Air Piracy! | Empty Envelope Edition

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It has been thirty years since the Zeth Republic and Imperial Falssion started their no holds barred war for dominance over the world. The Zethians would say it is their duty to let the world be free of fascism only to ensnare their neighboring nations in webs of corruption, corporate influence, and neo-colonialism. The Falssions claim only they have the strength to guide all of Caelus to a glorious future, but of course the public would have to learn to discard self defeating notions like elections or civil rights for the sake of unity under a world wide regime. Despite everyone's best efforts the war is locked in stalemate, and Caelus has seen an entire generation born into and knowing little else than this seemingly never ending war. Though at the margins around the two titanic combatants, neutral nations scramble to either stay out of the way, exploit the situation, or cast their lot in with who they believe will be the winning side while hopefully avoiding the direct ire of their new enemies. And then there are the air pirates, squeezing through the cracks to plunder vulnerable peoples and industries while the bulk of their protectors are at the warfronts or otherwise occupied, and yet many pirates often claim little other choice but to deprive others so they can live free and fed. It's eat or be eaten in this world.

ZETH: A coalition of states formed together under a republic, Zeth is not the beacon of comfortable living and civil freedoms it espouses itself to be, especially after the war started. Though it may treat all races equally, the republic's leadership is swamped in their own self interest and corruption, pulled by the strings of corporate interests and organized crime that funnels wealth towards the top. Even while positioning itself as the bulwark of freedom, Zethian leadership would like nothing more than to impose their corrupt industrialist oligarchy on the world, gradually subsuming their neighbors into the greater republic. Strict rationing and military crackdowns color civilian life in Zeth, and many frontier cities suffer insistent bombing or shelling from Falssion. The once prosperous middle class has been pushed into the mud with the rest of the dregs as the war crawls on, while industrial magnates and their associates in political office only grow richer. Zethian Denari is a known and accepted currency internationally, and often the measure by which other nation's currencies are judged.

FALSSION: Formerly a stringent military aristocracy in its past, in the past century Falssion nationalized and expanded, forming the fascist empire it is now today. Falssion is open about their intentions to unify the entire world under a single political block, and those that don't fall in at their heel will be crushed without mercy. Under their single party system and the autocratic direction of their supreme ruler, Falssion practices eugenics to breed better and brighter people to lead the world of Caelus while espousing that weak races disadvantaged and unfit for survival such as humans and rabbit anthros should be exterminated or made slave chattel. Falssion operates on a tiered citizenship system heavily influenced by one's zeal for the party, civilians in Falssion are actually wealthier on average than their Zethian counterparts, but the most privileged and influential are also fanatics for the regime.

TORTUGA: A notorious haven for air pirates not under the jurisdiction (or laws) of any nation, Tortuga is a rogue city built on steep pinnacles of rock surrounded near entirely by the sea. It's close enough to Zeth and Falssion to plunder their nether regions, but far enough out of the way as to not be caught between them. The steep cliffs provide elevation away from the waves of the ocean and are the foundation for the large platforms of steel plate and girders the majority of the town is built on, resembling a cluster of thorny iron flowers from the air as numerous jetties, landing strips, and zeppelin docks extend out from the top platforms to welcome and service the heavy independent air traffic coming in and out of Tortuga. Tortuga is surrounded by a near complete ring of Voxite contaminated areas, making approach by sea near impossible and land routes are restricted to a single chokepoint, controlled by a narrow fortified causeway connecting Tortuga to the mainland. This only makes Tortuga accessible from the air or the causeway. Any land assault is doomed to be bottled on the causeway or plummet into the sea if the only bridge to the mainland is blown, and so Tortuga bristles with anti-air guns and rockets, as well as large caliber cannons and anti-zeppelin rocket torpedo launchers. Tortuga is quasi-lawless, the pirates accept the top platforms exposed to the sun as neutral ground (excepting barfights or brief streetfights, petty crime is still frequent) though all bets are off in the 'Duskside' encompassing the lower platforms and cliff clinging infrastructure below the main platforms, perpetually kept in the shade. Naturally the tenuous safety of the 'Sunside' platforms comes at a price, and many less fortunate are crowded into living 'Duskside' where they can really only rely on themselves and those they trust to stay safe.

VOXITE: Voxite is an exotic mineral highly valued for weaponization and energy production and is the basis of more advanced tech such as tesla guns or other wonder weapons going beyond the normal fare of bullets, rockets, and bombs. A load of voxite regardless of its state of refinement is considered some of the most valuable plunder an air pirate can find if also one of the riskiest. As a strategic resource, voxite is near always heavily guarded, and with its nature accidents can be lethal. Through certain processes to weaponize it or accidents via chemical reactions or high energy discharges, Voxite can react out of control and produce a massive, lethal burst of exotic radiation, leaving a lingering contamination that settles at ground and sea level. Voxite in its final state of refinement is reasonably stable, and is a critical component of advanced devices such as tesla guns, lasers, computational engines, and high strength alloys.

PESCHORI: The world's prominent supplier of raw Voxite ore, the kingdom of Peschori squats on the largest and richest known deposits, dealing to both sides of the war and occasionally rich third parties while raking in an enormous tide of wealth. Peschori defends its official neutrality by not playing favorites between the two sides, a highly trained airforce and advanced zeppelin fleet, and the fact their island home is bristling with advanced Voxite based weaponry. They have dutifully copied, swindled, or outright stolen voxite based technologies through a network of merchants and spies in Zeth and Falssion both. This and the legendary greed of their phenomenally rotund and voracious queen are tolerated as they'd be too much effort to deal with without exposing one side to the aggressions of its opposite. Though some, especially among Peschori's commoners, believe the kingdom is sitting on one big timebomb.

WEST CHEVALIERS: The West Chevaliers are a smaller pirate band, with only a single zeppelin to their name. Yet they are disproportionately famous, led by the debonaire anthro fox charmer and top ace pilot Zachary Leverne. Their zeppelin The Grey Gallant is a light battle carrier outfitted with some of the most powerful piston engines available to outrun other zeps. The Chevaliers believe fortune favors the bold, and their streak of success seems to prove that. Their air wing flies some of the most top end planes (including jets) and runs with only some seriously skilled pilots, Zachary himself flies a stolen Falssion prototype flying wing with experimental voxite based propulsion. The Chevaliers are snobbish about bringing more pilots into their air wing, only accepting the brave and skilled, but are less stringent about crewing their zep.

SHEIKH'S SWORD: A pirate band that may or may not be under the purview of the Raj of the allegedly neutral nation of Guarmah, the Sheikh's Sword employs a lot of massive pachyderm taurs and anthros. This seems odd until one sees they prefer boarding combat using heavy gyrocopters and grapple lines to storm other zeppelins with their heavy troops. Their leader is a gigantic elephant taur woman by the name of Tombah.

RED REQUIM: The last remnants of the communist nation of Pritzka, which is widely remembered, and despised, as the party responsible for kicking off the war, only to fall just short of five years into the conflict, smashed between Zeth and Falssion. Composed of the remains of Pritzka's zeppelin fleet and airforce that managed to escape and turn pirate, they try in vain to keep the idea of a global socialist revolution alive. Always eager for new recruits, largely because they're so incompetent at logistics their hungry crew and pilots keep eating each other.

RUNDKOPF: Considered extremists even by Falssion standards, this pirate group believes that the founder of their nation intended only for apex predator species to survive, every other variety of anthro or taur being prey. They aren't based in Tortuga but are still infamous there, and though their beliefs clash with the empire's demand for labor, even from 'lesser' races, they are ignored by Falssion patrols as Rundkopf never bothers Falssion interests, exclusively targeting enemies of the empire and neutral parties. They are armed more often with imperial equipment, and occasionally happen across more advanced pieces of gear 'conveniently' left out for them like surplus jets and tesla guns.

NOCT: A specialist pirate band made up of bats, hyenas, and other nocturnal hunters, Noct has found much success literally flying by night. Using their superior night vision and airborne radar they attack exclusively after dark, the confusion and disorientation usually being enough to achieve victory right there against softer quarries. They prefer heavier planes and faster zeppelins, and while preferring nocturnal peoples, won't turn away more diurnal folk willing to serve noncombat roles. Their leader, a bat anthro 'countess' Emile Von Straubt is held to be one of the most voracious air pirates alive.

Anthros: Anthros in Caelus can carry the traits of a wide variety of animal species ranging through mammals, reptiles, birds, and even a few aquatic forms such as sharks. Aquatic anthros are excellent swimmers. Bird or bat anthros have wings and can fly, if at speeds much slower than a plane. All anthros should be assumed to have senses and social traits akin to their animal counterparts. Anthros make up the majority of Caelus' populace.

Taurs: Tauric Anthros, or just taurs, have the upper body and qualities of an anthro melded below the waist to the animal body of the animal they resemble. Taurs resemble four legged mammals such as deer, horses, lions, and more, or sometimes four legged reptiles. Taurs usually stick to the land and sea, often being too large and awkward to fit in a plane cockpit without special modification. Those taurs that want to fly often become zeppelin crew and officers instead, where space is less of an issue. Taurs have two stomachs, one in the anthro upper body, and one in the animal lower body. All taurs should be assumed to have senses and social traits akin to their animal counterparts. Taurs aren't as common as anthros but still seen frequently enough to be a reasonably close second to the anthro majority.

Humans: Humans can't grow to the same extremes anthros and taurs can. They are a rare minority, considered a curiosity for their seemingly mundane traits if adaptive natures. Though some look down on them, particularly Falssions and those sympathetic to their thinking.

Awakened: An extreme rarity many don't believe even exist, awakened are otherwise normal animals suddenly elevated into sapience and the ability to speak by some unknown force. They don't seem to have any greater purpose but are the subject of conspiracy theories, mainly wild hypothesizing about nature or the planet of Caelus itself somehow rebelling against the war and Voxite contamination. The awakened themselves are unaware of any such purpose, and are near always loners living in hiding in the wilderness, deeply phobic of civilization and the war it perpetuates. Theories of how they come to be range from voxite radiation mutations that somehow didn't kill them all the way to their existence being a fabrication of Zethian propaganda to sway environmentally conscious peoples into joining their ranks.