Askanj Principality

The Askanj Principality is a coalition of species located within the Sagittarius and Scutum-Centaurus Arms, embroiled in a centuries long losing war against the Compact of Species. Their territories within the former are being slowly claimed by the Compact. Only rapid colonization in opposite direction lets them remain independent. It won't be long before the core systems of the Principality are threatened, and the Compact has taken at least one member race's homeworld.

While they are losing, they are still the greatest superpower in the region aside from the Compact, and one of the Compact's greatest enemies.

The Askanj-anj are the principal race of the Principality and the original driving force behind its formation - it's a symbol of solidarity that all members of the Principality are 'Askanj' and have a shortened version of their original species name as a suffix to that, like Askanj-illth (Illtharie).

Legion Shocktroops
The Principality's most common foe for their infantry and marine equivalents tend to be Compact Ground Force and Janissaries, so their small arms are on average more powerful. Compact armour (especially powered armour) is far superior to Principality designs - this is an artefact of their two most 'military' species. Tribune soldiers are hundreds of pounds of muscle wrapped up in even more armour. While powered armour makes them surprisingly quick, they're not the fastest soldiers out there, so they build armour with an eye towards making it as survivable as possible, since the opportunities for concealment are rather limited when you're over seven feet tall. i.e. "You're going to get shot no matter what. This will make you laugh off 95% of that."

The Askanj-illth are one of the major races of the Principality; they've been a part of it among the longest and tend to dominate the military just as Tribunes do in the Compact, to the point that combat doctrines and rank structures tend to show a distinct Askanj-illth influence. Until the Askanj-illth joined, their troops were never able to match a Tribune in power armour face-to-face. Rather than try and beat the Compact at materials science (good luck), they took a different tack. Unassisted, a Serpent can average about 60km/hr, or 14m/s. That's nothing special when firefights can be ~300-500+ meters... but that's why the Serpents also have guns (and have no compunction about using them). Sniping some Compact dog at 700 meters is just as good as peeling him open at 0 m. However, when you're in a short-range firefight - like you can expect aboard ships, stations or cities (areas where lines of sight are short and marine forces are most likely to clash) - well, that's when having an opponent that can close those few hundred feet to you and your supposedly-invulnerable armour and rip you open in the space of a few heartbeats can cause the most problems.