29-07-2004 07:57									#1
	The Phalanx: Issue #3 Increase the size of your Attachments

The Phalanx

Your reliable and trustworthy resource for news on the Spartan Federation. To quote the Spartan Battle Manual:

Information, the first principle of warfare, must form the foundation of all your efforts. Know, of course, thine enemy. But in knowing him do not forget above all to know thyself. The commander who embraces this totality of battle shall win even with the inferior force.

In Issue #3:

- New Feature: Netflash! (news report)
- Being a Spartan, Part III (educational)
- What Our Emblem Stands For (educational)
- Hazing - a Necessary Evil or an Abomination? (opinion)
- Recon Rover Routine Report - MY 2115 (news report)

Netflash!

by Captain Kassiopeia. Lt. Col. Maniac and Cpt. Googlie contributed to this article.

The Netflash! will be a feature consisting of several smaller articles that our staff did not have time to write a full article on. The newsworthiness of these events demands that they be included in The Phalanx, however.

Our first Netflash announces the founding of the Spartan Engineering Corps. Formerly commander of the decorated reconnaissance unit Rolling Thunder, Captain Googlie has volunteered and been appointed to command the entire Engineering Corps. With the task comes the promotion of Captain Google to the rank of Major with all rights and duties.

Then we have more news from the front. Captain Kassiopeia, the venerable editor of this paper, has volunteered and been appointed as the commander of a brand new rapid reconnaissance unit, Shinsengumi. Due to him carrying out his important duties as a unit commander, the publishing schedule of The Phalanx may become slightly more erratic in the future.

In our third item, Sparta headquarters is glad to announce the founding of the Spartan Navy, the Spartan Special Forces and the Spartan Air Force in a large reformation of the military branches. An acting commander has been appointed for the Navy: Captain Dissident will henceforth be known as Lieutenant Commander due to his transfer from the army corps to the navy. Lieutenant Colonel Maniac will be acting as commander of the Air Force for the immediate future. [censored] will command the Special Forces, which for now consist of [censored].

In other news, PlanetMarkG's Voice has been heard in the Spartan Private Barracks! His historic words were: "yo".

Also, the Recreational Division is proud to announce the succesful brewing of the first batch of Fungal Gin! The production process has been kept top secret. Rumours go it involves a bunch of XenoBurritoes rotting in a barrel of sealurk urine.

And in rumours: Maniac allegedly ticketed for speeding on Sparta Command Boulevard! Subject claims he was test-driving a new recon rover model. Investigations continue.

Table of Contents

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Being a Spartan, Part III

by Captain Kassiopeia

Today we will deal with civic duties and the way our Spartan nation is structured. To start off, we shall quote Lt. Colonel Maniac's speech from the founding ceremony of Gythium Harbor, where he summarised the basic idea of the Federation:

quote: Some see Sparta as a faction dictatorially ruled by military and police control. They couldn't be further from the truth. The Federation is a meritocratic society, a voluntary union of semi-independent bases, where each person is free to seek his own fortune in life.

Those are the basis of our faction. A citizen has as much power as his abilities allow, and a citizen has the right to pursue his own happiness. A member city of the Federation is not a hive of oppressed people but an independent city-state, a polis as the Greeks would put it, that has significant autonomy over the central government. Only the headquarters base of Sparta Command is under the direct authority of the Junta.

Each city is allowed to run itself any way it wishes, as long as it pledges to be a part of the Federation and allows the central government a say over certain matters. The military, for instance, is run strictly only from the Command Nexus in Sparta Command out of simple necessity. Because of this a citizen will pledge allegiance to the Federation as a whole and will serve the needs of the Federation. A citizen's bond to his home city is effectively broken the moment he becomes a private of full rank.

Naturally, becoming a soldier is voluntary. Forced service provides nothing but armed mobs that pillage cities and have no sense of honour or integrity. The only way to assume the Spartan Way is to embrace it, not to have it forced down your throat. Because the citizenry realises that a strong fighting force is essential for the survival of us all, the option of a draft has never been discussed at any meetings of the Junta. The amount of candidates far exceeds the current training capabilities of the military.

Hence the civic duties of a Spartan vary, but in most bases a full citizen has the right to vote in elections of the city council. All citizens will be granted certain freedoms and rights, and duties, under the Spartan Constitution. Due to our situation the Constitution is yet but a rough draft, but within a year or two it should be finished so that all city leaderships can ratify it. To find more about civic duties that cover your own city, contact your local Government Hall for further information.

The next episode of this series will take a closer look at the Spartan military, now that the needed reforms have been carried out.

Table of Contents

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What Our Emblem Stands For

by Lt. Colonel Maniac



I have often been asked by young officers, unaware of our faction origins: "What is the meaning behind our faction emblem?" This is an important question, as any empath can tell you our symbols are the key to understanding what our faction stands for. Therefore I will in this small contribution shed some more clarity about the nature of our emblem.

The first thing one notices when seeing the Spartan flag is the Arrow in the middle. This Arrow symbolizes our Strength and Persistence. It means we know which direction we want to go, and effectively going that direction. Even if we have to overcome high barriers.

Curvy or circular forms generally indicate softness and emotionality. These are characteristics not generally appreciated in Spartans, and therefore are not part of our flag. Instead, the Arrow is surrounded by a Hexagon. The corners and straight lines of this figure indicate Strictness, Discipline and Rationality. These are mandatory survival traits on this Planet, and so naturally Sparta holds them in high regard.

On a general note, the Spartan emblem is a rather simple symbol. Unlike for example the Gaian and Peacekeeper icons, it has no needless extra's diverting our mind from our goal. After all, this is what it means to be a Spartan. It's not the killing or the suffering that matters. It's the strength of will. The purity of focus for our goal, without fear of death or pain.

Besides the meaning mentioned before, the Spartan symbol also has a second more ancient meaning. On Old Earth the Vikings, a brave warrior people, often wore necklaces or pendants with at it a silver piece of jewelry. This jewel represented Mjöölnir, the Hammer of Thor, protector of the universe. Thor's Hammer was a symbol of his supernatural strength. Here you can see an example of such a jewel:



Indeed, the Spartan symbol also refers to the Hammer of Thor, as we feel akin to the Viking Warriors. Recently we have even started an initiative to continue their tradition. From now on during the Citizen Inauguration Ceremony each new citizen receives this Spartan-Viking hanger. After five years of Federal Service necessary for achieving full Citizenship, it is a recognition of the courage and honour we Spartans apprecriate in our people. Needless to say, every citizen wears their hanger with great pride.

Table of Contents

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Hazing - a Necessary Evil or an Abomination?

by Lt. Comm. Dissident and Captain Zeiter

The recently appointed acting chief of our navy, Lieutenant Commander Dissident, sent us this letter before his appointment. Therefore bear in mind that he is not speaking as the chief of navy, simply as a concerned parent.

quote: I am concerned about the upsurge of hazing upon our arrival on Planet. Sure it has its uses to weed out the weak from our military ranks. They have no place in our military, they should work less important jobs like being a doctor, or lawyer. But the hazing has spread and now everyone is affected. Last week I heard my son had been tied to #4 main shaft on SCC Invincible. And then the ship was placed in high speed runs. My son is no slacker. He has risen in rank 3 times, and is the top in his division. What could he have done to deserve this hazing? He is not a new recruit. The hazing should be left to those who truelly deserve it. And I can assure you, my son has proved his worth, and passed his initiation. So I emplore you fellow Spartans. To use public pressure on those in leadership positions in the military to keep hazing to a minimum. And to keep at the task at hand. And we all know what that is.

To allow the other side be heard, Drill Sergeant Laconia asked us to allow him to air a counter argument:

quote: "To the untrained eye, hazing may seem like a cruel, barbaric, and essentially useless exercise. But to a veteran rover pilot, there's nothing that whips new recruits into shape like some good 'ol fashioned hazing. It's an extremely valuable tool. Ask any squad leader what would happen to new regiments if hazing wasn't allowed. I’ll tell you what you’d get: a bunch of sissy [expletive] pansies." Drill Sergeant Lance Laconia states as he oversees one of his squads during a practice session at the shooting range. “Oh sure, you can make them do 500 push-ups, but physical exercise is only half of the training. They also have to be psychologically tough. Often in the heat of battle, the soldiers who can keep their heads on straight come away the victors. It is imperative that soldiers be able to make split second decisions without any emotional or psychological interference. What hazing does is it breaks down the individual soldier’s emotional and psychological consciousness. Then, proper training and discipline rebuild the soldier’s emotions and psychology into the collective unit consciousness. A properly trained unit thinks like one mind. Each soldier thinks only of how to make the unit successful. Such a unit is vastly more effective than a group of soldiers who have not been broken down. In that case, the individual soldiers often think of themselves and their personal well-being, and in the heat of battle, such thoughts can cloud a soldier’s judgment, or can even be so overpowering as to cause a soldier to flee. And soldiers who can’t even make it through the hazing are too emotionally fragile for battle, of course, and they are immediately weeded out. That goes without saying. So, you can see, hazing is an essential aspect of Spartan training. The vets know this. They take rookie hazing very seriously (even though they like to pretend otherwise). Vets are always looking for new hazing techniques. Why, just the other day they came up with the idea of tying someone to the main shaft of one of our ships! ‘Brilliant!’ I said. The vets make no exceptions. Every Spartan soldier must go through some hazing at least once, by military protocol. This fosters camaraderie and respect between the soldiers, as they have all been through the same trials. Of course, those particular soldiers who need a little more ‘motivation’ are offered it gladly by our more than willing veteran officers. I see nothing wrong with our current level of hazing, as it is essential to Spartan training." There you have it! Right from Lance Laconia himself, the Head Drill Sergeant from the highly disciplined and successful Chiron Knights rover corps.

Do you agree with Dissident? Or with Laconia? Air your opinion now in our online poll, available at our netsite! Results will be published in Issue #4.

Table of Contents

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Recon Rover Routine Report - MY 2115

by Captain Zeiter


Recon Rover Routine Report - MY 2115

Good news Spartan citizens! From the latest reports, it seems our rover crews are still in good condition, and have been successful in scouting many lands near and far. The exact details remain classified with top military commanders, but we can share with you this exclusive audiofeed transmission from one of the rover crews:

Captain Zeiter: "This is R-112 Corazon Recon Vehicle Corps transmitting audiofeed to Sparta Command HQ."

Lt. Col. Maniac: "Very well. Channels are secure. Proceed with transmission."

Captain Zeiter: "I'm glad to inform you that the men's morale is high, their health good, and the vehicles are in near perfect working order."

Lt. Col. Maniac: "Hrnm [inaudible - seems to be some sort of satisfied grunt]. Continue."

Captain Zeiter: “Our scouting efforts have proceeded with utmost efficiency and precision. We’ve mapped out the area near [censored] and uncovered [censored] near [censored]. We are now in the process of mapping out the terrain near [censored], just as you ordered. So far, we have encountered no difficulties in our reconnaissance, except one, which I will describe in brief.”

Lt. Col. Maniac: “Yes, well, what was it?”

Captain Zeiter: “It was a warm hazy afternoon, some [censored] months ago. Our rover battalion was riding smoothly across some already explored rolling terrain. We were cruising at a relatively high speed, paying little attention to reconnaissance. I take full responsibility for the lapse in discipline, and I assure you, it will not happen again, sir.”

Lt. Col. Maniac: “Make sure that it doesn’t. Continue.”

Captain Zeiter: “Yes, sir! Anyways, we were rounding a large field of boulders when a leading recon crewmember radioed in an enemy sighting. Soon we could all see what the transmission was about : I sighted what appeared to be 3 Hiverian scout squadrons marching in strict frontal assault formation approximately 12 km straight ahead with 2 rover battalions speeding alongside on their right flank.

I quickly decided that, even so grossly outnumbered as we were, a retreat would not be a good idea with the Hive forces at such close range. Therefore, I rallied the men to their turrets, and sped straight toward the oncoming enemy. We closed within 5 km, but still no enemy fire. We came within 2 km, but still no resistance. I radioed to my rover pilots to be prepared for evasive maneuvers.

At 1.45 km range, we opened fire with our 70-caliber Alpha-Class Rocket Turrets. Much to our dismay, the rockets seemed to swerve out of the way of the oncoming army. Bad aiming, I judged. At 1.07 km range, we opened up a second wave of rocket attacks. Again, unbelievably, no hits. I decided to order the 30-caliber machine guns manned, and at 530 m range we engaged the enemy with all the rounds we could let loose. Meanwhile, I had ordered Beta team to arm their rovers with our new experimental weaponry. It hasn’t been rully researched yet, as you know, so I was a little leery about testing it on the battle field, but our situation seemed rather desparate.

I'm glad to report that the diodes and fiber couplings seemed to hold up fairly well, and its firepower was extremely impressive. But even then, still no damage done to the enemy, it seemed, and, oddly enough, still no counter-offensive. At that point the Hiverian army seemed to dissolve away in the wind, and all of the sudden I felt a piercing stab of pain and fear engulf my mind. The dust seemed to rise up in the wind, choking our breath. Fortunately, I remembered my rigorous Spartan training, and yelled to the men to shake off the illusions and reach for their flamethrowers.

Suddenly the real enemy revealed itself: a seething N-I [native infestation] 20 meters wide. The men immediately formed disciplined ranks on the ground and engaged the oncoming mind worms at 7 meters distance with a fierce wall of flame. The mind worms recoiled in shock, and the men ran forward and charged the mind worm horde at almost point blank range with terrifying fury. One of the most glorious battles I have ever witnessed, and a textbook Spartan maneuver, if I ever saw one. When these men get back to Sparta Command, I recommend that they be duly recognized for their discipline and bravery.”

Lt. Col. Maniac: “Glad to hear our boys are kickin’ some [expletive].”

Captain Zeiter: “Yep, and now their morale is exceptional. More disciplined than ever, and you can almost see the gleam of battle in their eyes. In addition, the vehicles made it out of the fray almost unscathed. I’m attaching a vidfeed snapshot of one of our rovers, so you can see for yourself their still excellent condition. That’s all I have to report for now.”

Lt. Col. Maniac: “Excellent. Over and out.”

[End of transmission]

Vidfeed Snapshot:

A rover of the R-112 Corazon Recon Vehicle Corps sits in a field outside a makeshift Spartan barracks out in the region [censored] of Sparta Command.



Table of Contents

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This concludes the third issue of The Phalanx. Thanks for reading. If you have material you wish to submit, contact Captain Kassiopeia.

	29-07-2004 10:17									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

another excellent issue

	29-07-2004 10:31									#3
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Oh, that was sealurk urine I was tasting! I could have sworn that I tasted a hint of recycling tanks urine in that fungal gin. Really, I couldn't tell the difference. Although I thought it could use pinch of cinammon. I guess that's just me.

Issue looks good.

	29-07-2004 12:14									#4
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

I see that you know where you are headed: down. But that's okay... winning isn't everything. Money is.

	29-07-2004 15:20									#5
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Excellent, TLA, excellent (your insurance share values may rise a bit now )

Great Issue, Spartans
A bit boasting around with your missile rovers eh?

	29-07-2004 15:32									#6
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

again, Great Issue!

	29-07-2004 15:42									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by Micha A bit boasting around with your missile rovers eh?

Come come now Micha, let them walk their mouth if they want to. They'll come unstuck when they see our Fusion rovers

	29-07-2004 16:15									#8
	Got spare money?

ha you morganites will probably replaces the weaponery with a minibar and a widescreen vidscreen because it isnt luxuries enough....Capitalist pigs!

	29-07-2004 18:57									#9
	Get a bigger avatar today!

Great read. Makes every Spartan citizen proud.

	30-07-2004 01:21									#10
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Its a lot of fun to read this stuff..


Well done

	30-07-2004 02:44									#11
	Get a bigger avatar today!

Very nice tricks of the mindworms.

	31-07-2004 05:14									#12
	Suffering from ads?

Hey thats a nice Idea DBTS Fusion RVs with wide screen TVs and mini bars

Now all we need are a few more tec and I will make a giant heap of Credits selling luxury Fusion RV's
MWAHAHAHHA!!!

	31-07-2004 10:14									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

So many people in other factions do not appreciate that more money merely enables you to get more of what you want. Money buys sturdier speeders with bigger engines. Money buys new durable plasma steel armor instead of rusted synthemal armor. Money buys tankers to supply your speeders so they can always be on the move. Money buys super encrypted, short wave holo communicators. Money also buys infrared and ultraviolet goggles and high power radars. Most importantly, money lets soldiers provide for their families back home. Money was the difference between the western nations and the communist militaries in late 20th century. The military minded are foolish to look upon the ever important EC with scorn.

	31-07-2004 10:28									#14
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

oh, rest assured, we don't.

We just don't devote all of our lives in accumulating it. We just barge through the doors of those who have done so, and appropriate it

That's the Spartan way

	31-07-2004 12:16									#15
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

The Spartan way is to get arrested for Bank Robbery?

	31-07-2004 12:39									#16
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

No, the Spartan way involves the recruitment or elimination of all local resistance (such as police officers) before doing anything else, such as requisitioning valuables.

(The longest time on record for that is 4 minutes and 32.43 seconds, when a group of six Spartan recruits got drunk (strictly against regulations) and wandered into a Hive base. It would have been faster, but there were several divisions of Hive troops stationed there, and knives can only be used so long before they go blunt and have to be sharpened again)

	31-07-2004 13:09									#17
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Like I told them though, that's not an excuse. In fact, I've had teams who could do less than 1½ minutes just with their limbs rather than with their knives. One gets too concentrated on the weapon and loses focus on one's body.

	31-07-2004 16:58									#18
	Increase the size of your Attachments

Time the Spartans show themselfs in battle armor after 2 months of vigorous training... at least, that is what they want us to believe...

	31-07-2004 17:22									#19
	Suffering from ads?

Ok, Santi and Clyde, I get it... you're efficient and lethal bank robbers.

Seriously, though, cool issue.

	31-07-2004 17:48									#20
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by jtsisyoda Ok, Santi and Clyde, I get it... you're efficient and lethal bank robbers.

Yes, exactly.