Icarus: Kara Mariasha und Nexus Terror

Icarus haben mal wieder neue Artworks, den Nexus Terror und Kara Mariasha.

The Nexus Terror

One of the most powerful weapons at the Nexus’ disposal is fear. With their morale broken, an enemy force or population is much easier to conquer.
In the days of the ancient Nexus, there was a legend that spoke of monsters that stalked the forests and abducted children. These monsters were rumoured to be enormous, over seven feet tall, and wore the bones of the murdered children as trophies.
As the Nexus became more advanced, began exploring the stars, and joined the Council; the tales of these monsters, these Terrors, faded away, becoming little more than a threat used to keep Nexus children in line. If such creatures ever did exist on Nexus, they have long since died, as there have been no recorded sightings of them in the time since the Nexus joined the Council.
The fear the stories caused has stayed with the Nexus all that time though.
During the second Nexus war, which would change the shape of the galaxy, Varakos remembered these ancient tales. He knew that humans were already afraid of Nexus, and that they had similar stories of monsters that they told their children.
Varakos used this as an opportunity to wage physiological war, which he knew to be almost as damaging as physical confrontation. He gathered together his most formidable warriors and equipped them in the image of the ancient Terrors.
Covered head-to-toe in dark clothing, with no exposed skin, black armour, and adorned with the bones of fallen enemies. Varakos gave them weapons that were known to cause fear and panic, such as flamethrowers, and toxic grenades.
And so the Nexus Terror was born.

Fear in the Hearts of Men

Varakos knew that deploying this new unit in a regular warzone would be no good; he needed word of this terrible new force to spread. So he sent them to a small human world with a very specific task.
They were to steal the children from a village, and murder some –but not all – of the adults.
The Terrors moved from town to town, taking the children, and slaughtering most of the adults. They began wearing the bones of those they had taken, and word began to spread of the bone-covered monsters that stole children in the night.
By the time the Alliance sent troops to the region, the Nexus had withdrawn. Over the following months, the group of Terrors moved from world to world, raiding towns, and stealing children. The abduction and murder of Alliance children spread across all of Alliance space, and was a much discussed news topic.
The panic caused by the arrival of Terrors led to many worlds falling because the Nexus forces were able to secure such a strong foothold early in the invasion.
As the second Nexus war drew to its climax, the battle of Nexus Gate, Varakos ordered his Terrors to scatter. By this stage, he knew that the war was almost over, and the Nexus Separatist Movement would lose. So he tasked his Terrors with disappearing, biding their time, and waiting for the right time to return and strike fear into the hearts of men once more.
In the last few months, there have been reports from small worlds across the galaxy of children being abducted and murdered by creatures clad in bones. And it has not been only human worlds, but worlds belonging to all those who the Separatist Movement call their enemy.

Kara Mariasha

Kara Mariasha was born to wealthy parents on the core world of Kairo. Much of the original population of Kairo were descended from members of the Egyptian Republic of Earth. The planet’s name is a bastardization of Egypt’s capital, Cairo.
Kara attended the finest schools on Kairo, and when she was 16, having passed her school exams in the top 10% of her class, she was sent to the early enrolment college for the Alliance Officer program.
She excelled within the program, and graduated as a lieutenant in the Alliance Army. She was assigned to the 323rd Alliance Army, and joined their fleet en-route to border patrol manoeuvres on the southern fringes of Council space.
At aged 20, Kara was given the rank of Captain, and began leading ground actions against pirates and smugglers. By 22, she had advanced to the rank of Major, and was the rising star of the southern fringe. Higher ups in Alliance Strategic Command began to take notice of her success rate, and word of the incredible loyalty she inspired in her troops had reached them. Within a year she was promoted to Colonel, with her ceremony being overseen by a member of the Galactic Alliance Strategic Command.

The Second Nexus War

When the war broke out, the 323rd were still performing border patrol manoeuvres on the southern fringe. They were recalled, and tasked with holding the Alliance fringe world, Sapphire.
The Nexus eventually arrived at Sapphire, bombing the surface from orbit before invading en mass. Sapphire had no planetary defences to speak of, so the Nexus were able to gain a strong foothold within the first few days.
Colonel Mariasha requested assistance from GASC, but was denied. The Nexus had just razed an Alliance world name Aros, and were pushing deeper into Alliance territory. Afraid they would ultimately reach the core worlds, and perhaps even Earth. The 323rd were on their own.
The Nexus occupation of Sapphire lasted three months, and towards the end, what was left the population had taken to living underground, hiding from the Nexus.

Operation Silent Night

After months of silence, GASC finally made contact with the resistance on Sapphire. Kara was told that there was an Alliance strike force passing in two days to assist. She was given orders to disable the Nexus air defences around their stronghold, to allow reinforcements to land.
She gathered the soldiers she had left, as well as any volunteers she could find and set out for the city where the Nexus had established their stronghold.
Her group was able to fight its way to the command centre where the Nexus anti-air was controlled from. Over the course of six hours of brutal close quarters combat, the group was able to secure the compound and disable the defences. Kara gave the word that the Alliance strike force could begin landing. The strike force did not reply, but instead began bombarding the surface.
Sapphire acted as a communication hub for the region, and over the course of their occupation, the Nexus had managed to begin intercepting Alliance communication. This had resulted in defeats across the region, and GASC had made the decision it would cost less in resources to reduce the planet to rubble than it would to engage in a war of attrition.
So the Galactic Alliance Strategic Command, the organisation Kara had trusted, betrayed her. The area her and her troops were in was bombed, and in the explosions, the building Kara was in collapsed. As she was crushed by the falling debris, she was sure she was dead.
The rubble from the bombardment had pinned her right arm, crushing it. She was found two days later by a Nexus scout party. Barely conscious, hypothermic, and severely dehydrated, she was dragged from the rubble by the Nexus and loaded into a truck filled with wounded humans.
The Nexus healed those they could, and killed the rest. Kara’s right arm was amputated, and she was given fluids. Chained to a bed in a Nexus “hospital”, she recovered, before being loaded into a drop ship and sold into slavery.
She was taken to a Nexus slave colony where she worked in the kitchens. With only one arm, there was little she could do except serve the slop to the other slaves. She remained in the colony for almost a year, until the battle of Nexus Gate, and the surrender of the Nexus forces. A Praesidian ship arrived at the colony a few weeks later and chased off the Nexus who remained. Kara and her fellow prisoners were taken to a nearby Praesidian world to recover while arrangements where made to return home.

After the War

Angry at being abandoned and nearly killed by the Alliance, Kara was able to slip through the cracks and avoid being sent home. As far as the Alliance was concerned, Kara Mariasha was dead.
She found a local thief, whom she convinced to hack into her and her parents’ bank accounts. She transferred what money she had saved, as well as the compensation package her parents had been paid when she was announced dead, to a new account. With her new wealth, she decided to set out on her own. She purchased a small ship and booked a place on a transport vessel to the eastern fringe, mercenary territory.

Anubis

She used her money to pay for a new arm, as well as hire a few mercenaries. She called her group Anubis, after the ancient Egyptian God.
Anubis began taking mercenary jobs; usually hijacking Alliance supply ships. Anubis became more and more wealthy, and soon, Kara was employing dozens of mercenaries. Most of the men and women she hired were ex-Alliance, who, like her, were bitter towards their former leaders.
Within a few years, Anubis had become one of the most notorious mercenary groups on the eastern fringe. They control most of the weapons trafficking in the region, and have more members than almost any other group working in the area.

Link: Icarus