Ethereals: Dossier
The Imperator of the Ethereal Collective
"There are few who can challenge a being beyond the comprehension of most mortals. The Imperator is one of them. There are few more dangerous or intelligent."
- Aegis
The Empire was losing. Our worlds were being overrun and our legions were falling evermore to the growing horde. The captives were taken away to never be seen again, and for the first time our kind were forced to consider the possibility of defeat. There were those who could ascertain where we had gone wrong, but they were too few.
The Empire needed to quickly step forward and provide a solution, and the Grandmaster finally proposed that the only thing that could save our Empire was to fully embrace the Imperator Project. This has previously been regarded as the next stage of Ethereal development, as there were several fundamental changes to the templates proposed.
They may have looked like us, but they were not the standard Ethereal. They would not think or act as the Empire did.
As a result, the project was shelved until more debate could be had. This was before the war.
Now, the Empire realized that they needed those who did not follow tradition. Those who were not bound by the archaic thought processes of the Ethereals of the Empire. There was no other choice seen, and the development of the Imperators was ordered. With the Reapers having been created and deployed recently, it bought the Empire some time to grow them.
No expense was spared, and no resource was too precious to not devote to the final hope of the Empire. Breakthroughs that would have previously taken years were made in months. Ethereals were grown in twenty years instead of fifty. During that stage of the war, we remembered what it was like to innovate and grow; and at the same time realized how much we had failed.
And as more worlds fell, the first of the Imperators emerged.
The First Five Hundred took over all important facets of the Empire within days of awakening, and within a week had devised what had to be done. Of the Five Hundred, they chose ten of their own to coordinate the war. Their names to this day would cause even the most dangerous of the Synthesized to hesitate.
They are as follows:
- Imperator Tenabri, Keeper of the Shadows
- Imperator Gladian, Sword of the Empire
- Imperator Eroian, Shield of the Empire
- Imperator Mendomita, Master Overmind
- Imperator Prolialien, Overseer of Conquest
- Imperator Finisar, Destroyer of Worlds
- Imperator Auxilius, Mastermind of the Empire
- Imperator Excesilla, Bane of the Synthesized
- Imperator Viatorian, Destroyer of the Prime
- Imperator Umbrasis, the Farseer
Read well, for the end of the Empire begins here.
- The End of the Empire, Part I – by Ethereal Cogitian
Operation: Collective Leader
Division: Ethereal Investigation
Report Author: Zar'poliala'dakka
Authorization: Zar'Chon
Whoever thought this operation was a good idea is an absolute idiot.
I'm aware it was you, Zar'Chon, and my point still stands.
I know we have a tendency to learn everything we can about our allies and enemies alike, but as I have learned, there are some things we should not be looking at. The Hive Commanders are one thing; dangerous, but they do need to be watched. I doubt they care anyway, and they aren't aggressive. So yeah, we watch them.
Same with the Andromedons. It's good to know what the Unions are up to. We should keep an eye on the brewing Second Union War that'll probably happen. Even if the rumors about their Special Operators are true, it's fine we look into it. They no doubt do the same to us.
Now, I want to be very clear that this does not apply to Ethereals. We should not be sending any kind of agents to dig up what they're doing unless we want our minds warped or in a best-case scenario, killed. I'm not sure my mind is my own right now, so I wouldn't be shocked for you to mark me as a compromised agent and send another agent to clean up.
If you think that's outlandish, guess what.
You've done it before.
Before I get into how much of a bad idea this was, I'll at least give what I can about the Imperator, the esteemed leader of the Ethereals, and by extension, the Ethereal Collective. To the surprise of absolutely no one, there is very little information on his history or even physical appearance. To date he has only made two public appearances – the first to the Hive Commanders (along with the Overmind), and once to the Federation.
Both of whom aligned themselves with them after meeting. Take that for what you will.
To date, the Imperator has not openly communicated with any government official or organization on Vitakar. There is some speculation he has spoken with the Stalker of the Hegemony, but this is unconfirmed and the Oyariah were not forthcoming, as the Black Library is the one place where even we can't get in.
Ever since those first two appearances, he has not been seen or communicated with the rest of the Collective, apparently relying on intermediaries for information and to spread his influence. What little I could gather indicates that the Imperator is extremely interested on inner-galactic expeditions, and has been sending various Ethereals to scout for…something. I never found out, nor do I want to.
I have heard, especially among the Andromedons, criticism that the Imperator never does anything. This is something that I can plainly dispute. The Imperator is not sitting idle, but he is focusing on matters other than the Collective. It all seems to point to the Imperator seeing the Collective itself as a tool, or means to an end.
It is odd that he doesn't take more of an interest, but I won't claim to know his mind.
What should stick out to everyone who reads this is that the Imperator, despite his apparent apathy, is the undisputed leader of the Collective. There is no discussion. He is the final authority on anything related to the Ethereals. His Guardians function as his voice and can literally order anything and it will be done.
No one is above the Imperator. The Battlemaster, Sana'Ligna, Fectorian, and every other known Ethereal answers directly to him. You do not oppose the Imperator unless you want to end up dead or your life ruined. There is also the prevailing belief that because the Imperator isn't actively participating in the Empire, he isn't watching it.
This is not true. Here is a list of suspicious incidents I managed to catalogue:
1. There was a minor Andromedon Union, Arrian, who previously specialized in deep-space travel. From our intelligence, they were not in favor of joining the Collective and were quietly planning to desert the Collective and head for the inner galaxy, having intercepted information from what I believe to be one of the Imperator's earliest expeditions into the inner galaxy.
Every single member of the Union vanished within a week after this was finalized. I presume they are dead. That isn't the disturbing part. As far as I can tell, Union Arrian never existed. The Andromedons don't have any records, nor do any seem to actually remember that was a Union at all.
We have records though, if you want to look, but if you do…I think you're repeating a pattern that I'll explain later.
2. You remember how the Hierarchy was acting up several years ago? How they were questioning how useful being in the Collective was and were openly planning to secede (For all the good it would have done them). And then, how they had a sudden change of heart?
This was clearly not the case after actually looking into it some more.
It turns out that half of the Cobrarian males disappeared. More importantly, they were apparently slain by several females for undisclosed reasons. There is no record of this anywhere, and the Cobrarians never reported it, presumably out of fear. As far as I can tell, the entire Hierarchy carried on as if nothing had happened, though if you'll look at census numbers, you'll see a massive drop around the time of that incident.
So how exactly did no one notice this?
3. There is something exceptionally wrong with Desolan. We're hardened Zararch agents, so we're fine with that kind of necessary brutality. But the thing is, not everyone who gets sent there is. So the question becomes how exactly none of them leave and tell their friends or family what is going on?
Don't delude yourself that it's because of fear. Even a Dath'Haram would have cracked by now if what was going on was normal.
I've had interviews with over two hundred soldiers of various races. These are aliens that recently came from Desolan. So they should know what is going on there. The thing is, they don't. They remember what it is, they have a vague feeling that they didn't like it that much, but almost never have many details.
Upon showing them some footage of the conditions, a good number of them react as if it's the first time they've seen it, and insist that they never saw any of that. I generally neglected to tell them that the footage was often with them in it.
A good question is why you and I aren't affected by this apparent amnesia, and I would likely chalk it up to us knowing about the operations beforehand…and probably never actually going to Desolan that often.
Or more likely, this is deliberate.
I am going somewhere with this. While it hasn't been explicitly said, it is commonly believed that the Imperator is one of, if not the most powerful psion ever. One aspect of psionics is telepathy. Yes, I'm aware that there is apparently some telepath Ethereal, but this is on a level that is…honestly beyond anything I can think of.
This seems to follow something of a pattern:
1. Event threatens stability of the Collective.
2. Threatening factors suddenly vanish
3. No one remembers the problem in the first place.
This is on a scale of hundreds of thousands of people. And it's more than these three incidents I've noted, it's on nearly a hundred smaller ones. The point is that if you're fool enough to think the Imperator isn't watching (especially the Zararch), then I won't mourn your death. And it stands to reason that if you feel like you're getting away with it…you aren't, the Imperator is just letting you keep going.
Quit while you're ahead.
So one thing that was bugging me was how I was apparently the only one to figure out how this was working. That was suspicious, and I didn't get an answer until I accidentally stumbled across some older documents we have; ones which reference another agent working on the subject I was looking to investigate.
Zar'Chon, I'm not the first person you've sent to find out more about the Imperator. I don't think I'm even the second. I don't think you remember, otherwise you would have given me their reports, but it became very clear. I looked back in the records, and found that unnamed agents had visited the same places, talked to the same authorities, and came to the same conclusions.
It's more than just following the past. Sometimes I just made guesses, and those somehow led to plausible answers. And the more I researched, the larger the web of influence the Imperator maintains became clearer, and it is terrifying. The Imperator knows who I am, and what I'm trying to do.
From what I was able to gather, the previous agents you assigned to this attempted to take it to the Aui'Vitakar after informing you. You sent assassins after them and erased their files. I can't find anything on them anymore. Maybe this has happened ten times, but I'm not going to throw my life away after seeing what he is capable of.
Ravarian…please stop looking into the Imperator.
Otherwise he is going to make you kill me, like he did with all the others.
One of the most daring plans ever conceived of by the Imperators was, quite possibly, what finally forced the Synthesized to take action to ensure that they weren't ultimately beaten. The borders of the Empire were being re-secured, as the Imperators regained full control over the separated Imperial planets, destroyed the offending Director Flagships, and razed the planets to ensure their soldiers were wiped out.
The plan, which would later be known as the Battle of the Falling Stars, was designed to directly target the known heart of all Synthesized operations, which had set up refuge near the center of the galaxy; surrounded by black holes and exploding suns. No Ethereal would have ever dared to think of even traveling there, let alone waging a battle.
But the Imperators were not ordinary Ethereals.
Even then, the Imperators were preparing for the possibility of failure. I suspect that the Imperator of the Collective was not the only one to have such plans and contingencies. Many Imperators worked on fortifying already captured planets, Imperators Tenabri and Umbrasis vanished shortly before the end of the war, never to be heard from again, and Auxilius traveled to former conquered alien territory in pursuit of potential allies, and she was presumably killed as no one heard from her again.
But those behind the plan itself were Imperators Gladien, Finisar, Excesilla, and Viatorian; the four most powerful Ethereals that the Empire ever had or would produce. After several months of planning, the Empire finally launched several thousand diversionary attacks to draw Synthesized forces away from the center, and the four flew towards their destination.
What we have left is only the eyewitness accounts of the Imperators themselves, as nothing else survived to give an alternate account. None but the Imperators went, and none but the Imperators returned. The moment they arrived, Finisar destroyed a half-dozen Director Flagships as Gladien shot towards one of the six stations the Synthesized had constructed and began laying waste to what was inside.
This was the first encounter of the Prime Flagships; something that we still do not have a good understanding of except that they appear to be the commanders of the Synthesized. They are twice as large, but are identical to their smaller brethren in design. It was clear that the Synthesized had not expected this, and with the dying stars around them, Excesilla and Viatorian began fighting the Prime.
That was the first time we realized that the Synthesized were more powerful than we anticipated.
The space became charged with psionic energy, as the psionosphere tore apart. Reality itself seemed to split apart and failed to follow the established laws of the universe as the Prime phased through psionic rifts and space stations compressed in seconds as the Prime attempted to kill the Imperator inside them.
But the Synthesized were also fighting the Destroyer of Worlds, and destroying a star followed the same principle. Even with the Prime to help, the Synthesized were still falling against the Imperators. Director Flagships were tossed into the event horizon of nearby black holes by Excesilla, her powers unable to be blocked with the raw strength of Viatorian supporting her and holding off the Prime as she destroyed the lesser flagships.
By luck or chance, Viatorian managed to teleport inside the Prime taking advantage of its apparent phasing abilities, and once inside he began wreaking havoc on the components of the machine. Within the heart of the Prime Flagship, he encountered what he could only consider the physical embodiment of the Prime. What this was originally he could not describe, aside from that it very nearly killed him.
And once the embodiment was defeated, he split the Prime apart with his infamous blast of energy strong enough to tear a moon in two, rending the Prime torn apart. He sent the remains towards another nearby black hole, not leaving until they had passed the event horizon. At his command, Finisar detonated one of the stars and the Battle of the Fallen Stars had ended.
To this day, Viatorian is the only Ethereal to have slain a Prime Flagship.
For a time, it seemed victory was in reach, but it ultimately turns out that all this had proven was the need for the Synthesized to escalate the conflict. The loss of the Prime apparently had some effect on the lesser Flagships; they became erratic; unfocused, lost. They were incapable of formulating an invasion.
It is no wonder that more fleets, with more Primes arrived.
And this time, they did not underestimate the Imperators.
- The End of the Empire, Part V – by Ethereal Cogitian
TARGET ANALYSIS: 100000001000
TARGET OF INTEREST: ETHEREAL 01 (THE IMPERATOR)
KNOWN ALIASES: "THE IMPERATOR OF THE ETHEREAL COLLECTIVE"
CURRENT POSITION: UNKNOWN – SUSPECTED WITHIN THE TEMPLE SHIP
SPECIES: ETHEREAL
INFORMATION OF NOTE: EXTREMELY DANGEROUS PSION
INFORMATION OF NOTE: LEADER OF THE ETHEREAL COLLECTIVE
INFORMATION OF NOTE: HAS NOTABLE INTEREST IN THE INNER GALAXY
INFORMATION OF NOTE: HIGHLY ISOLATED
INFORMATION OF NOTE: SUSPECTED MASTER TELEPATH
PSIONIC SPECIALIZATION: SUSPECTED ALL KNOWN PSIONIC DISCIPLINES
THREAT LEVEL TO ANDROMEDON FEDERATION (ALLIED): UNKNOWN – ESTIMATED LOW TO MEDIUM
THREAT LEVEL TO ANDROMEDON FEDERATION (ENEMY): SOVEREIGN
ADDITIONAL MANUAL COMMENT: I would first recommend that all operations into the investigation or spying of the Imperator be immediately suspended and cancelled. To continue moving forward risks the destruction of an unknown number of operatives and action taken against the Andromedon Federation as a whole.
I will say in no uncertain terms that the Imperator knows that we are watching him, and the only reason he is allowing it is because we either don't pose a threat to him or he has a plan.
I will summarize what information we have on him for posterity before continuing:
The Imperator of the Ethereal Collective is the most dangerous Ethereal in existence, and quite possibly one of the most dangerous beings in this galaxy. Our operatives deployed to watch the Temple Ship have come across some highly useful information relating to the Imperator, and I cannot discount the possibility that this was allowed to be found.
Within it, we learned that the Imperator was not the only one of the previous Ethereal Empire, but one of those who somehow survived whatever cataclysm befell their species. The Imperators were described as the most advanced Ethereals that had ever been developed, with far greater psionic power and manipulation than ever before.
This indicates that the Imperator is already more powerful than any Ethereal we know of.
Furthermore, the feats that were described which were attributed to Imperators were the following:
- The destruction of planets.
- Telepathic domination at inter-galactic distances.
- Telekinetically throwing enemies described as "Synthesized" into black holes.
- Facing fleets on their own.
- Seeming invulnerability to all conventional weaponry.
We can speculate on the accuracy of these documents, but if even a fraction of them are true that means that the Imperator is a potential threat we cannot ignore. We can also only speculate as to why he has not taken a direct interest in the Collective, aside from the first meeting with the Federation, but that raises more questions.
I can however put forth a possibility as to what the Imperator is doing. We have come across references to "Sovereign Ones" within the Temple Ship, as well as in other places in the Empire (Particularly at the Blacksites of Fectorian, Revelean, and the Creator). There is somehow less information on what or who they are than the Imperator, but based on his interest, it appears they are another galactic faction that may be just as, if not more powerful than the Ethereals.
There is very little to support they are indeed more powerful, but the fact that the Imperator appears to be treating them as legitimate equals (Assuming they are another faction), means they could potentially be at his level. Hence why I have created a designation above Omega. The Imperator is most certainly above Omega, and the only thing that is more powerful than an Ethereal deserves its own classification.
What is more disturbing is that there is noted evidence (Attached here) that the Imperator can manipulate Special Operators. This should not be possible, but there were no fewer than six times where we were following the Temple Ship for an indeterminate amount of time, and then only realized that we were following digital hallucinations.
Our ships were tuned to the signature of the Temple Ship, and we discovered that our own systems had been tampered with to follow that specific signal and yet we were still receiving what seemed to be legitimate data, and as a result we continued forward. Purging protocols did not reveal psionic tampering, and we are at a loss to explain this phenomenon.
This also implies that the Temple Ship can either teleport, cloak, or hide its signature. None are good.
While I am certain the Federation is curious about the enigmatic leader of the Ethereals, the fact is that we should not try and antagonize him. I highly doubt that the Imperator will tolerate any threat to the Collective, and if anyone is foolish enough to try, they will be swiftly removed. We must not, under any circumstances, make an enemy of the Imperator.
From what has been gathered, he is more powerful than the Kett'Tasira. Act accordingly.
RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE WITHDRWAL OF ALL FEDERATION FROM TO THE INVESTIGATION OR ESPIONAGE OF THE IMPERATOR; IMMEDIATE ACTIONS TAKEN AGAINST ANTI-ETHEREAL FACTIONS; BEGIN DEDICATED INVESTIGATION INTO THE ENTITIES KNOWN AS THE SOVEREIGN ONES; BEGIN DEDICATED INVESTIGATION INTO THE INNER GALAXY
REPORT COMPILER: SPECIAL OPERATOR 002; ANDROMEDON FEDERATION; [ERROR! DATA NOT FOUND!]
END REPORT
AWAITING REASSIGNMENT
CODEX File 0002
Subject: The Plan
Location: The Temple Ship of [REDACTED]
Author: Imperator [REDACTED]
Note: To be purged and transmitted to physical copy after initial write-up. All used equipment is to be destroyed.
It has become clear to me that the Empire will lose. We have greatly underestimated our foe, and not even the Imperators can salvage this war. Perhaps if we had been created earlier, if the Empire was not fearful of what the next iterations of Ethereals could be, then perhaps we would have a chance. But it was not to be. The Empire will pay for its mistakes.
Many have expressed the will to fight to the end; they will make their names known forever to the Synthesized and wreak untold losses on them. That is their right. But I see little need or point for such self-sacrifice. It will do nothing but kill more Ethereals. More death will solve nothing, we must turn to preservation.
This war has taught us much, and if given a second chance it could be applied to bring a victory. But such efforts require sacrifice and trust. The only way to survive the war is to leave it; it is to purposefully allow the Empire to fall once and for all. There are places in the galaxy where we have never explored, and I have doubts that the Synthesized have as well.
Regardless, it does not change what must be done.
Imperators Umbrasis and Auxilius have vanished, the former likely having come to the same conclusion I have, and the latter likely dead to her final plan. While I was always doubtful, she did have the right idea, even if it was in pursuit of a value the Empire failed to embrace. Our isolationism contributed greatly to our downfall, and if we had allied and shared our knowledge with the other species of the galaxy, perhaps our chances would have been better.
Of course, she should have known better than to leave on the chance that there were still those untouched by the Synthesized. We know they were the first to be attacked, and we did nothing. There is no more on those worlds but corpses and blood. It is a loss, but we are at a stage where desperate plans are all that we have left.
But she was right, and I will not make the same mistakes the Empire did.
We will not become an Empire, but we will control a collective of species which we will leverage against our enemies. The survivors of the Empire will lead the fight once more, alongside a united galaxy. That is the plan, but I suspect executing it will be more complex than assumed. Those who I have chosen have said as much.
Each accompanying me understands this needs to be done; all those have seen the destruction wrought by the Synthesized and will fight to prevent it from happening again. They all have a place and role for the war to come, and they will be loyal to the end. So long as we are united in our goal, there is little that could stop our mission.
It is fortunate I had the foresight to plan for the worst, as the cloning facilities, vaults, and stasis chambers were completed some months ago, on unnamed worlds unknown to the Empire or the greater galaxy. I suspect many will be destroyed, or even the one I will soon inhabit. But that is the risk, and we have little choice.
However, when we awaken we will hopefully have the tools needed to begin rebuilding, and if there are…unforeseen circumstances, we will be able to overcome them, and have clear goals to work towards. But one goal must always be kept in mind – We must not repeat the mistakes of the Empire, otherwise we will die.
This time forever.
XCOM Profile 227
Authorization Level: Internal Council
Subject: The Imperator
Threat Level: Imperator – He is no ordinary Ethereal, Commander, and the current rankings are insufficient. He is a classification all to himself. Only Sovereign Ones could be considered higher.
Assessment Author: Aegis
Approved by: The Commander of XCOM
SECTION 1: Physical Characteristics
Hair color: None (Ethereal)
Eye color: Solid Orange
Skin color: Dark Purple
Height: 15'6"
Weight: 420-450 lbs. (Estimated)
Distinguishing Features: He is perhaps the only Ethereal to incorporate gold into his color scheme, and his armor is far more ornate than most Ethereals. His appearance is specifically designed to evoke awe and respect. His helmet resembles something closer to an upside-down triangle, and his overall aesthetic more closely resembles that of a Battlemaster.
Physical Condition: The Imperator is the peak form of an Ethereal. He has been observed to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the armored Synthesized, all of whom were nearly three hundred pounds (Estimated), and he was able to throw them around with ease. He has no equal in strength; even the Battlemaster is inferior to him.
He is as nimble as he can be for his size, and is without a doubt one of the fastest Ethereals to ever exist. His stamina is nearly inexhaustible, and Imperators have been shown to be able to fight for nearly three weeks at full strength. It is safe to say he cannot be worn down by attrition.
If your intelligence is questionable enough to consider fighting the Imperator in close-range combat, or believe that your best attempt is to beat him physically, then you will die. There is no debate on this subject.
SECTION 2: Assessment
The Imperator of the Ethereal Collective is the most powerful alien you will likely ever have the misfortune of facing. An argument could be made for Sovereign Ones, but we simply do not know enough hard facts about how they fight. But I know, and have seen Imperators fight, and to put things exceptionally bluntly, no one can stand against him and live.
If there is one thing to remember, it is that the Imperator is not like any Ethereal you have faced before. Imperators were designed to possess a fundamentally different mindset than any who came before them. They did not grow up in the traditions of the Empire, and their extremely enhanced intelligence rejected all the failed notions of the Empire, from xenophobia, to stagnated research, to isolation, and so on.
The Imperators were designed to operate on a galactic scale, and that is exactly what they achieved.
While you are planning the defense of one planet, the Imperator is planning the conquest of the galaxy. One planet barely takes him more than a few hours, and he has the mental capacity to maintain his concentration on multiple different complex projects at once. I can guarantee the Imperator has already determined the strengths, weaknesses, and various factors that make up not just ADVENT or XCOM, but the entirety of Earth.
The Imperator of the Ethereal Collective, as he is known now, was not always called such. All Ethereals had names at some point, but some rejected them for titles. To the best of my knowledge the Imperator has kept his true name obscured, but I suspect he was one of the Ten Commanders of the Imperators; the ones who led the falling Empire against the Synthesized.
He has personally fought and destroyed hundreds of Director Flagships, and countless more of their thralls. I participated in several battles with him, and the sight of an Imperator in full battle armor gesturing and throwing the black ships into a star is one no one can ever forget. He was not unique among even Imperators, but he is far beyond any Ethereal alive today.
I am not sure how I managed to attract his attention, but the Imperator was the one who contacted me as he had come to the same conclusion many of us accepted – the war was lost. He offered a solution and after some thought I took it. For the greater good, and the preservation of the Empire, it was what needed to happen.
We entered stasis without incident, on a planet that has no name, and exited without such either. Upon awakening, the Imperator began relocating everyone onto a hidden Temple Ship that he had memorized the coordinates of, and teleported us across the galaxy. We took everything of value from the stasis chamber, and once on board the Temple Ship, we began executing the first stages of the plan.
The Imperator was looking to find and contact pre-spaceflight or early spaceflight civilizations, with the intent of forming the Ethereal Collective. This, as you would expect, relied on large amounts of guesswork and luck. However, the Imperator seemed to know certain things, and though in the early days we were not able to find any living civilizations, we found curious locations, ruins, and other areas of exploration.
It was also on one of these planets we encountered one of the Sovereign Orbs. I was not present for that conversation, but the Imperator soon told us that they had acquired an ally in the Sovereign Ones, and they began directing us to certain planets and caches. The Imperator soon after appointed Ethereal Regisora as the Voice of the Sovereign.
We encountered the Sectoids first, and the Imperator quickly determined that they would react…violently to an attempt to assimilate them, and directed the Overmind to make them more pliable. This succeeded and the Sectoids became the first species in the Ethereal Collective. The Andromedons soon followed, although the Imperator apparently did not resort to mental manipulation to encourage them to join.
Instead he promised protection from whatever had been chasing them. Whatever he told them was apparently good enough to convince them to join. The Vitakara were among the easiest, as he simply directed Revelean and Sana to fix their trivial genetic disease, earning their eternal loyalty. The Mutons he simply ordered the Battlemaster to handle, and did not appear to have an interest in fully assimilating them in the same matter as the previous three.
However, the majority of his time has largely been spent investigating the inner galaxy, and seemingly plotting against the Sovereign Ones. I do not know what has prompted this sudden change, but I do see the results of it. The Imperator has abandoned his original goal, and as a result the Collective has slowly grown more and more disjointed.
I suspect Earth will be what brings him back.
SECTION 3: Psychological Profile
The Imperator is one of the worst enemies you can face because he is unpredictable. You cannot treat him like me or the Battlemaster. He is adaptable, he actively manipulates those he takes an interest in, and he frustratingly will usually know everything about his target beforehand, making countering him nigh-impossible.
However, the Imperator has somehow developed what I can only call a personal code or strategy where he deliberately ignores directly mind controlling whoever he is interested in at the time. He actively participates in debate and discussion, especially with enemies or those who disagree with him; he feels a compulsion to justify and defend his actions, and very rarely is the recipient immune to his words – because they are specifically tailored to make them come to the conclusion he wants them to.
This is why the situation Patricia is in right now is so precarious. The Imperator knows what to do to make her listen, and every step of the way she is coming to the conclusions he wants her to – but on her own. The illusion of independence is what the Imperator excels at, and which no one is immune to. Not you, not me, and certainly not her.
The Imperator is also not concerned with species, which is a notable non-Ethereal attitude to have. That does not mean he doesn't have preferences and dislikes; he considers the Sectoids of limited use due to their worldviews, and the Andromedons he respects, but finds their obsession with feuds and rivalries childish. He can appreciate the Vitakara, but treats them with more apathy than most.
With Ethereals he has similarly varied opinions. He brought each one for a purpose, that I believe, but this has certainly changed now. But this does not mean he likes them. Ethereals like Isomnum or the Creator he considers useful tools or necessary evils. Sana is too naïve, but a more skilled healer and biologist you cannot find. He has even clashed with the Battlemaster, but both still hold a mutual respect for each other.
The Imperator is surprisingly tolerant of diverse opinions, but will always attempt to convince those against him that his views are superior. It is extremely dangerous for a non-psion or unprotected one to even hold such a conversation with him, because being in the presence of the Imperator will change you. It was a passive effect of all Imperators, but he has mastered it to where even psions have to be careful.
The more time that is spent listening to the Imperator, the more you will be subtly affected by him until you begin to think like him. Sana once ran several experiments on this, and quickly stopped them when she realized how radically he was modifying their brain patterns.
I suppose the last thing to consider here is that the Imperator will never tolerate a legitimate threat. He does not consider Earth a threat, otherwise you would have already been destroyed. He does not consider you or I threats, else we would be dead. His plans are greater than one planet; or one person. He operates at a level we do not, Commander, and whether this is a strength or weakness has yet to be determined.
SECTION 4: Concerns and Abilities
If he wished, the Imperator could conquer Earth on his own.
Here is a short list of what he could do:
- He could telepathically dominate your planet.
- He could turn entire continents to scorched earth.
- You could launch every nuclear weapon you had at him and he would live.
- You can hide or run, but the Imperator will find you by tracking your mind.
- All aliens could suddenly be protected by his mind, and made invincible via psionic shields.
To put it extremely bluntly, you cannot fight the Imperator and live. It is impossible and to suggest otherwise is to be blatantly ignoring what I present before you. I understand that this is not easy to hear, as Humans have a tendency to always have their heroes overcome the odds and win, but this is the truth.
When you fight the Imperator, you are not fighting a mortal being.
You are fighting someone who is within the minds of everyone around you; who is learning what you are planning as you are planning it. You are fighting someone who can turn a being to splintered bone and meat with a look. You are fighting a master telepath who could turn the planet against you with a single word.
You cannot treat him like an ordinary Ethereal.
Tactics do not work.
Planning does not work.
Weapons do not work.
Yet Imperators can die. I certainly saw it in the war. And they died against entire fleets, the reality-tearing Primes, and those on their own power level. In a galactic war, it is possible for an Imperator to be surprised. But not one planet. Humanity is too confined. The Imperator can know all that goes on in your world.
You have two choices in this war: Take the war to space and hope that he is too distracted or arrogant to respond, or reach a point where Humanity can parley.
I cannot see a scenario where anyone can kill the Imperator. Be careful when making your decisions in this war, Commander. The Imperator is unlike anything you have or will face.
You are not his equal. Do not delude yourself into thinking that you are or will ever be.