Aian

Aian
Homeworld:	Aian Prime
Length:	up to 4.5 metres
Height:	up to 2.4 metres
Diet:	Exclusively meat
Intelligence:	Sapient
Technology:	Highly advanced (Class X)
Creator:	Holbenilord

“We are better than this filth. We will destroy their fleets, their people, their skies- and we will show them the power of the Aian!”

- Lesus Ksin d'Vrem

The Aians are an extra-terrestrial sapient species from an unknown planet (referred to as Aian Prime) from the Aisva Galaxy of the Viperius Galaxy System, near Viperius itself. Those encountered in Viperius are but a small reconnaissance group, possessing but a tiny fraction of the full Aian forces.

They are extremely advanced and powerful, being high Class X in technology. It is recommended extreme care should be exercised in negotiations and all attempts should be made to secure their allegiance.

Physiology

Aians have two legs and two arms, though their body is angled in such a way to make the shoulders in front of the hips. They run bipedally, with the tail providing balance as they move. Vertebrae run the length of their body, which are notable for their thickness and the tall protrusions extending from the uppermost parts. The skull is anchored to the front, and contains an upper and lower mandible. There is a large opening for the trunk musculature in the top of this. The eyes are socketed on the side of the head.

Their teeth are adapted for carnivory, being large, pointed and with a shearing edge. They are socketed tightly into the mandibles, but new teeth constantly grow from underneath to replace them and force them out eventually. Each tooth contains an enamel crown, within which is a bone layer and a central blood supply. Saliva is secreted from the gums as well as glands by the throat.

They have three digits on each foot, but the arms are modified into raptorial telsons. These telsons are controlled by an enormous bundle of muscle fibres, woven together thickly for maximum power. Each ends in a scythe-like blade made from bone, with a shearing front edge and a number of very small teeth along the back side Also, a compression-storing material, like that on a flea's leg, lines the rear of the arm. This allows enormous force to be used, enough to rip open a car, though they are very able to moderate this. Despite the size of the telson, they can use them with great precision and easily skewer objects on their ends.

Part of an Aian skeleton

Vertebrates, they have a silicaceous-calcaceous endoskeleton. There is a matrix of these minerals with the protein matrix- built from collagen, elastin and small globular proteins which adhere to the mineral. Their bone durability and rate repair is very high, and breaking an Aian bone takes greater force than that of a car at 80m/s. The bones contain long gluey strings which are elastic, enabling the bone matrix to spring back together after a fracture, and the globular proteins set it together so that everything heals in the right place.

Their hide is tough and thick, containing three keratinous layers (the subdermis, dermis and epidermis), which does not become less flexible or slow down its repair rate as the Aian ages. The epidermis contains keratinocytes, sealable pores for the sebaceous glands, and the scales are set into it. The dermis contains a blood supply along with the sebaceous glands and long elastic fibres to allow good shock-absorption and damage control, as well as pockets of bony material spaced regularly along it. In the subdermis are the glands for producing the wound-sealing fluids and a good blood supply. Capillaries in each of these layers can be selectively constricted or dilated. Their sebum is particularly thick and viscous, producing a layer which not only effectively waterproofs but also makes them unaffected by even strong acids. It also contains buffer agents which make bases relatively ineffective.

They are usually around 4.5m long, with a third of that being tail, though this can vary between individuals by around 5%. They can mass up to half a ton, due to their thick musculature, tissue weaves, dense bones, and large organs. Throughout their body exists a polysaccharide weave, though the form and exact composition varies between tissues. In muscles, it uses particularly large amounts of elastin and collagen around the sugars to prevent overstretching and provide support, enabling them to exert more force without the risk of damage. In bones, it provides extra strength, and runs between spongey layers. It is constantly broken down and repaired by the cells around it. Wherever bones or cartilage meets tissue, a layer of glue-like material in solution is present which lubricates and prevents wear, containing high concentrations of lipids and adhesive proteins. This fluid is also toxic.

Their head has a muscular, horn-covered trunk extending from the nostrils, and a small toothed mouth below that. The trunk is strong but flexible, able to perform precision work, suck up fluids, and seal itself to protect against gaseous agents or the vacuum of space. It has four claw-like projections on the end for picking objects up, which are relatively blunt. The mouth is airtight when closed and bears a horny lip which is constantly repaired. Bite forces are strong in Aians, reaching around 7,000kPa, but the muscles for opening the jaw are also powerful.

Aian eyes, while proportionately small, are extremely good acute. Their ability to focus and pick out detail are highly tuned, with extremely rapid and common saccades and no blind spot, as their optic blood vessels run within the retina. Their rod and cone cells are packed very densely, and they have an extra type of cone cell for detecting UV. They are capable of shutting off a their vision completely using a muscular membrane around the retina in case of damaging intensities of light or ultraviolet. Aians have no sense of smell, as they never developed internalised chemoreceptors, but are sensitive to sounds and vibrations through their ears. Each ear is structured with three sets of three bones carrying vibrations to the eardrum, which has an extra layer behind it in case the first ruptures. They have magnetic crystals in their cochleas for detecting strong magnetic fields.

Also in their heads are two strong horns, which have a hollow space at their base. This contains several sets of semi-circular, fluid-filled tubes that aid balance. Balance is also managed through similiar hollows in their flanks. As such, co-ordination and compensation for body movement are refined to a very high level, with Aians being able to walk on

Aian underside bonescales

strong tightropes with ease. However, they can choose to ignore this information completely, which is useful while falling or in microgravity where it could confuse or distract the subject.

Aians have a long, segmented tail ending in a venomous telson which can spray (up to 5m) or inject a mix of potent generalised toxins which cause nervous system failure, blood thickening, kidney failure and local necrosis. The stinger on the telson is 4cm long, very sharp, and coated in chitin to aid penetration. This toxin is also in the blood stream and tissue fluid, but the Aian cells are adapted to cope with extremely high levels of it. When their blood vessels are pierced, it will spray out and begin to affect the enemy as it is absorbed through mucous membranes or the skin.

Like planarian worms, they possess patches of neoblast cells in their flesh which enable rapid regeneration. These are concentrated at around 1000 per square cm, and present in the subdermis. The bottommost will always become cartaliginous to provide hardening in the area, though these cells will be broken down after healing is complete.

Their immune system is very sophisticated. All blood cells are equipped with an array of antibodies, and the part of their gene responsible for antibody production is constantly allowed to mutate under the influence of mutagenic chemicals. Successful antibodies are shared between blood cells, allowing rapid immunisation, letting the concentration of antibodies in the blood reach its primary peak within one day. They also have macrophagic cells in the vessel walls, which consume all cells which contact them that do not have specific antigens. Other macrophages attach to receptor sites in the vessel walls and "roll" along, attracted to sites of infection or inflammation. If the infection becomes too much, they can keratinise themself and block the area, also emitting a complex mixture of chemicals which, when together, stimulate the growth of new blood vessels around the region.

Most are a mottled brown colour, darkest on the horn carapace, due to the presence of melanin and the bony nodules within the skin. However, darker Aians have been seen, due to overproduction of melanin. This usually correlates with size, as the hormone which stimulates growth also stimulates melanin production. As such, the largest Aians are almost black. The back 'sails' are the same colour as the carapace, but have patterns that form upon them. These patterns are the result of random environmental factors, and are as such as individual to Aians as human fingerprints. The sails themselves are rich in capillaries and carry tough, protected membranes, probably a holdover from a time in which the Aians had to have environmental assistance in regulating body temperature.

Aians often live to two hundred or more. Three hundred and five is the greatest age for an Aian on record.

Aian bone carapace cross-section

Organs

The Aian heart is large and four-chambered, massing around 720g with thick walls and a bony case seperated from it by a thick fatty layer and a quantity of fluid. There are two atria on the right hand side, which expand one after the other, but only one on the right. It is aided by a secondary pumping station at the base of each limb, based on muscular contractions around the main arteries. Their heart rate is very controllable, though they cannot simulate death or put it past its limits. It averages at around 65.

Aians have four lungs, which are independently sealable and have an average total capacity in each of the four lung sacs of four to five litres. The surface area of the alveoli is greater than any mammal's, due to the larger quantity of microvilli and alveoli per unit area. However, it is as selective, and reinforced with a weave layer that is both elastic and flexible to allow stretch and to assist in exhalation. In addition, the lungs have a very good blood supply, with arterioles running all along the lung. Aians can hold their breath for six minutes, on average, though they can increase this by training.

There is one large kidney in the Aian body, located at the base of the tail and massing around a kilogram. The nephrons are of far greater density than a human kidney, and filter around four times the blood each day. Several counter-current capillaries per unit, and more meandering of the vessel, make the process far more effective. They can recycle the urea from the kidneys, but only when under stress, using enzymes manufactured in that area to produce new amino acids.

Their lymph nodes are large and tough, and also have nephron-like structures within them. The purpose of these is unknown, though sometimes believed to filter out particulate debris for excretion. They also carry 'pockets' full of 'slicer' enzymes and specific antitoxins, which fend off infection. The lymph congeals quickly and strongly when exposed to air, forming a tough layer over wounds.

Their digestive system begins in the mouth, where the large tongue mashes up food that has been broken apart and chewed by the teeth. Saliva is secreted out and begins to digest it with carbohydrases and proteases. As a ball of mush, it is moved down the tough, horny gullet which contains tiny spikes along its edges to further break things down.

The stomach is very large, expanding from an initial volume of around 100ml to a maximum volume of more than six litres. Its walls secrete hydrochloric acid, proteases, carbohydrases, lactases and antibacterial agents. The stomach churns rapidly, and food stays here for about an hour and a half. It then moves down into the major intestine. Here, water and nutrients are absorbed by microvilli along the walls and bile, enzymes and liquefying agents are secreted. The solid remainder will pass into one of the two minor intestines, which loop around the major intestine, and all fluid will be removed. Bacterial cultures will break down any remaining nutriment, as well as cellulose and tough fibres. Almost nothing is left to enter the rectum in preparation for egestion, so they only need to do this once every week or so despite their greater intake of food.

As a species, Aians have a complex endocrine system. Single hormones rarely have any effect on tissues, but rather complex mixtures trigger responses. This seems to be an adaptation to counter hormone production problems, such as overproduction or deficiency, as the relevant hormones build up together at the tissue. The hormonal chemical themselves are based on peptides or lipids, there being no monoamine-based examples. Every endocrine gland has an identical partner on the opposite side of the body, and can enlarge if the other instance ceases to function properly, making up for the loss.

An example of a single hormone having an effect on tissues is the hormone responsible for arousal, which triggers responses in the gonads and brain without any assisting molecules.

Reproduction

Aians are all hermaphroditic, all possessing both sex organs, internally retained behind pores between the legs. There are four ovaries and four testes, each contained within a shock-absorbent fatty sheath and connected by a tube to the pore. The ovaries are connected to the uterus, and the testes to a pump-like organ. The Vendian tube connects the uterus to the pore, and is around 4cm long.

Fertilisation does not always occur. The sperm and eggs must both be in the Vendian Tube at the same time, and Aians can constrict this to prevent fertilisation.

Childbirth is quite easy for the viviparous Aians, and the reproductive pore opens to around 5cm in diameter. When born, the young Aian has a loose, moist, and flexible carapace, which sets soon after. It is around 60cm long and 10kg in mass at birth, but grows quickly, fed by a small but visible yolk sac by the tail, then a milky, nutrient- and lipid-rich substance produced in the parent's trunk.

The young take fifteen standard years to grow to the typical Aian size, but grow almost imperceptibly for the rest of their life as well. They reach sexual maturity at the age of ten, and stop producing eggs and sperm aged sixty, but are otherwise unimpaired. Gestation takes ten months, during which the ribcage expands to allow growth. Pregnancy is somewhat visible, but the Aians' large size lessens the visibility.

Augmentation

Aians have sophisticated Gengineering and cybernetic augmentation technologies, so it is quite possible some

Aian cybernetic eye

traits we believe are natural are in fact engineered. Soldier Aians receive a set pack of genetic and mechanical augmentations to boost strength, intelligence, senses and durability. The less active castes tend to have brain implants, which allow greater memory space, processing ability, and recordings of events. Some Aians possess small chips which are direct copies of their brains, and over the course of years their consciousness can be duplicated inside them. This can take over if the original brain is destroyed, or be moved to a new body.

Augmentations are all self-repairing, very durable, and produce microfibres which connect them all up. When enough are present, they can produce larger vessels connecting them through which resources, nanobots, cells and ions can be transferred. These allow repair, quick-shift changing to spare components, and other such possibilities.

Aian bionic eyes can detect microwaves to far UV light, in addition to containing powerful computers and augmented reality technology. These can be linked to gun sights for extra accuracy and the ability to shoot accurately without raising the head, or to compensate for atmospheric conditions when shooting.

Some Aians have carbide weave placed in their claws or telsons, or their skin reinforced with tough polymers. These are 'sewn in' alongside the natural weaves. Guns or switchblades are sometimes surgically implanted, and can retract within the skin, which can often close up through the use of fibres to make it look like nothing was ever there. Reloading is possible using a sealable chamber which the skin can open up to allow access to, or by using waste products from other augmentations to produce new ammunition.

Regenerative augmentations are common, usually using nanomachines and stem cell pockets within the body. Self-repairing, internally flexible fibres will extend if the skin is ruptured, grab those on the other side of the wound, and pull the two halves together while producing drugs and stimulating repair. Other fibres will take hold of and expel bullets or shrapnel. These are powered by batteries which are charged as the Aian produces heat and moves.

Aians who need to move quickly often get leg musculature boosts and assistive hydraulics in the legs. Their claws are made retractable and their feet pads more elastic to maximise efficiency, 'recycling' as much of the force as possible. These also allow quieter movement.

Most active augmentations are controlled by the user's mind, being directly connected to the nervous system. New nerves can be grown to prevent interference with previous 'body memory", where confusion could result from repurposing old nerves or giving them a new function. As little need for rehabilitation as possible is sought.

Diet

Aians are mainly carnivorous beings, though they can eat fungal masses and fruits. They possess incisors, canines and molars which allow them to shear or chew various types of food.

Their effective digestive system (which may be partially or wholly engineered) allows them to subsist on low-quality foods in worst-case scenarios. Almost all the required vitamins, amino acids etc. can be synthesised by the Aian's body. They also have very little waste of either form, as they re-process urea to create new amino acids when under stress and even tooth enamel can be digested.

The food produced on board Aian ships and Ringworlds is of many different types, but on missions where the weight of food is a constraining factor they tend to carry large numbers of environmentally resistant nutrient bars, containing large quantities of carbohydrates, lipids, micronutrients and comparatively little protein. However, the food stocked in medical sites will tend to have more protein, and be tailorable precisely to the patient's exact needs.

Intelligence and Society

Aians are sapient, and quite capable of using logic and empathy. Their civilisation developed interstellar travel, advanced physics and AIs, as well as many other technologies. They have brains twice the mass of a human's, though only 0.8 times the density, with most of the same cognitive regions but some hyperdeveloped. Their electrofluid nervous systems, as well as enabling Aians to shut off pain, allow rapid neural signalling. As they are both insulated in horn and have many, very selective ion channels using proteins protected by a layer of phospholipids, neurotoxins are ineffective.

The general brain layout is familiar, with the prefrontal cortex in charge of higher thought. Most regions are hyperdeveloped, and connections between them are many, resulting in a mild synaesthesia for most. There is a degree of redundancy, with two olfactory bulbs and four pineal glands, for example. All hormone produced by the brain can also be produced in other parts of the body. Similiarly, there are backup thermoregulatory and blood regulation systems within the spine.

They have more innate knowledge of how to use their bodies than humans, and their reflexes are far more aggressive than those of a person. Their spinal cord is far less primarily important than that of many other races, and is one of three weave-supported structures.

Illustration of an Aian brain, with scale

If the spinal cord breaks, new nerves will rapidly grow to bypass it while it heals, and remain in place afterwards as backups. Their coatings add another layer of protection.

Language

Aians have faster thinking times than other races, and can pick out shorter sounds and images. As such, their language is far faster and sounds to an untrained ear like an almost musical hum, punctuated with grunts and breaths. However, it contains a lot of information, such as emotional states and the level of respect an Aian is using, which Aians cannot conceal in speech.

Due to their translation software, other races do not hear Aian speech, but a translation into their own language. Much meaning and nuances have to be lost in this process for the message to be understood, making Aians more reluctant to speak to other species. However, their exposure to such linguistic complexity means that they are very good at picking up on subtle tonal, emotional and other such changes in translated speech as well.

There are cases and moods in Aian speech, as well as eight different tenses. Although most ideas are very simple for them to vocalise, the ability to use subtle changes allow them to communicate more and more complex information. Technical vocabulary is either compound or made up, though an interesting abbreviation system is sometimes used.

Culture

Aians have a culture based around the betterment of their own race, oriented strongly towards serving the greater community and are quite militaristic. Those who can command and battle well are chosen by the community as leaders. All Aians report to a central Arch-Council, with a leader (currently Tyrius Levaen d'Hastea) and around two dozen councilors, though it is not known where this group is based. However, most orders come from a centralised command structure on a ship or colony, with a clear hierarchy. This is because the commanders are known to be decisive and inspiring individuals, able to make decisions quickly based on the information they possess, and they have the best ability to see the conditions of the situation.

Those who are good at a particular field, such as science or cooking, specialise in that field. They always perform this appointed role in standard conditions, due to their belief in working together. However, they believe in redundancy, so all Aians have at least basic training in every field, in case something goes wrong.

They have no music, but epic poetry and martial arts are seen as a high art. The skilled are lauded and the unskilled encouraged to work on their skills. Competitions are common and encouraged to maintain high standards and provide examples to live up to, and occur very frequently. On board small ships, rankings of who is best at the various competitions are usually found.

The Aians have several different martial arts. The most common is Hanu, which is very active and based on using a rapid flurry of blows to rapidly incapacitate an opponent. Using every part of the body and releasing force quickly are focussed on. Another type is Kalu, a passive martial art that relies on turning the actions of the enemy against them. Diverting enemy attacks and keeping balance are very important in this fighting style, as well as countering special attacks. Thanu is less common, and based on using the telsons as the main weaponry, in a fashion somewhat like knife-fighting.

They are good masons and engineers. Their buildings tend to be white and streamlined in shape, often with deep cellars, and very large. They like having windows and doors which allow in lots of light and many, elaborate, tapestries within their buildings.

Names

An Aian name is a combination of their tribe, squadron and individual names. Within a squadron or tribe, those specific names will be missed out, but if individuals foreign to the group are present, the name will be added again. The names are ordered as "'individual' 'squadron' d'(tribe)'", for example "Lesus Ksin d'Vrem", "Kesir Havak d'Orome" or "Vros Makai d'Serapis".

When an Aian does not know one of the names of an individual they are talking to, they will replace that name with the word meaning "honoured".

Law

Crimes are very rare amongst the Aians, due to their psychology. However, they do have a system of law in place. Crimes such as deserting and stealing are punished by imprisonment and demotion, and crimes such as giving important information to the enemy or murdering comrades are punished by execution (usually by shooting).

Criminals are brought to trial in the Hall of Justice, believed to be on Aian Prime. They must provide their own defense, and their sentence is decided by the Arch-Council itself.

Clothing

Aians do not wear clothes, protected from the elements by their hide and back armour. Their genitals are also internally retained, so do not need covering up.

However, Aians do wear armoured combat suits and environmental suits should the situation require it, usually made of carbon weave and metal struts. They usually did not cover the scythes, however, allowing free use. Some Aians wear belts and pocketed bandoliers, to allow them to carry more. The sails and horns are all covered, though the suit over them is thinner.

Stealth troopers, pathfinders and reconnaissance troopers use active camouflage and stealthed armour to remain hidden. This still functions well as armour despite its specialisation, and can incorporate standard repulsors, though to a lower concentration. Stealth troops are told to trust their camouflage at beyond 5m from an enemy in visually 'busy' (such as urban or forest) terrain, and at beyond 20m in less active environments.

Certain Aian commanders have infused metal segments in their carapaces, which mean they stand out in melee for their soldiers to recognise and let them take more damage from enemy fire.These will usually be titanium alloy or sometimes advanced steels, due to their unreactivity and lightness.

Religion

Aians are irreligious on the whole, though they believe that the whole Aian species together is a kind of greater entity in the universe, known as the Aia. They feel pride in the actions and power of their race, and that what it does is right.

They believe attacking the Aians is an unforgivable sin and bear grudges for a long time, seeking to destroy and avenge whenever and however they can, going so far as to slaughter races for a perceived slight.

Mythology

Throughout their history, Aians created myths and legends. These were based around the deeds of legendary tribes, such as the 'Aisor' and the 'Koll'. The Aisor are believed to the the tribe which unified the first Aian civilisations and developed metallurgy.

Individuals are second to groups in this lore. Although they may be mentioned, the deeds are put to the many rather than the one- for example, the defeat of the enormous serpent Jahdred was attributed to the Aisor, rather than Itrios, who was said to have been the one to open its braincase and destroy the contents.

Different mythologies have had different tribes and monsters, but the most common monsters (several forms of each of these have been convergently created) are the insubstantial phantoms, the vicious sky giants and the god-like Zeph.

The phantoms were a race of beings which possessed a civilisation, and cities that only appeared in the nighttime. They were permanently at war with the Aians, and as they were physically weaker they would attempt to trick or coerce the Aian tribes, never with success. They were eventually wiped out in a massive assault led by the Aisor during an eclipse, where their cities were set on fire and continued burning in the phantom's hidden world, then reappeared as ruins that night.

The sky giants, as their name suggests, built enormous citadels in the sky and came down to steal Aians for their arenas and to fight. They demanded a tribute from the major Aian tribes, forcing them to attack the weaker groups and take their children to give to then sky giants. Eventually, the Aisor managed to get themselves into the sky giant citadels and crashed them into each other one by one.

Unlike the other two races, the Zeph were not always malevolent. Some were said to have inspired the Aians in certain developments, and in fact to have shaped their bodies for their conflicts with the other races. However, most of them seemed to actively attempt to halt Aian progress, and would send natural disasters or sow discord regularly. After one was killed by the combined efforts of the Aisor and Koll, they supposedly fled.

Technology

Aians are an advanced technological species, with many sophisticated sciences and devices. They are considered to be class X due to their ability to travel between galaxies.

They do not readily give up their technology to other races, for utility or study. An exception is their translation technology, which is found throughout Viperius due to its adoption by the Zyrothans and Salsenes, who then carried it to many others.

They continue to develop new devices and ideas, constantly progressing without any signs of slowing down. Researchers are motivated and well-supplied, and there are plenty of issues for problem-solvers to address.

Travel

They have a large navy, probably containing hundreds of millions of ships. FTL is enabled through travel into ultraspace using an Ultradrive, which allows them to cross between galaxies rapidly. Aian vessels have conventional fusion engines for sublight manoeuvres and to power them through ultraspace. They usually jump into ultraspace at speed, so they will travel further as they already have high velocity. Aian ships also carry hyperspace denial systems that they can activate to prevent enemies retreating, as well as hyperspace and ultraspace beacons for FTL communications.

For defense, the Aians create repulsor fields around their ships, so they can withstand oncoming material during FTL flight and repel enemy kinetic attacks. There are also close-range repulsor sheets over the hull, which act as a secondary layer of defense and offer protection against particle beams. Particles from space caught between the two layers also serve a purpose, circulated around the ship to absorb laser, maser and particle beams as well as vaporise incoming kinetic weapons.

Aian spaceship. Note glowing stream cannon barrel

The ships themselves have hulls which are a single, moulded nanodiamond. It is thought they use intense mass-compression (through repulsors) to achieve the maximum density, in giant industrial plants. There are reflective and ablative layers over each of the hulls, making energy weapons far less effective. These are all self-repairing.

Even without repulsors, they can withstand enormous scales of bombardment. This armour also grants great resistance to EMPs, nuclear fallout, and even extremes of temperature. Aian ships are well defended enough to fly very close to stars and around the atmospheres of large gas giants.

Aian ships are computationally advanced. They have very effective fire-control suites with extreme accuracy even at ranges of millions of miles, and their cyberwarfare equipment and countermeasures make them almost immune to digital attack. When in battle, they present no method of accessing their internal systems at all to the enemy.

Even without repulsors, they can withstand enormous scales of bombardment. Ships are of several types-

• Dreadnoughts are the largest of all Aian ships. These ships are over a hundred kilometres long. They carry Stardeath Howitzers, Stream Cannons, mass drivers, and all sorts of other weapons. They also have the cutting-edge adaptive annihilator shields, which make them nigh-invulnerable. These ships are very new and rare. Such ships are like cities within themselves, with factories, shops, and other facilities on board.
• Similiar in size to Dreadnoughts are the Supercarriers. Around a hundred kilometres long, they bear extensive point defense, batteries of mass drivers, large quantities of small weapons, and usually one or two Stream Cannons. The majority of their volume is occupied with construction hangars, factories, and drone hangars.
• Battleships are a large class of Aian ship, measuring several kilometres long. They are often armed with Stream Cannons, mass drivers, charged and neutral particle beams, multiple lasers, masers, missiles, torpedoes, and a number of types of bomb, as well as the best armour and shielding. They are used in firefights, pummeling the enemy into submission, and in bombardment of worlds.
• Battle cruisers resemble battleships, but are longer, thinner, and lighter armed, emphasising speed more. They tend to have mass drivers as their largest weapons, and have the same quality shielding as battleships but less armour.
• Frigates are the next class down, several hundred metres long. They are more lightly armed, with a focus on mass drivers. Their purpose was traditionally independent patrol, making it necessary for them to be good generalists, with powerful offense and defense, as well as a high effective range. However, the more modern approach is to use this type of vessel in "packs", concentrating fire on strategic ships to bring them down. When facing less advanced races, they tend to be superior to the enemy dreadnoughts so will take them on.
• Heavy cruisers are smaller than frigates, but larger than light cruisers. Their main roles are in fire support, as mobile weapons platforms, and in local bombardments, though they can be fitted as transports. They usually have mass drivers, lasers, bombs and charged particle beams.
• Light cruisers are the smallest and lightest armed craft. They act as reconaissance, transport and support ships, often less than 100m long. Despite their small size, they pack some punch and can be relied on to move resources around quickly.
• Destroyers have a similiar length to the heavy cruiser. They are designed to escort other ships and protect them from missiles, strike craft, and even cruisers, using extensive batteries of lasers, missiles and torpedoes to accomplish this.
• Corvettes are just larger than light cruisers, but with minimal armour and usually fewer than five crew. They are comparatively rare, and only used for special tasks.
• Carriers are very large vessels, dozens of kilometres long but with little offensive weaponry. Their main function is to build, transport and repair other ships, but they also contain enormous factory complexes for building weapons and vehicles. They carry large quantities of drones and often act as a command centre when no dreadnoughts or Ringworlds are around.
• Robotics Carriers are large ships containing many thousands of drones, or various types. They tend to hang behind to battle line, assisting and repairing other ships. They are around the size of heavy cruisers.
• Drones are very variable in terms of size, armament, and engines. Some can travel at FTL, and others cannot, but all have no crew and contain AIs. Their battlefield roles are diverse and they are not always purely for space warfare.

The Aian fleet contains many millions of ships. Some common classes are listed below.

Dreadnought Classes

Classes of dreadnought.

• Elth-class dreadnoughts are up to 110km long. They carry two Stardeath Howitzers and eighty Stream Cannons, along with all standard Aian ship cannons, beams, missiles and torpedoes. Elth hulls are the thickest in the fleet, and their sheer size is also a major defense.
• Taror-class dreadnoughts reach 100km long. A single Stardeath Howitzer and two hundred Stream Cannons are carried in addition to usual armament. They have the most concentrated point-defense weapons of any Aian ship, as well as many advanced fire-control suites.
  

  Taror-class Dreadnought
• Duhn-class dreadnoughts reach 105km long. They carry one Stardeath Howitzer, one hundred Stream Cannons, and all usual weapons. They have the most powerful annihilation fields and are so the hardest Aian ships to destroy, notorious for simply drifting through enemy lines and casually picking off battleships with their lighter weaponry. Such tactics are psychological warfare, and have proven extremely effective.

Supercarrier Classes

Classes of supercarrier.

• Ern-class supercarriers can be 100km long, with a peculiar construction which leaves them looking more like a battlestation than a ship. They bear two Stream Cannons- one above and one below, as well as mass drivers all around their edge. Within are around ten thousand construction hangars, constructing all classes of smaller ship.
• Catra-class supercarriers may be 98km long. With only one Stream Cannon, they have even more room for their construction hangars than the Ern-class. They also carry more drones and have denser point defense, though fewer mass drivers.

Battleship Classes

Classes of battleship.

• Haya-class battleships are the most common of their kind, at up to 14km long. They have one Stream Cannon and numerous mass drivers, as well as thick hulls. They possess many drones.
• Luirus-class battleships are up to 16km long. They have two parallel Stream Cannons and a few mass drivers, as well as many missiles. Relying on the firepower of their two main guns for defense, their hulls are not particularly thick.
  

  An Ativa-class Battleship
• Ativa-class battleships are around 13km long, and have one Stream Cannon, several mass drivers, and large numbers of lasers. They shoot down missiles and drones for the fleet when with other battleships. In addition, they have very concentrated point defense.
• Vrok-class battleships reach 13km long, with one Stream Cannon, no mass drivers, and very many drones. To assist these drones, they bear lasers and masers, as well as a large fire-control suite.

Battlecruiser Classes

Classes of battlecruiser.

• Inor-class battlecruisers are 12km long, and bear many broadside mass drivers. They have particularly large FTL drives and thrusters, enabling greater speed to outrun opposing vessels.
• Attuk-class battlecruisers can be 14km long, with several broadside mass drivers. They carry a particularly large number of drones in a series of hangars in the midsection.
  

  A Goros-class battlecruiser
• Goros-class battlecruisers reach 11km long. Their focus is on lasers and masers, and precision computers give them great beam-range accuracy.

Frigate Classes

Classes of frigate.

• Mia-class frigates are 760m long ships. They have thick shielding and armour, and form the backbone of frigate packs. Using mass drivers, lasers, and missiles, they are effective at attacking all types of ship, and their high speed and agility allow them to rapidly redeploy to wherever they are needed.
• Bolon-class frigates can reach 810m long. Even more heavily defended than the Mia-class, they have around fifty fewer crew due to the lessened internal volume, with so much being armour. Very durable, they often form the head of a frigate attack line, using mainly missiles and torpedoes.
  

  Bolon-class frigate
• Huro-class frigates are unusual in design. They are built around a Stream Cannon modified to fit inside a 780m-long ship, which gives them an advantage over almost any ship their size though their firepower is not that of a battleship's Stream Cannon due to size and power limitations. They have little hull and point defense due to these problems.
• Motran-class frigates focus on drones deployment. 760m long, they have distinctive cylindrical tubes parallel to the midsection, through which the various drones are deployed. Not sacrificing firepower, they are equipped with mass drivers, torpedoes, and masers.
• Kalov-class frigates are the most independent and generalist of their type, 790m long with thick armour and shields, mass drivers, torpedoes, missiles, lasers and masers, a drone hangar, large supply chambers and a powerful drive core with several backup reactors.
• Antas-class frigates are mainly designed to take on planetary targets. Along their 770m lengths they carry mass drivers, missiles of various types, advanced point defense, and charged particle beams. In addition, they carry a light cruiser and a number of drones internally.

Heavy Cruiser Classes

Classes of heavy cruiser.

• Shi-class heavy cruisers can be 440m long. Three large mass drivers are built into their hulls, accompanied by several maser cannons.
• Euge-class heavy cruisers are typically 420m long, equipped with particularly thick armour and a number of shield drones. They are mainly escorts.
• Han-class heavy cruisers usually have long-range missiles and lasers. They counter enemy missiles and small ships. Most are 430 metres long.
• Da-class heavy cruisers are equipped with many flak guns and railcannons, and usually are 230m in length.

Light Cruiser Classes

Classes of light cruiser.

• Sabith-class light cruisers can be 150m long. They bear rows of railcannons and missiles, as well as a few drones.
• Lator-class light cruisers reach 130m long. Each has a coilgun, bombs, and many rapid-fire railgun turrets.
• Dath-class light cruisers are 150m long. Though they only carry rapid-fire railguns, they have thick hulls and strong shields.
• Kroa-class light cruisers can be 145m long. Their focus is on bombs and other anti-surface
  

  Kroa-class Light Cruiser
  weaponry, and they perform orbital strikes.

Destroyer Classes

Classes of Destroyer.

• Anak-class destroyers are approximately 350m long. They bear large numbers of missiles and torpedoes, as well as several laser and maser banks, and a mass driver along their central axis.
• Rath-class destroyers can be 335m long. Their armament focusses more on lasers, with around a dozen laser banks and fewer missile and torpedo tubes. They also contain a drone hangar.
• Anten-class destroyers reach 340m in length. With six front-mounted railcannons, a number of laser and maser banks, many missile and torpedo tubes, and powerful repulsors, they sacrifice agility for the ability to take and deal damage. As such, they can only escort slower ships.

Corvette Classes

Classes of Corvette.

• Enza-class corvettes are designed for diplomatic missions. Bearing concealed railcannons, fast-recharge FTL and a large reception room, they can be 160m long.
• Kalan-class corvettes are used exclusively for training purposes with new pilots and astrogators. They are 200m long, and highly customisable for different training missions.
• Danthi-class corvettes contain large cargo holds. 210m long, they act mainly to shuttle resources, though they do carry railcannons and masers.

Carrier Classes

Classes of Carrier.

• Mandul-class carriers reach 65km long, and have several thousand construction hangars. Around a dozen are dedicated to battleships and battlecruisers, but they have the largest weapon and vehicle factory complexes. They have much point defense and a large number of drone hangars.
• Urupt-class carriers can be 90km long, with over ten thousand construction hangars. Only four are for battleships and battlecruisers. These carriers possess large laser batteries and many mass drivers in addition to point defense, but fewer drones than a Mandul-class.
• Olohn-class carriers are usually 75km long. They have about a thousand construction hangars, of which twenty are for battleships and battlecruisers. They carry many drones.

Robotics Carrier Classes

Classes of Robotics Carrier.

• Undall-class robotics carriers are around 200m long. They carry mainly repair drones and have only point-defense weaponry.
• Monditor-class robotics carriers are around 240m long. They carry mainly fighter and fire support drones, as well as long range missiles.
• Abinra-class robotics carriers reach 210m long. They launch many swarmer drones and a few repair drones, and are equipped with railcannons.
• Dolyar-class robotics carriers are around 180m long. Most of their drones are shield drones, and they have no weaponry, but can extend their own shields.
  

  Dolyar-class robotics carrier with three drones
• Urri-class robotics carriers are 200m long. They are generalists, with all types of drones, and have rapid-fire railguns.

Drone Classes

Classes of drone.

• Light fighter drones carry rapid-fire railguns and sublight drives. They are five metres long and have repulsor fields.
• Heavy fighter drones carry an impactor railcannon, rapid-fire railguns and sublight drives. They are 10m long with repulsor fields and sheets.
• Light fire support drones carry rapid-fire railguns and missiles. They have repulsor fields and FTL drives, and are 9m long.
• Heavy fire support drones possess railcannons and missiles. Each bears an FTL drive, as well as repulsor fields and sheets. They are 17m long.
• Swarmer drones are launched as ten 4m-long drones with rapid-fire railguns around a central column which accelerates into the enemy and contains an antimatter charge. The drones detach from the column as it accelerates.
• Medic drones are 5m long and carry robotic arms and medical supplies. They have hoverplates.
• Light repair drones are 6m-long drones with robotic arms, hull repair kits and nanodiamond patchers.
• Repair drones are 11m drones with many robotic arms, hull repair kits, nanodiamond patchers, nanomachine stocks and rapid-fire railguns for defense.
• Shield drones are disc-shaped drones, 20m in diameter, with a protruding generator and a frontal railcannon. They project a 100m-wide repulsor field in front of them.
• Messenger drones have FTL drives and rapid-fire railguns. They are used to send messages.

Communications

As electromagnetic radiation can only travel at light speed, Aian ships launch small devices, with FTL drives, which then travel to the location they wish to address through FTL. Quantum entanglement allows real-time communication between linked Aian ships and settlements- it is not known how they have bypassed the problems involved.

All Aian ships can send emergency messages to the Aian high council almost instantaneously, along with their most recent sensor feeds. This triggers automatically if the vessel is just about to be destroyed.

Computing

Aians have developed quantum computers, capable of carrying out trillions of trillions of calculations almost instantaneously. This same technology also allows them to store data on the atomic scale and create sophisticated AIs. Such constructs are usually used in weaponry, helping to guide projectiles, compensate for disturbances, and pick targets.

They also have adaptive robots, which are used for mining, warfare and construction. Robots are used to load weapons and perform ships maintenance too.

On Aian ships and structures there are usually canisters of AI-guided nanobots. Should the sensors detect damage, these will attempt to repair gashes or deformities as best they can.

Vehicles

Aian vehicles include tanks of various kinds, dreadnoughts, and atmospheric jet fighters.

Dreadnoughts are armoured all-terrain constructs, with mechanical appendages for weapons-mounting and strategic adaptability.. They have advanced AIs with high-level targetting, strategic and tactical intelligence.

• Striders are 6m tall, mass 17 tonnes, and are equipped with two rapid-fire railguns as well as a shoulder-mounted squasher railcannon. Using two legs and two arms, they are designed mainly for the urban theatre, though in practice they have been deployed in other environments. For anti-aircraft defense, they bear two concealed guided missile pods.
• Plodders are 5m tall, 10m long, 25 tonne vehicles with four legs and a back-mounted control centre. On their front, they have one turret bearing three rapid-fire railguns and a light maser. Six guided missile pods are attached to the control centre, making them best as anti-aircraft or anti-armour platforms.
• Stompers are 12m tall, 19m long, 78 tonne constructs with eight leg appendages. They have a number of blades around the foot and ankle, as well as drills built into the base of the foot. Ten missile pods and four rapid-fire railgun turrets are present on the vehicle's top, and there is a twin-linked frontal railcannon.
• Crashers are the largest standard-issue construct used by the Aians. At 26m tall, 46m long, and massing 189 tonnes with twelve legs and six arms, they are far larger than any other dreadnought. Equipped with six twin-linked railcannon turrets, hundreds of rapid-fire railguns, several dozen missile pods, a coilgun, two light lasers, ten light masers and six heavy masers, they are designed for siege and heavy armour assaults.
• Divers can be 6m long and have six limbs, each of which can either be a flipper or a grasping appendage. They are designed to go deep underwater, and have two torpedo tubes as well as a rapid-fire railgun in the tail.

Aian tanks have caterpillar tracks on their undersides, as well as mass-repulsion hoverplates and minijets. There are several classes of tank:

• Light Tanks carry one rapid-fire railgun, a rail-HMG and 3-inch armour under their repulsor field. They are 7m long and can have one crew member on board. They are capable of reaching speeds in excess of 100mph and hovering 10m above the ground.
• Medium Tanks carry a railcannon and a co-axial rapid-fire railgun, with 5-inch armour and repulsor sheets as well as their repulsor field. Two crew can fit in their 12m-long hulls. These can reach over 120mph and hover 12m above the ground.
• Close Assault Tanks bear two rapid-fire railguns, four sponson-mounted Aian flamethrowers and a guided missile pod. In addition, they have white phosphorus launchers mounted on the turret. 14m long and reaching speeds of over 200mph, they rapidly close with the enemy and attack them at short range. Their thick armour and shielding let them absorb the enemy close-range fire, but mean that they can only hold three crew. Close Assault Tanks can reach 170mph and stay in a hover 10m above the ground.
• Main Battle Tanks have two railcannons, a co-axial rapid-fire railgun, a guided missile pod and a cupola-mounted rapid-fire railgun. They have 8-inch hulls, repulsor sheets and fields. Four crew can fit in, as they are 16m long. They maximum speed is over 165mph and they can hover 16m above the ground.
• Super Heavy Battle Tanks possess a coilgun, four railcannons, two co-axial rapid-fire railguns, two hull-mounted rapid-fire railguns, eight guided missile pods, four heavy mortars, nine masers and four attack drones in a rear hangar. At 50m long, 34m wide and 10m tall, they have very little manouevrability, but can dominate an open field. They have twenty-five crew, and can reach 120mph, hovering around 15m above the ground.
• Sniper Tanks possess penetrator railcannons, a guided missile pod and a co-axial rapid-fire railgun. They have 2-inch armour, repulsor fields and are 8m long. Each can fit one crew. Their maximum speed is over 100mph and then can hover 7m above the ground.

Aian jet planes can reach mach 10, using ramjets and hydrogen drives for propulsion. They carry missiles and bombs, and provide air strikes and support. They often have AIs to do the aiming and course plotting, and are capable of VTOL. Usually, they only have one crew member.

• Fighters have rapid-fire railguns, masers, and guided missiles, and are designed to take out enemy air support. They are the fastest Aian aircraft, and often accompany bombers on a strike mission.
• Fighter/bombers are equipped with missiles alone, which they can use to take on both air and ground armour. It is important for them to maintain distance from the enemy.
• Bombers deploy both missiles and bombs to destroy ground targets, with great accuracy. Slower than fighters, and with little defensive ability, they are usually escorted by the other types of jet.
• Flying fortresses are very large, with 45m wingspans and many different types of weapon including railcannons, rapid-fire railguns, missiles, bombs and lasers. They have crews of around twenty and act as aerial command centres when ships are not available, though they are more than capable of engaging in combat. They can travel at the same speed as smaller craft due to their far larger ramjets.

Aians have been known to deploy submarines. These are 90m long, with thick hulls and crews of around 20. They carry ballistic missiles, torpedoes, and AA railguns. They can go 1000m under the surface.

Weaponry

The Aian infantry mainly carries railguns, of varying types. Railgun magazines are in the shape of a thin magazine containing of metal (usually iron) which is plugged into the side of the gun. Magazines can typically supply hundreds of shots.

Melee Weapons

Aians often infuse their claws, telsons and teeth with carbide or tough polymers. Switchblades are sometimes surgically implanted, or jagged carbide edges attached to claws and scythes.

The tail is also a lethal weapon. The stinger is often enhanced and infused with similiar materials to those used in telson reinforcement, granting it the ability to penetrate sheet metal. Sheathing, using metals or carbide, is common, as are attaching firearms or long blades to the tail.

Railguns

• Aian Rail-Rifle - These railguns are portable, and usually shoulder mounted. The Rail-Rifle can accelerate 25g projectiles to fifteen
  

  An Aian rifle (this version is fastened to the shoulder)
  kilometres per second, which produces the kinetic energy equivalent to 0.67kg of TNT. This can be altered, and is usually not fired at full power due to wear. The rounds are designed to squash on impact, transferring the maximum energy.
• Aian Precision Rail-Rifle - This type of rifle is also shoulder-mounted. It has very powerful zoom, and accelerates 90g projectiles to twenty kilometres per second (energy of 4.3kg TNT), which can be varied. They have sophisticated targetting computers to compensate for atmospheric conditions.
• Aian Rail-SMG - Designed for close-quarters combat, this weapon can fire 15g projectiles at 8km/s, which then have the energy of 0.115kg of TNT. The velocity is usually limited to a few hundred m/s, however, to prevent structural damage. The smaller bullets mean a clip for this weapon is far bigger. These can be mounted on the telsons or shoulders.
• Aian Anti-Materiel Rail-Gun - This weapon can fire 100g projectiles at 30km/s, so the kinetic energy of these shots is 10.8kg of TNT. These
  

  An Aian Anti-materiel railgun
  guns are not used against infantry (they would be overkill), but against vehicles and ships. These weapons are the largest of the railguns, and have only 10 rounds per clip.
• Aian Rail-LMG - while larger than a Rail-Rifle, the size of an Aian allows them to carry light machine guns with relative ease. These weapons launch 35g projectiles at up to 16km/s (adjustable), fed by a long belt of ammunition contained within a plastic sheath. Such a belt can contain thousands of rounds.
• Aian Rail-HMG - Aians equipped with shoulder-mounted heavy machine guns cannot carry another shoulder weapon, as it requires both to remain stable. This is one of the only two infantry weapons that really limit manoeuvrability and speed (the other being the portable railcannon), being long enough to have its barrel protrude past the trunk and heavy enough to slow down the bearer. However, it makes up with firepower, accelerating 40g projectiles to over 18km/s (adjustable) at an unparalleled rate of fire. It uses an innovative ammunition system in which the bullets are cut from a long, solid feed inside the weapon.
• Aian Rocket Launcher - This rocket launcher fires 500g tracking rockets, containing 0.05g of antimatter when fired. This can be adjusted, and the antimatter is stored in a clip. The rockets are autoloaded by a robotic device, so the 5-rocket launch assembly can be emptied in a second, rockets travelling up to 300m/s.
• Aian Portable Railcannon - even larger than the Rail-HMG, the Portable Railcannon places severe limitations on movement. It requires both shoulder-mounts for stability. The long barrel protrudes past the trunk and the powerpack goes down to the base of the Aian's tail. Very powerful, the weapon fires 350g projectiles at 35km/s, giving them a kinetic energy equivalent of 51.24kg of TNT, and the deformational design of the projectile means that almost all will be transferred to the target, resulting in a powerful explosion and jets of plasma. As such, the bearer must always fire at distant targets, or risk severe damage to themself.

Aian railguns are shoulder-mounted. They can be equipped with autoloaders, which automatically replace spent magazines or plug in new ammunition belts.

Aians have several other infantry weapons:

• The Aian flamethrower is a large weapon attached to a number of fuel pods, each containing around two litres of the fuel. This fuel contains fluoridated aluminium nanoparticles and a gelling agent that lets it stick to targets. Ignited by a thermite charge, the weapon's emissions burn at over 2500 degrees centigrade.
• Shotguns are used by Aian assault troops. They are usually shoulder-mounted, and are equipped with many ammunition types. The standard is a pellet shell, which is fired at 500m/s and explodes using a CHE charge to scatter supersonic shrapnel around the site of detonation. It can have a proximity fuse. Secondary are slug shot, which mass 150g and are fired at 2km/s. Mainly depleted uranium, they have very high penetrative ability, and good accuracy out to around 200m. AP slugs are a variety of this, using a round designed similiar to a SQUASH shell to cut through over a foot of armour steel. Grenade rounds carry high explosive to cause local concussive damage. Incendiary rounds contain an internal fuel mix similiar to that used in their flamethrowers to deal extensive fire damage.
• A number of types of grenade are used by Aians, launched from underslung grenade launchers. They include fragmentation, incendiary, concussion and white phosphorus among other types.
• Proximity mines are also used. These contain white phosphorus and high explosive, and when hostile signatures are detected within 10m, a launching charge will fire. This will cause the main explosive to fly into the air, and it will detonate around a metre above ground level. Here, the concussion, fragmentation, and phosphorus spread will be greatest.

Artillery

Aian artillery weapons.

• Aian Trench Mortar - a device which can be shoulder-mounted. It fires a cluster-shell containing six bombs, each of which has an explosive yield of around 28kg of TNT and launches high-velocity shrapnel (kill radius of 12m) and napalm (dispersion radius of 8m). It has a range of around 3km, though the software could hit an Aian-sized target at double this distance.
• Aian Seeker Mortar - just about shoulder-mountable, this weapon fires a cluster-shell containing five explosive penetrators, each with an explosive yield comparable to 5kg of TNT. They each have high-resolution targetting systems and their targets are selected before firing. The shell itself is fired to a very high altitude and has a range of over 10km.
• Aian Heavy Mortar - too big to be shoulder mounted, this weapon fires a cluster-shell of ten bombs with 60kg yields containing shrapnel (with a kill radius of 20m), incendiaries (with a dispersion radius of 20m), and napalm (with a dispersion radius of 15m). It has a range of around 10km, at which it can hit a tank-sized target.
• Aian Ground Howitzer - this 70kg weapon fires three shells per second with explosive yields of 63kg of TNT, usually with small shot packed around the casing to do extensive shrapnel damage. It can also fire guided anti-armour HEAT rounds. It has a range of 700m, however shells can have added liquid fuel boosters to extend this to over 6km. The fuel will also act as an incendiary if not burnt, and often has gelling agents added.
• Aian Anti-Settlement Howitzer - a 410kg artillery piece with its own engine to assist in moving, the anti-settlement howitzer launches a shell per second, with an explosive yield of over 200kg of TNT. Packed inside the shell case are incendiaries, submunitions, and pressurised fuel gases. The fuel gases flood over the impact area, igniting from the impact and burning out unprotected combatants from the inside out. However, this rarely occurs due to the large kill radius of the weapon.
• Aian AA Artillery - a self-propelled artillery piece that fires tracking rocket shells at high velocity with proximity charges and yields of 300kg of TNT. Shells have a kill radius of over 30m, and when equipped with shatter-cases release tremendous amounts of shrapnel which can increase the kill radius to 45m.
• Aian Heavy AA Artillery - a self-propelled AA system with three missile pods and a twin-linked rapid-fire railgun turret, this device weighs over five tonnes unloaded. The missile pods launch tracking missiles with intelligent detonators at very high velocity, each with a yield of 500kg of TNT and a shell packed with spalling copper, which produces jets of very hot metal which are very effective against armour. The rapid-fire railgun turret provides coverage closer to the ground
• Aian AS Artillery - a very large cannon that uses a rail system to fire multi-stage projectiles at escape velocity. Each masses 5kg at firing and 200g on impact, and is more than capable of penetrating simple repulsor fields and steel hulls.
• Aian Laser Cannon - massing two tonnes and at 5m long, the laser cannon has sophisticated optics, using a 0.7m aperture to fire an NIR laser, with a 100MW power pack. As such, it can drill through over 1.4m of titanium armour per second even at 100km. On the battlefield, ranges are far lower and the weapon is likely to cause an impulse shock, blowing its target apart.
• Aian Earthshaker Artillery - a self-propelled, 20-inch cannon that launches multi-stage shells with a range of 900km. The shells can be either conventional HE, napalm, or nuclear. HE shells have 500kg of TNT yields, and can contain submunitions or grapeshot. Napalm shells clear areas of around 70m in diameter. Pure nuclear shells have yields of around 70kt. Boosted fission shells have yields of around 130kt.

Ship Weapons

• Broadside Mass Drivers- These launch projectiles the size of small cars (800kg) at up to 0.5c. The kinetic energy of such a projectile is around 2.6 gigatonnes. The rate of fire can be up to 10 shots a second, though this causes rapid overheating.
• Stardeath Howitzers - This weapon is a gauss device that uses recently-developed mass induction devices to accelerate a number of ultracompressed impactors to FTL speeds and fire them at the target. Its shots can melt planetary crusts, so its yield is probably in the order of seven exatons, though unconfirmed.

• Stream Cannons - These launch enormous streams of molten iron at relativistic velocities, enabling them to tear other ships apart. A 400kg stream at 85% light speed has 7.7 gigatons of kinetic energy, though this can be regulated.
• Rapid-fire Ship Railguns - These railguns fire 100g projectiles at 0.2c, at a rate of up to a hundred per second.
• Ship Coilgun - Coilguns shorter than 100m are present on some Aian ship classes. These accelerate 40kg payloads to 0.35c.
• Ship Railcannons - Though smaller than full-scale ship mass drivers, railcannons can launch around three 2kg projectiles per second to 0.3c.
• Lasers - Aian lasers have 500-gigawatt power sources and auto-variate frequencies. They utilise long pulses to provide maximum damage to a large area. Such weapons are particularly good at disabling enemy missiles and approaching ships.
• Masers- 600-gigawatt masers are able to vaporise enemy hulls in very short time periods. However, they must be trained on the target for a tactically significant amount of time (usually around 0.1s).
• Particle Beams - Aian ships carry both neutral and charged particle beams, usage depending on whether they are in an atmosphere or a vacuum. These are not as powerful compared to their lasers, but can achieve radiation kills on distant targets against enemies without sophisticated shielding.
• Point Defense - Aian point defense consists of batteries of accurate, high-rate-of-fire flak guns and high-frequency lasers. Every point defense station is independently targetable and has a very wide angle of defense.

• Missiles - Every ship also has tracking antimatter warheads. These can carry 2kg of antimatter, and around 66 megatonnes of energy can be yielded compensating for efficiency. As the missiles each carry ten warheads, which have a shaped charge to minimise spread, these are very lethal.

• Lightflame Bombs - The lightflame bomb is a metal structure containing a massively hot and pressurised ball of solid hydrogen at their core. On detonation, the suspensor units holding this in place are deactivated, and the ball flies apart unleashing up to a gigatonne of TNT equivalent in yield. The explosion can also be shaped for improved armour penetration.

Vehicle Weapons

The Aian Dreadnoughts, Tanks, and Jet Fighters use their own varieties of weapons.

• Rail-HMG - fundamentally identical to the infantry version of the HMG, but with less bracing, this weapon is often cupola-mounted or attached to a heavier weapon co-axially as a backup.
• Rapid-fire Railguns - These are smaller versions of the ship weapons, firing 10g projectiles at 0.05c.
• Vehicle light maser - at vehicle scales, a maser cannot support a large enough power pack to act as an anti-armour weapon. However, it is an excellent anti-personnel weapon, with certain frequencies in particular rapidly rendering unprotected combatants ineffective by causing their bodies to boil via dielectric heating. Standard light masers have an aperture size of 0.1m and a power of 0.2GW, making them capable of vaporising 0.2mm of titanium per second at 100m and killing an unprotected combatant at over 1km.
• Vehicle heavy maser - scaled up from the light maser, the heavy vehicle maser has a 0.5m aperture and 5GW of power. They can strip around 0.6m of titanium per second at 100m, and kill unprotected combatants at over 1000km, though this is usually impossible due to the curvature of planets. However, it makes them useful anti-space weapons.
• Vehicle light laser - actually a near-infrared weapon, the vehicle light laser has an aperture size of 1cm and a power pack supplying 50MW. They can strip 2.08m of titanium per second at 1000m, and 2mm per second at 10km. They can kill armoured troops at around 50km.
• Vehicle heavy laser - using a NIR wavelength, a 5cm aperture, and a 5GW power pack, the vehicle heavy laser is incredibly powerful. It can strip 2.6cm of titanium per second at 100km, and drill through hills to reach targets. In the air, they become visible as they turn any particulates into plasma and cause the combustion of gases.
• Atmospheric Missiles - These missiles carry conventional high explosives, with a yield of up to 150kg of TNT equivalent. They are tracking, and can travel up to 1000m/s.
• Solid Squasher Railcannon -This gun fires a 100g squashable copper-filled projectile, at up to 0.07c. When it hits, molten copper sprays out over the enemy.
• Solid Impactor Railcannon - These railcannons, usually carried by tanks, accelerate 500g rounds containing nanotube-built shards to 0.06c. On impact, the shards fly out, superheated.
• Solid Penetrator Railcannon - carried by sniper tanks, these fire 1kg explosive penetrators with nanotube reinforcement at 0.1c.

Defenses

The Aians have repulsor technology, which forms the basis of their shielding. They are advanced enough to produce repulsor sheets over surfaces as well as repulsor fields, which can be large enough to cover cities or even worlds. Most commonly, they are built into spacecraft.

Aian infantry have multiple layers of protection. Soldiers are usually genetically enhanced with improved scales and hide, but infusions are also standard. These usually involve carbide, metal weave, and tough polymer threads. Even on their own, these can provide protection similiar to an inch of kevlar, and ablate to defend against beam weaponry.. Microplates are also often installed, which are useful against shrapnel and low-velocity projectiles. Tiny shock-absorbers also lessen the effect of concussive or impact-based weaponry. All these together provide some resistance to radiation and chemical agents, which the geneering package and Aian natural resistances add to.

Aian plate armour is worn by heavy infantry. It is built from segments of nanodiamond, offering extreme resistance to projectile weaponry, shock, and radiation. Advanced padding covers its underside, making it comfortable to wear with coolant and shock-absorber systems. This totally encloses the Aian, making them immune to chemical or biological attack, and provides good radiation resistance. It also helps disguise their lifesigns and can mount technology such as a HUD and links to other suits.

In addition, Aian plate armour comes installed with mini-repulsors, which can be installed into the flesh if necessary. These provide very good repulsion close to the Aian, negating the velocity of incoming bullets, shrapnel, and even airblasts. Some suits are equipped with repulsor sheets as well, currently a prototype but soon to be added to all models. These are very effective against particle beams as well as kinetics.

Portable repulsor fields which protect the area around the Aian are also available, with radiuses from three to ten metres of maximum shielding depending on the size. They can be installed in series with others to form a chain of repulsors, generating an impassable wall.

Settlements

Aians usually live on board their ships, but have been known to create enormous Ringworlds around strategic planets. These Ringworlds can be 100,000km in diameter, and hold millions of Aians. Despite this, they are capable both of movement and entering FTL, reaching speeds to rival Aian ships. Their repulsor shields and sheeting are each powerful enough to absorb the explosive force of a Ringworld's detonation only 100m away, rapidly distributing the force and energy over their entire surface and dissipating it.

The Ringworld rotates, producing 'centrifugal gravity' for those onboard. It is usually enormous, tens of thousands of miles across, so the rotation rate can be very slow. This means that rooms are built up from the structure's far edge, with the floor being the most distant surface from the rotational centre. The speed is regulated by a system of minithrusters and mass fields.

Ringworlds can also be weaponised, however. A Ringworld's size means it can hold sufficient power sources to cause similiar devastation to a type 1a supernova. Ringworlds additionally bear mass drivers, very large lasers, masers, particle beams, and more, as well as extremely powerful shields and thick hulls. In addition, vessel construction takes place on board. This process can be entirely automated, and hundreds of ships can be built at once by a single Ringworld. These structures also act as trading posts.

It is believed they have permanent residences on their homeworld, though this is unconfirmed.

Military Doctrine

All Aians that are not scientists, engineers, doctors or teachers will join the military. Even though they have such enormous forces at their disposal (estimates place the number of Aians in the trillions, with billions of ships), Aians are careful with their troops, always trying to minimise losses.

Generals are always well schooled in tactics and past battles (soldiers are too, to an extent). They also exercise extreme caution in battle despite their belief in their own supremacy, always looking to exploit weaknesses. As such, they have two main fighting styles- heavy raids and concentrated attrition.

An analysis of the unarmed Aian in combat, by the CSA

Heavy raids usually involve detachments of frigates dropping from FTL near the target, firing from the first moment they arrive. They will select important targets, destroy them, and disappear. This will continue in a cycle, with a quarter or so of the frigates striking at one time and the rest waiting.

When fighting primitive races' fleets, the Aians can often afford to simply engage in a firefight, steadily getting closer until the foe is wiped out. Rapid FTL movements are sometimes used to disorientate the enemy.

Against advanced civilisations' ships, they will then re-enter FTL before the enemy can turn to face their ships. They harry the confused enemy from right and left, until at last they sweep into the exhausted fleet, firing enormous explosives and their mass drivers. Should enemy defenses prove too effective, they will attempt to wear them down over the course of hours from different locations, never providing a stationary target to aim at.

Against planets, they send in rapid orbital bombardment before sending dropships straight into the enemy line, disgorging jets, dreadnought and heavily armed infantry. If the enemy has significant numbers, they will then fortify their position at the centre of the enemy line. Usually though, the previous bombardment will have weakened the enemy enough to enable rapid sweeps, wiping out the last resistance.

Concentrated attrition in space involves many battleships appearing at once, and firing enormous volumes of fire at a weak point or in the middle of the enemy fleet. Planetside, extremely powerful orbital bombardments are used as a 'rolling barrage' for an armoured spearhead of tanks and dreadnoughts to crash into the enemy lines. The spearheads then force the enemy into pockets, which are bombed and then swept by ground troops.

In urban warfare, fire teams of five to ten are dispatched and clear streets one by one, often with support from drones, light tanks, or dreadnoughts. They will send sniper teams to high locations and set up repulsor fields over captured areas, while using artillery to bombard enemy positions and keep them pinned down. Aircraft using precision lasers and missiles prevent enemies from ever amassing a large force as well as destroying any enemy armoured vehicles.

Small, elite groups of Aians with specialist kit are also sometimes used. Aian patience, agility and durability makes them great for this role. They can infilitrate an enemy base or ship without the foe's knowledge, then spoil food or water supplies or destroy ammunition depots, sabotage factories, etc. This is a dangerous job, so only the stealthiest Aians are chosen, using active camouflage and sophisticated stealth armour to avoid detection.

Ranks

Aians have a ranking system. They have troopers, NCOs, field officers, generals, and marshals. NCOs and officers may be assigned to a particular duty, in which case it will be prefixed to their rank, as in "Artillery-Murun" or "Scout-Oresk".

Trooper ranks, getting higher down the page:

• Yaress (cadet)
• Saless (private)
• Eress
• Muress
• Daress
• Kuhless

NCOs, getting higher down the page:

• Oresk
• Muresk
• Daresk
• Kuhlesk
• Tellesk

Field Officers, getting higher down the page:

• Murun
• Darun
• Kuhlun
• Tellun
• Vannun
• Omun

Generals, getting higher down the page:

• Kuhlar
• Tellar
• Vannar
• Ommar
• Sarrar
• Irrar

Marshals, getting higher down the page:

• Iryon
• Ceron

Troop Types

There are many types of Aian soldier. They include:

An Aian light tank. Note hover ability, rapid fire railguns in hull, and large solid railgun

• Commandos (stealthy, with muffled weapons and subterfuge objectives) - these soldiers use subsonic railguns and padded armour, as well as multi-wavelength absorption armour and active camouflage.

• Riflemen (standard troopers, fire support and line filling) - the most common type of soldier. They have variable weaponry.

• Anti-Tank (countering tanks) - these troopers wield missile launchers and anti-materiel rifles. They also deploy mines and anti-vehicle wires.

• Anti-Spaceship (countering spacecraft) - tracking missile launchers are the favoured weapon of this type of soldier.

• Engineers (building fortification, battlefield repairs) - engineers have extensive fieldkits and have back-mounted robotic arms to assist in construction and interface with technology. Some robotic arms are equipped with additional weapons.

• Reconnaissance (getting information on enemy positions and manoeuvres) - recon soldiers use active camouflage and light weapons.

• Snipers (taking out enemy leaders) - Usually use precision rail-rifles.

• Assault troopers (leading assaults, counter attacks) - Assault troopers have advanced portable repulsors, scythe strengthening, and rail-SMGs.

• Pathfinders (leading the way, clearing mines) - Pathfinders possess light weapons, powerful portable repulsors, leg augmentations for speed, and mine-detection implants.

• Jet troopers (fast attack, rapid fire support) - Jet troopers have back-mounted jetpacks using mass-repulsion and microjets to perform rapid strikes in and out. They carry light weapons.

Chain of Command

The Aians divide their forces up into smaller subunits for ease of deployment, supply, assignment and instruction. There are many levels, usually determined by the number of individuals within the subunit.

These are different for troops and ships.

Infantry chain of command

Smallest unit at top:

• Fire Team - 2-5 troopers. Led by an Oresk or lower.
• Squadron - 4 fire teams (8-20 troopers). Led by a Murun or lower.
• Lokos - 5-8 squadrons (around 100 troopers). Led by a Kuhlun or lower.
• Amnar - 4-6 Lokos (400-600 troopers). Led by a Vannun or lower.
• Army - 9-11 Amnar (5000 troopers). Led by a Kuhlar or lower.
• Legion - 100 armies (500,000 troopers). Led by a Vannar or lower.
• Mannath - 100 Legions (50,000,000 troopers). Led by an Irrar or lower.
• Elkara - 1000 Mannath (50 billion troopers). Led by an Iryon or lower.
• Vasaka - 4 Elkara (200 billion troopers). Led by a Ceron or lower.

It is unknown how many Vasaka are in existence.

Ship chain of command

Smallest unit at the top:

• Escort - 2-8 ships. Usually led by a frigate.
• Pack - 5-20 ships. Usually led by a frigate.
• Flotilla - 10-100 ships. Usually led by a battleship.
• Fleet - 100-2000 ships. Usually led by a battleship.
• Sarith - 1000-10,000 ships. Usually led by a carrier.
• Irinos - 10,000 to 100,000 ships. Usually led by a dreadnought.
• Valron - 100,000 to 1,000,000 ships. Usually led by a dreadnought.
• Eska - Exact size unknown, but over 10 million ships.

It is unknown how many Eska are in existence.

History

The Aians have a long and glorious history, in which they have achieved much and carved out an empire in the cosmos.

They come from the Aisva galaxy, near to Viperius, and all ships currently in Viperius are exploratory.

Origin

The first Aian city is said to have been created in 3.987(.130) AM, and it seems that their society was affected by other races, though were from is unknown. It is possible that this is reflected in some of their mythology.

They reached their interstellar state around 200 years before now, around 3.999(.567) AM. Little is known, as they have never revealed anything else. Several great battles have been mentioned, on an interstellar as well as intraplanetary level, so it is assumed they have had a violent past.

In the Aisva Galaxy

The Aians colonised from the first, rapidly developing Faster-Than-Light technology. They filled their system rapidly, and expanded. They met many races, most of which were destroyed. Some were allowed to live but monitored.

They met the Irihil during this period, and formed an alliance which has remained to this day. The Irihil introduced them to the Coatzl- though there were a few problems during this first contact, the Irihil assisted in sorting these out and the two races did not come to blows.

Entering other galaxies

The Aians left Aisva with the Irihil, seeking out other galaxies, after developing intergalactic-class FTL drives. One task force was led by the marshal Vael Marass d'Hastea, who is the brother of the head of the Arch-Council and assembled a formidable staff of advisors in preparation. Taking a small fleet, he headed to the large galaxy of Viperius.

First contact in Viperius was initiated by the Zyrothans, only seven parsecs from Yeseg. Interactions began cordially, and the Aians' sophisticated translation software was a great boon in communication. After this, they encountered the Salsene Grand Fleet on Aboris. Following their meeting, they agreed to co-operate in exploring the area.

The other two races requested Aian translators for themselves, and following some deliberation on the part of the Aians were granted them. This technology quickly spread through the galaxy via both of these races, reaching even the most distant worlds.

The Aians were informed of the existence of Centro. They sent a small team to build an embassy there, which has a small permanent staff and acts to preserve Aian interests in Viperius. Since then, many more races have encountered them, and they have nearly finished their exploration of this galaxy.

Relations with other known races

Aians like to have alliances in case of trouble and trade routes for resources. However, they believe in self-determination and leaving other races to do their own thing, unless their activities threaten the Aians. They have a non-interference policy, and do not communicate with races that have not mastered interstellar travel.

They have several embassies, including one on Centro.

Irihil

The Aians and Irihil have a strong military alliance. They are on good terms, and assist each other often in exploration and research of their own regions.

They met during the Irihil exploration of the Aian home galaxy.

Coatzl

The relations between the Aians and Coatzl began badly, but thanks to the Irihil intervening, this was circumvented. The two races are on neutral terms.

Slavnye

The Aians encountered the Slavnye many decades ago. They co-exist without making much contact.

War Machine

The Aians have battled this entity at least once. They have declared war against the War Machine.

Sephirah

Though the Aians have no need to hire Sephirah, individuals from the two species get along well.

Salsene

These races have an alliance, though the Salsenes are quite distrusting due to the Aians' capabilities if it came to war.

The Viperius Galaxy, where Aians have met many sapients

They met during the Aian/Salsene/Zyrothan First Contact.

Some Salsene humour is seen as offensive by Aians.

Iridi

The Aians were the first sapients the Iridi encountered. They have an alliance, often helping each other, and trade routes. The Iridi often accompany and assist Aian fleets in their space, and the two races share literature and art.

Zyrothans

The Zyrothans are admiring allies of the Aians, but the Aians have little time for them. They met during the Aian/Salsene/Zyrothan First Contact, where the Aians were intrigued by the Zyrothan rate of advancement (due to Salsene contact). Unlike the Salsenes, the Aians did not condemn the Keel/Zyrothan War, due to their policies.

Daemons

It is known the Aians and Daemons have fought more than once.

Aoarus

The Aians have lost multiple ships to the Aoarus, and as such the two species are at war.

Ka'Shen

Though the Aians and Ka'Shen have come into contact, they are not at war with each other.

Elisri

The Aians and Elisri have fought on four occasions, the Aians winning every time. However, the Elisri have not learnt from their mistakes. Most data on the Elisri comes from these contacts.

Deraia

The Aians and Deraia have met and exchanged data. They have an alliance, with the Aians and Deraia helping each other out as necessary.

Kerarans

The Aians have come into conflict with the Kerarans several times, and they are at war. So far, neither side has made any significant gains on the other (it is possible that the Aians will step up production in Viperius to tip the balance).

Lutrian

The Aians were the first contact for the Lutrians, on one of the Lutrian off-world colonies. They have a military alliance, and help each other as necessary.

Flesh Thief

A group of Flesh Thieves attempted to abduct a group of Aians researching in the Viperius Galaxy for Harvest. They were defeated, and now Aians shoot down Flesh Thief ships and kill Flesh Thieves on sight.

Alxen

The Alxen's first contact was with the Aians. A surveyor group discovered Alxen FTL trails and investigated. The Alxen respect the Aians deeply, but their requests for alliance have been politely refused.

Kree

The Aians and Kree co-exist peacefully. They came to blows once, and the Aians were victorious. However, now they are not at war.

Detroni

Detroni are allergic to Aian cells, but the two races rarely come into contact.

Vrah

Though Aians have no need of Vrah services, they get on well enough and assist each other in war, if there is a benefit to be gained.

Skarg

The Aians have no need of Skarg mercenaries like those in the Iron Skulls, but they get on peacefully enough.

Merranite

The Merranites were exploring the Viperius Galaxy System when they encountered an Aian fleet. The Aians greeted the explorers warmly and assisted them in plotting the sector. As such, they are on good terms.

Eloth

The Aians and Eloth clashed in the Obscura Galaxy. A month-long campaign, in which not a single Aian ship was destroyed, occurred. The Aians destroyed the Eloth military completely and shipped all its colonists back to their homeworld, and broke the Eloth fleet down for scrap.

They now keep a close eye on the Eloth as they rebuild at an alarming pace.

Notable Aians

• Tyrius Levaen d'Hastea, current leader of the Arch-Council
• Vael Marass d'Hastea, the Grand Marshal of affairs in the Viperius Galaxy
• Kesir Havak d'Orome, the Aian Master Engineer in Viperius
• Vros Makai d'Serapis, one of Vael's lieutenants
• Lesus Ksin d'Vrem, an admiral recently moved to the Viperius Galaxy

In Fiction

• Story: The End of the Beginning, where the Aians play a large part.
• Story: Mosaic, where an Aian team is shown attacking an Aoarus capsule and then joining Irihil and CIS agents.
• Story: Titanomachy, where they join an alliance of the most advanced non-malevolent Emenatan races.

Notes

• Would everyone mind not using the Aians before my Plan is finished? If you consult me, I may be able to let you use them, however.
• They're important.

Aians
Species: Aian Technology: Aian Ringworld, Stardeath Howitzer, Stream Cannon, Lightflame Bomb Individuals: Tyrius Levaen d'Hastea, Vael Marass d'Hastea, Kesir Havak d'Orome, Vros Makai d'Serapis, Lesus Ksin d'Vrem Other: Aian Prime Stories: Story: The End of the Beginning