[Faction Guide] Remnants of Neo Zeon

[gundamoutlaw]

Organization
With the reign of the Zabi family ended, the remaining citizens of the Principality of Zeon entered negotiations with the Earth Federation. Reclaiming the former name of The Republic of Zeon, the colonies of Side 3 formed their own nation subject to Federation inspections and review. Maintaining a small defense force that is comprised of ships and mobile suits from the Principality of Zeon, the Republic of Zeon has taken on a more peaceful relationship with the Earth Federation.

Loyalists however to the Principality of Zeon and the Zabi family did continue however, as those that escaped capture or death at the Battle of A Boua Qu either hid within the Earth Sphere or fled to other regions, including the asteroid Axis and Mars. These loyalists later formed their own movements based upon the principals of the Principality of Zeon, with one Neo Zeon movement being led by the daughter of Admiral Maharaja Karn, Haman Karn, who used Dozle Zabi's daughter Mineva Lao Zabi as a figurehead and rallying point for the movement.

Interestingly the Second Neo Zeon Movement did not have any loyalty to the Principality of Zeon or the Zabi family. Led by Char Aznable who had revealed that he was the son of Zeon Zum Deikun and thus the true heir of the Republic of Zeon, the goal of the Second Neo Zeon was to force humanity to move to space, and kill those that didn't, by dropping asteroids onto the Earth and starting a nuclear winter that would kill the majority of life on the planet. This, in turn, would achieve the two original goals set out by Zeon Deikun long ago: the first allowing the planet to rest (albeit completely unable to support life thereafter), and the second establishing full independence for spacenoids from the rule of Earth.

Almost three years later, the scattered forces of the late Char Aznable's Neo Zeon would be gathered and reorganized by a man name Full Frontal. These remnants of the second Neo Zeon movement are referred to as "The Sleeves" by the Federation army, are not recognized legally, and are considered a terrorist organization. This latest incarnation are little more then a rag-tag militia at this point, but recent events have caused them to become a much bigger threat in the grand scheme of things.

History
Co-developed by the Principality and the Lunar Industrial Federation in Universal Year 0072 as a waypoint for the Jupiter Energy Fleet, the Axis base was built under strict secrecy. Like A Baoa Qu and Solomon, it is built atop an asteroid, allowing it to serve as a mobile base. Unlike the other two bases, which were sent to the Earth sphere, Axis remained hidden in the asteroid belt after the One Year War.

At the end of the War, when the Principality became the Republic of Zeon and formally stepped down its offensive, nearly half of the remaining Zeon forces disobeyed orders and fled the Earth sphere. These Zeon loyalist, including Zabi family loyalist, regrouped at the Axis base,where they could rebuild and reorganize in secrecy. Even the great Char Aznable made Axis his new home. The primary goal of the Axis renegades was the restoration of the Zabi family. Their leader, Maharaja Khan, a former member of Degwin Zabi's inner circle, declared the infant Mineva Zabi te heir to the Principality. He set himself up as regent, organizing the forces until she should be old enough to rule herself. Over the next two years, the Zeon forces focused their energy on converting Axis, originally a resource mine, into a military fortress. In order to accommodate the 30,000 refugees, the Mosa block of living quarters was constructed. The new facilities were comparable to the round colonies near Earth, allowing permanent residency. Despite the limited resources available at their isolated location, MS development continued unabated.

In May of UC 0081, Mineva's mother died, and in 0083, following the completion of Mosa, Maharaja Karn also passed away. The absence of leaders within the confined space threatened the community's stability. It was at this time that Char Azanable whose opinion was much respected on Axis, proposed making Maharaja's 16-year-old daughter Haman Karn the new regent. The Axis executive council approved the nomination, and a new leader took command. Even though Haman had an older sister who had been Dozle Zabi's lover, the younger Karn was chosen to rule because of her natural leadership ability. Charismatic and a brilliant politician, Haman took control of the situation in no time. She rallied the people under her cause, proposing that Axis return to Earth and forcefully reestablish the Zabi family and conquer the Earth sphere. This promise of returning home as the new leadership gave hope to a people who had been forced to live isolated lives in the tight confines of Axis. The notion that 30,000 ragtag soldiers could hope to conquer the Earth sphere was clearly impossible, but the promise inspired the people to rebuild at an astonishing rate. Under Haman's guidance, morale and productivity were up. As the months progressed, the pipe dream looked more and more feasible.

Shortly after taking command, Haman learned about the Delaz Fleet's revolt. Upholding her father's solemn promise made two years earlier to fight together, she sent an advance fleet to assist with Operation Stardust. Technically neutral, the Axis fleet primarily provided suppport services to the Delaz fleet. Another motive in assisting the Delaz fleet was Haman's desire to pacify the other Zeon factions that had arisen in Axis. The Gihren, Dozle and Kycilia factions all had separate agendas, and all of them questioned Haman's loyalty to the Zabi name. By assisting Delaz, a supporter of Gihren, Haman earned back the trust of the dissidents, further strengthening her cause.

Char Aznable, however, began to distance himself form Haman. He recognized that her talk of conquering the Earth Sphere wasn't just political rhetoric, but that she had every intention of carrying out those plans. He resigned as her assistant and withdrew from the political arena. Char never wanted to see the old Zabi family regime restored to power. It was their greed and corruption that had lead to the destruction of the Zeon cause. Instead, Char wanted to created a new autonomous spacenoid government, based on Zeon Zum Daikun's original philosophies, a "Perfect Zeon Future." He believed in humanity's continued evolution into Newtypes, and this would never happen as long as man embraced the drive for conquest. Haman's plans were nothing more than a throwback to Zabi imperialism, only with the names changed. With Haman riding a wave of popular support, it would be dangerous for Char to voice his beliefs publicly, so he secretly began finding allies within Axis to join his cause.

Axis returned to the Earth Sphere on October 12, U.C. 0087, during the height of the Earth Federation's civil war, the Gryps Conflict. Both the Titans and the AEUG were eager to ally with the Axis fleet, thus virtually doubling their fleet. The AEUG was the first group to open negotiations with Axis, but failed as Haman chose to side with the Titans. Later, the AEUG secretly opened a second round of negotiations, where Haman agreed to assist them against the Titans. In truth, Haman's goal was to play the Titans and the AEUG against each other, so that whichever side emerged victorious would be sufficiently weakened, allowing her forces to overcome them and seize control of the Earth sphere.

As expected after the end of the Gryps War, the Earth Federation was extremely weakened not only due to the loss of the Titans. The AEUG also lost a majority of its forces and, apparently, only the Argama was still able to fight. Only the Axis fleet was still intact because it retreated from the battle to prepare for their invasion of Earth. Four months after the last battle of the Gryps War on February 29, UC 0088, "Axis Zeon" renamed itself Neo-Zeon and started the First Neo-Zeon War.

Since the Earth Federation and the AEUG were greatly weakened, the Neo-Zeon fleet sent an invasion force with the goal of seizing control on Earth. With the help of some remaining Principality of Zeon members on Earth, the Neo-Zeon troops were able to secure several locations in Africa with nearly no resistance because of the damage the Federation forces took in Africa during the Gryps Conflict. Haman Karn also tried sending troops to each colony in space, but failed because of high concentrations of Federation forces in the colonies who were relatively undamaged by the Titans and AEUG civil war. However, remnants of the AEUG would mount a resistance to Haman's Neo-Zeon forces in Africa which EFF were damage by the conflict, via the remaining crew of the Argama, alongside new AEUG recruit and pilot Judau Ashta, who was selected as the new pilot of the Zeta Gundam.

For the next year or so, the bulk of the Earth Federation's military fought the newly created Neo Zeon army, led by the former anti-Titans group, Karaba and surviving members of the AEUG from the Gryps Conflict, as a group of young civilians from the Shangri-La colony joined the Argama's crew, becoming the pilots of the Federation's new MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam , which struck a severe blow on Neo Zeon's forces.

However, on October 31 UC 0088, the Neo-Zeon army dropped a colony on Dublin, Ireland as part of their show of intimidation. Prior to the drop Neo-Zeon sent their forces to cut off all means of escape for the civilians to further their cause for this operation and thwarted any attempt for the civilians to flee. While this operation killed most of the residents, the interference of the AEUG and Karaba enabled some of the civilians to be rescued safely and transported out of Dublin aboard Karaba's giant aircraft the Auldumula, though Karaba's leader Hayato Kobayashi died during the battle. Not wanting any further colony drops, the Earth Federation Government agreed to give the Side 3 colony, Core Three, over to the Neo-Zeon. Haman's movement, however, didn't go as planned, due to the rebellion of Glemy Toto (the self-proclaimed clone of Gihren Zabi).

On December 25, UC 0088, Glemy Toto declared the foundation of his own Neo-Zeon faction, which sparked a civil war against Haman's main forces. Haman had been establishing her new base of operations at the Side 3 Core Three, and while she was gone, Glemy staged an uprising at the main Neo Zeon base of Axis and took control of it. Then he proceeded to attack Core Three to eliminate Haman once and for all. The AEUG and Haman's loyalists decided that Glemy was the greater threat, and engaged with his forces inside Axis, eventually eliminating Glemy. As a last ditch effort, Glemy had ordered his troops to ram both Axis and its satellite asteroid Moussa into Core Three, destroying both Haman's and Glemy's remaining fleets. Haman herself would be killed in battle with the ZZ Gundam. This three-way struggle between the AEUG, Haman's Neo-Zeon, and Glemy's defected faction takes place at what's known as The Battle of Axis. The first Neo-Zeon War finally ended on January 17, UC 0089.

With the deaths of Glemy Toto and Haman Karn, Neo-Zeon was leaderless. Also, a great part of its fleet was wiped out during the civil war. In response to the recent run of anti-Federation movements, the Earth Federation created the Londo Bell Task Force, whose mission is similar to the Titans, albeit without its fascist overtone. Due mostly to the fact that members of the Londo Bell are former members of the AEUG, operations are carried out in a far more humane way; however, Londo Bell was greatly understaffed.

However, Zeon Zum Deikun's son, Casval Rem Deikun (aka Zeon's legendary ace, Char Aznable, the "Red Comet") would return years later, in UC 0092 and took control of the remaining Neo-Zeon forces, which led to the second Neo-Zeon movement. As the son of Zeon Zum Deikun, Char took it upon himself to move all humans into space, so that the Earth might become a natural sanctuary; however, the means by which he attempts this end are far more radical, as he forces Earthlings to flee into space by dropping asteroids onto Earth, thus starting a nuclear winter. Char's forces are successful in gaining favor from the colony of Sweetwater from which, on 27 February UC 0093, they declare war against the Earth. In order to stop Char, the Earth Federation increases the Londo Bell's size and prominent veterans from the former wars, such as Bright Noa and Aznable’s old archrival Amuro Ray, are added. Thus, the Second Neo-Zeon War began.

The first major battle of the Second Neo-Zeon War takes place when Char tries to drop the asteroid Fifth Luna on the Federation’s headquarters in Lhasa, Tibet. Although Londo Bell interferes, they fail to stop the operation and Lhasa is completely destroyed. Afterward, Char retreats to Sweetwater, while Amuro uses his incomplete RX-93 Nu Gundam to repel a Neo-Zeon attack against the Londo Bell flagship, Ra Cailum.

On March 6 UC 0093, the Earth Federation holds a secret meeting with Neo-Zeon representatives, including Char, at the colony Londenion of Side 1. Char agrees to stop the attacks and surrender his fleet, if the Federation hands him Axis. Representatives of the Federation agrees to his terms. Later, Char and Amuro have a short encounter on the landscape of the colony, where 13 year-old Quess Paraya, the daughter of one of the Federation representatives, allies herself with Char and helps him escape.

A few days later, Char sends a dummy fleet to the asteroid, Luna II, while his main fleet capture Axis by force. They are successful, but Londo Bell launches nuclear missiles against the asteroid. However, all are single handedly destroyed by Cyber-Newtype, Gyunei Guss. Afterwards, Londo Bell plans to place explosives inside Axis to break it apart, thus deflecting it from Earth.

When the operation starts, Amuro and Char, who pilots the MSN-04 Sazabi, engage one another at Axis. Londo Bell is successful with planting the explosives inside Axis, but only a part of the asteroid is deflected. Amuro, who in the meantime has defeated the Sazabi and taken Char's evacuation pod with him, tries to stop the falling asteroid with his Nu Gundam. Later, the Federation mobile suits and even Neo-Zeon troops attempt to push Axis out of Earth's atmosphere. Axis is finally pushed away from Earth when a strange reaction inside the psycommu system by the psycoframe of the Nu Gundam creates enough power to stop the asteroid and push it out of Earth's gravity, but Amuro and Char are killed in the process. The Second Neo-Zeon War comes to an end.

Following the battle, the remnants of the Second Neo Zeon Movement fell into isolation for two years under the leadership of Full Frontal, a Cyber Newtype altered to look like the missing in action Char Aznable. They were revived in U.C. 0096 as "The Sleeves" because of the ornate sleeve designs on their mobile suits. They began their revival with an attack on the Anaheim Electronics colony Industrial 7, searching for a mysterious object only known as "Lapalace's Box", said to be the only thing that could topple the Earth Federation. However, their attack on the colony would be thwarted by a combination of the Londo Bell taskforce, the Federation's special forces unit ECOAS, and the Vist Foundation's RX-0 Unicorn Gundam.

Military
While the once great Neo Zeon has degraded to little more then a rag-tag fleet of space pirates, their current leadership is still trying to hold them together in something at least resembling a proper military force. As most of its members hail from the former Space Attack Force, it was felt that it would be best to stick with a structure closest to what they were used to. To that end, the Sleeves have co-opted the ranks and procedures utilized by the former Principality for their space defense force.

Military Ranks of the Former Principality of Zeon Space Forces
Non-commissioned Ranks

• Petty Officer 3rd class
  
• Petty Officer 2nd Class
  
• Petty Officer 1st Class
  
• Chief Petty Officer
  
• Master Chief Petty Officer

Commissioned Ranks

• Ensign
  
• Lieutenant Junior Grade
  
• Lieutenant
  
• Lieutenant Commander
  
• Commander
  
• Captain
  
• Rear Admiral
  
• Vice Admiral
  
• Admiral

Commissioned Officer
Admiral - One of the highest ranks among military officers, given only to those who have shown long-term dedication and service, and have the most renowned of performance records. The senior most rank in the military, they oversee the command of entire fleets from the center of the fleet. Their ships are often seen as the flagships of their respective fleets, and their orders are absolute during combat situations. Held only by important NPCs or those of staggering dedication to the faction. Their level of command ensures that this is indeed the hardest rank to achieve.

Vice-Admiral - One of the highest ranks among military officers, given only to those who have shown long-term dedication and service, and have the most renowned of performance records. Senior to all save a Full Admiral, their job is to assist an Admiral in the command of large ship fleets. Vice Admirals take command of the front-line ships, taking the brunt of any assaults that come towards the fleet and ensuring the safety of the Admiral. Held only by important NPCs or those of staggering dedication to the faction. Amongst the hardest rank to achieve.

Rear Admiral - One of the highest ranks among military officers, given only to those who have shown long-term dedication and service, and have the most renowned of performance records. A Rear Admiral is junior only to a Vice or Full Admiral, and assists the latter and the former in the command of large ship fleets. As to its name, Rear admirals command the rear forces of a fleet, allowing their seniors to command the front line fleets while ensuring a safe retreat window if need be. Held only by important NPCs or those of staggering dedication to the faction. Amongst the hardest rank to achieve.

Captain - Held by those that have graduated from Captain's Academy and are capable of overseeing the safe operation of a battleship. They are assigned to a specific battleship and take command of its operation during combat; their orders are absolute aboard their own ship save to those of the Admiral rankings. This rank is the lowest rank necessary to command a ship, and will be given out to those with above average profiles which have shown an interest in captaining a ship.

Commander - Held by officer's who are renowned for their tactical prowess, and have shown true dedication to Neo Zeon. Commanders take the role of strategists, often overseeing an operation from their assigned post and conferring with their ship captains. They rarely sortie into front line combat, unless the situation demands it, and are often as well respected as ship captains are. This rank will be given to those who prove to have above average RP posts and have proven themselves during more than two military operations. They must also show a sense of self-control and ability to mediate heated discussions.

Lieutenant Commander - Held by dedicated officers who have proven to keep a cool head under pressure and have an exceptional performance record. Lt. Commanders have a middle rank among officers, and often take on advisory roles to ship crews, while lending their own expertise during combat. They are amongst the highest ranking for officers that continue to participate in front line mobile weapon combat. This rank will be given to those who prove to have above average RP posts and have proven themselves during more than two military operations.

Lieutenant - Held by those that have proven themselves to be respectable officers through dedicated service or exceptional combat and tactical performance. Lieutenants hold a middle rank among front-line soldiers, often aiding higher ranking officers and taking a hand in the training of up and coming officers. They hold a middle rank among other officers. This rank will be given to those who prove to have above average RP posts and have proven themselves during at least two military operations.

Lieutenant Junior Grade - A rank held by those that have shown an above average level of proficiency in officer protocol or in Mobile Weapon combat. Junior Grades are shown to have the makings of respectable officers, and are sometimes put into leading positions among small squadrons, or in advisory positions among ship personnel. Their experience often makes them ideal test crew for experimental projects, as those with more experience are too precious to waste on potentially dangerous or worthless projects. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on Profile quality and content.

Ensign - A rank held by those that have shown an above average level of proficiency in officer protocol or in Mobile Weapon combat. Ensigns are often put into a 'second in command' position among small squadrons, or in an advisory position among ship crews, and hold a lower-middle rank among other officers. Their experience often makes them ideal test pilots for experimental projects, as those with more experience are too precious to waste on potentially dangerous or worthless projects. It is the minimum character rank required for a Player Character to actively pilot a mobile weapon in the RP. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on Profile quality and content.

Non-Commissioned Officer
Master Chief Petty Officer - The highest non-commissioned rank available, usually held by skillfully pronounced high ranking ship staff such as chief mechanics, doctors, CIC officers. Their authority is usually restricted to their area of expertise, so a doctor would have little say over what happens in a hangar or on the battlefield, unless it was to do with an injured soldier. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on profile quality and content.

Chief Petty Officer - Held by high ranking ship staff, such as chief mechanics and doctors. Their authority is usually restricted to their area of expertise, so a doctor would have little say over what happens in a hangar or on the battlefield, unless it was to do with an injured soldier. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on profile quality and content.

First Class Petty Officer - Held by middle ranking ship staff, such as mechanics, helmsman, and doctors. Their authority is usually restricted to their area of expertise, and are often assistants to other, higher ranking officers. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on profile quality and content.

Second Class Petty Officer - Held by low ranking ship staff, such as apprentice mechanics, nurses, and CIC officers. They are often assistants working under other, higher ranking officers. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on profile quality and content.

Third Class Petty Officer - Held by low ranking ship staff apprentice mechanics, nurses, and CIC officers. They are often assistants working under other, higher ranking officers. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on profile quality and content.

Recruit - Held only by recruits fresh out of basic military training. This rank will be handed out to members at random, depending on profile quality and content.