Update 24
The small scouting fleet of the Zan Kena made its way silently through the diffuse space on the coreward fringe of the arm which the local primitives, straightforwardly enough, referred to as ‘known space’. Kena had not surveyed this space for some time, and her archives were quickly proving to be badly out of date. This site, for example- the last time Kena had set her eyes on this place, it was a scorched ruin of an old Turamak colony world, one of the most farflung outposts of their fallen empire. Today, the ruins remained, both on the surface and in orbit, though the former were heavily shrouded beneath a vast ocean of sand. New life lived here now, in the form of some spatially-displaced Karak colonists trapped in the middle of the desert with a broken and buried starship. However, little attention was given to these insignificant ones, as something much more relevant- and troubling- rose to Kena’s attention. It was a grand and terrible beast, a horrifying, baroque biomechanical edifice, not at all unlike the Devouring One which had consumed so much of her fleet at the Battle of Garv’n. This, apparently was the place from whence that colossal creature had come. Had Shamai been the one to find this, Kena mused, he would have scrambled for the chance to study the Devouring Ones, to understand and ultimately make their power his own. The idea was tempting. However, Kena almost universally preferred the most direct practical solution.
A vicious crackling beam of blood-red light ripped its way through the atmosphere, striking into the heart of the monster that the Karak knew as Kukulza. Intense heat radiated out from the impact site, and a thunderous explosion of displaced air could be heard in all directions. As the dust cleared, Kukulza remained just as it was- although now it seemed to be quite pleased with the offering of energy. Kena quietly lamented the weak armaments of her scouting vessel, and adjusted her plans. The spidery machine slowly unfolded, releasing a cloud of small drones to sink down to the surface. She could keep an eye on this area, and return with greater forces when the time was right. Now, however... Kena’s forces were needed half a galaxy away from the tiny backwater world of Exodus.
The All of Shee-Wheire watched with trepidation as the Migrant Hammenammir drifted ever closer. While missives to the Ysir were initially ignored, as the Migrants approached the fringes of Shu-Ghoo space diplomacy broke out between the two forces. Shu-Ghoo eventually provided an elabourately detailed code of conduct for the Migrant Hammes to follow while they traversed their region of space. This information ranged from hard rules to friendly and often humourous pieces of travel advice. The Migrants acknowledged that they had received this information, then proceeded quietly to pass directly through the whole region patrolled by the Shu-Ghoo. In the midst of this transit, however, the Migrants suddenly brok formation and engaged in hostilities. The All had been lured into a false sense of security, and scrambled as its installations fell to the powerful surprise attack. Making maximal use of the intelligence they had gathered beforehand, the Migrants struck with devastating efficiency, crippling the navy of Shu-Ghoo. Infrastructure damage worsened their response to this unprovoked attack, and the Shu-Ghoo could only flail weakly out at their aggressors the Migrants began a purposeful process of pillaging and seizing whatever valuable technologies and materials they could get their hands onto. However, the passage of time began to shift the conflict increasingly into the favour of the Shu-Ghoo. On planetary surfaces, the Ysir possessed less of a crippling advantage, and shortly after the first strike the rapidly-constructed defences around Shu-Ghoo outposts began to provide significant resistance to landing parties, dramatically diminishing the cost-effectiveness of continued raiding. Ultimately the scattered fleets of the Shu-Ghoo began to reassemble themselves, striking retaliatory blows at the Knifeships and Hulks of the Migrant Ysir. Sensing that the time of opportunity had passed, the Migrants continued their sojourn, fighting several more battles with the vengeful aliens as they passed out of Shee-Wheire’s sphere of influence.
Ma’Autra and the Galactic Republic have encountered each others forces, causing a skirmish between the Uexian garrison and a surprisingly well-armed scouting fleet of the Galactic Republic. The Verthomme-crewed vessels withdrew after inflicting a reasonable amount of garrison, but their retreat has been shadowed by the much-larger forces of Ma’Autra. At the other end of the Republic, the colonization of the Star-Forest continues reasonably smoothly. However, continuing incidents and unexplained ‘disappearances’ on Falcate have caused panic in the population, prompting Garv’n to dispatch military forces to the planet to investigate. Meanwhile, a recently-established mining colony on Barat disappeared without warning. No transmissions detailing the site’s disappearance were sent, and follow-up scouting revealed no signs that the colony had even been established.
Deep in Sanathi space, Lauki scouts have discovered an ancient Verthomme vessel on reserve power, floating in a decaying low orbit around an uninhabited rock. The highly disoriented Verthommes claim to be from the United Republics of Hedge, although they apparently spent several generations living inside the belly of a Wera, and an amount of time living outside of real space. The highly inbred population’s testimony raised less scepticism than one might have expected, given the Galactic Republic’s experience with the strange ways of the Wera, and so the stranded individuals have at last been rescued, and are now en-route to Garv’n for a debriefing.
Sanath, free from outside conflict, thrives from the influx of new ideas arriving due to the reintegration the society of Iau into the main tapestry of Collectivity society. Large scale settlement is beginning to retake Nept, while the population of the new colony at Dakar burgeons. Meanwhile, the fleet, freed from many of its previous responsibilities, enjoys a lengthy period of improvement and development, while a large portion of Sanath’s military might dedicates itself to the final eradication of the Mechaniform threat skulking at the rimward edges of its space. Meanwhile, the Rogue Fleet and their new Lauki allies have meandered their way through Choon space, encountering the entity Hunter over the planet Wasir, and the locals who worship the sizeable Choon as a god. Currently, the Rogues seem set to travel onwards towards the titanic columnar nebulae that mark the edge of Ma’Autra. Incidentally, the Collectivity’s agent, the Diplomat, is also active in Choon space. Establishing himself on Took, he now begins his difficult mission of bringing the rest of his species over into the Collectivity’s camp.
Exploration continues, as the Njogr Empire reveals itself to continue on for some distance longer than the initial scans had hinted.
In the planets that were once shrouded by the vast Yjogl of the Association of Fplinmy, Sanathi explorers have encountered never-before explored alien ecosystems. The new systems seem to be currently undergoing great disturbances due to the removal of their Yjogl, but ecosystems can often show a remarkable ability to survive and adapt to these changes. One species of great was one common genus of communal arthropods which were present on two different planets, each over 200 light years away from the other. It seemed likely that these highly successful creatures, dubbed ‘Jubblera Galacti’, were spread from planet to planet by more advanced aliens, but studies of the creatures’ communal intelligence hints that they may be vastly more capable than they look. The Jubblera display a distinct affinity for tools, and a level of organization that seems to encompass the entire species.
Thachugi Waglafar Thialexiu Xatchrli, licking his wounds from the loss of Nurm-Tok to the black-hole cultists of Hess’peh, has chosen to halt his expansion for now, preferring instead to build up his forces around his power base at Amur.
Poy-Op exploratory probes have come into contact with a group professing themselves to be the Meli-Telanoch Exiles. The exiles are members of an Aquatic species called Samaynoch, who have taken to wandering between the stars in vast teardrop-shaped masses of Azunach, a highly-engineered secretion produced by the Samaynoch themselves. The motives of these aliens remain quite unclear to the Poy-Op, who are approaching them with a good deal of caution.
The Exiles, from their perspective, have encountered the first of what will hopefully be many potential allies to aid in the retaking of their homeworld of Asdila. Different branches of the exile clans have encountered forces of the Samaynoch Highclans expanding into space behind them- it seems that, in short order, the old conflict for the homeworld will soon spread to the virgin worlds just recently discovered by Meli-Telanoch.
On Destination, life had been proceeding as it had always, as the various Hammes competed for dominance over their world. However, external invasion was about to bring several centuries of isolation to an abrupt end. Following a freak planet-wide meteor shower, reports began reaching the ears of various Godar that strange, previously unknown creatures were harassing outlying settlements. These isolated incidents grew with astonishing rapidity to achieve a global scale. Several smaller Hammes were overrun, and refugees fled to whatever fortresses they could find. As the strength and numbers of these Horrors grew, a secondary facet of their invasion began to sow panic through the population. The creatures emitted a constant mass of electromagnetic noise, which was capable of interfering with, and sometimes entirely cutting off individual Ysir from the networks of their respective Hammes. Constantly rallying against the increasingly powerful alien forces, the strongest, most war ready, and luckiest Hammes survived and even thrived. As it stands now, the strength of the invaders is constantly growing, as more reinforcements fall down on alien rocks from the sky, but the Habitant Ysir, who have honed their martial strength through generations of intraspecies strife, are similarly prepared for a fight, and will stop at nothing to achieve absolute victory over their mindless invaders. Even four of the great Kuppelborgs fail and fall to the invaders, their populations perishing in their entireties, Ysir forces have pushed out of their strongholds, slaying several ‘Matriarchs’, giant biofactories who seem to be the commanders of the invasion. The war now hangs in the balance. The surviving Kuppelborgs have shown themselves to be quite a bit more resilient than the breakaways who lived in the marginal lands would have liked to admit, but the vast increase in the size of the invaders’ forces will be a truly formidable challenge to overcome.
These creatures, of course, are the same as the planet-consuming beasts that the Fehan know as ‘Surikahi’, and their sudden arrival at Sathan reveals that their silent spread through space was not stopped with the sacrifice of Surihihao. However, this time the Fehan fleet was vastly more prepared. The asteroids that carried the bulk of the invaders were pulverized and melted to slag long before they could arrive at Sathan, and those few forces that did land were rapidly met with an overwhelming barrage of defensive weapons and hunter-killer squads, who were swift to clear out any sign of infestation. With the abortive invasion of Sathan stopped cold in its tracks, Fehan has taken a more proactive role in hunting the Surikahi, performing regular sensor sweeps of space to detect any of the telltale planetary fragments before they approach inhabited systems.
Still concerned about political instability in their spinward neighbours, several high-ranking figures in the fleet have begun considering performing interventions in the Mejani Union. Concerns are also being raised regarding the Kadanoff Unity, which has become increasingly inward-focused as of late, sending few messages that don’t mention some sort of genetically enhanced being being leading a wide-scale insurrection against its creators.
Map
The small scouting fleet of the Zan Kena made its way silently through the diffuse space on the coreward fringe of the arm which the local primitives, straightforwardly enough, referred to as ‘known space’. Kena had not surveyed this space for some time, and her archives were quickly proving to be badly out of date. This site, for example- the last time Kena had set her eyes on this place, it was a scorched ruin of an old Turamak colony world, one of the most farflung outposts of their fallen empire. Today, the ruins remained, both on the surface and in orbit, though the former were heavily shrouded beneath a vast ocean of sand. New life lived here now, in the form of some spatially-displaced Karak colonists trapped in the middle of the desert with a broken and buried starship. However, little attention was given to these insignificant ones, as something much more relevant- and troubling- rose to Kena’s attention. It was a grand and terrible beast, a horrifying, baroque biomechanical edifice, not at all unlike the Devouring One which had consumed so much of her fleet at the Battle of Garv’n. This, apparently was the place from whence that colossal creature had come. Had Shamai been the one to find this, Kena mused, he would have scrambled for the chance to study the Devouring Ones, to understand and ultimately make their power his own. The idea was tempting. However, Kena almost universally preferred the most direct practical solution.
A vicious crackling beam of blood-red light ripped its way through the atmosphere, striking into the heart of the monster that the Karak knew as Kukulza. Intense heat radiated out from the impact site, and a thunderous explosion of displaced air could be heard in all directions. As the dust cleared, Kukulza remained just as it was- although now it seemed to be quite pleased with the offering of energy. Kena quietly lamented the weak armaments of her scouting vessel, and adjusted her plans. The spidery machine slowly unfolded, releasing a cloud of small drones to sink down to the surface. She could keep an eye on this area, and return with greater forces when the time was right. Now, however... Kena’s forces were needed half a galaxy away from the tiny backwater world of Exodus.
The All of Shee-Wheire watched with trepidation as the Migrant Hammenammir drifted ever closer. While missives to the Ysir were initially ignored, as the Migrants approached the fringes of Shu-Ghoo space diplomacy broke out between the two forces. Shu-Ghoo eventually provided an elabourately detailed code of conduct for the Migrant Hammes to follow while they traversed their region of space. This information ranged from hard rules to friendly and often humourous pieces of travel advice. The Migrants acknowledged that they had received this information, then proceeded quietly to pass directly through the whole region patrolled by the Shu-Ghoo. In the midst of this transit, however, the Migrants suddenly brok formation and engaged in hostilities. The All had been lured into a false sense of security, and scrambled as its installations fell to the powerful surprise attack. Making maximal use of the intelligence they had gathered beforehand, the Migrants struck with devastating efficiency, crippling the navy of Shu-Ghoo. Infrastructure damage worsened their response to this unprovoked attack, and the Shu-Ghoo could only flail weakly out at their aggressors the Migrants began a purposeful process of pillaging and seizing whatever valuable technologies and materials they could get their hands onto. However, the passage of time began to shift the conflict increasingly into the favour of the Shu-Ghoo. On planetary surfaces, the Ysir possessed less of a crippling advantage, and shortly after the first strike the rapidly-constructed defences around Shu-Ghoo outposts began to provide significant resistance to landing parties, dramatically diminishing the cost-effectiveness of continued raiding. Ultimately the scattered fleets of the Shu-Ghoo began to reassemble themselves, striking retaliatory blows at the Knifeships and Hulks of the Migrant Ysir. Sensing that the time of opportunity had passed, the Migrants continued their sojourn, fighting several more battles with the vengeful aliens as they passed out of Shee-Wheire’s sphere of influence.
Ma’Autra and the Galactic Republic have encountered each others forces, causing a skirmish between the Uexian garrison and a surprisingly well-armed scouting fleet of the Galactic Republic. The Verthomme-crewed vessels withdrew after inflicting a reasonable amount of garrison, but their retreat has been shadowed by the much-larger forces of Ma’Autra. At the other end of the Republic, the colonization of the Star-Forest continues reasonably smoothly. However, continuing incidents and unexplained ‘disappearances’ on Falcate have caused panic in the population, prompting Garv’n to dispatch military forces to the planet to investigate. Meanwhile, a recently-established mining colony on Barat disappeared without warning. No transmissions detailing the site’s disappearance were sent, and follow-up scouting revealed no signs that the colony had even been established.
Deep in Sanathi space, Lauki scouts have discovered an ancient Verthomme vessel on reserve power, floating in a decaying low orbit around an uninhabited rock. The highly disoriented Verthommes claim to be from the United Republics of Hedge, although they apparently spent several generations living inside the belly of a Wera, and an amount of time living outside of real space. The highly inbred population’s testimony raised less scepticism than one might have expected, given the Galactic Republic’s experience with the strange ways of the Wera, and so the stranded individuals have at last been rescued, and are now en-route to Garv’n for a debriefing.
Sanath, free from outside conflict, thrives from the influx of new ideas arriving due to the reintegration the society of Iau into the main tapestry of Collectivity society. Large scale settlement is beginning to retake Nept, while the population of the new colony at Dakar burgeons. Meanwhile, the fleet, freed from many of its previous responsibilities, enjoys a lengthy period of improvement and development, while a large portion of Sanath’s military might dedicates itself to the final eradication of the Mechaniform threat skulking at the rimward edges of its space. Meanwhile, the Rogue Fleet and their new Lauki allies have meandered their way through Choon space, encountering the entity Hunter over the planet Wasir, and the locals who worship the sizeable Choon as a god. Currently, the Rogues seem set to travel onwards towards the titanic columnar nebulae that mark the edge of Ma’Autra. Incidentally, the Collectivity’s agent, the Diplomat, is also active in Choon space. Establishing himself on Took, he now begins his difficult mission of bringing the rest of his species over into the Collectivity’s camp.
Exploration continues, as the Njogr Empire reveals itself to continue on for some distance longer than the initial scans had hinted.
In the planets that were once shrouded by the vast Yjogl of the Association of Fplinmy, Sanathi explorers have encountered never-before explored alien ecosystems. The new systems seem to be currently undergoing great disturbances due to the removal of their Yjogl, but ecosystems can often show a remarkable ability to survive and adapt to these changes. One species of great was one common genus of communal arthropods which were present on two different planets, each over 200 light years away from the other. It seemed likely that these highly successful creatures, dubbed ‘Jubblera Galacti’, were spread from planet to planet by more advanced aliens, but studies of the creatures’ communal intelligence hints that they may be vastly more capable than they look. The Jubblera display a distinct affinity for tools, and a level of organization that seems to encompass the entire species.
Thachugi Waglafar Thialexiu Xatchrli, licking his wounds from the loss of Nurm-Tok to the black-hole cultists of Hess’peh, has chosen to halt his expansion for now, preferring instead to build up his forces around his power base at Amur.
Poy-Op exploratory probes have come into contact with a group professing themselves to be the Meli-Telanoch Exiles. The exiles are members of an Aquatic species called Samaynoch, who have taken to wandering between the stars in vast teardrop-shaped masses of Azunach, a highly-engineered secretion produced by the Samaynoch themselves. The motives of these aliens remain quite unclear to the Poy-Op, who are approaching them with a good deal of caution.
The Exiles, from their perspective, have encountered the first of what will hopefully be many potential allies to aid in the retaking of their homeworld of Asdila. Different branches of the exile clans have encountered forces of the Samaynoch Highclans expanding into space behind them- it seems that, in short order, the old conflict for the homeworld will soon spread to the virgin worlds just recently discovered by Meli-Telanoch.
On Destination, life had been proceeding as it had always, as the various Hammes competed for dominance over their world. However, external invasion was about to bring several centuries of isolation to an abrupt end. Following a freak planet-wide meteor shower, reports began reaching the ears of various Godar that strange, previously unknown creatures were harassing outlying settlements. These isolated incidents grew with astonishing rapidity to achieve a global scale. Several smaller Hammes were overrun, and refugees fled to whatever fortresses they could find. As the strength and numbers of these Horrors grew, a secondary facet of their invasion began to sow panic through the population. The creatures emitted a constant mass of electromagnetic noise, which was capable of interfering with, and sometimes entirely cutting off individual Ysir from the networks of their respective Hammes. Constantly rallying against the increasingly powerful alien forces, the strongest, most war ready, and luckiest Hammes survived and even thrived. As it stands now, the strength of the invaders is constantly growing, as more reinforcements fall down on alien rocks from the sky, but the Habitant Ysir, who have honed their martial strength through generations of intraspecies strife, are similarly prepared for a fight, and will stop at nothing to achieve absolute victory over their mindless invaders. Even four of the great Kuppelborgs fail and fall to the invaders, their populations perishing in their entireties, Ysir forces have pushed out of their strongholds, slaying several ‘Matriarchs’, giant biofactories who seem to be the commanders of the invasion. The war now hangs in the balance. The surviving Kuppelborgs have shown themselves to be quite a bit more resilient than the breakaways who lived in the marginal lands would have liked to admit, but the vast increase in the size of the invaders’ forces will be a truly formidable challenge to overcome.
These creatures, of course, are the same as the planet-consuming beasts that the Fehan know as ‘Surikahi’, and their sudden arrival at Sathan reveals that their silent spread through space was not stopped with the sacrifice of Surihihao. However, this time the Fehan fleet was vastly more prepared. The asteroids that carried the bulk of the invaders were pulverized and melted to slag long before they could arrive at Sathan, and those few forces that did land were rapidly met with an overwhelming barrage of defensive weapons and hunter-killer squads, who were swift to clear out any sign of infestation. With the abortive invasion of Sathan stopped cold in its tracks, Fehan has taken a more proactive role in hunting the Surikahi, performing regular sensor sweeps of space to detect any of the telltale planetary fragments before they approach inhabited systems.
Still concerned about political instability in their spinward neighbours, several high-ranking figures in the fleet have begun considering performing interventions in the Mejani Union. Concerns are also being raised regarding the Kadanoff Unity, which has become increasingly inward-focused as of late, sending few messages that don’t mention some sort of genetically enhanced being being leading a wide-scale insurrection against its creators.
Map
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