The Imperial Ruthenian Federation

> ***"Humanity First, Show those Earthers what we're made of!"***
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> *- Major General Masini, 5th Expeditionary Fleet.*
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**OVERVIEW**

The **Imperial Ruthenian Federation**, also known as 'The Empire of Man' consists of two main systems. The Cradle Worlds, consisting of Ruther, the seat of the Empire, where the Emperor sits, and where the Colonial Government is also based. There are Three terraformed worlds, besides Ruther. These are Arfus, a lush jungle world home to around 7 billion people, which exports mostly exotic woods and fauna to Ruther, where these are used for luxury goods. There is then Astrakhan, the main base of the Imperial Ruthenin Navy and is a smaller arid planet, covered in shipyards and manufacturing facilities, with huge scaffolds in orbit, which are used to produce many of the Battlecruisers and Battleships of the IRN. Finally, of the main terraformed planets, there is Lupus, which acts as a secondary home for the government, and is what one could consider a 'pleasure' world, essentially a giant holiday resort for the rich and famous.

There is then the Reaches, where the majority of the population live and work, working dangerous jobs such as ice mining from asteriods, gas harvesting and transporting, and where the majority of prisons are found, as the Cradle Worlds are 'not particularly suitable' according to the government, for prisoner housing. This is also where most of the Xenos are sent if discovered, and are kept in detention facitities until extradition.  The Reaches has a few notable planets, although it is generally so expansive that it is hard to count the number of systems colonised in it's 1700 year history. Anastha and Karalis are two of the main habitable planets in the reaches, and act as the seat of the Reach, where the largely puppet government does the bidding of the Cradle Worlds. However, in the Reaches, autonomy is largely granted to planets, as long as they toe the line. The majority of Imperial Navy service is spent in the Reaches, as many of the smaller ships, such as Frigates, Destroyers and Covrettes are built here, and are often crewed by natives of the planet that they are constructed on.

**GOVERNMENT**

The 'government' generally is a sham, and is only really there to give people a sense of 'democracy', and does what the Emperor wills. While the Cradle Worlds generally have stricter rules and regulations, the Reaches are not free from the iron fist of the Colonial Police, the name itself a relic of a time when the Empire was simply 'The United Ruthenian Colonies'. But even though the name my be a relic, the Police itself is not, often cited by external observers as 'thugs and bullies' and with the power to 'simply dissapear people' they are granted largely overreaching powers of surveillance and detention when it comes to dealing with criminals and dissidents. The Police is controlled by Colonial Police Headquarters based out of Ruther, with various stations, patrol craft and warp beacons dotted around the Reaches. Many of the richer members of Cradle World society have private police, and rarely deal with the 'ColPol' as they are nicknamed in Reachspeak. The Colonial Government itself, consists of 120 members, all of the Grand Party, a largely pro-human, xenophobic and expansionist race, many of whom do not see the worlds of the Reach which they tasked with governing over. The Governmant of the Reaches, is ruled over by members of the Colonial Government, who have a smaller building on Karalis, which has been disused for the past 50 years, and is cited to be replaced by a newer and larger building on Anastha.

**MILITARY**

The Military is an incredibly important part of life in the Empire, and with the the draft system in place, where plants and dates are selected, and those fitting those dates and planets are called up, it often becomes less of a choice, and more of a lifestyle. Many are drafted into the Navy, where they will spend 6 months to 3 years onboard a ship, often on that which the planet has produced, often a frigate or destroyer. However, those which show aptitude will be sent to the Officer Training School on Astrakhan and placed on a Battlecruiser or Battleship, as the larger size and complexity requires a greater skill cieling, and more effort to man the ship. Technology in the navy still consists largely of manually operated systems, as the Empire is largely fearful of Ai, favouring a quantity over quality initiative, and while it could take 30 crewman in suits to do the job of 2 drones, it is a built in failsafe, as a large scale cyber attack crippled most of the Fleet during the Wasp Wars of 4914. The larger  ships, generally are armed with a mixture of mass drivers, missile bays and autocannon. Whereas the smaller ships fill specialised roles such as anti-Capital Ship torpedo corvettes, Strike carriers carrying fighters and bombers, dropships, carrying troops and tanks and a wide variety of reconissance, repair and support ships. The Fighters and Bombers themselves are all crewed by 1 person in the case of the fighter, and two people in the case of the bomber. Dropships do have a human pilot, but are often guided manually by the troopship through a fly-by-wire system.

**RELIGION**

Religion is also a significant factor in loyalty towards the Empire, and the 'reclamation' of the 'Homeworld' aka. Earth. The three gods of the Imperial Pantheon are Sol, representing the fire of humanity, and also the guiding light of the Emperor, Terra, representing the homeworld, and the origins of the humans, and the purity and strength of humanity over xeno species, to which all humans should strive towards, and Luna, representing the dark times of humanity, and how strength comes through strife, and that these dark times should be used as fuel for the strength of humanity. There are many temples across Imperial space, ranging from crude huts on moons and planets, to vast stations where hundreds of thousands can hear the Word of the Reclamation. On the Word of Reclamation, it was a book written when the empire first began to expand, and is the writings of the Emperor, and is taught in millions of schools and colleges across the Empire.

**DEMOGRAPHICS**

Almost all the population in the Empire is human, and all the people in the Cradle World have to be pure human, with no trace of xeno blood in them. However, amongst the planets there are often xeno species who go un-noticed, as the Colonial Police is stretched thin with the ever expanding borders of the empire. The Imperial Science Institute had dabbled in genetic engineering, creating the Gnolls, which are humanoid hyenas, and are becoming a more and more common sight in Imperial space, and many criminals are absolved of thier crimes by becoming gnolls, and while it locks them out of the Cradle Worlds permanently, it wipes away the record, and allows them to start afresh, albeit as a second class citizen. Many smaller ships are crewed entirely by gnolls, with commanding officers being human, as while the draft is in place, some try to dodge it.