In the early 21st century there was a saying going around the internet, that the current generation was too late for the Age of Discovery, too late for the Grand Revolutions of the 19th and 20th Century, too late for the Great Wars and too soon for proper Space Exploration. The middle child of humanity so to say. Stuck in what many percieved an era of ennui and and imagined stasis. One could point out the Arab Spring, the War on Drugs, Brexit, Ukraine and so on and so forth. But these dissatisfied youths would merely shrug and say "sure but thats over there".
It was in this time and Age that Humanity made first contact. Many things were expected all according to the popular ideas that had come up. Horrible monsters from space come to annihilate us all, benign bringers of hope here to lift humanity up out of its morass and a multitude of other theories.
What the fewest of us expected was that we were seen akin to how the Romans had seen the Germans. To them we were barbarians, frighteningly strong, our biology inconcievable to them. Freaks of nature merely theorized in the most outrageous of xenobiology circles.
Ultimately they acted:A Foederati - Like the Romans of Old did with many a German Tribe. They could annihilate or enslave us, but the price wasn't worth the effort much less so with the Empire they had to protect. And so after sufficient show of force they offered us status as a Client. To provide soldiers for their war machine in exchange for our survival as a species and promises of reward.
You will become part of the Human Auxilia to an Alien Empire. Humanities Foreign Politics is decided by the Aliens and Human Soldiers fight in the name of the Aliens. In return Earth and the Human Race are protected, albeit as mere second-class citizens. It is a Faustian Bargain, but there are fates far worse than being mere Residents in another Empire. Humanities Growth and Influence is tightly controlled but with time and effort it might rise to become and equal within the Empire.B Quarantine - A Federation of Alien Races happened upon humanity and what they saw frightened them. A Species who was so belligerent and so adept at warfare, with a biology so clearly superior could not be allowed to reign freely. A blockade was established, Humanity disallowed from possessing spacefaring technology or to leave the planet unless under special circumstances. However, even among a group of species so thoroughly advanced there is always corruption. And the Invisible Hand of the Market ensures that the military resource that is human beings can be exported from Earth.
You will be fully independent, but under heavy restrictions and quarantine. Earth is under tight supervision and must walk a tightrope act to allow humanity to be freed from alien supervision or face extermination. C Humanity in Exile - Well they wanted Earth. They took it. And then booted us out of our homes. the Diaspora killed most of us and those that survive have no World to call home. All we have to offer for survival is ourselves and that means serving at the beck and call of those we despise.
Humanity is in Diaspora. You will have no Haven to speak of, no technological edge, no edge in resources. You will be used up and abused. There will be no cavalry, no reinforcements and losses will be high. Depending on choices taken and mostly sheer luck this might either be Noblebright or the Tale of the Death of Humanity, Dying forgotten on a battlefield not their own. (mostly the latter because i will make you work hard to achieve the first one 
)How Humanity dealt with and was dealt with has changed over the centuries since first contact. Each generation had to face different odds and had different problems to overcome.1. Generation - You are among the first sent from Earth to fight for others. You have the greatest ability to shift the fate of humanity and how it will be percieved by the Galaxy at large.
1A will mean that you are among the first Levies used by the Alien Empire. Internally humanity tries to keep a low profile and the Alien High Command has little regard for Human Auxilia. You are regarded as either disposable shock troops or unreliable Rearguard Units.
1B will mean that you are one of the few exceptions to the Pandora Protocol. Bought and transported off-planet by wealthy alien patrons you will find yourself in an environment which regards you with fear and suspicion. You will have to ensure that you are regarded neither as a threat to the galaxy nor vermin to be used or exterminated at leisure.
1C will see you as one of the many groups of human survivors to endure the Diaspora, you live on foreign space stations and colonies, adrift and fast dwindling in numbers hoping to establish something of lasting meaning and ensuring not only your direct survival but that of your species. Your line of work is far darker than in any of the other two options, beggars can't be choosers after all. Then again you can attempt to keep your conscience pristine but a clean conscience never fed anyone.
5. Generation - Humanity has long since adapted to its situation and is known in the Galaxy at Large as crack mercenaries. Generations have gone to space and returned with the spoils of war.
5A will see you as a known and trusted Associate of the Empire. Human troops are widely used and relied upon. All strata of the military contain humans and individuals have even achieved citizenship.
5B will see Terra growing fat off its military contracts. Human mercenaries are prized far and wide and the Pandora Protocol has long been circumvented as Earth simply bought space or gained it as reward for its services.
5C1 The Diaspora never ended. Humanity had grown to like its exile and lives nomadically. Its numbers are low but Human mercenaries are almost as feared as Human Pirates and Raiders. People see you as a beast with a tragic past, having long lost any perspective and now giving in to its baser instincts. Earth has grown to be a distant memory.
5C2 It has taken generations who had to endure ignoble service in the name of the Xenos. It had to endure slights and insults innumerable and suffered every indignity. But now, the work of generations is complete. The Grudges have been recorded, the Armies and Fleets rallied.
Terra aut Mori.
20. Generation - To be Human is to be War. Feared across the Galaxy. Revered across the Galaxy. We gladly lay everything upon the Altar of War.
20A Will see you pervasive and influential throughout a failing Empire. the Alien Elite is in Decline and the time of Humanity has come. Will you be known as those who kicked the whole rotten structure down or will you be known as those who restored it and took it to glory beyond imagination?
Terra locuta, causa finita!20B Terra has become a superpower in this Galaxy. Earths Armies march on a million planets bringing prosperity to their Homeworld. Will Earth finally discard the thin masquerade of the Pandora Protocol and let slips the dogs of war or will it be content to keep up a thin veneer of containment shaping the galaxy to its will without conquest?
Terra invicta!20C Broken upon the Altar of War, you have long forgotten who humanity originally was. Terra is as distant a dream as it ever was and the dregs of your species continue to ply their trade among the stars, barely resembling what they once were. There is still the histories though of proud armies and fleets in glorious battles to retake Terra but those are only told to children at night for one thing is clear: these are the Waning Days of your species.
Vae Victis.
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Topic: Dogs of War (Human Mercs in Space) (Read 1888 times)