First off, we’d like to thank all our players for taking the time to participate in this crazy experiment! We heard from several folks about how crazy life is right now and how difficult it was to even upload scores, so we’re very thankful to everyone for taking the time to participate and be engaged in this effort. Operation Edgelord lives and dies on player participation, whether you’re roleplaying or memeing in the discord or playing games. So thank you!
July’s bonus point mission was Black Spot, as hinted by John Leibee’s excellent vingette.
That means Yu Jing and PanO each get two extra points! The big faction ranking has Haqqislam in the lead this month, but that’s in part due to a number of mercenary operations. Much more on that later! We also asked faction leadership to shout out some key participants they thought deserved some special attention!
Faction
Games
OP
Losses
Secret
Haqqislam
15
78
2103
6
PanOceania
11
65
1344
2
Yu Jing
16
64
2633
5
Combined Army
12
57
1764
4
Ariadna
8
46
1174
5
Nomads
13
41
2234
4
ALEPH
8
32
1071
4
Tohaa
4
26
395
1
O-12
5
15
947
0
Just to set expectations, in future months we’re going to try to stick to this plan:
Faction/Mission Matchups – Scheduling games is hard, so we will release faction/mission pairings on the first day of the month, and as many secret objectives as we have prepared.
Monthly Summary – We’ll release this a few days after the first of the month, just to give us time to digest people’s battle reports, do the statistcs processing, collect results, confer with faction leadership.
Secret Mission Bonus story – As close to the start of the month as possible.
Monday Lore Drops – We’re going to keep doing weekly lore drops, as best we can. I’m sure we’ll miss one here and there, but we want to make sure we capture what’s going on in the world of roleplay keep our worldbuilding going.
Faction Updates
ALEPH
We will fawn over our aggressors. We will feign cooperation. We will bow our heads, and in secret, learn their methods, decipher their technology, and when the time comes their sufficiently advanced technology will not be like magic to us but like music.
ALEPH
True to their statement from the start of hostilities, ALEPH has indeed fawned over forces of the Ur Hegemony, with a series of stalemate skirmishes against the Combined Army. Was it all a calculated play by the human-made Artificial Intelligence versus the Evolved Intelligence? ALEPH material losses in the theater of operations were only 40% more than their foe, and more importantly, it seems that some inroads have been made in installing Trojan Horses in Ur Hegemony systems!
Haqqislam offered significantly more resistance to the machinations of the AI, however. The Averroes Hospital Campus is perhaps more than it seems on the surface. The mysterious but esteemed Silk Trader Batth’o Ubelin was seen giving an interview to one Erin o’Nealz on the hospital grounds when hostilities broke out during a “routine security audit and software update” by ALEPH agents. Unfortunately, this came with the untimely demise of one Sixth Sense Warcor, Erin o’Nealz. Uncle Pentium has called for an investigation into sightings of CameRaccoon on LuY 911 and asserts that the use of lethal force was warranted.
According to Aleph’s trusted sources, Erin O’Nealz’s palbot CameRaccoon was spotted escorting Yu Jing’s forces during biotech agent containment activity on LuY 911.
A lot of noise was made in response to the legitimate act of force exerted by our troops to pacificate warcor Erin, whose belligerant use of flash pulses could have further jeopardized our authorized investigation.
We expect and hope that the same voices will now rise to ask more important questions: what is the result of Erin’s biometric scans entering Averroes Hospital? Why wasn’t it made public before? We want to see the coroner’s report! What is that bot doing on LuY, so far away from its warcor, literally on another planetoid? Do Haqq and YJ have something going on between themselves, through Erin O’Nealz?
Uncle Pentium
ALEPH is also on the lookout for one “Zero Burn,” allegedly a Nomad hacker who sabotaged some key infrastructure related to the deep space observation station, the Eye of Hipparchus.
Nomad leaders denied all allegations:
The brutal targeting of Nomad civilians by ALEPH is incontrovertible truth that the blood lust and malice of the Phantom Conflicts is alive and well! Free citizens of the Human Sphere, look no further for the true intent of the “benevolent AI”–it offers only domination or death. We deserve better
borisgreymenace
What is not in contention is the fact that Tohaa forces did engage in hostilities with local ALEPH forces, as supported by the large variety of scrapped TacBots arriving in ALEPH repair facilities with unique pheromone biosignatures emanating from their frames.
Faction Commendations: Zephyr, Eskander
Ariadna
The Ur Hegemony has wasted no time in attempting to make diplomatic inroads with the various inhabitants of the Human Edge. The beleaguered Ariadnan Workers Union surprisingly welcomed Lesser Aspect Emberosia’s overtures and have begun discussions.
To the denizens and migrants of the Homeric Belt, the forces of the Evolved Intelligence have arrived. We have received multiple requests for aid and have come to offer what help we can. Our flotilla has limited resources but we are sending for more materials and personnel as the intricacies of your human squabbles unfold to us.
We plan to use our resources to firstly construct a depot on the asteroid known as 1777 Du-ε. We understand many of you may mistrust our goodwill and this seems to be the least offensive placement for us that is logistically near enough to the areas of conflict. I am told that the StateEmpire may be operating in this area as are illegal and subversive groups they are hunting. The data from our scanners is at your service and we are willing to dedicate strikeforces to aid should you request them.
Our available hulls also contain many resources useful for infrastructure work. Many of the roads and other means of transit HuEOS 289 and LuY 911 have fallen into disrepair from neglect or apparent missile fire and our drones and urkherite engineers stand ready to repair them. We would request a meeting with a representative of the Teamsters within the AWU as there are few more qualified to prioritize repairs than the ones traveling these dangerous pathways daily.
Lesser Aspect Emberosia
Good afternoon representative. The Ariadnan Workers Union would be glad to begin talks regarding infrastructure and repairs. With a combination of our workers and your materiel, we shall quickly cover any necessary repairs. Let us discuss how our workers can liaise with your operatives.
BlessedBe
Dahshat mercenaries, self labeling as “Da Shit!” mercenaries, in the employ of Ariadna as security personnel did not get the memo and opened fire on a Morat Aggression Force allegedly delivering “supplies.” To this journalist, it does indeed seem strange for an Aggression force to be delivering supplies to a secure Kemi-Tec facility, but only time will tell if the evolved intelligence can be trusted!
Oops, our bad. We’re suuuper sorry, really.
PMC Dashit Representative
The Ariadnan Workers Union continues to have problems with their hired mercenaries! JSA forces under the command of one Guan Yu allegedly attacked a Nomad supply depot held by Bakunin Jurisdictional Command forces. While the separatists were successfully repelled, it was not without significant losses to Nomad forces. We’re told that in spite of this, there have been rumors of Corregidorian workers at the Rocaworks site meeting with their AWU counterparts and an interest in union literature.
Still, third time’s the charm as they used to say on Terra. Ariadnan Worker Union representative Zoya Shchetinin was successfully extracted by Starco forces from a flight to “nowhere” provided by the Bhargavi Ocean Exploration Interspace Navigation Group (B.O.E.I.N.G.), a PanOceanian hypercorp with interests in the HuEOS Ice Mines.
We commend the actions of StarCo, and would like to offer our assistance in the form of medical supplies and personnel to help in your endeavors. Please feel free to visit Averreos Hospital for support or resupply related to humanitarian aid. Yajib ealaa albashar alhadhar min albashari!
Dhalik Alshabuu (Haqq Diplomat)
We’ve also received reports from some Ariadnan sources reporting that they recently suffered attacks by an unknown force attempting to infiltrate one of their high security zones. Apparently some Ariadnan troopers suffered from what personnel at the Averroes Hospital Campus could only refer to as “they got hit with the stink real bad.”
It seems that the Ariadnan Workers Union is achieving mixed results from their use of mercenary units, but it is taking pressure off the union itself. Certainly Starco is upholding its stellar reputation.
Combined Army
We turn our attention now to the newest force in system, the Ur Hegemony. While humanity has maintained a delicate ceasefire with most Combined Army forces, the inevitability of hostilities out on the fringe is no surprise. The Nomads have perhaps been the most vocal about their concerns, and this shows most readily in their continued resistance to Ur Hegemony overtures.
The Nomads perhaps are a bit premature in declaring their resistance effective, but there is no denying its existence! When we reached out to Ur representatives for comment, this was their response:
If, as seems to be implied by recent comments, any human faction feels the need to adjust rules of engagement based on our moral variants, recall that we are all signatory to the same agreements at this point. Breaking these treaties will only show the sphere one hypocrite before enforcement is meted out to the rogue party.
Lesser Aspect Emberosia
There were, however, a number of reports from Morat soldiers enjoying Aristeia! matches served on a pirate Arachne channel that has mysteriously cropped up recently.
Perhaps the Ur Hegemony should be more concerned with the activities of the Dashat Company PMC than the Nomad Nation. We have received credible reports regarding severalall out brawl incidents between Combined Army forces and Dahshat personnel. What’s more, consulting our PMC contacts has revealed that these Dahshat units were in the employ of Ariadna, Haqqislam, and Yu Jing. Dahshat commanders insist that the brawls only started when they attempted to scan normal civilian traffic and discovered Ur Hegemony infiltrators. When reached for comment, Hsien YueFei had the following to say about the incidents:
Yu Jing biometric scanners are at the forefront of Human Sphere technology and my Durian Investigation Unit has ample experience detecting both literal and metaphorical bad apples (not to mention other fruits). If it would help, we can offer some of our friendly Bao troops to man security checkpoints to perform these duties, and reduce unnecessary strain on the resources of our new EI guests, who are not yet familiar with all the finer points of human etiquette. While it is polite for a new guest to bring a gift, offering too many opinions about the way your host’s house is run can be a way to quickly overstay your welcome.
Hsien YueFei
Faction Commendations: Lesser Aspect Emberosia
Haqqislam
Haqqislamite forces have ralled around the Averroes Hospital Campus its vital infrastructure on HuEOS. For the most part it has been the selfless actions of hospital staff picking up arms and engaging the enemy, although there are whispers of more elite Haqqislamite forces lurking on the planetoid. We reached out to a prominent local businessman for comment, and he had this to say:
We will be soon heading to the Averroes Hospital Compound to run some business. I will be pleased to have you part of my entourage, the Human Sphere needs to know from independent sources what the situation is really like here, beyond all propaganda.
Batth’o Ubelin
Looks like we’ll have to follow up now that Erin O’Nealz is… unavailable. With our three planetoids being so remote, the Averroes campus represents the largest concentration of medical supplies and climate control infrastructure in the area. As a result, there has been a significant amount of activity in the engineering regions and supply pathways in HuEOS surrounding the Averroes campus. Of note, most hospital beds in the Averroes campus are not taken up by Haqqislamite personnel, a testament to their field medics and careful tactical coordination. Despite allegations to the contrary, Haqqislam has also maintained a high standard of quantronically scanning personnel in and around hospital campus to minimize nefarious activity.
Faction Commendations: Dhalik Alshabuu
Nomads
It’s been a tough few weeks for the Nomads, who have been engaged in anti-piracy work across the region. The Third Choices unit from Bakunin has reported an increase in attacks on Nomad shipping by all manner of pirates, the latest allegedly being JSA forces.
The frigate “Bring Guns to Bear” has arrived in-system, complete with trigger happy Wildcats who immediately pounced on a Yuan Yuan transport before being forced to withdraw by hostile Yu Jing forces.
Of note is that it seems the Combined Army is engaged in piracy of its own while claiming to be operating with O-12 authority! Following a recent Nomad defense of the hauler Daikon of the Lake from Combined forces, the Daikon’s captain released this recording to DISASTEROID of the Nomad commander instructing their subordinate to extend the “every courtesy” post defense:
You’re our ship liaison. You’ll be here to make sure that the captain fulfills his obligations to the union, but also to make sure his needs are met. You know the drill. Treat our new friends with every courtesy, Dizzy. They’re valued family, after all.
Fueled by Twinkies, the Salyut secured the server room until reinforcements could arrive. In response to this finding, Whole Protien stock has shot up with WhiteCo representative Justicedragon issuing this statement:
A supply of twinkies must get on the next flight of the Azureline departing next month. If not gathered or given Panoceania Repossession and Accounting servies may be needed to help with the departure of the VIP transport.
Justicedragon
Still, in spite of all the increased pirate and O-12/Combined Army activity in the region, the connection to Arachne continues to improve.
O-12 has been mostly operating through its proxies in-system thus far, but the long arm of the law is moving into the system with the arrival of the Antochi!
O-12 Commissioner Angel did release this statement for immediate release:
This is a public service announcement for all visiting diplomats. Use of Active Camouflage is prohibited on all 0-12 property. You cannot use active camouflage to bypass the 2 hour limit on the guest parking.
Parking attendants have been issued multi spectral visors and will be issuing tickets for all violations.
Commissioner Angel
The Nomads were quick to respond.
I may have broken one of your parking attendants. It called itself a “Prime” and tried to interfere with the legal and justified operations of a Salyut Zond. We, of course, do not take any responsibility for damage or injury to any overzealous O-12 personnel who interfere with NMF personnel or property.
borisgreymenace
So that’s why we found Officer Terrance inside the waste bin along with 37 unopened bottles of Koors sublight lager.
Please remember that empty glass bottles should be placed in the glass recycling bin.
Commissioner Angel
Unfortunately the baggage compartments of the Salyut were full at the time. We regret the inconvenience caused by failure to sort trash from recyclables.
Whole Protein immediately got excellent returns on their investments in system. They’ve hired a whole host of PMCs including Druze, Ikari, and White Company, and they are achieving results for rock bottom prices. The fact that prices probably equate to personnel is of no consequence to the Hypercorps. All that matters is sustaining 20-30% growth quarter to quarter.
An Ikari Company ambush on a Bakunin patrol has resulted in a significant number of Observance casualties, all with the comfort of plausible deniablity and shell corporations. The latest news is that an undisclosed PanOceanian Hypercorps has unilaterally decided just to buy one of the planetoids in its entirety, regardless of whether or not it was actually for sale by its nominal owner. Allegedly the buyer’s intent is to “open a CINETICs laser TAG theme park on it,” mostly because they were dissastisifed with Commissioner Angel’s earlier public service announcement regarding parking. Cynthia Edgeworth at Colonnade Financial Solutions has jumped at the chance to facilitate purchase and is never someone to let the fine print dry before closing a deal.
We look forward to playing a few rounds of laser TAG, when the purchase goes through.
Tohaa
Actions believed to have been carried out by the Durian Inspection Unit on Du-e 1777 have lead to the death of Tohaa restaurateur and owner of the beloved franchise known for its Tohaa cuisine, Artichoke Lou’s. One eyewitness says they were out walking their domesticated Surda when the first shot rang out. Their Surda, excited by the ruckus, was killed when it ran towards the noise.
Fearing for his life this eyewitness said they kept their head down as best they could and made a run for it as soon as they had a chance. This chance came when the Tohaa known as Artichoke Lou attempted to de-escalate the situation, a selfless act that would only delay the bloodshed a matter of minutes and leave Artichoke Lou dead.
Given the relatively low personnel count in system, Yu Jing has been forced to leverage HoloProjector technology to give the impression of a larger force.
Unfortunately, this did not fool a USAriadna raiding party, which successfully absconded with a wide range of supplies in a daring raid. JSA forces also succeeded in raiding a Yu Jing supply depot, so there will be much investigating and follow up to do.
Good thing the Durian Inspection Unit and Task Force Tundra Wolves are on site! Despite the high operating cost of getting established in the Planetoid Cluster and infiltrating Dewey, several Yu Jing hackers have recovered important data from NA-2 IFF systems and returned it to the Imperial Service to build a model of mercenary engagements during recent conflicts. The Imperial Service is resolutely tracking the trail of dark money, wherever it leads.
In fact, the Imperial Service seems to be receiving more funding and resources than normal and has even been spotted in action on Louie. Does the State Empire have plans in the planetoid cluster beyond a simple police investigation?
We had 46 unique games this month, with 92 players! Thank you all for taking the time to play a game and submit the scores, and a special thank you to everyone who put in the time to write a battle report and participate in the roleplaying on the Discord server.
Here’s a breakdown of # of games played by each faction, total amount of Objective Points (OP) scored, and the number of army points lost.
Faction
Games
OP
Losses
Secret
Haqqislam
15
78
2103
6
PanOceania
11
63
1344
2
Yu Jing
16
62
2633
5
Combined Army
12
57
1764
4
Ariadna
8
46
1174
5
Nomads
13
41
2234
4
ALEPH
8
32
1071
4
Tohaa
4
26
395
1
O-12
5
15
947
0
The breakdown by factions including NA-2 as well as secret objectives scored is as follows:
Faction
Games
OP
Losses
Secret
Combined Army
12
57
1764
4
Yu Jing
14
55
2286
5
Haqqislam
10
53
1342
5
PanOceania
8
42
881
1
Nomads
13
41
2234
4
ALEPH
8
32
1071
4
Tohaa
4
26
395
1
Ariadna
4
26
598
3
Dahshat Company
5
22
731
0
Japanese Secessionist Army
4
18
696
2
O-12
5
15
947
0
Druze Bayram Security
2
13
358
0
Starco
1
9
71
1
Ikari Company
1
9
64
1
White Company
1
2
227
0
Here are the hiring stats for NA-2 companies as well.
Faction
NA2
Games
Ariadna
Dahshat Company
1
Ariadna
Japanese Secessionist Army
2
Ariadna
Starco
1
Haqqislam
Dahshat Company
2
Haqqislam
Druze Bayram Security
1
Haqqislam
Japanese Secessionist Army
2
PanOceania
Druze Bayram Security
1
PanOceania
Ikari Company
1
PanOceania
White Company
1
Yu Jing
Dahshat Company
2
If you want the gory details of how the factions fared against one another, you can check out this table:
Faction
Adversary
Games
Faction OP
Adversary OP
Faction Losses
Adversary Losses
Faction Secret
Adversary Secret
ALEPH
Combined Army
2
11
11
158
275
1
0
ALEPH
Haqqislam
4
9
24
523
470
2
1
ALEPH
Nomads
1
10
0
125
240
0
0
ALEPH
Tohaa
1
2
8
265
60
1
1
Ariadna
Combined Army
2
7
12
370
332
0
1
Ariadna
Nomads
2
13
11
207
356
2
1
Ariadna
PanOceania
1
9
2
71
227
1
0
Ariadna
Tohaa
1
2
6
226
150
1
0
Ariadna
Yu Jing
2
15
10
300
302
1
0
Combined Army
ALEPH
2
11
11
275
158
0
1
Combined Army
Ariadna
2
12
7
332
370
1
0
Combined Army
Haqqislam
3
9
11
534
584
1
0
Combined Army
Nomads
2
7
4
203
358
0
1
Combined Army
PanOceania
1
6
4
25
160
1
0
Combined Army
Yu Jing
2
12
7
395
347
1
0
Haqqislam
ALEPH
4
24
9
470
523
1
2
Haqqislam
Combined Army
3
11
9
584
534
0
1
Haqqislam
O-12
1
8
3
54
220
1
0
Haqqislam
PanOceania
2
6
15
393
166
1
0
Haqqislam
Yu Jing
5
29
20
602
823
3
1
Nomads
ALEPH
1
0
10
240
125
0
0
Nomads
Ariadna
2
11
13
356
207
1
2
Nomads
Combined Army
2
4
7
358
203
1
0
Nomads
O-12
2
1
5
442
478
0
0
Nomads
PanOceania
3
9
16
554
321
0
1
Nomads
Yu Jing
3
16
16
284
447
2
2
O-12
Haqqislam
1
3
8
220
54
0
1
O-12
Nomads
2
5
1
478
442
0
0
O-12
PanOceania
2
7
13
249
357
0
1
PanOceania
Ariadna
1
2
9
227
71
0
1
PanOceania
Combined Army
1
4
6
160
25
0
1
PanOceania
Haqqislam
2
15
6
166
393
0
1
PanOceania
Nomads
3
16
9
321
554
1
0
PanOceania
O-12
2
13
7
357
249
1
0
PanOceania
Yu Jing
2
13
4
113
332
0
2
Tohaa
ALEPH
1
8
2
60
265
1
1
Tohaa
Ariadna
1
6
2
150
226
0
1
Tohaa
Yu Jing
2
12
5
185
382
0
0
Yu Jing
Ariadna
2
10
15
302
300
0
1
Yu Jing
Combined Army
2
7
12
347
395
0
1
Yu Jing
Haqqislam
5
20
29
823
602
1
3
Yu Jing
Nomads
3
16
16
447
284
2
2
Yu Jing
PanOceania
2
4
13
332
113
2
0
Yu Jing
Tohaa
2
5
12
382
185
0
0
If you want the even gorier details of how the factions including NA2 fared against one another, enjoy this monstrosity:
I can’t begin to describe how happy I am you posted those full results tables! Thank y’all so much for that!