Fiction:Vermillion Syndicate

The Vemrillion Syndicate, also known as the New Brotherhood, the Insurgent Alliance, and the Inner Order, is a large organization of violent races, criminals, gangsters, and psychopaths recruited by, a deadly crime lord and insurrectionist who has for years fought a bloody campaign against the over the title of Ugandalore, which the Vermillion family desperately wants. Unlike other rebel movements, which have used cells and terrorism to achieve their goals, the Vermillion Syndicate prefers a more direct approach; gathering as many soldiers and weapons as possible to strike their foes. This often leads to bloody battles and huge losses on both sides. The organization is believed to be heavily run from Mirus' Eastern Shore, as well as the Red Veil and tribal reservation areas on Ugandalore.

Before the Split
The Syndicate had its first small roots on the planet Vermis, the Mendel-owned world ran by the Clett's distant Lupotragus relatives; the Vermillion clan. Fighting loyally for their masters for two centuries, the Vermillions were in a good position. However, all that would change. Reyner Vermillion, youngest male of the newest generation, harbored a dislike for Barda Clett's rule and the way he did things. But he was too young to command his own troops and there were no rebel organizations he wished to join. This would change when had  and his men betray first the Blood Knights, then their successors the. As the Quista Clan and Iyoka's organization the absorbed what was left of the Blood Knights, Javik's Ugandalorian gang the  promoted an atheist, feudalist and isolationist answer to Ugandalore the Untouchable's rule, Reyner and those few who would follow him joined Vort and his halfway-Groxic clan. Fenric and his troops, including his brothers, were sent to stop him.

But Barda underestimated Fenric's loyalty to family. Having seen both his parents, a brother, and a sister die, Fenric had no intention of killing or excommunicating Reyner. Instead, his armada joined the Suicide Watch. Fenric's men, forever called "the Crusaders" in disdain by loyalist Mendel, conducted a purge in their ranks, executing any they suspected of having loyalty to Barda. They would conduct several operations against the Mendel, but not before Fenric transmitted an apologetic message to Barda officially confirming his betrayal. Fenric could not bear to backstab a friend without at least letting him know first. After that, when the Suicide Watch joined the newly-formed and Darkling-led organization called the, Fenric and his family followed them into service.

The Vermillions and their men fought on several fronts, including the fateful battle on the planet called Weeping Sorrows where the Brotherhood leader, a Darkling called Abaddon, was killed by King Brygon of the Volver Empire. Fenric refused to participate in the new leadership organization, Brotherhood Command. He knew he was no good at politics, and preferred a military role. After that, the reorganized Brotherhood moved into the Red Veil, absorbing and allying with the and the  on the way. In the Red Veil, the Brotherhood sat itself up as the lords of the new lands. They made it their base of operations. Soon after, a war broke out in Cyrannus between many different factions coming from Mirus. The Blood Brothers went as well, mainly to stop Glacier's brother from taking over the region. The Vermillions helped the Brotherhood win many battles, but ultimately retreated with the rest of them during the Battle of Draconis when many of the Brotherhood's ships were shot down.

The Vermillions and their close allies would also fight on behalf of the Brotherhood during the, a massive war between the Blood Brotherhood and allies, the tribals who resented their rule, violent Spodist extremists, and various mercenary and corporate organizations who had stakes in the Red Veil threatened by the incursion of the communistic Brotherhood. The war was won by the Brotherhood, the victory causing the addition of millions of tribal soldiers to its army. As a result of the rebellion, the various regions of the Red Veil were divided by the Brotherhood Command and ruled over by appointed lords to prevent another uprising.

The New Enlightened War
Soon after the, Reyner Vermillion was given control of a region of the Red Veil called Starscape and married Princess Scovia, leader of the. Her brother, Arryg Wainrider, became Fenric's best general and most loyal friend. Because of this, and rewards given to him by Brotherhood Command, Reyner commanded a 25 million strong force of Scythiag soldiers, recruits from Starscape, mainly of the Dingo, Weithgar, and Skinwalker races, and a hired Prizrak force called the Micogenic Brigade. Fenric owned the Darksky region, and commanded two million men, made up of his own Crusaders, his wife Celyre Ferquievy's soldiers, and Trinary, Jammat, Yagdrassil, and Sasanik tribals from Darksky.

However, the stability of the Brotherhood was being threatened. A small force of remnants from the Enlightenment Collaborative, the New Enlightened, which included most of the Alliance's Olympians, had trespassed into the Red Veil, settling on the eastern edge of it. This was enough to put the entire Brotherhood on edge. The last straw was when the New Enlightened sent scouts through the Blacksmear, a region of the Red Veil controlled by Fenric's general, a Jammat called the Bonerider. The Bonerider's forces caught the intruders, and the Bonerider himself cut out their eyes and sent their bodies floating back to New Enlightened space. When their ruling council found out, they prepared to go to war with the Brotherhood, falsely believing their army was a loose coalition of tribals and savages. They sent their army in, but were attacked continuously by Arryg Wainrider's vanguard. Finally, during a battle on the snow-covered planet of Wildside, New Enlightened forces ambushed Arryg's vanguard, destroyed it, and killed Wainrider himself.

This split the Brotherhood in two. Many of the original members and their factions, like Glacier, Iyoka Quista, and Javik Vort wanted to wait for an opportune time to strike. The other half, mainly led by the Vermillion clan and Arryg's brother Scovia, demanded the immediate death of those responsible for Wainrider's death. Reyner impulsively moved his forces into the Northern Territory and the Black Channel of the Red Veil in preparation of war. Fenric relucantly had the Bonerider and another of his tribal generals, a Muthanna called Grenka the Flathead gather their forces in the Blacksmear to protect his brother if required. Reyner began raiding the New Enlightened much as Arryg had done, keeping them out of the Veil. This proved to be a huge setback for them, since Reyner's numbers could effectively blockade the region, even if it was against orders. Ironically, this is not what set off the war. The catalyst was provided by a younger, more hate-filled hand.

Pollimer Ghurka was the only surviving member of the royal family of the Carpathian Khanate, an extragalactic empire that invaded Mirus and was defeated by the Collaborative. Pollimer, still in his teens, tried to rally a remnant force, but it was crushed once again by the Collaborative before he could do anything. The Brotherhood took him and his surviving men in, and they became a distant yet useful part of the Brotherhood. But Pollimer was very hotheaded. He demanded revenge and refused to wait for it. When he discovered that the New Enlightened had moved Matrukoris into the Red Veil, he knew it was the perfect target to attack. Nothing his advisers told him could cool his head. Finally, he took all his men, as well as as many Brothers looking for vengeance as he could and went after Matrukoris. He punched through Reyner's blockade, who committed all his own forces to the attack when he realized Pollimer was attacking Matrukoris. They were then joined by the Bonerider and Grenka the Flathead's forces upon Fenric's orders, who joined the battle as well.

When this force, about forty million strong, attacked Matrukoris by surprise, thus overwhelmed its defenses and landed on the station. When they scored this victory, other Brotherhood generals joined the battle. Iyoka committed his Volver Knights and Cthonian forces to the battle. They were joined by Glacier's Aeba Shuka, Viterva Khmara Zealots, and the Suicide Watch. The Darklings were very irked by this display of insubordination. Despite that, the Brotherhood easily overwhelmed the planet's guards, since the majority of the New Enlightened's forces were spread out trying to get around Reyner's blockade. Within a few hours, an army of AWOL soldiers captured the planet their predecessors had spent years trying and failing to take over. Matrukoris was taken deep into the center of the Red Veil, and the New Enlightened was left without a capital. They regrouped on Wildside, where they attempted to create a plan to retake Matrukoris. But it was not to be.

Spurned on by the victory, Fenric's army landed on Wildside intent on crushing the New Enlightened once and for all. The army destroyed all of the New Enlightened's outposts, and captured, killed, or pushed back any of their New Enlightened who were outside of the main base. Unfamilliar with the terrain and cut off from Olympian support, the Covenant pariahs were easy prey. The only casualty of significance was Fenric's cousin by marriage and leader of the Valrakian Feudalry, Hadrian Kardvark. While leading his berserkers across a stone bridge spanning an ice river, Hadrian was decapitated in a swordfight by the Ahrat of the Solar Siblings, Elegant'e. The victorious Brotherhood army then began the long march towards the main base. However, a huge snowstorm, which was common on the planet and the main reason it was neither colonized nor inhabited by indigenous life, messed up the battle plans of both parties. The heavy snows froze most of the army's pack, mount, and food creatures to death and shorted out much of their electronic equipment. It also filled many of the passes with snows and forced Fenric's forces to crawl through meters of snow to reach a place suitable enough to camp at.

But the worst was yet to come. Not wishing to die, all of Fenric's mercenaries and some of the desert or jungle-loving tribals deserted, running for the ships the army had landed in but could not take to the base itself due to an ion cannon. To top it off, New Enlightened members on jetbikes attacked the camp at night, killing the Chieftain of the Variags, called Thagg the Mountainthrower. However, they lost more than they gained, with the Bonerider killing the Archon in charge of the assault. During the attack, all of the Brotherhood's food, ammo crates, and artillery were destroyed. However, Fenric was determined not to retreat and stain his family name. He ordered the leader of the Kingdom of Hyrax, King Kallinox, to take his men back to the ships and contact Brotherhood Command for more men and resources. The next morning, Fenric found that all of his men but the Ferquievys, Scythiags, and his own Crusaders had fled back to the ships. Apart from them, only the Bonerider and Grenka had remained, with their closest guards. Also remaining were the giants known as the Zek and their loyal and ferocious leader Reg Hurrex. The nearly-extinct race of giants had gone from a few hundred to less than a dozen during the war, and Hurrex was determined to see his race have one last memorable moment. Out of options, Fenric continued to wait for the Hyrax to return with more men. They did not. Realizing the outcome, Fenric ordered his remaining men forward anyway, determined to die a warrior's death rather than freeze to death or be shamed as a rogue. His men loyally followed him.

The New Enlightened Olympians met Fenric in battle just outside the fortress. They rained down explosive shrapnel down on the charging Scythiags, whose wooden arrows were relatively ineffective against the New Enlightened's power armor. Fenric himself threw down his gun and used his sword to hack down as many New Enlightened pariah soldiers as he could reach. During the volleys, the last of Fenric's cavalry was wiped out, alongside all the Zek except Reg Hurrex himself. Finally, they were surrounded by a ring of veteran Olympians wearing extremely heavy-duty power armor. Using their shrapnel launchers, chainblades and power fists, they blasted, eviscerated and pulverised dozens more of Fenric's men. Fenric knew they had lost, and prepared to lead his men on one last charge.

But his battle cry was drowned out by warhorns and the howls of charging warriors. Kallinax had returned with his Hyrax soldiers, the deserters he had gathered up, and a fresh Brotherhood force consisting of Viterva Khmara, Blood Cthonians, Volver Knights, and tens of thousands of Marauder tribesmen. The warriors tore the slow New Enlightened Terminator Troopers apart and laid the path to the base bare. The New Enlightened Olympians barricaded the doors, but a mortally wounded Hurrex tore down the gate and allowed the Brotherhood inside. The Olympians inside prepared for an heroic last stand and were, over the course of an hour, all cut down, the last ones continuing to use their rifles as clubs when their ammunition had ran uot. The majority of the New Enlightened's fleet escaped, but it was clear they would not escape the system alive if they did not reclaim Matrukoris and use it to escape.

The New Enlightened fleet flew straight for Matrukoris. With Reyner's blockade scattered due to the battles on Matrukoris and Wildside, they were able to slip onto the station, where they met little resistance but for some stationed guards and marauding plunderers, which they quickly dealt with. But before they could reclaim Matrukoris' command station, the Blood Darklings arrived with a huge army made up mainly of Glacier's men, determined not to lose their prize. Both sides lost many men, including important leaders. Finally, New Enlightened leaders reached the control station and put Matrukoris into slipspace. They then jettisoned parts of the station while still inside the slipspace tunnel, sending them to parts unknown. The Brotherhood lost almost half its strength with that move, and the New Enlightened made it out of the Red Veil.

The Brotherhood was damaged but not destroyed. Glacier had survived the slipspace event by riding on a piece of Matrukoris. He would land on another planet, but would eventually make it back to the Veil. Darkling Terror and his Convents were not part of the battle. But with half its forces teleported into oblivion, the majority of the Brotherhood was made up of those who would rather follow Fenric than Brotherhood Command. This would be the spark that started the next war, the one that would lead to the creation of the Vermillion Syndicate itself.

The Communion Conflict
Almost immediately after the war with the New Enlightened, the Blood Brotherhood began tearing itself apart. The majority wanted to follow Fenric and the other Vermillions, while Terror and his men desired to consolidate power around the Darklings once again. Glacier had not yet returned, putting an even heavier strain on their loyalties. This would eventually reach the boiling point when, in fear of losing his power, Terror made alliances with remnants of the, including the leader of the Unitech Citadel of Sapients, a massively intelligent Psiteon known as the Father-Brain. When the rank-and-file of the Brotherhood discovered that Terror had allied with those the Brotherhood had broke away from and fought long wars against, they rebelled with Fenric at their head. He declared himself the Supreme Leader, and consolidated his forces into one organization, not yet called the Vermillion Syndicate.

On Fenric's side were the Red Veil tribesmen, his Crusaders, the Kingdom of Hyrax, the Suicide Watch, the Valrakien Feudalry, the Ferquievys, Goar Taboryur's gang and the Scythiag Empire. Many of the gangs and cartels Glacier had recruited long ago, such as the Spyke Syndicate, Sids and Sars' gang, and the Corsairs of Corruption were still loyal to Terror, as were the Regyareyen Anarchate, the Viterva Khmara, the Simnu, Aeba Shuka, the Ta'adhartha, the Chu'ot Cognatus, the Carpathian Khanate (reluctantly), Sheba Shuka, and This meant that Fenric's side was outgunned but not outnumbered, due to the fact that the majority of deaths caused during the retaking of Matrukoris were loyalists. Only a few hundred members of the Ta'adhartha and Aeba Shuka remained, the Viterva Khmara were reeling from the glassing of their world, and the Simnu grew tired of war. Also, Fenric had one ace card in his sleeve:

The Ta'adhartha force that went to Wildside to save Fenric, consisting of a few thousand Knights of various rank and the majority of the Cthonians, were being led by Daal and Dante Quista, brothers, cousins to Iyoka Quista. They were both well connected but resentful of Iyoka for the power he held. After the battle of Wildside, they became loyal to Fenric. Fenric gave them a loyalty test: they were to kill Iyoka before he could mobilize his troops against the Brotherhood rebels. An ambitious fellow, Daal organized and led the attack on Iyoka's mansion himself. Iyoka was able to cut down dozens of Daal's men until a squad shot him in the back with a volley of lasers. Mortally wounded, Iyoka could only lay and snarl as Daal revealed himself. Daal allowed Iyoka to remove his helmet and speak his last words before striking him on the top of the head with his sword, splitting Iyoka's skull and killing him instantly. Daal and his men then departed, leaving Iyoka's body to rot where he had fallen, amidst the bodies of the warriors he had dispatched. The Impaler, the Shadow Volver, the Lord of Spears was dead, slain by his own cousin. This was when Terror truly began fearing Fenric's power. If he could corrupt members of the Ta'adhartha then not even his own Darklings were safe from his sway.

So Terror decided to strike back. Reyner Vermillion was once again amassing his fleet, this time on his brother's orders, to enter the Red Veil and purge the Brotherhood from its core. But it was not to be. On board his massive supercarrier called the Convalescence, Reyner thought himself untouchable. But while staring out the windows on the bridge, a Darkling assassin materialized behind him and jammed a sword of shadow through his back, killing him instantly. The Darkling then vanished, leaving Reyner Vermillion dead in a puddle of blood. When Fenric learned the news, he was furious beyond measure. He added Reyner's fleet to his own and immediately headed for the center of Blood Brotherhood territory. Aboard his flagship Irredeemable, Fenric laid siege to the Brotherhood's bloackade, shooting down several ships. He was only repelled by the Darkling ships themselves. But now it was certain. It was war.

To be continued

The Mendel Schism
After the War of Thorns ended, Fenric and his squad were left victorious, but low on ships, weapons, supplies, and men. With the Blood Brotherhood all but destroyed, Fenric added those who would follow him to his gang and kept the leaders who would not imprisoned deep in the bowels of his new flagship, Bloody Raven. Among the imprisoned were Morg, Pang Vore, Pollimer Ghurka, and Lime the Changeling. These four still harbored loyalty to the now-deceased Glacier, except for Pollimer who was imprisoned simply because he could not be trusted. Fenric refrained from killing them only because he figured they would be useful at some point.

Fenric's ragged fleet traveled space for days until they received word that an Ugandalorian called the Hand of Retribution had killed Barda Clett and taken over the Mendel Pact. This caught Fenric's interest, because he himself harbored desires to claim the throne. However, his army was weak, and Fenric knew he needed a bigger one to be of use to the Hand. His henchman the Bonerider suggested going to the Cthulhu Bank Accord for a loan. Fenric, the Bonerider, and the new second-in-command of the Syndicate, Hadrian Kardvark's sister Trevagr, traveled to the Bank and asked for a large loan. The Accord was initially reluctant, knowing Fenric and his pack were a broken rabble, but when Trevagr threw Glacier's severed head onto the table, the Bank gave in and paid them.

Using the money, Fenric hired Force Seventeen, an elite mercenary gang led by a Duetzalanian known only as the Brown Bastard. However, during the meeting, Fenric was also introduced to Covrig, a member of the Hyperspace Cartel, and the Shattered Princeling, a mutilated Duetzalanian harboring a hatred of Gridlock and Galorian. The three mercenaries gave Fenric his money back on the condition that they also take down the Zarbania Powers and install the Princeling as its leader. Fenric accepted and added the two gangs' seven million men to his army.

But Fenric knew he needed more. Still, there was nobody else in range to recruit. Then the Shattered Princeling told him of a legend that caught his attention. Apparently, the Wasterlings that Morg had unintentionally released on the universe had not been the "real" Wasterling Emirate they had originally heard about. It turned out that they had only been imitations, the form assumed by the demonic Shin Akiba. The real Wasterlings still lived, as isolated and cut off as they had been assumed to be by the ignorant Unitech. Fenric pried the coordinates to the Wasterlings' homeworld from Morg, promising him a possible pardon if he found the Wasterlings. Fenric intended to possibly bribe them the same manner as Morg had done to their imitations. So they set a course for the planet of the Wasterling Emirate.

Fenric, Trevagr, and a force of Scythiags went down to the planet's surface, seeking them out. The Wasterlings found them first, encircling the group and bringing them before their Emirs before the party could utter more than a few sentences. Taken before the Emirs, they explained their goals; to ally with the Hand of Retribution and take revenge on all who had wronged them. While Fenric could not promise the Emirs revenge on the Shin Akiba, he could promise them an escape from their desert world and the chance to expand their Emirate to other worlds. The ever-ambitious Emirs liked the sound of that, and they agreed, on the condition that Fenric evacuate the fifty million women and children hiding under some sand dunes.

For the better part of the day, Fenric did so, saving about three million and bringing them to Alpha Rosetta. Unfortunately, an accident with a ship caused the dunes to collapse, killing all the remaining Wasterlings except for two million survivors who were out of range. Fenric saved those, and returned to report his failure to the Emirs, who cared little. They had wanted that population gone, and either way their goal had been achieved. Trevagr was disgusted with them, and opened fire, causing Fenric's men to start shooting as well. The Emirs were killed, and Fenric had a Wasterling captain gather the rest of the elders and chiefs. He convinced the leaders to let him take the remaining twenty-five million Wasterlings offworld. They accepted, but Fenric kept ten million in his fleet for use as soldiers later.

With ten million Wasterling soldiers, seven million mercenaries, and his remaining men, Fenric believed his army to be large enough to approach the hand. They set course for Ugandalore and called for a meeting with the Hand. He accepted and met with Fenric and his inner circle. The Hand of Retribution, while seeing Fenric as little more than a traitor and a killer, did want to use his men. So he gave Fenric a task he believe would result in his death: go to the Mountain Forests of the Northern Continent and recruit the Mountain Clans to the cause, then go to the Bleeding Plains and convince the Feral Clans to join them. The Hand hoped the Clans would butcher Fenric so he could take command of his forces, but Fenric went anyway.

Fenric spent the next few days with the Mountain Clans. He discovered them to be extremely hospitable hosts who fed him and gave him and his soldiers many gifts. When he brought up the idea of finishing off Clan Clett, the chieftains were thrilled and hoped to expand their lands. They joined him entirely, providing him with about five thousand warriors. The Feral Clans were another matter. They were not unified, barely spoke Common Ugandalorian, and despised outsiders. But when Fenric's army arrived, the Ferals knew it was do or die; if they did not bow to Fenric, they would be slaughtered. So one by one, the clans joined him. They brought about three thousand men.

When Fenric returned with the clans in tow, the Hand was shocked, but took it in stride. He decided that Fenric might make a worthy ally after all. Later, Fenric would oversee the wedding between his brother Raeger and a Wasterling Warrior-Princess. Fenric was glad, because it put the Wasterlings even further into his corner. He also appointed a feared Wasterling chieftain known only as the Redeye as one of his lieutenants. During this time, two more clans would bow to Fenric, not the Hand: Clans Urggum and Krayrett. Fenric had the Krayrett's chieftain killed so his son, Harrion, would bow to him. He also forced his brother Halverg to marry one of the Feral Clan leaders, who was something of a prophetess to her people.

Fenric then set his sights on another goal: he would travel to the dark planet of Lagorth and recruit the native Lagorthenes to his cause. A ferocious race of pirates and raiders, the Lagorthenes were confined to their world by the Ugandalorains for a reason. They were foul, savage beasts who raped and sacrificed those they did not kill. Some of Fenric's men, mainly his Crusaders, were concerned at the thought of bringing the beats to their home, but the Hand of Retribution was intrigued. He knew brining in the Lagorthenes would sway public opinion against him, but the Lagorthi were as strong as Kadarian Giants, and far more vicious.

Fenric and his men immediately set off for Lagorth, and touched down all over the world. He and his men went from camp to village, keep to castle, and forced the various robber lords and judge-kings to meet in one secluded spot, where Fenric talked them all into joining him. Dozens of reavers, pirate princes, and slave-barons pledged their allegiance to Fenric and his organization. The following day, a hundred million Lagorthenes were brought to Ugandalore on cargo ships and supercarriers, and were promptly dispersed across the lands. This led to much carnage as the Lagorthi slaughtered those who would not leave the lands they claimed, as well as genocide of the planet's Kaguran, who were opposed to the Hand's rule and despised by the Lagorthenes. Kaguran were killed on sight, leading to them being entirely wiped out in certain areas.

Around this time, Fenric learned that Kirta Clett was reuniting all the Ugandalorian rebel factions. To gain an advantage, he ordered Javik Vort to submit to her when she came for him and to pledge his forces to her, so he could act as a spy. Vort accepted, and made preparations. In the meantime, Fenric set out to gather more allies to protect his new world. He knew of two viable candidates. The Pseudopath Empire and the. Neither had been heard from much since the dissolution of the UAE, and were considered hostile by the Mendel.

Fenric, taking with him only a small portion of his forces and leaving his brothers in charge on Ugandalore, approached Dread, leader of the Scythe of Glory first. The Scythe was known to be close allies to the old, but they despised the Mendel Pact. Fenric had little trouble recruiting the Scythe, who, due to the events of the Stryptospondilus War, had a relatively weak army but a powerful fleet. His next target would be the Pseudopath, but they would be a tougher nut to crack. After the truce between the Pseudopath and Multus, the assumed Pseudopath leader Vertigo had made close allies with many former UAE factions, including the UAE. But Fenric knew there were many hardliners who despised the Multus still. Indeed, the Pseudopath had fought a violent civil war over it.

Unfortunately for Fenric, Vertigo had won the war, and an insurgent faction,, had sprung up to oppose Vertigo. But they were hated enemies of the former Blood Brotherhood Fenric had been affiliated with. What was more, the Pseudopath rebels had suffered a schism, and the resulting faction was loyal to Glacier and Terror. Indeed, their leader Pang Vore was currently imprisoned aboard the Bloody Raven. Fenric knew he could negotiate neither with Vertigo or the insurgents; he would have to create a third force within the Pseudopath. So he approached three men. Viscivore, Archon of the House of Bloodfinders, Sempralith, Archon of the House of Impunity, and Pesticide, archon of the House of Starvation. An unexpected fourth attender of this meeting was Commandante Diabhal, leader of Ceanglaichean Sìth Nach Eil Iomchaidh, another Níl An Tsíocháin Inghlactha splinter group. Diabhal despised both pang Vore and Níl An Tsíocháin Inghlactha's current leader, Gecko Lacerator. He would side with anyone to kill them both.

These four Pseudopath would come to be known as the "Big Four". They decided that Pang Vore and Gecko Lacerator would have to die before they would commit to a new rebellion against Vertigo. By cutting off the corrupted heads of two corrupted snakes, the Big Four intended to take over the Níl An Tsíocháin Inghlactha title and eliminate Vertigo once and for all. Fenric already had Vore, but to seal the deal he needed to kill Lacerator as well. To do so, he employed Daal and Dante Quista to pose as weapons dealers to attract Gecko's attention. The ploy worked, and Gecko was captured.

The two rebel leaders were brought to the Pseudopath's "homeworld" of Concordia, to Viscivore's keep specifically, where Fenric used a Lagorthene's vibro-axe to decapitate them both while the Big Four looked on. With the deaths of their last obstacles, the four declared the formation of a new organization - Leanúnachas Níl An Tsíocháin Inghlactha, signifying the return to the original rebellion and the rebel movement's origins. This attracted the remnants of the rebels, combined with the Sempralith, Viscivore, and Pesticides' Houses. Fenric now had a strong force to work with, with the leaders' keeps pumping out soldiers and weapons of war. Fenric returned to Ugandalore with the Scythe of Glory and the new Pseudopath rebels in tow, reinforcing the Hand's rule.

Later, Fenric was approached by the Ascetic Order, a fragment of the movement, which had bent the knee to Kirta Clett. Unwilling to accept this, the Ascetics fled aboard one supercarrier and pledged themselves to Fenric. Fenric was glad to have these warriors at his command, and he would need them too. Because that same day Kirta Clett assaulted Ugandalore with an army of former Ugandalorian rebels and other supporters, including warriors from the Tyris Major based United Knights Alliance. Fenric immediately scrambled all of his forces to protect the world, though he was cautious to keep his own ships out of the firing line.

In space, the Scythe and Pseudopath fought hard against Kirta's fleet, but they were outnumbered and Kirta was able to slip several ships by them. However, Kirta's forces were weakened by the Suicide Watch's betrayal, which Fenric had planned all along. Even with that blow, Kirta's forces were able to push the Hand and the Lagorthene back. Finally, Mendel forces from the Borealis colonies led by landed on the planet and beat the Lagorthenes back. Hrothur himself killed several Lagorthene commanders, including the Hornskull and Freefaller. In an attempt to halt Hrothur's advance before he reached Fenric's fortress, Javik Vort led a cavalry charge made up of Suicide Watch bikers and the Ascetics mounted on their Turakhs. They met Hrothur's forces in battle on a river, where Hrothur hit Vort in the chest with a warhammer, finally killing the atheist once and for all. When Javik's lifeless corpse tumbled off his mount into the river, the rest of his forces retreated. Seeing the loss for what it was, Fenric gathered up and much of his force as he could and retreated. But he was hardly defeated. He set his sights on the United Knights Alliance, and followed them back to their galaxy of Tyris Major. He had studied the history of Tyris Major, and felt that many opportunities awaited him there.

Machinations in Tyris Major
Once in Tyris Major, the Vermillions set to work digging their claws into whatever they could. First, they found an uninhabited jungle planet, designated Kamachis, where they set up their base of operations. They then dispatched an expeditionary force to Ascon to infiltrate the destroyed Quista clan underground lair and bring back whatever tech they could salvage. Only a few survivors returned, too shaken and mentally unhinged to tell of their experiences. This was of little consequence to Fenric, who desired to take control of Tyris Major as quickly as possible. To do this, he first studied the current affairs of the Lavatufts, discovering that some were unhappy with the rule of King Magmoss. Fenric immediately saw an opportunity, and spoke with the main commanders of the opposition. He quickly convinced their leaders to join him, and managed to recruit two thousand Lavatuft insurgents.

It was at this point where Syndicate forces made another major discovery. While exploring some ruins on Kamachis, the Vermillion soldiers discovered that much of it was underwater. Then, their commanders lost contact with them. A second team was sent in, only to return with multiple members dead and an account of being shot at with strange weapons. Finally, Fenric himself returned from Volcanis and personally led a strike team into the ruins to root out the attackers. Deep in the chambers, they were attacked by a single surviving Waternan, whose people were believed to be long extinct. Subduing him without incident, Fenric learned from the lone soldier, who had titled himself "Cold", that he was the last of his species, hiding for decades in silence... and sitting on a massive cache of Waternan-class weaponry.

Some of Fenric's lieutenants wanted to slay Cold and steal his weapons, but Fenric instead chose to offer the man a spot in his organization. Fenric eventually won Cold over by telling him that his weapons were going to be used to kill Lavatufts. Cold turned over the cache with one condition: that he be allowed to slay Lavern's descendants personally. Fenric accepted this, and the weapons were brought to the insurgent Lavatuft camps, where Fenric convinced the rebels to use them. He decided to exterminate Magmoss and his family and take over Volcanis and the Lavatufts, to use them to invade Ascon. That night, insurgent assassins jumped Magmoss with Waternan weapons and almost killed him, but he was eventually able to escape from them.

Encouraged by the sight of the false king retreating, the insurgents launched a coup across the planet, using their Waternan weapons to kill any Lavatuft who opposed them. However, their superior firepower came with a heavy price: use of these weapons against fellow Lavatufts, even in war, completely turned the civilian population against the insurgents and cemented their loyalty to King Magmoss. Knowing a defeat when he saw one coming, Fenric recalled the insurgents, giving up his claims on Volcanis but retaining the two thousand insurgents. However, the Lavatufts tracked Fenric back to Kamachis. The Vermillions detected the incoming fleet and evacuated.

The Syndicate then landed on Farmia, home of the Antroths. They made their base in an ancient, abandoned city called Gomoken, made of stone, full of underground catacombs. Fenric's forces reinforced the city walls, turning it into a fortress. After almost a year of imprisonment on board Fenric's flagship, Morg and Pollimer Ghurka were released from captivity. Fenric had decided he would need their support to battle the Antroths. He sent Daal and Dante Quista into Farmia's capital city to sniff out anyone who disliked Queen Si'daal's rule, though Antroth-Rapteranean gangster Goar Taboryur doubted that there were.

As the Quistas hunted for potential recruits and Taboryur recruited more men for his Q-Company, Morg slipped out of sight and sent a message to the Antroths warning them of the Syndicate's presence. King Oskel immediately raised an army to attack Gomoken. However, the walls and security were far too strong to breach, and Fenric's fleet and anti-air guns maintained air superiority. Though the Vermillions were protected, they were also trapped, and Oskel intended to starve them out, knowing no reinforcements would come to back them up as Fenric so often had.

As the siege continued, more United Knights Alliance forces arrived, including Volver soldiers and Hyperon mercenary companies. Eventually, with supplies running low, the Hyperspace Cartel and Force Seventeen defected to the Antroths, doubling the size of their army. Fenric was furious, and ordered the deaths of their leaders, the Brown Bastard, Covrig, and the Shattered Princeling. Things were made all the more worse since the Princeling was involved with Fenric's daughter Shequey. The Changeling mercenary called Lime took several of his men to assassinate the three, but the attempts failed.

Finally, to break the impasse, Lime and two of his men assumed the forms of Hyperon and "joined" the Wartorn Company, a Hyperon mercenary company hired by the United Knights Alliance. Lime and his men got close to the company's leader, Knuckles, and told him about the underground tunnels, claiming they got the info from studying in an Antroth academy. The Wartorn infiltrated Gomoken, where they were surrounded by Fenric's men and thrown into a temple being used as a prison. There, Lime slowly filled Knuckles' head with propaganda about Fenric's side before revealing his true form. Knuckles demanded to see Fenric, assuring him that he would switch sides if he could freely claim Blitz's head after the war. Fenric simply laughed and said he would add Blitz to the list of people who had to die so he could keep his army.

As per a plan submitted by one of Fenric's men, a serial killed known as Vermeo Nyquist, the Wartorn opened Gomoken's gates, allowing the Antroth vanguard to enter. Once inside the plaza, battling a meager force of Lagorthenes, planted explosives were detonated and Syndicate commandos erupted from cover, gunning down the entire army. When more reinforcements attempted to enter the city, the Wartorn hacked them down. The gates were closed, but the Syndicate had fresh meat and would not be starving anytime soon. An enraged Oskel laid plans to besiege the city and take it by force. He also tasked some of his men with finding out how the Wartorn entered Gomoken in the first place. Meanwhile, when Force Seventeen and the Hyperspace Cartel were assembling to attack as ordered by Oskel, the Brown Bastard revealed to the mercenaries that they had always been Fenric's soldiers, and that the Antroths were in for a surprise when the attack began.

As the attack began, Vermeo Nyquist and Pollimer Ghurka organized the counterattack using catapults and poisoned arrows to save resources. When the first waves of Antroth forces attacked the gates, they were met by a hail of deadly projectiles, costing them many lives. Oskel ordered his men to charge, followed by the Cartel. This was a horrible move to make, though Oskel didn't know, as the Brown Bastard and the Shattered Princeling turned their men on the Antroths, hacking their men apart from behind as Fenric's soldiers came pouring from the gate. Oskel's infiltration team discovered the tunnels into the city, but at that time, Thorian the Peon led a strike team of Stonespawn berserkers in defense, rushing from the tunnels with swords in hand and killing the infiltrators.

By now, the UKA had regrouped and mounted another rush. Oskel and his personal guards made it through the Vermillion soldiers and broke into the castle Fenric was using as a base. Once inside, they engaged Fenric while he was alone. Fenric used the sword he took from Glacier to kill every one of Oskel's guards. In an attempt to defeat Fenric once and for all, Oskel discarded his code of honor and attacked him full force. Fenric kept up with all of Oskel's attacks and jammed Oskel's own toxic spike into his neck. Oskel was stunned but not down, and the two kept fighting ferociously.

Outside, Pollimer led the counterattack against the Antroth army. He himself fought Blitz, but was easily outmatched. Just as Blitz went to strike the fatal blow, the Bonerider blocked it with his scythe before attacking Blitz and forcing him to retreat. Finally, the Quistas and Goar Taboryur's Q-Company attacked the Antroth army with heavy artillery and warriors from the Forgotten Bloodline, an Antroth secret society intent on destroying Si'Daal. Inside the castle, Fenric fought Oskel to a standstill and finally severed his arm. Oskel fell to the ground, and Fenric prepared to finish the job. However, at that moment, the Antroths launched an artillery shell at the castle, causing it to collapse. As it did, Oskel made his escape, but not before slashing Fenric across the face and leaving his with a nasty scar.

The wounded Oskel was pulled from the rubble by his men, giving the order for a full retreat. He declared that Fenric was using up all of his luck and sooner or later he would run out for good. As the Antroth forces fled the battlefield, Knuckles encountered Blitz attempting to escape back to his ship. The two engaged in a duel, during which Knuckles pummeled Blitz with his spiked gauntlets. Finally, the critically wounded Blitz attempted to surrender, only for Knuckles to hack his head of with a shard of destroyed tank armor. This left Knuckles and the Wartorn fully loyal to Fenric.

After the battle, the Vermillions and Bloodline forces regrouped. The Bloodline expressed interest in conquering Farmia while the Antroth army was in turmoil and Oskel badly wounded. Fenric, sore from his loss on Volcanis, was reluctant at first. However, after seeing what the Bloodline soldiers, who practiced the Forbidden Magics, were capable of, he agreed. The Vermillion army set off towards the capital. Upon arriving, they found it heavily guarded, as expected. But Fenric noticed that the Capital itself was located next to the water. So he sent Thorian the Peon with a fleet of waterships loaded down with Stonespawn raiders and Veer Ultras to take the city ports. Following them were Lime's Corsairs aboard their own waterships, who would attack from the sea much as they had done during the battle when Darkling Lord Abaddon had been killed.

With a large fleet of warriors about to besiege the ports, Fenric sent the rest of his army straight at the gates, where they utilized their catapults once again. Barrio and Quisling explosive experts fired mortars at the city walls while Scythiag, Sasanik, and Jammat commandos attempted to scale the walls themselves. However, the Antroths had many traps built into their walls, and the Vermillions were not able to scale it. Determined to get inside the city, Fenric sent the Lagorthene raider called the Rottenraper with a contingent of Ugandalorians, Lagorthenes, and Wasterlings to circle around the city and enter it from behind, where the walls were lower. At this point, the Antroths began launching barrels of acid at the Vermillion troops, killing hundreds.

Thorian and Lime's fleets arrived quickly at the ports and began firebombing them, killing the Antroth forces guarding them. Then, Thorian and Lime lept off their ships with a squad of Changelings and Stonespawn berserkers, charging up the beach and using swords to slay any remaining Antroth soldiers that had escaped the fire. More Antroth soldiers emerged to fight them off, but they were no match for the bloodlust-filled warriors. The Stonespawn and Changelings quickly reached the city itself and poured through the streets, killing any Antroth citizen they encountered. In an act of desperation, Commander Shal lured them into a series of abandoned buildings and detonated a series of land mines, killing dozens of the Vermillion troopers and causing the buildings to collapse on them. Many stragglers were picked off by snipers before Thorian and Lime gave the order to retreat.

Outside the city walls, the constant acid bombardment had caused the Vermillions to give up on a frontal assault. Instead, they retreated back, raining arrows and explosives into the city and waiting for the Rottenraper's strike team to open the gates.

Fenric, bleeding and bruised from his fight and the collapsing castle, ordered his men to board their ships and retreat. Despite gaining the Wartorn Company and some Antroth soldiers, the Syndicate had taken some heavy casualties. But the battle with the United Knights Alliance had piqued his curiosity. Why had the Soldarians not provided any support? Fenric was intrigued, and took his fleet to Soldarian territory. There, he received a transmission from Ultra Commando Dionne. She informed Fenric that Pulporious the Sixth was a horrible ruler, locking his planet in political turmoil, and Dionne wished to help Fenric kill him.

What Fenric did not know was that Morg had contacted the Soldarians as well, and Dionne was a double agent. The Syndicate landed on Militora, setting up in an old industrial complex and the surrounding area.

Reconstitution
Upon escaping Deephold, and still suffering from the loss of his wife and other members of his family, Fenric and his Syndicate went into hiding, where he set about reconsolidating his power over his forces. He named the Draconian insurgent, Yar 'Pedama, as his new second-in-command, replacing the deceased Trevagr. His brothers took more direct control over their armies, and tribal warriors such as the Bonerider, Grenka the Flathead and the Redeye were given much more important roles, resulting in a gradual takeover of tribal politics within Fenric's faction. With the destruction of Deluded Spirit, Fenric commissioned a new flagship, Inflamed Fury, built from Scythe of Glory, Pseudopath, and other designs all merged into one. After recovering enough, Fenric's forces went nomadic for a while, hunting for more resources in every corner of the two galaxies they could reach.

One of the enemies Fenric had made was the. Indeed, Fenric had rallied many soldiers under the pretext of wiping them out. When they learned that Fenric's fleet was in the area, they sent the Leviathan's best squad of organics, the Listless Wanderers, under the command of a Bachyeon Overlord to kill Fenric. Sneaking aboard the Inflamed Fury, the Wanderers killed a few of Fenric's Lagorthene troops before surrounding him on the bridge. Rather than engage in combat, Fenric spoke to the Wanderers. Knowing of their history as members of a race who grew so apathetic towards life that they joined the Leviathan and, if their emotion enabler were switched off or destroyed, would commit suicide on the spot out of apathy, Fenric promised them a new life. He told them that he would give their existence a true meaning, one where they could claim their own glory. The Bachyeon attempted to silence him, but four of the Wanderers stabbed him through the back, killing him instantly. The Wanderers all then ripped off their emotion enablers, which normally would have caused them to kill themselves, and bowed before Fenric. He told them to rise, for now they would bow to nothing and serve nothing but their own free will. The Wanderers stood and roared, beginning a chant that would rekindle the fire within Fenric to claim his throne back.

With newly invigorated fervor for taking over Ugandalore, Fenric set out to gather troops. First, he sent Halverg, Raeger, their wives, and some other warriors to the homeworld of the race, where they began unifying the formerly cowardly and untrustworthy creatures into a single empire subservient to the Vermillions. Meanwhile, Fenric began an intense recruiting campaign of any tribal and civilized races he came across, either conquering them or pretending to be gods, the Vermillions would induct the fighting men of the tribe or city in question, and put the ones who were not warriors to work harvesting resources and operating mills and factories for them. Those who resisted were put to the spear by their more loyal kin, their tents or buildings razed or looted. Due to the remoteness of the planets Fenric recruited from, nobody noticed. Shortly after, the group Fenric sent to the Quisling homeworld returned, having completed their mission. The Quislings were now united, armed, and uplifted, reported Halverg and Raeger. Fenric was pleased. Now the race the galaxy had once called backstabbers and traitors would help him take Ugandalore. He laughed at the irony in it. Though at the time equipped with little more than crude melee weapons, rusty laser guns, and boiled leather and metal scrap armor, the Quisling warriors had quite a large role to play in the future. Now united, with a high birth and growth rate, and the tenacity to take what they wanted, the Quisling Empire would soon rise and spread its claws through the stars. But not yet. First, they had to defeat their first great foe. The Mendel Pact.

Amnesty Campaign
With their power restored but still unstable and somewhat disorganized, the Syndicate launched an invasion of the Multus world of Amnesty, where Glacier's brother had once been imprisoned. Fenric ordered this for two reasons. The first was that it was an almost entirely untapped treasure trove of Multus artifacts. The second was that so Fenric could lure the Mendel Pact (who monitored the world after fighting the for it) into a long war of attrition and sacrifice any troops he doubted the loyalty of. The Syndicate landed in full force, taking control of many sites and fighting off the local Bahrok. Sure enough, the Mendel Pact detected the incursion and deployed a fleet to stop them, under the command of, who had much experience fighting the Vermillions.

The Mendel used a mix of soldiers and Green Sun mercenaries under Cerebrum to fight the Vermillions, given the top-secret nature of the mission. Initially, the Mendel had many victories, chasing the Syndicate forces out of dig sites and ancient ruins. However, one particular temple was found that generated intense interest from Fenric himself, who came planetside with the Queen of Thorns, Cerebellum, Cerebellum's brain-controlled Citadelean bodyguard Cortex, and a retinue of Viterva Khmara Zealots and warriors from the Ascetic Order. Entering the temple (which was heavily guarded by their forces), they discovered that all the technology contained within was fully functional, but were unsure of its purpose. Investigating further, they activated a portal, which took them to a control room, from which all of Amnesty could be controlled. But it seemed to require some sort of key to use.

Pressing another button, Fenric accidentally activated a sentient hologram of a Multus Esse, who told him that he needed a piece of the Eye of Spode, an ancient Multus artifact, to use the control room. The hologram also told the trio that they should collect all three pieces of the Eye (One currently on Amnesty, one in Tul'kaarin possession, and one in Mendel hands), because when assembled it would provide the location of and access to the Unyielding Trove, a Multus vault full of weapons, ships, and technology the Multus would have used against the Cyber Collective. Fenric immediately ordered his entire fleet to scour the planet to find the Eye. However, the Mendel had learned of this, and also began searching for the eye.

Eventually, the Mendel would reach the Eye part first (which turned out to be the Pupil), bringing it aboard one of their ships for study (they did not know its true purpose, only that the Syndicate was desperate to find it). However, Fenric immediately send a strike team aboard the ship, slaughtering their way through the crew until they retrieved the Eye. The attack team then teleported back to the temple. The Mendel launched an assault against the temple to retrieve the Eye, killing several of Fenric's Ascetics and Zealots but arriving at the portal just as Fenric, the Queen of Thorns, Cerebellum and Cortex disappeared into it and shut it off. Fenric, tired of the Mendel, used the Eye to access the control room and set Amnesty to self-destruct. He then teleported himself and his companions back to their flagship and waited for the rest of his men to reach their ships. When almost all were aboard, the Syndicate vanished into slipspace, leaving the Mendel to escape Amnesty moments before it exploded.

Search for Spode's Eye
In the weeks after the Amnesty Campaign, Fenric became obsessed with finding the other two pieces of the Eye of Spode, to the point of becoming maddeningly paranoid about the Mendel beating him to the Unyielding Trove. The Queen of Thorns managed to comfort him somewhat, assuring him that the Mendel could do nothing without Fenric's piece of the Eye. Still, Fenric plotted day and night how to retrieve the other two pieces. After weeks more of planning, studying, and consulting his lieutenants, he believed he had an answer. He would go after the Tul'kaarin first. While somewhat neutral with the Mendel, Fenric knew they would ask for no assistance if attacked, and they would know nothing about the piece of the Eye of Spode they possessed. Plus, the Ascetics under his command had an intense desire for revenge against those they saw as kneelers...

Mission to Chamataku
With the Unyielding Trove destroyed and the Mimic's Box vanished into the void, Fenric's forces were left with little edge over the Mendel. Adding those to his long list of failures left Fenric feeling disgruntled, and he began to grow desperate. Many of his men were sent out on pirate runs to capture and strip down any ships they found for parts. Others, like Goar Taboryur's Q-Company, were sent out as mercenaries to bring more money, weapons, and soldiers back to the Syndicate. The Mendel Pact was sensing Fenric's weakness as well and were slowly picking away at him. Fenric began to lash out at any opportunity he thought was there.

Finally, one of his scout ships brought news. They had stumbled across a world called Chamataku that had recently experienced an ice age. Further scans revealed that the freeze was caused by a malfunctioning Staff of Life buried deep beneath the planet's surface, which had somehow been triggered. Believing he could use it as a weapon, Fenric sent Yar 'Pedama to dig the Staff up. 'Pedama took a large fleet with him, set up a camp on the frozen world, and began using excavators to dig for the Staff. However, the Mendel had been following the Syndicate fleet and send in Ultra Commando Team Olda to stop whatever they were doing.

As the Ultra Commandos were sneaking or killing their way through Yar's men, his excavators hit near the Staff of Life and they began to extract it. However, it was more damaged than scans had suggested, and it began leaking energy at such a rapid pace that it caused the planet to destabilize and begin to crumble into the core. Knowing the mission had to be completed soon, Team Olda fought their way through the last of Yar's foot soldiers but were almost crushed by an excavator, which Yar had turned against the team as a weapon. Pervartos and Corhufu held off the massive construct as the other four went after Yar. Galiet, Trogov, and Tilaos fought Yar's bodyguards as Arkaalin himself fought 'Pedama. Despite putting up a fight, Yar was not as experienced as Arkaalin, who quickly delivered several wounds to the Draconian before plunging his knives into Yar's neck, killing him instantly.

The Ultra Commandos commandeered 'Pedama's personal transport as Chamataku sank into its own core. As the gravity got weaker and weaker, Corhufu and Pervartos were flung into the atmosphere just as the excavator was about to smash them, and their teammates rescued them before they could fly into space. What few troops could reach the remaining ships quickly fled the dying planet and reported their failure to Fenric. Fenric dismissed the failure, because while they were gone he had pinpointed the location of yet another relic he believed could help him win the war. And this one, he would not lose.

Search for the Death Scepter
After scouring old records for information, Fenric believed that he had found the ultimate weapon. An ancient artifact, believed to be older than the Multus itself, the Death Scepter was rumored to be able to destroy entire armies in seconds. Fenric had to have it. After having Daal and Dante cross-reference their own knowledge, he believed he found its location: Taraquery, a planet whose surface was covered by volcanic rock but whose Mendel colonists made great deals of money from by harvesting lichen. First sending spies to probe the world's defenses, Fenric quickly discovered that the Mendel had upset the shrines of the native Sharakour population, who were launching ever-more bolder attacks against the Mendel.

Fenric did as he usually did; he met with the Sharakour shamans and tribal braves. After much deliberation and consulting with the gods, they agreed to fight for him. Fenric assigned the Bonerider, the Redeye, and Scamish the First-Born to lead a vanguard of Sharakour troops against the Mendel colony, which they did, attacking with volleys of arrows and probing for weakness. Meanwhile, Fenric's men began digging for the Death Scepter. The Sharakour raids got the attention of the Mendel, who dispatched a force to deal with them, not knowing Fenric was on the planet and behind the trouble. They drove off a group of raiders but immediately noticed a problem when they realized that the warriors were using hardlight bows, only made in the Red Veil.

As Fenric supervised the search for the staff, his commanders reported yet another problem to him. Some of his men were plotting a revolution. Led by Draconians who blamed Fenric for Yar 'Pedama's death, they were determined to kill Fenric and take over his armies. At first believing all the rebels to have been hunted down, Fenric's assumptions were disproved when rebels shot down the shuttle carrying the required equipment to access the Death Scepter and took the on-board materials. Enraged, Fenric went planetside with a retinue of elite guards to hunt down the rebels. The warriors slaughtered any they came across, and Fenric soon pinpointed the location of their base. However, at that time he received two more bad bits of news: the Mendel army was bearing down on his location, and the rebels had unearthed the Death Scepter.

The Bonerider and Scamish rallied the Sharakour to hold off the Mendel while Fenric took a large continent of men to retrieve the Scepter. Upon Commandante Diabhal's suggestion, Fenric deployed three Pseudoleviathans to smash their way through the rebel fortress while the Lagorthenes cleaned up the stragglers. Once having breached the rebels' lair, Fenric captured and interrogated their leader, a Draconian called Shuvath 'Neyortha. 'Neyortha revealed that Fenric's own uncles-by-law, the Ferquievy leaders, had helped him arrange his coup. Determined to crush the rebellion's ideals rather than give it a martyr, Fenric ordered 'Neyortha imprisoned aboard Inflamed Fury. He then took possession of the Death Scepter which, contrary to its reaction to 'Neyortha's touch, immediately powered up when Fenric picked it up. Surrendered rebels and Fenric's own troops alike immediately bowed to him.

Fenric walked outside and onto a cliff, where he observed the Mendel armies overpowering his own forces. With maniacal laughter, claok billowing in the wind, Fenric launched bolts of an ungodly fusion between fire and electricity at the Mendel forces. The bolts of blood-colored lighting killed every Mendel it struck while not touching a single one of Fenric's men. In seconds, the Mendel armies lay dead, their ships destroyed. Fenric raised the Scepter high above his head and screamed to his men below that he was the true chosen one. All his forces bowed, including the Sharakour. They then boarded their ships and left the planet. However, one of the Sharakour shamans would come to him later and warn him that the Death Scepter, which was written of in their holy texts, only responded to a certain type of individual, the details were lost to time. He told Fenric to beware his new power, for their holy texts oft warned inquisitive young braves to never seek the artifact, and the destruction it could wreak was truly unknown. Fenric scoffed at this, since he had controlled it perfectly. But the holy man's words left a scratch of doubt in Fenric's mind. The whole process of acquiring it seemed a little too easy...

The Lost Wormhole
With the knowledge that his own uncles plotted his death, Fenric ordered the men gathered in the hangar of his flagship. There, he sentenced them to death by being thrown from the airlock. However, just before Fenric's Lagorthene guards carried out the order, he repented. The uncles thought they had been spared, but then Fenric drew Glacier's sword and ordered the Lagorthenes to find something to serve as a chopping block. Fenric then proceeded to remove his uncles' heads until they lay in a pile at his feet. Then, he jettisoned the bodies. However, this had unforseen consequences for him. Some members of the Ferquievy family, with the loss of Florey and Celyre, had begun to resent Fenric, since he payed little to no attention to the Terquoise throne he had promised the Ferquievys would have. Now, with the execution of their leaders by what they saw as a usurper, this was the final straw. Ferquievy guards slipped a message to Shuvath 'Neyortha within his cell aboard the Inflamed Fury that they were with him.

The dissenters in Fenric's ranks began recruiting, mainly from the factions Fenric had forcefully absorbed. The upper echelon of the Syndicate was unaware of this. Their attention was focused on the fact that their ships were suddenly unable to enter hyperspace. Then, a wormhole appeared in front of them. While trying to enter it, several of their ships were damaged or destroyed. Fenric ordered the fleet back so the damaged ships could make repairs. He decided to enter the portal with only his flagship, Inflamed Fury. Before he did so, he ordered the prisoners on board, including 'Neyortha, to be transferred to another of his ships, a Carpathian battle-chariot called Blade of Remembrance. However, some of the guards aboard that ship had turned traitor against Fenric, and plotted to release 'Neyortha. Oblivious to the rising movement against him, Fenric entered the portal.

Fenric found his ship frozen in midair, with all the power out, yet there was breathable air and gravity. Suddenly, a black crow flew from nowhere, landed, and began to speak to Fenric, inquiring as to how he came about possessing the Death Scepter. Fenric told the entity about finding it buried in ruins. The crow warned him that utilizing the scepter would come at a great cost. Fenric replied he didn't care, because he had controlled the weapon before and at this point all he wanted was Ugandalore. The crow told him he would not have it if he did not pay heed to the scepter's price. Fenric asked what the price would be. The crow replied that it did not know, but it was bound to be horrible. The crow revealed the scepter was an Eitran artifact, "connected to the demon Qlipphogr, and bound to be feasting on someone's soul." When Fenric expressed further disdain and confusion as to what Qlipphogr was, the crow replied that it would have to find someone else who was more "worthy", but that one day soon Fenric would have to face it (the crow) once more. Then, Fenric's ship was spat out of the wormhole - straight into a dogfight.

While Fenric was speaking to the crow, the traitorous guards had released Shuvath 'Neyortha from captivity and begun a shipwide coup, openly fighting any Fenric supporters on board. Not even the Viterva Khmara Zealots could contain the situation. Eventually, the Blade of Remembrance was overtaken by the rebels and fled into slipspace. Fenric attempted to track the ship down, but could not find it. Fenric cursed the crow for allowing it to happen and swore he would kill 'Neyortha and all those who stood between them. Fearing an assassination, many of the Ferquievy Queensguard soldiers who had once protected Fenric's wife were transferred to new units and were replaced by Lagorthenes, Draugar, and Viterva Khmara Zealots. The remaining, trusted Queensguard soldiers were reorganized and renamed as Queenbreakers, who would function as light shock troops in the future. Meanwhile, 'Neyortha took Blade of Remembrance through Mendel and Vermillion territory alike, showing off his new prize.

Qliphoggr's Ascension
As the Vermillion fleet drifted through the galaxy, hoping to evade the destruction the great beast and his allies were causing, their ships momentarily lost power. Many panicked, believing Qlipphogr had found them. When it came back on, the crews eventually came to realize there was something on board with them, a force they could not see. After seeing or hearing several strange things, many ship commanders reported to Fenric that they feared their ships were haunted. Fenric dismissed this as the superstitions of the zealous tribals that now made up the vast majority of his forces. Eventually, however, Fenric himself began to believe the reports when he too began to see things. Finally, when he saw something in a mirror, Fenric was convinced there were ghosts aboard. Using only assistance from a few of his most trusted soldiers, he rigged an electromagnetic barrier to trap a ghost. It worked, and Fenric discovered they were not dealing with ghosts, but rather the displaced souls of the, consumed by Qlipphogr. After a brief conversation, Fenric convinced the beings to join his cause. If they did, he would build bodies for them to inhabit. They agreed, and Fenric had his factories create robotic, emaciated-looking skeletal bodies for the beings to inhabit. They called these husks Draugar.

Soon after this, a vile race of undead beings called the entered the universe in Qlipphogr's wake. These creatures possessed the ability to take control of any race or faction's undead or zombie-like forces. Since the Vermillions possessed none, they did not have to worry. However, knowing Fenric had the Death Scepter, Qlipphogr tasked the Night with destroying him and his allies. On Alpha Rosetta, where Fenric had established a colony for the surviving Wasterling population, the Sleepless Night awoke ancient and long-dead Bio-Morphlings from hibernation. The creatures slaughtered the Wasterlings before barely any could be evacuated, once again putting the species near extinction. The dead Wasterlings were reanimated by the Night to continue the war against the Vermillions.

During their scourge against the universe, the Sleepless Night stumbled upon the Pack, a group of creatures uplifted by the Vanara years ago to fight the Scelus. The Night mercilessly destroyed the Pack's fleet, leaving a few thousand survivors. These survivors, under the leadership of Pack Alphas Fang and Thistle, were found by the Vermillions, who forged an alliance to destroy the Night. Fenric's nephew Qucce became infatuated with Thistle, eventually leading to the Pack being formally accepted into the Vermillion clan. But in the meantime, the Vermillions began raiding the Sleepless Night as best they could, destroying their ships or glassing planets they were on. But Fenric knew that they couldn't win by themselves, even with the help of all their allies. He knew they would have to make a temporary pact with their enemies. Determined to avenge the Wasterlings and save the Pack from extinction, Fenric attempted to form a temporary cease-fire with the Mendel and Persan. They accepted on the grounds that Fenric leave some of his forces with them as collateral. Fafnir volunteered, and stayed with them, accompanied by his force of tribal Geat warriors.

With a truce in place, Fenric could concentrate on the Night. His Mendel "allies" informed him of a derelict ship loaded down with antimatter bombs, whose crew had been slaughtered by Qlipphogr. Fenric and his forces reclaimed the ship and acquired the bombs. Lacking a proper plan, Fenric decided to simply bomb the hordes of Night zombies into oblivion. However, the crow once again appeared to him. It told him that he had to destroy the Lagashmuir, a surviving Eitran who had converted himself into the first of the Sleepless Night and who now gave them their power, with the Death Scepter. He was currently on an ice world known as Culcathca, where his army of undead was awaiting Qlipphogr's next order. Fenric immediately set course for the planet, intent on ending the Night once and for all. Before it disappeared, the crow warned Fenric that this was not the time he had to "face" it, and the crow would still be seeing him again. It also teleported the fleet of the Imperii Grox, whom it had told the same information about the Night, to Fenric's location.

The Vermillions and Imperii attacked the planet with all their force, attempting to break the literal walls of undead. However, the Night's defenses proved adept at intercepting the anti-matter bombs launched at them. Members of the Pack, true to their customs of revenge and dying in battle, strapped the bombs to their backs and suicide-rushed the Night zombies, blowing themselves up and taking huge numbers of zombies with them. This opening allowed the Vermillions and Inmperii to fight their way to the Lagashmuir himself. Fenric fought him with all his might, launching blasts from the Scepter to no avail. Finally, after being beaten to the ground and badly wounded, the Lagashmuir picked Fenric off the ground and prepared to kill him. Fenric stabbed him in the chest with the Scepter, causing him to collapse and shatter into pieces. With his death, all the undead under his control collapsed once and for all. The fight against the Sleepless Night was won. The Imperii departed, and Fenric regrouped his men to defeat Qlipphogr.

Meanwhile, Fafnir fought alongside the Mendel and Persan, personally slaying several of Qlipphogr's servants. He helped them gather up all the thrones they needed to defeat Qlipphogr with, and was also present when defeated the. Finally, the allies regrouped to begin the final attack on Qlipphogr, who sent a massive wave of minions against them to stop their planning. The compound they were in was surrounded in minutes, with pockets of survivors cut off from the others. Fafnir found himself with a small group of members of factions he despised, with a perfect chance to escape. Yet, he found his hatred of Qlipphogr to be too strong to abandon the fight. So he helped those he was with reach safety, slaying any of Qlipphogr's servants who got in his way and becoming severely wounded in the process. He ordered the Mendel and Persan warriors to take cover in the underground bunker in the compound. He then reached one of the destroyed ships and pulled an antimatter missile from it. As Fafnir attempted to deploy it against Qlipphogr's hordes, he found it to have been too damaged to activate its timer. By then completely surrounded by the demons, Fafnir kicked the missile off the platform, causing it to detonate and incinerate anything above ground. The Mendel and Persan leaders emerged from the bunker alive and proceeded to defeat Qlipphogr.

The Vermillion Family
 Fenric Vermillion = Celyre Ferquievy† = Shequey Vermillion = Cerebellum = 

Position of Second-In-Command
 Trevagr Kardvark† = Yar 'Pedama† = Queen of Thorns = 

Generals
 Fafnir Vermillion† = Raeger Vermillion = Halverg Vermillion = Fenris Vermillion† = Fenrir Vermillion = Fennec Vermillion = 

Captains
 The Bonerider = Grenka the Flathead = The Redeye = Scovia Venomflower† = Ceronia the Green Faun = Javik Vort† = Goar Taboryur† = Sir Rapesalot† = King Kallinax = Daal Quista = Dante Quista = Katrus Ardach = 

Lieutenants
 Pollimer Ghurka† = Scamish the First-Born = The Fallen = "Cold" = Sids and Sars = More Coming Soon = 

Majors
Coming soon

Protectorates
You will be safe under us.
 * - Such violence. Such possibilities.
 * Varakian Feudalry - Their royal family is part of our lord's. Too bad they all died.

Vassals
Do or die, little servants.
 * Quisling Empire - Put your boots on the ground for us, and shake off your untrustworthy ways.

Allies
You have made the right choice.
 * - Our Lord Fenric will be King, however unofficially.
 * - Truly powerful warriors, we are glad to have them as friends.
 * Pseudopath Empire - Divided and in turmoil, but some remain our loyal comrades.

At War
''Your demise is certain. The pain you will feel is open to debate.''
 * - Vile undead filth. They must be purged before even the Grox.
 * - They must be destroyed, and we are the only ones who can do that.
 * - Lapdogs of the Cyber Collective. They will perish with their allies.
 * - Some we inherited from our predecessors. The rest must die.
 * - They must be wiped from the galaxy as surely as the Cyber Collective.

Quotes From Others
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