The Council/Confederacy Conflict is rapidly gaining speed, with hundreds of stellar systems burning and under attack. The Unified Council, having struck at the Confederacy with bioweapons and having made great gains, is unprepared for the Confederacy’s counter-attack and the arrival of Heavy Metal in dozens of systems. Terrible weapons and projects are being released by both sides, the autonomous war machines have regrouped and returned, and everyone is caught in the middle of the largest conflict since the First Precursor War. The burden of Citizenship falls on Confederate citizens as the recall notice goes out and what some thought of as myths and legends are returning to remind everyone of their existence. From POW’s to mail clerks to vampire*.exe to the Gestalts, everyone and everything is being dragged into the war.