Imperium News Night

[Haruspex 424]

Carrier strike groups take part in maritime exercise in the Ranke Sea.

 

The Imperial Navy Command announced Today that Maritime forces Perya, consisting of the 4th Carrier Strike Group and the 2nd Carrier Strike Group are participating in a naval security exercise (NSE) in the Ranke Sea, over the next few days.

The 4th Carrier Strike Group, composed of aircraft carrier HIN Tyfhc Mekrd (Dawn's Light), AA-class air defense destroyer HIN Creamt(Shield), and the Cfunt-class frigate Terath, along with the 2nd Carrier Strike Group, composed of the aircraft carrier HIN Osis, guided-missile cruiser HIN Najor, and guided-missile destroyer HIN Jawlein, are going to be conducting dissimilar aircraft training, a nighttime gun exercise (NGEX), and a photo exercise.

“HIA/HAD aircraft sea versions operated by the Imperial Navy will conduct air-to-air combat and tanking (refueling) training,” said Cmdr. Yanith Zun, Carrier Air Wing Nine’s operation officer (CAG-Ops) embarked aboard the HIN Osis. “The HAD S39 Jeban (Viper) Fighters will performed touch-and-go procedures on the [Osis] flight deck.”

The Imperial Navy has had an issue in the past with its territorial waters being the subject of breach by those within and beyond the Occidental Region. To combat this, the HIN will be conducting exercises in support of regional security and stability. The exercise concludes with a photo exercise, capturing the strength through unity that national navies have while operating.

Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Occidental Region, connecting the Ranke Sea and strategic choke points near the edges of Haru territorial water claims.

Edited April 19, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

This is Andera Valk of the HNN and in front of the Cbayganc uv dra Vydranmyht (Speakers of the Fatherland), the Crown Prince, Heir to the Throne, Ji'mar Dolis Elemmiire is addressing the gathered councilors and City-State Lord's, and House representatives just days till the official funeral f his father, and former Emperor, Sa'Karn Renor Elemmiire. We go live, to the speech now being given;

A common misconception has been summed up some under the influence of others impressions made by others during our time concerning 'The Decline of the Lands. Is it then really to be the end of our history and of our peoples? No! we cannot believe it. This age must be called, not the decline of the Realm, but the resurrection of the peoples of this fair land of ours! Only that which was old, decayed and evil perishes; and let it die! But new life will spring up. Faith can be found, if the will is there. Our leadership has the will, and faith is with the people....

So we have come together on this day to prove symbolically that we are more than a collection of individuals striving one against another, that none of us is too proud, none of us too high, none is too rich, and none too poor, to stand together before the face of Tyng Sudran and of the world in this indissoluble, sworn community. And this united nation, we have need of it. When was a leadership at any time faced with a heavier task than that which governs the Haru citizenry? What have we, compared with the wealth of other lands, the wealth of other kingdoms, the wealth of other peoples, with the possibilities of living that they possess? What have we? One thing only; we have our people.

Either it is everything or it is nothing. On it alone can we count. On it alone can we build. Everything that we have created up to the present we owe solely to its goodness of heart, its capacity, its loyalty, its decency, its industry, its sense of order. And if I weigh all this in the balance, it seems to me to be more than all that the rest of the world can offer us. So this, I believe, can be our message to the other peoples on this first of May: 'You need have no fear that we want anything of you.

We are proud enough to confess that we ourselves own that treasure, which you certainly could not give us - our people.' I could, as leader, think of no more glorious, no prouder task in this world than to serve this people. One might give me continents, but I would rather be the poorest citizen among this people. And with this people we must and shall succeed in achieving also the tasks that are still to come.

What we want lies clear before us: not war and not strife. Just as we have established peace within our own people, so we want nothing else than peace with the world. For we all know that our great work can succeed only in a time of peace. But just as the leadership of the nation in the domestic sphere has never sacrificed its honor in its relations with the people, so it can never surrender the honor of the people in its dealings with the world.

We know what we owe to the world. May the world come to understand what they can never deny to a proud people, and above all may they comprehend one thing: the Haru of today is not the Haru of yesterday - just as little as the Haru of yesterday was the Haru of today.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

Joint venture between HIA and government agency on developing system for collection and analysis of open source data

Termed S.C.A.O.S.D. (system for collection and analysis of open source data), HIA and the Esbaneis Calinedo Canjelac (ECC - Imperium Security Services), have come together in a somewhat controversial moment to create a better way to track down potential hazards to the nation via an individual's digital footprint.

“Today, one of the biggest challenges that intelligence officers around the world face every day is the information overload in open channels, how to monitor it and distill from it real intelligence to identify illegal activity,” says Huran Vek Elemmiire (HIA Chief Technology Officer & Director of Special Projects). “The solution we have developed, which is already being used by intelligence organizations and other customers around the world, is able to automatically and quickly examine huge amounts of information from the Internet, social networks and web applications, and to extract from it, actionable intelligence. The system is modular, open architecture and scalable and can be very simply adapted by clients to deal with the tasks they require.”

S.C.A.O.S.D.'s Target Profiler System is an integrated, enterprise-grade intelligence and investigation-support solution, used to conduct business intelligence, and criminal and terror investigations for enterprise organizations, financial institutions and government agencies.

The system has various configurable capabilities:

Link analysis – identifying social connections, similar preferences and common groups between suspects at multiple levels.

Sentiment analysis capabilities – analyzing the target’s posts and identifying feelings and word anomalies.

Face analytics – identifying the target in multiple pictures captured by a profiling process, including characteristics such as age, race, emotion, whether the suspect is wearing lenses or glasses, and many other unique features.

Identifying whether the suspect is already in the system, based on their picture, and indicating a confidence level.

Indicating on a map the last location of a target, using data collected from social networks and websites.

TimeLine – viewing and analyzing all target posts and social network activities, easily finding the most-liked post and all relations between targets according to likes, tagging and comments activity.

HIA wins contract in support of guided-missile destroyer modernization

Haruspex International Armaments and its subsidiary Haruspex Naval and Research Technologies HNRT, has been awarded a $53.7 million contract in support of guided-missile destroyer modernization, according to the Ministry of Naval Affairs.

The Ministry of Naval Affairs announced on Monday an agreement provides that supplies delivered to continental Imperium locations at various Navy bases, shipyards, repair facilities and contractor facilities. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Perya Division, is the Imperial Navy’s agent for the coordination and planning of all the engineering and technical support services for the Modernization Program.

The Navy modernization program provides a full spectrum of technical support encompassing all phases of the alteration/installation process.

The installation is accomplished in whole or in phases that minimize interruption in ship operating schedules while maximizing the capacity of type Commander and Naval Sea System Command agencies to upgrade and modernize hull, mechanical and electrical and electronic systems.

The installation process consists of several phases, including advance planning, ship check, assessments, fabrication, prototype evaluation and installation, final design shipboard installation, testing and completion.

Work is expected to be completed by April 2024.

[Haruspex 424]

Haru Imperial Legion and the Ministry of Armament Technologies discloses new Long Range Strike System.

On April 25, the HIL Armaments Contracting Command posted a notice, that gave further details on the capabilities of its new Long Range Strike System (LRSS) Extended Range (ER) Modification in support of Precision Fires Rocket & Missile Systems (PFRMS) Project Office (PO).

According to a notice, the LRSS ER Modification or “Deadeye” strike missile effort has been awarded under Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) signed 29 March 2019.

The proposed contract action is a research and development effort for the development and qualification of a hardware design modification to the LRSS/ER/A/01.

This modification extends the range to more than double the range of the existing LRSS/ER/A/01, increases rocket motor diameter, removes forward canards and Control Actuation System, removes the spinning tail section, adds an aft-mounted Control Actuation System with planar/foldable fins, adds a sided mounted proximity sensor, and creates volume in the nose for future technologies.

Test quantities will vary based on best practices and testing needs.

The urgent material release (UMR) option is for LRSS ER-U (Unitary) and LRSS ER-AW (Alternative Warhead). The UMR is for the rapid deployment of a critical capability to the warfighter and reduction of the short range engagement burden on an already constrained Legionary Tactical Missile System (LTMS).

The new LRSS ER will be a surface-to-surface, all weather, precision-strike guided missile fired from the Valkirie MARS (MLRS) and the Tajem (Devil) High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HMARS).

The LRSS ER missile will defeat fixed land targets 60-499 kilometers away, and get there faster than current systems.

Haru Imperial Navy Sends a Ship to the South Pole

The HIA made Myhla (Lance, CK004), a Cay Kut (Sea God) Class MPAAS is heading from the Perya Naval Base, and towards the Southern Pole. It is one of only four trips to the pole and the first since 2005, the release said. The Myhla will be accompanied by two Dekan Class frigates. The HIN Frigate Cdnegan (Striker, DC008), HIN Frigate Cbayn (Spear, DC012) will sail with the larger Myhla and carry extra personnel and equipment.

The Myhla, Cdnegan and Cbayn are specially modified for this particular area of Eurth. They are considered to be cutters, or capable of navigating ice strewn seas and or crack through solid fields of such. 

The Perya-based crew and its scientists are apart of expedition with the Ministry of Science to measure air, ice, snow, seawater, meltwater and ocean bottom sediment baselines for the region, as the Imperial Navy plans to increase its presence as more frozen passages along the Arctic Ocean open to fishing, shipping and oil exploration.

As polar ice continues to melt and the Imperial Navy looks ahead to spending more and more time at the planet's southernmost stretches.

Opening Borders to Tagmatium

The Occidental Passport Act, being an idea by the Ministry of Travel and Security, would allow citizens of neighboring country Tagmatium allowed access within that of the Imperium. This would eventually be co-opted to represent other countries within the Occident as well.

The OPA will allow citizens to travel and reside within the Imperium with valid travel documentation (such as a passport, or a national identity card) is required to enter. Furthermore, as citizens of an Occidental country, those from Tagmatium are permitted to reside within Imperium territories should they wish to.

For non Haru-Citizenry any resident or visitor will require proof of identity for certain services, such as trains, airports, and age check for alcohol purchase. Usually any valid proof of identity is accepted, such as a driver licence. For services aimed at residents, like banking, picking up postal packages or dealing with authorities, sometimes only local identity documentation, along with passports and national identity cards, are accepted.

Further information can be found by visiting the Ministry of Travel and Security, or by visiting MTS.SIMH.org

 

[Haruspex 424]

Prathen, Sovereign Imperium of Machina Haruspex — Ji'mar Be'la Kyorl, the designated dynastic heir of Sa'Karn " The Wise " Renor Elemmiire, walked alongside the hearse carrying the body of his father, and former emperor, through leaf covered downtown Prathen today, leading a nation wide funeral that provided early glimpses of who will be amongst the new powerbase of the country.

Leading the funeral alongside and behind former crown prince, now named emperor, was a familiar mix of royal nobles, house lords, and high ranking military officers. The group included elderly stalwarts from the days of Sa'Karn and his father, the enigmatic, Hakon the Fourth. But younger officials who expanded their influence while playing crucial roles in grooming the son as Sa'Karn's successor were also represented.

Most prominent were the two men whose names seldom fail to pop up when Imperium watchers try to dissect the palace intrigues in the capital, Prathen: Garen Thadias Orn, a long time close personal friend and leader of the Seventh Circle, a powerful ministry of information collection and dissemination services and Vicelord Kaorin Renor Elemmiire, who leads the Imperium's national service legionary's general staff.

Emperor Ji'mark walked with one hand on the hearse and the other raised in salute. Neat rows of soldiers in ebony uniforms stood, crisply saluting, in front of the Royal mausoleum, where Sa'Karn's body had been lying in state since his death was announced on April 4th.

When the funeral motorcade stopped before the soldiers at the start of a twenty-five-kilometer procession through Prathen, they gave a last salute and a military band played the national anthem to liven the spirits of those who came to give their goodbyes to our beloved ruler. 

[Haruspex 424]

More civilians leave former northern rebel enclave of Ttoile as Imperial Army is authorized to be deployed.

A small group of Cussian-wildland civilians left the rebel-held enclave of the western former capital of Ttoile on Sunday while the area's largest armed rebel group said it would resist the territorial expansion by the Haru.

Capturing the enclave would mark one of the most significant victories for the forces of our newly crowned Emperor. The western region of the Cussian territory is larger and more populated, with some 400,000 people believed to be living there, trapped under a relentless pressure of the wildland tribal rebel groups that operate in the area of Kalupsis.

The imperial military advances have apparently also increased the fear and confusion among residents and armed groups inside the territory. Local council member Iyad Asthas told our journalists who've advanced into the area ahead of the imperial army, said residents and local militia authorities are now considering evacuating the Ttoile before Army Group Hades arrives.

[Haruspex 424]

Army Group Hades (AGH) legionary, backed by regulars of the Haru Imperial Legionary, have begun launching missiles strikes against a position of Cussian rebels and militiamen loyal to the enclave of warlords that operate more or less with impunity out of the Kalupsis province.

A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Hades legionary began the attack in the Jaribat area of the border township of Hamaii, after they had carried out aerial reconnaissance by an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Later in the day, AGH Legionary fired a domestically-designed and –manufactured Zelzal-1 (Earthquake-1) ballistic missile at the outskirts of Hamaii after witnessing local forces in the area massing in the former Janus military base near the southwestern border nearest the AGH staging and eventual deployment grounds.

There were no immediate reports about possible casualties or the extent of damage caused.Separately, Haru Aeroforce Wing fighter jets carried out three airstrikes against an area within the interior of Hamaii, near its once extensive railyards and transportation hubs.

[Haruspex 424]

Just hours ago, Haru Imperial Legionary this evening repelled three big attacks by militants in the former Cussian territory of Hamaii province, the Ministry of Defence said. Legionary sources on the ground have been quoted as saying somewhere in the neighborhood of roughly five hundred Cussian militants, seven tanks, and about thirty pickups mounted with heavy machine guns had taken part an attempted attack on staging forces near and pushing past the northern border.

The ministry said that Cussian militants based in Hamaii had also launched a missile attack on the forward operating AGH base of Hmey air base on Wednesday, but that their missiles were either shot down or did not reach their target. 

Activists and rebels say opposition fighters have been on the retreat of late, most recently a village on the edge of their stronghold in northwestern Beautancus. Naji al-Mustafa, a spokesman for armed factions, says the fighters lost control of Kfar on Wednesday in an overnight counteroffensive, as AGH forces officially crossed into the area and pressed an overwhelming presence. By morning, Haru Imperial Legionary forces had begun deploying occupational forces into the area, seizing locals for re-education and resettlement.

[Haruspex 424]

Ladies and Gentlemen, our special broadcast tonight is of our southern neighbor, known now since our return to the wider world as Arhomaneia. By whatever name our honorable friend, or our worthiest of foes so wishes to call themselves, so be it. We know this name now, let it be burned into the minds and hearts of all loyal citizenry. 

They crow to us now, about the decency of war, and the military activities, specifically if you will remember, when we covered the naval exercises in what we view as the Ranke Sea, and is known to them as Krankes Thalassa. Somewhere, they wish to rationalize this with their view of a deity and that such makes it their divine right, to call upon the Haru peoples, to denounce our livelihoods and our dreams of a greater future, to pad their own nest. 

I say, let them continue to crow. If they wish to embargo our trade rights, then perhaps we should show them our spears. Maybe running them throu...

Citizenry, foreign residents and our audience abroad. We at Imperial News Nightly deeply apologize for our previous anchors responses. Following a removal of anchorman Fas'ri Vendal, senior correspondent, concerning inappropriate responses and opinions, INN shall take a non-political stance from this point on in handing out news and stories that concern our citizenry and our foreign audiences concerning life within the Imperium and its activities.

[Haruspex 424]

On the 6th of July, the Council of the Nine and Strategic Legion Command, announced the start of airstrikes, supported by rapid reaction force artillery attacks.

As many as 400 HIAF aircraft have been routed to support in the air campaign that has as of now been authorized. Reporters on the ground have been told that so far, a total of 1,026 bombs have already been dropped on twenty-eight targets located within four zones of operation in and around Hamai. HIAF aircraft struck 97% of their targets, and seriously damaged more than 80% of them. 708 of the bombs dropped were precision-guided munitions. 

On the 7th of this month, HIAF air attacks on rebel positions around Hamai and near the headquarters at Paliq after the rebels and their warlord commanders failed to comply with Taskforce Hades Army Group and HIL demands to surrender any and all forces in the city. Later in the evening, a missile strike from a MLRS regiment, against a key air defense radio relay tower at Lida, near Hamai Luka, while HIAF fighter-bombers hit the same targets with about a dozen precision-guided bombs commenced to further break the resolve of the warlords and irregular forces within Hamai and surrounding provisional territories, continued unabated following this mistaken response to our honorable forces in the area.

[Haruspex 424]

We here at Imperium News Nightly have just become aware of a decision by the Council of Nine and our newly crowned emperor. The Sovereign Imperium has adopted the first part of a new legislation packet to ship religious refugees to Arhomaneia from the added Cussian (Beautancus) territories. 

Adopted the first part of a new legislation packet to restrict the rights of said refugees in the Greater Imperium, denying them the right to work, sending them to mass deportation sites, and even allowing raids in search of “illegal” remainders, per the rights of individuals who identify as apart of this Christianity religion should they not be counted in the shipment to officials in Arhomaneia, and or Arhomaneian Peacekeepers on hand.

The Eighth Circle, of which heads the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Applications, has been appointed the overall government agency in charge of this affair, spurned to action via what some would call international intervention into our governing politics by our southern neighbor, Arhomaneia. The implications of this aside, this massive effort has already begun to turn its wheels. With logistics of the entire Eighth Circle being applied to the southern pass railyard, of which at one point linked to the borderlands of the Cussian territories by a few kilometers. This rail line also does the same skirting of Arhomaneian territory, making it initially the most viable option to deport millions of individuals.

Executed with compassion and the promise of resettlement, it can facilitate shelter, social services and a quick transition.

Done badly, when anti-refugee sentiment is high, a military base can become prison-like – a place where refugees are confined behind barbed wire, with unknown release dates. The Eighth Circle continues to circulate that any individual identified as a Christian will be housed there, if but temporarily and apart of the mass deportation of this religious minority to Arhomaneian holdings.

The Eighth Circle's stated policy toward refugees is to deny them asylum and deport them as soon as possible. That includes children. It is unclear whether the young refugees will have access to lawyers, education or social services. Although spoke-persons for the Eighth Circle have mentioned they will operate by international law on the matter, and that international peacekeepers and The Arhomaniki Red Cross will have full access to the facility and any individual residing there.

[Haruspex 424]

Drugs, human trafficking

Based on activities of the 70th Motor Rifle Regiment, Mzil Velven, and observers from the @Tagmatium Rules Peacekeepers, is the most comprehensive review of organised crime and related illicit activity in the Cussian region in more than five years.

It said the region's illicit drug business has been growing particularly fast over the past few years, pointing to the "unprecedented" and "dangerous" expansion in production and trafficking of meth.

Behind meth, heroin is the second most frequently trafficked drug in the northern territories, the report said, citing growing seizures within the region after advancing and later occupational forces began to crack down on Cussian rebels that were still in their zones of operation.

Separately, the report pointed out that migrant-trafficking networks in the northern territories and beyond are highly advanced and up until recently, have had no law enforcement to stand in their way.

"Typically warlords, the rebel movement had been using the trafficking and smuggling of people to exploit differences in economic development and demand for cheap labour," the report said from our field unit.

However in the last month or as our forces advances into the northern territories, this gross violation of human rights, has come to an end, at least in the zones of occupation. 

On the morning of June 17, 2019, Annad Tadfi rushed over to his brother’s six-story apartment building in Hamaii, Beautancus (Northern Territories), within the suburb district of Taliqe. Annad’s brother, Lattuf, lived on the ground floor with his wife, Samiha, their six children, and his mother, Amina. Other families had fled the city, leaving the building mostly vacant, but Amina was bedridden from diabetes, and medicine was in short supply.

“I had managed to find some insulin for my mother and I rushed over to bring it to her,” Annad told Eighth Circle Legionary and their wards, members of the Arhomaneian Peacekeeping effort, and the Arhomaniki Red Cross. “I was planning to return later that day with my wife and children to wait for the area to be liberated” from the Cussian Insurgency Front, which had made Hamaii the capital of its self-declared caliphate.

But two hours after Annad left his mother’s side, an artillery strike by the Warlords Coalition, destroyed the apartment building, killing Lattuf’s entire family.

Annad Tadfi is one of more than four hundred witnesses or survivors interviewed by Eighth Circle Legionary, which, along with the monitoring group Arhomaniki Red Cross, released their most comprehensive report Thursday on the coalition’s artillery campaign during the month or so long offensive against HIL forces in an attempt to retake the city.

Edited July 19, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

Hamaii Outskirts – A convoy of military ambulances carrying the first group of wounded and other civilians began leaving the eastern sector on Thursday, marking the start of the long-awaited pullout from the last rebel enclave in the embattled Northern-Territories city.

HIL wardog journalists showed live footage of a long convoy of ambulances and green buses driving out and crossing the Ramosk bridge, en route through government territory and into a rural, rebel-held part of the Tantalus province.

The evacuation is part of a cease-fire deal reached this week to have the opposition surrender their last foothold in Hamaii to HIL forces in control, rather than face a continued devastating ground and air offensive by HIL forces, that in the past weeks that chipped away at the rebel enclave. It will mark the end of the opposition’s control of eastern Hamaii.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the campaign to retake Hamaii.

Inga Sargtlin, spokeswoman for the Fifth Circle Medical Committee, told The Associated Press that 13 ambulances, each carrying two wounded people, and 20 buses, each carrying up to 50 people, left in the convoy. The evacuation included some critically wounded people.

“This is the first convoy today,” she said, adding that more are expected later in the day.

It was not immediately whether any rebels were among those evacuating in the first batch.

Plans to evacuate on Wednesday were scuttled when the area erupted in violence, raising the haunting possibility that all-out war could consume the city again. Much of eastern Hamaii has been reduced to a scene of devastation and rubble.

A rebel spokesman involved in the negotiation over Hamaii evacuations said that the HIL had made the demands about the villages besieged by rebels at the last minute, holding up the deal. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of ongoing negotiations.

HIL negotiation officers said overnight negotiations had reinforced a cease-fire deal to allow the rebels and civilians to leave eastern Hamaii. 

The handover of Hamaii’s remaining opposition-run neighbourhoods to HIL control would be a turning point in the annexation of the Northern-Territories, allowing HIL forces to control of most of the country’s urban centres.

Initially, the evacuation from Hamaii was to have begun at dawn Wednesday, but quickly derailed, descending into terrifying violence. Residents said unarmored HIL-Fifth Circle buses arrived in the pre-dawn hours at agreed upon meeting points, where the wounded were first in line to be evacuated after surviving weeks of intense fighting amid destroyed medical facilities and depleted supplies.

But they were turned away by rebel militias manning the checkpoints. Then violence erupted: shelling and then airstrikes. The rebels retaliated, at one point shelling the pro-HIL villages of Foua and Kfraya in Idlib and detonating a car bomb in a frontline area.

Residents, and medical staff described mayhem as volleys of shells rained down on the area where tens of thousands of civilians were trapped alongside rebels in gutted apartment buildings and other shelters.

On Thursday, a HIL army official, speaking by telephone to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said all preparations are ready for the evacuations.

“The evacuations will begin at any moment,” he said.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

It looks like a toy tractor. It's barely bigger than a gerbil. And it's super cute.

As Vector, a "home robot with personality" trundles around a Prathen conference table, it responds to questions ("What's the weather in Prathen?") and commands ("Wake up") much like Siri or Alexa would. Its square "face," which looks like an old CRT monitor, is remarkably expressive as it blinks its big green "eyes," emitting a series of squeaks and beeps, and answering questions in spoken Haru/English. It plays games and even "dances" to music.

"It's the first truly smart, interactive robotic character for the home that you can live with 24/7," said Pala Vek-Tucci, co-founder of Anki, the well-funded Prathen startup that developed Vector.

Vector can see, hear, feel, think and roam its environment, Vek-Tucci said. It's always on and connected to the cloud so it can keep learning, as well as look up information online.

"This is like a cross between your phone and your pet," said Wendy Ju, an assistant professor of human-robot interaction at Chel'De Yorn's Illuminate Tech. She compared it to a chatbot, or an artificial intelligence that can receive, understand and send messages: "It seems like a chatbot in a robot form factor. I've argued for a long time that chatbots should be able to move around."

Many people will enjoy a sense of companionship with a robot that can understand verbal communications and can reply in kind, she said. The device makes eye contact with humans, looking at them as they "converse."

"Vector's killer feature is that he's 'alive," said Ngu Hallas, Anki's head of communications. "That's how he's different than anything else on the market."

Initially Anki is pursuing a retail environment. Those who pre-order now, can order Vector for $200 for 30 days starting Wednesday, with delivery on Oct. 9. Vector will hit the mass retail market Oct. 12 for $250; a free developer's kit, for those who want to customize Anki with their own software, will be out next year.

Long-term, Anki has big ambitions.

"Our goal is working toward a robot in every home," Vek-Tucci said.

"Character" is a word the Vector team stresses. Vector's "face" can show over 1,500 animations to express emotions in a range of scenarios. For instance, it acts happy when its owner comes home from work and displays a different type of joy when it wins a game.

[Haruspex 424]

The first sign 

A 21st Century nuclear war might be command post sensors lighting up and aircraft radios buzzing as pilots notice a strange-looking cloud forming. Heat rises as ground troops a few dozen miles away feel the winds shift.

Satellite communications are out. So are some ground links.

HIL and Allied command posts can’t reach brigades in the field.

Forward deployed troops would see the intelligence finally come streaming in, followed by orders from the Combatant Command — strike back, use our tactical nukes if you must. And by the way, some unlucky troops will need to roll into that area to assess the damage, counterattack and aid any survivors.

A nuclear attack from an enemy — and potential HIL counter strike — is a scenario that’s drawing renewed attention from the Defense Ministry as the Haruspex Imperial Legionary prepares for the grim prospect of full-scale combat operations involving nuclear weapons.

It’d be horrible, retired Gen. Haza Vek Hallas, former head of Air Combat Command and current head of the National Defense Industrial Ministry, said of this hypothetical scenario that could happen under new doctrine.

All the complicating factors of a nuclear exchange just accentuates whatever problem you would have in a normal hostile environment, with a level of complexity that is an order of magnitude more difficult, Vek Hallas told Imperium News Night in a recent interview.

For the first time in decades, incorporating tactical-level targeting and being able to run maneuver operations in a post-nuclear blast area have returned to the thinking of even the lowest-ranking troops. Something most operational planners have ignored for decades.

Winning a nuclear ground war

The Military Defense Ministry's new plans were outlined in detail when the MDM recently published its new 60-page “Joint ­Publication No. 3/D/7/V Nuclear Operations” online. The ­document, prepared at the request of the Chiefs of Staff to the Emperor, was briefly available to the public but soon removed and placed in an online catalogue of “for official use only” documents.

The document reveals a fundamental change from the Cold War-era belief that nuclear war would result in an Armageddon-like catastrophe and “mutually assured destruction.”

The new plans reflect the modern battlefield where the number of countries with nuclear capabilities is growing rapidly, where asymmetric warfare is increasingly common and where the HIL is losing its technological edge over other near-peer military rivals.

The new plan bluntly states that “nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability. Specifically, the use of nuclear weapons will fundamentally change the scope of a battle and develop situations that call for commanders to win.”

And it calls their use “essential” to mission success.

Collectively, it amounts to a new prevail in conflict or fight to win doctrine, said Altar Nev'Vek, a national security analyst at the Federation of Haruspex Scientists. The Defense Department’s latest nuclear plan may be a reaction to the familiar strategy of using nuclear weapons in an effort to escalate to deescalate, Nev'Vek said.

Haruspex nuclear policy since 2000 has been to use smaller payloads in a conventional fight — low-yield or tactical — nuclear weapons to win key battles that could quickly end conflict and prevent full-scale nuclear war, according to a 2016 National Intelligence Council report.

Some experts see the doctrinal change as simply a way of getting back to the way nuclear conflict was viewed before the cold war in the aftermath of hostilities with then Beautancus, and later the civil war.

Before Beautancus, and later the civil war, every HIL artillery unit in the Occidental was nuclear capable. Every battalion had nuclear training, said Davon Grail, principal researcher at the VLC Corporation and career Army officer with a background in artillery.

That included defending nuclear weapon storage sites, anticipating effects of even howitzer 155 mm nuclear-enabled projectiles and working field exercises in mission oriented protective posture, or MOPP, gear.

We need to recover that capability, he said. There’s just a knowledge gap in the force.

Post-blast ground operations

The 2019 nuclear doctrine calls for legionnaires trained and prepared to conduct combat operations in a multi-theater post-nuclear environment.

The greatest and least understood challenge ­confronting troops in a nuclear conflict is how to operate in a post-nuclear detonation radiological environment, the publication states.

And it highlights the special physical and ­physiological hazards, and psychological effects of the nuclear ­battlefield, but notes that training and guidance are ­required for troops to accomplish their mission.

Commanders should know how nuclear weapon effects can affect personnel, equipment, and the dynamics of ­combat power. They should train for and implement survivability measures and techniques, according to the doctrine.

The dynamics of a post-nuclear blast environment have changed since the days of the Cold War and the Alliance with Tagmatium, as the HIL — and its adversaries — are increasingly dependent on complex ­communications systems.

A nuclear weapon unleashes an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that could completely disable electronic equipment, crippling communications and platforms, said Bry Fellas, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Logistical Assessments, former nuclear submariner and previous special assistant to the Fleet Lord of Naval Operations.

A nuclear blast detonated in the upper atmosphere would take out low-orbit satellites, which bigger HIL military systems rely on to communicate across regions and theaters, he said. HIL commanders or enemy forces could carefully calibrate both the yield of the weapon as well as the height of the blast in a way to specifically target communications systems rather than massive military or civilian casualties.

The EMP effect is not the side effect, Fellas said. In a lot of cases it’s the primary effect. It gets you massive catastrophic effect on electronics without casualties or infrastructure damage.

But, Vek Hallas said, though some capabilities would get knocked out, the services could still operate.

Would there be degradation? Yes. Would we try to find a way to mitigate it and work around it? Yes. It’s all of those things, he said.

Targeting options

The plan calls for geographic ­combatant commanders to provide guidance to the president regarding choices of nuclear weapons targets and the resulting mitigation of damage.

The commanders can nominate targets for nuclear options that would support their ongoing operations, according to the publication.

The doctrine calls for field ­commanders below the combatant commanders to make recommendations while intelligence selects targets, they work as a team, the objectives are then given to HNCCFS, which creates a target list of military objectives for the emperor.

In other words, commanders in the field would not only execute orders from the national command ­authority, but they would also participate in battle planning. This tends to normalize the possibility of nuclear war fighting, Grail said.

When targeting, the doctrine advises commanders they must consider the yield of the weapon, the height of burst, fallout, what weapon system will deploy the armament and the law of war governing what they can strike and when.

Preparing the force

HIL spokespersons told Imperium News Night that the joint doctrine change has not caused any expansion in their nuclear response mission or training.

The smallest branch, the Sargtlin Velven, for example has an estimated

1,634 personnel whose part or all of their job training is specific to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear tasks. These forces also contain entire units dedicated to CBRN response in the homeland and support theater operations in major combat.

The Nuclear Operations publication update as a desire to prepare conventional forces to operate in a nuclear environment, said Thrane Givens, deputy director of the Missile Defense Ministry at the Center for Strategic Studies and a former Imperial Army engineer.

It’s a reaction to the realities that we’re seeing, the kinds of threats and ­adversaries the High Command is turning its attention to, Williams said.

Tactical Nuclear Weapons

When asked for comment, HNCCFS directed Imperium News Night to Commanding Vice-Lord Hyten’s statement before the House of Lords in 2018.

New low-yield nuclear weapons and their funding was the centerpiece of HNCCFS’s testimony..

Hyten said he preferred submarines, rather than aircraft, be the delivery system for low-yield weapons. Because while low-yield payloads can be delivered by air, it is more challenging due to the difficulty of aircraft having to fight through a denied environment.

Those strikes could come from a variety of platforms, but the doctrine ­highlights the flexibility of using ­long-range bombers and dual-capable fighter aircraft for their mobility.

Tactical nuclear weapons include ­gravity bombs, short-range missiles, artillery shells, land mines, depth charges and torpedoes which are equipped with nuclear warheads, nuclear armed ground-based or shipborne surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles. Tactical nuclear weapons have specific features meant to enhance their battlefield characteristics, such as variable yield which allow their explosive power to be varied over a wide range for different situations.

Out at sea or in the skies

While ground troops would have the most immediate problems, the sea and air services face a host of their own concerns.

For sailors that means installing special air filters on ships and having replacements for extended ops. Also, they’ll have to button up the surface, which will need to be decontaminated by crews of specially trained sailors in protective suits.

Depending on the level of contamination, some ships might have to be pulled from the fight and even disassembled for cleaning, Grail said.

Flying airplanes and helicopters in a post-nuclear detonation environment — for combat and other missions — means dealing with radioactive fallout, tracking intensity and drift, Vek Hallas said.

Air Force “nuclear sniffers,” which search the atmosphere for signs of nuclear explosions — as well as other unmanned aircraft — would likely be crucial to managing a nuclear battlefield, Vek Hallas said.

While sniffers detect the location and fallout levels, he said, ­weather airmen analyze wind and other ­meteorological patterns to track and predict how the radiation might drift and dissipate. We don’t have anywhere close to all the answers … and not to the level of detail … we need, he said. But we are trying to figure it out.

(Copied from https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/07/10/blast-from-the-past-the-pentagons-updated-war-plan-for-tactical-nukes/ )

[Haruspex 424]

HIA,  — TRDD, a division of the Haruspex International Armaments Corporation, announced today the international debut of its Dedyh (Titan)™ unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) technology, which is available to support militaries globally and will be demonstrated at IDEX (International Defense Exhibition and Conference) 2019, of which will also be held in Prathen later this year.

The Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV technology provides a solution to two primary needs of today’s military customers worldwide. It helps reduce the threat to Warfighters from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on today’s battlefields by increasing a driver’s situational awareness or removing a driver from the vehicle entirely. It also serves as a force multiplier by allowing one operator to supervise three to five UGVs from a safe distance. All this at a time when militaries are facing force reductions.

Crew protection is a crucial priority for militaries as they modernize their vehicle fleets, said Serge Valk Zun, general manager of International Programs for HIA's Technology Research and Defense Division. Our Dedyh (Titan)™ technology gives forces the option to complete missions in dangerous situations with fewer troops. Our UGV technology has been extensively tested and refined, using input from troops and leveraging our more than 90 years of experience mobilizing military forces worldwide.

Designed as a scalable kit that can be used on any fielded tactical wheeled vehicle, the Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV technology enables vehicles to complete planned missions in full autonomous mode or by “shadowing” a leader vehicle. HIA will demonstrate at IDEX the Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV technology’s Operator Control Unit (OCU), a user-friendly control interface that provides the usability and functionality capabilities that troops need for operations in the field.

The Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV technology is highly sophisticated but was developed with the user in mind and for ease of control. Troops can be trained to operate vehicles remotely or in full autonomous mode in only a few days. Vehicles equipped with the Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV technology retain their original payload and performance capabilities and can operate for extended periods of time – day or night, through dust and adverse weather – without enduring the fatigue that can afflict human operators.

HIA also is transitioning technologies from the Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV system to provide active-safety features for the manned operation of vehicle fleets, including electronic stability control, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control and electric power-assist steering.

Furthermore, with recent developments in scanning and facial recognition software, the Dedyh (Titan)™ has also been equipped with a security feature based on the recently designed and showcased, S.C.A.O.S.D.(system for collection and analysis of open source data), alongst with ideas and concerns as of direct work with that of the @Sunset Sea IslandsElegy Corporation. This system allows the Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV to collect target visuals and run them through a database. Be they insurgents or simple pedestrians passing by, the Dedyh (Titan)™ will be able to collect information on the subjects and determine if a hostile threat.

HIL legionnaires have had Radio Frequence Identity Markers (RFIM) implanted beneath the skin, and these show up on a tactical display to the Dedyh (Titan)™ UGV as friendly units. An RFIB armband was trialed, but found to be both lacking in security and endurance of material to everyday legionnaire life in the field. 

Edited August 14, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

Winner: Akiya Callestel

Three hundred and ninety two days is quite an extraordinary gap between wins for a four-time champion, but that barren run is finally over for Akiya Callestel after he rode his good fortune to grasp victory at Koba Bay, Na'Kem City-state.

Pitting first, as the team tried to protect his third place from attack, proved to be the best strategy of them all as the undercut was so powerful, it moved him into a net lead. As he did so often at his home track of Kero Raceway in the city-state of Nal'Chek, once in the lead, he never looked back.

A fifth win in Koba Bay is the first time he’s ever won at a single venue five times in his career. And what a time to do it.

Loser: Harin Kton

It’s not often a driver who has finished second ends up in the losers section of this feature, but it’s a compliment of sorts for Harin Kton as it marks how far he’s come.

He was brilliant in qualifying, catching an unruly car at least three times during a dramatic lap to take pole. He then didn’t put a foot wrong in the race, but lost the win thanks to a strategy call which simply didn’t go his way.

Understandably he was furious during the race and was vocal on team radio, but he had calmed down by the time he spoke publicly after the race. It was not the result he wanted, but the way he reacted, both in the race and after, shows how drive and maturity – two factors that set him up nicely for the future.

Winners: Tyrell fans

This has been a tough year to be a Tyrell fan, the Kaido failing to live up to their pre-season favourites tag in the opening half of the campaign.

But their fans never turned on their beloved and they were rewarded first with a first victory of the year at Paphos and then in their own backyard at Kos Speedway. Few will have expected a third in Koba Bay – but they’ll take it.

It was Tyrell’s first one-two of the season, and the first time a constructor has achieved that feat in the history of the Koba Bay Grand Prix. It was also the first time Tyrell have won three straight races since 2008.

Losers: Pantheon Automotive

Pantheon Automotive were surprised by the pace Tyrell showed in Koba Bay and certainly didn’t expect Tyrell to not only clinch a one-two but for either of their own vehicles to fail to make the podium for only the second time this season.

Winner: Toji Vek Hallas

Toji Vek Hallas had a stunning start to the year, with the RVC driver finishing every race before the summer break inside the top five. But Paphos Sea and Kos Speedway weren’t so kind to him, with a first lap retirement followed by eighth from the back.

Normal service was resumed at Koba Bay, with a third-place, his first podium since he finished second in Prathen Raceway and his sixth of the season.

Loser: Yasrun Elghinn

Yasrun Elghinn was on the cusp of snatching a sensational sixth in the drivers’ standings before the summer break, but two retirements, followed by contact on lap one in Koba Bay has left him in eighth place.

Winner: Higain Yanko

While one HNAS Veraton suffered frustration, the other was rewarded for a mature drive that secured what the team boss described as the “best possible result”. It was his third top-seven finish of the season, with a placement of fourth for Koba Bay.

Loser: Garel Dunato

A plastic bag added insult to injury for Garel Dunato in what could have potentially been a great race. Dunato ran inside the top 10 for large parts of the race – and that was on merit rather than good fortune – but the Safety Cars didn’t fall well for him and he was then forced into an additional pit stop to remove a plastic bag that got stuck in his front wing.

[Haruspex 424]

In a shocking development in the Christian refugee crisis, The Council of the Nine is immediately introducing border controls in the south of the country, Vice-Lord Kamas of the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday, claiming "urgent security reasons."

The border controls are supposed to curb the influx of migrants from other nations within the Occidental Region.

The Imperium is introducing temporary controls on its southern border with neighbor country The Greater Holy Empire of Tagmatium closing the borders that it had opened up to the longtime rival and sometimes ally, Vice-Lord Kamas announced on Sunday. "The aim of this measure is to limit the current flow to the Imperium and to come back to an orderly process at entry," Kamas said at a news conference.

The decision marks a surprising turnaround in the Imperium's dealing with the current Christian refugee crisis. The Council of Nine had recently followed a policy of open borders and taken a leadership role in the refugee crisis from the Northern Territories, committing to an agreed upon shipping route of said refugees to the The Greater Holy Empire of Tagmatium.

Effective immediately, Arhomaniki Red Cross workers and Peacekeeping Observers are going to be returned to Tagmatium and the Ninth Circle will cease any and all shipments of refugees to the drop off point. Christian refugees will now be entering the re-education camps of Tirthe Nor, Talos Nor, and the infamous Aquila Nor, during the time of the Principality, acted as a death camp for Cussian soldiers during the Hamai Campaign some thirty years ago.

Furthermore, following Imperial decree from the Emperor, the Northern Army groups shall march, coming to the aid of the Hades Task Force already on deployment. 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

Prathen,
K1/11/05 (Haru calendar is by era and year, K in this format is for the era Kyorl (2019), 1st year of the Emperors rule, followed by the month and the day. Big to small: year → month → day)
Reporting from INN HQ within the capitol

Broadly speaking, challenges to the Emperor's policies fall into three categories: statutory, in which critics claim the Emperor and the Royal Court directives encroach on laws already enacted by the Council of Nine; procedural, citing alleged shortcomings under the Royal Ministry Procedure Act; and constitutional, in which challengers invoke, for instance, the Eighth Accord, due process or even separation of powers doctrine.

Obviously, the categories often overlap. In the travel ban litigation, for instance, the Supreme Tribunal Court considered the legality of the policy on both statutory and constitutional grounds. Challenges to the imperial government’s rescission of temporary protective status for displaced residents of disaster-struck countries and its overturning of the Sa'Karn era Deferred Action for Foreign Arrivals policy have been cited. So have cases by “sanctuary” jurisdictions seeking to block the Imperial Justice Department from cutting off access to services available.

The litigation over the Emperors recent ban on Ahromanian @Tagmatium Rules observers and peacekeeper personnel outside of an official port of entry on the Northern border presents a trifecta of statutory, procedural and constitutional questions. The Imperial Diplomacy Affairs Ministry claim the new policy was not only adopted without the notice and comment required by the IDAM, but also in violation of the Immigration Act, implicating constitutional separation of powers concerns. According to its critics, the restrictions are just about as illegal as a policy can be.

The Imperial Justice Department disagrees, of course. In its brief opposing the temporary restraining order sought by the IDAM, the imperial government argued that the IDAM’s notice-and-comment requirements do not apply when important national security interests are at stake and when a policy is inextricably tied to the Emperor's power over foreign affairs.

House Lord Tigar Sargtlin of House Sargtlin, and a member of the Council of Nine, had his say on Monday. As you’ve probably heard, the House Lord granted the IDAM’s motion for a temporary restraining order, suspending enforcement of the new restrictions, and calling upon the rest of the Council of Nine to intervene in this moment of crisis.

Given his array of choices, I was wondering which of the challengers’ rationales Tigar considered most persuasive. He expressed concerns about the imperial government’s dispensation with the IDAM’s notice-and-comment requirements, noting “serious questions” about the administration’s invocation of the good cause and foreign affairs exceptions to rulemaking procedures. “It cannot be the case that simply stating that something will have an effect makes that effect likely or even possible, particularly where there is no apparent logical connection between dispensing with notice and comment and achieving a foreign affairs goal,” the house lord wrote.

But he ended up basing the text of the Immigration Act, not on the IDAM. The IA specifies that “any alien who is physically present in the Imperial Territories or who arrives in the Imperial Territories (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to, after having been interdicted in international or domestic waters), irrespective of such alien’s status.” According to House Lord Tigar, the Royal Court Council and that of the Nine's intent is not at all ambiguous: “The failure to comply with entry requirements such as arriving at a designated port of entry should bear little, if any, weight in the process, especially as it concerns activities in the North.”

So the Emperors administration’s rule barring refugees who cross the Northern border outside of ports of entry, the house lord said, cannot be reconciled with the statute itself. IJD contended that the rule doesn’t contradict the statute because the royal council, who has authority over such proceedings, can deem illegal entry an automatic bar. House Lord Tigar said that cannot be. “The argument strains credulity,” he wrote. “To say that one may be approved for something and then to be denied it in one fell swoop simply upon the whim of one individual, there simply is no reasonable way to harmonize the two.”

The executive branch of the Nine and the Royals, he said, cannot by fiat adopt a policy that nullifies the imperial advisory's words without offending separation of powers principles. 

The Imperial Justice Department remains unbowed, asserting in a statement that House Lord Tigar misread the law. “As the Supreme Tribunal Court affirmed this summer, the Imperial Advisory of the Royal Court has given the Emperor broad authority to limit or even stop the entry of anyone into this country or associated territories when he so wishes to do so,” the statement said. “Further, discretionary benefit given by the executive branch only when legal conditions are met and a favorable exercise of discretion is warranted. It is lawful and appropriate that this discretionary benefit not be given to those who violate a lawful and tailored proclamation aimed at controlling immigration in the national interest. … We look forward to continuing to defend the executive branch’s legitimate and well-reasoned exercise of its authority to address the crisis at our Northern border.”

Edited November 10, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

The Port of Ulusk, within the Northern Territories will be hit with blizzards and gale-force winds this week, forecasters have said, as a powerful storm threatens to trigger more flooding in the region.

High spring temperatures are today expected to give way to heavy snow and life-threatening conditions across a swath of the central Cussian lands.

Yivan Vek, a meteorologist for the Imperial Weather Service (IWS), warned that the storm could cause widespread power outages and road closures. “This is potentially a life-threatening storm,” he told INN. “It’s slow moving. It won’t push farther east until Monday.”

The storm has already sparked flood evacuations throughout the lowlands and caused flooding in and around Ulusk and the associated zones currently under occupation as well as those considered the frontier sectors.

Some areas of the western reaches, such as the city-state of Ttoile, are likely to experience up to seventy-six centimeters of snow.

The IWS said that the coming storm is likely to exacerbate flooding along the Janus River in areas where dozens of levees were breached during the fighting with the local warlord forces during the offensive to take Ttoile and what constitutes the Blue Zones.

INN has learned that Task-Force Hades and the Imperial Army are deploying cold weather equipment and gear to legionnaires currently deployed to the north, as well as providing insulated protection for the evacuating Christian minorities, although they are secondary to the Cussian's who are now Imperial citizenry in need. 

Adding to the story, is the official positioning of the Imperial Army concerning observation and treatment of any individual during this time. Sengar D'isto Cuillen, a senior officer of the 77th Mzil Velven, addressed the forces and our journalists on hand within Ulusk, giving this advice to imperial legionary and regulars on deployment who may be within the storms grasp.

"Move your body - Cold weather requires people to be proactive. If your fingers become cold, windmill your arms to force blood into the fingertips. Cold toes? Wiggle them or swing your legs. Shivering? Exercise a little. The point is to not allow cold to gain ground in your body.

Observe the other people around you, looking beyond the obvious. We know what is wrong with the citizen who is shivering and twitching on the ground or has a white patch on his nose. The citizen who escapes our attention is the one who stands perfectly still with head drawn down between shoulders and arms hanging stiffly at their sides. They grumbles at tiny issues, mumbles when addressed, fumbles when handling simple things and stumbles when walking on easy ground. This citizen needs help now; but just as important, look for the symptoms of cold weather injury in yourself."

Edited November 23, 2019 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

Blizzard conditions continued to hammer the port city of Ulusk and surrounding areas late Thursday and into the early afternoon today, forcing the closure of many roadways to non-residents and shutting down a stretch of the main thoroughfare out of the port, connecting to the nearby firebases and legionary outposts.

The Imperial National Weather Service reported a storm total of forty-nine centimeters of snow at the port city of Ulusk as of 6 a.m. Friday — with more on the way. Winds have gusted in excess of eighty kilometers per hour, causing some flooding near the shore of the port.

Elsewhere in the coastal area of the Eastern territories of the Northern-Lands, anywhere from a dusting to several dozen centimeters of snow overnight caused difficult driving conditions on Friday morning. Snow will gradually end Sunday; the Weather Service said another twenty centimeters is possible in and around Ulusk.

Military officials in Ulusk issued a no-travel advisory to foreign personnel and a caution to the refugees being placed upon rail transport to Chimera GTS. Following the advisement and deployment of cold weather legionary forces, conditions continued to deteriorate through the evening and overnight.

Just before 9 p.m. Thursday, the military officials of the port city announced that it had “closed access to Imperial Point for non-residents. The Officers of Department B are checking identification before the Aerial Lift Bridge.” The restrictions remained are still in place as of 7:30 a.m. Friday.

A flood warning is in effect for Ulusk through Sunday afternoon as strong east winds and high water levels are combining to create mammoth waves and a surge of water along the coastal shore and in the Ulusk harbor. The waves caused some street flooding in Canal Park.

Snow vehicles were out in Ulusk overnight, but the no-travel advisory still remains in effect as of Friday morning. “Please stay home and shelter in place until further notice,” the military officials reported.

Ttoile Conditions-
Elsewhere in the Northern-Lands, winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories remain in effect until Sunday. There may be some light freezing rain mixed in with the light snow at times.

While Ulusk and Hamaii may have seen some of the worst of the storm, there was difficult travel elsewhere in the occupied zones. To the west, the 7th legionary outpost reported Sunday morning that “travel in the vale lands is not advised. Unplowed roads have thirty to forty centimeters of snow. Plowed roads are filling back in quickly due to blowing snow. Stay where you are and give the crews time to clear the roads. If you have an emergency expect a significant delay.”

[Haruspex 424]

This is Thol Draer, 
Imperium News Nightly,

Tonight we look at the unsettling Northern Territories, and unsettling because apparently as its come to be known, Army Group Taskforce Hades, stationed in Ttoile, has not been able to establish contact with the Port of Ulusk. In fact, Imperial Army Command is quiet on the affair, including troop positioning and royal court movements.

Speaking of the royal court, the Emperor has taken a leave of absence, and left the affairs of the nation currently to the Council of the Nine, of which has also while busy, also remained quiet concerning the military issues at hand.

Attempting to gain information via AGT Hades has been met with silence, however unnamed sources have said that the high command of the AGT Hades has not been able to establish contact with either Fleet-Lord Kaorin, or even that of the Department B regiment that is also headquartered there.

Furthering the conversation with our source, there have been unidentified military forces within Ulusk and several outposts under the command of Kaorin, the Fleet-Lord assigned command of Ulusk and northern operations of that zone by the Emperor himself. 

With foreigners present in the area, some think that perhaps the communications blackout is the first act of an invasion, while some theorize that perhaps those under the command of the Fleet-Lord are perhaps instigating a rebel action, and lastly, it could be an innocent response to the rather horrific weather ongoing currently in the Northern region. 

At this time we have little information and only speculation to go upon.

[Haruspex 424]

Perya Sea Mining Systems - [BCSC] is set to be the first Haru company to commercially explore the sea floor. The company plans to search for SMS systems, a potential source of high grade copper, gold, zinc and silver.

BCSC is developing a production system using existing technologies adapted from the offshore oil and gas, dredging and mining industries.

Its first project, a copper-gold project, Lubban 1, is due to start development offshore the city-state Perya in the second fiscal quarter of K1.

BCSC has been developing the kit it needs for carrying out this work, including three sea floor production tools (SPTs), a riser and lifting system (RALS), a launch and recovery system (LARS), and a production support vessel (PSV).

The SPTs, built in northeast Perya by Ocean Soil Machine Dynamics (OSMD), arrived earlier this year and are being put through trials. Work on the production support vessel, including integrating the LARS and ancillary equipment, is ongoing at the Perya City Ship-buildings Number Eight shipyard.

The SPTs comprise three different vehicles, one each for three separate sea floor tasks. These are an auxiliary cutter to prepare the sea bed for the second tool, a more powerful bulk cutter. This is then followed by the third vehicle, a collecting machine, which then pumps the seawater slurry through a flexible pipe to the PSV via a riser system. Following initial processing, materials would be transferred to a vessel for shipment.

The cutting drum of the bulk cutter was designed and built by HINRD [Haru Imperial Navy Research and Design]; all the SPTs track sets were designed and built by HHVRL [Haru Heavy Vehicle Research Lab]. Modification to the track set for subsea operation and required cutting duty was completed by OSMD in consultation with HHVRL and HINRD. The dredge pumps for all three SPTs were supplied by Oscathe. The hydraulic equipment for all three SPTs is based on existing VCI [Verlaine Corporate Industries] hydraulic equipment, with adaptations by OSMD.

The nationalized Imperial Mining & Gas Consortium has been involved in the development of the subsea slurry and lift pump. The riser has been designed by BCSC main contractor, HHVRL, and built by subcontractor Perya Marine Mechanica. An agreement for the charter of a PSV to be first deployed at the Lubban 1 Project was awarded to the city-state Komsomolsk-na-Amure based, Seafarer Marine Assets.

BCSC is also weighing operations offshore elsewhere in the Ranke Sea.

Opportunities

Many others are watching. Deep sea mining could offer offshore industry firms a new business, and the Imperium could be at the forefront of this business a representative of BCSC told INN. The deep sea mining chain is practically the same as you have in other extractive industries. Exploration, seismic, production, logistics, processing, distribution and sales, he says.

Further, the source notes similar technologies are used in the planning and production phases, and says that the support vessel being developed by BCSC for SMS recovery is similar to a drillship design. We are mostly interested in surface vessels, he says. 

OSMD has also continued its work in this space, teaming up with Komsomolsk-na-Amure based Underwater Mining Services, which already supplies shallow water mining equipment, to offer full scope subsea mining equipment.

The most developed area of the supply chain is the logistics, i.e. transporting ore from the production vessel to the coast for processing. The least developed part of the chain is the subsea part, our source says. 

Edited February 20, 2020 by Haruspex

[Haruspex 424]

“I pledge hereby that I shall act according to the Scripts of Law, and fulfill my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people of the Sovereign Imperium of Machina Haruspex, while always wishing for the happiness of the people and the peace of the Occident, turning my thoughts to the people and standing by them,” she said, underlining the emperor’s role within the country’s supreme law.

Wearing imperial robes in a warm red hue — a color reserved in times past especially for those who sit upon the throne — Empress Kira'Karn sat on the canopied throne, which is decorated with lacquer and silver falcons and sits atop a square dais.

Senior Councilor Kaorin Huat Jargo Vlos - Advocate of the Emperess, Zero Circle - [HIS - Haru Intelligence Services] offered congratulations in response to the empresses speech, saying, “We, the people, look up to Her Majesty the Empress as the symbol of the Imperium and the unity of its people, and, with a renewed spirit, will put our best efforts into creating an era where new culture will flourish as a peaceful, hopeful and proud, realizing a bright future and the people come together in beautiful harmony.”

Initially, a parade had been planned for after the ceremony to allow the public to see the new empress, however security concerns and the strong winter conditions that are migrating south from the Northern Territories has made the Council of the Nine and associated government announce that they would reschedule the parade for some time in August, out of consideration for those affected by the overly strong conditions earlier in the month.

In celebration of the new empresses enthronement, the government also granted pardons to some 550,000 people on Tuesday.

Most of them are those who were found guilty and fined for minor infractions during the beginning of the Northern occupation. The amnesty is limited to removing a temporary prohibition on violators qualifying for national professional licenses and restoring their civil rights.

The number of individuals is still considerably smaller than previous occasions when pardons were issued. When Emperor Sa'Karn conducted the Augustian Involvement Act in November 1970, some 2.5 million were pardoned. About 4,300 of those pardoned were those who had received penalties for election violations, leading to criticism that the pardons were political in intent.

The shrinking number is said to reflect the government’s shift of focus from the rehabilitation of criminals to the consideration of victims.

In a survey conducted by the Imperial Press news agency in September, some 54.2 percent of respondents were against the tradition of pardoning people, while about 20.5 percent were in favor. Those who weren’t sure amounted to 25.3 percent. The survey was based on interviews with 2,000 individuals, of which 62.3 percent provided valid responses.

[Haruspex 424]

Fighting in the Northern Territories escalated dramatically this month as separatist forces loyal to the now deceased former Emperor Ji'Mar seized the valley city of Aden from forces loyal to the newly crowned Empress.

On March 23rd, Ji'Mar Loyalists founded the Northern Transitional Council, with the former Aden warlord-governor chosen to preside over the 26-seat council. The body immediately declared its intention to "create a Ji'Mar Loyalist State" - a reference to the former Emperor.

The NTC wants to have authority over the territories they operate in, said Sama'a al-Hamdani, an independent Cussian analyst and former member of a rebel faction that maintained Aden up until the annexation by Haru military forces. However, while the intentions are rooted originally in non-violent fashions, the military operation in which it has begun could potentially mean its downfall, especially in the current political climate.

al-Hamdani, who has accepted Haru Citizenry status within Ulusk, during the occupation process of Aden, immediately denounced the STC as legitimate. The wheels for the mid-land independence have already been set in motion, Hol'he Topham from the Ministry for Strategic Studies said.

The NTC was behaving akin to what Topham called a government-in-waiting in the mid-lands with state-like characteristics and a would-be parliament, the Royalist National Assembly. 

Soon after the death of the Emperor became known, the coalition of royalists loyal seized the Mid-land Security Belt to secure territories in the North and to install their government in Aden. There are several smaller cities, Tasu, Ghalen, and Kamra within the mid-lands that have also been seized, and are being fortified while exterior forces are enroute to Ulusk to lay siege.

At least three-hundred and eight people have been killed in three days of fighting, the majority of these have been Ji'Mar royalists with loyalist forces intercepting hostile forces before reaching Ulusk.

Sikon Nasser, A lead officer of the Cussian-Haru 3rd regiment that has been formed under express orders of Fleet-Lord Kaorin had this to say. Whoever will control this cross-roads city,[Aden] will have the ability to transform the geopolitics of the entire region.

Furthermore, the NTC is not the only group to claim the mantle of the mid-land independence cause, he added, referring to other rival separatist groups with ambitions of representation, mostly former warlords and so on.

According to Nasser, about 25 other separatist groups exist in the eastern reaches and the mid-lands of the North.They are all for independence but have different visions on how to achieve that so in that sense are much more polarised, he said. And while the NTC is at the moment the most powerful of all the separatist groups, it doesn't have a vision for nation-building, he said.

One significant point was that separatists advocate for secession, Nasser explained. The latter was taught throughout schools in the Imperium as carrying negative connotations akin to treachery and betrayal. 

But terminology aside, the struggle for [Northern] independence has gone through so many phases it has lost its purpose, even before the Haru showed up, and it means almost nothing that a royalist faction from the Imperium's own lands is attempting to do so here, Nasser said.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Haruspex
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