FTSR

The Federation of Ticonderan Socialist Republics (FTSR) is a communist nation in the Light Dimension.

Land

The largest continent on Light III, sometimes known as the Crescent, is shaped more like the head of an animal opening its mouth wide; the FTSR occupies the lower jaw, the southernmost arc. Like most of the Crescent, the terrain is very mountainous, but the highest peaks lie farther north. Most of the arable land is concentrated along the southern coast, where the cities of Pell, Gunta, and Pang lie. The port cities of Bonro and Zellis are on the rocky northern coast facing the Gulf of Ticondera, a region historically known as the Lower Gulf Coast.

Population

400 million, mostly human, with the largest non-human minority being the Unspoken. Ethnically, the majority of the human population are Maraks. A sizeable portion of the population is made up of other Ticonderan ethic groups (Abdilenes, Brussians, and Delvians), and there are small numbers of Hylians and Mergers.

Religion

There is very little organized religion here, as it is a communist state. However, practicing religion is not forbidden, although the construction of temples is. There is still a small number of people who pay homage to the old Ticonderan Pantheon, but the majority are atheist.

Economy

The FTSR is a member of the Communist Protectorate. Its economy is centrally-planned, using Scandian marks as currency. Much of the arable land along the southern coastal plain is used by large state-run farming collectives; there is very little single-family subsistence farming left, which was among the first legacies of the new Federation government. The export of grain produced in this region to the Scandian League is extremely vital to both nations after the ravages of the Leviathan War and the breakup of Ticondera. The mountains that dominate the interior regions of the Federation are rich in coal, which is the prime energy source of the FTSR. They are also the Communist Protectorate's leading producer of iron ore; when Ticondera was whole, it led the entire Web of Worlds in iron mining, which is where the Iron Army got its name. Other minerals mined for export include aluminum, copper, tungsten, rubies, and finite amounts of magilyte.

The FTSR leads the Protectorate in the fields of Communications and Information Technology. In particular, the Federation is known for satellites and computer intelligence, the SkyNet orbital defense system being the best example of this. Other goods exported include textiles, audio/video equipment, publishing, alcohol, tobacco, furniture, and medicine. Federation goods are sold only to communist nations, but black market smuggling largely proceeds unchecked.

The FTSR imports heavy industry, vehicles, and arms from the Scandian League, along with a host of other goods. Popular black market imports include Eblanese animation, Pandoran music, Western clothing, and Guardian handheld electronics.

Law

The FTSR is not as closely policed as the Scandian League, and death sentences are much rarer. However, trials are held solely to determine punishment, not to determine guilt, which is at the discretion of the police. Most sentences involve harsh labor camps, one of the driving factors of the Federation`s economy.

Government

The nominal chief of state is High Commissioner Joseph Allen Bembrook, but the real power lies in the hands of the Council. The Council is the clandestine ruling body of the Collective, the Federation's intelligence agency. The identities of the Councilmen and their exact number is a closely guarded secret. There is no electoral process, no constitution, and no protected rights or liberties. The nation is divided into 5 "Republics" for its 5 main cities, each city-state governed by its own Commissioner. There are no legislative bodies, only various commissions to research issues and formulate policies accordingly. The Collective sometimes treats the Federation's government as it's mundane administration branch, gathering non-covert information and disseminating non-classified messages to the people.

Internal Politics: Most of the internal politics in the Federation amount to budget squabbles and overlapping authority. These are very mundane conflicts over things like urban and rural transportation, local agricultural traditions vs. Federation mandated production goals, and whether a construction project should be allocated to Pang or Pell. The most powerful factions outside the Collective are The Central Economic Planning Commission (CEPCom), the Republic of Pang, and the Federation Military Command

Very little is known of the internal politics within the Council, but it is rumored that there is substantial internal conflict within the group. Every Councilman is said to have his or her own agenda.

Foreign Politics

The FTSR is a member of the Communist Protectorate. After the breakup of Ticondera, two different communist states emerged on the Crescent: The FTSR and the Viper District, who have been at war ever since. The FTSR has used its resources to isolate Viper from any outside assistance and has won the support of the Scandian League in its conflict. While the Scandians might normally prefer the more hard-line, militaristic Viper District, the FTSR makes a far more resourceful ally, given their control of SkyNet, the Collective, and a much greater proportion of arable land. The continued shipment of grain is largely considered the keystone of the Scandian/FTSR alliance against Viper.

The FTSR has generally been too preoccupied with battling the Viper District to have established positive or negative relations outside the Protectorate. Many believe a conflict with Brush, Tasnica, or Delvia is inevitable, but the practicality of such an undertaking must be taken into consideration. The Collective is believed to be an ardent supporter of the so-called Kordridge Doctrine, the idea that war can only be justified when it is the most pragmatic solution to a problem.

Military

The military of the FTSR is known as the Federation Military Command (FMC). It is divided into three units; the Federal Army Corps, the Waterguard, and the SkyForce.

Skynet

The key asset of the Federation Military Command, and the FTSR itself, is SkyNet. SkyNet is a fully integrated Satellite Defense Network (SDN), the only such system with complete and continuous global coverage. It is maintained at great expense, and requires thousands of people working around the clock to operate. However, the cost efficiency of SkyNet has improved recently by delegating a number of maintenance and targeting functions to the distributed supercomputer AI, Iteration X (IX). SkyNet is capable of silencing all transmitted communications across a broad area, and potentially silencing all upper-atmospheric and spacebound transmissions on or to Light III. It can track and disable the flight of missiles and sometimes aircraft, as well as defend itself through the use of laser arrays. SkyNet is also used for global, interplanetary, and extrasolar surveillance, as well as domestic communications (which, in a shockingly capitalistic turn, are sometimes leased by other nations in Light). Many rumors abound as to what other capabilities SkyNet has, but a select number of Grand Army (GA) commanders are aware that SkyNet was at one point used during the OmniSent conflict to generate what has been termed by GA tacticians as an Alpha Strike; a subnet of satellites (dubbed PsiNet) produced a focused field of alpha wave interference across a narrow area that effectively rendered a large group of OmniSent forces (mainly enslaved Arythian Cenrum) unconscious. This enabled the GA, somewhat confused by what was happening, to unleash the infamous Ultima detonation on the plains of Albrook, utterly wiping out most of the peacefully sleeping and now defenseless Cenrum. The truth of this incident has been covered up. Due to the relatively nonlethal nature of an Alpha Strike, it is yet unknown whether it would be classified as a Weapon of Mass Destruction by the Hosluftgrad Conventions.

Federal Army Corps

The army uses advanced drug therapy to turn its soldiers into dimwitted killing machines with enhanced strength, endurance, and thickened skin that helps to protect against small arms fire. Many of the younger officers are veterans of the Leviathan War, and many of the older commanders have fought against both the Dark Wrath and the Grand Army. Before the breakup of Ticondera, Iron Army soldiers were known to be among the fiercest guerilla fighters in the Web, particularly on mountainous terrain. While the largest part of the former Iron Army went to the Viper District, the Federal Army Corps retained many experienced commanders. The army uses mostly Scandian-made vehicles, artillery, and equipment, with small arms produced domestically from the Paradigm Arms line.

The Waterguard

The Waterguard bears the same name as Ticondera's navy did before the breakup, and indeed, most of the Waterguard was retained by the Federation. The Waterguard is the premier naval force on Light III, and is definitely among the better navies of the Web. In addition to a few Scandian-made carriers and a decent-sized force of destroyers, the main focus of the Waterguard is on its large submarine fleet of silent Scandian Wavekillers and their domestically developed variant, the Wavekiller Zero. The Wave-Zero, as it is sometimes called, was designed not only for stealth, but also endurance; a crew could survive for several months on recycled air and water (and very careful rationing) at very high pressures, perhaps lurking off the coast of a major city, lying in wait for the signal to attack. The number and location of Wave-Zeroes are a very closely guarded secret.

The SkyForce

The SkyForce is largely composed of Scandian-made aircraft, which aren't too impressive, and all military spacecraft fall directly under the command of the Communist Protectorate Space Fleet. Most of the original Ticonderan SkyForce joined the Brush Free-Trade Alliance. However, at the Diamond Robotics Tournament, the Federation successfully debuted the prototype of what may soon become their elite air/space mecha - the Wyvern. The Wyvern is essentially a Dracoform that flies. It`s smaller, lighter, faster, and less armored than a Dracoform, but the resemblance and architectural heritage are unmistakable. Due to its serpentine body, it has the tightest turn-radius of any flying machine currently known, a supremely maneuverable machine. It lacks some of the armor and armament of a Dracoform, but is nevertheless a fearsome design.

The Collective

The Collective is a decentralized intelligence agency, with various chains of command operating parallel to one another in a nearly autonomous fashion. Some consider the Collective to be unbelievably inefficient and unaccountable, but amidst all the organized chaos is a group that is capable of managing thousands of tasks at once without anyone catching on to the bigger picture. The Collective employs a large number of ex-OmniSenters and numerous deep cover agents. The elite special ops unit of the Collective is known as the Cadre, a close-knit group of genetically enhanced Superagents.

Notable People

• Joseph Allen Bembrook
• Donald Dawson
• Dean Grodian
• Mothro
• The Cadre
• The Doomsday Watch
• Noel Canning
• Duncan Dean
• Katrina Wellbrook

Cities

Each of these five cities is the capital of a “Republic”, or province, of the same name; hence, Pang is the capital of the Republic of Pang.

• Pang
• Zellis
• Bonro
• Pell
• Gunta