04-05-2010, 09:54 PM
PRELUDE
Optimusjamie was lounging about his 'office' on Rochester. He turned on his Neural Net terminal and read a report Annette had forwarded to him. It was about these people called 'Phantoms'. STrange. He'd heard about the Phantoms before, but never thought they were real.
[quote]
::INCOMING TRANSMISSION::
::OPEN TRANSMISSION::
Comm ID: Annette Donut
To: Optimusjamie
Subject: FW: Phantoms
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Comm ID: Lilith Gadfium
To: Annette Donut
Subject: Phantoms
I've seen these lot running around. Here's a report I managed to obtain:
Commence Operation? Yes
Please Choose an Operation:
Download Files:
Phantoms
Crathygtan
----Commence File Download----
---Files Downloaded:
Phantoms and the Crathygtan---
File note: "This file is designed to give an overview of the Crathygtans minions in the Sirius Sector some 1000 years ago at the Crathygtans height. This document will cover as much of the Phantoms as we are able to from various documents that survive and also form expert testimony logged within the cortex over the last 600 years.
In order for us to explore more about the Phantoms we must first know more of their enigmatic masters. Information on the Crathygtan is scarce these days, but xenoarcheologists have found interesting data over the last few centuries. With this we shall attempt to build as complete a picture as we can.
At the height of the Crathygtans power, they were not the only Involved race floating amongst the stars. Whilst their intergalactic empire was vast it was bordered by another empire, equally vast and with as much power as the Crathygtan themselves.
The Phantoms were a minion peoples. Co-opted to the employ of the Crathygtan with promises of power and wealth, these humans were soon corrupted to become something else entirely. Still human, but no longer guided by the same moral compass as the normal human populace..
Now without further ado lets continue this."
The Crathygtan
The Crathygtan, henceforth shortened to CTan, were an intergalactic civilisation spanning some three galaxies. Whilst not claiming total ownership of all of them they had myriad subordinate races underpinning the entire society, without these races the CTan would have fallen to outside agencies long before the human race discovered Sirius. A cold and savage race they inspired terror in most who encountered them, only the Daam Kavosh were able to stand up to them. The two were bitter enemies until they both disappeared. Neither was able to get an upper hand in the vast wars that raged between the two and many smaller races perished entirely as a result of this ongoing conflict. However the Daam Kavosh had secrets hidden throughout their territory. Including the race humans refer to as Nomads, but xenoists refer to as Slomon KHara. This minor race would play an important part in human history after the wars that ravaged the third planet of the Sol system
The depredations of the CTan are near legendary now, and some believe most of the tales to be myth, but tales we know to be true, including the conditioning of subject races to be equally as vicious and brutal, if they were not already. The only time such conditioning was used on a case by case basis within a subject race, was with the Phantoms. Human tendency to vary wildly amongst itself led to many Phantoms not requiring the conditioning and many being accepted on the strength of the brutality already displayed in normal life.
The CTan were not a trusting race, ensuring dominion over the subjects through their Enlightenment program. Enlightenment being no more than a byword for brainwashing. The CTan used this method liberally during their reign. One such subject race gathered only in part, even with the full might of the CTan behind them, was mankind. Through all their dealings and invasions through out Mankinds tenure in Sirius, the CTan were never able to gain more than a foothold. Mankinds greatest weakness was also its strength against the CTan, no other race was as fragmented as Mankind and yet still able to pull together when times grew desperate. Even when the CTan were poised to strike a death blow to Mankinds resistance, man came back stronger and more forceful than ever.
The Phantoms
The Phantoms were by and large a group of terrorists in Sirius, it was their intent to wage the initial war with Mankind and open them up first for the Enlightenment process. This was considered a failure by the CTan but an unavoidable one, Both CTan and Phantom planning failed to take into account the tenacity of Mankind and before a second push could be mobilised other events transpired which moved the CTans focus.
Phantoms, whilst human, did have a few benefits of the CTan. For the occasional foray onto a planet all Phantoms were issued with standard powered armour, far in excess of technology then in use by the Houses. This armour was made out of standard materials used in ship hull construction and used servos to allow the user to move around with almost as much articulation as without the armour.
Standard operating procedure for the Phantoms was that of the Hunt, hunting high profile targets in an attempt to kill them and destroy their vessels, it is unknown the amount of people killed and butchered in this fashion. One of their greatest works of terror, their most unspeakable act, was the MOX bombing of Planet Cambridge. A single Talarca cruiser entered the atmosphere of the planet and crashed into one of Cambridges cities, destroying it and irradiating fully half of the planet. The death toll was in millions and the memorial to those who died stands as a testament to the cold brutality of the CTans human servitors.
The first Phantom, that is the man who would become Revenant, Julius Kane was originally one of the LSFs black ops specialists, gathering information on trade routes and other houses for the benefit of Liberty, however with this information Julius defected. Taking a small group of pirates Julius Kane went about waylaying the trade routes he had discovered in doing so, he drew the attention of the CTan. After the Enlightenment process he would become known throughout Sirius as Revenant DarkStar
DarkStars first order of business was to obtain new fuel for the CTan, More souls to carry on the CTan crusade, his first recruit into this shadowy cabal, was the one known as Virus. Virus served the CTan until his death, never wavering from the path chosen for him by his Revenant, eventually rising to the second tier of the Phantoms and the position of Eidolon. Virus was followed shortly by Onyx and Glock, both of whoms dedication to the Phantom cause, over the many years of butchery and madness, earned them promotion to the second tier and the positions of Wraith and Specter respectively. Other notable Phantoms included The Nameless, Blood Frenzy, Corruptor and Desecrator, Desecrator specifically known for his terrorism of the Sigma 13 system in the latter half of 816as.
Phantoms initially took shelter in the Xeno home system of Tau-45 with the blessing of the Xenos themselves, this lent much needed support to the Xeno cause and allowed time for the completion of the Temple of The Revenant, closer to Outcast space and Omicron Alpha, specifically in Omicron 82, known to belong solely to the Phantoms. Rumours persisted of a second Temple, although such rumours remained unfounded at that time.
Phantoms could be readily identified by their Phantom IFF and identification. Although such was their surprising abilities that very often the only warning of an imminent attack was a mad cackling laughter, or prayer to their dark masters. However if a Phantom wished to cause fear rather than mere wanton butchery, comms traffic would be littered with dark mutterings and macabre oaths.
Phantoms were known to pick their fights wisely and never more carefully than with their diplomacies, engineering a subtle web of contacts and information that would ensure they remained on at least speaking terms with most pirate factions in Sirius, all save the Gaians of course. Regardless of the Phantoms reputation as feared and brutal killers the Gaians could not let the bombing of Cambridge stand. Thusly the Gains remained distinctly unfriendly although never outright hostile to the Phantoms. Gaian bases were out of bounds. Phantom relations to the Houses and to the various corporations though was always hostility and outright war
The Phantom web of diplomacies can be summed up thus:
War: All Houses Hostile: All Corporations Unfriendly: Gaians Neutral: All Pirates not mentioned below Friendly: Outcasts Allied: None
Never able to press a full scale offensive, however, Phantom tactics were very much akin to guerrilla fighters in the many wars of ancient Earth. Striking from unlikely places and running before back-up or help could arrive. Survivors or witnesses to Phantom attacks always made reference to the sadistic delight which the Phantoms took in every kill and every victory.
The Phantoms never seemed to take in those that sought them out, but rather seemed to pick and choose new acolytes. How these dubiously lucky people were chosen was never confirmed, but it did seem that the Phantoms as a whole contributed to the process.
REPORT ENDS
::TRANSMISSION LOST::
"Hmm..." said Optimusjamie. "Phantom Empire, eh? Now that sounds like fun!"
Optimusjamie was lounging about his 'office' on Rochester. He turned on his Neural Net terminal and read a report Annette had forwarded to him. It was about these people called 'Phantoms'. STrange. He'd heard about the Phantoms before, but never thought they were real.
[quote]
::INCOMING TRANSMISSION::
::OPEN TRANSMISSION::
Comm ID: Annette Donut
To: Optimusjamie
Subject: FW: Phantoms
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Comm ID: Lilith Gadfium
To: Annette Donut
Subject: Phantoms
I've seen these lot running around. Here's a report I managed to obtain:
Commence Operation? Yes
Please Choose an Operation:
Download Files:
Phantoms
Crathygtan
----Commence File Download----
---Files Downloaded:
Phantoms and the Crathygtan---
File note: "This file is designed to give an overview of the Crathygtans minions in the Sirius Sector some 1000 years ago at the Crathygtans height. This document will cover as much of the Phantoms as we are able to from various documents that survive and also form expert testimony logged within the cortex over the last 600 years.
In order for us to explore more about the Phantoms we must first know more of their enigmatic masters. Information on the Crathygtan is scarce these days, but xenoarcheologists have found interesting data over the last few centuries. With this we shall attempt to build as complete a picture as we can.
At the height of the Crathygtans power, they were not the only Involved race floating amongst the stars. Whilst their intergalactic empire was vast it was bordered by another empire, equally vast and with as much power as the Crathygtan themselves.
The Phantoms were a minion peoples. Co-opted to the employ of the Crathygtan with promises of power and wealth, these humans were soon corrupted to become something else entirely. Still human, but no longer guided by the same moral compass as the normal human populace..
Now without further ado lets continue this."
The Crathygtan
The Crathygtan, henceforth shortened to CTan, were an intergalactic civilisation spanning some three galaxies. Whilst not claiming total ownership of all of them they had myriad subordinate races underpinning the entire society, without these races the CTan would have fallen to outside agencies long before the human race discovered Sirius. A cold and savage race they inspired terror in most who encountered them, only the Daam Kavosh were able to stand up to them. The two were bitter enemies until they both disappeared. Neither was able to get an upper hand in the vast wars that raged between the two and many smaller races perished entirely as a result of this ongoing conflict. However the Daam Kavosh had secrets hidden throughout their territory. Including the race humans refer to as Nomads, but xenoists refer to as Slomon KHara. This minor race would play an important part in human history after the wars that ravaged the third planet of the Sol system
The depredations of the CTan are near legendary now, and some believe most of the tales to be myth, but tales we know to be true, including the conditioning of subject races to be equally as vicious and brutal, if they were not already. The only time such conditioning was used on a case by case basis within a subject race, was with the Phantoms. Human tendency to vary wildly amongst itself led to many Phantoms not requiring the conditioning and many being accepted on the strength of the brutality already displayed in normal life.
The CTan were not a trusting race, ensuring dominion over the subjects through their Enlightenment program. Enlightenment being no more than a byword for brainwashing. The CTan used this method liberally during their reign. One such subject race gathered only in part, even with the full might of the CTan behind them, was mankind. Through all their dealings and invasions through out Mankinds tenure in Sirius, the CTan were never able to gain more than a foothold. Mankinds greatest weakness was also its strength against the CTan, no other race was as fragmented as Mankind and yet still able to pull together when times grew desperate. Even when the CTan were poised to strike a death blow to Mankinds resistance, man came back stronger and more forceful than ever.
The Phantoms
The Phantoms were by and large a group of terrorists in Sirius, it was their intent to wage the initial war with Mankind and open them up first for the Enlightenment process. This was considered a failure by the CTan but an unavoidable one, Both CTan and Phantom planning failed to take into account the tenacity of Mankind and before a second push could be mobilised other events transpired which moved the CTans focus.
Phantoms, whilst human, did have a few benefits of the CTan. For the occasional foray onto a planet all Phantoms were issued with standard powered armour, far in excess of technology then in use by the Houses. This armour was made out of standard materials used in ship hull construction and used servos to allow the user to move around with almost as much articulation as without the armour.
Standard operating procedure for the Phantoms was that of the Hunt, hunting high profile targets in an attempt to kill them and destroy their vessels, it is unknown the amount of people killed and butchered in this fashion. One of their greatest works of terror, their most unspeakable act, was the MOX bombing of Planet Cambridge. A single Talarca cruiser entered the atmosphere of the planet and crashed into one of Cambridges cities, destroying it and irradiating fully half of the planet. The death toll was in millions and the memorial to those who died stands as a testament to the cold brutality of the CTans human servitors.
The first Phantom, that is the man who would become Revenant, Julius Kane was originally one of the LSFs black ops specialists, gathering information on trade routes and other houses for the benefit of Liberty, however with this information Julius defected. Taking a small group of pirates Julius Kane went about waylaying the trade routes he had discovered in doing so, he drew the attention of the CTan. After the Enlightenment process he would become known throughout Sirius as Revenant DarkStar
DarkStars first order of business was to obtain new fuel for the CTan, More souls to carry on the CTan crusade, his first recruit into this shadowy cabal, was the one known as Virus. Virus served the CTan until his death, never wavering from the path chosen for him by his Revenant, eventually rising to the second tier of the Phantoms and the position of Eidolon. Virus was followed shortly by Onyx and Glock, both of whoms dedication to the Phantom cause, over the many years of butchery and madness, earned them promotion to the second tier and the positions of Wraith and Specter respectively. Other notable Phantoms included The Nameless, Blood Frenzy, Corruptor and Desecrator, Desecrator specifically known for his terrorism of the Sigma 13 system in the latter half of 816as.
Phantoms initially took shelter in the Xeno home system of Tau-45 with the blessing of the Xenos themselves, this lent much needed support to the Xeno cause and allowed time for the completion of the Temple of The Revenant, closer to Outcast space and Omicron Alpha, specifically in Omicron 82, known to belong solely to the Phantoms. Rumours persisted of a second Temple, although such rumours remained unfounded at that time.
Phantoms could be readily identified by their Phantom IFF and identification. Although such was their surprising abilities that very often the only warning of an imminent attack was a mad cackling laughter, or prayer to their dark masters. However if a Phantom wished to cause fear rather than mere wanton butchery, comms traffic would be littered with dark mutterings and macabre oaths.
Phantoms were known to pick their fights wisely and never more carefully than with their diplomacies, engineering a subtle web of contacts and information that would ensure they remained on at least speaking terms with most pirate factions in Sirius, all save the Gaians of course. Regardless of the Phantoms reputation as feared and brutal killers the Gaians could not let the bombing of Cambridge stand. Thusly the Gains remained distinctly unfriendly although never outright hostile to the Phantoms. Gaian bases were out of bounds. Phantom relations to the Houses and to the various corporations though was always hostility and outright war
The Phantom web of diplomacies can be summed up thus:
War: All Houses Hostile: All Corporations Unfriendly: Gaians Neutral: All Pirates not mentioned below Friendly: Outcasts Allied: None
Never able to press a full scale offensive, however, Phantom tactics were very much akin to guerrilla fighters in the many wars of ancient Earth. Striking from unlikely places and running before back-up or help could arrive. Survivors or witnesses to Phantom attacks always made reference to the sadistic delight which the Phantoms took in every kill and every victory.
The Phantoms never seemed to take in those that sought them out, but rather seemed to pick and choose new acolytes. How these dubiously lucky people were chosen was never confirmed, but it did seem that the Phantoms as a whole contributed to the process.
REPORT ENDS
::TRANSMISSION LOST::
"Hmm..." said Optimusjamie. "Phantom Empire, eh? Now that sounds like fun!"