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It took a long time to unravel XXT-5K's secrets, and even then the teams involved a long way from finished. Every day excavators and researchers dig and dust, looking for more evidence to XXT-5K's past- Unfortunately most of it tells a very violent story. XXT-5K is a factory world, with every square inch of surface covered with various building dedicated to her once clearly thriving manufacturing activity. But the history of XXT-5K is far from one of a happy factory planet; Across the planet, vehicles and robots are strewn about in what once was a great war that appears to have stretched across tens of thousands years. The best assessment to date was carried out by Dr. Luara JONES of the REF's Forensic Research Teams. Dr. JONES was recruited to the REF from Invid occupied Terra, where she had been working as an archologist. Dr. JONES' assessment was that some 25 to 30 thousand years ago, an uprising against the ruling class of the planet occurred by the peasant class using the machines (militry and civil) that they were manufacturing. The lack of civilian installations remained puzzling to her, but the peasants, once they'd won the war, then turned on each other. Her assessment conceded that it appeared to be an incomplete uprising, as the peasants seemed to form two major factions, one involved in the militry manufacturing side and the other the civil manufacturing side. The Militry Faction as she dubbed them seemed to try to defend the ruling caste in their final hours, and in fact only one example of their unique technology was ever recovered, a ovoid robot in a hastily fortified building, leading to a rocket launch complex in a crater that had been built over in the intervening time. As the rulers escaped, the Militry Faction continued to oppose the Civil Faction to secure control of the planet. Over time, attrition depleted both factions until both were extinct. It was very noteworthy that no biologic bodies were ever found, nor was housing nor anything else associated with biological life forms; This missing information perplexes even modern analysts. Dr. JONES served as the leading archologist and after 5 years in that capacity was promoted to the first civilian governor of the planet under the UGC by an appointment from the Joint Council until her death 20 eyars later. | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Tron and Her Sister Little Tron. Orbiting Tron is her own satellite,XXT-5K has 2 apparently natural satellites, CBT-001 nicknamed Cyb'tron (or more commonly just "Tron") and CBT-002. Tron in turn has her own satellite, CBT-001a or "Little Tron." CBT-001 and -001a appear to be natural, but CBT-002's eccentric orbit lead many to believe either she is a captured object (probably an asteroid) or that the system suffered a dramatic gravitational event that pulled her form her proper orbit. Tron and Little Tron both have several other satellites, all of which appear to be have been captured asteroids used for mining purposes; Across all of them are the debris of said mining efforts, and the deactivated robots seen on the moons and planet. Tron was clearly the epicenter of the violence that wracked XXT-5K; Despite being one tenth the size of XXT-5K, Tron has around 100 times as many destroyed robots and vehicles. So extreme was the violence on Tron that part of the surface had been obliterated, and are unsafe at this time to approach. It is speculated that somewhere on Tron was the center of power (the capital), and that the fighting on XXT-5K was in support of the fighting on Tron, though this can not be definitively accepted, and sceptics point out that the Teletron interface is on the planet. Little Tron doesn't have nearly the level of devastation of either body; While there is evidence of fighting, Little Tron also has evidence of intentional and controlled demolition, and moreso signs of reutilization attempts of the deconstructed materials, most particularly junk piles near a smelters with the remains of recycled metals being stockpiled nearby. It is unknown if the sites were abandoned before, during, or after the outbreak of violence, but near these sites there are very rare bodies, indicating very little violence occurred in the area. The majority of the violence on Little Tron appears around the remains of main power plants, indicating that control of those plants had become a priority at some point- Even this is nothing compared to the violence on any part of XXT-5K, with only a few hundred destroyed robots and vehicles being found. XXT-5K has another satellite that appears to be fully artificial in nature, and extremely curious; A severed head some 2,000 miles across. No one is sure what this is, where it came from, or how it got here nor why. The artifact has been nicknamed "XXT-K5's Head" or "Tron's Head" (it seems to be in a Lagrange position between the two, suggesting it was originally orbiting Tron). Its "eyes" appear to be photographic receptors in addition to other wavelengths, but the centers are curiously smashed out; Macroscopic analysis indicated an explosion of some sort happened internally to the artifact, but the lack of an identifiable source point suggests the explosion happened in a now non-existent section of the artifact. Some limited access to databanks has been achieved, but nothing significant enough to be useful; About 1 million hours of video and audio recordings out of synch with one another for no apparent reason. It has been speculated this item is somehow related to the former rulers of XXT-5K, but how is still entirely unknown. Psychics brought in to investigate the head have described a sleeping presence of such malevolence that it scared them to the bone- More than one refused to ever return to the site. As one put it "Even in his sleep, this entity is nothing but hate, rage, and evil. You should destroy it now, before it awakens" (this advice was over ruled by others who posited that the artifact was containing the entity somehow, and that destroying it would release it). Now a company of RDF infantry guard the artifact 24/7 on rotations of one week per year. | |||||||||||||||||||
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privately owned rebuilt NUPETIET-VERNIT | Tron's smaller satellites can not be seen in this image. | ("Tron"). Tron was the scene of the worst violence. | This artifact is thought to be cursed. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Deep in the planet is a computer complex over 100 acres in size. At the core of this is a yellow globe that appears to be a ROM system, but towards the edge of the complex is an interface that's been nicknamed "the Teletron." No one knows exactly how to interface with the teletron, and most people are afraid to try; It's far from clear what security measures the system has in place. Normally the GIB would use a Remote Computer Information Retrieval System (RCIRS, or "wrecker"), but attempts to do so spit out pure binary without context, until it overloaded the wrecker and it caught fire. Until the data that was recovered can be translated into useful information, the GIB is reluctant to try again. The Teletron is truly massive; Just to reach the main interface modules (the keyboard) required the construction of 7 decks worth of scaffolding (around 48 feet high). The sheer size of the computer's body has led some to conclude the inhabitants of XXT-5K might have been giants on par with the T'sentraedi, or perhaps bigger. GIB contracted psychics brought in to investigate the systems have reported a presence quietly trapped, as if asleep. They sensed no malevolent intention, but no benevolent intentions either; Again, the presence seems to be asleep, and therefore incapable of any intent one way or the other. |  | ||||||||||||||||||
Interface, Nicknames The Teletron. | |||||||||||||||||||
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99% of the technology on XXT-5K is civil in nature, and 99% is well understood by the UGC; Basic civil equipment, to which a 1 to 1 analog already exists in the UGC. Examples are so vast that no reasonable person would ask for an
Most of this class has been sold to various private enterprises IAW UGC law; Windfalls must be sold at auction when no militry or other security threat can be identified. 99% have been replicated, and can be found in some numbers around the empire (the Bumblebee-Class personal and Ratchet-Class medical shuttles for example are growing in popularity due to their ease of use and maintenance). A small number have been reserved to the UGC, primarily the largest of the starships recovered, to avoid over-saturating an already crowded market. There was a type of heretofore unknown matter/anti-matter reactor, but this is not fully understood yet. Assuming the output of the reactors was proportional to the size of the equipment the reactors were installed in, and that the equipment installed used the same amount of power as their UGC analogs, it would take a planet sized ship to power a spacefold system on a one way trip- Additional fuel would have to be loaded on at the destination for a return trip. Nevertheless, the REF and GIB both would like to recover this technology for future applications; At around one quarter the size of a Protoculture furnace, it promises quite a bit of power in a small package, more than enough for intra-galactic FTL. The one thing that was at first new and novel was a new type of transformable Tetrafighter; It took some time for the researchers to realize that this was already known, in the form of the Kobolese ASF-14 Viper Starfighter (which the REF operates in smaller numbers). The concept of a transformable Tetrafighter however was sufficiently new and novel that the REF put a blanket top secret order on it, and was prepared to defy the GIB if necessary, as Tetrafighters were thought to be incompatible with transformation. In the end, the secret got out anyways thanks to COBRA COMMAND'S possession of a few examples of the craft. The REF and GIB, in a very joint effort, are attempting to unravel the fighter's full design and capabilities in order to build a clone of the fighter as a possible next generation Veritech program, but progress on this has been stalled due to key personnel in the project being called away to war zones on a regular basis. Another piece recovered was a type of robot, somewhat similar in concept to the Southern Cross' Battloids, in which the left arm was a plasma cannon. The design was reused in the MDD-03 Micro Defense Drone now seeing extensive use throughout the UGC as a remotely controlled repair and defense drone. | |||||||||||||||||||
 There's no known name for this vehicle, but it appears to have been a transformable fire pumper, which actually does make sense- Get to the scene, connect to fire mains, and then transform and attack the fire from almost as high as you want. There weren't enough useable parts to build a fully working model, but there was enough to build one that moves on it's own- The vehicle was fairly powerful and very responsive during testing, and examination of the load out revealed the builders truly understood their business. The pumper was just that, a pure pumper. No apparent medical equipment, but there were hose fittings of such vast quantity that firefighters brought in to examine the equipment marveled- There was even a raw water intake hose, in case the only waster available was a lake, river, or pool. The manufacturing was of superior quality as well- Despite having lain around for an estimated 250 thousand years, much of it was in a condition to be used immediately- More than enough in fact to fully equip one such truck (the one used for testing). |
Although no examples could be recovered in sufficient condition to be flown the pieces that were collected were more than sufficient to build a 3D reconstruction, from which a full working model was developed. Assuming the reconstruction was 100% accurate the craft was extremely nimble and fast, with a top speed of over 700 mph and able to make a nearly 6 to 1 turn during test flights (6 feet advance to every 1 foot transfer) at flank speed. The flight ceiling was not applicable- This thing was independently transatmospheric. It did not possess ftl capability, but a few thousand of these could easily have served as an aerospace force if they were armed and shielded. | ||||||||||||||||||
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So little is known about the founders of XXT-5k that Dr. JONES never even named them; The closest she gave them was to refer to them as "a ruling class." No bodies, no statues, not even their personal spaces were ever identified. Despite the lack of useful
Something that she did determine was that they in turn used other robots; One was a 4 tentacle-armed construct which appears to have served in very small numbers dubbed "The Minister Class" of which no examples have been found but many images were, one of which showed a Minister below a group of five Ruling Class members surrounded by another robot she dubbed the Enforcers. The The Enforcer Class consisting of a rather large army with sharp teeth, gangly arms, solid legs, and spiked mace like tail. Of this class tens of thousands of units were found in various stages of damage; They appear to have made some kind of stand at the Launch Site, as well as several thousand other site where apparent pitched battles were fought. Curiously, some of the damage appears to have been caused post-mortem, as if it was some kind of act of mutilation. Enough of the Enforcer class were recovered that if she could repower and reset their heuristics she could have tested them in action. These drones had no control station- That is, they didn't have a cockpit. They were entirely drones. This led Dr. JONES to propose a rather novel theory; That the so-called ruling class were in fact robots, possibly the constructs of another species well before them who's creator species died out so long ago the Rulers forgot they had been constructed, and thought themselves somehow self-evolved. Her theory followed that the lack of any signs of biological habitation would be attributed to this as well; The entire planet was one of robots, both rulers and servants, and that the servant class rose up against the rulers and their direct minions the Enforcer class, causing the Enforcers to fight for the time needed for the Rulers to evacuate. The time ran out, however, and one of the Rulers was killed in the last hours of the war; The Militry and Civil Factions fought each other, one to defend the rulers and the other to destroy them, though she was never sure which was which. There was some Militry Faction examples with the emblem of the Civil Faction and vice-versa, but also much older battles were all the dead robots had the same emblem, implying possibly an older state wherein the two factions hadn't fully bifurcated. These tended to be found closer to the launch site, lending credence to her theory. | |||||||||||||||||||
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| XXT-5K had several problems, one of which was that a relatively smaller number of people were supposed to occupy a whole planet. A partial solution was to turn this into a state unto itself, thus making the GIB the government of the planet. Nominally the director of the GIB is the Mayor/Governor, but in reality they do very little in this department, delegating much of their duties to others (often recruited to exactly this position). Of great importance that the moment is to tear down and recycle dangerous buildings, build new buildings, rehabilitate and renovate what's left (over a hundred apartment buildings have been created using the available structures, but it's barely enough), and build roads to facilitate transit across the planet. The life of Civis isn't perfect; The residents have to pay Global taxes, but there are no local taxes because the people of Civis don't have any right to vote on local matters. They are allowed to at the approval of the Mayor, and various Mayors have approved measures differently. They are still not only allowed but required to vote in Global matters (failure to fill out your ballot is a fine punishable by a 20 credit fine). The Mayors need this level of authority because of Civis' only real industry- The GIB has secrets that must be protected. Additionally, rebuilding and entire planet is a massive endeavor under the best of circumstances, nad these aren't the best of circumstances. The entire planet and her sattelites (natural and artificial) are part of the city. Little Tron has a small neighborhood and indiustrail complex, Tron and CBT-002 only have routine militry patrols at this time. General Information: Name: XXT-5K Civic Authority Director: The Director of the GIB is the mayor of the city, however they typically delegate a lot of their normal mayoral powers to specific people to oversee different departments. Of particular interest at this time is the demolition of dangerous buildings, refurbishment of safe buildings, removal of scrap from demolitions, and roads. Location: XXT-5K. Size and Orientation: City Size (500) Function: Private Business (+20 Independent Business, +20 Supplies, +20 Environmental Systems). Features: | |||||||||||||||||||
| A combination of Nuclear and Matter/Anti-Matter. | Shields (300,000 MDC), Heavy Weapons, and 4 Aerospace Fighter Squadrons. | Satellites: 100 Medium Range and 20 Long Range Satellites with Superior Sensors (40) | Interstellar Satellites and Stellar Communications | ||||||||||||||||
| Top Priority. Cleanup and reconstruction has been an ongoing process. | Semi-Self-Sufficient; Attempts to build farms have not been highly successful but they can grows some vegetables and most of the fruit they need. | Crack Security Force; In addition to security guards they have an internal investigations element, a police force, and they can call up militry force if needed. | Full Hospital; Corrigan General is the main hospital, but they run a few dozen satellite hospitals and clinics as well. | ||||||||||||||||
| High-Tech Security Measures: Even residences have extreme security measures, including self-locking doors. | Advanced System; the rare visitor here is often surprised at how humid it is due to the lack of through air conditioning. | Small Business and Trading Post; All to support the GIB. There are more coffee stands per capita here than anywhere in the UGC- There's also more bars than most of the rest of the empire. | Closed Station; Coming here is a privilege, and not even every GIB member has been here. | ||||||||||||||||
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The UGC had a curious conundrum- XXT-5K needed a defense force which could have been easy enough by forming a Fleet and Corps and assigning them to the planet, but then a danger of the force being detailed to other operations could rise. An RDF
Additionally, all Civis residents are part of the formal Civis militia; Two weeks a years and TWO weekends a month, all residents are required to report for training. Normal reserve militry training is very militry oriented, but on Civis it's a little more wide ranging; There is weapons and paramilitry training, but there is also fire response, security and riot/crowd control training, and medical training far above standard militry level (equal to Paramedic at 25%+3%, which can be increased to full by taking additional training at which point the character gets a +18% bonus in addition). The training is also used to reinforced "Civic Obligation" messaging to the point that the Council has called it out as brainwashing, an accusation the then GIB Director flatly denied as the residents are free to hear any counter message on their own time they want. General Information Name: XXT-5K Defense Forces. Colors: T'sentraedi Green. Symbol/Crest/Banner: The XXT-5K Defense forces only uses the XXT-5K flag. Owner: XXT-5K Civil Authority. Commanding Officer: Major General (O-8)  Tactics: The XXT-5K Defense Forces drill extensively in urban warfare since the entire planet is one big city (an ecumenopolis), as well as guerilla tactics suitable for an urban environment. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Utility Outfits (5) | Electronic Supplies and Good Gear (5) Medical Clinic (20) | Company Fleet of Vehicles (10) | ||||||||||||||||
| Extensive Weaponry (40) | Secured Service (10) | Iron-Clad (20) | Company City (60), Barracks City. | ||||||||||||||||
| Special Military Operatives (10) | Large Loans (25) | Unprincipled and Scrupulous (6) | None (0) | ||||||||||||||||
| Unknown (5) outside of XXT-5K. | Excellent Salary (20) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personnel: Command Officers: The leader of the Defense Forces is a 2 star Major General (O-8).  Field Officers: Five Divisions commanded by Colonels. Line Officers: Per common REF Army arrangement. Command Enlisted (Radar/radio specialists, etc): The Defense Forces have a Sergeant Major (E-9) for the service's enlisted advisor. Weapons, Equipment, and Resources: The Defense Forces use Rifleman Power Armor, Z-1's, Super Veritechs, and the usual variety of other Army equipment. They also use a fairly large number of Warbirds and test fly almost everything the UGC acquires, and as a result operates a wide collection of single and limited number robots and fighters. | |||||||||||||||||||
