Southern Contingent

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

*"Just suffer in silence, speak no bitter words.*

*The world offers no sympathy.*

*Though trouble surrounds you, an' you long to be heard,*

*Just suffer in silence, like me.*"

- *"Suffer in Silence"* by Willie Nelson
The Southern Contingent is a made up faction designed by Crj400, and later picked up by Weeb King and Flyboy254.

The faction promotes an armored bedrock supported by air and naval support coupled with fast-moving and amphibious cavalry and infantry units. The Southern Contingent is almost an 'anti China'; both have short range and attack oriented vehicles, but similarities stop here. The Southern Contingent instead uses its ground force to storm through the opponent like a moving steel tsunami, its flanks protected by infantry and cavalry, while mopping them up with air support and naval units. Facing enemies they can be an unstoppable blockade; from behind, useless sitting ducks.

## At a Glance

 **Visual Themes** | 'Space Western' Asthetic: combination of futuristic, American old west, and Australian settlement for buildings. Blocky, angular shape for vehicles, rust common for vehicles.

## Background

### Inertia

*"An object stays at rest until acted upon by an external force."*

Like many stories, the Southern Contingent's beginnings are in a far off land; Australia. Although part of the Allies, the continent-country was not as affected as other countries were by the Red Menace, thus Allied Command's plans and campaigns were more focused towards Europe and the United States in order to prevent invasions. Australia, relatively far from Russia, was mostly left alone.

Despite this, the Australians were a vital source of manpower to the British military, since Australia is even today technically part of the Commonwealth of Nations, meaning that it often fights alongside them. Vital to the Allied North African and Middle East campaigns, the Australian troops were the men fighting on the front in the Sahara and Empty Quarter. The Australian military learned how to fight against the Soviets in harsh and unforgiving terrain, and gained many new veteran officers capable of leading the next generation of soldiers and sailors.

Post-War, the Australians focused on their economic and social improvements. Though lacking the sheer industrial scale of Europe, Australia did have such immense raw mineral reserves that the people prospered and advanced. Australian cities began to rival and even equal those in Europe, as the people were continually given greater comforts and benefits. Ignored for the most part as the Allied Nations began to solidify, the Australian people and government had little issue. To them, Europe was still a far away land filled with thinkers and politicians. With the world secure in the knowledge that Australia and the surrounding nations were solidly anti-communist, the local region enjoyed relative prosperity post-war.

That peacetime period would end when Cherdenko's forces marched into Europe, kick-starting WWIII.

### Acceleration

*"A force applied to an object at rest causes it to accelerate in the direction of the force."*

Again, ANZAC forces were mobilized and mustered to be sent to Europe to support the Allies. Predicting another long grinding struggle, Australian forces were moved primarily to Central Europe. Divisions were, of course, placed in the Middle East, but ACIN figured out that Cherdenko would try to crush Europe before the Allies could solidify against him. What they couldn't have predicted was the Red Army deflecting the enemy's counterattacks and enveloping their defenses to well. ANZAC forces were rapidly swept up in retreats and rear-guards, as garrisons in the Middle East faced down Iranian and Soviet armor sweeping across the desert. Commanders desperately tried to lick the wounds, losing men so fast that the ships from back home could barely arrive in time to bring in reinforcements.

By the Battle of Brighton, the ANZAC forces still operating were battered to near-exhaustion. Fortunately, they were able to take a breath after the Soviets were repulsed. But when Europe was starting to push back, the Empire attacked Oceania with their massive floating fortresses. Any chance the ANZAC forces in Europe had to get back home was dashed, and so they decided to fight on. Meanwhile, the ANZAC civil governments were essentially left on their own with only sparse communications between Canberra, Wellington and Geneva. As the Empire rapidly constructed a naval blockade, there needed to be a new plan to stand their ground against the Emperor's dreams of conquest.

The solution was simple; it is, in fact, surprising that it was not done before. Australia and New Zealand banded together and pledged to support each other militarily. Australia had long been a testing ground for Allied vehicles, abandoned designs left in Outback storage huts. Plans were immediately made to turn these prototypes into serviceable weapons capable of standing against the Empire. However, multiple mecha divisions landed in Oceania to supplement Imperial soldiers, and in spite of fighting to the last man, many ANZAC divisions were crushed, with many more forced to flee southward. Indonesia and New Guinea fell to the Japanese earlier, too.

Knowing that Japan is truly after their vast mineral resources, and would slaughter thousands to capture a single mine, Australian generals enacted the Brisbane Line Plan. Although a few towns and cities in the north have been occupied by the Empire after the bombing of Darwin, this painful decision to concede swathes of Australian territory north of Brisbane to the enemy was done. Civilians living there evacuated the safer areas in the south such as Melbourne, and the remaining ANZAC forces were ordered to stubbornly hold the lines to prevent the Imperials from taking more land.

### Interaction

*"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."*

With northern Australia in firm Imperial control, they immediately set up Japanization programs once enacted in Siberia and California as well. Imperial families were encouraged to migrate to Darwin and other towns, where local structures have been demolished to rebuild the city with Japanese architecture. Japanese became the medium of instruction in schools, and resistance was heavily cracked down upon by secret police. Not even New Zealand was spared when it was occupied during the war, as refugees reported a complete cultural annihilation. From the Maori traditions to Auckland's art museums, the Empire was keen on transforming Oceania to another Philippines, 'uplifting' the natives while exploiting their resources.

Despite this, the ANZAC had to fight what essentially became a two-front war. While the line was held in Brisbane (or what's left of it), the remaining forces stubbornly hunkered down, refusing to further give up a single inch of land. Perth became the sole point of connection to the outside, and the Contingent were losing options on how to beat the Empire back. By '65, Dr. Ruby Payne-Scott had made a vital discovery. Seconded to work on a means to turn what was abandoned by the Allies in terms of the theoretical, Payne-Scott discovered that through manipulation of what she called 'gravitons', the Contingent was able to create and even cancel out gravity. The discovery had profound implications. Quickly the ANZAC started using this new technology to sink enemy shipping off the coast, to flatten tanks in seconds. Only the fact that the equipment tended to quickly burn out prevented them from marching back against the Empire.

Eventually, the last of the prototypes were sent into the frontlines, and from below the Brisbane Line, the ANZAC finally began to press the invaders back. Anticipating an Allied counter-offensive in Australia, it took months until peacekeepers have arrived and when they did, only few of them even helped out the ANZAC forces. As the rest of the Peacekeeping Divisions were preparing to invade mainland Japan, along with ANZAC soldiers who stayed behind in Europe, the defenders south of Brisbane felt that they were essentially hung out to dry. Even when because of them, the Imperials were starting to pull back due to heavy casualties, drawn-out fighting, and bee stings they've sustained during their stay.

### Gravitation

*"Any two objects exert a gravitational force of attraction on each other."*

As WWIII concluded, the governments of Australia and New Zealand had an epiphany. The Allied Nations, which should have assisted them from the very start, has essentially thrown them under the bus. While relief aid did come, it was minimal compared to the resources sent to Europe during the war or to Allied forces in the US. It was decided that to truly heal the wounds inflicted by the Empire on their lands, they would gather who and what's left of Oceania to rebuild it with their own two hands. Cities such as Darwin and Auckland were rebuilt, but the Japanese who preferred to live in Australia rather than to leave were permitted to, although with distrust. Convicts were brought straight out of Goulburn to be made 'browncoat' workers as Aboriginal natives were trained along with ranchers and war veterans to serve as the newborn Southern Contingent's 'border protectors' for the time being against Japanese holdouts, organized crime, and pirate bands.

Despite calls from Allied Command, the Contingent has not disbanded. Although they have promised to contribute to Allied efforts, in reality this is to smoke-screen themselves from suspicion. Some independent battalions have saw fighting in the jungles of Vietnam or the lowlands of Indonesia, although the latter is merely for show, and the Guild manages to win more battles when they're around. They have also graciously opened their doors to Chinese and other refugees, vetting them before offering them citizenship in exchange for valuable expertise. More and more failed Allied experiments are 'requisitioned' for scientific purposes; a visiting German scientist has described their technology as "ten steps forward, fifteen steps back", noting that their aircraft can only manage to reach the upper atmosphere - the perfect area to stash away their true plans.

As 1969 approaches, Contingent leaders have only noticed that the world around them gets more insane as time passes. Aircraft factories have attacked by pointy-eared soldiers who vanish quickly, observatories have reported sightings of strange UFO's, and a scientific expedition sent into the Australian Antarctic Territory has never returned. Adelaide is the epicenter of a religious revival, its locals seemingly opposed to Contingent leadership. All the more reason to leave this planet and head straight for Mars when their spacecraft technology is sufficient enough to reach it.

## Gameplay Mechanics

### Build System

Buildings are manufactured high above the battlefield, in the upper atmosphere. They are constructed there until half done, and then taken down via gravity funnel. Once they hit the ground, they start unpacking.

Defences are also dropped to the battlefield, but constructed entirely on the field.

### Tech System

The technology system for the Contingent is unusual.

First level is unlocked by the launch pad, which constructs air and upper atmosphere units

Second level is where it gets tricky. A support unit can be built from the launch pad, and as its ability construct a Gravity Conduit. This costs money to do, but allows flexibility.

Third level is unlocked by another support air unit, unlocked from second level. It can construct the last tech structure, the Battlefield Control.

Both the Gravity Conduit and the Battlefield Control only allow access to higher tiers to structures in a limited radius , require multiple versions to be built in large bases. This does give the Contingent some redundancy.

### Notable Technologies

Some notable advances made by the Contingent are:

## Outback Rangers

*"Local authorities release more and more prisoners to the North as 'workers' for reconstruction efforts. Furthermore, our folk in the hangars say they're made to test experimental engines; they estimate interplanetary travel when fully upgraded. The closure of Ayers Rock stymie missionary efforts, while our personnel there still tally strange aircraft appearances; the number's in the hundreds by today. Children here in Adelaide ask their Sunday school teachers to tell the story of Moses more than any other Bible story. I strongly believe the Contingent is busy building their Ark, content to leave the world behind as a Second Great Flood covers the world."*

-Fr. James William Gleeson, archbishop of Adelaide, writing a pigeon mail to an unknown party.

### Infantry

Thanks to anti-gravity packs and/or Battle Armour. All infantry of the Continent are surprisingly amphibious and well armoured, despite their heavy equipment, by either lightening their equipment enough to swim or simply hover above the sea. However, compared to the likes of the Atlanteans and Traders, they are weaker and slower at sea as their amphibiousness are more for crossing over the seas without the need for transport rather than combat. And let’s them wield hand cannons that are fitted for vehicles.

### Cavalry

Thanks to anti-gravity auxiliary generators (or straight up anti-gravity hoverdrive), all cavalry of the Continent are amphibious. But, unless stated, the Cavalry moves much slower at sea, since part of the power to the engines are shifted to the hoverdrive.