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Llealynarisia
Wind:
Wind’s planning capabilities are a balanced mix of capabilities, with special emphasis on having an open economy and environmental protection. Wind believes that even your worst enemies can become your best customers and has adopted policies to facilitate ease of business between the different factions in existence. Through careful and meticulous planning and efforts over millennia, Wind has nurtured a reputation for being the best place to do business among all the various factions, thanks in part to its clear regulations, low taxes and excellent infrastructure. Their search of business opportunities has also resulted in Wind clans being a highly scattered bunch, with hardly any major concentration of Wind citizens in any one area apart from the their home sector.
An interesting phenomenon with the Wind flight is its preference to build floating cities, either in the atmosphere or in orbit around the planets it has claimed. Its large floating metropolises have quickly become tourist attractions themselves, with visitors snapping up tickets for guided airborne tours around the city. In space, it has cities often use a combination of shields and physical panels to maintain atmosphere and protect its inhabitants against radiation.
Eager to explore new frontiers, they’re also frequently found on the fringes of explored space, settling on new worlds and establishing new colonies to take advantage of new resources.
Diplomatically, Wind enjoys some of the closest relations among all the factions, second only to Water. Always eager for new opportunities, Wind has effectively pitched a tried and tested idea to gain mutual cooperation with others, the offer of a better life. Where there is business to be done, one can reasonably expend Wind corporations and diplomats to be involved in some way or another, often providing economic benefits to many others along the way. As a result, they enjoy widespread acceptance and easy access to the economies of other factions, even the beast tribes.
Economically, Wind has a vibrant economic sector brimming with life. Thanks in part to its diplomatic prowess, economic cooperation has served as a major driving force in its growth. If one is looking for growth opportunities in the stock market, Wind is the place to go with corporations often reporting some of the best results in the known universe. Its open economy has also resulted in their workforce being the most productive of all, a necessity to survive in a system with practically no import duties, levies or taxes to protect the local businesses.
Its reputation for ease of business is well-known, but so is its stance on environmental protection. As hungry for business as wind is, it also knows the dangers of irresponsible development and has put in place measures to ensure that environment health isn’t sacrificed for mere credits. In fact, they’ve capitalized on a booming new trend that capitalizes on its green reputation, environmental tourism. Already a major sector of the economy with numerous travel awards and billions of tourists each year, the Tourism sector is poised for major expansion as players small and big are now moving to cash in on tourists seeking a life away from the hustle of the developed world and reconnect with nature.
Another major sector is the transportation industry. Over many eons, Wind has cultivated a reputation for having some of the most efficient designs in existence. Planet-side, it is well-known for its Kite-inspired L-110A transport aircraft with its low noise output and minimal fuel consumptions, making it a bestseller in the airline market. In space, its well known for its solar-sail transports. Although not the best for short-distance travel, they are popular for long haul flights, where their laser arrays have time to get the ship up to speed, delivering their cargo to the outer colonies at a fraction of the cost as compared to other transports that use more traditional propulsion techniques. Currently, research is being conducted to allow these ships to safely operate in solar storms and near high-gravity areas, places that have traditionally been the bane of such craft.
A new emerging industry has also positioned Wind as the unwitting leader of the pack. With populations rising and limited planetary systems to colonize and expand into, Wind has found itself on the receiving end of endless queries for its advice and expertise in the construction of floating cities. Ever eager to capitalize on new opportunities, Wind has also begun research into massive space stations built for habitation and has partnered with the Lightning flight for the production of these designs. Meant to house millions, these massive constructs would be self-sufficient ecosystems comprised of agriculture and energy systems, living quarters, recreational spaces, and business districts. Already, the first unit is under construction and is set to roll off the production line in just over 2 solar years.
Militarily, Wind doesn’t have any form of centralized command. Instead, its armed forces are organized into cells that are assigned for the protection of Wind citizens in a designated area typically consisting of multiple star systems. Members of 1 cell are typically unable to recognize members of another cell if they’re off-duty and each cell is led by a senior officer. Cells are self-sufficient units capable of operating independent of one another, having their own combat, support, logistics and infrastructure units.
While some have come to question the lack of central command and hence a possible lack of coordination between combat units in larger battles, during the Lynx war Wind cells were among the more successful combat forces, employing devastating hit and run tactics against their adversaries, bleeding them all along their supply lines and the front line. What many others don’t know is that Wind’s military actually falls under the command of the Shadow flight. Everything from its scattered command to its cell structure was copied from Shadow’s own structure. With its citizens being as scattered as they are, a conventional military structure would not suffice. Instead, command was ceded to the Shadow flight with its vast information network. With the intelligence at its disposal and their experience at shadow operations, it was deemed the best choice for the protection of its interests, and the results speak for themselves. Wind citizens are often confident in their safety, knowing that someone is watching out for them somewhere. The only difference between the Shadow and Wind militaries is that Wind cells are assigned space stations as their home base, whereas no one as yet knows where those of the Shadow flight are. Ordnance wise, Wind heavily favours projectile weapons.
Its Air Force is well renowned for its manoeuvrability, able to spin circles around almost all other aircraft. Built around the notion of hit and run tactics, platforms are designed with minimal protection to maximise speed and mobility, allowing Wind aviators to perform acrobatics unseen anywhere else. Weapons wise, Wind’s guided munitions are known for their high speed, long range, and low tracking capability. As such, aviators often train to get behind their targets before unleashing a “broadside” of their entire payload from a distance before engaging in close quarters combat where they rely on their auto-cannons to finish the job.
A noted weakness of its air units is the use of air burst rounds by enemy air defense units. Given their lack of armor, a burst of shrapnel by such weapons is often lethal against their forces. During the Lynx War, some of the most notable losses were caused by such munitions, even capable of devastating entire squadrons in one notable engagement.
Wind doesn’t have any water-borne naval forces, but it does have a sizable space navy. Like the rest of its military, they’re built for speed and mobility, and are seen more as oversized fighters than actual naval combat ships by other militaries. In war, ships are divided into “wings”, with each wing consisting of 4 frigates or destroyers that are led by 2 cruisers in a “V” shaped formation with the cruisers being positioned in the middle, one behind the other. The first cruiser in the front is often a combat unit whereas the second cruiser at the back often runs electronic warfare systems, disabling enemy defences and interfering with responding enemy units as they deliver multiple strikes, sometimes even diving into the enemy formations if they see a target of opportunity.
As part of this hit and run strategy, ship batteries are almost exclusively forward mounted to give maximum firepower as they engage. However, should they find themselves trapped in a battle of attrition, Wind ships are often the first to fall under fire, with their shields and hulls simply not designed to take sustained hits. Many have come to know them as glass cannons during the invasion of Earth territory by the Beast tribes during the war, where an outnumbered Wind and Earth naval fleet attempted to stall an overwhelming enemy force long enough to evacuate the planet of Juniper. Lacking enough ships to maintain a safe corridor, Earth admirals were forced to relegate some assisting Wind ships for blockade duty, something they were never designed for. As a result, allied lines collapsed with Wind naval ships sustaining catastrophic damage after suffering as little as 4 direct hits from enemy batteries. Although those that weren’t relegated to blockade duty fared much better, the resulting battle was a total victory for the beast tribes with the loss of the planet Juniper, failed civilian evacuation and the loss of 60% of all military assets in the battle.
Regarding its capital ships, Wind exclusively employs carriers and dreadnoughts, with battleships deemed to have no place in its hit and run strategy. Even its dreadnoughts aren’t the traditional kind, lacking any major defensive capability. Instead, Wind dreadnoughts are little more than long barrels that fire ferrous slugs at a fraction of the speed of light from a distance, serving as long distance snipers against enemy fleets while they’re distracted by other allied ships.
Most notably, its carriers have the largest capacities in the known universe. Each carrier is capable of housing nearly 200 air combat platforms, allowing them to launch a veritable swarm of aircraft against enemy forces, before moving to a predetermined rendezvous location for pick up.
On the ground, its armed forces specialize in asymmetrical warfare. Operating as independent units, troops often prioritize the destruction of the enemies weakest points such as their logistics, supply lines and armouries rather than engage their main army in a head on engagement. To facilitate this, ground units have to endure harsh physical training, much more so than other militaries, resulting in an army that operates more like one massive special operations division than a simple ground army.
The use of drones and machines is also widespread, with many ground troops carrying their own personal drone that can be launched for a variety of purposes such as recon or escort. This has often led to the enemy believing that they were engaging a much larger force than they actually were.
Wind armour is also unique. Instead of the treads seen in many other forces, Wind armoured vehicles use hover pads to traverse tough terrain. An added benefit is the ability to “jump” to places and vantage points normal vehicles can’t, allowing them to lay down heavy fire on what would normally be a safe, defensible area. This element of unpredictability is something that enemies are often unprepared for, after all, there’s really no coherent response to having enemy armour float over your mines before jumping behind your defences lines to lay waste to your heavy artillery.
