A relatively small star nation, the Caramelles Star Kingdom is comprised of six inhabited star systems within a few dozen light years of each other. There are a number of minor outposts as well and a bit of mining industry in unsettled systems without potentially terraformable planets. The systems are ruled by a more or less hereditary royalty and nobility. Both the royalty and nobility are psychic, allowing them to keep the common person under their control. Somehow the royalty has been able to hold onto power against the nobility even though there has been a civil wars, assassination attempts, and a war against an alien race.

With the exception of a single planet taken over later, the entire population is human and extremely xenophobic. The first system has been settled for several hundred years with the original settlers all came from the Human Alliance in an effort to escape from what was seen as the dangers of interacting so closely with alien cultures especially the psychic Noro. It is an interesting twist that the society is ruled by psychics. Since then, the Caramelles Star Kingdom has been steadily growing. At present, it appears as if the Kingdom has run out of systems not already settled and any expansion will run it into conflict with those around them.

The royal family has so far been able to keep control of the Star Kingdom but there are many problems simmering below the surface. While education as well as telepathic control has managed to control the discontentment of the masses of the society, many of the nobles are far more ambitious. Being psychics themselves, they cannot be controlled in the same manner. As one might expect, many of them would like to see themselves on the throne.

The system of Telramund chaffs under the Kingdom's iron hand. Their spirit has not been broken and the population would likely rebel against the nobles over them if given the chance. They operate in tiny cells so that the nobility cannot use telepathy to find out just how large the disaffected are. The nobles who rule the planet think that potential rebellion is fairly small.

Background:

Several hundred years ago, the Human Alliance met the Noro, a race of telepathic aliens. Instead of going to war, the two races came to an agreement. Soon afterwards, the Kreeghor appeared on the scene and the Humans and Noro fought a brutal war for survival against them. As a result of this combined effort to beat back the Kreeghor, the two races joined together and became the Consortium of Civilized Worlds. The Wolfen soon joined the Consortium as well.

There were those in the Human Alliance who were extremely xenophobic towards these other races. That the Noro were telepathic made them even more scary. Most buckled down under the new order but others refused. A number of government leaders and military members also felt threatened by the new order as well. There was also a number of psychics who felt threatened by the Noro. Some of these were in military intelligence and felt that the intelligence services would be taken over by the alien race.

Eventually a number of those dissatisfied with the alliance with the Noro and others decided to mount an expedition to colonize a world outside of Consortium settled space. There was a cluster of promising systems, a few dozen with inhabitable worlds. It was far enough away from Human Alliance / Consortium space that it would be many decades and possibly centuries before they expanded to this area of the galaxy.

Several million colonists departed Human Alliance space for one of the most promising of the planets within this area of space. A surveying expedition had gone out several years before. Far from a "shoe string" expedition, the colonists were well funded and was quite diverse. Not all were all that concerned about the alien menace, a fair number of highly educated and skilled were part of the colony effort. Many were interested in a new world to conquer. The core though were much more xenophobic and had little in the way of advanced skills.

From the beginning, the colony effort had a small fleet of older warships to protect them. This included a pair of Boadicea class cruisers, several Chevalier class escort cruisers, and over a dozen Falchion class corvettes. The ships had been declared surplus by the Human Alliance and almost given to the colony. The leadership in the Human Alliance did not want the people of the expedition to find themselves without means of defending themselves. Disaffected military crews formed the core crew of these vessels. Many had resigned due to the concern that warships would be integrated with crews of both humans and aliens.

The first planet settled was a nice lush planet that was able to be settled without much in the way of terraforming. Everything went extremely well at first the planet was so inviting that it attracted more settlers. Calling itself the Caramelles Republic, the government formed along similar lines to several planets within the Human Alliance with a prime minister instead of a president. In spite of the xenophobia, relations remained surprisingly cordial between the Caramelles Republic and the Human Alliance.

This Republic was to last less than a decade. There were several bad harvests, prices rose astronomically, and there was rioting due to food shortages. It is believed by many researchers that the crops failed due to a native "bug" adapting to the human crops. The Caramelles Republic had been negotiating with the Human Alliance to help with the food shortfalls and seemed on the verge of making an agreement with the Human Alliance which would have elevated thge problem.

A fusion bomb ended all of this however. The bomb took out virtually the entire leadership of the fledgling Republic and demolished a large fraction of the capital city. In order to quell the violence, martial law was declared. The person who took over was a female general named Catherine Danver. Originally a Human Alliance Colonel in military intelligence, she was also an incredibly powerful psychic. She was able to get control of the situation although not without incredible bloodshed. The perpetrators were caught and put to death. There is some speculation by researchers outside the kingdom that the whole situation was a plot by former members of military intelligence but nothing has ever been conclusively proven.

After the situation was settled, she refused to reform the republic. Declaring that the republic could not protect the people, she instead declared herself queen and changed the Caramelles Republic to the Caramelles Kingdom. History in the Kingdom knows her as Queen Catherine I. The Kingdom's history paints her as caring about the common person but scholars outside the kingdom paint her as mostly interested in a naked power grab. She also appears to have had no scruples on how she would use her psychic talents.

Fear of psychics had been one of the driving forces which had caused the Caramelles Republic to be settled and now psychics would control the Caramelles Kingdom. If you were psychic, you became the new nobility of the Caramelles Kingdom. Your station depended much on just how powerful a psychic you were. The former military intelligence psychics who supported her were the first to be elevated to nobility and the civilian psychics were given titles as they fell in line behind her. Those who did not fall in line were eliminated although a handful did escape the Kingdom. Her own unscrupulous use of psychic abilities soon rubbed off on the nobility. Her most trusted allies, all powerful psychics as well, were given the title of Duke or Duchess. They were put in charge of various industries or vast swaths of land. Queen Catherine I did have a talent for putting the most skilled in positions where they would be the most useful

The Queen died of a heart attack when she was only sixty-three years old, having ruled for slightly more than a decade. There was an attempt to reform the Republic with her death but her oldest son, also an extremely powerful psychic, took the throne before there was any real hope. It is almost impossible to formulate a rebellion with the rulers unscrupulously reading people's minds. A number lost their head in the uprising but the violence was short lived. Even before his mother died, he had been groomed to take over and he was declared Prince by her.

As King Adrian, he proved just as capable and ruthless as his mother. She had not made any massive changes to the actual day to day life of the people. He restricted advanced medical treatments to the slowly forming psychic nobility so that the population would be short lived. This would later be followed when anti-aging drugs became available. These too would be restricted to the nobility only. In addition, he made massive changes in the education system. Every attempt was made to keep up with math and technical skills but teaching in critical thinking and areas involving imagination were eliminate. At the same time, the teaching of history became highly selective and people were taught to fear those outside the Kingdom. As one might expect, nobles were taught a much broader range of knowledge.

Since the settling of the planet, the population was encouraged to have huge families. This had started in the Republic and was continued in the Kingdom. Birth control had actually been banned under the Kingdom to further foster growth. It was under him that the Kingdom spread to its second star system. Princess Anne, his sister, was given possession of the system, known as Bellestar. Only about a dozen light years away, it was not quite as nice as Cardener Prime but still quite habitable. Anne was a powerful psychic although not a top tier like her brother was.

When King Adrian died after about thirty years on the throne, it looked like everything would unravel. By this time, almost everybody who might have been able to reform the Republic had died. The problem was that his eldest child, a daughter, whom later became known as Isabella the weak, simply did not have what it took to be queen. She was only a minor psychic as well. A number of nobles decided that they would be better ruling the Kingdom. Soon Isabella was deposed and there was jockeying for power among the various nobles of the kingdom.

Princess Anne though was determined that things would not continue to stand this way. The ones who had fought over the crown had ignored the fleet and she was able to bring them over to her side. Controlling the high orbitals, the fleet was able to force the surrender of Cardener Prime. Princess Anne became Queen Anne and took her older brother's throne. Avenging the death of her niece, Queen Anne out the nobles responsible to death. The planet of Bellestar was given to her most trusted ally, Duchess Maria Masters, and was raised to the status of Archduchess. She had been in command of the fleet which retook the capital planet. Also, before this, the army was considered senior to the navy but the admiralty was given ascendancy at this point.

Queen Anne was not much younger than her brother had been when he died and she did not want another civil war when she died. None of Queen Anne's children were up to the task of being ruler of the Star Kingdom. The Queen came up with a novel solution though. She married her oldest son off to a ambitious and skilled noble who was also an incredibly powerful psychic, the Countess Joanna Bartlett. The Countess had not joined in those who rebelled against the monarch but she was known to be extremely ambitious. This solved the problem of one of the nobles most likely to start a revolt and put someone incredibly skilled on the throne.

The Queen had chosen well and there was little tension when she died after a little over five years on the throne. While ruthless in her own way, she had not been as ruthless as her mother and brother. In other areas, her abilities were not quite the equal of them either. Queen Joanna was far more decisive and ruthless than her mother-in-law. Under her rule, the system of Aldover became the third system of the kingdom settled. The expansion allowed her to mostly placate a number of ambitious nobles whom might otherwise create problems. She made sure that one of her most loyal noble took the position of Archduke of Aldover and watched over those likely to rebel against her in the future.

Her biggest concern though was the future of the throne. She knew that it was only a matter of time until another incompetent or weak took the throne and she needed a solution to the problem. She also wanted the royal family to be the most powerful psychics in the kingdom. What she came up with is was two fold. The first was that there would be a test for fitness to inherit the throne, testing intelligence, mental stability, and psychic ability. If the first child did not pass the various tests, the throne would be passed to a younger child. Other noble families also soon adopted this same system.

The second solution was far more controversial and it was kept secret until long after her death. This solution was some careful engineering of the royal family. Scientists were brought in from outside the Kingdom to help genetically engineer her children. The engineering was done on her and her husband's basic genetic stock so that it could be said that they were still of the royal family's bloodline. They were engineered for high intelligence, charisma, mental strength. As well, powerful psychic talents were stabilized in the family line.

By this time, the officer core of both the Army and Navy had become stratified. Since Queen Catherine I, officer ranks were limited to the psychic nobility. At first though a lesser noble might be able to climb to the highest positions within the military. This had changed by degrees until by Queen Joanna's time, the higher military ranks were limited to the higher ranks of nobles. As might be expected, this created a huge amount of tension with the officer ranks. Queen Joanna had been one of the first of the royal family to start taking anti-aging drugs. It is quite likely that she might have ruled for over a century but was assassinated. One of the lesser nobles, unable to be promoted within the fleet, became obsessed with killing her.

Her oldest son was only twenty when the Queen was murdered after about thirty years on the throne. She had been on the throne sometime before she had decided to start the royal lineage. While he had passed the vast new testing required of the future ruler of the kingdom, he was considered very young to be the King of the Star Kingdom. As a result, Prince Reuben was forced to accept a council of nobles in order to take the throne and avoid a potential civil war. Of course once the council had their hands on power, they were extremely loathe to release their grasp on it. Since the reign of King Reuben there has been a continuous struggle between the council and the monarchs of the Star Kingdom.

Near the Caramelles Kingdom was the star system of Telramund. When Cardener Prime was first settled, none of the other systems nearby had been settled but now many had been settled and the Caramelles Kingdom was beginning to become boxed in. While the system of Telramund had been settled long after the Kingdom, it was growing rapidly and was surprisingly powerful for a single system entity. The new council began eying it with an idea of potential conquest. Through various channels, the fleet of the Caramelles Kingdom managed to acquire a large number of cast off Human Alliance warships and had continued to grow. It had become one of the larger fleets outside of major powers. The council and most of the senior fleet officers thought that the Kingdom could walk over the forces of the Telramund system. The system only had a relative modest self defense force although was surprisingly well trained and their ships were far more modern than those of the Kingdom.

It was a simple naked power grab and the Kingdom offered not even an excuse for its attack against the system. The fight was short but extremely bloody. Vastly outnumbered, the self defense forces managed to inflict over forty percent loss of forces against the Caramelles Kingdom's forces before the greater fleet size of the kingdom navy triumphed. It is unknown if the kingdom's fleet would have even won if not for the iron hand of the senior admiral, Duke Leone Foche. He was made the Archduke of the Telramund system after the dust had settled for his victory.

The system did much to inject more advanced technology into the Star Kingdom. There were problems as well. The system had been primarily settled by humans but there was a minority non human population. Until this time, there were absolutely no alien sentient species within the Star Kingdom. There was a brutal effort towards controlling the population of the Telramund system with the non humans under the most brutal of all yokes. There has been no wide scale genocide of the non humans but were considered virtual slaves. An effort has been made to eliminate any non humans who are psychic however. The whole situation is sad because these species contributed much to the technological advancement of the Kingdom.

At the same time, the technological inferiority of the ships of the Star Kingdom became a concern. Relations between the Consortium and the Kingdom were poor at best and there was little ability to acquire advanced warship classes from the sprawling Consortium. The naked power grab of the Telramund system had made the situation even worse. The old warships that made up their fleet had to be acquired through third parties as it was and many were not in the best shape. This became the impetus for the Kingdom to begin their own ship building industry. It took a long time to gear up military industries, not having access to the larger scale production equipment that a Consortium member might have access to. Skilled engineers from outside the Star Kingdom also had little interest in emigrating to the Kingdom and the education was such that innovation was a long lost art in the masses by this time. These all are reasons why New Coventry, for example, could grow their ship building industries so rapidly. New Coventry also concentrated on capital ships while simply purchasing and upgrading destroyers. Caramelles Kingdom started production with destroyer classes.

King Reuben ruled for a total of just over seventy years, outlasting all of the previous monarchs combined. Over his reign, he continued to fight for control against the council of nobles. The population continued to grow at a prestigious rate and there was seen a need to continue expanding. Near the end of reign, a fifth system was added to the Star Kingdom. The system of el Foix was a bit more marginally than the other systems which had so far been expanded into. It also had previously attracted little interest as far as settlement. One area where acquisition of the Telramund system had given the Kingdom new technology was in the area of terraforming which is what enabled colonization of the planet. During King Reuben's reign, anti-aging drugs became increasingly common among the noble families. The subjects of the Kingdom have among the shortest life spans of advanced cultures within the Three Galaxies. Now, the life space of the nobles might potentially be measured in centuries. Previously, nobles had much longer potential life spans but many times that of their subjects.

The King died in what is believed to be an accident although members of the royal family do tend to live suspiciously short life spans. The official cause of death is a shuttle crash. There was a careful examination of the shuttle and there appears to have been no sign of sabotage. There are dark rumors but there always are such rumors. His daughter was over forty when she took the throne although due to anti-aging drugs looked barely twenty years old. Princess Catherine, later Queen Catherine II, was a product of genetic engineering just like her father. He had been a powerful psychic although she appears to have been even more powerful. She actually was not his first born but his second born. His first child failed the tests for the throne including being a relatively weak psychic. It was initially hard to engineer reliably for psychic talents. Queen Catherine II was a master in the use of her talents, using them to uncover several plots against the crown and enabled her to mostly wrestle control back from the council of nobles.

She continued the ship building campaign started under her father expanding the industry to capital ships including cruisers and carriers. It would only be later that the Kingdom would begin constructing dreadnaughts. To further subsidize the military industry, the Kingdom began selling warships to outside the Kingdom. With the population of the Kingdom continuing to grow, there was a continued need to expand. With the takeover of the Telramund system, many of the Kingdom's neighbors had begun their own military expansion as well forcing the Kingdom to further expand their own military buildup.

One of the neighboring powers, in this case one of a non humans known as the "Ts'Gal," had expanded into a system close to the Kingdom. They also began sending patrols deep into Caramelles Kingdom territories including actually entering the inhabited systems themselves. These alarmed many within the Kingdom. A war soon broke out but unlike with the Telramund system, the aliens were soon defeated. Unfortunately for the Ts'Gal, the war was over too fast for any of the other systems around the Caramelles Kingdom to join against the Kingdom. The Ts'Gal quickly evacuated the planet and the Kingdom annexed it and continued terraforming it from the aliens. This made the last system annexed by the Kingdom. This system was renamed Sabadell and colonists were sent to settle the planet.

Her rule was almost as long as her father, just under seventy years. About one hundred and ten in actual age, she was only about equal to an age of around forty-five before the introduction of anti-aging drugs. She should have lived for up to another couple of hundred years potentially. It is reported that she caught an alien wasting disease however. One of her ambassadors came back from negotiating the sale of several destroyers to a Fringe World and came back with the disease. For some reason, the queen was especially susceptible to it. There are some advanced treatments for the disease in the Consortium of Civilized Worlds but what she had was realized too late. As one might expect,some have suggested that it was actually poisoning as well.

Just like her elder sister, her oldest son was unable to pass the tests to inherit the throne. He always seemed most interested in his own pleasures and he was not a very strong psychic. Instead, the Princess Elena inherited the throne. The second daughter is both ruthless and an incredibly powerful psychic. Her older brother and several other family members have died in quiet accidents since she took the throne. Speculation was that she was concerned about ambitious nobles using one of them as a figurehead on the throne while they could control the Kingdom.

Queen Elena took the throne when she was only a bit over thirty and has so far been on the throne for about a twenty years. Queen Catherine II had only decided to have more children after she had seen how her eldest son was turning out. Since taking the throne, Queen Elena has been sparring with the noble council for control. They saw the death of her mother as a chance to regain lost ground. They figured that as young as she was, they would have an easier time. Unfortunately for them, she is cut from the same cloth as her mother and have gained little ground. There have already been several attempts on her life.

Population:

Except for the Telramund system, the population of the Caramelles Kingdom is completely human. The population is extremely xenophobic in general. Even the Telramund system is 85% human in composition (Originally it was only about 60% human.) The original human population of the Telramund system is far less xenophobic although nobility ruling the system brutally repress the non humans. Even human appearing races are repressed, possibly even more so that they don't get the idea that they are actually human.

The population of the Star Kingdom has grown about a hundred fold since Cardener Prime was first settled with several million colonists. The population has always been encouraged to have large families although nobles far less so. The reason for this the large families is simple. There were concerns that other races would eventually dominate humans. With the Kingdom running out of systems to expand to, this was become unviable. There is almost no immigration into the Star Kingdom and the Kingdom also does not allow emigration from the kingdom.

All nobles are at least of the lesser psychic category with a large fraction being major psychics and even of master psychic classes. Generally, the higher levels of nobility have a much higher numbers of powerful psychics and the highest levels being almost exclusively major or master psychics.

The royal family has received genetic engineering for the last couple of generation. In many ways this goes against the ideals of "Pure Human." There has been some intermarrying between the royal family and other noble families. The descendants of these marriages carry some of what has been fixed in the royal bloodline. It is unknown how much this might spread in the far future to nobles generally. They have an even high rate of master psychics. As well, most have the traits of Indomitable Will and Exceptionally Charismatic (From Rifts: Lone Star)

Economics & Demographics:

The economy of the Caramelles Star Kingdom is mostly controlled from the top down with little in the way of small business. Small business is mostly limited to small shops. Taxes are generally extremely high for the population although food is mostly subsidized so that there is no starvation although there is definite hardship.

Each area tends to be under the control of specific nobles at the middle levels. One noble house might be heavy into trade while another might control a large industrial complex. Another might have medicine as their chief area of expertise. These various expertise are combined under greater nobles.

Agriculture: Since the original problems with agriculture which resulted in the original Republic falling, there have been few problems with agriculture. Some of the planets, when first settled, had some problems but most properly terraformed, the planets grown with some to spare. Some of this is exported.

Industry: While fairly advanced for "Fringe Worlds," The technology of the Caramelles Kingdom is behind that of the Consortium. Some estimates put it as almost a century behind although much closer in other areas. Their industry is better at larger scale technology than smaller scale technology.

Virtually all industry is controlled by the more powerful nobles families with the royal family having hands in most of it as well. There is a larger orbital industry and asteroid mining. There is ship building, both warships and merchant designs. Both are used internally within the Star Kingdom and exported outside of the Kingdom.

Trade: There is some limited trade outside of the Star Kingdom. This included agriculture and a variety of military hardware. A strong effort has also been made to acquire advanced technology from outside the Kingdom. The Kingdom merchant fleet only operates within the Kingdom itself. This included cargo transfer from station to planet, in-system trade, and trade between systems of the Kingdom.

External trade with the Kingdom is carried on independent hulls (pure human crews) and there is strong concern with contact with others. The crew of these vessels are not allowed off their ship except for cargo transfer (all of this is performed on trading stations), no commoners are allowed aboard the vessel, and all contact is carefully monitored. As well, such vessels are carefully inspected for contraband and to make sure that they don't try to smuggle people from the kingdom either. If caught, the ship will be ejected from Kingdom space and the ship will be further banned from trading with the system. If the company involved shows a history of any type of smuggling, the whole company may be banned from trade with the Kingdom.

Costing almost as much to purchase as it costs to build one of their destroyers, they have managed to acquire a number of upgraded Falchion class corvettes. These light ships, in addition to scouting for the battle fleet, do much of the customs work of the Kingdom. A small number of more advanced fighters have also been acquired from outside the Kingdom.

Medicine: Medicine is highly limited for the general population and life spans are far shorter on average than they are in places like the Consortium. Medicine is generally not much better than it was for Earth in the early Twenty-First Century. Medicine is also mostly concentrated on those who are still productive members of society. Those who are no longer considered productive, such as the elderly, are usually allowed to die. The population has generally been encouraged to have large families although there is concern about this due to running out of space for expansion. Medicine in prenatal care is more advance than in some areas as a result. There is virtually no birth control available to the lower class and it is technically illegal. The exception being females in military service. Women in military service must use birth control at all times. There is some consideration that birth control might need to be made legal for civilians and introduced to the population.

Medicine is far more advanced for nobles and birth control is readily available (and legal) for nobles. Nobles have about as good medicine as is offered anywhere in the Three Galaxies. Some of the most cutting edge procedures or drugs may not be available but all else is available. This includes anti-aging drugs although these have only become widespread in nobility in the last century or so. Genetic engineering is not available to the noble families and is only available to the royal family although some of the traits have breed true in marriages between those of noble and royal blood. The genetic engineering in the royal family is done by doctors outside of the Star Kingdom.

Education: Education is carefully controlled for the lower classes. Even so, there is almost universal literacy. Math, industry skills, and other areas which are seen as benefitting society are stressed in education. Areas such as critical thinking and imagination are repressed. Higher education such as engineering and medicine is a boiler plate type education with no room for improvisation. The education also contains a heavy element of indoctrination to help control the populous. This includes the acceptance of their place in society. From an early age, the children are taught the evils of the aliens surrounding them and how they are out to get them. The history of the Kingdom and the Three Galaxies is also carefully controlled and is only taught even so in the simplest terms. The education is such that there is little technical / scientific advancement within the society itself.

Education for nobles is more independent and more rigorous. History is far more completed and elements of critical thinking and imagination are not as repressed. Still, they are not expressed as fully as they are outside of the Caramelles Kingdom. They are given a much more complete knowledge of the Galaxy around the Kingdom and the general history of the Kingdom. There are still some censorship in these areas. The actual engineers and doctors come from the noble families. Noble doctors only treat other nobles, not the regular population of the Kingdom, although they down pass down what medical treatments are allowed in the lower classes. As small number of the best and brightest of the nobles have been sent outside of the Kingdom for education. Mostly from the families most trusted by the royal line and many royal themselves, this has been a mixed blessing / curse. It does bring in new concepts to the Star Kingdom. The problem is that many have decided that they did not want to return to the Kingdom while others have chaffed once their returned.

Media: Media is completely controlled by the royal family and nobility. No media from outside of the Kingdom is allowed. Media is used for two roles. One is to keep the population content for the most part with various forms of mindless entertainment. A second is to reinforce that the aliens outside of the Kingdom are out to get the people of the kingdoms. The nobilities and royalty is show as stalwart defenders protecting them from the aliens around them.

Society of Caramelles Kingdom:

Surprisingly, while there is incredibly strong xenophobia, there is very little in the way of sexual bias. Of course, there is some selection bias in some areas because of the drive to have as large families as possible. Still, women do serve in the military and other roles. The way that it is often stated is that many other societies like to make men and women the same but the kingdom likes to stress their differences. There is no particular concerns about sexual preferences.

Some nobility treat their subjects relatively decently while others treat their subjects quite cruelly. The system is designed to keep the common person from any real power. That the nobility have psychic talents while the common person have none furthers this situation.

Social Structure: The society is dividing into two groups, the citizenry and the nobility. Percentage of the nobility is less than three percent of the population with those with any real power being far smaller than that..

Citizenry: The "masses" or "citizens" are given a fairly limited education and are expected to work and respect the nobility. These make up over ninety-seven percent of the population of the Kingdom. With advanced technology, a vast majority is not tied to the land but their lives are otherwise controlled. Joining the military is voluntary (There is the draft / conscription in times of war) but otherwise jobs are selected for the masses based on their abilities. To keep the masses happy, the nobility will generally not break up couples and allow families to keep in touch with each other. Travel by the citizens is allowed on planet for the most part but travel off planet is only at the discretion of the nobility.

There is a small number of small businesses which are run by non nobles although taxes, which are already high, are even higher on them. They are also only allowed to continue operating at the discretion of the nobility.

Nobility: Making up less than three percent of the population, the nobility actually are a fairly diverse and stratified group although as stated before, being psychic is key to being a noble. The nobility are relatively well educated compared to the regular citizenry. Most of the most skilled members of society are members of the nobility. Engineers and the like come from the common nobility. The vast majority do not hold any land or property. Still, they are generally far better off than the normal citizens. As well, all officers are pulled from the nobility. As one might expect, some nobles are less inclined towards being useful and there is a lot of vice within the nobles.

Only a small percentage of the nobility actually holds any significant power. Most of these, the baron and baronet level, control relatively modest holdings compared to the nobility above them but are still far better off than the nobility below them.

The upper levels of nobility, count and above, control the vast majority of the wealth of the society. The Viscount is somewhere between the modest propertied nobility and the higher aristocracy. As you get higher up the social ladder, more of the wealth is concentrated in fewer people. Generally only this most trusted elite is allowed to travel outside the Star Kingdom.

Bastards: This is a concept that is almost foreign to the rest of the civilized areas of the Three Galaxies. Still, in some cases there are relations between nobles and commoners. With the power difference, it is almost impossible for commoners to resist the advances of nobles. Most female nobles use birth control so children from such relations are extremely rare. Because commoner women do not have any birth control available and they are taught to avoid it anyway, children are far more common. The status of the child resides on if the child has psychic potential or not. One who is psychic will be raised by the noble family or a side branch.

Dress: There are very specific styles of dress based on the station of the individuals. A common citizen dressing in the styles of a noble is severely punished. This includes fines, public dressing down, and even first dressed and then stripped of noble finery in public. It is also considered crass for a noble to dress in the style of commoners although there is no punishment. Noble fashion is styled after what had been formal dress in the Human Alliance during the time when the Caramelles Kingdom formed. The dress of both nobles and commoners is colorful with a differentiation between the sexes with skirts common among the women of both the commoners and noblity.

Buildings: Style is mostly glittering glass and polished metal in style. The main population are housed in high rise towers hosing thousands to tens of thousands per tower. These have most of the basic amenities but are far from what is the current standards in the Consortium. The lesser nobility usually have small individual homes in special guarded enclaves. They have far better amenities than the commoners and are about equal to the average Consortium Citizen. Higher nobility live in massive estates, extremely well guarded. They have far more luxuries as well. As you get higher in social status, the estates get more elaborate. The royal estate is many square kilometers in size and virtually impregnable. Noble and royal estates also act as administrative centers.

Religious Groups: Religion is an area where the nobility is mostly hands off. It is seen as an effective tool for controlling the population. The hatred of non humans has inspired wandering preachers to periodically appear, preaching the end of the Kingdom at the hands of aliens. Religions which act in a criminal manner or go against the nobility will be repressed. If somehow an alien religion was to somehow take root, it would be seen as a threat and repressed likely extremely violently. As well, if a priest was to show actual magical powers, they would also be eliminated.

Views on other Races: The general population has been raised to loathe and fear non-humans. Probably the most hated and feared of all races is the Noro as the race which the Human Alliance joined with to form the Consortium of Civilized World. These attitudes carry over to those who appear human as well. The only non-humans in the Kingdom are those on Telramund and they are heavily persecuted. They cannot serve in the military, law enforcement, or even as crews aboard merchant vessels. While not quite as strong, the nobility generally shares these feeling with the general population but also see the fear and loathing as a means to control the population. Some ambassadors are, all of higher noble or even royal birth, are taught how to deal with those of other races. The Kingdom will trade with non humans through intercessors. This includes even the sales of weapons and warships.

Views on Magic & Psionics:

Magic: Magic is basically unknown within the Kingdom and the concern among the nobility is that such individuals could challenge the powerful psychics of the higher nobility. There are stories of a few nobles sneaking out of the Kingdom and learning magic, never returning. If a commoner was to actually learn magic, they would be considered dangerous and most likely quietly eliminated. There are rumors that there are a handful of mages still hiding out on Telramund. Through trade from outside of the Kingdom, a number of magic items have been acquired by nobles. Techno-Wizard magic items are the most common magic items but some conventional magic items have found their way to the Kingdom as well. There are no known "Rune" magic items in the Kingdom. "Smuggling" magic items can be extremely profitable by traders.

Psionics: Bluntly, no commoners are psychic and all nobles are psychic and there is a huge effort by the nobility to keep it that way. All children are tested at an early age for psychic potential. Including the search for both bio-markers and psychic scanning, the testing is quite advanced and believed to be almost fool proof.

If a child of a commoner is found to be psychic, they will be taken from the family. The child will then be raised by a noble family. Depending on what the infants psychic potential is, the child may be raised by a lesser noble or higher noble. A child with the potential of a master psychic might be raised in a family as high in status as Viscount. Usually they are adopted by childless nobles but can inherit over direct blood if the blood children are found to be unsuitable to inherit. The commoner parents are told that their children died due to a medical complication usually and the nobility is not adverse to eliminating them if they push the issue. A second solution is a swap of a non psychic child from a noble parent with the child with psychic potential. Use of mind wipe is often used to smooth situations. Parents who conceive of one psychic child will have any other children examined far closer. An adult commoner found to have any psychic abilities will be eliminated, usually quietly.

While the majority of children born to nobles carry psychic potential, there are not always psychic. There are several tests in the womb which give good indicators if the child is going to be psychic and most who don't have the potential will be aborted. Non psychic children of nobles cannot be raised by the nobles. They might be traded secretly with the psychic child of a commoner or can be put in orphanages where their backgrounds are kept secret from them. In some cases, they may even be simply killed. Not afraid to use their psychic talents against the lesser levels of nobility, the higher nobility might use mind wipe on the noble parents as well.

The royal family has been genetically engineered so that almost all are of master psychic level with the majority being mild melter / mind mage class. There is a sprinkling of other psychic classes as well. Even before this, most have been master psychics.

Training for psychics in the Kingdom is some of the best in the Three Galaxies and actually rivals the Noro for training. In order to survive in the higher ranks of nobility, it is virtually required that the noble has the ability of mind block. The talent of telepathy is extremely common as well. There are no compunctions about using telepathy by the nobles. Mental privacy as a concept virtually does not exist.

Laws of Caramelles Kingdom:

As one might expect, the laws treat the common citizen and nobles quite differently. A noble could murder a commoner and would likely to receive no punishment. The most they might receive is a fine if the commoner is under another noble and the other noble brings up a lawsuit. Murdering a military service member may also be a very different situation. At the highest levels of nobility, the nobles are but untouchable. Only treason generally warrants severe punishments at that level.

Much of the legal code is not as firmly written as it is most democracies. Codes / laws can be changed by the monarch at his or her discretion. There is little discrimination with both commoners and nobles as far gender or sexual orientation. Religion is also usually left alone.

Personal Weaponry: The commoners, with the exception of when required by military service, police duties, or body guards for nobles, are banned from owning or possessing any personal weapons (Nobles are only allowed a relatively small body guard so as not to be able to become a personal military.) Even the ownership of light (S.D.C.) weaponry is severely punished. The ownership of heavy weapons is far worse including up to being put to death. Nobles, on the other hand, are expected to be armed at all times. This is so that they might put down any rebellion although this is extremely rare. Often their clothes will have concealed body armor as well. Those allowed to use weapons have a small implant which allows them to use their weapons so that they cannot be disarmed and the weapons used against the nobility. When in the presence of higher nobility, lesser nobility is expected to be unarmed and there are a variety of ceremonies around this.

Law Enforcement / Police: The planets do have police forces composed of commoners although nobles do hold are positions of authority over them. Many are ex military, especially army. The law enforcement / police are only allowed to be armed when they are performing their duties and all weapons and police are chipped to prevent unauthorized use of weapons

Weaponry: Equipped with Police Plate and Padded Armor. Armed with a neural stick (similar to neural mace) and IP-15 Light Ion Pistol. Riot troops are issued IR-50 Ion Pulse Rifle (without three blast burst setting) with GL-50X Under Rifle Grenade Launcher loaded with knock out gas and neural stun warheads.

Trials / Court System: There is no real jury system but instead cases are decided by a single judge. For the commoner as well, there is no such thing as defense attorney.

Commoners: There is a lesser court system which is designed to settle minor cases between commoners. A low level noble sits at the head of the court and arbitrates the case. These cases usually involve property claims, debts between commoners, contracts such as marriage, and similar cases. Usually these cases involve fines, return of property, and the severing of contracts.

Actual criminal cases for commoners are treated far differently. The judge in such cases almost always is a telepath. The judge will usually probe the mind of the commoner and might forcibly if required. This often happens in civil cases as well but is less common. Torture can be used if required against the laws of most of civilized societies within the Three Galaxies.

Of course even if innocent, the commoner may find himself or herself convicted. For example, a noble might have an elicit affair with a commoner. The noble decides to get rid of the commoner so accuses the commoner of some crime.

Nobles: Most civil cases between nobles is done by arbitration where both nobles chose other nobles who argue for the nobles and attempt to make a resolution between them. An attempt is made to use nobles who are not directly involved in the case and may be classified as "disinterested." Obviously, this is not always possible. Usually these nobles will be of the same social class as the nobles involved in the civil case.

Criminal cases are very different than it is for commoners. Generally such cases can only be brought up by nobles of equal or higher rank. The case does not have to directly involve that noble and an appropriate ranking noble can bring up a charge for a lesser noble. Nobles have the right not to have their minds forcibly probed although they may chose to have their mind probed. The only exception is in cases of treason where the monarch may force a mind probe. Torture also is only used against nobles in the case of treason. Once a case is brought up, the case is judged by a noble of higher rank.

Dueling: Instead of bringing up a case in court, a noble may chose to challenge a noble (generally of equal rank) to a duel. It can be over a specific crime or for damage done to the challenger's reputation. Such duels can involve melee weapons or ranged weapons such as pistols. High powered energy weapons and similar powered weapons are not allowed. Body armor is also not worn during duels. Dueling can involve psychic talents though. In addition, duels can be to first blood, a single shot, to the death, or other set conditions. Killing ones opponent during a duel is not considered murder. There are a variety of different protocols for dueling and the challenge can be done either personally or through a proxy. The challenger has the choice of weapons aand what the dueling conditions are while the challenger has the right to chose the location. All conditions much be agreed on by both parties. A noble will sometimes provoke another noble to a duel so that they may chose the conditions and weapons involved. Nobles are often a prickly lot and will often accept duels when other means might be a better choice.

Punishment: Punishment for the common subject is harsh by the standard of the Consortium. Many of the punishments are considered cruel and unusual by the standards of the civilized galaxy and including whipping. The kingdom also has execution for a wide variety of crimes. The system is also public with the punished individual used as an example. There is no real prisons but instead sentences are generally to hard labor. Often they are forced to work in incredibly hazardous and isolated conditions. Many miners are convicts. While 40 years hard labor is technically not a death sentence, it is in practical terms because few survive their term. As one might expect, punishments against the non-humans living on Telramund are especially brutal. In addition, crimes again non humans are almost never punished (even for commoners) and non humans are not allowed any recourse against humans.

Punishments for Commoners:
These punishments should be considered generally the minimum punishment. To lay a hand on a noble almost always results in death for the commoner.

Crime	Punishment
[1] Weapon Possession: S.D.C.:	Public Whipping (Add 10 yrs hard labor second time).
[1] Weapon Possession: M.D.C.:	Public Whipping / 10 yrs hard labor (Public Execution second time).
Weapon Traffic: S.D.C.:	Public Whipping / 10 yrs hard labor (Public Execution second time).
Weapon Traffic: M.D.C.:	Public Execution
[2] Drug Possession:	Public Whipping (Add 5 yrs hard labor second time).
[2 Drug Traffic:	Public Whipping / 10 yrs hard labor (Add 40 yrs hard labor second time).
Smuggling (Non-Weapons):	Public Whipping / 5 yrs hard labor (Add 10 yrs hard labor second time).
Grand Larceny: Commoner:	Public Whipping / 5 yrs hard labor (Add 10 yrs hard labor second time).
Grand Larceny: Noble:	Public Whipping / 20 yrs hard labor (Public Execution second time).
Armed Robbery: Commoner:	Public Whipping / 40 yrs hard labor
Armed Robbery: Noble:	Public Execution
Piracy:	Not on the books / would likely be treated as Armed Robbery
Treason: Lesser:	Public Whipping / 40 yrs hard labor
Treason: Greater:	Public Execution
[3] False Witness vs Commoner:	Fine;
False Witness vs Noble:	Public Whipping (Add 10 yrs hard labor second time).
Insulting a Noble:	Public Whipping (Add 10 yrs hard labor second time).
Battery: Commoner:	Public Whipping (Add 10 yrs hard labor second time).
Battery: Noble:	Public Execution
Rape: Commoner:	Public Whipping / 10 yrs hard labor (Public Execution second time).
Rape: Noble:	Public Execution
[4] Man Slaughter: Commoner:	Public Whipping / 10 yrs hard labor (Add 40 yrs hard labor second time).
[4] Man Slaughter: Noble:	Public Execution
Murder Two: Commoner:	Public Whipping / 40 yrs hard labor.
Murder Two: Noble:	Public Execution
Murder One: Commoner:	Public Execution.
Murder One: Noble:	Public Execution
Kidnaping: Commoner:	Public Whipping / 40 yrs hard labor.
Kidnaping: Noble:	Public Execution
Slavery:	Not on the books / would likely be treated as Kidnaping
Genocide:	Not on the books

[1] For military and special duties (police and the body guards of nobles), a commoner may be armed only while serving their duty.
[2] Included illegal medicines including contraceptives and anti-aging drugs
[3] False Witness vs Commoners is generally something which gets the other commoner to either receive or potentially receive punishment.
[4] Body guards protecting nobles may be able to use that as a defense against these charges. Duties while in military service also often can be used as defenses against these charges. Generally self defense is not a valid defense.

Punishments for Nobles:

Minor crimes by nobles is usually a fine. Moderate crimes usually involve house arrest. Only the most severe crimes involve death as a punishment. Crimes against higher nobles will usually involve greater punishments than those against those of lower station.

Crime	Punishment
Weapon Possession: S.D.C.:	Expected to be armed.
Weapon Possession: M.D.C.:	Expected to be armed.
[1] Weapon Traffic: S.D.C.:	Moderate Fine
[1] Weapon Traffic: M.D.C.:	Severe Fine
Drug Possession:	Light Fine / Telepathic "Treatment"
Drug Traffic:	Moderate Fine
Smuggling (Non-Weapons):	Moderate Fine
Grand Larceny: Commoner:	No Punishment
Grand Larceny: Noble:	Severe Fine / Restitution of noble
Armed Robbery: Commoner:	No punishment
Armed Robbery: Noble:	House Arrest (5 yrs) / Loss of rank
Piracy:	Not on the books / would likely be treated as Armed Robbery
Treason: Lesser:	House Arrest (10 yrs) / Loss of rank
Treason: Greater:	Private Execution
Insulting a Noble:	Restitution of noble (Likely to also result in a duel)
False Witness vs Commoner:	No punishment
False Witness vs Noble:	Restitution of noble (Likely to also result in a duel)
Battery: Commoner:	No Punishment (Light Fine possible if belonging to another noble)
Battery: Noble:	Severe Fine (Likely to also result in a duel)
Rape: Commoner:	No Punishment (Light Fine possible if belonging to another noble)
Rape: Noble:	House Arrest (10 yrs) / Loss of rank
Man Slaughter: Commoner:	No Punishment (Moderate Fine possible if belonging to another noble)
Man Slaughter: Noble:	House Arrest (20 yrs) / Loss of rank
Murder Two: Commoner:	No Punishment (Moderate Fine possible if belonging to another noble)
Murder Two: Noble:	House Arrest (life) / Loss of rank (Private Execution possible)
Murder One: Commoner:	No Punishment (Moderate Fine possible if belonging to another noble)
Murder One: Noble:	House Arrest (life) / Loss of rank (Private Execution possible)
Kidnaping: Commoner:	No Punishment (Light Fine possible if belonging to another noble)
Kidnaping: Noble:	House Arrest (20 yrs) / Loss of rank
Slavery:	Not on the books / would likely be treated as Kidnaping
Genocide:	Not on the books

[1] Weapon Traffic in this case means sell or arming commoners who are not part of the military forces / police forces. Nobles are also allowed a body guard. In some cases, such a crime might include treason.

Government of Caramelles Kingdom:

The Caramelles Kingdom is a monarchy with feudal elements built into the government. There is no representative body for the regular citizens of the Kingdom. The only people in power are nobles and even within noble families, there is strong stratification with only the upper level having any real power.

Nobility and Titles:

King/Queen: The monarchy rules the kingdom and are theoretically considered all powerful. Only a single member of the royal family who ruled for any length of time was anything but a master psychic and she was a major psychic. For almost the last two centuries, genetic engineering has fixed more powerful psychic abilities into the royal family. As well, most have the traits of "Indomitable Will" and "Exceptionally Charismatic."
Of note is that the monarch has traditionally for the last hundred years had a body guard from outside of the kingdom. Fantastically well payed, they are hired mercenaries and are rotated every three years to make sure that they cannot be bought out. They are not given the option to settle in the kingdom although few would be interested as it is.

Archduke/Archduchess: Highest level of nobility before the monarch and controls whole star systems. Several of them are direct descendants of the royal family and there has been heavy intermarriage otherwise. Most are master psychics and the rest are major psychics.

Duke/Duchess: These nobles are among the most powerful in the kingdom and control continents, vaster asteroid or orbital industries. They also make up most of the noble council. There has been some marriage with the royal family. Many are master psychics and virtually all others are major psychics.

Count/Countess: Control vast tracks of land, large industries (planet side or space), and whole merchant fleets. They don't have the incredible power of those above them but are still powerful. Most are major psychics but there are many master psychics as well. A small number are lesser psychics as well.

Viscount/Viscountess: Control large tracks of land, moderate sized industries (planet side or space), and minor merchant fleets. Fairly powerful but not considered in the upper levels of society. Split fairly evenly between lesser and major psychics. There is a tiny number of master psychics as well at this level.

Baron/Baroness: These nobles have some power and tend to control a number of manufacturing facilities, larger farming complex, or a small number of merchant starships. Have more commoners under them than the Baronet class. Most are minor psychics although there is a large minority of major psychics as well.

Baronet/Baronetess: These nobles have some minor power and might control a single manufacturing facility, farming complex, or a single merchant starship. Have a relatively small number of commoners under them. The largest percentage are minor psychics but there is a larger number of major psychics.

Sire/Dame: Making up around ninety percent of the nobility, these are the lowest levels of nobility. They might be described as "Working Nobility" and have very little actual power. They usually control little in the way of actual property and most only have a few servants under them. Some actually have none. Most are only minor psychics although a small minority are major psychics.

Noble Council: There is a council of advisors to the monarch composed of upper level nobles. There is usually about a couple dozen nobles in total. Normally they come from the status of Duke or higher although there has been a Countess on the council previously. The council and the monarch have been sparring for the last century or so of power.

Changing Noble Rank: It is very difficult to change your status within the nobility although it is possible. There are three basic ways. The first is if the child is psychic. They are adopted into a noble family depending on their abilities. Other ways are more traditional. In some cases, a lower noble can marry upward in the social ladder although usually no more than one level up in the social hierarchy. Very occasionally a marriage might be able to straddle two levels in status. Powerful psychic abilities are a huge benefit when trying to marry above ones station. Marriages in the nobility, especially in the higher levels, are quite arranged often for political reasons. As well, the monarch or another member of the higher nobility may promote you to a higher status. One of the best ways to gain status is in military service, especially the fleet. Intrigue is a fact of life of the higher ranks of nobility. Of course, the monarch may also lower a nobles status although this is extremely uncommon. A noble will not be completely stripped of status but instead simply tortured and killed.

Assassination: Assassination and intrigue are facts of life for nobles, mostly at the higher ranks, and is often a way of gaining power. While a noble cannot generally gain in actual rank through assassination, one not directly in line to inherit might be able to clear those directly in line so that they might inherit. A member of a cadet branch of the family might kill those in the direct line of inheritance.

Dueling is often uses as a defacto method of legal assassination. One advantage of this method is that there can be no prosecution for the death of the other noble involved. The willingness to get involved in direct combat is often looked favorably as well. Still, higher ranking nobles can refuse to confirm the inheritance of the title to the winner of the duel.

The other way is to attempt to make it look like and accident or create a situation where it appears as if someone else, especially commoners, are the ones who committed the crime. Often the commoners may be "killed" in the act so that there is nobody to point fingers. The assassination may be ignored by higher ranking nobles if the noble involved is favored by nobility above them. Still, it is usually not forgotten and may be used if the noble fall is disfavor.

Important Figures of Caramelles Kingdom:

Queen Elena Danver: Queen of Caramelles Kingdom and fairly young but still extremely capable. She has not yet chosen a consort for herself. She is a Mind Melter class psychic (Eighth Level) with extraordinary charisma and will power.

Prince Frederic Danver: Younger brother of the queen and heir until she has children of her own. He is quite ambitious and would not be adverse to killing off his elder sister. She, in turn, would not be adverse to eliminate him if she was not her closest heir. He is a Mind Melter class psychic like his elder sister (Fifth level)

Duchess Catalina Valencia: Grand Admiral of the Fleet and while young (Mid Fifties), is quite capable and loyal to the Royal family. Fought in the war against the Ts'Gal. Related to the royal family with a wide variety of connections. She is only a major psychic (She is a Tenth Level Fleet Officer - Equal to CAF Trooper)

Archduke Sebastian Vicente: Leader of the council of nobles sparring with the Queen for power in the Kingdom although not likely to attempt an assassination. There is some speculation that the Queen might attempt to bring him onto her side through marriage but she is hesitant to share power with somebody so ambitious. He is a Mind Melter class psychic (Sixth Level)

M'Zrlee Fr'are: Leader of "rebellion" on Telramund. A changeling Ley Line Walker (Twelfth Level) and a major psychic with alter aura, mind block, see aura, sixth sense, telepathy, and total recall. Has taken a wide variety of different forms, both nobles and commoners. Carefully preparing for an overthrow of the Kingdom.

Relations with other Governments:

Combined Stars Protectorate: The Combined Stars Protectorate is in a location so that there is no direct contact between the two governments. In addition, a large percentage of the Combined Star's population is non human. Government leaders in the Caramelles Kingdom have considered trading military hardware with the Combined Stars Protectorate.

Consortium of Civilized Worlds: Caramelles Kingdom breaks several important codes within the Consortium. These include that the government needs to be a representative type government and that all races are to be treated equally. There is a ban on the trade of advanced technology by the Consortium especially in areas of military technology.

Dartrok: The Dartrok are not well known by Caramelles Kingdom. Due to the location of the two entities, it is not likely that there will be much in the way of contact. The Dartrok appears to have shown no real interest in the Caramelles Kingdom at the moment.

Free Worlds Council: Even though there is a large number of non humans in the Free Worlds Council, the Caramelles Kingdom has been trying to cozy up to them in an effort to acquire some of the advanced technology they lack including fighter designs and X-Ray laser capital missiles. It is unlikely that the Free Worlds Council will share such technology due to relationship the Caramelles Kingdom has with the Consortium and the Free Worlds Council working on a better relationship with the Consortium.

Human Alliance: The Human Alliance is looked at both ways. Even now, it is seen as the "motherland" of the Caramelles Kingdom but at the same time it is seen as having fallen. As with the Consortium, the Human Alliance will not trade advanced technology or any military hardware. While purchase of Caramelles Kingdom designs is not against the law in the Human Alliance, it is looked on with disfavor. One merchant line which was using hulls purchased from the kingdom lost their military contracts as a result of this disfavor.

Naruni Enterprises: As all Non-Human entities, Naruni Industries is greatly distrusted. There is a bit of use of Naruni equipment by nobles although none will admit to the source. Mostly this is limited to heavy weapons and shield generators.

New Coventry: With the shipbuilding industry of New Coventry, Caramelles Kingdom sees them as a potential rival for their own shipbuilding. There is also a rivalry because while New Coventry also has a monarchy, it also has direct representation of their citizens. New Coventry has no current trade with the Caramelles Kingdom and follows all Consortium and Human Alliance laws regarding the kingdom.

Phase World: Phase World is considered a den of evil where you can find all of the problems when humans and other races coexist. Often pictures of the slums of the city of Center are used as propaganda by the government about the evils of humans mixing with other races.

Pleasure Confederation: There is no real contact between the Caramelles Kingdom and the Pleasure Confederation. They are used as an example of how humans can be enslaved by non humans.

REF Wormhole Station: There is no real contact between the Caramelles Kingdom and the REF. The REF has a large population of non human races. The Caramelles Kingdom does respect their military power and has tried to trade military technology but the REF has show little interest and prefers to keep friendly relations with the Consortium of Civilized Worlds.

Splugorth: There is no direct contact between the Caramelles Kingdom and the Splugorth. The treatment of humans though under the Splugorth are one of the examples of mistreatment which the kingdom uses in their propaganda. This has not stopped some nobles have acquired some magic items through indirect means that are from the Splugorth. This is still a minority of the magic items in the Kingdom with most coming from the United Worlds Warlock.

Trans-Galactic Empire: The empire is not considered a major threat to the Kingdom because of the Caramelles Kingdom and Kreeghor Empire's location. Still, there is some concerns with how powerful the Trans-Galactic Empire and what might happen to the kingdom in the Consortium fell. However; the rulers of the kingdom would like to see the two powerful governments go head to head so that they might do a bit of a smash and grab while the Consortium is occupied. There is also the potential that both might be weakened greatly and the Kingdom able to step into the vacuum.

United Worlds Warlock: Another star nation which the Caramelles Kingdom has no real contact. It also has a large number of non humans which makes it distrusted. Much of the trade / smuggling of magic items comes from the United Worlds Warlock. The majority is in techno-wizard items but some is in conventional magic items as well.

Xanadu Station: There is no real contact between the star system and the Caramelles Kingdom. As well, Xanadu Station does not have much of a coherent foreign policy. There are also a large number of non humans in the station's population which would likely poison any relations between the two powers.

Military Forces of Caramelles Kingdom:

Royal Space Armada of the Caramelles Kingdom:

The Navy of Caramelles Kingdom is quite large for its size and is a tool of potential conquest of neighboring . Of course since the Kingdom began expanding their navy, their neighbors have also began their own large shipbuilding programs. Still, unless the various system began organizing, there is none large enough to take on the Kingdom Navy. The navy dominates the army.

Chain of Command: As with all of the military branches, and the kingdom itself, the monarch is the highest authority. The senior official in the navy however is the Grand Admiral of the Fleet. The Grand Admiral of the Fleet is also in charge of the army. He / she is usually appointed by the monarch although the noble council has fought the monarchy over this. The Grand Admiral of the Fleet is of the highest noble birth and usually directly related to the royal family. The Grand Admiral of the Fleet is both involved in administrative and strategic decisions. Fleet admirals are usually in charge of major fleets or the defense forces of an entire star system. Smaller battle groups are controlled by lower ranking admirals or a commodore.

Enlisted: All enlisted come from the commoners of the society. Term of service for the enlisted is for forty years. They can also be called back into service even after retiring. Some consider this effectively "for life" in the military. Unless traded between nobles, it is one of the few ways that a commoner might get out from under the thumb of a noble who ruled them. In this case, the commoner becomes part of the Navy's authority. Different officers, just like different nobles, treat their personnel / subjects with different levels of cruelty / decency. Enlisted get a number of benefits which most commoners lack such as far better medical care than outside the military. As well, the enlisted are given a form of retirement unlike virtually all other commoners.

The more picky of the two services, the navy will only accept the best and brightest of the commoners. Loyalty is also an important trait which they are tested for. Even the army is fairly choosey as far as the commoners
One reason why military service is so long is because the they have to go through intensive training to prepare for military service and this is a recompense for the cost of training.

Officers: Including fighter pilots (all fighter pilots are officers), one in four navy personnel are officers. All officers are pulled from the nobility. Only upper ranking nobles can aspire to the higher military ranks. As well, those of higher noble rank advanced extremely rapidly and can even skip ranks. Officers serve until they resign or retire. They are also allowed to take leaves of absence. Retirement is only available after forty years in service and there is a discussion of extending that to eighty years with anti-aging drugs. An officer who resigns or retires may be called back into service when needed. Officers of less high quality but of high noble status are often found out of the way positions so to not disrupt the military or cause political backlash. This is rare because only the best of the nobility normally become officers. In some cases the officers may be transferred from the navy to the army. Generally nobles of sire rank who show to not be of the necessary caliber are asked very strongly to resign. All officers of baronet rank and above (about twenty percent of the officers) are permitted one servant aboard ship or with the unit the officer is attached to. These come from the officer's home estate and are not part of the chain of command. In some cases these servants are sexual companions. Senior officers may and often do have several servants.

O.C.C.:

Enlisted: Treat as the equivalent of the "Spacer" character class.

Officers: Treat most as the equivalent of the "CAF Trooper" character class with an emphasis on space related skills. Those of master psychic classes will be of a psychic R.C.C. (with "Mind Melter" being the most common) with a number of space / combat skills. Medical doctors would be the equivalent of the "Body Fixer" character and a few fighter pilots are the "Turbo-Jockey" character class.

Standard Combat Equipment:

Enlisted: Caramelles Navy Jumpsuit (Copy of the CAF Jumpsuit.) They are not armed unless required by their duty and ordered by their commanding officer. There is seen as a potential danger of rebellion. Ships do keep enough small arms for the entire crew. Normally three quarters are issued the IP-10 Standard Ion Pistol and one quarter are issued ECP-16 Explosive Cartridge Pistol. All weapons are chipped to prevent unauthorized use.
When in combat, a warship’s crew will be wearing jumpsuits and is kept at all times by the crew.

Officers: Caramelles Navy Jumpsuit (Copy of the CAF Jumpsuit.) Unlike enlisted, they are expected to be armed at all times although a senior ranking officer may order a lower ranking officer to disarm themselves in his or her presence. Three quarters usually carry the IP-25 Heavy Ion Pistol and ECP-16 Explosive Cartridge Pistol. All weapons are chipped to prevent unauthorized use.
When in combat, a warship’s officers will be wearing jumpsuits. Jumpsuits are also worn by fighter pilots during fighter operations. The jumpsuit is kept at all times.

Uniform:

Enlisted: Enlisted have no dress uniform but wears dark grey utilities which are basically a jump suit (not the space suit variety.) Rank insignia are a shoulder patch on the uniform. Name is embroidered on the breast pocket of the utilities. Hash marks on the sleeves represent time in service. Enlisted also wear a ball cap with the name of the unit / ship that they are serving on with their rank below it.

Officer: Officers have two basic uniforms, the working dress grey uniform and the dress white uniform. There is no utility type uniform for officers. Both uniforms wear a combination type cap with them with a different style cap for males and females. Except for cadets, there is a gold band on all versions. Ranks of corvette captain and above have a gold ring of decoration along the rim of the cap with ranks of commodore and above having two rings of decoration. Females may wear skirts with either uniform although rarely in space. Both styles of uniform have silver and gold shoulder boards to represent rank along with cuffs also showing rank. Collar on shirt also have rank insignias.
"Working Dress Greys" are what is usually worn for day to day use. It is a much lighter grey than the enlisted grey utilities. Uniform includes dress shirt, jacket, and pants (or skirt if female.) Full version of the medals are not worn but instead ribbons are worn. (Working Dress uniform is available with light body armor as part of the uniform - A.R. 20, M.D.C. 20, and weighs 12 pounds (5.9 kg). Excellent mobility: -2% prowl penalty.)
"Full Dress White" uniform is similar in style with dress shirt, jacket, and pants (or skirt if female.) Dress uniform also includes a sash and a sword. Full versions of medals are worn with the dress white uniform.

Personnel: 248,500 (65,400 Officers)

Royal Army of the Caramelles Kingdom:

The army is dominated by the navy, something many army officers resent. Their budget is a fraction of the navy. In spite of this, the army has many times the personnel that the fleet has. There is not a separate marine corp but instead the marines are part of the army assigned to starships. Officers serving aboard ship tend to advance faster in rank than those not aboard ships. As such, there is heavy competition for shipboard army officer slots. Even though the army outnumbers the navy around twenty-five fold, the navy has a much higher percentage of officers than the army.

Chain of Command: In common with the navy, the supreme authority of the army is the monarch. In addition, the Grand Admiral of the Fleet is in overall command of the army. Even so, there is the "senior" Master General who is in charge of the day to day operations of the army.

Enlisted: All enlisted come from the commoners of society. Army service is shorter than navy service, only ten years. They have to serve forty years to get full benefits however. If they get out before their forty years of service, they are generally returned to their home estate. Many are brought into law enforcement and body guard positions. In some cases an enlisted may be allowed to rejoin. Like the navy, soldiers may be called back into service due to needs of the army. This gives a working pool of enlisted about four times greater than are currently in service.

The army is less choosy about the personnel that they take in than the navy but the still take only those of high quality.

Officers: Only about one in twenty of the army are officers as compared to the fleet. As with the navy, all enlisted are pulled from the nobility. The upper military ranks are generally restricted to upper level noble families. Members of higher ranking noble families also advance through military ranks far faster than those of lower noble rank end might even skip ranks in some cases. Officers serve until they resign or retire. They are also allowed to take leaves of absence. An officer must serve for at least forty years before their can retire and it is being considered expending retirement age to eighty years due to the introduction of anti-aging drugs. An officer who resigns or retires may be called back into service when needed. With the army, there is a higher percentage of low quality nobles as far as actual ability than the navy. They are often found positions which sound impressive but are designed to shuffle the officers out of important roles. Generally nobles of sire rank who show to not be of the necessary caliber are asked very strongly to resign. All officers of baronet rank and above (about twenty percent of the officers) are permitted one servant with the unit the officer is attached to. These come from the officer's home estate and are not part of the official chain of command. In some cases these servants are sexual companions. Senior officers may and often do have several servants.

O.C.C.:

Enlisted: Enlisted are trained equal to the Mercenary O.C.C. from Rifts: Main Book. Those who serve on spaceships are trained in Zero Gravity movement.

Officer: Officers are trained equal to the Special Forces O.C.C. from Rifts: Mercenaries. Those of master psychic classes will be of a psychic R.C.C. (with "Mind Melter" being the most common) with a number of space / combat skills. Few fighter pilots are equal to the Turbo Jockey O.C.C. - Most end up in the navy.

Standard Combat Equipment:

Enlisted: Caramelles Heavy Combat Armor with vehicle crews issued Caramelles "Navy" Jumpsuit instead. Power armor troops will be issued power armors. Power armor troops make up about one in twenty troops.
As far as weapons, standard troops are issued with a heavy ion rifle as their main weapon with as a sidearm either the standard ion pistol (75%) or cartridge pistol (25%). One in four troops is issued an under rifle grenade launcher and one in ten is issued a mini-missile launcher.
Vehicle crews are issued either a standard ion pistol (75%) or cartridge pistol (25%.)
Body armor and weapons are only issued before combat and training. At all other times the equipment is locked up. All weapons are chipped so that they cannot be used by unauthorized personnel.

Officer: Caramelles Heavy Combat Armor with fighter pilots and vehicle crews issued Caramelles "Navy" Jumpsuit instead. Power armor troops will be issued power armors. About one in ten officers are in power armor units.
Officers are expected to be armed with a sidearm at all times, either a heavy ion pistol (75%) or cartridge pistol (25%). Officers commanding standard troop units carry a heavy ion rifle with an under rifle grenade.

Uniform:

Enlisted: As with the fleet, enlisted have no dress uniform. Instead they wear gray utilities which is a jump suit (not space suit type.) Rank insignia are a shoulder patch on the uniform. Name is embroidered on the breast pocket of the utilities. Hash marks on the sleeves represent time in service. Enlisted also wear a ball cap with the name of the unit / ship that they are serving on with their rank below it.

Officer: Army officers also have two different versions. They are "working dress" which is grey green and "full dress" which is black and white. As with the fleet, there is no utility type uniform for officers. Both uniforms wear a combination type cap with them with a different style cap for males and females. Except for cadets, there is a gold band on all versions. Except for cadets, there is a gold band on all versions. Ranks of commandant and above have a gold ring of decoration along the rim of the cap with ranks of brigade general and above having two rings of decoration. Females may wear skirts with either uniform. Both styles of uniform have silver and gold shoulder boards to represent rank along with cuffs also showing rank although very different than navy uniforms. Collar on shirt also have rank insignias.
"Working Dress" are what is usually worn for day to day use. Unlike navy uniforms, the uniform is the same color as enlisted uniform. Uniform includes dress shirt, jacket, and pants (or skirt if female.) Full version of the medals are not worn but instead ribbons are worn. (Working Dress uniform is available with light body armor as part of the uniform - A.R. 20, M.D.C. 20, and weighs 12 pounds (5.9 kg). Excellent mobility: -2% prowl penalty.)
"Full Dress" uniform is similar in style with white dress shirt, black jacket, and black pants (or skirt if female.) Dress uniform also includes a sash and a sword. Full versions of medals are worn with the dress uniform.

Personnel: 6,500,000 (325,000 Officers)

Military Ranks:

Officers:

Only nobles are eligible to become officers. Only the higher ranking nobles can aspire to the higher ranks of the military as well. Nobles of higher rank, unless they are truly incompetent, will find very quick advancement as well. As well, the command track is limited to nobles of higher rank and technical specialities are usually filled by the lowest rank of nobles. While there are cases of a Duchess being appointed Grand Admiral of the Fleet, in most cases the position is given to Archduke / Archduchess or Prince / Princess.

Navy	Army	Minimum Title
Grand Admiral of the Fleet	Grand General - Defunct	Duke / Duchess
Fleet Admiral	Master General	Duke / Duchess
Admiral	General	Count / Countess:
Vice-Admiral	Divisional General	Viscount / Viscountess
Commodore	Brigade General	Baron / Baroness
Fleet Captain	Captain Colonel	Baron / Baroness
Frigate Captain	Lieutenant Colonel	Baronet / Baronetess
Corvette Captain	Commandant	Baronet / Baronetess
Lieutenant	Major	Sire / Dame
Sub-Lieutenant	Master Lieutenant	Sire / Dame
Ensign	Lieutenant	Sire / Dame
Sub-Ensign	Sub-Lieutenant	Sire / Dame
Cadet	Cadet	Training Rank only

Enlisted:

Enlistment in the military does have many advantages over the Kingdom's commoner. If they serve for forty years with a good record, they can retire completely. They can be brought back into active service if "required by the crown" as the preferred term. Military members are also give better medical care than commoners including regeneration, especially for injuries when performing their duties, but not anti-aging drugs. It is also seen as a way to have adventure. Because of this, the military attracts the best in the Kingdom. While higher ranking enlisted are the equivalent of non-commissioned officers in other militaries, the term is never used.

Navy	Army	Minimum Time in Service
Chief Master First Class	Sergeant First Class	32 years
Chief Master Second Class	Sergeant Second Class	28 years
Chief Master Third Class	Sergeant Third Class	24 years
Master First Class	Corporal First Class	16 years
Master Second Class	Corporal Second Class	12 years
Master Third Class	Corporal Third Class	8 years
Rating First Class	Soldier First Class	4 years
Rating Second Class	Soldier Second Class	2 years
Rating Third Class	Soldier Third Class

Military Rules & Regulations:

No enlisted personnel come from the planet / system of Telramund. This includes military personnel (Both Navy and Army) assigned to the planet / system. Even humans are not quite trusted in military service by the royalty and nobility who rule the Kingdom.

Dueling: Dueling is only by permission of the commanding officer of the officer who want to duel another officer (or even civilian.) Many senior officers consider it against military discipline to allow dueling between junior officers and many are extremely reluctant to give permission to duel.

Military Justice: Outside of the military, nobles are not expected to submit to mind probing. They give up this right in the military. The presumption that it is potential treason is the reasoning behind this. Punishment is more severe for crimes than it is outside of the military. Public whippings generally include more actual lashes and the death penalty is expanded.

Military Protocol: It is extremely important for the enlisted to treat the officers with the proper respect. Officers are expected to be addressed by their full title or proper honorific at all times. Disrespect to an officer will result in severe punishment.

Personal Equipment: Except for minor items, enlisted are not allowed personal equipment. Officers are allowed a wider variety of personal equipment including weapons not issued by the military. Many officers have magical weapons and other item with techno-wizard items being the most common. Enchanted swords are popular as well.

Pregnancy: While both men and women are allowed to serve in the same positions, women are restricted from becoming pregnant while in service. This includes both officers and enlisted. They are required to use birth control while in service (not even available to female commoners otherwise and actually illegal) in the form of an implant. In some cases, a female officer may be granted a leave of absence so that she might have a child. This is more likely to be granted to those of higher noble title than those of dame class.

Mage & Psionics in the Military:

There are no mages within the military but all officers are nobles and therefore psychic.

Planetary Surface Defenses:

Most cities have light defenses protecting them with a pair of long range missile batteries [launch 24 missile each per attack], and protected by four combination 40 mm rail gun / mini-missile launcher [Damage of rail guns 3D6x10 per burst - Range 16 miles in space / Mini-Missiles launches 4 each attack] and four triple particle beams [Damage 3D6x10 / range 8 miles in space / Mini-Missiles launches 4 each attack.] In addition, the planets have multiple fighter squadrons with 768 light and 576 medium fighters [Double on Cardener Prime / half on Sabadell.] Missile batteries and fighter bays are protected by force fields [10,000 M.D.C.]

Fortifications on Moons:

Several of the planets have moons, both small and large. These moons do mount some weaponry although are nowhere near as heavily armed as the asteroid fortresses. Small moons each on mounts at least a pair of capital missile batteries [launch 24 missile each per round], four long range missile batteries [launch 24 missile each per attack], and protected by eight combination 40 mm rail gun / mini-missile launcher [Damage of rail guns 3D6x10 per burst - Range 800 miles in space / Mini-Missiles launches 4 each attack] and eight triple particle beams [Damage 3D6x10 / range 400 miles in space / Mini-Missiles launches 4 each attack.] Each moon also has 48 light fighters and 36 medium fighters. Missile batteries and fighter bays are protected by force fields [10,000 M.D.C.] Large moons mount far more weaponry.

Minefields:

Unlike most star nations, the planets and important facilities of the Caramelles Kingdom are protected by minefields when not at war. There is strong concern that a potential enemy may decide to attack if they see an opportunity. The star kingdom has several times as many mines ready to be deployed during times of war. These are stored on moons and the asteroid fortresses.

Asteroid Fortresses:

The planets are protected by asteroid fortresses. Controlled by the navy, these each have the firepower of six Baroness Victoria class cruisers and the fighter squadrons equal to four Viscountess Aurelia class light carriers. Each planet has an average of four fortresses protecting it. The capital has six fortresses protecting it and the system of Sabadell so far only has two fortresses protecting it.

See writeup of fortresses for more details.

	Aldover	4 Fortresses
	Bellestar:	4 Fortresses
	Cardener Prime	6 Fortresses
	el Foix	4 Fortresses
	Sabadell	2 Fortresses (2 addition under construction)
	Telramund	4 Fortresses

Ships of the Fleet:

From the beginning, they had a large fleet. Original fleet for the Kingdom was two Boadicea class cruisers, six Chevalier class cruisers, eighteen Falchion class corvettes, two Cobra class minesweepers, and four supply ships. More ships of these classes were later purchased along with a couple of Dauntless class carriers but most of these ships have been retired. Only the two original Boadicea class cruisers have been retained for training and a number of modified older minesweepers are still in service, some having been converted from Chevalier class cruisers.

This list does not include small auxiliaries such as tugs and small non FTL capable supply ships. In addition, during times of war, more merchant ships can be brought into service to fill support roles and used for troop transports. The Caramelles Kingdom also manufactures warships for other navies and in times of war, these will likely be retained in the Kingdom's Navy.

Carriers:

Viscountess Aurelia class Light Carriers

Battleships / Dreadnoughts:

Archduchess Maria class Light Dreadnoughts

Cruisers:

	36	Baroness Victoria class Cruisers
	2	Boadicea class Cruisers (Training Vessels)

Frigates/Destroyers:

	360	Mistral class Destroyers
	48	Vector Aerospace Super Falchion class Patrol Corvettes

Minesweepers:

Serpiente class Minesweepers (Modified Human Alliance Cobra class Minesweepers)

Assault Forces:

Various Troop Transports Classes (converted passenger ships)

Fleet Auxiliaries:

	8	Repair Ships (Converted Merchant Ships)
	32	Various Supply Ship Classes

Notes on the Fleet:

The majority of fighters are of the Avispa and Torero classes but about ten percent of fighter forces are of different fighter classes. These include the older Human Alliance Vixen and Osprey designs. In addition, the Kingdom has managed to acquire a small number of the much newer Scorpion, ICE Hyena, and Katana fighters. A number of Proctor heavy fighters are also operated by the Kingdom. Originally they operated the Tiger IV class fighter but all have been retired.

Military Technology:

The Caramelles Star Kingdom is relatively advanced in military technology although is behind the Consortium, Human Alliance, and Trans-Galactic Empire. They do not built any warships with a faster than light speed of more than four light years per hour. As well, they lack the technology for X-Ray Laser warheads, super heavy anti-matter, and super heavy gravity warheads. Warships usually carry multi-warhead anti-matter for capital missiles. Decoy missiles and standard gravity warheads are also available.

While quite good in the design and construction of large vessels, their ability to manufacture fighters and small ships is more limited. There was an attempt to built a corvette class but it was a dismal failure. As a result, the Kingdom decided to buy refitted Falchion class corvettes. As well, their main medium and light fighter classes are considered fairly primitive. Both the Avispa and Torero fighters are considered inferior to most modern fighter designs. The Kingdom operates a fair number of older fighter designs, has imported a number of other fighter designs, and is most likely going to copy the Ross ICE Hyena fighter design.

Systems of the Caramelles Kingdom:

System listings do not include dwarf planets and most systems have multiple dwarf planets. Also does not include the moons of various planets other than the settled planet or planets of secondary stars. Most systems also have numerous wandering asteroids.

Aldover:

Planet:

System:

Bellestar:

Planet:

System:

Cardener Prime:

Planet:

System:

el Foix:

Planet:

System:

Sabadell:

Planet:

System:

Telramund:

Planet:

System:

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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