Hydran Royal Navy

The Hydran Royal Navy (sometimes shortened to HRN) has been the military arm of the Hydran Kingdoms and the extension of the will of the Hydran Monarch. The Royal Navy has served the Hydran Kingdoms since the earliest days of Hydran interstellar flight, initially as a purely exploratory force.

The Hydrans achieved interstellar flight relatively early in galactic history, becoming a major regional power by the mid-19th Century. By the middle of the 20th Century, first contact had been made with the Lyran Star Kingdom and the Mirak Khanate, precursor state to the modern Mirak Star League. Both these powers were aggressive, expansionist empires, and the Royal Navy was rapidly expanded to protect the borders of the Hydran Kingdoms from attack.

The Royal Navy is also responsible for the training and deployment of ground forces, in addition to the operation of warships. These forces range from fast-moving mechanised armoured cavalry, up to the Hydrans preferred method of attack; heavy artillery. The elite of the Hydran ground forces are the Royal Marines, trained for both ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore operations.

The Hydran Feudal system means that all Royal Navy personnel are provided by means of levy, the bulk of which are Publicans and serve as enlisted personnel aboard ship and as the rank-and-file soldiery. The Yeoman serve as Non-Commissioned Officers, with the privileged Knights required to enrol in the various Navy-ran Military Academies for their role as Commissioned Officers. The higher echelons of command in the Royal Navy are occupied by those of the Baroncy, members of the Monarchy who are siblings of the current Monarch (See "Hydran Kingdoms" for more on the unique way Hydran physiology has influences their society). The supreme commander of the Royal Navy is the First Star Lord, who as of 2292, is Duke Ellandar.

In antiquity, the Hydrans were great users of animal mounts and rode to war as cavalry, supported by fire from primitive kinetic projectile weaponry. This ethos was mirrored in the development of their warships, with early warships employing close-range fission blast weapons supported by mass drivers. This was refined over the decades with the now definitive combination of short-ranged Fusion Beam Emitters supported by long-ranged Hellbore Cannons emerging in the 2140s, albeit in a far more primitive form than those employed on Royal Navy warships in the late 23rd Century.

The core battle tactics of the Royal Navy revolve around adherence to two battle lines. (This is unusual, as conventional tactics involve a more flexible concept of three, loosely defined battle lines, and has lead to Hydran tactics being nicknamed by some as "The Thin Blue Line"). In Hydran tactics, a rear line of support ships armed with Hellbore Cannons opens fire at long range at enemy targets. The aim of these volleys is to soften targets shields, force action (to advance into combat, or withdraw out of firing range) and to lower cohesion between enemy vessels. When sufficiently weakened or forced into advancing under fire, a front line (although, normally until this point located alongside or slightly behind the support ships) of Fusion Beam Emitter armed ships advances rapidly towards the enemy, ideally grinding down the last of their shields with Gatling Phasers and striking their exposed hulls with the devastating Fusion Beams. Support ships range in hull class from Frigates up to Command Cruisers, although traditionally the role has fallen to the stalwart Heavy Cruisers of the Royal Navy. The role of the fast attack ship has traditionally fallen to those of Destroyer-class planforms, although some Light Cruisers have also been used for the purpose. Capital Ships in the Royal Navy perform dual duty, being heavy fire support ships for the most part, but also armed with Fusion Beam Emitters for close in defence and for closing to point-blank range to engage enemy Capital Ships once the decisive moment of the battle has arrived.

In 2150s, the Hydran Kingdoms were invaded by the Lyran Star Kingdom supported heavily by their allies, the Klingon Empire. Although valiant in defence, the situation soon became untenable, and the majority of Hydran-controlled territory was overrun, with the ruling Monarch, Monarch-King Alberoth and his government being evacuated along with large sections of Hydran society to colonies hidden in the Great Cloud, a huge nebula that extends to the centre of the galaxy in a long, finger-like formation. This event (and the subsequent years living in these colonies) became known as the Great Exodus. The Royal Navy was shattered, many of their warships having been thrown into desperate battles to give transports and Capital Ships carrying leading members of Hydran society time to flee. It soon became apparent that the process of rebuilding and retaking Hydra would be a very long one.

Rebuilding in the Lost Colonies was a slow and laborious process for the Royal Navy, relying on a network of spies and informants back on now-occupied worlds to inform them of the latest developments in the Imperial Lyran Navy and the Klingon Defence Force. The Royal Navy also encountered the forces of the Sha'Kurian Duchies for the first time, and although Ska'Kurian xenophobia and Hydran reclusiveness meant the two powers didn't exactly warm to each other, they soon developed a working relationship. From experience with Sha'Kurian mercenaries, the Royal Navy began to develop their own theories of using Fightercraft to help offset the tactical imbalance between the numerically superior Lyran and Klingon forces occupying their home. These Fightercraft, the Halberdier Fusion Beam Fighter followed shortly afterwards in service by the Fusileer Hellbore Fighter were designed to act as replacements for fully-fledged warships and were carried aboard warships with complementary weapons systems. For example, the Baron Class Heavy Cruiser was equipped to carry five Halberdier Fusion Beam Fighters to act as a light attack wing for the ship if no Destroyers or Light Cruisers were available. Conversely, Knight Class Destroyers were equipped to carry three Fusileer Hellbore Fighters to act as "flying artillery", performing as their own fire support in lieu of a actual fire support ships being available in the area. Every class of ship, from the Yeoman Class Frigate up to the Monarch Class Dreadnought was equipped to carry these Fightercraft, in a varying number, mix of configurations and in different carriage methods (some lighter ships employing external docking mounts, larger ships using expanded shuttlebays as hangar decks). A dedicated Fleet Carrier, the Royal Sovereign Class, was also constructed, to carry a large number of Fightercraft into pitched fleet engagements.

The Hydran Kingdoms burst back onto the galactic scene in 2285 during an event known to the Hydran people as the Return. Picking their moment carefully, waiting until Klingon attentions were focused on competition with the Federation along the Klingon-Federation Neutral Zone, the Royal Navy struck fast and hard, taking the Klingon Defence Force and the Imperial Lyran Navy entirely by surprise. Their development and deployment of Fightercraft was a complete shock, as was the Hydran tactic of employing them alongside their conventional warships. Although the Royal Navy succeeded in retaking much of their home space, including the homeworld of Hydra, their stunning victories and a series of events that followed sparked off a powderkeg that had been building in the galaxy since the Organian Peace Treaty was forced on the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets (and, in many ways the Romulan Star Empire) in 2267. The war soon spiralled into the cataclysmic Organian Conflict, with the Hydran fight against the Lyran Star Kingdom (and to a lesser extent, the Klingon Empire) forming the "Southern Front" of that war, with the Hydran Kingdoms forming part of the Alliance along with the Federation and the Gorn Confederacy against the forces of the Coalition, comprising the forces of the Klingon Empire, the Lyran Star Kingdom and the Romulan Star Empire.

Just as the war was drawing to a (seemingly victorious) conclusion for the Alliance, the Organians returned, bringing with them the forces of the Interstellar Concordium. Although initial counter to the galaxy-conquering Interstellar Pacification Force was weak, due to the war-weary and battered fleets opposing them, resistance steadily grew, the Royal Navy amongst the forces that eventually defeated the ISC in early 2291.

As of 2292, the Royal Navy is steadily rebuilding after the continuous stresses put upon them since the Return in 2285. Despite the wishes of Monarch-Queen Emoleth III to support the Federation in their efforts to drive the ISC out of the galaxy completely, First Star Lord Duke Ellandar was forced to suspend anti-Concordium operations in 2291 after the resurgence of the Lyran Star Kingdom and reports of disturbances in the Klingon Empire.

## Current HRN Starship Classes (2292, descending class order)

### Capital Ships

Royal Sovereign Class Fleet Carrier

Monarch Class Dreadnought

### Heavy Screen Ships

Duke Class Command Cruiser

Pikeman Class Hellbore Monitor

Baron Class Heavy Cruiser

### Light Screen Ships

Regent Class Light Cruiser

Paladin Class Destroyer Leader

Knight Class Destroyer

Archer Class Scout Frigate

Yeoman Class Frigate

### Support Ships

Saracen Class Troop Transport

Squire Class Fleet Repair Tender

Merchant Class Cargo Freighter

Serf Class Mining Freighter

Autocrat Class Colony Ship

Peasant Class Construction Tender

### Shuttlecraft and Fightercraft

Fusileer Hellbore Fighter

Halberdier Fusion Beam Fighter

Tiller Work Bee

## See also

Klingon Defence Force

Imperial Lyran Navy

Starfleet