More ramblings from a
cluttered mind….
As we move towards
the development of the next faction, I will try to give some insights into the
conflict between the Eisenkern and Shadokesh Empires. Please keep in mind that
this is still a draft and open to revision and correction but it will touch on
both cultures, the war and why anyone in their right mind would build a huge
walking target such as the Leviathans.
The Prize
Ardinium: A rare,
naturally occurring mineral that neutralizes the effect created by tears in the
Veil and the broad spectrum radiation leaks created by Void space incursion. Ardinium
is used to shield Iron Core Reactors, sensitive electronics and more recently
it has been introduced as a component in building materials to mitigate
exposure for the occupants and equipment.
(Faster than light travel is only possible in the Veil and re-entering normal space without a receiving gate, tears a hole in the Veil that releases immense energy. Any unshielded tech within several AU is usually destroyed)
Ardinium Oxide:
When Ardinium is exposed to the Void or the energy of an Iron Core Reactor it develops
a purple blue crust of oxidization. This material when properly processed and
when a sufficient charge is applied will repulse itself from a non-charged
object or attract itself to a like charged object much in the way a magnet
pulls or pushes. This is the base material all TR bands are constructed from.
Without this material the huge Leviathans would not be possible.
The Shadokesh care
little for human society; until recently they have been completely indifferent to
the plight of humanity, thrive or fall, humanity is viewed as nothing more than
another animal species hardly worthy of distinction. This view has changed drastically.
The shift in this attitude came when the Shadokesh realized that three of the
major worlds in the Eisenkern Empire contained vast quantities of Ardinium, the
key component used in all Shadokesh technology. This awareness came when the
Eisenkern Empire launched its first retaliatory offensive against a Shadokesh
rim world in response to a cleansing of one of the Eisenkern border colonies. The
Eisenkern Empire landed on Sokesh Prime, fielding twenty Leviathan Mortis and
handily took the Shadokesh outpost.
Scans of the new human
technology revealed their origins as simplistic copies of Shadokesh technology
but what intrigued the Shadokesh was the quantity of Leviathans far outstripped
what was lost or what could have been salvaged in the minor engagements with the primitive humans. This could
only mean that the humans had discovered Ardinium and it was surmised, given
the time between the first encounters with the Shadokesh and this attack that
they must have access to a large supply of this rare ore. Experience told them it
would take far longer to amass this quantity when compared to the amount of
Ardinium the Shadokesh had been extracting from their core worlds.
The Shadokesh set
out to map and scan Eisenkern space, sending drones to every corner of the Empire. They found three worlds at the core of the Empire
brimming with Ardinuim. The ore so plentiful that the primitive race was using
it in their fabrication of buildings and other structures as plating of their steel
reinforcements buried within the concrete and even mixed into the concrete
itself. If a Shadokesh could be offended, surely they would have been at such
an egregious display of excess. Fortunately for humanity, the Shadokesh are
incapable of feeling such an offence. Unfortunately, this did not change or
soften the outcome. The first Great Call (gathering of the collective consciousness)
after the analysis was concluded, decided humanities fate in the blink of an
eye. Extermination and reclamation of all settlements containing the precious
resource.
This would be the
start of the great purge. Settlement after settlement was methodically
sacked and its once proud cities rendered for the minerals they contained. Only
a tide of Iron would halt this onslaught; Leviathan construction had not yet
reached its peak and the Mortis needed refinement and a more robust design. The
Crusader class was still in its infancy and not yet available in any quantity
that would change the outcome. The fate Eisenkern Empire was sealed, they
needed time, time they did not have.
As fate would have
it, when the Shadokesh met with a Dhar-Hazier Queen and her envoys and decided
they were of no use or threat to the Shadokesh Empire and were promptly dispatched.
This miscalculation may be the only reason the Eisenkern Empire still exists. The
Dhar-Hazier Clans declared open war on the Shadokesh, sending genetically
altered and tailored soldiers and equipment flooding across the border into
Shadokesh space. The Shadokesh quickly realized that their efforts would need
to be turned towards another front, the Dhar-Hazier were a far more formidable foe
than originally anticipated.
The Shadokesh use
walkers primarily as tools, flexible extensions of their own physicality,
mining, building and subjugation devices, only more recently have they been primarily
used as weapon platforms. Shadokesh walkers are faster, more agile but more susceptible
to damage, their shielding provides them with an equalizer against the more
heavily armored Eisenkern Leviathans.
Leviathans
What is a
Leviathan, why build a large walking target, what tactical purpose could such a
device possibly serve?
Leviathans are
weapons of terror, they are tools of distraction and a means to bolster morale.
Leviathans were designed to hold city blocks, a statement, “Here I am, I own
this, come and take it”. They are anything but subtle.
The Eisenkern
Empire developed the Leviathan because it was the perfect tool to fit a need.
It could go toe to toe with the Shadokesh walker. The Shadokesh primarily target
cities as this is where they find they resources they are after. The soldiers defending these cities
found themselves face to face with the towering Shadokesh walkers and in desperate need of being bolstered, not just in firepower
but in steadfast will. Even the brave Eisenkern forces would crumble under the
sheer terror of a Shadokesh walker rampaging towards their lines. The Eisenkern
trooper needed a big brother that could beat the snot out of the neighborhood
bully.
Very early
conflicts with the Shadokesh led to some unusual observations of Shadokesh
behavior. The Shadokesh, when unchallenged will go about their work tearing
down buildings and rending resources with little regard for the occupants or
soldiers until they are deemed a threat. This stems from the fact that the
Shadokesh do not perceive humans as a true threat, more as a nuisance to be
swatted when it becomes annoying. This would give precious time for the Eisenkern
troopers to maneuver, this also left the civilians some options for egress
before all hell would break loose.
The act of remaining
seemingly oblivious would soon end as the Shadokesh begin to understand human
tactics, in response the Shadokesh began annihilating a city’s population by
releasing feral Shadokesh to clear out a city. Essentially, allowing the Feral Shadokesh to
reap the city of its biological infestation so that the core force could
concentrate on the work at hand. This could not be allowed to continue. The Eisenkern forces
needed to find a way to distract the Shadokesh, allowing the citizens time reach evacuation points so the soldiers could concentrate on the Shadokesh without fear of inadvertently
killing friendlies.
Assaults by
infantry and armor only peeled layers from the Shadokesh forces, just enough to
deal with the perceived threats. The Eisenkern forces needed a larger hammer a
weapon that could not be ignored, the Leviathan was that tool.
