The Kindly Ones

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The Kindly Ones; Fluff pertaining to my STALKER based universe set in the 2070s
Tweet Topic Started: Oct 28 2011, 06:13 AM (846 Views)
Gasmasked Mook	Oct 28 2011, 06:13 AM Post #1
Vault Dweller Posts: 95 Group: Members Member #377 Joined: Oct 24, 2011	Chapter 1 - The Fusion Age Over the course of the last few centuries, certain periods have been defined by a certain piece of technology. The Steam Age, the Atomic Age, the Information Age... The same held true for the Fusion Age. At the turn of the twenty-first century, humanity seemed about to spiral into a future filled with insecurity, terrorism and energy scarcity. Considering this, it is no exaggeration to say that the invention of macrofusion in 2014 by Russian scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology irrevocably changed the course of human history. To the unlearned eye, macrofusion is not dissimilar from previous attempts at commercial fusion but on a much larger scale: reactors which could power entire continents as opposed to cities. By 2018, Test Reactor 01 in Siberia went online for the first time. Merely starting the reactor required the energy from half a dozen re-purposed warheads but the results were astonishing. The energy demands of the entirety of Russia were met several times over by this single reactor. Immediately, the governments of China and the US sent requests to Moscow for this miracle technology. Russia assented but with careful conditions. They would be the sole masters of fusion power, providing the contractors and scientists to build these new plants while refusing to release the secrets behind macrofusion. The US and China, blinded by the possibility of such cheap energy, agreed happily and plans were laid for two plants: one in Kentucky and the other near Beijing. By 2025, both plants were fully operational with another in construction in Western Russia, a joint project between the EU and Russia. The Fusion Age had begun in earnest. It is difficult to imagine a pre-fusion age when energy costs actually accounted for a significant percentage of a business' expenses. The advent of such a paragon technology sent energy prices to next to nothing. Scientific and industrial processes which had previously been implausible suddenly became a reality. Almost any material could be synthesised and ridiculously cheaply. Any old biomass could become oil at a fraction of the cost of pumping the stuff out of the ground. Diamond edged tools became household appliances. New materials were also being created, most notably Pheidippidisium (commonly abbreviated to Pheidisium), the first superconductor to work at all temperatures. Other scientists built on these discoveries to produce ever more exotic and ingenious devices like ultra-efficient capacitors or fist sized processors with the computational power of the world's most powerful supercomputers. At the forefront of this technological revolution was a group of American, European and Russian companies that became known as the Technomancers, a phrase coined by Time magazine in 2029 while describing the corporate hegemony carved out by Phoenix United Enterprises' chairman, Allen Morse. International relations also became increasingly pleasant. No longer backed into a corner by OPEC, America relaxed its presence in the Middle East (no-one really gave a damn about the area now that energy was so cheap it was basicly free) while Russia and Europe were able to set aside some of their previous antagonism for the sake of their combined fusion project on the Russian-Ukraine border. As the old KGB generation began to die out, a new generation of Russian politicians took root. While they were not the radical reformers that many hoped for, they were progressive as well as pragmatic, reversing Russia's social collapse and creating an education system that was the envy of Europe. The EU too was able to pull things together. While Central and Eastern European nations frequently felt at odds with their more profligate Western and Southern European neighbours, they all put aside their differences for the sake of the energy security that the Khariv Fusion Plant provided. International co-operation boded well for the UN. As a show of at least partial reconciliation, Russia, China and the US agreed to send parts of their navies into the newly formed UN Fleet and sent their troops on UN led peacekeeping missions to Africa and the Middle East. Despite a small scandal in 2031 where the Chinese used their seat on the security council to quite blatantly push the UN into a dubious conflict in Sierra Leone to defend Chinese interests there which led to the creation of the UN Court for Social Integrity, these operations eased some of the Cold War scars and prompted much speculation of a world without large scale conflict. This world did indeed exist but only for a fleeting generation. All this seemingly magical progress came at a price. The Technomancers produced vast sums of money but hired relatively few. This was not a problem in Russia or Europe (with solid education systems and less cultural stigma towards social security) but in the US, the growing distance in wealth between the Technomancers and the rest of the population led to the creation in 2037 of the American National Party. The old distinctions of the Republican and Democrat Parties had grown indistinct during the extended period of national prosperity and those dissatisfied with the old order were drawn to the ANP. Led by the master statesman: Howard J Riley, the ANP rode a wave of public dissatisfaction to a surprise victory in the 2040 presidential elections. This marked the beginning of the end of the Fusion Age. Riley was a brilliant politician but his views were nothing new. To him and his supporters, the US had allowed itself to become subservient to foreigners: the Russians who owned and operated the Kentucky Fusion Plant and to the Chinese who still produced the vast bulk of America's imports. His plan to reassert America's dominance was three fold. First, the Army. Since 2020, the US Armed Forces had been downsized for the sake of efficiency (or brutally cut depending on your perspective on such matters) and many units had been put on permanent loan to the UN. Riley reversed much of this, provoking massive investment in military technologies. Second, international relations. Riley along with other ANP supporters, filled with nostalgia for the first half of the previous century, began a period of aggressive isolationism, increasing import dues and spending billions to stimulate domestic industries. Third, the economy. Riley intended to pay for the military build-up by taxing the Technomancers. It was not a terrible idea. The Technomancers had previously used their strong lobbying groups to cut off any attempts at increasing the taxes faced by America's new super-wealthy but Riley's genius for populism gave him all the authority he needed to institute some overdue financial redistribution. This course of action was met with mixed reactions. Many in the ANP were thrilled by the restart of America's industrial base and the new jobs offered by the expanding military but others chaffed beneath oppressive new taxes and legislation which bordered on racism. Half way through Riley's first term, an unlikely alliance of Technomancers, social interest groups and trade unions came together to form the Party for the Preservation of American Values (PAV). In a hotly contested 2044 election, Riley managed to cling to office for another four years. Worse, the PAV's poor electoral efficiency meant that Riley continued to have a majority in both Houses despite enjoying slightly less than 45% of the vote. Riots broke out in many cities prompting heavy-handed government reprisals and the arrest of several PAV leaders. American politics became massively polarised as states with PAV majorities clashed with the Federal government. Into this chaos stepped one Jenifer Winter, the PAV governor of Illinois. Winter is frequently accredited with holding the PAV together in the wake of the 2044 Election Riots and under her leadership, the PAV pulled its act together and managed to secure a small majority in the 2046 Midterms. She was the clear PAV candidate for the 2048 Elections. Against her was Thomas Rhodes, an ANP hardliner who had served in Riley's cabinet as Secretary for State and leader of the militant Ultranationalist faction. Just before she was set to declare her candidacy, Winter was accused of corruption by the FBI. When Federal Agents attempted to arrest her in her house in suburban Chicago, they were blocked by a cordon of angry PAV protesters and State Troopers. No-one is sure who fired the first shot. Current speculation blames a seventeen year old boy named Mark Sahlee for throwing a rock at the Federal Agents prompting them to panic and open fire. After a desperate fire fight, the FBI men were all killed along with eleven PAV loyalists. Jenifer Winter was also killed in the crossfire. Winter's death prompted massive civil unrest all over the US. Anarchy broke out along both seabords accompanied by looting and attacks on Federal buildings. Facing unrestrained violence in many major cities, Riley declared that the 2048 election be postponed. Furious at this perceived violation of democratic values, some prominent PAV states including Illinois and other Midwestern States declared secession from the Federal Government. Riley responded the traditional way: he declared martial law. Things escalated and fast. Stand offs between Federal and State Agents occurred all over the US. The National Guard was conflicted, large sections of it declaring for the PAV in response for what they saw as tyranny on Riley's part while others remained loyal to the Federal Government and the ANP. The headlines of 2048 were dominated by scenes from this Second American Civil War, of tanks in the streets of Washington DC and pitched battles in the fields of Virginia and Ohio. While Riley had the loyalty of large parts of the Army, the Kentucky Fusion Plant was firmly in PAV hands. Numerous attempts by Special Forces to infiltrate the facility were repulsed with serious casualties on both sides. Ultimately, the PAV and their under-the-table backers in Moscow and Beijing won a decisive victory at Adamsville in West Virginia. With PAV divisions advancing on DC, the ANP leadership panicked. Before they could capitulate however, Rhodes and his ultranationalists initiated a coup d'etat against Riley and his more moderate supporters and succeeding in seizing control of most of the Federal Government's resources. Under his short leadership, the ANP attempted several counter-attacks against the PAV, all of which ended in horrific failures. With no options left and PAV troops entering the Federal Capital, Rhodes made a decision that would earn him an eternity of infamy. He authorised the use of strategic weapons against the PAV. Between the hours of 0132 and 1009, North America was subject to a series of violent nuclear blasts that devastated the American Midwest. Shortly afterwards, Rhodes launched more warheads at the PAV's supporters: Russia and China. While Russian and Chinese countermeasures managed to knock out 85% of the incoming missiles, the rest hit home. Almost a quarter of a billion people died in a single day making Rhodes the worst war criminal in human history, a fact he was reported to have stated to himself shortly before authorising the launch. On that day, the 23rd May 2049, the Fusion Age came to a brutal and horrific end. Next: The Third War Edited by Gasmasked Mook, Nov 1 2011, 07:54 PM.



Inkwell	Oct 28 2011, 03:50 PM Post #2
Toenail cutter / Tin can licker Posts: 3,113 Group: Members Member #247 Joined: Dec 18, 2010	Shoowa. I'm lucky to get a paragraph done for each of my factions. Nice fluff!!!



DAWGIE	Oct 28 2011, 03:54 PM Post #3
Mutant Slayer Posts: 1,612 Group: Members Member #87 Joined: Jun 17, 2009	THIS IS GOOD STUFF. . . SINCE I BASICALLY THINK ALL CURRENT ELECTED POLITICIANS AND CAREER POLITICIANS AT ANY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT ARE MORE CONCERNED WITH THEIR OWN WELL BEING THAN THEIR CONSTITUENTS, AND SINCE I HAVE HAD A CONTINUALLY RISING SENSE OF MOST OF WHAT THE USG DOES AND DOES NOT DO TENDS TO SUCK TREMENDOUSLY, I FOR ONE HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING THOMAS JEFFERSON'S THOUGTHS ABOUT TOSSING ALL OF THE BUMS OUT, REDOING THE WAY OUR POLITICIANS COLLECT MONEY FOR CAMPAIFN, LIMITING THE TIME IN OFFICE TO ONE TERM FOR EVERYONE, AS WELL AS TYING POLITICIANS PAY, RAISES, AND BENEFITS TO THE SAME LEVEL AS THOSE OF STATE AND FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES, SEEING THE LEVEL OF DISCONTENT AMONG BOTH CIVILIANSD AND EX-MILITARY WITH THE USG, I THINK THAT THE US OF A IS ON THE VERGE OF A VERY SERIOUS SHIT STORM OF EPIC PROPORTIONS AND HAVE BEEN ACTIVELY PREPARING FOR "THE TROUBLES" FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS. . . DAWGIE



mattblackgod	Oct 28 2011, 04:40 PM Post #4
Big boss warlord dude! Posts: 15,702 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: Jul 22, 2008	Great background. Very well detailed and written. I take it this starts WW3? Dawgie, there are many in this country that feels that way about our politicians.



Percival Longshanks	Oct 30 2011, 02:36 PM Post #5
Vault Dweller Posts: 54 Group: Members Member #332 Joined: Jul 13, 2011	Seriously grimdark. Yeesh! Good stuff!



Gasmasked Mook	Nov 1 2011, 09:56 PM Post #6
Vault Dweller Posts: 95 Group: Members Member #377 Joined: Oct 24, 2011	Chapter 2 - The Third War Posterity would later label the ten year period after Rhodes' Missile Strike as the most destructive stretch of time in human history. The death-throes of the Ultranationalists had brought three of the world's superpowers to their knees in a heartbeat, throwing the international community into chaos. In a way, the old cliche of the post-apocalyptic world player out but with a twist: it was every country for itself. Rather than have individuals scavenge in the ruins of the old world or engage in petty squabbles with their neighbour, these actions were played out by entire nations. Freed from the scrutiny of foreign superpowers and forcibly torn from the uniting force of cheap energy, the countries of the world turned on each other. And while fights between individuals are bad, fights between nations are downright brutal. Some nations lacked the cohesion to keep together and collapsed into bickering principalities; petty empires ruled by paramilitary warlords or else armed militia. Others were split by their neighbours, carved up as other nations avenged past wrongs or sought desperately required resources. With the cheap flow of fusion energy suddenly halted and international trade rapidly breaking down in favour of isolationist nationalism or simple banditry, technology devolved rapidly. New things could only be built from whatever paltry resources could be gleaned from within one's own borders rather than engage in risky bartering with someone who might turn on you at any moment. It was the hope that this period would eventually fade, that the inherent greed that defined the capitalist system would reassert itself and the promise of free trade would eventually cause them to fall back into line. And that might have been true had it not been for the Mk7 Messerwerfer Anti-Missile System. The Mk7 was, at the time of its creation in 2046, the most advanced strategic missile defence system ever deployed. Built by the EU arms giant Rheinmetal AG as a contract for both Russia and the Chinese, it was one of the only systems with the capacity simulated to reliably shoot down the American Schwarzkopf Ballistic Missiles that Riley had begun re-arming the US’s arsenal with. However, there were no schematics of the Schwarzkopf on hand, despite the very best attempts of Russian and Chinese intelligence services and the German engineers building the Messerwerfer therefore used assumptions. As a credit to them, their assumptions were almost right. But when the Russians and Chinese sent up their countermeasures at the American missiles approaching over the Arctic, only about 40% of the hits were "safe kills". Another 45% were "dirty kills" where the missiles were prematurely detonated as opposed to simply being knocked out of the air. 10% were "partial kills" where the missiles continued to fly but fell short of their targets, usually landing in the Arctic or Russia’s northern coast. The remaining approximately 5% were "failures" and the missiles struck home causing as almost a quarter of a billion deaths. But just as significant were the 50% or so that detonated in the skies above the Arctic. These detonations produced what is now known as the Rubinsky Effect after the EU scientist to put forward the first vaguely plausible explanation of what had happened. According to him, the missiles had managed to ignite a large amount of the ozone in the atmosphere over the Arctic, causing a series of chain reactions which resulted in massive degradation. Over the course of the 2050s, the Arctic Circle became the most radioactive area in the world, even more so then the very centre of Moscow or the remains of the Beijing Fusion Plant. But this radiation was of the solar variety, passing unhindered through the tattered remains of the atmosphere over the Arctic and causing the Arctic Circle to become one of the warmest places on Earth. It was this that ultimately caused more deaths than any weapon. Sea levels rose, a result not only of the melting of the ice but also of the expansion caused by the seawater becoming warmer. The world's lowlands were flooded, rendering many of the world's population centres unusable. Vast stretches of farmland were destroyed by salt water even after they had been pumped dry while violent weather patterns brought on by the rapid shift in world climate caused. As if land was not valuable enough, the amount of it was now shrinking rapidly. And as the cities were evacuated, more and more secrets were lost to the world. The end result was, by 2060, a world that was a haunted spectre of its previous self. Russia and China were engaged in violent albeit insignificant skirmishing after the mutual debacle of the Russo-Chinese War of 2056. Continental Great Britain squatted in Northern France under the watchful eye of the French military, both sides waiting for an excuse to throw the other out of territory they considered their own. In response to the growing crisis to their west as well as the near total collapse of Italy and Greece, the more conservative members of the EU declared a new union. The imaginatively named New European Union sprawled across most of Central and Eastern Europe, a bastion of peace and democracy for any nation that is considered "worthy" of joining this exclusive coalition. India and Pakistan have long since nuked each other into the ground. Africa and South America were hardly recognisable, only Brazil and the Southern Africa Union holding out against the anarchic bands of violent raiders that rule the rest of the southern hemisphere. It was this world that the UN brought to heel in 2060 in the Third War. The UN was by this point totally unrecognisable as an institution. When the American Civil War had broken out, many US Navy crews had remained in the UN Fleet, declaring neutrality for fear that they might be ordered to use their devastating armaments against American soil. The same held true for a handful of Army and Marine units engaged in UN Peacekeeping Missions. After that war came to its violent conclusion, many units pondered whether or not they should return to their old nations. Most did, out of patriotism or concern for loved ones, but others did not. By the mid 2050s, the UN Intervention Cadres contained almost 10,000 men loyal to the UN Court for Social Justice, the organisation devoted to upholding the UN Charter created to counterbalance the Assembly and the Security Council. This force ended up in the old Americas, leeching off of Alaska’s oilfields while attempting to prevent American refugees and Canadian nationalists off of each other's throats. It was a thankless task and a drop in the ocean compared to the much greater injustices going on in Africa and South America but it was the most the skeletal force could hope to do. A sense of despair dampened the fervour of the Court for Social Justice, a feeling that they were incapable of living up to the dreams of the visionaries who had written their precious Charter. It was in this unique position that they were contacted by the Geneva Group. The Geneva Group was perhaps the last holdout of the Technomancers, the handful of corporations which had once dominated the world's economic sector but now ruined by the vast loss of resources and break down in international relations. A deal was struck that benefited both, the Technomancers would get their research and the UN would be able to return order to the world. Over the course of the second half of the 2050s, the UN and the Technomancers plotted a campaign that would become known as the Third War. To call the Pacification of the World a war is a slight misnomer. It was as one-sided as they come. The UN had expanded stealthily, recruiting from the poor and suffering, the abandoned and hated, the disappointed and angry. They had equipped them with technology that was thought to be long forgotten, with weapons that had not been produced since the Second American Civil War, with everything that other nations, worn down by decade of incessant warfare and destruction, could not. They schooled them in the rhetoric of the old world, of the Rights of Man and the Sovereignty of Nations. They made them Gods. When the UN finally initiated Operation Furiae, these modern-day paladins swept through Africa and South America like a divine wind. They were known as the Kindly Ones, the avenging angles sent to protect the innocent and purge those who resisted. What chance could some rag-tag militants in the heart of Africa do against Power Armoured Infantry which could take a hit from an RPG and keep upright? What could some self styled generalissimo in the jungles of Colombia do against a drone barely larger than a briefcase as it launched unerringly accurate flechettes into his men as they cowered behind primitive camouflage netting? By the time Operation Furiae ended in early 2061, the entire of the Southern Hemisphere was pacified. But the UN did not advance north. They could have. Russia and China would have given them a fight and the NEU would have done some serious damage being the only nation with rough technological parity with the UN but to do that would be undoing all the progress that the UN had made. Instead, for perhaps the first time since 2049, the leaders of the world sat down at a table and created a deal no-one could refuse. The UN was to remain a solely supernational force. While it would continue to maintain forces in Africa and South America, they were not "occupied" and would have sovereign governments whose rights the UN would respect. The UN would also use its prestigious navy (the largest still in active service) to facilitate international trade and would never again directly interface with a corporate entity like the Geneva Group. In return, the nations of the world gave the UN full powers over all of the non-inhabitable old world cities, classified as "Restricted Zones", as well as generous tributes to maintain the UN Intervention Cadres and other, less militaristic sections of the UN. After more than a decade of anarchy and warfare, the world finally seemed to stabilise. Next: Restricted Zones and their Hazards Edited by Gasmasked Mook, Nov 1 2011, 10:01 PM.



mattblackgod	Nov 1 2011, 10:18 PM Post #7
Big boss warlord dude! Posts: 15,702 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: Jul 22, 2008	Great background. Keep it coming!



Diakon	Nov 2 2011, 12:59 AM Post #8
Vault Dweller Posts: 87 Group: Members Member #367 Joined: Sep 27, 2011	This has been a great read mate. Eagerly awaiting the next instalment.



Leonard Krieg	Nov 25 2011, 12:37 AM Post #9
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Posts: 113 Group: Members Member #159 Joined: Mar 4, 2010	Wow. Well written, interesting but best of all totally believable. You should try your hand at penning a novel! Looking forward to what happens next.



Gasmasked Mook	Dec 17 2011, 08:11 PM Post #10
Vault Dweller Posts: 95 Group: Members Member #377 Joined: Oct 24, 2011	Chapter Three - The State of the World in the 2070s Continental Britain Geography Britain was in an exceptionally poor state by 2051. Its old homeland became flooded after the Arctic ice melted away and large parts of the population were forced to flee across the sea to Northern France. For a few tense weeks, war seemed a serious possibility. French military units watched the British refugees stumble ashore, tanks at the ready while Royal Navy ships squatted off the coast, Marines lining their decks in case the French proved uncooperative. Ultimately, neither side was prepared to fight. The French "leased" much of their northern coastline to their old rivals, much to their displeasure. The British meanwhile were upset that the French had not given them more. Their populations were roughly comparable but the British only had enough room for a few sprawling refugee camps. Another treaty was promptly signed, the Treaty of Avignon. The French were "persuaded" to hand over almost a third of their land to the newly formed Continental Britain. No-one is quite sure why the French government signed such a massively unfair agreement, not least of all the French themselves and this feeling of betrayal directly resulted in the Mutiny of the 11th Airborne and the formation of the Sixth Republic. Regardless, the British now all but own everything north of Orleans with the exception of Paris. From the new capital at Rennes, the Executive Cabinet rule over a nation comprising of around thirty millions people with another five million in various highlands of the former United Kingdom under their nominal control. Economy Britain is a textbook example of a so-called Scavenger Economy. That is to say, among its primary exports is the resale of "recovered" technology and information. Britain had been a haven for many a large and powerful corporation and while many have fled to the more stable and laissez-faire localities of Switzerland and Japan, their research labs and offices remain in London, which has long disappeared beneath the rising sea. What is necessary to understand is the sheer amount of energy that was available. Researchers literally could waste as much of the stuff as they wanted. This lead to horrific power efficiency (which would become a serious problem after the war) but also lead to a lot of really exciting, groundbreaking research to happen. Since the world has been stripped of fusion power, the world's capacity to "rediscover" some of that research is minimal. It is far easier simply to steal data packages from the ruins of the old world. Britain, commanding one of the largest navies left in the world (Russia's was being refitted in Arkangel when the missiles hit while the Chinese really only bothered with shore based defences, most of which are useless as their coastlines were swallowed by the rising sea) is therefore capable of maintaining the largest underwater excavation program known to mankind. It is also a major part of the Three Nations Alliance, one of the first trade groups to be created after the war. According to this agreement, the Royal Navy supplies ships to protect Canadian grain on its way to feed Europe. Recently, this role has been largely superseded by the UN Atlantic Fleet but British interests in Canada remain significant and the ruling Canadian government maintains its position in the Commonwealth in return for the expertise of British Army units in putting down internal unrest. Military The Royal Navy remains the heart of the British Armed forces. The Navy is built around its two standing supercarriers, a number only surpassed by the UN (who have three in active service and one on permanent reserve). A supercarrier is more than just a floating airstrip. It is a mobile fortress, equipped with some of the most advanced point defence systems in the world and a sensor array that can pick up football sized drones beyond the horizon. It is a staging ground, large enough to carry small armies and supply them provided they stay within a hundred miles of the coast. It is also fitted with a huge fission powerplant, enough to keep both it and its escort fleet in business or to provide power for an invasion army and their vehicles. In addition to the two carriers (the Victory and the Agincourt), the Navy contains around forty active vessels, mostly frigates and light cruisers and half a dozen heavy destroyers that were once American. The British Army's most pressing concern is the protection of Britain's position on the continent and the maintenance of their excavation sites and its deployments mirror this. 250,000 of the Army's 310,000 strong military are currently based along the British-French border and around Paris while almost a third of active Royal Marine units call the London Excavation Project home. British military doctrine is based mainly around large scale manoeuvres and shock tactics. Their units tend to be conscripted and given quite basic training. As such, the bulk of the army lack the finesse of some other armies. Three units buck the trend. The first is the Royal Marines Corps. An entirely volunteer organisation, the Royal Marines are tasked with some of the most dangerous and important missions the British government is faced with, namely the defence of Britain’s naval supremacy and fragile trade routes from rogue nations and other pirates. As befits their vaunted status, they receive better equipment, training and priority for care packages. The second group is the Special Tasks Group, a combination of the SAS and the SBS. Their demanding standards and fearsome reputation have not been dulled since the end of the war, quite the inverse. The STG are widely considered to be the best in the world and some nations have paid massive sums to have own Special Forces receive STG training. The third are the Special Purpose Battalions, highly classified units trained in the Dark Arts of modern warfare, specifically chemical and biological weaponry as well as Zone Excavation. There is little evidence of their existence outside of Restricted Zones but they are rightly feared by the denizens of such places for their ruthless efficiency and refusal to compromise. The standard British rifleman is issued with a plate vest made from kinetic distribution polymers (KDP) a wonderful material that can spread a single point impact across its entire surface. While cheap and simple to produce, it is also very difficult to repair once damaged and is quite cumbersome to wear. He is also issued with a L11A2 assault rifle, a design steadily approaching the end of its lifespan but still preferred in some circles due to its exceedingly simple workings and the fact it accepts the deadly (and only slightly illegal) 7mm Carnifex rounds. The B11 Personal Powered Armour (widely referred to as the Bulldog) is Britain's current PA model. In accordance with British standard tactics, the B11 is about as subtle as a Glasgow Kiss. Bulky, loud and armed with a 12.7mm personal weapon, the B11 is designed to be in the thick of the action, absorbing enemy rounds while it lays down blistering displays of the counter fire. There also exists a Royal Marine variation notable mostly for the fact it can operate underwater for up to an hour. Commercial versions of the B11 also exist and are mainly used for construction or (for the Marine variant) underwater excavation. The commercial variations lack the capacitor backpack and hence need to be tethered to their power source although a skilled enough engineer can convert them to a more militarily viable product, given enough time and materials. While the B11 has taken over many of the roles which used to be filled by the British Army's light armoured vehicles (LAVs), the British continue to field large amounts of conventional armour, most built around the Legionary Chassis due to its modular nature and brutish functionality. The Legionary's standard function is that of an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and it can hold up to twenty men in increasing levels of discomfort or a squad of five men in B11 armour. The Centurion is the next most common variant, designed as a mix between a platoon-level command vehicle and an escort. The Centurion can only hold ten men but boasts a rugged command suite and a multi-purpose 20mm rotary cannon. The British are also implementing the Praetorian which abandons all crew carrying capacity in favour of a more powerful engine block, heavier armour and a turret mounted 120mm rifled cannon not unlike the one fitted to British tanks almost fifty years previously. While the cannon is slightly old fashioned considering the advent of (relatively) widespread laser weaponry and smart missiles, it fits the British mantra of rugged simplicity quite nicely and also is surprisingly effective considering most modern armour is designed against directed energy weapons or explosive warheads rather than the high velocity sabot rounds the Praetorian fires. British Army units in their "Bulldog" Powered Armour -0- The image at the bottom is actually concept art for the game "Shrapnel" by `ukitakumuki from DeviantArt Edited by Gasmasked Mook, Dec 21 2011, 01:21 PM.



mattblackgod	Dec 17 2011, 09:27 PM Post #11
Big boss warlord dude! Posts: 15,702 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: Jul 22, 2008	More great fluff. I am enjoying this series.



Gasmasked Mook	Dec 19 2011, 11:59 PM Post #12
Vault Dweller Posts: 95 Group: Members Member #377 Joined: Oct 24, 2011	The Sixth French Republic (also known as New France) Geography When the Treaty of Avignon was signed in the Papal Palace (the Papacy having fled there after rioters burnt down the Vatican), the reaction was immediate and fierce. The civilian government was seen as the great betrayer, abandoning the French people without even a discernable reason. As a result of this, a number of French military officers (largely but not exclusively from the Eleventh Airborne) met together in order to discuss the future of the French people. Some wanted a coup d'etat but fear that the English may exploit internal conflict with France made them hesitate. A new idea was put forward: a new land, a land which had been and always should have been sovereign French territory. Four months after the Treaty was signed, the entirety of the Eleventh Airborne and large parts of the 1st and 3rd Mechanised left their bases, incapacitating any officers or Gendarmes who tried to stop them. By the time the civilian government realised something was happening, the units were already boarding ships along the South Coast. The order went out to the Mediterranean Fleet to stop them but the Navy declined, claiming it did not want to sink French vessels. The mutineers arrived safely in Algeria and began systematically subjugating key points. The French technological superiority was insurmountable and their victory was all but assured. Soon after, discontented civilians began flooding across the Mediterranean. By the 2070s, Algeria is unrecognisable. The "French" live in fortified comfort, only leaving their heavily protected compounds to take their tithe from the local population or to avenge some pathetic attack on their armoured convoys. The rest of the native population continue with their lives as best they can, too afraid to stop lest they be singled out for treatment by one of the Sixth Republic's infamous "Punishment Battalions". Economy New France's economy is quite unlike any the world has seen for a very long time. Only the current incarnation of the UN comes close. The Republic has total control over Algeria's most precious commodity: oil. French troops guard the refineries, protect convoys of tankers and deal out harsh punishments to those who attempt to attack the nation's many miles of pipelines. By doing so, they control transport. Purchasing fuel requires a permit and a great deal of registration. Attempting to do so is considered highly dangerous as those who do are often seen as "collaborators" in the eyes of the greater population but this in turn drives up their wages. The cities require trucks to transport food from the countryside and the farms require large harvesting equipment to feed their own. There have been several attempts at a universal strike action to starve their French oppressors but these have all caused far more damage to the Algerian locals than to the New French, whose stocks of military rations and so on are quite substantial. From the point of view of the New French, they are doing the Algerians something of a service. The country functions far better than it had before. The anarchy that had engulfed the country after the war has been cleared up. The streets of Algiers are quite safe at night, at least for the locals. The general standard of living is far better than their other North African neighbours and a cut above that of Central Africa. In many ways it is a place ruled solely by terror and brutal military rule but then again, some rule may be considered better than none at all. Military Founded almost entirely by members of the French military and their families, New France is a staggeringly martial place. National Service consists of four years service as a soldier or eight in a support role, a duty which is required to attain full citizenship. Military service is considered as significant as a university degree from the perspective of an employer and the vast majority of jobs for a Frenchman in the Sixth Republic revolve around the maintenance of the military or engineering - everything else is handled by the locals. As of such, the population under arms is close to sixty thousand men and women with a further hundred thousand on reserve and a super-reserve of another eighty thousand with a total of two hundred and forty thousand, an unbelievable figure considering the total population is less than two million. That is exclusively for the French. There are a small number of native auxiliaries but they serve mainly as informants and spies rather than troops. New French doctrine is based predominantly about the use of rapid deployment and concentration of resources to break up and destroy enemy forces. The phrase "diviser pour mieux regner" (divide and conquer) is often cited as the unofficial motto of the New French Military. Their overwhelming air superiority and effective use of airborne or helicopter-based infantry allow them almost complete control over what battlefield they want to fight and where to fight them. Combined with their abundance of high-tech equipment and sensors, they are a truly terrifying opponent for the ill trained and equipped partisan militia that form the bulk of their current opposition. But they do their best not to allow the ease of their victories to breed complacency. Paranoia about potential UN intervention or perhaps Spanish expansionism (both quite unlikely but not impossible by any stretch of the imagination) has led to a very vigorous training program with protocols dealing with everything from pitched battle against massed enemy armour and waterborne assaults by marine infantry (in the wargames, the enemy uniform tends to end up looking suspiciously similar to that of the Royal Marine Corps). The standard rifle of a New French Infantryman remains the doughty FAMAS G2 although rechambered for the now ubiquitous EUROARM 7mm cartridge. The FELIN System is also in partial effect, that is to say that each platoon is accompanied by a pair of UAV drones designed to fold up into a man's backpack and which feed real time information into a trooper's HUD. Due to advances in battlefield hacking technology, most of this information is transmitted by means of a point-to-point laser, meaning the UAVs are next to useless in adverse weather but in optimum conditions, a squad of eight can easily subdue an entire company of less well-equipped hostiles without a single casualty. He is also issued with a vest of flexible polyarmour plates and ballistic cloth fatigues. Specialist units may also receive chemical protection gear or even heavily converted suits of the Loyalist "Clemenceau" Medium Powered Armour although its bulk and the scarcity of parts makes it ill-suited for New French Doctrine. The New French Army boasts very few conventional tanks but has recently secured the purchase of twenty four LKPzW I (LuftKissenPanzerWagen I) from the NEU. The newly designated AGB-1 (Aero-Glisseur Blinde 1) is frequently described as "not so much a floating tank as an incredibly ugly gunship". Exploiting the light weight of modern polyarmour composites and the power of V-TOL technology, the AGB-1's main role is to keep up with airborne infantry and provide close support. Although it lacks the raw firepower of a MBT or the flexibility of a LAV, it more than makes up for it in terms of mobility and sheer shock value. Also of note is the replacement of the LKPzW's smoothbore dorsal cannon with a Class 3 High Energy Laser designed to feed off the same powerplant that supplies power to the engine, drastically reducing weight from ammunition and further accentuation the AGB's already impressive speed. Members of the Sixth Republic's Armed Forces with their FAMAS rifles and snap down HUD visors -0- Well... they may be Forgeworld but a man can dream, right? Also: edits for Britain including the Legionary Chassis and the Special Purpose Battalions Loyalist France is going to be complete soon and after them, the NEU and Russia. Edited by Gasmasked Mook, Dec 21 2011, 01:24 PM.



mattblackgod	Dec 23 2011, 10:14 AM Post #13
Big boss warlord dude! Posts: 15,702 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: Jul 22, 2008	More great highly detailed fluff.



Gasmasked Mook	Jan 28 2012, 01:55 PM Post #14
Vault Dweller Posts: 95 Group: Members Member #377 Joined: Oct 24, 2011	If anyone wants further information on the other nations, check the other thread (22 years after the end) as that is where I will be posting new fluff about the general political situation and fielding questions. The Kindly Ones will be more devoted to the fluff behind actual game mechanics and such like. I really do not like the heavy weapon system for Stargrunt which is a shame because their infantry combat rules are brilliant. All of the weapons are sort of the same and there is really no point to using awesome but impractical energy weapons rather than boring but practical conventional cannons which of course begs the question of why do nations bother produce energy weapons in the first place. I mean, they are finicky and require odd ammunition and overheat and are generally fairly useless. There needs to be at least one good reason to field the things. Hence, why I have written this, my justification for awesome laser and plasma guns in my "hard sci-fi" universe. Kinetic Distribution Polymers and Laser Weaponry In 2029, a small Polish fabrication company synthesised the very first Kinetic Distribution Polymer (KDP). By aligning the molecules within the material along a carefully designed pattern and layering several plates over the top of each other with compressive fluid in between, they were able to create a material which could distribute a point impact across its entire surface. With this discovery, armoured warfare was completely revolutionised. KDPs provided all the protection of traditional rolled steel but at a fraction of the weight, paving the way for more exotic military technologies: hover-tanks (think heavily armed and armoured gunship rather than floating tank), powered armour, walkers and efficient battlefield body armour. But KDPs had a very glaring weakness. While they could absorb any kinetic energy with ease, their plastic nature and the fluid layers made them very susceptible to weapons like lasers. A burst from a High Energy Laser (HEL) would melt straight through the plastic. If one is very unlucky, the weakness caused by the intense heat and the fluid expanding will cause the inside of the armour to explode in a hail of shrapnel, shredding anyone inside. While still very inefficient against conventional armour or even unarmoured infantry, HELs are very rightly feared by V-TOL crews, Power Armoured units and walker pilots alike. A middle of the road mix of traditional steel and KDPs is also produced by some nations NanoCarbon Crystals and Flash Fission Guns With near limitless energy at one’s disposal, the potential for material synthesis is incredible. Only two nations continue to have access to a fusion power plant: Russia and the NEU who both share a barely functional prototype reactor. While the supply is patchy and arguments over who gets how much power are near constant, it is enough to keep a few material synthesisers active, all but three within the NEU. Most of the time they are caught up in creating materials which cannot be sourced within the NEU's borders but occasionally they are used for other things. KDPs and the like are very quick and easy to create in such a manner and they make up a large part of the NEU's tentative export market. On the other end of the scale are NanoCarbon Crystals. Incredibly laborious to make and massively demanding in terms of energy required, they are an extremely rare sight on the modern battlefield. Yet their effectiveness cannot be denied. NanoCarb armour is based heavily on the structure of diamond and very resistant to almost all types of modern weaponry. The only effective way of breaking through is with Flash Fission Guns. Rather than use a capacitor to supply the energy, a tiny sliver of fissable uranium is used. This sliver is exposed to forced neutron discharge resulting in a single "flash" reaction of tremendous energy. This is used to ionise a ball of hydrogen gas which is accelerated down the weapons at a speed comparable to a linear accelerator rifle. This plasma ball is destructive enough to tear the armour apart at the atomic level, shattering the carbon structure and breaching the armour. End of Fluff. If you do not know Stargrunt (Found here!) then this next bit probably won't make a whole lot of sense to you. Armour comes in four types: - Rolled Steel (Class 3-5) - Kinetic Distribution Polymers (Class 1-4) - MultiPlate (Class 2-5) - NanoCarb (Class 2-4) Rapid Fire Autocannons (Class 2-3): Firepower - D12 Against Dispersed - D10 Against Rolled Steel - D8xClass Size Against KDP - D8xClass Size Against Multiplate - D8xClass Size Against NanoCarb - D6xClass Size High Velocity Cannons (Class 3-5): Firepower - D8 Against Dispersed - D10 Against Rolled Steel - D10xClass Size Against KDP - D8xClass Size Against Multiplate - D10xClass Size Against NanoCarb - D6xClass Size High Energy Lasers (Class 2-4): Firepower - D12 Against Dispersed - D10 Against Rolled Steel - D8xClass Size Against KDP - D12xClass Size Against Multiplate - D10xClass Size Against NanoCarb - D6xClass Size Flash Fission Guns (Class 1-5) Firepower - D6 Against Dispersed - D8 Against Rolled Steel - D12xClass Size Against KDP - D12xClass Size Against Multiplate - D12xClass Size Against NanoCarb - D10xClass Size Guided Missile Systems (Class 2 and 4) Guidance - Basic D6, Enhanced D8, Superior D12 Against Dispersed - D10 Against Rolled Steel - D12xClass Size Against KDP - D10xClass Size Against Multiplate - D10xClass Size Against NanoCarb - D6xClass Size



mattblackgod	Jan 28 2012, 04:24 PM Post #15
Big boss warlord dude! Posts: 15,702 Group: Admins Member #1 Joined: Jul 22, 2008	Cool stuff. Thanks for the rules. I have star grunt. One day I will get to try them out. Maybe in 15mm.



Gasmasked Mook	Jan 28 2012, 05:52 PM Post #16
Vault Dweller Posts: 95 Group: Members Member #377 Joined: Oct 24, 2011	I forgot to mention that the firepower value is used rather than the weird "fire control" system in the original rules. Instead, basic fire control increases the quality of the shooter by 1 die, enhanced shifts the die up 2 and so on.



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