Captain Valentine Blaye

The third child and only son of Augustus Blaye, a successful merchant of San Serifino, and the daughter of a nomadic tribal chieftain of the Sipsi peoples, Valentine was offered a midshipman’s birth aboard the old Seraph then the flagship of the small San Serfine fleet at the age of twelve. Serving in that capacity at the battles of Ellerasath and Hell’s Gate he was commissioned as an Ensign at the remarkably young age of seventeen. Given his first independent command aboard the revenue cutter Egret as a twenty-one year old Lieutenant, he served for eight years before being posted as Second Officer aboard the Obdurate. During the battle of the three fleets he took command of the Obdurate at the death of her commanding officer and was able to save her from the fate of the rest of the San Serifine fleet when it was obliterated by the Imperial Fleet under Grand Admiral Toctalus. Although San Serifino managed to avoid complete absorption into the Empire under the terms of the treaty of Heliopolis, the peace terms called for the disbanding of the entire San Serifine Navy.

Three years after the treaty was signed, Blaye took command of the Revenge, the first Letter of Marque ship to fly the San Serifine flag. Although his commission as master and commander only permits the pursuit of smugglers and sky pirates, stories report that the Revenge has destroyed no less than three Imperial patrol craft and a Tantalus class Light Cruiser. Now in his late forties, Valentine Blaye is something of a folk hero to the San Serifine people, and a thorn on the side of the Empire. The government of San Serifino awarded him the order of the Golden Badger and denies all reports of illegal activity on the part of the captain of the most heavily armed “merchantman” in the whole of the San Serifine merchant fleet.

Commissar Tribune Volusius Maltho

Tribune Maltho is overseeing operations on the western front in the Empire's ongoing War with the Burbah.

Emperor Theodore Suleiman

Emperor Theodore Suleiman

The current Emperor is Theodore Suleiman, who has reigned for five
years since the death of his father, the Emperor Tam Suleiman II.
Theodore may also be the last of the direct line, for as yet he has
expressed little interest in marriage and regards the droves of
eligible noblewomen paraded before him by hopeful advisers with bored
indifference.

This is unusual behaviour for a man of the Suleiman family, who
normally pride themselves on their virility (besides his twelve
legitimate children, Theodore's father acknowledged twenty-seven
bastards during his reign and probably sired many more) but Theodore
is an unusual Emperor in many respects. The youngest of seven royal
brothers, he was born with crippled legs and a rare stomach disorder
that makes it impossible for him to ingest protein, defects that have
forced Theodore to rely on walking aids and sustaining drugs since
childhood.

Theodore's physical afflictions met with little sympathy from the rest
of the Imperial family, who from his birth regarded him as a genetic
accident. His own father made no secret of the fact that he was
embarrassed by Theodore and thought him a living insult to the
Suleiman reputation for producing strong healthy males, openly
deriding him in front of the Imperial Court as 'the runt of my
litter'.

Starved of affection by his parents (his mother, the late Empress
Constanzia, was so horrified by his deformities she refused to
acknowledge his existence) and alternately mocked and bullied by his
siblings, Theodore endured a nightmarish youth. He briefly found
solace in a homosexual relationship with a young nobleman named Count
de Villiers, until his father discovered the affair and sent a platoon
of Amber Guardsmen to drag the Count from Theodore's bed and butcher
him before his helpless son's eyes.

Following his lover's brutal death Theodore became quiet and
withdrawn, much to the relief of his family who dreaded the thought of
him appearing in public. But though he seemed to be devoting his time
to music and learning, Theodore was in fact plotting revenge against
his hated relatives. He focused on building up a complex network of
professional assassins and used them to murder every one of his
brothers, all from carefully contrived explicable causes such as death
in battle, sickness or accident.

Theodore saved his final and worst revenge for his father, who he
slowly poisoned over years using a slow-acting odourless poison that
hardened the old Emperor's arteries and induced symptoms deceptively
akin to the onset of chronic rheumatoid arthritis. At last, when all
his brothers were dead and his father lay virtually paralysed and
speechless, Theodore entered the dying Emperor's chamber and whispered
the truth into his ear. His last words to his father, as the old man
writhed feebly on his deathbed and attempted to call for his guards,
were 'See, father: your runt is the head of the litter now'

It might be expected that Theodore would make a disastrous Emperor,
but this twisted and embittered young man could be the Empire's best
hope for the future. He is desperate to prove his worth and pours all
his considerable intellect and repressed emotional needs and desires
into the business of ruling and expanding the Imperial territories.

A worrying development is the growing influence that the ISSC has over
him, for the organization appeals to Theodore's belief that Imperial
security is best insured by covert State control over all aspects of
Imperial life. The ISSC also offers an alternative to Theodore's
difficult relationship with the more democratic Senate. Intelligent
and highly educated but incapable of trust, the young Emperor has the
ability of a great ruler but the inclinations of a petty tyrant. It
remains to be seen which aspect of his character will prevail.

Mairlynn

Daughter of Rowlan and (her Skyborn mother) she is one of the central characters in the (???) story arc.

Rowlan

Rowlan was born in a typical Burbah clan, though he would not be described as a typical Burbah. His mother, Eolwon, was young when she met Rowlan's father. He had been a wanderer that traveled with the clan for a season while constantly asking questions and making scribblings into a book. Most people found him to be very perculiar, but Eolwon was intrigued by him. She spent more and more time with the man, enough so that he began trying to pull away, saying that he was likely to leave at any time and shouldn’t get to involved. When the winter came around the man was grossly unprepared for their journeys, and was forced to seek residence within the Burbah’s own dwellings, and Eolwon was more than happy to share hers. By spring it was obvious that she was pregnant.

After Rowlan’s father was adopted by the clan, he went to war the following season with the new warriors that had come of age. The wanderer returned several times to help teach Rowlan about many things, but mostly about writing. One year the wanderer didn’t return, and Eolwon and Rowlan knew that they were on their own.

Since then Rowlan has spent much time reading his father’s journals and learning about many things. Many people in his village treat him as a bit of an outsider because of how much resemblance he has to his father. He is very hard working, trying to prove that he is both his father’s son as well as a true son of the Burbah.

The Hammer of Rectitude

The Hammer of Rectitude is a prototype airship built by the Empire. The ship is powered by Fuganite crystals which allow the ship to be both heavier than air and faster than other airships in the Imperial navy.

Tristram Faolan Saverio

Tristram Faolan Saverio is the youngest son of Duke Labatha Numesi Saviero of the duchy of {Imperial province}. The Saverio family has a long history of supplying gifted officers to the Imperial navy. His Two older brothers, {name} and {name} are both Officers in the Imperial Navy. Following in the family tradition, Tristram took a commission as a Captain in the Atmosolde corps and quickly distinguished himself during the Kalavos 40 days war where he led troops of the 22nd Atmosolde in four operations deep behind enemy lines. It was his experiences during the early part of the war and the subsequent aerial bombardment of Kalavos that first planted the seeds of discontent in Tristram.

"Once a loyal soldier of the imperial guard he became sickened by the needless brutality he was ordered to carry out. He was taken into custody for refusing to execute captured Burbah children during the Tremehjian campaign. Facing the death penalty he would have doubtless been put to death had a determined group of men under his former command not launched an operation to rescue him.
In intense and bloody fighting they managed to free him from his detention. Amazingly they were able to take control of an Prototype armored airship and fled deep into Burbah controlled territory. Landing to effect repairs to the gunship they were surrounded buy Burbah forces on the retreat from the front. Out numbered, out gunned and facing an extremely hostile force it looked to be the end. However in a turn of incredible good fortune some of the Burbah were from the same group whom the Captain had refused to execute. They persuaded the others to spare them. They were taken prisoner but after providing crucial information on Imperial troop positions they earned the trust of their captors and their release. With letters ensuring safe passage through Burbah lands they headed south.
Now they travel the air currents as Sky pirates. Hunted by the Empire they are always on the run. They have survived this long under the Captains inspired command but who knows what dangers tomorrow will bring?"

--original story concept, historical accuracy is in contention pending historian review.

Hitomede Idataki

Hitomede (Kind Eyes) Itadaki, presumed a mute, has no friends, no surviving family, and no ties to the present days. While the age of technology whirls around him, he sees none of it. Or perhaps he acknowledges none of it. Nobody has gotten to know him well enough to tell. With a quiet presence he moves amongst the ghettos and crowded alleys of the Asian megalopolises where only the very elderly claim to have seen him before. They claim they were young then. They claim he has not aged.
Man or Myth is still to be settled, but for patrons of quiet bars in early hours, for children lost and found in the endless rows of buildings, and for the lucky few criminals who dodged his blade, Hitomede Itadaki is, if nothing else, real.

Nebuchadnezzar Rodriguez

Eldest of the infamous Rodriguez brothers, Nebuchadnezzar was once the most notorious pirate in the empire. His glory days now faded memories, he lives his life with help of the bottle.

Aerolapse

Aerolapse is a pastime practiced by the Skyborne. It consists of skydiving through various rings held aloft by aerostats. There are time trials and races. The suit worn is a wing suit that allows for a bit of horizontal maneuverability. Races end with racers being caught in large nets at the finish line. Missing a net often results in the death of a participant.

Targa

The Basic Game

Targa is a popular sport throughout the Empire. The name comes from the Target Bolas used during the game, which are refered to as a Targa or a Targabola. There are two popular variations of the game, Field Targa and Running Targa. The Game mechanics of each are quite similar with the goal being to wrap the Targa around a vertical post by spinning and then releasing the Targa from the Snagi. The Snagi is a Short wooden club the end of which curves to one side forming a short hook which is used to either pick the Targa off the ground with or to catch it out of the air.
In Feild Targa there are Two vertical Schiff posts, each of 1 Ken 3 Shaku in hight. There is a metal hook that protrudes from side of the Schiff post 1 Shaku down from the top of the post. The Targa field is of unspecified size and often on uneven terrain. Teams switch ends after each Schiff goal to compensate for any advantage that the irregularities of the playing field may offer. Head and Leg Goals do not stop play.
In Feild Targa there are only 7 team members in play at one time. The teams themselves however can include everywhere from 25- 30 members. Due to the scoring system, and the vigorous amounts of work that the players go through throughout the game, a lot of substitute players are often required.

In running Targa a series of Shiff posts are set up over an area of land and the teams compeate to score a goal for each post in sequence. Only one goal may be scored on each Schiff in running Targa so in games when one team has fallen to far behind to make up Schiff goals by the last pole they will often switch to attempting to score head and leg goals. There are no set number of players in Running Targa but teams must have equal numbers of players.

Scoring

There are two basic types of goal in Targa. Schiff goals and Body Goals.

Schiff Goals are divided into High and Low Schiffs.
Both High and Low Schiffs score 5 points. Low Schiffs are scorred regularly whilst High Schiffs give the scorring team a 5% ground advantage and effect the other teams abillity to win through body goals.

There are Two diferent types of body goal that can be scorred in Targa. Head Goals and Leg Goals which are scored by wrapping the Targa around the respective body parts of an opposing teams player. Head Golas are worth two points whilst leg goals are worth 1. The exception being a leg goals that takes the player who was scored on to the ground, which are worth three points.
Points from body goals must exceed the opposing teams total for High Schiffs and only the points in excess of the high shiff count are scorred. For example if one team has 10 points in High Schiffs and there opponents have ten points in body goals no points are awarded for the body goals, if they have 14 points in body goals then 4 points would be awarded. In games where both teams have equal Shiff scores and neither team has enough body goals to score then the team with the higher number of body goals is the winner. Should the game be a draw at the end of the 5th period then the game will go to a Sudden Death playoff. Historicaly team captains would fight to the death with their Snagis to determine a winner, however in these more civilized time the captains fight unarmed and only until submission. The original rules are still followed in some or the wilder areas on the frontier or the empire.

Fouls and illegal plays

Deliberatley striking an opposing player with the Snagi, hand or foot is considered a personal foul as is pushing grabing of pulling another player. Body checking is permissible but only against a player who is deemed to be in control of the Targa. Body checking a player who does not have possession of the targa is considered a personal foul. A first offense results in the offending player continuing play with their off hand bound to their stomach using the penalty brace, the second offense results in the player being sent off. No substitute will be allowed to replace the offending player.
Deliberately striking another player with a Targa that is not in flight is also considered a personal foul and the same penalties as Snagi fouling apply.

Targa Fouls relate to illegal handling of the Targa and there are several Forms of Targa foul.
1. Handling the Targa. With the exception of disentangling the Targa from oneself after falling victim to a body goal it is impermissible for any player other than the Schiffy to hold the Targa in their hand.

Equipment

Uniforms consist of the Targa Jersey and Hosen and padded leather caps to protect the players head. The Targa itself consists of a monkey fist knot tied around some weighty object such as a round stone or grapeshot and bound in leather to secure it. Regulation rope is 5 Bu in diameter and the weight of the Targa should be 2 Hyakume.

Design and Engineering of Vehicles

Take a good think about what you've used for transportation in your life.

The car: 4 wheels, two stationary and two turning wheels. An internal combustion engine, gasoline or diesel. They only travel on paved roads, well, if you want them to maintain a good condition.
The airplane: aerodynamic, completely rigid, aluminum or a light metal alloy, and it's engines are also powered by a high grade of petroleum based fuel.
The train: extreemly heavy, runs only on a steel rail, also powered by an internal combustion engine.

So on so fourth.

Now, imagine what we would be required to use if we didn't have all these lovely (yeah right) hydrocarbon feedstocks. What sort of fuel will have to be used? WILL fuel have to be used? What if one has to traverse a great sea? Or travel a chasm? And as we all know, the quickest way to the opposite side of a sphere (or planet) would be to traverse the diameter. So surface travel isn't always the most convenient, or is it?

Well, prepare for enlightenment, because this chapter is about the bouts of travel in the Lastworld.

Energy systems

In the LastWorld, there's a very scarce amount of fossil fuels. Fuels, if any at all, have to be biofuels. There are other means of creating energy though. Common types include hydro and aero energy. Others include solar energy, bio energy (luminescent plants, et cetera), animal power, sterling engines and steam engines, and also the occasional, and extremely rare anachronistic power supply.

The closer to the center of the Empire, the amount of alternative power systems you'll find. For example, in large cities they have wireless electricity transmitters, but the further you go away from the cities the less electricity you'll actually be able to receive. Thus other means of power are required.

Amber Guard Hammer Gun

Fauna

Animals of the Last World.
In theory, due to temporal storms, any animal that lived can be found in the Last world. In practice only small areas such, as the eyes of stable temporal storms, can support certain species of animal. Giant insects, for instance require oxygen levels to be higher than those commonly found around the globe.

The most common Species are those that lived from 200,000 BC to the present.

Flora

Plants of the Last World.

Geology

Rocks, minerals and other natural resources.

Kalavos Peninsula

"The peninsula of Kalavos has been described as originating from a smudge in the perfect land around it by the hand of God or as a geological displacement beneath the surface of the world occurring over thousands of years ago. Regardless of what the shamans and geologists say, this land did not begin its existence or history in the cursed and broken state it currently inhabits."
- Jasabwe Sius

Most reacent in the sad history of the Kavalos Peninsula was the Kalavos 40 Day War during which Aerial bombardment by the Imperial Navy destroyed all the population centers and most of what little arable land the peninsular had left.

Common folken

These are the people that comprise the majority populace of nations. They eat to live, work to eat, and have quite mundane lives. They grow up, go to schools, academy's, or institutes to become educated. They gain jobs and raise families and doing extra ordinary stuff isn't very desirable.

In the city lands they work to gain currency to buy what they desire and require to maintain their lives. In the country lands they work on their own farm or with their own small business to trade or sell the fruits of their labors so that they can obtain what they desire and require in their life.

Sky Pirates

While not a nation as such the sky pirates do exhibit enough cohesion in a number of areas and so warrant an entry of their own.

The Vertkin

The Vertkin are a tribal comunity that live amongst the vast Rainforest that exists south of the Vallum Mountains. As far as international relations go, they keep to themselves. It's difficult for land vehicles to traverse the rainforest and impossible for air-based vehicles to land. There's hardly any port economy (except for metals) amongst these people because they have learned to use what renewable resources they have around them. They have had some feuds with the Empire due to deforestation and have been defending the forest. What contact they experience amongst other cultures is through various initiations that teenagers and young adults go through with the purpose of becoming educated. They are a race with alot of cultural fusion due to these initiations.

--Overview--

-Resources: For apparel, utensils, few tools and food they use organic materials. Plants provide fruits and vegetables to eat as well as herbs for wellness. They also provide the fibres used in fabric and paper making (most commonly Hemp for both). They use hard flora like bamboo for eating utensils, furniture, tools, et cetera. They don't use slow growing hard woods because bamboo is nearly as hard and grows much faster. Hardwoods are used for something else in this culture. Animals they hunt and the few they farm provide food and also leather, and fir that can be used for apparel. Metals like copper, silver, gold, et cetera are not in resourcable quantities in the rainforest so they do expeditions through the rainforest to do trade at the ports. They don't use much metal because only so much can be carried back into the forest, but what is had gets turned into tools and other items of great practicality. Fresh water and clean air are no problem to come by in this environment.

-Education: The Vertkin prize knowledge and view it as something required for living, just as water or air. One must always be receiving new knowledge and becoming ever wiser or else the mind will become ill. When they're children, they're taught by the elders and Maegi of the community. They learn the basics of life (i.e. what is one's purpose, the ability to be responsible, why we do what we do, about life and death, et cetera). When they grow into their teens they learn crafts, survival when not within the community, and they begin to train their bodies. They use martial arts to maintain fit and healthy bodies. They use an idea similar to that of a river where the body should remain flowing so that the energy of life and wellness can flow throughout the body and not be like that of a stagnant pool.
After their teen years they go through an initiation where they are tested to verify that they have learned all the basics to life and understand how to properly live. They then are sent out into the world as a Shen Ku (Pure Traveler) accompanied by a guide, or Weerden, who will lead them to a port so that they can then go a much further distance from home. They then travel the world learning of other cultures and teaching those who care to listen. Years after they first set off they have two choices, to either go home to raise and have a family and educate their people or to remain a Shen ku and have the world as their home. The ones who go back to their homeland are the ones who bring new technology, ideas and views to their people.

-Religion: They have adopted a religion that doesn't worship a single being or set of beings. Instead they see the universe as a single being or mind (the Zenith). Everything is a thought of this one being, and just as thoughts come in and go out of our mind, so do thoughts come in and go out of the universal mind. Because of their large quest for knowledge they don't believe they in such a thing as evil and good. For good to exist in the first place there has to be evil, and they don't believe in evil. Only ignorance. They're taught that if they experience something they don't like to change their point of view and see it as a learning experience to help them in their personal evolution. They also don't believe in coincidence, only what is. Because of this,they believe in the use of divination if the future wants them to know what is going to happen. They also believe strongly in symbols. Everything in their life can be symbolized, and commonly is in their art, food, architecture, et cetera.
On the outside they appear to be a rather superstitious lot, with their majique and all. However, they believe there's more to the universe then mundane sciences are able to define.

-Architecture: The Vertkin see common architecture (making buildings out of wood, rock, or metal) as undesirable. Their structures are alive. They use hardwood, like Ginkgo, to construct and graft buildings. Knowledge of this first came from a traveling teacher by the name of Caracus in the year 1276 NT who came home and began doing experimentations on trees and plants. They start off by picking a tree that is in the area they desire there house to be. They then begin to add wedges of other tree trunks to widen the base. It is then opened up in the center and more wedges are added to the tree to begin to widen it. It can be related to a massive tattoo on the body. Do a bit, let it heal, do a bit, let it heal, do a bit, let it heal and continue this 'till it's finished. They can add rooms if it's needed, create windows, doorways, et cetera. If they don't want a specific part of the tree to keep growing, they kill it off, like at a window space. The oldest buildings, like meeting centers, are the largest. It is like unto Bonsai, but a bit larger.

-Government: At the head of their culture they elect the wise ones. Whenever the requirement arises they put men or women through a series of challenges to identify the wisest and most intelligent of the few. This person then becomes part of a group called the Maegi and singularly they are a Maegus. The Maegi are ones who make decisions that will effect large numbers of people.

The Namoto Empire

The Empire is the larges political and geographic power in the last world.

The Burbah Peoples

The Burbah are a nomadic people who's ancestral land lie on the fringes of the Empire. Territorial disputes have made them bitter enemies of the Empire as the Empire's mining operations continue to disrupt the routes along which the Burbah have for generations driven their herds of muskox.

In recent years what was once sporatic and scattered outbreaks of violence has turned to war as the Empire attempts to assert their influence on the area in order to extend their transcontinental railway to the seaports of Doneram and Listan on the far side of Burbah territory.

Burbah life and Culture

Burbah life revolves around the muskox. For general informations see
the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskox

They follow the herds from the summer hunting grounds to the mountain
heights for the winters to avoid the snow. They live in yurts made
from muskox hide. They clothe themselves in muskox hide. They light
their fires with muskox dung. They fashion cudgels from muskox bones
and use muskox guts to string their bows and musical intruments.

The division of labor is traditional, men tend to the herds and go
hunting and warring, women rear the children, cook, sew, and gather
plants. This is not to say that the women aren't fierce warriors,
they're trained from a young age in the bow and bolo and are more than
a match in hand to hand combat than most Imperial men.

Like most traditional peoples, the Burbah women are the spiritual
leaders and the keepers of the secrets and tales of their people.
Tribes will have an old wise woman who tends to the spirit world.
There are also male shamans who dispense the psychedelic reindeer piss
that is used in the visionary rituals fo the Burbah.

Like most peoples who live in the frigid parts of the world the Burbah are
unaccountably happy and cheerful nearly all of the time. The
exception to this is when outsiders are around which gives rise to the
tales of the Burbah's unforgiving dourness which form the basis of
most Imperal's conceptions of the nomads.

Clothing of the Burbah

Clothing of the Burbah is marked by layers of long formless robes of
various materials and a compleat lack of fasteners. All the layers
are held together at the waist by belts and sashes.

Materials for Burbah garments come almost exclusively from the muskox. Underlayers are made of various weights of muskox wool, and
outerlayers are made of the braintanned hides of the beasts
themselves. One musk ox hide is used to make a standard male's
longcoat. Clothes are also made from the hides of animals killed by
hunting parties.

For pants the Burbah tend towards loose-legged woolen jawns with
leather reinforcemnt in the crotch, seat, and inner and outer legs.

Our only example of Burbah wear can be seen here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lastwear/sets/72157594519262150/

Note this is reproduction clothing and not authentic as evidence by
the use of synthetic fleece and canvas. Very little authentic Burbah
clothing makes it to the markets of the outside world, though there is
some trade with the merchants of the Hinterland. Reproduction Burbah
clothing is widely available and varies in quality from shoddy to
excellent.

On their feet the Burbah wear big furry boots called valenki of muskox felt with lots
of lacing around them. Underneath they bind their feet with strips of
muskox wool called protyanki.

Weaponry of the Burbah

We believe that the Burbah use air rifles as their primary weapon.
These have been around since the 15th century in our world and the old
guns look really bitchin'. They have the advantage of being able to
be fired when wet, no muzzle flash and quieter shot, and needing only
easily made lead balls as ammunition.

Here's some links to various examples:
http://www.beemans.net/images/Austrian%20airguns.htm

The Kunitomo airgun shown in the Wikipedia article is probably similar
to the guns the Burbah use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_gun

The Burbah also need some sort of a cudgel for close in work. This
should be an integral part of Burbah life and culture and should have
a suitably significant name.

The recurve horn bow is also widely in use, particularly in the tribes furthest
from the civilized world, to whom guns are still a rarity.

A spear would round out the standard Burbah male's arms. These are
probably eightish feet long and most likely break down in to two parts
to be stowed on the back for traveling. They would also be used in
the more Northerly regions of the Burbah wandering lands where
glaciers rule the land as a precaution against falls into crevasses.

Hookah Smoking Cats

The Burbah have established an alliance with a species of snow cat, the cathod Y Mwg, resembling a lynx only bigger. The cats have become enamoured with
tobacco which they smoke habitually from specially designed cat hookahs made by
the Burbah. As cats cannot trade with tobacco merchants, they rely on
the Burbah for their supply of the leaf. In return the cats
provide a number of small services for the Burbah, such as alerting
them when predators move in on the herds and bringing back children
that have run off.

The Skyborn

Needs to be filled out.

A history of the Last world

Some time in our future, experiments in high energy physics begin to offer proof that consciousness manifests reality and that stories and propaganda shape not only peoples subjective experience of reality but change the structure of the underlying fabric of the universe. The implications are profound.

Many governments invest great time and effort developing ever more sophisticated ways to influence the beliefs of their citizens. Hoping to harness the power of belief to give them a competitive edge over rival nations.

Secret military research labs develop consciousness amplification devices for use as battlefield weapons. These Aegis suits are designed to be piloted by bio-engineered pilots supposedly devoid of personal goals. Interested only in following genetically programmed agendas and belief structures they are intended to warp reality in tactical combat situations giving the Aegis incredible speed and offensive/defensive capabilities.

However unforeseen consequences emerged once the aegis go to war. The suits are able to amplify the consciousness of those in their immediate vicinity. Soon the Aegis become rallying points for the soldiers with whom they fight. The more faith the troops start to place in he Aegis the greater the power the suits and pilots are able to manifest. Soon the Aegis are worshiped a gods and by their very nature this is what they become.

Unleashed, these newly minted deities battle with each other for supremacy. The ever greater powers of creation and destruction granted as they gain more followers exert impossible forces upon the fabric of reality. Time and the fabric of space are torn asunder and all continuity on Earth is lost.

A dark age of indeterminate length is to follow the Aegis War. Knowledge of the technologies that unleashed this terror are all but forgotten as all life struggles to survive in a world with almost no constants. Small tribes survive amidst the temporal storms the wrack the planet. Eventually consensus and tradition start to bring a more stable reality into being and as the temporal storms die down and as the dust settles a new world emerges.

The Last World.

The Kalavos 40 Day War

The Kalavos War was won by the Empire but at the cost of many lives. Eventually the Empire resorted to massive aerial bombardment over much of the Kalavos peninsula, from which it has still not recovered. The war actually last for 102 days but imperial propaganda was successful in keeping this knowledge from the vast majority of it's citizenry.

More information on the War is needed.

The Story so far, some background information

The Aegis war is long in the past. The temporal storms have cleared
away for the most part, there are still temporal anomalies all over
the Last World, but time has once again started to run linearly and in
a consistent direction.

Humanity begins to rebuild itself. There is no memory of what has
come before, but ruins and artifacts remain, and much knowlege is
relearned more easily than it is learned.

Cities and principalities form and people start to rebuild
civilization. Out of this the Empire forms. Once it was a republic, though
those times are forgotten. The Empire has ruled for as long as people
can remember, some five or six hundred years perhaps.

The Empire is much like Rome, but with greater technology. There has
never been a nation strong enough to rival the Empire so technology
has not progressed as quickly as it might have if war had demanded it.
Their technology is extremely refined, as it's been at it's current
level for a couple hundred years. Expect mechanical things to be ornatelyh detailed and be very refined, with few unneccessary parts.

Transportation consists of steam-powered locomotives,
dirigibles, some sorts of motor vehicles, though personal automobiles
would be almost unheard of except for the extremely rich or the odd
crazy inventor type. They'd look like Duesenburgs and Morgan Motor
company cars.

We're not quite sure what powers the steam engines. By this point in
the future, any easily accessible coal or oil deposits have been
tapped out. They don't have super sophisticated mining technology
like we do today. One idea I'd like to explore is them using methane
from landfills as a source of power. There's still presumably
billions of tons of garbage buried around the world.

Wind power would be used extensively. Most homes would have a
windmill to provides power. Not electrical probably, more likely gear
and pully type arrangments to power all sorts of household tasks.

The society which has developed is for the most part fully
sustainable. This is party because there's not a huge amount of
natural resources to plunder.

Sail still rules on the sea. There are a few steamships around, but
clipper ships are faster and more reliable and dominate the trading routes. The Empire maintains a modest
navy, with some impressive battleships and scores of smaller vessels,
but with no major naval adversaries, there isn't much need for a large
navy.

There is a pirate problem. Though the majority of pirates are
actually privateers in the employ of the Empire, there are enough
freelance pirates to be a bit of a thorn in the Empire's side.

More problematic are the skypirates. The Empire maintains a vast
airship fleet as it's primary means of exerting influence. There is
also substantial merchant and passenger aiship traffic. These are the
primary targets of skypirates.

Airships are a mix of propeller and sail powered and are either lighter than air or nearly lighter than air. For downwind runs
sails are used to improve speed and fuel efficiency. Propellers are
powered by steam, or on smaller ships, human power via some pedal sort
of apparatus.

There are some heavier than air "aeroplanes" around, but they're aren't very efficient and are generally only used as short range interceptors by larger imperial airships. These aeroplanes are probably similar to modern ultralight aircraft relying on a large, light wing and minimal body weight to overcome the limitations of engine technology, which isn't light enough to power smaller aircraft.

Skypirates often form groups of three or four ships, but seldom do
more ships form allegiances. Those who take to the sky to seek a bounty are generally trying to escape authority and oppression on the ground.

Somewhat separate from the skypirates are the Skyborne. They are a
civilization that has developed in the air. They trace their roots
back to the Aegis war, and are probably the only people on the planet
who have any knowlege of the war at all. By going aloft and forming a
close-knit society they were able to avoid the worst of the temporal
storms and anomalies and managed to maintain some sort of history.

We don't know much about their technology, but it's quite advanced.
Presumably they would have started out with Aegis war level technology
which would be the pinnacle of human technology some hundreds of years
in our future. This wouldn't all have lasted, and it's been thousands
of years since then so much has probably been forgotten, and they
don't have any landbased facilities to manufacture things. They
probably rely heavily on advanced solar power for their energy needs.

Another faction that opposes the Empire is the Burbah people. They're
a nomadic people from the frozen hinterlands of the South and are known
throughout the Empire as being extremely unforgiving. We suspect that
the Burbah are in fact a warm and friendly folk as most who live in
the snow are, bujt have a bad reputation due to Imperial propaganda.
They are fierce warriors however, and have been involved in a small
war with the Empire for three generations. The Empire's technological
might is impeded by the frigid environment and the Burbah are able to
outfight some of the Empire's best troops. The Empire however has a
much larger pool of troops to draw from and the Burbah are starting to
run out of sons to send to war.

The Empire is composed of some two or mayhe three hundred millions of
people. The population of the Earth on the whole is probably
significantly less than one billion people.

We don't know much about the Emporer himself. We don't even know his name.

The Amber Guard are the Emporer's shock troops. They go wherever it
is neccessary to show Imperial might. They fight in squads of five
men, called maniples. Twenty maniples to a century, five centuries
to a cohort, ten cohorts to a legion, 5000 men.

The Imperial Army is organized in much the same way. There's likely
only one legion of Amberguard, or possibly a century of Amber Guard in
each legion. There's likely twently legions total in the Imperial
Army.

We need cool rank insignia for the Army. If you want to design it,
submit some samples.

There are probably major cities and principalities that are not
completely pro-Empire, and some that are entirely opposed.

There are probably some smaller autonomous nations that the Empire maintains friendly trading relationships with. Being too small to be a threat to the Empire and too far away or independent to conquer and colonize they've been left to their own devices and have developed in their own ways.

History of New Japan

"It was only 180 years after the Japanese had terraformed Mars that they cut contact with Earth. The stories brought by the traders who returned were not hopeful. Even the Earth born Japanese were expelled, or worse. Perhaps there was a certain prescience amongst the leaders of the new Meji empire, an anticipation of the storm that was about to be unleashed on Earth. Or maybe it was just the resurgence of the intense nationalism and cultural unity they had embraced in their attempt to master reality manifestation which caused the sudden and complete return to the self imposed isolation that had characterized their ancestors so many centuries before. Either way the stars would see whole turnings of the celestial disk before anything was heard from the red planet."

-Excerpt from "A History of the Red Planet" by Luccio Orialla.