Unified in 2368 after the war of the dukes, the Nesuvan Empire covers the majority of the north eastern continent as well as the coastal territories of Ashkalon. Nesuvan citizens are known to proudly embody their space colonizer roots, each one expected to recite their lineage from memory all the way to Leng’s founding settlers. As a post-racial society, the Nesuvan Empire believes itself to be the last bastion of humanity against the encroachment of “the machines”. Although Aeons are an important part of the Nesuvan labor force, the empire refuses to recognize anything synthetic as having true consciousness. As such, it has refused any form of Aeon independence and those even hinting at such heresy are violently dealt with. The Nesuvan Empire is ruled by His Holiness, The Ever-Dying Emperor Paolo Aurelio Solez II who emerged victor from the 2324 war and rules to this day.
The state of Aeons in Nesuv
Since the conclusion of the first Aeon War in 2303, Aeons are regulated as Class 2 Hazardous Equipment under Nesuvan property law. Ownership of Aeons is highly controlled, and infractions due to the improper use and storage of an Aeon can lead to harsh consequences.
Control is exerted in many ways but the main one is energy restrictions: Aeons are allotted only a day’s worth of power, calculated based on their intended tasks. Additionally, they are mandated to report at regular intervals for full system scans. Failure to comply or detection of emerging independent personality traits results in an infraction. These can lead to compulsive memory resets up to preemptive disassembly under police authority. Random sector-wide power surges are routinely performed in areas with high Aeon operation, in aim of preventing rogue machines gathering energy outside of their pre-defined charging schedule,
Despite these precautions, some Aeons do manage to escape and go underground. These pockets of Nesuvan Aeon insurgency exist in-part through the aid of rebel organizations such as the Robotayo, who provide shelter, energy, and arms to those Aeons fighting for their right to exist free of the Empire.
Faith and beliefs
For Nesuvans, Aeons are complex machines of great capabilities, but not living beings; their “consciousness” a simple mimicry of the human mind without a soul. This belief is cemented by the prevailing Nesuvan doctrine. Having evolved from the old Abrahamic religions of Earth, Nesuvan theologians established suffering and death as the only attributes separating the living from the synthetic. Thus, one should not seek refuge from suffering but instead embrace it as the embodiment of the divine in the flesh. The Messiahs didn’t suffer for the sake of humanity but rather to show it the pathway to salvation.
In the Empire, death is the ultimate celebration and should not be feared, as it is in dying that we are able to commune with the divine.
His Holiness, The Ever-Dying Emperor Paolo Aurelio Solez II acts as the head of the Nesuvan faith. In the natural confines of Cherubim’s Bath, a thermal cenote in the hearth of the Imperial palace, his body is perpetually disintegrated and rebuilt in a painful process referred to as the Ergonals. It is through his ceaseless suffering that he leads the way for millions of devout Nesuvans.
Warfare
Military strength is the beating heart of the Nesuvan Empire. Industry, education, and social hierarchy are all based around this focus, and directly support the Imperial war efforts. With an inherent distrust of digital and synthetic technologies, the Nesuv have become masters of bio-engineering.
With each family’s firstborn pre-destined for military service, Nesuvan soldier training begins in the womb. A rigorous genetic enhancement therapy is performed during gestation to deliver recruits best suited for their pre-determined function in the army. As a result of this genetic modification, military personnel belonging to the Empire can be instantly identified due to their extreme morphology. Pilots are small, with none achieving a height greater than 160 cm. Thanks to their diminished height, their genetically enhanced nerves are shortened further, allowing for near instant reflexes. Conversely, shock troops stand at a minimum of 210cm. Inherently hyperplasic, these soldiers boast incredible muscular and skeletal mass, while their hyper-metabolism increase regeneration from trauma at the cost of extreme scarification. After completing 35 years of service, these soldiers are offered the choice between taking on a military role off the battlefield, or retiring to rejoin civilian life.
Having experienced directly the pitfalls of advanced technology during the last two Aeon Wars, The Empire imposes strict rules upon what may be used or not in military equipment. Any product advanced enough to be hackable by rogue AI must contain at least 2 manual overrides, and rely on direct human input for operation. Radio communications are favored above electronic, and are used solely in the case that direct communication between units is unfeasible. These cases are becoming more and more scarce as recent advancements in memory enhancement have made soldier to soldier communication incredibly reliable. The main Nesuvan military doctrine focuses on the use of combined arms and logistics for effective operations. Fighting mostly on their Homefront, ease of production and simplicity is valued over reusability when it comes to equipment employed by The Empire; their manufacturing facilities churning out cheap and effective weaponry at pace unrivaled by any on Leng.
