Before we double back to the Federal Republic of Aurora, I'd like to shift the focus over to the "Superpowers" surrounding Mæsron space - starting with arguably the most powerful of the four: the
Trobrin Empire.
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The Trobrin are silicon-based life forms; at rest, an individual Trobrin looks a bit like a freshly-poured lump of concrete. However, they have the capacity to comport themselves in the manner required to maintain a major star-faring civilization. They have a high level of radiation tolerance; a rock-based diet; and a long lifespan during which their physical forms continue to grow. An individual Trobrin is slow to anger, yeet equally slow to placate once their ire is raised.
The Empire is ruled by an Emperor, the "Most High Elder"; a physically massive individual who has reigned over their people for centuries - albeit indirectly, through the myriad machinations and procedures of the Trobrin Congress.
The Trobrin are painfully aware that silicon-based life forms are vastly outnumbered in Omega by carbon-based organisms. Their greatest fear is that, one day, the "carbonites" might one day unite to destroy them - either of their own accord, or (in a worst-case scenario) under the influence of the Sigvirions (a viral life form which can infect and take control over a broad range of carbon-based host species). Thus, the Empire pursues the long-term "Silicate Plan": to steadily build up their strength to the point where they can take over the entire Milky Way Galaxy.
If that sounds a bit like what the Tholians did over in M81, well... the Tholians and Trobrin are quite different to one another in terms of "biology", yet each each stand apart from the organic species in their respective midst. What the Tholians might think about the Trobrin, or vice versa, has yet to be covered in detail.
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The Trobrin were the first major empire the Mæsrons made contact with. Relations were difficult at first, since it took time for viable forms of communication could be established. That said, the main point of contention between the two empires prior to the First Great War was the porousness of their shared border region - not least when Wallimi survey ships took it upon themselves to wander about unimpeded.
Indeed, the Empire only entered the war ten years after it first broke out. The jellyfish-like Koligahr and arachnid Vari offered to divide the spoils of Mæsron space, yet in reality they needed the Trobrin to enter the war in order to prevent an inevitable Mæsron victory. The Trobrin were no fools, yet chose to enter the war anyway as but the first step in furthering their long-term goals. It didn't work out that way, however; once the Mæsrons launched Operation Hammer Blow to knock first the Vari, and then the Koligahr, out of the war, the Trobrin were obliged to sue for peace. Yet while the war ended with the Trobrin losing significant territory (to include the area around the "storm cluster" in which the Aurorans would later arrive), the Empire remained as a major star-faring power.
Learning valuable lessons, the Empire chose to bide its time, to expand away from the Mæsrons into unclaimed space, and to negotiate with the salamander-like Probr in order to create a new home territory for the amoeba-like Bolosco in the border region facing the Alpha/Omega Void. Thus, when the Mæsrons fell into the Civil War and Collapse, the Trobrin were well placed to seize the initiative and to expand once again at the Mæsrons' expense. Yet, even they were not quite able to push as far as they might have hoped, due to a bitter falling out with the Vari and to a large-scale Probr intervention into the region adding a new front line to fight over.
The Trobrin and Probr would prove to be regular opponents: during the Collapse, again during the Superpower Wars, once again during the Second Great War, and yet again during the Seventh Cycle. However, the two empires would find common cause, for a time at least, against the Andromedan and Souldra invasions.
And as if all
that were not enough to contend with, the Empire would also find a dangerous new power perched to the "north-west" of Trobrin space: the Paravians of Omega.
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So, the Trobrin have plenty of enemies to fight. With that technologies do they wage these wars with?
Their primary weapon is the radiation phaser, or phaser-R. These are highly accurate and consistent weapons, to the point where they don't need a roll to hit! However, since they are designed to operate in the kind of high-radiation environments which the Trobrin can handle as a matter of course, non-Trobrin ships (such as the Bolosco and Zosmans) which operate these weapons have higher repair costs, due to the need to install and operate costly radiation shielding to protect their crews.
The Trobrin have a powerful direct-fire heavy weapon, in the form of the implosion bolt. The weapon has a three-turn arming cycle ordinarily, yet can be fast-loaded on the second turn with enough reserve power.
They
also have a powerful range of plasma-like seeking weapons: the implosion torpedoes. As with Alpha Octant plasma torpedoes, they are available in a variety of sizes: light, medium, heavy, and super-heavy. IT-Ls are used on the smallest torpedo-armed Trobrin units, such as fighters and fast patrol ships; IT-Ms appear on Trobrin frigates and cruisers; the IT-H only appears on ships of cruiser size and above; while the IT-S only appears on Size Class 2 Trobrin ships and on larger bases.
Unlike Alpha Octant plasma, there are no bolt or carronade firing options for implosion torpedoes Nor, for that matter, is there a seeking weapon mode for the implosion bolt. Also, implosion torpedoes do not impact an enemy ship directly; they "implode" to fire a directed burst of energy at a range of 10,000kms from the target unit. So while you can use phaser fire to try and reduce an incoming implosion torpedo warhead, you ought not want to let it get too close before you try to do so. And unlike the implosion bolt, there is no fast-load option for the three-turn-arming implosion torpedo.
On a side note, the Zosman Marauders can use implosion bolts and the three smaller types of implosion torpedoes in their heavy weapon option mounts. However, heavy torpedoes take up two centerline adjacent mounts apiece, while super-heavy torpedoes are off-limits, being restricted to the Trobrin only.
Defensively, Trobrin ships don't have the strongest shielding, but they do have belts of armour to bolster their defences. However, unlike on, say, Eagle-series Romulan ships, this "armour" is not woven into the ship's outer hull; rather, it forms discrete belts which can be removed or replaced as and when necessary. Indeed, if a Trobrin ship finds itself on a long-range patrol, the crew might take a nibble or two from these armour belts as a supplementary food source...
In terms of certain support systems (such as their sensor/scanner and damage control tracks), Trobrin ships tend to be somewhat below the "average" in terms of redundancy. Size-1 Trobrin fighters are deployed in squadrons of 11; "volatile warp" Trobrin gunboats appear in flotillas of 4.
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This is
an unpainted 1:3125 scale Trobrin Diamond heavy cruiser from Shapeways, in Smooth Fine Detail Plastic:
One of the most powerful heavy cruisers in Omega, the Diamond CA has six radiation phaser-1s, two radiation phaser-3s, two implosion bolts (one on either side of the prow), one heavy implosion torpedo (the central cannon-like weapon on the secondary hull), and two medium implosion torpedoes (the smaller "cannon" mounts to either side of the heavy implosion torpedo).
The armour belts are marked by the rectangles on the back of the prow.
The "Middle Years" version of this ship is no faster tactically than the Mæsron heavy cruiser of the same era. However, as previewed for the Trobrin early command cruiser (which this same miniature can be used to stand in for) in
Captain's Log #52, the Trobrin later develop a warp refit enabling some of their cruisers to fight at Warp 3.14 (
SFB Speed 31). A warp-upgraded version of the CA itself has yet to be shown in print, however.
The Trobrin never settled on a bolt, torpedo, or mixed doctrine - so ships with all three varieties of heavy weapon are liable to show up in a given Trobrin force. For example, the
bolt cruiser swaps out the medium implosion torpedoes for two more implosion bolts. Whereas the
torpedo cruiser removes the prow-mounted implosion bolts in order to install a second heavy implosion torpedo.
As a fleet, the Trobrin have no equivalent to the Mæsron destroyer or light cruiser. However, while most empires tend to keep their dreadnoughts docked during peacetime (when command cruisers are used by flag officers instead), the Empire instead sends its
Deep Space Dreadnoughts on long-range patrols of Imperial space.
