Evolution
The evolutionary history of the Charabidians is murky to say the least. The fossil records point to numerous dead ends, cul-de-sacs and even a few living fossils that persist on Charabidia today. Charabidia (also called the 'Homeworld' or the 'Throneworld') has a thin crust, which has resulted in it being covered in shallow tropical seas, volcanic island chains and four small continents, each no bigger than Terran Australia. During the last time the four continents were joined as a single super-landmass, a species of mammal arose similar to the Terran Sabretooth tiger. When the continents broke up, the various populations of this top tier predator began to significantly diverge.
The Charabidians evolved from one of these groups. Isolated on the smallest continent which was almost completely covered in jungle, they shed mass, developed climbing skills and opposable thumbs. They transitioned from a four legged stance to a two legged stance that made climbing and hunting easier in the dense undergrowth, and allowed them to see greater distances. Several other divergent species emerged at this time, but as the continent shifted the jungles died back into savannah. The adaptations used by early Charabidians gave them a massive advantage on the savannah, and as brain size increased they began to use simple tools. The big break came as these early communities pursued new sources of protein, and discovered the coasts of the continent. The successful communities transitioned to a reliance on the coast for food rather than the plains, allowing populations to increase and further encouraging increasing brain size, tool use, art and religion. Charabidian evolutionary scientists mark this as the emergence of their species proper.
Biology Notes
Charabidia is a heavy gravity world compared to Terra, with a gravity of 1.7G and a dense magnetic field due to a highly active core. Charabidians have exceptionally dense muscle and bone structure compared to unaltered Terrans. Their heritage as ambush predators also gives them a superior sense of hearing and sight, as well as a sensitive sense of smell. However, they do not have half the endurance of Terran originated primates, are more limited in the environmental ranges they find comfortable, and are much more susceptible to crippling injury. Charabidians would never, for instance, settle on a low-G ice world because its extreme cold would be extremely hazardous to their health, and are much less likely to survive an extreme survival problem like being trapped in a ravine with a broken leg. As one Terran observer commented, 'The Charabidians are like a whole race of biological muscle cars. Incredible performance at the cost of sustainability and flexibility'
Iron Age to Nuclear Age
As these communities expanded, they separated. Many used simple boats to move to nearby island chains, and archaeologists track a great diaspora 30,000 years ago as the various clans settled new areas and begin to culturally adapt. The great distances involved, and the constantly changing surface of their world, ensured that many of these communities would fall out of contact with each other or be wiped out by disaster. As the Iron age developed, various early empires arose, centred on Matriarchal lines of succession. This would be the development of the 40 clans of Charabidia, each with a different culture, customs and increasingly, specialisations. The main split was between the sixteen continental clans, and the twenty four island clans. Because the continental clans had access to more stable territories, they developed agriculture, urban centres, trade and writing. Their early armies were citizen levies backed by the personal guards of great Queens and Princesses. The islanders instead developed a heavily honour based system of warfare, with raiding the continents and each other a key part of their culture. They developed increasingly complex ships and improved their weapons. While some island clans would be able to conquer empires on the continents, they would never be able to hold onto their gains for more than a generation or two.
This cycle of war, trade, diplomacy and development would dominate Charabidian history for six thousand years of recorded history. Clans would rise and fall, or be subsumed by others, until only eighteen nations plied the islands against eight nations on the continents.
Two of those nations were Clan Morok and Clan Abzan. Morok were a continent nation with a powerful industrial and scientific base, but a weak navy and army after years of war with their neighbouring continental Clan, Daysun. Clan Abzan was an island Clan, a warrior clan, with a powerful fleet of dreadnoughts and millions of soldiers. They planned to sweep Clan Morok aside and establish a new empire on the central continent Morok-Day. As they launched the invasion, Clan Morok threatened through diplomatic channels that if they landed on the continent, they would unleash such wrath that their 'childrens children would weep bitter tears to poison the oceans around your islands.'
Ignoring the threat, Clan Abzan swept aside Clan Moroks fleet and air force and landed in strength. The next day, as the sun rose, it was joined by four bright new suns on the horizon as Clan Morok unleashed their new secret weapon, the Atomic Bomb. The beach head on the continent, and Clan Abzans three major cities, had all been obliterated in one fell swoop. This would not end the war immediately, but it crippled Clan Abzan and led to their ultimate defeat and destruction. After the bombing other clans raced to research these new weapons, and a deadly cold war developed. The clans could no longer pursue their ambitions on the Homeworld without destroying each other and the planet. As one, they turned their faces to the stars.
First Space Age – from Homeworld to Home System
The various clans had all developed rocketry as weapons, some over a thousand years ago. Now this technology was used to get into space. The first space age was dominated by a rush to reach mineral resources and the three other rocky planets in the Home System. Charabidia itself had been blessed with huge mineral wealth, and its children found that its barren sisters were similarly rich in rare materials. Colonies were established to mine these resources and to expand the reach of the first primitive vessels. The viability of colony ships to other star systems, with potentially habitable worlds, was discussed seriously, while orbital infrastructure bloomed. Despite the threat of mutual destruction, this era is widely regarded as a golden age of industry, science and welfare. Quality of life improved and lifespan extended, orbital manufacturing allowed for a clean up of the biosphere of homeworld to begin, and most colonies and stations became largely self sufficient thanks to prototype technologies being designed for use on seed ships.
Second Space age – From Home System to Empire
For several centuries the Charabidians where content to explore and colonise their home system, with attempts being made at terraforming worlds in the home system, and asteroid based 'sleeper ships' being despatched to hopefully seed new worlds. Conflicts occurred, but where limited to espionage and skirmishes between nascent space fleets. As a race deeply experienced with naval warfare, space warfare came easily to them and each clan developed a powerful navy to defend its interests.
This situation changed forever when Clan Daysun revealed the first jump drive. This primitive system allowed for a few lightyears of travel in a week, and opened the stars to exploration, with journeys to other star systems now achievable in a few months rather than generations. Clan Daysun would share this technology with the other clans as long as they kept sole knowledge of it, and maintained it with their own techs. It was decided that if the Charabidians where to build an empire in the stars, the home system would become neutral ground administered by Clan Daysun in perpetuity. Territorial lines on the homeworld and offworld colonies were largely dissolved into the control of Clan Daysun, while a mass exodus of Charabidian clans occurred. Clan Daysun, in one fell swoop had seized control of the Charabidians future in space, and their past on the Homeworld.
The First Contacts, the Arvicol and the Cerrejon.
As the clans travelled to habitable systems, they first encountered the first wave of colonists from the simple sleeper ships, reincorporating them into the nascent Empire. Long range communication was made possible via long chains of laser buoys that transmitted data fairly slowly in interstellar terms, with hypernet comms still decades away. Clan Daysun rolled out from the homeworld a limited network of 'mail express' ships, small vessels loaded with the smallest, fastest jump drives, no weapons and vast server farms for storing information. It was these express couriers who carried news of the two first contacts across the young empire.
The Arvicol are a race of relatively small, furry rodent-like creatures with an additional pair of arms and dexterous tails. Their world is cold, damp and inimical to most carbon based life, relying on a different protein base and with a toxic atmosphere. They had developed to a nuclear tech level and would pose a difficult target for conquest as they exclusively built their cities underground and everything on the surface of their world was highly poisonous, so Clan Shiel instead attempted to assimilate them with diplomacy and technology trade. Arvicol computer systems were far advanced of the Charabidian standard, but their aerospace industry was primitive. Clan Shiel promised to usher the Arvicol to the stars as a fellow clan, and negotiated with Clans Daysun, Aral and Morok (celestial neighbours colonising nearby worlds) to grant them the same political rights as a full Clan. The Articles of Incorporation for the Arvicol became the standardised documents used to bring an alien race into the Enclaves.
The Cerrejon, a race of serpent-like warriors, were the next contact. Their homeworld was much like Charabidia, as was their early history, but they had engaged in a much more intensive phase of nuclear warfare which had retarded their technological development. Forced to expand into space to survive, they had extensive orbital infrastructure but little experience fighting in space, as the nuclear wars had left only a single government in control of the system. Clan Sarak, a warrior clan with a particularly fearsome reputation, was rebuffed from attempts at diplomacy, and moved to a full scale planetary invasion of Cerrej. While they easily swept aside the orbital defences, the planet proved to be a nightmare warren of NBC tainted battlefields, tunnels filled with relentless snake-warriors and a near constant stream of ambushes, feints and counter assaults. The Cerrejon even managed to capture several Charabidian ships, as well as their technical crews. At this point, a particular young engineer by the name of Laris Daysun entered into negotiations with her captives (allegedly, as they were warming up the cooking pot and applying the batter) and educated them on the complexities of Charabidian politics. Several months later, a fleet arrived from the Charabidian homeworld comprised of every Clan Daysun interstellar capable warship and fell on the battered Sarak forces. Clan Sarak was almost completely destroyed, and after an exchange of prisoners, the Cerrejon Government signed the Articles of Incorporation and became a clan of the Enclaves.
Laris Daysun would be permanently changed by her experiences on Cerrej. Previously an expert in Warp space dynamics and fusion physics, she re-educated herself in the field of biology, and studied alongside several prominent Cerrejon scientists focused on radiation, cancers and life extension.
The First Interstellar War: Immortality and The Hives of Ash
As the Clans stabilized, built infrastructure and settled into their new homes, the Enclaves territorial expansion period slowed for nearly fifty years. During this time their population exploded and their technology leapfrogged forwards again and again. Each Clan developed a powerful, capable navy and built up extensive deep space infrastructure. It was during this time that Clan Daysun formally consolidated its grip on the remaining Clans. They enforced their monopoly on interstellar drives through means both fair and foul. During this time, a biologist by the name of Laris Daysun emerged from seclusion on Cerrej. She had finally perfected a technology that would grant her clan an incredible bargaining chip: functional immortality. The process was exceptionally expensive, but it rendered any Charabidian who used it immune to the effects of further ageing, while shielding them against any number of genetic and auto-immune diseases, as well as all known cancers. This discovery couldn't have come at a better time. By using this panacea, and keeping the treatment and the drugs required to sustain its effect as leverage, she was first able to seize control of her own Clan, then gain influence over each other Clan leader. Immortality breeds a certain aversion to risk taking, and a certain class of patience and paranoia. This meant each Clan leader could wait decades, centuries, perhaps millennia to see any plots or rivalries through to conclusion. Brush fire wars that threatened to explode into full scale conflicts died down overnight, and the more foresighted clans realized that if their rivals would be around forever, perhaps it was time to bury the hatchet on long running feuds. Laris would ascend to become the first, and perhaps last, Empress of all Clans, with Daysun named the Royal Clan, Clans with more than one habitable world named as Noble Clans, and each other clan being named a 'Clan Ordinary'. Noble ranks where standardized across each clan as well as a system of duelling and limited warfare. Border controls were slowly loosened, and the Charabidian Enclaves transitioned from a collection of squabbling states to a federalised super state, with a single chain of command for its military and a standardised set of rules for healthcare, welfare, tax and trade.
Twenty years after this process was largely complete, the Enclaves were rocked by an alien assault. The aliens, who did not communicate at all, and inexplicably emerged from close to the Super-massive blackhole at the centre of the galaxy, butchered several outlying colonies and mining outposts before slamming into Clan Tsian territory. Initially the threat was ignored, but as more ships poured into and eventually around Tsian space, the Charabidians recognized they were dealing with a very serious problem, and possibly the first real threat to their continued existence since the Atomic Age. For the first time, their entire military was mobilized and focused on a single target.
The result would be the decade long Hive War. The enemy, a race of hive mind insects, had spread unchecked from a world in the Black Holes accretion disk and had already obliterated several more primitive species already. The Charabidans pushed back against them with a massive militarization that stretched their economy and industrial base to the limit, but ultimately, after many bitter battles and reversals, where able to glass each Hive-world one at a time from orbit with massive barrages of Atomic weapons. Fighting on their home-worlds had proved to be utterly foolish and horribly costly, and so with some regret the Empress had conceded that the threat was great enough to warrant blasting nearly twenty garden worlds into nuclear oblivion. After the war, she also implemented a period of enforced ceasefire towards the Clans that had been most heavily damaged by the war. Some Clans had deliberately held back forces from the wars later stages, and these were heavily taxed to fund rebuilding Clan Tsian and the other four Clans that had found their worlds and outposts on the front lines of the conflict. The Empress did not wish to penalise those Clans that had sacrificed the most for their species, and so the Royal Clan extended a shielding hand to allow them to recover to their original strength, thus maintaining the precarious political balance in the Enclaves.
The Kel-Cyre: A different kind of Conflict.
After the Hive War, the Charabidians went through another period of aggressive expansion. With a retooled industrial base, several clans constructed 'Expeditionary Forces' to explore the wider galaxy. In truth, these forces were not much more than conquistadors, with a remit to bring any race they found into the Enclaves through means either fair or foul. This was viewed at the time as 'protecting' them from the hostile dangers of the galaxy. It was these expeditions that met the edge of the Kel'Cyre. Almost universally, the Kel'Cyre chose to retreat when confronted, until the Charabidians started the conquest of several less advanced species. At this point the Kel'Cyre fought their first major interstellar war against the Enclaves, to halt the absorption of these races. While more advanced in terms of ship building, production and a dozen other fields, in terms of military doctrine, tactical and strategic experience, and the fields of weapons and defense, the Kel'Cyre lagged far behind, and they had to learn several bloody lessons. However, the Charabidians were not fools. Examination of the wreckage and battle data revealed a race decades, perhaps centuries ahead in dozens of scientific fields, and every victory was becoming harder to win. Rather than enter a grinding war of attrition, the Charabidians sued for peace, establishing the first treaties that would become part of the fabric of the Concert, including enshrining the rights of 'lesser' races.
Terrans and Lyrans: The shatter zone.
With their expansionist ambitions checked in one direction, the Charabidians advanced in another, often alongside the Kel'Cyre. Rather than view them as mortal enemies, the Charabidians viewed the Kel'Cyre as worthy rivals and adversaries, and having a rival spurred the Enclaves to new heights. It was during this period of exploration and colonization that the Kel'Cyre met the Terrans.
Initially relationships were good with the strange, fragile hairless primates. Trade was opened up between the Charabidians and the Terrans, especially focusing on the exchange of technological patents. However, the Clans Ordinary did not cease their mercurial raiding against the Terrans, straining relations to breaking point between the Terran Federation and the Royal Clan.
The War between the Terrans and the Charabidians has no clear start or even end as far as the Charabidians are concerned, but for the Terrans it began with a raid on a medical convoy racing to Outpost 419. This resulted in hundreds of preventable deaths over medicine worthless to the Charabidians themselves, and the result was a declaration of war.
At first the wider Enclaves barely noticed as the Clan Ordinary Holdings on the edge of Terran space were attacked, thinking the war would be isolated to this region. But as the Terrans pushed deeper into Enclave space and involved more and more Clans, it became clear that the Terrans were a real threat. The destruction of a Royal Barque, ferrying Princess Jollana to a fringe world resort, marked the entrance of the Royal Clan proper into the war. At that point, Kel'Cyre and Charabidian analysts confidently predicted the Terrans total defeat in under a year.
The War would drag on for over a decade of bloody fighting, swinging back and forth. The Terrans made masterful use of the Clan divides in command and territory, and engaged in a war of deception that kept the Enclaves off balance and constantly second guessing. But every time open battle occurred, the Terrans lost. Not always badly, and not always with heavy casualties, but they were still losing. Eventually, the Kel'Cyre, tired of the bloodshed and fearing for the loss of valuable trade agreements on both sides, brokered a peace. This peace would be the cause of the Terran Civil War, but it would also be one of the foundations for the Concert, a Galactic body dedicated to preventing the horror of a full scale war between the largest powers.
The Sentinax: Berserker.
The Charabidians and the Kel'cyre stayed well clear of the Terran Civil War, and instead refocused on exploration and expansion. It was a Kel'Cyre expedition that first encountered the Sentinax, and watched in horror as the machines converted a garden world to a Server World. Petitioning the Charabidians for assistance, both races assembled large task forces to check the advance of the Sentinax, while the Kel'Cyre diplomatic core tried to find a way to make contact with the inscrutable machines. Before these task forces could strike, the Sentinax hit the borders of Terran, Lyran and Charabidian space. They had infiltrated the Kel'Cyre network with their Omega agents, and were able to mine the locations of all their rivals.
Several bloody battles were fought in space and on land as for a brief time the joint Concert Task groups ground the Sentinax back, until several Sentinax fleets reached the edge of Charabidian Royal Clan space, even deploying converter ships within two jumps of the Homeworld. This caused the Empress to recall her battlefleets, as Clan Ordinary fleets contested a half dozen invasions along the rimward edge of Charabidian space.
In the end, diplomacy won out. The Sentinax and Kel'Cyre were able to develop a rosetta stone language they could use to communicate. While it was quickly made clear that the war wasn't a 'big misunderstanding' as some people have later claimed, it did highlight that there could be vast gulfs in experience and culture between sophonts.
An Imperial Age: The Charabidian Enclaves today
Today, the Enclaves stands at five hundred and fifty eight garden worlds, with a near uncountable number of outposts, colonies, forward bases and listening posts. At more than six trillion sophonts, their population is vast, and they remain an economic and manufacturing power house, as well as a significant producer of cutting edge research. These days, they tend to leverage their power carefully and subtly, through proxies, mercenaries and other deniable assets, but are certainly not above showing their neighbours how sharp their claws are. Those neighbours can include their fellow clans, as the low level intercine warfare has never really gone away.
While most of the population is Charabidian, fifty six worlds are inhabited by aliens. The Arvicol are merchants and explorers, with outposts on several worlds the Charabidians would find it impossible to live on. They often serve as negotiators and brokers between the various clans and have become very rich as neutral third parties. The Cerrejon are now one of the most powerful Noble Clans, with their own battle fleets and ten out system colony worlds. Their loyalty to the Royal Clan has been richly rewarded, and they are often tapped to help police other clans.
Fifteen other Charabidian Clans are considered 'noble' with more than a dozen Garden worlds. The Royal Clan retains control of the Home System, and with extensive terraforming has turned each rocky planet in the inner system into a garden world they exclusively control, with the Homeworld still used as a neutral meeting ground and the centre of government. The remaining five hundred worlds are controlled by 52 Clans, the Clans ordinary, with two alien races counted amongst their number. Each Clan is, in effect, its own self contained minor power.
Enclave Structure: Civil
Each Clan functions as its own, federal state inside the wider enclave, with its own military, government and civil service. However, each Clan is held to certain universal standards of healthcare, education and taxation, though all Clans make it a point of pride to exceed these targets rather than merely meet them. Education occurs at a young age and continues into young adult hood (21 years), with three stages: Academy, District, and finally Campus. Social and economic mobility has been a focus of the Clans since the space age, and the old barriers between social classes have been largely obliterated, a process achieved through the school system. While you can pay for extra tutelage (and indeed some parents do) the standard of teaching at most Schools is viewed as more than sufficient.
Healthcare is paid via taxes and is free at point of service. Charabidian medical technology is exceptionally advanced, but has largely plateaued in recent years with few new advancements. Full limb replacement with grown surrogates is now becoming widely available, and life extension treatments can be bought for a nominal administrative fee. This fee increases as age does, in direct proportion to this treatments ability to hold back the effects of aging, but most Charabidians are happy with 250 years of life and excellent health, which can be achieved with only a modest financial outlay. The 'true' immortality treatment is still reserved for Clan rulers, and its notable that some of its effects (including a naturally increased lifespan and an immunity to certain auto-immune diseases) have been noted in the children of those who have received the treatment. Retroviral treatments are also common and popular, along with a large vaccination program and cancer screening service. All Clans view a healthy, happy, educated population not as an laborious expense, but as an investment in the future prosperity and competitiveness of the Clan.
The Nobility are still a large factor in Clan hierarchy, which is accepted as they are subjected from a young age to enhanced training, education, and a culture of vendetta, feud and competition. Whether diplomat, merchant magnate or soldier, each noble is expected to succeed above and beyond their lesser born fellows, not just by their parents but by everyone around them. Charabidian society simply does not allow for a noble to be corrupt, incompetent or lazy, and this has created one of the most driven ruling classes in the Galaxy. While not perfect people, the concept of Noble responsibility is alive and well. With every advantage, there is no excuse for anything less than excellence. The descendants of the Royal Clan are held to an even more punishing standard of excellence, but Empress Laris Daysun's eugenic tinkering, not unlike a breeder of hunting dogs, means each product of her womb and the wombs of her hundreds of children, are naturally stronger, faster, smarter and longer lived than even a noble. Any going into the military will often receive extensive augmentation, both genetic and cybernetic, to further augment their capabilities to frightening levels.
Several corporations exist in Charabidian space, crossing clan lines, with strict laws on monopolies preventing them from growing too powerful. Consumer protection is considered paramount and the nobility of the Clans is easily rich enough to buy out any troublesome corporate venture and dismantle it if required. Strict laws against development and pollution (with draconian fines) mean clean development is of paramount importance, and clean energies have been a focus of technological development since the space age. Most power infrastructure needs are met with orbital solar farms, supplemented with fusion reactors. Media and entertainment are the biggest corporate sectors, with several news channels supporting entertainment networks that span the entire Enclave. The second biggest industry is food production, with intensive 'farming' of meat being a high priority for the entire Enclave. A significant bottleneck to population growth is the fact that Charabidians receive almost all their food from meat animals. Fast cultured artificial proteins that simulate common staples are highly prized as they allow for much higher population densities than would otherwise be possible, but naturally produced game is a high price commodity. The Terrans and Kel'cyre both make fortunes shipping natural meat to the Charabidians.
Law and order is maintained by a separate police force and judiciary branch, mandated by law to be outside noble influence, with standardised Enclave offences (murder, manslaughter, rape, treason), while other crimes are managed by Clan issued ordinance, which can vary from Clan to Clan. Laws on personal armaments tend to vary clan to clan as well. Some clans allow personal firearms, some allow open carry swords, others restrict all weapons to certain leisure clubs and ban them everywhere else. Generally, the more militant clans allow their citizens to be armed, and these laws can change from location to location within a Clan. Many outpost settlements allow their citizens to be armed, even if normally they would not.
One particular curiosity is that all visiting aliens are allowed to be armed with 'less than lethal' options when visiting Enclave space as an Enclave wide law. Charabidia is a high gravity world and the Charabidians are naturally well equipped with claws and fangs, sharp hearing and keen night eyesight. Any visitor from a lower gravity world is likely to be significantly under-equipped against even a Charabidian civilian, so carrying a stun-gun or a shrieker is considered a prudent course of action, and is recommended by foreign travel agencies. However, most visitors have little recourse to use these last resorts, finding the Charabidian citizens curious and welcoming to aliens and tourists.
Each Clan maintains more specialised police forces (including armed response, special investigation branches and riot control) but these vary significantly from Clan to Clan in both name, jurisdiction and function.
Enclave Structure: Military
The Enclaves Military is managed at two distinct levels: Clan and Enclave. At the Clan level, each Clan sees to its own defence, including raising armies, maintaining fleet units and bases, and developing new weapons and defences. Most operate on a standardised pattern of organisation to allow for easy cross clan coordination, and largely because the structures they have developed over the centuries work well for their needs.
The Clans are capped on the amount of Dreadnoughts they can deploy, but not construct. Richer clans will occasionally build reserve units that can be swapped out for damaged ships, but this is rare. Each Clan Ordinary can support six dreadnoughts, and most maintain that many on average. Each Noble Clan can maintain twelve dreadnoughts, with the Cerrejon given special dispensation to maintain eighteen. Again, this number, on average, is adhered to. The Royal Clan maintains twenty four dreadnoughts. There is no functional cap on the deployment of frigates, cruisers, and carriers, however, so some Clan Ordinary Fleets are more powerful than their Noble Clan counterparts simply because their wealth allows them to field large battlegroups of cruisers.
Tactically, the Charabidians believe any static target is already dead at the outset of hostilities, and do not build large facilities to function as defence points, unlike the Terran Federations Firebase strategy. Instead to defend a system they will use Frigates and cruiser sized monitors, both without jump drives but powerful conventional engines. These will be augmented by automated OSats and minefields around key facilities, and supported by ground based fighter groups. The Jump capable fleets will be mainly Cruisers, backed by dreadnoughts as command ships, and carriers. Any task force will have an 2:1 split between Cruisers and Carriers, with almost no bombers being deployed. Charabidian fleets rely on their fearsome railguns for striking power, and keep their single ship assets back for fleet defence.
At the Enclave level, when fighting a foreign power, these forces are parcelled together into strike groups, battle groups and defence groups. Strike groups are tasked with ranging deep into enemy territory, and demolishing any space based infrastructure they can find, such as ship yards. Such groups are mainly comprised of cruiser squadrons, with a single dreadnought operating as the command ship. They prefer to strike and fade, destroying the objective at extreme range and retreating at speed. Often the first indication that the enemy is under attack by the Enclaves are their primary shipyards and fuel refining platforms exploding in an unheralded hail of extreme range railgun shots.
Battle groups follow up next, and engage enemy forces with the sole purpose of bringing superior force to bear and completely demolishing them. Mainly comprised of Battleships, with a solid core of Dreadnoughts, they 'mug' other enemy fleets and leave no surviving vessels (going as far as to allow surrendering vessels to evacuate before using Marines to gut them). They are happy to use a variety of dirty tricks to draw out enemy forces, including crippling lone vessels and waiting for rescuers to come to their aid.
Finally, defence groups follow in the wake of the Strike and Battlegroups. Their job is to catch any enemy forces coming the other way, defending captured territory and supply lines, as well as any temporary forward bases. They are extremely proactive, preferring to intercept enemy forces far from an objective and defeat them in detail, or at least bloody their noses and drive them off, before flagging the enemy force up to a nearby Battlegroup. Defence Groups are generally composed solely of Cruiser Squadrons.
All these forces will be coordinated by Royal Clan forces, with Noble Clan and Clan Ordinary forces filling in wherever required. Royals are trained extensively to handle the strains of coordinating these Enclave level task groups, and political requirements often place a strain on practical ones (Planners try not to build squadrons from rival Clans, for instance.)
Current Issues:
Population growth is a constant concern for the Enclaves. While the Concert has brought unparalleled economic stability and relatively secure borders, it has also constricted the living space the Enclave has to work with. Currently terraforming technologies are being aggressively pursued, with nano-machine based radiation scrubbing technology possibly opening up the twenty radioactive hellscapes of the Hives to future expansion.
The Charabidians have been highly antagonistic towards the Sentinax since their discovery, with fleet doctrine, wargames and R&D focusing on a likely major clash with the machine intelligence race. This attitude is cooling somewhat with the end of the Concert War. This has resulted in a new round of intercine conflict burning between the Clans facing the Sentinax border and their Enclave neighbours.
A note on weapon systems
The Charabidians focus on matter weapons for the main weapons, as this grants them superior range over their opponents and lower signature than many of their opponents. Advanced, rapid fire railguns linked to advanced targeting computers saturate an area with shells such that it is impossible for large ships to evade every strike. This is supplemented by increasingly advanced missiles, with plasma thrust Kinetic Kill missiles delivering devastating strikes against ships with frightening accuracy. Lasers and energy weapons are reserved almost solely for point defence, and the Charabidians advanced materials sciences allows these weapons to shed excess heat, and therefore fire more rapidly, than many comparable systems on other races vessels.
