On the Army Of The Red Spear 006: A Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear Part Four · 6:46pm Nov 24th, 2020
Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear: Part Four
Denizens of the Aotrs
The Army Of The Red Spear state is composed of a wide variety of races and species native to the multiple HPE-L worlds within its borders. Furthermore, due to the recruitment policies of the Aotrs proper, the military has an even wider range, with a handful of members from alien species. A few examples of nearly every race that has been known for any length of time can likely be found somewhere.
However, despite this diversity, the bulk of the populace of the Aotrs in composed of a relatively few races, which we will look at today.
Since we have already looked at Liches in the first of these, I have omitted that section here (as there were only minot changes - if you really want to read it again for a few wording changes, here's a link to the Giant in the Playground thread where it's in full.
I have instead only left the section on names, which is new.
Names
(Pronunciation note: “lich” (or “liche” as occasionally spelled, though the ‘e’ is considered something of an embellishment) is always pronounced as to rhyme with “witch” and never “lick.”)
It is traditional for the Aotrs, upon ascending to lichdom, to choose a new name for themselves. On a symbolic level, this represents leaving behind what they were, acceptance of their new state, allegiance to the Aotrs and the self-admission that they are, ultimately, joining the unhallowed ranks of an Evil power. It has also, and perhaps not unjustifiably, been likened to a superhero (or more accurately, perhaps, a super-villain) choosing their pseudonym.
There is a certain thematic style which started from Lord Death Despoil himself, and has pervaded through the millennia – one that is rooted in Undeath, aggression and generally intimidating nature.
Rather than strictly a forename and surname structure, these names form rather a primary name and secondary name.
Some liches take only a single (primary) name, which may be one or two words; notable examples of the former are Lord Deather or Lord Yeller and of the latter Lord Foul Skream and Lord Death Despoil himself.
(It should be noted in passing that such two-word names are not a forename and surname, but a single one – thus it is always “Death Despoil” and never “Lord Despoil” nor “Death.”)
In the more modern times – and with the Aotrs being many orders of magnitude larger and thus being less space for uniqueness – it is not untypical to have a primary and secondary name. Sometimes, a lich will retain from life their forename or a surname or both; while the practise of taking a new name is widespread, it is not universal – a good number of liches retain their names in life.
The primary name (which is often analogous the surname for liches with a secondary name) is what the lich is officially called in the line of duty or by friends; the secondary name is used usually only on occasions where differentiation or a full name is required.
Occasionally, this practise is performed by someone who is not a lich, but is joining the Aotrs proper or as a direct sign of allegiance. The most celebrated example is Lord Lungrender, the living Dark Elf who is the head of the Dark Elf Troopers and the primary overseer of the Aotrs civilian administration.
Humans, Elves and Half-Elves
Humans, elves and half-elves are collectively by far the numerically largest proportion of the Aotrs civilian make-up. The pre-space-flight worlds that formed the backbone of the Aotrs were all HPE-L planets and those typically have large human and elven populations. The exact ratio of human, elf and half-elf varies from world to world, with Kalanoth skewing to an elven majority on the one hand and Semilkar to human on the other.
Kalanoth was the first world the Aotrs completely conquered. It was there that Lord Death Despoil met and recruited the Dark Elf known now as Lungrender and his Dark Elves. Once national and racial boundaries common to pre-industrial societies had begun to dissolve following the conquest, interbreeding between the various peoples became a natural facet of society. Like many of the worlds in the Royal Elven Kingdoms, but atypically among HPE-L worlds, the Kalanoth elves blood runs dominant. The Kalanothi Dark Elves in particular have strong genes, and they are ultimately responsible for a disproportionate amount of the ethnicity of the Aotrs-wide elven populations.
In many other worlds, interbreeding of elven and human populations often results in the elven population slowly fading out over time. On Kalanoth, as in the Royal Elven Kingdoms, the reverse is true. The human population of Kalanoth has largely been absorbed over the millennia by interbreeding with the Dark Elves; Kalanoth’s native dwarf and halfling population functionally disappeared quite early, due to interbreeding with both the genetically dominant Kalanothi humans and elves. There are small enclaves of dwarf and halfling populations on other worlds, though they are not large. The human population has only remained in existence as a notable minority at all due to the constant flow of population from other worlds – such as the later conquered Semilkar, with an entirely human native population that has more dominant genes than the humans of Kalanoth.
The boundaries of ethnicity (both of humans and elves) on the oldest worlds have largely been dissolved – ethnicity is typically not given any more thought than skin or eye-colour. However, there remains, especially on worlds more recently conquered, geographical areas of populations of human or elven ethnicities. This is most notable on the shattered world of Tusharnos, where the devastation following the Xakkath Demon Wars broke the planet and left it a world full of valleys and lowlands separated by near-impassable cliffs. Aside from the areas wherein the Aotrs have modernised the world, these self-contained valleys hold their own little civilisations, though all are under the overall control of the Aotrs.
The elven populations of the Aotrs worlds have immortal longevity (in that they do not die of old age). The number of elven ethnic groups on the only two worlds which merely had long-lived elves was always very small; one of these worlds was Fearmore and that population was obliterated when the planet was Scoured along with almost all other life. In the remaining population on Akamo, the trait is recessive (and in later years, easily repaired with minor gene-therapy).
Due to the inbreeding with elves over the centuries, a significant portion of the remaining the human populations outside of human-dominant Semilkar have a marked tendency towards longer longevity even before the application of modern medical techniques, due to trace elven blood. However, with their shorter-by-comparison lifespan, a larger proportion of humans are more motivated to work to enter the Aotrs proper and achieve lichdom than the elves, who can take their time. (This is especially true on Kalanoth.) Thus there is a slight bias in the Aotrs military populations towards former-human liches than former-elven.
Orc-Kin
Orc-kin are traditionally among the most varied of races commonly found on HPE-L worlds (their classification even varies on local terminology). It is uncertain why this is, when humans and dwarves in particular are so much more frequently identical, and elves show relatively minor physical differences.
As a result, then, the orc-kin of the Aotrs show a marked variation between various worlds. The populations on Kalanoth and Raytayne are functionally identical, with differences no more than between humans of any two worlds. This group of orc-kin (referred to collectively as Kalanothi orc-kin), being among the earliest recruited to the Aotrs and the most favoured now comprises the largest populations of orc-kin throughout Aotrs space.
Kalanothi orc-kin and divided into the four traditional groups of descending builds – orcs, hobgoblins, goblins and kobolds. Orcs are generally slightly taller and more heavily built than humans, hobgoblins about the same height but more slenderly built, goblins about the height of dwarves or a little less (about four to four and a half feet) and kobolds little more than three and a half at most (with the notable exception of Lord Unlucky). All have green to dark green skin colouration. While (originally) culturally brutish and genetically disposed to aggression, Kalanothi orc-kin also proved the most manageable to the Aotrs’ disciplined state. While they can theoretically interbreed with other humanoids, even after the many centuries of cultural hegemonic drift, there is still a divide in the desired qualities of mates between orc-kin and humans and elves. While more open than the other varieties of orc-kin, even Kalanothi orc-kin are still largely de facto segregated into their own enclaves (though they all retain the same legal status and rights as the other species).
Little is now known of the orc-kin populations of Fearmore, as they were wiped out entirely by the Scouring and were encountered only in small numbers of orc bands on the continent the Aotrs was operational on prior to the Scouring ritual. They were believed to be more porcine and barbaric. No notable hobgoblin or goblin races are known, though a small dog- or -rat-like race were locally called kobolds.
The orcs of Akamo were both different from those of Fearmore and the Kalanothi orc-kin. “Orc” was an appellation given to a race which resembles Kalanothi orcs in stature and broad appearance, but was otherwise unrelated. Goblins and Hobgoblins existed close to the Kalanothi standard, and there was a third, larger group locally called bugbears which were significantly bigger than Kalanothi orcs, verging towards ogre-sized. All three groups locally were called goblinoids. “Kobold” was applied locally to a race of small reptiloids. The Akamo orcs proved too chaotic and rebellious and their enclaves were eventually exterminated. The goblinoids remain in small enclaves, but as genetically recessive to Kalanothi orc-kins and Akamo humans, it is only the semi-segregated state that preserves them as a distinct ethnicity. Akamo “kobolds” survive as a minority (as they cannot interbreed with the more prevalent mammalian races), but are now known as “Saraki” (their name for themselves in their own language).
The orcs of Temnis are different again, though in later years it has been discovered that this group is functionally identical to the genetic stock of the orcs of the Orc Fearcrushy from their homeworld Grotfang. The Temnis orcs also are divided into the four traditional analogous orc-kin groups – though in this case, “breeds” is more appropriate. The Temnis orcs are slightly larger, and tougher than Kalanothi orcs (and a little more bestial in appearance) but notably are intellectually inferior the human standard, with only an occasional mutant exception. This is not to say they are truly stupid, exactly, as they can have a certain cunning, but they have a brute-force approach to problem solving that does not gel well with the elite and organised, meticulous approach the Aotrs are famed for. So while they can be more easily corralled and controlled than the Akamo orcs were, they do not generally have the ability to function as part of the Aotrs proper, given their propensity for recklessness and inability to truly grasp complex concepts. The Orc Stormsoldiers retain a few regiments of the more promising recruits as shock-troopers, but otherwise the Temnis orcs are generally confined to their enclaves and left largely to their own devices. Interbreeding with Kalanothi orcs has not had significantly improved results, as neither genepool is dominant.
(It is worth noting in passing that High Shaman Gutrug of the Orc Fearcrushy managing to wield this version of orcs into a space-faring power of slightly-below galactic average technology level through sheer dint of effort over almost twice the length of time the Aotrs existed is an astounding achievement.)
Other Undead
Due to the nature of the Aotrs, there is a small fraction of the populace and thus the military arm that is nonLich Undead. The most common of these Undead are vampires, ghosts, wights and wraiths. Vampires are the most commonly seen serving among regular troops, followed by wights, where the incorporeal ghosts and wraiths tend to serve in support or specialist capacities (though by no means all).
Vampires, notably, are the only group in the Aotrs where there is a culturally-accepted level of animosity between them and other Undead (largely one-sided in their direction). This stems from the typically-held (external) beliefs that vampires are the most powerful (or popular) form of Undead, which is something that apparently aggravates even Lord Death Despoil and the backlash to that thought thereof. This is in the vast majority, confined to good-natured ribbing and vampires occupying the tradition idiot’s punchline role in jokes requiring the rule of three, or centred around the vampires traditionally (and widely known) vulnerabilities (which most other Undead are not subject to). However, it is also notable that the largest contingent of hostile Undead the Aotrs have to occasionally deal with (from outside their own space) is statistically vampires, so there is an element of truth to the adages. (Like everything else, such behaviour is sharply stepped upon if it interferes with duties or imperils a serving officer.)
There is a scattering of every kind of intelligent Undead throughout the Aotrs, including unique Undead (who often because of that uniqueness, are well-placed for recruitment if their personalities match).
Unintelligent Undead see some use. Notably, animated skeletons and zombies (the Aotrs has a traditional preference for the former) are used in many places – most notably the labyrinthine Citadel on Fearmore – for very simple household duties that do not require significant oversight (such as cleaning) where other powers might use a simple robot. Animated Undead, being mindless, are not well-equipped for the modern battlefield. Even the advanced magic of the Aotrs can only impart a relatively limited amount of programming (as animated Undead do not use the soul of the body’s former occupant), working on top of the psychic residue left by the body’s death. This programming is much more advanced than in the early days, but it is still crude. On the battlefield, then, animated Undead are used mostly as cannon fodder, or in ambushes or during a close assault. They are dangerous enough that an enemy force can’t ignore them, but into doing so, they have to expend ammunition and worse, be pulled out of position and formation, leaving themselves open. This allows a follow-up attack by Aotrs troopers while the enemy is disorganised following the melee, placing the liches at a significant advantage. As this sort of basic necromancy is part and parcel of the basic magical training all Aotrs personnel receive, it is always an option on the table if there are corpses around.
Technologicals
Like almost every other technologically advanced power, the Aotrs uses robots, drones and droids for a variety of purposes in utility, maintenance and even combat roles. Also as is typical, the Aotrs has a small percentage of intelligent (i.e. sapient and sentient) technology-based entities (e.g. androids and the like) among the military and the civilian populace. This includes recruits from outside Aotrs territory in the Aotrs proper from the recruitment methods as well as a few ascended War Droids. Intelligent technologicals are treated with the same rights and privileges as organics (living or otherwise). A vanishing few of these are Undead themselves.
One of the drawbacks of the Aotrs particular method of operation is that their liches are inherently valuable assets and not a resource of limitless depth. And sometimes, a situation simply calls for additional bodies on the field. It has often been practise to thus bulk out the elite forces. In the earliest days, this was with animated undead, but as warfare advanced and as the Aotrs got geographically bigger and spread thinner, it became more practical to use robotic troops for this purpose.
As every power that has dabbled in robotic troops has discovered, there is a very fine line to be walked. The smarter a robot or computer is, the more the chances of it becoming sapient/sentient rise sharply. And this almost inevitably ends in some sort of strife between the technologicals and their masters, just as with any other minority. The Aotrs skirted the worst troubles early on, with forward thinking so that when the first instances took place, Lord Death Despoil already knew how it was to be handled. In their cases, with necromancy to hand, it was relatively trivial to identify such instances, as the very action of becoming sapient/sentient means there is a detectable soul, albeit one that nonadvanced necromancy often cannot recognise as such. (The study of souls in the scientifically necromantic sense is a very complex technical topic, but it suffices to say Aotrs necromancy can detect the difference in this case quite easily.)
The solution, then, implemented by almost all the powers wishing to use robotic troops (or even advanced computer systems) en masse as disposable, has been, almost invariably, creating anti-sapient programming. Even notable heavy war droid users like the Herosine Empire have done so; not through any moral reason, but when such troops outnumber their biological ones, they could not afford such a rebellion. Anti-sapient programming functionally makes a robot or computer brain be unable to become sapient/sentient (and become a true person, not a machine), cutting it off before it can even begin to form; in essence, keeping them as Artificial Intelligence and not Artificial Sapience. These are very difficult and complex problems to solve; and what it fundamentally means is that such robotic troops are generally fairly stupid by comparison. While not entirely dumb, they are not capable of innovative thinking and tend to operate in very straight-line ways.
While the Aotrs had used general robotic troops for some time prior, it was not until the introduction of the War Droids their use proliferated significantly. The 1st generation War Droids were bought directly from the Herosine Empire’s arms merchants, starting in the closing years of the 22nd century, during the period of the Supercruisers were taking the majority of the Aotrs on in-house manufacturing. Since then, the Aotrs have steadily switched over to the on internal production. Unlike the Herosine Empire, which has sufficient wealth it can throw out bleeding-edge top-of-the-line equipment and still treat is as disposable, the Aotrs has had to take a more circumspect approach.
Modern 4th generation War Droids are comparatively easy to mass produce (in comparison to training up new soldiers), and can be transported in large numbers easily. They are relentless troops, but focussing on cost-effectiveness over efficacy means that their intelligence and initiative is somewhat lacking. To be effective, they have to be controlled by a dedicated command droid (which uses a more advanced, higher-value brain), which is attached at the top level of an attack force, to avoid the possibility of conflicting orders. They are, however, treated as drones and fundamentally disposable. The basic War Droid brain is used in the humanoid robots, the Hunter Drones and a slightly-more cut-down version in Scarab Mines and Sentry Drones.
The Enrager Mk 1 and new Mk 2 Heavy War Droids and Profaner Siege Droids are larger and more valuable targets, and so a correspondingly greater expense was made on their intelligence, though they are by no means bright.
As intimated earlier, even this programming is not always 100% effective, and sometimes extreme circumstances can cause a war droid or robot to develop sentience. In the Aotrs, in such an instance, they are immediately evaluated and (most often) transitioned into the regular forces and no longer treated as a disposable asset.
Finally of note are the Desolation Commandoes. This is an elite branch of the Aotrs special forces, composed of (originally organic) liches who have been spirit-bound into a robotic body (which is essentially a highly modified War Droid). While terrifyingly effective, the methods uses and stresses it imposes mean that very few liches pass the psychological analysis to undergo the process. Of the ones that are, even the Aotrs liches themselves tend to find the Desolation Commandos unsettling.
Ships of the Aotrs Navy, Part Four
(Note: measurements are taken from bounding box extremities.)
Dark Fear A Destroyer
Length 413.0m
Width 207.7m
Height 128.2m
The Dark Fear Destroyer had a troubled design history. Planned since the conception stage of the modern 10th generation fleet in 2319, the Dark Fear was plagued with technical issues and problems from the very start. This earliest version was a typical ship-of-the-line warship, akin to the Frostbeam, but on a larger scale. The first prototype woefully underperformed and the process began, moving through no less than five prototypes and subsequent re-designs before the original Dark Fear was scrapped entirely.
The name Dark Fear and its attendant the ship category (destroyer) was appended to numerous other prototypes as the need for new ship designs changed. The Dark Fear’s numerous alternate designs attempted to forge it into something to meet the current requirements, but it never seemed to work right, and was out-paced by other designs. The Dark Fear name was appended to a missile ship (scrapped), a point-defence vessel (out-performed by the Spiritwrack), a standard warship (inferior to the existing Shadowfang and Overwhelmer) and at least one abortive try that failed to even get off the drawing board as a long-range recon/carrier. It was long-rumoured the name itself was cursed (despite Dark Fear previously having a long, storied history as a vessel in the Aotrs starfleet right back to the 1st generation). It had even been investigated, but no evidence of an actual curse could be found.
Finally, in 2340, work began on a new heavy destroyer version of the Dark Fear, using the solid and proven base of the Shadowfang MkII and Overwhelmer, between which it fitted in scale. But even this too was had issues – the primary armament (and thus function) was in hot debate between whether it should be a coldbeam vessel, a railgun warship or a missile ship. Eventually, the unfinished prototype – unarmed save for the point-defence turrets – was taken out for a test flight. A series of apparently unrelated happenstances followed; three highly improbable mechanical failures occurred (in systems identical to those used by other 10th generation ships for twenty years with only a single instance in one case of failure), an encounter with a spacial anomaly and finally an attack by a pirate band. But the Lichemaster had hand-picked the test-flight crew personally, from a variety of disparate sources. This new crew came together in the crisis, and defeated each and every problem them were beset with. (It can be speculated that this was the Lichemaster’s intention, given his foresight abilities.) The Dark Fear prototype returned triumphantly to the spacedock, damaged but victorious, having won its first space battle without even being completed. From that point forward, whatever misfortune had dogged the Dark Fear seemed to melt away.
The Dark Fear finally entered service in 2345, the name-ship being crewed by the same crew that had taken it out for its maiden voyage. The armament problem was solved in the end – not least to a discovery made as part of that shake-down cruise – by simply having four configurations of the Dark Fear to meet all the roles. The configurations are not modular (though that was considered), though refitting one to another would be possible as part of a general refit (except for the Dark Fear C configuration, where the changes are more extensive).
The Dark Fear A is armed with six fixed-mount coldbeam cannons, of the same type as the Shadowfang MkII and intended to function in the same role. The coldbeams are mounted in three pairs; port and starboard double mount like the Shadowfangs and one dorsal double mount. Each of the configurations replaces these weapons.
With the great manoeuvrability provided by the engines and shielding equivalent to some less advanced battleships twice its size, the Dark Fear A’s lack of anti-capital-ship weapons in the other arcs is not an easy one to take advantage of.
Dark Fear B Destroyer
Length 284.0m
Width 191.8m
Height 142.9m
The Dark Fear B replaces the fixed coldbeams of the A version with six turreted coldbeam cannons. With a similar range to the A’s fixed guns, the B performs as escort, either covering the unguarded arcs of the A and D Dark Fears, or accompanying larger capital ships such as the Midnight and providing additional firepower and point-defence.
Dark Fear C Destroyer
Length 274.2m
Width 207.7m
Height 128.2m
The Dark Fear C carries six warhead launchers, each capable of hurling five missiles in a single burst (twice that with the smaller semi-guided rockets and point-defence missiles). It can carry over five hundred missiles and a torpedoes. A typical load splits this between long range, standard and point-defence missiles, salvo rockets and standard and ioniser torpedoes, with enough quantities to fill any required role. More specialist vessel carry load-outs biased towards their particular job.
Because the missiles make it a higher-value target, the Dark Fear C carries almost twice the amount of shielding as the other versions, making it an extremely difficult nut to crack. In addition, it has a second fire-control suite to allow it to strike at more targets. Given the plentiful size of the warhead launchers, it is not even an easy task out attempt to out-last the storm of missiles, when the vessel would be largely defenceless.
Dark Fear D Destroyer
Length 488.0m
Width 207.7m
Height 128.2m
The Dark Fear D is a railgun destroyer, carrying six heavy railguns. Though seemingly of a similar in mission profile to the A, the D is principally an artillery vessel, using its agility to stay at range to pound away at enemy vessels. It often acts in concert with the Dark Fear A and Bs, with the other vessels forming a screen. Another common companion is the Sorrow Skean – the Sorrow Skean, being even more agile, is much more suited to closing to short range with its own railguns, while the Dark Fear Ds can support from longer ranges.
Despite this, a vessel getting too close to a Dark Fear D is only more likely to be hit by the massive railguns, quite capable of punching through shields to strike armour on most conventional vessels. The Dark Fear’s native agility means it is still quite capable of performing in the close attack role, though not as adeptly as the larger and faster Sorrow Skean.
Suicide Stellar Missile
Length 116.5m
Width 20.0m
Height 20.0m
The Suicide Stellar Missile is an intersystem capital missile. The Suicide was never intended to function as part of a fleet, though it is fully automated and technically meets the qualifications (and capability) to function as a capital starship. Should a need arise (perhaps for a specific target at long-range), the Suicide can travel with a fleet until the point it can be deployed to attack.
While a few of such designs have been created over the generations by the Aotrs, the Suicide was the most prevalent. The Suicide is the oldest unit operational in the Aotrs fleet, dating back to the early 8th generation in design. During the age of the supercruiser, the Suicide enjoyed a brief period where targets were potentially plentiful, and a considerable stock of them was created. They saw only occasional use, however, and their principal prey, supercruisers, waned in time. Aotrs doctrine rarely calls for the deployment of apocalyptic weapons (not least for the dangers of rousing the galactic community that that would bring), so the Suicides have been tacitly mothballed. The number that remains made decommissioning them not practical, and their warhead technology is now dated compared to the Aotrs’ current technology, so there would be little to recycle in any case. Given the rarity of the use of such weapons, no new design was seen as necessary, so the Suicides that remain are still kept in operational status in the various shipyards. When the stocks become sufficiently depleted, an upgraded version could be developed and manufactured relatively quickly, but given the low rate of expenditure, the Suicides will be waiting in their moorings for many years to come.
This is good worldbuilding, people. Remember that magic complicates turns of phrase by potentially making them literal, and act accordingly.
Plus, you never know when it might the Action Of A Hostile Power, come to that. But yeah, being in the Aotrs does sort of mean you sometimes get this sort of exchange...
"This thing futsed out again! It just won't run for more than five minutes without errors!!"
"Again?"
"Again!"
"Have you tried turning it on and off again?"
"Five times, AND unplugged it AND ran a memory useage check!"
"Haha, maybe it's just cursed!"
"Hahaha, maybe it is!"
"...."
"...."
"We should check that."
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll call the team..."