Ulor had not the time to unleash another blast before the monstrous ooze collapsed under the paladin's blows, spreading its foul ichor over the tunnel's floor. It seemed as though the creature, though seemingly subterranean or at least liable to being encountered in deep, dark tunnels such as these, had found itself more cramped and exposed by its large size than it had benefited from it. Then again, to do it justice, it had probably not expected to encounter a large and armed group such as theirs, and besides, despite it being so outmatched, its attack had nonetheless proved effective enough. Indeed, the tiefling did not seem to be moving even after being freed from her viscous prison. Could it be that it-?
Beckoning for the octopus to join him, Ulor approached the green and malodorous form. He paused as first the feline, and then the elf bent and spoke over what was by now quite clearly a corpse, then moved a few steps closer and, wincing with one eye as he reclined his head to one side and scratched his chin pensively. Truly, the gelatinous entity's corrosive abilities were prodigious. In so little time, it had managed to potently burn what was not even, all things considered, normal skin. Now that he thought of it, the body did reek of the vegetables that had been a little too close to the fire he had eaten, day after day, in his youth. Not enough to be as appetizing, fortunately, but the resemblance was striking.
"Regrettable, but-" he thought better of it and did not finish the sentence. People grieving over bodies tended to react badly if stirred, appropriate though it might have been not to linger for long where they were. The fact that now was just such a case did not, as by the unspoken rule, appear to concern them. The ooze was destroyed, but, if such beings did indeed crawl out of the walls with little warning, they would have done better to prepare in the event that more should appear. Not to mention that there still was much to see. Ulor exchanged a mildly annoyed glance with the octopus, who, however, did not seem to be quite as impatient, and began to quietly rap his fingers upon his staff. Hopefully, the usual rituals would not take much longer.
Do standard creation sheets exist somewhere? I could have sworn I saw some in the OP or second post at some point, but they seem to be either gone or a product of my imagination. Also, is filling a sheet for creations necessary, or just a way of keeping track of them?
Yrrkeltharl Coalition Space Border Region System Ahl-115
The dim light of the nameless star washed over the sluggishly spinning barren worlds of Ahl-115. With the scarce consideration given to celestial bodies typical of the Yrrkeltharl authorities, the system had not even been deigned a name of its own, instead taking on by default that of the only item of interest within it. On the fourth of the rocky planets from the unnamed pulsing gaseous orb of plasma stood the metallic walls of a Nodule, seat of those who truly swayed the fate of the Coalition, or at least a fraction of them. A rather small one as well, truth be told, and by far not the most significant; yet, for thousands of light-years to all sides, this was the greatest bastion of the interstellar covenant's authority, and it certainly did not disappoint in this regard.
Around its planetary seat, swarms of patrolling drone craft darted from one end of the system to another. Some sped outwards, tearing themselves from the star's gravity well before vanishing into rips in the dimensions of space; others emerged from similar ruptures and converged over the Nodule's seat to rearm, repair and refuel; others yet circled around the desolate worlds, as though seeking prey they knew was somewhere nearby.
On the surface, the stronghold appeared even more forbidding. Its gleaming, convex walls curved inwards as they rose over the lifeless landscape, tapering into menacing spires. Cones of pale green light, visible even in the planet's feeble day, struck out from them, sweeping about like ravenous inhuman eyes. All about, over wastes and mountains, dark valleys and glimmering plateaus, amid black angular factory compexes erupting with choking fumes and the immense pillars of the planetary shield generators, legions of war-drones stood, awaiting silent commands or crawling about on unknown errands. Their toxic exhalations rose to choke the already weak spark in the sky, coating the world in the foul, viscous grip of the Coalition.
Scarcely a thousand kilometers beyond the nameless planet's surface, an unscheduled slipspace rupture burst into being, the blinding, iridescent arcs and tendrils of light clearly visible from the surface as flashes of blooming cinders that bled through the nauseating coils of smoke that choked the atmosphere around the Nodule and surrounding complexes. The craft that emerged was immediately flagged by the ubiquitous, bead-like ink-colored sensors and surveillance devices that dotted the larger superstructure. It matched no known configuration of vessel. A structurally curious craft around the size of a Frigate, it seemed strangely compartmentalized even on analysis of its surface hull and chassis, with multiple seams and detachable bulkheads. It resembled an extended octachoron, with smoothed curves at each angle that broke only at the observed seams. The metal itself was curious - a synthetic, manufactured material obviously, but the Nodule's sensor arrays were having some trouble keeping a steady bead in contact with the craft, as its frame appeared to a uniformly flat down to the atomic level, as if it had been shaven to a perfectly level plane and set of grooves with a monomolecular honing blade. Complicating the issue was the distorted spatial geodesics surrounding the vessel. It had no visible external propulsion, and as it eerily moved through space it seemed apparent that it used some form of internal drive for sublight movement.
Just as keen, cold intelligences below began to calculate and devise potential scenarios - the unexpected occured. In one of the orbital traffic control segments of the Nodule, one of the controllers received a telepathic message with official parameters from a being onboard the alien craft.
~Ones upon the early world, Fh'thnal Two of the N'vall speaks. Under my hands comes the house-from-beyond named Urbane Errata Twenty-Two, approaching. Heralds from a people beyond our voids of roaming are in it, and demand to hear from your shapers and speak to them. Send your voices to me.~
Pulsing slightly at the neural centers with the pain of a N'vall mental contact, the operator did its best to proceed as instructions indicated when dealing with the I'nler'attul - focus upon the thoughts relevant to the matter, and direct them at the intruding presence. It seemed simple on the electroscreen, but, in practice, it was an uphill struggle. The brief exchange was unpleasant and taxing; thankfully, the oddly-named harbinger communicated a conceptual equivalent of remote communication data and indications on how to use them. Inputting the deciphered codes into the contact device terminal, the controller cast forth an invisible link to the unknown vessel, and signals prompting to open a direct transmission soon followed.
The images transmitted down from the Errata depicted Fh'thnal Two standing in a darkened, cramped compartment along with another, similar being. It was roughly of the same height as Fh'thnal, and might have even been reasonably mistaken for a member of the N'vall had it not been for the off-yellow coloration of its flesh and the fact that rather than a head, it had the suggestion of a formless lumpw, with no visible sensory or respiratory organs. The similarity to the N'vall was nonetheless striking - its body was ever-so-slightly bulkier, but it had the same four arms, each ending with an extremity bearing four digits. It wore a gray, skintight suit over its body, only moderately obcured by the N'vall-like cloak-garb covering it. The material looked pristine and unblemished, as the alien figure had only just put it on moments before.
"Operator." Fh'thnal Two rasped through the transmission, the skin along its neck shuddering faintly as they vibrated. "Indicate the place where this house is to strike old soil. Gather the shapers and bearers of word to come meet the beyond-heralds."
The Ekhrilthur swayed in perplexity upon hearing the "harbinger"'s world. This being clearly possessed powers comparable to those of a N'vall leader, and it was best not to contradict it openly. And, at the same time, it was clearly not one of the wandering species, not with that name and a request to land.
"Exact coordinates of the nearest landing point and adequate approach trajectory are now relayed. The Nodule overseers have been informed." As it spoke, it saw to sclicking levers and entering commands of virtual selection interfaces, as much as a show of faith as a carrying out of its duties. "Identify yourselves so that appropriate arrangements might be made."
"The last beyond-herald besides me is Mardelr Nineteen, Mucor Typis and plenipotentiary envoy of the Ninth Amaranthine Circuit. Their head of security is Kenat Six-Hundred Twenty-Four, Mucor Typis and commander under the Ninth Amaranthine Circuit."
The strange headless N'vall like being - Mardelr - uttered a noise, like hissing static and boiling tar, a brief issue filled with pops and slick resonance.
"Mardelr Nineteen forwards their regards." Fh'thnal supplied, gesturing faintly towards the strange alien. The Operator saw on their read-outs that the craft's descent trajectory had changed as it passed through the planet's atmosphere. Strangely, despite moving more than fast enough to have generated an entry burn cone, there was no hint of flareups or building heat across its surface - likely because with whatever drive it used for propulsion, it was not descending fast enough within its own private frame of reference for the friction differential to affect it.
Oscillating in acquiescence, the operator proceeded to enter a second sequence into its devices. Somewhere high in the ovoidal towers, signals were probably ringing out from the assembly broadcasters, and images of the strange delegation, accompanied by a standard, yet rarely ever used protocol text appearing on larger, more sophisticated displays than this one. It had almost never been there itself, and could only imagine what the convocation sound for non-hostile contact was. With Luxan raider incursions being almost a routine, one tended to forget how most things aside from the alarm screeches sounded.
If even these N'vall-like beings did not immediately show aggressive intent, however, this was no reason not to observe the usual procedures and, most of all, common sense. The course set for the unknown vessel led not into the seat of the Nodule or even a nearby space, but a bare, even tract of ground some distance away. There was no assurance that the newcomers were not planning to obtain safe access to the surface in order to then strike out with a surprise attack, or whatever that ship, small though it might have been, was concealing; and the selected spot had the advantage of being readily accessible to response forces stationed nearby.
The alien vessel settled into the barrens, its curious sublight drive seeming to warp the ground for a moment before it made contact and disengaged its propulsion. That, however, was the least of the ensuing oddities. As the craft settled, some unseen field extending out from it - kilometers in radius - tore a massive, circular trench into the barren ground. The ship itself seemed to fracture and fragment at the seams, its form levering itself apart like some kind of puzzle-box. The front and rear of the vessel remained largely intact, but the curved extremities near its center of mass folded out to either side while extensions of the forward hull pulled back and extended out to form the equivalent of ramparts. The upper extension of the hull slid forward before blooming open, its sides prying apart to reveal a fortification akin to some kind of watchtower. Directly in the middle of the craft, now fully opened and exposed, was a turbulent, spherical apparatus of some sort. The air immediately around it, partitioned and blocked off by hazard lines and a surrounding guardrail, seemed to boil and churn. Immediately ahead of it, secured by cable-lines, were a number of twelve-by-twelve meter cargo containers in what had previously been an enclosed hangar bay. Swarming across the interior were a number of tall, indistinct beings wearing powered exoskeletons with highly segmented armor sections. Finally, nearly unseen beneath the deployed fortification's mass, eight armored, two-jointed arms reached down to settle heavily into the earth with broad, flared support pads.
The reason for the craft's compartmentalization was now apparent - it had been made to deploy into a fortification upon landing. For the moment it was remaining stationary, appearing to be waiting - although the unseen field that had torn the circular trench into the surrounding terrain was evidently still present, made manifest by the swirling halo of debris and rock that rose like a short, billowing curtain around it.
For some moments, all remained quiet. Dust slowly settled upon the charred soil within the alien field's perimeter, and beyond its unseen barrier the rocky wastes appeared motionless. And such they were, for a few moments, until they sprang to life. The grey terrain seemed to well and roil forward like a sea of undulating quicksilver, its motion converging upon the circle formed by the ship's protective emanations. Sparse gleams of reflected starlight passed through the advancing mass, even as from its midst there rose clouds of poisonous vapour. It was only when the tide approached the obscuring halo and stopped still before it that its nature could be distinguished. Hundreds of thousands of the drones that had, at the Nodule controllers' command, begun to gather at a distance considered safe from the designated landing spot now marched towards the strange intruder, weapons trained upon the distant yet detectable vessel. Over the even mass of their ranks, monstrous Colossi rose like walking hills, their hollow electronic eyes blinking in automated yet seemingly malevolent patterns.
High above the extended craft, the already crepuscular sky began to noticeably darken. Myriads of black shapes blotted out the nameless star as they floated menacingly overhead, the concerted pulsations of their jagged, angular flanks almost visible from the ground. Now and then, the echo of a shrill creaking sound reached down through the invisible dome.
Within the ship, the transmitter device resounded once again with the operator's words. "Urbane Errata Twenty-Two. Confirm intent of non-hostile contact."
"We do not seek to reap. The beyond-heralds have descended to bring our homes together." Fh'thnal rasped through the transmission. The sound of the swirling, turbulent atmosphere surrounding the alien craft was now clearly audible through the N'vall's side of the image. "Show us where the last beyond-herald will meet with your shapers."
There was a brief silence, then the Ekhrilthur's vibrations replied: "A section of the Nodule complex has been allocated for that purpose. Transportation will be provided should you require it." Simultaneously, a partial internal map of the turreted stronghold, a section of which was marked as "accessible", was broadcast along with the vocal message as if to confirm what it said.
"This is meet. The beyond-heralds and I will await transport there. The home-from-beyond will lower its shield. None are to intrude beyond the stricken earth." Fh'thnal indicated, sending back a return external map of the field the frigate had landed in with the ring created by its shield highlighted.
Some minutes passed, during which the drones at the edges of the scorched circle remained still as a wall. They did not advance, but neither did they withdraw. At last, their files began to part in a point, the gap between them growing wider until it became a narrow road through the metallic forces. Through this fissure there appeared a shape that was evidently the promised vehicle.
It was a fairly small trapezoid of black steel, hovering half a metre above the soil with the aid of some silent, but evidently effective device. Its shell was angular and many-faceted, with two lines of dusky glass-like material running along its sides and a dozen of blinking pale-green lights on its front side, but no signs of a cabin or a driver. Having traversed the shallow crater, it slid to a halt near the ship's side and stood waiting.
A number of armored being coolly surveyed the vehicle. They all apparent to be anatomically similar to the N'vall-like Mardelr who had appeared in the transmission, albeit they bore two legs and had only depressed lumps where their heads might have been. They stood approximately two meters in height and bore four arms, each with four digits at the end of each extremity. They appeared largely unconcerned of the craft as it approached, merely standing by within the rampant-like fortifications of the deployed frigate. A few minutes passed, and Fh'thnal emerged from the still-intact forward section of the craft along with Mardelr, who was wearing an exoskeleton, albeit one without any armor affixed to it. Worn over it was a dark cloak reminescent of that Fh'thnal thmself was wearing, albeit much less worn in appearance. They were both accompanied by another of the armored beings, who wielded a long, streamlined carbine and was followed in turn by a semi-halo of six drifting, head-sized spherical drones, each mounted with dish-like arrays and drifting through the air with the use of eight, gyroscopic ion emitters. The three figures and their six smaller attendants approached the black craft, whose flank suddenly seemed to have been horizontally sliced near its lower edge. Rotating upon unseen hinges, the suspended machine's side rose in a smooth semicircular motion, revealing a dark, empty but surprisingly large space within. One of the six drifting spheres entered the craft first, and after a moment of examination, the remaining party filed onboard.
As though it were aware of its passengers' motions, the vehicle closed once all of them had entered it, then turned about and headed back into the corridor formed by the drones. The glass in the cabin's walls appeared translucent from within, so that its occupants were able to observe the tetrapodal constructs from up close as they passed among them. As well as, perhaps more importantly, form an estimate of their numbers. If the length of that tunnel was any indication, the latter must have been fairly impressive.
At last, the steel ranks ended, and nothing was left at the shuttle's sides but flat, boundless desolation, with only columns of nauseously coloured smoke rising in the distance to interrupt the monotony of the wasteland. It might have been a mere impression, but the small craft seemed to gain in speed as it moved through that grey landscape. From inside, almost no trace of its outward motion could be felt, save for the mild tugging of acceleration and a subdued, but persistent vibration of the floor. A while had passed when the vehicle began to perceivably slow down, and soon it stopped, though nothing could be seen from the windows. Then, it turned on its axis while remaining in place, and its left half was cast into shadow by the steel walls looming over it.
The cabin opened, and a greater part of the fortress became visible. From up close, much of the complex's higher part was out of sight, vanishing into the sky before even half of it had come into view. The uninterrupted smoothness of its imperceptibly bending surface struck the sight as unnervingly unnatural, and its vast face, curving out of sight in both directions, gave the impression of a metallic tsunami risen up from the earth to engulf the insignificant figures before it. The only feature to mar its gloss was an arched doorway, small and black from that distance, which opened near the ground directly before where the shuttle had stopped. No other entrance was to be seen.
The six spherical drones that had accompanied the three envoys exited the craft first, three of them immediately flying through the arched doorway. Two more listed to the sides, scanning the external permimeter while the last one followed after Fh'thnal, Mardelr, and the armored being - presumably the security chief Fh'thnal had introduced as Kenat - emerged and entered the doorway themselves. Fh'thnal had taken the lead, hovering ahead of the two alien envoys with its prosthetic boosters.
The visitors were not far gone into the building when the entryway behind them was closed by a sheet of metal noiselessly sliding in place, sealing the opening as though it never had been there. Beyond the portal there was a dark corridor, weakly lit by a seemingly distant golden light shining through narrow fissures in the walls and ceiling. It delved into the structure for a brief distance, then took a smooth bend to the right, followed by a series of short segments and curves in both directions.
After about twenty bends in the way, the corridor emerged into a large circular room, whose domed ceiling hung high above, slightly obscured by strands of thin, pale vapour. Its walls and floor were as bare as the fortress's exterior, save for a second doorway directly opposite the one which led into the tunnel. It was noticeably larger, and of a slightly more circular shape; before it there stood a group of eight figures. Three of them were Ekhrilthur, their seemingly identical semi-fluid bodies rising as undulating grey-brown mounds over the floor and spreading a distinctively pungent, humid smell through the air. Near them stood a fairly large Skirol, the low breeze of its breath audibly whistling through its ribbed exoskeleton and its proboscis flicking from side to side in what might have been impatience. The other four were drones, similar to those that had surrounded the landing zone, but not not bearing any visible weapons. They followed the envoys with the impersonal gaze of their multiple red eyes, and the veinings of their armour regularly pulsed with the same colour.
One of the Ekhrilthur briefly swung its body in a greeting gesture, then spoke in already familiar tones: "I am Sentry-Operator Eullvallt. Here present are Nodule Administrator Iuvruelt, Nodule Defence Coordinator Aulthellr and Cycle-Weaver Xeresh. By our personal mediation, the Sovereign Coalition of the Yrrkeltharl Systems and Fleets declares you welcome guests."
Mardelr turned its lump-like head to Fh'thnal and 'spoke' once more, its voice a largely muted mixture of static and churning tar. It could barely even be heard by the assembled mediation party. Fh'thanl, it seemed, had no issue interpretting the incoherent noise however,
"Shapers, these are the beyond-heralds Mardelr Nineteen, unbound speaker," It gestured with both of its left arms to the unarmored alien wearing the dark N'vall cloak. "...and Kenat Six-Hundred Twenty-Four, their protector for this occasion of nearing." They jabbed with one of their clawed hands at the armored figure bearing the carbine. Even as Fh'thnal spoke, the six floating drones assembled in a loose hexagonal boundary around the mediation party. "...and I am Fh'tnal Two, and shall be their interpretor." A curious claim to have made, seeing as it had failed to relay the Sentry-Operator's own words back to either of its companions, unless it was exclusively using telepathy to converse with them.
"Mardelr represents the Ninth Amaranthine Circuit, and accepts your designation of them as guests with gratitude and reverence. They demand to know if you will partake in a preliminary exchange of tokens of honour."
As Fh'thnal spoke, Mardelr took a single step closer to Kenat and indiscretely uttered more of its churning, static-filled voice, though clearly in a subdued tone that was barely even audible. Kenat turned its body slightly towards the envoy as if listening, and then turned back and gave the Skirol Xeresh an appraising scan, raising and lowering the lump of its armored head, twice, in a cursory examination before turning back and respong to Mardelr in the same low undertones.
Eullvallt exchanged waverings and low vibration pulses with the two other Ekhrilthur, then slightly waved a pseudopod at Xeresh, who, finding its own interest in inspecting the visitors, replied with a somewhat careless series of clicks. Rising and falling in slight frustration, the Sentry-Operator addressed the Circuit's delegation with the same even tone as before.
"If such is the intent of the representative, we do not object to it being enacted. However, the Coalition has nothing to offer them in response to their own gift."
Fh'thnal gave the Sentry-Operator the best equivalent of a look the eyeless N'vall could manage. "I can tell them you are worthless and empty-handed, or that you refuse to comply. Which one is it?" It indicated with a venomous tone.
The Ekhrilthur shrank slightly at the interpreter's words, not so much due to what it had said as at the thought of being in a room with the displeased equivalent of an I'nler. Xeresh, on the other hand, tapped one of its forelegs on the ground in irritation and hissed out in the Ekhrilthur language, albeit with a heavy accent:
"Threaten us, will you, false-N'vall? If you seek the way of arms, not even the strength you have appropriated will safeguard you or your charges." It gestured with its proboscis, and two of the drones took a step forward. Bluish sparks began to distinctly crackle between their arachnoid mandibles.
Kenat visibly lowered its own weapon as the drones advanced, and the hexagonal ring of the smaller drones that had accompanied the delegation notably did not move.
"That was not a threat, firstborn one, but a lashing. Would you receive any of the I'nler'attul with such lowly braying? I am borne of the stars, coalesced with the same reverence as any other N'vall, and will not endure your earthly ways." It raised both of its upper limbs as if about to signal for something, but before more could occur, the alien Mardelr stepped forward and lay a single hand on one of the N'vall's raised limbs. It spoke in the same, crackling and popping voice as it had earlier, the intensity of the sounds now raised and keening.
After a brief moment of consideration, the N'vall tore its arm free of Mardelr's grasp and looked with an air of contempt back towards Xeresh and Eullvallt. "It has been asked," Fh'thanl's voice was insidously low and soft. "If you will demand another interpreter."
Upon Mardelr's intervention, the drones had extinguished their mandibles and stepped back. "You are no I'nler'attul, and you know it" the Skirol continued to snap in a lower tone, but Eullvallt waved it back and resumed its activity as the Yrrkeltharl group's main speaker.
"The representative may dispose of their entourage as they see fit. However, if we are to ensure peaceful and fruitful contact, we recommend they do not take antagonistic action against us or other Coalition personnel. Responsibility for any undesirable developments would lie with them."
Fh'thnal visibly paused for a moment. After a brief silence, Mardelr spoke again in lower static tones.
"The last of the beyond-heralds has indicated that I do not speak for the Ninth Amaranthine Circuit or its interests and am no more than an interpreter. They refuse to declare themselves responsible for my actions. Nor do they desire any strife between themselves and the Coalition, and now desire to withdraw and return in order to produce a more appropriate interpreter." Fh'thnal sounded positively livid, its voice containing barely controlled rage.
Eullvallt was about to reply, but, before it could begin, Nodule Administrator Iuvruelt spoke up, its voice somewhat softer and lower than that of its fellow. "You may inform the representative that they may act as they see it most expedient, but there are some factors they must consider. By constraining your own person, which you yourself assert is comparable to that of any other member of your species, to enter the atmosphere of this planet and move on its surface, they and their associates have committed an action condemnable by the N'vall fleets. Should the latter be informed of it, a forced cessation of cooperation between us, as well as violent reprisals against their persons and property, would follow. The forced withdrawal of your person from the function of interpreter would likewise be regarded as objectionable. However, we can ensure that such developments would not come to pass if the concerned Nodule personnel were to receive due compensation for the friction caused in this occasion, and your own person were additionally consigned to us for extradition to the N'vall fleets."
Another brief pause. What passed for Mardelr's head turned and gave Eullvallt a steady look before it issued another inquiry-by-proxy with its hissing, seething speech.
"...How would my own extradition not bring about similar condemnation upon my sounding?" Fh'thnal asked, its voice bearing a trembling timbre to it, as if their vocal cords were on fire.
"There is a distinct probability the N'vall will prove more tractable should they be able to directly dispose of your person as they see fit" Iuvruelt responded, as its colleagues oscillated appreciatively, "Any decision in that regard by the representative and their associates would be interpreted as a further affront to their authority."
Mardelr almost immediately issued another sound once Iuvruelt has finished, almost as if Fh'thnal was providing translation for them in-time. They were not slow to translate for the envoy in turn. "The NAC would prefer not to deal with the ambiguity of distinct probability. They are prepared to accomodate your request, but require more adequate assurances."
The Nodule Administrator motioned with its pseudopods for its compatriots to draw closer, and the four began a hushed conversation of short, rapid replies, now and then casting a motion of the center or a swipe of the proboscis in the envoys' direction. After two or three minutes, they drew back to their previous positions, and it was Eullvallt who spoke again. "In view of your preferences, we are ready to vouchsafe for the absence of a hostile reaction on the N'vall's part. However, in this case, we find ourselves constrained to request a contribution for the mediation process in addition to the compensation previously mentioned."
"You will find that the NAC is capable of rewarding you generously for your services in this matter, and that they will likely be able to provide your compensation at will without conferring abroad. They are prepared to discuss your needs in further detail once more true bridging has begun." Fh'thnal indicated, this time without Mardelr having to say anything. Their voice sounded curiously empty and hollow. Their stance was bent and wary. "They find your gift adequate. Although it does not begin to equal your magnanimous offering, they are willing to offer you a token of their own propitious will and intent."
As Fh'thnal finished, Kenat abruptly stood to attention, and adjusted the grip on their carbine, while Mardelr reached underneath their N'vall-like cloak and produced a a small spherical device with a brass-colored ring around its equator, handing it off to one of Kenat's free hands. Kenat then approached one of the four drones, presenting both the carbine and the sphere for the machine's inspection.
The spider-like construct's red eyes flared up as it swept its probing gaze over the items held out before it. As the electric light passed the carbine, filtering into all of the weapon's incuneations and external mechanisms, a premonitory buzzing rose from its body, but it was promptly silenced by a pseudopod wave from Eullvallt. The sphere proved to be less easily recognisable in its purpose, and the drone paused, its eyes flashing in a manner that could have appeared perplexed and emitting an indeterminate hum. It was then flanked by a second machine, and both raised one of their forelimbs, mmanipulator claw rotating upwards, towards Kenat.
As they did, Eullvallt voiced the group's satisfaction with the turn events had taken. "We greatly appreciate the NAC's disponibility and eagerness to meet our necessities, and offer our and the Coalition's gratitude for its well-inspired gift. Insomuch as it is within our abilities to ensure it, we shall provide to it that its own needs in Yrrkeltharl space be optimally satisfied."
"That is satisfactory. If you are willing and prepared, our speakers may retire to a better position for further tractatives." Fh'thnal indicated.
"We may proceed" came the Sentinel-Operator's reply.
The four officials and their drone escorts turned about, more or less noticeably, and lead the way through the ample doorway they had come from and into the maze of corridors beyond.
The fog lay heavy upon the island, coiling up from the sea to flood streets and smother palaces, houses and shacks. It was not thick, not for the southern seas, at least, and would soon be gone in the morning; yet, under the dark night sky, dimly lit by the nearby red star gleaming over Uudhin, it appeared as impenetrable as a tide of quicksand that had suddenly descended upon the slumbering city. Had anyone walking through one of Kasabi's myriad passageways lifted their eyes, they would have been unable to see the very wall a few steps to their left, and the lights above were but a faint memory save for that single red spark overhead, glistening malevolently through the fog like a distant, yet watchful eye. But those that were abroad at such a time had no business looking at the sky, or else found themselves fully at home in the shadows.
Under the pale shroud, the city stretched far inland, from the ominously murmuring sea to the heart of the island, harsh, but not as forbidding as what lay beyond the waves. Along the shore ran rows of docks and wharves, by which stood, nodding slightly in tact with the rippling waters, the wooden, sail-draped pillars of Kasabi's power. It was not uncommon for many of the docks to be empty, but now, with part of the fleet having sailed to Ouroborasia, the absence was all the more palpable.
Yet there were places where the differences would not have been felt had every ship abandoned the island all of a sudden. Places where the wharves were rotted and crumbling, where no shapes hurried here and there across the embankment and no torches burned through the enveloping darkness. Where the buildings themselves, cramped and misshapen, bent towards the earth and the black waters under the weight of age and the secrets they concealed. Where mazes of narrow, winding streets crawled in perpetual shadow through grime and filth, and the air was poisoned by wafts of untraceable stench.
There, in foul corners, by malodorous rivulets of strange fluids, over puddles and pits, there moved vague, indistinct shadows. These were not the industrious inhabitants of the docks: their movements were wary and sluggish, their backs stooping, their voices unheard. They shuffled among the dirt and foetor, casting quick glances at the dark awning windows as they passed or staring stolidly before themselves. Some muttered to themeselves as they went, others were deathly silent. In these far, forgotten reaches, the blood of Kasabi was thick, rotten and touched by strange diseases that have no name.
Deep in this labyrinth, at a crossroads of twisted paths surrounded by faceless walls of stained stone, three cultists stand in heated theological debate.
''The doctrines of the Salt Prince are crude and dubious. Doth he not seek the usurp the Celestial Plane? Be he truly a Red God, or another Justinian?'' Speaks a female cleric donning the robes and emblem of Ephemem. ''Bite your tongue, whore. For instead you bite the hand of the host that feeds you. Were it not for Yitizer's Mercy, your lands would have been naught but reduced to slavery to the New Pantheon.'' A cultist wearing a horned mask and wearing grey robes depicting the emblem of Axohaan, responds indignantly.
''You are one of Soghba's muppets, yes? Than surely you understand this 'alliance' is on paper alone. We know you Uudhinites are little better than the New Pantheonists. You're a heretic.'' She replies. ''Heretic? Please; flattery will get you nowhere.'' The Axohar cleric replies with a vicious smirk. The third cultist only nods awkwardly. The cultists of other Red Pantheonist sects pay little heed to him and his fellows. Because his robes depict a much obscurer and less esteemed, perhaps even insignificant faith. Insignificant in so far that few enough people recognise the logo, and it does not rouse theological debates or swollen historical slights in contrast to the deeply notorious and stigmatized logo of the Salt Prince. The sign emboidered on the earthen-brown robe under his ragged, worn cloak, a raiment unseemly for a cleric even in the lands of the Red Pantheon, was akin neither to the angular emblems of Axohaan nor the cryptically abstract devices of other southern deities. Instead, his garb was emblazoned with a curious and sinister figure of deformity: the body of a horrid being, at once a monstrous crab and a face distorted by a fiendish grin, surmounted by a second inhuman head with a snarling, fanged mouth. Gnarled limbs radiated from the entity's form, and the whole was surrounded by the likeness of a dusky halo or a black sun.
As the cultist shuffled in place, his fingers intertwined while his fellows argued the merits of their respective patrons, one could have noticed something hanging around his neck and swaying along with his motions like a large pendant. However, had even his cloak not been enough to fully conceal it, the mist and darkness hovering in the nook were too thick for it to be discernible. Indeed, little of what was under his mantle was visible at all; his face was a vague inky blotch between the drapings of a cowl.
Soft, yet audible steps sounded from behind him, and three other indistinct figures emerged from the fog some steps away. Either hearing their approach or detecting it by some other means - someone observing him closely would have noticed he had begun to move his head an instant before the shuffling sounds preceding the newcomers had come - the adept turned to exchange a glance with them, then motioned shortly with his hand, and the shapes withdrew back out of sight. With a slight nod, he returned his attention to the discussion before him, and spoke.
"Let us not descend into discord, my friends." his voice was low and slightly grating, as though his throat were dry and parched. He continued, raising his bent, bony fingers, unpleasantly similar to the legs of the crab on his emblem, "Our strength lies in our unity, do not forget it. The forces of false gods would fain prey on us like worms, and only if we hold onto each other in a strong bundle will we be safe from their vexations."
''You, new man, can't delude me into thinking that the Red Pantheon is anything but solitary. Our cause is not yours -- or even 'hers'.'' The Axohar nods towards the Ephemite. ''So who are you even? Garments as yours have been recurring in this district of late. Which faceless deity has you ensnared?'' spoke the devil-masked cleric to the vexed browncloak.
"I?" A whistling sound, like a low tatter of laughter, came from under the cowl. "I serve no one god. I am but a keeper of a universal force, as old as the world. A force that has always sought to bring together what was divided, and mend what was broken."
The hooded cleric drew his cloak slightly apart, revealing the sigil underneath. "This seal you see embodies life, strength, vigour, all the things our time so sorely lacks. Things we must work to restore."
The Axohar grunts. ''Your tone is the same as that of the Old Man. Gibberish over universal power. Some minds must have been slowly warped by the proximity of Azagôde. There's something foul in the air of these suburbs. I have no interest in any of these delusional prophecies.''
"Power and unity are one and the same. But come," the figure gestured broadly towards the mist where his companions had vanished. "I see you, as many others, are not convinced by words alone. And it is well you should not be. Come with me, then, and I will show you that which is worth more than words."
''Clever. I see we've learned our tricks from the same old book. That much we have in common. I recall telling a witless tourist or another that I would escort her to a holy site, which I did. But more specifically it was a sacrificial altar!'' He says, following with nonchalant laughter. ''I am not your fool, but I appreciate the gesture all the same.''
The cloaked priest nodded. "In times and places as those, it is well to be wary. But your mistrust strikes blindly at the hand that reaches out to support you. See then..."
With a swift motion, he produced from the folds of his robe a long, recurve knife with a strangely jagged blade. Drawing back the edge of his garment to expose the back of his right hand. Holding the dagger in the left, he drew a long, thin line across his skin, and blood was not slow to well from under it.
"By the power I serve and the flesh I thus mar, nor I nor my kin shall spill your blood, tonight or evermore." His voice was unchanged, as rasping and even as before. He lifted his dripping fingers in a beckoning gesture.
The devil-masked cleric turns to silence. His face might be amused, or unsettled, or with a raised eyebrow to this cultist. He gives reply with a shrug. ''Such vows are sacred. I won't get much divine inspiration hearing the Old Man's murmuring. So I might as well give ear to yours, instead. It is all the same -- so grant me insight to the universal power you claim to herald.''
''Umm.. Right.'' The Ephemite says, putting up an effort to conceal her discomfort. ''As the only representative of the Goddess of Witches, I must glean intel to your new cult and its practises, likewise.''
Without as much as another word, the hooded man turned towards one of the streets running into the thick of the slanted houses and walked forth into the mist, leading the way through the twists and turns. After but a few steps, the group was joined by the three acolytes who had briefly appeared earlier, and seemingly stood waiting in a nearby nook. Up close, they seemed even more similar to the one that had spoken. They wore the same old cloaks, watched from the shadows of the same cowls, strode with the same slightly shuffling gait. More so - it might have been a trick of the faint reverberations between the overhanging walls, but they sounded as though all the four of them were walking precisely in tact with each other.
They moved on, delving into the penumbra under the old buildings, street by street. It seemed already that they had come quite far, but nothing in their surroundings hinted at this. The walls, pavement, windows, air were equally dim and worn. If anything, the stench was growing faintly stronger, and the houses more hoary and battered by time. Stone gave way to putrid wood, and the puddles became rarer, but denser and wider.
At last, the leading cultist stopped before a door in no way different from the dozens they had passed before, set in a wall as foul and ungainly as any other. He cast a rapid glance to both sides, then scraped the panels with his nails, unafraid of any splinters or insects that might be caught under them. There was a moment of silence, then, from the other side, echoed a similar scratching, and the door creaked open. Beyond the threshold, nothing was visible but looming, almost solid darkness.
The three silent adherents were the first to file into it without making a sound. The one with the wounded hand took a step, then stopped in the doorway to motion for his companions to follow, and disappeared as well.
''Why the secrecy? Surely you understand there is religious freedom in Göl Kasabi. What practises could be ill and so depraved enough that your kin are compelled to hide them from common eyes?'' The Ephemite speaks up after a long and eerie quiet, her hushed voice disrupting the smothering silence and darkness inside the building.
From the dark interior ahead came a response in a voice somewhat alike, yet unmistakeably different from that of the first priest. It clearly belonged to another person, yet it was veined with the same low, hoarse tones.
"Our mysteries are such that they must be held in the deep, near the heart of the world and far from the light and the sky. Come, and you shall see why it is so." The three of them tread further, though for those unfamiliar with the Cult the decision came only after a moment of hesitation. Under their feet, they could feel hard, though roughly chiselled stone stairs, leading downwards. Somewhere far, far below, a point of red-brownish light flickered faintly, appearing and vanishing at intervals. Behind them, the door slammed shut, and only that spot remained visible in the pitch blackness. Shuffling steps moving away indicated that the guide was descending into the unseen abyss.
The way down could not have been long, yet it seemed that their progress between unseen walls of humid, breathing earth was excruciatingly slow. Ages could have passed in the silent blackness that surrounded them like the depths of a stygian ocean, and the distant light, a lone island in the smothering shadow, did not seem to draw any closer. While the night they had come from had itself been dark, this subterranean realm was another world altogether - a world of cold stillness and unspoken menace lurking close by.
Yet, strangely deep though it might have been, the bottom of the pit approached. The point of light grew larger and larger, reaching first the size and strength of a torch, then a brazier, then a bonfire, until it pushed back the encroaching dark. Through the subterranean quiet came faint echoes of far-off sounds, soon becoming whispers and rustling motions. Then, the steps gave way to even, hard ground, and, following the now visible guide into the luminescence, they saw.
Beyond the stairs lay a large vaulted chamber dug out of the soil. Its converging walls were slightly crumbling here and there, yet oddly smooth, as though whoever had carved them had been a master of their craft. Most astounding, however, was the fact that it was not lit by torches or braziers, but by large stains of glowing, living matter spread over the earthen surfaces. It was akin to some of the curious efflorescences spotted by daring seafarers who reached the far shores in the east, yet, at the same time, any who had seen both would have known these growths were different. It was nothing that could be seen, or even felt; but their lurid, charnel light spoke in accents not hoary and mystical, but dim and feral.
Gathered in the dungeon were about a score of acolytes, all draped in worn cloaks and brown robes. When the group emerged from the shadows of the stairway, they interrupted their hushed conversations and turned upon the newcomers their unnervingly faceless stares. Each of them donned under their cowl a mask that concealed their features. Among that crowd, there were crude, nondescript veils of stitched cloth mingled with more elaborate wooden visages and even some animal skulls; no two of them were alike. The guide threw a backwards glance at his guests, revealing that he as well had covered what little was visible of his head with a visor of hardened leather.
Presently, a low, metallic sound, akin to the strike of a gong, came from the further end of the chamber, and the masked figures' gazes swung thither. Across the circle of the floor, a tunnel opened into the room directly opposite the end of the stairs, gaping in the dimly lit wall like the mouth of a tremendous worm. Before it, there stood a low stone altar, almost crude in its simplicity. Upon the altar rested something that appeared to be a large square tablet of black rock, but the etchings on it could not be distinguished from that distance.
A wave of whispers coursed over the acolytes, and a large form issued from the mouth of the tunnel. It was another of the cloaked priests, but as unlike the others as they were different from the followers of other gods. The figure's cloak was quite clearly a funereal shroud, frayed at the edges and covered in patches of mold; yet the robes under it were clean and opulent, adorned with what might have been either jewels or sparse pieces of ceremonial armour. Its hands were covered in some sort of bizarre claw-like gauntlets, and the mask under its cowl was not of cloth or wood, but metal exquisitely fashined into the likeness of the head of an insect, with dully glittering gemstones as its eyes.
At the sight of this apparition, the assembled cultists bowed down as one, then rose in similar unison. The high priest, if such it was, stopped behind the altar, then abruptly raised both hands. All fell silent. The insect-headed figure lifted the tablet from the altar, held it up high, and intoned a chant. Its voice was only rasping and hissing; it could not even be said whether it was a man or a woman.
The two visitors, all the while, had not spoken a word. The both of them were unnerved, while normally they shouldn't be. They are certainly familiar with rites as these, or even more extravagant and sinister. Yet despite it the Axohar and Ephemite still felt not in their element. The best they could do was keep up a smug facade that this shoddy ritual was insufficient to have any self-respecting, veteran Red Pantheonist impressed.
The chant rose still, growing in intensity. It was not formed of any discernible words, or even what could have been sounds of another language, but a medley of clicks, screeches and snaps that barely seemed to come from a human mouth. For all its chaotic discordancy, there distinctly was a rhythm to it. The bestial cacophony wove itself into cadenced patterns, the same snaps and clacks recurring at the end of what might have been abhorrent verses.
The moment in which the other acolytes joined the litany was so rapid that anyone not expecting it would have failed to notice it. Many voices rose as one in perfect synchrony, welling up to the vaulted ceiling and carrying the monstrous hymn as an overflowing river. The impression was not that of a choir, however large, chanting in unison; it seemed as though a single monstrous being were droning out its unnatural song without a mouth. A forest of gnarled hands rose from the gathered crowd towards the tablet, and their limbs did not appear to be hands at all.
The high priest lowered the stone upon the altar and fell silent, though this could barely be noticed amid the cultists' uninterrupted chanting. They continued even as their leader stepped aside from the entrance of the tunnel, revealing a group of three figures that had approached unheard and stood waiting for an unknown time. Two of them were masked priests, faces concealed by metallic visors; the third, held between them, was little more than a bundle of rags loosely wrapped around a starved, battered body. Their head was covered with a sack, and their whole frame seemed to tremble slightly, only ceasing for a moment upon being roughly prodded by one of the masked guards.
At a gesture from the leader, the two dragged their weakly stumbling captive before the altar and withdrew to its two sides, leaving their charge to collapse to its knees. No one saw how they were produced, but suddenly the insect-headed prelate was holding two recurve daggers like the one with which the first cultist had sealed his oath in its hands. Then, with preternatural agility, it plunged the blades into the prisoner's chest from two sides, as though they had been the extremities of a pincer. The violence of the strikes was such that the victim's entire body was lifted from the ground and flung onto the altar, steel crushing bone with a sickening sound. The dying gurgling from under the sack was drowned out by the hymn, which rose higher than ever as the carnifex screeched out some unintelligible words in an altered voice. The rag-draped limbs twitched a few times, then fell still.
The high priest tore out the daggers from the body, and once again its strength was such that the corpse was cast to the ground as the serrated edges turned its ribcage into bloody tatters. A dark, thick pool covered the altar; yet, inexplicably, it was growing smaller and smaller, though little of it dripped to the ground. A sharper look revealed the astounding cause of this marvel: the blood appeared to be seeping into the dark stone of the tablet, which drank it in hungrily as though it were alive.
Suddenly, the chanting ebbed and ceased, and the chamber feel eerily silent. There had been no visible signal, yet every cultist had stopped intoning the strange words at once, even as they had begun. The leader cast away the bloodied daggers and motioned with a hand, and four of the cloaked figures stepped forward. The first withdrew the folds of their clothing from one of their arms, and the wrist was revealed to be a handless stump; the other three stopped behind their comrade's back.
The insect mask nodded, then a gauntleted hand darted forward, and a brief burst of sharp, scrreching words rang through the air. A shadow seemed to pass over the dim light of the subterranean growths, engulfing all in the room for an invisible fragment of an instant. It was certain no time had passed, and, indeed, there had truly been no darknening; yet, when the guests regained their bearings, the scene before them had become unrecognisable.
Five figures still stood at the center of the chamber, but a nameless change had come over them. The high priest appeared to stand as tall and immobile as before, but the body under their robe seemed to have unnaturally swollen and struck by spasms. Something pulsing and amorphous beat beneath the clothing around the figure's stomach, and occasionally the outline of a sharp edge or spike could be seen through the fabric. Two of the supplicants who had stood behind were now on their knees, where they remained motionless. The third was nowhere to be seen, but a small cloud of yellow-grey smoke coiled and hovered where they had stood. One could have sworn that now and then the dim outlines of something much too large to be hidden by that fog emerged from it.
Yet the gazes of all were gathered upon the one who had held forward the mutilated wrist. The figure was now standing in its former place, and seemed slightly taller than before. It slowly turned away from the center and towards the stairs, as though it knew the visitors were there, and held up what had been a flat stump.
Now it was no more. Up until the wrist, the arm was that of a human; yet upwards from it began something hideous. A hairy, viciously sharp pincer had appeared in the stead of the missing appendage. It was covered in some sort of foul-seeming carapace, and black ichor oozed from it. But worst of all, it clearly was alive. It twitched and snapped at the air, gnashing and grinding with a horrid noise. Its bearer kept it aloft for a few moments, then lowered it and stepped aside without a sound.
The gathering seemed to be finished. The insect-priest and the cultists with the iron masks disappeared into the tunnel, and the others began to file away up the stairs, the one healed by that abominable miracle among them, without exchanging as much as a word. The strange cloud and the uncertain shapes within it had vanished.
Last of his kin left in the chamber, the acolyte who had guided the Axohar and Ephememite into this den of horrors looked at his guests through his inexpressive wooden visage, as though he were expecting something due to him. The Axohar gives prompt reply: ''That was fun.''
''...What exactly were we just witness to?''
"The heart of the world has beaten" came the voice from behind the mask.
The cloaked figure turned in silence and was gone in the shadows of the stairway.
As it is made obvious even by its name (in the Ekhrlithur language, used as an official lingua franca, “Yrrkeltharl” is a locative meaning “of [the sector/region of] Yrrkelthar), the Coalition is best defined as not so much a nation as a loose confederation of the inhabitants of the section of space it occupies. While there once existed a central government which presided over what was then a super-state formed by the fusion of the three local powers, its planets and systems are now the laboratories and playgrounds of its most outstanding scientific minds, who, aside from a few general guidelines and an obligation to support the collective military forces with tributes, enjoy access to vast resources and free rein in working with them.
With such a system in place, it should not be surprising that Coalition space should be a chaotic and almost frighteningly surreal place. The husks of consumed worlds can be found orbiting stars encased in energy absorption frameworks, near planets blighted by experimental weapons or razed by the formidable drone armies stationed there. Worse yet, whoever finds themselves dealing with it will have to endure the eccentric nature and usually poor coordination of its inhabitants, which might lead to strange situations involving guarantees of non-aggression being immediately followed by planetary invasion.
Official Name: Sovereign Coalition of the Yrrkeltharl Systems and Fleets. Common Name: Coalition, Yrrkelthar, Yrrkeltharl Coalition. Government: Decentralised Feudal Technocracy. Dominant Species: Ekhrilthur, though not significantly so. Capital: Erelvath, Ulvarith System (de jure; de facto, there is no single effective capital). Systems Owned: Numerous. Planets Owned: Uncertain. There is an official register somewhere, but the number often fluctuates anyway. Population: Uncertain. The unified census records have not been checked by anyone besides automated systems in decades.
History
Centuries ago, what would become known as the Yrrkelthar region only knew a single spacefaring species. The Ekhrilthur fungoids, having, after a period of internecine conflicts inevitable in creatures so inclined to individualism, consolidated into a single planetary state known as the Erelvath Conglomerate, began to expand outwards from their homeworld, taking advantage of the recently discovered slipspace drive. Their native Ulvarith system was the first to feel their thirst for energy and resources, with virtually all its noteworthy celestial bodies being mined dry and its star being surrounded with a network of collector panels, laying the foundation of more ambitious constructions yet to come.
As faster-than-light travel technologies improved, the Conglomerate reached to absorb more and more systems. Worlds were colonised, and more yet were consumed. It is to that time that the first records of the Ekhrilthur encountering other sapient life forms can be dated. According to those chronicles, one of the planets approached during their conquest was inhabited by a comparatively primitive civilisation, still fragmented and not yet having reached the space age, which, upon the arrival of the Conglomerate, proved hostile and put up a violent, if futile resistance, and was fully eliminated by the invaders’ robotic forces.
It was not much later that the second of such encounters occurred, though its resolution was by no means as fast as that of the first. On a world whose conditions, favourable to the development of life, had given rise to the formation and evolution of an enormous number of bizarre creatures, the Ekhrilthur vanguard came upon a remarkably developed invertebrate species. The Skirol, as they named themselves, were extremely proficient in the manipulation of genes and biomatter, having built their Global Union upon these arts, but had until then been unable to master space travel. Upon being informed of the Conglomerate’s intention to subjugate the planet and reduce them to second-class citizens at best on their own world (though nowadays many suppose that Skirol aggression also played its part), they rapidly, much to the Ekhrilthur’s surprise, beat back the occupying armies and seized their vessels.
Angered at this successful defense, the Conglomerate sent the bulk of its military fleet to devastate Skereth, as the offending species called their homeworld. Yet once again the crafty invertebrates proved themselves capable of exceptional feats: in an incredibly brief time they reverse-engineered the Ekhrilthur craft designs and began to produce monstrous semi-biological ships to rival those of their foes. After some years of pitched battles around Skereth, the Global Union fielded the first Leviathans, scoring a string of decisive victories and breaking the siege once and for all. Much to the Conglomerate’s horror, the Skirol spilled outwards from their planet like a black plague, infesting system after system.
For decades afterwards the two nations warred with each other over Yrrkelthar, leaving more systems ravaged in the wake of their clashes than the expansion of the Ekhrilthur could have ever accounted for. As hostilities progressively escalated, the two sides continued to build newer and more destructive weapons, yet neither could gain a lasting advantage over the other. It is worth noting, however, that the death toll was surprisingly low for a conflict of this magnitude, since both sides favoured indirect confrontations and the employment of mechanical or biological constructs in battle.
A temporary truce was reached between the Conglomerate and the Global Union only when, out of unfathomable distant reaches of the galaxy, a third force appeared to lay claim to the region. The N’vall, a cryptic and vastly technologically advanced species of semi-artificial beings that had been wandering the galaxy as nomads for an unknown time, forcefully entered Yrrkelthar with their fleets and armies of enslaved soldiers, seeking to establish their complete dominion over it. Due to the significant superiority of the newcomers’ weaponry over their own, Ekhrilthur and Skirol were forced to set aside their differences and form an uneasy alliance to resist their advance. However, even this necessary union proved unstable, and eventually fragmented, with the region descending into such chaos that the invaders were unable to fully commit their forces to securing a complete victory.
At length, as the war ran its course, the strength of the three species was depleted. The constant effort and resource drain that were battles and armament races had left the economies of the Conglomerate and Global Union in shambles, and even the seemingly all-powerful N’vall had seen their already low population dwindle dangerously. A peace treaty was drawn, ensuring a more or less equitable division of intact and devastated territories alike between the Ekhrilthur and Skirol, and relative freedom of action for the N’vall. Upon this foundation were successively built numerous trade deals, then large-scale partnerships, then state accords, until, over the centuries, international organisations sprang up that all but engulfed the respective governments’ authorities. Former tensions were forgotten, and eventually Yrrkelthar’s inhabitants were subsumed into one vast super-entity, directed by an enormously influential Nucleus.
Under the guidance of the Nucleus and its subsidiaries, the Coalition, as the new state had been named, expanded further outwards. The increase in the number of territories to manage put an increasing strain over the centralised system, which found itself constrained to set up more and more local authorities with more and more sweeping powers. Finally, the influence of these minor organs eclipsed that of the Nucleus itself, which, lost amid the network it had itself created, retained little more than vestigial status.
While these events took place, the Coalition’s wide and diverse scientific community, which had been becoming more important as the demand for new technologies grew over time, had, abetted by the military controllers, been edging its way into the administrative organs, conveniently rendering several functions dependent on advanced technical knowledge. Since the local nodes were most accessible, it was there that it held greater sway; and thus the spontaneous decentralisation helped bring about the new technocratic order, which has since then remained in place to this day.
It was not long after the new system had consolidated itself - and reaped its first share of planetary victims - that the Coalition had its first contact with an outside force since the time of the coming of the N’vall. Scouts from the nearby Empire of Astrana penetrated the dead space between it and the Yrrkelthar core, reaching the inhabited zone. Curious at the sight of the unknown human species, the locals promptly performed a series of forceful experiments upon them, often with lethal results. The tales of those few that returned to the Empire triggered a retaliatory strike, whereupon the Coalition, seeing its neighbour’s military power, did not further meddle in its affairs.
About a century later, the population of Yrrkelthar was further surprised by a third intrusion, this one far less benign than the previous one. The armies of the Daisan Order descended upon its rimward-facing border, destroying and plundering all in their way. At first, the Coalition, unaccustomed to defensive warfare, attempted to turn its normally aggressive scorched earth tactics against the invaders; however, this only led to further losses, as the mechanical hordes marched on, undeterred. Thereupon, it mustered its war fleets and met the Daisans head-on, successfully halting, or at least slowing, their advance. Yet their victories were costly and by no means final, and the threat from the mysterious distant rim looms still over Coalition space.
Starmap Information
Galactic Location
Major Holdings
- The Ulvarith System: Home system of the Ekhrilthur, and the official capital of the Coalition. While once it was the seat of the highest power in the region, nowadays it maintains its former superiority only in one field - that of industrial production. Ever since the Ekhrilthur first crossed space, they began laying the foundations for the great Ulvarith machine. It grew bit by bit, component by component, secondary megastructure by megastructure, until it reached its current condition: almost a single, immeasurably vast complex, uniting the function of material gathering, elaboration and construction. Ulvarith is the heart and pride of the Coalition, and the primary source of its vast drone armies.
- Skereth: Homeworld of the Skirol and, to this day, holder of the record for the greatest natural biodiversity in Yrrkeltharl space. Skirol Cycle-Weavers are to this day uncertain of whether they have encountered and catalogued every single species living on the planet, and there is scarce an inch of its surface that is not teeming with pluricellular as well as simple creatures, to say nothing of the lakes and oceans. Something all the seekers of Equilibrium agree on is that Skereth is virtually sacred, and thus none but a select few Trezklin, formed of the most illustrious Skirol to be found in the Coalition, are allowed to reside on its surface. Any who so much as visit it, drawn by the fame of its bio-pod laboratories and spawning pits, must undergo preemptive sterilization procedures, and, of course, never stray from the designated paths, lest they be seized by one of the planet’s many strange predators.
- Iurthelath: While typical Plasmators never remain in office for more than, at the very utmost, fifty standard years, not in the least because of lifespan limitations, the rulers of Iurthelath are a very notable exception. It is the only recorded case in Coalition history in which the title of Plasmator has been officially claimed not by an individual, but a group of researchers. The Iurthelathl Combine, as they are known, have remained in their position almost since it first appeared, and some suspect they simply found a loophole in the newly established rules. However this may stand, the Combine is an exceptionally diverse group, even including some N’vall, and its ever-evolving military designs are highly prized by Nodule controllers and fabricators alike. Less so by the inhabitants of the system, who, despite the official rules, constantly fear lest they be accidentally obliterated by the latest prototype.
- Nodule Nl-03: While political and military power alike is mostly more or less evenly distributed among the Nodules, with some variations due to the population and resource yield of given sectors, Nl-03 greatly outclasses it fellows. The reason for this is that it is perhaps the closest the modern Coalition has to a true Nucleus; a staging point for the forces of several outer sectors, and a few of the core ones as well. This degree of centralisation, previously unheard of in Yrrkelthar, has been forced upon it by the onslaught of the Daisan, and the speed with which it was put into practice is laudable by any standards. In less than three years, the previously scattered armies of the northern systems have been assembled here, ready to be deployed wherever the invaders might show themselves - though the strategic closeness of Nl-03 to the Imperial border has been a source of some perplexity.
- Mlan’entel E’thuur (lit. “The Fleet Lastborn”): N’vall wandering fleets are an impressive sight, hundreds, if not thousands, of large vessels of alien design glimmering through the void with the manifold eyes of their incomprehensible lights. Few of them, however, can rival the Mlan’entel E’thuur, “last” (which, in N’vall culture, is the most honourable position) of all. Its size is such that, were it not for the distinctly green light it radiates, it would often be mistaken for a nebula, and the power wielded by its outlandish armaments is such to have given pause even to the united fleet that stopped the Daisan advance. It is said that the mightiest of the I’nler reside on it, and that it occasionally seeks out the other N’vall congregations to conduct unnamed transactions; and none may guess where it is at any given moment.
- Vollnetlleayrrkeltharl (lit. “Dead space of Yrrkelthar”): While any starmap will make the Coalition appear rather impressive in terms of controlled territory, the truth is that very little of it beyond the core regions is inhabited. Most of it is vollnetlle - empty and lifeless. Graveyards of desolate planets float dimly between uncharted nebulae, and nameless stars burn out their course without having ever been perceived by living organs. Yet this does not mean that this space is quiet, and, worst of all, not put to use. Fleets of drone ships patrol it without cease, and uncountable myriads of machines restlessly work to strip the uninhabited worlds of as many resources as possible. The fate that befalls others is worse yet: failed experiments are left on them and left to rot, or, which is worse, multiply; they are transformed into vile, infernal “death worlds” by the destructive mechanical armies stationed there; or, most fearsome of all, are used as testing targets for new methods of planetary destruction and hostile terraforming. The expanses within and between systems are clogged by debris or exhausted weapons, and so much as venturing into these regions is a deadly risk.
Social Information
Species and Demographics
Ekhrilthur - 31% Skirol - 46% N’vall - 23%
Ekhrilthur:
These fungal creatures, hailing from a largely barren and inhospitable, but mineral-rich planet, have a long history of struggling with hostile environments, which, combined with their lengthy gestation period, frequently threatened to thin their numbers almost to the point of extinction. Consequently, there remains in them an atavistic aversion to being exposed to physical danger, and a proportional willingness to decrease the chance of such an occurrence as far as possible. As their soft, malleable pseudopods, which can, in various circumstances, exert a firm grip or perform fine manipulations, render them naturally suited for occupations wherein such flexibility can be vital, Ekhrilthur industry is the Coalition’s finest in terms of mechanical implements and technological advancement, its wares widely available on any inhabited world. Despite this, the Ekhrilthur themselves are seldom seen outside the core regions, preferring to remain in the safety of their territories, despite the latter often amounting to little more than planet-spanning factories and mining facilities.
Their homeworld is especially notable for the vast, continent-spanning subterranean cavernous formations, wherein most of its life-form population evolved. As a consequence of developing in an atypically dark and humid environment, the Ekhrilthur are particularly susceptible to light and dry climates, causing them to be seldom seen in the open, or indeed at all, on worlds close to a their orbital star; conversely, they appear to thrive on those near a system's rim. These beings appear as rough spheroids composed of grey gelatinous matter, moving and manipulating objects by the means of a variable number of malleable pseudopods which can, when necessary, exude a viscous substance.
Skirol:
The inquisitive Skirol developed in a rich and complex ecosystem, the entirety of which they still suspect they have not yet quite understood. Such a wealth of life never ceased to fascinate a great many of them, and, ever since the dawn of their civilisation, lead them to wonder how marvellous the world of organic forms might be if it were guided by a wise, calculating intellect - such as their own. Since the Skirol seldom hesitate before passing from words to action, there scarce can be found a life-form in Coalition space which they have not experimented upon, and the products of their biological engineering are slowly yet steadily making their way toward wholesale employment in the civilian sector as well as the military. Skirol are a rather common sight throughout the Coalition, especially about the fringe, where exploration expeditions are occasionally undertaken.
The Skirol are odd creatures exhibiting both arthropodal and molluscoid physiological traits, as well as certain others whose analogues have not been encountered in any other known animal. They visually resemble some form of arachnid or crustacean, encased in black segmented exoskeletons and possessing tentacular appendages extending from the frontal section of their heads.
N’vall:
Cryptic beings that appeared from unknown recesses of the galaxy during the Yrrkeltharl War, and have since become a constituent member of the Coalition, despite refusing to settle on any planet or stationary superstructure and living exclusively on their ships. Comparatively little is known about the N’vall, but something that is certain is that they are members, perhaps the last, of a species that sought to attain physical perfection. Having long abandoned natural procreation in favour of the precisely controlled artificial procedures enabled by their significant level of technological advancement, N’vall are “born” from a genetic fusion encoded into biomass growing around a metallic endoskeleton. Some of them possess strong psionic abilities, but it has not yet been determined what factors cause their development.
If seen in their customary garments, the N’vall might appear to a casual observer to be almost humanoid. However, their true anatomy is neither such nor even bipedal. They possess four arms, two of which usually remain folded under their cloaks, and lack any sort of hind limbs, instead relying on magnetic propulsors and somewhat arthropod-like mechanical prosthetics, and, should those fail, their own robust muscles, to move in a hovering or crawling fashion. N’vall hands have four digits, one of which appear opposable, but can be bent or rotated sideways with ease to provide a grip upon objects.
Society
Despite centuries of cohabitation, the three species of the Coalition have, over time, remained rather distinct in their social and cultural domains. Mingling has, to this day, remained limited to a macroscopic scale, since even when Ekhrilthur and Skirol share a planet, their environmental requirements and preferences drive them to settle separate locations. Nonetheless, time and regular trade have smoothed out any hostilities between them (a factor contributing to a comparatively rapid construction of peaceful relations was that, due to their biology and consequent social structures, none of the Yrrkeltharl inhabitants are familiar with the concept of trans-generational guilt). Overall, the Coalition’s society is, though as diverse as its geography, rather firmly unified, even though a casual observer might not see any immediate traces of unity proper in it.
The Ekhrilthur, being strongly inclined towards individualistic and materialistic attitudes, as well as possessing almost irrationally strong latent self-preservation instincts, mostly live in utilitarian, unsightly yet functional urban centers, large parts of which reach deep underground. Roads, streetways and passages between buildings take on the form of enclosed tunnels, making the cities fully self-contained pockets of space with only a scarce few entryways and aeration openings connecting them to the outside. Personal dwellings are typically small, narrow insulated capsules, with little, if any, decorations - indeed, in contemporary times ornaments are considered distasteful, and how pristine a home is is a clear sign of the owner’s status - and few visible furnishings. Common pastimes include electronic sensory stimulation, with chemical or biological drugs being rare, and mechanical design aided by small personal assembling devices.
Ekhrilthur society is the basis for the Coalition’s own technocratic system. With the all-pervasiveness of safety system in everyday life, technicians and engineers are the ones who hold the effectively greatest responsibilities, and consequently authority, among them, their influence rivalled only by that of the military (which, being entirely automated, is controlled by technicians itself). Ranks and standing are determined by skill and merit, with examinations and probation periods being required to pass from one of the standardised “levels” to the other. Egoism is not only sanctioned, but indirectly encouraged in these meritocratic communities. While small-scale corruption is not uncommon, nepotism is not practiced by the Ekhrilthur, as they reproduce by sporogenesis and do not entertain family ties.
It might be odd to hear that the notoriously materialistic Ekhrilthur are not only open to religion, but have even produced a faith of their own. In fact, the Creed of the Ultimate Truth is not so much a religious confession as a philosophical stance. In simple terms, those who subscribe to it believe that there is, concealed somewhere in the cosmos, a notion that, if discovered, would explain all uncertainties there exist on the nature and origin of the universe. The innumerable interpretations of this basic axiom have birthed almost as many schools of thought within the Creed, which incessantly contend themselves through discussions and debates.
Skirol, on the other hand, are strongly communal. They congregate in groups known as Trezklin, which can be loosely translated as “Swarm” or “Blight”, numbering anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand individuals, and only a rare few eccentrics are known to live in comparative isolation. The Trezklin is the foundation of the average Skirol’s life, providing at once a family, working environment and circle of friends, or “hunting-mates”. The internal hierarchy of these communities is, while mostly similar across the general Coalition-wide population, so bizarre and intricate as to be largely incomprehensible to outsiders. As far as anyone can tell, one’s authority is accrued proportionally with age, but even then it is in no way uncommon to have younger members significantly outrank older ones.
Trezklin are, as a rule, stationed in the wild, be it flatlands countryside, forests and jungles, swamps, mountain ranges, archipelagos or even shallow bodies of water if their members are augmented to survive in it. Some are nomadic, but the majority remain in the territories where they were originally founded. Skirol habitations, commonly named bio-pods, are semi-organic constructions incorporating one or more non-sentient living membranes draped over a synthetic structure, providing the advantage of a heat-preserving barrier that can be regulated in its various aspects. The standard bio-pod is a large, if sleek, edifice, either housing numerous inhabitants or containing some facility or the other; individual ones are uncommon and reserved for notable persons.
Similarly to the Ekhrilthur, Skirol do not have true religions, but rather philosophical ideologies. The overwhelmingly prevalent one is that of the Cyclic Equilibrium, whose broadly-worded mandate is to find and spread balance to all life. The interrogative of what exactly this balance is has perhaps as many answers as there are planets inhabited by Skirol. Some believe that this means all life-forms should be equal, and modify themselves in entire Trezklin to fit an “universal” biological template; others, on the contrary, see it as an exhortation to increase diversity, and surround themselves with all sorts of strange creatures; others yet think that only some select life-forms should be allowed to exist, and the others be either altered or eliminated. Whatever interpretation they may follow, the Skirol are usually drawn to active experimentation, and do not waste time before putting their views into practice.
Of the N’vall, not much is known. Without exception, they keep to their ships, never setting foot (even figuratively, given their ability to move by hovering above the ground) on any planet or structure not built by themselves and refusing entry aboard their vessels to all but high-standing Coalition officials and scientists. Communications with them are usually carried out by transmitter, or through their slave proxies. What little has filtered down indicates that the entirety of their fleets is ruled by a hierarchy of the psionically endowed, known as I’nler’attul, or I’nler (roughly translatable as “they who dominate/shape” and “dominating/shaping [ones]”), and that they have not relinquished their forebears’ quest of attaining perfection. Though they themselves acknowledge they have not yet reached that stage, they nonetheless see themselves as superior to other beings, and make no effort to conceal it.
Government
With the decline of the power of the Nucleus, two main influences swiftly rose to replace the mighty central authority, as they had been preparing to do for a rather long time - the scientific community network and the military controllers, which is little more than a formal subsection of the former. With defense and ease of force deployment being one of the local authorities’ main tasks, the military immediately established a strong hold on them, eventually growing to fill them altogether. While the Nucleus still participates in the administration of the core regions, it is now quite clearly of secondary importance.
That said, despite controlling the highly strategically important local centers of governance, known as Nodules, the armed forces to not take active part in the governance of systems and sectors. Instead, they limit themselves to enforcing peace, watching the borders and appointing planetary or system governors, called Plasmators. Tying back to the original extremity of the influence shift, Plasmators are chosen from noteworthy scientists and researchers. Their administrative duties are purely nominal, as planets have their own organs of government, the selection and maintenance of which, while vaguely following a standard structure (designed prevalently with the objective of making them as unobtrusive into the Plasmators’ work as possible) is mostly left to the populace. Rather, what their appointment means is that they and their supporting staff have free rein to employ their territory’s space and resources as their work and experiments require it. There are but a few major rules they must abide by lest the Nodules intervene, and the period of allotment is flexible enough.
While the N’vall are technically subject to the global laws of the Coalition, the fact that the latter are so few and loose leaves them significant freedom of action. Their fleets are free to wander about as they please, any empty system, as long as it is not hosting some Plasmator’s experiments, is open for them to exploit as necessary, and the Nodules do not interfere with the rule of the I’nler. Nonetheless, in times of war with an external enemy, they, as well as the rest of the Coalition, are bound to contribute a share of their forces for the common effort - something which they have thus far never disagreed with.
Technological Information
Technology Overview
It might at first appear that, much like its society, the Coalition’s work and accomplishments in the technological field are divided following the species of those who work on them - after all, many practices are to this day still exclusive to their respective inventors. However, upon a somewhat closer examination, it becomes clear that technology has intermingled far more than its creators. Hybrid designs are perfectly commonplace, and Skirol and N’vall energy sources have long since supplanted anything else in use. An explanation for this can be found in the nature of the contact between the Coalition’s members: while trade and commerce are slow in conducting cultural exchanges, scientific and technological ones flow much faster.
Nevertheless, a noticeable degree of historical specialisation does remain. Ekhrilthur technology is chiefly oriented towards mechanics and engineering, and about two hundred years ago has begun foraying into nanotechnology. It is notable, though, that virtual programming has never been their strong point: while they have been able to create some highly complex virtual constructs, the latter are mostly linear in their concept and functioning and lack much potential beyond the minimal necessary versatility. Ekhrilthur components are widely used in Skirol semi-organic constructs, and are occasionally sought after as mechanical prosthetics.
The Skirol are best known for their biological and genetic manipulations. Over the centuries, the number of species created by them through selection, hybridisation, genetic fusion or simply direct grafting has likely grown to exceed that of life-forms naturally found in Yrrkelthar. Ghastly though their amalgams might appear, it is undisputed that they are immensely useful in sectors ranging from medicine and agriculture to spacefaring and, of course, the armed forces. Among other things, the Skirol are responsible for the invention of two of the tools most famed within the Coalition and infamous without - bacterial tubes and engineered plagues. Body augmentations, practical or merely cosmetic, are likewise a common application of their arts.
Most arcane and relatively advanced of all, N’vall technology could appear to hail from another galaxy altogether. The principles it operates upon are either new but irrefutable, or known but having long been deemed unsuited for practical application. Theirs are the traction-core system, used either for highly efficient energy production or the construction of such fearsome weapons as vacuum rippers or gravity mauls, the secrets of neural melding, which subjugates those subjected to it to the will of the I’nler, magnetic levitation and the cloning of vat-grown biomass. The N’vall are likewise responsible for introducing the hyperspace drive into Yrrkelthar.
Major Techs
First brought into Yrrkeltharl space by the N’vall fleets, the vacuum-core principle has been a fundamental pillar of Coalition energy production for centuries. Its main application consists in the generators, large apparati from which obstruents are removed in order to create a partial vacuum. At the center of these structures, usually shaped like cylindrical vats, although spherical variants exist, there is placed a compressed cluster of superheavy matter, typically of the heftier metals, which is then made to spin and generate centripetal traction. The latter is collected by a system of pistons in the form of kinetic energy, which is then converted, through secondary additions to the generators, into the required forms. While the production of traction-core generators is significant, they are physically large and bulky, and are thus typically only used in industrial complexes, urban energy plants and aboard large ships.
A weaponised application of the traction-core principle, vacuum rippers are among the most redoubtable armaments wielded by Coalition fleets. They operate by releasing powerful radiation discharges at their center, then modulating the resulting fallout in such a manner that it initiates something akin to a sub-molecular chain reaction. Particles congregate in aberrant pseudo-nuclei which grow to monstrous proportions, the motion of displaced space propelling some of them forwards, where they will form other conglomerations, and so on. When the chain reaches a dense object - such as an enemy ship - the combined force of uncountable trillions of pseudo-nuclei triggers the formation of an unstable “core”, causing a tremendous implosion which, depending on the size of the vessel struck, can easily engulf a good part of a fleet. Since the radiation itself is only necessary in the first phase of the process, shields and protective fields will not defend against vacuum rippers, but highly robust or insulated ship armour can limit the size of the implosion. Furthermore, their significant size and weight mean they can only be mounted on tremendously large ships.
While traction-core generators are employed for heavy-duty purposes, the more versatile bacterial tubes provide accessible energy at virtually any scale. Developed by Skirol gene-weavers in conjunction with Ekhrilthur nanoengineers, the tubes, as they are known due to their cylindrical form, contain a liquid solution of highly conductive chemicals, in which there swim myriads of genetically modified bacteria. The microorganisms ceaselessly multiply, feed on each other, multiply and so forth, their activity producing energy which, greatly magnified by their environment, is gathered by outwards-reaching nanite networks. Available in a variety of sizes, tube sockets can be found on virtually any Coalition-made device, and every household, be it locule or bio-pod, has a cryogenic drawer with a supply of the batteries, though they seldom have to be changed.
As many an implement in Yrrkelthar space, bacterial tubes have found a specialised role of employment in warfare. Aside from powering the vast mechanical armies of the Coalition, military-issue tubes serve themselves as weapons, thanks to certain modifications. The bacteria contained in these models produce toxic waste as a side effect of their activity; while this has the disadvantage of requiring them to be changed somewhat more frequently, it also allows the devices containing them to eject the waste outwards, usually in a pulverised form, creating the tell-tale sickly yellow-green clouds that cover Coalition forces as they advance. The name “bio-laser” comes from the fact that, originally, it was chiefly energy beam weapons that used such a system; nowadays, though its practice has extended to particle and plasma weapons, as well as the drones themselves, the term remains as a broad catch-all term for Coalition planetary invasion weapons. It is little wonder that after the passage of such an army the ground should remain barren and infertile for decades on end.
While some may see the vollnetlle as wasted potential for so many thriving worlds and colonies, not to mention a dangerous regions that ought better to be cleared, the Coalition is perfectly satisfied with how things are there, and, if anything, would even wish for more of it were there any scarcity. The abundance of barren planets has enabled its engineers to design an efficient, rapid process of stripping a world of all resources with but a few practiced motions. The exact method slightly varies according to the composition of the planet, but the basic process is always the same: swarms of harvester craft descend upon it like hungry rahkal, bombarding the crust with burrowing charges, vaporising any liquid bodies and releasing fumes and radiation that leave any atmosphere there might be in shreds. Hordes of drones are then disgorged upon the battered surface, and collector modules descend upon it to devour and process the ores laid bare by the ravaging volleys. Finally, the planetary core, laid bare by continuous hammering, is solidified through exposure to the vacuum, and absorbed by the machines. The presence of organic life on the surface of a planet does but add an additional stage to the harvest, though to many it might appear to be the most gruesome one.
Somewhat akin to planetary harvesting, albeit by far less thorough, the Coalition’s hostile terraforming techniques are nonetheless much more varied. These invasive planetary alteration methods are deployed upon enemy worlds in support of invading armies, which, though they might be at a disadvantage on unfamiliar ground, are entirely optimised for combat in the pestilential conditions brought about by terraformation attacks. The latter may involve anything from engineered plagues designed to wipe out native life, through saturating the soil, air and water with toxins, mutagenic substances or corrosive acid, to seeding the surface with genetically modified parasitic organisms or deploying swarms of devouring self-replicating nanites. While any of these, used alone or in conjunction with others, is devastating to most life-forms in known space, the process is gradual and, though incredibly fast by terraforming standards, leaves defenders enough time to react should they be able to. Hostile terraforming is conducted through ground and orbital emplacements assembled by Coalition armies and fleets, and eliminating them, as well as any Ruinator ships stationed over the planet, is the key to stopping it while it is reversible.
Prior to the integration of N’vall technology into Yrrkeltharl designs, the most common form of plasma weapon were the stream projectors used by the Ekhrilthur. However, once the expertise in magnetic fields of the vat-born species had been assimilated into the technical knowledge of what had by then become the Coalition, its applications in the bellic employment of plasma, already known to the N’vall but new for the rest of the region, were greatly acclaimed. The final result of numerous trials and experiments was the unmaker, a weapon of variable size used nowadays by warships and heavy drones alike. These devices fire a double-layered sphere of plasma maintained compact by a magnetic field, resulting in a double shockwave, outward and inward, which weakens struck matter before drawing it into a destructive implosion.
Industry
The power of the Coalition, scientific and military alike, is entirely founded on the strength of its industry. Planets and asteroids are torn open every day to feed the insatiable metallic monster, and many thousands of varyingly automated factories regurgitate tools, wares, instruments, equipment, but most of all ships, drones and frames for semi-organic constructs. The vollnetlle is littered with their hideous forms, but they likewise abound in the core regions, and Ekhrilthur space in particular. Indeed, the Ulvarith system-complex, a mass of interconnected megastructures fully dedicated to pounding metal into uniform shapes, is the species’s pride, and many worlds inhabited by the fungi show signs of efforts to emulate this great work on great and small scales alike.
Military Information
Military Overview
The most notable feature of the Coalition military is that no member of the three constituent species ever takes to the field in person. All of its forces are composed of remotely controlled constructs, with the sole exception of Skirol and N’vall ships, which, however, are rather rare. No creature, be it living or mechanical, in its ranks is fully autonomous, since the Yrrkeltharl species are as distrustful of anything they cannot directly command as they are unwilling to descend into battle. This reliance on its creations rather than its population itself, and thus industry rather than reproduction, often grants the Coalition an immense numerical advantage. While its troops might be unwieldy and slow on the move, they are so many that enemy armies, whatever they might be, may easily find themselves dwarfed, and the foul contamination they spread as they advance further tips the scales of attrition in their favour.
Space Forces
Navy Doctrine: Sometimes called “pillar drill” after an ancient Ekhrilthur siege engine, the Coalition war fleets’ typical approach to battle seeks to make best use of the strengths of each of its vessel types. The innumerable lesser and medium Ekhrilthur drone craft seek to pin enemy fleets in place by surrounding them from all sides, hurling themselves forward with weapons blazing regardless of any damage or losses they might suffer. Once the foe is thus encircled, the “drill” proper, formed by heavy drone ships alongside the titanic Skirol semi-organic vessels and the powerful N’vall auxiliaries, advance upon it, releasing new waves of strikecraft and firing fearsome weapons such as vacuum rippers, giant unmakers and spinal beam projectors. With nowhere to turn, the enemy would ideally be at the mercy of this unstoppable force.
Avmal Thorn
The drone counterpart to corvettes. The Thorn strikes a balance between defense and offense, being moderately well-armoured for something of its size and armed with a complement of light beam weapons and unmakers. Most of all, however, its design emphasizes mobility, its traction-core-powered reactors allowing it to reach tremendous linear speeds - something that can prove deadly should it hurl itself against an enemy in a suicidal attack, triggering a destructive reaction from its inner generators. Given their numbers and apparent recklessness in charging forward regardless of losses, this tactic is to be expected whenever facing Thorns, though it should never be forgotten that its weapons alone can prove to be more than deadly for the unwary.
Nhuul Parasite
A larger type of drone ship, somewhat exceeding a large destroyer, the Parasite usually moves slower than the Thorn, but is far more dangerous. Better armoured, fitted with shields (which, like most protective fields of Coalition make, are not difficult to pierce, but rapidly reform if not taxed for a moment) and armed with larger beam and plasma emplacements, it is not only more durable and capable of inflicting damage, but can likewise latch on to larger foes after approaching them with a short acceleration burst, bury into their hulls and fire its unmaker into their interior. The results can be worse than crippling, and it is thus for the best to keep Parasites at a safe distance.
Tlaelon Scavenger
Similar in size to a light cruiser, Scavengers are the largest of the drone vessels employed in the encircling part of the “pillar drill”. Surprisingly resilient for something supposedly designed to be expendable, they are armed with a (relatively) small axial energy projector, as well as lesser secondary weapons, including unmakers. Their greatest danger, however, comes from the fact that they carry a complement of boarding pods loaded with assault and observer drones, and set to release poisonous gas or other debilitating agents once they cling onto a ship. Unlike their lesser counterparts, Scavengers are typically more cautious in battle, blasting foes from afar and only swooping in to deploy their pods when they detect a suitable opportunity.
Nfaal Devastator
The largest drone war vessels built by the Coalition, Devastators are under no aspect inferior to battleships. Heavily armoured, shielded and armed with a large spinal energy cannon alongside batteries of unmakers and heavy beam weapons, these juggernauts can wreak incredible devastation on a cornered enemy. They are, however, ponderous and of limited manoeuvrability, and can only effectively engage opponents frontally. While not defenceless on its other sides, a Devastator would be hard-pressed to eliminate smaller, elusive targets with freedom of movement, which is why they are mainly employed in the second phase of the drill manoeuver.
Uvnall World Eater
Not so much ships as immense mobile operation platforms, World Eaters are not designed for combat, being equipped with a mere few turret-mounted weapons. Their purpose is instead to complete planetary surface invasions and lay the foundations for the subsequent assimilation of a world. Each World Eater houses several miniature factories and spawning pits, and carries within itself a small army of troops and worker drones, enabling it to gather raw materials from its surroundings and churn out waves of reinforcements to bolster the ranks of the Invasion Forces. As someone once remarked, their function is rather similar to that of the Daisan landing spikes.
Klazk Swarmer
The mainstay strikecraft of the Coalition war fleets, Swarmers are in truth semi-autonomous living organisms, controlled via neural melding and augmented with mechanical devices, engines and weapons upon being spawned. Due to them usually being produced in pits carried by Skirol ships, there never is a scarcity of them on a battlefield, and they will be certain to make their way into the tightest of formations. Depending on their configuration, which can be changed during flight, they can act either as fighters, engaging other strike craft with their light frontal weapons, or bombers, opening their fore to reveal unmakers with which they target larger ships.
Zavruul Scourge
Fairly large and encased in a protective carapace allowing it to enter and exit atmospheres, Scourges are the primary dropships used by Coalition forces, and their main means of landing armies on a planet’s surface aside from World Eaters. Deployed by Ruinators or other such large ships orbiting a besieged planet, they descend on the surface in vast numbers, each bearing a strong cargo of drones, soldiers or monstrous creatures, and often strafe over settlements and fortified spots before landing, bombarding them with foul ammunition. They are, however, too large and unwieldy to be suited for atmospheric combat.
Ravreth Behemoth
Along with the Leviathans and Ruinators, Behemoths are the largest warships fielded by the Coalition, dwarfing even the proudest dreadnoughts and space stations and rivalling the World Eaters themselves in size. They are formed by a gargantuan metallic skeleton covered by tonnes of biomass akin to that used in building bio-pods, only in immeasurably larger amounts and of a rather more resilient variety. The “flesh” pervades the entire vessel, ready to, among other things, digest any who attempt to board it without proper pheromone and genetic identification and regenerate upon being damaged. The Ravreth is designed to serve as a carrier, being only lightly armed (for something its size) but housing several spawning pits which ceaselessly disgorge waves of Swarmers. As all ships of such size, Behemoths are each manned by a dedicated Trezklin, residing on board and effectively calling the vessel its home.
Voltharil Leviathan
Similar to Behemoths under many aspects, Leviathans are, however, geared more for direct combat than further bolstering fleets. They do not carry spawning pits, but instead are armed to the barely-metaphorical teeth, wielding such tremendous weapons as vacuum rippers, colossal unmakers and several axial-mounted energy and particle cannons. Since they often spearhead charging groups, with the less battle-suited Behemoths remaining behind, they are likewise better equipped to deal with enemy countermeasures, being capable of tearing through attacking fighters with ease and eliminating flak barrages fired to hold back the Swarmers.
Ulkor Ruinator
While Behemoths support fleets and Leviathans batter the enemy, Ruinators are built with the purpose of besieging attacked planets. Though they are not significantly armed, they contain all that is needed to begin hostile terraforming of an enemy world, along with a small fleet of Scourges ready to deploy Coalition troops on the surface. As long as one of these ships remains in orbit, it will continue to produce and deploy stations and devices that taint the soil and atmosphere. Due to how crucial their role is in planetary invasions, Ruinators are heavily guarded by more battle-ready craft; yet eliminating them is likely the most reliable way of disrupting an invasion.
(Images not to scale.)
As strange and mysterious as their inhabitants, the N’vall ships defy even such loose classification standards as those of the Coalition. As far as anyone knows, they are divided into A’thaur Unaal (lesser homes), A’thaur I’entil (homes of the many) and A’thaur E’neval (homes of dawn), which are broad designations the I’nler use when communicating with Nodule authorities. The Unaal are the smallest vessels, ranging in size from about the equivalent of a small cruiser to a carrier; I’entil are as large as the typical capital ship; E’neval, which are nothing short of mobile cities, matching or even exceeding World Eaters in magnitude. Such proportions are chiefly due to the fact that virtually all N’vall vessels serve as habitats for the species, and thus contain dwelling quarters and various other necessary systems and implements. This, however, does not prevent them from being the most potent combat vessels at the Coalition’s disposal. Between unusual shields and arsenals of outlandish weaponry, the few Unaal and I’entil the N’vall may dispatch at the Nodules’ request make up as much as, if not more than, a fourth of an entire united fleet’s power. The E’neval are practically never seen in battle; however, the vague scraps of tales from the Yrrkelthar War paint an extremely grim picture of their destructive potential.
Ground Forces
Ground Doctrine: While fleet tactics, distinctive though they might be of the Coalition, do not bear much of a mark in the way of its, so to say, flavour, the doctrine followed by its Planetary Invasion Forces appears to take pride in displaying the worst of its destructive and corrupting tendencies. Officially named “Transformative Assimilation”, it consists in radically altering the terrain and environment around its immense armies of metal and biomass via the use of hostile terraforming. In addition to being necessary for the troops to operate at full effectiveness, as they are expressly built to do battle in such hellish conditions, it corrodes and weakens any resistance the enemy might offer, so that it might easily be swept away by the unwavering advance of the soulless tide.
Infantry
The bulk and backbone of any Coalition planetary invasion, infantry drones are so numerous that they alone might well exceed the populations of some lesser nations. While it is inevitable that in such a multitude there should exist hundreds of different types distinguished by the weapons and armour they carry, and consequently their specific role on the battlefield, all of them remain divided into four base models by their general shape. These models are, clockwise from top left:
- Assault Drones: The largest of the four types, assault drones are the shock troops of the Coalition’s robotic armies, hurling themselves at massed enemies to make way for the rest of the army or delivering rapid and hefty tactical strikes. They are encased in moderately heavy armour and carry powerful bio-laser variants, as well as being quite mobile and fast upon their feet. Of all types, they are the least numerous. - Bulwark Drones: Second in size to the assault variant, bulwark drones are much more thickly armoured, but relatively lightly armed. Their purpose is to hold back foes where they should attempt a counterattack, and wear down advancing forces by continuous fire while limiting their own losses. Being the bulkiest of the four models, they are likewise the least mobile. - Skirmisher Drones: Lightly armoured and moderately armed, skirmisher drones are the smallest type, but not, for that matter, the least dangerous. Where enemy ranks reveal a weakness but the use of assault drones would be excessive, they dart into the fray, striking and immediately withdrawing out of reach; or else they ambush scouts, disrupt convoy lines or launch raids upon momentarily defenceless targets. To best suit their function, they are faster even than the assault model. - Combatant Drones: Not exceeding in either offense or defense, combatant drones balance their complements of armour and weapons in a mostly even manner. Lacking a dedicated role, they make up the bulk of drone armies, their unspecialised nature granting them greater versatility than the other models in various situations. Or, at worst, making them suitable for the role of nondescript expendable troops.
Observer
Most often employed as pacifiers and law enforcers on inhabited worlds, Observers are likewise not an uncommon sight in war zones. Their agility and aptitude in blending with their surroundings and moving silently makes them good reconnaissance and scouting units, and their weapons can incapacitate or kill a target inconspicuously. Observers are most dangerous in urban environments or when boarding ships, where they might be hiding behind any corner and in any nook, ready to pounce on their inadvertent prey.
Colossus
Towering above the ranks of drone armies, Colossi are to the Coalition forces what heavy tanks are to most conventional militaries. Large, so thickly bound in metallic armour as to be impervious to any weapon below a certain power threshold, and bringing the full might of an artillery platform to bear, these drones excel at breaking sieges as much as they do in field battles. Their wide array of armaments additionally allows them to function as walking anti-air batteries, as well as making short work of threats on the ground at virtually any distance. However, as it could be expected of something so great and ponderous, they are slow and unmanoeuvrable, and rather limited as to what terrain they can traverse.
Titan
While Colossi might be of redoubtable size on their own, even they pale before the monstrosity that is a Titan. As imposing as sizeable buildings, these machines are nothing short of mobile fortresses, capable of crushing the stoutest defences merely by stepping on them and shrugging off even heavy weapon fire. Their own armaments are comparable to those of a small warship,greatly exceeding in strength, range and versatility those of their lesser counterparts. As though all of this were not enough, they are equipped with superior sensors, and can detect traps, ambushes and other subterfuges that lesser drones might miss. Fortunately, Titans are relatively rare, and suffer from all the disadvantages of a Colossus to an even greater extent.
Rahkal Spitters
The closest the Planetary Invasion Forces have to an atmospheric air-superiority unit, rahkal spitters are sentient predatory molluscoids modified by the Skirol to serve as optimal war beasts. Moving through the air with the aid of multiple gas-inflated bladder-like organs, the rahkal possess robust carapaces and sharp beaks, but they are most dangerous for the corrosive liquid they secrete and spit with surprising strength and accuracy, earning them their name. The skies of a planet under attack by the Coalition will soon be darkened by swarms of rahkal, as they have a tendency to breed rapidly whenever afforded with a sufficient supply of space and prey.
Kvazrul Shredder
The kvazrul, carnivorous arthropods native to Skereth, were historically among the first creatures domesticated by Skirol communities, and thus it is little wonder that they should have been adapted for employment in warfare. Bred and augmented according to a design dating back to the Yrrkeltharl War, shredders are larger, stronger, more cunning and ferocious than normal kvazrul, and are armed with synth-metal claws and mandibles. During invasions, they are deployed to infest less urbanised or ruined areas, where they are adept at stalking and preying upon local life, sapient or not.
Kvazrul Contaminator
Another engineered kvazrul mutant, the contaminator is even more outlandish in its appearance than the shredder. It does not possess as many natural weapons, but instead carries upon its back a non-sentient symbiotic organism. Through neural stimulation, these beasts can trigger within their symbiotes an explosive biochemical reaction that ejects outwards, as a projectile, the lesser bioconstructs it was designed to carry. Those can range from virus bombs and toxic ammunition to seeds, spores or eggs of invasive alien wildlife whose spread quickens the hostile terraforming process.
Fham’nhl Terror
According to some disputable, though otherwise insightful, sources, the Fham’nhl (or however they were once called; now this name, probably invented by their masters, is all that remains of their cultural identity) were the first species to be enslaved by the N’vall to serve as powerful and obedient soldiers. While already fearsome enough upon first entering Yrrkelthar, modern bio-laser technologies have even further increased their destructive potential. Due to their imposing appearance, Terrors are often used as guards, enforcers and, on rare occasions, occupation troops, but their true expertise lies in brutally crushing pockets of resistance along battlefronts.
Var’nhl Champion
The most versatile and flexible in their choice of weapons of N’vall slave soldiers, Champions excel at close-quarters combat. Be it cornering foes in an enclosed space and finishing them off, clashing in the narrow corridors of a ship or meeting enemy melee specialists in an even fight, the design of their armour and motory enhancers has been long refined to optimise them for action in such conditions. The weapons they carry may vary from burst particle emitters, to high-dispersion plasma scorchers, to the dreaded vortex mauls, built to exploit the traction-core principle to potent effect, but what remains unchanged all throughout is their skill and superhuman attributes.
Sre’nhl Purifier
Even more direct in their purpose than Terrors or Champions, Purifiers exist solely to lay waste to everything and anything in front of them. Rumour has it that the bodies of their species are formed by viscous, semi-fluid filaments, forced into roughly humanoid suits of powered armour by the N’vall. The Sre’nhl are nightmarishly resilient and persistent, and equipped with state-of-the-art sensors to ensure that that which they are pointed at can never escape from them - an impulse that becomes fully understandable once one sees their arm cannon in action. While their heavy stomping gait might lead one to surmise they are slow and unwieldy, they seem to have an uncanny ability to always be wherever one least wants to see them in no time.
Despite the impressive power of their ship-mounted industry, the N'vall often find themselves in need of raw materials to fuel their production machines. To fulfil this necessity, they typically drain planets and asteroids of natural resources in a manner that inspired the Coalition's planetary harvest technologies, deploying a number of gatherer machine designs to the surface. While their primary intent is, as their name indicates, to collect the wealth of celestial bodies, these harvester machines are fully capable of dispatching any hostile local life they should encounter, dutifully processing what remains of it into repurposeable biomass. A fearsome combat force in their own right, the harvesters are only employed in a military capacity during the invasion of worlds the Coalition deems forfait, as they are painstakingly thorough in their elimination of all there is on the surface.
The water pouring from the shattered tank would have been a relief for Ulor's sparsely burned skin, had it but been less salty. As it was, however, it produced a rather unpleasant and more than slightly painful tingling over the scorched patches. Nonetheless, it was ever so slightly fresh, which, in other circumstances, would have made even it a welcome change. Yet, as it stood, it only made things worse. The dungeon was cool and damp enough on its own, and this seemed to be an ideal way to catch himself a rheumatism. Fortunately - though how fortunate that really was was debatable - he did not even have to exert the least mystical effort to dry himself, as the vegetative tiefling took it upon herself to provide to his and the paladin's sanitary need. The feeling of no longer being wet was pleasant; less so was the fact that she seemed convinced that hugging was a necessary part of the incantation. Grumbling something indistinct, he wagged at her a finger that seemed for a moment to smoothly change its shape into that of a tentacle tipped with a ferociously snarling mouth.
Waving away the gnome's remonstrances like a circling fly, Ulor headed back into the corridor, the octopus dutifully following a step behind. What there was to see in that room had been seen, and, while its physical contents had been somewhat disappointing, they had hinted at something else to be found down there. Something that would have rendered keeping diminutive people in tanks of salt water worthwhile (phrased this way, it appeared to be a ridiculously specific goal, but presumably these sectarians did not just waste their time like that). His first impulse was to head to the east, towards the light, as it was probably there that said something was more probable to be found - unless it did not need ready access to the tanks. However, seeing that the rest of the group was focused on the collapsed tunnel, he wisely decided against wandering off alone and hobbled towards the impromptu wall, which the bestial scoundrel had already clambered over.
He was still thinking of what he should do next when the half-breed followed into the breach, after the rogue called out that the way was clear. That might very well have been; yet it was always better to be safe, lest these savages topple something over him just as he entered. He motioned to the octopus, and the creature floated up and through the opening in the wall. Even as it did so, Ulor cast the greater current of his mind into its psychic mould. Its eyes were his, and his spirit pulsed through its mystic veins. Through its somewhat faded view, the mage could see the chamber's two occupants, the fallen guard and, most importantly, what he had been guarding. Dim pupils darted from side to side, seeking something on value - perhaps that very something that could solve the mystery of the vats.
Looking at the western chamber through Octopus, Ulor Investigates (a glorious 3) it for anything interesting.
As it is made obvious even by its name (in the Ekhrlithur language, used as an official lingua franca, “Yrrkeltharl” is a locative meaning “of [the sector/region of] Yrrkelthar), the Coalition is best defined as not so much a nation as a loose confederation of the inhabitants of the section of space it occupies. While there once existed a central government which presided over what was then a super-state formed by the fusion of the three local powers, its planets and systems are now the laboratories and playgrounds of its most outstanding scientific minds, who, aside from a few general guidelines and an obligation to support the collective military forces with tributes, enjoy access to vast resources and free rein in working with them.
With such a system in place, it should not be surprising that Coalition space should be a chaotic and almost frighteningly surreal place. The husks of consumed worlds can be found orbiting stars encased in energy absorption frameworks, near planets blighted by experimental weapons or razed by the formidable drone armies stationed there. Worse yet, whoever finds themselves dealing with it will have to endure the eccentric nature and usually poor coordination of its inhabitants, which might lead to strange situations involving guarantees of non-aggression being immediately followed by planetary invasion.
Official Name: Sovereign Coalition of the Yrrkeltharl Systems and Fleets. Common Name: Coalition, Yrrkelthar, Yrrkeltharl Coalition. Government: Decentralised Feudal Technocracy. Dominant Species: Ekhrilthur, though not significantly so. Capital: Erelvath, Ulvarith System (de jure; de facto, there is no single effective capital). Systems Owned: Numerous. Planets Owned: Uncertain. There is an official register somewhere, but the number often fluctuates anyway. Population: Uncertain. The unified census records have not been checked by anyone besides automated systems in decades.
History
Centuries ago, what would become known as the Yrrkelthar region only knew a single spacefaring species. The Ekhrilthur fungoids, having, after a period of internecine conflicts inevitable in creatures so inclined to individualism, consolidated into a single planetary state known as the Erelvath Conglomerate, began to expand outwards from their homeworld, taking advantage of the recently discovered slipspace drive. Their native Ulvarith system was the first to feel their thirst for energy and resources, with virtually all its noteworthy celestial bodies being mined dry and its star being surrounded with a network of collector panels, laying the foundation of more ambitious constructions yet to come.
As faster-than-light travel technologies improved, the Conglomerate reached to absorb more and more systems. Worlds were colonised, and more yet were consumed. It is to that time that the first records of the Ekhrilthur encountering other sapient life forms can be dated. According to those chronicles, one of the planets approached during their conquest was inhabited by a comparatively primitive civilisation, still fragmented and not yet having reached the space age, which, upon the arrival of the Conglomerate, proved hostile and put up a violent, if futile resistance, and was fully eliminated by the invaders’ robotic forces.
It was not much later that the second of such encounters occurred, though its resolution was by no means as fast as that of the first. On a world whose conditions, favourable to the development of life, had given rise to the formation and evolution of an enormous number of bizarre creatures, the Ekhrilthur vanguard came upon a remarkably developed invertebrate species. The Skirol, as they named themselves, were extremely proficient in the manipulation of genes and biomatter, having built their Global Union upon these arts, but had until then been unable to master space travel. Upon being informed of the Conglomerate’s intention to subjugate the planet and reduce them to second-class citizens at best on their own world (though nowadays many suppose that Skirol aggression also played its part), they rapidly, much to the Ekhrilthur’s surprise, beat back the occupying armies and seized their vessels.
Angered at this successful defense, the Conglomerate sent the bulk of its military fleet to devastate Skereth, as the offending species called their homeworld. Yet once again the crafty invertebrates proved themselves capable of exceptional feats: in an incredibly brief time they reverse-engineered the Ekhrilthur craft designs and began to produce monstrous semi-biological ships to rival those of their foes. After some years of pitched battles around Skereth, the Global Union fielded the first Leviathans, scoring a string of decisive victories and breaking the siege once and for all. Much to the Conglomerate’s horror, the Skirol spilled outwards from their planet like a black plague, infesting system after system.
For decades afterwards the two nations warred with each other over Yrrkelthar, leaving more systems ravaged in the wake of their clashes than the expansion of the Ekhrilthur could have ever accounted for. As hostilities progressively escalated, the two sides continued to build newer and more destructive weapons, yet neither could gain a lasting advantage over the other. It is worth noting, however, that the death toll was surprisingly low for a conflict of this magnitude, since both sides favoured indirect confrontations and the employment of mechanical or biological constructs in battle.
A temporary truce was reached between the Conglomerate and the Global Union only when, out of unfathomable distant reaches of the galaxy, a third force appeared to lay claim to the region. The N’vall, a cryptic and vastly technologically advanced species of semi-artificial beings that had been wandering the galaxy as nomads for an unknown time, forcefully entered Yrrkelthar with their fleets and armies of enslaved soldiers, seeking to establish their complete dominion over it. Due to the significant superiority of the newcomers’ weaponry over their own, Ekhrilthur and Skirol were forced to set aside their differences and form an uneasy alliance to resist their advance. However, even this necessary union proved unstable, and eventually fragmented, with the region descending into such chaos that the invaders were unable to fully commit their forces to securing a complete victory.
At length, as the war ran its course, the strength of the three species was depleted. The constant effort and resource drain that were battles and armament races had left the economies of the Conglomerate and Global Union in shambles, and even the seemingly all-powerful N’vall had seen their already low population dwindle dangerously. A peace treaty was drawn, ensuring a more or less equitable division of intact and devastated territories alike between the Ekhrilthur and Skirol, and relative freedom of action for the N’vall. Upon this foundation were successively built numerous trade deals, then large-scale partnerships, then state accords, until, over the centuries, international organisations sprang up that all but engulfed the respective governments’ authorities. Former tensions were forgotten, and eventually Yrrkelthar’s inhabitants were subsumed into one vast super-entity, directed by an enormously influential Nucleus.
Under the guidance of the Nucleus and its subsidiaries, the Coalition, as the new state had been named, expanded further outwards. The increase in the number of territories to manage put an increasing strain over the centralised system, which found itself constrained to set up more and more local authorities with more and more sweeping powers. Finally, the influence of these minor organs eclipsed that of the Nucleus itself, which, lost amid the network it had itself created, retained little more than vestigial status.
While these events took place, the Coalition’s wide and diverse scientific community, which had been becoming more important as the demand for new technologies grew over time, had, abetted by the military controllers, been edging its way into the administrative organs, conveniently rendering several functions dependent on advanced technical knowledge. Since the local nodes were most accessible, it was there that it held greater sway; and thus the spontaneous decentralisation helped bring about the new technocratic order, which has since then remained in place to this day.
It was not long after the new system had consolidated itself - and reaped its first share of planetary victims - that the Coalition had its first contact with an outside force since the time of the coming of the N’vall. Scouts from the nearby Empire of Astrana penetrated the dead space between it and the Yrrkelthar core, reaching the inhabited zone. Curious at the sight of the unknown human species, the locals promptly performed a series of forceful experiments upon them, often with lethal results. The tales of those few that returned to the Empire triggered a retaliatory strike, whereupon the Coalition, seeing its neighbour’s military power, did not further meddle in its affairs.
About a century later, the population of Yrrkelthar was further surprised by a third intrusion, this one far less benign than the previous one. The armies of the Daisan Order descended upon its rimward-facing border, destroying and plundering all in their way. At first, the Coalition, unaccustomed to defensive warfare, attempted to turn its normally aggressive scorched earth tactics against the invaders; however, this only led to further losses, as the mechanical hordes marched on, undeterred. Thereupon, it mustered its war fleets and met the Daisans head-on, successfully halting, or at least slowing, their advance. Yet their victories were costly and by no means final, and the threat from the mysterious distant rim looms still over Coalition space.
Starmap Information
Galactic Location
Major Holdings
- The Ulvarith System: Home system of the Ekhrilthur, and the official capital of the Coalition. While once it was the seat of the highest power in the region, nowadays it maintains its former superiority only in one field - that of industrial production. Ever since the Ekhrilthur first crossed space, they began laying the foundations for the great Ulvarith machine. It grew bit by bit, component by component, secondary megastructure by megastructure, until it reached its current condition: almost a single, immeasurably vast complex, uniting the function of material gathering, elaboration and construction. Ulvarith is the heart and pride of the Coalition, and the primary source of its vast drone armies.
- Skereth: Homeworld of the Skirol and, to this day, holder of the record for the greatest natural biodiversity in Yrrkeltharl space. Skirol Cycle-Weavers are to this day uncertain of whether they have encountered and catalogued every single species living on the planet, and there is scarce an inch of its surface that is not teeming with pluricellular as well as simple creatures, to say nothing of the lakes and oceans. Something all the seekers of Equilibrium agree on is that Skereth is virtually sacred, and thus none but a select few Trezklin, formed of the most illustrious Skirol to be found in the Coalition, are allowed to reside on its surface. Any who so much as visit it, drawn by the fame of its bio-pod laboratories and spawning pits, must undergo preemptive sterilization procedures, and, of course, never stray from the designated paths, lest they be seized by one of the planet’s many strange predators.
- Iurthelath: While typical Plasmators never remain in office for more than, at the very utmost, fifty standard years, not in the least because of lifespan limitations, the rulers of Iurthelath are a very notable exception. It is the only recorded case in Coalition history in which the title of Plasmator has been officially claimed not by an individual, but a group of researchers. The Iurthelathl Combine, as they are known, have remained in their position almost since it first appeared, and some suspect they simply found a loophole in the newly established rules. However this may stand, the Combine is an exceptionally diverse group, even including some N’vall, and its ever-evolving military designs are highly prized by Nodule controllers and fabricators alike. Less so by the inhabitants of the system, who, despite the official rules, constantly fear lest they be accidentally obliterated by the latest prototype.
- Nodule Nl-03: While political and military power alike is mostly more or less evenly distributed among the Nodules, with some variations due to the population and resource yield of given sectors, Nl-03 greatly outclasses it fellows. The reason for this is that it is perhaps the closest the modern Coalition has to a true Nucleus; a staging point for the forces of several outer sectors, and a few of the core ones as well. This degree of centralisation, previously unheard of in Yrrkelthar, has been forced upon it by the onslaught of the Daisan, and the speed with which it was put into practice is laudable by any standards. In less than three years, the previously scattered armies of the northern systems have been assembled here, ready to be deployed wherever the invaders might show themselves - though the strategic closeness of Nl-03 to the Imperial border has been a source of some perplexity.
- Mlan’entel E’thuur (lit. “The Fleet Lastborn”): N’vall wandering fleets are an impressive sight, hundreds, if not thousands, of large vessels of alien design glimmering through the void with the manifold eyes of their incomprehensible lights. Few of them, however, can rival the Mlan’entel E’thuur, “last” (which, in N’vall culture, is the most honourable position) of all. Its size is such that, were it not for the distinctly green light it radiates, it would often be mistaken for a nebula, and the power wielded by its outlandish armaments is such to have given pause even to the united fleet that stopped the Daisan advance. It is said that the mightiest of the I’nler reside on it, and that it occasionally seeks out the other N’vall congregations to conduct unnamed transactions; and none may guess where it is at any given moment.
- Vollnetlleayrrkeltharl (lit. “Dead space of Yrrkelthar”): While any starmap will make the Coalition appear rather impressive in terms of controlled territory, the truth is that very little of it beyond the core regions is inhabited. Most of it is vollnetlle - empty and lifeless. Graveyards of desolate planets float dimly between uncharted nebulae, and nameless stars burn out their course without having ever been perceived by living organs. Yet this does not mean that this space is quiet, and, worst of all, not put to use. Fleets of drone ships patrol it without cease, and uncountable myriads of machines restlessly work to strip the uninhabited worlds of as many resources as possible. The fate that befalls others is worse yet: failed experiments are left on them and left to rot, or, which is worse, multiply; they are transformed into vile, infernal “death worlds” by the destructive mechanical armies stationed there; or, most fearsome of all, are used as testing targets for new methods of planetary destruction and hostile terraforming. The expanses within and between systems are clogged by debris or exhausted weapons, and so much as venturing into these regions is a deadly risk.
Social Information
Species and Demographics
Ekhrilthur - 31% Skirol - 46% N’vall - 23%
Ekhrilthur:
These fungal creatures, hailing from a largely barren and inhospitable, but mineral-rich planet, have a long history of struggling with hostile environments, which, combined with their lengthy gestation period, frequently threatened to thin their numbers almost to the point of extinction. Consequently, there remains in them an atavistic aversion to being exposed to physical danger, and a proportional willingness to decrease the chance of such an occurrence as far as possible. As their soft, malleable pseudopods, which can, in various circumstances, exert a firm grip or perform fine manipulations, render them naturally suited for occupations wherein such flexibility can be vital, Ekhrilthur industry is the Coalition’s finest in terms of mechanical implements and technological advancement, its wares widely available on any inhabited world. Despite this, the Ekhrilthur themselves are seldom seen outside the core regions, preferring to remain in the safety of their territories, despite the latter often amounting to little more than planet-spanning factories and mining facilities.
Their homeworld is especially notable for the vast, continent-spanning subterranean cavernous formations, wherein most of its life-form population evolved. As a consequence of developing in an atypically dark and humid environment, the Ekhrilthur are particularly susceptible to light and dry climates, causing them to be seldom seen in the open, or indeed at all, on worlds close to a their orbital star; conversely, they appear to thrive on those near a system's rim. These beings appear as rough spheroids composed of grey gelatinous matter, moving and manipulating objects by the means of a variable number of malleable pseudopods which can, when necessary, exude a viscous substance.
Skirol:
The inquisitive Skirol developed in a rich and complex ecosystem, the entirety of which they still suspect they have not yet quite understood. Such a wealth of life never ceased to fascinate a great many of them, and, ever since the dawn of their civilisation, lead them to wonder how marvellous the world of organic forms might be if it were guided by a wise, calculating intellect - such as their own. Since the Skirol seldom hesitate before passing from words to action, there scarce can be found a life-form in Coalition space which they have not experimented upon, and the products of their biological engineering are slowly yet steadily making their way toward wholesale employment in the civilian sector as well as the military. Skirol are a rather common sight throughout the Coalition, especially about the fringe, where exploration expeditions are occasionally undertaken.
The Skirol are odd creatures exhibiting both arthropodal and molluscoid physiological traits, as well as certain others whose analogues have not been encountered in any other known animal. They visually resemble some form of arachnid or crustacean, encased in black segmented exoskeletons and possessing tentacular appendages extending from the frontal section of their heads.
N’vall:
Cryptic beings that appeared from unknown recesses of the galaxy during the Yrrkeltharl War, and have since become a constituent member of the Coalition, despite refusing to settle on any planet or stationary superstructure and living exclusively on their ships. Comparatively little is known about the N’vall, but something that is certain is that they are members, perhaps the last, of a species that sought to attain physical perfection. Having long abandoned natural procreation in favour of the precisely controlled artificial procedures enabled by their significant level of technological advancement, N’vall are “born” from a genetic fusion encoded into biomass growing around a metallic endoskeleton. Some of them possess strong psionic abilities, but it has not yet been determined what factors cause their development.
If seen in their customary garments, the N’vall might appear to a casual observer to be almost humanoid. However, their true anatomy is neither such nor even bipedal. They possess four arms, two of which usually remain folded under their cloaks, and lack any sort of hind limbs, instead relying on magnetic propulsors and somewhat arthropod-like mechanical prosthetics, and, should those fail, their own robust muscles, to move in a hovering or crawling fashion. N’vall hands have four digits, one of which appear opposable, but can be bent or rotated sideways with ease to provide a grip upon objects.
Society
Despite centuries of cohabitation, the three species of the Coalition have, over time, remained rather distinct in their social and cultural domains. Mingling has, to this day, remained limited to a macroscopic scale, since even when Ekhrilthur and Skirol share a planet, their environmental requirements and preferences drive them to settle separate locations. Nonetheless, time and regular trade have smoothed out any hostilities between them (a factor contributing to a comparatively rapid construction of peaceful relations was that, due to their biology and consequent social structures, none of the Yrrkeltharl inhabitants are familiar with the concept of trans-generational guilt). Overall, the Coalition’s society is, though as diverse as its geography, rather firmly unified, even though a casual observer might not see any immediate traces of unity proper in it.
The Ekhrilthur, being strongly inclined towards individualistic and materialistic attitudes, as well as possessing almost irrationally strong latent self-preservation instincts, mostly live in utilitarian, unsightly yet functional urban centers, large parts of which reach deep underground. Roads, streetways and passages between buildings take on the form of enclosed tunnels, making the cities fully self-contained pockets of space with only a scarce few entryways and aeration openings connecting them to the outside. Personal dwellings are typically small, narrow insulated capsules, with little, if any, decorations - indeed, in contemporary times ornaments are considered distasteful, and how pristine a home is is a clear sign of the owner’s status - and few visible furnishings. Common pastimes include electronic sensory stimulation, with chemical or biological drugs being rare, and mechanical design aided by small personal assembling devices.
Ekhrilthur society is the basis for the Coalition’s own technocratic system. With the all-pervasiveness of safety system in everyday life, technicians and engineers are the ones who hold the effectively greatest responsibilities, and consequently authority, among them, their influence rivalled only by that of the military (which, being entirely automated, is controlled by technicians itself). Ranks and standing are determined by skill and merit, with examinations and probation periods being required to pass from one of the standardised “levels” to the other. Egoism is not only sanctioned, but indirectly encouraged in these meritocratic communities. While small-scale corruption is not uncommon, nepotism is not practiced by the Ekhrilthur, as they reproduce by sporogenesis and do not entertain family ties.
It might be odd to hear that the notoriously materialistic Ekhrilthur are not only open to religion, but have even produced a faith of their own. In fact, the Creed of the Ultimate Truth is not so much a religious confession as a philosophical stance. In simple terms, those who subscribe to it believe that there is, concealed somewhere in the cosmos, a notion that, if discovered, would explain all uncertainties there exist on the nature and origin of the universe. The innumerable interpretations of this basic axiom have birthed almost as many schools of thought within the Creed, which incessantly contend themselves through discussions and debates.
Skirol, on the other hand, are strongly communal. They congregate in groups known as Trezklin, which can be loosely translated as “Swarm” or “Blight”, numbering anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand individuals, and only a rare few eccentrics are known to live in comparative isolation. The Trezklin is the foundation of the average Skirol’s life, providing at once a family, working environment and circle of friends, or “hunting-mates”. The internal hierarchy of these communities is, while mostly similar across the general Coalition-wide population, so bizarre and intricate as to be largely incomprehensible to outsiders. As far as anyone can tell, one’s authority is accrued proportionally with age, but even then it is in no way uncommon to have younger members significantly outrank older ones.
Trezklin are, as a rule, stationed in the wild, be it flatlands countryside, forests and jungles, swamps, mountain ranges, archipelagos or even shallow bodies of water if their members are augmented to survive in it. Some are nomadic, but the majority remain in the territories where they were originally founded. Skirol habitations, commonly named bio-pods, are semi-organic constructions incorporating one or more non-sentient living membranes draped over a synthetic structure, providing the advantage of a heat-preserving barrier that can be regulated in its various aspects. The standard bio-pod is a large, if sleek, edifice, either housing numerous inhabitants or containing some facility or the other; individual ones are uncommon and reserved for notable persons.
Similarly to the Ekhrilthur, Skirol do not have true religions, but rather philosophical ideologies. The overwhelmingly prevalent one is that of the Cyclic Equilibrium, whose broadly-worded mandate is to find and spread balance to all life. The interrogative of what exactly this balance is has perhaps as many answers as there are planets inhabited by Skirol. Some believe that this means all life-forms should be equal, and modify themselves in entire Trezklin to fit an “universal” biological template; others, on the contrary, see it as an exhortation to increase diversity, and surround themselves with all sorts of strange creatures; others yet think that only some select life-forms should be allowed to exist, and the others be either altered or eliminated. Whatever interpretation they may follow, the Skirol are usually drawn to active experimentation, and do not waste time before putting their views into practice.
Of the N’vall, not much is known. Without exception, they keep to their ships, never setting foot (even figuratively, given their ability to move by hovering above the ground) on any planet or structure not built by themselves and refusing entry aboard their vessels to all but high-standing Coalition officials and scientists. Communications with them are usually carried out by transmitter, or through their slave proxies. What little has filtered down indicates that the entirety of their fleets is ruled by a hierarchy of the psionically endowed, known as I’nler’attul, or I’nler (roughly translatable as “they who dominate/shape” and “dominating/shaping [ones]”), and that they have not relinquished their forebears’ quest of attaining perfection. Though they themselves acknowledge they have not yet reached that stage, they nonetheless see themselves as superior to other beings, and make no effort to conceal it.
Government
With the decline of the power of the Nucleus, two main influences swiftly rose to replace the mighty central authority, as they had been preparing to do for a rather long time - the scientific community network and the military controllers, which is little more than a formal subsection of the former. With defense and ease of force deployment being one of the local authorities’ main tasks, the military immediately established a strong hold on them, eventually growing to fill them altogether. While the Nucleus still participates in the administration of the core regions, it is now quite clearly of secondary importance.
That said, despite controlling the highly strategically important local centers of governance, known as Nodules, the armed forces to not take active part in the governance of systems and sectors. Instead, they limit themselves to enforcing peace, watching the borders and appointing planetary or system governors, called Plasmators. Tying back to the original extremity of the influence shift, Plasmators are chosen from noteworthy scientists and researchers. Their administrative duties are purely nominal, as planets have their own organs of government, the selection and maintenance of which, while vaguely following a standard structure (designed prevalently with the objective of making them as unobtrusive into the Plasmators’ work as possible) is mostly left to the populace. Rather, what their appointment means is that they and their supporting staff have free rein to employ their territory’s space and resources as their work and experiments require it. There are but a few major rules they must abide by lest the Nodules intervene, and the period of allotment is flexible enough.
While the N’vall are technically subject to the global laws of the Coalition, the fact that the latter are so few and loose leaves them significant freedom of action. Their fleets are free to wander about as they please, any empty system, as long as it is not hosting some Plasmator’s experiments, is open for them to exploit as necessary, and the Nodules do not interfere with the rule of the I’nler. Nonetheless, in times of war with an external enemy, they, as well as the rest of the Coalition, are bound to contribute a share of their forces for the common effort - something which they have thus far never disagreed with.
Technological Information
Technology Overview
It might at first appear that, much like its society, the Coalition’s work and accomplishments in the technological field are divided following the species of those who work on them - after all, many practices are to this day still exclusive to their respective inventors. However, upon a somewhat closer examination, it becomes clear that technology has intermingled far more than its creators. Hybrid designs are perfectly commonplace, and Skirol and N’vall energy sources have long since supplanted anything else in use. An explanation for this can be found in the nature of the contact between the Coalition’s members: while trade and commerce are slow in conducting cultural exchanges, scientific and technological ones flow much faster.
Nevertheless, a noticeable degree of historical specialisation does remain. Ekhrilthur technology is chiefly oriented towards mechanics and engineering, and about two hundred years ago has begun foraying into nanotechnology. It is notable, though, that virtual programming has never been their strong point: while they have been able to create some highly complex virtual constructs, the latter are mostly linear in their concept and functioning and lack much potential beyond the minimal necessary versatility. Ekhrilthur components are widely used in Skirol semi-organic constructs, and are occasionally sought after as mechanical prosthetics.
The Skirol are best known for their biological and genetic manipulations. Over the centuries, the number of species created by them through selection, hybridisation, genetic fusion or simply direct grafting has likely grown to exceed that of life-forms naturally found in Yrrkelthar. Ghastly though their amalgams might appear, it is undisputed that they are immensely useful in sectors ranging from medicine and agriculture to spacefaring and, of course, the armed forces. Among other things, the Skirol are responsible for the invention of two of the tools most famed within the Coalition and infamous without - bacterial tubes and engineered plagues. Body augmentations, practical or merely cosmetic, are likewise a common application of their arts.
Most arcane and relatively advanced of all, N’vall technology could appear to hail from another galaxy altogether. The principles it operates upon are either new but irrefutable, or known but having long been deemed unsuited for practical application. Theirs are the traction-core system, used either for highly efficient energy production or the construction of such fearsome weapons as vacuum rippers or gravity mauls, the secrets of neural melding, which subjugates those subjected to it to the will of the I’nler, magnetic levitation and the cloning of vat-grown biomass. The N’vall are likewise responsible for introducing the hyperspace drive into Yrrkelthar.
Major Techs
First brought into Yrrkeltharl space by the N’vall fleets, the vacuum-core principle has been a fundamental pillar of Coalition energy production for centuries. Its main application consists in the generators, large apparati from which obstruents are removed in order to create a partial vacuum. At the center of these structures, usually shaped like cylindrical vats, although spherical variants exist, there is placed a compressed cluster of superheavy matter, typically of the heftier metals, which is then made to spin and generate centripetal traction. The latter is collected by a system of pistons in the form of kinetic energy, which is then converted, through secondary additions to the generators, into the required forms. While the production of traction-core generators is significant, they are physically large and bulky, and are thus typically only used in industrial complexes, urban energy plants and aboard large ships.
A weaponised application of the traction-core principle, vacuum rippers are among the most redoubtable armaments wielded by Coalition fleets. They operate by releasing powerful radiation discharges at their center, then modulating the resulting fallout in such a manner that it initiates something akin to a sub-molecular chain reaction. Particles congregate in aberrant pseudo-nuclei which grow to monstrous proportions, the motion of displaced space propelling some of them forwards, where they will form other conglomerations, and so on. When the chain reaches a dense object - such as an enemy ship - the combined force of uncountable trillions of pseudo-nuclei triggers the formation of an unstable “core”, causing a tremendous implosion which, depending on the size of the vessel struck, can easily engulf a good part of a fleet. Since the radiation itself is only necessary in the first phase of the process, shields and protective fields will not defend against vacuum rippers, but highly robust or insulated ship armour can limit the size of the implosion. Furthermore, their significant size and weight mean they can only be mounted on tremendously large ships.
While traction-core generators are employed for heavy-duty purposes, the more versatile bacterial tubes provide accessible energy at virtually any scale. Developed by Skirol gene-weavers in conjunction with Ekhrilthur nanoengineers, the tubes, as they are known due to their cylindrical form, contain a liquid solution of highly conductive chemicals, in which there swim myriads of genetically modified bacteria. The microorganisms ceaselessly multiply, feed on each other, multiply and so forth, their activity producing energy which, greatly magnified by their environment, is gathered by outwards-reaching nanite networks. Available in a variety of sizes, tube sockets can be found on virtually any Coalition-made device, and every household, be it locule or bio-pod, has a cryogenic drawer with a supply of the batteries, though they seldom have to be changed.
As many an implement in Yrrkelthar space, bacterial tubes have found a specialised role of employment in warfare. Aside from powering the vast mechanical armies of the Coalition, military-issue tubes serve themselves as weapons, thanks to certain modifications. The bacteria contained in these models produce toxic waste as a side effect of their activity; while this has the disadvantage of requiring them to be changed somewhat more frequently, it also allows the devices containing them to eject the waste outwards, usually in a pulverised form, creating the tell-tale sickly yellow-green clouds that cover Coalition forces as they advance. The name “bio-laser” comes from the fact that, originally, it was chiefly energy beam weapons that used such a system; nowadays, though its practice has extended to particle and plasma weapons, as well as the drones themselves, the term remains as a broad catch-all term for Coalition planetary invasion weapons. It is little wonder that after the passage of such an army the ground should remain barren and infertile for decades on end.
While some may see the vollnetlle as wasted potential for so many thriving worlds and colonies, not to mention a dangerous regions that ought better to be cleared, the Coalition is perfectly satisfied with how things are there, and, if anything, would even wish for more of it were there any scarcity. The abundance of barren planets has enabled its engineers to design an efficient, rapid process of stripping a world of all resources with but a few practiced motions. The exact method slightly varies according to the composition of the planet, but the basic process is always the same: swarms of harvester craft descend upon it like hungry rahkal, bombarding the crust with burrowing charges, vaporising any liquid bodies and releasing fumes and radiation that leave any atmosphere there might be in shreds. Hordes of drones are then disgorged upon the battered surface, and collector modules descend upon it to devour and process the ores laid bare by the ravaging volleys. Finally, the planetary core, laid bare by continuous hammering, is solidified through exposure to the vacuum, and absorbed by the machines. The presence of organic life on the surface of a planet does but add an additional stage to the harvest, though to many it might appear to be the most gruesome one.
Somewhat akin to planetary harvesting, albeit by far less thorough, the Coalition’s hostile terraforming techniques are nonetheless much more varied. These invasive planetary alteration methods are deployed upon enemy worlds in support of invading armies, which, though they might be at a disadvantage on unfamiliar ground, are entirely optimised for combat in the pestilential conditions brought about by terraformation attacks. The latter may involve anything from engineered plagues designed to wipe out native life, through saturating the soil, air and water with toxins, mutagenic substances or corrosive acid, to seeding the surface with genetically modified parasitic organisms or deploying swarms of devouring self-replicating nanites. While any of these, used alone or in conjunction with others, is devastating to most life-forms in known space, the process is gradual and, though incredibly fast by terraforming standards, leaves defenders enough time to react should they be able to. Hostile terraforming is conducted through ground and orbital emplacements assembled by Coalition armies and fleets, and eliminating them, as well as any Ruinator ships stationed over the planet, is the key to stopping it while it is reversible.
Prior to the integration of N’vall technology into Yrrkeltharl designs, the most common form of plasma weapon were the stream projectors used by the Ekhrilthur. However, once the expertise in magnetic fields of the vat-born species had been assimilated into the technical knowledge of what had by then become the Coalition, its applications in the bellic employment of plasma, already known to the N’vall but new for the rest of the region, were greatly acclaimed. The final result of numerous trials and experiments was the unmaker, a weapon of variable size used nowadays by warships and heavy drones alike. These devices fire a double-layered sphere of plasma maintained compact by a magnetic field, resulting in a double shockwave, outward and inward, which weakens struck matter before drawing it into a destructive implosion.
Industry
The power of the Coalition, scientific and military alike, is entirely founded on the strength of its industry. Planets and asteroids are torn open every day to feed the insatiable metallic monster, and many thousands of varyingly automated factories regurgitate tools, wares, instruments, equipment, but most of all ships, drones and frames for semi-organic constructs. The vollnetlle is littered with their hideous forms, but they likewise abound in the core regions, and Ekhrilthur space in particular. Indeed, the Ulvarith system-complex, a mass of interconnected megastructures fully dedicated to pounding metal into uniform shapes, is the species’s pride, and many worlds inhabited by the fungi show signs of efforts to emulate this great work on great and small scales alike.
Military Information
Military Overview
The most notable feature of the Coalition military is that no member of the three constituent species ever takes to the field in person. All of its forces are composed of remotely controlled constructs, with the sole exception of Skirol and N’vall ships, which, however, are rather rare. No creature, be it living or mechanical, in its ranks is fully autonomous, since the Yrrkeltharl species are as distrustful of anything they cannot directly command as they are unwilling to descend into battle. This reliance on its creations rather than its population itself, and thus industry rather than reproduction, often grants the Coalition an immense numerical advantage. While its troops might be unwieldy and slow on the move, they are so many that enemy armies, whatever they might be, may easily find themselves dwarfed, and the foul contamination they spread as they advance further tips the scales of attrition in their favour.
Space Forces
Navy Doctrine: Sometimes called “pillar drill” after an ancient Ekhrilthur siege engine, the Coalition war fleets’ typical approach to battle seeks to make best use of the strengths of each of its vessel types. The innumerable lesser and medium Ekhrilthur drone craft seek to pin enemy fleets in place by surrounding them from all sides, hurling themselves forward with weapons blazing regardless of any damage or losses they might suffer. Once the foe is thus encircled, the “drill” proper, formed by heavy drone ships alongside the titanic Skirol semi-organic vessels and the powerful N’vall auxiliaries, advance upon it, releasing new waves of strikecraft and firing fearsome weapons such as vacuum rippers, giant unmakers and spinal beam projectors. With nowhere to turn, the enemy would ideally be at the mercy of this unstoppable force.
Ground Forces
Ground Doctrine: While fleet tactics, distinctive though they might be of the Coalition, do not bear much of a mark in the way of its, so to say, flavour, the doctrine followed by its Planetary Invasion Forces appears to take pride in displaying the worst of its destructive and corrupting tendencies. Officially named “Transformative Assimilation”, it consists in radically altering the terrain and environment around its immense armies of metal and biomass via the use of hostile terraforming. In addition to being necessary for the troops to operate at full effectiveness, as they are expressly built to do battle in such hellish conditions, it corrodes and weakens any resistance the enemy might offer, so that it might easily be swept away by the unwavering advance of the soulless tide.
Osveril is still in his growing pains, so don't be afraid if his thoughts are barely coherent. They should get better in time which could mean they will become completely incoherent, but well, pure is pure, isn't it?.
Lord Zee
Cyclone
