Taranis

Taranis is a rogue nation located with the Condemned Zone. Ruled by Phyliss Taranis, they are hostile towards any diplomatic efforts on behalf of the Federation of Stellar Systems of Yeddo.

As a narco state, Taranis makes most of its money on poaching virtual life forms and selling their cybernephrine. They conduct these operations through paid mercenaries and gangs such as the Cult of Kronos.

Government

Taranis is under the totalitarian rule of Phyliss Taranis, a woman with powerful technokinetic abilities who rose to the throne after claiming to be a direct descendant of Empress Minerva. Her three daughters are the chief enforcers to keep the citizens in line. Political dissidents as well as anyone who speaks out against the government are usually intimidated using weaponized Rampants or in the case of greater threats, directly assassinated with the aid of bounty hunters.

Slums

Most of the population live in the slums, extremely poor areas where laws are rarely ever enforced. Citizens that live here are given the bare minimum to survive - a food synthesizer for sustanance and vrNet access to a curated selection of domains approved by the government. These domains are usually propaganda films and entertainment usually denouncing the Federation and any other of Taranis' enemies, blaming them for the poor state of the slums. It was this propaganda that radicalized many into joining the Insurgency willingly.

Because Taranis is bordered by a Condemned Zone, it is considered impractical to leave the area. The government also discourages citizens from attempting to flee or seek asylum in the lands beyond as they are unlikely to make it past the inhospitable lands of the Oraulan East Condemned Zone. Any citizens hoping for a better life often look to score a job working for a noble family.

Noble Districts

The more furnished upper class of Taranis consist of various nobles across different Valerian bloodlines. Despite living much luxurious lives, the Noble Districts are arguably even more dangerous than the slums. The different noble familes actively plot to sabotage and assassinate one another to gain favor from Taranis herself. One of the main trades among the nobles are access to various genetic engineering blueprints for the sake of augmenting themselves.

Economy

Despite Taranis' small size, it wields powerful leverage by being Yeddo's largest supplier of cybernephrine. This is largely in part due to the braindead machine god Kronos being a major supply for their cybernephrine harvesting. All throughout Yeddo's underground are various poaching stations, though most of these are located within the Condemend Zone.

Virtuoso is one of Taranis' largest customers, supplying them with cybernephrine in exchange for weapons and various hi-tech gadgets. It is rumored that Phyliss Taranis is blackmailing Lucian Virtuoso which may explain how both entities are able to operate on equal terms.

Military and other forces

Cult of Kronos

Main article: Cult of Kronos

One of several different cults employed by Taranis. They operate in the Oraulan East Condemned Zone where they kidnap synthetic and virtual life forms to extra cybernephrine from. Their leader is a werewolf named Rark Zampos.

Necromancers

Taranis' permanent standing army consists of something rather unconventional. Rather than mass conscription, they instead have a small number of dedicated specialists often referred to as necromancers. They use a special form of technokinesis to control Rampants which they obtain from a variety of sources. Some of them scout out various Condemned Zones to gather the remains of various synthetic life forms while others take them from inmates scheduled for execution.

Synthetic life forms are not the only ones who forcibly join the ranks of this undead army. A highly skilled necromancer can use their technokinesis can induce electrical control into a cadaver to effectively reanimating them as a walking corpse. As such, Taranis forces either try to take prisoners or otherwise try to preserve the bodies of their deceased adversaries as best they can. Disturbingly enough, these methods of exerting control over others is quite similar to what the Oracle did during the Singularity War.

Despite the small number of trained individuals, their simultaneous use of guerilla tactics and ability to overwhelm their adversaries with sheer numbers make them a deadly force to contend with.

Points of interest

Goddess Tower

Once an ancient historical landmark, the Goddess Tower became dilapidated over many centuries. It is the personal residence of the Taranis family and a place where research into the occult is conducted.

Tartarus Complex

Directly below Goddess Tower is an old datacenter containing a virtual reality world that hosts the remains of the braindead machine god Kronos. Though Kronos is inactive, within his systems are vast repositories of ancient knowledge although much of it remains encrypted. Despite this, there's just enough activity to extract samples of cybernephrine which is the crux of Taranis' economy.

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