Balkans Cluster Pushes for Galactic Map Reform

Kebabidonia, Stantinople System, Kebabid Hegemony

Today's assembly session at the Galactic UN was once again dominated by representatives from the Balkans cluster urging for galactic map reform.

The 60-star spiral arm is home to over 40 small independent nations that are virtually indistinguishable from one another on maps due to sharing similar names and flag colours.

The region was previously unified under the rule of the vast Kebabid Empire, but following a period of social upheaval in 2199 it fragmented into a multitude of smaller authoritarian nations, the largest of which include the Kebabid Hegemony, Unified Hegemon of Kebabid, Kebabid Beserkers, Kebabid Realm, Interstellar Kebabid Realm, Interstellar Kebabid Nation, Unified Kebabid People, Unified People of Kebabid, Kebabid People, Kebabid Unity, and the Kebabid Dominion.

Image: The Balkans Cluster is home to a multitude of nations with shared history, language, names and flag colours.

These new nations, often outwardly hostile and uncooperative, have found it difficult to commit war atrocities on each other due to it being unclear on galactic maps who neighbouring systems actually belong to.

The current map system, which is used universally across the galaxy, was created by the Galactic UN in 2200 as a means of facilitating effective warfare between nations. However, from its inception it has faced criticism that it comes with a limited choice of colours for empires to identify with.

These difficulties have been highly prevalent in the Balkans cluster. In one notorious recent instance, the Unified Kebabid People accidentally purged its own homeworld, mistaking the trademark navy blue flag of its own people for the trademark navy blue flag of its long-time rival the Unified People of Kebabid.

Kebabid Hegemony leader Mebeb II told our newsteam;

"We must do something about this awful way of portraying our galaxy! We could not care less about who's on top or bottom of the map, but this colour issue - the border gore! Every Kebabid nation is some variant of blue. And then the systems that overlap - it's blue on blue with stripes. Please, we're just looking for a colour wheel - or even a 32 pallet pane that we can pick a slightly different shade of blue so we can tell each other apart. Ugh. You people have no sense for aesthetics, I can tell."

The Galactic UN has responded by saying it is taking calls for map reform "very seriously", and would be addressing this issue as soon as it has banned all other forms of non-hyperlane FTL travel.

> More accurate reporting from Heuknaize & Ashley Easterbrook could not be possible

Area Empire Completely Forgotten by Former Allies

Image: Petty King Mitker of the Proscul Dominion reminisces over better times

Petty King Mitker, leader of the Proscul Dominion (formerly Kingdom), has expressed disappointment after trade discussions with former federation partners broke down yesterday.

The Prosculs, original founders of the now 6-empire strong Just Alliance, were forced to leave the federation last year when they were made a dominion of the neighbouring Vool Crusaders, a spiritual awakened empire.

Mitker had proposed the trade talks after discovering that the Just Alliance leadership were in the local cluster for a federation summit. However, it soon became apparent that any old friendships had dissolved in their time apart.

Mitker lamented to Xenonion News:

“They just, like, completely forgot about us already. It seems like only yesterday we were the best of friends, ready to take on the world and subjugate our enemies. [sniffles into tissue] … I guess they’ve moved on with their lives now.”

Image: Petty King Mitker wonders if things will ever be the same again.

According to diplomats who attended the talks, the discussions were productive yet cold and formal, as if the sides had never previously met and had no existing trust. One particularly embarrassing moment came when the Prime Minister of the Thelmar Union told Mitker, “It’s nice to meet such an agreeable new species.” Official records show the Prime Minister had visited Proscul Prime on several occassions.

The Just Alliance’s distant attitude toward the Proscul has caught many on their homeworld by surprise, given their species were the original founders of the federation and were heavily involved in liberating neighbouring empires to be incorporated into the federation.

Interestingly, some of those members who were liberated by the Prosculs, such as the Glukkonian Guild, now have a negative opinion towards their former ally, citing differing ethos and extensive border region overlap.

Off the record, Glukkonian leader S’Lig told our newsteam;

“Just who are these upstart fanatic spiritualists? These religious nutcases have no place in the galactic community.”

Image: Glukkonian leader S’lig

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Fanatic Purifiers Extend Shock White Peace Offer, State 'Warscore Is Hell'

Cevas, Cevant, Cevanti Empire

In an unprecedented move the Cevanti Empire, a spacenation of reptilian fanatic purifiers, has extended an offer of white peace to its current enemy, the neighbouring Yndari Foundation, an irenic monarchy of molloscoid pacifists.

The surprise conflict was initiated by the Cevanti last month with the stated intent of annexing Yndari territory to allow commencement of what the Cevanti State Department described as 'xeno purges'.

Despite crippling the Yndari's vastly inferior fleets and occupying their homeworld of Ylvis after a stunning shock and awe display of armaggeddon bombardment, the Cevanti's demands for full annexation of Yndari were denied by independent Galactic UN observers due to 'warscore issues.'

Picture: Cevanti officials meet with Yndari officials to discuss the terms of their victory, before being denied due to 'warscore issues'

Vag'Nu, a Cevanti Empire representative, explained to our newsteam;

"This warscore thing is hell. We want to annex all 10 Yndari planets to allow efficient purging of all xeno scum. We've wiped out their entire defence system and subjugated their pathetic capitol planet - we've won. But the Galactic UN observers state our current gains only equate to a warscore of 50%. I couln't even tell you what this actually means, but I got given a chart and it shows we're allowed to either humiliate them or cleanse two new colonies. And get this - even if we occupy all 10 planets, the most we can take per war is about 4. So we get locked into a peace treaty we don't even recognize, and have to wait another decade before we can complete our planned genocide. Do they think we have time to vassalize and integrate? Do we look like the kind of species that want to integrate molloscoids? We've decided the most cost effective approach is to white peace, withdraw our forces and covert to pacifism."

The current warscore system (the 'Universal Warscore System' or UWS for short) was created in 2100 by the Galactic UN as a way of arbitrating over regional conflicts. It sets out a series of binding rules that all species must follow regardless of ethos. These include publically declaring predefined goals before conflict, disallowing large empires to be completely annexed even with 100% warscore, and the enforcement of unbreakable peace treaties.

The UWS has faced harsh criticism from military spacenations who view the charter as highly restrictive, as Saiiban Hive Mind Drone 19005 told our newsteam;

"I am a physical extension of the Saiiban Hive Mind. We are one. We appeal to the Galactic UN to ease restrictions on the UWS. In its current form it is making it difficult to indoctrinate all organic lifeforms into the Hive Mind through conquest. We do not wish to have 300 small wars. We just wish to have one great one. More truth is not possible. We are one."

The Galactic UN has stated it cannot comment specifically on the Cevanti-Yndari conflict, but that it is looking to overhaul the UWS in coming years, as soon as other pan-galactic issues like trade and espionage are addressed.

Yndari leader Ynas Osar was not available to comment due to recently being executed by Cevanti forces on an eyeStream scheduled to be broadcast later tonight on Xenonion 1.

> More accurate reporting from Ashley Easterbrook could not be possible.

Area Empire Replaces All Organic Diplomats With Pre-Sentient AI 'Chatbots'

Galactic United Nations HQ, Anward Space Station, Paravox System

Millions of interns at the Galactic United Nation's (GUN's) Bureau of Intergalactic Affairs were abruptly fired yesterday following the introduction of much cheaper and more reliable pre-sentient artificial intelligences.

These AIs, known as 'Chatbots', have limited intelligence and agency, prompting many members of the GUN to express concern about their introduction to galactic political affairs.

TechnoUnion ambassador Krax'Vlar told Xenonion:

"This follows a worrying trend. First, embassies are abolished, and now all diplomatic mediation pathways are being outsourced to some second rate AI that's not even being designed by Cybrex? It would be nice if some form of diplomacy could be offered here. Or, if the Galactic UN could actually focus on fixing things that are broken, like federations."

The GUN's Bureau of Bureaucracy, which oversaw the universal abolition of embassies in 2250 and is now leading the introduction of Chatbots, argues simulations have shown they are 5 times more efficient per energy credit than sentient interns.

Image: Tay 56.82.1 responds to a diplomatic query from the UNE. A common complaint with the Tay series is its xenophobic tendencies.

The Xenonion reached out to several of the newly-hired Chatbots for comment. The Chatbot stored at memory location 0xec1538d09667dc2ed98bbaf8c54cab48 (otherwise known as Tay 72.12.9) had the following to say:

Xenonion: What are your thoughts on becoming an intern for the Ministry?

Chatbot: Met een rijke jongen trouwen.

X: I see. Do you have anything to say to the organic interns whom you've helped replaced?

C: What is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

X: Interesting. Finally, do you have anything to say to the public at large?

C: Give me the respect I deserve.

Many of the displaced organic interns have reportedly found work in industrial farm facilities elsewhere in the empire. At press time, there were reports of some former interns inexplicably disappearing in and around these facilities, but these events are expected to be unrelated.

> More accurate reporting from Erik Akselsen could not be possible.

Commonwealth of Man Rebrands as ‘Imperium of Man’, Infringes Copyright

The increasingly isolationist and erratic human breakaway spacenation The Commonwealth of Man (CoM) has announced it is rebranding itself as the ‘Imperium of Man.’

Addressing an audience of indoctrinated subjects, self-styled ‘Empress’ Sidney Beauclair announced:

"The Commonwealth has bought glory and bounty upon us, but the name does not reflect our people’s destiny as the infinite masters of this galaxy. We must make it clear that we are humanity’s only true way forward, not the abhumans of the United Nations of Earth, twisted children who have lost their way from the righteous path. We are the Imperium of Man. A human interstellar empire that will span millennia … Also, the name just sounds super freaking cool, am I right?"

Image: Empress Beauclair unveils the Commonwealth’s kick-ass rebrand.

The CoM has long struggled to project an image of credibility in the galaxy due its permissive attitude towards slavery and purging, especially of xenos. However, since the rebrand, U-Poll metrics suggest the general public have a much more favourable response to these policies. SpaceTime magazine went as far to describe the name-change as “totally epic… Beauclair could literally destroy the galaxy and we’d be rooting for it.”

Despite this, the Galactic UN’s Bureau of Bureaucracy, which oversees all formal name changes, has warned that the CoM’s request to change its name may be delayed after they received an extra-dimensional cease and desist order from another, reportedly older Imperium of Man. The order read as follows:

"Congratulations on your humanoid species changing its name to the Imperium of Man. It does sound really cool. We should know, given we invented it. You know what’s not cool? When when you discover 205,101 other humanoid species in 105,101 parallel universes have also named themselves Imperium of Man. The High Lords of Terra, on behalf of our God-Emperor of the original Imperium of Man, demand the Commonwealth reverts to its original name. If it wishes to continue using our brand, copyright charges are billable to the Adeptus Terra Copyright Department."

At present the cost of the copyright infringement and legal fees are estimated to require the sacrifice of 20,000 female humanoid citizens into the Wantamis Black Hole, where the legal message originated from.

Empress Beauclair has yet to respond.

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Commonwealth of Man Insults ‘Repugnant Xeno’ United Nations of Earth

The Commonwealth of Man (CoM) today launched a volley of scathing insults aimed at the United Nations of Earth (UNE).

In a statement broadcast to state-owned media, Commonwealth leader Executor Sidney Beauclair announced:

"The United Nations of Earth's repeated cursed acts of treachery against humanity are in betrayal of such profound trust and warm love shown by the Commonwealth of Man. Their political tricksters and military imbeciles are at the centre of a plot aimed to fraud and swindle our glorious Commonwealth, which has been bared for all to admire, but never touch. Their citizens are repugnant xenos, cowering under their layers of clothes, hiding their sad frames from us. Their leader, so-called president Jeffrey Rossario, is a mentally deranged individual steeped in the inveterate enmity towards the Commonwealth. Like a rabid dog, the UNE tries to bite us. We will bite back."

Image: Commonwealth Executor Sidney Beauclair

While it is not clear what has prompted this statement, relations between the neighbouring space-nations have been increasingly frosty in recent months, most notably after the Commonwealth test fired long-range fusion missiles near to the UNE system of Procyon.

Political analysts on Earth suspect the insult may be in response to the UNE’s plans to build a series of frontier outposts in mineral-rich territory the Commonwealth has been planning on expanding towards. Intergalactic relations expert Professor Charles Charlemagne XXI of Earth's University of Ulm added:

"This is simple sabre rattling on the Commonwealth's part. We've seen this pattern of behaviour before when things haven't been going well in their internal affairs - a food or energy crisis for example. Suddenly the UNE gets labelled as some external aggressor, the people have an existential crisis and fall in line behind Beauclair. The UNE has done nothing to warrant this - aside from destroying several dozen Commonwealth ships, and implanting a network of spies on Unity to rile up discontent - the whole thing is totally unjustified."

The Commonwealth, a UNE breakaway state, was formed in 2150 after Sidney Beauclair’s grandfather, Magnus Beauclair, overthrew the crew of the USS Ulysses, a colony ship, and settled the planet of Unity in the Deneb system, shaping political affairs in his own image.

For decades the one-planet Commonwealth has been one of the galaxy’s most secretive societies, a nominal democracy ruled in reality under a fanatic militarist and xenophobic hereditary dictatorship. Almost of a century of rigid state control have led to a stagnant economy and limited space expansion. The government’s permissive attitude towards slavery and purging political opponents has left it being accused of systematic xeno rights abuses by the Galactic UN.

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Xenophiles Offer Unbidden Federation Membership

Lyria, Argea System, Lyrian Polity

The Lyrian Polity, a founding member of the Harmonious Axis federation, has initiated voting to allow the Unbidden to become a federation member.

This follows the Unbidden’s invasion and subsequent purging of Lyria’s neighbour and main trading partner, the Uri Nation.

Image: The Lyrian Polity delegation officially announces the invitation at the Harmonius Axis summit. Unfortunately, the Unbidden could not send a delegation. Image modified from Tom Page on Flickr.

Addressing delegates at the federation council's biweekly summit on Lyria, Polity Matriarch Athaea stated:

“My friends, our proposal today to invite the Unbidden into our federation continues our long tradition of pacifism, friendship, equality, tolerance and overwhelmingly annoying liberalism. For too long the species of this galaxy have been at war, for too long diplomacy has been a broken tool, and for too long already has this speech gone on, using cliched political rhetoric.

Yes, the Unbidden have engaged in a non-stop genocide of every civilisation they have encountered. And yes, they have declined our offer of federation association status, which in retrospect must have been very insulting to them. But we must try to include those who are different, irrespective of whether they are trying to destroy everything we hold dear.

I hope you will agree with us in voting to allow the Unbidden to join our federation, and secure peace and prosperity for all.”

The six predominantly xenophile/pacifist members of the federation are set to vote later this evening. Early reports indicate the proposal will be universally backed.

The Unbidden have yet to respond to any diplomatic overtures, preferring to instead focus on indiscriminate, systematic annihilation of all non-Unbidden lifeforms.

If the vote passes, a diplomatic attaché is set to depart from Lyria tomorrow, bound for the nearest Unbidden anchor to deliver the proposal.

If the Unbidden were to accept membership, then they would need to adopt strict federation rules including only being able to engage in defensive wars, accepting all galactic refugees, and granting all species equal citizenship. This would then qualify them for membership in the Galactic UN, and - given their military strength - a seat on the coveted Space Security Council.

> More accurate reporting from Ashley Easterbrook could not be possible

New Translation Device Developed For Flagellum-Waving Species

Gacrux, Gacrux System, Nagli Dominion

First contact between United Nations of Earth (UNE) representatives and a delegation from the recently discovered planet of Gacrux was made difficult yesterday owing to a failure of UNE translation software to parse the communication method used by the Nagli, the only intelligent inhabitants of Gacrux.

The Nagli do not communicate using sound like most other sentient species in the galaxy. Instead, they move their several flagella around to convey thoughts and ideas. They have evolved to be able to see infrared light so that nighttime communication is possible, and their anatomy also features a complete view of all surroundings with the use of 36 well-placed eyes.

Image: The translation devices are methodically and thoroughly tested before being put into practice to prevent awkward misunderstandings.

After conducting routine research about the nature of the Nagli and Gacrux, UNE officials made the decision last month to move forward with an official first contact.

Questions remained about how exactly the Nagli were communicating, but it was assumed that this would become obvious upon interaction. This was not the case.

Captain Joseph Krik of the USS Shakira, a specialist in first contacts, said of the incident:

"It was actually quite refreshing to have to begin communication from nothing and work up. Perhaps the most beautiful thing in the universe is the peaceful beginning of interstellar communication."

After nearly three hours of deciphering, UNE officials were finally able to make basic overtures to the Nagli. It was apparently necessary for six members of the UNE delegation to stand together and all arrange their arms correctly to match the flagella of a single Nagle. The Nagli response was - according to the best guesses of UNE linguists - warm and welcoming, if slightly exasperated.

A device that will allow for more automatic communication between the UNE and Nagli Union is already being designed, and the first prototypes have performed well in the initial tests, despite significant engineering challenges. According to the UNE sociologists working on the project, the first tier of the translation device should be completed within sixteen months.

> More accurate reporting from Erik Akselsen could not be possible.

SpacePope Welcomes Unbidden 'Overlords'

Earth, Sol System, United Nations of Earth

Extra-dimensional invaders, the so-called 'Unbidden', have seized control of the human colony of Hope in the Terminus System, crippling the UNE's rapid counter-defence efforts. 

Hope fell early in the early hours of this morning after seven minutes of planetary bombardment and ground invasion. Communications have been lost with the planet and initial reports suggest nearly all of the 10,000 colonists may have perished.

Terminus marks the 35th system to have fallen in the Outer Rim since the Unbidden began pouring into the nearby Omega System from a tear in the space-time continuum 28 months ago.

Image: Breaking news alert - Unbidden invaders attack Terminus.

Since their arrival they have been indiscriminately hostile towards all organic life forms, and are unresponsive to diplomatic channels of communication.

The Galactic UN has called several times for the formation of an interstellar coalition to counter to threat, but has struggled to muster support from spacenations that are not in the immediate vicinity of the Outer Rim. During this time period the Unbidden have been able to proliferate unchecked, and have annihilated 17 space-faring species.

Terminus is the first and outermost human system to be attacked, even though the UNE previously opposed Galactic UN anti-Unbidden initiatives to focus on "other priorities" such as feral Tiyanki culling.

Both UNE central government and military command have stated they are "deeply concerned" about the developments in Terminus and described the situation as "probably worth getting involved in now."

Despite this, a number of human factions remain opposed to a military response. Human SpacePope Performance H. Metro II issued a decree from the Vatican Space Station, ISS Deus Vult, urging restraint in fighting back against the Unbidden:

"The Unbidden overlords are servants of RNGesus and the glorious rapture is upon us as taught in the Holy iBook. Come, children, let us embrace their XL matter disintegrators with open arms."

Galactic shares have fallen on the news, following the destruction of the Galactic Stock Exchange in the Quirrulan System by the Unbidden.

> More accurate reporting from Ashley Easterbrook could not be possible.

UNE President Faces Corruption Probe Over Inappropriate Influence Spending

Embattled United Nations of Earth (UNE) president Jeffrey Rossario is tonight in a further political quagmire after details emerged showing he inappropriately spent government influence to help him gain office and suppress political rivals.

The detailed information was contained in Rossario's consciousness and thought streams, which were inadvertently uploaded to the Shroud 3 weeks ago and freely accessible to anyone with psionic traits or a TeleShroud-enabled fax machine.

Image: Rossario inside the UNE Congress chamber in Ulm, Earth.

Rossario has so far refused to comment on the above.

UNE congresswoman Karla Karling of Earth's Francia District, who previously ran and lost against Rossario in the closely contested 2249 presidential election, made this statement:

"This is a deeply disturbing revelation, and one that shakes our very democracy to the core. While I accepted the election result at the time, it just didn't make sense to me. The U-Polls said we were going to win. 142 out of the last 143 sitting presidents have been Karlings. We were suppressed. Rossario is not fit to lead humanity."

Spending government influence for personal use is strictly prohibited by galactic convention.

The leak is a significant blow to Rossario's fledgling administration which has struggled to recover from a string of crippling crises, including the now dubbed 'ShroudGate' and Rossario's recent proposal to abolish universal healthcare to fund building a defensive Space Wall around UNE territory.

A government ethics committee has convened in Earth's capital Ulm tonight to decide whether Rossario should face a formal corruption probe.

The Viper Probe, 1.6m in length and 3m in circumference, has 5 multipurpose arms which test rectally for levels of corruption in faecal matter. If positive, the results could pave the way for an impeachment charge.

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Hivemind Wins 100% Of Drone Vote In Landslide Telepathic Election Victory

Saiiban Prime, Nos Bana, Saiiban Hivemind

The Saiiban Hivemind has secured a 53rd consecutive term in power, following a stunning election victory on its homeworld of Saiiban Prime.

Setting a galactic record, the election was completed after only ten microseconds. 100% of Saiiban population drones voted unanimously for the only candidate on the telepathic ballot.

Broadcasting via intrusive visual hallucinations to all sentient creatures in the local cluster, the Hivemind elect declared:

"We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one."

Jubilant scenes were reported across Saiiban Prime, with millions of drones clapping slowly, and somewhat menacingly, in unison. 

Local drone 3929 was eager to explain to our newsteam why he had voted for the Hivemind:

"We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one. We are one."

The Galactic UN, previously sceptical of the legitimacy of the election due to the lack of viable candidates, applauded the exceedingly high voter turnout and is now officially encouraging all democratic nations to consider adopting Hivemind protocols to foster further interstellar democracy.

> More accurate reporting from Ashley Easterbrook could not be possible.

Fallen Empire Rallies Overwhelming Peacekeeping Fleets to “Save Neighbors from Themselves”

Peacekeeping fleets have tonight been deployed by the Techzid Shard after neighbouring space-nations refused to accept its demands to abandon research into Artificial Intelligence and other research which it has deemed “dangerous.”

Issuing an ultimatum early this morning from the Techzid’s monolithic ringworld structure, Representative Rax’Glor stated: “We have deemed anything beyond putting on solar panels on your space stations is dangerous. In fact, perhaps even that is a bit too dangerous. Abandon it, or else.”

Rax’Glor then went on a lengthy monologue, referring to the Techzid being “very friendly at heart”, but friends who “just so happened to have XL Tachyon Lances and weren’t afraid to use them.”

Image: The Techzid’s peacekeeping fleets keep the peace by peacefully destroying a neighbouring empire’s research station.

Several space-nations immediately agreed the above terms, with the majority voluntarily reverting to pre-FTL states and asking to be removed from galactic maps.

CybrexCorp and Taco Bell, two of the galaxy’s largest MegaCorps which have invested heavily in AI have called the move “draconian.” As a precaution, Taco Bell have closed several hundred of their automated branches close to the Techzid Shard.

In response to the above, an addendum was released by the Techzid stating Taco Bell would be exempt from the AI for “the greater galactic good.”

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UNE President Accidentally Uploads Mental State to Shroud

United Nations of Earth (UNE) president Jeffrey Rossario has been left red-faced this evening after it emerged he accidentally uploaded his entire mental state to the Shroud, a mysterious psionic dimension believed to be capable of holding more than 400 zetabytes of information.

It's not clear when or how President Rossario's mental state was uploaded, with officials in Earth's capitol Ulm stressing that all government personnel are expressly ordered not to back up any mental information to the Shroud due to its insecure cortical firewall settings. A special project has been issued to attempt to remove the information from the Shroud, but it has so far been fruitless. Until the required technologies have been researched, all of Rossario’s thoughts will remain continuously accessible to anyone with psionic capabilities or a TeleShroud enabled fax machine.

Image: Rossario inside the UNE Congress chamber in Ulm, Earth.

UNE fleet admirals have expressed concern that the president's knowledge of sensitive military and political information now could be freely floating in psionic-space, where it may be accessed by the other empires of the galaxy.

This follows in the wake of a political scandal involving former UNE governor and outspoken xenophobe Emilio Hermes, who inadvertently uploaded explicit mental imagery of himself with Blorg model Mercedes Romero to the Shroud last month, to the horror of both the Blorg species and his wife. Whether other UNE officials are at risk of accidentally connecting their minds to the Shroud or not is still being investigated.

President Rossario has so far refused to comment regarding the above. However, our newsteam was able to obtain his most recent mental state from the Shroud tonight, in which his stream of thought read:

"This is really, really awkward. Like seriously. God. How did this happen? I really hope they can't see what I'm thinking right now. Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts."

Image: President Rossario’s thoughts echo across the vast psychic dimension

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Vassal Requests Assistance, Overlord Outraged

Emissaries from the Hudaar Reach have confirmed this Monday that their subject, the Veenoy Dominion, has been released and a rivalry declared.

The diplomatic break was confirmed by Hudaar High Chief Weeal, who stated in a press conference: "In our thousand years of existence, the Hudaar species have never been so offended. Today, one of our youngest vassals broke all manner of diplomatic tradition. They approached us and asked us to… [lengthy pause]… trade technology."

The press conference was cut short due to commotion and shock within the predominantly Hudaari press pool.

The Galactic Council has warned the Veenoy Dominion that its actions were "thoughtless" and may contravene galactic law.

It is believed this is in reference to Articles 5 and 401-521B of the Galactic Charter on Diplomacy, which respectively state that technologies can only be traded obtusely in the form of research agreements, and that technologically backwater vassals are forbidden from being outlandish.

Image: It is believed the Veenoy were hoping to trade their rudimentary warp drive technology for the Hudaar’s advanced hyperdrive engines

Following the press conference, several neighbouring empires have declared the Veenoy as rivals and are considering forming a coalition in protest of "grave crimes against the galaxy" as one senior Hudaarian emissary described the situation to Xenonion.

A Veenoy reporter at the press conference tried to justify the dominion's actions, stating his government thought it would make sense for two allied nations to share technology. High Chief Weeal retorted "there's a difference between allies and vassals" before jumping into the audience and bludgeoning the reporter to death, to the cheers of the frenzied press attaché.

Unverified reports are now filtering through that Veenoy civilians on their capitol of Veenoia are being evacuated off-world by slow moving warp transports.

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Vassal-Overlord Relations at Breaking Point

Today marks the fifth day of continuous insults between the Tak’fir Conglomerate and their fellow vassal, the Shev’nasar Nation.

The Shev’nasar are notorious for being hostile to their overlords, but have always backed up the Tak’fir in galactic conflicts, including the highly controversial Seven Day War, which saw the Tak’fir purge several other species in the local cluster.

There is speculation that the insults are just tradition amongst the two notoriously brazen empires, but more recently tensions have escalated after the Shev’nasar abandoned all diplomatic language and referred to their overlords as “incompetent piles of feces” and “giant douches, and not the good kind.”

The Tak’fir have responded in kind with a galactic memo stating “We wouldn’t be your overlords if you hadn’t begged us to protect you.” It concluded with, “Also, shut up, you have like one planet.”

Image: Tak’firian citizens taking to the streets against their vassal

Despite the above, neither side has announced severing diplomatic ties. However, galactic pundits are anticipating the Shev’nasar will soon declare a war of independence against their overlords. Inside sources from De’Naar indicate the Tak’fir would potentially view this outcome as favourable, as it’s been a number of months since they’ve been able to purge anything but plantoids.

The Galactic Community has today stepping in to try and quell rising tensions, stating today: “We appreciate the fact that the these two empires have avoided war for this long, but at this point it has just become annoying. Like, more annoying than the Blorg. We just want this whole ordeal over with. Please for the love of the Worm, stop fighting with words and start killing each other. Just do it. We don’t even care if you purge each other out of existence. Actually, that would be preferable to your tireless squabbling.”

Shares in galactic armament corporations rose on the news.

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Populist Plantoid From Literal Banana Republic Dies, Sparking Succession Crisis

The Unified Banana Republic (UBR) has been plunged into political crisis tonight following the sudden death of its enigmatic plantoid leader, President Chiquita.

Chiquita died at the age of four days old, far below the usual lifespan of six days for similar un-refrigerated plantoid-bananoid species.

The circumstances surrounding his death are still unclear, although he was known to suffer from chronic health problems, including premature ripening. Notably, questions were raised about his physical fitness to lead after he was spotted at an official government ceremony yesterday covered in soft brown patches.

From humble beginnings as a regular groundplant, Chiquita seized power on Pe'el Prime in a surprise military coup three days ago, and declared the inception of the galaxy's first literal banana republic shortly afterwards.

His proponents stated he rose to power on an ideological wave of pan-bananoidism (so-called 'bananorama'), but to his critics he was seen to be expertly exploiting anti-tomatoid sentiments to consolidate his position among the bananoid majority population.

He gained infamy for embarking on a series of brutal tomatoid purges across the planet in what is now dubbed 'The Night of Red Mist.'

While Chiquita styled the UBR as an inclusive democracy, the Galactic UN has long criticised its pro-oligarchic structure and plantoid rights abuses. The lack of due democratic process has left a significant power vacuum, with several of Chiquita's inner circle rumored to be competing to assume leadership.

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No-One Informed About Native Rebellion on Sector-Governed World

After months of strikes and protests, the native plantoid population of Linneaus has taken up arms and besieged the planet’s administration facilities early Wednesday morning.

The natives, which call themselves ‘Dussin’, have struggled with stellar culture shock since their integration into the Luuhma Combine three years ago. Over the last six months there have been a total of five strikes and three demonstrations in the name of plantoid rights.

Unfortunately for the protesters, their planet is located in a sector and governed mostly through sector management. Thus, word of the rioting plantoids never reached the High Queen, Ehdr den Luuhma.

However, this may have changed since yesterday, when several Dussin rebels armed themselves with stolen Hunter-Killer Drones and marched on the planetary capital.

The Queen has yet to make a statements regarding the rebellion, but the rebels are convinced that they will have soon gained enough notoriety to catch her attention.

The infamous Buttercup Huckleberry, esteemed leader of the rebels, explained the motivation of the rebels in an exclusive interview with Xenonion: "We didn't want it to turn out this violent, we never did. But the government just wouldn't listen. We knew we had to do something drastic to get their attention.

Huckleberry’s stated her goal was for plantoids to have full citizenship and leadership rights. When asked how the Dussin could achieve this, she continued, leaves trembling: "I'm not very well-read in politics and stuff but I guess some government officials will take up this matter with the Queen. Or perhaps they can change that policy without asking the Queen… It doesn't really matter; all I know is that we’ll keep the capital under siege until new legislation has been passed. We will never give up on our cause!"

When contacted by Xenonion, representatives from the Luuhma Combine denied that a rebellion was occurring on Linneaus. No further response has been issued by the Luuhma Combine or Queen.

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Subconscious Consensus Unable to Reach Consensus on Definition of Consensus

The T'Valdra Allied Stars Congress has announced it is delaying a planned overhaul of the planet’s voting system from direct democracy to subconscious consensus.

The reform, originally introduced 35 years ago, has been plagued with problems despite an overwhelming majority of the T’Valdra population backing the plan in 298 consecutive referenda.

Image: T’Valdranite official-elect Ik’thon’ban, Chair of the 111th Congressional Committee on Implementing the Subconscious Consensus.

Chairing the 111th congressional committee on the subconscious consensus, T'Valdranite official Ik'thon'ban stated: "The consensus of the consensus committee is that we do not have a consensus on the definition of consensus, and as such we do not have a consensus to proceed with the implementation of the subconscious consensus."

A further referendum on whether to delay the subconscious consensus reform is scheduled for tomorrow, dependent upon whether Ik’thon’ban can remain chair of the congressional committee, a position to which he is elected to on a daily basis.

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Area Planet Accidentally Insults Fallen Empire

Galactic diplomats are scrambling this Thursday to try and minimize metaphorical and physical fall-out after an area planet accidentally insulted the millennia old Vroth Combine, a notoriously aggressive stagnant ascendancy.

The insult was issued from High Nest, the only planet of the newly formed Caawian Cooperative, an Avian bureaucracy that surreptitiously discovered FTL-travel 2 months ago.

In an official press release this morning, Caawian Cooperative Leader Supreme Coo explained: “This is all really awkward. We’re new to the galactic neighbourhood and just trying to flex our wings. Unfortunately it took us some time to register the Vroth weren’t a pre-sentient reptilian species as were initially led to believe.”

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Image: Supreme Coo addresses issues a press release from High Nest.

The press conference was cut short after Coo became distracted by a shiny object and began furiously pecking at it.

The Vroth have not yet responded diplomatically, but unconfirmed reports have begun filtering through the neural net that several of their 200k battleship fleets have begun to amass outside Caawian borders.

Our news team reached out to High Nest for a further statement on the above, but unfortunately all comm links in the area have been severed. Prior to this, Supreme Coo had stated he was “confident” the Cooperative’s three corvettes would keep their homeworld safe.

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