This thread is intended to provide the players with an overview and background on the major militaries and merchants in the sector.  Hopefully it will add some color, be a source of background material, and illustrate how small the starfaring organizations in the region really are.

I have started with the FRE and will likely add merchants next.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:48, Mon 17 Jan 2011.

The Free Republic of Espiaux

Free Republic Navy

Overview
The senior and most prestigious service in the FRE, the Free Republic Navy now finds itself a service in transition.  Having handed over the strategic communications mission to the Free Republic Pathfinder Corps in 5721, the FRN is now lobbying to hand over the colonization support mission to the Ministry of Colonization.

The Navy boasts 47 starships, 22 SDBs, and dozens of small craft.  New ships are being added at the rate of 1-2 per year.  The Navy’s forces are roughly equally divided between Alsace and Espiaux, with a small squadron of SDBs at Marsoui.  The Battle of Vauclain aside, the FRN has not been challenged in space often in the last forty years.  On the other hand, the FRN has been heavily tasked with numerous other missions from carrying colonists to showing the flag.  As a result, many FRN designs now in service tend toward versatility rather than combat power.

Doctrine
Training requirements and crew quality of life limit FRN ships to a 50% operational tempo.  On average, any given naval ship will spend six months of the year operating, two months conducting training exercises at or near its home base, and four months in port conducting routine maintenance.  Doctrine calls for ships to deploy in three ship Patrol Groups consisting of one Greatsword Class cruiser and two Sparrowhawk or Crocus Class scouts.  At the Battle of Vauclain, FRN forces were comprised of four Patrol Groups fighting in coordinated fashion.

Having an enormous technological advantage over its rivals, the FRN has not focused on pure combat power, but rather on versatility and utility.  Furthermore, Espiaux's technological edge has discouraged design risk in naval acquisition.  Whereas other powers may need to take risks in ships design, the FRN prefers to rely on "tried and true" designs like the Greatsword and Bayern Classes. However, the new Desaix Class marks a departure for the Navy and may herald a new era of design innovation.  FRN tactical doctrine is also evolving as Navy planners seek to maximize the advantages afforded by access to sensors which are clearly superior to those in use by any other fleet.

Industrial Base
The FRN has the luxury of possessing, far and away, the best technology in the sector.  It has one shipyard, the orbital Naval Shipyard of Espiaux, which produces approximately 1500tons of starships per year.  In times of national emergency, Kurth & Sons Shipyard on Alsace could also be employed for military production.

Ranks
The ranks of the FRN differ from High Guard as follows:
Sublieutenant = Junior Lieutenant (JRLT)
Lieutenant = Senior Lieutenant (SRLT)
Lieutenant Commander = Corvette Captain (CCPT)
Commander = Frigate Captain (FCPT)
Captain = Senior Captain (SCPT)

Starships
The FRN fleet is comprised of 47 starships of six classes.

100ton Sparrowhawk Class Scout/Courier – A purely military design, Sparrowhawk packs a reasonable punch in a small frame.  It is designed to perform scouting and to carry fleet communications and has a crew of four.  There are 11 in naval service, divided among the four SCOUTRONS.  They are named for birds.

200ton Crocus Class Scout/Courier – A relatively new design, FRS  Crocus commissioned in 5731.  The Crocus Class is more capable than its smaller counterpart, but performs many of the same functions.  There are 11 currently in service, though construction of additional examples is ongoing.  They are divided among the four SCOUTRONS and are named for flowers.

800ton Greatsword Class Cruiser – A lower technology variant of a venerable design, the Greatswords form the backbone of the FRN combat fleet.  Their watchword is versatility as they are able to carry twenty marines and a significant amount of cargo three parsecs.  FRS Flammarion was destroyed in the Battle of Vauclain in 5729 and FRS Flamberge scrapped rather than repaired following the same battle.  The 11 remaining Greatswords form the bulk of the Navy’s two Patrol Squadrons.  They are named for melee weapons.

1500ton Desaix Class Frigate – The largest and most sophisticated warship yet constructed by the Free Republic, FRS Desaix is a large step forward for Free Republic naval architecture.  Sporting three weapons bays and numerous barbettes and turrets, Desaix is powerfully armed and heavily armored.  The lead ship commissioned in 5740 and the second ship, FRS Bellone is expected to commission in 5741.  A production run of at least eight ships is planned.

400ton St. Germain Class Transport – A copy of another ancient design, the disc shaped St. Germain has a mixed reputation in naval circles.  Although it excels in its primary mission off being able to quickly offload cargo on unprepared landing sites and would probably make an excellent trader, it is considered by the Marines to be too slow, too lightly armored and to carry too few troops.  One, of an original production run of eight ships has been lost (apparently due to misjump), leaving 7 in naval service.  They are allocated to the two Transport Squadrons and are named for saints.

1000ton Bayern Class Colony Transport – A bulk carrier in military service, the Bayern Class is at the heart of the debate over the proper role of the FRN.  Since Bayern and her sisterships are used almost exclusively to support the colonization of Marsoui, many people, inside the Navy and out, are advocating for the formation of a Ministry of Colonization Space Service to operate these ships and free naval personnel and resources for other uses.  The 5 Bayerns serve in the TRANSRONS and are named for cities on Alsace.

Systemships
The FRN operates 22 SDBs and numerous small craft.  Sixteen SDBs are Kirin class and six are Zeitlin class.  Eight additional Kirin class SDBs are in mothballs.

300ton Kirin Class SDB – An older design, the Kirin is moderately armored and armed, yet versatile enough to carry a cutter, a squad of marines, and a fair amount of cargo.  They are organized in four squadrons and based in Espiaux, Alsace, and Marsoui.

1000ton Zeitlin Class SDB – Ton for ton, Espiaux’s six Zeitlin’s are perhaps the toughest warships in the sector.  Their armament relies heavily on particle beams and they are heavily armored.  All six are organized in one squadron and are based in Espiaux.

Fighters
The FRN has no carriers and no fighters of its own. See Free Republic Army.

Marines
Part of the Navy, the Marines are a small group of forces specifically trained for boarding, space combat, and planetary assault.  As the Greatsword and Desaix Classes are built to carry a boarding contingent, as are all the Republic’s SDBs, the Marines find themselves employed fairly regularly.

Free Republic Pathfinder Corps

“If our organization was any larger, we could not have done what we did.” –Werner von Braun, speaking of NASA after Apollo 11

Overview
The FRPC is tasked with internal communications, survey, exploration, contact, and diplomatic support, which is a tall order considering its size and budget.  A small and young service, the Pathfinder Corps totals less than five hundred personnel.  Much more loosely organized than the FRN, the FRPC has a less conservative organizational culture as well.  However, lacking the prestige of the FRN, the Pathfinder Corps tends to have to make do with less modern and less lavish equipment.

Operations
Unlike the Navy, crews in the FRPC are not permanently assigned to ships.  Rather they rotate on and off to allow the ships to maintain a higher operational tempo than the crews.  Communications duties absorb the bulk of the FRPC’s space resources, with 11 of 16 starships assigned to keeping information flowing through the Republic’s five star systems and providing occasional runs to Ozawa and Svetlana.  The remaining ships perform system and planetary surveys, diplomatic transport, and occasional exploration sweeps of nearby systems.

Starships
The FRPC operates 16 starships of two classes.

100ton Scout Class Scout/Courier – The first class of starships built in the Halowon sector since the Plague, the 13 examples of the Scout Class are starting to show their age.  Although capable of jumping two parsecs, they are inferior in almost every way to the Sparrowhawk, which replaced them in naval service.  Once enough Sparrowhawks were constructed, the Scouts, and their courier mission, were transferred to the newly created Pathfinder Corps.  All but two of the Scout Class are assigned to communications duty.  They are named for professional nouns, (i.e. Scout, Pioneer, Envoy, etc).

400ton Gautheaux Class Envoy Ship – The only class of ships built specifically for the Pathfinder Corps, the Gautheaux Class is also the only starship in FRE government service to be built at Alsace.  The Pathfinder Corps operates 3 of these ships, each a different variant: Gautheaux – a VIP transport, Sonne – a tanker, and Suzaine – a lab ship.  A fourth Gautheaux was ordered in 5740, but the FRPC was unable to secure parliamentary funding and the ship had to be sold to private buyers.

Free Republic Army

Overview
Consistent with its primary missions of planetary defense and internal security, the bulk of the FRA is organized into five heavy divisions.  This professional force is augmented by significant COADC forces and, on Espiaux, a wet navy as well.  However, the heavy forces of the Republic Army virtually never deploy outside of Republic space.  For external operations, the FRA relies on three battalions of light, grav-mobile strikers, “Nightstalker” commandoes, and the Army Central Intelligence Directorate (ACID)’s direct-action teams.

Doctrine
Army doctrine is bifurcated.  Much of it is oriented towards planetary defense.  Unfortunately, the near-impossibility of any power launching a planetary invasion in the near-future has caused the bulk of the Army to suffer from a lack of urgency.  On the other hand, the Striker battalions and Nightstalkers have been employed fairly regularly in small unit actions on Perseus, Vauclain, and the Trinity cluster in the last two decades.  In these units, standards are much higher, but thinking is almost entirely focused on small-scale, irregular warfare.  Between these two extremes lies a gap in Army capabilities.

Equipment
Most of the Army is equipped to TL-A standards.  Expeditionary units are partially to fully equipped to TL-B.

Units
Regular Army – The Army boasts two gravtank armored divisions and three grav-mechanized divisions.  The overwhelming majority of these forces are garrisoned on Alsace.

Strikers – Organized into three battalions with brigade level support, the Strikers are an all volunteer force that forms the backbone of the Republic’s expeditionary units.  They are highly mobile and are trained for independent, small unit operations.

Nightstalkers – Relatively undersized, the nine platoons of Nightstalkers are drawn from experienced volunteers from other units.  Although Nightstalkers have seen combat in most places in which the Republic has sent forces, they tend to be less often employed than the Strikers.

ACID – Army Intelligence has long been rumored to have “direct-action” squads under its control, though the Army publicly denies it.

Wet Navy – The Army operates a small wet navy on Espiaux.

COADC
Under its planetary defense mission, the FRA operates a network of sensor satellites around each inhabited Republic world and seven wings of defense fighters.  COADC’s older Hellcat light fighters are slowly being replaced by newer generation Piranha fighters.

Hellcat Class Light Fighter – Long the mainstay of the Republic’s COADC fighter wings, the classic Hellcat is starting to show its age.  Still superior to the light fighters of every other polity, it is slowly being supplanted by the newer Piranha.

Piranha Class Medium Fighter – Larger and more expensive than its predecessor, the Piranha faster, more heavily armed, better armored, and more capable than the Hellcat.  Unfortunately, its price tag has slowed acquisition and, to date, only the 2nd Fighter Wing on Alsace has converted to the newer craft.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:11, Wed 19 Jan 2011.

Halowon Imperial Navy

Overview
Although more numerous than the FRN, the Halowon Imperial Navy suffers disadvantages in size and technology.  The HIN has 66 starships, 14 SDBs, and dozens of small craft.  It is adding approximately 3 ships per year.  As an organization, the Halowon Imperial Navy was shaken to its foundations by its devastating defeat at the Battle of Fortin.  The defeat resulted in a wholesale purge of the highest levels of naval leadership and a strategic re-evaluation of nearly every aspect of naval operations.  Research, tactics, doctrine, all have been revamped.  How much fruit these reforms will ultimately bear is yet to be determined.

Doctrine
The Halowon Imperial Navy operates at near a 50% operational tempo.  Starships of the HIN spend significant amounts of time each year patrolling their home systems and conducting fleet training.  Deployments beyond the empire’s borders tend to be short, with ships operating singly or in small task units for specific missions.

Industrial Base
The Halowon Empire’s ship construction facilities are concentrated in the Halowon system.  An orbital facility can construct ships in the thousand ton class and a planetside yard constructs smaller ships.  The empire produces roughly two thousand tons of starships per year.

Ranks
Per High Guard.

Starships
The HIN’s order of battle contains 66 starships of four classes.

100ton Ardent Class Scout/Courier – The Ardent Class actually exists in two variants.  The first variant has 4 examples.  Rarely acknowledged by Halowon sources, it is a jump-1 scout purchased from Kurth & Sons yard on Alsace.  Unable to copy Kurth’s crystal iron hulls, the 13 indigenously produced examples have titanium steel hulls.  The Ardent’s primarily serve as internal communications couriers.

400ton Avenger Class Patrol Cruiser – Long the backbone of the Emipre’s patrol forces, the Avenger also exists in two variants.  7 older examples have extremely under-powered gravitic drives and rely on reaction drive boosters in tactical situations.  The reaction drive boosters and original gravitic drives have been removed in 14 ships and replaced with more powerful gravitic drives.  This modification is sometimes referred to a an Uhlan mod, after HIS Uhlan, the first ship to be so modified.  Avenger herself, along with four sisterships was destroyed at the Battle of Fortin.

1000ton Redoubt Class Patrol Frigate – Built in response to lessons learned from the Battle of Fortin, HIS Redoubt incorporates heavy armor and weapons.  Although the Empire only has 4 such ships, more are under construction.

400ton Dorsey Class Transport – The 24 examples of the Dorsey Class are militarized versions of the well-established Type R Fat Trader.  They are primarily employed in supporting the Empire’s aggressive colonization programs.

Systemships
The Halowon Imperial Navy’s SDB forces take a backseat to its star forces.  Trying to patrol a much larger number of systems than its neighbors, the Empire gives higher priority to the construction and maintenance of starships.  The SDB forces have 14 Executioner Class SDBs and are expected to commission a new class of SDBs in the near future.  The Empire's SDBs are overwhelmingly deployed in the Halowon system with only token forces elsewhere.

500ton Executer Class SDB – A significant upgrade over the Executioner Class, HIS Executer, the lead ship of the class, is expected to commission in 5741.

400ton Executioner Class SDB – Primitive by modern standards, the Executioner is built around a thick titanium-steel hull.  It has only minimal grav propulsion, which is augmented by reaction drives.  As a combat platform, its performance is mediocre, though it is aequate for most patrol roles.

Scout Service
The Halowon Empire does not have a Scout service.  Functions analogous to those assigned to the FRPC are performed by the Navy on an ad hoc basis.

Halowon Imperial Army

Overview
At its core, the Halowon Imperial Army reflects the political system it protects.  Recruits are overwhelmingly drawn from the population of the planet Halowon and the Army spends as much time planning how to suppress rebellions as it does on other missions.  The Army also has a Colonial Guard, drawn from recruits from Somerset and Tupolev.  The Colonial Guard is poorly equipped and poorly led, but serves reasonably well as a feeder organization in that exemplary soldiers from the Guard are sometimes able to convert to the Imperial Army.

Doctrine
Regular Army doctrine calls for the mass application of firepower at the enemy’s “critical point”.  Despite the hard lessons of Vauclain, doctrine has not adapted to institutionalize combat against a higher technology foe.  In Army doctrine, the Colonial Guard is considered little more than cannon fodder.

Equipment
The Imperial Army is well-equipped for TL-9, with an abundance of heavy weapons, armored vehicles, and artillery.  The Colonial Guard, in contrast, is poorly equipped with Imperial Army castoffs and local manufactures.

Units

Crimson Guard – The three over strength brigades of Halowon’s Crimson Guard are specifically tasked with protecting the Empress, her family, and the Court.  Crimson Guard soldiers are selected first for their loyalty, second for their appearance and only lastly for their efficiency.  The Crimson Guard is equipped with a mixture of experimental prototypes, relic technology, and black market imports from the Free Republic.

Regular Army – Significantly larger than the Free Republic Army, the eleven divisions of the Halowon Imperial Army make it second in size only to the Svetlanan Army.  It is organized around a strong backbone of armored and mechanized divisions, with additional Mountain and Assault units.

Commandos – At three brigades strength, Halowon’s DAST commandos are the most prolific in the sector.  Of Halowon’s ground forces deployed to Vauclain, they alone compared favorably to higher technology Free Republic troops.

Marines – Although serving in small units with the Halowon Imperial Navy, the Halowon Marines are still technically part of the Army.

Colonial Guard – Equipped as a light infantry force at TL-6 to TL-7, the Colonial Guard is the only military option for many citizens of Somerset and, to a lesser extent, Tupolev.  There is some resentment in the Colonial Guard towards Imperial Army units and a good measure of envy as well.

Wet Navy – The largest Navy in the sector is on Halowon.  It includes several large submersibles with heavy enough weapons systems to affect ships in orbit.

Fighters
With nine full wings of fighters, the Empire’s COADC has a quantitative advantage over others in the sector.  However, the Empire also has more planets to defend.

Centurion Class Light Fighter – A light, laser armed fighter, the Centurion’s reaction drives limit its patrol range greatly.  Nevertheless, in point defense and atmospheric engagement roles it performs adequately.

Velite Class Light Fighter – Slightly larger and more advanced than the Centurion, the Velite is a fully gravitic powered fighter and is thus able to patrol much farther from its bases.  It is slowly displacing the Centurion from service.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:48, Mon 24 Jan 2011.

Principality of Svetlana

Svetlanan Royal Navy

Overview
The Svetlanan Royal Navy has not added a jump-capable warship to its inventory in nearly ten years.  In that time, however, the number of Pauk Class SDBs has risen dramatically and two boat tenders have been introduced.  Thus, it would appear the Principality is strategically emphasizing defense at the expense of power projection.

Doctrine
The SRN operates at about a 33% operational tempo for warships and SDBs, but a much higher tempo for auxiliaries.  Starships of the SRN spend significant amounts of time each year conducting resupply and colony support missions.  Only the Osa Class patrol vessels spend any measureable amount of time patrolling beyond the Principality’s borders.

Industrial Base
The Principality of Svetlana’s industrial base differs from those of the other large powers in two respects.  First, Svetlana lags behind the other powers in Lanthanum extraction and refining.  Hence, Svetlana produces fewer and lower quality jump drives than either the Free Republic or the Halowon Empire.  Second, the Crown Prince has made the deliberate and unusual decision not to build up starship construction industries in orbit over Svetlana, but rather over the tiny moonlet Olga.  This makes the planet Svetlana less of a target in case of attack, and makes controlling access to the shipyard over Olga much easier, but carries a tremendous penalty in terms of efficiency.

Royal Shipworks small commercial yard on Svetlana produces one hand-crafted trader in the two hundred ton range per year.  Royal’s military yard on Olga produces a few hundred tons of starship and over a thousand tons of non-starship per year.

Ranks
The ranks of the FRN differ from the rules as follows:
Ensign = Junior Lieutenant (JRLT)
Sublieutenant = Lieutenant (LT)
Lieutenant = Captain’s Lieutenant (CLT)
Lieutenant Commander = Captain 3rd Rank (C3R)
Commander = Captain 2nd Rank (C2R)
Captain = Captain 1st Rank (C1R)

Starships
The Svetlanan Royal Navy has 28 starships of 7 classes

150ton Veter Class Scout – The first ships produced at Royal Shipworks on Svetlana, SRNS Veter commissioned in 5712.  The class may not have the single jump range of Free Republic scouts, but it carries more fuel and can string together more jumps in succession.  The 7 serving examples of the class are primarily engaged in internal communications missions.  They are named for weather phenomena.

200ton Osa Class Patrol Vessel – Long the only fighting starships in Svetlana’s inventory, the ubiquitous Osa Class was synonymous with the Svetlanan Royal Navy until the advent of the Pauk Class and the SRN's corresponding shift to non-starships.  The Osa’s designers managed to cram a fair amount of capability in these ships, but their small size is a severe constraint.  The 8 ships of this class are named for stinging insects.

800ton Agir Class Patrol Frigate – Designed to be versatile, this ship is an example of the cost of compromise.  Agir possesses neither the armor and weapons to stand in the line of battle, nor the speed to keep up with its non-jump counterparts.  The most positive things that can be said about them are that they are large and they have an impressive cargo capacity for a warship.  The 4 examples of this class are named for small cities on Svetlana.

400ton Byeli Orel Class Royal Yacht – Byeli Orel is a unique ship in the Svetlanan inventory.  It is based on the Type R Fat Trader, but has been heavily modified.  Officially Byeli Orel is the Crown Prince’s royal yacht, but, as he travels only infrequently, it is often used as a command ship.  Byeli Orel’s sensors and communications suites have been substantially upgraded, with Espiaux assistance, and living accommodations have been completely reconfigured.  Cargo space is much reduced.  The ship is named for the White Eagle, the symbol of the royalty.

200ton Grisha Class Resupply Transport – Due to their small size, the Svetlanan Royal Navy’s 4 examples of the Grisha Class are limited to resupply and minor transport missions for Svetlanan outposts on Troy’s Rock, Redstone, and other such bases.

400ton Revochan Class Transport – Much like the FRN’s St. Germain Class, Svetlana’s 2 Revochan Class Transports are variants on the ancient Terran, disc-shaped Sundowner Class trader.  SRNS Revochan and her sister, SRNS Dubya, are significantly less capable than the higher technology Sundowners were.  They are named for rivers.

900ton Tarantul Class Boat Tender – The Royal Navy’s 2 Boat Tenders, Tarantul and Skorpion, are arguably Svetlana’s most powerful strategic weapon.  Able to carry 4 Pauk Class SDBs across interstellar distances, they have helped Svetlana mitigate the effects of having a small starship navy.  Tarantul was plagued, early on, by stress fractures in her carrying arms, but that problem has apparently been corrected.

Systemships
The Svetlanan Royal Navy boasts 24 SDBs and 6 other non-starships organized in four squadrons.

400ton Pauk Class SDB – Tough and fast, these SDBs are certainly Svetlana’s most successful design.  They are well armored and carry heavy particle weapons.

400ton Loshad Class Transport Rider – Designed to fit the same docking clamps on Tarantul Class boat tenders as those used by Pauk Class SDBs, the SRN’s 6 Loshad Class Transport Riders greatly increase the Navy’s transportation capacity, but must compete with the Pauks for lift.

Fighters

Falcon Class Light Fighter/Trainer – A small reaction drive fighter, the Falcon performs acceptably in a planetary point defense role, but is exclusively used in a trainer role by Svetlanan forces.  It is heavily exported to the Trinity cluster and other trailing states, many of whom regard the Falcon a front line fighter.

Fishhawk Class Light Fighter – Svetlana’s first gravitic fighter, the Fishhawk is actually a hybrid.  It has a relatively low-powered gravitic drive, supplemented by hi-thrust reaction boosters for tactical use.  The Fishhawk has a reputation for being unforgiving and tricky to fly.  Its accident rate has classed it a “widowmaker”, but it remains a popular export fighter and is the backbone of Royal fighter forces.

Flitter Class Fighter/Attack – A reaction drive craft, the Flitter differs from the Falcon in having a smaller powerplant, larger fuel tanks, and armament designed for ground attack rather than space interdiction.  It is also heavily exported to the Trinity Cluster.

Scout Service
No seperate scout service exists.  The Royal Navy performs many scout service roles.

Svetlanan Army

Coming soon…
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:22, Mon 28 Feb 2011.

Krim Confederation Navy

Overview
There is no Confederation Navy per se, as each Chelou, Kieran and Anapa maintain their own naval forces.  Theoretically, they should work together under unified command during times of emergency, but this has never been tested and is not practiced.

Doctrine
Given the unique organizational structure of the Confederation, it is unsuprising that coherent combat doctrine does not exist.  However, the various ships of the representative worlds do collaborate of search and rescue exercises, deep space refueling, and similar activities.  Ships in Chelou and Kieran service spend significantly more time planetside than most navies.

Industrial Base
Molotov Conglomerates subsidiary shipyard on Chelou has limited starship overhaul and repair facilities, but no construction facilities exist in the Confederation.  All ships are purchased from elsewhere.

Starships
The member worlds of the Krim Confederation together muster 15 starships total.  The ships are a motley collection of scouts and modified traders purchased from every shipyard in the sector.  They primarily conduct diplomatic, courier, survey, and government transport missions, with the occassional anti-piracy patrol.

Systemships
The 20 smallcraft in Chelou, Kieran, and Anapa service are primarily aging shuttles from the Free Republic and Halowon built slow boats.

Fighters
Chelou maintains two squadrons of Falcon Class reaction drive fighter trainers, purchased from Svetlana.  Kieran has eight squadrons of second-hand Centurion reaction drive fighters acquired from the Halowon Empire.

Scout Service
In organization, discipline, and missions, the navies of Chelou and Kieran more closely resemble scouts than professional navies.  No seperate scout service exists.

Krim Confederation Army

Overview
Once again, no Confederation Army exists.  Anapa has no army, while Chelou and Kieran's armies are both conscript armies with very small active components and relatively larger reserves.

Doctrine
The active cadres of each army are organized for disaster response and humanitarian relief, as well as training of conscript citizens for future reserve service.

Equipment
In general, very little heavy equipment exists in either army.  Tanks, in particular, are in short supply.  Kieran, however, does maintain an Air Mobile regiment for disaster response and Chelou's mountain troops are considered very proficient.  Chelou's army is equipped to mostly equipped to TL-9, with some TL-8 holdovers, while Kieran's army is almost entirely TL-8.

Units

Regular Army - Cadre armies, the ground forces of Chelou and Kieran have few active troops in other than training roles.  Although they could, at full mobilization, field a respectable number of mobile infantry regiments, command and control would likely be a serious issue as neither army conducts exercises above the battalion level.

Chelou Mountain Regiment - The closest thing the Confederation has to a deployable soldiery, Chelou's Mountaineers have a higher percentage of professional soldiers than any other unit.  They rely on training, teamwork, and local knowledge to compensate for modest equipment.  The mountaineers gain practical experience by performing winter search and rescue functions.

Kieran Air Mobile Regiment - Kieran's Air Mobile regiment is equipped for lightning transport of lightly armed troops.  It doubles as a fairly robust humanitarian assistance capability.

Commandos - Some reconnasaince squads of the Chelou Mountain regiment might earn apellation as commandos, but no formal special forces structure exists in either army.

Marines - none.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:27, Mon 24 Jan 2011.

Reserved for the Republic of Antioch

Reserved for the polities of the Trinity System

Approximately 90 civilian starships and dozens of systemships form the backbone of trade in the Halowon sector.  New ships are added at a rate of 4-6 per year, while attrition runs at 1-2 ships lost per year to various causes.

Merchant Lines

Ozawa Lines – Clearly the largest and most powerful merchant line, Ozawa’s strength is demonstrated by the fact it has colonized a planet.  The planet, moon actually, Ozawa is located in the Vauclain system and serves as the hub for Ozawa Lines operations.  Ozawa Lines is unique among merchants in the sector in that the company operates eight, 1000ton J2 bulk carriers.  These operate on routes that radiate out from the Vauclain system to Alsace, Espiaux, Svetlana, and Tupolev, with continuing service on to Halowon.  Ozawa Lines also functions as an interface line between the three major polities.  Lastly, the line operates the sector’s only existing merchant jumpship, Titan.  Titan’s spindly arms are capable of enclosing non-starships of up to four hundred tons and carrying them across interstellar distances.  The line operates a total of 17 starships and 4 small SDBs.

Halowon Lines (HL) – A government operated shipping line, HL’s fleet of 13 free traders, 10 systemships, and dozens of small craft provide the majority of shipping within the Halowon Empire.  HL is sometimes accused of using government subsidies to undercut competition on routes within the Empire, preventing other lines from gaining a foothold on intra-Halowon trade.

Espiaux System Lines (ESL) – Originally purely a system line between Espiaux, Savigny, and the boxes, ESL has grown to be the largest merchant line in the Free Republic.  ESL operates 10 starships and a dozen systemships.

Interstellar Consolidated Enterprises (ICE) – Owned by the royal family of Svetlana, ICE’s fleet of 9 small traders and 10 small craft offers regular service from Svetlana to Espiaux, Tupolev, and PErseus, as well as within the Svetlana system.

Yabloko Transport Lines – A 6 ship line based on Chelou, Yabloko conducts semi-regular runs up the trace to Tupolev and irregular runs to Antioch and Trinity.

Ruede Lines – Registered on Halowon, Ruede Lines 5 free and fat traders specialize in long-haul routes from Halowon to the Krim system and Trinity cluster.  Ruede’s ships tend to be armed befitting their routes through relatively dangerous space.

Nightshade Interstellar – The most notorious merchant line in the sector, Nighshade was often alleged to be involved in pirate and smuggling activities.  The line was officially dissolved in 5736 after the Svetlana Royal Navy Ship Terjets destroyed two Nightshade traders over Santander.  Two remaining free traders and one scout from the former line may be found in the Trinity cluster.

Free Republic Factors (FRF) – This small line operates 3 fat traders and competes directly with ESL on the Espiaux-St. Croix-Alsace run.

Central Espiaux Transport Interstellar (CETI) – A small line consisting of 2 fat traders and 1 free trader, CETI is more speculative than its more established FRE cousins.  CETI ships may generally be found operating anywhere from Marsoui to Perseus and Tupolev.

Corvus Trading Corporation (CTC) – One of the ruling companies on Oberon, Corvus has long dominated Trinity system traffic with its fleet of 8 200ton barques.  Corvus operates Oberon’s downport, the only port in the Trinity cluster capable of performing overhauls. The company also owns one fat trader, which makes regular runs to Perseus.

Star Traders – Only possessing one starship, the majority of Star’s business comes from intrasystem traffic between Chelou and Kieran.  To this end, the line also operates three systemships.

Arrow Lines – A Callisto government line, Arrow has traditionally operated small craft between the various worlds of the Trinity system, but has recently commissioned the construction of a free trader from Kurth & Sons on Alsace.

Tramps

Xyrks Mercantile – A two ship tramp line based on Svetlana.

Dagmara Transport – Founded by eccentric Kieran entrepreneur Brandon Jolly, Dagmara’s single trader Zoya operates on the Halowon Trace between Tupolev and Krim.

Joan D’Arc Ventures – A single tramp free trader, Joan D’Arc is run by the highly colorful Kama Starling, a fiery trader whose brash negotiating style and flashy manner have made her a colorful source of gossip in spacer bars throughout the subsector.

Selrik Dawn – Perhaps the most famous single free trader in the sector, Selrik Dawn was built in 5644, the same year the Plague hit the sector.  Nearing one hundred years old, Selrik Dawn played an important role in the evacuation of the colony on Jervis Bay in 5645 and has been servicing the various worlds of the sector since before most of their residents were born.  Most recently the ship was in the news after Celene Hubert, her Captain was arrested in the Tupolev system for murder after the Dawn collided with a Halowon Lines slow boat.

Zoe – Registered out of the Republic of Qorom, Zoe was recently released from detention on Tupolev after being seized by the Halowon government for illegal refueling on Nestor.  She is often quoted in reference to gripes about harassment by Halowon authorities.

Other tramps – Approximately one dozen additional single ship lines ply the spaceways, either going where the cargos take them or trying to eke out a living serving the sector's less populated worlds.

Pirates

Often featured in holo-vids as a pirate haven, it is questionable how much of a pirate base the tiny, dirt-poor colony on Santander could actually be.  Nevertheless, it was the home of the notorious Nightshade Interstellar, until the company’s dissolution in 5736, and is often touted by armchair observers as the only logical nexus for pirate activity in the sector.  In general, piracy has a way of capturing the popular imagination and is sometimes the first association planet-bound folk have with space travel.  To be assured, the cold, lonely depths of space offer the possibility of raiding and the combined patrol capabilities of the sector's navies cannot cover the vast space to be patrolled.  Furthermore, the sector’s historical average of 1-2 merchant ships lost per year is slightly higher than the occasional accident or drive failure would suggest.  Former Nightshade ships such as Viper, Nighthawk (not to be confused with the FRN scout of the same name), and Nightshade herself are often put forward as possible “pirates of opportunity”, and rumors of Aslan raiders are also popular.  However, actual proof of piracy or alien marauding has, as yet, remained irritatingly elusive for pirate enthusiasts.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:05, Wed 19 Jan 2011.

Reserved for others, both nebulous and nefarious