The Vir

The Vir were a minor faction that became significant during the Centauri Migration. They were formed of a line of pure-blooded royals and their loyalists from the British Isles. Following the death of the last true English sovereign, Elizabeth II, the royal family's already weakening grip on the country it historically ruled over diminished. The monarchy faded into irrelevance during the technological golden age of the late 21st century, when traditionalism saw a huge decline and society transformed into one where social and economic equality triumphed. Without their duties to the country and a royal fortune between them, the royals separated. The majority took a portion of the riches and settled into normal lives, however, one adamant prince, Prince Paul, was enraged that their glory and riches had been pried from his family and desired to take them back. Prince Paul was the youngest son of King William V, successor to Charles III. Paul was born just before the monarchy was dissolved and his father was removed from the throne in the 2070s and had grown up on tales of the former admiration that the royals commanded. With revenge in mind, Paul founded the Vir in the year 2095.

In effect, the Vir were a terrorist organisation masquerading as "radical advocates for change". Ironically enough, this could not be further from the truth as their main goal was to reestablish the monarchy, setting the battle for the total end of traditionalism back to square one. The Vir targeted government infrastructure, looting and destroying historically significant buildings such as the coveted residence of 10 Downing Street. Paul's strategy was playing a reverse devil's advocate, explaining to the public that a sovereign ruler would be tough and would not allow such attacks to ever happen. Unsurprisingly, the Vir movement did not gain much traction and received plentiful criticism, some describing Paul as "the next Hitler". Nevertheless, Vir attacks continued because Paul was the primary recipient of his father's wealth, so he had all of the necessary funding and more.

Only the most far-right fanatics would enlist with the Vir, although this did have its benefits. For one, getting in touch with a Vir recruiter required following a convoluted method, ensuring the dedication of the recruit and the secrecy of their operations. Secondly, Paul had the undying loyalty of these members, meaning they would follow any policies he implemented. The Vir had a simple structure: pure blood was the highest rank and any "subjects" as regular followers were so-called had no authority within the organisation. Half-bloods were forbidden from joining as they were seen as traitors to the monarchy. Paul was the only pure-blood in the Vir, however, he desired an heir, so he allegedly tracked down his sister and, non-consensually, conceived a child with her. This revolting behaviour was tolerated by the extremely loyal subjects of the Vir, and nine months later, Paul's only son Vincent was born. Being a child of incest, Vincent suffered from several hereditary and genetic issues but none more interesting than a never-before-seen fault that made his organs far more efficient than that of the average male. This resulted in Vincent having thrice the average calorie intake, allowing him to grow abnormally large.

In 2112, the Vir headquarters, which was a mansion in the far south of England, was compromised and the UK government raided the building. 17 Vir members were killed in combat while another 34 were captured. Paul and Vincent both escaped by airlift and went into hiding with an anonymous contact in Scandinavia. While Paul's riches were still kept safe offshore, this meant the unfortunate yet long overdue end of the Vir in the short term. Having been indoctrinated into his father's mindset, Vincent was insistent that they should strike back, but Paul encouraged patience, likely as a result of his ageing and becoming more level-headed. Prospects for the return of the Vir were dwindling until 2131 when Paul died of age-related health issues. Following this, the title of King of the Vir, along with Paul's wealth, was passed down to Vincent.

It turned out that Vincent was a more fearsome leader than Paul ever was. Being only 27 years old yet coming in at a staggering 7'4ft high, he was furious for the same reasons that motivated Paul and more: between his peers in the Vir being murdered and living over half his life in a cold wasteland, he had been compiling a long list of people to take revenge on, preferably with his overgrown fists. Using his father's contacts within the CRS and his fluency in Russian, Vincent was able to arrange a new identity and be flown back into the UK, where he consolidated his remaining wealth and the size of the new Vir, composed of sleepers and a few other royal descendants who had also become sick of their irrelevancy. Wiser than his father, Vincent decided to lay low for a few years, recruiting members and gaining several important contacts such as Marcos Verde, the soon-to-be infamous space pirate and Nate Lustre, future owner of Cobalt Shipyards.

His plans drastically changed in 2134, also known as Year 0, when Jonathan Kent unveiled the Prospector, CosHab Technologies created the Starbase and the Exedetiae Corporation mystically put together the first laser cannon. Vincent was evidently losing his war on civilised society, which is why when he heard about the beginning of commercial space travel, he had a vision of the Vir empire among the stars. Still backed by the outrageous total that he had inherited from his father, the Vir were one of the first to have their presence in orbit: CosHab Technologies were totally independent of authority, so there was nothing the governments of Earth could do to stop the established terrorist organisation from doing so.

(wip)