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Description

My Halloween special map, a little late this year. The premise is rather straightforward: horror IN SPACE! Many thanks to the people on dA who gave me plenty of ideas!

---

It is the year 5611, by the reckoning of the human calendar system. The old empire of man has collapsed, as has the wormhole which connected mankind with its home galaxy. The eternal struggle of mankind to survive in a mad and horrific universe continues. The immortal leaders of Überwald[1] continue to guide their trillions of peasants to toil for the good of science and human progress (while getting nowhere), and when they die, their corpses are quickly used as footsoldiers for Uberwald's countless wars. Demons attempt to take over the galaxy and transform it into a living hell, while aliens challenge mankind's supremacy.

The Empire of Uberwald, the largest galactic power, spans almost the entirety of the known galaxy. It is an empire of humans, but other species live within its systems as vassals. Of course, this has made it the most consistent victim of the galaxy's many horrors. Despite the name, it has not had an emperor for millennia. It has been under the rule of a regency council since the 3300s. The same regency council, thanks to the brilliance of science. The "mad" scientists discovered the secrets of electricity and its connection to the vitalic force long ago, using it at first to revive the dead for use as automated labor. Eventually, these techniques were perfected to the point that life can be prolonged indefinitely, as it has been for the Empire's leadership: the old nobles who first patronized the scientists, and the scientists themselves. Electricity became the secret of Uberwald's strength, allowing them to build great machines with which to traverse the stars and reunite humanity. It even allowed for the rending of time and space, which is necessary for faster-than-light travel. However, electrical power remains expensive, and so true immortality is reserved for the elite. Elites who are interested only in pushing the boundaries of carnal pleasure or mankind's knowledge; many decisions passed down from the top are insane, and must be "reinterpreted" by living subordinates in order to keep the Empire functional. The peasants of Uberwald live as their ancestors did - toiling away in farms and factories owned by lords centuries, possibly millennia old. When they perish, their corpses are used as raw materials for Uberwald's immense army. Few living souls serve in the Empire's armies, and only as commanders; the rest of the armies are manned by corpses, revived by the vitalic forces of electricity. The corpses of those too unfit for military service are used as raw materials in machines or stitched together as part of large, monstrous creatures. Such is life in Uberwald, where not even death relieves one of service.
Living among the peoples of Uberwald are the Strigoi. These ancient cyborgs, mostly created during the early days of human colonization, are composed of little more than a brain and machinery. The Strigoi need a constant supply of new neural biomass, and so victimize fresh humans for it. The Strigoi rule various worlds throughout the galaxy, lording over their peasants which are denied any technology more advanced than a plough. These peasants are the victims of the Strigoi themselves, and when the Strigoi needs food, they will be kidnapped. Strigoi seldom leave their castles, ancient structures built during humanity's golden age, where they enjoy paradise in a virtual reality simulation. They only awaken during emergencies, such as when their servants fail to bring them more neural biomass, or when their world is under attack. This has made them an enemy of Uberwald, but some Strigoi negotiate with Imperial authorities in order to get fresh corpses and prisoners of war, in exchange for their loyalty. After all, the Strigoi know the secrets of ancient technologies, and will deploy their ancient war machines against if they are given sufficient reason to do so. While mostly intelligent, most Strigoi have strange psychological quirks as a result of their ancient systems malfunctioning, such as the compulsion to count grains of rice, or fears of religious icons. Their systems also malfunction in the presence of heavy ultraviolet radiation, keeping most Strigoi away from interplanetary space.

Then there are the Hunters. The Hunters were once humanity's supersoldiers, but after the collapse of singularity linking humanity with their home, they went rogue and carved out their own empire. Now, they constantly raid and attack their neighbors, particularly Uberwald worlds. The Hunters are extremely strong, agile, and deadly, easily besting any human soldier, but their strength comes from the bionanites they are injected with. These bionanites modify the Hunter's body up to specs, but thousands of years have taken a toll on these machines, and now they frequently malfunction. Hunter bionanites often give Hunters mutations, such as extreme body hair and sharp teeth. These also modify the Hunters' psychology, making them far more animalistic and aggressive. When exposed to a large amount of gamma radiation, these bionanites go into overdrive, turning the Hunters into large monsters that tear friend and foe alike to shreds. Silver causes these bionanites to malfunction, so a surefire way to kill a Hunter is by shooting them with a silver bullet. The Hunters' empire is brutal, where children are forced to endure military training from a young age. Those that do well are gifted with a bionanite injection, and are allowed to join the Hunters proper. Those that fail are killed. The Hunters also treat their captives in this manner, and consider forcing the victors of their various blood games with bionanites a great honor (even if the victor disagrees). Hunters gained their name because they enjoy hunting humans, particularly armed combatants.

In the center of the galaxy, physical reality gives way to total madness. Here, the singularity at the galactic core - once the wormhole to humanity's home galaxy - opens up to Hell, a parallel universe of endless pain and suffering. It has twisted physical reality, allowing for the impossible and paradoxical to exist. Hell is the home of the demons, sapient creatures made of an extradimensional form of matter and feed on the vitalic force (or "souls") of other lifeforms. In addition to being predators, demons are sadistic in nature, torturing their enemies when they can. Demons love to capture sapient life, torture them to death, and then torture their souls. Torture is such an integral part of demonic culture that the most creative will create elaborate scenarios reflecting an individual's fears, and then creating a hellish scenario just for that individual. While the demons most often fight humans, they are not above fighting themselves, and the endless ambition of demonic leaders often instigates civil war. The leader of Hell is a being known only as Satan, an immensely powerful demon who is feared by all, even other demons. Satan has never been observed, and is only spoken of in hushed tones by demonic prisoners of war. Instead, the portions of Hell in the galaxy are ruled by various archdevils, each with their own personality quirks, such as anger or greed. These archdevils are powerful enough to affect the systems they rule over at a fundamental level, making them reflect their personalities. It is the overall goal of the forces of Hell to take over the entire galaxy, and move it into Hell proper.

A minor ally of the demons are the Fallen, a group of maddened humans who worship the forces of Hell. The Fallen were once a group of colonists who were attempting to escape the galactic core in a hollowed-out asteroid. This asteroid fell into Hell during its faster-than-light journey, and drove everyone on the asteroid insane. Murder, rape and mutilation were inflicted by everyone on everyone, and because of the strange physics of Hell, nobody died. A cult formed, worshiping the demons that tormented the colonists, and took control of the horrific acts that were being committed in the asteroid. They did not stop these acts, but rather directed them so they could be used to venerate the demons. Pleased, the demons keeping the asteroid in Hell allowed it to reach its intended destination, and the Fallen proceeded to butcher the population of their new home. The Fallen remain control under their brutal priest-kings, who have lobotomized themselves so they do not go too crazy, and have not forgotten the secrets of ancient man's technologies. The Fallen are now a scourge on the galaxy, attacking humanity everywhere they go, with no purpose but to cause pain and suffering.

Another great enemy of man, and direct competition against the demons, is the Empire of the Mi-go. The Mi-go, also known as the Abominable Ones, are a fungoid creature that possess the remarkable ability to fly through the void of space. They are a mysterious species, whose motivations are unknown to man; sometimes, they will attack a human colony without warning, and then leave for no apparent reason. Oftentimes, they remove the brains of their prisoners and place them into strange machines. They have been observed flying with their starships in grand processions around stars and barren planetoids, in what is perhaps a religious ceremony. Their technology is a complete mystery, displaying impossible feats such as teleportation or reversing entropy, but for some reason this has not given the Mi-go complete control of the galaxy. They war with the demons for unknown reasons; even the demons themselves have no idea why the Mi-go focus so much of their efforts in destroying them. The Mi-go do have other ally species, such as the swampmen, a fishlike humanoid race that worships the dread lord of their homeworld's oceans. This species is often seen on the front lines in skirmishes, and scientific testing has revealed that many of them have traces of human DNA. There are also humans who have taken to worshiping the Mi-go and their gods, and undermining Uberwald and other authorities to herald their masters' arrival. These cults are extremely dangerous, and have a bad habit of creating elaborate forms of torture for their victims, to help bring them about to their way of thinking.

Another one of the greater galactic powers is the Gray Technocracy. The grays are an ancient, diminutive species, learning their ways from ancient humanity, and still revering them as gods. However, they have little but contempt for the currently living humans, and abduct them regularly for their genetic material and experimentation. The grays want to unite with mankind, and create a perfect species, but so far they have failed. Some of their failures have proved to be useful on the battlefield, accompanying the frail gray infantrymen and their tripod war machines. Grays travel around the galaxy in motherships, massive flying saucers to which smaller saucers attach themselves. Gray technology is highly advanced; antigravity, energy shields and disintegrator weapons are no mystery to them. While formidable in war, the grays are outnumbered by their human and demonic enemies, and so try to avoid armed confrontation. Instead, they prefer to raid the planetary systems around them. They also have an obsession with abducting cows, for reasons known only to them.

Pulling the galaxy's strings from behind the scenes, or at least attempting to, is a group which calls itself the Coven. Made up of genetically engineered humans who have a special connection to Hell, the members of the Coven can manipulate the powers of the diabolical using only their minds. They have also developed advanced technology in the form of liquified nanites, which if mixed in combination, can be used to do all sorts of things, such as transforming into another person (momentarily or permanently), or giving someone the ability to shoot hellfire from their hands. Uberwald's authorities see the Coven as a threat, and so it takes an official stance of stamping out these "witches" wherever they are found, and while they are associated with Hell, the demons themselves do not like these "posers." Thus, the Coven is forced to act in the shadows, hiding their true identities and manipulating the galaxy. Or at least, they try - the galaxy is too big for the Coven to control, and their plans often backfire or fail completely.

In one sector of the galaxy, the UNITY virus continues to spread. UNITY is an ancient human nanoweapon that went rogue long ago. They "infect" lifeforms of all sorts, killing them and then reviving them for its own purpose, which is the expansion of UNITY to consume the entire galaxy. UNITY can infect an enemy with only a few nanites, as it uses the biomass of its victim to create more of itself. The biomass of its victims is used in different ways; mostly as building materials for organic structures (which superficially resemble those of ancient mankind), but combatants are modified in grotesque ways, turning their bones into knives and stomach acid into ranged weapons. They are also frequently fused with captured machines. UNITY is a collective consciousness, consuming the thoughts of all of its victims, but within UNITY distinct "personalities" exist. The dominant ones are the imprints of ancient humans, who project holographic images of themselves and sometimes speak through their enemies this way. These imprints are also made from the consciousnesses of the infected, so they can be used to fool or terrify their former allies. UNITY also has the habit of possessing enemy machinery, turning them against their former masters.

Another threat attempting to assimilate the galaxy is the Wisp. The Wisp is an intelligent, plant-like species that assimilates entire ecosystems and transforms its victims into more of themselves. A Wisp can take many forms, but mostly consists of a round, orange head supported by vines, roots and branches, which it uses to manipulate its environment. Some Wisp link together into chains, having many heads. Because they are physically infirm, the Wisp use their advanced technology in order to be able to perform physical tasks. Wisp often modify themselves with advanced machinery, carving their heads and using them as hubs for mechanical organs, such as legs or plasma cannons. As such, Wisps take various forms; some Wisps can fly, others burrow, and some are even capable of spaceflight. Wisp technology glows with an eerie light, and watching a wave of Wisps moving across the battlefield at night is both beautiful and horrifying. The Wisp are controlled by Wispminds, the central intelligences of Wisp species. The Wisp spread themselves via nanite-modified viral infection, which turns all biological organisms it comes into contact with into more Wisps.

It is the year 5611. There is no hope for peace, for all of mankind's enemies seek its total destruction or subjugation. Who will triumph over all of their enemies and inherit the galaxy? Only time will tell.

[1] This will be rendered as "Uberwald" throughout the rest of the text for the purpose of convenience.

Description

My Halloween special map, a little late this year. The premise is rather straightforward: horror IN SPACE! Many thanks to the people on dA who gave me plenty of ideas!

---

It is the year 5611, by the reckoning of the human calendar system. The old empire of man has collapsed, as has the wormhole which connected mankind with its home galaxy. The eternal struggle of mankind to survive in a mad and horrific universe continues. The immortal leaders of Überwald[1] continue to guide their trillions of peasants to toil for the good of science and human progress (while getting nowhere), and when they die, their corpses are quickly used as footsoldiers for Uberwald's countless wars. Demons attempt to take over the galaxy and transform it into a living hell, while aliens challenge mankind's supremacy.

The Empire of Uberwald, the largest galactic power, spans almost the entirety of the known galaxy. It is an empire of humans, but other species live within its systems as vassals. Of course, this has made it the most consistent victim of the galaxy's many horrors. Despite the name, it has not had an emperor for millennia. It has been under the rule of a regency council since the 3300s. The same regency council, thanks to the brilliance of science. The "mad" scientists discovered the secrets of electricity and its connection to the vitalic force long ago, using it at first to revive the dead for use as automated labor. Eventually, these techniques were perfected to the point that life can be prolonged indefinitely, as it has been for the Empire's leadership: the old nobles who first patronized the scientists, and the scientists themselves. Electricity became the secret of Uberwald's strength, allowing them to build great machines with which to traverse the stars and reunite humanity. It even allowed for the rending of time and space, which is necessary for faster-than-light travel. However, electrical power remains expensive, and so true immortality is reserved for the elite. Elites who are interested only in pushing the boundaries of carnal pleasure or mankind's knowledge; many decisions passed down from the top are insane, and must be "reinterpreted" by living subordinates in order to keep the Empire functional. The peasants of Uberwald live as their ancestors did - toiling away in farms and factories owned by lords centuries, possibly millennia old. When they perish, their corpses are used as raw materials for Uberwald's immense army. Few living souls serve in the Empire's armies, and only as commanders; the rest of the armies are manned by corpses, revived by the vitalic forces of electricity. The corpses of those too unfit for military service are used as raw materials in machines or stitched together as part of large, monstrous creatures. Such is life in Uberwald, where not even death relieves one of service.
Living among the peoples of Uberwald are the Strigoi. These ancient cyborgs, mostly created during the early days of human colonization, are composed of little more than a brain and machinery. The Strigoi need a constant supply of new neural biomass, and so victimize fresh humans for it. The Strigoi rule various worlds throughout the galaxy, lording over their peasants which are denied any technology more advanced than a plough. These peasants are the victims of the Strigoi themselves, and when the Strigoi needs food, they will be kidnapped. Strigoi seldom leave their castles, ancient structures built during humanity's golden age, where they enjoy paradise in a virtual reality simulation. They only awaken during emergencies, such as when their servants fail to bring them more neural biomass, or when their world is under attack. This has made them an enemy of Uberwald, but some Strigoi negotiate with Imperial authorities in order to get fresh corpses and prisoners of war, in exchange for their loyalty. After all, the Strigoi know the secrets of ancient technologies, and will deploy their ancient war machines against if they are given sufficient reason to do so. While mostly intelligent, most Strigoi have strange psychological quirks as a result of their ancient systems malfunctioning, such as the compulsion to count grains of rice, or fears of religious icons. Their systems also malfunction in the presence of heavy ultraviolet radiation, keeping most Strigoi away from interplanetary space.

Then there are the Hunters. The Hunters were once humanity's supersoldiers, but after the collapse of singularity linking humanity with their home, they went rogue and carved out their own empire. Now, they constantly raid and attack their neighbors, particularly Uberwald worlds. The Hunters are extremely strong, agile, and deadly, easily besting any human soldier, but their strength comes from the bionanites they are injected with. These bionanites modify the Hunter's body up to specs, but thousands of years have taken a toll on these machines, and now they frequently malfunction. Hunter bionanites often give Hunters mutations, such as extreme body hair and sharp teeth. These also modify the Hunters' psychology, making them far more animalistic and aggressive. When exposed to a large amount of gamma radiation, these bionanites go into overdrive, turning the Hunters into large monsters that tear friend and foe alike to shreds. Silver causes these bionanites to malfunction, so a surefire way to kill a Hunter is by shooting them with a silver bullet. The Hunters' empire is brutal, where children are forced to endure military training from a young age. Those that do well are gifted with a bionanite injection, and are allowed to join the Hunters proper. Those that fail are killed. The Hunters also treat their captives in this manner, and consider forcing the victors of their various blood games with bionanites a great honor (even if the victor disagrees). Hunters gained their name because they enjoy hunting humans, particularly armed combatants.

In the center of the galaxy, physical reality gives way to total madness. Here, the singularity at the galactic core - once the wormhole to humanity's home galaxy - opens up to Hell, a parallel universe of endless pain and suffering. It has twisted physical reality, allowing for the impossible and paradoxical to exist. Hell is the home of the demons, sapient creatures made of an extradimensional form of matter and feed on the vitalic force (or "souls") of other lifeforms. In addition to being predators, demons are sadistic in nature, torturing their enemies when they can. Demons love to capture sapient life, torture them to death, and then torture their souls. Torture is such an integral part of demonic culture that the most creative will create elaborate scenarios reflecting an individual's fears, and then creating a hellish scenario just for that individual. While the demons most often fight humans, they are not above fighting themselves, and the endless ambition of demonic leaders often instigates civil war. The leader of Hell is a being known only as Satan, an immensely powerful demon who is feared by all, even other demons. Satan has never been observed, and is only spoken of in hushed tones by demonic prisoners of war. Instead, the portions of Hell in the galaxy are ruled by various archdevils, each with their own personality quirks, such as anger or greed. These archdevils are powerful enough to affect the systems they rule over at a fundamental level, making them reflect their personalities. It is the overall goal of the forces of Hell to take over the entire galaxy, and move it into Hell proper.

A minor ally of the demons are the Fallen, a group of maddened humans who worship the forces of Hell. The Fallen were once a group of colonists who were attempting to escape the galactic core in a hollowed-out asteroid. This asteroid fell into Hell during its faster-than-light journey, and drove everyone on the asteroid insane. Murder, rape and mutilation were inflicted by everyone on everyone, and because of the strange physics of Hell, nobody died. A cult formed, worshiping the demons that tormented the colonists, and took control of the horrific acts that were being committed in the asteroid. They did not stop these acts, but rather directed them so they could be used to venerate the demons. Pleased, the demons keeping the asteroid in Hell allowed it to reach its intended destination, and the Fallen proceeded to butcher the population of their new home. The Fallen remain control under their brutal priest-kings, who have lobotomized themselves so they do not go too crazy, and have not forgotten the secrets of ancient man's technologies. The Fallen are now a scourge on the galaxy, attacking humanity everywhere they go, with no purpose but to cause pain and suffering.

Another great enemy of man, and direct competition against the demons, is the Empire of the Mi-go. The Mi-go, also known as the Abominable Ones, are a fungoid creature that possess the remarkable ability to fly through the void of space. They are a mysterious species, whose motivations are unknown to man; sometimes, they will attack a human colony without warning, and then leave for no apparent reason. Oftentimes, they remove the brains of their prisoners and place them into strange machines. They have been observed flying with their starships in grand processions around stars and barren planetoids, in what is perhaps a religious ceremony. Their technology is a complete mystery, displaying impossible feats such as teleportation or reversing entropy, but for some reason this has not given the Mi-go complete control of the galaxy. They war with the demons for unknown reasons; even the demons themselves have no idea why the Mi-go focus so much of their efforts in destroying them. The Mi-go do have other ally species, such as the swampmen, a fishlike humanoid race that worships the dread lord of their homeworld's oceans. This species is often seen on the front lines in skirmishes, and scientific testing has revealed that many of them have traces of human DNA. There are also humans who have taken to worshiping the Mi-go and their gods, and undermining Uberwald and other authorities to herald their masters' arrival. These cults are extremely dangerous, and have a bad habit of creating elaborate forms of torture for their victims, to help bring them about to their way of thinking.

Another one of the greater galactic powers is the Gray Technocracy. The grays are an ancient, diminutive species, learning their ways from ancient humanity, and still revering them as gods. However, they have little but contempt for the currently living humans, and abduct them regularly for their genetic material and experimentation. The grays want to unite with mankind, and create a perfect species, but so far they have failed. Some of their failures have proved to be useful on the battlefield, accompanying the frail gray infantrymen and their tripod war machines. Grays travel around the galaxy in motherships, massive flying saucers to which smaller saucers attach themselves. Gray technology is highly advanced; antigravity, energy shields and disintegrator weapons are no mystery to them. While formidable in war, the grays are outnumbered by their human and demonic enemies, and so try to avoid armed confrontation. Instead, they prefer to raid the planetary systems around them. They also have an obsession with abducting cows, for reasons known only to them.

Pulling the galaxy's strings from behind the scenes, or at least attempting to, is a group which calls itself the Coven. Made up of genetically engineered humans who have a special connection to Hell, the members of the Coven can manipulate the powers of the diabolical using only their minds. They have also developed advanced technology in the form of liquified nanites, which if mixed in combination, can be used to do all sorts of things, such as transforming into another person (momentarily or permanently), or giving someone the ability to shoot hellfire from their hands. Uberwald's authorities see the Coven as a threat, and so it takes an official stance of stamping out these "witches" wherever they are found, and while they are associated with Hell, the demons themselves do not like these "posers." Thus, the Coven is forced to act in the shadows, hiding their true identities and manipulating the galaxy. Or at least, they try - the galaxy is too big for the Coven to control, and their plans often backfire or fail completely.

In one sector of the galaxy, the UNITY virus continues to spread. UNITY is an ancient human nanoweapon that went rogue long ago. They "infect" lifeforms of all sorts, killing them and then reviving them for its own purpose, which is the expansion of UNITY to consume the entire galaxy. UNITY can infect an enemy with only a few nanites, as it uses the biomass of its victim to create more of itself. The biomass of its victims is used in different ways; mostly as building materials for organic structures (which superficially resemble those of ancient mankind), but combatants are modified in grotesque ways, turning their bones into knives and stomach acid into ranged weapons. They are also frequently fused with captured machines. UNITY is a collective consciousness, consuming the thoughts of all of its victims, but within UNITY distinct "personalities" exist. The dominant ones are the imprints of ancient humans, who project holographic images of themselves and sometimes speak through their enemies this way. These imprints are also made from the consciousnesses of the infected, so they can be used to fool or terrify their former allies. UNITY also has the habit of possessing enemy machinery, turning them against their former masters.

Another threat attempting to assimilate the galaxy is the Wisp. The Wisp is an intelligent, plant-like species that assimilates entire ecosystems and transforms its victims into more of themselves. A Wisp can take many forms, but mostly consists of a round, orange head supported by vines, roots and branches, which it uses to manipulate its environment. Some Wisp link together into chains, having many heads. Because they are physically infirm, the Wisp use their advanced technology in order to be able to perform physical tasks. Wisp often modify themselves with advanced machinery, carving their heads and using them as hubs for mechanical organs, such as legs or plasma cannons. As such, Wisps take various forms; some Wisps can fly, others burrow, and some are even capable of spaceflight. Wisp technology glows with an eerie light, and watching a wave of Wisps moving across the battlefield at night is both beautiful and horrifying. The Wisp are controlled by Wispminds, the central intelligences of Wisp species. The Wisp spread themselves via nanite-modified viral infection, which turns all biological organisms it comes into contact with into more Wisps.

It is the year 5611. There is no hope for peace, for all of mankind's enemies seek its total destruction or subjugation. Who will triumph over all of their enemies and inherit the galaxy? Only time will tell.

[1] This will be rendered as "Uberwald" throughout the rest of the text for the purpose of convenience.