[X] Studying the Necrons. (DC20)
[X] Anathematic. (DC40)
[X] Biomancy. (DC45)
[X] He makes another go at dealing with his mum's mutations with his abilities. (Extra Anathematic Roll)
[X] Plan: Breathing room
-[X] Gloriana-class Battleship (15 Points) x2
-[X] Promethean-class Cruiser (3 Points) x8
-[X] Tiamat-class Destroyer (1 Points) x21

With the defeat of the Chronus Dominion, a relative peace fell over the Federation of Bladus. While the Four and their vile servants are still a threat and Mugshredda is still out there, all immediate threats in the sub-sector are gone and it is now firmly under the control of the Federation.

For your part, you found yourself exploring beyond the sub-sector once more. You didn't need to stay around Excalibur or anywhere else all the time and frankly, it would be a waste of your immense talents. Even with its new commitments, the lack of neighbouring threats combined with the newly built warships means that the Federal Navy can afford to send out an exploration fleet without compromising the defence of the Federation.

You could have let someone else command it and stayed home to safeguard the Federation, but there are horrors and evils out there. The Necrons proved nice enough back on Othion, but having finally gotten around to reading some of the material that Farseer Ulthran provided you with, you are fully aware that was a highly unlikely outcome for an encounter like that.

You don't know what is out there, but whatever dangers you come across, you are the Federation's best person to deal with them. Which isn't to say that you go out right away as you have a few things to handle on the homefront before going away.

You make another go at healing your mother's mutations. Technically, you have fulfilled her request of giving her time, but the truth is that you failed to use that time to improve your skills. Something that you feel a bit guilty about, but not something that you let dissuade you from your current path.

In the end, the whole affair is fairly neutral. You don't make things worse, but at the same time, you don't improve her condition and neither do you gain any additional insight into your unique abilities. It is hardly an ideal outcome, but given how badly things could have gone, you'll take it.


Exploring beyond the sub-sector is a fraught affair, but you have brought enough firepower with you to calm most nerves within the expedition. Not to mention that your presence is great for morale as your reputation amongst the Federal Navy is legendary. The turnover has been such that only the oldest veterans remember a time when you weren't leading the navy and even fewer remember a time when you weren't even a part of the Federal Navy.

The first few worlds you encounter are unnoteworthy, consisting of either uninhabited worlds or old colonies whose human populace have regressed to pre-space technology. Those worlds greet you with a mixture of awe and fear and it is a coin toss on whether or not the locals still remember that humanity once travelled amongst the stars.

Ultimately, you leave them be as you return home to Excalibur. Other parts of the government are responsible for handling diplomatic relations with those long lost worlds and your job ends at discovering them and making a good impression during first contact. Even that last part is arguable as you could just leave the worlds alone and let the diplomats handle first contact, but your clout is such that nobody is going to make a serious fuss.

The only real thing of note is that you find a few STCs in the remains of a mostly dead hive world where a mere pittance of its former population are eking out a living in the ruins of its planet-wide cities. With one exception, all of them are STCs already possessed by the Federation, but that one exception should be quite useful to the marines and army. Not that the current Federation lasers are bad, but this is a superior model from the time of the Confederation. While more expensive and complicated to make, it packs notably heavier punch with each shot.

The second expedition goes similar as you find either dead worlds, regressed colonies or worlds that simply never felt the touch of humanity. With one major exception, the Forge-World Soptamorn IV, a massive factory planet ruled by a remnant of the Mechanicus.

You remember the Mechanicus of Mars from your history lessons, a peer power to the Confederation back during the Golden Age. While their empire wasn't as numerous or plentiful, it was spread just as far with a general technological superiority. Neither you or anyone else in the Federation know its fate, but it was genuinely assumed to have fallen during the Age of Strife, either with surviving remnants or in totality.

Soptamorn is proof that the former theory is correct as while the Forge-World has retained its pre-collapse government, it was cut off from the rest of humanity like everyone else. It has begun its first forays into space, gradually bringing its local sub-sector under its banner. For its part, Soptamorn is interesting. They had some divergence from its original way of life, primarily due to necessity as the world found itself cut off from the rest of the Mechanicus and unable to maintain all of its advanced technology.

For its part, Soptamorn is something of a military world as prior to the Age of Strife, it offered elite infantry equipment to Confederation border worlds. You're fairly certain that the laser weapon STC that you found mere years ago originated from Soptamorn and some questioning of the local leadership confirms it.

Upon discovering the Forge-World and its fledgling empire, there were some worries about their friendliness and strength. While nothing compared to the Federal Navy, Soptamorn could call upon a decent-sized fleet with a pair of battleships, several cruisers and dozens of escorts. Not to mention that its ground forces had access to its speciality infantry equipment to the point that you would hesitate to say that the infantry of the Federation could outclass or even match their Soptamorn counterparts.

Thankfully, the local Mechanicus government proves to be friendly and they are delighted to encounter another space-faring human civilisation, especially one that retains not only a functional Gloriana-class Battleship, but the ability to build more of them.

With the initial greeting going well and the Forge-World being receptive to friendly overtures, you shared some STCs aboard the Merlin. Nothing much, just some basic civilian and medical ones to get on the good side of the locals. Combined with raw power and technological might of the Merlin, it is enough that the local leadership is welcoming positive relationships with the Federation of Bladus with open arms.

Unfortunately, not everything is right in the world when it comes to Soptamorn IV. While everything is acceptable on the Forge-World proper, the latest addition to their budding empire that the Mechanicus are eyeing is the Eldar Exodite World of Filnedan.

Soptamorn intends to conquer the world and either purge or enslave the native Eldar so they can import their own colonists. Beyond its general unacceptability for the atrocities being committed, you as both an individual and the wider Federation have been making decent strides in establishing a positive relationship with the remnants of the Eldar Empire. Standing by and letting the Mechanicus conquer Filnedan and crush the local Eldar would be very counter-productive to those efforts.

So upon learning about this, you attempt to convince them to, well, not do that. Alas the simple task proves to be far more difficult in reality than on paper as it quickly becomes apparent that the people of Soptamorn have a hidden streak of xenophobia. They blame nonhuman species, the xenos, for the collapse of the Confederation and the Age of Strife, which isn't exactly wrong given the Eldar's involvement in the creation of the Tempter.

Yet despite the lack of refusal to not conquer and purge Filnedan, talks between your expedition and the local Mechanicus haven't broken down, just hit a major bump in the road. You aren't sure if you can salvage this situation, but you will need to deal with it and do so sooner rather than later.

How does Drake handle this dilemma?
[] He sides with the Mechanicus. (Minor bonus to Mechanicus relations, major penalty to Eldar relations)
[] He sides with the Eldar. (Major penalty to Mechanicus relations, minor bonus to Eldar relations)
[] He attempts to resolve things peacefully. (20% chance of major penalty to both Mechanicus & Eldar relations, 20% chance of minor penalty to both Mechanicus & Eldar relations, 20% chance of major penalty to Mechanicus relations & minor bonus to Eldar relations, 20% chance of minor bonus to Mechanicus relations & major penalty to Eldar relations, 20% of minor bonus to both Mechanicus & Eldar relations)


Okay, this update took a lot longer to write than expected. I have also decided for a change in plans as I don't want to cover the next century or so in regular turns. Instead, I am going to do a few summary updates where major events of the century are covered in a mixture of narrative, rolls and votes so we can reach the part of the quest where the Imperium shows up and the Emperor conscripts Drake into the Great Crusade.

In the meantime, you get to choose between pissing off the Mechanicus or pissing off the Eldar.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.