Nolak

The Nolak Terrorist group is a multi-regional Terrorist group. Currently, it is employed in many Aberdeen RPs as an opponent to the region. This page is dedicated to their existance.

Important Note about these People

OOC: In today's day and age, our concept of Terrorism has taken on quite a different meaning. When someone says terrorist, most people (at least of those reading this) would instantly think of some mid-eastern group or another - even though many other cultures have terrorists in their own right (IRA, Oklahoma City, etc). The thing is that to think of them as such would almost be a crime to what they really are. Yes they are religious fundamentalists - but their religion doesn't have open interpretation to mean anything but violence. There is no such thing as a moderate follower of the Nolak faith. If you look through the histories of many, you'll see that women seem to be raped a lot - but that's because so few women are willing to rape men in that society, not because a woman is considered second class. In the society, a person who wants to have sex has right over the person who doesn't want to have sex in the vast majority of cases. The vast majority of the Servants of Nolak are men, but that's because even in real life, the vast majority of soldiers in modern military is still men. The Night Sisters and Tristan Angel were revered members of the Nolak Clans (admittedly, feared because of the historical fluctuations, but they still garnered a lot of respect and the society was willing to accept them as another person fighting alongside them.) I felt that this is an important aspect of their society that just had to be emphasized.

History

Formation

Little is known about who the person Nolak was. He never indicated a last name, a history, a family, or anything else for that matter. What is known is that he was a prophet who first appeared in historical some 2700 years ago (0th Nolak Year). He preached about a new order and a new way of life, one born from blood but would award its followers with power beyond their wildest dreams. His preachings attracted many to follow him, and they became the first Servants of Nolak. The Nolak Clan had been formed. Scholars studying both historical documents and the Nolak Testimates (the primary text of the Nolak beliefs) are uncertain whether Nolak actually had a concept of a future society or not. Unfortunately, none of his speeches were ever recorded in historical logs. Some suggest that he merely wanted power. Whether he did or didn't at the time, there is evidence that he did not hold those wishes later in life.

Alas, he got power - a lot of power. Historical documents show that the Nolak Clan became the largest terrorist faction in the world within 12 years of formation. Even when you look at the various terrorist alliances that existed, he had command of the third (by some accounts, including the Nolak Testimates, it was the second) largest terrorist alliance - yet the Nolak clan was allied with no one. He fought both terrorist factions that he considered unworthy and nations. No nation was considered an ally - even the conquered ones.

However, Nolak soon feared an uprising within his ranks. He alone held all the power, and recognizing the frustration of many due to this, he divided the Nolak Clan into 10 roughly equal groups. There was no Nolak Clan, just the 10 Great Clans of Nolak. Like the Nolak Clan before, the first leaders of each clan also became the namesake of the clan they lead. They were Runark, Misnew, LockNall, Baghrak, Truestek, Fallmak, LockHart, Treschev, LamBinjo, and Holnark. The 10 leaders together with Nolak formed the Nolak Council. According to the Nolak Testimates, Nolak cut off his fingers and gave each to a different leader. By accepting, the clan leader was pledging his life and loyalty to Nolak. By giving the fingers, Nolak was "handing over" the command of the Nolak Clans to his followers.

The fingers have greater meaning to them, and brought forth a tradition that is continued even today in all Nolak clans. More information can be found below.

The Nolak Council allowed for the Nolak Clans to swell even further. Each of the Nolak Clans was soon in the top 20 most powerful terrorist factions in the world. The Nolak Clans as a whole became the largest Terrorist Alliance to have ever existed. To address possible uprisings, commanders that had proven themselves both in being able to rally troops and lead them on were given permission to form new clans, breaking off from the Great 10 Nolak Clans while still being in service of the Nolak Council. They were not given a seat on the Nolak council, but they were often given much more freedom in how they could conduct themselves. Some found themselves completely destroyed. Others became powerful terrorist factions that could rival the 10 Great Clans. By the first peak of the Nolak Clans was reached in 122NY, there were over 200 different factions.

While history is fuzzy, the Nolak Testimates seem to suggest that by 122NY, the Nolak Council still held the same cast as it had in 12NY when it was first formed. As a result, it is believed that Nolak and his 10 fellow Council members were Gods. There are many interpretations of this, but the end result was that the time period from 110 NY to 123NY, the way of Nolak moved from being just another terrorist faction to a religion in its own right. This is also the period where we see the first writings of the Nolak Testimates which the Nolak council had been generous enough to fill in the first 50 years with tales so that it was a complete story (enough people were alive at the time to give many tales from after 50NY).

The extended joint rule, however, had the more dangerous side effect of growing hostilities, which lead to the Great Servant War.

The Great Servant War

No records were ever made of what was said by whom amongst the Nolak Council. However, the remnants of the Nolak Council after the battle recorded a summary of the events in the Nolak Testimate. Quite simply, after 100 years of joint rule, they were all sick of one another. Nolak alone seemed to be friendly and cooperative with all of them, and to Nolak alone did they all have any feelings of alliegiance and friendship with. In 122NY, Nolak himself stopped trying to keep the peace. He whispered the secrets he knew, the confidences he had kept over the 100 years to the other members. He spread rumors - both true and false - amongst the many. For nearly a year, he did everything to incite a feud between the Great 10 Clans.

In 123NY, LockNall attacked Baghrak after leaving the council, and Baghrak informed LockNall, "Your faction will be crushed under the foot of mine. Prepare yourself for war." He then struck LockNall, knocking the fellow leader out. Baghrak then too the helm of his forces and began assaulting LockNall's bases. Other factions came to the aid of the two sides.

As more and more of the Great 10 Clans went into battle, Nolak ceased trying to claim they were united. He suspended to Nolak Council, to be reformed the day that his fellow council members could no longer shed each other's blood. He then ordered all the smaller factions to not get involved in the war and to continue to expand. Not all listened and the war between 10 factions became 50. Alliances were made and broken, only to be reformed again. Clans that were loyal to one faction soon found themselves being stabbed in the back. Most of them were destroyed. All of them lost their founding leader. Yet the Gods of Nolak seemed invulnerable, locked in this eternal squabble yet unable to kill one another. Some wondered whether the Nolak clans would keep fighting until those 10 kept striking at one another time and time again, but unable to kill each other.

All of these beliefs were shattered when Misnew died in 137NY. He died to a General under the service of LockNall - who, it happened, was dueling Treschev at the time (both escaped that battle relatively unscarred). True followers of Nolak have been baffled by this for millenia - how could a God die? Some wonder whether Nolak may have withdrawn the invulnerability that seemed to have been given to his greatest of followers. Regardless, Misnew died and his clan joined the ranks of the many smaller clans that had already withdrawn (by 128NY, none but the Great 10 Clans were still participating in the war), waiting for the end of the war. Before the same year was out, Holnark likewise fell - this time to an arrow that had found his eye. For many, it was seen as a confirmation that the end was approaching.

138NY, openned up with the largest and bloodiest battle the war had seen - an impressive feat for the badly beaten factions. The Battle of Rushland Mountain had all 8 factions divided up into 3 alliances: LockNall and Truestek (who had been duelling just under a year earlier) took the northern side of the mountain, Baghrak, LamBinjo, and Fallmark held the south-western corner, and LockHart, Truestek and Runark held the south-east. Within the first two days, 3 more had died - Baghrak, LockHart and Truestek. After a week, LockNall found himself so overwhelmed due to the loss of his one ally that he found himself sitting between LamBinjo and Truestek - effectively surrounding him. He perished within a day.

As the last 4 leaders charged one another in an all-out push, Nolak appeared in the midst of the chaos, only to be struck down by a grunt as he swept by his Lord. The soldiers didn't understand what had just happened. They didn't have a complete sense of what had changed, but they understood something had. The 4 survivors of the Nolak Council did understand. They halted battle and met under peaceful terms where Nolak had fallen. Here, they pledged to end their fighting, to rebuild the Nolak Clans and her council and return her to her former glory. By the end of 238NY, the Nolak council was once again home to the new leaders of the 10 Great Clans (none had been annihilated) and she was once again growing. The 4 leaders also had their chance to write the prelude to the war into the Testimate of Nolak. However, the year ended with their deaths - legend claims they died at the exact same time in 4 different locations. The First Era of Nolak was over.

Transcending the years

Over the course of the 26 centuries that seperate the start of the Second Age and the present day (Seventh Age), many rounds of infighting, plagues, and various other problems have brought us through many ages (Second: 139NY to 1072NY, Third 1073NY to 1354NY, Fourth 1355NY to 1520NY, Fifth 1521NY to 2573NY, Sixth: 2574NY to 2683NY, Seventh 2683 to Present) and into the realm of today. Each age is ended by the conclusion of a major war - one that involved all of the Great 10 Clans of Nolak to address. Longer droughts that lack such wars occur when enemy nations are weak or when massive plagues paralyze the forces. The shortness of the 6th age meant that Nolak couldn't rebuild adaquetely before it was plunged, yet again, into a major war. As a result, the start of the Seventh Age was its lowest point since the start of the Second age, with just under 200 different Clans and having actually disappeared from the top 100 Terrorist alliances (something it hasn't had since its first year when they weren't qualified for the list as they didn't exist when it was compiled). It is a testimate to how much the realm of terrorism has grown in size due to the increasing population of the planet. As we look closer to today, they are once again climbing the ranks with nearly a dozen regions under their control, and many more being attacked (most recently, they have begun moving into Aberdeen).

Society

Religious Ideologies

Principles

Over the millenia, the preference towards people who were born into the religion rather than those that were converted has become a rather central role in the society - allowing for some to be absolutely shunned or passed over for promotions because of such. Those that are not born into the religion are known as the "unclean", perhaps refering to some desire to purge these people from the world. Regardless, they see them as inferior, and the only way one can lose the status of being unclean is generally in combat - either through self-sacrifice (unclean that die in servitude of Nolak are generally given the same rituals as a "true follower" whereas the unclean who die peacefully or are assassinated are often buried like one might bury an animal) or excellence in combat (which indicates they are touched by Nolak himself and therefore must be a true follower). Those that deviate from the treatment of the unclean - especially those that are accepting of the unclean as being friends (civility to an unclean is acceptable) can effectively make you barely more than an unclean yourself.

This belief started at the end of the Fifth age when it was felt that the cause of a war between the Great 10 Clans (the worst war Nolak had ever known) was started by outsiders trying to take control of the Great 10 Clans. As such, outsiders were not to be trusted. In the Testimate of Nolak, it is written that "The unclean corrupt even those that follow the Ring" (by Nolak's hand, the Ring finger represented corruption strategy - visited below). It is unknown how much of this is fact, but it is known that people that weren't born a Servant of Nolak were in command of 4 of the Great 10 Clans.

Children of Servants are obviously born as Servants to Nolak. It should also be noted that nations that the Nolak clans control (especially those under the guide of LamBinjo, the left Ring finger) generally banish placing a new child under any religion and often will have a Nolak priest sitting in the maternity ward, declaring children to ever be bounded a Servant of Nolak. These children are considered to be True Followers and their parents are often brutally killed if they ever attempt to stop the child being taught the ways of Nolak. Through their absolute control of the children of these nations, they maintain their control. Indeed, some nations that they had to abandon in the past still have citizens who - privately or publicly - serve Nolak and either wait for a chance to join the ranks of the Nolak clans or carry out the standing orders of Nolak: cleanse the world, purify it from the unclean, and bring forth a new age where the true followers have unrivalled power.

Biological and chemical weapons - especially ones that have a time limit or disperse fairly quickly into the air - they are willing to use, but ones with longer lasting effects they are much less interested in. Nuclear and radioactive bombs are considered an abhorent tool to use and often those that try to employ them will be defiled and considered an unclean - and executed as any unclean who has worked against the principles of Nolak should be. Bombing from afar is seen as abhorent and a dreadful sin. If every single wall were transparent and you can't see the person or persons that you are about to kill, it's considered a dishonorable kill.

Torture they employ to create new followers, rarely for information. Sometimes they use it to create weapons out of their captives. With women, the choice is normally rape where with men, it often involves attacking their most sensitive area. Other forms do exist and they often are done in a systematic fashion to provide the perfect weapon. Tristan Angel is one of many who are the products of these methods - though she is a more developed and finely tuned weapon than many (there are some who are basically just hostages who were released and are practically timebombs waiting to go off and destroy everyone they can). Mayhem, destruction, chaos, death - it's all combined.

Nolak's Hand

When Nolak formed the Great 10 Clans of Nolak, it is said he cut off each of his fingers and gave them to those who would now lead his clans. The giving of the fingers represents the handing of duty to those 10. However, the Testimate of Nolak shows that the fingers represent more than just duty, but methodology. Each finger represents that Clan's task or place within the organization - specifically, how and where it would strike. The left hand is the "Rear Guard" or, more accurately, for the nations and regions where the Nolak are well organized. The Right hand is for expansion - fighting in newly conquered regions or going into territory never before tried. The fingers also have their own representation of preferred tactic: the thumb representing direct assaults (roaming around gunning people down in the streets, or openly attacking military installations or armies in normal combat), the index finger choosing Guerilla warfare tactics (bombings, attacking supply lines, going after transport methods, weakening the resolve on the enemy while minimizing losses), the middle finger represents destabilization (assassinations, fear mongering, kidnappings, and defamation of leaders), the ring finger represents corruption (bribery, politics and the occasional threat of death), and the pinky was for suicidal methods (suicide bombings, lone gun assassinations, many other operations where the person will not be able to perform another operation). Most clans that are created will devote themselves to one or two of the Great 10, but they have the freedom to switch and some don't devote themselves to any.

The Great 10 Clans are laid out on the hands as follows

Right Left
LockNall Truestek Thumb
Baghrak Fallmak Index
Runark Treschev Middle
Holnark LamBinjo Ring
Misnew Lockhart Pinky

(I'll fix it later)

Societal Structure

The Nolak society is rather astonishing insofar as it actually works and its basically remain a stable society for 2700 years. You blow it up and make it the one society on the planet, it would probably collapse in a hail of glory, but so long as there are more threats than friends, it is a stable society.

Nolak is the beginning and end of the Terrorist network. It isn't even allied with other terrorist networks and lately has found itself at war with terrorist groups nearly as often as its at war with nations or societies. As such, the top level of the society is the Nolak Council, governed by the Great 10 Clans of Nolak - or at the very least, their leaders. Each of the Great Clans is hundreds of thousands of people if not millions - and that's just the terrorist network component. When you consider their families, their civilians that are raising money for the entire army (some years as much 10 Billion UNAD), the Hundreds of million that are in the nations they control and the national armies that are not counted in their tallies, they are one of the best funded terrorist networks on the planet and the funding is considered to be sustainable. It would take some vast multi-regional alliances to be able to deseat the Nolak forces from this position of stability.

The military structure has multiple branches, with the so-called "Primary branch" being the central branch of each clan. The Primary branch goes by a different name in each clan since their use of the primary branch is so much dependant upon the finger they were given. This branch carries out the primary purpose of that Clan. The structure of it is fairly similar to that of a normal military with varying ranks and such in different factions. This branch also exists in every minor Clan - a fact that is not necessarily true of any other branch.

The other branches that exist in every one of the Great 10 Clans are the Political branch (which is devoted to analyzing politics that has come under the focus of that clan), the Research branch (which both develop new weapons and hold the scientists who can create weapons both on and off the field), Religion branch (which hold all the Priests - Clans which don't have a Religion branch must have a Priest from a different clan serve as advisor), and Intelligence branch (espionage, pre-scouting regions for potential new targets, etc). With exception to the religion branch, they always differentiate from clan to clan.

The religion branches are, to some degree, all the same. They follow the same Testimate of Nolak, they follow the same beliefs, they minimize as much as possible the derivation from the texts, they expand the texts as a group (so all texts have all additions from all Religion branches) and have the same Heirarchy. However, they serve at the whim of the Clan they're working for. This proves important as they must know the relevant passages to the Testimate of Nolak for the specific clan's preferred purpose.

Clans of Importance

The Great 10 Clans of Nolak

Misnew

The Offensive Suiciders. Misnew chooses tactics that either involve suicidal distraction of chaotic self-sacrifice (such as suicide bombings in the latter case). Its current leadership makes it one of the most efficient of the Great 10 Clans, and it is also by far the most aggressive clan (and, with very few exceptions, has always held that title). Occasionally, it will jump the gun on the Nolak council to make a decision and attack outright, making the decision for the Nolak Council. This is what happened with the strike on the Kane Clan in 2712NY.

It's currently lead by Devin Narek

Minor Clans

Kane Clan

Kane, a Servant of Fallmak, was a rising star in the ranks of Nolak as the Seventh Age started. He had a firm understanding of many fields that made him seem like the prime candidate for his own Clan. His rise to such a status was stalled when he married the impure woman, Tristan. However, this blemish on his record was wiped clean when he turned her into a Class 5 Assassin. With not only a family of True Followers, but the creation of such a terror under his belt, it was unquestioned that he should be given his own clan.

Thus the Kane Clan was born. It was not a notable clan by any means - sticking out only because Kane was a competent commander and Tristan was an excellent soldier - but a soldier and a commander do not, in themselves, make an army. However, when Tristan formed the Night Sisters, they put the Kane Clan on a whole new level. The Night Sisters quickly became the most feared elite soldiers alive, rivalling Tristan at ability. The incited fear in their opponents and quickly turned the tide of any battle. The purpose of the Kane clan moved from the index to the thumb as its forces became an important support unit for any major assault (though it still kept elements of the index finger in many of its strategies). By 2710, the Kane Clan was considered to be a rival to any of the Great 10 Clans of Nolak.

However, this was not all good. Mutterings started appearing amongst the clans and in 2712NY, Devin Narek of Misnew brought forth information in an attempt to have the Kane Clan destroyed. He used as his main arguing point a staggering statistic: for every Night Sister that was trained, a fellow clan would have to train 200 troops to rival it. If a Night Sister and 10 soldiers were trained, this statistic went even higher - reaching an estimated 1000 troops to match. In Narek's view, the Kane Clan was the greatest threat to the Nolak Clans. After three days, with the Nolak clans still divided and far away from reaching a consensus, Narek took things into his own hands. He attacked Kane's main base. It is important to realize that Misnew is the Right pinky - the offensive suiciders. Had a strategist spent a bit longer thinking about it, the final result of the battle would've seemed obvious.

The attack was nothing more than a decoy. A missile strike hit the complex while everyone was paying attention to the battle. The Angel family had escaped (they were urged to flee by the Night Sisters), but the Night Sisters around the complex were all killed and the Angel family was seperated. Tristan, knowing who the attackers served, looked for alternate shelter - with her brother in Forgottenlands. Kane, however, didn't know who had attacked. He returned to the nearest Nolak base - and even there, no one knew who had conducted the raid. Nearly all that had attacked died in battle (only 20 survived), and the rest had been silenced. The same was true of those who launched the missile. The Night Sisters, found neither of their masters and became nomadic - eventually locating Tristan and rejoining her.

Without all of his elite troops - his wife and the Night Sisters - Kane was forced to choose a different route. He moved to an index-pinky hybrid and invested into a research branch. The Kane clan had ceased to become the biggest name of the minor clans, but it still remained an important figure. He rebuilt his clan and had developed several new weapons and techniques.

In 2717NY, he was ordered to set up in Aberdeen by the Nolak Council and prepare several major strikes on various cities on the new grounds to attack and announce their presence. In the early days of 2718NY, his plans were set into motion with a strike on Dancing BananLand. The strike triggered off alarms around the region - and the region's Prime Minister - none other than Kane's Brother-in-law, was given a reason to personally follow the issue. Tristan, who had taken the position of Prime Minister of one of the region's nations, also took interest, and eventually led a team of Night Sisters into Kane's base, capturing him and practically destroying all of his equipment. In a matter of hours, a genius attack had turned into the annihilation of the Kane clans. Kane was convinced by Forgottenlord to join Aberdeen and fight Nolak. However, his plans were already in motion. Death was coming to Aberdeen.

Technology and Termonology

Class 5 Assassin

Class 5 Assassins are amongst the most horrid demons that roam the planet. The fact that they are human beings (at least, physically) makes them even more spooky. They fight with imputity, know not what the innocent are, make no distinction between civilians and targets, and never feel even a tweak of remorse. They are bound to their creator (the one that turned them into a Class 5 assassin) as their relationship with their creator is often the last shread of humanity. The death of their creator often drives them to go on destructive rampages, killing as many as they can before they, themselves, die. They love the taste of their victims' blood, despise the living, and feel the most fulfillment when death is presented closer rather than farther from their targets. They don't need a knife - anything remotely sharp will do.

The process of creating a Class 5 Assassin is a long and often dangerous journey. Often it produces nothing but a death for the creator. A failure to bond with the assassin will result in nothing more than a rampaging creature of death. They also need to be at least decently intelligent, and often the Assassin understands how and why she was created better than the creator - not that this prevents them from being consumed by the process. It is considered a significant risk to create one, and few are willing to take it.

Most Class 5 Assassins are women. The easiest way to forge the bond between creator and assassin is through sexual relations (true love has been known to produce powerful Class 5s, but they have been known to occasionally revert back to a more humane lifestyle). Since a vastly larger percentage of men are willing to take the risk to try and create a Class 5, it is simpiler for them to do it with women.

Some examples of Class 5s include Tristan Angel and Nikki Ronalk, the only two Class 5s to be Servants of Kane.

Some virus name