Warhammer 40k Origins Stellaris Civilization Simulator

Esmond took the device with trembling hands. He saw it as a symbol of salvation, completely ignoring the details on the cup's surface.

.........

A few hours later, the device was successfully connected to the largest food processing center on Karen Star.

The engineers were puzzled by its construction, but the Governor insisted that they carry out his orders without any room for questioning.

Soon, the huge wine glass began to release a deep red liquid in an endless stream, which mixed into the food manufacturing line.

A disgusting smell of blood gradually filled the factory, but everyone was appeased by the Governor's "advice".

"This is the will of the Empire," Esmond repeated to his subordinates over and over again. "Do not resist, accept its gift."

The first batch of synthetic food was quickly delivered to the city, and unlike usual, it was distributed free of charge to the hungry residents for the first time in more than 200 years.

Esmond stood in the city square, watching the people wolf down their food. An indescribable sense of accomplishment welled up in him. He had truly saved this planet, and perhaps all of humanity. This was the beginning of a great era. Perhaps the Emperor's great deeds would be revived.

However, he failed to notice that more and more people began to experience strange symptoms, starting with a slight discoloration of the skin, followed by a blood-red glow in the eyes and an uncontrollable bloodlust.

But in Esmond's eyes, these changes were merely signs of the awakening of the Force. He believed that this was exactly the transformation process of the Space Marines described by the "Company Captain."

.........

Weeks later, when the void shield was finally breached, Dagda was stunned by what was happening on the planet below.

"We must stop this and use indiscriminate bombing on areas where infection has occurred. Then the remaining army will immediately go to areas that can still be rescued and conduct landing operations. Do not occupy anything and make rescuing the population the first priority." The Federal Marshal made his decision.

When the Federation's landing craft fell on this world like a meteor shower, Esmond was not afraid. He shouted enthusiastically from the high tower of the Governor's Palace: "Thank the Emperor, thank him for his grace, we will defeat these suicidal enemies, glory belongs to..."

Who does it belong to?

46. Bloodthirst

The Unclean Kugath showed his kind father a new medicine that he believed could be used to make up for the best plague he had wasted. The ingredients for the new medicine came from a place that was extremely dark and silent, but whose grandeur made even demons awed.

He thought his work was a great achievement, but it only made his grandfather more angry. The potion was spilled across the garden and he was ordered not to collect it again. As the boiling soup splashed onto the unfortunate victim, the call of the Carnivorous Court spread across the galaxy.

.........

The Federation once boasted that their armaments were sufficient to withstand the counterattacks of various conventional military forces and that they did not need to worry about the enemy's reaction.

However, as the saying goes, the moon waxes and wanes, and the retribution for complacency comes too quickly. The current situation is very unusual, and we must pay close attention.

Just after the Federation began its siege of the industrial world of Karen, within a few weeks, a supernatural plague highly similar to the reaction of the psychic ghouls encountered previously infected more than 60% of the area of this industrial world.

The infected area is increasing every day, and every day more and more human civilians are being transformed into crazy monsters. In order to understand the cause of everything, the federal covert action team paid a considerable price and obtained more intelligence through covert operations.

The extent of this psychic disease, codenamed "Ghoul Court," remains unknown, but once affected, the infected begin to distort their appearance. Their skeletons and limbs become misshapen, with joints twisted at impossible angles.

Some's fingers grew sharp like claws, while others sprouted membranous wings resembling bats. Their eyes lost their human brilliance, replaced by a preposterous piety and fanaticism. They still communicated with one another in a low Gothic language laced with growls and rasps, proving the twisted minds of the infected still lingered.

The most horrifying thing is that these infected seem to have fallen into an extreme delusion. They regard their deformities as a gift from the God-Emperor of Humanity, believing that they have been selected by the "Trial of the Space Marines" and are participating in an "Astartes Selection Ceremony."

In their hallucinations, slaughterhouses filled with bones became glorious monasteries, and abandoned machines and biological remains were pieced together by them to form "holy armor" and "sacred weapons."

Some infected people even built "altars" with their own flesh and blood and those of their prey. In those stinking places, the infected people gathered together and held crazy "worships".

The infection spread rapidly, and the overwhelming terror spread to every corner of the city. Civilians watched helplessly as their former relatives, friends, and even Imperial Guardsmen were transformed into crazed ghouls.

These monsters rampaged through the streets like wild beasts, tearing apart still-healthy humans with sharp teeth and claws. They were not just there to kill, but to devour. The plague of infection drove them to crave human flesh, and every meal would only make them mutate further.

However, from their own perspective, this is just "recovering the rebellious imperial world", and their cause is very just.

The original factories and production lines on the planet of Karen were decimated. The infected flooded into the industrial facilities, completely transforming the original production lines. They used the mountains of corpses as raw materials, and through twisted methods, they created incredible items one after another.

Some were bizarre weapons, their sharp blades seeping with corrosive fluids; others were armies of undead spliced together, resembling some kind of violent biological weapon. These factories had become symbols of terror, no longer creations of the Empire, but testing grounds for Chaos.

The Governor's Palace lay in ruins, having fallen in the early stages of the infection. A utterly deformed Imperial Planetary Governor huddled in his command room, clutching the scepter of Imperial authority and muttering to himself. Corrupted by the influence of corrupting psychic energy, he was completely lost in hallucinations. He beheld the twisted monstrosities, yet he saw them as "loyal Space Marines" and began to convey the "will of the Empire" to them.

Any order the Imperium of Man might have once prided itself on had now become a nightmare. It had become a playground for corrupting psychic influences. The streets were covered in blood and rotting corpses, and the air was filled with an unbearable stench. The surviving humans fled, fearing they would be captured by their former friends and family, becoming the next ration or a glorified "Astartes Scout."

The planet's history seems to be coming to an end. It will become a virtual world under the influence of crazy psychic energy, becoming a portal for the release of malevolent entities from the warp, unless there are still military forces here that can go to the front lines to put an end to these threats.

.........

And this army does exist, although in reality it is here to attack.

"If this vicious psychic pollution is allowed to continue, not only will this planet become uninhabitable, but it will eventually become a portal to the negative realm in the virtual world, turning the entire galaxy into a dead end." The beetle people, who have super psychic potential and excellent stability, are experts in cohesion and psychic science and have come to this conclusion. The federal army must take the initiative to intervene to prevent the situation from escalating, as they may not be able to escape unscathed by then.

This also led to a rather subtle... self-doubt? Some soldiers wondered if it weren't for their attack, that the Empire's approach was foolish and inefficient but sustainable, and that the Federation's pursuit of enlightenment had brought them destruction?

However, this kind of defeatist philosophy is the most worthless, and it will be criticized by Tesesin in the most harsh words. Thinking is over, and now action must be taken.

"The Federation needs to own this world and its people, not to make them die, go crazy, and be enslaved. Since all intelligent creatures are of equal value, we have reason to fight for these strangers, to uphold justice for the world, and to have a clear conscience. This is peace." Dagda's summary announced the attitude of the Interstellar Federation in the face of this disaster, and also helped the somewhat confused soldiers find their goals.

While the Empire was once our enemy, now that they are normal, comprehensible sentient beings, we need to save them from the malevolent influences of the universe, whether that malevolence comes from their own bureaucrats or from the evil spirits of the soul dimension.

The plan was very simple. The Alliance's forces would transfer all the people from areas that had not yet been severely infected onto transport ships, and then thoroughly cleanse the entire planet.

The biological breath of the super beast, combined with the orbital bombardment of ordinary ships, can completely flatten the surface of the entire planet. No metaphysical monster can continue to spread terror at this level.

Although this may cause the world's original infrastructure to be completely scrapped, it is better than turning it into a corrupted planet.

This battle to carry people across the star will be difficult and bloody, but it will also be very valuable, both in terms of the accumulation of psychic theory experience and moral satisfaction.

This alien civilization decided not to stand idly by and watch the people of the force that had just cursed them for extinction.

47, Rescue

"When I first made those grand promises, why didn't I consider retiring?" Lieutenant Carlton was now a captain, but the price he paid was being thrown back into familiar surroundings. As a veteran and expert in combating psychic ghouls, he was asked to provide military advice to the landing force as a tactical advisor.

Under the dim sky of the planet Karen, the roar of engines shattered the rotting silence. A Federation transport ship slowly landed on the edge of the ruined city, its grayish-white metal hull appearing exceptionally cold in the light of the plague-infected sky.

Now Captain Ayres Carlton, leading a special anti-psychic force composed of squid people, poisonous swamp people, beetle people, dragon beasts and intelligent people, has once again returned to the land of the empire he once swore allegiance to.

"Ready, Captain?" a nearby beetle soldier asked softly. Beetlemen possessed powerful and unwavering psychic potential. While squidmen possessed a mortal form and mind unmoved by external influences, beetles possessed a pure spirit, cultivating both body and soul. Their existence could compensate for the lack of psychic sensitivity found in squidmen and intelligent beings.

Carlton nodded slightly. After so many years, the once "horrible aliens" had also been exorcised by reality and transformed into ordinary intelligent creatures. Their communication would not cause any corruption, at least not for the Federation.

The federal army advanced through the blood-stained streets and soon discovered a refugee shelter built on the site of the old Ministry of Justice office.

The eyes of numerous inhuman warriors swept over the Imperial civilians who still clung to the ruins. Their eyes were filled with hatred and fear. They huddled in the dilapidated houses like trapped animals, pointing their outdated weapons at these "alien invaders," ready to fight to the death with these monsters that looked no less hideous than ghouls.

"Keep them in formation and don't make any moves that might provoke hostility," Carleton ordered the troops behind him in a firm but gentle voice.

He understood the mentality of these civilians; he had been like that himself before. In the teachings of the Imperial State Religion, any non-human intelligent life was considered an "alien," and dissidents who opposed the Empire were considered "heretics." The Helka Interstellar Federation was precisely the super-aggregate of "evil aliens and depraved heretics" depicted in Imperial propaganda. It was truly a time when non-humans shone brightly.

Carlton surveyed the civilians, finally landing on a young mother clutching a child. Her face was grime-covered, and she was thin from prolonged fear and exhaustion, yet she still used her frail body to shield her child. She and a group of similarly terrified civilians huddled in a dilapidated fortification, attempting to conceal their presence.

"They don't believe us. What should we do? Should we use our mobility to disarm them?" A federal soldier asked in a low voice. He was a poisonous swamp man with a slime-like body. Their species seemed to have a primitive fluid body, but it always carried great thoughts and elegance.

"They are civilians. We must first negotiate and try to make peace with them," Carlton replied. He seemed to be saying something that his past self would have considered a luxury. Negotiation? The mere act of spelling the word brought him a strange joy. It was hard to believe he could actually do it.

Carlton walked out from the front of the team, took off his helmet, revealing his face that looked more energetic than before.

He looked at these people calmly. "I am Carlton, a former Imperial Astra Militarum officer. You don't need to be afraid of us. We are here to help you."

"Help us?" a former PDF soldier was furious. "You destroyed the navy fleet, and now you want to 'rescue' us? We will never accept your heretical mercy!"

Carleton didn't argue. He knew words alone wouldn't change the civilians' minds. He ordered the federal soldiers to quickly set up camp and stockpile medicine and food provided by the logistics department.

"We will take you away from here to a safe place and ensure your safety, provided that you come here on your own," he said.

At first, few believed the good intentions of these "aliens." They refused any help, even when they were so hungry they could barely stand. However, when the footsteps and frantic cries of Chaos Ghouls appeared in the distance, they were left with no choice.

When those deformed creatures emerged from the ruins, clad in "pottery jar armor" made of bones and membranes, wielding bone chainswords and flesh bomb guns, and loudly reading "The Emperor's Will" to these human citizens, the defenses of these imperial residents collapsed, and they could not hold out for long in the face of this large force.

In the end, those who had the strongest desire to survive, which outweighed their faith in the state religion, such as the mother with her child, were the first to abandon their loyal Imperial shelter and run towards the Interstellar Alliance stronghold.

"All firepower systems online, and clear the way for them!" A beetle sergeant shouted the combat order. He then ordered the intelligent soldiers to quickly move out of the formation, allowing the refugees to reach the federal camp unimpeded.

So, as these humans passed by powerful weapons that did not harm them at all, they finally realized that the hateful aliens and heretics were now protecting them.

"Why are you blocking our way, Sergeant Lightlin? You should return to the team quickly and resume your duties in the expedition." Some of the ghouls who broke through the PDF shelter gave orders to the "subhuman soldiers" in his eyes in a dignified tone.

"Open fire, destroy them all." Although the attitude of the zombies was much more polite than that of the authentic old imperial people, this time the Federation repaid kindness with evil.

After the first batch of naturalized people appeared, the rest of the work became simple. With these people as representatives, the people of the Empire no longer found it so difficult to accept decisions such as the Federation's surrender.

As a result, the population search and rescue and monster cleanup activities made great progress. As the cleanup operation progressed, federal soldiers used various propaganda machines and personally walked into the neighborhoods that were completely destroyed by the infected to carry out saturation rescue of at least one billion people in the following week.

This number is quite terrifying because it is the result of the infection and elimination of more than 90% of the residents of the industrial world, which originally had more than 10 billion people.

After gathering these refugees and confirming that there were no Deep Infected among them, the Federation began to transport these humans onto ships and into space. When night fell on the planet Karen, the lights of the transport ships illuminated the ruins, and groups of civilians boarded the ships under the guidance of soldiers, leaving this hellish land.

Carlton stood at the hatch of the transport, watching those who had once looked at him with anger and fear now walk towards safety with gratitude and hope. A young boy ran up to him and timidly pulled at his combat boots.

"Thank you, sir, and may the Emperor bless you." The boy's voice was sincere, but there was something fishy about the object of his prayer.

Carlton felt unsure what to say. "In any case, I hope the Emperor will bless me better. Anyway, thank you for your blessing, child."

When the last transport ship took off, there was no one on the surface of the planet Karen who was safe from madness.

"There's nothing worth lingering here. Let it burn."

Red lotus fire fell from the sky.

48. Subsequent Closure and Continuation

The cleanup of the corrupted planet was completed quickly, and in fact it was arguably the easiest part of the entire incident.

After the Federation's detectors showed that there were no normal creatures in the usual sense on the entire planet, the breath of the super beast became the only treatment it should receive next.

The full-load orbital bombardment and the breath of the super beast were serious and cruel. Every inch of the planet's surface was burned, the already few hydrospheres were evaporated, and all organic structures that could be called biomass were completely denatured in the high temperature.

Eventually, all traces of civilization vanished from this former industrial world, leaving the desolate landscape once again as the only sight. After a period of testing to ensure the negative effects of psychic energy had subsided, perhaps it could be made habitable again, but at this point, it was a lifeless land.

Those bloodthirsty monsters that died in orbital bombardments were still happy until the last moment of their lives, unlike most of the inhabitants of this universe.

The frantic governor still imagined at the last moment that the orbital bombardment beam was the holy light sent down by the Emperor of Mankind, whom they believed in. Even though he, a human, had mutated to the point of being completely unhuman, like a giant bat crawling on the ground.

With the persuasion of the people from the capital industrial planet, the residents of the remaining two rural planets quickly laid down their weapons and decided to obey the arrangements of the Interstellar Alliance.

After the Federation fleet spent six months observing and ensuring that there were no more signs of ghoul infection among the refugees, we placed them in a temporary shantytown on one of the rural planets that was quickly built by the Federation engineering team.

Although it is a shantytown, the average quality of life is improved compared to the previous industrial world. After all, the difference in living standards has been greatly narrowed.

By interviewing survivors, we now understand how the infection broke out, from the contamination of the food production system by corrupted Imperial Governors.

This thing must have a source of infection, but it must not be here. Where this zombie plague came from, how it came from, and when it entered this planet is another huge mystery. I am afraid that the people of the Federation will have to face these old opponents in the future.

Soon, Federation factory ships will arrive to construct new Void Citadels and Star Fortresses, with enough firepower to ensure that this planet is even better defended than before, ensuring that we have complete control of this area.

Afterwards, a new management center composed of immigrants from this Void Citadel will take over the administration of the galaxy. They are absolutely reliable and dedicated.

In other words, without doing one's best, one would not be qualified for this job, because the management of the human empire is so bad that the challenge to our administrative system and bureaucratic team is simply unimaginable. Those who are willing to temporarily do the work for the locals are true idealists.

Although the original infrastructure of the industrial planet has been reduced to ash, through the oral accounts of the locals, we can still understand how terrible the environment was. For example, their daily diet consists of synthetic nutritional paste, the synthetic materials even include the corpses of their own kind, and this kind of food is not edible.

As for those rural worlds, which the Empire calls backward agricultural worlds, they have rather extensive management, backward social systems and all the problems that come with them.

From our point of view, these two worlds are not even suitable for large-scale population settlement outside the capital colony, because the wilderness here has ecological problems caused by both the natural environment of the planet and the ecological problems caused by human activities.

The latter includes disorderly population growth caused by backward environment and alien invasion. Local residents are often hunted by dangerous wild animals called ant bulls, which they even brought with them.

There's no need to work so hard just for a bite of food.

It was all a disgusting mess, and after the relevant crude administrative charts were made public, calls for the immediate execution of all the top officials in the empire became rampant again.

However, how to solve these messes is not something the military needs to consider, even though the federal military's infrastructure capabilities are indeed good.

Although the situation here is a mess, the expedition has to continue. The Federation's expansion in the Eastern World spans five star systems in one go, including two imperial colonies. These are two backward civilizations with atomic-level technology. Compared with the Karen world, they are not worth mentioning. Soon under the diplomatic and military pressure of the Federation, they announced their change of allegiance.

The empire is just a distant legend to the residents of these worlds. If the taxes from the Damocles expedition had not been levied on them, they might have long forgotten the imperial court on the other side of the starry sky.

At this point, the Federation's current quantum leap has reached the limit of its functionality, and more distant star regions will become difficult to manage due to the efficiency of information and logistics transmission.

The Federation did not want to create a remote and isolated border kingdom like the territory of the Human Empire, so many warships immediately changed direction and continued to advance towards the southern star field.

The entire southern star field is so empty. There is only one imperial world in the five star systems. It is an ocean planet, and the creatures on it... are probably humans.

Although the Empire always emphasizes the purity of humanity, they have never conducted any genetic therapy for their own species! In any case, these highly aquatic humans with gills and scales will soon come under our rule.

The Empire has always implemented a subtle policy of exclusion against demihumans deemed too abnormal. These murlocs' living conditions have deteriorated, and they are also burdened with the obligation to pay tithes, which has fostered a rebellious mentality.

We also found some relics left by pioneers here. The alien civilization that created these relics seemed to be an arthropod species with a huge horn and shell, like some kind of rhinoceros beetle standing up.