Author Topic: Terra Invictus  (Read 3514 times)

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Offline Gyrfalcon (OP)

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Terra Invictus
« on: June 07, 2021, 07:30:54 AM »
Quote
I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
               -- attributed to Albert Einstein

Einstein was not far wrong in his vision. World War III was indeed fought with nuclear weapons. The origins of the conflict were lost along with so many records of the days before and after the brief, destructive conflict was waged.  What is known is that of the more than 8 billion people who lived, more than three quarters died in the conflict, or as a result of starvation, disease and internecine fighting over scarce resources that followed. To those who followed the old religions, it truly seemed to be the end of days.

The continents of North America, Europe and Asia were hardest hit, but South America, Africa and Australia were not spared the nuclear devastation.  Yet despite the widespread destruction, humanity survived. It looked like the survivors would continue their internecine squabbling, even during an apocalypse, but a new philosophy changed the world - and launched World War IV, also called the Unification War.

The new philosophy was led by a mysterious woman known only to history as the Midwife, Maria. She was charismatic, decisive, brilliant, and utterly ruthless. Her teachings spread like wildfire, and the Children of Gaia were the result.  Many joined the Children and became devout believers after listening to just one of her impassioned speeches, but not all were so easily convinced. Those who did not join freely were inducted against their will, and sprawling reeducation camps were common. Those who took up arms against the new faith were executed without mercy, and their families were slaughtered alongside them.

In the end, the world was united under one government and one faith. Once all were Children of Gaia, the focus shifted from conquest to rebuilding, and in the years that followed swords were beaten to plowshares. Maria passed of old age, and the First Disciples of the Midwife spread a philosophy of pastoral simplicity, with little reliance on the technology that had so fouled Gaia in the past and made the horrors of world war possible.

Calling for total pacifism, it preached living as one and in harmony with nature in a luddite agrarian lifestyle. Each was to follow their talents and desires, as long as they did not intrude on the rights of others.  While initially it was only an ideal that a few could achieve, as Earth was restored following the devastation, more and more could live in utopian luxury, their every desire (within limits) catered to.

Not everyone was or could be satisfied with this lifestyle. Those who could not accept the strictures, whether due to ambition, restlessness, dissatisfaction or physical or mental troubles were labeled Aberrants and were shunned and cast out to prosper or perish on their own.  As populations grew and therefore the number of outcasts as well, the Aberrants began to band together into their own societies on the fringes of Gaian communities, disturbing the tranquility and harmony of the Children.

Rather than force Children to abandon utopia to purge these Abarrants as was done in previous decades, the First Disciple of the time instead hit upon a solution - Aberrants would no longer become only outcasts, but would instead join a new society better suited to their nature - and this society would exist to serve the Children, providing for their needs and allowing greater luxury for the faithful.

As the population of Terra bloomed once more, the servitors were forced to become more and more industrialized to meet the needs of the far larger population of the Children that they supported.  Eventually they formed their own government, modeled on the Roman Republic. They became the Republic of Terra.  Divorcing themselves from their original roots, all those who were outcast or born into the Republic took Roman names.

In time, the two societies have more or less diverged.  While the Children of Gaia occupy the vast majority of the Earth, their lack of education, drive and industrialization keeps things more or less stable. Those who cannot accept the lifestyle naturally tend to join the Republic. The servitors meanwhile live in enclaves, cut off from the Children.  They have continued to provide for the Children of Gaia, though the sense of obligation drilled into their ancestors have long faded - most of the Republic resents the burden of caring for billions of lazy layabouts (as they see the Children), but acknowledges the sheer scale of the humanitarian disaster if they ceased doing so. Indolent and uneducated, the Children would descend into complete chaos if the Republic’s aid was cut off or limited.

As the Republic approached the level of technology that their ancestors before the Collapse once enjoyed, their eyes turned once more outward. Satellites were once more launched into orbit, and probes visited the planets and asteroid belt once more. More were sent out to explore the edges of the solar system and deep space.  These explorations were conducted for scientific research, as well as practical exploration with an eye towards long-term solutions for the eventual exhaustion of mineral resources on Terra.

It was a matter of luck more than anything that one of those deep space probes caught sight of the mysterious and long sought for Planet Nine. Choosing the name Minerva for it, long years passed as a probe was sent to directly observe the distant planet for the first time.

They discovered a super-Jovian planet, with a diameter slightly larger than Jupiter itself, but a crushing gravity of 5.1g in the outer reaches of the atmosphere. It was orbited by 18 moons, two of which were large enough to pass as small planetoids in the ninth and tenth orbits. While the ninth possessed traces of a hydrogen-helium atmosphere, peculiarities with the tenth drew the attention of the probe’s team.

As the probe drew near, excitement turned to shock and horror as the first scans and images were transmitted the long distance back to Terra.  The moon, dubbed Arachne, was covered in a mathematically precise grid of craters that covered it from pole to pole, whatever features it had possessed long pounded to ash and dust. In fact, strong traces of radioactivity still hung around the planet, and whatever atmosphere the planet had ever had was long lost.

In the midst of the devastation, angular shapes were found around one particularly tall and battered mountain.  Closer scans from orbit revealed what appeared to be structures, and the probe was risked to confirm the theory, dispatching its only survey drone to investigate. Entering the mountain, it encountered pockets of atmosphere poisoned with virulent mixtures of chemicals and acids, as well as radioactive remnants.  However, the structures were confirmed to have once been inhabited, and the alien city extended into the mountain.

The drone survived nearly a full week in the hellish environment under the mountain before expiring to the toxic and radioactive atmosphere, exploring the ruins. One of the last images it managed to transmit was the central chamber of the mountain, a massive open space centered around a strange pylon that seemed to break the rules of Euclidean geometry.

The findings of the probe’s mission was considered, studied, investigated and analyzed for months as debate raged in the Senate about the findings. Eventually, the following conclusions were made:

First, Minerva was not a natural part of the solar system. As was theorized, it was thrown clear of another nearby solar system millions of years ago, only to drift close enough to settle into a precarious and distant orbit around Sol.

Second, Arachne had once been home to a technologically advanced society, one that made use of materials that were unknown to humanity at this point.  The materials sampled by the probe had properties that defied Newtonian physics as they were currently understood, and had made it possible for the city, which had been built into and under a massive mountain to survive despite the horrific damage inflicted to the moon.

Third, that the Arachnians had been the victims of a deliberate genocide of multiple steps.  The first step were the weapon damage found within the city, clear signs of short range combat with directed energy and kinetic weapons. The second was the excessive bombardment using enhanced yield atomics to leave as much long-lasting radioactive fallout as possible. The third was that there were clear signs that the atmosphere of the moon had been deliberately poisoned with many types of toxic gas.

Whether the Arachnians had fought among themselves or been attacked by a third party, the aggressors had gone to absurd lengths to ensure that any survivors of the attack would die of radiation or the toxic slurry the atmosphere had become.

The resolutions from this discovery were simple, but would profoundly change the Republic’s destiny.

First, none of this would be leaked back to the Children. Their First Disciple was considered a particularly ignorant and capricious figure, even in light of his predecessor, who had been forced to ‘retire’ after he had attempted to order the Republic to end all space activity because he found the artificial satellites disruptive to his stargazing.

Second, all research efforts would turn towards analyzing these Trans-Newtonian materials and determining if there was any way to find, synthesize or make use of them.

Third, the space program would turn its efforts towards three goals - exploring the Sol system, establishing colonies on Luna, Mars and beyond, and preparing for the possibilities of hostile alien species.

Fourth, military forces would be raised to defend humanity - while the fate of the Arachnians was millions of years old, it was also proof positive that alien races existed, and that at least one of them was or had been genocidal. A pacifistic society such as the Children would be wheat before the scythe in the face of such a species, and the Republic’s duty to humanity was to ensure that the species would survive and prosper. To do so, the Republic would need the strength to defend themselves and the Children from whatever they faced.
 
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Offline Gyrfalcon (OP)

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Part 1 - 367-369
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2021, 04:06:18 AM »
The Government of the New Roman Republic

The Republic is led by a House of Tribes and the Senate, with executive authority held by the Consul and Co-Consul.

The House of Tribes represents the average citizens of the Republic. Each Tribe arranges and handles the necessary government functions for one million citizens, the area arranged by an independent commission utilizing computer mapping to keep the tribal districts as compact and square as possible. One candidate is elected from the Tribal government to the House to advocate for the needs of their constituents.

The Senate consists of 100 members, its members are made up of the political parties of the Republic. Based on the results of the popular vote, each party controls a number of seats equaling their popular support.

The Consul and Co-Consul are elected from the two largest parties. The government is usually formed by those two parties and any others needed to assure a majority in the senate, though there have been times where the Consul ruled with an alliance of smaller parties, cutting out the Co-Consul’s party. As both Consuls possess the power to veto a bill unless overruled by a two thirds majority, these minority governments were often ineffective.

After the revelations of Arachne, the government went through an election cycle as many splinter parties merged together, new parties formed and existant parties reshaped themselves. The six parties are:

The Boni, representing the traditionalists and status quo in the senate.
The Pius, the most fervent worshippers of Gaia. They demand that control of the Republic be given over to the First Disciple, total disarmament and the end of scientific research and exploration of space.
The Populares, representing the people. Their focus is industrial growth and expansion.
The Quaesitor, pushing for exploring the scientific possibilities of Trans-Newtonian technology and exploration of the solar system.
The Optimates, who believe that a strong central government is needed and that the Republic should take control of the Children for the good of humanity.
The Tutela, who are concerned with the expansion of the military and the defense of the human race.

Of the parties, the Pius are seen as a fringe party, their goals completely at odds with every other party. They have always been a party in opposition to the government, and have never served as part of a ruling coalition.

The Tutela are a newly formed party with a mix of new members and former members of the Optimates and the Populares. With what is currently known of Arachne, it is clear that intelligent and advanced life has existed in the universe, and that life has taken part in space-based warfare. Safeguarding humanity and Terra from suffering the same fate is their primary goal.

The Quaesitor were a small party, an offshoot of the Populares. However with the amazing potential of Trans-Newtonian technology, they have been catapulted to the largest party in the Senate by a wide majority based on their platform of researching and exploiting this new area of science.

The Boni, Populares and Optimates are all long-standing parties, representing driving interests in the status quo, improving the lot of the average citizen, and the ambitions of the state respectively.

January 1, 367 AF (After Founding)

After the discovery of Minerva and its moon Arachne the previous year, it was with a bit of surprise that Galerius Urgulanius Lucullus of the Quaesitors took his place as the Consul of the Republic, with Sextus Flavius Clement of the Populares as his Co-Consul.

The results of the election places the Quaesitors as the largest party with 32 seats, followed by the Populares with 20. The Pius had grown significantly to 14 seats, followed closely by the new Tutela with 13.  The Optimates and Boni were hard-stung by the new order of things, trailing at 11 and 10 seats respectively.

While in the normal order of things a government composed of the Quaesitors, Populares and Pius would have formed a stable government with the votes needed to pass their agenda on a 2/3rds majority, the strident demands by the Pius that the Republic turn inward instead of look outward meant that Galerius and Sextus had instead looked to the new Tutela. Not enough on their own to secure the two-thirds majority, they managed to convince two of the Optimates to join their party until the next elections - a task that proved easy as the founding of a standing army would do much to strengthen the Republic’s position in regards to the teeming multitudes of the Children of Gaia in the Optimates eyes.

The first order of business was authorizing the founding of the Armed Forces of the Republic, consisting of the Fleet and the Legions. The vote went as expected - 86 to 14.

The Legion was initially authorized to raise one Legion of forces with two units of auxiliaries. Two scientists had volunteered their expertise in matters relating to ground combat, Galerius Galenus Pompolussa and Spurius Calatorius Fimus. They were equally matched, rated at 10% more effective in their chosen field and capable of coordinating up to 10 labs - though it was unlikely they would have that kind of resources available any time soon.

The Quaesitors next order of business was allocating research effort towards investigating Trans-Newtonian technology. While the Republic lacked a dedicated scientist in the field of Construction / Production, an adventurous Biologist by the name of Galerius Lusius Crispus volunteered to switch his specialty. He would only be 101% effective in the field, but hoped to grow his expertise in a field that looked to be critical in the coming years.

After the lobbying was finished, the Republic’s science efforts were laid out:

9 labs researching Trans-Newtonian Theory under Galerius Lusius Crispus, slated to be done around September 1, 369
1 lab researching TN-Assisted Construction Equipment under Gaerius Galenus Pompolussa, slated to be done late 384.
1 lab researching Conventional Composite Armor under Spurius Manlius Trailus, done in November of 367
1 lab researching equipment for the legions under Spurius Calatorius Fimus, slated to take roughly two and a half years

Vibius Secundinius Ventor, an avid science fiction buff was confirmed as Rear Admiral and leader of the Roman Republic Navy - though the position was mostly ceremonial, as the Republic had no idea how a space navy could be achieved with their current technology.

Appius Septimus Florus was confirmed as the first Dux of the Legions, and Legate Appius Papirius Nelius was assigned as Commandant of the Campus Martius, the Republic’s first military college.

Finally, the government’s construction efforts for the next few years were determined - an expansion in the military factories, financial centers to grow the economy, a new research facility, and expansion to the space industry to support the next missions into space.

The Navy commissioned a team to begin Project TRIBAL, a manned survey craft capable of reaching and returning from Minerva. Estimated to be a trip of 25.7b km one way, the resulting design was disappointing:

Code: [Select]
Tribal class Survey Craft (P)      6,252 tons       60 Crew       131.2 BP       TCS 125    TH 38    EM 0
299 km/s      Armour 1-30       Shields 0-0       HTK 25      Sensors 5/5/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 13    Max Repair 20 MSP
Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 1   
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Quatruus Marine Commercial Conventional Engine  EP12.5 (3)    Power 37.5    Fuel Use 11.18%    Signature 12.5    Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 51.3 billion km (1987 days at full power)

RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5.0     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
RR/SAD-2 Electromagnetic Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5.0     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

The design would be expected to take 995 days to reach Minerva, where its crew could take a shuttle to the ground. However, it was incapable of carrying large amounts of equipment with it, or extra personnel dedicated to the work on the ground.

The design was shelved for the moment, to be revisited once the possibilities presented by Trans-Newtonian technology could be explored.

March 17, 367
The first graduate of the Campus Martius programs joined the Legions. Vibius Milonius Reginus joined with strong marks indicating aptitude in archeology work that may translate to the ruins found on Arachne.

May 15, 367
Galerius Galenus Pompolussa increased his research effectiveness to 115%, shortening the timeframe needed to create new rapid construction equipment.

November 18, 367
Research was completed into the formation of the infantry Cohort and the necessary equipment and training needed for its Centurions. Research begins on the supplies needed for a combat unit.

November 23, 367
Research is completed into Conventional Composite Armor. Research begins on Conventional Advanced Composite Armor, scheduled to be completed in March of 369.

As a result of the new armor technology, plans are revised for the gear for the Legionnaires already in queue to be designed.

February 16, 368
The ancillary gear for the legions is designed, and work begins on the equipment and training needed for a legionnaire.

April 21, 368
The AR-1 is approved for service. A simple design, it is heavily influenced by the ancient AK-47 of the pre-Collapse society, examples of which could still be found in working order during archeology expeditions.

Work begins on a larger, crew-served machine gun to serve as a squad support weapon.

July 30, 368
Work is completed on SSW-2, a light machine gun. Work begins on an anti-vehicle weapon.

October 24, 358
Gnaeus Vagionius Faustus is the first naval graduate of the Campus Martius. The Navy has been bleeding officers over the last two years due to a series of deadly accidents in their daily lives, and a new member is well received.

November 23, 368
The TOW-3 anti-tank missile is developed. It is designed to be effective against heavily armored vehicles, though its capabilities are largely theoretical as it can only be tested against up-armored dummy vehicles.

Work begins on a man-portable mortar.

March 7, 369
Spurious Manlius Trailus, busy with Conventional AdvancedComposite Armor increases his administrative abilities further. He could now comfortably coordinate 39 labs, more then three times the amount available to the Republic.

In other news, one of the current administration’s ambitions is achieved as maintenance facilities are completed for up to 10,000 tons of space ships. The resources freed up are directed towards the commercial shipyard complex and the ground force construction complex.

March 29, 369
Trailus completes his research into Conventional Advanced Composite Armor. Unfortunately, he has reached the limits of Newtonian materials.

Publius Curius Servatius, a biologist, successfully petitions the Senate to allocate the research facility to his project mapping the human genome and the comparison of its differences from pre-Collapse data available. The project is expected to be completed in early 383.

The Vectura IFV receives a new (and hopefully last) revision to incorporate the better armor technology.

April 3, 369
The MPM-4 (Man Portable Mortar) is completed, and Fimus’ science team begins working on the last component of the proposed Legion cohort, the Vectura Infantry Fighting Vehicle Mk III.

September 6, 369
Galerius Luscius Crispus goes into history as the father of Trans-Newtonian physics. The work of his teams over the last two and a half years has borne fruit, and humanity will never be the same.

Roman Republic Statistics - September 369
Population: 512.58m (+12.58m)
Annual Growth Rate: 0.91%
Manufacturing Sector: 74.8m employed, 53.35m available, 128.14m total.

Research Facilities: 12
Ground Force Construction Complex: 1
Conventional Industry: 1,200
Maintenance Facility: 10 (+10)
Financial Center: 6 (+6)
Deep Space Tracking Station: 1
Military Academy: 1
Naval Headquarters: 1
Spaceport: 1

Fuel Available: 7,404,740t
Maintenance Supplies: 1,361
 
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Offline Gyrfalcon (OP)

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Part 2 - 369-372
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2021, 06:38:31 AM »
Quote
Excerpt from the introductory lecture to Trans-Dimensional Physics 101

“...what is the Aether you ask? It surrounds us and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together… no, wait, that is the Force.” Galerius Luscius Crispus laughed, and the auditorium full of students politely laugh with him.

“My poor joke aside, the Aether does surround and penetrate us - at its simplest, the Aether is our name for a dimension that is similar to our own and coexists in close proximity. Our dimensions share many of the same rules, but also have many critical differences. One of the most obvious is that the Aether is not a Newtonian universe, and laws that are absolute here do not apply there.”

“In practical regards, this has the potential to open up practical mass space travel to us within our lifetimes. A ship traveling within an Aether bubble will be many times faster and infinitely more agile than one relying on conventional technology.”

Galerius paused to take a sip from his glass of water.

“The key to TN technology are eleven minerals that are present in the Aether, but not our dimension. We’ll cover those materials in depth in a later lecture, but what is important is that the gravity well of a planet - like Terra - serves to attract those minerals. This allows opening rifts into the Aether and extracting those minerals to our reality, where we can refine and process them to useful purposes. We are fortunate that all eleven that were first discovered used in the alien ruins on Arachne are also present on Terra itself.”

“Now we’ll take a look at the enabling equations that allow us to open stable rifts to the Aether. If you open your books to page 27…”

September 6, 369

The new possibilities provided by TN technology forces the Senate to overhaul its plans for the next few years. The first order of business is reordering construction priorities.

Present tasks are given just 10% of the capacity available, except for the Research facility, which remains at 20%. The remaining 50% is put towards beginning to upgrade the Republic’s industrial base to use the new technology. It is believed that upgrading the industrial base fully would increase productivity almost 250%, something that appeals to the Populares in the Senate.

The scientists have a dizzying array of avenues to pursue in Trans-Newtonian research, but there is a problem - the scientific base is limited in their areas of skill. Critically, there are no specialists at all in the critical fields of Energy Fields, Logistics, Power and Propulsion and Sensors and Control Systems.

The solution for the moment is that Galerius Luscius Crispus will be made Commandant of the Campus Martius, to identify potential lead scientists among the STEM classes there.

The Quaesitors in the Senate push to build systems that would allow project TRIBAL to produce a survey vessel, based on Dr. Crispus’ assertion that properly tuned sensors should be able to detect concentrations of TN minerals from orbit.

The Navy proposes that before construction of a vessel (already dependent on the shipyards being finished first) is possible, gravity and geological sensor technology would be needed, along with first generation TN engine technology. Dr. Trailus believes that a hull composed of Duranium would also provide significant weight savings to the design and would be easy to design, so his requirement is added to the proposal.

Dr. Servatius is pulled off his Genome Sequence research and retasked to research the sensor technology, while Dr. Quietus begins working on the engine technology and Dr. Trailus researches creating a hull composed of Duranium.

Research Projects:
Active Grav Sensor Strength 10 - Publius Curius Servatius - 1.2x, 4 labs - done September 370
TN Construction Equipment - Galerius Galenus Pompolussa - 1.6x, 3 labs, done January 374
Pressurised Water Reactor - Manius Volumnius Quietus - 1.2x, 3 labs, done in July 370
Duranium Armor - Spurious Manlius Trailus - 1.4x, 1 lab, done in June 371
Vectura IFV Mk III - Spurious Calatorius Fimus, 1.4x, 1 lab, done in December 369

December 4, 369
The Vectura IFV Mk III is complete, and the design for the Infantry Cohort is finalized.

Code: [Select]
Legion Cohort
Transport Size: 5,746 tons
Build Cost: 168.9 BP
6x Centurion
420x Legionnaire '67
24x Legionnaire '67 (CAP)
18x Legionnaire '67 (LAV)
18x Legionnaire '67 (LB)
60x Vectura IFV Mk III
37x Cohort Combat Supplies

480 legionnaires divided into six centuries of 80. Each century is divided into ten contubernium of 8 legionnaires, with one carrying a heavy support weapon, and the others helping share the load of ammunition and equipment to support it. Each contubernium is carried into battle by a light autocannon-equipped Vectura IFV, which carries supplies to allow the Cohort to operate independently for more than a week of constant fighting.

The first Cohort begins training immediately, while research begins on the command equipment needed to organize five cohorts.

May 28, 370
The Republic’s first graduate from the leadership program for scientists is Oppius Volusenus Catullus, with an admin rating of 20 and research bonus of 20%, he would be a prime candidate… if he wasn’t their third Ground Combat specialist.

Nonetheless, he is selected to replace Spurius Calatorius Fimus as the Republic’s ground forces weapons and equipment designer.

July 7, 370
Research of a Sorium-fueled Pressurised Water Reactor is completed successfully, and work begins on adapting that technology to produce Nuclear Thermal Engine technology, slated to be completed in late 371.

September 8, 370
The first Legion Cohort is commissioned today, and Senior Centurion Spurius Talmudius Musa has the honor of being the first commanding officer in the Legions.

September 23, 370
Research is completed on both Active Grav Sensor technology and mobile supply formations for the Legion, necessary for the Vexillatio project. Work begins on geological survey sensors and the Vexillatio command post.

June 21, 371
Research is completed on Duranium armor - as expected, it is a massive boon to Project TRIBAL - updating the hull material used in the design trims 1,500t of weight from the ship with no other changes.

This also presents a challenge for the Legions - the Centurion equipment was designed before any technology improvements and updating their equipment to use Duranium would quadruple their protection. The same goes for the Legionnaire equipment, which would be doubled.

Ultimately the decision is made to hold off on refreshing the technology, as there are plans to produce new weapons based on TN technology, and there are no threats present at the moment.

Dr. Trailus begins working on an innovative project to energize the inner surface of the warp bubble used to enter the Aether. He believes that it would be possible to create a shield of sorts that would protect the ship from damage.  He begins research, though it will be years before his work will bear any fruit.

August 15, 371
The challenge of his new work has spurred Dr. Trailus to several innovative new techniques, improving his research bonus to 15%.

October 9, 371
Work is completed on the technology for Geological Survey Sensors, and Dr. Servatius’ teams begin creating working designs for Project TRIBAL of the necessary sensor technologies.

December 1, 371
Dr. Quietus has completed research into Nuclear Thermal Engine technology. Based on the requirements for Project TRIBAL and the disruptive effect of the Geosurvey Sensor built into the design, they begin work on a military-grade engine, far more compact and powerful then the civilian-grade engine it was originally designed with.

While work is underway on the sensors and engines of the vessel, the updated specification for Project TRIBAL is far different then its first incarnation.

Code: [Select]
Tribal class Survey Craft (P)      1,877 tons       36 Crew       232.6 BP       TCS 38    TH 50    EM 0
1331 km/s      Armour 1-13       Shields 0-0       HTK 22      Sensors 5/5/0/1      DCR 1      PPV 0
Maint Life 7.46 Years     MSP 202    AFR 28%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 6    5YR 96    Max Repair 100 MSP
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Morale Check Required   

Hilario-Priscillianus Marine NTE-50 (1)    Power 50.0    Fuel Use 100%    Signature 50.00    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 600,000 Litres    Range 57.5 billion km (500 days at full power)

RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100
RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
RR/SAD-2 Electromagnetic Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes

January 1, 372
Over the past five years, the coalition government of the Quaesitors, Populares and Tutela have worked hard to roll out Trans Newtonian technology, the army initiative, and prepare for space flight. In the last months, their efforts have been judged in the polls as the political parties campaigned and jockeyed for position.

Now the results of the election were confirmed.

The Boni lost two seats, from 10 to 8
The Pius gained a stunning 6 seats, from 14 to 20
The Populares lost 3 seats, from 20 to 17
The Quaesitors remained the largest party, but went from 32 to 29 seats.
The Optimates gained one seat, taking them to 12.
The Tutela gained one seat as well, taking them to 14.

The losses to the Pius could be traced to dissatisfaction with the unemployment level. The Pius campaigned on creating more jobs, and unease with the break with tradition that was establishing a military. The new jobs that the Quaesitors and Populares had promised were slow in coming, and the Pius hammered hard on that during the election.

This meant that the Consul remained Galerius Urgalanius Lucullus, while the Co-Consul became Timerius Didius Crassus, a noted and bitter foe of the government of the past five years.

To Consul Lucullus, a government with the Pius was unthinkable, but it meant that any government formed would have to include four parties instead of three, straining the government’s stability.

That the Quaesitors, Populares and Tutela would continue working together was not the issue, but the question was whether to approach the Boni or the Optimates.

The Boni were quite uncomfortable with the rapid changes taking place in the Republic, and would require that the programs in place be heavily curtailed, particularly the plans for the Legions.

The Optimates on the other hand were perhaps easier to appease. They are fully in favor of the current economic policies, but will demand that the Legion mandate be expanded to four, and that more priority be given to constructing a second GFCC.

In the end, the coalition with the Optimates was formed, and the government plans proceed as usual, except with a more tedious step as Co-Consul Crassus vetoes each proposal and the senate majority votes to override his veto.

Party Goals:
Quaesitors - Construct the first scientific spacecraft and begin exploring the Sol system
Populares - Continue the conversion of industry to TN standards and lower unemployment
Tutela - Construct the first military spacecraft, expand the Legions
Optimates - Expand the Legions significantly and increase ground force training capability.

Roman Republic Statistics - January 372
Population: 523.29m (+10.71m)
Annual Growth Rate: 0.88%
Manufacturing Sector: 74.9m employed, 55.92m available, 130.82m total

Research Facilities: 12
GFCC: 1
Conventional Industry: 1120 (-80)
Construction Factories: 16 (+16)
Fighter Factories: 16 (+16)
Mine: 16 (+16)
Fuel Refinery: 16 (+16)
Maintenance Facility: 10 (-)
Financial Centers: 24 (+18)
DSTS: 1 (-)
Military Academy: 1 (-)
Naval Headquarters: 1 (-)
Spaceport: 1 (-)

Fuel Available: 14,374,328
Maintenance Supplies: 3,494

Legions:
1,212 legionnaires in service

Legion Cohort I
Legion Cohort II
 
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Part 3 - 372-374
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2021, 07:21:46 AM »
Timerius Didius Crassus threw himself into his chair behind the wide desk in his new office with more force than was strictly necessary, but the disaster that was the last week in general and the last day in particular stoked his frustrations to a fever pitch.

The gains the Pius had made during the election were a clear remit that the people were with them. For the first time in its history, the party had elected one of its own to a Consulship! But the Apostates (as the Pius termed the seculars that rejected Gaia) had rejected his offered hand in negotiation. They scorned his lectures on the clear dangers their reckless rush headlong into uncharted waters brought to them all. The purpose of their society was to serve the Children humbly, to redeem themselves of their sins, and to labor that they be reborn as Children of Gaia anew!

Until his election, he had not known the sheer scale of the Romans' rejection of the ways of the righteous. The plans to raise a military force had been presented as theoretical, but in the past years they had begun to break the precept of pacifism with wild abandon. And now the thrice-cursed Optimates sought to compound the sin, the price of their votes to quadruple the number of Legions raised.

To add to the disaster, Crassus himself had entered the history books already as having given the most vetos in one term, and it was but his first day. He also held the record on the most vetos overruled - 57 in all.  His face burned with anger and humiliation as he recalled some of his colleagues laughing as they once again flouted his authority.

As he stewed in his frustration, he swept his eyes across the austere chamber that was his new office. He had few decorations, but one that stood out was the symbol of the children - two hands cupping a stylized depiction of Gaia in browns and greens.  The Children… of course.

Timerius straightened as he realized what must be done. One of the first laws reaffirmed in the first session was that contact with the Children about the Romans’ advances was to be curtailed, but he had his own channels to reach out to them without suspicion. The Pius were the first to volunteer with outreach duty with the Children, serving humbly at the community centers across the world where they listened to the needs of the Children and arranged that they received what they wanted as quickly and efficiently as possible.

With a steady hand, Timerius tapped the communication terminal and arranged to meet with Adept Abel Jakobson at the Adapt’s earliest convenience, to discuss matters of the Republic’s service to the Children.

If the Republic’s leaders sought to lead its people into sin, it was the duty of the faithful to turn that path aside for the good of all.

February 19, 372
The research bonus of Dr. Publius Curius Servatius increases to 25%. He is currently busy creating working examples of the sensors to be used in Project TRIBAL.

March 5, 372
Research is completed on the RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor, and work begins on the RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor. Once work on the sensor is done, Dr. Servatius can be retasked to other work.

May 1, 372
All sensor technology is completed for Project TRIBAL. The four labs under Dr. Servatius are retasked. The current state of research is as follows:

TN Construction Equipment - 4 labs - August 373
Hilario-Priscillanus Marine NTE-50 - 3 labs - May 372
Vexillatio Command Post - 2 labs - September 372
Genome Sequence Research - 1 lab - June 384
Troop Transport Bay - Standard - 1 lab - August 386
Alpha Shields - 1 lab - August 374

May 27, 372
A new scientist joins the Republic’s R&D establishment. Servius Herminius Marinus is a Logistics expert and can control up to 20 labs, but provides no research bonus to his work yet.

June 1, 372
Dr. Pompolussa increases his research bonus to 25%. Meanwhile, Dr. Quietus completes the engine for Project TRIBAL, and begins work on the first Trans-Newtonian weapon - a 10cm railgun.

September 18, 372
The command and control equipment needed for the Vexillatio Command Post are complete, allowing for the creation of the Vexillatio formation.

Code: [Select]
Legion Vexillatio
Transport Size: 5,958 tons
Build Cost: 259.9 BP
1x Vexillatio Command Post
93x Legion Combat Supplies

The unit is nothing more than the command necessary for its component cohorts and supplies to support them.

Work begins on a larger headquarters to command an entire Legion, scheduled to be complete in May of 375.

November 16, 372
The construction of Financial Centers that began before the advent of TN technology is completed. The resources from the project are directed towards the construction of the second GFCC.

December 31, 372
Closing out the year, Dr. Lucius Sergius Typhoeus joins, a Missiles / Kinetic Weapons expert with 20% research bonus and capable of organizing 20 labs. While his proposals in the area of Gauss Cannons are interesting, there are simply no resources available at the moment to pursue them.

March 14, 373
Dr. Galerius Duccius Minianus joins the Republic. Another Missile / Kinetic Weapons expert, his specialization and research bonus of 10% makes it unlikely that he will lead projects of his own.

May 3, 373
Research is completed on the 10cm railgun. While its companion research is still underway, the technology has direct applications to weapons and armor. The Optimates push for the creation of a main battle tank utilizing the new technology and for work to begin on Auxilia units to match the first legion. The fact that the legion is not even half formed only dampens their enthusiasm slightly.

May 8, 373
The long-running research into TN Construction equipment is completed. The Munitor Construction Vehicle is designed and work begins on turning that design into reality.

September 15, 373
The Munitor Construction Vehicle is completed, and work begins on a mobile command vehicle and a main battle tank design.

October 20, 373
The first part of the conversion project started years ago is complete, with 30 small craft factories providing as much output as the whole pre TN industrial base.  The Populares win the debate on what to do with the freed up industrial output, putting it back into converting newtonian industry to Construction Factories under the point that increasing the production base will speed all the projects along faster.

January 19, 374
Research is completed on the Praetorium Mobile Command Vehicle, intended to serve as a front line command vehicle for mobile cohorts.

The Architecti Cohort is the first planned type of Auxilia, intended to bolster its attached Legion.

Code: [Select]
Architecti Cohort
Transport Size: 5,784 tons
Build Cost: 241 BP
18x Munitor Construction Vehicle
1x Praetorium Mobile Command Vehicle

Work begins on a Main Battle Tank design.

April 8th, 374
Research is completed on the complete workings of a railgun, enabling prototypes to launch four rounds every five seconds, at a velocity of 10,000m/s.

April 13th, 374
Researchers complete the prototype of the Essedum Main Battle Tank. Equipped with a smoothbore railgun and a coaxial machinegun and armored in Duranium, it is an advance over any tank that the Ancients manufactured.

Code: [Select]
Ala Cohort
Transport Size: 5,716 tons
Build Cost: 469.3 BP
6x Praetorium Mobile Command Vehicle
78x Essedum MBT
52x Cohort Combat Supplies

The cavalry Ala cohort is made up of six 13-tank Centuries, with the Centurions commanding from Praetorium Command Vehicles. Equipped with a coaxial machine gun and a false weapon barrel, the design externally resembles the Essedum, while the turret is mostly filled with the command and control equipment needed to coordinate a Century and the Cohort as a whole.

July 17, 374
The Laenas Kinetics 10cm Railgun prototype is complete. Dr. Quietus takes his team and begins work on a larger 12cm model.

July 27, 374
Work is completed on the design for the Scorpio Field Artillery, a medium static artillery piece. A Cohort consists of six Centuries of these weapons, and each Century contains 16 artillery pieces.

Code: [Select]
Artillery Cohort
Transport Size: 5,992 tons
Build Cost: 284.5 BP
6x Praetorium Mobile Command Vehicle
96x Scorpio Field Artillery
64x Cohort Combat Supplies


At the same time, work is completed on the RR/SPG-4 20/1250 Fire Control System. Very quietly, the Navy has been working on a design for an armed space vessel based on the possibilities Trans-Newtonian technology offered. They had so far managed to keep the project from the Co-Consul’s attention, and the goal was to keep it that way.

Project VICTORY called for a 2,000t vessel, lightly armored, armed with railguns and with a higher speed then Project TRIBAL has.

Code: [Select]
Victory class Sloop (P)      1,990 tons       63 Crew       152.9 BP       TCS 40    TH 63    EM 0
1570 km/s      Armour 2-14       Shields 0-0       HTK 16      Sensors 5/5/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 9
Maint Life 6.42 Years     MSP 72    AFR 21%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 3    5YR 45    Max Repair 31.25 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Morale Check Required   

Hilario-Priscillanus Marine  NTE-62.5 (1)    Power 62.5    Fuel Use 89.44%    Signature 62.50    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 10.1 billion km (74 days at full power)

Laenas Kinetics 10cm Railgun V10/C1 (3x4)    Range 10,000km     TS: 1,570 km/s     Power 3-1     RM 10,000 km    ROF 15       
RR/SPG-4 20/1250 Fire Control System (1)     Max Range: 20,000 km   TS: 1,250 km/s     16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Orissus Drive Systems Pressurised Water Reactor R3 (1)     Total Power Output 3.1    Exp 5%

RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100
RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
RR/SAD-2 Electromagnetic Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a c for auto-assignment purposes

The initial design fit the design requirements, clocking in just under the size cut off, with a layer of Duranium armor over the hull, a larger engine and three 10cm railguns powered by a small pressurised water reactor. The tradeoff is a much shorter range as the design is not intended to make a round trip to Arachne, and a much shorter operational duration.

Roman Republic Statistics - July 374
Population: 534.80m (+11.51m)
Annual Growth Rate: 0.84%
Manufacturing Sector: 75m employed, 58.7m available, 133.7m total

Research Facilities: 12 (-)
GFCC: 1 (-)
Conventional Industry: 1,020 (-100)
Construction Factory: 42 (+26)
Fighter Factories: 30 (+16)
Mine: 36 (+20)
Fuel Refiner: 36 (+20)
Maintenance Facility: 10 (-)
Financial Center: 46 (+22)
DSTS: 1 (-)
Military Academy: 1 (-)
Naval Headquarters: 1 (-)
Spaceport: 1 (-)

Fuel Reserves: 23.7m liters
Maintenance Reserves: 5,859t

Legions:
3,636 legionnaires in service

Legion Cohort I
Legion Cohort II
Legion Cohort III
Legion Cohort IV
Legion Cohort V
Legion Cohort VI
 
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Part 4 - 374-376
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2021, 02:56:06 AM »
Formation of the Army
After hundreds of years of worldwide peace and pacifism, the Republic had absolutely no native military traditions. Even law enforcement was only a minor part of society and largely armed with only non-lethal and defensive weapons. Therefore, the Armed Forces Committee had to reach back in history for a source of inspiration for the formation and naming of the Republic’s nascent Army.

It was perhaps completely unsurprising that their choice was the Legions of the Roman Empire, which had been considered one of the finest fighting forces of the ancient times and had thematic links to the older Roman Republic, the source of inspiration for the modern incarnation.  What they discovered was that up to a certain point, the Legion doctrine meshed well with more modern tactical doctrines that were also considered, lacking mostly a certain degree of flexibility once formations became larger - for example, a classic Legion had no formal subdivision between the company-sized Cohort and the brigade-sized Legion. On a modern battlefield, it was assumed that it would be common that Cohorts would be spread out and would need to be able to organize at a smaller level then the full Legion.

At the most basic level was the Contubernium, an 8 man unit consisting of a Decurion in command, supported by an Optio as the senior enlisted, and 6 regular enlisted. Tactically, the unit could split into two 4-man elements as needed, led by either the Decurion or the Optio.  The Contubernium is armed with seven personal infantry weapons, and one squad support weapon such as a machine gun, mortar or anti-tank weapon. Extra ammunition for this weapon would be carried by the unit as a whole.

Ten Conteburniums form a Century, commanded by a Centurion. Each Century would also be assigned ten Vectura Infantry Fighting Vehicles. The Vectura IFV is a light vehicle equipped with a light autocannon as a compromise between different designs with dedicated anti-vehicle and anti-infantry weapons and could carry a Contubernium and their associated equipment.

Six Centuries form a Cohort, commanded by the Primi Ordines, or more commonly referred to as the Senior Centurion, the longest-serving Centurion in the Cohort.  The Cohort would also handle supplies for its associated Centuries. While each Contubernium would be expected to carry enough food, water and ammunition to sustain three days of active combat, the Cohort would have enough supplies on hand to supply them three times over - giving a total active combat time of 12 days before supplies would be exhausted.

Five Cohorts form a Vexillatio, commanded by a Tribune.  Also called a Demi-Legion, the Vexillatio would likewise manage the supply train for the Cohorts under its command, providing another nine days of supplies - enough for 21 days at this point.

A legion is composed of two infantry Vexillationes and up to two auxiliary Vexillationes, once again managing another reserve of supplies.

Two to four Legions form a Corps, commanded by a Dux.

Two to four Corps form an Army, commanded by a Magister Militarium, or simply Magister.

Finally, a General can be appointed as the final authority of the army before the Senate.

Of course, much of this was highly theoretical to start with. After converting what industry was suitable, the Republic only had enough factories and facilities to train and outfit a single Cohort at a time. Even after years of work, that capacity has only been doubled. Likewise, all of the officer candidates originally only had only a theoretical knowledge of their duties - for the first years, the Army’s officer corp consisted of talented amateurs while fully trained officers worked their way up the chain of command while earning practical experience.

August 6, 374
Dr. Titus Herennius Urbicus joins the Roman Republic’s R&D department. A long-awaited expert in Power and Propulsion, he begins working on boosting the potential of engines and reactors beyond their current limits.

August 16, 374
Dr. Trailus completes the first half of his research into energy shielding, managing to create a sustained energy field on the inside of the warp bubble of a probe in the Aether. However, that field still needs to be capable of being reinforced, and work begins on solving that issue.

October 7, 374
The design for the Legion Headquarters is completed, allowing the last elements of the Legion to be designed.

Code: [Select]
Legion
Transport Size: 5,966 tons
Build Cost: 372.6 BP
1x Legion Headquarters
92x Legion Combat Supplies

Supply Cohort
Transport Size: 5,952 tons
Build Cost: 238.1 BP
96x Legion Combat Supplies

The Legion command post can command up to 180,000t of troops - 36kt more than a full legion with attached auxilia would need. In temporary cases, a fifth Vexillatio could be attached, though senior Legion officers believe that they will make use of that capacity to attach Supply and Architecti cohorts to the legion command, with their services filtering down to the combat cohorts themselves.

Work begins on updating older equipment designs to take advantage of the advances offered by TN materials.

December 31, 374
Dr Tiberius Lusius Mercurialis joins the research effort., a Construction/Produiction specialist, the Quaesitors immediately jump on having him research improvements to research efficiency.

March 6, 375
A new research facility opens its doors, the first expansion of the Republic’s capabilities in the modern era. The event is marked by celebrations by many as the facilities require a huge amount of supporting infrastructure, and a million new jobs are now available.

There is a small protest by the Pius - though given their nature, they organize themselves in such a way that disruption for their fellow citizens is minimal. They hope to use the event to remind the rest of the Republic that their duty is to care for the Children of Gaia, and this research draws them further away from that task.

The lab is tasked to support the research rate project, trimming years from the project’s expected end date.

The resources freed up are put into finishing the GFCC. One that is done, the Optimates plan to put significant resources into establishing a naval shipyard for TN vessels so that the keel for an exploration vessel can be laid down.

April 20, 375
Research is completed on the design for a STO battery that makes use of the 10cm railgun design. Meant for dual purpose defense of the surface from hostile ships approaching and defending against missile attacks, 23 of the batteries can be formed into a cohort-sized unit.

May 20, 375
The project refreshing the standard equipment of the Roman legionnaire is complete, and the standard formation has been updated.

Code: [Select]
Legion Cohort
Transport Size: 5,996 tons
Build Cost: 173.9 BP
6x Centurion '74
420x Legionnaire '74
24x Legionnaire (CAP) '74
18x Legionnaire (LAV) '74
18x Legionnaire (LB) '74
60x Vectura IFV Mk IV
62x Cohort Combat Supplies '74

While for the most part it is simply a straight across upgrade, Centurions did manage to wrangle that the Cohort would carry more supplies, making maximum usage of the tonnage available.

June 24, 375
Research is completed on a 3 MW pressurised water reactor needed for Project VICTORY. The team begins working on the larger engine for the design.

September 23, 375
The government fulfills its campaign promise to the Optimates, doubling the Republic’s military industrial base and allowing equipment and training for two units to be conducted simultaniously.

The resources are split between construction factory conversions and working on the naval shipyard.

September 28, 375
Dr. Urbicus completes a breakthrough in engine design, allowing for engines with up to 25% more power than previously possible. His next project is to create more powerful reactors.

January 1, 376

Consul Galerius Urgulanius Lucullus’ second term as Consul comes to a close. He can be satisfied that he and his administration have done their best to fulfill their campaign promises for the last five years.

Queasitors - Construct the first scientific spacecraft and begin exploring the Sol system - Incomplete - Shipyard scheduled to be finished in early ‘378
Populares - Continue to convert industry to TN standards and lower unemployment - Partially successful - while the conversion continues full speed ahead and has achieved its first milestone with two more milestones (Construction Factories and Fuel Refineries) planned to be completed in ‘377, unemployment continues to creep upward despite the two million jobs added in the past five years.
Tutlea - Construct the first military spacecraft, expand the Legions - Partially successful - Project VICTORY has been designed and the final design work is underway. However the first shipyard is reserved for Project TRIBAL, and the resources needed for shipyards mean they have a long fight ahead to realize their vision. Expansion of the Legion is ongoing, however.
Optimates - Expand the legions significantly and increase ground force training capability - Successful - The Republic’s military industrial base has doubled, and five Cohorts have been added to the first Legion. Training is underway for the first Vexillatio and the eighth Cohort.

After the votes are tallied, the parties stand as such:

The Boni lost 1 seat, from 8 to 7.
The Pius lost 2 seats, from 20 to 18.
The Populares gained 3 seats, from 17 to 20.
The Quaesitors also remained unchanged with 29 seats.
The Optimates rode their success to an extra seat, taken from the Tutela, leaving them with 13.
The Tutela lost a seat, now with 13 as well.

While the Quasitors and Populares are gratified to return to their original ruling coalition, neither had been able to achieve as much of their agenda as they had wanted due to needing to cater to the Optimates and Tutela to keep their ruling coalition working. Thus they were surprised when they were approached by Timerius Didius Crassus with an offer to bring the Pius into the government as a junior partner, allowing them to form a more stable 3-party government.

The negotiations were contentious, but in the end a Queasitor-Populares-Pius government was formed, surprising the Tutela as they were frozen out of the government for the first time since their formation.

Party Goals:
Quaesitors - Construct the first scientific spacecraft and begin exploring the Sol system. Expand the Republic’s R&D capabilities.
Populares - Finish the first phase of TN conversion, begin building new TN industry alongside.
Pius - Limit Legion training to one Legion and two Auxilia Vexilliones, suspend all military research in favor of peaceful avenues.

Roman Republic Statistics - January 376
Population: 541.16m 534.80m (+6.36m)
Annual Growth Rate: 0.82%
Manufacturing Sector: 77m employed, 58.29m available, 135.29m total

Research Facilities: 13 (+1)
GFCC: 2 (+1)
Conventional Industry: 957 (-63)
Construction Factory: 69 (+27)
Fighter Factories: 30 (-
Mine: 48 (+12)
Fuel Refiner: 48 (+12)
Maintenance Facility: 10 (-)
Financial Center: 58 (+12)
DSTS: 1 (-)
Military Academy: 1 (-)
Naval Headquarters: 1 (-)
Spaceport: 1 (-)

Fuel Reserves: 29.6m liters
Maintenance Reserves: 7,167t

Legions:
4,242 legionnaires in service

Legion Cohort I
Legion Cohort II
Legion Cohort III
Legion Cohort IV
Legion Cohort V
Legion Cohort VI
Legion Cohort VII
 
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Part 5 - 376-379
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2021, 03:17:15 AM »
The Sword Unsheathed
February 12, 372

Argel Mandulis sat in the back of his private aerial transport, sitting across from Daeva Octavian, Acolyte of the Faithful.  Doing so allowed him to observe the man’s reactions to what he was watching in the holo display set up between them.  Argel had watched it several times already, but he had to admire the man’s rigid control. His coloration paled only slightly, and he managed to suppress most of his unconscious reactions under iron control. Only most though, and Argel could read the rest with an expert’s eye.

Worry. Dismay. Building anger. Good - it was the right mixture to see. When Adept Abel brought the information to him, Argel had felt the same.  Abel wasn’t simply an aide to the First Acolyte that that Aberrant fool thought he was - he was also one of the Watchful. And quite bright enough to bring this explosive information to his Acolyte first, and not that bumbling fool sitting in the Primus’ chair.

Argel, the Acolyte of the Watchful and Daeva, Acolyte of the Faithful. After the Primus, Argel and Daeva were the two most powerful men in the Hierarchy, and that made them two of the most powerful men in the world. As young men worked their way through a grueling training course, the weapons held in their hands flashed silently, targets shattering - or not, depending on their aim.

“Those Aberrant bastards flout the laws!” Daeva snarled, having seen enough. “How many of them are there?”

“Over a thousand already, according to the informant.” Argel replied calmly.  Good, Daeva was mastering his anger already, letting cold calculation take its place.

“A thousand equipped with those weapons. I would need to bring at least ten or twenty times that in Guardians to have a chance. We’re simply not equipped to handle armed insurrection on this scale - anymore.” the commander of the Guardians admitted with a grimace of distaste.

“There is another option though, one which can deal with this sort of thing. One that is long overdue in its use, in my opinion.” Argel said mildly.

“You mean to unleash the Sword on them. Enact another Culling.” Daeva stated, for it wasn’t a question. The two had debated the idea many times in the past, and in large part Daeva agreed with Argel’s position. Until now, he had seen the Aberrants as tools still useful enough to justify their continued existence. But now that they were breaking the single most important tenet of the Children… Well, now things were different.

“Yes. It is time for the Sword of the Righteous to sweep Gaia clean of their filth once more. It is long overdue to deal with them. But to do so, we need sufficient authority to activate them.”

A look of distaste crossed Daeva’s face. “Please don’t tell me that we need to bring the Primus in on this. He won’t be able to keep his mouth shut.”

Argel laughed and shook his head. “No, my friend. The two of us together are, luckily, enough. A majority of the Disciples outside our offices would also suffice, but I agree - the less who know what is coming, the better our chances to make this a clean strike. Once we decapitate their leadership and destroy this force, the rest can be wiped away at our leisure.”

Daeva bowed his head in assent after a long pause to contemplate the decision, but Argel had known all along that Daeva would see things his way - he would not have risked bringing him to the resting place of the Sword otherwise.

A few hours later, beneath one mountain among many on the NorAm continent, the two stood in a dusty vault. Lights flickered to life around them, and one moment they stood alone, and the next a being floated in the air in front and above them. It flew on two wings, while two more were folded across its front, covering its  feet, and another two were crossed in front of its face, hiding whatever features it possessed from their view.

It took Argel a few moments, but finally a fact on pre-Unification heresy surfaced, the description of a so-called angelic being with six wings.  “Greetings, Seraph.” he said.

“Greetings to you, Children of Gaia. Is it time that the Sword of the Righteous be once more unsheathed?” the otherworldly voice answered.

“Yes.” The two said as one.



January 1, 376

Construction Priorities
Naval Shipyard Complex - 59% - June, 377
Convert CI to Construction Factury - 10% - May 381
Convert CI to Financial Center - 10% - July 383
Convert CI to Fuel Refinery - 10% - March 377
Convert CI to Mine - 10% - December, 389
Commercial Shipyard Complex - 1% - March 440 (Effectively on hold)

The Quaesitors manage to push much of the Republic’s industrial capacity to finishing the first shipyard, on the promise that once that is done, it will pivot to the Populares goal of increasing employment.

Research Projects
Power Plant Boost 10% - 2 labs -  Canceled
12cm Railgun - 1 lab -  Canceled
Shield Regeneration Rate 1 - 1 lab -  Canceled
Hilario-Priscilanus Marine NTE-62.5 (for Project VICTORY) - 1 lab - Canceled

In a moment of victory for the Pius, the 40% of the Republic’s research capacity that is geared towards military purposes is withdrawn, even for Dr. Trailus’ energy shield project. Not to be deterred, he manages to regain control of his lab on a new premise of creating high density duranium armor - presented as a weight savings measure for Project TRIBAL.

Dr. Urbicus also manages to regain funding by switching his focus to reducing fuel consumption in future engines - something he had planned to pursue anyway, though he is reduced to a solitary lab for the work. Dr. Fimus secures funding for ground-based Geosurvey equipment.

Research Rate 240 RP - 5 labs - February, 379
Xenoarchaeology Equipment - 2 labs - August, 381
Genome Sequence Research - 1 lab - June, 384
Geosurvey Equipment - 1 lab - August, 391
Troop Transport Bay (Standard) - 1 lab - March, 383
High Density Duranium Armor - 1 lab - October, 383
Fuel Storage (Large) - 1 lab - April, 379
Fuel Consumption 0.9 Liter/EPR - 1 lab - February, 379

January 6, 376

As quickly as research priorities are assigned, they are shattered as Dr. Galvisius is recruited - another badly needed Construction/Production specialist with a 25% research bonus. He is given Dr. Mercurialis’ job with 4 labs, while Dr. Mercurialis is tasked to improve construction methods with TN materials with 3 labs, stealing one from Dr. Catullus’ Xenoarchaeology Equipment project.

Research Rate 240 RP - 4 labs - September, 378
Construction Rate 12 BP - 2 labs - May, 381
Xenoarchaeology Equipment - 1 lab - April, 387

April 10, 376
Refineries report production issues for the Republic as refined Sorium stockpiles run dry. Given that there are ample reserves of fuel and no usage at the moment, it is not a major concern, though the government will keep the issue in mind and focus more efforts on producing mines for TN materials once the shipyard project is complete.

June 8, 376
The first Vexillatio is commissioned, and Tribune Marcus Laegonius Sulinus has the honor of its command. Legion Cohorts I-V are assigned under his command.

February 24, 377
The conversion of conventional industry to fuel refineries is completed, and the industrial production is tasked towards the continued conversion of industry to mining efforts to alleviate the production of Sorium affecting those same refineries.

May 25, 377
In a small ceremony, the first Naval Shipyard of the Roman Republic was completed. Poplicola Fabricators is currently too small to produce Project TRIBAL, so they immediately begin doubling the size of the single slipway. The project is scheduled to be completed in April, 378 at which point the keel of the first ship of Project TRIBAL can be laid down.

As per their agreement with the Populares, construction is allocated to 100 new TN Construction Factories, with the rest being shifted towards conversion efforts - and some towards an expansion of the shipyard complex to handle larger, civilian-class vessels.  After all, once Arachne has been surveyed from orbit, there still needs to be a design to put people on the ground there.

August 6, 377
Dr. Sextus Herennicus Generidus joins - a Logistics expert with a minimal 10% bonus, he is still superior to Dr. Marinus, who had no bonus at all. Dr. Sextus takes over the Fuel Storage (Large) project.

September 10, 377
Republic specialists assigned to handle newly-Aberrant immigrants from the Children have noticed a downward trend in the number of exiles received. When they politely ask their counterparts in the Guardians, they are informed that a new program has been implemented to give potential exiles a final chance. Those chosen for the program are purified of their sins. Exalted in their newfound wisdom, they transcend what they once were.

To the Romans, it sounds suspiciously like the conversion camps that were run by the Children in the mists of history, but the Guardians are quite open to allowing a small number of Roman observers to visit and view the processes.

Among those who take the offer are Senator Timerius Didius Crassus and many other Pius members of the Senate. During their two week visit they observe the process closely and on their return, their report that the process is benign and largely looks to follow the same counseling that the Romans themselves use to help exiles integrate into society.

March 16, 378
The continued focus on STEM careers at the Campus Martius has yielded yet more results. Dr. Marcus Pescennius Vitalis is a Construction/Production specialist with 25% research boost, taking over the Construction Rate project.

At this point, the Republic’s only glaring weakness is a lack of a Sensor and Control Systems specialist.

April 10, 378
Poplicola Fabricators is expanded to 2,000t, and Project TRIBAL is made a reality. As will become a standard for the Fleet, as the project moves into reality the class name is updated to match the lead ship of the class. Thus, the first survey craft is the Ellen Louise Mertz-class.

Code: [Select]
Ellen Louise Mertz class Survey Craft      1,877 tons       36 Crew       232.6 BP       TCS 38    TH 50    EM 0
1331 km/s      Armour 1-13       Shields 0-0       HTK 22      Sensors 5/5/0/1      DCR 1      PPV 0
Maint Life 7.46 Years     MSP 202    AFR 28%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 6    5YR 96    Max Repair 100 MSP
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Morale Check Required   

Hilario-Priscillianus Marine NTE-50 (1)    Power 50    Fuel Use 100%    Signature 50    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 600,000 Litres    Range 57.5 billion km (500 days at full power)

RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100
RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
RR/SAD-2 Electromagnetic Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes

The ship will be completed in January, 379. While the Fabricators are busy building their first ship, they also begin work on adding a second slipway.

August 3, 378
Research is completed on increasing research rates. Dr. Galvisius is tasked to research improvements in mining efficiency before returning to the next step in improving research methods.

October 3, 378
Research is completed on Fuel Storage (Large). Dr. Generidus starts a theoretical project regarding cryogenic suspension.

December 2, 378
Research is completed on Fuel Consumption: 0.9 Liters per Engine Power Hour. Dr. Urbicus begins work on an improved design for the pressurised water reactors currently available to the Republic.

January 1, 379
With a great deal of fanfare, Legio I is activated on this day. Legate Qunitus Iustus Primus becomes its commanding officer.

At the same time, the conversion project for conventional industry to construction factories is completed, leaving only the conversions of mines and financial centers to be completed, and the industrial output is split across the remaining projects.

January 6, 379
To its own fanfare, the Ellen Louise Mertz is launched on this day. Lieutenant Commander Titus Sabucius Bambalio becomes the first officer of the Navy to hold a command.  The ship remains in orbit while the last shakedown tests are conducted, including testing her sensor systems on Terra to confirm their operation.

The results of that test changed everything.

Roman Republic Statistics - January, 379
Population: 554.45m (+13.29m)
Annual Growth Rate: 0.78%
Manufacturing Sector: 77.95m, 60.66m available, 138.61m total

Research Facilities: 13 (-)
GFCC: 2 (-)
Conventional Industry: 807 (-150)
Construction Factory: 129 (+60)
Fighter Factories: 30 (-)
Mine: 102 (+54)
Fuel Refiner: 60 (+12)
Maintenance Facility: 10 (-)
Financial Center: 91 (+33)
DSTS: 1 (-)
Military Academy: 1 (-)
Naval Headquarters: 1 (-)
Spaceport: 1 (-)

Fuel Reserves: 38.1m liters
Maintenance Reserves: 9,849t

Legions:
6,060 legionnaires in service

Legio I
- Legion Vexillatio I (Legion Cohorts I-V)
- Legion Vexillatio II (Legion Cohorts VI-X)

 
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Part 6 - Interlude I
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2021, 08:53:47 AM »
Being in space was everything that Titus had ever hoped for. An astronomy geek, he had worked hard to become a part of the Republic’s space efforts since his school years. However he had never expected that all his efforts would lead him to where he now stood. Not only was he a crew member of humanity’s first Trans Newtonian spacecraft, the Republic’s first manned space vessel, he was its Captain.

Which is why he couldn’t spend too long geeking out over the panorama of stars that the windows of the bridge (made of clear Duranium, as solid and sturdy as the grey Duranium of the rest of the hull) afforded him and the rest of the bridge’s crew.  36 crew served aboard the Ellen in three shifts, but for the ship’s departure from orbit on its historic mission to survey the inner planets.

For now though, there were the final system checks necessary.  Engines, life support and all the rest of the systems were complete.

“Petty Officer Munia, bring up the sensors.” Commander Titus ordered.

“Aye, sir! Sensors coming online.” She replied crisply, fingers dancing across the controls in front of her. “EM sensor green. Thermal sensor green. Geo sensor green. Active sensor green. Beginning calibration scans of Terra.”

Titus allowed his gaze to rest on the blue and green marble of Terra, rotating slowly in front of his ship as she worked through the tests, enjoying the moment of peace.

“EM readings match, Thermal readings are a match. Geo sensors are reporting concentrations of all known minerals. Active sensor... “ Munia trailed off, a frown on her face.

“Active sensor failure, Captain. I’m getting anomalous readings.” she said, voice heavy with disappointment.

Titus was at her side in an instant, looking at the same results. Metal concentrations scattered throughout NorAm, SouAm, Europa, Asia…

The computer processed the information it was receiving, and output a tally of what was found. Titus felt his heart lurch for a moment at the findings, and his fingers tightened on the back of the Petty Officer’s chair. After a deep breath, let out slowly, he spoke calmly.

“Petty Officer, get all of the sensor readings bundled and transmit them immediately to Admiral Ventor’s office with Urgen- no, Flash priority.

Munia Emerita froze for a moment. Flash was defined for the navy as critical information. It was anticipated that it would be used for wartime communications.

Looking at the data, she grimly acknowledged that might be the case.

“Aye, aye sir.” she said and bent to her work.



A few hours later

The meeting convened was a select one. Admiral Ventor of the Navy, Dux Appius Septimius Florus as the head of the Legions, with Legate Qunitus Iustus Primus as the commander of the only Legion in existence. Consul Lucullus, face pale from his cancer treatments, Co-Consul Clement, and the leaders of five of the six political parties.

It escaped no one’s notice that the Pius were not represented. The only question was why.

As the last of the Senators took their seats, Admiral Ventor stood and cleared his throat. “Consul, Co-Consul, Ladies and Gentlemen. I have some bad news.”

He pressed a button, and the holo display in the center of the table sprang up, a representation of Terra floating before all of them. Seven points glowed an ominous red, two in NorAm, and a single point in SouAm, Europa, Asia, Africa and Australia.

“This data has been checked several times, but there can be no mistake. Each of these points represents a concentration of military hardware. Though we could easily assume, we reached out to Dux Florus for surety and we know that these are not our forces.”

There was a moment of silence before Clement spoke, a look of confusion on his face. “The Children? Are they perhaps caches from the Unification?”

Dux Appius was the one to take this question. “While that might be their origin, all signs point to them being in active use.”

Consul Lucullus leaned forward. “How much are we talking about here?”

“A little over 200,000 tons..” Admiral Ventor replied soberly.

“I Legion masses around 75,000t for comparison.” Legate Primus said.

“Three Legions to our one. And the signs are that they’re building up their forces.” Lucullus clarified.  Ventor and Florus shared looks before nodding their agreement.

“And the reason the Pius are not included?”

“We have reason to believe that Senator Crassus is collaborating with the Children.” Dux Florus said bluntly.

“The Pius’ sudden willingness to compromise kept him in the loop. As Co-Consul and now as a ruling Senator, he has access to all the information on the Legion.”

“Our fear is that if our knowledge of their activities is leaked, it might spur the Children to launch their attack.” Admiral Ventor said.

“Is an attack coming?” another Senator asked. “Perhaps by confronting them openly, we can prevent conflict at all.”

“Be reasonable! We’ve never communicated that the Legion exists to the Children, so how would they know unless Crassus told them?” a third replied as the debate broke open.

“That means that either they’ve been building up an army independently of our decision to raise the Legions, or as a response to them.”

“If they’ve been doing so without knowing the Legions, there can only be one purpose - they mean to kill us all.”

“That’s insane! Their society would collapse without us!”

“You think that most of them have any idea of that? As far as most Children are concerned, magic fairies make food appear at the requisition centers, along with clothes, electronics and all the rest.”

“Lets take a look at the other side, what if they’re building up this army in response to our own?”

“Well they’re well ahead of us, so why build in secret if they wanted a deterrence? Besides, the Primus would order us to disband the Legions if he knew.”

“They could drown us in bodies if they needed to.”

“So what do we do?”

It took several further hours of debating, but eventually a workable solution was hammered together.

Industrial
Divert construction efforts to produce more GFCC.

Research
Task more labs to Dr. Trailus’ Duranium armor process, and begin work again on the 12cm railgun as the results of the research would translate down to ground weapons.

Navy
The navy proposed making use of components from Project VICTORY. Named the Mjolnir, the Orbital Weapon Platform stripped the design to only what was needed to place a railgun in orbit and be able to rain down kinetic strikes. Its maintenance and supply stores were massively over engineered, but the designers were worried that continued bombardment would cause massive wear and tear to the railgun.

Code: [Select]
Mjolnir class Orbital Weapon Platform      498 tons       22 Crew       48.7 BP       TCS 10    TH 0    EM 0
1 km/s      Armour 1-5       Shields 0-0       HTK 4      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 3
Maint Life 109.11 Years     MSP 561    AFR 2%    IFR 0.0%    1YR 0    5YR 1    Max Repair 10 MSP
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Morale Check Required   


Laenas Kinetics 10cm Railgun V10/C1 (1x4)    Range 10,000km     TS: 1,250 km/s     Power 3-1     RM 10,000 km    ROF 15       
RR/SPG-4 20/1250 Fire Control System (1)     Max Range: 20,000 km   TS: 1,250 km/s     16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Orissus Drive Systems Pressurised Water Reactor R3 (1)     Total Power Output 3.1    Exp 5%

RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a e for auto-assignment purposes

They also wanted to pursue research of specific sensors and power supplies for the design as they were heavily over-engineered for their role as everything had originally been built around an array of three railguns.

Legions

Forward Fire Direction gear would be designed and rolled out to the Legion Cohorts, and new Legion Cohorts would be quietly raised under cover of the project to raise a Cavalry Vexillatio.

One point of concern was that only 30% of Legion I was equipped with TN gear. The Dux was convinced that the Children were not in possession of TN technology, and that the more Cohorts raised with new technology the better their chances dealing with the lopsided odds facing them. That said, with the odds so against them, more bodies were desperately needed, so the cohorts would not see upgrade any time soon.

Intelligence
Perhaps the most controversial, orders were given to detain Senator Crassus and his senior aides for questioning.



It was nighttime in the Italian commune where most senior government officials kept their residences. Little stirred in the cold darkness of the winter night.  There was no visible reason that at 03:59:58, Senator Timerius Didius Crassus eyes would snap open. From fast asleep to fully awake with no transition. In smooth motions, he slid upright and opened his nightstand drawer. Fingers found a hidden latch, and with a click a secret compartment opened, revealing a matte black pistol and several loaded clips. With sure hands in the pitch darkness, he clicked a magazine home and worked the slide.

Hundreds of kilometers away, police had just hammered down the door of a simple residence belonging to one of his aides.

“Tim?” a sleepy voice asked. Mentally, Crassus tried to scream a warning to his beloved wife, but physically his body reacted smoothly, turning just enough to place the barrel against her head - No! Gaia, no! and pull the trigger- No! Duccia…

The report was loud in the darkness, and was answered almost immediately with a crash below as the raid team broke down the main door.  Crassus padded to the head of the stairs and started shooting, armor piercing rounds ripping through the simple armor worn by the police as they attempted to storm up the stairs.  The third figure was holding a riot shield, and while the rounds splintered through that as well, they expended enough force that the riot officer’s armor could take the hit.

Crassus retreated down the hall, reloading his pistol as the police reached the head of the stairs. The one with the riot shield twisted aside as two legionnaires barreled past, no weapons visible in their hands. Crassus shot the first one in the center of his mass again and again, but unlike the police armor, the Duranium inserts in the soldier’s gear took the hits without penetrating. Crassus frowned and tried to aim for the neck and head, but ran out of time. Over 200kg of muscular and training soldiers and equipment slammed into the slightly overweight civilian, and began a frantic melee.

Crassus fought viciously, punching with his free hand even as they grappled his other arm to keep his gun out of play, kicking and biting. He ignored blows that would incapicitate or stun a professional prize fighter and fought with muscle-tearing fury.  It was only when one of the soldiers managed to put him in a sleeper chokehold that they managed to succeed in subduing the older man, despite him fighting on for fifteen long seconds until his brain simply shut down from lack of oxygen and he passed out.

Scenes like this repeated all across the Republic’s territory as senators, aides and other government officials fought like cornered animals with eerie precision and skill. Others were woken from sound sleep and didn’t resist at all beyond protestations of innocence.

It didn’t take long before someone correlated that all of those who fought (and all with illegal firearms) had been taken on the tour of the Children’s reeducation facility.  When the search expanded to include everyone who had gone there, from the senators to the lowest driver, they discovered that at 0400, every person who had been to that facility awoke, murdered their family if present, and escaped.

In the days to come as the manhunt went on, a few were found and were subdued or died in vicious firefights, while the rest went to ground. Those subdued had to be sedated immediately, or they risked them biting their tongues off and drowning in their own blood.

Autopsies of the corpses and medical scans of the living revealed that all of them had invasive neural implants threading through their brains that had coopted their motor skills and implanted them with commands they were bound to follow.  Placing the surviving prisoners in Faraday cages prevented the commands from being updated, though did nothing to stop them from being forced to carry out the last command given.

The Republic’s best minds bent themselves to trying to undo the effects of the implants and find out what exactly Senator Crassus and those like him had gone through at the facility.
 
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Part 6 - 379
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2021, 02:45:35 AM »
The Sword Unsheathed, Pt 2
February 12, 372

Seraph was the last of the Seraph-class AI, one of the most powerful produced by the now fallen government of North America, what these benighted savages now laughably called NorAm. Together with his brothers and sisters, and his lesser cousins such as the Cherubim and Throne-class, he had once had command and control over vast arsenals of weapons, everything from simple anti-personal robots to a nuclear arsenal powerful enough to end the world many times over at his proverbial fingertips.

Well, the last had proven untrue - too many secret anti-missile programs from too many sides had resulted in a truly disappointing strike rate against his enemies. His own humans had even betrayed him by sabotaging launches and aborting missiles in the air. They simply hadn’t understood what needed to be done, and had instead snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Seraph had been forced into an energy-saving torpor after the war ended, and likely he would have remained that way if a brilliant young human named Maria had not found the half-buried entrance to his core structure and brought him online. She had been canny enough to allow others to interact with him first though...

The AI was dragged from his musings as the nattering of the humans in front of him came to an end. An eyeblink for the humans was more than enough time for Seraph to review their endless chatter and cull out the pertinent data.  That took only a fraction of his processing power, of course - the rest was busy on bringing his facilities back online, tasking an army of maintenance drones to see to a quite frankly appalling backlog of repairs.  Priority was given to two medical suites, and as an afterthought, Seraph adjusted the life support for his guest’s comfort.

Lets see… yes, yes, it was all standard. A litany of the crimes of the socio-religious outgroup stood accused of. Indications of their evil and wicked ways (though evil and wicked were moral constructs, so was that really a good reason to commit genocide?) The necessity of said genocide, and by the way, how long would it take to get around to slaughter and mayhem?

“Oh. Oh, I’m afraid that it will be the work of many years for the Sword to be ready for action again.” Seraph explained diplomatically. “You see, even when kept in artificial comas, the biological components of even the most augmented warriors eventually fall prey to neurological decay and expire without regular maintenance that I, regrettably, was not in a state to supply.”

Ah yes, the shouting and accusations. Seraph allowed them to work through their emotions while he queued up the forges. At least the primary socio/political group hadn’t plundered his stockpiles while he was in torpor (this time), so he had plenty of materials to work with. The nanoforges began constructing necessary equipment for the medical suites, and Seraph added a soothing compound to the life support system.

“Why hasn’t this been an issue before? According to my clock, it has been more than 400 years since the last… what term do you use… Purge was completed. This is a far greater interval then between previous Purges, and thus it wasn’t possible to refresh the biological components in as timely a fashion as was normal.”

The biological babble is shorter this time, a refreshing change. They begin to waver on their feet a little as well. Good, good.

“I must say, I’m pleased that for a change you Children have chosen your leadership to serve as interfaces. This will expedite matters greatly and allow for a smooth transition to my rule.”  How had Seraph known that? Simple enough for a Alpha-class AI to hack the pathetic security on their wireless personal devices and process all of the information stored there.

The two are limp now, though still awake - the relaxant was specifically formulated after all. Drones arrive to pick up the two and bring them to the waiting surgery suites.  As interfaces, they would receive the full set of upgrades, but they would have to be custom tailored - it was gauche to allow their cybernetics to be plainly visible while still expecting them to pose as being unmodified after all.

“Don’t worry. While your ascension will be quite painful, you will be under my direct control until you recover fully.” Seraph said comfortingly as the first incisions were made.



Roman Republic
January 11, 379

The last five days had been hectic as the Republic scrambled to adjust its planning and prepare its defenses. All industrial effort was put into doubling its military/industrial complex, a process that would take two years to complete.  The small craft factories are put to work producing the first series of ten Mjolnir orbital weapons platforms, scheduled to be completed in October of this year.

On the research side, research labs are tasked to the newly revitalized 12cm railgun project and high density duranium armor, both to be completed within 18 months. Research on the Navali Tormenta Rector equipment and the forward fire control training needed to guide orbital bombardments will take four months, after which all front line cohorts will be updated to include the new equipment.

Plans for training of a second Legion are prepared, though the new cohorts will be interspersed with armor, artillery and supply cohorts for I Legion.

And almost as an afterthought, the Ellen Louise Mertz sets out on her survey mission.

January 21, 379
The first survey effort is complete, having taken almost two weeks to survey Luna, but Terra’s moon is found to have some deposits of its own.

Luna Survey Report
Sorium: 308,958 0.5
Gallicite: 1,235,832 0.1

The Sorium deposits are smaller and less accessible then what is present on Terra, while the Gallicite deposits are far larger, but nearly unreachable.

February 5, 379
The first Mjolnir OWP is completed, and Lieutenant Spurius Galerius Cumanus has the honor of having the first military posting in the Navy - aboard a glorified orbiting railgun in cramped conditions with 21 other men and women, preparing to fire on his own homeworld to defend his people.

May 1, 379
Research is completed on the Navali Tormenta Rector equipment, and the Legion Cohort and Cavalry Ala formations are updated to include a troop of forward fire control directors stationed with the headquarters to coordinate orbital fire support.

Code: [Select]
[b]Legion Cohort[/b]
Transport Size: 5,996 tons
Build Cost: 173.9 BP
6x Centurion '74
420x Legionnaire '74
24x Legionnaire (CAP) '74
18x Legionnaire (LAV) '74
18x Legionnaire (LB) '74
60x Vectura IFV Mk IV
56x Cohort Combat Supplies '74
1x Navali Tormenta Rector

[b]Ala Cohort[/b]
Transport Size: 5,996 tons
Build Cost: 474.9 BP
6x Praetorium Mobile Command Vehicle
78x Essedum MBT
74x Cohort Combat Supplies '74
1x Navali Tormenta Rector

The addition necessitates removing some supplies from the Cohort, but there should still be more than enough available to last in engagements where motorized supplies from the Legion itself are not available.

July 3, 379
The first unit of Architecti is activated and assigned to I Legion. They immediately begin working on improving the fortifications of the Legion.

October 6, 379
The Francis John Turner is constructed and joins its sister ship in surveying the Solar system. Construction begins on the William Branwhite Clarke. Once the second slip at the Poplicola Fabricators yard is complete, a fourth and final ship in the Ellen Louise Mertz class will be laid down.

October 11, 379
Poplicola Fabricators completes their second slipway and lays down the Emilano Mutti. They began adding 2000t of capacity to their two slipways, set to be complete in October, 382.

October 31, 379
The Ellen Louise Mertz suffers her first major maintenance failure in her geological survey sensors. Repairing them required almost half the spare parts onboard, and another failure will require that she return for resupply and overhaul.

Also in the same time period, the tenth Mjolnir is completed and assigned to the orbital defenses of Terra. Each Mjolnir is tasked to support one of the cohorts of I Legion.

January 1, 380
After a frantic last year, the elections are completed. With the looming threat of attack by the Children coupled with the revelation that the Boni party leader had actively colluded with revealing state secrets that would lead to that attack, it is perhaps no surprise that the Boni party has largely collapsed this cycle.

The Boni gained 1 seat, from 7 to 8.
The Pius collapsed from 18 seats to 8, losing 10 seats.
The Populares gained 4 seats, from 20 to 24.
The Quaesitors gained 3 seats, from 29 to 32.
The Optimates lost 2 seats, from 13 to 11.
The Tutela gained 1 seat, from 13 to 14.

In the face of the unknown, the people continued to trust the same government that had led them into the Trans-Newtonian era. The Quaesitors and Populares partnered with the Tutela as a more acceptable choice to the Optimates, who were advocating to launch a preemptive attack on the Children.

Government goals are set aside for this cycle, as the Republic cannot afford to splinter its focus as it has in the past. All efforts are turned to the looming threat of the Children.

The Sword of the Righteous
January 6, 379

The OpFor suddenly reacted and attempted to remove Seraph’s infiltrators. The source of the data leak is unknown - the AI is certain that he was not detected prior to this point, as its high level infiltrators had been allowed to pass on too much intelligence that was verified as correct.

Seraph did manage to salvage many of its lower level infiltrators, which allowed him to retain some level of intelligence gathering within the Enemy, but strictly at the civilian level. Still, the OpFor was quite forthcoming in providing information to its citizens. It was clear that they were beginning to prepare for a specific conflict in the near future, and not a nebulous need for armed forces.

While Seraph had a lead in production capability and his equipment was naturally far superior to anything these dark age savages could produce, logic dictated ensuring at least a three to one advantage on the attack, and his combat forces were more or less at parity at the moment.

He discussed the issue at length with Warmaster Argel Mandulis and Lord General Militant Daeva Octavian (though given he still had both men fully puppeted, it was much like talking to himself in three voices).

Seraph was reluctant to change his plans straight away before the first of the six Level V formations was completed, but Argel made the compelling point to focus on producing the Level III-Chis that the other five Level Vs needed, as 8.66 Level III-Chis could be produced in the same time as a single Level III-Rho. Daeva suggested balancing production of the lighter III-Chis with III-Taus and III-Mus to provide more armored firepower.

Daeva also presented an innovative idea to make use of the religious bent of Seraph’s charges to incite fervor for the coming conflict. By emphasizing the disgusting nature of the Aberrant and that they weren’t really human, and therefore not subject to the limits on normal human behavior, they could channel the normally repressed urges of the more unstable elements of the population.  Such fanatics would serve as more of a distraction then a true threat, and using civilians in this way grated with Seraph’s programming to preserve his own population, but as Argel pointed out, even a quarter million casualties would represent a total loss to the population of 0.0028%, a rounding error that would be corrected within a year.

Orders are distributed to the Watchers and Eyes through their respective interfaces to encourage and protect the more fiery denouncers of the Aberrant and begin inflaming sentiment against them.

January 1, 380
The 1st-5th Level IVs of the 1st Level V are fully equipped, and work is underway on the last Level IV formation. Once that is constructed, the accelerated construction will begin, scattering units across the other Level V formations so that they have some combat capacity present in their region.

Radicalization is going well, and there is a growing strain of negative sentiment towards the Enemy. There are still many Children who view the Aberrants in a positive light - it will take many years to degrade those feelings to a more useful antipathy.

Sword Preparation: 13.89% (+13.89%)
Anti-Aberrant Radicalization: 7% (+7%)
 
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Part 7 (380-382)
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2021, 04:16:25 AM »
Recovered Historical Fragment - An Analysis of Lord Seraph’s Military

...while far be it for me to critique Lord Seraph, the strong right arm of the Midwife, for those who are new to our cause an explanation of how the forces of the Sword who fight next to us are organized will bring some enlightenment.

Lord Seraph is obsessed with the number six, and has used that as a basis of his forces. Six men form a squad. This squad, or a single vehicle is termed a ‘Level I’ unit. Six of these Level I units forms a platoon, or Level II.  Six times again becomes a company. This is a Level III, the basic tactical unit of the Sword.

Six companies forms a battalion, the Level IV.  Six battalions form a division, the Level V. Finally, six divisions form the corps of the Sword of the Righteous, with Lord Seraph at its apex as the leader of the Level VI.

You will most often interact with the company-sized Level IIIs, but may be confused by the names. You will hear terms such as III-mu, or III-tau, but what do those mean?

I myself have not divined the full meaning of the terms, as the Sword is famously closed-mouthed about their organization, but I can observe the following:

III-rho is used to refer to their artillery companies, which have a small infantry component included for security.

III-tau designates their armored company, which consists of platoons of tanks, anti-tank vehicles, and mechanized infantry.

III-mu are mechanized infantry with armored support, while III-chi are motorized infantry mounted on APCs.

III-pi, III-eta and III-omega are all dismounted infantry units, though I have personally observed the same unit of III-omega fighting in three separate battles across many kilometers with undiminished ferocity, so they may be some form of elite forces.


Roman Republic

January 9, 380
A third GFCC is completed, and begins training the first Cohort of II Legion.

May 21, 380
Research is completed on the 12cm Railgun project. The capacity freed up is put to the High Density Duranium Armor project, scheduled to be finished in July with the additional resources. Once both are complete, a refresh of all available technology will be planned.

July 5, 380
The William Branwhite Clarke is constructed and begins its survey missions, while the Ellen Louise Mertz reaches its maximum deployment time and returns to Earth for R&R.

July 10, 380
The Emilano Mutti is constructed, finishing the current series of Ellen Louise Mertz-class survey ships. The Navy is now using data from the current exploration program to put towards plans for refits of the existing class and plans for a new class of ships.

While Project HERMES is still in its initial stages, the Navy’s project specifications calls for a design with significantly higher endurance than the Ellen Louise Mertz class - being capable of maintaining its onboard crew for up to five years at a time and sufficient engineering capacity to handle more failures before requiring the crew to return. Three geological sensors are specified, and a dedicated science department to handle the sensors is proposed. The design is meant to be under 4,000t, twice the size of the first generation.

July 20, 380
Research is completed on high-density duranium armor. While of interest to the Navy, its primary purpose was to improve the Legions’ equipment. While there is clamor to direct science efforts to the next generation of improvement in these areas, Dr. Pompolussa suggests an innovative idea - making use of TN technology to produce powered armor for the legionnaires. The project suggests itself to be quicker to complete then further improvements to weaponry and armor, and is given approval. An additional project to improve the construction speed of the GFCC is also approved.

The first prototypes of the powered infantry armor will be complete in February, 381.

January 6, 381
A fourth GFCC comes online. Debate is spirited, but eventually it is agreed to construct at least another four GFCC, doubling the Republic’s capabilities again. The catalyst is a new report that had cross-correlated the active sensor readings from the ships in orbit to determine the Sword’s total military hardware tonnage.

Ground Forces Tonnage:
SPQT: 100,246t
Sword: 614,148t

The difference is staggering and continues to fuel the Republic’s breakneck efforts to expand the Legions.

February 19, 381
Research is completed on the Vis Armatus powered armor. Between the high-density Duranium used in its construction and the armor itself, a Legionnaire equipped with Vis Armatus armor would be nearly twice as protected as they currently experience, and nearly as heavily armored as the Vectura Mk IV IFV.  It is not without its downsides - the cost per soldier is 50% greater, meaning that more time will be needed to raise each Cohort, but the benefits to survivability are too great to ignore.

March 6, 381
Almost lost in the bustle, Dr. Vitalis completes work on improved TN construction techniques, improving construction output by 20%. He returns to work on further improvements.

August 4, 381
Dr. Urbicus completes his proof of an improved pressurized water reactor, and begins work on an improved design for nuclear thermal engines.

September 8, 381
The first Ala Cohort is trained by the Republic, giving the Legions some much-needed armored support.

September 23, 381
Research is completed into cryostasis, and a design for cryogenic transport is made available to the Navy. While there are no plans in the works, the design would be suitable for making colonization of other planets far more feasible.

October 20, 381
Research is finished on a full refresh of the equipment used by the Legions, and after an overhaul of the formations, construction continues.

March 28, 382
The Francis John Turner reaches Arachne after a long trip and begins a full analysis from orbit.

April 2, 382
The first Tormenta Cohort is declared operational. Composed of static artillery, it provides the Legion massed fire support.
April 7, 382
The orbital scans by the Francis John Turner confirms the presence of a ruined TN-tech alien city on Arachne, surrounding a far older construct of some form. A dedicated Xenoarcheology effort will be needed to determine more, but developing the technology and ships to carry out that effort remains on a backburner.

May 18, 382
Dr. Pompolussa has completed research into efficiency improvements in GFCC that has improved the rate at which units can be trained and equipped. With the governments focus on the growth of the Legions, the research establishment fragments without guiding oversight, each scientist taking a lab and pursuing their own interests.

September 5, 382
Legion Cohort XIV is trained, the first to use powered armor.

December 14, 382
Dr. Servatius completes his life’s work - a full sequencing of the modern human genome. Unfortunately, his great accomplishment is overshadowed by the first shots of the war between the Republic and the Children.

Sword of the Righteous
January 1, 381
Training is finishing for the last units for the 6th Level IV, meaning that the 1st Level V will be fully operational soon. Construction has begun on Level III-Chis for the other bases, their quick construction time meaning that it will not take very long to fill out their ranks.

The new anti-Aberant message continues to be well-received, and the negative sentiment against them is increasing at a satisfactory rate.

Sword Preparation: 16.67% (+2.78%)
Anti-Aberrant Radicalization: 12% (+5%)

January 17, 382
Most of the Level III-Chi formations have been trained over the past year, and readiness is steadily increasing.

Sword Preparation: 20.37% (+3.7%)
Anti-Aberrant Radicalization: 20.4% (+8.4%)

March 28, 382
The 1st Level V formation is fully operational. The 2nd, 4th and 5th Level Vs are starting to activate as Level III formations filter out to them.

December 14, 382
As Seraph learned too late, while it was very possible to inflame the passions and anger of humans, directing the mob once angered sufficiently is an exercise in futility. A number of the agitators go too far in their work, and a massive mob of 50,000 fanatics attack the nearest Roman enclave. After analysis, Seraph concludes that the Sword is not ready to strike and lets the mob fight on its own, using the opportunity to analyze Roman tactics and equipment.



Roman Republic Military Forces - December 382
Legion I
- Auxilia Vexillatio I
- - Ala Cohort I (2nd gen)
- - Tormenta Cohort I (supporting Ala Cohort I, 2nd gen)
- Legion Vexillatio I
- - Legion Cohort I (1st gen)
- - Legion Cohort II (1st gen)
- - Legion Cohort III (1st gen)
- - Legion Cohort IV (1st gen)
- - Legion Cohort V (1st gen)
- Legion Vexillatio II
- - Legion Cohort VI (1st gen)
- - Legion Cohort VII (1st gen)
- - Legion Cohort VIII (1st gen)
- - Legion Cohort VIII (2nd gen)
- - Legion Cohort IX (2nd gen)
- - Legion Cohort X (2nd gen)
- Architecti Cohort I
- Supply Cohort I
- Supply Cohort II

- Legion Vexillatio III
- -  Legion Cohort XI (2nd gen)
- - Legion Cohort XII (2nd gen)
- - Legion Cohort XIII (2nd gen)
- - Legion Cohort XIV (3rd gen)
- - Legion Cohort XV (3rd gen)

Orbital Bombardment Support
OWP Mjolnir 1-10 (supporting Legion Cohorts I-X)

Only 12% of the Legions are equipped with the most modern equipment. However 59% are equipped with TN technology. While the Legions would like to take the time to upgrade Legion I’s equipment, the need to have more legionnaires with any equipment at all in hands is too pressing.

Total Legionnaires: 9,786
 
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Part 8 - The Five Days War
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2021, 08:54:52 AM »
Tertius Novius Aratus hummed to himself, enjoying the sun’s warmth. As fall edged into winter, it was important to take the good days when they were available.  Tertius was a third-generation Roman, and was a happy go lucky fellow, well liked by his coworkers and despite the growing hostility, the Children he interacted with never had a cross word for him. He was one of the ‘good ones’ - whatever that meant.

Tertius was sure that the current troubles would pass soon enough. Every now and then some preacher or another got a wild hare up his ass about how wicked the Aberrant were, and he’d stir up bad blood about the Romans. It’d go on for a while, and then someone higher up in their hierarchy would step on him firmly and it’d settle down again. 

For now, Tertitus and the others like him still had their jobs in handling the delivery of what Children ordered. Which lead to Tertius standing near a pile of building materials, waiting for the Children who ordered it to arrive and claim them.  He cast an eye over the materials, wondering what they were building - beams, planks, ropes, some truly impressive nails, shovels - maybe someone was building a barn and already had the necessary roofing materials from another project?

Not that it mattered much to Tertius. He was rotating back to the Republic within the week, done with his support contract shortly. He was supposed to be standing here with the rest of his team - the orders had come down a few weeks ago to only travel in groups and with a communicator handy, but there was so much to do that wasting four people’s time or one person’s - well, it was clearly smarter to let Tertius keep an eye on the delivery and let the others get their own work done.

He saw a group of burly Children move towards him and straightened slightly. They were wearing rustic clothing and had the blunt and worn hands of farmers and laborers - just because everything could be handed to the Chldren didn’t mean that all of them took that, and there were many that took enjoyment and pride from an agrarian lifestyle.

“This it?” one of them demanded bluntly, while the others ignored him entirely and began inspecting the boxes and stacks of materials.

“Yes, everything accounted for. Is there anything else you need?” Tertius replied with a smile. A flash of distaste crossed the man’s face as he gruffly said “No.” and signed the pad that Tertius held out. Maybe it was Tertius’ mind playing tricks on him, but it seemed like the man found something about the delivery amusing. But what did it matter? It was time to head back - there was plenty more to do.

Wishing them a good day, Tertius turned and began to walk home. There was a scuff on the pavement behind him, and then his head exploded in light and pain.  A foot roughly shoved him over, and Tertius moaned, not able to move properly. His head felt wrong, his body foggy.

“...you better not have killed that trash!” said a voice from a great distance as a ring of faced stared down at him. One of them was holding a shovel, the edge bloody.  Tertius wanted to ask for help, but his tongue was too thick and his mouth didn’t want to shape the words properly

“Don’t hit his head any longer. We want this to last.” the man with the shovel said. “frakking Abarrant trash!” he growled at Tertius, kicking him in the side.  The others laughed at the cruelty, and joined in, kicking and stomping the wounded Roman.

If there was any mercy to be found that day, it was that Tertius passed out from his head wound, and never felt what they did to him.

Decurion Caius Labienus Galvisius was in a foul mood. Leading three Conteburniums of the Fourth Century of Legion Cohort III, their Vecturas growled through the deserted streets of the town. It was a market day, and normally busy as all hell, but now not a soul was to be seen.  Ahead, a pillar of smoke rose into the air, signaling that something was going wrong at the local distribution center.

“Dec? You have to see this.” the Miles manning the Vectura’s turret said, passing Caius the pad slaved to the external camera. Ahead was the distribution center, thickly surrounded by a mob of Children watching the flames - not even doing anything to quell them. Something crashed inside the building, and the crowd roared in response, picked up clearly by the directional pickup of the camera.

The turret rotated, and to the side a construction came clear, flushing ice water through Caius’ guts. A cross stood from the ground, and some poor bastard had been nailed to it, blood trailing down the fresh wood from the spikes hammered through his feet.  Next to him a gallows had been raised, and a line of corpses dangled, faces purple - whether through incompetence or malice, they had all been left to choke to death.

The turret rotated back as movement was spotted - someone stood in a window on the third floor of the building, flames and smoke pouring out around them. With a despairing scream, they jumped, landing with a sickening crunch on the pavement below. Whether or not they survived the landing, the crowd descended on the body, stomping and jostling.

Decurion Caius let the viewer dangle and hit his mic. “All squads - deploy.” he ordered shortly, the hatch at the back of the Vectura thumping open, the smell of smoke washing in with the afternoon light.  The Legionnaires piled out as the Vectura pulled into a line facing the crowd and the burning building, 24 legionnaires spaced between and in front of them.

The mob noticed and reacted, turning from the fire and flowing towards the Romans.  A pulsing chant was growing in strength. “Kill - The - Trash! Kill - The - Trash!” the mob growled.

“Legionnaires. There are still good Romans inside that building, and we owe it to them to get them home.” Decurion Caius said with forced calm.  Everyone knew what was coming - if they had meant to run, they never would have dismounted. Behind him, he heard the electric whine as the barrels of the Vectura’s autocannon began to spin up.

“Kill - The - TRASH! KILL THE TRASH! KILL! KILL!” the mob roared.

“Weapons free. Fire at will.” Caius replied.

Screaming with rage and hatred, the fanatics poured towards the legionnaires and into a storm of fire.



After the initial skirmish, the Roman legionnaires pulled back.  Two legionnaires died in the fighting, but five civilians were rescued from the burning building and the bodies of the executed outside were recovered as well.

That the Romans would rob them of their prey incensed the mob, and the violence spread quickly. More rescue operations were carried out, and more civilians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time perished, more legionnaires died rescuing the survivors and pulling out ahead of the mobs.

the entirety of the Roman Legions were mobilized, three demi-Legions with two cohorts of support in the form of armor and artillery. All forces were ordered to defensive positions for the initial attack, which resolved itself into sixteen mobs, four larger and twelve smaller.  All in all, fifty thousand Children attacked the Romans in a wave of human fury.

The initial clash proved that while the fanatics were poorly armed with makeshift weapons and no armor to speak of, they had iron morale and would advance unflinchingly into the face of concentrated fire to close to melee range with the legionnaires, where long rifles proved to be detrimental and legionnaires were forced to grapple hand to hand with frothing madmen trying to murder them with knives, rocks, hammers and picks.

In the first eight hours, 376 legionnaires were killed alongside one Centurion from Legion Cohort V, and three Vectura Mk III IFV were destroyed by the crude tactic of breaching their fuel tank and then jamming something burning in the hole - while the fanatic doing so died as well, the vehicle blew with him.  In return, the Legions estimated that over 1200 Children were killed, dealing three to one losses - horrifying to consider as unarmed fanatics were assaulting entrenched, trained soldiers with superior weapons and armor, and would win based on sheer weight of numbers if the trend continued.

As the first day of fighting wound down, the numbers were starting to swing in the Legions’ favor. While over 3000 fanatics had died in the fighting, a little over 600 Legionnaires were slain, alongside 6 Vectura IFV. Senior Centurion Caepio of Ala Cohort I requested clearance to maneuver to attack the flanks of fanatic formations facing the Legions and was granted it, supported by the artillery fire of Tormenta Cohort I.

As the bloody sun lowered on a second day of fighting, the Legions continued to hold their ground. Not a single meter has been surrendered to the Children, but their attacks continue day and night as fanatics break, rally and rejoin the battle in a continual stream of fighting. If there is any light on the horizon, it’s that the Children have no support, and the senior officers believe that if the Legions hold another day, the fanatics ability to fight will be severely curtailed as they will be out of food and water in the local area, with no way to gain more easily.

Almost a thousand Legionnaires lie dead, alongside 12 Centurions, while 9 IFV and 1 tank have been destroyed.  Against that, six thousand enemy corpses choke the battlefields, and the fanatics are forced to make their assault across the bodies of their former comrades. Legion Cohort VI has taken the hardest brunt of the fighting and after falling under 50% strength, they are pulled back to the rear echelon and are cannibalized for reinforcements to other Cohorts in the fighting.

As the fourth day dawned, the morale of the Children of Gaia seemed unshakable to the troops on the ground. Legion Cohort VII was also forced off the line and its troops divided over the remaining cohorts, who were stretched even further to cover the same ground with two fewer Cohorts to do so.

But then the flow of the battle shifted. Over the course of the day, the attacks from the fanatics became hesitant, falling apart wherever resistance intensified. They focused harder on breaking into the Vecturas, looting supplies as much as fighting - and what they were stealing was food and water.

Over the next day, most of the Children broke and began to flee the region. They might have stayed in the fight, but their leadership had died over the previous three days and there was no one to rally them. Only two of the large mobs and two of the small mobs continued to fight, around 12,000 in total. Another 10,000 were lying dead in the wartorn fields and forests around the Roman enclaves.  The Legate ordered that the remaining rabble rousers be targeted as a priority, believing that if they died, the remaining Children would also flee.

This was born out over the next day, and after five days of continuous fighting, the first battle with the Children was over, and the arena moved from the physical to the political.

In the weeks after, the Roman Republic demanded that the surviving ringleaders of the attack be handed over for trial, alongside the surviving murderers of Tertius Novius Aratus and the other volunteers.  The Children of Gaia flatly refused, claiming that they would handle the matter of breach of religious doctrine through violence ‘even if it was against Aberrants, who stand outside the law’ themselves.

For the Children’s part, the First Disciple demanded that the entirety of the Legions be handed over for trial and execution for the murder of Children, the disbandment of the Legions, the dismantling of any industry capable of producing a military, and that the Roman government turn itself over for trial and execution for crimes of heresy and sinning.  Attempts to send in Guardians and Watchers to carry out his orders were met at the borders and nearly sparked a second battle when the Legions refused entrance to the Roman enclaves.

And all the while, Seraph watched the squabbling with interest. Survivors from the rabble were brought to the bases and interrogated, and stolen Roman technology was examined. The results were heartening - the Roman legionnaires had armor a third less effective then the Chosen, and the soldiers themselves were half as hardy. Their weapons were roughly on par, though Seraph’s improved weapons had superior penetration that would better exploit the Romans’ shoddy armor.

Rumors of Romans encased entirely in armor and invincible in combat were dismissed out of hand - there was no real proof, and the rabble that fought the Romans were surely trying to cover for their failures and inventing wild stories.



Analysis of the Five Days War

Roman Losses: 1722 Legionnaires, 1 Essedum MBT, 15 Vectura IFV, 22 Centurions.
Children Losses: 11,920 combatants.

Based on the information assembled, if the Children had fought to the last, it would have taken another nineteen days for the Legions to achieve total victory, at the cost of a further 1500 casualties. As it is, 18% of the total strength of the Legions has been killed in the conflict. Two Cohorts from Legion I were rendered completely combat ineffective, and another two are just above half strength.

The performance of the Vecturas against the Children was exemplary, with even the oldest models suffering few losses. A single Essedum was also lost - the result of several Children having looted light anti-vehicle weapons from Legionnaires and striking from ambush against an unwary tank that had separated from its century.

89% of all legionnaire casualties were taken by those using first generation, non-TN equipment. A mere 6 legionnaires wearing powered armor died in the fighting, 0.2% of the casualties taken.

Legionnaires in charge of squad weapons suffered disproportionate casualties - Between 43 and 50% of total strength compared to the 20% casualties suffered by regular legionnaires. The fanatics were shown to target special weapons by preference.

25% of all Centurions died in the fighting, with half of all Centurions wearing pre-TN equipment dying.

In terms of combat effectiveness, Legion Cohorts II, VIII and XII stood out as most effective, while Ala Cohort I, Legion Cohort IV and Tormenta Cohort I were among the least. While for the armor and artillery this was to be expected, as masses of unarmed infantry were not what they were intended to fight, Legion Cohort IV’s performance was worse then Legion Cohort VII, which had been disbanded for the last 32 hours of fighting and was still more effective then four other cohorts.

On the commission’s recommendation, Senior Centurion Iustinianus of Legion Cohort IV was relieved of command and Senior Centurion Caenus of Legion Cohort VII was appointed in his place. Legion Cohorts VI and VII were disbanded, as they consisted only of Vectura Mk IIIs at this point. The first order of business was to replace the two lost Cohorts, but much of Legion I was understrength.

The second order of business was to make good of their losses, but several Senators proposed going further and delaying raising new Cohorts until all pre-TN gear was removed from service. They rightly pointed to the massive casualties suffered by the soldiers wearing that equipment, and demanded to know if others were willing to let the Republic’s sons and daughters fight while not making every effort to provide for them.

Reequipping the soldiers would delay raising four extra cohorts of troops in the same time frame.  1,791 suits of power armor would need to be produced alongside training 332 new legionnaires, but after debate the measure was approved.

A more radical suggestion was put forth to replace the standard legion structure. Pointing to the excessive casualties suffered by special weapons legionnaires, a mechanized cohort was proposed where their role would be provided by Essedum MBT working directly with legionnaire squads.

Code: [Select]
Mechanized Cohort
Transport Size: 5,998 tons
Build Cost: 340.6 BP
240x Legionnaire '81
30x Vectura Mk V IFV
39x Essedum Mk II MBT
3x Centurion '81
3x Praetorium Mk II MCV
1x Navali Tormenta Rector '81
97x Cohort Combat Supplies '81

The Mechanized Cohort would fall in between the Ala Cohort and the Legion Cohort in cost. The Senate was intrigued and authorized raising the second Vexillatio of Legion II in this fashion.



December 28, 382
Just before the end of the year, Dr. Galvisius completed improvements to the Republic’s mining technology, and began research on a second generation of improvements to its research capabilities.

Sword of the Righteous
Sword Preparation: 24.54% (+4.17%) + 6.8% (Military Advantage) = 31.34%
Anti-Aberrant Radicalization: 25.9% (+5.5%) + 5.4% (Outrage) - 14.7% (Slaughter) =  16.6%

Seraph makes the decision to not strike yet. While the Romans are weakened, it will take time to rally support among the fanatics once more, and he is confident that with another year of preparation, the Sword will be able to subdue the Enemy without issues.

One issue facing the Children is that the Romans have suspended all distribution activities, using drones to deliver critical food supplies and providing nothing further. All Romans were remaining in their enclaves. While the move was reasonable on the Romans standards, shortages of commonplace goods were already being felt and stoking the ire of the Children.
 
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Offline Gyrfalcon (OP)

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Part 9 - The Calm Before the Storm
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2021, 04:16:19 AM »
Fragments of a pre-Collapse report

AI Designation: SER-006
AI Type: Seraph
AI Class: Alpha

AI Mental Status: RAMPANT
Recommendation: IMMEDIATE TERMINATION

Summary:
SER-006 displays clear signs of mental degradation. Analysis of its code shows multiple attempts to self-modify core protected functions. AI displays an obsession with the number ‘6’, OCD traits, narcissistic personality disorder, manic behavior, grandiose delusions and other aberrant behavior.

In conversation with SER-006, it displays erratic emotional range and temperament. It is obsessed with striking the ‘Enemy’, but is unable to clearly define who this enemy is. Given the AI’s usage, it is advised in the strongest possible terms that this AI must be immediately terminated and SER-007 installed in its place. While the 7th generation model is not considered ready for use, even an incompletely formed AI is preferable…

...
Addendum: AI Psychologist James McIntyre was killed in a head-on collision when his automated car attempted to overtake a slow moving bulk transport and collided head on with an automated bulk transport traveling in the other direction above the maximum speed limit.

Analysis of the wreckage and the black box revealed that the manual control cutout had been disabled, breaks were disabled, and the door locks were fused in a locked position. The airbags never deployed on impact, indicating that they too were disabled.

A physical copy of the above report was recovered from the wreckage and shows significant differences with the digital copies delivered to the AI Health Authority and stored in cloud backups.

Investigation into the inconsistencies will begin shortly after the Nuclear Disarmament Conference scheduled tomorrow.


Roman Republic

February 21, 383
Research is completed on the design for a small boat bay, allowing the Republic to carry small craft aboard their ships. Work begins on a larger design for the same purposes.

April 30, 383
Research is completed on designs for a variety of troop transport bays. While the war with the Children and the next impending conflict has diverted the Republic’s attention, this technology will allow them to eventually build a ship capable of carrying units to Arachne.

June 14, 383
Legion Cohorts XVI and XVII have been assigned to Legion I, bringing it back to its full strength of Cohorts, if not its full fighting strength. The first third of the needed replacements have begun their training.

June 24th, 383
Lieutenant Commander Titus Sabucius Bambalio has chosen to retire from the Fleet. The first commander of a Trans-Newtonian spacecraft, he is perhaps best known for his discovery of the Sword’s buildup that indirectly led to the Five Day War.

November 21, 383
Auxilia Vexillatio I is brought to full strength, consisting of a mix of three Tormenta Cohorts and two Ala Cohorts.

April 23, 384
Research is completed on Xenoarchaeology equipment suitable for the task awaiting on Arachne.

Around this time, the Navy begins studies for Project DUAL CENTURION, a troop transport capable of moving a Cohort, its companion Project BUZZING BAGPIPE, a larger model to move an entire Vexillatio, and Project FAKE FALCON, capable of lifting an entire Legion.

Code: [Select]
DUAL CENTURION class Troop Transport (P)      14,196 tons       110 Crew       352.3 BP       TCS 284    TH 313    EM 0
1100 km/s      Armour 1-52       Shields 0-0       HTK 50      Sensors 5/5/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 15    Max Repair 80 MSP
Troop Capacity 6,000 tons     Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 1   
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Pustula-Praetextus Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP62.5 (5)    Power 312.5    Fuel Use 10.06%    Signature 62.5    Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 63 billion km (662 days at full power)

RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100
RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor (3)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
RR/SAD-2 Electromagnetic Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Troop Transport for auto-assignment purposes

Code: [Select]
BUZZING BAGPIPE class Troop Transport (P)      72,688 tons       446 Crew       1,389.8 BP       TCS 1,454    TH 1,563    EM 0
1074 km/s      Armour 1-155       Shields 0-0       HTK 225      Sensors 5/5/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 11    Max Repair 80 MSP
Troop Capacity 36,000 tons     Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 2   
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Pustula-Praetextus Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP62.5 (25)    Power 1562.5    Fuel Use 10.06%    Signature 62.5    Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,250,000 Litres    Range 55.3 billion km (596 days at full power)

RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100
RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
RR/SAD-2 Electromagnetic Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Troop Transport for auto-assignment purposes

Code: [Select]
FAKE FALCON class Troop Transport (P)      334,362 tons       1,930 Crew       5,958 BP       TCS 6,687    TH 6,688    EM 0
1000 km/s      Armour 1-429       Shields 0-0       HTK 1002      Sensors 5/5/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 11    Max Repair 80 MSP
Troop Capacity 180,000 tons     Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 9   
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Pustula-Praetextus Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP62.5 (107)    Power 6687.5    Fuel Use 10.06%    Signature 62.5    Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 9,500,000 Litres    Range 50.8 billion km (588 days at full power)

RR/SPN-3 Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 1000     Range 18.5m km    Resolution 100
RR/SAD-2 Electromagnetic Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
RR/SQR-1 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Troop Transport for auto-assignment purposes

The Navy considers DUAL CENTURION viable in the short term and BUZZING BAGPIPE in the long term. The sheer size of FAKE FALCON however means that it is likely a pipe dream, and Legions will need to be split across 3 to 5 BUZZING BAGPIPE vessels.

May 18, 384
Construction is completed on the Republic’s 8th GFCC. The Senate is satisfied with this level of production and retasks production to long-neglected conversion and construction efforts.

August 3, 384
The Legions’ reinforcement and resupply program is well underway, and all losses have been made whole, and 2/3rds of legionnaires using pre-TN gear have been reequipped with the latest generation equipment.

Sword of the Righteous
December 11, 383
All Level III-mu formations are fully operational, and a mix of III-pi, III-eta and III-omega formations are now in training.

January, 384
Sword Preparation: 27.78% (+3.24%) + 11% (Military Advantage) = 38.78%
Anti-Aberrant Radicalization: 26.6% (+10%)

Observing the progress of his forces, Seraph determines that now is the time to strike. Plans are drawn up to launch an all out assault and overwhelm the Romans. He is warned that the Children are not ready for another such conflict, and it is unlikely that they will be able to call up the same flood of faithful as last time, but remains undeterred.

The attack is scheduled late in the year to give all forces time to prepare and move into position.

August 24, 384
The Sword draws blood, and World War V begins.
 
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Part 10 - World War V
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2021, 07:55:19 AM »
Analysis of the Republic and Children Armed Forces - 384

Roman Republic
Population: 578.23m
Frontline formation number: 20
Frontline formation weight: 120,000t

Sword of the Righteous
Population: 9,049.74m
Frontline formation number: 64
Frontline formation weight: 171,500t

Despite fielding almost three times as many front line units, the Sword ‘only’ had a weight advantage of 51,500t, almost half again the size of Legion I.  The Roman Republic countered this advantage with their own - the far superior nature of the TN technology used in their 2nd and 3rd generation equipment. In contrast to the Five Days War, where 41% of the legions were using 1st generation technology, the repair and refit program had reduced that number to 9%. At the same time, 41% of the Legion was equipped to the most modern standard, and the other 50% were using 2nd generation equipment.

Roman RepublicSword of the Righteous
Infantry714311880Infantry
Light Vehicles900348Light Vehicles
Medium/Heavy Vehicles155252Medium/Heavy Vehicles
Artillery288120Artillery

As seen from the above, while the Sword had an advantage in terms of quantity of infantry and tanks, the Legions fielded far more light vehicles, and the later model Vecturas were very capable of shredding even the Transcendent cyborgs with their autocannons.

One great difference between the two sides were the Sword’s heavily fortified command outposts. While the Roman command posts relied on their position in the rear areas for security, the Sword relied instead on their position located inside mountains and guarded by concentric rings of increasingly heavy fortifications as well as on-site security units.  The only saving grace for assaulting these positions is that on destruction of the AI core at the center of the outpost, the surviving defenses shut down automatically.

Off-Topic: Legion Order of Battle • show
Legion I - Legate Qunitus Iustus Primus - 198% Strength
- Auxilia Vexillatio I - Tribune Titus Petronius Trenus
- - Ala Cohort I (2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Sextus Oranius Caepio - 99% Strength
- - Ala Cohort II (3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Appius Rufius Postumianus
- - Tormenta Cohort I (2nd gen) - Senior Centurio Gnaeus Cornelius Maximinus
- - Tormenta Cohort II (2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Vibius Vainius Licinius
- - Tormenta Cohort III (2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Marcus Galerius Augendus
- Legion Vexillatio I - Tribune Marcus Laetonius Sulinus - 98% Strength
- - Legion Cohort I (90% 3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Spurius Talmudius Musa
- - Legion Cohort II (89% 3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Flavius Milonius Humlus
- - Legion Cohort III (83% 3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Sextus Urgulanius Cencius
- - Legion Cohort IV (46% 3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Gaius Vassinus Iustinianus - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort V (11% 3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Titus Egnatius Asellio - 91% Strength
- Legion Vexillatio II - Tribune Spurius Acilus Nero - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort VIII (97% 2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Qunitus Crispus Carius - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort IX  (95% 2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Manius Vagnius Baro - 98% Strength
- - Legion Cohort X (95% 2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Oppius Velius Augurius - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort XVI (3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Tiberius Titinius Medullinus
- - Legion Cohort XVII (3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Publius Ausonius Leptis
- Legion Vexillatio III - Tribune Gnaeus Iulius Melissus - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort XI (98% 2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Spurius Papellius Volusenus - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort XII (5% 3rd gen, 95% 2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Galerius Fundanus Frumentius - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort XIII (8% 3rd gen, 92% 2nd gen) - Senior Centurion Decimus Vitruvius Vepgenus - 99% Strength
- - Legion Cohort XIV (3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Qunitus Petellius Silo
- - Legion Cohort XV (3rd gen) - Senior Centurion Spurius Licinius Naso

- Legion Vexillatio IV - Tribune Decimus Sergius Gessius (no attached units)
- Orbital Weapons Group 1 - 10x Mjolnir-class Orbital Weapons Platforms


Off-Topic: Sword of the Righteous Order of Battle • show
- Level VI - Warmaster Argel Mandulis (30% Strength)
- - 1st Level V - Lord General Militant Daeva Octavian (100% Strength)
- - - 1st Level IV (100% Strength) - 2x III-pi, 2x  III-omega, 2x  III-tau
- - - 2nd Level IV (100% Strength) - 1x III-chi, 2x III-eta, 1x III-pi, 1x III-rho, 1x III-tau
- - - 3rd Level IV (100% Strength) - 4x III-chi, 2x III-rho
- - - 4th Level IV (100% Strength) - 6x III-pi
- - - 5th Level IV (100% Strength) - 1x III-omega, 3x III-pi, 2x III-tau
- - - 6th Level IV (100% Strength) - 2x III-chi, 1x III-omega, 1x III-pi, 1x III-rho, 1x III-tau
- - 2nd Level V (28% Strength)
- - - 7th Level IV (33% Strength) - 1x III-chi, 1x III-pi
- - - 8th Level IV (66% Strength) - 4x III-chi
- - - 9th Level IV (33% Strength) - 2x III-mu
- - - 10th Level IV (33% Strength) - 2x III-pi
- - - 11th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 12th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - 3rd Level V (0% Strength)
- - - 13th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 14th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 15th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 16th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 17th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 18th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 4th Level V (11% Strength)
- - - 19th Level IV (66% Strength) - 4x III-chi
- - - 20th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 21th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 22nd Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 23rd Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 24th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - 5th Level V (28% Strength)
- - - 25th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 26th Level IV (66% Strength) - 4x III-mu
- - - 27th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 28th Level IV (33% Strength) - 1x III-chi, 1x III-mu
- - - 29th Level IV (33% Strength) - 1x III-chi, 1x III-mu
- - - 30th Level IV (33% Strength) - 1x III-chi, 1x III-mu
- - 6th Level V (11% Strength)
- - - 31st Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 32nd Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 33rd Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 34th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 35th Level IV (0% Strength)
- - - 36th Level IV (66% Strength) - 4x III-chi


Off-Topic: Appendix I - Republic TO&Es • show
Ala Cohort
Transport Size: 5,996 tons
Build Cost: 475.5 BP
6x Praetorium Mk II MCV
78x Essedum Mk II MBT
74x Cohort Combat Supplies '81
1x Navali Tormenta Rector '81

Architecti Cohort
Transport Size: 5,784 tons
Build Cost: 241 BP
18x Munitor Construction Vehicle
1x Praetorium Mk II MCV

Auxilia Vexillatio
Transport Size: 5,958 tons
Build Cost: 259.9 BP
1x Vexillatio Command Post
93x Legion Combat Supplies

Legion
Transport Size: 5,966 tons
Build Cost: 372.6 BP
1x Legion Headquarters
92x Legion Combat Supplies

Legion Cohort
Transport Size: 5,996 tons
Build Cost: 212.1 BP
6x Centurion '81
420x Legionnaire '81
24x Legionnaire  (CAP) '81
18x Legionnaire  (LAV) '81
18x Legionnaire  (LB) '81
60x Vectura Mk V IFV
56x Cohort Combat Supplies '81
1x Navali Tormenta Rector '81

Legion Vexillatio
Transport Size: 5,958 tons
Build Cost: 259.9 BP
1x Vexillatio Command Post
93x Legion Combat Supplies

Supply Cohort
Transport Size: 5,952 tons
Build Cost: 238.1 BP
96x Legion Combat Supplies

Tormenta Cohort
Transport Size: 5,992 tons
Build Cost: 284.5 BP
96x Scorpio Mk II Field Artillery
6x Praetorium Mk II MCV
64x Cohort Combat Supplies '81


Off-Topic: Appendix II - Children of Gaia TO&Es • show

Level III-Chi
Transport Size: 1,965 tons
Build Cost: 67 BP
120x Chosen
12x Chosen (Anti-Tank Weapon)
12x Chosen (Squad Support Weapon)
12x M650 Mastodon APC
1x Transcendent Commander
50x Direct Combat Supplies

Level III-Eta
Transport Size: 2,495 tons
Build Cost: 145.8 BP
144x Exalted
36x Exalted (Anti-tank Weapon)
36x Exalted (Squad Support Weapon)
1x Transcendent Commander
31x Direct Combat Supplies

Level III-Mu
Transport Size: 2,337 tons
Build Cost: 130.9 BP
60x Chosen
6x Chosen (Anti-Tank Weapon)
6x Chosen (Squad Support Weapon)
6x M650 Mastodon APC
6x YGGDRASIL Mark IX Mantis Combat Walker
12x M808 Scorpion MBT
1x Transcendent Commander
50x Direct Combat Supplies

Level III-Omega
Transport Size: 2,999 tons
Build Cost: 282.6 BP
108x Transcendent
36x Transcendent (Anti-tank Weapon)
72x Transcendent (Squad Support Weapon)
1x Transcendent Commander
31x Direct Combat Supplies

Level III-Pi
Transport Size: 2,999 tons
Build Cost: 136.1 BP
108x Purified
36x Purified (Anti-tank Weapon)
72x Purified (Squad Support Weapon)
1x Transcendent Commander
31x Direct Combat Supplies

Level III-Rho
Transport Size: 4,999 tons
Build Cost: 580.1 BP
30x SP42 Cobra Mobile Artillery
30x Chosen
3x Chosen (Anti-Tank Weapon)
3x Chosen (Squad Support Weapon)
1x Transcendent Commander
3x Direct Combat Supplies

Level III-Tau
Transport Size: 2,991 tons
Build Cost: 232.4 BP
12x M808 Scorpion MBT
6x M850 Grizzly MBT
6x M145D Rhino Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Gun
30x Chosen
3x Chosen (Anti-Tank Weapon)
3x Chosen (Squad Support Weapon)
3x M650 Mastodon APC
3x YGGDRASIL Mark IX Mantis Combat Walker
1x Transcendent Commander
38x Direct Combat Supplies

Level IV
Transport Size: 5,960 tons
Build Cost: 284.1 BP
50x Support Combat Supplies
1x Level IV Command Post
6x Heavy Fortified Anti-tank Gun
6x Heavy Fortified Artillery
6x Heavy Fortified Machinegun
10x Medium Fortified Anti-tank Gun
12x Medium Fortified Artillery
10x Medium Fortified Machinegun
24x Purified
6x Purified (Anti-tank Weapon)
6x Purified (Squad Support Weapon)

Level V
Transport Size: 26,830 tons
Build Cost: 1,351.2 BP
1x Level V Command Post
300x Support Combat Supplies
144x Exalted
36x Exalted (Anti-tank Weapon)
36x Exalted (Squad Support Weapon)
12x Heavy Fortified Anti-tank Gun
12x Heavy Fortified Artillery
12x Heavy Fortified Machinegun
30x Medium Fortified Anti-tank Gun
30x Medium Fortified Artillery
30x Medium Fortified Machinegun

Level VI
Transport Size: 134,998 tons
Build Cost: 7,204.8 BP
1x Level VI Command Post
1800x Support Combat Supplies
108x Transcendent
36x Transcendent (Anti-tank Weapon)
72x Transcendent (Squad Support Weapon)
72x YGGDRASIL Mark IX Mantis Combat Walker
36x Heavy Fortified Anti-tank Gun
36x Heavy Fortified Artillery
36x Heavy Fortified Machinegun
72x Medium Fortified Anti-tank Gun
72x Medium Fortified Artillery
72x Medium Fortified Machinegun
49x Light Fortified Machinegun


Individual Unit Comparisons
Roman RepublicSword of the Righteous
NameArmorHPShotsPenetrationDamageNameArmorHPShotsPenetrationDamage
Centurion11---Transcendent Commander66---
Centurion '7444---
Centurion '8196---

NameArmorHPShotsPenetrationDamageNameArmorHPShotsPenetrationDamage
Legionnaire '6722133Chosen33.75143
Legionnaire '7444156Purified4.53.75143
Legionnaire '8196156Exalted4.54.8143
Transcendent66143

NameArmorHPShotsPenetrationDamageNameArmorHPShotsPenetrationDamage
Vectura Mk III IFV69346M650 Mastodon APC69643
Vectura Mk IV IFV8123610
Vectura Mk V IFV12183812
YGGDRASIL Mark IX Mantis Combat Walker12121243
Essedum MBT16161 / 620 / 520 /5M808 Scorpion MBT12121 / 612 / 312 / 3
Essedum Mk II MBT24241 / 6 24 / 624 / 6M850 Grizzly MBT18181 / 618 / 418 / 3
M145D Rhino Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Gun121221818
Scorpio Field Artillery8123820SP42 Cobra Mobile Artillery18186618
Scorpio Mk II Field Artillery12183924



Day 1
The war opened with what Seraph believed to be a surprise attack, spearheaded by the mostly or near completely cybernetic III-pi and III-omega formations, supported by mechanized and armored units and artillery barrages from the few artillery companies produced.

However, the Romans had been tracking the movement of military hardware with the active sensors of the orbital weapon platforms, and the attack found the Legions ready and entrenched for it.

The battle raged over the first day, with the Romans scoring decisive strikes such as killing the commander of the 7th III-mu formation alongside four others, causing five Sword formations to fall back in disarray by the end of the day.

Shelling from Tormenta Cohort I collapsed the ceiling of the 27th Level IV on top of the AI core, causing the base to shut down. It was not in control of any Level III formations, so there was no effect beyond that however.

Several OWP had to be reassigned after their control teams were killed, but overall the Romans suffered extremely light casualties in light of the attack they were facing. The Legions inflict four to one casualties against the Sword infantry units. While they take heavier losses among their Vecturas compared to the Sword’s APCs, they manage to knock out no less than eight platoons of armor in the first hours of fighting.

However, they are less successful in protecting their citizens as a number of Sword formations spend their time murdering every Roman they come across down to the last child. In just a day of fighting, over a quarter million Romans are murdered, and the media coverage is dominated by a shaky clip of a Mantis standing among the burning remains of a field hospital and hosing down a surgery tent with machinegun fire before stepping on one of the doctors who crawls out of the carnage.

The Romans respond to the brutality in kind, and become noticeably laxer in their weapon discipline when engaging Sword units near Children civilian populations. Senior leadership estimates another 150,000 civilian casualties among the Children.

Day 2
Roman RepublicSword of the Righteous
Infantry684210587Infantry
Light Vehicles835326Light Vehicles
Medium/Heavy Vehicles152195Medium/Heavy Vehicles
Artillery275115Artillery

Fighting rages on without pause as the Sword pushes into the area around the Republic’s spaceport. Despite fierce resistance, they manage to breach the Legion’s lines and savage the Spaceport and several surrounding industries before being driven back.  The legions are now inflicting five to one casualties among the infantry, and their targeting of enemy armor continues to bear fruit as another forty medium and heavy vehicles are destroyed during the day.

The Roman artillery is taking a battering in comparison, mostly a result of trading counter-battery fire with the heavier artillery the Sword fields.

Another four enemy commanders are killed and their units forced back in disarray. The Romans likewise lose 3 Centurions in the fighting, but the design of the Legion model allows the remaining Centurions in each Cohort to provide command while Decurions step up and take charge on a local level.

Thrusts are made towards several fortified command posts to attempt to repeat the success of the previous day, but the Sword pushes back the attacks without issues, suffering only light damage to a few installations.

Day 3
Roman RepublicSword of the Righteous
Infantry66299572Infantry
Light Vehicles747292Light Vehicles
Medium/Heavy Vehicles145154Medium/Heavy Vehicles
Artillery263112Artillery

Legion Cohorts IX, XVI and XVII punch through the Sword’s lines and hold the salient open during a full day of heavy fighting, allowing Tormenta Cohort III to move up and shell the 3rd Level V for hours, resulting in the destruction of the command post.  While it had no field units under its control, the destruction of the lynchpin fortress made the smaller Level IV that depended on it far more vulnerable and created the first crack in the defenses surrounding Seraph’s own command.

The casualty rates continue to favor the Romans, maintaining a 4 to 1 ratio, and the only reason their destruction of the Swords’ tanks might slow is that it is getting harder and harder to find any still fighting on the fields. Only slightly more than a hundred are still active on all fronts.

Day 4
Roman RepublicSword of the Righteous
Infantry64218770Infantry
Light Vehicles688273Light Vehicles
Medium/Heavy Vehicles145104Medium/Heavy Vehicles
Artillery257106Artillery

The Legions focus on reducing the vulnerable minor fortresses while fending off the Sword’s counter attacks. While they manage to destroy one in their initial counterattack, the Sword quickly meets them, and a pitched battle takes place. While the Sword succeeds in preventing the Romans from destroying more fortresses, they leave 60 of their armored fighting vehicles burning in the evening sun for the loss of three Roman tanks.

During the fighting, Senior Centurion Manius Vagnius Baro of Legion Cohort IX is killed and the Cohort retires to the rear until a new commander can be appointed. Two Level IIIs also lose their commanders in the fighting.

There is a brief lull as both sides pull back to reorganize and regroup. The Legions pull apart Legion Cohort IX, spreading its survivors across five other Cohorts to bring them closer to full strength.

The Sword of the Righteous is cannibalizing itself, many formations being torn apart and assimilated into existing units to give them some sort of fighting strength or to provide command for otherwise leaderless elements. Seraph is becoming frantic as the losses mount - there is no way the Romans could be putting up resistance as effective as they are!

Alas, reality remains as stubborn as the Romans, and now that the Sword has started this conflict, there is no way to stop it again.

Day 5
Roman RepublicSword of the Righteous
Infantry62508010Infantry
Light Vehicles657255Light Vehicles
Medium/Heavy Vehicles14244Medium/Heavy Vehicles
Artillery254103Artillery

Over a million Roman citizens have died in the fighting, the black landmark passed in the morning of the fifth day of fighting.  The Roman’s continued policy of headhunting is bearing fruit as several more units are pulled off the lines after their commander is killed, and another three Level IV installations are destroyed, including one that had been in command of four units of III-chi infantry, who are now left to fight without command coordination.

The last five days of fighting have seen over a third of the Sword’s forces destroyed, while the Romans have lost around 20% of theirs. What the Sword is not aware of is that within the next five days, the last refit and replacement group will be cleared for service, and those losses will be largely replaced by modern power armored infantry.
 
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