Every conflict has one or more reasons for happening, and one of the most fun aspects of creating a story is figuring out why two sides have chosen to fight. Here are a few narrative reasons for you to unleash your forces on the tabletop.
All Factions
Defense
Once something is claimed the tendency is to maintain that control for as long as possible. But if it is worth protecting, it is likely worth taking. So when outside forces conspire to take, the holder of the territory will always put up resistance for something that they believe is rightfully theirs.
Expansion
Every faction has a desire to control areas of strategic interest. While Golden Worlds are the most prized territories, the galaxy is huge and much more space is unclaimed than occupied. The Hexagota especially are ravenous for territory and have been making aggressive pushes all over the galaxy. Even the Niphal have recently begun to take and hold territory for their own mysterious ends.
Resources
Every faction needs materials. The Realm and Batra both need everything from raw ore to refined materials in order to build their respective technologies. The Hexagota need organic material to fuel their fungal farms and hydrocarbons to consume for energy. The Niphal need rare elements to create their alien alloys and more recently have begun to steal exotic matter fuel from the other races.
The Realm & The Batra
Obligation
The Realm is built on relationships and one of the most basic is a promise to come to aid in times of need. Houses have long standing relationships with other entities and many of these include a mandate for protection. For example, the Miners Union and Trade Guild could not exist without the military aid of the Realm and each of the Houses.
The same is true of the Batra. Clans are beholden to their subclans which have declared their loyalty to them. To maintain those relationships there is an expectation that when the call for help arrives, that the parent clan will answer. Though no subclan could be called defenseless, by their very nature they are smaller than the major clans and when the situation turns dire, they rely on knowing they can turn to their parent clan for assistance.
Political
War is often driven by politics and given the complexity of political life in the Realm, it is unsurprising that this is a common factor. The proverbial stroke of the pen is all that is needed to set the gears of war in motion. The action set in motion is often far removed from the halls of power where the decision was made. But while the reasons can be abstract, the violence it incites is quite real.
Batran politics are a dense web of clutches, subclans and clans, with aspects of family and dynamically changing clan loyalties mixed together. An outsider would likely be confused by the constantly changing conditions and complexities of Batran society, but to the Batrans themselves it comes as easily as breathing. They are brought into life raised in the fluid family structure of a clutch and loyal to a subclan and clan. It is expected that their loyalties will change throughout their entire life, it being rare for a Batran to remain in a single clan for their long lives. Relationships and conflicting interests often lead to battle for settling matters when words have failed.
The Hexagota
Distraction
The Hexagota queens are hard at work on a massive project on their homeworld. To make sure that they are not disturbed, they have sent out vast swarm fleets to keep the galaxy occupied as well as capture new territory and collect vast amounts of resources. This gambit has paid off so far with every major power reeling from the sudden appearance of this new threat. In spite of their efforts, no other faction has able to discern where the Hexagota appeared from.
Eggs
The Hexagota queens create every egg which will eventually grow into everything from a queenling to a worker. Interestingly, these eggs are not tied to a particular swarm, but are instead in a state of suspended animation until imprinted by a queenling. The imprinting process binds the egg to the queenling and her swarm as well as choosing what it will be born as. A queenling will not imprint any eggs until they are ready to be used, thus ensuring that their swarm remains balanced and that they are able to replace losses with what is needed. While every swarm has their cache of eggs, no queenling is above stealing from another swarm to increase their own supply.
Removing Weakness
Every queenling wants only the strongest elements of their swarm to survive. To insure only the fittest are present, queenlings will often battle other queenlings of their swarm or even force elements of their swarm to battle itself. This makes sure that any weakened broods are dealt with, and when it is time to go to battle she can be confident in the strength of her troops. Other forces have certainly been confused watching the Hexagota fight themselves, but generally consider it a good thing. They have not yet realized that this behavior is simply making them a bigger threat.
The Niphal
Exploration
The minds which are aligned with or sympathetic to Awarespark, have tasked a number of their splinter minds and node fleets to exploration. They believe that this effort will accelerate the recovery of artifacts and increase their knowledge of the race which created them. This wandering often brings them in conflict with other factions and even other Niphal. There are the minds which are philosophically opposed to Awarespark, and there is even conflict among their own adherents. Minds want first access to discoveries, knowing that the data when first found is at its most pristine. They will often battle anyone, even nominal allies, in order to be first to obtain what they desire.
Research
While Primeguard is most known for it, every mind performs research whether they would admit to doing it or not. Even Solanimus and its adherents will perform rigorous testing to aid in successfully completing the Directive. This could be the dissection and analysis of alien assets to search for weaknesses. Translation of their radio transmissions for communication interception. Even decrypting secure signals to provide insight and sow discord. Information is power and it is the main form of currency among the Niphal. The more data a mind collects the more powerful it becomes, both in practice as well as among their kind.
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