This is the bonus chapter for reaching 300 Powerstones.
--
Cogboy listened to the reports, slowly nodding his head.
He looked around the table, a faint, gratified smile surfacing on his perfectly average face.
"It looks like Aurelian IV is steadily marching right toward the goal we set all those years ago."
He pushed himself out of his chair and stepped to the center of the room.
A holographic display flickered to life beside him, projecting a slowly rotating, 3D star map of Aurelian IV.
"Paul has already led the Dawn Expeditionary Fleet on two round-trips between Aurelian IV and Planet Dal."
His voice was calm, but carried a heavy, undeniable authority.
A few months ruling over a population of almost thirty billion was more than enough time for the Aurelian Governor to cultivate the dominating presence of a true leader.
Cogboy spoke up again.
"They brought back over thirty billion Imperial Coins' worth of Kyber Crystals."
"These thirty billion Imperial Coins are going to be the core capital driving the next five years of Aurelian IV's overhauls and military upgrades."
"We can use Imperial Coins to buy a ton of gear from the System Shop that we currently can't manufacture ourselves."
"Sure, it might be heavily marked up, but it's absolutely vital for our expansion."
"And those foundational tech blueprints—the ones that are critical for advancing our civilization—cost an absurd amount of capital."
"Thirty billion is only enough to upgrade Aurelian IV's defense grid to a mere fraction of what Terra has."
"It's only enough to strap the latest Void Shield generators onto a hundred cities."
"But right now, our actual reserves of Imperial Coins are nowhere near deep enough to just throw money around, and our mineral wealth isn't enough to cover the gap."
"So we can't just rely on Imperial Coins."
Cogboy looked around the room, his mechanical augmetic eyes pulsing with an icy blue light.
"This war chest will fund our growth for the next five years."
"We need to smartly spend small amounts of coin to buy the essential tech and knowledge we need, and then rely on our own elbow grease to maximize the return on that investment."
"And Aurelian is the bedrock of everything we're building."
He paused, turning his mechanical eyes toward the window.
"To us, Aurelian isn't just some random planet in space."
"It is the cradle of Crimson Dawn."
"It's the very place the Light of Dawn first broke through the darkness."
"It's the deep root of the Aurelian Youth League. The absolute manifestation of the Dawn's will."
"So we have to take the foundation Paul and Helovia bled to build, and push Aurelian even further."
His voice raised in pitch, echoing across the room.
"I already talked this over with Paul."
"No matter how many planets, how many solar systems, or how many entire sectors Crimson Dawn ends up conquering..."
"...Aurelian's status as the ultimate symbol of Crimson Dawn will never change."
He spun back around, locking eyes with everyone at the table. A fiery intensity burned in his gaze.
"Just like Holy Terra in the Segmentum Solar is to the Imperium of Man."
"Aurelian... is the Holy Terra of Crimson Dawn."
"We are going to build this planet up until it rivals Terra. No, until it completely dwarfs it."
"We're going to make every single human in the galaxy understand..."
Cogboy's voice echoed through the massive conference room, delivering a blood-pumping manifesto:
"The Imperium isn't humanity's only choice."
"They can choose Crimson Dawn."
"Terra isn't the only center of humanity."
"There is Aurelian."
The conference room fell into dead silence.
Everyone was completely stunned by Cogboy's speech.
[Paradox Player Not a War Criminal] was the first to snap out of it.
He dropped the pen he'd been spinning for half the meeting, the corner of his mouth twitching violently.
"Cogboy, you really just said all that out loud."
"Are you and Paul seriously trying to... build a Third Empire?"
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire room exploded.
"Holy shit, are you kidding me? We're going that big?!"
"Are we actually building a Third Empire?"
"Wait, hold on, the Second Empire isn't even a thing yet! If we're doing this, it should be the Second Empire!"
Another player immediately snapped back, rolling his eyes.
"Imperium Secundus happens in a few years, idiot. It's the Ultramarines, Dark Angels, and Blood Angels' most heavily guarded secret. We don't need to steal their thunder."
"A Third Empire sounds badass anyway!"
Another player was vibrating with excitement, his eyes practically glowing.
"Holy fuck! We just logged in to play a game, and now we're literally building the Third Empire! This is so fucking awesome!"
"I am so hyped right now! I want to start grinding instantly!"
"Dibs on Planetary Governor!"
"I want to be a Fleet Commander!"
"Make me an Inquisitor!"
[Teaching Nurgle How to Read in the Warp] pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
"Calm down, all of you. Seriously, calm down."
[Studying Med is Worse Than Falling to Chaos] chimed in with a ghostly whisper.
"If we're actually founding a new empire, I have to completely rip up and redesign the entire sector-level medical infrastructure..."
[The Most Incorruptible Logistics King of the Imperium] was already furiously crunching numbers on his dataslate.
"If we pull the trigger on a new empire, the sheer volume of resources we'd need..."
[Slaanesh Just Wants to Slack Off Today] casually raised a hand.
"I'll just keep playing bad cop. Keep me out of the rest of it."
The conference room had devolved into absolute chaos, a stormy mess of shouting and arguing echoing off the walls.
Cogboy listened to the sheer anarchy, the corners of his mouth ticking upward.
He raised a hand, signaling for the room to shut up.
Once the room had finally settled back into silence, he slowly spoke.
"Alright, alright, dial it back. Stop getting ahead of yourselves."
"Whether it's Imperium Secundus or a Third Empire, now is not the time."
He walked back to the head of the table, resting one hand on the back of his chair as he looked over the crowd. "Right now, Crimson Dawn is fundamentally still just a Chapter. Sure, our numbers have swelled to twenty thousand, but we are nowhere near the scale required to found an empire. We have our own planet. We have our own citizens. We have our own industrial base and our own military."
"But the Imperium of Man isn't an empire just because it holds some territory and a few billion people. It's an empire because it commands an incredibly vast expanse of territory. It has a deeply entrenched system of governance. It boasts overwhelming military supremacy. It shares a profound cultural identity. And it possesses enough... worlds."
He paused for a beat before continuing. "But Paul and I have discussed this. When an organization grows large enough and controls enough territory, establishing a sovereign state becomes inevitable. Whether it's to forge cohesion, rally the people, secure public mandate, or build credibility, it is the only logical step."
His gaze swept over everyone in the room. "Think about it. Back in the real world, why did territories with populations of barely a few hundred thousand rush to declare independence? For better growth. To avoid having their fates dictated by someone else. To chart their own futures on their own terms. Why did Guilliman, Sanguinius, and the Lion establish Imperium Secundus?"
The conference room remained dead silent.
Cogboy went on. "Because they mistakenly believed Holy Terra had fallen and the original Imperium was completely wiped out. They founded Imperium Secundus to give the last remnants of humanity in the eastern Ultima Segmentum a sliver of hope."
"But right now..." Cogboy's voice deepened, growing even steadier. "Aurelian alone holds nearly thirty billion people. We met the criteria for nationhood a long time ago. However, we are still technically operating under the Imperium's jurisdiction, so pulling the trigger on independence isn't necessary just yet."
He paused, a meaningful smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "Besides... what we're aiming to build isn't an empire in the traditional sense anyway. Paul already gave me the name."
His words caught everyone completely off guard.
[Paradox Player Not a War Criminal] furrowed his brow. "Not an empire? Then what is it?"
Cogboy looked right at him and slowly dropped the name. "The United Nations of Humanity's Dawn."
--
Bonus chapter at only 400 Powerstones!
OR
You wanna read ahead right now?! Join Patreon.com/AHumanMadeMOFO to read 20+ chapters ahead for the price of a single happy meal and support me if you wish.