Founding: The Founding of the Pact of Humanity(in 4,677AD) was a event which transformed humans everywhere, creating a stable government out of the ashes of the old Human League and it’s endless wars, decadence, and corruption. The first High Secretary was Ellington de Moya, a energetic and brilliant man who manipulated the Terra Senate into naming him to its post, and then building a vast empire with it’s power. Setting the tone for the next six thousand years, de Moya’s legacy remains to this day, one of Justice, Peace, and Life.
Korel Empire Collapse: The Pact’s only non-human allies, the human-like Korel’s collapse started the first conflict with the Dionii, who had been invading and ravaging Korel space for nearly a hundred years before the Pact made contact with the Empire. A devastating conflict that annihilated most Korel worlds, the Pact Navy cut its teeth in this war, establishing a continual dominance over the much larger Dionii hordes.
Dionii Invasion: The Pact has sustained nearly twenty Dionii regional invasions, each of which seriously threatened Pact space. The Dionii lay their eggs in live prey and being over six feet tall and capable of incredibly fast flight, their quickly overwhelm a planet once they land. Most invasions have been beaten off although two of these have caused significant civilian/military losses for the Pact. Combat Regions have been set up within Pact space to wear down and destroy these invasions, with entire planetary systems devoted to head-to-head warfare. These systems have to be seen to be believed, with devastating orbital forts, heavily armed spaces stations, and fantastically huge Planetary Defense Centers emplaced in every nook and cranny. The latest Dionii Invasion is taking place even now, forcing the Pact Navy into a precarious position, either fight in the civil war and restore the federal government and let the Combat Regions fall, or fight the Dionii and allow the Pact to fragment into mutually fighting Clusters.
Interabi Front War(Luren): A devastating war which dragged out for nearly fifty years, the Interabi Front War was fought between the Pact and the Luren Federation, a government of vampiric aliens who’s disgusting use of humanoids inspires fear and terror wherever they travel. The conflict ended when the Luren planet Interabi was taken(a linchpin of their defenses) forcing the Luren to sue for peace.
Enzyme Reaction 42: A highly lethal plague which spread in the core worlds of the Pact nearly 80 years ago, this mutation-prone virus killed nearly 340 billion people before the cure could be found(in a orchid in the Mayanmar System). Outbreaks occur sometimes in distant Clusters but are usually contained by Pact Viral Teams, which are funded by the central government on Old Terra.
Discovery of Hyperwave Communications: The radical change involved after the creation of this device cannot be understated, including the rapid-response ability that it enabled Pact naval units. Not only could messages be relayed to Terra in weeks instead of years but Pact Navy forces could be deployed much more rapidly to problem areas, as seen in the Bellevue System Revolt.
Destruction of Atlanton Earth: One of the most beautiful planets within the Pact, and a large omega world as well, nearly 150 billion people perished on Atlanton Earth when it came under attack by Dionii forces 109 years ago. This catastrophe resulted in the dismissal of High Secretary Clinton and his wife, that power-mad woman who later ran for a Senate seat herself. HS Clinton’s lack in funding the Pact Navy, and squirreling the funds away in secret bank accounts, caused the disaster and the subsequent fall of the government.
Although travel throughout the Pact of Humanity has always been based on warp point travel, anomalies have cropped up from time to time. These anomalies include Warp Point Junctions, man-made Stargates, and non-linear travel. Our focus will be on Warp Point Junctions, with special emphasis on the Manticore and Erewhon Junctions, two of the most famous Junctions within Pact space. A Warp Point Junction differs from standard warp point nexii in that all warp points are within a similar distance to the parent star. The number of warp points vary from system to system but their locations are always consistent: equidistant around the parent star, making transit times between WPs much faster. This also makes warp point defense especially easy, for orbital forts can be towed to adjacent warp points within a short amount of time. The Erewhon WP Junction’s primary star is a rare red hypergiant star with 27 WP entrances(a fantastic WP hub), and the Manticore Junction has produced a phenomenal income for that system due to the fact that all it’s warp point exits are in far distant Clusters. The Manticore System is located in Cleveland Cluster, but it’s WPs terminate in several far reaching areas of the Pact: Hokkaido, El Hobra, Caan, and Oa Clusters. Both a strategic asset and liability, Warp Point Junctions within Pact space are heavily defended.
The power that the Kona Tatsu has within it’s hands is literally unbelievable even to modern human minds. Lots of pressure, blackmail, lies, and secrecy define KT operations, as well as information control. If the KT wants to convict a man, any man, then that man is guilty. The whole process is eerily reminiscent of that cynical line in the early days of the Soviet KGB: “First, bring us the man. We’ll find the crime.” Below is listed some of the techniques that the KT can use. Some techniques listed are KT use only, but anyone can use some of them. SM2 espionage rules: Anyone else uses them with two restrictions:
A)Any money spent on espionage or counter-espionage is halved immediately, before any other step in comparisons.
B)Only Kona Tatsu may use “offensive counter-espionage”. Others just get to use defensive.
Assassination: of specific individuals. Not other players characters, but anyone else below them….Governor of a certain world, Admiral in charge of a certain fleet, etc.
Blackmail/bribery: trying to influence a leader of a world or fleet on the other side to defect/or at least “creatively interpret” their orders.
Sabotage/Raids: special forces teams used to destroy/blow up interesting targets.
Plant Deep Cover Agents: who spend years pretending to be loyal to the group they are planted in until they can cause great damage by defection or espionage.
Disinformation/media campaigns: Slandering an enemy until other groups turn on him.
Provocatations/destabliszations: Carrying out actions which will be blamed on others, hopefully causing rival groups to fight or ally with you.
Put simply, asymmetric threats or techniques area version of not “fighting fair”, which can include the use or surprise in all its operational and strategic dimensions and the use of weapons in ways unplanned by the Pact Navy. This includes some of the following types of warfare:
1)Cyberattack: A KT only operation, cyberwarfare has been practiced throughout time in the Pact, with devastating results. In this form of attack, a series of viral worms are introduced to a planetary computer net, with rapid and destructive results. The following global crashes affect nearly all computers on a planet(excluding PDCs, which are a self-enclosed military enviroment), plunging global GPV by 50% for six months. A weapon of terrorists, the KT can use this type of attack of 8,000MC.
2)Bioweapons: Genetic engineering has reached its peak within the Pact, sometimes offering very scary results for its citizenry. Such is the case in this form of attack. Bioweapons can be used within the Pact only under extraordinary circumstances, and then only by the Kona Tatsu. Genetically engineering biological weapons can be created to attack and kill specific groups of humans, ie Indians or Chinese. They can also be engineered to go after aliens as well, but the Holot Empire and several adjacent powers have threatened genocidal warfare if this hideous form of warfare was ever released from its genie bottle. 40,000MC, KT only.
3)HEMP: Perhaps the most dangerous and misunderstood form of information warfare is the high-altitude electromagnetic pulse(HEMP) threat: a combination of nuclear weapons and information warfare that can challenge the very heart of planetary defense and global stability. HEMP is a byproduct of the explosion of nuclear weapons detonated above a planet’s atmosphere, typically above 30 kilometers. The higher the altitude of the nuclear explosion, the less direct effects(blast) of the weapon, and the greater the indirect effects(HEMP) will be; an exoatmospheric burst would be optimum. A burst at an altitude of 300 kilometers, for example, would have several important impacts: first, a great altitude would expand the line-of-sight coverage of the burst(and HEMP is a line-of-sight effect). At 30 kilometers, a burst centered over Nebraska in Old Earth’s North America could generate HEMP eviroments over 90% of the continent and burn out electronic components on a planetary surface(PDC excluded). Ships, bases, and space stations are not affected by these weapons, and satellites and IDEW aren’t either. This type of attack knocks a planet literally back to the Some Age, with GPV dropping drastically! Cost to use, 10,000MC, and KT can use without negative modifier! 1% per nuke used, maximum possible effect is 100 –(5 x HTL) %. Damage repair is 5% of GPV per month, automatically, or all fixed at next HTL upgrade.
Warlord Laz Hernandez, famed hero of the Battle of Noche Brasilia, is a full-blooded native from Cubana II and while he has held flag rank for several years now, it hasn’t always been so for this rather complex man. Graduating from New Quantico Naval Academy, Admiral Hernandez leapfrogged his way to Captain in just three short years, thanks to his innovative tactics and the 19th Dionii Conflict, which raged across seven Clusters and has cost the Pact nearly 110 billion civilian lives. His heroic actions in the Noche Brasilia System are well known: saving 20 billion civilians from sure destruction at the hands of the rabid Dionii hordes. Although his command ship, the PNS Chico, was severely damaged and Admiral Hernandez himself badly wounded, he received the Pact Gold Naval Cross and, eventually after coming to the attention of the High Secretary, the Warlordship. Admiral Hernandez has since then wrote “On Top of Combat”, and headed the famed Annapolis Marine Barracks on Myanmar III. His sexual proclivities initially held him back from the flag rank he deserved for years but in the end the Battle of Noche Brasilia secured his position.
A race of rat-like aliens standing normally five feet tall, the Rh/attes have had a on-again off-again relationship with the Pact. Although not as alien as the wasp-like Dionii, reptilian Mqdrekkor, or vampiric Luren, the Rh/attes have had some enmity towards humanity since the conquest of their homeworld by the Pact Navy 620 years ago. Being skilled at trading as well as being information specialists, the Rh/attes have worked with Kona Tatsu agents in several different situations including the Bellevue System Revolt and 14th Dionii Conflict. Nearly forty billion Rh/attes are spread throughout Pact space, serving in varied high-level functions: a rarity in the human-supremacist Pact. When first looking at a Rh/atte, most people are reminded of the disgusting disease-infested rodents of their homeworlds, and treat Rh/attes accordingly. Although disliking this treatment, Rh/attes have become accommodated to this treatment and strive hard to prove their worth to their mammalian allies. The informational analysis of Rh/attes has helped the Pact at several crucial moments, including the Farseel System Disaster and the Fourth Holot Negotiations. The Rh/attes also have investigative teams researching the famed Loawon Tyranny and Dusarra Mega-Dyson Sphere, a object reputed to contain the surface area of one billion Earth-like planets.
The civil war that has broken out within the Pact appears to be a long-term phenomenon, with the high-population worlds being the prize. Control of high-population worlds of the Pact represents control of more than 90% of the Pact’s population. The faction that controls the high-population worlds controls the citizens that make up the Pact. Controlling worlds alone is useless unless the technological innovators, the consumers, the markets, and the labor forces of high-population worlds are also controlled.
The outcome of the civil war depends on which faction manages to gain control of the high-population worlds of the Pact. Campaigns against high-pop worlds have changed the nature of warfare that the Pact Navy has dealt with before. Fleets can continue to fight for spacelanes forever, but to gain control of a high-population world, it is necessary for a faction to find a way to control the hearts and minds of the people who inhabit that world. On some worlds, the threat of space bombardment is frightening enough to produce sincere pledges of loyalty from the inhabitants and give the faction control….pledges that last until the next space fleet arrives. On some worlds, loyalty can be bought by the highest bidder. And on some worlds, loyalty can be bought by a superior philosophy. But no mater what method is used, on all worlds loyalty must be won in some way, whether by space fleets, money, or by rhetoric.
The campaigns for the individual worlds of the Pact are the focus of the civil war. The ultimate winner of the civil war will be the faction that can successfully wage campaigns for the hearts and minds of the people of the Pact.
Since the outbreak of the current civil war in the Pact, the government of Trantor has cracked down hard on civil rights and expression in an attempt to maintain internal stability but in hosting the upcoming Grand Olympic Games, Trantor is counting on a successful bid to increase it’s inter-regional prestige and boost economic investments. Yet the attention may be a double-edged sword for the Farrel government, restraining its ability to crack down on social and political unrest while emboldening dissidents and foreign governments.
The Games are a Pact-wide competition in multiple forms of athletics and are a nationalist symbol to rally the planet’s one trillion citizens. To prepare for the attention, the Farrel government has been making deeper structural changes in its security forces. Since the middle of last year, Trantor has established anti-riot squads to develop a more effective, and non-lethal, method of countering growing demonstrations and protests.
The Farrel government emphasized the need for special training for the squads, warning that ill-trained forces risk “escalating conflicts by using inappropriate measures,” according to a Trantor public security official. Trantor’s government also changed the uniforms of the Guard Police from military green to blue late last month, in a symbolic attempt to reshape the image of public security.
Trantor’s restraint will encourage both internal and external forces to step up efforts to discredit Trantor’s government or fight for more rights. The dissident movement is not limited to well-known alien groups such as Alien Pongg or pro-democracy movements; it has the potential to appeal across all sectors of society. From academics and businessmen seeking more intellectual or economic freedom, to unemployed factory workers and disgruntled retailers, the short-term protection of inter-regional attention may counter their fear of government retribution.
These social forces will test both the regime’s ability to keep control and its tolerance for domestic opposition. If history is any guide, when pressured for greater political freedom and reform, the government’s response is to ensure its own power regardless of regional opinion. Restraint has been the norm lately on Trantor, but if the anti-government movement gets out of hand, the restraint is not likely to last.
The fighter pilot program is one of the most elite branches within the vast Pact Navy. With genetically engineered pilots and fighter academies in every Cluster, the Pact Navy may have abandoned its carriers by treaty but the financial investment in keeping ground and space-based fighter flight groups(especially in carrier bases) shows the intent of the Pact’s armed forces. A look at what occurs in a fighter pilots mind will reveal the love of their craft. To fly a fighter, you need to the skills of a concert pianist, since all the controls that work the radar, guns, and missiles are all located on the VRD(virtual retinal display). So there you are, flying in a craft that looks and evidently acts like a Chevy corvette(but in three dimensions), head up, eyes out of the cockpit, looking for a Bad Guy to give a Blammer(ARM-1500) to. And there are other people out there who want to kill ou. Some in their own fighters, some on ships, and some on the ground, because, amazingly enough, not everyone likes fighter pilots. The fighter jock drives something sleek, neat, and expensive, and loves driving it(as the wife of a pilot once wrote: “I’m his mistress—he’s married to the fighter.”) because it’s what sets him apart. That’s what makes him bigger than other men, and this is something the fighter jock never forgets. And being a fighter pilot is not just longer-range artillery. It’s a way to attack an enemy systematically—all over, all at the same time. And you can do real harm that way, not just punching him in the nose.
Part of feeling unity with his craft is the Direct Neural Flight System—which makes the fighter a direct extension of his mind and body. The brains commands and the spacecraft responds, with little other conscious motions. In battle, a pilot has no time for unnecessary thoughts. In the Pact, the fighters are the best—and those fliers are better than 95% of anyone they might meet. Experience atrophies with disuse, however, so the Pact fighter pilot practices constantly. Fighter pilots are members of a very tiny, elite tribe, who also happens to be the most arrogant group in the galaxy. They want to be the top. If there’s nobody around you left to beat, there’s still yourself.
One of the oldest colonies within the Pact, Old North Australia(Norstrilia), is home to some of nature’s most intriguing lichen, including stroon, the life enhancing drug coveted by trillions of Pact citizens. A omega planet with a massive population, Nostrilia produces a huge tax base for the Guinea Cluster government. Tectonically huge, Norstrilia has seven major continents, all larger than Old Earth’s Asian continent. The major cities include New New York, New Adelaide, and Sydney Downport. A orbital beanstalk is also located on planet, with its far end cabled to Meetpoint Station, Norstrilia’s major orbital trade port. The planet was colonized mainly from Old Earth’s North American continent, and Australia, with a few native Ukrainian’s thrown in to boot. Military production includes the Woomera Spaceport, where superdreadnoughts are being laid down in record numbers. The Governor is Jessup Andover, a anti-alien human supremacist.
One of the most elite units ever conceived, Drop Commandos have very unique abilities, enabling them to conduct high-speed hit-and-run strikes, crippling an enemy in one blow. Individual Commandos have been surgically altered using nanotechnology, emplacing an anti-armor laser in their left leg, building computer interfaces throughout their bodies, and wide-spread bone/muscle augmentations. The first Drop Commando Academy was built at Roma, New Italia and since then their spectacular performance has been showed over and over. In several famous battles(Gorval III, Hainault, Old Nyorder, and the Magog Homeworld) Drop Commandos have taken out their objectives with striking co-ordination and in the Gurayet System they annihilated the dreaded Planetary Disassembler, once the bane of Nyorder Cluster. Some of it’s most famous commander’s have been enshrined in Pact history, including Commander Mark Tolland (of New Grand fame), Conchata Ferel(of Case Bucknard), Francois de Mombuy (Neuquebec Raid), and Ibin Azrag(Sind Operation). The most dreaded Drop Commando units are the 101st(Terra), 321st(Urbanos), and 19th(Manticore), having been used recently in the lastest Dionii Campaign. Although the 101st suffered severe damage in the Heinlein Combat Region, the Terran Governor has reconstituted it’s units and it is now a effective fighting force.
RULES: Kind of a one-shot nuclear weapon, Drop Commandos(1 division) can be used against any target within 3 Clusters of their home base, which is effectively destroyed. They take effect in 1-3 months and can only be used once. As with nuclear weapons, using these units is not done lightly, as the retaliation by other Clusters or groups of Clusters could decimate a Player’s infrastructure or government apparatus.
High Admiral Victor Nemasov, the Head of the Armed Forces, fled Terra last month after losing his bid to capture the High Secretary’s family. Reportedly the man behind the coup attempt, Admiral Nemasov was driven from his HQ in Shanghai(which suffered catastrophic damage). Nemasov is reputed to be based in El Hobra Cluster.
The widow of the High Secretary, Elaine MacDonald, and her three children(Payne 18, Jillian 16, and Jory 8) have fled the fighting in Terra Cluster. Although 90% of their guard detail was wiped out in the fighting, the MacDonald family was able to get off-world to safety. Reports place them in Brasilia Cluster, Ms. MacDonald’s former home.
The head of the Kona Tatsu, Sergei Panovo, was driven out of Munster, where he had held his office after major fighting broke out in Terra Cluster. When fighting broke out, Sergei Panovo was at KT headquarters in Paris, which was nuked but the Deep Underground Command Post where he was located was unaffected. KT forces fought off the Nemasov coup but Panovo fled, and now reportedly resides in Islands Cluster and is taking over there.
The Trantor Navy announced on Thursday it was delaying the selection of a team of defense firms to build its new DD51 destroyers at a planned cost of $25 billion. The scheduled build of the revolutionary ships was fifty-two. “It is a significant program approaching a significant milestone,” said Rear Admiral Robert Vlasov.