United Sack Marines

History

The Flag of the USM

The United Sack Marines formed in May 2015 with 3 founding members. Zachiark, Commander of the USM and Admiral of the Marine Navy, has been involved in LBP clans since 2008. Serving in the H4H Conflict in large alliances, he retired from clan participation in 2011 and began designing large fleets of space-going vessels with the aim of using them in future clans. After almost 4 years of seclusion, the fleet was launched as the USM.

Objectives

The principal goals of the USM are to promote creativity and organisation within the LBP community. LBP is a huge but grossly disorganised online community that can achieve greater things when it comes together. Its founders are amongst the longest-standing members of LBP, and wish to share their significant technological accomplishments with the community. After years of object give-aways by our members, we believe it is time that sharing and creating must become more organised to create productive outcomes.

Union Membership

Attaining membership of the LBPU has been the USM's primary strategic goal since its formal inception. It was fully organised at the same time that it joined the Union, though as it is still in its infancy its size has caused problems. Commander Zachiark contacted LBPU President Youngling on the 20th July 2015 to request reduction to observer status, as officer inactivity meant it could not comply with future Union requirements. As such, Operation Enduring Prosperity has been deployed as a second wave of recruitment.

UMS Sanctuary

USM Sanctuary, the starbase of the United Sack Marines

The Sanctuary is a massive, publically available orbital base on Zachiark's planet. It contains the chambers of the Military Council, the Diplomatic Office, and a recruitment center. It is due to be imminently decommissioned and restructured to create a planetary base of operations, as part of Operation Enduring Prosperity.

Military Council

The Military Council is currently suspended due to officer inactivity. The Second Military Council will be convened pending our second-wave recruitment drive, which can be read about under Operation Enduring Prosperity. The First Military Council lasted until June 2015 and consisted of:

• Zachiark
  • Commander of the United Sack Marines
  • Admiral of the Marine Navy
  • Captain of the USM Lancea
• Ex-Biker719
  • Diplomatic Officer
  • LBPU Representative
  • Captain of the USM Emissary
• iZynful
  • Commander of Combined Ground Forces

Marine Corp

The United Sack Marine Corp is divided into several interlinked contingents.

The USM Force Recon division is the newest but most advanced section of the Corp. Force Recon scouts out new clans and open worlds for exploration. They make detailed reports to their CO on what clans they find, which are added to the register. USM Diplomats will then attempt to establish formal alliances with these clans. The identity of Force Recon agents will be an open secret within the USM.

The USM's most advanced technology is available to Force Recon officers, both to help them in their role and to reward them for their achievements.

• Single-seater jumpships feature advanced transporter capability which can deploy and return any marine from orbit to any point on the surface. These ships will be delivered to all who qualify for service, and will be highly customisable.
• ISR-2 (Infantry Scout Rifle Mk II): This rifle is issued to officers who have completed a major assignment for the Marines. It features a 15-round magazine, explosive rounds, and a detonation range safety protocol. The preferred tool for medium-to-long-range infantry combat.

The Diplomatic Bureau is the organisation that conducts unarmed diplomatic missions to other clans and individuals. Their mission is to spread peaceful cooperation throughout the Imagisphere. They are the public face of the USM and will be appointed as representatives to the LBPU.

The Marine Navy is an ultra-modern fleet of advanced vessels, utilising the cutting edge of LBP3 technology. Its large fleet is used when multiple members are

• USM Lancea - The upcoming capital ship of the USM fleet, the Lancea is a carrier dreadnaught equipped with the latest technology that is spearheading Operation Peacemaker. Advanced Deflector Shields, Transporter technology, warp drive, shuttle and fighter bays, cargo storage for clan items, a central data hub, and a huge array of ship-to-ground and ship-to-ship weaponry make the Lancea the ultimate example of USM technology.
• USM Emissary - This unarmed consular ship will be captained by Ex-Biker719 for diplomatic use. It features a transporter system, multi-purpose meeting room, and a combined crew/engineering area.
• USM Defensor - This carrier was the former capital ship of the Navy, and houses huge cargo bays and crew areas containing a massive library of LBP1 and LBP2 technology. The ship is currently undergoing a full refit and will be pressed back into service as the Navy's Second Ship.
• USM Adventum - The Adventum was designed in late LBP2 to serve as a transitional vessel, capable as being used as a staging platform for fleet operations in early LBP3. It is now being refitted as a frigate and will be issued to all officers for them to personalise.
• USM Invictus - The Invictus was constructed in LBP2 as an all-combat vessel with advanced deflector shields. These shields have now been installed on all USM vessels, making them invulnerable to all known weaponry. Updating it to LBP3 standards is currently underway, but is a low-priority task as the highly weaponized ship lacks the versatility that is now standard in the USM fleet.

Operation Enduring Prosperity

Significant restructuring has begun, including the introduction of a new clan base to replace the USM Sanctuary starbase. After construction hit major logistical setbacks, it was decided that efforts should be directed to construct planet-based structures. As such, a simple colony site shall first be established, followed by more complex structures connected via level links. Work began June 20th and the level will be published imminently, with improvements and updates coming over a number of weeks.

Trivia

• As you can probably tell, the clan is role-play heavy but this is fully optional. If a player has expressed a preference to be called by their name and not a rank, then whatever makes them most comfortable is used. The roleplaying merely served as a way to boost cohesion between members. There is no true authority as if you feel you are being bossed around rather than motivated to help out then you can simply leave, unlike a real military!
• Despite the military theme, I am actually a pacifist. War is currently a sad fact of life and I firmly believe we can reduce the size of our military spending (and lost service personnel) with better commitment to global development and more cooperative foreign policies. But until then, I will be building giant space ships with huge lasers on LBP.
• All of the military style creations serve a primarily social function, as the ships contain meeting areas for non-roleplay clan discussion, as well as functioning components such as flight and weapons for more RP-style gaming.
• The space-marine style theme has a mixture of influences:
  • The naming of the organisation from the USM in Dead Space, as well as applying the prefix to ship names.
  • The Colonial Marines from Aliens, with their contemporary aesthetic but advanced hardware. The USM's equipment assumes that military technology won't look much different in the future, but will perform much better.
  • Destiny, with the Guardians forming a loose basis for the Force Recon division, as well as the design of the jumpships. Sanctuary is party based on the Guardians' Tower, but also draws on
  • Firefly/Serenity form another point of inspiration for the rag-tag Force Recon, as well as the government's aesthetic in the series influencing the ship design and the city of Sanctuary.