From the Begining New Chapter Added (9/12/06)

[Starhawk]

This is a little bit of stuff I actually got the idea from someone who said it would be interesting to know how the average soldier feels when they are going to war in the days of Icara.

Well the best way I feel I could do that is to write prayers or battle hymns/songs because it is often in the songs of war that we can most often feel what the soldiers feel in my humble opinion.

Imperial Battle Prayer:

Lord you have chosen us to do this work
Give us Strength to face the fire.
And courage to face the sword

Give us resolve to be victorious
And Wisdom to be merciful

Give us this day to conquer
And tomorrow to spread your word

Give us your love and care
And allow us to do the same

We ask you now for your final blessing in prayer
So that when we die we can raise our faces to the sky
And know that no matter where our bodies lie
We are home, and have seen the end of our struggles. Amen

1st Icaran Regimental Battle Hymn:
The stars cried out the heavens fell
Yet still we charge into gore and hell
The earth may shake and burn with fire
Yet we fight on till our bodies meet the pyre
They Sound the call Fleet and Army into the endless night
So Come on brave lads be ready to fight
No matter the world green or barren
They shall say of us they died Icaran!

Call to Arms: Spoken in Icara city by an unknown speaker Circa 2402
They say of these Phong, They are too powerful!
They say they can not be overcome by mere humans
I say they know not the strength of our hearts!
They know not the strength of our soul and our faith!
These Xenos are just another test placed before us on our quest to unite man under one banner
They are just another obstacle which must be overcome for our future
And I say when history looks back upon this day it will say Icara can not be overcome, Icarans can not be overcome for as long as we stand together we are unbreakable! Stand and fight these creatures and bring us victory, in the name of all we consider holy by the time we are done with this galaxy they will say We are the only power in all of creation behind God that can not be overcome!

P.S I am still writing the rest of the story

[Atrocities]

Thank you, I needed a good read this morning. LOL, please keep up the great work Starhawk. I tried to sing this to a tune but could not find one that fit. Perhaps the melody "Battle Without Honor Or Humanity" might fit.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

"SS"? Ok, I agree with you the German Imperial Eagle is a beautiful sign in itself but getting the Nazi elite military police into this.....? I know it's bound to be something military-ish, but still using "SS" as an acronym for a military organization is not considered kosher in most of the Norther Hemisphere..... still, nice story.

edit: [removed]

edit2: Removed the site, as it was superfluous and in German.

[Starhawk]

Strategia_In_Ultima said:
"SS"? Ok, I agree with you the German Imperial Eagle is a beautiful sign in itself but getting the Nazi elite military police into this.....? I know it's bound to be something military-ish, but still using "SS" as an acronym for a military organization is not considered kosher in most of the Norther Hemisphere..... still, nice story.

edit: [removed]

edit2: Removed the site, as it was superfluous and in German.

As stated earlier I mean no offense by this what so ever, the "SS" in this story simply stands for "State Security" and is in no way related to the Nazi "SS" which was in fact made up of two branches, one of which was little more then a bunch of criminals Hitler freed and allowed to "serve the fatherland".
The Icaran SS do wear black uniforms but that's mainly because the other colors are taken they are not military forces or the sadistic SOBs that the Nazi SS was, and in fact they are the Icaran police force.
I initially decided to call the SS the SSB "StateSec Brigades" but decided that that may in fact offend some Russian folks who though i based that on the "FSB".

Let's face it there are a LOT of modern organizations with security involved that would probobly involve the initials SS "Secret Service anyone?" and simply going after them based on the letters is a little odd imho, especialy since the Icarans are from a parallel history where the Nazi party was a minor rebellion that was squashed brutally.

Oh and btw there are Stormtroopers involved and I will admit that they are based on their German WWI counterparts, the elite and brave soldiers who charged the trenches and launched special assaults on targets regular units could not.
NOT the pre-WWII "brown shirts" who were little more then thugs and punks and ruined the rather honorable history of the true German Stormtroopers.

[Starhawk]

Well you have to remember AT they don't speak english so that's of course a translated version, played to a foreign military march, yup that's my story and I'm stickin to it .

[rdouglass]

Starhawk said:
Well you have to remember AT they don't speak english so that's of course a translated version, played to a foreign military march, yup that's my story and I'm stickin to it .

LOL! All I can picture is B-rate KungFu movies that were poorly voiced-over.

EDIT: Oh yeah, still a great read.

[Atrocities]

One way to explain away why every alien race speaks english is to "discover" a gene that all races share that make them develop their language to be simular to english.

Something that an ancient race instilled into the genetic make up for each planet they seeded. (English, the ancient english language)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It is due to an ancient race known as Bee'nn Cow'n'ters.

[Starhawk]

LOL love that last remark narf

Yeah the story is still coming along all well and good but Its a busy weekend for me so I'm not likely to be doing anything on it till monday or tuesday.

[Starhawk]

(update) Just to let you all know this story is not dead, I have been busy re-making the Icaran Shipset to a much nicer and more menacing appearance, plus with better Special FX

Here is the Icaran National Flag to give ya'll a taste of how the new set is going to increase the feel of the Icaran's true "nature".

If you want a closer look at the Icaran "Royal Crest/Naval Insignia" I've added an extra picture of that.