Unofficial Lore: If SOE won't explain ****, I will (Part 1: The VS)

The official "lore" for this game is lackluster in my opinion, and is too focused on backstory. It doesn't give proper motivations for the factions or even give us a good idea of how these countries operate. So if they won't, I will.

Well, here's a starting point. Here ya go. Want a reason to fight for the VS? Want to know how they work, what makes them tick? Well, it isn't official but it's better than nothing. Headcanon FTW.


History:

The Vanu Sovereignty was originally founded as a religious organization by the scholars of the memoir of Henry Briggs, the first human to actually ‘contact’ (to what degree he communicated is disputed) the mysterious entity he called “Vanu”. Briggs claimed his mind was cured of Asperger’s Syndrome by the enlightening presence of Vanu and he was instructed to bring humanity together with Vanu to bring about the next evolution of the human race; he spent all his remaining years studying everything possible about Vanu and the alien race which previously inhabited Auraxis. Though Briggs died before the Sovereignty was founded, he is still referred to as the “Prophet” Briggs and his memoir, The Revelary, serves as the guiding spiritual, philosophical and informational text of the Vanu Sovereignty.

After his death, Auraxian scientists and acheologists continued to follow in Briggs’ footsteps to uncover the secrets of the alien species that inhabited Auraxis, which Briggs claimed had been personally led by Vanu itself. Their discoveries of advanced teleportation, the construction material “nanites” and “rebirthing” (a process by which a dead person can be quantumly reconstructed into an almost exact clone of themselves) radically changed the technological face of Auraxis. However, their adherence to Henry Briggs’ ultimate goal, a path to “enlightenment” as set forth by Vanu during their communion, drew the suspicion of Brent Waterson and the Terran Republic, who feared the consequences of manipulating human DNA, synthesis with electronics and – ultimately - the manipulation of the Warpgates to bring about the Advancement. All research into Vanu and alien technology was put under strict government and military control, and attempts by Briggs’ adherents to research the functionality of the Warpgates led to several of them being imprisoned or barred from their professions. Almost all research was either outsourced to Nanite Systems, or put under the control of the Terran military, who began trying to weaponize alien technology.

As the restrictions on the use of alien technology and religious freedom piled up, the determination of Briggs’ followers grew. Though Marshal Waterson eventually banned the distribution of The Revelary, enough were spread beforehand or were illegally spread afterward to draw relatively broad support for Briggs’ cause. Henry Briggs was a recent historical figure and his ‘transformation’ was well-documented and as-yet unexplained, but real nevertheless. Many of those who understood the science, or at least thought they did, behind the Vanu-inspired technology around Auraxis began to believe that Vanu’s guidance really could advance humanity to the next level, as it seemed to have done for Auraxis’ original inhabitants. But they lived in fear of reprisals and opposition from the Terran government.

Eventually, a core group of radicals, largely from the original group of researchers at Site V74, the ruins of an ancient alien city, decided that enough was enough. They were determined to find enlightenment through Vanu, and they would not let the Terran Republic stand in their way. They plotted an uprising, spreading the word to the Vanu faithful across Auraxis to follow their example and take up arms to fight for the enlightenment. It was difficult to co-ordinate, since the Republic kept such a close watch on all of them and for the most part, the movement was originally scattered and un-unified simply because there was no way to reunite with other followers without being discovered.

The faithful were told to wait for the core group, the large research team at V74, to make their move before making a general revolt. Their timing could not have been more opportune – when the New Conglomerate defied the authority of the Terran Republic and began the war that still rages on Auraxis, the Vanu disciples struck. The team at Site V74 turned their prototype weapons and equipment on the now reduced Republican guard force and took control of the site and the warpgate which stood near it. Other followers in the area quickly joined the cause when called. Then a vanguard force surged through the Warpgate to the I1 Warpgate on southwest Indar. Their lightning charge caught the few TR soldiers in that area of Indar off guard, and though the Vanu followrs had no training and their equipment was unreliable at best, being only limited-production prototypes, the sheer firepower they could bring to bear brought them victory and they reached the Vanu Archives, an ancient alien library of sorts. There they took into their possession the original alien artifact which had been brought by Briggs from the Moon Belt. They then whisked it away back through the warpgate with a TR Quick Reaction Force of air landing troops in Galaxy transports on their tail. Not knowing what awaited them, the Republic air fleet flew through the I1 and were caught in a killzone at the V74 warpgate pad. The Vanu followers shut off the warpgate to prevent further incursions.

It was then the event known to the VS as the “Initiation” occurred. As the artifact, which had been kept under close guard by the Republic and untouched by anyone, was taken out of its transport container, 7 members of the force which had brought it back stepped forward and touched it, elated at the chance to finally be able to see Vanu for themselves. But the ancient relic seemed unreliable – 2 saw nothing when they touched it. 3 saw a light. 1 claimed to have seen the vague shape of Vanu (the Y shape which now adorns the Sovereignty’s flag and is its official symbol). The 7th man suddenly found himself acting as if possessed. He shouted in elation that “Vanu is with me!”, and began a long sermon in which he supposedly recited what Vanu was telling him. He declared that Vanu was beyond the reach of some minds, but that he was intelligent enough to comprehend some aspects of Vanu’s message. It was then he declared Vanu could now lead them to enlightenment, and he would spread Vanu’s command to them. “My words are of Vanu, I am simply its conduit,” he declared. “This is the beginning of a sovereign nation of the advanced, of the enlightened and superiors of humanity which will guide the ignorant to Vanu’s light. We will follow its enlightened road, wherever it takes us, for as the Prophet showed it can only be to betterment, a release from this ignorant, gullible and stupid form which most humans now inhabit. This is Vanu’s Sovereignty. We will find the road to Vanu using its own map; and with such a map, the ignorant shall never be able to stop us, for they are blind to its wisdom.”

Thus was established the Vanu Sovereignty. Site V74 became Ascension, its capitol. The man who could speak to Vanu became known as “The Conduit”, and was tasked with commanding the VS according to Vanu’s will. As others rose up and declared allegiance, pockets of control were established around Auraxis and linked with the larger group based in Ascension. Some groups were eliminated by the Terran Republic, but many joined forces and the Sovereignty took control of about one fifth of the planet. Initially besieged by TR forces, their fighters eventually became more adept at combat and the problems with their weapons and vehicles were fixed, giving them a powerful advantage over the Rebuplican Army. A massive VS counteroffensive launched using its new weapons, properly trained soldiers and new vehicles broke the siege of their island of territory and led them to expand to cover almost a third of Auraxis, after which they became embroiled in the battlefield stalemate that exists to this day. It was during this advance they first encountered New Conglomerate forces and turned the war into a three way battle; when the NC refused to hand over control of their warpgates in exchange for an alliance against the Terran Republic, the VS took several by force.

Doctrine:

The Sovereignty’s obsession with control of warpgates is sometimes lost on those who do not understand their objective. As Briggs’ claimed was revealed to him, and as the Conduit claims is told to him, the alien race which inhabited Auraxis was led by a supreme being called Vanu, whose exact nature is a subject of debate. The VS believe Vanu is a being from some higher plane of existence who led these aliens to develop the technology that drives the warpgates and from which the VS’s own technology is derived. They believe the warpgates, not simply being large teleporters, can be linked together to combine their power. What exactly happens when they are linked together as one is not known, and the VS themselves are not exactly sure either. Vanu has never revealed to the Conduit exactly what will happen when this is done, only that it will allow them to be with “him and his chosen” (the aliens). Theories abound as to whether it will open a wormhole (as the TR believe, which they think can be used to take the humans of Auraxis back to Earth) or whether it will teleport the entire planet to some point in space where Vanu is waiting for them, or perhaps that Vanu will appear on Auraxis in person.

Regardless of how exactly they reach Vanu, the VS believe that when they do, Vanu can “touch” (what that means exactly is again, up for debate) each of them directly and bring their minds to a higher state of intelligence and understanding. This is the Enlightenment. Being thus enlightened beyond the normal capacity of the human mind, there are again more theories about what will happen after this. Will we ascend to Vanu’s plane of existence, a form incomprehensible to our current minds (proponents of this point to the absence of Auraxis’ alien population and claim this is because Vanu took them to another plane of existence)? Will we become more evolved versions of ourselves? Will our enlightened minds simply allow us to forge our own path forward to greater advancement on our own terms? No one knows exactly, but whatever happens, the VS believe it will be absolutely for the better. This stage is called the Advancement. Predicting the outcome of the aforementioned stages is a point of contention in VS philosophy and there are several subsects of the religion that each subscribe to a different interpretation of what will happen upon the Enlightenment and Advancement. There is some tension as a result of this but in general the citizens of the VS are simply content with finding Vanu and seeing what happens from there, and are not yet rendered fractioned or split by mere predictions.

I respect your work and think it is pretty good.A lot of thought here but there is already an unnofficial lore that is pretty widely accepted. Look it up on the youtube.

Good work, but your a little late. Details in my sig.

If it's so widely accepted, why have I never heard of it or seen anyone talk about it?

Nice job. This is a sandbox MMO that lacks any serious backstory or lore. I support anyone who puts the time and effort to build a deeper story. I've always enjoyed reading people's ideas and creativite thoughts on PS2 and as long as people don't go overboard or unrealistic, I see no reason why the community couldn't adopt their own lore.

Make sure you also participate in the next Planetside 2 lore writing contest.

Interesting! I wrote a bit of headcanon on the VS as well, here for their beliefs and here for their formation in relation to Briggs. Come contribute your ideas to the Encyclopaedia! There's a bit about Briggs in the Terraforming section here as well.

Something you may want to note: It's confirmed by Higby that Briggs is alive, proven by the description for the VS Immortal Auraxium pistol, which states it's his personal sidearm.

Though Sonny's works are great, the ending leaves the game with a kind of depressing, pointless vibe. Everyone goes crazy and keeps fighting for the sake of fighting, having killed off their sane leaders. I prefer headcanon that at least makes me feel like I'm fighting for something. Besides, one person's headcanon is no more valid than another's. That's why Sonny, Rictavius, and I started the Encyclopaedia Auraxia as a way to create a widely accepted fanon contributed to by the community as a whole. Details in my sig.