HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK · 2017-02-23 · HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK In the Abnormality...

HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK

! *** DAIAMID SECURITY COUNCIL EYES ONLY *** !

HOMEWORLD

DESERTS OF KHARAK EXPEDITION GUIDE

We live in a time of great progress, yet our planet is dying.

As you know, four years ago we detected a massive anomaly deep in the uncharted desert, its energy reading rivaling that of our planet's sun. We believed then, as we do now, that this object may hold the key to our survival on this planet.

The genesis of OPERATION SKAAL BRII was born out of that discovery. It proved a harsh lesson to us all, exposing our hubris. And weaknesses. We will not make that same mistake again.

OPERATION KHADIIM, its successor, has been four years in the making. It has one goal: to secure the Primary Anomaly for the North. We have researched and commissioned new deep desert carriers, assembled our best and brightest minds, and outfitted this expedition, both scientifically and militarily, to succeed.

We will travel deeper into the Great Banded Desert that ever before . The dangers are many. Not all of us will return. Accepting defeat in the face of what others claim to be insurmountable odds is not an option.

The Gaalsien will view our actions as a violation of the Will of Sajuuk. They will not grant us free passage. War is inevitable.

You and your crew hold the fate of our people in your hands. God help us if you fail.

Dr. C. Naabal

Director, Northern Coalition

Military Council (NCMC)

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Table of Contents I Kharak

Kharak Planetary Analysis

Kharakid Biology

Kharakid Environment

ADDENDUM 12MJ: ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTIONS, ATTN: NAABAL-SA

II Project “Stormbreaker”

The Northern Coalition and Project Stormbreaker

III The Jaraci Object

The Jaraci Object

IV Kharakid Social Systems

Kharakid Social Systems

S’jet

Gaalsien

THREAT ANALYSIS

Naabal

Paktu

Soban

Manaan

Siidim

Hraal

Somtaaw

Khaaneph

V Operation “Skaal Brii”

Operation Skaal Brii: Initial Anomaly Expedition

Ifriit-Class Heavy Carrier: Ifriit Naabal

Deckard Naabal, Captain

Jacob S’jet, Science Officer

CLASSIFIED RESTRICTED DATA

CLASSIFIED RESTRICTED DATA

Postmortem

VI Operation “Khadiim”

Operation Khadiim: Anomaly Expedition 2.0

Sakala-Class Deep Desert Carrier: KAPISI

Roman S’jet, Captain

Rachel S’jet, Science Officer

Nathan S'jet, Intelligence

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Clea Soban, Fleet Operations

Objectives

VII Vehicle Manifest

Coalition

Carrier

Basic Vehicle

Heavy Vehicle

Aircraft

Cruiser-Class Vehicle

Gaalsien

Carrier

Basic Vehicle

Heavy Vehicle

Aircraft


VIII Kharak Data Presentation

IX History of Kharak

X Rachel’s Personal Journal

***RACHEL’S LOSS***

***A NEW EXPEDITION***

***CONVICTIONS***

***THE JOURNEY BEGINS***

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I Kharak Planetary Analysis and Astronomical Data Summary

Kharak Planetary Analysis

Diameter (approx.) 7000 kilometers

Circumference 21,991 kilometers

Density Low

Age 6.7 billion years

Hydrographic %31

Population 293,050,000 (approx.)

Kharak is a small, arid world on the inner edge of the habitability zone surrounding its star. This results in an equatorial temperature approaching the boiling point of water with large, complex life only possible in the temperate polar regions. The planet’s advanced age means that it is well past its era of geological upheaval.

For the past half-billion years, the most powerful shaping force on its surface has been erosion. This has resulted in vast, shifting deserts that have buried most of Kharak’s ancient temperate biomes , and swallowed what was once a complex chain 1

of small seas that girdled the world until approximately 250 million years ago.

The sands that cover these once-fertile basins are particularly treacherous, and the surface can shift hundreds of meters in seconds under the right conditions. There are ancient stories of entire kiithid being wiped out while trying to migrate through this region, and even the desert-skilled Gaalsien and Manaan give these regions the respect they are due, and travel only on vital business.

Kharakid Biology Modern-day biologists divide life on Kharak into two broad categories: Native and Abnormality. Native life includes a variety of plants, animals and biota. Larger life forms include insects, avians and several marsupial species, the largest being the friendly, knee-high omnivorous haariri. As one passes from the sheltered polar areas and into the open deserts, the vast majority of native lifeforms seek shelter under the sands or ride the winds ahead of the massive sandstorms, filtering the dust for 2

microbes whipped up from the surface.

1 Ancient Ecosystem Diversity - Hundreds of thousands of species used to inhabit Kharak, but surface desertification ensured only extreme survival traits endured. 2 Desert Hibernation - Desert-dwelling life has developed a method to deplete cells of almost all water, to prevent vaporization during summer hibernation.

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In the Abnormality category, there are only three lifeforms: ourselves, a few bacterial strains, and the ubiquitous and annoying riiti. In all of Kharak, only ourselves and a small, grain-eating pest share enough common DNA and skeletal traits to be 3

considered kin. Thus the name for our biological category. We are clearly separate from the rest of the Kharakid biosphere, as we have not found a single ancestor species for ourselves or the riiti in the fossil records of the planet, while every other form of life on Kharak seems to be connected in a great chain of being.

Kharakid Environment While our technology has grown in leaps and bounds over the past hundred years, the greatest hindrance to expanding our power and control over this world is its weather. Even on days considered nominal, the only truly clear communication takes place at the poles and at sea, where the air is relatively clear. Over the deserts, there is so much static generated by the shifting of sand that radio reception is often marginal at best.

Most large storms begin their cycle in the southern hemisphere. One-quarter of the surface area of our world is nothing more than a flat reflective surface , where the 4

low-pressure superheated air rising to the edge of the ionosphere sucks cooler moist air in from the Majiirian Ocean. The resulting high-speed heat exchange generates large sandstorms on a nearly daily basis.

For the past 50 years, the rate of superstorms has been increasing. The largest yet 5

recorded covered the entire southern hemisphere for thirteen days, and has been cited as a major contributor to the loss of the Ifriit Naabal on her expedition and survey mission in 1106.

Fig 1.1: The relatively close distance to Kharak's parent star has resulted in ongoing desertification over millenia.

Fig 1.2: Northern Command's headquarters is located in Tiir; the capital city of all kiithid.

3 DNA Comparisons - Testing is still ongoing, however, several base pairs exist in kiithid biology that do not appear in native Kharakid species. 4 Surface Albedo - Kharak's dynamic reflectivity index averages 0.68 across the planet's entire surface for nearly its entire solar cycle. 5 Desert "Superstorms" - The Chak m'Hot is a famous example; circling the equator every 13 years, it drastically reshapes Kharak's surface in its wake.

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ADDENDUM 12MJ: ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTIONS, ATTN: NAABAL-SA

As ordered, my immediate family and I were able to intercept and analyze the initial data returns from the Siila’s Eye generation of environmental monitoring satellites launched in 1068. Our data filter did not engage until late the following decade, but it should be sufficient to obscure the trends from which we have drawn our own conclusions.

We have checked and rechecked the data for five years now, and there can be little doubt, my Sa. Kharak is dying.

No one since the Age of Reason would argue that Kharak is a robust world, but even we were not prepared for the dark truth that was revealed once we were able to view this world from space. The sands are spreading globally, nearly ten times faster than our surface observations had suggested. At this rate, the Seas of the Three Sisters will be dry within 200 years. Soon after that, the desert will overwhelm the last of the polar mountains, and the last of our arable land will be dust. The natural aquifers our irrigation systems depend upon are also shrinking, over six times faster than initial predictions.

Even with the leaps and bounds in power and metallurgy that the orbital debris ring has brought us, our best case scenario is that in less than 350 years, Kharak will be unable to support our species. We will continue to monitor the decline and refine our models with the new line of Eye sats. We bless your wisdom, that you have continued to fund them. And we will defer to that same wisdom, Naabal-Sa, as we continue to obscure and hide this data from the general public. We agree that to tell our struggling people that all this progress is moot would be a disaster, at this moment. It might be enough to bring on another age of Heresy Wars. We would not put it past the mad Gaalsien to use this tragedy as some kind of proof our race has been judged and found wanting.

That being said, no secret can stay buried forever. My family is loyal, and will follow the will of our Sa. We have been true for centuries, since long before the day that our people emerged from Tiir under your Ancestor’s rule, to set this world aright. But please be aware that the current rate of decline will become impossible to hide very soon. The truth will be known and irrefutable to all by the middle of the next century at the latest.

We can only hope that by then, your plan to save our people will be revealed as well.

― K'zell Naabal

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II Project “Stormbreaker” Breakdown of Desert Fortifications Project, 1057 to Present

The Northern Coalition and Project Stormbreaker

In the decades after the destruction of Saju-Ka and Kiith Gaalsien's retreat into the desert, there was a natural tendency for the remaining kiithid to pull together. First, they worked to channel and settle the survivors of Saju-Ka, and later they joined in military cooperation against the Gaalsien raids for water and supplies.

Over the next 350 years, as Gaalsien marauders became little more than a bedtime story to tell children who refused to obey their elders, the loose coalition of mutual dependencies faded into memory… but was never totally forgotten.

What had once been a network of emergency co-operation became a system of trade and development links. While inter-kiith competition remained a factor in Kharakid society, a system of shifting alliances based on mutual benefit became an organic part of economic and political life in the north.

This way of life made a new Coalition possible when a new threat reared its head that was too big for any single kiith to handle.

During the last triad of 1057, Kiith S'jet called a meeting of the full Daiamid of Tiir to 6

discuss the results of their first full analysis of the northern desert flow patterns, and their devastating implications. Their investigation of sand flow and weather patterns revealed that the Great Barrier mountain range that protected the northern polar 7

region, which had seemed insurmountable to storm and sand for centuries, would be overwhelmed within a hundred years unless something changed.

The necessary change was brought about by the combined power of the Northern kiithid in the form of building a giant ridge of sand baffle walls, a full kilometer wide, girdling the entire lower face of the Barrier Mountains. Project Stormbreaker was a wall thousands of kilometers long, designed to save civilization in the North.

Architectural planning and system design was provided by Kiith S'jet, while Naabal returned to the forefront of Daiamid politics to provide the engineering expertise for such a massive project. Hraal industrial know-how and construction equipment produced and placed the massive prefabricated sections. Kiith Somtaaw doubled their mining output for the entire duration of the project in order to keep the Hraal 8

factories supplied, and Siidim Legionnaires provided security to the endless stream of

6 The Daiamid of Tiir - Established by Kiith Naabal, the Daiamid is where kiithid gather to debate policy and settle disputes through rational discourse. 7 Great Barrier Mountain Range - Visible from orbit, this natural formation spans hundreds of kilometers across the surface of Kharak, acting as a natural sand baffle. 8 Kharakian Mineral Deposits - Most ore on Kharak is typical for a silicate planet, however, rare deposits of material with exotic properties have recently been extracted.

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convoys. Manaan money and statesmanship kept the project moving forward, despite the tensions between its member kiithid, and all the things that could go wrong.

The Stormbreaker wall took nearly a decade to complete, and during that time, Kiith Gaalsien began to make itself known again after centuries of hiding in the equatorial wastes . At first, their return was marked only by communiques plastered all over 9

construction sites and prayer speeches tight-cast from the wastes into the polar comm relays. But no matter what the medium, the message was the same: mortal kiithid had no right or mandate to oppose God's will. If the North continued on this 10

path, then this wall would fall, just as the one around Saju-Ka had once fallen. When words failed to inspire fear and obedience, the Gaalsien Kiith-Sa declared holy war against the North, a state of affairs which continues to this very day.

Small raids began against construction sites. From an historical viewpoint, it is clear that the Gaalsien were perfecting their modern military tactics at the time. Learning how to inflict the maximum amount of damage against more numerous but scattered enemies was their goal. Strikes became more ambitious over time, and caused more serious disruption to the construction schedule . Every triad, the sands flowed higher 11

and faster.

Of course, the Gaalsien were not the only kiith learning and perfecting their warcraft. The wall builders had not forgotten the past. Stormbreaker was more than towering baffles and redirection nets. The fledgling alliance military branches had insisted that the project defend against more than sandstorms, and the Wall was fitted with a series of nested firebases and fortified command centers. The early activation of these defensive structures shattered a dozen Gaalsien raids and left hundreds of their infamous "Fist of God" warriors dead on the sand. For months after, there was peace, and the Wall sped towards completion... but the Gaalsien-Sa at the time could see that if the Wall were completed, it would break any chance of threatening Tiir for decades. For this reason, he ordered a full commitment to "Siifar Kor'shesh": the Night of Fiery Daggers.

On the first night of the year 1074, ten thousand Gaalsien Fists hit the twin gate wall forts guarding the main access valley to the interior, hoping to raze them and drive on into the rich lands beyond. The Guardian forts were still incomplete, but manned by 12

500 warriors and another 600 technicians and laborers.

Withering cross-fire took down the fanatics by the hundreds, but as the night passed, the Northern defenders were slowly whittled away. By the first ripples of dawn, the fighting had entered the main gates. The last of the Siidim warriors fought and died

9 Great Banded Desert - Temperatures in the equatorial band regularly reach the boiling point of water. Comprised of desert sand and rock, few species live there. 10 The Great Maker Sajuuk - The deity that was said to have cast down the kiithid to Kharak. Also known as "He Whose Hand Shapes What Is." 11 Project Stormbreaker Setbacks - Gaalsien pressure ultimately resulted in the use of weaker materials in certain sections of the Wall to reach the targeted completion date. 12 Guardian Forts of the Wall - Regularly-spaced along the StormBreaker wall, these forts house quarters, supplies, and amenities for extended personnel deployments.

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side by side with S'jet technicians and Hraal laborers who bravely sacrificed themselves to hold their position.

When the last of the Gaalsien reserves had been called into the breach, it was finally time for Naabal-Sa to give the order to close the trap.

One signal echoed out from the comm towers of the gate.

"Bring the Red"

And with that, two full legions of Sobani mercenaries rose up from the desert floor and broke the Gaalsien army against the stones of the gate. The Naabal had spent many lives to lure them in and make sure the Gaalsien would be stripped of their army for a full generation… and it had worked.

Stormbreaker held, and the Northern Coalition was anchored in stone.

The world had changed yet again.

Fig 2.1: Originally where Kiith Naabal emerged to end the Heresy Wars, Tiir is now the capital city of the North.

Fig 2.2: Still image of real-time satellite telemetry, downloaded from a recently-deployed eye-sat.

Fig 2.3: Kiith Gaalsien has uniquely adapted to the harsh environment of the equatorial wastes.

Fig 2.4:The Gaalsien kiith family insignia emblazoned on a flag.

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III The Jaraci Object Brief on the discovery of the Primary Anomaly

The Jaraci Object

Location Equatorial Wastes

Analysis Metallurgy matches orbital debris

Age Unknown

Origin Unknown

The story of the Kharakid space program is a tale of surprises and blind luck.

Had our initial boosters been just a little more efficient, our first launches would have been high enough to be destroyed instantly by the debris belt, instead of safely discovering it.

Had our first spacewalker not brought her kiith medallion with her, she would have 13

been helpless to do anything but stare at the piece of alien metal that had torn a hole in her capsule, instead of having the perfect-sized piece of soft metal to seal the breach.

And without a glitch in a nav program, we would never have found a trace of the greatest secret of this world.

After 80 years of spaceflight and retrievals, it was very clear that at least one and perhaps several spaceships of non-Kharakid origin had broken up in orbit. Our technology has grown by leaps and bounds due to back-engineering of the small pieces of wreckage we have retrieved thus far, but still the sacred bounty we most desired eluded us: a functioning, intact vessel of any kind seemed an impossible dream. Decades passed with nothing larger than an office chair being spotted.

As a result, in 1100, Kiith S'jet instituted a new sensor system called Project Viin Cal, after the ancient God of the hunters. Viin Cal was a series of potent deep-scan radar sats capable of sweeping the space around Kharak orbit for hundreds of millions of kilometers. While the program started with promise, returning a hit or two which seemed to be larger objects in high orbit, these turned out to be malfunctions and strange, localized magnetic inversions upon investigation. By 1106, the Project had 14

been reduced significantly in terms of scale and staff.

It was under these conditions that a young technician named Leykab Jaraci presided over a Viin Cal sat with a malfunction in its maneuvering thrusters. Aware of how tight budgeting for his team had become, Leykab fought for the better part of an hour to

13 Kiith Family Medallion - Bearing the individual kiith's family insignia, these medallions were originally a means of identification during the Heresy Wars 14 Magnetic Inversion - Loosely-defined stellar phenomenon that falsely registers as a synthetic power source. Further study is recommended in this area

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bring the tumbling sat under control before he had to regretfully give the self destruct command. It seemed at first to be another sad moment in a fading program, except that Leykab dutifully ran the last data tape before closing the file. 15

The recorded data had miraculously revealed a large metal object — but it was not in orbit. The sat’s spinning path had caused it to repeatedly scan large swathes of Kharak’s equatorial region. The power of the radar scan had penetrated to a distance of almost a hundred meters through the shifting sands.

And so, with shaking hands, Leykab sent his report on the Anomaly that would bear his name through history. Something artificial was buried in the heart of the equatorial desert. Something huge, made of metal, and surrounded by masses of stone built in regular geometric patterns.

Since that day, other sats with improved ground-penetrating radar have been tasked to scan the Jaraci Object, but due to storms, the shifting static-charged sands, and pure luck, no other scan has revealed as much information as the first fateful accident.

Fig 3.1: In-progress launch of a new series of eye-sats for orbital deployment.

Fig 3.2: In addition to the Primary Anomaly, many less-intense returns have been observed and mapped.

15 Data Storage - Though considered "old" by recent storage methods, data tapes are exceptionally reliable, making them the prime choice for cataloging

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IV Kharakid Social Systems Kiithid Histories & Societal Roles

Kharakid Social Systems

Society on Kharak is organized along loose family associations, many of which now include hundreds of thousands of members. An extended family grouping is called a kiith (plural: kiithid), and most archaeologists agree it is a social artifact that dates back before the beginnings of recorded history.

A kiith has a loose hierarchy based on one’s social position within the family. Originally, this was based primarily on seniority, but as technology has changed the face of life on Kharak, the kiithid too have changed, and now family ranking is based more on wealth or personal influence than age. Organization within the kiith is recursive in nature and models that of a core family unit. Where a single family has a primary leader, a secondary and then a group of dependents, the next level of kiith organization is based on the same system — there is a primary family who makes policy decisions, a secondary family which hears disputes and makes recommendations, and a number of families of lesser power that have sworn allegiance to the primary. The primary family within a kiith is called the kiith-Sa.

This structure is not static by any means and, while it is not a trivial matter, families are free to change their primary allegiances as they see fit. A family’s position within the kiith rises and falls with how many swear allegiance to them. Although it is much rarer, from time to time a family will move from one kiith to another or even feel the need to become their own full kiith.

In ancient times, a kiith-Sa could direct all within the kiith to war, demand families dedicate time and finances to special projects, or even move the kiith to another region. In modern times, the kiith-Sa is a political and financial leader only in that it acts on the wishes of the entire kiith as established by referendums. The kiith-Sa from all over Kharak meet in the Great Daiamid located in the capital of Tiir to debate global policy and resolve legal conflicts between kiithid.

Traditionally, kiithid concentrate their power in one or two disciplines and gather families under their banner by being the best place to find advancement in a particular field. For example, Kiith S’jet has been associated with the sciences on Kharak for over a thousand years and is known to have the most advanced computer labs in the world. Bonded couples interested in the field often apply to a S’jet family associated with such labs. Alliances between kiithid are also based on mutual interests, and they often lead to closer ties or complete reorganizations.

In the modern era, the kiithid have slowly transferred their power to the individual, but it should be noted that it is still a powerful means of social identity. Kharakid society pursues a single goal today, and our new sense of racial destiny has reminded us that we are all families of one grand kiith. Unfortunately for the unity of our

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people, tradition dies hard, and it takes little stress for any Kharaki to think of family first and Kharak second.

S’jet Kiith S’jet is something of an oddity among the power structures of the kiithid. While they are an ancient and respected kiith whose expertise has been courted by kiithid-Sa across Kharak, they have never parlayed this influence into any real political power. The true power of Kiith S’jet lays in its undying desire to question, observe, predict, and record. In ancient times, they were the first to plot the path of the planets in the Kharakid system and derive a calendar from them. They were the first to discover the 13-year progressive cycle of sandstorms that tear around the equator of this world and predict where the rains that follow the end of every cycle would fall. Most of the impartial histories of the Heresy Wars and the resulting reformation were penned by S’jet scribes, who recorded it along with their observations of top-soil destruction and the slow crawl of the sands northward.

During periods of upheaval, Kiith S’jet have always been too valuable as allies and advisors to be turned into vassals. Any kiith who killed or attempted to interrogate a S’jet was shunned by the Science philosophers for a period no shorter than 100 years, and in order to keep their knowledge from being corrupted, any kiith who wished to become S’jet swore an oath directly to the S’jet-Sa and had to serve faithfully for two generations before being instructed in the sacred wisdoms. The closest thing to a scandal that has ever shaken the S’jet kiith occurred during the Time of Reason, when it came to light that during the Heresy Wars certain S’jet vassals had actually lived under a secret secondary oath to Kiith Naabal. These secret Naabal used their positions of S’jet immunity to move through the various warring factions and carry out missions of retrieval and intelligence-gathering. When this truth was revealed, the sense of outrage was strong, but Fliir S’jet-Sa realized the extremity of the situation may have justified the betrayal. Even though she was able to bring enough of her kiith over to this line of reasoning to avoid sanctions or exile for the families involved, there is still a lingering thread of mistrust between some S’jet and Kiith Naabal to this very day, and the debate over the use of Science as Power is still a passionate one.

As the Time of Reason progressed, Kiith S’jet expanded their studies and moved away from the tradition of celestial mechanics and mathematics. Various families began to delve into the nature and origin of life on Kharak. Within a century, Kriil S’jet presented a paper to the Daiamid in Tiir presenting the scientific evidence that we bore little biological similarity to the vast majority of Kharakid life. This scientific proof of the religious tenet of Exile shook Kharakid society, but established once and for all that Kiith S’jet served the truth, however disturbing that might be.

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Gaalsien Of all the kiithid, none has lost more throughout the centuries than Kiith Gaalsien. The Gaalsien line is ancient, and some of the oldest documents on Kharak bear their sigil. By the time recorded history begins on Kharak, the Gaalsieni were already a spiritual and political force to be reckoned with.

While minor cults have come and gone, the majority of Kharaki have always believed in the Great Maker Sajuuk, Whose Hand Shapes What Is. The majority of religious sects differ not over whether Sajuuk exists, but in what His nature may be, and His reasons for bringing us to Kharak. The majority view until the Time of Reason was some variation on the theme of punishment; the logic being that no just God would leave His people on such an inhospitable world if they had not done something to earn this fate. Many vital survival tactics, such as conservation of resources and not risking the future of the kiith on untried methods, were reinforced by dogma in ancient Kharak ― undesirable acts were always described in terms of punishable arrogance. These beliefs helped keep our people alive during the great trek from the central deserts, but once in the temperate polar regions, the same beliefs held back useful innovations that the more hospitable environment made possible. Generally, how wrathful one believed Sajuuk to be tended to dictate how wary one was of cultural and technological advances.

Of the three major religious kiithid, Gaalsien, Ferriil, and Somtaaw, it was Gaalsien that preached the strongest message of punishment. The dogma of righteous suffering and humility held that Sajuuk had cast our people down to Kharak from some celestial paradise to pay for our arrogance. Gaalsien theologians preached that to deviate from the most accepted and ritualized survival methods was to actually extend the period of time before our people would be lifted back up to heaven. In the early days, this strict dogma paid off and allowed Kiith Gaalsien to survive and prosper during various ecological disasters during the period between 75-250 KDS. Once this turbulent time passed and people penetrated further into the temperate polar region, more innovative kiithid regained their power, and Gaalsien power began to fade somewhat. Many archaeologists believe that Kiith Gaalsien deliberately started the Heresy Wars as an attempt to bring all the lesser kiithid back under its power during the resulting chaos.

Fortunately for the technically inclined among us, it was Kiith Naabal which emerged victorious from the Heresy Wars, and the dogma of penance and repression begin to fade from the hearts and minds of Kharaki. Despite this, the Gaalsien, their power shattered forever after nearly 300 years of war, became even more extreme in their religious beliefs, as if to compensate for the rest of the sinful planet. By the time the Time of Reason was at its height in 710 KDS, the Gaalsien were down to less than 30 vassal families, and only the great desert temple city of Saju-Ka remained under its power. Perhaps it was the sense that history had passed them by, or simply a desire to commit an act of sacrifice strong enough to regain the favor of Sajuuk Himself, but in the year 717 KDS, the kiith-Sa of the Gaalsien performed an act that has lived in infamy ever since.

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At the time, Saju-Ka was the artistic gem of Kharak. In its great temples and halls were most of the great works commissioned in the name of the God Sajuuk, and in its libraries were the collected works of our people, gathered before His eyes so that He could see them and judge us worthy. Though Saju-Ka had been built in the first hospitable valley found in the North, time had allowed the deserts to crawl ever northward themselves. By the 700s, sand would have completely swallowed Saju-Ka if not for the complex series of wind baffles, dikes and sand paths designed by the great engineer Gar Naabal. One night, during the height of the spring winds, Saju-Ka was lost to our people. In a single act of divine madness, Miirpat Gaalsien-Sa ordered his people to blow up the entire system that held back the sand. The light from the hundreds of explosions was still visible when the hungry sands began pouring down the streets of Saju-Ka. Within two days, the city was completely buried, and thousands died in the mass evacuation.

The whole of Kiith Gaalsien was convicted in absentia by the Daiamid in Tiir and deemed an outlaw kiith, but this punishment had very little effect on the Gaalsien, as they slipped away into the wastes during that terrible night, abandoning the progress they saw as a decadence that would eventually bring down the wrath of God.

Since then, Kiith Gaalsien has wandered the great central deserts, surviving by the skills and rituals they held so dear. Occasionally, they will make themselves known by raiding scientific communities or stations in the wastes and leaving massive theological documents proclaiming how close we are to the end. Military expeditions to track them down once and for all have always failed, and a certain mythology has grown up around them, as if there is a nagging suspicion in the minds of modern Kharaki that the only way Kiith Gaalsien could have survived is if they really did have the grace of Sajuuk.

Some say that they have even found His lost city under the sands, and Saju-Ka once again echoes with mumbled prayers and offerings made in the darkness. Even now, it’s likely that there are still families secretly aligned with the ancient, religious kiith.

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THREAT ANALYSIS

DAIAMID SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFING AX-4 CLOSED DOOR SESSION

Presenting Officer: K’nsaal ne Paktu, Daiamid Intelligence Arm

As concluded in Briefing AX-3, it is clear that Kiith Gaalsien is now an immediate Prime Class threat to any Coalition holdings outside the polar zones, as well as the remaining forward bases, no matter how heavily reinforced. Kiith Somtaaw has reported the loss of three ore convoys in the first triad of this year alone, and armed sorties against the Wall fortresses get more daring with each passing month. More disturbing is that against all simulations, Gaalsien combat units keep getting more advanced and numerous. All of the S’jet strategic simulations have clearly indicated the opposite should be happening, as Gaalsien Expulsion-era habitats and production centers begin to fail from attrition. Even factoring in illicit trading with sympathizer families, the Gaalsien should be incapable of mounting military operations. And yet they do.

This briefing will cover the following 3 issues and review the most possible answers:

1) How can the Gaalsien maintain operations?

2) How can the Gaalsien be researching new technologies?

3) Where are Gaalsien production and populations centers?

1) How can the Gaalsien maintain operations given their status of an illegal kiith in exile? In short, they can’t. Given our current understanding of the situation, there must be at least one hidden factor at work here. The Gaalsien are clearly receiving enough resources to maintain a war footing and support their population. The most obvious answer is that one of the major kiithid at the Daiamid table is a secret ally. Fortunately for the unity of our “alliance”, there is not enough evidence of redirected resources or large amounts of signal traffic unaccounted for to implicate any of you. In case any of you doubt my renunciation of all loyalties to my birth kiith, I will point out here that Paktu had unusually high encrypted traffic, along with both Naabal and Siidim ― but none were high enough to maintain the coordination of a supply operation large enough to sustain the Gaalsien. From this we can only conclude, barring that the Gaalsien actually receives gifts directly from God, that they have found a new, rich source of supply somewhere deep in the southern hemisphere beyond the range of our tight-beam sensor arrays. If this is true, and it seems the most likely answer, then the Gaalsien must be separated from this new-found source of resources as quickly as possible.

2) How can the Gaalsien be researching new technologies? Evidence that they are committed to research and development comes in the form of entirely new designs for Gaalsien vehicles sighted in recent years.

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Analysis of wreckage from their raids clearly indicates that the Gaalsien military branch has been making leaps in metallurgy and energy systems that seem beyond even our wise friends from Kiith S’jet. Once again, we can eliminate internal betrayal as a cause. I doubt that if any of you were making breakthroughs at this level that you would be trading it away to desert raiders, instead of using it yourself and profiting directly. Nonetheless, it is a worrisome problem that when anti-technology religious fanatics start making leaps in tech, it means their innovations are probably not coming from their own schools and labs. The Gaalsien must be coming across tech that is functional in of itself. And if it’s not being delivered to them by one of us, then they must be finding it somewhere out in the wastes.

3) Where are Gaalsien production and populations centers? Gearing up for full warfare requires a concentrated population base and industrial centers. We have not found a trace of either over the past ten years of increased activity. While Kharak is not an easy world to search, with the recent advent of Scanning Sats, we have a fair portion of this world under surveillance. We see a bit more than we have commonly made known to the general Daiamid. Unfortunately, this has not been helpful in tracking down Gaalsien holdings or transporters… which leads us to believe they have to be concentrated in the deep south where the constant storms make a mess of both our optical and signal intelligence sensors.

From your growing murmuring and whispers, Ministers, I can tell you have come to the same unpleasant conclusion that Intelligence has. The odds are very good that Kiith Gaalsien has come across a source of resources and technology somewhere in the great desert. It’s possible that they have even found something in connection to the Jaraci Anomaly itself. If this is so, then it is imperative we launch Operation Khadiim as soon as possible. While the failure of Operation Skaal Brii and the large loss of life associated with that failure will always be a stark reminder of the price for rushing preparations, we nonetheless cannot assume we are safe here behind our walls, forts, and sensor towers. At our current projections, it is only a matter of time before Gaalsien forces hit us with something we cannot withstand.

In conclusion, Intel strongly advises that Operation Khadiim receive full attention and the Carrier Kapisi be launched fully equipped for war.

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Naabal Not much is known about Kiith Naabal prior to their dramatic emergence at the end of the Heresy Wars. There are a few scattered mentions of them in the records of the major kiithid of the first epoch, but the name Naabal arises only in terms of tradesmen or heretics. Kiith Gaalsien were particularly vehement in the persecution of families under the Naabal flag, and there is some evidence that it was Gaalsien persecution which drove Naabal to their hidden valley refuge, blasted into the edge of Kharak’s tiny northern ice cap. But these loose facts are all that we have when it comes to understanding the origins of this powerful kiith.

Kiith Naabal itself seems uninterested in clearing up the distant past, and the hard facts only begin to appear in the years directly before the Naabal intervention, when the kiith moved to end the Heresy Wars and establish the Daiamid. In those three centuries of chaos, Kiith Naabal had almost completely cut off contact with the rest of Kharak. Traders or refugees who accidentally stumbled into the valley were welcomed with open arms and given a place to make their lives anew. There is no record of any rejecting this offer, so we are not quite sure what the alternative might have been... Small parties, always made up of families with direct fealty to the kiith-Sa, were sent out occasionally to bring back texts that were in danger of destruction, usually because the cities that held them were being constantly sacked. Sometimes these parties would even spirit away scholars imprisoned for heresy. It wasn’t until Ifriit Naabal-Sa came to head the secretive kiith that a less isolated philosophy began to take hold. Ifriit realized the wars were dangerously close to destroying the last of the infrastructure that kept the bulk of the Kharakid people alive. Fields were being burned, dams demolished and sand traps torn down simply to deprive the enemy of valuable resources. Under such an onslaught, the days of civilization on Kharak were numbered.

Though declared pacifists, much of the knowledge, discovered and hoarded by Kiith Naabal had direct military application and so, when Ifriit Naabal-Sa finally proposed intervention to his people, it took only a few years for a military force to be assembled. The Naabal had been keeping the secrets of explosives, steam and refining for more than a hundred years, and when they rose, they swept out of their hidden city of Tiir like the gleaming servants of Jaakul himself. Steam-powered vehicles towed cannons to bring down the walls of despotic kiithid, while handfuls of soldiers carrying repeater rifles and wearing hardened armor moved to rout marauding armies 20 times their size. Ifriit Naabal-Sa spoke at every holding, village and city his army liberated, and offered those people all the fruits of Naabal science and technology if they would but lay down their arms and end the pointless destruction. Unlike the major powers in the Heresy Wars, Naabal-Sa did not demand renunciation of former kiith ties; all he asked for was an ending. The lesser kiithid, brutalized by nearly 300 years of war, gratefully accepted his terms, and soon the Naabal army had grown fifty-fold with kiithid whose only desire was to end the Heresy Wars any way they could. And in three short years, they had done it. Ifriit Naabal-Sa’s last act before stepping down as Sa was to establish the Daiamid in Tiir as a place

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where all kiithid, powerful and weak, could gather to resolve disputes and set policy for all of Kharak.

In the decades to follow, Naabal rebuilt the damaged infrastructure of Kharak and improved upon it with their no-longer-secret construction and metallurgical techniques. Any minor kiithid were accepted into Naabal if they simply wanted to learn new crafts and trades. These same kiithid were then allowed to go their own way if they chose, and many of the major industrial kiith of the modern world began under Naabal’s wing. By the Time of Reason 200 years later, Kiith Naabal had replaced the perilous sand-sail routes to the south with rail-mounted steam cars, and had given Kiith Paktu-Sa of the southern polar region a permanent presence in the Daiamid.

Kiith Naabal seemed content to fade slowly into history for many years, but recent stresses on Kharakid society, mainly the encroachment of desert sands on many settlements in the North and increased hostility from Kiith Gaalsien, seem to have steered Naabal back to the forefront of politics. Naabal has formed permanent alliances with both the S’jet and Soban kiithid, and has taken the lead in organizing both expeditions to the Jaraci Anomaly. Financial analysts have noted heavy Naabal investment in aerospace research with special interest in proposed facilities in low Kharak orbit and beyond. Regardless of the detailed plans of this very secretive kiith, it should be clear to anyone on the political scene that Naabal has always had an eye to the future and a deep commitment to be on the cutting edge on the shaping of that future.

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Paktu Prior to the year 462, Kiith Paktu was a minor farming kiith, living on the slopes above the Salt Sea. On the year their most famous leader, Majiir Paktu, was born, the long rift between the religious leaders of Kiith Siidim and Kiith Gaalsien, which were then the most powerful kiithid of the North, finally became an unbridgeable divide. In 462 KDS, the famous Siidim Council announced a new Dogma ― the traditional Siidim cosmology, which once held that all kiithid on Kharak were exiled from a heavenly paradise, was abandoned. The truth, according to the proclamation of 462, was that only the Siidim were of divine origin ― all other kiithid were native to Kharak, and therefore inferior, their blood tainted by corrupting sand.

In accordance with the new Dogma, many cruel pogroms were passed against non-Siidim kiithid ― the people known as “Gritiidim,” or “sand people.” By far the harshest of these measures was the Clean Water Act, which forbade non-Siidim kiithid from living at the headwaters of a river or stream, lest they foul the water which Siidim downstream would have to drink. Hundreds of families were displaced by Siidim temple men, turned out of their ancestral homes and made to march downstream, carrying as much of their former lives with them as they could. In 488 KDS, Kiith Paktu joined the ranks of the dispossessed.

At the same time, the temples of the neighboring Kiith Gaalsien had become obsessed with sins of pride and by the redemption of Kharak through suffering. The Siidim made obvious targets for the sermons of Gaalsien holy men: for every Siidim sin of pride, they said, a more brutal and excruciating expiation was demanded by the gods of Kharak. Lesser kiithid of the North, already suffering under the weight of Siidim oppression, often were willing to join their holdings to the Gaalsien rather than see them taken by the Siidim; many welcomed Gaalsien soldiers and temple men into their holdfasts, only to find themselves held at swordpoint and made to watch as their “sinful” books and belongings were burned to appease the gods. Heavy tributes of both food and fodder were demanded by Gaalsien armies, and appalling sacrifices were sometimes demanded by Gaalsien priests, who saw no reason why the pure of heart should suffer alone.

Clashes between Siidim and Gaalsien holdings intensified over time, and even remote kiithid were forced to choose sides; both great kiithid were too powerful for any smaller kiith to challenge on its own. Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, the Gritiidim were finally ready to try the unthinkable: crossing the Great Banded Desert to the south, looking for new land.

By this time, Majiir Paktu had become the Paktu kiith-Sa. Although the First Migration may not have been entirely his idea, it’s certain that the fate of all the people of Kiith Paktu was in his hands. It is difficult for us to imagine today what he must have felt as his people built the first great sailers at the edge of the desert. Although many Kharaki believed there might be arable land at the southern pole, no one had ever attempted to cross the Great Banded Desert and returned to tell the tale. The only confirmation of a land south of the desert came from mad Manaanii travelers, rambling about endless seas and “grasses that touched the sky.”

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The Migration offered slim hope at best, so slim that no Kharakian dared to risk it until there was no other hope at all.

The rest, as they say, is history. Nearly 50 kiithid set out from the plain at Albegiido in 490 KDS and sailed into the Great Banded Desert, sweeping over the burning sands on the winds of the seasonal storm, the Chak m’Hot. By the time the men, women and children of the First Migration reached the shore of the Hunon Mountains, only 17 families were left, and all of them had lost weaker members on the journey. Still more died as they struggled over the Hunon; without anyone to guide them to the easiest pass, they lost many to poisonous water, rockfalls, thirst and lizard-bite.

As the story goes, many of the Firsters fell into despair among the burning red canyons of the Hunon and did not want to go on. Despite whether he had been the leader from the beginning of the Migration, Majiir Paktu was definitely the leader on that day. He stood at the head of the column and pleaded with the people to continue. “I can smell the sea,” he said. “It’s only a little farther.”

The people did not believe him, and more than a few turned to start the hard trek back to their sand-sailers, still docked at the desert shore. But as legend has it, at that moment a bird appeared in the cloudless sky above them ― a sea-spirit, circling against the hot sun.

The kiithid of the First Migration followed the sea-spirit and Majiir Paktu through the mountains, and when they stood on the last red hilltop, they were looking down at the rolling breakers of a great grey sea. Straight away, that expanse of water was named the Majiirian Sea, after the man who brought them there.

The people of the First Migration settled on the shores of the Majiirian, and were presumed dead by many in the North for the almost two years it took to build up their homes and holdings. In the spring of the third year, however, Majiir Paktu and a group of picked volunteers attempted another crossing of the Great Banded Desert to take back word of the new land to the North, where so many still lived in a nightmare of war and oppression.

Majiir Paktu did not survive the return, but seven of his followers did. These seven Paktu kiithsmen passed through the northlands on foot, taking word of the new land with them everywhere they went. Once that word spread, there was no stopping it. Dozens of families built sand-sailers on the famous plain of Albegiido every year, trying to escape the Heresy Wars and the madness of their Siidim and Gaalsien masters.

Alas, the Siidim and Gaalsien were not quite finished with the people who escaped their tyranny. Although they ignored the Migrations for many years, both Siidim and Gaalsien lost many hectares of holdings to the war. By 650 KDS it occurred to both of the great northern kiithid that many of those who fled to the south were still considered their vassal clans and by treaty still owed them lands and tribute.

There were at least three major attempts to assault the southern lands from 652-700 KDS. The last of these was the most successful; the army of Liam Gaalsien actually arrived at the pass of the Hunon mountains almost intact in the spring of 698 KDS, ready to subdue the unruly kiithid of the southlands and their kiith-Sa.

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On that day, Kim Paktu, the grandson of Majiir Paktu and Paktu kiith-Sa, arrayed an army of 30,000 swords on the shore of the Majiirian. Every one of them wore the colors of Kiith Paktu, and every standard bearer carried its flag.

“These are my people,” Kim Paktu said. “And this land is ours. You have no vassals here.”

Badly outnumbered and facing a fresh and well-supplied army, Liam Gaalsien nonetheless led his troops into battle. Very few of the Gaalsien who followed him that day escaped with their lives. Although they killed hundreds of Paktu, the southern kiith-Sa eventually prevailed, and no such crusade ever was attempted again.

To this day, the flag of the Paktu is white, the color of the sand-sails which carried its people across the Banded Desert, emblazoned with a sun stained red by the blood of those who died in search of ― or in defense of ― freedom. Silhouetted against that sun is the shape of the sea-spirit, an eternal symbol of hope and faith.

Paktu believe fiercely in independence and despise priests and dictators. Its people are optimistic, innovative, and venturesome ― when things are darkest, someone will almost always repeat the kiith’s motto: “I can smell the sea.”

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Soban In Kharakid society, the majority of citizens are secure in their kiith ties. Within the immediate family and within the larger circle of more distant blood relationships, not to mention our professional associations and alliances, most of us are bound at many levels. If we should ever have a falling-out with one kiith-Sa, we belong to many other kiithid by marriage and inclination and could change our alliances at any time.

This was not always the case. Prior to the emergence of the southern federation and the Naabal intervention, very few Kharakians had ties outside their own kiith, and if they did, they were ties of dominance and submission one kiith was made vassal to another and owed tribute to its masters, in return for which it was given the protection of the larger kiith’s army and the benefit of trade with the larger kiith’s holdings.

In all of this, however, there was no provision made for those who were without kiith. Unthinkable as this state may seem to us today, it can still bring a shudder to the modern Kharakian to consider the fate of a kiithless man or woman during those times. Banishment from the kiith was effectively a death sentence at any time prior to the year 416 KDS, when Kiith Soban was born.

The origins of Kiith Soban, the “Grey Brotherhood,” are somewhat hazy. It appears that two vassal kiithid, which held lands along the second sea, were invaded by the temple men of a strong neighboring kiith. The vassals fought back furiously, defending their homes with desperate strength, and succeeded in killing a few of the raiding kiith. In revenge, the invaders punished the survivors brutally, although they had already surrendered. Many of the basic taboos of Kharakian society were violated; all the children of the farmers were murdered as well as the leader, man or woman, of every family. Those that remained were driven from their holdings, and fled across the Sparkling Desert to carry the news of these atrocities to their kiith-Sa.

The leader of this group was Soban, later known as Soban the Red. When he knelt before his Sa, he recounted the horrors that the neighboring kiith had committed against his people and demanded vengeance. He offered to personally lead the army that would ravage the invaders and teach them the error of their ways, and waited for the men and women of his kiith-Sa to join him in a rush across the Sparkling Desert.

Unfortunately, this support was never to come. Soban’s kiith-Sa, afraid of the possible repercussion or perhaps simply realizing the kiith was not strong enough to prevail against a larger and stronger kiith, refused to attack the reavers. Instead, members of the smaller kiith became vassals to the larger, joining their blood to the blood of the murderers.

When he heard of this, Soban tore the colors of his kiith from his body in shame. His followers did the same, and in doing so they abandoned their kiith completely ― an unheard-of gesture at the time, especially coming as it did from landless men and women. According to legend, Soban then declared the word “kiith” was meaningless when any kiith-Sa could turn a deaf ear to the blood of children crying from the ground. He vowed that he would never belong to any false kiith again ― the only kiith

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which deserved the word was the kiith of spirit, the brotherhood of like mind and shared ambitions.

All the followers of Soban took a new color: a deep and vivid red, the color of blood flowing from the heart. Although they could not have been many, their first act as a kiith was a successful attack on the holdings which had once been their homes. When they left their old farms behind, not a blade of grass was left green nor one stone standing on top of another ― everything was razed and every invader killed in ways that gave Kiith Soban a bloody reputation for years to come.

Kiith Soban became a martial kiith from then on, and as years passed, a peculiar set of rituals developed among them. Although many other warrior kiithid existed at the time, those kiithid were standard in their aims and organization; they were martial to the extent that they desired the property and possessions of their weaker neighbors. Only the Soban were completely landless and existed purely as mercenaries.

The Sobani mercenary is a curious feature of Kharakian history. For centuries, Sobani took part in every military conflict on the planet, and their skills as soldiers and commanders were highly prized. When the services of any given Soban were bought, he or she would dress in the colors of the new kiith and fight in the service of that kiith, regardless of personal risk or cost. When the term of service was over ― down to the hour and minute ― Soban mercenaries would put down their arms, remove their adopted colors, and return to their own kiith. If the end came during the middle of a battle or a thousand miles from home, they would still go; contracts for their services could not be renewed on the scene, and only through their kiith-Sa.

To this day, the Soban are completely devoid of standard family groupings. No “marriage,” as such, is permitted among their ranks; and although male and female Sobani are permitted to form whatever alliances they might want, there is no such thing as a Sobani child. Children born to the Soban are left as foundlings with other kiiths or their parents are made to leave Kiith Soban to raise them.

The skills of Kiith Soban are still valuable in today’s troubled times , and they never lack for money and influence. Sobani are often preferred when influential kiithid like the Naabal need intelligence officers or security officers, and virtually all modern-day officers are trained at Soban-run military academies based in Tiir, the entire Northern Coalition now has access to the training and discipline that was once available only to life-long Sobani.

A current of true Sobanism still exists in our society and always will as long as some men and women continue to reject the status quo. Some Kharaki still join Kiith Soban of their own free will, renouncing all other kiith ties and associations; others are forced to join when driven from other kiiths for violating their taboos. Before “taking the red,” as it is called, a prospective Sobani must repeat the ritual which Soban performed centuries ago; all other kiith colors must be forcibly ripped from the body, a powerful gesture of negation. To some it represents the ultimate rebellion, to some the only salvation, but Kiith Soban imposes the same discipline and solidarity on them all ― for which Kharakian society may well thank them.

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Manaan Perhaps the strangest of all Kharakid kiithid is the Manaan, or “the Travelers.” Although the blood bonds between Manaani are not strong ― they range greatly in physical appearance and kiith traditions ― they are nevertheless all considered one family, especially by outsiders, who for centuries viewed these nomads as a dire threat to decency and morals, to unprotected holdings, and to the virtue of young men and women from good families.

The antipathy toward Manaani is simple enough to explain. During a time when the majority of Kharakians were hard-working farmers, clinging to life with teeth and fingernails, the Manaani maintained a traditional nomadic existence. They traveled from place to place, stopping at watering places to rest; if the water was surrounded by a hold, the Manaani expected hospitality.

Although they were rarely hostile toward farmers and city dwellers, they resisted any attempts to settle or civilize their kiith. Driven by a hunger for new experiences and a restlessness few other Kharakians could understand, the Manaani could never stay in one place for long — they simply picked up stakes and moved on into the wastes again, leaving the security (and the hard work) of house and hold behind them.

The earliest historical mention of “Manaani wanderers” comes from the year 340 KDS, when holdings along the shore of the White Desert complained that their farms had been raided by the Travelers. According to the report they sent to their kiith-Sa, the White Desert holders had recently closed their gates to a wandering kiith, refusing them permission to make camp by the waterside. Although the Manaani went away peacefully at the time, they returned by night and came over the wall “by the hundreds”, overwhelming the resistance of the surprised holders. In the end, the Manaani were accused of stealing nearly a ton of food and many hundred man-weights of water ― which was, coincidentally, just a bit more than the tribute which was owed by the White Desert holders to their kiith-Sa that year.

The tale of the White Desert holders was dubious for many reasons, although it was widely believed by landed Kharaki at the time and for many centuries to follow. The report that Manaani came over the wall of a sand-dike “by the hundreds” is absurd, given the fact that traditional Manaani never traveled in groups larger than an extended family and in such a group, there would have been a dozen able-bodied men at most. To find Manaani “by the hundreds,” one would have had to seek them out at a Gathering, their yearly meeting on the sands of Ferin Sha (“The Dancing Ground”). Not only was Ferin Sha nearly 200 miles from the White Desert, but focus at such a Gathering would be celebration and drinking, not killing and looting. Fighting of any kind was forbidden at Ferin Sha ― to profane sacred ground with spilled blood was the greatest Manaani taboo.

Is this to say there was no basis for Kiith Manaan’s early reputation as thieves? Unfortunately, no. If the majority of Manaani were innocent of raiding, there were still some who undoubtedly traveled in greater strength and might have been capable of carrying off a few water barrels. The majority of travelers were probably guilty of a little judicious pilfering from time to time, even if it was only picking a pocket or

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picking fruit in the night. The real question is not whether the Manaani were really thieves, but why, if they were widely believed to be thieves, would the majority of holdings open their gates to Manaani visitors? An answer of one word will suffice: entertainment.

The Manaani were always traders, but prior to the Great Migration they could never compete with the legitimate trade routes among the northern holdings ― at least when it came to transporting mundane cargoes. In order to survive, a kiith of travelers needed to bring their would-be hosts something they could not get cheaper or more routinely somewhere else. In some cases, Manaani would carry rare drugs or medicines that could be found only in remote places, or traffic in taboo items, but since their caravans were often searched before being allowed to enter a holding, the Manaani would more often carry a less tangible but even more valuable freight: music, laughter, and spectacle, a break from the hard and unending work of a desert farmer’s life. For many years, Kiith Manaan survived by their wits and their ability to amuse holdborn Kharaki. Singers and poets, magicians, dancers, actors and con men ― there was nothing to the rumor that Manaani could perform dark magic, but they could certainly make your purse and your 15-year-old daughter disappear.

After the Great Migration began, life changed drastically for the Manaani. Although they played no important role in the First Crossing, a small kiith of travelers accompanied the Paktu in the sand-sailers that left Albegiido in 490. Most of them returned to the north in 497 KDS, bringing their three-masted ships with them. The Manaani took to the new technology in droves and made many improvements to the original design.

During the beginning of the Heresy Wars, Manaani still living in the north suffered badly under the rule of Siidim and Gaalsien; their free-wheeling and joyous attitude was anathema to both of the great kiith, and one of the few points of doctrine that both parties could agree on was that Manaani were abominations before the eyes of Sajuuk. The last celebration at Ferin Sha was held in 513 KDS; during which an army of Siidim attacked the Dancing Ground and slaughtered the celebrants wholesale.

After the massacre at Ferin Sha, the majority of Kiith Manaan survivors took to the sail and the sword. Manaani raiders, once largely a myth, became a grim and terrible reality to Siidim holdings that bordered on the desert. No one was safe from the pirate sailers, and the sight of a mast on the horizon was an occasion of panic and terror. Within a hundred years, however, the Manaani exhausted their appetite for bloodshed and began to use their ships for more profitable ventures. When the great mother of their kiith-Sa, Jora Manaan, declared the war on the Siidim at an end in 656 KDS, the Manaani built a new Dancing Ground in the Paktu-held south and turned their fleet completely to trade.

The questing spirit of the Manaani is not dead even today. Kiith Manaan still controls enormous wealth, and of all the Kharakid kiithid it is the most likely to produce a diplomat or a statesman. Manaani also are common in the ranks of Scout pilots and are always eager to volunteer when it’s time to fly an experimental craft. Being the first to see anything new and different is a hunger that still burns deep in their blood.

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Siidim “No future without tradition”

Though Kiith Siidim has always been a major voice in deciding the direction of all Kharakians, it has always pulled back from the brink when the path to complete domination meant risking the destruction of the entire Kiith.

During the Heresy Wars, the Siidim were the largest proponent of the “Fall from Grace” faction; those that believed our people had been exiled due to some act of hubris that offended the Gods. Their greatest enemy, Kiith Gaalsien believed that very idea was an affront: to believe our people capable of vexing the gods was arrogance beyond belief and the essence of Heresy. To modern minds the Gaalsien and the Siidim engaged in decades of madness to decide not if we were a cursed people but how that curse was being carried out. The war continued, with many lives and resources being savagely squandered, until finally Kiith Naabal emerged from Tiir. Naabal offered reason in the face of Dogma and resistance in the face of tyranny, and Kharak responded with a resounding roar of assent.

The religious Kiithid reacted to this massive shift in the power structure in vastly different ways. Somtaaw, exhausted from poor trade and finances returned to the earth, following the call to strengthen Kharak from its roots. Gaalsien retreated deeper into its dogma, went mad and destroyed our greatest city, and then retreated into the desert rather than give up on a war that only they could rationalize. And finally Kiith Siidim seems to have found a third way. When their own mad dream of being the chosen of God began to shatter, they rejoined society as quietly and progressively as possible given the circumstances. They made the right renunciations and quietly paid the right reparations and by the early 800’s, the Siidim was once again a major player in kiithid politics and the new Daiamid.

Over the past three centuries, Kiith Siidim has presented a viewpoint of adapting to new challenges by looking to the past for lessons instead of dogma. For instance, while the Siidim-Sa has often opposed loosening the laws that keep a family branch bound to their kiith, the tactic they have followed is to make the new law as conservative as possible while still satisfying the economic need for sideways mobility in Kharakian society. Siidim-Sa has almost always been a cornerstone of the military arm of the Coalition and has never skimped on its contributions both in personnel and material for various campaigns against Gaalsien raiders over the past few decades. They have been instrumental in the development of state-of-the-art crawler forces for their military arm, as well.

A few sour notes still sound in an otherwise harmonious accord. Kiith Siidim have been charged in front of the Daiamid recently, with claims that Siidim military units have been guilty of excessive force during operations against their old enemy from the Heresy Wars. Siidim-Sa answers these charges by stating the most well-documented instances are isolated cases of war stress. They are unfortunate and regrettable, but do not represent any kind of official policy.

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Stories like this show that despite the energy that Siidim have invested in becoming part of Kharak’s future, their past still clings to them. While the other major kiithid have not pressed any formal complaints against the Siidim, they have done little to defend their allies against these rumors. It is still said that the fanatical Doine kiith that rose to prominence during the Mission Silumiin riots in 1024 KDS were being secretly funded by an arm of Siidim Intel.

All powerful kiith have one rumor or another leveled against them at any given moment, from Naabal corporate control schemes to theories that Kiith S’jet actually plans to flee Kharak in some sort of super rocket. The current edge of unease towards Siidim can be seen as nothing more that a sign that despite growing problems, Kiith Siidim is an acknowledged force in modern Daiamid politics. The respect and cooperation extended toward the Siidim is a fitting tribute for a kiith that stood at the brink of destruction before accepting the future and finding a place in it for themselves. It is a lesson that all Kharak can only pray the Gaalsien-Sa will learn from, before more lives and resources are lost.

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Hraal To explore the History of the kiithid of Kharak is to enter a world of deepest tradition, where the actions that drive the world today have their origin in events going back centuries. Of course, no matter how much a society cherishes tradition, there will always be those who reject the past in favour of a new paradigm that fits the situation around them. Kiith Hraal would be the best example of this attitude. Their philosophy places them at the boundary between innovation and blasphemy.

Hraal was borne out of the chaos at the end of the Heresy Wars. Crushed between Gaalsien aggression and Siidim Pogroms, dozens of kiithid were shattered and left with no choice but to seek shelter with the aggressors. Even when Naabal emerged as a force for stabilization, the rules of Kiith-based society made the choice a difficult one. Changing kiith alliances was a virtual surrender to another’s destiny to that of a much more powerful group of total strangers.

No choice at all until five Sa of shattered kiithid met in a small tent outside the fortress of Tiir and decided that tradition and all its rules had failed them completely. They decided that they owed nothing to the old system, and there would be no bending of the knee. The remnants of five families would unify under a new name and elect a new Sa from amongst themselves. They would be beholden to the will of no other Kiith. When the sun came up and the doors of the new Daiamid were opened, a new kiith entered and a new Sa took her place among them, seating herself as an Equal among Equals.

And no one knew quite what to do.

At first the Guards and Priests assumed they were looking at the Sa of some vassal Kiith, presenting herself to bring some issue or another to their attention, perhaps from a group so provincial that the woman and her entourage did not know where to stand or sit. But when the quiet, composed woman brought her own seat to the Great Arc and announced herself as the new Hraal-Sa, the Daiamid exploded into an uproar. The Sobani guards first responded to the roars of outrage and moved to remove the interlopers, but a single look from their own Sa stilled them in their tracks. Despite the bellows of Naabal and Siidim, whose Sa’s were so rarely in agreement, the calm, reasoned and oft-amused comments from Paktu, Somtaaw and Soban carried the day. Kiith Hraal survived, and was recognized formally as a legitimate Kiith.

Despite the wave of popular support that swept through Kharakian society at this moment, when the existence of Hraal made it feel like something had truly changed for all Kiithid great or small, the following years were not easy for the fledgling Kiith. In addition to constant legal challenges to their existence mostly arranged by Siidim, Hraal was finding it difficult to establish its niche in society. Whereas almost all other kiith, no matter how small had centuries-long reputations for one speciality or another, Hraal was formed by necessity, not a shared tradition of skill. It hosted artisans, engineers, physical scientists and economists… but not enough to sell its services as a unified group. It began to look as if Siidim would get its way and Hraal would fail, disbanded not by law or by force but by simple economics. Hraal was going broke.

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One day the forlorn Stell Hraal-Sa was touring the Naabal iron works, where S’jet technicians supervised a group of surly Naabal artisans as they crafted one of the new Naabal steam cars. As she watched the team struggling to convey their different views and argue over the best way to proceed, she was struck by an inspiration that would change the face of modern Kharak forever. Seeing the workers of two different kiiths with such different cultures struggle to cooperate and communicate, she realized that while Hraal could never hope to exceed the knowledge base of the S’jet or the mechanical skill of Naabal, they did have one thing that other kiithid could not match ― an urgent motivation to work together.

With that, the Hraal-Sa returned to her meagre kiith holdings and convinced her kiith that she had glimpsed the future and all it would take was every ounce of wealth the kiith had in order to purchase the rights to make the Naabal steam car under licence. By the end of the next triad, the Sa’s of Naabal and S’jet were invited to watch forty Hraal workers spend a day putting together three steam cars that would have taken the other kiith a month to make.

Hraal had used its unique blend of disciplines to separate the complex mission of creating an incredibly sophisticated machine into an orderly pattern of relatively simple tasks. Within the year Hraal had created a revolution in industry that is still being felt today: in an empty work shed, they had created the first assembly line. From that one humble work shed, Hraal has since expanded to build Kharak’s largest manufacturing yards, and encompass thousands of workers who cooperate to build everything from sand crawlers to our largest Command Carriers.

While new conglomerate kiith are still uncommon, splintering does happen often enough that the leaders of larger Kiithid have become far more sensitive to the needs of smaller member families. And while Hraal will never be the closest of allies of the Siidim, the two kiithid have worked together closely. The newest Siidim Command Carrier was built in Hraal’s main manufacturing yards outside of Tiir.

Change is its own curse. Ironically, Hraal is managing the fallout of internal dissent that may yet still shake the kiith to its core. Despite its foundation in adaptability, many engineers and scientists of Hraal broke away to form Kiith LiirHra in 1012 KDS, which shifted their combined holdings from manufacturing assets in terrestrial hardware to aerospace fabrication and orbital deployment. Their argument is that LiirHra will soon be in a position to dominate the next frontier of Kharakian engineering and technology. With desert expedition hardware currently being so lucrative, the current Hraal-Sa, J’dones and much of his inner council, do not believe it is yet time to risk everything on expensive technology that may never bear any tangible, valuable assets.

Time will tell whether Hraal will adapt to the ever-shifting industrial landscape, or whether it’s time for this new group of families to forge their own future.

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Somtaaw Of the earliest days of Kiith Somtaaw little is known, although this ancient family can trace its unbroken lineage back over 1,000 years on Kharak. The Somtaaw made their ancestral homes in the peaks and valleys of the Khontala Mountain range, one of the more dramatic geographic features in Kharak’s northern hemisphere. In the first and second centuries, Somtaaw’s holdings in the Khontala were rich and varied, running the gamut from farms, dams, and mills to fortresses and towns, including the walled cities of Hameln and Gydeo. The kiith was more than self-sufficient; the terraced farms of the lowlands and the seasonal grazing pastures of the highlands produced a great surplus of food and hides, and the Somtaaw prospered in trade.

Starting in the year 178 KDS, Kharakian artists from various disciplines were gathered under the patronage of Teigor Somtaaw, one of the most enlightened kiithid of his time. Employing hundreds of skilled masons, painters, architects and weavers, Kiith Somtaaw began building a series of temples on the slopes of the mountain called Lungma Jiin, “The Roof of the World”. There were 33 temples in all, leading from the sands of the Kasaar to the very summit of what was, at that time, the world’s highest known mountain.

Collectively, the 33 temples of the Somtaaw were known as “The Shimmering Path”. For nearly 400 years, it was considered the height of spiritual devotion for a religiously inclined Kharakian to walk the Shimmering Path; most Kharakians attempted the trip at least once a lifetime. Beginning at the first temple, the Oracle of Tala, the distance that a pilgrim was able to travel on his or her own feet was considered a watermark for the strength of the Faith that burned within.

The vast majority of Kharakians finished the pilgrimage at the Seventh Temple, the famous “Dome of Heaven”, which lay within the city walls of Gydeo. For those stubborn few who felt the need to move closer to god, however, there were 26 more temples along the Shimmering Path, each more inaccessible than the last. The highest of these was Temple of the Mysteries, which very few travelers could reach; the upper slopes of Lungma Jiin were a blasted ladder of crumbling granite and thin ice, and constantly buffeted by freezing gale force winds. According to legend, the most sacred relics of the Somtaaw were kept on the altar of this temple, and any pilgrim who made the journey on foot was permitted to touch them: the famed Star-Metal Scrolls, which were alleged to have been written by the hand of Jakuul Himself, in a language which no living man could read.

Since the later days of the Heresy Wars, Kiith Somtaaw had largely abandoned their role as a religious kiith; by about 1000 KDS, the vast majority of Somtaaw’s kiithid were engaged in another profession, the profession by which they are still best known today: mining.

The transformation of Kiith Somtaaw from a primary religious kiith to a hard-working miner’s kiith was a slow and painful one, and involved many generations of privation and suffering. The centuries of the Heresy Wars were hard times for the Somtaaw; their Khontala mountains provided a natural barrier between the forces of Gaalsien and Siidim, and both sides struggled urgently to subdue or seduce the Somtaaw for

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nearly two hundred years. The flow of pilgrims to Somtaaw temples slowed disastrously in a world at war, and soon there was not enough money flowing into the kiith’s coffers to maintain those temples in their intended role, as way-stations along the Shimmering Path. Eventually, in the year 675 KDS, all 33 of the Somtaaw temples were closed to outsiders, except for the Oracle of Tala and the Dome of Heaven.

By virtue of their own sheer stubbornness, and the natural protection provided by the narrow passes and forbidding peaks of their homeland, the Somtaaw were able to hold off all invaders during the worst of the Siidim and Gaalsien conflict. More difficult to resist, however, was the seduction of becoming a vassal clan, especially when the Somtaaw holdings, although easy to defend, were also easy to cut off from trade routes. Even a small garrison could hold the Kasaar like a cork in a bottle, and keep the Somtaaw trapped in their mountain fortresses; invaders couldn’t enter, but neither could caravans and other visitors. Contact with the outside was sporadic throughout the seventh and eighth centuries... the Somtaaw held no goods sufficiently inviting to keep the Kasaar Road open.

This changed in the year 789 KDS, when Kuura Somtaaw, then kiith-Sa of the 30,000 souls who still made their homes in the Khontala, awoke one night from a strange dream. Kuura had seen the image of the god Sajuuk, driving a great red sword into the earth in the Khontala mountains, in a seldom-visited region far from the main roads. Driven by the urgency of her vision, she ordered several smaller families to begin digging in the Red Creek valley. Because their kiith-Sa was descended from the temple women of Tala, the Somtaaw reluctantly obeyed, and several Somtaaw kiithid moved to the area and began the excavation, although no one was quite certain what they were looking for.

What the Somtaaw found at Red Creek was a deposit of the richest iron ore ever seen on Kharak, which lay just six feet below the soft sediments of the valley floor. Here was enough metal to be hammered into a hundred thousand swords, and Kiith Somtaaw was not slow to announce their find to the rest of the world. Although both Siidim and Gaalsien offered ruinous sums to buy the mine, or the ore that it produced, Kuura Somtaaw refused to trade with either side. In her own words, “Why should I sell these madmen a knife to cut my throat with?”

Instead, the Somtaaw built their own smelters and began mixing the iron with carbon, producing a very high grade steel... a commodity far more precious than gold, especially during those dangerous times. An arrangement that eventually sustained Kuura Somtaaw’s kiith was made with the Sobani, who immediately saw the use for Somtaaw steel and the superior weapons that could be forged from it. In exchange for a yearly tribute from the smelters at Hameln, the Soban signed an unheard-of contract; the mercenary kiith agreed to keep the Kasaar open and clear of marauders for a period of no less than one hundred years!

With the Naabal intervention, the Somtaaw expanded their operations, throwing themselves into their new profession with the kiith’s customary enthusiasm. Although they haven't developed any significant technological advances on their own, they are always quick to buy, copy or outright steal any new tool or technique, once another kiith had put it into operation. Thus the Somtaaw profited greatly from the introduction of steam-powered drills, narrow-gauge railroads and chemical explosives.

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Kiith Somtaaw is now nearly 500,000 strong, and have even built new holdings alongside great industrial kiithid like Naabal and Hraal.

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Khaaneph When we talk of the costs of war on Kharak, the usual topics are the loss of farmlands to shattered sand walls, the destruction of Saju-Ka, or the resulting banishment of Kiith Gaalsien, their collected wisdom and art gone forever. But there is a price that very, very few scholars are comfortable talking about: a loss of entire peoples to the wastes, not only in body but in mind. Some families did not just abandon fields and farms, but left behind

all faith in civilization and rule of law. They lost their souls to the sand.

During the darkest days of the Siidim Dogma, when entire small kiithid were declared “Gritiidim” and forced from their holdings, many family groups simply picked up whatever supplies they could and fled. While some survived long enough to be absorbed by the Gaalsien during the Heresy Wars, many died or simply disappeared in the deep desert.

As the wars ended and the Age of Reason brought stability and growth to a ravaged world, the disappearances continued. Some were attributed to bandits, others simply to acts of madness. After the Gaalsien Exile, a de facto explanation slipped into place; any small settlement abandoned or destroyed was attributed to the acts of religious fanaticism. For centuries this explanation served to placate the fearful and bereaved. No one liked to think that a family could be seduced by Gaalsien Prophets and join the exiles… but it was a familiar pain and a loss that we could understand, discuss and eventually accept.

Unfortunately, the truth is sometimes darker than we imagine.

Over the last hundred years of increasing aggression from the Gaalsien, our Intel units have come to know the enemy much better. They have captured many prisoners, intercepted communiqués and even exchanged information freely with the Raiders, when situations arose that threatened all the peoples of Kharak. Through that long painful line of communication runs a single thread that many tried to deny, until the proof was unavoidable.

In 1024 a cryptographer named Masaar Manaan brought a carefully prepared report to his superiors, based on single-word recognition in broken Gaalsien codes. One word in particular stood out, as it was often related to small action casualty reports and small community raids. Masaar’s superiors brushed off his report initially, thinking he had merely stumbled across another Gaalsien term for the Coalition. When he pressed the matter, it was even suggested that he had been unduly influenced by his Manaani heritage, and the old Traveler’s tales of monsters that rode with the storm.

But the young officer had been classically trained as a linguist before joining the Coalition Intelligence Arm, and stubbornly argued his data. He could demonstrate that in 500 confirmed Coalition/Gaalsien events, the term Faagan was used in all 500 references. But in another 150 reports that had no correlation to known Coalition action reports, the term “Khaaneph” was used. Masaar thought it was clear that there was another hostile force operating out in the wastes. Fortunately for settlements on the fringes of our civilization, he fought to make himself heard.

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Early in 1026 Masaar was put in charge of an intelligence task force dedicated to the question. Was there was a new force operating alongside or against the Gaalsien Raiders? What he eventually found was truly disturbing.

The first discovery was that “Faagan” and “Khaaneph” were not synonyms from different Gaalsien dialects ― the two words meant completely different things in all Gaalsien dialects. “Faagan” was the standard term for the Coalition, “the Bound and the Blind”. Translated loosely, Faagani are “Blind Followers of a False God”. The Faagan is the extended rope which runs from one family member to another in a howling sandstorm, and allows them to continue following their leader and cling to one another even when they cannot see or hear for themselves. The Gaalsien consider Coalition kiithid to be deluded and misled, dangerously so, but they still classify us as “believers”. They see Science and Logic as just another set of deities, and in their minds we are an enemy that can be redeemed if we could simply grasp the rope which is attached to a better leader, and follow a true path to redemption.

The Khaaneph are something else altogether.

Derived from a very ancient word, “Khaaneph” literally means “Godless”, a thing that the Gaalsien mind can barely comprehend. To be Khaaneph is to believe... in nothing. No God. No law. No justice. No Kiith. “Khaaneph” is a person with the soul of a beast. If the ties that bind us to our shared humanity are a rope... a Khaaneph has willingly drawn a knife and cut the cord.

The Gaalsien believe that the Khaaneph roam the wastes where even the boldest raider would fear to go. When word spread that the Coalition was ready to acknowledge the possibility that the Khaaneph existed, the Gaalsien-Sa allowed certain records to be shared discretely with Masaar’s task force. Over a period of three years of painstaking research and cross references, Masaar was able to piece together a picture from the darkest fringes of Kharakian History.

Not all of the Gritiidim had been assimilated or destroyed. Many struck out on their own and many died... but some didn’t. They survived, first by looting the ruins left after battles, and later, when things began to stabilize, by preying on each other. To be Khaaneph was to have no goal except for survival, no belief past the need to remain alive and no loyalty but to oneself. Khaanephi would spare one another only to the degree that a rival group was stronger than other available targets.

The Khaaneph lived on in the empty spaces where the major powers could not, for hundreds of years after the Heresy Wars. While we reveled in our new world of Reason, they massacred small settlements and ambushed unwary caravans. They took everything. Every scrap of cloth and metal could be used to keep some other machine working. Every child could be brought up a warrior. Every corpse was food, and raw materials.

We have been breeding monsters at the edge of our society for hundreds of years without even noticing them. Only the Gaalsien took note, because the Khaaneph preyed on them more often and more openly than any other kiith.

As we stand on the edge of more chaotic times, with war threatening every civilized holding, and deserts rising to flow over every barrier... the Khaaneph have only

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increased in strength. Raider fleets composed of fast-moving vehicles have been photographed by recon aircraft racing along the edge of storms.

There can be no doubt that in the coming years, the Coalition military will have to engage the Khaaneph and deal with whatever non-standard tactics they have mastered. Where Kiith Gaalsien will throw its power in such a conflict remains to be seen. There have been dozens of other situation papers written about the Khaaneph in the years since Masaar Manaan first raised the alarm, but none of them have yet to surpass the tone to his concluding paragraph.

“Without a doubt, every person reading this analysis can remember unruly nights as a child when your Family Sa would place you back in bed, perhaps a bit firmly, and explain to you in a hushed voice that troublesome children would be left out on the wall for the Gaalsien to steal away in the night. Now stop for a moment and think about the monsters the Gaalsien have been using to frighten their children since the fall of Saju-Ka! Think hard on that. If there is one thing I have learned, it is this: we are not the only ones they fear.”

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V Operation “Skaal Brii” Initial Jaraci Expedition, 1106KDS

Operation Skaal Brii: Initial Anomaly Expedition

Through extensive research, additional eye-sat scans, and protracted petitioning of the Daiamid, Operation Skaal Brii was authorized and fast-tracked to launch. Though not classified, the operation was not widely advertised. The Ifriit Naabal ― a desert exploration carrier already in active service ― was reassigned and crewed with specialized personnel, prioritizing science and military divisions. Research was the primary goal of the expedition, yet despite their exile, the Gaalsien remained a valid threat, and any excursion to the Great Banded Desert would likely encounter them.

It is believed that the anomaly could provide technological advances, or perhaps, insight into the history of all kiithid: the Xenogenesis Question may be definitively answered.

Ifriit-Class Heavy Carrier: Ifriit Naabal

Deckard Naabal, Captain Captain: Deckard Naabal

Age: 62

Education: Naabal Tech Creche, top 3%. Tiir Primal Tactical School. Graduated 7 of 350 of his year.

Command Experience: 7 years in Heavy Patrol Crawlers along Stormbreaker Base line.

Commentary: Commander Deckard is a solid, experienced officer, just the kind we need at the helm of this mission. He will not be rushed to a decision but can move quickly when he needs to.

He has years of experience running a crawler in the high desert doing search-and-rescue work as well as engaging small desert raider forces before they could do any real damage to outlying settlements.

This selection committee agrees that he will function at his peak on this mission when positioned with a relatively aggressive second.

Jacob S’jet, Science Officer Science Officer: Jacob S’jet

Age: 38

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Education: S’jet Tech Creche, Honors Communication, minor in EM Physics. Tiir Command School, Graduated 1st in class, SigInt and Tactical Analysis.

Command Experience: 3 years defense team and counter insurgency, Northern Operations. Operated with Distinction while stationed at Stormbreaker fortresses Biaan, K’thtaal and Vriis.

Commentary: Lieutenant Jacob is a very aggressive officer with a gift for anticipating and thwarting Gaalsien opponents under a variety of conditions. He as an unmatched talent for signals intelligence and was often able to defeat larger formations of enemy troops by deciphering their command broadcasts and knowing where the enemy would be almost before they did. Alliance intelligence has twice tried to promote Jacob to a secure analysis team position in Tiir, but both times he has found a way back into the field through his “dedication to tactical demotion”, as one Commanding Officer observed.

The only critical comment this selection committee can make about this Lieutenant is that while he takes great care with those under his command, he has an almost reckless disregard for his own safety in the face of enemy fire. Lieutenant Jacob’s passion can be very useful to this operation, given that he is placed in a position where his sense of responsibility can be extended to an entire carrier. It will also help to pair him with a senior officer unlikely to give him permission to leave the ship to lead raids outside the carrier.

CLASSIFIED RESTRICTED DATA █████████ Officer: Roman S'jet

Age: 51

Education: Basic Training, Tiir Barracks Complex, Class of ‘68. Command Experience: 7 Battlefield Commissions. 13 Combat Recognition Medals, including The Battle of Riikes Dune and The Drifting Seas Campaign of 81-83. Commander K’karr Stormbreaker Fortress since 1102.

Commentary: █████████had intended to cross train with the █████████████████as a young officer and then return to ██████████████████████and ██████████. Then he encountered Commander █████████████ and his entire career arc changed course.

While the two will never discuss exactly what happened during the battle of ██████████, but it resulted in ████swearing fealty to the older officer and the two have served together ever since.

████ is an excellent all around officer but when he works in conjunction with ████████████████████, he becomes a superlative first officer, literally handling everything his commander does not have the resources for.

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CLASSIFIED RESTRICTED DATA █████████ Squad Leader: ████ ██████

Age: ██

Education: ████████████████. ██████ and ██████, ██████████. ██████ in ██████████.

Command Experience: ██years ███████████████and █████████for further ██████████ and potential ██████████████ in the event of successful ███████ causing ███████████.

Commentary: █████████████████████████████████. ██████████████████. ██████████████████████, █████████████████. As of ████████████████████. ██████████████████ cannot be stressed enough.

█████████████████████. ████████. ██████████, if possible, █████████████████████████.

The expedition ██████████████████████.

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Postmortem Without any trace of wreckage or communication, this subcommittee can offer very little input as to the cause of any catastrophic failure and can only give opinions on the flaws that can be seen in hindsight.

1) Equipment While the Ifriit Naabal was a powerful carrier, it was neither designed nor purposely equipped for long term functioning in conditions common to the equatorial region. It is acknowledged that the Security Council measured this risk versus getting to the anomaly as quickly as possible, and chose to roll the dice. This subcommittee nonetheless sees this as the greatest flaw in the original mission plan. We recommend that a dedicated Carrier be commissioned, and assigned a crew with deep desert operating conditions in mind from the start. Special attention should be paid to propulsion systems and power plants. This recommendation holds regardless of the time such preparations may take.

2) Combat Proficiency While the Ifriit was a fully functional combat vessel, it is clear now that she was not designed to perform nearly constant combat operations far from base without support. It is highly recommended that the new Carrier class design include efficient production systems for repairs and loss replacement, while the hull itself be heavily reinforced. We cannot know with any certainty that the Gaalsien military was responsible for the loss of the Ifriit, but we can say with certainty that their encrypted communication traffic spiked heavily during the period when the Ifriit went permanently out of communication. They should be considered a credible threat.

3) Support Given the hostile conditions that the Ifriit was subjected to, both military and environmental, the support web for the Operation was woefully inadequate. The circumstances which led to a decision to “hurry up” Operation Skaal Brii are acknowledged once again, but we recommend that any follow up Operation include an extensive commitment to support, including at least one more deep operations carrier to perform enemy suppression missions in the same region that the expedition will be exploring.

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VI Operation “Khadiim” Second Jaraci Expedition, 1110KDS

Operation Khadiim: Anomaly Expedition 2.0

Though the loss of the Ifriit Naabal was tragic, the importance of the Primary Anomaly cannot be understated. Gaalsien incursions have been increasing in frequency, and the technology they have been employing in recent sorties is causing continuous strain on the Coalition military. Though the objective of Operation Khadiim mirrors that of Skaal Brii, additional emphasis is being placed on discovering the source of Gaalsien technological breakthroughs.

To that end, the redesigned Sakala-Class Carrier was commissioned and recently completed. Carriers Amida, Fiiskire, Akalon, and Sakala will be joining the Kapisi on this operation. Launch preparations are underway, and personnel selections are being finalized.

Sakala-Class Deep Desert Carrier: KAPISI

Roman S’jet, Captain Captain: Roman S'jet

Age: 51

Education: Basic Training, Tiir Barracks Complex, Class of ‘68.

Command Experience: 7 Battlefield Commissions. 13 Combat Recognition Medals, including The Battle of Riikes Dune and The Drifting Seas Campaign of 81-83. Commander K’karr Stormbreaker Fortress since 1102.

Commentary: Captain Roman’s career literally spans the length of the modern era of desert combat on Kharak. He has risen from the ranks of Warrior Recruit all the way to Fortress Commander.

He commanded the first generation of combat crawlers to enter service in 1075 and while he has a lifetime of experience to draw upon, all of his recent action reviews indicate he is still very dynamic in his problem solving and open to the input of his crew.

If it is at all possible for the Kapisi to succeed in this mission, Roman is the Captain that will make that possible.

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Rachel S’jet, Science Officer Science Officer: Rachel S’jet

Age: 32

Education: Academy of Advanced Sciences, Triple Honors, Physics, Astronomy, Environmental Studies. First in Class. Tiir Officer Training Academy, First in Class, Sensors, Engineering.

Command Experience: None.

Commentary: Rachel S’jet is the one exception in our career military crew selections. Whereas we have leaned heavily on combat experienced career military for all bridge officers, Lieutenant Rachel is one of Kharak’s leading researchers and was on track to be the youngest leader of the Daiamid Science council. Instead of continuing on this path, the loss of her brother on the Ifriit Naabal seems to have changed the trajectory of her life.

She suddenly transferred to the S’jet military branch and entered the Coalition Officer Training program. Her credentials alone would have been enough to merit serious consideration for this operation, but the selection committee has received very STRONG recommendations in her favor, from both the S’jet and Naabal-Sa. While she lacks any combat experience, it is fair to say that her presence aboard the Kapisi will guarantee that any data from the Anomaly can be analysed immediately, and conclusions drawn in real time instead of relying on communications to get the information back to Tiir.

Nathan S'jet, Intelligence Intelligence Officer: Nathan S'jet

Age: 38

Education: Basic Training, Tiir Barracks Complex. Tiir Officer Training Academy, Class of ’90. Soban Red Academy, Honors in Military History and Philosophy, class of ‘94.

Command Experience: 4 Battlefield Commissions. 8 Combat Recognition Medals. Currently Senior Officer Military Intelligence at Coalition HQ.

Commentary: Nathan entered the Soban Advanced Warfare Academy at the age of twenty-two and graduated four years later with honors. His aptitude for analytics and intelligence work was exceptional and he was immediately assigned to the Office of Military Intelligence at Tiir. Records show that he objected to this posting, insisting on being stationed where the action was. Although his request was denied, he continued to lobby his commanding officer over the course of several months and was finally granted his wish. He ended up serving three tours stationed along the frontier wall. Defending his post against some of the worst Gaalsien raids ever launched against the north, he distinguished himself in battle on multiple occasions and earned numerous citations.

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After his third tour, he was finally reassigned to Tiir where he began working his way up through the ranks as an intelligence officer. His intimate first-hand knowledge of Gaalsien units and tactics only hastened his rise. An expert in his field with significant battle experience, he is an obvious choice to take charge of S’jet Intelligence Operations for this expedition and has been personally recommended by Captain Roman S’jet.

Clea Soban, Fleet Operations Fleet Operations: Clea Soban

Age: 41

Education: University of Tiir, Honors in Management & Logistics. Soban Red Academy (Consultant).

Command Experience: Classified.

Commentary: Despite her civilian background, Clea Soban’s name was put forward early on to run Fleet Operations aboard the S’jet Carrier Kapisi. A consultant at the Soban Red Academy for well over a decade, she is intimately familiar with military doctrine and procedures, and has proven a valuable asset throughout the planning stages of the second expedition.

Her ability to manage the complex logistics of such an ambitious undertaking, not to mention her fortitude under pressure, are unassailable in light of her previous deployments on various black-book operations; operations which remain classified at this time.

With these facts at hand, all objections over her deployment aboard the Kapisi ahead of other, less qualified S’jet officers, have been dismissed by Fleet Command.

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Objectives 1) The Primary Anomaly

The highest priority for Operation Khadiim is to find and claim the Jaraci Anomaly for the Coalition Kiithid. All operational lessons learned for the failure of Operation Skaal Brii have been applied to this operation. The Kapisi can strike harder, last longer and adapt faster than any other Carrier in the Coalition. Her Science Officer, Rachel S’jet should be able to give the expedition the edge when it comes to securing the Anomaly and interpreting whatever data can be found there.

2) Gaalsien Technology Discovering any intel on Gaalsien forces or the source of their advanced tech. The Kapisi will be penetrating deeper into the equatorial abyss than any alliance force in the past 200 years. There is no doubt they will be engaging Gaalsien forces along their route. Science division’s secondary priority after the Anomaly is to examine Gaalsien tech and try to derive an origin point that could be targeted.

3) DAIAMID SECURITY COUNCIL EYES ONLY It is no secret that Gaalsien forces have had the Stormbreaker wall under siege for months, or that our defenses along it are beginning to fail. Although Expedition Crews have been briefed on the mission, they are currently unaware that military intelligence plans to accelerate the original launch date by three months. Whatever the explanation given for this change of plans, it will be mere fiction. The truth is, we are desperate to pull enemy forces away from The Wall in order to save it from falling into enemy hands and exposing Tiir to open attack. Intel believes the expedition’s presence inside Gaalsien territory will provide a timely and crucial diversion, allowing our defenses time to repair and rearm. We have decided that the Command Crews for the Kapisi, Sakala, Fiiskire, Akalon and Amida will not be informed of the true reason behind this decision, limiting any negative effects on morale. The success of this expedition is now more important than ever.

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VII Vehicle Manifest Spec breakdown of expedition hardware

Coalition

Carrier

SAKALA Class Command Carrier

SJCC-14

Length 568m

Crew 1000+

The Sakala class of Command/Exploration Carriers are the cutting edge of Nabaal Design and S’jet modular technology. The Sobaan-sponsored Sakala was the first carrier of this design to clear the constructions yards in late 1105 with the Kapisi following two triads later. While the Kaipisi is being fitted for Operation Khadiim, the Sakala has served in combat operations nearly non-stop since her inaugural shakedown patrol and has already earned distinction in two major offensives against Gaalsien raiding formations. there are plans for eight other Command Carriers in this class with Nabaal and Hraal claiming construction priority for the next two.

Basic Vehicle

Baserunner

NAABAL BaseRunner (NBR-12)

Length 56m

Crew 10

These sturdy, reliable deployment vehicles are the unsung heroes of the Coalition military. While all Kiith militaries have their own versions of this vehicle type, the current Naabal design is the Coalition standard. So vital are these vehicles that there is no defensive doctrine taught at the Tiir Military Academies that does not depend on the deployment of BaseRunners while under fire to deploy turrets and lay minefields when conditions suddenly change. There is an ancient Kharakid phrase that ends every briefing for Baserunner crews; ‘A’kadath Su Tiira’, “Victory is work”.

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L.A.V.

MANAAN Light Attack Vehicle (MNLAV-21)

Length 12m

Crew 3

LAV type vehicles were some of the first motorized war machines to see service on the sands of Kharak. The ability to move fast, hit hard and retreat even faster has been vital to mechanized warfare and no Kiith understands those qualities better that the Manaan. Their LAV design won the Coalition light vehicle competition when 5 Manaan LAV’s entered the test area at full speed, then kicked in their overspeed boosters and struck the Nabbal candidate vehicles with enough simulated concentrated firepower to rate them destroyed before the announcer had finished announcing the opposing forces.

Salvager

SOMTAAW Salvager Vehicle (STS-32)

Length 23m

Crew 1

While most Kiith make their reputation in the northern Alliance by placing military design into the Coalition military, the Somtaaw are content knowing that without their contributions of Salvager vehicles and crews, no extended desert operations would be possible. The hardy Salvager is capable of using advanced Phased Disassembler technology to break down and gather elements from sources all the way from mineral deposits to vehicle wreckage. When it comes to actual battlefield wrecks, Salvagers are armed with demolition charge dispensers to help break up large objects for the PD array to finish harvesting quickly and efficiently.

Science Runner

NBR-12A

Length 56m

Crew 11

Each Kiith military has its own version of the BaseRunner. The S’jet are no exception. Leveraging their mastery of science, they have built upon the initial Naabal design to create a highly sophisticated Science Utility Vehicle. Outfitted with an integrated onboard technology suite second only to those found aboard Coalition Capital Ships, this BaseRunner has the power and ability to conduct Full Spectrum Scans, Hard Data Analysis, Sub-Surface Exploration and Rapid 3D Projection Modelling while out in the field. It has also been outfitted with a modified repair beam, adding to its already significant deployment value.

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Heavy Vehicle

AAV

SOBAN Armored Assault Vehicle (SA2-17)

Length 30m

Crew 5

If speed and maneuverability are the keys to LAV warfare, then the natural counter to those qualities is the Soban-built Armored Assault Vehicle. The AAV is built to dish out punishing, high-speed, high-accuracy firepower shile acting as a forward screen for main combat formations. A solid wedge formation can obliterate even massed LAV attacks, and should heavier contacts appear, AAV’s are able to emit a crystalline smoke screen capable of blocking even advanced sensors from targeting the larger, more valuable crawlers.

M.B.

SOBAN Missile Battery Vehicle (SA3-19)

Length 31m

Crew 5

The Soban built MBV is designed to work in close conjunction with their AAV design, which entered Coalition service just two years before the MBV was approved for use by COalition forces. The tracked heavy Anti-Air missile battery is designed to provide extensive protection against enemy air assets while an onboard automated mortar is also standard equipment, in case the MBV is needed to aid nearby AAV’s with light fire support.

RAILGUN

HORIZON Class Railgun (NRG-18)

Length 38m

Crew 3

Again showing the Naabal tendency towards heavy ordinance, the Horizon is said to be “a Gun looking for a Crawler”. The heavy Rail Cannon, capable of vaporizing entire sheets of the target’s armor on impact, is considered one of the deadliest weapons on Kharak but usually it is only found in immobile fortress mounts because of its size, weight and power requirements. Naabal military designers have made it possible to bring this weapon to the mobile battlefield by basically wrapping the crawler and its reactor around the gun itself. The Horizon is not particularly fast or durable but it is capable of tearing apart full sized carriers with only a few shots.

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Aircraft

Striker Fighter

HAMMER Strike Fighter (SJF-14)

Length 20m

Crew 2

Accepted for service in the Alliance Air Wing during the final triad of 1108 KDS, the Hammer is the cutting edge of aerospace design on Kharak. Reputed to be the most expensive aircraft produced by Kiith S’jet, the Hammer is capable of making high speed missile attacks against ground targets. Its highly advanced swing-wing design allows the aircraft to sprint to its target and then extend its wings for tight maneuvers and carrier landings.

Tactical Bomber

ANVIL Tactical Bomber (SJB-18)

Length 45m

Crew 3

The Anvil is the oldest design from S’jet Aerospace still in active service. Due to be phased out in 1111 by the new Salka Attack Bomber, the Anvil is still a reliable aircraft despite many of them being older than their crews. Though its cluster bomb munitions can be devastating to enemy ground forces moving in tight formation, the slow moving Anvil is vulnerable to interception and should be escorted by close fighter cover.

Gunship

FORGE Gunship (SJG-12)

Length 46m

Crew 3

S’jet Aerospace has built a century-long reputation for aircraft designs that are the embodiment of beauty and grace, although their military aircraft have also been deadly. When it came to the Forge, however, it seems that that only thought on the designer’s mind was dealing death. The Forge is a heavily armored thug of an aircraft that exists for one reason and one reason only: to direct devastating firepower against lightly armored raider formations. Armed with multiple VRF cannons, this Gunship is tough to orbit its target while slowly bringing all of its weapons up to speed. And once that happens, very few escape alive.

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Support Cruiser

WARDEN Class Support Cruiser (SGSC-12)

Length 114m

Crew 20

The current standard in Coalition support cruisers, the Sagald-designed and produced Warden class fulfills all requirements of the task without neglecting anything critical. It can cover long-range resourcing missions with its point defence cannons, and is also able to use its repair capabilities to maintain any of the crawlers and vehicles in its formation. The Warden’s large containment base allows it to act as a resource storage point in contested areas, while its impressive armor allows it to survive until help arrives or the resourcers are pulled back.

Battlecruiser

VANGUARD Class BattleCruiser (SBC-34)

Length 111m

Crew 35

This powerful battlecruiser has had a troubled start in military service. While initially launched by Kiith Soban and lauded for its amazing durability and heavy firepower, combat maneuvers in the deep desert revealed the design was too heavy for the width of its forward drive tracks. Seven units were lost in dune slides before Soban recalled the design and removed the forward heavy artillery mounts. While the current Mark2 version has to depend solely on its dual heavy cannons, the change has made this battlecruiser a solid anchor to any battle line, under any conditions.

Artillery Cruiser

ECLIPSE Class Artillery Cruiser (NAC-14)

Length 110m

Crew 25

The Eclipse-class is a tribute Kiith Naabal’s long relationship with artillery. Ever since they surged forth from Tiir to end the chaos of the Heresy Wars, the Naabal have depended on two key assets: the power of unassailable logic and the strength of long-range firepower. This cruiser design is long past her original service period but the Eclipse-class is a case of the weapon being so perfect for its job that the three scheduled replacements over the past fifteen years have failed to outperform the original.

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Gaalsien

Carrier

Command Carrier

Codename: Corvaal

Length 533m

Crew 1000+

Unlike their nigh mythical flagship, the Gaalsien main battle carrier (codenamed Corvaal by Coalition Intelligence) is a very well-known foe. It was first spotted sixteen years ago, rarely in the beginning but now in larger and larger numbers. The Corvaal is usually found at the center of any given Gaalsien BattleGroup. While the Corvaal Class lacks the range and full production potential of Coalition Command Carriers, it is durable, well-armed and fully capable of sustaining forward air operations by itself. When a more complete production operation is required, it can most often by found teamed up with Caaw Duuk class of production carriers.

Basic Vehicle

Salvager

Codename: Slaa

Length 17m

Crew 0

The Gaalsien salvager unit functions much the same way as the Somtaaw version, though Somtaaw engineers would argue their craft is much more reliable. The major difference in the two vehicles is deployment doctrine. While Alliance salvager teams usually run in triads with the most experience unit on point to identify resources or threats, the Gaalsien often operate in swarms that can reduce wreckage fields to raw materials in minutes instead of hours. While this tactic makes Gaalsien salvage teams vulnerable to ambush by experienced Alliance commanders, it is also a fact that the Gaalsieni can often make a battlefield wreck disappear in the time it takes Alliance salvagers to reach it.

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Baserunner

Codename: B’tir

Length 44m

Crew 8

The Gaalsien version of the Baserunner is an advanced hover tech vehicle which manages to incorporate heavy armor into its design while maintaining effective battlefield speeds. The B’tir, named after the deep desert brood tunneler, maintains an augmented repair field which allows it to work on multiple vehicles within its range of influence instead of just repairing one unit at a time.

Sandscimmer

Codename: Sam’t

Length 11m

Crew 0

Gaalsien Forces have always emplyed light, very fast attack craft in both the recon and harassment role. The current iteration of the Gaalsien sandskimmer has been codenamed the Sam’t, after the sidestepping swarmer insects of the Dry Seas. The vehicle performs its tasks with the deadly, flesh-stripping efficiency of its namesake. Armed with light autocannons and relatively thin-skinned for a combat vehicle, the Sam’t can be especially deadly in swarms, where it has been observed to boost its rate of fire to the level where it becomes a serious threat to larger, lightly armored units.

Heavy Vehicle

Assault Ship

Codename: Aard’th Saar

Length 27m

Crew 4

This Gaalsien assault ship can be a lethal adversary if allowed to pick the range of engagement. The Aard’th Saar is armed with an array of rapid-fire autocannons firing HE rounds. While damage falls off dramatically at longer ranges, at short range it can be devastating. Often Saar’s will work in coordinated packs, using their high survivability to lure careless enemy units into pursuing one team member while the others pounce at short range.

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Missile Ship

Codename: M’toth

Length 23m

Crew 4

Up until recently, Coalition Intelligence had assumed that this older unit was withdrawn from front line service due to its slower speed and limited use as an Anti-Air platform. Unfortunately, while the Gaalsien are not known for their sentimental love for older designs, the M’toth has recently reappeared in front line battles with an engine upgrade, as well as an upgrade to a fully modern Multiple Rocket Launcher. The M’toth is now capable of mass firing anti-air as well as ground strike ordinance.

Heavy Railgun

Codename: P’torr

Length 37m

Crew 3

The P’torr is clearly the Gaalsien answer to the Coalition Horizon Class battle crawler. It appeared on the battlefield approximately a year after the Horizon began inflicting significant losses on Gaalsien armored craft. While it wields the identical calibre of railgun as the Horizon, the Gaalsien design can also use the same railgun to fire a vehicle-disabling EMP round. It is recommended that these units be engaged with directed airstrikes.

Assault Railgun

Codename: P’chirii

Length 27m

Crew 3

***Intel Analysis Addendum***Coalition Command Eyes Only***

It is the opinion of the Aggressor Technology Analysis Division that the appearance of the P’chirri Assault unit so soon after their deployment of the P’torr indicates that Kiith Gaalsien is somehow receiving advanced technology from an outside source. Even with all the dedicated weapon research available to the Alliance, there is no viable way we could have upgraded our main railgun to a triple barrel configuration, mated it with a viable power train AND fielded it all within the three triads since the appearance of the P’torr railgun carrier. While the P’chirii’s triple railgun has less hitting power and range, this defect is more than compensated by its faster rate of fire. To be quite blunt, Elders, this unit should not exist. Not this soon. Not this effectively.

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Aircraft

Interceptor

Codename: F’xbat

Length 23m

Crew 1

At the moment, the main Gaalsien Interceptor, codenamed the F’xbat, is outclassed by the Alliance Hammer Strike Fighter in terms of both speed and maneuverability. Against other Coalition aircraft, the F’xbat is still a deadly threat with its air-to-air missiles, and it can even interdict ground units using its compliment of four air-to-surface missiles. While the Alliance holds the upper had in the airwar at the moment, there are rumors that a new generation of F’xbat’s are arriving on the battlefield with improved engines, making them even faster than the Hammer.

Precision Bomber

Codename: Bokiir

Length 47m

Crew 3

The Bokiir heavy bomber is a clear example of Gaalsien weapon tech evolving faster than their platform development. In this case, Gaalsien Air assets have been tasked with delivering the massive Knar-re Smart munition and have been forced to re-task the Bokiir heavy bomber for the job. Currently the Bokiir can only deliver one of these deadly bombs at a time, and it travels at a very slow speed for a modern aircraft… but this vulnerability in delivery is made up for by the deadliness of the ordinance. A single impact from a Konar-re can devastate a cruiser class unit. With rumors of an upgraded Bokiir capable of carrying two of these smart bombs, Alliance fighter pilots have been ordered to make it their top priority to bring down these slow-moving bombers.

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Production Cruiser

Codename: Caaw Duuk

Length 116m

Crew 25

The current Gaalsien production cruiser, named by Intel after the ancient spirit of the Harvest, began its career nearly fifty years ago as a frontline combat cruiser. As weapons and sensors advanced, the Caaw Duuk was slowly withdrawn from front line combat service and reappeared with reduced weaponry and massively increased production facilities. While it is often found at the heart of extended resourcing squadrons, it can also be found supporting the spear thrust of a main assault, sitting just behind the front line and rapidly producing dangerous combat units to replace losses and keeping the offensive going.

Siege Cruiser

Codename: Skaad’l

Length 114m

Crew 15

***ALERT***ALERT***ALERT***ALL COMMAND STATIONS***

Be aware, this state-of-art cruiser has appeared on the battlefield in the past triad and is considered extremely dangerous at long range. Reports are still being compiled, but it is confirmed this is a hover-enabled cruiser and is capable long-range heavy artillery fire. Also reported but no confirmed is some sort of Ballistic EMP device, capable of shutting down any of our units caught in the impact zone.

Honorguard Cruiser

Codename: Saajuk Taa

Length 121m

Crew 10

***ALERT***ALERT***ALERT***ALL COMMAND STATIONS***

On sighting this new Gaalsien Heavy Cruiser, retreat if possible until you are reinforced by at least a full Command Carrier group plus Air Assets. The only combat footage Coalition Intel has acquired from the fall of Fortress Base B’shiir shows two of these new Heavy Cruisers on approach. The Saajuk Taa appears to have punched through fortress defenses with some kind of spinal-mounted heavy rail gun that could obliterate prepared positions with a single shot. Footage also indicates possible variations in model, with either AA or close-support cannons used for separate variants.

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EXPEDITION GUIDE 56


VIII Kharak Data Presentation Latest Satellite Telemetry Report

Names from Northern Pole to Southern:

● Salt Seas ● Coalition Territories ● Northern Frontier ● Desert Proving Grounds ● Cape Wrath ● Searing Flats ● The Wastes ● Wrending Peaks ● Wanderers Pass ● Beladin Dune Sea ● Sarathi Basin ● Garaaki Highlands ● Great Banded Desert ● Glass Basin ● New Dancing Grounds ● Hunon Mountains

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IX History of Kharak Timeline of notable dates

● 0KDS Establishment of official Kharakian dating system ● 340KDS First mention of Kiith Manaan, known as “The Travellers” ● 416KDS Kiith Soban “The Grey Brotherhood” was formed ● 462KDS The Siidim Council proclaims that only Kiith Siidim are of Divine

Origin; all other Kiithid are native to Kharak and considered “Griitidim” or “sand people”.

● 488KDS Kiith Paktu are driven from their ancestral homes and lands by the Siidim pogroms.

● 490KDS The Great Migration begins. Nearly fifty Paktu families set sails from Albegiido, crossing the Great Banded Desert on the winds of the Chak m'Hot in hopes of reachings the southern pole. Only seventeen families survived the journey.

● 493KDS Members from Kiith Paktu, now settled in the south, cross the Great Banded Desert once again in order to tell others of what they have established.

● 513KDS Siidim slaughter Manaani at Ferin Sha (The Dancing Grounds). ● 520KDS Heresy Wars begin (approx. 520KDS to 820KDS). The two largest

kiith in the north – Kiith Siidim and Kiith Gaalsien – go to war over what had caused the Gods to place them on such an inhospitable world.

● 652KDS Kiith Siidim launches the first of three assaults on the Southern Lands, seeking tribute from kiithid they still consider vassal clans. It does not succeed.

● 656KDS Jora Manaan declares an end to her kiith's war against the Siidim. The Manaan now focus exclusively on trade. A new dancing ground is built in the Paktu-held south.

● 698KDS Kim Paktu, the grandson of Majiir Paktu and leader of the Paktu kiith'sa, defeats Liam Gaalsien and his men in the Battle of the Majiirian Sea. It was the last crusade ever attempted against the Paktu.

● 717KDS Kiith Gaalsien retreat into the desert wastelands, abandoning the north, claiming its decadence would eventually bring down the wrath of Sajuuk.

● 717KDS Miirpat Gaalsien-Sa orders his people to blow up the complex series of wind baffles, dykes and sand paths that protect the temple city of Saju-Ka. Considered the artistic gem of Kharak at the time, the city is completely buried under sand, killing thousands.

● 718KDS Kiith Gaalsien is convicted in absentia and deemed an outlaw kiith.

● 810KDS Kiith Naabal emerges from their valley enclave of Tiir, exposing Kharak to new advanced science and technology heretofore unknown, including advanced explosives, steam power, and refining techniques they had

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kept secret for more than a hundred years. Their presence brought an end to the Heresy Wars that had raged for almost 300 years.

● 830KDS Age of Reason begins. The capital of Kharak is moved to Tiir. ● 1024KDS Kharak's first orbital flight is launched. It was met with strong

protest among many members of society and led to the The Silumin Riots. ● 1057KDS Project StormBreaker – a giant ridge of sand baffle walls, a full

kilometer wide and thousands of kilometers long, girdling the entire lower face of the Barrier Mountains – is begun. It is hoped that it will hold back the advancing desert sands.

● 1061KDS During a manned space flight, crew members discover floating debris in high orbit. It is determined that the debris is metallic, but its atomic composition shares no similarities to anything known to exist on Kharak.

● 1061-1110KDs The discovery and study of Kharakian space debris leads to great scientific progress in metallurgy and manufacturing, along with the development of fission and fusion power plants.

● 1074KDS The Night of Fiery Daggers (Siifar Kor'shesh). On the first night of 1074, ten thousand Gaalsien soldiers attack the twin forts along the StormBreaker Wall.

● 1100KDS Kiith S'jet institute a new orbital sensor system: a series of potent deep-scan radar satellites capable of sweeping the space around Kharak for hundreds of millions of kilometers. It is called Project Viin Cal.

● 1106KDs Leykab Jaraci, working on a malfunctioning Vin Cal satellite, accidentally detects hundreds of anomalies scattered across the Great Banded Desert. One of the signals he detects rivals that of Kharak's sun. Initially referred to as Jaraci Object , it soon becomes officially known as the Primary Anomaly.

● 1106KDS Operation Skaal Brii is launched. The deep desert expedition is meant to find and claim the Jaraci Object for the Northern Coalition. Less than a month after leaving port, all contacts with Tiir is lost.

● 1107KDS The search for survivors of the Skaal Brii expedition is called off. The flagship carrier Ifriit-Naabal and her crew are officially declared lost.

● 1107KDS Planning and designing for a second expedition to find and retrieve the Jaraci Object is approved by the Daiamid. The construction of a new Sakala-Class Deep Desert Carrier is accelerated.

● 1108KDS The search for survivors of the Skaal Brii expedition is called off. The flagship carrier Ifriit-Naabal and her crew are officially declared lost.

● 1109KDS The S'jet Carrier Kapisi – one of the new Sakala -class deep desert carriers – is put into service.

● 1109KDS The first Sakala-Class Deep Desert Carrier rolls off the production line. Addressing all the shortcomings of its predecessor, the newly commissioned carriers can move faster, last longer, and hit harder than the Ifriit-Class Heavy Carrier.

● 1110KDS Operation Khadim – the second Jaraci expedition – is cleared to launch.

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X Rachel’s Personal Journal Transcription of archived journal entries of Science Officer Rachel S’jet.

Transcribed Personal Journal of RACHEL S’JET

SCIENCE OFFICER

ID #438.114.51-A5

Excerpt from the S’Jet Archives

MSG. V2.0

***RACHEL’S LOSS*** ENTRY : 23:15:00

DECRYPT : 424.11-41**//

They were decent about it. A friend from Intel and her Superior came to my office at the lab, and told me the news that we had all seen coming. There was clasping, and thanking for the sacrifice of my family, and a copy of the announcement that would be released to the world later in the day. Three paragraphs. That was all. That was all his dreams, my dreams accounted for. Three official formal paragraphs.

The first, a reminder to everyone that the Ifriit Naabal ceased communications two years ago during a storm that covered almost the entire southern hemisphere of our world. It included a list of the people and resources they had committed in the interim, trying to find any trace of that magnificent carrier.

Then the death sentence. As final as the Last Night. The proclamation that after all this time and effort, there was no choice but to declare the Ifriit lost with all hands. The Motions of Mourning to begin, officially, in three turns time.

And finally, ever-so-politely, the council mentions the command crew by name and assures us that these brave leaders, and all who followed them, died heroes and will be recorded with full honors. Honors to the dead, offered as a comfort to the shattered living. And that’s where I see his name. Where I will never be able to Un-See it.

First Officer Jacob S’jet. The honored dead… Jacob S’jet. My brother. Among those who have gone into the sands, and fallen into the heart of the world.

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***A NEW EXPEDITION*** ENTRY : 02:11:00

DECRYPT : 551.A1-55**//

Arcing sheets of lightning crawl across the high desert tonight, etching fine lines of glass across the sand for miles, and driving the sat teams crazy with endless blinded sensors. Only a madwoman would be out beyond the walls tonight, but I couldn’t stand it any longer. I have no one to turn to, no one to tell my news. If I dropped so much as a hint, I’d face two months of moral re-education classes and my security clearance would fall so low that only the Somtaaw could find it. But none of this matters. For the first time in a year, I can breathe! I have purpose again!

They are sending out another expedition!

I had nearly forgotten the listener programs I spread throughout Kiith Naabal’s assets, and the Daiamid’s financial systems, before Jacob set off on his mission. Not easy to hack their systems, but I have been making digital kiith-agents since I was eight years old. Everyone looks for deep taps, but no one thinks to look for the batch of memory that slips from system to system, just sniffing for the few words it has been told to find….

When one of those loyal digital agents returned to my wrist today like a bedraggled little bird which finally wings back to its cages after being lost for years… it took all my will not to burst in tears of relief in the middle of the gymnasium.

“Operation Khadiim: Confirmed.

Funding: Confirmed.

Design of Sakala Class Carriers: Confirmed.”

I shuttered myself in my apartment and sent out new tailor-made agents till I had enough of the story to know what I need to do.

It’s being kept from the public until the loss of Jacob’s mission is completely swept under. But they are doi8ng it! It’s a bigger mission, designed around cutting-edge adaptive tech. They are going retrace the same route that the Ifriit mission took. Somewhere along that route, the secrets of my brother’s death are buried.

I need to be there.

Outside my Runner, the skies tear open. Sheeting plasma races along, just meters away, and in the explosive howl of the storm, I scream my relief and desire into the coruscating clouds.

I have to get on the mission.

And I have less than two years to do it. Less than two years to transform myself from a S’jet Data Jockey to a military officer. No. Not even just an officer… but a scout-qualified officer. I have to be out tasting the desert on the wind, feeling the dune shift, seeing the signs I can trust no one else to see.

I have to be there when the answers are found.

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***CONVICTIONS*** ENTRY : 15:30:00

DECRYPT : 555.B1-55**//

We all wonder about the limits of our convictions. What will our choices be, when storm comes to mountain and neither will give? Are we the kind of people that stand with our oaths, who do what is right no matter the cost, or will we slide about in the wind, seeking opportunity above all else? We rehearse, and tell ourselves who we will be when these moments come. But when the test begins, you see just how far you will go. You find out who you really are.

I do not wonder any more.

I know.

I am J’niira Kiith. A hollow kinswoman. Traitor to my oaths as a S’jet and a scientist.

I was raised to seek and report the truth above all else. To go wherever the facts lead a present my findings without hesitation for review. If judged correct, my work would become another entry to the Books of Knowledge for my People.

Today I turned my back on truth and science for the sake of my own personal agenda. Today I destroyed all records on my desertification analysis paper and erased the data. Tomorrow I will begin rewriting the paper and its conclusions only using official satellite data cleared for use by the Daiamid. And my conclusion will be that everything is fine, and will continue to be fine, so long as current trends in conservation and recycling methods continue.

°I do this because despite the numbers my hand-build slider drones have given me. I have seen the conflicting numbers from the envirosats, which completely disagree with my data. I know that those numbers have a pattern a sophisticated pattern that cleverly mimics the random nature of atmospheric phenomena, but a pattern nonetheless.

The Daiamid has been lying to us for decades. They have been denying environmental degradation and using false telemetry to back up their claims.

After I got over my shock, my first thought was to publish immediately and open a real debate about our future. But then I dug a little deeper… with the ghost of Jacob’s voice in my ear. “Don’t be the chriil so clever it hunts its own tail to death, Rachel...”

A careful search of deleted articles revealed a twelve-year-old ghost paper from one J’raal Hraal, an environmental researcher in his Kiith’s science division. His data had come from monitoring modules carefully attached to his Kiith’s globe-spanning industrial transport vehicles. His study, like mine, did not use the envirosat data.

J’raal presented his paper directly to the Daiamid. A paper very similar to mine, with the same implications: Kharak is dying. He was spreading the alarm.

His reward was the destruction of his career nearly overnight.

The Daiamid Science Ministers rejected his paper. He lost his position. The Hraal-Sa disowned his research and declared him J’niira Kiith in front of all the recorders

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attending the council that year. Naabal-Sa declared him a religious fanatic and supplied vague surveillance data showing J’raal to have fundamentalist sympathies. He was accused of courting Gaalsien representatives in the back streets of Tiir.

Within a year there was no further record of J’raal at all. The last mention is a passing reference to he and his small immediate family going, kithless, to a religious retreat in the low deserts beyond the Majiirian Ocean.

It could not be more clear.

If I remain true to my convictions and publish… I will lose everything. Including any chance of joining the next expedition to the Primary Anomaly.

***THE JOURNEY BEGINS*** ENTRY : 08:30:00

DECRYPT : 553.D1-15**//

Jacob, I have never missed you more than I did today. You would have loved it! But how did you ever stand these sand-cursed uniforms? I am lodged at the cool dark edge of the sand cliffs you used to love, and I still feel like I am melting in this smothering suit!

Enough of that, though. The important thing is we finally got to see her. They swore in the junior officers on the bridge of the Kapisi. She’s nearly complete! And I am going to be her Science Officer.

Gaarket, (he’s our S’jet-Sa now, can you believe it?) had me come into his office yesterday and told me what to expect in his big puffy voice. I nodded at the right points, agreed when he said something ornate about the eyes of the Kiith would be on me and so on and so forth. But all I was really thinking was that I had made it. I was going to be a part of Operation Khadiim! I was going to follow your tracks and nothing could get in the way now. And old Gaarket only once had to puff at me to pay attention.

The Kapisi… she’s magnificent. A whole new class, very different from your Ifriit. To me she seems huge, though the new engineering officers keep telling me she is based on the same frame as the Ifriit. She just seems bigger. Cutting-edge sensors and four mainframe cores. From the outside she is gorgeous and kind of… scary. Much heavier armor, more hard points. And the drive system ! Words fail me. The treads are twice the size of the Ifriit’s and the drive system make the surrounding dunes throb and shiver like the skin of a huge drum. I was there when they rolled her out onto the testing grounds, and it was…

Sorry Jacob, I had to regroup for a moment. I just couldn’t stop seeing your face, watching the Carrier roll out beside me. you should have been there.

Of course you know who really was there? Those damn pushy Siidim showed up, with their Sakala. Same design as the Kapisi, and of course the Siidim had to get theirs out the industrial yards six months ago, so they could take the class name first.

EXPEDITION GUIDE 63


Always something with them. You’d think the Sakala was all their tech, for the way they were strutting around going on about how they had already been on patrol for the past triad, and how they would keep an eye out for us on Operation Khadiim. I started to politely inform them that we had been able to add even more equipment to the Kapisi, but Sakala’s Captain Mashad, gave me one of those looks and my mouth clapped tight as the lid of a well.

It’s so strange, Jacob. feeling all these things I know you must have felt, in the days before you left. the pride in your Carrier. The love and respect for your crewmates. The anticipation, the thrill of discovery, the sense of wonder about the Anomaly. All of it! You had to be feeling all this. But at the same time, I can’t stop feeling like this is what I was meant to do. It has gone beyond playing a role to get to you, and put your body and spirit to rest. For the first time, this feels like my life. I am happy. And wracked with guilt, all at the same time.

I don’t know what is coming. I don’t know if we will survive finding out what happened to you, Jacob. I don’t know what we will find at the Anomaly. But I do know I will not fail you, or our Kiith. I will do whatever I have to, take whatever risks are necessary, to see this mission to its end.

This will be my last entry before departure. Just in case the worst occurs, I will be leaving this journal in the same chest I ”borrowed” it from. Perhaps some future S’jet will learn something about these times from this notebook. At the very least, they will know how much one woman loved her brother.

EXPEDITION GUIDE 64

HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK · 2017-02-23 · HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK In the Abnormality...

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