Editing Firestorm Armada (section)

==The Factions==
Like their other main title [[Dystopian Wars]], the Firestorm setting has two main alliances comprised of several factions and an ostensibly neutral set of factions that have individual alignment matrices.

===[[Kurak Alliance|The Kurak Alliance]]===
Ostensibly the good guys, but in reality only a lighter shade of grey than the Zenian League. Formed by the Terran Alliance and the two most powerful alien races to combat the threat of the Zenian League. They eventually brought six smaller factions into the fold who had suffered at the hands of Zenian League aggression during it's push into the Fathoms Reach and Storm Zone.

*'''Major Races'''
**'''Aquan Prime''' - A collective of aquatic species, basically space dolphins and lobster men. Very Eldar-ish in that they are graceful, maneuverable, and deadly when used right, but <s>die horribly when they make a mistake</s> are just as tough as everyone else. Make heavy use of omni-directional lasers and a crapton of mines. They have been a long-standing ally of Terra, having been strong supporters of the Terquai for centuries before formal contact with the main human forces.
**'''The Sorylian Collective''' - Ancient race of logical, pragmatic space lizards. Generally they are a very up-close force, using powerful broadside guns and lethal boarding parties. They are slow to act and very thoughtful, as a species, presumably developing out of their relatively long lifespans which makes zero sense based on how they play in game. Their territory extends into the Storm Zone, which was the catalyst for joining the Kurak Alliance, but have since become one of their staunchest defenders yet galactic record holders as the [http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/16839-war-log-3726 consistently] [http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/12481-war-log-3725 worst performing major faction].
**'''The Terran Alliance''' - Used to be the dominant human power until the Directorate turned traitor and the Dindrenzi rebelled. Now they're fighting to hold onto what they have left with the efficiency of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Office_(UK_TV_series)#Characters Office]. Their ships look bad on paper, then you realize they're shielded out the ass and can absorb retarded amounts of punishment if they can [[#Exploding_Dice|roll well]]. Makes heavy use of nuclear weapons, as the Dindrenzi eventually found out when their homeworld of Dramos was reduced to a smoldering, lifeless rock in space.

*'''Minor Races'''
**'''Hawker Industries''' - Old-school, honorable corporation that helps design and build Terran ships and weapons. Have badass-looking ships known for durability and nuclear armament. Basically Elite Terrans. With the defection of the Directorate and Works Raptor, they've become the primary developer of new weaponry for the Terran Alliance.
**'''Ryushi''' - Nomads who wander the stars after the loss of their homeworld to the Dindrenzi and Illosians. They are obsessed with SRS and lots of drones to preserve their own lives, as they are not very numerous. They are bitter enemies of the Kedorians, being the only race outside of the Zenian League to know their secret origins.
**'''Tarakians''' - Mysterious, advanced aliens that use big lumbering ships with troll-tastic gravitic weaponry. Their favorite sport is grav-pushing your ships into asteroid fields or planets, while ignoring shields, crew loss and intervening terrain in the process, and then watching you whine and quit to play 40k again. They inhabit an area of space along the edge of the galaxy called the Harrison Belt. They seem to be keeping watch for some force outside the Milky Way and much of their society seems structured around guarding the galaxy's edge.  Since this is boring, they spend a lot of time re-watching videos of their gravity weapons throwing your ships off the board to keep themselves entertained.
**'''Terquai''' - Human citizens of the Aquans. Their ships are a mixture of Aquan and Terran tech and design sensibilities. Their ancestors were among the first human space colonists, having settled far from Terra before being cut off from humanity during the Wars of First Contact. They soon found their colony worlds were already occupied by the Aquans. This worked out for both, however, as the Aquans lived in the oceans and they on the land. Centuries later when they reestablished ties with the Terran Alliance, it was discovered they had become a client state of the Aquans. These ties helped form the Kurak Alliance when the Zenian League launched their invasion into the Storm Zone.
**'''Veydreth''' - Savage, spacefaring raider tribes with fast, assault-y ships. They are described as "star dragons" by Terrans due to their physical appearance. They used to raid Terran Alliance colonies, but with the push into the Storm Zone by the Zenian League they have been hired by the Hawker Consortium to raid Zenian races instead, cause why not, right? (insert star dragon roar!!!)  
**'''Xelocians''' - The other nomadic race living in giant worldships. They were drifting through the area just firing forward lasers aimlessly when war broke out and they joined the Kurak Alliance out of need for protection and general boredom. They have a strong business acumen, but also seek enlightenment as a race among the stars. They currently believe their race has begun its final journey as war breaks out across the galaxy, so pew pew their way to destiny.

===[[Zenian League|The Zenian League]]===
Technically the bad guys, but only because they tend to be more self-serving than the Kurak races. Most of their races are motivated by revenge for wrongs committed against them in the past at the hands of the races now comprising the Kurak Alliance.

*'''Major Races'''
**'''The Dindrenzi Federation''' - Tough, don't-tread-on-me type star colonists who rebelled against the Terrans after being politically marginalized and taxed into oblivion... what Libertarians wish they could be, basically. The initial rebellion ended with their homeworld obliterated in Terran nuclear fire, but this only pissed them off more. Distrustful of aliens and most other humans, for good reason, they are an alliance of various frontier systems. Most of their ships are built around gigantic railguns and look like cock-n-balls, but they pay for it by being relatively slow and unmaneuverable, kind of like riding a bike with a boner. They basically play like Tau, preferring to sit back and snipe with their superior forward guns.
**'''The Directorate''' - The true villains of the setting. Basically a bunch of greedy, amoral corporations who broke away and created their own empire where Profit Is Everything.  They're fond of playing both sides off against each other in order to keep the wars going as long as possible so they can profit from weapons sales. Their homeworld is like the BDSM playroom of Ayn Rand and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lumbergh Bill Lumbergh] where the wealthy live in excess, but if their net worth drops too low they are forced to leave their homes and move off world. Their ships are mostly giant flying saucer types with omni-directional turrets in the center. They make heavy use of nuclear, biological, and chemical warheads on their torpedoes, dirty tricks, as well as cyberwarfare weaponry. 
**'''The Relthoza Empire''' - Giant spider people with a raging hard-on for nanotech. Surprisingly they are not a monolithic hive mind, and are actually a caste-based society of fully sentient individuals. Currently undergoing a swarming urge in which they attempt to conquer more territory. Generally they rely on stealth technology to get into optimal firing range, and back it up with nasty boarding parties made up of giant power armored spider marines and tons of acid torpedoes. Thanks to their nanotech, some of their ships can also repair themselves in the middle of battle. In the Wars of First Contact they were humiliated at the hands of the Terran Alliance, losing territory and suffering their first major defeat at the hands of an alien race, which played part in their decision to join the Zenian League.

*'''Minor Races'''
**'''Ba'Kash''' - Bootstrapper space pirates who love war and plunder. Joined the Zenian League after being promised the chance to have both of those things in large amounts. They prefer simple, direct weapons and technology, as well as boarding actions. They seem to be roughly analogous to the Klingon of '''Star Trek'''.
**'''Kedorians''' - Highly intelligent aliens with many client races who supported the Dindrenzi rebellion, thus earning political favors from the new Dindrenzi state. Make use of giant circular floating fortress-ships that double as space-based cities with tons of omnidirectional weaponry, and are hard as hell to assemble. Disdain getting their hands dirty and thus use their more aggressive servitor races as assault troops. Most races think they're a race composed of several sub species, but in reality they are parasites who implant themselves in other sentient races and seize control of their bodies like the Gou'ald of '''Stargate'''. Strangely in contrast to their generally cowardly attitude of using their client races to do their dirty work, they believe fighter to fighter combat to be honourable and only pure/noble members of their race may use their interceptor craft.
**'''Rense Systems Navy''' - The Dindrenzi state security and intelligence force based out of their most powerful star system; basically the KGB meets the [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/BattleTech Word of Blake]. Created to police the various Dindrenzi worlds and keep their allies of convenience in line. Use very well designed, advanced ships with elite crews. They have the trademark Dindrenzi railguns, but with none of the trademark Dindrenzi weakness to close-range combat, but they ain't cheap points-wise.  Are shown to be fanatical in their devotion to the Dindrenzi race and the Church of Dramos, a cult that has sprung up following the radiation shower given to Dramos by the Terrans. The RSN are employed in a number of different scouting and deep reconnaissance missions, while also acting as the enforcers for the leagues best interest (read as killing/punishing lesser members of the league who act out of line). 
**'''Works Raptor''' - Basically what you would get if the Dark Eldar were businessmen. Expelled from the Terran Alliance, they have become the most infamous member corporation of the Directorate, so mean that even EvilCorp would be like "whoa dude".  They use monstrous bio-engineered assault troops, nuclear, biological, and chemical weaponry, and stealth technology. Don't let them take you alive or you'll end your days as a test subject for some new horrific weapon.

===Marauders and Mercenaries===
Unaligned factions who can be added to Zenian or Kurak fleets as mercenaries, or even played on their own. They too now have a free living rulebook of their own available on Spartan's website breaking down who they can and cannot ally with, along with complete fleet rosters for each faction.

*'''Mercenary Forces'''
**'''OmniDyne Special Operations''' - A Terran Alliance company with ties to the Directorate, known for their distinctive ships with a big circle out the backside. Bitter enemies of Works Raptor, to the point where they will not fight alongside one another in the same fleet outside the System Wars supplement. Currently the most fleshed out mercenary faction with a great selection of figures.
**'''Oroshan Imperium''' - Yet another nomadic race. The Oroshan usually work as mercenaries for the Directorate and OmniDyne, but being true capitalists at heart they will fight for anyone who pays them enough, including the Kurak Alliance. They focus on utilizing the Pack Hunter rule to gain extra attacks by combining multiple ship's attacks together.
**'''Syndicated Traders League - Syndicate''' - The personal illegal raiding fleet of Tauris Vylia’sal.  He must have a huge crush on Flash Gordon cause they all look like a 1950s moon-rocket crossed with a Corvette. Their ships sport solid defenses, SRS and flexible weapons.
**'''Syndicated Traders League - Traders''' - The legitimate front organization for the Vylia’sal Syndicate and as close to true civilian ships as you can get in a wargame, Traders ships are all dirt cheap, shitty mining vessels and convoy escorts that can be taken in large numbers to offset their individual weaknesses. Currently the only faction without even a single figure to their name, so if you're the kind of <s>dork</s> artist that likes to build, mod, mold or customize your own shit this (or Pathogen) is the faction for you.
**'''Corsairs''' - Quintessential space pirates. Most get their ships and weapons supplied in secret by OmniDyne, and can be employed by all factions for the right price. Their crude-looking ships are all extremely customizable, and some are dirt cheap, but rarely match up one on one with a true warship. Thankfully, pirates don't play fair like that and get some funny TAC cards.

*'''Standalone Forces'''
**'''Overseers''' - An ancient race from outside the Milky Way that nothing of note is known about except that they are very likely the "ancient evil" that the Tarakians are on the lookout for. They currently only have a single probe model that comes with the Return of the Overseers two player set. This probe is not playable in regular games, but is an incredibly powerful model that will "attack" both players in the final scenario of the campaign book included in the set.
**'''Pathogen X-9V''' - Nightmare fuel. Ships that have been infected by a bizarre techo-organic plague that is implied to have been accidentally created by OmniDyne weapon-testing (<s>its basically The Beast from Homeworld Cataclysm</s>). It has <s>terrible</s> decent shooting limited to short range, but once it gets in close it can launch boarding assaults that can corrupt other ships and actually bring them under its control, adding them to the fleet. Their SRS are double trouble and scary as shit.  Like Tyranids, it's best not to think about the horrific fate suffered by the crew of a ship assaulted by Pathogen. Curiously, the only figures currently produced for it by Spartan Games are based off Relthozan vessels, who make heavy use of nanomachines themselves. You can mod, build and green-stuff your heart's desire with this faction, but you ''cannot ally'' with other factions.