Fiction:Shillite Empire

"By the holy power of Nihl we conquer, by the holy fire of Nihl we enslave, by the holy penance to Nihl we serve." -Popular shillite religous chant.

The Shillite Empire of Nihl, The Dark Entropy commonly referred to as the Shillite Empire is a mid tier three empire ruled by numerous high ranking military officers and Lord The Corrupter who serves as empress and religous leader of all of the empire. The state religion is the worship of the god Nihl.

Races
The dominant race of FREE citizens is shillites, followed closely by their shurg brethern, the rare anomaly of a shillite being born as an archshillite, a taller, less bestial shillite with a heightened intellect and a direct connection to Hihl is rare, however, archshillites are not counted as their own race.

Known Planets

 * Brois- Capital Citadel
 * Ecros- Minor spaceport town.
 * Baria- Neigboring Brois, this military world is primarily a manufacturing world, complemented by orbital docks and a fleet of spacecraft, it is responsible for producign the majority of shilltie war machines in thhe sub-sector.

Caste System
There is a very rigid though unofficial caste system making up the Shillite Empire.

Military Rulers/Emporer

The emporer and high ranking military members who preside over different aspects of the empire are a part of this caste, they have most of the power in the empire and are responsible for governing the empire and defending it's citizens.

Lords
Lords are given control of one planet which they rule as governer, in smaller colonies there are not lords but is ruled by a local militia instead. Lords serve for life unless executed.

Petty Nobles
Petty nobles own small amounts of land in which lesser ranked members of the caste system, serfs and slaves will live here to be sold into the military or used as free labor. Petty nobles have a duty to protect their vassals.

Free Men
Most Shillites andd Shurg are free men who live on a certain noble's land but owe the noble no alleigance. They often serve as white collar workers or military officers.

Serfs
Serfs live on a nobles land and work for sed noble in exchange for protection and permission to live on the aforementioned noble's land. Serfs are commonly freed slaves who were forced to sell themselves into serfdom, serfs can be killed by their noble without reason and are treated as property.

Slaves
Slaves belong to the national government and are commonly used as cheap labor or military fodder, sometimes slaves will be freed for converting to Nihl's faith or for displaying excellent skill at their forced profession.

History
The Shillite Empire has a rich and turbulent history, that began with the shillite race on their homeworld of Shillitendom being visited by the ancient race known by many titles in the shilltie galaxy. The shillites at this time were a shamanistic race and lacked the power to aptly defend themselves, and in a matter of months all save a few thousand had been taken form Shilltiendom or killed, they were then transported to Estax and nearby worlds were they were forced to slave to create monuments to the power of their captors. At this time the galaxy was still in turmoil and records are vague at best, forcing much to be borrowed from myth. However, it is said the gods saw the race enslavign the shillites as a rival to their own authority and many of the gods adn their followers united in a crusade to defeat these great beings. The god Nihl, reviled by most gods, was forced to champion the shillite race, now a twisted, grim, and dark mockery of their former selves. Nihl led the shillites to freedom across their lands (the equivalent of a modern sub-sector), upon the condition forsake their former deities and eternally praise Nihl. Those who chose not to worship Nihl were kileld by a horrible creation known as the Pact-Wraith, however, this creature was slain by the demigod Sek'Lrar, freeing shillites to flee the grasp of Nihl. Nihl left the shillites for a while, secretly fostering and growing their empire and fighting other gods, namely Gauthemere, Ermathe and Ketharas from holding sway over the shillites. Only recently has religious unrest threatened the stability of the empire, as other gods slowly worm their way into the empire, subverting the priests of Nihl. The empire has also began interacting with extragalctic society, namely in negative ways, after an unsuccessful attack on Station Halcyon the emprie dropped form public view for awhile.

Military
The Shillite Empire is highly miltarized, with one of the best trained and equipped armed forces for its tier level. Shillites commonly utilize slaves to serve as grunt soldiers but even then slaves are trained and well armed.



Inquisition
The Shillite Inquisition is a real and powerful force, made up of assassins, spies and other specialists it is the duty of the inquisitors to root out worshippers of illegal gods, rebels and heretics. The Inquisition employs few agents, instead using a massive pool of funding made from racketeering on alien worlds. Inquisitors are chosen from other corps, their loyalty and ability to serve the empire the most important traits.

Holy Guard
The Holy Guard is an order of paladins dedicated to enforcing the will of Nihl (as well as his subservent deities) with minimal government interference. The Holy Guard is restricted to few units however and is used primarily for ceremonial duties.

Army
Tha land force of the Shillite Empire is their most powerful branch, utilizing excellent infantry with a wide arra of vehicles and artillery pieces for different missions.

Infantry
The majority of infantrymen are slaves from a variety of species, each slave serving a role specific to its race. Slaves are nromally from primitive societies to ensure loyalty (for example, ogres are native to the shillite homeworld) and drones, wose loyalty is unqestionable. Shillites use a wide variety of weapons for their infantry but the most common types are polearms and assault weapons, all infantry, even slaves, wear very advanced shillite battle armor which can absorb direct hits from energy weapons with little damage to the soldier, however, once to many hits are sustained the soldier undergoes a gruesome death which melts his/her innards.

Ranks
There are numerous ranks in the Shillite Imperial Military.

Known Soldiers
Captain Ph'Delles- Fought in the infantry attack on Station Halcyon, he was promoted major before the Military Police arrested him for showing signs of disloyalty.

Major Dsh'Kellant- Leads the garrison of Port Ecros, he was instrumental in stopping the short lived rampage of the rogue Xhodocto Ceryxirith before he was killed by the subsequent orbital bombardement of Ecros.

General Lord Ge'Sephtra- Led the Shillite invasion of Station Halcyon and was later promoted ot the directorate council.

General Lord Dth'Sherral-

Vehicles
Shillites lack much imagination when it comes to these and name them quite poorly as well.

Shillite APC- his transport carries up to ten infantrymen and is only lightly armed, it is designed for speed and protection, with immunity to small arms fire.

Shillite IFV- This version of the APC has numerous gun ports and heavier weaponry for an APC that provides drect fire support.

Light Tank- Armed with a railgun and two heavy energy repeaters, this slow tank can inflict heavy damage very quickly.

Space Fleet
The Shillite space fleet is better than avergae but smaller than the fleets of some empires. Mostly consisting of large capital ships and frigates to defend planets from other space invasions. One Arctide Class Star Destroyer has the power to seize a colony of a tier three or lower empire with ease. The most powerful class of star destroyer availale to the Shillites is the Entropy class, only three of which exist, serving as the ultimate capital ship virtually indestructible to conventional weaponry used by tier 2 and lower empires.

Arctide Class Star Destroyer
A powerful capital ship plated in heavy armor and equipped with shield generators, it is armed with many weapons batteries as well as having a hangar that holds two Rifter Class corvettes and mnay fighters.

Vector Class Frigate
A smaller vehicle than the Arctide Class the Vector still has a hangar that holds many fighters. The Vector is used primarily for anti capital ship purposes being equipped with heavy shield generators.

Rifter Class Corvette
A small three or four deck (depending on the model, three decks for ones that serve in hangars for larger ships) corvette used mainly for anti fighter purposes, it has a crew of ten and six small turrets that are effective against smaller faster targets. However, Rifters are also equipped with missile tubes and turbolasers when threatened by larger ships.

Adherent Class Gunboat
The Adherent is a large gunboat that has the capability to severly damage larger ships, it is typically to fast for larger ship's weapons so it must be destroyed by fighters or corvettes.

Entropy Class Super Star Destroyer
A massive capital ship that can destroy incredible amounts of enemy cruisers.

Navy
The smallest branch of the military, the navy is now only .3 percent of the military patrolling watery worlds or being used as assault craft on other mostly water worlds.

Government
The main Shillite Empire is a curious mixture of theocracy, military autocracy and a capitalist republic. Lord the Corrupter is the empire's emporer and religous leader but avoids day to day government affairs. Shillite citizens are not allowed to speak out against the government at all under pain of death but still can become tremendously wealthy thanks to a free market which the governemnt collects moderately low taxes from.

Governemnt in Shillite Fringe Colonies
According to the Second Colonial Ordinance Laws a fringe colony is designated as lacking a permanent military garrison or having a population under five-hundred thousand. These fringe colonies are ruled by an appointed governer who enforces laws and is essentially a petty dictator. The governer is also head of the militia of the colony, the colonial militia is made up of primarily consripted free men and slaves bought using the small public funds from these colonies. Fringe colonies usually have nearby fleets of ships to defend them in the case of a space battle but during invasions fringe colonies usually must fend for themselves.

Technology
Shillites commonly use magnetic technology, using rail guns and other types of magnetic technology. Shillite technology often appears crude and lacks elegance, however, it is still brutally reliable and effective. Shillites have also adapted darklight, the primary technology of the Darklight Federation into a ship based and sniper rifle.

Religion
While Nihl is the main deity worshipped by shillites he has a host of lesser gods and demigods who are worshipped by shillites and some non-shillites as well. there are also many outlawed cults, below is a lsit of recognized and legal religions besides the Church of Nihl.

Legal Minor Religions
Church of Derroz Church of Azdetath Church of Boruth Church of Shudd'Urgath Church of Lord the Corrupter

Illegal Religions
(While anything not specified above is considered illegal except amongst slaves these are actively hunted down.) Church of Gauthemere Church of Sek'Lrar