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I wonder how an organism (or a group of organisms? an organisation of sorts?) like the Spore will react to another, so utterly strange "civilisation" like the Unbidden.
I am pretty sure that only one of them will survive though. And no matter how this fight will end, the other races of the galaxy will have more time to possibly even defeat the surviving species in the end.
 
Lets just say the next updates promise to be very interesting. :D
 
The Galactic War III

After having retreated from its conquests earlier in the decade, the Spore emergerd from its exile with horrific power. Intead 36 ships, each of the three fleets crossing Cynur Territory had grown to complement 50 Destroyers, 5 Cruisers and 5 Battle Ships within its ranks, exceeding what had been fought to be the "natural" limit to its swarm-like coordination and blatantly showing to each of the nations what they had quitely feared: as fearsom as it had been, it hadn't even been trying in earnest.


The Spore deployment at Menkar:
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Observation vessels following the Spore advance reported it using well know tactics, hitting the first enemy System as one, whereby they defeated two unbidden fleets at the cost of just short a fifth of their destroyer force, before splitting in three to clear out another of the Unbiddens fortified systems each. Meeting no other fleets, the spore was expected to dillute its forces further, but instead the fleets stayed put.

The Spore pacifies Menkar
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They had waited for construction ships to arrive, as became apparent several months later, as these began to set up wormhole generators in each of the pacified systems. A curios behaviour for what is widly believed to be a non-concious amalgamation of slightly psionic mold cells. In fact the spore had never been observed setting up transit outside infected systems, somewhat confining itself even in wars.

The reason for its behaviour would become apparent as soon as the construction was done, with all three fleets tunneling towards the Ezak System. This indicates, the spore knew were to find the Unbiddens portal into our galaxy, or was at least able to determine its location by way of analyzing the subspace disturbance most galactic nations scientists had noticed several months prior to the Unbidden.

As most of my readers may know, the Galactic War did not end in 2285, nor for many years to come. Entering Ezak in and no less on the Edge auf the System closest to the Portal, the Spore delved directly into unbidden defenses, utilizing various means of disturbing our reality to support the Invaders. As no observational craft survived for longer then a few minutes, it is hard to say what exactly happened, but with the retreating forces of the Spore reduced to a meager half dozen battle ships, there's hardly room for imagination.

While the thought of something wich could easily scuttle a full blown offensive of not one but three spore fleets, superior to any ever encountered by the galactic nations was utterly terrifying, petrifying even to most, it was utterly incoceivable by others, who would claim the true body of the spore fleets had entered the portal, fighting the unbidden on their turf. The returning ships, the claimed, were the once damaged in battle. Of course this is nonsense, as it is well known the Spore would not repair ships mid campaign, much less divert firepower if it was still needed.



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Unfortunately I haven't got pictures of the Spore fleets getting slaughtered. But basically picture the spore eating its own medicine thrice over...
 

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This is incredible. The idea of an AAR from the perspective of other nations is one I've never seen before, and I like the general feeling of despair in the other nations of the Galaxy. One question, though, since the empire names on the map can be hard to read: where are, or were, the humans? What government and ethos do/did they have?
 
The human empire are the Ekwynians, the ones who perpetrated the Day of Fireflies. They are located to the North of the Contamination Zone with the triple triangle as their insignia. They are ruled by an Ordered Stratocracy ever since I first encountered them, are considered hegemonic imperialists led by collectivist militarism with strong xenophobe undercurrents. ^^ Indicentally they are the protectors of the last Xanyr people (those the teaser featured) who established a colony north of them while under attack from the Spore in the south.

Sadly losing against the Spore in several wars has made them susceptible to attack from the much more powerfull YNU and her allies, who have recently moved into the regions once claimed by this proud empire, pressuring its borders and reducing it to a single planet. Grospalvin Vvada in the Unith System. I've just noted they hold on to Vega too, using one of their two outposts.


Hm, I seem to enjoy writing a few lines about the Nations state of affairs, if you want the same for some other, just let me know. :D
 
Aw, damn....I was hoping they'd stand strong. Still, we got our day in the sun---and I loved that segment on them, by the way. It's inspiring me to develop my own kinda-AAR prep, I guess---writing little accounts from officers and naval crews. Unfortunately, it's like a hundred years into my game and I've taken very few pictures, so it'll probably just be practice.

Wait, how'd the humans end up the protectors of an alien race if they're xenophobic?
 
The human empire are the Ekwynians, the ones who perpetrated the Day of Fireflies. They are located to the North of the Contamination Zone with the triple triangle as their insignia. They are ruled by an Ordered Stratocracy ever since I first encountered them, are considered hegemonic imperialists led by collectivist militarism with strong xenophobe undercurrents. ^^ Indicentally they are the protectors of the last Xanyr people (those the teaser featured) who established a colony north of them while under attack from the Spore in the south.

This explains why the tentacle porn joke made no one laugh. :D

BTW, I vote yes for the "State of affairs" updates.
 
Aw, damn....I was hoping they'd stand strong. Still, we got our day in the sun---and I loved that segment on them, by the way. It's inspiring me to develop my own kinda-AAR prep, I guess---writing little accounts from officers and naval crews. Unfortunately, it's like a hundred years into my game and I've taken very few pictures, so it'll probably just be practice.

Wait, how'd the humans end up the protectors of an alien race if they're xenophobic?

When the spore ate the Xanyr in the south, the Ekwynians vassalized their last remaining colony in a quick strike. So they're really more like prisoners, but it kept the Spore from wiping them out so far.
 
I am not entirely sure, but i get the nagging in the back of my head that the whole galaxy is well and truly screwed at this point. If the Spore generally slaughters other species, and the unbidden slaughter the spore, what monstrocity do we need to stop them....
 
Just caught up reading this great AAR! I hope my comment is not just before the post titled: "The Unbidden wiped out the Spore and the rest of the Galaxy". Because then I would be sad ;)
 
It isn't. I just got a bit distracted playing CK2 over the Weekend. I'll see to it that you guys get an update tomorrow. ^^
 
The Vulture Wars

"Today, the Tezhnid Planet States in conjunction with the Resheti Empire and their allies declared war on the Cynur Hierarchy! At a joint press conference, both nations foreign ministers declared that military intervention was necessary to protect the inhabitants of Cynur Space, as the Hierarchy would refuse to allow civilians to cross the realms borders in flight, leading to many millions stranded on asteroid outposts and frontier worlds in acute danger of Unbidden assaults!" - Tezhnid News Broadcast

The Vulture Wars were a series of conflicts arguably part of the Galactic war, but seperate from it, as neither the Spore nor the Unbidden had any active part in it. The Cynur had bled themselves dry against the continuing onslaught of the Unbidden. And the last clash of the extradimensional invaders versus the sporian forces had left both significantly weakened, while neither the Tezhnid nor the Rasheti or any great power in the south of the galaxy had deployed consierable forces for close to 2 decades.

One should make not the mistake of believing propaganda of the time though. Neither party of the war had significant interest in protecting those in flight. All of them, be they Resheti, Tzhnid or their allies, aimed to take posession of the Cynurs most valuable real estate
Raiding fleets occupied barely defended planets all over the southern galaxy within a few months, well guided to avoid the Unbiddens attention for extended periods of tme.

Soon the rebuild forces of the Connestian Leage to the galactic northeast and various smaller nations began to scramble for their own part of the great slavers carcass. The Tezhnid actually tried to oppose this, claiming to carry responsibility for the coordination of all defense forces, but were largely ignored.
Some of the more cynical scholars argue the Vulture Wars to have been cutural genocide. This is largely do to all of the participants aside from the victim did not practice slavery and promptly banned it in their new territories, causing uproar and often armed turmoil on the invaded planets, as not only a society, but a civilisation build on slaves came crashing down over night.

Within some twenty months most of what had been left of Cynur core space was swallowed up and protectorates established, while the colonies long since enveloped by the unbidden remained largely unmolested - inspite of the millions stranded there in acute danger of unbidden assaults.
 
The end of the world has a way of shaving off the thin layer of society in people and turn them into opportunistic scavengers. As long as they fight each other and not the Spore or Unbidden, they steadily lose the strenght to oppose either.
 
This is actually a picture taken a few years later, but aside from the unbidden expanding, its pretty much unchanged from after the Vulture Wars.

Prepare for bordergore:

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The Galactic War IV

"Contentment nurtures weakness.
Ambition breeds strenght.
Peace is deception.
War is truth.

War never changes.
War changes everything.
War is life.
War is God." - Groknaploran Battle Prayer


"The galaxy is mad! In what was once the most powerfull nation in all the stars of our galactic home is but a shredded corpse trampled by the titans who decided it be the battleground for their struggle. A battleground stretching tens of thousands of light years. Dozens of battleships of horrible power clashing routinely with equally frightening hordes of extradimensional forces, matching themselves blow for blow, darkening suns and shattering planets in their wake. What are we but microbes to these leviathans, annoyances to be shove aside and sprayed with desinfectant at their leisure.

Yet while titans clash we are not to unite, not shaping ourselves into the fatal illness to vaquish those who do not notice us. We are not slipping into the dragons lairs to crush their eggs and poison their game. No! Insanity is our path! Our Leaders frolick for the great enemy has turned its gaze and happily they jump to slaughter each other during such brief respite. Madness! No matter where you are to look, war it is, ever war, if it where not for us, peace would be a word forgotten for the longest time.

If we are to survive, we must regain the lost arts of the ancients and unite! Unite in peace and harmony and we need the strong to protect the weak." - Gar'sha'thul, Connisthian Chief of Engineering and Xenotechnology Expert shortly before he was killed as his lab was destroyed by a Iztran raid.

"New Years Eve 2399
War has enveloped almost all of the Galaxy. In the aftermath of the Vulture Wars the Grand Compact and the Just Conord, five of the most powerfull nations known along with their vassals, have thrown themselves unto the Stellar Concord, the most advanced alliance in the galaxy, after the Zemmerpuk refused to share their new Lance Technology with the other Nations. Soon after the Banthurians declared war on the Cynur Hierarchy, by this point broken beyond repair, as well as the Fiiral Coucil, an to this point peacefull nation, but fiercely armed for fear of the inevitable confrontation with the spore.
No less then 20 Nations are currently at war with each other. All but forgotten are the Unbidden and the Spore, bound in their monumentous clash with each other. Meanwhile the ancients of the Iztran Unitiy lash out against the last great peacefull nation for purposes unknown, destroying invaluable research.
Upon its brith, the 25th century is annoitend in blood and may very well be the last to be counted by civilized minds." - Excerpt from "Galaxy Today Issue 36000"
 
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Hmm...the spore and unbidden going at each other while rest of the galaxy tearing themselves apart. Whoever win is a final loser to unbidden or spore..

Waiting for next update on state of war
 
It seems the arrival of the Unbidden shattered the feeble balance of power in the southern galaxy and now the AI is just going nuts after decades of relatively passive posturing. :D