Spravac

## Biology

The infamous spravac are among one of the most powerful species in the known galaxy. Their unique biology and mental state has allowed them to propel themselves forward as a deadly and immensely powerful species. Characterized by their ashen grey skin, the avian species stand over eight feet tall and are surprisingly fast and agile despite their size and weight. Their heads are a set of powerful jaws that snap down with a pressure so vast that they can shear through a human arm with a single snap, biting down with over 4,000 pounds of pressure. Their jaws, unlike most other species which have a set number of teeth, are lined with usually 40 teeth, though this can differ by individual. Because of spravac cellular regeneration, their teeth will grow in a manner similar to sharks, creating rows of small teeth that replace older or damaged teeth throughout their lifespan. This can sometimes go unchecked, creating sharp masses of two, three, or even four teeth that have been fused together to create one singular tooth. These jagged instruments are one of the spravac’s greatest weapons, and one that they used quite often when engaged in one of their frequent savage brawls against their own or an unfortunate victim.

Like most avians, spravac have razor sharp talons that tip their tridactyl hands and feet. Interestingly enough, these talons are actually part of the finger bones themselves, and are actually jointed through the middle, similar to a chitinous structure that makes spravac talons extremely durable. Their digitigrade legs have very long upper legs and tarsals and very short lower legs. The higher gravity on Sprava may have caused this, as well as allowed the spravac to be extremely agile despite their size and weight. Each of their toes are opposable, allowing them to grip objects with ease and perch themselves on narrow surfaces, allowing them to attack from above on narrow branches and metallic beams. As such, spravac have incredible balance and stability, their gyroscope-like anatomic stabilization gives them a distinct head-bob when they walk, as well as allow them to contort their bodies in unorthodox fashions in relation to other species while still maintaining proper balance.

Their head also has an elongated crest that is also razor sharp. Males have a significantly longer crest than the females, as well as an extra blade on each side, almost giving off the illusion of long, pointed ears. The hearing of the spravac, along with their eyesight and smell, is among some of the most advanced in the galaxy, as they are able to sense the presence of prey from over five kilometers away as clearly as they were in front of them. Though they are birds, they do not have hollow bones, as they lost the ability to fly as they gained sentience, though a pair of vestigial nubs where their wings used to be can be present on individual spravac. Spravac also used to have light feathers or thin, hairlike quills, though those have also since disappeared, though spravac that live on humid jungle worlds will occasionally grow small tufts of feathers on their spines and limb joints.

In addition to these traits, the spravac are seemingly designed in every manner for violence. Their luminescent pink blood is highly corrosive, almost 3 times as corrosive as sulphuric acid, and courses through their veins that are lined with a special mucus that protects the inside of their bodies from its acidic properties. The blood gains its pink coloration from an unknown compound of chemicals, though it is theorized that some form of bimetallic hemoglobin, most likely being cobalt-iron or cobalt-copper. It is also believed that the reason for the blood’s luminescence is due to the atmospheric makeup of Sprava, which, though breathable for most other races, has a higher content of methane than usual. However, due to the adaptability of spravac genes, they are able to live in worlds far more inhospitable or vice versa. The corrosive properties of spravac blood is due to it being made up of a molecular acid, though its exact contents are unknown. In addition, the blood oxidizes extremely quickly, causing it to dry and clot when in open air, effectively rendering it harmless after a few seconds, though that gives it ample time to melt through whatever it comes in contact with.

The spravac are also evolved to derive intense (almost erotic) pleasure from recieving and inflicting extreme amounts of pain, so much so to the point that they will harm themselves and each other for entertainment and as a sign of personal affection or comradery. Xenobiologists have continued to be baffled by the spravac’s biology since their discovery thousands of years ago. At first, the top minds in the field believed that painful sensations such as stabbings and gunshot wounds felt identical to traditionally pleasant feelings, but further study has revealed that spravac process pain the same way that other species do, rather instead of their brain using the pain as a signal that danger is imminent, it instead produces dopamine at a tremendous rate, associating pain with pleasure and causing the spravac to pursue the danger recklessly. It is unknown why the spravac developed this way, though some believe it is a response to the constant danger present in their world, allowing the spravac to dominate the other species on the world to gain sentience earlier in their evolution. The spravac have become so reliant on this adaptation that they are in a constant need of stimulus to remain not only sane, but fully functional and healthy, as spravac who have been deprived of any stimulus begin to wither. Save for special cases (the Incubi), it can be accurately stated that spravac require pain to survive.

Because of this bloodlust, spravac have developed a series of countermeasures in order to keep their population from dwindling. Their cells regenerate at an exponential rate, allowing spravac to heal any wound at a speed that varies by the severity of the wound. Gunshots, missing teeth, and cuts from blades will heal within minutes, burn marks and broken limbs will heal over days, and missing limbs and organs will regenerate over the course of months. Even an exposed brain will heal over time if the spravac is able to stay in a relatively safe condition.

The spravac have also developed steel lined bones from a naturally occurring carbonized iron that allows them to withstand extreme kinetic trauma to their bones. Along with this, the spravac have an advanced, constantly mutating immune system that makes them impervious to diseases and viruses, allowing them to live in any condition without issue, though they certainly carry thousands of diseases with them, which has caused vast deaths on worlds they’ve invaded.

All these traits have led some alien races and factions to regard the spravac as semi-sentient rather than fully sentient, as they are seen as too animalistic due to their frenzied outbursts and vile behavior towards all other individuals. Despite this, spravac are an extremely intelligent species, having developed extremely advanced weaponry and vehicles. Their ships are some of the only in the galaxy to be able to fly in reverse and utilize a rarely seen form of energy-based weaponry that some believed was rediscovered by them.

## Technology

This compound, called anti-matter, was originally used very heavily in the ancient galaxy by the Ayar and Qaze Empires. However, following the dissolution of the former and reformation of the latter, the technology fell into disuse. The spravac discovered the compound by accident when they attempted to combine the penetrating power of gauss with the burning properties of plasma and Arc. What resulted was a thin, bright purple bolt of energy that sears through any substance with no resistance. The bolt almost seems to cut through the air itself, ignoring wind and gravity as it speeds towards its target. These bolts of energy, despite their name, are still solid pieces of matter, and exude a tremendous amount of heat that cauterizes the blast zone of wherever it hits.

When mounted on spravac starships, these weapons become even more devastating. The staple ship armament of the spravac, the Ultrabow, is a standardized WMD that has a variety of devastating effects on whatever it impacts with. When coming in contact with planet surfaces, the initial blast zone is reduced to a molten plain of ash and molten rock, and the extreme tremors caused by the force of the impact will cause the ground to crack and shoot upward similarly to an earthquake, creating pools of lava pushed up from the planet’s crust. Most living things in the area are killed instantly by the intense heat, however plasmic pyroclastic clouds surging with lightning and speeds up to 800 mph will spread out and cause even further destruction, with the wind itself striping away the outer layers (such as skin) of organic structures and melting inorganic structures.

The resulting destruction can leave the blast radius inhospitable and devoid of life for decades without terraforming, as the molten soil, unlike volcanic soil, is devoid of nutrients and actually toxic due to the extreme burning of the antimatter and plasma, making natural reconstitution of the local ecosystem impossible.

## Culture

The spravac are a culturally and linguistically diverse species that have made no efforts to homogenize their culture further past administering a standard language (Standard Spraviscz). There are hundreds of cultures that have sprouted up on all the worlds of the Spravac Empire, though the most dominant are the Gegcenscz, Válíric, Tátvic, Spaasiscz, Árác, Sindellí, Télonscz, and Tvigcárí.

### Gegcenscz

Originating in the Southwestern wastes of Sprava, Gegcenscz is the dominant cultural force on Sprava itself. Linguistically unique in that they have their own section of the Spravac language tree, being part of the South Wastelandic branch. Because of their hegemony over the other cultures, the Genegcenscz language simply became Správiscz, the official language of the empire.

In terms of architecture, the Gegcenscz’s nomadic way of life pre-empire didn’t allow them to heavily develop their architectural style. When the empire was founded and they no longer had a need to travel, the Gegcenscz underwent an intense cultural shift, borrowing elements from other spravac cultures in order to influence their own. This had led to Gegcenscz buildings being overly simplistic and narrow, leading to the recognizable Sprava skyline of narrow black knife-like buildings jutting from the ground.

Overall the spravac as a race are not overly concerned with their sense of style, though a myriad of patterns can be observed. For example, the colors of black and purple are highly prevalent in Gegcenscz murals and clothing, and the Gegcenscz are much more utilitarian in their clothing, opting for minimal cloth and sometimes even leaving out tunics or even pants. The Gegcenscz notably had a dislike for the color blue being seen in their designs, rationalizing it as a sign of bad luck or even weakness.

Linguistically, Gegcensczí (or Vulgar Správiscz technically), is the most complicated of the spravac tongues. It takes most of its vocabulary from the Válíric and Tátvic languages. Imperial Správiscz, or Ízgác-Gegcensczí (True Gegcenscz), is a heavily inflected language, in which a single word can have thirty different meanings depending on how it is uttered, leading to it being so complicated that even some spravac have trouble learning it.

### Valiric

The second most dominant culture on Sprava, Válíric is the oldest and most enduring of the spravac cultures, having survived genocide, extinction of it’s language, and a cultural revival in the form of Lótv-Válíric. Originating in the Northeastern mountains of Sprava, the Válíric culture is almost the direct opposite to the Gegcenscz in architecture, language, and in general style.

Architecturally, the Válíric people were stationary and resided within massive cities and fortresses, all of which were ornately designed with spikes, gothic curves, and skeletal motifs. When the Gegcenscz absorbed them, an eclectic style was formed as it merged with the runic and simplistic designs of the Gegcenscz and the grandiose and ornate designs of the Válír.

The Válíric cultural dress is just as magnificent as their buildings. Drawing influence from their Tátvic neighbors’ love of gold and blue, Válíric clothing is highly prevalent with spines, flowing robes, and tunics adorned with miniature tapestries and familial sigils, as Válíric culture centers heavily on familial honor and loyalty.

Válíric clothing would also live on in the military, as the martial prowess of the ancient Válír did not go unnoticed by the Gegcenscz. The jagged, segmented armor of ancient Válír warriors heavily influenced the armor of the Rangers, Gloom Marines, and the non-Sprava cultures of Sindell, Telon, and Spaasa. The Válíric emphasis of headdresses also survived, as many of the previously mentioned infantry types utilize jagged, metal crested helmets.

Despite receiving a revival, the pure Válíric tongue did not survive the onslaught of the Gegcenscz, thus its language died out. Though it would live on in the form of Vulgar Správiscz lone words, it’s mechanical grammar was dropped in favor of the more melodic and subtle sound of Gegcenscz.

### Tatvic

A culture nearly brought to extinction, there are no surviving spravac that can directly trace their labyrinthine lineages to the Tátvic people. Originating in the mid-eastern Peninsula of Tátv, the Tátvic has survived almost entirely by the preservation of their clothing and architecture.

Their architecture is highly organic and luxurious in design, and the rounded edges of the Citadel are a testament to this. The Citadel, the only surviving city on Sprava to be almost purely Tátvic in design and culture, is known for its wavy edges and warping domes, which are said to appear to move when gazed upon for too long. The architecture is rarely seen anywhere else in the Spravac Empire, but hints of Tátvic craftsmanship can be spied on Sindell and the outer territories.

Tátvic clothing also survived, though more so intact than their architecture. Similarly to their Válíric cousins, Tátvic clothing also places a premium on cloaks and capes, which can be seen in the naval forces of the Empire, who took the Tátvic designs of their ships to later use in their own navy in the stars. As a result, all spravac ships have a fusion of Tátvic and Válíric styles, especially the servicemen, who wear long black capes as a badge of naval service, similarly to the ancient Tátvic.

### Spaasiscz

Spaasiscz represents a blend of Gegcenscz and Válíric culture. The planet of Spaasa in the Gammaverse has its own distinct identity within the Spravac Empire. Once again using Válíric architecture in their cities and Válíric armor designs for their garrison army, the Rampart Swarm, the Spaasiscz spravac all speak a dialect of Imperial Správiscz that blended with Válíric, utilizing most of the vocabulary of Imperial Správiscz and mechanical grammar of Válíric. The garrison army of Spaasa, the second largest planet in the Empire, the Rampart Swarm are a lightly armored and remarkably mobile army well known for having the largest cavalry unit in the Imperial Throngs.

With over 350 million Vólsczer and Írítár cavalry under their command, the Rampart Swarm is a dreaded horde of warriors known for pincer motions so devastating that they break entire invasion forces in mere hours.

### Arac

Originating along the eastern coast, the Árác are the smallest cultural group on Sprava. As a nomadic people, the Árác were highly mobile and thus did not have a unified language, with most of them taking up Válíric as their main tongue. They are partially responsible for the survival of Válíric as a language and culture, though the Árác are still highly unique from the others.

As a seafaring people, the Árác were proficient sailors and also highly superstitious of ocean related phenomena. The famous Árác War Coat, which lives on in the Coast Stalker Privateers and certain Blood Alchemists (the direct descendants of the Árác and the Admirals of the Imperial Navy respectively), was originally used to protect the wearer from ocean waves, as the ancient Árác believed that getting salt water on ones bare skin was a sign of bad luck or impending doom.

Due to their nomadism, the Árác never adopted architectural styles, instead their ships were their homes, and their ship designs were highly reminiscent of Tátvic vessels, though theirs were often smaller and quicker, which is why Árác ship designs can be seen influencing fighters, gunships, and other small combat vessels. The Coast Stalker Privateers are merciless spravac mercenaries, often commissioned by the Empire to battle on aquatic or coastal planets. They are often armed with superannuated, though still effective, military equipment and are not opposed to using the weapons of other nations. They especially have a liking for xamon gauss rifles and Uresian MA1-14s.

### Sindelli

Adopting the industrious attitude of Tátvic, the Sindellí spravac did not utilize any of the Tátvic language’s nuances, rather they adopted its accent and vocabulary and applied it to Standard Správiscz, creating a new language within the Empire known as Sindellí Správiscz. The Tátvic soldiers, similarly to the Válíric, used armor for their soldiers that was segmented and highly ornamental, though they lowered certain silhouettes such as the large pauldrons of Válíric armor, which they believed limited movement. The Sindellí carried on this tradition with their garrison army; the Blade Horde, which was also highly inspired by the Tátvó-Válíric fusion of the two. As the garrison army of Sindell, the Blade Horde are a brutal horde of well equipped and heavily armored soldiers wielding specialized Sindell Steel blades and antimatter crossbows clad in the Razor Raptor Panoply. Trained to be so reckless that they would even throw away their lives at the slightest challenge. The Blade Horde also possesses the largest array of Hyena-Class mechs in the empire, allowing large amounts of their army to crush enemy tanks and fight larger foes with ease.

### Telonscz

The only culture in the empire to be influenced by an alien race, Télonscz culture borrows heavily from Válíric and even the Tvigcárí, particularly their sense of style and armor. However, the architecture of Télon is a fusion of modern Gegcenscz style, but also the Crakes, who were the original owners of the planet. Thus, the buildings of Télon are towering and foreboding, using bright green lights and twisting patterns that loom over the streets.

Because of the Crakes’ zombie-like appearance, their image is often used as a representation of death on Télon, and this reverence of death much akin to Dejism is present on the planet, even down to the Death Legion, the shadowy garrison army of the planet. The garrison army of Télon, the Death Legion are a specialized army of dauntless and excessively courageous warriors that are well known for their proficiency in breaking enemy units in seconds, leading to the moniker “Black Blitz Legionaries” being applied to them, a name they wear with pride. Wearing the Shadow Hawk panoply reminiscent of Spravac officers, the Death Legion appears as a great horde of generals and officers charging into battle. The Death Legion also mastered special chemical formulas that permeate off their armor during life and death to give them the appearance of shadowy spectres gracefully cutting their way through the enemy ranks.

### Tvigcari

A completely isolated culture within Sprava, the Tvigcárí are an ethno-linguistic religious culture that has its own incredibly diverse beliefs and architectural style.

Tvigcárí clothing is black and blue in coloration, as well as there being a special emphasis being placed on the color of red, which the Tvigcárí believe is the color of their god, Tvigcár. As an ancient and isolated order, the Tvigcárí shun technology and firearms especially, instead choosing to use swords and spiked metal shields.

In recent years, the Tvigcárí saw much more exposure after they were commissioned by the Spravac Empire to take a large amount of planets without having to go to war with the alkar and qaze. As the Tvigcárí took each planet, they interacted with the spravac Incubi, who are Gegcenscz, stationed there, which in turn formed a subculture on those planets within the Kingdom of Tvigcár, mostly representing a blend of Tvigcárí religious values and a pidgin of their language that melded with Imperial Správiscz and Tvigcárí.

The Tvigcárí dress standards were also appropriated on these planets, even if most of the spravac living there aren’t even members of the Tvigcárí faithful. This new development has been met with resistance from some Tvigcárí, but has been generally accepted due to the spravac’s innate inability to allow anger to fester for more than a few minutes.

## Society

As a society, the spravac have a feudalistic system that works in tandem with the Prime Pentarchy. A tradition born from the Válíric Kingdoms, the concept of spravac nobility has evolved heavily since the unification of the spravac people. The tradition focuses on familial honor and hereditary titles, in which male and female members of a Great Horde inherit land titles and preside over their strip of land for their merits. As a strictly merit based system, land titles and rights are originally always meant to be inherited by the next male heir of a family. However, if a younger male member exhibits traits that are superior to the current heir, the current holder of the title may bestow upon him instead.

These often result in Duels of Right, in which the current heir and the claimant will fight to the death to settle the agreement, as the kratocratic society of the spravac means that the strongest are the ones who earn the right to govern.

Following the death of the current title holder, the rights of the land are given to the Authority of the Region, often a Didact or Archon, who then officially coronates the heir to the lands to ensure his rule is legitimate. The newly ordained noble will then hear objections to his rule and eliminate the challenges accordingly. These coronations often result in small scale, controlled civil wars in which rival hordes will fight each for the right of land.

The various lands of the Spravac Empire are presided over by the thousands of myriad lords of the spravac political scene. Lands are organized into Estates, Domains, Regions, Provinces, Kingdoms, Planets, Imperial Territories, and finally the entirety of the Empire.

Estates are ruled by Lords and Ladies. It is the only title that female spravac are eligible to hold and rule over. Estates are often large plots of land similar in structure to a Fief. Citizens living on the estate hold fealty to the Lord and serve as its soldiers in times of war. When the Empire goes to war against an enemy faction, the citizens of the Estate report to the Lord and are then given to the military to fight. When the war is over, those that remain return to serving the Estate. Due to the lethality of war, Estates will occasionally be rendered empty by the war's end. In that case, the women of the men who died in war are to repopulate the Estate’s grounds by mating with the Lord and his siblings. This has led to Estates occasionally being populated by a single, inbred family. However, since incestuous defects are never present on spravac, this is never a detriment to the family line.

Domains are presided over by Didacts, which originally was a term for nobility that was appropriated as a military term, domains are large, county-sized stretches of land that will contain hundreds of Estates within them. Domains can and often are owned by single families that in turn own a majority of the Estates (though they don’t need to own all of them, just enough to command respect), the Didact of the Domain reports to the Archon of the Region. The Didact’s duties include coronating Lords and Ladies, ensuring that the populace is properly armed when war is waged, and supervising infrastructure.

Regions are massive territories of land that are often contiguous territories of the Great Hordes. Like the Domains and Estates, Regions can sometimes be ruled entirely by a single Great Horde, though less so than others. Regions are led by Archons, another noble term reused in military jargon and in the Incubi Covens. Archons act as representatives in the Imperial Diet, serving in the Incubus Covenant as the representatives of their subjects. Regions are also the lowest tier in the Incubi Organization Tree, as it is the first stage on the pyramid in which the Planetary Coven will instill an Incubus advisor and bodyguard units to assist the Archon in political matters, thus originating the vast influence that the Covens utilize.

Provinces are ruled by the Blood Barons, provinces are large, country sized lands that can be both contiguous and can be separated or prorupt by other provinces. Blood Barons are appointed by the Spine Princes and are responsible for ensuring that all spravac men serve in the military. The Blood Barons raise the armies and also ensure that production of ships, weapons, and vehicles for the military are also occurring. Blood Barons also are appointed to settle territorial or familial honor disputes between his vassal houses, acting as a neutral party to resolve the issue with a short, though still often bloody, solution.

Kingdoms are massive, often continent sized regions, the Kingdoms of the Empire are traditional Válíric territories on Sprava and mandated territories for powerful Great Hordes on the other planets. Kingdoms are the penultimate hereditary land in the Empire’s system. Led by Spine Princes, the head of a Great Horde family, Spine Princes are among the highest authorities in the Spravac Empire. They serve in the Imperial Diet alongside the Archons, Blood Barons, and the Vótzai. Oftentimes, the Archons and Blood Barons are members of their own house, but they can also simply be their underlings.

Entire planets are helmed by the vicious Reaver Counts, the planets of the Spravac Empire are often held by five or six Great Houses that change frequently. The Reaver Counts are responsible for overseeing the entirety of the planet. If Kingdoms have squabbles over land ownership they step in to resolve them efficiently to ensure that the empire runs efficaciously. Reaver Counts are not permitted to war with each other over planetary lordship, a matter of that size and scale is to be dealt with through single combat between the claimants. The Reaver Counts are also the second highest authorities within the Imperial Diet, with only the Vótzai and the Primes themselves standing above them in the Incubus Covenant.

Imperial Territories are often characterized as non-contiguous collections of planets. The Imperial Territories are the celestial provinces of the Empire. At the top of each Imperial Territory is what is referred to officially as a Prime World; a large, densely populated planet within the empire that is meant to act as an indicator for a new prime. Prime Worlds are the most populous planets within each of these territories, as well as the Territorial Capital due to its superior military presence and production in comparison to the other planets in the territory. Whenever a new Prime World is settled and inducted as such, the Primes and Incubi see it as a sign that another Prime must be added to the Primehood. Currently, there are five Primes each presiding over the Imperial Territories, being the Milky Way Primes of Sprava, Spaasa, Telon, and Sindell and the Andromeda Prime of Vólánír.

## The Incubi

Along with the Primes, the Empire is led by the Incubi, a cult-like collection of warriors that a large portion of spravac civilians view as the true leaders of the Empire, with the Primes acting as a necessary mouthpiece and figurehead for the people to rally behind.

Spravac Incubi are among the most notably horrifying, deft, and vagarious of the spravac war hordes. They are the strongest of their brothers in arms and the least animalistic. By no means are they any less vicious, but their ghastly devotions to blood and the culling of life is channeled into their surreptitious and pure, unchecked aggression. Their obsessive devotion to the sharpening of their craft as the Empire’s best and most reviled warriors is as impressive as it is agonizingly terrifying.

Their armor is often much more ornate and appears almost as if the shadows of space itself were manifested into a jagged, razored panoply adorned with all manner of horns, blades, and spines that jut out from every plate that covers the deadly spravac beneath.

### History

Founded in a time when the spravac were unorganized and struggling to advance past savagely warring with each other for mere meters of land, the Incubi were not a special organization or army but were a Warband calling themselves the Gegcenscz, or Demons. The Gegcenscz was the driving force behind the unification of the spravac race, and thus all Prime dynasties can trace their labyrinthine and complex family trees back to the original Incubi.

Based in the village of Cairé Árvos (Black Heart), the Gegcenscz were easily the most widespread and powerful of the Warbands of Sprava. Renowned for their advanced (for the time) weapons and devotion to combat, the Gegcenscz had the largest standing army on Sprava, an army that allowed the Gegcenscz to hold a considerable amount of power within the tribal politics of Sprava. The leader of the Gegcenscz, Vógcí Tzill, was a mad and particularly violent member of the Gegcenscz Warband. As insane as he was brilliant, the Mad Warlord as he was called dreamed of a united Spravac Empire. By his side were the first Incubi, Jerítai Sírvíai and Rasczec Lívinc. The two were just as ambitious as their Lord but were also just as barbaric.

In the dark of the night on April 2, 3475 CE, a year after the spravac had been united by Tzill’s conquest, Síríai, Lívinc, and four other duplicitous Gegcenscz warriors ambushed Tzill, with Síríai and Lívinc feigning loyalty until that last second when they struck down Tzill, with Síríai taking his place as Prime of the Spravac Empire. With Tzill’s blood staining and corroding the ashen panes on the floor, Síríai bestowed the Mantle of Incubus upon Rasczec, naming him “The Father of Pain and Salacious Slaughter”

With their rule assured, Rasczec organized the army of the Incubi into the Coven of Incubus, as he believed that such a small and ritualistic army would not be able to quell such a large and clamorous population. The Coven instead elected to become the special forces of the Empire, acting as the dutiful bodyguards of the Prime, though they are taught and permitted by the Empire to kill their own leaders if they suspect them of frailty. As the Empire expanded, the Coven did as well, and new Brother Covens were established on other Imperial Worlds, with each planet within the Empire acting as the home of their Coven. Each Coven is led by the Vótzai, or Overseer, who convenes with the other loathsome Votzai at the Sabbath of the Sóvotv, or Elated Expiry. The Vótzai are among the deadliest of the Incubi and are revered as almost godlike Sages of Battle, playing a large role in the hierarchy and internal politics of the Covens and the Empire. Vòtzai will frequently assassinate each other and even Primes in order to maintain the largest amount of fame and respect among the spravac populace.

### Training and Recruitment

Incubi, while the Empire’s finest and most beloved warriors are in no short supply. Their numbers are equivalent to entire armies of other races, and they seem to replace each other at death the same way an engine part presents itself on a conveyor belt. They already possess the razor-sharp reflexes and savagery of their kin, but the Incubus endures a training that no lesser spravac would dare undergo.

An Incubus will spend months honing his control and natural impulse to disregard stealth and tactics to kill the enemy, but the Incubus is more than his genetics, and his training with the Incubus Coven morphs him into an unholy marriage of patience and cruelty. His weapons are always quiet, and thus Incubi shy away from the luminous energy blade that so many spravac have grown to adore. Rather, an Incubus goes for a blade of glinting titanium, jagged and elegantly curved, designed to cut through flesh as if it were air and water. However, an Incubus needs not a weapon, for his very body is such, his talons are sharpened to the point that they puncture flesh and bone as smoothly as a bullet would. His jaws are so shockingly strong that bones buckle and shatter beneath it, and his punches and kicks suffice just as well.

The Incubus is deployed as the hammer that warps the heated metal of the enemy, they see open combat just as frequently as they do nocturnal operations, and they revel in both as if they were resting at home. An Incubus is only truly himself when he is on the field of battle, bathed in the blood of his many screaming victims, each cruelly and adeptly slain by his ceaseless cruelty and hatred.

When not slaughtering their quarry on a field of charred earth and blood doused pavement, the Incubus is obsessively and tactfully honing his skills within the Labyrinthine Coven of Blood, the expansive training yard and base of operations for the Incubi.

Incubi are the staple of spravac warfare, they are swift, deft, and unparalleled in their ferocity and addiction to war and death. When the spravac demand that blood be shed, the Incubi make it so, and thus they are the sparks that initiate every war in spravac history. When the Union of the Betaverse first met the spravac, they were fired upon by an Incubus Longbowmen. When the war officially began, it was after a platoon of Incubi stormed the gates of the planet of Jalaxist. The Incubi shred their prey to ribbons in every engagement, no man, woman, or child is safe from their fiery wrath, and the Incubi struck each of them down with enough scorn to fool the ignorant to idolize them as gods of war and execution.

As masters of quietus and combat, Incubi are all brilliant tacticians in their own right, if they wished it, they could lead entire armies into battle, but that role would involve much less combat than they would prefer. The Incubi prefer weapons of sharpened metal than antimatter casters, though he is always seen toting at least one of the feared instruments. The most common of spravac blades that the Incubi will harness is the feared and cherished Taitvon, the zenith of Spraviscz craftsmanship and precision. An elegant but savage weapon designed to kill as quickly and as painfully as is possible in this plane of existence. The blade is considered to be the paramount of weaponry amongst the Incubi, and an Incubi would be doing himself a disservice to his gift for death if he were to use any other weapon. Of course, this does not mean that Incubi are inflexible, but even if he is not currently using a Taitvon, at least one is to eternally be at his side, even in bloody and glorious termination.

Users of the Taitvon are called Taitvácscz, a state of being within the Incubus’ career when he and his weapon have become one and wield each other with an adeptness so extraordinary that the untrained eye would mistake it for the supernatural, coupled with grenades and pistols that actively target the nervous system of its prey, it makes a Taitvácscz an unkillable dispenser of blade and slaughter.

A famed and greatly effective tactic of the Incubi is the poetically named “Jí-Taitvon Vévtziv '' (Riding the Talon), named after the famed Incubi unit that popularized it. The general strategy of Riding the Talon is that the Taitvácscz charge straight into the enemy lines, devastating them with sinuous and dreadfully efficient attacks, all while longbowmen and crossbowmen circle around and fire into the flanks of the enemy, destroying entire squads of soldiers with every shot. The Talon that the tactic takes the namesake of it the Taitvon, in which it’s users allow their barely contained urge for killing to be unleashed by way of the Taitvon, thus the term “Riding the Talon'' since Taitvon means “Talon Sword.”

Of all the training systems in all of the Galaxy, none is as rigorous and torturous as the training of the Incubus. The Initiates, called Cambions, are thrown into a blood-soaked pit of spikes and fire and expected to battle each other until one is victorious, the Cambions are some of the most respected and adored of the Imperial Army, so they are already skilled combatants in their own right, and thus millions are selected and pooled into groups of one hundred to await the trials. The survivors of each pool are then thrown into the wilderness of their Coven’s home planet, expected to work together to survive for a month, during that time they will survive on little food or water and must resist the urge to fall into a frenzied state, in which they would turn on their Cambion Brothers. This trains Incubi to subsist simply on violent thoughts alone to survive, proving that spravac do not need to be in a near constant state of pain to survive, but simply need to discipline themselves enough that the mere thought of violence provides the stimulus they need to remain sane and healthy. After the Trial of Survival, the Cambions are split into smaller groups and must fight each other as teams of 40, the remaining 200 teams are the victors and continue their training. This premium on teamwork is salient to Incubi effectiveness, and thus Incubi who take on missions alone are seen as foolhardy and arrogant, as the Incubi scorn arrogance as the trait of a weakling.

Finally, the Trial of Inferno is given to the Cambion teams from the previous Trial of War. All Incubi Platoons are expected to serve as Neophytes within the Imperial Army under a pledged Incubus officer for at least a year. Should the Neophytes survive, they will be inducted into the Coven by letting a stream of their blood into the Chalice of the Incubus, a symbolic gesture that makes the Incubi Brothers in Arms and Blood.

After their induction into the coven, the final Sabbath commences, and the Incubi are now exalted as Battle-Brothers of the Coven, expected to fight and die for each other and the Empire as the pride of the spravac race.

### Equipment

Incubi are armed with the finest weapons and armor that the Empire can bequeath. They’re armed with the staple of the Coven, the sinuous and graceful Taitvon, a standard issue antimatter caster, and the dreaded and precise longbow. The Incubi are clad head to talon in segmented and jagged armor, layered with steel and titanium alloy of most excellent strength. Their armor is implemented with a highly advanced cloaking system that renders the Incubus foreign to sight for up to an hour on a fully charged battery. The soles of the Incubus’ boots are padded and thus emit as little sound as possible for a being of its size. Incubus designed SMGs are also issued to all Incubi in pairs for expertly executed duel wielding. Many Incubi marksmen utilize the PM Carbines, Zgevescz Rifles, Kraken Karbines, and Deathshard Carbines for their ability to be effectively suppressed and deadly ammunition. They often mount steel Gclaivscz (bayonets), as opposed to the more common antimatter bladed variety, on the barrels to skewer any prey that was foolish enough to get close.

The wrists of the Incubus Battle Armor are implanted with two small grenade launchers that spew forth a gas toxic to all organic beings except for the Incubus himself, the gauntlets are outfitted with an advanced gravity well of impossibly small size, allowing the Incubi to wield large weapons with an ease akin to wielding a feather. The talons of the Incubi are often poisoned with Executive Epicure, a deadly venom that causes the target to bleed excessively from all wounds as if the blood was fleeing from its fleshy prison, this same venom is often doused onto Taitvons and other lethal Incubi blades such as;

Cruusenc Víll (Crescent Dagger), a side blade of an Incubus. To a being of lesser stature, the Cruusenc Vill would appear large enough to be a sword in its own right, but to an Incubus it is a wonderfully clandestine instrument of murder. The dagger is also common among the Sisters Succubi of the Succubus Coven. The Succubi also use the Vectzó Víll, a larger and even deadlier tool of battle for the Succubi and Incubi alike.

The Vecvon (Greatsword) is another beloved and feared blade, the Vecvon is a large, graceful blade that is both straight and jagged. The false edge of the blade is tipped with several serrations that can tear and cut swathes through multiple enemies at once. Crafted by the infamous smiths of Sindell, the Vec’s blade is honed using a specially designed molecular grindstone, shaving off slivers of the blade to make it an impossibly sharp yet remarkably durable sword. The weapon is the second most popular weapon of the Incubi hordes, who have all grown to admire its incredible sharpness, many Incubi will upgrade it with a gravity tether, a powerful electromagnetic current that allows the vonváctzum (swordsman) to fling the blade forth several meters and still maintain control, using the powerful weapon as a deadly and instantly fatal projectile, as it is often laced with Deadly Nocturne, a powerful agent that causes the foe’s blood to boil and evaporate.

The Flagellant is a deadly and bizarrely salacious weapon of war, the flagellant is favored among the most sadistic and merciless of the Incubi, individuals so reviled that even their own brothers believe them to be unprofessional and excessive. These Incubi, called Flayers by their brothers and foes, are among the most horrific Incubi to face. Often sent on solo missions, the Flayer’s choice of weapon; the Flagellant is a deadly seven tailed whip coated in poison hooks and barbs. Also called the Thorn Snake, the Flagellant almost seems to be alive as it whips about and seeks the throat of any victim unfortunate enough to be ensnared in its grasp. The barbs are retractable, and unleash themselves upon their foe upon contact with flesh, tearing into the flesh of its victim before the Flayer tears the throat out with enough force to snap its owner’s neck.

The Rictai is another malignant and prized weapon, the rictai is the largest and most uncommonly sited of the Incubi blades. The weapon appears to be a double-headed spear, but in all actuality is two long-handled víll that connect together to form a massive weapon of terrifying power. The weapon is forged by the same smiths of Sindell, and thus can cleave through most metals with an ease paralleled only by the antimatter caster, the poison that typically coats it, called Lifesbane, causes the skin bordering a fresh wound to become taut to the point of splitting, causing the wound to get progressively larger with every waking second.

The Cálvon is a short but often instantly fatal blade, the Cálvon bears a striking resemblance to the tonfa of Human martial arts. Literally meaning “Arm Sword”, a Cálvon is a large blade that runs across the length of the entire forearm of the Incubi, often acting as a parrying and ultra-close combat weapon. The blade is not as sharp as other spravac blades, but it is by no means dull, able to cut most leather and iron armor to ribbons with little to no effort. The weapon is common amongst the aforementioned Flayers, who greatly enjoy tearing their victims apart with dual Cálvon.

The Incubi, while they certainly enjoy killing the enemy, have a great love of toying with their quarry. They especially love to use Vapor Mines, a powerful anti-tank mine that just so happens to be greatly effective at killing large groups of people in mere moments. The mine spews out bolts of anti-matter in all directions, shooting through up to 100 targets in the vicinity. A handheld grenade version of the device was designed by Brother Migcélû of the Télon Coven in 7058 to be used in even greater numbers and be much more concealable. The device can be mounted and fired from the wrist-mounted grenade launcher typically used to launch gas grenades.

The armor of the Incubi takes on the colors and design of their Coven, leading to a diverse array of forms and colors for each of the hundreds of Covens within the Empire. Despite being far more complex and ornate in design, spares no function or practicality. The panoplies are adaptable, durable, and incredibly light. The plating is made up of a light carbonized resin that is able to deflect many high velocity projectiles and energy bolts. Further heightening their status as deadly warriors. There are five sets of armor, each with their own unique set of traits to make such effective suits of armor. The armors are each designed by a specific Cult of Combat, of which there are also five. Each coven within the empire has five Cults of Combat, to which each Incubus devotes himself to one of the five. Covens will have billions of practitioners of each Cult, and Incubi, upon pledging themselves to the cult of their choosing, will be placed in a War Pack and issued the structural upgrades to their personal suit of armor of that specific cult. The Cults each exalt a different facet of combat, the Cult of Aquarius glorifies fighting in water and gracefulness in battle, the Cult of Gemini adore deception and poisons, the Cult of Scorpio value wrath and glorious frontline battle, the Cult of Sagittarius believe in speed and silence, and the Cult of Taurus venerates conflict in environments that would kill any lesser beings.

Each Cult has a Patron Warrior who founded the Cult, establishing its rules of honor, conduct, and the doctrine of combat, which the Incubi revere in an almost pious way.

## Military

In addition to the Incubi, the spravac has a vast array of various types of infantry and ships to strengthen their empire even further, as they have the largest known military in the galaxy and the second most powerful overall (second only to the Holy Zyyntorean Empire).

### Imperial Navy

The Imperial Navy, also called the Spravac Navy or the Black Armada, is the Celestial Branch of the Imperial Armed Forces. It’s primary function is to defend planets of the empire, secure celestial territory, and invade planets and prevent enemy forces from retaking lost planets. Most spravac ships within the navy rely upon the spravac signature Weapon of Mass Destruction; the Ultrabow, the most commonly used armament of the Imperial Navy.

The Imperial Fleet Academy teaches admirals to rely upon a special set of various fleet techniques for combat. Typically, nations try to avoid firing WMDs when trying to capture a planet from an enemy navy, especially when their intent is to occupy and annex territory. Due to spravac anatomy, spravac Blood Alchemists are encouraged to use their ultrabows when assaulting an entrenched fleet with its back to the planet. Admirals typically use the formation known as the Black Lance, in which frigates and other lightly armored ships, along with gunships and fighters, attack the enemy fleet from the front while the more heavily armed battleships and dreadnoughts bring up the rear of the lance. As each section of the lance fires off a volley of their Ultrabows and other weaponry, they vear off to the side to open the “Threshold'' for the more powerful ships. As they open the Threshold, they circle around and prepare flanking maneuvers to clean up the stragglers.

Another tactic known as Painkiller (Vólóm Tzártzá) Formation, named after the Blood Alchemist that popularized it during the Spravac Crusades, Vólóm Tzártzá, is a specialized blockade formation designed to control and planet’s space after infantry forces have been successfully deployed on the ground. The formation places carriers and the flagship of the fleet in the center. On the outer flanks are battleships, destroyers, and dreadnoughts to protect the center ships. As the enemy fleet approaches, they tend to target the carriers, which are purposely exposed in front of the main formation for bait. As they are attacked, they reverse as the rest of the ships move forward, enveloping the enemy fleet as they become engulfed by fire. The carriers also deploy fighters and gunships and boarding parties to further disrupt the enemy fleet, “Killing the Pain” in record time.

When it comes to Supercarriers, the spravac sport one of the largest fleets in the galaxy, as well as some of the most powerful of their kind; the Genocide and Tártv Classes. Supercarriers are the flagships of Grand Armadas, the largest fleet unit of the entire Imperial Navy. Supercarriers will occasionally fight alone, but are most commonly seen utilizing the Wolf Pack Formation, in which a Genocide (or more recently Tártv) Supercarrier leads both the armada and a Wolf Pack of 2 Citadel Supercarriers and 1 Trebuchet Supercarrier, creating a fleet killing squadron of 4 destructive war machines. With the advent of the Tártv, this format has been resized to create the Death Pack Formation, in which a Tártv leads 2 Genocides, 1 Citadel, and 1 Trebuchet, creating a five ship unit. These Packs lead either from the front or the back of a Black Lance when invading and in the core of a Painkiller Formation.

The Tártv’s introduction has also created a new form of a naval organization known as the Apocalypse Armada, in which a Tártv Supercarrier is accompanied by 1,000 other ships that link to its Rift Core while two Genocides are docked in its tremendous bays.

### Imperial Army

The Imperial Army is the primary fighting arm of the Spravac Empire. Often referred to as simply “The Great Horde”, the Imperial Army’s primary function is to invade territory, destroy the enemy, and occupy the territory for future colonization. The Spravac Empire’s only primary objectives when waging war are to kill and occupy, and their armies are often accompanied by females and workers so they may build up cities as they gradually cleanse the planet of enemies. Composed primarily of the Marines, the Imperial Army, though made of marines, is still referred to as the army rather than as the “Imperial Marines”. The marines cooperate heavily with both the navy and the Rangers, a special operations group that assists the marines with the initial invasion of a planet to establish a landing zone for further imperial forces.

Rangers are rarely utilized past this function. Due to the aggressiveness of rangers, they are never utilized to occupy and defend a territory, but rather to punch through defenses and destroy enemy armies with ruthless speed. Marines can be both offensive and defensive units, but the doctrine of spravac is one of constant movement and aggressive action. Spravac are not optimal for stationary combat, as they will quickly become bogged down and killed. The support roles and defense oriented roles of combat are given to the auxiliaries, which, though still aggressive, are not prone to the reckless savagery of their spravac comrades.

Recruitment for the Imperial Army is a mixture of volunteers and levies. Most of the time, levies are not necessary due to the extreme patriotism that all spravac possess and their innate desire to fight and die in battle. Due to the political organization of the Empire, spravac are recruited and outfitted by their Lords, primarily Didacts and Archons. Because they are recruited by these local nobles, they hold fealty to them and are equipped with armor that reflects their lord’s house colors and sigil. This leads to the massive hordes of spravac armies being remarkably vibrant and diverse in appearance. Though the armor designs themselves are all generally similar in design and function, there are still variations in plate shape and other nuances in the armors’ designs (extra blades and spines, leg segment number, abdominal plating, etc.) in addition to the different color pallets. In addition to wearing their Lord’s sigil on their left breast, the Imperial Seal of the Spravac Empire; the Black Heart, is present on the left pauldron, along with the soldier’s unit, which in turn is named after the Region he hails from.

The marines and rangers frequently collaborate with a slew of other special operation throngs, namely the Gloom Marines, which operate in small mobile units with precise targets and objectives for destroying their quarry. Gloom Marines also operate alongside Incubi, the most skilled warriors of the empire. Incubi are primarily deployed in stealth dropships and rarely march alongside their marine underlings, as they are required by necessity to be highly mobile and airborne in order to rapidly insert into combat, assault and take positions quickly, and then evacuate before the enemy can recuperate.

Though they rarely divulge from this tactic, the Incubi’s frontline soldiers, the Scorpii and the Neophytes, are renowned as skilled, close-combat oriented units that fight alongside their marine brethren as reserves and flanking units that crush enemy armies with ease.

Due to the advanced sight and smell and hearing of the spravac, a majority of their standard issue firearms can be fired at both close range and also almost 4 kilometers away. Because of this, some Didacts will harry the enemy with artillery and long range weaponry to lighten up enemy forces before the marines brandish their spears, swords, and other myriad of bladed weapons to charge into the weakened enemy.

The spravac are also remarkably hyperactive when in large groups, often spurred into a war fervor that the Didacts amplify by igniting a Thundercharge, a common form of psychological warfare in which a tower with a large hammer (called a Thunderhammer) inside smacks down onto a plate, creating a deafening thunderclap that ignites the spravac’s frenzied adoration of bloodshed. Along with the Thunderhammer, these great towers are outfitted with blaring Laser-Horns, electronic instruments that spout out an incredibly loud horn sound that further intensifies the spravac charge.

Almost all spravac offensive tactics center around a form of blitz warfare, be it with speeders, tanks, or just infantry. Because of the remarkable speed of spravac hover tanks, which move almost twice the speed of tanks with treads, spravac blitz warfare is even faster than normal. The speed of a spravac advance is not one that many can stand against, as spravac armies have been known to traverse entire continents in weeks without stopping, relying on rotating shifts so the march never halts for rest. Soldiers that become fatigued are loaded on APCs, dropships, and War Barges, the latter of which can carry thousands of soldiers at a time while still travelling at a decent speed despite its size.