Jericho

The heirs of people who were long ago banished from the Earth, Jericho are quite suspicious of and harsh toward strangers.

Past

The heirs of the Church of the Frontier - sectarians who worship the Precursors. Long ago, before the opening of the warp, they were driven out of the Solar System on ships-arks, and wandered for a long time between worlds. Managed to survive and spread its influence over many worlds in the depths of the galaxy.

They were united by one faith, which was originally built on the search of the Forerunners and the Source of the Signal, but gradually transformed into the cult of the personality of their spiritual leader, Bartle. Even before the exile, Bartle allegedly deciphered the Signal and saw in it the message of the Precursors: “find us”. Remarkably, after the return of Jericho eight centuries after the exile, Bartle was still alive. Presumably, after the death of Bartle (again, allegedly) at the hands of the Vanguard during the Galactic Wars, faith in him became a dogma that the Jericho Families who stood at the helm lowered.

Differ in severity in communication, suspicious of strangers, observe the traditional way of life of the founders. For a long time, the civilization of Jericho did not have its own planets and existed only on a handful of huge ships flying through outer space. The harsh living conditions affected the psychology of Jericho, gave rise to unusual customs for the common man and gave so strong an impetus to the development of science and technology that upon repeated contact with humanity revealed a decisive technical superiority of Jericho.

For centuries, the scientists of Jericho have been developing in the field of cybergenetics. They studied various methods of combining living and nonliving tissues, grew the most appropriate genetic material, and sought to improve the human body and mind.

The sole purpose of the first experiments was to compensate for the shortcomings of the human physical shell. Thus, the lost eye in battle was replaced by an implant - not yet different from the original, but already more alert, more durable. In the vocal cords implanted modulator, which allows you to control overtones, subordinating someone else's will. The brain became complicated to the level of a super-computer, and soon a neural network was created that linked the superintelligence of the Jericho. Jericho bet on the technological path of development, which very quickly acquired the character of religion. Representatives of this faction began to modify their bodies from early childhood, and few of them retained fully human appearance in adulthood.

Severe and uncommunicative, the Jericho people jealously guarded their many secrets and killed them without any hesitation even for the opportunity to get any information about the technology that is still unknown to them.

Another distinctive feature of Jericho is fanatical devotion to the leader. Once this leader was Bartle.

Nowadays

When the portal storm subsided and the Jericho remained on the periphery tried to contact their relatives, the answer was silence. Subsequent expeditions to the Jericho sectors shocked not only Jericho. The whole race has completely disappeared: drifting cities, fleet, people.

The remaining property of Jericho on the planets and orbits is controlled by various kinds of AI. New ship models continue to descend from shipyards, technologies are developing, albeit at a slower pace than when these AIs were working in the same network with people. Executed contracts are issued and automatically paid. There is a service of friendly guests and their equipment. But this only underlines the eerie desolation that prevails in the systems of Jericho. And the thought involuntarily creeps in that this streamlined mechanism no longer needs people. Attempts to find out from the managers of AI, where and under what circumstances the whole Jericho race disappeared, did not yield any results.

Despite the fact that the ships of Jericho under the control of AI continue to patrol the space of Jericho, cybers and сrystallides are increasingly being encountered here. Like the pirates who want to profit from the property left unattended, which belonged to one of the greatest cosmic powers. The day is not far off when representatives of the Federation or the former Empire will claim these territories.

Rare daredevils, who were the first to decide to pop into the once closed systems of Jericho, found out that some drifting cities still remained, but they do not communicate. Scanning these cities shows possible infection with the biomorph virus. This led researchers to the hypothesis that Jericho had left his sector to avoid infection. Or that infection could not be avoided and the city of Jericho were sent to the stars, so as not to spread the infection.

As a result, all that remains of Jericho is the Mendes Family, and this small faction will have to put a lot of effort into reviving Jericho's former might.

Sectors of former Jericho

Jericho factions

Old

Raid

Condition: Gone

Past

Earlier, almost all of the Jericho families had their own fighting forces, some of which were contributed to a collective force of elite pilots called Raid. Under the command of Bartle himself, the Raiders launched daring attacks against foes from bases of Jericho into the depths of space. After their defeat at the hands of the Vanguard and the death of Bartle, the society of Jericho was no longer monolithic. Jericho was then run by a council of the most wealthy and powerful of the families, who consolidate their forces into one force, commanded by various family leaders. Raid is now the elite of the Jericho pilots, directed by the Board of Families. For the Jericho, earning the right to represent their family as a member of the elite Raid was a great honor, and so Raiders allocated its best ships and pilots.

After war

Currently, most of the Raid units have disappeared with Jericho and his Families. But the mercenaries say that in the depths of space, you can still find separate groups that monitor infected territories and cities.

Sentinels (Techs)

Condition: Modified

Past

Initially, during the reign of Bartle, Jericho warships designated "Technologists" were designed at the shipyards owned by various families. These ships were built to be the most technologically advanced ships of the time. After the collapse of the Jericho command system, resulting from the death of Bartle, the best Jericho ship designers kept to themselves. Now they own their own production facilities and are ready to build advanced ships for pilots of the various families. Among their recent achievements include a mind-interface control system, meaning that the pilot actually merges with the ship's systems, allowing greater control and precision.

After war

Despite the fact that Human Technologists disappeared along with Jericho, in the sectors of this race there are many Technological objects under AI control. These objects continue to act like a single faction and call themselves the Sentinels. Supervisors distribute tasks to any loyal performers and reward them for their implementation.

The objectives of the Sentinels are not clear. According to one of the versions, the Technologists left them to look after the secrets of Jericho, which they could not take with them. According to another, Technologists have finally merged with their machines in order not to fall under the influence of the biomorph virus, and now they live a “digital” life. However, there is no evidence for this, and this is more a legend than a full version.

New

Mendes Family

The Rebellious Family of Jericho, which, in the course of the Invasion, departed from the Bartle sector to the periphery and settled there. At the moment it is the only remaining Jericho Family, since during the portal storm the rest of Jericho disappeared.

They did not leave their sectors (as the rest of the Families did), obeying the will of the High Censor. But no higher goal, clearly explained to members of the Family, is not behind his decision. The Head of the Family was frantic, but he had no right to lead the Family alone. They say that the cause was the loss by the hierarch of his own family (relatives) in the tragedy that happened during the evacuation. However, the Mendes-dependent Toro Family left with all the others, which broke many strong family ties and led to a considerable number of hidden dramas.

In fact, now the Mendes Family lives without a clear goal, trying to maintain its habitual way in the changed circumstances. What is interesting, forced to more actively contact with refugees, mercenaries, travelers and just residents of the surrounding systems, who turned to the Family for help, Mendes did not turn away from them. And, although this is not an official position, and the top management still distanced itself from these concerns, it has now become real to receive Family assistance not in word but in deed. For Mendes's hierarchs, this is a chance, while other Families do not interfere, to establish long-term ties with the region, to enlist support and new opportunities, which may work in the future to enter the Senior level.

Revenants

The secret organization, originating from the few remaining followers of Frontier (the future Jericho), who did not leave the Solar System. Agents of Revenants to this day are in many human structures. The goals of the Revenants remained unchanged since the time of the Frontier - the search for the Precursors.

After the return of the followers of Frontier already in the capacity of Jericho, the Revenants became a full-fledged Family, but betrayed it. The Jericho believers believe that the Revenants perverted Bartle’s teachings, and they are a threat to humanity. From the point of view of the Revenants, Jericho forgot about the search for the Precursors and turned their common faith into the cult of the personality of Bartle.

Until recently, a little-known group, which for a long time did not leave the shadows. It has its own laboratories and shipyards for the construction of ships. He is armed even with cruisers, which he uses in his missions. It has well-protected bases as "Naberia-392 complex". It differs from other groups by a special division of soldiers into distinct roles. The group behaves very boldly, not hesitating to make raids on heavily fortified military and civilian objects. They are led by a certain Miss Summer, one of the most wanted criminals.

In the war with Aliens, the Revenants kidnapped and converted people, infected cities and whole planets with the biomorph virus.

Probably involved in many terrible events across the galaxy.

Cybers

Scum of Jericho society, have become dependent on cyber implantation. These are mostly former Technologists, since they were the ones who flirted more than others with deep human-machine interaction, which is hard to imagine without extensive implantation.

Rejected by Jericho, the Cybers were for a long time under the strong influence of the Revenants and absorbed their religious attitude towards the Forerunners. But, not having the knowledge of the Revenants, they spread this attitude to any objects and artifacts of the Aliens. Including the objects of Crystallides, which the Revenants perceived as enemies, and their objects were called false relics.

During the war, portals were opened to the Alien World and special beacons were installed to attract the Crystallides. Cybers gained access to these Alien technologies over the years working for Revenants.

Liu Family

Had its own production and research centers. Developed and produced ships and weapons.

It ceased to exist as a result of infection with a biomorph virus, which is now called the Liu Virus.

Bosco Family

Had its own production and research centers. Developed and produced ships and weapons.

Gone with the rest of Jericho.

Saladin Family

Had its own production and research centers. Developed and produced ships and weapons.

Gone with the rest of Jericho.

Yamato Family

Had its own production and research centers. Developed and produced ships and weapons.

Gone with the rest of Jericho.

Characteristics of Jericho Ships

Strong Shields (up to +35-40% volume than other factions, +15 pts. resistance, +10% regeneration on small ships and up to +53% on destroyers)
Average Speed and Agility
Weak Hull
Special modifier that redirects collisions and 'hull damage' effects to shield - Multipurpose shield.

Jericho ships are middle-of-the-road between the Empire's strength and the Federation's speed. In contrast to the Empire their durability is given by shield rather than hull strength.