Post by EmperorMyric on Jun 27, 2020 17:50:29 GMT
The Grand Empire of Captiol (1AW Era)
Flag:
Motto:
Through Our Might, Progress!
Species:
Human:
Capitol is a predominantly human nation, made up of ethnic Capitol humans alongside many native Ancerious human strains. Humans are the only true citizens in Capitol and as such are afforded rights, despite the superiority of humans in Capitol the vast majority are not improved in any way. Gene editing, augmentics and more can only be found in the Aristocratic families, the Emperor's own household and in the Oligarchy due to its extremely high cost and rarity. As such the humans of Capitol are predominantly baseline humans as they are today.
Other Non Human Species:
The days before and during 1AW saw all non-human species within Capitol as complete slaves without exception. Non humans were looked down upon as less than scum and merely a resource to be used to further Capitols goals. Most of these non-humans were chattel slaves raided from other nations or the remains of species who were conquered by Capitol only used to slave away in mines, industrial theatres or agriculture until they died by accident or old age. These non humans had strict limits to reproduction and many were forcibly sterilised, beaten or experimented on. At least 3 species are known to have been rendered extinct during this period, the last of their kind dying in Capitols industrial arcologies without a single care.
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Leadership:
Emperor Heracles Garren:
Son of the esteemed Capitol general and 2nd Emperor of Capitol Ferinaza Garren, Heracles was born into the Capitol royal family to live a life of luxury and be destined for the throne. Heracles was an only child, born to a hardline father who was a brilliant strategist and statesmen who had managed to rebuild Capitol after Vanwitts death and who sought to propel Capitol into the future. It is then, quite sad that Ferinazas vision for his nation would die under his own son, who unlike his capable father was anything but. Heracles was a pampered child, full of self superiority and bouts of anger, tired of living in the shadow of his father like some lesser man. It would be the assasination of Ferinaza which would bring forth Heracles to the throne, orchestrated through the support of the aristocratic houses which his father had kept in line and balanced out. Now with Heracles on the throne, the new Emperor had no problem with letting the houses run rampant, SORKA and ARPEI were both nationalised, the Enforcer Corps were purged and filled with hardline aristocratic purists and a new wave of genetic pogroms came about with sweeping authoritarian social reform. Heracles in a matter of months had reduced Capitol to a hollowed out form of his father's vision and he obsessed over the military and conquest. It was Heracles who led Capitol into Ancerious, conquering the new territory and sowing the seeds for Capitols future rise. Despite this it was mostly his advisors which benefitted the nation as Heracles was ever a stupid and self serving man. Any who spoke out against him even in light disagreement were silenced and his enforcer corps were little more than puppets for the ruling families. Heracles was content to let the houses go about their power grabbing and they were content to keep Heracles in power for his permitting for it to happen. Heracles would go on to have two children during Capitols expansion, a son and a daughter, the latter of which he would spurn and ignore until the death of his son. However despite his supposed superiority Heracles would end up being killed during the 1st Ancerious war, after being threatened into attacking the Immortal Empire by a mysterious party the Emperor would rally his entire fleet and personally lead the charge. It was in the Xantan system where Heracles would die, being wiped away in fire. It would be his death that would spark a new era.
Government Type:
Plutocratic Aristocracy:
Capitol during its first era was a Plutocratic state, run by an Emperor (Heracles Garren) and backed by a series of 8 aristocratic houses which controlled most of the power. While the Emperor technically held the undisputed power of Capitol and whose decrees were not just law but seen as the direct hand of a deity (introduced by Heracles) the houses actually controlled the lion's share of the power. Political decisions and legislation were in theory supposed to come from the Emperor or go through the Emperor to be approved to be mandated, however Heracles was ever uninterested in running a state for the most part and as such the ruling Aristocrats formed a unofficial yet very much official council known as the ‘Iron Eight’, this group drafted legislation, the political decisions and the direction of Capitol and saw it implemented through the huge labyrinthine civil servant government system which ran the nation, riddled with corruption and political backstabbing. While the Iron Eight could technically overthrow the Emperor, Garrens interests aligned predominantly and as such overthrowing him would merely disturb the peace. Whenever the Emperor made a decree, the Iron Eight could not challenge it, but would see it implemented.
Despite the size of Capitols civil servant government branches, it would take a significant amount of time to get anything done, this would be due to the sheer amount of incompetence and corruption found within the system as most governmental officials were wealthy individuals or family members of one of the houses with no qualifications other than status. It was not uncommon for many to assassinate or manipulate their way into positions of power and so much of the political system in the government was an intricate endless game of power grabbing and backstabbing.
It is also noteworthy that many within the government system and even over half the members of the Iron Eight, were also military leaders. As such the differential between the military and the civilian government was non-existent, and it was a common occurrence for the military political corps (known as Commissars) to operate within the governmental structure to help oversee matters and keep it running smoothly. These civilian based commissar groups would be the foundation for the ISS of Inaras era.
Economic System:
Before Heracles Garren and the Houses took total power, Capitol was a fairly liberalised open market built around foreign investment and private sector competition. However after they took power sweeping reforms were made to nationalise the various corporations of Capitol and stamp out private enterprise, allowing the houses to throw out powerful oligarchs and businessmen so they could insert their own powerful family members into positions of economic power. This of course was a complete disaster, and resulted in Capitol being one of the poorest nations in the galaxy reflected in its technological standards and military capability with the faction being too poor to fund massive R&D efforts or invest into new technologies. Many of the political inserts into the likes of SORKA and ARPEI had no interest in running a company and merely wanted the social status and as such the criminal mismanagement and corruption did untold damage to these institutions reducing Capitols industrial and economic capacity. As such the new economic system was one of government control, it was the Iron Eight who set the budgets, who siphoned off countless funds for their own families and individuals and who spent the wealth they gained in foreign trade ports and ventures to improve their own lifestyles.
With this poverty sweeping the nation Capitols reluctance to allow outside investment especially from non controlled nations hurt it even more to the point where mobilising their military fight in 1AW almost bankrupted the nation. Many of the houses poured their funds into the war to show off their support for Capitols grand campaign only to watch the fleets and troops (along with many captains and commanders, members of the families) get butchered. It would be this terrible economic system which allowed Inara to gain much of her support, aiding underground members of SORKA and ARPEI and courting their old leaders who had been imprisoned, allowing her to make massive economic reforms after her father's death.
Social Structure:
Social structure was one of the most tangled and corrupted affairs of Capitol. However it was incredibly one sided, and so broken that it practically allowed Inara to pave the way for her revolution and rise to the throne.
The Emperor & Royal Family:
While technically being the 9th house the royal family are those who follow the line of succession. The royal family started out as Oscar Vanwitt, founder of Capitol but he sired no heirs and when he died appointed Ferinaza Garren as Emperor. As such Ferinaza did not make the same mistake, and expanded his own family to include close allies and also his children. Heracles however was to be his only child (at least legitimate child, who knows how many illegitimate children he had and how many were hunted down by his jealous full son). The royal family as such had the most wealth, living in ornate palaces, under constant watch by professionally trained soldiers and their word was to be taken as supreme. The only way to be taken into the Emperor's household was to be given familial status by the Emperor for some epic deed or marital ties. During Heracles reign the royal family and the Emperor were portrayed as deities, ruling through divine right and whose word was the direct voice of the universe itself.
The Eight Great Houses:
The Eight Great Houses were notable families of those who backed Vanwitt in the Civil War and who were exiled along with him by the Union of Worlds. Each family was given special positions under Vanwitt, to aid him in founding this new human centric powerful nation. During these days the families acted as an extension of Vanwitt, providing excellent economic, military, industrial and social capability as they assisted him in building the new Capitol. Many of them were notable political personnel, military generals, corporate industrialists and powerful economists and so as the families became the solidified houses they concentrated their power. Unfortunately after such a period of time, many of the skills and contributions of the houses faded out and in time they became little more than powerful sub factions within Capitol ever looking for more control. Vanwitt and Ferinaza both kept them in power with the Enforcer Corps but Heracles gave them what they wanted, unbridled power. The Eight (Nirai, Metaxas, Calogera, Theotokis, Kapodistrias, Irakis, Amytzantairoi and Mavraco) as such had massive power within Capitol and controlled much including the upper class which clustered around the families always wishing to gain access through patronage or marital ties. Access to these families was strict and their members were notable politicians, industrialists and military commanders but unfortunately the majority were incompetant and had no knowledge of their roles, only ever looking to improve their social status. Many of these houses would be purged during Inaras coup some entirely, while others backed the new Empress and conducted self purging for any Garrenist elements.
The Enforcer Corps:
While not technically a strata of society the Enforcer Corps and the Commissariat were the right hand of the Eight and the Emperor to enforce their law and will on the population. The enforcers were given decent living conditions and wages and were told what to do and say, other than that anyone could be a member of the Enforcers of Commissars and as such criminals, sadists and more were allowed to be and even encouraged to join up. These groups then enforced the will of the leaders through vicious means, public killings, mass shootings, vandalization of property and even burning whole towns to the ground in order to instill fear in the population. As long as they enforced what was needed their methods were overlooked. Many of the Enforcer corps who were loyal to Garren were purged during Inaras coup, but those who were loyal to the new Empress were later formed into K Battalion.
The Upper Class:
The Upper Class are a small niche within Capitol which lie between the (somewhat) well off middle class and the mythical families themselves. While the upper class was smaller in size it was a group of individuals and families who were quite well off due to various situations and who were given low level control oversight to political districts, industrial camps, slave labour farms and the like. This upper class however unlike the families, typically had to know what they were doing, for to fail in their appointed tasks was to anger the Eight and therefore lose their status or be killed outright. For this the ‘Upper Class’ of Capitol formed much of its long lost intelligentsia and capable leaders, and it would be this group which Inara would form many ties with in the days to come.
The Middle Population:
The Middle population were considered the rank and file of Capitols 'normal citizenry, they were the ones who went to non labour jobs and who were part of the armed forces and the like. While they were stifled from most education and bottlenecked by propaganda and social infighting they were the face of the nation. Most of the middle populace had their own slaves or oversaw workforces of less well off individuals but the majority were soldiers or members of Capitols armies, still despite this they were rarely treated any better thanks to the Commissars.
The Workforce:
The workforce of Capitol were considered the lowest class of citizens, while even being considered citizens meant that they should apparently be grateful for their situation. These large numbers of people were treated poorly. Little better than slaves at least working conditions wise the workforce was given regular food, medicine and amenities which slaves lacked and were allowed to spend their free time however they wanted. While often brutalised and picked on by the Enforcers sometimes for fun the workforce constantly looked upwards to perhaps one day rise to the middle class but more often than not were reduced in stature to slaves over perceived slights or petty squabbles. The workforce would be one of Inaras staunchest supporters as her sweeping social reforms and emancipation act freed many who were reduced to slaves reuniting family and loved ones and bringing Capitols lowest citizens up to a dignified living standard and way of life.
Slaves & Undesirables:
Capitol had vast numbers of slaves and other undesirables within its nation. It used them as cheap labour in industry, mining, agriculture and more even having them in social lives as those who must serve their masters. Many of these slaves were aliens or from other nations and these were treated particularly poorly, often without regular food or water and forbidden any comforts or medical treatment. Slaves of notable individuals may find better care but were still treated poorly as scum, but it was the Capitol born slaves which made up the rest either having been reduced to slaves for crimes or slights or just having been born into this life. It was only the Capitol and human slaves who were allowed to reproduce regularly and aliens were mostly sterilised or kept to strict numbers. Many slave uprisings or riots occurred during Garrens reign, and nearly all ended in terrible massacres. It would be Inara who would free all Capitol born slaves, forbidding any Capitol citizen to be reduced to such level, but the use of slaves would never truly be abolished until the occupation of Capitol.
Culture:
Capitol at least in the upper reaches of its society was a decadent and ignorant culture, content and focused on pleasing itself and attaining more wealth all the while the dreary masses of the population lay in ignorance and endless work shifts, ever in fear of the enforcers and the upper classes. Individualism was rife during Garrens era, and while propaganda and state nationalism pushed for a united peoples propelled by collectivism and unity it was very much the opposite. Endless political games, backstabbing, killings, swindling and bribery occurred at virtually all levels of the nation with personal advancement seen as the only goal, to get yourself to a content lifestyle and hold onto it so the man below you doesn't take it. It was engrained never to trust, never to turn your back for someone will always be after what you have and as such the collectivist dream was ever just a hopeless one.
It was not improved by Capitols terrible education standards and tight restriction on information. State sanctioned news was the only way to learn of events, and this was always heavily censored and changed for the benefit of the state. Education was basic, only enough to help individuals find their place in society job wise and to carry out that job until the day they died, individual critical thinking was frowned upon as was innovation for to change the status quo was to question the Emperor and the state. After all, if the Emperor was a deity why would he not rule over anything but a perfect nation? This tied into the indoctrination and belief of the Emperor as a god or at least a mortal form of one, virtually all of those within the houses, upper class and many within the middle class knew it to be a total fabrication but those in the workforce who were too poor and too uneducated sometimes believed it. But it was all orchestrated as part of the system constructed to ensure that the Emperor and the Eights power was kept and never lost.
This drive for social status and personal advancement was what helped kill Capitols own drive. High up placements within the military, industrial centers, political organisations and labour forces were seen not as jobs to be conducted but as marks of status leading countless individuals who were inept to gain such roles purely for the benefit of themselves. Whole sectors suffered from poor management and many instances where an individual could hold multiple roles existed, crippling multiple sectors at once. Most of these head roles were taken by families especially in the military and any who questioned or spoke out simply disappeared while more capable individuals were bribed behind the scenes to oversee the role without any of the public credit or recognition and to try usurp a member of a family in this way would almost certainly end in execution alongside one's own family and friends.
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Homeworld:
Celefra:
Celefra is the capital of Capitol. It is a dry, arid desert world which has been clawed back by the nation to be more habitable. Huge cities dot its surface alongside large mountain ranges and several shallow oceans. Celefra is home to the royal palace alongside the palaces of the Eight and it is defended by numerous defense platforms, starbases and the home fleet. Celefra has three moons, Sinope, Adrastea and Isonoe, named after ancient moons of the Sol system. The system itself has three other worlds, one of which is a large gas giant and the other two being molten volcanic worlds close to the yellow main sequence star.
Major Population Centers:
Rubikon:
Rubikon started out as a large population center which was ‘liberated’ from the Rubikasoan peoples, a species who had not yet attained faster than light and were rapidly conquered and enslaved, sadly now extinct. The system was in time however used as a diplomatic ground for relations between Capitol and the Leistunganos Oligarchy (also known as Shadowblade) and also the Umbra Guard which was in time forged into what would be dubbed by Admiral Hargun as ‘The Dark Triumvirate’. This joint system would see outside investment by both LO and the Umbra in a rare display of kinsmenship and open economic policy. As such Rubikon became a major system rapidly, constructing shipyards and advanced defense systems alongside being the location of numerous secret black projects which would become both the Brutes and Panopticon.
Bel Thano:
Bel Thano is Capitols primary shipyards, located in a solar system surrounding a red dwarf star and comprising 7 gas giants and hundreds of moons. Bel Thano is therefore a honeycomb of small settlements, cities, military bases and large shipyard complexes which constructed warships for the Capitol fleet and mined the gas giants for their bounty. The shipwrights of Bel Thano would continuously try to ask the Iron Eight and the Emperor for more resources to construct newly designed and drastically improved warships but would be turned down at every venture until Inaras rise.
Selene:
Selene is Capitols industrial heart, made up of three forge worlds which are covered in massive industrial arcologies, forges, particle accelerators and casting smelters. Selene was the jewel that kept Capitols economy from flatlining during Garrens economic reign and countless millions died working in the awful conditions of its foundry cities. Massive amounts of slave labour and resources were funneled into Selene every day to fuel its production but it wouldn't be until Inaras reign that Selene would be reworked into a safe, hyper efficient and much improved industrial center.
Brief History:
Capitols history in Ancerious starts after Heracles Garrens exodus to the galaxy. After being driven out of the Milky Way by the Union, Capitol used the Unions own intelligence against them, managing to forge a way to the Ancerious galaxy in question to settle without the Unions knowledge. Capitol during this early period was weak, disjointed and its future was uncertain. It colonised Celefra along with many other systems, quickly finding that humanity was also native to this galaxy. The initial forays against human unaligned were aggressive as the Capitol ethnic population saw these natives as inferior, but it soon became clear to the families and Garren that these native humans could be incorporated to help grow their nation at an exponential rate. Capitol approached many of these early humans unaligned with propositions of human supremacy, something which was surprisingly well received given histories against alien species. Integrating these populations and systems into the greater Capitol took place rapidly, allowing many of the new nations to be brought in as members of the families and given positions of power. It was during this period that Capitol expanded greatly and that Garren had his two children oversee the expansions and military campaigns. 3 entire native species at least were wiped out during this expansion, all primitive civilisations which ended in the work camps and slave industry of the nation to be used up like resources. After nearly two decades the first encounter with the Union and subsequent skirmishes took place, all with Capitol defeats but in the luck of Garren leading to nothing given the Unions relative small size and inability to capitalise on a full invasion given its colony status.
With Capitol having expanded to its near largest size and its society rife with corruption and more Garren continued to expand and obsess over the military, seeing his ultimate goal being the destruction and expulsion of the Union here, leaving his people free to conquer the Ancerious universe before taking the fight back to the Milky Way and liberating earth. The first set back however was the death of Garrens son Radosis, killed by Inara after his acts against her, Garren did not know it was his daughter and through an intricate plot by the eventual Empress purged several of his command staff who were rivals of Inara. Seeing no alternative Inara became Garrens new favourite, and during this period she used her new influence to forge countless pacts, links, threats, friendships and more with aspects all over Capitol society as a start for her eventual coup. Inara hated her father and she intended to kill him herself and reform Capitol from the broken state it was in to a new powerhouse. This was put on the backburner however when Garren almost out of nowhere declared war against the Immortal Empire.
Seeing this as a chance to rally his nation Capitol mobilised for war, resources uncounted were thrown into the military and new armies and fleets were raised all the while Inara continued to grow her support behind the scenes. With her father Garren giving bombastic and somewhat maniacal speeches about the greatness of this new war Inara laid the groundwork. It would be in the stripmined system of Solomance, one of the most grueling slave mining systems in Capitol, that the assembled armada of nearly 4000 ships assembled along with army transports. Led by Garren himself aboard his super dreadnought ‘His Will’ he gave the order to send in the entirety of Capitols forces to battle leaving the home front dangerous undefended, a fact not lost on many in command and a fact capitalised on by Inara.
Capitol would fight the Immortal Empire in 4 separate systems, seeing some extremely bloody combat but overall resulting in a total massacre and defeat. In Lorenchan and Dalkarni the Capitol fleets managed to inflict losses on the Immortal Empire before being broken by the Flux forces there and forced to retreat with what ships they had left. In Varandal, Capitol found some measure of success, defeating the Immortal Empire fleet in system and assaulting the world there, it would be an occupation conflict they would hold onto until after the war once the ceasefire was negotiated, no thanks to their excessive use of nuclear weapons. But the main battle was Xantan, where Garren led his fleet to their doom, the Emperor being killed by the Immortal Empires own super dreadnought but not before his ace card was deployed. A stolen Union sunbusting Plasma Coil missile was fired into Xantans sun and the resulting supernova wiped out much of the IEs critical military forces and everything in the system.
Upon hearing the titanic losses and the death of the Emperor, Capitol was shaken. With IE counter raids being deployed against outer frontier worlds Capitol seemed to pause in terror and confusion before falling apart into internal conflict, the Eight families seeing the opportunity to take the throne for themselves. However the families and the Garrenists would be ousted as Inara, daughter of Garren would claim the throne and outmaneuver the others in masterful political ploys. With Inara came extreme reforms and improvements, signalling Capitols 2nd era.
Important Industry:
Capitols industry was mostly flatlining during Garrens reign, with much of the outside investment and huge economic pacts which typified Inaras era over a decade away it was Capitols own internal production which kept it going. While importing Ancerium was the only real dealings it had with the outside world it relied heavily on the processing of industrial components along with cheap and rapid manufacturing. It sold these components to mostly LO and the Umbra Guard but also to unaligned across the galaxy. Which would not be truly exploited until later this small back and forth was Capitols only real industry and was what kept it going during its self imposed turbulence.
Diplomatic Doctrine:
Capitol under Garren as could be expected was a diplomatically barren nation. General doctrine was to look on other nations with disdain and that any alien species was lesser. With the colonial nations Capitol kept to itself, occasionally raiding trade routes for resources or funding pirate hits against other factions especially the Union, with the unaligned it tried to flex its supposed might, raiding and conquering what it could mostly those natives who were too weak to defend themselves. The only diplomatic ties Capitol had was with LO and Umbra and these were ties born out of mutual enemies and hatred rather than definitive political movements. It wouldn't be until Inara's reign that Capitol would explode out onto the galactic scene.
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Military Doctrine:
As can be expected Capitols military might was a paper tiger. While having an extremely large armed forces in terms of galactic sizes the majority of it was undertrained, underequipped and led by incompetents. As such Capitol had no ‘official’ military doctrine or command philosophy with which to follow and so each general or commander followed their own thinking which for the most part was vague ideas of how to fight wars. Given that the majority of Capitol command were members of the Iron Eight or straight up family members or connections actual legitimate military genius let alone capability was almost unheard of. Typical tactics under Garren era Capitol saw tens of thousands sent to their deaths in the most simplistic wave assaults and frontal attacks seen in the galaxy where lives and material meant nothing and the leaders would be far away from the front watching the battle unfold merely as a statistic. These huge horde attacks became the typified way of 1AW era Capitol and was usually supplemented by the liberal use of atomic weapons on both a strategic and tactical scale, something which would stick with Capitol until the present day. As such attacks would be preceded with heavy nuclear bombardment before infantry and vehicles would be sent in (often with the bombs still falling) to mop up. During this time Capitols technology and equipment was almost laughable with conventional firearms still dominating its inventory. Infantry were equipped with basic rifles and some rudimentary armour while the Minotaur, Capitols MBT, was an unwieldy, heavy, under armed and unreliable nightmare. Capitol armies also tended to find their supply and logistics overlooked and so many troops were without ammo, weapons or food in the midst of combat. One of the main tactics which typified Garrens reign however was the use of large slave units, given rudimentary weapons and explosive collars and sent into battle in droves. These slave units had to fight for their supplies and were used as fodder to make way for the proper units, while slave forces were used in 2AW they were comparatively rare and almost entirely phased out by the end of that conflict.
Any commander or general questioning orders or thinking about retreat, was typically executed by the Commissars. As such competent leaders often were disposed of purely because they could see the ebb and flow of battle, something which would hamstring Capitol heavily. Still after the end of 1AW and the massacre of Capitols armed forces, the sheer shortcomings shown were enough to expose the whole system, something which Inara was keen to exploit.
Military Branches:
Grand Army of Capitol:
The Grand Army of Capitol was a catch all branch which incorporated all planetary forces. This meant the army consisted of organised forces designed to conduct planetary assaults and attacks as well as forces designed for planetary defense. This branch also incorporated Capitols aerospace forces for planetside operations and all of these were compiled into one, poorly organised labyrinthine unit. The army was seen as the ‘traditionalist’ branch, where those who wished to have status in the traditional ways of warfare would go and who often looked down upon the navy because history favoured glorious ground warfare. It was this divide between the two branches which would see even more incompetence and issues on the battlefields of 1AW.
Grand Navy of Capitol:
The Grand Navy of Capitol consisted of the space forces of the nation which incorporated as well the Capitol marines, the almost non existent Oceanic force and also the aerospace forces that supported the fleets. The fleets of Capitol were no different to the ground forces, led by familial leaders instated as acts of status rather than capability. This added to the woeful situation of Capitols ship quality and led to the disastrous losses of 1AW. It was also common for the naval personnel to look down upon those in the army for they were constrained to planets and could not muster the planet cracking firepower of the grand fleets available to the navy. It was common for naval commanders to actually reject calls for orbital bombardment and support unless the army generals negotiated deals regarding political and social handovers.
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Tech:
Capitol under Garren was incredibly technologically very inferior to the galaxy at large. Given the lack of funding for R&D, improvements and the downright alienation of those competent enough to improve the existing systems Capitol went to war and wallowed in its own awful and unreliable creations. It was one of the prime factors that led to their catastrophic defeat in 1AW, and would be a point of huge contention which would be exploited and improved upon during Inaras rise.
-Weapons:
Conventional Firearms: Capitol still very much relied on standard firearms, using kinetic bullets and standard explosive charges to kill their enemies. These conventional arms stretched from their rifles on infantry to the main guns on MBTs to the gatling PD on starships. Capitol saw these weapons as effective, however as 1AW proved, they were very much behind the capacity to effectively engage most denizens in the galaxy.
Rocket Propelled Cannons: Used before Capitols reliance on railguns the RPC guns on the Mk.1 fleet fired heavy bore munitions which had in built rocket motors able to propel them up to higher speeds after being conventionally fired from the barrel. These guns were notoriously slow, unguided, inaccurate and did little damage to the target and so only through application of overwhelming numbers was any target damaged or destroyed.
ETC Guns: Capitols forays did get into the realms of Electro-Thermal Chemical weapons. These improved guns were tested on ships and tanks towards the end of 1AW where the families and Garren himself were desperately chasing for improved military technology with which to fight the Immortal Empire. These weapons however only saw limited use before being skipped out for railguns by the Mk.2 fleet.
Prototype Railguns: Only used on the largest of ships due to power draw prototype railguns were also introduced towards the end of 1AW, in some cases in an effort to replace Tachyon Arrow mounts with a much more reliable and less self destructive weapon. It would only be observed in limited amounts however before the scrapping of the Mk.1 fleet and the full integration of railguns into the Mk.2 fleet where they would go on to replace RPCs. It is thought that recovering of Union ship wreckage aided Capitol in the development of more compact and effective railguns.
Nuclear Missiles: Capitols over reliance on Nuclear weaponry did not just encompass its army, fission or fission boosted fusion missiles were deployed in space by naval forces. These weapons were often launched in huge salvos and due to rudimentary missile designs many were slow and easy to shoot down. Nevertheless Capitol always went for the largest yields possible, so that any which made contact did maximum damage.
Tachyon Arrows: A complex weapon, and one which was pilfered out of Union R&D archives by Capitol spies. Capitol saw the Tachyon weapon dubbed ‘Arrow’ by Garren himself as the answer to their prayers regarding a weapon which could turn the tide against their foes. The weapon worked by generating large amounts of Tachyons through particle accelerators and firing them through some kind of phase lens, able to turn them briefly to interacting particles. Due to their FTL nature these briefly interacting tachyons could be effective across distances of a solar system and allow Capitol ships to engage enemies from extreme distances before the particles became ineffective. Unfortunately Mk.1 TAs were extremely inaccurate, Capitol possessed no FTL sensors and so aiming of TAs was done in musket like walls of shooting ships to try and score a shot. These early weapons were also just as dangerous to the ships they were on, often overloading or exploding before repeated safety refits were made. However upon impact a TA was more than capable of crippling a warship and these humble weapons would go on to become the staple of the Capitol fleets firepower.
-Defences:
Titanium-Ceramic-Silicon Carbide Armour: Capitols armour was, to put it bluntly, incredibly basic and almost useless against the majority of weapons in the galaxy. Before buying Azanium composites from Triarch, Capitol relied on basic composite armour plates, using it on starships and to some extent on their ground vehicles. It was heavy and inefficient providing little defense against what the galaxy had to offer.
Basic Particle Shields: Consisting of basic magnetic shields and particulates of tungsten carbide the Capitol shield arrays offered only little protection against kinetic weapons but did provide adequate protection from DEWs, this was perhaps the only capable defensive system in use by Capitol during 1AW but was only found on naval starships.
Point Defense: All Capitol ships had some form of point defense, mostly consisting of small kinetic kill missile launchers and 50mm Gatling guns. These provided close in defense against attack craft and missiles but proved to be easy to overwhelm due to the limited computational power of Capitol coordination systems.
Fragmentation ADS: A simple system used on both ships and ground vehicles, an active sensor determined and identified incoming munitions such as missiles or kinetic projectiles and fired one shot fragmentation canisters at them to destroy or disrupt them. These were typically mounted on vehicles across the hull the same with warships and such basic defense did little against the Immortal Empires heavy reliance on energy weapons.
-Power Generation:
Fission Reactors: Capitol had not yet broken the bonds of recreating fusion power plants, lost after the exodus from earth after the Civil War. The project to recreate fusion was close during Ferinazas reign but was abandoned by Heracles Garren and left to rot. As such all Capitol ships and large land vehicles used large scale or compact fission reactors, most using molten salts or even steam. These reactors, pushed to their limits for every watt of power were often unsafe or suffered from radiological leaks, still they provided power for all of Capitol during this era.
-Propulsion:
Open Cycle Fission Drive: Little more than fission rockets these drives while slow were cheap and easy to use by Capitol. While traditional chemical retro thrusters were used in addition to these (often in and around planets) these fission rockets produced incredible amounts of radioactive contamination, as such many navy captains used them as makeshift weapons, flying in low orbit over enemy planets to saturate them with fission products.
Alcubierre Drive: Capitols basic form of FTL was the alcubierre drive, sustained by the breakdown and use of the old drives which drove the exodus. Capitols drives were very power hungry given their low power generation and poor computing power as such took a long time to spool and cool down after. These drives as well were temperamental and could only be used in series of small jumps to avoid collapsing the spacetime bubble and destroying the starship.
-Computation:
Advanced Conventional Computing: Capitol during Garrens reign had no breakthroughs in quantum computing or artificial intelligence. As such Capitol used large conventional computing stacks with advanced non AI algorithms to achieve their goal, Capitol under this era saw AI as an abomination, a poor imitation of man and as such computers were kept as dumb and subservient as possible.
Basic Sensor Packages: Capitol vessels used basic sensor systems such as IR, Optical, Gamma and LIDAR. While stealth was an anathema to Garren era Capitol their sensors were actually fairly advanced for the time, with excellent resolution and capability designed to make up for the fact that Capitol had no FTL sensor systems (although a prototype of Tachyon sensors was created at the end of 1AW).
Blanket Interdiction: Capitol, in an effort to prevent damage from enemy FTL weapons such as the Immortal Empire Void technology managed to steal schematics from the Union and Tenebrae for their interdiction systems developed after Ambrosia. These systems were only mounted on the largest ships however and affected Capitols own Tachyon Arrows much to captains dismay.
-Civilian:
Basic Augmentics: Basic augmetics were used across Capitol for those who could afford it, usually only cheap machine imitations of limbs, eyes and the like could be found but many of the Eight families bought specially grown new limbs from abroad. Despite the use of augmetics to sully oneself with a non genetically pure part was looked down upon and was a sure sign of dropping down the societal status tree.
Genetic Enhancement: Only the families and upper class could afford genetic enhancement, it was predominantly used to make individuals more attractive and strong and was massively common in family designer babies. It was however a quirk of this engineering which paved the way for Inaras rise, as many who had been born with superior intelligence backed her reforms and her coup having seen the broken system they were brought into.
Flag:
Motto:
Through Our Might, Progress!
Species:
Human:
Capitol is a predominantly human nation, made up of ethnic Capitol humans alongside many native Ancerious human strains. Humans are the only true citizens in Capitol and as such are afforded rights, despite the superiority of humans in Capitol the vast majority are not improved in any way. Gene editing, augmentics and more can only be found in the Aristocratic families, the Emperor's own household and in the Oligarchy due to its extremely high cost and rarity. As such the humans of Capitol are predominantly baseline humans as they are today.
Other Non Human Species:
The days before and during 1AW saw all non-human species within Capitol as complete slaves without exception. Non humans were looked down upon as less than scum and merely a resource to be used to further Capitols goals. Most of these non-humans were chattel slaves raided from other nations or the remains of species who were conquered by Capitol only used to slave away in mines, industrial theatres or agriculture until they died by accident or old age. These non humans had strict limits to reproduction and many were forcibly sterilised, beaten or experimented on. At least 3 species are known to have been rendered extinct during this period, the last of their kind dying in Capitols industrial arcologies without a single care.
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Leadership:
Emperor Heracles Garren:
Son of the esteemed Capitol general and 2nd Emperor of Capitol Ferinaza Garren, Heracles was born into the Capitol royal family to live a life of luxury and be destined for the throne. Heracles was an only child, born to a hardline father who was a brilliant strategist and statesmen who had managed to rebuild Capitol after Vanwitts death and who sought to propel Capitol into the future. It is then, quite sad that Ferinazas vision for his nation would die under his own son, who unlike his capable father was anything but. Heracles was a pampered child, full of self superiority and bouts of anger, tired of living in the shadow of his father like some lesser man. It would be the assasination of Ferinaza which would bring forth Heracles to the throne, orchestrated through the support of the aristocratic houses which his father had kept in line and balanced out. Now with Heracles on the throne, the new Emperor had no problem with letting the houses run rampant, SORKA and ARPEI were both nationalised, the Enforcer Corps were purged and filled with hardline aristocratic purists and a new wave of genetic pogroms came about with sweeping authoritarian social reform. Heracles in a matter of months had reduced Capitol to a hollowed out form of his father's vision and he obsessed over the military and conquest. It was Heracles who led Capitol into Ancerious, conquering the new territory and sowing the seeds for Capitols future rise. Despite this it was mostly his advisors which benefitted the nation as Heracles was ever a stupid and self serving man. Any who spoke out against him even in light disagreement were silenced and his enforcer corps were little more than puppets for the ruling families. Heracles was content to let the houses go about their power grabbing and they were content to keep Heracles in power for his permitting for it to happen. Heracles would go on to have two children during Capitols expansion, a son and a daughter, the latter of which he would spurn and ignore until the death of his son. However despite his supposed superiority Heracles would end up being killed during the 1st Ancerious war, after being threatened into attacking the Immortal Empire by a mysterious party the Emperor would rally his entire fleet and personally lead the charge. It was in the Xantan system where Heracles would die, being wiped away in fire. It would be his death that would spark a new era.
Government Type:
Plutocratic Aristocracy:
Capitol during its first era was a Plutocratic state, run by an Emperor (Heracles Garren) and backed by a series of 8 aristocratic houses which controlled most of the power. While the Emperor technically held the undisputed power of Capitol and whose decrees were not just law but seen as the direct hand of a deity (introduced by Heracles) the houses actually controlled the lion's share of the power. Political decisions and legislation were in theory supposed to come from the Emperor or go through the Emperor to be approved to be mandated, however Heracles was ever uninterested in running a state for the most part and as such the ruling Aristocrats formed a unofficial yet very much official council known as the ‘Iron Eight’, this group drafted legislation, the political decisions and the direction of Capitol and saw it implemented through the huge labyrinthine civil servant government system which ran the nation, riddled with corruption and political backstabbing. While the Iron Eight could technically overthrow the Emperor, Garrens interests aligned predominantly and as such overthrowing him would merely disturb the peace. Whenever the Emperor made a decree, the Iron Eight could not challenge it, but would see it implemented.
Despite the size of Capitols civil servant government branches, it would take a significant amount of time to get anything done, this would be due to the sheer amount of incompetence and corruption found within the system as most governmental officials were wealthy individuals or family members of one of the houses with no qualifications other than status. It was not uncommon for many to assassinate or manipulate their way into positions of power and so much of the political system in the government was an intricate endless game of power grabbing and backstabbing.
It is also noteworthy that many within the government system and even over half the members of the Iron Eight, were also military leaders. As such the differential between the military and the civilian government was non-existent, and it was a common occurrence for the military political corps (known as Commissars) to operate within the governmental structure to help oversee matters and keep it running smoothly. These civilian based commissar groups would be the foundation for the ISS of Inaras era.
Economic System:
Before Heracles Garren and the Houses took total power, Capitol was a fairly liberalised open market built around foreign investment and private sector competition. However after they took power sweeping reforms were made to nationalise the various corporations of Capitol and stamp out private enterprise, allowing the houses to throw out powerful oligarchs and businessmen so they could insert their own powerful family members into positions of economic power. This of course was a complete disaster, and resulted in Capitol being one of the poorest nations in the galaxy reflected in its technological standards and military capability with the faction being too poor to fund massive R&D efforts or invest into new technologies. Many of the political inserts into the likes of SORKA and ARPEI had no interest in running a company and merely wanted the social status and as such the criminal mismanagement and corruption did untold damage to these institutions reducing Capitols industrial and economic capacity. As such the new economic system was one of government control, it was the Iron Eight who set the budgets, who siphoned off countless funds for their own families and individuals and who spent the wealth they gained in foreign trade ports and ventures to improve their own lifestyles.
With this poverty sweeping the nation Capitols reluctance to allow outside investment especially from non controlled nations hurt it even more to the point where mobilising their military fight in 1AW almost bankrupted the nation. Many of the houses poured their funds into the war to show off their support for Capitols grand campaign only to watch the fleets and troops (along with many captains and commanders, members of the families) get butchered. It would be this terrible economic system which allowed Inara to gain much of her support, aiding underground members of SORKA and ARPEI and courting their old leaders who had been imprisoned, allowing her to make massive economic reforms after her father's death.
Social Structure:
Social structure was one of the most tangled and corrupted affairs of Capitol. However it was incredibly one sided, and so broken that it practically allowed Inara to pave the way for her revolution and rise to the throne.
The Emperor & Royal Family:
While technically being the 9th house the royal family are those who follow the line of succession. The royal family started out as Oscar Vanwitt, founder of Capitol but he sired no heirs and when he died appointed Ferinaza Garren as Emperor. As such Ferinaza did not make the same mistake, and expanded his own family to include close allies and also his children. Heracles however was to be his only child (at least legitimate child, who knows how many illegitimate children he had and how many were hunted down by his jealous full son). The royal family as such had the most wealth, living in ornate palaces, under constant watch by professionally trained soldiers and their word was to be taken as supreme. The only way to be taken into the Emperor's household was to be given familial status by the Emperor for some epic deed or marital ties. During Heracles reign the royal family and the Emperor were portrayed as deities, ruling through divine right and whose word was the direct voice of the universe itself.
The Eight Great Houses:
The Eight Great Houses were notable families of those who backed Vanwitt in the Civil War and who were exiled along with him by the Union of Worlds. Each family was given special positions under Vanwitt, to aid him in founding this new human centric powerful nation. During these days the families acted as an extension of Vanwitt, providing excellent economic, military, industrial and social capability as they assisted him in building the new Capitol. Many of them were notable political personnel, military generals, corporate industrialists and powerful economists and so as the families became the solidified houses they concentrated their power. Unfortunately after such a period of time, many of the skills and contributions of the houses faded out and in time they became little more than powerful sub factions within Capitol ever looking for more control. Vanwitt and Ferinaza both kept them in power with the Enforcer Corps but Heracles gave them what they wanted, unbridled power. The Eight (Nirai, Metaxas, Calogera, Theotokis, Kapodistrias, Irakis, Amytzantairoi and Mavraco) as such had massive power within Capitol and controlled much including the upper class which clustered around the families always wishing to gain access through patronage or marital ties. Access to these families was strict and their members were notable politicians, industrialists and military commanders but unfortunately the majority were incompetant and had no knowledge of their roles, only ever looking to improve their social status. Many of these houses would be purged during Inaras coup some entirely, while others backed the new Empress and conducted self purging for any Garrenist elements.
The Enforcer Corps:
While not technically a strata of society the Enforcer Corps and the Commissariat were the right hand of the Eight and the Emperor to enforce their law and will on the population. The enforcers were given decent living conditions and wages and were told what to do and say, other than that anyone could be a member of the Enforcers of Commissars and as such criminals, sadists and more were allowed to be and even encouraged to join up. These groups then enforced the will of the leaders through vicious means, public killings, mass shootings, vandalization of property and even burning whole towns to the ground in order to instill fear in the population. As long as they enforced what was needed their methods were overlooked. Many of the Enforcer corps who were loyal to Garren were purged during Inaras coup, but those who were loyal to the new Empress were later formed into K Battalion.
The Upper Class:
The Upper Class are a small niche within Capitol which lie between the (somewhat) well off middle class and the mythical families themselves. While the upper class was smaller in size it was a group of individuals and families who were quite well off due to various situations and who were given low level control oversight to political districts, industrial camps, slave labour farms and the like. This upper class however unlike the families, typically had to know what they were doing, for to fail in their appointed tasks was to anger the Eight and therefore lose their status or be killed outright. For this the ‘Upper Class’ of Capitol formed much of its long lost intelligentsia and capable leaders, and it would be this group which Inara would form many ties with in the days to come.
The Middle Population:
The Middle population were considered the rank and file of Capitols 'normal citizenry, they were the ones who went to non labour jobs and who were part of the armed forces and the like. While they were stifled from most education and bottlenecked by propaganda and social infighting they were the face of the nation. Most of the middle populace had their own slaves or oversaw workforces of less well off individuals but the majority were soldiers or members of Capitols armies, still despite this they were rarely treated any better thanks to the Commissars.
The Workforce:
The workforce of Capitol were considered the lowest class of citizens, while even being considered citizens meant that they should apparently be grateful for their situation. These large numbers of people were treated poorly. Little better than slaves at least working conditions wise the workforce was given regular food, medicine and amenities which slaves lacked and were allowed to spend their free time however they wanted. While often brutalised and picked on by the Enforcers sometimes for fun the workforce constantly looked upwards to perhaps one day rise to the middle class but more often than not were reduced in stature to slaves over perceived slights or petty squabbles. The workforce would be one of Inaras staunchest supporters as her sweeping social reforms and emancipation act freed many who were reduced to slaves reuniting family and loved ones and bringing Capitols lowest citizens up to a dignified living standard and way of life.
Slaves & Undesirables:
Capitol had vast numbers of slaves and other undesirables within its nation. It used them as cheap labour in industry, mining, agriculture and more even having them in social lives as those who must serve their masters. Many of these slaves were aliens or from other nations and these were treated particularly poorly, often without regular food or water and forbidden any comforts or medical treatment. Slaves of notable individuals may find better care but were still treated poorly as scum, but it was the Capitol born slaves which made up the rest either having been reduced to slaves for crimes or slights or just having been born into this life. It was only the Capitol and human slaves who were allowed to reproduce regularly and aliens were mostly sterilised or kept to strict numbers. Many slave uprisings or riots occurred during Garrens reign, and nearly all ended in terrible massacres. It would be Inara who would free all Capitol born slaves, forbidding any Capitol citizen to be reduced to such level, but the use of slaves would never truly be abolished until the occupation of Capitol.
Culture:
Capitol at least in the upper reaches of its society was a decadent and ignorant culture, content and focused on pleasing itself and attaining more wealth all the while the dreary masses of the population lay in ignorance and endless work shifts, ever in fear of the enforcers and the upper classes. Individualism was rife during Garrens era, and while propaganda and state nationalism pushed for a united peoples propelled by collectivism and unity it was very much the opposite. Endless political games, backstabbing, killings, swindling and bribery occurred at virtually all levels of the nation with personal advancement seen as the only goal, to get yourself to a content lifestyle and hold onto it so the man below you doesn't take it. It was engrained never to trust, never to turn your back for someone will always be after what you have and as such the collectivist dream was ever just a hopeless one.
It was not improved by Capitols terrible education standards and tight restriction on information. State sanctioned news was the only way to learn of events, and this was always heavily censored and changed for the benefit of the state. Education was basic, only enough to help individuals find their place in society job wise and to carry out that job until the day they died, individual critical thinking was frowned upon as was innovation for to change the status quo was to question the Emperor and the state. After all, if the Emperor was a deity why would he not rule over anything but a perfect nation? This tied into the indoctrination and belief of the Emperor as a god or at least a mortal form of one, virtually all of those within the houses, upper class and many within the middle class knew it to be a total fabrication but those in the workforce who were too poor and too uneducated sometimes believed it. But it was all orchestrated as part of the system constructed to ensure that the Emperor and the Eights power was kept and never lost.
This drive for social status and personal advancement was what helped kill Capitols own drive. High up placements within the military, industrial centers, political organisations and labour forces were seen not as jobs to be conducted but as marks of status leading countless individuals who were inept to gain such roles purely for the benefit of themselves. Whole sectors suffered from poor management and many instances where an individual could hold multiple roles existed, crippling multiple sectors at once. Most of these head roles were taken by families especially in the military and any who questioned or spoke out simply disappeared while more capable individuals were bribed behind the scenes to oversee the role without any of the public credit or recognition and to try usurp a member of a family in this way would almost certainly end in execution alongside one's own family and friends.
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Homeworld:
Celefra:
Celefra is the capital of Capitol. It is a dry, arid desert world which has been clawed back by the nation to be more habitable. Huge cities dot its surface alongside large mountain ranges and several shallow oceans. Celefra is home to the royal palace alongside the palaces of the Eight and it is defended by numerous defense platforms, starbases and the home fleet. Celefra has three moons, Sinope, Adrastea and Isonoe, named after ancient moons of the Sol system. The system itself has three other worlds, one of which is a large gas giant and the other two being molten volcanic worlds close to the yellow main sequence star.
Major Population Centers:
Rubikon:
Rubikon started out as a large population center which was ‘liberated’ from the Rubikasoan peoples, a species who had not yet attained faster than light and were rapidly conquered and enslaved, sadly now extinct. The system was in time however used as a diplomatic ground for relations between Capitol and the Leistunganos Oligarchy (also known as Shadowblade) and also the Umbra Guard which was in time forged into what would be dubbed by Admiral Hargun as ‘The Dark Triumvirate’. This joint system would see outside investment by both LO and the Umbra in a rare display of kinsmenship and open economic policy. As such Rubikon became a major system rapidly, constructing shipyards and advanced defense systems alongside being the location of numerous secret black projects which would become both the Brutes and Panopticon.
Bel Thano:
Bel Thano is Capitols primary shipyards, located in a solar system surrounding a red dwarf star and comprising 7 gas giants and hundreds of moons. Bel Thano is therefore a honeycomb of small settlements, cities, military bases and large shipyard complexes which constructed warships for the Capitol fleet and mined the gas giants for their bounty. The shipwrights of Bel Thano would continuously try to ask the Iron Eight and the Emperor for more resources to construct newly designed and drastically improved warships but would be turned down at every venture until Inaras rise.
Selene:
Selene is Capitols industrial heart, made up of three forge worlds which are covered in massive industrial arcologies, forges, particle accelerators and casting smelters. Selene was the jewel that kept Capitols economy from flatlining during Garrens economic reign and countless millions died working in the awful conditions of its foundry cities. Massive amounts of slave labour and resources were funneled into Selene every day to fuel its production but it wouldn't be until Inaras reign that Selene would be reworked into a safe, hyper efficient and much improved industrial center.
Brief History:
Capitols history in Ancerious starts after Heracles Garrens exodus to the galaxy. After being driven out of the Milky Way by the Union, Capitol used the Unions own intelligence against them, managing to forge a way to the Ancerious galaxy in question to settle without the Unions knowledge. Capitol during this early period was weak, disjointed and its future was uncertain. It colonised Celefra along with many other systems, quickly finding that humanity was also native to this galaxy. The initial forays against human unaligned were aggressive as the Capitol ethnic population saw these natives as inferior, but it soon became clear to the families and Garren that these native humans could be incorporated to help grow their nation at an exponential rate. Capitol approached many of these early humans unaligned with propositions of human supremacy, something which was surprisingly well received given histories against alien species. Integrating these populations and systems into the greater Capitol took place rapidly, allowing many of the new nations to be brought in as members of the families and given positions of power. It was during this period that Capitol expanded greatly and that Garren had his two children oversee the expansions and military campaigns. 3 entire native species at least were wiped out during this expansion, all primitive civilisations which ended in the work camps and slave industry of the nation to be used up like resources. After nearly two decades the first encounter with the Union and subsequent skirmishes took place, all with Capitol defeats but in the luck of Garren leading to nothing given the Unions relative small size and inability to capitalise on a full invasion given its colony status.
With Capitol having expanded to its near largest size and its society rife with corruption and more Garren continued to expand and obsess over the military, seeing his ultimate goal being the destruction and expulsion of the Union here, leaving his people free to conquer the Ancerious universe before taking the fight back to the Milky Way and liberating earth. The first set back however was the death of Garrens son Radosis, killed by Inara after his acts against her, Garren did not know it was his daughter and through an intricate plot by the eventual Empress purged several of his command staff who were rivals of Inara. Seeing no alternative Inara became Garrens new favourite, and during this period she used her new influence to forge countless pacts, links, threats, friendships and more with aspects all over Capitol society as a start for her eventual coup. Inara hated her father and she intended to kill him herself and reform Capitol from the broken state it was in to a new powerhouse. This was put on the backburner however when Garren almost out of nowhere declared war against the Immortal Empire.
Seeing this as a chance to rally his nation Capitol mobilised for war, resources uncounted were thrown into the military and new armies and fleets were raised all the while Inara continued to grow her support behind the scenes. With her father Garren giving bombastic and somewhat maniacal speeches about the greatness of this new war Inara laid the groundwork. It would be in the stripmined system of Solomance, one of the most grueling slave mining systems in Capitol, that the assembled armada of nearly 4000 ships assembled along with army transports. Led by Garren himself aboard his super dreadnought ‘His Will’ he gave the order to send in the entirety of Capitols forces to battle leaving the home front dangerous undefended, a fact not lost on many in command and a fact capitalised on by Inara.
Capitol would fight the Immortal Empire in 4 separate systems, seeing some extremely bloody combat but overall resulting in a total massacre and defeat. In Lorenchan and Dalkarni the Capitol fleets managed to inflict losses on the Immortal Empire before being broken by the Flux forces there and forced to retreat with what ships they had left. In Varandal, Capitol found some measure of success, defeating the Immortal Empire fleet in system and assaulting the world there, it would be an occupation conflict they would hold onto until after the war once the ceasefire was negotiated, no thanks to their excessive use of nuclear weapons. But the main battle was Xantan, where Garren led his fleet to their doom, the Emperor being killed by the Immortal Empires own super dreadnought but not before his ace card was deployed. A stolen Union sunbusting Plasma Coil missile was fired into Xantans sun and the resulting supernova wiped out much of the IEs critical military forces and everything in the system.
Upon hearing the titanic losses and the death of the Emperor, Capitol was shaken. With IE counter raids being deployed against outer frontier worlds Capitol seemed to pause in terror and confusion before falling apart into internal conflict, the Eight families seeing the opportunity to take the throne for themselves. However the families and the Garrenists would be ousted as Inara, daughter of Garren would claim the throne and outmaneuver the others in masterful political ploys. With Inara came extreme reforms and improvements, signalling Capitols 2nd era.
Important Industry:
Capitols industry was mostly flatlining during Garrens reign, with much of the outside investment and huge economic pacts which typified Inaras era over a decade away it was Capitols own internal production which kept it going. While importing Ancerium was the only real dealings it had with the outside world it relied heavily on the processing of industrial components along with cheap and rapid manufacturing. It sold these components to mostly LO and the Umbra Guard but also to unaligned across the galaxy. Which would not be truly exploited until later this small back and forth was Capitols only real industry and was what kept it going during its self imposed turbulence.
Diplomatic Doctrine:
Capitol under Garren as could be expected was a diplomatically barren nation. General doctrine was to look on other nations with disdain and that any alien species was lesser. With the colonial nations Capitol kept to itself, occasionally raiding trade routes for resources or funding pirate hits against other factions especially the Union, with the unaligned it tried to flex its supposed might, raiding and conquering what it could mostly those natives who were too weak to defend themselves. The only diplomatic ties Capitol had was with LO and Umbra and these were ties born out of mutual enemies and hatred rather than definitive political movements. It wouldn't be until Inara's reign that Capitol would explode out onto the galactic scene.
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Military Doctrine:
As can be expected Capitols military might was a paper tiger. While having an extremely large armed forces in terms of galactic sizes the majority of it was undertrained, underequipped and led by incompetents. As such Capitol had no ‘official’ military doctrine or command philosophy with which to follow and so each general or commander followed their own thinking which for the most part was vague ideas of how to fight wars. Given that the majority of Capitol command were members of the Iron Eight or straight up family members or connections actual legitimate military genius let alone capability was almost unheard of. Typical tactics under Garren era Capitol saw tens of thousands sent to their deaths in the most simplistic wave assaults and frontal attacks seen in the galaxy where lives and material meant nothing and the leaders would be far away from the front watching the battle unfold merely as a statistic. These huge horde attacks became the typified way of 1AW era Capitol and was usually supplemented by the liberal use of atomic weapons on both a strategic and tactical scale, something which would stick with Capitol until the present day. As such attacks would be preceded with heavy nuclear bombardment before infantry and vehicles would be sent in (often with the bombs still falling) to mop up. During this time Capitols technology and equipment was almost laughable with conventional firearms still dominating its inventory. Infantry were equipped with basic rifles and some rudimentary armour while the Minotaur, Capitols MBT, was an unwieldy, heavy, under armed and unreliable nightmare. Capitol armies also tended to find their supply and logistics overlooked and so many troops were without ammo, weapons or food in the midst of combat. One of the main tactics which typified Garrens reign however was the use of large slave units, given rudimentary weapons and explosive collars and sent into battle in droves. These slave units had to fight for their supplies and were used as fodder to make way for the proper units, while slave forces were used in 2AW they were comparatively rare and almost entirely phased out by the end of that conflict.
Any commander or general questioning orders or thinking about retreat, was typically executed by the Commissars. As such competent leaders often were disposed of purely because they could see the ebb and flow of battle, something which would hamstring Capitol heavily. Still after the end of 1AW and the massacre of Capitols armed forces, the sheer shortcomings shown were enough to expose the whole system, something which Inara was keen to exploit.
Military Branches:
Grand Army of Capitol:
The Grand Army of Capitol was a catch all branch which incorporated all planetary forces. This meant the army consisted of organised forces designed to conduct planetary assaults and attacks as well as forces designed for planetary defense. This branch also incorporated Capitols aerospace forces for planetside operations and all of these were compiled into one, poorly organised labyrinthine unit. The army was seen as the ‘traditionalist’ branch, where those who wished to have status in the traditional ways of warfare would go and who often looked down upon the navy because history favoured glorious ground warfare. It was this divide between the two branches which would see even more incompetence and issues on the battlefields of 1AW.
Grand Navy of Capitol:
The Grand Navy of Capitol consisted of the space forces of the nation which incorporated as well the Capitol marines, the almost non existent Oceanic force and also the aerospace forces that supported the fleets. The fleets of Capitol were no different to the ground forces, led by familial leaders instated as acts of status rather than capability. This added to the woeful situation of Capitols ship quality and led to the disastrous losses of 1AW. It was also common for the naval personnel to look down upon those in the army for they were constrained to planets and could not muster the planet cracking firepower of the grand fleets available to the navy. It was common for naval commanders to actually reject calls for orbital bombardment and support unless the army generals negotiated deals regarding political and social handovers.
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Tech:
Capitol under Garren was incredibly technologically very inferior to the galaxy at large. Given the lack of funding for R&D, improvements and the downright alienation of those competent enough to improve the existing systems Capitol went to war and wallowed in its own awful and unreliable creations. It was one of the prime factors that led to their catastrophic defeat in 1AW, and would be a point of huge contention which would be exploited and improved upon during Inaras rise.
-Weapons:
Conventional Firearms: Capitol still very much relied on standard firearms, using kinetic bullets and standard explosive charges to kill their enemies. These conventional arms stretched from their rifles on infantry to the main guns on MBTs to the gatling PD on starships. Capitol saw these weapons as effective, however as 1AW proved, they were very much behind the capacity to effectively engage most denizens in the galaxy.
Rocket Propelled Cannons: Used before Capitols reliance on railguns the RPC guns on the Mk.1 fleet fired heavy bore munitions which had in built rocket motors able to propel them up to higher speeds after being conventionally fired from the barrel. These guns were notoriously slow, unguided, inaccurate and did little damage to the target and so only through application of overwhelming numbers was any target damaged or destroyed.
ETC Guns: Capitols forays did get into the realms of Electro-Thermal Chemical weapons. These improved guns were tested on ships and tanks towards the end of 1AW where the families and Garren himself were desperately chasing for improved military technology with which to fight the Immortal Empire. These weapons however only saw limited use before being skipped out for railguns by the Mk.2 fleet.
Prototype Railguns: Only used on the largest of ships due to power draw prototype railguns were also introduced towards the end of 1AW, in some cases in an effort to replace Tachyon Arrow mounts with a much more reliable and less self destructive weapon. It would only be observed in limited amounts however before the scrapping of the Mk.1 fleet and the full integration of railguns into the Mk.2 fleet where they would go on to replace RPCs. It is thought that recovering of Union ship wreckage aided Capitol in the development of more compact and effective railguns.
Nuclear Missiles: Capitols over reliance on Nuclear weaponry did not just encompass its army, fission or fission boosted fusion missiles were deployed in space by naval forces. These weapons were often launched in huge salvos and due to rudimentary missile designs many were slow and easy to shoot down. Nevertheless Capitol always went for the largest yields possible, so that any which made contact did maximum damage.
Tachyon Arrows: A complex weapon, and one which was pilfered out of Union R&D archives by Capitol spies. Capitol saw the Tachyon weapon dubbed ‘Arrow’ by Garren himself as the answer to their prayers regarding a weapon which could turn the tide against their foes. The weapon worked by generating large amounts of Tachyons through particle accelerators and firing them through some kind of phase lens, able to turn them briefly to interacting particles. Due to their FTL nature these briefly interacting tachyons could be effective across distances of a solar system and allow Capitol ships to engage enemies from extreme distances before the particles became ineffective. Unfortunately Mk.1 TAs were extremely inaccurate, Capitol possessed no FTL sensors and so aiming of TAs was done in musket like walls of shooting ships to try and score a shot. These early weapons were also just as dangerous to the ships they were on, often overloading or exploding before repeated safety refits were made. However upon impact a TA was more than capable of crippling a warship and these humble weapons would go on to become the staple of the Capitol fleets firepower.
-Defences:
Titanium-Ceramic-Silicon Carbide Armour: Capitols armour was, to put it bluntly, incredibly basic and almost useless against the majority of weapons in the galaxy. Before buying Azanium composites from Triarch, Capitol relied on basic composite armour plates, using it on starships and to some extent on their ground vehicles. It was heavy and inefficient providing little defense against what the galaxy had to offer.
Basic Particle Shields: Consisting of basic magnetic shields and particulates of tungsten carbide the Capitol shield arrays offered only little protection against kinetic weapons but did provide adequate protection from DEWs, this was perhaps the only capable defensive system in use by Capitol during 1AW but was only found on naval starships.
Point Defense: All Capitol ships had some form of point defense, mostly consisting of small kinetic kill missile launchers and 50mm Gatling guns. These provided close in defense against attack craft and missiles but proved to be easy to overwhelm due to the limited computational power of Capitol coordination systems.
Fragmentation ADS: A simple system used on both ships and ground vehicles, an active sensor determined and identified incoming munitions such as missiles or kinetic projectiles and fired one shot fragmentation canisters at them to destroy or disrupt them. These were typically mounted on vehicles across the hull the same with warships and such basic defense did little against the Immortal Empires heavy reliance on energy weapons.
-Power Generation:
Fission Reactors: Capitol had not yet broken the bonds of recreating fusion power plants, lost after the exodus from earth after the Civil War. The project to recreate fusion was close during Ferinazas reign but was abandoned by Heracles Garren and left to rot. As such all Capitol ships and large land vehicles used large scale or compact fission reactors, most using molten salts or even steam. These reactors, pushed to their limits for every watt of power were often unsafe or suffered from radiological leaks, still they provided power for all of Capitol during this era.
-Propulsion:
Open Cycle Fission Drive: Little more than fission rockets these drives while slow were cheap and easy to use by Capitol. While traditional chemical retro thrusters were used in addition to these (often in and around planets) these fission rockets produced incredible amounts of radioactive contamination, as such many navy captains used them as makeshift weapons, flying in low orbit over enemy planets to saturate them with fission products.
Alcubierre Drive: Capitols basic form of FTL was the alcubierre drive, sustained by the breakdown and use of the old drives which drove the exodus. Capitols drives were very power hungry given their low power generation and poor computing power as such took a long time to spool and cool down after. These drives as well were temperamental and could only be used in series of small jumps to avoid collapsing the spacetime bubble and destroying the starship.
-Computation:
Advanced Conventional Computing: Capitol during Garrens reign had no breakthroughs in quantum computing or artificial intelligence. As such Capitol used large conventional computing stacks with advanced non AI algorithms to achieve their goal, Capitol under this era saw AI as an abomination, a poor imitation of man and as such computers were kept as dumb and subservient as possible.
Basic Sensor Packages: Capitol vessels used basic sensor systems such as IR, Optical, Gamma and LIDAR. While stealth was an anathema to Garren era Capitol their sensors were actually fairly advanced for the time, with excellent resolution and capability designed to make up for the fact that Capitol had no FTL sensor systems (although a prototype of Tachyon sensors was created at the end of 1AW).
Blanket Interdiction: Capitol, in an effort to prevent damage from enemy FTL weapons such as the Immortal Empire Void technology managed to steal schematics from the Union and Tenebrae for their interdiction systems developed after Ambrosia. These systems were only mounted on the largest ships however and affected Capitols own Tachyon Arrows much to captains dismay.
-Civilian:
Basic Augmentics: Basic augmetics were used across Capitol for those who could afford it, usually only cheap machine imitations of limbs, eyes and the like could be found but many of the Eight families bought specially grown new limbs from abroad. Despite the use of augmetics to sully oneself with a non genetically pure part was looked down upon and was a sure sign of dropping down the societal status tree.
Genetic Enhancement: Only the families and upper class could afford genetic enhancement, it was predominantly used to make individuals more attractive and strong and was massively common in family designer babies. It was however a quirk of this engineering which paved the way for Inaras rise, as many who had been born with superior intelligence backed her reforms and her coup having seen the broken system they were brought into.