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While the larger Fehrans culture capitulated and eventually assimilated back into the galactic fold, a rebellious faction of Fehrans who stubbornly refer to themselves as "Atorians" has continued to resist; This insurgency has continued since
Each Atorian ships is a semi-autonomous entity; They cooperate, the do not attack each other, but they are not beholden to each other, either; They simply can't afford to work that way anymore. Each ship is responsible for it's own affairs, and each member of the crew is responsible for their own expenses; Each crewmember bids on what they believe it would cost them to accomplish X mission (in terms of robots or power armor, missiles, etc.), and what they think they can return on that "investment." High cost/benefit ratio wins. Whoa to the Sister who goes over cost or under return (or both); She will be forced to pay the difference somehow. Doubly so for the sister who costs the collective a robot or ship; She may find HERSELF now a slave. Combat losses (callously referred to as "shrinkage") are expected and acceptable; In fact any bidder who claims anything LESS than 10% shrinkage (whether it's in missiles or warriors) is viewed with a suspect eye, or watched closely for possibly greater things down the road; If her projections are met, she may even be tasked with a "Object Liberation Mission," meaning stealing a UGC flagged ship, usually a commercial ship (warships are far too high risk). These are then converted to combat vsls (by adding guns, missiles, etc). This ship is then hers to command- And God/s help her if she looses her ship (unless, of course, she's part of the "shrinkage"). Most sisters would rather die than return without their r/pa's, let alone a full warship, though if they sacrificed their machine (and risked their life) holding off a larger force (and allowing the collective to escape) they may be forgiven, even REWARDED. As cold and hard as this seems, it's necessary for the survival of the collective; The Atorians no longer have the backing of a government, so they have to make ends meet on their own. Consequently, each mission has to pay for itself. The Atorian Malcontents see themselves as the legitimate government; They do NOT recognize the U.G.C. as legitimate, as it didn't form until after the Atorian Empire was founded. As such, they view their actions as legal and legitimate; They see what they are doing as fighting back against an illegal and "marginally" successful rebellion. They believe the rebellion can be crushed- Eventually. But they also recognize the fact that, for the time being, they are forced to use "guerrilla tactics" against the "usurpers." The Fehran Malconts trace their existence back to one of the original Empresses of the Atorian Empire; During the "War with the Rebellion," one of the empress saw that, due to mismanagement and poor application of the combined battle fleets, the Empire was going to lose. Therefore, she siphoned off a large part of her own fleet to a remote sector of space along with a space station. This was to be her reserve fleet, from which she could strike back. As the REF Battle Fleet closed in on Fehran, the Empress sent an encoded message to her reserve fleet instructing them to remain in hiding until she arrived, then took to a shuttle to make her escape; She arrived two days latter and began her guerilla war, which has lasted ever since. (REF Intel believes she never actually arrived, and that the "arrival" of the empress was created to legitimize the rebel's actions.) In truth, the Atorian Empire was doomed to failure against the REF from the start; However, since this flies in the face of Atorian dogma, they do not accept it, and their historians have debated what could have been done better ever since. Most attribute the defeat of the Empire to mismanagement of the battle fleets, exactly as the Empress decreed. (A few have found differing versions of how the fleet could have been deployed "better," but they're all wrong: Only a guerrilla style war could have hurt the REF, and even at that, kamikaze-style sacrifice would have been the only method that would have significantly have hurt the REF, but not appreciably reduced it's combat effectiveness; It would have DESTROYED the Atorian Battle Fleets.) The Fehran Malconts refer to themselves as the Battle Fleet of the Atorian Empire; A such, they use Atorian terms for their forces. Below is a quick reference dictionary: Assaulter: Tanks. Battle Suit: Power Armor. Robot: Destroid. Recruit Transport: A modified Police Veritech, used to transport newly acquired slaves.
Recruit: New slaves. Sister: A female Recruit taken as an infant or young child, who is raised and trained to be a Fehran. They have MOST of the rights of a true Fehran, EXCEPT a say in government; They are NOT allowed to vote or hold office, to make or write speeches or laws, etc. They are, effectively, second-class citizens, but they DO have rights. They can select what crew they serve under, they can quit a crew, they get a share of profits, etc. Note: ONLY females can become Sisters, and ONLY those taken before they turn 06 years old. Slaves: Anyone OTHER that a Fehran citizen or Sister. Comforters: Slaves kept simply for sexual pleasure. Often they are HORRIBLY abused, including anally and orally raped, tortured, etc. Those Fehrans who have lost their place in the Fehran society (been dishonorably discharged from the militry) are usually sold into slavery to recoup their "debt to society"; Being sold for use as a Comforter is the ULTIMATE dishonor, and unfortunately the most common fate. Sisters almost exclusively end up as Comforters, but with a twist; They are sold to fellow Sisters, who usually apply them to common slaves. Brothers: Male slaves to which a Fehran or Sister has taken a liking; They are usually treated as favored pets. Note: The gynarchristic nature of the Fehrans has NOT been whittled by the needs of the centuries of defeat at the hands of the Spacy; Indeed, it's been REINFORCED, and a woman will sell her own sons, or worse abort them, to get rid of them; Those few who DO keep her "child" is ussually viewed with suspicion ("Where DO her loyalties lay, that she's chosen a man to her fellow women? Who does she think she is?!?! Wasting our resources on someone who SHOULD be a slave like that!"). Typically sons are sold to the slave mines, and those who show breeding potential are taken aside for that- Via electroejaculation (to ensure they never think they're equal to a woman). This doesn't apply to Brothers, however. The Atorians social structure is built strictly around cash; To advance to the next militry rank, you must bid against other candidates. The candidate submits a bid, based on their belief in their ability to take XYZ target, and the resources necessary to do so. The lowest consistent bidder is the one promoted. The bidding reflects the amount of resources necessary to achieve the objective and the losses occurred in the process; The Ators understand that the moment a mission begins, there will be losses, but the less resources you use, and the higher the loss/gain difference is, the higher your ranking on the advancement list. Failure is punished, and severely; The members of a mission are accountable for every PENNY of mat'eri'el under their control and command. The member's PAY is related to the amount of mat'eri'el recovered. The PRICE of replacement is taken out of their pay, and if they can't pay in full they have to come up with money 'some other way'- This usually means themselves being sold into slavery (see 'Comforters', above). 'Expected losses' are not held against the member; For example, a mission commander who already bid 17 Power Armors and only actually looses 14 would not be counted against the mission commander. Those 14 Power Armor Troopers would not under normal circumstances be held accountable unless they failed in some fashion resulting in greater losses; For example, if they were told to disable a particular power system and didn't do so they will be held accountable for those losses. It gets pretty ugly at times- Those who failed have a tendency to try to blame everyone else. This process is a direct reflection of the practical problems of the Ator's existence; They have limited resources, and have to maximize every one of them. A mission that doesn't produce results is a failure. Those losses can't be replaced without ANOTHER mission, which means more mat'eri'el wasted. Occasionally an Ator faction defects to the UGC; These groups, called "Reddites" by their former allies, have (for one reason or another) had a fundamental alignment shift. (They are usually interred in some UGC prison for many years, and very often their own ship is converted TO their prison.) Just before they switch sides, most such groups either sell off their slaves (get rid of the evidence) or buy many more (as a bargaining chip), depending on how well they've treated their slaves in the past. The Rhanieck Raid. Of special interest is the raid on Rhanieck, a UGC enclave in the Gorvra Galaxy. Rhanieck was thought to be too far out of the way even for the UGC to bother with, and lying at berth were several spacefold capable ships. Some were laid up with various propulsion, powerplant, and flight system issues, but a couple were in flight ready condition- One in fact was delivering parts for a couple of the other ships. The Atorians staged a very daring raid on the colony, firsr severing communications so they couldn't call for help, then launching a full scale invasion of the colony. They used a variety of tactics to draw attention away from Rhanieck beforehand, including a strike on Terran space stations to misdirect REF attention. With no ships due to arrive for several months, a successful assault would give them at least that much time to loot baring a stray REF ship arriving on an unscheduled stop (none did), which would be dealt with fairly effectively by the Atorian fleet still in orbit. This was the single biggest coup of the Atorian's collective career; Free reign on a planet with everything they could want for months. In that time they rounded up nearly a half million survivors as hostages and put the majority of the other population to work rebuilding two of the ships, giving them a fleet of 5 spacefold ready ships and enough Protoculture for centuries. This so greatly impressed the other anti-UGC groups that COBRA COMMAND approached them for a real alliance (after having already been rejected by others), which the Atorians agreed to- This in turn got others to join the alliance not so much for Cobra's sake but out of respect for the Atorians and to get access to the spacefold capable ships. The Galactic Intelligence Bureau still does not fully understand how the Atorians accomplished this feat, since it would require them to have a spacefold capable ship of their own to get there or to move with a UGC convoy (ships in the convoys are vetted, so this is unlikely). The secret is so carefully guarded that only the Supreme Chiefess is allowed to know, and this is passed orally. Favored Weapons platforms: Atorian manufactured versions of the Spacer 2 Space Fighter and overhauled T'sentraedi Salan Scouts as flagships. Modified versions of the T'sentraedi Shuttle Pod are favored as Cruisers and cargo ships. An Atorian-manufactured version of the Tiresian Assault Shuttle is also making a good show. Atorian Personal Equipment T'luaza Milldiem 281 Rifle. When the Exedous Fleet escaped they took over 1 million of these Tiresian assault rifles with them. Over time they've added E-Clip compatibility, enabling E-Cables to be used as well. Standard Atorian Armor The Atorian Empire inherited millions of sets of T'sendriol (Bioroid Terminator) Armor suits. Prior to this, with the Tiresian Master's acquiescence, they'd begun to build a version more suitable to their anatomy. Battle Kit Each Atorian typically carries an advanced First Aid kit, a dozen stimpacks, a half dozen grenades, restraints, and secured comms system.
Flight Pods The Inter Planetary Alliance (the forerunner to the UGC) acquired Grav Pod technology when they conquered the Atorian Empire (the dirty secret of the Atorians was they acquired it from conquest). As a result they not only understand but utilize the technology extensively, including personal flight packs, which they use both for insertion (like paratroopers of old) and extrications (to escape capture, etc.). Whips And Cattleprods The Atorians use whips and cattleprods for controlling slaves, and for torture as a form of amusement. The use of cattleprods strikes many as odd, since they have remotely activated shock collars. Binders and restraints (often with stun functions) Personal data assistants tied to their head phones and smart glasses (a fairly UGC wide norm) whenever possible and often with VISOR and motion scanners incorporated into their list of functions (and always with some kind of comms and GPS capability). Personal force fields Environmentally necessary gear (such as stillsuit) when possible. Laser Torches for cutting and for welding metal. These don't typically see much service, and in most focused light based guns (such as the Gallant H-1X Series) are usually redundant. other Atorian Culture In the beginning, the culture of the Atorians exactly mimicked the culture from whence it came, with the slight modification that the members were all current militry, and therefore spoke and acted as such. Over time, however, it's become a quasi-religion, a cult, of a twisted militry honor; One's greatness in the society is seen in terms of the operations they've participated in and the loot taken- This measures one's place in society. The leader of the Atorians is the Supreme Chieftess, a religious, political, and militry leader nominated by the outgoing Supreme Chieftess and ratified by the Council Of Captains, a collective of the Captains and other commanding officers that convenes solely for the purpose of ratifying and removing the Supreme Chieftess. This is a once in a decade or so event, and thus reduces the Council's exposure. The Supreme Chieftess sets general policy and objectives, such as the punishment for a Sister caught sleeping on watch or treatment of prisoners and the number of prisoners to be taken in a given year; They then leave the Captains to execute the objectives in the manner they best see fit. Treatment Of Slaves Prisoners taken are divided into three camps; Females, male to be ransomed, and other males. Females taken are offered for ransom and otherwise treated as captive guests unless and until they act in a way dangerous to their captors, at which point they may be placed in a cell but typically aren't treated any worse. Males are divided into two groups, those likely to be ransomed and those unlikely to be. Those unlikely to be ransomed are shipped off to slave camps, most of which are mines of horrific conditions. Here they are tortured, often merely to amuse their captors. Whips, cattleprods, even nooses are commonly used. Males likely to be ransomed are treated a lot better, being held in cells and chained to the bulkheads. They are fed a gruel and intermittently tortured, but these are as much to created videos to elicit payment faster. The Atorians are mollifying their treatment somewhat, with even the most worthless male being offered for ransom at a rate more appropriate to their value and overall treatment less abusive. Castrations are extraordinarily rare. "Governance" Governance in the Atorian fleet is highly limited; The Fleet overall is governed by the Supreme Chieftess, who is ensconced at an unknown and remote site. She sets policy and objectives on a year by year basis, allocating objectives by fleet (First Fleet's objective might be 10,000 slaves and 200 robots, for example). The fleets can exceed this goal, with half the loot going to the Supreme Chieftess for re-allocation, but they must meet this goal, or the Fleet Commanders may be replaced. Each fleet is commanded by its own Chieftess. Each ship and other command has its Captain. A Chieftess or Captain can be removed by their higher authority, but the Council Of Captains can countermand the removal by simple majority; They can also relieve the Supreme Chieftess of her duties, but on a 2/3 majority. Captains are relieved on a somewhat regular basis, often to be re-instated later on. Chieftesses are relieved rarely (about one a year is a significant spike). Only three Supreme Chieftesses have been relieved; One returned to her previous fleet as Chieftess, one was later reappointed to Supreme Chieftess, and one was condemned to the slave pits (she'd rather have been executed).
Relations To Other Factions The Atorians have good relations with most of the other non-UGC allied factions. They serve as mercenries to almost all factions, with the exception of the Systems Lords (officially, at least; Amaterasu, Hathor, Morigan, and Kali, collectively known as "Ba'al Bitches," have clandestinely engaged their services in various attempts to undermine both Ba'al and their fellow concubines), and the Wraith (which are practically extinct anyways). Intelligence Operations. The Atorians are particularly noted for their intelligence operations in preparation for a raid; They spend up to a year watching the target, assessing when ships are likely to arrive, depart, what comms networks exist (so they can cut the network), the best places to land, etc. Many targets are continuously tracked, despite not being the target of any planned operations (they even have a spy satellite over XXT-5K that the GIB hasn't noticed). Despite being one the less sufficient New Order members, they have a reputation as the best scouts and spies. They also sell their bodies as mercenries for their allies in The New Order on a fairly regular basis. The Atorians were the first group to sign onto The New Order, an alliance in opposition to the UGC and even advocated for the Syhith to sign on (and some have). COBRA COMMAND never forgot this, but they don't trust the Atorians any more than anyone else. Manpower And Equipment The manpower of the Atorians is declining, and it's strongly suspected to be tied to a decreasing birthrate, though how is not yet understood. The Atorians have between 1/2 and 3 million members fit for combat operations, and around 50% more members not fit for operations (too young, untrained, etc.) An estimated 10 million slaves are also part of the Atorian quasi-state. With these numbers, if the Atorian bases could be found even a light expedition, or perhaps a heavy task force, could dispatch them entirely. Unfortunately, the Atorians are now masters of the mining industry AND understand how to build skyhooks in a way that the REF simply can't track; They've dug into asteroids and planetoids, and there's very little that can be done about it. Another significant factor is defections by Atorians, in one case a full Fleet, to other factions. 27TH Fleet defected in full to the T'sentraedi Clan Kurita, which soon after defected to the UGC. However, whether this is a phase, trend, or ruse has yet to be determined, as defectors are not unknown to return to the fold later on... The Atorian fleet isn't in much better shape; The newest ships are at least a decade old, the oldest is suspected to be the Slave Master-Class Ship Queen Diviesh, which was scheduled to be decommissioned after a century of service on the day of the IPA's attack. (There may in fact be an older ship, but this is not entirely clear.) The Atorians have recently begun construction of Atorian-Class DropShip and the Atorian Type 5 "Galvatron" Battle Robot, signaling that they 'may' have developed a whole new construction capability; The Atorian-Class appears to be a bit out of their intrinsic capabilities to produce, but with their well-known connections to Tiresian, T'sentraedi, and Invidia Malcontents, it's highly unlikely they can't find some such support; They've also been found serving as mercenaries for other actions (well before defections; see "Current Decline"). Technical And Industrial Capacity The Atorians have demonstrated an increasing industrial capacity in recent decades; While the Atorian-Class DropShip is still probably beyond their ability to fabricate themselves in any significant numbers, the Type 5 Combat robot clearly is not, and there are indications of ties to other factions that could be mass producing any number of machines to their use. The Orguss Fighter is one such example. They have also brought technical expertise to other groups; Again, the Orguss is an example, as the Flight Dynamic Control Systems (electronics, flight controls, etc.) are clearly Atorian, and modern at that, and other groups have cloned the Atorian-Class in some numbers. This is worrisome for the UGC, as hidden manufacturies can indicate a much larger powerbase than is indicated by topical observation.
Resource Development The Atorians are aggressively developing new resources, especially mineral and energy resources; They have managed to poach hundreds of times at various sites, even to the brazen audacity to develop a mining site right under the UGC's nose on Jelneck. Most of their operations appear to be conducted with legitimate licenses obtained illegitimately; By posing as a mining corporation, they can develop a site on a license, violate the license in many ways (pollution, environmental damage, etc.), and be long before they're discovered be gone. However, unlicensed sites seem to be preferred, and such sites appear to be developing a good return on the Atorians investments. Such sites are dug until either exhausted or no longer defensible, then the slaves, if any are still alive, are transported off-world. Energy development seems to be a priority as well; Several hundred oil drilling sites have been found abandoned, with no particular attention given to environmental regulations that did not effect profit margins. Coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium are exported with minimal refinement, while biofuels, mostly wood when available, are used for on-site energy production. Another 'resource' the Atorians have developed in the past is of course "sentient resources," meaning slaves. The last major slaving base was hit pretty hard about 150 years ago. Since then slaving raids have dropped precipitously, as defections have increased... Current Decline The Atorian Movement is in a steep decline as membership slides substantially; Birth rates are down drastically, to the point that males who have served in the Atorian forces are even granted some rights (though not many), and many Atorians are defecting to other factions; About 3 out of every 4 or 5 are joining one T'sentraedi Clan or another, about half that number a Tireseian Faction, others many different groups. There have even been Atorians positively identified amongst the Mandalorians, and some indication of voluntary defection to the Beorge; Syhith Legionaries have been captured that were later identified as Atorians; There have even been about 2,000 Atorians applied to La L'egion 'Etrange're, who refused them entry until the Council passed a special provision for Fehrans, T'sentraedi, and other species of the UGC who can not demonstrate ancestry on a case by case basis. (It should be noted that some, though not all nor even most, of the Atorians positively identified in the Mandalorians and Syhith had applied to La L'egion before and been refused; as such, the Council relaxed the rules.) It is estimated that at the current rate of decline, the Atorians as a faction unto themselves will cease to exist in about 5,000 years; However, the threat will not have gone away, as they will simply have merged with other factions. Though the pirate life may sound exciting, it's really not. Hunger is their norm to the point they don't know what life without it is like, clean water and air are rare, exhaustion permeates the society, and general poverty is the normal state with pirates globally. Spare parts for ships are treated like gold, new ships (or at least ones in full working order) are so rare that sometimes multiple generations will come and go without ever seeing one, electrical sparks and fires are so common that most get used to it by the time they can walk, and every kind of medical deprivation has been their lot except STD's, which they rarely get due to their insular society. Counter Operations The UGC continues to conduct coutner operations to varying degrees of efficacy; In the intelligence sphere information is constantly being collected to anticipate Atorian plans and agents are intermittently able to infiltrate their ranks. Female agents are more effective, though a male agent was able to insert himself into the Atorians posing as a slave recruit (taken on Denbar). From there he was able to stage a slave uprising that took control of a mining planet, then sent a signal to an REF fleet for assistance. With that 5,000 Atorians and 3 ships were captured, and a major mining operation terminated. On the diplomatic front, the UGC keeps an offer to voluntary defectors of varying degrees. Occasionally one or two accept the offer, but this is very rare. Size and Orientation: Large Company (200); Each ship counts as a separate "corporation" under the new Atorian model. Features: Despite their foundation from the Atorian's militry apparatus with all the best equipment and tons of supplies, replacement parts, etc., the Fehrans have downgraded their capabilities significantly (about 50-75% in various fields) over the centuries. This is partially due to poor planning and execution (the choice not to focus on relocation and reconstruction to exclusion early on), but also on the inevitable attrition against an empire that at times has ruthlessly sought to extinguish their existence and the utter dearth of allies for over 3 centuries (nobody in the Local Group wanted much to do with them outside of the worst black marketeers, and even they weren't terribly supportive). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government. However, the government that sponsored them has not existed in over 400 years, and they are now effectively "none." They have allied themselves to several anti-UGC factions from which they gain some assistance, and in this larger body they've become fairly influential due to their strong history of mining and mineral refinement, which is greatly appreciated and well rewarded by all of their allies. | Utility Outfits (5); They are lucky they can even do that, and are often lesser quality. Despite this, the Atorians instantly keep the uniform of their ancestors (see above); They'd rather be naked than abandon "their mission" which in large part includes 'honoring' their heritage. Atorians who leave the larger body permanently will leave their uniforms behind for others. | Cheap Gear (2); They are lucky they can even do that, and are often lesser quality. They do occasionally pick up better equipment either on the black markets or stolen from operations. Medical Clinic (20); The Atorians do treat injured sisters as best as they can, and to some degree this is excellent care. | Basic Transportation (3); The 'can' provide transport, but only when they have to and on Atorian business ONLY. They just can't afford to hand out vehicles (even cars) to anyone who wants it. Generally they get by from stealing from their enemies. However, intelligence operatives can typically depend upon receiving credits towards legitimately buying a car or two for their operations. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic Weaponry (5); Each Sister is issued an energy-based long and side arm and basic body armor. They bid on robots (declaring that if given X robot/Power Armor they can get X+Y credit loot back); Otherwise they have to capture one in the field (a surprisingly common occurrence, typically by stripping dead police) or through the black markets (equally common). | Basic Service; The various Ator ships can talk to each other and to their own forces on the ground, and those ground forces can talk to each other, but it's far from "secured" service. Often, when one Ator faction wants to communicate with another, they use commercial service; The UGC rarely monitors these unless they know of a SPECIFIC communiqu'e of interest (a rare event). | Lax; It rarely matter how much the crews talk, since they're restricted to ship anyways. However, occasionally an errant message (or UGC spy) alerts the UGC to Ator intentions. Very rarely the UGC is able to capture an Ator alive; Defections are quite rare due to the quasi-religious zeal of the Ator's society and fear of retribution for 'traitors' (which often extends past the Atorians themselves). | None (secretly, they have Partial Headquarters); Usually just small villages in out-of-the-way systems where a ship can be landed and the crew allowed to stretch their legs. Hostages (slaves) are usually put to work as soon as they are properly tagged, most often in mines. An average base will last about 5 years, though a few have existed longer (especially beyond the Local Group). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Combination Scout Detachment, Special Military Operatives, and Infiltration Network; Usually posing as businesswomen, tourists, even in one particularly daring event as REF Spacy Academy cadets from Terra. These teams analyze the target and try to predict where the defenses are positioned, where the best picking might be, and the best approach and escape routes should be. When required, these advanced parties also soften up the targets, usually by bombing the closest defenders to the planned landing area using various improvised weapons. They will also develop informants and try to hack computer networks whenever possible. Most operatives will grow their hair, cover their tattoos, and take local jobs as cover for their activities. | Nickels and Dimes (5); It's not your mother's Atorian Empire, each mission must pay for it's own existence; Even purely militry targets have to be taken out in a cost-effective way. More than once a planet has been raided purely for the profit margin; For this reason militry targets are typically avoided altogether (Terra is one example). One of the rare exceptions to this rule was the operation on Rhanieck to steal a spacefold capable ship from the UGC; A lot of money was dumped into the operation to acquire informants, buy equipment, etc. Even this had to justify itself (fortunately or otherwise, the possession of a spacefold drive alone justified the operation; the slaves and other loot became profit margin). | Miscreant and Diabolic (0); Ators are fundamentally twisted by generations of living on the run. They hate the UGC and all it stands for. They hate all men, they aren't big fans of 'aliens,' and they're consumed by their lost empire and the conditions they've found themselves reduced to (slightly above poverty). Even by the standards of the Exodus fleet they've become a cruel and twisted people. There are variations of cruelty, with some extremists committing horrific acts while others make a point of it to ransom hostages as quickly as possible, but some things can not be let go- A tortured hostage elicits more urgency for recovery than one that has been well treated. | Because each ship is an independent corporation, it has to have its own people. Con Man (many); They have to get fuel, spare parts, etc somehow. Cyber-Doc (many); Usually 2 or 3 per ship (sometimes these are slaves). Gangs of Robbers (many); They ARE a "gang of robbers," after all. Smugglers and Sellers of Contraband (many); They have to get fuel, parts, etc somehow, don't they. Expert Assassin (many); Skilled in many ways of killing, including guns, knives, bombs, artillery, poisons/drugs, and hand-to-hand techniques. Special Forces (many); May be assigned special duties (such as scouting). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hunted; In fact they're wanted throughout the UGC. Dead, alive, or otherwise. Capturing an Atorian is a major feather in any cop or soldiers cover, and the various authorities have major rewards to this end. Though not strictly legal, police officers who discover an Atorian ring will be rewarded by the GIB (though back channels). | Freelance; They're paid a percentage of the profits on a system based on rank, seniority, and bid (the higher the first two the higher the rate, and generally and the lower the third the higher the rate though this isn't necessarily absolute). This generally isn't much though (effectively Pittance). | Flag Officers: Mostly a retiree role, Flag Officers facilitate trade within and ensure that missions abroad don't conflict. Corporate Officers: Each ship is a semi-autonomous entity. The captain is the owner of her ship, and therefore responsible to ensure her crew has what they need. Field Officers: Most crews have a few specialist for field operations; They usually pose as businesswomen, tourists, etc. May also be saboteurs and assassins. Line Officers: A mission's team (robot, PA, or fighter) commander is referred to as a Jrueplidair (plus their rank). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Atorians have a few weapons and vehicles worthy of note: They are: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FEHRAN MALCONTENT-Class Warship Fehran Attack Shuttle Fehran Revenge Craft Atorian Combat Robot Atorian Power Armor Atorian-Class DropShip Standard Atorian Armor (see above). Every Atorian has access to these. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| However, the Fehrans generally use these as building blocks (see "Fehran Malcontent Society") until they can either capture or buy on the black market REF hardware. They are also known to modify the mat'eri'el, for example the Police Veritech A Variant; The REF occasionally copies them, in a back-and-forth exchange of technological advancement. Breakaway Factions. The Fessors. Posing as Atorian malcontents, the Fessors secretly serve the UGC. "Defectors." Various Fehrans have left the larger Atorian forces, most to various anti-UGC forces for the greater resources. These are tolerated, but in many cases they've defected to the UGC (typically surrendering to Patrol cutters or Marines). These are seen as utterly reprehensible, and any sister who does so is marked for death- In a few cases Atorians have infiltrated the UGC to assassinate their former allies (though most are assassinated by Fehrans or Fehran friendly criminals). Sisters who are captured by the UGC (or allied parties) and refuse to cooperate with their captors are seen as saints, and the Atorians occasionally conduct raids to recover their own. Many however die in custody. Modern Piracy. Though not typically appropriate, players may opt for a pirate or related campaign. Though it may sound romantic or exciting, pirates are typically desperate in every sense of the word; Hunger, parts, clean water and air, exhaustion, and general poverty is the normal state with pirates globally, while the rare successful pirates are either captured quickly or disappear without a trace (far less than 1% fall into the later category). The UGC does rarely offer amnesty for pirates, but typically taking every credit they've earned to pay losses to their victims. True Pirates. Typically pirate loot the ship for whatever valuables they can carry off. "Valuables" can vary depending upon the needs and wants of the pirates; A few key ship components maybe be worth more than the entire ship depending upon the circumstances. They may or may not take passengers and crew as hostages.Most pirates use larger, more powerful ships. Typically they will stop a ship, take what they can, and get away within a couple hours. The REF is never out of radio range, and unless extensive jamming is taken beforehand a distress signal will have been sent. More often though they will target unmanned cargo vsls, as these are less creative in their defensive actions and with generally less comprehensive defenses and comms equipment are much easier to overpower. Though they make for tempting targets, passenger vsls are generally avoided due to the unpredictable nature of passengers. Corsairs. Corsairs are raiders who travel by ship but land to loot; The best analogy would be comparing the Spacy to the Marine. These types will gravitate to shuttles or lighter ships that can be landed easily. Most Atorians are both pirates and corsairs, but in land operations will target further flung parts of the empire, more or less analogous to a home invasion robbery than a take over of a city. They have been known to foment uprisings on occasion to give cover for a major landing. Slaving Raids. Slaving raids are a variation on the corsairs, specializing in people as commodities. Slaving raids are typically very difficult because people react differently from say toasters and cars. However the Atorians are known on occasion to conduct such raids when they think the rewards outweigh the risks; These tend to be smaller populations and poorer regions (such as the Rhanieck raid). Due to the complexity of a slaving raid (mostly the difficulties of rounding the people up), such operations require long term investment in the attack, forcing the Atorians to select targets where complete domination is a viable option. Smaller scale slaving raid require extensive planning, which can be done but typically have much lower return on the investment. Ship Hijacking. Occasionally an Atorian crew will attempt to hijack a ship. These are not as successful as the Atorians would like people to believe, nor are they as ineffectual as UGC would have the empire believe. A very common tactic is to surveil potential targets heavily, selecting either an undermanned ship or a fully automated one with either a cargo valuable enough to justify the operation or a ship that could be converted to piracy with minimal requirements. Once a target is selected, a team of 6 to 24 Atorians will box themselves into a shipping container and wait for the ship to make an FTL jump; Once the jump is completed, they open the container and begin moving through the ship to take control of the bridge and engineroom, and disabling or controlling the radios. With these secured, surviving crews are locked into a single berthing or put in an escape pod. After a couple of jumps (to break any potential pursuit) the crew is jettisoned- Normally in pods (or at least space suits), though not in every case. Hijackings have been highly effective backdrops for action films, with roughly equal numbers of Atorian success and failure. Anti-hijacking security teams exist, but not every ship can afford their contracts; The presence of such a team on a ship typically indicates the operator's expectations in reference to cargos. Because these teams do impact profitability owners are usually reluctant to agree to them, leading captains to make a choice not to get underway or to refuse the cargos. In all of these scenarios there is a continued danger of 'an enemy within,' a traitor who gives the Atorians access or information by various means. This has happened on occasion, to varying degrees of success for the traitor due to the Atorian's better than average intelligence collection network. Most are forced to in their 'allies' and typically use the raid as cover for their defection (taken as hostage). None have ever returned from these actions, indicating they are unable to. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
