The Imperator

Imperator on his Throne

The XCOM Files

**Viatorian** is an Ethereal Imperator, and the leader of the Ethereal Collective. Like all Imperators, he was grown to be the pinnacle of Ethereal power, in order to match the power of the Synthesized. During the war, he became known for being the only Ethereal to have destroyed a Synthesized Prime Flagship, but he eventually realized the war was lost, and began recruiting noteworthy Ethereals to preserve themselves in cryostasis, in order to rebuild and prepare to fight them on more equal footing.

## Biography

Created during the waning days of the Ethereal Empire, Viatorian was the result of the Imperator Project, aiming to create the next stage of the Ethereal race. Within days of their awakening, the first Five Hundred to be awakened seized control of the Empire, along with its facets and functions, to hopefully turn the tide of the war. Of these Five Hundred, ten were chosen to control over command of this effort. Viatorian was one of these ten, and quickly grew to prove himself during the war, culminating in the Battle of the Falling Stars which would earn him the title of Destroyer of the Prime.

### Battle of the Falling Stars

A military operation of previously unrivaled stratagem and precision, the objective was straightforward- target the heart of Synthesized operations, located near the center of the Milky Way. Spearheaded by the four most powerful Imperators to date- Gladien, Finisar, Excesilla, and Viatorian himself, the four Imperators alone attacked the target, attempting to lay waste to everything at the Synthesized's dark heart. During this, they encountered the first of the Prime Flagships, seemingly able to perform impossible tasks like manipulating the psionisphere itself.

By sheer luck, Viatorian teleported inside of the Prime, destroying it, but not before encountering what was its physical embodiment; nearly killing him. Nevertheless, it was defeated, along with the rest of the Synthesized forces in the area.

However, this defeat was all the Synthesized needed to escalate the war, and with it, the Ethereal Empire would fall.

### Preservation

Knowing that the Empire would fall, the Imperator gathered the Ethereals what would come to make up the Ethereal Collective, preserving them in suspended animation, with the goal of awakening two hundred thousand years later and allying with whatever alien races they could find to create a coalition capable of defeating the Synthesized for good.

What he did not tell his comrades- most of them, at least, was that in secret, he would make an army of his own. He tracked down alien survivors across the galaxy, conscripting them to create stations housing Imperators, grown over the course of many years, waiting for his command to rise. Once done, he would train his legions, along with the races he would find and unite, to annihilate the horde of monsters that very nearly ended his people.

However, what he did not come to realize is that the Synthesized were not the only enemies the galaxy had to offer.

### Alliances and Fractures

After the Ethereal awakened, they began to search for species to integrate into the Collective. It did not take them long to find the Sections, whose minds were warped by the Overmind to join.

After they discovered the Sectiods, however, they learned of something much greater. Regisora, an archaeologist whom the Imperator has taken along with them, had learned of a creature that referred to himself as a 'Sovereign One'. After meeting this mysterious entity who went by the name of Mosrimor, who specialized in nano machines, the Imperator forged an alliance with him as Regisora volunteered herself to undergo modifications from Mosrimor to become his Voice and avatar, becoming the Voice of the Sovereign.

This would become a turning point in the Imperator's grand plan, which would go on to have massive ramifications for the entirety of the Collective.

After this, they discovered the Vitakara, whose loyalty was earned by saying them from extinction, the Andromedons, who joined out of a fear of what drove them from their home galaxy, Andromeda. Finally, they assimilated the Mutons, who were conquered by the Battlemaster's hand.

After the discovery of the Andromedons, however, the Ethereal called the Creator discovered an entity in the Psionosphere known simply as the Bringer, which would later become known as the Bringer of Paradise. This entity would become what the Imperator would see as a necessary evil to defeat the Sovereign Ones, who he now saw as a greater threat compared to the Synthesized. But with the discovery and enabling of the Bringer came horrors and monstrosities that would plant the seeds for the Battlemaster to come up with his own plans...

### Humanity

When the Collective discovered Earth and the species on it called Humans, the Imperator was wary of immediately integrating the world into the Collective. For there was a mysterious creature hiding within the depths of its deepest ocean- a creature that the Imperator did not wish to provoke. Initially, small infiltration teams were sent to scout various locations, many of who were intercepted by XCOM. Eventually, the Imperator would gradually escalate these infiltrations and attacks into a full scale invasion commanded by the Battlemaster, beginning with the annexation of Australia, and causing the defection of the Ethereal Aegis to XCOM.

Eventually, the Imperator found the answer to his question- this mysterious creature was T'Leth, the Warmaster, a Sovereign one specializing in the crafting of armor and weapons for warfare who XCOM, and by extent ADVENT, would ally with. After the capture of Caelior by XCOM forces, the Imperator kidnapped Patricia Trask, the first ever human psion awakened with the intent to eventually turn her against her species for his own agenda, which he would eventually succeed in. However, not all would go well for him, as as the war progressed, more entities would take notice of this conflict and reveal themselves.