(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)
Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l33tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, TheDespoiler, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Scholar, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, DigDug, BigGunn, Dolcett, Starwatcher, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.
Knocker: Holy shit, is this real?
Chummer: Looks like. It went out all over the Empire.
Inquisitor: My contact in the Navy confirms it. The Terran Empire is now at war with the Ihm Imperium.
Lizard: Oh, so THAT’S what they were up to!
RedFox: Lizard, you’re in the Imperium, and didn’t know?
Lizard: Hell, no! I’ve been laying low. Ever since the Empress went crazy and opened that big hole in space, things have been crazy over here.
BackDat@55Up: What do you mean?
Lizard: Well, there’s all the religious craziness, for one thing. Sure, they were always pretty stuck on their purity and how much better the Ihm are than other races, but it has started getting to be a religion, and their new god is telling them to go and put everyone else under their heel.
DarkAngel: That’s disturbing.
Lizard: It gets worse. The Empress? She’s gone through some changes. Starting with the fact that her title is now Imperatrix, which just sounds more menacing. But their new god has pumped up her power level to insane heights.
BloodForTheBloodGod: Hmm. Are we talking Abaddon or Angron, here?
TheDespoiler: Not me, my namesake, right?
BloodForTheBloodGod: Right.
GrimDark: So many heretics, so little time.
Lizard: I don’t know who either of those are. All I know is that the Imperatrix is now a fucking dragon, at least twelve feet tall!
MajorTom: A dragon, really?
Lizard: Really! Breathes some kind of fire and everything!
GrimDark: So, demon prince?
Inquisitor: Likely. Probably demon primarch level, if this new chaos god is putting everything towards her and her people.
GrimDark: Well, that sucks. Gonna need a bigger bolter.
Lizard: There’s also some kind of rumor that she’s eating people. Not just flesh, though. Their souls.
TheDespoiler: Probably to sustain her new form in the material realm. Without them, she probably can’t manifest for long away from a rift into Chaotic space.
Lizard: Whatever the reason, she is specifically hunting Nomads, now. The word is, she tried one, and he tasted good. Plus, they came back, so she was able to keep eating for, like a week or two, until he was finally gone.
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Parca: Like, didn’t log in, or ‘gone’ gone?
Anonymous9: Deleted and rerolled, my bet.
Anonymous4: Deleted and restart from scratch, actually.
Scholar: Wait, what? How do you know this?
Anonymous4: You remember that tool, Lord Kickass?
Blaze: The one that kept picking fights with Mollen, and losing horribly? Yeah. What about him?
Anonymous4: I follow his social media on a throwaway account I use to keep tabs on people I want to see embarrass themselves, without drowning out the people I follow on my main account.
Anonymous9: And he was talking about it?
Anonymous4: Yep. Apparently, he was the first one who got snagged by her the last time he rerolled, as an Ihm. He returned, but her eating his soul, or whatever, had dialed up the death penalty quite a bit. After being eaten for ten straight in-game days, he was down to nothing.
Blaze: The devs didn’t do anything?
Anonymous4: Apparently, his constant rerolling was getting on someone’s nerves, so they wouldn’t roll back his stats to where they were before he started getting eaten. He was forced to restart or leave the game.
Blaze: Harsh.
SemiSolidSnake: But, considering how many times he’s been rerolled, either by choice or by getting force rerolled, it is not really surprising, you know?
Blaze: True.
Scholar: So, this Imperatrix can ‘eat’ players back to zero if she gets them enough. That’s not scary at all.
Grimdark: Well, considering what she is, that’s still getting off light, I guess. So, the idiot started fresh?
Anonymous4: Yeah, he’s apparently in the Alliance right now, trying to make himself useful to anyone who can powerlevel him. Trying to trade on the ‘Nomad network’ thing to the natives.
Parca: Really? What system?
Anonymous4: Helvena. Apparently, a ‘mercenary’ outfit (former pirates) have set up doing ‘protection’ work there. He’s trying to join them.
RedFox: Hah! That’s not going to go well for him. I know what happened the last time he was let aboard a ship. Bastard drugged the freighter crew and enslaved them in their sleep. Not trusting someone like that on one of my ships.
AggregatorOfSorrows: And let me guess, you’re the ‘mercenary’ protecting that system.
RedFox: Yeah, went legit ever since Black Star took down the Maddy. Took in some other survivors of other crews from the Maddy, so we’re protecting three systems, now.
Hullu_Kapteeni: Sucks to be that guy, then.
RedFox: Yep.
Requiesce-in-Pace: Lizard, could you forward me any info you have on the Imperatrix?
Anonymous3: You working, RIP?
Requiesce-in-Pace: No comment.
Lizard: You know what, I don’t care. I don’t want to know. I’ll send a private message with what I know, if you can get me a ride out of here.
l33tpally: You know he’s going to have all kinds of heat on him on his way out, whether he succeeds or not.
Requiesce-in-Pace: I can speak to some people I know, and see if I can arrange transport for you, separate from me.
Lizard: I’ll take it.
Chummer: So, assassinations aside, how is that whole ‘war’ thing going?
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Not good, to be honest. Ihm forces are attacking all across the border, and they’ve shredded what defenders they’ve come across. Worse, they apparently have some kind of new weapon.
M.Mollen: A new weapon?
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Yeah. Some kind of tachyon jammer, or something like that. It fucks with transition drives. Our fleet tried to transition in, and got wrecked before they even knew what happened.
M.Mollen: You’re part of the Imperial Navy?
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Yeah, I’m on the Blade of Redemption, in Eighth Fleet. Part of the Navy’s attempt to integrate Nomads into the communications networks.
M.Mollen: And the Ihm used something to thwart transitions?
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Yeah. Brought the entire fleet to 33% combat effectiveness before we even knew what happened.
M.Mollen: So, they couldn’t figure out how to copy the transition drive, but they did find a way to block it, bringing the Empire onto the same level as they are.
Chummer: That’s going to change the balance of power, right? Especially with the Ihm not having had to deal with a civil war like the Empire did.
Lizard: Well, they did have some kind of purge, but most people followed the Imperatrix without question.
MarcoPolo: What do you think the Empress will do?
Inquisitor: Well, the Navy is mobilizing, but they are on the back foot. They weren’t ready for an invasion on this scale.
Knocker: Bet she calls Black Star for help.
M.Mollen: I mean, we have guns, but we’ve already proven we’re not the best at fleet defense actions.
DarkAvariel: But that isn’t saying they won’t call you.
M.Mollen: I have no control over that.
DarkAngel: Sure, you don’t.
M.Mollen: *sigh* Forget it. I have an incoming call, anyways. Catch you all later.