"It is our destiny to serve a higher purpose. We are here to deliver mankind of its misery — to bring an end to war, strife, starvation and death. Humanity is sick, dying and the Anunnaki are the healers we oh so desperately need. Come, child, I want to show you something."
—Unknown priestress to Jared Nomak, Planet Samarra
Introduction:
The Commune is a paramilitary organisation consisting of the remnants of the Samarran Raiders and other like minded people around Sirius with the common goal of delivering mankind of its shortcomings by uniting it in a society similar to the Nomads — or Anunnaki, as they call them. Since the Samarrans view the Nomads as godlike entities, the members of the Commune carry some of that attitude still. Highly protective of that which is not meant to be touched by unworthy hands, they often assist the Nomads in their operations to ensure the sanctity of the Anunnaki's technology.
General Information:
Faction Tag: (C~ Affiliation: Outcasts ID: Outcast ID
The Commune is a paramilitary organisation consisting of the remnants of the Samarran Raiders and other like minded people around Sirius with the common goal of delivering mankind of its shortcomings by uniting it in a society similar to the Nomads — or Anunnaki, as they call them. Since the Samarrans view the Nomads as godlike entities, the members of the Commune carry some of that attitude still. Highly protective of that which is not meant to be touched by unworthy hands, they often assist the Nomads in their operations to ensure the sanctity of the Anunnaki's technology.
The pilot using this ID is a member of the Commune who:
● Can attack any ship within their Zone of Influence, except transports.
● Can engage in self defence or to assist Wild or Nomads anywhere.
● Can demand cargo and credits from any ship within their Zone of Influence, and attack them if they do not comply.
● Can treat any ship carrying Artifacts, Stabiline or Nomadic Remains as combat targets within their Zone of Influence.
● Can treat any ship equipped with Nomad equipment anywhere as combat target and engage them, except if they have a Wild, Nomad, or K'Hara ID.
● Cannot ally with anyone except Wild, Nomads, Outcasts, Liberty Rogues and hired Freelancers.
● Cannot escort traders, except if they carry Slaves or Cardamine.
● Zone of Influence: Omicrons, Taus, Sigmas, Baffin, Coronado, Cortez, Inverness, Magellan, Vespucci, Newcastle, Drake, Kansas, Unknown.
"Some say we had bad luck, others that we were cursed. I say we were tested, trialled for our faith. The very soil of Samarra, this consecrated ground, selects us, and only the worthy remain to serve the Great Spirits."
—Daniel Wretch, Samarran, 766 A.S.
Since the beginnings of House settlements, there have always been Zoners. People sought to escape House space to live freely in the wild and unregulated systems, away from government control. For a long time, these Zoners did not have the funds or abilities to construct ships that would launch them far enough away from house space to give them independence, so they sought isolation in remote and unsettled parts of the House systems. The first purely Zoner-populated base was scheduled for construction in 390 A.S when those first, up until now having been planet bound Zoner communities from all the House systems assembled on Planet Manhattan.
By combining their resources and with some outside help, they managed to construct four transportation liners, which were state-of-the-art technology at that time. The Liners were christened, Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Assyria and Babylon. At the time, they were considered lunatics by the majority of the population and by all House governments. Consequently, their expeditions were ignored, and they were able to complete their preparations for the launch without interference. They finally launched in 394 A.S and were forgotten by everyone, mainly because no one truly cared what happened to them. But in the same spirit in which the first human colonists left Earth and settled the worlds beyond, they stocked their ships with ample provisions, and with 4000 emigrants (One thousand on each ship), and have set course for the Zone, or what is now known as the edge worlds.
They were prepared for a long voyage, first through the reaches of Liberty, then Kusari and finally the unknown reaches at the edge of the green nebula where they had to navigate using various natural anomalies that were found scattered around there, since there was no definitive astronomical data to navigate by. When they reached the furthest edges of the green clouds, the communication systems aboard the Sumeria ceased to function. Minutes later there was an explosion in its engine room of such force that the entire ship disintegrated. So fast and so violent was the disaster that there was no chance to reach the life pods and all of the thousand people aboard were lost. The other liners had no choice but to continue. They quickly salvaged what could be saved from the wreckage of the derelict ship and headed further on into the unknown.
The travelers from the three remaining liners continued deep into unknown space, far beyond the boundaries of the Sirius Sector, beyond what is now known as the Nomad Worlds. They accomplished this by recklessly travelling through a previously unknown and semi-stable wormhole, which later by the readings revealed that it was so unstable that there had only been a 12 percent chance to accomplish the transition successfully with all vessels. What they discovered on arrival at the terminus of the wormhole was a large system, with yellowish fragments and debris of a former planet and a red giant sun scorching them as they drifted throughout the void of space. The system contained two planets, one of which was a desert planet with a single moon and an atmosphere stable enough to support human life. The other one was a barren red tinted rock on the other side of the mysterious system. The liners established orbit around the desert planet, which they christened Samarra, which translated to a joy for all to see from the ancient Arabic language. A small shuttle containing ten people dispatched to investigate the red planet they named Sur-Marrati and were never heard from again. It was presumed that it was crippled by the radiation from the red sun and that its crew died from either asphyxiation, cold or hunger.
When the liners arrived in orbit around Planet Samarra, the passengers saw a number of structures, alien in origin, floating around the planet and its small moon Qamar, creating something that upon a closer look looked like a fence or artificial satellites of sorts. After closer inspection, it was discovered that the planet was almost entirely covered with dunes and deserts, although it was dotted with numerous oases and contained a single large river that ran from the southern hemisphere to a large desert, where it disappeared in the sands.
Realizing that there was little chance that they would ever be able to return whence they came, the passengers decided to make planet fall on Samarra. All 3000 men, women and children disembarked near the large river, and started a small settlement with technology and materials salvaged from the liners and with the materials that they had brought with them to construct what was originally planned to be a space station. Decent water filtering systems and aqueducts were constructed, while the several plants that were indigenous to the region were discovered to be edible and were cultivated for food, most notably a tree that bore fruits similar to the plum from ancient Earth.
The settlers were forced to work together to survive on this harsh planet, but inevitably such rugged individualists wanted to go their own ways.
Not everyone on Samarra was lucky enough to gather sufficient food. Many were enduring great suffering, scratching out a bare existence among its dunes and the ever burning sun. The time Samarra needed to complete a full day-night-cycle was equal to 100 hours, resulting in long burning days, and long freezing nights. It fell far short of what the initial settlers had been looking for, as it was a place where one had to kill in order to survive outside the settlements, and soon enough all Zoner notions of isolationism and peace were lost among the generations.
Warring factions formed between the former Zoner settlers as strong individuals, who were craving ever more power, influence and wealth vied for control over the food supply, resources and fuel to power their machines. A significant portion of the planet’s population was decimated in the battles between what were rapidly becoming separate warring tribes. These battles eventually ceased when a charismatic leader arose, a great prophet from the largest city of Samarra. He told the people of supreme beings, which he called Anunnaki, that had established their reign in the system and of how they had come to him in a vision. He told them that they had constructed the fence around the planet in order to mark the place for the settlers, for which this place was destined to become a paradise.
Most of the surviving population was swayed by his words and tired by the ceaseless, unrelenting wars, and so they gratefully accepted his leadership and his vision. Having finally unified under one leader, prosperity could at last be achieved as the population worked together the achieve the promised paradise that they so desperately wanted.
In the ensuing centuries of peace, the planet flourished, despite individual regions eventually being ruled by overlords and self proclaimed kings that had attained control of the liquor and fuel trades. An orbital sky hook was constructed to boost shuttles into planetary orbit. An asteroid field rich in frozen water was discovered just at the edge of the system, which was of course promptly exploited to quench the thirst of Samarra's ever-growing population, which, at this point, almost counted around two million inhabitants, all distributed in and around three major cities and many smaller settlements around Samarra's great river.
Over the years, explorers foolish and lucky enough to stumble upon the system, made their way to the planet from various parts of Sirius, bringing their ships to the planet looking upon it as a safe haven. Among them were criminals, smugglers and freelancers of all sorts who found that Samarra offered them asylum from the authorities or whoever else was after them. These visitors provided insight into advanced ship technology that had been developed elsewhere that the Samarrans were able to replicate. Soon the perimeter of the planet was crawling with private shuttles that sought to explore the system, searching for some rumored pockets of gold and diamonds that were supposedly to be found in the asteroid fragments that covered the system. Some even dared to leave through that highly unstable wormhole that was the only known exit from the system.
Soon, those who successfully passed the unstable wormhole started to plague the Omicron systems with sporadic attacks and raids on supply convoys with the intention of stealing valuables, which, in turn, earned them fame and glory on Samarra, and, supposedly, the favour of the Anunnaki. A small but organized group, which was exiled on the end, left Samarra for good to seek their fame and fortune in this, to them, new world. As they reached the more populated Tau systems in their shuttles, they encountered a lone Slave Liner and by deceiving the Junker captain into believing them to be injured travelers in crippled ships. They persuaded the captain to allow them aboard his ship. Having accomplished their goal, the hostile Samarrans immediately attacked and slaughtered most of the Liner’s resisting crew, taking the rest as slaves.
With the subsequent exploration of the surrounding systems, the Raiders encountered the people of Malta, and using a special liquor fermented on Samarra as a gift, they engaged in negotiations and eventually formed a solid partnership. They took it upon themselves to smuggle Cardamine to Liberty and return with less-than-willing manpower to feed into Malta's Cardamine industry.
Mostly clinging to the shadows, the Raiders soon gained the trust of various Outcast groups as well as that of other Sirian lawful and unlawful factions alike while slowly building their power base all over the sector and actively worked to please their Gods. At this time, the Raiders were a vastly different organization than what they had been at the beginning. Having amassed great amounts of wealth through slavery, drug trafficking and extortion, the Raiders fancied themselves to be the "Blade of the Slomon K'Hara", or in other words, their human devotees and eternal allies.
However, there were, of course, those who looked upon the Samarrans with increasing concern. The Order, albeit weakened and hidden in obscurity after the events of the Nomad war, soon proved to become the greatest enemy of the Samarrans who had taken to Sirius proper. While their home world was protected by the fact that the jump hole leading there would probably decimate any attacking fleet before it could even begin to fight, those who hailed from there found themselves becoming increasingly paranoid, always having to look over their shoulders for fear of the Order's watchful gaze. Ultimately, the Samarran Raiders found their end after a surprise attack of the Order that completely obliterated the then current base of operations of the Raiders, which was located in Texas. Out of all the leading figures, only only one of them survived — Jared Nomak. Together with a handful of survivors of Sirian origin, Jared sought the protection of the Oracles until the Samarran Raiders had been forgotten by the majority of Sirius.
The Present — The Commune:
"They struck us down, yet here we still stand. Many of you have lost close friends, family or children and it is at this point where a politician would spew worthless drivel at you about how their death meant something. Not me, no. There was no glory, no valor, no grace in this massacre. It is in this, our darkest hour, that we need to sink to our knees and reminisce about our cause, and even if we, too, fall: We have something that our enemies can never have. If we, too, fall, the Anunnaki will reunite us again."
—Jared Nomak after the Texas Incident to the survivors
Those few survivors of the Texas Incident soon found themselves disillusioned, and thus they scattered across Sirius, becoming independent pirates, Freelancers, guns for hire, or simply settled down, founded families and found stable jobs. Some of them followed their desire for vengeance against the Order and were never seen again, and others simply lost their faith, believing that they had been abandoned by the Anunnaki. After all, if their Gods hadn't been able to prevent this massacre, they were either impotent or evil, as they believed.
Some few individuals, however, took it upon themselves to return to the site of their defeat, hoping to find their former brothers and sisters, or if that failed, at least some evidence, some clues as to where those might be found. One of these individuals was Jared Nomak. After years of disappointment and his former comrades abandoning the cause, it was like manna from heaven, a true miracle, that he encountered his former brother in arms, André Rise. Together, they gazed upon the hollowed out husk of cold, deformed steel that had once been their hideout and spoke in unison: It is all a test of faith.
Encouraged, Jared and André decided that it was time to search for other survivors. Fate and the favor of their Gods had reunited them and they took it as a sign to act. Utilizing old connections to those few friends they still had among the Outcasts, they established another base of operations on Genoa base. It proved difficult to find those survivors who had no intention of getting involved with them anymore, however, thus, in order to gain sufficient manpower, they offered sanctuary to those prosecuted in the colonies as well as those who were at the bottom of society in exchange for their devotion. Soon, the small organisation grew into something remarkable: a community where there was no strife, no discord and no disagreement — a place that was as close to the unity and harmony of the Nomads as humanly possible.
Religious by nature, those daring and experienced enough to operate spacecraft were soon selected to resume at least some of the tasks that had been executed by the Samarran Raiders in the name of their Gods, albeit with greater care, as manpower and resources were scarce and the only real income of the Commune consisted of that which the newest members brought with them, as well as occasional raids on spaceborne transport convoys.
Living in service of the Anunnaki had always been a harsh and taxing pathway to salvation, which was equally true for Samarra and Malta. The Gods never had any need for weaklings or weak-minded worms. Yet all those setbacks, all those hardships and all those hours spent in prayer had made the Commune what it is now.
The true enemy of humanity is itself. To that end, the very concept of humanity has to disappear. There may be no war, no strife, starvation or death, for the Anunnaki are the healers we oh so desperately need.
Goals and Purposes:
(C~ Following the guidance of the Anunnaki and serve them in every way possible.
(C~ Saving humanity with continuous change. The nature of humanity is violent and self-destructive. To this end, it must be united in a society similar to the Nomad Mindshare. Even if billions die in this process, the ultimate gain outweighs the loss in the long run, as many more lives will be saved this way.
(C~ Furthering the influence and reach of the Commune as well as ensuring its prosperity and safety. This includes furthering the agenda of the Maltese as well, as both parties are intimately intertwined.
Zone of Influence:
Given the submissive nature to the Nomads and their infested allies, the Commune is a tool to be used whenever and wherever deemed necessary by the High Mother. To this end, we request an own ID that is based on the Outcast one, but with some changes that permit being a tool everywhere. Places that are important for us are as follows in descending order:
(C~ The Omicrons (C~ The Tau Systems (C~ The Sigmas
Reputations:
Devoted:Slomon K'Hara Allied:The Wild Friendly:The Outcasts, Liberty Rogues Resentful:Everyone Else Spiteful:House Police, House Military, House Intelligence Agencies, House Corporations, GMG, The Order, The Core, SCRA, CR, Independent Miners Guild
(C~ Recruitment is closed and conducted by invitation or in game role play.
(C~The Commune operates without a clear-cut ranking structure, all core members aside from the Overlord are theoretically equal in standing and fairly autonomous, with personal goals and endeavors that contribute to the Commune's final Great Work.