Incarna/Feldar
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
The Feldar Empire is a fictional creation of the player for the use as a background in the online game known as City of Heroes. It represents a mechanized race of mortals that sought originally to extend their life through technology. From that initial vision, the Feldar have created a massive Empire based on the idea of expansion through conquest over other worlds. As of present day, old order of the Feldar has broken into three warring factions that battle for control of the future of their self-created race. For several decades, a massive civil war has engulfed the race of machines as different factions fight for ultimate control over their society. Due to this change, the Feldar have come to dub themselves the Hosts—or the Broken Empire to the more romantically inclined.
Overview
The Feldar are a race of machines that have evolved from a pursuit of cybernetics that reached its pinnacle nearly three centuries ago. As a whole, the Feldar represent the union of a biological base preserved within a technological device known as a containment unit. This unit allows the Feldar to interact with technological constructs that are dubbed engines in the Feldar argot. These engines come in a variety of forms allowing the cybernetic organism to fulfill different purposes depending on system design and ability.
Since their creation, the Feldar have come to see themselves as a race of conquerors that seek to unite the known worlds under their banner. Their usual methods of attack have become well-known to those that have survived the first contact with the machines. New members of the Empire come from conquered worlds that have been converted. Conversion has come to consist of reducing a biological lifeform to the base material needed to sustain their existence in the containment unit. New Feldar are often fitted into units designed to handle a specific engine in order to control their rigid caste system.
Their invasion of other worlds has left funeral pyres of broken cultures defeated by the fires of their quest. Those that submit willingly find a potential future as fighters for their new cause. Defeated conscripts often find an eternal existence trapped in engines suited for manual labor that fuels the ever-hungry ambition of their new lords.
In the present day, the Feldar nation has become divided into three hosts at war over different ideals for the future of the mechanized empire. Dubbed the Broken Empire by its members, the Feldar have turned their war from the outside races to a bitter civil war for the future of their own kind in the next age to come.
Hosts of the Feldar
The Feldar are divided into three hosts, or factions, that have defined the lines of the current Civil War. Their conflict has led to an all-out battle for the future of how their race will progress as a society. Each of the factions have developed their own culture and outlook--even the appearances of their engines have changed to reflect their cultural identities. The only common bond between the groups is their shared origins.
Feldar Imperial Order
The Imperial Order reflects the ruling power within the Broken Empire. It promotes the traditional views the Feldar were founded on during their early days. The Order promotes the idea of individual achievement as a road to the upper-castes within the rigid society. However, there are those have come to see their methods as a way to keep power for the select few that established the Empire in the past. Their rule represents a rigid culture where those that rise in rank seek the favor of those in power and at the whim of those who rule.
Azure Cabal Alliance
The Azure Cabal Alliance represents the ideal of preservation of life and the choice of life forms. They represent the resistance movement within the Empire to put an end to the Universal Crusade to convert biological life into the Feldar mechanized forms. The Alliance represents a collection of clans or idealogical enclaves that have banded together under a common Council. The military functions and movements are coordinated by the Commander-Elect Incarna.
Unified Armies
One of the least active members of the Hosts, the Unified Armies represent the idea of forming a social collective school of thought. The Armies watch on the fringes of the war between the Cabal and the Order. It has adopted the ideal of allowing the other two factions to wear themselves out in their race for control before pursuing the remaining forces themselves. The Armies represent the greatest fear of both the Cabal and the Order. Their ideology embraces the use of the persona circuit to create a united society under one collective code of values.
History
Age of the Throne - Origins of the Feldar
The Age of the Throne remains something of myth and propaganda that has been spun for the benefit of lower members of the Empire. In general, the Scepter units that dominate the established caste system have chosen to let go of this point of their history. For the historians, the leadership has allowed small bits of rumors and possible fact to slip from their archives.
Rumors state the Feldar came to being on a world lost in the ongoing war that engulfed their own universe. The actual name of the Feldar's parent race has been lost in the mists of this screen of censorship. However, the planet was said to have fallen under assault from outside forces that unleashed nightmarish engines of war on the worlds under their control. Military research among the scientists of their world was said to have presented the early designs for cybernetic conversion. That conversion, however, came at a high price of losing one's self into the machine they would become. There was no return from the transition into the new units. However, not even their eventual defeat at the hands of their enemy could persuade the government of their world to accept the need for this transition from a select few.
A few rogues within the military illegally completed the conversion. The war saw a sudden shift with the new engines that were handled by these volunteers. At the end of the war, civil conflict erupted between those that chose the new existence and those that found them abominations. In the end, the new 'race' won out as self-dubbed patriots sought to create a new order that was founded on their ideals rather than the hesitance of the fallen government.
Few of these early Scepter units remain in power in the modern day. Many have fallen during the course of the war that has followed in their legions' wake. The few that remain have become whispered legends among the lower ranks that still hold to the 'true' ideals of conquest of the universe that stands before the Empire.
Age of the Herald - Beginnings of the Crusade
At first, the Feldar looked towards worlds beyond their own as resources to consume for the generation of future engines. The first contact with other races was silent assaults on worlds through the massive Pantheon-model engines wielded by the Scepter-class units. The raids provided the materials but, these excursions proved to be the test of the resolve of the Feldar's ideals When the first of the original Scepters were destroyed in these runs, the first machine lords looked close to the how thin their ranks were proving to be in the process.
The desire to expand the numbers of the Feldar created the blueprint for the future conquest that they would pursue under the established leadership after the early civil wars. Under that vision, worlds would be selected in order to fill the ranks of the Feldar caste system that would be needed for a war-based society. An economy designed to feed an ever-growing hunger, the mechanized race had drafted a vision of a massive machine that was guided by the elite Scepter units at the top charting the path of its progress. It also paved the tradition of how the process of an invasion of a world would run in order to maximize the return of their efforts for each step taken. Their plan would find its first test on the agricultural world of Khalen.
Working with their projections, the invaders proposed that the natives of the world would be best suited as members of the massive laborer caste that would be required to fuel their vision. The planet was approached by a war fleet under the command of the Scepter-class unit known as Shaldor. Following their new battle plans, Shaldor contacted the world leaders via first contact teams that landed on the world near the major settlement of Aljador Plains. The initial meeting held an unexpected turn as the offer of a new future appealed to a people that had been bound to the land of their world for generations. The offer presented was simple—a new life as a Feldar, converted and freed from the mortal coil into virtual immortality offered by the containment units. It was a proposal that offered the potential converts a chance to begin as what they were and rise to new avenues in the rising empire. The words presented by Shaldor himself was that the universe was a cruel place dictating one's fate through the mistake of birth or station. Under the Feldar system, the proposal was anyone could work their way up through the ranks of the various units to even the lofty Scepter-class units as well.
During the course of the negotiations with the planetary elders, the Feldar were discovered in orbit when a group of alien ships entered orbit around Khalen. It was this initial contact that would set the stage as the first true engagement between the Feldar and a hostile force. Known as the Atarians, the newcomers were quick to investigate the strange ships that offered very little in the way of life scans on their computers. As fitting their orbital positions during their meeting, the two races proved to be polar opposites. The Atarians presented a race organized and identified by a universal faith in their god known as Arthias. Crusaders of technology and faith, the Atarians immediately defined their ideal of the Feldar from their initial contacts. Soulless and heretical, the Feldar found themselves labeled as usurpers against the natural order of the universe itself.
At the insistence of the Khalen elders, the two diplomatic teams were to present their ideals for betterment of the natives at a conference. The moon of Haven was chosen to serve as the site for the forum. Shaldor and the Atarian commander, Missionary-Commander Corinth Fathomwalker, met for the first time in a battle of ideals and words. Both factions viewed the conference as a battle for the spirit of the Khalen as the debate was staged. Technological immortality was pitted against the ideal of living in harmony with the spirit of the universe. The success of both races were proven through the examples of technology and design. However, the idea of individual success was pitted against the Atarian ideal of collective faith. During the course of the debate, however, Shaldor has been careful to hide the true agenda of their desire to convert the simple Khalen natives—a complaint, controllable labor force.
To the shock of the Atarians, the Khalen made the choice to accept the conversion offer of the Feldar fleet. Shackled by the strictures of their faith, the missionaries were required to draw back when the elders requested their departure so the process could be resolved without conflict between the two fleets. Corinth withdrew her ships to one of Khalen's moons as the Feldar fleet arrived to begin the process. Despite the request to withdraw, she was not prohibited from attempting to gain information on their enemies. In a move the Feldar did not expect, Atarian probes were launched to the surface of Khalen to observe their methods and intentions. As the truth of the fate of the Khalen emerged, the horror of an populace enslaved into worker-class machines shocked the Armies of the Faithful.
Data collected from the conversion process was communicated to Atar. The Feldar had counted on the fact the worlds they targeted were isolated to allow for an easier approach for recruitment attempts. To their dismay, the Atarian commander ensured that the information was dispatched to major allies of the religious armies throughout the nearby systems. Khalen soon became a rally cry against those that would be deceived by the words of the machines. Despite the attempt, however, it also served to interest other worlds in the prospect of what the Feldar process could offer them if they also accepted a willing transition, but made the cut to become more than a slave of the Empire. In that fateful moment, a universal crusade was launched with the Feldar and Atarians bearing the standards on either side of the battle lines that were drawn that day.
Age of the Enlightened - The Universal Crusade
The Feldar Empire evolved into a nation at war with a universe galvanized against its advances into other regions. Built on the need to consume and absorb resources, the machine of the armies began to strike worlds within their reach on a consistent basis. As with Khalen, the same offer of conversion was made when contact was made with a new world in hopes of avoiding expensive conflicts. Their enemies took advantage of this initial contact in attempt to inflame the universe against them. Atarian missionaries took on a new role of bringing the news of the Feldar to worlds that were not on the technological level to receive deep space transmissions. Unable to track the Atarian homeworld, the Feldar had come to despise the capacity and speed of the faith-driven enemy ships. The work of the missionaries often left worlds budding with a rudimentary faith shield—along with dire warnings of the coming Feldar invaders.
It was a double-edge sword the missionaries wielded. The Feldar took advantage of the forerunners' work to turn the Atarians into the image of harbingers of doom. Worlds that were warned by the missionaries and refused convert were often conscripted. Entire systems were burned in their conquest as a visible message to others that would seek to undermine the expansion of the mechanized race. As systems were destroyed, footage was broadcast by the Feldar to other worlds in order to show the price paid by the meddling of the Atarian crusaders in their fight. It served to cast a black cloud over the holy ships that would arrive in systems bearing their warnings. In many cases, worlds that had received the information would often attempt to have the missionaries leave in order to avert the possibility of their arrival drawing the eventual attention of the Feldar.
Within the Empire itself, the war had sparked the evolution and diversification of the engines employed within the military forces. A new caste system evolved to allow for engines specialized for various environments and combat situations. Infantry units were upgraded from the laborer castes to serve as the main body of the new forces that were forming. Unable to rely on the thinner ranks of the Scepter-class units, new aerospace engines were designed to allow for air or space battles to support the growing ranks of the ground forces. In time, a new Champion-class unit was developed to create a lesser version of the successful Scepter's Pantheon engines. Termed the Vindicator, the champion grade units were able to duplicate the higher ranked Feldar's ability to use technology that allowed for shifting forms between an aerospace or ground combat unit. It was also the first 'adaptable' unit constructed that could be achieved by those that had been conscripted in the past. These adaptable units allowed the containment unit to be inter-changed between various engines and not limited to one set type the containment unit was compatible.
As the Universal Crusade continued to sweep over the various worlds, a growing portion of the Feldar—conscript and free—had become disillusioned with the order's ideals. In the later part of the war, several renegade units were reported lost after various campaigns on outlying worlds. At first, these desertions seemed limited to rumors instigated by enemies of the Empire in order to demoralize their forces. However, the fact was confirmed when several failed attempts to combat the Feldar were launched by small pockets of resistance. These rebels were proven to be defector infantry and laborer units that seldom matched the higher-grade engines of their overlords. It was during this time the Feldar evolved their justice code to deal with defectors. Rather than destruction of rogue units, captured Feldar rogues were often downgraded into punitive containment units known as Shard-class. These units were only capable of using weaker walker engines that were dubbed Fallen-class. Once downgraded, these rogue units were unable to do more than simple lifting functions—in many cases, these engines were often designed without a vocalizer in order to silence opposition or traitors. The revolt also served to cause the development of integration, or design of containment units that were interlocked to the biological material they contained. The process of reversal remained only with higher-grade Scepters and was rarely used.
Over several decades, the war against the mortal forces of the galaxy had become an understood reality of the Empire's existence. The mortal hosts remained a collection of various factions that assisted in unpredictable fashions. Few posed more than a brief threat that was often crushed in the end. But, the the banner of the Atarian race unified a common ideal of successful crusades against the ever-growing cybernetic threat. The stalemate eventually drew the Feldar to target the Atarian fleets more directly. A standing order offered any of the Feldar host a chance to ascend to the ranks of the Scepter-class units themselves if an Atarian commander could be captured and successfully interrogated for the location of their elusive homeworld. A new level of combat arose as the potential for a promotion never earned fired the lesser-ranks of the rigid caste system. Atarian vessels were destroyed, often more from their own command crews fearing the potential as a prisoner of the Feldar.
The pursuit of the Atarians came to an end at the same site of the beginning of their war. At the ruined world of Khalen, Shaldor encountered another battle group led by Corinth for the last time. The Missionary-Commander had become well-known in the war for the work of the missionaries against them. The confrontation between the two leaders presented an encounter that pitted Feldar technology against the strength of an ordained Confessor. It was a battle that led to the fall of one of the strongest fleets in the Atarian armies due to the sheer numbers Feldar troops. Shaldor finally succeeded in the successful capture of a high ranking member of the hated race. It was a defeat felt deep within the Atarian people given the interest of the Feldar in their homeworld. Despite his own injuries from the conflict, Shaldor wasted little time in dealing with the captured enemy officers. Rather than resorting to simple interrogation, the Feldar warlord saw the potential offered by the biological capacity of the Atarians for arcane and faith magics. With his prize contained, Shaldor set course for the Feldar homeworld.
Age of Discovery– New Technologies
The capture of the Atarian battle group offered the Empire a chance to interrogate the officers for information as well as experimentation in a new genetic material. In the past, the Empire had been limited to traditional conversions that were fairly straight forward. Theories had been presented that more arcane biological material may allow for the potential to be harnessed and projected through new forms of containment units and engines. These ideas had found root through the theories of a Scepter-class scientist by the name of Evanth. One of the second generation Scepters, his ideals were often discounted by his superiors in the council. That began to change, however, when the new subjects were delivered to him in an attempt to use the process gain something useful out of breaking the will of the Atarian prisoners. The council sentenced the captives to conscription into the Feldar machines—a fate worse than death in the eyes of the enemy race.
Three were chosen from the captives to be installed into a new experimental containment unit known as the Meridian-class. The technology was designed to tap into the potential of the biological material drawn from the Atarians to serve as the ignition source. Unlike other units that relied on their engines to carry out specific functions, the Meridian-class units were able to generate their augmentation auras from within themselves. The units were also designed to generate a new form of energy to energize and fuel the on-board systems of their engines. Research also included work on a new Imperial-class engine known as the Legendier designed to work with the new units. Few expected the engines to ever be employed by the newly conscripted Feldar units, however.
Interrogation of the Atarians began in full earnest as the research process served as a useful tool for information extraction from the group. The three Meridians had their units also fitted with slave circuits which used pain induction to allow a higher-grade unit to force cooperation. The Atarians not chosen for Meridian conversion were fitted into Laborer-class units for future use in heavy work. Faced with an undying future, the new units were slowly worked into their new lives within the Feldar hosts. The Meridians were the last to finally break in the process. Once the information on the Atarian homeworld was located, Shaldor provided the broken trio with a release from their 'torments' through the use of a mercy dagger interface that suppressed their conscious awareness of their existence as machines. The units were turned over to Evanth for development.
The mercy dagger interface had proven to be a near-death of the Meridian project. Through his research, Evanth had come to find the mindless nature of his subjects due to the interface interfered with their intended ability to generate augmentation auras in local Feldar units. A sentient, self-aware mind would be needed to focus the required energies to fuel the aspects of the unique containment units the Meridians presented to the Feldar efforts. In time, the researcher would develop a new technology that would revolutionize the process of conscription, renew the Meridian project, and lay the ground work for a new form of artificial intelligence formed from a reprogrammed, biological source.
Utilizing the suppression aspect of the mercy dagger interface, Evanth had come to develop a chip known as the persona circuit. The circuit would act as a filter when fitted into a containment unit. It could be programmed with acceptable behavioral patterns that would be layered over the mind of a Feldar. The new device was able to replace the 'higher' brain functions of the Feldar utilizing the memories of its past. In time, circuit would work with the memories to make them part of a new personality that was better suited to the Empire's uses and retain the memories of its former existence. The success of the project was discovered when the Meridian-unit developed from the Atarian prisoner once known as Corinth achieved full awareness and declared its new Feldar name of Sharlamane. The other two units were not long in joining their comrade within the shocked Feldar Empire of the time.
In time, the new persona circuit had begun to replace the mercy dagger technology among the laborer and conscript units on a large scale. With the new technology in place, it was further developed into the first new units called the Zenith-class containment systems. Utilizing the same aspect of replacing higher brain functions of a biological source, the new units were fitted into systems capable of performing high-end computations on the scale of command cruisers and troop carriers for Feldar war efforts. Sources for the new Zenith-class were drawn from volunteers among biological allies of the Empire that were slated for conversion. The new units displayed human creativity and machine insight as the new units were soon employed into the new ships. These new machines would soon prove to be able to out-pace the faith-driven ships of the Atarians now facing a new form of enemy with the technology of the Meridians online.
With the persona circuit able to force convert any enemy into a willing servant for the Feldar, the idea of capture had begun to add a new dimension on the war. Word had begun to spread to worlds that may consider resisting the invasion of the machine race to their planets. Willing conversions began to increases at the idea of losing one's self to the machine one would eventually find themselves enslaved into. Several races, including the Atarians, were under a universal order to be immediately converted into Feldar status if captured alive. These few races were to be automatically fitted with the dreaded persona circuit in order to ensure a smooth transition without internal issues once the process was completed. In time, the high command had begun to issue orders to increase the number of Meridian-units as success was seen with the new units employed in the field. Despite warnings from Shaldor and other conservative Scepter-units, the new machines were appearing on a more common basis. However, the new additions were closely watched on many fronts.
Age of Division - Cultural Shock
As with an social order that has matured, the Feldar Empire had begun to experience a shift within its ranks. With conversions taking place almost weekly, the ranks of the Empire had begun to grow at a frightening rate for both those fighting their advancement and the Feldar themselves. The persona circuit had become a common place item as it was employed on worlds converted after war. The lower ranks had begun to manifest a social collective honor code that felt that the Feldar nation would be better served if the persona circuit was applied universally to the Empire's members. The idea put forth among lower-caste units went against the individualist concepts embraced by the ruling Scepter-units that faced the growing dissension. The argument was based on the fact that few, if any, new Feldar were raised to the Scepter caste as promised by their overlords. With the idea advancement was simply a carrot for cooperation, the idea of an equal application was soon wide-spread.
The new idea was surprisingly backed by the new Zenith-units and Meridian-units which were each direct products of the research that generated the circuit. At the forefront of the new movement, Sharlamane and the Zenith-unit, Alwrath, had began to promote the idea. Like her former personality, Sharlamane had begun an avid campaign against her former enemy through the ranks of the Feldar itself—it seemed. Within a decade, the empire faced an internal struggle over the new ideals of a social collective compared to the idea of individual. A triad of power had begun to form within the leadership as various parties aligned with either side of the divide. The two conscript units, Sharlamane and Alwrath, found themselves pitted against the power of the long-standing Scepters for the transition to be pushed throughout the Empire.
To counter the tension building from within, Shaldor moved to turn the Empire's attentions outward once more. The new technologies were fielded. A new war was declared on the aggressive actions of the Atarians and their allies that sought to end their conquest outside of their borders. Shaldor found use in the new 'collective' that the reformers sought to push into the Empire. The rally cry of the Feldar in the new engagements was that their enemies sought to deny other less fortunate races their very right of self-determination by preventing them from hearing the true message of the Feldar. Atarian locations and installations were drawn from information interrogated officers. The old hosts found considerable amusement in the fact that the Meridian-units were at the vanguard of the war to combat their former race with such zeal.
Shaldor, and other conservatives, held other intentions for throwing the popular leadership into the war. It was their hopes that the units may find themselves destroyed in the front lines against the enemy. As Sharlamane and Alwrath continued to score success on the field, the Scepters moved to raise the stakes further. The next target declared was that of the world of Atar... the former homeworld of the Meridian-units.
Age of the Hosts - Breaking of the Empire
The world of Atar would set the stage for many changes within the known universe and the conflict brewing between the various powers involved. A concerted attack was staged by the Feldar on the Atarian homeworld utilizing the full abilities of the elite engines of the Scepter-units and Meridian-units. Under Shaldor's orders, various members of the upper caste Feldar were selected to serve as the shock troops in the strikes. Utilizing the situation to attempt to remove political rivals, those selected were deemed expendable due to their sympathy with the movements to change the internal order of the Empire. A vast majority of the Meridian-units were also fielded under the idea of reinforcing the Scepters. With the forces of the Atarian Armies of the Faithful spread thin, the homeworld was assumed to be lightly guarded. However, if this would not prove to be the case, considerations had been made to reserve the less 'expendable' supporters of Shaldor's ideals for less dangerous runs.
The overall command of the invasion forces slated to make the initial fell to Evanth. His team was divided under command of various Meridian-units due to their past familiarity with the surface. Once Atarians themselves, the units were considered ideal to make good time. The plan was to strike at the areas of symbolism to the faith of the world. Power within the Atarian society fell to the idea of absolute belief in their god. But, it held a weakness that left their world lightly defended in their belief of complete safety on their home soil. Gambling on that fact, the drop units were heralded by strafing runs conducted by aerospace engines to draw the attention of defenders. Once the Feldar troops had landed, the units made quick work of various installations.
As Atar was secured, Sharlamane's detachment had been set with targeting the capitol. The ruined city would become the final stand of the Empire's stability. Once distress signals had been responded to by the Atarian fleet, the expected retaliation fell hard on the Feldar forces. The initial attacks were endured by Sharlamane's group due to their location and the stated of the city. Heavy losses were suffered on the part of the Feldar that were ordered to stand their ground by the High Command. Shaldor's plan to allow the deployed infantry units to absorb the shock of the Atarian strikes paid off as the vengeful defenders poured much of their resources into the strikes. His political motives, however, began to be suspected when orders were issued to destroy the remains of the capitol to put an end to the concerted Atarian resistance. His orders were questioned as calls for reinforcements began to be received from survivors of the Feldar detachment.
The call was responded to by Shaldor in an attempt to control the potential damage internally it created. Units were set down on Atar near the city. Caught between the reinforcements and the surviving Feldar, the Atarian forces were routed from the location. Once the defenders were dealt with, Shaldor pursued the remaining strike teams that were held up in the rubble. Unlike other accounts of heroic battles between a desperate enemy commander and their victorious counterpart, the final combat on Atar was Feldar against Feldar. Shaldor and Sharlamane were once more pitted against each other.
In the course of the fight, the Meridian-unit's persona circuit was damaged. The personality suppression of the unit was destroyed by the assault allowing her Atarian personality to rise to the surface. The result of the conflict allowed Sharlamane enough coherence to formally declare herself against the Feldar Empire. Rather than announcing herself for the idea of universal use of the persona circuit, the rogue unit echoed her former ideals of freedom to choose and opposing the conquest of the Feldar Empire on further worlds. Before Shaldor could attempt to take advantage of the apparent malfunction, an ultimatum was issued from the Zenith-unit in charge of the troop transports for the Atarian attack. Alwrath, long seeking his own influence in the shaky Empire, declared the remaining Feldar would not be returned to their space if his orders were not acknowledged. To Shaldor's surprise, the Zenith-unit ordered the release of the rebel units.
The aftermath of the events on Atar was a peaceful withdrawal by the three factions that were declared that day. But, the Feldar Empire was soon flung into the present day civil war three ideals were now presented of how the future of the mechanized race should progress...
Time of the Broken Empire
The schism within the Empire divided the standing armies between the influence of Shaldor and Alwrath. Within the Empire, the two leaders represented ideals that promoted the betterment of the Empire as a whole. However, their views created two entirely different concepts of how society should evolve...
Under Shaldor's ideals, the traditionalist host of the Feldar nation began to declare themselves the Feldar Imperial Order. Their banner bore the old ideal of remaining true to the established society. For nearly three centuries, the empire had proven itself stable under the ideal of allowing individual agendas to remain. The Order also went further to outlaw the development or research into future Meridian-units. The persona circuit was further outlawed. To the fear of many worlds, the dread slave circuits were reestablished as the norm for dealing with unwilling converts.
The other end of the spectrum was presented as Alwrath led the vanguard of those that championed the universal use of the persona circuit among the Feldar. This view was embraced with a frightening zeal among the faction as the civil war fully developed. Captured Feldar of rival factions would vanish beneath the uniform appearances of the new Unified Armies units as they were fitted with the persona circuit. A social collective was formed with the outlook of equal application of the device for the security of the faction.
On the fringes of the shattered nation, the fallen officers that were exiled with Sharlamane had begun to establish their own order amid the chaos. Various rogue clans began to meet together on the ruined world of Atar to discuss their own ideals for a new future. Many among the groups were escaped conscripts that had rebelled against the Empire in the earlier days. However, the fragmented nature of the resistance organizations had doomed any such attempts to failure. At the proposal of several negotiators, a council of clans was formed. It was decided that a commander would be elected and supported by the favor of the collective group to lead the different militias as one group. The Azure Cabal Alliance was formed when Sharlamane was dubbed the first Commander-Elect.
Distant Shores - The Terran Shadow War
Nearly sixty years have passed since the first declarations of the factions of the Broken Empire. In the wake of that fateful day, the three powers have continued to remain in a stalemate. The need to add to their numbers have led each group to pursue different recruitment policies. Overtime, each of the hosts have also evolved a culture and ideal of their own. As their conflict has set worlds aflame in their passage, the factions have looked to worlds beyond even their own reality for possible chances to expand their resources. In that regard, portal technology has caught the interest of the Feldar in general. However, the resources required to open short rifts has kept the concept on the drawing boards. The little progress made has been random probes due to the Feldar's inability to home in on a target system.
That stalemate had remained until an odd probe was sighted on one of the ravaged worlds under the Order's control. In the heated conflict over the data on the probe, it was discovered that the device had originated from a world sporting a very lower-end level of technology compared to Feldar science. Through research, it was determined that despite it's limited sophistication, the device originated from a culture that had established a stable form of portal technology. The data further yielded information on the location of the alter world. It was further collected that the name of the destination was of a world called Earth.
The Azure Cabal Alliance was the first to make use of the data to establish a foothold on this new world. Following the ancient ideals of the Atarian missionaries, Sharlamane pioneered a team that would establish an embassy. Diplomats were assigned to assist in making contact with the Earth authorities to warn them of possible Order incursions. The first arrivals were charged with gathering cultural information once they established the first gate to the world. Their location took them to Paragon City, the source of the original probe that had been discovered earlier. Over the next year, the forerunners would come to witness a mixture of primitive technology mixed with sophisticated systems that defied logical evolution of a world's science. However, the high numbers of super-powered beings were the immediate target of their interest.
In time, the Cabal had begun to utilize its acceptance of dealing with mortals, or biological races, as a deadly advantage. Unlike their counterparts, the Cabal had begun to develop technology to emulate mortal appearances in their engine design. These novelty engines became the new contact units to allow the Feldar to bridge the cultural gap. It was a fact that the Order despised having to adapt when they were able to establish their own bridge into the world.
The Order teams had come to find the Cabal forces had established themselves in a small enclave in Talos Island and Peregrine Island. Various super groups had also come to host Feldar members in their activities to combat local threats as well as prepare for possible advancements by the Order.
The Cabal has become the most recognized of the three factions on Terra due to its approach. However, both factions became involved in society as the units found themselves governed by registration acts that handled super-powered beings on the world. During the Second Rikiti War, the Feldar began showing on the field to assist with the new invaders—each of the two factions had their own reasons for this involvement. Overtime, the Order has come to base out of the Rogue Islands in a direct contrast to their Cabal counterparts.
In the middle of the rush for the technology, the Unified Armies have remained on the fringes observing the advancements on both sides. For now, the group has opted to remain on the fringes letting the two factions compete and develop out the technology. If their research proves of use, the group will make its choices to assimilate the materials for future use in their own campaigns.
Exiles' Song - Loss of the Feldar Portals
An explosion ripped through the Azurel Cabal Alliance embassy building in Talos Island on February 1, 2008 setting for a sequence of events that has affected the hosts on many levels. The ongoing war to prevent the Imperialists from gaining access to Portal Corp technology had been of grave concern. However, the war has allowed both enemies from within and without the Cabal to take an unexpected action. With the power of the Cabal's leadership centered in the vanguard clan known as the Eternal Aegis, an unknown faction attacked the embassy in order to sabotge the shaky links between Earth and their home plane. The unknown strike team's agenda had been easily guessed, to exile the leadership clan of the Cabal. Due to the requirement of Feldar portal technologies, the ability to reopen a stable link has little chance of being found.
The resulting loss of communication has accomplished the long-term goal of the Imperialist Commander Shaldor. Ever focused on the destruction of the Cabal's Commander-Elect, Shaldor has retreated to the Feldar-side of the portal before the shut down of the portals. It is unknown if the actual attack was carried out on his orders, but Shaldor has monopolized on the effort by closing down Imperial versions of the portal to take advantage of the exile of Eternal Aegis. Sharlamane, the Commander-Elect of the Cabal and Lord of War of the Aegis, had long served as the central figure of the fragmented Council.
Within the ranks of the Cabal itself, the Council has met with a sudden offensive on the part of their rival hosts. Politics and intrigue once held in check by the neutral clan has been seen to rise through the ranks of the Feldar rebels. In the aftermath of the loss, a new Commander-Elect, Triath of the Frontline Clan, has taken the opening to attempt to finally push for an attempt to dissolve the clan system in favor of a unified army. This goal had been held in check by his predecessor. Now, that effort stands to threaten the cohesion of the often untrusting clans.
On Terra (Earth), the remaining embassy detachment has found its ranks dispersed among the various people. An odd alliance has begun to form among the Imperialists abandoned on this odd world at the betrayal of Shaldor. Many have come to see the blow as a personal agenda against an arch-rival allowing considerable hate and vendetta to form among the exiled units. Response from the local authorities of Paragon City and even Arachnos has pressured the new peace that exists in an unofficial truce. At the urging of outside advisors from the native authorities, the Feldar units have agreed to set aside their war. With the presence of the Rikti and the other enemies of this world, the Feldar hosts have come to face a testing of old loyatlies against survival and acceptance in the current order they live within.
Due to the local acceptance of the Azure Cabal Alliance as an official 'presence' of the Feldar in the past, the exiles have adopted the loose moniker as their one common ground. The name, however, reflects little of its past influence on Terra.
