Author's Note:
This was supposed to be the third and final alternate timeline of my stories between Mass Effect and Earth-2126/Universe-2126.
But it ended up being a sort of one-shot/prequel to the three Mass Effect stories. (Rogue Effect: Planeswalker, Knight, and Engineer;Bahamut Effect: The Voidwalker Fleet; ? Effect:?)
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Story Title: The Commorragh of the Darkus Archon (One-shot)
Plot: Inside an artificially created Plane, the Supreme Lord of a Planetoid and a Warfleet is planning his moves, unaware that his actions will have far-reaching ramifications for the future. Specifically, for a certain Galaxy and a certain Shepard.
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POV Narrator
In the inconceivable vastness that is the Omniverse, there are countless places that are forbidden or nearly impossible to reach.
Among these fearsome places there is a small kingdom that is impossible to find and reach unless one of the three necessities is fulfilled:
Number one, having a Planeswalker on your side, powerful beings with the ability to travel between the Planes of the Omniverse.
Number two, you need to obtain one of two special and unique "keys" to access this secret realm. The first "key" can only be obtained if you're already inside, while the second "key" is protected by the King of an Interstellar Realm of 500 Worlds in the Azure Galaxy of Universe 2126.
Number three, find the carefully hidden gateway into the depths of deep space.
This secret realm is called Commorragh of the Voidwalkers, a place created based on the fictional city-state of the Drukhari (Space Dark Elves) that exists within an extradimensional space.
Using the secret techno-magic of the Royal Family of USKY (United Space Kingdom of Ysatnaf and its colonies) and the innate abilities of a Planeswalker, it was possible to create a small artificial Plane to house the entire Voidwalker Fleet and the Commorragh.
For those who don't know, a Plane is a self-contained world or universe of any size in the Omniverse, which encompasses all of creation.
While the Planes can be governed by any conceivable set of natural rules and laws, or even inconceivable ones, most of the planes visited in the story are refreshingly Earth-like.
Most planes are spheres with an atmosphere and one or more suns and moons; they resemble planets.
But there is no physical law common to all the Planes of the Multiverse.
Planes can be infinite expanses of matter, tiny specks of empty space, or inversions of normal reality that defy logic.
A Plane can contain an entire sprawling universe or nothing at all.
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The Plane Darkus is a rather small artificial size, having only enough space to accommodate a single planet comparable to planet Earth.
The entire Plane is kept from collapsing on itself thanks to the existence of the Ekleipsi Rings, two enormous constructs that enclose and support the entire dimension.
The Horizontal Ring, Ilios, is a Mega-Structure made up of 360 six-kilometer-long, crystal-centered cylinder-like artifacts, all positioned on the "Equator" of the Plane.
The first half of the Ekleipsi Rings, the Golden Ring, Ilios, is a Mega-Structure made up of 360 cylinder-like artifacts, with a crystal at their center and a length of six kilometers, all of them positioned on the "Equator" of the Plane.
The second half of the Ekleipsi Rings, the Silver Ring, Selini, an Indelic Mega-Structure in Illios, only located on the "Meridian" of Darkus.
At the two locations where the Ilios Ring and the Selini Ring should meet there are two immense Gates that have a circumference of 628 kilometers.
The Golden Gate is called the Mouth of Buho, while the Silver Gate is called the Mouth of the Crow. Both are entrances and exits to the Plane Darkus.
At the center of this dimension is a planetoid of 400,000 km², slightly larger than Earth's Moon and much richer in minerals useful for the war industry.
Around the planetoid's orbit and in the surrounding space there are several dozen space stations, each with a different purpose and aesthetic.
On the surface of this Planetoid, Commorragh was founded and built, a Mega-City that is home to one billion (1,000,000,000) organic soldiers and cadets, who are divided into two groups.
The Commorragh Guard, those who remain within Plane Darkus, protect the Plane and focus on developing the Mega-City, its technology, and its population.
The Obsidian Vanguard, those who board the 7,000 Starships that make up the Voidwalker Fleet, which is divided into seven divisions, each with its own specialties and tactics.
The Vanguard uses techno-magic and the power of Planeswalkers to travel the Omniverse in search of new resources, technologies, and knowledge.
Beyond this duty, the Voidwalker Fleet has the absolute duty of protecting and serving in battle their leader, who is also the creator of the Plane Darkus and the Overlord of Commorragh.
This leader, outside the Plane Darkus is known as the Rogue Trader Militant of the United Space Kingdom of Ysatnaf and its colonies, codename Traveler, Real Name Bruce Bel Bahamut Belmont.
But within the Planet Darkus, the Commorragh Guard call their leader by the title of Darkus Archon.
This custom officially originated following a voyage by the Voidwalker Fleet to the planet Teyvat in the Honkai Galaxy of Universe 415717.
(Author's Note: In Chaldea Numerology 415717 is translated as MiHoYo.)
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Despite its common name and basic conceit, the Voidwalker Commorragh bears no resemblance to the Drukhari Commorragh, nor even to a Hive City from the fictional Imperium of Man.
In fact, this Mega City resembles Kivotos in some ways.
Instead of being a city comparable to a huge one, you build level upon level, aiming upwards.
Instead of being a city comparable to an immense mountain, built level upon level, layer upon layer, aiming upwards.
The Voidwalkers' Commorragh is an extremely large city; looking from the Planetoid's atmosphere, one can see a city comparable in size to Texas, built in a pattern reminiscent of a snowflake.
Perhaps in half a millennium, the Voidwalker Commorragh will eventually cover the entire surface of the Planetoid, becoming something similar to Coruscant.
The entire Mega City features a complex railway system, huge silver metal buildings, decorated with neon lights and holographic panels.
The population is made up mostly of female super-soldiers, born in genetically engineered vats, physically similar to elves except for their albino coloration and two meters in height.
The clones created in the last decade and the children of clones are the cadets, a small but ever-growing population of Commorragh.
Most of them are schoolgirls attending one of the dozens of academies located throughout the various districts of Commorragh.
In addition to the clones, the streets are littered with droids and other synthetic creations with varying degrees of intelligence and forms, ranging from animalistic to humanoid.
Despite its strong military culture and subtle reliance on neon, Commorragh is a top-notch Mega City—beautiful, clean, advanced, and crime-free.
The fact that it shares its name with a City-State of Dark Space Elves, notorious for being sadistic, hedonistic, predatory, and slave-riding, seems like a joke.
Except if you set foot in District Zero, nicknamed the Blackheart District, the first settlement of Commorragh, created long before the Voidwalker Fleet project was conceived and the Clone Army was created.
The entire district is a fortress unto itself, surrounded by thick walls hundreds of meters high, adorned with military-grade weaponry.
Beyond the walls, there are labyrinthine streets, obsidian buildings built to withstand anti-fortress weaponry, numerous weapons platforms and just as many military droids standing guard.
The aesthetic of District Zero is completely different from the rest of Commorragh—the exterior is built by an advanced Cyber Neon civilization, but this place looks like it was designed by a Demon King or Witch King who had no qualms about upgrading his territory with sci-fi technology synchronized with his dark magic.
At the heart of the Blackheart district stands Commorragh's tallest tower, the Dragon's Keep, the private residence of the Darkus Archon.
At the top of the tower is a huge C-shaped mechanical construction, which projects a force field containing a Red Dwarf, a main-sequence star smaller, cooler, and less massive than the Sun, of spectral type M.
A "miniature" prototype of a Dyson Sphere, capable of holding only the smallest stars, but containing enough power to power the entire Commorragh alone without any problems.
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In a room that looks like a CEO's administrative office, but with a Cyber Gothic aesthetic, there are three exotic animals, two interesting objects and an extraordinary person.
A large, C-shaped silver desk is positioned to offer a view of the front door. Above the desk is a custom, high-tech keyboard and three holographic screens.
Among the many items on the Silla desk is a human skull reworked with mithril and runic inscriptions.
This item is an ancient relic containing a Spirit of Intellect, which is the magical equivalent of an artificial laboratory assistant, only less digital and more spiritual.
On the left side of the desk, above the floor, are two comfortable pet beds.
In the smaller kennel, there is a sleeping "animal" that can be described as a strange ferret that resembles Kudamon, a character from the old Digimon cartoon.
This creature is a Pseudo-Demon created accidentally through several unique and rare circumstances.
Despite his small appearance and personality similar to the orange cat people, Garfield is a dangerous creature with shapeshifting powers.
His basic name is Vritra, Asuka Vritra when he has a female form and Asura Vritra when he takes a male form.
In the largest kennel, there is a sort of large alien cat, with white fur, whose species has been named gyrinx due to their Para-Psyker characteristics.
This Gyrinx resembles a large cat that can grow up to one meter in length and has very thick, soft, snow-white fur and bright red eyes.
This alien cat belongs to the subspecies called snow gyrinx.
His name is Garfield, the "owner" has a strange sense of humor.
On the right side of the desk is a three-legged silver stand from which extends an exquisite silver staff in the shape of an inverted J, from which hangs a silver birdcage.
Inside the cage is a female crow with silver claws and beak. Her name is Carmen the Crow, and she is a Familiar, a creature magically bound to a person as their servant.
In addition to the presence of unique "animals," the room contains a couple of priceless techno-magical artifacts.
The first Artifact can be described as a Black Cube, the size (currently) of a Rubik's Cube. Its name is the Daedalus Cube, an extremely advanced Technomagical device with a large number of functions.
Currently, it is using one of its minor and superficial functions, acting as a server for the operation of the screens and an advanced encryption system.
The second object at first glance is a kind of hoverchair or hover-throne, a piece of advanced technology in the form of a seat with purple leather padding and a silver mechanical body.
However, if someone were to use a scanner capable of analyzing matter at the atomic level and between different dimensions of reality, they would understand that this hoverchair is less a futuristic chair and more a machine comparable to the inventions of Tony Stark or Kang the Conqueror.
Some of the components of this "throne" include: liquid metal based on a synthetic alloy similar to the Asgardians' Uru; level-seven nanotechnology based on the Klironomia of the Aletheia, aka Machine Gods; and some sort of miniaturized reactor that could level a district or two of a normal city.
Sitting in the hoverchair and behind the desk is the Darkus Archon of the Commorragh, Bruce Bel Bahamut Belmont.
Bruce is 175 centimeters tall, has a lean and lean physique, some might call him bony.
Her face features soft, delicate features, thin eyelashes, and facial features reminiscent of Artoria Pendragon or Morgan Le Fay, some of her ancestors through her maternal grandmother.
Thanks to these two characteristics, it is easy to mistake him for a girl, and his androgynous and pleasant voice doesn't help either.
Her skin color is light purple/white, smooth and free of blemishes.
Her hair is a light lilac, almost white, and very long, left loose for now, but a fringe covers her left eye as always.
The right eye is visible and has a fluorescent purple color with the pupil of a raptor.
Its ears are long and pointed, like those of an elf.
The Darkus Archon has physical features reminiscent of a dragon or demon: two large, curved amethyst-colored horns on top of its head, a long tail covered in amethyst-colored scales, and bat-like wings folded for hovering.
The Overlord of Commorragh, he wears a tight lavender suit, with pieces of black armor on various parts of his body.
"Very soon I should be going to Galvan Mark II, entering Prime Thinker's Tower, and recovering the technology that Amelia and I created with Azmuth in that inter-species alien collaboration program." Bruce said, flashing images of a gun-like device, the GBE (Gravitational Beam Emitter), onto the three holographic screens.
It's a long story, but to make a long story short, five months ago, the Darkus Archon (Bruce), the High Scientist of the Commorragh (Amelia), the First Thinker of the Galvans (Azmuth) worked on several projects together.
This collaboration has led to remarkable achievements, such as drastically improved terraforming technology, the discovery of a cure for a Galvan degenerative neurological disease, and the fabrication of a superchip that can increase a computer's capabilities 50-fold.
The findings of this collaboration were split evenly between the Galvans and the Voidwalkers.
Unfortunately, the collaboration wasn't easy; Bruce's personality, which becomes homicidal if his intelligence is insulted or belittled, and Azmuth's paternalistic attitude... are not a good combination.
Fortunately, Amelia Blight managed to act as an intermediary between the two most intelligent men of their respective species.
But, eventually, a deep disagreement arose when Bruce unauthorizedly used Azmuth's miniaturized artificial gravitational technology and other rare components to complete the creation of the Gravitational Beam Emitter.
Azmuth did not appreciate his works being used to forge a weapon of mass destruction.
The Prime Thinker confiscated and sealed the GBE, deeming the Darkus Archon not wise enough to wield such a device.
Bruce didn't react well, saying that 2/3 of the GBE was created by him and Amelia, and that it belongs to them.
Azmuth responded by calling the Internal Security Guards...
Bruce was forced to leave the planet Galvan Mark II, accompanied by Amelia, who stopped him from doing something crazy.
However, the Darkus Archon has promised that sooner or later the Gravitational Beam Emitter will be in his hands.
And Bruce Bel Bahamut Belmont, always keeps his promises and especially his threats.
"What approach should I use to enter the Prime Thinker's Tower?" Bruce mutters, pressing a button on the keyboard, changing the contents of the three holographic screens.
"Execute a stealth approach? Use the Starship Renai AB-3, accompanied by Amelia and Mash?" Bruce said, looking at the left screen.
Bruce's good eye reviews information on the stealth operation and plans for how to modify a Light Frigate to go undetected by planetary defense systems.
"Execute an aggressive approach? Lead the Supercarrier, Moonbreaker, to the Galvans' planet, bring in the entire Black Guard, and fill the hangar with all the remote-controlled Space Fighters (Bombers, Interceptors) we can carry." Bruce said, looking at the holographic screen in the center.
The content of the second screen shows a complex planetary assault plan, conceived down to the smallest detail, using hundreds of sacrificial Space Fighters, landing pods filled with war androids for diversion, and squads of elite soldiers carrying out surgical strikes, etc.
"Or should I take a calmer, more forward-thinking approach?" Bruce mutters, looking at the third screen, which is essentially a list of important projects.
"I've already waited five months to finish my unfinished business in this Galaxy before I can focus on the Galvans. I might wait a few more months and see if I can complete Project Stardust," Bruce said, pressing a button, opening one of the high-level files.
The three holographic screens display blueprints, notes, and the current construction status of a Starship named Stardust.
"Fourteen years ago, I showed the Azure Galaxy the Moonbreaker, the largest (100 kilometers long) and most advanced Starship that USKY could create. But progress continues," Bruce said, leafing through the contents of Project Stardust, coming to the new type of power core that runs on Dark Matter.
"In just fourteen years, the Voidwalker Fleet has visited dozens of galaxies in different universes, gaining new technologies and access to unique resources previously unknown to us." Bruce thinks, remembering the Honkai Energy, the Chozo temples, the Levistone deposits, and many other discoveries.
'This has allowed us to make considerable progress in many fields of science and magic; in the last four years we have made the equivalent of forty years of progress.' Bruce thinks, proud of the achievements made within Commorragh.
"Four years ago, we discovered how to extract energy from dark matter, creating the first generators that extract energy directly from dark matter, providing our facilities with more energy than is possible under the laws of conventional physics. It's not comparable to the Dyson Sphere Prototype or the Keraunos Prototype Reactor, but it will become the mass power source for a new generation of Starships, Mecha, and Weapons." Bruce thinks, envisioning a new milestone for the Commorragh and the USKY.
"The Starship Stardust is a seven-kilometer-long destroyer, which is average in size for its class. But it will be the first Starship to be powered by Dark Matter and will use next-generation weapons created by Commorragh scientists and cutting-edge components received from the Kingdom," Bruce said, pressing a button, receiving notifications of the latest construction updates for the Stardust Destroyer.
The screen shows that the Stardust is 77% complete, engineers say it should be completed in at least three months.
"My options are: a stealth operation with the best Light Frigate in the Fleet, a frontal assault with the largest and most powerful Starship we have, or wait three months to use the most advanced Destroyer ever." Bruce summarizes, as he pulls a simple six-sided die from his desk drawer.
"When I can't choose between two options, I flip a coin; when I can't choose between multiple options, I roll a die. A crazy way to make a choice, but it makes it extremely difficult to predict my moves," Bruce said, preparing to let fate choose for him.
The Darkus Archon rolled the die, unaware that this action would create three distinctive alternate timelines.
If the result was a 1 or 2, the Light Frigate, Renai AB-3, and her crew of three would have been ghosts, taking back the Gravitational Beam Emitter and some other technologies dangerous by Azmuth's standards, all without being detected by anyone.
They would then rendezvous with the SSV Normandy SR-2, meeting Katarina Shepard, the Hero of Elysium and the Systems Alliance's most powerful Vanguard.
They would have created the Suicide Squad, the craziest, most colorful, and best-armed group in the Mass Effect Galaxy.
If the result was 3 or 4, the Supercarrier, Moonbreaker, would storm Prime Thinker's Tower, gaining a technological haul fit for a king.
Following a dimensional journey, the Moonbreaker would encounter the SSV Tokyo, making First Contact with Captain Anderson and his XO Aiden Shepard, an Earth-born man, specifically in Chicago, the Alliance military's top Infiltrator and a genius Hacker.
The entire Voidwalker Fleet would descend upon the Mass Effect Galaxy, changing the balance of power in Citadel Space, humanity would evolve, while the Asari would lose their minds and many of their prestigious titles.
If the result was 5 or 6, in ninety days, Azmuth and his laboratory would be the victim of a Dark Matter Blitzkrieg.
Then, the Destroyer Stardust would arrive on Eden Prime, in time to help Benjamin and Gwendolyn Shepard, children of Colonists on Mindoir, the only survivors on Akuze, a man considered a Soldier without peer and a female Adept so skilled she was considered a Space Witch.
The Hunt for Saren would have been an out-of-this-world experience for the two cousins of the Shepard family.
"To quote Julius Caesar: Alea iacta est (The die is cast)." Bruce declares, seeing the result of his throw.
Such a small gesture, so many monumental consequences across two galaxies.
The End (?)