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Battlegroup The Hegemony Fleet raided Kingdom Sage on 12:25 10-24-2457. read more ...

An unexplained vortex in the center of the Universe

The people in the Technocratic Initiative homesystem of Asgard cowered at the tremendous storms, whipping over the Homeworld of Noalearialis and the other worlds of Atlantis, Polaris, Freya and Merlin.

Hobbes, feared leader of the Hobbesians, Tiger Smurf of the Smurf Liberation Front, Vice-President and Treasurer of the Technocratic Initiative lit up a cigarette and drew a long puff, staring at the sky through tightly clenched eyes. He stood with the rest of the TI council and his friend the Death Knight, staring up a whirling vortex spinning above them. Lightning and thunder crackled and clapped far above the planet's surface.

"What's all this then?" Hobbes asked the huddled group of diplomats. The wind began to steal his cigarette, but he clenched his jaw closed harder.

"Beats me," answered Musashi, President of the Technocratic Initiative and Papa Smurf of the SLF.

"Hrm..." said Hobbes, and looked up again.

As if this was a cue, a thunderous commanding voice descended down from heaven.


Dear Instance 2, It began

The moment you all have been waiting for (or dreading) has arrived --- well, sort of. We officially will be closing this instance as of January 31st. Now that we have the bad news out of the way I would like to mention that the closing date will not necessarily coincide with the launch date of the long-awaited instance #4. If any of you had some major plans in the works, now is the time when you might want to launch them, or if you are striving for any medals now is the chance to earn them as quickly as possible. Within the last week best of's/most of's will be given out in the general chit chat for us to brag/whine about. So I ask you now to go forth and raise a little H*ll while the instance is still alive and kicking.

In regards to the best of's/most of's I will be putting up a thread for people to request what statistics that you would like to see.

And then, as an after thought, the voiced added in:

From your friendly local admin,

Savage.


The six men stood in stony silence, watching as the spinning vortex faded. The system broadcast wasn't particularly new, but this method of addressing them directly was. Usually, just general announcements were made.

"Kill Cult trick, do you think?" asked The DeathKnight.

"I don't think..." began Vzydom, First Advisor to the TI and Leader of Lythium, Inc, an empire friendly to both the Kill Cult scourge and the SLF guerillas.

"Nah, neither do I," said Hobbes. He looked at Musashi. "You know Savage was God, then?" he asked his commander. Savage was another SLF member, a critical one at that. He shared Joint Command with Musashi over the SLF.

"I had an inkling," replied Musashi, still staring up at the sky.

"Oh," said Hobbes, making a considering face. "An inkling." He took one last draw from his cigarette before tossing it on the ground and snubbing it out with his toe.

"Well, screw this," he said. "I'm going home." And with one last glance to the sky, he left them standing there.

Gaian Zen Amydros Hey, look over here! You smell nice. Hi.   Genesis Reillan This is going to get pretty interesting... /define interesting   Overwatch neoxenu Enough with this annoying seriousness... lets talk about Bob Villa. Does anyone even know who Bob Villa is? I'll tell you. Bob Villa is probably the most handy dude around. He can do plumbing, flooring, roofing, electrical, heating, and general construction. He even has his own show on a cable station no one ever watches. If Bob Villa could do roundhouse kicks he could probably kick anyone's ass. He'd probably also have his show on primetime. Oh well, you can't have everything now can you? No you can't, but you can have ME, Bob Villa's self-appointed sidekick. Need your roof shingled? a bathroom tiled? a granite countertop installed? Call me at 1-555-744-1309 and we can set up an appointment.   Shelter Defense Legion Ond Keeping the universe safe for all SDL.   Technocratic Initiative Musashi As your beloved Dictator, I will strive to continue with my party-on policies, which include legal panty raids, the mandatory serving of alcohol to children, and the enforcement of Being Poor is a crime Law 1-011, and making it illegal to be a Mormon on Friday. so remember! A Vote for Musashi is a vote for utter debauchery!   The Firm Budzey Kick Ass!   The Spectre Order pbhead I am pbhead, master of the universe, and the supreame dictator FOR LIFE over all the inhabitance. vote for me.   Unitology Kade Netherim *shamlessly stolen from the forums* That's right, almost every faction get them. Early factions are especially prone to such bad leaders. But too many are taken out. See, the problem is is that they use up all of their idiot-votes by turning on the faction too early. In fact, being a bad faction leader isn't about doing especially well. It's about doing as much damage to a faction as possible. So below are instructions on how to be a bad faction leader. Manifesto for a Bad Leader Congratulations! You have been elected to the faction council through multis/extortion/bribery/idiocy/the inactive vote. That's the easy part. Once elected to a(n) advisory/vice-presidency/presidency position, immediately fail to meet any campaign promises/expectations that were believed might be coming. Having failed to meet those expectations, immediately fail to listen to anyone, and say either that your critics are "wasting too much time on this game"/need to "chill out,"/are"idiots." Misquote/badly paraphrase anything anyone says against you or your plans. Set up guidelines for the faction which anyone with half a brain should follow, but word them weirdly. Say things like, "we should get more people into the faction." Constantly contradict yourself. Congratulate yourself whenever you accomplish a basic task; such as building a fleet, conquering a colony, setting up a trade station, or researching something and selling it on the bp market. Take credit for accomplishments of others. End every one of your messages with "Vote for Me!" Now, set up an empire composed of inactives who have voted for me, newbs who don't know any better then to accept a 20% empire tax, and warmongering cronies who take colonies from people you outcast. Then, declare war on a weaker empire in the faction. Make sure they start it! You need to have the bonus on your side. (Note: Provoke them by continually harrassing them in the forums and on messages, sooner or later, they'll pull something just to shut you up) Outcast them, too. With the added colony bonus, make sure you start threatening more members of the faction. Hey, if they don't understand that you're "a godo gy," maybe they'll understand when ten thousand spam fighters mop up their colony. Insist that everyone remove colony defenses because it will "give us more money." Having said that, try and capture as many faction colonies as possible. Anyone who resists you will call "jerkwads"/verbally abuse their mother/claim are "ruining the faction and/or the game." Declare war on the strongest empire in the galaxy, just to prove that you're more "hardcore" then they are. Claim they started it. Make sure the war can last a while so the original aggressor is not clear. Always talk about fake battles where you were attacked due to fleet settings/away from computer when war was declared/meaness. Liquidate all of your assests that can be converted to credits, except those currently fighting other members of the faction. Before a colony is taken, genocide it. Before the homeworld is taken, remove as much money as possible from the bank. Transfer your money to a multi/chump/trustworthy friend for safe-keeping(Note: you may not have a trustworthy friend, or, for that matter, a friend; in this case, go the multi route). When the homeworld and other major colonies are lost, blame those who actually fought as "not listening" to what you said and that the loss is "their fault" for not following orders. Continue to put up a proxy fight against the conquring empire, and give bad advice to faction. Let members of the conquering empire into the faction. Give away key colony information about the resistance for millions of credits instead of billions. Once the resistance and/or the enemy empire gets all my colonies, start process to another/the same faction. Wherever you end up, make sure that you always say that you were in no way responsible for the failure of your faction. Always blame it on someone else. Try to rally support against the empire that crushed you because they "conquered a faction." Oh, do all of this with a monkey's interpretation of spelling, punctuation, grammar and tact(this will be spelled "tackd").

President Amydros issuing a Proclamation of Remembrance

From the memoirs of Zen Amydros
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Ah, where do I begin?

Let us start with an overview of events which led up to this tragedy...

Relations between the Gaians and the Firm Conglomerate have always been on edge. Perhaps a decade or so ago, the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club entered into a contract with the Firm's leadership as part of peace negotiations. It allowed for the Gaian's dominant power to set up bases in the Firm's inner arm for the purpose of large silver extraction operations. The Gaian territorial claims were almost completely lacking in this valuable resource.

Mining operations began, and we continued to look on with envy...

The annual silver imports sustained the Gaian economy for a time, but demand again outgrew supply. Trade in general was booming, but the price of silver continued to climb... and climb..

A political debate within the Gaian parliament continued to increase with intensity. The Legitimate Businessman's Social Club was pushing for a mutual defense pact with the warmongering and ever expanding Kill Cult empire. There were factions within the parliament, and indeed within LBSC itself, which were fundamentally and ideologically opposed to the idea.

The hostile environment led to a general military buildup on outlying worlds and Gaian holdings in the core. Genuine distrust of Kill Cult was held by the majority of the faction. Engineers had been working for years to reduce their dependency on silver alloys used in most ship designs, but the breakthrough did not come before this new military push. The price of silver reached record highs, again..

At perhaps the worst timing possible, the founder of LBSC was met with a sudden and unexpected death. Irate's artificial liver failed him in his sleep, and he had unfortunately drank excessively at a banquet in his honor the night before. Cultadium, a relatively inexperienced freshman senator, was named for succession in Irate Pirate's Will. He was overwhelmed, and had no personal experience on the battlefield.

Commodore Cappy quickly exploited Cultadium's uncertainties and managed to obtain leadership. Cappy was the leading protestor of the proposed Kill Cult alliance. He rapidly instituted radical changes in LBSC's foreign policy, and attempted to remobilize Gaian offensive capabilities, but intended on pointing his guns at it's proposed ally. Silver demand exploded, and hyperinflation began to ensue. Cappy's approval ratings plummeted, and his empire loudly protested his actions.

In a fit of rage, Commodore Cappy abandoned his post as leader of the Gaian superpower, and created an opposition party with loyal members of his ideological splinter group. The Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club was effectively split in two, and could no longer push its agenda on the entire faction.

Talks of a mutual defense pact with Kill Cult were stalled as the Gaian political landscape attempted to resettle itself. Upheaval continued for months as Cultadium again tried to faithfully execute Irate Pirate's wishes, and with the full loyalty of his remaining followers. It was at this point that I was forced to step out of the shadows and take on a major advisory role, trying to avoid the reigns of power myself. I had sworn to myself that I would not re-enter the political landscape, but I had a duty to aide in the transition.

It was at this point that LBSC became known as Black Watch Plaid. We worked on co-existence with Cappy's rival party and other more moderate parties of the faction, but the debate always resettled on our differences involving Kill Cult. Then, another significant shock came to the faction. It was widely known that Cappy had made himself a target of both Kill Cult and rising power to the far east: the Imperial Dominion of Lord Prosoft. It is unclear to this day exactly what happened, but Commodore Cappy mysteriously disappeared.

Perhaps the most influential blow was the destruction of the long coveted Silver Highway, of which Cappy had formerly managed. He had apparently took the warpnet with him. Supply lines began to struggle, and the Gaian economy faltered. The supply of silver came to a trickle.

Again, we looked onto the Firm with envy. So vast where their natural resources, which had gone virtually untapped.

Unemployment exceeded 43% of the working population, and it was during the worst economic depression in Gaian history that I took command of Black Watch Plaid.

Finally, I was able to push the mutual defense pact with Kill Cult through the legislature. Following my empire's reconstruction of the Silver Highway, popular support for my policies became overwhelming. Hyperinflation was contained, and the annual silver imports resumed. The Gaian economy flourished, and we became a galactic power once more.

Following my first re-election, from which I garnished over 80% of the total popular vote, I admittedly took advantage of my mandate and reformed the government completely. Black Watch Plaid was again reorganized into the Galactic Chancellors' Social Club. Silver extraction operations were diversified and our territorial claims in the Firm's arm grew, even as relations remained uneasy at best.

Surveyors spotted a virtual Garden of Eden, completely uncolonized but dangerously close to the Firm's central metropolitan and military areas. A terrestrial 115b km in landmass and having all the natural resources befitting a faction homeworld was simply unheard of. I considered the risks and cleared the expedition. Unfortunately, once the long mission reached its destination, the Firm had in fact claimed the planet.

I could not turn the faithful Gaians back. In fact, I refused to. They proposed colonizing the opposite side of the planet on a deserted continent, in hopes of not being detected. They established Xenopolis, which became a central trade-route once a direct warpnet to the Gaian homeworld was established.

Time passed, and Xenopolis flourished, remaining unknown to its adversaries on the opposite side of the globe. President Colm mistakenly made some disrespectful comments about his Gaian neighbors on public announcement channels, and I eventually was forced to address the comments. Relations continued to sour. The Firm had never been considered a very good neighbor to the Gaian people.

Threats were eventually circulated by power-hungry members of the Firm, and I took pre-emptive actions fearing that the secret existence of Xenopolis had been compromised. The heavy traffic of resources going through Xenopolis were seized by Executive Order for a period of months, and a magnificent fleet was rectified, implementing the experimental technology of the Instable Anti-Matter Drives.

Billions upon billions of credits were thrown at IAMD Spheres, as their explosions were frequent and Gaian sacrifices high. Regardless, the gambit afforded me enough victories to effectively take control of Eden by clearing out the surrounding systems of any opposing military presence. Xenopolis claimed former Firm colonies across the planet.

Colm wished to pursue peace talks. Negotiations with the Firm were always regarded with great suspicion, ever since the earliest days of formal relations. I entertained his bidding, for a time, and acquired most of the peace terms I sought. Hostilities were called off, and an uneasy truce prevailed. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of trained pilots where flown in from the Gaian homeworld, to man a new breed of Gaian fighters and warships being engineered and mass produced at the Xenopolis shipyards. It was widely understood that our presence so close to the center of their powerbase was very fragile. I wanted insurance...

...I got vengeance.

I began employing spies, and through them I began to understand the hidden intentions of Colm's uneasy peace. Fortunately, I began to identify those who did not support the policies of their faction's leadership. Secret talks with certain revolutionaries became the true fuel which tore the Firm apart. Their allegiances divided more than once.

I had a long standing agreement with Kill Cult in regards to Firm territory. Silver extraction was crucial to the Gaian economy, and I did not want instability in the region to compromise my steady operations. Given the Gaian's now formidable military presence in the Firm, I truly had a free reign over the region. I am not a tyrant, though, and I did not wish for the genocide of any foreign peoples. I gave many groups of the Firm many chances to sustain themselves. The wrong people seemed to be consistently making the final decisions, though, and at the expense of those who were more apologetic towards my disposition.

Lord Prosoft and his personal dominion had made moves towards a merger with the Kill Cult Empire some months earlier, and was still pursuing his own personal agenda. His agenda circumscribed my previous agreement with his new kingdom, and mounted a fairly successful assault on the Firm homeworld.

Instability was my worst fear, and a vacuum formed when a fatal flaw in the computer systems at Prosoft's imperial central command post was exploited. Almost simultaneously, across the universe, self-destruct sequences were initiated in every flagship at his command. His assets were left defenseless and subordinate populations rose up across the universe to steal from him what he had once stolen from them.

This unfortunately happened in the middle of his invasion of the Firm, and his assets were consolidated by a single leader of said faction. This stood as a real threat to my perpetual peace, so I swept into their homesystem with superior firepower and neutralized the major threats immediately. In this way I intended to insure perpetual peace, on my own terms.

Again, I offered a deal.

I sat above the remaining capitals on the Firm home planet and issued an ultimatum. The leadership of the Elite Guard were the only dignitaries who accepted my terms. In return, I was to give them until the coming Thursday to organize a mass exodus, and flee to a new homeworld of their choosing with the understanding that they may never return. They were to leave the infrastructure of their capitals intact, and I stipulated a minimum density of 1.0 to maintain order in their deserted territories.

I spared members of the Hegemony unconditionally, as they have been a staunch supporter of my people and my polices since we first established contact through our mutually governed wormholes.

BlackMamba robbed his faction's reserve funds for the benefit of his own empire, and then in the final hours before his scheduled departure, the agreement was violated. Twice.

BlackMamba organized a mass exodus fleet of thirty-seven large colony ships and supporting escorts. In the process he left his former capital in complete chaos. My temper had exceeded its limits, and I sought no longer to be a benevolent overlord. I took every remaining capital relentlessly, and Black Mustang proceeded to genocide his entire population. His was perhaps of noble intentions, holding that his people would rather die than live under foreign rule. But is such a choice truly his to make? Regardless, their combined actions in the end destroyed the futures of those attempting to flee.

Furiously, I attempted to scan for the enormous fleet, but could only find a fighter blockade in its place. Feeling my chance to exact revenge escaping me, I quickly sent into the surrounding space a defense wing from a neighboring planet and managed to intercept BlackMamba's massive escape attempt before it could exit through the system entrance.

An estimated 962,000 civilians were helplessly caught in furnaces of death which were to be their salvation.

I may not be able to sleep easily at nights ever again, but my actions will ultimately be justified by historians hundreds of years from now.

And here it stands. The homeworld of the Firm has fallen. Like dominos, the opposition seems to fall in place against our mighty coalition.

Let this day be known as Black Thursday, forever more. The day in which millions of innocent lives were sacrificed because of the mistakes of their leaders.

Now, let us see what Friday brings..

The path to the core just got a lot shorter.

Very little is known about Quax. It seems that it appears during times of great change or strife, and it acts. Quaxs actions are often unstoppable, from a highly more advanced civilization. I am not surprised Quax decided to appear now; the destruction of a wormhole and the tearing of our universe in two was quite an event. My probe was the first to feel the might of its guns. I, along with many rulers, have been watching the signal countdown with much apprehension.

I sent another probe after the two battleships. I could not lose sight of them, the unmentionable amount of power they displayed frightened me. But they did nothing. In fact they had not moved at all. Just staying in orbit around the barren planet, as if waiting.

After arrival my probe detected a transmission from the Battleships. Apparently they had come here to enrich the core; many people are suffering under the myriad low resource planets. I say 'had' because when my probe encountered them they changed their minds. The Quax have decided to share some of their technology to ‘help’ the outcasts. Oddest use of the word help I've ever heard. Instead of enriching our worlds they are going to send ‘warp-gates’ to all faction members every fourteen months. Warp-gates that teleport ships to the core. Some say it’s for transports full of relief minerals, but I can see war-ships appearing near my systems soon. All because of that damn probe z2.

After the broadcast the two ships disappeared. No trail, no wormhole, just gone. Their warp-gate technology, I’m sure. But those two ships don’t matter anymore. Only one thing matters.

The factions are coming.

Power

An odd report surfaced from one of my probes. Probe z2, the third wave meant to explore any systems I missed in the first two. An odd report is a rarity, usually it is just boring drivel that only interests geologists and astronomers. But odd probe reports, ah, they are the light of my day. Especially from wave three, the ones closest to my homeworld. Whatever appears in this report I will be able to capitalize on practically immediately, ever since the new drives were sent from pbhead. Almost every anomaly is good, usually either a wormhole or a colony. This odd report was not any of the above.

I have my probes set to scan anything they find, which sometimes leads them to getting too close to war-ships. Not really a big deal, put a big red x on the map where the probe was destroyed and avoid it in the future. But what z2 found was of a magnitude higher then that of a system blockade or traveling war fleet. I stare blankly at the report. It’s not possible, nothing this big exists in this universe. It was immense: 1,111 cannons, who knows how much armor and shielding, 969,870 metric tons. I do a double take reading the mass, but it was scanned three times before it destroyed my ships. Nothing we could build could even scratch the hull.

What have we awoken?

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