OBT Forum

The Republic was willing to share with the private sector, because it functioned as an extension of resources, at a time they badly needed them, allowing them to gain intelligence in the deep periphery for much less that it would have cost them to do it themselves. Also it was much closer to the end of the Jihad and fear of the disappeared Manei Domini shadow divisions was still relatively high. Still, they sent along several of their own units, including 2 WarShips and 8 DropShips.

Clan Diamond Shark was willing to work with the private sector, because it means things will be handled in a business-like fashion, rather than FUBAR'd in a mess of divided loyalties and anti-clan prejudice. Also because gaining further intelligence for their watch will help with their own deep periphery activities, with the intention of using the intelligence to reach new markets first, allowing them to expand past the other clans, and possibly past even the great house's ability to handle.

Universal Exports, at the beginning of the Republic Era, was still trying to maintain it's facade of being an innocent little civilian corporation. They wanted to quietly push someone else into discovering any Word of Blake operations, so that such things weren't coming directly from them. This would eventually not last, and the IE Expedition into the Nebula California would ultimately come back to haunt them, in a bad way.

I hope I covered anything you were asking about, if not, please explain your question further.

The Tribe would stay on Toreel for a little over a decade. They grew their numbers by inducting the locals, and educating them. Using indoctrination techniques developed over the centuries, the already loyal citizens turned into a powerful base that welcomed the new status quo. The Tribe in turn increased the standard of living of the locals all the way to an industrial society, over the course of a few years. The social upheaval this caused brought about some conflicts, but over all there was peace over the general human population.

The supposed creatures that were at first believed to be mutated fauna, turned out to be something simpler. Once specimen were captured, and tests run it was determined that these were actually Gene-caste humans who breed true. The advanced genetics that allowed this must have come from the same pre-apocalyptic society that the strange technology on the planet originated from. Some of these groups were able to be inducted into the Tribe's forces as well. Primarily the warrior types, whose civilizations were based around following the strongest leader. After only a small number of battles were fought it was very clear who was stronger, and when we offered them a place in The Tribe, the fight was over.

These Gene-Caste groups are overseen by Star-Captain Terrance, and former Ghost Bear Elemental who had thrown in with the Republic, before being assigned to this ill-fated expedition. Already in charge of The Tribe's battle armor forces, whether elementals or not, placing these Gene-Caste under his command as well turned out to be quite fortuitous, as clan sensibilities were of considerable help in dealing with those somewhat volatile groups. The elemental worked closely with scientists in The Tribe to create an indoctrination program for these people as well, and within a few years, they were well on their way to full indoctrination into The Tribe. This included educational requirements, necessary for an technological society.

Any humans or gene-caste who proved adept at it was educated fully in the workings of modern 31st century technology, and became full members of the tribe. Eventually some of these even rose into leadership positions.

The unique technology of Toreel was also studied. With rewards offered for any such devices turned in for study, and individuals and groups who had studied them from the local perspective for most of their lives offered rewards for collaborating, work progressed in unlocking their secrets. Unfortunately one of the first things discovered was that these devices would not survive the trip through hyperspace... and neither would the JumpShip carrying them. Finding that out cost The Tribe the IES Livingston, as the initializing K-F field tore the scout class JumpShip apart in what is universally recognized as interference from a nearby K-F core. That put a dampener on much of the desire to unlock the secrets of this technology, but it also drove those most interested in it to explore it further.

As time when on, The Tribe made further plans for expansion, preparing to deal with "Earth" (everyone in the Tribe makes quotation gestures with their fingers when naming the planet, even the local inductees do this, as they just assume it is the proper way to denote that world's name). Part of that preparation was to construct a full shipyard in the system Toreel called home. This was done as an expansion of the ARK project, and with the RSS Necessitas' aid this was completed to the point of being able to repair ships in a single year, and being able to construct small craft and DropShips a couple years later. This facility is continually expanding, and was expected to be able to construct full JumpShips and possibly even WarShips eventually.

The original expedition's forays onto "Earth" were disastrous, and one of the reasons Toreel was chosen was that the expedition believed that world's technology might be the key to a decent method of dealing with "Earth" on equal terms. In the end they were correct. The Tribe had been sending the IES Adean Dulcimer to monitor "Earth" as safely as possible, and the rest of The Tribe's fleet was engaged in setting up another colony on an uninhabited planet near Toreel, this one designed from the get-go to be the main facility for inductees. The Tribe believed that with how well that had worked on Toreel, it would be a good plan to try on more worlds as well.

While that was going on, one of the scientific teams discovered something. A message was sent to The Ark as the system's space facility was being called, "I have discovered the answer, but I must test it to confirm before I share everything." What followed the receipt of that message was possibly humanity's most horrific hyperspace "accident". The entire planet was suddenly generating a K-F field, and quickly disintegrated under the stress of it. Within minutes Toreel was a barren rock, devoid of life.

Hours later The Ark received an HPG transmission from the IES Adean Dulcimer describing an identical event occurring on "Earth", ending the same way. The problem The Tribe had predicted having with the mutant humans there were ended that quick, but no one felt easy about it. Fully a quarter of the scientific staff of The Tribe died with Toreel, so they felt great loss as well. Still, they were more determined than ever before to make the Nebula theirs.

Knowing they needed a new home, and a new place to recruit, and with the additional manpower provided by the survivors of Toreel, they set their sights on the Star Empire and the People's Rebellion. Plans were drawn up, the quickly-becoming-vital IES Adean Dulcimer was sent ahead to gather intelligence, and in 3100, at the turn of the century, the attack began.