The Novus Empire

## History

### Alleged Origins by Noverian Historians

In the 2050s (60 years before the modern resurgence of the Novus) the resource wars began, the dying struggle for fossil fuels and the reason the old world ended. In these wars a man fought, a veteran who would later become the man named Kaesar Augustus. He who created the modern Novus in the wastes of Virginia, Who called down the thunders on the Union of Raiders. At the end of the wars in the 2070s he was guided by the Military to a Vault, Vault 76, to learn of it's secrets! He hid in plain sight among the common rabble and found a young Atriox! He taught him of our ways and when the time came years later, inducted him into our Order, and many years later, trusted our Empire to be guided by his hand.

After Kaesar left the vault alone, in 2105, to study the new tribes of the wastes. While in Appalachia alone, he was captured by the Dagger raider gang, one of the many raider "communities" in the area, due to an error in judgement by the daggers. While most Wastelanders would have been content to wait for freedom or death, Our noble Kaesar was different. An intelligent and charismatic man, Kaesar had studied Ancient Rome, reading The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Julius Caesar's The Gallic Wars. These two books are influential in understanding how the Order would evolve. The Decline and Fall of Rome argues that Rome fell because it lost the spirit of self service, Kaesar reasoned that the US fell due to this reason, it cared about itself during the wars and not it's people!

It claims that Rome was strong because citizens were willing to sacrifice themselves for the common good, and the elite aligned their interests with that of the Empire. When the citizens became weak and self-interested, Rome fell to the stronger barbarians. This will be discussed further below, but it is sufficient to say that Kaesar saw parallels between the fall of Rome and the destruction of the Old World.

Kaesar, having been captured, recognized that the daggers were a militarily weak group, due to their small size and shoddy weapons. Seeing an opportunity to put his knowledge to use, he offered to train the daggers in advanced warfare tactics, desperate and without many options, they allowed him to. He taught them military tactics, weapon maintenance, explosives, and small unit tactics. But most importantly, he taught them the concept of total war. Prior to Kaesar, the raider gangs engaged in mostly skirmish warfare. The people were, in Caesar's words, "playing at war," they may have fought over resources, land, or honor, but they did not fight to conquer the other tribes. Kaesar in a moment of divine wisdom decided to change this. Kaesar didn't just wage war, he destroyed and assimilated the other raider groups in the region This led to the Daggers promoting Kaesar to the head of the raiders in recognition for what he had done for them, and his first act was crucifixion for the men that had captured him.

Kaesar was acutely aware that the root cause of all the problems were tribal identities, leading to internecine conflict and preventing any substantial recovery. He knew what had to be done. He had to erase all traces of tribal ans raider identities, and substitute a single, monolithic culture in their place. The tribes Caesar fought against and assimilated were primitive even by the standards of the post-nuclear world, with nothing even remotely comparable to what existed out west: No towns, no roads, no meaningful industry. They fell to the superior forces marshaled by Kaesar and later Atriox when Kaesar found him on the verge of death within the wastes.

By 2111, six years since he began the Novus and when his confederation was large enough, the Veteran crowned himself as Caesar, leader of the Great Tribe: the Novus and he deliberately patterned it after imperial Rome. One of the reasons was that this ancient European culture was completely foreign, alien to the ignorant tribals he was subjugating. Second, he considered Rome's highly militarized autocracy adept at integrating conquered cultures the perfect template for a society that could adapt to the challenges of the post-apocalyptic world and thrive, establishing prosperity and peace: a new Pax Romana. He created the new novus to  be a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, completely homogenous culture that would focus on long-term stability at all costs.

By 2115, Kaesar's age caught up with him and he passed down the throne to Atriox. His contributions to the Novus shall be remembered.

By the 2110s, Atriox had succeeded Kaesar and introduced a bigger focus on acquiring and studying pre-war technology and as well as improving the Novus' military, which resulted in a rapid expansion for them, from a basically nomadic tribe to a thriving settlement, Which was expanded by the absorption of smaller villages into the Novus.

Due to this conflict with the other factions was inevitable. For Atriox, this isn't just petty ambition. He likens himself to Caesar returning from his conquest of Gaul and the Raiders of Virginia as the corrupt Roman Senate. It's a textbook example of Hegelian dialectics, where the thesis and antithesis conflict, creating a synthesis when the conflict is resolved. When the Novus conquered the Union of Raiders, it was transformed from a republic plagued by bureaucracy, corruption, and internecine political strife into a highly efficient military dictatorship, while the Novus

will become a standing army protecting all the citizens of the new empire and the absolute power of its dictator. Atriox's experience in military command and knowledge of the post war lands as well as his natural charisma allowed the Novus to use other factions to topple the Raiders of Appalachia, as well as consume the remains of the Union Raiders to overtake the other factions in terms of power.

## Military

Novus military troops act as the main police enforcement in Novus land, with the supplement of supporting aliens. Despite the official propaganda stating that the Novus' military troopers are composed of human volunteers (however, no man or woman could claim to have personally known anyone who volunteered), and having specially designed armours that mirror the human form on the outside, there are tell-tale signs of their not-fully-human nature, ranging from novus soldiers communicating in a non-human language in the field (likely that of the aliens, in the process earning them the moniker "Jabberers" by Novus enemies) to their appearance without the helmets - Novus troopers are largely bald with grey irises, small, almost snake-like noses, and heavily pushed-back ears. This, combined with the fact that they bleed a sickly orange fluid similar in appearance to alien blood was the basis for suggestion that Novus soldiers have universally been genetically modified by the aliens. It was originally believed that Novus troopers were "recruited" from prisoners and unwitting volunteers, but in actuality they are vat-grown clones, with all the necessary skills and knowledge implanted directly into their brains. Some Novus soldiers suffer from having defective implants, causing them to defect. While some of them remain within the organisation, others removed their implants and have reformed into a resistance group known as the Skirmishers. As mentioned by m Mox, deserters from the Novus are actively hunted by the Vektan Royal Guard, who are referred to as the Butchers of the Free.

The Novus uses airborne transports to deploy troops and also has interceptors at its disposal. The Novus also has a psionic network shared among their troops, allowing an incredible capacity for logistics and communication.

## Ranks

### 《《The High Council》》

> "Trust in their word, as they may have sacrificed more than the worth."
>
>

High Elder (1)

High Paladin (2)

Royal Scribe (5)

Royal Knight (5)

Royal Emissary (Goes chapter to chapter, keeping contact.)

### 《《Command Ranking/Elder's Council》》

> "They choose their high decisions, as the Elder requires his own guidance."
>
>

Elder (1)

General (1) (Oversees Military and COS)

Sentinel (2) (1 Spec Ops, 1 Military)

Star Paladins

Head Paladin (1)

Head Scribe (1)

Head Knight (1)

### 《《Paladin Ranking》》

> "They are our wisdom, and our strength. The embodiment of our ideals. Trust your Steel in them."
>
>

Head Paladin (HP)

Paladin Commander (HP, XO Of the Branch)

Senior Paladin (SENPaladin)

Paladin

Junior Paladin (JP)

### 《《Knight Ranking》》

> "They are our protectors, trust in them, for their blood has been proven."
>
>

Head Knight (HK)

Knight Commander (KC, XO of the Knights.)

(Choose to help the Knights or join the Paladins.)

Knight Major  (KNIGHTMAJ)

Knight Captain (KNIGHTCPT)

Knight SGT (KNIGHTSGT)

Knight

Junior Knight (JNRKNIGHT)

### 《《Scribe Rankings》》

> "The Sword is a powerful weapon, but do not doubt the Quill."
>
>

Head Scribe (HS)

Proctor (XO of the Branch.)

High Scribe

Senior Scribe (SSCRIBE)

Scribe

Junior Scribe (JNRSCRIBE)

### 《《Lancer Ranking》》

> "They take to the skies, trust in them, for they care our chapter's support."
>
>

Lancer Captain (LCPT, Branch Head.)

Lancer Commander (LCMD, Branch XO.)

Lancer Major (LMAJ)

Lancer Knight-SGT (LKSGT)

Lancer Knight (LKNIGHT)

Lancer

Lancer Initiate (ILANCER)

### 《《Initiate Rankings》》

> "Their blood is our future, withhold trust in them, for they are learning of our Steel."
>
>

(Choose between JNRKnight, JNRScribe Or ILancer.)

Aspirant

Master Initiate

Senior Initiate

Initiate