Fehran Malcontent Culture
First thing first; The Atorian Malcontents see themselves as the legitimate government; They do NOT recognize the U.G.C. as legitimate, as it didn’t form until after the Atorian Empire was founded. As such, they view their actions as legal and legitimate; They see what they are doing as fighting back against an illegal and “marginally” successful rebellion.They believe the rebellion can be crushed- Eventually. But they also recognize the fact that, for the time being, they are forced to use “guerrilla tactics” against the “usurpers.”The Fehran Malconts trace their existence back to one of the original Empresses of the Atorian Empire; During the “War with the Rebellion”, one of the empress saw that, due to mismanagement and poor application of the combined battle fleets, the Empire was going to lose. Therefore, she siphoned off a large part of her own fleet to a remote sector of space along with a space station. This was to be her reserve fleet, from which she could strike back.As the REF Battle Fleet closed in on Fehran, the Empress sent an encoded message to her reserve fleet instructing them to remain in hiding until she arrived, then took to a shuttle to make her escape; She arrived two days latter and began her guerilla war, which has lasted ever since. (REF Intel believes she never actually arrived, and that the “arrival” of the empress was created to legitimize the rebel’s actions.)In truth, the Atorian Empire was doomed to failure against the REF from the start; However, since this flies in the face of Atorian dogma, they do not accept it, and their historians have debated what could have been done better ever since. Most attribute the defeat of the Empire to mismanagement of the battle fleets, exactly as the Empress decreed. (A few have found differing versions of how the fleet could have been deployed “better,” but they’re all wrong: Only a guerrilla style war could have hurt the REF, and even at that, kamikaze-style sacrifice would have been the only method that would have significantly have hurt the REF, but not appreciably reduced it’s combat effectiveness; It would have DESTROYED the Atorian Battle Fleets.)The Fehran Malconts refer to themselves as the Battle Fleet of the Atorian Empire; A such, they use Atorian terms for their forces. Below is a quick reference dictionary:Assaulter: Tanks.Battle Suit: Power Armor.Robot: Destroid.Recruit Transport: A modified Police Veritech, used to transport newly acquired slaves.Recruit: New slaves.Sister: A female Recruit taken as an infant or young child, who is raised and trained to be a Fehran. They have MOST of the rights of a true Fehran, EXCEPT a say in government; They are NOT allowed to vote or hold office, to make or write speeches or laws, etc. They are, effectively, second-class citizens, but they DO have rights. They can select what crew they serve under, they can quit a crew, they get a share of profits, etc. Note: ONLY females can become Sisters, and ONLY those taken before they turn Ø6 years old.Slaves: Anyone OTHER that a Fehran citizen or Sister.Comforters: Slaves kept simply for sexual pleasure. Often they are HORRIBLY abused, including anally and orally raped, tortured, etc. Those Fehrans who have lost their place in the Fehran society (been dishonorably discharged from the military) are usually sold into slavery to recoup their “debt to society”; Being sold for use as a Comforter is the ULTIMATE dishonor, and unfortunately the most common fate. Sisters almost exclusively end up as Comforters, but with a twist; They are sold to fellow Sisters, who usually apply them to common slaves.Brothers: Male slaves to which a Fehran or Sister has taken a liking; They are usually treated as favored pets.Note: The gynarchristic nature of the Fehrans has NOT been whittled by the needs of the centuries of defeat at the hands of the Spacy; Indeed, it’s been REINFORCED, and a woman will sell her own sons, or worse abort them, to get rid of them; Those few who DO keep her “child” is viewed with suspicion (“¿Where DO her loyalties lay, that she’s chosen a man to her fellow women? ¡¿¡¿Who does she think she is?!?! ¡Wasting our resources on someone who SHOULD be a slave like that!”) This doesn’t apply to Brothers, however.The Atorians social structure is built strictly around cash; To advance to the next militry rank, you must bid against other candidates. The candidate submits a bid, based on their belief in their ability to take XYZ target, and the resources necessary to do so. The lowest consistent bidder is the one promoted. The bidding reflects the amount of resources necessary to achieve the objective and the losses occurred in the process; The Ators understand that the moment a mission begins, there will be losses, but the less resources you use, and the higher the loss/gain difference is, the higher your ranking on the advancement list.Failure is punished, and severely; The members of a mission are accountable for every PENNY of mat’eri’el under their control and command. The member’s PAY is related to the amount of mat’eri’el recovered. The PRICE of replacement is taken out of their pay, and if they can’t pay, in full, they have to come up with money ‘some other way’- This usually means being sold, themselves, into slavery (see ‘Comforters’, above). ‘Expected losses’ are not held against the member, for example, a mission commander who already bid 17 Power Armors and only actually losses 14 would not be counted against the mission commander; Those 14 Power Armor Troopers would not, under normal circumstances, be held accountable, unless they failed in some fashion, resulting in greater losses; For example, if they were told to disable a particular power system, and didn’t do so, they will be held accountable for those losses. It gets pretty ugly at times- Those who failed have a tendency to try to blame everyone else.This process is a direct reflection of the practical problems of the Ator’s existence; They have limited resources, and have to maximize every one of them. A mission that doesn’t produce results, is a failure. Those losses can’t be replaced without ANOTHER mission, which means more mat’eri’el wasted Favored Weapons platforms: Atorian manufactured versions of the Spacer 2 Space Fighter and overhauled T’sentrædi Salan Scouts as flagships. Modified versions of the T’sentrædi Shuttle Pod are favored as Cruisers and cargo ships. An Atorian-manufactured version of the Tiresian Assault Shuttle is also making a good show.Fehran TechnologyThe rebellious Fehrans, who stubbornly refer to themselves as “Atorians,” have a few weapons and vehicles worthy of note: They are:However, the Fehrans generally use these as building blocks (see “Fehran Malcontent Society”) until they can either capture or buy on the black market REF hardware. They are also known to modify the mat’eri’el , for example the Police Veritech A Variant; The REF occasionally copies them, in a back-and-forth exchange of technological advancement.