Mercurian Lictors / LICTOR

/recovered.filelog01:1701032944
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Access records for Lictor_

K:\>DIR K:\MILNET\Non-compliant_Affiliations\mLICTOR?
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>mLICTOR_Brief.mgtf
>mLICTOR_Anthplgc_Rcrds.srtxt
>mLICTOR_Hard_Intel.mgtf
>_REDACTED.miltxt

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==========mLICTOR_Brief.mgtf================
Name: Mercurian Lictors
Disposition: Hostile/ Non-complaint/ Piratical
UEE Status: Mixed Citizenry [Ethnic group under FCA consideration]
Threat level: High
Threat Status: No threat to UEE/[REDACTED]

==========mLICTOR_Anthplgc_Rcrds.srtxt================

The Mercurian Lictors form the strong arm of the nomad tribes of Mercuria. Plundering for wealth and status these raiders very lives have been etched by decades of warfare, taking what can be taken.

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Always on the move in search of more profitable hunting grounds, Lictors seldom linger in a system. If they do it often means they wish to establish themselves or have found something worth defending. It is said some Lictors have ventured back into more stable space from the the frontier to secure a new home for their people, away from the carnage of old night, where their dwindling survivors can either die in peace or regain the numbers lost from over two hundred years of bloody survival.

Descended from old planetary settlers who found their homes near inhospitable and systematically raided by Vanduul the Mercurians fought long decades of war, resisting and fending off many incursions by alien raiders. When, too late, the Mercurians realized their home lay on the border of an ever expanding hunting ground for Vanduul they had already been overrun.

The last survivors, barely three thousand of the original two-hundred thousand settlers, were turned away by neighboring sectors. While some turned them away from avarice and others apathy, most superstitiously wanted to avoid taking on vagrant colonists and refugees, seeing their failure as their own cross to bear while secretly fearing facing the fact a similar fate might befall them one day. This dehumanization poisoned the minds of Mercurians making them volatile and vengeful. Alone amongst the stars, with little fuel and even less foodstuffs they chose to take what was needed. If the universe would not provide for the mouths of starving kinsman, the Mercurians would. Turning first on the colonies that cast them out and denied them even a chance, the Mercurians unleashed asymmetric warfare unlike what many in the local planetary and system defense forces had seen. Raiding the supply lines and outlying system defense stations using the same techniques they had only years before defended against; the Mercurians took what could be taken, and so began their violent history and savage struggle for survival in the supreme vastness of frontier space.

These marauders have never been able to re-acclimate to a more normal lifestyle nor to integrate into “traditional” Imperial Society, preferring instead to follow the “Law of the Fishes” where the strong may swallow up the weak, if they can.

A Lictor has each his own individual code, chosen during his ascension to warfighter, abiding by it from then on until his last breath.

The code is of at least six lines, the first three of which are predetermined:

-Might is right, take what you can keep, steel is blood and blood is gold.

The last they decide themselves.

Honor is taught young and all Mercurians abide. Those that fail to show honor are jettisoned; or on rare occasions, if the family is fat enough from plunder, the disgraced are given a ship for with which to travel out alone, exiled from their kin.

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‘Malle Vis Mortus” – An old Mercurian proverb , translated, it reads “We would rather have you dead.” This saying is attributed to the response from neighboring colonies after refusing shelter when asked if they cared if the Mercurians lived or died. The Mercurians used this saying out of spite for the next several decades when raiding that colonies supply lines, until eventually it simply became the response to hails begging for mercy from soon to be plundered vessels.

Law and order means little to a Lictor, though Lictors may often observe local laws out of respect for the populace or to avoid drawing unnecessary attention from the UEE and Bounty Hunting Guilds. They may observe a systems laws, but when the chips are down, a Lictor will do what is right by his own code.

Due to their ethnic heritage as nomadic pirates, systems of honor, and fierce battlefield prowess the UEE is more hard-pressed to eradicate them completely and instead often opts to allow the unimpeded operation of Mercurian Lictor raiding parties to maintain the value of its own military body.

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The Vanduul and the Mercurians might seem to have some similarities in terms of cultural inclination; however, competition for deep space resources can be fierce and the two have had many bloody encounters. In short, they are bitter rivals and hated enemies. Virtually the only time a Lictor will betray his word and violate his code is in the pursuit of the destruction of the Vanduul.

Many Lictors choose to operate as lone wolves, but occasionally a group of them might be seen prowling across the stars, following their ancestral ways and questing for the rush of the kill.

===============mLICTOR_Hard_Intel.mgtf====================
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Mercurian Numbers: Around 900 (2942 deep space census)
Number of known Active Lictors: 10
Number of suspected actual active Lictors: 500
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Fleet Numbers: 19 Known Vessels
Fleet Composition: ????
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>Cannot open: REDACTED.miltxt, insufficient privileges

Copy session to external drive G:\Lictor_investigation

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MEMDUMP [/K|all]

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Only three:

-Might is right
-Take only what you can keep
-Steel is blood, blood is gold.