Warhammer: Empire Reboot

What once required venturing into the subspace and navigating distances for years or even decades can now be covered in just a few days or even hours via the Internet.

The many lost worlds of the Empire's dark side have thus reappeared on the map of the Hive Network.

Some worlds are still resisting space pirates.

Static light will illuminate directly behind the defending forces, and a combat unit will lead the foundational units out of the network, take over the command system, mark the enemy command nodes, and then guide the fleet to complete the cleanup.

Some worlds have been taken over by the Chaos Cult.

The swarm's advance team will not immediately launch a large-scale war.

They would first infiltrate the hive city, read the administrative network, and target sect leaders and corrupt nobles.

The cleaning command will be issued simultaneously once all targets have been confirmed.

Overnight, tens of thousands of Chaos believers were executed.

The next morning, the Royal Hymn was broadcast again in the capital, and the double-headed eagle flag was raised once more over the Governor's Mansion.

There are many more worlds where there are no enemies to be defeated.

They have simply been out of touch with the empire for too long.

The Star Language Hall has long been destroyed, the fleet does not know if Terra still exists, and the local government can only barely maintain order by relying on laws from hundreds of years ago.

In this kind of world, a small team of a dozen or so people is enough.

They emerged from the Web, bringing with them orders jointly issued by the Imperial Regent, the Imperial Sealholder, and Dante, the Dark Lord, to repair communications equipment and re-establish the tax, conscription, and shipping systems.

Those imperial officials who had stood guard in the darkness for hundreds of years finally confirmed that the human empire had not perished when they saw the star map of the outside world.

One lost world after another returns to the empire.

The speed was so fast that even Dante was caught off guard.

He had promised to cooperate with Lawson within five years to reclaim all the Imperial worlds that could be reconnected.

At that time, it was already an almost insane goal.

But now, the five-year period is far from over.

On the star map of the Hive Network, more than 400,000 Empire Worlds have lit up again.

Every shining star signifies the restoration of taxation, military, production, and shipping in a world.

This also means that the dark side of the empire's ruling structure is being rebuilt.

Lawson never intended to retain the old empire's bloated and sluggish administrative system.

Once the world officially returns, the first thing it connects to is the swarm network, while core administrative and military positions are taken over by the cornerstone sequence.

The former governor's status no longer holds any meaning.

Whether their family rules this world for three hundred or three thousand years, they can no longer continue to treat the planet as their private domain.

The planetary governor, core administrative officials, and military commanders were all replaced by the cornerstone sequence.

The order, issued from the Royal Court, can reach 400,000 worlds in an extremely short time.

The flow of food, factory output, and the equipment shortage of the Planetary Defense Force can all be summarized in real time by the war zone overlord node.

Of course, no one in the old regime lost their jobs as a result.

Lawson never wastes talent.

Those nobles who only rely on bloodline and connections to sit in offices will be directly eliminated.

Those who embezzle, rebel, collude with aliens, or conceal the corruption of Chaos will be publicly tried.

But officials who are truly capable and who maintain production, protect civilians, and remain loyal to the Empire during the world's loss of contact will not only escape punishment, but will also be re-evaluated by the swarm.

Those skilled in agriculture enter the food production system.

Those familiar with industry were transferred to factories and foundries.

Those with military experience will be assigned to the Planetary Defense Force Staff.

Those who can appease the public and resolve local conflicts will remain in grassroots administrative departments.

They will no longer have hereditary privileges, but will be assigned to positions that suit them.

Those who make contributions are rewarded, and those who are capable are given important positions.

The only change was that a corrupt family no longer stood above them.

After the lost world returns, it usually only takes a few months for food production to begin to recover, factories to resume operation, and local armies to complete their reorganization.

New network anchor points were then established.

This world will become the forward base for the next round of recapture operations.

However, what Lawson cared about most was never just how many worlds he had reclaimed.

The relighting of the borders only signifies the return of the empire's flag.

What truly determines the dark future of the empire is population, the next generation, and how quickly the new human can replace the old genes that have been dragged down by war and millennia of decline.

After more than 400,000 worlds were reconnected to the hive, the first thing Lawson checked was the population structure.

The casualties from war are uneven.

Large numbers of men were conscripted into the Astronautical Army, the Planetary Defense Force, and the Hive Militia, dying in battles that lasted for decades or even centuries.

Many young adults were executed by the Chaos Cult, abducted by aliens, or died in factories and mines.

Although many lost worlds have returned to the Empire, their population structures have become severely unbalanced.

Serafin-12 is one of them.

This world once had a population of 12 billion.

After the Great Rift appeared, it experienced a chaotic rebellion, a food crisis, and a fourteen-year-long war in the hive capital.

When the advance party of the Empire's dark side re-arrived through the network, the entire planet had less than 2.7 billion inhabitants.

More than 70% of them are women.

Men between the ages of twenty and fifty make up only a tiny minority of the population in that age group.

It is a typical case of more women than men.

Vast farms are left uncultivated, and factories lack workers.

The Planetary Defense Force can only maintain its basic strength by relying on the elderly and teenagers.

The most serious problem is still the population.

Based on the original birth rate, it would take this planet hundreds of years to recover to pre-war levels. If another large-scale war were to occur during that time, the entire civilization could be wiped out.

Three hundred thousand cornerstone personnel arrived at Serafin-12 via the network.

Some went to farms, some went to factories, and others became doctors, engineers, teachers, and grassroots administrators.

Their first step was to help the world resume production.

Subsequently, the new marriage and family system was formally implemented.

The sex ratio in Serafen-12 is severely imbalanced, and the old monogamous system is unable to support population recovery.

Following population statistics, medical assessments, and a public vote by the local council, the planet enters a special population recovery period, allowing a man to form a family with multiple women.

All marriages must be based on the mutual consent of both parties.

The cornerstone sequence also has the option to be selected.

The cornerstone sequence consists of individuals who are emotionally stable, physically robust, and possess a comprehensive knowledge base.

Such a partner quickly gained widespread acceptance among local women who had experienced war and the loss of family members.

In the first few months, some still suspected that this was a forced population experiment conducted by the dark side of the empire.

A year later, this doubt gradually disappeared.

Families established in the cornerstone sequence rarely experience hunger, violence, or abandonment.

They are able to care for several family members at the same time and do not favor any particular wife's child.

Keystone sequences are extremely popular, with the vast majority having dozens of wives.

Most importantly, the offspring of this new human species began to be born.

When two new humans mate, the normal pregnancy cycle is only six months.

Two highly compatible gene templates will quickly complete embryonic development, and the burden on the mother is actually lower than that of a normal human pregnancy of ten months.

When a New Human male mates with a local Imperial female, the pregnancy period is consistently around eight months.

This is the time required for the system to complete the adaptation of the two sets of genes while ensuring the safety of the mother.

After a child is born, the genes of the new human will take over.

Beneficial environmental adaptation segments in maternal genes are preserved, while genetic defects caused by hereditary diseases, radiation damage, and industrial pollution are automatically corrected by the new human template.

These children are typically 30% heavier than average babies at birth.

Their bones are stronger, their cardiopulmonary function is more robust, and their immune system is able to resist most common diseases of the Empire.

The nervous system develops at an equally astonishing rate.

While ordinary babies still rely on crying to express their needs, newborn babies are already able to distinguish fixed words and the voices of different family members.

They can walk steadily around six months old.

By the age of one, their basic language skills are already equivalent to those of an average human child aged two to three.

Among the 300,000 cornerstone members, each person has an average of more than 30 children.

If this number were placed in other imperial worlds, it would be enough to overwhelm food, healthcare, and education systems.

However, the Seraphin-12 did not experience any problems.

When the cornerstone sequence arrives, agricultural, industrial, and urban expansion plans are already underway.

New residential areas were built along the periphery of the city.

Automated farms cover large tracts of abandoned land.

The construction of schools, hospitals, and child development centers has consistently outpaced population growth.