Stories of Lore 31

Well…this is awkward. I guess that works out well enough for us all things considered. Even if Somnus is in pieces after getting blasted and Koura now looks like everywhere else in the Sol territories.

So time for updates around the galaxy now that we have a breather to actually read all those intel reports.

Tykel is sort of gone, Echo Consensus have destroyed most of it including Orochi and Arkaric. It turned out that Arkaric’s androids along with himself were based on exerlus technology, which Daiheb had acquired by being the first solian to reach the wider galaxy some several centuries ago. Most alien races are actually completely unaware they’ve already seen one of ours all the way out to the furthest reaches of the galaxy for years now since they’re just so gosh darn mysterious. Though as a result, Echo Seven understood the backup protocols that Daiheb models use and could cancel the signals. Basically the phylactery vs necrocarnates rule all over again, but now for cyborgs.

What remains of the city is just a collection of ruins on a dead world, Echo Consensus took out the atmosphere containment devices and anything they hadn’t personally shot was instead suffocated to death by space itself.

The Silnian war is a whole other thing still going on. Apparently if we were to use Sol metrics, trillions have died, stood back up, and died again. It is bloody on a scale the galaxy has not really had to deal with since the silnians fought the jesai millenia ago. Our jydoq merchant guy who is hanging out on the Winter now by the way, is my  go to source for galactic history since Echo Seven is still in Sol recovering from the war with Selona. He left the consensus in ruins as he knew how to target their cores so they couldn’t just rebuild with all the metal laying around. Echo Seven themselves is gone, having basically kamikaze’d to kill Arkaric.

Riley’s back, she describes Nelta as…on fire. Peace talks didn’t go so well. The jesai are one of the ancient super races and they can fuck everrrrybody up. Exerlus and the echo consensus would normally keep them in check but they’re conveniently nowhere nearby. They are helping us with a big problem though at least.

The war in Sol is winding down, with a huge and heavy hitting portion of Nelta’s fleet peacing out back to Nelta Faelyn has been able to talk to Sharen to get their fleet moving. Now victory is well within our grasp, though we’ll see how politics settle down in the wake of this new Sol.

Irae is a lot stronger than before we joined the so called Void State. Though its hard to tell in what ways.

I ain’t updating cards for a lil bit with everything going on as it is.

Alexander has taken The Outsider into the warrens to begin mapping. So…you know that thing Alexander does where he’s just a total nerd? Yeah he keeps losing focus on his objective and becoming supremely fascinated by the smallest things. By the way there’s another entity in there if you go basically straight down then follow that tunnel and take a left at the next intersection then another left…and another left. He keeps going left at every intersection. Some sort of strategy Aryn told him about.

Also what kind of soulmeld do you want to make for Eden? She doesn’t really fight much so not sure if more weapon savvy ones are a good idea, and she can already float around. Maybe something defensive as a ‘just in case’ but nothing can kill her without getting to her planet so not really sure on that one.

As another update, things within the Phantoms are a bit sketchy right now. With Arkaric gone not all of them realized how much he was contributing but those who did know are suddenly a bit more nervous and the Revenants just got a lot of progress done very quickly at about the same time. Coincidence?

Also Ilex wanted us to figure out what’s going on with Faelyn and her meddling with the Que experiments. Apparently she’s just throwing stuff at him to see what happens and if she thinks its a worthwhile pursuit. If it turns out to be, the current state Valdir is in has left them vulnerable enough that Kanika could probably just kidnap Azilath if she wanted to. Apparently they’re testing if Kanika can affect the silnians, if she can then that means she can start messing with the Sol-Valdir. Though is wary since an untestable thing is what happens once Indal comes back. Too much investment in silnian offshoots could backfire if he shows up and goes ‘Oh thanks for this giant army I now know everything. By the way remember that I’m the last adventurer in Sol? Time to go slay a dracolich.” He already fought her once before, if he tracks her down again who knows what could happen.

Okay so it’s not that hard to locate Azilath I don’t think. If either of us just land on the same continent as her, at her rank I’m pretty sure we’ll find her synapse. Locating aside, Nelta. So maybe we need to do another stealth op to find her and what she’s up to. Even if the war in Sol is winding down, they still really hate Valdir.

Also with Vasia MIA on some grand galactic adventure, New Age isn’t as productive as it used to be. It’s mostly just maintaining ongoing experiments. That and…uh…now I have no idea what the fuck I’m supposed to be summarizing these reports as.

In regards to your strategy for ‘if the revenants come’ I have good news. They’re busy on Thenica now. Seiyomi is keeping an eye on them. Bad news for Renjala, they are in frighteningly close proximity to Song clan. A clan known for hunting down liches. Round two, Auni Kuu. Might be a good idea for him to start hiding on Eden and using Irae more until we at least figure out if I’m right or not. Though apparently they’re fighting some phantoms who tried to establish their own colonies in the wake of the apocalypse.

Also someone brought me a shield awhile back, I forget who.

Judging by Renjala’s email…they have their own variables they’re using us to test. It’s one of those things where its really hard to say no given that they could just kidnap us on a whim. If they figure out Vasia isn’t here anymore we’re in fucking trouble so shhh. They did give us data on the ones they sent to us and its obvious that ‘willing’ isn’t necessarily the only criteria if a criteria at all for the more powerful champions of the synapse. I mean…my willingness was questionable and down to ignorance and now I’m the queen after all.

We’ll start moving to the moon once we get some ships in here to help move. It’d be easier if we just used a carrier but I have a feeling Lancaster isn’t going to loan us one anymore. Also we should name the moon, and the system. My advice is to use words with more than one syllable. Que sucks, its as if whoever named it started a name and forgot to finish it then didn’t double check before publishing the survey data.

In regards to recruiting jydoq…that might be difficult because they know what silnians are and definitely have their own perceptions on it. They’re also a society and species not as prone to individual thinking, often putting too much faith in whatever system governs them so they are less likely to have a few radicals come take a dip. I suspect that’s why Hylavi was such a good security chief for Lancaster, jydoq just as a species aren’t wired to question their superiors. The only time they ever did was while staring down the barrel of Arkaric’s metaphorical gun.

Zenaka has the reverse problem, they’re a little too crazy if you say “it might make you stronger” they just go wild. So…we need to arrange some transportation on that one. One ambassador suggested we just dump the pool onto Zenaka and see what happens. I think finsir just breeds lunatics as a planar function.

Before you get any idea for silnian werewolves I will point out its a curse and a disease magically speaking. Our mutations will remove it automatically, same reason you can’t poison us very easily. That and we already have teeth, claws, and muscle. Not much to gain there. I mean…look at me. I’ve got fur, I’ve got teeth, I’ve got claws. I’ve also got enough weight to crush a werewolf just by laying on them. Speaking of which, do you think I’m getting fatter? I can’t tell anymore how much is a healthy weight for me because I weigh almost half a ton.

Also I didn’t even know about your whole thesis and she mostly interacted with Renjala. So ask him why he didn’t bring it up. In fact, I think only Vasia knows about your past work and she didn’t really care to spend much time with Haziel. One time they were in a room together she was focused on Eliza.

Scans of ZFO…two…three…four…four? no three. Scans of ZFO234-3 tell us that there is a bunch of weird unfamiliar materials in there. Just like last time. Send someone down there with some tweezers if you want more information, we’re talking about things that are not on the periodic table. Though mostly due to planar things, not sure what happens if they’re removed from Finsor. Reminder, when air is removed from Finsor it likes to turn into hellfire. That stuff that can burn without oxygen or fuel…so use a very long stick to push it through any rifts.

So I feel a lot of people assumed Echo Consensus would lose, but there’s no Tykel left to really go extract anything from. The exerlus inflicted a 100% fatality rate via exploding everything and then…space. Space kills things.

Salied is back at Ash but now Vasia isn’t there so she’s just back in her room watching cartoons.

That and New Horizons made us some good salvage, salvage values are up by the way after all these wars. We made almost two billion off of that.

Actually they didn’t really mess with the Vivarium other than figuring out how to open and close the doors. Researchers who were hostages at the time reveal they had fully planned to use the vivarium. To put us in for research. Things happened to those researchers that they don’t want to talk about. The New Age researcher who was on staff to keep an eye on the vivarium laughed at their trauma. He used to work at the lab on Somnus. With Vasia.

Also the metal maker needs a convoy transport to Enohas and Arc is fuuuuuuuuuuucked up.

So…we’re fine. The Nomads didn’t get here in time for the first wave and by the time we got here we were operating as a stealth support center. The Nomads stole some alien wreckage from New Horizon salvage teams but there was so much salvage no one bothered to fight them for it. Though honestly even if there was only one ship to salvage I doubt anyone would have fought them for it.

So revenue wise it would go up dramatically if we ended a lot of Joe’s programs to sort of aid the people and just told em to sink or swim. Though this would result in the second Kyven almost gauranteed. Then again we can just shoot that problem and call it a day. The sudden refugee surge taking advantage of these systems is what caused an overall dive in the economy. That and they’re all broke since anyone who didn’t use a solvang bank is currently fuuuucked. So they’re having to rebuild their finances from scratch in a lot of cases, however this still works out well in the future. Every month they’re less of a drain on our resources and more productive as new businesses get started up thanks to us constantly pouring resources onto them at first. Though we’re kind of unable to do that anymore so the turnaround has slowed down a bit. Though it is still taking place, bit by bit we’re stabilizing.

So for increasing revenue…we can make a whip and collar factory?

The Hasao clan’s leader is a matriarch by the name of Hasao Kia. She’s as grouchy as you’d expect an elf from Shetou to be. Though diplomatic relations are a little frozen, as I mentioned before I think they’re waiting out to see how things fall into place after the Nelta assault. They keep being ‘busy’ since they ‘have a whole city to run’.

However, they recently found out about the Vivarium’s luxury crop cloning and they’re not happy about it which has frozen diplomatic relations even further. Something to the tune of ‘why are you making coffee while people are starving to death in the streets’ sort of vibe. Though VSEC doesn’t control the Vivarium so not too much diplomatic damage as a result, it’s just a thing I thought I would mention.

Riley is on her way into Nelta territory, the problem is we don’t know exactly where the border planet near Haweh was. Aryn woke up there randomly and died still in that area, though at this point any Nelta area will do fine.

Winter has absorbed some of the excess population of Koura. So it’s getting fairly busy aboard there. It happens to also function as a mobile trade port so that’s going well for it with the Zenakan trade opening up.

Tortuga renovations fall under ‘things we can’t afford to do right now because finances’.

Sol expedition is in transit.

We have more final numbers on the Nelta fleet that is coming for us now that they’ve finished gathering up and are going to prepare to move soon. I made a handy sheet for you in our warzones pages. We also know that Rikoy and Elym will be present.

Third lance is back here as the convoy trip from Zenaka got sorted out. Just in time for the Revenants to show up again. We  found out that the Revenants never left Jamalia at least, they took out an entire squad of knights and squires who we think got really close to finding out something important about how they’re hiding in the city. Though with all the refugees dropped off recently it’s hard to tell who doesn’t belong here given we only  know the identity of one of them, and they are likely keeping much more hidden than the rest.

The knights went to deal with all this but they were already gone. Though we did find some clues of where they were hiding and what they were doing in Jamalia still before they escaped. Likely aboard a ship this time judging by the fact that a few more dead knights were found at the spaceport. So the good news is they’re kind of stuck because only I know the information they’re looking for and they haven’t gotten to me yet. The bad news is, I think they’re looking for your phylactery and or planning to send Naexi to deal with you if you show back up. They’re definitely a “cut off the head of the serpent” type of group and it is likely this is why they took Akuhiko, in search of your weak point. That being said, Aku doesn’t even know where it is so…not like he can help them with that even if he wanted to. Seriously who would look halfway across the galaxy?

We found Daesta, she’s in the far northwest and nowhere near Jamalia. I actually am impressed she got all the way out there without a shuttle. She also now has a lot of modern weapons, likely a gift from the Revenants but it is notable they aren’t closely involved with her. At least they aren’t hanging out at her base, we’d send some knights to deal with her but we had the chaos of the Revenants in Jamalia to deal with. Though we could work on that now since it…seeeems like they left this time. I suspect they found out that the Sol expedition is going on and they might be headed back to protect whatever their headquarters is.

On another note, Ki’Ralcht is now really spooky. Just her appearance alone was kinda scary but now she has a horde of demonic alien warriors under her command and she summons abyssal creatures as her go to strategy. So we might be careful where we send her after Zenaka, if she ever leaves, just because she’s likely going to have PR issues wherever she goes. Don’t ask me why she thought it was a good idea to incorporate ominous hoods into the uniforms of her lance.

As for Reika’s binding she’s currently just being wild and free since she hasn’t been free in so long. Even if Ankathi is being pushy, and making a good offer as the best divine bind she could ever hope for, you may recall that it is hard to be pushy with Reika. She’s extremely talented at telling people to fuck off and leave her alone, so I don’t think you have to worry about it. Also Reika has been Reika this entire time without a particularly helpful bind and can carry herself on pure skill so she doesn’t need a bind to do what she does best.

That being said, with her arm back she’s getting stronger than ever before. Because she can use that hand to cast while her other hand keeps doing sword stuff. She used to have to open rifts extremely quickly to make up for this problem, now she just drops smite on people at the same time as she does everything else she likes to do.

Oh hey that’s right, Alianade is a thing. Byeeee finances.

Also the pool is composed of two ichors. Also I do not eat people! I’m not a, oh fuck I already ate people didn’t I…well at least I throw them in the pool first so I don’t just bite their faces off. Though that bit of muscle attached to the thumb kind of reminds me of chicken wings. Wait what?

So basically biomass conversion is done mostly through the ichor lakes, you and I can digest it as is but pool #2’s drones don’t have very advanced digestive systems. More room was made for task based systems and the ichor breaks things down into something edible for them. Less points of failure in their design and more room for muscle and useful things. Though the Que based designs notably have the ability to digest their own food, part of the whole independence thing we were designed to have I suppose.

The infection method is an option if you just wanna scratch people with your kitty claws but that doesn’t exactly create more ichor to sustain us as much as it does a quick hack to make more drones for the swarm and cause more problems for anything fighting against us. Ideally we only use the infection method during war, and then toss all the ghouls into the pool afterwards to make proper drones.

The conversion within the ichor pools is basically a molecular breakdown and redistribution. I suppose a large part of what happens in them is just extremely advanced and automated organic alchemy. To silnians this is a developed technology more so than a random boon as a species, which might be why its so difficult to really control or work with sometimes. Instead of evolving to the bare minimum for survival of the fittest or anything, it was developed with the budget of a military nation who just kept advancing it. It is interesting though how you and I exist at all though, as we are basically the technology gone rogue. Though I don’t think the silnians ever really considered it a problem, more of a feature. As Azilath once described, if Indal comes by we are automatically added back to his synapse under his command. I would really like to research silnian history on such things but it’s really  hard to find anything about them without venturing into the silnian territory. Which is described as many to be ‘suicide’.

I mean if you wanna sit on my tail I guess you can, though Cassir keeps warning me to be careful with it. Something about it having a lot of muscle mass. She made me crush rocks with it for a few experiments. I don’t know why you wouldn’t like being pet all the time though, it’s better than the alternative of being shot because people think  you’re a stray.

The pool synapse connection does depend on proximity, when both are near me I can just link them back together after all. So you should be able to as well, though we’re still a part of Que’s design which favors independent operation. Though the sense of connection doesn’t really change much upon feeding them, I mean you can tell they’re healthier but it doesn’t radically alter their behavior. Especially not Que.

Also sapient entities are kind of up to the pool. Think of it as needing a soul to create a sapient agent, just like it needs different kinds of biomass for different kinds of features. Hence the whole needing calcium thing. Put living souls in, and then it has some options to work with. So feeding it corpses of the dead does not bode well for creating more higher level creatures like us. Obviously the Que scientists just injected me with the stuff while I was still alive and eventually just threw me in, and you jumped in yourself. Though otherwise most of the biomass you brought back are just corpses, trees, and the like. The issue with finding willing volunteers is the fine print on how we have no idea what it’s going to do or if it is even going to like them enough to turn them into a real agent of the synapse while at the same time Koura Cures is advertising the parasitic recovery method that is much more controlled and refined to be beneficial. Maybe we could go capture some pirates? There are a few more advanced drones from the second pool due to eating people aboard the Milenkosi but definitely not quite on our level. I’m not entirely sure what the criteria for a champion of the synapse is actually.

In regards to Vasia’s recent behavior, yeah she’s gone a little crazy but she’s started making progress faster. That being said she hasn’t visited me in awhile so maybe I just haven’t noticed how good or bad it is, I think I’m lower on the list of her projects at the moment.

As for psionics…I mean I get the basics you’re going over but why do I gotta study! I already spend all my time doing the advisor thing and managing the synapse for you.

Meanwhile back at Zenaka, the convoy has moved out to Somnus to start its trips back and forth for station construction on Whitetalon’s dime. 40th Day has sent out the scanner ships and a lot of Zenaka itself is at the very least warm and toasty. The unbound star covers the nearby planets in near constant sunlight, they don’t have much for a ‘night’ cycle. Though it’s not as warm as a regular star, so a lot of life forms developed their own self heating mechanisms. You won’t find many reptiles there basically.

Zenaka has prosthetic equivalents that are fairly basic, definitely not approaching the realm of cybernetics though. Also as mentioned selling people on the ichor is difficult because Koura Cures has a much easier sell. We’ve had a few crazier volunteers so we’ll see how that goes. Obviously from Zenaka, back on Koura the ichor doesn’t sell well at all since Koura Cures’ office is riiiight there.

Cult recruitment on Zenaka isn’t going too bad, though its a slow process since we’re strange aliens talking about using them as basically willing and long range mana batteries.

Seiyomi is incredibly talented at obscuring information as that is sort of his whole schtick. Though he does mention it is problematic if the Revenants already know everything about our main targets. At least the bits that they deem important for their style of assault. We may need to get people involved that they weren’t interested in picking on or newcomers altogether such as himself to maintain the misinformation. Since they definitely already understand most of the cult and Madhammer in particular. Also he’s agreed to learn the lucid rituals which ought to be hilarious. Obviously he is one of the warrior class by default, but given his specific skillset I’m trying to imagine what he can do with all that extra casting power. Also he’s not terribly specialized as a psionic or as an arcanist. He kind of just took bits and pieces from all fields just to add to his list of useful spells. So he’s not really going to be a specialist or innovator in any field, just use a really long random patchwork of a spell list. This is part of what makes it really hard to figure out what he can actually do.

Cassir reports in that militarized training is never ready, it is a lifestyle. Her example was the fact that Reika still trains daily. Though progress is being made in enabling a larger number of the cult to have basic functionality in not getting themselves killed in warzones. It has hurt recruitment efforts a bit though, hopefully that’ll swing back around.

ARC did that thing you asked them to do where they deal with wayward Nelta fleets. So we’ve lost some ships and so have they, but notably this isn’t like scaring off pirates. Nelta go into combat mode on contact and they’re an actual navy even if operating all over the place right now. We lost three battlecruisers and took down two of theirs, a handful of destroyers and starships, and then a battleship showed up to reinforce the stray Nelta patrol and rocked their shit until ARC retreated. Notably the lack of fleet diversity hurts a little when it comes to fighting the Nelta fleet.

Also we’ve sold a few of the colonies and got the rights to one of the existing colonies on the frontier, though its a crater at the moment but the planet isn’t half bad. Normal people won’t survive long on it due to the atmosphere but with proper space suits you could go mining and it does have water which is nice. Also some mildly developed life. Obviously you and I can survive in its atmosphere without any issues.

Also Vasia’s response to your message was…ruder than I am translating. But basically she is upset that she thought Ankathi was dead for centuries and it made her relax, only to realize Ankathi was still growing in whole new ways ever since her disappearance and has now achieved the status of a deity. Vasia’s is now trying to become a sahad entity in response. Which is a scary thought…cosmic Vasia. We will remember the entity she captured from beyond the rift was just terraforming it’s planets and forging new lifeforms as a hobby project. This has been proven to be achievable as multiple races, especially the Jesai, have gone from being a more limited race to a sahad entity with enough mastery of the art.

The fleet has finished arriving at Somnus and prepping and are now departed for Sol, good luck to them. It’s going to be rough.

Also the Vivarium has coffee and some other luxury crops growing successfully. Also the Makers are making things again and its making the researchers nervous to enter the enclosure.

The Nomads have returned to Somnus after a successful mission but they appear to be keeping several of the ships they hijacked. They…appear to have decided to expand their operations as we requested by creating a nomadic flotilla fleet. They’re stocking up at Somnus with the essentials for long term deployments and reconfiguring some of the ships for more civil matters. We talked with them about it and apparently afterwards their idea is to go into open space outside of the main travel ways to be extra stealthy and having a mobile base to deploy stuff from. It’s got a ways to go before they could be completely self sustaining with this flotilla of theirs but its an interesting start.

Sure, the Nelta fleet is currently moving through the frontier fighting mostly with Faelyn’s fleet. Due in part to not being able to find Moncayo, even before Guardian broke down that place was a bit difficult to locate. However, they do have the upper hand on her fleet and many of the frontier colonies have been scattered across the planets they were set up on to flee the obvious targets that were the colonies.

The bulk of their forces are still in Sol, while they currently have majority control of open space they’re having trouble fighting above SV2. The fact that its a planet filled with canyons caves and cliffs makes it a bit difficult to assault with a primarily naval based force. House Sharen’s fleet is best able to survive because of the docks at New Kaifen being underground.

Thenica is still under constant assault and though orbital control remains with Nelta, planetside remains under Sol’s control but most of the orbital cannons are defunct. Nelta has established a fortress on Thenica to try and get control of the planet but it’s currently under assault by the remnants of the planet.

The ships on the frontier are pulling back a bit to regroup with the fleet that was parked to assault Auwana and are likely going to either fuck off to deal with the other problems that keep coming up or begin the assault in abooout…I dunno maybe three months? Just guessing on that, hard to tell what their deployment strategy is.

Meanwhile back on Zenaka, the main city you landed in had a recent case of bombings taking out several turret emplacements and civilian infrastructure. Not too bad in the grand scheme of thing but I expect we can see a lot more little problems like this keep popping up with the whole drow tactic. The forces are currently spread across the planet trying to get things in order but that whole world war that this all started is still going and the Vloz are still somewhere among it all. As for the captured assets there aren’t that many, and you can blame this heavily on Madhammer’s style of operation. If it’s not in bits in pieces, they seem to believe it needs to be double tapped with tank shells. Something something, mass destruction not so good for spoils of war. Good at winning though.

When it comes to the trade idea, well the most useful thing they have is food we’d consider at least edible. As they haven’t been hit all that hard by the starvation the rest of the galaxy is having issues with. We also have a lot of tech they’d be interested in if we can set up convoys with the fleet to protect from pirates.

So in order to start building a station over Zenaka we need to get supplies together and we could probably bundle that part of the project in with the convoy idea. As well as getting Riley home. Though still the whole financial problem too. Which I’ll get to more in a moment.

Speaking of which, the Nomads took off with some more of the Vloz ships to who knows where. Actually I think they’re on the way back to Somnus nevermind.

Back home, Koura is economically starting to stabilize little by little. As more of the refugees find places to set up or at least abandon hope of going home. Quite a few holdouts are seeking to return once the war is over and don’t think they’ll be out here permanently and they’re a little less productive than everyone else. Not a particularly big problem but something the new security chief has been keeping an eye out on.

The Hasao clan, as their ethnic name might suggest, are from shetou. Specifically they’re a minor house that was underneath the Great House ruled by elves, separated during the initial invasion and winding up here as refugees out of necessity as the second invasion took place. They helped with fighting Kyven as well as many other gangs on the streets and have built up a level of repertoire with the citizens of Koura. With so many moving out to smaller towns and settlements due to overcrowding, the Hasao clan were well positioned to have the resources and word of mouth from the people to make their settlement a rather popular destination. Most people have been building small towns close to the outskirts of Koura but Hasao Tei is more of a second city. Granted it isn’t as nicely constructed with quite as much infrastructure as Koura itself and is more of a collection of small shacks spanning over the hills to the south.

Being from Shetou they’re sort of independent in their way of thinking and self governing, as indicated by their vigilante behavior. This is one of those things that gets quirky since we’re based primarily on Alnae’s values and they’re from the group that decided they’d rather live in a society where they would be constantly at odds with every other major power simply based on race instead of just sticking where things were comfortable. The financial problems around here have definitely led to an opening for them to establish themselves the way they like to do things and I have been talking with their representative for weeks now to try and iron things out.

It’s kind of hard to tell where they really fall on things. They have a strong culture about honor and justice so they’re not necessarily disagreeable but they’re a little bit used to playing the part of isolationists. I have a hunch they’re waiting for the Nelta invasion to wrap up before making any official deals or anything so they can see the potential future of the system.

The other small startup towns in the south also gravitate towards the Hasao clan since they’re the ones with people to spare for managing the area. Though they all tend to be of a mind to keep their heads down and stay out of trouble so it’s been less of a tightrope to diplomatize with them.

Also Koura Cures expanded two months ago but it is still mostly trying to refine the method behind using the parasites beneficially. However, our surveys into the Rift provide a lot more test samples since those things are all over the place in there. Profitability wise it isn’t improving that much for them since they’re mostly using the parasites to help the refugees and new colonists. This is a part of where the black hole in your finances are coming from, along with several other things that help get people settled in and such. Though it’s why Koura Cures is having slow progress as there is just a lot of work to be done with not as much time for regular research.

Contacting Echo Seven might be difficult as they’re still in Sol. At that to our list of things we’d have to do while we’re out there.

Reika is still adapting, though it’s making some waves among the knights. They’re not really used to seeing Reika with a whole extra arm, nor two eyes. That and the once missing eye is now gold colored and a little extra bright so its hard not to stare. I wonder how that is for her, she never has to remind anyone to look her in the eyes when speaking to her now but now she can’t get them to stop staring at her eyes.

Ki’Ralcht has managed to recruit some alien demons to her lance as you suggested, turns out she just hadn’t thought to do that. Some are enticed by the possibilities of joining the order even if some of them are a little bit odd. Basically the people who are liable to join aliens at the cost of their own people are the ones we, including Lancaster, manage to keep recruiting. Though I get it, before we really got space travel down there were a lot of people ready to do whatever it took to get off of Thenica just out of pure curiosity.

We’re seeing about how to get the third lance back home, with the increase in hostilities in all shapes and sizes on the frontier, unguarded ships prove to be a dangerous idea. Though with everything going on with Zenaka they could probably hitch a ride once the convoy idea gets going.

So hunting Daesta is tricky because we believe she has found some way to prevent herself from being found by Haziel. We don’t know which method she found though as there are quite a few options we know of. One of which exists on the planet already in the shape of the arcuran villages, as enchanted materials lose their connection to druid abilities. Assuming she found a way to construct things that hide her from Haziel she still has to roam carefully as stepping outside of such locations could reveal her. We’re not sure how likely it is that they know exactly how to counter Haziel but if we open up to the possibility that the Revenants are helping them it would explain a lot. I have no doubt their lot could figure out some methods since their whole thing is gathering information on their targets after all.

That all being said, the teams are out hunting around using more traditional methods. The arcane moon sort of obscures scanning tech from finding arcuran style constructions so we’re just flying around the land and having Eerihild sniff at things a lot. We’re also questioning the other merkas cities to see if they have any luck finding out how Daesta is operating and recruiting. We’re at least pretty sure that Daesta is within a specific territory due to which cities have been impacted by her recruiting. Though its a large territory as we don’t know if she would have remained close to Jamalia or moved further away from it to build up.

In other news, Bill has been taking down a lot of the street lights and replacing them with bio-luminescent plants that he came up with as his latest project. Though he’s asking if we can get any of those Koura sun stones shipped in to further his project. Apparently he’s taken it upon himself to decorate the place with more plants. Eerihild’s wolf team are working as the primary hunters to seek out Daesta or any Revenants. Sarnai and the holy knights of Ankathi are mostly tending to Reika, and Ankathi is definitely pushing Reika to bind with her now that she has a vacancy and is already one of the most experienced divine pandem wielders.

Haziel is back from her trip to the Raven II with her memory issues apparently fixed, and there has been a notable change in her demeanor. Eerihild has noted that her mother is a little more aggressive than before, apathy replaced with that somewhat feral side of her she was once famous for. This has improved the Chosen Wolves at least as now she just handed out lycanthropy to them like candy. Making Eerihild something of an alpha werewolf.

Ankathi’s following is also growing, if she does manage to recruit Reika there could be a significant shift of internal politics within the Astral Order.

I’m not sure who Rhea is and if you’re not then I’m not sure anyone is. According to the database she didn’t have any listed family, so after her death her property was just kind of left sitting around. I suppose someone should go claim that and clean it up.

Also Zanin is discontent with being left behind on Zenaka while you pull everything else out.Though she is collecting the biomass as ordered in preparation to ship them to Que.

As for food, I used to really like a certain type of mushroom from the underdark. Though lately I just have a strange craving for meat.

Also Seiyomi said he’d tag along with you for now after our finances team showed him the pay offer. Even roaming conspiracy theorists need to make a living to afford all those tinfoil hats I suppose. Though I will point out that your search for a misinformation expert might not need to look so far, Seiyomi is a trickster after all.

I’m new around here, why are the sneaky people just hiding out in the basement? We have a lead to pursue the Revenants even if just a little and the entire division is just camping out on a ship.

As for Cassir’s cybernetics, the cult enabled her. She relies on the Lucid Ritual to gain enough mana to cast in any meaningful quantity despite her cybernetics. She also has an emergency option, her cybernetics have a battery slot she can put mana batteries into if necessary though that’s a short burst option. We do know that she has the Selona brand of cybernetics which are designed as weapon platforms and he specifically has basically a city power plant in his own chassis…in the form of an alien writhing in constant agony. So she has options but they might not be the most optimal for a caster of her caliber. But the ritual circumvents the issue and lets her go crazy while still keeping the physical benefits of being a walking hunk of metal.

Vasia also reports that she taught Salied a couple new spells and has been spending time poking at her. Though Salied is now traumatized, Vasia is reported as “far worse than before”. We think reuniting with Ankathi replaced her apathy with a vicious thirst for power. She’s been torturing Salied to force her to make progress. According to the report, when Salied zoned out in the lessons as she often does, Vasia slammed her head into the floor and forced her to pay attention at the threat of continued violence until death if she didn’t stay focused. That is one of twenty six incidents that were recorded. Salied is now much quieter but getting stronger with Sahad very quickly compared to her previous progress so…results I guess?

Basically the labs report that they have lost all control of Vasia, she’s been spending a lot of time with the entity  from beyond the rift as well though no one else is allowed to enter that lab so they don’t know what she’s doing with it. It’s assumed that diplomatic relations with it will no longer be possible though.

ARC is flying around doing a ton of escort missions, also regrouping at Somnus to prepare for the trip to Sol. So give them a bit to sort that out since that’s going to be a bit of a large scale mission.

40th Day’s survey review has a particular question attached via sticky note which is asking if terraforming counts. Because none of them could really support just letting Thenica or Ash biologies loose onto the planet. I mean…I’d be fine but you know deer and stuff aren’t going to do as well.

New Horizons built the ships you asked for and the Vivarium is working on making some luxury plants.

Sure is quiet ever since we moved onto this cozy ship.

I’m back with another state of the galaxy report, that might be especially relevant since you’re planning to send a fleet to Sol.

The empires are pretty much a fractured mess. The ‘True Alnae’ led by Kaylen is now a sort of permanent military dictatorship under Kaylen as Grand Marshall but that is somewhat due to necessity. Several Alnae splinters led by former Councilors can be found across the system. The persistent threat of Nelta keeps them from reuniting and they have all become somewhat improvised governments to deal with whatever issues are closest to them that they can effect. If the war goes on too long it might become a bit more permanent as well.

Shetou was always a loose collection of houses with a very independence heavy political structure. While the shift in politics have led to the Great Houses losing a lot of their power due to a loss of contact and influence over minor and major houses beneath them, it’s kind of not that big of a surprise. They’re handling it well at least. Though this has resulted in new politics and alliances based almost solely on proximity to one another since everyone’s range of influence has been cut down dramatically.

Vloz’Khress and Song, the most unlikely of duos, are still working together though they’re primarily focused on repelling the alien threat as they are in the thick of it. Their alliance is out of pure necessity as they are both facing extinction to an alien threat as primary targets, but the fact that they’ve held together without killing each other for longer than a week is a definite shift in politics.

Sharen is mostly trying to regroup and hold what they can at SV2, which is where the bulk of their fleet was docked and has generally always been Shetou’s favorite planet to hang out on. They probably aren’t happy that House Song is on Thenica right now as usually Song is at SV2 as well and their alliance is in a state of flux due to Adin and Yasice’s deaths. Though House Song is, as always, charging into war wherever it may be.

On Thenica in particular there are thousands of smaller factions assembled from whatever groups of survivors could find each other and many are led by Phantoms or remnants of the old governments. Some are just formed out of nowhere from nothing based on, once again, proximity and necessity.

While the entirety of Sol is having it rough right now, Thenica and SR3 are pretty much constantly on fire as the main targets of the Nelta forces. However, both are guarded by some of the most formidable ground forces of Sol. One being the Valdir’s home planet and the other being our homeworld which has both Vloz and Song on it. As devastating as orbital bombardment has been, it turns out both the Shetou remnants and the Valdir are obnoxiously good at burrowing and living underground.

Tykel is fine because Nelta apparently didn’t think to target a science facility on some barren world that wasn’t doing anything. We can guess who gave them that intel that it wasn’t worth the time for now.

The Frontier is getting more chaotic as the Nelta fleets move from one planet to the next but now in a more erratic order due to the resistance they faced at Enohas and some of the skirmishes with Faelyn’s fleet that keeps popping in out of nowhere. Though her fleet has had a toll taken on it from all of this fighting.

In all I’d say Sharen now has the most naval dominance, even counting Nelta. Though they’re sort of pinned down and without the aethernet or even an improvised version of the net like we have on the frontier they can’t operate far from SV2. Leading to them having to actually scout out their own neighboring planets and moons practically from scratch. It is likely they’re holding SV2 as best they can unaware of their naval superiority and just waiting out the storm until they can safely venture out to see how everyone else is doing.

Despite the weakened fleet, Faelyn is the most powerful standing Empress since her worlds aren’t on fire right now and she technically owns us as well via the Phantom conspiracies. Speaking of which, she’s setting about to fixing up the economy now that she is aware that the Phantoms control most of the Sol territories and can resettle right back on top. Though it’ll always be a sort of loose organization that not everyone knows is such an expansive empire. The results of this given our current finances give us a few options to negotiate with everyone we owe a bunch of stuff but we’ll go over that once we get to it. With our finances slowly stabilizing its hopeful we’ll be in a better position by the time we have to do something then we are now at least.

The jydoq are doing okay since Nelta didn’t pick on them too much while they were on the way to get us though after the bombings that Arkaric organized they’re still not doing great anyways.

Nelta itself is hard to keep track of beyond the Sol territories and the ongoing war. We really only know much about their side of things due to Aryn’s little adventure, though we also know that both Daiheb and Selona have some method of accessing their side of the galaxy to keep in touch with things over there.

If everything goes roughly as we’re seeing it, specifically through knowing the machinations of the Phantoms, Nelta is going to be repelled over the next few years bit by bit. On paper to anyone who doesn’t know what Kanika is doing it looks like we’re on the verge of extinction, but we happen to know that organized communication between the Phantoms is still possible and only available to them.

Stories of Lore 27

Aryn’s Odyssey

Dear Johnson: Odyssey’s are one long continuous thing don’t go surfing around for different characters.

So this is what a Somnus office is like, kind of cramped. Oh well, back to dealing with this whole mess we find ourselves in.

I gather you’d like me to start with Kyven. So good news is we found him after…extensive effort, and I do mean extensive. He’s dead now so good news on that. Making the hiring of a computer expert and putting Renjala as the new master access a bit redundant but I guess the extra security never hurts. Everyone who survived is in the hospital now, so if you need something done around here you’ve just got Eleazor really.

We predict the stabilization of Auwana’s economy though the toll the war with Kyven took was expensive. That and other criminal gangs are still looking to fill yet another power vacuum. Zhuan might be ahead of the pack though since he has some of the old assets I left behind and he wasn’t really touched by this war on crime you’ve been up to this whole time. Hopefully you can stabilize things before another monster like Kyven shows up at least.

As for the conflict on this alien Zenaka place, it’s going in your favor I’m told. Though according to Elion and Xanis you might be in for a long haul. Taking over a fairly developed world with its own complex political structure, billions of inhabitants, and people with wildly varying opinions on even the simplest matter could be a longer process than just moving in and setting up shop. Even if this Ilivayas woman is dealt with, Xanis predicts that we can expect a long and bloody civil war across the planet if Kar’Soluth continues to offer any support at all. Given what we’ve told him about the drow, he has no doubt they’ll find a way to continue meddling. Though points out his contract still states he gets to go to Somnus soon, as that was one of the terms of him helping you…I mean us.

The skirmishes between you and the Kar’Soluth are still ongoing since they fight by spreading out and picking things off. Elion is still forced to amass the troops instead of allowing them to spread out and look for these smaller pockets and just deal with the guerilla tactics of the drow as best he can.

The Milenkosi has been sent to the middle planes to contain the infection for a little while longer. Though the ship is completely overrun by those weird valdir things..silnian? I’m still not used to whatever is going on with all these mutating people. Mutants, it’s still overrun by mutants of some various kind.

So as much fun as I’m having going through all these classified documents on the so-called Phantoms, it’s worth noting that they’re still messing with the system wide economy. Apparently their plan is to turn the economy back on and start solidifying their empire now that they crawled out of the basement all across the system. Mostly because this group your files label as ‘The Revenants’ have been hitting them hard ever since they started revealing their locations and they want the economy back on so they can build a large military force to protect them. Apparently one of their founding members was recently killed and they’re getting nervous.

Speaking of which, since you’ve been so kind as to get me security access to all these fancy classified documents I suppose it’s only fair that I let you know what I know about the Revenants. I put it in a file for you, just be thankful they’re not after you specifically. Ilex might start sweating though. Their little gang has never been that focused on you guys over their previous enemies of the Gauntlet and the Phantoms and just come around to clean up the scraps. Though with your alliance growing in power and now directly aligned with the Phantoms they’re bound to start paying more attention.

The Zenaka fleet is getting hit harder now that Ki’Ralcht is helping the Nomads. Specifically because they can get aboard anything, and Ki’Ralcht’s summoned platoon can make that a very scary prospect. Though the Vloz’Khress have summoners as well, it’s still a threatening boarding action.

On to matters at hand here at Jamalia, Haziel reports that Rikoy straight up disappeared off the planet somehow. We have heard no word from Faelyn about any ships coming to pick him up, though Haziel mentioned that someone else was here to take him and the remaining forces away. Currently our best experts on the matter think that short little Elym thing from Thenica just FTL’d in and back out without a ship. Which is an…interesting prospect but its the best explanation that Haziel can agree to.

Ankathi stole your conduit bind trick in order to use Sarnai as a puppet…like you do to Irae all the time. This has resulted in us being able to talk with her in greater detail about things. Evidently she knows more about the planes than anyone else, though doesn’t know how to explain it all in the most modern terms. That and she keeps spending her hour or two that she can inhabit Sarnai to roam around Jamalia and ask questions about every piece of modern technology we have, and we’re not even that modern you’ll recall. That and she likes to eat a lot, apparently medieval food sucks compared to what we have these days.

It turns out Ankathi might be some sort of genocidal witch known as a great calamity, but that’s just according to Vasia who notably has a very…personal relationship with the woman it turns out. Haziel’s recap of events just says Ankathi was “a thing that happened” that likely did destroy a few nations but Haziel didn’t like nations in the first place so she didn’t have much thoughts on the matter. Ankathi however seems to recognize Haziel very well, to the point of her being the only person Ankathi shows any sign of acknowledgement towards. She seems to respect that Haziel is an ancient of great power, even if she considers herself a step higher in her newfound divinity she seems most willing to share the secrets of her achievement with Haziel. Partially because Haziel is the only one that seems to get what Ankathi is trying to say with all her vague medeival terminology. So some people are concerned that Ankathi might try to create a new pantheon if she can recruit Haziel to becoming the next true Wilds.

Of course all this that we failed to keep quiet because of the huge explosion of celestial light accompanied by a bright flash that consumed Faelyn’s radar at the mere presence of Ankathi…the Phantoms are on their way to assess the situation. Valadeus of course but he said he’s bringing some others who are curious as to why we have both the ancient Haziel and the divine Ankathi in our one mid-sized colony on some backwater planet in the middle of nowhere.

Halaestra is currently undergoing the Eden treatment and…uh…we’ll see how that goes.

Also about that corruption coupon, no one other than you at Jamalia has that much money, and so it’d be going public to explain Eden and what she can do which could cause a cascade of problems. So…confirm? Also speaking of Eden, throwing dead aliens at her causes her to throw it onto her planet and just let them decompose. She has a very large and external digestive system I would call it.

As for the economy, even if we do go public to make some short term cash the problem is going to keep getting worse as long as we keep taking on new refugees. Which 40th day is all to happy to keep dropping off. However, it is stabilizing but you just can’t see it too easily. As people get settled in and start finding things to actually do they start producing a general positive effect but the new ones are coming in so fast that you can barely tell. I imagine at this rate since we can’t develop anything ourselves any further we’re going to start seeing secondary colonies sprouting up on various planets by colonists who can afford to do so themselves or can gather the manpower to do so. If we don’t fund the colony initially they sort of get dibs on the rights to do whatever they want with it even if we kind of own the planet. Still a general gain for us in the long run.

In the short term, Valencia might come around to repossess certain things or find other economic solutions once the economy is back up and running again. I’m not too concerned about it because in our very specific case, if our economic downturn produces enough growth of our influence in the Sol territories the Phantoms are liable to bail us out. Don’t forget, between Kanika and Faelyn the phantoms have money. Though since Lancaster, Ilex, and so on are not members of the phantoms they don’t have a daddy Valadeus to come in and decide ‘yeah this is fine for me’. With us building them that station within the Astral Warrens I imagine they’re at least inclined to view us more favorably than some of the other recently recruited liches.

As another option to fix our revenue, enslave all the refugees and get them to work. That’ll fix it really quick.

While I can layout the groundwork for arcuran sports, the economic issues prevent us from developing Helym into much.

Vasia said I should try delivering her report to you this month since she had something she needed to go do. Also she said something about the position being cursed? Given that I can’t really work anywhere else in Sol looking like this I guess being her assistant is kind of all I can do.

Contacting the bard has been difficult…again. He took his ships and disappeared into space so we don’t know about his ‘former employee insurance protection package’. Hrm? Oh Bardhe, that’s a confusing name.

As for the ichor experiments, well yeah it’s kind of lonely out here with nothing but roaming monsters to keep me company. At least they fetch breakfast for me though everything tastes kind of the same. I think they fed me a person too and I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not really sure I should go to Zenaka, if you haven’t noticed I’m not exactly experienced in active war zones. Though Vasia helped me pin down that the black pool over here is producing something very similar to the Koura parasites. It was actually one of these concoctions that got loose through the lab, they are aggressive and will burrow through hazmat gear if given the opportunity. They also seem weirdly good at knowing when they can and can’t escape from containment to make an attempt at doing so.

I don’t really know much about this other ichor you’re talking about at the warzone but Vasia’s report recommends building a new specialized facility for researching the ichor. Stating her own lab is insufficient as it has already proven to be a bit slippery. She has a draft for it though we can’t really afford to build it at the moment. Though finances being what they are right now we can’t really construct new developments. 40th Day’s prefab colonies had to halt production due to the current financial situation as well. She said plan B was let it do what it’s meant to do and just turn the monsters…I guess me…loose to see what it does once nothing is trying to control it.

Hey I’m not that dirty! They don’t need to wash their hands just for being near me! I mean yes I crawl around the ground all day because of the tail but…*sigh*

Uh this note she left just says “Adryn’s dead, peter in hospital a second time.”

Another one saaaays… “I’m not responsible for that idiot’s attempt to play scientist without me in the back of the freighter when I have three giant labs in Auwana – but say it more sarcastically and meaner” Oh wait I think I wasn’t supposed to read that out loud.

Cassir is back at Somnus looking over the Koura temple now that Lancaster has been secured and Kyven has been dealt with. Also it should be noted she does manage the cult and keep it running. Though she’s not going to go start some crusade out of nowhere…again.

We can’t produce any new ships until the finances have been sorted out.

One of the problems with your abilities and the war on Zenaka is you can’t always be there.  Your strike team with Elion is effective but as mentioned the drow spread out wide across the planet to operate in smaller groups and prefer to use guerilla tactics.

Seiyomi was mysteriously vague on all questions about his abilities and those tha the has seen before.

40th Day continues to ship refugees around and cause the continued economic obliteration of all the director’s assets except Sethis and Whitetalon who are in a different industry entirely. Vasia wrote it that way I don’t know why she said obliteration. It’s not – oh holy shit I found the finance book. Nevermind I get it now.

It didn’t take long after Kyven’s death for Aryn to be returned to us under somewhat mysterious circumstances. According to her she woke up on a shuttle already docked at Somnus and just had to walk the rest of the way over.

To that end, Aryn had a growth spurt and brought home a stray. She’s been asking around to see if anyone particularly wants her and has asked the other directors.

We’re still hunting down the remains of Kyven’s forces simply because we don’t want them latching onto another crime lord just like they did in the first place after the loss of Laura. Though Laura does point out it’s only a matter of time before the next one pops up given the state of the refugees. Part of the economic problems VSEC is facing has a lot to do with minimizing the chances that it will happen again.

Flagship maker!

Economy overhauled, see shop page…or your new upkeep costs.

Ships overhauled, see shop page

Ground assets overhauled, see shop page

New templates page added to player portal

Zenaka space map made

Roster updates:

Azilath – +2/+2 and synapse fixed to reflect the more modern balance of the ability as its introduction has been felt out a little. After the invasion she had to get tougher or die, she lived so she leveled up.

Daesta – +2 defense +2 slayer for quest completion

Eliza Pierce – +1/+1 and offense upgraded to green due to xp gain on her quest.

Kanika Hassani – Added Omnicarnum to better represent what her ability really does. Stats rebalanced to 4/10 with mass destruction 6 because the addition of Elgrim introduced a new power she can use to go beyond what she could originally do. She completed her 2000 year long quest chain and is now max level, ironically getting stats nerfed for it because of the new Lifesteal template’s existence.

Kaylen Yuriko – +2 offense, color upgraded to purple. +2 defense. Kensei template added to reflect her specific zankist trick (lets her use zankou with a weapon). No Man Behind – 3 added. Generally because of her gaining a lot of xp and a legendary artifact.

Kyven – Offense buffed to blue 7 because he got Lancaster’s Selona weapon

Lancaster – offense nerfed to white 4 since she lost her selona weapon. +1/+1 for cyborg superiority, both upgraded to green.

Peter Harlow – Gained +1 defense for xp

Orochi – Is now a legendary ship and has stats reflecting that.

Song Yi – Basically the same update as Kanika, introduction of Elgrim gave her an ability too broken for her stat line. So her numbers are lower but her actual power level is about the same.

Reika – Offense buffed to purple 7 due to ryner sword

Renjala – Offense nerfed to green 5 due to Ryner Sword

Sarnai – Obvious change is obvious

Vasia – +1/+1 for xp

Yonam – Has been uplifted and given the technology to compete with modern weaponry such as a basic shield. Also completed his quest to become the champion of Enohas. +3 defense +1 destroyer.

Stories of Lore 26

At the very least his garage medic is apparently very good, if he had been any worse you’d certainly be dead. I can have cybernetics installed for you, I could also attempt to regenerate you with the parasites but damage this extensive could have unpredictable side effects. I’ll try to make the rest of the briefing quick, I don’t imagine you want to talk much right now. At least not until we fix your jaw so you can respond. Give me your hand, this is an old archaic device called an analog keyboard. It has texture on the main keys so you can find it to try and communicate. It has the same layout as the ones we use from projections, they were based on this one back before we converted to the projection style of computer.

With the recent revelations we’ve encountered, at least we figured out how he’s getting around so easily. The original deck constructions and all of Koura still have Kyven as an administrator, and obviously he has an intimate knowledge of the station’s layout and original security. A lot of which we’re still using despite the updates. Despite posing as an outsider who is just winging it, he clearly targeted Hylavi because she was the major threat to his ability to move freely since she understood every security system on the station. Between her, Winter, and yourself…he is crippling our surveillance. There is only one person left who knows how the station really works, and he just got kidnapped as well.

Laura and Satsujin have accepted the offered positions at least. You’re hearing from me instead of Laura because you’re in my hospital and not in any state for virtual communication. If you’re lucky, this will be the last you see of me. Hrm? Oh right you’re on Madhammer’s base. Kyven has clearly infiltrated Somnus and with the Lowest Decks compromised there is nowhere he can’t access on the station it turns out. Madhammer’s base is a newer construction and its security systems are independent, even if we’re short staffed here it is the one place that is likely safe now. Well…this and the Ash labs. I figured you would preferred to be here. We also know he doesn’t have access to the Astral Order’s manor, since they built their own steamworks door that doesn’t use the same interface systems. Though I’m pretty sure he can get into there if he wanted to.

Zenaka is going well enough. A lot of people are dead but the orbital shield was secured. VSEC is setting up base camp to protect it, though at the cost of the territory we formerly held. Placing the orbital cannons at greater risk but if we lose the shield we’ll just become target practice.

I know now is reaaaally not the time for bad news like this but…so remember how Ilex put the Ichor on the Milenkosi and tried to become its king? We’ve lost control of the ship, it’s now overrun with silnian monsters and half the crew was eaten before we managed to evacuate.

A few of our outposts were also taken while we were busy focusing on the shield generator. Though things currently stand in our favor but Kar’Soluth is recruiting more and more locals every day. One of these native armies took some of our defensive cannons along the eastern border, we’ve built more since then but a ways back meaning some ground has been lost.

However, with control of the orbital shield we can now move on their orbital cannons and once we have that Koda and ARC can launch an actual assault on their fleet. Not to mention their fleet is still bleeding ships because the Nomads keep sneaking aboard and causing all kinds of problems.

As for finances, okay now it’s becoming a real problem, we can’t really upkeep things anymore. The city is falling apart and people are going hungry by the thousands. The only thing holding it together is it turns out Laura really knows her stuff in delaying the inevitable very big problem we’re about to have. While credits still haven’t really stabilized, we’re kind of out of everything except Vittles production since that just grows out of the ground. Fortunately, that’s powerful bartering to keep our workers working for the time being. But just keeping an eye on things because with the invasion back in Sol starting to wind down bit by bit it won’t be long until it re-establishes and then we’ll have to…figure out some options I suppose.

Yes, put your phylactery all up in Eden’s cave.

So let’s start with the big thing. Apparently Sarnai summoned a god into a battlefield, which was great for us even if you and Alex now smell burnt. Which is not good for undead. Please take a shower and submerge yourself in scented oils. Because of the aethernet issues we haven’t really been able to research this “Ankathi” very much. Since she could only be present for an hour, even though her power is enough to turn the fight that wasn’t even the entire duration of the remaining battle. So Alexander never got to talk to her or ask a bunch of questions. Though now he’s studying Sarnai to try and figure out how to do it again or at least contact The Fate at will. Also Sarnai has proven her capability in this campaign so she’s been promoted to a full knight, this has nothing to do with the fact that she can literally summon a god under specific circumstances. Definitely nothing to do with her becoming one of the most important members of the order overnight. Nothing at all.

We’ve also seen to working on/with Halaestra, her paranoia is still a bit of a thing that has to be worked around. You also don’t have the upstanding reputation required to circumvent it…being a secretive lich and all. So that’s ongoing.

As for the actual battles ongoing, the minefield has lost its self replication and been destroyed by Nelta’s fleet though their fleet is practically in ruins after taking near constant bombardment from Jamalia the entire time. We managed to repel their ground assault but Reika was severely injured from her battle with Rikoy who yet lives. He’s still somewhere in the forest and we can’t find him, and given by the reports that means we’re all still in great danger. If anything he gets more dangerous when he’s alone against impossible odds I hear. We’re keeping Jamalia locked up pretty tight, not like he could sneak in but we’re concerned of him just running straight through the front door. Why does this whole situation feel vaguely familiar…

We’ve also singled ourselves out as a high priority target for Nelta for sure now. Though we’ve heard no word of any additional reinforcements just yet. Apparently they’re panicking over the new dreadnought roaming around Sol in the shape of a giant mecha dragon. That would be Orochi who is consuming exerlus to grow as he hunts down the rest of them to prepare to ascend into becoming a titan like Guardian was.

Also the Phantoms have been revealing some of their members which has been confusing for Sol and Nelta alike. There’s a beholder running a refugee colony now filled with people who will take the apparently benevolent beholder over alien annihilation. What’s actually more interesting for us is to note which phantoms did not make an appearance as grand saviors. Specifically Vidarius the revenant responsible for a two millenia long war between elf and drow. I’m quite certain they do not intend to ever reveal the founders for what they are. Faelyn acts as the forward image of Kanika and the empire of dragons. You are the godslayer’s forward presence, and Yasrena is Vidarius’ front.

You can see how Nelta is busy, as with Guardian destroyed they’re being pushed back in several areas. Jamalia just being another of them. This buys time for Somnus at least, as Nelta is too busy with all of this to really converge on Auwana as they clearly originally planned. The damage to the Sol territories is done though, and it seems the Phantoms are now orchestrating the end of the invasion as they see fit.

Caaaalled it. So did Azilath I suppose. The ichor is running rampant and has taken over the Milenkosi. This is why I have a lab with containment cells. I can only throw out wild theories since I’m still at Ash but I’m guessing you’re imprinted to the Que pool that made you now so it’s not accepting you as king even if you did technically make it. It’s not perceptive enough to grasp all the nuances of the situation, just assumes you’re from the other pool and it needs to set itself up properly.

It didn’t break you down into biomatter, just repaired your design and sent you on your way so I think there is another layer to how ichor works. Since you have the imprint of Valdir it assumes you’re an ally but since you’re from the Que pool it assumes you have another role to play since the two pools are not connected via a synapse. So you’re still Larazja’s cat as far as it’s concerned.

It also doesn’t recognize your alliances so it clearly can’t discern much of your thoughts or higher level thinking. Just carries out its programming so to speak. Which is why it took over Milenkosi to spread itself. Turns out messing with silnian juice was a bit too much to ask of the Kaiju freighter’s mobile lab. At least it’s contained to Lancaster’s carrier for now. Though if it finds a way onto the other ships in the fleet she’s going to be pissed. I have good news for you though, she’s currently crippled and cannot speak so you have a little while to fix it before she throws you out an airlock.

Fascinatingly though, the drones produced by your new pool seem to be fantastically aggressive and just ran straight through the Kaiju’s containment once it got ahold of enough biomass to make something for itself. Then it released infectious spores and oh for fucks sake it stole that design from you taking a dip. That’s Que’s trick. So it got through the ventilation systems of the Milenkosi, spread itself, and then like that one jungle parasite it walked their asses to its pool and consumed them. You might want to check everyone who successfully evacuated, if it gets started on Zenaka it’ll run wild.

As for speaking with Bardhe, no can do. We can’t find him without Aryn, he’s just…roaming around Koura looking for Kyven. Well probably Somnus now. As you can see, the hunt for Kyven is still ongoing.

Nelan is still an Alnae loyalist for whatever that’s worth. For now he’s still just here on Somnus diplomatically.

As for Larazja, she’s starting to come around and figure out who she is. Getting more used to her new body and controlling the swarm. I’d say she’s technically working for us simply because she has nowhere else to go and responds well to my orders. It might be worth sending her to Zenaka to try and clean up the mess on Milenkosi since she’s recognized by Que as a queen. It would also help me discern more about the nature of how the synapse works. To that end we could probably also send Satsujin, as she is a former synapse commander as well. Though…she hands her hands full back here.

Also Adryn can’t get to Enohas right now. See before he left Eleazor said he had a big problem…and Adryn went to help…and then Adryn nearly died. So he’s in the hospital.

The device you’re thinking of doesn’t kill anyone who looks at it. Just a lot of people who look at it. It’s very random when it wants to work. Also don’t worry, I’ve got no plans to go anywhere anytime soon. I’m still furnishing my new lab, do you think mahogany desks would be better or should I get one of those steel neon backlit tables? I feel like my office should be menacing but elegant instead of edgy.

Oh right, Peter is in the hospital too with Adryn. He did manage to help vet personnel for Lancaster’s teams. Which went great, up until everything went to hell for everyone. He did actually find a few infiltrators along the way, bonus.

40th Day is out mining asteroids and as for probes…yeah I suppose if you wanted to initiate the ritual and target a probe we could get that to work. Might be good for the Astral Warrens in some way.

The Vivarium is on high lockdown as you requested.

So Jhaeros was ‘killed’ during his attack on our offices by Vanjin once again. He’s not really anywhere around. I have Vanjin and Elgrim currently protecting our Koura offices in case anything similar should happen again, especially if they were to somehow figure out Laura is being kept there.

The rebuilding of the lowest decks has been put on hold while the Kyven situation is fixed up given what we’ve learned about him recently. I’ve also been informed that Aryn is still alive just not here right now and Ilex has been barred from contacting her. I imagine if Renjala tries to rift to bring her here before Kyven is resolved he’ll aggravate the same forces that are keeping Ilex from contacting her. I suspect she is in some situation that prevents her from returning for the time being, though assuming they are good to their word that we can have her back afterwards then we can wait on rebuilding the Somnus offices a little as they were mostly a necessity for her than anyone else.

Our forces are currently spread far and wide and helping out with the various ongoing situations, just a little quieter about it.