The Crystalline Religion

[dogscoff]

Wow... this is fantasitc. I hadn't even seen this story until today. I love the way you take us into the mind of the Crysonite, it's really alien and effective.

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Incursion
72rd month of the SunGod Luminostra

Luminostra was furious, pushing the collective into a tornado of anger and a drizzle of despair. The Piundon homeworld was so well armed that only a desperate retreat left any of the fleet intact.

Outranged, outgunned and not enough napalm, Luminostra thought.

To make the problem worse, the enemy had streamed into the Collective home system when the all out attack began, now only a few minelayers were active in trying to parry the counterattack.

It was becoming obvious that the Piundon had supply and production centers outside of their home system.

The greatest difficulty was an internal one, something no other empire could ever know about. Luminostras' power was slowly easing from the overwhelming despair that circulated the collective. Wait long enough and Luminostra would become a high-powered broadcaster of the average collective thought. It was much harder to purge thoughts with a large memory.

This point made Luminostra hate the unworthy subjects on this side of the multiverse. The Ascendant collective was his proper home, here he was mostly a nurse correcting the problems of wimps.

One thing that provided a small streak of powermania was the newest ship classes. They were armed with Quantum Torpedos' Crystalline Armor and shielding, making the battle against the Piudon a bit more even.

73rd month of the SunGod Luminostra

The Piundon invasion force pulled back, unexpectedly, but with the result that the wounded battle fleet was trapped momentarily. Supremacy fleet was left with only two battle ships, one of them crippled, and many support ships for supply and mine sweeping.

74th month of the SunGod Luminostra

Luminostra knew that a victory over the enemy in the collectives' territory would give the collective a boost of warpride. And all but one of the Piundon ships had returned to their home system.

The Piundon were not trapped, they could afford to simply defend against the collective, he thought. We are the ones who have no chance, except through the destruction of the Piundon, we are trapped, cocooned by a force that should fall, but will not.

All we can do is build the insurmountable force. Spend two decades building it. Destroy their star, destroy the planet from afar, those were the two ways that seemed possible. Napalm was not effective to the collective mind, not anymore...

Victory over a heavily damaged Piundon vessel raised no cheers, it was not a worthy victory to celebrate.

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Quiet After the Storm
76th month of Luminostra's rule

The Piundon had their first look at the Crysllonite system since the war began, and concluded the Cryslonite had spent everything on the attack, and they would be exposed again the next time.

As the Encyclopedia Multiversia says, Luminostra affected the other crystals' like a Sun affects a planet. But every minute, the planets nudge the Sun a bit as well. Luminostra was tired. This is not something Crystals' are, but Luminostra was tired in spirit from holding up the Cryslonite collectives' moral.

He was beginning to lash out like a losing dictator. Luminostra commited sacrelige, by pondering if the Piundon sun could be destroy. The Sun was holy. Most of the conflict was in his head, as the collective was almost impossible to keep in a religious mood, and they did not object to the plan, at least in most moments.

Once the Piundon were finished, nothing could stop the Cryslonite, and the Religion or at least the collectives' pride could be restored.

It was a long path to research the ways to destroy a star, but Luminostra convinced himself that this would help renew the SunWorld lores and religion. He thought all research would validate the religion. Of course, in truth, knowledge of stellar mechanics would prevent the Religion from holding sway anymore.

Satellite and mine defenses were finally being set up, the Piundon attack was a bit too fierce for the ship defenses, and it was getting worse every month. The Supremacy ships did well, they could destroy 2-3 light cruisers each, because of their excellent weapons and shields. For unlike the Ascendant Cryslonite, in this universe, the Cryslonite had adapted to fight other ships. It was a neccesity of daily life for the Cryslonite.

[ June 07, 2003, 15:29: Message edited by: civ2buf ]

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Watcher Intergalactic Awareness Reports
History: Galaxy 29086089
Cryslonite Imperium
Battle of Transcendance
2423.2

The Cryslonite Imperium is one of the few empires whose aspirations are undiluted by other concerns. The collective reinforcement allows for unanimity at all times.

After all the victories the Piundon won over the Cryslonite, the Piundon had moved on to other targets, to a large extent. Emperor Luminostra defended patiently, heavily mining the entrance into his home system, and placing a network of battle satellites as well. Before he could figure out how to destroy stars, he managed to gather enough warships to attempt one more conventional battle.

The year was 2423, and Luminostra's forces removed the mines and few ships blocking the Piundon warp point. His fleet was 36 strong, all of the warships were armed with torpedos', not shard cannons as in the Last battle, and half of them were the new Transcendance class Cruisers.

The Piundon homeworld was protected by two warships, a space station, and a satellite network, as well as planetary defenses. The shield grid was at full strength. This time, the Piundon could only repel Luminostra's fleet, they had no strength to invade his system.

The biggest worry was a fleet of ships that had just warped into the Piundon system as Luminostra was approaching their homeworld.

The battle began in the Last few days of 2423.3. Piundon leadership was confident this battle would go the same as all the others. Luminostra was on fire, restored in confidence by his' collectives' feeling of comfort from all the defenses he had built.

The Homeworld was not heavily armed like the Last battle. Only a dozen weapon platforms remained.

Only one ship was damaged, and none destroyed during the shield depletion phase. The homeworld could Last a while, but Luminostra's victory seemed immiment anyway. The Piundon had forgot how to defend a planet it seemed. And this fleet was improved not by numbers, but by technology. Each ship was protected by a combined shield armor energy defense system that made them the most durable light and regular cruisers in the galaxy.

The Quantum torpedos were excellent for quickly destroying ships and planetary napalm took out the shields and started destroying the cultural centers. The Cryslonite Imperium was back on top, it seemed.

And research still progressed on stellar manipulations. Within a few years a planet destroyer ship could join the fleet.

But for now the battle continued. Supplies were a bit low, the Quantum Torpedos were a bit intensive in supply use, and the fleet was not equipped with enough refuelers. The fleet switched to using only napalm on the planet to conserve supplies, but the homeworld would likely take many months to depopulate completely. Over a hundred thousand infantrymen were on planet, which also lengthened the time needed to defeat the homeworld.

But the torrent continued. For the first time, the Cryslonite had dealt a significant blow to the Piundon. The tide of the war had turned towards Luminostra.

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(ooc: an incredibly clever diplomatic response from the Piundon, almost human)

Message From The Piundon Empire:
"Your shakedowns only show how desperate the Cryslonite Imperium is."

Response From the Cryslonite Imperium:
"We've crippled your homeworld, you've crippled our fleet, which do you think is more important. You are the desperate ones to attack an unsupplied fleet. We don't want to give you the deal you just rejected anyway. You have proven yourself to be our enemy for millenia. We will compress the soil samples infected with your blood, and we will destroy the planet, and then disinfect again, and again and again. Until nothing remains of the abomination you are."

Response from the Piundon Empire:
"I'm afraid your protestations ignore the fact that you a minor system power, while we are an entire empire. We can afford to lose one minor world. It won't be long before we invade your world."

Response from the Cryslonite Imperium:
"We don't laugh much, but after translating that the whole collective was giddy from your stupidity. If you are such a strong empire, how is it that, despite five thousand infantry platoons we still destroyed 90 percent of the usable areas of your pathetic infestation world. I've enjoyed translating for the collective, but this is the Last contact. Death to you, plagueridden."

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(ooc: err, for those confused, the first message was the one I actually got from the Piundon, the rest I made up.)