The Zodiac Guard

The soldier on the right is wearing power-armor displaying the colors of House Scorpio. The soldier on the left is dressed in a uniform intended for covert operations.

The Zodiac Guard were the most elite combat forces of the Holy Empire of Man. Founded at the end of the Great Reckoning, they served the Empire throughout its history, fighting and winning many battles over the millennia.

Founding

The Holy Empire of Man cherished relentless brutality, and sought to instill it in their troops at a genetic level, so, when the empire captured Earth at the end of the Great Reckoning, a detachment from the imperial army and Cosmid inc. set about gathering DNA from the most aggressive and brutal beings in the galaxy. This initiative was known as Project Zodiac. This DNA was used to create the members of the Zodiac Guard. Immediately, the Zodiac Guard was given the task of defending Earth, and divided into twelve houses, each representing a sign of the Zodiac.

Genetic Supersoldiers

The genes gathered by Project Zodiac were from a wide variety of sources, including the most brutal and hardened criminals, and the resulting soldiers were unrecognizable as human. Averaging 8’ tall, rippling with muscle, and brimming with malevolence, the soldiers of the Zodiac Guard were some of the most feared beings in the galaxy.

The soldiers of the Zodiac Guard never took off their helmets. This served two purposes, it enforced the idea that the guard were a faceless authority without personal identity, and it concealed the wearer’s ghastly inhuman visage, brought about by the patchwork of genes used to create them.

Organization

The Zodiac Guard were organized into twelve Houses, each headed by an Imperial Vizier, a leader chosen by officials from the imperial court for exemplifying the unique traits and tendencies of each house.

Each House was headquartered in a Zodiac Fortress, an entire star system given over to military endeavors. Each of the Zodiac Fortresses was centered on one of the major stars from the zodiac constellation each house was associated with, forming a rough ring around Earth.

Each House of the Zodiac Guard also had a number of affiliate houses scattered in strategic locations around the empire. The number of these affiliates became quite large as the imperial age advanced, and over time many of these became wholly independent entities. Late in Era-2, many of these even turned on the empire that created them, hastening its eventual downfall.

The Planetary League Interstellar Navy (PLIN)

The interstellar navy is the main military force of the Planetary League, responding to crises large and small across the galaxy.

History

Founded with the Treaty of Kepler in GSC 0, the PLIN was set up as the common defense force for all Planetary League member-worlds, and fought in basically every major engagement in Planetary League history. From the Convergence Wars, to the Robot Wars to the desperate times of the Great Reckoning, the PLIN was there to defend the Planetary League.

After the end of the First Robot War, there was a general consensus among the human population that a common defense was needed to protect humans as they spread across space. This led to the formation of the Planetary League and the PLIN with the Treaty of Kepler. PLIN vessels started accompanying the exploration and colony vessels carrying the first humans to nearby stars. Major shipyards were set up in various locations, as were fortified space stations. The ground and orbital defense of inhabited planets was generally left up to local planetary defense forces, while the navy patrolled the vast regions of space between the planets and stars.

Initially the mission of the PLIN was to be a completely defensive force, but after the founding of the Alien Assistance Agency (PLAAA), they often found themselves also helping non Planetary League members on the request of the agency. As time went on and the corporate states grew in influence, corruption started to take hold in the Planetary League, and the PLIN started to be used to “defend” various economic interests as well.

In the Great Reckoning, as the Planetary League fell, the PLIN fought a desperate defense against the growing Holy Empire of Man, but to no avail. The scattered remnants either fled to join the new Galactic Republic, went underground as resistance fighters, or joined the empire.

Ship Designations

All ships that fly the colors of the Planetary League are designated P.L.S. (Planetary League Ship). Each is also assigned a serial number which consists of a block of three letters, followed by up to 6 digits, followed by up to six Unicode characters.

The first block of letters designate the ship’s means of propulsion.

The first letter designates relativistic (normal space) propulsion, the most common types are as follows: “I” for ion, “H” for metallic hydrogen, “S” for solar sail, “C” for chemical rocket and “N” for nuclear rocket.

The second letter designates the ship’s spatial compression (hyperdrive) type. The most common types are “C” for Casimir stack, “L” for laser, and “T” for tesseract

The third letter is always “S” for ship.

The second block of digits represents the basic hull design/ class.

The third block of characters designates a specific vessel.

Small Craft

The A-550 Thunderhawk was an iconic design, and one of the most powerful attack craft in the galaxy during the prime era-1.

The Aurora Shuttle was one of the most ubiquitous shuttle designs in the time of the Planetary League, and was extensively used by the PLIN.

Divisions

The Planetary League Marines are one of the main subdivisions within the Navy. Their role is twofold, to board hostile spacecraft, and to make landing assaults on planets.

These paper-craft cutouts of PLIN Marines are suitable to 25mm-scale games / 1” grids.

Cryptobots

The Cryptobots are a faction of robots that disguise themselves as other pieces of technology, (usually mimicking even the functions of that technology), as a form of stealth.

History

After the Takarran Great War, the purple takarran empire sought an ultimate weapon to destroy their rivals, the red takarrans once and for all. Both sides pursued artificial intelligence and robotics as weapons of war, and in the ensuing arms race, the purple takarrans developed the Cryptobots, shape-shifting robots that could assume the form and function of another piece of technology.

Over a long span of years, the purple takarrans infiltrated more and more Cryptobots into red takarran territory, all awaiting the order to strike. When that order came, the resulting massacre was known as the Takarran Apocalypse. The red takarrans were nearly all exterminated in the first wave of attacks by the Cryptobots. Red takarran robots, known as Defendrons operating in purple takarran territory delivered a fairly crushing blow as well, but not near the devastation caused by the Cryptobots.

Having seized all the red takarran cities, but cut off from all support or reinforcement from home due to the Defendron counterattack, the Cryptobots settled into a defensive holding pattern, patrolling the former homes of the red takarrans for years, until the day when the first scout arrived from the Planetary League. (see: Exodus)

While the scout was exploring the surface of HD-142-E (later known as Takara Prime), the Cryptobots seized and reverse-engineered technologies from the scout’s ship. This gave the Cryptobots an immediate and overwhelming advantage, as heretofore, the technologies of aviation and space-faring were unknown on Takara Prime.

Immediately the Cryptobots broadened the scope of their ambition, expanding their territory, hunting down surviving red takarrans, and taking over their home-world. In the midst of this process, the forces of the Planetary League returned to aid and evacuate the remaining red takarrans and Defendrons who emerged from hiding to join the effort.

Due to the carelessness of some treasure hunters from Pegasus Cybernetics, the Cryptobots were able to connect to Galaxy Net and subsequently, to form an alliance with the infamous General Zarlok. Zarlok convinced the Cryptobots to turn on their creators, the purple takarrans. As this was happening, the Planetary League and many of the Defendrons undertook a mission to rescue purple takarran civilians. Before long, the Cryptobots were essentially in complete control of Takara Prime, and declared war on the Planetary League, officially beginning the Second Robot War. General Zarlok and the Engine of Negation joined the battle, and were on the verge of driving the Planetary League from the system when Sunset, a half-red, half-purple takarran working with the Planetary League revealed vital information about the Cryptobots, turning the tables. During the course of the Second Robot War, the Cryptobots transformed HD-142-E into the sentient machinescape known as Takara Prime.

While Zarlok and the Cryptobots ultimately lost the Second Robot War, they did secure and control Takara Prime as a stronghold.

The Emperor’s Guard

The Emperor’s guard were an elite group of Cryptobots that protected the Lu’Tak emperor.

Emblem

The Cryptobot emblem is a representation of the blade of a ceremonial assassination dagger used in the continual power struggle that is the ruling class of the Lu’Tak empire. The addition of eyes suggests sentience and intelligence, that now the dagger itself has become the aggressor.

Defendrons

Overview

The Defendrons are a faction of robots that disguise themselves as other pieces of technology (usually also mimicking the functions of that technology) as a form of stealth.

History

In the aftermath of the Takarran Great War, the red takarrans undertook a project to create superior robotics and artificial intelligence in order to defend their people in the face of the continued threat of the purple takarrans. Many types of battle and infiltration robots were prototyped, but the shape-shifting ability of the early Defendrons led to their deployment by the red takarran government.

The primary mission of the Defendrons was to be smuggled into purple takarran territory to operate behind enemy lines, and to slow or stop the enemy war machine in the event of another war. When the Takarran Apocalypse happened, however, the Defendrons could do little to defend their own people, as the purple takarrans had pursued the same strategy, deploying an overwhelming force of similarly camouflaged robots known as Cryptobots in red takarran territory. The red takarrans were decimated. The Defendron counter-attack was swift and devastating, but while the purple takarrans were crippled and brought low, they were not nearly as bad off as the reds.

For many years after the Takarran Apocalypse the Defendrons stayed in hiding in purple takarran territory, fighting the occasional skirmish, desperately trying to avoid detection as they were stuck in enemy territory without hope of reinforcement. A number of Defendrons escaped into the wilderness, meeting up with and protecting surviving bands of red takarrans.

Things changed with the first encounter between the Planetary League and the Takarrans (see: Exodus). The Cryptobots in formerly red takarran territory captured and reverse engineered a Planetary League scout ship, by which they learned for the first time in takarran history, how to create air- and space-craft. Because of this, the Cryptobots now had an immeasurable advantage. The remaining Defendrons were thus forced to flee and join forces with the Planetary League, when they showed up in force to aid and evacuate red takarran populations.

After the rescue mission for the red takarrans, many of the remaining Defendrons relocated with the bulk of the surviving red takarrans to the planet Paradise, where they acted as a security force. Another large contingent of Defendrons joined various agencies of the Planetary League as a form of gratitude. Many Defendrons joined the PLAS, the PLIN the PLAAA, and the DAJ. A few even joined the Tardigrades. A contingent of these went along, (accompanied by a bitter sense of irony), with the Planetary League forces later, on a rescue mission for purple takarran civilians after the Cryptobots turned on their creators.

Many Defendrons also fought on the side of the Planetary League during the Second Robot War, which resulted from General Zarlok allying with the Cryptobots.

The Accelerons

The Accelerons are a faction of Defendrons dedicated to speed. They take the forms of the fastest vehicles, and many spend considerable effort and resources trying to get the most powerful engines and most aerodynamic forms possible. They are the first to respond in the event of an emergency, and are often employed as messengers and couriers when time is of the essence.

The Gaurdian’s Cadre

The Guardian’s Cadre is an elite unit of Defendrons who defend the Guardian, the leader of the Ki’Tak armed forces, and by extention, the Defendrons. At the time of first contact with the Planetary League, the only remaining Defendrons were seven members of the Guardian’s Cadre.

The Sacred Anvil

The sacred anvil are a subset of Defendrons dedicated to science and engineering.

The primary emblem of the Defendrons is a simple six-sided shield. It is the symbol they are marked with on construction. Various subgroups ornament this design in a number of ways. Those who don’t specialize and alter their initial markings tend to be the toughest, most stalwart, and most heavily armored of the Defendrons.

The Raging Schwa

The Raging Schwa was one of the Fractal Legions, the militant wing of the Hand of Eris.  The first known sightings of the Raging Schwa occurred early in Era-2 during the rebellion on Ulrick Station in YE 212.

The Raging Schwa was not a regimented military force by any means, usually appearing as a disorganized mob, the only sure sign of their affiliation was the distinctive Schwa-with-horns insignia (also known as the Raging Schwa) adorning their weapons, armor, and bodies. 

As fighters in the Raging Schwa became more experienced, the vowels tended to drop out of their speech, replaced gradually by the "uh" of the Schwa sound.

Tactics

The Raging Schwa didn't tend to use much in the way of strategy when engaging in battle.  Their primary tactic was a disorganized headlong charge into hand-to-hand combat with little thought as to the consequences. 

Prior to going into battle, the warriors of the Raging Schwa entered a trance-like state that sent them into a berserk rage.  Armed with various hand-to-hand weapons, or with bare hands, they descended on the target of their rage, shouting their battle cry "UH!" (a vocalization of the sound that gives the Raging Schwa its name).

Notable Unit Types

Among the unarmed fighters, there was an elite force known as the Hummuckers (from "haymakers", with the "a" sounds replaced with the schwa sound).  The Hummuckers appeared to be flailing wildly in battle, but were actually using a form of martial arts similar to Drunken Boxing.

On those rare occasions when artillery was deployed, it often took the form of a modernized Hwacha, (a Korean siege weapon dating to the late 16th century).