Unified People of Thanda

The Unified People of Thanda is the collective name for the inhabitants of Thanda, mostly Chiss, and the castes in which they organize themselves. The Military Caste rules with absolute authority, in order to maintain a peaceful and just society. Life in the UPT is harsh because of the self inflicted nuclear winter, that has covered most of the surface in radioactive ash and has kept temperatures around zero celcius. Despite this the UPT have managed to scrape out a living. They rely heavily on underground shelters, orbital stations and, more recently, radiation shields. Extensive use of droids has even allowed them to thrive to a certain degree. The UPT is notoriously mistrustful of many advanced electronics, preferring more mechanical systems with better resistance to extreme radiation.

The banner of the UPT represents the unity of the five castes. With the logo of each caste represented in it.

Castes

There are five castes within the UPT. When born, a child takes on the caste of its parents. Membership of a caste is for life and cannot be changed. Marriage between members of different castes is prohibited. In the rare instance a child is born with parents from two different castes, the Military Caste decides what happens with the child. Often the child will be taken from the parents and put in a caste with lower numbers, to ensure inbreeding doesn't become a problem.

Military Caste

The Military Caste rules the Unified People of Thanda. They hold the full military might of the UPT. There are two divisions: the Navy, responsible for the military starships, all space based combat and the majority of airborne in atmosphere combat. The Army in charge of all ground and maritime based combat and a small portion of air-based in atmosphere combat.

Apart from this both divisions come together in Intelligence. Intelligence, though not a division, is responsible for gathering and distributing information to the rest of the Military Caste. The rest of their activities, duties and responsibilities remain highly classified. People outside the UPT often refer to Intelligence as "Thandan Intelligence".

The Military Caste played a huge role in ensuring the survival of the people of Thanda and in unifying them after the nuclear armageddon. The rule of the Military Caste has been competent and just. It has ensured peace and survival in impossible conditions. It has earned them great respect, gratitude and even love from the Unified People of Thanda.

The logo of the Military Caste is the three v-shapes stacked on top of each other. They form a rough shield shape, representing how the Military Caste protects the UPT. The lines also represent battle lines.

Noble Caste

The Noble Caste, while low in numbers, holds a large portion of the wealth of the Unified People of Thanda. They often finance ventures from the Merchant Caste and welfare for the poorer castes. They also generously donate to the Military Caste when they require additional funds.

The oldest families in the UPT are part of the Noble Caste. The caste holds both noble families and servant families. Most of the bloodlines within the Noble Caste have mixed with one another at some point. The Noble Caste has received more children of whom the parents are from different castes than any other caste.

The Noble Caste uses two short vertical lines as their logo. It represents balance and the higher ideals such as honour and dignity.

Religious Caste

The Religious Caste holds the priests, monks and other religious duties within the Unified People of Thanda. The UPT worship death, the "great equalizer". They state that all living things are equal in death. They honour the struggle against death and the tenacity to survive against pain and suffering. Though each caste has different views on what this means exactly, the Religious Caste provides a place where they can worship, pray and even debate the different views.

They perform regular rituals to honour the dead. Praying and offering mostly. Before the nuclear armageddon, they also used to perform ritual sacrifice. However, due to the severe decrease in population because of the armageddon, the Military Caste banned the practice.

The Logo of the Religious Caste is a single horizontal line. It represents the dead lying in a grave.

Merchant Caste

The Merchant Caste is responsible for the commerce and industry in the Unified People of Thanda. They interact with the other castes more then any other caste. They are partially responsible for the production and procurement of food, the Military Caste responsible for the other part. A significant portion of the economy of the UPT is under control of the Merchant Caste. Despite this the Military Caste remains completely independent of and is the only caste that would remain unaffected if the Merchant Caste should ever shut down.

The Merchant Caste is strictly monitored by the Military Caste to ensure their ventures remain in the interest of the UPT as a whole. It also ensures the Merchant Caste doesn't exploit its workers.

The Merchant Caste has a circle as its logo. It represents a coin, an ancient form of currency.

Labour Caste

The Labour Caste provides most of the workforce of the Unified People of Thanda. It is the largest of the five castes, it is also the poorest overall. In spite of this they fulfil an important role within the UPT. That is providing manual labour and the workers needed for everything from assembling components to road building to waste recycling and much, much more. They are essential to the Merchant Caste, the Noble Caste and the Religious Caste. To each in a different manner.

The Military Caste takes care of much of the Labour Caste, providing work, housing and food. In addition to looking out for their interests. It has earned the Military Caste great respect and loyalty from the Labour Caste.

The Labour Caste has a single vertical line as its logo. It represents a worker standing tall and a strong back.

Law and Justice

Ever since the nuclear armageddon and its inception, the Unified People of Thanda have been under martial law. Resulting in the Military Caste being responsible for keeping law and order, which they have done with great success. Soldiers and battledroids regularly patrol streets, keeping peace and upholding the law with minimal surveillance. With no one outside the Military Caste being allowed to own weapons, people are safe.

If a violation occurs soldiers and their support battledroids quickly apprehend the culprit(s). In order to prevent getting bogged down in procedures and make certain criminals get punished for their crimes, the two most senior officers on site evaluate the evidence and the testimony of the suspect(s). They then decide if the suspect(s) is(are) guilty and lay down a sentence. When possible sentences are carried out immediately, otherwise the criminal(s) is(are) taken to the nearest outpost or base. From there the criminal(s) is(are) moved to one of the detention centres.

Official History

Before the nuclear armageddon, about 300 years ago, the UPT was split into a number of different nations. These nations all had the same caste system as the Unified People of Thanda. The major difference was that there were two additional castes. These two castes both perished in the wake of the armageddon. These were the Ruler Caste and the Justice Caste.

The rulers of the nations and leaders on nearly all levels of government. Their greed and arrogance grew with time. Lusting for ever greater power, poverty and sickness often ran wild among the other castes. The Military Castes was often sent on foolish assaults to take over pieces of land. At the height of their power the Ruler Caste launched their nuclear arsenal at one another. This sealed the fate of Thanda and signed their own death warrant.

In a brave moment of defiance, a flag officer of the Military Caste of one nation contacted the Military Castes of other nations. She warned them of the incoming strike, telling them to get as many as possible to the shelters. She was Admiral Margret Tenacioun. She died in the nuclear fires, choosing to keep the ones responsible from getting to safety.

Armageddon

It is difficult to estimate the amount of casualties of the armageddon, as most records of the population were destroyed by it. Most of the victims died quickly in the initial explosions, the rest died from starvation, dehydration and panic. A very small portion died of acute radiation poisoning. The survivors were stuck in the nuclear shelters, fortunately these shelters were kept well supplied. Never the less the conditions were dire. Despite the conditions the Ruler Caste sought only conquest. They were steering towards a total extinction of the people of Thanda. The Military Castes would not let that happen. Now in contact with one another, the surviving military leaders made an alliance between them. When the order to attack other shelters came, the Military Caste refused.

Meanwhile the other castes had become disorderly due to fear and panic. After a few small incidents, the Military Caste declared martial law. They also took control of rationing to ensure a fairer distribution. After things became more orderly, people became more and more angry with the Ruler Caste, who seemingly cared little for the people. This soon developed to riots. The Ruler Caste ordered the Military Caste to put the riots down "by any means necessary". Again the Military Caste refused the order and put the remnants of the Ruler Caste under arrest. An action that was supported by the Noble Caste. The Justice Caste, however, was less pleased by the arrest. A part of the Justice Caste even attacked the Military Caste. The misguided group stood no chance against the trained and well armed soldiers, the group was killed in self-defence by the soldiers.

In a sudden and shocking development, the Ruler Caste committed mass suicide. Even their children died, shot by their parents. A large portion of the Justice Caste followed them shortly after. The few members of the Justice Caste that remained were taken in by the other castes. Now without anyone to rule, many expected the Noble Caste to take up the mantle of leadership. However, the Noble Caste and the Merchant Caste both looked to the Military Caste. Many were grateful for the actions and sacrifices the Military Caste made to save as many people as possible. They were also impressed by the way the Military Caste handled the aftermath. Humbled by the trust placed in them by the people, the Military Caste gracefully accepted the leadership position.

While the alliance between the Military Castes had already done a lot to unite the different nations. The first act of the Military Caste was to officially unite the nations under a single banner of the Unified People of Thanda. They realised to insure their survival chaos needed to be limited, thus promoting order over freedom. They banned ritual sacrifice and abortion to ensure the population remained viable and could grow. Most importantly they started the development of transport between the different shelters.

Space development

While there was limited space capability before the armageddon, the newly formed UPT expedited the development. Seeing as the extreme radiation and lack of sunlight would make producing food on the surface of Thanda impossible, producing it in orbit seemed the better option. A few of the wreckages that had initially brought the Chiss of the UPT to Thanda had survived the armageddon. The few salvageable pieces still available from the wreckages helped speed up the process of becoming a spacefaring people again. The knowledge of the original settlers was lost to time long ago. There are myths and legends about how and why they came here, but little to no evidence to support them. All that is known for certain is that the people of the UPT settled Thanda from another planet and that somehow a large portion of the knowledge and technology they once possessed was lost.

Aided by reverse-engineering technology from the wreckages and spurred on by the threat of extinction, the UPT advanced rapidly. Within a decade they had droids capable of operating outside. This allowed the UPT to mine minerals. A few decades later they could slowly move back to the surface, though they were still confined to shelters and couldn't go outside without specialized suits. Most of the Noble Caste, along with parts of the Military Caste and the Merchant Caste, moved to the orbital facilities. Giving more room to grow to those that remained on Thanda.

A steady, though rapid, advancement continued until about a hundred and fifty years ago. After developing hyperspace travel, advancement slowed down. Though it didn't stop, the UPT could no longer learn anything new from the wreckages. The Military Caste built a few ships and sent them out to look for new resources, mainly food. Though the orbital stations provided enough food to survive, it was expensive to produce and there was still only just enough. The first encounters by the new hyperspace capable ships, unfortunately, were with pirates. Several ships were lost in these encounters. As a response, the Military Caste reorganised and stepped up production. Not knowing who or what they were facing they started preparing to fend off a possible invasion. Amongst several defensive oriented measures, a number of offensive measures were also taken. The most important of these was several new warships. These new warships were relatively small, but they proved far more effective against pirates then the vessels previously sent out.

Contact with other worlds, including worlds that would later come to form the Union, was established after a number of vessels had noticed a surprising lack of pirates around the Kutumb System. The UPT had set up a systematic exploration and patrol in the surrounding area. The pirates were unprepared for the organised and well armed warships of the Military Caste. When a few worlds sent a team to investigate why there were so few pirates in the area, they encountered the UPT. After initial distrust from the UPT, they were invited to Unity to discuss matters peacefully. Over time the UPT slowly started to trust these other worlds and it eventually led to the Unified People of Thanda to join in the formation of the Union.

Government

The Unified People of Thanda is a military dictatorship and thus the Military Caste rules it. The Military Caste has two main decision making bodies: Military Command and the Senior Staff. These two bodies work together to rule the UPT. They are frequently at odds with one another, but they remain amicable toward each other most of the time. As a general rule of thumb, Military Command decides what the UPT does, the Senior Staff decides what the Military Caste does.

Military Command is a group composed of multiple officers, of various ranks, from both the Navy and the Army. They make the laws and decide how the vast majority of the UPT budget is spent. The members of Military Command cannot give orders to other members, regardless of rank. Though members are less formal with each other then protocol dictates, lower ranked members are expected to maintain a semblance of respect toward higher ranked members. The identities of Military Command members are kept hidden for security reasons.

The Senior Staff are the three highest ranking officers in the Military Caste. Namely the General of the Army, who is in command of the entire Army division, the Fleet-Admiral of the Navy, who is in command of the entire Navy division, and the Head of Intelligence, who is in command of intelligence. They have the final say in all matters pertaining to the Military Caste. In addition they handle all war and combat related matters. Their exact identities are purposefully kept out of most official records and documents as a security precaution, only their rank is mentioned where applicable.

In addition to Military Command and the Senior Staff each city is assigned a high ranking officer to oversee and manage them. Different districts within the cities also have officers to manage them. These officers are charged with the smooth operation of day-to-day affairs. They also handle the local security and enforcement in their area of responsibility, often delegating parts to their subordinates. Laws often leave some room for interpretation in their details, giving the city and district officers some freedom in how to implement the regulations. This leads to some variety between cities and districts. In addition these officers can implement additional rules and regulation at their own discretion.