• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

Vrexul Infantry

Hidden across the stars, stalking one another across forgotten worlds, and waging wars hidden to most of the known universe the vrexul may be a divided species but their destructive capabilities are universal. The face of their might is not associated with proffessional armies or elite forces but something more barbaric, feral, yet eerily mechanical and augmented. While the Primordial Voice and its allies in the Blood Axis are relatively closer to the idea of a proper solar nation's military, the majority of vrexul not hostile to humanity, namely the Gnosis Eater Sect and Nest of Intransigence, are considerably closer to the soldierly ideal frequently associated with this species. As such, this thread will initially and primarily focus on the Intransigence's infantry forces in particular.

The easiest way to describe vrexul infantry squads is less of traditional "infantry" units and more of small groups of living weapons platforms. Vrexul themselves are massive creatures on average, between 6''11 to 10''2 on average and it is not uncommon for them to resemble semibiological mecha or combat automata. With this enormous size comes a variety of obvious disadvantages such as when it comes to visual profile and weight but it comes with just as many strengths. Vrexul bodies carry a nightmarish plethora of cybernetics, parasite-symbiotes, grafted biomass, integrated organisms and so on that augment them heavily beyond what the mandatory combat biomodifications allow for. Inbuilt cyberbiological targeting systems, limbs and organisms doubling as limbs that can function across their semi-cyberneticized consicousnesses, parasitic organisms that serve as organ redundancies, colonies of verminous lifeforms that automatically mend carapace-armor and biomass damage - there are few with as intrusively grotesque yet versatile augmentations as they. While all forces are forced to conform to certain operational standards with regards to loadout and carapace capabilities as long as they can fulfill those, they are free to modify and arm themselves with whatever they see fit.

As their main threats tend to be other vrexul typically hidden on distant worlds in relatively smaller scale skirmishes, Intransigence infantry are unsurprisingly equipped and trained to fight against augmented bioweapons like themselves. Much of the combat happens at longer ranges that can abruptly close in to near melee ranges. This is across wilderness environments, wherein both parties may be lurking beneath shrub-covered soil or marshy muck, clinging hidden with camo netting to the sides of rocky mountains, or sometimes even burrowed into massive megafauna, infested and turned into mobile stealth bases. With enemies often comparable in terms of capabilities (in spite of various differences between major vrexul factions), the Intransigence's approach to weaponry is the most iconic of the species.

The zatchtraceni (translated: damnation-lust) bio-electrothermal assault-canon is essentially a semi-biological ETC gun sized down to be wielded by their many-digit'd claws. This long, semi-rectangular weapon with earwig like anatomical elements and a long barrel looks as much feral as it is does eerily futuristic in its marriage of the smoothly molded chitinous aspect of their nature and stark, angular artificiality. Its humble origins are in now outdated security bioautomata used to protect the Nest of Intransigence when they were all in embryonic slumber but ever since the awakening it has become a far more advanced weapon. Cybernetic components mix with semi-living artificial biomass to create powerful bioenergetic reactions capable of spitting out caseless hyper-accelerated rounds a bit larger than a human hand or first with the impact of small vehicular mounted autocannons. The weapon's distinctly shrieking report combined with its impressive armour piercing capability make its effects as much nightmarishly psychological as brutally physical.

This is furthered by the Intransigence's preference for rounds with secondary effects. Semi-organic explosive payloads, internal fragmentation spines, electroshock battery-bombs - the almost living nature of their munitions coincides with a great degree of secondary effect biodiversity. While the zatchtraceni does not have a very high rate of fire, the additional effects of its rounds often can compensate for this with increased effectiveness against multiple target types. While the weapon is not a true anti-vehicular option, lighter armored combat bioforms and the grand majority of other vrexul will stay clear of its ruthless judgement.
 

Uso

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I think it would help to have more official writeups for individual Vrexul items. I feel like we keep getting some general stuff that doesn't paint a clear picture of what an individual Vrexul or their gear looks like.

The Zatchtraceni is the closest we've gotten to a writeup of an item so far and it sounds pretty cool: An organic ETC gun. I think most of the stuff for a writeup is already here, it just needs to be formatted and put into the wiki.

Did you want a hand with creating the article? We've got a template up on the wiki to base it on.
 
I think it would help to have more official writeups for individual Vrexul items. I feel like we keep getting some general stuff that doesn't paint a clear picture of what an individual Vrexul or their gear looks like.

The Zatchtraceni is the closest we've gotten to a writeup of an item so far and it sounds pretty cool: An organic ETC gun. I think most of the stuff for a writeup is already here, it just needs to be formatted and put into the wiki.

Did you want a hand with creating the article? We've got a template up on the wiki to base it on.
I was thinking the vrexul article would handle their acutal physical appearance. Things like gear and their infantry (ie. how they function in battle) will be a bit more technical wrt to how to describe them. I was thinking like the HFR article I saw posted here I'd focus initially on the functionality as a lot of the descriptions is going to be pretty technical and prettying it up.

I can take a look at a template.
 

Uso

Administrator
Staff member
Wiki Moderator
There's no major requirement to do anything in any specific order. Just starting to get things on the wiki and building it out as you go along is super helpful.

Let me know if you need a hand finding the template. I think I have it in an easy to find place but if the templates are hard to find then I'd also like to talk to you about what we can do to make the wiki easier to navigate.
 
There's no major requirement to do anything in any specific order. Just starting to get things on the wiki and building it out as you go along is super helpful.

Let me know if you need a hand finding the template. I think I have it in an easy to find place but if the templates are hard to find then I'd also like to talk to you about what we can do to make the wiki easier to navigate.
Is there one for general infantry squads or other military fare? I think it might be best to focus on infantry first then branch out to weaponry and gear. Get people an idea of how vrexul play then focus on the specific elements of that.
 

Uso

Administrator
Staff member
Wiki Moderator
We don't have one of those yet, but maybe its time for us to make one? We have a bunch of military organizations and no real format for "What does the overall organization look like?"

I'll put some thought into this and take a first stab at that tomorrow.
 
Thanks. I'm bad at technical organizational structure faire (vrexul military leadership will get somewhat hivemind y or otherwise run by straight up biocomputers) but this is a good sense of structure.
 

Uso

Administrator
Staff member
Wiki Moderator
Yeah, I think the Organization area is where you'll probably need to take things into your own hands to better detail how they work.

Perhaps with whatever divisions there are in the Vrexul, followed by going further into smaller divisions like battalion / division / squad / whathaveyou. Do what you think best illustrates how they work.
 
Yeah, I think the Organization area is where you'll probably need to take things into your own hands to better detail how they work.

Perhaps with whatever divisions there are in the Vrexul, followed by going further into smaller divisions like battalion / division / squad / whathaveyou. Do what you think best illustrates how they work.
I was thinking of initially focusing on smaller scale stuff like how their infantry, vehicles, technology and so on appear as I wanted their actual leadership to be kept somewhat cryptic and distant, in the sense they're not really seen that often in most cases at least for the Instransigence. Would it be alright if I focused on that for a while before I figureo ut how to move that all into an organization article?
 

Uso

Administrator
Staff member
Wiki Moderator
Yeah, there's no required order for developing any of this stuff either.

Personally, I find it easier to work on what I want to work on, rather than what I think needs to be made. So long as I'm having fun, I keep making articles.

If I try and force myself to write something, I tend to not get very far and just sorta force out maybe 1-2 articles before stopping.

Regardless: Just pick the individual thing you feel like writing and write it.
 
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