Authors note- First of all, I want to thank you for the interest you have shown in the tale I have to tell. While I write for my own fulfillment, it is nice to know people are reading every once in awhile. It has been awhile since I read the Inheritance cycle, so feel free to point out any overt errors I make. This chapter doesn't have any characters or settings from the Inheritance cycle in it, but they will come soon enough. Enjoy!
High Orbit over Skäever
Space itself parted, a high energy particle beam lighting the night. It slashed by a Phyrrian frigate, shields flaring slightly as residual radiation impacted it. Commodore Faathra hissed in rage, claws gouging into the armrests. They had pursued this Sharoc cruiser for the past three days, its strike craft slowly wearing them down. They had in turn slowly worn away at the cruiser's fighter wing, but they still had the cruiser itself to deal with. The light cruiser possessed plenty of weaponry to dissolve them into molten globules but had strangely held itself back. It seemed to be trying to get somewhere important.
"Alright, I've had about enough of this, order the flotilla into a wedge formation, we are going in" the comms officer nodded, relaying the orders. The Phyrrian ships formed up, and accelerated, charging the enemy cruiser.
The enemy cruiser seemed to recognize its impending doom, turning to meet the flotilla head on. Missiles flew from their launch tubes, tearing through space at the formation.
"Radiologicals detected, those are hot missiles!" announced the officer manning the sensors, worry apparent in his voice.
Commodore Faathra looked up the shield status of the flotilla's ships. There's where in the best shape. "Move us between the flotilla and the missiles. Skir, do what you can to shoot em down" the Commodore hissed, his tail flicking thorough the back of his chair. Skir, the ship's AI acknowledged. As the missiles closed, the PT systems came online, lobbing large spines at the missiles. Two of the four inbound missiles outmaneuvered the barrage, but the other two were cleanly shorn in half, their warheads neutralized. The command frigate furiously lobbed spines at the others to no avail; they hit the ship, detonating in a white flash of pure energy. As the fireball cooled, the outline of the ship was still visible, but slightly blackened. The shields had absorbed most of the blast but had failed. The command frigate was completely vulnerable…
Fortunately, they were in a flotilla, and there were five other ships eager for blood. Commodore Faathra watched as the two missile frigates opened up, AB series missiles spreading out in a cloud of biological death. The Korthia class ships of the flotilla closed to weapons range, the red glow of their charged particle beams firing with hellish fury, painting the enemy cruisers shields. The ships fired again, pushing their reactors as hard as they could. The shields failed, and the missiles swarmed in, coating the ship in bacteria that rapidly went to work, digesting and dissolving the hull. The cruiser fired at the nearest frigate, its shields absorbing the particle beam blast. As the frigates fired again, the running lights on the cruiser flickered then failed entirely, the electronics of the ship compromised by the bacteria. The Commodore's ship moved up, lending its dual beams to one final volley, piercing the minimal shielding on the insects ship reactor. It lit up the night as it overloaded, sending debris flying everywhere.
"Good work everyone, Skir, send a notification to Fleet Admiral Amad, he wil-" A sudden wave of pressure suddenly hit the Commodore and from what he saw, everyone else. It felt as though something were squeezing his brain.
"Skir, what the hell was that!?!" the Commodore yelled, clutching his head with his claws.
The deep voice of skir slowly responded. "Sir, I have no clue. I did read an energy fluctuation somewhere, but I can't isolate it…"
As Skir talked, another wave hit the crew of the command ship. Images flickered through Faathra's head, a fire breathing creature strafing a line of troops in medieval armor, a king upon a throne that wasn't his, a poor oppressed people struggling under the boot of a corrupt dictator. The feeling was almost unbearable, and as it cleared, Commodore Faathra could see that the ships lights were off, switched over to emergency light, as was the artificial gravity. "Skir?" the commodore called out, fearing the worst.
"Im still here Commodore, but whatever that was it seems to have knocked out our FTL and most systems flotilla wide. We're drifting… Sir, I advise that we sit down on the planet to see if we can repair. We don't have enough power to sustain this orbit, and just barely enough to make a safe landing. I read low level biologics planetside, some in early stages of civilization, but this one continent seems mostly uninhabited… As far as I can tell, whatever caused that anomaly originated from there."
The Commodore hesitated, with long range Comms offline, they had no chance of announcing their position, and it would take command years, maybe decades to find them.
"Do it, order the whole flotilla down. Let's get to the roots of this."
Description of the Phyrrians
Origins
The Phyrrians are a race of mostly reptilian humanoids, making their home on a distant planet in the Phyrris system. The star of the Phyrris system is a F2 V class binary star, and there are four planets in the system. Their home planet, a Terra like planet is the first planet in the system orbiting at roughly .8 au. The other three planets are gas giants orbiting farther out. These planets have a variety of moons, and much of the early space expansion of the Phyrrians was concentrated in this region.
Their home planet is a very rough planet to live on. It has an average surface temperature of 37o C. Most of the planet is about 42o C, but this is counterbalanced by the severe cold at the Polar Regions. The equatorial regions are heavily volcanic, and almost completely inhospitable. This natural geographic barrier has produced interesting diversity of species, with the north having significantly less carnivorous animals then the southern hemisphere. The worst part of life on this planet is that oxygen is in significantly less availability then it is on Earth, constituting about 10% of the atmosphere, with the majority of the atmosphere composed of Argon, leading to a slight reddish tint in appearance. Its gravity is about 1.5 g.
This duality of the biomes led to an interesting evolution of species on the planet, leading to two dominant, sentient species on the planet. The species to arise in the north was mammalian in nature, while the species to the south was very reptilian in nature. Over the years as their technology advanced, they were able to cross the great equatorial barrier and, as is the nature of such things swiftly fell into conflict with each other. After a series of bloody wars, culminating in the 400 year war, the governments realized something had to be done to end the bloodshed. Calling upon their most gifted scientists and creative minds, they searched for a solution, eventually deciding to blend the species (Ironically sparked by an inter-species couple slain during the war). Though most Phyrrians agreed with the decision, there were a few holdouts that resented the decision. However, these voices were mysteriously silenced by their respective governments. While blending the species, it was decided to not only make a blended race with the best traits of both, but to modify their bodies to be more suitable to their environment (see biology section for more information). The conversion of the two species was accomplished by means of an airborne virus carrying the modified DNA. As planned, infection spread rapidly and produced the desired results, leading to the modern Phyrrian.
Biology
As the scientists debated what features they should include from the two master species, the decision was made (with public consensus) to modify the Phyrrians to also be more suitable for their environment. They started simple, modifying the skin cells to make them less susceptible to UV rays and able to insulate better. They settled on a keratinized solution, similar to what is present in Earth reptiles. They then examined the respiratory system. They settled on an augmented avian design, allowing for continuous respiration as opposed to the cyclical pattern of the previous races. The final change made by the team was in the regulation of body temperature, working in a countercurrent exchange system to improve efficiency.
Due to the lack of edible plant material, most Phyrrians are generally more carnivorous and insectivorous in nature. That said, most still eat a little leafy material now and then, as a few varieties of vegetables grow on Phyrris IV, with the favorite being a carrot like plant. Due to this diet, Phyrrians have retained their muzzled face and carnivore dentition.
They have an average height of 6'2", and are bipedal, but their gait is reptilian in nature, somewhat similar to the ancient velociraptor. Their arms have a similar proportionality to humans, and their hands are a three fingered claw and opposable thumbs. Males have a series of small spines running down their back like quills, culminating in a two spiked "club" at the tip of the tail. Their tail length varies from family to family, but generally a length of 3-4 feet is the norm. The tail is relatively narrow and tapers down to the club in males or just a pointed tip in females, which can be just as dangerous. Both genders have two short horns that point back between the ear and the side of the head. Females have similar secondary sex characteristics to humans, as Phyrrians still give birth to live young and nurse them. An important feature to note about the Phyrrians, is they lack all forms of body hair. That said, both races have "sceathers" on their head, with them being longer on the females.
An interesting side note is that in recent times, the average life of the Phyrrian has been extended many times over. The current average maximum age is about 500 solar years long. This combined with a moderate birth rate has lead to increasing amounts of colonization from the Phyrrians. Fortunately, as they get to about 200 years old their aggression and anger starts to decrease until about 450 when it is all but gone. This leads most 300 year old Phyrrians to go to a different career field, usually art or science related.
Culture
Phyrrian culture places heavy emphasis on the family, and usually extended families will live together in the same domicile. This is thought to possibly be due to the political system of the Phyrrians. Though they have a democratically elected body similar to a senate, there is still an executive branch of the government, although this is a monarchy. The King or Queen of the Phyrrians has always been someone who could trace their linage back to the original elected monarch at the time of the species blending. They also have a judicial branch to deal with crimes and civil cases. Technology also plays a big role in phyrrian society, and there is relatively little constraint placed on science by the government, other than not experimenting on live Phyrrians against their will. Almost all of their technology is an amalgam of their biotech knowledge with their knowledge of other sciences. For instance, their buildings are "grown" with the interiors (floors, walls, and ceilings) built from the building material of their choice, generally wood and steel. Biotech is where they shine the most at, and are the undisputed masters at the science in the known universe.
Military
The Phyrrian Royal Armed Forces (PRF) is comprised of two branches, the Phyrrian Royal Navy (PRN) and the Phyrrian Marines. The marines are separate, and operate under their own command structure, but take orders from the PRN admiralty. The overall commander of the PRN is a Grand Admiral. Given the expansion centric nature of their society, the PRN has multiple fleets that operate in the farthest reaches of space, each headed by a Fleet Admiral. These Expeditionary Units fill a dual role as foreword scout and exploratory force, and are generally armed with long duration ships meant to cruise for long periods without replenishment. Given their isolated nature, these fleets can become their own sub-culture. As a side note, reproduction is strictly prohibited and birth control administered regularly in these fleets, as they simply could not handle the strain of taking care of hatchlings (children, a carried over term from the reptilian original race). This said they are not well suited to waging long, high intensity naval combat and will generally try to avoid it other than hit and run actions. The other type of fleet (also headed by a Fleet Admiral) is the home defense fleets and main attack fleets. Every cluster of stars controlled by the Phyrrians has a defense fleet assigned to it, and there are several fleets purposely maintained simply to push out and take the fight to the enemy. There is also an additional fleet, the fourth fleet. This fleet isn't a fleet per se, but exists as a convenient command structure. They are in charge of logistics and supplies, as well as support actions such as intel gathering and electronic warfare. Each offensive fleet has at least some ships from the fourth fleet assigned to it.
The Phyrrian Marines are headed by the best General they have. While every Phyrrian is required to serve at least 20 Phyrris Years (Roughly 40 earth years) in the Navy, the Marines are an all volunteer service. Regardless of their volunteer status, they still have a great deal of personnel in them, roughly equal to 3/4s of the personnel of the Navy. However, they are rarely all in one place, generally split amongst the fleets to provide shipboard security and protection against boarders. In ground combat, the marines don't know the meaning of limited warfare. If they are deployed, they go all out, typically bringing in several Field Armies, depending on the target. They bring all of their own support, but are transported into battle on PRN craft. For air support, the PRN usually details several Carriers to nothing but supporting the marines, as well as several frigates(again, depending on the target, this assumes planetary invasion). All other ground vehicles and artillery support is provided by the marines themselves. Their combat tactics are roughly reflective of the navy's combat tactics. That is they favor a fast, quick force that is still hard striking. Therefore, they lack some of the heavier tanks and vehicles typically found in other armed forces.
The Phyrrians do poses another armed forces group, roughly similar to a National Guard or militia. They fall under the command of the local police forces, and are only ever deployed defensively. They are able to utilize the heavier pieces of equipment the marines won't normally touch, and place a strong emphasis on defensive combat.
Ships
Their ships, like their buildings are partially grown by bioengineered microbes and then fitted with whatever components are necessary. When construction is finished, the microbes are killed, and their chitin based cell walls remain in place, providing structural rigidity. Their underlying metal skeleton they were grown on remains in place too, providing a secondary defense in critical areas (i.e. the bridge and engine room). Their AI cores are grown as well, as bioengineered superbrains, with processing power somewhat greater than even the strongest conventional AI. Given that they are grown with the ship, they are the ship, connected with it in an inseparable bond. This design is surprisingly strong, and has stunned many an alien shipwright when they realize how the ships are made after encountering them in combat. That said, it is among one of the weaker designs, compensated somewhat by a good shield system. An additional pitfall of Phyrrian ship design, aside from the slightly weak hull is the communication system. Short range, in system communication is on all ships, but long range communication is restricted to the large flagships and heavy cruisers, as well as most fourth fleet vessels (aside from the freight haulers, etc) Overall Phyrrians favor a large number of smaller ships, but the few heavy ships they have are excellent ships.
Weaponry
Weaponry is something the Phyrrians have become grimly skilled in, and their weapon smiths take great pride in their work. Phyrrian weaponry has a distinctive, artisan touch to it, and you know immediately when you are holding something crafted by their claws. It is whenever possible grown in the same style as their ships and buildings. The two primary archetypes of weaponry used by the Phyrrians is a spine throwing design (called PT series weapons from the Maeroon Company) using a synthetic musculature and a charged particle based energy weapon (XA series weaponry, Bael Weaponry). The origins of the XA series is a tightly guarded trade secret, but is suspected to have been adapted from a system of the Yeldir "space dragons" that they use for predation when in a planetary environment. Either way, the effectiveness of the weapons is unquestionable. The XA series comes in three flavors the Charged Particle Beam, Cannon, and Gun. The beam is a continuous fire weapon, that fires on the target and then cycles for a short cool down before firing again. The cannon fires beams in pulses (think the cannons on the cornerian ships in star fox assault but red) and the gun fires blobs of concentrated particles, held together by a strong magnetic field (it is however unguided, the magnetic bottle utilizes an effect of the charged particles themselves for containment).
These weaponry archetypes carry over to space combat, with the PT series being a medium caliber solution also suitable for engaging enemy fighters with a long range, and the XA series being a medium range solution that is the primary "damage dealer" of the Phyrrians. The XA series looks like a relatively wide bore continuous beam, a bright red in color.
The third heavily used weapons archetype is a series of bacteria based weapons. They function by literally digesting the target, be it metallic, plastic, or organic. This is the AB series weapons by the Amal-Biologics Combine. They have an extremophile bacteria line for any target, including a space based line. This is delivered in the form of either a ship to ship missile or bomb, which approaches the target and sprays a foam like net on the target. This foam hardens instantly and provides a vacuum proof habitat for the bacteria as they do their work. It is capable of digesting its way through several meters of armor in about five minutes, making it a excellent weapon for softening up a enemy target. The employment for this type of weapon is not as widespread as others and is primarily used on heavier warships or a few specialty ships built around launching the missiles.
Infantry weaponry follows a similar pattern to the larger ship based weaponry. A large variety of "insidious" biological weapons are used. Their anti-tank weapon of choice is an AB series weapon, the AB-3 Disintegrator. This weapon uses the same metal digesting bacterium foam to eat its way through enemy tanks. It is a two stage weapon, first hitting the target with a plasma warhead to create a breach in the armor, then the bacteria spray that rapidly immobilizes the tank by dissolving the delicate electronics.
The assault rifle of choice is a PT series gun, as are most "conventional" infantry weapons. The favorite is the PT-40, developed by the Maeroon Company. This weapon is approximately 40 inches long, in the shape of a box with a traditional rifle stock and pistol grip, built to accommodate Phyrrian hand anatomy. The box consists of a four barrel synthetic muscle type launcher similar to that found on Phyrrian warships. This type of weapon design has the benefit of being incredibly quiet while still doing significant damage. The only drawback is that the spines are so big that there is a noticeable drop over long distances. Behind the box structure, additional spines are stored, up to a maximum of twenty with the standard clip, though 40 can be fit in the oversized magazines. The projectiles fired by the PT-40 are about 5 inches long and 1 inch wide, tapering to a needle like point. They have a muzzle velocity of about 760m/s. For long range weapons, the phyrrians use a weapon derived from their charged particle weaponry. The favorite of snipers everywhere is the Bael XA-11. This has an effective range of 3000 meters and is an Anti-material weapon. The Bael XA-20 is used more often by snipers though, as the XA-11 has a very hefty weight. Its effective range is about 2000 meters.
All Phyrrian Military Personnel have been augmented biologically and cybernetically. The most notable augments are the Heads Up display built into their eyes that can display any form of tactical information, as well as provide aiming assistance for the Phyrrian infantry. This display can also be turned off outside of combat, but the ability to display information directly on the eye was so popular that most civilians have a similar augment. All soldiers also have been biologically altered with a communication suite built into their skull. This system utilizes a microphone built directly onto the jaw bone of Phyrrian soldiers, but can be linked into any audio system.
Vehicles don't play as major a role in the Phyrrian services as the individual infantry soldier does, due to the efficacy of their soldiers, however, out of necessity they still have some. The main focus of their design is to support the infantry, leading the Marines in particular to employ no conventional tanks, just APCs and IFVs, including a hybrid Tank/IFV. Their design philosophy is reminiscent of their warships, in that both they and their weapons systems are typically organic in nature.
The orbital defense platforms of the Phyrrians use a XA derived beam weapon, and some minor amounts of missile platforms. They also have the standard hangar platform for fighters.
Disclaimer- Any properties used within are property of their respective owners, and used strictly for non-profit purposes. Original content property of me.