ARES] Faction Information

[Fab]

Advanced Research Section

“By Our Hand, Thy Kingdom Come”

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I. Introduction

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ARES, the Advanced Research Section, operates in the shadows of the Corsair Council, a secretive paramilitary-technological cult driven by a hunger for supremacy. Born from the ambitions of military industrialists, warlords, ignored scientists, and artifact magnates, ARES was forged to sidestep the Empire’s bureaucratic chains. Its mission: to achieve technological and military dominance through radical, often unethical, and sometimes forbidden experimentation - methods even the Corsairs would deem excessive.

II. Origin

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ARES began as a bold experiment, a clandestine alliance of brilliant minds and ruthless powerbrokers, unshackled by law and fueled by vast private wealth. Its founders sought to push beyond the Empire’s reach, pursuing breakthroughs by any means necessary. But over decades, perhaps from its very inception, ARES changed. Isolation warped its purpose. Exposure to the enigmatic Daam-K’vosh ruins, active artifacts, and alien technologies began to unravel its rational core.

What started as scientific curiosity spiraled into obsession. Operatives saw patterns - messages - in the chaos of their discoveries. Reason gave way to ritual. Data became scripture. Subtle signs marked the shift: cryptic jargon crept into reports, meetings grew eerily silent, and operatives bore neurological sigils branded as “integration discipline.” Practical augmentations gave way to ceremonial implants. Laboratories transformed into sanctums. Sacrifice, once a metaphor, became chillingly literal.

ARES’s philosophy mutated. Humanity was no longer merely superior - it was divine. Aliens, whether flesh or machine, were not just threats but heresies. What was once a research division became a zealous priesthood armed with code, fire, and steel in a quest for transcendence through relentless experimentation.

III. Recruitment

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ARES doesn’t recruit - it chooses.

Its targets are carefully selected: influential figures, hidden operatives, or those close to power, each chosen for their potential. Some are public icons; others thrive in obscurity. What unites them is their value to ARES’s cause. Their selection is no accident. A promotion, a transfer, a perfectly timed mystery - each is orchestrated to draw them closer.

Indoctrination begins subtly, long before the formal invitation. Social media shifts, stress mounts, options dwindle. The world reshapes around them until ARES’s truth feels like the only truth. By the time an invitation arrives - if it ever does - they’re already believers.

Those who embrace ARES’s vision find their lives transformed. Doors open, resources flow, and a sense of purpose takes root. Subtle, yet undeniable, like a guiding hand. But resistance has a cost. Blackmail, scandal, or silence awaits those who push back. Some vanish; others fall from grace. ARES doesn’t ask twice. In the end, everyone serves - whether they choose to or not.

IV. Operations

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Every move ARES makes - every conflict it sparks, every alliance it builds, every life it upends - is a calculated step toward a singular goal: advancement. The battlefield isn’t the front line but the laboratory. Victories are measured not in conquered systems or destroyed fleets but in breakthroughs - a new weapon, a decoded Daam-K’vosh script, an augmentation that redefines humanity’s limits. These are worth more than a dozen enemy cruisers reduced to ash.

To achieve this, ARES manipulates the Corsair Empire’s political machine. Agents ensure research projects receive endless funding, materials, and “volunteers,” often without scrutiny. Conflicts are ignited to justify bloated budgets. Panic is sown to hasten timelines. Strategic losses are staged to secure “emergency” grants. Behind every accounting error lies a hidden lab, buried in black rock, humming with forbidden experiments.

Even allies - Hogosha cartels, Unioner enclaves, Samura branches - are tools. ARES uses them as fronts: pharmaceutical firms testing chemical controllers, logistics chains smuggling restricted tech, data centers quietly siphoning state secrets. These aren’t conspiracies but meticulously designed systems, feeding research and shielding discoveries. Laws are rewritten, investigations buried, and those who ask too many questions are replaced.

Yet ARES’s strength is also its weakness. Its secrecy relies on extreme compartmentalization - operatives follow orders without understanding the whole. This ensures security but breeds fragility. Miscommunication festers. A single errant directive can unravel months of work. Rogue cells emerge, each convinced they serve ARES’s true will. The organization is a distributed intelligence, sometimes blind to its own plans.

Still, it presses forward. Every betrayal, every death, every silenced voice is a step toward the Final Revelation - a moment when humanity, perfected by mind and machine, transcends the need for struggle. ARES doesn’t seek mere dominance or an end to the Empire’s conflicts. It seeks to redefine existence itself.

The plans are laid before our eyes. We only must follow.

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OORP: Using a different approach, more information about this quasi-faction will be revealed through forum roleplay. It is up to the readers to piece the faction's lore together, shall they feel interested. Recruitment is by invitation only. This is a RP-heavy faction with minimal in-game presence... for now.

Message me on Discord to join or arrange a new RP story. One of our agents will be with you shortly.