From: John Crimmins <johncrim@v...>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 22:08:28 -0500
Subject: [GZG] New Bavaria--Very Long
Having had too much time on my hands at work this week, I have turned my mind to the idea of creating my own power within the "Official" GZG background. Being, however, very weird, I decided to do it my way. The result follows. This started as a joke, but the more I consider the New Bavarians, the more I like them. They have been known by many names, but the most famous (paradoxically enough, considering their true nature) was The Illuminati. For centuries, the Ancient and Illuminated Seers of Bavaria had ruled humanity with a grip, not of iron, but of glass--cold, hard, and, unless you knew exactly where to look, very difficult to see. But like glass, the Illuminati's hold was far more fragile than it appeared. Since the beginning of civilization itself, the Illuminati had worked tirelessly to retard the progress of humanity's social and technological development, but as the 21st century surged on, it became increasingly clear that they were losing the struggle. Humanity was growing in directions that were impossible to predict, let alone control. Some believed that the Internet had been their downfall; others blamed the printing press, or writing itself. But, whatever the cause, there was one fact that they could agree upon: the end was, at long last, at hand. For the ruling cabal, this was simply intolerable. Power was their meat and drink--their very lives!--and they would not surrender it willingly. For the better part of a decade, the cabal argued and debated their fate...but the answer, when it came, was astonishingly simple. "We can no longer rule the world? Very well. Let us then find a world that we CAN rule." And thus, the exodus was born. Thirteen ships were constructed from hollowed-out asteroids, built quickly, quietly, and precisely by men and women that the world thought long dead. And, at 5:23 PM, GMT, on May 23, 2138, thirteen asteroids vanished without a fuss, taking the most powerful men alive to the stars, along with their servants, slaves, and sycophants. Only one man, an astronomer named Nicholas Celine, noticed the disappearance. Celine launched a frantic search for the missing asteroids, desperate to discover exactly what had happened to the subject of his graduate thesis. Tragically, Nicholas Celine died of a massive heart attack thirty-five minutes after starting his search, before he could inform anyone of what he had witnessed. Celine had no previous history of heart trouble, but he had, after all, been under intense pressure. His family misses him very much. The star was named Weishaupt, and the world was named, whimsically, New Bavaria. The colony that developed over the next fifty years was the very model of efficiency. Everyone, man woman, and child, had an assigned place in this new society, and none of them dared protest this place. The price of disobedience was high indeed: dissidents were stripped of their will, their individuality and, according to rumor, their souls. There are those who would liken New Bavaria to an ant colony. And there are many on the planet that would envy the ants their freedom. The people of New Bavaria can be divided into two types: citizens and thralls. Thralls are conditioned, using an esoteric combination of drugs, subliminal induction, and direct neural manipulation, to obey any and all commands given by a citizen, no matter what the cost. Even normal humans would be hard pressed to disregard a direct order from a Bavarian citizen-voice, posture, and expression all combine in subtle ways to make them appear commanding and trustworthy. Three years later, in 2141, a settlement was established on New Bavaria's sister planet, Lemuria. Lemuria's environment was far less pleasant than that of New Bavaria's, being only slightly better than that of Mars, but it has allowed the Bavarian's to locate much of their heavy industry on the planet. The Illuminati still plays some role in the affairs of Earth. All thirteen members of the current cabal are, officially at least, citizens of various Earthly nations, and between them these thirteen men and women control about 6% of the planet's total wealth. This is much reduced from the days of their former glory, but what remains is more than sufficient for their needs. New Bavaria still imports a great deal of equipment and material from Earth; but these imports have been shrinking as their industrial installations have grown larger. The New Bavarians regard the rest of the human "powers" with the same sort of amused contempt that a man wearing infrared goggles might feel when watching someone stumble their way through a darkened room full of furniture and angry cats. They regard the bulk of humanity as blind, deluded fools, unworthy of any serious consideration. Historically, their science has been at least several decades more advanced than that of the rest of the human race, but recent years have seen a severe narrowing of this gap. However, the Bavarian's mastery of Psychetronics (and through this, the human mind) remains far beyond anything that orthodox science currently considers possible. New Bavaria's overt contacts with their former subjects have been few and far between, and only the Bavarians themselves know the truth of those encounters. In March of 2171, two NAC ships were destroyed shortly after entering the Weishaupt system. The hulks of the ships were later found, gutted of all usable systems, drifting through a system on the fringes of NAC space.. According to their logs, neither ship had ever been anywhere near Weishaput. No member of either crew has ever been found. The Xeno war has brought changes to New Bavaria, despite the wishes of its masters. Twice, Kra'vak ships have entered the system, and twice the Bavarians have fought them off. The cabal is starting to grow concerned, though. The Kra'vak are inhuman, unknown, and are thus far more dangerous than humanity could ever be. As for the Sa'vasku...the Illuminati has had dealings with their kind before, and they are not to be trusted. Something is going to have to be done. And soon. Forces: The New Bavarian Stellar Navy is a study in contrasts. The majority of the ships are decommissioned (or "lost") ships that previously belonged to one of a dozen different navies. The ships have been refitted with state of the art weapons and defensive systems, and painted a uniform matte black. The resulting ships would not be entirely unfamiliar to any modern navy, with the possible exception of the cloaking system that is installed as standard equipment on all Bavarian ships. The past few years have seen a change, however, as the New Bavarian shipyards have finally become fully operational. These new ships, built and designed entirely by the Bavarians, are built for speed and power. Bavarian ships are armed almost entirely with standard beam batteries, although the Bavarians tend to make more use of needle beams than most navies do. There are persistent rumors that the Bavarians have mounted the famed (and feared) Mind Control Lasers on some of these ships. These rumors, thankfully, remain unconfirmed. (For miniatures, I have a flock of Silent Death and some miscellaneous FT ships painted up as "Pirates"-those will do for now. For the new ships, I would love something pyramidal in shape...but I will probably use the NAC ships. Deception is one of the Illuminati's strengths, after all.) The Bavarian ground forces make extensive use of Grav vehicles. Stealth takes priority over armor; the result is expensive, but they can afford it. (Probably some of my copious Renegade Legion figures, with some turret swaps here and there. Along with, of course, some helicopters. Infantry will be GW Space Marines in DSII scale, and Metal Magic "Sardukyn" in SGII scale. Black paint schemes will be the order of the day. Especially for the helicopters.)