Ctistes Information and Civil Affairs Group

 When I first heard that these people assumed the identity of our warships, it left me a little unnerved, sure, but I wasn’t weirded out or anything. Okay, I thought, maybe this is a case for a psych team, not the military. But they said no, listen, this is real, and the part of me that wanted to believe that this was real just sort of took over. I guess that whole mentality is part of the reason why I’m here today. Working with ships. You know.

It’s a part of our culture, too. We spend so much of our history attributing feelings and thoughts to objects. Personifying things that don’t care. As if being gentle with an object means it’ll be nice to you, as if luck has something less to do with it all. We name our cars and draw faces on trains. Children hug trees and think flowers are happy. In my language, nations are feminine. I guess ships are, too.

Throughout their history they existed to protect us. Ships are the creations that carried us out and connected cities, helped us gather food, explore uncharted waters… you get the idea. Considering how water makes up more of our planet than land, I figure these machines are more tied to our history than I’d give them credit for. So can you see why it feels off to me, talking to them like they’re a person?

What can you even say? Oh, how’s the water? Catch any nice waves today? I’m not a navy guy. I don’t get how it all works. And before you stop me saying hey, she’s literally just a girl, I need to point out that they don’t even bleed in the same way. It’s their skin. Their bones. So like, the way they talk, you need to remember they never really grew up. They didn’t go to school, make and break friendships or have parents, for that matter… and while we’re still learning the ins and outs of their lives before coming to us, well… 

There’s a reason why I’m here. Why we’re here, really. And it’s more than just missiles and bombs at the end of the day. There’s something in the air, it finds a way into all our conversations, our private time, you know, it’s… it’s, what’s the word… pervasive? Yeah, pervasive. This idea that there’s more at stake, that there’s this great, big mystery surrounding a world that might as well be fake - it just gets more and more real with each new thing I learn about them. And it terrifies me.

If we’re going to get to the bottom of why they’re here, what’s next for our society as a whole, and what danger they’re bringing with them, I’m really going to have to get to know them. Not the whole fake eyelashes, nights in town and favorite music sort of thing. I’m talking about their other lives. Their mail calls, port visits, close calls and devotion to war - not to mention the stuff the Navy hasn’t declassified yet. Their identity as a warship means something to them I can’t possibly imagine. 

I just hope we’re not too late.

Interview Excerpts - SSG Hopkins, Ctistes Information and Civil Affairs Group (CICAG), 1996



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Tactical Psychological Operations Detachment (TPOD) 
(Derived from fictional 19th Psychological Operations Battalion)


The human component of the Joint Task Forces was comprised of a series of international military units. One of the more prominent units involved in the JTF is a special information warfare and CA formation built on the 19th POB. Their early mission with the Shipsouls was that of encouraging integration and education in a Civil Affairs capacity. Acting as instructors and liaisons, they helped to facilitate direct engagement and accommodation when cooperation posed a challenge. As time went on, the CICAG served in a Psychological Operations capacity to influence national militaries, “cults” and local culture groups to oppose Vaiyran influence. By the initiation of hostilities with the Vaiyra, the CICAG strove to influence the JTF to maintain unit cohesion along with attempting to encourage popular discontent within the Vaiyra’s leadership and by combining persuasion with a credible threat, degrade their ability to conduct or sustain military operations.


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