Democratic Monarchy of Edessa

Modern/First Expansion
Edessa is a prosperous human empire that grew out of a colonial revolution in 2475. Edessa is a empire of modest size, being only 15 star systems. The current ruler of Edessa is Icarus Faelin, the leader of the Edessian rebellion back in the early 2470's. He rules his empire efficiently and is a military genius. The capitol of the empire of Edessa is of course the planet of Edessa. Since Edessa was colonized by the Terra Space Federation it has grown into a cultural and economic capitol of its colony cluster. The reason the planet grew so important is that it was a trade planet, its ports maintaining hundreds of trade freighters at any given time. The world is also a relative military hub for the predominately human ruled faction. Edessa is currently populated by 537 million people which is relatively high for mid-rim colony worlds. The planet is mostly free from smog and pollution and its cities clean and orderly. Many embassies from well known independent colonies and the TSF dot the capitol city of Edessa. The planet has rich soil and many farmers call it home. Agricultural goods are a main export of Edessa for this reason. Mining is also a profitable industry on Edessa.

Edessa was colonized by many people of Greek, and Italian descent. It was named after a city in Greece for this reason. Some parts of the planet are very hilly and mountainous and are said to resemble Greece. Many island chains also exist on Edessa, many of which are inhabited. The world is slightly larger than Earth, so mountains are somewhat smaller from the higher gravity. The gravity isn't anything harsh however, and people get used to it very quickly. Recent arrivals from Earth or Earth sized planets report dizziness after disembarking from their shuttle, but the feeling goes away within minutes. The capitol city of Edessa is Niseos.

Military is a well sought after profession in Edessian space. Many Edessian  families military families have long histories of being in the military. The Edessian military is moderately sized and capable of defending Edessa's star systems. Quality over quantity is the design philosophy in designing Edessian equipment from Starships to infantry armor. With Edessian armor tech, survivability is a well sought after trait. Weapons are slower firing than other factions, but deal more damage.

Edessa's military capitol is Corinth, named after a fortress city in Greece back on Earth. Being the military capitol, Corinth has the most officer training schools, most military bases, most warship 'dry-docks', and the largest defense fleet after Edessa. Mining is more of a focus here than on Edessa, as Corinth has more rare minerals useful in building military hardware. This is the reason the planet was originally colonized by the TSF. The planet is currently orderly and crime is rare from the significant military garrison.

The Edessian military predominately uses ballistic weaponry. The ships use large mass drivers the hull is literally built around. They use magnetic coils to launch dense projectiles at very high speeds. Energy weapons like lasers are not unheard of. Edessian ships also use missiles and lack energy shielding. Energy shielding is a current project being looked into by military engineers, however. In the mean time they make up for the lack of shielding with heavy armor. The armor resembles Dorchester (more commonly known as Chobham) armor from the late 20th century. The armor has advanced since then but still has some of the basic features. More specific features are classified and differ from TSF and other faction's armor.

Military
The Edessian military was formally established in 2476, a year after its independence was officially recognized by the Terra-Space Frontier (TSF). The original charter of the military organized it into three branches. These branches are the Edessian Space Force (ESF), Edessian Army, and the Edessian Air Force (EAF). There is also a fourth branch, the Edessian Marine Corps (EMC) which is part of the ESF. All of these branches have their respective jobs in keeping the peace in Edessian space or projecting Edessian power to hostile space.

The Edessian Space Force operates most of Edessa’s military space assets. It uses warships in both offensive and defensive roles. The ESF plays an important role in projecting Edessian power to hostile space. It transports the ground forces needed to capture hostile space. The ESF is also the first line of defense in preventing enemy invasions in space before the invasion begins. It operates a wide array of space  Craftto accomplish this.

The army is to defend Edessian worlds against invading forces. Army units are occasionally seen working with Marine units. Army units usually work in friendly territory and have a proportionally large number of combat engineers but they are sometimes deployed to hostile space. They fill in the gaps marine units can’t fill in and hold captured ground. The army is equipped with heavier vehicles and more defensive equipment for those reasons. The army is the last line of defense against invading enemy forces.

The Edessian Air Force operates in a similar role to the army. It is mostly defensive and used to protect worlds within the atmosphere. The EAF employs atmospheric craft and helicopters; these being cheap alternatives to having space forces in place. The EAF operates with army units and transports them where needed on the planet the respective units are operating on. Despite being an atmospheric entity, the EAF has some anti-orbital weapons. The AF-109 fighter-bomber for instance can fire ATS-19a missiles at orbiting space craft.

The Edessian Marine Corps is Edessa’s main offensive ground forces on hostile worlds. In an administrative sense, the corps is attached to the navy but in a practical sense it is an autonomous branch. It has its own separate funding than the navy and has slightly differing ranks from the army. The EMC is deployed and transported by ESF warships. It is more offensively oriented than the army and its tactics and equipment reflects this. The EMC also has an aerospace wing that is carried by ESF ships. This aerospace wing includes the drop-ships that carry the marines into battle.

As stated above, the ESF is Edessa’s main force outside of an atmosphere. It operates many space craft that will be elaborated on in this part of the document. Along with space-craft, the Edessian Space Force also operates small-arms to protect against boarders. The ESF is also important for gathering intelligence for the Edessian military. The part of the ESF responsible for this is the Edessian Office of Naval Intelligence (EONI). Within the Edessian military it is simply called ONI. The ESF is based on the Hermes station in the L2 Lagrange point in the Corinth system (Corinth II-Moon orbit) and the ESF headquarters on Corinth itself. It also has secondary command stations on Edessa and in orbit of the world.

In the present (2510) the ESF operates 635 space-craft of varying sizes and roles. This ranges from the smallest frigate to the largest carrier. The ESF also operates many more drop-ships and fighters. Many Corvettes and gunships aren’t included in the number either, but they are important parts of the ESF regardless. Corvettes are some of the only warships small enough to operate effectively in atmosphere, alongside frigates and destroyers. Corvettes are frequently used for recon, special-forces insertion, and ground-troop support. Corvettes are the smallest ships capable of holding a FTL drive.