Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:49 pm
Faction Name - Bio-Lumen
Storyline -
All factions, raging from the power-driven Technoflux or the Phoenix scavengers, never doubted there would be dozens, if not thousand of other factions and races were spread in the entire universe. It was inevitable that there were more encounters, and more battles would come. Even with the constant concern that there would be more conflict, none of the factions, from the most offensive and adventurous to the most defensive and poor ranged civilizations, cared about going one step further and preparing for a massive invasion, or a small, piercing strike.
Instead, battle-hardened veterans were softened by days and days drinking beer at some obscure Belters' bar, or polishing one more time their gattlings, lost in nostalgy and days of glory, when figthing truly had a meaning, and now its just dusty words written in some medal in a glass jar. Most war units are now resting or chatting about indoor sports through hallways, sickened of the words "War will be engaged when new equipement will be complete" said from the people working at the concept phase of a "New form of war", they say. All privates who have minimum knowledge of recent's events know in the minds of some engineers there is just Quantus, and the proposal of fighting with obsolete weapons until they are sent to a dusty, forsaken planet with a tank they never had seen in their lives or air-compromised aircraft has made many yawn and look to the starry sky, patiently waiting for that D-Day.
But not even the mighty BIOS Intel or the archaic Rixian Unity archives had knowledge of a new, strange faction, spotted by accident on a regular BIOS patrol over the Silicon rock A-98660, flagged for posterior usage by a Tactical Constructer. The Intel that was reported back, marked as "Strictly Confidential", eventually leaked and was obtained by low prices by all the factions that were still interested in spionage, since the BIOS were always too proud of themselves to even consider corruption in their agencies, when they had more than a quarter of their services occupied by rogue officers and mercenaries seduced by false promises, rewards and retirements.
Anyway - the report files and recordings made by the BIOS scouts (Who came back alive and said to be too frightened to say anything; in fact, most people argued that getting out alive of a first encounter and returning back to someone's teammates wasn't a proper thing of a scout pilot to be frightened off) were then analised and discussed.
Aparently, a "Large, extremely thin object, by the size of a capital ship, was cruising around the fresh sector, blinking in the BIOS' radars, as if their cloaks had been badly damaged. Curiously, the ship in itself was also quite destroied, but not normal bullet impacts - probably hit by an asteroid furnace, as IC soldiers like to call it. No crew or other form of inteligence capable of building and running capital ships should be dumb enough to run through an asteroid field, especially with such an expensive-looking hardware piece, unless it had been doing some pretty dangerous business around there.
In fact, that same capital ship had been momentarily spotted by a Gigacorp Miner, and engulfed in about 12 alephs just to be far enough to discourage any folowing.
Once the BIOS craft entered in the unknown capship's range, the scout pillots turned on the real-time audio recorder. Unfortunately half of the tape is damaged by offensive magnetism, but some audio was recovered, including: "Oh my God the capship fired its boosters!", "What the hell", "Someone must be making fun of us" and finaly: "Arrgh!!! Get them out! GET THEM OUT!" folowed by a lot of noise static and the end of the tape. This has indeed disturbed both BIOS and IC officers, as they were taught never to even dream about booster-propelled capships, since it would cost so much fuel that not even the recently discovered Faction X (that made first contact with IC) could afford such fuel-consuming engines.
The rest, is documented under the so called "Strictly Confidential" documents, that have basically the same that was documented in the audio file, but analised by experts who far value more war profit than the safety of their nations and families, and such that document will not be reported here. BIOS officers were also criticized by not putting video recording devices on their reconnaissance ships, when this is a must for factions like Gigacorp and IC, much more concerned about the statement of their personel.
About the Bio-lumen:
Their way of living:
the Bio-Lumen only goal is to unite all species in one flag, unlike the "revenge-seeking" TF or the selfish Belters. When I say 'flag', im theoretically speaking, because in Bio-Lumen language there is no such words as "country", "flag", "city" - they all live on one "country" (basically it's a whole continent) wich IC officers like to call "Pangaea", in honor to the massive earthly continent that once existed. Bio-lumen's dont need to designate it, since there is only one. About governement, Bio-Lumen's representatives and officers are ellected pretty much similar to what we got around here. They prosper a lot because the Bio-Lumen can only be corrupted by true evil sources and never by personal motives (like wealth).
They dont have a particular religion or God, but they all know they are driven by something, like a organism of its own. This "spiritual entity" is capable of empowering Bio-Lumen's when their reserves of energy are depleted, and that's the reason why Bio-Lumen's EW's are so effective. They rarely get tired.
They communicate telepathically (and thus, they have no vocal strings. What they can do is to vibrate their skin in order to create low or high-pitch sounds to communicate moods and emotions, since these are not easily said with mind connections).
Their Hulls:
Bio-Lumen's "own" hulls (the ones they have when they are born) are a very thin, transparent skin, wich does nothing more than to protect the organs from the fragile dust found on their homeplanet. When they wanted to expand more on their continent, they needed more protection, and there is when the most remarkable Bio-Lumen adaptation happened. They started creating an organic metal, like humans grow a fingernail. They were able to create complex circuits and special forms of this "organic metal" to be able to whithstand the storms that were frequent in further regions of their continent, and its thanks to it that Bio-Lumen's ships can whitstand fire like a gigacorp fighter, if not slightly better.
Their Weapons:
Bio-Lumen's PW Weapons are a bit weaker than the standard, and they dont equip so much PW Turrets in their ships. But is on EW Weapons that the Bio-Lumen's are really good. With their great energy rates, they can fire EW guns much longer than IC, Gigacorp or even BIOS. Their EW weapons also have larger range, less sig, and have replaced lots of PW Weapons. Also, the fact that they dont usually carry ammo in their crafts makes their masses very low (but still heavier than, lets say, TF masses).
Their Shields:
Bio-Lumen only adapted shields long before they had started growing organic metal, and it was mainly used for keeping scratches in the metal and wounds in the fragile skin in the shield, not in the surface on the person. Their shields are not much of a defense in combat, and most small shields would be jetisoned, if they weren't so silent in signature. Probably not worth 25% of a Phoenix shield.
Their Boosters:
If not known by they being able to breed metal, they are surely known for they -amazing- boosters. Low sig, low fuel consumption and a hell of a punch, they were originally thought to be stolen from Phoenix Hyper-Jump. Unfortunately, they need to be connected directly to the special, organic metal, or they will boost as much as a poor quality light booster. Pretty convenient for the Bio-Lumen, and better luck next time, Belters. Apart from their boosters, they are slower than the standard, what hurts their miners and constructers, although the boosters can be equipped as easily in a scout as they can be in a Bomber, HTT or even the biggest of the capships (Note: bring extra fuel).
Their Missiles:
Bio-Lumen's missiles are cheap, thin, soft and extremely fast, with medium tracking - in fact, watch out because your seeker may quickly look like a quickfire if you aren't careful. This is a recent technology for the Bio-Lumen, and instead of the Rixians, they see a future in them, and how important they can be in a battle. Still, for small bombers and HTT's, they still use AB-EW weapons. Their missiles are rougly known as "Boosting needles".
Technical Perks:
Boosters:
High booster acceleration;Very High/Medium top speed;Low fuel consumption.
Signature/Scan:
Natural medium/low-signature;Significatly less pratical cloaks to operate;High scan range.
PW/EW:
High damage on EW / Medium/low damage for PW;High range on EW / Meduim range for PW;Medium consumption for EW / Medium consumption for PW;Slight spread on EW Weapons / Slight spread on PW Weapons; / All turrets are EW.
Mass/Speed:
Low mass;Low acelleration;Medium top speed;Very fast Z spin;Fast Y/X spin.
Strength:
Extremely soft shields,Weak/Medium Hulls.
Missiles:
Small payload;High acceleration;High turn radius;Low resistance;High rate of fire;EW weapons for bombing (No AB missiles).
Mining/He3 stock market:
Medium capacity;High speed;Low Yeld;Cheap tech but 1.5x high prices on units.
Miscellaneous
Lt. SF (and scout) at start (Cannot mount cloaks or any special kind of tech);Slower Miner/Constructor/Base building time;1 Minute research for Base upgrades; 2 Minute research for everything else;They do not possess Hunter Killer MK2, SkyRippers;Small bases can be upgraded to "Enhanced" status (Ref/OP/Tele);
Unique Units:
Collapser (SY) - A capship merge between a Frigate and a Cruiser, able to mount almost any heavy weapon and capable of ripcording. Can mount Hunter-Killers and special capship boosters (Plasma Boosters).Descrucher (SY) - A capship merge between a Destroyer and a Devastator, able to mount the EW EarthRipper. Can mount Hunters and Plasma Boosters.Scar (SY) - Myth. Only 3 pilots know of its existance.
Unique tech:
EW EarthRipper (SY) - AB caphsip weapon with a great ROF.EW Irradiator (SY) - AB capship weapon that has AoE. Takes much more energy than EarthRippers.EW Concussioner (SY) - Capship weapon designed for small craft. Low ROF and huge AoE.EW ShieldRipper (SY) - Capship weapon designed exclusively for shields. Also has a slight AoE.EW Regulator (SY) - Scar-only weapon that creates a micro-black hole.LRM Harpoon (Sup) - Enhanced missile with excellent tracking and payload. Universaly mounted.EW EarthRipper Lt. (Sup) - "Dumbed down" version of the EarthRipper to be used on Bomber's.EW ShieldRipper Lt. (Exp) - "Dumbed down" version of the ShieldRipper to be used on HTT's and Bomber's.EW Dust gun (Exp) - Avaliable after Mini3, its a EW version of it, plus additional perks like enhanced range. Universaly mounted.EW Heat cells (Tac) - Cloak replacement. Universaly mounted (can be used on bombers, for instance).Plasma [Pl] Boosters (SY) - Specially designed boosters for capships.Photon [Ph] Boosters (Garr) - Specially designed boosters for small/medium craft.
Edit: Re-formulated post.