The Ascendant Dawn
[First off, a personal note: This faction was originally not mine, but has instead been given to me by @LeftHandofGod over the course of the AD/HI history, this thread has been made (quite belated due to time issues) so I can make official changes to the faction and fully take over.]
History
[Early history and origin]:
Ascendant Dawn
[Recent history]:
After the Syndicate/Stellar Assembly war and the breakdown of the Assembly the Ascendant Dawn considered their efforts, at least partially, a success, the galactic market had been riddened of another grand federation, potentially monopolizing on goods and passively keeping their grip around the market due to their combined military power.
Seeing their work as done and not having any interest in most of the affairs of G-S16, the Ascendant Dawn retreated their forces from the galaxy, back to their own home, the only presence remaining being their traders, the Gateway and occassional survey ships roaming the stars.
However, the peace would not last for long, soon after the Syndicate war their former allies, the High Imperium, turned on them trying to take the Ascendant Dawn, which originated from them, over. In the first weeks of the war the Regent Alearan had been severly wounded in an assassination attempt, unable to recover, she had been frozen in stasis, but not before deciding on Aldenan, her advisor, as new regent.
The following months were filled with a brutal war, in which several invasion attempts were made by the Imperium, all of them driven back by the forces of the Dawn, the Dawn in turn also sent an invasion force through the gateway into High Imperium, though despite their size and advanced techology, their attempts were futile, the war was at a standstill, after the war had gone on in this manner for a few months, the Regent of the Dawn was able to negotiate an agreement with the Emperor of the High Imperium and thus all hostile actions were halted within the next week and the two nations parted ways...
With the new regent in place after the war, several things started changing, trade was encouraged, outer colonies received better support for development, the technology department grew in size and several new projects were started, many of them classified to this this day, parts of the fleet were mothballed, due to the maintenance costs and other factors, much to the dismay of the noblehouses, which in turn created an opposition for the Regent.
Once more there was a relative peace, which eventually was interrupted by the war between the High Imperium and the Illateri/GSR Alliance, in which the Ascendant Dawn chose not to take part in this time, eventually resulting in the Downfall of the Imperium, to this day there is very little information about the war, but it resulted in complete desolation and inhabitability of the former Imperium space, leaving deadly traps and relics behind for all those who dared to search for them, the AD however cared very little about this, as faction labeling themselves the 'Pacisa Federation' appeared at their borders, claiming that a great foe would come to this plane of existence soon, whilst also providing a decent amount of proof, at least enough to convince the regent that the starforges should be re-activated and so they waited, preparing for war...
...however, in the end, no new foe came to the borders of the Dawn, no grand fleet appeared and challenged them, no war erupted, no entity came to claim their existence as theirs and eventually the Federation disappeared without any further words or transmissions, leaving the records of the meeting as the only proof they ever existed...
Following this incident, most of the starforges had been shut down, all but the forge Omikron-4 'Path to Ascendancy', which had been repurposed to produce general goods, as well as parts for the industry and infrastructure, times, once more, had been relatively peaceful, however as of lately the noblehouses had gotten parts of their influence back by marriage or buying parts of the merchant houses and some of them do not seem to be too fond of the Regents actions...
Politics
[Internal politics]:
In the most recent times the noblehouses have gained more influence again, mostly by either marrying into, or straight up buying parts of merchant houses, giving them part of their political power back, whilst some of those are less interested in politics and more in the privileges that come with the position, amongst them there are also those with the intention to oppose the Regent or simply hold grudges against him as he is technically an outsider, in their eyes. However, due to the change of course with the new Regent Aldenan, most of the merchant houses prospered under his reign and are on his side, just as the general populace seems to be rather fond of him, giving him a decent amount of political power in the Dawns internal decisions. The Ascendant Dawn itself seems to be shifting it´s focus more and more on technological advancement and improved trade, opposed to the former military focus, at the same time more resources are diverted to help developing formerly almost 'primitive' colonies, strengthening the infrastructure and stability of the faction.
[External politics]:
Interestingly enough, the interests of the Dawn to their immediate surroundings seem to have shifted drastically in the recent months. Opposed to their former almost raider-like behaviour, getting their hands on any resource or population that was nearby, they seemed to have stopped such actions and are now instead actively searching for peace treaties and non-aggression pacts with their immediate neighbours, even going as far as returning harvested resources or captured civilians, why this is the case is currently unknown though, possibly for the sake of improving trade relations and the overall reputation of the Dawn.
Apart of that however, there was very little interaction with their surroundings, almost entirely cutting connections to the G-S16 Galaxy, apart of their trade relations that is. Several envoys have been seen seeking out other factions for trade agreements, so far most of them returned with mixed results.
Map data [classified]
[Position]: [Information classified, do not share]
The Ascendant Dawn is currently positioned at the "south-eastern" border of the galaxy D-N7 (referred to as 'Altandas' by the locals and the populace), in which the Hyperspace gateway is located. The Galaxy is approximately 7.3 million lightyears away from G-S16 and positioned to it´s "north-east". The only reasonable way to get from G-S16 to D-N7 is the hyperspace gateway due to the excessive traveltime in all other cases.
[Planets]: [Information classified, do not share]
-Currently a total of 72 inhabitated worlds
->7 Capitals (including the main capital 'Vahin-Syndar'
->21 Cityworlds/Tradehubs at various stages of development
->32 Agriculture/Industrial worlds
->12 Military/Technology worlds
[Numbers include colonies, mainy in the Agriculture and Tradehubs section.]
[Capital]: [Information classified, do not share]
Vahin-Syndar
The Ascendant Dawns capital 'Vahin-Syndar' (translated: 'Rising-Star') is a massive formerly earth-like planet, now in the shape of a large Ecumenopolis, a mega-city planet, after the Dawn had migrated to the new galaxy efforts were made to search for an especially suitable planet for a capital and eventually this planet had been found, it is slightly larger than the average terran world, having around 1.15 times the gravity.
On the planet many of the noble houses which are going back to the time of the High Imperium are located, as well as the seat of the central gouvernment and the military coordination center.
The current population is at around 87 billion individuals (including owned population) at around which it had started balancing out, due to recent efforts to stabilize population numbers on the homeworld.
Whilst the homeworld was initially dependent on outside sources of common goods and food, equally recent efforts to increase the sub-terranean agriculture and industry districts have made the homeworld somewhat independent, if it should be necessary.
Sights:
-Regents' Palace (Requires clearance to enter)
-The 'space-walk' (A network of interconnected spacestations, spanning around the planet)
-Planetary core elevator (Made during the construction of the magnetic field stabilizer and the planetary shields)
-Subterranean agriculture districts (Housing plant and animal life from various planets and environments)
-Migration monument (A massive pillar in the planets largest park, made from spaceship armor, carved into it are the names of the people which had fallen during the escape from Gelos-Mal in war against the 'Contemplator')
[The Gateway]: [Information classified, do not share]
The Gateway is the massive construct stabilizing the Hyperspace gateway between G-S16 and D-N7, the gateway has been constructed long after the Dawns arrival in D-N7 and it´s construction took several years even with an entire starforge dedicated to it.
Later on, after the fall of the Imperium, the Gateway was completely overhauled and rebuilt, much of the technology which was used in the gateway is even today too arcane for many of the scientists, as various precursor materials and blueprints had a role in it and the exact function of some of the parts is a miracle to this day.
Both Gateways, the one in D-N7 and that in G-S16, are heavily armed [further information classified] and under the constant watch of several defense fleets on both sides.
Around the Gateway there are several spacestations of various purposes, be it maintenance, policing or trade, as a large amount of traffic is passing through them at all times, ranging from traders to military detachments.
Rumors say that the Gateway is capable of moving, so far there has been no proof of any such capability however...
Population
[Inherent population]:
The Dawns inherent population is a variant of the common human, having over time (and with occassional genetic engineering) improved it´s performance, survivability and strength.
The average citizen has 2 hearts, 4 lungs, increased muscle density, an enhanced bone structure and an improved immune system, there have recently also been occassional cases of latent psionic capabilties, although so far none of them have been seen awakening yet.
Estimated population: 1.2 Trillion
[Migrated population]:
While it is difficult to get full citizenship as an outsider in the AD it is still possible and astoundingly many make an attempt to gain citizenship in the AD, mostly due to the living standards. The average migrated individual is usually humanoid or near-human and most of the population is located on secondary cityworlds and tradehubs. Non-humanoids are ill advised to attempt gaining citizenship in the Ascendant Dawn, partially due the dislike of the older inherent population and noblehouses, but also due the infrastructure being mainly built around humanoid members of the civilization, so special goods can be hard to come by and some buildings can be hard to access.
Estimated population: 57 Billion
[Owned population]:
The term 'owned population' is broadly used for everything from indentured workers to what some races refer to as 'household slaves' although that term is looked down upon in the Dawn. Whilst the term 'owned population' already indicates that the individual is not master of it´s own actions anymore, there are several strict laws in place, dictating the minimal living standards and maximum working times for different types of owned population, which frankly spoken, are in some cases better than some of the low-tier civilizations could even dream of. Whilst the owned population is necessary to a certain degree, it is seen as important to maintain and watch over these individuals, to a point were some of the higher classes noble houses even boast with the high living standards of their owned population, making people which see themselves at a lack of money and other options, often turn into ownership by their own will.
Estimated population: 870 Billion
Industry
[Agriculture/Industrial Worlds]:
The agriculture worlds of the Dawn are famous in the surrounding factions, fully developed agri-worlds running mostly automated with a minimal population of a few million people, mainly for maintenance, gouverning and logistics, food of various kinds is produced freshly in layers upon layers of greenhouse complexes, providing food for the cityworlds and having enough to spare to fuel the market and their trade empire with it.
Industrial worlds on the other hand are using adapted starforge technology, to produce mostly common goods and parts for maintenance or improvement of other industry worlds, as well as parts for the infrastructure and construction of large building projects, industry worlds usually gain their energy and resources from artifical magma vents, reaching down into the planets crust.
These sort of worlds are usually accompanied by one or several shipyards and tradehubs, to transport goods and maintain ships, however, not to build them.
[Mining Operations]:
The Ascendant Dawn maintains a total of 37 mining operations within the reaches of it´s territory, differing in size, these mining operations do not count towards the 'inhabitated worlds' number, as most of them are highly automated and require only small numbers of personnel.
Notably, mining operations are only built on planets which contain a special resource used in other production cycles, or large amounts of resources but aren´t fit to house an industry world. Mining operations can be on any celestial body, from asteroids, over barren planets, to gas giants.
Locations of most mining operations are classified.
[Star Forges]: [Information classified, do not share]
The Starforges are one of the early pinnacles of the Dawns engineering and technology, using a combination of various Imperium and Dawn technology they harness the plasma and the heat of a star to produce massive amounts of materials, parts, ships and many other things, controlled by specially made Gestalt AI-cores of unparalleled calculation power. The Starforges are the Imperiums main shipyards, even the nobles providing money, materials and blueprints to make their own fleets.
There is currently a total of 5 Starforges, each of them heavily guarded, however only one of them is currently active, producing patrolcraft as well as maintaining the fleet, whilst also producing similar goods to the industrial worlds, all excess materials and products go to the market.
Military
[General]:
After the disappearance of Pacisa there was a huge uproar about the uselessness of the, currently quite massive, fleet as the foreshadowed threat had never arrived.
A large part of the old fleet has been mothballed and the rest is currently undergoing an overhaul while production is focused on patrol craft for better flexibility and policing within the Dawns reaches.
However there are still several decently sized fleets in the hands of the nobles, as each noble house has the right to maintain an own fleet.
The Ascendant Dawns military force is split into two main segments:
[Noblefleets]:
'Noblefleets' are refered to as that due to being owned by the Noblefamilies, by the law each noblehouse is allowed to maintain a fleet up to a certain size, as long as they are able to afford the maintenance.
Whilst outside of conflict the noblefleets are more of a prestige object for the nobles, in wars fleets are provided by the nobles to the nation to help with the war-efforts, based on the performance of the fleets and the results they achieve in battles, nobles are rewarded after the conflict with certain goods.
Amongst these rewards are usually mining and trading rights, monetary compensation, owned population as well as certain privileges.
[Dawnfleets]:
'Dawnfleets' are fleets owned by the Ascendant Dawn itself, being constantly maintained and switched out they are always at the most recent state of technology, most of their military presence is centered around border patrols and guarding the gates, however, additionally to military vessels, patrolcraft and policing vessels are also classed as part of the 'Dawnfleets', maintaining peace and order within the Dawns borders,
The exact fleet and ship numbers are classified but it is generally known that the Ascendant Dawn, despite having recently decreased the size of it´s military, still maintain a sizable fleet, able to challenge any invaders that may come to their doorstep.
Technology
[Type-I Interdictors]:
Type-I interdictors are a technology that goes back to the old Imperium days, the technology behind it having over time improved, but in function generally stayed the same.
The Type-I works by the use of a mid-class Gestalt-AI, making calculations based on environmental data of the surroundings, these calculations are then used to project a gravitational force into higher dimensions via the gravitic engines of the interdictor, effectively ripping travelers out of most known forms ftl-travel, opposed to normal interdictors they barely effect realspace and are therefor a lot safer and also more efficient.
Due to high gravitational force the Type-II exerts it is possible in some cases that ships get damaged when being forced back into realspace.
[Type-II Interdictors]:
Another type of technology that has been passed down from the days of the High Imperium, while in basic functionality it is built up similar to the Type-I, the Type-II is considerably more potent, not being limited to higher dimensions and instead also affecting realspace, it creates a precise gravitational force, temporarily tearing apart a section of space and separating it from the rest of 'realspace', this bubble of space cannot be entered by any means but some of the higher dimensional travel methods.
The downside however is that the Type-II, unlike the Type-I which can technically run indefinitely, is limited to a certain time of use which depends on the class and size of the interdictors, the largest known Type-II interdictors are found on the Starforges and can seperate a bubble of space for several days in optimal cases.
Another downside is that, just like nothing can enter the field, also nothing can leave the field, neither ships nor information, therefor whilst inside the field it´s 'contents' are essentially blind to what´s outside and likewise.
[Type-III Interdictors]:
The Type-III Interdictors, commonly refered to as 'Dimensional Interdictors', are a new type of unique interdictor which has been worked on for a long time within the Ascendant Dawn and is the successor to the Type-II interdictor.
As with all technologies, the exact workings behind the construct are classfied, but it is publicly known that a strong Gestalt field is used to encapsulate a small portion of reality, not only interdicting anything that comes through, but also preventing almost any other intrusion to the interdicted area, serving likewise as interdictor and shield, it´s effects depend on the intensity of the field.
Type-III Interdictors are commonly only used by the military forces, which has it´s reasons within the sideeffects, aside of the fact that such a tool in civilian hands would but utmostly dangerous.
The interdiction 'shield' can be brought down like any other shields, but is considerably more stable though than any other normal shields, the downside of that is that it´s use is limited to only a few hours, then it has to be shut down otherwise the Gestalt will exceed it´s capacity and run wild.
Lastly, it is ill advised to cycle or overuse Type-IIIs' in a singular area as the constant strain to reality can lead to damages in the fabric, the results of such damages can be observed to this day above the ruins of Gelos-Mal, the former High Imperium Capital, although these have been caused by another machine.
[Reality Editors]: [INFORMATION CLASSIFIED]
[Weapon technology research]: [INFORMATION CLASSIFIED]
[Genetic engineering research]: [INFORMATION CLASSIFIED]
[PROJECT 'LEGION']: [YOUR POSITION HAS BEEN LOCATED, A 'SCORCHED STAR' TASKFORCE WILL SOON ARRIVE TO TAKE YOU INTO CUSTODY, DO NOT RESIST.]