The Asylum
Transdimensional Technologists

Personnel: Roughly 4 billion spread out between hundreds of branch offices, and the Homeworlds.

Population Breakdown:

50% - involved with research
20% - children or still getting an education
10% - maintains and operates the branch offices
the remaining 20% of the population oversees all of the Asylum's support services i.e. politics, Asylum Armed Forces (AAF), Asylum Space Fleet (ASF), Asylum Intelligence Agency (AIA), doctors, mechanics, entertainment, etc.

Research:
There are 2 billion people involved with Asylum Research and Development. This is by far and wide the largest segment of the Asylum population.

10% - Technoids
5% - Men-Rall
20% - Techno-Freaks
2% - Grease-Monkeys
the remaining 40% are other scholarly and technical OCC's (basically if it's an appropriate OCC/RCC there is at least one here)

Branch Offices:
There are 400 million members of the Asylum running the branch offices. Each office typically has between 75 - 100 employees; however, some offices have more (the office on Center has 10,000!) while others have fewer (there is an office with only 20).

60% - Grease-Monkeys
20% - Techno-Freaks
5% - Enforcers
the remaining 15% is made up of various technical OCC's however, the individuals picked for these positions are very questionable if they are sane.

Day - to - Day Operations:
Only a small percentage of the population must see to the day to day details of running the Asylum and it's production facilities due to the extremely high level of automation. For convenience I have included the clinically insane and the AAF, AIA, and ASF in this category. There are 800 million sentiants who fill these jobs.

10% - oversee factory/mining operations
10% - in charge of schools and hospitals/health care
5% - involved in running the government
15% - are in the Entertainment industry
12% - make up the AAF, ASF, and the AIA
the remaining 48% or 384 million people are clinically insane and are considered to be unproductive members of society although, if it weren't for them there would be a serious shortage of pot holders in the Asylum.

Asylum Elite Services:
The Asylum has 100 million sentients involved with the AIA, AAF, and ASF. These brave men, women, and beings are responsible for the defense of the Asylum. Note: these numbers DO NOT include the over 20 million Enforcers working in the branch offices.

50% - AIA (50 million)
25% - ASF (25 million)

10% - Turbo-Jockey's
25% - other various piloting OCC's
5% - Fleet commanders and Starship Captains
10% - Ship personnel
55% - 'merchants' or privateers

25% - AAF (25 million)

25% - Infantry (various grunt/infantry OCC's)
5% - Enforcers
5% - Special Forces
25% - Marauders (same basic breakdown as the AAF except the 25% taken by the Marauders is split between the RPA troops and the heavy vehicle support units)
25% - Robots and Power Armor troops
15% - Heavy Vehicle Support units (Tanks and APC's)
Note: the Marauders are also known as the Marauding Maniacs, this is an inside joke of the Marauders alluding to their place of origin (the Asylum)

Overview:
The Asylum is a transdimensional weapons and equipment dealer. This company/government is native to the Phase World Universe (TM) but, branch offices can be found any where in the megaverse including half a dozen on Rifts Earth. The Asylum's main base of operations is unknown to the people of the Three Galaxies (TM) only a select few outside of the Asylum know the location of the Asylum 'homeworlds'.

Many beings believe that it is an institution for the mentally ill, others believe that the Asylum is more than it appears, and still others believe that the Asylum is a threat to life as they know it. What is known for sure is that the Asylum is like no organization ever before seen in the Megaverse or Three Galaxies (TM). The Asylum technicians have gained a reputation for being among the best available, although a bit strange. If you need equipment repaired, upgraded, 'improved', or reloaded there are few who can or will rival the prices and services of the Asylum. The major drawback to having an Asylum branch repair your equipment is that you can never be quite sure of what you will get back. Many people however, prefer to take their chances with an Asylum repair job then with the many hidden terms or high costs that most other companies charge. It is important to note that while the Asylum will make questionable 'improvements' to a highly paid mercenaries equipment they will NEVER take advantage of the 'lower castes'. This means if all a person can afford to pay for the services are a plate of cookies then the Asylum will accept it as payment in full. This does not mean that 'rich' mercenaries will get off so easy. Basically PC's will ALWAYS pay in credits or with items of equal value to the work done. Another well known fact is that the Asylum NEVER sells any new technology although it is quite clear that they have developed new weapons and vehicles that are superior to the competition.

On a darker note, the Asylum is known to actively recruit new members/ citizens. If a candidate is considered acceptable they are approached by an Enforcer and asked if they would like to become a part of the Asylum. If the candidate asks for more information about the Asylum the Enforcer will typically smile and reply with something like "Our actions speak for themselves, will you join us?" If the candidate refuses the Enforcer will politely depart and the candidate will have no further contact from the Asylum nor will they ever be eligible for 'recruitment' at a later date. (NOTE: The Asylum will never, again approach this person but, they will not deny this person service either) If the candidate says yes, they have 48 hours to say good-bye and wish their families and friends well before they and the Enforcer leave. Most of the time this candidate will never be heard from or seen again, occasionally though the candidate will return home one day and then disappear the next day along with some relatives and friends. These people are usually never heard from again. This has led many to believe that the Asylum is involved in the slave trade or some other evil operation. Perhaps the most telling clue (at least for some people) is that there are NO known ex-Asylum anything's. Once a person(s) goes to the Asylum they, for the most part, cease to exist for the 'outside' world.

Speculations about that nature and the goals of the Asylum are as widespread and varied as there are people to think about them. All efforts to discover anything about the Asylum that is not volunteered by the Asylum have met with dismal and often embarrassing results. There is just not enough available information about the Asylum for psychics, or magic users to direct their rituals and talents. Conventional espionage attempts will fail and will do so in such a way that the agent(s), or organization(s) will be embarrassed.

The Asylum has managed to do a brisk business in the Three Galaxies and the Megaverse (TM) despite this lack of information about them.

The History (or the Truth)
The Asylum was founded a little over 220 years ago by a Kydian Overlord, a Kittani Field Mechanic, and a Human operator! The Kydian, Kittani and about two dozen of their compatriots were transporting about two hundred human slaves in the Three Galaxies. At some point in the journey the starship that they were aboard developed engine trouble and was forced to drop out of FTL to effect repairs in deep space. When the Starship dropped out of FTL they were immediately caught in the gravitational field of a planetoid! With the engines damaged they were forced to crash land! Without the CG drives to compensate for the gravity distortions all on board were killed except for a single Kydian Overlord, a Kittani Field Mechanic, and a Human Operator.

The Kittani field mechanic had been working on the CG drives as they started to fail. When the drives failed a human slave used his telemechanics ability to determine the cause of the problem and the Kydian was assigned to watch the slave while he and the Kittani were working on the drive system. The human and Kittani did all that they could without shutting down the drive but, they eventually determined that they could not fix it unless it was shut down. When the drives were shut down the ship became caught in the planet's gravitational field and was forced to crash land. The three people in the engine room were able to survive by using the ships batteries and the damaged CG drive they were able to create a small 'inertial bubble' that protected them from the forces of impact.

Digging themselves out of the wreckage they discovered that they had crash landed on a small barren planetoid with just enough of an atmosphere that they could breath. The first thing that they noticed was that the was the total lack of vegetation on the planets rocky surface. The ship was considered to be irreparable so, they salvaged what they could and set off to explore this strange world. Roughly 48 hours after their crash landing they realized that there was no star! Somehow this planetoid existed in deep space as a lone entity and not as a part of a star system. Realizing that they were alone and had no way home the three of them quickly began to work together to explore the world and try to figure out a way home.

After being on the planet for about three months they came across the wreckage of a second starship! This new starship was much older then their own and the skeletons of the crew showed that this ship had come from human space. Searching through the wreckage the Kittani and human quickly realized that they could repair this ship by using parts from their ship but, the biggest discovery was made by the Kydian. The Kydian discovered the diary of one of the survivors! This diary belonged to Dr. Aurora, a famous astronomer who had disappeared 75 years ago. According to Dr. Aurora, the planet they were trapped on was a single body that maintained a stable orbit between three solar systems! The dairy also contained the coordinates of the planet relative to Phase World, over 1000 light years away (this is roughly two weeks of travel). Dr. Aurora also came to the conclusion that the planet has a unique gravity field that appears to fluctuate for some unknown reason, this means that any ship wishing to safely enter or leave the planets surface must have at least two CG drive working in tandem to one another. The location of the planet combined with it's unique gravity field means that the planet is nearly invisible unless you know where it is or you accidentally fly into it.

The Kittani and the human were able to repair the second craft using materials from their first ship. During the repairs of the ship the Kydian was required to assist them and learned some of the 'secrets' of technology. The Kydian was so impressed with what he learned that he vowed to learn all he could about it and was surprised when the human and Kittani agreed and offered to teach him. The Journey back to Splugorth controlled space was an exciting time for all of them as they learned about each other, their respective cultures, and most importantly about what each had to offer in regards to the study of technology. The trip back to Splugorth controlled space was longer then usual due to the CG drives being somewhat damaged and operating below efficiency. So after being missing for nearly a year the trio managed to return to Splugorth territory and they returned as friends.

Until their return to 'civilized' territory the three friends had all but forgotten how odd their relationship was. Once they returned to Splugorth controlled space they were immediately faced with the reality of their situation. The three decided that the 'world' was not ready for the kind of association that the three of them had developed with one another. They all agreed to hide their true relationship from those who would not accept it and they would covertly try to find others that felt the same way about technology and racism. They also decided to keep the location of the planet they crashed on a secret as well and to use it someday to create a society dedicated to the advancement of technology and the end of racism. Unfortunately the human was killed by an Overlord for not being submissive to him. A few weeks later the Kydian and Kittani were separated by their respective duties.

For ten years the both the Kydian and the Kittani worked separately to find those that shared their feelings about technology and racism. The Kydian and Kittani had managed to keep contact with one another and with other sympathizers. After hiding for ten years and being told that they were 'crazy' they decided that the time had come for them to make a stand. All of the Sympathizers managed to finagle their way to a small Splugorth controlled planet. Once there the Kydian and Kittani could not believe how many people they had affected, there were nearly two hundred individuals present! A majority of these were Kydians and Kittani but there were also two dozen blind warrior women, a hatchling dragon, and a pair of ogre's! This group of people appropriated a 'small' slave ship containing nearly 1500 slaves of various races including Dwarves, humans, Hawrk-duhk, Wolfen, a few Seljuk, and a pair of Ugakwa's!

The renegades stole the slave ship and took off from the planet telling all of the slaves aboard that they were free. The Kydian and Kittani then explained to everyone on board the full details of their plan to return to that strange planet and create a new civilization based on technology and cooperation. Anyone who wanted out were allowed to leave but this was going to be their only opportunity to leave. Most of the slaves accepted this and chose to remain however, a small group of humans wished to leave and were allowed to take one of the ship's life boats. These humans foolishly believed that they could sell the information back to their Splugorth masters and be rewarded for their loyalty. These humans were killed for even suggesting that they should receive payment and a task force was sent to recover the renegade slave ship.

The Task force caught up with the slave barge as it was leaving Phase World where it had stopped for supplies. During the ensuing battle the slave ship became trapped and the task force made to board the ship. In a desperate attempt to save themselves a Dwarven operator rewired the CG drives of the ship and was able to create a temporary wormhole that the ship was able to escape through. Unfortunately the engines were destroyed due to the incredible stresses placed on them and the ship became trapped on the other side of the galaxy with no drive engines. A vote was taken and it was decided to risk a distress signal in hopes of a friendly ship rescuing them. Fate was not with them as a small pirate ship was the first to arrive at the scene and tried to capture the ship. They were defeated by the Kittani power armor unit that was aboard. The pirate ship was destroyed by a self-destruct mechanism which prevented the refugees from salvaging anything more then scrap metal and a few odd tools. The next being to come a long was a Cosmo-Knight.

The Cosmo-Knight did not at first believe the story that he heard from the members of the crew but, after long interviews and the total sincerity on the part of every single person on board finally convinced the Knight that this group of people meant what they were saying. The Cosmo-Knight agreed to help them and was able to obtain the parts necessary for them to repair their ship. In return the Cosmo-Knight asked that he be allowed to bring worthy individuals to them and to be allowed to stay at their new home when he needed to. The people on board all quickly agreed to this and thus the Cosmo-Knight became an unofficial ally.

Upon reaching the strange planet the Kydian and Kittani again addressed all of the refugees. They explained their goal to create a society based on the study of technology, freedom for all people, and equality for all races. They also went on to tell the people about the unique properties of the planet and why the need for absolute secrecy was essential to their success. They named the planet Asylum because they realized that most people would call the goals of the Asylum crazy and impossible. The first order of the day was survival, because the planet did not orbit a star, it was eternally dark and cold. The colonists originally began building above ground shelters but soon discovered that an underground system would work best. As the immediate dangers of survival passed the colony needed to create a government. A board of directors was established as the governmental body.

The board of directors originally consisted of eight members, two co- chairpersons, two military advisors, two medical officers, and two science officers. Each of the positions were elected by the groups they represented while the co-chairs were elected by everyone overall. The board of directors (BoD) quickly realized that they could not hope to compete in the weapons industry at the level of the Naruni or the Splugorth so they instead decided to do what the big weapon companies could not do. They decided that they would go into business repairing and upgrading weapons and equipment at affordable prices. This scheme also turned out to be a great way to test new technologies that were being developed by the Asylum.

When a Naruni representative approached an Asylum branch agency about a possible merger the board of directors realized that they were in a very dangerous position. After an emergency meeting the board of directors decided to suspend all extra planetary activities and ordered an immediate recall of all branch employees. Fortunately for the Asylum the value of the Dwarven engine modification that had made the wormhole was not lost on the technical community and the technology had been refined over the years. The pilots of ships that were going to execute the 'worm' maneuver were now able to control the destination of the wormhole, the bad news was that the CG drives were still destroyed during this process and required refits and replacements. Despite this cost it was still a valuable method of travel when it was needed. When the recall order was given to all branch offices included was the order to 'worm' home. The good news was that by 'worming' the ship was instantly transported from one point to another and that no ship using a standard method of FTL can follow a ship that has 'wormed'; thus all of the Asylum's forces were safely returned to the Asylum. The bad news was that eighty percent of the Asylum fleet needed to have drive overhauls and replacement but, it was considered to be a small price to pay compared to being taken over by Naruni Enterprises (TM).

It was at this time that the BoD decided to create the Grease Monkey's Enforcers, Techno-Freaks, and the Technoid classifications. It was decided the Grease Monkey's and Techno-Freaks would operate the branch facilities and would help perpetuate the illusion that the Asylum was truly insane. The Enforcers would be responsible for protecting the branch offices, collecting debts, and recruitment. It was further decided that the branch offices would only offer 'flawed' upgrades from now on but, they were not allowed to take advantage of those who could not afford it.

The BoD also decided that recruiting new technical personnel should be done in such away as to promote the image of insanity. So, the Asylum adopted the policy of hiring former employees of companies like Naruni Enterprises, Traix (TM), Northern Gun (TM), and other weapons manufacturers. They would only hire employees that had been fired for 'wasting' company funding on dangerous and impossible technologies. Furthermore they would recruit those individuals who were considered to be 'insane' by their society.

Lastly the BoD decided to do all future field testing using a mercenary army. Thus the BoD officially sanctioned the creation of the Asylum Armed Forces (AAF) and the Marauders mercenary unit. The Marauders is just another name for the AAF but, the 'public' name was deemed necessary to prevent the unit from being traced back to the Asylum. The Marauders sell their services to the highest bidder and accept contracts that are approved by the BoD. The primary job of the Marauders is to gather intelligence and to provide the AAF with trained veterans. An additional benefit turned out to be POW's and captured equipment as well as an opportunity to test new Asylum Equipment under actual combat conditions. The POW's are given an opportunity to join the Marauders when they are captured, if they refuse they are released unarmed back to their own camp after the contract has been fulfilled. If they accept they are sent back to Asylum and adopted into the Asylum as civilians, techs, or eventually they are reintegrated into the AAF.

Secondly it was decided that the Asylum needed to expand in order to meet the need for raw materials. As it turned out a CCW Discovery Corps ship had developed drive trouble and discovered Asylum at about this time. The AAF was able to capture the ship with little bloodloss. The ship was under the command of a Noro Scientist, when he was brought to the BoD and had the situation explained to him he readily agreed to join and offered the services of his crew and ship. The ship had recently been exploring the inner-most regions of the Corkscrew galaxy and had discovered two planets that seemed ideal to the BoD. The first planet, Astarte, was a virtual paradise, while the second planet, Siberia, was rich in mineral resources. The best thing about these planets was that while they were in star systems, the systems were located an average of 10,000 light years from any other inhabited planet! The Asylum immediately made plans to colonize these two new worlds when someone realized that there would be certain 'difficulties' if the Asylum was spread over such a vast region of space, namely that communication and transport of supplies would be very time consuming to say the least, not to mention the cost in population and materials was enormous. It was then agreed to put expansion off until these problems could be solved.

For the next twenty years the Asylum prospered under it's new operating procedure, advances were made in all areas of science from physics to chemistry, medicine to psychology, etc. In Physics the Asylum discovered that the phenomenon that allowed CG drive to create the 'worm' maneuver could be harnessed to produce a semi-permanent wormhole between two known points! In chemistry new alloys were developed that were stronger and lighter then previous MDC alloys as well as having special properties! In medicine major advances were made in the fields of cloning, cybernetics, bionics, and disease control! Cloning reached the point that entire individuals could be cloned and then 'fast grown' to maturity. The Cybernetics and Bionics fields developed smaller stronger components as well as new implants and body styles! The field of Psychology had made one of the most important discoveries, it turns out that for a small portion (about 2%) of the those individuals who are insane due to a natural chemical imbalance that the MOM conversion actually was an asset and allowed those individuals to be lucid for the first time in their lives!

With all of these new advances the BoD decided that it was time to expand to the planets Astarte and Siberia. The 'space tunnels' were established between the three Asylum planets and allowed for the nearly instantaneous transport of equipment, people, and supplies from each planet to another. Cloning plants were set up on the other planets and the populations on these planets quickly rose and within ten years the Asylum world's had a combined population of nearly three billion sentiants! Because of the Asylum's view on racism clones have full citizenship rights and are indistinguishable from the 'natural' born members of the Asylum. At around this time the BoD was revamped to accommodate all of the changes in Asylum Society. The Asylum has existed in this state with an ever increasing level of technology for nearly one hundred years now and they show no signs of slowing.

Government
The Asylum Government is an elected body known simply as the Board. The Board is made up of 18 members in addition to two co-chairpersons who are elected by the board. The Board members are broken down as follows;

- 2 Co-Chairpersons
- 2 Civil Services
- 2 Asylum Armed Forces
- 2 Marauders
- 2 Medical Community
- 2 Scientific Community
- 2 Intelligence Community
- 2 Representatives for Asylum
- 2 Representatives for Astarte
- 2 Representatives for Siberia

This is the current organization of the Asylum. Note that due to the advanced medical treatment available to the Asylum that the Kydian and Kittani are still alive and have held the positions of Co-Chairpersons for the last 200 years! When a tie occurs in the Board it is handled literally by a coin toss deciding which way to go however, the Board is very careful not to make this practice public.

The Asylum laws give all people equal rights regardless of race or gender. The responsibility of this freedom is that every adult member of the Asylum is required to vote in all elections or be subject to a 2000 credit fine. The only acceptable excuses for not voting are combat, or being moved to one of the branch offices.

The Board runs the Asylum much like a business and tend to be very practical however, they still realize that new technology does not get developed unless they are willing to take risks in developing it.

As a matter of good public relations the Asylum makes it a point to make substantial donations to worthy organizations throughout the Three Galaxies. These are usually cash donations, and are Anonymous. The Asylum also tries to assist where it can in disaster relief as well. It often becomes difficult to balance the need for secrecy with the need to help those who need it. On the other hand these activities have provided many opportunities to recruit new members into the Asylum.

The Asylum member planets each have two representatives to the Board and the Capitol or Headquarters is located on Asylum. Each planet is in charge of conducting local affairs but, the Board has the right to step in and change local policy if they so deem it necessary to provide equality for all. While the Cosmo-Knight does not have any official standing in the board he is always welcome to attend and provide his input.

Society
The members of the Asylum all believe in the fundamental right to freedom, and consider slavery and racism to be evils without parallel. The members of the Asylum also believe in technology and that the pursuit of knowledge is the most dignified of lifestyles.

The Asylum society is a fairly open one with a free press and a democratic government. Many individuals who are new to the Asylum have some difficulty adjusting to the nearly unparalleled freedoms that are available in the Asylum. The citizens have taken to calling themselves inmates over the last couple of years, this is an inside joke reflecting how most of the rest of the Three Galaxies would view their society if they knew about it.

For the most part since the Asylum is made up of hundreds of races the culture is vastly different then any where else in the Three Galaxies. The Asylum is not in any way pacifistic, they will attack or defend against pirates, evil creatures, the Splugorth, Transgalactic Empire, the Consortium, and the United Worlds of Warlock, etc. This does not mean that the Asylum is stupid or racist for the Asylum will only attack if the person they are attacking is obviously in the wrong. For example, it a TE ship was engaged in a peaceful operation then the Asylum would not harass them however if a CCW ship was engaged in an act of terrorism or blatant act of racism/genocide then the Asylum would attack them will all of the power it could muster.

It is also worth saying again that the Asylum has very little internal tensions due to race, or class differences. The reduced tensions due to race was one of the primary reasons that the Asylum was formed but, they will also accept social outcasts for whatever reason and will try to rehabilitate those who are insane. If for some reason these individuals cannot be rehabilitated then they are usually placed in hospitals or, in very rare cases are executed. The reduced tensions due to class is in part due to that there is very little in the way of a class structure and what does exist is very fluid allowing movement in all directions. This reduced tension is also due to the common realization that everyone is important to the success of the Asylum.

The people of the Asylum look upon psionics as 'gifts' and that the people who have them are privileged. While psionics are not feared, they are not honored or studied to the extent of other civilizations. However the value of these individuals is not lost to either the ASF, AIA, or the AAF. In fact these organizations have special training areas for potential psychics, these 'special teams' are often led by or trained by members of the Noro. Basically the Asylum overall does not care one way or the other about psionics so, while those that have psionics are not shunned, the abilities that they have are not coveted.

Traditionally the Asylum has shied away from magic as an avenue of research and study preferring to rely on equally (if not more) powerful items of technology. Recently this thinking has changed with the development of 'Techno-Wizardry' in some areas of the Three Galaxies. About twenty years ago the Board started a secret committee to study the implications of TW and how it could effect the Asylum. The committee then began a four year study of TW and it's applications. In the final report to the BoD the committee recommended the formation of a special task force to begin the continued exploration into this formidable new area of science. Thus the Asylum Techno- Wizardry Board (ATWB) was brought into existence. In the last fifteen years the ATWB has expanded to over two thousand members! The overall level of ability of the ATWB is low (2-3 level average) but, when the special talents of the ATWB are combined with the advanced technology of the Asylum the results can be truly impressive. There is still a strong anti-magic bias in the Asylum overall and only time will tell if the ATWB is a short lived 'fad' or the birth of a new power within the Asylum.

Technology and Education
The Asylum maintains a literacy rate of nearly 99%, and a majority of the population (80%) has completed either a formal degree or a some sort of formal education in a career.

The Asylum publicly (through it's branch offices) maintains a level of technology that is roughly equivalent if not a little different to the rest of the Three Galaxies. Privately and through the Marauders the Asylum maintains a level of technology that is far superior to the rest of the Three Galaxies and can only be matched societies that existed long before them, or that specialized in very specific areas of technology.

Asylum Medical technologies are the among the most advanced in the Three Galaxies capable of all methods of augmentation including Juicer, Crazy and cyborg conversion. The medical technology is also capable of creating mutants, and clones. Theirs mastery of genetics is such that they can create clones or mutants with enhanced abilities/or focus on specific abilities! The life expectancy of an Inmate is usually about triple that of their race! As flesh and blood bodies age and wear out new bodies can be cloned and used to replace the failing bodies! For the most part people have no problems with this practice although some voices are being raised in protest to this practice. However, as long as the Asylum does not begin producing clones to use as cannon fodder then most people will not see a problem with continuing this practice.

The advanced technology of the Asylum has not been limited to the technical, medical, and military fields instead all members of the Asylum are able to enjoy the benefits of advanced technology. The Asylum has created a holographic system capable of providing a three dimensional virtual reality environment (TDVRE). The TDVRE has become a popular means of entertainment, as it allows the individual to participate actively in a fantastic environment. Amusement parks are also popular with clowns, bots, and rides. The Asylum also makes use of 'gravity slides' in place of moving sidewalks, and escalators. Few if any people in the Asylum worlds have to deal with physical limitations such as blindness, deafness, or paralysis because, prosthetics and bio-systems are extremely affordable when purchased for medical reasons. Hover cars and cycles make up 90% of civilian transportation with the remaining 10% being filled by more 'primitive' wheeled systems or beasts of burden. The use of exoskeletons is common place particularly in construction and salvage applications.

Military technology is by far the most advanced of all of the fields. Asylum alloys are typically lighter and stronger then anywhere else in the Three Galaxies. Additionally they can be modified to enhance certain traits such as strength, conductivity, flexibility, etc. Most military minds in the Asylum agree that the most powerful advantage they enjoy over their opponents is the modular and standardized nature of the Asylum weapon systems. This modular design policy has been a blessing and at the same time a curse. A blessing because it allows unparalleled tactical freedom, and reduces turn around time for repairs by about 60% in most cases. It has been a curse in that due to the nature of the modular systems any new technologies must be adapted to fit into the existing system or the existing systems must on rare occasion be redesigned to accept the new technology either way this often causes delays in getting new technology to the battle field. This technology allows Asylum equipment to be customized to fulfill a specific job or mission specification. i.e. the power armor unit that was artillery support yesterday was a front line assault unit this morning, and is now functioning as a submersible unit. This modular design philosophy combined with the advanced technology of the Asylum has led to some impressive victories by both the AAF, and the Marauders.

Enemies and Allies
The Asylum has few allies due to their reclusive attitude and secretive nature. The only true ally that the Asylum has is the Cosmo-Knight that saved the founders so many years ago. While there are many other groups in the Three Galaxies that would be willing allies of the Asylum, the need for secrecy overrides any benefits that would be gained from such an alliance.

The Asylum has many enemies although few of them know who or what the Asylum is. The three primary enemies in the eyes of the Asylum are the Splugorth, the Transgalactic Empire, and Naruni Enterprises however, Asylum craft or individuals will not hesitate to attack harass ships belonging to other groups if they are known to promote oppression, slavery, or committed some crime against all sentients. Primarily the vessels or troops of the Asylum will appear out of nowhere make one or two devastating attacks and then vanish as if they were never there.

Asylum ships regularly harass the ships of the Transgalactic Empire, and of the Splugorth. These raids primarily target slave barges, or military supply convoys however, on at least one occasion Asylum ships have engaged with a full military transport convoy. The AAF along with the ASF have been known to conduct offensive raids deep into the controlled territories of both the Splugorth, and the Transgalactic Empire. In all cases the Transgalactic Empire and the Splugorth were soundly defeated. Both cultures have offered huge bounties on the unknown 'aliens' and try, without success to capture or follow the ships of the ASF.

Naruni Enterprises is considered to be an enemy of the Asylum because of its 'merger' offer of many years before. In fact Naruni ships are rarely harassed by Asylum ships and only when the Naruni ships are transporting slaves. This has caused many people to believe that Naruni Enterprises is backing the strange alien ships in an effort to weaken it's competition. Naruni Enterprises takes pleasure in seeing it's competition suffer so much at the hands of this unknown force while at the same time wanting to kill those responsible for the raids so that they can get both revenge and their hands on the new technology. Naruni also believes that there might be some sort of connection between the Asylum and these aliens they have thus far been unable to prove it. In fact, NE hired a large mercenary force to attack an Asylum branch office in hopes of the Asylum either using the alien technology to defend themselves or calling the aliens to defend them. Neither happened, the Enforcers and Techno-Freaks were able to break the mercenary force that NE had hired using common weapons (including Naruni weapons) and tactics. Needless to say the Asylum has Naruni Enterprises running around chasing their tail.

The truth of the matter is that the Asylum Intelligence Agency (AIA) realized that the threat posed by Naruni was not so much one of military might as one of subterfuge and trickery. As such the AIA adopted a policy of observation as opposed to intervention because of this, Asylum ships have been able to successfully avoid Naruni traps, and lose Naruni 'tails'. It was this intelligence network that was able to identify and forewarn the Asylum branch office that was attacked and repelled the Naruni attack so successfully, in fact, that particular was issued a number of Naruni equipment to repel the attack with for the value of irony alone! The Asylum's primary goal with regard to Naruni Enterprises is to avoid a 'merger' and will go to virtually any length to keep the advanced Asylum technology out of the transdimensional weapon dealers hands.

The Asylum is very concerned about the threat posed by the Intruders and is doing what they can to capture and study the Intruders technology. In fact, the Asylum launched an exploratory fleet about six months ago to explore the nearest galaxy, only time will tell what the results of this expedition will be.

Planets of the Asylum
Asylum:

The planet Asylum is a lone planet that exists in the vast emptiness of space between the Corkscrew and Thundercloud Galaxies. This planet does not orbit a star and is perpetually cold and dark. It also has and unusual dual gravity field that no one can explain but, that requires a minimum of two CG drives to overcome. This was the first of the three Asylum 'homeworlds' and is the home of the government and Asylum Armed Forces. There are four orbital stations in orbit around Asylum, the first is the ship yard, the second is the Navel base, the third is the processing center, and the forth is the space tunnel that connects Asylum to it's other two planets.

Astarte:

This planet was the first planet colonized after the BoD gave the colonization directive. This planet is a virtual paradise and is used for recreation and agriculture. Astarte is divided into two equal halves, the first half serves as the agricultural center of the Asylum and is the primary source of fresh foodstuffs for the other two planets. The second half of the planet is divided up and organized in a manner similar to that of the Paradise worlds. This is basically the only vacation spot for those who live and work for the Asylum so all work hard to make this a pleasurable and safe place for all. Astarte has three orbital facilities, the first is for recreational purposes, the second is an orbital repair facility capable of doing minor repairs (including replacement of CG drives), and the third and last station is Astarte's space tunnel connecting them with the other Asylum worlds.

Siberia:

This planet was colonized specifically to provide raw materials for the Asylum and to become a primary manufacturing facility. Siberia is rich in natural resources of all kinds, specifically oils, gas, and minerals. The planet is also the home to a variety of animal life and strange vegetation. Due to the heavy industry of the planet most of the harmless native population was moved to Astarte and allowed to roam freely in the new environment. The dangerous animals were either killed wholesale or moved to another habitable planet. The destruction of these animals lead to such a public outcry that the Board ordered the ASC (Asylum Scientific Community) to try to recover the destroyed species using advanced cloning techniques. Siberia's output is manufactured in automated facilities and controlled by roughly fifty million sentiants. The planet also has three orbital ship yards and a space tunnel connecting it to the other Asylum planets.

By The Laughing Lunatic