Paradigm Declaration

Maria

Source: Fantasma Historical Archive
Document: Paradigm Declaration
<[FANT/pub1]><[uONL][a000]><[data/hist/paradecl.chnk]>

An address broadcast to the inhabitants of the planet Mercury at 1200 hours (MUT) on 25 July, 2834, using an unknown geological disturbance generator, by Maria Wolfe of the Fantasma Colony. This message was accompanied by the simultaneous destruction of the Shakespeare supernexus and the Caloris Basin TDF primary base. The address, delivered by plain voice, read as follows:

"This is Maria Wolfe, once of the Imperial Navy, later of the Knights, and now of the Ghosts of the Antipode. I now lay claim to Mercury by right of our distance from the Empire we will never see again, and I defend my claim by right of the power I now possess, the power that brought us here, the power that I have just demonstrated again to be sure you have no doubts. This world belongs to us now, the Ghosts of the Antipode, and will belong to us forever. All others, human or Cybrid, from now on you are here at our sufferance. Any who would challenge our rule of this planet, leave now if you value your lives."

As could be expected, this did not go over very well, especially with the Imperial Knights force assigned to the Antipode Mining Guild's defense. A month later, this force declared war on Fantasma Colony, which proved to be a mistake despite their assistance from Commander Mee's Terran Defense Force unit inside the colony. (It should be noted that Mee and at least a third of her force sided with the Ghosts in this conflict.)
REF: <[FANT/pub1]><[uONL][a000]><[data/hist/mee00257.chnk]>

The only forces that did not seem to care about this declaration were the fighters from the Tarazedi Alliance who were among the human units dropped in the Caloris region in early 2834 to mop up the Cybrids. They maintained a steadfastly neutral stance to all other humans, and completely ignored all attempts to get them to choose one side or another. In January of 2835, this unit destroyed the last Cybrids in the Caloris Basin and the Everything Else, even as the other human forces were busy attacking the impertinent Ghosts.

After this, the TA signed a carefully-worded non-aggression treaty with Fantasma Colony, a treaty that would be of little importance anyway as their forces left Mercury to set up a base on Forgotten (Ghost Star V) to rebuild. It was not for another two months that the next major player, the Cybrids, moved to another planet. They built their base in the equatorial regions of Polynya (Ghost Star III), and there they completed the metamorphosis to a new form of Cybrid. Calling themselves the Paradigm Sect, they were a democratically-run unit of Cybrids and subverted humans from the Antipode Mining Guild, Imperial Knights, and other people captured during the Starsiege that had never been rescued. One thing remained constant, though: their hostility to humans. While it was over six years before the Paradigm Sect openly attacked the Tarazedi Alliance and thus began the New Worlds War, they took their toll on human colonization efforts with small raids, attacks that were many times more vicious than the efforts of the Cybrids remaining on Mercury, most of which were obliterated by a Ghosts/CZG force in March of 2837.

In February of 2836, Mee and Ko'ah forged the Carina Zone Guard, a force of fighters from the TDF and others in Fantasma Colony. Together with the Ghosts, they would colonize the system and defend against the Cybrids. In 2838, about half of the Ghosts disappeared from the system altogether, for unknown reasons and destinations, and it was several years before they returned, just in time to deal with the chaos of the Carina War and an impending supernova in the Ghost Star...

(from "A Children's History of Mercury" by Enigma the Cat)

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