//------------------------------//
// New Equestrain Confederacy 
// Story: KS Factions 
// by Unholyheaven 
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	To any who may read this document, I am True Quill vas Lore. My father, and his father, and so forth have all been historians back to the era before the severance. The Quills can even trace our heritage back to the founding of the Canterlot Royal Library, and we hold our heritage with pride. It is my honor and duty to record the history of Princess Celestia’s true followers into this desolate sector of space. Here you will find nothing but the true accounts of what happened after Zamara betrayed all Equestrian kind, and plunged our people into a state of civil war.





Initial Expedition 

When Celestia ordered our first expedition through the warp gate, we found what seemed to be the ruins of a paradise. The skies were blue, the fields were green, the soil fertile. The military was naturally the first sent through, if you don’t count the two traitors that we used as test subjects to see if the portal was safe. Judging from the message left by the warp gates creators, we expected to be welcomed by the natives, who called this world “Aiur”. Instead we only found a ruined and empty city of technology we could neither use nor understand. The military quickly secured the city, and civilian expeditions were sent through to study the ruins.
Very little came from these studies for the first several years. But the land was rich and ready to be settled, so naturally a large number of earth pony settlers did appeal for the throne for land claims, which they were granted. The thrones original policy was open flag planting. Anypony could simply build a fence, plant a flag, and claim the land as their own free. The new colonist however found that we were not alone on this world after all.
Feral creatures, that we later discovered to be called “zerg,” were scattered throughout the area. Coming in all shapes and sizes, these horrors prevented settlers from expanding to far beyond the ruined city. While the military could hold against these vicious beast within the city, they simple were not equipped, nor in sufficient numbers to defend the settlers against the marauding monsters. While they showed little signs of any organized effort, they were deadly enough in their own right to not to be taken lightly.
Needless to say, further expeditions slowed and came to a near standstill. There was absolutely no progress at all in studying the alien technology, the cost of maintaining security for the expedition was exceeding initial estimates, and the casualties in our skirmishes with the zerg natives was causing the throne question whether or not this expedition was worth continuing. However one of the final few expeditions into the wilderness revealed our first tangible find. It was some kind of settlement, judging from the amount of armaments found, it was believed its purpose was military in nature. It was revealed this settlement belonged to something called the “UED,” as their logo was written on many of the buildings and equipment.
The technology in this settlement was very different than the technology found in the ruined city. Our archeologist came to the conclusion it was from a different alien race. We would later discover the ruins of the first alien race we found called themselves protoss, while the aliens of the second settlement we found called themselves terran. Unlike the protoss technology in the ruined city, our kind was able to use the terran technology. The settlement however was also occupied by zerg as well. After a brief but costly engagement, the expedition grabbed what artifacts they could and returned to Canterlot to show Celestia our finds.
This breakthrough revitalized the thrones faith in the expedition, and much of our future efforts went into reverse engineering the terran technology instead. Despite the rather grim cost of life, a new military establishment was erected over the ruins of the terran settlement, a road was constructed between there the ruined city, and patrols were put in place to keep the road safe. In ten short years, the technology in Canterlot was forwarded centuries ahead of what it should have been. New developments in weapons and advanced power armors allowed the Royal Guard to better combat the zerg, and for the first time since arriving in this new world, the Royal Guard successfully pushed back the zerg.
The new technology greatly changed life in Equestria. New technologies in agricultures created a massive food surplus, medical technology reduced death rates significantly, and new luxuries and comforts of life flooded the Equestrian economy. This however had an unfortunate side effect. A new technology was found called the “pen.” This new device destroyed the quill market, which simultaneously destroyed the sofa market as well. This was only the first of many Equestrian markets destroyed, which would cause the collapse of the Equestrian economy. At the moment, all new technology was still being produced in the new world, leaving few employment opportunities in Equestria. As a result, Equestrian citizens emigrated out of Equestria by the hundreds in search of new land or employment opportunities in the new world. New settlements began popping up all over Aiur, and over the next fifty years, the new world would thrive.
Perhaps the most significant discoveries were the discovery of the protoss warp network and terran FTL technology. The protoss warp network gave us a complete star chart of this area of space which was known as the Koprulu sector, while mastery of the terrans faster than light speed travel allowed our people to reach those new worlds. Our people had been making leaps and bounds in our technological advancement, but by far our greatest achievement was the day we reached the stars. With our new knowledge of the sector, and our new exploration ships, our empire would know no limits.





Rise of the Guilds 

We’re living in the dawn of a new era gentlemen. Some noble families like to think their birth right alone will keep them in power. I know for a fact that our time is over, and if you want to stay on top, you have to move with the times. This is an era where our people’s future won’t be decided by some spoiled princess who was born to power. No, this is a time when the citizens of Equestria will decide their own fate. It won’t be the nobles, but the brave and bold who will lay out the foundations of our people’s future. The Canterlot government is a thing of the past. True power and glory await those willing to take it, out there just beyond the skies. The strong will thrive, and the rest will be crushed under hoof. I have no intention of being crushed.

~Day Breaker Coffers, founder of the Coffers Mining Guild.

Roughly one hundred years had passed since we had initially opened up that warp gate. In that hundred years, our population exploded alongside our technology. Equestrians were living longer, they were breeding more often, and all the land claims in the new sector were encouraging huge families. Families of over a dozen were very common on most farms now, and when their children came to age, many sought their own land claims, of which land was plentiful. The zerg on Aiur were no longer a problem with the new weapons developed for the Royal Guard. Even though there was still plenty of land on Aiur, it was the worlds beyond Aiur that provided seemingly unlimited opportunity for further expansion. Terran records found in the UED settlement suggested four other technologically rich terran worlds existed, Umoja, Tarsonis, Korhal and Moria. The throne authorized a new expedition to each world, which was once again met with zerg resistance.
The technology on Moria lead to its own problems however. The people of that world seemed obsessed with creating mining sites in even the most inhospitable of worlds. Their mining technology was second to none, and they had created special greenhouses that allowed settlers to thrive on ordinary desolate worlds, all in the name of greed. Many of the wealthier Equestrian families used this new technology to seek out not just farm land, but to establish unauthorized mining settlements throughout the sector. Like almost every world however, settlement was met with zerg resistance. Because these settlements were not authorized, they received no military aid. Instead these families used their wealth to establish private militias on those worlds to protect their investments. Being completely free of the confinds of Equestrian law, these privately owned corporate settelments would called themselves the guilds, and were petty sovereign rulers in their own right.
As the zerg were scoured from these worlds, the guids would frequently come to blows with one another over mining rights to mineral rich worlds. As a result, many mercenary and private security firms began to rise. Some found it easier to simply take what they wanted and turned to the life of bandits and piracy, raiding the sanctioned Equestrian colonies. This caused much concern for the throne. Should these petty corporate empires grow too powerful, they could overthrow the government. Celestia called for an end to all violence in these independent colonies, demanding they recall their forces; the guilds refused to listen. Considering the Royal Guard was stretched so thin across the five prime worlds, the guilds knew the throne was just a paper tiger.
The guilds continued to expand their power. As piracy was on the rise, many of the less established unsanctioned colonies began to turn to the more well-armed larger guilds for protections against the growing threat of pirate raiders. If Celestia let this continue, the Canterlot government would soon lose all authority in the sector.





 Reformation of the Royal Guard, Commissioning of the Royal Navy

If the guilds will not bend knee to the throne, then their knees must be broken so they can never raise again.
~ Commander Steelwing. Supreme commander of the Equestrian military forces in the Koprulu Sector.

In truth, the Royal Guard was hardly what anyone could call a standing army. Canterlot was not so large a country that it needed a massive army for defense. Most threats it faced came in the form of powerful magical warlords. At the time they could not be confronted by Canterlots primitive weapons, and instead had to be confronted by Celestia’s own considerable power. No one dared invade Equestria for fear of bringing Celestia’s wrath upon them. As a result, the Royal Guard was just a peace keeping force, to maintain law and order throughout the realm. But with the raise in new weapon developments, came the raise of new threats. Celestia was not blind to the growing power of the guilds. She also realized the destructive potential of this new technology held, and that it could indeed match her own power. She needed to put a stop to this bloodshed, but to do so, she would need an army of her own.
Celestia decided if these wayward corporate titans, mercenaries and privateers would not obey her lawful decrees willingly, they must be forced to. Originally most Equestrian ships were transports used to move citizens and supplies across the sector, while the Royal Guard was just a security force. The sector had changed however, and her military had to adapt to these changes.
Celestia began a massive recruiting effort among its own citizens. Unfortunately much of the Equestrian population had already abandoned their home world in search of land claims in the new sector. But their families had grown significantly, and they too would eventually seek out new land. Among the first things Celestia did was order the Royal Guard to purchase, and if necessary seize, the majority of ships on the prime worlds. Celestia also put an end to the flag planting policy, stopping further land claims. All unclaimed land on the prime worlds, which were the most populated, now belonged to the throne. A new law was put in measure so only by military service could new land be distributed. Any existing land owners had to serve in order to retain their currently land claims, so some of the wealthier families supported the military in other ways to avoid service. Because many land owners had such huge families, their sons were sent off in their stead to join the growing Royal Guard.
The throne offered monetary incentives to anyone willing to send their sons off to war, and promised land claims to anyone who completed an eight year term of military service. Under this new policy, the ranks of the Royal Guard swelled, but it wouldn’t be enough. Many of the trade lanes were being haunting by corsairs, and some were even suspected of being in league with the mining guilds. Celestia knew maintaining a force on the ground would not be sufficient. She would need a navy.
The throne had successfully claimed many of the civilian vessels throughout the sector, though still left enough for trading to continue, and orders were sent to construct as many new ships as possible. Many civilian ships refitted for combat, and many newly constructed ships were designed for war from the ground up. While ships would eventually be in strong supply, what the rapidly growing navy really needed were experienced crewmen and captains to man those ships. Unfortunately many captains were more interested in simply retiring from their careers and living off the very generous payments they received when the military purchased their ships. However, a number of younger stallions saw this as not only an opportunity for adventure, but as a chance to finally captain ships of their own, and gladly joined up. These experienced stallions were made officers, and were placed in charge of training new recruits for the navy. In only three years’ time, Celestias had created a Royal Navy capable of once again bringing peace and order to the new worlds.
With her forces strong, it was time to bring back order to this crumbling sector of space. Celestias looked the Pegasus Gabriel Steel Wing to lead her forces in a pacification campaign against the guilds. Steel Wing was not only a long time officer of the Royal Guard, but when he retired from the guard, he became captain of his own ship, and would eventually acquire a small fleet of trade ships and began his own shipping company, working mostly for the Fancy Pants noble family. When the military bought out more than half of his fleet, he gave the remainder of his ships to his sons and nephews then retired. Every stallion in his family would become a naval captain of their own vessel as a result. Seeing so many experienced naval officers with the same last name, the Steel Wing family caught the attention of Celestia. She needed a leader who knew the ins and outs of space travel, the logistics behind commanding and maintaining not just one ship, but an entire fleet, and she needed somepony with a military background who could lead those ships into combat. Gabriel seemed like the perfect candidate. While already approaching the age of forty nine, the old stallion was a patriot and loyal subject of the throne. Coming out of retirement, he accepted the commission, and became the first supreme commander of the Equestrian Royal Navy, as well as the new commander of the Equestrian Royal Guard forces in the sector.
The pacification campaign against the guilds was never declared an official war, and instead labeled as a peace keeping expedition in order to keep public concern to a minimum. Though many did refer to this conflict as “the guild wars.” Fortunately very few of these worlds had a particularly large fleet. Though the ships they had been fighting piracy for years, and the crews were much more experienced. Their hit and run tactics against the larger, though less experienced, Royal Navy did inflect significant casualties. On the ground, the guilds found much support from the locals, and fought tooth and nail in defense of their lands. While their equipment wasn’t on par with that of the Royal Guard, the guilds had the pockets of many elite mercenary outfits, many of whom were once Royal Guard themselves. In addition to their training in the Royal Guard, many of these security firms had years of combat experience fighting one another, and were more than capable of going barrel to barrel with the Royal Guard.
Steel Wing however was just as much a businessman as he was a soldier, and he knew who his enemy was. On one hoof, there were the guild CEOs who he knew weren’t fighting themselves, they were simply providing the real fighters with weapons to protect their personal business interest. Then there were the mercenaries who fought only for money, and arguably a love of carnage. Finally there was the militias; factory workers, miners, farmers, and small business owners who didn’t want to give up their lands to what was starting to look like a rather oppressive regime. The mercenaries would never directly help the Royal Guard because they knew if order was established, they would find themselves out of a job. The citizens were patriots who would never surrender their homes without spilling blood. While not as well trained as the mercenaries, those militias were every bit as battle hardened from years of trading blows with each other. But both the mercenaries and the militias relied on the deep coffers of their corporate overlords in order to supply their armies. Steel Wing knew that at the end of the day, this war was costing the guilds a lot of bits. The key to ending the quagmire was not defeating the guilds armies, but offering the most powerful guilds a more lucrative alternative.
These corporate alliances were alliances of convenience at best, a powder keg of betrayal waiting to explode at worst. Being a former business owner himself, he appealed to the guild’s sense of greed. Many of them would be happy to see their competitors gone, so Steel Wing made them offers, without the approval of the throne. They would not only stop fighting the Royal Guard, but would also turn their armies against the other competing guilds on their own worlds. In exchange for once again swearing their allegiance to the throne, they would be granted amnesty, dominion over their worlds, and a large degree of autonomy, such as being able to keep their militias and mercenary outfits. In exchange, the Canterlot government would be allowed to stations Royal Guard ground bases, as well as Royal Navy space platforms; the maintenance of which would be paid for by the guilds.
Calculating that the potential profit of having exclusive rights to their worlds far exceeded the cost of maintaining the Royal Navy and Guards military bases, CEOs on every worlds were willing to betray their guild allies. Many militias were more willing to except being ruled over by native rulers of their world, and were more willing to lay down arms and return to their lives. The mercenaries were also assured by their corporate overlords that they would honor their contracts and continue sending the paychecks. Most security firms agreed to this in the long run, though some were still more interested in continuing the fight, simply for the sake of fighting. At heavy cost of life, these firms were eventually uprooted. Finally Steel Wing reached out to the pirates, offering them forgiveness for their crimes if they would sell their ships in exchange. The crews were paid handsomely and retired from their life of piracy. Some of the most experienced and successful pirates were even offered officer commissions with in the Royal Navy. This increased not only the number of ships within the Royal Navy, but also the number of experienced officers as well.
Using this new strategy, Steel Wing successfully put an end to the guild wars, and expanded the thrones reach in the sector. Though some of his advisers did criticize his methods, claiming all he had done was bring even more powerful warlords to power. Steel Wing recognized the guilds he worked with were now only that much more powerful, but he also recognized that as long as he maintained the largest navy, no guild would dare revolt, especially with an armed space platform hanging over head. A good number of militia would eventually be recruited into the Royal Guard as well, which helped add to the number of experienced soldiers in the Royal Guard ranks.
With the pacification campaign complete, the Royal Guard and Royal Navy had emerged more powerful than ever. Once a laughable paper tiger of an era thought to be long past, Steel Wing had created the largest and completely unrivaled fighting force in the sector.





The Khalai Rebellion 

Things seemed to have been going well for the good commander. Somehow he had turned what was once a gaggle of merchant crewmen, eager farm boys, mercenaries, militias and even pirates into a respectable fighting force that Celestia could be proud to claim her own.
Unfortunately a troublesome upstart named Discovery was sowing the seeds of rebellion once again. Discovery had long ago found a way to manipulate protoss technology. These breakthroughs were important, because it was her understanding of the protoss warp network that helped to map out the sector. But somewhere along the line, she became a madmare who was under the belief she had been possessed by a long dead alien ghost. While Steel Wing had been working to secure the sector, Discovery, who had now changed her name to Zamara, was earning favor with Celestia. Whatever extent of power Celestia granted the madmare, Zamara stretched it to its limit. She had gained a large gathering of followers on Aiur who called themselves the Khalai.
The trouble truly began to brew the day Zamara had begun to organize an independent military of her own. These military was not just a ground force, but an entire fleet of warships. Steel Wing has just finished fighting a long and bloody pacification campaign against a bunch of ragtag mercenaries, pirates and militias. If Zamara succeeded in creating her own battle fleet, the sector could be looking at its first true full scale war.
Quick to act, and with the thrones approval, Steel Wing seized control of Aiurs construction yards and put an end to the war before it could began. Afterwards he ordered that the constructions yards be dismantled. As with all other business owners in the sector, the throne offered just compensation for the seizure of any land and other property. But the Khalai fanatics would not see reason. Instead the workers refused to leave the construction yards. Seeing no other choice, Steel Wing had to force the Khalai protesters out of the yards. He order the use of tear gas, Tasers, sirens and other forms of non-lethal weapons to get the Khalai out of the construction yards. Once the area was cleared of life forms, demolition teams began preparing to dismantle the yards. Unfortunately his informants suggested that the rebels were arming and would attempt to retake the construction yards through violence. Seeing his time was short, Steel Wing had the constructions yards destroyed from orbit. As a result of our commanders quick thinking, not a single Khalai civilian was killed. As before, medical attention and monetary compensation was giving to the families for any minor injuries endured during the dismantling of the construction yards.
It had been over one hundred years since that warp gate first opened. Thanks to Commander Steel Wings leadership, for the first time since they had discovered FTL technology, an decade of peace blanketed the sector. Businesses were booming on Moria, industrial output on Korhal was the highest it had ever been, Umoja had become the spiritual center of the sector for all believers of Celestias rule, military units coming out of Tarsonis were more well trained than ever, and the Khalai on Aiur had also prospered and helped to build a number of gateways between the other prime worlds in the Koprulu sector and their Equestrian home world. The sector seemed too had finally been tamed, and Steel Wing was considering reentering retirement.
Then the Khalai betrayed them. Khalai saboteurs made their way back to Equestria and destroyed every single warp gate that connected the two sectors, as well as the warp gates they had built on the other prime worlds. With their successful sabotage, the Khalai now controlled the only warp gates in the sector. The entire situation was a nightmare made real. Our link to Equestria was cut off, and our people were now stranded in this sector of space without Celestias guidance. Steel Wing would not stand for this betrayal.
Immediately the good commander deployed guardsmen to the surface of Aiur to arrest Zamara for her betrayal. When they attempted to enter her temple like structure, the guardsmen were met by khalai fanatics who refused to grant them access. Having the proper warrant for her arrest, the guardsmen ignored the fanatics and attempted to enter, only be met with violence when an armed fanatic attacked a guardsmen. In self-defense, he opened fire wounding the khalai. His collaborators used this as an excuse to attack our guardsmen and force them into a retreat.
We don’t know how or where they did it, but somehow Zamara had constructed a large fleet of her own, despite the royal decree from Celestia. Her fleet, calling its self the “Golden Armada,” attacked the Royal Navy peace keeping forces above Aiurs surface, as well as the guardsmen on the ground. With our forces forced into retreat, Zamara began a terror campaign across the sector, destroying a number of space platforms, as well as countless civilian mining sites in hopes of crippling our infrastructure. Military casualties were in the thousands, while civilian casualties went into the tens of thousands as the fringe worlds were left to the merciless onslaught of the Golden Armada.
Though the Golden Armada experienced much initial success, the Royal Navy eventually mobilized and began to push back the insurgent forces. Despite being caught off guard, the Royal Navy was still not only the largest, but also the most experienced fleet in the sector, while the Royal Guard was composed of veterans who had fought in the guild wars. Zamaras inexperienced forces were no match for Steel Wings well battle hardened soldiers, and were quickly drive back to Aiur. Victory it seemed was near.
Then another insurrection happened. Governor Stone Hoof of the prime world Korhal abandoned the campaign and took a number of fleet commanders with him. Apparently a lot of the fleet commanders that were once pirates and mercenaries saw this as an opportunity to seize power, and joined the insurgents on Korhal. To make matters worse, a number of guild leaders decided to join in on the insurrection and stormed a number space platforms that were keeping their worlds in check. With so much of the staff on the front lines fighting against the Khalai insurrectionist, the space platforms were undermanned, yet still over equipped. An unfortunately large amount of military hardware fell into the hands of these rebels who would declare independence shortly afterwards.
With the ground below him eroding before his very eyes, Steel Wing was force to abandon his campaign to deal with the insurrections on the home front. It didn’t take long for the Zamara to gloat as she proposed an unfavorable peace treaty to end the war. Seeing no other choice, Steel Wing reluctantly agreed to the terms, granting the khalai independence.





The Fall of the Canterlot Government 

Steel Wing was shocked with the result of the war. Yes he did imagine that some of his fleet commanders weren’t the most loyal, same with the guild leaders, but he had checks and balances in place to keep them in line. What he didn’t expect was Governor Stone Hoof’s betrayal. The stallion was hoof picked by Celestia herself for his leadership skills, and supposed loyalty. The Royal Navy was prepared to deal with Zamaras betraly, and even the betrayal of a few fleet commanders, but it Stone Hoofs insurrection that had cost him the war. To make matters worse, the prime world of Umoja declared Steel Wing a traitor for signing the treaty and abandoning his campaign. Because Umoja was the spiritual center for many of Celestias followers, many zealots who followed Steel Wings in Celestias name abandoned the Royal Guard and Navy to join the new Umojan government that had formed. 
But even with the betrayal and desertion of so many of his follows, he still had a number of rich and powerful families that were still loyal to him. These noble families would continue to support Steel Wing in his efforts to reestablish Celestias will in the sector. But first he needed to recognize that the Canterlot government was no longer relevant in this sector. Many of his followers were certain one glorious day Celestias would return with a shining fleet of her own to bring back order to the now war torn sector, but for now they would have to fend for themselves.
The first order of business was to establish Tarsonis as its own sovereign capital. Unlike the ponies of Korhal and Aiur, the ponies of Tarsonis simply continued to call themselves Equestrians, keeping themselves true to their Equestrian heritage. Steel Wing would rebuild his seat of power, and retake the wayward colonies by force once again. He found himself at a disadvantage however.
Previously he had the support of Morias mining resources, Korhals industrial output, Aiurs warp gates to Equestria, and the support of Umojas mages. With so many of his supporters gone, he would have to rebuild from scratch.
The Tarsonis government still had a few loyal colonies under its belt, and the technology and industry on Tarsonis was still superior to most independent colonies as well. Over the next ten years, he rebuilt and reorganized his military, and declared himself Sky Marshal of the remaining Equestrian forces. Veterans were promoted, recruits were trained, factories were erected and weapons of war were put into full production. By the end of the first decade, the Equestrian military was once again prepared for battle.
The Tarsonis government quickly began campaigns on the nearby worlds to impress their populations back into the fold. Progress was very slow however because each world taken required a garrison to be left behind to keep the population from rebelling again. Finally it all came to a standstill when Tarsonis attempted to invade the world of Braxis.





The Braxis Campaign

Hell's supposed to be some kind of torture chamber filled with fire and brimstone, right? Well, after serving a tour of duty in the ice and snow of Braxis, the only difference I see is that at least Hell would be a lot warmer.

~Max Redimus, Terran soldier 

For all intents and purposes, Braxis was not a world that one could consider to be of strategic military value. While still a mineral rich world waiting to be exploited, the extreme cold made it very difficult and expensive for anyone to maintain a standing army. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but the zerg on this world had adapted to the weather and had evolved a particularly vicious and dangerous strain of zerg called the ursalisk. A mutated version of the normally peaceful ursadon native, these ursalisk were lumbering bear like creatures that were able to tear through tank armor, and were very fast on their feet despite the snow.
Weather had also become a huge obstacle on this world. A few pockets of green here and there, so it was believed it would be possible to set up a greenhouse. However constant snowstorms caused equipment failure on a daily basis, and the ursalisk made it impossible to maintain any greenhouses on the world in order to feed their armies. To no one’s surprise, no pony settlers were found here, nor would anypony have ever expected any settlers to survive. Steel Wing decided that if Tarsonis was to exploit this worlds rich natural resources, the native ursalisk needed to be removed; he launched a small campaign against the wildlife. He hoped by removing the ursalisk, he could establish greenhouses which would lead to a more permanent base of operations on the world.
That’s when it was discovered that this world did somehow maintain a native pony population. While their technology was nothing compared to the military might of Tarsonis, the locals knew the terrain very well, and had developed equipment that could better function in Braxis extreme conditions. Most disturbing of all was that that these savages were flesh eaters.
Realizing they could not grow food of their own on this world, they turned to hunting the local zerg for sustenance. Even after their technology had advanced enough to allow them to grow food, they continued this uncivilized tradition. The natives condemned the campaign against their food source, and demanded that the Royal Guard leave their world. The Sky Marshal however would have none of it. That and many of the Equestrians believed these flesh eating ponies should not be allowed to live if they would allow themselves to continue such acts of depravity. 
However their leader did suggest a negotiation of peace, so some officials did follow the natives back to their main settlement in hopes of coming to an agreement. My one of my ancestors, Silver Quill, had the honor of joining the small group of delegates who were allowed to see their leader. This is his account.

This world has not been a gentle one, and I have to say I’m shocked to see that anypony could survive in such an inhospitable climate, let alone thrive. Yet somehow these resilient natives did the impossible. While still technologically inferior to us, the technology they developed on this world is a true testament to tenacity.
A transport ship arrived near our settlement to take a handful of Tarsonis officials back to their primary settlement in hopes of striking a peace between our people. Their ships were much better equipped to deal with the snowstorms, and their pilots were much better at flying through the weather that would certainly kill any lessor pilots. We arrived at the base of a mountain range only a few kilometers away from the settlement we had set up. It was no wonder they had found us so quickly. Their settlements however were well hidden in the mountains, whose terrain and bad weather made it impossible to scan from orbit. I originally believed that perhaps these settlers came to this world by accident and were stranded on this world; that would explain why they were living on such an inhospitable world to begin with. But what I can’t understand is why anyone forced to live on this world would choose to settle in this even more inhospitable mountain range.
The transports set us down near the base of the mountain range where the natives maintained a small base of operations, mostly to maintain their ships. I noticed that none of the guards were clad in power armor, so this made me confident that we would be able to easily defeat them in combat. They did however have access to precision gloves that allowed them to hold weapons, and their rifles were the likes of which I had never seen before. They were very long and skinny. I heard them referred to as “Rail Rifles.” Apparently these weapons were designed to take down the monstrous Ursalisk, and if they could bring those things down, they may be able to punch through the power armor of our guardsmen.
It was getting dark, and we were informed we would have to stay indoors the rest of the night or risk freezing to death in the open. Having been here a few days already, I knew well enough not to argue with that logic. The buildings were very well insulated. They were built of steel just as many of our buildings were, but they had also used the thick hides of the native zerg as a form of insulation. Unlike zerg on other words who developed a carapace, these zerg instead developed a thick hide that could allow them to survive in even the coldest environments. The hides of the Ursalisk were also considered to be as hard as steel, though much more flexible. The mix of nature and technology here was an impressive feat of ingenuity, and I later found out that zerg hide was a common building material in much of their equipment in place of the usual rubber and plastic we had come to use. It was the use of this hide that allowed their equipment to function in these conditions. Much of their technology had been focused on finding betters way of working with the precious hide. I can see why the Ursalisk were so important to the natives. In fact, their hunters wore suits of ursalisk hide which offered outstanding protection against small arms fire, as well as the cold, though still offered nowhere near the protection of our power armor.
They had also built an underground tunnel system that allowed them to travel between structures at night when the surface became too cold to walk in. These tunnels weren’t really a feat of engineering. They were narrow, and of bare rock with no walling or flooring to speak of. The lights were strung up across the tunnels like decorative lights on Hearts Warming Eve. But the earth on Braxis was very hard and difficult to dig through, so I could understand why the tunnels weren’t as well refined. It was this tough and resilient earth that made this planet so valuable after all.
Unfortunately come dinner time, I found myself not having much of an appetite. While we had brought our own rations, the disgusting sight of these flesh eaters devouring the dead zerg was more than I could bare. I quickly retired to my quarters and ate there before going to sleep.
The next day, we continued our journey towards what I believed would be their capital. As I looked up at the mountains we were about to traverse, I noticed just how bad the weather was up there. There was no way any pilot in their right mind would be able to fly in this kind of storm. Instead we found ourselves traveling on the roads the natives had constructed. At first I believed we would be traveling on foot, instead I found that they had arranged for a rather peculiar form of transportation. Much to my astonishment, and I’m sure that of my companions, the locals had somehow learned to tame the feral ursalisk. We had never once believed it could ever be possible to tame any kind of feral zerg, yet somehow they had done the impossible. It seems ponies can evolve to their environment just as well as any zerg can given enough time.  
Riding bare back on a zerg killing machine was unsettling to say the least, but it certainly beat walking. While most of the natives were able to command their own steeds with little effort, a unicorn, which they called a “controller,” was brought in to direct our mounts. Somehow the unicorns of the native population had learned to take direct control of the zerg. The journey through the mountains was a mixture of exhilaration and terror as the controller forced our mounts to run at what I felt certain at the time was an unsafe speed. We rarely ever stayed on the road as our mounts constantly jumped over larges crevasses and ran along the mountain steep inclines that lead to certain death should our mounts lose their grips. I dare say by the time we were finished, I might have actually been enjoying myself.
As we made our way deeper into the mountains, we encountered a number of towns and villages along the way. Apparently this mountain range was the main hub for their population. Each village housed a few hundred citizens, and were mostly used as ranch like dwellings where they raised and slaughtered a number of the other smaller zerg for food and hide. The towns, while few and far between, held a few thousands native ponies and were responsible for their industrial output. Considering they did have a decent measure of technology, it only made sense they would maintain some kind of industrial hub. The Ursalisk however was never found at any of the ranches, and could often been seen in the wilds as we traveled the roads between the towns and villages. From what I had been told, the Ursalisk was always to be hunted, never ranched. It seems the natives had developed some rather primitive traditions as a result of their time on this world. It wouldn’t surprise me if these snow shoving flesh eaters held them sacred, and thought we were desecrating their gods. If only they could see we were just trying to improve their quality of life.
After a few days travel, we finally stopped at the base of what seemed to be the largest of the mountains. There was a town established at the mountains base were we would spend the night in what appeared to be the equivalent of a hotel. I had to admit, the rooms provided were quite comfortable compared to the lodging we had at the camp at the base of the mountain earlier, or the living arrangements the military provided for us at our settlement. It was nice to finally experience a degree of luxury. Perhaps there was hope for these flesh eaters yet? Unfortunately we once again found that the only thing to eat was zerg flesh.
Finally dawn came, and we began our acent to the top of the mountain. It was an all-day event, and my rump was getting sore from riding that zergs backside all day. I would like to remind everypony to please keep a level head when you read this. Silver Quill was from a different era of dialogue, when ponies were more mature...
Finally we had reached our destination. I had to admit I was a little… surprised by what I had seen. It was a cave… a massive cave. Just when it thought these flesh eaters couldn’t get any more primitive. Though as we entered, we discovered this cave was actually a tunnel that lead to crater on the other side. An entire city had been erected in the crater, and what I saw at the center of the city I almost couldn’t believe… a Khalai ship. From the outside, the ship had been damage, likely in a crash. The inside however had been restored, and was akin to that of a palace.
More surprising was when we had finally met their leader. She was adorned in a white robe with golden trims. She was not only a khalai, but of the fabled khalai alicorns as well. She was a beautiful pink alicorn, with dark violet eyes. Her mane was a trinity of tan, dark purple and pink. While her mark was concealed by her robes, it was customary for many ponies to wear their cutie marks on any official regatta, and hers displayed a blue crystal heart. I wish I could explain what I had been seeing, but somehow a khalai alicorn had established herself as the sovereign ruler of these flesh eaters. I could only assume the savages thought she was some sort of goddess when they laid eyes upon her. But us Equestrians knew better. Only Celestia and Luna were the true alicorns goddess. The khalai alicorns were simply a cheap imitation.
We never did catch her name, she was only referred to as Matriarch. The rest of the day was filled with fruitless negotiations that I frankly don’t even remember. We wanted mining rights on this world, and wanted them to denounce their false alicorn goddess, and embrace the true goddess instead. They refused to submit to Celestia's will. While the trek had been quite the amazing experience, it was a near pointless one. I knew what was coming next. I also knew what the real purpose of this negotiation was. It was not to hammer out a peace, but to get the natives to lead us to their capital, and show us who their leader was. We had carried devices on our bodies that tracked our movements, and mapped out the path we had taken. When the Royal Guard made its move, we would know exactly where to go. War was upon us.

The Braxis campaign had mixed results. Royal Guard forces initially attacked the mountain range head on, and easily overwhelmed their forces at the base of the mountain. Their hunters and unusual rifles could not go hoof to hoof with our forces equipment or training in a direct fight. Our forces already knew what to expect, as this was hardly the first colony that they had invaded. There would be hit and runs, improvised explosive devices, snipers, and all the other guerilla tactics they were used to fighting against. But this would be a very different scenario. Equipment failure was still a constant enemy, as were food shortages and frost bite. While the rail rifles used by the natives for hunting ursalisk were no match for guardsmens gauss guns in a barrel to barrel fight, their rifles didn’t break down constantly in the snow, and were able to fire very accurately in the worst of weather conditions.
The natives engaged in very few direct fire fights, and instead preferred to simply lay in ambush, fire at long range, then run away. Their hunting traditions had made them excellent marksmen, easily on par with the highly trained guardsmen themselves. Often times they never even went for the killing blow. In the Braxis snow, a minor cut would turn into life threatening frostbite. More guardsmen died from exposure and minor wounds than enemy gunfire. With the roads constantly being harassed, it was near impossible to maintain supply lines, so medical supplies were always short.	Perhaps most impressive of all was their use of the ursalisk. Their mounted hunters gave a new meaning to the term “hit and run.” The creatures had adapted so well to the snow they could run across the thick snow as if it were mere sand, as opposed to our forces that would constantly sink into the snow and get stuck. Because the natives ursalisk mounts could bypass the treacherous terrain, as opposed to our forces that were stuck using the still dangerous roads, ursalisk raids were a constant threat. Sometimes during a white out, the ursalisk would simply charge right through our lines, trampling guardsmen or knocking over a vehicle before disappearing back into the snow.
To make matters worse, there were also a number of hunting groups that were located outside of the mountain range. Apparently the natives had prepared for this war for longer than we had, as they had a number of raiding parties already in position around our base of operations. They began hitting us near out landing zones, and destroying whatever supply shipments they could. Now our forces found themselves trying to defend against ursalisk raids at our main base, as well as trying to continue our suicidal push towards their mountain stronghold.
Since our scanners could not get a good read on the mountain range, and since the weather prevented us from flying, our progress had been painfully slow. Whenever our men did reach a village, they found it abandoned and stripped of anything useful. They always knew we were coming days ahead of time, and unlike us, they could move across the entire range in only a day or two.
With casualties rising, and progress nearly non-existent, the Sky Marshall called an end to the campaign, and offered a cease fire. The natives would have none of it. They continued to mercilessly hunt down our men, and slaughtered them at every opportunity. The Sky Marshall concluded the flesh eaters were far beyond any civilized manner of honor or conduct on the battlefield, and he decided it was time to bring forth the nuclear option. But providence saw fit to smile upon these barbarians. Due to the ursalisk raids against our camp outside of the mountain, an unsuccessful scouting effort was put into effect in hopes of hunting down and destroying these raiding parties. While most scouting parties were themselves hunted down and destroyed, one scouting party did find something of interest to us.
Originally it was believed this world was most likely never used even by the terran population except perhaps as a mining firm. But they had found an incredible piece of technology located in one of the nearby mountains. We didn’t know exactly what it was, but pieces of the labeling on the plating suggested it was called the “psi disruptor.” Suddenly this world had value. While teams were quickly sent to retrieve the remnants of the psi disruptor, the ursalisk raiding parties anticipated this, and sabotaged any kind of salvaging effort we made, but for some reason never damaged the disruptor itself. Considering these zerg herding fools considered ursalisk, mountains and false alicorns sacred, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they thought the disruptor was some sort of altar. Due to its location on a mountain, our forces didn’t fare much better against this undertaking than they did against the native’s primary mountain stronghold.
But at long last, the nuclear warheads that had been requisitioned had arrived, and the Royal Navy was preparing to simply bomb the crap out of that damn mountain range. They didn’t know exactly where to strike, but it was assumed a big enough warhead would level the entire range anyway. Before launching our nuclear assault, the good Sky Marshal ordered a warning shot be fired to show the flesh eaters that the Royal Navy met business. The yield of the warhead had impressive results, and the savages were once again willing to reopen negotiations. We would claim all rights to the planet, while their people submitted to the will of the true alicorn goddess. The natives stubbornly refused. They instead countered that if we did not agree to leave their world and never return, they would destroy the precious psi disruptor that they knew we coveted.
Concluding this world wasn’t worth the trouble, and with their only ship being a damaged Khalai vessel which posed no real threat to Tarsonis, the Sky Marshall agreed to the new treaty. The Royal Guard would be allowed to salvage the psi disruptor, and in exchange the flesh eaters would be allowed to continue their miserable existence on their hellish planet, a fate they deserved for their depravity.
While Tarsonis was technically defeated on Braxis, which was the first and only independent world to successfully resist Equestrian occupation, our people did walk away with new knowledge. For one thing, they had seen the effectiveness of using weaponized zerg in a military. More importantly, the remnants of the psi disruptor would be key to unlocking the mysteries of the zerg they were hoping to weaponize. Truly this defeat would be the gateway to a thousand victories. However believing he was now too old to be fit for command, Gabriel Steel Wing stepped down as Sky Marshal in his mid 70’s.





Project Queen Bee 

The Tarsonis intelligence network had discovered that the population of Korhal had been growing immensely over the generation. They now greatly outnumbered their own population, and had been having more luck in conscripting the populations of their conquered worlds into their own military service. The Tarsonis government knew if they did not act soon, the ponies of Korhal, now known as the Imperial Dominion, would overtake them.
Fortunately their discoveries at Braxis gave them insights on a bold new battle strategy. Just as the natives of that world used zerg against them, they would use zerg in their own armies as well. Though not just a handful. The Tarsonis military would not only capture the feral zerg scattered throughout the sector, they would breed their own strains by the thousands, and use those to supplement the Royal Guard, which had already been stretched thin, especially after the embarrassing defeat at Braxis.
While the psi disruptor was beyond any kind of repair, it did still have enough working parts to launch their zerg research far ahead of the other factions. They tried using unicorn controllers like the natives of Braxis had done, but were initially met with catastrophic failure. Every attempt to domesticate the zerg ended in the death of the would-be controller.
Eventually they turned to a more sinister approach. Code named Project Queen Bee, Tarsonis began an experiment where they would infect their own people with zerg DNA in hopes of gaining better control of the zerg. They didn’t stick to unicorns, as they found any pony infected with zerg DNA would not be attacked by feral zerg. While infecting ponies with zerg DNA did keep the zerg from attacking them, it also ended in uncontrollable mutation in the test subjects, who would turn into violent monsters. After years of failed test subjects, they finally found what a candidate who successfully assimilated the zerg DNA into her body, without mutating into a zerg herself.
Later deemed “Queen Bee,” this mare was a brilliant scientist when it came to the study of the zerg. The virus she had injected herself with was actually a creation of her own doing. Amazed by her results, the military did all it could to replicate Queen Bee’s results in other test subjects. Unfortunately because the virus was specifically tailored to Queen Bee’s body, there was no way to successful reproduce her results in other test subjects. But she was confident she could discover a way to do so if she had more zerg to study.
The primary source of feral zerg for the military was the hellish world of Char. It was once believed this world held billions of zerg judging by fossils, though the number of zerg now found had been greatly diminished. Even so, it was still the most abundant source of feral zerg in the sector. Queen Bee insisted on being allowed to travel to Char on their latest expedition so she could better observe the zerg. Unlike the other ponies, she could freely walk the surface of the planet, and be unharmed by the zerg who treated her almost in a matriarchal fashion. Wearing a suit of power armor, she disappeared deep into the caverns of Char for several days. When she emerged, Queen Bee had made a breakthrough that would turn the militaries luck around.
On Char, Queen Bee discovered a means to manipulate the virus in her body so that she could use it to infect other ponies. This variant of the virus, deemed “Queen Bee’s Blessing” AKA the QBB Virus, would only cause a slight infestation, without breaking down into a complete mutation. The zerg would treat these infested ponies as one of their own and not attack them. Having the upper hand they needed, the Confederacy began exposing many of their guardsmen to QBB with spectacular results. Not one guardsmen suffered from catastrophic mutation. They were almost still completely pony. The only drawback is that their semen had become incompatible with mares who weren’t infected with QBB. As a result, any mare who wished to breed with a guardsmen would have to allow herself to be exposed to QBB as well, which caused the virus to be passed on to the children. In time the entire population of Tarsonis would become infected with QBB.
This was not seen as a drawback however, because now the entire population was able to coexist with the zerg. Since the feral zerg saw the infested ponies as kin, many infected Equestrians began to domesticate the beast into noble companions. Now that our unicorns were able to get near the zerg without being ripped apart, they were able to begin practicing using their magic to control the zerg. Study of the remnants of the psi disruptor suggested certain psionic emanations could be used to disable the zerg. Our unicorns learned to mimic these emanations, but instead used them to direct the beast for military use.
With her purpose completed, Queen Bee returned to the caves of Char where she would live in solitude among the zerg. There she went on to produce a number of vicious new warriors to serve in the armed forces. The Tarsonis government was at first was not pleased with her desertion, but they were impressed with her results. Newer and deadlier zerg strains were being created and improved constantly thanks to Queen Bee’s efforts.
In exchange however, she demanded “offerings” for her services. Her offerings were considered a bit steep, and some would even call them deranged. Initially Tarsonis tried to simply force Queen Bee to hand over her research and sent a team of guardsmen into the caves to bring her back by force. Not one stallion returned from their descent. Queen Bee however mistook this acts of aggression as the offering she had asked for, and relinquished her researched. Though confused and somewhat horrified by her reaction, the military accepted the research in exchange for the “offering” they had accidently sent and put the research to good use. While the Torsonis government did not like the idea of sending more stallions to Queen Bee as future offerings, it was a small price to pay for the military edge she had provided them with. Queen Bee had also found a way to extent her own life. To this day, Queen Bee continues to receive offerings in exchange for any new breakthroughs she makes in zerg research. No one really knows what goes on in those caves, and only a few actually know what she does with her offerings.





Rise of the Confederacy 


While Queen Bee’s zerg strains were capable warriors in their own right, the military wasn’t happy just having normal zerg. Instead many zerg sent to the front lines had a number of cybernetic augmentations. This was inspired by what they had seen during the Braxis campaign. While primitive, the combination of zerg and technology on Braxis had shown effective results, and Tarsonis wanted to take this to the next level. These mechanized zerg, an aberration of metal and flesh, proved to be an effective weapon against the wayward colonies. The zerg unfortunately were difficult to control. While they would never attacking their Equestrian masters, they showed no mercy to the populations they were unleashed upon.
World after world fell to the Tarsonis forces. Their reach had actually spread too far for the current government to effectively control. While the zerg did provide an excellent means to supplement the Royal Guard, it was possible for their newly acquired colonies to once again declare independence, except now they too would have mechanized zerg at their disposal. To better maintain control over their new territory, the Tarsonis government was rebuilt from the ground up as the New Equestrian Confederacy.
Under this new government, the noble houses that had proven their loyalty to the throne would be granted Dominion over newly established worlds.  To further establish their dominion over their newly conquered worlds, the populations of said worlds would not be granted QBB. So while each world was allowed to still maintain its own militia, the Confederacy would also provide them with a sizable zerg garrison on its surface, for their own protection of course. Should rebellion ever break out, the zerg would show no mercy to the non-infested ponies. Only the ponies of Tarsonis and other core worlds would be giving the right to inherit Queen Bee’s Blessing.
With their military might expanding, world after world fell to the unstoppable power of the swarm. This, alongside with the Imperial Dominions expansion, would cause many colonies to turn to Moria for military aid. They would eventually unite as the Kel-Morian Consortium, the largest faction in the sector. As vast as the Confederates Swarm had become, they still could not breed enough zerg to conquer the unified front that had formed against them. More importantly, they were now having territorial disputes with the Imperial Dominion. The two factions would soon engage in a state of cold war. While neither side pushed into what could be considered core worlds, a number of border worlds were still under dispute, and both sides occasionally exercised the right to use military force to relinquish one another of said disputed territory. Despite these military engagements, neither side has resorted to declaring official yet.
Even in this new government however, the citizens of the Confederacy still referred to themselves not as “Confederates,” but as Equestrians, despite what the other factions might call them. Since then, the Confederacy has held strong the last three hundred years or so. It stands a symbol to all that Celestia still has a presence in this sector of space, and that its Equestrian citizens still eagerly await the return of their goddess.





Noble Houses

Staying true to their ancestral traditions, the noble houses are still the ruling class within the Confederacy. All members of the nobles houses were allowed to expose themselves to QBB if they choose. Besides the noble houses, only military personal and their families were allowed inherit QBB. However, commoners could join a noble house through military service as reward for honoring their duty. While they would not be considered nobles themselves, becoming part of a house did bring with it certain benefits for future generations. The amount of commoners joining their house was seen as a sign of prestige among the nobles. Today, almost every citizen of Tarsonis is a member of a noble house. This is indicated by the house title that is added at the end of a citizen’s name.
Citizens of conquered worlds may only join a house by marrying into it, or by participating in military service themselves. When one marries into a noble house, the wife takes the house name of the husband, as do any children they may have. Due to the nature of some of these houses, many commoners do tend to marry within their own house.
The house one joins or is born into does play a large role in their career options. While technically anyone is allowed to take whatever professions they desire, each house maintains its own prestigious universities, and it can become difficult for outsiders to gain admittance. While it is possible to land an occupation in a field though education in virtually any college, a pony will be advantaged or disadvantaged if they graduated, or are competing with a graduate from a prestigious university that specializes in that field. That said, graduates of each house tend to dominate certain fields of study.
While each house offers outstanding colleges in one field or another, military service is usually required before any commoner of any house is admitted. Virtually every stallion in Tarsonis has served at least one term in the Royal Navy, though some prefer to opt for the Royal Guard instead.
Noble houses are different than noble families. The families were simply given lord hood over some land, and collected taxes from the citizens of that land. Noble houses, like the families, still get lord hood over stretches of land, but more importantly invite common citizens to be part of their house. These citizens may become graduates at their esteemed university, and play a large role within the house. Noble houses benefit the more graduates they have within their ranks.
Each house may also have its own unique laws as well. While technically Confederate law is still the ultimate authority, the Confederacy tends to allow houses settle their own internal disputes. This could be anything ranging from petty theft to premeditated murder. It is usually only when a citizen commits a crime against the state, or another house that the federal courts decide to intervene.

House de Steel Wing

House de Steel Wing was a Pegasus family. They were heavily involved with the Royal Guard as far back as ancient Equestria. In the old Royal Guard, they were in charge of Celestias air forces. With the development of starships, they shifted to naval warfare. House de Steel Wing is most famous for its naval academies, which are second to none in the Confederacy. Most naval officers are members of the de Steel Wing house, and all Sky Marshals of the Confederate military have hailed from the de Steel Wing house.
House de Steel Wing is widely credited for being the founders of the Royal Navy. Many of the Royal Navies most successful officers during the guild wars and the Khalai rebellion were members of the Steel Wing family. While members of the other houses can also become naval officers in the Royal Navy, it’s almost always the graduates of the de Steel Wing naval academy that are picked first for promotions.
The place where the Steel Wings truly dominate the Royal Navy is the fighter squadrons. It’s very rare to see members of the other houses serving in a fighter squadron, much less leading them. Potential pilots are often chosen as they complete their education, and are immediately moved onto advance training as soon as they come of age. The pilots who receive this training are usually quick to become squadron leaders.
Of the houses, House de Steel Wing is the most adamant of military service. Gabriel Steel Wing once said, “Any stallion who isn’t willing to defend his home is no stallion at all. He’s a meat sack that happens to have a cock.” The decedents of the de Steel Wing house took his quote to heart. All able bodied stallions of the de Steel Wing house, noble and commoner, are required to enlist in one form of military service or the other. Any stallion may choose to refuse by opting for option B instead, which results in castration in order to prevent his weakness from further shaming the de Steel Wing name.
Leaving house de Steel Wing is a simple thing. All it takes is filling out a few forms. A stallion will be refused his with drawl until he either completes a term of military service, or takes option B.

House von Death March

House von Death March was an earth pony noble family that trained many officers of the Royals Guards ground forces in ancient Equestria. They are known for their war college which specializes in advanced infantry tactics. The majority of infantry officers within the Royal Guards are members of the von Death March house.
Officers of the von Death March house are usually called upon to lead the vanguards of the Royal Guard forces during invasions. While a number of members of house de Steel Wing and von Black Horn also serve within the Royal Guards elite ranks, they still typically serve under an officer of the von Death March house.
During the guild wars, members of the Death March family frequently seen leading the Royal Guard against their treacherous former brethren. It was also the Death March family who led the early campaigns against the zerg on Aiur, and helped pay for much of the equipment used by the struggling Royal Guard at the time. More than any other family, the Death March family sacrificed much to see the Royal Guard through in the dark early era of colonization in the Koprulu Sector.
The von Death March house gives the most stallions to the Royal Guard service; almost half of the Royal Guards infantry units are from this house. They typically play the role of enforces on conquered worlds, and keep an every vigilant eye out for rebellion. Their tactics at the time can get a bit aggressive when dealing with belligerent populations.
The von Death March house also has the distinct honor of protecting the Sky Marshal, as well as a number of other military VIPs.
The von Death March house is most at ends with the von Black Horns. While still well trained, house von Death March feels the Royal Guards infantry has suffered in the long run due to the emphasis on expanding zerg units, rather than expanding the infantry. Though after the defeat at Braxis, the von Death March house lost much of their credibility in the eyes of the admiralty.
The Royal Guard is still expected to provide an occasional offering for Queen Bee every few years. While they may not agree with zerg research, the von Death March house accepts this responsibility. Whenever Queen Bee wishes to exchange research, prisoners who are members of house von Death March who are guilty of crimes are donated as offerings.

House von Black Horn

The Black Horns were members of Celestias elite war mages. The majority of the Black Horns however deserted Tarsonis to join the Umojans in their continued holy war against the New Khala. The nobles who remained were a far step down from the once mighty war mages of old. They would however find a new purpose within the ranks of the military.
Zerg on the front line needed to be coordinated by highly trained unicorn controllers. Of all the noble houses, the Black Horns put the most effort into learning how to properly manipulate the zerg. The famous Queen Bee herself reigned from the Black Horn lineage.
Their universities are best known for the study of the zerg. Many unicorns from this family become controllers within the military, who are called upon to lead the zerg into battle. Due to so many of the most powerful controllers hailing from house von Black Horn, the von Black Horns have almost as much authority within the Royal Guard as house von Death March. Many non-unicorns scholars of house von Black Horn will still take an interest into the study of zerg. Some have become trainers of the beast, and sell domesticated zerg to wealthy pet owners as well. The best minds in zerg research tend not to be unicorns, as they become controllers, but pegesi and earth ponies of house von Black Horn.
The von Black Horn house struggled long and hard to push their research onto the admiralty after the Braxis campaign, but were initially met with stiff resistance from house von Death March. Since their research was being met with failure after failure, they were on the verge of having their research terminated. It was only because of the fear brought on by the discovery of Korhals exploding population, and the well timed success of project Queen Bee’s first successful pony zerg infestation, that they managed to rekindle support for their research.
The von Black Horns still constantly experiment with ways of creating larger and deadlier zerg. Their most effective strains aren’t actually grown in a hatchery, but are created by infesting living ponies, and turning them into semi-sentient biological weapons. Volunteers for this process are scarce of course, and the von Black Horns often times borrow from the populations of conquered worlds in order to meet volunteer quotas. Many of the Royal Guards more powerful weapons were ponies at one point, though as to which weapons were home grown zerg, and which ones were unfortunate victims of the von Black Horns experiments, no one can say for certain outside of the von Black Horns most elite researchers. It is highly rumored among the enemies of the Confederates that all prisoners of war are handed over to the von Black Horns experiments. While not true, this belief has been used as a psychological weapon of fear to demoralize the enemy at times.
The von Black Horn house makes liberal use of infestation as punishment for breaking laws. There are very few von Black Horns who ever take up space in a Confederate prison.

House von Rich

The Rich’s have a humble history as a noble house. Unlike most houses whose names are centuries old, the von Rich name that did not hold noble status before the opening of the warp gate. The early members of the Rich family were fairly successful earth pony traders, but were by no means a name worthy of attention. That is until the day they discovered a family of apple farmers in ancient Equestria that produced the famous zap apple jam. Quick to buy the rights to this produce, the Rich family began to truly live up to their names. With their new found wealth, they forced their way into the Canterlot market that was normally dominated by unicorns. By the time the warp gate had opened, they established themselves as a powerful name in Equestrian society, but were still only considered commoners as they were still technically just merchants.
When the warp gate opened however, so did a new world of opportunity. The new technology brought with it many new luxuries and house hold appliances, and the Richs were quick to buy the rights to as many products as they could. In particular, they purchased the rights to much of the mining technology. When wealthy families, noble and commoners alike, started founding their own unauthorized colonies, Rich industries was the main provider of mining equipment to the raising guild factions. The Rich family would eventually create a mining guild of their own, but was still mostly known for controlling manufacturing and distribution rights on premium products. The Rich family did fight against the Canterlot government at the start of the pacification campaign, but ultimately joined on the throne by the wars end. As a reward for their service in helping to end the campaign, the Rich family was finally elevated to noble status.
Within the Confederacy today, the von Rich house still controls many manufactured goods within its borders. They hold most of the trade rights with the Kel-Morian merchants who trade with the Confederacy. Virtually all imported goods are sold exclusively through stores carrying the von Rich name.
Their universities are centered on business schools. It’s not actually the education that matters, it’s the fact that so many manufacturers and retailers within Confederate space are owned by the von Rich house. It’s nearly impossible to start a business in manufacturing or retail without the von Rich seal of approval, which is only granted to their graduates. Most ponies who attempt to circumvent house von Rich quickly find themselves unable to find any strong business partners. While on many of the conquered fringe worlds, one can find independent business, it’s not uncommon for members of house von Rich to move in on their territory, often times offering prices and goods the locals can’t compete with.
While a member of the Confederate faction, their deep coffers have allowed them to buy their way into the Kel-Morian market, and they hold many businesses outside of Confederate space along the Consortium border worlds. They often operate alongside house Fancy Pants, as house Fancy Pants owns most of the starports used to move goods around. While many Kel-Morians don’t like the Confederates for their liberal use of zerg, they do like von Rich bits more than they hate Confederate zerg, and for the right price will usually put their prejudice aside. House von Richs will often buy exclusive manufacturing and trade rights too many products on Consortium words, and make mass profits by monopolizing the market. When operating in Consortium space, house von Rich is known to occasionally hire mercenaries to strong arm and sabotage local businesses to make way for their own corporate Empire. The Consortium doesn’t seem mind these aggressive foreign businessmen. As long as they pay their taxes and tariffs, they let house von Rich do as they please.
House von Rich is essential to the Confederate military as they are the wealthiest of the nine houses. While they provided little in terms of tangible military goods (ships, weapons, food, highly trained officers) it is their deep pockets that help pay for much of what the Confederacy military uses. While as a whole, the combined wealth of the Kel-Morian Consortium outweighs the wealth of any other faction. As an individual family, house von Rich is second to none in terms of wealth.

House de Fancy Pants

The Fancy Pants family felt that its position of power was being threatened when FTL technology was discovered. When guilds started forming, the wealth of mere commoners started to surpass that of the nobility. Many noble houses found they had very little say in the new world, and with so many citizens migrating out of Equestria, the nobles of the old world was left with fewer and fewer citizens to tax.
The Fancy Pants family decided it was time to expand their reach to the new world, or risk decaying alongside the old world economy. Immediately they found themselves disadvantaged. Like many other noble families, they knew little about business, and weren’t as financially fit as the raising merchant class was in this sector of space. There was however one thing nobility always had, and that was Celesita’s ear.
Using their connection to the throne, the Fancy Pants family convinced the princess that FTL technology should be regulated to the throne. Celestias, seeing how many wealthy merchants had already established independents guilds and were forming powerful private armies, was inclined to agree. Under her new law, only members of nobility were allowed to purchase new ships. Having gained nearly exclusive rights, the Fancy Pants family exhausted the last remnants of their wealth to purchase ships in hopes of building a trade network. Unfortunately they again failed to think things through when they realized they didn’t have enough trained crews to pilot those ships.
Fortunately the members of house Steel Wing, who had been in the sector for a while, had a decent number of experienced crewmen. The Fancy Pants would loan their ships to the more experienced Steel Wings so they could conduct their business, while at the same time they would collect tariffs for all traded goods, mostly provided by the Rich family. With this new trade system in place, all three families benefited mutually. The Fancy Pants family had successfully established themselves as an economic powerhouse in the new world.
When the guild wars had broken out, many of their ships were forcibly taken from them by military. Though they were offered some very generous monetary compensation, the family feared if they did not establish a new business soon, they would deplete their wealth.
Years of running a successful business had improved the family’s ingenuity. While they no longer had the ships they were using to collect fees from traders, they realized they didn’t need those ships. Instead, they used their newly acquired wealth from their forcibly sold ships to purchase the land rights on many of the starports in the new worlds. Since nearly all traded goods had to make their way through these starports at one point or another, the Fancy Pants family would continue to collect tariffs since they were now the near sole owners of all the major starports in the sector, excluding those currently contended in the guild wars. They believed it was the perfect system. The traders ran all the risk, and the Fancy Pants family just sat back and collected the bits.
While very few members of the Fancy Pants family were involved in any direct fighting during the guild wars, they did provide much financial aid to the war effort. In exchange for helping to pay for the war, they were given rights over many of the conquered starports as well, which only served to expand their seat of power.
During the Khalai rebellion, when many of the colonies had gone into open rebellion as well, one of the first casualties of war were always the starports, which left the colonist without any means of space travel. Even the colonist who had the technology to fix those starports were unable to do so because of the extravagant cost of maintaining those facilities. When the dust of the Khalai rebellion cleared, house de Fancy Pants extended an offer to many of those border colonies to rebuild or repair, as well as to maintain the star ports on their worlds, and pay for it out of their own pockets. In exchange they would get exclusive rights over any tariffs collected. While many worlds were initially reluctant, they simply didn’t have the technological or financial means to keep them in operational status. Many worlds eventually agreed to the offer.
Initially many of these worlds had very little in trade, and house de Fancy Pants was operating them at a loss. Fortunately they still had enough infrastructure on other worlds to offset the loss until they could become profitable. Their luck would change with the coming of the vas Blue Blood’s and von Rich’s. The Blood Bloods would establish mining operations on these worlds in search of raw resources, while the Richs would build factories and stores. This brought with it much new trade, all of which passed through the de Fancy Pants starports. The three would establish a corporate trust with one another where neither side would cooperate with any other business owner. This effectively shut down any competitors on those worlds. In the long run, house de Fancy Pants early investment into those backwater worlds had paid off.
While a Confederate noble house, the de Fancy Pants control more starports than any guild in Consortium space. Due to the fact that these starports exist in enemy territory, the Royal Guard cannot offer these expensive investments any protection. To counter this, house de Fancy Pants controls a number of security firms on each world to safeguard their investments. This has caused house Fancy Pants to be one of the most hated names in Consortium space. While many mining guilds also hire security firms, they operate far away from civilization. Starports however are often times have entire cities built around them. While many colonies once experienced relative peace, the massive influx of mercenaries into their cities and towns has caused an explosion of crime. It’s no secret that many of them get their pay checks from house de Fancy Pants.
Houser Fancy Pants is essential to the Confederate military as they are the main means of moving military hardware from world to world. Like all the other houses, they must first serve a term of service before they may attend a university, and begin their lives as entrepreneurs.
Their universities are mostly business school. Like with house von Rich, a degree from a de Fancy Pants university is required in order to operate any business in a de Fancy Pants owned starport. While it’s possible to perhaps gather enough financial resources to establish one’s own starport, they’ll find they have very few trade partners, as most raw materials and manufactured goods are owned by house von Rich and vas Blue Blood, who only trade with house de Fancy Pants..

House vas Blue Blood

The Blue Blood family is the oldest noble house in Equestria, and by extension, the sector. They are of the same lineage of Princess Celestia, and have vast political influence.
Like the Fancy Pants, the Blue Blood realized that the future of their people laid in the new worlds. Unlike the Fancy Pants, the Blue Bloods didn’t wait to make their move. Using their political influence, they gained exclusive mining rights on the sanctioned prime worlds, which brought about vast wealth for the noble house. While they certainly felt the commoners were still beneath them, they were more than willing to establish a trust with the Rich family, who became early business partners with them. The Blue Bloods drilled for raw material, then sold that material exclusively to the Rich’s, who used their factories and stores to turn that raw material into finished goods, and sell it exclusively at their own stores. In exchange, they Riches would give a portion of the profits from their finished goods to the Blue Bloods. Because the Blues Bloods held the sole mining rights on the prime worlds, no other manufacturers were able to acquire raw materials to produce finished goods. The wealth of both families only continued to raise when the Fancy Pants established their trade network, as the three way trust now held rights to shipping as well.
This three way trust was actually believed to be the cause of the guild wars in the first place. Many other merchants and noble houses found it was impossible to legally establish any business with such a strong trust controlling all manner of mining, manufacturing and shipping between the prime worlds. It was only by establishing unsanctioned colonies that any competitors were able to turn a profit. The result of so many wealthy guilds establishing themselves outside the reach of Canterlot law was disastrous in the long run.
After the events of the Khalai rebellion, and being declared house vas Blue Blood, the vas Blue Bloods had lost many of their mining firms. However, even before Confederate military expansion, the vas Blue Bloods still continued to push their mining claims into independent colonies. After house de Fancy Pants had reestablished the network of starports on the independent border worlds, house vas Blue Blood quickly began to purchase mining rights on those independent colonies, and began hiring a number of mercenaries to protect their interest. While house de Fancy Pants was responsible for hiring the most private security firms, it was house vas Blue Bloods aggressive hiring of mercenaries that led these rag tag soldiers of fortune to establish their own security firms. Post guild wars, house vas Blue Blood is responsible for indirectly creating more private security firms than any other culprit in Consortium space. Like the von Rich’s and de Fancy Pants, house vas Blue Blood runs a number of operations within Consortium space along the border worlds.
Like the von Richs and the de Fancy Pants, vas Blue Blood universities are mainly to gain access to the three way trust still in effect to this day. Without the vas Blue Blood seal of approval, a mining firm on world largely ran by the established trust will have trouble operating. Without factories of the von Rich’s, the firm will be unable to sell their goods on world, and without the starports of the de Fancy Pants, the firm will be unable to ship goods off world. The trust works both way of course, and vas Blue Blood mining firms will not sell or ship any raw goods to factories or starports not backed by either the von Rich or the de Fancy Pant houses.

House vas Lore

The Lore’s have long been Equestrias keepers of history. Many of them were powerful unicorns in their own right, as it was the pursuit of knowledge that made them one of the Celestia’s favored houses. Like the Black Horns, the Lore’s most powerful unicorns deserted to join the Umojan’s holy war. It was mostly the magically inept that remained behind.
But the Lore’s were more than just about magic, they were historians, painters, musicians, archeologist, and in many ways the preservers of Equestrian culture. It is through the efforts of the Lore’s that the Confederacy has been able to hold onto their heritage. In the Confederacy, members of house vas Lore highly regarded for art in all forms. Unlike the other houses who give to the Confederate military in direct ways, either through soldiers or resources, the vas Lore’s have little to offer the military. Despite this, they were allowed to keep their noble title because their work was deemed important to the Confederacy in its own way. It’s believed that without the vas Lore’s to keep them on Celestia’s path, the Confederacy would lose itself much like their lost former brethren.
The Lore’s have been left with a black mark in their family name due to the events that happened after the warp gate opened. Being historians and archeologist, they were called upon to research and reverse engineer the alien technologies found in the new world. While they were praised for successfully brining about FTL technology and for the discovery of the protoss warp network that allowed them to first navigate the sector, the Lore’s are also the greatest traitors in Equestrian history as well. The madmare, formally known as Discovery Lore, was the one who severed the warp gates and doomed the sector to an age of strife and never ending civil war.
The vas Lore’s are also the head of religion within the Confederacy. They do the best they can to keep the name of Celestia alive in the hearts and minds of Equestrian citizens. Among conquered populations, members of the vas Lore house are often found performing missionary trips and humanitarian aid in hopes of converting them back over to Celestia’s side. This does put them at ends with the von Death March and von Black horn house, whose brutality can at times hinder their efforts.
While the vas Lore’s have tried to redeem their family name, there is still a small amount of animosity against them. Nothing truly discriminatory, but members of house vas Lore do hear the whispering insults said behind their backs. It was perhaps this reason why they were so largely ignored when they pleaded against accepting Queen Bee’s Blessing. Ultimately their voices were overshadowed by house von Black Horn, whose recently developments in zerg technology had earned the favor of the Tarsonis government.
Their universities largely focus on history, literature, philosophy and many forms of fine arts. They are the most likely to see eye to eye with the Khalai as they both share a love of the fine arts. Conversely they can’t stand Imperial culture, and truly believe in the long run it’ll only lead to a drop in IQ in the overall population of the Dominion. They act as cultural inquisitors of sorts, and actively destroy any hints of terrain culture they can find that isn’t deemed useful for the Confederacies technological advances.

House de Construct

The Constructs were a noble family of scholars who predate the existence of Canterlot. The reason for this is because they were the ones who designed and built Canterlot. They were always Celestia’s favored engineers and architects, a position that would do them well in the new worlds. 
The Construct’s were the family responsible for creating the first ever Equestrian ships. While it was the Lore’s that reverse engineered the technology in bits and pieces, it was the Construct’s who took those fragments of technology and turned it into the mighty Equestrian fleets we see today. The Lore’s scientist proved that FTL technology was possible, but it was the Construct engineers that made it a reality.
In the early days of FTL technology, it was the Constructs who made the early terran shipyards on Aiur. Their hard work would eventually lead the restoration of many ancient space platforms, as well as the creation of many new platforms. While the three way trust between the Richs, Blue Bloods and Fancy Pants prevented most merchants and noble houses from establishing a seat of power on the prime worlds, the Constructs were able to bypass this problem. Their contracts were given to them directly by the military, and only they had the technology to build new ships. They were one of the few houses who weren’t destroyed by the three way trust.
Prior to the establishment of the trust and the Royal Navy, their main customers were the Fancy Pants who created the first shipping network between the five prime worlds. However the cost of maintaining their platforms and the starports was just barely offset by profits brought in from selling ships to the Fancy Pants. When the Royal Navy was established, and bought out most of the Fancy Pant’s trade fleet, the Constructs feared their time was at an end. Fortunately the Fancy Pants were more than willing to buyout their starports, while the military purchased many of their space platforms to convert them towards defensive aims. This massive influx of wealth was the first real profit the Constructs had made since entering the new world. The Constructs were now only left with their construction yards, which with the help of their military contracts, more than paid for themselves.
The Constructs were also responsible for creating many of the first gauss weapons and power armors that were in use by the Royal Guard. In military service, they serve almost exclusively as engineers and mechanics on board Royal Navy vessels when they perform their term of service.
Unfortunately this family wasn’t the most loyal to the throne. Many scholars of the Construct family never claimed their loyalty laid with the throne, but with the advancement of Equestrian technology. When Celestia tried to limit technological expansion to lay solely with the throne and the military, many engineers abandoned the throne to seek employment elsewhere, particularly among the independent guilds. They became a house divided during the guild wars. The deserters liked to label themselves as free thinkers, but in reality there were simply traitors to the throne. They took the guilds bits and provided them with the destructive technology they weren’t yet ready for. Technology that would lead to years of corporate conflicts, and thousands of dead ponies.
The Constructs also left behind somewhat of a mystery after the severance. While the vast majority of technology was on our side of the warp gate, it was rumored that the Constructs were secretly building a space platform in orbit over our home world. If this is true, then for all we know, somewhere across space Princess Celestia is building a fleet of her own. These rumors of course were never confirmed, and due to the actions of the Khalai traitors, most likely never will be.
When the Confederacy was established, and the Construct family became house de Construct, they found a new opportunity to bring in wealth. The Constructs dedicated their universities to science and engineering as they are always trying to push more conventional technology to its limits. While doing so, they established the engineers union. All graduates of their universities agree to join the union for life, and all union fees were paid directly to house de Construct. While house de Fancy Pants may own starports, and house vas Blue Blood may own large mining facilities, they require consistent maintenance by trained engineers, all of which are under the employ of the engineers union. The military also contracts the engineers union for the maintenance of their orbital platforms, and many Consortium border worlds also hire the engineers union to help maintain their orbital infrastructure.
While nowhere near as wealthy as some of the more entrepreneur houses of the Confederacy, house de Construct does just fine financially. Aside from the engineer union, and independent ship sales, they are given military contracts, and are a ships and weapons for the Royal Guard and Royal Navy. Unfortunately many ships and weapons for the military are now imported from Consortium space, but they still have enough contracts to turn a healthy profit. They are often at ends with house von Black Horn, and believe their area of science is leading the Confederacy in a bad direction.

House vas Strive

Like the Rich family, the Strives were not nobility until after the warp gate opened up. They were a wealthy family of business ponies who above all else held land. In particular they held farm land. When the warp gate opened, many citizens of Equestria wanted to claim a land stake on Aiur. During this time, the throne had somewhat of a flag planting policy, where anyone could build a fence and stake a claim, since there was so much land to go around. Naturally this was an enticing offer to many citizens who hoped to claim land of their own. Unlike the Blue Blood’s, who gained exclusive mining right by using their connections to the throne, the Strive’s were not able to gain exclusive land rights on Aiur. They did however find another way to get their hoofs on the land.
Since the throne didn’t like to make mention of the nasty zerg natives that inhabited all that free land on Aiur, fearing this could discourage colonization, citizens were crossing over in large numbers and planting flags on whatever land they could.
This initial settlement effort ended in disaster due to the unforeseen zerg resistance. Many of these citizens had given up everything in hopes of starting over in the new world, and had no home left to return too. All they had was land far too dangerous to live on. The Strive family decided to relieve these poor souls of their burden, and offered to buy the land from them, though at an arguably meager rate. Having no other choice, many of these settlers were forced to take miniscule offer and return home, leaving the Strives with lots of land, but no use for it.
In time, new weapons would allow the Royal Guard to drive the zerg far away from the ruined city, and once again allow for settlement. Tragically much of the land near the ruined city was now the sole property of the Strive family. The Strives did a good job of keeping track of the commoner families they had purchased the land from, and found that most of them were now poor. Taking pity on their countrymen, the Strives offered to rent out the land, and allow them to work the land tenant farmers. Having established much free labor to work their farms, the Strives would quickly made back the money they had invested into the project, and were praised by Celestia herself for helping to stimulate the colonization effort.
The Strives took particular interest in the greenhouse technology found on Moria, that would allow ponies to grow food in even the worst conditions. Getting some of the Construct family engineers and Lore family scientist in their pockets, they funded a research project that would eventually allow them to build advanced greenhouses of their own. With the technology solely in their position, the Strives hoped to establish green houses on other worlds. They also made excellent developments in other new farming technologies as well.
On the prime worlds, they would find no luck in claiming land from the farmers who this time had the benefit of military protection against the zerg. However the Strives did start a few farms of their own, and with their new age technology, they were able to out produce the more primitive farms. There was plenty of business to go around; the population had been bombing since FTL was discovered, and there was fear of a food shortage soon. With food at a premium, the Strives made fat profits, which caught the attention of the other farmers. If they could get a hold of the new technology, they could produce more food for the population, and in turn make more money themselves.
Tragically no one could afford the new technology. Due to corporate trust set in place by the other houses, the only ones on the prime worlds who could manufacturing the new farming technology were the Rich family. The Rich, knowing they had a monopoly, charged extravagant prices for the use of their factories. The Strives couldn’t go to any other manufacturers because the Blue Bloods controlled too much of the raw material, and sold it to no one except the Rich’s, and could not import material due to the Fancy Pants monopoly on the trade network. This meant the price of the equipment was far greater than the commoners could ever afford. The Strives however turned this into an advantage.
When Celestia receded the open flag planting policy, the military annex all unclaimed land. Due to the food crisis that seemed inevitable as well, any existing farms would be required to meet quotas or risk having their land compensated. Only the technologically advanced farms of the Strive families were able to meet these quotas. Realizing they would lose their farms, the other farmers were forced to upgrade, but did not have the funds to purchase the new technology. The Strive family however agreed to pay the Rich’s ridicules prices on behalf of the commoners, who then had to pay back the loan at unrealistic interest rates. Thanks to the Strive’s… generosity, the food crises had been averted. For taking such a strong initiative in helping to stabilize the agricultural situation in the new world, Celestia rewarded the Strive family by naming them a noble house of the throne.
The Strives found another enterprise as well with the guilds. Since the Strives were the only ones who had perfected the greenhouse technology needed to grow food on inhospitable worlds, they managed to rent out their technology to a number of wealthy guilds who wished to expand their mining operations. There was an entire sector of planets to be exploited, but the biggest limiting factor was food. Though the Strives charged an arm and a leg to establish these greenhouses, the guilds were willing to pay so long as the profit brought in far outweighed the cost of the greenhouses.
While food was in abundance in the prime worlds, a number of unsanctioned colonies were still suffering from food shortages. When the guild wars broke out, the corporate masters on those worlds blamed the Strive family for the outlandish prices on food, and urged their citizens to take up arms against them. The starving citizens stormed the greenhouses and claimed them in the name of the guilds. The Strive family suddenly found their investments had fallen into enemy hands. Furious with this betrayal, the Strive family sided with the throne during the guild wars, and did all they could to help pay for the war.
When the Confederacy was formed, the Strive family became house vas Strive. They continue to own most of the farming industry in Confederate space, though due to the events of the guild wars, their greenhouse technology was now on the open market.
Their universities mainly offer degrees in business, and offer licensing to purchase their advanced and expensive farming equipment at a significant discount, though a portion of all profits are given to the ruling family. Without approval from house vas Strive, equipment must be purchased at full price, typically on loan, and at extremely high interest. One way or another, they still squeeze bits out of the farmers of the subsector.





The Royal Guard

The Dominion thinks loyalty can be programed, and the Consortium thinks it can be bought. What they haven aren’t soldiers. Those are empty husk devoid of free will, and mercenaries devoid of of honor. That’s not what the Royal Guard is looking for, we’re looking for heroes! Heroes who face their fear head on, and work to bring Celestia’s light back into this era of grim darkness!

~Sky Marshal Gabriel Steel Wing after the founding of the Torsonis government.

The Royal Guard is the oldest fighting force in the sector, and the only army that can trace its roots all the way back to ancient Equestria. Its roots are humble, but its members are proud. Originally the Royal Guard were little more than peace keepers in Equestria, and for a time, they also were in the Koprulu sector as well. But with the raising threat of the guilds, the Royal Guard was reformed from a small peace keeping force, to a true standing army ready to meet Celestia’s enemies head on.
Unlike the Golden Armada, the Holy Navy and United Fleet, the Royal Guard still gets to operate independently of the Royal Navy. Though as most fighting is decided in space, the Royal Guard isn’t anywhere near the size of the Royal Navy. They mostly serve a security role, as zerg can’t be trusted to defend much of anything.
Since most of the population is sent to the Royal Navy, where every set of hoofs is needed, the Royal Guard uses a massive number of zerg to supplement its forces. Zerg are used as the vanguard, shock troopers, and cannon fodder of the Royal Guard, often times sent to just destroy whatever they can. When on the offensive, guardsmen themselves are used to complete specialized objectives, while the zerg do the blunt of the fighting.
The guardsmen are comprised mostly of infantry. While they do employ the use of some vehicles and aircraft, it’s mostly zerg that are used to take the role of heavy armor on the front lines. Pegasi and Earth Ponies are mostly made into infantry, while almost all unicorns are tried to become controllers.
Though few in number, guardsmen units are highly trained, easily on par with the Templar and Dominion Marine Corps. They have a very different philosophy from their Marine Corps counter parts. In the Marine Corps, unit cohesion is placed above individual effort. Marines rarely earn medals themselves, and instead achievements are usually credited to the unit as a whole. Guardsmen however are encouraged to push themselves to stand out among their peers. It is more likely to see individual guardsmen, or small groups of guardsmen act out on their own in combat. As most of the focus of the officers is on directing the mindless zerg, it’s usually up to the small guardsmen units to come up with their own problems solving on the battlefield, as opposed to the marines who have a much more organized rank structure, and are expected to follow their orders to the letter.

The Royal Guard uses a system of seven enlisted ranks, and ten officer ranks. They do not require as many enlisted ranks as the majority of their forces on the ground will be zerg.

Enlisted Rank Structure goes as followed.
Private
Lance Corporal
Corporal
Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Company Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major

Officer ranks go as followed.
2nd Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Brigadier
Major General
Lieutenant General
General

Command size goes as follows

Squads

Squads in the Royal Guard can very drastically in size, ranging from eight to thirty, and is mostly comprised of light infantry. This number does not include officers, or specialized personal like medics, controllers and engineers.
Rifle squads carry the sector wide famous C-14 A series Impaler Gauss rifle, as well as missile launchers, flame throwers, sniper rifles, crew served auto cannons, and mortars. They are usually led by a sergeant, while the number of corporals included depends on the size of the squad. As Royal Guard units are offered much freedom in their composition, the sergeant or may not choose to break down his squad into smaller groups, and place his corporals in charge of said groups. Usually this is done for specialized weapon teams, such as a dedicated anti-armor or sniper team. Rifle squads however are rare, and usually play a specialized role in offensive operations.
The more common squad is a control squad. These squads often are only complied of four to eight guardsmen, plus a controller. They are lead into combat by a unicorn controller who will dictate more precise control of the front line zerg. While zerg can operate without a controller, having a controller nearby does allow Confederate forces better micro management, and allows the zerg to take on advanced tactics. The riflemen with the controller are mostly there for his own protection. The control squad is also lead by a sergeant, though it may or may not be the controller. Usually less experienced controllers follow the orders of a more experienced sergeant as it takes to much concentration to direct the zerg, and properly evaluate the situation at the same time. Though as controllers become more focused and are able to better control the zerg, they tend to reach sergeant quickly once they’ve demonstrated mastery of the zerg under their control. It’s not uncommon for skilled controllers to jump ranks straight to sergeant if they show they have the mental fortitude for it.
Squads may or may not have a 2nd lieutenant attached to them. If they do, the lieutenant is technically in command, though it is highly advised he confers to the wisdom of the more experienced sergeant. 2nd lieutenants will usually server as squad leaders and platoon second in commands as they gain the experience needed to command an entire platoon.


Platoon

Infantry platoons are comprised of at least two squads, though may have as many as six.
A light control platoon will usually have between ten to thirty squads. These platoons are charged with leading the vast number of smaller zerg. 
Armor platoons lead the larger zerg, and can very drastically depending on the size of the zerg being lead. A single mechanized ultrisk for example counts as a platoon in its own right, while groups of six to eighteen large armored zerg could also count as a single platoon. Because zerg strains are so heavily varied, it is next to impossible to put a fixed number on an armored platoon.
Platoons are led by 1st lieutenants, with a staff sergeant acting as senior enlisted.

Company

Like platoons, companies are dedicated to specific roles. Usually Infantry, light control, armor, or logistics companies (dedicated to keeping the army supplied, and its gear in good condition). A more specialized company may exist from time to time, such as a medical or engineer company. Specialized companies are often much smaller.
Companies usually come in the form of three to six infantry platoons, three to ten armor platoons, or fifteen to thirty light control platoons.
Companies are led by a major with a company sergeant major as his senior enlisted advisor, and a captain as his executive officer (second in command).

Battalion

Unlike companies and below that are dedicated to a specific task, battalions are given companies of all kinds. Battalions must be more flexible in the types of situations they can handle, so they will often employ companies of zerg in every size and shape, as well as a few dedicated infantry companies. Due to the vast number of different zerg strains, the number of companies per battalion can range widely, though usually somewhere between eight and twenty different type of zerg companies, not including dedicated infantry companies, of which there is usually at least one.
Battalions are led by a lieutenant colonel if it is a smaller battalion, though may be led by a colonel if it is particularly large, with a lieutenant colonel in command of a portion of the battalion. Typically they also have a regimental sergeant major as the senior enlisted to act as an advisor, or to deal with the logistical half of things.

Brigades

A brigade is composed of four to seven battalions. Having a very wide range of unit compositions to work with, brigades are what are considered true armies among the Royal Guard, and a true swarm among the zerg.
Brigades are led by a brigadier (a one star general), and often times have at least one colonel serving as a staff officer, who plays the role of a personal adviser and second in command to the brigadier.

Division

Divisions are groups of four to six brigades. They are used to invade or defend large portions of a continent. They are led by major generals (2 stars).

Corps

A corps is composed of two or more divisions. Corps are led by lieutenant generals.

Command Group

Command groups are the over-all forces of a planets garrison. Because planetary garrisons very, the rank of the leader of the command group can also very. If a planet only maintains a single brigade, all planets maintain at least that much, the Command Group is led by a brigadier. If the planet has at least two corps however, a general (four star) is placed in charge, due to the massive size of the garrison.

Military Governor

While the members of noble houses are granted large quantities of land, the planets supreme governing body is always led by the highest ranking member of the of the Royal Guard in command of its garrison. It is up to them to keep order on their worlds. On worlds populated by Equestrain citizens, large garrisons or zerg are sustained for defense, and no colonial militia is present. On worlds populated by a conquered people, that population may choose to maintain a militia to aid in the defense of the world. It is here the Governor must keep a constant watch for insurrection.





The Royal Navy

This is a new age in warfare. The days of face to face combat are over. From now on, battles won’t be decided on fields of grass and city streets, but in the skies above. The heavens will burn with the fires of war in this new world far brighter than any battlefield we’ve ever seen on Equestria.

~Victor Construct on the launch day of the Royal Navies first capital ship.

The Royal Navy was the first ever militarized fleet of Equestrian origin. While there were technically “pirate fleets” prior, these gaggles of ships were never more than a handful of civilian vessels with better than usual armaments. The ships of the Royal Navy were built for war from the ground up.
While many of the ships were once built in Confederate space, a large number of vessels are now purchased by the Consortium. The Confederacy still builds its own capital ships, but many of its smaller vessels they now purchase instead.
The reason for this is because the Dominion industry is far stronger than that of the Confederacies, and they can out produce the Confederates by a large. The Consortium on the other hand has the best industry in the sector, and usually produces more ships than it can use. The Confederates use the mass wealth brought in by some of their more wealthy noble houses to buy a steady supply of ships from Consortium space.
While zerg dominate the majority of the Confederate ground forces, the naval forces are still operated largely by Equestrian citizens. It is in this branch that the vast majority of Equestrians will fulfill their almost mandatory term of military service. With a few exceptions, the vast majority of Equestrians will start things off as enlisted.
Originally the capital ship was the iron fist of the Confederacy, as it moved the might armies of the Royal Guard from world to world. Today, hive ships move the majority of zerg, so the number of capital ships have been greatly reduced. Instead smaller dedicated cruisers now form the bulk of the Royal Navy, while capital ships serve as command ships to military operations.

The enlisted ranks go as followed

Able Rate
Leading Hand
Petty Officer
Chief Petty Officer
Warrant Officer two
Warrant Officer one

Officer Ranks go as followed.

Midshipman/Sub-Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander
Commander
Captain
Rear Admiral
Vice Admiral
Admiral
Sky Marshal


Small Vessels

Usually referring to corvettes or transports. Often they’re too small and fast for large vessels to hit, they use torpedoes to bring down cruisers and capital ships. These ships are usually put under the command of a lieutenant, and often have a sub-lieutenant acting as a second in command. Crews are usually small enough that only a handful of able rates led by a leading hand can properly crew the ship. A petty officer is also often present, mainly for his experience.

Frigates

Frigates are considered large ships, and often have a few hundred bodies on board. Armed with smaller precision weapons, these vessels form a defense grid to defend the fleet against fighters, bombers and corvettes. Frigates can also be used to carry a modest Royal Guard unit on board for surface deployment, or boarding action, though this usually comes at the cost of fire power. Some frigates can also be armed for planetary bombardment, but aren’t as effective as cruisers or capital ships. Commanders act as the commanding officers on board, often with a lieutenant commander as an executive officer. Smaller departments on board are led by lieutenants and petty officers, while larger departments may be led by other lieutenant commanders and chief petty officers.

Cruisers

These large ships are the backbone of ship to ship combat. Gun cruisers are armed with rail guns capable of putting rounds clear through an enemy capital ship (provided shields are down) at an impressive range, and can effectively perform planetary bombardment. They also carry a squadron of fighters as well. Escort carriers bring four squadrons of strike craft, easily capable of destroying larger enemy vessels, or commit bombing raids on a planet. Other cruisers aren’t armed for direct combat, and instead act as large transports carrying armies of threatening size. There transport vessels are armed with boarding crafts equipped to bypass enemy shields, so transport cruisers can be deadly in their own way.
Cruisers are cheaper than capital ships, and can enough of them can easily surpass the firepower of a single capital ship, though at a cheaper price to the Royal Navy.
These ships are commanded by captains, and usually have a commander acting as executive officer. They have many large departments, most of which are broken down in the same fashion as they are onboard frigates. Warrant officers also serve as advisers on the bridge.

Capital ships

These ships are the pride of the Royal Navy. Armed to the teeth, they can quickly level defenses on planets, as well as devastate space platforms and other ships. But due to their massive cost and vulnerability, they are used mainly for planetary invasions rather than direct space combat. Capital ships not only carry several squadrons of strike craft and large guns, but they also carry the Royal Guard forces as well. They once played a vital role in planetary invasion, but with the creation of zerg hive ships that can move a much larger number of zerg, Confederate capital ships aren’t a common site as cruisers are cheaper and more practical. They serve mainly as command ships for large battle groups at this point, more so than an actual front line vessel. Gun cruisers can bring significant fire power, while escort carriers can bring many strike craft. Dedicated transport cruisers and hive ships can carry just as big an army as well. All are cheaper, and easier to defend.
Regardless, the chance to serve on board one of these vessels is a great honor. They are commanded by commodores with a captain serving as executive officer. Departments in this vessels are so large, they can match the crew of a frigate.

Wings

The Confederacy breaks down its strike craft into wings of five fighters, or three bombers.  Wings are led by a lieutenant commander, with a lieutenant serving as an executive officer. Other pilots are typically sub-lieutenants or lieutenants as well. Wings are part of larger squadrons

Squadrons

Confederate squadrons are broken down into three to four wings, depending on the fighter/bomber composition. They are led by a captain, with a commander acting as executive officer. They are also supported by a number of enlisted personal for logistical support to keep the strike craft ready for combat.
Ground teams are usually led by at least a lieutenant commander and chief petty officer.

Outpost

The Confederacy maintains a number of small and med sized outpost. Some only have a couple dozen personal on an outpost that serves to act as refueling, or a monitoring station. Other outpost can be fairly large mining operations, or a research station, or a maintenance stop, and be manned by several dozen personal. The commanding officer can range from lieutenant commander to a captain, depending on the size and number of personal on board.

Installations

A key structure for every faction in the sector is the control of vital space platforms. These massive structures can range from construction yards, dry docks, massive mining nodes, or even self-sustained cities and bases. Ranging in personal anywhere from a couple hundreds, to several thousand. The commanding officer can range from a commander to a commodore.

Strike Groups

Often led by at least one capital ship, strike groups are comprised of a few cruisers, as well as several frigates for protection. The composition of cruisers depends if any corvettes are present. If none are, escort carriers are favored for the extra strike craft. If corvettes are present in the battle group, gun cruisers are preferred to bring the extra raw fire power.
Not all strike groups however are led by a capital ship. It’s not too unusual for battle groups to have no capital ships at all. Many successful raids against the Dominion Armada were done simply with good salvo of torpedoes from corvettes and strike craft.
Strike groups are usually led by a commodore, who may or may not use a capital ship as a flag ship.

Battle Groups

Battle groups are two or strike groups that are led by a rear admiral.

Fleets

Fleets are composed of two or more battle groups, and are led by a rear admiral. All battle groups belonging to a single planet are considered to be part of the same fleet. The rank of the fleet commander depends on how large the fleet on that world is. If it is only a single battle group or strike group, the fleet commander is will be a rear admiral or commodore. If at least two battle groups are present, the fleet commander will be a vice admiral to avoid conflict of rank.

Fleet Command Groups

The size of a fleet command group can very. Fleet commands groups are composed of all combined fleets in section of Confederate space. The highest ranking officer is the fleet commander. If two officers are of the same rank, one is promoted seize control of the command group. If two fleets are present, the highest ranking officer will be an admiral.

Sky Marshal

The Sky Marshal is the supreme commander of both the Royal Navy and the Royal guard. The admiralty choses who among them will be the next Sky Marshal. The Sky Marshal is typically a noble of the house de Steel Wings, but commoners of house de Steel Wing have been known to achieve the rank as well.





Culture

Colts and fillies go through a very different upbringing, and as such are put in separate class room. Because much of the original population of the Confederacy was either Royal Guard at one point, colts are brought up with military traditions. Physical education in school for colts is very important, and all colts are trained in how to assemble and disassemble different weapons. Much of their history classes revolve around battles, and the evolution of warfare. In middle school, colts are required to play in war games and mock battles to see if anyone is particularly skilled in infantry leadership. While mostly fun and games for the colts involved, military officials do observe the colts to see if any show promise for leadership. Those who are believed to hold potential are removed from their peers and sent to the von Death March War College in place of high school. Regardless of their house of origin, colts sent here have their house title changed to house von Death March.
Unicorn colts are an exception. Any unicorn colt found to display particularly strong magical ability during elementary school is instead sent to the von Black Horn University in place of their normal formal education. There they learn to use their magic to properly control the vast legions of zerg. While any unicorn can control zerg to a degree, and has the potential to get better at it over time, unicorns of strong magical potential tend to have a significant head start. Colts here will often times become officers by the time they leave their training. Any unicorn who graduates from the university will have their house title changed to house von Black Horn.
High School is a time when a greater emphasis is placed on naval tactics, and large scope strategy. Here anyone with a key mind for overall battle field awareness will be granted access to the Steel Wing Naval Academy upon completing high school. Graduates of this academy will have their house name changed to de Steel Wing, and go on to become naval officer in the Royal Navy.
Once formal education for colts has been completed, they are expected to enlist for at least one eight year term of service before moving onto any kind of career. Once service is complete, a stallion may choose to join any university they wish. Graduating from a university may result in change of house title. It is still possible to join one of the military universities as an adult if they weren’t preselected as children. Changing houses can be somewhat difficult as universities tend to give open positions to stallions already a part of their house, so many stallions will never change house title. While most stallions will complete at least one term, very few seek out higher education. Due to the war economy being so strong, it’s very easy for a stallion to find a job and support a family without any kind of degree. For this reason, most stallions will also never change their house title.
With arguably the exception of house de Steel Wing, service is not a requirement. Military service however is required to receive any kind of higher education. Stallions may still find many industrial jobs without an education, but ownership of a business or any upper management position will almost always require some form of higher education from a houses university. Stallions who do not complete at least one term of military service also receive no social benefits for themselves or their families. As daughters are given by their fathers for marriage, it is very difficult to find a father willing to give up his daughter to a stallion who has not completed his term of service. This can be turned around of course if a stallion marries a mare who has completed military service, though she now has more legal authority over the family than he does.
Nobles are exempt from military service, with the exception of house de Steel Wing and house von Death March. Noble families usually go through private schooling, and are almost always guaranteed access to their houses universities. Though high education is required for a noble to keep his inheritance of land.
Fillies are not presented with any kind of military upbringing. Their formal education is very similar to that of the other factions. Reading, writing, math, history, etc. They are not eligible for pre-selection to any kind of military university like colts are. They are also not required to perform a term of service, but the term is still a requirement for any kind of higher education.
Mares are not expected to seek out careers, and are instead expected to follow the traditional role of wife and mother, and raise as many children as possible. Fathers are allowed to arrange marriages for their daughters, though most fathers let their daughters decide for themselves, and only veto their choice if they believe they are on the verge of making a horrible decision. Mares are not allowed to work either, this is done to encourage mares to seek out husbands and raise children instead of starting careers, as the military is always looking for fresh colts and stallions. Mare are also not allowed to inherited land in a noble bloodline, and are instead married off to other nobles. When a mare marries, her house title is changed to that of her husbands.
However, these limitations on mares can be lifted if the mare decides to serve at least one term of service, as she is now seen as a stallions equal in terms of her service to the Confederacy. Any mare who serves a term is allowed to legally reject any arranged marriages, is allowed to work, and may seek out higher education. There are even a number of mare officers within the Royal Navy, though there has never been a female Sky Marshal yet.
Despite this, most mares are raised to accept their more traditional role, and will conform to society’s standards of wife and mother. War widows and orphans are heavily supported by the government, and usually by their house. As mares are not allowed to work, this helps to make sure she can fulfill her role of raising the child and making sure it grows up to be a productive member of their house. The Confederacy is more concerned with making sure the child/future soldier receives his education, than whether or not the mother aspires to any kind of career. War widows are usually provided with enough assistance, depending on number of children, to make sure they can get by without worrying about money. Homeless mothers and starving orphans reflect very poorly on a noble’s prestige, and may result in loss of land if his citizens are seen to be in poor condition. Any stallion who was willing to fight and die in the name of the Confederacy is assured that any family left behind will be cared for.
While nobles do act as mayors and governors in the Confederacy, it is the military that gets all final says. In truth, the Confederacy is a military dictator ship. Technically the sector was left in the hoofs of the Commander Steel Wing and his successors, so legally he is the rightful ruler of the sector until Celestia says otherwise, even if the other factions don’t share this sentiment. If a noble is seen as particularly incompetent, the military may confiscate his land, and will usually redistribute it to one of his family members. Citizens may appeal to their world’s military governor if they feel their Lord is incompetent or oppressive.
The Confederacy has done its best to preserve Equestrian culture. They still observe old Equestrian holidays, and still keep records of ancient Equestria’s history. There is somewhat of a fear of the remnants of terran culture left in the sector. The Confederacy does it’s best to remove any kind of terran culture from infecting its population, such as movies and shows, or the wearing of clothing. This has however made it nearly impossible for the Confederacies intelligence network to infiltrate the Dominion. Imperials speak in a dialect that is almost impossible to decipher. Many would be Equestrian agents have had their covers blown, simply because didn’t catch onto some pointless movie reference or another. More than once, an Equestrian has also had his cover blown due to public nudity in Dominion space. Strangely the Dominions idiotic culture is their best defense against Equestrian infiltration.
There are many in the Confederacy who are not citizens however. Just a little under half the population belongs to a conquered world. Non-citizens are not allowed to join a house. These ponies rarely show any patriotism, and due little to get involved in Confederate affairs. Most of them can be found on border worlds with the Dominion that seem to change hands constantly. These border worlds can make for awkward situations as Imperials and Equestrians intermarry occasionally, and are sometimes forced to break up families as the planets change hands. Fortunately since most Equestrians have Queen Bee’s Blessing, it is next to impossible for them to breed with an Imperial, thus sparing the children much heart ache.