This thread has been intriguing even before I signed on. Wondered why some obvious and devious ideas weren't thrown in, and here's one in particular. Don't have any current books due to lack of available players in area, but still want to contribute some suggestions. Feel free to expand on this, put in stats and other fine details as you like; this is merely a seed or synopsis waiting to be developed.
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The Andromedan Cyber Empire
Not everything that go together like peanut butter and chocolate are so wonderful. Sometimes a particular combination can be outright hideous in how they complement each other so well.
People couldn't remember exactly when the prelimenary reports from the numerous space-faring expeditions and patrols came in, but for the few who actually got to read them it was unsettling to all Human and Fiction alike. Nobody knows which organization or organizations exactly was in charge, but word through the grapevine was that there had been a clandestine meeting where these reports were read and discussed. What the reports boiled down to were that numerous planets on the fringe with nice relatively primitive and/or not so advanced humanoid societies were going heavy metal overnight.
And unfortunately it had nothing to do with the latest Disaster Area Universal Tour.
Some brave space farers decided to do a little planet-side recon in these invaded worlds with results that could have been scripted if it wasn't so real and bloodchilling. A few died, a few suffered a much worse fate, and then a few managed to get out with detailed report of what the hell was exactly going on.
Cybermen.
Now, a few things set this apart from what Pre-Vs and a few others knew about Cybermen in general.
First of all was their appearance. These Cybermen were neither the space-suited Mondasian variety, nor the clunky armored Tin Men churned out by Cybus Industries. These seemed either a variant design, or perhaps they were more advanced models from lost concept sketches that were neglected on someone's desk. Pre-Vs seemed to especially note a distinct anime aesthetics to these Cybermen.
The second, and some would later say important distinction was what was observed by these brave souls and recorded for Earth's sake. The invasion forces followed the standard Mondasian hierachy of Cybermen being led by Cyber Leaders, who in turn took orders from a Cyber Controller. But then some uncertainty arose when one of the reports detailing how the Cyber Controller was said to have received and relayed orders from "Her Majesty," which didn't widen eyes immediately but certainly raised a few brows on people attending that meeting. The few lateral-thinking otaku Pre-Vs were on a headstart towards screaming their expletives of choice not too much later on.
Another piece of evidence at the meeting was a hidden recording of a Cybercompany advancing on a helpless village not too far from an initial landing zone on a more agricultural planet. The words that came out of the Cyber Leader's speech modulator was the eye-opening shocker:
[In the name of Queen La Andromeda Prometheum, this planet and all its inhabitants are now annexed to the Cyber Empire.]
After the outburst of horrified obscenities at the meeting room calmed down, the Pre-Vs smacked themselves wondering why they didn't see this coming in the first place. When Fiction from the whole of Earth's popular culture suddenly materialized into Reality, some things went well together like peanut butter and chocolate as was all ready known on the planet. Except sometimes the result was horrific in how they complemented each other so well.
The conclusion they reached was explained in detail to the others gathered at the meeting. During the period of Fictional emergence following the Vanishing, it seemed that two identical "cultures" for the lack of a better term materialized and merged as was not uncommon in the 23 Hours. Except the merging was on literally a planetary scale, and the two halves almost fit perfectly like pieces of the same puzzle.
Andromeda (formerly La Metalle) and Mondas. Both planets were once binary twins of Earth ages ago in their home universes, and both were knocked off their orbits and sent hurtling into the depths of frigid space. Their inhabitants only saw starvation and a chill death in their bleak future, and both worlds eventually resorted to cybernetic conversion for survival. And the mechanized inhabitants of both planets were out to conquer the universe and convert all other sentient humanoid life.
When the 23 Hours hit, such were the similarities of both mechanical civilizations that they didn't just converge physically, their cultural identity (or what passes for one) combined as well. None of the former Mondasians or La Metalleans in this reality are even aware that they used to have separate histories in separate dimensions. As far as everyone from Queen Andromeda herself at the top all the way down to the rank-and-file Cyberman or lowly cyborg citizen of Andromeda are concerned, they are all members of the same civilization, cast away from the warm embrace of Sister Earth and into the blackest gulfs of space, abandoning flesh in favor of metal out of pure survival.
Peanut butter and chocolate indeed.
Queen Andromeda was still on that universal domination trip, and this time the Cybermen were now her standing royal army and navy- the default military model of choice. And from what the Pre-Vs knew of both components, the Cyber Empire would eventually head towards Earth's direction. Of course the high probability that the greatest enemies of both Queen Andromeda and the Cybermen were also in existence in this universe were one of the few sparks of hope that emerged at the conclusion of that meeting.
Preparations were being made.
