Category:The Merchant Guilds

The Fortress Cities of the Merchant Guilds:

Race Composition: 90% Descended Caucasian, 10% Mongrel (various racial backgrounds).

Terrain: Volcanic Mountains/Pine Forest/Glacial

Language: Vrari (similar to Old Latin)

Capital: Vas Urbs (Translated: Glass City)

Five Surface Cities: Doomis, Kritul, Dryal, Zacoric and Lytran.

Religion: The Cult of the Lord of the Night, Monotheistic in nature, but rumoured to involve blood sacrifices.

Socio-Political Stance: Social Darwinist

Merchant Guilds GDP Allocation:

6% Administration 30% Law and Order 20% Defence 8% Public Transport 12% Education 5% Commerce 11% Health 9% Orphan Programme 1% Other:

Standard Temperature Range:

Winter: Average Temperature around -30 degrees Summer: Average Temperature around 25 degrees

Highest Peak: Mount Shadow (3592 metres above sea level)

Natural Hazards: Avalanches, Occasional Earthquake Tremors, Dormant Volcano’s, Glaciers

Predominant forms of Wildlife: Black Bear, Wolf, Wild Boar, Deer, Owl’s, Red Squirrels, Peregrine Falcons, and Red Foxes.

Land use: Mainly left wild, since non-hunted or reared food is either imported or grown in cultivation vats in the network of tunnels. Parts of Forest used for logging (1 tree per hectare cut down).

Total Area of land covered by The Merchant Guilds: 1,566,500 sq km (604,830 sq mi)

Legal System: Based on Old English legal system, most serious crimes are crimes of Property alongside crimes of Injury.

Transport System: Mainly tunnelled Bullet trains for intercity transport and intra-city transport light railways are used.

National Favourite Sports: Hunting, Gladiatorial Combat (usually criminals and P.O.W’s), High speed tunnel racing

Major Natural Resources: Natural Gas, Crude Oil, (natural) Diamonds, Marble, Iron, Timber, Stone, Silver and Copper.

Principle Industries: Genetic and Medical Research, Biological Warfare, Cloning, Bio-Engineering, Chemical Production

Major Technological Advances: Deep Tunnelling Methods, Standardised Chemical Weaponry, Human Genetic Modification, The Z’ha’dum Virus (Classified, note: rarely mentioned/highly secret and I intend to RP someone finding out about this later)

Please note there are only 5 cities above ground in The Merchant Guilds, the rest are a mile or more beneath the surface in a maze of vaults and tunnels etc. Also, that the Guilds has no major waterway access to it (apart from by rivers), thus it has no fleet and cannot be attacked amphibiously, unless of course your go up the rivers etc and/or land your troops nearby then assault.

Government (tiered)

Supreme Guild Lord: Magnus Stra’coth (also current Shadow Lord , Commander of the ‘Shadow Brigade’ Regiment) elected by High Council of the Guilds, former representative of the Guild of Genetic Research) Acts as titular and in this case actual dictator)

High Council of the Guilds (each Guild represented by its leader in a large almost parliamentary form of Government, takes major decisions of policy and opens them to inter-guild scrutiny).

The Council of Merchants: Lower Guild representatives, who finalise the nuts and bolts of new Governmental law’s and actions, also acts as a parliament on less important issues.

The Guilds: Meritocratic associations, based on single industries. Guilds also act as Governmental institutions e.g. the Guild of Foreign Trade, Guild of Defence etc.

The Claw: Acts as an Umbrella organisation for the various Guild Police Agencies. Including the Inquisition and it’s Inquisitors, but they tend to more directly responsible to the High Council of the Guilds.

The Talon: Umbrella organisation for the various external agencies, working in the Guild’s best interests. Generally operates under the direct control of the Guild of Intelligence.

Military Capabilities

Combined HQ of the Guilder Forces: Guild of Defence HQ Facility. Codename: Crucible

Guild of Defence Guild Lord: Dractus Fir’toch Chief of Operations: Criticus Zabic Chief of Staff: Lina Dragonis

Guild Military Uniform (Dress): Black with Runic Decals and name of Regiment on cuff (depend on Regiment type)

Guild Uniform (Field): ‘Oak’, ‘Pine’ or ‘Arctic’ Camouflage, with re-enforced steel, camouflage-cloth covered helmets.

Military Ranks:

War Commodore (Field Marshall) Warlord (General) Strike Commander (Colonel) Strike Leader (Captain) Section Commander (Lieutenant) Sergeant Corporal Ranker

Military Awards (in order of importance):

Wolves Head (not literally) Shadow Badge Hunter Cross (1st-2nd classes) Alpine Cross (1st-2nd classes) Assault Badge (1st-3rd classes) Ribbon of Valour Bleeding Heart (Wound Award)

Claw Ranks:

Master of the Claw Claw master (one leads every Claw regiment) Senior Claw Claw Initiate

Talon Ranks:

The Talon Mighty Talon Talon Master Talon Initiate

Inquisition:

Inquisitor-General: Alucard Dracul (Codename: Wolf) Master Inquisitors: Walter Dalmace (Codename: Angel of Death), D’ivers Pust (Codename: The Soul taken) Inquisitors: Ceras Victoria (Codename: White Rose of Hell), Steinar Kvale (Codename: Rune Soldier), Kirika Yumura (Codename: Noir), Aya Ueto (Codename: Azumi), Selene Cornica (Codename: Lycan), Mireille Bouquet (Codename: Major), Alexander Tricona (Codename: Paladin).

Logistical Support: Provided by Guild Air force drops supplies at designated supply dumps, logistical regiments distribute supplies by ‘Moranth’ half-track.

Guild Military Administration: approx. 50,000 persons

Guild Medical Corps: approx 150,000 persons

Note: Guild Medical staff carry out mercy killings upon Guild military personnel, who are too far gone to help.

Guild Military Religious Corps: approx. 5,000 persons of all faiths of the Guilds.

Current Army Strength: Approx 5.1 million (men and women)

Split into 100 Legions of 50,000 troops, which act as independent units (similar to the Divisional Methods/Napoleon’s Corps method), given general direction by HQ but left to fight campaign as the Warlord see’s fit. Split further into 10 Regiments of 5,000 troops each.

Standard Composition: 2 Artillery, 1 Armour (200 ‘Dark Star’, 50 ‘Bright Star’, 30 ‘Starstreak’, 250 ‘Sabre’ with appropriate sections of infantry), 1 Engineers, 1 Logistics, 3 Infantry, 1 Claw (MP and act as Urban warfare specialist infantry) Regiments.

Note: Guild troops specialise in Mountain Warfare and are equipped relatively lightly comparative to most forces, the Armour is an recent addition to the legions, thus has caused a shift in emphasis in tactics, so at the moment Guild armour is not wonderfully effective but technologically astute (think Russian T-34 units in early Barbarossa, well equipped but not very advanced tactically nor experienced).

Independent Specialist Regiments:

'Shadow Brigade’ Regiment: Special Forces ‘Evil Eye’ Regiment: Sniper Regiment ‘Airborne Doom’ Regiment: Para’s ‘Contagion’ Regiment: Para’s ‘Drawn Sabre’ Regiment: Airfield Protection ‘Midnight’ Regiment: Airfield Protection ‘Mott Irregular’s’ Regiment: Logistics Raiders (Variable Strength although officially 5000) ‘Crimson Guard’ Regiment: Logistics Raiders (Variable Strength although officially 5000) ‘Black Guard’ Regiment: Logistics Raiders (Variable Strength although officially 5000) ‘White Faces’ Regiment: Logistics Raiders (Variable Strength although officially 5000)

Logistics Raider Regiment Info:

A unique type of military unit, the logistics raider is the Guilds answer to the lack of huge supply shipments allowed by naval forces, these forces raid enemies supply lines, communication routes etc. They take what they need to survive and whatever they can get back to Guild forces to provide them with additonal logistical support. Mostly hard-bitten veterans with attitude problems, these units operate in groups of 20-50 troops hardly ever operating as a Regiment in operations but more as hellraisers behind the enemy lines. As such their equipment is highly variable since they fight with whatever weapons they prefer, although they are nearly always motorised, their is no set vehicles for them and it is very situation depensive as to what unit has what.

Penal Legions:

In trial period currently.

4 Legions active (50,000 troops apiece).

Structure of Penal Legions:

7 Penal Trooper Regiment (Infantry) 2 Claw Regiments (Military Police) 1 Logistics Regiment

Armaments: AK 47, Kinetic Anti-personel grenades, shaped charge explosives every 20th man carries a Soviet-era RPG launcher.

Air force:

Strength: Approx. 2 million men

Air Lord: Draatk Hurticoh

Organised into Air Legions of 500 Aircraft: Split down into Squadrons of 100 then Wings of 10 Aircraft.

8000 JS-21 (VTOL) Fighter Aircraft (slightly Advanced form of the Harrier)

Engines: One GoE ‘Drakh’ vectored thrust turbofan Length: 46ft 4in (14.12m) Wingspan: 30ft 4in (9.24m) Top Speed: 661mph (1,065km/h) Accommodation: Crew of 1 or 2 Armament: 4 AIM-9L Sidewinders ‘Star Rattle’ Heavy Machine Gun 4 ASRAAM 2 GPCB (General Purpose Chemical Bombs)

2800 JS-27 (VTOL) Ground Attack/Tank Buster Aircraft (slightly advanced form of harrier geared to Ground Support/Tank Busting)

Engines: One GoE ‘Drakh’ vectored thrust turbofan Length: 46ft 4in (14.12m) Wingspan: 30ft 4in (9.24m) Top Speed: 661mph (1,065km/h) Accommodation: Crew of 1 or 2 Armament: 16 GPCB (General Purpose Chemical Bombs) 2 ‘Furies’ Laser Guided Bombs 2 AIM-9L Sidewinders ‘Star Rattle’ Heavy Machine Gun 2 ‘Brimstone’ Anti-armour Missiles

200 XT-92 ‘Death Cloud’ Heavy Bombers:

Power plant: GoE ‘Dreadnought’ TF33-P-3/103 turbofan Length: 159 feet, 4 inches (48.5 meters) Wingspan: 185 feet (56.4 meters Speed: 650 miles per hour (Mach 0.86) Ceiling: 50,000 feet (15,151.5 meters Range: Unrefueled 8,800 miles (7,652 nautical miles) Armament: Approximately 70,000 pounds (31,500 kilograms) mixed ordnance -- bombs, mines and missiles Crew: Five (aircraft commander, pilot, radar navigator, navigator and electronic warfare officer

3000 XT-91 ‘Doombringer’ Heavy Transport:

Power plant: GoE ‘Dreadnought’ TF33-P-3/103 turbofan Length: 159 feet, 4 inches (48.5 meters) Wingspan: 185 feet (56.4 meters Speed: 650 miles per hour (Mach 0.86) Ceiling: 50,000 feet (15,151.5 meters Range: Unrefueled 8,800 miles (7,652 nautical miles) Crew: Five (aircraft commander, pilot, radar navigator, navigator and electronic warfare officer)

Capable of carrying: 150 troops or equivalent weight in vehicles/artillery/tanks.

900 GUP-12 ‘Doomsday’ Helicopter:

Crew: 2(3 with door gunner) + 10 troops Length (Fuselage) 12.06m; Height 3.4m; Engines 2 x 850 shp GoE ‘Starwind’ 41 Max Speed 330 kph; Cruising Speed 232 kph; Range 885km; Combat radius approx 100kms with 2 hour loiter Weight (max take off) 4.763 kg; Armament (if fitted) 8 x ‘Death’s Head’ Anti-armour Missiles, 2-4 7.62mm ‘Star Rattle’ machine guns

1100 GUP-3 ‘Swirl’ Transport Helicopter:

Engines: Two GoE ‘Whirlwind’ turbo shafts Length: 51ft 0in (15.54m) Rotor Diameter: 60ft 0in (18.29m) Top Speed: 185mph (298 km/h) Accommodation: Crew of two to four plus up to 54 troops or 28,000lb payload

20 ‘Buzzard’ Aerial Rader/Observation Platforms:

Engines: Four Rolls-Royce Spey turbofans Length: 126ft 9in (38.63m) Wingspan: 114ft 10in (35.00m) Top Speed: 575mph (926km/h) Accommodation: Crew of 13.

Strategic Weapons:

50 ‘Battle Star’ ICBM’s 600 ‘Talon’ MRM’s 1200 ‘Moon’ SRM’s 200 ‘Venus’ Anti-satellite missiles

Chemical Weapons stocks:

200 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade Bubonic Plague 250 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade Mustard Gas 250 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade Chlorine Gas 100 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade Spanish Flu 200 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade Anthrax 120 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade 'Succubus' Hormone (causes mass sexual stimulation leading to inability to fight and lack of ability to respond from the targets) 50 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade VX Gas 75 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade Sarin Gas 5 Cubic Tonnes of Weapons grade Z’ha’dum Virus (Although you will not know of this weapon’s existence yet, I thought it prudent to say it does exist now so people do not accuse me of Godmoding), effects similar to VX but very advanced structure means it is very hard to re-engineer back, this is the current pinacle of Guild Biological Warfare Development)

Guild Regimental Equipment:

TIK-92 Chemical Assault Rifle (similar to the SA 80 A2), highly accurate but not very fast firing. Uses new chemical compounds to increase the velocity of the shot.

Calibre 5.56 mm Weight 4.98 kg (with loaded magazine and optical sight) Length 785 mm Barrel Length 518 mm Muzzle Velocity 940 m/s Feed 30 round magazine Effective Range 400 m Cyclic Rate of Fire 357-464 rounds per minute

TIK-38 ‘P Series’ Chemical Pistol, again similar to the Beretta 92 but with increased velocity of shot.

Re-enforced Steel Combat Knife ‘Guild’ pattern.

‘Deaths Head’ Pattern AT Missile Launcher:

Effective Range: up to 500m; Impact Sensor: scrub and foliage proof; Launcher length: (firing mode) 1.5m; Launcher Length: (carrying mode) 1m; Carrying Weight: 10kg; Projectile Diameter: 94mm; Temp Range: -46 to + 65 C; Rear Danger Area: 20m

‘Star Rattle’ Heavy Chemically Boosted Machine Gun (usually used in fixed emplacements can be mounted on vehicles etc):

Calibre: 12.7mm Weight: 38.15kg (gun only) Length: 1,656mm Barrel Length: 1,143 Muzzle Velocity: 959 m/s Feed: 50 round disintegrating belt Effective range: 2000m Cyclic rate of fire: 485 - 635 rounds per minute

Light Chemically Boosted Machine gun:

Calibre 5.56mm Weight 7.1kg Length 914mm Feed 100-round disintegrating belt Effective range 800m cyclic rate of fire 700 to 1000 rounds per minute

Chemical Mortar:

Calibre 81mm Weight 37.94k Barrel length 1280mm Muzzle Velocity 225m/s Max Range HE 5,650m Rate of Fire 15 rounds per minute

Fires chemical burst shells, which airburst a wide range of chemicals over the target area as well as usual kinetic and smoke shells.

‘Grim Reaper’ Chemically Boosted Sniper Rifle:

Calibre: 8.59mm Weight: 6.8kg Length: 1300mm Muzzle velocity: 996m/s Feed: 5-round box Effective range: 1100m plus

Light Chemically Boosted Artillery:

Crew 6. Length Gun Forward 8.8 m. Height 2.13 m. Width 1.78 m. Combat Weight 1,858 kg. Ammunition HE, Smoke, Illuminating, Target Marketing. Chemical Maximum Range (HE) 17.2 km.

‘Sol’ HVM Anti-Aircraft System:

Missile Length 1.369 m. Missile Diameter 0.27 m. Missile Speed Mach 3+. Maximum Range 5 km. Minimum Range 300 m.

‘Dark Star’ Main Battle Tank:

Crew 4 Length Gun Forward 11.55m; Hull Length 8.3m; Height to Turret Roof 2.49m; Width 3.5m; Ground Clearance 0.5m; Combat Weight 62,500 kgs; Main Armament 1 x 120mm L30 CHARM Gun Ammunition Carried Typically 50 rounds - APFSDS, HESH, Smoke; Secondary Armament Co-axial 7.62mm ‘Star Rattle’ chain gun; 7.62mm ‘Star Rattle’ CBGPMG Turret Mounted for Air Defence; Ammunition Carried 4000 rounds 7.62mm; Engine 1200bhp GoE ‘Dryal’ CV12; Maximum Road Speed 59km/h; Average Cross Country Speed 40km/h.

‘Sabre’ APC:

Crew 2 + 10 troops. Hull Length 5.16 m. Height 2.63 m. Width 2.48 m. Ground Clearance (axles) 0.33 m. Combat Weight 10,670 kg. Main Armament 1 x 7.62 mm ‘Star Rattle’ CBGPMG. Engine 164 bhp GoE ‘Dryac’ 6-cylinder diesel Maximum Speed 96 kph. Maximum Range 510 km. Armour Proof against 7.62 mm rounds at point-blank range

‘Bright Star’ Recon Vehicle:

Crew 3. Length 4.79 m. Height 2.17 m. Width 2.24 m. Ground Clearance 0.35 m. Combat Weight 8,130 kg. Main Armament 1 x 30 mm L21 Rarden cannon. Secondary Armament Co-axial 7.62mm ‘Star Rattle’ chain gun, Smoke Grenade dischargers Ammunition carried 160x30mm rounds- Armour-piercing Enhanced Penetration (APEP) and High Explosive (HE) 3000x7.62mm rounds Engine GoE ‘Dryac’ diesel engine developing 190hp. Maximum Speed 80kph.

‘Starstreak’ Mobile Artillery:

Crew 5 Length 9.07m Height to turret roof 2.49m Width 3.5m Ground clearance 0.41m Main armament 1 x L31 39-calibre ordnance Ammunition carried 48 x 155mm rounds Secondary armament 1 x 7.62 ‘Star Rattle’ CBGPMG on turret for air defence. Engine GoE ‘Dryal’ turbocharged V8 660bhp diesel