War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Supreme Commander Cameron Blackblade commissioned this Field Manual on 17 October 2069. At that time, he expressed his desire for a thorough, objective survey of the Nerimian Defense Initiative. As the single largest component of the Nerimian Galactic Confederation's armed forces, the NDI is vital to the continued security and prosperity of the Nerimian Confederation and all of its citizens. And as the Confederation becomes the galaxy's dominant political and militaristic power, the need to field and maintain an effective military becomes even more important.

The Commander therefore directed that the Field Manual should serve two purposes. First, it should provide an objective account of the NDI's state of readiness—including honest evaluations of the degree to which the Commander's own reforms have been accepted amongst the NDI units, and the effects of those reforms. Second, the document should explain the important role the NDI plays in Confederate society, emphasize the philosophical concepts that guide the NDI, and describe the NDI's organization. To meet these objectives, the Field Manual is divided into the following sections: The Wings of the Phoenix, The Phoenix's Talon, The Young Phoenix, and NDI Rosters.

The Wings of the Phoenix illustrates the central role of the NDI in Confederate society and the importance of NDI combat doctrine. The section also includes an explanation of the NDI chain of command, descriptions of the types of units that make up the NDI, and a brief historical survey describing the battles and events that have shaped the modern NDI.

The Phoenix's Talon describes current NDI Warship, aerospace, armor, and infantry assets and common organization schemes. The section also provides information on standard NDI rank structure, uniforms, medals, and decorations.

The Young Phoenix surveys all of the Confederation's military academies and universities, including the training courses and curricla those insitutions offer, and also describes the NDI's proving grounds. Finally, NDI rosters presents the history, command structure, available forces, commonly used tactics and composition of every current NDI unit, as well as every unit's size, quality, and loyalty ratings.

In conclusion, I can only hope that my staff and I have satisfactorily fufilled the Commander's request to produce a document that will enable all NDI commanders to better understand the current state of the NDi--and thereby better serve the Nerimian Confederation. I thank my staff for any success we have achieved, and I alone accept personal responsiblity for any failure.

- Brigadier General Edward Sakamoto

 

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THE WINGS OF THE PHOENIX: THE ROLE OF THE NERIMIAN DEFENSE INITIATIVE

The Nerimian Defense Initiative is the largest and most powerful organization in the Nerimian Galactic COnfederation, the undisputed element that holds all 50 planets of the Confederation together. The NDI provides the backbone of Prime Minister Alexander Edwards' government as well as defending the Confederation as a whole. In effect, to control the military is to direct the Confederation's path.

The commander-in-chief of the Confederate military is Supreme Commander Cameron Blackblade, a former NERV Captain who formed the Tactical Aerospace Force in 2035 to serve more conventional roles in warfare rather than the expensive and cumbersome Evangelions utilized by NERV. By reviving the concept of the tactical variable fighter, the TAF could perform admirably in both aerial conflicts and in conflicts on the ground. Within a period of five years, the TAF evolved into the Nerimian Defense Initiative, absorbing the SDF and other various military branches. By late 2040, the first interstellar warship, the Bastion Class Battlecruiser, had been brought into service, solidifying the NDI's role as Nerima's primary guardian.

According to Confederate law, all males of the age of 16 must serve at least two years in the service of the NDI, and all females of the age of 17 must serve at least two years. While the conscriptment of soliders has been debated on for years, the NDI contends that no citizen can serve the Confederation more fully than as a warrior of the NDI, the greatest instrument of Confederate policy.

EYE FOR A BODY: THE COMBAT DOCTRINE OF THE NDI

Nerimian combat doctrine is rather controversial because the entire concept of retalliation is amplified by at least one hundred times. The age-old policy of 'eye for an eye' is forgotten and replaced with the concept of 'eye for a body'. To some, this may sound humorous, but if you are on the receiving end of the avenging hand of the NDI, then it is everything but humorous. The policy is intended to deter any enemy from entering a battle with the NDI that it ultimately cannot finish. While the enemy may win a temporary victory, the threat of such a devastating retalliation often keeps enemies from attacking the Confederation.

"Kill a solider; lose an entire army. Destroy a warship; lose an entire fleet. Kill a citizen; lose an entire city. Destroy a planet; lose an entire civilization."

- Grand Admiral Kage Xeraux

While liberals in the Grand Assembly consider this policy barbaric at best, the NDI is not deterred in eliminating any foe that would dare assault the Confederation, and despite the press depicting NDI actions on the battlefield as mere savagery, the NDI refuses to change its methods. Support for the policy among the NDI's troops is relatively high, as through indoctrination, they realize that it is the only way for the NDI to achieve its goals of defending the Confederation.

THE NDI CHAIN OF COMMAND

The NDI acts under the direct command of the Supreme Commander, which makes it the ultimate instrument of NDI policy. While the Supreme Commander is not an elected official, funding of the massive war machine is appropriated through the Grand Assembly, thus the other branches of government have some sort of control over the military. All NDI officers and troops are pledged the Confederation as embodied by the person of the Supreme Commander.

Traditionally, the Supreme Commander commands through the district warlords, who oversee NDI operations in the various military districts.

The Supreme Commander of the Nerimian Defense Initiative is considered the embodiment of the NDI itself. He enjoys tremendous respect, priviledge, and loyalty from his troops. His will guides the military, and no one can serve the NDI without serving the Supreme Commander.

The Supreme Commander is attended by the High Command, a small assembly of the NDI's district warlords and advisors. This body helps the Commander manage the NDI and the coordinationof NDI forces and for bringing any important information pertaining to the Confederate government.

The current Supreme Commander (oddly enough, the only one), Cameron Blackblade still employs the High Command in various roles, but he often takes an active role in the day to day operations of the NDI, even taking command of the 4th Spacy Battle Fleet and leading it as his own personal vanguard.

MILITARY DISTRICTS

The warlords of the Nerimian Confederation's seven districts - Nerima, Crius, Antares, Draconis, Tau Cygni, Asharon, Aquilae, and Vaeron--command considerable power within the NDi and district politics. Each warlord is a member of the NDI high command, and each has authority over the regular forces stationed in his or her district. The warlords answer directly to the Supreme Commander.

Though this arrangement has often enabled warlords to quickly implement the wishes of the Commander, the position often seems to attract ruthless, power-hungry individuals. At some point such individuals typically grow more concerned with advancing their own fortunes than with the good of the Confederation. To circumvent this phenomenon, the NDI Commander places warlords of differing attitudes and ambitions in order to pit the opposing desires of different warlods against each other. This strategy prevented any single warlord from consolidating enough influence or power to threaten the well-being of the NDI.

TYPES OF FORCES

NDI troops are divided into fleets, divisions, or air wings, which fall into four main groups: regular, forces that display unquestioning loyalty to the Confederation (elite troops), and forces that follow modern warfare methods.

REGULAR FORCES

The District Regular Forces (DRF) are the staple of NDI defense, traditionally comprising approximately half the NDI's strength at any given time. The so-called Regulars draw their membership from conscriptment stations and their officers from medium-level academies.

NDI recruitment procedures ensure that the District Regulars have the largest percentage of green (new) troops filling their rosters. To assume that most regular troops are therefore inexperienced and under-trained, however, is a mistake for which many of the NDI's enemies have paid dearly. The regular forces are a cross-section of the NDI, ranging from green to elite troops of fanatical to questionable loyalty. Most regular units are kept well supplied and train constantly even when the prospect of war looks far away. The average level of expertise varies greatly among regular troops depending on the military engagement histories of each district.

UNQUESTIONED LOYALTY

Throught the history of the NDI, the unquestioned loyalty of its troops has been the pillar that it has been built upon. In no segment has this been truer than with the elite troops of the NDI's various branches. These elite forces often serve as the vanguards to the Supreme Commander or the Prime Minister.

Though Blackblade's reforms have already introduced new interpretations of a warrior's duty to the Confederation, unquestioned loyalty remains perhaps the single most distinguishing characteristic of the Nerimian warrior--and no NDI units hold loyalty and duty in higher regard than the reknowned Ryuken, Striker, Shadow, and Sword of Heaven forces. The warriors of these units have earned numerous victories during their illustrious histories, and their traditional devotion to the Confederation will undoubtedly inspire them to even greater glory in future battles.

ALTERNATE PATHS

The Nerimian Confederation has long cultivated individuality among its fifty member worlds, hoping to inspire each world to excel in different ways so that the overall strengths of the Confederation will begin to outweigh their inherent weaknesses. While united in spirit, various units of the Confederation take different measures to attain victory. Different philosophies give rise to a variety of tactics and strategies, which Confederate military leaders can then use to synthesize the most effective tactics and strategies possible.

Many Nerimian warlords have challenged the established order of things, but their departures from doctrine only became acceptable if their strategies and tactics proved successful. In fact, the concept of the floating regiment, a unit configuration employed by roughly half of the current NDI forces, was adopted in such a manner.

From the earliest days of the Confederation, Commander Blackblade preferred to permanetly assign forces to strict operational borders. Long-term assignments allowed troops to build loyalty towards the people and planets they defended, and this loyalty gave the Confederation an edge in defending its borders from foreign invaders. Such narrow loyalties also discourged factions from conspiring against the High Command of the NDI and threatening the unity of the state.

Unfortunately, forces also proved unable to cooperate in the aid of the Confederation at times. By creating floating regiments -- units not attached to a single warlord or district -- the NDI hoped to form units whose allegiance to the Commander was undivided by loyalties to planets or district administrators. Designed to move from one place to another to fill the gap left by regular troops, in peace time the floating forces were cycled through different areas to familarize the troops with the various theaters of operation and to encourage a sense of protectiveness for all Confederate worlds.

The NDI carefully orchestrates the movements and assignments of units with questionable loyalty to keep these units far apart and on the move. Though the NDI may always consider those who profess non-doctrinaire beliefs suspects, it willingly exploits the diversity such units bring to the NDI.

A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE MODERN NDI

The orgins of the modern NDI can be traced back to the elite fighter pilots under the command of NERV Captain Cameron Blackblade. After reviving the design of the tactical variable fighter, Blackblade personally trained the 144 pilots that made up the Tactical Aerospace Force. Despite having the numerical strength of a single air wing, the TAF's elite pilots proved to be the most elite fighting force available to the fledgling Nerimian Confederation. After using his extreme political and economic influence within the Grand Assembly, the TAF was removed from the command of NERV to form its own command structure. It was then that elements of the Army of the Southern Cross and Strategic Defense Force were absorbed by a totally new military organization: The Nerimian Defense Initiative (NDI).

Between 2040 and 2050, the NDI won increasing respect inside the Confederation when NDI space forces repelled two consecutive invasions by a mysterious race known as the Protodevlin. Utilizing what is now known as the most powerful weapons system known to man - the interstellar warship - the NDI Spacy repelled the invasion and made a violent assault on the Protodevlin homeworld and eradicated the planet with a destructive beam wwapon known as the Stellar Converter. It was then that the NDI was named as the official protector of the Nerimian Confederation, replacing the military influence of NERV. This further increased tensions between NDI Commander, Cameron Blackblade, and NERV Commander KoreDo Kyogouki Hikari.

However, the Fourth Invid War (2052-55) provided the first major test of the modern NDI. Under the leadership of Fleet Admiral Justin Keele, the NDI's invasion of Optera and Antares proved an unprecedented success. While the world of Optera fell rather easily in just two months, the Antares contingent of Invid forces fought with a tenacity that amazed even the NDI. After nearly two and a half years of war, the Invid were finally conquered by the NDI, leaving the NDI in control of nearly 20 star systems, which it turned over to the governmental arm of the Confederation. With the rediscovery of Commander Blackblade's homeworld of Draconis Prime, valuable propulsion and weapons technology had been recovered from the ancient Draconians, allowing the NDI to rise to a new level of dominance.

By the end of 2055, the NDI began an ambitious ship-building campaign, not out of the need to dominate more space, but to indeed control the new territories it had acquired. In a period of five years, the NDI's fleet grew from around 350 warships to nearly 1,500, including new classes of warship that further expanded the fighting capabilities of the NDI Spacy. With the extended reach of the NDI Spacy's starfleet, the watchful Draconian successor states, known simply as the Draconian Leauge initiated contact with the enterprising humans, known simply as the Nerimian Galactic Confederation. The Draconian Leauge was made up of eight alien races who all possessed advanced knowledge of technology. Perceiving humanity as ready to accept their role as the ninth Draconian successor state, they offered the Nerimians membership within the Draconian Leauge.

Skeptical at best with the alien proposal, the Confederate Grand Assembly rejected the initial offer, but did not totally isolate the Confederation from the Draconians at the urging of NDI Commander, Cameron Blackblade. Cameron Blackblade, being one of the original Draconians, held a special bond with the successor states.

In 2058, just three years after first contact was initiated, the new Confederate Prime Minister, Alexander Edwards, signed the Draconian Leauge treaty, making the Nerimian Confederation an official member of the Draconian Leauge. In addition to a mutual defense pact between the nine successor states, economic and technological trades were also made possible between the nine successor states. The Nerimians, while still considered primitive in the eyes of some of the original successor states, were a tenacious race who fought savagely for everything. Being led by a Draconian improved their stock among the more militaristic of the races, namely the Protoss, Bulrathi, and Mrrshan Empires. Pacifist nations like the Trilarians and the Psilons were naturally indifferent to the Nerimians, while xenophobic races like the Klackons and Sakkras considered the Nerimians a mere nuisance. The Elerians regarded the humans as favorable, but were still wary of their sudden emergence as a galactic power.

As the Draconian League's council met in 2059, a vote to determine which race's leader would ascend to the title of First Lord of the Draconian Leauge was held. The Sakkras, considered to be the most powerful race in the Draconian Leauge, was the odds on favorite to win. Alone, they held nearly enough votes to ensure victory, but votes from the other races would be essential. However, the tyrannical leader of the Sakkras, X'al Nel, was regarded as the most ruthless leader among the nine Draconian Leauge members. A general consensus among the seven other original states was not to allow X'al Nel to become the First Lord. However, with the vote of any other state, the Sakkras would ascend to the top, and if the other states casted votes for themselves, in another twenty-five years, the Sakkras would surely have enough votes to vote themselves in as the leaders of the Draconian Leauge.

Therefore and alliance between the other eight states of the Draconian League to throw their votes towards the Patriarch of the Protoss, Executor Zauriel. In a vote of 410-390, Executor Zauriel was named the First Lord of the Draconian Leauge, much at the behest of the Sakkran Emperor X'al Nel. In a stunning move, the Sakkran Empire rejected the ruling of the Draconian Leauge and X'al Nel declared that he would take the title of First Lord by force. This ignited the First Draconian War.

The Sakkras possessed the most powerful starfleet in the Draconian Leauge, one that had conquered nearly 90 different worlds and gave the Draconian Leauge a great deal of its power. Now that such a fleet was turned against the other successor states, X'al Nel believed it was just a matter of time before he was the First Lord of the Draconian Leauge.

The attack began on 3 September 2059, just two weeks after the crowning of First Lord Zauriel. The Sakkran fleet swept through the Trilarian worlds of Guardias and the Bulrathi homeworld of Ursa in a matter of days, killing millions of innocent civillians. The NDI Fleet was the furthest away from the Sakkras, and thus they didn't feel the wrath the other successor states did in the opening shots of war. Knowing that if they didn't fight now, the Sakkras would simply eliminate them later, the NDI's 1st, 3rd, and 5th Fleets entered the fray against the Great Crimson Fleet of the Sakkran Empire. The entire conflict was centered around the border world of Mu Delphi, a jungle planet that held the jump node to the entire Cygni Sector of the Sakkran Empire.

Led by Fleet Admirals Justin Keele and Kage Xeraux, the NDI smashed the entire Crimson Fleet in an epic battle that lasted for eight continuous weeks. The victory at Mu Delphi left the Sakkran Cygni Sector open to Admiral Vladimir Ruzhyo's 5th Fleet, which conducted the most ambitious offensive in Nerimian history. Joined by the Protoss and Mrrshan fleets, the NDI captured 28 Sakkran worlds in a period of two years, claiming them for the Nerimian Galactic Confederation. This vast loss in territory caused the Sakkras to recall their attacking fleets, which had nearly wiped out the Trilarians and Elerians. The end result was a twenty-year peace pact between the states of the Draconian Leauge and the Sakkran Empire and the end of the First Draconian War.

By the end of 2061, the Nerimian Galactic Confederation had become a mighty military force, aided by their allies in the Draconian Leauge. The Draconian Leauge, grateful for their new allies, the NDI, quickly came to respect humanity's role in the galaxy. However, as the NDI became a more powerful force in the entire scheme of things, a new threat was beginning to emerge upon their borders: The Ayenee Space Coalition.

Ayenee and Nerima had been involved in a heated rivalry ever since the inception of the Nerimian Galactic Confederation. The hatred between these two worlds was so intense that they had been brought to the verge of war on numerous occassions. The Nerimians obviously had more raw power because of their solidarity, but the Ayeneeans had more resources and forces at their disposal. The only problem was, until the coming of Captain Cain Andrews and the Ayenee Space Coalition, none of these forces had banded together for the same cause.

On 4 Feburary 2062, the ASC command ship Parthenon ventured illegally into Confederate territory and suffered from a major sub-light drive failure, placing it on a collision course with the NDI resupply space station Fenril. Captain Andrews, having no other choice than to fire his weapons for his own survival, destroyed the space station, killing thousands of Nerimian citizens. To the Nerimian Galactic Confederation, this was nothing less than an act of war.

The aftermath of this incedent was the Nerima/Ayenee War of 2062, pitting the newly formed Ayenee Space Coalition against the Nerimian Defense Initiative. Previous conflicts against these two powers had been inconclusive, but now it seemed that all hell would break loose when these two great powers clashed against one another.

The first shots fired in the war was between the Parthenon and the brand new NDI command vessel, the NSS Uriel. The Parthenon was wiped out by the Uriel's awesome firepower, but it sparked a war of epic proportions that would bring the Nerimian homeworld under attack. Once ASC forces captured the neutral world of Athos-9 on the border of Confederation space, the Nerimians saw this as a direct staging point for the invasion of the Nerimian Confederation.

In fact, two separate invasion forces made a kamikaze run upon the Nerimian homeworld of Nerima Prime, but once they reached the Sol system, they were met by Admiral Takeshi Fugisawa's 2nd Fleet, which in conjunction with the 'ODIN' Defense Network, promptly smashed the ASC fleets without losing a single warship. The Nerimian counterstrike upon the world of Athos-9 rendered the planet completely inhabitable, using a secret weapons platform that served as a measure of payback to the Nerimians.

In the aftermath, the NDI remained virturally untouched by the hand of war, but the rage that the ASC would dare attack the Nerimian Confederation spurred a series of military buildups that Supreme Commander Blackblade called the Titan Programs. The 5th Fleet's success in the Cygni Sector had further inspired the NDI to build up its offensive assets, expanding a starfleet that was designed for defense into a fearsome war machine that could fight a war on multiple fronts at the same time. The 12 Battle Fleets were suddenly increased to 21, and with three more slated to be added by the year 2074.

In the later years of the 2060s, the NDI beat back several attempts by the Sakkras to take back the Cygni Sector, the 5th Fleet managing to take six additional worlds from the lizard-like race.

In conclusion, the NDI is a multi-tier military force that is highly competent in all areas of warfare. With its Draconian Leauge allies, its access to advanced technology and resources allows it to maintain the impressive military machine it has built for itself.