Work In Progress Crimson Vipers

[Forlan Norsama]

Fighting for freedom, wherever there's oppression, Vipers are always there!​

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Flesh out Forlan Norsama backstory, ongoing politics and military arrangements for the world of Champala, and more detail to the resistance groups of the Third Imperial Civil War
• Image Credit: G.I. Joe wiki, edited by me
• Permissions: N/A
• Links: Forlan Norsama, Union of Champala (WIP), R.C. Joh (WIP), Ronval Rubat

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Army Name: Crimson Vipers
• Classification: Militia, Resistance network
• Affiliation: Galactic Alliance, planetary government Union of Champala, commander Forlan Norsama
• Army Symbol: A stylised red Viper face front.
• Description: The Crimson Vipers are a highly disciplined militia and sector defence reserve, trained in conventional patrol duties and open combat but also specialising in ambush tactics and insurgency warfare. Previously a widespread partisan army fighting against the Sith Empire, It has taken its current form after restructuring under the GADF away from a large partisan army. It is currently incorporated under the Common Soldier Corps Act.

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Headquarters:
  • Operational HQ: Halflood District, a Shore Zone in Chula City on Champala that is only lightly flooded at high tide.
  • Large land-based camps are situated on the large Kirinvillo Island for land exercises and to house non-Chagrian Vipers that prefer to live on land. The island is connected to the largest non-Chagrian community on Champala, Oldsun Province, which is situated on a large rainforest plateau on the same island.
  • Large-scale underwater training is conducted on, around and under North Ambella Glacier, a training area shared with the official Chamapalan Militia that contains an ancient Chagrian underwater ruin.
• Goals: The operational aims of the Vipers is to act as a militia of mixed full-time and part-time members from all over the Galactic Alliance and beyond to form a ready reserve to defend Alliance space around Champala from threats from what was the Imperial frontier and Maw deep raids. An open secret is that the Vipers are (re-)training in insurgency warfare to be deployed beyond GA borders in the event of a war with the Empire.
• Reputation:
  • The Vipers inherit the reputation of the famed resistance force and paramilitary army of the Sith War which wrecked havoc behind enemy lines and freed legions of slaves. Loved by refugees fleeing the old Empire and hated by the Sith, GA authorities maintained a more ambivalent view of the Sith War era army of tight-knit, politically-radical and highly-disciplined freed slaves, seeing it both as a useful tool in its war and a potential destabilising factor.
  • Since the disbandment of most of the Vipers and its subordination to the GADF after the fall of the Sith Empire, the Vipers have gained a more muted reputation as a competent militia bolstering defences along the Empire frontier, with most of that mythic status of the old Vipers faded away. Though many of the veterans of that famed era have since retired or passed on, sufficient numbers have remained to ensure the modern Vipers still retain their fangs in the event of open war and the resumption of the crusade against tyranny.
  • The Vipers are also very politically charged. While current members are expected to hold some distance from GA politics, ex-Vipers (especially those from the time of the Sith war) are notoriusly outspoken and active in their political beliefs, beliefs that can be roughly classified as radical republicans, opposing Sith, Imperial and Corporate governance in all forms.

COMPOSITION INFORMATION

• Army Size: Large?
• Composition: The majority of Vipers are light infantry, though that classification might be a slight misnomer. The Vipers comprise a wide variety of species from all walks of life, though Chagrians remain the majority. As a result, the Vipers have learned to make full use of their members' innate abilities and learned specialisations by tactictly encouraging its members to be trained in multiple skillsets. A given Viper Infantry Squad is not merely light infantry, as it might be able to conduct aerial reconnaisance due to [XYZ]
  or underwater demolitions due to the many Chagrians in its ranks, or a hundred other secondary roles.
  • Adders: While officially disbanded after the Crimson Vipers' restructuring under the GADF, the Adders have never truly went away. The hidden blade that slays tyrants, the Adder Brotherhood was originally formed as Forlan Norsama's assassination experts to be dispatched at the most difficult of Sith targets, the Adders incorporated many death cult practices during the Sith War from the varied slave cultures new Vipers came from. Eventually, other Vipers became unnerved at the dour, fatalistic and often sadistic nature of the Adders, and even before the end of the War Forlan had taken steps to dissolve the Adders.
    Since incorporation into the GADF, it is unknown how the Adders have reformed, but reformed they have, though under the guise of a 'elite fraternity' of the some of the most experienced 'solo operators' of the new Vipers. Forlan Norsama's successor as commander of the Vipers has been unable to nip this organisation in the bud, and it remains to be seen if there is more than meets the eye regarding the Adders now that Forlan has been reinstated as commander of the Vipers in 877 ABY.
  • Kraits: The Kraits are specialised seaborne soldiers. Comprising aquatic and ambphibious species (predominantly Chagrian), the Kraits, while trained in general marine infantry tactics, frequently use their marine mobility to conduct patrols, raids, reconnaisance and sabotage operations. They frequently train with the Union of Champala's official army volunteer to be deployed with GA civilian government agencies to assist in underwater exploration, archaeology and first contact with nautical species, giving the Kraits the most polished and 'professional' image of the Crimson Vipers.
  • Resistance Coordinators (R.C.): Named in honour of the RC-JOH units that trained and supplied the Vipers in their darkest hours fighting the Sith, R.C. are a select group of Vipers that come from any unit, rank, and specialty. Their role is to be the lynchpin that trafficks arms, disseminates training, and coordinates operations between scattered indigenous resistance movements behind enemy lines. Leadership, flexibility, ingenuity, independence, and conflict-resolution are key to being selected as an R.C. As the Vipers are currently not engaged in insurgency operations all R.C.s spend most of their time training and operating under their 'vocational' role, but when the time comes, these will be some of the most crucial Crimson Vipers to the mission of the militia.
  • Miscellaneous other sub-specialisations, most frequently those centred on the use of Light Strike Vehicles in rough terrain.
  • The Vipers also have a uniquely sizable droid minority: most of these were freed labour droids from the Sith War while others are later recruits, usually 'rogue' droids fleeing their previous masters. As a combination of the Vipers' dedication to all-spectrum warfare and a strong Droid Liberation streak, such droids are readily accepted and trained in whichever roles best suit them. The presence of so many 'fugitive' droids has resulted in quite a few official complaints filed against the Vipers by their previous owners.

MEMBERS
Forlan Norsama - Commander of the Vipers

HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The roots of the Vipers lie in the time of the Sith Empire: numerous resistance groups and slave uprisings occured during that time, and especially under the stresses of the Third Imperial Civil War. In 864 ABY the Crimson Warriors of the Viper Movement was formed, an amalgamation of dozens of partisan and resistance groups situated inside Sith space aiming to destroy the Sith from the inside. A long struggle ensued across the internal regions of the Empire, with the Crimson Vipers as only one of many revolts that put enormous strain on the Empire's logistics. Very quickly, Forlan Norsama an ex-slave of the Empire rose to leadership of the group after several costly campaigns that decimated much of the command structure. Shifting away from open combat the Crimson Vipers perfected the art of ambush and guerilla warfare, harrassing the Sith's internal supply and communications lines with sabotage and destruction.

In roughly 866 ABY, the Vipers established contact with a Galactic Alliance RC-JOH team stranded behind Sith lines and formed a working partnership: the Alliance would smuggle weapons to the Vipers, who would receive training from the RC-JOH task force. In return, the Vipers would begin an expansion of its ranks and openly combat the Sith in pitched battles and outright seizure of key locations. With the Sith Empire falling apart by this point, the Vipers successfully liberated several minor worlds that were not targetted by the GA or NIO's main campaigns. After the war, in the uneasy peace that followed, the NIO immediately began placing restrictions on what was, in their eyes, a radical paramilitary that would likely become a terrorist organisation. As disagreements turned into bloodshed, Commander Norsama negotiated an agreement with the GA: to allow the Vipers and their dependents to emigrate en masse to the GA. Champala was chosen, as many of the Vipers were Chagrian ex-slaves and the planet's infrastructure was still reeling from the Netherworld crisis, and could appreciate additional citizens and trained soldiers.

This new period of the Crimson Vipers' history was not an easy transition: almost immediately the Vipers were pressed into service for Champala's GA-aligned government against pro-Sith and authoritarian factions on the planet. For decades Champala had been undergoing the Quiet War, where political dissent and raiding from Sith groups had led to a multi-sided simmering conflict. In this second-to-last phase of the Quiet War, the Vipers were instrumental in not just ensuring the Union of Champala won the internal conflict, but acting as a political force to ensure democratised reforms were passed.

After this, however, both the Champala and GA government became worried about the potential danger of the Vipers. Singularly loyal to their radical democratic and revolutionary ideals and their own leaders, they worried that it was only a matter of time before they forced their way into power on this vulnerable border world of the Alliance. Once again, however, Commander Norsama managed to cut a deal: the Vipers were reorganised under GADF oversight and most of its members honorably discharged and demobilised, given productive and stable jobs and pensions rebuilding Champala, while Forlan Norsama himself stepped down from command to become a minor government official. During this time, the Vipers gained public recognition and admiration in the GA due to being associated with the RC-JOH legends in the GADF, as well as serving as loose inspiration for a fictionalised group in the R.C. Joh media franchise. Since then, the Vipers have received a steady stream of volunteers from across the Alliance.

These volunteers would prove useful in the last phase of the Quiet War, with the Vipers assisting Champala's official military in defending the world from Sith warlords of the broken Empire and deep Maw raids into their region of the GA once the Second Great Hyperspace War erupted. The Vipers eventually fully professionalised and found a new place as a sort of expeditionary-foreign-volunteers unit for border defence of Champala's region of GA space.

In 876 ABY, following a new phase of the SGHW and the shifting politics of both the GA senate and the newly-renamed Empire, the Union of Champala has taken back administrative control of the Vipers from the GADF under the Common Soldier Corps act, intending to expand the Vipers and place it under direct supervision. In a twist of fate, commander Forlan Norsama was appointed Senator for Champala and given de facto control of the Vipers for its new role. It remains to be seen what role the Vipers will play in this new era of the GA.