I've played over 5000 hours of rimworld. Send help!

But hey! My borderline obsession enjoyment of Rimworld over the past few years has given rise to this story. Then final arc and ending of Attack On Titan was a complete and total failure, an abomination created by the cowardice of it's author. But perhaps, the arrival of people from the stars, those that escaped the horrors of a rimworld, humans willing to fight, die, and kill for what they believe it, can change the Paths...

Chapter One: Waiting for the Sun

His archnotech eye looked through the cold window, staring out into an eternity of starlight and into the great beyond. The starlit void before him was breathtakingly beautiful, but it could never replace a world that humans could live upon. The eternal void of space made his heart ache for a new place to call home, and the man wondered just how many more years of flight it would take, until the AI that flew this star ship would find them a new planet to live upon. It had, after all, been many centuries since they left that war-torn rimworld behind. Abandoning the colony base they had painstakingly built over the years, their home, that had been a safe haven in a lawless and cruel world.

He scratched his brown beard with his right hand, his remaining flesh and blood one, as his mind again remembered the life he had lived on that distant rimworld. It seemed like an eternity ago that he, one voluntary colonist out of many, had crash-landed upon an uncharted Rimworld after flying in cryptosleep for countless years. He counted himself damn lucky that he had survived the destruction of that colony star ship, even more-so that two other colonists had crash-landed with him upon the planet surface below. Dazed from the crash landing and sickened from the decades of cryptosleep, but alive nonetheless, one man and two women formed an alliance that day, and worked together in order to survive.

They lived new lives upon that Rimworld, far from the comforts and luxuries of the Glitterworlds and Midworlds. They sowed and harvested crops, mined rock and metal, built tools and weapons, researched and relearned technology, and slowly but surely, built a base to shelter them from a harsh and unknown world. It was brutally hard work that exhausted one to the bone, but they had each other to rely on. They had managed to build a new home for themselves. And for a time, despite the hardships of survival, the three of them were happy together.

But the happy and peaceful times didn't last.

It wasn't long before the first hostile raiders arrived to their base, and first blood upon the soil was shed. He was forced to kill with his rifle and knife to protect his female companions, the first of many lives that would be snuffed out by his hands. They were not alone on that rimworld, and there were countless others who would happily kill them for little they did have.

He was nobody special before all of this. His past was that of a gunsmith upon an unimportant Midworld that was thrown into war, which he spent as a mechanic repairing firearms rather then serving on the front lines. But upon that rimworld with two woman depending on him for their survival, he was forced to learn how to be a leader.

The years that followed were a constant bloody struggle for their right to live, against several enemy factions that wanted them dead. From bloodthirsty pirate raiders, savage tribesmen, rough outlanders, cannibal cults, giant mutant insects, and worse of all, the dreaded Mechanoids.

It was only thanks to the rifle, revolver, and plasteel knife that he'd brought with him that they were able to fight back and kill for their survival. And over time, more and more people joined, and their humble colony grew into something wonderful. Some they rescued from crashed transport pods and nursed back to health, who then joined them out of gratitude. Others were wanderers, tiring of living on their own and had willing joined and settled down with them. Some were slaves the they bought from friendly factions, trading precious silver to gain another body to aid in their survival. The rest were prisoners they had captured from enemy factions, who they had convinced to join their cause.

But as their colony wealth grew, so did the number of enemies they faced. Their enemies had taken notice of their growing strength, and sent harder and harder raids to snuff of the flame of life in their colony. It was an exhausting dance of death and survival that lasted many years, until the day finally came when they had finished researching all the technology they'd needed to leave that rimworld behind.

They then accomplished the impossible, and built a working star ship that could carry them off the planet. It was by no means an easy task, but thanks to the brilliance of their researchers and engineers, along with those that had gathered the supplies they needed, they had everything they need to get the hell off of that rimworld. The last obstacle they had was starting it up, and surviving long enough for the ship reactor to charge up for takeoff.

They stripped down their base of all the supplies and valuables they had gathered over the years, and loaded up their star ship for their grand escape. Once the last of the supplies and colony animals had been loaded, the ship reactor was started up, and the countdown towards launch began. But until the ship reactor was fully powered, they had to protect their star ship until it was ready for the flight into the void. If only it was as easy as they first thought it would be...

The days that followed were a nightmare of gore and death. Their enemies, both human and mechanoid, were quick to learn about their newly built star ship, and attacked ruthlessly in nonstop raids to stop them from leaving that rimworld, and to take their ship for themselves. It was carnage that seemed endless with little rest, with more and more of their colonists perishing in the brutal battles, their base defenses and fighters just barely enough to hold back their relentless enemies.

Still, even through the horrors and desperation of those battles, the colonists never gave up hope. They would not give in and let their enemies kill them all, not when they were so close to leaving that lawless rimworld behind. So they kept on fighting, they kept on on defending their star ship and their base, killing all those that dared to threaten their hope of escape.

They were strong, and they would prevail.

And after 15 days of bloody conflict had passed, it was done.

They had held off long enough and had survived, and the ship reactor was finally charged for centuries of flight in the starlit void. Battle worn and weary of all the senseless death, the surviving colonists boarded their star ship together, finally able to rest and recover in the cryptosleep caskets that waited for them. With the colony fully evacuated, and no man or woman left behind, save for the dead, the AI that piloted their star ship fired up the engines, lifted them off the world, flew them above and away from the colony base that now laid in ruins, and carried them all away from that rimworld forever.

They had left it all behind… but he was glad that they, at least, were still alive. Their story would continue, and he could only hope that is was a story with a happy ending. That they would find an unclaimed world to settle upon, or maybe even find their way to a Midworld or Glitterworld and retire from space colonization in peace, using their hard earned riches to live the rest of their lives in luxury. He could only hope for the best, and pray that their star ship would take them to a new place to call home.

But until that day would come, they had to sleep within their cryptosleep caskets, which would keep their bodies in a timeless sleep, preventing their bodies from aging as their colony star ship carried them through the void.

He, however, did not like the idea of sleeping until their arrived at their unknown destination, if they even survived that long in the first place. So he had his casket programmed to automatically awaken him every decade, if only so he could check on those that remained within his heart, and reassure his soul of their well being. That they were truly alive, had truly survived that hell, and were still with him. Their were many that had come with them on their escape, but those five, and his daughter, were the ones he loved the most. They rested in their caskets right next to his, awaiting the day when they would finally wake up and find a new world before their eyes.

With a sigh, the eternal man turned away from the window and walked back towards the interior caskets, his plasteel bionic leg clashing against the cold metal floor. With the number of bionic and archnotech parts his body had been augmented with, he felt more machine then man at times. All the colonists with him had bionic or archnotech parts of course, either to replace the missing flesh limbs or organs that were lost to the countless battles for survival over the years, or to argument and strengthen their mortal vessels beyond what a normal human body could even hope to be. Still, he was glad he still had his right hand of flesh and bone, his dominate one. As superior as bionic and archnotech parts were, he would not hack off parts of his flesh and bone body just to upgrade them.

He continued to walk in silence, passing by the countless cryptosleep caskets bolted to the steel floor. They gave off a steady and soothing hum, reassuring him that their occupants were still. Yet they also made guilt rise within him, as he though of all those who did not survive and come with them on their escape. The faces of the dead still haunted him, long after they were buried and forgotten. He would still suffer nightmares at times, reliving the moments when friends, comrades, and enemies would die before his eyes.

The weight of the dead still wore down his soul, both those he had killed and those he had failed to save.

He couldn't save everyone. He had swallowed that bitter pill of truth long ago.

But at least, he had saved her. Saved them both.

His placed his right hand upon the cold steel and uranium casket next to his, wondering just how much longer he would have to wait until he saw her face again. He could still picture her clearly in his mind, the beautiful but shy blonde haired woman, and remember the passionate love between them that had kept him sane in a lawless and cruel world.

She was one of the two female colonists that had crash landed with him upon that rimworld. Seeing her breathtaking beauty, he had wasted no time in seducing her. She was very shy and hesitant at first, but she'd accepted his advances and they had become lovers. Sex with her had been a welcome distraction from the harsh early days of building their colony, where they were barely scraping by on food and supplies. But unlike the other romantic flings he'd had in his previous life, his relationship with her had grown into passionate love and eventually marriage, love forged in the fire and blood of survival.

The steady green light on her casket reassured him that she was still alive, his wife was still with him, even if he couldn't see her body within the metal sarcophagi. As much as he would love to awaken her and spent time with her again, and make rough and passionate love with her again, if only for a few moments, he had decided to wait and hope that they would find a planet first. He didn't want her to experience the same feelings of emptiness as he did in this eternal moment.

And so he opened his own casket again, pressing a series of buttons to reset it for another decade of cryptosleep. He then climbed into his metal coffin with practiced ease, making himself comfortable before closing it from the inside and starting it up again. As he closed his eyes and awaited cryptosleep yet again, Highlord Eric Silvera wondered how much longer their ship would carry them through this lifeless void, until they would find a new planet to live upon. A new place to call home...

XxXxXx

Endrick "Eric" Silvera

Faction: The Ironfall Alliance

Highlord of Dawnfire

Count in the Fallen Empire

Childhood: Midworld Loner

Eric was born on a peaceful, unimportant midworld.

While he had a few friends, he preferred to spend his time in solitude, tinkering on his autocycle while listening to netcasts, or plinking at plastic soldiers with a new rifle he had just put together.

Shooting: +3 Construction +3 Crafting +5 Social -2

Adulthood: Military Gunsmith

When his world was thrown into conflict, Eric was conscripted along with many of his peers into the war machine that tore across the planet.

With his particular expertise, he was lucky enough to find a position serving as a small arms mechanic rather then the front lines.

Shooting +5 Melee +4 Construction +2 Cooking +2 Crafting +5 Medical +2

Traits: Iron willed. Tough. Pretty.

Family

Miriam Silvera. Wife.

Maria Silvera. Daughter.

XxXxXx

Titans.

The blood thirsty man-eaters haunted his sleep.

Humanoid monsters from hell who had devoured humanity for countless centuries, unleashing unspeakable horrors upon the world.

The survivors fled behind the three great walls, impossibly large barriers that protected them from the monsters, like cattle caged behind a fence.

Humans killing each other with strange weapons, fighting for their own survival in a cruel and lawless world.

The Star People… humans that came down from heaven, and protected them from the monsters beyond the walls.

Dead corpses of soldiers within a forest, their bodies rotting and forgotten.

Fields of flowers stained with an impossible amount of blood.

Infinite metal monsters with burning eyes that brutally slaughtered humans with cold apathy.

Impossibly large Titans, their footsteps shattering the earth and crushing the sinful humans below.

A child's room, filled with innocent toys and dolls.

A baby girl, wrapped in a pink blanket and oblivious to the hell that had befallen her world.

A metal bird that carried the last humans flew into the stars beyond, fleeing a broken world below.

You are free...

XxXxXx

A boy beneath a tree awoke with a gasp of fear, his body covered in sweat and his heart pounding in terror. His frantic green eyes were greeted by a familiar black haired girl with a red scarf above him, with a bundle of kindling upon her back, looking down at him in concern.

"Mikasa? Why am I here?" Eren asked the oriental girl. He couldn't stop the tears that feel from his face, an agonizing pain of loss gripping his heart as he stared at her. He felt despair and hopelessness seize him, yet did not know why.

The Titans...

The blood machines...

"Eren… why are you crying?" Mikasa looked down at him in confusion. "This isn't like you."

"I don't know," Eren wiped the tears from his eyes, feeling humiliated that Mikasa saw him crying in his sleep. "I had a strange dream… one that seemed to go on forever."

"What do you remember from it?" Mikasa asked.

Eren tried to remain silent to her question and looked to the grass below, not knowing how to explain the wonders and horrors that his dream had shown him. And yet the fading images from that dream still haunted him. And so he turned towards Mikasa to answer her question with one of his own.

"Mikasa, are they're people in the sky? Ones that live in the stars?"

"What?" His foster sister gave him a confused look. "That doesn't make any sense. We live down here."

"Yeah. Well, I saw it… they were carried by a metal bird from the stars…" Eren whispered, the fear in his chest fading as wonder began to take it's place. "Humans that never die. They had metal parts in their bodies. They killed the monsters beyond the walls…" Eren trailed off, frantically trying to remember the rest of his dream before it faded away into nothingness.

"I see..." Mikasa's voice trailed off awkwardly, the doubt in her voice clear. "We should get back home now. Your mom will get angry if we don't hurry."

"Yeah…" Eren said, silent annoyance towards his foster sister now what he felt. She did not believe his dream. He could see it in her eyes. Then again, who would believe the impossible wonders his dream had shown him?

But he knew what he saw in his sleep.

Those Star People were real, he knew it! He could feel it!

As he followed his foster sister back to their home, Eren saw some bird flying above, and the boy felt burning envy for the freedom the simple creatures enjoyed. Those birds could fly and explore the world as they pleased, and didn't fear being devoured by the titans. They were fulfilling his dream every day, the see the world beyond these damn walls that kept them caged liked cattle.

And yet despite their freedom, the birds could not touch the stars. They could not leave this world and see the wonders beyond the void above. And so Eren had a sudden urge to stargaze once night had fallen, maybe he would see a metal bird in the void above if he did. Perhaps if one landed, he could climb upon it and touch the stars?

His old dream of finding freedom behind the walls now seemed worthless to him. If only he could find one of those metal birds that could fly to the stars. Then, Eren Yeager would be truly free, able to explore all of existence with no one able to cage his body or chain his spirit ever again.

Beyond the walls, and the sky, are the stars.

Whoever goes there, will know true freedom.