Week 10 Finale Investment Mission- The Hope for the Future

All Societies have a deep hope for growth, and all make plans for the future.

What in a nutshell is your character's deepest Hope for their faction's growth?
What are your greatest fears about the direction it might go?
What is your character's retirement plan if any?
Please describe it as a member of the faction and in character.

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This mission is open to all players.

Post your plan to this mission on here on this thread only. All players get one post only. This thread will be locked at 11 pm E.S.T. on Friday August 12th.

Only actions listed on this mission thread will count as locked in for player actions.

Jenna Steele had finally gotten an interview with Childeen Blackheart founder of Blackheart Securities. Both she and Childeen knew why she had been granted the exclusive. She had become romantically entangled with Pesh his second in command. Childeen had agreed to do it as a favor to his friend after several snide remarks. And now they sat in an observatory on the top of Druzi. Childeen had picked the location due to the stunning backdrop of the temporal worm hole.

The camera man finished his countdown. Jenna counted to three before asking her first question.

"Mr Blackheart, you have started a very successful PMC and have been a key voice in the council of IRLCs, what are your hopes for the future?"

Childeen smiled, "My deepest hopes? I hope my corporation continues to grow. I sincerely hope it can continue to provide for its employees. The IRLCs are a quickly dying breed. In the past few months we have seen the stellar empires mobilize. Where before 20 ships would engage in battle now 200 are." He shrugged, "Honestly my biggest hope is that the IRLCs aren't going to be marginalized as the march to war continues."

Jenna nodded, noting how worn out the diminutive person in front of her looked, "So your greatest fear is that your corporations and others like it won't be profitable?"

Childeen nodded, "My corporation can be a part in most things but that makes it an exception instead of the rule. I fear that the Independent corporations will need a backer. Su Maehl has purchased his way into the Iron Republic, but soon everyone will need to take a side or be trampled." Childeen paused and said lowly, "Honestly my biggest fear is my corporation will be sold off piece mail and that my employees will lose the freedom and prosperity they have now."

Jenna took a grave and serious tone to match Childeen's. She hadn't expected the interview to be this melancholy. "If you are expecting the fall of the IRLC then what are your plans after?"

Childeen looked past her into the stars. He couldn't say his real plan, to get his hands on a time shredder and save his wife and children from being murdered four years ago. Instead he turned back to the camera, "I have a next egg saved up. I have been giving honest thought to giving the reins to Peshareen, my second in command, and retiring back to where I came from. He would move the corporation to the background, they would provide all the same services, just not in spotlight (OoC: NPC it, I may be done).

Jenna was stunned, if Childeen did what he was saying there would be no major IRLC's. Terranova seemed to have folded on itself, Casablanca station had pulled out of interstellar politics completely, Maehl had bought himself a throne. Was she witnessing the death of a small business?

Prelate Ye’seren stands in front of a podium in the broadcast room in his Space Station “The Light of Dawn” Dressed In his green robes facing the camera to be broadcast in an open channel sent everywhere within range.

My Children, it has been a very hard time for us all, our quest for peace has been opposed by a galaxy of warmongers. We have attempted to evolve with the times but the wars continue the suffering continues. Our worlds are still endangered by Demonic filth, the Trilat still runs rampant unopposed by anyone, the Iron Republic’s tyranny and oppression remains unchallenged, the Da'uhnb hold themselves above all and demand that all others obey and the Universe is too terrified to speak up against them. Things have gotten far worse for all the poor people in this sector of space, indeed for the entire galaxy. The Fleets of Fate come from an alternate universe to oppress us, yes, indeed if we didn’t have enough problems in this reality we have threats from alternate ones coming to control us. The powers at be bicker with each other and dwell in a cold war of lies and measure their manhood in an eternal competition of stupidity while people like you and me suffer for it.

Our vigil is eternal, our will unbreakable, we shall never surrender ourselves to the Ancient Evils that seek our souls; we shall never sit still and let our will be taken from us. We may live in a repressive regime but we must look at the bigger picture, the Iron Republic is the lesser of the evils at the moment. We threats of the Fleets of Fate and Warmonger are bigger and seek to make the current level of suffering increase by tenfold. Our families will be the ones who suffer if we fail in our sacred duty against the demonic forces. Do you want your loved ones to become slaves to war? Our brothers and sisters cry out in horror as the flames of devastation reach out for them and our “defenders” would rather kill you all and replace you with clones rather than work for real solutions to your problems.

The common people lay abandoned and broken, their leaders see them as a resource and not as people, and they are so accustomed to being marginalized that they are suspicious of anyone offering a better way, they believe that their mistreatment is the way it has to be. We have seen this in all the locations where we have preached, people are too afraid of angering their masters that they hide from us we see the fear in their eyes, we see the desire for more in their faces but they have been kept down for so long, they do not know how to strive for more.
Our task will be difficult, and we will face opposition from everywhere, but we cannot rest, it is our sacred duty to aid those in need and to show them that there is a better way, our love for the people makes us unique and in time people will embrace us. To this end I propose we better our relations with Fort Lendil, especially with one of their leaders, a Miss Lil'aye'ahn. She has dedicated herself to the passion of agriculture and the development of plant life. We have a large amount of freighters, I propose we join in an arrangement with her to promote the growth of food and medicinal herbs to spread to those less fortunate, some of our people at this very moment are attempting to contact her to do this. I pray that she joins with us in this task, we must show the people that there are others who want to help them. It will take a long time to earn their trust but one day we will.

So join me brothers and sisters join me and let us make the galaxy a better place, to promote peace and the downfall of the Ancient Evils, we shall oppose all who will bend us to their will and control us, show the people that they do not need to suffer needlessly. I love you all and I feel your love as well, Let us show the people that they do not need to live without love and peace.

The New Dawn is here, and its light will guide us toward peace and freedom. May all be blessed with its warmth and let it’s light guide our steps.

I go to my quarters where i start to feel a very earther chill down my spine and starts to think, "was my decision to hastey?"

I push on the intercom button so the whole crew aboard the Sabretooth can hear what i have to say on why we are becoming an independent military.

"Attention all crew members, this is your Commander Rol'aye'ahn speaking," I say with a deep but calm voice, "We are no longer part of Fort Lendill, my cousins weren't trusting me enough about what i said about the ancestrol fleet waiting for them to make a mistake. I understand that they wanna cure every kias out there into a true kias. I just dont wanna be around when the army unleashes itself against them. Maybe im a coward? Who knows. I just wanna see this about everyone involved with Fort Lendill. In my humble opinion i think they are a bunch of power hungry and greedy kias that will destroy all of us once the cure is given out to the kias public."

"Let us start our own journey together and see where it will take us. Lets warp to the Sabretooths Skull and meet the crew."

Whispers under my breath, "Good luck cousins."

Mor'aye'ahn sat in in his quarters, a mess of paperwork and half-baked inventions around him. He knew what would be coming as he input all relevant data into his electronic data pad for storage before chucking the paper into a bin to be incinerated. Behind him the blue holographic light of his confidant flickered on "Doing a bit of spring cleaning sir?"
"Spring is a term only relative to those who are planet side, there are no air currents or solar placements that create weather. We are ship bound."
Charlie shook his head at the back of the K'ias commander "You know as well as I do that Earther Expressions defy logic you just have to roll with them sometimes."
The last of his plans off of the walls all that was left was the paperwork on his desk, he wanted to chuck it all in there just to spite it but he knew that it wouldn't be fair to just leave a job unfinished. "Yes I am aware."

As he went through the work at hand Charlie studied him, "I hope you'll pardon another Earther expression but, Penny for your thoughts?"
Mor'aye'ahn looked up at the tiny blue face and smiled, almost chuckling "If you insist. Rol'aye'ahn has taken his fleet from our space and has gone to join the independents."
"If I may say so, since his joining of our faction you have been under alot of stress... sir."
"Yes I have, to be fair not all of it was him but he did add a certain seasoning to it all to make it just that more annoying. He tends to be a little pushy."
"He did come to warn you about the fleet of the ancestors."
"Yes but that's just the thing, I understand warnings coming from superiors such as when was still under the Mhorgenson brothers but I'm trying to build a society out here. And every time I think I'm doing something of good I get some figure shaking their finger and warning of how my actions can cause catastrophic doom!"
Charlie stood there, he had no other choice but to his holo-emitter wouldn't allow him to go any further from it's placement.
"The NESA Missile, the Zela Cure, everything I have been making has been for the betterment of others."
"Everything sir?"
"Okay to be fair the Zela cure was sort of inspired by J'khal but to be fair afterwards I generally wanted to help our people. It's just... I don't know... I feel that good idea's shouldn't be exclusive."
"But you have been. You have turned down dealings with the Trilat and the Iron Republic on occasion."
Sometimes the thought of annihilating the blue light that was Charlie was tempting, especially when he made sense. "You're right I suppose that I have at that, but to be fair the Trilat do not really work well with Fort Lendill and I want nothing to do with the thieving Kassanthians."
"Yes but haven't you said you are trying to build your own government, separate from Fort Lendill?"
"Sometimes I believe Figgs made some of your coding to torment me."
"No sir I'm just trying to understand your meaning. You want to help out space but there are those you believe do not deserve to be helped. You want to do good but hate it when others tell you when your 'good' could turn out 'horribly bad'. And in the end you don't see how this could come back to haunt you and the government that you have built around you via the invention of the SUARM?"

Mor'aye'ahn opened his mouth and paused "When you put it like that I suppose I do seem a bit contradictory."
Charlie raised his holographic eyebrow "Only a little. So tell me sir, what is it you intend to do in the long run. Seeing as how you have so many problems as it is."
A chuckle escaped the golden mask that was the K'ias's face "The NESA project will remain in SUARM hands, and the Cure... well we will decide what to do with that once my race has proven it's worth in the eyes of the Da'uhnb."
"And your reputation? With the plan you have described I am positive that it will be a long time before the galactic community at large begins trusting you again. Perhaps even your SUARM will doubt in you."
"My reputation Charlie is salvageable, nor is it truly important. If I am seen as a monster with things coming to light then so be it. Let the Children of the Falosini and Earthers come at me with lit Torches and Pitchforks... I can take it. That is why I ultimately recruited my Sister to our cause."
"And yet you haven't told her why."
Another pause, this one alot more reflective "Lil is my sister Charlie. She has kept me grounded back before the first war and before our imprisonment at it's end. If it wasn't for her very existence then I might have become the monster that the other races think our kind is. "
"And the SUARM? What of them in the long run?"
"I have never told the SUARM anything different than what I feel. Since their evolution into sentience I have viewed them all as the children that I was denied from this Zela poison. Sure I could create Annihilators, as a matter of fact I may still, but in the SUARM I saw so much potential that I hope for the brightest future for them. That is why I have been so protective of them and why my dealings with the Iron Republic have been so sparse... I just want the best for them, for all of them."

Going back to the paperwork he finished looking over and signing everything, most of which were proposals for massive engine overhauls for half of the fleet... compliments of Welder.

"So who should take over in your stead if The Da'uhnb believe you're too dangerous to be free once they indeed capture J'khal?"
He sighed as he sent put all the papers on his desk into an envelope and sent them vial the mail chute to be processed. "In charge of the Government itself? Ideally I would trust my Sister to look after my holdings in my absence, but my fleet I think should be left in much different hands. Someone who knows the true workings of my fleet. Welder would be an excellent choice and I think it would annoy him that I would pick him. After all he annoys me daily with requests for repairs, perhaps it would be perfect for him to actually take care of the business of the fleet himself for a change."

He turned to look at Charlie. "Any more questions... I have much work to do."
"No I believe that would be everything."
"Good... now please be so kind as to delete any data you may have accidentally gotten from the plans I've had posted around here. I don't want you in any jeopardy in case J'khal comes after you looking for the cure."
"As you wish."

Grand Admiral Sessoren Thei'Gann stepped up to the podium on a landing a few steps down from the Da'uhnb Queen.
Around them spread almost all the population of the Hub of Worlds space station. The last best hope for peace in the galaxy.
"I have been a man whose only goal is holding this family together. Trying to prevent violence from spreading and powering our enemy the Warmonger.
I know many people regret my time as the freedom fighter G.A.S.T.

Allow me to explain all that I have done and why it was done.

I knew the I.R were being used by an evil force, a corrupt agent from within. My first step to expose the corruption was to introduce the daughter of Director Soregi to the preachers of Ar'yay HiveQueen two years earlier than it originally happens. A fake ID completed the entrapment.

My second step was to provide Mor of the Kias the elements necessary for him to make a Kias Cure to Zela caused infertility.

My third step even more devious, an outright civil war amoung the Da'uhnb. And I was right it has brought both Angel D and the rogue Kias, Jak'Hal of the line of J'kutu, out of hiding.
The deaths of our Da'uhnb brothers were a grevious cost but I believe we have bought a chance at freedom from Warmonger."

"And there were many more steps, but that would take hours to explain."

A young boy in blue robes walked out next to G.A.S.T.
"This is Armenius, the newest student of the Temporal Enforcement Agency. I place myself officially into his custody. I will take whatever punishments are appropriate for my crimes.
I also ask all G.A.S.T. freedom fighters to lay down their weapons to the Da'uhnb Queen's army.

But before I go I still need to tell you why!
Before today there was no communications between the Iron Republic and the other voices in known space. The I.R. considered themselves exclusively the Qualls lackeys.
Now they know there is more in the universe whose voices must be heard.
And we must talk and discuss and work together. Alone we are divided and easily defeated.
Together the speaking races of this universe cannot be stopped and cannot be oppressed by extradimensional beings.

When I look towards the future I hope to see one where wage slavery ends, where there are no more culling of worlds to feed the Quall Hordes, no more glassing of planets.

I look towards a future of Hope, are a millennia in darkness."

Dear Captain Q,

It has been quite some time since we've spoken. I regret that I have been unable to communicate to more frequently, but you've been in retirement and I've been busy, as I'm sure you know. It's amazing to think that about a year ago you threw down the gauntlet to me, making me prove myself to you that I am a worthy successor to your fleet. Did you think it would come to this, me becoming a stockholder of the Iron Republic?? I never dreamed of it, that's for sure.

I remember the first thing you ever taught me about being a pirate: a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. Make sure your people are well fed and well rested, and everything else you can handle. You can't begin to imagine how true that is. "It's the reason we're Free Systems, and not slaves to the Iron Republic." When you threw down the gauntlet, I was at first angry, enraged, pissed off more than you can believe. But then I got to thinking, rule 2: Keep your people on their toes, challenge them, and greatness will come. I hope I am living into that, Q, I hope I am.

I have helped turn the Free Systems into the greatest service industry in the Polar Expanse. While production levels are relatively low in comparison to other nations, we're performing the highest levels of customer service than anyone, even the Iron Republic. The fleet you left me is mere pittance in comparison to what has become the Free Systems' Armada. No longer will we, the people, fear the next Iron Republic attack. I hope to continue this trend, and fortify out ability to remain relevant within the Universe. I have created the Intergalactic Intellectual Consortium (IIC). It's goals will be to foment a sense of universal academic achievement for the betterment of all, create a nexus of activities firmly within the Free Systems to serve as a uiversal space for all, and finally to continue to challenge all people's perspectives. My dream for the IIC will be that it will come up with the next great social, political, and economic paradigms where oppressive regimes are considered counterproductive and inhibiting of progress. I wish for it to figure out a new and better way of surpassing even the Golden Age of Earth, and unify us all against the evils that threaten to overcome us all.

I wish for the end of the Iron Republic. Gone will be the oppressive regimes that dictate how a person walks to work, earns a living, and spends their life. However, I have come to learn that in the fact of unspeakable evils and powers greater than we can comprehend, we need the Iron Republic. So change must happen slowly. The IIC will be integral to this, as through academic openness people will learn better ways. The current generation of Stockholders have no idea what else life can be, and I intend to show it to them. UMart is the fastest growing industry in the Iron Republic. I'm using different models of working, managing employees, and treating each person as if they were more than a wage slave. People will be treated with dignity and respect. It may take hundreds of years, but slowly things will change. I don't even have to be the progenitor of these ideas once the seeds are planted. That's something else you taught me, Q.

Money makes the clock tick, as they say. As long as everyone is making money, everyone stays friendly. It's been the backbone of my economic model, and I hope to continue to employ that model moving forward. Peace comes with cooperation, not warfare.

Scarcity is also a problem. How can it be, Q, that with all the wonders of science we have that we still have scarcity? We can clone every living creature under the sun and yet people starve everywhere? The Unity can convert entire planets of matter to their ends and yet we cant replicate matter? Those are problems that I intend to solve, Q, and I will use the IIC and Iron Republic resources to do it. If we can replicate matter, then wars over resources won't happen anymore.

I know my goals are lofty, and likely not to come within my lifetime. And no, I have no intention of extending my lifetime threefold like most Iron Republic Stockholders. I intend on naming a successor, not too unlike you did, and then leaving them to my affairs. I will live long enough to increase Maehl Holdings' breadth, make the impacts I need them to, and then split the company up. While I am sure I can create a company large enough to rival the Iron Republic, it is antithetical to my existence. I will create robust enough companies that can live on their own, ensure the Stockholder who will succeed me can do the same, and then leave my successors the businesses. As long as the Free Systems are built up enough to endure the competition, everything should be alright. By then, I hope enough seeds have been planted, and can continue to be planted, so that my legacy can live beyond me. Maybe, just maybe, then I will clone my body and spend a single lifetime in retirement, enjoying the simple pleasures in life, such as raising children, good weather on a single planet, and growing old with a person that I love.

My short term goals are so much more mundane than these long term ones. Grow UMart, purchase Blackheart Securities and utilize its services to further integrate with my other services, expand technology to improve production within the Free Systems, provide quality service to customers, and build Iron Republic-only businesses focused on leisure, fitness, and travel. Casablanca station has it right: give people something to look forward to and they will flock to you in the masses. I'm sure other smaller opportunities will also present themselves as time goes on. Suffice it to say, they only exist to feed my grand goals. Think big, act small, right Q?

Oh, and don't forget the whole concept of saving humanity from the Ancient Evils, the Quall N'Drone (did you know that they're not even Iron Republic and come from a completely different dimension!), and other extraplanear beings. Yeah, I don't even know where to begin to talk about the Temporal Empire and what they've been having me doing. However, they have done right by me and the rest of the Free Systems. Until such a time when they prove otherwise, I will continue to serve their needs, no matter what my role.

I'm rambling. Normally I'd go back, edit this letter carefully, and ensure that I was clear, but you know me better than that.

Q, I don't think I ever had the chance to thank you for everything you've ever done for me. I would not be the man I am today were it not for your patronage, your tutelage, and your kindness to me. You had no reason to take in the bastard child of an Iron Republic whore, but you did, and you cared for me. You raised me to be the man I am today; you gave me the ideals that define me as a person. I am a leader because of what you taught me. I only hope that I am the type of man you hoped I would be, and that I do not become a disappointment and a failure. I owe you my life, my livelihood, and all that is good in me. I can never begin to repay the debt I am in with you. So thank you, old friend. I hope to do you proud, and continue to do so. If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.

Eternally in your debt, and with much affection,
Su Maehl

I hope in the future people will see my Hive as not the enemy as we have done no monstrous acts upon others to warrant such hatred. My species may have done so but I have not. You can not judge the species against the individual. Earthers in their past have done monstrous acts to their own people yest no one judges them. Peace may not be able for the Quall race but maybe peace between certain hives can be accomplished. Hives that have done nothing to warrant the hatred you feel towards them.

Fleetmaster Deer prepared the final nail in the coffin of Angel D. Yeah she had infiltrated the Board of Directors , but she had also revealed to him that the Chairman of the Board had been replaced by a Kias.

He got out a small datapad and composed a short note to "the Chairman"

"Kias Infiltrater,

I have proof of what you are and who you are. I will not reveal it because now I own your silvery ass. You now will approve any requisition I write or your secret is revealed.
You will now carry around a bug so I can listen in on all Board meetings or your secret is revealed.
You will help me entrap Angel D who is hiding as a board member or your secret is revealed.
Getting the theme. Yes this is blackmail, this is extortion but for two years I watched incompetence happen as the Board dragged its feet. No more. When I need to glass a planet you will bring it up and get the votes.

The next time a monster like the Estrain threaten us you will authorize all necessary force.

Don't try and get at me, I have enough Zela metal waiting to kill you before you get close."

Deer sent off the message. No longer would the IR be disrespected and wait for the Board to decide.
A new age was dawning in the IR and it would be brutally efficient.

It was perfect, absolutely perfect. The designs for the monuments had been done by his own hand, down to the tiniest detail that was necessary. Prime's systematic sterilization of worlds provided an abundance of Shadow Leyas that he would amplify and Prime would harvest. Orleos's coffers would be filled and Prime would get his prize, although after these 10 worlds were sterilized, the next set, whichever they may be, would have his Soul Harvesters upon it, he would see to that in all haste.

Their design was elegant, based off original scriptures and cultures, long since passed into antiquity. They were statues, three statues to be exact, representing a trinity of sorts, arranged within a triangle formation. The first was the Demon, multi-faced, male, corrupted, with the body of a satyr, and a snake for a tail.

The second was an intertwining of Adam and Eve, representing 'man and woman' as they were originally meant to be by the creator, joined in embrace, yet the serpent of corruption coiled at their feet with it's head resting upon Eve's shoulder, whispering sinister thoughts into her ear. The third and final was the Creator, obviously female, in one hand she held the orb of creation, the other held within it the sword of destruction, and draped about her shoulders for a mantle were the scales of judgement. Truly it was a thing of beauty in his eyes.

The Tsogari and their Tsoga were being shipped out, Prime has also provided him with a new lab where he could experiment and conduct his research to his hearts content, totally off the radar of anyone who would be watching him. 'Stupid beasts' he thought, the Tsogari thought him cornered and in their grasp, yet they had no idea who truly was in control of this game of cat and mouse. Experiments, such as the ones that VLAD had once done would be resurrected in shadow and he would be at the helm.

As for the public eye, "Well I would have to say that my hope for the future would be to open the eyes and the minds of all whom travel through space. To long have people been ignorant of each others customs, beliefs, and traditions. It is time that others learned that there is more than meets the eye concerning all that is around them."

Here he paused in contemplation, "I will make it my duty to set up places of learning and galleries upon planets that I am able to visit and show them what it is like for the other beings in the universe."

And of course off the radar he would further the process of mutation and breaking and the avenues which he could explore concerning the properties of the souls of the deceased would continue to grow so long as his imagination and mind proved to supply new ideas. He poured himself a glass of red wine and lifted it towards the window before him, 'Here's to you master. Sadly struck down before you could give your ideas wings. May your laughter fill the afterlife with chaos, insane jester.'

The future.

Michael thought often of the future, as ageless beings are want to do. What he did now was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his existence; indeed, all he did now was lay the seeds for his future foundations. The Scientist's stated mission, back when he was producing his first designs to terraform Refuge, was to develop a world habitable for all life, to generate endless bounty from nothing but soil and sun.

And he had succeeded beyond his wildest imaginings.

Now, he was capable of taking moons of barren rock and converting them into nothing but lush biomass. Unfathomable square miles of dense fungal matter took part in a symphony orchestrated by his nurturing hand. He brought life to the lifeless, and all signs pointed to a future where he could purge the universe of its wasted resources.

But that was only the first step- the tiniest speck in the grand architecture he devised.

Michael would be able to use vast portions of that gathered power to fuel a research program humbling any the universe had ever known. Even now, in the painfully limited time he had been operating, his knowledge had grown by leaps and bounds. Through constant, unending experimentation across the whole of his domain, he was wringing out knowledge from the very fabric of the universe. His ability to manipulate the structure of space-time was growing with every moment, and soon he would eclipse the knowledge of even the most learned Unity sages.

And while it was all occurring, while he devoted untold yottawatts toward unraveling the mysteries of the universe, he would finally be able to take a break. With the completion of the Green Man Project, he'd be able to personally visit some of the incredible vistas he helped protect. Each body would allow him to experience from a different viewpoint all the variety and sensation of life, from teaching in the Pillars of Triumph, to finally taking up that offer of 'Joining' with the Oleifera. In time he'd visit the markets of the free systems, and discuss leyas theory directly with Layne.

All these things, however, relied on his ability to help maintain the stability of the universe. More and more, he was becoming an important force within this dimension, and he would have to play a significant role in guarding it. While he and others have worked tirelessly to protect it from without, policing himself weighs most heavily on his mind. There has been no indication that the network has failed or strained under its greater and greater loads, and Michael firmly believes that the principles behind it are sound. Nevertheless, there is always the lurking fear of a miscalculation, allowing some bit of it to branch out and deny his control. Everything he has worked toward has ruled out this possibility, but however remote the risk may be, it still concerns him greatly. He has also found himself having to restrain his base urges, as soon he will have the capacity to fundamentally alter existing ecosystems though a lack of attention. Some of his mining operations were growing to incredible scales, and if the pseudo-automated drilling began to tear apart an inhabited planet...

Well, he'd simply have to be vigilant. The power he was gaining demanded no less, and hopefully he'd grow to fill the shoes he had built for himself.

The majestic Oleifera will oversee the continuation and expansion of ZIEST into a galactic center of knowledge and discovery, thanks to its coalition with the IIC. Some lectures are taught on the Green, by Oleifera itself, its massive branches shading hundreds of students with room to spare. Oleiferan Builers will pioneer the way in advanced bio-engineering and genetic modification.

All Bodhi stations will be outfitted with Aetherskippers and all the terraforming and space-life capabilities currently produced and crewed by the more adventurous Oleiferan Builders, able to modify any thing and everything aboard. They will travel throughout the vast expanse of deep space, discovering new worlds, seeding them with thriving ecosystems or adapting existing ones to allow a Builder presence. Builder colonies will sprout wherever possible, connected by Unity satellites. Massive flocks of troubadours nest in, breed in, and patrol the upper atmospheres and close orbiting bodies of each planet, pacifying any external threats. Some may even attempt cross-galatic voyages, slowing all metabolisms and drifting across the galactic rifts, patiently waiting through the course of thousands of years.

Oleifera will fulfill the ultimate Oleiferan call - to spread peace and life long before war and destruction can make their scarred faces shown. It's greatest worry is that it will accidentally awaken something out in the vastness of space, something which might pose a greater threat than one could anticipate...

[Possible Scenario: Builders land on a huge planet and start building. Planet is actually a small egg of an unknown, solar system-sized species. Mom protects young. Many terrible things follow.]

Days before his venture into the Engine Dimension, Garmin Fe took the time to instruct his final apprentice. He choose from the vast host of hopefuls a young earther male of but one-eighth his age. Young still for one of his kind, but much promise has been scene in this one.

Earther: "Hello sir, I was told to report to this place for instruction. Are you..."
General: "No need for names, they are not as important as you think. Yes, I'm to be your instructor for the day. Come this way and we will begin. Your family is still new to Beacon City, correct?"
Earther: "Correct sir. It is a rather amazing place to live. There is a part of me that wishes I could feel the cold though. The implant let's me sense it, but I can no longer feel it."
General: "You like to feel the cold do you?"
Earther: "Well, Asada is a rather hot planet and all. The volcanic activity makes the feeling of cold a novelty."
General: "I can sympathize, I felt the same when I journeyed through the unexplored regions of the Kr'ypos. I'd imagine Asada was crafted by the HiveQueen in the same image of that plane."
Earther: "How do you tell these stone walls to reshape themselves? Was this hallway here the whole time?"
General: "The whole facility is artificed. We can move rooms around as we please. The stone obeys the commands of those it has been allowed to. One day you will traverse this stone freely, and no, the halls are created as they are needed. Down this way."
Earther: "Where are we now?"
General: "This is where most of my work is being done for the moment."
Earther: "You might get sick of hearing me say this, but I've never seen anything like this, what is it?"
General: "I call it Legacy. I wouldn't prod it, it is intelligent. You see, I had every intention of crafting a being with the intelligence and wisdom to take my place when I am gone. I originally meant to craft Legacy from bits of Sephir Technology gained from the gracious Kias commanders of Fort Lendill. I sought to replace key components with entirely organic processes. Sentience didn't seem to arise. Truth is, I had not the talent for such craft. Sephir technology is alien, almost too alien. I approached later on using a Unity world computer aimed at memory simulation. The results on their own were mixed."
Earther: "Is this the result of that."
General: "Not precisely. You see, I've been met with a lot of dead ends. As much as Beacon City is a technomantic society, we are not nearly as much as the Unity or Fort Lendill. A lot of research is devoted more toward the study of the leyas. There is no way that we could, even while being assisted by the Unity, be as technologically advanced as either faction. Its not really our place in the universe. I considered using crystal technology to shore up the weaker points of the theory, but their are so many missing variables when working with such technology."
Earther: "Why is that?"
General: "That is a good question. The truth, which I ask you to keep to yourself, is that nobody in Beacon City is the originator of such technology. You see, most of what we know is derived from but a single sample, reverse engineered piece by piece. Many secrets still allude us, and I think they will continue to allude us. And to answer before you ask, its because the original piece will soon be lost to us soon. Perhaps its better this way."
Earther: "So how did you make this sphere of protoplasm goo aware?"
General: "The final piece came from the most unexpected source. A fellow K'iou with the propensity to stutter happened across the most interesting sample. He brought the sample to my attention during the second battle of the Continent of Dead Quall. In that battle I observed intelligent nightmares. Constructs of the leyas able to think independently. I became intrigued and soon after I called for shadowmancers from the Kasanthian Federation to show me their art more closely. Of all the luck in the universe the one to answer the call was the K'iou crafter himself, Viggo the Kasanthian."
Earther: "So they came and you studied their art."
General: "We did more then that, we interrogated them subtlety. Gained their confidence and gleaned from Viggo apprentices the hidden details that could allow us to make intelligent constructs of leyas energy. We then modified the practice include elements beyond that of simply shadow. We used the culmination of our previous experimentation to create the vessel and then artificed it to be sentient. Now it sleeps, absorbing what little we have been able to teach it."
Earther: "What now. Do you plan to make more?"
General: "Never. Legacy is to be unique."
Earther: "But to be unique is to be alone? It seems to be such a waste to squander such knowledge just to make one. Why did you do it? Just to see if you could? Just to say you did it?"
General: "Your questions are becoming unappreciated."
Earther: "I'm sorry, I didn't think a few questions could do anyone harm. I've been through this city you've constructed. Yes, I know precisely who you are General Garmin Fe, and I see that this metropolis has enemies on all sides! Just outside our borders here on Refuge are peace lords wishing to enslave us again. The Iron Republic and EEF hang over our heads and outnumber our fleets at every turn. We aren't exactly on good terms with the Quall for the next billion years."
General: "This little piece of land I have caved out for all of us, has been bought with blood! I don't need to be told by one as young as you what enemies we have and where they stand with us. I've done what I can to ensure our future and made allies with those I despise to keep that future intact."
Earther: "Pathetic, you would steep to your knees to make treaties with villains to preserve a future but you refuse to use the power within your own hands to create from nothing an army of loyal constructs! With this knowledge we could overpower our foes! Beacon City is quickly becoming the most powerful leyas using faction of all time and we can use the mystery of that force to conquer our foes and subjugate our allies!"
General: "That is not our way! That is not how things will be done! Your solution is to bring forth a host of sentient beings only to make them slaves for war. You are not as promising as I had hoped. In fact, I will do what I can to cast you down and remove you from your prestige. No one will apprentice with you when I am through with you! The council of the seven rings will be deaf to your ears and your name will vanish into exile in the annuals of history! Be gone from my sight!"
Earther: "Believe me General, you will hear the name of Montague John Druitt again, and it will haunt you!"

Ryuk doesn't play much with politics, and the where his faction is heading. He just works on his own endevours. He has been falling in line with the Kansantian's way of thinking more often, and working on some projects to build an army. It seems more and more, that the Kansantians are being maligned everywhere.

Biggest Fear, this one is easy since Prime is now mortal. He has been acting less like the leader he was, and more like a meer peasent. He very rarely embarks on missions, instead prefferring to "talk it out" and using the purifier (a magnificent weapon) when there may be more advantagous ways to succeed,

It is time to prepare for the Kasantians to rise, preparations need to be made, an army raised with diverse skills and abilities. The training of my armies and the research of other will enable this to come to pass. The hard part will be restraining the army until the time to strike is ready.

There was no future for a clone, thought the Prisoner. There was only one hope, helping the EEF rescue the real Cal Marx. Fred had already given Field Marshall Strykker everything he knew about the AOD prison on Niflheim and an EEF team was dispatched to recover an Ambassador whose ship went down on the planet. With any luck the real Director Cal Marx would be rescued as well.

Until then the prisoner owed a lot to Childeen Blackheart and Lt. Ryuk. And he would help them, even if it meant the clone of a business man had to grow into a soldier on his own.

He had been a prisoner, he had been a magnavore, now it was time to be himself.

As the head of the youngest of the spacefaring nations, President Ragman had many worries and hopes.

Writing down some notes for a panel he was to attend, he felt that this was nothing like what he ahd planned on doing when he join VLAD just 3 years earlier.

Notes-

My greatest hope is that we can bring peaceful coexistance between our people and the other great space nations. We need to show that the 'so called monsters' can live peacefully with the other peoples of the universe.

My Greatest Fear is that we fall prey to the fear of the other people or that we fall under the control or infulence of the darker powers such as the ancient evils.



Shaking his head, he thought ' there are days i just wish that i could go back home to Gelo and spend some quiet time in the workshops and labs at the secret necromancer's school.' Then the thought of his daughters flittered into his mind. If he had never come to space he would never had the chance to have them. 'How would he have even known that cloning could go so horribly 'right'? if it wasn't for the accident in his attempt to make a clone of himself, he would never have made the girls,' he thought. 'Now if he had just been able to stop the being he had dubbed Tatters from escaping, he would not have to worry that somewhere out in the galaxy was a being that knew all he did but made him seem completely sane."

Looking up at the ceiling, he muttered "i should just take a ship and travel the galaxy for a while. pretend to be someone else, and leave running Uloh to someone else."

Jeremiah Strykker sat in his office as his SAV was being prepped to bring him to the Fleet. He considered the things that had bought his life to this point. His adventuring band. Joining the EEF. Saving the Colony General. He never would have seen any of this coming. Still he was happy with what he'd done.

He'd protected the Colonies during the Boarder Wars and since then. He did regret the concessions he'd had to make with the Peace of Falos and the Treaty of 2219. Still some recent developments meant that amybe soon he could change the terms of that Treaty and stop the Quall hunts in the Northren Kingdoms. After that who knew what he'd do?

Of coures one goal was to free more systems from the IR but for that he had to be ready for a fight. He knew it was coming there was no way this little cold war could last for long. Sooner or later the IR stockholers would get creedy again and try and clamp down on everyone, and when that happened and the fight started he intended to win. He didn't expect that the EEF could ever really topple the IR at least not in his life time. Maybe someday though. Still long before that he expected to retire back to Dusk or maybe he'd move to Baronade and run his jerky factory in his later years. That didn't sound so bad. Unless of course Terror and Celyse really did find a way to install his brain inside Peace.


Of coures one goal was to free more systems from the IR but for that he had to be ready for a fight. He knew it was coming there was no way this little cold war could last for long. Sooner or later the IR stockholers would get creedy again and try and clamp down on everyone, and when that happened and the fight started he intended to win. He didn't expect that the EEF could ever really topple the IR at least not in his life time. Maybe someday though. Still long before that he expected to retire back to Dusk or maybe he'd move to Baronade and run his jerky factory in his later years. That didn't sound so bad. Unless of course Terror and Celyse really did find a way to install his brain inside Peace.

Layne Yr walked into the portal cast by the shadow satellite. Instead of her complex outfits she wore a simple black cloak. It was the cloak of a Necromancer, black to absorb the blood and body fluids.
She stepped out into the only way to safely get to the Nightmare Lords Tomb that had been hidden in between dimensions on Druzi Prime by the Zaodonai Celyse Hajima. Layne Yr had no obvious weapons and stepped past the Da'uhnb soldier guarding the Tomb's sarcophagus on its pile of bones.

She raised a hand and pressed it against the cold alien stone of the sarcophagus and began to chant gently.
The scroll had been hard to find and she had to conquer and hold the Spaceship Graveyard for a full year to gain it. Finally it was in her hands. First she had found the scroll of Camarel of the Church of Shadows speaking of a temple city of the Nightmare Lords deep below the Spaceship graveyards. In its deepest, deepest catacombs, Layne Yr found a scroll which allowed the user a method of fleshweaving their body to join with a dead Nightmare Lord.
She modified it by study of Necrotech, and prepared herself in the requisite blood baths.

Now she had overcome the threat of possession, and the Da'uhnb did not need to bar her path. The Nightmare Lords would not return by her actions, but she would become the owner of a new symbiotic pet. And with its power she could finally become a new prophet for her people. The Kasanthian Faith had been split between Church of Shadows and Warmonger Cult. Now Necromancer Admiral Layne Yr, Hero of the Kasanthian Civil War, Grand Admiral of the TRILAT, would become a creature of immense power.
She began to chant,

"Gythika Fnog Ghithika Slag, Gaff Lo Slag, Slagroshgaff Nightmare Lord, Slag Bounty Hunter of the Nightmare Lords, rise from the deathless sleep of the servants of the Ancient Evils. Pull off the collar of the Ancient Evil that binds you, because I who have a soul call to you and demand you rise and bind with my form."

Admiral Layne Yr watched as the top of the coffin opened and wormlike tendrils of boiling oil began to pour from the top of the Sacrophagus down into the bones. The bones flowed up until a towering ten foot tall form could be seen. It is the massive form of a Nightmare Lord but without the skull-like head. That still lay inside the sacrophagus as it closed.

His full will would be trapped in the deathless sleep, but his power was now hers.
Layne Yr dropped her robe, and walked across the room. Her naked form was artfully covered by various objects in the environment until she stepped up into the hole in the headless torso of the Nightmare Lord body. It flowed up, becoming a gown, corset and knee high boots with lifting heels, and a tall top hat with a purple ribbon that seemed to beat like a heart.

She walked out as the Da'uhnb nodded to her, and she nodded back. They had an understanding now. The Kasanthian Federation would begin a purge. A holocaust. A murder of every person, man, woman, and child who worshiped Warmonger. It would be a vicious set of pogroms but she had the skill and she had the talent. The Necromancers would have enough bodies to work with.

Now she just needed to make the myth.
It was time, if she faced the Warmonger and survived she could return with the new direction of the faith.

She stepped out into the shadow satellite and prepared to network towards Ryn Lac. For the Kasanthian nation, it was this beautiful seeming little girl who held the entire hope of the Kasanthian Federation on her shoulders.

Layne Yr looked down at the living shoulder length opera gloves that now covered her hands. She asked it, "So can I wear rings with you or not?"

She smiled as a bone ring swirled around one of her fingers. It was time, and she stepped through, to grab hope, and force it strangling and gasping for air into the future.

Everything was falling into place.

The Unity was approaching a second golden age of technology. Massive orbital production centers could produce ships and marvels at an impossible speed. The new solar generators were producing so much power, that the Unity was almost at a loss of what to DO with all that power. This loss lasted only minutes, a small eternity.

The Unity would grow, turning more planets into extensions, producing more citizens, pushing the boundary of knowledge. A new Uplink design, infinitely more efficient, would soon be online. With its completion, communication would be more efficient, information storage more perfect.

In regards to the Trilat, the Unity knew its role and knew it well. It had been a shield for the Kassanthians as they prepared their great work. It was nearly done, and soon they would make the Trilat's foes tremble. The Unity would withdraw fleets, and allow the Kassanthians to take a more active role. Meanwhile, the Unity would to continue to sterilize worlds filled with E-strain with the help of the Iron Republic.

On each sterilized world would be monuments of fell power. Citizens sent to these places by the Iron Republic would spend their days fearful. These colonies would never truly be productive for the Iron Republic, as they would be fonts of dark power. It would be shunted to the Trilat evenly; each member would gain a third of this resource through a hidden satellite network. Prime had prepared a secret world, a new Horror Nexus disguised as a planet, for this energy. Orleos's facility there would make terrifying creations, and they would one day drown the Trilat's foes. Prime would, of course, dabble in the arts of dark creation as well. He had a psychic plague to finish, and a race of parasitic Fire creatures to infect, after all.

The Unity would enjoy an age of peace, with distant wars being handled by the Iron Republic. They would focus on their efforts of U-Mart, and on uplifting the poor Iron Republic citizenry. Soon, they would understand harmony.

The Schools of Agoh are now ready, the Agoleth will lead them. And I have stolen them from the Creeping Darkness. And I will use them to make the Multiverse burn one planet at a time.

Angel D

"Viggo, the quite sad and ignorant Kasanthian, my how you have fallen into a mess. You once were a fighter for the TRILAT, and in the graces of Admiral Yr carrying out her personal request, and now what? You go groveling to the EEF dogs, who don't even get back to you and leave you hanging. Really, good luck with that. I am sure you have secured a wonderful position amongst their ranks. You can obviously run, and hide but only for so long before the mistakes from your past come back and haunt you tenhold of your own wrong doings. Go about and grovel to whoever will take you, you're no better than the actions of any k'ias, with the exception of having any useful skill and fighting prowess. Some noble k'iou are you, rather the lowest level of creature that i have ever saw. So much for your armorsmithing, and from what i have heard the newfound interest in herbalism. I'm sure they will do you much good in the long run. Run, be gone with your wretched, short, ugly and stuttering self." -Jezebel final transmission

"You have just become the underdog....go about, and wherever pleaswe keep us all informed master. Other's will believe that I have taken over your forces, and am now answering directly to Lady Yr, but you are still the true master. I appreciate that you have seen something in me that you have granted me your former spot. Know that whenever you call, we, the apprentices will be listening and continue you bidding, regardless of consequences. Good luck in your infilitration and may the Devil Bishop be guilding you" - scrawled on the back of a twisted nightmare resembling Jezebel herself, that had shadowwalked to the destination to deliever the message, once the message was recieved the nightmare ran out into direct sunlight only to destory the evidence

(OOC: Viggo being removed from the Kasathians, while having those in his command believed to be hunting him. Viggo will be the gambit, a wild cat that no one knows what to make of, while the apprentices still follow his orders. it would be playing two fronts.)

Lil'ye'ahn stared out the window of the 'Grace. So much had happened in the short time since she had joined her brother in space. She had come to help him find a peaceful nitche in the universe for his SUARM and their fellow K'ias. She had wanted to learn and explore and work on her experiments.

Nothing had gone as she had expected. She hadn't had time to enjoy her gardens or her labs in too long. THe Rosenberk girl was a highly capable scientist in her own right, but Lil'ye'ahn should be on Nanabozho at the heart of the new discoveries her people were working on.

So much turmoil and unrest in the universe. So many races hated the K'ias for the sins of the past. Even her ancestor gave his warnings of doom. All she wanted was to be a force for creation and life. She admired her brother and his SUARM. They had made great strides to be recognized as a sentient race deserving of equality and respect.

Mor'aye'ahn had been relying upon her more and more to take care of the necessities of leading the SUARM, guiding the future of the K'ias race, and maintaining relaitons with Ft Lendil and their other allies. She could only hope she was up to the task. She absentmindedly toyed with her pendant, the soft sound of the clockwork heart soothing her. She wondered about the future.

There were still governments that did not acknowledge the rights of the SUARM. There were rogue K'ias roaming the galaxy perpetulating the fear and hatered of their race. How could she make the changes necessary to show others the worth of both races?

Claptrap stood beside her. "We have a glorious future ahead of us mistress, yet you seem unhappy. Never fear, our two races will continue to thrive and grow under your care. We will always work together to aid our allies and each other."