Anvil

―Anvil's motto, *The Sands of Tethys*

**Anvil** is a naval force of former soldiers and armed civilians founded in the aftermath of the Battle of Borealis as a private army dedicated to hunting down the Rising Tide and bringing an end to the Scourge. They are designated as a terrorist organization by the Intergalactic Commonwealth, but supported by the Confederacy. In 5410, in the midst of its military campaign against the Rising Tide, Anvil was called upon by the Quasar League to investigate a hostile alien race, the typhon, within the bounds of the Great Wall. To reach the Great Wall, the *Unreliable* was forced to dock at Nexus Station and recover a chart holding the location of a starbridge, placing them in conflict with the Commonwealth.

## History

### Background & Founding

Little has yet been revealed about Anvil's early history. It was founded soon after the Battle of Borealis once the *Unreliable* declared themselves independent of SpecOperA and the Nexus Council, forcing them to become rogue agents. Armed civilians and deserting soldiers soon joined Anvil's cause of hunting down the Rising Tide and exposing the ignorance of the Council concerning the Scourge and the Calculator. Anvil soon formed an alliance with the One Brotherhood, a quasi-religious order that worshipped a Remnant icon called the Special One, widely believed to be Anvil's leader Elijah Rayes. Over the next three years, Anvil grew from a small paramilitary force into a mighty fleet of warships equipped with advanced weaponry and stealth technology, including the Tide's experimental invisibility cloaks.

### Anvil's Campaign

#### Capturing the Overseer

Somewhere in the Ambrosia galaxy, the *Unreliable*, now bearing orange paint on its hull and the seal of Anvil on its nose, emerges from a lightfold. A series of plates across its hull begin reflecting light from the surrounding space, turning the ship virtually invisible. The *Unreliable* is joined by six other warships painted with Anvil's seal. The docking bay door of the *Unreliable* slowly opens, revealing three stealth warships, including the repainted and upgraded *Indigo Dawn*. The trio glide in formation toward a nearby desert planet, Tethys, with the *Unreliable* close behind. Inside the *Unreliable*, Alia receives targetting data from the *Indigo Dawn*, which is analysed by the ship's AI, SHAE\_Platinum, who identifies a remote Rising Tide facility on the planet. On the *Indigo Dawn*, soldiers dressed in white power armour prepare their weapons and inject themselves with performance enhancers.

The *Unreliable* launches a warhead from the Starfish cannon toward a communications station on Tethys. As the subsequent mushroom cloud rises, the *Indigo Dawn* leads a surprise attack on the facility. The Anvil ships' maneuverability and firepower easily allow them to land at the facility; soldiers dressed in white emerge from all three ships; with biogenic troopers holding up energy shields to provide cover, the shock troopers move forward, clearing the damaged and poorly-repaired hallways of Rising Tide soldiers. The soldiers work their way to the top of the facility, where the lead trooper destroys a security door leading into a large office.

Within, a terrified Regent reaches for his gun, only to be pinned against the wall by the lead soldier's ferocious telekinesis. The soldier demands to know where "she" is, and Regent reluctantly looks to the left wall of the office. Letting Regent go, the soldiers pulls the wall apart, revealing a panic room behind in which sits a kempt and calm woman in her elder years: the Overseer. The soldier removes his helmet, revealing him to be a significantly aged and battle-hardened Elijah, who with SHAE's help identifies the Overseer as Saya Racham, a deputy chairwoman of the Human Interstellar Network's Sapien Council. The Overseer taunts Elijah about his ageing and approaching death, triggering Elijah to choke her against the wall. He is talked down by Kera, now a lieutenant, and Elijah orders for the Overseer and Regent to be imprisoned on the *Unreliable*. He orders SHAE to download all useful information from the Tide's servers before destroying the facility.

On the *Unreliable*, Regent is placed into a cell while the Overseer is restrained and locked behind an energy field. Elijah issues a command that the cell can only be deactivated with his express permission. Ignoring taunts from the Overseer, Elijah returns to the command deck and orders an immediate transport to Amaranthine before retiring to his cabin. Inside, he hears muffled cries coming from the bathroom; opening the door, he finds Alia, most of her skin shredded to expose the secondary layer of metal skin beneath. A horrified Alia tries to hide her shedding; when Elijah tries to comfort her, she says he was never supposed to see this. She reveals that she is approaching the second stage of her lifestyle: the maiden stage, a point in a mavnian's life when they return to their homeworld, Thylla, and raise a family. Alia confesses that she has resisted her natural instinct to return to her homeworld to remain on the *Unreliable*. Although Elijah offers his support, Alia says that she will outlive Elijah by centuries and is unsure that she can cope with losing him, fears only worsened by Elijah's advancing ageing and shortened lifespan. Despite Elijah's pleas, Alia decides that she wants to take a break from their marriage and leaves the cabin under a shroud. Devastated, Elijah cries himself to sleep.

With the ship still heading to Amaranthine, Elijah is suddenly awoken from a nightmare by SHAE, who warns him of an incoming transmission. Elijah suits up and heads to the command deck, where SHAE approves the transmission. The figure introduces himself as Harkon, a representative of the Quasar League, autocratic rulers of the isolationist Alliance of the Great Wall. Harkon reveals that Elijah's reputation and mission has reached the Great Wall and that he may be of use to the League: for the past few cycles, all three galaxies of the Alliance have come under attack by a race called the typhon, which have been seen using Scourge technology, something the Alliance only knows about because of their double agents in the Commonwealth. Fearing that the Great Wall will require the help of the Council and thus compromise their independence, Harkon has been assigned to plea for Anvil's assistance in investigating the typhon's link to the Scourge; in return, Harkon offers the location of the temporal drive, an experimental starship drive that allowed for hyperspace travel without the use of the Nexus. Elijah reluctantly agrees; Harkon then reveals that the only method of travel from Council space to the Great Wall is via a construct called a "starbridge", the location of which is hidden in a planted starmap on Nexus Station.

When the transmission ends, the crew discusses their next step: because of Anvil being declared a terrorist organization by the Commonwealth, the *Unreliable* cannot dock on Nexus Station. SHAE offers a solution: the crew hands over the Overseer in exchange for amnesty. Gerren, wearing an exoskeleton to allow him to walk, argues that the Overseer must be executed, but Elijah eventually agrees to SHAE's idea. The *Unreliable* exits the fold and instead activates its crossroad key, opening a foldhole leading directly to Nexus Station.

## Members

* Elijah Rayes - leader
* Kera O'Larso - pilot, lieutenant
* Ferguson - medical officer
* SHAE\_Platinum - artificial intelligence, coordinator, leader of Deciding Factor
* Alia Tarno - navigator, soldier
* Gerren - pilot
* Amphear - engineer
* Hendrix - soldier, AI
* HIEdi - soldier, AI
* Lara Porter - soldier
* Dex Shepard - soldier, leader of the One Brotherhood
* Unknown number of unnamed soldiers and engineers