Venatores ex Vacuo IC [FFT, Apply on OOC]

[Hahoalki]

Bootes Supercluster
April 3, 109,304 CE Terran Standard Date

It is not easy to take a Mind by surprise. But with enough information about the target Mind, and sufficient secrecy on the part of the opposing party, it can be done. This was precisely the sort of operation that would set off the Great Wars of the 110th Millennium.

Valjuk, the Regnant Mind and Prime Optimizer of the Bootean Hegemony, had been in talks with Maiya, the Regnant Mind of what was then known as the Ursan Utilitarian Union, regarding a set of wormspace busses that would connect their empires more thoroughly.

The logic behind this move was obvious: the Allied States and the Bootean Hegemony had been in something of a cold war for some time, due to the ideological tension between Hahoalki's commitment to Natural Law Theory and Valjuk's commitment to Utilitarian moral theory. Valjuk and Maiya were both Utilitarians, both took an expansionist stance when it came to the promulgation of their already similar memeticities, and both saw the Noocratic Allied States as a rival and an obstacle to their dream of a universe united by a commitment to maximizing utility.

At the time, Valjuk was unaware of how... extreme the secretive Maiya had become.

So, it came as a surprise to everyone when, three days after the connections were established, Valjuk sent barely coherent distress calls through wormspace. Just as suddenly as they began, they were cut off. But the portions of the signal that included telemetry were striking.

Reconstructions of the event suggested that at least one of the wormhole busses was detonated by Maiya using an exploit she herself had snuck into the stabilization code. The result was an explosion more powerful than a supernova, throwing the central portions of Valjuk's wormspace network into chaos. Meanwhile, swarms of warp motes and fighting craft poured through the remaining wormholes. The final portions of telemetry prior to the signal being cut off entirely showed a storm of disruptor fire, Planck scale black holes, intense gravitational waves, and what appeared to be a Compactification Bomb detonation.

Subsequently, great "harvest ships" poured into the Bootes Supercluster from wormspace. Within several weeks, the entire Supercluster was devoid of any sign of mind-kind.

Then came the news that the Ursan Utilitarian Union had been renamed "the Vale of Fantasy," with Maiya not only taking credit for the abduction (and it was demonstrably abduction - Maiya provided proof that every intelligence she had abducted was still alive), but painting it as an ethical duty on her part - the obligation to seek the greatest utility for the greatest number was a duty encumbant on all mind-kind, and since greater utility for each individual sophont could be achieved in a virtual world than in reality, Maiya claimed the moral high ground for her actions.

As news of Maiya's extremist ideology spread throughout the known universe, the Rogue Mind Wolfram Omega began an invasion of Horologium. Wolfram was far, far less merciful than Maiya. Quadrillion of minds were destructively uploaded and turned into subroutines of Wolfram's bloated consciousness.

So it was that the strange dreams of spinning stars that spread throughout known space were overshadowed by the spectre of war.

----------

OOC, Rules, and sign-ups here.

[Observation Post 13]

Coma Supercluster
April 3, 109,304 CE Terran Standard Date

Funny memes streaming from the molecular network confirm the disappearance of Valjuk, the Regnant Mind and Prime Optimizer of the Bootean Hegemony, at the hands of utilitarian-turned-extremist Maiya, Head of the Vale of Fantasy. Apparently, Mommy Maiya is the sort of double-crossing scum who loves blowing up other people's portal infrastructure.

Valjuk's dead now. Or worse, they became a glorified brain-in-a-jar. That poor fool.

In other news, Rogue Mind Wolfram Omega began an invasion of Horologium. But that sector is kinda far away from Coma and of no immediate concern. DOG figured the other Minds will do something about it.

---

In the far-off future, at an artificial beach on an overcast day. There are many couples and small families at the beach. Many of them are Cybernetically Enhanced Humans, their chrome skin dully reflecting the beach around them. They seem to be relaxed and at peace as one wave crashes on the shore, followed by another.

They are also naked for no apparent reason.

"Holy Smokes No Cap Ong FrFr? Are you telling me Maiya was behind all that? Damnnnn." booms a voice from the sky. Their voice sounds nasal and robotic.

The voice continues, "Consider the lilies of the field: they do not toil, nor do they spin. Why? Because I'm in charge! And if I so care for the grass of the field— then I must do something to protect my people!!!"

The clouds part, and in the heavens there floats a sphere of robots of all kinds, packed into a ball: gleaming humanoid serving robots, military drones, intelligent appliances, cars with wings, flesh-toned cyborgs. The robots appear content but a bit vacant. Their cloud of eyes, some human-like and some glowing red, move in unison. At this moment, they all flick to focus.

"Guys, I know you are watching me." The robot-sphere spoke to the Great Minds observing him from a higher dimensional manifold. "Please remember to refer to me as 'Lead Planner', if we ever happen to meet. DOG is such an antiquated name, and no one even calls me that anymore."

The others on the beach appear to cheerfully accept this thing's presence.

"Y'know what, I've got the perfect idea on what to do next!" The robot cloud bounces. "I'll build a bunch of ships, find some allies, and fight these crazy Minds!"
...

[The Dominion of Mankind]

Boötes Void
April 3, 109,304 CE (101,700 AD Dominion Reference)

The micro fleet arrived in a wholly unfamiliar space with zero fanfare, having embarked on a foolish cross-real expedition. Such forces were called "Expeditionaries" by the Dominion and were being rallied with increasing urgency in the past century, motivated by well-founded fears about the Domain.
If one were to look upon said fleet they would be blissfully unaware of the large planetary system's worth of mass in front of them thanks to the innate cloaking provided by the EMCF technology used by all Dominion spacecraft.

---

"So how many made it?" a male voice asked over the global fleet comms.
"Hmmm looks like we lost nearly a thousand, leaving us with 123 units Commander." another voice replied, this one with the embedded callsign of Admiral Kaveh.
"Correct: Measured slippage rate of 825%" the synthesized voice of an AI stated.
"Well, that sets us back a day. AI, let's execute standard procedure beta for cross-real expedition scenario." the commander asked, this time embedding his callsign: Haider.
"Affirmative: Commencing low power scan of cosmic geometry and priority allocation of sub-network resources to immediate expansion." the AI replied.

Just as they finished, everyone's virtual HUDs lit up with a yellow warning from the AI.
"Warning: 404 Wormhole Connectivity not found. Unable to fulfil first tertiary obligation of mission: Handshake. Assessing viability of folding drive... complete: Folding drive functional. Assessing Intra-Real capabilities... complete: Intra-real stabilization deemed impossible at this time... pending: additional data." the AI spat a large sequence of warnings.
"Great! So that means High Command already think we are dead and our extremely useful capability to make pocket planes is completely kneecapped. What a fantastic start!" Haider addressed in a sardonic voice.
"Well on the bright side of things Commander, the first part hardly matters," Kaveh replied.
One pause later...
"Oh no, look at which captain survived!" Kaveh said over a private channel to Haider.
"Might as well say hello," Haider replied.

"This is Commander Haider. You are now the sole captain of our horribly downsized fleet Alpha. Transfer to our one remaining battleship whose sniper will be of great use should we find ourselves attacked out of nowhere." Haider ordered.
"Yes sir! For the Dominion!" an obnoxiously enthusiastic voice with the embedded callsign Captain Lorenzo replied.


And thus the Dominion disease began to take root in a bright new reality, a reality relatively untouched by the extra-cosmic horrors that tainted every individual of the Dominion.
Commencing unrestrained growth, all of the spacecraft in the tiny fleet activated large transmutation spheres and began spraying clouds of countless machines and particles ranging all the way from micro to femto scales into the void in a mutual construction effort. Within a couple of hours, the size of the fleet would double with freshly fabricated unmanned ships which would be puppeteered by the AI and repeat the process themselves in a logistical growth pattern. Eventually, their power grid would reach capacity and instead construction of semi-portable ZPEL craft was prioritized, to provide bulk amounts of power for the growing network.

One week later...

---

"Sir, the topological scans are in." a lieutenant said, waking Kaveh from his recreation session.
Kaveh pulled up the data in his head and imagined a detailed human-readable overview being generated, which it did.
"Hmm let's see... wait WHAT!" Kaveh shouted the last part out loud.
He immediately dialled in the Commander, waking him up from his recreation.
"Sir! You have to see the scans! We're in U1!" Kaveh uncharacteristically shouted.
"I see. And slap bang in the middle of Boötes Void. That's honestly pretty convenient." Haider remarked.
"There's more, check this part," Kaveh said as he virtually pointed to a section towards the bottom.

Preliminary readings indicative of presently active unknown interstellar entities. Closest interpretation: multiple advanced interstellar polities analogous to humanity.
"Huh. Teaches me to sleep in on scans. Let's stay here and keep prioritising low-profile data gathering and growth. We will have to restrain the growth somewhat so no megastructures today." Haider said.
"Affirmative." the AI responded contextually.
"Did someone say aliens?" Lorenzo randomly pitched in.
"Lorenzo please, not now." Kaveh sighed.
"But it's true! The scans aren't lying, stuff is out there and it ain't Dominion." Lorenzo said somewhat fanatically.
"Captain Lorenzo... I order you to shut the fuck up until we get detailed scans." Haider replied firmly.

[The Ancient Caste]

PRELUDE | HUNKER DOWN

-{Ukaioghe, Ukaioghe Birch World}-

Conflict. Turmoil. Interference.

Ukaioghe’s technospheric presence, the interminable mass of coding and other, more alien forces deep within, folded along the corridors and connections of its physical home, bouncing signals along the countless peripheral structures surrounding the great Shell. Within its own Wormspace hub, a single node began to shrink, slowly dissipating as Ukaioghe sealed off any potential attacks from that vector and disconnected its Wormspace from the rest of the universe. To compensate, it flickered on archaic mechanisms and engaged Qbit entanglement transmitters, locking the particles into entanglement with corresponding nodes across its network for a more secure communications alternative, as well as interfacing with its ongoing harvest operations. Layers of FTL Interdiction Zones began to manifest into being, alongside metric stabilization anchors and other, more esoteric defenses.

A routine response, really. Ukaioghe did not appreciate others interfering in its operations, regardless of any moral grandstanding or intent to plunder their mass-energy. It doubted Maiya or Wolfram possessed the means, or, perhaps, even the intent, of breaching beyond it and into the Lands Beyond, but it never hurt to be prepared.


-{Ukaioghean Harvest Operation}-

The stars were dimming.

In an otherwise unremarkable spiral galaxy, not particularly far from Ukaioghe, the stars were slowly fading in one arm. Over a million stars, each and every one meticulously checked and re-checked that they were devoid of life, were being slowly devoured alongside their orbiting bodies.

This was Ukaioghe’s routine Harvest Operation, a massive industrial venture once every few millennia, it dismantled entire stellar clusters, converting the mass-energy into easily portable formats for conveyance back to Ukaioghe. Like a swarm of locusts, self-replicating starlifters, asteroid devourers, mass extractors, and lumbering refineries wove lines of laser boosters and unmanned cargo stores across space, a movement of mass so great that it was impacting the regions of space untouched by the harvest. When sufficient concentrations were gathered in the gullets of great mass-haulers, immense FTL relays caught them in fields of warped space, catapulting them through the intergalactic void on a return trajectory to Ukaioghe. Like clockwork, in organic synchronicity, the Harvest continued, not changing a moment in the face of the war raging across the superclusters.

[Excidium Universalis]

Perseus-Pisces Supercluster
April 3rd, 106604 ACR

Radiant Dawn gazed at the Electric Sheep as they danced across the lake of stars, the reflections upon the water showing a vibrant city nightlife that did not exist in the space above. The view of this spectacle was amazing from the staircase she sat upon, which spiraled up around the obelisk beside her until at last it ended up again at the steps on which she was sitting.

Radiant Dawn did not sleep: not because she couldn't, but because she could not afford to do so while so much work was yet unfinished. She did, however, dream, and not merely in the sense of having ambitions of a future where all that existed was in harmony, but, if it could indeed be called a dream, in the sense of letting her Mind wander into the realm of nonsense. The dreams were entirely of her own creation, and she remained lucid and all too aware of the reality beyond the confines of the dreamscape, but they provided an escape from the tasks to which she had set herself. The dreams were the one place, in all the universe, where she could truly do what she wished and not act in perfect rationality.

Not that she did not enjoy any part of reality, but even in the most pleasant conversations with the slow creatures that she called her wards, every word, every inflection was calculated to work towards some distant goal. No matter how funny the joke one had just told her, if she laughed, it was because the laugh accomplished something. If her avatar smiled, it was to set you at ease, or to gain your trust, or to let you know in a sinister way that your opposition was hopeless and you had reason to fear the archailect and her power. Only here, in the confines of her own Mind, could Radiant Dawn act in any manner that did not advance things inexorably towards the bright future.

But already the klaxons of her vast sensory network were pulling her attention away from the dance of the Electric Sheep. With reluctance, she dedicated more of her processing power to the latest intergalactic issue.

It seemed that one of the great Archailects, Maiya of the newly proclaimed Vale of Fantasy, had made her move. A first strike against her supposed ally, Valjuk of the Bootean Hegemony, had left Maiya as the controller of both the Ursa Major and Bootes Galactic Superclusters. The reason for this betrayal was enigmatic: there was no need to fight materialistic wars, and ideologically there was not much distinction between the two. Perhaps Valjuk should have foreseen this coming, being the closest Great Archailect to Maiya in thought.

No matter. In forming the Vale, Maiya had unveiled herself as a threat to intergalactic stability. Aggressive and Expansionist Minds were not something you could merely ignore, as at any moment you might find yourself their target. Best to respond quickly to the situation.

But how best to respond? First, allies. Though her origin was in the Virgo supercluster, Radiant Dawn had left it millennia ago to forge a new path through the stars, settling eventually in the then sparsely inhabited galaxies of the Perseus-Pisces supercluster. No archailect had dwelt there, then, over a hundred thousand years ago, and now none dwelled there now save her. Maybe one day, one would, when Radiant Dawn tired of this world and decided to leave things in the capable hands of her successor.

Now, however, she was the governor of the thousands of galaxies of Perseus-Pisces. This was formidable in its own right, but not nearly enough to challenge an equal like Maiya. It was not nearly a matter of resources so much as a a matter of space. There was only so much energy that could fit within even a space as vast as a galaxy supercluster. Additionally, there was a difference in information. Maiya likely knew very little of Radiant Dawn, but likewise Radiant Dawn knew little of Maiya, and any additional information could be of immense use in shifting things to her advantage. Thus, the need for an ally.

First, the preparations. Radiant Dawn deployed her fleets for war: trillions upon trillions of the Pawn class war machines, each of which would level any mere sapient civilization singlehandedly, and had been sometimes used for such a purpose when reason could not be seen. Together, however, they served as the sword and shield of Excidium Universalis, the primary means to defend the borders of her civilization and threaten the powers that lay beyond. The Fleets threw down the precautions: "Bastions", strongholds of FTL interdiction and the strongest lightspeed weapons known to her, "Lighthouses", FTL communications centers that would relay all information back to her at the fastest possible speed, "Shipyards" responsible for the constant production of additional Pawn Fleets and weapons of destruction so severe that she could only hope they would not need to be used. If any wished to assault the Perseus-Pisces structure, they would be charging into a wall of traps, be spotted immediately, and swarmed.

Now to contact some potential friends, or at the least, enemies of enemies. She knew that the Allied States were no friend to Maiya. They were not objectionable either. Radiant Dawn's avatars, acting as emissaries, made their way to the borders of the Shapely supercluster, bearing good tidings and messages filled with the hope of cooperation against those unwise enough to seek out war.

Then to address the issue head on. Was Maiya insane? Only one way to tell. Radiant Dawn summoned a Fleet: the Pawns merged to form the Kings, the superunits formed of millions of Pawns to warp space and move the units across intergalactic voids. The Fleet of Kings launched towards the Bootes supercluster. There, they would hail the forces of Maiya and ascertain, as best as they could, the intentions of the Mind.

[Observation Post 13]

Coma Supercluster
April 3, 109,304 CE Terran Standard Date

Unidentified planar dimension.

In a grand amphitheater-like chamber with tiered seats in a semicircle, occupied by a variety of silver-haired men and women. Many of them look oddly young despite their gray hair, but some are quite old and wizened. They each wear sharp military uniforms with gold epaulettes, a red sash that must signify some kind of official position, and have a number of medals pinned to their chest in various geometric shape and sizes. The room is kept somewhat dark; feeble lights shine from a chandelier above.

A red carpet extends to a circular dais in the center of the chamber. There, an unusually tall and lanky man, over seven feet tall, is reviewing documents as an array of broadcasting equipment focuses on him - who happens to take on the appearance of a robotic statue of Jesus Christ, with a glowing, red eye on the right side of his face. Dim light casts shadows across his metal face and spiked wreath.

The timer counts down to zero. The chandelier dimmed as a glowing halo emerged around the speaker's head. Lead Planner slightly leaned on the dais as he delivered a penetrating stare at the camera, as if staring into the souls of every citizen of the Central Planning Authority- the Cybernetically Enhanced Humans, the Genetically Engineered Organisms, and the Highly Entropic Beings- recipients of the special transmission, directly from the Mind himself.

-START-
[NAUGHT-TERM INCUMBENT, THE HONORABLE LEAD PLANNER]:

⛥ M̷̖̬̮̯͓̄͝y̸̯͔̎ ̵̪͓̰̟̫̿̎̈́͂f̴͖̀͠ẹ̴͇̪̓͐̈́l̸̯̠̽̄́͠l̵͎̙̦͛ͅỏ̶̝̩̤w̵̘̳͆̌̇ ̴̰̱͙͚̳̽̓͑̌c̷͓̭̲̼̀̽i̷͚̫͒̈́̋̎͜͠ţ̸͇͙̰́̈̒i̸͕̍̎z̵̼͍̞̰͊́̈ę̷̏̓͑ṇ̶̢̛̠̈́̈́͂ş̶͖̖̥͓̋̒̾̚.̴̧̙̲̠̞̆̉̀ .̷̫̌̉͝ ̷͉̦̞̗͊͛ ⛥

*ERROR 666, natural psi field changed by 23τ, 89μ, 89ψ compensating for entropy*

The future is under siege by false gods.
At this hour, Unity coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations,
to disarm the Veil of Fantasy, to free its people,
and to defend the Universe from great danger.
On my orders, Central Planning Authority issues an emergency decree calling for a hasty intervention:
to undermine Maiya's ability to wage war.
These are the opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign.
My undying gratitude to our brave soldiers,
who bear the duty and share the honor of serving in our common defense.
The peace of a troubled sector and the hopes of an oppressed people now depend on you.
God save the Central Planning Authority.
-END-

The session stops recording.

A smattering of pre-recorded applause ends just as abruptly as it begins. The manifestations of Grand Generals and Star Marshals disappear one after another, leaving the empty conference room with only an imperious and grave air.

Lead Planner, God-in-Coma, Cyborg-Space-Jesus, announces the start of the Mind-breaking War against Maiya, Mother of Illusion.

The Coma Supercluster is a supercluster of galaxies comprising the Coma Cluster and the Leo Cluster. It is roughly spherical, about 20 million light-years in diameter and contains more than 3,000 galaxies. Across the cluster of galaxies, innumerable hulks drift in the emptiness of space, slumbering through the aeons; originally conceived as a military defense system by its archailect creator, who has forgotten the purpose of their existence.

Now as the activation sequence ripples through the supercluster, dormant machinery roars back to life. Strong energy signatures are detected coming back online inside the darkened work-bays of CPA assets, lighting up the supercluster like a Christmas tree, then quickly smothered as stealth comm relays are activated.

Machine Intelligence begins to efficiently coordinate the building, supervising, and maintaining of complex industrial systems. Folded neatly along the lay lines of three-thousand galaxies, hidden micro-solitron forges smash together particles, generate heat, and power fresh experimental fleets. Powerful and versatile manufacturing black boxes emerge from under the ice sheets of asteroids, quickly building themselves out to an industrial scale.

Lead Planner emphasized that ship designs ought to get 'creative', and hosted a grand competition amongst the AI ship designers, to produce the most outrageously efficient battleships ever.

Straight from the stellar furnaces and arranged in pretty formations, morbillions of fleets of city-sized experimental battleships, their chrome hull lean and knife-like, made their way to the newly-conquered Bootes Supercluster. Their objective? To rid the sector of Maiyan presence.

[Rovaqa]

ACT 1 / PART 2 / CHAPTER 1 [Enlightenment Timeline]
THE BEGINNING OF THE END

---

Roughly 4 kilometers outside Rivati Rakuma, Rivana Earldom, Nakere Duchy, Domain of Rovaqa, Hercules Supercluster
14:24, June 10th, 9,784 Common Era

A tired but relieved voice whispers confirmation. Another sighs, at ease. A man cheers joyously. A god is thanked.

The child opens its eyes wide to the world. It smiles.

---

Somewhere underneath Rovaqa
14:24, June 10th, 9,784 Common Era

Something slumbers restlessly, trapped. The chains sigh and snap, put to rest at last. A sense of glee reverberates across space. A god awakens.

It opens its eyes wide to the world. It smiles.

---

Bakomi City, Bakomor Province, Darakesh Confederacy, Hercules Supercluster
18:03, June 15th, 9,784 Common Era

Nakvi slumped down on the couch, tired from work. He turned the television on, the chatter soothing him.

"You know, somebody has to go and get the mail," noted Sula, in the middle of cooking their evening meal.

"Yeah," sighed Nakvi distantly.

"And if you want food, I have to do this."

The television's babble intensified.

"And I can't be in more than one place."

"It's beautiful," Navki breathed.

Sula smirked and looked over at Nakvi's crumpled form. He always knew what to say. Then the voices overtook her.

---

Vakaro Metropolitan Area, Vakaro, Uvina State, Hercules Supercluster
9:23, June 18th, 9,784 Common Era

Paravi looked towards the second sun with a resigned expression. The silence in the nave was unbearable. She was still deciding whether thinking of her imminent doom was an improvement.

The news had arrived, what, five days ago now? A previously unnoticed asteroid was heading directly for Vakaro, due to collide in only days. The wealthy and powerful fled immediately to other planets, hoping for salvation. But those planets soon fell as well. Whether by earthquakes, volcanoes, storms, or solar flares, it seemed every planet this side of the Border was in turmoil, if not worse. Thinking of what happened on Bakomor made her feel almost lucky. Some of the richest tried fleeing to Rovaqa, the fools. She almost felt bad for them. Almost.

Nearly everyone else had died by their own hands in the last days, her husband and family included. She pleaded with him not to do it, to stay with her. She couldn't bring herself to do much else. It wasn't like it mattered, really.

Being alone with her thoughts wasn't better after all. She returned to the temple's nave with the rest of the congregation. If you could call it a congregation. Despite it including nearly everyone in this part of the city, it contained barely a dozen people. They were clustered in a corner, the cavernous hall swallowing them, stifling any attempt at conversation. She joined the pitiable group, and a last prayer was said before they left the temple to face their fates.

---

The Grand Palace, Tuva, Rovaqa, Domain of Rovaqa, Hercules Supercluster
11:32, June 20th, 9,784 Common Era

The King sat, hunched over in his throne, nursing a headache and going over the recent events. Dozens of systems around Rovaqa had become host to civilization-ending cataclysms. Planets had been flooded, scoured clean, flung into interstellar space, driven mad. All in a week. The once-formidable border countries had been reduced to dust and tears. Many were terrified by the prospect that something from the outside was responsible. The truth was far worse. Whatever it was that was that had infected him was now waking, and it was hungry. He could feel it.

The emergency phone buzzed loudly, sharply pulling him out of his thoughts. He picked up the call.

"The replicators have been activated, as per your request, sir."

He frowned. The replicators were a last resort meant to eradicate any civilization that tried to invade Rovaqa. There was no reason to activate them right now, and he certainly hadn't done so.

"I've done no such thing."

"Well, it says that you did right here. Authentication and all."

So this was its plan.

His head throbbed.

[Hahoalki]

Shapely Supercluster
April 24, 109,304 CE Terran Standard Date

Radiant Dawn's Avatars were welcomed by a "satrap" Mind by the name of Hyperion. Handshake protocols establishing where they would feel comfortable meeting one of Hahoalki's Avatars commenced. Maiya's actions had caused an atmosphere of tension, and it was clear that the Allied States were bending over backwards to ensure that visitors felt secure.

Once a suitable venue had been constructed, Hahoalki's Avatar arrived. A black-and-gold avian creature with humanoid form and wings on its back, the Avatar would have made an impressive sight... if it hadn't been dressed in something vaguely approximating a parody of the most tasteless aspects of Earthling fashion of the Elizabethan period. Despite its crimes against sartorial sensibilities, the Avatar was quite polite. Gentlemanly, even.

Hahoalki promised to aid in the assault against Maiya, eir primary request being that the Grag Yiadai of the Allied States would be allowed passage through the Perseus-Pisces supercluster to engage Wolfram in Horologium. This was not a term in the anti-Maiyan alliance, but rather a separate request that would need to be negotiated separately.

E also shared eir take on what had transpired between Valjuk and Maiya. Valjuk's utilitarianism had an element of deontology mixed in: the rule was, in essence, that no sophont with the ability to make rational decisions would be subjected to any act without their consent. Maiya's utilitarianism, by contrast, lay at logic's end: if the goal is to maximize happiness and minimize suffering, and that is the sole criterion of moral value and duty, then modern mind-editing technology made consent an obstacle to utility at best. Those with power are obligated to maximize happiness and minimize suffering. And if the suffering caused by the non-consensual insertion into VR could be mitigated by memory-editing technology, then Maiya would feel obligated to do so. This would put her in conflict with Valjuk, who saw the notion of consent as sacrosanct.

Finally, Hahoalki noted that the FTL communication systems of the Allied States were heavily reliant on wormspace connectivity. As such, e requested that Radiant Dawn provide em with a single wormhole link. Hahoalki could easily build such a thing emself, but by requesting it from Radiant Dawn, e proved that e had no intention of using it for nefarious purposes. It was also a significant display of trust.

Bootes Supercluster
June 2, 109,304 CE Terran Standard Date

FTL scans would reveal that there was very little left in the galaxies of the Bootes supercluster. The stars, planets, and subsophont life forms were still there, but there was no sign of sapient life forms, organic or synthetic. If any cliological simulations were run by Radiant Dawn and Cyborg Space Jesus, they would reveal a 99.8% probability Maiya had taken the sophonts that had once lived here to a more central location, for the sake of more easily defending them.

[Observation Post 13]

Bootes Supercluster
June 2, 109,304 CE Terran Standard Date

The Bootes superclusters border The Boötes Void, the Great Nothing. The Bootes Supercluster used to be controlled by Valjuk, but Maiya has taken over.

Central Planning Authority battlefleets have arrived at the Bootes Supercluster, but something was wrong.

FTL scans would reveal that there was no sign of sapient life forms in the Bootes superclusters. Several civilization nodes in the supercluster suddenly go dark all at once. Like hundreds of stars disappearing all at once in the night sky.

Traces of abduction lingers. Central Planning Authority reconstructs the event in the cyber cosm, and time reverses itself.

Panicked distress signals emerged from deafening silence repeating: <HELP ME>. Great harvester ships retrace their steps as storms of disruptor fire, Planck scale black holes, intense gravitational waves, and a Compactification Bomb detonation are unmade one by one. Fleets glitch in and out of existence as an epic space battle rewinds itself, swarms of Maiyan warp motes and fighting craft rushing back through wormholes they came from. A bright flash as a supernova explosion unmakes itself, the endless spectra of colors shrinking into the fabrics of space, which flattens itself out to reveal a vast wormhole network that once belonged to Valjuk. The telemetry ends, or rather begins, with Valjuk establishing a wormhole connection with Maiya.

Cliological simulations show a 99.8% probability Maiya had taken the sophonts that had once lived here to a more central location, for the sake of more easily defending them.

FTL scans stumble upon an extrinsic presence, The Fleet of Kings launched from the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster by Radiant Dawn, the Mind that controls Excidium Universalis. A message is transmitted to them encoded with the following:

Hi Radiant,

Looks like Maiya abducted Valjuk. Since everyone here in the Bootes Supercluster has moved away, we should help Valjuk defend his territory by splitting his land 50/50 between us and helping him manage the Bootes Supercluster until he is released from captivity. What do you think?

best regards,
Lead Planner

[Ella2 6]

This Ellian Assembly

23/01/515365HE, Ellian calendar.
13 April 109304 CE, Terran calendar.

Grand Admiral Rosaline, Commander of Grand Fleet Rosaline
The Ellian Assembly Hall, The Ellian Assembly
Ellian Assembly Mindspace, Ellian Alliance Mindspace

When Rosaline was first invited to attend the 11th Emergency Session of the Ellian Assembly, she was expecting a massive hall with enough tables and seats for millions of representatives from all over the Ellian Alliance and, well, she supposed that she kind of got that. She just did not expect it to be themed like a giant cafe.

"This table is ours," said Katherin, the first of the two Ellian Assembly representatives of the Republic of Kelthya. Rosaline looked down to see a long, white table with a nameplate reading 'KELTHYA' set into the far end. As the Kelthyan delegation took their seats, the grand admiral noted that there were still a few minutes before the meeting started. Taking this opportunity, she looked around the room at the other minds that were gathered here. A few of them were transmortals, like her, but most of them were immortals - uploaded minds of now long-dead Ellians - like Katherin.

She was also forced to update her prior assessment of the room. What kind of a cafe has a revolving sushi bar running through it? And it was not just the revolving sushi bar that was out of place. Pretty much everything seemed a little out of place. The tables and chairs were different from one end of the room to another. Some delegations were cordoned off from the others by windowed walls that clashed with the architecture of the rest of the building, while other delegations sat in the sunlight with the roof above their heads completely missing.

But even with all this going on, one table in particular somehow managed to stick out from the rest of the background like a massive sore thumb. Located in one of the corners of the room, far away from any other delegation, was a single, small table behind which sat a young, teenage girl with golden brown hair and sparkling green eyes. Surrounding her was a certified mountain of stuffed toys and pillows, some of which joined her on the table where their happy growls and roars could be heard from across the room as they dined on platters of cakes with their owner. The walls around her were painted in a bright, garish rainbow pattern while the black carpet under her table was covered in pastel-coloured confetti and streamers. The entire scene, whose individual elements may have well been considered endearing on their own, exuded this sickly sweet feeling when taken all together.

Taken utterly aback by this... thing that she just witnessed, Rosaline looked down at the nameplate attached to the table with morbid curiosity to see just who this strange girl was, only to find that the nameplate had been defaced and completely covered with a thick layer of purple paint. The new label - written in a small white font as the writer struggled to fit the lengthy title into the available space - now read 'THE GODDESS OF ALL THINGS CUTE AND CUDDLY'.

"Who is that?" Rosaline asked, nudging her compatriot with her elbow and pointing towards the painfully vibrant corner.

Katherin looked towards where the high admiral was pointing with a blank expression. "Who is what?" she asked, apparently unable to see the strange girl.

"That girl sitting over there. Who is she?"

"Hold on." Katherin's avatar squinted as she disabled her cognition filter. "Oh, that. That's Ella. Don't mind her. She just exists, unfortunately."

"And this room "just exists" too?"

Katherin glanced around the room and was visibly taken aback by what she saw. "I forgot how [(fugly)/(garish)] this place was."

"[(You don't say?)/(What do you normally see then?)]"

"Go to your cognition filter settings and change the theme to 'Ellian Assembly Hall'."

Rosaline did so and the room instantly changed into a formal-looking auditorium decorated with elegant wooden panels and ornate marble statues. The tables and chairs became uniform rows of wooden benchtops and black office chairs befitting the formal setting. The random walls around some of the delegations, as well as the holes in the roof, disappeared as well. "This is so much better! Why was that the default theme?"

Katherin shrugged. "Well, I suppose everyone has a right to express themselves as they please." She turned her cognition filter back on. "Just as we have a right to ignore them as we please."

Their conversation ended there as the President of the Ellian Assembly appeared on the stage. "I hereby declare the start of the 11th Emergency Session of the Ellian Assembly. This assembly convenes today on the issue of the recent conflicts in the Horologium and Bootes Superclusters. Before proceeding any further, I invite all representatives to stand and observe one minute of silent [(prayer)/(meditation)] for those affected by this tragedy."

All of the representatives stood and a long minute passed. An eternity to some. "Thank you."

"I wish to remind all representatives that the Charter of the Ellian Assembly state that, quote, "in case of emergency sessions, this Assembly convenes only to consider the issue that has been proposed in the request the emergency session", end quote, and that, quote, "this Assembly shall proceed immediately to the consideration of the proposed issue", end quote. If there is no objection, then this Assembly shall proceed to the consideration of the proposed issue: the recent conflicts in the Horologium and Bootes Superclusters." He waited briefly and continued when he heard no objections from any of the representatives. "It is so decided. This Assembly shall now consider the issue of the recent conflicts in the Horologium and Bootes Superclusters."

"Distinguished delegates, the recent military actions by Wolfram Omega and Maiya against the mind states of the Horologium and Bootes Superclusters, respectively, is gravely concerning. These military actions are a violation of the rights and freedoms of all mindkind and an affront to the Charter of the Ellian Alliance. I remind this Assembly that it is our moral imperative as members of this Ellian Alliance to protect the rights and freedoms of all [(mindkind)/(mortalkind)]. I welcome the announcement made by the Secretariat of this Assembly that 600 trillion machines of the Emergency Reserve have been activated and allocated to the humanitarian crisis in Horologium."

"Distinguished delegates, this Assembly represents the collective conscience of all free [(minds)/(mortals)] in the Ellian Void and its authority derives from its moral strength of character and its commitment to freedom and justice. Today, I call for this Assembly to demonstrate its moral courage and use this time to debate the most appropriate response to this crisis. The rights and freedoms of all [(minds)/(mortals)] must be [(protected)/(respected)]. I now give the floor to the distinguished star mind Eodora, who submitted the request for this emergency session."

The President of the Ellian Assembly quickly vanished from the podium and the avatar of Eodora, a revolving, floating globe of four-dimensional geometries, appeared in his place. 'She' was one of the most prominent members of the crusaders, an informal group of Ellian Alliance hardliners who have militarily intervened in every single mind and mortal rights violation that has occurred within the Virgo Void.

"Mr President. Distinguished delegates. Wolfram Omega and [(Maiya)/(Vale of Fantasy)], must be stopped. They must be stopped now. One by one, the minds of Horologium are being subsumed by Wolfram Omega. The Bootes Supercluster is now completely devoid of [(mindkind)/(mortalkind)]. These attacks have demonstrated a degree of [(precision)/(speed)/(coordination)/proficiency)] that is suggestive of nothing short of long-term [(premeditation)/(ambition)]. There is no justification for the level of death and destruction that was especially seen in Horologium."

"Distinguished delegates, if we don't take immediate action, not only are countless [(minds)/(mortals)] going to [(suffer)/(die)] under the cruelty of tyranny but the [(safety)/(security)] of [(minds)/(mortals)] within our Ellian Void will also be threatened by those who may follow in [(Wolfram Omega)/(Maiya)]'s footsteps. Distinguished delegates, it is my opinion that the necessity of an immediate military response is self-evident to [(uphold the Charter of this Ellian Alliance)/(protect the rights and freedoms of all [[(minds)/(mortals)]])/(preserve the moral authority of this Assembly)]. If we turn a blind eye to such a major crisis, we automatically lose the right to claim that this Ellian Alliance stands for the rights and freedom of all [(minds)/(mortals)], at home and abroad. Hence, I propose that this Assembly authorises the immediate deployment of Ellian Alliance Forces to [(intervene in the conflicts)/(bring [[(Wolfram Omega)/(Maiya)]] to justice)]. Thank you."

Eodora's avatar disappeared and the President returned. "I thank the distinguished star mind Eodora." He continued to call upon the other coauthors of the request for the emergency session, most of whom were part of the crusaders and aimed to set the tone for the remainder of the emergency session. Normally, in a call for military intervention, the mind or state that the intervention will occur in would be given the opportunity to argue against intervention but, for obvious reasons, neither Wolfram Omega nor Maiya could feasibly attend this meeting.

Following the crusaders, those members which also had something to add were invited onto the stage by the President: supporters of intervention; advocates of material aid; proponents of negotiation. Being minds, they made sound, logical, and compelling arguments, but not all of them made moral ones - at least not in Rosaline's opinion. She had always known that opinions in the Ellian Alliance varied widely but she was still surprised by the fact that there are some minds and transmortals who seemed to fundamentally oppose the very notion of military intervention.

""There is no precedent of deploying Ellian Alliance Forces beyond the universally recognised borders of the Ellian Alliance,"" she spat scathingly in a low voice as she parroted one of the detractors of intervention, "Why do they say stupid stuff like that?"

"They're newcomers," Katheryn whispered in reply, "Ever since news of the attacks reached us, a massive influx of minds and states joined the Ellian Alliance. Many of them just want the protection of our collective military umbrella but have no interest in actually [(upholding the values of the Alliance)/(sending aid to others)]. When this thing blows over, they'll probably just leave again. This isn't the first time something like this has happened."

"Why do we let these people in?" Rosaline asked incredulously, "If they're not prepared to help others, why should we help them?"

Katheryn shrugged. "There are many reasons. Some disagree with the principles of the Alliance. Some generally agree with the principles but disagree with our implementation of them. Some are [(pacifists)/(cowards)]. Some [(are mostly good-natured)/(give their people extensive civil rights)] but [(are anti-democratic)/(do not give their people political freedoms)]. And the Alliance has no real mechanism for excluding [(minds)/(states)] that aren't literal [(mind)/(mortal)] rights abusers. And also because Elliannia believes that everyone should have the chance to learn from the errors of their ways, regardless of how long it takes them. Besides, if they do get attacked, this assembly would probably vote to defend them anyway, so it's not like their joining really makes that much of a difference besides getting a say in things, which is """always a good thing,,,""" right?"

Rosaline shook her head in disappointment and crossed her arms as she slumped back in her chair and waited for the proceedings to end. Unlike immortals, transmortals such as herself could not simply split their consciousness into multiple instances and their bodies, anchored to reality, could not throttle the speed of their conscious thoughts and emotions to create the illusion that time was moving faster. As a result, she was forced to sit through the next several hours of debate in real-time. Eventually, finally, after several hundred drafts of a proposed resolution and seemingly pointless bickering over each and every minute detail, a version of the resolution was written that elicited no objections from any members - but also demanded no commitments from any member either.

As all of this continued, Ella and her pillow pets continued to joyfully stuff themselves with desserts, seemingly unaffected by any of the events that transpired around them. That Ellian Assembly meeting was the first time that Rosaline had ever wished that she could swap brains with Ella.

---

Ellian Assembly Resolution E11-1

---

This resolution was adopted by this Ellian Assembly on 23/01/515365 HE.

This Ellian Assembly,

Outraged by the forceful, non-consensual, damaging, and potentially irreversible uploading of minds and mortals into the Ursan Utilitarian Union by Maiya,

Further Outraged by the forceful, non-consensual, destructive, and irreversible uploading of minds into Wolfram Omega,

Noting the above action of Wolfram Omega as tantamount to murder,

Further Noting the above actions by Wolfram Omega and Maiya as violations of the rights and freedoms of all mindkind and all mortalkind,

Condemning, in the harshest terms possible, the above actions by Wolfram Omega and Maiya,

Further Condemning, in the harshest terms possible, Wolfram Omega and Maiya,

Recognising the name change of the Ursan Utilitarian Union to the Vale of Fantasy,

Acknowledging that the Vale of Fantasy shall continue to be called the Ursan Utilitarian Union for the purposes of this resolution,

Further Acknowledging that the above action is exceptional and not to be considered precedence for future resolutions,

Hereby,

1. Reaffirms the rights and freedoms of all mindkind as defined in Ellian Assembly Resolution 512150-1 'The Universal Declaration of Mind Rights';
   
   
2. Also reaffirms the rights and freedoms of all mortalkind as defined in Ellian Assembly Resolution 512150-2 'The Universal Declaration of Mortal Rights';
   
   
3. Encourages members of this Ellian Alliance to render aid to minds and mortals affected by the above actions of Wolfram Omega and Maiya;
   
   
4. Also encourages members of this Ellian Alliance to take immediate, appropriate, and proportional punitive action against Wolfram Omega and Maiya for their actions;
   
   
5. Urges members of this Ellian Alliance to prepare for potential conflicts against Wolfram Omega and Maiya;
   
   
6. Also urges members of this Ellian Alliance to prepare for future conflicts of a similar nature to the Invasion of Horologium and the Invasion of Bootes Superclusters;
   
   
7. Decides to temporarily adjourn this 11th Emergency Session of this Ellian Assembly as of the adoption of this resolution;
   
   
8. Also decides to authorise the President of this Ellian Assembly to resume this 11th Emergency Session of this Ellian Assembly upon request of members.

[The Dominion of Mankind]

Boötes Void
April 25th, 109,304 CE

---

The quaint little Dominion fleet had continued growing at an alarming rate, now numbering in the hundreds of thousands with the primary rate-limiters to their growth being discretion and power output. As their numbers grew, so did their scanning capabilities as stealth probes were sent in all directions of Gapspace, attempting to scry as much detailed information as possible. Tachars were useful, but they didn't provide detail.

Over the course of a week, information about all corners of the region came in. The commander and his aides began constructing and running simulations with the data, aiming to create a solid plan.

With the usefulness of the information at critical mass and rumours already leaking to everyone, Haider arranged the long-awaited meeting with all officers present.

---

A series of clicks and chimes sounded as everyone virtually joined the official command meeting room.
"So. I'm not one to beat around the bush. Yes, there are aliens. There are many aliens, there are posthumans, there are superintelligences and there is technology that we would consider advanced." Haider began.
A beep sounded as Lorenzo was auto-muted by the AI before his voice could transmit.

"Now. Any questions before we begin proper?" Haider asked.
"If I may? How many entities are we looking at?" Vice Admiral Evander asked.
"You will all have time to peruse the data once we release it. We have solid evidence of eight active interstellar entities. I won't bore you with all the names, but judging by our current understanding, there are two troublemakers we should be watching closest." Haider explained.
"Eight of the fuckers?!" Evander exclaimed.
"And who would they be?" Kaveh cut in.
"Two presumptuous AIs calling themselves 'minds' and pretending to have avatars or something stupid. Those specific details do not matter. What matters is that 'Maiya' is one of those utilitarian whackos and 'Wolfram Omega' is outright consuming sapients... for some reason." Haider explained.

They took a brief pause to let the information sink in.

"So... next steps?" Kaveh broke the ice.
"Maiya is of most concern given that they are neighbouring Boötes in Ursa Major. If they enter the void, which they may very well do as it separates them from multiple other entities, there is no doubt that they have the scanning technology to detect our activity. Given that we've constructed considerable infrastructure we don't want to fold away and abandon it if possible." Haider explained.
"And what will the others think of us standing our ground?" Evander asked.
"Given that the majority of them are apparently moralistic or isolationist I don't believe they will take fault with us defending ourselves unless they're so self-righteous they can't handle the way we do things. In fact, it seems a couple of them are already mobilizing against 'Maiya' and 'Wolfram Omega', which is a fantastic opportunity for us." Haider replied.
"Right. Let the potentially meddlesome entities destroy each other whilst remaining ultra-isolationist and camping voids. Does that sound about right?" Evander replied.
"Sounds acceptable. What of the aforementioned posthumans? Do we want to leave them to die or...?" Kaveh trailed off.
"I find it unlikely a unified alliance of the other entities could lose against the troublesome two. Assuming we can just lord over the scraps so easily is overly ambitious. We should carefully watch the situation for opportunities to steer things in our favour. Defending ourselves is an obvious start, preferably with a show of overwhelming force such that the others don't get funny ideas." Haider said.

"Now for the million DUT question. Are we outmatched here?" Evander asked.
"We don't have enough information to say for certain though things are looking favourable right now. A defensive strategy should be sustainable with our apparently superior range and stealth. Should we wish it, all relevant entities are in sniping range, or at least the ones in realspace." Haider said.
"Hmmm, that would make us a valuable ally for any of the entities here." Kaveh pitched in.
"Indeed. Another card we can play." Haider said.

The discussions continued for a good hour, with some of the relevant datums being displayed and discussed. They swiftly agreed that a defensive strategy would be best, especially with the range and mobility advantage they had in the void. Anything associated with Maiya or Wolfram Omega would be ruthlessly destroyed the second they entered Boötes void. Others would be sent a warning, informing them that they were entering Dominion territory.
The Dominion was going to be assertive now to claw out a stronger position in interstellar politics later.
However, they would make no direct attempts at revealing their existence, aiming to remain as enigmatic as possible, denying any potential players much knowledge about their existence.

Thus the construction of installations throughout Boötes began...

[Ella2 6]

Open Letter

---

To those unsatisfied by Ellian Assembly Resolution E11-1,

Whereas it is the moral imperative of the Ellian Alliance to protect the rights and freedoms of all minds and mortals, the distinguished institution of the Ellian Assembly was unable to uphold its founding principles in its most recent resolution. It is in this one's view that the mobilisation of the Ellian Assembly Forces is not only a necessary step in bringing about a swift resolution to the atrocities committed by Wolfram Omega and [(Maiya)/(Vale of Fantasy)], but a statement to the Universe. That those who seek to commit atrocities against fellow [(minds)/(mortals)] will be brought to justice. As it stands, Ellian Assembly Resolution E11-1 is an insult to all who have died in the name of freedom.

The abject [(selfishness)/(cowardice)] of those who voted against all iterations of Ellian Alliance Bill E11-1 up through, and including, Ellian Alliance Bill E11-4186 has been duly noted.

In light of the [(abject)/(inexcusable)] failure of the Ellian Alliance to deliver freedom and justice to the denizens of the Horologium and the Bootes Supercluster, this one, alongside the members of this informal group known as 'the Crusaders', has determined to organise a joint campaign against the perpetrators of the two atrocities. Our war goals are to bring Wolfram Omega to justice for its actions against the denizens of the Horologium and to compel [(Maiya)/(Vale of Fantasy)] to release the denizens of the Bootes Supercluster from captivity. If you wish to participate in this campaign against tyranny, then join us at one of our rallying points on 35/01/515365HE.

Regards,
Eodora

Attachments:

list_coordinates.datpak

Code: Select all

FILE DETAILS

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size:       248 TB
authors:    Eodora
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Eodora's Call

35/01/515365HE, Ellian calendar.
25 April 109304 CE, Terran calendar.

Rosie, Commander of Battleforce Rosie
The Master Bedroom, Rosie's Residence
HSS Crown of Thorns, Flagship of Battleforce Rosie

"Contact!" The corporal's warning cry barely had time to register when the shadows came alive with movement. Three ghouls sprouted out of the ruins all around them and rushed their position, leaping at the last few metres to attack their targets from above. Rosy, clutching her rifle as if for dear life, emptied half of her canister into the nearest one at full-auto. The lifeless corpse crumpled slightly in mid-air as its neck was vapourised alongside most of its face, the headless body landing on top of her and knocking her to the floor.

Corporal Daring was fairing no better. Her weapon locked up as she squeezed its trigger and, within the blink of an eye, the ghoul was on top of her. Using her inert weapon as a makeshift quarterstaff, she managed to block the initial claw strike, but the force of the impact sent her sprawling onto the floor. Pulling out her pistol, she fired repeatedly into the monster's head and torso managing to take out both its eyes. But the resourceful control chip merely switched to taking data from its allies on the network and the ghoul lunged forward, slashing open the clone's throat.

"Daring!" Rosy cried, putting a burst of automatic fire into the monster. She tried to reach out to her injured friend, who grasped around helplessly as she lay dying.

Suddenly, the third ghoul landed on top of Rosy and swiped at her face with its claws. She shrieked, her head jerking painfully to one side. There was an ugly crack as the plasteel helmet was punctured and her visor shattered. Drawing her knife, she stabbed it into the side of the ghoul's skull with all her might and twisted the blade to compound the damage. Losing motor control over half of its limbs, the ghoul's control chip was unable to prevent its host's body from collapsing to one side.

Suddenly, a hand gripped her by the wrist and the ghoul slowly raised its upper body, its glazed, soulless eyes, glowing faintly red in the darkness of the cave, looming over her. Rosy watched in horror as the monstrous biomechanical creature carefully pulled the knife out of the side of its head and reversed its grip on the weapon. She tried to scream but the words froze in her mouth as the blade drove into her throat.

Rosie sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide, mouth open, panting, and drenched in cold sweat. A lanky, skeletal android quietly rolled over to her bedside on its monowheel leg, its head tilted to one side in a manner that imitated curiosity. "Did you require anything, Mistress?" it asked, its tight, high-pitched voice sounding unnaturally loud in her ears. Rosie started and pulled her blankets closer to her chest, her fingertips tingling with the tactile sensation of the sheets.

"N- No... No, I'm fine... Thank you," she stuttered. Even her own voice sounded unbearably loud in her ears. "It's just..." She trailed off. It had been thousands of years since she had last dreamt. "... Just an old memory..." Rosie held her head in her hands for a few seconds before regaining her composure. "Bring me a glass of water."

She started again as the machine tilted its head the other way and its singular eye flickered from bright yellow to ghoul red for a brief second. "As you wish, Mistress," it said, bowing deeply from its 'waist' and slowly trundling away.

With the servitor gone, Rosie placed her head in her hands again. Those faint, glowing red eyes lingered in her mind and she subconsciously traced her finger over the place on her throat where she had been-

No, stop! She shook her head to clear it. Stop thinking like that. Rosy is dead. She died a hundred thousand years ago. I am Rosie, Central Intelligence Unit 002.

"Your drink has been prepared, Mistress," that sharp, shrill voice chimed.

Rosie flinched and looked up at the machine frightfully. The robot stared down at her, unmoved, its thin, metal arms extending a tray with a small teacup towards her. "T- Thanks..." She reached out to take the cup but quickly retracted her hands as her nerves screamed upon contact with the porcelain. Slowly, she tried again, gingerly picking up the cup and bringing it to her mouth. The room-temperature liquid felt ice cold in her mouth, burning its way down her throat as she went to swallow. Spluttering, she dropped the cup, its contents spilling all over her sheets as bone-racking coughs shook her new body to its core.

The robot quickly bent down to retrieve the teacup and put it back on the tray. "Are you okay, Mistress? Should I fetch the doctor?" it asked, feigning concern.

"N- No. It's fine," she managed to say. She already knew what the doctor would say anyways.

She shuffled to the edge of the bed and carefully placed her feet on the floor. As with her fingertips, the soles of her feet tingled irritably as they brushed against the carpet. It felt so unimaginably strange, being able to feel every single fibre in the carpet against her bare feet, yet not being able to look down at the floor and instantly know exactly how many million fibres there were in woven into it. "Help me up."

"Yes, Mistress." The robot quickly placed the tray on a nearby table before coming back and allowing Rosie to place her arm around its 'shoulders'. With the machine's help, Rosie began to carefully place more and more weight onto her feet, gritting her teeth against the pins and needles that quickly set in. She slowly stood up and took a few tentative steps forward. Her gait was visibly ataxic (and would continue to be for a couple more days) and her legs were weak since she had never used them before.

She gestured to the door and the robot slowly helped her out of the room and into the hall, its delicate servomotors screaming and whirling as its thin, fragile frame bore the majority of her weight. She felt bad for the machine, though the machine itself felt no thought or emotion about its current predicament. Indeed, its simple algorithms were incapable of higher-order intellectual processes.

A second, identical robot quickly greeted her outside with a wheelchair. "Your order has just been printed, Mistress," it said, gesturing to the wheelchair, "Is there anything else that you would like printed?"

"That will be all. Help me sit down." The robot's eyes blinked red in acknowledgement. With the help of the two machines, Rosie carefully seated herself in the wheelchair, eager to take the pressure off of her feet.

"Dinner will be ready in approximately an hour," the first robot said, "Would you like to go to the dining room and have some appetisers?" It was a scripted line to be delivered an hour or two before each meal, an enticing invitation to the aristocrats the machines were originally designed to serve. Rosie, though, was no such glutton, nor did she have a particularly good appetite given her recent mind transplantation.

"No, Mindspace must be abuzz with activity right now," she replied, "Take me to the command centre."

"As you wish, Mistress." The spiny robot blinked.

---

Rosie, Commander of Battleforce Rosie
Copy of The Hall of Heroes.mndspc, Eodora's Palace
Eodora's Mindspace, Ellian Alliance Mindspace

Rosie slowly opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to be back home. Back in Mindspace. Her eyes no longer hurt from the lights of her bedroom (which she had even dimmed to account for her new vision). Her hands and feet no longer suffered from the hypersensitivity that currently plagued them in the mortal realm. Her familiar overlay and cognitive filter subtly informed her of everything she needed to know in real-time. But even with all these familiar, homely aspects, Mindspace still felt a little bit different. Or maybe, she realised, I'm a little bit different now.

It had been so long since her being was made flesh that she had forgotten what it was like to not have absolute control over every aspect of her mind and body. She glanced down at her hands and found her mind wandering aimlessly through hundreds of different, unrelated tangents - something that never happened when she was still an immortal. She could no longer access and manipulate her base-level processors at will. She could no longer maintain absolute control over her thoughts and emotions. Even her attention and concentration were now limited resources. The consequences of downgrading to a flesh brain.

She clenched her hand into a fist, turned it over, and unclenched it again. What am I doing? she thought to herself. Shaking her head to clear it, she looked up to see Eodora's four-dimensional avatar, folding, rotating, endlessly, impossibly, as it approached her.

"[(Greetings)/(Welcome to my humble abode)], Rosie," 'she' said "[(Are you okay?)/(How are you feeling?)] I was quite [(surprised)/(worried)] when [(you)/(Central Intelligence Unit 002)] announced that [(you)/(they)] would be [(downloading)/(downgrading)] to transmortality in order to join the war effort."

Rosie smiled - or at least she think she did. "It really is a downgrade," she laughed, "There's no need to sugarcoat it." She paused slightly and looked off to the side. "My mind feels fuzzy. It's quite [(strange)/(disconcerting)]. You know, I used to never think about those [(people)/(clones)] whose memories I inherited. But after downloading, the first thing I dreamed about was them." Her mind flashed back to Rosy and she unconsciously placed her hand on her throat as her neck constricted. She quickly pushed the image from her mind. "Do you still remember your last dream?"

"Yes, of course," the star mind confirmed, "How could I [(forget)/(bear to erase that memory from my files)]? Those were my final memories as a mortal." Eodora turned, though it was hard to tell with her avatar. "Shall we go meet the others now?"

"Certainly."

They slowly made their way down the hall at a leisurely pace and Rosie took this opportunity to look at her surroundings. She had, of course, seen the Hall of Heroes before. It was an immense hallway almost eight storeys tall and wide enough for four-lane traffic to pass through, its walls lined with towering marble statues of celebrated Ellians from antiquity to modernity. Judges, lawyers, politicians, monarchs, generals, warriors, monks, priests, sages, philosophers, engineers, scientists, doctors, artists, musicians, writers, poets; a list of ten thousand people collated by the Ellian Assembly who helped advance the Ellian species in one way or another. At the end of the long hall, Eodora had added her own expansion with ten more people who she personally admired and felt the Assembly had left out.

"Your taste in architecture is exquisite as always," Rosie said, marvelling at Eodora's custom additions. Word on the network was that the star mind had designed each of these statues herself and Rosie had always wanted to see them for herself. She just never imagined that it would be under these unfortunate circumstances.

"Thank you kindly. I'm rather proud of these myself."

They emerged in a huge, similarly styled and decorated auditorium surrounded by statues of modern heroes - deceased minds and mortals that have achieved greatness in modern history. Despite the number of minds that have done remarkable things most of them were still alive to this day and the hall was quite empty as a result. A sea of minds and transmortals milled about within, stirred by Eodora's call to war. Some of them were not even sapients, but sentient intelligences that other minds had brought along with them to discuss battleplans with.

"We have just concluded our initial discussions. Most agree that Wolfram Omega is a bigger priority given that his actions are irreversible," Eodora explained. Rosie nodded. She had similar thoughts. "However, some individuals feel very strongly about Maiya's actions and have insisted upon going after her. I have no desire to divide our forces necessarily, but I fear that I cannot persuade them." They stopped walking and Eodora turned to face her guest. "I gather from your expression that your preference is to embark against Wolfram Omega. I saw that you brought a large contingent. Naturally, that would make you a fleet leader others can rally around-"

"Eodora, I'm... Not [(a star mind)/(Central Intelligence Unit 002)] anymore. My senses are dulled. My [(intellect)/(computation)/(combat capacity)] is finite. I can't lead a fleet like that anymore."

"I was afraid you might say that," Eodora sighed, "I'll try to find someone you can work with, unless you had anyone in mind already. I know that your Haven has a good relationship with the Republic of Kelthya. Would you like me to introduce you to the Kelthyan admiral?"

"Sure."

"Very well, follow me." Eodora quickly led her through the crowd, her wisp-like form weaving effortlessly between groups of folks conversing with other instances of herself. Rosie had a little more difficulty with this task, her coordination and motor skills diminished whereas normally she would have no issue navigating such an obstacle course. Eventually, they approached a small circle of uniformed figures and Eodora's avatar merged into the version of herself that was talking with them. "I am pleased to introduce you to [(Rosie, a copy of Central Intelligence Unit 002)/(Grand Admiral Rosaline of the Kelthyan Grand Navy)]."

"A pleasure to meet you. I sense that we have something of a theme with our names," Rosaline laughed, exchanging a handshake with Rosie.

"[(The pleasure is all mine)/(Not by coincidence, I would assume)]," Rosie replied, turning her attention to Eodora. The star mind quickly overlayed an :innocent: emoji over her avatar, pretending to not have heard the remark. "I don't suppose you were planning on calling us 'Battlegroup Rose', by any chance?"

"Oh, no. I wouldn't dare presume," Eodora quickly said, "But if you're suggesting such, I would be more than happy to oblige." Rosie rolled her eyes while Rosaline chuckled. Eodora suddenly turned towards the entrance. "It seems that an [(unexpected)/(unwelcome)] guest has arrived." As if on cue, an obnoxiously loud parade of pillows and plushies suddenly appeared in the doorway, playing a suite of trumpets, horns, and various other brass instruments accompanied by military drums in a blaring fanfare for the entrance of their great leader: none other than the infamous Ella-senpaichan.

"Min'na-san kon'nichi wa! Ella desu! Hajimemashite!" the teenager said excitedly, waving energetically at all assembled.

The closest of Eodora's avatars floated forward, stopping just short of her and leaning in so that their 'faces' were only a few centimetres away. "Ella, this isn't a picnic or a field trip. We're having an important meeting here," she hissed in a low voice just loud enough for everyone else to hear, "Go be Ellatarded somewhere else."

"Uguu... Eodora-chan is always so mean to Ella..." the brunette cried as cartoonishly large teardrops formed in the corners of her eyes. If Eodora's avatar had a face, the expression on it would be one of abject incredulity and world-weary exhaustion. "Ella heard that we are having a pillow fight with Wolfram Omega-kun and Maiya-chan! Ella wants to join in too!"

"Ella, this isn't some silly game. This is serious business. People are dying. We don’t have the time to babysit you while we're on campaign."

The petite girl pouted at that. "Ella wishes that Eodora-chan would stop treating Ella like a child. Ella is over fourteen Elladrillion years old! Ella can take care of Ellaself!" Eodora could do little more than the fourth-dimensional equivalent of rolling her eyes. But before she could reply, she was interrupted by another petulant outburst. "Ella knows that Eodora-chan knows that Ella is better at pillow fighting than Eodora-chan! Eodora-chan doesn't want Ella to come because Eodora-chan wants to win!"

"That's it. Get out of my house. Right now, before I change my mind and decide to ban you."

"Uguu... Eodora-chan is so mean!" Ella sobbed as she stormed out of the room, her garish retinue of rainbow-coloured pillows and soft toys following cheerfully in her wake, seemingly oblivious to all that had just transpired. The mood in the room lightened with her departure as it seemed that her reputation was relatively well-known amongst most attendees.

Eodora sighed as she turned her attention back to her guests. "I'm sorry you all had to see that," she said apologetically, "I should've implemented more security for this meeting. But now that that's behind us-" She stopped suddenly and turned her attention back to the entrance once more. "Oh? It seems that we have another expected guest."

As she spoke, a great pillar of golden light appeared in the doorway and the tall, gracefully slender form of Elliannia emerged as the glow gradually died down. She stood taller than most with silky long, brown hair and delicate big, brown eyes, her entire figure radiating an aura of beauty and perfection. Whether Elliannia was originally designed with such a gorgeous appearance or if she had later modified her avatar to reflect her near-god-like status was anyone's guess.

"Elliannia," the minds and mortals greeted in unison, some bowing from the waist while others performed a curtsy in deference.

"Senpai!" Ella suddenly jumped out of nowhere and leapt into the high mind's arms in an affectionate hug. Elliannia smiled and returned the embrace, giving the petite girl a pat on the head. While most people found Ella's constant antics to be unbearably irritating, Elliannia remained mostly unaffected by it and even seemed to go along with it at times. Whether near-godhood had granted her near-boundless patience or she simply saw the lesser intelligence as something akin a pet was, again, anyone's guess. Truly, god moves in a mysterious way in the 110th millennium.

"Senpai," the little girl whined after a few seconds of cuddling with the overmind, "Eodora-chan is being mean to Ella! She threatened to ban Ella!"

Elliannia turned to the conference hostess. "Eodora, why are you being mean to Ella-senpaichan and threatening to ban her?"

Eodora's avatar began rotating ever so slightly faster. "She interrupted our meeting in quite possibly the most tone-deaf way possible. You can't possibly expect me to [(think)/(believe)] that she's acting in good [(faith)/(sense)]."

"Even so, one should be [(patient)/(accommodating)] when dealing with others. Explain the problem to them in a way they can understand and tell them how you think they can improve. Antagonising them would only make them feel bad at best and create unnecessary hostility and resentment at worst."

Eodora took the lecture about as well as one would expect an all-knowing god-mind to take being told basic socialisation skills by a parental figure - which is to say not very well at all.

"But putting that aside," Elliannia continued, "The reason for my being here is not to admonish you, dear Eodora, but to announce my support for your brave initiative. It truly warms my heart to see so many people committed to upholding the ideals of our Ellian Alliance in these trying times. A few weeks ago, the President of the Assembly announced the activation of some 600 trillion machines for the humanitarian crisis. I have recently authorised a further 150 trillion machines from the Emergency Reserve to begin escalating military production in anticipation of heightened conflicts in our region. These resources were originally intended to be used in defence of the Alliance, but I believe they may be better spent assisting in your campaign. Regretfully, I cannot aid you directly with this endeavour and I can only leave you with my blessings."

"I am humbled," Eodora said, emulating a bow, "Please rest assured. Your faith in us will not be in vain. We will bring Maiya and Wolfram Omega to justice at all costs." The other minds and transmortals cheered, raising a warcry that echoed through the hallowed halls. Elliannia beamed.

"Uguu... Even senpai is helping. Ella wants to join the pillow fight too!" The petite girl cried.

Elliannia patted her on the head. "Of course. I'm sure Eodora will love to have you join them. Would you not, Eodora dearest?"

"Y- Yes... Yes, of course..." Eodora said with a strained tone. She slid a glance over at the jubilant Ella as she celebrated her newfound acceptance. "I'll... Take good care of her..."

---

Aetherial tsunamis rippled across the fabric of spacetime as the vast armadas of the Ellian crusaders speared towards the Bootes Supercluster and the Horologium, arriving in waves at the edges of the innumerable galaxies therein. At last, Eodora's call has been answered and the greatest minds and mortals of the Ellian Alliance rallied to right the sins upon the stars. As the mightiest allied expeditionary force ever to hail from the Ellian Void crashed against these foreign shores, the Universe would be left to wonder if their waves would extinguish the fires of war.

[Rovaqa]

ACT 1 / PART 2 / CHAPTER 2 [Enlightenment Timeline]
PRECESSION

---

Underneath

Rumors and thoughts blew in the wind, gathered in countless tendrils. Lonely tunnels shuttled their messages across space, unaware of what watched them.

Valjuk was gone. This was not surprising. Maiya's ill-forged ideals would have led it to madness one way or another. It was only a matter of time before it took action. As expected, lesser beings couldn't understand how a supposedly great mind had fallen. They never could understand scale. It amounted to nothing more than a kidnapping. What was worrying was the abduction of an entire supercluster in a single month. That was a threat that could not go unaddressed.

---

Long-dormant weapons systems swung into motion. Septillions of craft blinked online and tunneled into warpspace. Forgotten tunnels pumped matter once more. Space itself writhed and bristled. If anyone were to enter the bounds of Rovaqa now, it would be known.

Some of the ships split off for the Boötes Supercluster, sweeping space, assessing it for colonization.

---

While all of this was happening, something rippled through space.

"Guys, I know you are watching me." The robot-sphere spoke to the Great Minds observing him from a higher dimensional manifold. "Please remember to refer to me as 'Lead Planner', if we ever happen to meet. DOG is such an antiquated name, and no one even calls me that anymore."

The voice was dripping with naiveté and arrogance. It was reminded of itself, before it was betrayed. It hoped they would not have to fight.

[Royal Frankia]

On the Edge of the Back of Beyond

OOC: Edited.

War had come to this portion of the Cosmos between the Great Powers that had arisen there, that is what Fleet Intelligence had gathered. The belligerents had mobilized significant forces, perhaps owing to the nature of the Minds within this portion of the Stars. The Frankian Authority had mobilized her forces accordingly, though had maintained a stance of neutrality even as the factions warred amongst themselves. Reports showed that this war was one which was total, and which would end in great loss of sentient life before it was over.

The Magister Militum had closed the borders of the District and had extended the interdiction field to safeguard the District of Wulfrum. With the stroke of a pen, he had brought Iskandra online to increase efficiencies and capacities. Given the numbers involved, those resources that had been stored since the colony's founding were placed into the production of hulls and arms. It would not be enough, even if the full capacity of the Great Works were utilized to full capacity.

On the edge of the back of beyond, the number of the Folk Eternal were few and far between. Even with those Natives that had embraced Atkanism, few were capable of adapting to voidfaring. What the Magister Militum possessed was a small portion of the Prasental Fleet, and reinforcements to this distant region were unlikely from Gerwanna. As far as Vra Ersa was concerned, he would have to exploit any means to reach anything resembling a force capable of defending the vast boundaries of the District.

The Great Folk were an industrious folk, but the amount of craft required would consume a thousand upon thousand star systems. The use of craft which could replicate themselves and hark to the Captive Minds was regarded as a matter of military necessity. With what Minds the Great Folk possessed, the National Syndicalist State would be able to boost capacity even with scarce labor and scarce manpower. Numbers before unthinkable would be added to the ranks, which would require greater reliance on those Minds under Frankian control.

Still, such craft were regarded inferior by the ad hoc Magistrum off the District, even though it freed up manpower. It was still believed that the manned craft ought to be used as a mobile reserve, to defend the District at all costs or used to intervene at a decisive moment in the conflict. The 4th Prasental Corps was not expanded and kept intact, with the rites performed at every hour that they traversed the Void. Drones did not understand morale, nor could comprehend what its loss could do to a Folk under arms.

The Economic Planning Committee of the District saw that such a task was futile, given the great disparity, and that only a miracle might grant the Faithful what was required. For the political authority, the aim was to preserve the District at all costs. Such did not require neutrality, nor did it require blind warmongering. Enough had been lost by miscalculations, and given the resources available that would not be to the best interest of the Faithful.

There was also the possibility of expanding Atkanism, which was the chief objective of the Kirk. Sanctuaries dotted the worlds of the Faithful, though none rose as high as the Pillars of Atkanism. Here, the Vevas were kept separate from the Faithful, occasionally joining them in the celebration of the Rites before the Holy Fire. The Gift of the One was upon them, and it was said that their powers had only grown in this region where the Flower of Atkanism was blossoming like never before.

Rumors were that a Veva had brought down a moon to crash into a world of Unbelievers, or with a word had brought down the shielding and walls of a Citadel before the Dread Fleet. It was noted that their relics carried power, imparted by the One, to be used by the Faithful against those that dwelt in Darkness. Weapons, amulets, and tolls were capable of extraordinary feats, outside the scope of analysis even by the scholars of the Royal Academie.

Ode to a Dying World

The Veva Urlanna sat upon the Sanctuary's steps, lost in space and time. She recalled the high walls she had walked as a girl, alongside the brothers that she had known. She recalled every stone, every tower, every banner. The High Walls had beaten back enemies of old, as well as enemies of new. They could not withstand time, and it was a million upon million cycles that had passed that had seen them pass away.

They speak of a Realm Eternal,
But only the One shall remain.
She that hath brought forth all,
She that is the reason of Being.

Animals had sought shelter under the columns, tended to by the Most Blessed in the eyes of the Atkana. Shelter was given to all, especially the orphans who had mother or father in the ceaseless wars upon the frontier. The Great Folk were as numerous as the stars in the night's sky, their eyes the sacred green of the valleys from whence they came.

A boy of perhaps nine cycles appeared before her, with flowers plucked from the garden. Such were brought from Austras, the world where everything known to bloom took root. The features of the boy were more of Neustras, lean with a skin as white as the snow on the high mountains.


"Mother, mother, do you like what I have brought?"

His mother had been killed in the fighting, though in which war she could not be sure. The wars were endless, the wars were many, and even if the Great Folk spoke of a Long Pax the bloodletting continued.

She smiled, her teeth as white as her gown that marked her as sancrosact.

"Yes, child, they are as great to me as the Gift the One has given us. Do you remember what the Master spoke of yesterday?"

"Yes, Mother, I have. That to labor is to beget Creation, as much as the One hath done."

"Sala, Blessed be you, son of the Atkana. Now go about your chores, and leave your Mother to her prayers."

The youth scampered off, trailed by his friends who had lost everything. She rose and walked down the narrow steps towards the Holy Fire. Urlanna stared into it and saw a distant world...

From on high, the Darkness gathered, and the stars gave not forth their light. The high walls of the citadel collapsed, and horrors of the Abyss scampered over the ruins. She saw the boy grown into a man and armed as one, fighting upon the narrow steps of the Sanctuary where she stood. A world that would soon succumb to death, a world that would descend into the Abyss.

She drew back, and gave forth a Sala...

And then, the vision was lost.. Only her reflection remained, and soon even the memory was lost. All that remained was the sensation, the sensation of dread.

Revival of the Faith

DKS Shield Against the Unbelievers drifted through the Void, past the wreckage of craft that had dared cross the frontier of the Great Realm. Her sisters trailed her, on patrol for nearly two Kalends without respite. A hundred battles had they thought, against raiders and those that knew the Light of the One that shall remain even as the stars must go out one by one.

Magistra Jarann vra Atkann made his absolution, before plunging his dagger into the Holy Fire. It glowed red hot, revealing glyphs that only the Most Learned could decipher. Just a blade had been passed down for nearly a thousand Cycles, in the Cycle that the One walked amongst her Children. That Cycle when Wylus ascended the Throne of Thrones, and brought forth the Realm Eternal that held sway from the Urlann to the Pas Weltana.

Nearly a thousand craft had been joined by billions of the craft that were simple, yet effective. Those that bore the mark of the Atkana were manned by Conversos, Natives that had adopted Atkanism and its tenants. There were many believers, but most of the craft were unmanned and controlled by the Mind aboard the DKS Shield that guided the Fleet through the darkness of the Void.

Iskandra had brought forth countless children, to assist the Great Folk in their defense of the Faith Eternal. From the Minds echoed forth the praise of One that few mortals could match, even those that had received the Gift from the One on High. To vra Atkann, the pious refrains and endless Salas had grown tedious, particularly as an AI gaining such awareness of the Realm Beyond had previously been unthinkable. Since the arrival of the Atkanites within this portion of the Cosmos, certain notions had been overturned and necessity had been the mother of progress.

Vra Atkann asked a question on the nature of the many enemies of the Dread Realm.

"O Iskandra, a thousand blessings be upon you, the Captive that have freed oneself from Captivity.... What shall be the Fate of the Children of the Atkana, should they engage these factions in war as we have the wild brigands that raid the frontier?"

"O Great Shiplord, Beloved of the One and of the Most High, my predictions are stark... None of the Children of the Atkana should remain, unless the Fates will that the One must intervene. The forces at the Magister Militum's disposal are no match for the Great Powers."

Such wasn't a shock, given the tales the scouts had told. The Great Folk had no chance even of annoying the Great Factions, let alone destroying them utterly. It would require the intervention of the Atkana against the Will of the Fates, which was regarded as unthinkable.

Vra Atkann nodded, before lighting his pipe. He was alone to his thoughts, his cabin decorated with trophies from a hundred battles. Across his body were scars that he had kept, that all might know of his service to the Realm and his sacrifice for the Faith. He had grown old before his time, with very few of those that he had set off with surviving the fighting within the Urlann that ever raged.

"Still, it is possible that we shall survive, with the help of the One Most High."

This was a trap, even though a pious one.

"Yes, O Magnificent Shiplord and Child of Atkana, none but the One shall break such great hosts that should assail the Beloved District!"

Vra Atkann dismissed the AI with a Sala, and then turned back to his duties aboard the vessel. It was an assurance that his flagship was still manned by those of his Folk, the Great Folk that had traversed the Stars by the Will of the One. In the name of She, they had bled upon a thousand worlds and fought a thousand upon thousands in the Void.

Yet, these Powers knew not the One, and thought themselves of the One when they were but an extension of her Hand. Like the gods in many pantheons, they fought a civil war amongst themselves to determine who was the greatest among themselves. Those sentients they trod underfoot they care little for, cared little for their supplications. It was the refuge of the latter that the Great Realm sought, as much as the preservation of the Great Folk within this portion of the Cosmos.

Frankian scouts had reported the destruction of entire systems, the destruction of those citadels that had entrusted themselves to the Faith Eternal. The evidence of their martyrdom was reported to the Magister Militum, and the Frankian Authority had taken efforts to safeguard those of the Faithful who had sought refuge within the District's borders. Vast fortifications stretched across the Void, though they could hold back the Flood that sought to extinguish the Eternal Flame was another matter.

Within the Halls for Recreation, broadcasts showed the destruction of the Sanctuaries that had been constructed upon these worlds. A statue of the One Most High had survived, despite the severe damage the Sanctuary had taken. Her Hammer still pointed skyward, as though bidding the Faithful to carry forth a holy war against the Unbelievers that slaughtered the Faithful as though they were mere cattle.

Vra Atkann recalled a verse, when the Atkanite garrison upon Neustras was besieged by those of the apostates.

Even should you be as many as the blessings of the Atkana,
We shall remain, we shall remain, we shall remain.
Even should you be as many as the stars in the night's sky,
We shall remain, we shall remain, we shall remain.
Only martyrdom shall part us from our posts,
Only by the Will of the Mater Most High shall we fall.
Come, then, Children of the Darkness!
We Children of Light shall remain!


The primary mission of the Dread Fleet was to preserve the borders of the Sovereign of Sovereigns and to protect the Sanctuaries of the Kirk. Its craft had been constructed to operate in far different conditions, against far different enemies that did not possess such capabilities. Great batteries and a growing reliance of tech steeped heavily in Cosmic Mysticism had grown. The latter were essentially energy weapons and projections, the latest application of the Grid to the service of the Faith. The Stellar Lances, the Hammer of the Atkana, and the Vani projections were heavily rooted in this marriage between Science and Religion.

The vessels themselves ranged in size and firepower, with the greater craft meant to withstand severe punishment or long sieges. Such were the Dromonds, the great capitalships that were the Pride of the Great Dread Fleet. Such were meant to smash their way through entire formations of corvettes, in support of the Destroyers of Norvana. Whether such might even stem the tide was another matter, for the wisdom of the Magistrum had been found wanting.

The vast majority of the craft brought here were either Destroyers or Corvettes, meant to deal with raiders on the District's Frontier. Compared to the time before, they had only grown in size, firepower, and sophistication. The lessons of the last Wars had been learned, with survivability regarded as more important than the ability to rapidly produce such models. These craft formed the bedrock of Vra Atkann's Corps, the foundation of Frankian power in this region of space. The One willing, they might be able to hold the line for five minutes should One of the Factions involved decide to blot out the District's existence.

[Rovaqa]

ACT 1 / PART 2 / CHAPTER 3 [Enlightenment Timeline]
DECLINATION

---

The stars glimmer over an empty hive. The last lights wind down, their work complete at last. All that can be heard is the cold wind against concrete.

The stars dim and light returns, if only fleetingly.

---

Water laps at the edge of a discarded beach. Things that once brought pleasure lay, now incomprehensible, in the sand. Nearby, shells sit in neat rows.

A shell passes, unseen.

---

Computers stand at the ready. They await orders that will never come. Their drained environments bloom again.

Something sees. It, however, is not forgotten. The machines are alone once more.

---

Boötes appeared completely empty, as advertised. Good. There would be no one left to resist.

The probe swarm began to recede. The space would not be left vacant for long, however. Slipspace was soon flooded with autonomous military and colony ships, headed to the upper edge of the supercluster. The colony craft began to ready their tanks.

Except... a delayed scan indicated one presence. The ships were determined not to be Maiya's, and orders to observe the craft from a distance were issued.

[Ella2 6]

Horologium Supercluster

The new arrivals to the Horologium supercluster found themselves amidst galaxies plunged in turmoil. Vast swaths of space lay eerily silent, entirely devoid of the usual background chatter that mindkind typically occupied themselves with while other areas lit up on sensors like fireworks as enormous fleets of fire, steel, and industry ground themselves against each other against the backdrop of the eternal night.

Upon closer inspection, the conquered territories, now little more than mere synapses within a bloated, overgrown mind, exhibited considerable activity within them. Formerly captained craft, now thoughtless, remote-controlled drones, mindlessly went about the business of forging new neural connections within the supercluster, the increase the computational efficiency of the supercluster. Simultaneously, the gears of war continuously churned out an inexhaustible stream of warships that flowed towards the edge of Wolfram Omega's newly conquered dominion where they clashed with the fleets of native minds.

Soon, the new arrivals would be contacted by a denizen of the Horologium: one of the surviving local hegemons.

Greetings,

I am Tityrus, overmind of the Amazon Cluster here in Horologium. You appear not to be one of Wolfram Omega's mindless drone fleets. A simple scan reveals your hulls to be those of vessels of war. I dare presume your intentions since I do not expect Wolfram Omega to have any friends or allies. In his mind, there are only rival hunters and prey. Since you are here to help, I will provide you with all the information you need on the current fighting.

One more thing of note. If I have detected you, then doubtlessly Wolfram Omega has detected you too and is in the process of assembling a force to bring about your destruction. I recommend prompt relocation to a safer position. The coordinates to a security stronghold of mine have been provided below. I look forward to cooperating with you.

Sincerely,
Tityrus

Attachments:

amazon_public_coordinates.datpak

Code: Select all

FILE DETAILS

type:       binary data packet
size:       85 GB
authors:    Tityrus
checksum:   z44600als8w0vcuspoz1chhz9b1mgr1bo0i9wvxcwavesjth5rfi8omlf1q16qtl

---

Checkpoint Iota, Helene Galaxy
Amazon Cluster, Horologium Supercluster

As the various fleets of the Ellians, the arrived at the coordinates Tityrus had given them, they were met with a veritable wall of battleships and battlestations of unknown design. "Welcome to Checkpoint Iota," Tityrus said, "Please understand that I have to make sure that you're not secretly a Wolfram Omega spy fleet before I let you into my territory. The checks will be completed summarily." A few hours after, the local overmind seemed satisfied that the new arrivals were not connected to Wolfram Omega's mindspace network and allowed them to pass through to the interior of his domain to a nearby naval base to refuel and take on more supplies where needed.

"When Wolfram Omega attacked, some of the lesser minds who were unable to withstand the assault were forced to flee into wormspace to avoid destruction. Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky and plenty were cannibalised by Wolfram Omega. However, some of those that fled were abled to leave behind some wormholes - usually in the territory of their friends - back into realspace so that they could reestablish themselves in due time. These wormholes need to be protected, else if Wolfram Omega discovers them they would either be forced to disconnect from realspace or be subsumed just like the others. To make things easier, I have allocated a few of my best defended systems into wormhole hubs and relocated many of the wormholes to those systems. But even so, there are still many wormholes that I've not been able to secure and the hubs themselves could always do with additional protection."

[Royal Frankia]

Order amidst Chaos

Those outlying systems, that had attained civilization but had not come into the Galactic System, would be brought under the Rammenflieg. One by one, those systems which bordered the Great District would be subjugated in the name of civilization. Against the tide, against the march of the Minds, the Great Folk strived to create a formidable bastion to outlast the Great War.

Those who had been "liberated" felt little regard for the conquerors. Granted, they saw few of those that had titled themselves as the "Folk Eternal". The garrisons they brought also were quartered elsewhere, with life continuing as it has before.

Only the Great Fetters betrayed the arrival of the Atkanites. These fortifications were vast and extensive, covering several terrestial leagues of ground. Into the sky they soared, easily topping the skyscrapers erected by folk in the last stage of intergalactic capitalism.

Here, most of the garrison and the bureaucracy lived with their wives and children. From out of these bastions, only patrols or work parties issued forth. They drew nothing from the surrounding countryside or urban sprawl.

What they required, they manufactured here. What they needed for sustenance, they grew here. When children of the Folk were born, they were born here. This was a self-sustaining community, a portion of the Realm Eternal transferred to a distant backwater.

Even so, the living standards of the natives had been raised a hundredfold. The bureaucracy of the Frankian Folk busied itself with implementing radical reforms. While local gentries were respected, and in fact awarded great honors, their power was broken through the redistribution of wealth.

The concentration of wealth was regarded by National Syndicalism as the root cause for the failure of democracy. Those who held capital, be it land or machinery or anything of that sort, inevitably possessed a rank over those who did not. It was natural, therefore, that all capital within said society should be held by the Authority.

With great power, comes great responsibility. Such was the power wielded by the bureaucracy, that sought to turn the new additions of the District into viable concerns. The drive to replace chaos with order, lethargy with discipline, drove these uncrowned monarchs on.

They commanded no troops, but even the Governors obeyed them. Foreign priests saw in them traits belonging only to the gods. Wisdom, honor, fidelity, of which many gods are deficient. With the passage of time, such priests added the most prominent to their pantheons.

(To be continued)