you know, it may not look quite as good, but this one's much easier to read.  I'd be making maps, but it takes too long to upload to the internet.

Orodum

I use [edited due to classification] to design my maps. [edited due to classification] might not be very popular but it's actually awesome for designing my maps. What program do you use?

The Undying.

Photoshop.  a lot of people use photobucket, though.

Orodum

Damn it.

All Faeros and Starguard Forces retreat to their territories, and prepare (again :/) for war.

What do you want? Peace? Peace is boring; there's always someone to fight. Besides, UGS managed to avoid the conflict, as quoted here:

NAP is short for Non-Aggression Pact.

The Hydrogue WMDs are physically on the surface of Teratron, not being aimed at it. They placed them on Teratron to get in range of Greystar.

I think it's time to clarify the current political climate.

NACA members: Hydrogue Liberators, Tau'ri Nation, (formerly) Ashi Sultanate, Starguard Palatine.

• Stands for 'Northern Anti-Confederate Alliance'.
• Formed as a combined military force against the Vetaron Confederacy. Currently threatening to trigger a galactic war with LOA over political tension.

LOA members: UGA, Flaming Ninja Sanctuary, Ildiran Empire, Shanna Rhei Imperium, Faeros Remnants.

• Stands for 'Liberty One Alliance'.
• Formed to act against the advance of the Vetaron Confederacy. Currently trying to sympathise with NACA over the threat of galactic war.

BMP members: Ashi Sultanate, Evatan Syndicate.

• Stands for 'Black Market Pact'.
• Formed to mutually further the expansion of the Ashi Sultanate and the Evatan Syndicate. Currently expanding aggressively into Hydrogue- and UGA- controlled space.

The current political climate puts you in quite a turning point, Polarstar. You have the choice of siding with the Starguard Palatine or Faeros Remnants and NACA or LOA respectively. Be aware that neither faction is willing and/or able to switch sides, and that choosing one side could be disastrous for the other.

Edit: the Faeros have joined NACA.

The Undying.

damn, how many colonies do I have to blast out of existence to get attention?

The UGA loses contact with more of its worlds n its eastern border, and the Sultanate continues to advance, placing colonies on on each world it comes upon, saying that when they arrive, the world is deserted, with only the remnants of buildings left.  more reports surface of the huge, mystyrious dreadnought, able to land upon worlds, appearing at the eastern colonies of the UGA, just before they drop put of contact.

-Fate

3040

In 3040, the Free City Convention acted upon the border tensions with NACA, introducing border control and stopping 95% of illegal immigration. The UGS also managed to stabilise the infrastructure in LOA territory, but was unable to slow the gradual collapse of north-western territories. On the eastern front, UGA counter-attacks against BMP forces had failed due to poor supply lines. NACA forces also mounted a counter-attack against the advancing BMP forces, but were easily repelled by advanced BMP weaponry. Near the NACA/LOA border, Greystar was under threat of attack by bandit factions in the collapsing eastern Faeros territories. With no other option, the Faeros Remnants accepted the membership offer from NACA. In responce, NACA granted the Faeros the technology required to halt the enroaching void in the east. This action caused outrage in LOA and the UGA threatened to use military force if the Faeros Remnants did not return to the LOA.

on your next map, i'd be nice if you connected the territories of the Sultanate and Syndicate.  so that they weren't in split between the area by UGA and the area by Hydrogue Liberators.  just a suggestion.

And it isn't a "forced" take over.  not officially, anyway. officially, neither side knows why UGA colonies are dropping out of contact.  also, the BMP only expanded to Hydrogue territory, not into it.  don't want too many enemies.

-Fate

I don't know if you remember Undying, but we managed to find a way to stop the superweapon blast before it annihalated anything outside Vetaron territory. Also, why are the northwestern borders of all factions shrinking?

The UGS removes itself from the LOA and becomes a neutral faction, setting up colonies on the deserted worlds in the northwestern portion of the galaxy. The UGS are still trying to negotiate galactic peace. The desperate LOA sends forces to the Faeros border, attempting to scare the Faeros into submission. Meanwhile still more planets drop out of contact....

P.S. is Free City a part of the UGS or the Ildiran Empire?

Samurye.

The_Undying, do you think it would be a good idea to change the maps to just showing the LOA, NACA, BMP and UGS instead of having all the different factions? It would give a better sense of who is who.

Samurye.

The NACA attacks the BMP at the Hydrogue/BMP border.

Samurye.

BMP withdraws several systems, and fortifies its defences, demanding peace on the Hydrogue front.

the BMP advance into the former UGA territory remains unchecked, however.

-Fate

question, why is NACA attacking someone attacking LOA?

-Fate

Because the BMP is also attacking the NACA.

Samurye.

im soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo lost

-TheDarth

no, that was a mistake in mapping on The_undying's part.  BMP only expanded to the edge of NACA space, as I mentioned earlier.

better?

-Fate

Then it is because they are extremely angry that you have allied yourself with criminals.

Samurye.

The Hydrogues convene a third Free City conference. Once all the leaders of the various faction arrived, the Hydrogue leader began: "I have called you to Free City, the site from which you planned to make your final stand against ruthless invaders to tell you: we may be facing another invasion. You have been told that we Hydrogues have been building artificial planets to replace those lost. That was a lie. When we went to reconstruct those worlds we found: they were still there. At first we were astonished but then we grew afraid." She then turned to the UGS representative, Samurye. "Samurye, those ships you sent to locate Kyroge? Did they come back?" "Well... um... no, they did not." replies Samurye. She then asked: "Those ships you sent to stop the explosion? Did they come back?" "Well, they were unmanned so no." "Did you lose contact?" "Only for an hour." At this the Hydrogue leader went completely pale. "Then it is as we feared." She then proceded to tell a tale: The Hydrogues had once lived in another galaxy, filled with peace and prosperity. Then strange, extradimensional being arrived and pummeled every planet that they came across with a massive fleet. The invaders, it was said had conquered whole dimensions, moving by way of rifts in space and time. Thus they were called the Riftwalkers. The Hydrogues were taken completely by surprise. They had no fleet. They had not needed one. The invaders continued to move in agresivley, untill they completely surrounded the Hydrogue Capitol. The Hydrogues had been working furiously on a way to stop the invaders.  They had created an experimental weapon to use: the Rift Generator. They then used this weapon to open a rift to another reality. An Unreality. The entire enemy fleet was thrown into the abyss. Her story done, the Hydrogue leader then said "We believe that the superweapon used by the Vetarons was a Rift Generator. That would explain the fact that every planet we came across was still intact, as well as the strange form of radiation. We believe that- She was cut off as they viewscreen behind her suddenly came to life. A horrible, alien face appeared. Then: it spoke. "Hello Hydrogue. Your kind exiled us to an unspace long ago. We may have been stuck there for all eternity, had your fellows noy been kind enough to let us out. For that I guess we must thank you. After all, had you not appeared and forced them to use the weapon we may never have made it out." The alien face darkened. "Prepare yourselves. We are the Riftwalkers. Revenge is coming." With that, the transmission ended.

Samurye.

Also, Shadan has been renamed New Kyoto.

Samurye.

All the fleets sent to invade BMP territory are never heard from again.  reports of the dreadnought begin rising on the Hydrogue south-eastern border, and several colonies disappear.  As they did not attend the Third free city conference, neither of the BMP nations have knowledge of the "Riftwalkers"

-Fate

Oh great, so the Riftwalkers control part of the black part of the map? :/

With this new threat at hand, NACA formally ends the border disputes with the LOA and prepares its fleets and armies for battle.

By personally going into a star near the centre of the void that I found still exists, I have observed that the Riftwalkers primarily draw their energy directly from spinning black holes, and have thus converted many tens of star systems into black holes, and are preparing their fleets for rapid conquest.

However, each of their machines that causes a star to turn into a black hole works slowly, and there is only a small number of them, so I would suggest that as many as possible be taken out before too much happens, as it will limit their expansion. In addition, the exotic matter necessary for constructing new ones are around the outer reaches of the galaxy, so a serious warning to nations primarily located at the edges of the galaxy, as they will come under attack soon.

However, the huge concentration of black holes in the central galactic bar makes this a juicy target for the Riftwalkers as well, so the Faeros will be having a hard time defending these on their own. Immediate help is requested, as these attacks are likely to take place sooner than raids on planets rich in exotic matter.

By the way, am I the only one here representing an NACA nation?

The Riftwalkers control the entire black part of the map. They are also pulling reinforcements from the Rift on Dastrophetes. If we want to save the galaxy, we will have to eliminate it. Maby the Riftwalkers could be the origin of the dreadnougt that has been attacking the UGA! The attacks did start on the outside of the galaxy! And yes, Polarstar, you are the only NACA representative, since Orodum is BMP now.

P.S. This story has far reaching effects. I was just playing Supreme Commander and I actually called the UEF the UGA!

Samurye.

"What most of you don't know is that before the human race of Earth became a space farring species, The Faeros, Verdani, Hydrogues, Shana Rhei, and Ildiran Empire, existed in space thousands of years before humans set forth in space. The Riftwalkers, this darknes creeping through our space has nearly killed us before, but we found how to kill them quickly. The peopl who drove them back the fastest and the most was the Faeros, the reason why is this only fact about them, light and heat kill them easily. Once we figured out beam weapon tech with precise aiming on the ships it was easy, we were able to push them back to a rift to unspace where they were stuck forever so we thought."

-The Anchient Magistate's Chronicles

"Faeros your territory ain't small, your numbers are vast, your territory is this galaxy, your Polarstar, your Faeros live in every single star in this galaxy. You got telaporters in every star. No one should be able to stand up against you, except for the Hydrogue, Wentals. You can destoy anyone."

-A message from Adar Zan'nh

Ships that are effective against them, ships with reflective armor, it blinds them and hurts them like acid. Build lots of beam weapons, they have high outputs of concentrated light and heat.

[IE]Adar Zan'nh

-TheDarth