With a fleet of 5 Tyrant Class Heavy Battleships and my Machiavellian Class Heavy Flag Ship, which i've christened "Oppressor", and the countless fighters within, we've been hunting pirates. We've caught god knows how many fleets, and with the cargo capacity of the ships we've managed to salvage the fleets and make more than my money back. I was severely tempted to buy even more ships, but I realized that if I did I might end up making the entire FFP my enemy, which is not what I want right now. It's actually been a week Irl since I've gotten the ships, which means 10 weeks in game. In that time I actually am now a billionaire, and my ranking in wealth and power are unmatched. I've had lots of players try to add me to their guild, all of which I've declined of course. I'm going to make my own guild, and incorporate that into my kingdom, making all the ranks different noble titles, granting them fiefdoms and the sort. And so since I was tired of all the guild invitations, I went ahead and made the guild "The Grand Empire of Sanguinarium", or Sanguinarium for sort. As of now I am the sole member of Sanguinarium, but soon I will have a loyal court full of my kind.

As of now, almost all pirates have left the star system i'm in, so it's time I left this one and move on. I order the AI to jump into the next star system. We do so, and when we get back into real space, a large fleet is in front of us.

"Your Highness, the Federation is hailing us."

"Answer"

"This is Admiral Quee of the Federation of Free Peoples, with whom am I speaking?"

"This is the Crown Prince of the Grand Empire of Sanguinarium, Erebus. What is the problem admiral?"

"We have no such records of an empire by that name, who are you?"

"Of course you wouldn't, I just founded it not long ago. Now, what is the problem?"

"Well the issue is, is that you are warping into a military outpost with a fleet of heavy battleships, do you now understand the issue?"

"I see. I do indeed. I apologize, for I was not aware, I only left my home system not too long ago after all."

"What is your intention here?"

"A simple pirate hunting excursion. It makes nice training for the AI algorithms and I make a tidy profit as well."

"A pirate hunting excursion this highly armed? doubtful. we will now commence an attsck on you, may the best man win."

"Very well then. May the best man win"

FUCK. I really wanted to avoid war but here we are. I hurridly buy several more Tyrant and Viscera Classes to match their numbers. 10 Tyrants and 25 Visceras appear from hyperspace, fully outfitted and primed, but almost draining my wallet. I'll make it back in no time however. 

"Release fighters, focus on Light and Medium Battleships and cruisers first, our Flak cannons will handle the close fighters. Order the EMRC (electromagnetic railcannon) to strike the flagship of the enemy,"

I see thousands of fighters emerge and enter the darkness of space, explosions providing occasional specks of light as strike craft engage in dogfights. The Oppressor shakes as the EMRC fires, and from far away I see a battleship get destroyed, seems we missed. I fix my order

"Use the EMRC to destroy the heavy cruisers and battleships, I will take my shuttle and board the flagship myself, taking it over."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

I grab my sword, yes my sword, I finally had a sword made from my nails. hurts like a bitch, but i managed. I also leveled up so much that my swordsmanship is peak and so are my nails. I could slice through fightercraft with my nails. I enter my personal shuttle, and we leave the hangar. The AI piloting it bobs and weaves through the laser shots and torpedoes flying past us, eventually making it to the flagship of the enemy. We make a hot landing, and I emerge from the crashed shuttle sword drawn. Several mechs come at me, weapons firing hot, my sword, which I have dubbed "Willbreaker" deflects the shots. One of them fires a scattershot, causing me to take some damage, but not much since my royal mantle has also been upgraded. it looks even more regal, but also that much more domineering and defensive. I dash up to the mech that shot me and bisect it. I make quick work of the other mechs and move on.

The halls quickly become a splatter art painting, with the brush as my sword and the paint of blood. dozens, nay hundreds of soldiers fall by my hands, many before they can even pop a shot off. This game is getting much too easy, I cannot wait until other players reach my level. I make it to the bridge, and slice the door open, and walk in. laser shots are fired, but I use Blood Spikes to quickly deal with those who shot me. I address the Admiral.

"Admiral Quee, look at how easily I have dealt with your men and your fleet, we have you outnumbered 3 to 1, can you not just surrender? I promise you your life and the life of your men will be free. Simply recompense me for damages and mental stress and all will be forgiven"

"You say that now, look outside"

Two fleets appear, pincering my fleet in a three pronged assault. Well shit, but with this fleets annihilation, we should be able to manage it, even if we lose a couple ships, after all, imagine how many billions of credits three fleets are worth!

"Is that all that you have to throw at me? Pathetic. You primitive beings never seem to learn your place."

The AI should be able to command the fleet sufficiently until I get back. I kill everyone in the bridge, and use the manual piloting to send the ship on a full speed ram to the flagship of the fleet to the right of mine. I rush to the hangar to find a shuttle or fighter or something that isnt ruined. I find a fighter and fly to the other flagship that isnt being rammed into. I repeat the same process as before, slaughtering everyone and thing, and return to the Oppressor, nearly getting shot down by my own ships until I hailed it. 

I go up to the bridge and stare outside. of the 15 Tyrants and 25 Visceras I had, 3 Tyrants and 7 Visceras are down, and the rest are damaged. The fight is still going on but I'm growing tired of it. 

"Send the boarding troops!"

Several dozen drops ships emerge from the ships and land in the various other ships, securing about a quarter of the ships left. At this point, another Tyrant and 2 more Visceras have gone down, but from here, no more losses. The ships once allied to the Federation now fire on their enemies, causing confusion and friendly fire. I take advantage of this by ordering concentrated fire to take down single ships at a faster rate. I see the flagship i set on a coarse earlier finally hit the other ship, and a magnificent explosion could be seen. All 3 flagships are down, and panic and confusion reign amongst the enemies. Several ships hail their surrender, but I decline since their leaders couldnt accept my offer. 

3 fleets, 25 ships each, up against my 41 ships, destroyed. my casualties? four Tyrants and 9 Visceras, for a total of 13 ships. Absolutely insane. While I may have lost a billion credits, I'm sure that I more than quadrupled my money, which is good, since I am now at war with the FFP. Lucharia and Faleeki wont take kindly to a new faction completely unknown to them consuming an entire galactic power. As such, I decide to move into wildspace, which is basically a factionless no mans land where pirates and crime reign supreme. While its not the Black Lotus Syndicate space, the Black Lotus do have lot's of ties there, making it a pseudo Black Lotus Syndicate area. 

I wanna find an area where Sanguine Like me wont have any problems, so that means a planet where its super far away from the star, a planet where one side is permanently dark, or just build underground. I think Building underground would be the best idea, and to do that lets get a planet that doesnt attract a lot of attention, a barren one. As I scan around I see a desert planet, a rocky one, and a radioactive one. Radioactivity might harm our people, so thats a no go, and bullding under a desert will be extremely hard, so lets go with the rocky, mountainous one. 

After I spend money repairing and adding onto my fleet, adding a whopping  56 Tyrants, for a total of 75 Tyrant Classes, and 109 Viscera Classes, for a total of 125 Viscera Classes. we now have millions of fighters and Billions of AI. I send as many as I can to the surface so that we can building. I had them build a large opening where even flagships can enter, and from there they began excavating. with that as the entrance to our capital, Nocturne. They excavated a giant cave, and began building an extravagant palace for me. Once the Crimson Palace was completed, then they began building the 12 Mansions that would serve as the residences of my most trusted 12 members, my Blood Knights, who would be above all, and then they would build the estates of the nobles, and then the rest of the city. I decided to dock the Oppressor inside, and had the fleet remain on guard to protect the planet. I logged off and exited the capsule.

I uploaded the video of the battle I had to ViewTube, and very quickly views and donations were coming in. Since the one week where I uploaded my sacking of the cathedral on Viewtube, Ive been gradually earning lots of viewers and money, and was even able to buy a new, much better house, not only does Erebus live in luxury, so do I. While I may have it good in game and real life, its rather lonely being at the top, by myself. I rather wish i had guildmates and other people I could call friends, or even rivals. With that in mind I finally put in my guild recruitment on the forums, and instantly got many replies. The only two requirements were that you had to be a member of the sanguine race and that you had to have complete loyalty to the guild/empire. While I couldnt let them all in, I let in a vast majority of all kinds, craftsmen, warriors, leaders, high levelers, noobies, all kinds of people. I entered the guild chat through my phone

"This is Erebus, Ruler of the Dark and Master of Blood. Welcome to the Grand Empire of Sanguinarium. As of now, you all are the lowest rank, as I do not know your capabilities and your personalities. In time, I will recruit twelve of the most loyal, most powerful of you, and you will recieve the rank of Blood Knight, staunch defender of Sanguinarium and my most trusted friend. All of the Blood Knights will recieve a flagship and a fleet to call their own, with me, to make the 13 Swords of Sanguinarium. There will of course be admirals and grand admirals too, and they will have their own fleets as well, but until then, prove yourselves. Craftsmen, build armor and weapons and ships for your warriors and leaders, warriors, kill and hunt, bring materials to the craftsmen and follow your leaders orders. Leaders, take your warriors to great battles, keep your men alive and happy. Those are your roles. Those who excel in both leadership and combat will become my swords. I promise you all money, glory, women, loot, and most importantly, your desires. Now citizens, here are the coordinates to the Capital of our Empire, Nocturne. every leader will be given a Traitor class frigate for you and your men. use them well. All hail Erebus!"

"ALL HAIL EREBUS"

"ALL HAIL EREBUS"

"ALL HAIL EREBUS"

The chat explodes in All Hail Erebus'. I transfer a lot of Traitor classes to various leaders, and I log back in, sitting in the throne of bone and gold my AI built.