On the Army Of The Red Spear 004: A Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear Part Two · 6:35pm Sep 29th, 2020
Here is part two of the Guide to the Aotrs, this time, magic, gates and of course, a few more ships of the fleet.
Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear: Part Two
The Fundamentals of Magic
Magic is an extremely complex subject. It is functionally its own branch of science, and as such, attempting a thorough and detailed discussion of it is impossible, as even a shallow look in detail would fill libraries of technical details, just as with any other science. So what follows is a merely a precis on the subject, but one that must be covered before the magic specific to the Aotrs can be examined.
The Aotrs have had nearly three thousand years to make a study of magic and science of magic. One of the most importance discoveries was that of background magic. Long theorised, background magic was only proven to exist during the early information age, as before the advent of computer technology, neither technology nor magic – both in a fundamentally analogue state – could simply not be refined enough to detect it. Even many magic-using societies miss the existence of background magic unless they, like the Aotrs, dedicate the sort of resources to scientific magical research as generally is expended on scientific technological research.
Though it is called background “magic,” this is not strictly an accurate term. Rather, it is a substrate, found throughout the universe like background radiation, that permits magic and all other supernatural or para-normal phenomena to exist. Magic, psionics, superpowers, the special abilities, even, of many species – any effect that cannot be accomplished the direct application of mundane physics, at its core, draws power from background magic.
As an analogy, para-natural abilities can be thought of as being like fire. They require ‘fuel’ (a caster’s mana or a superhero’s own endurance) and a source of ‘heat’ as a catalyst (the casting of a spell or the activation of a superpower, passive or otherwise) and these two elements are so obvious and important that the existence of the ‘air’ (more properly ‘oxygen’) – the background magic – goes generally unnoticed. Even anti-magic and power-suppression devices tend to work by interfering in one or two of the ‘fuel’ or ‘heat,’ rather than disrupting the background magic, which is extremely difficult. (Putting out the fire by removing the heat, rather than removing the oxygen in our analogy.)
The amount of background magic present often varies from system to system, world to world. It even fluctuates in open space. The levels are broadly classified as High, Low, Minimal and Null magic zones. While background magic on a particular world can vary in strength it is rare – though not unheard of – to find very significant pockets of High, Low, Minimal or Null magic on the same world, and even then, this is rarely natural and most frequently caused by some magical catastrophe. A full discussion of the various bands is outside the scope of this document (and very technical), so a broad presentation will suffice. For simplicity, the following uses “magic,” but equally, it tends to apply to all other para-natural power forms and supernatural effects.
High Magic zones exist where magic is very prevalent. By definition, HPE-L worlds are High Magic zones. Magic is relatively to extremely common on systems or world with High Magic. A High Magic world will almost always have some sort of magical traditions, magic and supernatural creatures.
Most typical star systems are Low Magic zones. Low Magic worlds do not impede the use of magic or other supernatural abilities. At the lowest end of the spectrum, some Low Magic places may, at most, reduce the rate than mana re-accrues from the low background magic. In general, magic-users and supernatural phenomena are rare in Low Magic areas. Magic is often rare to the point of near-myth and there are often few, if any, truly powerful spellcasters. In many cases, no magical phenomena appear at all, or so vanishingly rare as be thought of as urban legend. In some of these places, superpowers or supernatural phenomena are more prevalent, but magic itself is unheard of and unknown.
Minimal magic zones have so little background magic that only the weakest of magic effects can function at all, and the restoration of magical powers is drastically reduced. Minimal magic zones almost unilaterally never generate any spell-casters or para-natural phenomena and are functionally entirely mundane if no outside supernatural phenomena are brought in. Most HPE-E worlds (that is, Harbinger Probability-Engineered Earth-paradigm) fall into the upper end this category, with only a couple reaching into the bottom of Low Magic.
Null Magic zones are extremely rare, and are usually only found in smaller pockets. In a Null Magic zone, no supernatural abilities can function at all, and magical reserves will tend to dissipate into nothing over time.
The functioning of magic itself is best envisioned as akin to running an internal combustion engine. A spell is like the engine, a manufactured unit, made via the caster’s incantations. This is the bulk of what casting a spell does, creating the magical engine with which the mana will provide the desired effect. The spell is fuelled by the mana, which acts like petrol, being used up as the spell continues. The amount of mana used in the casting of the spell is like filling the tank; the duration on an effect from a given quantity of mana represents the ‘fuel economy,’ with a more powerful spell caster getting more ‘mileage.’
So the first stage of casting a spell is to create the ‘engine’ (weave the spell itself), followed by ‘fuelling it’ (using mana). Finally, the spell is initiated by the caster (like turning the ignition key) which starts the spell running and it takes effect. Most of this happens so fast the stages are not noticed, however.
Dispelling a spell is like destroying the engine. Anti-magic will, in effect, turn the engine ‘off’ while within the area of effect. In a Null Magic zone, the ‘engine’ loses its ‘oxygen’ to burn and will stop.
In the case of a constant effect, like a magic item, there is a very long initial set-up phase (the item enchantment), but very low mana cost as constant magic items have an infinitesimal mana requirement. They will run out of ‘fuel’ eventually, but it is usually measured in terms of centuries, like material half-lives. For example, a magic sword might take many thousands of years to burn up its initial mana (which is put in during the creation process). It is possible, though it takes a rare skill to do so, to ‘recharge’ such an item. The spell, the ‘engine’ itself would be intact as long as the form it was enchanted remained. Disposable item like potions and scrolls tend to age and fail most quickly; potions tend to spoil or evaporate long before the magic would fade; however that change of composition or lack thereof ruins the magic within. The same is true for books or scrolls, and eventually other magic items made of corrodible materials as well.
Fundamentally, magical (and para-natural) effects are produced by the manipulation of the mana (or other power source) across the substrate of the background magic to create a specific effect. For the vast majority of casters or other para-natural ability users, this is manipulation not a conscious effect. In the case of a spell, the words and gestures (and sometimes intention and emotion) act in sympathy with each other to create a result far more complex than its components. (In the same way a biological mind performs complex trigonometric calculations to catch a thrown ball without understanding the maths behind it.) Innate magical abilities take this manipulation to an even more complete level.
It is only with the aid of extremely advanced technological assistance (allowing a fine enough perception) that the mana can be manipulated into form in a direct fashion. To use another analogy. It is the difference between anyone being able to use a computer and a trained technician being able to build a computer for a specific purpose from components. But even a trained technician cannot create new components without access to (several) factories.
Even in the Aotrs, this direct manipulation of mana into spell form is extremely difficult. Mana-moulding, as it is known, is functionally the creation of a new spell on the fly, by using known components and various tricks learned over the centuries. It is extremely difficult and incredibly dangerous, and it only taught to very powerful and capable spellcasters, and even then it stands an alarming chance of going wrong. It has been aptly likened to attempting to create an improvised explosive in the dark by only touch.
A creature that could use this direct manipulation would have to be a highly advanced technological one with an equally high understanding of magic. There are no confirmed cases of any such existing; though the Aotrs suspect there may be one in one of the galaxy’s most technologically advanced powers, based on empirical data.
The Magic of the Aotrs
Within these fundamental lines, magic is, like technology, something that can be highly variable in form across the galaxy. But, like, technology, common forms based on convergent properties tend to emerge (especially given the prevalence of HPE-L worlds from Harbinger probability engineering).
The form of magic most prevalence in the Aotrs is learned, rather than innate. This type magic requires manipulation of magic through spells, drawing from a reserve (which almost all creatures that are not specifically anti-magic naturally possess) which is generally termed a mana pool. Unlike some forms of casting, this does not require memorisation of a discrete spell in the caster’s mind to be expended like a spell from a scroll, nor does it require any material focusses (though they can be of benefit). Once learned, a caster can cast the spell as long as their mana reserve remains.
This sort of magic (technically “erudite mana-valanced spell-casting magic” though this is only used in very technical applications) is the most common in the known galactic community. It is divided into approximately five broad categories – Ambient, Divine, Mind-Magic, Arcane and Prosaic.
Ambient magic draws power to the caster’s reserves principally from the background magic, and is expressed by the caster into form via the spell’s casting – either by learned rote, or in the case of innate casters, through instinct. This is the traditionally form of magic ascribed to wizards or mages or sorcerers and their ilk.
Divine is the magic of and derived from deities. Here, rather than create the spell themselves, the caster provides the mana for the spell and makes what is fundamentally a complicated prayer, but the weaving and initiation of the spell is actually undertaken by the deity itself. To be strictly inaccurate, but illustrative, a divine spell may be conceptually reduced to the caster saying “dear god, here is a big handful of magic, please hit that gentleman twenty feet away from me and ten paces to the right with a big ball of fire.” Though the deity is aware on some level of the spells being cast, and could consciously choose to block if they wished, the deity is not typically consciously aware (nor would want to be) of every spell they are granting.
This is why divine casting is generally not as restrictive in regard to armour, since the gestures that actually weave the spell are, in essence, just being out-sourced from the caster. The request/prayer (the spell) is perforce of a simpler form than a spell an Ambient caster has to weave.
Mind-Magic (as opposed to psionics, a different, but related, paranatural field) is channelled through the caster’s mind and brain. This is similar to the way in which deities themselves manifest spells, but on a microscopic level. The limitation is that not requiring so many (or any at all) gestures or wordings confines the versatility of the mind-magic user to generally much less overt effects – though it inherently lends itself to affecting other minds with greater ease than either Ambient or Divine magic.
Arcane is an older from of magic, from before the previous three were separate fields. It is broadly more powerful, but hard to find and to learn. Furthermore, most sources of Arcane magic are more difficult to control and more unstable. In only one or two powers (including the Aotrs and the United Concorde of Divine Realms), all of which have a very significant emphasis on magic, has Arcane magic been refined with modern spell-casting safeguards and is more readily available.
The final category, Prosaic, is not so much a separate form of magic, but covers sufficiently simple and low-power effects that they are very easy to learn for anyone.
Within this form of magic, spells are classified into levels. Spell levels are fundamentally discrete packets of energy, not dissimilar to electron valences. A given caster will usually have a maximum level of spell, based on their experience and power, they can safely cast, but if they know a spell, they can attempt to cast it regardless of level. However, casting a spell beyond their safe level rapidly becomes extremely dangerous, as the caster can easily lose control and suffer all manner of deleterious effects. It is even possible to attempt to cast spells without sufficient mana reserves, but this is even more dangerous.
The spells within reach of most average casters throughout the galaxy tend to range between levels five to ten. Notably, the Aotrs-standard Lightning Bolt, taught to many Line, Drop and Power infantry in lieu of a light anti-armour disposable weapon, is level 10. Level 20 spells are extremely powerful and this is generally considered the break-point to be considered truly epic or powerful as a caster. Lord Death Despoil is known to capable of safely casting at least level 100 spells – whether he has any higher level spells at his disposal is a matter for conjecture. This makes Lord Death Despoil one of the strongest casters in the galaxy that has been measured. (This is, as Lord Death Despoil himself would observe, distinctly not the same thing as being one of the strongest casters in the galaxy, period.)
Given the valences of spells as being known energy packets, and that the efficiency of a stronger caster scales linearly in the effects a spell can produce from this energy and the capability to directly measure magical strength numerical with sensors, it is possible to determine an efficiency or “strength level” for a caster as well. (It is one of the instances where life – or in this case, unlife – mirrors art, to a degree.) It should be noted, however, that unlike the “caster level” in a game, a magic-user’s recorded caster strength level is a derived functional aggregate. Like most things in the real world, it is far more granular and complicated, and not a convenient whole integer. (Though for conversational convenience, it often is rounded – to what degree often depends on the caster themselves!) Among the reasons are that a magic-user’s caster strength level may vary from type of magic or even from spell to spell, and is much more prone to fluctuate in circumstances or in the moment (though in general, caster levels rise with age and experience). And further, while there is very generally a close correlation between a given caster’s safe casting level and their casting strength level, they are not one and the same.
With millennia of refined techniques behind them, the Aotrs can teach access to magic via spells that can be taught to almost anyone. The Aotrs have divided the spells into “lists”, which is simply a convenient label for collection of related spells of increasing power, learned as a package. It is entirely possibly to learn spells individually; though in many cases, some spells are merely more powerful and refined versions of lower-level ones. Learning such spells without first learning the weaker versions would thus be as much effort (if not more).
These lists have been all adapted for the various divisions of magic, so whether an Ambient or Mind-Magic caster, the same list can be learned by all. For those who are not already casters, this further allows the Aotrs to teach the version that a given person is most suited too.
Aotrs basic training teaches all recruits ten levels of four spell lists – one that deals with animating dead and spirit-binding, a second to do with summoning and controlling a spirit, one to deal with controlling Undead and one set of spells dealing with the manipulation of shadow energy (that is, the privative of light, rather than illusion), including two shadow bolt spells as offense.
Creating a Spirit-Bound lich (the predominate form of lich in the Aotrs) requires animating a body, summoning a spirit and binding it to the body, and so this allows all Aotrs the basic capability to create liches or at a pinch, to restore a destroyed lich to Unlife in a different body. (The topic of Spirit-Bound Liches is one worthy of its own expansion.)
Summoning and controlling a spirit allows necromantic interrogation – and unlike dealing with a living creature, a summoned and controlled soul is vastly easier to force into compliance. A careful necromancer can ensure the soul is forced to comply with both the spirit and the letter of commands, and a powerful one can ensure that, far from resisting, they cannot even try.
Control of undead is not typically ever needed to be used on the Aotrs themselves, but as a weapon to deal with any other Undead that they might encounter. However, sometimes very power necromancers can use these spells to take brief control of someone to assist with a particularly difficult task – Lord Death Despoil is the most common and deft practitioner of this feat. In this case, it is less control and more a direct form of guidance.
The shadow spells provide a measure of direct offense and a limited ability for battlefield control on a personal scale via darkness and freezing darkness.
Aside from these basic spell lists, two others are commonly taught. Almost all primary spell casters learn the various Gate spells (which will be expanded upon later) that formed the basis for Aotrs FTL technology. A significant percentage of infantry troops are taught the Combat Law list, which comprises a set of defensive buffs (shields, magical protections against general spells and light and holy attacks in particular) and several tried-and-tested offensive spells, most notably Disintegration Bolt, Fireball and Lightning Bolt. Fireball often serves as a back-up grenade, and, as previously noted, the Aotrs Lightning Bolt serves as a light anti-tank weapon. Disintegration Bolt is a modern offensive spell for point-targets, which supersedes many of the early similar elemental bolt spells.
However, it must be noted that knowledge of a spell does not equate to proficiency. With the exception of Lightning Bolt, which has the battlefield usage, the other bolt spells on these six spell lists are not overall better than the Aotrs’ personal coldbeams and so are supplementary weapons at best. In practise, most Aotrs liches don’t tend to use a significant amount of magic unless they are primary or secondary casters, but it does give them a wider range of options to fall back on. Of all these secondary options, the most used by combat troops is Animate Dead, to create a screen of cannon-fodder, and even that has only very limited applicability on the modern battlefield. Animated Dead are mindless and so have to be ordered around and generally are only any use in ambushes. The number of casters and bodies required to make a true horde of animated Undead is rare to be able to find in one place on the dispersed fighting zone of armoured warfare (and completely useless in space-faring combat).
Gates, Spells and Technology
If one were to consider the speciality of Lord Death Despoil, one might be forgiven for assuming it was necromancy. Certainly, he is arguably the most skilled necromancer in the galaxy, and one of the most powerful, but necromancy is not his greatest focus. That lies, instead, in portal magic; and specifically in that of interplanetary, interplanar and interstellar distances. And it is from this study, which pre-dates the Aotrs itself, that gave rise to both the Gate spells and Gate technology which move personnel and starships on the local through galactic level.
Lord Death Despoil’s world of origin is unknown. However, it is almost certainly from one of the HPE-L worlds that was involved in the Xakkath Demon Wars ten thousand years ago. A full examination of that topic is worthy of a later discussion itself, so here we will touch on it most briefly.
In that conflict, using a mighty artefact called the Demon Orb, the Demon Lord Xakkath united all the fiends and waged a war on the material plane. Far from being contained to a single world, Xakkath created what was called the Xakkath Pathways. In essence, the pathways linked worlds by sympathetic magic and allowed standard teleportation magics to reach from one to the other. The key factor is now finally properly understood – the worlds created by the Harbinger Probability Engineering were the ones that were similar enough to allow the sympathetic magic to link them. Xakkath was eventually defeated, and the Demon Orb destroyed, and the Pathways decayed, leaving only forgotten fragments of a war at the dawn of civilisation.
Nevertheless, in some places, remnants remain. It is almost certainly a place wherein such information had survived what would have been nearly seven millennia that Lord Death Despoil discovered and which would become the basis for the Gate spells. It was a proto-gate spell, in fact, that allowed him to escape from the world of his birth at the moment of his death to the Elemental plane of Fire and from there to the world known to Aotrs history as Macronis IV, where he met the future Lord Deather and the Army Of The Red Spear truly formed.
Other rumoured remnants of those ancient times or any other form of magic interplanetary transportation are among the highest priority of targets for acquisition by the Aotrs, by methods from small operations to outright invasion and conquest. And so the Gate spells have been refined, slowly at first, and then more quickly and efficiently as magical research entered the digital age as well.
Before the Aotrs developed flight, let alone spaceflight or FTL flight, Gates remained the way in which they moved from world to world. In the beginning, only Lord Death Despoil himself could create a Gate capable of interplanetary transit, and only at great expense of time and energy and complex rituals. Such a mammoth undertaking is still beyond the safe level of most casters in the Aotrs still but the spell itself is now just that – a spell, not a complex ritual casting.
In these early years, Lord Death Despoil would take the Aotrs army from Kalanoth and/or, later, from Fearmore to new worlds via Gate transit, relying on other servitors in his absence when on campaign. Eventually, however, as technology advanced, the Aotrs looked into the void of space. It was natural, then, that rather than develop the more commonly found hyperdrive or even the teleporting warp drives, that the Aotrs should turn their magic into technology and the first Gate drives were created.
This is not so much a stretch as one might think on the face of it. Almost all forms of FTL transport find some way of compression normal space, leaving it altogether – for example, portal-FTL forms like hyperspace or the elenthnar’s GV- space – or via teleportation, such as warp-drive or the elenthnar Dro’Sanla (both purely technological) or even the United Concorde of Divine Realm’s overtly mystically-orientated magitech teleportation.
In the most cursory examination, the Aotrs Gate drive works very similar to other portal-time FTL drives – a portal is opened, a vessel enters and flies through an other-dimensional space over which material space is functionally compressed – and emerges on the other side. The major difference in the Aotrs Gate spells and technology is that the “realm” is entirely artificial.
In the modern era, Gate spells and technology, then, fill in for both FTL transit and the role occupied by the shorter-range teleporters used by other powers. This latter role can be filled by spellcasters themselves, or specific personnel-Gate systems, not at all dissimilar to a teleporter room on a more conventional starship.
An active Gate effect, be it from a spell, a starship’s FTL drive or a Gate-room that fulfils the role commonly filled by teleporters, is all the same in effect – the difference is simply magnitude, size and efficiency. An entry point is selected (within range of the effect) and a destination point, which is chosen by the caster or via co-ordinates for technological systems.
A Gate portal first appears as a white point which expands rapidly to rectangular opening, leading into a nearly featureless white space, that nonetheless imparts a feeling of being a square-walled corridor. The portal and corridor range in size from the smallest at about five feet wide by seven feet high, to the enormous ones opened by supercruisers that can be miles wide. Streamers of pale roiling coloured light spills out from the very edge of the Gate for perhaps a third the width of the Gate portal again. The Gate is only visible (and enterable) from the front direction; from past the 90º point to the side, only the roiling colours can be seen outlining an invisible rectangle. It is possible to even walk through the reverse side of a Gate portal without harm, save perhaps for the shock of finding oneself suddenly standing in front of a corridor that wasn’t there a step ago.
This Gate corridor runs in a straight line to an exit point, and anyone can enter through either portal and travel down the passage. The length of the corridor depends on the scale and efficiency of the technology or magic and the distance traversed. The positioning of the entry points need not face in the same spacial direction (nor even be vertical), so it is entirely possible for a Gate to be opened with both entry points next to each other, facing the same direction, so that one enters the left Gate, travels in a straight line and emerges out of the right Gate, facing the opposite way relative to the material plane than when they entered. Gate transit can also be used both for time or inter-dimensional travel (with correspondingly longer “lengths”), though this requires either high-level Gate spells or a reconfiguration of a starship’s Gate drive. (Such effects are usually beyond most personnel-level Gate systems.)
This flexibility of the Gate technology and spells means it functions much closer to teleportation than typical portal-form FTL. Unlike true teleportation, however, the limitation is that whatever moves into the Gate must do so under its own power. While this is true for most forms of portal-FTL drive and so no true drawback, at the personnel level, it is a limitation. Ground troops cannot be simply “beamed up” as with a teleporter, they have to be able to move into the Gate. (That said, a spell caster or a skilled Gate-system operator can, in a pinch, orientate a Gate such that the entry appears horizontal so things naturally fall into it via the prevalent gravity.)
What the Gates gain over teleportation, however, is reliability and safety. Gate spells and technology are extremely safe, arguably the safest form of FTL transit available, since Gate space has itself been engineered to be specifically non-hazardous. Once formed, the Gate corridor will maintain cohesion even if one end collapses. It is metaphysically impossible for both ends to collapse, as Gate space is essentially self-sustaining while anything remains within it. If one end collapses (for example due to the ship that initiated it being destroyed), the corridor gradually shrinks and essentially gently pushes anything left inside it out of the remaining end before vanishing. Gate space, even when created by a magical effect, is not itself magical. Dispelling an active Gate spell is possible, though difficult – 2700 years of research into spell efficiency and advanced means that part of the spell formula of a modern Gate spell contains basic anti-dispel protections. And even if the spell is dispelled, it will only cause the targeted end to collapse – it is metaphysically impossible to “destroy” an active Gate corridor, nor trap anything with Gate-space.
Gate-space contains a breathable and sound-transferring (to a set cap of maximum volume) “atmospheric” medium that takes the properties of the atmosphere at the entry point or a default standard oxygen/nitrogen mix. This is not precisely an atmosphere, though creatures used to a typical oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere are hard-pressed to notice any difference. In this way, it is entirely possible to leave a starship transiting in Gate space and be able to breath and not be deafened by the noise, while also not having the starship burn up like in a true atmosphere. Despite appearances, the Gate portal’s atmospheric medium does not actually allow passage of true atmosphere in Gate space.
Gravity also orientates automatically, by default, to the properties of the entry point at a set strength of 1G, such that a Gate placed vertically will have the gravity orientated to the “floor,” whereas a horizontally opened-Gate will orientate gravity towards the exit point, essentially making anything that enters falls down the length of the corridor. A starship Gate is set to default to zero-gravity, except for a three-metre 1G field on the “floor” (relative to the ship’s default gravity). The generous size of a Gate compared to the size of the ship that creates it ensures that this does not interfere with normal operations, and an emergency Gate jump disables this feature. Personnel Gate-room systems also typically allow a level of environmental control and orientation customisation settings.
A skilled caster or Gate-operative can modify these defaults, though the more complex the alteration, the more skill is required. It is extremely difficult to modify a Gate’s “atmospheric” medium and gravity of an active Gate, requiring a massive amount of computer skill for a technological Gate and only marginally less for a Gate spell, since it effectively means holding the effect “open” and thus making it more prone to disruption and collapse of the entry or exit point (and thus locking the setting and ejecting the corridor’s contents out one or other end unceremoniously).
Gates are also very hard to block. They will penetrate through most conventional starship shields, requiring the improved and advanced shielding technology such as the Aotrs themselves have to actually stop. In addition, both spells and technology have built-in safeguards. Unlike teleportation spells, for example, a caster trying to enter a region where the Gate cannot form will instead get a warning that the destination point is invalid and abort the spell (with a frequently negligible loss of mana instead of the spell’s full power). Similarly, a Gate spell which would open to a fundamentally hostile environment (such as the heart of a sun, a black hole or crush-depth at the bottom of the ocean) will inform the caster that the destination is hostile and allow them to abort the casting safely or proceed. While these sorts of safeguards would naturally be expected within a technological device, that the Gate spells are themselves capable of such determination shows how incredibly advanced Aotrs thaumaturgy has become.
The most common Gate spells are compiled in the Gate Law list, which is taught to many spellcasters. The Gate spells in that package are by no means exhaustive, but represent the most useful and efficient Gate spells at personal or vehicular (as opposed to starship) levels.
Gate I is a mere level 3 spell. It creates a five-foot-by-seven-foot Gate whose entry point can be within ten feet or within a short distance (assessed at approximately five feet by caster strength level) if in line of sight. The destination can only be within some tens of feet (assessed at approximately ten feet by caster strength level), and the length of the corridor is the material-plane distance reduced by a factor of ten. (This factor is called the distance compression.) It remains active as long as the caster concentrates or a short time (approximately about ten times the caster’s strength level in seconds) otherwise.
Gate III (a level 5 spell) extends the exit point distance to ten times further at the same compression factor. Gate X, a level 10 spell, and marking the limit of the portion of the list that is taught to non-primary or advanced casters, can reach miles based on caster strength levels and at a distance compression of 1% of the true distance. The spells between increase the size of the portal (though Gate VIII and IX are not taught as part of the Gate Law list, have very specific functions.)
Gate XV (level 15) extends the range to hundreds of miles and the ability to cross planar boundaries; Gate XX (level 20) to thousands of miles and travel through time. Gate XXV1, at level 25, marks the first point where interplanetary transport becomes possible with an astounding range of approximately three times the caster’s strength level in light-years. By this stage, there are considerably fewer casters capable of using such a powerful spell, but even so the Aotrs has a significant number.
Gate True is worthy of note; currently rated at level 100, it has (as far as been determined) unlimited range and has been recorded as being up to ten miles in dimension. Lord Death Despoil is the only caster capable of using this spell – in addition to the complexities of a level 100 spell that put it well outside the use of most mere immortals, the spells is keyed to him personally, and anyone else trying to cast it suffers catastrophic and fatal thaumic feedback. How much of this is intentional (for some of it surely is) and how much is that it is so fundamentally intrinsic to the Lichemaster’s own mental workings is a matter for debate.
1My personal (current) maximum level Gate spell.
Technologically, Gate drives and Gate-rooms have access to the much greater readily available reserves of starship’s power core and they can create the Gate without having to manipulate mana, which means they can easily reach much further more easily.
This means that the Gate-rooms can comfortably open Gates from ship to surface or ship to ship; current Gate-room technology reaches to about 56 000 miles (or 90 000 kilometres) both for infantry and for vehicles.
However, the enormous power requirements required for interstellar distances mean that even a starship must charge up a store of energy (held in a capacitor) to meet the output level. The longer the distance, the longer the time required to re-charge the capacitor. An Aotrs starship can thus make a lot of very short hops quickly (such as in-system), but will require a longer time in realspace to charge between jumping a long distances. These recharge times are significantly less than those that a more typical teleport-FTL requires, though this is of course mitigated by the fact that transit through Gate-space is not instantaneous. In terms of average FTL transit speeds, then, between the time taken to transit and to recharge the Gate drive’s capacitor, the currently 9th generation Gate drive gains the Aotrs a solid 50% increase in average FTL speed over the galactic average hyperdrive speed.
Vessels using Gate drive are additionally capable of making very long, near-instantaneous Gate jumps, resulting in FTL “speeds” considerably beyond what are normal Gate drive speeds. This ability is derived from the principles used in Lord Death Despoil’s most powerful Gate True spell. This severely drains the ship’s power reserves beyond the Gate capacitor, and ensures that after making such a jump a significant refractory period is required. This ability is not common knowledge (if known at all) outside of the Aotrs, and only used very sparingly in emergencies, since it can leave the ship almost or completely without power.
On very rare occasions, Aotrs ships have been known to chain-Gate. Ships will cluster very close together, enough that they can all follow through one ship’s opened Gate. This is not normally done – save for when having to tow a disabled vessel – since it requires the ships to be relativistically so close together and the saving in energy is not worth the vastly increased vulnerability. (Typically, Aotrs vessels deploy at distances of about 60 000-80 000 kilometres (37 500 to 50 000 miles) apart.) One vessel opens the gate to the maximum distance (and size) it can manage with all its reserves, and the ships go through, leaving the vessel behind. Then the next vessel opens a Gate and so on, leaving behind a string of almost or actually powerless vessels for later recovery. This is feasible, since while Aotrs vessels do have life-support (a necessity, since gravity and sound-transferring air aside, living beings can be part of the crew), if all livings (whether biological or technological) are removed from the ship, the Undead do not NEED power to survive, and if the ship is entirely shut-down, while interminably boring, the crew can await rescue. These vessels are generally only left in open space – i.e. not in a solar system – where there chances of being accidentally discovered are small, but where the Aotrs know where they are. (It would take phenomenally extreme circumstances to attempt this if there was even a chance the ships would be stranded forever.) This is still an extremely dangerous position to be in, and thus chain-Gating is only ever authorised by the high-command, typically by Lord Death Despoil himself, and the number of incidents of this technique being used can be counted on the finger of one hand.
Editor’s note: Elements of the 2nd fleet conducted a mass chain-Gate event in November last year (2345) to a classified location far across the galaxy, only a few months before (in May 2346) the sudden and shocking emergence of the Grand Terran Sovereign Republic, which overthrew the majority of all human powers at once. The precise nature of this operation is not known, nor how it pertains to the GTSR, but under the circumstances, is believed not to be co-incidental timing.
Ships of the Aotrs Fleet, Part Two
(Note: measurements are taken from bounding box extremities.)
Midnight Dreadnought
Length: 950.0m
Width: 320.0m
Height: 367.0m
The Midnight class Dreadnought is the most common of the Aotrs capital ships, appearing where most fleets would have battlecruisers or battleships. The Midnight was a late first-wave ship which benefitted greatly from the designs of just a few year’s prior. It combines an excellent turn of speed for a vessel of its size, with a powerful weapon loadout and superior protection.
The Midnight’s prevalence is partly due to the end of the supercruiser era. With the supercruisers finally having stopped occupying the docks and supplies, the Aotrs had an abundance of engineers and shipyards now used to building larger ships. As typical for the Aotrs, a skill-resource is never squandered and many of these shipyards set to building Midnights. The Midnight fills many of the supercruiser’s roles in miniature. It is in many ways, then, the spiritual successor to the supercruisers.
The Midnight often serves as a command ship for smaller fleets and a ship of the line in large ones. It also often deployed in its own as commerce raider, at which it excels; as few convoys are prepared for an ambush by a dreadnought. Military supply convoys have learned to dread the sudden appearance of a Midnight bearing down upon them, like a battleship of ancient times.
The Midnight’s armaments start with the two massive Class 30 warhead launchers in the bow. Thrice the size and power of the typical warheads used by most of the fleet, the Midnight’s weapons can devastate an opposing target from range. In addition to the heavier missiles, capable of punching though armour, the Midnight’s larger tubes can fire heavy torpedoes, capable of tearing right through both shields and armour before detonating. The Midnight typically has a further range of munitions available to it in its cavernous stores.
Once a target is softened up by long-range fire, the Midnight can close into the range of its numerous heavy coldbeam turrets and emplacements. A little closer still, and the opponent, likely now badly damaged and bereft of shields and armour, is easy prey for the dorsal energy beam cannons in their double turret mount. Both beams can rotate independently of each other and the main turret platform itself, allowing a wide range of potential applications or targets to be engaged.
In one notable instance, the LSS Annihilating Execration was tasked to retrieve valuable equipment (of a classified nature) from an asteroid base. Captain Skyslaughter manoeuvred the Annihilating Execration so that the asteroid base was above it, and fired the twin beams vertically, while spinning the main turret. The twin beams neatly cored the station around the vital gear like an apple. By then corkscrewing out the beams, the dreadnought sliced apart and scattered (due to the direction of the force) the rest of the asteroid and the base with it. The cored section was then easy to simply grab with the Annihilating Execration’s tractor beam and tow away at leisure. This attack has been successfully conducted on at least two other occasions on a large enemy capital ship and once against a swarm of surprised light vessels by other captains taking Captain Skyslaughter’s example.
Finally, the Midnight has a dedicated point-counter measure system and a plethora of anti-fighter turrets. It originally had half as many of these, but improvements and refinements to the engines as the new 10th generation engines were shaken down allowed a little more mass to be added with no let loss of drive power or drain on the power core.
In 2345, the Midnight family completed its first full upgrade. Further power plant advancement enabled the ship’s engines to be upgraded for even more speed. This was facilitated by the Midnight’s supercruiser ancestry – having learnt the lesson the hard way about how large components like power cores could become difficult to replace on large ships, the Midnight’s was designed in modular sections, so that dismantling it and removing and replacing it did not require cutting apart the entire ship to get to it, and could even be done segment-by-segment. Despite a 7% increase in mass, the Midnight was a third faster, and with additional power to add 6% more shielding.
The Midnight has two principle variants in the field, the Midnight A and D (which will be covered at a later date). There are other variants of the Midnight believed to exist or be planned, but no concrete information about these vessels is known.
Bloodsteel Assault Cruiser
Length: 504.5m
Width: 528.3m
Height: 289.4m
The Bloodsteel is primarily a heavy warhead platform. Sporting currently the largest warhead launcher class in the starfleet, fully 20% of the Bloodsteel’s mass is taken up by those weapons. A torpedo from one of the Bloodsteel’s launcher can smash through a typical vessel’s shield and armour and deep into the hull almost as well as a heavy railgun slug, and even if the vessel survives, there is a strong chance the impact will send it spinning.
The Bloodsteel is an early 10th generation warship. The position of the warhead launchers on wings echoes the position of the massive coldbeams on the wingtip of the Chillbone and Liche’s Wrath – and for the same reasons. While the typical 10th generation warheads are not themselves volatile, the Bloodsteel’s mission profile is designed to accommodate a wider variety of munitions than the other warhead-carrying vessels. This includes and custom-built or situational warheads; which often can be volatile. Secondly, as on the Chillbone and Liche’s Wrath, the wings serve as runic core to focus enchantments. In this case, the Bloodsteel’s are all focussed towards bestowing appropriate magical effects to the warhead launchers when required – meaning the Bloodsteel can fire, quite literally, magic missiles. The occasions where this is necessary do not come up often in starship combat, but are another weapon in the Aotrs arsenal against potentially marauding divinities or extra-planar threats.
Safe, conventional munitions are carried in magazines under the wings. With a little artful manipulation of internal gravity to orientate it parallel to the wing and perpendicular to the launcher, the Bloodsteel’s massive magazines can rely on mechanically-assisted gravity feed – making it one of the largest gravity-feed weapon systems in the galaxy.
The Bloodsteel carries some medium-range coldbeam turrets to support its warhead launchers, and numerous coldbeam turrets for point-defence. As a high value target, it has strong evasive capability, powerful shields and a point-countermeasures system to further protect it from missile fire.
Frostbeam Corvette
Length: 195.9m
Width: 136.6m
Height: 41.1m
One of the earliest ships of the current 10th generation, the Frostbeam is a straightforward combat vessel, capable of performing both attack and escort roles.
The Frostbeam is armed with several light coldbeam turrets for point-defence, but its main offence are the two coldbeam turrets. It is very well protected for its size, and boasts good manoeuvrability. However, the Frostbeam’s turrets were not particularly powerful, and only suited to mid-to-close range work, which exposed them to greater risk of damage and destruction.
In 2335, a prototype Frostbeam-A upgrade was developed. This used more recent advances in coldbeam technology to replace the turrets with upgraded version, doubling the range at the expense of slaving them together for effect. This improvement in performance was considerable, and while it meant the turrets were more vulnerable to being knocked out – destroying one would disable the other, due to the linked power systems – it allowed the Frostbeam As to function as support and escort for other cruisers and still be able to contribute to the battle and to be able to engage on their own from a safer distance. By 2341, all remaining Frostbeams had been refitted to Frostbeam A variants. Frostbeam losses saw a corresponding drop.
Subterfuge Scoutship
Length: 145.8m
Width: 119.0m
Height: 62.8m
The Subterfuge Scoutship was originally conceived as a scout vessel, but in practise became a supplementary warship. The Subterfuge uses “reconnaissance by observation” rather than by an advanced sensor array. While it has improved sensors compared to most Aotrs warships, it is only a small improvement, and mostly in the passive portion of its sensor array. Rather, the Subterfuge will directly enter a system to observe what is present around and rely on its considerable speed to extract itself from danger.
The Subterfuge is not with teeth, however. The first Subterfuges that rolled off the assembly line were armed with a single ventral energy beam turret, capable of engaging targets with the forward 180º arc. Combined with its shields and speed, the Subterfuge is extremely dangerous to other ships of its own weight class. Though the weapon is only short-ranged, the Subterfuge’s speed and manoeuvrability – comparable to some fighters – allows it to easily get into position to fire. In a mass battle, a swarm of Subterfuges can close to range and “disembowel” a hapless enemy with its energy beams; but only if other vessels have first weakened it by stripping the shields and armour. Against shields and armour, the Subterfuge’s effectiveness unsupported drops sharply, even as a pack.
The Subterfuge was also initially very vulnerable to missile or fighter attack. Advancements and optimisation of the engine patterns allowed the addition of a small Point-Defence Missile (PDM) rack at the top of the vessel, which was later improved with the addition of light coldbeam turrets. These refits were implemented fleet-wide as typical Aotrs policy, on rotation. Despite these improvements, the Subterfuge still struggles against heavily shielded foes. However, the addition of the missile rack, small though it is, affords the Subterfuge the possibility of replacing the PDM rack with another missile type, though at current this has not been attempted.
The Subterfuge is one of the most numerous vessels in the Aotrs fleet, and with the mid-generational improvements, it is more dangerous than ever in a wolfpack.
Is this for an RPG system?
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Not specifically, though I have an Aotrs party in our rotation - would have been a quest this year, for them, actually (skipped last year because of the effort spent on writing up the grand finale of the Roolemaster party that had lasted twenty-odd years for my 40th).