ErchionBoard

Anniversary

Tonithus Dwyne stood looking out the window of his office at the top of the Polit Centre. A large building at the centre of the Capital City of the Planet Arkeria, Trebedis. The urban sprawl stretched on for as far as the eye could see, past the enormous park which surrounded the building. Today was the 30th anniversary of the start of the war against the Romans. 30 years of bloodshed against the United Roman Reich. 30 years since first contact when they fired upon the GDR ships near the planet of Praxia in the Riley system. 30 years of warfare, generations growing up under the spectre and burdens which war required of them. Inside the people of the Republic was galvanised a hatred against the humans of the Reich.

This was not the first time in the Arkerian history where they had to fight off fascists. The genocidal campaigns of their ilk during the Fragmentation War cast a spectre upon the planet for generations. And now they were here. The Dawning War, as it had been labelled, was the Dawning of a new age of intergalactic warfare and purpose for the Republic. To fight for the liberation of the worker throughout the galaxy and to save the native Praxians from the auspices of fascism which the Romans would impose on them. The fight for the future had begun, and the GDR was not going to be caught lacking behind the fascists of the URR. They would not let the rotten cancer that was Fascism spread throughout the galaxy like it did during the fragmentation of 2077, where the Fascist menace spread through the world like an uncontained fire.

"Broadcast is set to start in two minutes people, hurry up! The Premier is ready." The man in charge of the camera crew shouted, running his hand over his fringe.

Before the parade, the Premier of the GDR was to make an announcement before the nation. The day was to be marked across the worlds of the GDR with a Universal day off, a day of reprieve and mourning for the people of the Republic. Yet it was also a day for the Premier to galvanise. As he took a seat at the desk while the film crew continued to make their adjustments on their cameras, he realised that there were a few things he had to quickly adjust on his desk. His mandibles chittered in annoyance that the directors had not adjusted parts of the desk, papers sat scattered over the top of it along with an empty glass. Grabbing the blank papers, he slipped them into his desk, along with the glass, making a mental note to ensure it was cleaned later.

The director began to slowly countdown for the Premier and he immediately straightened his back and looked directly at the camera, a teleprompter making sure that he kept on point to the speech that he had written earlier in the month. As the light went from red to green, he was now on.

"Comrades and Citizens of our Republic,

I speak to you on this most important of days to mark an important event. 30 years ago to the day, we came to the stark realisation that we were not alone in this Galaxy. I remember, as a small boy growing up, that the prospect of alien life brought such wonder in me that I could not wait to explore the stars. The hopes of our people were united in the shared vision of a future for all together with our brothers and sisters among the stars. And I remember the day when everything changed. When the news of how during a first contact event, our peaceful research vessels and their escorts were fired upon by an alien species. The facts of that day speak for themselves. The people of the Republic formed their opinions, and we well understand the implications for the life and safety of our people.

Over time we have learned much about their society. How they are unwillingly enslaved to a fascist menace, brutes who have risen to power and enslave the worker, refusing them their basic and fundamental rights. Their Reich Council demands that all shed blood for their pointless war so that they may subjugate even more of the galaxy under their rule. We know that once cancer spreads, there is no stopping it. We say, there shall not be a step back. Our own history shows that invincible armies do not exist and have never existed. From what we know, this army has not yet faced any opposition worth speaking of on the intergalactic stage. Only on our territory has it met noticeable opposition to their expansion. As a result of this conflict, some of the best divisions of the Fascist Roman army have been defeated by the People's Army then it means that the Reich's Fascist army can just as well be defeated and will be defeated just like all enemies of the workers revolution.

The war as it stands has reached a critical phase, as we move into a renewed active battle with our enemies. We will pour into the intergalactic conflict our fighting men and women, and the vast resources of our nation, to make new ships, guns and ammunition. The workers of the Republic have accomplished a miracle, with the mass production of star ships and vital equipment needed for the frontline, and have held the Roman advance into our territory. We must not grow complacent. With Roman spies being captured, and the Roman attempt to establish a fifth column inside our Republic, we must remain vigilant in our fight for the future. We shall not allow the blood dripped dagger of the Romans to ever enter into our systems. The workers of the GDR are unconquered, and are unconquerable. If we must win another great war, we shall do that too.

In the coming days, the entire republic will once again prepare for a significant push into the stars in order to increase production and settlement of new worlds. It has grown clear that our future lies in the stars and heavens. Socialism cannot be limited to one nation amongst the stars, and our great goal of revolution and emancipation cannot be limited to ourselves alone. A life for all with goodwill, vigour and hope shall be our goal. There are many among us, who still believe that we can live under an illusion of isolationism, believe that the great hammer of the Republic, should imitate the character of the anvil. But we prefer to retain the hammer as it is, raised high and striking hard. We, not they, shall win the final battle, and we, not they, will make the final peace. The harder the sacrifice, the more glorious the triumph.

Thank you, and may the spirit of the workers revolution endure forever."

Dwyne sat back as the camera feed cut off, his shoulders sagging as he relaxed his posture. The Dawning War would continue, with little to no end in sight for the foreseeable future. In the coming days, a significant offensive would commence, in the hopes of finally breaking the deadlock which had existed over the system for 3 decades.

The Great Task in Motion

Founding post

The Autarch sat in her chair reading over the latest military reports from the recently liberation of the newly named planet of Genesis, the Autrox, the natives of the planet,had surprisingly integrated rather well into the ACR, specifically into its military sector.Unfortunately due to their primitive nature organizing a proper planetary government had taken longer than expected with a occupational government under Admiral Tripafa Sodhi of the 4th fleet.

Setting her tablet she sighed pressing a small button on her desk within a few moments a set of five holographic figures appeared one by one. The one in the middle spoke with distain in his voice.

“What have you calle fall of us here for Pratali? I do not know of the rest but I am busy making sure our newest citizens learn Republican ideals unlike the dear Admiral who would rather only teach them the militaristic portions of The Great Task!” One of them said with a scoff.

“Watch your tongue Rajendra I will not have one of my admirals slandered by someone who has never in their life served in more than a local newsstand!” Another said angrily.

Another cleared her throat. “If the both of you are done I believe Pratali will tell us the purpose of this meeting.” She said in a calm tone

“Well said Doctor Rati.” A rather large one said bowing towards the Autarch.

Pratali nodded her head, clearing her throat before speaking. “It has come to my attention that our new citizens are having great trouble integrating into republican society.”

“That is correct.” Rajendra said bluntly.

“Well they are actually quite applicable to join the planetary forces with a few showing promise as officers.” The large man said

“As General Thakore said the Autrox show promise as troopers, even I can see they will perhaps one day join the likes of the Blackwatch amongst the navy.” The second to right said.

“That’s if your subordinate can actually teach them to value our Great Task, Lord Anand.” Rajendra said condescendingly.

“I will not warn you again you lout!” Anand yelled before looking at the Autarch.

“I will not stand here and let him or you insult one of my men so blatantly.”

“I ask that you calm yourself and let me finish.” Pratali said, causing the Lord to bow “If we cannot show them the way as our people know it perhaps we need to show them in a way they would understand.”

“And how do you suppose we do that, they have only shown apptitude for war. Science is a no, so far we have not fully come to understand their culture, and their seeming lack there of a government.” Rajendra said snidely.

“From my reports they were divided into warbands when we arrived, small encampments spread through which made the ground campaign rather easy.” The General said in reply.

“Then we will take advantage of this knowledge, I want a tournament of sorts held in every encampment on Genisis, we will see who amongst their race has such aptitude that he could beat his or her peers in a war game, the winner shall be brought here to study at the Naval Academy.” The Autarch said before standing.
“We will also send probes to the surrounding systems and beyond, if there are more inhabitants of the cluster then I want to know about them and see if they are threats to our Great Task.”

A silence hung about the room for but a moment before Rajendra scoffed.

“You would let one of those brutes come to the academy? Nonsense.” He said condescendingly

The Autarch scowled. “That wasn’t a request, I will be using my executive power, I just called you all to make you aware, plan accordingly.”

The Song of War

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Գ̷̺̥̻͋͋͝ɿ̸̞̯̭̌͋́ɘ̶͚͙̻̓͋͂q̵͕̙̼̆͗̚ɒ̸͙͙͔͗́͠ɿ̶̡̘͈́͆͠ɘ̴̡͕͙͌̑͒ ̶͔͇̌̇͘ͅɈ̸̘̗̜͗̅͠ʜ̸͔͓̗̍̽͒ɘ̴̲̮̄̈́͛ͅ ̸̢͚̖̍͛͗ẅ̶͕̭̞́͂̉ɒ̸̢̙̺̐͂̕ɿ̶̛̥̜̯̆͆ʇ̷̠̻̖̀͑̈́l̴̻̱͔̀̏̚ɘ̴̰̣̳̉́͋ɘ̴̛̪̯̖̆͋Ɉ̵̩̤̩̊̃͠ƨ̸̗͈̾̍̅ͅ,̶̳̜̱́̎̚ ̴͚̺͍̋̿͘l̶̪͉̀͘̚ͅɘ̸̥̙̘̕̚͝Ɉ̴̡̰̈̑̀ͅ ̷͍̹̌͗̒ͅυ̷̬͙̅̓̐ͅƨ̶̛̱͈̘̐̓ ̷͕̦͑̈́͛ͅʇ̷͙͉̬͒̒̃i̴͔̠̳͌́̿n̸̨͈̫̈́̋̅ɒ̵̹͉̠͐̈̏l̸͙͕͚̎̾̀l̴̡̯̝͗̿̚γ̸̮̮̳̀̆͊ ̷̲͚̤̄̏͘w̵͙͙̰̆̈́͠ɒ̵̙̱̙̽͋͘Ɉ̷̛̲̙̫̄̍ɔ̴̰̗̳͛̑̇ʜ̷̲͚̥̓̑̓ ̸̢̧̞͒͋̕Ɉ̵̨̞̯͊̾͝ʜ̷̛̭͚͇́͐ɘ̴͇̠̾̇̉ͅm̴̞̘͕̓͛͠ ̵̗͕̑̚͘͜i̵͈͔̳̒͋̆n̴͙̦̞̈̌̚ ̶̹̦͈̊͌̇ɒ̴̞̲̍̀͂ͅɔ̴̘̟̬̃̔͂Ɉ̸̨̛̮̰̓̓ï̶̭̲͉̏̇o̶̫͍͔̓̌̂ṅ̸͇̮͚̂͌

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The roar of the fleet's engines filled the lower atmosphere, cinders and ash filled the air as hooves hit the ground, energy fire screeched across the air. The planet was covered in a thick gray fog, veiled over a land of smooth stone, but there was so much more. Upon initial scans of the world by the Dominion War Fleet, the world came in layers that progressed deeper and deeper within the world, each holding thousands of monolithic cities created within a large series of tunnels carved from the planet itself. Water, minerals, metals all lies beneath the surface, the Dominion must have it.

Song troops rushed across the surface, their hooves crashing down and planting themselves within the earth, at first there was a silence, giving them time to maneuver a large drill, descending from the hanger of a large pyramid. The vessel itself fired large red bolts into the fog, laying down heavy fire on something that rapidly approached the Song detachment. They could hear the chittering and rapid spindles crawling across the ground, the rumbling through the earth, as the drill activated.

The fog cleared around it as its engines churned, a single beam from its eye abruptly firing down into the earth viciously churning through the stone surface. The hooved Song remained strong; a perimeter of tanks filled gaps in the line, barricades formed as turrets activated. As the fog gave way, their enemy could be seen passing through, large six-legged insectoids, their shells a firm carapace, a skeleton serving as their shield. Some made flight, wings sprouting from their backs.

The Song stood firm, their throats vibrating with a song of joyous violence, aiming down their rifles, their scopes lighting up with several hundred targets, no resemblance of fear could be felt within their united voices. Cannons roared and energy blasts seared through skeletal flesh and soft sinnue, the fleet above fired down hundreds of blasts, creating enormous craters in the earth as the Dominion troops held firm, the enemy closing in around them.

The Song laughed, their mechanised onyx turrets built in the image of the divine fired precise bursts, their own rifles firing rapidly, never missing once. They were far fewer in number, for every one of them, a thousand stood in opposition, the Song relied on mechanization to make up for their minimal infantry forces, but even a single Song Soldier meant so much more.

As they got hundreds of meters in energy blades began to activate as the tanks rotary cannons span up, their eyes glaring at the horde, their legs adjusting and digging in the barren rock. Overhead small craft tore through the clouds, laying down bombardment as enormous red rips in the swarm appeared, yet more burrowed through the layers of stone, replacing those lost.

As they got closer and closer and into melee with the Song, flying overhead and attacking the large drill mechanism, bombardment was no longer possible as they fought furiously, two ravenous forces destroying the other. The drill’s red lights flared brighter as the plates of the nameless planet tore apart, a great screech could be heard through the earth's wound. Out from the tear, more crawled up to overwhelm the Song troops, a large thundering step followed another as something crawled through, planting its spindly legs through the entrance to the scar, forcing itself against the enormous beam.

It stood in absolute defiance, rivaling the size of a warship as it wrapped its chattering jaw around the bottom of the drill. With the Mother now in sight, the orbiting fleet was given clearance for full bombardment with no restraint against the wound. Throwing down thousands of energy blasts focused entirely in one point, the layer of earth coming crashing down as all Song died in an instant with no thought to the loss of life. Athreenadar stared down from the bridge of the Black Choir, the dreadnought staring down through the black air of space. This experiment didn’t take place in simply one place, all across the world, against every single brood, then they would enforce their will.

Map Update June 6 2022

Disagreeing Hearts
Volkstag building. New Genève. Planet Irisiz
On an artificial island, jutting out into the clear blue waters of the New Genève bay, lay the impressive Volkstag building that housed the elected parliament of the Union. Above ground it was a wide angular glass construction. Built with technologies that made it possible to change the color of the glass panels at will, clear, black and golden bronze were common. Built in light systems could pull off impressive light shows that danced over the glass walls. The building continued under the sea level with the same clear glass walls. The ocean bottom in turn had been penetrated with thousands of high capacity lights that could turn the waters themselves alive with spellbinding light shows.

The building was united with regular land though a floating peninsula covered with greenery and flower trees. It connected with the rest of the city through the metro system, an open air monorail as well as a walkway for pedestrians and cyclists. Busses as well as state owned cars could drive out to the entrance but only during scheduled times or special circumstances. The Volkstag building itself contained the grand meeting hall of the People’s Diet as well as hundreds of large and small meeting rooms in which the Union’s elected National Councilors conducted their daily proceedings. But the building contained many more things. There were public conference halls where politicians could hold public deliberations but private enterprises could also hire them for any type of conference. The central floor, amongst others, had exclusive and high quality restaurants of many specialities. A theater scene, two cinemas as well as a bowling alley were all housed inside the building, along with a bathhouse and a hotel below the ocean surface. Statesmen, public servants and the public themselves moved side by side inside the building. They ate at the same restaurants and rested at the same establishments. Schools visited on the daily with teachers trying to explain the values of democracy and responsible government. At night those kids returned, at least those that lived nearby through the monorail system. To spend time with the arcades, cinemas or at the discothèque. The building never slept and was staffed every hour of the day every day of the year.

In front of the main entrance was a small circular pond with tiny fountains surrounding a large monument about 5 meters high. The monument was shaped as a massive hourglass but its contents weren’t sand, nor water or anything similar used to measure time. From the top of the upper stage were holographic babies seen appearing and gently falling down into the hourglass’s top section. The time measuring medium in the top section was a jumbled mess of people. Young and old, in dresses, working clothes and uniforms. Some were laughing while others were crying. At the bottom of the human mass and falling into the bottom half of the hourglass fell corpses. Slowly drifting down to land on a mountain of human bones which were a physical part of the monument unlike the holographically produced falling babies and corpses. The holographic projectors displaying the babies and the corpses were linked to the national census office and represented actual births and deaths in a stylized manner. We stand on the bones of those that came before, read a text at the base of the monument.

Spectating the monument was Werner Kleiber. A National Councilor of the People’s Diet, his chair represented the electrical engineers whose profession he himself belonged to before being elected to the Volkstag. Werner never could figure out if he liked the monument. If he could appreciate its message or if he simply found it bewitchingly macabre. It did weigh on his conscience though - and he thought that that was probably the exact reason for why it was there. A constant reminder to the nation's politicians of the sensitive and fragile reality they all lived in. The message could probably not be represented clearer even if it all had just been a giant text spelling out memento mori.

As a monument it brought thoughts of the current war to the forefront. And recently it had caused Werner a great deal of worry. If the war continued for much longer, and if it kept escalating the nation would soon begin to face an issue on human resources. Historically the military, private sector and university faculties had worked closely together to regulate access to highly skilled people. But the problem of keeping talented people within the civilian economy could become a problem. Reports were already piling up with warnings that too much talent could be consumed by the military.

Werner’s own daughter was 16 and in her first year of high school. Only four more years until she would be off to do her national service. He did his best not to see her as a toddler. Tried to give her the level of independence and responsibility that a highschooler should experience. But he also now realized that reality was catching up fast. She would soon be an adult in just a few years but he had this weird nostalgic feeling that he had for sure been much older when he was the same age. Was that the curse of being a parent? His wife had developed aggressive cervical cancer at a young age so having children hadn’t really been in the charts for them. That was, until the National Adoption Center came knocking and they had adopted a baby Kùzhì called Chun. That had been 16 years ago. Where had all those years gone? Surely the number was wrong somehow. He still remembered his time in Basic Training and Chun couldn’t possibly be just four years away from doing hers.

He hadn’t been called to serve in the war. But more and more people were as the years progressed. Having voted in favor of the new Defence Act of 954 he hoped beyond all that the military would finally become able to break the deadlock with the Arkerians. But he had his doubts. The war was taking its toll. Whispers had started to spread that they should probably mass produce Kùzhì clones for the express purpose of soldiery. To be fair, had someone said the same thing to him 16 years ago he’d probably considered it. But now, the very thought revolted him. Whenever the topic was brought up all he could see in his head was images rows and rows of Chun. Dead, dying, on the ground, in the cold vacuum of space. Meat for the meat grinder.

“Looks like someone else is having a long day as well.” said a hoarse but friendly voice from behind that caught Werner’s attention. Turning around he discovered an elderly man in a light gray three piece suit. Vice-Reichskanzler Éric Sauveterre was smiling at him.

“Herr Kanzler, sorry yeah, I got stuck in thought there.” Werner said. The two weren’t on unfamiliar terms and had worked together on the same parliamentary committees a number of times. “A long day I take it?”

Éric waved his hand dismissively. “I’ve been stuck in meetings with Kofko all morning concerning the industrial expansion of the colonies and new mining ventures. And now I’m running late to get off the planet. A cruiser is waiting for me for a state visit to Ludernia… and one of my nieces is on one of the envoy ships that will join up with us for the start of the journey… I keep wondering why I’m not retired yet.”

“Sir, your ride is waiting,” came the commanding voice from a black suited RPS officer that had seemingly appeared out of thin air behind the Vice-Kanzler.

“No rest for the wicked?” Werner quipped with a smile that Éric returned.

“I have too many grandchildren to rest.” said the Vice-Kanzler as he began to walk away, only to stop once more and give a knowing nod towards the timeglass monument. “It’s about what they’ll inherit.”