Hi everyone,
Are you excited to hear about our new player characters? This week we’re introducing the Yarangan Union (YU) to you!
Read all about them below!
The YU (Yarangan Union) is a traditional monarchy ruled by the Imperial family, headed by the Emperor. A rigidly hierarchical society, the YU traditionally places great importance on family and one’s role within society is often dictated by one’s family background. In recent years, the importance of Pelagium and its associated tech and the growing influence of the Science Ministry has thrown this into chaos, and merit has become more important than background in many cases.
The Yarangans’ territory consists of a polar continent (Nav) and an enormous number of islands. They live and traverse their territories on floating arcologies called Umiaqs, huge Pelagium fueled ice-breakers. Umiaqs are Yarangans’ main “settlements”, while the islands usually have only industrial/scientific complexes or very small villages.
Mira Tijksyn
Mira Tijksyn was born into a family of scientists, and has grown up addicted to the thrill of knowledge and research. In particular, her father Toerwahn Tijksyn was the lead researcher of Pelagium’s potential as fuel, and his revolutionary discoveries allowed the YU to enhance the power output of the Umiaqs, allowing them to become essentially independent of coastal facilities. One of the Umiaqs was named after Toerwahn subsequently to honor his input in the technology development. Beyond this, the Tijksyn shield revolutionized how militaries faced each other, rendering the superior firepower of the CLP all but useless. Mira was no passive observer, she was involved in Toerwahn’s research from a young age and learnt much of her craft from her father.
It thus surprised no one when she graduated with honors from university, far ahead of her peers and even some of the faculty in her knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of Pelagium and was fast tracked into AFTA (Agency of Future Technology Advances), where she has spent the better part of a decade participating in research into the practical application of Pelagium based technology. Her family’s prestige and close connection to the Kask family (who has controlled the Ministry of Science for the past several decades) enabled her to work on the most cutting edge, interesting projects.
Mira learnt the hard way that progress often comes with a human cost. The Yarangan Union required her to find military applications for the geothermal energy of volcanoes. It was thought that the eruptions could be timed with the appropriate application of Pelagium based explosives at pressure points. She objected to being placed on such a project on the grounds of safety for her team, but had no choice. One day, several scientists were exploring tunnels in the volcano vent and Mira, rushed to advance the project, made a mistake in the calibration of seismic equipment which led to an unplanned eruption.
State Security (controlled by the Lyndus), which funded the project, leapt on this mistake as an excuse to install its own hand picked scientists in AFTA, which has become ever more militarized and filled with both scientists and “observers” from families tied to the Lyndus. Mira suspected that the Lyndus set her up, since she rarely made such catastrophic mistakes. In her mind, she went through the calculations again and again and could find no errors. She suspected that the Lyndus made this power play in order to weaken the growing influence of the Kasks, and to place their own agents into AFTA. However, since she was never formally blamed for the incident, she decided not to pursue the matter too closely and chose instead to get on with her research.
However, this issue has recently been further aggravated when Mira took over as the lead of a small AFTA team, a team which also included a Lyndu as the security liaison. Tensions are high, since even though Mira is technically in charge of the team, as the security liaison Arnan Lyndu can override her as needed. So far, the tensions have been kept under the surface.
Gulshan
The religion now called the Church of Rasheant (CoR) is not new, though many believe it is. It actually has its roots back in earlier history as a faith built on acceptance instead of intolerance of technology. Post-Catastrophe (the razing of Rasheant), the Church surged into prominence following the world wide condemnation of the actions of the CLP. The CoR’s main emphasis since then the Catastrophe has been a zealous focus on the strange new substance of Pelagium and the technological advancements it brings.
Gulshan is a Deacon of the Church. Throughout his childhood in Rasheant, all he ever dreamed of was to devote his life in service to God. He spent all his younger years in preparation, until he was old enough to be sent to a prominent Church seminary in the YU. It was his dream come true, as he was now set on the path of joyous service to the Lord. He was studying at the seminary, well on his way to being ordained, when the Catastrophe struck. Sadly, most of his friends and family were not so fortunate.
Gulshan’s faith was sorely tested at that moment, but with the intervention of the Church, he was able to rapidly regain his faith and complete his studies. Now a fully ordained Deacon of the Church of Rasheant, Gulshan is ready for placement. He assumed that he would be sent to some minor parish or another similar role, but fate had other plans.
At the time of Gulshan’s graduation, the Church was also in the midst of elevating their status. In fact, some would say they were heatedly entering the political realm. At the ascension of the new Empress, somehow the Arch-Cardinal of the Church of Rasheant was nominated to officiate the coronation – an unusual situation. Rumors abound at how that came to pass, some even said it was some political machinations of the Kasks to counter the Regency of the Lyndus; others assumed it was because the Empress is a devout follower. Whatever the reason, this event established the Church as a strong political faction in the YU.
And regardless of the truth of it, since then the Church and the Ministry of Science, run by the Kasks, have had ever closer cooperation. The young Deacon was assigned as a Church adjunct to the AFTA, ostensibly to aid them in their investigations. However, Gulshan was also personally advised by the Cardinal to pay close attention and ensure the Faith is kept in the AFTA’s use of Pelagium.
Feigr Torran
Feigr grew up in an orphanage located on a major island of the archipelago. He never knew who his parents were, and there was no way to find out. His childhood was relatively good (considering him being an orphan and all) — the Yarangan Union took good care of its people. When the time came he was supposed to pick an education path. Being interested in and having a natural affinity for medicine, Feigr decided to become a doctor. In addition, he figured it was his best way to advance. Without a powerful family at one’s back, advancement in the YU is very difficult.
After graduation he was required to serve in the military for 5 years (all graduates of certain professions were subject to the draft after receiving government-subsidized education). He was assigned to a border patrol station in the south of the archipelago — a floating hub serving as a base for missile boats patrolling the borders with the Core Lands Protectorate. Since having a medic on each boat would be a prohibitive luxury, Feigr was supposed to take care of all the crews attached to the station.
Days went by, and overall most of Feigr’s service time was uneventful. He was even allowed to have a pet husky by his superior which was allowed to roam the many decks of the station. However, in his last year of service Feigr became witness to many unfortunate and unhappy incidents.
The CLP navy was constantly provoking Yarangan patrol boats. A lot of border areas had unclear ownership because of convoluted agreements between the two countries which was used by the CLP to their advantage at times. The Yarangan military suspected that in several such incidents the CLP ships used some experimental radiation weapons based on Pelagium research. There was never confirmation for this, and the CLP Foreign Ministry claimed that such accusations were false, but for the poor souls who suffered the attacks, the consequences were very much real.
Though Feigr could save some (whose life expectancy still dropped even after he saved them), not much could be done and many died, horribly. As his term was coming to an end, Feigr looked into how best to apply his skills. Since AFTA dealt in various experimental tech, and was always in need of military trained doctors, he applied and was accepted. Feigr figured that through AFTA he could do more research into the effects of Pelagium weapons on the human body, in order to better develop medicines and treatments to counteract them.
Arnan Lyndu
Arnan was born into one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the entire YU, the Lyndus. With its iron grip over the State Security Ministry (SSM), the Lyndus have been responsible for quelling internal dissent on behalf of the Emperor, intelligence gathering and, when required, ensuring certain inconvenient people had convenient accidents. One such “accident” is widely believed to be the ascension of the current young Empress, who assumed the throne after the previous Emperor died of a wasting illness shortly after inspecting a new Pelagium research facility. Though many were quick to assign blame to the Kask family, specifically to the Duchess Inga Kask (who as minister of science was responsible for the facility), others pointed out it was Duke Aurelius, Arnan’s uncle, who benefited the most as it was the minister of the SSM took on the role of Royal Regent for the young Empress.
This undisputed power and influence that the Lyndus hold through the SSN, and now the regency, has led to a healthy respect and/or fear of anyone from this family. Arnan has always benefited from this, and his close relation with his uncle the Regent makes this even stronger. This has much to do with the fact that Arnan has always been seen by Aurelius as one of the more capable members of the family, and thus Arnan has been mentored from a young age by Aurelious throughout his successful career in the SSN. As a specialist in gathering intelligence, Arnan has been able to travel widely and knows his way around. From intelligence gathering, to putting down internal dissent, Arnan has seen it all. In particular, he was trusted with some sensitive missions that are best kept within the family. Some were shocked when he was assigned to AFTA as the security liaison, others saw it as an attempt by the SSN, and by extension Aurelius, to exert more influence over the Ministry of Science due to the growing influence of the latest technology being created using Pelagium. The ever increasing importance of the work AFTA does makes it a priority for the Lyndu family, and Arnan assumes that is why he was chosen for the role.
As usual, Arnan jumped into his latest assignment wholeheartedly, and whatever his underlying motives might be, he has certainly proved his capability again in his current role. He does take his work seriously, and is very methodical in his approach. And although he tends to start from a position of mis-trust, he has managed to warm up to Mira’s team.
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AP Board Games Team