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[Iituem]

A surprising resolution to the week long general strike was found today in the Rift sector.  As many of you know, the wraither population of the recently conquered Rift worlds has been having problems integrating into the human dominated structure of DisBarr government, ending in a general strike, led by the workers of the Armament Industry, on all 3 worlds until equal representation is given.

Former Archon Voclaw DisBarr has attempted to take a page out of Emperor Maldevious' III book and challenged the leader of the the wraithers, Magnar Alarik of the Magenta Dynasty, to a duel in exchange for retaining the status quo.  He did not fare as well, however, and was defeated in personal combat.  Archon Alarik has opted to retain Voclaw DisBarr as an advisor, but he has seized the Archonate by law and custom.

Ironically, the changes imposed by Archon Alarik have now reversed the unequal conditions and much of the human population is now suffering in brutal serfdom beneath their Wraither masters.  With the Wraithers as the dominant race in these worlds, we can expect to see a general shift in focus from military to engineering matters among the populace.

House DisBarr is now ruled by the Magenta Dynasty and known as the Magenta-DisBarr.
The dominant race of Magenta-DisBarr has changed to Wraither.
Magenta-DisBarr's score has been reset to 4.25, down from 8.75.
One of the captured riftworlds has been renamed Magenta.

[monk12]

Spoiler: Fluff spoilered for length (click to show/hide)

"Greetings fellow Archons. Worlds under human control are more likely to produce military experts. Worlds under Pra'Grue control are more likely to produce Psions. We need Psions far more than we need military experts should we survive this quarter."

Archon Kyros Toron IV, High Seat of House Toron, Darkwatcher of the Galactic Empire, First Speaker of Lynheim... well, First Speaker no longer. By order of the Emperor, that honor now rests with Archon Ka'al'Impral, who was given governorship of House Toron's ancestral worlds, assigned the task of imposing Pra'Grue rule on the humans living there in an effort to produce additional Psions for the Empire. Though it was bitter to leave Lynheim's jagged peaks to languish under alien rule, Kyros was forced to acknowledge that the survival of the Empire likely rested on this administrative change.

He wondered, however, if the Emperor was aware of the irony of giving House Toron governorship of the Axarite worlds.

The shuttle touched down in the desert just outside Ixia, the administrative center of Axar IV. Kyros had to admit that Ixia was an impressive city, a sprawling metropolis carved into an imposing mesa. Stepping out of the shuttle, Kyros could see that the desert was studded with odd crystalline rock formations, refracting the morning sunlight into a purple tinge across the landscape. Kyros knew from his studies that the translucent purple rock was called Axarite by the Axars, and was common across Axar IV. While it lacked any truly useful qualities, it had a large influence in Axarite aesthetics and culture, representing the union of Sun and Stone.

A small delegation stepped forward to greet Kyros. At first Kyros thought they had sent no reporters or other media representatives, but then saw a small group of Axarites discreetly recording the meeting on tiny cameras. No microphones were in evidence, but perhaps those were concealed on the bodies of the approaching diplomats.

The Axarite delegation bowed, then touched their clawed hands to head, lips, and heart. The oldest Axarite stepped forward, swathed in officious yellow robes and wearing a simple golden circlet. An intricately carved piece of Axarite hung from the circlet, resting on his forehead. Kyros self-consciously rubbed his hand over his shaved head; Axarites were given to very little body hair, with none on their head, a marked difference from the fashions of Lynheim. Kyros had cut the hair on his head to adapt to their ways, but had drawn the line at shaving his eyebrows.

"On behalf of the Armed Forces of Axar IV, the Axarite Mercantile Association, and the Faithful of the Axarite people, it is my duty as High Priest of Theogn to greet Kyros Toron the man." The aged Axarite intoned. His head abruptly cocked to one side. "Does House Toron maintain the faith?"

Kyros steeled himself. He could feel them trying to creep into his mind, just as the old legends said they could. Firmly, he closed himself from them; they could not take his soul if he remained strong of will. "House Toron keeps the faith, and comes to claim these lands in the name of the Empire. We do not come to conquer, or oppress; Axarite laws will remain in effect, and local Axarite government and practices will continue as before." And Theogn knows, those "practices" could gag a goat.

The High Priest scraped his claws together noisily; a sign of approbation, if an unnerving one. "Then Axar IV welcomes and accepts the rule of House Toron, for so long as they display this wisdom." A half dozen Axarites rose from concealed positions around the shuttle, sheathing long daggers as they hurried back in the direction of Ixia. Kyros waved to the shuttle entrance, and his personal guard moved away from their own firing positions, taking up a defensive ring around Kyros. They did not holster their firearms, though Kyros did slip the ceremonial dagger he had been carrying back into its sheath.

The ceremony appeared to be over; the delegation of Axarites began walking back toward Ixia. A handful of younger Axarites remained behind; functionaries to show Kyros to the Consulate, and to assist the transfer of power. Much of the Axarite government was still in shambles after the Conclave assassination strike, and Kyros would spend the rest of the day repairing the command structure of Axar IV. Though it was tempting to fill the holes with trusted men from Lynheim, Kyros was determined to work alongside the Axarites, and not impose human rule on them. The cold truth was that he couldn't afford to suppress their Psions if he was to meet the Empire's need for Shipyards and Intelligence Hubs, and that meant doing things in the Axarite fashion.

Theogn help him, he would act as the Axarites did, even if it meant a return to Toron's dark past.

[Weirdsound]

Emperor Vinci appears once more on the Council Channels. He appears to be in a lower class cabin on some sort of civilian transport ship. "Alright. The basics of my plan our in place. There is one detail I am still undecided on at this point, but I can give a basic summary at this point. But first, we must deal with the administrative issues of the excess worlds under direct imperial control. My decrees are as follows..."

The Shifting Shadowmaster Act: House Toron Will Immediately surrender all worlds under their control and relocate at once to the worlds in the rift that have been seized from the Axar.

The Centralizing Imperial Intelligence Act: The planet Kalipha and its intelligence centers will be added at once to the imperial demesne.

The Psion Output Prioritization Act: The four other worlds abandoned by House Toron will fall under control of House Ka'al. House Ka'al assumes the responsibility of preserving sites of religious significance to the Toron Dynasty.

The Cluster Worlds Allocation Act: The recently captured forge-world in the Cluster will be Assigned to House Visarian; they my re-christen it as they please. The imperial Shipyard of Beta will be Assigned to the Imperial House of Carrowspiel. One of the two Captured General Worlds will be assigned to House Dapperon; they my re-christen it as they please. The remaining General World will represent the Cluster in the imperial demesne; It will be re-christened Eldred in memory of the late Archon and Emperor of House Crow.

The Imperial Demesne in the Core Act: One of the Dynasties of the Core will give up a world to the imperial demesne, so that sector may properly be represented in the Imperium. If no house volunteers a world, one will be selected at random when the council is closed.

The Emperor holds an outstretched hand and stares into the camera, his eyes glowing a gentle green. "I will also be making a personal contribution to the Empire from my own House. Three Carrowspiel Engineers and Three Carrowspiel laborers will work with Military and Psion experts from the imperial demense to settle a new world to serve as a capitol for the Empire. The exact coordinates of the new capitol will be kept top secret until such a time our foes discover it by their own devices."

Bah. I'll post this now because Toron already posted. Plan Information coming soon... Please continue to hold on your construction plans.

[Weirdsound]

Once more the emperor appears on screen. He seems to have found a seat more befiting someone of his rank this time, but it can still be easily determined that he is in some sort of cobbled together colony ship. "My plan, as I first formed it, was not terribly dissimilar from what the Hyssissian Territories came up with. I thought we could stockpile Outposts and shipyards in one sector and hold off the Conclave there. Sadly I have discovered that this would be improbable. We only have the engineers to build 2 Outposts, 2 Shipyards, or one of each. The best case situation is we match up 12 of our ships against 30 of theirs in the sky, and in all likelihood the odds will be worse than that. Those are not odds I'd be willing to bet the empire on."

Vinci closes his LED eyes briefly, before opening them to reveal a burning red glow. "My fellow Archons. Defense against their navy is very nearly impossible. So... we will not defend against their navy. We attack."

The emperor lets out a faint chuckle. "Darkwatcher Toron's reports, and our basic understanding of the battle has been quite enlightening. We have seen the Conclave's field orders. They prefer to capture instead of bombard, and their army is smaller than our own. I suspect they aim to dismantle imperial resistance by getting rid of our shipyards and the worlds of the Imperial Demesne by any means they can, but would much rather take our worlds intact. This is an assumption, but I'd rather risk the empire on an assumption backed by a bit of observed behavior than a naval battle with a 3:1 disadvantage."

Raising his hands the Oni plays the audio of a deep human sigh. "What we are going to do is smash their invasion with our superior army, and counterattack with our own modest fleet and our remaining troops. They left themselves completely open last quarter, and I see no reason why they wouldn't do so again. We are on the ropes. The last thing we should be doing is attacking. Which makes this the perfect time to do so."

Vinci places his hands together and folds his fingers together, doing his best to look dignified. "The Conclave will be able to slag whatever they choose to slag under this plan. Below are a few insurance polices to protect the holdings and prestige of the Archons in case the Conclave turns out to be a bit more trigger happy with the bombardment than we expect them to be. We will need all armies, supply, and intelligence the empire can spare to pull this off. Assuming we are able to discover their troop movements, I will put an overwhelming defensive force wherever they decide to send their own armies."

The Shipyards Now Act: The Empire Seizes all 10 Engineers in the possession of individual Archons for the Construction of Shipyards. The Empire Seizes 1 Psion from each of the following houses: House Do'Phe, House Dapperon, Magenta-DisBarr, and Imperial House Carrowspiel. The Empire will shortly order the construction of 2 new shipyards using the seized resources. One will be placed on the new Hidden Capitol, and the location of the other will be decided shortly. The emperor will consider the advice of the council in deciding where the second shipyard is placed.

The Fairness of Prestige During Wartime Act: No Major House may have less than five or more than eight prestige.

The Rewards of Martyrdom Act: Any Major House that loses all of its territory via attack or bombardment from the Conclave is entitled to at least two worlds provided by the empire, as soon as it is convenient to provide said worlds.

End of Construction Moratorium: The Archons of the Empire are now free to spend their remaining experts as they see fit.

The Emperor's eyes glow a soft green. "My brothers, Eldred said sacrifices would have to be made. It has become painstakingly clear this sacrifice will likely be made in worlds slagged. My plan is risky and audacious, but if all goes well and the Conclave behaves as expected, we will gain more worlds then we lose. This quarter, we show those bastards what happens when you back the empire into a corner. May we last another 1000 years!"

---

House Carrowspiel Donates all Non-Moral resources to the empire!

[a1s]

House Magenta-DisBarr donates 6 armies to the Empire

[monk12]

Kyros Toron settles himself into his new audience chamber, having donned the ceremonial yellow and green robes of First Consul of the Axar Coalition. Veins of pale Axarite crystal in the walls allow natural sunlight to filter into the room (albeit of a purple hue,) even though Kyros is secure deep within the Ixian Mesa. Though the Axarites are of shorter stature than most humans, they were able to provide a suitable throne for the new Consul; an imposing thing of Axarite carved with suns, inlaid with gold. It was not a particularly comfortable chair, however; Kyros squashed the notion of asking for a cushion.

Kyros sits up straight, addressing the Imperial Council. "House Toron would like to once again call on the Archons of the Empire to generate what Intelligence they can on behalf of the Empire. As you can see, our war plan relies on maneuver and subterfuge; if we do not know the actions of the Conclave fleet, or the location of their worlds, the plan will fail. I once again ask House Do'Phe, House Crow, House Visarian, and House Magenta-DisBarr to donate their remaining Intelligence to the cause."

"Beyond that, I would personally advise the Archons assembled here to work together to build Intelligence Hubs with our remaining Psions. We have enough to build two, as well as more than enough Military specialists to complement them. Intelligence Hubs will give us more Psions for Shipyards on future turns, and will also provide an invaluable Intelligence boost. Every point gained could be the difference between victory, and not surviving this quarter."

House Toron donates all non-Morale Resources to the Empire

Kyros nods, picking up his datapad. "Finally, House Toron would like to offer some thoughts on the location of our new Shipyard. It should not be in the same Sector as the Shipyard we already possess, in order to force the Conclave to split their forces to attack both. This rules out the Cluster. It should also not share a Sector with other targets of opportunity, for much the same reason; thus, the Reach is unsuitable due to the Intelligence Hub already constructed there. Additionally, the bulk of the remaining Psions available to the Archonate are currently located in the Core, along with plenty of military specialists; thus, it is likely that at least one Intelligence Hub can and should be constructed there, suggesting that the Core would not be an ideal candidate for a Shipyard."

Kyros makes a placating gesture. "The Houses of the Rift do not have the specialists to build an Intelligence Hub this quarter, unless the other Archons are generous enough to send them to us in exchange for building the Shipyard in their Sector. Because we lack any specialist Worlds, and because we are unlikely to build any this quarter, the Rift is the most logical location for the new Shipyard. House Toron humbly supports House Magenta-DisBarr as the best location for the new Shipyard."

[a1s]

A young looking wraither speaks up.
"House Magenta-DisBarr wishes to inform to inform honorable archon of Toron that they had plans to construct an intelligence Hub. We are however willing to delay construction until such time as it becomes prudent.
It would also request that houses forcibly volunteering specialists to the grand imperial plan of building more Shipyards (especially House Ka'al with 3, and Carrowspiel with 4) be reimbursed with military specialists. House Magenta-DisBarr is willing to provide 8 of them (plus the 2 that were taken to make 10) in exchange for the specialists and honor of building a shipyard of our own."

[Weirdsound]

Vinci blinks, and cradles his chin on his palm in contemplation. "House Ka'al just got four planets. I don't think they should require further reimbursement at this time. Three of the engineers from my own house were used for the founding of the new hidden capitol, my gift to the empire, so I would not ask any compensation for those. That leaves just seven experts that have been taken without fair compensation. I was just planning to take what has been taken by the empire into consideration when dealing with captured planets next quarter, but if I give you the second shipyard, I'll take Magenta-DisBarr on the offer of Military experts. I will leave the floor open for discussion on this matter a bit longer before I make my decision."

[GreatWyrmGold]

The Ka'al representative does as best an imitation of a bow as he can, as well as the more typical Pra'Grue gesture. "I and my house are honored by you, Great Emperor."

Donate any resources save Morale to the Empire, as desired by the Emperor.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

"House Do'Phe should point that Da'ki II is one of the better places for the placement of the new Empire founded shipyard, even if it is obvious that we'll put the place where a large chunk of my race resides under the threat of conquest or bombardment. Still we, Dolons, are soldiers and ready to die for the Empire

Everyone should know that we are one of the better pilots in the history, so let us build motherships, we know how to do them right, we have centuries of experience in piloting, and remains of Jade Dynasty have engineering experience
Also, I must note, that our world is aquatic, It will make it  harder to conquer  by conventional means.

More importantly, House Do'Phe will provide an arid planet inhabited predominately by Wraithers, as we are sure that it will serve Empire better than us

Donate all resources but morale to empire
Donate, (world) to Imperial Demesne


We don't ask for a reward, but I would lie if I'd say that we do not hope for one. I think that it would be wise move  to make house Do'Phe the only house in the Core with the right to build and own shipyards, during the war and after it. As I said earlier, we are qualified for the job

[Leafsnail]

Donate all non-morale resources to the Empire.

"While I agree that we should attempt to seize the available conclave shipyard, I am concerned about allowing the Conclave to seize or destroy ours.  We should leave a reasonable defense force to try and ensure that our open shipyards are not taken."

[Weirdsound]

Vinci looks at his fellow Oni and shakes his head sadly. "From what we can tell, our amy can squash theirs, but their fleet can squash ours. We can defend our words from capture with our armies, but they have so many ships trying to prevent them from being able to slag us would be an exercise in futility. Still, if they go completely undefended and split their fleet enough, we may be able to put up a fight in a single quadrant. It all depends on what the intel reports say."

The emperor turns his attention to the representative from Do'Phe. "Your offer of a World for the Imperium has been accepted, and you will be rewarded with a choice cut of the spoils in the Core should our plan succeed. As of right now, I have no reason to mistrust any of the houses present, so although I will likely taking direct control of shipyard construction during this time of crisis, I will seriously consider easing up shipyard restrictions once the situation stabilizes. You will have your shipyard soon enough; it might even be the old capital, but for now I think I will take on the offer of Magenta-DisBarr. 8 Military Specialists for the honor of housing the second shipyard."

Build a Shipyard With Imperial Resources on an Un-named DisBarr World
Build a Shipyard on the new hidden Capital Colony
Accept Do'Phe's offer of (World). Rechristen it 'Defiance' and add it to the Imperial Demesne
Accept Magenta-DisBarr's offer to reimburse houses other than Ka'al and Carrowspiel who lost specialists to the imperium for its shipyards with their Military specialists


The emperor presses a few buttons to update the schedule on each Archon's display. "I think I will give Archons about another 24 hours to donate resource for my plans and try to get an intel center up. Then I will announce some cabinet appointments and close this meeting."

[a1s]

house Magenta-DisBarr donates the resulting 4 ships to the empire

[Ardas]

Donate all resources to the empire, save for morale.

[Ghazkull]

The otherwise dark massive underground bunker was illuminated by the greenish light of the growth vats. The Officer with Archon Karl-Heinz next to him were inspecitng the newly bred regiments for the Grey Guard. Nodding and murmuring to himself the Officer signs something off on a clip board while inspecting a batch of fetuses swimming freely in the greenish fluid which nourished them.

"Batch 335 Gamma seems almost ready for decantation. Expected Quality Gamma." Karl-Heinz only grunted at that. The Recent loss of Capital Worlds and Conclave Invasion has led to a frenzied rise of in production for new Regiments. Growth Chemicals had been added and the laws of what was allowed in Genetic Engineering had been stretched...which led to an decrease in the quality of Batches. They already had reached a 5% Threshold of Batches which needed to be discarded...over Fifty Thousand new Recruits down the drain.

He continued with the Recruitment Officer through the fields of Artificial Uteri, inspecting thousands of potential new members for the army...

____________________________

In Unison thousands of boots marched off to leave their home, onwards, to bring Death to the Foes of the Emperor. At the Call of Emperor Carrowspiel House Crow had Donated Fifty New Regiments for the Cause. Although quite well equipped one could see that the Grey Guard was scraping the Bottom of the Barrel. The Increased Hunger for Soldiers has led to rubberstamping Even Beta Quality Batches into the fighting force...a thing unheard of in the Grey Guard. Even the Training Times had been shortened and several Regiments still in Training had been graduated before their Time. Thousands of fourteen year olds were leaving for war...


House Crow Donates 5 Intelligence, 5 Armies and 2 Supplies to the Cause.