I thought i was finished with outlining my fictional universe but the more i thought about it the more i realized that i had forgotten some things. So far i covered swordmasters, the history of Paradon, the military of Paradon and the society of Paradon. I hope i have covered it all now but if i left something or left unclear please ask.
Society of Paradon part II
Royalty
As i have mentioned Paradon is ruled by a king or as is currently the case a queen but how does one become one? First the future ruler must be a member of the royal family but what decides if a person will become the next ruler isn’t the order of birth but the ruler is chosen by the royal sword (Excalibur?). This sword was a gift from the Gods and it decides who is worthy of becoming the next ruler.
The current queen is Elisabeth and she is a swordsmaster who has ruled as queen for a very long time. One of the rules that swordmasters live by is that they can’t become the rulers of a country so how did Elisabeth become queen? The answer to that question is Cedric, who was a member of the royal family when the previous king ruled. He was one of the oldest children and he wanted to become the next king very badly. Unfortunately he was less that completely sane and knew that he didn’t stand a chance of becoming king as long as more qualified siblings lived. So he started killing them one by one. He managed to get away with it because he disguised the murders as accidents and killed most relatives while they were still infants. The only reason his younger sister Elisabeth survived was the fact that she was a swordsmaster. This not only made her very hard to kill but also made her ineligible for the throne so she was one of the few to be left alone. When the king finally died he had lost almost his entire family and he died a tired, broken old man. The country now faced a real problem as the only candidates left were either feeble minded, incompetent, ineligible or insane. The Gods were consulted and, as Paradon was in a crucial phase in the war, permission was granted for Elisabeth to take the throne. At this point Cedric lost it completely and screaming that she had stolen his rightful place tried to kill her. The fight lasted all of three seconds and spelled the end of Cedric the Mad.
This did led to one problem....swordmasters can live pretty much forever if they want to and Elisabeth was a SS class swordmaster. She has been queen for over 40,000 years now and shows no sign of quitting anytime soon. Her biggest passion is making her people happy and prosperous and she is very good at her job. She has faced many enemies and fought many wars and defeated them all.
Nobility.
As with royalty the title goes to the person who is best qualified for the position and not the first born. Although the nobility has a lot of powers and rights they have only so much as Elisabeth is willing them to have. Sometimes she lets them go a bit but when the people start to suffer she will step on the offending party, hard. Should they decide to disregard her advice and continue to abuse their power then a visit from the black rangers usually clears away any dissent. Although the nobility has a lot of power it is their job to care for the people. So far only the 5 star admirals have received the highest noble rank. This way they outrank any and all nobles that live in their system so that they don’t have to put up with them.
Clans.
Paradon is very much a clan culture where family is very important. As some clans have been around for millennia they are huge with several satellite clans that are connected to the main branch. These clans are true power houses that often have their own personal army and commercial empire. Although there can be some bad blood between clans this hardly ever boils over in hostilities. If it did became unfriendly then the queen would interfere and both would lose a lot more than they would like as she isn’t known for her sense of humor in these cases.
Crime.
No society is completely free from crime and Paradon is no exception but they do have a rather special relationship with it. Knowing that she couldn’t stop crime she decided to control it instead and there were two ways she could do this. The first was to have a massive police force that would control everything but as this is by no means fool prove and very costly she decided for option two. She had the heads of several crime syndicated brought before her and gave them permission to do pretty much whatever they wanted as long as they kept to the bargain. They weren’t allowed to sell military secrets, they weren’t allowed the population any more than absolutely necessary and they must help control crime by making sure that criminals not affiliated to there organizations were put out of business. Should they fail these conditions then she hoped that their successors were more competent. Strange as this is it has worked very well and the people of Paradon suffer the lowest crime rate in the universe. The cooperation between the government and the syndicates has grown over the years and they will go to any length to keep it in place and to keep Elisabeth happy. They are a valuable source of information, and disinformation for their enemies. There are several crime syndicates but there are two that rise above the others. One is called the Dragons and they control everything from gambling to smuggling. They are known for their Dragon tattoos which are stunningly beautiful. Ordinary soldiers have small tattoos while the bosses have one that covers most of the body and they are refered to as Dragon Queens and Dragon Kings. The other group has no name but as such and they are usually refered to as the Syndicate. Little is known about it’s leader and people call him ‘The Man’. Whether he is actually a ‘he’ is unknown as is his age, heritage, etc. It is speculated that ‘The Man’ is none other that Elisabeth herself or one of her admirals but whether this is true is unknown and nobody has been willing to answer the question.
Children testing.
When children are about 10 years old they are Tested. This test isn’t just to see what the child’s aptitudes are but also whether he has any special Gifts. If the child is a swordmaster then s/he is send to Minerva where s/he will be trained. There is no getting out from this and the few that dared to complain ran into Alica who isn’t known for her patience or her mercy or her kindness. After a few unfortunate episodes (mainly unfortunate for the parents) she was asked to let the talking be done by others.
Another thing they are looking for is if the child has any aptitude for magic. If this is the case than they are further tested to see if the Gift is worth developing. If not then nothing further is done if it is than the child is taken to be trained. Same rules apply here as with the swordmasters and there is nothing that can be done to stop the child from being taken. While this may seem cruel and heartless, and it certainly is, it is also necessary as untrained Gifts can be very dangerous and accidents have happened in the past that show just how dangerous these can be.
Another thing that is Tested is whether children have the same Gift that the admirals have. If they have it they are further tested to see if they also have command and tactical capabilities. Those that do are send to the front to be trained by a admiral. It is important to do this when they are still pretty young as they tend to learn better and faster at this age. They are send to the front because in order to predict the enemy one must first have a enemy. While VR-training works and certainly shows good results it is no match for the real deal so off to the front they go. When they have sufficiently finished this part of the training they are send to the Fort to complete their study and become full admirals.
Meanwhile those that do have the Gift but show no aptitude for command and strategy are send to another school. Most of them go to Mekkler & Ukia which is a company that deals with the financial market and commerce. This company was founded by several swordmasters who decided to invest their money into several companies. As they tend to live pretty long and learned to invest their money wisely they became extremely rich. Other swordmasters who saw their success also invested their money with them and after a few millennia they are one of the most powerful companies in the universe. The most powerful though is the Minerva corporation for the very simple reason that they control the energy crystals. The crystals are very easy to use, have no waste products and don’t have a habit to blow up or melt down. As they can absorb any form of energy that is directed at the crystals it is possible to reenergize it by letting it absorb power from a fusion or fission reactor but this is much more expensive than letting Minerva recharge it. For Minerva the crystals are a by product that are generated from sparring and training new swordmasters so any price they get is profit. Of course they make it as expensive as they can and as everyone uses them they generate vast amounts of money. They have their own bank and there is hardy any business where they aren’t involved in. Alica is the CEO but she doesn’t much care for sitting behind a desk or amassing more money so she leaves it to others to do it for her. Not everything the company does produces money however and this is one thing that Alica is responsible for. It takes a lot of money to produce a fleet and the weapons it caries and most of the ships are build by the Minerva company with little to no profit. Weapon development is also a very costly business and this is one venture that is always losing money but it has kept Paradon way ahead in the arms race.
Genetics.
Genetic tampering is a known technique and in some parts it is very widely used. Paradon also has it but they rarely use it. It is exclusively used to treat genetic disorders but these are very rare in Paradon. Other cultures use it on a much larger scale mostly cosmetic but there are also a few military applications.
Especially the Homeriën Empire is known for their genetic tampering. Genetic enhancement is only available for royalty and nobility though and the ordinary people aren’t allowed to get it. Some high ranking officers are also allowed to be enhanced but it is rare for non-nobility to be enhanced. Because of this enhancing has a enormous social status and the wealthy often try to outdo each other by enhancing themselves in the most outrageous manner. Changing hair and eye colour is very fashionable but to stand out you need to chance much more than that. Adding several limbs would be a good start but some pretty wierd things have been created.
At one point they tried to create the perfect soldier and while doing so they came close to creating swordmasters but as this is strictly by the Gods they were stopped. They send Alica who kindly explained why they should stop doing this. During the explanation she showed them what a true swordmaster was and vaporized several cities. Sinds that day this research has been forbidden and the secret police have made sure that nobody tries to pick it up. They do not ever want to see her come back again and they have done their best to stay on Paradon’s good side.
Cities of Paradon.
Cities of Paradon can be put in several categories. First there are the old cities which look pretty much the same was as when they were build. They are build with siege in mind and are often dominated by giant forts. The houses are usually one story to two stories high and have flat roofs where a small garden can be found. The walls of the houses are thick, the doors are very tough and the windows are small.
The newer cities are massive skyscrapers that can be several miles high. Each city has several pillars that form a circle and every hundred feet a layer is created where people live. Hmmmm......think of a giant wedding cake that has multiple stories and you’ll get the picture. Each layer has a park that is located in the centre and the outside of the ring is where the people live and work. Transport between the rings is either by giant lifts or by shuttle. Transport on the ring is by trains which either travel around the outside of the ring or from the outside to the centre. From any point people are never more than 5 minutes from a station and a train passes every 3 minutes making it very efficient and fast.
Then there are the space cities which as the name implies lie in space. There is the classic space station which either uses artificial generated gravity or uses rotational gravity. The stations that use rotational gravity look just like the city buildings that can be found on planets except that they rotate and the centre is left open. The stations that use artificial gravity can look pretty much like anything. Some are build inside asteroids while other look like giant cubes or balls.
The Togai actually convert old ships into flying cities and travel with them through space. They are a gypsy like people who love to travel and explore. Each ship consists of a tightly knit community of several families that belong to the same clan. Clans can range in size from single to several ships to entire fleets of dozens of ships but these rarely travel together. The Togai are a welcome sight in any system as their craftsmanship is held in high regard. They are famous for their jewels which are highly sought after by the rich and powerful but they are best known for their cloths which only they produce. These cloths strongly resemble silk but are a lot stronger and last several lifetimes. One bale of this cloth is worth a small fortune and highly sought after by fashion designers. The Togai sell their jewels and their cloth in order to buy the few things that they can’t produce themselves. They are fiercely independent and proud who love the freedom that they have. They are also a prime target for pirates and thieves but they are more than able to take care of themselves. The ships that they converted are old battle ships and although they are now cities they still have most of the armaments. The pirate who thinks them a easy target soon finds himself blown to bits and even the few times that they were successful they found themselves unable to sell the goods. The one time they did the other Togai immediately tracked them down and wiped them from existence. To harm one Togai is to harm them all.
Some Paradonians actually build planetary ships which are just massive. The reason they did this was because the system they lived in was a dead one with no planets and only asteroids. While mining these asteroids they were left with dirt which they could do nothing with. At one point a lot of waste was left and they started to get small planets worth of dirt. They decided to put a shell around it and convert it into a station for people to live in. While they were doing this Maya, a five star admiral, was assigned to the system and made some alterations. She ordered the construction of a massive ship that was over 30,000 miles long and with a diameter 20,000 miles. People thought her mad but as she was the boss they build it over the course of the next several decades. The centre of the ship is living space for people with massive decks situated every 10 miles that contain massive city buildings. The decks that are used for food production are much lower though and the decks are spaced every 300 feet. The outer shell of the ship is military and brimming with weapons, it even has it’s own fleet which is docked in huge hangars. It is massively armored and because of it’s size it can carry the biggest weapon systems created with ease. It can fly but not very vast and the few times it was used in combat it slaughtered the enemies due to the fact that they were unable to penetrate it’s defenses and it’s massive fire power. There are only a few build though due to fact that they are horribly expensive and it is unlikely that another will ever be build.
Weapons.
The weapons of Paradon. There are of course the lasers and other energy based weapons ranging from small to massive. The effective range is usually no more than a few million miles and speed is of course that of the speed of light. After a few million miles the beam will have dispersed to far to be effective and while this can be improved there is little reason for it. As the ships themselves travel close to light speed they travel over 100,000 miles per second. Firing at a ship going over 100,000 per second from a distance of 1,000,000 miles means that you will hit it after 10 seconds. That is if the ship was traveling in a straight line. You basically fire at the spot where you expect the ship to be in 10 seconds. The commander of the enemy vessel is by no means obliged to do this and often changes his course every few seconds. So increasing the firing range is only good if you’re firing at a stationary target or a idiot who flies in a straight line.
Missiles do not have this problem and they can change course as often as is needed to strike a target. Missiles however can be intercepted by other missiles and lasers. For this reason you want to use as much missiles as you can in order to swamp the enemy defenses. Missiles are the main weapon of any fleet and energy weapons are used for defense and close combat.
The most powerful weapon is a energy weapon though and it is called the Shiva. It is massively powerful can capable of destroying entire fleets in one shot. It suffers from the normal weaknesses that all energy weapons have and that is the inability to change course in flight. It can be set in narrow beam for long range or wide for close combat. The devastating feature of the beam isn’t just it’s destructive force that destroys everything it hits but the field it creates around it. A direct hit will kill instantly but everything within several tens of thousand of miles is also affected. Small ships are either heavily damaged or destroyed while bigger ships are damaged, this effect gets less the farther away you are from the beam. Wide focus beams are often used to destroy the enemy fighters or missiles but one must remember that this destroys all craft in its path both enemy and friendly. Its biggest handicap is the amount of power it uses as it uses massive amounts of energy often draining several crystals. It usually takes about 30 minutes before enough charge can be build up to fire it again meaning the commander has to be very careful of picking the right moment of using it. When used right the effect is devastating and often fatal for every enemy fleet. The admirals are masters of its use as their Gift often leads them to predict their opponents allowing to fire at great range with devastating effect.
Most effective weapon however may very well be the black rangers as they are very effective in deterring people from harming Paradon. Their skill is legendary and they are feared and loathed throughout the universe. Although they have many techniques which they can use to kill their target the one that contributed to their legend has to be the ‘death touch’. This technique was developed by the first swordmasters and as the name implies it kills by touching the victim. How it does this? The body is a fragile thing and any small wound in a crucial place is enough to kill. The swordmaster touches the victim and in doing so sends some of his/her energy into the victim destroying something vital. While every swordmaster can do this the black rangers learn a slightly different version. They no longer have to touch their target to send their energy into their bodies and it is even possible to send it through solid objects. One ranger even ‘hit’ a target through several buildings causing a fatal bleeding in his brain killing him instantly.
Games.
Paradon is also known for their games. Every 2 years the games are held and people compete to determine who is the best fighter. Weapons used are swords, axes, poles, bow or even unarmed combat. First it is decided who the best fighter is with any single weapon. Then the winners of these groups fight it out to decide who the overall winner is. Winning a group is a great honor but winning the overall competition is the highest honor that a competitor can reach. Swordmasters are not allowed to enter the games as they would have a unfair advantage over the others. Fights are fought on a one on one basis, first to 10 points wins, a lottery decides who your opponent will be and the weapons used are very real and deadly. Accidents can always happen and it is usual for fighters to get hurt during the competition, harming people on purpose is a automatic disqualification. When fighters get hurt they are usually swiftly healed by the ever present healers. The winner gets besides the honor and glory a prize that consists of cash and his/her weapon of choice crafted by the master smith of Paradon. Weapons made by the master smith are highly sought after and they are of a superior quality.
Not everything in the games revolves around combat though. There is also the marathon, high jump, swimming, horse riding, etc. The main focus however is the combat part and the competition is very fierce.
