The Hellenic Empire

The Hellenic Star Empire is a low-density expansionist monarchy positioned towards the root of the Orion arm of the galaxy, relative to Holy Terra. Such institutions are hardly rare, considering the Terragenic species, as having formed from the same geopolitical and geoeconomic pressures which gave rise to the Terran Directorate, though this particular case is relatively unique in that it was born of the same megacorporate influence as what the Terran Directorate was created to destroy and replace. The Hellenic Star Empire is nominally hereditary monarchist, with several subject governors of the Emperor's family presiding over established colonies. It is also very expansionist, seeing every habitable world within its reach as being theirs to conquer and use as they see fit, even if there are others living on that world beforehand.

Project Starlight
In the early 21st century, Terran politics were best described as 'chaotic,' with traditional nation-states crumbling in the face of the economic and industrial might of so-called Megacorporations. Not all were diametrically opposed to the present nation-states, though all were necessarily endowed with their own means of enforcing their bottom line, due to each competitor having private military capacity, often in excess of UN-recognized states. With the geopolitical situation's decline, warfare became less a newsworthy item, and more a fact of life, particularly as Stahl Industries began to ramp up its capacity, initially with Militechnic's support, and later [EXPUNGED]

The Hellenic Star Empire's own subspecies of humanity was the product of several of these Megacorporations, and their reaction to the declining situation in the Sol Inner System. Project Starlight was enacted by a consortium of Megacorporations invested in the idea of continued human survival. To that end, the project consisted of Monsante-Biotechnische(Chief Biological Engineering,) SpacEXO(Chief Starship Development,) and InterNET(Chief Archival/Training Programmes.) Others were involved in Project Starlight, though these were the primary sources of development.

The exact specifications called for a hardy species of humanity, dubbed the Colonial, though certain constraints demanded a few omissions in the final product. The Colonial was a subspecies intended to be able to continue the human species in form and function as long as any two were within their window of fertility, as well as to be resource-efficient without being too weak to utilize the resources. The net result was an engineered biological chimera subspecies consisting of male and female tissue groups, with both chromosome sets having been significantly modified in order to ensure reproduction in vivo.

Once this, and the first experimental Alcubierre drive proved capable of sublight travel, Project Starlight was given the final touches, and sent antispinward to escape the growing unrest and nuclear fire of Terra.

Some 200 years later, on the outside, the Starlight's crew settled on a cool, temperate world named Helen, and began to set up their first colony, often cannibalizing their starship for immediate needs. It was during this time that the Imperial Line of Rule came to be, though this period was marked with internal struggles as well.

The Hellenic Star Empire at present
Presently, the Star Empire is marked as having a cottage industrial base for most consumer and low-end military goods, with a focus on agriculture. For higher end goods, Forgeworlds are employed, with extensive automated processes, as these worlds are usually inhospitable, but otherwise rich with necessary elements. Each world is settled in such a way that horseback, diesel motors, and subsistence hunting is relatively normal for the residents, just as viral mechanism magnetoscribed implants are known(but usually beyond the reach of most civilians.)

Technologically, the Hellenics are behind those of the Painted Legions, Morningstar, and Directorate, in terms of refinement and efficiency, but culturally, the polity is given towards total warfare, and has maintained a war footing for over a millennium. Most of their computer systems are based off of 2030s-era biochip processors, with some institutional quantum computers in use, as well as a strong proclivity towards collapsed metals for heavy industrial needs. Medically, a Hellenic citizen can expect to live for approximately one to one and a half centuries, with a physical prime of roughly fifty years, though a large number never see a full century due to the conditions of most worlds. As for entertainment and informational services, SQUIDs-based VR interfaces are common enough to be seen as typical, with AR being the realm of Naval personnel and enthusiasts. Interestingly, instead of using tablet computers, most Hellenics use cartridge-based microfiche slates for reference data, a technology which allows for rapid reproduction on technologically-deficient worlds.

It isn't uncommon to see horse-drawn carriages, diesel cars, and ducted fan aerodynes on Hellenic worlds, each seeing as much use as the other depending on terrain. The Hellenics are tradition-bound due to pragmatism, though if newer techniques that can be done at the local industrial base can be demonstrated, the techniques are likely to be quickly adopted.

Militarily, they use comparatively primitive equipment, based on 2030s-era principles, and have thus far reached the extent of those technologies. Comparatively speaking, Hellenic equipment is bulky, for the same strengths as Directorate equipment, but the advantage is that in no more than a century, a settled world is capable of producing that equipment, assuming adequate minerals and fuels present on that world. Core worlds are capable of fielding small amounts of more advanced materiel, with a growing trend of improving settled worlds to produce the same kinds of equipment. What slows this is the rarity of FTL communications, and a desire for backward compatibility. Additionally, they possess no standing armies, instead their military being composed exclusively of Naval(Space and Wet; Most large landers are capable wet navy vessels) and Marine assets, with the closest thing to a standing army being retirees on settlement worlds.

In combat, their Assault Marines resemble the role of Evocatii, most closely, with the increased capabilities of the assault powered armors in play. The Hellenic military takes a combined arms approach, initiating their attack with a Hohmann-Slingshot enhanced bombardment against targets, staged from the system's heliopause, before using orbital bombardment to soften the remaining enemy positions, prior sending infantry, armor, and aerospace to the surface. In space, they seem more content with hit and run tactics, with shipboard computers plotting out likely travel routes of enemy vessels before launching kinetic kill munitions. Their own directed energy weapons are limited in scope, with more emphasis placed on storing and launching iron-nickle rods, or storing and launching missiles by the score. The main energy emitter weapons are spine-mounted, and resemble a modified drive more than anything.

Sociologically, the Hellenic Star Empire appears to be a strange combination of Evocatii principles and baseline Terragenic principles. Their society regards limited violence is a part of day to day life for most citizens, even on the Throneworld of Helen, and Forgeworld of Vulcan. Only the most urbanized citizens lack a scar on their knuckles or face from childhood disagreements.Among their own, Hellenics couple physical violence when discussion and compromise is ineffectual, with a flagrant disregard for personal space. To be honest, the notion of monogender reducing certain crimes is, at best, a point of black comedy where it concerns the Hellenics. Were a Directorate world to have the same level and kinds of violence, it would be seen as a barbaric backwater in need of redress, where as even the Hellenic rulership feels comfortable enough with how things are, as to participate in the misdeeds themselves. Even the most effeminate members of the population have exhibited a tendency towards this kind of bravado.

Culturally, Hellenics tend towards something akin to 19th century American hardiness, with many settlers keeping and maintaining their arms and equipment from their service life, some of which is a great boon to the settlement period of virtually all worlds. There is no such thing as a conceal carry permit, even on Helen, where it's simply assumed that all citizens are armed. Similarly, they have a strange aversion to state ID techniques, with neighboring governors having even launched assassinations against those attempting to enact such.

As an additional aside, the Emperor and most Governors do have extensive neurological implants, as well as what amounts to an analogue form of Cortical Stack. Upon ascension to a seat, these persons exhibit a change in attitude, usually towards that of the Emperor's own attitude, suggesting that they possess a form of internal governor, or else psychosurgical bonding with another personality. Attempts at these same implants in normal Hellenic citizens typically results in severe mental imbalance, as the designs appear to be specialized towards a gynonormalized neural architecture, as opposed to the andronormalized neurology of most Hellenic citizens.

Artistic pursuits however, are quite common and encouraged, especially among those who are not of service age or capability. Unlike Directorate ships, most Hellenic vessels and administrative buildings are heavily decorated, with most Hellenic ships having an Art Deco aesthetic in crew areas, as well as the exterior possessing some form of sculpted prow or other features. This trend started approximately fourteen centuries ago on a core world, and has since grown to be the norm throughout the Empire. Painted armors are also particularly common, and the trend has been noted among spacers for their vacuum suits for at least as long. Architecturally, it varies based on the commissioner's tastes, but it's seen as gauche by most citizens to make a box building with no adornments. Several charities have existed on multiple colony worlds whose intent is to give practice to aspiring void-sculptors practice.

The Hellenic Throne and Imperial Leadership
Few Terragen polities are as consistent in their leadership, with the exception of the Terran Directorate, as the Empire. Often described as a fascist junta, the citizens of the Empire are largely left to their own devices, with a minimum of bureaucratic influence outside of star ports, private facilities and military garrisons, which are often seamlessly combined together.

Historically, the Throne of Helen rests in the preserved and expanded remains of a Warp Needle Carrier once known as the Needle of Starlight, having been grounded on Helen in centuries past with much of the computer networks left intact, including the control chair itself. Over the centuries, the control chair has been modified and updated, going from a starkly utilitarian space-age interface seat, to a more ornate, wood-finished, gilt-trimmed and maintained throne, in a reordered room with paneled floors, walls, and a painted ceiling. Each Empress leaves her own mark in the Throne Room and in the Spire itself, a lasting monument to her own individuality before her time ends.

Supported not only by the Throne, but by the Planetary Governors and the District Representatives, typically numbering thirty nine per world, with one of these numbers being named Governor or in Helen and Vulcan's case, Empress, the official government bureaucracy is small and centralized, with only outlying officials serving in other capacities in Imperially-required areas of commerce and industry. Most of these non-governmental officials have attended the same schools, and even teach at the same open universities at some point of their lives, as their government compatriots, resulting in a consistency of leadership that is only matched and exceeded by that of the Directorate.

Empress Victoria Benet-Mullner
The present sitting-Empress of the Star Empire, is a seventy three year old woman, slightly given to a fullness of form and a weathering to her hide that seems out of place on a Regent, owing to her earlier years being spent on a frontier world as a marine biologist. Much of her gray, formerly black hair, is styled around the transdermal extensions of her neurological implants, which come off as a stylized crown focused along the back of the head.

For an Empress, she is unusual, having taken the throne in her fifties, instead of the typical late teens to early 20s, though for the past several generations, Mullner Hellenics have been expressing increased longevity, even beyond what present medical science can account for. Her direct predecessor, Katherine Jean Aurenheimer-Mullner, a distant aunt, had died on the throne at the age of a hundred and thirty nine, with Victoria being the least-occupied of the Mullner lineage at the time.

Personality-wise, Victoria is not given to the formal excesses of some dynastic lines, much like her deceased predecessor, though she has been known to 'play ball,' as she put it, when it was simpler(re; not as likely to lead to an immediate firefight) to go with the expected conventions. There have been several recorded occasions where she spoke as coarsely as those she's seen fit to recognize, as well as times she's spoken as sharply and elegantly as an old Terran queen. As a military director, with Chancellor's aide, she has seen a trend of flagging empire-wide performance in terms of equipment, with an upswing in terms of individuals' prowess, most notably in units composed mainly of frontier-world troops. This has led to her present policy of insisting the most decorated units to return through core regions for R&R, in hopes that the net performance is through selection pressures in lieu of environmental pressures.

At present, however, word of Terran Directorate activity has her on her toes, so to speak, though whether her present posture is that of a fighter knowing the situation is dangerous, or to welcome a long-lost relative with open arms has yet to be seen.

The Cults Administrative, and Gods
Part of the success of the Hellenic Empire is owed to the Cults Administrative, a governing body whose genesis is over a thousand years old, with its roots in a coup which saw the right-by-might and right-by-knowledge rulership of pre-Imperial Helen being forcibly unified, or in some splinter cases, eradicated. The Cults Administrative is, on its surface, a Feminist wet dream, being an organization staffed and populated almost exclusively by normal-enough females, though this is not quite the case in all reality; Hellenic Females simply have uniform-enough neuromorphology to make the most of higher-end required augmentations in government positions. In this regard, a Cults Administrative woman is no more free than a caste-born worker, with the Empress being the least free of all, with the burden of not only the worlds of Helen and Vulcan on her shoulders, but the burden that her governors levy upon her as well.

The details of Cults Administratum affairs are few but draconian in demands; Every member, with necessitated exceptions, is a woman, and has achieved some degree of academic excellence in at least a hard art, if not the sciences. The Cults Administrative have no room for mere lawyers or sociologists, or even economists, preferring to leave such things to the laypeople to deal with, given that Chancellor is, for the Empire, a far more suitable economist than a mere mortal can hope to achieve. Similarly, such achievement comes with certain privileges; where a normal woman has only the privileges which her family allows her, or rights she has taken for herself, a Cults Administrative woman is often the guarantor of certain existential privileges, with stewardship of the Imperial Will, or at minimum, is the controlling individual of a critical industry, firm, or academic body. It's said to strike at a Cults Administrative is to strike at the Empress, and, were the Empress present herself, the attacker would likely no longer exist.

Another, arguably far larger part of the success of the Star Empire lies with the means by which the Empire's rulership has remained so consistent; Each planetary governor, a female, is fitted with extensive neurological augmentation implants known as a Cognito Associative Array, or CAA, which allows for the recipient to carry a fork of Chancellor, the ThroneGod, as well as for her own experiences to be maintained post-mortem. The true extent of the CAA however, is that it is designed to ease the process of combining two distinct minds to a seamless whole, given time. In addition to the CAA, a few neuronormative treatments are used, to further facilitate this goal.

The Terran Directorate utilizes a similar, though more advanced version of the CAA, though specialized strictly towards the consciousness/experience-preservation goal in the form of Cortical Stacks, generally lacking the self-melding of Hellenic governing officials. In fact, to draw a correlation between the two polities would not be beyond the scope of reason; The two are strikingly similar in many regards, even down to their geneses.

Through these means, a half-joking, half-serious cult has formed, which regards most Artificial Intelligences and recorded persons as being regarded as one of several kinds of 'Gods,' after an ancient Roman and Japanese tradition of ancestor worship. When a Hellenic speaks of a FleetGod, a HouseGod, a CompanyGod, or the ThroneGod, they are not talking about a literal deity, but more often a mentally-delimited personality housed in a specialized computer system which provides their experience and enhanced capacity to those who take care of it. Most do not see these beings, nor the Throne as truly divine, though more primitive or backward groups are indeed insistent that such things are a sure sign of Imperial Divinity, a fact that the Cults Administrative does nothing to correct until it becomes a burden.

Linguistics
Like any Anglophonic polity, the Hellenic Star Empire's linguistics have changed over the centuries. Originally, it was American Standard English, though with the prevalence of biology and natural science known to the average citizen, a stronger infusion of Latin and Greek exists within the Lingua Hellenic, as compared to the nearly German-Normalized English of other polities.

With this in mind, their speech is often times a bit longer-winded, and polysyllabic, as compared to others.

Relations with Others
Morningstar Republic: Unknown(Likely to be conquer and cleanse if more equitable deals are not made.)

Terran Directorate: Curiousity; Tentative state of non-aggression, pending further investigation.

Painted Legions: Unknown; Tentative policies of investigation, aggression just as likely.

Askari: Kill on sight.

Kulviir: Unknown(Likely to be Kill on sight.)

Aduuni: Kill on sight Capture and utilize if outside of Directorate space; Avoid or defensive actions as necessary.(Addendum; They recognize the similarities to the Aduuni.)