Bretonia Armed Forces (player faction)

This is a player faction. For the affiliated NPC faction, see Bretonia Armed Forces

Bretonian Armed Forces
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Origin	Bretonia
Alignment	Lawful
Profile
Date of founding	334 A.S.
Founder(s)	King George I
Current leader(s)	Fleet Admiral Martin Bridge
Base of operations	Battleship Harlow, Salisbury
Primary role
Protecting the Queen
Secondary role
Defending the Kingdom of Bretonia and its ways

"Carina, Regina, Imperatrix!"

History

The Bretonian Armed Forces have long been commanded by the admirals of the Admiralty Board, a group currently comprised of the three admirals of the planetary fleets of Cambridge, New London, and Leeds, and the eight admirals of the great fleets, who currently each command their regions from the decks of the great Dunkirks, the Essex, the Suffolk, the Norfolk, the York, the Derby, the Macduff, the Grimsby, and the Ark Royal.

The group formerly met under the purview of the Monarch, who maintained a full third of the vote as well as veto power, on the Battleship Harlow.

This relationship has been recently upended. As a consequence of the recent troubles with the Populist Party, the Royalist Prime Minister Worthington, fearing a revolution on his hands, realized that superficial concessions to the Populists were needed, and he has appointed a new Minister of Defence, Royalist James Ralston.

The New Minister of Defense, in turn, resurrected the ancient rank of Fleet Admiral, and promoted Percy Nelles to that position. Fleet Admiral Nelles had a conservative reputation, and was assumed therefore to be safely Royalist. Secretly, however, he harboured admiration for the courage of the Populists and Federalists, and was loathe to add further to their persecution.

In June 817 A.S., following the loss of his arm at the Battle of Stokes and under pressure from the new government of Prime Minister George Mountbatten to make way for a younger candidate, Fleet Admiral Percy Nelles decided to step down from his position and was replaced by Fleet Admiral Sir Stanley Nelson, previously Admiral of the Suffolk Great Fleet. He is faced with the daunting task of halting the Kusari advance towards Planet Leeds and recovering from recent setbacks to bring the full weight of the BAF to bear against the exposed Kusari positions.

The Fleet Admiral now has replaced the Monarch's position on the Admiralty Board, and therefore now enjoys the voting and veto privileges previously enjoyed by the Monarch.

Support and Supplies, and Trading Restrictions

Since its formation in the year 310, the Bowex shipping corporation has almost exclusively funded the BMM construction of BAF warships, and the nationalisation of these two companies has historically increased the prosperity of the Bretonian public in comparison to the other Houses by reducing the strain placed on the public in the form of defence taxes.

For spectacularly obvious reasons, there is a ban against any commodities transferred to/from Kusari as well as a ban on any military-related commodities being taken through the Tau systems. Violators of this embargo shall simply drop their cargo, or be destroyed.

Position of the Queen

Preceding Carina I's rule, the monarch had long been an impartial observer of the Admiralty Board proceedings, maintaining a small defense force in Salisbury and providing the Battleship Harlow as neutral grounds for the politics of the Board. Queen Carina for a time enlarged the Monarch's martial power, beginning with a general increase in the exercise of the veto, using her influence in the legislature, and exercising direct command authority over Her personal Guard, the Royal Fleet. In time, Queen Carina's Royal Fleet surpassed in strength any other Bretonian Armed Forces Military unit.

Bretonian Politics then took a turn for the worse, at least in the assessment of the Royalists, who, acting in concert with the Crown, reacted to the demands of the Populists harshly, effectively banning that party, and in doing so radicalizing the Populist movement, the core membership of which became the Federalists.

To every action there is a reaction, and the angry response of the public, fuelled by Federalist propoganda, surprised the Royalists. Fearing a revolution at hand, the Royalists developed a propoganda narrative designed to assauge the people's anger, and neutralize the threat represented by the Federalists.

In the Royalist narrative presented to the public, there was a grudging recognition that yes, the Queen had overplayed her hand, and that the personal power of the Monarch had to be curbed. The creation of the position of Fleet Admiral was designed to grant the illusion that the Minister of Defense, and through him Parliament, was again firmly in control of the Armed Forces.

Illusion indeed. Because Carina, on the surface once again merely an impartial observer of the Admiralty Board, does in fact still wield tremendous power over the Royalists in Parliament behind the scenes, and as a result, over her Armed Forces.

It is revealing that in spite of the abovementioned "reforms", the Motto of the Bretonian Armed Forces remains "Carina, Regina, Imperatrix!"

Carina, Queen and Empress.

Character Information

Characters are named as follows:

• For fighters and bombers:
  • Fleet admiral: BAF|FltAdm.Initial.Lastname
  • Admiral: BAF|Adm.Initial.Lastname
  • Commodore: BAF|Cdre.Initial.Lastname
  • Captain: BAF|Capt.Initial.Lastname
  • Commander: BAF|Cdr.Initial.Lastname
  • Lt Commander: BAF|LtCdr.Initial.Lastname
  • Lieutenant: BAF|Lt.Initial.Lastname
  • Ensign: BAF|Ens.Initial.Lastname
• For capital ships: BAF|HMS-Shipname

Characters use a Bretonian Armed Forces IFF and Bretonian Armed Forces ID.

Operations

The Bretonian Armed Forces are the shield and sword of the kingdom and the royal protectors of the crown. By the order of the Queen's government and the royal approval of the Monarchy, the Armed Forces are to use all available means at their disposal to protect the people of Bretonia from any harm from foreign or domestic threats.

Their methods of operation include:

• Defence against immediate threats to civilian population within Bretonian space, regardless of origin
• Constant offensive operations (or failing that, harassment) of hostile foreign forces who would dare violate Bretonian borders without signed permission from the Queen or government
• Unfailing support to the Bretonia Police Authority and the Bretonian Intelligence Service, should their request such as needed
• Ensuring the flow of legal trade through Bretonian space, and the complete security of Bretonian corporations and their interests
• Keeping civilian morale high at all times by ensuring them of the infallibility of the Bretonian Armed Forces, and the extensive protection that all civilians are receiving

All BAF commanders should constantly remind their pilots of these duties, as the job of a BAF pilot is paramount to the continued existence of the Kingdom of Bretonia.

Zone of influence

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Armed Forces zone of operations map.

New London

The capital of House Bretonia. New London houses the government, royalty and the heads of the major corporate bodies of Bretonia. It is the most important system of the kingdom, and as such needs to be defended fiercely. Under vigilance from the Battleship Suffolk, New London is a safe place reached only occasionally by Gaian terrorists and Molly separatists as well as small Corsair wings.

Cambridge

The breadbasket of the kingdom, Cambridge is a vital system. It lies on the crucial trade route to Rheinland and contains the single largest concentration of farms in all of Bretonia. It is also constantly raided by Corsair pirates, and as such needs particular attention when it comes to the protection of trade traffic within it. The BAF command centre in the system is onboard Battleship Norfolk, strategically positioned near the Ross Planetoid. BAF standing orders are to shoot any and all Corsair ships in the system for the protection of the civilian populace.

Manchester

While Manchester is a crucial through-way to Liberty for Bretonian trade, it is rather quiet in terms of pirate attacks. Light Gaian and Lane Hacker raids are to be expected, nothing more. Due to this relative safety, Bretonian forces within the system operate from Battleship Suffolk in New London. Only light patrols necessary.

Leeds

Leeds houses the industrial machine of Bretonia. Planet Leeds itself is home to countless factories and manufacturing facilities, and is thus extremely important to the Bretonian crown. Recently the system has fallen under peril of invasion from the evil Kusari empire. By the order of the parliament Leeds is to be defended to the last ship, rocket and canister of H-fuel. It is currently the biggest staging area of the BAF, and all standing forces within it are always at high alert against any possible Kusari attacks. The centre of operations on Leeds is onboard the Battleship Derby, with secondary command operating from Battleship York.

Edinburgh

The system of Edinburgh is important for one reason: its planets. Planet Gaia is the lushest stellar body currently known in the Sirius sector, brimming with exotic wild life and freely growing plant life. It is highly sought after as a tourist destination and generates excessive profits for the government through taxes. The other planet, Ayr is currently under terraforming by Planetform, Inc. in an effort to create new habitable places for the people of Bretonia and lead the way in such future endeavours all across Sirius.

Edinburgh is believed to be the main area of operations for the Gaian terrorist movement. Due to the low threat involved, the BAF is rarely patrolling the system, concentrating instead on pulling resources to the nearby Leeds system for defence. All BAF forces in Edinburgh are operating from Battleship Derby, Leeds.

Newcastle

Newcastle is a large system housing a number of corporations and a significant standing fleet of the Armed Forces. Due to the amount of forces stationed by the crown there, the threat of piracy is minimal and forces are currently being pulled from Newcastle to assist with Leeds defence against the wicked Kusari invaders. Battleship Ark Royal houses fleet command within the system.

Dublin

The Dublin system is one of the more troublesome areas of the Kingdom, being the home system of the Mollys, as well as a major source of gold for all of Sirius - thus attracting petty pirates and Corsairs as well. Despite the recent treaty with the official Molly leadership, the amount of piracy and crime in the system has seen a steady increase as the BMM expands its operations there. Due to the growing severity of the pirate problem, the BAF has now been tasked with cleaning up the system under the blessing of the new Molly leadership. They operate within it from the launch bays of Battleship Essex.

Dundee

Although a lifeless and generally worthless system, Dundee is crucial to the Bretonian war effort due to its position on the galactic map. It is a through-way system to Tau-31 allowing the Armed Forces to bypass the heavily defended jump gate in Leeds, and strike the Kusari forces from the rear. It is currently the stage of a bloody battle between Kusari and Bretonian forces, with the victor being able to claim one of the only two natural ways the Tau systems into Bretonian house space. The BAF admiralty has declared the system as critical, and BAF reinforcements are advised to proceed from Leeds to Dundee whenever necessary to reinforce that flank against the Kusari's. The Dundee front is under command of the Battleship Stirling.

Omega-3

Omega-3 has long retained its status as a Bretonian protectorate, unquestioned by Rheinland who has its own problems with keeping the unfriendly system of Omega-7 in check. The Cambridge fleet is officially authorised to patrol the Omega-3 system at all times, which they do. Despite the presence however, Omega-3 is a difficult system plagued by pirates of all origins, and large numbers of independent settlers who look at the Kingdom's intentions with clear hostility. Due to this, all Bretonian patrols within the system must be accompanied by a ranking officer to prevent any political incidents with the local populace.

Salisbury

Salisbury is the home of the Bretonian fleet command, and is also the main training area of the Bretonian Armed Forces. The Fleet Admiral resides here, and as such this system is fiercely protected in case of any enemy assassins stumbling upon the jump hole.

Other locations

Armed Forces pilots can be occasionally spotted in these areas, fulfilling their objectives as necessary.

• Poole
• Magellan
• Cortez

Equipment

The Armed Forces are supplied by the Bretonian government with state of the art weaponry comparable if not exceeding the specifications of any other available offensive gun in the Sirius sector. Bretonian ships are specialised and extremely well suited to the tasks that they are built for, traditionally sporting good armour and powerful powerplants, as well as fine agility.

Due to these perks, the BAF has no need for foreign weaponry. A BAF fighter pilot can make use of Splitter and Ultra Sunrail class weapons depending on personal preference and the availability of these weapons. They can compliment such firepower with weaponry provided by civilian contractors such as missile launchers or Debilitators.

Ships:

Strike craft	Hussar Light Fighter Paladin Heavy Fighter Templar Very Heavy Fighter Challenger Bomber
Capital ships	Bretonia Gunboat Gunboat Bretonia Cruiser Cruiser Bretonia Battleship Battleship

Weapons:

• Bretonian, Civilian weapons

See Also

• Feedback
• Message Dump