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Well, maybe it does under specific circumstances to be revealed later in the story...
But no, of course not! How could there be exceptions to its genocidal rampage! certainly there are no living beings within the Contamination Zone!
If you refer to the UYN-PsyComs on the Homeworld, they paid for their visit.
But no, of course not! How could there be exceptions to its genocidal rampage! certainly there are no living beings within the Contamination Zone!
If you refer to the UYN-PsyComs on the Homeworld, they paid for their visit.
Well, the Wasteland was called that before the spore emerged, the choice of words in the last post was deliberate in this regard. There's been several references within the narrative allready about a certain quality the spore has, and one it doesn't seem to have, wich might allow you to piece the answer together.
If you are curious but lazy, you could also ask me via PM, though more of it will be in future updates also.
If you are curious but lazy, you could also ask me via PM, though more of it will be in future updates also.
Such a progress is frightening for all parties. Amazed the rest of the universe isn't getting even a little bit more involved in this.
Unthinkable
It was in 2357, our beloved Republic had just lost several colonies to spore contamination, after the Rax'Thalak Assemblys defenses had collapsed south of the Contamination zone, freeing all of the sporian assault fleets to lunge at our own. Only at enormous cost was our military able to defend the homeworld until the sporian tide finally abated
True to its usual pattern, the enemy had startet taking over the destroyed Fiiral Colonies and Homeworld and soon came into contact with the Themlar Coalition, a so called nation of religious nutjobs, nothing but slaves to the Cynur hierarchy really. Their fate was all but decided the moment the spore took notice of them, seeing as their liege was embroiled in its own war against a coalition of smaller states, trying to win more slaves.
Early in the 2nd quarter of the Year, the spore launched all three of its known assault fleets, hitting as many systems of a state merely possessing five inhabited worlds. As is to be expected, the orbital defenses were swept aside by the tide and the spore would commence orbital bombardement follow by mass invasion of sporocarp warriors. A well coordinated routine of death and devastation, tried and true for at least 100 years.
Well. Turns out the Themlar aren't pushovers. There technology is subpar, but if the reports are be to believed the make up for it with ferocious spirit and unyielding will. Though I personally think it has more to do with the massive plasma arrays and arc emitters they're fielding. We know fire to be effective against the spore after all.
Anyway, fighting back against the spore isn't unheard of, even if one doesn't expect such feat out of a bunch of chattle slaves. What is unheard of, is a full strenght spore assault fleet in peak condition being annihilated by a fleet wich by any metric shoud have been losing spectacularly. If what we know is true, the Themlar fielded 9 Corvettes, 9 Destroyers, as many cruisers and 4 battle ships with just about 80% the fighting power of a Spore Assault Fleet.
Even though most of the Themlar 1st Navy Cluster was destroyed in the battle, 3 of their battle ships were still around as the very last sporian vessel purged by clouds of - probably holy - plasma.
Compare this with the far more explicable success of the Cynur 5th and 8th Murder in crippling a second Spore Assault fleet around the same time: The Cynur fielded 32 corvettes, 22 destroyers, 11 cruisers and their own 4 battle ships attacking from two sides against an enemy allready chipped after campaigns in Rax'Thalak and Ekwynian territory. Losing all these ships, they managed to destroy 3 cruisers, as many battleships and just over half the spores destroyers, after wich it retreated into the contamination zone.
The spiritualist community of course claims it to be an intervention by higher powers, trying to tell people they can prey the spore away. That's bullsh*t. If anything we should learn from this, to equip our ships with as many plasma throwers as possible and to in space, what happens to be somewhat successfull on the ground: burning these mushrooms until nothing is left of them to grow back.
To bad we're in no shape to take the fight to them right now. This may very well be the crossroads at wich to decide the future of the galaxy. If the Cynur are able to follow up on this, even just to keep the enemy busy until the rest of us is back in shape, we might have the best shot yet to end this threat for good...
- from the Diary of Ekwynian Legate Martellus Xiang
It was in 2357, our beloved Republic had just lost several colonies to spore contamination, after the Rax'Thalak Assemblys defenses had collapsed south of the Contamination zone, freeing all of the sporian assault fleets to lunge at our own. Only at enormous cost was our military able to defend the homeworld until the sporian tide finally abated
True to its usual pattern, the enemy had startet taking over the destroyed Fiiral Colonies and Homeworld and soon came into contact with the Themlar Coalition, a so called nation of religious nutjobs, nothing but slaves to the Cynur hierarchy really. Their fate was all but decided the moment the spore took notice of them, seeing as their liege was embroiled in its own war against a coalition of smaller states, trying to win more slaves.
Early in the 2nd quarter of the Year, the spore launched all three of its known assault fleets, hitting as many systems of a state merely possessing five inhabited worlds. As is to be expected, the orbital defenses were swept aside by the tide and the spore would commence orbital bombardement follow by mass invasion of sporocarp warriors. A well coordinated routine of death and devastation, tried and true for at least 100 years.
Well. Turns out the Themlar aren't pushovers. There technology is subpar, but if the reports are be to believed the make up for it with ferocious spirit and unyielding will. Though I personally think it has more to do with the massive plasma arrays and arc emitters they're fielding. We know fire to be effective against the spore after all.
Anyway, fighting back against the spore isn't unheard of, even if one doesn't expect such feat out of a bunch of chattle slaves. What is unheard of, is a full strenght spore assault fleet in peak condition being annihilated by a fleet wich by any metric shoud have been losing spectacularly. If what we know is true, the Themlar fielded 9 Corvettes, 9 Destroyers, as many cruisers and 4 battle ships with just about 80% the fighting power of a Spore Assault Fleet.
Even though most of the Themlar 1st Navy Cluster was destroyed in the battle, 3 of their battle ships were still around as the very last sporian vessel purged by clouds of - probably holy - plasma.
Compare this with the far more explicable success of the Cynur 5th and 8th Murder in crippling a second Spore Assault fleet around the same time: The Cynur fielded 32 corvettes, 22 destroyers, 11 cruisers and their own 4 battle ships attacking from two sides against an enemy allready chipped after campaigns in Rax'Thalak and Ekwynian territory. Losing all these ships, they managed to destroy 3 cruisers, as many battleships and just over half the spores destroyers, after wich it retreated into the contamination zone.
The spiritualist community of course claims it to be an intervention by higher powers, trying to tell people they can prey the spore away. That's bullsh*t. If anything we should learn from this, to equip our ships with as many plasma throwers as possible and to in space, what happens to be somewhat successfull on the ground: burning these mushrooms until nothing is left of them to grow back.
To bad we're in no shape to take the fight to them right now. This may very well be the crossroads at wich to decide the future of the galaxy. If the Cynur are able to follow up on this, even just to keep the enemy busy until the rest of us is back in shape, we might have the best shot yet to end this threat for good...
- from the Diary of Ekwynian Legate Martellus Xiang
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Well that's good news for the galaxy. Maybe. If they take advantage.
And it's a curious AAR where you want the player to end up losing. Well, kind of want. It'd be interesting to see the Spore contaminate it all, too.
And it's a curious AAR where you want the player to end up losing. Well, kind of want. It'd be interesting to see the Spore contaminate it all, too.
Indeed. On the other hand I adhere to the gospel of Dwarf Fortress: Losing is fun!
On a sidenote, I updated the secon post with an Index, so if you want to reread any chapter, you'll find it there neatly listed.
On a sidenote, I updated the secon post with an Index, so if you want to reread any chapter, you'll find it there neatly listed.
Given how my first AAR went, I'm rather inclined to agree!
Always a helpful feature.
So at last some people appear to have found a way to fight back against the Contamination. Perhaps they should develop massive Lance batteries to purge the Spore ships before they get close to their own fleets.
The Rock and the Hard Place
For ten years the Themmlar resisted contamination. Assisted by there Cynur Overlords, they have been shattering sporian fleets and incinerating its armies on a scale unthinkable to this day. Within this war, the tonnage of spore vessels destroyed is estimated to equal or even exceed the total tonnage of all previous efforts combined. However, the Cynur did not made any attempt to incur on sporian space, considering it unsuited to be enslaved and more of an annoyance, then a genuine threat. As one who studies history should know, arrogance towards the Spore as never proven justified and with ample time the Themmlar defenses were whittled away to the point of total collapse.
But even so, the Cynur had provided those near the contamination zone a full decade to regroup and rebuild and though still not united, every Nation was eager to reclaim what had been lost and exact revenge against this mindless tide of death. Most of the Nations had come to the loose understanding, that Invasions would be carried out in the first months of 2370, marking the 150th "anniversary" of First Contact, as well as the 75th of the Great Effort. The Cynur economy hadn't even been touched by the spore, thus experts generally aggreed upon the war not ending before that date.
And it might very well not have, had it not been for a completly unforseeable event: In 2367.06.01 a subspace tear opened just 4 hyperjumps away from the Cynur home system, followed by a massive incursion of an as of now unidentified species of seemingly energy based intelligences, attacking everything and everyone they come into contact with - quite like the spore itself.
It is speculated in some circles, that these beings might indeed be connected to the spore in some way. Some suggest the Spore might be a bio weapon deployed by these creatures to soften up the defenses of their target galaxy, emerging as their creation starts to face formidable foes. Others speculate the spores collective conciousness, if such a thing really exists, might have sensed the arrival of such unbidden forces as early as 150 years ago and may have risen to defend the galaxy. If so, we might see a shift in its behaviour quite soon.
There's even a theory stating the spore may have been a failed attempt to prevent the supposed extradimensionals arrival by curbing the development of advanced technologies.
Though fun little thought experiments, I'm not inclined to believe any of these theories. It would not make sense for someone to deploy a weapon to "soften up" an opponent and only intervene after such weapon lost its momentum. Nor is there any evidence for a sporian "overmind" directing the individual cells to achieve abstract goals and lastly, producing something like the spore to prevent technological progress would be producing something new technology is required to deal with, thus stimulating tech progress. Though it is worth noting that in the last war UYN-Scouts have spotted several pre-industrial civilisations within the contamination zone, wich seem to go completely unmolested by the Spore and we do not yet know why.
If the spore attacks these Invaders, it will probably not diverge from its usual pattern and perceive them as yet another obstacle. If however the galaxy were to united against these energy-beings, the resulting alliance might very well purge the contamination zone as well. Seeing as for 147 years such has not happened, I'm inclined to hope our new acquitances are more talktative then the Spore, and may be swayed by diplomacy - maybe even into cleasing the Contamination Zone.
- Khul-Lem, Tezhnid Confederation Senator
The Galaxy in 2367
For ten years the Themmlar resisted contamination. Assisted by there Cynur Overlords, they have been shattering sporian fleets and incinerating its armies on a scale unthinkable to this day. Within this war, the tonnage of spore vessels destroyed is estimated to equal or even exceed the total tonnage of all previous efforts combined. However, the Cynur did not made any attempt to incur on sporian space, considering it unsuited to be enslaved and more of an annoyance, then a genuine threat. As one who studies history should know, arrogance towards the Spore as never proven justified and with ample time the Themmlar defenses were whittled away to the point of total collapse.
But even so, the Cynur had provided those near the contamination zone a full decade to regroup and rebuild and though still not united, every Nation was eager to reclaim what had been lost and exact revenge against this mindless tide of death. Most of the Nations had come to the loose understanding, that Invasions would be carried out in the first months of 2370, marking the 150th "anniversary" of First Contact, as well as the 75th of the Great Effort. The Cynur economy hadn't even been touched by the spore, thus experts generally aggreed upon the war not ending before that date.
And it might very well not have, had it not been for a completly unforseeable event: In 2367.06.01 a subspace tear opened just 4 hyperjumps away from the Cynur home system, followed by a massive incursion of an as of now unidentified species of seemingly energy based intelligences, attacking everything and everyone they come into contact with - quite like the spore itself.
It is speculated in some circles, that these beings might indeed be connected to the spore in some way. Some suggest the Spore might be a bio weapon deployed by these creatures to soften up the defenses of their target galaxy, emerging as their creation starts to face formidable foes. Others speculate the spores collective conciousness, if such a thing really exists, might have sensed the arrival of such unbidden forces as early as 150 years ago and may have risen to defend the galaxy. If so, we might see a shift in its behaviour quite soon.
There's even a theory stating the spore may have been a failed attempt to prevent the supposed extradimensionals arrival by curbing the development of advanced technologies.
Though fun little thought experiments, I'm not inclined to believe any of these theories. It would not make sense for someone to deploy a weapon to "soften up" an opponent and only intervene after such weapon lost its momentum. Nor is there any evidence for a sporian "overmind" directing the individual cells to achieve abstract goals and lastly, producing something like the spore to prevent technological progress would be producing something new technology is required to deal with, thus stimulating tech progress. Though it is worth noting that in the last war UYN-Scouts have spotted several pre-industrial civilisations within the contamination zone, wich seem to go completely unmolested by the Spore and we do not yet know why.
If the spore attacks these Invaders, it will probably not diverge from its usual pattern and perceive them as yet another obstacle. If however the galaxy were to united against these energy-beings, the resulting alliance might very well purge the contamination zone as well. Seeing as for 147 years such has not happened, I'm inclined to hope our new acquitances are more talktative then the Spore, and may be swayed by diplomacy - maybe even into cleasing the Contamination Zone.
- Khul-Lem, Tezhnid Confederation Senator
The Galaxy in 2367
The Galactic War I
"As of 2370.01.21, every Nation in our Galaxy is at war." - Brl't'kas, Galactic News Network
Considering the spread of the Contamination Zone within the 150 years since first contact, it was but a matter of time, until the Races of the Galaxy would take a more or less concerted effort. As by the late 2360s the Spore bordered every major nation or alliance, it should not come as a surprise for this to happen now either. In hindsight one might ask why the powers would find it a good idea to start aggression against such formidable foe, when the galaxy had just been invaded from the outside, but the emergence of the Unbidden was, more then anything else, a catalyst for the Galactic war.
Most strategists within the ranks of the civilised species thought it much more likely to deal a crippling blow against the Spore, then the new, poorly understood invaders. They pushed the Idea of incapacitating the "domestic" enemy such as to make sure it would not be able to backstab the efforts to contain the new invaders. Some even genuinly believed the Cynur Hierarchy would be able to contain the Unbidden by themselves, either entirely or at least as long as this new war against the spore would take to be successfully completed.
Only one of the great powers opposed the invasion plans: The Royal Tezhnid Planet States, directly bordering the Cynur and being well aware of their military capabilities did not believe in attacking the Spore, but where dragged into the war through their alliances anyway. It is debatable, what would have come of the war, if the Tezhnid had commited their entire fleet instead of a small token force to oblige to their allies, but I'm not inclined to speculate.
The war opened with several advances carried out mainly by the United Ymorz Nations and the Connisthian League from the north and the United Zemmerpuk Hegemony from the South, both aided by various smaller invasions of their allies and subjects. While the UNY favored multiple strikefleets able to attack more then one system simultaneusly aimed to destroy sporian infrastructure, the Connisthian and Zemmerpuk send full fleged warfleets of several dozen ships each, trying to corner the spores fleets and achieve naval supremacy fast.
While the Connisthian were mainly worried about the Cynur Hierarchies ability to keep the Unbidden in check and intended to turn its fleets around once the sporian fleets were decommisioned, the Zemmerpuk viewed the Contamination Zone as an ideal testing ground for their newest weapons technolgies.
Originally going strong, the Zemmerpuk fleet cut deep into spore territory, first meeting a somewhat depleted sporian fleet. In this first battle, the lances demonstrated their fearsome might, cutting down half the enemies escorts before allowing the rest of the weapons to enter firing range. Ever fearless and in disregard of their own troops survival, the spore pushed through unheard losses, to get at the enemy battle ships to destroy one of the 5 them Zemmerpuk had deployed at the cost of losing all their own ships.
Meanwhile in the north, the Connisthian had neither such potent weaponry, nor did they face of against a weakened enemy. A full strenght sporian fleet met them in the former wacegi home system and the ensuing battle kept swinging back and forth, until the Connisthian Admiral called for retreat, as one of his battleships experienced heavy enemy fire.
While the Connisthians retreated to port, the Spore would begin to invade the Elamiid and the remnants of the Fiiral Empire before crossing into Connisthian Space proper several years later.
In the south, the Zemmerpuk pushed further, encouraged by the performance of their lances. In their wake, the Holy Inarian Empire - much more eager to join the war against the Spore then their Tezhnid liege, launched an assault on their former colony system of Voldop and Cajubus, destroying their orbital defenses and preparing for planetary invasion.
The Hegemonial Fleet continued it's adavance, reaching the former Rak'Thalaki Colony of Bunda in late 2372, where it would meet their second major battle - and its fate. While the Lances proved again very much effective, this time it became very much obvious that one per battle ship would not cut it at all. Faced with the full complement of sporian escort ships screening the more important targets, the new found firepower found itself stalled for quite some time. And while the spore victory at Bunda may be coined a phyrric one, it served its purpos of driving the Zemmerpuk fleet off, allowing the spore to attack the smaller incursions in the area, followed by a full blown invasion of Rax'Thak'Nak-Space the following year.
With the main invading forces driven off, the war stalled for quite some time, as both the spore and its enemies needed to replenish their numbers. Many urged the Tezhnid to commit their considerable fleets at this stage and take advantage of an enemy considered well bled out, but the Planet States refused, as indicated before, keeping a worried eye on the Cynur losing ever more ground against the Unbidden.
The Hierarchy itself was allways fast to downplay the threat it was facing. Initially the lost systems though numerous were mostly uninhabited, save for a few mining stations and the occasional military outpost. While losing important Hyperlane junctions, the hierarchy based its FTL on wormholes and was largely unaffected and even the loss of the first inhabited colony, a somewhat remote research outpost did not seem to concern the Cynur very much.
But the Unbidden had slowly krept up to the very heart of the Cynur Empire, and in 2375 the Battle of Cyris would begin...
"As of 2370.01.21, every Nation in our Galaxy is at war." - Brl't'kas, Galactic News Network
Considering the spread of the Contamination Zone within the 150 years since first contact, it was but a matter of time, until the Races of the Galaxy would take a more or less concerted effort. As by the late 2360s the Spore bordered every major nation or alliance, it should not come as a surprise for this to happen now either. In hindsight one might ask why the powers would find it a good idea to start aggression against such formidable foe, when the galaxy had just been invaded from the outside, but the emergence of the Unbidden was, more then anything else, a catalyst for the Galactic war.
Most strategists within the ranks of the civilised species thought it much more likely to deal a crippling blow against the Spore, then the new, poorly understood invaders. They pushed the Idea of incapacitating the "domestic" enemy such as to make sure it would not be able to backstab the efforts to contain the new invaders. Some even genuinly believed the Cynur Hierarchy would be able to contain the Unbidden by themselves, either entirely or at least as long as this new war against the spore would take to be successfully completed.
Only one of the great powers opposed the invasion plans: The Royal Tezhnid Planet States, directly bordering the Cynur and being well aware of their military capabilities did not believe in attacking the Spore, but where dragged into the war through their alliances anyway. It is debatable, what would have come of the war, if the Tezhnid had commited their entire fleet instead of a small token force to oblige to their allies, but I'm not inclined to speculate.
The war opened with several advances carried out mainly by the United Ymorz Nations and the Connisthian League from the north and the United Zemmerpuk Hegemony from the South, both aided by various smaller invasions of their allies and subjects. While the UNY favored multiple strikefleets able to attack more then one system simultaneusly aimed to destroy sporian infrastructure, the Connisthian and Zemmerpuk send full fleged warfleets of several dozen ships each, trying to corner the spores fleets and achieve naval supremacy fast.
While the Connisthian were mainly worried about the Cynur Hierarchies ability to keep the Unbidden in check and intended to turn its fleets around once the sporian fleets were decommisioned, the Zemmerpuk viewed the Contamination Zone as an ideal testing ground for their newest weapons technolgies.
Originally going strong, the Zemmerpuk fleet cut deep into spore territory, first meeting a somewhat depleted sporian fleet. In this first battle, the lances demonstrated their fearsome might, cutting down half the enemies escorts before allowing the rest of the weapons to enter firing range. Ever fearless and in disregard of their own troops survival, the spore pushed through unheard losses, to get at the enemy battle ships to destroy one of the 5 them Zemmerpuk had deployed at the cost of losing all their own ships.
Meanwhile in the north, the Connisthian had neither such potent weaponry, nor did they face of against a weakened enemy. A full strenght sporian fleet met them in the former wacegi home system and the ensuing battle kept swinging back and forth, until the Connisthian Admiral called for retreat, as one of his battleships experienced heavy enemy fire.
While the Connisthians retreated to port, the Spore would begin to invade the Elamiid and the remnants of the Fiiral Empire before crossing into Connisthian Space proper several years later.
In the south, the Zemmerpuk pushed further, encouraged by the performance of their lances. In their wake, the Holy Inarian Empire - much more eager to join the war against the Spore then their Tezhnid liege, launched an assault on their former colony system of Voldop and Cajubus, destroying their orbital defenses and preparing for planetary invasion.
The Hegemonial Fleet continued it's adavance, reaching the former Rak'Thalaki Colony of Bunda in late 2372, where it would meet their second major battle - and its fate. While the Lances proved again very much effective, this time it became very much obvious that one per battle ship would not cut it at all. Faced with the full complement of sporian escort ships screening the more important targets, the new found firepower found itself stalled for quite some time. And while the spore victory at Bunda may be coined a phyrric one, it served its purpos of driving the Zemmerpuk fleet off, allowing the spore to attack the smaller incursions in the area, followed by a full blown invasion of Rax'Thak'Nak-Space the following year.
With the main invading forces driven off, the war stalled for quite some time, as both the spore and its enemies needed to replenish their numbers. Many urged the Tezhnid to commit their considerable fleets at this stage and take advantage of an enemy considered well bled out, but the Planet States refused, as indicated before, keeping a worried eye on the Cynur losing ever more ground against the Unbidden.
The Hierarchy itself was allways fast to downplay the threat it was facing. Initially the lost systems though numerous were mostly uninhabited, save for a few mining stations and the occasional military outpost. While losing important Hyperlane junctions, the hierarchy based its FTL on wormholes and was largely unaffected and even the loss of the first inhabited colony, a somewhat remote research outpost did not seem to concern the Cynur very much.
But the Unbidden had slowly krept up to the very heart of the Cynur Empire, and in 2375 the Battle of Cyris would begin...
The war against the spore actually sounds like a success for the coalition fleets. But we have seen successful starts of campaigns against the spore before and a second wave should always be expected to strike the weakened coalition fleets soon. The fact that one empire alone is left to face the Unbidden is worrying, i havent faced them before but no AI empire could make a dent in prethoryn fleets in my previous games.
The Galactic War II
In 2375 an Unbidden Fleet entered the Cynur Hierarchies Home System of Cyris. While the Hierarchy still commanded a considerable force of warships at that time, most of their fleets where scattered throughout the Empire, with mst of the Ships on site either in dock for repairs or refitting. So far the Unbidden had taken only Systems of little Consequence as the spread, leading the Cynur to believe they would not dare to attack a fortified world, and surely not the exalted Planet of Cyris Prime.
The hastily assembled defensive forces did not stand a chance, severely outnumbered and outgunned they were swept aside, nothing more then an annoying distraction. The hierarchy barely got a chance to call out for help, as the Unbidden formed up in orbit. Deploying there otherworldly weapons, trillions perished in a matter of hours, including every last member of the highest echelon and most of the second and third. This would lead to power struggles within the Hierarchy weakening its resistence even further.
For a major nations homeworld to fall in a matter of days was unheard of. Even the most crushing victories the spore had ever accomplished had taken it years of effort. For the Unbidden wiping out a planet seemed to be a matter of flicking a switch, rather then the brutal and inescapable slaughter wich marked a sporian invasion.
By now the Cynur inability to stop the threat was obvious to all but the most insane of statesmen. Most nations began to call of their offensives against the spore - having been met with little to no successes in the grand scheme of things. But having poked the proverbial space amoeba, they were facing the Spores counter attacks everywhere, with the Elamiid, the Rax'Thak'Nak and the Andigonj United Systems taking the brunt of it.
During this time, more and more of the public seemed to believe the idea of the spore being a weapon deployed by the Unbidden ahead of time to weaken the galaxy. However most military leaders had long since concluded otherwise, with the Battle of Cynur a wake up call for the last of the stubborn. The Unbidden were so vastly superior to their enemies and easily capable of traversing dimensions, that for them to plant the Spore would make no sense at all. On the other hand, the Spore had not changed its behaviour by any measurable degree, like attempting to break through and meet up with its supposed creators.
The last was also a problem to all whom wanted to believe the Spore to be an engine of salvation, build to keep the Unbidden from harvesting the Galaxy.
Within the next six years, the Cynur Hierarchy would loose System after System inhabited or not, remaining but a shell of its former glory, but still committing all its forces to containing the Threat, while the other powers of the galaxy lost in turn to the Spores counter attacks, retreating all to willingly from any position the Spore might attack and leaving hundreds of millions to die, defended only by militias and whatever armies had been stranded on the planet in question.
In 2381 the Spore had destroyed about a dozen colony worlds and all but destroyed the Elamiid State, but again the tides began to turn. Cutting through the Cynur Empire, the Unbidden started to take System along the Cynurs Border with the Contamination Zone. Suddenly, every last Spore ship outside the Contamination Zone went into full retreat, abandoning half completed sieges and lifting planetary bombardements.
Contact had been established, and a new Chapter of the Galactic war was about to start...
In 2375 an Unbidden Fleet entered the Cynur Hierarchies Home System of Cyris. While the Hierarchy still commanded a considerable force of warships at that time, most of their fleets where scattered throughout the Empire, with mst of the Ships on site either in dock for repairs or refitting. So far the Unbidden had taken only Systems of little Consequence as the spread, leading the Cynur to believe they would not dare to attack a fortified world, and surely not the exalted Planet of Cyris Prime.
The hastily assembled defensive forces did not stand a chance, severely outnumbered and outgunned they were swept aside, nothing more then an annoying distraction. The hierarchy barely got a chance to call out for help, as the Unbidden formed up in orbit. Deploying there otherworldly weapons, trillions perished in a matter of hours, including every last member of the highest echelon and most of the second and third. This would lead to power struggles within the Hierarchy weakening its resistence even further.
For a major nations homeworld to fall in a matter of days was unheard of. Even the most crushing victories the spore had ever accomplished had taken it years of effort. For the Unbidden wiping out a planet seemed to be a matter of flicking a switch, rather then the brutal and inescapable slaughter wich marked a sporian invasion.
By now the Cynur inability to stop the threat was obvious to all but the most insane of statesmen. Most nations began to call of their offensives against the spore - having been met with little to no successes in the grand scheme of things. But having poked the proverbial space amoeba, they were facing the Spores counter attacks everywhere, with the Elamiid, the Rax'Thak'Nak and the Andigonj United Systems taking the brunt of it.
During this time, more and more of the public seemed to believe the idea of the spore being a weapon deployed by the Unbidden ahead of time to weaken the galaxy. However most military leaders had long since concluded otherwise, with the Battle of Cynur a wake up call for the last of the stubborn. The Unbidden were so vastly superior to their enemies and easily capable of traversing dimensions, that for them to plant the Spore would make no sense at all. On the other hand, the Spore had not changed its behaviour by any measurable degree, like attempting to break through and meet up with its supposed creators.
The last was also a problem to all whom wanted to believe the Spore to be an engine of salvation, build to keep the Unbidden from harvesting the Galaxy.
Within the next six years, the Cynur Hierarchy would loose System after System inhabited or not, remaining but a shell of its former glory, but still committing all its forces to containing the Threat, while the other powers of the galaxy lost in turn to the Spores counter attacks, retreating all to willingly from any position the Spore might attack and leaving hundreds of millions to die, defended only by militias and whatever armies had been stranded on the planet in question.
In 2381 the Spore had destroyed about a dozen colony worlds and all but destroyed the Elamiid State, but again the tides began to turn. Cutting through the Cynur Empire, the Unbidden started to take System along the Cynurs Border with the Contamination Zone. Suddenly, every last Spore ship outside the Contamination Zone went into full retreat, abandoning half completed sieges and lifting planetary bombardements.
Contact had been established, and a new Chapter of the Galactic war was about to start...
Poking the Space Amoeba, never a good idea. But now the 2 powers capable of destruction on a galactic scale meet at last. A cataclysmic battle will undoubtbly ensue with the remaining species caught in the vice. Poor, poor galaxy indeed.