Update 21
These were the final days of the Zan Shamai. Over the course of a millennium, he had gone from a minor Zan in an underdeveloped arm of the galaxy with naught but a single system to his name, to a civilization-felling, Wera-slaying terror. A bright light of the Hegemony, an active innovator in a race of stagnant, dogmatic machine-encased nervous systems with god complexes. But somewhere along the line, Shamai had lost his way. Perhaps it was his sympathy (of a sort) for organic life, or his willingness to challenge the concept that the Zan were not yet perfect. Even as he crafted the Bane of Reality, the greatest weapon to be created by a Zan since the Cataclysm and the only known tool capable of dealing significant damage to a Wera, Shamai remained a black sheep amongst the Zan, who tolerated his heresy only in exchange for its practical side effects. With the axe of Kena always held threateningly close to his metaphorical neck, Shamai lost none of his recklessness, delving further into the taboo by recreating the original Zan species in the form of clones of himself. Even as he wrestled with the underlying nature of the universe itself alongside the Ocean Family, Shamai sought to uncover the darkest secret of his species, the origin of the Cataclysm which had first destroyed the Zan Empire so many hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Whatever the cause we prefer to focus on, Shamai at this point had become a pariah to all those around him, and even his own clones were beginning to seem questionable. Indeed, it was growing increasingly difficult to tell who was even in charge of the gestalt known as ‘Shamai’ at this point- Kena herself suspected that the original Shamai was dead at this point, a prediction that would later turn out to be more accurate than not. Meanwhile, the forces of Fplinmy, Sanath, and Kena were all focused almost exclusively on his destruction. It was considered by some a sign of the severity of Shamai’s transgressions that the Zan Kena was willing to cooperate with the Collectivity in order to bring him down, although many other theories exist to explain the nature of that unexpected pact- a misunderstanding of the nature and motivations of the Zan, or perhaps the Zan’s positive view of the entity ‘Chee’, who had ascended to a state of cybernetic nigh-omniscience by this point. Regardless of the causes, the conventional odds were stacked very steeply against Shamai.
An early addition to the forces arrayed against the fallen Zan was the arrival of ‘Zem’, the Zan Elimination Machine. The last creation of one of the many races to have been wiped out by the Zan, Zem was a ramshackle piece of very advanced technology which arrived rather suddenly above the Collectivity’s origin-world of Nept, with various pieces of wreckage and a few Wera in tow. One of these Wera promptly expelled a small colony of heavily-inbred Verthommes, who had been trapped in its interior for a good number of centuries. Immediately drawing attention away from the beginnings of the first proper recolonization efforts on the planet since its devastation by interspecies war over a millennium ago, Zem proceeded to return a few pieces of ships previously destroyed by Shamai’s reality-warping weaponry, make several boisterious boasts against the former Zan, and then joined into the massive advance against Shamai’s core stars.
The Association of Fplinmy, for reasons of its own, had begun to stir from its apparent lethargy when the lifecycle of one of their massive Yjogl steeds had come to an end. This explosive event prompted the commencement of a vast migration. Yplein across the association began to follow the corpse of their stricken comrade, which led its fellows towards a convergence over the world of Shamai. The disturbances of the moving Yjogl have had radical effects on the recently-abandoned systems. Kurilate has experienced severe increases in the intensity of its sunlight, as well as a marked increase in tectonic and volcanic activity across its surface. Elsewhere, the Kog’Vlad experience a year of many bizarre celestial phenomena, their observatories spotting many inexplicable bursts of light as the migration passed by their isolated homeworld.
Shu-Ghoo had watched with interest and concern as the conflict surrounding Shamai had escalated. However, they chose to remain aloof of the conflict, instead taking time to learn of their past, the circumstances of their ‘awakening’, and the decidedly odd nature of ‘Parent’, the entity or collection of entities responsible for their return to the galactic stage.
The Galactic Republic’s remnants, or at least those scattered between the two colossal nebulae known as the Pillars, have made a most bizarre alliance with the returning forces of Ma’Autra, the Eternal Union. The majority of the Republic’s population on its one remaining world of Uex is Lauki, which further complicates this relationship. However, despite generations of unexpressed ill-will between the insectoid Lauki and their erstwhile masters, the towering Maus, the threat of annihilation by Zan Kena is enough to push almost all concerns to the wayside, and thus does Ma’Autra live again. Of course, this ‘alliance’ is really quite a bit more one-sided than the citizens of the former Republic would like to believe, but they continue to contribute greatly to the war effort regardless.
Upon Au’tuc’s reunification with her erstwhile children… and their associated companions, the reformed Ma’Autra immediately launched a vicious counterattack on Gau. Rapidly combining Maus biotechnology, energy weapons and materials with the Republic’s nanofabricators, conventional weapons and superior drive systems, the revived Union rapidly began to churn out an odd assortment of new weapons- powerful hybrid space vessels, and a broad variety of combat mechs crafted to put Ma’Autra’s infantry on par with the drones of Zan Kena. Striking with unexpected and tremendous force on a small front, Ma’Autra liberated one of its old worlds from the corrupting hands of the defiler. Seeking now to undo the damages of years of Zan industrialization and centuries of the crude environmental disregard of the Galactic Republic, Au’tuc works to find a balance between restoring things as they should be, and not getting entirely annihilated by Zan Kena as soon as she can direct her full attention against Ma’Autra.
Antispinwards from this war, another old conflict burns down to its pitiful conclusion. The Utarite Combine and Alliance continue their evenly matched duel to the death, each dealing progressively more crippling blows to each other. Signals from their remaining worlds become more and more faint and infrequent, before entirely disappearing as the all-consuming mining fleets of Ra continue their slow, inevitable approach to Utar-Prime.
Meanwhile, the other disjointed half of the Galactic Republic has come into contact with a very distant relative of the Maus. In their quest to acquire more agricultural worlds to feed the massive city-planet of Garv’n, settlers have expanded to two more planets, establishing colonies on the worlds known to the Star-Forest as Pinnatisect and Falcate. The Galactic Republic has worked to establish contact with the Star-Forest, but has experienced limited success. Attempts to speak via Verthommes have proven fruitless- it turns out that being vaguely plant-like does not grant one the ability to speak to all plants. Ultimately, the communications barrier has been broken by the Forest, where the Mouths of the Dendro came to learn the language of the settlers, and thus began to sing in the language of their visitors. On Pinnatisect, they compose ballads of welcome, and request peace and mutual coexistence. However, on Falcate, the Mouths sing little of joy- rather, their haunting dirges and terrified cries herald the coming of the end times for their kind, and the rise of the Root of Barat.
Far divorced from the apocalyptic combat around Shamai, a much smaller war was waged between the trees. Spreading from their volcanic home planets back into their species’ origin worlds, the powerful, violent and mentally damaged Feral Dendros wage a steady war of subversion and extermination against the Star-Forest, ultimately pushing back the lesser plants, who possess no real defense against these brutish giants.
The first contact between Self and Sanath passed in a fairly straightforward. Self, who had long been without outside stimulation, was extremely interested by the idea of existences beyond its own, and has since struck up a lively banter with the Ullau and Nitha explorers now surveying its region of space. Nearby, a colony named ‘Aellan’ has been founded, becoming one of the most far-flung settlements of the Collectivity yet to be established. Around this new region, several ships of alien origin have been sensed, but first contact has not yet been breached.
The fall of Shamai came in the form of a formidable assault across a colossal, and nigh-indefensible stretch of space. Kena, Executioner of the Zan, found herself doing the bulk of the fighting. Descending further into apparent madness and incoherence, Shamai hurled threats at his onetime ally. Kena was undeterred, but deeply troubled by his ravings about his mastery of all sorts of bizarre, physics-breaking techniques, with which he promised to undo the universe. As her vast fleets ploughed into those of Shamai, the elder Zan even considered that Shamai might be deliberately goading her into murdering him. Motivations for such an act continued to trouble Kena throughout the campaign.
The first great battles raged in the space that had once held the Zaff Dominion. Kena’s most vicious blows were directed against Wairt and Glare. At Wairt, Zan fought Zan. Such combat was something unheard of by the native civilizations of known space, and the battle occurred too far away from any non-Zan systems to be observed. What is known is that Shamai suffered bitter losses, and several times was the Dirge of Eternity fired. Smaller fleets were dispatched to Tapani and Nuxue. Only the latter provided significant resistance eradicating the first of Kena’s forces before reinforcements from the battle at Morav arrived to finish off all obvious resistance and establish Kena’s dominance over the system.
At Wairt, the Warmaster Mirugo led his forces against the formidable garrison of Shamai. SYSTEM was applied once again to great effect, leading to the elimination of Shamai’s starfaring forces in the region. It was only a short while thereafter that a horrendously large fleet of the Zan Kena’s vessels passed through the very same system. Contented to see that Shamai was all but exterminated here, the warmachines passed by silently and without communication. On the planet’s surface, a ferocious battle was fought between isolated pockets of Shamai’s combat drones and the mechanized forces of the Collectivity’s New Branigan corps. It had been centuries since this world’s Branigan garrison had fallen to the Zan Shamai, and now it seemed only fitting that the defeated force’s direct successor should oust Shamai from the glassed Zaff homeworld. The battle raged for several weeks, claiming many of the Collectivity’s forces including the Warmaster himself, but in the end Shamai was decidedly ousted from yet another world. Mirugo was afforded a grand sendoff for his glorious death in battle, and the Branigan’s successor has been determined, the Navartine Warmaster Huuluudof.
While Huuluudof regrouped his forces and the increasingly godlike Chee directed a probing push into the interior of Shamai’s space, Kena’s massive fleet utterly annihilated Shamai’s defences at Glare, further ruining what was already a devastated planet.
In the rimward edge of the front, Admiral Dashtek Savarash found himself in command of a tremendous fleet, encompassing several city ships and full range of standard Collectivity vessels, accompanied by a migrating Yjogl with a full contingent of Yplein, the robotic entity ‘Zem’, and the two mature Choon known as the Dancer and the Traveler. While Admiral Savarash was decidedly untrusting of the both Zan Elimination Machine, which had almost instantaneously traveled from Nept to join with his fleet, and the silent forces of Fplinmy- not to mention the unaligned Choon which seemed to simply be following the Dancer- he recognized that he held little sway over what such massive and powerful entities wished to do, and resolved to make the best of the situation. At any rate, he knew that he’d need all the forces he could muster in order to make this critical strike towards the heart of Shamai himself.
Some hundred light years out of Kurilate, battle was made. Smaller craft raced up to the battlefront while the larger craft, fearing the might of Shamai’s Erratum Effacer, chose to hang back. The Yjogl, spurred on by its Yplein escort, continued to barrel its way forward, and became the latest victim of Shamai’s superweapon. A horrible collective scream resonated through the minds of Admiral Savarash’s forces, the howl of the Yplein whose ancient home had been torn away from them. In a fury, the previously passive beings hurled themselves against Shamai’s fleet. While insignificant in scale when compared to the vessels that they duelled, the psychic abilities of the Yplein dealt horrendous damage to Shamai’s fleet, effectively jamming its communications much like they had done during the Zan’s fateful assault against Fplinmy so many centuries ago. Zem followed shortly behind the Yjogl. The robotic vessel, flanked by a group of Ullau Heavy Cruisers, charged into the center of Shamai’s formation, evidently unafraid of erasure from existence at the hands of the Effacer.
Admiral Savarash continued directing the battle, with a great deal of help from Chee. Of course, Admiral Chee Nira Cha was quite heavily involved in every battle of the Collectivity at this point, but this battle in particular held the interest of the old admiral’s tactical sense. Nonetheless, throughout the fight Savarash maintained a keen analytical eye on the actions of Shamai’s forces. The chatter of the Yplein, while almost maddening to most of the organic lifeforms within range, was indeed an effective tool against the Zan, but there seemed to be more than simple jamming going on here. Shamai’s command now was clearly different from that observed in the past- his actions were disjointed and poorly reasoned. The Zan, or ex-Zan as the case may be, seemed to be puppeteering his fleets with conflicting sets of orders, advancing and withdrawing without clear cause and failing to consistently apply the tactics which had used to such deadly effect in the past.
Applying SYSTEM liberally, Savarash was able to decimate many of Shamai’s forces with reduced damage to his own. One firing of the gravitic weapon even seemed to damage Erratum Effacer, for after taking one poorly-aimed shot which cut the City-Ship N-Dimensional Construct in half, the superweapon fired no more. The demise of Erratum Effacer has also been argued to have been caused by the lack of fighter screens like those seen in the First Battle of Kurilate, allowing Sanathi heavy weapons fire to repeatedly strike the massive Zan vessel. At any rate, Admiral Savarash had tasted weakness, and was quick to punish it. Main Battle Groups of Heavy Cruisers began their advance in earnest, and the Choon, their frames now augmented with the latest in Sanathi weaponry, plunged forth into the fray. Casualties mounted heavily as the battle reached close quarters, but it was clear that Shamai was outmatched. In what might have been a weak attempt at self-preservation, Erratum Effacer turned and began to attempt a retreat, but at this point in the battle the superweapon had simply sustained too much damage to maneuver quickly and defend itself. As Zamai’s ace card floundered, the Collectivity closed in. The Dancer made contact with the Vessel, beginning to rend the superstructure apart, swarms of Yplein tore into its damaged regions, and heavy conventional artillery continued to tear the machine apart, until at last Erratum Effacer’s lights died out, the entirety of the ship disintegrating into several colossal pieces of wreckage.
The remnants of Shamai’s fleet, which had stayed in the heart of the battle in order to win time for the ill-fated Erratum Effacer, were mopped up shortly thereafter. Rapidly continuing their advance, the Kasekral Admiral directed his remaining fleet past minimal resistance into the homeworld of Shamai himself. However, upon arrival in the system, there was no Zan to be found-indeed, for some time there was no sign of any life whatsoever, nothing but the cold, mechanical rhythm of a Zan factory world. Fears of a trap remained even when a satellite filled with a few barely living, and many recently deceased, clones of Shamai were discovered. Zem took the liberty of wiping out the remnants of the clone colony with its bioweapons before proceeding to start glassing the surface, before being stopped by an irate Admiral Savarash, who was growing quite tired of what he perceived as a self-important machine acting outside of his directions. Coming to an agreement, the combined allied forces bombarded Shamai together, devastating all of the major developed clusters on the surface. Plans to actually scour the surface are in place, but Savarash’s fleet remains too thinly stretched to effectively perform such an operation.
As it is, Shamai has been devastated. The Zan’s power base has been crushed, and the lack of direction in his fleets implies that the small mass of nervous tissue that commanded the Zan Shamai Empire may already be dead. However, no body has been found, and concerns are already shifting towards newer issues, such as the ongoing presence of Kena’s superfleets in the region, and the hyperenthusiastic readiness of Zem to go to war with Kena. While such a course of action is frowned upon by many, the Navartines, who make up a significant portion of the forces of the former New Branigan nation, are a sticking point. Navart, their sacred homeworld, and the living god of their religion, remains under the rule of the Zan Kena, who callously glassed the world over 300 years ago. As such, support for assertive actions towards Shamai is particularly high in their demographic.
The Fehan have annexed their vassal state, the Democratic Federation of Akari. The act was done quite quickly and with limited warning, and the transition has been bumpy, to say the least. While many Akaris look upon the annexation as a union or merger, and look forward to the economic opportunities that come with increased integration and partnership, others have expressed very strong misgivings towards the idea of giving up further autonomy to an alien species with a very alien way of looking at… well, just about everything. While demonstrations, protests and disobedience have taken place on Zephyr, in Dalikah the situation is somewhat more unstable. Karronics, already resentful of their lowered status and near-xenocide at the hands of the Fehan, are declaring the annexation to be a violation of the terms of their surrender. Many Karronics have taken up arms, demanding that the Fehan Fleet reverses their decision. The fleet itself has been swift and brutal in putting down the insurrections, threatening a repeat of Catifah should the Karronics not surrender their weapons. Many sites have been purged of opposition, but resentment is simmering and several sites have yet to be pacified.
Elsewhere, exploratory probes have bridged the vast void between the arms, discovering a region of increased gas density and stars, nearly two thousand light years away from the homeworld of Helan.
The rough world of Taki has seen a great deal of activity. The pursuit of a scientist of great interest has drawn agents of the fleet into unprecedented conflict with Thira, one of the major nations of Helan. This happens in a backdrop of civil unrest, as anarchists and various other illegals overthrow a minor unpopular governor on the planet. Fleet was willing to turn a blind eye as long as there was no disruption- surprisingly enough, there was none. Nevertheless, numerous figures have responded with alarm, warning about the potential negative consequences of budging an inch for the anarchist mobsters and hooligans. At any rate, increased focus of resources elsewhere, coupled with the inexplicable silence of the Mejani, has led to a rather dramatic reduction in contact with the spinward species. Few have noticed.
In the dark of space, the Many stir. The Devouring One is gone from their world, off pursuing far greater things in a realm locked away to them. The Many thus begin to coalesce, following an instinct that follows in the absence of the One for direction. The small biomechanical beetles merge and grow, beginning to construct a familiar shape. Slowly, a new One is forming. In time, it too shall be driven to consume, and the cycle shall play out once more.
*****
Shamai cackled madly. His mastery of the Cataclysm Virus had laid low his enemies. All civilization standing in opposition to him was swiftly annihilated, the fools of the Zan Hegemony were gone forever. Never more would their foolish dogma constrain him. Shamai, adding constantly more clones of himself to his neural network, was increasing exponentially in intelligence with every moment. Time began to lose its meaning as his thoughts accelerated, theorems and ideas blasting through his mind at unimaginable speeds. Shamai billowed and burgeoned, the galaxy regressing into a tiny toy, cowering in horror and devotion towards none but him. On a whim, too fast to have been a thought, Shamai whisked it out of existence. Omniscience and omnipotence in the present were old hat, Shamai reached back through to the dawn of creation and shaped the universe as he saw fit, annihilating whole realities without effort. The laws of the universe became meaningless as he rewrote them over and over, stretching an eternity across time and space. At last, he was everything. Everything was Shamai. The Universe was him, the ultimate power of everything and nothingness. The Universe aged instantly in a second, fading into a cinder. The laughter of the overgod persisted, creating itself again, and the cycle repeated.
Quietly, two figures from the Ocean Family watched as the pathetic being that had once been Zan Shamai twitched and gibbered, forever trapped in an illusion of its own creation. In one view, he lived in a masturbatory power fantasy where the whole universe was his whim. In another, he was a powerless and blind ruin of an organism, comatose in a slowly-degrading space station orbiting above Nuxue B. Shamai’s divorce from reality had been gradual, perhaps an escalation of his madness, his genius. The Ocean Family had been happy to push this along, slowly altering that which he saw, constantly building upon this until the Zan’s disconnect was complete. He had fixated so much on the virus in his past that it had been a ‘simple’ matter to add in the sensation of an understanding of the reality-altering illusory powers of the Ocean Family, and the gradual fulfilment of all of Shamai’s wildest dreams.
“He was fascinating.”
“He shall be happy in there.”
“He would be unhappy to realize the illusion.”
“He will never know.”
“The tapestry shall carry on.”
Map
. Also, image a Dendro's bark being like our skin, or like a really thick scab. The outer layers don't really have too much feeling, but getting a whole chunk ripped off is painful and quite unpleasant.
