Touscha

Note: this is a concept, and not added to the game yet. The Touscha are a society of elite mercenaries and bounty hunters, founded by Keavix Touscha and led by the former pirate Exila Drogun after his death at the Battle of Aptitude Station.

Society
The Touscha mercenaries are often seen with weapons and armor on them at all times. This makes for a shock for outsiders, but for the mercenaries this is perfectly normal. Their weapons range from commonplace weapons like blasters to more elite weapons such as hand-to-hand katana-like weapons. The mercenaries are loosely divided into clan-like groups. Some are more solitary than others, but all of them still answer to the head of the society.

Faction Standings

 * The Touscha and the Empire are enemies, due to the branding of the mercenaries as traitors and the sequence of events that led up to their founding. Ships sometimes venture their way into each other's space but usually don't last long unless in a large group.
 * The Touscha and the pirates are neutral to each other. Many of the jobs that the mercenaries get come from pirates, so it wouldn't make sense to become enemies. They aren't allies though, in risk of alienating other clients from other factions. It is well-known, however, that these two factions are close.
 * It is later revealed in the campaign that the Touscha have a secret alliance with the FLF. In fact, the mercenaries are a small part in why the FLF rebels are so heavily armed. The reasons behind this are only known to higher-ranked individuals in both societies.
 * Houses Dvaered, Sirius, and Soromid are all neutral to the Touscha.

Worlds
The mercenaries' home planet, named starpoint, is mostly rural except for one major city where all activity seems to happen. Anyone who wants to get anything done on this planet has to be living within flying distance of this city. That is, there are many who live by themselves, or solitary clans who like to reside where no one is watching, but for the most part this city is the center of life on Starpoint.

Orbiting the first planet of the system, a volatile lava planet, is the renowned Starpoint Shipyards. Originally built by Lord Falavar in exchange for one of the mercenaries' first jobs, it has expanded greatly to become one of the galaxy's most prominent independent shipyards. What's even more impressive is that the shipyards are entirely self-sufficient. All materials that are needed are taken from the lava planet, or from the ice planet on the fringes of the system.

In the outer fringes of the system lies the third and final planet in the Touscha system. It is a cold and inhospitable planet. However, some decided to do an investigation of the planet and found it to harbor some rare materials that could be used to make specialized weapons and engines. Subsequently the Touscah settled the planet and began to mine it.

Timeline
Based off this timeline.
 * SCU 576: The eventual founders of the Touscha mercenaries, the Imperial captain Keavix Touscha, the Dvaered captain Johann Franklin, and the pirate Exila Drogun stumble on each other next to a secret Imperial base. A brief discussion ensues, but is cut short by an attack from ships made to protect the secret base. Vastly outgunned, they attempt to escape through a jump while it is being collapsed by some mechanism in the secret Imperial base. Instead of being transported to where they should have, they are catapulted into unknown space. The dvaered and pirate ships were rendered inoperable, so the remaining crews were forced to merge onto Touscha's ship. It is revealed by Exila that the station held some sort of technology stolen from the Za'lek that could obtain complete control over the jumps. The crew begins repairs on the heavily damaged Imperial ship.


 * SCU 577: The crews complete repairs to Keavix Touscha's ship, and begin to head back towards civilization. However, when they emerged in Imperial space, they find a fleet waiting for them, as they had been branded traitors by whatever authority was in charge of that base. After a battle in which Keavix Touscha's tactical genius plays a huge part in their victory, they decide to head back to the system where they were launched by the collapsing jump point. They name the system and the tundra planet there Starpoint.


 * SCU 579: The population of Starpoint has increased dramatically by outcasts from everywhere gathering to join Touscha. Due to problems with supply and ship conditions, they were having problems staying self-sufficient. Then lord Peter Falavar asks for their help in destroying a rival fleet, rewarding them with equipment to refine metals found in the lava planet in that system, and the base of what would become the Starpoint Shipyards. This is the first mercenary mission given to Touscha's group, and eventually defines them as who they are today.


 * SCU 582: By around this time, large amounts of money had helped the mercenaries become entirely self-sufficient. Starpoint Shipyards had grown to the point where it could create corvette-class ships. The third planet in the system, an ice planet, had been found to harbor rare minerals needed in specialized weapons and propulsion systems. The Touscha Raiders, as they were now called by many, has begun to make a name for themselves.


 * SCU 589: A large attack fleet from the Empire is soundly repelled by the well-armed mercenaries. The population of Starpoint is large enough that clans begin to develop within the mercenary ranks. The Starpoint Shipyards now is able to produce capital ships.


 * SCU 591: The incident. An expanding nebula originating from the Sol system wipes out everything within a large radius. It does, however, stop short of Starpoint, so the mercenaries and their homeworld survived.


 * SCU 594: Attack on Aptitude station. Keavix accompanies a large fleet to the Zhett system to wipe out the secret station that they stumbled upon a long while ago. In the ensuing battle, Keavix Touscha dies, and Exila Drogun takes control of the fleet to finish the battle. On their return, a power struggle takes place, but through many things Exila Drogun becomes the new leader of the mercenaries. Construction begins on Sentinel One, an outpost in the Zhett system to make sure that no one tries to recover the corpse of the secret space station and also as a memorial to their fallen leader.


 * SCU 598: Construction begins on Sentinel Two, an outpost near Frontier space. There is no apparent reason to outsiders for this action, as the reason for building Sentinel Two is kept within mercenary ranks.


 * SCU 603: Present day.

Mission Concepts
This is all under development, so suggest any changes on the talk page or on the forum post about this faction.

Basic missions

 * After hitting a certain amount of rep with the Touscha through the in-game Touscha campaign (I am thinking 15%), or after passing a certain mission in the faction campaign, the player will eventually be able to accept mercenary work from the Touscha worlds.

Campaign

 * First Mission: The player talks to a mercenary in the bar of a world within ten jumps of Starpoint who would like you to bring a package to Starpoint. He gives you the location of their world if the player has not discovered it yet. He does not, however, tell you what is in the package, only that you will be payed a generous amount upon arrival. The player arrives at Starpoint and unloads the cargo under the watchful eyes of a group of mercenaries. After it is unloaded, the mercenaries thank you and pay your reward.
 * Second Mission: ??? (Something that would get the attention of the highter-ranked mercs in the Touscha society)
 * Third Mission: When flying nearby the Starpoint system, your ship is intercepted by a large fleet and you are persuaded to follow them under threat that they will disable and capture you and your ship. You are taken to Sentinel Two, a secret base nearby Frontier space. When you land, you are greeted by Exila Drogun, who apologizes for the bluntness of her fleet. She explains the situation: They needed a pair of non-Touscha eyes to do some snooping for them, because any Imperial ship that caught a Touscha ship would fire without hesitation. You then proceed to go to three systems, one deep in Imperial space, one near Cerberus, and one in Frontier space. Once you finish the mission, you are rewarded. You wonder why the head of the mercenary corps herself found it necessary to contact you for a small scouting job, and why you were paid s much for it.
 * Fourth mission: Exila finds the decency to just send a courier this time instead of an entire fleet. You are to head to Sentinel Two again for more instructions. Once you arrive there, you find Exila there. She takes you to a private room, and tells you that there's a job at Sentinel One for you, and gives you a bit of back story of the faction. The secret jump from Raelid is revealed and you head there, and land on Sentinel One. There you are greeted by Jake Traykan, who seems to be in charge of this station. He explains a little more back story of the station, and also explains the mission: They had detected activity on the long-dead Aptitude Station, and wanted you to investigate. You do so, and discover that it is largely empty. You put on your suit and venture out into the airless insides of the station. You walk to the command bridge and discover that the wall and ceiling were caved in. You assume it was from the battle until readings indicate that it happened only three hours ago. This is strange, you think. You head back from your ship and take off. but then, a strange metallic ship jumps out of nowhere and begins attacking you. Jake quickly yells at you to get out of there, and a group of touscha ships quickly converge on the lone ship. After the battle, you are asked to land on Sentinel One, and there, he thanks you and gives you your reward. At this mission clearance is given to land on Starpoint Shipyards, and to buy their elite ships and weapons.
 * Fifth mission: ??? (Involves FLF-Touscha alliance, maybe a joint strike?)
 * Sixth mission and up: ???

Other missions

 * ??? (Something that introduces the player to the clan system, maybe a small conflict)