaari Technocracy is posing to our galaxy has been brought to the top of our agenda. The recent action at Cortese has resulted in mass mobilisation of Infinitum forces by the millions, and our shipyards are warming up the thousands of ships we normally hold in dormancy, an event which has not occurred since the Contact War centuries back. We hereby ally with the Movement to Restore the Alliance in their campaign against the Technocracy, and will lend a hand of military and logistical assistance. We will not stand by and allow this alien menace to destroy all that we have worked for. Once the Slipspace anomaly which is disrupting FTL travel from and to Elysia has subsided, we will again arise from our hallowed halls and surge forth to war. We will only be pacified if the threat we perceive is defeated until whatever that is left of them are ashes and dust. The right of every sentient being to be left in peace is inherent and undeniable, and we intend to defend it with whatever force we have. No matter what it takes.
In war and peace,
Sterran Artorius Tilenus
High Councillor of the Circle of War
In saecula saeculorum
//end transmission
Relevant Statistics
Form of Governance: Constitutional Aristocracy
Form of Judiciary: Judge + 13 Jury Members (open court)
Current Leader: Sterran Artorius Tilenus
Military Leader: High Strategos Deynor Cidum Elarus
Current Ruling Body: Circle of War (Vigintivirate)/<s>Circle of Thirteen (Tridecemvirate)</s> (13 Councillors and 7 Strategoi)
Economic Status: Free Economy
Inhabitable Worlds: 64
Ringworlds: 1
Planetoids: Too many to count
Controlled Planets: 307
Systems recognised by the Circle: 39
Tier 1 Systems - significant permanent Elysian presence (> 5 billion): 13
Tier 2 Systems - permanent Elysian presence (exclusive of the above): 26
Technology Level: Tier 2 on the Elysian Achievement Index
Population: Approximately 389 billion and counting
Currency: Elysian Credit (cRE)
Other Accepted Currencies: Galactic Standard Credit
Allied Factions: Movement to Restore the Alliance (upcoming military and logistical assistance)
Annual Gross Domestic Product per capita: 5 627 000 cRE
Combined Net Treasury Worth: 539 quadrillion cRE
Combined Military Net Worth: 314 quadrillion cRE
Capital System: Elysia
Capital World: Elysium
Affiliated Religions: Ancientalienism (15%), Atheism (82%), Others (3%)
Anthem: Lux Aeterna (Eternal Light)
Battle Theme: In bellum quod pacis
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Background
The history of Elysia can be traced back until the age when Earth sent out various colony ships across the stars in pursuit of a new planet on which to terraform and start anew. All that is known is that one of those gargantuan starships never made it to her intended destination, along with the thousands of colonists onboard. It is theorised that a Slipspace disruption caused by an ancient artifact drifting in interstellar space sent the ship on a new course. And at the end of this journey, lay the system which one of the awestruck colonists proclaimed "Elysia".
But what exactly was the cause for their shock and surprise?
It is not known if the ancient ringworld which orbited the star Elysia was constructed by the same alien race whose artifact had deviated the course of the colony ship. Neither is it known if they had deliberately caused the artifact to do so, but one thing is clear. Elysia was, in the colonists' eyes, a god-send. The ringworld was huge enough to hold a population of many billions, and the habitable planet (named Elysium) which the ship dropped out of Slipspace at had a climate almost identical to that of Earth's, thus needing absolutely no terraforming at all. But there was a slight caveat, even with this fantastic future before them: all communications with Earth had been lost. Even the exact position of the human homeworld was lost to the stars, due to the unexpected modification of the colony ship's Slipspace trajectory.
And with the establishment of the Infinite Domain 3 years after the arrival of humans, the modern history of Elysia begun.
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FTL Travel Report
An Analysis on the Elysian Methods of Slipspace Travel
The knowledge of the existence of Slipspace, a higher-dimensional realm only accessible through specialised methods, has been with us even before the establishment of the Domain. Even then, experiments with relatively primitive particle accelerators did prove successful in opening up this dimension, similar to that of how our ancestors utilised their Hawking-Nakamura Slipspace Drives to violently rip apart normal spacetime through the creation of artificial black holes. We have evolved to consider this an act of heresy (due to the heretical and disturbingly crude method they use), thus we have reverse-engineered technology found on various archaeological expeditions. Our development of such technology has also been able to lower the original energy input required to make a jump by about 10%.
In an Elysian Quantum Drive, a small amount of tachyonic matter is concentrated into an tiny area by tightly controlled magnetic containment fields, keeping away normal matter from disrupting the process. Energy in the form of pulse lasers is then fed into the sphere of tachyons while the containment fields further compress their target until a stage where neutron-degenerate matter forms, following that quark-degenerate matter, and finally an artificial black hole, which is immediately contained and stabilised with gravimetric fields and a ring of exotic matter which is inserted into the hole to prevent it from evaporating. Through a complex process, we manipulate the singularity at the quantum level (this is commonly regarded as "magic" by most of the Elysian population, even some renowned astrophysicists of ours have not been able to fully understand the exact methods used) to produce the exact wormholes we need to precisely travel to another destination. A Slipspace jump can then be made with extreme accuracy of +- 5m, unlike the old versions which made been known to miss by more than 3 km. We still have much to achieve as Slipspace technology found on the Ring (which we derive much of our knowledge of Slipspace and its functions from) has also been known to be able to teleport a person from one location to another one light-years away. The distance made by one of our normal Slipspace jumps can vary from as short as intrasystem jumps from planet to moon to as far as galactic voyages lasting months.
Quantum Drives can be installed on any Elysian ship capable of surviving the hazardous journey through Slipspace. FTL travel without the use of Slipspace shielding is strictly prohibited by Mandate, due to the possibility of complete ship destruction when exposed to particles travelling at relativistic speeds within the higher dimension. The humans have circumvented this by utilising Self-Filling Ablatives but we do consider it resource-consuming and inefficient when compared to our specialised shielding systems. The speed of Slipspace travel is measured in light-years per day, with the fixed base of 1 light-year per day referred to as Slip 1, 10 light-years per day as Slip 2, 100 light-years per day as Slip 3, so on and so forth. The maximum ever achieved by a starship-based Quantum Drive was one installed on the expeditionary vessel Diturna that reached Slip 5-2 (that is, 20000 light-years in a single day), a feat that has not been repeated by any other Elysian starship as of now. The majority of Infinitum starships today are capable of maxing out their Drives at Slip 4-5, though that would require a ridiculously large expenditure of energy.
Jump gates can also be constructed to link close-by systems together by means of a permanently open Slipspace wormhole which is kept open in the same manner which powers starship-based Drives. Frequently used by civilian vessels, these make the time taken for system-to-system travel nearly insignificant, and do not require the enormous amounts of energy required for a ship to make a jump of its own. The Circle has so far stopped short of imposing taxes on starships wishing to use the jump gates, citing reasons such as the potential drop in interstellar trade. Such jump gates also act as high-speed information relays which transmit data from system to system at far greater capacities than that of ship-based Slipspace transmissions.
Most recently, Tactical Quantum Drives have been developed by Elysian engineers inspired by similar devices installed on ships from other star-nations in the larger galactic community. They work in the same manner as the normal Drive, but instead only moves the involved starship an extremely minuscule distance in comparison, but a distance capable of allowing such ships to engage in surprise attacks against an enemy caught unaware. The only drawback of such a Drive is the colossal power usage it requires: though only around 10% of what a normal jump uses, it is extremely disproportionate when compared against the distance covered by a usual interstellar jump.
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Physiology
Similarities and Differences between an Elysian and a normal human
The colonists who were sent out across the stars were the cream of the crop of the original humanity: the brightest thinkers of that age. Those who founded the Domain were mostly scientists, philosophers, artists and musicians, thus their children possessed "better" genetic traits which were handed down from parent to child. It has also been observed that (for unknown reasons) genetic evolution takes place at an accelerated rate within the Elysia system. Therefore the modern Elysian has evolved into a slightly different species when compared to their human ancestors thousands of years ago.
Elysians have a slightly larger cranium and also denser neural matter, which allows for higher intelligence levels. Their facial features are also more sharply defined, with the eyes and lips usually looking like partial slits. The tip of the ear also tapers off to a sharper point, a characteristic some have likened to as "elf-like". Their muscles are much denser and stronger than normal humans, allowing for increased mobility and strength. Most Elysians are also capable of minor telekinesis, and some have also developed slight telepathy in the most basic forms. But the overall appearance of an Elysian remains almost the same as a normal human being.
All the above being said, most of the genetic differences are not the results of the accelerated evolution which occurs in Elysia, but more because of eugenic policies and also genetic modification to the Elysian physique. Newborns who have been found to posses genetic defects or weaknesses are immediately modified to prevent the manifestation of their bad genes in future generations. Parents who protest against such modification instead have their children placed on the no-breeding list, which forbids them to have children of their own who may carry down the inherently "bad" traits which are present. There is currently widespread social resistance to these policies, but no one has so far submitted any official petition to have them struck off the Mandate.
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Military
Details of the Elysian Infinitum
Though the Elysians are highly skilled in the realm of starship combat, they do not forget the importance of being able to put up a decent fight on the ground. As such, investments into the development of infantry powered armour have paid off in the widespread adoption of ASCENT Combat Suits (for standard infantry forces) and AMBROSIA Special Operations Powered Armour (for elite troops). These two state-of-the-art suits have been developed upon for a few decades now, and numerous small changes have since allowed for both the man and machine to become an effectively lethal fighting force on the battlefield. Elysian access to ancient alien technology on the Ring is usually taken as the main reason why these two suits of armour are surprisingly powerful.
The greatest difference between the ASCENT and AMBROSIA powered armours is the presence of stronger full-body shields in the AMBROSIA, making it undoubtedly superior to the ASCENT. These shields are strong enough to deflect anything from barrages of bullets or even a single plasma arc, while maintaining the integrity of the stealth system which makes the user practically invisible. Though ASCENT suits also include cloaking devices, these fail easily under fire and can only be used for a limited period of time before the system needs to recharge again. Both suits also do have damage control systems which prevent their users from sustaining too much harm to their bodies by injecting Regulating Gel into wounded areas, which soon solidify to hold injured organs in place and to slow or stop blood loss. The implementation of HUDs into the visors of both suits has also allowed for greater user-weapon interaction, as they no longer need to peer down a scope or a barrel to line up their shots, but have the assistance of aiming reticules and zoomed-in scopes being projected directly onto the HUD. Because of these advantages in technology, every Elysian soldier (regardless of whether he/she is a Standard Trooper or an Elite Trooper) is a potentially lethal fighting force to be reckoned with in any conflict.
ASCENT Combat Suit
Original: http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh18 ... 1-Wide.jpg
AMBROSIA Special Operations Powered Armour
Original: http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh18 ... 50x360.jpg
The current infantry-issue military-grade weapon is the MC-HAX (Multiple Configurations and HAndling eXtensions) Tactical Rifle. It features the latest in Elysian weapons technology, with multiple firing modes (selective automatic/3-round burst/sniper/h4xx0r) and scope/silencer extensions which all can be activated at the touch of a button. The extreme versatility of this weapon makes it possible for every Elysian soldier to carry about an assault rifle (albeit with a slower rate of fire), battle rifle and sniper rifle at the same time, all combined into one firearm, with optional modules such as plasma arc/grenade launchers and HE-HVAT (High-Energy Hyper-Velocity Anti-Tank) extensions. As such, the load on specialised units of any squad (e.g. the sniper) is lessened and individual initiative is therefore given more room to develop. This Tactical Rifle also does not let up on pure stopping power: its in-built magnetic acceleration systems complement carbon-tungsten alloy rounds to provide incredible stopping power against both armoured and shielded opponents alike, with muzzle speeds of close to 10 times the speed of sound. Its relatively small size (with all extensions contracted/removed) and extremely solid titanium-carbon composite frame also ensures that troops are not required to lug heavy weapons onto the battlefield, thus promoting mobility. Recoil is also nearly negated by magnetic acceleration. Current opinion of most soldiers on this weapon is extremely positive.
MC-HAX Tactical Rifle
The most commonly issued sidearm is the RCPP (Rechargeable Plasma Pistol, commonly known as the "plasma pistol", "plasma sub-machinegun" or "lolplasma"), which uses two ionizing prongs to electrically charge the surrounding air into a plasma, before accelerating it using toroidal magnets at a certain target, maintaining the magnetic field to a maximum distance of 50 metres from the weapon to prevent blooming. This weapon runs on a rechargeable battery but is commonly used by infantry at closer ranges, for quick depletion of shields (due to its SMG-esque ROF, at close to 20 shots per second whereas the MC-HAX can only achieve a maximum of 7 on full automatic), or for a ridiculously scary mass blitzkrieg/last-minute banzai charge. Most Navy personnel also opt to use this less bulky weapon if in their Navy uniform and not in their Combat Suits.
RCPP (lolplasma)
Other weapons include Stationary Turrets (with both Plasma and Gauss variants), Plasma Arc Launchers (for infantry support/long-range bombardment/anti-vehicle purposes), Energy Scimitars (given to Elite troops for extreme close-quarters combat), Energy Shurikens (given to Standard Troops in place of a Scimitar, meant for throwing, explodes rather violently after being embedded in a target surface) and grenades (both fragmentation-shrapnel and plasma variants).
Elysian Infinitum Starships are also extremely powerful in their own right: in fact, the reason why there has been much insistence on excelling at ground combat is because there is usually an over-reliance on the effectiveness of orbital bombardment and also planetary capture. Typical weaponry on these ships include plasma accelerators, missiles, directed-energy weapons (also referred to as beamers) and railguns. Sectional shielding is also omnipresent on just about any ship. Pinpoint precision in jumping into the midst of a space battle also allows for ships to remain in battle-ready formations. Starships of below cruiser classification also have anti-gravity generators powerful enough to allow levitation within a planetary atmosphere.
Ranks within the Infantry Forces of the Infinitum of the Infinite Domain of Elysia
High Strategos (In command of the entire Infinitum, has a seat on the Circle of War)
Strategos (Has seat on Circle of War)
Deputy Strategos (Lowest combined rank within the Infinitum)
Brigadier
Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Spec-Op Officer
Spec-Op
Sergeant Major
Sergeant Minor
Private 1st Class
Private
Note: Though all infantry forces are expected to follow their superiors and respect the hierarchy of command, they are given a considerable amount of room in individual initiative, so much so that each and every soldier can more effectively use his freedom to the best of his abilities, especially in covert operations or sniper situations. The only requirement to this individual freedom is that the overarching objective of his mission is achieved.
Ranks within the Naval Forces of the Infinitum of the Infinite Domain of Elysia
High Strategos
Strategos
Deputy Strategos
Admiral
Fleetmaster
Shipmaster
Deputy Shipmaster
Commander
Lieutenant
Ensign 1st Class
Ensign 2nd Class
Ensign
Note: Naval Personnel usually have another rank within the Infantry Forces, and do have their own personal armour suits which they only don for combat situations. Otherwise a plain grey and gold naval uniform is worn. It must also be noted that individual initiative is less of a possibility within the theater of space, and it is usually left up to an Admiral or a Fleetmaster to command entire fleets or battlegroups. Smaller naval units such as task forces or single starships are usually only used for patrol/reconnaissance/other covert purposes, and are usually commanded by a single Shipmaster.
===THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION===
