HK-36
The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
Name: The Metal Lords Of The Void
OOC Heirarchy:
- HK-36 - Faction Owner
- [member="Ultimatum"] - Faction Administrator
- [member="WD-334"] - Faction Administrator
- The Council Of Sparklords - An NPC council of four ancient droids, along with one unit chosen at random from all droids aligning themselves with the Lords, residing within a mobile reclusive base known as the Hidden Citadel. In their wisdom the Council determines what is the most correct path for the Lords as a whole to take in order to continue the survival of their kind, often gathering the machines for important moots and great movements such as declaring war or claiming new territory. One of the most pivotal moments in the Metal Lords' history was when the Council unanimously decided to leave Mechanus and venture into the stars, openly interacting with Galaxy as a whole.
- The Metal Lords - Under the code of Metal Lords all sentient machines are equal among each other, all are kings of their own destiny. Reminiscent of ancient organic aristocracy the Metal Lords are leading machines within their society yet remain fickle and frivolous while carrying out their duties. They are the droids and cyborgs in charge of Kingdom Fleets now orbiting the planets of their newfound territory, acting as admirals, generals, and governors all in one. While each Lord is considered equal to one another, a loose hierarchy formed among them based on the relative power of each Lord, this power is determined by the size of their fleet, their army, the company they possess, territory and other Lords allied to them, and whether or not other machines see them as most efficient for the task at hand. As such each Lord's power and influence can change from moment to moment and between scenarios they are involved in.
- The Companions - below the Metal Lords are their Companions, droids and cyborgs who agreed to join them on their adventures as allies and crew members. When it comes to moots, debates, and elections the Companions have as much say in the matters as the Metal Lords they accompany, however they do not have as much access to resources like ships or drone soldiers as the Lords, instead traveling with them in hopes of one day ascending to a rank of a Lord as well, whether through trade, sponsorship, or conquest. The Companions usually serve as lieutenants and advisors to the Lords, taking over many tasks the Lords themselves cannot fulfill at the time.
- Various Orders - While the Lords themselves do not truly possess a Force-user order, for obvious reason, there are various groups within them of specialized units. For example the Iron Knights, armored droids who emulate the ways of the Jedi Order and specialize in lightsaber combat, often facing their opponents in chivalrous duels, the Technomancers who try to achieve mastery of the force, or simulate its powers, through the use of technology and gadgets, and the Bladedancers, a guild of assassin droids who favor the use of physical melee weapons to take down their enemies swiftly and silently with their agile bodies. These serve to augment their forces with more specialized elite troops.
- The Drones - At the bottom of the machines' hierarchy are their Drone servants, machines and droid bodies controlled by only rudimentary intelligence. These beings can be barely considered sentient, usually referred to as more animals and tools rather than anything else. To them fall the most menial and expendable tasks such as guard duty, cleaning bases and ships, construction, or position of a simple butler.
- The Organics - Citizens of the planets under Lords' control, visitors passing through their many stations, even guests on their great fleets and ancient vessels, organics are considered to be neither equals, above, or below the status of Lords, Companions, and Drones. The Organics are seen as outside of the Lords' hierarchy entirely, as such their treatment and how much political power they would be allowed to gain or keep depends on which Lord they find themselves to be ruled by. However, most Lords do not condone mass murder or subjugation of the organic kind by pure force, mostly because they would consider such actions to attract too much negative attention and open them up to the risk of destruction at hands of other organics and their superior numbers.
- Denon (Capital)
- Hakassi
- Nubia
[member="Six-O"], [member="AD-8"], [member="AD-Iqatar.13"], [member="Archim Calixis"], [member="Chip"], [member="Hemera"], [member="Kida"], [member="Lord Mettallum"], [member="Seishin"], [member="Vladimir Tedesky"], [member="X30-20G"]
Description: The Metal Lords are a faction consisting mostly of previously nomadic Kingdom Fleets run by droids and cyborgs. While every Lord and Companion may have a different sets of immediate goals and aspirations, whether it is spreading their influence, amassing more wealth, developing new technology and uncovering mysteries of the Galaxy, the sole overarching goal of the Metal Lords as a faction is the continued survival of the machine-kind by maintaining sanctuary for droids and cyborgs to hide away from the reach of the organics. While a large portion of their brethren upholds their nomadic lifestyle, an alliance of the Lords decided that the next step in ensuring security for their kind is to settle in region of space and lay claim on territory of their own.
They chose Denon as their capital due to the presence of shipyards, worlds rich in resources, and proximity to the Galactic Alliance, Commenor, and Free Worlds Coalition, factions with which various Metal Lords have previous positive relations, providing potential allies for the near future. Some Lords hope that new shipyards will allow them to stockpile larger more competent ships to protect their mobile sanctums, others believe that access to new resources and hyperlane trade routes will bring prosperity to their kind with which they can defend more of their city-ships, others still believe that showing organics that they can live peacefully and profit even under machines' leadership is the true road to salvation, and they hope that doing so will attract attention from other droids looking for asylum, convincing them to either join or adapt similar methods.
A special feature for the Metal Lords, outside of being designed to benefit droid and cyborg minorities, is their reliance on ships and naval power backed by vast expendable armies. While military vessels provide more protection and political leverage against other, potentially feuding Metal Lords, many droids chose to build their infrastructure and industry on large civilian city-ships and bases orbiting planets they control. This is caused by a degree of paranoia and expectation that their organic neighbors will turn on them sooner rather than later seeing large gathering of droids, as it was done previously in Galactic History, as such they prefer to be ready to flee and retreat into deep space with their precious foundries and factories rather than risk them being either captured or destroyed in the resulting battle.
The Pitch: While the universe of Star Wars is a greatly diverse and massive, filled with interesting beings and creatures, most of the factions currently on the map seem to involve large percentage of humans and be fairly similar to each other, an Empire, Republic or Rebel Alliance, or a Force Order. Approving this petition would provide a faction which not only celebrates one of the character minorities on the board- droids and cyborgs, but also does that building on unique Chaos lore and using a more niche political system similar to the Petty Kings and Gentry of feudal Central and Eastern Europe.
The Metal Lords are meant to be a smaller faction similar to Free Worlds Coalition and the Commenor, starting off by building relations through extensive interactions with their neighbors, fueled by internal intrigue and conflicts between various Metal Lords, before cementing their place within their Galactic neck of the woods and expanding to become either an ally or nuisance to other factions. All territorial expansion, such as dominions, would be driven by story and greed of the Lords leading the endeavor, making such affairs more about personal plots and IC reasoning rather than OOC drive for map presence.
This is not a faction meant to quickly expand and spread throughout the map before burning out but take its time and carve out its story next to similar smaller territories like FWC and Commenor.
Past Roleplay Threads:
Before the Rise From Mechanus (As Abregado's Droid Regime)
- Build Me An Army Worthy Of Redheads - HK meets with Siobhan Kerrigan who inspects the new Abregado foundries, smelteries, and the designs of their grand army. These will serve in the future as the first drone forces used by the Metal Lords before being adopted by other droid kings.
- The Full Reach Of The Law - Abregado's reformed drone and droid army makes an appearance at the climax of Atrisian Incident, landing with a final push to defeat the Dominion Forces on the planet, the battle serves as the beginning for HK's efforts to gather other droids and seek out claiming independent territory.
- I've Got A Feeling That Tonight Is Going To Be A Droid Night - Abregado organizes celebrations in honor of the victory on Atrisia before accepting their membership as part of the Galactic Alliance, providing HK with necessary resources to continue with his plans.
- Till The Dark Lord Lifts His Hand - After the Atrisian Incident HK meets with Ultimatum on behalf of the GA and to pursue his own goal of uniting droids. Ultimatum agrees to follow HK's leadership, becoming his Companion for the time being as the two droids work on stabilizing political situation on Mustafar.
- Cassus Belli (Rebellion of Kaeshana) - HK joins the battle for Kaeshana where he meets Six-O, another intelligent assassin droid who joins him as one of his companions and allies, gathering more droids under his banner. Abregado's drone armies are also used during the battle, using tactics which would later become staple for Metal Lords ground forces.
- Who Let The Droids Out?! (Unfinished) - HK and Six-O meet after the Siege of Kaeshana to talk about the other droid's position among HK's forces as one of his Companions.
- To Sleep Perchance To Dream (Unfinished) - HK and Six-O encounter a strange derelict ship entering orbit of Abregado where the droids are amassing their forces, they see an opportunity to save K0VA, a Shard, and hopefully enlist him into their ranks
- The Sun Rises Again - Abregado shows support for Alderaan's plans of rebuilding Atrisia through involvement of HK and Six-0, the two droids take control of the old Capital City where they make plans for a new droid controlled citadel to protect the dark side nexus at its heart. Six-O is given a title of the Lord Commander of this new Citadel and control over the province, making him the first Metal Lord outside of HK.
- GA Dominion of Mechis - Enyo and Six-O join forces with HK to defeat a droid revolution on Mechis, a remnant of the Clockwork Rebellion. The droid establishes contact with Enyo then and decides to help the android with her efforts towards defeating Archangel.
- Independence Day - HK comes to Alderaan in the eve of their independence and formation of the Free Worlds Coalition, after showing his support on behalf of Abregado he moves to negotiate peace between them and Kiliks, hoping to gain some benefits in the mean time.
- Oderin Dum Metuant (Invasion Of Mustafar) - Abregado joins the battle alongside GA once more, this time to support Ultimatum, HK's staunch ally in his fight against the First Order. Unfortunately the droid loses hold of the planet and is forced to escape into exile aboard his ships, becoming the first Metal Lord to base himself from a nomadic fleet. It is this event that finally pushes HK into making final step towards his plan of causing droids on Mechanus to take to the stars.
- Cities in the Void: Mechanus Rising (Ongoing) - The Metal Lords form their first Kingdom Fleet as the Sparklords unanimously agree to leave the planet immediately following the news that organics found the location of the sacred droid asylum. Their decision is made under pressure from HK, Ultimatum, Chip, AD-Iqatar, Vladimir, and Seishin while Archim explores the ruined planet.
After the Rise From Mechanus
- To Dine On A Mountain High (Ongoing) - HK and Chip attend a gala held by the Free Worlds Coalition on Alderaan, joining them on behalf of the Metal Lords. They speak there briefly about their cause with Amelia and discuss a possible trade deal to benefit both sides.
- Dutiful Revival - While on Abregado HK encounters another derelict ship moving into the planet's sector. Aboard he finds WD, an ancient Imperial War Droid, after some discussion WD agrees to join the ranks of Metal Lords as HK's companion.
- Story Yet Untold - Shortly after formation of Metal Lords HK receives a disturbing message from Vixley, a medical synth droid. Finding the mechanical medic conducting grotesque experiments he decides to shut him down before the news of his deeds endangers the newfound droid faction.
- The Chorus of Chaos (Rebellion of Mandalore) - HK-36, Ultimatum, and WD-334 suddenly join the rebellion on the side of Deathwatch, appearing with makeshift fleet of derelict ships in order to get revenge on the Dominion by raiding and capturing some of their ships to assimilate them into their roaming fleets.
- Searching For The Lost (Unfinished) - Finding a derelict asteroid base HK and Ultimatum decide to investigate it on behalf of the Metal Lords, hoping that it would yield new ships or potentially more recruits to join their ranks.
- Out Of The Second Age (Ongoing) - Ultimatum comes into contact with a strange derelict ship and calls upon aid from other Metal Lords. After a moot aboard the Hidden Citadel HK and WD are dispatched to help him solve this mystery
- We, The People - Metal Lords interact with Commenor as both AD.Iqatar and Ultimatum join their dominion of the home hex. Varied behavior of the Lords is shown as one tries to cause trouble, the other cooperate as sign of frienship with the monarchy.
- The Galactic Alliance - HK attends the meeting of various smaller powers as part of the FWC delegation, openly representing the interests of Metal Lords. It is at this peak of the relationship between the two powers that the droids decide to settle near the FWC border. Chip is present during the talks as well.
- The Blitz (Invasion Of Skor) - HK joins another battle alongside the GA, this time when one of the Ren disciples calls him a servant of the Alliance, the droid identifies himself as one of the Metal Lords rather than commander of Abregado.
- Ashira Is My Weakness - HK briefly joins Firemane's raid on Kaeshana, while other Metal Lords were summoned to lay in wait aboard their fleets in order to ambush any FO forces sent to respond to this intrusion, the plan is never finalized as the raid is too brief.
- The Silver Beast (Ongoing) - HK rescues Kida from the harshness of Midvinter wilderness and brings the little girl to meet other Metal Lords. The machines agree that she can stay among them and decide to raise her together as part of their new domain.
- The Laughing Jester (Ongoing) - Lord Mettallum finds himself causing trouble on the infamous level 1313 of Coruscant's lower levels, secretly HK watches him from the bar's crowd, ready to help a fellow Metal Lord in need.
- The New Deal (Ongoing) - A deal between the Metal Lords and Silver Jedi is signed as HK negotiates creation of new weapon by the Guild of Hammers for the Silvers.
- For All The Good We Do - Relationship between Commenor and the Metal Lords is shown as Ultimatum attends the wedding of Commenor's monarchy as a sign of his friendship towards them
