S1C9: A Small Gain and a Big Loss
To my loyal subjects (who love and adore me),
Now, I must give a very sombre and earth-shattering announcement.
The dome-shattering theme park that was bound to be my legacy as God-Emperor, Jeritopia, has fallen to the Oasis Network.
I will be hosting a day of mourning for the theme park’s lost potential.
The event planning will now fall to my Head of Public Relations and Target Elimination: Penny Onell. I must take my time to grieve. If you wish to send flowers, you can drop them in the bottom of the ocean, and there’s a 1% chance Atlaunder will be built near or around them as time passes.
As the leader of this fine dome, I must show a brave face for my subjects so they don’t see their #1 idol as a snivelling sack of warped emotions.
Therefore, I shall focus on the positive.
The assault on the Reeds went off nearly perfectly. We started by pulling out of the Smoke and focusing all of our efforts on the territory. This included sending a sonic missile over the border to Rivers End to break up the Underworld Collective troops that were close to the Reeds, so they couldn’t jump in and help.
Meanwhile, on the south side of Jeritopia, our brave troops fought the incoming android incursion. Although they were ultimately unsuccessful, and I’m sure that their corpses are being used as whatever the robots use for fertiliser, they really fought their hardest.
While this was happening, our far braver, more successful, and handsomer troops were busy actually contributing to my empire by ripping through the Underworld Collective in the Reeds. They ended up killing a battalion in the south and one in the north, nearly pushing them out entirely.
The Underworld Collective tried to bomb Atlas in retaliation, but despite giving a few corporate offices a new skylight, that did fuck all. A few of the troops were hurt in the barrage, but it was barely a scratch compared to our usual casualty counts. When my commanders sent out the order to retreat, there was a very unfortunate “radio malfunction”. There was also a very fortunate order from me to shoot any Governed soldier they saw retreating.
Just as things were looking up in the Reeds, Jeritopia was looking worse. The androids were essentially disregarding our defences and b-lining to the cultists that had infiltrated the area. I directed one of our troops in the north to keep some kind of pressure on the bots. That seemed to do pretty much fuck all as they swarmed the construction site and tore almost all of the workers’ arms off.
Again, in the Reeds, you can see my mastery in command as we nearly push them out of the Reeds. Look at that, nothing other than a skilled tactician would pull off a move like this.
AND JUST LIKE THAT WE OVERWHELM THEM AND TAKE THE TERRITORY! SUCKED IN ATILEY!
Oh, but other than that, the Oasis Network got a few good shots in from the south and killed a unit. So what? Who cares? We won!
Now that we have control of a closer territory, that means that we can use what remains of the village as a staging ground to bring the fight to one of five major places:
The Roots - The Cultivation Society has the majority of its army stationed there. It would be a tough fight, but it would catch them completely off guard. The Culties would also be squished between the Underworld Collective and us, making the rebels finally useful.
The Smoke - The Smoke is the main production factory for the Oasis Network. Taking this would mean that I could restart production on our robot army. However, this would likely lead to a prolonged and bloody offensive.
Rivers End - The recent fighting means we can slip in easily and recreate the War of Rivers End from last year. There is no hope of the Cultivation Society or the Underworld Collective rekindling what they once had, so hopefully that will give us the leg up we needed.
Jeritopia - Being able to recapture the territory would be an amazing propaganda win, but the Oasis Network essentially has it locked down. It’s the classic risk and reward.
As always, we can fortify a territory, but that will mean letting this opportunity slip through our fingers. It might be worth it if it means researching new defences, though.
As always, the choice is yours. Just make sure you’re smart enough for me to take credit for it, yeah?
God Emperor Jerit