Stellaris 42,000: The Imperium Reformatus - As Ever in the Grim Dark Future, There is Only War

[Silver_Man4567(Backup)]

The Blorg be like

 

[Arithmetician]

In spite of the heavy fleet losses in the Algorab system, some good news came with the rediscovery of Mega-Engineering techniques. Now, not only did this open the possibility of reconstructing the Ring of Iron that had once surrounded Mars and served as the Imperium’s greatest shipyard, but it would allow the building of megastructures never before seen in the Imperium.

This was shortly followed by a breakthrough in Climate Restoration techniques, which would allow Mars itself to be colonized once again.

Meanwhile, the Great Assimilator finished absorbing the Prikkiki-Ti into its collective. It would soon turn its attention to the Sacred Tribunal of Kyaikton, leading to war between the two great powers of the Eastern Fringe. Many in the Imperium privately sighed in relief at the news. It would take the Great Assimilator time to conquer an empire as large as powerful as the Tribunal. During that time, the Great Assimilator would be unlikely to split its focus with an invasion of the Imperium.

The Algorab bastion, which had only barely remained in the Imperium’s possession, finally fell to a new attack by Tzeentchian forces.

With the fall of the Algorab bastion, New Cadia once again became the Imperium’s primary line of defense against Tzeentchian incursions into its core worlds. Those between Algorab and New Cadia were on their own, at least until Imperial battle fleets could reinforce them.

Sethano continued to invest heavily in New Cadia’s defenses, and was extremely popular there. The inhabitants even unveiled a statue of her on 01.24.285M43. It was soon noticed that some of the locals treated the statue as an object of veneration, something Sethano disapproved of, but she knew better than to suppress such customs by force, when the people of New Cadia sincerely wanted to serve her (and by far more important extension, the Imperium) in whatever way they could.

A ruined Science Nexus and what appeared to be the assembly site for a previous, short-lived Galactic Community was discovered in the Extanaught System, on the far side of the Rigel Gate. Unfortunately, the Imperium lacked the ability to claim the system for the time being, and the Great Assimilator’s borders were creeping ever closer to it...

Imperial exploration of Segementum Pacificus finally began in earnest. The Segmentum had long been cut off to Imperial vessels, due to a lack hyperlanes leading there, but Explorator science vessels were finally able to make a Jump to the the Tiralam System. True to the Segmentum’s name, no fighting had occurred there thus far, but the Tzeentchians were starting to spread south into the rest of it.

The Tzeentchians were not to be permitted to take Segmentum Pacificus uncontested, so further effort to chart and colonize the region were planned.

And finally, on 01.22.286M43, efforts to restore Holy Terra to its former glory were finally completed, with the completion of reconstruction efforts on its final arcology districts.

No, Sethano thought... not just to its former glory. Much of the ecumenopolis’s ancient ruins had been beyond repair, so she had taken the opportunity to update and modernize the infrastructure from Holy Terra from the ground up. Everything was cleaner, safer, more efficient, and grander in scale than it had been before. There was still plenty of ignorance and superstition, but under her leadership, learning and progress were the orders of the day. More had been accomplished in mere decades than twelve millennia, revitalizing an Imperium that had been a walking corpse. Holy Terra now coruscated against the darkness of space, the glittering jewel of the reformed Imperium.

But Sethano knew that her greatest work was yet to come. With the restoration of the Forge World Principal of Mars underway, and concurrent repairs to the precursor shipyards in the Grunur System, the Imperium would soon be able to produce warships on a scale not seen since the Great Crusade.

And that, of course, was her goal. The rest of the galaxy could not be allowed to remain in darkness, ignorance, and in a cycle of unending, destructive conflict.

“It is not exactly the same Imperium that you sought to build,” Sethano thought to the visage of the Emperor in her mind’s eye. “But the essence of the project, a galaxy safe for an enlightened humanity, remains the same. I have simply adjusted the particulars. It is a more flexible approach, designed to account for the realities that the Imperium faces today."

The Emperor said nothing, but Sethano felt something rumbling, in a maddening realm beyond that which her ordinary senses could perceive... but also within herself, and humanity as a whole. It was building up, and soon like a dam, it would be unleashed. When it did, it would happen as quickly as switch being flipped. And instinctively, Sethano knew that it was tied to her terrible purpose.

And that purpose was far more than just a new Great Crusade, which would cause devastation on an galactic scale before bringing about a new era of peace and prosperity for humanity.

Soon, the entire galaxy would discover it for themselves and tremble.

But she had to fight off the Tzeentchians first.

 

[Arithmetician]

The Tzeentchian attack came next at Epsilon Indi.

A pitched battle ensued as the Tzeentchians closed in.

At significant cost, Battlefleet Solar prevailed, wiping out the the large majority of the Tzeentchian fleet.

But the Tzeentchians weren’t done, and laid siege to Last Exit in the Rana system.

A Battlefleet was deployed to drive the Tzeentchians off.

The war continued to go back and forth, with the Second Battle of Epsilon Indi following soon thereafter.

The Tzeentchians tried to lay siege to Last Exit again, leading to the Third Battle of Rana.

Yet amid the fighting, something unprecedented in the history of the Imperium occurred. The number of Psykers in the Imperium had gradually increased over time, but overnight, large numbers of humans suddenly began manifesting psychic powers where they had not shown any such affinity before. Psykers still remained a small minority of the population, but compared to their almost insignificant numbers before, it was estimated that as much as 5% of all humans might have become Psykers, whether they knew it themselves yet or not.

Normally, this would be incredibly dangerous for the Imperium, as untrained Psykers could easily have their minds taken over by dameons and serve as gateways for the foul agents of Chaos to enter the Materium, potentially dooming entire worlds. But these Psykers were markedly different than any who came before. It was seemingly not by any conscious effort on most of their parts, but they seemed to have an innate degree of control over their own powers that was sufficient to render daemonic possession all but impossible unless they willingly sold their souls to the Ruinous Powers.

Sethano knew deep within her soul that this was only the beginning of something far greater.

It was happening at last.

Humanity was becoming a psychic species.

And now that the floodgates to psychic talent were open, it wouldn’t be much longer before the dam burst.

 

[Arithmetician]

The Imperium was still in an uproar with the presence of so many Psykers suddenly in its midst that it went unnoticed to all but the most important leaders in the Imperium that there were reports of the mysterious Gray Tempest vanquishing an ancient threat in a distant star system.

Then again, there would have been a problem if the ordinary people had heard such reports of the Tempest, as any rumors of its movements were censored throughout the Imperium.

Sethano wished that her fellow Lords of Terra would take the potential threat posed by the Tempest more seriously though.

“Ah, yes, the ‘Gray Tempest’,” one of them said lazily. “An ancient race of self-replicating abominable intelligences, allegedly from beyond the galaxy. We have dismissed that claim."

Their lack of imagination infuriated her. Though even her own spy networks had turned up scant intelligence on the Tempest. All that Sethano could presume was that the galaxy’s other powers had managed to keep the Tempest contained within their own borders... for now.

And ultimately, Sethano had to admit that they had more pressing matters to attend to, like the destruction of Battlefleets Solar and Centauri in the disastrous Battle of Porrima.

The Imperium’s Forge Worlds and shipyards worked overtime to rebuild the Imperial Navy, and just in time to avenge the defeat at Porrima in the Fourth Battle of Rana.

But there was no respite for the Imperium, or for the wicked. The Hereteks made a pact with the mighty Necron Dynasties to work together to exterminate both the T’au Empire and the Imperium once and for all.

As ever in the grim dark future, there would only be war.

 

[Arithmetician]

Sethano was glad that there were few stable hyperlanes that led into the Imperium’s core worlds. Any Tzeentchian or Necron invasion would have to pass through the orbital bastion in 40 Eridani, and disable the Hyperwarp Inhibitors built into the Fortresses that dotted New Cadia in order to leave the system, which she made sure to personally inspect.

It was fortunate that the defenses were so formidable, as the Tzeentchians had sent two more fleets to invade Imperial space.

At the same time, the Hereteks were making their own push to invade the Capella System.

The efforts of Sethano’s spy networks paid off, as her agents were able to steal powerful Necron void shielding technology to use against them.

Imperial military infrastructure also continued to advance. A Ring of Iron now surrounded Holy Terra. Another Ring would be constructed around Mars, once its forges were fully back online, but for now, the Ring would provide more room for Holy Terra’s war industries.

Reports came in that the Great Assimilator had invaded an begun to occupy the Kyaikton System. Before long, the Tribunals’s capital would be fully assimilated into the Blorg.

The T’au bore the brunt of the Necron invasion. Even if the Imperium had been inclined to help (and many among the High Lords just wanted to let the T’au die), it could not do so - the Tzeentchians were between the T’au and the Imperium.

The Necrons would not have to go far before they had reached T’au itself.

But even if the Necrons were to defeat the T’au, Sethano would never allow the Imperium to fall to such profane beings.

 

[Arithmetician]

The dam burst sooner than Sethano could have predicted. It was over before anyone could realize what had happened, but the Imperium had been forever transformed.

Every single human being throughout the galaxy was now a Psyker.

Needless to say, hiding the existence of Psykers from the public was completely impossible now. And while most had enough innate control of their powers to prevent daemonic possession, they would still require training to hone their powers. Even if they could prevent daemons from taking over their minds, that didn’t stop their powers from potentially being dangerous to themselves or others if misused.

Sethano initiated a program of compulsory education for all human subjects of the Imperium to ensure that they would receive this training.

As for Sethano herself... it felt that she had known of the power that she now wielded and unconsciously tapped into it all along.

And in a sense, she had.

The visage and recollections of the Emperor, the Greatest Human Psyker ever to live, had been in her mind since her childhood.

And it quickly became apparent that she was the most powerful living Psyker in the present-day Imperium, with the sole exception of the Emperor, who was slowly dying on his Golden Throne, and had been for millennia.

It wasn’t even a contest, and her powers were only growing by the day.

She could see so much more clearly now... even past the Shroud that separated the Materium from the Immaterium.

Others would be driven mad by the Warp.

But not her.

The torments that she had endured since her earliest memories had hardened her will, so not even the seething chaos of the Immaterium fazed her now.

Sethano sensed multiple dark presences within the Immaterium, eyeing her, seeking to devour the intruder into their midst.

But then, they recoiled from her.

“How can it be?” the Dark Gods seemed to ask themselves.

A familiar presence wrapped itself around Sethano, guiding her forward.

“Anathema!” the Ruinous Powers hissed.

Sethano smiled. The Emperor’s protection was with her... as it always had been.

 

[steptioit08]

For The Emperor!!!

 

[Chilango2]

Well, then, things have changed quite a bit in a short period of time. Looks like a new Imperial Golden Age is on the horizon.

 

[Silver_Man4567(Backup)]

I have a feeling that the rest of the story will go like this:
Emperor of Mankind will die, and there are no heirs left as they’re all dead, so Sethano is elected to take the throne to become Empress of Mankind (Your in-game empire will change to an imperial government system).
From this point on, there are 5 different routes that the story will take:
1. Your empire will be destroyed by its enemies and humanity as a whole will die (Bad Ending).
2. The Blorg declare war on you and assimilate you (Blorg Ending).
3. You’re able to defend humanity and conquer the rest of the galaxy (Exterminatus Ending).
4. You become the crisis and wipe out the entire galaxy (Extreme Exterminatus Ending).
5. You SOMEHOW become Galactic Custodian and SOMEHOW become Empress of the Galaxy. This last choice also has 5 endings, them being:
1. The End Game Crisis comes along and wipes everyone out or just you (Badder Ending).
2. The galaxy revolts and overthows you (Worst Ending).
3. The galaxy revolts but fail to overthrow you (This just leads back to this same collection of choices again).
4. Nothing else really happens until the victory year (Boring Ending).
5. You vassalize the whole galaxy and eventually integrate them into your empire and the game ends. This last choice also can lead you to do 2 choices, which will determine what type of species humanity has become in the end, these two choices being:
1. Just live with the aliens and be friends (Heresy Ending).
2. Purge the xeno scum (Perfect Ending).
Either that or I am very dumb and have no clue.

 

[Arithmetician]

There was no question that Sethano Horst would continue to reign with primacy over the other High Lords of Terra as the Imperium’s de facto mortal ruler. And within a few short years, Sethano would also come to assume the title of Lady Commander of the Imperium, giving her supreme authority over the Imperium’s armed forces, and the concurrent title of Imperial Regent, granting her likewise absolute authority over the Imperium’s civil affairs.

Such dictatorial powers were needed as preparations for humanity’s true return to galactic dominance accelerated at an ever-increasing pace. By all accounts of of the ordinary citizens of the Imperium, Sethano was seen as a benevolent and holy leader, while any opponents among the High Lords were swiftly removed. Many had long thought that Sethano acted according to the Emperor’s will, but as the Imperial Regent, her words were legally the same as the Emperor’s own voice now.

The war continued to go poorly for the T’au, with their homeworld falling to the Necron advance.

However, the Imperium won a crushing victory against the Tzeentchians in the Rana System, destroying much of their fleet.

Meanwhile, Admiral Veceslav Valinov lead Battlefleet Sothis in a stunning defenses of Beta Comae Bernices against multiple Heretek fleets in his first major battle, quickly earning the attention and commendation of the Lady Commander.

Meanwhile, new titanic battleships entered production in the Imperium’s Forge Worlds, adding to its growing military might.

The Tzeentchians continued to launch incursions, but the Imperial Navy steadfastly pushed them back time and again.

Pressing his advantage, Admiral Valinov brought the fight to to the Hereteks along the southern front, winning another victory in the Capella System.

A counteroffensive was launched along the northern front as well, retaking Algorab.

Heretek space became increasingly chaotic as Admiral Valinov pushed deeper into Heretek Space. The Pollux System was awash with roiling yet nebulous energies from the Warp.

With Valinov’s string of victories, the Imperium was ready to invade the Heretek’s worlds and purge them of the taint of the Dark Mechanicum. Inquisitor Yevdokiya Karamazov, named after the infamous Pyrophant Judge of Salem Proctor from M41, eagerly looked forward to the task.

Using Jump Drives, a surprise attack was launched on the Tzeentchian home system.

The attack, however, was doomed. While the Tzeentchians had taken staggering losses in recent battles, they had fresh reinforcements in nearby systems, and moved in with a Juggernaut for the kill.

Sethano received much better news from the southern front. Admiral Valinov had smashed Heretek defenses in the Castor System, a critical objective for the campaign, though Inquisitor Karamazov and the commanders under her would still have to take the three inhabited moons of Castor III.

Fortunately, the foul Hereteks were no match for human wave tactics.

Before long, the moons of Castor III were firmly under Imperial control, and the systematic extermination of the surviving Hereteks hiding on them could begin in earnest, to the delight of the Inquisitor.

And at last, the Ring of Iron around Mars was fully restored. Its vast planetary dockyards would tremendously boost the Imperium’s shipbuilding capabilities, and make possible astonishing economies of scales.

The Lady Commander knew that it was a time for celebration.

With the taking of the Castor System from the foul forces of Chaos, she declared the Final Crusade to have officially begun.

The Imperium would not rest until it ruled the entire galaxy.

 

[DukeShasta]

And thus the Imperium's counteroffensive begins. Will it succeed? Or will the hordes of foes that populate the galaxy come together and destroy the last bastions of humanity? Only time will tell

 

[Arithmetician]

Admiral Valinov continued pushing deeper and deeper into Heretek space, crushing the enemy at Aldebaran.

Meanwhile, Sethano decreed that a strike force consisting of two fleets was to jump to the Propus System in the former T’au Empire, now almost entirely under Necron control. If the Necrons were able to complete their extermination of the T’au, they would turn to the Imperium next, as it was still prosecuting its wars against the Hereteks and Tzeentchians. As a purely practical matter, ensuring the continued survival of the T’au would mean that the Necrons would be forced to commit more resources to the front, and that was in the Imperium’s best interest for now.

This was especially important considering how many worlds the Necron Dynasties now ruled, a vast empire in the galactic north.

It would also buy the Imperium time to conduct repairs on the wrecked Attack Moon in the Euros System.

Individual Necron fleets were more powerful than those the Imperium had deployed, so careful planning would be required to draw them out or slip past them as both Imperial Battlfleets moved toward the Wenkwort System, home to a former T’au sector capital.

Meanwhile, efforts had begun to chart a path to the worlds hidden in the chaotic Galactic Core.

Back on the Southern front, Admiral Valinov won yet another overwhelming victory against the foul Hereteks.

All was proceeding as Sethano had foreseen. Besides sharing many of the Emperor’s memories since her childhood, she had always possessed a degree of prescience, whether she had mistaken it as intuition, or glimpsed it as her terrible purpose, to unite the galaxy under Imperial rule no matter how much suffering it would cause, or the compunctions she would have to leave behind to do so. But her powers were ever growing, and she could now extend a measure of the gift - and curse - of prescience to her loyal admirals with a specialized interface, replacing some of the functions of the the Navigators of old, whose bloodlines had gone all but extinct.

The war against the Tzeentchians moved to Segementum Pacificus. Moving to head off Tzeentchian expansion, the Astra Militarum, backed up Psyker Legions, consisting of those who had honed their psychic powers far beyond typical humans, invaded the primitive world of Opis I.

The xenos were not humanity’s friends. However, simply purging them was inefficient and wasteful when they could be forced to toil for the Imperium’s benefit in the rich mines of the world that was no longer theirs, bringing in raw materials critical for the success of the Final Crusade. She did not feel the sort of compunction that had once troubled her when she consigned the Nu-Baol to nourish the Imperium as livestock. If anything, their fate was kind next to the one she had inflicted upon the plantoids. They should be grateful that they had been granted an indefinite stay of execution, as long as they behaved themselves and recognized the Imperium as their rightful overlord.

She did, of course, reserve the right to exterminate the lot of them should they rebel against her rule. But for now, the priority was for the Astra Militarum to turn the planet into a Fortress World, from which the Imperium could project its power into the rest of the Segmentum.

Explorator Fleets finally reached the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, Sagittarius A*. While it had once been far quieter in galactic history, it was now ablaze, inflamed by the presence of warp rifts and the Chaotic energies that seethed from them.

Sethano noted the news as she prepared for battle.

“Lady Commander! It is an honor!” Inquisitor Karamazov said.

"The enemy capital lies before us, Inquisitor,” Sethano said, flanked by a small detachment from the Adeptus Custodes. While they were first and foremost the guardians and companions of the Emperor, as the Imperial Regent, who spoke with the authority of the Emperor, she was one of the few other individuals in the galaxy entitled to their protection. “Kill every last Heretek on the planet and cleanse this world of Chaos’s taint. I leave the details of operational command to you."

“And... if I may ask... what will you be doing during the battle, my Lady?"

Sethano removed the Blade of the Huntress from its sheathe at her side, an ancient relic that hummed with barely contained psionic power... much like her own.

“Leading the charge."

Imperial morale soared when the troops saw Lady Sethano on the front lines. And while she may have been 112 years old, her psychic power bolstered her physical strength, endurance, and reaction time tremendously, letting her fight as if she was a much younger woman in her prime.

The Hereteks never really stood a chance.

Sethano continued to fight in each battle as one Heretek planet was cleansed after another. She noted with interest though a report of a xenos civilization discovered in the Galactic Core. They were not suited to hard labor, but were technically inclined and adapted to arid environments... while being far more nimble than mere servitors.

“Send a battalion of the Astra Militarum to Rayunstrisryn I,” she ordered. “I have use for these xenos called the Ewoxulans. I will grant them my Sanction to live in indentured servitude to those who would benefit from their skills, though they must remain under trusted Imperial supervision at all times. Make an example of any who resist."

On the Necron front, the task force had reached the Wenkwort System. The Paradise World of P’thun became a war zone as Inquisitor Vivica Telux, Inquisitor Karamazov’s younger protege, and a fanatic loyalist to the Lady Commander, led the assault against the soulless machines.

Finally, in 302M43, the last Heretek world fell to the Lady Commander and Inquisitor Karamazov’s forces, after Admiral Valinov demolished the Heretek’s orbital defenses in the Cursa System.

It was a resounding victory against Chaos.

And the Hereteks would only be the first to fall.

 

[Chilango2]

On the one hand, you are really starting to clean up some of these troublesome xenos and the strength and power of the Imperium continues to increase.
On the other, the strength of some of the larger enemy empires that are not (yet) your neighbors is... concerning.

 

[Arithmetician]

The Imperium was not only making gains militarily. Its economy was rapidly catching up with that of more expansive powers such as the Blorg and the Necrons. Sothis had developed into a bustling Imperial Hive World. Just over 1 in every 14 inhabitants of the Imperium Reformatus lived on Sothis, and while Holy Terra’s foundries were its lynchpin of military production, while Mars’s own forges were being rebuilt, Sothis was the Imperium’s most important manufacturer of the products necessary not only for daily life, but for the Imperial bureaucracy to function smoothly.

Compared to the Imperial Hive Worlds of old, Sothis’s cities were clean, modern, and above all, safe, with the crime that had plagued its predecessors practically unheard of. And while Sothis required large mineral imports for his factories, it was not only self-sufficient in terms of food, but a major exporter of food to other planets in Sector Solar, given the large number of Nu-Baol that were raised there for eventual processing into nutritious Sethano Green.

But the war against the Necrons went on. Using Jump Drives, Battlefleet Aquilae opportunistically ambushed and destroyed a large Necron transport fleet on the edge of the Propus System, which was sure to blunt future Necron offensives.

The Necrons responded swiftly to the destruction of their transports, bringing in two fleets, each larger than Battlefleet Aquilae, with a third following right behind them.

It would be some time before Battlefleet Aquilae’s emergency hyperdrives would be ready.

But Admiral Boltzmehr had no intention of retreating.

“Engage the Necron fleet."

“But Admiral,” one of her captains said, "we’re hopelessly outnumbered!"

BLAM!

The captain who had spoken fell dead, summarily executed by the Commissar stationed on their bridge for cowardice. Such examples were sadly necessary at times.

“The Magetnar in the system will interfere with their sublight engines and disable any Void Shields - whether ours or theirs. But with how we’ve calibrated our weapons, we should have a range advantage. We will target their ships with Neutron Launchers, and we will hold the line, inflicting as much damage on the Necrons as we can. That is our duty. Now let us make our stand."

At Admiral Boltzmehr’s command, Battlefleet Aquilae fired its Neutron Launchers, which ripped into the lead Necron fleet before it could return fire.

As they closed in, the Necrons began to return fire with their own Neutron Launchers, vaporizing several Imperial battleships. But the lead Necron fleet had already been all but wiped out.

But while she had lost a third of her own fleet, Admiral Boltzmehr ordered her captains to keep firing. There was still more damage that they could do to the Necrons before their own situation became untenable.

Only two battleships and a cruiser remained in Battlefleet Aquilae before the order to retreat was given. But it was clear that the Necron’s victory was a pyrrhic one. Not only had they lost most of their ground troops in the sector, but their fleet losses were significantly greater than the Imperium’s. Battlefleet Aquilae would be swiftly rebuilt with new ships and fresh crews, and with the Hereteks eliminated, Admiral Valinov would soon be able to bring Battlefleet Sothis to bear against the Necrons.

The Necron Phaerons realized this. If they did not take the opportunity to retreat and regroup, they risked losing more territory in former Tau space. And the Lady Commander realized that the Imperium would need time to build up a fleet strong enough to defeat the Necrons in a more decisive manner. So, while neither side truly considered the war over, both sides withdrew their fleets to within their own borders, and open hostilities were temporarily suspended.

But this hardly meant the end of the Final Crusade. Instead, the Lady Commander’s focus shifted toward a much easier target - the Aeldari Reclaimers.

Their Craftworlds would be seized and brought into the service of the Imperium.

 

[Silver_Man4567(Backup)]

So far, so good. Real question is, will the Imperium be able to defeat the galactic power known as the Blorg Collective?
Also, quick question, do you have an idea on what you might do for Overlord?

 

[Arithmetician]

There were many uncolonized worlds in Aeldari, many rich with resources, all of which was ripe for the taking.

The Aeldari only managed to organize a token resistance before their habitats were siezed by the Imperium. Inquisitor Telux led the Imperium’s ground forces during the campaign.

The Aeldari still had a last stronghold on the Relic World of Tir-Val, in the Riphiclaw System. Battlefleet Elysia, under the command of the newly-appointed Admiral Tiberius Amaros, was in little rush, and proceeded systematically, dismantling Aeldari defenses along the way, so as to properly secure the Imperium’s new possessions.

It was while making his advance that Admiral Amaros became the first Imperial to detect what had been been only rumored for decades... a fleet emerging from the L-Gate in Ajang’s Maelstrom, of a sinsister and enigmatic design.

It was the Gray Tempest.

Undaunted, Amaros ordered Battlefleet Elysia to activate its Jump Drives and engage the Tempest.

A short but intense battle ensued. Imperial point defenses were able to keep nanite fighters at bay, and in the end, only a single battleship was lost to the main cannon of the enemy mothership.

In the meantime, the farce known as the Galactic Community had voted to establish a Galactic Council. The Blorg continued to wield the most influence in the Council, but Sethano Horst continued to pretend to respect its decisions, if only because nominal participation on the Council made it easier to keep tabs on the Imperium’s principal rivals.

Regrettably, further efforts to directly hack into the Blorg Collective to learn how to best counter its technology would soon be frustrated, as Blorg engineering had advanced to a point that it was completely inscrutable to even the best of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Back in the Danagawenge System, Admiral Amaros won a decisive victory, crushing almost the entirety of the remaining Aeldari fleet.

Inquisitor Telux and her Psyker Legions delivered the coup de grâce, seizing the Aeldari Relic World.

Recognizing that the Imperium could benefit from their skills, Sethano Horst ordered that the Aeldari be pressed into indentured servitude. Near-human as they appeared, they were not to be trusted with greater freedom. For one, it would never be accepted by an intensely xenophobic populace, and the Aeldari’s late leaders had been dedicated to the extermination of all “lesser” lifeforms, including humanity. Sethano nonetheless restrained those who wanted to exterminate the Aeldari in turn. She remembered that millennia ago, it was through the help of an Aeldari priestess that the Primarch of the Ultramarines had been revived, who had in turn managed to significantly postpone the Old Imperium’s disintegration. Sparing their lives, besides being practical, was a way of repaying that debt.

The Imperium had expanded greatly following the Aeldari conquest, now stretching deep into Segementum Ultima, though its new holdings were flanked by Orks on one side, Nurglites on the other, and the Gray Tempest lurking beyond the L-Gates.

But the Imperium’s conquests would not stop, as the Final Crusade turned to another target...

 

[Arithmetician]

@Silver_Man4567(Backup)

I would like to do an Imperial Fiefdom run, and have made a few attempts at it, but will probably wait until the next patch drops next week before making my “official” attempt.

 

[Slaughter]

Things are going interestingly. Looks like the Grey Tempest is already making the rounds, but doesn't seem as dangerous to you as it might be.

Also Rest in Pieces Heretek Forges.
Did the Tau get conquered?

"Thanks for helping us a long time ago, Eldar! You get... slavery!"*

*an upgrade on "Extermination".

 

[Arithmetician]

(Sorry for the long delay between updates... other things got in the way for a while... but now resuming Stellaris 42K!)

With the Aeldari conquered and the T’au having willingly surrendered their independence to the Imperium in exchange for continued protection against the Necrons, Sethano decided that the time had come to subjugate the Drukhari.

A Battlefleet was promptly dispatched to invade the Rho Pictoris system, easily wiping out the Drukhari fleet there.

The colony in the system, New Caprica, was crime-ridden, a symptom of persistent resentment from when the original xenos inhabitants where subjugated by, rebelled against, reconquered by, and routinely tortured by their Drukhari overlords. However, the Drukari’s occupation forces were no match for the seven Pysker Legions that the Imperium dropped onto the planet, with another eight held in reserve.

Back on the home front, the Imperium designated the terraformed world of Aldib V, a large, mineral-rich world that had been home to an extensive precursor mining complex, as a penal colony, and began resettling large numbers of slaves to work its mines.

Repairs also finished on the Attack Moon in the Euros System, which had more firepower than entire battlefleets, rated at a value of 332K on contemporary Imperial scales.

With the war against the Drukhari going well, another Battlefleet, deployed to Segmentum Ultima, near Blorg space, destroyed the Scavenger Bot that had once patrolled the region.

The Drukhari made an incursion into Imperial space through the hyperlanes of the Galactic Core, but their force was too small to pose a significant threat, and was promptly dispatched by a Battlefleet that jumped from the Tien Kwan system after arriving there through the Imperial Gateway Network.

The main battlefleet continued unimpeded to the Drukhari capital of Commoragh, where it began an Exterminatus-level bombardment to eliminate the Dark City’s defenders.

But orbital bombardment was a time-consuming method of enacting an Exterminatus, and merely scouring the atmosphere and bedrock of a planet with Cyclonic Torpedoes was no longer satisfactory, when the Necrons had developed their own means of destroying entire planets.

And so began the Imperial Colossus Project.

The Drukhari made a futile attempt to retake the Dark City, but they were no match for the waiting Imperial battle fleet.

But while work steadily proceeded on the Imperial Colossus Project, the Imperium had completed another fearsome weapon for its war machine...

It was the Phalanx II, a mobile battle station that would serve as a juggernaut leading the Imperium’s advance from that day forward, constructed with technology every bit the equal to or superior than that of the original Phalanx, which had been constructed in the Dark Age of Technology.

Sethano was pleased, yet such mighty weapons could only bring Imperial judgment to one star system at a time.

And no matter how fearsome their abilities, she knew they were insignificant next to the power of the Warp.

But one day, the Imperium would be able to project its power across the galaxy, instantly destroying any enemy planet, no matter how far, without warning.

She had foreseen it.

 

[Macavity116]

But one day, the Imperium would be able to project its power across the galaxy, instantly destroying any enemy planet, no matter how far, without warning.

She had foreseen it.

Waaaaaiiiiitt a minute... am I reading Stellaris 42,000 or Stellaris Wars?