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.