Imminent Crisis

**Imminent Crisis** is the first episode of the single player campaign of *Ashes*.

## Background

The sudden loss of contact with newly converted worlds in the Kepler sector throws a wrench in the Post-Human
Coalition’s plans for orderly expansion even as its relationship with the teeming masses of biological humans back on
Earth becomes increasingly contentious.

Orbital structures would have detected any astronomical threats like inbound meteors. Seismic disturbances have
happened on plenty of worlds during conversion, and the nanites that drive the Turinium process handle even
cataclysmic events just fine. The Kepler phenomenon is new.

Having moved his consciousness to a nearby world, Mac is able to bring considerably more computational resources to
bear on the problem. With brute force, his subroutines pieces together a fragmentary video record from just before the
latest planet dropped from the network.

What Mac sees confirm his suspicions: A clearly artificial machine, bristling with weapons of war, destroys a power
generator before sending streams of nanites flowing into a relay, reconfiguring its internals to presumably link it with
the unknown aggressors’ network rather than the Post-Humans’.

Heart heavy, Mac recalls the latest abandoned prototypes for land-based war machines. Part of his consciousness
updates them to reflect the latest developments in physics and wargame tactical doctrine, while another stares in shock
at the deadly profile that duplicates what he just saw in the Kepler record. Seconds later he has pushed his primary
awareness to Kepler itself, where his good friend Eric ‘Valen’ Tylan joins him as the first battle constructs begin rumbling
across the fields…

## Missions

* Kepler - Forging a Hero: The two founders of the newly formed Post-Human Coalition, William 'Mac' MacBride and Eric 'Valen' Tylan, are fighting a losing battle against a Post-Human that appears to have lost its mind.
* Cygnus - The Mystery of the Splinters: The Post-Human Coalition has lost contact with the planet Cygnus. The PHC has dispatched a neophyte to investigate.
* Deneb - A New Enemy: Something is attacking the Post-Human known as Carvil. A young Post-Human has been dispatched in hopes of uncovering what is behind these 'Splinters.'
	+ Yorkshire - Claim Jumpers & Splinters: The owner of the planet Yorkshire has been transformed in to a Splinter. The PHC has sent Mac and a promising new Post-Human to reclaim the planet for the Post-Human Coalition.
* Calethaon - Capture and Hold: Another Post-Human world has fallen. This time, however, the PHC has maintained control over the planet's Turinium Generator.
* Decanus - Fire from the Sky: The Post-Humans have a brief window of opportunity to discover who their nemesis is. The PHC has sent their agent to Decanus to recover a corrupted Nexus.
* Noctus - Dreadnoughts: The Substrate have launched an assault on the PHC world of Noctus. The Post-Humans have sent their best agent to save it.
* Artorius - The Enemy's Flank: The PHC have engaged a Substrate leader, Athena, in hopes of learning the location of the Substrate's hidden homeworld.
* Drengi - Endgame: Mac and a powerful new agent of the PHC have begun their assault on the Substrate homeworld.