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Therians
Over half a million years before the Trauma, on the third planet of a star called Sol, the people there reached The Singularity. To celebrate, they abandoned all their star systems but two, their home star and their first colony Thras, breaking down all the other planets (including their homeplanet) to raw materials to encase the two in a Dyson Sphere and renamed themselves as a sign of their change. They were no longer humans, they were the Therians.
Now nothing in this universe can ever harm their mighty race, like true immortals, but soon they learn to their horror that something still can: time. In a mere 25 billion years the universe with have spread out to a point where no life — not even them — can exist. Therians took on a task that only they can achieve: they will encase all stars in Dyson Spheres, moving them anywhere they want, and in this way circumvent the spread-out. Soon they truly will be the masters of all things, and any short-sighted race trying to stop them will be crushed under their might.
The Therians have three playable factions:
- The Cyphers, the best Therian scientists and technician with an unmatched grasp of Therian technology. They field superior machines and their overseers have access to all the generic infantry and armored vehicle routines. However, they are relatively disinterested in war and lack initiative when in battle.
- The Warriors, a group of Therians who've grown obsessed with battle and spend all their time honing their tactical and martial skill, then fighting on the battlefield. They are the most ferocious fighters among the Therians but they tend to want to go for close-quarters combat even at the cost of efficiency.
- The Web Striders, a circle of religious Therians who are convinced their god resides within the EMI Grid. They have a superior symbiotic relationship with their machines but strangely, they also have grown to know fear and unlike other Therians, their morale is vulnerable.
- Abusive Precursors: The Therians are the ones who created the Karmans, and Humans in Ava. They have no problem with taking out any of them to achieve their goals.
- Alien Invasion: The Therians tried to invade Ava from the South Pole and activating their machines to create a vast army of golems, but the alliance between the U.N.A. and Red Blok have repelled it.
- The Alternet: The EMI Grid is the Therian cyberspace, in which their consciousnesses can communicate with each other or create simulations for war and enjoyment.
- Badass Boast: "Even if the entire universe united against us, we will still come on top."
- Blade Below the Shoulder: The Therian Reaper blades are huge blades mounted like claws and are nearly ubiquitous among the golems.
- Crack Fic: In-universe; Therians have one called "I love you, 01100010011000010110001001111001!" about a unit of Storm Arachns (twelve mini spider bots that blow up) falling in love with a Wraith Golgoth (a Spider Tank). They enjoyed a long-lasting relationship of twenty-eight seconds.
- Dyson Sphere: The Therians routinely create these to trap stars' energy and stop them from moving away from each other.
- Evil Wears Black: The Therians have exclusively black shells for bodies, which extends to their soldiers and vehicles. The one "exception" is Omega Tiama,t who is Red and Black and Evil All Over.
- Genius Ditz: Since they think of war as a game, Therians often make some very stupid decisions. They have a literally infinite amount of tactical knowledge and resources to draw on, have the most advanced technology and aren't exactly lacking in the numbers department either, but they're too rash to properly apply them.
- Hostile Terraforming: The Therians terraform planets to better use them as material for Dyson spheres. Sometimes the planet hosts sapient civilizations, but the Therian don't generally care.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: The Therians think that it's so awesome that once they found out that the Universe was to die in 25 billion years, they decided to rebuild the universe in order to stop it.
- Machine Worship: The Therian Web Striders worship their own technology and seek their gods inside the code of the E.M.I. grid.
- Our Humans Are Different: The Therians are the setting's true, Earth-born humans, and are immensely powerful, transcendent beings who reached The Singularity long ago and created the ancestors of the other factions in the distant past.
- Nanomachines: Therian weapons like the nucleus guns use smart nano-ammunition.
- Precursors: The Therians were the creators of most sapient life in the universe, and left many worlds scattered with ruins and artifacts that younger species used to advance their own technologies by leaps and bounds.
- Spikes of Villainy: The Therians sport big long blades everywhere, especially on their shoulders to give a menacing look. Did we mention they want to commit genocide on the whole universe, so they can preserve it for their eternal enjoyment?
- Sufficiently Advanced Alien: The Therians are a species well past its singularity, capable of technological feats like species-wide Brain Uploading and immortality or casually creating Dyson Sphere.
- That's No Moon: The Therian factory-ship Damocles is a Dyson Sphere built around a white dwarf; it's about twice the size of the Earth and about 80% of its energy output is used to constantly alter its Therian passengers' environment to their whims. The remaining 20% is used to pump out millions of war machines in preparation of their conquest of Ava. And this is just one of billions of such stations (at the very least, the whole Milky Way was converted). The Therians consider Damocles to be a small and unimpressive ship compared to their real homes.
- Time Abyss: Eons ago, the Therians became functionally immortal by acquiring artificial bodies, and many are incredibly old as a result. In practice, however, a Therian living more than a few millennia is very rare.
- We Have Reserves: The Therians already have a number of galaxies under their control and can easily replace any losses.
- Zerg Rush: The Therians, during their war with the Cogs, threw millions upon millions of ships at the front line without any real plan other than hoping their numbers and tech would win the day as they always had before. This time, it didn't work.
Sigma Urash
"This is all new to me"
Once a major celebrity of Thera, known for being even more aloof than most Therians and for the simulators he enjoys programming. His Simulators were so life-like and so accurate that the Warrior guilds even used them as battle plans and training for upcoming assaults. For the most part they were always 100% on the mark — all but one: Ava. After the failed invasion, Urash was shunned by everyone, his friends no longer wanted to talk to him, his bandwidth was reduced to a point where he could no longer run his simulator, and he was banished to Damocles doing grunt work. Forty-three years later, the Avans attacked Damocles and Urash was ready for his revenge. After being the first to successfully counter-attack the Avans, Urash was hailed a hero again.
- Back in the Saddle: After being Reassigned to Antarctica, the counter-invasion by the Avans caused Urash to rise back to prominence when he took control of the defenses and beat back the Avan attack on the Domacles.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Urash is what amounts to transhuman Will Wright, making simulators that are often over the top because it's more entertaining, he's also one of the best tactical planners in the universe.
- Fate Worse than Death: He was the head planner (kinda) of the invasion of Ava. When it failed, his punishment amounted to... all his Facebook friends taking him off their friends list. (Okay, it sounds silly to us, but in Therian society that makes him an Un-person.)
- Prescience by Analysis: His whole schtick. He spent millennia generating simulations to predict any and all potential outcomes from war decisions, then used that to formulate battle plans.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: His punishment also involved being deprived of EMI resources so he couldn't run his simulations and forced to toil in a factory on the Domacles.
Alpha Atis-Astarte
- Action Girl: In contrast to most Therians she not only enjoys violence and having a physical body, she's actively sought to improve her body's capabilities to make her more able to inflict violence.
- Blood Knight: Unusually among the Therians, she revels in violence. The reason she's the only one who can teleport is because she killed everyone who wasn't using her Teleportation invention to slaughter people, and locked the files so no one else could access them.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: She prefers an oversized right arm for her weapon mounts
- Gladiator Games: How she originally sated her bloodlust
- Sense Freak: Implied to be part of her Blood Knight tendencies. Reportedly she reveled in having a physical body within moments of being "born".
- The Sociopath: Despite ingratiating herself with fellow warriors, she's so lacking empathy and interpersonal skills that she has failed to rise above the rank of Alpha.
- Teleportation: Alpha Atis-Astarte is the sole user of teleportation technology, and mainly uses it to close up on the enemy to slice them into pieces sooner.
Omega Tiamat
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Tiamat feels she has done this, and she has definitely become something apart from even her "fellow" Therians, after she devoured the Web Spider.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: What she has become as a result of her studies. Even by the standards of other Therians her morality and goals are alien.
- Evil Old Folks: Goes without saying, given her age and her status as a Therian
- Horror Hunger: She has become an Algorithmic being, and seeks to consume similar life forms to herself as a compulsion.
- Large and in Charge: As an Omega she's extremely high ranking in Therian society, and thanks to her augments she's absolutely massive
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Atypically for most Therians, she incorporates a lot of red into her design
- Stronger with Age: She's by far the oldest recorded Therian, and is also among the most powerful ever recorded.
- Time Abyss: She celebrated her one hundred twelve thousand seven hundred sixty seventh (112767th) birthday during Operation Damocles.
Omicron Nina Zero
"Believe in Freedom!
Once a human and member of the Collectivist movement, believing that freedom is the right of all people no mater who or what they are. During a workers' strike, the White Stars were sent to break it up resulting in a riot, which resulted in Nina losing her parents and her left eye. She soon learned to try and fight the UNA from within. Changing her name, she moved to Ava and became a newspaper editor. During the Assault on Damocles she went to cover the story, but became separated for her escort during a battle. Trying to find her way through the maze, she meet the newly born AI Babel. Unknowing (or uncaring) of what she was talking to, she treated the AI as an equal. Babel was so touched by Nina's ideals she uplifted Nina to be her Avatar.- And Then John Was a Zombie: Given Babel's nature as The Virus this is arguably what happened to Nina
- Mini-Mecha: For a given value of "mini". Nina is about the size of the other Armored mechs in the game, which are still smaller than most full size "mecha" in other media, despite also being larger than most conventional vehicles.
- Powered Armor: The other interpretation of Nina's "form". She's capable of ejecting into a more "conventional" Therian appearance, however because of the nature of Therians whether this is her "core body" or merely a smaller "escape pod" form is up for debate
- White Sheep: Nina and Babel appear to be far more altruistic than their Therian fellows. In keeping with that they largely avert the Spikes of Villainy and Red and Black and Evil All Over that the rest of the Therian designs incorporate
Babel
The Dreamwebs are portions of the EMI Grid where Therian administrators are allowed to create worlds to suit their own minds. In some of these places, vast empty universes are created where visitors are challenged to survive and invent in games of strategy. Secretly, the administrators of these empty universes seek to stimulate the EMI grid and create a new mind. They have succeededRecently, dreamwebs began being closed en masse to the public. Rumors abounded...an entity born on Domacles is roving, hunting and erasing Therian minds. It calls itself "Babel".Even as hunts are organized to kill her, Babel haunts the EMI grid collecting knowledge and absorbing the minds of her Therian victims as she forges her own personality- Gone Horribly Right: The Web Spiders were actively seeking to create an artificial intelligence within the dreamweb. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
- Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: Babel was formed by UNA hackers messing around the EMI Grid, the Therian Internet.
- The Virus: What many consider Babel to be and what she arguably is. She consumes the minds of Therians in her portions of the EMI Grid and integrates their knowledge into her own without forming an actual Mind Hive
United Nations of Ava
We're not lucky bastards! We're just The Best!
The main faction of the game. Based on the home planet of Ava, the U.N.A. is a parody of Objectivist America, where liberty, capitalism and prosperity are hailed as the best things in life.The U.N.A. have three playable factions:
- Central Command (or CentCom), the military branch of the U.N.A. with the most elite well-organized army. Their superior military organization means that they have a lot of officers to command the troops, but the grunts have a hard time coping if they find themselves with an officer to lead them.
- M.Ind, the military-industrial complex which is a complex group of companies, researchers and militaries. They believe in the power of hardware and field more armored vehicles than others, but their obsession with vehicles mean that they consider a battle lost of they lose all of their vehicles.
- Union, the govermment of the U.N.A. itself which is responsible for day-to-day governance although it is plagued by corruption. They field the most courageous soldiers, but their quality is lesser than that of other White Stars.
- Blue Is Heroic: Their favorite color is blue, befitting their role as de facto protagonists of the game.
- Elite Army: Compared to Red Blok, the U.N.A. have a small population and a more elitist approach to life. It’s natural that they've decided to train an army of elite soldier with the best training and equipment available. This doctrine has its limits because it means the U.N.A. can't be everywhere at once and have a hard time in attrition warfare.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: The UNA lives in this trope, there is a reason why their motto is "Better is Better".
- Energy Weapon: The U.N.A. troopers and vehicles make ample use of laser weapons, to the point it could be considered their signature technology.
- Jet Pack: The U.N.A. Wing Troopers also use jet packs to strike from above.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: An odd positive result — during the invasion of Damocles, UNA politics caused the Therians to be so confused it delayed their already delayed counter-attack.
Sergeant Albert Borz
I'm a soldier first, Pilot second. No matter the weapon, I'll fight till it's over.
Raised in a harsh childhood, Albert Borz signed up with the White Stars to get out. His career as a military man began as well as it could, before he was forced to put down the strikes of AT-31 and fire upon the very workers who were in the same situation he grew up in. This hardened him, as he sympathized with the very suffering the workers were striking against, but he knew he had to do his duty as a soldier nonetheless. Then, 8 years later, he fought on the front lines of every front, bouncing from unit to unit and gaining experience in every weapon in the UNA arsenal. Finally, he was forced to retire, but could not handle civilian life. Instead he became a drill instructor. In AT-43, with the counter offensive against the Therians seeing all his precious trainees shipped to the front lines, Borz once again signed up, taking a demotion to pilot, so he could fight alongside them- A Father to His Men: So much so that Borz took a demotion so he could fight alongside them
- Gracefully Demoted: He technically took a demotion so that he could rejoin his trainees on the front lines and be the first White Star soldier to set foot on the Domacles.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Justified, he brings a portable targeting computer with him everywhere, so he can call in strikes with centimeter level precision.
- Mini-Mecha: As a Fire Toad pilot, this is his primary job
- Mr. Fixit: Reportedly why he was inducted so quickly into the Steel Troopers and the Tac Arms
- Old Soldier: He's been fighting for almost two decades at this point.
- Sergeant Rock: No matter what unit he fights alongside
Captain Helena Newton
"The old folks say the technology from the Trauma is dangerous, that it's a demon. It's true.
Child of the leader of the UNA, Helena Newton refused a life of idle luxury in favor of war. Graduating from the prestigious East Line War Academy, she set new records in every field for Fire Toad piloting. She became a test pilot, hand-modifying her personal Fire Toad into the notorious "Number One". Together, she and Number One became a symbol of hope and strength to the populace of the UNA. When the invasion of Domacles began, she refused her mother's orders to remain a test pilot, and took Number One onto the battlefields of Domacles.- The Ace: She's the current record holder for every Fire Toad record. Her records are so astronomical that many believe them to be UNA propaganda, but thanks to her custom modifications and piloting skills, they're fully authentic
- Ace Custom: Number One, her personally modified Fire Toad
- Ace Pilot: Again, she holds ''every'' Fire Toad piloting record.
- Action Girl: While she prefers to do so in a Fire Toad, she is also capable of kicking ass on foot with guns.
- The Captain: Very much so. On top of her incredible skills as a pilot, she also is eager to share with others, helping to inspire the people of the UNA and the trainee pilots under her command.
- Of Corsets Sexy: For some reason her flight suit features a leather bustier. None of the other pilots in the game even have leather on the front of their flight suits, let alone defined pectorals.
- Meaningful Name: Number One is the best Fire Toad in the game, stat wise. Helena Newton meanwhile is a genius inventor, mechanic, and pilot
- Mini-Mecha: Her custom Fire Toad "Number One"
- Muscles Are Meaningless: She's inhumanly skinny. Despite this she's the most powerful individual Fire Toad pilot the UNA have ever seen, and she's fully capable of kicking ass on foot.
- Non-Idle Rich: Her mother runs the entire UNA. She meanwhile has redefined the entire field of Fire Toad piloting, and has personally invented many of the gadgets that Fire Toad pilots use for their daily lives.
Colonel George Stark
- A Father to His Men: Moreso than any other UNA character. He's been categorically risking his life to save his men for over a decade, and one of the many citations his units have earned is suffering he fewest losses thanks to his leadership
- Chest of Medals: Unsurprisingly, the colonel has earned many citations in his career.
- The Chains of Commanding: Something he struggles with, though he refuses to show it so as not to damage morale.
- Frontline General: Colonels are the highest ranks that are deployed to the ground, and are typically noted to remain on the second line and in vehicles. Stark leads from the front and on foot.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Zigzagged. He has a helmet, but is rarely depicted wearing it, instead carrying it on his belt.
- Heroic Willpower: Part of why his men have so much faith in him, they know that no matter the odds, no matter the foe, he will do everything in his power to bring them home in one piece
- No One Gets Left Behind: His guiding ethos, and implied to be the source of guilt that caused him to sign up in the first place
- Old Soldier: He's pushing forty and was considering a desk transfer until called to the front
- Reluctant Warrior: He's repeatedly mentioned as never looking for a fight, only signing up out of guilt at the risks others are placing themselves in. He even has to be guilt tripped into serving in the Domacles invasion.
Red Blok
Carried on the wings of the Revolution, our victory is certain!
An alliance of former U.N.A. colonies who've adopt a collectivist doctrine where the individual works for the greater good. They are the main adversaries of the U.N.A.Red Blok has three playable factions:
- ARC, the official revolutionary army of Red Blok. They believe in strength in number and swarm their foes in soldiers, although it forces them to have rigid combat doctrines.
- Frontline, the main propaganda machine of Red Blok. They are responsible for propaganda and keeping the population in line with collectivist ideals. They strongly believe in Red Blok's wonder weapons and their armored vehicles can occupy objectives, but they consider a battle lost if all their vehicles are destroyed.
- Supra, the main government of Red Blok. Being the champions of collectivism, they field troops with superior morale but units that find themselves disorganized crumble instantly as soldiers prefer to die than fail Red Blok and be dragged into a court-martial that would sentence them and their loved ones to death.
- Commie Land: The Red Blok is a collectivist alliance of planets living the communist dream, where everyone works for the nation and proudly sports a red star.
- The Dog Bites Back: The workers from the Avan colonies were underpaid and overworked in dangerous working conditions, and eventually rebelled to eventually form the Red Blok.
- Gratuitous Russian: Nearly everything from Red Blok is named in Hadesian, which is mock-Russian.
- Magnetic Weapons: The Red Blok use gauss weapons, propelling metal projectile at high speed with magnetic force. The advantage of this technology is that anything small and metallic can become ammunition, somewhat compensating for dodgy logistics.
- Red Is Heroic: At least for Red Blok, who paint nearly everything red in spite of common sense.
- Secret Police: RevPol is the secret police for ARC, monitoring the discipline and revolutionary enthusiasm of the population.
- Soviet Superscience: Compared to the more straightforward U.N.A., the Red Blok puts emphasis on particular pieces of technology like their gauss weapons, the wonder metal kolossium, and their more esoteric experiments on psychic powers.
Sergeant Anastasia Tymofiyeva
No, I am not looting. This is technological development monitoring.
Brilliant to an unprecedented level, Sergeant Tymofiyeva's progress was stymied at every turn by the simple fact that she was a woman. Refusing to let that stop her, she took every noncombat posting she could, leveraging her growing experience and superhuman abilities with technology to finally negotiate her way onto the battlefield as the tester of her personally designed Communications Jammer, riding into battle on a custom Strider with her invention.- Ace Custom: Her strider, Kozni
- Badass Bookworm: Anastasiya Tymofiyeva is an electronic warfare genius who knows everything about Red Blok's walker. Yet she's wanted all her life to fight at the front piloting a walker, and she's managed to accomplish just that thanks to her making it so she's the one testing her jamming technology on the battlefield.
- Confusion Fu: Her impact on the battlefield with her jammer.
- Determinator: Her entire career is a result of trying to exploit her way into a battlefield assignment despite being a woman
- Ms. Fanservice: She's the only female character whose portrait is depicted with Absolute Cleavage
- Stay in the Kitchen: Downplayed, but this is why she was banned from battlefield roles basically. She was still allowed to serve in the military in other roles though
- Wrench Wench: Part of her efforts to get a battlefield assignment included participating in the mechanics corps.
Captain Pavel Vrachov
Kill the enemy, care for comrade, defend the revolution. Anything else is mere detail
- A Father to His Men: To such a degree that hundreds of soldiers he personally saved were willing to oppose attempts by headquarters to reign him in.
- The Last DJ: He's too maverick to ever get promoted, but he refused to stop helping the men around him, and pushing to spread medical care to the soldiers of Red Blok
- The Medic: not only himself, but he's been instrumental in spreading them to the rest of the Red Blok forces.
- Military Maverick: He frequently disobeys direct orders and disregards discipline, for instance abandoning a precious Kossak to save a comrade. The higher-ups dream of dragging him before a martial court, but Vrachov is so popular that the army would go on strike.
- Propaganda Hero: He was made one because of his bravery and efforts to implement medical aid in the army. His reputation eventually becomes too much for ARC to handle.
Colonels Odin O-1 and Manon O-2
"We are the future of our species"
AT-1, the Avans were depleted. The devastation wrought by the Therians on the Red Blok left their society on the edge of collapse due to population depletion. A desperate plan was orchestrated using genetic manipulation and in-vitro fertilization, cloning, etc to repopulate fast enough to stave off extinction. UN Aid eventually rendered this moot, but that did not stop the project. Success came in AT-30, with the birth of Odin and Manon. By age five they had written their first novel. By age ten they had mastered medical science. At age 11 they began officer school. By AT-43, they now lead the armies of the Red Blok, from a custom Hetman "Urod".- Ace Custom: Their custom Hetman, Urod
- Adam and Eve Plot: One of their proposed methods of their plans to replace humanity, using themselves as the genetic basis of their new future race
- Child Prodigy: To an absurd degree. They can repair damage to the exterior of their mech from the inside
- Child Soldiers: They joined the military before they were even teens
- Enfante Terrible: What some in the Red Blok feel they will become. They're only teens and already consider themselves a separate species, superior to their fellow humans.
- Mr. Fixit / Wrench Wench: Their intellect allows them to have among the best repair skill in the game despite being barely teenagers.
- Readings Are Off the Scale: Their IQ at age 5 was already too high to measure with any testing
- Super Soldiers: Notably they are this not for their physical capabilities but their intellectual ones
Karmans
A race of giant apes created by the Therians. They serve the Therians but, in contrast to their masters, their race has adopted a strictly benevolent (as well as eco-friendly) philosophy and struggle with their role as underlings to the Therian.
The Karmans have three playable factions:
- Libra, the main guardians of karman philosophy and the members of their government. They are preccupied with the survival of the Karman species. Being the most traditionalist Karmans, their inherent benevolence means that they have the best medics but they are also quite rigid and every unit most incorporate an officer to lead its subordinates into battle.
- Nova, a group of Karmans responsible for scouting the enemy, full of the most adventurous and curious individuals. Nova Karmans have a greater contact with other races in the universe and wish to spread the Karman philosophy to others. Specialized in guerrilla warfare, they can deny the tactics of the foe but Nova can easily concede the initiative because of their habit of observing first.
- Flux, an unorthodox faction of Karmans who have grown to like battle and see it as a challenge to overcome one's weakness. They are the most war-like of the Karmans, and they have an affinity with using armored vehicles. Their vehicles can control objectives, but their commanders must also be the officer in an armored vehicle.
- Anti-Villain: The Karman are basically henchmen for the Therians, waging war against other species. However, they only do so because they owe their existence to the Therians and they do think that what they are committing is wrong.
- BFG: Karman, being gorillas, are pretty much the only one able to wield these, using giant mortar guns for instance. However, they pretty much only use them as Shoulder Cannon because they're not that strong.
- Conflicting Loyalty: They;re fully committed to their benevolent philosophy, but also feel they owe a debt of life to the genocidal Therians. Thus, they decided to act as the Therians' soldiers, waging war to ensure their survival and train to one day openly fight the Therians. Their society is split on whether the debt is fully paid or not.
- Flawed Prototype: From the Therians' point of view, the Karman should have created an industrial-level civilization polluting their home planet. Instead, the Karman developed eco-friendly technologies.
- Killer Space Monkey: Sapient, technologically advanced gorillas used as shock troops and agents by ancient aliens intent on destroying all other sapient life.
- Invisibility Cloak: Karmans have a very efficient cloaking technology, enabling them to infiltrate whole fleets are the heart of the enemy.
- Jet Pack: The Karman put them on their main infantry units whenever possible to enhance their armies' speed.
- Lightning Gun: The Karman jammers can make lightning rain from above and fry tanks on the spot.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The Karmans mainly fight to guarantee their own survival.
- Shoulder Cannon: Karman soldiers with the "K" denomination all sport these. The K-fighters have jammers, the K-warriors have mortar guns and the K-shooters have ZZ-guns.
- Shout-Out:
- Their battlestation is called Zaius.
- Baron B. Samedi is a reference to the James Bond movie "Live and Let Die", which features a voodoo shaman able to "resurrect" the dead.
- That's No Moon: The Zaius is a ship the size of a planet.
- Uplifted Animal: They were once gorillas, but the Therian modified their genome to make them sapient and stronger.
Cogs
The Cogs have four playable lineages:
- A-Volution, the masters of Cog technology. They prefer to use machines to their drones and have the most powerful industry of all the cogs. As a result they field more vehicles than others, at a cost however.
- C-Naps, a lineage specialized in diplomacy and commerce. They have a strong civilian fleet and have built a web of connexions that give them a hidden control over most of the cog civilization. As a result, they have the ability to call on unexpected reinforcement, the enemy itself can influence the outcome of a battle behind the scenes via their connexions.
- G-Nocrat, the foremost geneticians of the Cogs. Their mastery of genetics is unequalled and they develop the best drones and have the best cloning techniques. A such, their footsoldats are superior and can regenerate from all but the most grievous wounds. However, they've programed their soldiers so that any infantry unit that loses morale is instantly destroyed to preserve the secret of their genetics.
- T-Regulator, a nomadic lineage that specialize in raiding planets and taking every resource they can. However, Cogs consider them beneficial because for them, a Cog will thrive out of adversity. They have the best fleet and their infantry is especially mobile since they can move rapidly and shoot. However, they are less organized than other lineage in battle and adopt random sequences if they lose a Authority test.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Cogs don't have sex per se but have active and passive modes. The passive mode is just an incubator for the active one, who injects his entire genetic code to create a clone, but the former also tweaks the code to guarantee some diversity.
- Body Horror: Newborn Cogs are often stated to have missing body parts (as they're going to be replaced by cybernetics anyway) ranging from their legs or a respiratory system to everything but their brain.
- Chicken Walker: Cog walkers have this structural singularity compared to the other factions. This because they are pretty much modelled after Cog legs.
- Companion Cube: Cog Gunmen are brainwashed into thinking their gun is their only friend.
- The Greys: The Cogs are three meters tall, but their grey skin and big eyes otherwise give away their inspiration.
- Organic Technology: The Cogs are known to use drones as supercomputers. However, they also use mechanical technology.
- The Social Darwinist: Cog society is based on the survival of the fittest.
- That's No Moon: The T-Regulator faction has begun construction of a ship based on the Therians' and Karmans' planet-sized vessels.
O.N.I.
A rising Avan megacorp that's become the greatest provider of mercenary troops in the galaxy, among other businesses.
O.N.I. has three playable factions/branches:
O.N.I. has three playable factions/branches:
- MercForce, the private military corporation of O.N.I. They offer their service to anyone willing to pay them and are the premium mercenary force in the universe. As a mercenary troupe, MercForce double their gains in PR, but their ruthlessness means that they aren't too keep on taking care of their own troops.
- Reseach & Destruction, the research and development branch of O.N.I.. They are responsible for developing and testing the latest O.N.I. weapons. As a result, their armored vehicles are better as they can shoot even with no PS, but their experimental weaponry can have random results so the opposing player can force one damage reroll per turn.
- V-SWAT, a secret special force created to protect the company's most important members and to eliminate anyone that would hinder O.N.I.'s effort to expand. They are an elite special force that can take anyone by surprise and focus on quick and efficient battles. Their units can't be shot via Overwatch, but they will withdraw if by the fourth turn they have less troops than the enemy.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: The executive of O.N.I. have no qualm against bribing politicians to ease deals or murdering any obstacle in their path.
- Fantastic Rank System: O.N.I. takes after feudal Japan with their ranking system, the foot-soldiers being named "Samurai" then "Bushi", going up to the "Daimyos" and "Shoguns" who serve as officers and executives.
- Hellhole Prison: Vohris is a prison planet managed by O.N.I. The "hellhole" aspect comes from the inmates, as O.N.I. encourages everyone to be a violent warlord oppressing the population, granting resources to the most ruthless and effective warlords. It serves as a training and recruiting ground for V-SWAT.
- Our Zombies Are Different: O.N.I. Zombies have two types, one is your normal mindless zombie, the other, the super zombies, is fully sentient with all the memories and personalities they had; they're also still on the payroll.
- Private Military Contractors: MercForce, one of the most lucrative branches of O.N.I., is a mercenary force in a war-torn universe with no shortage of employment. They are highly sought by everyone (even the Therians) thanks to their efficiency and lack of disciplinary problems.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Those in MercForce mainly fight because they’re paid to.
- Really Gets Around: The serum O gives its host an exceptional fertility and a desire to sleep with anyone. Okamura Kazuo has had nine wives, many more mistresses and sixty-four children as a result.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Shogun Natalya Bokov is one of Oni's directors and leader of V-Swat, who was chosen because she (like everyone on the board) is a descendant of Oni's founder Okamura Kazuo. It helps she's also a ruthless General Ripper.
- Tank Goodness: O.N.I. is the only faction to use tanks on wheels, their advertising relying on the low cost, speed and ability to maneuver in terrains most walking tanks cannot.
- The Virus: The serum O is made from an extraterrestrial virus which wants to infect the whole universe through O.N.I.
- Villain with Good Publicity: On the surface, O.N.I. is a prosperous and honest, if ruthless, MegaCorp who wants to make a profit and expand its business, like any business in the universe. Little does everyone know that the executives are all controlled by The Virus, who wants to infect the whole universe with itself.
