Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike.
Image Credit: Found here, but the source link linked there doesn't work. This seems to be a differently coloured version.
Canon: N/A
Permissions: Can use Firemane stuff because I own the company.
Links: Into Darkness, After Darkness, Elpsis, Inferno Platoon, Shazora Jai Vahal, Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, Republican Guard, Communion, Phoebe, Firemane Industries, House Kerrigan.
SETTING INFORMATION
Military Base Name: Citadel of the Voidstrikers.
Classification: Clandestine asteroid base.
Location: Asteroid called RA-452986, nicknamed Exigence Rock, Sivas System, Tephrike. Located in the vast asteroid field that encompasses the system.
Affiliation: Unchained, Tephrike.
Population: Sparse.
Demographics: The asteroid base is populated and controlled by members of the Unchained. In terms of species, their make-up is rather diverse. Twi'leks, Trandoshans, Mon Calamari, Duros, Mirialans and Nautolans are common. One can also find humans and near-humans. The remaining population consists of droids used for maintenance/engineering, mining and guard duties.
Accessibility: The base is quite difficult to find or access. For one, it is located on an asteroid in a remote, largely unknown system. The asteroid field itself provides natural protection from many attacks, as the field is large and dense making it difficult for hostile ships - especially larger ones to navigate into a position capable of striking the facility. This obviously does not make attack impossible, but imposes serious natural hazards. Moreover, it lies underground, as it has been tunnelled into the rock. The base is controlled and guarded by the Unchained, a militant rebel movement. Only authorised personnel are granted access. The Unchained do not have a lot of fancy tech, but have set up traps and turrets to guard the perimeter area.
Accessibility: Rather difficult to find. Tephrike and the Sivas System as a whole have been isolated from the rest of the galaxy for many centuries. RA-452986 does not appear on any maps and has only very recently been colonised by the Unchained, who keep it a secret. Moreover, it lies in a dense asteroid field that is not easy to navigate and can be quite dangerous to large ships. The Unchained do business with smuggling groups to fund their operations, but jealously guard access to their facilities and the coordinates to it.
Description: The melodramatically named Citadel of the Voidstrikers is located on a barren, airless rock among many floating in the dark void of the Sivas System. The only inhabited planet in said system is a war-torn, impoverished world called Tephrike. The asteroid field it belongs to encompasses much of the system. The Unchained, a group of Tephriki renegades and escaped political prisoners, have chosen it as a secretive base of operations. The base has been set up at the behest of the Apella, the Unchained's general assembly. The operation was carried out under the supervision of Advocate Phoebe, one of the dual leaders of the Unchained's diarchy.
The asteroid RA-452986 gives them a staging post for raids against the Dominion of Light and the Disciples of the Vader on Tephrike. Moreover, they can mine it for resources, refuel their ships and bring people they have saved on Tephrike here. It is a lot closer to the planet than their main settlement, so it is important to have a place where freed prisoners can be given medical care and all that. Moreover, it is outside of Firemane's immediate orbit.
The Unchained may have an accord with the megacorp, but distrust it. Firemane may have rescued them from the Dominion concentration camps they were interned in, but this was an inadvertent byproduct of their actions rather than their intent. Moreover, they are at variance ideologically, since the Unchained are big on democracy and Firemane is not. The dramatically named Citadel of the Voidstrikers has been tunnelled into the asteroid, as the Unchained do not want to risk the dome being discovered and attacked easily.
Thus the underground facility has been built into a hollow that was bored out inside of the asteroid. This means the location is difficult to find, even without prohibitively expensive stealth devices. The Unchained have also set up broadcasting equipment so that they can beam propaganda onto Tephrike. For this reason, there is a strong transmitter. The Dominion of Light and the Disciples of the Vader are totalitarian regimes that exercise tight control over the media, so the Unchained strive to counter their propaganda in order to undermine these evil regimes. For this reason, the rock has become an important hub for a small but dedicated group of Unchained 'hacktivists' who strive to pierce the iron curtain on the green planet they once called home.
As can be expected, living conditions on the base are fairly Spartan. There are entertainment facilities, but these are comparatively small-scale and basic. The Unchained aim to be an egalitarian movement and thus do not like it when officers live extravagantly and have vastly better living conditions than common soldiers. Of course, this cannot be entirely prevented, but the living conditions of command staff are not vastly different from those serving under them. Base personnel tend to be assigned to the Citadel on a rotational basis. When it comes to military organisation, the Unchained have a dual model, combining a militia system with a smaller, professional strike force. The soldiers stationed here are the professionals.
Music is one of the ways for the base personnel to bond and pass the time during their off-hours. The personnel stationed at the Citadel have set up their own music band. Soldiers often come together to partake in songs. Some remember the loss and suffering they endured in the camps, while others mock the banal, bureaucratic pettiness that is part of daily life in the Dominion or the Vaderite Imperium. Naturally, the base also features an armoury, medical and training facilities. There is also a meditation chamber for Force-Users and while there is no dedicated Force order, space has been made available for mages to hone their skills.
The asteroid contains deposits of trenomite, veins of ostrine, and trace elements of kif and other ores that are being mined by the Unchained to fund their activities. Underground tunnels connect the mining shafts to the actual base. Firemane has no presence on the asteroid, but is broadly aware of the Unchained's presence and activities on it because its intelligence service has an outpost in the system. There are various underground mining tunnels. Some have been dug by the Unchained, but there are old shafts that predate their presence. Some of the latter have collapsed. It is not easy for scanners to penetrate the rock, which makes the tunnels useful for clandestinely moving things around.
Ironically, the construction of the base was aided by Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori. With Siobhan Kerrigan in a coma, Elpsis is the acting matriarch of House Kerrigan-Alcori and she has decided to use her new role productively by making charitable donations to various rebel and refugee groups she considers worth supporting, as well as environmental causes. The Unchained are big on freedom, but also subscribe to the old adage that freedom is not free, but purchased with blood. As a result, they do not take kindly to intruders and are quite security-conscious.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Command Centre: The nerve centre of the base. All command functions are exercised from here and it is possible to initiate a full-scale lockdown. The command centre includes a conference room and the communications equipment, allowing the commander to remain in contact with the Unchained back home as well as with patrols in space and field teams. Activities on the asteroid and in the void are monitored from here.
General Dock: Carefully concealed in the middle of the base. The largest ship that can be accomodated is a corvette. Typically it is home to fighters, shuttles and decently sized freighters. If the Unchained manage to capture vessel during an excursion, it ends up here to be stripped of parts be given a new coat of paint. A few laser cannons and defence turrets have been carefully concealed to provide a measure of defence against intruders.
The People's Arsenal: A small-scale armaments factory. Production is extremely modest compared to what the typical megacorporation could produce, but helpful for the partisans. It does not serve commercial purposes, but is focused on providing equipment and munitions for the rebels.
Beacon of the Untainted Truth: A media station the Unchained use to broadcast propaganda onto Tephrike and subvert the Vaderites and the Dominion. It bounces a single to a couple other stations in the system so that it is harder to find the asteroid. The beacon is located on the exterior of the asteroid. Since it is rotating, the Unchained have set up a network of them on the six cardinal points of it so every direction is serviced.
It broadcasts in several languages. The news presenters are all Tephriki. Sometimes otherwise mundane coded phrases are inserted to pass on messages to resistance fighters. The Beacon beams news and propaganda back to those who can access it. Listening to 'enemy propaganda' and 'fake news' is a dangerous proposition for Dominion or Vaderite subjects, since both regimes are extremely oppressive and will punish it with a stay in a concentration camp. Still, it is the closest thing many people get to hearing the truth and it gives them hope.
Barracks: Contains the living facilities for base personnel. The dormitories are not without their amenities, but on the whole living conditions are fairly Spartan. Connected to the armoury, mess hall and the entertainment areas. There are also living quarters for Tephriki fugitives the Unchained have been able to rescue.
Life Support Control Centre: Provides, as the name implies, the base with life support since it is located on an airless rock in the void. The base features a redundant life support system with backups to make it more difficult to compromise base personnel.
The Stella Jai Anhala Memorial Entertainment Centre: It is a lot humbler than the somewhat fancy name implies, but still of importance to the base personnel. Contains the entertainment area of the base. Named after a Mirialan prisoner who perished in Serene Springs. Originally known as Stella Artisan. She was compassionate and good at raising the morale of her fellow inmates during these grim times. She had a passion for singing and organised a music band and theatre troupe. Her last name is posthumous. Translated into Basic it means 'of Freedom'. The base's musical band does live performances here.
Remembrance of the Lost Spirits: A humble, dignified memorial for those who perished in the concentration camps the Unchained were rescued from - and who still suffer like this. It consists of the statue of a robed figure, with both gender and species shrouded. The figure can be identified as humanoid and is looking down on a broken chain. The figure has a dagger, but it rests on a belt instead of being drawn.
Repository of the Forgotten: The outbreak of the Gulag Virus caused Tephrike to regress. A lot of knowledge was lost - or purposefully distorted. The repository is a storehouse to gather artefacts and the like of Tephrike's forgotten past. Many of these items are sent to the Unchained's main base, but it also includes evidence of Vaderite and Dominion atrocities, which is used for propaganda broadcasts. A small library is attached to it.
Training Facilities: Contains a gym, a shooting range, as well as a place to spar and other facilities that allow base personnel to hone their skills and remain in shape. There is a small meditation chamber for Force-Users. Several Unchained are former inmates of a Dominion prison camp that held 'heretical' Force-Sensitives. However, their level of experiences varies greatly and they have had bad experiences with theocratic regimes. Thus Force-Users are directly integrated into the regular forces instead of being part of an exclusive order.
Healers' Wing: Contains the infirmary of the base. Ironically, although the Unchained are poor, conditions in the medical facility are actually better than what is typical on Tephrike because working with outsiders has given them access to more sophisticated medical equipment. The Unchained do not have a lot of troops, so they have a vested interest in keeping them alive. Still, kolto and bacta are not cheap, so they will often have to rely on more conventional medicine. However, there are a few Force healers on the base. None of them are masters of the Force, but they can use their preternatural abilities to treat the wounded and sick.
SECURITY
Medium
- The greatest strength of the base is its obscurity. It is not built to withstand an overwhelming assault, but has decent protection for its purpose. The asteroid field itself provides natural protection from many attacks, as the field is large and dense making it difficult for hostile ships to navigate into a position capable of striking the facility. Moreover, the Unchained have laid space mines to impede the use of certain routes. This obviously does not make attack impossible, but imposes serious natural hazards. Moreover, the base is underground.
- The Unchained have installed hidden man traps and repulsors on the cliffs to snare or repel enemies who try to tackle them. There are also some land mines and other traps. The base has a number of external laser and flak cannon batteries to provide a measure of protection against intruders.
- The facility is monitored by perimeter sensors and a camera network. Retractable autoblasters are placed within the base, along with ray shield projectors and turadium bulkheads. Sensitive areas within the base are warded by heavy blast doors, require keycard access and have biometric security. The retinal scanners can tell whether the retina they are scanning belongs to a living person. The base features a redundant life support system.
- Protected by a garrison of the Unchained, including a number of Force adepts of varying skill set and ability. It is a well-trained force, but not a larger one. The garrison includes a unit of the Hydra Assault Force. There are also some starfighters that can be deployed against attack.
The outbreak of the Gulag Virus had a profound impact on almost every inhabited world in the Galaxy. Galactic commerce came to an end, billions died from the plague and many more due to internal strife. Governments collapsed and many planets succumbed to anarchy. The repercussions for Tephrike were extreme. Things turned from bad to worse as the survivors warred amongst themselves. Tephrike's small Jedi enclave tried to fight the darkness, but ended up becoming the very evil they fought against.
Influenced by a warped interpretation of the old Jedi code, they sought to bring the planet under the control of a radical Jedi theocracy, the Dominion of Light, which took totalitarian control to new heights. Inevitably, there was opposition. Heretical Jedi formed a Sith cult that believed all aliens should be enslaved and treated as chattel. Both were opposed by the Republican Guard, a secularist faction that fought for the inalienable right of Non-Force-Users not to be oppressed by space mages, but often had to resort to terrorist methods. Despite its many internal convulsions, the Dominion of Light remained the dominant power on the planet.
The secret police established a network of brainwashing and forced labour camps. The camps housed a wide range of convicts, ranging from petty criminals to political prisoners. Those who managed to reforge themselves were called the Repentant, who had been stripped of their old personalites by Jedi mentalists. Only a few prisoners reached this stage. The 'redeemed' were exploited for propaganda purposes. In truth, life in the camps was characterised by corruption, abuse, arbitrary violence and slave labour. The camp guards were taught to regard the prisoners as less than sentient, for they had been tainted by the dark side.
Then Firemane discovered Tephrike. After initial skirmishes, the Dominion sought accommodation. Firemane dispatched a delegation to its capital to initiate negotiations. However, an extremist faction in the Dominion's regime regarded this as heresy. Firemane's delegation came under attack. Elpsis, one of its members and the adoptive daughter of Firemane's ruling couple, was captured by the Jedi Inquisition and imprisoned in Serene Springs. There she was brainwashed into becoming 'Jedi Roxane'. Firemane declared war and proceeded to enter an alliance of convenience with the Republican Guard. A short, but intense campaign followed. After heavy fighting, the allied forces were able to seize a major Dominion fortress.
Meanwhile, Elpsis was able to eventually overcome her brainwashing and defeat her captors. At the same time, a group of prisoners led by camp elder called Phoebe instigated a rebellion. They were able to prevail with the help of a Firemane assault force that had already liberated the Liberation Education Centre. Unwilling to get bogged down in a conflict far from home and with allies it distrusted, Firemane decided to be satisfied with measured gains. The Dominion had been given a bloody nose, so it withdrew its troops.
However, Firemane did not want to entirely abandon Tephrike. The prisoners who had been rescued were given the choice between being resettled on a safe world or returning to Tephrike to continue the fight. The prisoners who left with them called themselves the Unchained. Firemane had rescued and inadvertently created the Unchained, but that was an unintended by-product of their punitive campaign. The Unchained needed the support of the outsiders, but they were also a group Firemane did not control. The Tephriki were loath to grow dependent on the outsiders, whose ideology was at variance with theirs.
While the Unchained established a settlement with the help of the space people, they were committed to self-reliance. Moreover, many of them had not forgotten their brethren, who still suffered under tyrannical rulers on Tephrike. They could not launch an invasion of Tephrike to unseat the Dominion and the Vaderites, but they could carry out raids to eliminate war criminals, rouse the population and rescue prisoners.
When the Unchained returned to Tephrike, they did so in small steps. Their first step was to set up a clandestine base of operations they could use to launch raids from and harbour refugees in. One of the features of the Sivas System is a vast asteroid field that makes it difficult to traverse for large spaceships. In the old days, it had been filled with hidey holes for pirates, smugglers and other criminal elements. Now it would serve as a secretive base for the Unchained.
In the process they came across RA-452986, one of many asteroids floating in the void. Not only was it an easily defensible location, it had largely untapped ore reservoirs that the Unchained could exploit to provide funding for their cause. Funding the expedition and the subsequent construction of the base proved an issue. The Unchained were poor and continuing the cloning programme cost a lot, though it eventually started bringing in revenue when the Unchained began to sell cloned organs and body parts to people who had lost them due to war, disease or accidents.
Moreover, the Unchained staged raids on companies that abused clones. While Firemane was fine with protecting them in its sphere as long as they did not cause trouble, it was not too interested in providing funds without strings attached to them. However, when Siobhan Kerrigan suffered near-fatal injuries in her duel with a Sith lord, Elpsis became acting head of House Kerrigan-Alcori. She was still only a lieutenant in Firemane's military, but her rather unwanted promotion technically gave her access to her family's wealth, though she was disdainful of luxury and materialism.
Instead she decided to use the family fortune productively by making donations to what she considered worthy causes. The Unchained were one of the beneficiaries. This aroused mixed feelings on their part, though it obviously helped. To build their base, the renegades tunnelled into part of the asteroid, setting up an underground facility beneath the rock. This would ensure that their new habitat was not easily discovered or attacked. They called their new base the Citadel of the Voidstrikers. Regardless of faction, Tephriki love bombastic or flowery names. The base was fortified against external attack, but its greatest strength lay in its obscurity. Surveys soon discovered that the asteroid contained deposits of various ores. Using their newly-acquired funds, the Unchained purchased mining droids - or trons, as the Tephriki call droids for idiosyncratic reasons. To preserve the secrecy of their activities, mining operations moved into subterranean shafts.
As part of their propaganda efforts, the Unchained installed a small broadcasting studio and a transmitter inside the base. This was meant to counter Dominion and Vaderite propaganda and tell their people the truth. Elpsis' friend Natalie, a career insurgent, helped set up the station. The Unchained were smart enough to know that a few broadcasts would not suddenly galvanise an indoctrinated population to man the barricades. Indeed, only a fraction of the population would be able to receive their broadcasts, let alone be receptive them. But it would help undermine the iron curtain. It was a start on the long road to freedom.
