The Hykosian Liberation Army
I have advanced the Hykosian Liberation Army (Fringer group introduced in one of the first rule books), to where now they are a dark cult being manipulated by alien technology and an Armagon slave race.
Intro: The Way of the Faithless…
The darkness enveloped him like death on the slaughtered after a deep space battle. The sphere of the Hykosians held high, it pulsating with un-worldly energies that could not be explained. Those who bare them worship them like the Christians did the Cross. As the Cross was the standard in the crusades of old Earth, the Hykosian SoulSphere is the faithfuls strength, connection to the Hykosian Masters, icon of the Hykosian Way, and weapon against infidels. The Elite have access to the WarriorSpheres, which allows them to focus the strength of their faith to summon the WarriorLords of the Hykosian, but if the faith of the Eilte Warrior is not strong, the wrath of the WarriorLord is merciless.
As this Warrior sat in the darkness, he felt his faith waiver. The fear the swelled in his belly fed the slow drainage of faith in the Hykosian way. The darkness was pierced with a seering white light, like a sword blade rising from the sphere. It form into a gateway of light, and in that gateway stood the WarriorLord.
Adorned in the alien black armor of its kind, the light around it seemed to bend away from the armor. This made it difficult for the waivering Elite warrior to focus on it. It stood at least a meter taller than him, with its somewhat ornate helmet sprouting with many black needle-like spires. It stepped out of the gateway slowly, carrying a large pole axe-like waepon made of the same material as his armor.
Something echoed in his head as he peered in awe…
“No mercy to the faithless…”
The last living thought in his head was…
“Damn, he’s big,… and ugly too.”
The Hykosian Liberation Army (Introduced in Shatterzone Universe Guide p57)
The Hykosian Liberation Army is a fanatical religious terrorist Fringer group that believes that a race called the Hykosians will come from beyond the Shatterzone to bring peace and glory to the universe. The HLA, after driving Brodie from Vantage Point in the Xenos Sector have been engaging in an aggressive recruitment operation that has enabled them to expand their numbers greatly; all to serve the Hykosian Way
It started not long after Brodie established a colony there. A somewhat unstable scientist, disgruntled by recent departmental cuts, and some close friends of his, fumbled across some kind of alien crash site. There they found a pile of alien-spheroid devices and, inadvertently, activated them. What followed was what they called a religious experience.. These were the Hykosian Spheres; what is considered now the central religious symbol of Hykosian Way. Entities appeared from a light that extended from them. These were the Hykosian Warriors. After killing half of them, the Warriors “that inhabit the spheres” communicated to them the “Hykosian Way”.
Hykosian Warrior
The Hykosian Way & The Sphere
This scientist, Jameson Esquire Sedgewik, was seduced by the dark power of the spheres, and succumbed to it promises. It called him the new prophet of the Hykosian Way, and it was up to him to spread the word. This he did, and so he created this “fifth column” of sorts waiting for the Hykosians to come. Thus the birth of the HLA.
The Hykosian Way is the creed of a member of HLA. They are to serve the purposes of the Way, which is dictated by the voices from the Spheres. Every member owns a sphere in some form, from a small pendant, to a softball-size orb. The HLA has a long ritual that each initiate goes through upon receiving his or her sphere. Upon grasping the sphere, it pricks the person with a small spike in the palm of their hand to, it is said, establish the Blood-Binding with the Hykosian Way. The new member is told that there is nothing without the sphere, it is their life now.
The Spheres range in size, but they are all jeweled and decorated with very unique patterns. The HLA manufacture these by the thousands every year, using the knowledge that was passed down from Sedgewick himself. He said “they” told him how to make them. They continue to build more and more powerful spheres, the more powerful ones going to the elite guard. Soon, the HLA will build enough spheres to bring through the entire Hykosian army, so they say. There is talk of a sphere that is in the planning stages that will be built in orbit around their world, large enough to be a substantial space station.
The Truth
The Hykosians
The Hykosians are a slave race of the Armagons. They are from a strange world far beyond the Shatterzone. They are a powerful race, but they are closely tied to their world. Their existence relies on specific energies the emanate from their world, and they can not leave for long or they will die. They are masters of Q-Space. They have technologies the Consortium only dreams of: Q-Wave communication, Q-Space-Personal Teleportation, the use of Q-Space to apply and extend their psionic abilities, and the forging of Dark-matter into a usable and very strong substance.
They are using the HLA and factions like them to extend their influence and eventually colonize other worlds. The Spheres act as connections to the potential colony. Before colonizing can take plan, things must be changed. The world either must be changed or new bodies must be constructed. Hykosians are mostly psionic energy that need hosts to live, But these hosts are very specific, and the spheres help in that endeavor as well.
The Hykosian Sphere and The Warrior
The Sphere has many functions. One of the primary functions is to establish new host bodies for the Hykosians. The Spike is actually a DNA sampler, and the coding his Q-Waved to the Homeworld where the transformation process is started. The energies of their homeworld are transmitted through the sphere, which slowly changes the host. It takes time to change the host, some longer than others. The bodies chemistry changes, and eventually their skin begin to change to a hard Dark-matter-shell. Hykosians live inside Dark-Matter shells. The transformation eventually drives the host mad, and this is when the entity of the Hykosian can inhabit the body.
The Hykosian Sphere is a sort of scout-entity-portal. It allows for the Hykosian Warriors to use there Q-Space Teleportation technology to send a warrior when needed, especially if the sphere is threatened. The teleportation is instantaneous. The Warrior appears out of a tunnel of light, immense in size, in armor unlike anything anyone has ever seen. His armor is darker than the darkest night, and a person can not focus on it. It almost seems alive. The Warriors wear organic-like armor that is a melding of “forged” dark matter & a rare psionically active crystal that they have only found on their side of the universe. Combining it with dark matter gives the forger incredible control over the natural properties of the new alloy. With this and its psionic traits, the material, “Dark Alloy”, for lack of a better name, can be configured to the forgers will, if they are talented in the psionic forging techniques of the Hykosians. The Warriors that come through to scout as well. The doors only stay open so long, so the Warriors have a limited time. They must not stay. They can not survive on this side for long.
The Sphere also can act as a weapons for the elite guard of the HLA. It focuses lage blasts of energy keyed into the warriors emotion and “faith”. The weapons have proven to be quite devastating. They also have a strong psionic link to the owner, and the Hykosians use this to manipulate the mind of the owner to recruit more, and make them believe in this pseudo-religion.
The Hykosian Sphere
Technological characteristics in the sphere:
- Q-wave communication
- psionic link with the user
- Q-Space transporter
- special energy manipulation & focusing (weapon)