Tikal news and occurences

[Euphaia]

FARC-People's Revolution in Euphaia recognizes its brothers and comrades in Mexico and Nahua and expresses it's best wishes, friendship, support, and solidarity towards them.

While we currently are preoccupied with the ongoing revolution in Euphaia (soon to be the People's Republic of New Colombia), our thoughts and moral support are with our brothers and comrades in Mexico and Nahua.

Viva la revolution!

[Lynneth]

[Internal]

 

"Even the best laid plans rarely survive first contact."
"With the enemy, your Majesty?"
"With anyone."

 

With the issues in central Mexico - now Tikal's north-western border - less pressing, the wargames were resumed, fleets steaming back into positions around Belize's coasts, assigned ground and air forces returning to their predetermined starting locations.

In roughly two months, the wargames were planned to be completed, hopefully giving Tikal's military good insights into their own tactics and the new equipment the nation's forces were sporting. Athenian weaponry was, after all, proven in warfare around the world.

[Lynneth]

[Public]

Recent portrait of Their Exalted Highnesses,
Ajaw ichil Tikal, Huatlatoani Tlahtoloyan, Chak Tok Ich'aak, The Eternal Sun, and
Ix'ajaw ichil Tikal, Cihuatlatoani Tlahtoloyan, Shana'Kin Yaxchel Ik'nal, The Radiant Moon

[OOC - A commission I got from a brilliant young artist named Vasira. Because why not?]

[PresidentDavid]

OOC: that's very beautiful! Did you have to pay her? Also I like his sash ^_^

[Lynneth]

[OOC: It's a commission, so of course I paid the artist. An image of this quality isn't free.
Unrelated but for the record: Bought 1.5k infra, ~1.2k land, hence more stuff below.]
 
[Internal]
 
"A brave little theory, and actually quite coherent for a system of five or seven dimensions — if only we lived in one."
 
With the conclusion of the wargames at last, Tikal had learned much about defending itself from hostiles, and how to pursue war. The improvements devised with this new knowledge would be implemented into strategy and tactics as soon as possible, while the forces that had participated would return to their original posts and harbours.

Amongst other things, permanent air-patrols would from now on occur above Tikal's territory, by fighters and supporting AWACS craft. Though expensive in the long run, it would enable the quickest possible response to any foreign threat, should such a thing occur.

Further, economic growth made it possible for Tikal to invest in new naval vessels, tanks and equipment for infantry. 

From -> To

• 3,702,504 soldiers -> 3,988,744
• 5,025 tanks -> 7,880
• 11,000+ other combat vehicles -> 15,000+
• 6,540 airplanes -> 6,540
• 80 corvettes -> 85
• 50 submarines -> 50
• 55 frigates -> 55
• 50 destroyers -> 55
• 16 AAVs/helo carriers -> 17
• 12 cruisers -> 13
• 0 battleships -> 0
• 9 carriers -> 9

Though now boasting one of, if not the largest combined arms force in the world, Tikal was committed to using this grand army only and purely for defensive purposes, the Prince even going so far as to hold a speech on the topic and confirming yet again the Panama Canal's de facto protection by TSI, the latter despite cries of protest, demonstration being held in several major cities throughout Panama after the speech to use diplomacy to reincorporate the strip of land into Tikal.

Edited May 12, 2014 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[Public]

 

"The Principality of Tikal hereby recognises - by transdimensional portal or otherwise - the governments and states of: The Kingdom of Axum, the Phillipines, the Kingdom of Sweden, Imperial Novgorod, the Republics of Dixie, Cascadia, the Japanese Imperium, Italy and Alaska."

 

[Internal]

 

"The Capitalists fear what may not be purchased, for a trader cannot comprehend a thing that is priceless."

 

In order to bring gun crime rates down while keeping the people's ability to bear arms, most public spaces wil be equipped with Gunfire Acoustic Sensors designed to detect gunfire and alert the police to any armed disturbances.

 

Furthermore, with the international ban on nuclear weapons, efforts will be made to prevent the other types of WMD - chemical and biological weaponry, as well as EMP-based weapons - from affecting Tikal or its citizenry. Various state-sponsored universities and research laboratories are being commissioned to find counteragents, vaccines or other preventative measures for sicknesses such as the Plague, Influenza, Creutzfeld-Jakob and many others, including possible gene-manipulated versions for humans.

Research into sicknesses and diseases affecting humans would be financed as well, in order to prevent infection of cattle, pets or other domesticated animals. Lesser effort would be put into protecting non-domesticated animals, though they would not be ignored, either. None of the research would be utilised for purposes approaching war, but solely to prevent and protect, so that Tikal may live without fear of terrorists or rogue states using such despicable weapons.

 

Research into protecting against EMP was somewhat higher on the scale, though many possible measures were already standard in Tikal, from insulated cabling over faraday cages to light-based electronics and more. Regardless, anything additional that could protect the nation further from being affected - especially with its reliance on high-tech equipment - would be of some use.

[Evangeline Anovilis]

"Ils sont fou, ces Mayas!"

-Florence de Pétèvellier, when asked about the mass recognition of non-existent states by Tikal.

[Centurius]

"The Athenian Federation is highly disturbed by the apparent recognition and support of secessionist fringes inside the Athenian Federation. We call upon Tikal to immediately withdraw its statements or the relation between our states will be permanently damaged"

[Lynneth]

"The Athenian Federation is highly disturbed by the apparent recognition and support of secessionist fringes inside the Athenian Federation. We call upon Tikal to immediately withdraw its statements or the relation between our states will be permanently damaged"

 

"Who would Athens like us to rescind recognition of?"

[Centurius]

 

"Who would Athens like us to rescind recognition of?"

"Any group who places a claim on territory within the Athenian Federation, its protectorates or the Exarchate of Africa. Currently only the Republic of Italy"

[Lynneth]

[Public]

"Any group who places a claim on territory within the Athenian Federation, its protectorates or the Exarchate of Africa. Currently only the Republic of Italy"

"Then we shall remove recognition of Italy and other such states."


[Internal]
 
"The righteous need not cower before the drumbeat of human progress. Though the song of yesterday fades into the challenge of tomorrow, God still watches and judges us. Evil lurks in the datalinks as it lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets that were evil."
 
Finally, the MS project was complete.
The MS-05 Zaku was ready for mass-production as tank-equivalent mobile gun platform expected to be most useful in rough, mountainous and urban terrains, while also serving as intimidation factor for hostiles who hadn't previously seen such combatants.

For the time being, 380 standard tanks would be replaced with Zakus over the next years as pilots were trained and became familiar with these new, potent machines of war. Many claimed that mechs like this were outright useless, but no living nation had ever attempted to use them.

Zakus were the pinnacle of Principal engineering prowess. They were mobile, yet well-protected. All possible measures to prevent easy disabling by shooting the legs had been made, and revolutionary stabilising technology named Active Mass Balance Auto-Control (AMBAC) would prevent the 17 meter tall machine from simply falling over. Its armour consisted of a revolutionary composite armour incorporating carbon nanotube fibre, carbon-vanadium, a vanadium-steel alloy as well as certain tungsten alloys and specialised ceramics, giving it unprecedented protection against any and all kinds of attacks, up to and including dedicated anti-armour weaponry. Standard main armament was a 105 mm machine cannon using an assault rifle-style magazine set on top of the gun, permitting gravity to aid the loading mechanism with 30 tank-class rounds per magazine. As the weapon was automatically uplinked with the mobile platform using a sophisticated system of lascomms and wires, the procedure of 'aiming down sights' was made completely redundant, heavily protected high-tech equipment permitting rapid acquiring and destruction of hostile targets over great distances. 4 magazines are stored securely and protected on the back of the platform.

Secondary armament is 2 'krak' grenades, using a shaped explosive charge capable of punching holes in armoured targets such as vehicles or bunkers, even able to rip armour plating apart. Typically they would be thrown towards a designated hardened target such as vehicles or fortifications. Using self-guiding technologies, they would 'snatch' onto the target with magnetic, adhesive or physical clamps, maximising their effect. Further secondary armament is 3 'frag' grenades, using high explosives and heavy shrapnel to rip armoured infantry apart. There are white phosphorus versions for area denial.

There were many, many more features incorporated in the machine of death, including aether-combat capabilities and full NBC protection, but far too many to list and describe them all. All that was left was to deploy and test the Zaku in real situations instead of frighteningly accurate simulations.

Note: Alex Martinez of Excoriari Security has been provided with 1 (one) MS-05 Zaku modified to her specifications. Edited May 18, 2014 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[Internal]

"In one dimension I find existence, in two I find life, but in three, I find freedom."

The Prince stood in a chamber.
"How is the adjusted Harmony project proceeding? Please give me a status report."

"Of course."

"Though we had previously believed the only use of Harmonic Strings to be in harvesting energy, it turns out that this energy doesn't just come from nowhere. Neither does it originate in our universe, according to the project's latest findings. Though it has taken decades, the lead scientists are certain that manipulating certain strings of a Harmony Core in a controlled and careful manner might lead to the creation of a connection through which more than energy can travel, possibly even into both directions. It appears the Multiverse-theory is accurate in some form.

"If this is indeed possible, the creation of true interdimensional portals may in theory become possible. The power required for this is as of yet unknown, however, and preliminary estimates indicate that a core's entire output might be required to hold a single portal open. Further research into the matter is ongoing, though both the project leads and I would suggest the construction of a dedicated facility to look into the matter. The ramifications of access to other worlds - worlds that may never have seen civilisation, even - are impossible to determine."

The Prince nodded. "This is very, very interesting. I'll talk with my wife about this. Chances are, you'll get your facility."
 

A few days later, construction was approved. The facility would be completed soon, and research could then resume with specialised and dedicated equipment. Edited May 20, 2014 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[Internal]

"At atrociously high energy states, the properties of matter change subtly and new miracles become possible. The Plasma Accretion process is now dangerous and difficult to control, but its products will soon become commonplace in our society."

Mexico's government had fallen.
Again.

The Americans either were busy or hadn't noticed, even after several weeks of things going down the drain. So Tikal's leadership decided to do what they did best, and send forces into former Mexico to bring it into a protectorate, to root out the Mafia and radicals of any kind. If the Americans didn't do it, Tikal would. And this time, there was no 'race' to try and take as much territory as possible. It would take a few days to move through the entire country, yes. However, by the time Tikal's forces were expected to reach the Commonwealth's borders, the northern nation's government was expected to barely start moving southwards, which would result in them meeting their southern neighbours nearly immediately.

Whether a new nation could form, or whether the region was so unstable that a more permanent solution had to be found was a question of the future. For now, Tikal claimed north Mexico as its protectorate.

[Lynneth]

[Internal]
 
"Beware, you who seek first and final principles, for you are trampling the garden of an angry God, and He awaits you just beyond the last theorem."
 
Once the facility had been completed and research had been resumed, things went far more quickly than ever anticipated. With dedicated equipment to work on Strings and manipulate them gently being developed only months into the project, chambers that had been expected to stay empty for years or even decades were suddenly needed and quickly filled out with machines that could make even the most hardened quantum physicist leap with joy.

No other place in the world was equipped so well to analyse things beyond the wildest imagination. No other place in the world could boast as many experts and researchers just to find out what Strings could do. No other place in the world could come closer to simulating the universe at its beginning.

The facility had its own, specialised and modified Harmony Core. Three massive spheres hung above the firey sphere that was the Core itself, regulating it, but also permitting direct manipulation through electromagnetism, application of directed light and energy and several other methods. The platform underneath the Core was a regulator to keep it from harnessing too many Strings at the same time - unless desired. It would also redirect the energies created by the phenomenon into a different chamber, resulting in the Strings' quantum effects being transported to the same place, somehow. It couldn't be explained quite well enough at the time, but it worked.
 

The chamber itself has been under construction by the time the Harmony Core was activated, though it had taken only a few more months for it to be completed.
 

Just three years after research had begun, a chain of breakthroughs and highly successful experiments had led to the point where the scientists participating in the project were sure enough of their knowledge to attempt the impossible. The Harmony Core was unleashed, permitted to harvest an order of magnitude more Strings than any other in the Principality. The excess harmonic energy was funnelled through the platform and regulator-spheres into the main chamber.

In the main chamber, the energy was pooled and then distributed into large banks of harmonic capacitors. These were highly complex arrays of miniscule harmonic energy storage cells, each wired to release their charge in a fraction of a second. As the capacitors were being charged, the device at the centre of the chamber was activated, beginning to spin. A trickle of harmonic energy was then diverted, slowly but steadily generating faintly-glowing field lines that would serve as guides for the next phase of the process.

As the device reached its optimal rotational speed, the capacitors begun unloading in sequence. Each held a very specific amount of harmonic charge which had to be released in a tightly-controlled frequency. The chamber reverberated with a slow, deep hum that began to alternate in volume and pitch as ribbons of light ran up the spinning field lines. Soon enough, the lines' spin had attained sufficient speed to show as a single sphere of white-blue light, forcing participating scientists to put on polarised glasses or goggles.

Ethereal lightning crackled through the air and ground around the sphere, excess Harmonic energy that had nowhere else to go. Though the sphere looked more than a little dangerous, the scientists and technicians around it were confident enough in the design that many stood mere feet from the sphere, wearing little to no additional safety equipment other than polarized eye-wear. Within the sphere, sensors indicated that forces of nature beyond anything previously harnessed by mankind were at work. The fabric of reality was slowly unravelling, its loose threads tied to another reality's. The probe sitting on the platform at the centre of the maelstrom simply vanished.
 

The group of scientists inside the control chamber held their collective breath. Many pairs of eyes were fixed on the probe's sensor readouts. The screen was blank. After what felt like an eternity - though in reality was just under a minute - it lit up with a flood of raw, uncompressed data.

Success.

[Lynneth]

[Internal - CNRP2]

"Man has killed man from the beginning of time, and each new frontier has brought new ways and new places to die. Why should the future be different?"

Still in the process of properly establishing itself, a decision was made to give the new 'branch' of the Principality some autonomy, mostly in regards to establishing its armed forces. Soldiers, pilots and naval personnel would have to be found and trained.

• 950,000 soldiers
• 2,500 tanks, 500 Mobile suits
• 4,400+ other combat vehicles
• 558 combat airplanes
• 1080 combat helicopters
• 44 corvettes
• 7 attack submarines
• 3 nuclear submarines
• 28 frigates
• 28 destroyers
• 17 AAVs
• 13 cruisers
• 14 battleships
• 9 carriers

Equipment for infantry will largely consist of weaponry based on old German and US designs. Among this will be the G36, the MP7 and the Panzerfaust 3, but also including many other guns.

MBTs will be Leopard 2 tanks, supported by MS-05 Zakus.
APCs and IFVs will include the Puma, Boxer and Wiesel, amongst others.
Artillery will largely be PzH 2000 and M270 MLRS.
Air defense systems will include the Gepard Flakpanzers and LeFlaSys-equipped vehicles.

General equipment will be a mixture of German and US. Missiles, most of all.
 
Aircraft will be as follows
60 Typhoon
24 F-22 (St)
390 Rafale
24 F-35 (St)
60 Su-35
12 B-2 (St)
24 B-1
24 Tu-160
Combat Helicopters will mainly be Apache and Tiger helicopters.
 
Anything else would be determined at a later date. Local and former US equipment was prioritised for anything unspecified.

[OOC: Regularly editing this post to bring it into compliance with RP2-rules.
Points: 4000
Bought: 3 Frig (1200), 3 Destr (1800), 5 Corv (1000)]

Edited October 3, 2014 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[Public - CNRP2]

"The people of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama have suffered for long enough. They have been apart from their homeland for too long. Their people's greatest desire is to once again become part of the great and eternal family.

It is thus that the Principality will consider these three regions under its close protection for the time being. Over time, as order gets restored and the people become once more used to the Rightful Order, they may be reincorporated into Tikal. Five divisions shall be dedicated to protecting our people in the south.

The Panama Canal and the Nicaragua Canal will be under our protection as well. All non-military vessels will be permitted to pass through them. Only our allies may send military vessels at all times - other nations will have to request permission for each passing.

Furthermore, let it be known that Tikal shall consider its national waters to stretch 40 kilometres (~25 miles) from the coast, or until they meet another nation's territorial waters. Tikal's exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ shall stretch for 320 kilometres (~200 miles) or until it meets another nation's EEZ.

 

[Private - CNRP2]

 

As it was announced, so it happened. Five infantry divisions were mobilised. Two would protect Panama, two Nicaragua, one Costa Rica. A small fleet headed by one carrier, accompanied by four corvettes, two cruisers and two frigates would move towards Panama, to protect the Canal for the time being.

 

Tikal would closely watch the reactions of its neighbours, most of all the Plains Federation and the Auroran Empire.

[Lynneth]

[Internal - CNRP2]

 

"Yes, yes, we've all heard the philosophers babble about "oneness" being "beautiful" and "holy". But let me tell you that this kind of oneness certainly isn't pretty and if you're not careful it will scare the bejeezus out of you."

 

In order to protect the Americas, Tikal would have to establish bases from which to project power. Though this might leave a slightly bad taste for both Tikal and fellow Americans, it was a must, and the islands chosen for this would even profit from the investments that would come to them.

 

The following islands would find themselves visited by Principal taskforces consisting of an AAV, two frigates and two destroyers, as well as supply ships.

• Bermuda
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Falkland Islands
• South Sandwich Islands
• Easter Island
• Galapagos Islands

These islands would subsequently put under Tikal's protection, the people living on them given resources and supplies to help them out of the often rather ramshackle ways of living they'd had to make do with since the great wars. Plans to annex them properly and officially were in the works, and would likely come to fruition within weeks, the small fleets staying in sight at all times.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[Internal - CNRP1]

"Let's get to work."

Nowadays, there were very few matters on Earth that could be considered of great importance for the Principality. Harmonic String technology was on the way to perfection, production technologies already had been perfected. Manufacturing products on a molecular level was standard for most industries in Tikal, in turn enabling the construction of weapons and armour superior to most others. Most anything could be manufactured faster and more cheaply in Tikal than anywhere else - thus limiting imports to rare earths and other minerals, and exports to 'classic' finished goods like televisions, radios and the sort, all manufactured to work with rest-of-the-world standards instead of Tikal's own standards.

In the aether, things were a little different. Tikal's construction and manufacturing efforts were at an all-time high, a number of sizeable bases scattered all over the Asteroid Belt's boundaries. The colonies along the Earth-Sol L4 and l5 points had grown more populous as well, though only by a few percent. Most important was the completion of colonies following the Jovian Greeks and Trojans, establishing bases from which expansion to Saturn and its Lagrange points could be launched. This was the most important step of Tikal's space endeavours. Though Tikal was stretched somewhat thinly, the nation was firmly entrenched in all important places of the solar system.
 

The colonies built around the Jovian L-points were a refined kind of Bernal sphere, able to house a much larger population than the old type - six to eight times as much, in fact. It was appropriately larger, requiring more material to build. However, by this point there were enough construction capacities to build a number of them in a relatively short amount of time, supported by smaller stations scattered around them.

 

The colonies for Saturn were not yet finalised, but they would quite like ybe the very largest constructions built in the history of mankind. However, the number of asteroids of considerable size from the asteroid belt outwards was a problem. For this purpose, defensive systems had to be developed. Research was funded, based on Harmony technology, hopefully soon bringing results.

 

But that was yet to come. For now, Tikal was spread wide and far, expanding ever further.

[Lynneth]

[Internal - CNRP2]

"The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever."

- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, The Father of Rocketry

The Aether.

In this world, Tikal had fallen before it could advance further than to Jupiter. The launch platforms were in dis-use, and would have to be refurbished heavily. As the economy recovered, a great effort to bring the lost back into the fold. First was repairing and rebuilding the 'Bifrost' launch platforms, which went quite faster than building them in the first place. Only days after the first was deemed fully operational, a shuttle was launched into orbit to visit the minor stations that had been placed in orbit.

Some of the lower-orbit stations sadly had decayed and burned up in the atmosphere, but a few of the MEO-located stations were still there - though filled with the dead. In some, Fungi and Bacteria had managed to grow for a time before running out of the things they needed to survive. This made recovery efforts that much more difficult, as practically the entire ventilation system as well as many other critical systems would have to be replaced completely before these stations could be brought back into use again.

However, not all was gloom and doom. Messages had been sent to all known clusters of aether colonies. Some had survived for these decades upon decades, never wavering in the knowledge that their gods would come back and rescue them.

And there they were. Returned.

Though it would take at least another decade before vessels capable of reaching beyond Lunar orbit could be launched, All was Good. They would survive for that little bit longer.

[Lynneth]

[Internal - CNRP2]

 

"A ship at sea is its own world. To be the captain of a ship is to be the unquestionable ruler of that world and requires all of the leadership skills of a prince or minister."

 

The Vatican had released the many territories that it had taken under its control, resuming its rule of only the Vatican City. In response to this, the island of South Georgia was brought into Tikal's defensive network - as it had previously been left alone to permit the Catholics easy access to their Antarctic research stations. Furthermore, several Brazilian islands in the Atlantic were commandeered by Tikal's fleets, for supply and naval bases where they would fit without damaging the environment.

 

These islands were

- Trindade and Martim Vaz

- Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago

- Rocas Atoll

- Fernando de Noronha

 

Trindade would find a supply base established with early warning and SDI systems, amongst others. St. Peter & Paul would have a research and early warning station built on it, while the Rocas Atoll merely had the light house reactivated. It would be a wildlife sanctuary. The main island of Fernando de Noronha archipelago would find a proper naval base established, and occasionally be host to minor fleets including an AAV or two and its escorts. Lesser vessels, mostly for patrolling, were stationed more permanently on it.

 

Other islands in the atlantic were not considered American, and in the Pacific, there was little need for more as several independent states were there, able to protect North America's coasts.

 

The islands would be used to establish, among other things, an early warning network, bases with which to observe foreign fleet and possibly submarine activities, SDI and other defenses, and more.

 

 

 

On the mainland, sufficient control had been established to bring Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua back into the fold. Once more, they would be blessed by the light of the Moon and Sun bringing peace and prosperity. The Panama and Nicaragua canals fully under Principal control, an announcement would be made that the previous policy regarding military vessels would be continued. Civilian vessels of all nations would be permitted as usual, but the right to search them for illegal wares or weapons was reserved.

 

In Mexico, the states of Veracruz and Oaxaca were silently brought into Tikal's protection for the time being, mostly to see whether their people were open to rejoining the nation.

 

 

 

As all this was ongoing, the facilities built in the past, factories and Harmony Cores, research centres and so on were all slowly unearthed once more, rebuilt and reactivated. Soon, this Tikal would reach the same height its otherdimensional counterpart was standing at.

[Hereno]

The Confederacy of Brazil has, with communications restored, sent several diplomatic missions from its borders to deliver messages to any signs of civilization. One of the first places contacted were the outlying islands around Brazil's coast, which had not been heard from by the mainland since before the war. They were, however, not uninhabited, or in decay, but seeing construction and flying under a flag that was certainly not Brazilian. A small boat detached from the main armada and sailed towards Belmonte island in the Saint Peter and Saint Paul archipelago. As radio transmissions broadcast friendly desires, the boat inched ever closer to the dock. It contained a crew of three persons who were authorized by the Confederacy to seek out the government, if any, that controlled these islands and begin proper diplomatic communications.

[Mara Lithaen]

[CNRP2]

 

"The Plains Federation would like to open diplomatic relations with our southern neighbors in Tikal. Would your government be open to such a thing?"

Edited June 1, 2014 by Mara Lithaen

[Uberstein]

[CNRP2]

 

The Baltic Union of Ubersteinia recognizes the rise of the state of Tikal, and offers its hand in friendship.

[Lynneth]

[Internal - CNRP2]

"The question I pose to you is simple. Who is to be the master, you or the bits of talented meat that secrete hormones for you? Your glands are the product of aeons of evolution, and they are not to be scorned, but neither are they to be obeyed blindly."

With a significant number of islands around America's coasts secure, it was time to use them properly. Plans for a significant and accurate SOSUS network were drawn up, spread between the islands under Tikal's control and the mainland, and along all coasts. Each 'line' consisted of sonobuoys at 3 heights, to track submarines through all depth layers in the ocean and prevent any hiding in any season. A network for easy and quick communication between all Principal possessions and fleets would be established, using encrypted lascomms, satellite comms and radio, amongst others.

All islands with significant bases would receive various upgrades to their defences, including missile and artillery defences, and anti-shipping systems. Detection capabilities were to be brought up to par as well, making it possible to detect even heavily stealthed airplanes with reasonable accuracy. Defence systems would consist of both fixed emplacements and mobile units, the latter as back-up but integrated into the system to maximise computing power at all times.

More precisely, the radar and OTH radar network that would be established would give Tikal's military hours of warning before any foreign or hostile forces came close to the Principality's coasts or other possessions. This in turn would permit the use of both ballistic and cruise anti-ship missiles. The ASBMs would be mounted on 'Transporter erector launchers' (TELs) scattered near the coastlines, hidden by geography and specialised camouflage in an effort to prevent aerial recon on them. However, even the best camo could be penetrated and so in case of war, they had orders to move in a semi-random pattern. During peace-time, the launchers would be shifted around possible positions in random intervals ranging from 7 to 31 days.

Complimenting the ASBMs and OTH radar would be specialised satellites in medium and low orbits using Electro-Optical (EO), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and the so-called 'Naval Ocean Surveillance System' (NOSS), among other methods, to detect and track submarines and fleets in cooperation with the SOSUS network.

Other locations at the coasts would be fortified, these housing TELs equipped with Tomahawk ASMs (with the latest upgrades) for medium range coastal defence. Close-in defences would be provided by Harpoon-type missiles (Block III upgrade), mounted on mobile HMMWV and truck systems. Like the heavier systems, these smaller platforms would be distributed relatively randomly and shifted around in irregular patterns, even leaving a number of defensive fortifications empty at times to mislead hostiles.

Further, significant air bases would be built to support not only combat craft, but also AWACS patrols and P-3 Orion sub-hunter craft, as well as anti-submarine helicopters.

Efforts were also made to passively listen in to radio transmissions from other nations, though encryptions had to be cracked first for that. It was one of the longer-term projects.

In essence, most of the Eastern Pacific and Western Atlantic oceans would come under constant surveillance by the Principality. To aid in this, the fleet deployed to Quebec during French attempts at imperialism was recalled to Bermuda and Trinidad&Tobago, where they would aid in setting up the SOSUS network, amongst other things.

[Lynneth]

[Internal - CNRP1]

"Time dilates as the speed of light approaches. To the extent that light consists of particles, it is in its own way, timeless. Through simple perturbations of the temporal manifold, we can refract or repel photons most efficiently."

Researching the principles behind using Harmony technology for destructive purposes had taken longer than initially expected. But enough tenacity had led to results, and the first defence satellite had been built to test them.

It was a relatively simple affair, but tricky to get right. Each of the three arms housed a small Harmony Core, supplying both electric and harmonic energy to a specialised chamber centred between the arms. The electricity kept it running and stable, while the carefully selected gas-mixture within interacted with the harmonic energy, resulting in reactions that emitted great amounts of photons and x-rays. These were carefully channelled through a series of tubes that would focus and intensify the beam with further harmonic interactions.

In the end, the beam emitted was barely five centimetres in width. infused with harmonic energy besides photons and x-rays, the destructive power was considerable, on par with low-yield nuclear weapons. The range was far greater than expected as well, bordering on the millions of kilometres.

Deploying these defensive weapons was made the highest priority in Asteroid colonies and beyond.